[re]church

I'm headed back into town after being away for a week attending to things with family in the midst of our loss of my dad. I wanted to take just moment here to express the Smith family's gratitude for all of you that have offered your prayers and support, and to give you a quick personal update...

An incomprehensibly blessed life is ending this week, instantly flipping upside-down the lives of those who loved him and whose lives radiated out from his: Mom's dear husband of 56 years, my sister Julie's and my Pop, and the grandkids' Papa.

Gave me nearly everything I have.

Loved everything I ever did.

Took credit for nothing –

gave all of that to God.

After listening to a podcast about the impact of COVID on the Church (which concluded, that due to its infatuation with "returning to normal") the Church (in general) missed it's opportunity to follow God into what could have been healthy and necessary adaptations to its methods. But not us, Vista! I was very encouraged to know that in June we saw the opportunity and – with great intentionality – launched our 1-year [re]church initiative to discover what God may be trying to tell us. I sure hope we can gather again soon, but irrespective of that timing...we're committed to hearing from God and becoming the best church we can possibly be!

Even though you're demographic has been hardest hit, we don't wish that you'd concede or just get out of the way – you are irreplaceable, valuable beyond words, and a critical a part of the church and our [re]church efforts. Forgive me for not realizing the subtle demoralizing and despiriting messages that, as part of our older generation, you must fend off.

It's a mushy sloppy life where there is forgiveness, mercy, or grace without first a clear accountability for and recognition of wrongdoing. Think about it. What is being forgiven if there is no understanding of failure? What good is the mercy of judge if there hasn't first been a judgment and an impeding consequence. And how would we ever fully grow up (children sure don't have a chance) if there is no authority in our life that has the courage to declare when we're wrong, when we've been bad, when we've hurt another person?

When Djokovic was defaulted after accidentally striking a line judge with a tennis ball, I wondered how wonderful it would be if that kind of infraction-clarity and swift consequence were true in society in general. It wouldn't only be wonderful, it would be healthy, and it would be a significant part of slowing our culture's downward moral spiral. In fact, if we follow God's moral law (which only the utterly selfish disagree with), like don't steal, don't lie, don't commit adultery, etc, He promises that it leads to cultural flourishing!

Our core values are rooted in Jesus teaching about the two greatest commandments (Love God; Love Others) and his great commission (Go, and make disciples). We remember those this way: Worshipful, Relational, Missional. We'll cover them in details in our Sunday teachings, Sept 20th – Oct 4th, 2020, but here's an overview...

Met with the Leadership Team Thu night and kicked off the [re]church season. It was a great meeting and even better just seeing all of their faces. I realize from the discussion that it's going to be important to keep reiterating what we intend with the  [re]church initiative. So here  is...

Continuing the previous episode, Pastor Mike does a brief overview of the 5 spiritual characteristics listed in Ephesians 4:11...(A)postle, (P)rophet, (E)vangelist, (S)hepherd, and (T)eacher, often referred to as APEST.

This is a re-load of (One of the Most Power Tools...) which was errantly loaded as a duplication of the previous episode. In this episode Pastor Mike DOES actually talk about one of the greatest tools at your disposal, as well as a quick overview of Eph 4:11, commonly known as the APEST verse...