My New Horizons

Wow, it’s really hard to believe that our time here in the life of NHCC is quickly drawing to a close. Since moving here and starting from scratch in August of 04 we have seen God plant this Christ Centered, Bible teaching, and “Other” centered church called New Horizons. We have made so many friends and love you all so much. We have experienced lives being transformed for today and eternity. We have also experienced changes in our own lives as well. One of the things that I have been doing recently is compiling a list of things we have learned since being here. A couple of fun things that come to mind are:

1. Fish Tacos really aren’t that bad after all.
2. “Dude” is actually a complete sentence with the meaning being determined by context.

Yes, it has been a privilege and a blessing to have been used by God to plant New Horizons and we will miss you all so much. But we know for certain that NHCC is going forward and the best days for this young church are actually ahead of you. The leadership team will be bringing more details over the next couple of weeks as we make the transition. Our last official day will be July 12th and the leadership already has plans for the future. We’ll be winding down our series this Sunday exploring the Mystery of the “Authentic” Church and I can’t wait to dive into that and see you Sunday.

Even preachers need to be encouraged from time to time and that certainly happened this morning as I talked with a friend who owns a garage here in Rancho. While I was scheduling some service on our old Ford, Randy and I quickly got into some Kingdom talk which is always our routine. I was encouraged to hear about some of the ways God has answered his prayers and what God is doing in his life these days. We both took time to chew on the fact that faith is really belief plus action, which is actually what the book of James says. But it’s a hard sale today as the world calls this faith of this caliber insanity. But authentic faith does just that. It trusts God even when life just doesn’t make sense. It’s the ‘faith’ that actually trusts that God is who He said He is and does what He said He will do. When looking at the pages of scripture and annals of history, we see that kind of faith all the time. Joshua believed God and called the Hebrews to step into the Jordan at flood stage and they crossed over on dry ground.   D. L. Moody believed God to provide for his evangelistic needs. Tony Dungy believed God to direct his path and he eventually won the Super Bowl. And average guys like Randy and me can trust God to lead us today as well. So be encouraged CHURCH as God’s economy never takes a ‘down turn’ and He always honors those who truly honor Him.

I really love the CHURCH. By that I mean the whole universal Church of Jesus Christ. I also love our local body here in NHCC. It’s been encouraging to study through the book of Acts this month and consider what the original first century Church was all about. This past Sunday we looked at a third powerful church in Acts from the city of Philippi. The amazing thing about those folks 2000 years ago was how much joy flowed through them. One of the reasons for their outrageous joy that we noticed Sunday was their confidence that “he who began a good work in them would carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” (1:6) As I worked on the sermon last week I thought of that reality for the church in Philippi long ago and how that also applies to us today. As individuals, we can know that God does indeed have a plan for our lives and that we are not merely the products of random chance. But also for our church family here in Rancho we can know that God likewise has plans to complete in us. Even as Debi and I make plans to step out in faith to a new ministry in July, we can all be confident that just as God worked through us all to plant this church; He has even greater plans for the future. So be encouraged NHCC family. God is nowhere near done with you yet. In fact, as the old song from the 80s goes, your future is “so bright that you’ve got to wear shades!”

I’ve really enjoyed watching my oldest son run track this past year. His God given energy has really been a blessing on the field as he’s won every 800 meter race he’s been in except for one and that was a close second. But in watching his school’s track meets, I’ve also been reminded of the 2008 Olympics where the US team lost the relay events because they were unable to successfully execute the hand off in the relay races. That time of passing the baton is so critical. As noted yesterday morning, we’ve come to that exciting time in the life of NHCC of passing the baton off to the next lead minister and all systems are a go! Our last day will be July 12th and the leadership team is already working through the process of securing the next lead minister for our church family. I firmly believe that the greatest days for New Horizons Christian Church are still to come. Read the complete Post.

I love my kids and they often say the wildest things. The other day when were chowing down on some of my wife’s hamburgers, my oldest, who can also be the most creative, wanted to debate why a “hamburger” is called a hamburger when there was no ham in it. Yes, I know many of us have wondered the same things. I don’t know the story or the origin of the name. But it is clear that most hamburgers do not have ham, or even real beef in them for that matter either. They’re just something with a name and something else as its contents. It all kind of reminds me of the Church. There are many ideas of what the Church is and should be. But I’m glad to be part of a Christian fellowship where we don’t claim to be the only Christians and the only ones with the right answers to “church.” But we do strive to emulate the true body of Christ and the pristine, original church found in the Bible. Now that’s pretty good even without fries.

There are so many things that I really love about NHCC. One of those is the diverse number of folks and talents in our church family. It really reminds me of Revelation 7:9-10 where the apostle John saw a great multitude in heaven praising God. The text tells us that the number of people was greater than anyone could count and that they were from “every nation, tribe, people and language”. One of those talented guys put his skill to work today as we hosted a lunch for the faculty and staff at Navigator Elementary school. Ron is a professional chef and we were able to bless the folks at Navigator during their teacher appreciation week with a lunch consisting of a whole lot more than pizza from Costco. Ron made quite the spread and I even got some. You Rock Ron! On a humorous note, Ron was using an open flame for his gourmet dishes when I thought of the fire alarm and sprinklers in the Library. So I opened some doors and then prayed in an adjacent room that the alarm and sprinklers would not go off. The custodian actually came in about 10 minutes later saying that a warning light on his system did go off, but no alarm or sprinklers. Thank God. Thank God for Ron and NHCC.