Orlando - General Assembly 2009 Day 13

Our last day at Juanita’s house where she was so appreciative of us

Jamie and Caleb were at it again

and a paint war broke out. Not really sure who started it, but he got paint on her...

and she got paint on him. Don't dish it out if you can't take it.

Juanita enjoying her new kitchen

Caleb was instrumental in helping with Juanita’s new kitchen. I guess we were like Extreme Home Makeover Nazarene edition!

Our last day at Juanita's house. You spend a week at someone's home, you develop a bond with them. And there's no way we could have accomplished everything without our cool team!

Saying our goodbyes to Juanita. I had just finished praying for her as we held hands in a circle. She asked for my email address and so Caleb and I hope to keep in touch with her! I'm so proud of Caleb and his first missons trip!

Afterward, we all met up for lunch at this park in Orlando

Caleb and Jamie at it again

It was a beautiful day - hot, but beautiful

Yes Renee, we did do laundry

Caleb found my picture at the NTS booth at Assembly

We caught up with our new friends again

Sitting in the One Heart Many Hands section

More good worship

General Superintendent Porter gave a great message on discipleship

Following the service - Caleb is in there somewhere

It's been a great week!

After a long day and week, it was time for pizza where he ate all that and more!

Orlando - General Assembly 2009 Day 12

For breakfast, this kid ate three halves of grapefruit - yuck!

After breakfast we did a little gift shopping and gator wrestling

This was a real gator

Today we install new smoke detectors in Juanita's home

Kitchen almost complete

Helping to cover the countertop with plastic...

so we can paint

and paint

Smoke detectors installed

Picking up the trash we took out of the house

Cooling down in an afternoon rain shower

New bathroom tile

New extinguisher for the newly remodeled kitchen

After a quick shower, it's back to the Convention Center for General Assembly

Very good worship at General Assembly

General Superintendent Porter introducing General Superintendent Warrick. Directly in front of the pulpit was a 26 foot high cross as a powerful reminder of the work of Christ - excellent message!

There sure are a lot of people here - it's been a great day!

Orlando - General Assembly 2009 Day 11

We had some extra help painting on the 3rd day at Juanita's home

Still in place after a huge thunderstorm last night

Nearly done with the ceiling in one of the bedrooms

Caleb, Caleb, and Nathan

Progressing in the bathroom

New oven hood in place

Sink is in place and is drying with the weight of that stuff on top. It was a productive day at Juanita's house

After a quick shower, we drove to the Orange County Convention Center where General Assembly was being held

Because we registered online, the registration process at the convention center was so much easier

Excited about his very first service at a General Assembly

We caught up with our new friends

Flags from various nations were brought in during worship

Worship was great and I loved that the second song was in Spanish

General Superintendent Dr. Jesse Middendorf gave an excellent message on who we are as the Church of the Nazarene

Hanging out with our new friends

Orlando - General Assembly 2009 Day 10

The second day at Juanita's house involved a lot of painting

New cabinets and countertop

I painted the new pressure treated posts that we replaced

Caleb was given the assignment to paint these closet shelves

Concentrating on his assignment

He's doing a great job!

Juanita had some exterior painting that needed completed

Caleb helping with exterior painting

Looks better

Making progress in Juanita's kitchen

It's hot and muggy in Florida in June

Removed all the old and yucky bathroom tile to be replaced

Taking out old bathroom tile to the curb

Dumping out old bathroom tile

Everyone kind of winding down after a long and hot day of work

I don't know if you can tell, but the day ended with a huge rain storm. I haven't seen thunder storms like this since my seminary days in Kansas City.

Orlando - General Assembly 2009 Day 9

Our day began at 8:30 am (that’s 5:30 am western Oregon time) where Caleb and I met up with our team at project worksite # 67

Our project for the next couple of days was to work on this house located in the downtown area of Orlando

Caleb getting his tool belt and tools from his tool box that the church gave him for Christmas last year.

Moving lumber around

One of our main priorities was to tear out and replace these cabinets that have rotted

All the cabinets are out

This is Juanita who lives in the house. She wasn’t too happy with the dead rat behind the walls, so those needed to be replaced as well

I’m not fond of ladders, but we installed solar powered motion detection lighting

It was so hot and muggy outside

Finishing up the installation

Lunch break

Let me introduce you to our neat project team which included Pastor Jim, Nazarene pastor from Springfield, Missouri and his son Josh

Jamie and Courtney also from the same Nazarene church in Springfield, Missouri

Len from a Nazarene church in California

Keith and Paulette from a Nazarene church here in Orlando

Stop messing with the camera and get back to work

Caleb hanging out with the teens

These little guys were all over Juanita's backyard

Making progress in the kitchen

We headed back to the hotel, changed clothes, and shot some hoop

Beautiful sunset at the end of a productive day

Orlando - General Assembly 2009 Day 8

Sunday morning we attended the Kissimmee First Church of the Nazarene

The guests for the day were Nazarene Missionaries to Dominica Dan and Brenda Hopkins

In church on Father’s Day

After church we went to the Golden Corral for Father’s Day, when after lunch, Caleb asked if he could have dessert and comes back with this gummy bear, jelly bean, M & M, and cookie sundae concoction of a dessert.

After lunch, we went and registered for our One Heart Many Hands missions work

We had a few hours before the Commissioning Service, and so we visited Epcot

Getting ready to ride the time machine which was a really neat attraction

Playing a game in 3D

Interior view of a fire truck

The part of Epcot we visited has a futuristic feel

Saw a movie in 3D

This water stream bounces from pad to pad to pad in a circle

Great Father’s Day at Epcot

We then attended the One Heart Many Hands Commissioning Service held at the First Baptist Church of Orlando. It was a full blown service with singing, etc. There are nearly 2,000 Nazarenes doing various service projects all around Orlando in the week preceding General Assembly.

Dr. David Wilson, General Secretary of the Church of the Nazarene offering words of greeting

Dr. Joel Hunter, pastor of the large Northland Church in Orlando. He gave a great mini sermon from Romans 12. The very last sentence of his message was, “The church needs to be saved from focusing only on itself.” I say, “Amen!”

General Superintendent Dr. Jerry Porter giving a different but very effective kind of commissioning message from Isaiah chapter 6

In response to Dr. Porter’s challenge of who will go and serve

It’s been a really good day!

Orlando - General Assembly 2009 Day 7

I asked Caleb where he wanted to go today on our last full “fun” day and he said Kennedy Space Center

Massive building where they assemble the space shuttle

Caleb with space shuttle Endeavour on the launch pad

Endeavour is scheduled to lift off on July 11th. It will be the 127th shuttle launch and the 23rd for Endeavour.

That’s the crawler that transports the shuttle to the launch pad. It uses 50 gallons of gas per mile.

That’s what one of the main shuttle engines looks like

Exact consoles and set up as it was for the Apollo 7 mission

Excited to see the displays

Touching a piece of a rock from the moon

Do they make these in Caleb's size...

so we can send him to the moon?

This was going to be interesting

Don’t let the smile throw you, he was a little nervous

This is what you look like right before the Space Shuttle simulation experience at NASA

This is what you look like right after the Space Shuttle simulation experience at NASA (just kidding, it wasn’t bad)

This is the first sight you see after getting off the simulation

Underneath Explorer

Getting ready to board the lower level of Explorer

Inside Explorer

Getting ready to enter the upper level of Explorer

Inside Explorer

Rockets

Caleb wanted to walk/run around and take pictures, so the following are pictures of NASA through the eyes of an excited nearly 8 year old

Great day at the Kennedy Space Center

By a pretty good sized replica of the shuttle

Another shuttle replica

Through the lens of the Hubble telescope

It’s a very inspiring visit and was a very good day!

Orlando - General Assembly 2009 Day 6

Where we are staying while in Orlando. It’s only 6 miles from Disney World, so I guess we’ll just have to check it out.

This picture is specifically for the benefit of Renee who is worried that we might not be eating healthy on our trip. So, there you go Renee.

True story – our first full day in Orlando, I asked Caleb what he wants to do (Disney, Universal Studios, etc), and he said he just wanted to toss the football around with me. Makes a dad’s heart feel really special, especially a couple of days before Father’s Day! I took this right after Caleb threw a nice pass my way. This field is right in front of our hotel room.

After tossing the football around, we eventually made our way to Disney World

We rode the Monorail into the park

He’s on the phone telling mom where he is

Can’t wait to get on the first of many rides

Getting ready to drive

Crazy driver

HELP!

They’ll give anyone a license

It was a wild drive, but we made it

His goal with this ride was to spin so hard and make me puke. Made me dizzy but no puke.

Some weird space alien and next to him a three eyed creature. This was actually a fun ride we did twice, and you can rest assured and sleep well tonight, we have saved the planet from all alien creatures.

Battling space creatures

Night time in front of the castle that changes color

The park ends the evening with a pretty impressive parade

More parade

These rodents can play

The three pigs

You know who these are

The night concluded with a spectacular fireworks display

More fireworks

Early 4th of July

Caleb wanted to take the ferry boat back to the parking lot. It was a good idea. After a long, fun day, ice cream sounds good, which is exactly what we did.

Orlando - General Assembly 2009 Day 5

Last day on our five day road trip to Orlando. This is in Birmingham, Alabama.

The Alabama / Florida state line

Welcome to Florida!

There’s the thumbs up again

We really are excited about making it to Florida (first time for us) and getting to Orlando tonight!

Orlando - General Assembly 2009 Day 4

Next stop, Memphis, Tennessee, where we visited the Lorraine Motel, the site of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968.

It’s also the site of the National Civil Rights Museum. No pictures are allowed inside.

Caleb did a report on MLK in first grade. It’s one thing to do searches and see pictures online, it’s another thing entirely to see it for yourself in person.

They’ve done a remarkable job in preserving history

He was staying in room 306 and stepped outside when he was shot.

The view looking toward Mulberry Street

On a lighter note, we drove to the other side of Memphis and visited Graceland

At the entrance to Graceland

At the front of the Mansion right on Elvis Presley Boulevard

In front of Elvis’ planes

One of Elvis’ suits

Another one of Elvis’ suits

Caleb dressed up as Elvis last Halloween and so he thinks all this is really cool.

We had dinner at the Rock n’ Roll Café right across the street from Graceland where the thumbs up must indicate Caleb’s satisfaction.

In Memphis, we stayed with friends Mike and Carol and their absolutely lovely home.

They actually live a little north of the Mississippi / Tennessee border which is about 20 miles north of Memphis where they have this beautiful 4,500 square foot colonial style home that sits on several acres. We had a great stay with Mike and Carol, they are quality people.

Orlando - General Assembly 2009 Day 3

Next stop, Denver where we spent the night at Tonya’s parent’s house and got to see family again!

Pit stop in Salina, Kansas

While in Kansas City, I wanted to see the new Global Ministry Center for the Church of the Nazarene

The new Global Ministry Center for the Church of the Nazarene

Caleb took this

I hadn’t planned on going inside, but as I was taking these pictures, a very nice lady encouraged us to come inside.

This is my new friend Cathryn and I say that because we had the most wonderful 45 minute conversation. She is the first person you’ll meet as you walk in and has a great testimony.

I don't know what's up with the thumbs up thing, but he's been doing it the entire trip

Right inside the Global Ministry Center

As we were looking around in the lobby area, we ran into Dr. Daniel Ketchum, General Director for Nazarene Missions International. He remembered me and was kind enough to have a picture with Caleb. Our church is blessed with excellent leadership. We’ll see him again in Orlando next week.

Inside the prayer chapel at the Global Minister Center

Me and Dr. Bresee (founder of the Church of the Nazarene)

Caleb is now an honorary member of the Board of General Superintendents

Portraits of all past and current General Superintendents of the Church of the Nazarene

Conference room where the General Superintendents have teleconferences with regional field directors around the world. It’s so much more cost effective than flying them into Kansas City.

Caleb took this picture of the other side of the conference room because he thought the world map was cool.

The sweetest lady offered us a tour of the General Superintendent’s offices. I certainly wasn’t expecting that. This is Dr. Porter’s office.

Dr. Middendorf’s office. He presided over our District Assembly last month and did such an excellent job!

What does a General Superintendent’s desk look like the week before General Assembly? This is Dr. Cunningham’s desk and it looks like the General’s have some reading to do on the flight to Orlando.

Dr. Gunter’s desk. Their offices are surprisingly simple. They also each get the newest releases from the Nazarene Publishing House right on their desk.

Caleb liked the new Global Ministry Center

I have many friends in the Kansas City area, but I really wanted to see my friends Glen and Angie and their son Jordon. I became friends with Glen while I was in seminary (ask me how sometime, it's a neat story) and we’ve been good friends ever since.

Orlando - General Assembly 2009 Day 2

First stop was at grandma and grandpa’s house in Idaho.

Took this picture just outside of Cheyenne, Wyoming. It's hard to tell, but the sky was especially beautiful.

Orlando - General Assembly 2009 Day 1

As Caleb and I are headed to Orlando for a week of Work and Witness, then General Assembly, several of you shared how you enjoyed as we blogged through our sabbatical and so we’ll try and do it for Orlando. So, Sunday afternoon, Caleb and I packed my truck and headed down the road after saying bye to Micah, Renee, and her parents who are staying with them while we are gone.

First stop on our road trip was in Bend, and yes, we are transporting livestock, a couple of rabbits to grandpa's house in Idaho. It was a beautiful drive!

BBQ to Kick Off Summer 2009

Here are a couple of pictures from our church BBQ last Sunday -

we had a great time!

First Hispanic Service

I am continually amazed at how the Lord is moving in our church! What an outstanding first Hispanic worship service that was held at our church yesterday! The guest speaker was Rev. José Aguilar, Nazarene pastor from Portland. The people were excited to be in the service, there were many children who came, and most importantly, the Holy Spirit was evident in a wonderful way! The plan is to begin holding weekly services in Spanish later in the summer. Continue to keep Pedro and this new ministry in your prayers!

We had a great time of fellowship following the worship service making new friends and eating great tasting Mexican food and dessert!

New Property

As I mentioned in church yesterday, if good things come to those who wait, then great things come to those who wait on God. As you know, the membership of our church voted last October to purchase 3.5 acres on Jasper Road, and we’re simply waiting on the Lord for His perfect timing, in His perfect ways. Saturday I received a phone call that we are one step closer to securing financing to be able to purchase this land! God knows exactly what He is doing. Stay in prayer as the Lord continues to have His hand upon our congregation!

We're Giving Birth!

God continues to move in great ways in our church! For the first time in the 60 year history of our church, we’re giving birth to a new church! This picture was taken Sunday, April 19, 2009 and shows Pedro Ortiz Hernandez (on the right in the stripped blue and green shirt) and all but one of the core families of the Springfield Hispanic Church of the Church (de la Iglesia del Nazareno de Springfield). In the back are Dr. Keith Wright, interim District Superintendent of the Oregon Pacific District Church of the Nazarene, and Dr. Mario Zani, Hispanic Ministries Coordinator for the Oregon Pacific District. This new congregation will hold its first service at the Springfield Church on Sunday, May 17th at 5:00 pm. Thank you Springfield church family for your overwhelming prayer support for this great new addition to our church family!

Good to be Back!

Last Sunday was our first Sunday back after enjoying a 13 week sabbatical. In our church, when a pastor has served in the same church for 7 years, they are eligible for a sabbatical. We had a great time and will be looking forward to our next sabbatical in 2016. But it was so good to be back in our church. We were so graciously welcomed back by our church family! There were balloons everywhere, outside, inside. The platform was covered with balloons.

Special welcome back potluck

Special cake!

It took us an hour to drive to church Sunday morning, as there were at least 30 signs which began in our front yard, all along the highway, right up to the church welcoming us back. There were some busy bodies working late Saturday night!

Sabbatical week 13 - final week

In Mazatlán, Mexico

This picture was taken in the back of a taxi pickup truck that took us from Old Mazatlán to New Mazatlán.

We had lunch here one day at The Shrimp Factory – very good. Mazatlán exports over 40 million pounds of shrimp each year.

Caleb likes the shrimp. We had shrimp cocktail, breaded jumbo shrimp, beer battered shrimp, grilled jumbo shrimp, imperial jumbo and coconut grilled and breaded shrimp - it's all good.

This is a place called Señor Frog’s that is a higher end clothing line for children.

We visited the main Catholic Church in Mazatlán, founded by Spanish missionaries with construction beginning in the late 1800’s.

90 % of the population of Mexico is Catholic.

This really is a cathedral.

The front of the church.

Gold plated chandelier, we were told it was the heaviest in Mexico.

What a chair, or should I say throne.

Continuing on with the Stations of the Cross in the church in Mazatlán, the sixth station is of Veronica wiping Jesus' face with her veil (there is no reference of a Veronica in the Gospels as not all of the Stations of the Cross have scriptural basis).

The seventh station is Jesus falling a second time.

The eighth station is Jesus encountering the daughters of Jerusalem.

The ninth station is Jesus falling a third time.

The tenth station is Jesus being stripped of His garments.

I don’t believe there’s a beach in Oregon that can compare with the beaches in Mazatlán.

We had swimsuits for the boys...

...but didn't have time to get them on them before their shirts were off and they were in the warm water.

The beaches in Mazatlán were our favorite.

"Found a sea shell, see?" Caleb came home with a bag full of shells.

Next stop, beautiful Puerto Vallarta on the Mexican Riviera.

Where we were greeted by these guys who stood on this pole 90 feet in the air and began a circular, aesthetic descent.

Slowly and gracefully they decend...

...until they make their final decent. It was quite impressive to say the least. These guys earn their living on tips from tourists.

The area at the top of the street is where Richard Burton and Elizabeth Taylor owned homes and had their rendezvous.

We visited the main Catholic Church in Puerto Vallarta, built in the late 1800’s.

A magnificent structure.

Here in the church in Puerto Vallarta, the eleventh station is the Crucifixion, Jesus being nailed to the cross.

The twelfth station is when Jesus dies on the cross.

The thirteenth station is the Lamentation, Jesus' body being removed from the cross.

The fourteenth station is Jesus being laid in the tomb and covered in incense.

Not all Catholic churches have the 15th station (the ones in Mazatlán and Puerto Vallarta didn’t), but the church in Cabo San Lucas did, so I included this 15th station from the Cabo church - Jesus rising from the tomb.

Inside the church in Puerto Vallarta. What a pulpit.

Quite ornate

Catholic Church in Puerto Vallarta.

Making friends with a couple of iguanas. They really took to me.

Overlooking a resort in Puerto Vallarta.

Beach in Puerto Vallarta.

Those are big waves.

Checking out the waves.

Playing in the sand.

A picture perfect afternoon.

Here comes another wave!

Playing as the sun is about to set.

We love Mexico!

Doing some shopping in an outdoor market.

This is how Tiger Woods started out.

This is really just a regular sized checkers game, we just shrunk and became really tiny.

Sunday morning we attended the Redding First Church of the Nazarene.

Where Pastor Campbell was preaching through a Lenton sermon series.

Last day of sabbatical, we are back home, and Micah and I visited Caleb at school and had lunch with him and his friends.

Sabbatical week 12

This week for me began with District meetings at my church, where about a half dozen of us pastors interviewed about a dozen ministerial students studying for the ministry and working toward ordination. I really enjoy these meetings. By the way, if you live in the Springfield / Eugene area and are not part of a church, there’s a place here for you!

We then headed south for our trip to…

Mexico!

Our first stop was Cabo San Lucas – absolutely beautiful city!

We enjoyed downtown.

We also visited this church. This was the oldest church I’ve visited on sabbatical.

It’s called Iglesia de San Lucas - the main Catholic church in Cabo San Lucas.

It was constructed in 1730, and while it obviously has been kept up over the years, it has not changed much structurally since original construction.

Renee and I are pretty sure this was the first time our boys have ever been in a Catholic church.

It’s been said that one of the primary differences between Catholics and Protestants is that Catholics keep Jesus hanging on the cross while Protestants focus more on the empty tomb.

This is a view of the church from the front looking back and to the right. There’s also a section to the left.

Catholic churches have what is called the Stations of the Cross, depictions of the final hours of the life of Christ, and with this being the season of Lent, I wanted to get pictures of the stations. We visited three Catholic churches in Mexico, and so I thought I would show five stations from each of the churches. The first station is Jesus being condemned to death.

The second station is Jesus taking up His cross.

The third station is of Jesus carrying His cross.

The forth station is Jesus falling.

The fifth station is Simon of Cyrene assisting Jesus in carrying His cross.

View of the church looking toward the back. You can see the Stations of the Cross hanging on the walls.

Next we stopped at Cabo Wabo.

This is owned by former Van Halen singer Sammy Hagar.

When we walked through, this band was playing a fairly decent Guns N’ Roses cover.

Cabo Wabo helped put Cabo San Lucas on the map. This is their main stage.

Multi platinum sales award commemorating 6 million sales of Van Halen’s 1984.

Hagar doesn’t live in Mexico but comes here on his birthday every year for a big party.

Downtown Cabo San Lucas.

It was an extremely nice day.

Micah next to this human statue of a pirate on the pier.

View of Cabo from the tender.

Sunset in Cabo San Lucas.

An incredible sunset in Cabo San Lucas.

Next we visited Mazatlan.

Looking forward to what’s in store in Mazatlan with grandma and grandpa.

One of the beach fronts in Mazatlan.

An incredibly beautiful day in Mazatlan.

A beachfront view of new Mazatlan where we visited later.

Atop the hill in the middle is the highest natural working lighthouse in the world.

This is probably one of my favorite pictures I took while on sabbatical. It’s of a cliff diver diving 45 feet into the ocean. I wasn’t even sure I captured the moment because it happened so quickly, but you can see the diver about right of center (click on the picture for a better view). These divers in Mazatlan (there are only a handful of them) live on tips off of tourists (and yes, I tipped him).

Mazatlan has the third largest Mari Gras celebration in the world behind Rio de Janeiro and New Orleans. This is the main route for their Mari Gras.

Micah taking in Mazatlan.

Caleb standing next to a statue of Jose Angel "Ferrusquilla" Espinosa, a famous Mexican singer from Mazatlan.

The boardwalk along this beach is the longest in the world, approximately 10 miles long.

We found Mazatlan to be such a lovely place.

We stopped and had goodies at the oldest bakery in Mazatlan, in operation since the 1840’s.

Herman Melville wrote Moby-Dick.

We stopped in a museum where among other things, they had this nearly century old display of costumes from past Mazatlan Mari Gras.

A view of the city from the balcony of the museum.

Stopping at a local café for authentic pico de giao...

... and Mexican Coca Cola. Mexican Coke is sweeter because they use cane sugar instead of corn syrup.

Caleb’s turning out to be a pretty good photographer.

The opera house in Mazatlan – it has a long and rich history.

Inside the opera house.

When you’re almost eight years old, the army is pretty cool, and Caleb wanted this picture in front of Mexican army personnel to show his friends.

Sabbatical week 11

We headed north this week to one of our favorite cities.

We love coming to Seattle.

Home of Pike Place Fish at the Market, this is the place that throws fish around.

The originals Starbucks coffee shop, opened in 1971.

Every time we come to Seattle, Renee insists on eating at her all time favorite fish place, where she says serves the best clam chowder.

Enjoying Seattle.

Downtown museum.

Of course we had to stop and see the Fremont Troll.

What family outing isn't complete without a visit to Seattle's most famous troll?

Digging for gold.

You’d be amazed at what an attraction this is in Seattle. While we were there, I don't know how many people stopped and took pictures.

Getting ready for a chartered cruise.

Which began on Lake Union.

Micah’s ready to go.

Enjoying the ride.

Getting ready to go under the bridge.

One of Seattle’s floating bridges.

This guy’s taking off.

The primary home of Bill Gates, the third richest man in the world. It’s a 66,000 square foot home most recently appraised at a mere $147 million.

Stadium for the University of Washington. This is one of two college football stadiums in the country where football fans can arrive at the game by boat or sea plane.

The sleepless in Seattle houseboat from the movie. It’s the greenish house on the left.

View of downtown Seattle from Lake Washington.

Renee with cousins Heather and Christi.

Caleb and Micah with cousins Addison and Isaiah taking a momentary break from the Wii.

Sunday morning we woke up to huge snow flakes.

We attended church Sunday morning at Aurora Church of the Nazarene.

Where we were warmly greeted at the door by this fine gentleman.

Had a great time in church - Seattle is always fun!

Sabbatical week 10

Renee and I had two very special pastoral calls to make this week. First, we visited Jacob and Shayla to see their new baby, Joshua. I had the privilege of officiating their wedding and now I have the special privilege of dedicating little Joshua to the Lord this coming Easter Sunday.

We also said one final farewell to John and Vernadean. This faithful couple has been part of the Springfield Church since 1955. They are moving to Nampa to be closer to family. They have been such a blessing and encouragement to Renee and I these past seven years and they will be missed.

For Sunday morning worship we attended Salem First Church of the Nazarene.

It was a youth service where youth pastor Joshua Lindsey gave an informative message on media frenzy and how we are all impacted by the cultural influences of the media. Their quizzing team concluded the service with a moving drama.

After church, we were in the mood for seafood, where Micah was fascinated by the live lobsters.

Caleb not so much.

But he was very much into his order of crab legs.

Micah stuck with mac and cheese.

On Wednesday afternoon, we visited the Cottage Grove Church of the Nazarene.

We came to say hi to our friend Pastor Cindy (she’s the one looking right at us), where each Wednesday for about the last five years, they’ve been serving a community meal.

In Springfield, we started a community dinner in November 2008 (we serve anywhere from 70 to as many as 100 people weekly) and we wanted to come to Cottage Grove Church to learn more about their ministry.

This is Jessie and her son James (she joked about the whole Jessie / James thing). She has been the cook for the meals for the last 3 years. The night we were there, we had potato and ham soup, cornbread, carrots, and brownies. Each of the kids also gets a cookie. Jessie told us that she plans meals for a weekly minimum of 40 people, but often finds that isn’t enough so she always has some kind of back up plan so that everyone who comes gets a meal.

I love this plaque they have hanging on the wall. I believe that if God’s people are to pray this prayer as Jesus taught, that God’s people will also be the primary means by which this prayer is answered, which is exactly what the Cottage Grove Church is doing.

Pastor Cindy giving us a tour of the sanctuary.

Adjacent to the sanctuary is a clothing room that is available to anyone who has need.

This is Don and Jen with two of their six children. They oversee the clothing room ministry and were such a delight to chat with.

We’ve known Jerry and Cindy for nine years now and have come to very much love and appreciate them. God is using them to make a difference in Cottage Grove.

Sabbatical week 9

The 9th weekend of our sabbatical found us on the Oregon coast where Sunday morning, we attended the Brookings Church of the Nazarene.

This was our very first time at the church.

We walked into the church and were enthusiastically greeted and welcomed at the door. It really is incredible the tone a greeter can set for visitors who attend a church for the first time.

Waiting for the service to begin.

The Sunday we were there, my friend Pastor Rick took in 10 new members into the church. The worship was very good, the young people on the flute and the violin really added to the worship. This was also the only church I’ve visited on sabbatical that had signing (sign language) during worship, which I’ve always believed adds a meaningful dimension to worship. Renee and I each agreed that Pastor Green’s Lenten sermon was overall one of the best messages we’ve heard during sabbatical.

I gave Caleb one of our cameras with instructions to take pictures of children's church - this is what he comes up with.

Both of the boys said they really enjoyed children's church.

They have a well kept non perishable food pantry to assist those who may need food. The church is right on highway 101 so it is a heavily traveled transient route. A food pantry is a simple but effective way of ministring to people in need.

We very much enjoyed spending time with Pastor Rick, his wife MaryLynn, and their youngest daughter Marla.

We were hoping for better weather, but the Oregon coast is still beautiful.

Caleb took this picture of us.

Right on highway 101 is the Pre Historic Gardens featuring these life sized dinosaur replicas. The gardens were closed, but we stopped to get some pictures and pretend we were in Jurassic Park running for our lives.

When I took the previous picture in front of the tyrannosaurus rex, I absolutely did not see the brontosaurus lurking in the background, I can’t believe I missed it. It doesn’t matter how old you are, these dinosaurs were cool.

We stopped at Renee's grandmother's house for dinner and a visit.

Micah loves coming to GG's house.

That's Renee's grandmother and step grandfather. It's always great being with them.

Sunday evening I attended the Bay Area Church of the Nazarene in North Bend.

It was a traditional Sunday evening service with Pastor Halvorson (front right) leading a constructive study / discussion from Romans chapter 12

Sabbatical week 8

No school on President's Day, so off to Chuck E. Cheese for some fun.

Caleb at one of his favorite games.

The 8th weekend of our sabbatical began with us in Bend where we attended Sunday morning worship at the Bend Church of the Nazarene.

Renee has been here before for women's Springtime Spectacular, but I'd never been to the church. It's a beautiful sanctuary, the worship time was very good, and Pastor Askren preached a very good message about serving our families.

Micah said he really enjoyed children's church, but was also ready to see us. Children's pastor Cathy Parnell gave us a tour of the building and shared with us about some of their ministries.

This was a clothing swap that they did the day before in their gym. This was for the church and the community where clothing items were donated and swapped for free. What an excellent idea! Many people showed up and were able to find items of use.

They've just about completed a 3,000 square foot addition that is very nice. That's Renee talking to Judy Askren, the pastor's wife, who shared with us about what's happening at the church.

Here's a view of the church from N.E. 27th Street. I've not seen the building prior to the addition, but apparently the appearance has changed quite a bit. As you can see, construction is still going on.

After church, we had lunch at Johnny Carino's. We'd never eaten here before, but the food and the service was very good.

Then a stop at the outlet mall for some shopping and to make a new friend.

Sabbatical week 7 - part 2

Next stop, San Diego, for the National Pastors Convention.

The convention opened with comedian Bob Stromberg.

This very good worship team is called Ashmont Hill from Boston.

It’s hard to see, but Andy Crouch (left), author of the book Culture Making, is interviewing David Kinnaman and Gabe Lyons, the two guys who researched and wrote the book unChristian.

Efrem Smith, author and pastor of Sanctuary Covenant Church in Minneapolis gave a great opening message for the convention.

I attended a packed workshop with Brian McLaren entitled Christian Faith as Way of Life. I ran into him in the courtyard the next day and chatted a bit with him.

This guy is funny. He is comedian Michael J. and he reminds me a lot of a cleaned up version of Dave Chappelle.

Andy Crouch (left) interviewing A.J. Jacobs (right), author of The Year of Living Biblically. The next day I ran into Jacobs in the courtyard and told him I thought his book was very good and he jokingly said he was falling into the sin of pride. It was fun chatting with him.

Shane Claiborne was the general speaker for one session. He is an author, speaker, and activist calling the church back to the heart of compassion. He talked about his time serving with Mother Teresa. He also took the honorarium he received for his appearance at the convention and had it converted entirely to one dollar bills and poured it out on the floor of the platform and asked us to take a dollar and use it to somehow help the poor.

And many came and picked up a dollar with the purpose of finding ways to bless the less fortunate.

This very funny comedian is Nazareth who is from Nazareth, Israel.

This is a remarkable band out of Australia called Sons of Korah whose music focuses entirely on the biblical psalms. Their first set was somber as they reflected on the deaths in their homeland due to the recent fires.

Andy Crouch (left), interviewing Emmanuel Katongole (middle), professor of theology and world Christianity at Duke Divinity and Catholic priest of the Kampala Archdiocese in Uganda, and Catherine Claire Larson (right), senior writer and editor of Prison Fellowship and author of the book As We Forgive, talking about what’s happening now in Rwanda after the genocide of 1994.

Rob Bell, author and pastor of Mars Hill Bible Church, gave an excellent message for those of us in ministry.

This was a pretty impressive line up in this workshop on Jesus and Empire featuring (from left to right) Brian McLaren, Don Golden (coauthor with Rob Bell of Jesus Wants to Save Christians), Efrem Smith, Shane Claiborne, and Scot McKnight (professor of religious studies at North Park University in Chicago).

The lady in the middle at this workshop is author Ruth Haley Barton who writes on spiritual formation. I referenced her book Invitation to Solitude and Silence: Experiencing God's Transforming Presence in my doctoral thesis I completed last year.

In commemoration of the 30th anniversary of the New International Version of the Bible, Zondervan is traveling to 90 cities and getting 31,173 people to each handwrite a verse of the Bible that will be complied and placed in the Smithsonian.

The verse I wrote is from John 12:17.

Tommy Walker and his team provided great worship times for a couple of sessions.

Rob Bell (right) interviewing Shane Hipps (left) about his very interesting book entitled Flickering Pixels.

Will Willimon was the Dean of the Chapel and Professor of Christian Ministry at Duke University before he was elected a bishop in the United Methodist Church. He gave the kind of message one night as the general speaker that only a pastor can truly appreciate.

I attended this worship on preaching and spiritual formation by Skye Jethani who is a pastor, managing editor for Leadership Journal, and author of The Divine Commodity.

Andy Crouch (left) interviewing Paul Young (right) author of The Shack. He wrote the book as a story for his children and is astonished that it has impacted as many people as it has.

The gal on the piano is Kendall Payne whose music has appeared on Grey’s Anatomy.

It’s a bit hard to see, but the speaker for this session was Bill Hybels, founding pastor of Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois. I’d heard him speak in person once before in Canada. He gave an excellent message from John 10:27.

This was another workshop I attended that dealt with hermeneutical and eschatological issues in the church today. From left to right are: Skye Jethani, Randy Frazee (author and pastor of Oak Hills Church in San Antonio where Max Lucado was most recently pastor), William Webb (professor of New Testament at Heritage Theological Seminary in Cambridge, Ontario), and Christopher Wright (theologian specializing in the Old Testament).

This is comedian Taylor Mason and his buddy Romeo, you may have seen him (them) on Last Comic Standing. This guy was completely hilarious and gifted on many different levels.

Efrem Smith (right) with Lee Strobel (left), author of The Case for Christ and other books. He gave us an advance copy of his latest book The Unexpected Adventure due out in May 2009.

Andy Crouch (left) interviewing Andrew Marin (right) about his forthcoming book entitled Love is an Orientation.

Christopher Wright was the general speaker one night and gave a strong message on Christ, the cross, and the mission of God in the world. Dr. Wright is an author, theologian, and international director of the Langham Partnership International. He’s not related to theologian N.T. Wright although they are collaborating colleagues.

This workshop was with Leighton Ford, a couple of his books were required reading for me back in college. He is also brother in law to Billy Graham and has been involved with the Billy Graham Association for over 30 years. He shared with us that he had just spoken to George Beverly Shea who recently turned 100 years old. Ford’s latest book is entitled The Attentative Life.

The National Pastors Convention concluded with Efrem Smith preaching another excellent message and with us receiving Holy Communion. I met pastors from all over the country and appreciate the bond I share with those who are also called into the ministry.

San Diego one late afternoon

This place serves a pretty good burger and fries.

My time in San Diego was quite refreshing

Saturday evening I attended Medford First Church of the Nazarene. I had been there before for District Missions Conventions, but never for a worship service. They just started Saturday evening services a couple of weeks ago. My friend Pastor Grinder preached a very good message from one of my favorite passages, Matthew 5:6, and the worship was just as good if not better than any of the mega churches I’ve visited during sabbatical.

That’s the worship team practicing before the service. My friend Michele is in the pink pants. It was nice seeing her and her husband Brad again. If you live in Medford, you’ve got to check out the Saturday evening service at Medford First Church.

Sunday morning I attended Albany GracePoint Church of the Nazarene. I’d never been there before, and found the people to be very friendly, and the worship really touched my heart.

My friend Pastor Bergland was away on a family emergency, but associate pastor Lauren Willis stepped in and preached an encouraging message on encouragement from Philippians chapter 2.

Sabbatical week 7 - part 1

Back to southern California.

Where Renee and I spent a couple days complimentary getaway at this resort just outside of Palm Springs.

This was the view as we stepped outside the front door of our room. The first day was absolutely beautiful.

The second day was not as sunny.

Renee saw this water fountain and wanted a picture of me.

Frank Sinatra Drive

Bob Hope Drive

We found this crazy hat store in Palm Springs and had such a fun and silly time trying on all these different hats. That’s a hamburger hat by the way.

We are both convinced that every pastor needs this hat as part of their wardrobe.

She’s gorgeous in whatever hat she’s wearing.

For when I go crabbing back in Oregon?

Renee really liked the pizza hat.

I made sure Governor Palin wasn’t around before I put this hat on.

She’s cute even in a pirate hat.

I am a Nazarene pastor so this picture had to undergo some slight modification.

I would be wise not to make any comments

I’m secure enough in my masculinity to wear this hat.

Renee should have stuck out her tongue too.

Every guy needs one of these.

My princess!

We ended up getting this one and another one like it for the boys.

Classy!

I tried, but I couldn't get Renee to wear the pimp hat.

Yes, it's a rooster.

We both really liked the birthday cake with candles hat.

Hot diggity dog - it even came with mustard.

Renee really liked this one on me.

Dinner date in Palm Springs.

I am married to the most wonderful woman!

Other than that one day of clouds and rain, the weather was perfect.

We had a great time in Palm Springs!

Sabbatical week 6

While in Phoenix, I hung out with Drew, Josie, Brendon (my man with the Broncos jersey), and Brooke – I love this family!

We went to the one and only Fajitas - good food, I highly recommend it. Take a wild guess what their speciality is?

I also got to see my friend Dean Sale.

I took a day and spent it at the Grand Canyon.

It’s been years since I’ve been at the Canyon, so I was glad to be able to take it all in again.

It was an absolutely picture perfect day!

It was a little chilly so I needed my sweat shirt.

The rock formations are just absolutely amazing.

I took a lot of pictures but I’ll share just a couple more.

The cloud formations were almost as impressive.

There’s nothing like spending time with the Lord at a place like this.

Saturday evening I attended a worship service at Christ’s Church of the Valley.

This is one of the largest churches in the country and I believe the largest church in Arizona with some 25,000 people in attendance.

A very large worship center.

In this huge sea of humanity, I looked to my right and saw long time family friends Lee and Mary Long. It was nice seeing them.

The buildings and grounds are remarkably pristine.

Their children’s department is massive.

Very nice campus. Associate pastor Paul Wilson preached a very good message about the feeding of the five thousand.

While in Phoenix, I was extremely fortunate to visit this temporary display by Legacy Ministries entitled From the Dead Sea Scrolls to the Bible in America, showcasing rare fragments of the Dead Sea Scrolls and other rare publications. I really was fortunate because this temporary exhibition was only until March 1st.

I wasn’t allowed to use flash, but I was able to use the museum setting on my camera. This is a three to four hundred year old Torah from the region of Yemen.

It’s hard to see in natural lighting (even in person), but of the 800 + Dead Sea documents discovered in 1947, this is the only known fragment from the book of Nehemiah. This is from Nehemiah 3:14-15.

This fragment is Deuteronomy 8:2-5 of which verse 3 Jesus quoted during His temptation in the wilderness when He said, “Man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.”

The five lines of this fragment are from Daniel 5:13-16 where Daniel is identified by King Belshazzar as having insight, intelligence, wisdom, and interpretative skills.

This fragment contains portions of Scripture from Deuteronomy 27:4b-6. The amazing thing about these fragments of Scripture is that they are the oldest fragments of Scripture discovered to date, dating back to at least the time of Jesus.

This fragment is of Leviticus 10:4-7.

This is a 1731 first printing of Wycliff’s New Testament in the original middle English.

A 1455 original leaf from a Gutenberg Bible from the book of Isaiah.

A 1522 Erasmus Latin-Greek New Testament

This is an original 1523 first printing of Luther’s Pentateuch as he translated the first five books of Moses from Hebrew into German.

A second edition 1549 Tyndale English translation of the Gospel of Matthew.

A 1569 Spanish Casiodoro de Reina Bible, one of the first Spanish translations of the Bible following the Reformation.

A 1560 first printing of the Geneva Bible, the first English Bible to use verse numbers and commentary in the margins.

A 1568 first edition of the Bishops’ Bible. It went through 19 editions between 1568 and 1606 but never really gained popularity (even with cool pictures). It just could not compete with the influence of the Geneva Bible. It was however the rough draft for what was to become the King James Bible.

A 1585 original of John Calvin’s commentary on Acts with about a 40 year old binding.

A 1580 original Theodore Beza Latin-Greek Bible with original binding. Beza was one of Calvin’s closest associates.

1536 – 1599 original printings of Bibles and theological works by the Reformer Martin Luther.

A 1609 – 10 Catholic Old Testament in English. When Roman Catholic leaders realized they lost the battle to limit the Scriptures to Latin alone they allowed for English translations. The New Testament was released in 1582.

A rare 1740 Huguenot New Testament and Psalter printed in Amsterdam. The Huguenots were the French branch of the Reformation.

A 1611 first edition, first printing of the King James Bible.

This 2 x 2 inch single microfilm containing the full text of the King James Bible, all 1,245 pages, left the earth on February 5, 1971 for the Moon aboard Apollo 14, and so is referred to as the Lunar Bible. I was so glad to be able to view this unique exhibition up close and personal.

For the early Sunday morning worship service, I attended Community Church of Joy in Glendale. This story of the growth and difficult transitions of this mainline Lutheran church is well documented by its long time Pastor, Walt Kallestad, but also more recently in Kevin Ford’s book entitled Transforming Church.

This was the ultra traditional service. I haven’t sung most of these hymns in years. Pastor Kallestad was there (on the left) but preaching that morning was Bishop Dr. Washington Ogonyo Ngede of Kenya (right) who has been called by some the Billy Graham of Africa. He preached that morning about Zacchaeus from Luke 19.

I then attended CrossRoads Nazarene Church in Chandler.

The worship was very good and Pastor David Sharpes preached an impassioned message on the Biblical perspective on fasting in his series on spiritual disciplines based on the book Celebration of Discipline by Richard Foster.

CrossRoads is a beautiful campus with easy accessibility from the freeway.

Phoenix is such a great city with much to see and do. The sunset one night was just so beautiful I had to take a picture.

Sabbatical week 5

Week 5 of sabbatical began what was for me a packed couple of weeks. It began with the District Board of Ministry at our district office in Salem interviewing men and women for ordination in the church. I always enjoy these meetings and look forward to them as these called people of God begin a new chapter in their lives.

Next stop, southern California where the weather was in the 80’s, the highest temperatures in the country.

For Saturday evening church, I visited the campus of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest. I had visited the campus years ago, but have never attended a worship service.

It’s a beautiful campus. I had read Pastor Rick Warren’s The Purpose Driven Church years ago as it was required reading for a seminary course, but I have yet the read his best selling book The Purpose Driven Life.

The main worship center. I arrived on the campus about 1:30 pm and was planning to sit in on both the 4:30 pm and 6:30 pm worship services.

Scripture verses etched on the glass of the worship center.

Another side of the worship center.

One of the baptismals outside the worship center.

The worship center at Saddleback Church. Security guard Nick later told me it seats around 3,400 people. You’ll read about security guard Nick in the next picture.

I got up on the platform and took this picture behind the pulpit. As I quickly discovered, I wasn’t supposed to get on the platform, as I was caught on camera and talked to by security guard Nick. I was very apologetic and he was very nice, but in a church of this stature, I imagine security has to be a priority.

Every Saturday around 1:30 pm, 20 - 30 volunteers come to the church to stuff 20,000 – 25,000 bulletins for weekend worship services.

These two ladies on the end were fun to chat with. They were sharing with me that many of these same volunteers also serve by cleaning the bathrooms in between worship services.

And there’s a lot of bathroom to clean.

Bookstore right outside the main worship center.

I ventured out to look around their 170 acre campus. If you get lost, these signs point the way.

This is the children's ministry

Their nursery facility is probably larger than my church building.

They have a couple of these tents around campus that each seat a couple of hundred people, used for various purposes, but primarily, if I understood correctly, they house various worship venues. So if you wanted gospel worship, or rock worship, you would go to the tent of your choosing, then watch the message on a screen projected that was being preached from the main worship center.

Inside one of the tents

As I discovered with security guard Nick, there is security presence on the campus, with most of their security personnel being former police officers.

The newest building at Saddleback is the Refinery, a worship / hang out venue for the high school, twenty something crowd.

Inside the Refinery, where you can grab a bite to eat and hang out

Outside the Refinery they’ve built a skate board park

Or you can play volleyball, this is southern California after all.

Some of the orchestra getting ready for worship.

The guy with the guitar is Rick Muchow, worship leader at Saddleback. We chatted for a bit, very nice guy. The electric guitar player on the end was excellent!

Fresh from his return from Washington D.C. after praying at President Obama’s Inauguration, Pastor Warren was beginning a sermon series on the Lord’s Prayer. If you heard his prayer at the Inauguration, you know that he concluded with the Lord’s Prayer. He shared that the primary reason he did so was because as he researched past inaugural prayers, never before in our nation’s history has the Lord’s Prayer been prayed during a presidential inauguration, and Pastor Warren wanted to make sure that American history recorded the Lord’s Prayer for future generations. Brilliant!

Those of us in attendance the weekend I was there at Saddleback were given a piece of history, this full color, document sized text of the prayer that Pastor Warren prayed at the Inauguration of President Barack Obama on January 20, 2009.

Before the 4:30 pm service, I struck up a conversation with the man sitting next to me. I told him I'm a pastor on sabbatical, etc. As it turned out, he knew Pastor Warren personally, and in between services, he introduced me to him and took our picture. Pastor Warren asked me what church I was with and I told him I’m a Nazarene pastor. He told me the very first sermon he ever preached was in a Nazarene church. It was an unexpected surprise to be able to meet and chat with Pastor Warren.

The conclusion of the 6:30 pm worship service.

People milling about outside following the 6:30 pm service.

For Sunday morning worship, I attended Pasadena First Church of the Nazarene.

The service began with children singing songs. The worship time was very good and Pastor Daniels was preaching through a series on Jonah. He is a very gifted preacher.

I chatted a bit with Pastor Daniels following the service and then walked around their campus and bookstore.

The next day I was in beautiful Phoenix, Arizona. The day I arrived was the same day the Arizona Cardinals arrived from Tampa after losing the Super Bowl.

I was in Phoenix primarily for a Pastor’s conference at Phoenix First Assembly of God. I hadn’t known much about this church but quickly discovered why this church has and continues to make an impact in the greater Phoenix area.

It’s a huge campus with many facilities and this their main worship center.

I thought this was a great idea, especially for those of us who strongly believe that churches ought to be doing more compassionate work, but as people walk into the worship center, they can very easily drop off their non perishable food items or clothing.

I walked into what is most likely the largest church worship center I’ve ever been in. With the two balconies, this seats around 6,500 people.

The conference began with high energy worship.

With angels flying all around.

And a drummer suspended in mid air.

Pastor Tommy Barnett enthusiastically welcomed us to the Pastor’s conference. I didn’t know much about him before the conference but quickly discovered that this is a man of God who has a passion to see people come to the Lord.

Phoenix First Assembly highlighted their 200 ministries they offer to the church and the community in what they call the Parade of Ministries

Phoenix First Assembly has an extensive ministry of busing in people from all around the Phoenix area to their services, and here Pastor Barnett is introducing us to the “bus kids.”

Pastor Barnett introducing us to former Cardinals pro bowl cornerback and pastor Aeneas Williams.

The guy on the left in the white shirt is Elijah Kelley who was in the movie Hairspray and will be in the upcoming George Lucas movie The Tuskegee Airmen. He has a great testimony and is quite musically talented. On the right is the comedian Sinbad. As a believer, his comedy is free from the vulgarity that is so pervasive today. He did a couple of hilarious stand up, improvisational bits for us. His father was a Baptist minister, so he understands well what ministry is all about.

The guy with the guitar is Coffey Anderson who was a finalist on the show Nashville Star. Very talented guy, even did the whole Fresh Prince of Bel-Air theme in one of his gospel songs, the audience loved it. The gal on the left is Paige Adkins, Sinbad’s daughter, a very good singer.

It’s hard to see, but the blonde gal in the middle used to dance for Britney Spears and has since come to Christ and heads the dance team at the Dream Center in Los Angeles. She and Coffey were married on Valentine's Day.

Pastor Barnett’s son Matthew who heads the Dream Center in Los Angeles. He gave an impassioned message on the role of the church today.

Directly behind Phoenix First Assembly and their prayer pavilion is a “mountain” that they refer to as prayer mountain. You can barely see people at the very top.

Beginning the climb up prayer mountain late one afternoon.

The view looking down from the top of prayer mountain.

The top of prayer mountain. It wasn’t Mt. Everest, but it was a fun climb. I didn’t plan it this way, but the sun was setting in the Arizona desert behind me just as the picture was taken.

A mock wrestling match (aren’t they all) with an evangelistic appeal. The man in the dark suit is former NFL defensive end Joe Jackson who played with the Jets and the Vikings in the 1970’s.

Former professional wrestler Ted DiBiase (The Million Dollar Man) who came to faith in Christ in 1992 and has been in evangelism since 2000.

Phoenix First Assembly has a top notch drama ministry and one evening, we were treated to their production of The Bucket List – A Musical Comedy, loosely based on the movie.

It was a funny, heart warming, and moving production with Pastor Barnett giving one of the best altar calls I’ve seen in a long time following the musical.

One evening we were given the opportunity to view the movie Billy, The Early Years of Billy Graham. It was a very good movie, particularly contrasting the paths chosen by Graham and his counterpart Charles Templeton. The two gentlemen are the producers (William Paul McKay, left, and Lawrence Mortorff, right) talking about the making of the movie (not a documentary).

I met many pastors and leaders from around the country and the world. I met one young person from France, formally a Muslim, who was visiting the United States for the first time.

The conference concluded the final evening with hundreds of pastors at the base of prayer mountain singing hymns and in prayer. The building lit in blue is a beautiful prayer pavilion built by the church which is open all the time. It was a great conference!

Sabbatical week 4

This was a weekend for us to stay home and get ready for the weeks ahead. Earlier in the week, the boys each got their passport pictures taken for our upcoming big trip.

Micah getting his passport picture taken.

I have a friend who invited me to the Circle Service at St. Mary's Episcopal Church in Eugene, so that's where I attended on Saturday night. It's an alternative, contemplative service rich with liturgy that strives for inclusiveness, justice, and peace. The Eucharist was served with Taize music. It was a different kind of service for me, and it completely slipped my mind that Episcopalians use real wine for communion because it sure wasn't grape juice!

For the 8:30 am Sunday service, I visited Eugene First Church of the Nazarene, where I was warmly greeted at the door. Worship time was very good, and my friend Pastor Les Moore preached a timely message on fasting from Isaiah 58. The testimony of the young lady who shared about her fast from Facebook was also inspiring.

For the 10:30 am Sunday service, we went to worship with our friends Pastor Scott and Kelly Simons at the Crow-Applegate Church of the Nazarene. We walked into lively worship, and Scott preached a useful message based on the book The Shack. I've yet to read the book, but what I heard on Sunday as well as from others, I want to check it out.

Lunch with James and Tonya after church!

Sabbatical week 3

Our third week of sabbatical was quite busy, as we headed back up to Portland to attend Mission ConneXion Northwest, held this year at Sunset Presbyterian Church. It's a two day event challenging the Church to fulfill the Great Commission.

The speaker Friday night was Dr. Sameh Maurice, pastor of the Kasr El Dobara Church in Cairo, Egypt, the largest Evangelical (Presbyterian) Church in the Middle East (7,000 people attend services). He spoke with humility and passion on what made the first century church in Acts so dynamic. He also shared about their work with Muslims in the Middle East. I wasn't able to get the best seat, but if you click on the picture, you might see a bit better.

Each of the worship sessions at Mission ConneXion was great, and during this particular session on Saturday morning was this Native American praise and worship team leading us in their beautiful cultural style of worship.

The keynote speaker was Josh McDowell. If I'd heard him speak it was years ago, and I've not thoroughly read his books, but I found him to be quite engaging. I knew that he spoke and had written on youth and family issues, as well as apologetics and moral relativism. It was surprising then to learn that for the last decade or so, his ministry has been focused on reaching Muslims for Christ. His best selling book More Than a Carpenter, which was not written for Muslims, has been and continues to be quite instrumental in reaching Muslims for Jesus.

Josh McDowell and Dr. Sameh Maurice in what was a very informative question and answer Saturday afternoon session on issues ranging from epistemology to Islam, evangelism and Middle Eastern affairs.

On Saturday night, Josh McDowell spoke for the last time, again sharing how God is using him to impact Muslims for Christ, and talking about how his soon to be released book, a novel entitled The Witness, is already influencing the lives of many in Islamic nations.

For the 9:00 am Sunday morning service, I went to Sunset Presbyterian because our hotel was nearby but also because I haven't been to a Presbyterian Church in a while. Everything about this church was "Evangelical" in feel - the worship, the preaching, etc. As it turns out, the church is transferring their affiliation from the more liberal Presbyterian Church USA to the more conservative Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC). Pastor Kincaid preached a good message from Genesis chapter 22.

For the 10:45 am Sunday service, we attended the Beaverton Church of the Nazarene. The people were friendly and Pastor Brumbaugh delivered a very encouraging message from Luke chapter 8.

The boys swimming in the hotel pool. They also had their faces painted at the Children's Museum in Portland.

On Monday morning, we stopped to see my friends, Ray and Deidre Morris, and their two lovely girls. It was so nice seeing them and we had such a good visit! They are planting a unique church in Portland that is currently meeting in this coffee shop operated by the church called Renaissance Café. On Sunday mornings at 10:30 am, the church meets right in the café. Here's a link to a December 2008 article that The Oregonian did about their church plant - http://www.oregonlive.com/portland/index.ssf/2008/12/pastor_plants_combo_church_cof.html

Caleb and Micah outside the Renaissance Café. If you live in the Portland area, or are driving through, be sure to stop by Monday - Saturday between 7:00 am - 3:00 pm and support this great ministry by getting some coffee and free WiFi. Caleb said it was the best he's ever had (being the long time coffee connoisseur that he is. It really is good coffee, I had a peppermint mocha and Renee had a white chocolate coconut mocha. Micah enjoyed his hot chocolate). The café is located at 1710 SE 122nd in Portland. Even though it won't get you free coffee, tell Ray that John sent you.

On Monday afternoon, I joined several of my Nazarene pastor friends and other pastors and Christian leaders for a three day seminar at Jefferson Baptist Church in Jefferson, Oregon. What makes this church so remarkable is that it is a church of approximately 1,200 people in the town of Jefferson that has a population of approximately 1,500 people.

Founding pastor of 32 years, Dee Duke teaching the first day of the pastor's seminar in their approximately 800 seat worship center. What makes his teaching extraordinary is the simplicity of the principles he extracts and expounds upon from the Bible.

Each night following the seminar, the wonderful people at Jefferson Baptist provided an excellent meal for us in their gym (along with lunch and goodies throughout the three day conference - what hospitality). The first night was some of the best steak I've ever had. Pictured here are members of the church who were my dinner hosts for the evening. They are fine Christian people and fun to be around! Pastor Duke is in the red shirt at the table behind us.

Sabbatical week 2

The second weekend of sabbatical began on a more somber note as we went to the Hood River Church of the Nazarene to attend the memorial service for the pastor, Jim Beals, who battled cancer for 6 ½ years. It was a remarkably memorable and touching service. Here’s more information about Pastor Jim, his life and ministry:
http://www.ncnnews.com/nphweb/html/ncn/article.jsp?id=10006707

From Hood River, we drove to Idaho to spend time with family. For Saturday evening church, we have friends who attend Capital Christian Center in Meridian. This is a large, non denominational church where we were greeted at the door with a smile and the people were quite friendly!

The worship at Capital Christian was as if someone put a CD in the sound system - it was phenomenal! This is a charismatic church, a bit too charismatic for me, but there's no denying that those who were in attendance were there to seek the heart of God and hear from Him.

One of my goals during sabbatical is to attend churches that I've never been to. But when I am in the Nampa/Caldwell area, I always really enjoy College Church of the Nazarene. This is where I went for the 9:00 am Sunday contemporary service. Excellent worship time, and as always, a good and challenging message from Pastor Johnson.

The view from the balcony at Nampa College Church during meet and greet time

For the 11:00 am service on Sunday, we attended the Nampa Salvation Army Corps where Renee's dad (who is retired now) was the preacher for the day. The Salvation Army is a sister holiness church to the Church of the Nazarene

My father in law is a real pro - annoying people taking pictures with flash while preaching doesn't bother him one bit! He preached a good sermon on Lessons from Elijah.

Snow in Idaho!

Some of the cousins at grandma's house after a nice pot roast and potatoes meal after church. We had a good time with family!

Sabbatical week 1

On New Years Day, we drove to Canby where we stayed four days and three nights at the Canby Grove Camp and Conference Center. This is a great place to stay and the chef (who reminded us of Morry) is excellent! This was a great way to begin sabbatical!

On Friday night, we went to the Portland Zoo to see
the holiday lights and ride the train. It was spectacular!

Caleb looking out the window during the train ride at the zoo

The Portland Zoo really does a great job providing

family fun during the holidays

I've never been to a zoo at night, but this was a lot of fun!

The Canby Chapel Church of the Nazarene is situated on a great
location right on Territorial Road in Canby.

I was looking for a service to attend Saturday night, and the Canby New Life Foursquare Church was packed. I met Pastor Sam, one of the associates, who didn't preach, but "interviewed" two couples in the church. It worked well because of the great testimonies of the couples.

The Canby Chapel Church of the Nazarene is directly across the street from the Canby New Life Foursquare Church. It's tough when you have churches that close in proximity

I attended the packed 9:00 am Sunday service at Imago Dei Community Church. They meet in Franklin High School in Portland. I walked in as they were singing one of the most beautiful versions of On Christ the Solid Rock I Stand I've ever heard. It was the only hymn I sang at any church service this weekend. No drums on the worship team, but they had two cellos, piano, guitar, and violin. A young man played the harp for the offertory. The preacher was Pastor Jake who is starting Imago Dei in Vancouver, and preached a very good "holiness" message on bearing the image of God.

We went to the 11:00 am Sunday service at Rolling Hills Community Church - even chatted a bit with Pastor Ebel, the founding pastor. Good service, I like that he prayed for what's going on with Israel and Gaza and President elect Obama during his sermon. If you look closely, we parked in Revelation (their parking lots are named after books of the Bible).

Caleb at Rolling Hills Community Church. I'm pretty sure
he was the only one wearing a suit and tie - he looks great!

Sabbatical

Happy New Year church family and friends! I’m looking forward to the New Year and all that God has in store! I’m also looking forward to my 13 week sabbatical, which begins today. This is such a great opportunity and I’m thankful to be able to spend this time reading, writing, studying, and in extended prayer time. I will also be attending a couple of conferences as well as visiting various churches. Renee and I are also considering some extended traveling. Kei’s mother, Fusae, even invited us to Japan! All in all, we are ecstatic about this opportunity! As I mentioned on Sunday, many of you have shared with me prayer burdens that I will take before the Lord during this time. I will be faithful in asking the Lord to intervene on your behalf.

If you would, continue to keep my family and me in your prayers. Pray that this sabbatical period would be a time of rest, renewal, and the creation of wonderful, lifelong memories. Continue to keep our church in your prayers as God is doing awesome things! Keep the people who came to the altar on Sunday to be filled with the Spirit of God in your prayers – we are all excited for them! And pray for Bud Pugh, as he will be bringing you messages from God’s Word in my absence. If you don’t know Bud, you will quickly come to appreciate him and his heart for the Lord.

We love you and will miss you! If you are interested, keep checking my blog for sabbatical updates and pictures (I’m excited to try out the new digital camera I got for my birthday). HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Pure Religion

The Bible compares and contrasts religion that is worthless to religion that is pure. The difference between the two is this - according to James 1:26, religion that is worthless is all talk and no action. But religion that is pure and faultless, according to James 1:27 is, “to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.”

Years ago my grandfather founded the Helwan Evangelical Orphanage just outside of Cairo, Egypt. The orphanage houses 80 boys ages 6 – 18 and provides Christian nurture and education. After age 18, many graduates go into vocational training or higher education.

There was a local news story in 2007 that highlighted a resident of the Helwan Evangelical Orphanage that can be accessed here:

http://www.kval.com/news/local/9628362.html

If you’d like to know more about the orphanage and how you can help, please email me at PastorJMH@aol.com

Helwan Evangelical Orphanage

Happy Thanksgiving 2008

We had a great church Thanksgiving dinner following morning worship. Thanks to all who prepared and brought food, it was one of the tastiest dinners we've had! From our church family to you, have a Happy Thanksgiving!

First Family

We have a new President and presidential family representative of many families across the country. Minority families are a growing cross section of our nation’s landscape and it’s nice to see the Obama family occupy the White House. I was very troubled by the way many people, Christians included, portrayed President elect Obama and his family during the campaign. I know many of the emails I received about Obama were simply untrue. Yet, President Obama is our new President and we are obligated now to pray for him and his family. What an adjustment for daughters Malia who is 10, and Sasha who is 7, to be moving into the White House and living under the biggest microscope in the world. And what tremendous responsibilities and obligations this man will bear as the leader of the free world. Let’s pray not only for our new President, but for our new First Family!

Pumpkin Pickin'

We had a blast yesterday at the pumpkin patch!

Christlike Disciples

The beauty of holiness is the majesty of Christ, and holiness is all about becoming Christlike. In the spirit of the Centennial Celebration of the Church of the Nazarene and in keeping with the mission of our church to “Make Christlike Disciples in the Nations,” on Sunday, October 19th, I’m beginning a sermon series about what it is to be a Christlike disciple. What would our communities be like if more people were like Christ? What would our churches be like if more of us were like Christ? May God stir deep in all of us a passionate desire to be Christlike.

That's Reward Enough!

Without a doubt, the vast majority of us in ministry will never have our face plastered on the cover of a national magazine. Neither will we write one of the best selling non fiction books of all time, or pastor a mega church, or moderate a question and answer session with the leading presidential candidates in an important election year. And while we are grateful for how God is using men like Rick Warren, by far, most of what we do in ministry will quietly go unnoticed. Most of what we do in ministry will be unappreciated. Much of what we do in ministry will be unfairly criticized. And yet for those of us in ministry, whatever our assignment, we diligently press on in ministry. Not for acclaim, not to be praised by others (Galatians 1:10; I Thessalonians 2:4). We carry on in ministry for no other reason because God has called us. Whether you’re a small group leader, children’s helper, usher, sound tech, singer, teacher, etc., we do what we do because we serve God! And when you’re in the center of the will of God and serving Him, let me remind you, that’s reward enough!

The Ultimate Celebration

Catching a glimpse of the 2008 Olympic closing ceremonies in Beijing tonight, watching the festivities, and seeing the various nations and nationalities represented, I couldn’t help but remember the imagery in Revelation of what the ultimate celebration centered around God’s throne will be like:

“After this I looked and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count, from every nation, tribe, people and language, standing before the throne and in front of the
Lamb. They were wearing white robes and were holding palm branches in their hands. And they cried out in a loud voice: ‘Salvation belongs to our God, who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb.’ All the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures. They fell down on their faces before the throne and worshiped God, saying: ‘Amen! Praise and glory and wisdom and thanks and honor and power and strength be to our God for ever and ever. Amen!’” (Revelation 7:9-12).

No Smoking

Renee and I went to dinner tonight with Marilyn and her two daughters. They attend our church and have been great friends! In the churches that we’ve pastored, we have a standing offer that if a smoker can go 100 days without smoking, we’ll treat them to dinner at the restaurant of their choice. Today is 114 days without smoking for Marilyn! I am so proud of Marilyn - and she chose Red Robin, one of our favorites!

Book Reviews

As I am preparing for the Centennial Celebration of the Church of the Nazarene on Sunday, October 5, 2008, I thought I'd I read this book on the founder of the church, Phineas Bresee. Good book, well researched, maybe a little too well researched. By that I mean there are many details (names, places) that are relevant to Bresee's story, but may be irrelevant to the reader. When I read a biography, I want to know more about the individual than I do circumstantial details that the author discretionarily decides to retain or omit from the book. In this case, I felt the author may have retained a bit too much information from his research. It's still a good book that I recommend for anyone who wants to know more about a great man of God in Bresee
(4 of 5 stars)

An absolute must read book for ministry leaders who want to better understand the process it will take for postmodern people to come to Christ. When I was a teenager, I went through Evangelism Explosion training at my church. Yet Evangelism Explosion doesn't resonate with people today, and unless we try to understand the 21st century mindset of post Christian people, our outdated evangelism efforts will continue to frustrate us. This is a very good book, a quick and very simple and easy to understand read about understanding how to relate and reach postmoderns for Christ
(5 of 5 stars)

For more book reviews, visit my Reading Christian blog

Father's Day

I hope you had a great Father's Day! As a dad, I am blessed with the two greatest sons in the world!

Politics

As you probably have, I’ve been getting a ton of Obama bashing email forwards. Usually I just delete them. Today I received the one of his supposed quotations taken directly from one of his books. Putting politics aside, I question if it’s disingenuous and untruthful to advance an email of supposed quotes that are taken out of context, misleading, or non existent? Have people actually read the book or are they just blindly forwarding on an email because it supports what they feel?

Since Obama is the leading Democratic candidate, it seems to me that the truly Christian response is to pray for him as well as the leading Republican candidate, that God's will be done regarding the upcoming presidential election in this country, not attack and smear whichever candidate we feel is not worthy to be president. Should we even be engaging in what appears to be unscrupulous and suspect email campaigns obviously motivated by partisan politics? Should it be that we Christians set the example to the rest of country during these months leading up to the election by taking the high road and helping people make an intelligent, informed decision on the candidates?

Another Day at the Office

Graduation

Sharing at the D.Min luncheon the day before graduation

Caleb standing at graduation when President Williford asked sons of graduates to stand

James standing when President Williford asked brothers of graduates to stand


On one knee for the hooding ceremony

Recommended Music

I love Christian music of most every genre. Here are CD's that I recommend

I LOVE Christmas music! This is a fun Christmas album with original material that's sure to make you smile and reflect on the Christmas message. Plus, if you look closely in the credits, Renee and I are mentioned under special thanks. You can get it here

The Hanna's

I'm from Denver, Colorado and grew up attending the Westminster Church of the Nazarene. When I was just a little boy, God called me to be a pastor. I attended college at Northwest Nazarene University in Nampa, Idaho and had four great years there. Four days after graduating from college, I married Renee on June 16, 1994 just outside of Santa Cruz, California. We then headed to Kansas City where I received the Master's of Divinity degree at Nazarene Theological Seminary. My first church was the South Broadway Church of the Nazarene in Boulder, Colorado where I was fortunate to be pastor to some of the most wonderful people. I was ordained an Elder in the Church of the Nazarene July 2000 on the Colorado District by Dr. Jim Bond, General Superintendent. There I began my doctoral studies at Denver Seminary where I received my doctorate in ministry in 2008. On July 23, 2001 the Lord blessed us with Caleb and on November 9, 2005 the Lord also blessed with Micah, the two greatest boys in the entire world (I love being their dad)! In April 2002 we moved to Springfield, Oregon to pastor the Springfield First Church of the Nazarene where God is shaping us to be a congregation who glorify Him. I am a Denver Broncos fan as well as a 2 time Fantasty Football League Champion (2003 and 2005). Every summer we look forward to camping, fishing and hiking with friends and family! Most importantly, I am the undisputed wrestling champion of the Hanna family!

Renee was born in Casper, Wyoming and grew up an officer’s kid in the Salvation Army. She graduated from MidAmerica Nazarene University with a degree in Business Administration and also has a MBA from Regis University in Denver (she's as smart as she is beautiful). She has two brothers and two sisters. Renee unfortunately is a Kansas City Chiefs fan but makes up for it by cooking great meals so I don't complain much unless the Chiefs beat the Broncos. She also enjoys quilting, cooking and traveling.

Caleb is a 2nd grader and is an excellent kid! He's always helping at home or at church. He's already picking up fun hobbies such as wood working and collecting license plates from different states. He loves to play with his cars and trucks, wrestle, go swimming and watch/play football with dad and help make dinner and crafts with mom.

Micah is 3 years old and is absolutely amazing! He is so full of life, energy, creativity. He is the cutest, most incredible little guy! Walk up to him and ask him to give you a fist bump!

Sermons

Sermons can be heard by streaming audio and available through podcasting at springfieldchurch.org/streaming.html

Sunday, July 12, 2009
Pastor John M. Hanna
“By Faith... We Live”
Hebrews 10:32-39; Habakkuk 2:1-4
We begin an in depth look at the only way believers in God are to live - by faith

Sunday, July 5, 2009
Speaker – Pedro Ortiz Hernandez
Pedro oversees the new Hispanic Ministry at the Springfield Church. As a convert to Christianity through Nazarene missionaries in his native Peru, Pedro has dedicated his life to serving the Lord. You will be blessed as Pedro brings the Sunday message.

Sunday, June 28, 2009
Guest Speaker - Ray Beeson
We welcome back to Springfield Church Ray Beeson of Overcomers Ministries. Ray is a gifted Bible teacher who will be speaking Sunday, June 28th at 10:30 am and 6:00 pm, and Monday, June 29th - Wednesday, July 1st at 7:00 pm nightly.

Sunday, June 21, 2009 - Father's Day
Guest Speaker - Major James Ross
After graduating from Nazarene Theological Seminary in Kansas City, Major Ross has been in Christian ministry for 40 + years as an officer (pastor) in The Salvation Army. He also happens to be Renee’s father. We welcome him back to Springfield Church as he brings the morning message.

Sunday, June 14, 2009
Pastor John M. Hanna
“Reasons to Celebrate – The King is Coming Soon”
Revelation 22:12-17
Believers in Christ anticipate the day the King fully consummates the kingdom of God with His very arrival

Sunday, June 7, 2009
Pastor John M. Hanna
“Reasons to Celebrate - The King says, ‘Come to me…’”
Matthew 11:25-30
Jesus offers Himself as the remedy from the weariness of restlessness and the heaviness of burdens

Sunday, May 31, 2009 - Pentecost Sunday
Pastor John M. Hanna
"Reasons to Celebrate - The King, His Spirit, and His Church"
Acts 2:1-8
Amazing and wonderful things happen when the Spirit of God is poured out upon His people

Sunday, May 24, 2009
Pastor John M. Hanna
"Reasons to Celebrate - The King and the Kingdom of God"
Acts 1:1-11
Jesus spoke more about the kingdom of God than anything else, both before AND after His resurrection

Sunday, May 17, 2009
Pastor John M. Hanna
"Reasons to Celebrate - The King Offers Life"
John 20:24-31
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and by believing, you may have life in His name

Sunday, May 10, 2009 -Mother's Day
Pastor John M. Hanna
"Reasons to Celebrate - The King Offers Peace"
John 20:19-23
The absence of peace is the absence of Christ, the presence of Christ is the presence of peace

Sunday, May 3, 2009
Pastor John M. Hanna
"Reasons to Celebrate - The King Is Among Us"
Luke 24:28-35
Our King not only reigns from on high in the heavens, but dwells in our presence

Sunday, April 26, 2009 - Faith Promise Sunday
Missionaries Dwight and Carolyn Rich
Fresh from our District NMI (Missions) Convention in Beaverton, we welcome Dwight & Carolyn Rich, Nazarene missionaries to Equator. Dwight is the field strategy coordinator for the South American North Andean Field which comprises the countries of Ecuador, Colombia, and Venezuela. Carolyn serves as the nurse for the Seminary and is the office administrator for the North Andean field.

Sunday, April 19, 2009
Pastor John M. Hanna
"Reasons to Celebrate - The King Travels With Us"
Luke 24:13-27
We really are never alone, even when unaware of the presence of the resurrected Christ

Sunday, April 12, 2009 - Easter Sunday
Pastor John M. Hanna
"Reasons to Celebrate - The King Lives Forevermore"
John 20:10-20
The King has overcome all obstacles, including the most menacing of them all - death

Sunday, April 5, 2009 - Palm Sunday
Pastor John M. Hanna
"Reasons to Celebrate - The King is Welcomed"
Luke 19:28-38
There’s always a celebration when Jesus is acknowledged and received as King