scobpastor

Empowerment

This year, I have selected a word to represent what I think the Lord is leading us to this year. That word is “empowerment.” In truth, this has long been my philosophy of ministry because, in essence, this is what happened to me. You see when I first walked into the church, at least in my adult life, I was pretty far from God. As I began seeing my need for God, I started looking for my place to fit. The thing is, I didn’t have any of the gifts that we usually associate with the church. I was terrified to speak in public, I didn’t have enough knowledge to teach and my lack of musical ability is nearly legendary. I figured I was destined to be a consumer, and that is not a good place to stay in the church. What I did have was some artistic talent.

Long story short, my pastor found that gift and tapped into it. It was a small assignment. A backdrop for the VBS skits, but it opened the door and changed my life. The Lord through my pastor had empowered me to serve. The end result, today I am a church pastor with a speaking ministry that takes me all over the U.S. Empowerment is a wonderful, powerful, miraculous force that can change the entire direction of a person’s life.

Today the church I pastor is a blessing. Great people who love the Lord and His Word. When I hear my unbelieving friends speaking negatively about the church, I wish they’d come and check out mine and when I hear my ministry friends speak of the troubles they have in their churches, I become increasingly aware of how blessed I truly am. We’re not perfect, but Springfield Church of he Brethren is a pretty good place to be. There is only one major thing we lack and that is simply that a lot of the people who really need what we have, don’t know we’re there.

How can we fix this? I think it has something to do with empowerment. It’s not that my people don’t serve. They do. I just wonder what else lays on their hearts. We in the church tend to only see certain gifts and talents as usable for the church, but what if we saw that differently? What if we realized that ever good gift comes from God and that all of them are useful to the Kingdom?

What if we gave people the ability to ry new things? This is the sole of empowerment, and so we extend an invitation for people to try the new things God lays on their hearts. Sometimes this will be a one time thing. Sometimes it will be continual.

What do you need to have to do this? You need a dream. You need to be faithful. You need to finish what you start and you have to be trying to honor God. You need to accept humble beginnings, starting with available resources and working toward growth.

One last thing, your calling is your calling. In other words, if you have an idea you want me to do, the answer is probably going to be no, unless it’s a really phenomenal idea that’s right in the middle of my wheelhouse and clearly God’s call. Empowerment is about helping you to do what God is calling you to do and helping you to be what God has created you to be. Empowerment can change your life.

What can we help you to do and be?

May God bless you as you seek to do His will.
Happy New Year,
Pastor Dave

Looking Back, Looking Ahead

Well the new year is just around the corner. 2017 was a dichotomy, “best of times, worst of times” kind of year. On the up side we’ve had some growth both numerically and spiritually, I believe. On the downside we’ve had people pass away and periods where more than a few of us struggled with some pretty major illnesses and other problems. Through it all, we got to see God’s faithfulness over and over again. This is the conundrum of the Christian life. We’d just as soon never experience the things that prove the faithfulness and power of our God. Please remember, God is faithful and independence is an illusion. We are totally dependent on God in good times and bad, so it’s best to keep our eyes on Him at all times.

One thing that too often happens is we see good times as a sign of God’s favor and hard times as a sign of God’s displeasure, and in some cases even His abandonment. This is rarely the case. To prove this we need to look no further than the example of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Surely no one in history lived a life more pleasing to God and yet His suffering is undeniable. Jesus Himself reminds us “In this world you will have trouble…” I often call this the promise of God that none of us want Him to keep. The good news is, the verse continues, “…but take heart, I have overcome the world.” At another point, Paul calls us “more than conquerors through Him (Jesus Christ) who loves us. All of us will face things that need to be overcome and conquered in this life. The good news is you never have to face them alone. If you’re in a time trial, know this: God has not abandoned you. He is by your side and your church family should be with you as well.

As we look to this new year, I pray it’s blessed for you. I pray for good things to continue to happen in your life and I pray that God will be glorified in you. If you’re reading this and you’re not already part of our Springfield family, or if you’ve been away for a while, I’d like to welcome you, or welcome you back. There is a place for you in this body of believers. Come learn and grow with us as we follow our Lord together in the coming year.

Church Signs

Hi my name is Dave and I’m a pastor. I say that because of something I am about to confess. While I live my life to honor God, there is something that could drive me to a life of crime. It’s bad church signs. Every time I see “God answers knee-mail” on one of those signs with the changeable letters, I dream of breaking in to the church’s office and stealing the book they got it from. The reason is really simple. People already think the church is behind the times and irrelevant–no sense adding fuel to the fire. We are the children of the Creator, and it’s time we got creative.

I love my church sign and I can say that in humility because I am not responsible for its content. One of the members of my congregation, Lucy Cascioli, does our sign. She has since before I got here and she does a great job. The church sign was pretty much the forerunner of the Tweet. Say something of value, to a media bombarded culture passing by quickly, in probably 50 characters or less. It’s a very specialized form of communication, and Lucy handles it masterfully.

Our sign currently says “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.” I love that message. It’s the essence of ministry. If we are a people that trust God, then we trust in His faithfulness, and if we trust in His faithfulness then we can trust in His provision. We don’t have to worry about whether we have enough of whatever. We don’t have to wish we had what we don’t have or lament how successful we could be if we just had X, Y, or Z. Instead we look at what God has provided with great gratitude and put it to work to His glory, trusting He will make provision in any area where we have need.

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

I an’t wait to see what comes next on our sign.

The Gospel Is the Answer…

There is a lot of turmoil in our world. Go to social media and you will see it’s all pretty anti-social. There is a real temptation, even for those of us who follow the Lord, to want to get into the fray and duke it out. Who knows, there may be a time and a place for that, but by and large does that really accomplish what we’d like to accomplish and does it really honor God?

Now please hear me, I know there is a time to take a stand, but do we really show the love of Christ when we fight and argue with people? Further are people ever really argued and fought into the church and/or God’s Kingdom? I think the vast majority of the time, the answer is no.

Further when we look at the massive problems our society faces and the division that happens between people, it is easy to get overwhelmed and frustrated. That does us no good. We are in this world to help it and bless it and to introduce it to the only One who can fix what’s broken. Sometimes it feels like we look to every other solution, but friend, The Gospel is the answer.

If we will be faithful to us Savior’s call, our job is and will always be to take the Gospel to the ends of the earth. What brings people to repentance? The Gospel. What changes hearts and minds? The Gospel. What turns sinners into saints? The Gospel. What did Jesus command us to take to the ends of the earth? The Gospel.

What to change the world?

The Gospel is the answer.

We’re On a Mission From God!

It’s only a few weeks away from our annual mission trip. We are doing disaster relief work this year in Columbia, South Carolina and we are praying for a blessed time serving the Lord. Mission trips are great. They allow us to go somewhere and help people in trouble. The other benefit is they allow us to build camaraderie among the mission team. Because being part of the church is very much about relationships, projects like this are vital to the church and I am really looking forward to making this trip.

But there is something more. These trips entail one to two weeks a year. What about the other 50 or 51 weeks? Well the truth is, as Christians we are on a mission all day every day. It’s a mission to serve others. It’s a mission to help people in need and more than anything it’s a mission to take the Gospel of Jesus Christ to this community, this region, the state, the nation and the world. This is our 24/7/365 mission and every single believer needs to be working in this regard.

We believe Jesus Christ is the source of hope both in this world and the only hope of an eternal life to come. As such our mission is to spread the Good News of Jesus. This is our God commanded mission—to take His Gospel to the ends of the earth. South Carolina will be the beneficiaries of our efforts on the first week of August, the rest of the time, our mission field must be Coopersburg, Springfield Township, and to the ends of the earth,

Pastor Tony Evans of Dallas Texas said it best at a Promise Keepers event a long time ago.

If we want to see things change out here,
we’ve got to start in our homes.
A messed up man will produce a messed up family,
that will produce a messed up church,
which will result in a messed up neighborhood,
that will cause a messed up city,
that will bring about a messed up county,
that will result in a messed up state,
that will reside in a messed up country,
that will bring about a messed up world.
So if we want a better world composed of better countries  inhabited by better states,  made up of better counties,
that are composed of better cities,
inhabited by better neighborhoods,
illumined by better churches,
made up of better families,
we better go home better men.

Let’s be people on a mission from God.

SaveSave

So Tell Us About Your Church…

It’s one of the first things people ask and to tell you the truth it is harder than you think. How do you describe a great group of people, who are kind loving and passionate about God’s Word? Maybe just like that.

I came to this church as an interim pastor. My plan was to stay a couple months and help get them ready for their next permanent pastor. It didn’t take long for plans to change. I felt such love for them and from them and I witnessed them showing that same love to everyone who walked through the doors. Jesus said, “They will know you are my disciples by the way you love one another.” This is a congregation that lives that out.

We’re not the coolest church in town. We’re not flashy, not that there’s anything wrong with flashy, it’s just not us. Our worship is a blend of traditional and contemporary, but mainly it’s just authentic. We’re not perfect, but we’re growing. We’re serious about following Jesus, but we have a lot of fun while we do it. We’re active, but not hyperactive. We don’t have a ton of programs, but we encourage our folks to minister in their gifts and talents. We’re all about empowering people to try knew things.

Bottom line, we’ve learned that we can’t be all things to all people, but if you’re looking for a place where you’ll be welcomed and loved as you grow in your faith, we might just be the church for you.

Come and see,

Pastor Dave Weiss