Pastor Zac Derr, Wadsworth Campus

God gives his children wonderful gifts.  

One of His gifts to me that I treasure is my calling to be a pastor. I never wanted to be one while I was growing up and when my youth pastor suggested it in high school, I remember thinking that my ambitions in life were, well, a bit loftier let’s say. I was ignorant at best.

As a junior in college, it finally dawned on me that following Jesus was all about love. I came to learn at last that loving God and loving people were far more important than being “right” or being spiritually disciplined. I’d been a Christian for most of my life, but that year God did something new inside of me.

I was actively discipling some other college athletes at Akron and helping lead a Bible study for guys on the football team. I had the privilege of introducing a few teammates to Jesus and was actively involved in The Chapel’s college campus ministry. Our pastor at the time encouraged me to consider becoming a pastor and for the first time the idea resonated.  

Later that year, the Lord cemented my calling as I sat in class one day. I was pursuing a degree in Emergency Management, taking classes in the Polsky building on campus when God gave me more clarity than any “Retina Display” Apple has ever produced.

I realized that if I became really effective in the field of Emergency Management, I would prevent people from dying, but then God enlightened me to the fact that if they weren’t ready to die I was really only delaying their inevitable eternity apart from Him. I can still see myself sitting in that classroom realizing in that moment I would invest the majority of my life as a pastor.

I cannot reasonably imagine finding more joy as a pastor than is regularly mine. I love our Savior and our church and I want you to know how grateful I am that God has called me to serve you as your pastor.

What a privilege.

Pastor Mike Castelli, Green Campus

What thoughts run through your mind as you read the two words, Rebuild:Restore? Think about that for a moment. Rebuild:Restore.

What if I told you we were talking about a wall? What if I told you we were talking about a community of believers? What if I told you we were talking about a life? Like many of you, I have been watching and reading the unfolding horror story that has now turned to a rescue celebration of how three girls (now women), Amanda, Gina and Michelle were kidnapped, abused and imprisoned for some ten years. I read today that Gina (now 23) stated that she wants to do things like go back and finish school, get a driver’s license and a hair cut; she wants to learn how to put on make-up. I can imagine that the words, Rebuild:Restore would take on very deep meaning in her life.

Sunday we launch into the story of Nehemiah. It is a great story of a man who would Rebuild:Restore a wall, quite a few lives, a whole community of believers, the reputation of God, and a whole bunch more. In fact, the book of Nehemiah has much more to do with a story about the God of heaven who Rebuilds:Restores, than it does about Nehemiah. He was simply a man who made himself available to demonstrate the greatness of the God he followed. It is real life stuff, so it has everything from political intrigue and enemies who seek to destroy what God is doing, to tears of desperate grief and tears of overflowing joy in the midst of those that God moves to Rebuild:Restore.

So I commend you to take in the story of God’s Rebuild:Restore journey with Nehemiah and the Israelites. I challenge you to read it thoughtfully (try that this week) with a longing to seek the things that God desires in your life and community, and to know the reality of the One who is able to Rebuild:Restore in the midst of desperate circumstances. I challenge you to know better the unstoppable God who will accomplish all that He plans and wills while using flawed instruments like Nehemiah, me, and you. As the Apostle Paul said in Romans 8:31,
                                                                                        If God is for us, who can be against us?

April 7 to May 12, 2013

05.12.2013 Faith in the Midst of Pain

• Zac Derr
• 1 Samuel 1
• Audio

05.05.2013 (No Sermon)

04.28.2013 The Assuring

• Knute Larson
• Romans 8:31-39
• Audio

04.21.2013 A Second Chance

• Zac Derr
• John 21
• Audio not available due to technical difficulties

04.14.2013 Doubt and Faith

• Zac Derr
• John 20:19-31
• Audio

04.07.2013 An Unlikely Witness

• Zac Derr
• John 20:1-18
• Audio

April 7 to May 12, 2013

05.12.2013 Sufficient Grace

• Jon Platek
• 2 Corinthians 12:1-10
• Audio

05.05.2013 Not Just Ordinary

• Jacob Ley
• John 14
• Audio

04.28.2013 The Assuring

• Knute Larson
• Romans 8:31-39
• Audio

04.21.2013 Being Like a City Exiled

• Jon Platek
• Jeremiah 29:1-9
• Audio

04.14.2013 Being the Church

• Jim Colledge
• 1 Kings 8
• Audio

04.07.2013 Being a City

• Jon Platek
• Matthew 5:13-16
• Audio

April 7 to May 12, 2013

05.12.2013 The Living of Faith

• Mike Castelli
• Hebrews 11
• Audio

05.05.2013 A Christian Response to Gay Marriage

• Mike Castelli
• Topical Study
• Audio

04.28.2013 The Assuring

• Knute Larson
• Romans 8:31-39
• Audio

04.21.2013 Make Disciples in Your Church

• Mike Castelli
• Titus 2:1-8
• Audio

04.14.2013 Make Disciples in Your Home

• Mike Castelli
• Deuteronomy 6:1-9
• Audio

04.07.2013 Make Disciples

• Mike Castelli
• Matthew 28:18–20
• Audio

May 19 to July 21, 2013

May 19 to July 21, 2013

May 19 to July 21, 2013

Pastor Mike Castelli, Green Campus

There are projects throughout life that you will tinker with halfheartedly, and other jobs that you will do because someone pays you to do them. And still other tasks that you will put your hand to and be able to step back and say, “I am all done, on to the next thing.” Yet the job of being a mom, a good mom, is sure not one of those. It’s a work that is really never complete; a true labor of love that you pour heart and time into by faith, whether or not someone is standing by to say “thank you” along the way. We can call it a work of faith, because you pour in, continuously trusting, longing, enjoying [sometimes… :-o ] and praying without fully seeing the impact in any one moment of time. For the work you do and the love you show will endure forever. Mom (and dad too!), you are shaping a soul that lasts forever. Remember that today, as we collectively say “thank you” for pouring your heart and time into a great work of faith. In one of his parenting books, author Reggie Joiner said it well:

Because over time…
You are making a permanent imprint
On the soul of a child.
You are leaving a legacy
You are playing for keeps.

It’s time to get serious about
What you do with your time.

I want to give you…
Time over time, so we can have a history worth repeating
Love over time, so you will understand your eternal worth
Words over time, so you can have a better direction
Stories over time, so you can imagine a world beyond yourself
Tribes over time, so you will have a place to belong
Fun over time, so you will find joy that lasts a lifetime.

Happy Mother’s Day!