Once again I have failed at my attempt to communicate weekly with you via this blog. With all my best intentions it is still a struggle to keep you as up to date as possible on all that God is doing in Tacoma, what we have planned and how you can pray. Hopefully I can accomplish those things through this post. Thank you for being patient with me as you pray for The Pathway and please don't ever hesitate to call or email if you want a specific update.
First and foremost I cannot believe it is already February 26th. 2013 is flying by and God is doing so much. To be perfectly transparent the year started off slow and frustrating for The Pathway. Our involvement waned through the holidays and the new year. Our worship gatherings were sparse in attendance and our IC gatherings hit a lull as well. But the one thing God kept reminding me is that life is hard, full and you cannot experience the fullness of the mountaintops with out faithfully pushing through the difficulty and dryness of the valleys. During the last couple of months we have experienced a great amount of Spiritual warfare as a church. I think this is tough for me as a pastor because I view the church as my spiritual children. I would much rather undergo the attack myself than to watch the people of our church endure persecution and tribulation. That being said, it has also been unbelievably encouraging to see the church be the church. To face challenge in the name of Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit. To support each other through the trials and attacks and begin to come out stronger on the other end.
We were blessed to celebrate baptism in February. We baptized 4 and celebrated what it means to be a new creation in Christ. It has been awesome to see the Lord moves in the lives of these individuals over the last couple of weeks and to see their faith grow and solidify.
As you know The Pathway's ministry Hub is called The Spot and it is a place God has generously allowed us to use for the past 2 years. Well, we have been wrestling with an obvious call to keep using The Spot but the reality that we are like a fish in a bowl, every time we grow to the size of the bowl our growth is stunted. We need to find a worship gathering spot where we can receive the harvest that we believe God desires to bring. With that wrestling came God's answering. He has generously provided us a way to keep The Spot for all the day to day ministry that flows through it, but move our worship gatherings to Franklin Elementary, a school in the heart of central Tacoma that will allow us to grow and begin serving and sharing Jesus with a new neighborhood while continuing to serve and share Jesus with the Hilltop through The Spot and our other Intentional Communities. This transition is a challenge and we are praying that it is one that goes smoothly an spurs the church on to reach more friends, more family members and more neighbors for Jesus. The transition will happen March 24th but our official launch will be Easter Sunday March 31st. I can barely contain my excitement and I am in awe of how God has put the pieces in place.
In the midst of all this we are going out into the harvest fields through our March into April outreach. Just as we did last year it will kick off with two community dinners and will be followed up with multiple outreaches that will allow us to not only serve our community, but build relationships in the process. Pray for me and our church that we would keep the big picture vision in mind of why we do this... that is to make disciples of Jesus! Please pray for the harvest to come. Please pray for strength, energy and perseverance. I've listed our March into April schedule below. Please mark your calendars and pray that God would do exactly what God wants to do! We love you all and thank you for the role you play in The Pathway!
March into April: Schedule
Saturday 3/23-- Community Dinners @ 5pm & 7pm (Masa on 6th Ave.)
Sunday 3/24-- First Worship Gathering @ Franklin Elementary
Friday 3/29 & Saturday 3/30-- Community Fun Night
March 29th @ Franklin
March 30th @ The Spot
Sunday 3/31-- Easter Worship Gathering @ Franklin Elementary
April-- Launching new Intentional Communities
Saturday 4/13-- Tacoma goes to the movies
Saturday 4/27-- Community Financial Seminar
