A New Season

Incredible week. Marcie and I are amazed at how God continues to use Western Reserve. This weekend we saw 15 people commit their lives to Jesus Christ and broke another attendance record which, by the way, has been happening every 2-3 weekends! The people of Western Reserve get it! Praise God...we are on  journey together! May God be glorified!

I am speaking this weekend on baptism. Touchy subject, especially in

our culture here in Northeast Ohio. In fact, baptism is the question most frequently posed to me. People from different religious backgrounds who are honestly searching for clarity on the topic ask the "baptism" question. All who come from this background understand that baptism is important, and has significant spiritual implications, but many do not have clarity on its meaning and depth. So, this week I am going to lay it out with honesty and Biblical clarity. My prayer is that we have a flood of people that say, "I am ready...dunk me!" How cool would it be that a line is created of people that are waiting to jump in the water...what a celebration! Changed lives my friends...changed lives! Please God, turn our hearts to you, that we might proclaim your name in every aspect of our lives!

Catalyst Church to join Western Reserve!!

If you were at our weekend services you'll remember that I spoke with you about Western Reserve making plans for our first campus. I asked all to pray as I met with the body and leaders of Catalyst church to discuss joining Western Reserve. The purpose of them joining us would be to prepare for a re-launch of this group under Western Reserve. If God leads, we will launch this group of people (some from Western Reserve) as our first regional campus. The goal would be Easter 

2010.

The gathering went great! I was moved by the hearts of the people of this church plant. The key phrase that I walked away with was...heartbroken but hopeful. Heartbroken because their investment, as they currently know it, is transitioning. However, the vision and heart of the church is not changing. There was hope last night as I shared with people the vision of seeing the dream realized. We dream of reaching people in different cities around Northeast Ohio, and I believe that God can do this. This group of people (40-60 in number) is going to begin a 3 seasonal approach with Western Reserve:

Season #1 - As a group, they will join Western Reserve for the next four Saturdays to investigate and understand the heart and passion of Western Reserve Church.

Season #2 - As God leads in the hearts of individuals, they will determine if they are called to this vision. If they sense this leading, they will commit to the summer with us.

Season #3 - If all is going well come Fall 2009, they will continue to be involved at Western Reserve as we make plans for our first campus in the Kent/Stow area.

If you are a member of Western Reserve I ask you to do two things: 1.) Pray! 

2.) Get to know these folks...they are part of us now and need us to surround them with love and grace. I can't wait for them to meet you!

I believe God is going to kill it this weekend! I am preparing my heart and my message...Lord Jesus, help me not to waste the time you have given me this day! May you be glorified!

For the week...Jason

Hungry

It's been a great week.

First, our family is doing well. Caleb and Emily are on the back end of their SAT's at school. Neither like the testing, but love that there is little or no homework for a couple of weeks. So does Mom!

Marcie and I enjoyed a day off together on Friday...spent the whole day working in the yard. Some of you are

 saying...working in the yard and "enjoyable" do not go together! We are one of those couples that looks forward to pulling weeds and throwing mulch. We often laugh saying, Think about us in our retired years walking around our yard and picking up that "one" leaf that we missed, because we will be "picky" old people wanting everything to be perfect. We 

had fun! We have a date planned this weekend with friends, and are excited! We hope they buy...you know who you are...and we are of course kidding.

Second, ministry is moving forward at an unbelievable rate. I have made some key changes in our office to free me up to lead, study, cast vision, and pour into our school of ministry. Interesting, it was hard for me to give parts of the daily operations over.  I've known that the church would be in danger of plateau if I held on to tight, but knowing what needs to be done and doing it, are two separate things. 

Its been a good process for me. I'm thankful.

Third is our missions trip to Cambodia. Many know that the Haymakers are going to visit the orphanage that Western Reserve built this past Fall. We, along with six others, are taking the inaugural trip to visit our kids and dedicate the new facility. 

WE CANNOT WAIT! 

God has broken our hearts for these kids, and we authentically see them as extensions of our family. If this is new to you, you can read the story of God's movement to plant this orphanage, and learn more about Asia's Hope by going to the Asia's Hope link on our church website.

www.westernreservegc.com

If you are part of Western Reserve, we are planning a Sunday the first of May to highlight the team and Asia's Hope, but until then, here is what is happening with the Haymaker's support.

As a family, we need approximately $8,000 to go for 10 days. This seems insurmountable, but wow, God is working! We committed as a family to pay for my portion ($2,000) and ask God to raise the remaining $6,000. We sent letters to people outside of our church family, some inside, and God has been blowing us away! We received a report this week stating that we have $4000 in, and while writing this entry, another $100 was received. We are less than $2,000 away from full support! And, we are only three weeks into the fundraising journey! Wow!

This has been life-changing for our kids. Emily created a Cambodia box that we put our money in for the

 trip. Friends of theirs have shown up with envelopes containing $3.00 and some change...some even less! These seem to be

 some of the biggest blessings for Caleb and Emily. They can't believe that their friends love them enough to give them what they have! 

Leads me to the discussion that Marce (I call Marcie...Marce) and I had last evening. We are experiencing SO much right now that fear has entered into our hearts. Not the fear of something bad happening, but the fear of losing the blessing of God.

Many may be surprised to hear a pastor say that...but have you ever felt that? Marcie brought up the point from her Bible study that Moses missed the promise land because of one mistake...one mistake.

We know our theology and do not allow thoughts like these keep us from enjoying what He is doing, and anticipating Him doing more, so don't flip out and say HELP!!!! my pastor has lost his faith!

The reason I share this is because we have "tasted" God. We have dreamt together, labored together, sacrificed and stuck to His dream for us and His church. Now, in a small way we are seeing Him carry it out. It has been dramatic, rich, and explosive. And we want more. We thirst for more of God. We ask daily that we might experience His presence, and that the people of Western Reserve would be overwhelmed by the God that commissioned them to be His representation upon the earth.

When our conversation ended, I went to bed thinking...its not fear, for perfect love (Jesus' love) drives it out...its hunger. We are hungry for more of Him. I don't ever want to be more enthralled with the fruit of this world than I am the fruit of His work.

So I prayed that we would be a family and church that is "blessable". One that unapologetically, and authentically walks in Christ and the power of His resurrection.

Do I deserve more of His movement. No. Have I messed up more than once?. At least that since lunch (20 minutes ago). Will He prevail? He already has. Today is history to Him...and we get to be part of the story. Let's walk together in His power.

Preaching week 2 of Q&A this week. Last week I laid it out as we talked through Luke 16 on the reality of eternity and the truth of Hell. Crazy stuff...God worked.  This week Matthew 7...Are You Ready? Don't miss it...invest in a friend and invite them to church...it will be GREAT! That was my best impression of Tony the Tiger...

Until next time...

Jason

 

Welcome to my blog!!!! - Easter 2009

Welcome to my first blog entry! I am asking God to use this post to connect with people who share my passion to see God glorified and to see the church change the world. The thoughts shared in this blog wi
ll be that of a man that believes the church should be "offensive" not "defensive", effecting culture, not being affected by it. 

I have four passions in my life: My Savior, my Wife, my Family, and HIS Church. May God be glorified in and through them all! Thanks for reading my thoughts!

This first blog entry is dedicated to the amazing work of God over the week of Easter. 

Context is important:

We have made the decision in our church that we are not going to ask the community that we seek to reach to serve us, but we want to serve them. In December of 2008, God opened up the door for us to partner with a local Chik-fil-a here in Macedonia. Our director of outreach shared our vision as a church (to serve the community) through an unscheduled conversation, and a purely motivated statement to want to serve the community through the opening of our cafe (scheduled for February 2009). God orchestrated this conversation to open up doors to the community. Not only do they sponsor our cafe for our weekend services (Saturdays and Sundays), they have begun to partner with us for community events.

God led us in '08 to have two major community events: An Easter Egg Helicopter drop and a 5K Run. Todd went to the city and offered our services to host the Helicopter Egg Drop on the city's behalf. Before we knew it, God opened up doors for us to plan and host an event for the city of Macedonia. Chik-fil-a offered food and even their cow for the event!

Our Easter week began on April 4 with the Helicopter Egg Drop. We anticipated seeing up 1,000 people attend the first year. God opened up my eyes, and the eyes of our people when 6,000-8,000 people 

showed up! People parked up to a mile away and walked to the event. Cars were backed up for miles! So many people came that it was chaotic! One of the coolest things I have ever seen was our people in lime green shirts locking arms to keep the people back! Unbelievable! We had 6,000 eggs, and we needed 20,000! It was one of the most unbelievable things I have ever witnessed. The mayor was astonished and grateful. 

It says in Mark 2, after Jesus healed the paralytic that was brought to Him... "This amazed everyone, and they praised God saying, We have never seen anything like this..." People were saying this! One of the prizes that was offered in one of the eggs was free food at Chik-fil-a for one year. We found at the end of the event that one of the persons that found this prize was a single, widowed mother of two. Jesus fed a woman for a year!

That's how the week started...

That Monday I was to leave to speak at a spiritual focus week in Connecticut. This school was praying for God's movement, and on Tuesday, eight people prayed to receive Christ.

Thursday while I was gone speaking, we hosted communion. Normally, we see 70-80 people come out. This year, we saw 170+ adults. People were amazed at the greatness of God and, for some, began to connect the dots of what God is doing at Western Reserve.

The weekend for us begins on Saturday with our first service, followed by two more on Sunday. We did not know what to expect. God brought a surge of people on Saturday night and capacity plus crowds at both services on Sunday. People got right with God and others became followers of Christ. We saw 700+ people come to our services. 

At our staff meeting on Monday, I shared God's command to Moses to write down what God had done, and to be sure that Joshua saw it. Why? So no one would ever forget what God had done.

I had the staff review what God had done from April 2008 to April 2009...we wrote them down...here are a few...

12 Months of Jesus

- DNA transformation of our church...we began to walk towards people...not away

- One Sunday in September, we cancelled one of our services, hit the streets, and in 45 minutes, 300 businesses were "thanked" for serving our community.

- In 17 minutes, our church gave $57,000 in cash and pledged $3700 per month to build an orphanage in Cambodia and rescue 40 children. Our orphanage is to open in coming weeks

- We launched our Cafe...Chik-fil-a partnered with us.

- 6,000-8,000 people came to an helicopter egg drop

- Western Reserve doubled in attendance during these months

What next God....what next?

Personally, I have watched my children be effected by a church that is being effective. Marcie and I often say, they get it! Caleb and Emily have seen works of God through this church that I have never seen in 26 years of being a follower of Christ!

May God be glorified!

Until next week...Jason

By the way, I begin a new series this week entitled, Questions That Need to be Asked. It's going to get crazy around here! We are going to talk about subjects that the church has been afraid to address. Eternity...is Hell real? Baptism, Am I Ready for Eternity? If you have friends that live in this area...you gotta bring them to this series! I believe God is going to bring a soul harvest! We will be amazed! See you this weekend!