Dying of Thirst

It's been just less than 2 months since I have been recommended and approved by my Free Methodist Church Conference Board as a Church Planter.  The decision came on April 1st, "no foolin!"  I've been running ever since.

Within this time span I've been sprinting, sometimes jogging, through several hurdles and milestones.  The current church that I pastor, (PFMC) Peninsula Free Methodist Church, has been wrapping up the (EHS) Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Church-wide initiative, and at the same time, we've settled into our new worship space--the Koinonia Room, a smaller, more intimate, sacred space.  Then Easter arrived, a kinda big day for us "ministry-types."  The "Plan A" after Easter was to be the next phase of EHS, but, alas, the redesignation as a church planter by August 1st changed everything!  The leaders and I have discerned that this transition season should be marked by "Restoring A Living Legacy," a focus that both the "Stay-Church,"  as well the "Away-Church," could share and build upon.  Still figuring out what this "Plan B" really looks like.

Our dear Seiko Miyake, the eldest living member, had recently passed away shortly before Mother's Day.  She almost made it to her 99th birthday in July.  An annual picnic at Huddart Park was already on the calendar of the 55+ Sr. Fellowship.  Instead we've had to say, goodbye at recent a wake and prep for an upcoming memorial service.  Although she herself had no children, she was indeed a spiritual mother to our whole church.  And as I'm finding out, Peninsula has been very much her family these many decades.

In between Seiko's wake and upcoming memorial service I've had to prepare to speak at my former church's family camp held this last weekend.  It felt like coming home by the fact that it was held at the familiar Redwood Christian Camp (you know, the camp known for the scaled-down Noah's Ark), where our Conference Family Camp goes every year.  But the real reason it felt like home was because of the many friends and family we share.  In fact, Christine and I were at Christian Layman Church twice.   The first time was during our days (the late 80's) at UCB, New College, AACF (Asian American Christian Fellowship), and also our courtship days, and the second time, we served years later (2000 to 05') as a Pastor with our family of only seven at the time (Bella not born yet).  Fortunately for me, the theme was on Missional Living, which I've been pursuing for years, but zealously so as of late as the church plant is now on the horizon.

Meanwhile, the conference leaders are helping me plot out a growing list of Church Plant "to do's," each one timely and important.  However, my priority right now is really finishing well at PFMC.

This run to the finish line, or at least this current leg of my spiritual race, leaves me drained and almost spent.  Dehydrated, at the least, it'd be so welcome if someone were to pop-out of the bushes, splash water in my face, and hand me a dixie cupful as I hit the wall!  I'm no marathoner, but I could have used a "camel pack" full of water in joining my friend, pastor, and avid runner, Royce in the Berkeley hills recently;  he "drove me" for 8 miles, the longest I've ever run in my life!

By God's grace, I've been learning to fuel myself for the long-haul.  After going to the fount of the EHS at Peter and Geri Scazerro's church, New Hope Fellowship in Queens, NY last May, the Lord was preparing me for a much needed Sabbatical that summer.

For years I've regularly set aside weekly an hour for reflection, prayer, and journaling, and carve out yearly around a week for a study and prayer retreat.  However, these sometimes random, unfocused times in the past have now been brought to a coherent process, along with a few clear and accessible practices.  Not that my past times of getting away to be with God were unfruitful--quite the contrary--the've been absolutely vital.  But for this season it's been a matter of life and death.

Perhaps it's been the difficulties, challenges and losses particularly acute during the last 5 years of ministry that has driven me to drink deeply from God's Living Water.  Or perhaps the cultivating of emotional health, often relegated to expert therapists, COMBINED WITH spiritual practices of the Dessert Fathers that has drenched my parched soul.

I am convinced now more than ever that a rhythm of solitude, silence, contemplative prayer in God's presence must offset the active side of ministry.  It's the difference-maker between being ministry "road-kill" and finishing the race.  I know that I have been spared of merely being a cautionary tale by His mercy alone.  I now have the opportunity to deepen my life in Christ, so that He can broaden my ministry into Missional Community.  And this will be critical DNA for the church plant.  And in fact, it'll be reflected in the church's name:  "The People of The Well" or maybe simply "The Well."  Christine, my dear wife, thinks the "People of the. . ." sounds too much like a cult!  But I assured her that we won't make people drink our punch or live in our compound in the hills.  But drinking from God as the sole source of Living Water is a must!

Jeremiah 17:13 (ESV)

O Lord, the hope of Israel, all who forsake you shall be put to shame; those who turn away from you shall be written in the earth (read "Road-kill" here, add. mine), for they have forsaken the Lord, the fountain of living water.