Lena and I recently led a workshop on “Christian Dating” for our THC Family. Here is some of the key principles for you to consider in your season of dating or in the advice we, Christ-Followers, should aim to give for those in our community dating.

Our advice comes from almost 15 years of pastoring together as a married couple. You may not agree with some of these – seeing them as too conservative. That’s okay to wrestle with these principles. We are always open to hearing a variety of opinions. We may even give different emphasis’ on some of these principles depending on the person and the situation.

Since the concept of modern western dating is foreign to the Bible – we are developing these principles  

May these principles cause you to pray and think more deeply about dating in a way that honors the teachings of Jesus.


1. Christian Dating Should Be Aimed at Marriage

The Bible opens with the beautiful vision of marriage.

What is marriage according to God?

A man and woman…
in lifelong covenant to one another…
reflecting the heart of God to one another…
aiming at oneness

(Genesis 1:26-28, 31).

God calls this kind of marriage… “good”

Why?

When we reflect God’s image (or heart) to one another and raise children under this union – the world… flourishes.

Christian dating should be aimed at marriage. And Christian marriage should be aimed at reflecting God and “becoming one” to one another. Jesus, our Leader, re-affirms the goodness of this kind of marriage in Matthew 19:1-6

Much of the dating we observe around us is: dating for a sense of affirmation or romance-idolatry or lust-appeasement. As Christ-Followers we need to see everything from the lens of Christ and His Kingdom. This is what we are living for as His followers (Matthew 6:33).

This is why Christian dating should be aimed at marriage – joining in God’s heart of seeing the world flourish under this union.

This is also why it’s unwise to date non-Christians (who do not share in these key values) and why it’s also unwise when you are not in a season where marriage is in the foreseeable future.

When considering dating, reflect on these questions:

- Am I in a season where I can seriously consider marriage?
- Am I wanting to date because I believe my partner will affirm my worth?
- Am I despising my singleness?
- Can I envision my romantic interest as a marriage-partner that can fulfill God’s design for marriage?  

2. Christian Dating Should Be Aimed at Holiness

Paul tells the believers in Thessalonica plainly:

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that you abstain from sexual immorality…” (1 Thessalonians 4:3)

God’s will for you… is your sanctification or your holiness.

God’s chief aim for His children is to conform/shape us into the character of Jesus (Romans 8:29)

Dating is no exception. Dating should not be a detriment to holiness but a conduit to holiness.

Imagine if we grew closer to God through dating? And not further apart?

How do we do this?

1) Before, During, & Always - Seek Spiritual Guidance

 “There is wisdom in a multitude of counselors” (Proverbs 11:14)

When you are interested in someone… seek a spiritually mature Christ-follower who knows you well and ask them, “Do you believe it’s wise for me to date in this season? Do you believe he/she is an ideal person for me to date?”

We are often too afraid to ask these kinds of questions out of fear of the answer – but maybe that fear should tell us something.

This doesn’t mean their advice is equal in authority to the word of God, but give it weight! Pray through it. Wrestle with it. God will be blessed and honored as you cultivate what Richard Foster calls “The spiritual discipline of guidance”.

Bring in a spiritually mature Christ-Follower (ideally married couple) into your dating as well! Give them permission to ask you anything and keep you accountable.

Even after dating, once engaged – seek out pre-marital counseling. Let wise people speak into your life.

2) Commit to Sexual Purity – 1 Corinthians 6:18-20 and Hebrews 13:4 teach us that pre-marriage sex is sinful.

Make a commitment to abstain until marriage. Set up wise boundaries. Invite accountability. Why? Because this honors Christ but also, in the event that you don’t end up marrying – you are protecting the intimacy of both future marriages.

God is full of grace and able to restore all brokenness, but it’s a lie to believe that past sexual relationships don’t affect you/others in the future.


3. Christian Dating Should Be Aimed at Kingdom-Building

Sometimes when Christians date they are so focused on one another they abandon church community.

I’ve found Paul’s advice to singles and married in 1 Corinthians 7 to be profound. He sees the marriage union as the God-honoring blessing that it is, but He also elevates the status of the single Christian who is living for the Kingdom of God.

He even encourages married couples to prioritize the Kingdom of God in their marriages.

“What I mean, brothers and sisters, is that the time is short. From now on those who have wives should live as they do not… (1 Corinthians 7:29a)

The Life Application commentary explains:

“Our marriages, homes, possessions, and financial security are important to us, but Paul encourages us to not make any of these are ultimate goal in life.”

Christ Followers live for the Kingdom of Jesus in marriage, in singleness, and in dating.

Though we can be “head over heels” for our dating partner – we must combat our tendency to elevate idols over our Lord Jesus.

In your dating, don’t abandon community. Don’t abandon disciple-making. Don’t neglect the needy around you. We still live for the Great Commandment and Great Commission.


May you date in a way that honors Christ.

Love,

PM & Lena

This past Sunday during the worship service, I encouraged members to consider raising their hands as part of their worship to God. I’d like to expand my thoughts here.

Biblical Examples of Raising Hands in Worship
Scripture is filled with examples of God-worshippers lifting or raising their hands as part of their worship to God:

Nehemiah 8:6 (ESV) –
"And Ezra blessed the Lord, the great God, and all the people answered, 'Amen, Amen,' lifting up their hands. And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their faces to the ground."

Psalm 134:2 (NIV) –
"Lift up your hands in the sanctuary and praise the Lord."

Psalm 63:4 (NIV) –
"I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands."

These are just a few examples, but there are more throughout the Bible:
https://www.openbible.info/topics/raising_hands
 
Expressing Our Love for God with All of Us
Consider the times you’ve been to a stadium to watch your favorite sports team or a concert with a musician you enjoy. There are often many moments when the gathered community expresses their enjoyment with passionate shouts, hand-clapping, raising hands, and other physical expressions of joy.

In every human culture, there are physical ways we express our enjoyment (kissing, hand-clapping, singing, dancing, shouting, etc.).

It seems that part of being made "in the image of God" (Genesis 1:26) includes humans, across all cultures, expressing joy and happiness in external, physical, and tangible ways.

We are not just minds. We are minds encased in bodies. We are not just thoughts. We have emotions.

The most important command, according to Jesus, is to love God with all of ourselves (Matthew 22:35-40).

So, if we find ourselves physically expressing our love and enjoyment at sports games, concerts, movies, or celebrations, why would we suddenly keep our hands in our pockets and quietly sing to the Creator of the universe, who sent His Son to make the ultimate sacrifice to save us?

Forced Worship Is Not the Aim
Perhaps you wonder if raising hands without a genuine desire is forced or insincere worship. It may seem more sincere to give God our true state of mind in song.

But imagine if we approached all spiritual activities with this same attitude:

• "I won’t read the Bible or pray today because I don’t feel like it."
• "I won’t attend church today because I’d rather get some rest and watch Netflix."
• "I won’t resist temptation because I’d rather give in than resist."

To be a "disciple" of Jesus means to be "disciplined."
Following Jesus involves self-denial (Luke 9:23). We follow Jesus over our own desires.

The aim of this post is not to guilt, coerce, or force anyone into raising their hands. Rather, I want to encourage you, filled with the Spirit of God, to lead your often fearful, insecure, and timid self toward the proper exaltation of God.

Distraction or Devotion?
Perhaps our fear is that we are attention-seeking when we worship in these ways. We worry that passionate worship might distract others from focusing on God. This concern is valid, and Jesus condemns attention-seeking religious acts (Matthew 6:1). If we are clapping, raising hands, or singing with passion for others to see us as "spiritually mature," then we need to repent of hypocrisy.

But at the same time, we should consider this:
Your Worship Is Being Watched

Modeling a Love for Jesus
We are constantly modeling Christian practices to one another.

We benefit from seeing examples like Bryan and Lauren attending church just weeks after the delivery of their beautiful son.

We are encouraged by Joan stepping up to lead our new Youth Ministry during a busy season of her life.

We are inspired by Jason and Chelsea embracing Shepherding Ministry so soon after marriage.

We are all watching one another. And when we see these steps of faith and Kingdom-building, our hearts are encouraged to follow their example.

The same principle applies to the worship of King Jesus.
When we focus on blessing the heart of Jesus and don’t hold back our love and appreciation for Him, we are modeling a love for Jesus to the VIPs in attendance, to one another, and to our children who worship alongside us.
Consider all these factors the next time you have a chance to sing to the Lord.

May Jesus be blessed in our family as we sing to Him every week.

Love,
Pastor Mitchell

THC Members,
It’s okay to be afraid. There’s a reason the Bible has 365 verses where God instructs His people to “not fear” or to be of “good courage” – it’s because God knows the human propensity towards fear.

What we should do in times of fear is run to God as a “Shelter” and “Refuge”. He is, after all, “Father” and we “His children”. Throughout global and church history – we have seen global calamity strike again and again. It’s a reminder of the broken world we live in. It’s a reminder of the effect of sin entering and Satan-reigning. We yearn for the coming Kingdom of Jesus where “wrongs” are “righted”. Where justice, peace, and love flow into this world like a river.

Yesterday, the California Governor asked for all state-wide events of 250+ people to be cancelled/postponed until further notice.

This morning, Los Angeles Mayor, asked for LA-county events of 50+ people to be cancelled/postponed until further notice.

In the last couple of weeks, I’ve been communicating with Beautiful Church leadership and local Pastors in developing a response to this pandemic for The Home Church.

I have also been closely following reports from the WHO and CDC, watching resource videos from Saddleback Church which is leading the way in equipping churches in how to handle this, and today I participated in a telebriefing for “Faith Based & Community Organizations” from the Public Health Office of Los Angeles County.

Tonight, almost all of the Shepherds gathered in a video conference to discuss our response to the COVID-19 pandemic. I am pleased to announce that we’ve come to a unified decision on what THC will do in response:

1. Effective immediately, Family Church will move to a “Virtual/Video-format”. We will not be meeting in person for the immediate future. Shepherds have been encouraged to continue FC every Friday via a platform for facial/voice interaction. I want to encourage you to continue to do praise! Continue to do ice-breakers! Continue to do sharing time! And do PRAY for one another. Family Church will not stop, but the format will adjust.

2. Effective immediately, The Home Church will move to a video/stream-based service on Sundays. We will not meet at church, in person, for the immediate future. We are currently looking into ways for you to watch the service via your THC mobile app or our website: www.thehomechurchrowland.com

3. THC Members who serve in Beautiful Church Elementary & Youth Ministries are not required to serve in those ministries for the immediate future. Pastor John and Danny can give you additional information.

4. THC Finance Team will discuss ways THC can allocate/create funds to help those within our church/community that will be impacted financially by COVID-19.

5. The following THC events have been cancelled/postponed until further notice
- Church Member’s Meeting (3/22) – Will Be Replaced w/a Video Update
- Shepherd’s Retreat (3/27-29) – Will Be Postponed Until Further Notice
- Easter Post-Service Celebration Service (4/12) - Will Be Postponed Until Further Notice

1. God Calls Us to Consider the Weak & Love Our Neighbors – The COVID-19 is most devastating to the elderly community and those with pre-existing medical ailments. Practicing “social distancing” helps mitigate the spread of the virus to those most vulnerable within our church and community.

2. God Calls Us to Honor/Obey Governing Authorities – We will honor the request of the state Governor and city Mayor and seek alternative ways of worshipping and fellowshipping.

3. God Calls us to Wisdom – Are the risks really worth it in light of simple solutions that help mitigate the problem and ensure greater peace of mind for the whole church and broader community? Considering the high volumes of international travel that takes place in our community and church building – is it worth it? We think it’s wiser to not risk it.

THC,

It’s time for us to fix our eyes on the Lord. Don’t let your heart become overwhelmed with worry. It’s time for us to “be still and know that He is God” (Psalm 46:10). May we see this as an opportunity to rely on one another more in prayer, encouragement, and helps. May we also see this as an opportunity to share the gospel with our neighbors and loved ones! Ask them to join you on the church stream! Invite them to your Virtual FC! Let’s see people’s hearts touched by the hope and love of Jesus!

If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to reach out to me!

Pastor Mitchell Perez
mitchellrichardperez@gmail.com

For information related to:
- What the COVID-19 is
- Symptoms
- How it Spreads
- Prevention & Treatment

And much more – click on this link: https://www.cdc.gov/coronavirus/2019-ncov/about/index.html

Members of THC … it would be good to understand how to view ourselves as a church.

We used to be an English Ministry though. The reason “EM” is no longer an appropriate label for us is because we, technically, are not an English Ministry of Beautiful Church.

We are an independent church within our denomination (SBC). We have our own Lead Pastor, budget, and membership. We have our own vision and mission. And we desire to be a church for the community.

“EM” is also a foreign concept to many people unfamiliar with the immigrant church-dynamic.

We do, however, work with our Mother/Sending Church (Beautiful Church) so that we can form as strong a bridge as possible for their children to join our church upon their graduation from high school. 

We used to be almost entirely second-generation Korean-American, but that is no longer the case. THC now consists of members from 11 different ethnic backgrounds.

We are, however, a church that came out of a Korean church (Beautiful Church) and many of the members of THC grew up at Beautiful Church. Intentional decisions were made between Pastor Ko (Senior Pastor of BC) and Pastor Phil Kim to hire a non-Korean Pastor (me) in the hopes that it would open up the door for The Home Church to, more effectively, reach more people in the Rowland Heights-area. 

We used to be 100% “young adult” or “college”-age because most of our parents prefer to socialize and learn in their first language. This created an environment where most of the “older” members of our church are in their 30’s.

We are, however, predominately “young adult” at the current moment. But we are hoping that our church will be a place for those of all ages because we believe the gospel is that powerful to bring different people together! THC is for children, teens, young adults, married couples, middle-agers, and seniors. 

The House Church model is not a “perfect” model. We should not look down upon other churches that don’t do the “FC-model” at their church. It’s not a requirement to be a Christian and I hope and pray that we never elevate a model, method, or a man above the mission.

Let us be “married” to the “mission” (Matthew 28:16-20) and not the model.

We do, however, strongly emphasize this ministry for our church because we believe the primary purpose of The Home Church is fulfilling the Great Commission (Matthew 28:16-20) and we believe that the “House Church model” (or “Family Church” at THC) offers a great way for us to grow in evangelism and biblical community.

Christianity is not a checklist. Nor is it a “Sunday-only-experience” that has no bearing on the rest of your week.

We do, however, believe in the importance of followers of Christ gathering on the first day of the week to worship God (1 Corinthians 16:1-2). Fridays (FC) are more focused on community and evangelism, Tuesdays (Bible Study) are more focused on learning/knowledge, and Sundays (Corporate Worship) are more focused on worshipping and serving.

Christianity is not just about gathering around those who believe just like we do. Jesus, with all authority, has given His followers a timeless call to win the lost and make disciples. We hope to reach “VIPs” (Very Important People – unchurched, unbelievers) with the gospel of Jesus so that the Kingdom can grow!

We do, however, believe in the importance of the Christians at THC to be united in our mission, our statement of faith, and in what it means to be part of the “THC family”. This requires constant communication, church member meetings, and meaningful membership. 

May we be more defined by what we are doing rather than what we are not not doing.

“…I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you.
 
May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me.  I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one— I in them and you in me—so that they may be brought to complete unity. 
 
Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.”                    
 
- Jesus, John 17:20-23 (NIV)
 
 
Love you Mems,
 
Pastor Mitchell

Some of you THC members asked me why I went to the House Church Pastor’s Seminar again… for the third time.
 So why did I go? I thought it would be good for me to share with you why.

 I think I’m the biggest cheerleader of Family Church at our church. It’s important that I actually believe in the model and do my very best to equip you to grow within the structure of FC, but there are times when even I grow discouraged.

A couple of weeks ago, Isabelle’s gymnastics coaches approached us and raved about her potential to begin competitive gymnastics. They talked about the potential for Olympics and/or a college scholarship. When they asked us, they had Isabelle standing right next to them. My daughter, standing there, with beaming eyes looked at our face as they explained that the “next level” would be 12+ hours of practice/week, many weekends of competitions, and lots of money to raise.

My wife and I discussed and decided that this commitment would simply be too much for us. It would actually take away from the commitments we already have to Christ, THC, and FC. We talked with Belle about why we wouldn’t be doing that. That moment was a tough pill to swallow because it reminded me of the purpose in being a Christ-Follower. My ultimate purpose is to bring glory to Jesus by making disciples. There’s nothing wrong with extracurricular activities for my children, but if they take the place of my commitment to the Great Commission then those things become a hindrance to the calling God placed on our lives as Christ-Followers.  

It’s far easier for my wife and I to make personal sacrifices for the Kingdom, but I experienced how much harder it is to see my children sacrificing for the Kingdom.

This seminar reminded me of the eternal value of reaching VIPs. It reminded me, once again, of what it really means to make the Great Commission my GREAT mission. It reminded me of the coming Day when I will have to stand face-to-face with Jesus and give an account for the life I lived for Him. It motivated me to continue to wisely and lovingly push you to prioritize the Great Commission as our chief aim as a church!  My job is not to just teach you the Bible. My job is to not just grow THC in number. My job is to persuade you, motivate you, challenge you, encourage you, rebuke you so that you can stand in confidence on your future day before Christ. My job is to train you in evangelism, discipleship, serving, and giving.

Because I am not the only one called to make disciples. You are too. True disciples of Jesus make disciples of Jesus (Matt. 28:16-20). What we see in the book of Acts is that the entire Early Church community lived with the purpose of seeing the Kingdom of Jesus expand on earth through them! That mission hasn’t changed. There will be sacrifices in making this the main thing of our church. But those sacrifices will evaporate when we see the fruit that lasts forever!

THC Mems, you too will stand before Jesus one day. You are given the same mission as me. Our mission looks a little different based on our jobs, abilities, and life-stages, but know this… You too will need to make sacrifices for the spread of Jesus’ name and fame. Don’t view FC as an obligation. View it as an opportunity to fulfill God’s purpose and grow in Christ-likeness.  

New Life Fellowship has been doing House Church for 20+ years. We would be wise to learn from them as much as we could. Going for a third time allowed me to evaluate our church and look for effective ways for us to grow.

In going, I’ve committed myself to continue to evaluate our current state. I’ve returned with some ideas that I will be committing to prayer.

Pastor Eric Shin has become the most influential Pastor in my life. I admire his commitment to his church, prayer, being a resource church, and his straightforward-style of preaching and leadership.

As a life-long people-pleaser who grew up at a mega church. I developed unhealthy and unbiblical habits as a Pastor/Leader.  I can’t fully explain just how refreshing it is for me to be around someone like Pastor Eric. The longer I’ve known Pastor Eric the more I see the parts of Jesus I desire in my own life. Boldness. Simplicity. Prayer. The more I get to know Pastor Eric the more I see the heart of the Apostle Paul in him. Someone who worked so hard and was willing to endure great pains for the sake of the gospel taking root in the hearts of people. Paul was so gifted at teaching deep concepts, but also was profoundly practical in those same New Testament letters. The Apostle Paul commended and rebuked members by name in his letters. I realize it’s because Paul had established trust and credibility with these members. He used his authority to comfort, commend, and challenge these Christians. In the past, I’ve been quick to comfort and slow to confront. This has caused me lots of personal pain and church pain as well.

Observing how Pastor Eric teaches, leads, answers questions is an opportunity for me to grow in the exact areas of my life that I need to grow in. Growing in these areas of my life will translate into a healthier Mitchell and a healthier THC which means that the Kingdom can flourish in and through us more powerfully.

THC, thank you for allowing me to attend these House Church Seminars so that we can grow to be a church that pleases God.

Let’s not allow ourselves to become content with the growth we’ve already experienced.

Let’s not allow ourselves to become a “Christian club” that only wants to fellowship and not reach out to VIPs.

Let’s not allow ourselves to become a “Theology Club” where we only want to study and learn and not apply.

Let’s not allow ourselves to become a “Sunday Service Experience” where we only focus on excellent Sunday sermons and moving worship. Let’s be a 7-day/week Christ-Follower!
Jesus wants more than just this for The Home Church.

As we are learning in our Acts sermon series – Jesus is pleased by a church that spends as much energy as possible in reaching VIPs, pursuing unity in our FCs/THC, and helping one another grow through our joyful sacrifices.

Let’s go to the VIPs!

Let’s show them Jesus!

Let’s grow as a Family!

Every Sunday, during the first set of worship, you will see a bunch of children sitting/standing during the “adult” service. Sometimes they singing to Jesus in a beautiful way! Sometimes they have a hard time standing still. And many times, they look bored and appear to not want to be there.

Many churches have parents sign in the children before the “adult” service begins. This makes sense logistically and also in some spiritually practical ways. Questions like the following may emerge:

“Can the children even understand the worship songs lyrically?” 

“Wouldn’t more “child-aimed” praise songs be more ideal for them?” 

“Shouldn’t we allow these drained parents get more of a break from these kids so they can worship without hindrance?”

^ Parents, hold off on your “Amens!”

“The children being there will distract us “adults” from singing to God”

Though there are many truths in this line of thinking – I want to explain my heart, as your Pastor, for why I believe that, all things considered, it’s a good thing that the children are there for worship with us during that first worship set.

In most churches, if we were being honest, the children/youth ministry is completely separate from the adult congregation. Children/teenagers worship and learn in one room and adults in another room.

This is very understandable in “immigrant churches” due to a language difference. But what if both children/teenager/adults speak the same language?

In most churches I’m aware of, children/teenagers spend year after year separate from the adult congregation. And then when they graduate high school and “leave” our church adults are often surprised and saddened. But the truth, the humbling reality, is that they were never part of the congregation.

Asking them to transition into the “adult” congregation when they graduate high school is a big part of the problem. There should have already been some “transitioning” taking place throughout the many years they were children/youth.

One thing I like to remind myself is this: “Delia is not the Pastor of the Children’s Ministry. I am.” 

Of course, I am not in there each week shepherding/teaching and serving the children in a direct way. But I think it’s better for me to think that it is my personal responsibility to ensure the children are being taught the gospel and having it modeled to them through their teachers.
I don’t want to have the attitude that says, “The CM is Delia’s responsibility. I have little to no part.”

Whenever Pastor Danny or John ask me to guest speak to the children/youth of Beautiful Church – I tell them, “I can’t wait for you to come to The Home Church.” 

 In 2019, I began an annual tradition of speaking to the THC Children and finding a guest speaker for THC adult service. My hope is that they would know who I am, but more importantly, our heart to see them transition into covenant members of The Home Church.  

The children/youth of BC are technically not my responsibility in the same sense that the THC Children’s Ministry because they are under Beautiful Church, but I still remind them that we are looking forward to when they come to THC.  

This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to share my heart with the adult congregation of Beautiful Church. One of the main points of my message was to let the parents know that our church is investing, praying, and wanting to see their children come to receive Christ and follow Him at The Home Church. Message here if you’d like to listen.

The BC children/youth are a burden we are choosing to bear, but the THC children are our responsibility!

So, by having the THC children in the main sanctuary to worship alongside us; it allows for them/us to be reminded that we are ONE church. Not two.  

I want our children to see their parents and older brothers and sisters singing passionately to God. Children watch us! If they are only ever around peers of their same age – they are missing out on an opportunity to observe their mentors worshipping God. We all know the power of peer pressure! It works both negatively and positively.

By having the THC children in the main sanctuary to worship alongside us; it allows for them to learn about the God who deserves to be worshipped as such and it allows for them to learn about the importance of singing truth about the greatness of our God to God.

Whose job is it to model the gospel to Ariel, Austin, Camille, Clayton, Ellie, Ella, Emma, Emily, Evelyn, Gabriel, Hunter, Isabelle, Isaiah, Joseph, Judah, Katie, Landon, Mason, Nation, Olivia, Vincent, and whoever I forgot to name?  Who’s job is it to encourage them to become covenant members when the times comes? Should we assume that they will do this if we teach them well? Or is it our job to build bridges to them?

The parents? Delia? Their teachers? Mine?

The answer to this is…. yes…

It’s interesting to me that when Paul writes letters to the churches in Ephesians and Colossians – he is writing to churches where adults/children were present. That’s why he was able to address both directly in the same passage.

This is why they children are in many of your Family Churches because they are a vital part of THC and your FC!

How do view these children? As Christian? I think it’s better to view them as VIPs. We know that the decision-making part of the brain isn’t fully formed into your mid-late twenties. Teaching and modeling the gospel to them may be work that lasts decades before we see conversion fruit.

I think viewing our children as possible VIPs may be wiser in the long run. This helps us to sacrifice even more for them and adds purpose to their presence in our Sunday worship service and Friday FCs!

Our church will be offering 1-2 Parent Commissions in 2020. In this class, parents learn about what it means to prioritize evangelism/discipleship to their own children first. Then they come before the congregation and declare a vow to the congregation to do their best to teach and model Christ to them. BUT! There is also a part where I, the Pastor, turn to the covenant members of THC and ask you to take a vow to do your part to teach and model Christ to these children as well.

It takes all of us, to disciple the next generation.

By having the THC children in the main sanctuary to worship alongside us; it allows for us to be reminded of our corporate call to view them as VIPs who, God-willing, will choose to follow Jesus and join us as future covenant members to build THC!  

THC, we must learn how to do community through the chaos of children. Of course, we can minimize the “chaos” part by godly instruction and discipline – but I believe that we need to view these children as VIPs who are a vital focus of our church.

  So, in my opinion, it is worth it to include our children in FC and THC worship. And I believe it’s our job to “build bridges” to them. Not the other way around. In the Kingdom of Jesus, the more spiritually mature  leader always goes down to the level of the less spiritually mature.  

Thank you to the many of you who are serving in “Next Generation Ministries” (BC Youth, BC Elementary, and THC Children’s Ministry)

 In love,

PM

A couple of Sundays ago we had our 6th meeting since we began church membership at THC.

 I’ve had a couple of weeks to process and think through what I sense the Holy Spirit leading us into:

 Here are 5 reflections that I’d like to share with you so that you can know some of things that are on my heart as your Pastor.

If you look at the beautifully made pamphlet (Thanks Kristin!) you will see that our average attendance on Sunday in 2018 was exactly the same in 2019 (63). The Family Church attendance increased a bit, which is encouraging.

Though our church hasn’t grown in a numerical sense – it is so obvious to any of us that our church has grown  much in so many ways. You shouldn’t be concerned by the fact that we haven’t grown numerically. I definitely am not. If we focus on our spiritual growth, God will take care of numerical growth.  

When I look at this list of highlights right here – it’s a tangible snapshot of what God did in and through us. This doesn’t account for all the “smaller” ways our church showed growth (increased attendance in Bible study classes, ASK Meetings, baptisms, members serving, and just the general sense of love, unity, and mission clarity. THC, we look more like Jesus today than we did 1 year ago. My heart is filled with joy at the spiritual growth in your lives!

It’s interesting because our church became more focused on two aspects of church life that seem, at first thought, to contradict one another:

“Let’s become more concerned for one another’s spiritual growth & hold each other accountable!” (Church Membership)

“Let’s become more concerned about non-believers and  evangelize!” (Family Church)  
 
Some churches focus so much on the accountability aspect of church member health, but neglect evangelism.

Some churches focus so much evangelism, but neglect the accountability aspect of church member health.
 
I hope you see from our sermon series in Acts that these two things are not mutually exclusive, but are Jesus’s design for how He wants His church built. 
 
This year we saw more VIPs receive Christ, get baptized, and begin their discipleship journey than last year (Yay! Growth in Evangelism!)

But we also saw a greater understanding of what it means to “belong” to The Home Church as a covenant member that is vowing to serve, give, and worship here. I’ve had tough conversations with some of you when I see things in your life that concern me as your Pastor. Many Shepherds have had similar conversations with many of you as well. From my perspective, as I pray for you on Mondays, I’m asking God, “Lord, are there areas of this person’s life that You want me to address?” (Your Shepherds are supposed to be praying weekly for you as well).
 
See, THC isn’t only focused on reaching VIPs. We also want to encourage/exhort our fellow brothers and sisters to stay faithful to the King. A healthy THC is crucial to the mission. And the mission must be crucial to THC.

One thing that came out of this meeting is that we will soon be discussing and presenting a united plan for what we do with members who aren’t fulfilling their membership vows. This will be a topic of prayer and conversation with the Shepherds at our next United Shepherd’s Meeting. Let’s continue to pray for God to make us grow in love for the lost AND in Christ-like-holiness through mutual accountability to one another.
 

As I read the 36 survey responses, the most common concern that members gave me was related to the idea that they believed I am doing too much. I’m too involved in too many things still.

And I must say, this was one concern, that made me emotional (with joy). Because, for a long time, I don’t think this was a concern of many/most of the members of THC.

When my family first came to the THC, we had to plug ourselves in so many holes. I think two breakdowns was a byproduct of that unsustainable way of ministering. There were so many needs on so many parts of our church. It felt like I was told to takeover a flying plane that wasn’t fully constructed. There were holes everywhere and it was hard to know which issue to address first. There was an expectation that I lead a “Sunday service” and give a “sermon”, but I saw so many other vital aspects of the church being completely neglected (evangelism, welcoming love, understanding of the purpose of church to begin with, understanding of what Christian community even was, heart to serve the church, organizational structure that could allow the church to thrive, etc.).

So, to come to this point (a few years later), where many members are telling me, “We love you PM, but you’re doing too much!” brought me so much joy! Even now, as I type this with my iced blonde Americano, I’m getting choked up.

The eventual goal is for our church to move to a “shared-rule” type of governance. I am excited for the day where I will stand next to fellow members who are at the top level of leading this church. I don’t want to be the CEO of THC that rules from top down. It’s true that I’ve had to do that to get THC going in the right direction, but that’s never been my heart from the beginning because I think there is a wiser, more biblical, way to set up THC for the long-term.

Understand, I didn’t think it was wise to give people high authority in the church too soon. Especially without the congregation to approve it (that would be defeating the very purpose of not wanting to make executive decisions to begin with, lol). What had to happen was the beginning of membership. Come to see the clear mission of THC. Find a way to do that. Engage in that mission and my belief is that our church will see who those “elders” (to use the biblical term) will be because we will see them showing humble servant-leadership in action. The congregation won’t “make” someone an Elder. They will “recognize” clear “elder-leadership-qualities” and appoint them to that position in our church.

I’ve tried to slowly give greater and greater authority to Shepherds in our church, to the Finance Team, to Team Leaders on Sundays we we head in that direction.

So now, as I write these words we’ve begun meaningful membership. We’ve got a clear mission. We’ve got a model. We’ve got some organization/administration. We’ve got communication channels. We’ve got leaders. And now we’ve got people that are more ready to lead with increased authority.

I have some ideas in my head of how I can give more authority to more of you. I will continue to pray and I will also be addressing these  with our Shepherds at our next United Shepherd’s meeting in January.

THC, I think the Holy Spirit wants us to recognize, to a greater degree, a dispersion of church authority. So keep that in mind when we have future Member Meetings where people may be voted on.

I love our Finance Team (FT). They are very much not like me. And that’s a good thing. When the members voted in Chris Lee, Andrew Shim, and Lucas Kao to work with David Pak in overseeing the financial direction and decisions of our budget and present that budget to the members – I was excited because it meant that I no longer had to be part of these meetings. I’ve never wanted to be.

It’s so sad when you hear so many stories from Pastors who sinfully take, excessively, from church finances. Oftentimes, you read how the Pastor had too much control over the finances of the church. From the beginning I’ve wanted to stay completely away from touching money, writing checks, and even knowing who is giving (so that I can lead people more objectively). But in the beginning, I did have to be involved, to a degree, as we established other parts of the church. I couldn’t just delegate it out at that point - though I’ve never had exclusive authority over this area of the church.

When these men were nominated by the Shepherds. And then approved by the covenant members in August – I told them, “I’m completely out of this! It’s all you now! From now on, I will be coming to you with financial matters and requests! And don’t just agree with me. It’s okay to disagree with me. Make decisions for the best interest of THC. At the end of the day I will submit to your leadership on the matter”


And so… when they first showed me the budget they wanted to present to the members I listened, but I actually thought (and still do) that the budget for 2020 was set too low. But this is why it’s so good that they are in this position! Perhaps I’m too optimistic that people will grow in giving or that God will provide.

So, when David Pak gave the presentation to the members of our current situation and expressed that he lost sleep over the budget he would be presenting, my heart felt joy again! Not because the poor guy is losing sleep, but because it showed me that he, and the other men on this Team, care!  When I heard some of the questions members had - it showed me again - Members care!

David, and the Finance Team, went on to explain the importance of tithing/financial giving. I was touched to hear this come from David who spoke with a combination of love and boldness.
 The gist of what David told us,

“Everyone here is a member and a portion of the covenant, that we all signed, says that tithing is our joyful responsibility. God allows us to work and He gives us our money, and with that, we give back to the church because we believe that he’s the one who provided that money. When we feel like we realistically can’t tithe, it shows our faith when we do (and God will bless that). Tithing is an Important spiritual discipline and helps us evaluate our priorities and ask, “What are you using your money on?” Our church is thriving in so many other areas, but looking over the finances, FT found it necessary to address tithing. Hopefully this provides an opportunity for introspection. This is a shock to most people, but part of the reason why is because we don’t think about it - our energies are focused elsewhere.”

I take all of this as a the leading of the Holy Spirit who wants us, as members, to be more faithful and focused on financially giving to THC. If you are not currently giving to THC, I’d encourage you to begin.

THC, God is zooming in on our wallets. If we want to continue to fuel the mission He’s given us – we will need to give.
 
I’m excited to see what God does through our giving to Him in 2020.

The last thing I want to say is simply: I am so darn lucky to be pastoring you.

The love, unity, and commitment here is unlike any other group I’ve led. The potential for King Jesus that fills our church every Sunday is there. I am beginning to believe that there are many of you that, in due time, will see the Holy Spirit do amazing things in and through your life. Some of you will be amazing soul-winners of VIPs. Some of you will use their Spirit-given gift of teaching to build up this Body. Some of you will see callings on your life to the mission field or to pastoral ministry.

If I was to rate my current ministry-related stress over the lat 6-months on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 = Perfect peace, 10 = On verse of burnout/breaking down), I would give myself a 3.

By the way, that is, easily, the best score I would give myself at any point of pastoral ministry (11 years).
 
Let’s continue to joyfully bring our shovels to FC and Sundays. The King has given us so much. Let’s give Him much!

In light of this past Sunday’s testimony shared by Rachel Park on “THC’s Growth Over the Last Few Years”  - I was inspired to write this blog. I hope it encourages you!

* Note: This blog is written specifically to the Covenant Members of THC

I still remember the first time I went to Reality Carpinteria led by Pastor Britt Merrick. I was 19 years old, attending Bible College, and learning so much about God’s Word. Every Sunday we would visit different churches and talk about the experiences on the way home. College-church-hopping was attractive to us because both of us grew up at one church.

My friend and I get out of the car, and as soon as we get out, there is someone already walking up to us welcoming us to their church “Reality”. I’m thinking, “Woah! Talk about a welcoming church!”

This person walks my friend and I to the front entrance of the church, asking us questions like, “How did you find out about us?”, “How can I pray for you?”, & “Are there any questions you have about our church?”

I could sense genuine care. And I look around and this is happening all around me with their Greeter Team welcoming people to church. I walk through the front entrance and there are a couple tables with friendly-looking people, with Colgate-sponsored-smiles beaming at me… “Welcome to Reality, can I serve you some coffee?” I’m thinking, “Am I at church or am I a celebrity showing up for a red-carpet event?”

Coffee and donut in hand. I sit down with my friend and we are both just shocked by it all. Then I feel a warm hand on my shoulder. One of the elders of the church has just walked up to me and says, “Welcome to Reality! I notice you guys are visitors today! Can I sit with you for a minute and learn more about you and how we might be able to serve you?”

After conversing with him for 5 minutes and filling out their connection card. He says, “Worship is about to begin.” And we all walk in to church and sit down. He and his wife ask if they can sit next to us during worship. My friend and I give each other a look, “Where are we?!” (lol).

The hipster-cool looking Worship Team opens in song. I look around, and everywhere I look, 20 and 30-year-olds are passionately singing to Christ with hands raised! It felt awesome to see so many people just like me, so passionate about Jesus. During the announcements, I look around and the church is intently looking at their bulletin and responding with “Amens” and nodding-heads to the praise reports and serving opportunities.  

The Pastor gives his sermon. And I loved it! If you’ve never heard of Britt Merrick, he is such a gifted expositor and preacher/communicator. He concludes his sermon and we worship once again in song. After service, the church eats together and my friend and I (3 hours later) are in his car and overwhelmed by it all.

We both said that this church was our “Dream Church”. How we would love to be members here. The people were the same age as us. The preaching was so good. The people so friendly. The worship so passionate. We went back to our dorm with hearts full and every church we visited after that was compared to Reality. And all those shorts fell woefully short to a couple of 19-year-olds.

Why am I talking about my experience going to Reality Carpinteria as a beaming youngster?

My intention is not to compare THC to this church. My intention in sharing this story is to show you how easy it is to evaluate a church based on how well your needs feel met and satisfied. How easy it is to see an initial “oooh-ahhh” of a church and fall into the mindset of, “This church meets my ‘needs’ and ‘style’, so I will check it out.”

Jesus said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45, NIV)

I think it’s important for us to be reminded of the reality that we, as 21st Americans, grew up in a “consumeristic culture”. We have the ability to access information instantly through our phones, we have food that can be made instantly through a microwave or even brought to us these days, and when we go to a restaurant, we have an expectation that we will be served and tended to. We feel we have a rude to have a rude waiter taking our order or a sticky chair to sit on.
Now, there is nothing inherently wrong fast food restaurants, cultural expectations of being served, or the speed of smart phones, but we must recognize that it is very possible for us to view church community in a similar light as these things – a place to serve your needs.

When we correctly understand the example of Jesus. When we correctly understand the church-community-imperatives of the New Testament (the “one-anothers”), we quickly realize that our reason for coming to church should not be to be served, but to serve.

To serve the God, who has served us, by serving His Bride.

See… when I have a correct understanding of God’s grace and love for me, it should so satisfy me… so fill me… that it causes an overflowing effect in my heart to where I realize that I have been served by God. And His service to me produces a genuine desire to serve Him and His people in return.

This is why I am encouraging all of you who are Christians at THC to not come to church expecting to be served, but to serve. Come to THC with a “shovel in hand”.

May we be a church that correctly understands how greatly Jesus has served us so that we can serve others from a place of genuine love and joy.

See how Paul encouraged the church in Rome:

“3 Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.

4 Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function, 5 so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

6 In his grace, God has given us different gifts for doing certain things well. So if God has given you the ability to prophesy, speak out with as much faith as God has given you. 7 If your gift is serving others, serve them well. If you are a teacher, teach well. 8 If your gift is to encourage others, be encouraging. If it is giving, give generously. If God has given you leadership ability, take the responsibility seriously. And if you have a gift for showing kindness to others, do it gladly.

9 Don’t just pretend to love others. Really love them. Hate what is wrong. Hold tightly to what is good. 10 Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other. 11 Never be lazy, but work hard and serve the Lord enthusiastically.

12 Rejoice in our confident hope. Be patient in trouble, and keep on praying. 13 When God’s people are in need, be ready to help them. Always be eager to practice hospitality.

14 Bless those who persecute you. Don’t curse them; pray that God will bless them.

15 Be happy with those who are happy, and weep with those who weep. 16 Live in harmony with each other. Don’t be too proud to enjoy the company of ordinary people. And don’t think you know it all!”

(Romans 12:3-16, NLT)

Notice the constant emphasis and priority of serving others.
 
As those who have been served by the God through the sacrificial-serving of Jesus on the Cross for us – We come to church on Fridays and Sundays, not to be served, but to serve – and the funny thing about obedience to God is that when you are truly serving others’ needs as more important than your own, you end up feeling deep joy and purpose… because… you were created in God’s image… and He is the greatest servant of all.

We find most joy when we find live according to the purpose of our Creator, Savior, and Lover.

When our hearts and minds are filled with this truth, we joyfully come to church to serve.

 Served people, serve people.

 Love,

 Your Pastor

Ephesians 4:16

“16 From him the whole body, joined and held together by every supporting ligament, grows and builds itself up in love, as each part does its work.“

Have you noticed over the last several months the increase in testimonies on Sundays? The testimonies have taken a life of their own. I don’t know about you, but I definitely see the Holy Spirit using your testimonies to build up the church. I hear some of you excited to hear testimonies and I can tell you guys are genuinely engaged when these testimonies are being shared. This is a great thing! Praise God!

This past Sunday, many of you told me how encouraged you were by Lucas’ testimony on his spiritual journey. A couple of Sundays ago, Joan shared about the importance of investing in the next generation. And there are many more testimonies to come. The testimonies coming may have different topics/purposes, but the Holy Spirit can and will use them all for the purpose of bringing glory to God and edifying the THC congregation.

Why are we doing testimonies weekly? (The only times we don’t are on communion Sundays and when I’m not there).

Here’s why - because I’ve come to the conviction that my job, as your Pastor, is to train/teach you to do the work of ministry so that the THC congregation is “built up”  (Eph. 4:12).

Sure, there are many ways that you can “body-build” at THC. Serving on Sunday Teams, warmly welcome each other on Sundays/Fridays, listen intently during FC sharing time, inviting VIPs, etc.
The weekly testimonies are a public display of one of our aims - for the congregation, being properly taught and trained, to take ownership of The Home Church and build itself. We are building THC up together.

A few months ago, we were going through Acts in our All-Church-Reading-Plan. I was struck by some things I was reading about the Early Church. We were reading how the Early Church was unified (Acts 1), they met often to eat together, be established through the Apostle’s teaching, pray together, and formed tight-knit “family-like-relationships” with one another (Acts 2). There was “preaching” taking place when Peter stood up and preached to the crowds and thousands responded with repentance from sin, faith in Jesus, and they immediately joined the Christian movement (Acts 2). When persecution and Satan attacked, they were attacking a fortified/united/family that had spent significant time together laboring in prayer, trusting each other, and focused on spreading Jesus’ word together (Rest of Acts).

I believe the book of Acts is not just descriptive of what happened in the early Christian movement. I believe it is also contains prescriptive principles for how we, 2,000 years later, ought to make church about. A few months ago, having read through Acts at that time, and being the Lead Pastor of THC, I asked myself, “Lord, how can I lead THC in such a way where they are not dependent on me for their spiritual growth?“

This question was important for me because as I continued to read through Acts, I saw that when the leaders of the Early Church were being imprisoned, fighting with each other, and even being killed…the church didn’t crumble - it stood strong because they didn’t overly rely on their Pastors for their spiritual growth.

On Fridays/Sundays, understand that the Holy Spirit wants to use all aspects to grow you spiritually. He wants to use the sermon, the songs, the laughter around a shared meal, the cleaning of the home before and after FC, the sharing of struggles, the praying for one another, the giving to missionaries, the inviting of VIPs, the giving of tithes, the warm hugs, the post-service fellowship, and… the testimonies to encourage and challenge your heart so that you can look more like Jesus.

Listen intently to the things the Holy Spirit wants to communicate to you through your brothers and sisters.

Love you THC,

Your Pastor

When you come on Sundays to THC you will notice some children worshipping alongside us. 
Why is this?

Some may say:

“Can they really sit still and worship with us?“

“Isn’t it possible that they can distract us, adults, from worshipping God on Sundays?“

“Shouldn’t they just worship with children-songs?”

You also know that there is a strong emphasis for members to be serving in “next-generation ministries” (Beautiful Church Elementary/Youth, or THC Children’s Ministry).

This week is also VBS where Joan Lim has mobilized about 20 THC members (not counting some Youth Group members) to be serving in various capacities over the next 3 days. We will have 45 children (1st grade-5th grade) who will be served by their older brothers and sisters.

I remember once being in a Pastor’s Meeting at a large church. I was a Youth Pastor, at the time, and the conversation we were having revolved around the problem of helping graduating seniors transition into the adult service on Sundays. We were having a very hard time retaining our graduating Seniors. Different ideas were suggested, but none of these ideas were going to work. Why? Because these ideas were “event-based”. We, naively, thought that if we just sprinkled 2-3 events a year where the Youth led praise in the adult service or where the Youth sat in service with their parents for communion (just to name a couple of examples).

These ideas were noble, but they were bound to fail. Why? Because what really needed to take place is for the adults (older and more spiritually mature) to take the responsibility/burden of inviting, welcoming, praying for, serving, sacrificing, and clearly showing the next generation that they were seriously wanted.

I’ve shared this story many times, but when my wife and I met the leaders of THC for the first time, I asked what the strengths/weaknesses of THC were. Different answers were given. But one thing that stood out to me was a common weakness. This was shared in multiple ways, but in a nutshell it was this: “No one has ever mentored us…“

I remember feeling a combination of sadness and confusion. I couldn’t understand, at that time, what they were referring to. I later learned that the common-trend of the ministry was that when a member got married, or got a “career job”, or had children - they transitioned out of the ministry because they felt they could no longer relate to the rest of the group. How tragic :’(

That’s why it’s been so encouraging for me to see those of us who have gotten married, have children, and have gotten serious careers - continue to not just stay at THC, but to be so committed. This is trail-blazing. We are beginning to see the fruits of this with recent graduating classes coming to THC, finding community, becoming members, and serving.

One day, there was a group of hikers that were attempting to trek a very difficult mountain. They were having trouble finding the best way to get through the brush. They soon became lost and began to grow discouraged. They began to think about giving up on the trek because it was too difficult. But that’s when one of the hikers saw a small trail. There was evidence of footprints. They realized it was a small foot-trail that led them through the brush. And they scaled the mountain. Why? Because a group of previous hikers blazed through much difficulty to pave a smooth path for future hikers.

These kids that many of us are serving this week in VBS and the kids you see worshipping with us on Sundays may never realize the blessing and privilege they have been given because we decided, collectively, to “blaze a trail” for them. If we are tempted to think this way we are showing, very quickly, our lack of understanding of what God has done for us - blazing the ultimate trail… so that you and I can have the greatest blessing and privilege of all. We will sacrifice time. But God sacrificed His Son.

THC Covenanted Members, God is calling us to be a “Trail Blazer” for the next generation. Here’s 5 ways you can help make their paths smooth:

1. Serve in a “Next-Generation-Ministry” - Come talk to one of us Pastors (Danny, John, or myself) or Mama Delia. Just so you know, the most important Sunday ministry a THC-member can serve in, is one of these. it’s more important, in my opinion, that we have a great presence in these ministries then having the best Worship Team, Welcome Team, or any other THC Serving Team.
   
   
2. Practice Hospitality Towards Them - When you see them on Sundays (or Fridays at FC): greet them warmly… YOU take the initiative to say “Hi…. (insert name)”, familiarize yourself with their names, and give them “high-fives” - that burden is YOURS, not theirs.
   
   
3. Remind Them That You are Excited for Them to Join Us - In your heads/hearts, view them as you’re younger brothers or sisters. Also, keep in mind that the majority are likely VIPs. This is also evangelism. But our sincere words of affirmation create a bridge from their hearts to ours.
   
   
4. Embrace the Chaos of Doing Church Community Through the Chaos of Children - Sure, you may not get your “no-distraction-worship”. Sure, they may get easily distracted. Sure, they may show external signs of not wanting to be there. That’s what kids do. Haha! Imagine if we only let our kids brush their teeth if they “wanted to”. At the end of the day, we know church community is good for them. It just may take a while for them to realize that. Focus on worshipping God and sharing through crying babies, laughing children, and constant interruptions. This is the reality of parenting by the way ;)
   
   
5. Look for Ways to Serve the Parents - I can tell you firsthand (and many of you will come to see this in the future) - it’s difficult to go to FC and our Sunday service with young children. Trying to have children adequately fed, clothed, while making sure you’re taking care of for Fridays and Sundays is very hard. That’s why you can do small things that will bless the parents. Find out what their favorite drink is and surprise the parents with it on a Sunday/Friday. If the parents feel comfortable with it, offer to hold babies or watch the children so parents can have a break/date nights. When you see parents with children, verbally thank them for still coming to FC/Sundays - this communicates to the parents that their presence in church community is valuable to you. 

THC Singles, the current parents are setting an example for you. It is possible to be an active contributor to church while having a career, spouse, and children. Follow in those footsteps as you fall in love, get hitched, and start fulfilling your “Genesis 1-mandate”. The best thing you can do for the next generation and your future children is to love Jesus with all you got and to be actively involved in church community.

Love,

Your Pastor 

This blog is for covenanted church members. I do not make this request of VIPs or non-members of THC. 

You are the ones that have willingly asked for a greater accountability and "loving push" from your Pastors and Shepherds.

In membership class, you made a vow to financially contribute to your church. Though I do not teach that you *must* give a certain amount/percentage - I did teach you some principles of giving:

1. Giving Should Be Prioritized

2. Giving Should Be a Sacrifice to Lifestyle

3. Giving Should Be From A Place of Love and Joy

4. Giving Should Be Wise in Light of Your Current Season of Life.

I teach you to pray and think through your current financial state to come up with a percentage of giving. Once you have that percentage commit to that (unless you have a severe unforeseen event that develops).

In the photo here is a recent letter I received from our Mexico FC (Tim and Priscilla Ives) who are supported in prayer/finances by David and Kelly Pak.

Read the letter to be encouraged. Our church has been praying, financially supporting, and even paid to fly Tim from Mexico to Houston to attend this past HC Pastor's Seminar. 

The awesome part about all of this is that after 3+ years of getting his family adjusted to Mexican culture and serving under the leadership of an established church/Pastor - they are finally setting off to plant a church. And guess which model of church they are going to use? House Church :)

THC, because of our investment into these missionaries, they have a guide/model/example so that they, too, can reach the lost and make disciples in Chiuahaha, Mexico.

In the second photo is a recent Shepherd's Memo that David Pak sent to the Shepherds, encouraging them to ask their FCs to give to their missionary. The Finance Team really wanted us to focus on giving to our missionary - so we set up a fund (separate from our budget) that matches 100% of an FC's giving to their missionary until the fund dries up. Your dollars are worth double!

David gives an update on this fund. And the awesome thing is that there has been some additional anonymous additions to this fund. 

Here's some practical advice that I'd like to give you, the members, on the subject of giving. If you are in a financial place where you can give above and beyond your THC-giving - do so and give some funds to your FC missionary. 

If you are already "maxed out" on your Sunday giving. Then take a small amount of your Sunday giving to THC and give to your missionary. You will find your prayers and love grow for your missionary if you are a financially invested. 

If you are not giving at all, then you should begin. I don't say this just for THC's sake. But for your sake too! Your faith will grow when you include your finances. 

Love,

Your Pastor

Thank you, THC, for allowing me to go to Boston for 5 days to be refreshed, challenged, further equipped in HC-ministry, and to fellowship with other like-minded Pastors doing House Church.

This past April marked 2 years since we began “Family Church”. In those 2 years we’ve been given much in terms of training, testimony, modeling, investing, and a solid foundation of Shepherds dedicated to seeing THC become all she can be.

This upcoming Commitment Celebration we are baptizing two more former VIPs for King Jesus and our church continues to become stronger and healthier by the passing month it seems (at least that’s how it seems to me).

 It’s interesting because the verse that I received this past New Years was Galatians 6:9 – “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” It seems to me that much of the fruit that we are seeing at THC now is because we’ve had a couple of years of faithful obedience, sacrificial sowing, and remaining committed to core values of Family Church. It’s truly a rewarding season for us. Seeing people take steps towards commitment, serving, and seeing VIPs commit to following Jesus.

And I think that’s what made going to this seminar extra special for me. The first time I went to a HC Seminar, I had no idea what was in store and my understanding of HC was very limited and I was just stressed out as the new Pastor of THC. The second time I went, I was glad to go, but we were in the early stage of implementing House Church. Lots of difficulties with people adjusting to HC. Some asked me for breaks throughout the year, some Shepherds wanted to throw in the towel, some people left our church, some members requested to be moved to another FC for various reasons… yeah it was a stressful time for me.

But this conference, it was different. My heart went already committed since we’ve seen tangible results through our commitment to this. I was able to go with an “expectant” attitude and excitement even.  

 It still trips me out that a mission’s trip to Kazakhstan led to us learning about this model of church. It trips me out that the name of our church, even before I came, was “The Home Church” and we would end up doing our most critical ministry in homes. It trips me out that when Chris and Adinai left the missions field in Kyrgyzstan and settled at our church that they would leave a church that did HC only to be led to one in the states that does HC. It trips me out that soon after Beautiful Church hired Pastor John Cho as their new Elementary Pastor he said, “Hey, I know a Pastor friend who does House Church” and then he went over to his bookshelf where he had the book and then he connected us to Pastor Paul Lee (who was the contact that brought Pastor Danny to us, by the way). All of these things occurring can’t be coincidental. It truly seems that the Holy Spirit led our church to this model of church and continues to lead us to grow in this model of church. It isn’t easy. But it’s totally worth it! Growth never comes easy!

So, what are some things that happened that I would like to share with you?

1. In the same conference where Pastor Chai retired, there was 7 of us Pastors who gathered, in unified spirit, to commit to working together to see more English-speaking churches trained in this model, more Pastors learn about this model, and even see how we can work together to provide resources for interested pastors, Shepherds, and church members.

Pastor Chai, the Founder of the House Church model and former Senior Pastor of Seoul Baptist Church, did so much to see this movement take place predominately in Korean churches and then there is the 7 of us who do this in English (the clear minority at the conference) praying and discussing ways we could see this gain traction in the American church. Interesting…

2. “The prideful person doesn’t pray” – Pastor Chai with challenging words of wisdom to a room full of busy-Pastors. I was challenged, in love, to pray a little more as your Pastor. “Prayer is the evidence of faith in God. To not pray is to be trusting in yourself.”

I am sensing that prayer will be a very important theme in some way for us in 2020. This is about the 5th time in the last 3 months that God keeps bringing “prayer” to my heart as an area of specific focus for THC in the future.

 3. One day God will use THC to be a “resource church” for other churches. It was interesting because so much of the wisdom I’ve gleaned has been taken from Pastor Eric Shin, Senior Pastor of New Life Fellowship; but as I heard Pastor Chai share session-after-session it became obvious that “PE” was heavily influenced and shaped by the leadership of Pastor Chai. There were several times where I wanted to say, “Hey, Pastor Chai took that from Pastor Eric!”. PE and New Life Fellowship learned so much from Pastor Chai and Seoul Baptist Church.

So, too, The Home Church has learned so much from PE and NLF and one day we will be used by the Lord to help teach other Pastors, Shepherds, and lay people about a way for them to embrace the spirit of the New Testament Church: reaching the lost and making disciples for King Jesus by training lay people to become the servant-leaders Jesus calls them to.

It was a great conference. And when I saw all these Pastors hugging Pastor Chai as he retired I was reminded of our future… where one day we will stand before King Jesus. Who gave it all for us on the Cross. We will want to hear, “Well done, good and faithful servant… now enter into your joy and rest!”

Let’s give all we can for the One who gave us all of Him.

You may not see it now THC, but God is building us to become more mature, stronger, and healthier… I can’t wait to see what we will look like in 1, 5, 10, 20 years. Let’s keep sacrificing with a smile :)

Love,

Your Pastor

I will admit up front that I am a little uneasy with this blog.

(I’ve got those people-pleasing insecurities I still fight against as one of my core idols and a part of me would rather not ask this at all)

Let me begin by taking you back 10 years ago. I was 20 years old and my church appointed me as a “Pastor” of the 18-25 yr. old (College Ministry). I remember very clearly, at that time, telling multiple people who began calling me “Pastor Mitchell” the following:

“Oh, you don’t have to call me Pastor Mitchell. Mitchell is just fine. I don’t need that title.”

My reasoning was this: I don’t want people, primarily the young people at my age, to feel forced to refer me by that title. I also wanted them to understand my heart at the onset of me being their new Pastor. Asking the young adults I pastored to call me “Pastor” seemed petty, prideful, and power-seeking at that time.  

But now I’m 30 years old and a tiny bit wiser. (Just a wee-bit wiser… but still pesky)

Nowadays, I think about how God wants me to lead you. My wife and I are committed to being here at THC for the long-term, so that the fruit for the Kingdom can outlast us. I want THC to become a place where God is being glorified in so many different ways and a place where we are all growing spiritually to be more like Jesus.

I recently hit year 3 as your Pastor. And I believe, that overall, you’ve seen enough of my heart to know that asking for this request won’t be viewed as the Pastor being “egotistical and prideful”. I wouldn’t have asked this in year one, but now I am more comfortable with asking this.

I’m at a place, in my walk with Jesus & ministry, where the title “Pastor” is not something I idolize or gather my sense of identity from. It’s not like when someone calls me “Pastor Mitchell” I get a tingly sensation in my soul where I suddenly feel validated. Nope. This may sound strange to you, but the reason I am asking that you call me “Pastor Mitchell” instead of “Mitch” or “Mitchell” is actually for your sake.

Let me explain:

The Bible speaks a lot to the issue of honoring/respecting those in spiritual authority.

1 Timothy 5:17 -

“Let the elders who rule well be considered worthy of double honor, especially those who labor in preaching and teaching.“

Hebrews 13:17 -

“Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls, as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you..“

1 Thessalonians 5:12-13 -

“We ask you, brothers, to respect those who labor among you and are over you in the Lord and admonish you, and to esteem them very highly in love because of their work. Be at peace among yourselves.”

The Bible says honor, respect, and submit to your leaders…. with joy even. I think what complicates this issue a bit - is the extremes and the bad examples of some Pastors.  

See, if I was your Pastor and demanded honor from you -  I would be totally wrong. God calls Pastors to be servant-leaders, loving the flock, and living a life worth following.

There have been many examples of Pastors who make a fuss over not being called a Pastor. I would say that if I felt disrespected for not being called a Pastor - the problem wouldn’t be the people who call me “Mitch”, the problem would be my own pride and insecurity.

That’s one extreme. And then there’s the other side where you, the congregation, don’t view me as your leader but like a fellow church member. But this is not true.

Biblically, Jesus sent me to you as a gift to teach, train, and mobilize you to spread the Kingdom. (Eph. 4:11-12)

You’ve been given a Mexican gift ;)

The way this relationship works is I need to be a humble, Jesus-loving, servant-leader who teaches and pushes you to Christ-likeness and you need to be the humble, Jesus-loving, servant-followers who obey Jesus by obeying your Pastor (unless I ask you to do something sinful).

Lastly, I want to be very clear here.

I do very much feel honored and respected by all of you at THC - I want to be clear about that! When you don’t call me “Pastor” I don’t feel dishonored,.

But I still want to push you (in love) to grow in showing honor to your spiritual leaders.

When I greet members from Beautiful Church I do so with a bow and a Korean greeting. Why? Because that physical act, words, and tone communicate honor in that culture.

When I send an email to my Seminary Professor, I always begin with “Professor Smith…”. Why? Because the title communicates that I respect him as an authority. I don’t feel forced to do this.. I choose to do this because it’s a way I can show honor.

Why is this important enough for me to make this request?

I think that teaching you ways to “show honor” is part of my job and will contribute to your growth as a follower of Jesus who always honored His Father in Heaven while He was here.

I think this will actually translate into you showing more honor towards your Shepherds, who are supposed to be humble servant-leaders who are looking after your souls. I think this will also lead to you showing greater honor in God Himself - who deserves the utmost honor in our lives.

If I’m not honoring my parents, my boss, my spiritual authorities, etc - there’s a good chance I’m not honoring God.  

I love you and I promise that if you forget I won’t slap you ;)

Love,

Pastor Mitchell

About 6 months ago Pastor John, Hanna, and myself were sitting at a Chik-Fil-A on a Tuesday morning for our weekly Pastor’s Meeting.

Each week we gathered to share our “highs” and “lows” and we would naturally encourage and pray for one another. These Tuesday mornings became very important because we realized the need for us to regularly spend time with each other in person. Pastoring can be tough. And communication between our ministries was/is vital for the overall health of our ministries.

We were discussing the need for more THC members to be serving in a variety of ministries.

On this particular day, I asked them, “What are some ways that can help address this problem?”


The ensuing conversation led to what we now call the “Serving Tour”.

The heart of the Serving Tour is really for THC members to take ownership of the serving needs of this church so that we can see our church “built up” for Christ.


Please read the Serving Tour form below so that you can understand what the Serving Tour is:

What is the “Serving Tour”? 

SERVING TOUR

Now that you have become a church member, you have formally joined The Home Church. This is your “home” now. You are taking steps to becoming invested in THC.

The Serving Tour was an idea put together by the Education Dept. (Elementary & Youth Pastor) as well as Pastor Mitchell to accomplish the following purposes:

1. Show new members various ministries so they can seek where they should serve.

2. Show new members the importance of the relationship between Beautiful Church & THC.

How to Use this Form 

Becoming a member means taking intentional steps towards serving THC. It will be your job to email the following Ministry Overseers and schedule a time for you to “sit and observe” that ministry.

Do not ask Pastor Mitchell or Kristin to schedule for you. It will be your job to contact the overseer. Once you attend the ministry, give the sheet of paper to the Overseer so they can sign off.

Once you have all 4 signatures, return the paper to Kristin Choi so we can log, and Pastor Mitchell will follow up with you to discuss your serving experience as well as help you find a Ministry Team to join.

* Ask the ministry overseer beforehand, what they would like you to do on the day of your observation/service. (Some ministries may be strictly observational while others involve you to do something).
* Make sure to come on time. If you are late, reschedule another time with the Overseer.

Serving Tour Process 

1. Take “vows” before congregation as new covenanted member.

2. Visit & have all overseers sign off and give to Kristin Choi.

3. Expect follow up with Pastor Mitchell to discuss experience and find a serving team.
4. Serve with joy!

A Final Word 

Now that you are a member, your attitude needs to adjust from being a consumer to a contributor. Come to church not to be served, but to serve. Take ownership. Come to church “with a shovel in hand”. Let’s work together for King Jesus. Serving with joy. Sacrificing for a purpose. May our service be an act of love and worship for Jesus.

Love,

Your Pastor

As you know, we have been reading through the New Testament as a church.

Our theme for 2019 is to develop a “DEEPER” relationship with God through reading His Word.

The theme is: “DEEPER: His Word. Our Need.”

We just completed Matthew last week and have begun the gospel of Mark.

The goal is for us to develop the habit of reading Scripture - and it’s been encouraging to hear how many of you have taken to this challenge.

Another really cool thing is to hear some questions beginning to emerge from some of you in regards to this. To be honest, I have been praying and hoping for this day - when I get questions like the one here - because it’s an indicator to me that some of us really trying to grow in their faith through reading Scripture.

I recently received an email that said the following:

“Pastor Mitchell,

I’ve been following the Bible reading plan and I have a question. I know that you don’t just want us to read the Bible but to apply the Bible. My question is that I don’t know exactly how to do that.
Can you explain how we should do the daily readings so that we are able to apply it? “

My heart leaped for joy with this question!

Now, there are many ways to read and understand the Bible.

I am going to share a way to do your daily reading. If you have a system that is working for you as is - then continue to do it. There is no “one-size-fits-all"-approach” to reading the Bible devotionally. This blog is specifically for those who don’t know where to begin.

This is what I do :)

I would recommend getting a journal - this will help you reinforce what you are learning but it also is a good way to process thoughts as well as provides a way to track what you are learning.

Find a quiet environment. Put the phone on airplane mode. Take a few seconds to just pause.

For the last year, I’ve been writing out my prayers rather than just say them because my mind is constantly drifting. This may be helpful to you.

What Should You Pray for at the Beginning?

• Ask God to help you block out all the daily worries and anxieties and posture your heart to allow His words to have your undivided attention and focus. 
• Ask God to help you understand His Word. 
• Ask Him to not just give you intellectual knowledge of what the passage says, ask Him to give you wisdom on how the passage applies to your life.
• Ask for the Helper Jesus gave you: the Holy Spirit (John 14:15-17) 

I would recommend getting a NIV translation Bible (because that's the Bible we use at church - it would be easier for you to be in sync with your HC and THC).

I would recommend using the THC app and clicking on the current day. That will automatically take you to the text of that chapter and then I would click on the audio button to have the passage read to you by a voice actor. I find it easier to process the words when I have it read to me and I also follow along with my Bible in hand.

As you read, think about what you are reading:

• What questions do you have about what is being said/read? 
• What confuses you? 
• What challenges/convicts you? 
• What moves you emotionally in a positive or negative way? 
• What words/verses resonate with you? 

If you are quick to forget, like me, you may catch your mind drifting. Don't beat yourself up for that. It happens to all of us. Simply refocus and resume to where you got off track.
 
As you read, there may be certain verses or words that resonate with you in some way - go ahead and underline, circle, or highlight those! 

Now that you've read, you should be able to make some observations from the text. What is the text actually saying? How can you summarize these observations to make truth-statements? The observations are truths being communicated. They can be truths about God, us, etc. 

Once you write down observations. Take some time to reflect upon what you read and ask the "question-behind-the-question":

• Why does a particular verse/passage impact you, move you emotionally, resonate with you? 
• Is there a promise that God is making? 
• Is there a warning God is giving? 
• Is there a principle God wants to communicate? 
• What character of God is highlighted here? 
• How does this chapter/verse/section/truth apply to my life today?
• What am I willing/able to apply based on a truth from the text?

Depending on what is being reflected will determine how you respond. Your response is your application.

Maybe you are confused so for you the response is to ask other Christians (I would recommend asking your HC members/Shepherd) for help. There are some good free resources too that might help you understand a particular passage. See Blue Letter Bible or Bible Gateway to check out their commentaries or Bible study sections which can help explain the passage and find an application.

Responding to the text may lead you to identifying a promise for you to “preach” to your heart. Part of what needs to happen as we encounter truths from the Bible is to “anchor” our hearts to these truths. We need to “preach” the truths to our own hearts.

We don’t need to hear the truth one time. We need to hear the truth many times and in different ways! Imagine if I only told my kids I loved them one time in their life?

No, they need a constant flow of love, encouragement, and affirmation - so, too, our hearts - need the truth proclaimed to us over and over again!

Coaches on the sports sidelines are basically yelling the same thing over and over to their players:

“Come on!”

“Let’s go!”

“Don’t give up!”

“Give me your best effort!” 
 
Maybe you identify a sobering warning that you need to think about deeply.

Is there a lesson God is trying to teach you through this passage?

Maybe you need to have a time of self-examination, looking at your own life and whether or not you are living up to God's Word.

Maybe you have a newfound truth unlocked in your mind about God or you, the response may be to thank God in prayer, or journal to Him, or worship Him in song.

The response may lead you to change something in the way you think or act - this is what the Bible calls "repentance".

Below is a photo of my journal for today’s reading from Mark 2 - I resonated with the calling of Levi and how Levi wanted to use his home as a way to introduce Jesus to his close friends.

I began to think about the parallels to House Church. And the application I walked away with involved me being reminded of the purpose of HC: to provide a place where people who are “sick” can meet the “Physician”. I was reminded that my job is to do what Levi did: invite those God placed around me, love people, and share Jesus (instead of reserving Him to myself).

I closed with a written prayer at the bottom thanking God for the reminder of the purpose of HC and dwelled on the thought of this purpose we, as followers of Jesus have: introducing them to Jesus for salvation and spiritual healing! I don’t want to forget that! 

I hope this was practical and helpful to many of you :)

Love,
Your Pastor

This upcoming Sunday, December 16, we will have our final membership meeting of the year. Here are some quick thoughts I’d like for you to consider: 
 
1. This is a Time of Honesty –

 I plan on being honest with you about some things on my heart. There are few opportunities, like this, for me to speak honestly to you. Sundays are difficult because we have non-members and VIPs there. But this is a time for us to meet and discuss as a family. The growth of our church requires honest dialogue so we can address issues.

Likewise, you currently have an opportunity to share your honest concerns to the leadership of this church. Last week I sent an email to you explaining that this week is the time for you to email me any concerns/questions you may have about the church.

To be respectful of everyone’s time, there may not be a chance for you to ask your question at the member’s meeting. But you have a few more days to email me. I will do my best to address all email questions that are sent to me this Sunday night.
 
2. Things Might Not Go Your Way –

You will have a chance to vote on 3 things at this meeting: 2019 proposed budget, the future of the cleaning ministry, and a proposed Bible-reading plan. If something doesn’t go the way you voted – do not be upset.

Getting the consensus of the majority on issues is a wise approach. It’s a way for us to see how ready we, as a church, are for new initiatives. Don’t throw a fit if something doesn’t go your way. Pray.
 
3. Church Membership is like a Marriage –

A veteran Pastor told me last week that the relationship between the Pastor and the members is like a marriage. And if that’s the case, we’ve only been married for 2.5 years. It’s easy to talk past each other in communication. It’s easy to be frustrated with one another. As we spend more time together, we are able to know each other’s hearts better.

But like marriage, church membership is about commitment to one another for the sake of seeing The Home Church becoming a healthy, unified, church that is making disciples for the glory of Jesus.

And like marriage, we will need to be gracious to one another.

Looking forward to spending time with you this Sunday for corporate worship and for this church member’s meeting! I think you will be encouraged by our growth in 2018. It’s an honor to serve King Jesus as your Pastor.
 
Romans 15:5-6
“May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you to live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, that together you may with one voice glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

On January 28 (2018), we held a church member’s meeting after service at Killian Elementary School. During that meeting I brought an opportunity before all the members. We had an opportunity to move our Sunday services to Beautiful Church (our mother church). I outlined several pros and cons if we were, in fact, to move back into our “Mother’s building”.

The members voted (almost 100%) to move to Beautiful Church. But one thing happened on a Sunday night (after a Commitment Celebration) where Lucas Kao and I were at the BC-building late on a Sunday night putting some THC belongings away. We ended up seeing Mr. Hwang (Beautiful Church’s hard-working janitor) at Beautiful Church. We were shocked that he was at church working at this late of an hour.  When I asked how long he was going to stay cleaning up the BC-building, he explained that every Sunday he would stay at BC close to midnight.

We were shocked! And it was that week that my heart was moved. This was when I had the idea that once THC moved to BC on April 1, we should help with cleaning the facilities that we used on Sundays.

Here were the reasons:

1. Cleaning would reduce Mr. Hwang’s work load on Sundays.
2. Cleaning would be a display of honor to our mother church who allowed us to use their facility for our services. 
3. Provide an opportunity for us to cultivate a culture of serving. (Jesus desires to make His followers “servant-leaders”. See John 13. This is an opportunity to grow in this area)
4. Provide an opportunity for us to be faithful in taking care of this building in preparation for us to be taking care of our own building/equipment in the future (if the Lord allows).  

One of the things I did leading up to our April 1-move, was set up a “Transition Team”.  Which was a handful of church members that devoted 2 months to come early and stay later to the Sunday service and evaluate where we needed to improve our Sunday services.

On April 1, THC moved from Killian Elementary to Beautiful Church. Right away, the Transition Team began cleaning after service. It was at this time that the Transition Team discussed various ways for us to clean Beautiful Church after service. In the end, we decided that the best solution was to have the Family Churches do this on a rotational-basis and have Lucas & James serve as the “Cleaning Ministry Overseers”. This was a more preferred option rather than having the same group of people sacrificing post-service fellowship time. Lucas and James served in teaching the FC’s how to clean correctly.  

A schedule was made and now each Family Church has cleaned. Wanting to know how we were doing in this ministry, I emailed Lucas and James to see how we were doing in this area. I asked them if there were enough volunteers on a weekly basis, if people were serving enthusiastically, and what we could do to improve. They sent their responses to me and I wanted to take some time to address this issue.

Some of us have a general mopey/complaining attitude when we clean. This should not be the case. Especially if you are a covenanted member of THC, this should not be viewed as a burden. THC is your church and I want you guys to treat this building the way you would treat your own home. We want to take care of this building, be respectful of the rules in place (like not bringing in drinks to the main sanctuary), and show our gratitude to Beautiful Church leadership by cleaning up after ourselves.

My hope is that we see this area of service as a joy and not a burden.

You can have joy in scrubbing toilets and mopping. Joy is a mindset that we can choose to have. Paul told the church in Philippi:

“Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!” (Philippians 4:4)
 
Keep in mind that Paul wrote this while being in a Roman prison.

You are serving your church when you clean with joy. You are honoring our Mother Church. You are taking a burden away from Mr. Hwang. This can be an act of worship if you mop those floors “as to the Lord”. You are growing as a follower of Jesus…if… you clean with joy.

I’m not asking you to fake joy. Not at all. I am asking you to clean with joy in light of the four things I mentioned above. In light of those things, you should be able to put your preferences to the side.

Remember, you come to THC not to be served, but to serve. If you are a covenanted member, you come to THC as a contributor not a consumer. This is your home. If a VIP doesn’t want to clean, that’s okay. A newcomer, totally understandable. In fact, we should be careful to not “guilt those people into this ministry”. If they want to help out, that’s fine.

But this blog is written to the covenanted church member. Those of us who are committed and invested in the health and future of THC.

This issue has been discussed amongst the Shepherds and I have decided to bring this before you, as members. There are some who have this idea that the cleaning ministry was entirely my doing. I understand this, to a degree, because those people are unaware of the role the Transition Team had in coming up with this idea.

 Now, I do think that I could have done a better job of communicating with the Shepherds and members in bringing forward this idea. After talking with Lucas and James (Cleaning Overseers) as well as the Shepherds. Here is what we have decided:

We will continue to do the Cleaning Ministry for the remaining weeks of 2018. But at the Dec. 16 Church Members Meeting – members who are present at the meeting will be able to vote on whether or not this will be a ministry that will continue in 2019 and beyond.

I will set the passing number at 90%. If 90% of the members vote for us to continue in this ministry, we will do so. But if it’s less than 90%, I will go back to Beautiful Church leadership and explain that we won’t be doing that ministry anymore. I will take personal responsibility before the BC leadership and explain that I moved ahead of the members of THC and will apologize to them. And I won’t hold any grudges against our church. The Finance Team will look into ways to continue to support Mr. Hwang whether that’s through increasing our rent to Beautiful Church or hiring someone to help after church on Sundays to alleviate his load.

I hope that both members and myself can grow in giving grace to each other as well as communicating our comments and concerns.  
 
Email me if you have any questions so that I can answer them at the member’s meeting.  
 
Your Pastor,

Mitchell Perez

mitchellrichardperez@gmail.com

Welcome Jason Lee to THC!

You've probably noticed Jason's face at church more these days.

That's because Jason has joined our church and will be taking the next church membership classes offered to become an official covenanted member like you guys.

Jason is a Christian. He had a unique situation where we was looking for a new church. My friend recommended him to try our church. He came and I sent him the article below which outlines why we want to be careful with which Christians we allow into our church. I then met with Jason to hear his story and ask him some questions about why he was looking for a new church, what he believed in core theological doctrines, what his understanding of church commitment was, and whether or not he could meet the policy in the article below.

Jason took a couple of months to pray and think about this and he recently decided to make THC his home church.

I wanted to take a minute to explain some key points to you members about the process of allowing Christians to join our church.

1. I want our church to grow in Christ-likeness AND numerically. 

This is not an anti-growth policy. Actually, it's the opposite. 

2. We would be wise to not just accept any Christian into our fold because: 

A. We need to take the time to see WHY a Christian is leaving their previous church (in my experience a significant percentage of Christians who are looking for a new church are leaving their old church too soon).

If we simply allow other Christians to join our church without taking the time to understand WHY they've left their previous church we are preventing that person from growing spiritually. Usually people leave their churches with some kind of frustration but they never vocalize this to leadership.

I've been on the the receiving end of this. And I can tell you as a Pastor it is so disheartening when someone leaves the church without saying a word.

There have been many people who've come to THC with interest in joining and when I ask why they left their old one they will give a list of reasons and then I will say, "Did you bring any of these issues up to the leadership?" And almost always they say, "No." They were either too afraid or they didn't see the point or they simply didn't want to.

But we need to help one another by encouraging loving and honest dialogue.

Also, a person who leaves their church without taking the wise step of addressing leadership will likely continue to do that.

There have been at least a dozen times when I've talked with a newcomer to THC over coffee. And they explain why they want to join THC. And the vast majority of the time it's not a valid reason in my opinion:

- "I don't really like the Pastor's preaching style..."

- "The Children's Ministry is too disorganized"

- "It's too cliquey"

- "I'm too comfortable. It's the only church I've ever known."

- "There's not enough people my age or in my life stage"

None of these are valid reasons, in and of themselves, to leave a church in my opinion. Yet, these are the occurring reasons I've heard when newcomers want to join THC.

Each time I hear an answer like this, I gently tell the person that I don't believe that is a valid reason for leaving their former church and I will do my best to take the time and give practical wisdom in how they should move forward with addressing these issues with the leadership of their church.

This protects our church from absorbing a Christian with an unhealthy view of church commitment.

This helps the newcomer grow spiritually.

This helps the original church/Pastor grow and/or reconcile with this member.

B. We are trying to grow our church primarily through evangelism - we don't want to rely, solely, on "transfer Christian growth". From a Kingdom of Jesus perspective, the Kingdom isn't growing when a Christian leaves one church and joins another. 

C. We need to make sure that a Christian who comes can fit well with our doctrine - There are different churches and denominations for a reason. Some Christians have strong doctrinal beliefs that they want to be more emphasized at their church. So we need to make sure that a coming Christian (who has valid reason for leaving their former church) can worship without being doctrinally stumbled by our style and theological persuasion.

This can only be determined when they sit with me and I ask them specific questions about their doctrinal preferences and leanings.

D. We need to make sure that a Christian can fully embrace our standards of commitment & the FC-model - We want to be a church reaching the lost and making disciples. We need all Christian hands-on-deck - invested and committed to their FC's... reaching VIPs.

If a Christian cannot commit to our standards of membership and the FC-model of church then it would be much better for them to find another church.

As you guys well know, I am constantly pushing the Christians to remain committed to their FCs. I don't allow you to jump from FC to FC. If you are a member you are expected to remain committed to FC.

To accept a Christian who can't be challenged to the same standard of commitment would be unfair to you guys and they would become a hindrance to our mission.

3. This is a Protective-Policy

These measures are not in place so that we can keep people from church. These are protective measures. They protect our church from unnecessary future hurt of newcomers wanting their theological preferences more emphasized and venting their disapproval. They protect us from opening our homes and hearts to Christians who then leave us because they realize that our church wasn't a good fit for them. And they actually protect the newcomer as well.

4. As your Pastor, I'm looking at the members who ARE committed... 

I had coffee with a fellow Pastor friend of mine a few months back. He explained how he had these newcomers coming to his congregation. Their old church had closed down due to a church split and he was telling me how many were gifted in teaching, worship, and children's ministry.

He explained how he would rather turn his attention to these newcomers because the committed members were prone to complaining and grumbling.

He needed a time to vent to me, so I was sensing the Holy Spirit to cause me to just be a listener. But as I sat back, I realized that this is a very common temptation for Pastors.

Newcomer Christians are like "shiny-new-toys". They show a "newcomer joy" when they come. They are more prone to see the optimistic. They complement and say "thank you" more to the leadership. But! That's because they haven't been around the church long enough! lol

It's easy for Pastors to mistake this "newcomer joy" for spiritual maturity.

I made this mistake so much at my former church. I used to pray, often, for God to send me "mature Christians" to my church.

I'll never forget the "lightbulb" moment I had when I read the Great Commission passage on a particular day:

"Go... MAKE disciples"

I remember thinking, "Oh shoooot! I'm supposed to be MAKING disciples with the group God has brought before me... not just hope/pray for God to BRING disciples to me"

*facepalm moment.

I'll never forget the conversation I had with our own Kevin Park... we didn't have a Worship Leader at the time. We had my friends Chris & Carla Lopez coming and doing guest worship for us for months.

Kevin explained how he, as a member, wanted to step up and serve our church in this area. And I was ecstatic! I would rather have a current member serve in this area than have our church hire someone outside the church.

I've told Kevin before, "Kevin, I would rather have you do worship for THC than Hillsong."

And I stand by that. My attention is on the current members who are invested and committed, not the newcomers.

I've had some friends that have expressed interest in coming to THC. Some whom are clearly gifted in various serving capacities, but I've sent them the same article as below. A few of them told me they were shocked by that. Expecting some type of "friend-to-friend-treatment".

5. Lastly, I do want to say that I recognize that there ARE good reasons to leave a church:

- Doctrine of church is leaving orthodoxy.

- Church closes down.

- You move far away from church for work or school.

- Church split.

- Moral failings of leadership which make it extremely difficult to follow the leadership

- Abuse of power.

- Marriage with a person who attends another church.

- Sense a call from the Spirit to support a new church plant.

- Church not growing spiritually for a long time and making no attempt to grow. They prefer status-quo.

- No opportunities to serve

- Church not attempting to make disciples.  

There are probably more reasons than this (this was just off the top of my head). We don't want to be such a stickler of the rules that we neglect to see the valid needs of our brothers and sisters who LONG for fellowship and worship with brothers and sisters who are in unique situations where joining THC is the appropriate thing for them to do.

I know this is a conversation with lots of nuance. There are particulars for each case. If you have any questions as a member simply let me know. I would love to bring clarity where I didn't communicate clear enough.

~~~
The next time you see Jason, give him a big "Welcome to THC!" He will be a member soon!

FYI - Jason will be going to the next ASK Meeting (not because he is a VIP) but because we want all newcomers to be filtered through the gospel as well as see what an ASK Meeting looks like.

He is currently part of the Ethiopia FC.

Article about THC’s Policy for Accepting Christians.

Love your Pastor.

Last month, for the second consecutive year, THC sent members to New Life Fellowship for the annual “House Church Seminar for Lay Leaders”. New Life Fellowship is the “ESC” (English Speaking Congregation) of Seoul Baptist Church which was led by Pastor Young G. Chai who pioneered the “House Church” model that we follow at THC (Family Church).

You may be wondering why we do this. Why do we fly members out to Houston, Texas to be trained? Can’t they receive training here at THC?

 Here are three reasons why we have sent members (and will continue to send as long as NLF allows us to):

A good portion of the seminar is dedicated to learning more about the structure of House Church (which is important). I’ve learned that people (including myself) don’t learn a complicated system in one, two, or three sittings. We also learn from different type of speakers and in different seasons of our life.

Our members learn about House Church from a church that has been doing this for close to 20 years. 20 years of seeing VIPs come to Christ. 20 years of seeing lay members empowered to lead and Shepherd.

We can learn a lot from them!

One thing I try to say often to members of THC is, “I’m excited for you to become a Shepherd in the future!” I want members to catch a vision for leadership within the church, being a missionary wherever God has called them, and pointing them to Christ’s timeless call to “make disciples” (Matthew 28:20).

At the seminar, THC members, learn about Shepherding through the experience of NLF Shepherds modeling it to them. 

THC attendees experience servant-leadership ministry from their hosting NLF Shepherd through:

- the giving of rides to and from the airport and church.  

- the treating us out to eat.

- the hosting of us in their homes throughout the stay of the seminar.

- silently watching how NLF Shepherds lead their Friday night House Church.

- witnessing how NLF Shepherds live their life at home. 

Oftentimes we think of “learning” in terms of what is lectured to us or what we read in a book. But one thing I love about the House Church model is the constant emphasis that discipleship is not just “knowledge-transfer”, but “field experience”. Discipleship is the implementation of that knowledge into everyday life. We send members so they can experience Shepherding ministry themselves.

It is not the goal of The Home Church to become exactly like New Life Fellowship. Our goal individually, and corporately, is to be like Christ (Romans 8:29). But I also believe that it is good for us to see, with our own eyes, what a church that is committed to the Great Commission can look like in 20 years.

To see a church with a similar starting point as us (English Ministry of about 50 members) commit themselves to reaching the lost and making disciples for 20 years and seeing the fruit of that kind of sacrifice is truly inspiring and encouraging!

To see and hear the stories of Shepherding pains, VIPs coming to Christ, missionaries supported, leaders being developed, and members committing to the mission despite their busy lives is like a giant testimony being dropped on your heart.

I asked the 7 members who went to the seminar last month to share some insights and leave an encouragement to us, as a church. Here’s what they said: 

Kelly Kao:

“From my experience visiting NLF, I've met people who have been shepherds for almost 20 years, some have multiplied several times and some have only multiplied once. Either way, their church is centered around this model that is motivated by biblical community and fellowship, and especially winning the lost to make disciples. I really saw the fruit of that at NLF, and I pray that God can center our hearts for this same mission so that we can emulate the type of community reflected in the New Testament.”
 
Kristin Choi:

“I would like to encourage THC by telling them to not give up. To not be complacent in the structure of Family Church that has been implemented into our church, but to use the structure for the furthering of God’s kingdom. To take an ACTIVE role. To take advantage of a church structure that is geared in members being allowed to easily evangelize to non-Christians through the love of Christian community. I would also like to challenge committed members in each Family Church (non-shepherds) - that there is a vital role that each member plays in their Family Church and there is a role that each person can do to support their Family Church’s growth.”
 
Jane Park:

“Hello THC!  It’s been about a year or two since we’ve embarked on this journey called family church! Since we’ve started, we’ve already had a few multiplications! And NLF started out just the same way too but now they have 77 family churches and everyone is like one huge family!! Keep inviting your V.I.Ps out to fc so they can be exposed to the love of God and pray for them that they’d feel it and realize that this love is different than any other love in this world. Keep winning the lost!”

Lucas Kao:

“If we dedicate ourselves to pursuing building a real Christian community and be humble enough to allow God to work through us throughout this process, we can do what God tells us to do, which is to reach the lost and make disciples. God is waiting to reach people around us, and God can work through us if we pursue Him and lean on Him. He can use us to accomplish His will here on Earth as it is in Heaven. And ultimately, that's the end purpose of each one of us, right? So why not now? I've already seen how much people at this church have grown in 2 years. In terms of the lost being reached and have their lives turned around, I've seen much more than I would've guessed 2 years ago. Imagine how much things could change in 20 years. God is ready - waiting and willing to work with us to accomplish so much. We just have to participate with Him, and work with Him. Let's go!”
 
Joan Lim:

“For a really long time, it was difficult for me to envision my future at THC (getting married and starting a family), especially because there aren’t a lot of young families to look up to. However, when I sat in for the HC on Saturday night, it was like I was looking through to the future of THC. Friends gathering with their kids and spending time away from work, home, stress, and everything else that comes with it. Instead, they were broken people coming together to be renewed and refreshed through the presence of the community they were surrounded by. I also realized how important it is for believers to be bold and courageous about their faith. My host shepherds told me that Don, one of the NLF shepherds, would randomly ask people to join for a free Friday night dinner and people would come in and hear about Jesus. Since I got back, I have been trying to pray every night for at least 10 minutes, and in these prayers, I ask God to give us the same vision that He has for our church. I pray that He would fill us with the boldness to reach out to those who do not yet know how great our God is.”
 
Papa Mitch:

“The seminar confirmed to love hard and love hard and love them long, it’s not a quick process it’s not what can I accomplish in one year but 5 or 10 and it’s not about me it’s about letting God use me as a vessel for Him to use.

I returned with anticipation to see we’re God will take Home Church as we use this model of family church, and YES it’s worth all the struggles preparing and cleaning, cooking, counseling and pointing them to Jesus.

Thank you for this opportunity to go I would strongly recommend this for all future Shepherds so they can see the results that family church will yield love Papa”
 
Mama Delia:

“First, I love that we’re on new ground and that this will be here long after I’m gone. This is the way we love each other and serve each other. This is how God wants us to love each other. We will make an impact by the way we love each other. It’s Jesus’ 2nd command- to love each other through this, others will know we are Christians. Praise the Lord!!”

In closing...

We are still, very much, in the “foundation-setting” aspect of the Family Church model. One of the things that I will always remember from Pastor Eric, who I now look up to, is him saying, “Pastor, if you want to implement House Church into your congregation than be prepared to be at your church for a minimum of 10 years because it will not be until that point that you really see exponential fruit for the Kingdom.”
 
I am reminded of the James’ words in James 5:7 –

“Be patient, then, brothers and sisters, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer waits for the land to yield its valuable crop, patiently waiting for the autumn and spring rains.”
 
Let’s keep inviting VIPs with boldness, serving one another with joy, and sacrificially loving one another as Christ has told us to! 

Your Pastor,

Mitchell 

We're just beginning.

Best is yet to come.

For Christ's Eternal Kingdom :) 

Thank you for the prayers!

Here's a recap of some of the Beautiful Church Staff Retreat highlights:

1. We had a great meal on Sunday night when we arrived. I love Pork Belly... man that was good! Sheeeesh!

After the meal, Pastor Ko (Senior Pastor of Beautiful Church) asked all the staff, "What did we accomplish in 2018?"

Slowly, different staff started listing different things. Personally, I only know a little bit of what goes on at the "BC-side", but what I did hear blessed me.

They accomplished a-lot in 2018!

2. Pastor Ko began to introduce one topic after another that needed to be prayed for. One topic that wrecked me was the many members in the church who were sick (some with cancer).

As I heard the staff literally crying out to God, begging Him for a miracle and for healing - my heart was touched. I suddenly began to cry because I felt this emotional connection to these people. All the names were given in Korean, I don't know who they were, but I knew the BC staff.

And because I'm close to the BC staff and I saw them weeping, I felt close to the sick though I didn't know their names.

We prayed for about 2 hours on Sunday night for different aspects of the church.

3. After the prayer meeting I talked with some staff members and we had great conversations. So much laughter! So many tears!

There were a couple conversations I had which were eye-opening to me. I saw how much energy and time many leaders were putting into their ministries. Seeing, on paper, how much ministry it was actually overwhelmed me. I thought to myself, "How can one person do all of this while having a family? Where's the rest?"

This retreat opened my eyes to the burdens that Beautiful Church and Beautiful Church pastoral staff carry. My heart grew in love for them.

~~~

Why do I want to tell you about these things?

Technically speaking, I don't have to go to this retreat.

As you know, THC is 100% financially independent. We no longer receive financial support from BC. We are also two separate churches within our denomination. We have two separate budgets. Two different Senior Pastors. Two different visions. Two different church names. We are not a ministry "under" Beautiful Church. We are a separate church entirely.

Do you get the point? We are different.

But the primary reason I wanted to go to this retreat and the primary reason I want to maintain healthy relationships with Beautiful Church staff is for the sake of the next generation.

The longer I've been at THC, the more clearly I can see the big picture of the vital relationship between THC and BC.

See, if THC completely leaves BC... if we leave and have our own building... a morning service time... etc.

If we leave, then what will happen with the next generation which relies, almost entirely, on THC members to disciple/teach them?

What will happen with the new graduating seniors of Youth group? Will they be forced to stay at BC and rebuild an EM (English Ministry) from scratch again? What will happen to the 15 or so THC members who are serving in Elementary & Youth in the morning services? Will they stay at THC or will they leave to continue being part of BC Elem/Youth?

I want you to see that though we are different churches with separate finances, leadership, etc.... we are actually better together... for the sake of the next generation.

Maybe it won't always be this way. Maybe God will lead us in the future to part ways. Maybe God will give us a building right next to our mother church building so that we could have simultaneous morning services... who knows.

One thing I do know is that leaving right now would not be wise for the reasons listed above.

So THC members, thank you! Thank you for having a Sunday corporate worship service at 2pm.

You are doing that for the next generation of THC'ers :)

Thank you for serving your guts out for these youth and kids on the BC-side...

You are doing that for the next generation of THC'ers :)

~~~

So the reason I wanted to go to this retreat is so that I can continue to foster good relationships with the leadership of BC SO THAT we can continue to work together for the bigger picture of the next generation of THC'ers

I've been your Pastor for the last 2.5 years. It took me a whole year to have a better understanding of the dynamics of this church. As someone who grew up at a predominately Anglo/Hispanic mega church... and then as someone who ventured out to plant a church that had little to no connection to its mother church... I had no idea the dynamic that existed within the immigrant church (specifically a Korean church).

As time has gone on... As I've continued to meet with Pastor Ko... The other BC staff... As I've met with Pastor John Cho and Hanna Kim, the more clear it has become to me.

It's better for us to choose to remain close at this time. This is better for the Kingdom of Jesus. There is about 150 little souls on the mother church side that are being blessed through your sacrifices. This is also better for us in the long-term.... through our sacrifices, we will see THC to become this flourishing and healthy church with an influx of young men and women coming into our church ready to make an impact for the King.

Let's keep casting seeds... keep plowing... keep sacrificing... keep honoring... keep serving... for the gospel :) For the fruit that will come in decades :)

Love your Pastor.

So one thing I've wanted to do for quite some time is to tour all the different FCs :)

The purpose of this tour would be:

1. To encourage each FC in continuing to attend, serve, invite VIPs, and build your FCs so that we can continue to see God do great things in and through The Home Church.

2. To allow for members to get to know myself a little more and for me to get to know the members a little more.

3. Provide an opportunity for FC members to ask questions related to the Bible, my testimony, life questions, and questions related to THC.

4. Gauge how each FC is doing and give feedback to the Shepherds so they can know where to focus  efforts so that each FC is best positioned to grow.

In regards to the format of FC when I come. It would be different than a typical FC-format.

- Eat Together (I will bring dessert)

- Ice-Breaker

- Sing 2 Praise Songs

- Word Time

- Questions & Answers Time (See Below)

- Prayer Time

Q&A Time:

We won't do a normal "Sharing Time" while I am there. What we will do instead is you can come on that Friday with questions that you would like me to answer. You don't have to send the questions ahead of time. I will hear the questions right there and then. 

The questions can be about anything!

- Bible Questions

- Pastoral Advice for Life Situations

- Family Church-Related

- My Testimony

- The Home Church-Related (our Mission, Future, State of the Church, etc.)

P.S. If there are little to no questions your FC has for me, I will begin to ask you some questions :) hehehehe

After the "Q&A" time we will close with prayer. We will pray for these 4 things in this order:

1. Upcoming THC Service

2. FC Missionary

3. VIPs

4. Prayer of Blessing Over Your FC - I will lead this one.

On September 4, THC hired Kristin Choi to be our first “Assistant”.

Before going any further, I also want to highlight these three individuals:

- David Pak

- Chad Espinoza

- Elaina Perez

Chad was the one that initially set up our mobile app, updated the website, and sent the weekly email newsletter.

David, though he is crazy busy, has been overseeing the Finances of THC. David has been faithfully staring into the abyss of excel spreadsheets for the last several years.  

Elaina, my wife (who is pregnant with our third child) was “Kristin” before Kristin. Staying up late to schedule appointments for me, helping with tracking church information, and doing many small things here and there to help THC run more efficiently.  
 
So, I want to thank these three people specifically for your labor of love. When you get a chance thank these three individuals for serving THC.
 
And I’m grateful that THC is in a financial place to hire someone to help do most of what these three were doing.  
 
I wanted to take some time to explain Kristin’s role so that you guys can be more in the loop and pray with more knowledge about the next steps for THC to grow to all that God wants us to be.
 
The hiring of Kristin allows me to dedicate more time and energy to the areas of preaching/teaching, to focus on the Shepherds/Family Churches, and to mobilize Church Members towards our church’s mission of reaching the lost and making disciples.
 
The job description states:
 
“The Pastoral Assistant works alongside the Lead Pastor to develop systems and structures so that THC operates more effectively to achieve its mission in reaching the lost and making disciples.”
 
Kristin and I meet each Friday where we plan for the upcoming THC service and upcoming THC events.  
 
Kristin’s role as THC Assistant involves setting up appointments for me, overseeing the website, mobile app, email newsletter, communicating with various serving Team Leads and helping with the planning of certain church events.
 
She is also going to be overseeing this year’s All-Church Retreat in 2019.
 
In full disclosure, what happened was that we (THC Finance Team) were looking at two candidates to come on board as an Assistant Pastor. A role that has been void since Pastor Phil left in early 2018. I interviewed two standup men. But what happened was that through that process of interviewing them I came to realize that much of the help I needed could be done by a non-Pastor – it was more administration and organization-related.
 
Which then led to the idea of hiring an Assistant “in house” – meaning within our church. Someone who is already invested here at THC. Someone who is already a member. Someone who is gifted in these areas of logistics and organization.
 
And when I came to this realization, multiple people told me, “Kristin!”
 
And here’s where the story is cool: because, initially, Kristin’s plan was to apply and go to a far-away school this upcoming January 2019.
 
So, I interviewed Kristin in August for the position and she explained to me that “studying abroad” was very much a possibility. I told her that THC couldn’t hire her for this position if there was a strong possibility that she would be leaving in January because we would be back at square one – looking for someone all over again after a couple of months.
 
So, I told her to take two weeks to fast and pray. And I did my best to tell her,
 
“Don’t feel pressured to choose a close school because of this job.”
 
I told her that she needed to do what she felt God was calling her to do.
 
And she came back and explained to me that she had come to realize, after prayer and counsel, that this idea of going to a school out-of-state was an idea that was instilled in her while she was younger.  
 
But when she began the application process and was presented with this job opportunity she challenged herself in thinking about why she wanted to go to a college that was further away from home.
 
She came to realize that she no longer wanted to go to a far-away college. And in her own words she said, “I couldn’t see myself being away from the wisdom and love shared at THC week after week.”
 
All you young cats in here… there’s a lot of wisdom here. I’m not just saying this because I just want everyone to always stay at THC forever and ever (muahahahaha).
 
No, go where you sense God calling you.
 
But what I love about Kristin’s story is that it is to your benefit to heavily consider the importance of a church community to invest in and serve at… this should, definitely, be part of the process when considering where you should go to college.  
 
When considering a college to apply to. We already consider things like the costs of different schools, scholarships available from certain schools, certain programs/majors that some schools offer.
 
We even consider the “city life” of the college. What’s the weather like? What’s the culture like? How’s the scenery?
 
And, for many of us, we have this desire to “get away” from our family and hometown to “explore”. For many of us, “going away” for college represents freedom and exciting new experiences.
 
Now please don’t misunderstand what I’m saying.
 
None of the considerations I mentioned above are inherently wrong or sinful. These are all things one could/should consider.  Proper prayer, wisdom, and counsel is necessary as one discerns and wrestles with these factors.  
 
Here is my simple point. I’m suggesting that it would be very wise (and to your benefit) to add “church community” as a viable and valuable consideration as well. This is more important than most of the things mentioned above.
 
Once again, I’m not saying never study far away from THC. Heck, I left my church when I went to college. All I am saying is to make sure you consider the importance of community, serving, and spiritual growth in your discerning process of where to go.
 
Never forget that you are a follower of Jesus before you are a student in college. College studies is not a valid excuse to remove yourself from church community and serving. Just like marriage is not an excuse. Just like parenting is not an excuse.

Jesus desires to advance His Kingdom through the local church. Love you guys!

Pastor Mitchell

Clarity is always good. Reminders are good too.

In January of 2017, THC launched church membership for the first time. Click here to learn what that means.

It's important to state, over and over again, the importance of understanding what a "covenant" is.

The reason we have church membership is not to have an exclusive club. But to foster a healthy church with members, willingly, choosing to do their part so that THC can be all she can be for the building up of the church and the glory of God. I believe that, in the end, there will be more disciples made for Jesus, a greater accountability amongst one another, a clearer understanding of our church's mission & beliefs, as well as a greater joy and purpose unlocked in church members as they find their role/responsibility at THC.

What is a Covenant?

A covenant is generally defined as “a written agreement or promise usually under seal between two or more parties especially for the performance of some action.”

There are many examples of covenants in the Bible. A covenant is an acknowledgement to one’s responsibilities through a vow/promise.
 
Why a Covenant?

A covenant evidences the formal relationship that is taking place between the church member and the Church.
 
THE HOME CHURCH MEMBERS COVENANT:

Having received Christ as my Lord and Savior and been baptized, and being in agreement with The Home Church’s statement of faith, mission, and expectations as a member, I now feel led by the Holy Spirit to unite with The Home Church as a church member.

In doing so, I commit myself to God and to the other members to do the following:
 
1. I WILL PROTECT THE UNITY OF MY CHURCH

...By acting in love toward other members at The Home Church & Family Church.
...By refusing to gossip
...By following the leaders (Pastors & Shepherds)
 
“So then, let us aim for harmony in the church and try to build each other up.” (Romans 14:19 NLT)

“Don’t use foul or abusive language. Let everything you say be good and helpful, so that your words will be an encouragement to those who hear them.” (Ephesians 4:29 NLT)

“Obey your spiritual leaders, and do what they say. Their work is to watch over your souls, and they are accountable to God. Give them reason to do this with joy and not with sorrow. That would certainly not be for your benefit.” (Hebrews 13:17 NLT)
 
2. I WILL SHARE THE RESPONSIBILITY OF MY CHURCH

...By praying for its growth
...By intentionally engaging the unchurched to attend The Home Church & Family Church.
...By warmly welcoming and encouraging those who visit The Home Church & Family Church.
 
“We always thank God for all of you and pray for you constantly.” (1 Thessalonians 1:2 NLT)

“So his master said, ‘Go out into the country lanes and behind the hedges and urge anyone you find to come, so that the house will be full. For none of those I first invited will get even the smallest taste of my banquet.’” (Luke 14:23-24 NLT)

“Therefore, accept each other just as Christ has accepted you so that God will be given glory.” (Romans 15:7 NLT)
 
3. I WILL SERVE THE MINISTRY OF MY CHURCH

...By using my gifts to serve the members of The Home Church & Family Church.
...By being equipped to serve by my Pastors and Shepherds.
...By developing a servant’s heart
 
“God has given each of you a gift from his great variety of spiritual gifts. Use them well to serve one another.” (1 Peter 4:10 NLT)

“Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.” (Ephesians 4:11-12 NLT)

“Don’t be selfish; don’t try to impress others. Be humble, thinking of others as better than yourselves. Don’t look out only for your own interests, but take an interest in others, too. ... Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being....” (Philippians 2:3-4, 7 NLT)
 
4. I WILL SUPPORT THE TESTIMONY OF MY CHURCH

...By attending faithfully to The Home Church & Family Church.
...By living a godly life
...By giving regularly
 
“And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:25 NLT)

“Above all, you must live as citizens of heaven, conducting yourselves in a manner worthy of the Good News about Christ. Then, whether I come and see you again or only hear about you, I will know that you are standing side by side, fighting together for the faith, which is the Good News.” (Philippians 1:27 NLT)

“On the first day of each week, you should each put aside a portion of the money you have earned. Don’t wait until I get there and then try to collect it all at once.” (1 Corinthians 16:2 NLT)

“The point is this: whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver.” (2 Corinthians 9:6-7 ESV)

Paul told the church in Thessalonica:

"Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing." (5:11)

Paul told the church in Ephesus:

"Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear." (4:29)
 
Can you think of a time when you were feeling very down? Fear or shame dominated your heart. You were down and depressed. Your hope was dim. The grey clouds were out and about. Your heart felt... broken.

You reached out to someone you respect. Someone who cares about you. And that person gave you the perfect encouragement that changed the way you felt. Changed the way you thought. And suddenly you felt your broken heart being "built up".

That's the power of encouragement.

And here's the truth.... All of us... Need it. Lot's of it too.

But what's interesting is that though we all need it and though we all thoroughly enjoy when someone encourages us - sometimes it's so darn hard to do it. Sometimes we fumble over our words. Sometimes, it's pride that keeps us from "stooping so low". For many of us, it's challenging... "How do you do that?"

Recently, I received a Pastoral training on something rather interesting. It wasn't on how to preach better or how to get more volunteers. No, it was about how to encourage.

Our training mentioned three things that I found memorable and very practical. I'd like to share those with you, THC. Keep this in mind especially in the context of your Family Churches.
 
HOW TO ENCOURAGE:

1. Sincere -

It begins with "why".

"Why am I about to encourage this person?" - This is the question you need to start with.

Real encouragement begins with a true and genuine heart towards said person and said action.

The bible is clear that flattery is a sin. (Psalms 5:9). Flattery is defined as:

"excessive and insincere praise, especially that given to further one's own interests."

So, if the reason you want to encourage this person is actually self-serving in some way. Slap yo self for your selfishness (slap softly). Have a moment of repenting before the Lord and ask Him to give you a sincere heart that wants only to serve the other person.

Personally speaking, this is sometimes an area of struggle for me. You see, I'm a "words-of-affirmation-guy". I love to give and receive love through encouragements and affirmations.

Sometimes when I feel discouraged, I find myself reaching out to others to encourage them. Part of this is good because I've been trained (correctly) to not focus on me but on others when feeling down. But what I sometimes find, in myself, is that I'm hoping for the other person to return the favor and encourage me.

In those moments, I need to anchor my heart to the deeply encouraging truth in the gospel. That is enough for me. He is sufficient. He is the firm foundation I need.

Encouragement that blesses God's heart must be based in sincere love for the other person. And one of the characteristics of Christ-like love is that it isn't "self-seeking" (1 Corinthians 13:4)

So... check yo self before you... encourage (Man... I was hoping that could rhyme somehow...oh well).

True encouragement is based in a desire to "build up" the other person, not yourself.
 
2. Specific -
Don't generalize your encouragement. Pin-point WHY said person or action blessed you.
 
Don't say to someone who just led worship:

"Hey, great job!"

Say:

"Hey, those were great worship songs. I enjoyed how much passion you sang with. Thanks ______ for leading us in song."
 
Don't say to someone who just shared something vulnerable:

"Thanks for sharing."

Say:

"Thank you for sharing what you shared. It blesses me that you would trust us with this level of vulnerability. That reminds me that I, too, can freely share in a trusting community."
 
Do you see? Be more specific. Craft your words in your mind before you say them. The truth is that all four statements above are well-intentioned. They are designed to "build up"  and encourage another person. But the reality is simple and generalized encouragements fall off like water poured on a wet penguin's back. We easily forget. They don't have "staying" power in our hearts. They don't "move" us to continue in our mission. They don't inspire.

If you really want to "build up" the other person. Build them up! With sincere specificity!
 
3. Strength-Focused -

When possible, try to tie an encouragement to a strength of said person. You are looking to affirm the strengths, gifts, passions, and wiring of said person.

All of us battle insecurities. One of the most powerful realizations for our spiritual growth is accepting the person God specifically made us to be. We don't affirm sin. But we affirm strengths. When our strengths are affirmed. We are able to continue to grow as a follower of Jesus.

I recently told a fiery friend who frequently voices her concerns about our church:

"I want to thank you for bringing your concern to me. I appreciate that you have always been honest with me. I'm grateful that God brought you to our church and into my life. I will become a better leader because of people like you."

So, if you see certain gifts, strengths, passions, and wiring of a person - you want to affirm those qualities and strengths in that person.
 
Encouragement is important. Don't think that this is only for the "weak".

(I'm talking more specifically to guys now)

All of us need encouragement. Lots of it.
 
It's interesting because before Jesus began His three year ministry, He was baptized. And during the baptism God the Father spoke from Heaven and encouraged His Son Jesus. What did He tell Him?

"This is My Beloved Son in who I am well pleased" (Matthew 3:17)

In other words:

"This is My Son who I love greatly! I am proud of Him!"
 
I find it interesting that some psychologists have asserted that the two most important things a child needs to hear from their parents are:

"I love you!"

and

"I'm proud of you!"
 
These words that God the Father sent to God the Son were important for Jesus and the mission the Father had for Him. I'm sure Jesus was deeply blessed by these words. They probably repeated in His mind during the tough moments of His ministry and suffering.

And so with us - we need encouragement to "keep on keeping on".

The Enemy brings deep discouragement. This world is filled with reasons for discouragement to abound. Let's "build up" the "broken hearts" with the power of encouragement.

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.  And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that.  And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full.  

But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful." (Luke 6:32-36 NIV)

How do we grow in loving others?

We must test the limits of our love.

Jesus says it's easy to love the lovely. It's easy to be kind to those who are kind. That's common. That's easy. But what isn't easy... is to love the unlovely... to engage the enemy with encouragement... to bless those who curse you... to pray for those who persecute you...
 
I believe we've too often allowed the cultural/"Disney" notion that true love is a "feeling" that one can feel and that somehow confirms the sincerity of love and makes it true.

We think of "true loves kiss" or a "feeling of love" that bursts in our heart which somehow confirms our love. This is the kind of love we "love" (hehe). And it makes sense, who doesn't love the feeling of love. It's amazing! Those butterflies in the stomach, those warm thoughts about another person, those verbal words that lift the soul... I love it! (pun intended)

But it seems that Jesus also calls for a love that sometimes is based in ACTION, despite feelings...

So, this is actually rather simple: how do you grow in love?

Well... You wait. Just wait.

And wait.

Because sooner than later you will be in a situation where it will be DIFFICULT to love someone. (Can a Pastor get an "amen"?)

It's at that moment. That moment! That you've been given a wonderful gift from God :)

You've been given an opportunity to grow in love. It's a test, that if passed, actually GROWS you in love. That person isn't an obstacle to be ignored... they are actually an opportunity to engage!

 So, you respond with an ACTION of love. You ask God to give you the heart of Christ in a situation. You repent against your natural proclivity to turn to hate, bitterness, or spite. You "crucify" want you want to do in the moment, in your natural (and sinful) state, and you remind yourself of the amazing ACTION of love that Christ demonstrated for YOU.

That Jesus didn't "FEEL" like dying on the Cross (The Garden prayer tells us this, "Father if there is any other way... let this cup pass from..." - Matthew 26:39). Hebrews tells us that Christ "despised/scorned the shame" of the Cross, but He "endured it" (Hebrews 12:2).

The very Gospel of Christianity is a testament that the greatest act of love the Universe has ever witnessed was one of Someone who inexplicably chose His enemies blessing at the cost of His cursing... who chose to be tortured to death to save His torturers... to literally pray from a place of intense suffering for those persecuting Him...

Jesus loved His Father.

Jesus loved His brothers (disciples).

Jesus loved His neighbors.

Jesus loved the outcasts (Samaritans, drunks, prostitutes, tax collectors, Gentiles, and more)

Jesus loved His enemies (Pharisees and Persecutors).
 
THC, grow in love by loving the unlovely... even when you don't feel like it.

Your love is never more like Christ than when you love the unlovely.