Pastor’s Corner:

 “Now I plead with you, brethren, by the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that you all speak the same thing and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly joined together in the same mind and in the same judgment….For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God…Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men, and the weakness of God is stronger than men.”  I Corinthians 1: 10,18, 25

  Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ who lives and reigns today in the hearts and lives of those who seek Him!  First I want to give thanks to God for showing me a tremendous passage this morning with the guidance to share it with you.  I want to challenge each of you to take your own Bibles and read I Corinthians 1: 10 – 31.  There is an awesome message that God is sharing with the churches of Corinth and with our congregation today.  The message is about our focus.

  Any individual congregation is always just one generation or less away from ceasing to exist.  This is a cold hard fact that people of Christ have been dealing with since the beginning of time.  Thank God for those who have been faithful in the past to share God’s love with us so that we could know him and emerge as His church today.  Some of you will remember that not long ago, I put an old picture of the Asbury congregation from around 1955 up on the screen.  I mentioned then that we owe a debt of gratitude to them. Because of their faithfulness, they are a direct link between God and ourselves that passed on our wonderful church. 

  In recent months our Asbury has been going through some dramatic growing pains.  This happens anytime a collective group deals with change.  Why are these issues coming up now?  There are two reasons that Asbury has been dealing with issues about the future in past few months.  First, we are rapidly coming to the end of the DNA process that we began over two years ago.  This three year process was approved by our church council and we agreed to pay Don Nations $3900 over three years to serve as a consultant to lead our church through a process that would help us grow.  Second, the annual conference is in the third year of a Strategic Planning process that requires every local church to submit a strategic plan for future growth at this year’s church conference.  The individuals who have been attending these workshops for almost three years, that have been reading books recommended by our Bishop, and attending these strategic planning committee meetings for almost three years completed their work and submitted a plan to the church  several months ago.  That’s when the storm began.

  We have not been “perfectly joined together in the same mind” over the past few months.  The sad thing is that everyone involved wants to see our church grow and flourish.  We have not done a good job of sharing our thoughts and concerns with each other.  We have just showed up to vote against or to vote for the action steps in the strategic plan.  Sadly, we have had some people share incorrect information about the process and how it came about.  I want to ask us to take a step back and remember that we are in this congregation because we love God and have His joy in our lives.  How can we demonstrate God’s love if we are saying hurtful things or constantly keeping the controversy alive?  It is time for us to dedicate ourselves to healing.  Each one of us should spend some time on our own knees to find out what God’s will is for our church, to ask the question, what would Jesus do?”  It is also time for us to think about the issues from the other person’s perspective.  No group has 100% agreement all the time.  It is crucial that when we do disagree, we talk to those on the opposite side of the issue and hear their views and respect their opinions.  Being of the same mind has to do with our focus on God’s will and God’s purpose.  Remember verse 25 above.

  I hope and pray that I will see you in worship this Sunday.  It is time for us to be mature Christians and begin working with the same purpose which is sharing the message of the cross for salvation’s sake.

Pastor Don