Words from Pastor Seth

Here are some word of encouragement from my very dear friend and mentor Pastor Seth.

"I love hanging out with people who aren't afraid to step out and take a risk! People who choose to quit making excuses in life, and decide...why not us, why not now! To me it's that kind of rhino, crash through walls type of spirit that encapsulates campus ministry. And that's what really stood out to me as I hung out with this young group of dreamers, and pioneers in Gresham last Sunday Night. I sat there, coffee in hand just watching this rogue group laugh, fellowship, and dream together. A group that's making it happen with little to no resourcing, but a group with an abundance of heart and vision. And so sipping on some joe, there was that moment of realization that you know what...this crazy venture in Gresham might just work. And it'll work not because they have it all together, but simply because they are together. Together in the messyness of a tech issue, parking constraints, schedule conflicts, loud neighbors, and might I add...loving every minute of it. See often times the only thing separating us from a life of regret and living the dream is a wall of excuses, fears, and somedays! It's a wall that you can't go around or over, but a wall that has to be crashed through. Thanks again to Tim, Crystal, Aaron, Heather & the whole Gresham team for making me feel so welcome. "

Seth, I am glad you felt welcome in our group. We want everyone who comes not only to feel welcome but to feel blessed and refreshed to spread the good news of Christ and to take on this crazy world... Thanks for helping me in this battle for souls in Gresham!

God in the Ordinary

It’s interesting that my last blog started by me saying that I was too busy and that I needed to slow down. Well this weekend at Living Hope the service was much about slowing down and seeing God in the small things and the big things. Here is the link to our website where you can navigate to the weekend video. http://livinghopechurch.com/ .

I think we need to slow down so that we can see and hear what God would speak to us. It could be about things that God wants to help fix in your life, it could be words of encouragement, it could also be to realize a small thing that God has done in your life and you need to give Him the glory for it. Take a moment and slow down enough to see God in the ordinary… for instance, this morning it was just pouring cats and dogs… then it started to hail then sun than whatever else came. I was just thinking, how cool is it that we can have such an awesome diversity in the weather here in the northwest. We just kinda take advantage of it because we live here. God makes Himself known everyday with the ordinary that we just kinda overlook. This week let’s take a moment and see God in our everyday occurrences.

Generic versus Specific

Sorry, I meant to write a couple days ago, I have just been busy. --- I think I need to slow down sometimes and just chillout and take in what God is trying to show me.

So I have entitled this blog "Generic versus Specific" .... why??? what a great question.

In my previous blog I said I was called to a Pastoral role. So that is the Generic part. The specific part is the "what does that look like?" part. Where? When? What Type? What Congregation?

For you, you may not have these answers. Don't get discouraged, it will all come to you from God in due time. I don't think that there are any true "5 steps to the specific" like I did for the generic. The one thing I can suggest is just keep prayin!

For me personally, I still don't know the answer to all of the above. So for I believe that God has called me to minister in Gresham... my own community... I also believe that I have been called to Living Hope Church. But what about the other churches??? What about the struggling churches??? What about the other churches I go to and call my home?

You got to start somewhere, for me I have opened up my home until we get a building for our Living Hope Church Gresham Campus. I feel that this is where God wants us for the time being. If you are reading this and have a call for our community here in Gresham OR we would love to have you take part in what I would call an "ONLY GOD movement. "

Have a great weekend. Oh by the way Gresham Campus Life Group will be meeting at my house again this Sunday (4/27/08) at 7:00pm. We would love to see you there. Let me know if you can make it!

We are off of Stark and 208th in Gresham!

-Tim Reed
503-329-5203

Did you find it?

For the longest time I knew that I was called to a pastoral role and what I found was that I thought that I would just ignore it til "I" was ready, which didn't work out by the way. It is all Gods timing. I am a firm believer now in our lives being pre-ordained by God. Which is a blog all in its own but God has a calling for your life as he did for me, and more importantly it has been fabricated by Jesus.

You are and individual in the body of Christ, and you have your own role. So now you might be asking yourself "What is my calling in life" or "What is the purpose of my life?" Maybe I can help show you a pathway to finding that answer. This is what God has shown me this week.
I think that there are 5 ways that can help you find what God has for you.

1. Pray. I know that is kinda the obvious one but hey it works yo! Ask God to show what He has for you, He will respond. Maybe in different ways to different people, but He will. i.e. In my one of my previous blogs I talked about how God speaks to certain people, check it out.

2. Start serving in the church. Volunteer your time. This is a good opportunity to find what works, and what doesn't. i.e. Kids vs. Youth Ministry vs. Worship Ministry.

3. Seek Council. - Talk to a pastor, or elder. Someone who knows you.

4. Be Faithful to the above three steps. Don't skip one. In my opinion, I think all three are crucial.

5. Wait, don't get impatient. Remember it is in Gods timing, and Gods timing alone!

Maybe you feel you already know what your calling is... If so, stay focused, and keep The Vision.

If you have questions please let me know. I would love to help.

tonight

Tonight has been an amazing night. I went to The Way which is a 18-28yr old group that meets at Solid Rock Church in SW Portland. Super cool group of people. I want to write about what God spoke to me in the message, but I fear that I would not be able to write it all down tonight before I go to bed. So I figured I would just write this little info thing and write all the good stuff tomorrow. With that said, tune in tomorrow!

Goodnight.

- me

Home at last

So we got to the airport in Phoenix and there just so happened to be a plane that was leaving for Portland right then. And I do mean "right then." With 5 minutes to spare my friend Aaron and I paid our transfer fee and jumped on the plane which put us in to Portland about 3 hours early. ONLY GOD.

So here I am about 7:45 am, I went to bed last night at like 8pm and slept really well. It felt good to be sleeping in my bed next to my gorgeous wife. Who by the way has put up with me when I first landed. I got in and was kinda grumpy since I didn't get any sleep on the plane and had been up since 5:20am the previous morning. Crys, Thank you! I love you so much!!!

Now I am off to work "yeah" sorta. After this trip I am still kinda wiped out and I have heard that there has been a lot of changes at work. We will see how things are when I get there. I am sure I will write about it on the blog when I get home.
Hope you all have a great day.

-Me

in Arizona at last

my original plan was to write when we landed, but as soon as we landed it has been pretty much non stop. so much to do. It is amazing how they packed so much into this trip.

Well obviously I am safe in Phoenix, and actually it is Mesa that I am staying in. We did mostly classroom stuff this evening, but I did get a chance to get out. It was 97 today here in Mesa. It was clear skys and just like I imagined it to be. I didn't imagine the following; I have to wake up at 5:30 to be ready to go by 6am... Subaru people. Gosh!

We are going to the track at 7:30am. Should be a blast, can't wait, however we will be under tents and it is supposed to get to 95 tomorrow. At least it only got to 4% humidity. Dry heat is much better than humid heat. side note: has any one ever seen a 8 foot tall cactus in real life before? Weird plant. My friend that I am with here, he says you can eat some of the ones that grow here. His Girlfriend is hispanic so he knows some good ways to cook/eat it. Interesting is all I got to say about that.

I won't have any time to post tomorrow I am assuming, but if I do, I will write a little note. I am heading back home, my flight leaves at 5pm and I get in around 7:30pm. It will be good to see my wife again, I miss her dearly. I hate being away from her. If you are reading this hunny, I love you!!!!!

Sitting at the Airport

So they tell you to come like 2 hours before your flight???? Why? I got through PDX security in 20 minutes.. So here I wait, still one hour before my flight even leaves and am bored! So I figured I would write a blog.

Some people have asked me why I am going to AZ. Well it is a short business trip for Subaru. They are sending a few of us down to learn more about a couple of Subau's new cars. The new 09 Forester and the 08 Impreza STi. We will have some class training and then a ride and drive. This is the part I am looking forward to. Going 120mph on a racetrack with the new STI. Can't wait for that part! I will write again when I get down there.

Thank you for your prayers, I feel at peace about this whole trip.

- Me
Crystal, I love you! Thanks for waking up at 6:30 am to take me to the airport. you are the best wife ever!

Gresham Campus 1st Service

It is the First church service in Gresham tonight (aside from Easter service) and I must say I am really excited to see what God is going to do. It doesn't have to start real big but I know that in time it will grow to be a larger campus. There is just so much room here to grow in Gresham for a community/church like Living Hope. This first meet will be the first of many to come and I know God's hand is on it. I will write more later.

Oh and pray for a safe flight and trip for me as I am flying down to Pheonix, AZ tomorrow. My flight is at 8:30am which might I just say is dreadfully early!

God bless. Hope you can make it this evening. It is an open invite. 7pm my place.

On the conversation of "Work"

I know it is not just me, it seems like I hear it from someone almost everyday. Some one doesn't like there job. They are tired of the job itself, or maybe it is your peers, or managment?! Maybe it is the distance that you drive or walk to get there. Or just maybe, if you are a traditional Northwestern, you probably bike to work... I am a strong believer in making the best of every situation. I try not to be negative, in fact I think I am rather positive. Hopefully if you know me you'd agree. So I have been struggling with a few of the above reasons "I don't like my job". I think it is stupid that it takes an hour or so to travel to and from work round trip. I think some of my co-workers are immature, and some are lazy, and nothing against the auto-industry, but I am just kinda burnt out... but what I sometimes forget is that maybe I am still at Subaru of Oregon City because God is working through me to affect one or more peoples' lives, or maybe it is my co-workers, maybe it's my customers. Just maybe it might be about the other person, not about me.
I know I am alive today and there may not be a tomorrow, so I need to have positive outlook and keep on sharing the amazing news of Jesus. I will have to go out of my comfort zone and tell the world why I live. I would argue that you are where you are today because that is where God wants you. Stay positive and BE JESUS to the WORLD!

a side note for my friends with blogs...

Words can not express...

Thank you Aaron and Heather for the invite! Now go tell everyone else to also invite me... pleez

my email is timtoyota2000@yahoo.com . love ya

Are you freakin kidding me???????

So I am not a huge fan of American Idol this season, but tonight as I watched the last 20 minutes or so of the "Idol gives back" show I saw the last song on the show sung by all of the finalists. guess what song it was???? Shout to the Lord, an amazing worship song, and was beautifully sung by the finalists. I think little by little BOLDNESS is coming out. The song gave me the chills, seeing it on a show that has billions of viewers. Amazing. ONLY GOD could come through on American Idol.

Did any one else see it?

The moments that pass us by...

Ever look back at the moments that pass you by? The moments where you think to yourself "I should have done something different".... "I should have reacted differently"?

I have been struggling with a few times in the recent past where I would be ashamed to call myself a Christian. Thankfully there is God's Mercy, and even though we may not always have second chance to change the decision at least we have the forgiveness of the Living God.

Take a moment to pause and think about what outcome you would want, or should I say what God would want. I will give you an example, At work the other day we had a homeless guy walk in and everyone walked away from the door and ignored him. Even me. As he asked so kindly "may I have your cans and bottles please?" No one responded, no one. After he had walked away I sat down and thought, "Tim you idiot!" What was I thinking, or should I say, not thinking. I don't know what a difference of 20 cans of bottles would have done in his life, but I do know that Everyone is somebody that will spend eternity some where. And let me tell you, I am a firm believer in that the small things count. --- from this story I have simply shown you that learning from our pasts can be eternity in heaven or hell, what small or large choice can change everything! I will take this as far as to say that it isn't right for us to pick and choose who we should share the amazing news of Jesus with. For HE paid much to high of price... There is no guarantee of tomorrow for any of us. With that said we should live our lives and really pause and think about the decisions in front of us.

What are you here for?

Have you ever wondered what your purpose was here on Earth?
So my outlook starts like this; You and I are here for a common goal, even though we may not have anything in common other than that. We have been placed here on earth with a free will because God wants us to Love Him freely. He doesn't force us to love Him, we do it because we want to. With that said, let me just say with that "loving Him" comes worship, praise, ministry, fellowship, (the church) and prayer (the connection with God, not just words).

So that leads me to my next point.... How do we get closer to God? I believe that we get closer to God by finding the connection that brings us closer to Him on an intimate level. There are many different ways to connect with Him. Some find it in 'Music' (playing or singing or listening), some find a connection in writing either to God or people listening to God's voice and putting what He says on paper. Others find it in Silent time with God. I think everyone has a little of that one just because it allows us to hear God's voice better. Those are just a couple of examples. This week read a couple of passages in the Bible. We heard these today at church and all of them spoke to me. 1 Cor 12:1, Ephs 3:19, Job 37, Psalms 9:10, and Duet 7:9. I hope these bless you the way it did me.

they never said this was going to be easy...

So today I talked to my mom and found out some heart breaking news. My grandmother has been in a downward spiral for some several years and just recently it has been evident that her time here on earth was about to come to an end. Well today it has been confirmed, we now have days, or weeks versus months. The doctors are thinking "sooner" vs. "later". If that wasn't enough my mom also just found out today that her beloved dog 'Bailee' has Lung Cancer. Ouch, it always seems to me that these things don't come one at a time, but in waves of large numbers.

It brings to mind a common saying "what doesn't kill you, only makes you stronger". It seems like everyone that has something like this happen asks themselves one question "why me?" Some would respond to this and say that this is trials and tribulation. Partly true, it will ideally bring you closer to God.

Some say that it is the wrath of God. I would disagree. The wrath of God is when God says ok "have it your way"... when we stray from Him and we want what we want... sorry side note. God wants the best for you. God's wrath is not a cosmic kill joy.

I think that this is just life, and what we do in these situations will either kill us more or make us stronger. God allows these things to happen because God gave us a free will. With that comes sin, and with sin comes disease, comes sickness and so on. Don't be discouraged, bad things happen to good people. They never said life was going to be easy. They never said being a Christian would be easy. So how do you make it through these situations? 1. Prayer; seek the face of God, Cry out "God Help!". 2. Church, Fellowship... tell, share... We are the body of Christ, we are the church. People can help, and will help. 3. Read the Word of God. Know how others handled hard situations. i.e. Abraham, Job, Moses.

Love you all. Hope this encourages.