Tuesday, August 28, 2007

Break Up Your Unplowed Ground

Dear Worshippers,

A new season, is about to begin. No, I am not talking about the football season which we hope will see our Mountaineer football team crowned the national champions. I am referring to the fall, and the start-up of a cadre of ministries at church, including my favorite-choir.

I mention this because I am about to talk about plowing, sowing and reaping, and I want you to understand that I am aware we are entering harvest time as far as farmers are concerned, even while I talk about the beginning of the process. I am talking about the beginning because that is where we find ourselves in this community that revolves in great measure around the schedule of West Virginia University. In the fall, there is much excitement in Morgantown, but not all of it is centered around the university.

The verse that came to mind as I prayed about my word to you for this week was Hosea 10:12. To keep you from having to tear open the sticky pages from your Bible, at least for the moment, let me share it with you here from the NIV. “Sow for yourselves righteousness,/reap the fruit of unfailing love,/and break up your unplowed ground;/for it is time to seek the LORD,/until he comes/and showers righteousness on you.” I hope that last line is the desire of your soul as it is mine, to see the Lord shower His righteousness down upon us, the city which is home to the number #1 party school in the nation.

That shower will be the result of our cultivating lives of righteousness, loyal to our God. Cultivating is a part of the vision of our worship ministries, though we use the word nurture. Remember the vision, “Our Worship Ministries exist to nurture worship as a lifestyle characterized by sincere responses to God’s self-revelations.” This is all about growth: plowing, sowing, and reaping.

It is the first part that I want you to think about as we enter this new season. Where is some plowing necessary for you? Is there some area that you have left untended for a while? Though resting a field is a good practice, I hope you are willing to do the work that Lord has for you and in you in the days ahead.

Did you notice how this passage starts and ends with righteousness? This is all about the Lord and His mercy. In the chapter surrounding this verse, God is warning the nation of Israel to do some hard work and change their ways, or face the consequences. The Christian life is a life of change and transformation, though sometimes we are guilty of becoming far too comfortable. Part of the note on this verse from the NIV Study Bible says, “Be no longer unproductive, but repentant, making a radical new beginning and becoming productive and fruitful”. Receive that word from the Lord and break up your unplowed ground in this new season.

In Christ,

Pastor Scott


Tuesday, August 21, 2007

They’re Back

Dear Worshippers,

If you have driven anywhere near Morgantown in the last few days you are aware of one thing for certain. The students are back. You have probably sat in traffic where for the last three months you were whizzing along. I want to encourage you with a particular perspective as those students clog the arteries of our otherwise sleepy little berg.

Each student has come to study at WVU with a particular objective. Some have come for a degree, others have come for a good time, if they get a degree, fine. Some are studying chemistry, others are trying to find it in a relationship. Some have come to learn how to teach, others already think that have everything figured out. MANY OF THEM NEED JESUS! I DID!

In the fall of 1990, I entered West Virginia University as a student in the College of Creative Arts. Little did I, know that God was going to draw me to Himself very creatively through a number of my classmates. I was pursing a Bachelors Degree in Music. Little did I know, God was already using that love to draw me to Himself, who would become my First Love. God was orchestrating my life, absolutely no pun intended, to bring me to a saving knowledge of Jesus Christ, and I did not have a clue.

How many students have arrived in Morgantown as lost as I was? Everyone of them loved by the Father and gently being draw to Him. Many will miss His leading, but a few will follow. Will you pray for them?

Some of them are future pastors. Others are missionaries. Most will be faithful followers who remember their coming to (or back to) Jesus while they were at WVU. Don’t you want to be a part of that? Prepare yourself for the part God would have you play by praying. And in your prayers listen. God may just ask you to do something that will be a little outside of your comfort zone, but will put you in a place where you can touch a student, or a number of them, with His love.

I want to also encourage you to pray for our College Church. This is the primary vehicle of our reach into the WVU student population. Pastor Smith is laboring with his leadership team to provide a place for students to belong and become more like Jesus. Please pray for them as they communicate the Gospel to as many students as they can.

Yes, they’re back, and the streets are clogged. Clogged with opportunity. The opportunity is yours to pray for them while you are sitting in that traffic, and pray for yourself to help them find their way to the Savior.

What would He have you do?

In Christ,

Pastor Scott


Tuesday, August 14, 2007

Splash Kingdom

Dear Worshippers,

We are hosting our first ever Children’s Musical Camp at church this week. Thirty-six kids from Kindergarten through 6th grade have come out for a week of fun in the Son. We are learning at entire dramatic musical in one week with our dress rehearsal on Friday at 11:30. We are having a great time learning, laughing and loving.

Most of these kids have already accepted Christ, but this life saving musical gives them the opportunity to confirm that decision, and be trained to share that faith with others as we learn the ABC’s of salvation through a course called “Lifesaving 101” in the body of the musical. The kids will have an opportunity to share the musical on a couple of occasions when they can invite friends, family, neighbors, classmates, etc. to come and hear…and believe.

Pastor Tony challenged parents at VBS to make certain their children are in spiritual environments, places and experiences that will train them to be like Christ. That’s exactly what this camp is, and what so many other things we do at church in general and our worship ministries in particular are. I hope you are keeping yourselves in spiritual environments that are encouragements to your faith. I hope you are looking forward to some in the next few weeks.

Pray for us as we labor for the Lord, that His name may be exalted and His kingdom advanced. Thank you.

In Christ,

Pastor Scott