Greetings in Christ Jesus!

We are very excited to offer our next leadership training class.  I am so pleased with the overwhelming response by many of our participants of previous classes.  We had great discussion and a lot of thoughtful and heartfelt processing.

The heart of this journey is defining and affirming Christian Leadership as shepherding.  Included in this is a call to peacemaking.  While this class is a requirement for anyone wishing to serve as an ordained officer, the principles are applicable for anyone in leadership or thinking about leadership opportunities in the future.  Some people are specifically being invited to participate as a way to nurture future leaders.

Over the years, previous participants have retaken the class as a way to be encouraged and refreshed.  The content is really excellent, and the discussions are even better!

We are ready to start a new group and inviting any interested people to join us.  Here are some details:

Dear Chapel Family and Friends,

It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas!  Thank you to the many volunteers who helped decorate our campus, especially those brave souls who climbed up ladders and operated the lift to hang the Christmas lights.  Thank you to the team who facilitated another successful year with Operation Christmas Child.  Thank you to Matt Dobson for volunteering many(!) hours to rebuild the front porch on the manse.  Thank you to the team who set up and cooked for November’s New Horizons luncheon and our Thanks-gathering service.  Finally, thank you to the people who helped in the front office while Kourtney was away.

Advent is upon us.  For some, celebrating Advent is new, so let me offer a quick picture.  Advent literally means “coming.”  It is a time in the worship life of God’s people when they may focus on Jesus’ coming.  The first two weeks traditionally focus on Jesus’ Second Coming, and the last two weeks focus on Jesus’ First Coming at Christmas.  This year is a little unusual in that the fourth Sunday of Advent is also Christmas Eve.

Advent provides opportunities for special spiritual practices for our journey of discipleship.  I recently heard a podcast by a pastor who read through the Gospel of Luke, one chapter a day, starting on December 1st.  Then, on Christmas Eve the gospel reading finishes so the reader has a complete picture of why Jesus came, what he did, and the promises he secured with His resurrection.  I’m going to try this myself.

For many of us, Christmas can be a bit sad, especially when your family is so far away.  For instance, thanks to a handy-dandy point-to-point distance map, I figured out:

Dear Chapel Family and Friends,

I hope this letter finds you full of Jesus’ grace and peace.  Our inheritance as sons and daughters of the Living God far surpasses any honor or privilege the world might offer.  The bond of fellowship we have in the Holy Spirit is a rich gift in a time when too many people struggle with loneliness.

November is my favorite month, mostly because Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday.  The transition from fall to winter brings prospects of snow and adventure.  I also love unpacking our Christmas decorations and planning our Christmas celebration.  It also happens to be the month when college football gets very exciting!

This fall has been unusually busy with another favorite ministry for me: pre-marital counseling and weddings.  I will officiate five weddings between now and next summer.  In fact, as I write this letter Karen and I are in Wisconsin officiating at the wedding of a young woman who is like a daughter to us.  She refers to Karen as her second mom.  Needless to say I have done a good bit of thinking, studying and mediating in God’s Word on God’s gift of the covenant of Christian marriage.

One passage that is often mis-understood is 2 Corinthians 6:14.  The New Living Translation reads

“Don’t team up with those who are unbelievers.”  More traditional translations read “Do not be unequally yoked with unbelievers.”  This is often seen in a negative light, and to be honest that is valid.  However, there is a practical side to this warning.

The image of being yoked refers seeing cattle as work animals.  Often two animals are “yoked.”  This means that are bound to the same harness with the intent that they work together, pulling in the same direction with equal effort and commitment.  If they are “unequally yoked,” it means they pull in different directions, even in opposite directions.  Unequally yoked partners may end up working against one another instead of in partnership with one another.  

There is another dynamic of equal yoking. (I think I just made that term up!). In county fairs across the country there is a common contest where beasts of burden compete to pull the heaviest load.  Animals are harness to a sled, and they must pull the sled a certain distance.  If they are successful more weight is added to the sled until they cannot pull it the required distance.

At one such contest the winning animal pulled a sled weighing 1000 pounds.  The second place animal pulled a sled weighing 950 pounds.  Someone decided to experiment and yoke both animals and see how much they might pull together.  Simple math says they could pull 1950 pounds.  However, they pulled a sled that weighed 2500 pounds!  There is a unique dynamic at work when animals (and people) are equally yoked and pulling in the same direction.

I think this also speaks to our current sermon series on Belonging.  There are times when people think attending church is enough.  However, there is a HUGE difference between attending and belonging.  Belonging means that we covenant together to walk and work in the same direction toward the goal that Jesus sets before us.  And of this we can be sure: God can accomplish more that the simple sum of the commitment, gifts and skills we as individuals bring to the table.

My hope for you and for us is that we fully embrace our call to belong to one another, to “hitch” ourselves to one another and work together toward the goals set before us.  In doing so, we embark on a journey where God can accomplish more than we could even hope or imagine.

In Christ’s Joyful Service,

Dear Chapel Family and Friends,

Grace and peace to each of you!  I pray God’s grace and mercy fills you every day.  I pray God’s remind you of His deep and everlasting love for you.

On October 1st we finished our journey through the book of Acts.  Fifty sermons in all. We took a few breaks for Advent, but we’ve been in the Book of Acts since May 2022.  Before Acts, we worked our way through Philippians.

The disciple of preaching through books of the Bible is called Lectio Continua.  It is my preferred practice when it comes to preaching.  Lectio Continua helps us see scripture passages  in context of the larger picture of book of the Bible.  It provides us opportunities to see bigger themes and see how ideas and values are developed and related to the rest of scripture.  It also means you can’t skip over challenging or controversial topics.  I really do like Lectio Continua.

However, there are times when the Holy Spirit places a theme on my heart and mind.  Over the years of my ministry I’ve preached through multiple series and themes.  In addition, this November I am coming to the conclusion of my third year as your Senior pastor.  I continue to learn more about our church and community.  The Holy Spirit has given me a message series that I think speaks to an area where Jesus wants us to grow in our love for one another.

So, on October 15 we are beginning a new sermon series titled Covenant Partnership: You Belong Here.  The series is inspired in part by Paul’s letter to the church in Rome: Romans 12:1-10.  

Just as our bodies have many parts and each part has a special function,

so it is with Christ’s body. We are many parts of one body, and we all belong to each other.

Romans 12:4-5

So, we will be exploring questions like:

• What does it mean to belong?
• What do we believe about belonging to a church and our church in particular?
• Why do ECO churches, including Chapel by the Lake, no longer have members but Covenant Partners?

I am really excited about this series.

Let me remind you about our Flourishing Fellowship potluck on October 15th.  This a great time to build inter-generational relationships, and we’ve got a special program of teaching and small group discussion.  We’ll watch a brief interview with Thom Rainer on the difference between a friendly church and a welcoming church.

I am excited to see where the Holy Spirit is leading us and sharing that journey with you!

Peace,

Tim