My Samaria

This past weekend, Harmony and I, along with some others from our church attended the Northern Plains District conference in Minot. The main speaker was Dr. Bill Hammel, President of the EFCA. He spoke about the need to minister to our Samarias, "the places you don't want to go but the people you need to reach." Just as Jesus could have avoided traveling through Samaria (as most during His day would have), He chose to enter Samaria because He had a divine appointment with a Samaritan woman at a well. I was challenged to consider who the "Samaritans" are in my community and to be willing to go to them instead of expecting them to "clean up their lives" and come to the church. I hope in the near future you will hear about me seeking to engage those who are often difficult to be around and easy to discard.

In addition, we voted on a new District Superintendent, Daryl Thompson, the pastor of Liberty Free Church in Williston. He has an unbelievable passion for evangelism, helping pastors and making sure our ministry fits our context. I really appreciated hearing his ideas and passions and am excited to get to know him better and have someone to go to for ideas and help. One of the convictions he shared that resonated with me is that "our Message and Mission must always stay the same but our Ministry must change to meet the need of our community."

In between events at the district conference I also had the district basketball tournament. The conference was in Minot (60 miles north of Underwood) and the tournament was in Garrison (20 miles north of Underwood), so on Friday night and then again Saturday afternoon, Harmony and I commuted between Minot and Garrison. We lost our opening round game to Wilton but the boys played tough and we encouraged them that if they continued to play that well we'd have a chance in the next couple games. On Saturday we played Sheridan County who we lost to by a couple points in the regular season. Utilizing a 2-man zone defense, we shut them down offensively and scored just enough oursevles to pull off the victory, 38-29. On monday night we met up with Washburn who we had just lost to a couple weeks ago. The boys played them really tough. We outscored them in two of the four quarters and were within a basket a couple times in the fourth quarter but just didn't have enough bounces go our way and lost 56-50. The one nice thing (beyond the season being finally over!) is that the assistant coach for Washburn and his son (who plays for them) attend our church. As I told my wife when she asked if she could root for Keir during our game, "No, but if they win you can root for him the whole rest of the season."

Sunday I preached on Ezra 8 and we saw that "God Helps those...who rely on Him." This was my longest sermon yet, so if you've got a spare forty minutes, check it out here. I also taught the second to last Sunday School lesson on the EFCA Statement of Faith "What We Believe & Why", which I believe has been a good series to take the church through, in spite of the fact that the statement will probably be changed at the upcoming national conference.

Please pray for me to work hard in the work God's given me to do and to pursue keeping my way pure by guarding it according to His Word (Ps 119:9). Please pray for Harmony to find someone to help out in the library as her working three evenings every week is taking its toll.

By God's Grace, Jeff

I'm too old for All-Nighters but not for Lockins

This Sunday the youth ministry at church had a lock-in that Harmony and I helped out with. This is similar to events that I organized while a youth pastor in Evanston but there I called them "All-Nighters". The main difference being that there's no expectation of staying up all night at a lock-in. We put on a movie at about 2am and pretty much everyone was out by the end of it (us included). It was a fun event and we had some kids there who don't normally attend the youth group. Please pray that we would continue to have wisdom about how to serve the church kids and reach out to kids from the community.

On Thursday evening I got a call from the basketball coach asking if I wanted to coach the JV team on Friday. The JV coach had a prior committment and this game opportunity came up last minute. So I did...and we won! We had to leave right after school got out to make it up to Max (30 minutes) for a 4pm game. We made it with eight minutes to spare! However, by the time the kids got dressed they only had a couple minutes to shoot around before tip-off. As a result we came out a bit sluggish. We trailed in each of the first three quarters before making a run in the fourth to win by double-digits. I was proud of how the kids battled...and it was nice to get my first JV win!

Our district tournament starts this weekend. The top four teams (out of six) advance to the regional tournament. We play a team in the first round who we lost to by five during the season, so if we play well we'll have a chance. Our girls won their first regional game but lost last night (only the top finisher in regionals moves on to the state tournament).

Harmony and I are going up to the Northern Plains District Conference in Minot this weekend. I think we're both looking forward to getting a chance to meet some other pastors in the district and just to get away for a couple days.

This week's sermon was on Ezra 7:11-28 enititled "God's Providence and Persian Politics." If you'd like to listen to it click here.

By God's Grace, Jeff

I left the car running

For the first time ever, last Saturday I left the car running while I was in the grocery store and at the bank because it was near double digits below zero. Before you label me crazy, let me fill you in that this is a common practice in town. No one is worried about having their cars stolen. They are much more concerned about not getting their cars to re-start in the severe cold. Having now participated in this small town rite of passage, you know that we are adjusting to our new lives in North Dakota. I'm lobbying to get a remote starter before next winter.

The other "exciting" happening of the week was having to deal with a clogged sewer line. In our basement we have a large utility room in which is our sewer drain. Since it was clogged, it did not properly drain but instead seaped into the utility room. We spent most of the day mopping up while we waited on the local plumbers to arrive. They were able to roto-rooter the drain and it is now functioning properly again. Now that we know the signs, I hope we never have to deal with that again. Ah, the joys of living in a home instead of an apartment!

We had basketball games Monday and Tuesday night. JV won both their games but varsity lost both of theirs (though they played much better in the second half last night). Varsity has one more game on Saturday before the district tournament begins next weekend. The top four finishers in the tournament move on to the regional tournament. Our girls team finished second in the district and will have their first round game in the regional on Monday. I have enjoyed working with the kids and getting to know more people from the community but I will be glad when the season is finally over and I get my afternoons, evenings and weekends back!

On Sunday we continued in our series through Ezra and looked at the beginning of chapter seven, learing that God accomplishes His will through His Word. Ezra is a great model of what it looks like to rightly value Scripture. He studied it, obeyed it and taught it. If you'd like to listen to the sermon click here.

Please pray that I would continue to develop a love for the church and community and for Harmony that she'd find someone to help her out in the library.

By God's Grace, Jeff

Poor Scheduling

I made a rookie pastor mistake this week. When the elder board scheduled our annual meeting, I didn't bother to check on other events occuring that day. It turns out that the evening of the first Sunday in February also happens to the Super Bowl! Fortunately the attendance at our annual meeting was not negatively affected. I'm sure at many churches you'd of had a hard time getting quorem...either that or the pastor would not have to worry about scheduling another annual meeting! So at about halftime of the big game, we were voting on church officers and budget. Now, before you leave sympathy comments, I did TIVO it and so was still able to watch the game (though I didn't fast-forward through the commericals).

By the way, as far as commercials go, my wife and I like the Doritos one with the giant mouse, the Bud Light one with fire breathing, the Budweiser one with the Rocky theme and the Pepsi one with Justin Timberlake, especially when he gets bonked on the head by the flat screen tv.

I am now 2-1 all time as a basketball coach (although I'm pretty sure even w/ this win I've lost ground to Coach K). Last night we played against Grant County and had four eighth graders playing with us. This gave us a deeper bench (I only had six guys in the previous tournament) as well as some funny moments. Needing an extra ball-handler, I told one of the junior highers he was going to start and he looked at me with big eyes and said, "who me?" Then during the first half one of the eighth graders asked me if we had any out-of-bounce plays. And although we have about six of them, because the junior highers don't practice with us I answered, "None that you know." But all-in-all they played really well and it bodes well for the future...the present on the other hand isn't going so well. Both JV and Varsity lost. We only have three games before the district tournament starts and we're currently not going in the right direction.

I think I've mentioned this before, but the best (only good) thing about the current state of most "Christian" bookstores is that you can find great deals on doctrinally solid books. Whenever my wife and I are in Bismarck and stop at the Christian bookstore there, I always go to the discount bin first. This time around I found "Living the Cross-Centered Life" by C.J. Mahaney for only $4.99! Great deal on a book that been on my list for quite awhile.

On Sunday I preached on Ezra 6 and we saw that "When God Acts, His People Rejoice." We also had our second week in the "EFCA: What We Believe and Why" Sunday School series. This week we took on the first two points in our statement of faith: Beliefs on Scripture and God. Click here to listen to the sermon.

Please pray that I would continue trusting and depending on the Lord in every aspect of my life including my leadership of Faith Evangelical Church, for the youth ministry to continue reaching out to the community and for Harmony as she gets adjusted to running the library.

By God's Grace, Jeff

Coldest Day...yet!

As I was driving to Washburn this morning, the digital temperature in the car read -15! (No, it didn't have the exclamation mark after the -15, I added that, but it does yell at us "ice" when it gets below freezing) Over the last couple days the high has not escaped negative numbers. My question is, if the "high" is a negative number, can it really still be consinder high? Suffice it to say, it has been cold and we've been staying in our heated house as much as possible. I guess this is our official welcome to North Dakota!

The JV basketball team had a tournament this weekend in which we went 1-1. In fact, we beat the same team on Saturday that we played (and beat) on Friday and we lost to a team that we had already lost to earlier in the season. This should fill you in to the fact that there are not very many schools in North Dakota and the rest are pretty spread out such that there are only about a dozen schools w/in a hour of Underwood...and that counts Bismarck! On varsity team hasn't been fairing as well lately. We lost on Friday night to a team we'd beaten and lost to already this season and got pummeled last night to a school from a town three-times our size...and their kids were nearly three-times our size! Our JV team also lost last night to Hazen who had three kids on their JV team 6'3" or taller! We have one kid on JV whose 6'. We have a few games left before the district tournament and should have a chance in those.

Saturday after the tournament, Harmony and I went up to Garrison (half-hour north-west) for dinner and a movie. They have a few restaurants including a 50's-style diner and a theatre that shows a recent release every Saturday and Sunday night (this week it was National Treasure: Book of Secrets).

On Sunday I preached on Ezra 5 and we saw that "Only God can Stop God's work." I was encouraged and challenged to continue persevering in obeying God's Word and trusting Him in spite of opposition and difficulty because He can and will use those who are faithful in His work. To listen to the sermon, click here.

Pray for the youth ministry that is in its fourth week now, my minstry through the basketball team, and wisdom for leading this church.

By God's Grace, Jeff

Freshman with a License to Drive

I have never lived in a place that allowed anyone under the age of 16 to obtain a driver's license. In fact, ever since obtaining my license after my sophmore year of high school, I have heard more and more talk about states trying to increase the age for this teenage rite of passage. That's all changed now. In North Dakota, you can get your permit upon turning 14 and your driver's license six months later. That's means that if you have a late birthday, you can show up for freshman orientation needing to acquire a parking pass along with your book list! As unbelievable (and frightening) as this may seem to those of us who've lived in big cities most our life, in farm based communities, the need to have kids being able to drive as early as possible is a necessity. A couple months ago I was driving back from visiting a family who lives on a farm a few miles west of town and saw a high school freshman from the church driving a hay-bailer down the road...and you thought the authorities needed to be alerted when your sixteen year old began driving!

As of Saturday I am only 800 wins behind Coach K (who as of the writing of this blog has 801 in his career). I coached the Frosh/Soph team in a tournament this Saturday to a one and one record. We got blown out by Buelah but then came back to beat Garrison in the second game. Now to cut myself some slack, Buelah is about three time the size of Underwood and was playing in division A (the higher of the two division in ND high school hoops) until a couple years ago. For those of you in the Chicago area, it would essentially be like Glencoe taking on Evanston Township (instead of teaming up with the other north shore communities to form the sports power that is New Trier). In LA, it would be similar to Harbor City taking on the combined powers of the four Torrance high schools. It was a great learning experience for me and the kids seemed to have fun (especially after winning the second game). However, I did feel the enormous pressure of being the head coach and am completly content to remain as an assistant coach and allow Coach K to build up an even bigger lead.

Harmony made the front page of the Underwood paper this week in her taking over the head librarian role with her current boss having retired at the end of December. Click on the following link to see a brief recap of the article http://www.nd-bhginc.com/underwood.htm.

This Sunday I preached through Ezra chapter 4 and we saw that "God's People should Expect Spiritual Attacks." I am continually amazed at the depth and riches of God's Word as I have been studying Ezra for this preaching series. I can easily quickly read through large sections of Scripture without having the foggiest idea of why God put them in the Bible or what they mean for Christians today. However, as I have been spending more time digging into the Word, it has been eye-opening to see the purpose behind and relevance today of the Bible. If you'd like to listen to this week's sermon, it should be posted here by tomorrow.

By God's Grace, Jeff

There's a New Youth Group in Town

This past Wednesday we started up a junior and senior high youth ministry at the church. The kids really enjoyed our first event and I think are excited about inviting their friends. We're starting off by using a series called "Christianity Explored" that basically goes through the Gospel of Mark adressing such questions as, who is Jesus, why did he come and what does it mean to follow him? Harmony and I are team teaching the group with two other couples from the church. Please pray for us as we seek to lead these kids well, for them to grow in their faith and to desire to invite their friends.

Sunday was the third week in our series through the book of Ezra and we exmained chapter three, learning that worship is the priority for God's people. It's amazing that almost immediately upon returning to the Promised Land, the people begin rebuilding the altar and temple so that they can properly worship the Lord. I believe we have a lot to learn from them about the importance of prioritizing worship in our own lives and in the Church today. If you'd like to listen to the sermon on Ezra 3:1-13 entitled "Worship is the Priority for God's people" click here.

I realized I haven't mentioned any books I've been reading lately so I thought I should do that. I recently finished a book by Pastor Mark Dever at Capitol Hill Baptist in DC entitled "The Gospel and Personal Evangelism." It was a great encouragement and challenge in sharing my faith. I am also currently reading a book by C.J. Mahaney entitled "Humility: True Greatness". He makes a passionate plea for Christians to actively seek to pursue humility in their daily lives. Finally, Harmony and I are reading a marriage book by Dave Harvey with an interesting title, "When Sinner's Say I do". It has been very refreshing for us to read advice about marriage that is rooted in the Gospel, rather than in pop psycology or ones that focuse on the symptoms rather than the problem (i.e. lack of communication instead of our sin nature).

The basketball team had two games this week and went one and one. We beat a team we'd already defeated earlier this season on Thursday and then lost to probably the best team in our district on Friday. The JV team won both of their games including scoring a basket with 1.6 seconds left to win by two on Friday.

Please pray that I would continue to grow in love for our church and our community and pray for Harmony and she continues adjusting to her new responsibilities at the library.

By God's Grace, Jeff