DCF

It has been my very great pleasure to get to lead DCF these last couple of months, and I know that God has blessed me with the opportunity to get to know many of you. As most of you know and the rest will soon find out, DCF will be ending at the end of December and we are inviting you to join what God is doing with Journey the Way. God is in the process of starting a church in downtown Wichita KS and this could be your opportunity to be a part of this work. Many of those involved with DCF are also involved with Journey the Way. I would ask you to consider plugging into this work of God. Below is our Core Team Covenant for you to look over and consider.

Journey the Way

Core Team Covenant

c Are you confident that God has called you to Journey the Way.

c Are you willing to be held accountable in the following areas:

o Love God: It is vital for disciples to have regular encounters with God in which they worship Him, hear from Him, and respond to Him in obedience. Bible reading, prayer, private and corporate worship, and journaling are all part of what it means to Love God.

o Love People: As we interact with God, it is vital that we not approach glorifying God on our own, but that we intentionally interact with others who Love God. These “connections” will bring about transformation in us as we authentically encourage, instruct and support one another. Jesus’ love of people was radical and unconditional and so we need to Love People with no strings attached.

o Turn the World Up-side Down: True Disciples will use their gifts, talents, vocations, and time not only to touch our church, but also to touch the communities they live in, and the world. Jesus came not to be served, but to serve and to give His life. When we live as Jesus lived we will be a movement of servants that have the potential to turn the world upside-down.

c Are you willing to fully pull away from your current church and embrace Journey the Way as your local church?

c Are you willing to generously give of your creativity, time, spiritual gifts and income in order to fulfill the vision of Journey the Way?

c Are you willing to wholeheartedly serve and support the mission of Journey the Way, even in the messiness, ambiguity, and adventure of the early stages?

In awareness of and submission to these expectations, I commit myself to the Journey the Way Core Team.

Chad Pearce

Hosea

Before I begin, by the grace of God and if He wills it, I will be writing an ongoing series of blog posts on the book of Hosea.

“Come, let us return to the Lord; for he has torn us, that he may heal us; he has struck us down, and he will bind us up. After two days he will revive us; on the third day he will raise us up, that we may live before him. Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord; 
 his going out is sure as the dawn; he will come to us as the showers, 
 as the spring rains that water the earth.” Hosea 6:1-3

“For he has torn us.” More often than not when we feel torn down rather than looking to God as the one who has ripped us (directly or indirectly), we either, consciously or subconsciously, think that somehow God lost control. I do this often. Seeing circumstances that I want to go a certain way, but knowing it could very well go the opposite way, and worrying about it. This is unbelief and disobedience (sin). Unbelief that God is sovereign and disobedience to have faith in what He will do. Unbelief that what He will do will be the best for me (even though my past speaks clearly to God being in control and good coming from pain) and disobedience to act in accordance with His sovereignty. I can’t help but think of Hebrews 3:19, “So we see that they were unable to enter because of unbelief.” ‘They’ are the Israelites who were freed from Egypt. Their unbelief led to their disobedience, and because of their unbelief and disobedience they could not enter God’s rest. The same is true for us.

“That he may heal us.” Romans 8:28, “And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.” Let’s be honest: we’re jacked up and need healing. We, apart from God, don’t know up from down; we are blind; we are deaf; we are dead. For proof look at the Word Romans 3:10-20,23. And if that’s not enough (which it ought to be, God said it) then look at the world. Man’s (yours and mine) proclivity to do disastrous things/acts. Murder, rape, pedophilia and racial hatred to name a few; these things comprise the world that surrounds us, yet they do not shock us… We either need help and healing or to get our butts kicked for being so downright bad. So how can God heal us from our desperate state? Or better, why should He heal us?

Let’s answer the second question first. Why should God heal us? In an effort to be brief we’ll stay within these verses. “That we may live before the Lord. Let us know; let us press on to know the Lord.” So, why should God heal us? So that we can live before the Lord, and press on to know Him. Does this mean that God is lonely and needs us to keep him company so he saved us? No! If we, as believers, are pressing on to know him, praise will happen. Our natural response to awe-inspiring things is to praise them. But here praise is different because this praise is holy (set apart), all other praise is praise to things, creation (idolatry), but praise that is given to God is right praise, it is God-glorifying. So the fundamental answers to why should God heals us, is not because of our value to him, but because His praise and glory are at stake.

Back to the first question; how can God heal us from our desperate state? “On the third day He will raise us up.” Ephesians 4:8-11, “ Therefore it says, “When He ascended on high He led a host of captives, and he gave gifts to men.” (In saying, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that He had also descended into the lower regions, the earth? He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that He might fill all things.)” Since we’re on the honest bend, I’ll be frank. Jesus is how God heals us. We’re screwed, and getting exactly what we deserve unless we have Jesus. No ifs, ands, or buts; no Jesus, no healing. So how do we get Jesus to heal us??? Answer: Belief. Plain and simple. Belief in the Gospel, that Jesus became a man, lived a perfect life (the life you and I can never live), died the death we ought to be eternally dying, and then rose from the dead defeating sin (our biggest problem), death and Satan. Leading us, the captives from our former slavery.

-Fight the good fight of faith,

Sam Morris (Romans 7:24-25)

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Two things to remember when discussing the Church

I believe it is important to remember two things when discussing the Church.

First, that the Church is a whore, a bunch of saved sinners, like Hosea's wife, and she will always be a whore until Christ comes, yet Christ loves the Church to the point of death on a cross. Therefore as a believer I must love her, though I am the worst whore of them all.

Second, we must remember the Gospel. The good news of Jesus becoming a man, living, dying brutally (murdered) on a cross for our sins, raising to life, and now making intercession for believers in heaven.

Though it does piss me off to see churches destroy those people trapped in sin, rather than loving them, and walking alongside them, and getting to know them, and becoming their friend so that at some point to teach truth lovingly to them. We ought to build relational bridges that are strong enough to bear the weight of truth. For God uses sinners, to teach the Gospel.
So, yes, the Church is a jack-up whore; and, yes, she does an awful job at loving; but Christ loves her, therefore so must I.

~Sam

Romans 7:24-25

New Contributors

With all that is going on with Journey The Way you may have noticed that I haven't been able to post as much as I would like. It isn't that I don't have anything to say, but that I have been busy with receiving the blessings of God. So it is my pleassure to introduce you to some new contributors to the Journey the Way Blog. Sam Morris, Anthony Fiorillo, and David Campbell will be contributing on occasion to this blog. I (Chad) will still act as editor and contributor, but you will now benefit from these guys as well. Our format will be to sign off on each post. That will show you who wrote what.

Please continue to pray for us as we move forward with the Church Plant. Pray for Tuesday nights as Journey the Way now leads a worship service in downtown Wichita at Mead's corner. Pray that God continues to move and that we follow His leading.

For the praise of His glory,

Chad Pearce

Community Groups

We are starting community groups next week (week of November First). These groups will be used for discussing the talk from Tuesday's DCF.

Here they are with their leader and day/date starting:

#1

When: Sunday, November 8th

Time: 6pm

Leader: Chad Pearce

#2

When: Wednesday, November 4^th

Time: 7pm

Leader: David Campbell

#3

When: Thursday, November 5^th

Time: 6:30pm

Leader: Sam Morris

#4

When Thursday, November 5^th

Time: 8pm

Leader: Anthony Fiorillo

What I have a blog?!

Let me start off by apologizing for not blogging in over a month. You have to understand the reason for not blogging isn't for lack of stuff to say, but rather because God is doing so much that there hasn't been time to record it all. A lot of what has been going on centers on a bible study called DCF (Downtown Christian Fellowship). This study started out as a ministry of Metro East Baptist Church in Wichita KS, and was led by a good friend of mine Matt Redmond. Matt and his wife are moving from Wichita to Birmingham to plant a church. You can see why Matt and I are good friends.

For some time now Shaina and I have been a part of this group and enjoyed the teaching and the fellowship. I was even privileged enough to get to teach a few times over the summer. With Matt preparing to move the church voted to give this ministry to Journey the Way. They are even graciously paying the rental fee on the location through the end of the year. We started leading this group last Tuesday and I couldn't be more excited.

So what does all this mean? Great question, but all I can tell you for now is that you need to stay posted. Details will be divulged as they develop. I can tell you that God is so good and His grace is amazing. He promised to build His church and that means in His timing and in His way.

In other news my life has been really busy lately with the church, Re:train, and moving into a new house. Not to mention trying to be a good husband and father. I thought I knew what it meant to be busy, but I was wrong. Pray for me that I would have the energy and the wisdom to do the things that God deems most important and that I would delegate the rest. Also please continue to pray for our core team, that they would be mature and complete not lacking in anything, and that God would continue to give us a Spirit of unity. Pray for us as we begin 4 community groups this next week. God is moving!

Chad

Update on Planting

I know I have been neglectful of the blog world. So here is an update to share with you some of the things God is doing. We have had four core team meetings to date and have had around 20 people consistently. God is doing some really cool stuff through these people. I have heard stories of gospel conversations and of people building relationships with sojourners. The feel of the group has been great. Each week when we gather together there is plenty of conversation and much of it centers on Christ.

We hope to start another group sometime in october and we need help spreading the word. If you know of someone who may be interested in joining a community group, please get them in touch with me ASAP.

Chad