Dr. Jay's Blog

One of the most important disciplines that I have embraced over the years of my ministry is to take some time of solitude and examine, in depth, the previous year. Invariably, God teaches me about things that I have experienced both through blessing and hardship.

There are numerous ways to do this but the important thing is to do it before starting a whole new year and repeating the same practices of the previous year that may have caused you some difficulties.

I take comfort in the fact that even the Apostle Paul exhorts us to do the same when he says “Examine yourselves as to whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves.” II Cor. 13:5

Thank you all for your response to my first attempts at this blogging experience. I’ll make every effort to sustain this as we move into the New Year. I deeply appreciate your feedback. May the Lord richly bless you!

In Jesus’ love,

Dr. Jay

For most of us, there is no more special evening than this one. The Night Before Christmas.

I suppose it' s the anticipation of being together with family and friends, the idea that God has made a statement of His love for us that stands forever, but most of all... it's the fact that God is with us no matter what life brings.

Last evening, three men stopped by our home to share their story of delivering some basic food and three beds to a single mom and her family in the inner city. It was a classic illustration of how the joy of giving probably eclipsed the joy of receiving as these men literally bubbled over with what that moment had meant to them.

That's what happens on the night before Christmas when we take the time to express our love and compassion, our appreciation and our faith. Most of all, let's take the time to honor Jesus for making this more than a myth or a fable, but rather, a literal promise signed in His blood, that assures us that He will be Immanuel, God with us, forever!

May you have a merry, meaningful and memorable Christmas!

Blessings,

Dr. Jay

In 24 hours we’ll be holding our first Christmas Eve service of 2008. I’m already excited about the possibilities of what God can do in that little slice of time that so many thousands of people will be giving to honor the birth of Jesus.

My heart’s cry is that every one of us would consider the people that are all around us who, for whatever reason, don’t quite “get it”. They are good people, they might even be church goers, but they’ve never really encountered the “real” Jesus. My prayer is that not just during the service, but throughout this holiday, each of our lives would incarnate the humility, compassion and grace that Jesus exemplified throughout His life and culminated in His resurrection and ascension to the right hand of the Father.

I love this time of year and I love this day… the day before the night before Christmas.

Blessings,
Dr. Jay

In this Christmas season, I’m very aware of my human limitations in terms of expressing my love and appreciation to so many people for what they mean to me throughout the year.

Do you find that same challenge in your life? A card is great, but there’s nothing like a conversation or, even better, some time face-to-face where you can tell people what they mean to you and how their life has enriched yours in some specific way.

In this season, we should all make an extra effort to communicate with people that we love, but it’s understood that we’ll never fully satisfy everyone who would enjoy time together. I pray that grace would prevail in those moments so that when the together times do present themselves, they will be full of blessing and thankfulness for family and friends that make life such a gift.

I pray you have time to be with the ones that need you the most!

Blessings,

Pastor Jay

I had a conversation today with someone that I don’t get to speak to very frequently.

This person is considered a “leader” in our city and someone that has been around for a long time serving the Kingdom.

Our exchange was relatively brief but very cordial as we talked about ways in which we could unite our efforts in helping to facilitate the spiritual growth and enablement of some of our next generation of leaders. What I discovered is that when we’re willing to ask a friend directly for a favor, some input, almost invariably that friend thanks you for the opportunity to serve!

In this season, especially, let’s ask our friends to share with us in the glorious celebration of Christmas and even in the possibility of meeting some of the needs that are around us. True friends will thank you for the opportunity to step in and express their love in a tangible way.

Blessings,
Dr. Jay

In this Christmas season there are many messages around us about the hopefulness that Jesus brings to our lives. As we’ve been talking in our services, the manger represents the eternal expression of the victory, love and possibilities that Jesus brought to the earth.

None-the-less, fear continues to condemn us at every turn. God often uses people, sometimes unwittingly, to deliver messages of inadequacy or even failure that cause us to think that somehow we just aren’t going to “make it”.

One of my deep desires for this Christmas season is that the eternal message of Jesus’ presence with us (Emmanuel means God with us) would also be my every day experience. That may not be the newest insight you’ve ever received, but I wonder how many of us will live that way when we face the “fear-balls” that Satan seems to hurl at us.

For today, I think I’m living above those ‘fear-balls” and keeping my eyes on the One who came to this earth, identified with all that I’m going through, and said I’ll take care of you: You’ll make it! What more could any of us ask for?!

Blessings,

Dr. Jay

As I wandered around our church campus today, I had numerous reminders that it truly is the Christmas season! Our staff meeting this morning was full of stories of ways that individuals were expressing their love and experiences at Christmas time.

I went to be with the Seniors as they gathered to celebrate Christmas (an event that they shared with the folks from Victory Family Church) and then sat with our Worship Director as we talked about the exciting Christmas Eve service just ahead.

Along with conversations and cards, chocolates and cookies, Christmas is a time of love. It’s love expressed in ways that we take for granted throughout most of the year.

Be sure to take that extra moment and tell someone that you love them during this Christmas season. You never know when you will change the trajectory of their day … and maybe even your relationship!

Blessings,

Dr. Jay

This Christmas we’re going to do something that’s quite unusual for us. We were approached by KDKA-TV, the most watched local network station, with a “package deal” on some Christmas commercials that was really quite a great opportunity.

When it comes to making an investment like this one has to consider other places the money could go. I wrestled with this for awhile because I know there are families in need, missions that are worthy, and an unusual pressure on the entire community because of the economic climate.

At the same time, people have not been more open to the possibility that maybe they need to be closer to God than they are during this Christmas season. I think it’s a result of all the pressure they feel and the uncertainty of other conditions that we find ourselves addressing as we enter 2009.

I’m excited that we can be speaking to our city in this very small way with a message of hope and the unchanging Word of God! I pray that many thousands will be encouraged to go back to their church, if not come to ours!

Blessings,

Dr. Jay

There are times in every service when I can sense that the Spirit of the Lord is "present". On certain days, that sense is multiplied to a very powerful level.

Yesterday, particularly at the 11:00 service,there were several of those moments. Different things speak to different people. I've come to appreciate that and therefore every song, every prayer, and certainly, what is shared in the message is important.

For one person who asked for prayer, it was the point about "acceptance" from God which he had not been able to find from his peers or career path. The fact that the
manger stands as God's statement of "acceptance" was very moving for him.

I found that the song "Everlasting God" sung by Pastor Rob and Amy Smith touched me at the core because of all the change that I've had to process this past year. It was just a "moment" for me as the Lord reminded me that He hasn't changed and is totally prepared to provide for all of my needs despite the circumstances of life I might be facing. What a gift, as I held the Communion elements in my hand as "proof" of His promises!

Never miss a worship service if you can help it. God always has something for you!

Blessings,

Pastor Jay

As most pastors do in these final weeks of the year, my mind turns toward the gift of Christmas and the incredible statement of God in the incarnation of Jesus.

Theologians have long held that we cannot really “wrap our heads around” the idea of God coming in the flesh.

It seems the more I journey in the faith, the more I agree with that assessment. It’s one thing to send an example or a hero figure or even a great leader, it’s something all together different, an entirely different dimension of truth that God became flesh and dwelt among us.

This makes the immutability (changelessness) of Christmas that much more wonderful. It means that every year, despite the external circumstances of the economy or politics or world situation, I know that I know that God’s love for me… and for you, will never change! Jesus demonstrated this in coming to the earth!

Blessings,

Dr. Jay

In last weekend’s message Pastor Scott Stevens brought an interesting perspective on the “action” that takes place in the heavenlies. It seems that so often we’re consumed with the busyness of what takes place all around us that we don’t stop to ponder the gravity of events that surrounded Christ’s coming and, perhaps more important, His coming again!

One of the things that Scott’s message did for me was to remind me of just how small I really am in the eternal order of things. God has this incredible, massive and completely wonderful plan for His universe and I have the privilege of playing a little part in it.

The blessing of it is that one day we’ll see how this all fits together and have all of eternity to celebrate God’s wisdom in the Incarnation and including us as sons and daughters of His. If you’ve not taken time today to give God praise for that incredible truth, why not do so, and then be sure to pray about those with whom you can share this amazing message in the days ahead.

Have a great day!

Dr. Jay

One of the great joys of our lives is the grace gift of making new friends in Christ.

Over the past couple of months Carol and I have been getting to know Rob & Kerry Burkey and their 8 year old daughter Faith.

Rob has joined our team as the new Worship Pastor of North Way and brings an enormous amount of talent, experience and passion to his position. But more than that, he’s becoming a great friend and brother in Jesus Christ that I believe will shape our relationship and our church for many years to come.

Friends are people that you find yourself feeling comfortable with and, most of all, accepted by regardless of the conditions. Rob & Kerry are those kind of people and I trust that you’ll engage them in the coming weeks and months knowing that it will take them quite a while to really be able to settle in having moved all the way across the country to be here.

By the same token, there may be someone in your neighborhood or in the office or classroom next to you that really needs a friend and that just may be what God’s calling you to do.

Remember that Jesus put friendship in a whole new category when He claimed in John 15 that He know calls us His “friends”.

Blessings!

Dr. Jay

Little did I know when I began my day last Friday that events would snowball to such a degree that I would go for 4 days before being able to make another entry in this daily journal. It’s my intent to record something here every Monday through Friday (and perhaps even eventually on the weekends!), but sometimes it’s the people that get in the way of my plans!

I’ve come to realize that even though recording snapshots of my thoughts in a day are important to many of you (for which I am very honored) there are occasions when I simply can’t leave a transformational moment in order to get to my computer in time to do this blog before it has to be posted.

Like many things in life, it comes down to choices and for me it will always be on the side of the people, not the stuff that has to get done to meet the deadlines.

That’s not a commentary on what I think of the communication that technology provides. It is, however, a statement on the fact that ministry is fundamentally about being with people and when those moments come at inopportune times, they require your full attention, even at the cost of other good things.

Thanks for understanding when this happens and know that I’m committed to communicating with you. I also appreciate the comments that I receive from those of you who take the time to send them back to me (and other readers).

As we get into the heart of the Christmas season, those priorities will remain the same and hopefully all of us will have many moments of engaging people who don’t know the Savior who came to this earth as a child but gave His life as a man to redeem us all for eternity!

Blessings,

Dr. Jay

During our small group meeting last night, we had the normal “information exchange” which happens at every small group meeting. When we got into our study, however, it just took one person to open their heart a bit to cause the group to go to a much deeper level. We engaged the Word of God in a personal way and were able to ask some tough questions of each other concerning convictions and challenges along with encouragement and support.

I’ve found that to be the case many times over. It just takes one person willing to risk a little bit of transparency to move the small group meeting from a social gathering to a transformational meeting.

If you happen to be reading this, maybe the Lord would want you to be that person in your next small group meeting. My experience tells me that far too few group meetings ever get below the surface. Remember, it just takes one to open the door for great things to happen when you meet in Jesus’ name.

Blessings,

Pastor Jay

I was very intrigued by some discoveries I made this week concerning the insight of our founding fathers with regard to their source of confidence in our nation’s economic system.

The very first pastors who established churches on our shores, like Cotton Mather and William Bradford, were men who understood that it took faith plus unity to bring about the blessing of God. These simple principles are seen throughout scriptures (check out Acts chapter 4), but these men had a much deeper understanding of the Judeo-Christian foundations upon which a capitalistic democracy would be established.

In uncertain times, we must unite or our chances of recovery are greatly impeded. Our founding fathers knew that unity was central to prosperity and that’s why on your dollar bills the number 13 appears about 5 times in various forms (arrows, the talons of the eagle, stones in the pyramid, e pluribus unum, etc). Thirteen is the number of the Hebrew word for one according to Biblical numerology.

There’s much more to say on this subject, but please be encouraged that it’s in our faith and unity that we will find blessing!

Discovering with you,

Dr. Jay

One of the most meaningful moments of my holiday weekend was an hour and a half spent with a really close friend from my past.

Even though we are miles apart at the current time and see each other about once or twice a year, there’s an instant bond and mutual sense of appreciation for what God is doing in our lives.

Great friends seem to have the capacity to empathize with you in your struggles and to encourage you to persevere through them They also have the ability to affirm what they see as the “growth points” of your life and make themselves available to support you where you need it.

I hope you have someone, or if you’re really blessed, a few people like that in your life. They aren’t just here today and gone tomorrow, but last a lifetime. I think these are the kind of friends that God gives us as gifts during the course of our spiritual journey.

Blessings,

Pastor Jay

One of the most disturbing things of the recent political campaign, as well as the economic situation in which we find ourselves, is the inability to trust the sources of our information.

It’s a very serious thing when the people who are responsible for information prove to be unreliable or “change their interpretation” of certain facts. None of this would have changed the outcome of the election, nor would it have changed the financial situation, but it does make it difficult to know how to find security as before.

At a deep level, this is why I so value the truth of the Word of God! No matter what situation I encounter, I find that I can come to the settled confidence and certainty that God is not going to mislead me and that His Word is truth (see John 17:17). As a result, I can make wise decisions and act accordingly and know that I needn’t fear that God will change His mind about anything that really matters.

Think about that today and give thanks to the Lord for His unchanging love and certain truth!

Blessings,

Pastor Jay