Dr. Jay's Blog

In the overtime of the Pittsburgh Steeler/Buffalo Bill game yesterday, one of the young players had an opportunity to make a game winning pass in the end zone. He was wide open, the pass was right on target, and he was at least 5 feet away from any defender.

The young receiver dropped the ball and the series of plays ended. Even though the Steelers went on to win the game, the disconsolate young man was seen sitting in the stadium for several minutes following that event.

Yesterday he was quoted as “being angry at God” who he said he “followed 24-7” and this is what happened to him. “How can anything good come out of this?”

First, I want to commend the young man for having the guts to acknowledge his frustration with trying to be someone who trusts God and yet doesn’t see things work out the way he wished they would. Second, however, he joins the ranks of all the rest of us who have discovered that trusting God does not mean that things go the way we believe they should!

More often than not, I find myself trying to explain to people how the Lord takes even apparent failures and turns them into something for good in His time and according to His purpose. Those are the two key items that this young athlete will have to process and eventually accept. In the meantime, I guess I’m savoring the win, but also feeling compassion for this young, but naïve, Christ follower.

Blessings,

Pastor Jay

Every so often, I am stopped in my tracks by the wisdom of this godly man of

Last evening, about 800 or 900 of our church family from all over the city gathered at the Wexford campus for one purpose: "to give thanks to the Lord for He is good!"

The most unusual and outstanding component of the evening was the enthusiastic expression of praise and worship by the congregation.

It's interesting how believers will "let loose" when not surrounded by those who may be simply "seeking" or even skeptical. Rather, with full enthusiasm and heartfelt passion we spent over 90 minutes giving thanks to the Lord for His grace, sovereignty, forgiveness, love and mercy. We thanked Him for our nation, our blessings as the people of God, of course for our families and finally our personal gifts which are so abounding.

And so as we move into Thanksgiving day and gather in much smaller groups, we'll remember that it was wonderful as a large body to give praise to the Lord without any sense of inhibition or limitation! He is indeed worthy and scripture says that "the angels never stop praising Him" and therefore we too should develop this most glorious practice!

May you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving with every desired blessing and grace, while not failing to turn to the Lord for His goodness.

Blessings in Jesus,
Dr. Jay

Over the last several days, guests in my office have been wondering "why" I've had some country music on in the background of my personal office space.

Without retelling the entire story, it all began about 6 weeks ago when my mother-in-law went to be with the Lord and I listened to Alan Jackson singing some of the classic hymns of the faith for several hours during that experience.

For some reason it made me investigate this genre of music that I have totally ignored for the past decades of my life only to find that there is an enormous breadth and depth of style, talent and, most of all, content to country music. I'm far from being able to say I'm a devotee but I am clearly intrigued by the clarity of the stories that are told in the songs of these talented artists and the values that many of them still are unashamed to sing about, including family, fidelity and faith.

And so, if you stop by my office and hear country music don't be surprised. It could be a very brief passing phase or it might be the beginning of something I should have understood a long time ago! (One of my current favorites is "The Breath You Take" by George Strait. )

Blessings,
Dr. Jay

Yesterday, my week-end message was about "Living Well. (You can see it here:www.northway.org).
One of the primary points was to "live well" meant that we needed to 'give to others'; even if it meant some of our "own" time was lost.
Today I received and an awesome email from a friend in Christ who served the 90
high-schoolers who went on a retreat this week-end. It was a terrific experience for
him; and one that he's done repeatedly. He saw 15 young men commit their lives to Jesus!
On his way home, his wife sent him a text saying that his elementary age son gave
his heart to Christ that day, under the leadership of our Kidz director! Even while Dad
was away caring for others; the Lord was looking out for his! Wow!
It was a much better sermon than mine...

Blessings,
Dr.Jay

This weekend launches what is, for most of us, a week long holiday wrapped around the single day of Thanksgiving.

Many students have the entire week off and not a few companies give their employees extended vacations to be with families and friends.

More important, however, is what we do with this time that we call Thanksgiving. Traditionally we've been fooled into believing it's about football games, black Friday and certainly stuffing ourselves so full that we literally can't move off the sofa on Thursday evening.

How far this is from the original intent of our founding fathers who set aside a day to acknowledge the grace, mercy and sovereignty of God on our nation. Thanksgiving was declared a national holiday for the purpose of acknowedging God's goodness and giving... thanks. In other words, it takes some act of giving, whether it's an act of kindness, generosity, attention or resources to truly express thanks.

As we come to our worship night on Tuesday, be sure to bring some non-perishable food for people who have need. There is an abundance of that these days; need that is. In so doing you'll be giving thanks in just one way and hopefully many others throughout the week.

Blessings!
Dr. Jay

Over the past week, I've had a difficult time adjusting to the time change that was a result of our recent time away.

For that reason, I've been getting up regularly in the middle of the night and finding myself wondering if it's "the Lord" or simply my body giving me a hard time!

I have come to the conclusion that there is wonderful blessing to be gained by leaning into those moments and letting God speak to me, free from the distraction and noise that is inevitable with the things of everyday life and culture.

On the other hand, it wrecks havoc on the rest of the work day if you don't have time to catch up just a bit.

Like most everybody, my desire is to be more disciplined and carve out more time to be fully focused on the Lord, but until I am able to do that perhaps this is the way God can "cause His will to take place!"

In the meantime, be patient with me if I'm a little grumpy now and then!

Blessings,
Dr. Jay

A quick run through the mall yesterday reminded me that Christmas is less than 6 weeks away and there are so many places I have to go and things I have to get done.

On a much grander scale, it also reminded me that there are so many places that truly have needs that will be asking to be addressed in this Christmas season.

If you're anything like me, you're being flooded at this time with requests from worthwhile people and organizations, all of whom make a compelling case to support them with your year end giving.

People ask me "how do I know where I should direct my giving?" Of course, the answer comes down to simply "listen to God." However, I would also say that it's a very biblical thing to care for your "storehouse" (Malachi 3:10), the place where you are fed, first; and then give as the Lord leads to other needs and requests. In this way, you will be fulfilling what I believe is the correct scriptural priority and also sharing your blessing with others with freedom and joy!

By the way, there's no better way for Christmas to be special for you than to make it special for someone else. I don't know anything more important than that in this Christmas season!

Blessings,
Dr. Jay

Last evening, Carol and I were flying in to Pittsburgh right around sunset. The control tower had our landing pattern set to come in from the west so as we flew we could see the airport but continued to go directly toward the Golden Triangle. The pilot then gently turned the aircraft right over the heart of the city, providing an incredible view for all of us on our side of the plane! We were quite low and could see a lot of detail and yet high enough that we could also gain the perspective of where the traffic was jamming and what places seemed to be flowing freely.

I had two impressions in that moment. One was just what a beautiful city God has given us in which to live and minister. The confluence of the rivers, the topography and the amazing beauty of all the parks when seen from that perspective is overwhelming.

Second, being up high above the towers and the mountains, etc., gives an opportunity to really see things that you cannot perceive at ground level. How true this is of our Christian life, isn't it?! We see everything day to day from the perspective of a "foot soldier" who is walking life in obedience to the Lord, but He sees what's coming and perhaps leads us in directions and ways that seem strange to us but cause us to avoid incredible delays or perhaps even collisions. I take great comfort in that and realize that that is the essence of sovereignty and I'm grateful to be yielded to it each and every day.

May the Lord grant you a blessed weekend as you worship the God of all sovereignty.

Blessings,
Dr. Jay

Yesterday, Carol and I visited our friends Jeff and Sue Small at their home church, Central Christian, in the Phoenix, Arizona area. Jeff’s on the team at that church which now has three campuses and is experiencing the same remarkable growth in their multi-site ministry as we are at North Way! The inherent blessing in this to me is that all of this was something God spoke to us nearly five years, which is now leapfrogging all over the nation and effectively winning more people to Christ than any other structure in local church ministry.

There are a myriad of benefits to this “multi-site” approach which I won’t explain here, but it was a great blessing to see about 50 people baptized into the body of Christ because of this new church and then to hear that back in Wexford nearly 30 people came to the Lord over the weekend! The essence of the structure is secondary to the message of the cross. However, it’s both encouraging and exciting to know that the Lord has gone before us and that there are now more “multi-site” churches than “mega” churches in America!

What a faithful God we serve!

Blessings,

Over the past three days, just 72 hours, I'm beginning to feel my spirit benefit from the absence of my normal daily routine and the opportunity to immerse myself in the Word of God and the thoughts of great men and women of the faith who have preceded me.

I've had time to read a recently published compilation of biographical thoughts on John Calvin entitled "John Calvin: A Heart for Devotion, Doctrine and Doxology." It's beyond humbling when we realize that men and women 500 years ago had deeper passion and even purity than we who have benefitted from so much since that time have been able to develop.

I quote the authors here when I say "The secret of Calvin's greatness and the source of his strength unveiled to us is in the fact that no man ever more unreservedly surrendered himself to the divine direction. This is Calvin's greatness - his ultimate surrender to God."

Most of my exposure to John Calvin over the years has been debating the five points of his theology and not understanding this one simple truth: He was fully and totally surrendered to Jesus. Somehow, that statement simplifies my mission in these years of my life and helps me to understand that it's not so much the details of what I believe, it is the surrenderedness of my heart that will be my ultimate legacy.

It's fascinating how such things escape us until we make the time to allow the Spirit to crack through the shell of busyness and responsibilities to be able to hear such things. I'm grateful to all those who help to allow that to happen for me in these early days of November.

May you be blessed with the reality of just how much the Lord loves you in the midst of whatever you may be carrying in these days.

Blessings in Jesus,
Dr. Jay

Dear Friends,

One of the great gifts I was given over 20+ years ago was the freedom to take time away from the daily responsibilities of pastoring in the local church. (I mean that with all sincerity!)

Few people fully understand the weight of the burden that a devoted pastor has for his or her congregation. Thankfully, the Elders of our church afford us, as a pastoral team, ample time to take breaks where we can rest, refresh our spirit, and spend time with the Lord, which is difficult to maintain when your weeks are packed with responsibilities, meetings, emergencies and, most especially, preparation for preaching and teaching.

Over the next 8 or 9 days I will not be in the office and therefore it is likely there will be few, if any, blog posts. (If the Lord should put something on my heart to share, I will post a blog which will go on my other social networks as well, but that will be the exception and not the daily rule.)

Thanks for understanding this important value and I covet your prayers during this brief “time out”. I’m humbled that you would take the time to read this space.

May you be blessed with the grace of Jesus in the days ahead.

Pastor Jay