Farewell Azure Hills

One of the first Bible stories I ever remember hearing was read by my father out of a Precious Moments Bible. It was about the Apostle Paul and how he was shipwrecked off the island of Malta and how everyone on board miraculously made it to shore where Paul was soon bitten by a snake that struck at him from out of the fire he was was building. The locals concluded he was evil and being punished by the gods with sudden death…until they waited and waited for something to happen and he didn’t die. So they then concluded he was in fact a god and got to see him heal all the sick people on the island. He has been a hero to me ever since and my appreciation for him has only grown. 

So when thinking about this day and having to say good bye for now to this church I love so much and feel so loved by, my mind quickly turned to Paul. Paul was quite itinerant but there was a place that he actually got to stay for a few years to build up a church. It was the city of Ephesus and in Acts 20 we get the closest thing I have noticed in his writings to a farewell sermon which was given to a group of elders. But let me give a little of the background to that message first.

Paul had ministered to the disciples in Ephesus and had done a great work there teaching, and baptizing in the name of Jesus and the Holy Spirit. His ministry was accompanied with miracles of healing, some were even healed by simply touching Paul’s handkerchief. That has always stuck with me! This is mind boggling stuff!

With the Spirit working in such unbelievable ways many turned to God and away from the false gods and sorcery etc. The Bible says the people brought out and burned their books of sorcery that were worth 50,000 day’s wages. Wow! That’s almost 5 lifetimes of work.

At some point between two and three years of ministry there, Paul felt convicted that he needed to go to Jerusalem. It seems to me he was just going to finish some things up there before heading to his next post when there was this crazy uprising in the city as a reaction against all the people who were being converted away from Artemis the fertility goddess to the true God in Heaven and his caused idol sales to plummet. Thus the whole city came out to lift their voices in honor of Artemis. Some Christians were snatched up to answer for what had happened but they weren’t really given a chance to speak, the people kept shouting over them until the authorities came in and broke it up. Check it out in Acts 19 if you want the whole story but my point is that the church thought Paul was in danger in that setting and he had to give a rushed goodbye and set sail ASAP. 

I’m sure that was incredibly hard for him to leave under such circumstances. He made some stops in some different places before it was time to hurry to Jerusalem.

But I’m thankful they did have to pass Ephesus on the way because though Paul opted not to stop there since he couldn’t afford a long visit, he did stop in the nearby city of Miletus about 35 miles away and sent for the elders to meet him there. And they made the long trek! Because of their devotion to and love for him he was able to give them a proper farewell that I will read to you from Acts 20 starting in verse 18 and pause to apply some of the things he said to his loved ones there to my loved ones here and watching online today.

He started his farewell by saying: You know how I lived the whole time I was with you, from the first day I came into the province of Asia. I served the Lord with great humility and with tears and in the midst of severe testing by the plots of my Jewish opponents. You know that I have not hesitated to preach anything that would be helpful to you but have taught you publicly and from house to house. I have declared to both Jews and Greeks that they must turn to God in repentance and have faith in our Lord Jesus.

I don’t know of too many opponents here at Azure Hills and most of the tears shed have come here at the end but I did want to pause to share some memories of what it has been like to live and serve among you.

First of all, thank you to the search committee that decided to hire me as the young adult pastor. It was four years and two days ago that I gave my first sermon here. I loved working with the young adults, in many ways it felt less like working more like connecting with peers though some definitely stretched me. I’m grateful for that too.

I have missed being more connected with you all and have enjoyed every time we have gotten to connect with each other since I was your pastor. I am grateful that the youth parents, and the Holy Spirit asked me to leave that position I loved to be the youth pastor where I have had the privilege of doing for others what my youth pastors and youth leaders did for me when I was in Jr. high and high school…I’m also glad that some of my young adults joined me in youth ministry 🙂 

I dragged my feet a bit in coming into it but it wasn’t too long before we all got comfortable with each other and now I’m jumping for joy that I had this opportunity. I hope that same cycle repeats in Kansas as we trust Jesus is leading us there over staying with what we already appreciate and are sad to lose such close contact with here. So far though, we’ve never regretted following the Spirit.

I’m getting ahead of myself though, let me list some of the many memories I’ve had here. I got to have a lot of fun in music here playing in the Christmas and Easter programs under Lisa and Kerri’s direction, taking piano lessons with Roger Gomes and doing my first ever piano recital and leading worship with so many of you from vespers, Sabbath school and church to VBS where I totally lost my voice two out of three years and got to feel just a little bit like a rockstar. You all are so musically gifted

I was privileged to host relationship seminars for young adults and youth and to have a special though short lived married couples group. It’s so good to find that we are not alone in our struggles…and to hear how people got together…especially Brandon and Kelly Rivinius’s story. They had us all cracking up. 

If you know me you know I love to collaborate and bring people together. Thus Fusion was created so the collegiate and…older young adults could worship together monthly. The Growing Young Book Club had members from high school to retirement talking about how our church culture could be even more attractive and healthy for teenagers and young adults. The youth group has since had progressively more and more adults involved and there are much stronger connections between Jr. high, and high school. It is good to talk age appropriately often but there is strength and longevity as we come together and serve one another across the divisions of age.

There have been weddings, a memorable trip to Mexico with he pastors and many court nights and sports leagues and Christmas parties and lock-ins and community service outings. My favorite being, when the youth families took homeless individuals out to eat and gave them blessing bags. That was definitely a highlight for me.

But my top 5 memorable ministry moments, have to be these:

#5 – There was the time we had a Six-Flags trip one day followed by a mission trip in Blythe the next few days. It was a great plan until I got off my last rollercoaster of the day and realized to my horror that my phone and credit card and ID that were all bundled together had fallen out of my pocket. Learn from my mistake, please do pay attention to the signs that warn against keeping things in your pockets.

That made for some interesting scrambling and thank goodness the Garcia girls hung out with me until we found out my phone was not found but we had fun as they kept me awake for the late night drive home. And praise God for Bailey Krall who came to the rescue by joining the Blythe trip and driving the students out there while I went and got a new license so I could meet up with them for the bulk of the trip and drive them back. It was quite a mission just getting to the mission trip but it was all so worth it. We had a wonderful bonding and inspiring time together.

#4 – More Than A Song, the conference initiative, the proposal, the support of the board, the grant, the enthusiasm of members for the vision, the volunteers and the many hours of work, the gatherings and moments of worship and ensuing service and connections with one another, the collaboration with other churches, the student involvement and stretching of their willingness to serve and, here at the very end of the year, the fundraising, the volunteer work on the snack bar and the dedication of the platform I have gotten to play and sing, and speak on and as of today baptize on. To God be the glory for all of this! The way we have come together for this is unforgettable. 

#3 – The road trip to Oshkosh and the Oshkosh Camporee itself that the Smith family and the Pathfinder club worked so hard to pull off and pulled off very successfully I might add. We made some great memories and saw some amazing sites but for me the highlight was definitely the last day of the camporee, baptizing Lily Baptist and Solomon Miller and Nico Drachenburg and enjoying the final play and the fireworks and, for me and my family, a late night Taco Bell run. 

I have been so privileged to be included in this Pathfinder family as a first time Pathfinder. It is a fantastic ministry and I have noticed that most of the students I’ve baptized have been Pathfinders. What a great and fruitful ministry.

#2 – The Baptisms. Annaliese Hampton was the first person I ever baptized by myself and by now,  just over 3 years later I’ve had the privilege of leading 32 of your friends and children into baptism. What an honor it has been to study with each one and I hope and pray to stay in touch with each one to watch you grow.  Your names and special dates are saved on my calendar and you are in my prayers as you continue the journey with Jesus. 

#1 – Finally, at number was a gathering that was incredibly significant for me personally and one of the most beautiful moments of my life where Chris Johnston in this same yard had a countdown of the things that he appreciated about me. My friends, and family traveled and gathered together with you to affirm that you all do see God in and working through me as a pastor. You prayed over me in a way that is stuck forever in my mind with a picture of a sea of the hands of loved ones reached towards me in blessing. I am forever grateful for that time together and hope that just as you ordained me and helped me to see what is difficult to see in myself at times, that I have helped you to see that you too have a high and holy purpose on this earth at this time and that in Him you have everything you need to accomplish it and enjoy Him. In our weakness we are strong. His grace is always sufficient for us.

Speaking of our neediness and God’s more-than-enough grace There have also been hard things here including vigils for suicide and homicide victims, funerals for loved ones and covid, covid, covid and loss upon loss.

In my family in the past four years we found out that Salem has the crazy rare 5Q12 deletion syndrome that still gets us down sometimes. We also lost our fourth child that we named Hope to a miscarriage. Hope because we expect to meet them someday soon. Also in 2020 Deanne was diagnosed with Fibromyalgia which has significantly changed our daily lives. These are some of the hard things we associate with our time here that God is carrying us through and you have given support in.

Sharing these struggles openly has only enabled us to receive more love from you and we thank you for every bit of kindness you have shown us. I encourage you all to courageously open your hearts to one another and bear each other’s burdens as well. Thank you for bearing ours.

Some really good things I associate with this place for our family would be that this was my first full salary job and this is where we paid off our student loans as friends and family from around the country and some of you here conspired with me to pay off over $30,000 of Deanne’s student loans for her 30th birthday. This made it possible for us to pay off our loans one year ago and the freedom to save has been amazing. Because of that we now are in the position to buy a home in Kansas after just one year of saving.

While living here Deanne really started writing and I’m so proud of the way she has ministered in her raw and deep way.  

It’s also been amazing to see the before and after pictures of our children and to realize how much they’ve grown in just four years. The first shots in basket ball hoop have been made, teeth have been lost, clothes have been outgrown, reading and counting are happening, verses have been memorized, songs have been sung and instruments are being played. Wills have been strengthened and they’re still so cute. Through it all they have been loved and celebrated. Thank you to everyone that has celebrated my family with me.

Through it all God has led us and has taken us deeper in Him. I hope I have shared with you what has been helpful to us along the way in our journey with God 

through the good and the hard as I have tried to call young and old and all in between to devote your lives completely to Jesus as He is completely devoted to you.

Let’s get back to Paul in Acts 20:22-24. “And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. However, I consider my life worth nothing to me; my only aim is to finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the good news of God’s grace.

The Holy Spirit has made it clear to my family that Kansas is where he wants us to be Click here to check out Deanne’s “Rescue Me” post to hear the story I shared here. For many, it was their favorite part of the sermon. 

I don’t know what will happen there, but I plan to share what I know happened here. What I learned and what worked. In my four year, hands-on degree from Azure Hills I learned to be a youth pastor. We don’t expect it to be easy transitioning from here to there, but If the firetruck/BMW lesson is instructive we do expect it to be good. As I’ve been telling the youth, the best is always ahead if we are walking ever closer with God.

I once preached here for a Seven Last Words Easter service on Jesus’ promise to the thief on the cross that, “today you will be with me in paradise” that even the cross can be paradise if you’re with Jesus. So Azure without me and Kansas without you can be paradise as long as we are with Jesus. We may part for now but Jesus always stays and there’s no better place to be than with him at the center of His will.

Paul continued, “Now I know that none of you among whom I have gone about preaching the kingdom will ever see me again.Therefore, I declare to you today that I am innocent of the blood of any of you. For I have not hesitated to proclaim to you the whole will of God. Keep watch over yourselves and all the flock of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers. Be shepherds of the church of God, which he bought with his own blood. I know that after I leave, savage wolves will come in among you and will not spare the flock.Even from your own number men will arise and distort the truth in order to draw away disciples after them. So be on your guard! Remember that for three years I never stopped warning each of you night and day with tears. 

This part feels a bit shocking on multiple levels. First, the part where Paul says he will never see some of them again. I know that is true for some of us. There are some of you that I will never see in person on this planet again. That is the cruel reality of this world where unexpected things happen. There is no overstating that in these times. As Kayla Mangoba shared in a youth meeting recently, we really never know how much time we have together. It is so true. 

One of the things that grieves me the most is that I didn’t spend more time with some family and friends in this area while I had the chance. I wish I had had more people over to our home and that we did life together even more than we did. But I do praise God we still have an eternity before us for that!

I urge you and even warn you like Paul did to guard your hearts and make the very most of the opportunities to grow in Christ every day because when He comes again, our connection with Him and our ministering of love and receiving of love from one is all that will matter, that we know God and make Him known.

While Paul was unable to see them in person again, he did stay in touch. I realized in preparation for this message that most of the New Testament wouldn’t exist if he hadn’t stayed connected with the churches he ministered to. I hope to stay in touch as well. I will cease to be your official pastor but we can always be friends. We can always call, text, email, Instagram and Facebook and connect over our blog at whateveris.life. If the pastor’s will let me I’d be happy to come back and visit, sing, speak and share updates from our journey with God and have a smoothie at the snack bar.

The other shocking part in the words I just read form Paul beyond the separation is the part about wolves attacking the flock and the appeal for the leaders to be vigilant and on guard. As we know all too well from recent events even this week in our country and over the last year around the world with the pandemic that just continues to steal life, leadership matters. Transitions in leadership matter a lot.

This serious note actually is one part that gives me the most reason for celebration as I move because while I am deeply grateful that we can stay connected I’m even more grateful for the INCREDIBLE leadership that is here with you day in and day out. I’m so thankful for the shepherds over this flock.

My time with Pastor’s Mike, Starla, Jessie, Sam and BT has been way too short and I wish for many more conversations and hangouts and ministry moments together. But this much is obvious to me, they are deeply committed to Jesus and to you and this community. I would consider each one an expert in their field and each one to be very caring towards me. I’ve been amazed at the prayer and teaching and member support,

the community services and missions, how Jessie took over in young adults and fit in so well and has led there. The improvement in worship and technology since I’ve been here, the power and production and presence in our children and family ministries that my kids have been so blessed to benefit from has been excellent. In my new role I will need some coaching in that area for sure there. Maybe I’ll just show Pastor Sam’s videos. Team, I appreciate each of you as pastors and friends and will miss you.

You also have Pastor Tara who has been an inspiration to me over the last decade as we started working together with a church plant in Philadelphia 2011, when the Snells were just a young couple fresh out of undergrad.

The inspiration was not just the spark of a first impression with this woman and her hilarious and yet deep husband Caleb as they worked together to pastor a large church in an affluent community AND ran a life transforming literature evangelism team in the conference, AND served on multiple leadership committees in the NAD and General Conference AND started a church plant that that ministered with young adults to poor neighborhoods.

No, it wasn’t just a flash of inspiration

Pastor Tara is a steadily increasing flame shining ever brighter with God’s glory that has grown and grown as she has continued to be formed by Christ and lives out the messages she receives from God and shares with all of us. Remember the confetti clean up Pastor Tara? 

Family, take advantage of everything she invites you to be a part of. Especially her discipleship groups.

Pastor Tara, I am so glad that we have been led to partner together because I will never be the same. 

Church, even though I go, you must share your fearless leader and pastor with me. I plan to call her for life and ministry coaching regularly and I do hope to get some updates on what is happening with my beloved church family at the same time. 

All these pastors and the competent and brave youth leaders who remain will provide wonderful leadership and steadiness in this time of not only transition but I pray growth. I believe it is possible.

Gregory who will be leading the team of adult and student leaders, has been working with me basically the whole time I’ve been in the youth ministry and he will do very well. His heart for God and people touches me and I know it will touch you too if it hasn’t already. 

My soul is happy and at peace to leave knowing that the student ministry I care so much for is in the hands of these leaders under the experienced coaching of this pastoral staff. Some of the leaders are young adults that I had the privilege of working with when I first got here like Jenn Maxwell and Keturah. Some of the leaders are parents with teens in the youth group like Leo and Franz and Jennie. Some have little children and teens like Marcus Mitchel and Kirsten Moses. 

We have some incredible leaders that have adult children like the faithful and wise I-hope-he-never-leaves DP and even one leader with two generations below helping with and receiving the ministry with Patty Keresoma, Nikki Verdugo and Jenny Love with their children.

Some of the strongest and most influential leaders are the teens themselves. I am incredibly proud of those who have been in the ministry since I got here to those who have really gotten involved since covid hit. You have stretched and matured and I can’t wait to see what God will continue to do through you as you put Him first for the rest of your lives. Your voices matter so much and your leadership in your generation is  indispensable. 

By the way, this season is a great time to get involved in the youth ministry if you would like to support this team. Contact Greg or any of our pastors to get connected. Don’t wait, even if you just have an hour a month to give. Be part of the growth and community now. The future in the ministry of this group is full of meaning and fun and I envy your ability to be a part of it as you can be. 

“Now I commit you to God and to the word of his grace, which can build you up and give you an inheritance among all those who are sanctified. I have not coveted anyone’s silver or gold or clothing. You yourselves know that these hands of mine have supplied my own needs and the needs of my companions. In everything I did, I showed you that by this kind of hard work we must help the weak, remembering the words the Lord Jesus himself said: ‘It is more blessed to give than to receive.’ ” 

Some of you think I worked hard and poured a lot in as the youth pastor, and I did.

But, this group has been a blessing to give to and to love and I feel I have been abundantly rewarded in serving. That there has been blessing after blessing given back to me. In other words, we have loved each other well.

So as Paul said, “I now commit you to God and the word of his grace which can build you up and give you an inheritance among those who are sanctified.”

One of my main priorities as a youth pastor was to help the students to connect with God directly, so we spent a lot of time in the Bible. We created a ministry called Midweek where the focus is on reading the Bible together and applying it to our lives every Wednesday night. The point is to simply model practices that can be utilized in our personal time with God and I’m floored that so many students show up for that!

They could be on social media, watching shows or playing video games but they are showing up for the word and community! It’s amazing!

I hope that above all in this time together I have pointed you all to God and His Word because all the leaders who are here will one day not be here. This life is fragile and full of surprises and you never how it will change next. So cherish the time you have together and always let God Himself be your foundation.

Though I and all go and all of us are just passing through.

God will never leave you or forsake you

Dedicate your first and last moments of the day to His Word and open yourself to His Spirit and may all the moments the day be changed by that intentional time with God. As pastor Tara says, we cannot be in God’s presence and not be changed

May all the leading I have done and all that the remaining leaders do point to Him and that eternal reunion that will be infinitely sweeter than our short and sweet time together here was. May we all spread that hope in Jesus for each person in these crazy, needy times we’re living in.

This is my appeal so please tune in closely:

If you choose right now to recommit your life to intentionally connecting with Jesus in the morning and the evening, and to open yourself up to Him to be filled through the whole day please stand with me.

When Paul had finished speaking, he knelt down with all of them and prayed. They all wept as they embraced him and kissed him. What grieved them most was his statement that they would never see his face again. Then they accompanied him to the ship. After we had torn ourselves away from them, we put out to sea

Since we cannot kiss and hug each other my family and I will instead sing a blessing over you to close.

The Lord bless you

And keep you

Make His face shine upon you

And be gracious to you

The Lord turn His

Face toward you

And give you peace

Amen, amen, amen

Amen, amen, amen

May His favor be upon you

And a thousand generations

And your family and your children

And their children, and their children

May His presence go before you

And behind you, and beside you

All around you, and within you

He is with you, He is with you

In the morning, in the evening

In your coming, and your going

In your weeping, and rejoicing

He is for you, He is for you

He is for you, He is for you

He is for you, He is for you

He is for you

Amen, amen, amen

Amen, amen, amen