Whoever you are, whatever your struggles and temptations may be, sweet victory is yours for the taking.

Right now!

All you need do is appreciate, appropriate and act upon what already belongs to you in the person of Jesus Christ. You are guaranteed success in whatever battle you may be fighting, not because you are sufficient for the battle—you are not!—but because there are massively powerful provisions at your fingertips, in Christ.

Here are three simple steps that will release you from the grip of even the most besetting sin.

1. Name the Thing

Honesty is the precursor to victory.

Before God, and in your own conscience, call your sin exactly what it is. Cease all explanations and excuses. Just get on your knees and confess that this thing is absolutely opposed to God’s character, that it is hurting others and destroying you. Verbalizing the truth of the matter is vitally necessary. Doing so awakens a deeper sensitivity and places your heart in an honest position before God and before yourself.

Moses instructed Israel, “It shall be, when he is guilty in any of these matters, that he shall confess that he has sinned in that thing” (Leviticus 5:5).

Confess “that thing,” the specific “thing,” for exactly what it is, without reserve and without any kind of justification.

David gave us an example of total transparency before God:

I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I have not hidden. I said, ‘I will confess my transgressions to the LORD,’ and You forgave the iniquity of my sin (Psalm 32:5).

Stop hiding!

Stop lying!

Stop explaining!

Simply tell the truth.

2. Decide and Act Against the Thing

There lies within you a God-given power to choose. It’s a power no force in the universe can prevail against. Satan himself, and all his unholy angels, cannot make a man or woman sin when the will has decided not to.

The biblical word for the movement of the will away from sin and toward God is “repentance.” It basically means a deliberate change of mind and direction.

Call it a spiritual 180.

The moment you decide against sin and begin to act in a new moral course, new neurological, synaptic pathways immediately begin to form. Your mind actually begins to take on a new shape! Paul says you literally “become renewed in the spirit (the bent or inclination) of your mind” (Ephesians 4:23). As the repentant frame of mind is sustained, a new personhood is formed in the image of Christ. New patterns of thought, feeling and behavior become easier with every passing day. You become naturalized to and at home in character of God.

But now comes the most vital factor of all.

3. Receive Power Over the Thing

No matter how honestly you confess your sin, and no matter how firmly you decide against your sin, your willpower does not innately posses the quality and kind of power you need to overcome. Of yourself, you are utterly bankrupt of the moral oomph to obtain victory.

You can’t “git ‘er done.”

Not when it comes to overcoming sin.

So where does that leave you?

Well, you are in desperate need of a power outside of and above yourself to be poured into the moral fiber of your being. You need a steady inflow of a particular kind of power that is not of human origin. This power is not a mysterious or nebulous thing. It’s not a magical wave of energy or some kind of miraculous act of divine fiat that bypasses your awareness and freewill.

Quite simply, the power you need is. . . wait for it. . . the love of God!

Paul says:

“The love of Christ compels us. . . He died for all, that those who live should live no longer for themselves, but for Him who died for them and rose again” (2 Corinthians 5:14-15).

That is, the love of Christ is the power that moves us to cease living for ourselves and to begin living for Him. The love of Christ, alone, is of sufficient power to break the strength of sin at its most foundational level, at the level of our natural inclination to live for self.

Again, Paul says:

“We through the Spirit eagerly wait for the hope of righteousness by faith. . . faith energized by God’s love” (Galatians 5:5-6, author’s translation).

God’s love is the vital energizing factor in the victorious Christian life. No other power will do, because no other power can do.

“God does not employ compulsory measures; love is the agent which He uses to expel sin from the heart” (Thoughts From The Mount of Blessing, p. 76).

The practical question is this, then:

If God’s love is the power I need, then how do I tap into it? How do I drink it in? How do I get God’s love into the moral fabric of my being?

The Bible offers a simple answer to this vital question. Paul says that God’s love gains access to our lives through the conduit of comprehension; that is, through the rational faculties of the mind:

“I bow my knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. . .that He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might through His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height—to know the love of Christ which passes knowledge; that you may be filled with all the fullness of God. Now to Him who is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that works in us, to Him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus to all generations, forever and ever. Amen” (Ephesians 3:11-21).

Paul is clear here. The inner moral strengthening we need is none other than the love of God, in Christ. We need to become rooted and ground in this love. And the way we do it is by giving our minds over to the task of comprehending God’s love manifested in Christ. This love, when comprehended, is “the power that works in us.” This is Paul’s exact point.

When assimilated through the medium of understanding and faith, God’s love becomes the muscle behind the entire experiential process of victory over sin. Read that again and again until you understand it and believe it.

To the degree that you believe—both intellectually and emotionally—that the matter of conquering sin depends on you, you will fail. Conversely, to the degree that you give your heart over to dependence upon the love of God, you will succeed. From self-centeredness to God-centeredness—this is the fundamental and crucial paradigm shift upon which victory over sin hinges. Hang the entirety of your faith-weight precisely here, and you will be more than a conqueror through Him who loves us.

So there you go—three simple (and infinitely powerful!) steps to overcome any and every sin.

Really, it’s that simple.

And that practical.

Name your sin with honest confession before God.

Decide with repentance against your sin.

Receive a steady intellectual and emotional inflow of God’s love as your source of power over sin.

With these three simple faith-actions, there is no sin that can hold you down.

At least that’s how I remember it.

It was hard for us to take our eyes off this heavy door since it was flattening our noses with its closeness. However, rather divinely, we realized almost immediately that if we did not get out from underneath this evil door, it would quickly crush us out. God intervened upon hearing our cries for deliverance. He picked us up, dusted us off, and gave us a shove in the direction of the doors opening all around us.

We were idiots.

In September of 2009, my wife was great with child, our second. We were eagerly awaiting his arrival, and naively and self-absorbedly praying that this baby boy would not have quite as much energy as our first son. It would be just too overwhelming, we thought.

We were idiots.

Five weeks before the due date, our Ob-Gyn sent us to have an extra ultrasound, because he saw what looked like an enlarged heart. Not thinking too much of the extra visit, as we were told it was probably nothing, we strolled into the office that crisp fall evening stressing about working out childcare for our first son during the upcoming delivery, and the anticipated lack of sleep from new night time baby cries on the horizon.

We were idiots.

The ultrasound gel on my wife’s bulbous belly was barely cleaned off, and the high risk doctor was suddenly in the room with a serious look in his eye. He showed us a picture of our son’s brain, and the large venous malformation in the middle of it. In his 15 years of practicing high-risk obstetrics, he had, he said, never seen anything like it. The last time he remembered hearing about our son’s condition was in med school in a textbook chapter on rare infant brain disorders.

SLAM! We were on the floor, hardly able to breathe.

There were no warnings––35 weeks of perfect check-ups. The doctor called the hospital to advise them of the situation. No one felt remotely comfortable with delivering our child. We were referred to a top-tier hospital two hours away, which offered only a slightly more encouraging option. Our son would need to be delivered very soon, as the enlarged vein in his brain was seriously taxing his heart.

We returned home, and I began the Google marathon. I read every available article about my son’s condition. They were not encouraging. I found that just 10 years earlier, his condition was a death sentence. However, there were new techniques in endovascular brain surgery that had dramatically increased the life expectancy of those born with VGAM (Vein of Galen Aneurysmal Malformation). Many kids are now able to be cured of the malformation, but the quality of life, post-rescue, is a game of wait and see, day by day.

After reading articles for hours, I literally began to call the authors. Not feeling like we were offered much hope at the hospital, I wanted to find the best person in the world to deal with our son’s condition. Within four hours, I had the three top interventional neuroradiologists in the world call me on my cell phone! Two days later we were on a plane to Manhattan, to check in to St. Luke’s-Roosevelt hospital.

This was opening door number one: God’s Word was given its proper place, woven deep into our hearts.

Dr. Alex Berenstein, the pioneer of the novel VGAM surgery method would be operating on our son. Luke required two eight-hour surgeries within two days of delivery. He survived, and spent the next six weeks in the NICU at St. Luke’s. The miracles and heartbreaking setbacks experienced in those six weeks would turn this blog into a book. It was a refining time for my wife and me, yet we could not understand the peace we were experiencing. God’s promises went from being quaint phrases stitched into throw pillows to becoming like food––and we were starving! We found all we could eat, and more, as God’s words came alive to feed us in our wilderness experience.

Here Luke is two days old. This was taken just before he went in for his first surgery. I remember taking lots of mental images of him, not knowing what the results of the surgery would be.

This was opening door number one: God’s Word was given its proper place, woven deep into our hearts.

During those six weeks we would not allow ourselves to believe that we would one day leave with Luke in tow. We were preparing ourselves for the worst. Through an agonizing process of taking three steps forward and two steps back, Luke became well enough for us to reasonably believe that he could get out of the box in which he had been living, into our arms, and out the door to home.

Every once in a while I'd get a finger squeeze. They were magical.

After four weeks of requiring a respirator, and our only being able to touch him through access holes in the incubator, the day finally arrived when the tube came out of his chest, and he came out of his box into our eager arms. It was a high day. On two previous occasions upon leaving for the night, we were told that if his respiration numbers remained stable that he would be able to get off the vent the next day and be held. Both times our hopes were dashed; a severe staph infection, and then a 1-in-1000 fever reaction to administered platelets smashed our spirits to pieces.

Here is Luke at four weeks old. He'd been through two surgeries, a life threatening staph infection, and a stroke. He'd just been taken off the respirator, and was my first time holding him. I could have sat there for days.

With each setback and subsequent crying out to God, we regained the mysterious peace Scripture promises. Eventually, fewer monitors were required, and the unplugging process began. He was going to live! On a perfect November afternoon, we walked out the door with our tiny son snuggled into his car seat.

Unfortunately, the door was both literally, and figuratively, a revolving one.

This was his first day of being completely disconnected. The feeling of holding him without having to be concerned about any tubes, or wires being yanked out of place was heavenly. I did sit there for hours.

Part 2 coming soon…

David Sherwood is an Academy Bible teacher in Collegedale, Tennessee. He has a wife, Jeannie, and three crazy kiddos: Noah, Luke, and Anna Joy. He was converted from his secular, self-focused life at 23 years old. His passion now is trying to focus, and harness the energy, stubbornness, and faith-filled naiveté of teenagers for the work of the kingdom of God. David enjoys taking photos of his kids, writing down random thoughts, dining out with his wife, philosophizing and studying the Bible with with young people, and trying to avoid serious injury while reliving his glory days on the basketball court. While not at school, he can almost always be found at home working along side his family to habilitate his 2-year-old, brain-injured son, Luke, who has given them more spiritual instruction, and inspiration than any book, or sermon ever could.

You can download this video to share with others (right-click, save linked file as).

In their excellent book, The Power of Full Engagement, Jim Loehr and Tony Schwartz suggest that, “Managing energy, not time, is the key to high performance.” We all have the same amount of time each day, but all of us do not bring the same amount and quality of energy to that time. Some people get more and better work done than others because they are alive with physical, mental, emotional and spiritual energy that allows them to give focused and sustained attention to their goals, while others simply trudge through their days lacking usable energy. The goal should be to maintain habits that yield maximum energy rather than frantically trying to get as much as possible done with an eye on the clock.

There are four extremely effective habits we should form in order to maintain high energy.

1. Good Eating

Nutrition is vital. Our bodies want to be consistently fed with foods that contain high quality fuel, foods that are densely packed with sources of slow-burning energy. The goal in eating should be to consume calories that impart more energy than they expend in the digestion process. Said another way, we need to eat foods that give more than they take. And we know what those foods are: fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and whole grains.

2. Consistent Exercise

It’s this simple: by whatever means you enjoy or can manage, make sure you breathe hard and sweat for a minimum of thirty minutes at least four days a week. Each of us has 168 hours each week. Take a mere three hours out of the 168 for physical exercise and you are still left with 165. What a small slice of the whole! But then, watch what happens. The increase of energy you gain from devoting three of the 168 to exercise will raise the value of your remaining 165 such that you will actually get more and better work done with less time. It’s win win!

3. Positive Relationships

Resolve all conflicts with people and keep the relational air clean. You don’t have the energy for conflict, literally. You’re not built for it. Nothing drains the vital current out of the human system like interpersonal conflict characterized by anger, resentment, jealousy, envy or hate.

Forgive those who have wronged you just as God has forgiven you.

And do it now!

As much as lies within you, live at peace with all men. If you have wronged someone, that wrong will weigh upon your conscience and sap you of emotional energy. Make it right. Go to them and apologize with no excuses. Set your conscience free. And if someone has wronged you, see them through God’s eyes. Have mercy, not condemnation. By the grace of God, be free from the anxiety of unresolved conflict.

Most vital of all, be at peace with your Maker. Rise each morning and give your heart anew to Him who made you for a love relationship with Himself and your fellow human beings. Commit your family and friends to His gracious care, and then rest easy knowing that He will always do the right thing for you and for them.

4. Rest and Recreation

Finally, rest restores enthusiasm, calibrates the emotions, opens fresh streams of creativity and floods the body and mind with new energy. You need a good six to eight hours of sleep each night and regular intervals of enjoyable recreation. Got to have it! Do not imagine that you are actually getting more done by sleeping less and refraining from taking time off work for recreational activities. Downtime increases physical, mental, emotional and spiritual vigor. You’ll do your best work if you are well rested.

And then there is the deeper, more profound rest that has descended upon us in Christ and is memorialized each week in the seventh-day Sabbath. Once, in the beginning, God performed His work of creation, and He said, It is “finished,” and “rested on the seventh day” (Genesis 2:1-2). And then, once again, in defiance of the anti-creational force of sin, God performed a second work of creation, called salvation, and He said, “It is finished” and rested in the tomb on the seventh day (John 19:30). In Christ you are invited to rest in total freedom from guilt and sin and all that is contrary to God’s love. Each week on the seventh day, “He who has entered His rest has himself also ceased from his works as God did from His” (Hebrews 4:10).

So there you have it. Energy, not time, is the currency we have control over. And these are the four most crucial energy-maximizing habits you can form.

Have an energized life!

In order that the work may go forward in all its branches, God calls for youthful vigor, zeal and courage. He has chosen the youth to aid in the advancement of His cause. To plan with clear mind and execute with courageous hand demands fresh, uncrippled energies. . . that through the exercise of their powers, through keen thought and vigorous action, they may bring glory to Him and salvation to their fellow-men – Gospel Workers, p. 67.

I’ve had an unshakable burden for Europe for over a decade now. I’ve just never been able to accept the sad and ironic reality that the birthplace of the Protestant Reformation is now so tragically spiritually dormant. The Seventh-day Adventist Church in Europe is not exempt from the desperate need for revival. The church in France, I would say, is high on the “needy” list.

Thankfully, God is privy to this need. Though few in number, there is a new wave of on fire Adventist young people there, and they are beginning to make some noise. A group of nine young adults recently organized a late October convocation. I was invited to participate and present at the gathering. The location they were providentially led to was Clermont-Ferrand in central France. This is highly significant. When I learned of the location, it occurred to me that this town’s legacy hinted at what God was up to.

Clermont-Ferrand is the birthplace of the French mathematician and physicist Blaise Pascal, who was born nearly four hundred years ago. He is widely considered one of the great figures in Western intellectual history. He invented the calculating machine while still a teenager, the barometer, the hydraulic press, the syringe and is also credited with inventing the wristwatch. But he was so much more than an inventor. He was a brilliant and creative mathematician, and is regarded as the founder of probability and statistic theory. His many contributions have made a significant impact in the world.

Blaise Pascal

But, all this aside, the most impressive thing about him was that he was a young man who was on fire for the Gospel. Having had a dramatic encounter with God (what he afterward would always refer to as his “night of fire”), he was able to use his influence to bear testimony to the world. He wrote that, “There is a God-shaped vacuum in the heart of every man which cannot be filled by any created thing, but only by God the Creator, made known through Jesus Christ.” His life and legacy has set many hearts ablaze for God and has inspired Christian thinkers for four centuries. And this little, seemingly unimportant town in central France was his stomping grounds.

What a fitting place to have held the Génération de Jeunes pour Christ (Generation of Youth for Christ) convention, a gathering called to inspire young people in and around France to fulfill their personal and unique calling in Christian life and ministry.

The chosen theme was Walking in His Footsteps. The conference was attended by up to 180 people representing nearly ten countries including: Switzerland, The Netherlands, Norway, Germany, Portugal and, of course, France.

The attendees were encouraged to participate in an outreach effort in the town center to invite people to a Health Expo. Their efforts brought over 200 people to the program! (Confession: this was much more than I expected.) Along with the Health Expo, there was an evangelistic presentation and a concert that were both geared toward the community. All this resulted in some 75 contacts that will be followed up in the months to come, 75! That’s at least 65 more than I would’ve predicted.

After it was all over, Tiphaine, a 23 year-old student, and one of the key leaders, said, “This has been the most Spirit-filled and powerfully reviving Youth Congress I have been to yet.”

And she’s not alone on that.

Those young people will remember this conference. They will remember the closing day  when people were led to their knees, weeping and pleading with God for revival. They will remember that they stood to commit this next year of their lives to pursue training in ministry, that they might be better used in the furtherance of the kingdom of God. They will remember how God spoke to them there.

I sincerely hope that what I experienced in Clermont-Ferrand was just a beginning––just a taste of the energy, commitment and sacrifice that we will witness in the months and years to come. I hope that France will yield 100 committed young Adventists where now there is but one.

And that we would hear of a new breed of fresh Blaise Pascals, for God only knows how much France needs them.

God, please set France ablaze with your Spirit and your Son.

Being a Christian, though, there is another layer on the matter.

So, in a sense, I am still the same kid that saw the night sky that evening. I had looked at it before, of course, but on that occasion I actually saw it and felt the awe. I still feel it today. That’s why I became a physicist—to find things out.

Being a Christian, though, there is another layer on the matter. A wonderful one! Feynman once said:

“Poets say science takes away from the beauty of the stars—mere globs of gas atoms. I, too, can see the stars on a desert night, and feel them. But do I see less or more?”

The argument is sound. Physics can’t take away the profound beauty of things, the beauty poets talk about. It actually reveals the true inner elegance and symmetry behind the surface of reality that poets write about and that artists in general try to grasp. In a similar manner, how can anybody say that physics takes away any of the profound impact that Christianity has on a human being? A physicist, as a Christian, is a searcher for truth. And the truth, be it spiritual or physical, cannot contradict itself. How could the creation contradict the Creator? So I search for His fingerprints in nature! Because every artist leaves a particular, individual touch on his or her works of art. God, as the great Artist, the great Engineer, is no different. We can clearly see His touch on nature, whether we are looking at intricate biological systems (even if perverted by sin) or at the basic fabric of space-time (untouched by perversion). How can anyone not marvel before such a big and beautiful picture of reality?

As I grew in stature and knowledge, I felt a desire to serve God, to do His will. But how could I? It was clear that my life experience was a build up around my choice to become a scientist. So, “obviously,” I felt I should study medicine and become a physician. Makes sense, right? There is a kind of unspoken and, for sure, well meaning suggestion within some sectors of the church that you have to be a medical doctor or a pastor to really serve God. Sure, both do an invaluable and important work! But was I supposed to follow such a path?

While this dilemma circled around in my head, I was half way through my Ph.D. Physics is irremediably entangled with who I am, but was it God’s choice for me? So I asked Him. I prayed. I searched. And one day He spoke to me. I had some friends involved in GYC 2009, so I downloaded the messages and put them on my audio player. I remember hearing a sermon by Pastor David Asscherick as I walked one morning to the university. Suddenly, he started talking about a real need for Adventist scientists, as opposed to medical doctors. He addressed my very doubts! As he spoke, it struck me: science was the ministry God intended for me! I prayed more about it and kept going, finishing my Ph.D a few months ago.

So why do I do science? I surely don’t do it to prove anyone wrong. I do it because I recognize my deep ignorance, because I don’t know everything. I do it because I am curious and want to know the truth. I do it because I marvel at the work of the Creator and I want to know Him better and better.

The message of the three angels in Revelation 14 tells us that the exaltation of God as the Creator is part of our message. Looking at the popular view that science and religion are intrinsically incompatible, how can anyone doubt the validity of such a message? Again, truth is truth. Spiritual truth and physical truth cannot contradict each other! So if you feel any inclination toward some form of science, pursue it! Pray about it every step of the way, and just search for the Truth. This way not only will you partake of the wonderful pleasure of finding things out, but you will be a valuable servant in God’s hands!

Paulo Torres is a physicist, working mainly in the field of cosmology. He has been studying dark energy and dark matter, the mysterious ingredients of the Universe that are massively more abundant than all the visible stars and galaxies. Curious by nature, his interests extend to several other fields of physics and beyond, be it exotic languages, neurology or music.

First of all, the 2011 class is the first class we’ve ever conducted at our very own facility! Over the years, we’ve rented furnished corporate housing or summer camp facilities from other denominations, but not this year. This year we were in the new ARISE campus located in Jasper, Oregon. The facility, a former boarding academy, is absolutely perfect for our needs and the needs of our students. To be sure, we were saddened to hear of the academy’s closure; there can be no rejoicing when a Seventh-day Adventist institution closes its doors. The academy board, however, was persuaded that the time was right. We did not encourage their decision, but we did support it once it was made.

You don’t have to look very hard to see a gospel illustration in this. One gives up its life so another can live and prosper. We are not rejoicing in the death, but we are certainly rejoicing in the resurrection! And it’s not just us who are rejoicing. The former board chairman is my new neighbor (and a long-time friend), and he is fully enthusiastic and supportive of ARISE’s move to “his neck of the woods.” So while there is still sadness in all of our hearts, that sadness is tempered with great joy.

There is just no comparison to the way it was versus now. It’s a whole new world.

As one of the co-founders of ARISE, it is impossible for me to adequately communicate just how significant it is for us to have our own facility. In the past we’ve had to work around our landlords’ schedules, rules, and perspectives. Not anymore! We can have spontaneous praise services any day and at any hour! We can invite community contacts to come for worship services, to listen to visiting instructors, or for a game of ultimate frisbee. We have an on-site dean (Matt Minikus) who, with his wife Josie, lives literally with the students. This creates ongoing and important opportunities for ministry, mentorship, and friendship. We can take evening, morning, or afternoon walks (or runs!) around the expansive grounds. We can even have class out on the lawn on a bluebird day (which we did several times!).

The list goes on and on. Really, there is just no comparison to the way it was versus now. It’s a whole new world.

There’s a second reason that this ninth class was in a class of their own. It has to do with their phenomenal academic success. First, a little background. The Cornerstone program offers three levels of certification. The most demanding is called the Certificate of Highest Excellence, which requires the equivalent of at least 99% on all reading, assignments, and tests. For example, each student is required to memorize 100 verses in the 100 days they are here. The memorization has to be exact word-for-word in the New King James Version. The students are tested weekly on the assigned verses. In order to attain to highest excellence, a student has to make three or less mistakes total for all 100 verses! A “mistake” is any deviation from the word-for-word text, even the very smallest.

The second most demanding certificate is the Certificate of Excellence, which requires the equivalent of 97-98% on all reading, assignments, and tests. The third is called simply the Certificate of Completion and is still the equivalent of a “B” to “A-” in the traditional grading system. So it’s A+, A, and A-/B. Anything below the “B” receives no certificate status, and does not participate in the graduation/commissioning service at the end of the course.

In fairness to the other classes, we’ve only been employing this system for the last three years so it’s difficult to make comparisons (not that we would want to anyway). Nevertheless, this year’s class is remarkable in terms of their commitment and performance. Of the 39 students, 25 attained the Highest Excellence level! Remember, that’s 99-100%! Nine reached the Excellence level (97-98%), and four received the Completion Certificate (a “B” to “A-”). Furthermore, of the 25 at the Highest Excellence level, 12 scored a full 100% on their Scripture memorization tests. That’s a perfect 100% on 100 verses in 100 days!

And that’s the best indicator of all.

I can say in the plainest of language that I was personally completely inspired by this year’s class. Their academic and in-the-community accomplishments are truly amazing and inspiring. But let me hasten to add that I am sure that this class (or any other!) would take no credit or praise for their efforts. They would give all the glory, honor, and praise to Him who alone deserves it!

And that’s the best indicator of all.

They not only learned the words, texts, books, and doctrines. They learned what (Who!) all of it points to: Jesus Christ!

Thank you class of 2011, you’ve inspired me. And you’ve taught me a great deal about God and His love. I, along with the other staff here at Light Bearers, am indebted to you.

“Now to the King eternal, immortal, invisible, to God who alone is wise, be honor and glory forever and ever. Amen” (1 Timothy 1:17).

Moving can be dramatic. Yet change is a normal part of the human experience. Accordingly, the ancient Greek philosopher Heraclitus (535-475 BC) said, “all things move and nothing stays still,” indicating his belief that the only constant in our universe was change.

Interestingly, Heraclitus was the first to make philosophical use of the Greek word logos which John the apostle used to describe Christ in the opening of his gospel. “In the beginning was the Word (logos), and the Word (logos) was with God, and the Word (logos) was God” (John 1:1). For Heraclitus, logos was the principle of order and knowledge that bound the universe together. Paul agreed! He said that, “in Christ we live and move and have our being” (Acts 17:28) and wrote that, “in Him (Jesus Christ) all things consist” (Col. 1:17).

If Jesus Christ is the logos that binds the universe together—which I believe!—then no matter how much things change, there is always a constant. No matter how much our lives change, there is something, or better, Someone, that doesn’t. “Jesus Christ,” said the author of Hebrews, “is the same yesterday, today, and forever” (Heb. 13:8).

British philosopher Alan Watts (1915-1973) once wrote that, “the greater part of human activity is designed to make permanent those experiences and joys which are only lovable because they are changing.” In a way, I agree. The changing nature of our world is designed to heighten our love for life, but does Mr. Watts actually intend to convince me that I only enjoy my mother’s company because she’s aging? Or that I only enjoyed the vigor of youth because it has passed?

Perhaps what Watts is on to is that we humans have an intrinsic need for constancy. Furthermore, if that need can actually be met, we might be able to genuinely enjoy this life without the nagging fear of loss.

The Logos can meet that need. In fact, He created that need!

Christ said, “Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you” (John 14:27). For most people having peace depends on what happens but the peace of Christ transcends what happens. And it is this that enables us to really enjoy, or at least appreciate, the transient pleasures this world affords.

On September 11, 2011 I was voted into the position of Director of Evangelism for the North New South Wales Conference in Australia. Sherise and I are right now in the process of applying for visas, and hope to be in Australia by the end of January.

Matt teaching the 2011 ARISE Cornerstone class in Jasper, OR

Talk about change!

Although we are thrilled and humbled by the opportunity this call presents, and although the presence of Christ is constantly with us, our hearts are still heavy. Our eyes are still filled with tears. The constant companionship the Word of God provides does insulate us from despair, yet it doesn’t take all of the pain out of moving. It is unbelievably difficult to leave a ministry that you really believe in, and that you’ve been a part of for six years, for a new one in a foreign land, far away.

We will always love our ARISE / Light Bearers family. We have high hopes for collaboration and are already making plans in that direction. I’m trying not to see this as a call to “another” ministry but rather to another place in the same ministry. Paul said to the church at Corinth, “since we have this ministry… we do not loose heart” (2Cor. 4:1). Paul and the local church in Corinth were not always in the same geographical location, yet he considered them to be a part of the same ministry as he was.

I’m choosing to see this move in the same way.

By the grace of God, we—ARISE, Light Bearers, and myself—will always be a part of the same ministry; maybe not part of the same 501c3 non-profit organization, but nevertheless a part of God’s worldwide remnant movement that proclaims the everlasting gospel of Jesus Christ.

I still want to be known as a staff member, as a part of ARISE / Light Bearers, as a part of the team.

Ty, Sue, David, Violeta, Stephanie, Brent, Randy, Shandra, Oliver, Jeffrey, Marianna, Yamil, Jessica, James, Risë, Cindi, Brandon, Meranda, Jamie, Jason, Robert, from my perspective you are and will always be a part of my team. Thank you all for your unbelievable grace and affection. I don’t deserve it, but am humbled by it. May God continue to work in my heart so that I can become more like the Christ I’ve seen in you. I won’t forget your kindness and love. I am always at your service. The same goes for all my former students. Through the grace of Christ we are still on the same team.

Call anytime. I may not answer, but I will call you back.

“Who is my mother and who are my brothers?… For whosoever does the will of My Father in heaven, is my brother and sister and mother” (Matthew 12:48, 50).

Matt skating on his lunch break at ARISE

We merged. We moved. We’re here.

After months of conversing, praying, thinking, and planning, it happened. And, again, I still can hardly believe it. But here’s the good news, no great news: it’s going so much better than I thought it would. Being a perennial optimist, my hopes were high—sky high—and somehow my expectations have been exceeded. It’s comforting to know that I’m not alone in either my optimism or evaluation. The whole team is singing the same song.

Undeniably, this is a God thing.

You don’t just merge two long-standing ministries—complete with established ways of doing things, strong personalities, successful histories, and future plans—without incident. It just doesn’t happen; it can’t happen.

Until it does.

So here we are. The transition has been more than seamless, it’s been downright fun, exhilarating even. Already many of the “pros” we talked about prior to merging are materializing: joint projects, synergistic brainstorming, spirited fellowship, and directional planning. The future is looking bright, and the present is already pure joy. Hardly a day goes by that someone doesn’t have some new idea that they’re promoting with bubbling enthusiasm. The atmosphere is pregnant with potential and we all feel it.

Here’s a case in point: the 2011 Year End Report. We worked long and hard on this. There were many late nights which turned into early mornings. The deadlines were tight, the ideas were many, but we pulled it off. It was hard work, yes, but it was also a real joy. The end product was better, far better, than any one of us could have done alone. What’s more, the theme of the Year End Report was itself synergy, which means “working together.”

This will, I am persuaded, be the first of many such successes. As Scripture says, “two are better than one” (Eccl. 4:9) and “it is not good that man should be alone” (Gen. 2:18). This latter verse, of course, deals with the creation and blessing of marriage, but the more fundamental point is that we are social beings who usually function better together than we do alone. Here at Light Bearers we are seeing this borne out.

On a somewhat sad note, our friend and long-term team member Matt Parra has taken a call to Australia. And though our team has taken a serious hit with Matt’s departure, we’re taking a collaborative and team-centered approach to it. (Be sure to read Matt’s excellent blog post). Matt’s move to Australia will likely open doors for ongoing partnership between him and his new team and Light Bearers. In our view, and Matt’s, he is still a team member here at ARISE, and always will be!

More than a decade ago, then-First Lady Hillary Clinton wrote a book titled, It Takes a Village. I’ve never read the book, but have always loved the title. I would modify it slightly and say: It Takes a Team.

ARISE has always had a great team. Now that team has grown, numerically, qualitatively, and spiritually. And that is a good thing, a very good thing.

Here we are!

Here we go!

Together!

One of the things I most appreciate about the ARISE team is their youthful enthusiasm for God’s work and how it permeates every aspect of their lives. While holding tenaciously to the core truths, they are not inhibited by old traditions. The free and easy style of these young energetic workers allows them to reach the many youth who struggle with out-dated formalism.

New challenges are sure to surface when a team of experienced but youthful talent combine with “older” workers—Ty and I are almost 50 and are preparing to get carded when inquiring about senior discounts!—yet the transition has been surprisingly free of difficulty. A spirit of unity and purpose pervades as we move forward to chisel out new goals and directions for the now-combined ministry.

Yes, great challenges lie ahead as Satan is sure to do all he can to urge his way among us. And this is where we need your prayers! We want our office headquarters to continue to ring with “hey bro, how was your Sabbath?” and “check out this amazing thing I just read” and “love you man” and the like. I want to continue to be interrupted in thought by the strong melodious voices of Yamil or David as they lift their hearts to God in praise in a moment of particular joy or breakthrough! (Yamil’s office is right next to mine, but I can hear David on the other end of the building!) I want to study deeply and pray earnestly together and go for morning jogs in the dark and throw a 40-minute round of disc golf in the afternoon (even if it’s raining!).

Most of all, I am so happy to be a part of a team who finds their greatest joy in doing and daring for God.

Perhaps this is far fetched, but could this merger set a precedent for a new type of ministry? Are there other possible combinations of people—young and old—that might unite to create greater synergy for God’s cause? If our experience here is any indication, it just might be.

So Here They Are!

And Here We Go! 

Together!