Annual Pastor's Report

This past weekend was the Arizona District Assembly. All the Nazarene churches on the district (about 60) gather and give a report on what God is doing in their local congregation. The biggest part of policy passed was a change in the district budget amount. There has been a confusing formula that dictated how much each church contributed to the denomination, now each church gives a straight 10% from all income. Here is my report...

Dr. Porter, Dr. Schortinghouse and Assembly,
At last assembly we changed our name from Desert Hills Fellowship to NorthGate. The intent was to better reflect our membership and mission area. We followed this up by articulating a vision to make Christlike disciples in our context. This was a year of risk and reward.
My staff and I compiled two resources to equip our people for evangelism and discipleship. The first we titled “The I.M.A.G.E. Profile”. This is to help people discover the truth that they are created in the image of God and have dignity. The second resource is “The Spiritual Life Coach”. We defined a discipleship lifestyle as, A Jesus Community – always seeking to know God, connect with people and serve others. The Life Coach is a reference guide for spiritual practices that are means of grace in healing the image of God in people.
Desiring to be missional and chase the vision, we planned on spending 5 weeks in a new movie theater to reach an adjacent neighborhood to the church building. Attendance rose and we decided to spend another month there for a total of 9 weeks. It was a fitting place to celebrate the Church of the Nazarene’s centennial birthday. A man named Mitch who lost his wife to cancer donated $500 to sponsor a Sunday in the theater. He wasn’t a church attender but after visiting a worship service he is now faithful to Christ and the Church.
God is still moving,

Pastor Jimmy Farley

Grand Canyon Hike

A group of 25 from NorthGate travelled to the Grand Canyon on Memorial Day weekend. Lanny and Michelle organized the trip and talked all of us into doing something we normally wouldn't dream of...hike from rim to rim in one day. The trip is 24 miles, just short of a marathon and if you haven't seen it, the canyon is kinda deep.

4 guys (Lanny, James, Ryan and Scott) left at 8 pm to hike from the south rim in the rain and darkness to meet us on the north rim. We met them at 6:30 a.m. The weather was perfect for me. It was cloudy, rained when I was sweating, sunny when I needed to dry off, and hailing the last 1.5 miles. Lanny and James turned around and hiked it again. James made it out by 8 pm to reach his goal of getting out in 24 hours. Lanny after having diarrhea on the first way across was a stud and waited to get a man 84 years old out at 11:30 pm. My brother in law, Brent, set a monster pace for me and we got out in 10 hours. I feel good!

Lessons Learned...

1. Be prepared
2. Hike with a partner
3. Watch out for donkey dung and piss
4. Thank Jesus for the little things on the journey
5. Life is not a highway, it is a kick butt, make you wanna cuss canyon but you'll make it out if you don't give up

Outliers

Read a great book on vacation. Gladwell argues that SUCCESS is not just about being the best and brightest but others factors surrounding the person.

To be successful...

• Yes, you have to have an IQ, some talent or gift; but this is not enough.
• Timing of your birth and the next _______ revolution (ie. bill gates was born in 1955 so by the time of the computer revolution he was the right age)
• Family Background - 2 parenting styles: Concerted Cultivation = parents involved in developing the child's potential vs. Accomodation of Natural Growth = loving accomodation as the child develops naturally. People with concerted cultivation have a greater chance of success.
• Community and Culture: people who come from a culture of honor that are easily offended when called an asshole have less chances of being successful.
• 10,000 hours or 10 years of preparation to become an expert. (the beatles performed eight hours a night in strip clubs 7 days a week for 7 years before coming to the US)
• Persistence - attitude not ability
• Hard work that is meaningful: autonomous, complex, relationship between effort and reward
• OPPORTUNITY - "to build a better world we need to replace the patchwork of lucky breaks and arbitrary advantages that today determine success...with a society that provides opportunities for all." So give a guy a chance.

Gladwell gives great anecdotal evidence that success needs a threshold of intellegence and ambition but also the right history, community, opportunity and legacy.

I would argue one chapter is missing. Behind the scenes in all of our lives we have a God who is working out the details. More than we wanting to reach our human potential, God wants it for us more. I believe He orders the steps of the righteous and all we need to do to succeed is to respond to His leading. Gladwell does a good job of sketching out what the response looks like.

Cruisin'

Kristan and I took a cruise to celebrate 10 years of marriage. We left the San Diego port on a Monday, sailed two days at sea, spent a day in Victoria, then disembarked the next day in Vancouver. We chose this cruise because we honeymooned in Victoria and wanted to go back.

Some thoughts and memories...

• Sailing on Holland America's ship the Ryndam was like expecting to go to a contemporary mega church but ending up at your grandmother's traditional church.
• Don't make out with your wife on the deck. It will sunburn one side of your face and people will then ask questions or make dumb comments.
• Formal night is unnecessary. We dressed up, sat next to strangers at dinner and had shallow conversation. The fun part was that I played a part... I was a professor of psychology and human sexuality.
• I like mojitos.
• We both got wobbly legs and vertigo. Sea sickness is not fun.
• We spent some time in our cabin watching movies, getting a facial, taking a nap and obviously some things described in Song of Solomon.
• We exercised everday. Kristan took a spinning class and I did some weights and cardio.
• Victoria was the highlight of the trip. We went straight to the Sticky Wicket for lunch, had tea and cookies at the Humboldt House (the B&B we stayed at 10 years ago), went to the mall, bookstore, internet cafe and had dinner at Cafe Brio. Went back to the Sticky Wicket then back to the boat.
• The ship's crew sang a farewell, "Love in any Language" by Sandi Patti. Yes, it was as bad as it sounds but so bad we couldn't stop laughing.