Back In the Day, Acts 1-9 VIII

What we're about to share with you has been about a year in the process of prayer and planning. So let me take you back now 30 years, which seems like a long time ago, when eight couples came alongside Carol and I to launch the Northwest Christian Community 30 years ago. Very often I'll say to young moms who have a lot of children hanging around them and I'll say you know the years are going to go by very quickly with these little ones but you will have some very long days and in some ways that kind of describes our 30 years at North Way. It has gone quickly, very quickly, but we have had some long days. We'll never forget the time when those eight couples looked at us and said we want you to be our pastor and they pledged their support but made no promises. That's very important that you understand that North Way from the very beginning was a ministry of faith. We risked everything we had. Our kids were two, four, and six as I recall and God took that little seed of faith and has blessed us far beyond what we could ever imagine. We prayed, we conversed, we shared, we dialogued, but two things emerged that the Lord seemed to impress upon our hearts. One was that he would send to us all that we would care for. That's what he said in prayer and the second thing I remember distinctly was that he would establish congregations of North Way around the city. You have to understand how impossible that seemed. We were just trying to get one church going and we didn't have any idea how multiple congregations might happen. So we never set out to be big. It was not one of our goals to have a large church. We simply want to be faithful to what Jesus called us to do. We made our focus that of three things, of building people up, of teaching them God's Word, and then helping them understand how they could be instrumental in being used by God. Sort of at our DNA, I captured four things. God's presence, which has always been paramount to us in worship and so earnest prayer, people over programs, people matter to us more than having some slick programs, and finally the purposes of God. The fact that God cares about the lost, the hurting, those who need help. That's our DNA. Our structure's changed, we've gotten around, we've certainly made some mistakes and all of that, but our DNA hasn't changed. Now all that's history and I want to turn the page and talk about the future. Carol and I are convinced that God has spoken to us, that now's the time to reach into this deep pool of leaders that God's called together, the next generation of leaders. These are bright and energetic and enthusiastic young men and women who've come on in the last several years particularly, and they're coming alongside the mature and seasoned and wise people who've been here for 20 or 30 years. And the combination of those two gives me that same confidence that God has now prepared us to move forward and for them to take on the challenge and the opportunities that lie before us. Thirty years ago I just could not even imagine that God would do at North Way what he has done. It's been thrilling, it's been wonderful, but it has put within me just the knowledge of knowing that he's not going to let us down now. He's not going to let the church down, he's not going to let Jay and myself down as well. So I'm very confident, I'm excited for all he wants to do in the next season because of what I've experienced in the last 30 years. We have seen this happening over the last few years especially, and we're ready and excited about the possibilities that are before us. Here we are today to make a very clear announcement that we believe that we've heard clearly from God who's to lead this team of leaders. We're going to be here for some time to come, but in a more supportive role and taking on other challenges. We're excited about the leader that God's raised up. We believe he is the man for this hour and for this next season of North Way's life. North Way is uniquely positioned to continue to make a difference here in our city and around the world. So it's with great confidence and clarity that I want to introduce to you the person that through a long process we've come to have great confidence is to be the next senior leader of North Way Christian community. And it's now my privilege to introduce him to you. Okay, well with a, are your hands ready? With a full head of hair I've come up and, well, overstatement. With great, really great joy and excitement about next steps and future things. Would you welcome with me our future senior leader, Scott Stevens. All right, whoever's great idea that was a song, that was cute, very nice. I asked Jay if I could come up out of the floor like LeBron James was what, what I was pulling for. Hey, I'm just, just two or three really quick things that I want to say. Two words that come to mind all this sort of past ten days or so that I've been processing this. One is I'm humbled. You need to know that eight and a half years or so ago when I came to North Way this was not even on my radar. I really just came to serve Jay and to learn and to do whatever I could to what, to make what already was a great church the best that it could be. So God's always blessed me in my ministries. I'm, I take no credit for it. He just has constantly blessed me throughout the years. So I'm humbled. Secondly, I just, I want you to hear this correctly though. I'm really confident. For some, something happened three years or so ago to me, you know, where I just really felt God's present, God's Spirit sort of speak to me that this is where I was supposed to be. This is where I was supposed to dig in. This is where I was supposed to exercise new gifts. So I need you guys to know that I've heard from God and I truly do feel called for this season to lead, to partner through this season here at North Way. I was reading Nehemiah 3, probably about 10 days ago, maybe a week or so ago. And if you know Nehemiah, it's the book, it's, you know, they're rebuilding the wall. And if you ever hit chapter three, it's one of those chapters sometimes you might tend to just sort of skim over and go through quick because it's a list of names and people. And they're listing the walls that are being built. And this group is building the east wall. And then this group, they're next to them and they're building the fountain gate and on and on and on. And it's just this list. But for whatever reason, I had to check, you know, really dig into this. And I just said, all right, I'm going to read every name. I'm going to slow down on this text. And what I noticed that the phrase next to was used over 20-some times. And that's not by mistake. They had a big task. And they were building a wall and protecting each other next to one another. And it just struck me as, again, as I was processing this, processing this, that, you know, if you call this church your home, if you called Pastor Jay your friend or me, you know, what we need right now is next to folks. There's so many great things to be built and to be done. And, you know, I need desperately you next to me, next to us in this season. So, thank you so much for that applause. That was crazy. Thank you, Jay. Love you. All right, Scott. I am aware that the number of you know Scott well. But then there's a number, perhaps on other campuses and so, that haven't yet gotten to know him. He's been here almost nine years. So, we prepared a little video. Yeah, no, no, no. It's all good. Scott actually, he oversaw the final cut, I think. So, let's watch the screens together and just get a little more of an idea that the history that brought Scott to this important moment. So, I was invited to this youth group when I was in high school. And they told me, you know, we're gonna be singing songs and hearing Bible stories. And I thought, you know, I'm not sure about that. But there was this girl there that I knew that went to that group that I wanted to get to know. So, I went. And it was there over a period of time that I really heard the story of Christ for the first time in a way that just made so much sense to me. I also got to know the girl, Tina. I've been married to her for 23 years. She is a neonatal nurse at McGee Hospital downtown. She just won the ACE Award through UPMC, one of the top in her field at what she does. She is amazing. She's my main advocate and support. We have two incredible kids, Alyssa, who's in college, and Aaron, who is in high school. I have been in ministry 20-plus years. Got a gift of working for three great churches. Started out at Homestead United Presbyterian Church. Did a lot of student ministry work there and young adult. Went to Pleasant Hills Community Church, where again, I was involved deeply with family and student ministry. And then, you know, I started to look around to see where I wanted to be long-term. And there I met Jay Paseven along the way. And his vision and passion for this city, for the kingdom, just really drew me here. So, I came to North Way almost nine years ago now as the life development pastor. So, again, a lot of work in family ministry, kids up through college. But three years ago, Jay invited me to become the executive pastor here. And that has really stretched me. I began to do a lot more teaching, a lot more management of staff, a lot more higher vision type of work. And I've just really felt like this is just a great place to be. It's over these past years that I've really grown to just love this church. I mean, I deeply passionately love the North Way Christian community. I love my time when I get to be down in Oakland, Swickly Valley. I love this vision of being multi-site and being able to make an impact in all of Pittsburgh. Tina and I, we love the small group that we're in. Our kids have just sort of grown being around you, being around this church. This is a place where we decided some time ago that we wanted to call home for a long time. So, on this video, Jay asked me to sort of tell you what I'm passionate about. And, I mean, I'm passionate about a lot of things in ministry. But I think it's pretty easy for me to settle on three. I'm passionate about emerging leaders. I have always loved to invest in the next generation of leadership. I love to invest in their lives. I love to see them succeed. I love to help them when they fail. I want to see them go on and do greater things than I've ever done. You know, when you think about it, North Way really started as a group of emerging leaders. I mean, Jay Passavin is a young 30-year-old. John Sy, Scott McCabe, these guys have been around here for a long time. A group of young couples just getting together and starting this church, a group of emerging leaders, emerging artists, is really how North Way got its start. My second passion is the local church. You know, I just believe until Christ comes back and tells us otherwise, the local church is the hope of the world. With all its flaws, with all its challenges, I've still never found any place where if you lean in, you serve, you call it your home, that you will really begin to experience the love of Christ in community the way it's supposed to be. And my third passion, if you know me, you know I was going to say this, it's Pittsburgh. I just love this town. I grew up a huge Steeler fan. I became an unbelievable Penguin fan through the 80s. My first love has always been baseball. To me, a hot summer night at PNC Park with my girls is just about the closest it gets to heaven as could be. I love this town. I love the people. I love their character, their toughness, their values. There is really nothing about Pittsburgh that I don't like. I like the weather. I like everything there is about this town. You know, I currently sit on the board of the Pittsburgh Kids Foundation. It was formerly known as the Pittsburgh Youth Network. This organization for generations has been investing in kids and students and families all throughout this region. You know, my confidence in accepting this call is bolstered by the fact that Pastor Jay has agreed to remain on as founding pastor for five-plus years. Knowing that his experience and his support and encouragement is right there with me really just excites me about this role. Pastor Jay, myself, and some other very capable leaders will sort out this transition over the next 12 months. I just want you to know I'm honored, I'm humbled, and I'm confident to lead this church through and into its next season of ministry. But with that said, I just want to say something. Boy, I'd really covet your prayers for me, for my family, as we step into this challenge together with you. He actually said he liked the weather. Well, we'll work on that. I want to take a few minutes to invite you, as we normally would, to get your outline out of your notes and look at God's Word with me. I was reading, have been reading excerpts from a book called Letters from John Newton. We know the song Amazing Grace. John Newton wrote that song in the midst of amazing trial and adversity in his life, and he became a very influential pastor in his time, and actually helped William Wilberforce in the freeing of the slaves. But Newton is this incredibly wise and relatively unknown figure in the Christian faith, and he says this, he says, God's Word is the basis of all authority. And so what we can share up here could be said of any organization, but what God's Word says is what we come to hear, and what literally gives us the power to grow and to change. So let's look at this together. First thing I want to mention before we read this text is what did Jesus say to the disciples just before he was about to be lifted up and to leave the earth? He knew that times of change were times often in the human experience of disagreement and posturing, and perhaps strife could even enter in, and disunity. And so he says in John 17, and we may have this for you up on the screens, I just referenced one verse there. I want to read just the whole paragraph. It says, here's Jesus praying. This is his final prayer. My prayer is not for them alone, that is his followers, but I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message that all of them may be one Father just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I've given them the glory that you gave me that they may be one as we are one. In them, I in them and you in me, may they be brought to complete unity. Just settle that phrase for a second. Complete unity. To let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Friends, in this season that's about to begin actually right now, our unity, the way we pull together will be a testimony to the world that we're not about people following, we're about following Jesus. Our eyes are on him, not personalities. And this same issue has been something that the church has struggled with throughout the centuries. Paul, the Apostle, found the same kind of issues going on in the early church in Corinth. And that's your text on the top of your outline. Take a quick look at that with me. Here's what Paul writes, just this is probably another 30 or so years later. He says, what after all is Apollos and what is Paul? Only servants through whom you came to believe as the Lord has assigned to each his task. Apollos, by the way, you can read about him in Acts 18. He was a very brilliant scholar and orator. And so it was easy for him to capture a following. And so the Corinthians, some were being drawn to him. And they were starting to align themselves, some with Apollos and some with Paul, the premier Apostle. And Paul speaks right to that situation. And he says to them, wait a second, this is the first blank in your outline after the unity. He says this on the number one. All men and women are only servants. That's all we are. We've been assigned a task. He goes on to say, I planted, verse 6, the seed. Apollos watered it with his teaching and his insights. But God has been making it grow. And over the years, that's just the way things have worked here. And some have planted, many have watered, but God has made things grow. And that's the piece of this we really must capture. He goes on and uses very explicit language. So neither one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, verse 7, but only God who makes things grow. The one who plants and the one who waters have one purpose and they will each be rewarded according to their own labor. And Paul further affirms his unity when he says this, for we are co-workers. In some of your Bibles it says fellow workers. I feel that about all the team here at North Way and certainly about Scott Stevens. He's just a co-worker, a brother, a fellow worker. But you, the church, are God's field. You're the place where these seeds fall and bring forth a harvest. And this is what we have to see is going to continue to take place as you move into the future. You're God's building, a reference to the living temple that he talks about later on in 1 Corinthians 3. You know, in the church in America over the last, I don't know, 40 years, personalities have emerged, have they not? I mean, in my experience, we all tend to gravitate toward personalities, from popes to pastors to media personalities. You know, you go way back. You can talk about Pat Roberts in the original 700 Club. You can talk about, I don't know, you pick the person, you know. It could be Oral Roberts, it could be Kenneth Hagin, it could be Billy Graham. Many of us see him as this incredible model of what the life should be like as a Christ follower. John Wimber, Francis Chan for some of the newer generation people, or Mark Batterson, or Rick Warren. You name the personality, but friends, in the end, they're all just servants. They have a task to do. What matters to God is that we, the church, thrive. So, we should do our best, beginning now, to take our eyes off of the servants as people and place them on the Lord, if we've not already been doing that. Because that's what's going to cause that unity that I talked about and what we so desire here, to really thrive in the months and years ahead. I want to speak just to a few questions, sort of in conclusion, and this is going to be a very brief message. But there are certainly some things that I'm sure will come up as questions in your mind, and there'll be many months to answer the bulk of these, and Scott will certainly have some that he'll be addressing in coming weeks and months. But here are three things I want you to know and be really confident about. Number one, Carol and I are both very certain in our hearts, and I know that the video captured this as well as I wish it had, but we're confident and we're at peace that this is the time to really begin this process in earnest. And we've, as I alluded to, have been already doing work on this for nearly a year, and it will continue on for a while. But it's time for us. The closer we've come to this day, the more peace we've had, because we know we have such a gifted group of men and women here. Many of you serve in ways that ought to be noted and celebrated more than we do. And the team that God's assembled to lead here is just exceptional in so many ways. And then Scott, a guy that I've come to know for nine years now and very closely over the last three and a half years, I have just intrinsic confidence in him, his integrity, his abilities, his loyalty. I trust him. I believe in him, and I will give him my full support, as I trust you will, in the coming months and years as we grow together. It's really important that you hear me say that. Second, I want you to hear us say that Carol and I are not being asked to go. Actually, we've been asked to stay. So we are going to be here. Some of you may wish that we were, but we are going to stay for a number of years. Now, if I should show up on Monday and my office is cleaned out, that could change a couple of plans, but that ain't going to happen. The Elders Council, in collaboration with the whole eldership and many on the pastoral team, have all chatted about this. And what we want to do is just sort of change roles a bit. We want to come alongside and give more time and energy to really mentoring and developing and bringing along these men and women that God's called into leadership that I just can't do when we're involved in the day-to-day operations of things, as I'm sure you understand. And so here in our body, I'm going to be investing more time into these folks, and I think you're going to see just a real synergy develop as I'm able to do more of that. And then second, there are a number of projects that complement North Ways Ministry. I'm still passionate about the local church, but the Trinity Seminary that we've talked about, I can now give some more energy into uniting resources and people behind that and educating and training up people. The LAMP ministry that's been so effective. There's some writing that I've been working on and want to complete. And then I have a passion, and Scott alluded to this, and I want to reaffirm it. Our city really has been stagnant for almost 20 years in terms of any kind of unifying voices, and perhaps I can contribute maybe to that conversation in the coming years in ways I haven't been able to. And then the final thing I want to say is this. We see this announcement today as the beginning of a process. Nothing's going to change. I'm going to continue to teach going forward, but nothing significantly is going to change for at least six months, maybe even longer, maybe up to a year. So don't expect to come next week and find all kinds of... nothing's going to change. I mean, we're letting you in on the initial step of a transition process. In fact, we know how this is... some of you had no idea that this was even going on, and you need some time to process this. So we're putting together what we call a transition team, and these are folks from the congregation that we feel are deeply involved and hear your hearts, and we're going to work to make sure that everybody understands, that everybody has ownership of this because it's part of who we are, and that... listen now, we go against the trend. The trend is when a founding pastor steps aside, that the church doesn't, you know, go on into its destiny. And with all of our hearts, we want to... we want to break that mold. How many of you are in that with me? We want to see that go a different direction. That's right. We absolutely believe that's what God wants. That's why we're committed to staying and to doing everything we can to help Scott and the team that's here to continue to flourish. So, you know, this is true, loved ones. Here in our church, it's true in your life. Our goal is that we grow through change. Change is inevitable. We may not like it, we may not want it, but how many of you know, it comes in our lives whether we want it to or not. The only question really to have to wrestle to the ground is, will it be a positive change? Will you use the dynamic of change to grow, or will you use it to somehow shrink back? I know kind of the pulse of this church. I have never seen us face a change that we've not leaned into together, and as a result, God has blessed and multiplied. Take that and apply it to your own life and your family, where you work, where you teach, where you serve, wherever it is. The same is true if you're going through change, you have a choice. You can resist and fight and whine and complain, or you can say, God, I trust you. Take a look at the very last verse. Would you put your eyes on that last verse for me? So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen, since what is seen is temporary. I was talking about men. We're temporary. But what is unseen, that is Jesus, is eternal. I'm going to invite you to join with me in the coming weeks, months, and years as we fix our eyes on Jesus. He is still the head of the church. He will still be glorified. I am totally confident that Pastor Scott and all the team that we've assembled is going to lift up the name of Jesus, and He will draw all men to Himself. The yearnings of our heart, the passion that we have for the Spirit to move, all the things that I have poured my life into, and many of you have journeyed with me, those things are going to continue to happen because together, in unity, we will lift up the name of Jesus. I invite the band to come up. I want us to end this time declaring this in song. I feel like from the beginning of our journey, and all the campuses, by the way, the bands are going to take their positions, because we want to do this together as campuses. We want to celebrate this, and we want to be reminded that yes, change is going to come, but in Romans it says, and all these things we are more than conquerors. We have overcome them, and it says later on in Revelation that we will overcome by the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony. So let's stand together, all of our campuses, all in one voice, and let's lift our hearts and voice together as our worship teams lead us in declaring, and I want you to lift your voices as we sing together. Jesus, Jesus, awesome in power forever, awesome in praise your name. You are the King, worthy of all of our praise. You are the King, worthy of all of our praise. You are the King, worthy of all of our praise. You are the King, worthy of all of our praise. You are the King, worthy of all of our praise. 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You are the King, worthy of all of our praise. You are the King, worthy of all of our praise. You are the King, worthy of all of our praise. You are the King, worthy of all of our praise. You are the King, worthy of all of our praise. You are the King, worthy of all of our praise. You are the King, worthy of all of our praise. You are the King, worthy of all of our praise. You are the King, worthy of all of our praise. You are the King, worthy of all of our praise. You are the King, worthy of all of our praise. You are the King, worthy Say you're worthy of honor and glory, worthy of all of our praise, you are the King. Say Jesus, oh Jesus, awesome in power forever, awesome and great is your name, you are the King. I invite you to remain standing, let me pray for us all, in all of our campuses, locations. Lord, we lift up that name of Jesus. Our confidence, Lord, is not in our own wisdom, might, our own strategies or processes. As hard as we may work at it, Lord, our confidence is in You. You who gave up Your life by going to the cross so that we might know life eternally. And so we fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith. And we as one church, Lord, in many locations, with great anticipation about what You're going to do, as we together lean into these next months, next seasons of life as a church, Lord, exceed our expectations as You always have. And we'll give You the praise and the glory, because You're worthy, in Jesus' name. And all that's heard said together, Amen. God bless you. May be seated, everyone. Thanks, Pastor Jay. Well, I want to give us an opportunity. See, I told you it was going to be good. Right? I told you I was getting excited. I tell you what. Oh, man, I am very excited about our future as a church. And I want to give us an opportunity tonight to be able to give to the mission of this church. And so I want to give you an opportunity to get prepared for your tithes and your offerings now. This whole experience, when we come to worship like this, many people think that now the worship is over. No, no, no. It still continues. And this is our last act of worship together tonight as a corporate body. And so I want to pray for our offering now as we extend God's mission continually into Pittsburgh, across this country, and across this world. So let me pray for our offering. God, thank you that we have the opportunity to be able to sit in this place tonight where our church can gather, where we can hear the Word of God boldly proclaimed, where we can be unified as a church under one mission to free people to follow your Son, Jesus Christ. That's all we want to be about. That's why we give now in this moment to you so that you can continue the work of the ministry, God, that you started 30 years ago through Jay and Carol and that group of eight couples. God, thank you for what it is that you have done for the past 30 years. And God, as we give tonight, as we think about what it is that you're going to do in the future of this church, in us and through us, God, the many more people that are going to hear the name of Jesus Christ, that's why we give tonight to further that mission. And so it's in Jesus' name that we give. Amen. Ushers, go ahead. Now, here's the thing. I'm going to need your help. So as the baskets go past, there's a lot more services that are going to hear this same message tomorrow. Okay? So at the Oakland campus, the Wickley Valley campus, Worship Cafe, two more services here. Here's what some of you may have already done as you were sitting in the service. You may have tweeted it. You may have put it on Facebook already. You pretended like you were looking at the Bible on your phone, right? But you were tweeting and Facebooking. We want to try to keep this as quiet as we can until tomorrow because we want to surprise our church just like you were in the same way. And many of you have known that this is coming, and this is such an amazing thing that God is doing. And I just need to say this. See, as a young guy, this is an amazing church for me to be a part of. I mean, think about it, 33 years old. I'm as old as Pastor Jay was when he started North Way. Pastor Jay and Carol, Erica and I are learning amazing things from you. We're learning how to do ministry in ways that we just never possibly imagined. And I'm excited to be next to you, to learn from you. And Scott and Tina, the same way. As you talked about being next to you, man, I'm next to you. Scott has been a guy that's kind of mentored me for years now. And I'm with you. I'm standing beside you. Erica and I, I mean, we just love you guys. The four of you, I mean, what better opportunity could a guy get, right? Think about this. So stand up with me. We're so excited, but just keep it quiet, okay? Keep it quiet for at least tomorrow afternoon, okay? Help us out, okay? Thank you so much for being here. Listen, if you're here tonight and you want to talk with some elders afterwards and pray for something, our elders are going to be down here afterwards. But have a great evening, and we'll see you next week.