Monthly Archives: September 2013

Redeemer Church

Introducing Josh Yen

I feel like we are in a season where God is masterfully putting the puzzle pieces together.  Redeemer Church continues to take significant steps forward.  I am learning to pray fervently, and have confidence that God is going to provide each leg of the journey.  I have seen this happen numerous ways, but none more exciting than how he is bringing the right people at the right time. 

Family 1

Our prayer has been to engage people who have been disengaged with the church.  To our joy, he is bringing those folks and they are finding a home with our community.  I even had some friends approach me about baptism!  I can’t believe we are three weeks into this thing and beginning to plan a baptism service…God is good!  When we have needed key leaders in different roles, young men and women have stepped up.  When we have needed a children’s teacher, God has brought a perfect leader for our kids.  I could go on and on.

I am thrilled to also report that God has brought us Josh and Mallery Yen.  Josh has already begun serving with me as our Associate Pastor.  He is a graduate of Dallas Baptist University, a seminary student at Southern Seminary, and recently completed a residency program at The Village Church in Flower Mound, Texas.  He has served in a variety of roles in different types of churches.  Josh is a godly man, loving husband and father, diligent servant, and a gifted leader.  The more time I spend with Josh the more I like and love this brother.

Mallery has also served on staff at The Village Church.  She has been serving in the children’s ministry for a number of years and has participated in its explosive growth.  The Yen’s even met in the children’s ministry at The Village.  When you get a chance you need to ask Mallery about how they met, she gives a pretty funny account of how it all happened!  The Yen’s are the proud parents of 5-month-old Caleb.

Josh’s position is part of a larger vision to develop young leaders as well as plant churches in the Texoma region.  The best way to understand Josh’s role is that he will be taking on numerous different projects as well as overseeing a broadening collection of ministry areas.  His initial task has been to build a great children’s ministry.  At our last Core Team Gathering he took time sharing the vision of the ministry to our parents.  We put a high premium on ministry to children and it was a joy to see parents getting excited about where we are headed.  Josh is a voice in all directional decisions, is assisting me in developing leaders and the teaching ministry of the church, and he is also beginning to oversee the outreach ministries of the church.  Josh is also a good worship leader and will play a leading role in our worship services when we grow out of our home.  As you can see the guy is gifted and he is diligently serving this new church.

Kristen and I are also inspired by their sacrificial commitment.  As a new church we are scrupulously accounting for every expense.  We were able to carve out some funds to help subsidize a salary for Josh, but he is sacrificially raising the majority of his salary.  The inspiring part of the story is he turned down some salaried positions to join us?!  God is truly good in bringing us the Yen’s.  Feel free to drop them a note (josh@redeemerdenton.com) welcoming them to the team.

Standard
Uncategorized

Incarnation (John 1:14)

An early driver for the vision for Redeemer Church is the redeemer himself, particularly Jesus’ incarnation.  John 1:14 says, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth.”

image 

There are three movements in this short verse.  First, Jesus “became flesh.”  This means that he left what was comfortable.  He left the beautiful satisfying confines of the Trinity to come be our Redeemer.  Jesus “became flesh” and thus experientially knows the human experience.  He knows what it means to get tired and be tempted to be irritable.  Jesus has experienced betrayal.  Our Redeemer has been the object of judgmentalism and hatred.  He left what was comfortable and became the missionary-God to deliver us from sin and death.  He also took upon our human skin meaning he got inside our ways and language and look and culture…all in order to redeem us.  Jesus knows what it means to leave what is comfortable.

Second, Jesus “dwelt among us.”  He didn’t just come down a fully grown human being, spend a day telling us what to do, then paid for sin, then boogied out as fast as he could.  He lived in the mess of human existence for over 30 years?!  I am constantly hot and love the A/C, and I am taken aback that he didn’t choose 2013 to incarnate himself.  No, he chose a filthy point in history that didn’t even have A/C?!  He lived in the heat and mess and the grind of life and relationships.  Jesus knows what it means to come and remain and dwell in the mess of human existence.

Third, he “became flesh” and dwelt in such a way that everyone, even into the present, saw “his glory.”  He didn’t just hang out and have fun with his friends, but he lived with them in a way that brought glory to God.  There was intentionality to his dwelling.  There was a point to his hanging and living.  Jesus’ dwelling lifestyle pointed others to redemption.  Jesus knows what it means to reach out to neighbors and have the hard conversation with a loved one and how to throw a party to get to know people better.

Jesus is our example.  I know that no one at Redeemer Church will actually be Jesus for someone or follow his example perfectly, but I pray that we strive to be conformed to his image.  I pray that the Holy Spirit continues to mold and shape us in a way to live incarnationally.  I pray that we all figure out what it means to leave what is comfortable, and dwell, and do it all in a way that brings glory to Jesus.  I want us to be more than friends to people.  I want us to be the best type of friends to people, the type that points them to Jesus.

We want to be a church that constantly leaves what is comfortable to become missionaries, the type of missionaries that dwell by living and loving those around us, and do it all with the purpose of pointing those around us to the glories of Jesus.

 

Standard