Acts 16:1

Today, I am going to give a New Year's message, even though I know it's already the fifth Sunday of the New Year. I wasn't here for the first few Sundays, so I want to take this opportunity to share a little bit about where we're going in the new year. I will also discuss some of the things that I believe God has impressed upon my heart, both for myself and for our church.

As I mentioned, I wasn't here for the first few weeks of the year, so this is where we find ourselves on this fifth Sunday of 2023. To begin, let me share a bit of personal history. Twenty-five days ago, on January 4th, I celebrated my 24th year in full-time vocational ministry here at this very church. It feels a bit surreal to say I've been here for 24 years, serving in full-time pastoral ministry. Time goes by incredibly fast.

I started here on January 4th, 1999, when I was just 19 years old. At that time, I came on as a non-paid ministry intern. My job was essentially to fill in the gaps and do whatever needed to be done. One of my primary responsibilities was to ensure that all the computers at the church worked properly, including the printers and the network. I handled any tech issues that arose.

Back in the late 90s, we were still at the very beginning of the internet era. We didn't have online video like we do now; instead, we had something called RealVideo, which was terrible in comparison to today's HD quality. By 1999, I had already built the church's website, so I was responsible for maintaining that as well. At that time, the church was called Calvary Chapel of Escondido. In addition to my tech duties, I also answered phones, cleaned rooms and bathrooms, took out the trash, painted curbs, and did whatever else needed to be done around the church.

That was basically my role and responsibility at that time. A little more than a month after I began serving here as an intern, I was asked to take responsibility for teaching the middle schoolers in the youth group. On February 14th, Valentine's Day, 1999, I began teaching the Bible for the very first time, going through the book of Galatians in the New Testament. Ever since that time, I have been teaching or preaching the Scriptures every single week, multiple times a week, for 24 years.

I helped lead the youth ministry here at Calvary Chapel of Escondido from 1999, when I started in February, until the middle to the end of 2002. At the end of 2002, I was asked to lead our adult services here at the church on Sunday nights. Twenty years ago, in January 2003, I began teaching through the book of Joshua here on Saturday nights at the church. This is kind of interesting, a little bit of a coincidence, because in just a few weeks, we are going to begin going through the book of Joshua here on Sunday morning. So from 2003 to 2023, I find myself back in the same book.

Back in August of 2002, as I was wrapping up my time teaching within the youth ministry here at the church, I began to have a strong sense that someday I would be the pastor of this church. Ultimately, it was six years until that would come to pass. I started to have that sense in August of 2002, and it wasn't until 2008 that I ultimately became the pastor of the church. During the course of those six years, there were all kinds of different twists and turns. I moved to Europe for a year and taught at a small international Bible college in Ziegen, Germany.

After that, I moved back to the States and worked at a coffee shop that our church ran down on Grand Avenue. At the time, it was called His Place. In fact, I met my wife while I was working there. The pay may not have been the best, but the benefits turned out to be pretty spectacular. Not only did I meet my wife there, but Pastor Nick, who is on our staff here and handles all of our media creation, also met his wife while working at His Place. So while the pay may not have been great, the benefits were indeed spectacular.

Also during that time, after I came back from Germany and was working to pay the bills at the coffee shop, I was teaching here at the church. I also began teaching at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Murrieta. In April of 2008, I began serving as the senior pastor here at this church. This year will mark 15 years that I have served as the pastor of this church. It will also be the 10th anniversary since Pastor Mark came on as our executive pastor.

Before I became the pastor of this church, I know I’m giving a lot of different dates and times, but there is a point to this. I became the pastor of this church in April of 2008. About half a year before that, in September of 2007, most of our core pastoral leaders and I attended a Christian leadership conference in the Palm Desert, Palm Springs area. While we were there, we had a meeting in a little living room space in the house we were in, with just the leaders of our church.

My pastor, who was the former pastor of this church, Pat Kinney, was leading this meeting. We were looking forward to the new year, 2008, and we had no idea that we were going to make a transition in leadership. During this meeting, there were probably about eight guys in the room. My pastor asked me, "Miles, why don't you share some of the things that you have on your heart for the church?"

I shared with that group that I believed God wanted us to make a shift as a church and as a ministry team. I expressed that the message we have from the Scriptures is one that does not change and has not changed. This is the message that the church has been speaking and sharing for millennia. We are not going to change the message at all. However, I believed at that time that our methods of how we, as a church, as a team, and as a ministry, reach out to our community needed to change to better connect with our culture.

I shared that in September of 2007, and fast forward half a year, I would take over the church. Right before I became the pastor in March of 2008, I had been invited.

I was going to go back over to Germany for a month to teach through the Book of Romans, and my wife was going to go with me as well. We were going to stay in Germany for a month. I remember it very clearly; on Saturday, March 1st, 2008, my wife and I were sitting at one of the gates in the airport down in San Diego, waiting to board a plane to go to Germany. I was going to be gone for a month.

Right before we boarded the plane, I received a call from one of our board members, one of our elders who is still on our board today, Mark Searle. He shared with me that after several weeks of discussion, meetings, and prayer among the leadership of the church, the former pastor, Pat Kinney, was going to be handing the church off to me in April of 2008, specifically on April 20th. This was March 1st, so I had about six to seven weeks to get ready.

What this meant was that I would be in Germany for a month, which provided a perfect opportunity to be away from all the daily activities happening here. It felt very providential, as if God had set this up for me to be in Germany for a month and then return with a few weeks to prepare for taking over the leadership of the church. This gave my wife and me a month of quality time together. At that time, my good friend David Gusick was running a Bible school in Germany, so I had ample opportunity to interact with him, talk with him, and ask questions about taking over the church. I began to plan and prepare for what I would do when I assumed leadership.

Interestingly, just a couple of weeks before Andrea and I went to Germany in March of 2008, we found out that she was pregnant with our first child, Ethan. Thus, 2008 became a year of significant changes: I became the pastor of the church, we became parents, and we bought our first home. It was a whirlwind of events.

During that month in March 2008, knowing I was six to eight weeks away from taking over the church's leadership, I sat down many nights while in Germany and mapped out a plan—a vision, really—for what I believed God wanted our church to become. I didn't have a specific word for it at the time, but I was writing and typing out what we would endeavor to do when I became the pastor.

The pastor of this church was involved in what is now called church revitalization. There are hundreds of churches throughout the U.S. currently in the process of revitalization or in desperate need of it. Back in 2008, however, that terminology wasn't really around. There was a lot of talk about church planting, but not much discussion about church replants, refreshes, or revitalization.

Fast forward to 2023, and there are numerous books on the topic. There are even courses and conferences available on how to revitalize, refresh, or replant a church. Many people are preparing to help churches revitalize and reach out to their communities. This is exactly what I discussed with our leadership in September of 2007 when we were away at that pastor's conference. We recognized the need to come up with a better way to reach our culture and community.

If you live here in Southern California, where this church is located, you may have noticed that we, especially on the coasts of America, live in a very post-Christian culture and society. Reaching people in this culture is different from being in the Bible Belt or the Midwest; things are a little bit different.

As we prepared in 2007 and 2008 for what would ultimately be a church revitalization, I not only lacked a word for what I was about to do when I became the pastor of this church, but I also had no idea how long that process would take. I had no clue that this endeavor would take about ten years. It would be a ten-year process from 2008 to 2018, during which we would carry the church through a complete revitalization, restoration, replant, or refresh—whatever you want to call it.

I don't care what you call it; it was a lot of work. From 2008 to 2018, we underwent a complete transformation. We changed our vision, renamed the church, remodeled the facilities, added new staff members, and reoriented how we do ministry. Some ministries we no longer pursue, while we have introduced new ones.

All of that, we did from 2008 to 2018. We changed the name of the church from Calvary Chapel, Ascendido to Cross Connection Church. Then, in 2019, there was a real sense for me that we had moved beyond all of that refresh and all of the restoration process. That was all behind us.

Moving from 2019 into 2020, I personally had a fair amount of anticipation for 2020 being a really good year for us as a ministry reaching our community. We were at a time of growth, and we were seeing a lot of new people come to the church. There was an expectation for me, and I think a number of other people on our staff and within our board, that 2020 was going to be a great year for growth.

Now, at the end of 2019, coming into 2020, if you were a part of Cross Connection Church, you will know that I shared my concerns at that time. I was worried that 2020 would be a year of chaos. My concern primarily stemmed from the chaotic political season that was ahead of us with a presidential election, and ultimately, it did turn out to be pretty chaotic with the presidential election. However, when I shared that I thought 2020 would be a year of chaos, it far exceeded my expectations for chaos. It far exceeded my appetite for chaos.

What is rather interesting is that on Sunday, I went back and looked at our videos and my notes from that time. On Sunday, March 8th, 2020, I gave a message somewhat similar to this, sharing about new things that God was going to be doing for our church. I shared a little bit of personal history about some of the things we had gone through as a church in the previous years leading up to that. I also talked about some new things that we were going to be doing in 2020, or at least I thought we were going to be doing in 2020.

Remember, this is March 8th of 2020. I was sharing some of these new things that I thought we would be doing in the new year, and we were in Deuteronomy chapter one. We had been going through the book of Deuteronomy for the last couple of years here at the church. We were going to be getting into something new shortly, but we had just started Deuteronomy back in March of 2020, and so we were in Deuteronomy chapter one, where we read this in verse 19.

We read that we departed from Horeb and went through all that great and terrible wilderness which you saw on the way to the mountains of the Amorites, as the Lord God had commanded us. Then we came to Kadesh Barnea, and I said to you, "You have come to the mountains of the Amorites which the Lord God is giving us. Look, the Lord your God has set the land before you. Go up and possess it, as the Lord God of our fathers has spoken to you. Do not fear or be discouraged."

Moses is recounting to the children of Israel about their coming to the promised land, and he talks about going up and possessing it. He encourages them to take possession of the land that God has given to them, urging them not to fear or be discouraged.

I shared on that passage on March 8th, 2020, and at that time, I mentioned that the church was growing. I indicated that we were going to be moving into some new things, going out to possess it. Just like the children of Israel were preparing to enter the promised land, we were going to take hold of these new things that God was doing. Part of what we were going to do, as I shared back on March 8th, 2020, was to add a fourth Sunday morning service here at the church. About six weeks after that, at Easter, we had three Sunday morning services at that time, and we were going to add a fourth.

So that was March 8th, 2020. The next day, March 9th, 2020, I took a screenshot of a headline from the San Diego Union Tribune. The headline read, "San Diego County gets its first case of coronavirus, health officials announce." I saved that screenshot because my friend, Dr. Nick Efantides, is in that picture.

On March 10th, 2020, I attended a meeting with dozens of other Calvary Chapel pastors here in San Diego County at Horizon Church in North County, over in Rancho Santa Fe. There were discussions among the various pastors about what was going to happen as a result of this whole coronavirus situation. Many people were wondering, "What is this?" We were just starting to hear about it, and we really hadn't even heard much about COVID-19; it was just referred to as coronavirus at that moment.

That afternoon, we had a staff meeting here at the church, and we decided that for the coming Sunday, we would live stream our service.

Next Sunday, we thought that some people would opt to stay home. Just a few days after that, the headline online was "Trump to declare national emergency." On TV, there was a message to stay at home if you were ill. I snapped a picture of the news coming out; there was a live newscast about staying home if you felt sick. As a result of that, we live-streamed our Sunday service here.

Remember, the previous week I had said we were going to add a fourth service because the church was growing. One week later, on March 15th, I stood up, and half of our church was not there. The following Sunday, on March 22nd, we went entirely to online services. I remember driving here to the service that morning, and there was a big sign that said "COVID-19, less is more, avoid gatherings" as I was on my way to the church.

Crazy things happened at the beginning of 2022. Now, at this point, I will forgive you if you're wondering where I am going with this and what it has to do with anything in 2023. I promise you that as this plays out, it will become a little bit clearer.

In March of 2020, we were all collectively thrown into a chaotic situation, finding ourselves in what you might call unmapped territory. We were in a place we had never been before. No one really knew how to navigate this whole thing we were going through. As a result of being thrown into unmapped territory, we all experienced the typical things that follow when you find yourself off your path.

You were thrown off the path you were on. You had a goal, an aim, a mission, a plan. In March 2020, my plan was that we were growing and adding services. Then we all got thrown off our plans. I don't know what your plans were in 2020, but you had ideas about what was going to happen in that new year, and then everything got sidelined.

Imagine, if you will, that you were on a mountain trail high up on the hillside, trying to get somewhere. You had a plan. You knew where you were going, and you were trying to get there by the end of the day, whatever it may be. You were making really good progress and feeling really happy about your forward momentum, shall we say.

And you're moving quickly along, and everything seems to be going really well. But then suddenly, you set your foot down, and the trail gives way under your foot. Before you even have a real awareness of what is happening, you are sliding and tumbling down the hillside, down the mountain. Everything you thought you were doing seconds before has now changed dramatically because you're no longer on the path you were on. You're sliding down the hill, trying to keep yourself from getting hurt.

When you finally come to a stop, you are far away from where you were just moments before. You're all scraped up, and maybe your leg hurts a little bit. You're somewhat in shock, with adrenaline pumping through your veins. As you assess the damage, you realize you are not super wounded or injured, but you find yourself in a difficult new situation—an unexpected and unplanned-for situation, an unmapped territory. You are not where you anticipated you would be, and anxiety fills your heart. You start to ask, "Now what? What do I do now in this situation?"

At that point, if you can imagine that scenario, a number of expected thoughts begin to go through your mind. You start to ask yourself how you got here. Perhaps you took that step a little too quickly or casually. You should have been more aware or more careful of your surroundings. You reflect on how you shouldn't have been so quick to make that move, whatever it was. You begin to assess all the things you could have or should have done differently.

Then, you move from trying to figure out what went wrong in that moment that led up to the fall to trying to determine how to get back up to where you were. You spend all kinds of time, energy, and resources trying to return to that previous state, only to find that you just can't get back to where you were. You're stuck in a totally difficult situation.

This experience is what many, if not all of us, have been going through post-2020. During the last three quarters of 2020, after the whole COVID situation first started, we were in a time of trying to assess what was going on. We were playing dodgeball with all kinds of challenges that were constantly flying at us. And it wasn't only the coronavirus that we were dealing with.

We were dealing with all of the responses to COVID. We faced shutdowns, social distancing, and distance learning for our kids. My wife and I have four children, so they suddenly became homeschooled. My wife worked in the ICU during that time, which meant she was gone quite a bit. Meanwhile, we were all trying to navigate remote work and Zoom meetings. You remember all the Zoom meetings and masks.

In addition to that, we experienced some crazy events in May and June of 2020, including police violence, racial tensions, protests, and riots. Then came the political insanity of the fall of 2020, followed by the post-election chaos that ensued. Throughout all of that, 2020 felt like a time of assessing the damage. I often found myself wondering, "Where am I? What's going on?"

As we entered 2021, there was a glimmer of hope for some change and movement forward. However, that hope didn't materialize in the way many of us anticipated. Instead, 2021 became a time of trying to figure out how to return to where we were pre-COVID. We all wanted to get back to 2019, which was a good year for many people, myself included. The question was, how do we get back on the path we were on before tumbling down the hill?

As the year progressed, it became increasingly clear that we weren't going to return to the path we had been on. Then 2022 arrived, and it became a time for assessing how we got into this mess, with the aim of ensuring we don't repeat those mistakes in the future. There was a lot of concern about the missteps we took in 2020. We reflected on the wrong turns we made, and there was a sense of hope that perhaps we could return to 2019 or, as I dislike calling it, the "new normal."

In reality, I think that's where we have been for the last three quarters of 2020, all through 2021, and into 2022. I know that's where I have been, and from talking with many people, I understand that a lot of others have felt the same way over the past few years. It has been a challenging journey, trying to figure out how to get back to where we once were.

So now what? It's 2023, and I have been thinking a lot about this for the last several months. I've been praying for answers to that question: now what? Now what in 2023? I've been reading through the Scriptures, as I do every single morning. I spend some time in the Scriptures, or at least I try to. Oftentimes, I'll take out my journal, write down my thoughts, and pray.

Since early November, I've been really contemplating the upcoming year. We've already been through all the craziness of 2020, 2021, and 2022, and now we are entering 2023. Back in November, I found myself reflecting on my situation. I felt like I had been sitting down in a gully, if you will. You're on that high mountain trail, and you take a wrong step, ending up in this gully. I realized I had been down there for too long, trying to figure out how to get back up. What could I, or should I, have done differently?

In early November, I made a decision. I may not know exactly what I ought to be doing, but I need to start thinking differently about how I move forward personally. I was in the Philippines, teaching at a pastors' conference with my friend Lance. While I was there, I decided that when I returned to the States, I would start getting up a little earlier, spend focused time in the Scriptures with my journal, and get back into a routine of running.

I remember it very clearly because I looked at my journal the other day to see when it was. On November 7th, I started getting up earlier in the morning, spending time just thinking and praying, "Lord, what do you want to speak to me?" I wrote those things down in my journal and then went on a run. I kept doing that every single day for quite a few months—November, December, and into January.

I know very clearly, because I wrote it down, that on January 4th of this year, just a few weeks ago, I was running on my treadmill when a word came to me—a word that I want to share with you. If you've been around Cross Connection for a while, you know that there have been a number of years when I've shared a word, thought, or phrase with you at the beginning of the year about where we are going as a church. I do have a word that I believe the Lord has given to me, both for myself personally and for our church.

Before I share what that word is, and I know I'm taking a while to get to it, I want to share some stories with you about three different individuals.

Individuals. The first one is a friend of mine who is a chiropractor. I've known him for about 20 years. He is a Christian, a great guy, and he has been working in this area, North County, for probably 30 years, building his practice. I've helped him over the years with web development and other things.

When 2020 came, like with so many business owners, it basically killed his chiropractic practice. For the last three years, he has gone through that whole unmapped territory process that I was talking about, trying to figure out what he could have done differently and what he should do differently. He has gone through all those thoughts, wondering how he can get back to 2019 when things were pretty good. He reflects on those moments, thinking, "Maybe I could have done this. Maybe I should have done that. If I just did this, then that would have happened."

A few months ago, he reached out to me. In fact, I know the exact day because I went back and looked at my text messages. It was the second day after I came back from the Philippines, after I had been getting up early in the morning, reading through the Scriptures, and running. He sent me a text saying that he would be closing his practice at the end of that month. He spent all those years building his business, developing a clientele, and trying to weather the storm of 2020, 2021, and 2022, but ultimately, he had to close his practice.

The second individual is another friend of mine who runs a martial arts studio in this area. In fact, I trained at his studio years ago, and my youngest son, Elliot, has been going there as well. He has been building a martial arts business and training students for more than 30 years. Then 2020 came, and like so many others, his business was slammed by it. He spent most of his savings trying to keep his business going and to keep his staff paid during all the craziness of 2020.

Through all of that, he went through the same process of reflection. He wondered, "What if I had done X? Maybe I could have done or should have done Y. If I only had done Z, then maybe we could get back to where we were in 2019." Those same thoughts that we all go through. So, that's the second individual: the first guy with the chiropractic practice and the second guy with the martial arts studio.

Before I tell you about the third individual, let me connect these two stories. The head of the martial arts studio, where my youngest is a student, sent out a text to all of his students in December. He said, "Hey, we need to have a parent meeting." So, I went to the parent meeting, and he explained that in the new year, they would be moving the studio to a smaller place because they just couldn't afford to run the current location anymore. The number of students had significantly decreased; he had a high student count before 2019, but COVID-19 destroyed that.

On January 3rd, I received a text from my chiropractor friend. Instead of closing his practice, he decided to move to a different, smaller location in an effort to keep it going. We have these two individuals whose businesses were impacted by the chaos of COVID-19 to the point where they had to make a choice: either close or shift their operations.

The text from my chiropractor friend came on January 3rd, and then on January 4th, while I was running on the treadmill, a word popped into my mind. At the beginning of 2020, I had shared that the word I thought had come to me for that year was "chaos." Unfortunately, that word seemed to apply not just to 2020 but also to 2021 and 2022, as the chaos didn't really feel like it went away.

As I reflected on my two friends, the word that came to me for this year, 2023, was "pivot." I believe that the Lord has given me this word, and I think it is meant for our church as well. When I say "pivot," different images may come to mind. If you are a woman between the ages of 35 and 45, you might immediately think of Ross from "Friends," standing in the hallway with a couch, yelling, "Pivot! Pivot!"

On the other hand, if you are a guy, you might think about basketball. In basketball, when you are dribbling the ball, if you stop, you cannot bounce it again without being called for double dribbling. You also cannot walk with the ball, as that would be traveling. However, you can pivot on one foot. While you are moving with the ball towards the goal, if someone gets in your way and you find yourself stuck, you cannot walk or dribble again; you can only pivot to get away from that obstacle.

To try and open up something new, those are the things that come to mind. Let me explain what I am thinking when I think of the word "pivot." I'm thinking of the third individual. I told you that I was going to tell you stories about three individuals. The first one was my friend who has a chiropractic practice, and the second one was my friend who has a martial arts studio. The third one is someone that, if you've been around church for any length of time, you know who this person is. You've been introduced to him before; his name is Paul.

Paul, in the New Testament book of Acts, which follows a lot of his life and ministry, is on a mission in Acts chapter 16. This is his second missionary journey to bring the gospel to people who had never heard it before. He has just spent a period of time in a region of the world that at that time was called Galatia. It was in Galatia, during his first missionary journey, that he and another individual by the name of Barnabas planted a number of churches in the capital or main cities of Galatia.

Now, in Paul's second missionary journey, he is back in Galatia ministering to the churches he had planted there. He has with him a guy named Silas, and while they are in Galatia, they pick up another young man by the name of Timothy, who had become a Christian under Paul's ministry during his first missionary journey. So, it is Paul, Silas, and Timothy. In Acts chapter 16, they are leaving Galatia and going on this mission because it was Paul's aim to take the gospel and preach it to people who had never heard it before.

As they leave Galatia, they head northwest, and we pick up the story. I want to read to you from Acts chapter 16, beginning at verse 6. We read this: "Now, when they had gone through Phrygia and the region of Galatia, they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. After they had come to Mycenae, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them."

There is a lot in those two verses, Acts chapter 16, verses 6 and 7. There is a whole bunch in those 40 or so words, and yet there is also a lot that those words do not say. Paul, Silas, and Timothy are, if you can imagine the geography, in a pivotal moment of their journey.

What is modern-day Turkey? If you imagine the Mediterranean Sea, you can visualize Italy, which looks like a boot in the middle of the sea. If you move east from there, you will hit Israel, and if you go a little bit north, you will find yourself in Turkey. Turkey is located in the area of south-central Turkey, and they are moving northwest. It's hard for me to describe this because it's backwards for me, but for you, they are going northwest.

They have come out of Galatia and are heading towards an area called Mycenae. As they journey, if they turn to the left, they could go down into Asia Minor, where the capital city is Ephesus. However, the text states that they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit to preach the word in Asia. What does it mean that they were forbidden by the Holy Spirit? We don't know. Perhaps there were dangers they heard about in that direction, or maybe the weather wasn't favorable. It could also be that they had a sense within themselves that God was saying no to going into Asia Minor.

So, they continue on their journey, leaving Galatia behind and heading northwest. They consider turning left to go into Asia Minor, but the door closes; the Spirit did not allow them to go there. Eventually, Paul will go to Asia Minor, but at this moment, they cannot go left or backwards, as that is where they came from. They decide to continue on their way.

As they proceed, they think about heading northeast toward Bithynia, which is in what we know today as northern Turkey, where Istanbul is located. However, the text says they tried to go to Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. This creates an interesting scenario. Paul is on a mission with Silas and Timothy. They are following the apostle who saw the risen Lord in a vision on the road to Damascus years before. Paul is determined to preach the gospel, and Silas and Timothy are with him.

They attempt to go to Asia Minor, but the door closes. They then try to go to the right, to Bithynia, but again, the door closes. They cannot go backwards, left, or right. So, what do they do? They just continue moving forward. The Spirit did not permit them to go to the left.

The Spirit did not permit them to go to the right, so they had to pivot and shift. In verse eight, we read, "So passing by Mysia, they came to Troas, and a vision appeared to Paul in the night. A man of Macedonia stood and pleaded with him, saying, 'Come over to Macedonia and help us.'" After he had seen the vision, immediately, we—this is really important—there's a third person added to Paul's little group here. He has Silas and Timothy, and now he has "we." That would be Luke, who is the author of this account.

They sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called them to preach the gospel to the people there. What we have here is a pivot. They couldn't go back; that was where they had come from, Galatia. They couldn't go to the left into Asia Minor because the Lord closed that door. They couldn't go to the right to Bithynia because the Lord closed that door as well. They had moved all the way forward until they came to a body of water. They were on the edge of the Aegean Sea, and Troas is a coastal city on that sea.

They couldn't go to Asia Minor, they couldn't go to Bithynia, and they couldn't go back to Galatia. They were kind of hemmed in and stuck in this area. Then God gave a vision of a man from Macedonia, which is across the Aegean Sea, and this man was saying, "Come, help us." So they pivoted and shifted. They were at a place where they couldn't go left, right, or backward. They were stuck at the edge of Troas, and God gave a vision, signaling that it was time to move.

Paul was able to shift and pivot, and I believe that God has a similar call for us. It is a time of pivot. I see this with my friend who has a chiropractic practice. There was hope for several years during all this turmoil, thinking maybe they could get back to where they were in 2019. However, things have changed dramatically. The same goes for my friend with the martial arts studio. They hoped to return to the success of 2019 when everything was growing. But no, they can't go back to 2019.

Now, they have to make a shift, downsizing and moving in a different direction than where they were. The same applies to the church. At the beginning of 2020, things were moving in a positive direction, and it felt like we were coasting along. Then, boom, everything changed. Throughout the last few years, there was a lingering hope that things would return to how they were. But they are not coming back to the way they were. Things have changed dramatically, and there are very few options. One can sit there and stew, feeling bummed about everything.

Terrible. Whatever it is, you can shift. For Paul, that's exactly what we had here. It's like, "Well, I want to go to Ephesus." Door's closed. "I want to go to Bithynia." Door's closed, right? Well, what are you going to do? You wait for the Lord to open a door, and you move in that direction.

That's what I think God has been saying to me: it's time for a pivot. I think He may be saying the same thing to you. You might ask, "Is that all you got for me, the word pivot?" Well, not exactly. What do you do when you are in unmapped territory, in a place that you didn't plan for? You weren't planning to be in this situation. You can't go back to where you were; you can't get back to that area. So, you've got to adjust. You've got to shift. You've got to pivot. You have to reinvest yourself in what it is that you were focused on beforehand and get moving, moving forward.

As you do, I think there are five very important things to keep in mind as you begin to do that. These are critical, essential things: purpose, mission, vision, values, and strategy. If I rewind the clock all the way back to September of 2007, as I was sitting with that group of pastors thinking about where we were going in the new year—not knowing that I would end up taking over the church in 2008—it comes back to purpose, mission, vision, values, and strategy. I talk about this a lot as I teach church planting or minister to pastors in various other areas.

Paul, when he was in that difficult situation, encountered these kinds of things a lot. It was like hitting a brick wall. You can't go to the left, you can't go to the right, and you can't go backwards. It's like, "All right, now what?" Well, you've got to pivot. You were driven along, going towards the basket, with your eye on the goal, and then someone steps right in front of you and blocks your way. You stop. Now, you've got to pivot.

The way that you pivot in that moment is by keeping these things in mind: purpose, mission, vision, values, strategy, and so forth. Paul knew exactly what his purpose and calling were. He was sent by Christ Jesus to be a man with the message of the gospel for Gentiles. That's his purpose. His mission was very simple. The mission is always the same: to fulfill the purpose. The purpose is to preach the gospel to all these people. The mission is to fulfill that purpose.

The vision was clear in his mind: fulfilling that mission and purpose wherever he could go. Whether it was Galatia, Asia, Bithynia, Mysia, Macedonia, Greece, Rome, or anywhere else, he was determined to fulfill that mission. He knew what his values were, and you can find those values throughout his letters. Paul wrote 13 letters in the New Testament, and one of the very important values he had is found in his letter to the Romans, specifically in Romans chapter 15, verse 20. There we read, "And so, I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another's foundation."

Paul had a purpose: to preach the gospel to people who had never heard it before. He had a mission to fulfill that purpose and a vision to carry it out in Galatia, Asia Minor, Rome, Macedonia, or wherever it may be. His value system is evident in Romans chapter 15, verse 20, where he expresses his commitment to go where the gospel had never been preached. His strategy is seen throughout the book of Acts and in other places as well. He intended to preach to the Jew first in the synagogue and then to the Gentiles, going wherever he possibly could. He understood his purpose, mission, vision, values, and strategy.

Now, here we are in 2023. We have been through the chaos of 2020, 2021, and 2022, with many people trying to return to where we were in 2019. However, we are never going back. Things are different, and there is no going back to 2019. I believe 2023 is a year where people begin to realize, like my friend who has the martial arts studio and my friend who has the chiropractic practice, that we are not going back. It is time to adjust, shift, and pivot. Obstacles may block our way, but the goal remains. We need to regroup and reorganize.

In doing that, we must answer some important questions. What guides you when you make that shift? There are essential things to consider. First is purpose. What has God called you to do? You need to take some time, as I have been doing every single morning, to reflect on what God has called you to do. I know my clear calling from the Lord is to use my gifts, talents, abilities, assets, energy, and time—everything God has given me—to fulfill the mission.

God has given me a purpose: to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ. Ephesians chapter 4, verse 11, is what God spoke to me back in January of 1999 when I was asked if I would teach the junior hires here at Calvary Chapel of Escondido Cross Connection Church. When I prayed, God said, "This is what I've called you to: equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ."

What has God called you to? With your energy, assets, time, talents, and treasure, He has called you to do something. Maybe He has called you to be a nurse in the nursing field. Perhaps He has called you to be a doctor, an architect, or a teacher. Maybe He has called you to be a firefighter or a police officer. You might even be called to be a stay-at-home mom or a stay-at-home dad. I don't know what it is that He has called you to, but what is the purpose He has given you for your life? Your mission is to fulfill that purpose, and your vision is of you fulfilling that purpose.

The values that you have come from the Scriptures. Sometimes we need to go back and regroup, asking ourselves, "What are the values that I have?" They are found in the Scriptures. The strategy is simply how you are going to put those things together. The purpose, mission, and vision are your north star; they guide you. Sometimes obstacles stand in your way, or you may fall down the hill, but you must reorient yourself back towards that purpose, mission, and vision. You are heading in that direction, and while you may need to pivot, it is essential to have your value set in place. The values will act as curbs on either side to keep you oriented in the right direction. From that foundation, you can build a strategy.

My word for you is the message that I thank God put on my mind as I was running on the treadmill on January 4th. I was thinking about my friend who is a chiropractor, my friend who runs a martial arts studio, and someone who has become my friend over the years: the Apostle Paul. Things stand in our way from time to time. The easiest thing to do is to sit down, pout, and feel upset, angry, or depressed. That is easy. The harder thing is to pivot and say, "All right, it's time to move forward."

This message aligns perfectly with where we will be going in our studies of the Scriptures this year, as we prepare to delve into the Old Testament book of Joshua. I believe this is exactly the message we need for such a time as this.

In closing, you may ask, what is this word "pivot"? What exactly does that mean for Cross Connection Church? I have to say I'm not 100% sure. I just know that we are not going back to 2019. You can't continue to just sit in the valley crying. Post-2020, it's time to move forward into what God has called us to do as a church and what He has called you to do.

What does He want you to do with your time, talents, treasure, and energy? What about all the abilities that you have for His namesake and for His kingdom? You can't sit there crying about things and how they didn't quite go the way you thought they would. It's time to pivot, adjust, and start moving towards the goal.

I press towards the goal of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. That's what Paul says in Philippians chapter three, one of my favorite passages of Scripture. I press towards the goal. Sometimes you've got to pivot so that you can move in a new direction towards that same goal.

God, I pray that You would help us to be able to do that here in 2023. Give us a vision for any time that we find ourselves in unmapped territory, where we aren't exactly where we thought we were going to be. We just need to reorient so that we can see and gain a vision of where we are going. Now we need to move in that direction. Here's the strategy for it.

Lord, help us to do that as You enable us by Your Holy Spirit. For we ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Amen.