And the word is… | Sunday, January 29, 2023

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 Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. 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." Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them. (Acts 16:6–10)

When the old path is gone and you can't go back, God may be calling you to pivot toward something new.

A New Year's Message and a Little Personal History

Today I want to give what is basically a New Year's message, even though it's already the fifth Sunday of the year, because I wasn't here for the first few Sundays. For many years I've started the year by sharing where we're going as a church and what God has impressed on my heart.

Let me begin with a little personal history. Twenty-five days ago, on January 4th, I celebrated my 24th year in full-time vocational ministry here at this same church. It feels surreal to say it. I began on January 4th, 1999, at 19 years old, as a non-paid ministry intern. My job was to fill the gaps—keep the computers, printers, and network working, maintain the church website (this was the early internet, with terrible "RealVideo" rather than the HD we have now), answer phones, clean bathrooms, take out trash, and paint curbs. The church was then called Calvary Chapel of Escondido.

A little over a month after I started, I was asked to teach the middle schoolers. So on February 14th, 1999—Valentine's Day—I taught the Bible for the first time, going through Galatians. Ever since, I have been teaching or preaching the Scriptures multiple times a week for 24 years. I led the youth ministry from 1999 until late 2002, and then was asked to lead our adult services on Sunday nights. In January 2003 I began teaching through the book of Joshua on Saturday nights—which is interesting, because in just a few weeks we're going to begin Joshua again here on Sunday mornings.

Six Years of Twists and Turns

Back in August 2002, as I was wrapping up youth ministry, I began to have a strong sense that someday I would pastor this church. It would be six years before that came to pass, with all kinds of twists along the way. I moved to Europe for a year and taught at a small international Bible college in Siegen, Germany. Then I came back and worked at a coffee shop our church ran on Grand Avenue called His Place. The pay wasn't great, but the benefits were spectacular—I met my wife there, and so did Pastor Nick on our staff.

During that time I also began teaching at Calvary Chapel Bible College in Murrieta. Then in April 2008 I became senior pastor here. This year marks 15 years as pastor, and the 10th anniversary of Pastor Mark coming on as our executive pastor.

"Don't Change the Message—Change the Methods"

About half a year before I became pastor, in September 2007, our core leaders were at a Christian leadership conference out in the Palm Springs area. In a small living room with maybe eight of us, my pastor, Pat Kinney, asked me to share what was on my heart. I told that group I believed God wanted us to make a shift. The message we have from the Scriptures does not change and has not changed—it's what the church has proclaimed for millennia. But our methods of reaching our community and culture needed to change.

Right before I took over, in March 2008, I was invited back to Germany for a month to teach through Romans, and my wife came with me. On Saturday, March 1st, 2008, as we sat at a gate in San Diego, I got a call from one of our elders, Mark Searle, telling me that after weeks of prayer and discussion, Pat Kinney would hand the church off to me on April 20th. That month in Germany turned out to be providential—time away to plan and prepare, and time with my friend David Guzik, who was running the Bible school there, to ask questions about taking over.

Just a couple of weeks before that trip, Andrea and I found out she was pregnant with our first child, Ethan. So 2008 became a year of huge changes: becoming pastor, becoming parents, buying our first home.

A Ten-Year Revitalization

During that month in Germany, I mapped out a plan and vision for what I believed God wanted us to become. I didn't have a word for it then, but what we set out to do is now called church revitalization. In 2008 that terminology barely existed; there was lots of talk about church planting, but not about church replants or refreshes. Today there are books, courses, conferences, and even seminary classes on the subject.

I had no idea how long it would take. That endeavor became a ten-year process, from 2008 to 2018—a complete transformation. We changed our vision, changed the name from Calvary Chapel Escondido to Cross Connection Church, did a lot of remodeling, added staff, reoriented our ministries, dropped some and added others. By 2019 there was a real sense that all of that refresh and restoration was behind us. Coming into 2020, I had genuine anticipation that it would be a great year of growth—we were seeing many new people come.

2020: Thrown Into Unmapped Territory

At the end of 2019 I also shared that I was concerned 2020 would be a year of chaos, mostly because of the political season and the presidential election ahead. As it turned out, 2020 far exceeded my expectations—and my appetite—for chaos.

On Sunday, March 8, 2020, I gave a message much like this one, about new things God was going to do. We were in Deuteronomy 1, where Moses recounts Israel coming to the Promised Land:

So we departed from Horeb, and went through all that great and terrible wilderness... and I said to you, "You have come to the mountains of the Amorites, which the LORD our God is giving us. Look, the LORD your God has set the land before you; go up and possess it... do not fear or be discouraged." (Deuteronomy 1:19–21)

I shared that the church was growing and that we were going to take hold of new things—including adding a fourth Sunday morning service at Easter. That was March 8th. The very next day, March 9th, the headline in the San Diego Union-Tribune read: "San Diego County gets its first case of coronavirus." On March 10th I was at a meeting with dozens of Calvary Chapel pastors discussing what would happen. That afternoon our staff decided to live-stream the coming Sunday. By March 15th, half our church wasn't there. On March 22nd we went entirely online. Driving in that morning, I passed a sign: "COVID-19: Less is more. Avoid gatherings."

Falling Down the Hillside

So in March 2020 every one of us was thrown into a chaotic situation, into unmapped territory we'd never navigated before. Imagine you're high on a mountain trail, making great progress toward your goal, feeling good about your momentum. Suddenly you set your foot down and the trail gives way. Before you're even aware of it, you're sliding and tumbling down the hillside, trying not to get hurt. When you finally stop, you're far from where you were, scraped up, in shock, adrenaline pumping. You assess: not badly injured, but in an unexpected, unplanned situation. Anxiety fills your heart. Now what do I do?

Your mind runs the familiar loops: How did I get here? I took that step too quickly. I should have been more careful. I shouldn't have moved like that. Then you shift to: How do I get back up to where I was? And you spend enormous energy trying to climb back—only to find you can't. You're stuck.

That is essentially what we've been going through since 2020. Through the rest of that year we were playing dodgeball with everything flying at us—not just the virus, but the response: shutdowns, social distancing, distance learning, remote work, Zoom meetings, masks. My wife worked in the ICU. Then came the unrest of May and June, the political insanity of the fall, and the post-election chaos. All of 2020 was assessing the damage.

Trying to Get Back to 2019

In 2021 there was a little hope for movement forward, but it didn't come the way we expected. 2021 was mostly about trying to get back to where we were pre-COVID, back to 2019—because 2019 was pretty good for a lot of us. Slowly it became clear we weren't getting back to that path. Then 2022 became a time of assessing how we got into the mess so it wouldn't happen again, with a lot of consternation about all the wrong steps. And behind all of it there was still a hopeful thought: maybe we'll get back to normal—or that term I hate, the "new normal."

That's where I've been, and talking with many people, where a lot of us have been over the last few years.

So Now What? Three Individuals

Now it's 2023, and I've spent months praying about that question—now what? Since 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 to move forward. While teaching at a pastors' conference in the Philippines with my friend Lance, I decided that when I got home I'd get up earlier, spend focused time in the Scriptures with my journal, and get back into running. I started November 7th and kept it up through December and into January.

Before I share the word God gave me, let me tell you about three individuals.

The first is a friend, a chiropractor I've known about 20 years—a Christian, a great guy who has built his practice here for about 30 years. When 2020 came, it basically killed his business. For three years he went through that whole unmapped-territory process. The second day after I got back from the Philippines, he texted me that he'd be closing his office at the end of the month.

The second is a friend who runs a martial arts studio, where I trained years ago and where my youngest son Elliot goes. He'd been building that business for more than 30 years, and 2020 slammed it. He spent most of his savings trying to keep his staff paid. In December he called a parents' meeting and told us he was moving to a smaller place because he just couldn't afford the current one. Then on January 3rd, my chiropractor friend texted me again: instead of closing, he'd decided to move to a smaller location and try to keep going.

The Word: Pivot

On January 4th, running on the treadmill and thinking about those two friends, a word popped into my mind. At the start of 2020 the word I'd had was chaos. This time the word was pivot. I think it's for me, and I think it's for our church.

When I say "pivot," different things come to mind. If you're a woman between 35 and 45, you think of Ross on Friends yelling in the stairwell with a couch. If you're a guy, you think of basketball: you're dribbling toward the basket, someone steps in your way, and you can't dribble again (double dribble) or walk (traveling)—but you can pivot on one foot to get away from the obstacle and open something new.

But let me explain what I mean by pivot through the third individual—someone you've met if you've been around church for any length of time. His name is Paul.

Paul's Pivot in Acts 16

In Acts 16, Paul is on his second missionary journey, aiming to bring the gospel to people who had never heard it. On his first journey (Acts 13) he and Barnabas planted churches in the main cities of Galatia. Now he's back in Galatia with Silas, and they pick up a young man named Timothy. Together they leave Galatia heading northwest.

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 Mysia, they tried to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit did not permit them. (Acts 16:6–7)

There's a lot in those forty words—and a lot left unsaid. Picture the geography: from the Mediterranean, move east past Israel and a bit north into modern Turkey. Paul, Silas, and Timothy are moving from south-central Turkey toward the northwest, toward a region called Mysia. If they turned left, they could go down into Asia Minor, whose capital was Ephesus—but the Holy Spirit forbade them. We don't know why; maybe dangers, maybe weather, maybe an inner sense of God saying no. They can't go left, and they can't go back, because that's where they came from. So they try to turn right, toward Bithynia—but the Spirit doesn't permit that either.

Think about it. Paul is following the Lord, the apostle who saw the risen Christ on the road to Damascus. He's on a mission with Silas and Timothy. Left—door closed. Right—door closed. Back—not an option. What do you do? You keep moving forward.

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." Now after he had seen the vision, immediately we sought to go to Macedonia, concluding that the Lord had called us to preach the gospel to them. (Acts 16:8–10)

Notice the word we—Luke, the author, has now joined the group. They've been hemmed in: they can't go to Asia Minor, can't go to Bithynia, can't go back to Galatia. They move all the way forward until they hit the Aegean Sea at the coastal city of Troas. There God gives a vision of a man of Macedonia, across the sea, saying, "Come help us." So they pivot. They shift. It's time to move.

When You Can't Go Back, You Pivot

That's what I think God has for us—a time of pivot. It's what I see with my chiropractor friend and my martial arts friend: for years there was hope of getting back to 2019, but things have changed dramatically, and there's no going back. So now they shift—downsizing, moving in a different direction. The same is true for the church. At the start of 2020 we were coasting along, and then everything changed. We kept hoping things would return to how they were. They're not.

You really have only a few options. You can sit there and stew—I'm bummed, everything's terrible. Or you can shift. For Paul, that's exactly the choice: I want to go to Ephesus—door closed. I want to go to Bithynia—door closed. What now? You wait for the Lord to open the door, and you move in that direction.

Five Things to Keep in View

So what do you do in unmapped territory, where you didn't plan to be and can't go back? You adjust, you shift, you pivot, you reinvest yourself in what you were focused on and get moving forward. As you do, keep five essential things in mind: purpose, mission, vision, values, and strategy.

Rewind all the way to September 2007, sitting with those pastors—it comes back to these five. Paul knew exactly his purpose and calling: sent by Christ Jesus to carry the gospel to the Gentiles. His mission was simple—and the mission is always the same: to fulfill the purpose. His vision was clear—he could see himself fulfilling that purpose wherever he went, whether Galatia, Asia, Bithynia, Macedonia, Greece, or Rome. He knew his values, found throughout his thirteen letters:

And so I have made it my aim to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build on another man's foundation. (Romans 15:20)

And his strategy runs all through Acts: preach to the Jew first in the synagogue, then to the Gentiles, going wherever he possibly could.

Answering the Important Questions

Here we are in 2023. After the chaos of 2020, 2021, and 2022, and all the trying to get back to 2019, the truth is we're not going back. So this is a year to adjust, to shift, to pivot. The obstacle has blocked your way, but the goal is still there, so you regroup and reorganize.

That means answering important questions. First, purpose: what has God called you to do? Sit down and take time with it. I know my calling clearly—to use my gifts, talents, energy, time, and resources to fulfill the mission God gave me: to equip the saints for the work of the ministry, for the building up of the body of Christ (Ephesians 4:11). That's what God spoke to me in January 1999 when I was asked to teach the junior highers.

What has God called you to with your energy, talents, and treasure? Maybe to be a nurse, a doctor, an architect, a teacher, a firefighter, a police officer, a stay-at-home mom or dad. Your mission is to fulfill that purpose. Your vision is of you fulfilling it. Your values come from the Scriptures—sometimes we have to regroup and ask what they are. And your strategy is simply how you put it all together.

The purpose, mission, and vision are your North Star—the direction you keep guiding yourself toward, even when something stands in your way or you fall down the hill. The values are the curbs on either side of the road that keep you oriented. From all of that you build a strategy.

Press Toward the Goal

So my word for you is the word God put on my mind on the treadmill on January 4th, as I thought about my chiropractor friend, my martial arts friend, and a friend I've grown close to over the years—the Apostle Paul. Things stand in our way from time to time. The easiest thing is to sit down, pout, get angry or depressed. The harder thing is to pivot and say, "It's time to move forward." And that fits perfectly with where we're going this year, into the book of Joshua—I think exactly the message we need for such a time as this.

What does "pivot" mean for Cross Connection Church? I have to admit I'm not 100% sure. I just know we're not going back to 2019, and you can't keep sitting in the valley crying. It's time to move forward into what God has called us to do as a church and called you to do with your time, talents, treasure, energy, and abilities, for His name and His kingdom. Sometimes you have to pivot in order to move in a new direction toward that same goal. As Paul says in one of my favorite passages, "I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3).

Closing Prayer

God, I pray that You would help us to do that here in 2023. Give us a vision for any time we find ourselves in unmapped territory, where we aren't exactly where we thought we'd be. Help us to reorient, to gain a vision of where You are leading, and 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. We ask this in Jesus' name. Amen.