by Roz Endow

Psalm 63:1 NASB“O God, You are my God; I shall seek You earnestly; My soul thirsts for You, my flesh yearns for You, In a dry and weary land where there is no water.” 

The Day with Jesus Retreat is held throughout the year by Pastor Dan who is our mentor and cook (we end our morning with a delicious lunch and sharing). We go to different scenic sites and get away from our busy lives to spend quality time with the Lord. Pastor Dan starts us off with prayer and a time of introductions and sharing, then a brief lesson on a biblical principle or God’s character. He gives us resources to read and meditate on if we feel led during our extended free time listening to the Lord. Pastor Dan’s prayer for us is to “train our hearts to be attentive to God” so we can know and grow deeper in love with Him and to practice how to be a follower of Jesus as he shared in his sermon on March 5th.

Psalm 31:14-15a“But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord, I say, “You are my God.” My times are in Your hand;” 

I usually start with a prayer of cleansing so I can focus on the Lord, then a review of the materials to see if the Lord wants me to focus on anything there, then a nice walk to seek what the Lord will show me and how He will lead me in a time of fellowship. At the last retreat, I just sat on a bench with shrubs and vines decorating the deck around me and I watched the clouds roll by as it was a cold and windy day. I was reminded of verses having to do with darkness and light as the sun came in and out. The Lord brought back memories of childhood cloud watching and I was blessed by hours in my hectic week where I did not need to accomplish anything but allowed God to guide my mind and my heart as He designed.

Psalm 31:19-20a “How great is Your goodness, Which You have stored up for those who fear You, Which You have wrought for those who take refuge in You, Before the sons of men! You hide them in the secret place of Your presence from the conspiracies of man:” 

During the retreats, I can usually come to a moment where the world stops and I am not too busy or distracted to hear God’s voice and I know He hears me and I am strengthened. I can walk in His eternal perspective and I am comforted. God is faithful.

At the end of my time listening to God (which goes by too quickly), I enjoy hearing how the others spent their time when we come back together and share a lunch. Pastor Dan leads us to see how the Lord met each of us and spoke to each of us and I find everyone is refreshed and blessed. There is a special blessing that I receive when I seek the Lord in community. I am grateful for the experience each time I leave and look forward to the next retreat because I know the Lord is infinitely loving and desires for me to understand and grow in many things.

John 1:50

Jesus answered him, “Because I said to you, ‘I saw you under the fig tree,’ do you believe? You will see greater things than these.”

In John 1:43-51, Jesus meets Nathaniel for the first time but he greets him as if he has known him for years. As Nathaniel approaches Jesus, Jesus says, “Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom there is no deceit!” Startled that Jesus somehow is familiar with him and has insight into his character, Nathaniel asks, “How do you know me?” Jesus replies, “Well, before Philip called you, when you were under the fig tree, I saw you.” Inexplicably, Nathaniel quickly replies, “Teacher, you are the Son of God! You are the King of Israel!”

Jesus supernaturally sees Nathaniel and then Nathaniel concludes that Jesus is the Son of God. What happened? Nathaniel’s response seems a little disproportionate to me. When Philip first told Nathaniel about Jesus, Nathaniel was skeptical but then in a matter of minutes he suddenly changes his mind.

I’m not sure what might have been going on within Nathaniel, but from Jesus’ question to him, we can guess that Jesus also recognized that Nathaniel’s immediate acceptance of him as the Son of God was premature. Jesus asks Nathaniel in verse 50, “Because I said to you, “I saw you under the fig tree”, do you believe?” In essence, Jesus is saying, “Do you truly believe that I’m the Son of God just because I supernaturally saw you?”

Now you might be wondering, “Why is Jesus questioning Nathaniel’s faith?” Shouldn’t he just be overjoyed that Nathaniel has come to believe in him? Well, not necessarily. Maybe Jesus saw that Nathaniel’s faith was like the seed that fell upon the rocky soil in his Parable of the Sower. In that parable, the rocky soil represented “those who, when they hear the word, receive it with joy. But these have no root; they believe for a while, and in time of testing fall away. (Luke 8:13)”

So, maybe the reason why Jesus wasn’t rejoicing in Nathaniel’s faith was because he knew that Nathaniel’s belief needed to grow and be grounded in more than just a mysterious and unexplainable event like being supernaturally seen. Jesus loved Nathaniel too much to allow his faith to remain shakable and shallow.

I totally love this because Jesus is telling Nathaniel that his belief needs to be grounded in seeing more rather than in seeing less. Usually, we are challenged to not test God and simply have faith to trust in who he is and what he says. But in this personal interaction with Nathaniel, we see that Jesus is teaching that Nathaniel’s faith needs to be grounded on “seeing greater things” not less.

So, Jesus tells Nathaniel at the end of verse 50 and continuing into verse 51, “You will see greater things than these… Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (If you’re interested in an explanation of what Jesus means in this verse, I talked about it in my sermon on March 19th) Basically Jesus promises Nathaniel that his faith in Jesus as the Son of God will be firmly grounded on unshakable, personal, eyewitness testimonies of God greatly working powerfully before him through Jesus’ life. What a promise!

I think that some of you reading this article also need to hear these same words from Jesus. For some of you, when you first heard the gospel of forgiveness and new life through faith in Jesus Christ, you believed it and received it with great joy. However, today the hardships of life have worn your soul thin and the great joy you knew when you first believed has slowly faded. Years of enduring a hard and trying marriage, a numb-minding job, a strained if not completely ruined relationship with a son or daughter or a series of potential relationships that never went beyond the second or third date, have sapped the fullness of life out of your faith in the Son of God. If this is you, hear and receive the words of Jesus to Nathaniel. He knows where you are at and rather than leave you alone, he is inviting you to endure, trust and follow him. For he will graciously do great works in you, through you and around you in your current hopeless situation that will testify that he truly is the Son of God, Maker of heaven and earth.

“Commit your way to the LORD, trust also in Him, and He will do it.”
Psalm 37:5

A commitment to find a successor was made and placed into the hands of God. Psalm 37:5 informs us that if we commit our way to the Lord and trust Him for it… He will do it. This Psalm described the journey to find my successor… Commit, Trust and Wait for God to do it.

As a season of waiting began… It was a season of little or no activity for the first several years. There was only the awareness that a commitment to find a successor had been made.

Then, in the summer of 2014, the season of waiting took a turn. My family went on vacation in Mammoth, CA. As the Lord would have it, over sixty members of our church family were vacationing at the same time in Mammoth. We gathered together on three occasions. We had a gathering of everyone for a time of fellowship and worship. The moms had a girls’ night out at a local eatery and the men had a time together.

The men’s gathering was a BBQ steak dinner in my family’s large cabin. Over a dozen dads attended. When the last two men walked in the door for dinner, the Lord spoke to me. As one of them passed in front of me, the Lord said that “he was going to be the next senior pastor of Evergreen SGV”. He was the man who came to dinner.

To say the least, I was surprised that this man who came to dinner was God’s chosen vessel to lead our church into the future. He was not a pastor and had as much experience of being a pastor as my sons-in-law with whom I was vacationing.

I told no one of this revelation for months. Then I informed three people so they could join me in prayer, one of them being my wife, Reine.

I now knew who the next senior pastor of Evergreen SGV was going to be. The first two conditions had been met. The Lord identified my successor and the discernment had been left up to me. The third condition was now in play. We could not call my successor out of their employment situation. God would have to make him available.

As it turned out, the man who came to dinner was duly employed. And so a different kind of waiting commenced.

And so, the journey continued.

It gave me a lot to think and pray about as I waited.

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding. In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He will make your paths straight.” Proverbs 3:5-6

Let me set the stage for the Succession Story.

In the year of our Lord 2007, we purchased our current campus. During that season of time, discussions began at the Board level regarding my retirement date in light of assuming a large mortgage on the property.

As a result, my initial retirement plans changed from retirement in 2012 at age 65 to 2017 at age 70.

The Church Board eventually encouraged me to consider a succession plan over the normal method of calling a new senior pastor. Although reluctant at first, I agreed to undertake a succession plan because the Board believed that it would be the best for the church family.

I read that a succession plan has three advantages if the Lord is the one who appoints the successor. First, there is the comfort of a settled succession. Secondly, there is the reassurance of a God-initiated succession. And, finally, there are tangible benefits of an overlapping transition.

I requested two conditions regarding the search for my successor. The first condition was that I would be allowed to wait on the Lord and have the Lord reveal the identity of my successor. The second condition was that the decision would be left up to me to discern the Lord’s will regarding my successor followed by congregational affirmation.

In 2015, I revised my retirement plan to age 75 or 2022 to allow more time for the Lord’s succession and transition plans to play out (by this time the Lord had already revealed the name of my successor to me so the extra time was all about his availability and training).

There was one more stipulation regarding the succession plan. This stipulation or request from me to the Lord was between the Lord and me. I did, however, share it with the church leadership. The stipulation was that I would not call my successor out of his employment situation. God would have to make my successor available to us.

I wanted to make sure that the choice was not mine, but the Lord’s. I also would not call a sitting senior pastor away from his church based on my own belief that a senior pastor should be committed for life unless the Lord intervenes.

And so the stage was set for the Succession Story to happen. It was Proverbs 3:5-6 coming to life.

It gave me a lot to think and pray about…

By Harvey Moriyama

Saturday, September 17, 2016 was when we went to “A Day with Jesus” with our entire family of 6. The event was hosted by Pastor Dan Christian. Dan takes care of every detail – light breakfast, Keurig coffee & tea, delicious hot lunch and “thought provoking” stations to promote the idea of slowing down and decompressing so that we can actually get close to and hear from our Lord. This event was at a lodge in the mountains above Monrovia, CA.

So often, in our busy roles as husband, wife, father, mother, son, daughter, brother or sister, we can be drawn away from our heavenly Father. Our busyness can make our relationship with God and our family members seem distant and far away. This is why “A Day with Jesus” is important not only for individuals but also for a family.

I wouldn’t be honest if I said that going to “A Day with Jesus” with the family was my idea. It wasn’t. The true catalyst for this idea was my wife, Kari. I was actually a little complacent about the whole thing. The idea of going was also met with a lukewarm response by the rest of the family. In the end, I believe each of our children decided to go out of respect/honor for their mother and admiration of Pastor Dan.

Pastor Dan provided articles and stations that were geared towards bringing our focus back to Jesus. The lodge was secluded and in an area where peace and quietness abounds.

Each of us (our family and 5 others) was given several hours to disperse and dive deeply into our time alone with Jesus. It was during this time, that Jesus was speaking to each of us individually. What was revealed to each of us, on some level, was our own selfishness towards each other. The weight of this burden was so heavy that it prompted a special family meeting prior to reconvening with the rest of the group. During that time, explanations of each of our selfish tendencies were revealed. Heart felt apologies were given as we pursued forgiveness from one another. Times like this can get difficult and awkward. This is especially true when someone that’s so close to you is overwhelmed to the point of tearing and sobbing.

Our Day with Jesus did exactly what it was supposed to do. It provided a time for quietness and reflection such that our own shortcomings and issues were surfaced and revealed. Did everyone in the family benefit from this experience? I would say “yes” but the degree of impact varied from person to person. What it did do was to initiate dialogue and conversation in areas that were normally difficult to talk about. It pushed to the surface, problem areas that had been suppressed over the years.

I’d like to say that everything in the family was just perfect after that “Day with Jesus” experience but alas it’s not. That’s all a part of this broken and fallen world we live in - this side of heaven.

“A Day with Jesus” event facilitates special opportunities to connect with the Lord. It’s definitely not a one and done type of thing. It’s the periodic maintenance that we all need to get through life – sort of like a front end alignment for your car. We need this spiritual re-alignment from time to time so that we can continue to walk down the straight path towards Jesus. I encourage you to be open to attending the next “Day with Jesus” event. He will most assuredly meet you there within your greatest needs.