Welcome to the Yakima Evangelical Church blog! Our goal is create a God-focused online discussion arena with relevant topics through weekly writings by Pastor Dylan and other guest bloggers.


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Confession is Good for the Soul

by Dylan Does  |  June 25, 2010
This is a great article/blog about our felt need as believers to confess.

When Serving Turns to Slavery

by Dylan Does  |  June 17, 2010

     This upcoming Sunday we will be looking at faith pouring into action. We will look at the natural act, through the power of the Spirit, of serving in response to the supernatural act of Jesus saving and restoring us. However, because of sin scarring the beauty of perfect creation, there are times where serving is not a natural response, but a hated duty. How does serving (godly) turn into slavery (ungodly)? I believe there are at least five things that cause this:

Poor Priorities (Me and mine over Him and His) – Sometimes serving becomes slavery simply for the fact that we make the less important king in our life, and the most important things trivial. So the natural response of serving in the name of Christ becomes an add-on or a fill in when we have time. This will lead to slavery 9 times out of 10, because we aren’t dealing with the core issue that God wants us to deal with. Put Him first and everything will fit from there. If you try to put him last, or in the middle, it just does not work. It is sad that you can tell a man’s priorities by looking at his calendar or checkbook. If this is true, what is your first priority?

Poor Power Source (Mine not His) – We try to do what God says, without the power that God gives. This is a perfect recipe to turn the godly (serving) into the ungodly (slavery). We are in over our head, yet we won’t take the life preserver thrown to us. We will be stressed, tired and irritable. Are you trying to accomplish God’s call in your life, without God’s Spirit in your life?

Poor Position (Wrong fit of ministry) – Sometimes we are operating with the right priorities and the right power, but we just hate the area that we are serving in. Sometimes in church we just make people fill a spot without any thought of his/her gifting or passions. If you stick a woman who loves to be hands on with kids and have her serving in parking lot detail, you are going to have a person who is not finding joy in serving. If you put a man who likes to work in his shop by himself or one or two other guys, and you have him teaching the 4th and 5th grade girls, you are going to have a bad ministry fit. If you are serving in an area presently, do you feel like it is the right fit?

Poor Purpose (Trying to earn Heaven) – Many of us can fall into this trap. We find ourselves trying to earn the acceptance of our Heavenly Father through our deeds. It’s just like a son or daughter trying to earn his/her parents’ love through accomplishments in school or in an athletic endeavor. Each situation ends with the individual burning out during his/her pursuit to be “good enough”. The reality is we are “good enough” only through the work of grace in our lives. If we serve to earn, we will flame out in slavery. If we serve in response, we will serve out of the Father’s joy in our lives.

Poor Partnerships (No teammates) - Sometimes we just try go “Lone Ranger”. We try to do it all by ourselves. In our culture it is great to be independent; we don’t have to rely on others. But in Kingdom living, God calls us to be interdependent. He designed us to rely on Himself and others in order to accomplish His will. To try to accomplish everything by your self is not noble, but disobedient. Some of us say that I would love help, but no one is willing to come alongside me. Jesus knew that there was a shortage on help when he said, “the harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few”. But even with that, we know that God wants to bring teams together for ministry. He may say “the workers are few”, but He also says, “You have not, because you ask not”.  For those of us that are struggling to find teammates, ask yourself these four  questions:

  • Have I asked God to send me help?
  • Am I seeking to equip and empower those willing volunteers to come alongside me?
  • Have I rejected help, because they didn’t do it “right”?
  • Am I doing what God has asked me to do? (He doesn’t desire to resource things, He doesn’t want accomplished)
In Him,
Pastor Dylan
 

Juno, Kimya Dawson, and Praying continually

by Dylan Does  |  June 15, 2010

“pray continually” 1 Thessalonians 5:17

     Many of us have been taught that prayer is simply a verbal conversation with God. This is quite true, and pretty cool if you think about it. But the reality is, prayer includes this, but is beyond this as well. Prayer is beyond a dedicated act of folding our hands and bowing our heads and talking to God. Prayer occurs when we aren’t even talking. Paul tells us to “pray continually” or “without ceasing”.  He is looking far beyond just a talk with God, but a perpetual relationship with Him. We see that prayer is both a dedicated act and a lifestyle.

     The best way that I can describe this phenomena, is to compare it to a movie’s soundtrack. One of my favorite movies and soundtracks is Jason Reitman’s film “Juno”. The story line is quirky along with the music of Kimya Dawson that serves as the soundtrack. The two fit perfectly together. This is not by accident, but is expertly crafted together.

     As the movie’s opening credits start, the music is at the forefront. We can hear each lyric, and we are well aware that the music is on the main stage. As the movie begins, the music goes to the background. It isn’t gone, but instead is supporting the story. As the movie continues, we get a few more points where the story transitions and the music is brought back to the forefront. Each lyric understood and promoted. Each time after the transition the music goes back to the supporting role of the movie’s plot. As the movie is coming to an end, we see the two main characters concluding the movie by singing a duet of a song we have heard earlier in the movie. The song isn’t just heard, but has become the tie that binds the whole movie together. The music makes the movie and the movie makes the music.

     I believe that prayer works in the same way in our lives. There are times of the day, seasons of our lives that are spent in dedicated conversation with the Lord (i.e. music at the forefront). These are times of seeking His face, His provision, His will, etc. Then there are times where we are doing other things, and we just have an open communication line with God. We may not be speaking directly to Him, but we are still communing together (i.e. the music supporting the story). Ultimately the two come together. For our walk with Jesus makes our prayer life and our prayer life makes our walk with Jesus.

In Him,

Pastor Dylan

6 Discipling Relationships

by Dylan Does  |  June 3, 2010

        Over a year ago I began to read Rev. Glenn McDonald’s book, “The Disciple Making Church”; his 6 questions on discipleship have stuck with me.


  1. Who is your Lord? When everything is said and done, whose agenda are you truly following?
  2. Who are you? At the beginning of each day, do you wake up knowing that you’ll have to go out and win your own share of security and significance, or can you truly say that those are priceless gifts you have already received?
  3. Who is your Barnabas? Who is your spiritual mentor, the one from whom you are learning how to follow Jesus. Paul famously said that if you want to know what it is to follow Christ, follow me.
  4. Who is your Timothy? Who is your apprentice, the one to whom you are passing along the lessons that God has entrusted to you?
  5. Where is your Antioch? What small group of special friends is helping you to discern God’s direction for your life? At YEC, our dream is that this group would be your Home Group or Sunday School class.
  6. Where is your Macedonia? What field of ministry is most closely aligned with God’s call on your life and hauntingly stirs your deepest passion? The leadership of YEC wants to know what makes your ministry heart tick, and help equip and empower you to carry this out!

      I pray that these six questions from Rev. McDonald give you insight in how you can be discipled and help disciple others!


In Him,

Pastor Dylan

P.S. Rev McDonald’s book is a free download at http://www.csspub.com/prod-1932902678.htm !!!!


Ministry in 3-D

by Dylan Does  |  November 13, 2009
For many people the word "minister" basically means "someone who preaches, visits hospitals, marries people, and buries people. The problem with this is, it is WAY TOO CLOSED MINDED. As a pastor I am recognized as a minister by Christians and non-Christians alike. But the reality is, anyone who calls on Jesus as savior and lord is a minister of the Gospel. As Ephesians 4:11-13 states, some of us are prophets, evangelists, pastors or teachers etc. Even if that isn't what it says on our paycheck it's what God has called us to do. Each one of us has a role in spreading the Gospel and each one of us does it in a bit of a different way. I personally get to preach God's Word, train up leaders, pray for people, and even the occasional counseling session. You may do it through intercessory prayer, service, teaching Sunday School, raking your neighbor's lawn, providing a meal, sharing the plan of salvation, etc. No matter how we do ministry, I believe there are three "D's" that help us be as effective as possible in doing ministry for the glory of God. I like to call it "Ministry in 3-D" (Special Shout out to Josh Bergland).
 
Drive. You have to be driven. You have to have passion to do what God has called you to do, in order to be as effective as possible. Consistently sitting on the couch eating Doritos will not make for a dynamic minister of the Gospel. No matter how talented, learned, or revered, if you don't have an inner motor focused on helping people see Jesus more clearly you will not minister to the effectiveness that God desires for your life.
 
Discipline. Discipline is just as important as drive. Ministry is an incredibly weird thing, in the fact that normally you don't have a boss breathing down your neck. Most of us don't get paid to do ministry and those of that do, are given much freedom on the how, when, and where of accomplishing the task than almost any other profession. For me, drive comes incredibly naturally. I wake up wanting to accomplish things, but I have to work on being disciplined. To put in golf terms, I can drive the golf ball 300 yards down the fourth fairway, the problem is I'm on the 1st tee box. Discipline allows me to harness the drive and get in pointed down the right fairway.
 
Discernment. Discernment is being able to see what is of God and what is not. We live in a world, where the majority of people reject Christ with their mouths and/or their everyday lives. So the ministry is huge and the opportunities are endless. It is incredibly important to be an effective minister, that we know what we are doing is of God and not our own ideas. When we tap into what God desires, we tap into God's power. When God's power is in something the possibilities are endless.
 
          To go back to our golf analogy, Drive is being able to hit the ball 300 yards, Discipline is hitting it down the right fairway, and Discernment is making sure we are at the right golf course! When we put these three things together, we can accomplish great things for the glory of God, because we are ministering in 3-D (bad joke, but don't care
:-)).
 
In Him,
Pastor Dylan
 

Guests not Visitors

by Dr. Tim Roehl  |  September 8, 2009
Hey Everyone!
 
Dr. Tim Roehl posted a blog on our denomination's Harvest Ministries (Our church planting arm) entitled "Welcoming Guests". As we enter a season expecting numerous guests, I pray that we will be a blessing to those guests that God entrusts to us! Be blessed with the reading of this blog!!! - Pastor Dylan -

Welcoming Guests

“And if you greet only your brothers, what are you doing out of the ordinary?” (Matthew 5:47)

Every day, he or she passes your church on the way to work. He finally got up his nerve to attend worship, but he’s not exactly certain what to wear or where to enter. He wonders if he’ll see familiar faces in the crowd. As the worship service begins, he falters clumsily, unsure about when to stand, unfamiliar with the format and the songs. This scenario probably occurs at your church weekly.

As the family of God—the church—our love for one another is vital and Scriptural. We are also commanded to love the lost—to love in words and actions. How we greet new people is a key part of helping Good News come to them!

Looking for a way to equip church members to genuinely welcome those guests? Consider the “Five Minute Rule to W*I*N.” The rule helps church guests feel less apprehensive and more welcome.

Here’s the “Five Minute Rule”:

For five minutes immediately preceding the worship service and five minutes immediately after the service,  intentionally seek out guests or irregular attenders to welcome them warmly and chat for a few minutes, listening for needs, showing an interest, and answering questions.

Here’s a “Game Plan” for those conversations, using the acronym “W*I*N”

W = Welcome…Weather (“Beautiful day today…”)…What’s your name?…Who did you come with?…

I = Interests, such as work, hobbies, kids, etc.

N = Needs.  “How can we pray for you?”… “Is there any way we can serve you and your family?”

Simple.  Effective. The power of a sincere, personal welcome is strong. Before music or preaching begins, guests are evaluating and deciding whether they will come back to your church. Most people decide whether they are coming back to a church in the first minute or two after they enter the building!  The people connection counts. A casual, friendly conversation can transform those awkward minutes into a venue for hospitality.  The five minute rule can be applied to your worship service, Bible study group, fellowship event or women’s ministry.

As a leader in your church, would you sacrifice five minutes to welcome newcomers?  It could make an eternal difference!

–Diana Davis and Dr. Tim Roehl

What If......

by Dylan Does  |  September 3, 2009
What if…
 
What if we actually lived the life that Jesus called us to live? What if we really believed what he said? What if he was the head of my life?  What if we actually sacrificed for the benefit of someone else? What if we were ready to live a life that was not marked by safety, comfort, and predictability? What if…
 
These questions came as a result of my times studying John for our upcoming series "Red Letter Disciples", reading Francis Chan's "Crazy Love", and looking at my own shortcomings.  So I believe this next season of ministry at Yakima Evangelical Church will be focused on answering the above questions, and some others along the way. I pray that none of us would be lost along the way. However, more than likely, some of us will do whatever it takes for these questions to produce a spiritual depth in us that we have never experienced. We will simply say, "Jesus, do your thing". Simply releasing our life to become a blank canvas in which Jesus can create a beautiful work of art for His glory. This life will resemble the more daring, confrontational, transformational, incarnational and missional life we see in the Gospels and in the lives of those who follow Him. Some of us will find this journey preposterous and want nothing to do with this Jesus, we liked the one we had. The safer, more socially acceptable Jesus is what we are after.  For those of us that choose the former, we will be a richer people for it. For those of us that choose the latter, we have resigned ourselves to a religion devoid of power. Or at least the power that we see in Acts 2.
 
Here are some "teaser" verses and quotes from our upcoming series, "Red Letter Disciples":
 
John 8:31 "If you hold to my teaching, you are really my disciples"
 
John 1:43c "Follow Me"
 
"I believe that he wants us to love others so much that we go to extremes to help them" Chan
 
John 10:10 "He came to give live and life to the full"
 
"Lukewarm people don't want to be saved from their sin, they want to be saved from the consequences of their sin" Chan
 
John 12:25 "The man who loves his life will lose it, while the man who hates his life in this word will keep it for eternal life"
 
"It is not scientific doubt, not atheism, not pantheism, not agnosticicsm, that in our day and in this land is likely to quench the light of the gospel. It is a proud, sensuous, selfish, luxurious, church-going, hollow-hearted prosperity" Chan
 
John 21:19 "Jesus said this to indicate the kind of death by which Peter would glorify God. Then he said to him, "Follow me!"
 
 
 
In Him,
 
Pastor Dylan

 

 

Be Christmas to People

by Dylan Does  |  August 26, 2009
Proverbs 11:24-25 24 One man gives freely, yet gains even more; another withholds unduly, but comes to poverty.25 A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.
 
2 Corinthians 9:6-7 6Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. 7Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 
 
One of the most accurate, albeit overused, cliché in Christian circles, and beyond, is "They don't care how much you know, until they know how much you care". "They" is often referring to those who do not know Jesus. Basically this means that people don't care about the facts we have stored up about Jesus, God, Being "Saved", or the Bible, until they see Jesus in our actions and interactions with them. At this point will they open their ears to the truths that we have been entrusted with  about Jesus and what it means to be "saved".  
 
One of the most powerful ways that we can show Jesus, is through living a life of generosity. Simply put, if we are Christmas to people, we can open up avenues to talk about Christ with people. In our above Scriptures, we see that generosity is a powerful tool. In Proverbs 11, it says the more you give the more you receive (this DOES NOT always mean financial means). 2 Corinthians 9 clearly backs up the proverbial claim. I would encourage us not to see these verses through selfish tinted glasses (i.e. if I give, I receive), but instead through selfless tinted glasses (i.e. if I give, I receive for the continual benefit of others).
 
We can often try to relegate, and in turn we are minimizing, generosity to a simple formula and a specific aspect of our life. We try to say that I am generous if I give 10% of my income to the local church. Then we become selfishly dictatorial with the other 90% of our finances and all other areas of our lives. However, generosity is so much more than that. If we look at the Bible (Old and New Testaments), we see that God is much more interested in transforming the entire person, than a measly 10% of our income. A biblical definition of generosity is being 100% others focused and God led in 100% of our lives.
 
Characteristics of a Generous Christ Follower.
 
·Generous with our time for those in need (physically, emotionally, spiritually, relationally)
 
·Generous with our cash (above and beyond the 10%) for the benefit of the local church, missionaries, ministries, organizations, loved ones, neighbors (biblical definition), people we don't know, etc.
 
·Generous with our talents.
 
All this will flow out of our understanding that the only reason we have these things to give, is because they were gifted to us by God Himself. Our time is not our own, our money is not our own, and our talents are not our own.
 
Be Christmas to People, in order to show and speak Christ to people!
 
Pastor Dylan

 

 

Individuality vs. Individualism

by Dylan Does  |  July 30, 2009
For you created my inmost being;  you knit me together in my mother's womb.
 
Psalm 139:13
 
Individuality: Each Individual is precious to God and has distinct gifts, talents, goals and needs. All of these are to be played out in relationship with God and community. You could even call it Biblical Collectivism.  
 
One of the core concepts of my life, and hopefully of my ministry, is God-inspired individuality. I believe that God made each and every one of us unique in our personality and spiritual gifts. And my passion is to help people realize that ONE THING that God created them to do. To find their niche so to speak. Here at YEC, we do seminar weekends called "Discovering Your Ministry DNA" and we are starting to trial run a small group called "Connections", that partially focuses on who God made us individually. Each one combines the individual's personality and spiritual gifting, to help us find out what that ONE THING is that God calls you to do.
 
This passion began to stir in me when I was in Germany doing some training for the Grip Birkman (another tool that combines our personality with spiritual gifts). I was sitting in the Western European Mission Board for the Southern Baptist (Humorous picture for you, think about sitting in Europe expecting a European accent, and then when they speak it sounds as if you are ordering at a Waffle House), asking God why in the world I was a pastor. It had been ingrained in me that a pastor was basically a grandfather. A pastor didn't ruffle feathers, he was just a wise person who gave sage advice, his highest priority was for people to be content and build a happy (not always healthy) church family. Words like leader, progress and numerical growth were for business not church. Yet I knew in my heart, God had called me to challenge and be challenged, to lead people beyond comfort into mission. I knew he had made me, what my father in law has coined, a directional leader not a devotional leader. So I thought that God had forgotten what a pastor was suppose to look like, when he called me.But in that training, it had been made clear to me that I could be a leader and a pastor. God knew who He made me and what He called me to do. He wanted me to be a pastor who challenged people to pursue God's mission. I also found out that He still wanted me to give good advice and not ruffle feathers for the sake of ruffling feathers. But in that moment I knew that I did not have to fulfill any cookie cutter definition that people may have about being a pastor.
 
I hope this is as refreshing to you as it was for me. Even if you aren't a teacher, that doesn't mean God hasn't given you talents that can help the kids you love. Just because you have a servant's heart instead of a speaker's tongue, doesn't mean that God isn't going to use that to bring people to faith in Jesus.  God has instilled his plan for us in the way he knit you and I "together in (our) mother's womb." along with the situations our lives put us in. Individuality is God-inspired. But here's the funny thing, God inspired individuality is for the benefit of God and others. It is not solely for our benefit or whim and fancy.
 
This is our warning. We cannot allow our focus on individuality to turn to a focus on individualism!!!!!!
 
Individualism: Individualism is the moral stance, political philosophy, ideology, or social outlook that stresses independence and self-reliance. Individualists promote the exercise of one's goals and desires, while opposing most external interference upon one's choices, whether by society, or any other group or institution. Individualism is opposed to collectivism, which stress that communal, community, group, societal, or national goals should take priority over individual goals.
 
I believe that Individualism is one of the prevailing heresies (wrong teachings) in the Church today. We believe that the Gospel is only about my personal connection to God (I believe that personal conversion is a must but it's not the entire Gospel). We believe that we don't need others in our walk with Jesus. I.E. You don't need to go to church to be a Christian. We don't believe that our interaction with people has anything to do with our relationship with Jesus. I.E. I can sleep with my boyfriend or girlfriend and it doesn't affect my relationship with Jesus. We say that generosity is not essential in our relationship with God. I.E. What I do with my money or my time  has no bearing on my relationship with God. Individualism causes us to be self indulgent and selfish in our walk with Jesus, far away from Jesus' call for us to "take up our cross and follow him".
 
So as we read the Gospel of Jesus let's stand firm in the fact that God loves us so much that he created us each individually with a specific purpose. Let's also stand firm in the fact that our lives are not for ourselves, but for His glory and for the benefit of those we come in contact with. Like we like to say in our leadership meetings, "It's not about you and your preferences".
 
In Him,
Pastor Dylan

 

 
 

All things work together for good….or do they?

by Shelly Fuehrer  |  July 24, 2009
 All things work together for good….or do they?
 
Greetings from the “pressure cooker,” the place that I like to refer to as where God and I do the hard work of taking His truth and making it real in my life.  As of late life has been traveling and speaking with the hopes of seeing all my circumstances come together for my return to the mission field.  It is here that God has been working and in particular He is in the process of ingraining in me the reality of Romans 8:28.  “All things work together for the good of those who love God and are called according to his purpose.”

All things work together for good…or do they?  When people are passing through difficult situations this passage is one of many that well meaning folks try to offer as a form of encouragement which some times sounds more like a pat answer rather than encouragement.  I for one greatly dislike a pat answer I want something real and genuine….and Paul the writer of Romans is being real and genuine when he makes this statement because he has just finished talking about how the spirit really helps us in our times of need.  Then comes this statement…and frankly I have found myself knowing this passage in my mind but it hasn’t quite found the destination of my heart.

Now before I get ahead of myself I need to qualify something in what Paul is saying because he places a few conditions on his statement of “All things work together for the good.”   Just who does this apply to?  Who gets to experience the reality of all things working together for their good?  Paul tells us…and we need to pay close attention.  He completes his statement with “…of those who love God and are called according to his purpose.”  I don’t know about you but there are two things that I see here…two qualifiers which distinguish who this piece of truth applies to.  “To those who love God,”…Paul is referring to our relationship with God here…primarily being in right relationship with God.  If you have sin in your life then you are not in right relationship and God is going to go out of His way to bring you back into that place of being rightly related to Him.  This might include things in your life being “frustrated,” and some times we respond with the question, “Why is life working against me?”  It’s not that  life is working against you but that you have sin in your life and God is trying to get your attention so that you can resolve the issue with Him and move on in your relationship.  The second qualifier would be “and are called according to his purpose,” here Paul is talking about being in the center of God’s will and purpose for your life and unique ministry He has for each of us.  Again, if we step outside of God’s will for our lives…our best efforts to accomplish that thing we are so sure we are supposed to do can be thwarted.  We then want to respond with, “Why does it seem all my best attempts to do this thing are being blocked and preventing me from moving forward?”  Could it be you are outside of God’s will and He is trying to get your attention so you can be brought back into His purposes for you?
 
I think when we are passing through difficult times we need to “check” and ask the Spirit to reveal to us if there is sin or if we are operating outside of God’s will for our lives.  If there is nothing He brings to mind then it means He is working to strengthen our faith and wants us to trust Him.  That sounds so easier said then done and that is where I am finding myself these days.  God is taking me through the process of renewing my mind with His truth but He doesn’t intend for the truth to merely be something that goes into my mind He wants it to go deep into my heart as well.  I know Romans 8:28 memorized it many years ago and it is in my mind.  However over the past couple of months God has been revealing to me that it is not in my heart and it becomes apparent when I “see” what is going on around me and how things appear to be working out for others and yet here I sit not nearly as close to my goal as I had hoped.  Is it because of sin?  Is it because I’m outside of the will of God?  I have asked the Spirit to check me and it’s not because of either of these things…it’s an issue of trust and building my faith.
 
“An issue of faith and trust” is not an easy place to be because we often times find that there is this disconnect between the head and the heart and in order for the truth of what God is saying to us to find it’s resting place in the heart something has to happen.  The head and the heart have to meet somewhere in the middle and come to an agreement that what God is saying and revealing to us is true and then it is assimilated into our belief system.  Unfortunately this is exactly the same process that happens when the enemy of our lives introduces lies into our minds but that is a subject for another day.  Let me just say in closing….we live out what we truly believe.  All things work together for good…or do they?
 
This is Shelly signing out from the “pressure cooker”….keep working out your faith and relationship with God.

 

 
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