Since we didn’t have a “Life at 6pm” service Sunday night to blog about (by the way, thank you ladies of the Women’s Ministry for a great service), I had to come up with a topic for today’s blog. It was either the topic I’m about to share with you or “A Closer Look at Matthew Chapter 1”, and this is what was pulled from the hat. Don’t worry. Some day we’ll tackle Matthew 1. Now grab a tissue and wipe away those tears of sadness so we can move on to the topic at hand.
I was sitting at home on Saturday night watching a video of the Christian comedian Chonda Pierce for the second time that day (hey, the girl is hilarious). She’s an excellent comedian who even cracks herself up at some of the things that she makes up. That amazes me. What amazes me even more is that in her acts she works in serious gospel messages. At one point in the video she speaks on the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. She was talking about how churches from many different religions all share this one piece of ground where Jesus was crucified. They all take their turns worshipping God and acknowledging what happened on that very spot, all in their own way. They’re not fighting over who’s right and who’s obviously not. They’re not fighting over which church has the best choir or whose pastor wore the best tie that day. They have more important things to worry about. They came to praise the God of the universe.
As I watched that video and heard that story, I started to get so convicted that I began to weep. I know sometimes it’s so easy to get caught up in what’s going on at Tree of Life or what’s going on at other churches in town. It really is. And I’m speaking about myself here. But I think that there also comes a time where you have to lick your wounds and get back up and do what you’re called to do. The disciples knew that. Their Savior had been crucified. The man they loved had just been taken and nailed to a cross. What did they do? They mourned for a while and then did as Jesus had commanded them to do.
The devil loves it when we get distracted. He loves it when a church that is in hot pursuit of Christ slows down, if even for a second. It doesn’t even have to be the whole church. All it takes is a few of the members deciding that right now, this is more important than what we are ultimately called to do.
What is our calling? What is the church’s role? It’s to preach the gospel. It’s to reach the lost and dying.
I came to the realization Saturday night that while I was so distracted by other things that don’t really matter, there are people all around me perishing. These people are going to hell. Satan is laughing. And what am I doing? Nothing. I’m too distracted.
We need to be more like the worshippers in the Church of the Holy Sepulcher. We need to care less about what’s happening to the right or to the left of us. We need to concentrate on the cross of Cavalry and blood that was shed for us. We need to say that we don’t care what’s going on around us, we’re going to concentrate on winning the lost for Christ. We don’t want it to be said of our church that we’re distracted. We want it to be said that this is where we are concentrating on what matters. This is where the Spirit of the Living God is felt. This is where Satan has met his match.
Chonda Pierce ended her performance with a song, the lyrics of which I’m going to leave you with. It’s a song that we have sung so many times here at TOL and I just made it my prayer ever since Saturday night:
“I love You, I love You, I love You.
I love You, I love You, I love You.
I love You, I love You, I love You.
And my heart will follow WHOLLY after You.”
~~Brandy Malachowsky
*Yesterday was a sunny Sunday. The Malachowskys met me to help set up the Adult Sunday School class, but someone beat us to it, so we had a great opportunity to just hang out and talk. The Malachowskys make me laugh and they are always willing to do whatever needs to be done. Sunday School was awesome. We continued our series on “the church” by going deeper into our definition of “local church”.
*Here’s our definition of the local church:
The local church is a community of regenerated believers who confess Jesus Christ as their risen Lord and Savior. In obedience to scripture they organize under qualified leadership; gather regularly for preaching, teaching, prayers, fellowship and praise; observe the Biblical sacraments of baptism and Communion; are unified by the Spirit; are disciplined for holiness; and go forth to fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission as missionaries throughout the world for God’s glory.
*We spent yesterday morning looking at the first sentence of the definition. It raised some great discussion and took us all over the New Testament. If you’re not plugged into Sunday School somewhere, come visit us in building D at 9:15am. I’m thinking about the name “Community Bible Study”.
*We arrived back at the church a little after 5:00. Last night’s service was led by Tree of Life’s Women’s Ministries as an opportunity to introduce the congregation to the new leadership of Women’s Ministries. The service went well and Lindsey did a great job leading worship. It was strange spending a majority of the time as a part of the congregation. I’m used to leading this sevice and spending the whole time (except for the opening–more on that in a moment) in the congregation let me step back and evaluate some things and pray for those around me.
*Now lets talk about the opening. In a nutshell, I fumbled and bumbled through it. I had in my head the direction I wanted to go but went nowhere near there. I prayed about 7 different times in a three minute time span and missed every point I had intended to make. It shouldn’t surprise me. I rarely do well with openers and “impromtu” microphone times. BUT…when I’m bringing the message I feel completely at home and confident now. What’s the difference? I think the Lord is reminding me that I’m not a public speaker. I think the Lord is reminding me that without His anointing I stutter and stammer and mumble. I’m thankful for that reminder. More thankful than I’m able to communicate…
*Next week, “3” continues.
~~Jason Queen, Tree of Life Ministries
I started to make today’s Friday Five a top five list of the reasons I wish Brandy would stop harassing me about doing the Friday Five on time, but I have successfully fought off that urge because deep down I know Brandy is right and although that is painful to admit, the truth is the truth.
So, today’s Friday Five comes from Misty and me and it is a list of five passages of scripture that are special to us. You may find yourself asking “why do they love these passages?” Just ask us and we’ll tell ya:
#5: Ruth 1:16-17 16 But Ruth replied, “Don’t urge me to leave you or to turn back from you. Where you go I will go, and where you stay I will stay. Your people will be my people and your God my God.17 Where you die I will die, and there I will be buried. May the LORD deal with me, be it ever so severely, if anything but death separates you and me.”
#4: Luke 2:6-7 6While they were there, the time came for the baby to be born, 7and she gave birth to her firstborn, a son. She wrapped him in cloths and placed him in a manger, because there was no room for them in the inn.
#3: Colossians 2:13-15 13When you were dead in your sins and in the uncircumcision of your sinful nature, God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, 14having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. 15And having disarmed the powers and authorities, he made a public spectacle of them, triumphing over them by the cross.
#2: Revelation 22:2 In the middle of its street on either side of the river was the tree of life, bearing twelve kinds of fruit, yielding its fruit every month; and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations.
#1: Isaiah 6:8 Then I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for Us?” Then I said, “Here am I. Send me!”
~~Jason and Misty Queen
Somebody first told me about Tree of Life Ministries back in 1994, but I had no idea what the girl was talking about when she said the name. It didn’t sound like a church. It sounded more like…a group of ministries. Since I was looking for a church, not a group of ministries, I never thought about Tree of Life Ministries again. Then in 1996, someone invited me to church and I knew from day one that Tree of Life was special.
Special in great ways and special in…special ways. First of all, the worship time was very different from anything I was used to. Most people raised their hands (at LU, students raised hands but it was usually only one hand) and jumped (nobody jumped at Liberty back then, at least not for worship). The pastor’s wife led us in songs while a bluegrass meets country meets sixties festival band played behind her. The piano player led the band and I thought he was most definitely strung out on something because he bobbed his head and threw his feet around at a wild pace. His name was Scott and he later told me that he was strung out–strung out on Jesus! The songs they sang were called choruses and we repeated many of them in order to help us “enter into worship”. I had never heard that phrase before but I liked it. And I liked the people around me. They seemed so real and authentic. “Authentic” wasn’t a trade term back then. Back then it was just people being themselves. And boy were they. Nobody seemed to hide their past at Tree of Life and I liked that. When people talked about what God had done in their lives they laughed and cried and seemed…excited. Excitement isn’t a big enough word to describe what happened when the pastor started preaching. The people called him Pastor Mike and Pastor Mike was on fire! He preached at 200 miles per hour and every word he said soared right into places in my heart and soul that I hadn’t opened up in years. He preached right to me it felt like and after the sermon everyone said the same thing. “I feel like he reads my mail.” “He said exactly what I needed to hear.” “That message was just for me.” People spoke about the sermon in a flurry of excitement.
Excitement always seemed to be in the air at Tree of Life Ministries and like I said, from day one I knew it was special. From day one its not a stretch to say that I fell in love with the place. My friends Jason and Patrick loved the church as well and they jumped right into life at Tree of Life with me. Before long we were serving in the youth ministry and the excitement was growing and flowing everywhere around us. Several families just welcomed me right in and loved me like one of their own. At Tree of Life I thought that everything could fall apart but my church family would always love me and be there. I thought that was true and five years after first visiting Tree of Life, I would put that thought to the test.
So without going into too much of my personal story at this point (we can meet for coffee sometime for that part), I burned myself out trying to work for the Lord instead of loving Him and worshiping Him and serving Him. And over time, things fell apart all around me. I lost contact with most of my college friends and most of my family and for the most part I was on my own (because of my own shame and embarrassment and worries, not theirs). A dark cloud rested just over my head and I thought my life was over. But it wasn’t…
I said earlier that I thought my church family would always love me and be there and when that thought was tested…I was right. When everyone else walked away, my immediate family and my church family walked in and loved me and accepted me and traveled my road with me.
When my cloud lifted and the sun came back out, I came back to Tree of Life with my wife Misty and the people of the church loved her and accepted her in ways that amazed me. Several families immediately took Misty in and became her home away from home. They became her mom and dad and her sisters and her brothers and her friends. When our first child was born, the waiting room was packed with Tree of Life family and I watch the videos of that birth and the births of our other three and smile inside when I see our church family with us. Sometimes my eyes even sweat.
And as the years have gone by, Tree of Life has been our home and even though my family is the best in the world, my church family has been just as close to me. Tree of Life and the families that make up Tree of Life are special and like I said, I knew that from day one. And a few months ago, day one turned into year 13.
Our family welcomed in 2009 with anticipation in our hearts. My job was going great. We were expecting our fourth child. Ministry had never been better. We were loving Jesus like never before and we felt His presence in everything we did and in every area of our home. We started out the year knowing that the Lord was going to bring us into new areas and into a new way of life. We had never started out another year of our marriage with as much anticipation as we did on January 1, 2009. As January rolled along, Tree of Life made some hard and difficult changes in leadership and our season of refining was upon us. We said good-bye to some good friends in February and that month, our fourth son grew closer and closer to making his appearance. Caleb was born on February 21st.
In February, the Lord began to move us into a new home. To tell you how the Lord orchestrated that move would take up twelve computer screens, so let me say it this way. He put us where He wanted us and He has known where He wanted us all along.
Along this same time our church entered a season of change that had really been seeded in the latter part of 2008. At this time I will be brief because we are a church of humans and humans aren’t perfect and humans can be hurt. And people all around us were hurt. And during this season some of our Tree of Life friends and family moved to other parts of the Kingdom. This was a sad time for many and even now the sadness remains for some. I haven’t recently watched those birth videos I mentioned earlier because they show people we once were so close to and now we rarely see them.
Out of this season a leadership position grew at Tree of Life and that position was offered to me in early March. When Pastor Mike offered the Executive Pastor position my heart jumped because I so badly wanted to help my church. To follow the path that the Lord had laid out so many years ago. But I was also scared. My job was going great. Our family had never been happier and now we found ourselves at a crossroads…
and the following words emerge on the screen
[to be continued…]
~~Jason Queen
I usually like to open the blog by somehow picking on Joe. This week I’ve got nothing. Excellent graphic, Joe. Excellent!
Donald did a great job leading worship. Thanks, Donald!
Jason started the new series “Three” on Sunday. I wasn’t really sure what to expect with this one. Usually when a pastor announces a series, I can pretty much pinpoint what they’re going to speak on. Jason kept me guessing on this one. What did we end up getting? By far the best sermon I have ever heard Jason preach.
Jason spoke on remembering God. It seems so simple. How could any Christian possibly forget God? And yet, sometimes, we do just that. Sometimes we get so caught up in living our lives that God gets set aside.
When we forgot who God is and what He has done for us, we start to get a false sense of security. We start to think we can take care of ourselves. We can’t. We need to remember God our provider.
When we forget who God is and what He has saved us from, we get a false picture of our past. We start to forget everything God has brought us out of. We become self righteous. We forget to show mercy to those around us and don’t treat our fellow Christians and even the sinners around us with the grace and mercy that God has shown us.
There’s a song we used to sing when I was growing up in church. The chorus goes something like “He brought me in from the fields on sin. With arms of mercy, He brought me in. Just look out yonder to where I have been. I thank God He brought me in”. That song reminds me to look back at what God has brought me from. It reminds me that I wasn’t always where I am now. Where I came from was dark and full of sin and God brought me out. We need to remember that.
Jason’s “fight” story hit me hard. I don’t want to be the type of Christian that kicks people when they’re down and is so relentless that I don’t give them the chance to get up or even apologize for wrongdoing.
Next week Jason brings us part 2 of the series which reminds us not to forget other Christians. I think the root of that may be forgetting God, but we’ll see…
~~Brandy Malachowsky
*Yesterday was fantastic! Even if I sat down and scripted the day out it could not have gone anywhere near as great as it did.
*I started the day teaching the adult Sunday School class. We had some great discussion time and LOTS of class input. We started our new series on “the church” by defining the local church. What a great class! Filled with lots of people who love Jesus and want to get deeper into His Word. I need to come up with a few options for a class name. I’m open to suggestions.
*We arrived back at church by about 5:00. Had to stop for coffee of course 🙂
*When I walked in, the whole band was on the platform. And when I say the “whole” band I mean the WHOLE band. Donald was leading last night and Donovan had three guitarists up there with them. And filling in on bass? Donovan Eades himself!!! Awesome…
*Joe had a great graphic up for the new series. Very cool. Like something off of a 1930’s mystery magazine.
*Donovan is continuing to let a different one of his musicians and singers lead each week. This makes things seem a bit inconsistent but the reality is that we are staying consistent with our vision for the service. I’ve always felt that this is a great service for God’s servants to make the next step in leadership. That doesn’t mean we leave a wide open door to anyone and everyone that feels called, but someone that has shown him/herself to be dedicated to the Lord and to what He is doing on Sunday nights has a great opportunity to step forward on Sunday nights. Last night, Donald led worship.
*Donald did a great job. He really worked well with the others and he has a true heart for worship and for serving.
*I felt great about the message (once I got started). I will admit that I was sweating it a bit before I started. I had read and re-read and studied and studied but there were still certain areas that the Lord had not made totally clear to me. On top of that, the areas that He had made clear were HARD teachings. So, stepping up to the front, I honestly did not know what to expect.
*Last night was another one of those defining moment nights for me. I felt the Lord’s presence and control all over me from beginning to end and I found Him surprising me and teaching me as we went along. Amazing!
*This series started several weeks ago when the Lord spoke to me so clearly one morning. What did He say? He said, “Don’t you forget me, Jason.”
*So in response to that, we launched the series, “THR3E”. Three things Christians should never forget.
*Last night’s message was “Never forget where we came from.”
*I will post the scriptures later today. We were in Luke, Numbers, Deuteronomy, Matthew and John.
*Lots of people have been asking me about the new direction the Lord has taken our family in regards to my job, our ministry, Tree of Life, and all things related. So, in response to that I will be post a blog on Thursday that will bring everyone up to speed about what the Lord has been doing in our lives and what He has in store for us.
*Next week, “Christians should never forget each other”.
~Jason Queen, Tree of Life Ministries
This Sunday, we will begin “3”, our new series. So in honor of this new series, I will tackle some questions.
Question 1: “What is “3”?
My Answer: “3” is our new series. 🙂
Question 2: What is the focus of “3”?
My Answer: Excellent question. We’ll be focusing on three things that Christians should never forget.
Question 3: What are those three things?
My Answer: The first is this–Christians should never forget where they came from. The second is–Christians should never forget each other. The third is–Christians should never forget Christ.
And there you have it. I used the word “new series” so many times that I lost count because I’m excited about this new series.
See ya this Sunday at 6pm.
~~Jason Queen, Tree of Life Ministries
Sunday was Easter so there was no evening service at Tree of Life. Since I do not have a message to recap, let me share with you the highlights of my Easter weekend.
On Sunday mornings I work in the 3 year old class during Kinderchurch. We had decided that it would be fun to have an Easter egg hunt for all of Kinderchurch during the 11am service on Sunday. This was great, but someone would need to do the preparations for said Easter egg hunt. I unwittingly volunteered. Not only did I volunteer, but I also dragged Misty Queen into my blind ambitions of Easter egg stuffing (she did this with a cheerful heart, and I am forever grateful). So there we were on Saturday afternoon, less than 24 hours before the Hunt, with 600 eggs to fill. Luckily we had 7 children who were each willing to help in their own little way. Some supervised, some sorted the eggs nicely by color, some dove into the box holding the 600 Easter eggs just to see how durable the eggs would be, and some did their best impression of the White House Easter Egg Roll around the living room. Eventually the eggs did get stuffed and I did not throw the boxes of nerds that refused to fit into the eggs out the window as originally planned. It was a great day and fun was had by all.
Easter Sunday morning came and we got up early to make it to Jason’s first day as Adult Sunday School teacher. He did a great job and I’m really looking forward to the series he’s about to do in there.
Tim and Stephanie helped me hide the eggs for the Kinderchurch egg hunt. I really appreciated the help. Tim laughed at me as I hid each egg one by one for the 3 and 4 year olds to find while he took his box of eggs into a classroom and lovingly threw them randomly on the floor in piles.
After church we had a wonderful Easter dinner with our 3 kids. We watched an animated version of the Passion of the Christ. I saw tears in my 6 year old daughter’s eyes as she realized that Jesus had to have loved us very much to go through all that He did so that we could go to Heaven. John 3:16 came alive for her that day.
All the unsaved people we knew already had Easter plans, so Tim graciously pretended to be unsaved while I witnessed to him in exchange for deviled eggs. Thanks, Tim.
I have realized that the older I get, the more meaning Jesus’ death on the cross brings to my life. I was listening to the song “Arise My Love” on Easter Sunday morning. The words to that are powerful: “Arise my love, arise my love. The grave no longer has a hold on You. No more death’s sting, no more suffering. Arise, arise my love”. It’s awesome to realize that the grave doesn’t have a hold, death isn’t the end! The song goes on to say “Sin: where are your shackles? Death: where is your sting? Hell has been defeated. The grave could not hold the King!”. In a world full of people looking for hope, this is what we have to offer. This is our hope. This is the meaning of Easter.
~~Brandy Malachowsky
So, it seems like I’ve been away from this blog for a bit and I’m sorry. May I explain myself?
Last weekend was a busy weekend. Easter Sunday. Resurrection Day! It was an awesome time of worship and fellowship with family and friends and church family.
No Sunday Evening service. Instead, we encouraged everyone to invite neighbors and friends into their homes. Many of you did just that and I heard some great stories.
On top of everything else, I started the new job on Monday, so there was very little blogging time. I will blog more about this new job very soon.
Thanks for your patience!
~~Jason Queen, Tree of Life Ministries
Matt Perkins brought us a message on Deborah Sunday night. We could take a lot of things out of the message from Matt. We learned that iron chariots are heavy. We learned that some men are going to wear sweater vests no matter how many times you warn them not to. We learned that Matt should consider a career as a high school history teacher. Aside from all that, here’s just 2 of the things that stuck with me:
1. Don’t be a “but”. The Israelites were God’s chosen people. They could have just taken the land that God gave to them. Instead they chose to live “peacefully” among sinners who prayed to other gods. That is what ended up getting them in the mess they were in when God once again had to come to their rescue as we see in the story of Deborah. Let this be a lesson to all of us: we are called to invade the kingdom of Satan. Invade. Not habitate. Not visit. Not sit on the fence in between the kingdom of God & the kingdom of Satan and see which one has the better weather. Invade. Don’t compromise. Don’t be a “but”.
2. Support Barak. Deborah knew her place was right beside the leader that God had given Israel, supporting him. She did what he asked her to do without complaining. She was there to support him in any way that he needed her because she knew that’s what God called her to do. She even followed him into battle and because of that we see him listed in the Hebrews 11 Hall of Faith. We have some great pastors at Tree of Life. Pray for them. Love them. Above all else, be ready to walk into battle with them, uncompromisingly invading the kingdom of Satan. Our leaders do not want to go into the spiritual battle they face every day without the prayers and support of the people around them. Let’s do what God has called us to do and lift them up.
Breathtaking is now over. Now there’s a statement that I have dreaded writing for weeks. I am sad to see it end. But Jason is very excited about his new series and has gotten me pumped up about it.
Next week is Easter and we won’t be having a 6pm service. Enjoy your Easter and I will see you all next Sunday night!
~~Brandy Malachowsky
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