Jay Passavant

Thanks to those of you  who commented on the absence of new posts. I've taken some time to redesign this space and on Monday the 17th, will launch a
new and improved version with other links and material. Thanks for your patience and your prayers!
Tomorrow, Friday, the folks at "K-Love" a nationally syndicated radio station will be broadcasting a feature story on the Wexford Starlight Car Cruise! After sending out a local rep, they found that their 'mission' and ours deeply coincided and wanted to tell the nation about our weekly experience here in Pittsburgh. With about 10 million listeners, that's quite a compliment and further confirmation that, in principle, we are consistent with what other folks are doing to build relational bridges in to their communities.
The story will be carried numerous times throughout out the day (98.3 FM)
and available on podcast later in the day.
Thanks to K-Love for the honor of being their 'feature ministry of the week'.


Blessings,
   Jay

Let me begin by thanking those of you who took the time to mention that you missed these postings. There's been a bit of reason for that.
Starting on Monday the 17th, the blog will have an entirely new look and some additional links and helps to serve those of you who find these comments helpful. It's taken some time to design the changes, but the end result will surely be worth it!
 On the more immediate front, I learned yesterday that K-LOVE (98.3FM in
Pittsburgh) is taking our Wexford Starlite Car Cruise Story to the national level
this Friday. They will be broadcasting clips from an interview we did on Monday,
plus adding a podcast later in the day.
 K-Love's mission is similar to that of the Cruise; they want to reach those who are unaware of God's love as well provide a place/space for followers to find
some connection.
The fact that they have about 10 million listeners nationwide on hundreds of
outlets seems to indicate that they are doing their job really well.
We honored that among many stories that they consider every week, they chose the Wexford Starlight Car Cruise as their feature for this Friday!
If you haven't seen the video of a typical cruise, check it out on YouTube...
(the link wasn't working this morning).

This past week-end, I preached for the first time in six weeks. It was longest I
had gone between teaching opportunities in many years; in part because of our 'teaching team' approach to bringing God's Word, and in part because of travel.


The 'unexpected surprise' to me was not that I felt any loss in passion or clarity from the Spirit, (I didn't!); but that I did lose a bit of the discipline of bringing the Word in a timely fashion. 
Said plainly, I just rambled too much!  Let me be clear: I don't think there is any 'magic number' in terms of how long a message should be. Just about a month ago, I heard Pastor Rick Warren give a 'normal' Sunday message that was 55 minutes long. Other equally gifted guys can limit themselves to 25 minutes and be very effective.
In some traditions, the sermon is the central item in the worship service and is always an hour or more. In other, normally newer churches, it is always much shorter; believing that 'unchurched' folks have a 20 minute attention span because of television viewing.


What mattered to me was that, in reviewing the message, I had diluted the key points by adding to much unnecessary commentary. Fortunately, I had an opportunity to edit the message on Sunday morning, cutting the unimportant but not losing any of the essence of the text in Nehemiah 7-8. (How I thanked
God for another chance..!)


When it comes to sharing God's Word, 'less is more' most of the time; as long as you know you have brought the core truth in understandable terms. As for me, I'm going to work at 'keeping the rust' off; cherishing every opportunity to
preach/teach for the gift that it is..


If you care to see the 'reviewed version'; go www.northway.org and follow the prompts to 'watch the message'. How blessed we are!


Pastor Jay

After having shared a rather meaningful insight in to "truth" yesterday, I almost want to apologize for this; but life is full of balance, right?! 
This evening, not only do we have the Wexford Starlight Car Cruise, the largest
weekly Cruise in America, but we also have our third annual "Hot Dog Eating Contest" featuring Johnnie's Dogs. We had about 20 contestants last year; and even more expected tonight.
  It's rather hilarious to see folks 'eat themselves silly'; but it's for a good cause; the North Way Counseling Center, and it really is fun for the whole family. So, hope you can find your way to Wexford tonight: Cruise begins at
5:30 (well, people start coming at noon) and contest is around 7:00.. go
here to check it out:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TmWM93NLQ7k


 Blessings!
    Jay
  

In my preparations for this weekend's message in Nehemiah I was struck by this quote from A.W. Tozer, well known preacher from early in the 20th century.  He wrote, "Truth is a glorious but hard mistress.  She never consults, bargains, or compromises."

In my conversations with different people over the past several months I have encountered just how much bright people resist the idea of absolute truth.  Everyone wants to be "tolerant" of other perspectives and the idea that there is an absolute truth and that it might be revealed to us in the person of Jesus is difficult for them to accept, if not offensive.

However, the application of this goes far beyond my perception of other people.  It also goes into the root of my own lifestyle choices, the way I spend my time, money and other resources.  It affects who I speak to, what I watch and read, and even how I think about the future.

The fact that God's Word is truth, means that it is pervasive in every area of my life and something to which I must have the courage to hold my life up to in order to see how closely I am walking in alignment with God's will and purpose.

On the other hand, God Himself is gracious and forgiving and when I do fail to walk in the light of the truth, He doesn't hold it over my head as a hammer, He lovingly forgives and restores me in a relationship of unmerited favor and blessing.

I wonder how many times I have selectively taken truth out of particular situations or decisions because I may not have wanted to know it.  In the end, it's the only way to build a life on a sure foundation that can't be moved.

Blessings,
Dr. Jay

  The past two weeks have been a bit frustrating for me as my normally reliable
laptop computer has suffered a complete meltdown. This took place just prior to my leaving for a week-long trip which gave me no opportunity to have the problem addressed.
    What I've been reminded of is that quite a number of you have been kind enough to express a desire for me to be more frequent in my efforts to communicate; and I purpose to do so, just as soon as the new equipment arrives (tomorrow!).
    Speaking of communication, though one might not think of Tim Tebow as
 the NFL's greatest QB, there's little doubt that few, if any athletes have done
a better job using their 'celebrity' as a platform to share their faith and values.
Please check out this story about Tim's Father's Day gathering where 26,000
folks showed up in San Diego (not Florida, or New York, or Denver) to hear
him share!


   http://www.christianpost.com/news/26000-people-flock-to-hear-tim-tebow-speak-about-his-dad-76809/
   
   Each of us have a platform to share what God is doing in our lives; whether
 huge or just very personal. I recently had one friend who said that he just
 started 'listening' to others rather than talking all the time, which has opened
 up a world of opportunity.
    
   So.. communicate friends! Share the grace and love of God, His work in your life, and His love for others every way you can. You'll be amazed at how much of a difference you can make!


    Blessings!
      Jay

Over the weekend, I went with our family to my 7 year old grandson's "Little League" baseball game which happened to be during a very warm and rather oppressive late day time slot.  By the end of the game, as we were walking back to the cars, a piercing outburst began to take place between a couple of the "coaches" (read fathers of the kids) who were clearly and rather violently upset about some sort of philosophical perspective about how the game was being played.  This was no minor disagreement but literally was coming to physical blows before others broke up the two dads and pushed them away from each other.

I had to chuckle because that same passion has been around sports all of my life and continues to seem to be impossible to "control" even with 7 year olds all around.

This reminds me of the fact that "sin is always crouching at our door" as the scripture says and even in circumstances where we think we should easily be under control, we're not.  We need to be fully yielded to who Jesus wants to be in our lives so that such situations just don't happen.  In today's reading in Oswald Chambers "My Utmost For His Highest," he talks about getting beyond "self-interest" and to the place where pride, self-sufficiency and self-interest have been completely erased.

I know I am nowhere near that place in my life, but watching these two grown men scream at each other reminded me of just how quickly life can get ugly when we chose to hold on to our "self-interest" and not look out for the interest of others.

In the end, the only answer to such pride is surrender to Christ and His plan and purpose in our life.  As we all know, this is a daily discipline, not a once only act, and the powerful internal drive to protect self-interest reminds us of that nearly every day.

The good news is that Jesus invites us to "come and see" how He does it every single day. John 1:38-39.

Blessings!
Pastor Jay

P.S.  Watch out for those Little League games. . . they can be lethal!