Give 'em Heaven - May, 2011 (Final Words from Pastor Doug)
Hope is Alive! - April 2011
Answers to some questions - March, 2011
Thoughts and Prayers regarding Rick Partain and Family - July, 2010
Refreshed in God's Presence - June, 2010
Easter - It's a beautiful day - March, 2010
A Simple Pastoral Christmas Letter - December, 2009
Some thoughts about life and dying - November 12, 2009

For several days I have been thinking about writing this last article as your Lead Pastor.  With 12 years of memories, wonderful relationships, lots of joy and a few regrets, what should I write about?  What profound truth can I, should I communicate in these last few paragraphs?  Here I sit thinking, my mind somewhat numb, flooded with all the memories. 

One thing keeps coming to me.  These are my life verses that I have wanted to mark my life and that I have prayed for our church, for you:

 For the love of Christ controls us, having concluded this, that one died for all, therefore all died; and He died for all, so that they who live might no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died and rose again on their behalf. (2 Cor. 5:14-15 NASB)

It seems to me this is the only thing that’s really going to count in the long run.  It is my prayer that I will and that the Trinity family will be marked as ones who are compelled, driven, motivated by the incredible love Christ has for us and our subsequent love for Him.  This is my plea to you: Stay focused on the love of Christ.  This is what really matters the most.  I am convinced that when we know and experience the compelling love of Christ then the other parts of our lives begin to make sense and happen in ever greater ways. 

 When the love of Christ compels me it is so much easier to love God with all my heart, soul, mind and strength (Mark 12:30). 

When the love of Christ motivates me then loving others (Mark 12:31) becomes a greater reality in my life because I have within me the love of the One who loved me all the way to the cross.  Relationships are everything.  The compelling love of Christ helps me value those relationships and love others in a way that I can’t on my own. 

When the love of Christ drives me then I become His more effective ambassador (2 Cor. 5:20).  I can be the physical visible representation of the living invisible Christ even as Christ was the physical visible representation of the living invisible God.  His love and life is in me through His Spirit (John 20:21f).  The compelling love of Christ makes it possible for me to “give ‘em heaven.” 

When the love of Christ controls me then I remember I am a constant and glad debtor to His grace.  I really am “better than I deserve.”

This will be my constant prayer for you.  And let me add to it my thanks.  Thanks for being a wonderful church.  It has been my honor to serve our Lord with you as we have worshipped together in many different ways, improved the facility the Lord has given us, become multi-ethnic, reached out to our community in new ways, sent and enabled people to disciple the nations, led many to Christ and seen many grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord.  I have had a fantastic staff to work with, really great Boards every year I have been here, and ministry leaders that are passionate about their areas of ministry.  Trinity is a great church.

It has been a great journey with you.  Thank you!  I remain . . .

Yours because of His compelling love,

Pastor Doug

Hope is alive!  Hope is alive because Jesus is alive.  We have a living hope because we have a living Savior. This is an amazing thing.  We are a privileged people.  No other religion, no other faith, no other group has this kind of hope or confidence.  No one has a reason to celebrate like we do.
Easter – I love this time of the year.  It is our grand day of celebration. And it is just over a week away.  I trust that you are looking forward to that day with a sense of expectation.  I also want to ask you to pray in big ways for that day.  Pray for your “5 for 30.”  Pray that it will be a day when people come to faith.  Pray that it will be a day of celebration for us and for heaven because people meet the risen Lord. 

And, like I have been encouraging you over the last weeks, I want to ask you to invite your friends and acquaintances.  It is such a wonderful day to bring friends.  Get those specially wrapped Hershey bars, hand out the little information cards, and/or make the phone calls.  Do all that you can to enable people to hear the best news that has ever hit our planet!
They will hear a clear message about how they can have life and have a living hope for their futures.  With them you can have a wonderful breakfast.  And you have so many different possibilities for the Easter Services.
  
We also will have our Good Friday service at 7:30pm on Friday.  The beautiful music, our worship and communion will help us and friends you bring remember and see the reason behind the cross.
And the Sunday after Easter (May 1,2011 ) we are celebrating Children’s Day.  This will include a combined Spanish/English service at 10:45 designed for families with kids.  After the service there will be lots of activities for the children and with a hot dog and hamburger picnic lunch.  This will be a fantastic time to bring friends with children.  Yes, we will also have our regular Classic service at 9:00am on May 1, 2011. It’s going to be a great day! Actually a great 10 days – Good Friday, Easter Sunday, Children’s Day. Let’s pray, invite and serve together. And may many come to see why we celebrate and join us. Our hope is alive because Jesus is alive! 

Everyone knows change happens.  The next months will bring very significant changes to Trinity with Pastor Aldo and Pastor Doug resigning.  We have known about Pastor Aldo’s resignation for some time.  Pastor Aldo’s last Sunday with us will be March 27, 2010.  There will be an open house lunch in Fellowship Hall on that day at 12:30 to thank him for his service with us. In the first week of March Pastor Doug announced his decision to step down as Lead Pastor.  This was a surprise to many in our church family.  In light of his decision we thought it would be important to ask a few questions and report to you in this inaugural Trinity newsletter.

Question 1: What motivated your decision to resign as our Lead Pastor at this time?
Answer: For some time now I have thought that the gifts that God has given me are not really the ones I believe are needed for the next part of Trinity’s journey.  So a main reason behind the decision is that I feel I have been operating more in my areas of non-strength.  I have been trying to do things that I am not gifted to do.  My sense is that Trinity needs a stronger leader and better manager than what I am.  My strengths lie more in the area of people skills and building consensus. 
   A second and very key reason is that I sense I do not have and have not been able to give Trinity a clear vision for the next part of the journey that God wants for Trinity.  This is essential for a leader and for a Lead Pastor.  Right now I just can’t see the next mountain that Trinity should climb.  I feel it would be wrong for me to lead when I am unsure about where to lead.
 
Question 2: Did anyone tell you that you should do this?
 Answer: Absolutely not.  Only the leading that I sensed from the Lord motivated this decision.  No one at Trinity ever asked or advised me to do this.  In fact, it has been quite the opposite.  For twelve years now I have had phenomenal Deacon Boards, wonderful ministry leaders and friends to work with.  All of them have been very encouraging to me.  The Board asked me to reconsider my decision, but at the same time they said that if the Lord is moving me, they did not want to stand in the way.  No, no one has asked me to do this.  Maybe that’s why the making of this decision was so hard for me.  People-pleaser that I am, I don’t like making a decision that will make anyone sad.  But I do sense that this is the best decision and so on we go in spite of the sadness.

 But I also know there is a great future in store for Trinity as I mentioned in my message on March 6^th.  Look at Jer. 29:11, Eph. 3:20-21 and Phil. 1:6 and this will be very clear.  And as I said in my message, Trinity is a good church, a very good church.  I am so thrilled for how improvements have been made to the campus, how we are becoming a multi-ethnic church as God’s word says the church should be, how we have wonderful leaders and staff in place, how Trinity is becoming more and more focused on community outreach and seeking the lost.  These things bless my heart!  Trinity has a great God that has worked fantastic qualities into the fabric of the church.  Greater things are yet to be done in this church and through this church in our community and world.
 
Question 3: So what now for you?
 Answer: Well, I know June and July will be taken up mainly with family activities.  Also, I’m already taking a class to develop my TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) skills which I did in China for 5 years.  So if I can be used of God to advance His kingdom again in a cross-cultural setting where there is a real need, I’d love to do that.  But for the first couple months, apart from hanging out with the family, I might just do nothing.  I’ll spend time with the Lord, get my spiritual batteries recharged, drink some great “angel nectar” and get ready for the next part of the journey with God.
      I do want to give a final word.  I do love this church.  Susie and I have been so blessed with wonderful friends and opportunities here.  My prayer is that God will give us grace to maintain those very precious relationships.   

This is one of those very hard letters for me to write.  Many of you probably already know that Rick Partain was killed in an accident while working on a car.  It is such a shock to the family and to all of the friends who knew and loved him.  I know that Rick and Marlene have loved and influenced for Jesus so many people in Trinity and in their community.  Their love for God and for people was so evident.  I expect that those of you who knew him felt the fun and the life that flowed out of Rick.  He made you glad to be alive.
 
I am the pastor.  I know I’m supposed to have answers for all sorts of questions.  I don’t have an answer for the “Why?” in this one.  Like Job who didn’t get an answer to his questions, I expect we won’t know all the reasons behind this until we see the Lord face-to-face.  But again, even though we may not know why, I will keep my eyes fixed on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith (Heb. 12:2).  That is what I hope you will do as well.  That is what brought Job through the agonizing pain he went through.  Seeing God changes things.
 
Yes, there have been and will be lots of tears.  But in talking with Marlene and other family members, we don’t weep as people without hope (1 Thes. 4:13).  Those of us who know the Lord will see the Lord and will see Rick again.  I am so thankful we have that confident hope.
 
At this point arrangements for a service that will honor Rick and point people to the Lord are still pending.  We’ll let you know when some plans have been made.
 
What can you do to help?  So many of you have already asked.  Thank you for those sentiments and those desires to show your love.  Most certainly, pray!  As we become aware of needs, we will let you know.  Marcee Edwards is coordinating meals for them.  If there is a need, she may be calling some of you.  ZuZu’s Petals, the flower shop where Marlene works, will be closed until next Wednesday.  If you desire to send flowers through their store, Cindy Johnson will be taking all those orders through her cell phone (480-395-1895).  Beyond this, at this point in time, I would just ask you to be sensitive to the family.  Love them.  Bear their burdens with them (Gal. 6:2).  Pray for them.  Be there for the family in the days, weeks and months down the road.
 
Rick was a great friend.  I loved him.  I miss him deeply already.  I expect it is the same for many of you.  May we all find the grace of our Lord to be sufficient for such a time as this (2 Cor. 12:9).
 
With His compelling love,
Pastor Doug

In fact, this spot is just a few miles from where I will be. May the Lord  use it to inspire and refresh my soul. He has in the past. I think many of you have found the same. When you see His handiwork and you are away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life, it often does help to open your eyes, ears and heart to something He wants to say to you. Yet I can distract myself even with the beauty and surroundings. So to be accountable I will promise you that I will not take out the fly rod and head to the river when I am actually supposed to be studying and planning. You can ask me about that when I get back.

• First, in August and the beginning of September I expect to be doing a series of messages dealing with our spiritual growth process. As the staff, deacons, ministry leaders and I have talked about this, it has become something I am all the more energized to have everyone in Trinity do. We have almost completed putting together four 7-week classes entitled “Discovery – Finding God’s way in your world”.   These classes are made up of solid discipleship material that is heavy on application and designed to be utilized in smaller groups or classes of eight to fifteen. The messages in August will be designed to preview these classes and motivate you to go through it. I hope and pray that many of you will go through this material this coming fall and in the spring. Eventually we will want everyone in Trinity and every new person that comes to Trinity to do this. It is what we will do as a family and how we help new people to become better followers of Christ.   
• Second, the other series of messages that I am thinking about now will have something to do with “The Difficulty with Jesus.” Don’t get uptight with me yet. I know there is not problem with Jesus. But when I think about how He dealt with certain people, they thought there was a problem with Him. Think about it. Jesus often did not do what you would expect someone to do. He doesn’t tell the rich man point blank how to be saved (cf. Luke 19:16-23). He doesn’t go after many of the disciples who left Him after they heard some of His hard teachings (cf. John 6:41-66). And, if I am honest with myself, sometimes Jesus does not act the way I think He should. Sometimes following Jesus just seems difficult and problematic. I’m looking forward to seeing where God leads us as these messages develop. 

• Our Trinity Family Camp over Labor Day weekend, September 3-6. I hope you will come. It is a great time of growing together and growing in Christ.
• Our Community Outreach Weekend on October 2-3. This is a time for us to focus on the community where God has called us to be His physical visible representation and learning about how we can do this better.