As we look to send out Pastor Dale, Lori and their children apostolically to follow God's leading, I can't help but treasure the 6+ years they have been with us and their faithfulness to serve. They have been true friends to Joanne and I and as long as I am here to serve as Senior Pastor they will always be friends to The Church On Fire.  In reality they are more like family!

One thing that is noteworthy is the heart of both Dale and Lori to want to make this transition right, before God and man.  The truth of the matter is, all too often people pick up and leave with little thought about how they leave or the timing of it all.  God cares about the people you leave behind as well as the church you transition to.  I can say with complete openness that both Dale and Lori were open to the counsel of our leadership team concerning the timing and the process.  We are very pleased with their heart to do it right.  

On April 11, 2010, we will be sending out Dale and Lori, apostolically commissioning them to follow the God's leading to impact the Centreville  area for the Glory of God!  Please note that they are not pulling out, nor are they ripping themselves out, like we've seen so many do over the years out of ignorance to how the Holy Spirit leads.  Our leadership team has recognized the pattern in their lives is to strengthen the Body of Christ wherever they go. We therefore will be sending them out as apostolic leaders from The Church On Fire.  The door will always open for them to come and share their heart with us. 

Thank you Dale and Lori for doing it right and for the great example you have been for the Body to follow!  We love you all so very much and will miss you truly!  I thank the LORD for you all and look forward to the times when you will be visiting in the future.  

AGAPE,
Pastor John

God

Father - YHWH "I AM"
Son - Jesus (Lat.)> Joshua (Eng.) > Yehosua (Hbr.) "God Saves"
Spirit - Spiritus (Lat.) > Ruach (Hbr.) "Breath (of life)"

Possibility of the full name of the Trinity:  "I am the God who Saves Life."

What's in a name? Everything.

Jilly rockin' baby Jed to sleep!   The picture says the rest.  Jed ended up falling asleep on her lap.   Jilly looks like a proud mama.

This inspired me to rewrite an old classic...

Rock-a-bye doggy

On the couch rock

When the wind blows

The doggy will bark

When the sun sets

The full moon will call

And out will go doggy

To dig holes and howl

Hi everyone,

This is a brand new feature for our new website launch!   You now have the ability to blog right her through The Church On Fire website.  How COOL is that?   This feature is now possible becasuse of an AWESOME component called... 

Among the features currently implemented are:

• Member's Blog! Frontpage view

• Browse blogs by keyword, blogger, or tags
• Simple and easy view of all blog entries / my blog entries
• del.icio.us • digg • spurl • reddit • furl social bookmarking support

• Member's Blog! Dashboard view

• Quick search and linking of previous posts while writing a blog entry
• Tags / Tagclouds
• Easy image upload and browsing using MyBlog!'s own image browser

Judges 3:1-4 says...

1 These are the nations the Lord left to test all those Israelites who had not experienced any of the wars in Canaan

2 (he did this only to teach warfare to the descendants of the Israelites who had not had previous battle experience):  

3 the five rulers of the Philistines, all the Canaanites, the Sidonians, and the Hivites living in the Lebanon mountains from Mount Baal Hermon to Lebo a Hamath.

4 They were left to test the Israelites to see whether they would obey the Lord's commands, which he had given their forefathers through Moses.  NIV

Is it possible that you have a thorn in your side that the LORD has allowed to teach you something about obedience and warfare?  In retrospect, some of the hardest lessons my life taught me these very things.  There are some battles that will never be won until you yourself engage in the battle.  For a time others can battle for you with some success, but if it's a battle your called to engage they could end up spiritually exhausting themselves on your behalf.  Is this right? 

Imagine yourself as a warrior fully armed for battle standing in the middle of a field where a battle is raging on.  Now imagine that your are completely clueless to the battle, yet the battle is real and other soldiers around you are trying to open your eyes so that you will fight.  Others around you are literally fighting on your behalf and taking severe hits, because you are just standing there totally disengaged. 

Listen, it's time to engage the battle.  The fact is the battle is real!

-Pastor John

Caleb, a recent transfer to Patrick Henry College, teams up with Rachel to lead the college to the National Moot Court Championship. Along the way, he is caught in a moral tug-of-war between his parents—a newly Christian father, and a feminist Supreme Court attorney mother. As the PHC moot court team and the U.S. Supreme Court simultaneously grapple with legal cases involving abortion, Caleb clashes with his mother and his own conscience over difficult issues of truth and compromise in the intense world of collegiate moot court.

I received a regular email newsleter from the AFA today and the video below was featured.  Our blog seemed like a good place to post it.  I pray that if you battle pornography addicition that the LORD uses this video to bring you to a place of freedom and obedience.  I would recommend every parent and leader watch this video to get informed on how much this crud is impacting our society.

We pray that you have a blessed Christmas as you join together with us and other Christians all over the world to celebrate the birth of our Savior.  We have a lot to be thankful for, but we should especially be thankful that our Heavenly Father sent His Son to save us from our sins, so that we can have relationship with Him.  Jesus is the BEST gift ever!  Have you received Him?

(Front to back and left to right)  Jilleanne (6), Jared (2), Janella (13), Joanne (29+), Jessica, (17), Jesse (15), Jeshua (10), John (40) and Jed (our dog).