Church Family update
December 19, 2024
Dear Christ Community Friends,
First I want to wish you all a Merry Christmas. It’s my prayer that you will experience an abundance of God’s grace and peace this Christmas.
Have I told you lately what an honor it has been for me to serve this congregation? It really is. It was 10 months ago when I started to walk alongside you all in this transitional period and a lot has transpired in those months. I believe Christ Community is in a much better place today than it was when I first arrived to serve you. And now the process of Ryan hopefully becoming the next lead pastor of the Christ Community is coming to a close. I have attached the diagram below of that process.
I give kudos to Ryan for the way he has demonstrated patience, forbearance, and diligence as he walked through the last 9 months. He passed all the EPC exams and met with the EPC Ministerial Committee, being examined in theology, spiritual formation, and leadership. They approved him to be presented to you as a congregation for a vote.
At the Congregational Meeting on Sunday, January 5th, the Pastoral Discernment Team will present Ryan to you and answer any questions you might have before casting your vote. I will be there with you that day but more importantly, I will be praying for God to lead you in your decision.
The other kudos I want to give is to the Pastoral Discernment Team. They took their assignment very seriously and committed much time to hearing God’s voice.
If your vote is to affirm Ryan as the next lead pastor of Christ Community, then he will meet with the Presbytery on Friday, January 24th. There he will preach for the gathering and field questions from the delegates. If their voice is to affirm your vote, then an Ordination and Installation Service will be coordinated at Christ Community to ordain and install Ryan as your next lead pastor. This is all very exciting to me, as I hope it is for you too! To God be the glory!
For my final 2 months as your Transitional Pastor, I will be focused on finishing up my training with the Session. I’ve already had three training meetings with them and I believe they are going well. The Session members have received the training with great openness and a deep desire to do right by God in providing leadership to Christ Community for the future. In my experience, this is the critical factor for the church being a healthy and missional force in the greater Sacramento area and the world.
I have to tell you how glad I am to see how the process of selection and training of the Session has taken a huge step forward in the last year. And I am confident this positive trend will continue in the future. As I have two more training meetings with the Session, your prayers for me are very much appreciated.
In closing I want to share with you Paul’s words from Philippians 1:6—“Being confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion, until the day of Christ Jesus."
So keep praying!
Blessings,
Pastor Ned
October 31, 2024
Dear Christ Community Family,
One thing I have said over and over to you these past 8 months is I believe with all my heart that the best years of Christ Community are yet to come. For me, these past 8 months have been a wonderful journey to walk alongside all of you—to meet with so many of you personally—to hear your stories—to see your passion and your love for Christ—to see your desire to see Christ use you in ways beyond what you can ask for or imagine. You are very, very special!
It’s also been a wonderful journey to walk alongside your staff and Session, and see their passion for Christ to be glorified through Christ Community. And then I think about the time I’ve had working with the Pastoral Discernment Team and seeing their dedication and diligence in discerning God’s heart and will recommending that Ryan Balbi become your next lead pastor. Also in this transition you have two wonderful staff people who felt the call of God to serve Him through other ministries. I see that though Blake and Lacey will be missed, God is in charge and I believe He’s going to do something wonderful through these changes.
I’m reminded of this verse (I may have shared it with you before and if I did, it bears repeating) in Isaiah 43:19 “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
Before I sign off, I want to seek your prayers for the following: first for Ryan and the EPC process he’s in. It’s moving along, sometimes slower than we all want, but it’s moving in a good direction. Please refer to my previous update to refresh what the process looks like. And second, please pray for me as I have begun my training for the Session. They really desire to be effective in their roles as called leaders at Christ Community. They are my focus for the next few months I have left in my role as your Transitional Pastor.
I was asked by a friend a few days ago how this experience of serving you has been? I told him, "It has it’s ups and downs, like everything in life, but it’s been a journey of joy. Getting reacquainted with old friends and making new ones. I feel blessed to be a part of their journey towards fulfilling God’s purposes for them.”
Thank you for welcoming me into your lives and allowing me to serve you!
You are a blessing!
In His Joyful Service,
Pastor Ned
pastorned@mac.com
October 10, 2024
Dear Christ Community Church Family,
What’s happening with Ryan possibly becoming our next lead pastor?
When do we get to vote as a congregation?
Where are we in the process?
How can we pray?
All great questions I’m sure you’re wondering about. At least I hope you are.
It was just a few weeks ago that the Pastoral Discernment Team met with you at an informational meeting to provide their report—on which they did an amazing job. (I am still awed at how I have seen God’s hand at work in this process thus far.) If you remember from that meeting, there’s another process for Ryan to go through with the EPC Presbytery. A diagram was shared that described that process. If you scroll down here you can see that diagram to refresh your memory on the process, which is basically to make sure the church does its due diligence in selecting a lead pastor. Even if an outside candidate was being presented to you for consideration, Christ Community and the candidate would have to go through a similar process with the EPC.
Right now the Pastoral Discernment Team, as part of the EPC process, is putting the finishing touches on the lead pastor’s job description to provide to Ryan and the EPC.
Ryan is currently completing the examination process with the EPC that he began a few months ago; it takes time with a few hiccups along the way. I remember when I went through my exam process with the RCA 40+ years ago. I had hiccups that delayed my ordination and installation into the church I had already planted in Palmdale, California. Some of the hiccups were frustrating, but I got through them and all was well. The hiccups in Ryan’s process with the EPC were to be expected.
Lord willing (as you know God’s in charge, we are not and neither is Ryan), he will finish up his examination process with the EPC by early November. Once he’s done with that, he will meet with the Presbytery’s Ministerial Committee and when he clears that hurdle, you will have an opportunity to vote on Ryan becoming your next lead pastor. When? Hopefully sometime either in late November or early December. If your vote is affirmative for Ryan, then he will meet with the entire Presbytery at its January 2025 meeting. If their vote is affirmative as well, an ordination and installation service will be scheduled for all of us to celebrate and thank God for His provision in our lives as a church!
Waiting is always hard but you know that God typically uses delays to grow us. He teaches us patience (ugh—that word), but remember patience is a fruit of the Spirit which is a good thing because when we learn to put our lives in His hands, we discover that is the best place to be.
What can you do? Ah: pray! Pray for Ryan, as this process is the hardest on him. I know he’d like to get this behind him and start moving on to what God has planned for Christ Community’s future. Pray for the EPC Presbytery and their discernment process. Iknow they desire to serve the church (you) so you can make the best decision possible for Christ Community in this matter. And finally, pray for yourselves—for patience but also for His peace.
Philippians 4:6-7 (NLT) Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank Him for all He has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.
As always, if you have any other questions, please feel free to reach out to me!
In His Humble Service,
Pastor Ned
pastorned@mac.com
September 26, 2024
Dear Christ Community Family,
I first want to share with you progress with the Pastoral Discernment Team. If you were at the most recent congregational gathering a few weeks ago, you heard the report from the Team and directly from Ryan Balbi. The process goes on—meaning there’re more steps that need to take place before you can make your decision as a congregation regarding the possibility of Ryan Balbi becoming the next lead pastor. If you recall the diagram that was shared and posted on this blog a few weeks back (scroll down on this blog to review it), you will see the process is currently in the EPC Presbytery’s hands; they have their process and schedule. Since Christ Community is part of the EPC, you are under their care and supervision as a church and I think that’s a good thing.
I know when I pastored my church in Palmdale, we were under the care and supervision of the Classis of California, and believe me when I say this they (the Classis/the equivalent to the Presbytery) were of tremendous support to me and the congregation, especially during times of difficulty. The Classis also provided supervision over the churches (which we all agreed to) in its geographical area, helped make sure the churches followed Christ (focusing on His mission), and cared for its pastors and their congregations.
One of the EPC’s objectives is to help the local congregation make sure they have done their due diligence in selecting and installing a new lead pastor. They (the Presbytery) is your “backstop” (a baseball term) in helping make sure your lead pastor is healthy theologically, emotionally, and spiritually; in essence, fit to serve and lead you. They have a process for Ryan to go through before approving him for ordination and they will talk with members of the Pastoral Discernment Team to make sure they have indeed “dotted their i’s and crossed their t’s.” When I was actively involved in the RCA, I was grateful for that kind of care and oversight for the church and for myself. I pray you will be just as grateful for the Presbytery of the EPC for their support and oversight. Believe me, the Presbytery has your best interests at heart!
Why am I saying this? Because sometimes when the process takes a bit more time than we anticipate, feelings of frustration can take over and get the best of us. All this by way of saying that you, as the family at Christ Community, will probably not be able to vote on Ryan until sometime in November or early December. We’ll definitely keep you informed how things are progressing. In the meantime you can pray, certainly not a last resort effort but as a constant diligence. One of the fruit of the Spirit is patience. It’s a mark of one’s maturity in Christ and one of the greatest ways God teaches us patience is by allowing roadblocks or delays to be put in front of us.
I want to close this time with you with a prayer and a Scripture verse.
Here’s the prayer—it’s called the Serenity Prayer. (I say this prayer a lot!)
TRY IT OUT YOURSELF—SAY IT OUT LOUD RIGHT NOW
“God, grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change (the EPC process);
courage to change the things I can (my attitude, my focus), and the wisdom to know the difference (very important part; it’s why we pray).
BUT READ ON—THERE’S MORE TO THIS WONDERFUL PRAYER THAT’S REALLY HELPFUL
Living one day a time (the best way to live), enjoying one moment at time (don’t miss God’s little blessings all around you), accepting hardship as the pathway to peace (yep, that’s the pathway, ask anyone from Celebrate Recovery if that’s true). Taking, as Jesus did, this sinful world as it is, not as I would have it.
OK, HERE’S THE KEY:
Trusting that He will make all things right IF I SURRENDER TO HIS WILL; so that I (we) may be reasonably happy in this life and supremely happy with Him forever in the next. Amen."
Isaiah 40:28-31
“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles, they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.”
As always, please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns.
In His Humble Service,
Pastor Ned
September 19, 2024
Dear Christ Community Family,
Before sharing my thoughts with you for the week, I want to give a special shoutout to the Pastoral Discernment Team for the work they did and presented to you last Sunday at the informational gathering. It truly was a delight to walk alongside the people on that team, watching them take seriously the task given to them and diving deeply into their process and prayer to discern God’s leading regarding Ryan Balbi.
Now my thought for you to consider this week.
Waiting can be so difficult for us, whether we're stuck on the freeway waiting for traffic to open up or in the supermarket late at night to get a few items and being stuck in the only open lane behind someone who’s basket is filled to overflowing. Or waiting for the test results from a biopsy or a process to be completed to get a lead pastor ordained and installed in our church.
I remember many, many years ago when I was in the process of being ordained and installed into the pastoral ministry of the Reformed Church in America. There were times the process was very frustrating and cumbersome. It seemed I had to jump through an endless number of hoops to become ordained. I remember specifically one time when I thought I was at the end of my process that I had a setback. I had to write a “Credo,” which was a statement of what I believed. The Credo had to be a minimum of 10 pages long and not more than 15. I worked on that Credo for 2 months and sent it to the denominational people in charge of grading it.
Three weeks after getting it back, I was told by the graders that I needed to rewrite portions and submit it again. Needless to say, my level of frustration rose dramatically. Then a dear friend and mentor, someone who had been through this process before, told me frankly, “Ned, this is the process and you have to trust God in it. You have to trust God has a purpose in all that is taking place.” He was right! So I buckled down, rewrote my Credo (it took another month), and submitted it; 1 month later I received notice that I had passed and then I could schedule the date for my ordination.
A few weeks ago on this blog (just scroll down), a graphic was posted showing what the next steps in the process to ordain and install Ryan Balbi as lead pastor in the EPC could look like. Without boring you with all the complexities of how that process proceeds and the little bumps that can happen along the way, I want to ask you to pray for the process and pray for Ryan through the process because any bump on the path will be harder on him than anyone else.
And also pray for yourselves as a congregation. Change is hard but I really think transitions are even harder. Hear me please: God is here at Christ Community, you are doing well and getting better all the time. You’ve learned (the hard way, which is the way we always seem to learn) to put your hope in God and move forward, with Him and His Spirit guiding the way. God is in this process for you and for Ryan, and there is an end in sight. I see it! I saw Him in my ordination process many years ago and I see Him in your process through this transition. My encouragement to you is to stay focused on Christ and pray.
I want to close this time with you with the words from Isaiah 40:28-31.
“Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.”
As always, please feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions or concerns.
In His Humble Service,
Pastor Ned
pastorned@mac.com
September 12, 2024
Dear Christ Community Family,
I want to share a special verse from Isaiah 43:19 “See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
I remember when I first came to you back in February to walk you through what had been a rough transition to a new and healthy place. In essence, you were in a wilderness experience and wilderness experiences are not fun to walk through. There’s an unsettledness about them and they typically tend to not always bring out the best in us. But they are also incredible opportunities to grow and to walk closer with God.
I often think of the Israelites in a wilderness (transition) experience for 40 years living in tents, moving from one place to the next, having to daily rely on God for their provision. But they had a promise from God to lead them to a new place: a promised land, a home; not to a place of complacency but to a place where they could be a light to the nations around them. Well, biblical history tells us that they, in fact, did become complacent and disobedient, and turned away from God. They forgot that all of life flows from Him. But God never abandoned His people and today He still never abandons His people. The Word from God, through Isaiah, is a message of hope in the midst of the wilderness.
“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the wilderness and streams in the wasteland.”
Isaiah 43:19
From the day I first came to you I have been telling you—in your wilderness— that the best days of Christ Community are yet to come! I am more convinced of that today than I was 6 months ago. “Do you not perceive it?" Can you not see God making a way in the wilderness for you?
This Sunday the Pastoral Discernment Team will be presenting their recommendation that Ryan Balbi be considered to become the next lead pastor of Christ Community. During the informational meeting following the third worship service, the Discernment Team will answer questions you might have about their process. Ryan will also be available at that time to answer any questions you have for him. I really hope and pray you will be there!
Last, but certainly not least, I refer you to the blog from last week (September 5th) in the Church Family Update about “Pastoral Discernment Process Next Steps.” Please take the time to familiarize yourself with that information because the process is not complete. I want to encourage you to keep praying through this process and specifically that God’s voice will be heard by all!
Of course if you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to reach out to me.
In His Humble Service, Pastor Ned pastorned@mac.com
September 2024
Lead Pastor Process Q&A
1. Where are we at with the Lead Pastor process?
On Wednesday, August 28th, the Pastoral Discernment Team’s report was emailed to the congregation: “We, as the Pastoral Discernment Team, formally recommend Ryan Balbi to the Presbytery for ordination and installation as Lead Pastor of CCC.”
You can read their full report here: Click Here
2. Is Ryan now our Lead Pastor?
No, there are several more steps that will need to happen.
3. What are the next steps?
Now that the Pastoral Discernment Team has recommended Ryan as our next Lead Pastor to the Evangelical Presbyterian Church (EPC) Presbytery, there are several groups who join the process. First, Ryan will be interviewed and vetted by our Presbytery’s Ministerial Committee. They ensure Ryan is qualified and fit to be a Teaching Elder and Lead Pastor in an EPC Church. If they approve, then the Pastoral Discernment Team will request that a Congregational Meeting be called. At that meeting, Christ Community members will vote to approve or not approve Ryan as our next Lead Pastor. If Ryan is not approved by Christ Community members, the Pastoral Search Team will go back to the beginning and start an external search process. If Ryan is approved by Christ Community members, he would then attend the next Presbytery meeting held in October 2024 or January 2025. The Presbytery Meeting is a gathering of Teaching Elders and Ruling Elders who at this point would examine Ryan to ensure he is qualified to be a Teaching Elder and Lead Pastor in an EPC Church. If the Presbytery approves Ryan, they will set a date for Ryan to be ordained and installed as the next Lead Pastor of Christ Community.
4. Why are there so many steps?
Christ Community is a part of the EPC denomination and believes that being in a covenantal relationship with other like-minded churches is important. The EPC has a specific process for potential new Lead Pastors to be ordained and installed. This process helps ensure Lead Pastors are trained and equipped to properly lead an EPC church and that the respective congregation has a voice in the process.
5. What is the timing?
These steps could be completed over the next couple months, but it is a very tight timeline. If there are any delays during any of the above steps, it could take until February 2025.
6. How can I ask further questions?
We would encourage you to attend the Pastoral Discernment Team Information Meeting on September 15th at 12:15pm in the MP Room. Ryan will also be available for questions during this meeting. Light refreshments will be offered and if you need KidCare, please register here: Click Here
We also ask our congregation to continue praying for where
the Lord is leading Christ Community in our next season together!
“Devote yourselves to prayer, being watchful and thankful.”
Colossians 4:2
August 29, 2024
Dear Christ Community Family,
Wow! I get to connect with you 2 days in a row. Yesterday with the news from the Pastoral Discernment Team and today with an encouraging word.
Recently I entered into a relationship with a spiritual director, someone trained to help guide people into a deeper place with Christ, in hearing His voice and letting Him have more and more sway over my thinking, feelings, and actions. My spiritual director recommended a book to me titled, “The Listening Life: Embracing Attentiveness in a World of Distraction" by Adam McHugh. Being the hungry and avid reader I am, I immediately purchased the book and dug in, and I can only tell you how much God is teaching me through the pages of this book. Right now I’m in the chapter, “Listening To God”and, if you will indulge me, I’d like to share an excerpt and then apply it to you.
“We all know people, even well-intentioned ones, who habitually dominate conversations, and we can walk away from those conversations feeling more distant from that person than we did before the conversation. For a tradition known for its emphasis on having a personal relationship with Jesus, evangelicals are not exactly known for their listening abilities. Yet listening is how you get to know a person. You can’t present a monologue to a person and have any confidence that you are learning anything about that person. It’s in listening that you gain access to their mind and their heart, discover who they are and what they are like, and whether they can be trusted. Listening is about more than straining to hear voices; it about preparing the conditions of hearts, cultivating an openness inside of us to learn.”
The phrase our Lord used most often (15 times) was, “… let he/she who has ears to hear, listen!” He says it 8 times in the gospels and 7 times in the Book of Revelation. Obviously there are a lot of applications for His Words, the main being we’re to pay close attention to Him and His Word to us. But His Words in this phrase have application not only in all our interpersonal relationships but also for us in the church.
I’ve spent that last 6 months here at Christ Community listening to you. I’ve calculated I’ve had close to 100 conversations and have concluded that many in the church don’t feel heard or listened to. Truth is that we, even in the church, are not as good at listening to God or to each other as we should be. And listening is hard. To quote McHugh again:
“Speaking our minds and asserting ourselves take priority over listening. We interrupt someone else because we're convinced we already know what he or she is going to say. We begin to take up more space than we allow for others. We consider ourselves experts on topics without anything more to learn.”
The apostle James counsels us to be “… quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry”(James 1:19b). King Solomon cautions us that “If one gives answer before he hears, it is his folly and shame.”
One of my goals as your Transitional Pastor is to teach the leadership within the church the art of listening, both by my example and my instruction. At the same time I have to confess that I still fall prey to speaking before listening and the result is usually people getting frustrated with me.
A lot of the conflict (not all) that Christ Community has lived through has been settled for many (not all), but I can guarantee that more conflict will come your way, both personally and as a church. If you can begin to learn and practice listening to God and each other in order to learn (not necessarily to agree), you’ll be amazed at how much easier conflict can be resolved. And I’m here to tell you, it’s a skill you can learn and get really good at. Then just watch God work in mighty ways in your marriage, with your kids, in your friendships, at your job, and within the church.
John 10:27 “My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me!”
In Him,
Pastor Ned
pastorned@mac.com
Check out this cool video!
August 22, 2024
Dear Christ Community Family,
There’s a verse in Psalm 119 (verse 105) that is a great reminder for all of us how important it is to have God’s Holy Word be a daily guide for our lives. Psalm 119:105 (The Message) By your words I can see where I’m going; they throw a beam of light on my dark path.
I love paraphrase translations of Scripture. In my humble opinion, they bring God’s Word closer to our hearts. Here’s the verse un-paraphrased in the KJV “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.”Sometimes a paraphrase of a verse can muddy its meaning, but that’s not the case here. In this instance, “The Message” I believe makes the verse more descriptive, more alive. I’ve seen statistics on how little believers actually read God’s Word on a daily basis, let alone meditate on it or memorize it. It’s startling to say the least!
What amazes me is how many believers think they can navigate through life without a steady diet of His Word and not end up in a place where their lives are under some form of bondage. This verse begs the question who or what is guiding our lives each day; who are/what is affecting the way you think, feel, or behave? Just yesterday I spent some time pondering/reflecting on Romans 8:5-6 (NLT) “Those who are dominated by the sinful nature think about sinful things, but those who are controlled by the Holy Spirit think about things that please the Spirit. So letting your sinful nature control your mind leads to death. But letting the Spirit control your mind leads to life and peace.” And then I started to think about how often I have let the things “not of God” hold sway or control over how I think, feel, and act, and how I’ve found myself under the bondage of anxiety, resentment, or anger.
I need God’s Word daily guiding my life. Don’t we all? Especially because Satan throws a lot of distractions at us or puts hurdles in front of us to lead us away from the abundant life in Christ (John 10:10).
What I have thoroughly been impressed with in working with your Pastoral Discernment Team (Bob Findlay, Eileen Randall, Debbie Synder-Diffin, Susie Martin, Steve Rogers, and Todd Appleby) is their depth of understanding and importance of the responsibility they’ve been charged with. I know this as I’ve observed their conversations, and from reading their emails and texts with each other.
I can only conclude that they must be enveloped in God’s Word each day. In my humble opinion, this has guided them in their task of discernment. It has truly been a joy for me to walk alongside this team and see God guiding them in their process.
I am happy to let you know that their process is complete and they have a recommendation for you, but I must ask that you wait to learn of their recommendation until next week. Why? They are busily working on their report outlining their process and conclusions, and they want to be thorough in what they present to you. So please if you will, I ask for your patience until next week. And in the meantime, I am asking you to pray for the team as they put the finishing touches on their report to you.
If you have any questions about the process, please do not hesitate to reach out to me by my email below.
As always, it is my pleasure and honor to serve you. Wendy and I will always see Christ Community as our home church that launched us into pastoral ministry and so it is a joy to be serving you through this transition, moving into a new and exciting future for God’s glory!
Blessings!
In His Joyful Service,
Pastor Ned
pastoned@mac.com
August 15, 2024
Dear Christ Community Family,
I wanted to share with you a verse from the book of James. You know the verse well I am sure. James 1:5 states, “If any of you lacks wisdom, you should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to you.” The context of this verse is walking through hardships and trials. I’m sure we would all agree that when we walk through difficult times, personally or as a church, our barometer on wisdom seems to dissipate. We struggle to understand the purposes of God behind the trials and to know the right steps to take through hardships and difficulties. I truly believe we usually want to go where God wants us to lead us but hardships can cloud our judgment. Hence the need for wisdom and James says that the best source of wisdom is from God and its ours for the asking and the seeking.
As your Transitional Pastor through this season in the life of Christ Community, I have been asking God multiple times every day for Him to give me wisdom as I help lead you through this transition. Even as I write this update for you, I am praying for God’s wisdom in what to say and how to say it. I would like to apply this verse a little differently for you today.
I’ve been updating you weekly on the progress of the Pastoral Discernment Team and their process to determine whether Ryan Balbi should be presented for consideration as the next lead pastor for Christ Community. The team (Bob Findlay, Eileen Randall, Steve Rogers, Debbie Snyder-Diffin, Todd Appleby, and Susie Martin) is truly an amazing group of people. They have engaged in a very diligent process to discern what the Holy Spirit would say to them regarding recommending Ryan.
I can share with you that their process is 90% complete, filled with interviews, reference checks, and hours of discussion. But the last 10% of what they will face in this process will be their greatest challenge and that is to take all the information they’ve gathered and begin wrestling in prayer to discern what the Spirit is saying to each of them personally and then collectively as a team. Everyone on this team knows they lack the wisdom on their own to discern and decide the question before them, which is why they will be intensely seeking God’s wisdom. They’ve decided to spend this week in prayer and then gather together next week to see what the Spirit is saying to them.
Will you please, please, please lift this team up in your prayers? Will you lift them up every day in your prayers? I know I will! Because I know the wisdom they need, God will provide and I know I need to ask God daily to give them that wisdom.
Also, if you have any questions about the process, please do not hesitate to contact me at my email below.
I want to close this time with you with verses 6-8 from James 1, “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.”
Blessings!
In His Joyful Service,
Pastor Ned
pastorned@mac.com
August 8, 2024
Dear Christ Community Family,
I’m thinking today about the day Jesus approached Peter, James, and John on the seashore and said, “follow me and I will make you fishers of men.” The call was to a life of great significance. It’s my deep-seated belief that God created us not just to survive or have success, but for significance. And you can see it in the creation story where God took the dust of the earth, formed a human being, and breathed life into his nostrils. Wow, what an image in my mind! And God said, “Let us make man in our image, male and female.” Then I think of our salvation in Christ. God saved us, redeemed us through His death on the cross so we could live significant lives for His glory. Jesus said it Himself, “I have come that you might have life and have it more abundantly” (John 10:10b).
The call Jesus gave to Peter, James, and John that day to a life of significance for Him is the same for you and I personally, and for Christ Community Church. Why has God blessed us? Why has He placed us in the neighborhoods where we live? Why is Christ Community placed in the city of Carmichael and the County of Sacramento? To have a significant impact on those around us. After all, Jesus said we’re the salt of the earth and the light of the world.
I want to call you to pray for the Pastoral Discernment Team. They are about to wrap up the process they’re involved with in discerning from God whether or not to recommend Ryan Balbi be considered to be the next lead pastor for Christ Community. I can tell you that this team is amazing. They are so thorough, thoughtful, and diligent in their process and once done, they intend to spend dedicated time in prayer before they reveal what God is saying to them.
As always I am available to meet with any of you who need a listening ear. I truly love the time I have spent with close to a 100 people thus far who have shared their hopes and concerns for Christ Community. It’s been an honor for me to serve you.
In His Joyful Service,
Pastor Ned
Update from August 1, 2024
Dear Christ Community Family,
I wish I had some new news to share with you about the transition work that I’m doing.
I am working with the Pastoral Discernment Team still. I know they have two more
interviews regarding Ryan Balbi over the next 2 weeks.
I am continuing to meet with individuals from the church who have questions or concerns they want to express to me. And then during August I will start to work with the Session about their role in building a healthy missional culture for the future.
All is going very well. But that doesn’t mean your prayers are not needed still—they are!
If you want to meet with me personally, please contact me through my email.
Blessings,
Pastor Ned
pastorned@mac.com
Update from July 25, 2024
I know I tell you this a lot but I still feel so honored to serve as your Transitional Pastor. I shared a brief update a few weeks ago about how things have been going for the past 6 months and where my attention is focused for the next 6 months. I won’t go through that again, but I would encourage you to scroll down on this blog to read my post from 2 weeks ago.
Right now I am working closely alongside your Pastoral Discernment Team that is seeking to discern, through the leading of the Holy Spirit, whether Ryan Balbi should be considered to be the next lead pastor of Christ Community. I can tell you that the team is doing an amazing job. They’ve already met 5-6 times, have had an intensive interview with Ryan, and have 6 more meeting times on their calendar. The depth of their conversations around their task has been tremendous to watch. They are truly hoping to be done with their discernment process by the end of this summer. They’re intentionally not rushing through their task but they are staying on target. They are definitely dotting their i’s and crossing their t’s. They need your prayers and really covet them deeply.
I thought I would finish my update with sharing a verse and a thought for your encouragement. The verse is Psalm 23:6—Surely your goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever.
This verse defines what true biblical hope means for me. Most people often use the word "hope" and what they mean by it is “wishful thinking,” something you wish/hope to happen, like getting a job promotion or having some good fortune come your way. But David here speaks of a confident assurance in the promises of God, which is really what biblical hope is. He doesn’t say, “Gee, I hope I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever,” wishful thinking with not much confidence. He says, “I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever,” confident assurance in God’s promises.
I have that same confidence as David but it’s not based on anything I have done or accomplished. My confidence is in Christ, His sacrifice, death, and resurrection—in His promises like found in John 14:2b-3 “. . . I am going there to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am.”
What I am confident in is God’s love, provision, mercy, and strength for me. I know He is for me and I want you to know that He is for you too—personally and as a church. I think of the words to the song, “The Blessing” where it says:
May His presence go before you
And behind you, and beside you
All around you, and within you
He is with you, He is with you!
In the morning, in the evening
In your coming, and your going
In your weeping, and rejoicing
He is for you, He is for you.
Amen!
Blessings,
Pastor Ned
pastorned@mac.com
Update from July 18, 2024
Dear Christ Community Family,
This will be a very brief update as I am on a family trip in southern Oregon to spend time with family and support our granddaughter, who is an active part of the 4-H Club. As I mentioned last week, the Pastoral Search Team is meeting regularly. I invite you to be in continued prayer for the teams discernment of Ryan Balbi as the possible next lead pastor at Christ Community.
Reach out to me at pastorned@mac.com with any questions or concerns you may have. Please join me in continuing to praying for the health and mission of Christ Community as we move forward as a church family.
In His Joyful Service,
Pastor Ned
Update from July 11, 2024
Dear Christ Community Family,
In a few days I will have completed 6 months as your Transitional Pastor and may I please say again, with all sincerity and humility, that it has been my honor to serve you in this role. I thought for my update this week I would outline how my time has been spent and include how I plan to utilize my remaining time with you. I recently shared this with the staff and the Session but thought I would share with you. I’ve seen my time broken down into three phases of this transition.
Phase 1 has been the listening phase, where I’ve met with over 70 individuals who have had the need to share their personal concerns, hurts, and feelings. In reality this phase will not end until my time of service is completed with you in February 2025. What that means is if you need to chat with me about anything you’re feeling or concerned about regarding Christ Community, please don’t hesitate to reach out to me and we can set something up. Also in this first phase I’ve done a lot of assessing and processingwhere Christ Community has been in the past 18 months. In April I made some observations to you regarding the church health report and a recommendation through the Session regarding the possibility of Ryan Balbi becoming the next lead pastor. This included a recommendation to form a search/discernment team to determine whether to recommend or not if Ryan should be your next lead pastor. This you also approved at the Congregational Meeting last month. And now ...
Phase 2 is being spent working diligently with the Pastoral Search Team; they have met twice and have two more meetings scheduled for Friday, July 12, and Wednesday, July 17th. Of course there will be more meetings scheduled over the next 6 weeks as the team desires tohave a thumbs up or down regarding Ryan by the end of August. Their desire is not to rush through the process but also not delay it longer than need be. What I can share with you is that each member of the team sees the enormity of the task before them. They are diligently working hard on developing a fair and thorough process of discernment while earnestly seeking guidance of the Holy Spirit. If I may be so bold, please lift this team up in your prayers each day!
Now, in Phase 3 which will earnestly begin this fall, I will turn my attention more towards the Session, guiding them to becoming the strongest board possible with the lead pastor to lead Christ Community into a healthy missional future. I truly believe, and you’ve heard me say this many times in the past, a strong and spiritually healthy board plus a strong and spiritually healthy pastor will, with the Lord’s help, bring about a strong and healthy and missional church for decades to come. That’s the goal I’m working towards. Thank you for continued prayers.
I want to leave you with this encouragement from Hebrews 12:1-3. Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything thathinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Pastor Ned
Update from July 3, 2024.
Dear Christ Community Family,
I want to thank many of you who offered your kind words of appreciation for the message God put on my heart to bring to you this past Sunday. I want you to know that I have found that every message I write is primarily for me to hear and you just get to listen in on what God wants to tell me. I spoke of being captured by God’s grace because I, at times, let my hurt and pain capture my attention. So the message was as much for me as it was for you.
What is heavy on my heart are the two prayer requests that I mentioned this past Sunday—Tanea DeVriend’s father, John, and the heart attack he suffered and Spencer Reber, who is in ICU at the U.C. Davis Medical Center. I know I am in prayer for these two people and I ask that you be as well, as I’m sure you are. Pray for the families involved and the decisions they are faced with. Also please pray for the students in the church who are processing what Spencer is going through. And pray for our staff as they minister to the families in these most difficult of times. These circumstances are heavy on their hearts as well.
Finally, a short update on the Pastoral Search Team. They are holding their next meeting on Monday, July 8th to start to hammer out what the process will look like to discern Ryan Balbi’s possible future role as lead pastor of Christ Community.
May your 4th of July celebration be a wonderful time to celebrate our freedom and connect with family and friends, and be safe as well!
As always, I am recruiting more for the prayer team. If you would like to join the team, please let me know.
In His Joyful Service,
Pastor Ned
God is our refuge and strength; a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear. Psalm 46:1-2a (ESV)
For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind. 2 Timothy 1:7 (NKJV)
UPDATE from June 27, 2024
Dear Christ Community Family,
A question I received recently was, “Did you ever imagine that you would be back at the church that was so instrumental in sending you out to be a pastor?” Of course I had to say, “No,” but only because God has a grand plan and the details of that plan He doesn’t always share with us.
I know God’s grand plan is the redemption of all of life and most specifically our lives through the work of His Son, Christ Jesus, on the cross. I love to read the first four verses of Revelation 21, especially at memorial services where people are grieving a tremendous loss in their lives, and these four verses remind us of the hope that we have in God. If you’ve not read these verses in a while hear them now. This the vision God gave the Apostle John to pass on to us, ‘Then I saw “a new heaven and a new earth,” for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea. I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”’
This is our hope—our confidence! These words encourage me, in the midst of all trials and tribulations to stand strong, stay the course, and hold onto the hope we have in Jesus. In other words, put your hope, your confidence in Him above all others. This is why Paul could so boldly say in Romans 5:3-5, “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”
So no, I could never have imagined I would be back here at Christ Community, 36 years after departing for seminary and the life God called me to and now be here to help you through a difficult transition. But I’m not in charge and I’ve learned (the hard way) to go where God tells me to go and trust Him each day to lead me. As I write this to you I, once again, feel overwhelmed and totally inadequate for the task He has called me to do.
This is why I am on my knees and getting the counsel of godly friends and mentors and having a special prayer team at Christ Community lifting not just me up, but you the congregation as well. I am simply honored to be here and be used by God for any task He calls me to.
And, I am honored to be able to bring the word of God to you this Sunday. I am going to speak to you about my favorite topic in the Scriptures and that is God’s grace. I’m going to speak specifically about being “Captured by God’s Grace.” I’m going to share a phrase from 2 Corinthians 5:14 where Paul says, “For the love of Christ compels us ...” What he’s saying is that God’s love has “taken hold of him—arrested him—captured him.” What I have found is that there are many a follower of Jesus who, while they may be amazed at God’s grace in their lives, don’t seem to be “captured” by it, and believe me there’s a difference.
Then I want to look at a scene in Luke’s Gospel (Luke 7:36-50) when a sinful woman crashes a dinner party to wash the feet of Jesus with her tears and anoint them with an expensive perfume because she was captured by God’s grace. I’m excited to bring this message to you because I truly believe the best is yet to come for Christ Community if you are captured by God’s grace! Will you invite someone to come to church with you this Sunday to hear this message?
In His Humble Service,
Pastor Ned
pastorned@mac.com
UPDATE from June 20, 2024
Dear Christ Community Family,
Have I told you how honored I am to serve you as Transitional Pastor? I’m sure I have, but I know I haven’t told you that lately. It really is! It’s been a joy to rekindle old relationships from my days at Christ Community and establish new relationships with many of you. I’m entering my fifth month serving you in this role and I am still spending time individually with many at the church. It is such a special honor to listen to your personal stories, offer encouragement, and be able to pray for you. I am constantly aware of the passage in James 1:19-20 when he says, “My dear brothers and sisters, take note of this: Everyone should be quick to listen, slow to speak and slow to become angry, because human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires."
What is truly amazing to me (and I really shouldn’t be amazed at this) is how listening to someone—really listening, not listening to fix or to give a response—so often dissipates someone’s anger. I remember one conversation where, after the person expressed their thoughts and I probed a bit with a few questions to understand more fully what they were saying, they said to me, “Ah, thanks for listening. I feel better now. I feel I can move forward.” I asked if they would like for me to respond to what they shared? The person said, “Nope. I just needed to get this off my chest.” The person wasn’t interested in my pearls of wisdom, which didn’t bother me at all, they just needed to vent and that’s okay.
Some do ask for my perspective because they want to understand things more, which is fine too. I’m sharing this because I want to encourage you to try it with any conversation you have. Yes, with your brothers and sisters in the church, but also with your family members, your spouse, or your kids. I remember telling my parents when I was a teenager, “You don’t listen to me!” and I’m sure you’ve heard this from your own kids at times. And, oh, isn’t it so hard to keep our mouths shut when someone is talking to us and not interrupt them with a solution? I guess I’m sharing all of this because this is an essential component of building a healthy fellowship in a congregation. James wrote his words to the church he was pastoring at the time. That would make his words relevant to us as well.
Finally I wanted to give you a quick update on the discernment process regarding Ryan Balbi. The Pastoral Search Team met officially last evening for the first time. We spent a good 2 hours together getting to know each other and flushing out some basic essentials of how the group will accomplish its task. The team chose a chairperson, Bob Findlay. Bob has tons of experience with boards and teams, and will do a tremendous job leading the team. For me it was so awesome to witness the graciousness and yet the strength of each person’s personality. Also worth mentioning are their giftedness, passion, and commitment to do a thorough and Spirit-led job. The feeling was expressed by each member of the team, specifically their desire to not rush through their task but also not let it drag on. Because of summer schedules, our next meeting will be July 8th but they have a lot of personal legwork to do in the meantime.
Please pray for this team (Bob Findlay, Susie Martin, Debbie Snyder-Diffin, Todd Appleby, Eileen Randall, and Steve Rogers), specifically for God to put His hedge of protection around each team member, and for His Spirit to lead and guide them in this process.
As I say almost every week with you—we need more people to join our prayer team for this transition. I can’t say it enough—prayer has to be the foundation of what we do at Christ Community during this transition. While I can sense the spiritual oppression has lifted from Christ Community, that doesn’t mean the enemy is not lurking in the shadows looking for ways to attack. It’s like when things are getting better at the church, we can find ourselves drifting into complacency—not praying as we should—and I have to tell you that’s when we need to pray more!
In His Humble Service,
Pastor Ned
pastorned@mac.com
UPDATE from June 13, 2024
Dear Christ Community Family,
My update is rather short for you this week but I still wanted to keep you informed how all is going.
The Pastoral Search Team will have its first meeting with me on Wednesday, June 19th. You may be asking why has it taken so long to meet? That’s a fair question, the answer is simply that I am the holdup in us meeting. Last week I had some prior calendar engagements that were set way before I became your Transitional Pastor. Then this week my wife and I went to Oregon to see my son, his lovely wife, and two of our grandchildren. (There’s nothing that comes before grandkids!)
But the team is meeting this evening to have a time of fellowship—to get to know one another. They set this up for themselves and I was pleased they took that initiative. They know they’re going to be spending a lot of time together and felt important (me too) to make that connection with each other. I just want to say how thrilled I have to be working with this wonderful group of people—Bob Findlay, Susie Martin, Eileen Randall, Todd Appleby, Steve Rogers, and Debbie Snyder-Diffin.
I wanted to let you know that I am honored to bring the Word of God to you on Sunday, June 30th. I am going to preach on being, “Captured by God’s Grace.” It is so surprising to me how many of us as followers of Christ are captured by the things of this world or our hurts or habits, rather than God’s magnificent grace. Believe it or not, churches also get captured by their hurts and the patterns of this world (Romans 12:2).
We’re going to look specifically at the story in Luke 76:36-50, where Mary Magdalene anointed Jesus’ feet with her tears and expensive perfume, and see what a heart looks like that’s captured by God’s grace. I’m really looking forward to the 30th and speaking on this topic. It is my favorite thing to preach about. If you know anyone who has been captured by things that led to a broken or troubled life, please invite them to church that day. Actually I want to encourage you to invite people to church every Sunday, as what is offered to God in worship and the Word at Christ Community is so powerful each week.
Last, I want let you know that we need more people to participate on our prayer team. If you are interested in being a part of this team, please email me. Also, if you have specific questions about the transition or have concerns, please feel free to reach out to me.
I really believe God is moving Christ Community in the right direction. Yes, there’s a lot more work to be done, but God is leading and a new day is coming for Christ Community where God will be glorified. I leave you with a YouTube video of a song that has blessed me tremendously over the past year. It’s titled, “Fear is Not My Future.” I pray it blesses you as much as it has me.
In His Humble Service,
Pastor Ned
pastorned@mac.com
UPDATE from June 6, 2024
Dear Christ Community Family,
I want to thank all of you who were able to attend and participate in the Congregational Meeting this past Sunday. I know it was a LONG meeting but the issues and decisions before you necessitated such a length (believe me when I say that I’m not a fan of long meetings). Last Sunday I felt it was important for myself and Dustin to be as thorough as possible to provide you with the information you needed in order to make the decisions before you. For those who were not able to attend the meeting, here’s a short recap of the four decisions you, the congregation, made this past Sunday.
First—you approved the budget for the next fiscal year. Even though the budget will be a bit less this coming fiscal year, considering all that has transpired in this transition, the church is in good financial shape. I especially loved the challenge (and I always like a good challenge) one member laid out to explore how Christ Community could pay off the mortgage. Those kinds of challenges are always great to explore, pray through, and see where God would lead Christ Community. After all, who loves mortgages anyway?
Second—you affirmed Alexis Johnson, Roy Warren, Cynthia Groom, and Ken Shepard as new ruling elders for the Session. They will be installed on Sunday, June 23rd. A special shoutout for the team (Don Werkhoven, Lisa Eichinger, Joan Evans, Bob Balzhiser, and Ryan Vaughn) who processed the over 15 names you submitted. They interviewed each person, made their recommendation to the Session, and then brought the four names to you for affirming. This was one of the best processes I have ever seen on discerning who would serve as spiritual leaders for a church. Plus the training these four new session members received was very thorough.
Third—you approved to form a Pastoral Search (but in truth really a discernment) Team to consider Ryan Balbi as a potential lead pastor for Christ Community before embarking on an external search. Then you approved the size and the six Pastoral Search Team members (Bob Findlay, Todd Appleby, Debbie Snyder-Diffin, Eileen Randall, Steve Rogers, and Susie Martin) to that task. Again, I want to give a shoutout of gratitude to the members of the Pastoral Search Formation Team (Don Werkhoven, Joan Evans, Bob Balzhiser, and Kari DeLyser) who processed through the list of wonderful people of Christ Community you submitted for the task and came up with the six people presented. I shared a few blogs ago that this is not a rubber stamp team. The discernment process these people are entering into is so very important for the future of Christ Community. We already have our first team meeting on the calendar for June 19th to begin to map out how best to discern God’s will for the task before them. THEY NEED YOUR PRAYERS! Let me say it again, THEY NEED YOUR PRAYERS!
I’ve been involved with many discernment processes for different things over my tenure as a pastor and I can unequivocally tell you that PRAYER has been THE MOST ESSENTIAL element in discerning God’s will. I promise to keep you updated as best as I can on how the team is doing so you can focus your prayers most effectively for them. And can I please request that you continue to pray also for Ryan and Kate Balbi. They have been so wonderful this whole time, waiting and watching patiently as I went through the lengthy process to assess whether I felt Ryan could step into this very important role at Christ Community. Whatever recommendation the Pastoral Search Team brings to you regarding Ryan, I am convinced that the best is yet to come for Christ Community.
I am so honored that you have given me your trust as your Transitional Pastor. I have not taken that trust lightly, which is why I find myself on my knees a lot and am so grateful for the special transitional prayer team that is lifting up not only Christ Community but me as well. Christ Community is Wendy’s and my “home church.” That’s the title we’ve given Christ Community, as it was you 36 years ago who sent me off to seminary to enter into the pastorate. And you who supported me through seminary and helped play a role in the launch of Desert Winds Community Church in Palmdale, California. That here we are, 32 years later, serving you in this way is truly a special honor.
There is still much more work to be done in this transition, but I feel God’s presence at Christ Community and in my life as you’re moving into a wonderful new chapter for the church.
In His Joyful Service,
Ned
P. S. Always need more people to join our prayer team.
UPDATE FROM May 30, 2024
Dear Christ Community Family,
The Annual Congregational Meeting is this Sunday where we’ll consider a few things but the big thing you’ll be asked to decide on is how to best proceed with the recommendation from the Session to you (from me) regarding Ryan Balbi being considered as possibly the next lead pastor for Christ Community. It’s my hope you’ve been praying through my report and will be prepared to make a decision.
You’ll also be asked to affirm the new Session candidates and vote on the Pastoral Search Team candidates. I want to give a special shoutout to the Pastoral Search Formation Team (Bob Balzhiser, Don Werkhoven, Joan Evans, and Kari DeLyser) who have been very diligent and prayerful in coming up with a search team for your consideration on Sunday. It’s my understanding that the names will be published tomorrow for you to pray through. I had hoped you could have had the names of the members of this team for 2 weeks prior to our meeting, unfortunately the timing since I have arrived here at Christ Community did not make that possible.
The Session asked me to assess Ryan, which I did. I asked for 90 days to do that, the reason being I wanted to observe Ryan myself, get to know him, and then craft a process of having the input of five lead pastors of churches the same size as Christ Community and larger. In truth I didn’t want to rush through the process. However, that meant that you would not have the names of the Pastoral Search Team candidates as soon as we would have preferred. I know some may feel this is might be a “rush job” to get this team approved and I understand that feeling, but the Pastoral Search Formation Team is made up of wonderful individuals who have been extremely diligent in their process to come up with a Pastoral Search Team to present to you.
In regards to the meeting on Sunday, I want to encourage all of us (myself included) to speak to each other in honest, direct, and respectful ways. I will remind us of this at the meeting. I certainly want to make sure you feel total freedom to ask the questions and express the concerns you have, and I humbly ask that you keep Paul’s words from Ephesians 4:29-32 in mind as you come to the meeting on Sunday.
"Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs, that it may benefit those who listen. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with whom you were sealed for the day of redemption. Get rid of all bitterness, rage and anger, brawling and slander, along with every form of malice. Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you”
I know I am praying diligently for Sunday’s meeting, as is the transitional prayer team (BTW--we need more prayer warriors to join us).
Last, I am still engaged in meeting people personally when I am in Carmichael, plus reading and responding to the many emails I have received. The big thing I can report to you about my conversations is that, while there are still many who are hurting from this transition, once they’ve had the opportunity to share their feelings with me, they feel gratitude for being heard and have expressed they’re ready to let go and move forward. It’s the power of listening. I only wish I had learned this truth many, many years ago when I was much younger. Ah, but hindsight is always 20/20.
Looking to seeing you on Sunday!
Blessings!
In His Joyful Service,
Pastor Ned
UPDATE FROM May 23, 2024
Greetings to my dear Christ Community Family,
What I want to share with you today is a followup to yesterday’s “Ministry Update” regarding Ryan Balbi possibly becoming the next lead pastor of Christ Community. I share this because I have received comments from some of you (BTW, I am open to all of them) on this matter. The comments are generally, “Oh, I’m so excited that Ryan is going to be our next lead pastor.” I am not surprised at those comments and, if you wrote me, I’m not attempting to diminish your feelings for Ryan. But I want to make sure that you thoroughly and carefully read yesterday’s email. I was asked by the Session to complete an assessment of Ryan--whether I think he could step into the lead pastor role. During the All Church Family Gathering on April 14th, I shared the process I was going to employ (having five amazing lead pastors interview Ryan) to acccomplish that task. I gave that recommendation to the Session at the end of April and they had 2 weeks to pour over and pray about it.
I met with the Session during their May 14th meeting, and processed my report and recommendation; they arrived at their own recommendation to you, the people of Christ Community, regarding Ryan. Please read my report to the Session along with the recommendation that you will take up at the Congregational Meeting on June 2nd. I don’t know how to say this and I’m sure some of you will not agree with me, but it is not a “done deal” that Ryan will be the next lead pastor of Christ Community. Also this is not a rubber stamp process; it is not! This is really Phase 1 of the process. If you, the congregation, approve the recommendation the Session is bringing to you, then Phase 2 of the process begins with a search team doing their own discernment process. If you believe they will rubber stamp what I have recommended, then I pastorally but strongly say that that opinion would be insulting to the integrity of the people who are part of the Senior Pastor Formation Team (Don Werkhoven, Joan Evans, Kari DeLyser, and Bob Balzhiser) who are working diligently, and sacrificially I might add, to present a topnotch search team for your approval. It would also, IMHO, be insulting to the integrity of the people who will serve on the search team and the process they will craft to accomplish their task.
Phase 3 is when the search team will make a recommendation (if they are “thumbs up” regarding Ryan) to the EPC Presbytery, which then will interview Ryan. If the EPC Presbytery is also “thumbs up” about Ryan, they will then make a recommendation to you, the congregation.
At that point the process will enter Phase 4, the final phase where you, as the congregation, have the opportunity to ask Ryan your questions, can voice your support and any concerns you might have, and eventually cast your vote “up” or “down.”
Finally I want to address an issue that has been shared in this matter. Some people have expressed that if Ryan is not selected to be the next lead pastor, they are concerned that it could lead to a number of people leaving Christ Community. I have said this to other people over the past month and I want to say it now to you: I caution you to not enter what I call “dangerous spiritual territory” where you make a decision based upon how people could possibly react if Ryan is made the lead pastor or not. Believe me when I say that thought entered my own mind in my personal deliberations and prayer, and I had to reject it. I knew whatever I recommended had to be Spirit led, which is why I engaged the process I did and had the prayer support I needed to make the recommendation I did. I would pastorally and strongly encourage you to do the same. In essence, you should want what God wants for Christ Community and not what you want! I know Ryan wants what God wants for Christ Community. We’ve had a conversation or two about this. He understands the process and is trusting God (as we all should) to lead Christ Community and himself through the process.
I want to finish by putting a plug in for more people to join our transition prayer team. I can’t begin to tell you that while I believe we are turning a corner and Christ Community is heading in a good direction, we are not "out of the woods" yet. Satan is not lying down and giving up on dividing this body. There is still much work to be done to get Christ Community into a healthy and missional place where it can step into its best days! Yes, the best is yet to come but only it you are captured by God’s magnificent love, growing in that love, and giving that love away to others (within Christ Community and those outside of the church).
As always, please feel free to contact me to set up an appointment, join the prayer team, or simply ask your questions and voice whatever is on your heart. Blessings!
In His humble service,
Pastor Ned
pastorned@mac.com
UPDATE FROM May 16, 2024
Dear Christ Community Church Family,
Today I realized that I have been your Transitional Pastor for 3 months and I took a few moments to reflect back on this time with you. During the past 3 months, we heard a huge detailed report from VitalChurch Ministry about the health of Christ Community. I know that was a hard report for you to hear and walk through. Some of you were very discouraged about the church family you love dearly and call home. And, in my humble opinion (IMHO), while in many ways it was an accurate report it seemed, IMHO, they focused more on the negative than on the positive; specifically–what has made Christ Community so great.
Then a month later you honored my leadership as Transitional Pastor by attending the All Church Family Gathering on April 14th to hear my response to the report and address some of your concerns where Christ Community is heading. I’ve told you many times since I’ve come to you that I believe Christ Community’s best years are still yet to come–and after over 50 personal conversations with many of you, I believe that all the more–even after hearing some of you express pain and deep concerns for the church moving forward. In my listening tour I discovered that “being listened to and heard" helped many of you surrender your pain and concerns to the Lord then move forward.
A special prayer team was formed a month ago and now there are more than 50 prayer warriors praying weekly for Christ Community. If you would love to join this special team, please let me know. We welcome all the prayer support we can muster!!!!! Prayer is central to Christ Community moving into a healthy and missional future. Please consider joining us!
The staff and the Session are currently reading through a powerful book, “The Emotionally Healthy Leader” by Peter Scazzero. The discussions around the book are bringing a new, fresh look at moving Christ Community towards that emotionally healthy place. I see the signs of greater emotional health; I hope you’re seeing them also.
We’ve not arrived yet–there’s much more work to be done on the journey, although progress is being made. The process of selecting and screening new Session candidates for 2024 has gone so well. You all provided quality people to serve on the Session and there was a terrific nominating team who interviewed and made a recommendation for three wonderful Session candidates to bring to you at our June 2nd Congregational Meeting. The training this group of individuals who have been nominated to come on Session has been thorough! This will probably be the best trained slate of Session candidates in a long time! Praise God.
Then I’m thinking about the request the Session made of me the very first night meeting with them: To assess Ryan Balbi to determine if he can step into the role of lead pastor of Christ Community. I would encourage you to scroll down the page on this blog to refamiliarize yourself with the process I crafted to complete this assessment. I believe it was thorough and fair. Those who know me well know that I’m all about the process; an honest, fair and, I pray, Spirit-led assessment. I pray you will see that as well.
I gave my recommendation to the Session 2 weeks ago to allow time for them to pray over it and be prepared to deliberate, discuss, and pray corporately so God could lead them to a GOOD decision. The Session met Tuesday night and made a minor change to my recommendation regarding Ryan. Their recommendation will be communicated to you next Wednesday, May 21st in a special Christ Community email, well in advance of the June 2nd Congregational Meeting.
Yes, I am asking for your patience for 1 more week for the reveal of that recommendation. Can you do that??
In closing, I want to draw your attention to my favorite passage in the Bible: Romans 5:1-5 and focus on verses 3-5 where Paul says, “We also rejoice in our suffering BECAUSE WE KNOW that suffering produces perseverance; perseverance character and character hope. And hope is never put to shame because God has poured out his love through the Holy Spirit whom He has given us.” Why do I want to focus your attention on these verses? Because I was just reflecting on the adversity that Christ Community has been embroiled in for the past 15 months and I know it’s been hard for most of you going through it. But God was not surprised at the adversity Christ Community would walk through recently, just as He was not caught off guard to the adversity this church went through in 1992. Most of you stayed with the church through that difficult period and the church healed, but more importantly I believe it became stronger. I want to applaud you for sticking with Christ Community through this current time of adversity. Slow but sure healing is taking place! It really is!!!!! But more important you’re going to come out of this time of adversity stronger.
I’m reminded of years ago when I had a 5-year-old home in Palmdale, an area known for strong winds. On my property the builder had planted a tree with a large wooden stake next to it in order to keep the wind from destroying the tree. I kept that stake next to that tree for 5 years until one day a tree arborist happened to stop by my home and told me that I needed to remove the stake next to the tree. I immediately protested and said, “But the wind. I don’t want the wind to hurt my tree.” I will never forget what he said next, “If you don’t remove the stake, the tree will become weaker and susceptible to disease. The tree needs the adversity of the wind to make it stronger.”
Then I realized that God allows adversity in our lives for a purpose. He doesn’t remove adversity from us, but allows and uses it to make us stronger and more like Jesus! I truly believe with all my heart that God will use the struggle and adversity of this transition to make Christ Community stronger, healthier, and more missional than it’s ever been before! Paul reminds us that "our hope will not be diminished through the adversity because He has poured out His love through the Holy Spirit He has given us!”
Are you ready for God to grow you stronger through the adversity He has allowed in your life? Better yet, are you excited to see the wonderful ways God will shape and mold you and build increased perseverance and greater character in you through this time? I sure hope so!!!! The easiest thing to do when times of adversity strike us is to retreat into our cave at home or find a new church, but then you’ll miss the adventure!
Blessings!
Pastor Ned
P.S. I am available and willing to meet with anyone and answer your questions and hear your heart for Christ Community! It’s my honor to serve!
UPDATE FROM May 9, 2024
Dear Christ Community Church family,
Before I give you a quick update on what’s happening I want to share with you a passage of scripture that I pray often for you and myself.
"I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God. Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.”
Ephesians 3:16-21
It’s verse 20 I want to draw your attention to, “Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us.” Why am I focusing on that verse specifically? Because I would like for you to give serious thought to what you most desire for Christ Community as we move forward? What is your dream for Christ Community to become?
God is able to do that and more!!!!!!
Quick update:
Your Senior Pastor Formation Team (Don Werkhoven, Bob Balzhiser, Joan Evans, and Kari DeLyser) is already hard at work. Thank you so much for suggesting names for the Senior Pastor Search Team. The Formation Team is praying through all those names (more names than we have room for on the Search Team) and working on creating a viable list of people to conduct interviews with. Please pray for this team. It’s our goal to have the names of a Senior Pastor Search Team ready for the June 2nd Congregational Meeting.
Your session has received my recommendation regarding Ryan Balbi and will spend considerable time this coming Tuesday evening discussing, deliberating, and praying through my recommendation. Please pray for these two teams! Pray for God’s wisdom to be showered down on these teams.
If you need more information on what I am sharing with you then scroll up on this screen to see previous blog posts.
Last but certainly not least–the transition prayer team is growing! Praise God! But I would love to see more join our prayer efforts for the transition we’re in!
Thank you for allowing me to serve you as your Transitional Pastor.
In His service,
Pastor Ned
UPDATE FROM May 2, 2024
Dear Christ Community Church family,
I want to say again what I have said many times how honored I feel, and also deeply humbled, to serve this wonderful church body during this time of transition. I truly believe that since our Church Family Gathering a few weeks ago, Christ Community is beginning to make the turn towards healing and, what I would term, a healthy and missional future. Each week I have the opportunity to meet with your staff to encourage them and provide some insights into their calling as servants of Christ. I also have the opportunity to meet with some of you individually to hear your concerns and sometimes the hurts you are or have experienced. And I have appreciated hearing from so many how much you love Christ Community and want only God’s best for it moving forward. While I believe we’re making the turn towards healing, there is still much to be done. I’m very encouraged to see the Holy Spirit working amongst you so far to bring not just healing but a hope for a wonderful future for Christ Community.
During the Church Family Gathering a few weeks back I explained how the Session shared with me that they recognize there is a tremendous affection for Ryan Balbi as the Interim Teaching Pastor and a strong desire among many to see Ryan step into the role of lead pastor for Christ Community. But they also recognized that there are people who have concerns to not simply place Ryan automatically and conveniently into that role without some process to at least assess and vet Ryan’s abilities and capabilities to be the lead pastor. Hence they asked me if I would perform such an assessment of Ryan and make a recommendation to them. I asked for 90 days to complete my task. I wanted to get to know Ryan, observe him in leadership settings, and have serious conversations with him while being fully transparent about what stepping into the lead pastor role involves.
I then crafted a process where Ryan would be assessed by leaders outside of Christ Community to assist me in my recommendation. I reached out to five lead pastors of similar size and larger churches, whom I know personally and have tremendous respect for their leadership insight and experience. Ryan reached out to each of the five leaders and they interviewed him, asking questions they felt were important in assessing his abilities and capabilities to step into the role of lead pastor. I was 100% confident that the five leaders I asked to help would do a thorough job and was not disappointed. Ryan completed those interviews about 10 days ago and I received the feedback from those five leaders. Then last week I conducted a two and half hour interview with Ryan. Additionally, I have had a prayer team lifting me, the five pastor leaders, and Ryan up in prayer through the entire process. I share all of this so you know the extent of the process I engaged in for this task.
This past Tuesday (yes, just 2 days ago) I sent my recommendation to the Session. You may be thinking, “Wonderful, Ned, tell us what you recommended?” I am not going to share that with you at this time. Now you may be thinking, “Why be so secretive?” That is not my intent at all. I was asked to complete an assessment and make a recommendation to the Session which I have done. It is now the Session’s responsibility to make a decision about my recommendation and then share with you what their recommendation is. The next Session meeting is a week from this Tuesday, May 14th, when I will meet with them to help them process, deliberate, and make a decision regarding my recommendation. I anticipate that will happen. I have requested that they communicate their decision on my recommendation to you well in advance of the June 2nd Congregational Meeting so you will have plenty of time to process and pray before that day.
Please note that I am not the one who decides Ryan’s or Christ Community’s fate in this decision, nor is it the Session’s. That decision ultimately lies with you, the congregation.
Last week I shared with you that a Senior Pastor Search Formation Team has been formed to present to you, on June 2nd, a Senior Pastor Search Team for your approval. The Search Formation Team of four will have its first meeting this Saturday to discuss the best way of proceeding on forming the Search Team. A few of you have suggested names for members of the Search Team but please suggest more if you are so led. My email is at the bottom of this blog.
Finally, I want to ask you to pray! I know many of you are and I appreciate it so much. Prayer is not part of this process or transition it must be at the heart of it. Hearing God’s voice is very essential for the decisions that will need to be made. Specifically pray for me; the Session, especially for their May 14th meeting; pray for our church staff; and also for yourselves as Christ’s body here in Carmichael; that His voice would be louder than any other voice in your heart. I’m attaching a link to a video of a song below that speaks to this very thing. Finally, I need more people to serve on the prayer team for this transition. If you can serve, please let me know!
I look forward to seeing all of you this Sunday, May 5th for worship and of course I will be available to answer any questions you have!
In His Service,
Pastor Ned
UPDATE FROM APRIL 25, 2024
Dear Christ Community Church family,
I want to give a brief update following our Session meeting on April 23rd and some decisions the Session made as we move forward as a church focused on Jesus!
First, the Session is distributing the three VitalChurch Ministry health reports for the congregation to review. For those who want the snapshot version, download and read the Christ Community One Page Overview. If you want to read through the report that was given to the congregation, read the Christ Community Executive Summary. If you want to read the full 140-page report, read the Christ Community Ministry Assessment Final Report. I want to reiterate that the issues and recommendations raised in the report are not unique to Christ Community. Most churches in America are struggling with the same issues Christ Community is going through. What I can share is that many of the issues and recommendations in the report are already being addressed and I am greatly encouraged to see a plan developing to address the remaining issues in the report.
Second, the Session is taking the necessary steps to form our Senior Pastor Search Team, which is required by the EPC in order to interview and recommend a Senior Pastor candidate to the congregation. The Session asked me to work with the four-person team who will interview potential Search Team members. The four people I have asked to serve on the Senior Pastor Search Formation Team are Kari DeLyser, Joan Evans, Don Werkhoven, and Bob Balzhiser. The goal is to present the Senior Pastor Search Team candidates to you at our Annual Congregational Meeting on June 2nd and inform all of you how the selection process was completed in order for you to have confidence in both the process and candidates. If you have someone you want to suggest to serve on the Search Team, please email their name to me, and I will enter them into the process. As a reminder, members of Christ Community will be asked to vote for the candidates on June 2, so I will keep you updated on the process in order for you to make an informed decision. Please pray for this team and for the Holy Spirit to identify the men and women He has called to serve Christ Community on the Senior Pastor Search Team.
Finally, I spent time at our Session Meeting last night beginning to walk through the Session's governing documents to encourage and strengthen them in their responsibilities as Elders and Deacons of Christ Community. They are well aware they have been called to a big task, to represent the mind of Christ for this church body. Already in my time with them I can sense their deep desire to lead well and “keep the unity of the Spirit which is the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). They are striving toward this unity among each other and the congregation. PLEASE PRAY FOR THEM! They need and desire your prayers. You’ve heard me saying this many times already and I want to say again, hearing and obeying God’s voice are the keys to Christ Community’s future of being a healthy and missional witness in this community.
I want to end with what I have also said multiple times, that the best years of Christ Community are yet to come—I believe that with all my heart IF we are captured by God’s magnificent love, we grow in that love, and we give that love to each other and the world.
Your humble servant in Christ,
Pastor Ned
UPDATE FROM APRIL 18, 2024
Dear Christ Community Church family,
I want to thank all of you who were able to attend last Sunday’s family gathering. I wish in this note to you I could cover all that I shared at the meeting but given that I had 11 pages of my own notes to cover it would be extremely difficult to cover everything. What I can share with you is that the transition Christ Community has gone through was rough and it actually started with Covid, then the RCA split, joining a new denomination, and having your lead pastor resign and move three months later.
Then in my humble opinion, IMHO, the transition was not set up in the right way which means, IMHO, the pastor search process was not set up in the right way either. Plus your Session was not equipped or trained to deal with all this transition brought to Christ Community. The result was anxiety set in, communication was poor, not the best decisions were made, and people’s feelings were hurt in the process. Truth is this transition was messy, more messy that it ever should have been and (IMHO) there is plenty of blame to go around.
When I first came onto campus after being asked to be the Transitional Pastor, I had this deep feeling that Christ Community was under spiritual attack; that there was a spiritual oppression on this church–which is why I made a passionate plea for Christ Community to pray–pray that we hear God’s voice over our hurts or our frustrations–that we hear His voice for each of us to do everything we (individually) can do the “keep the unity of the Spirit which is the bond of peace” (Ephesians 4:3). To go and be reconciled to whomever God puts on your heart and not delay or wait for someone else to make the first move. Hearing and obeying God’s voice is the key to Christ Community’s future to being a healthy and missional witness in this community.
I then addressed what the Session had asked me to do: an assessment of Ryan Balbi, of whether he is ready to step into the role of being the next lead pastor at Christ Community. I am in that process now and have elicited the help of five of my dearest friends who are or have been lead pastors of large church ministries. These five men have interviewed Ryan over the past 2 weeks and they will give me their thoughts on Ryan. Then, in the first week in May I will give to the Session my recommendation regarding Ryan. I know there are many who are ready to make Ryan the next lead pastor now, but I really believe this process I’m engaged with is important to go through first. Rest assured you will have an opportunity to give your input and decision into this if my recommendation is a “yes” regarding Ryan.
The last part of the meeting I walked through the VitalChurch Ministry summary report that was shared a month ago. The written report will become available to you soon. In the family meeting I gave some of my thoughts on that report. What I can tell you is that the issues and recommendations raised in the report are not unique to Christ Community. Most churches in America are still struggling with the same issues Christ Community is going through. What I can share is that many of the issues and recommendations in the report are already being address. I am meeting with people who were hurt from the transition to see how to help them heal.
I have taken the staff and the Session through training on conflict management and communication–and there will be more training to come for them. I will meet with the Session on April 23rd to begin a more extensive training to strengthen them as a board moving forward. I made a plea for people to join a special prayer team for the church as we move forward through all the issues before us. Satan is not done picking at Christ Community, seeking to divide us even more. If you want to be on that prayer team, please email me. In fact, in closing I want to make myself available to anyone who would like to speak with me personally about, IMHO, this wonderful church family and how to strengthen it to be a healthy missional witness. I shared about 6 weeks ago when I preached that I believe the best years of Christ Community are yet to come IF we are captured by God’s magnificent love, we grow in that love, and we give that love to each other and the world.
Your humble servant in Christ!
Pastor Ned
email: pastorned@mac.com