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For Your Heart and Mind
“There’s Nothing Like Someone Like Jesus!”
Encouragement from Pastor David on what God is doing

In was late Spring, 1980. Pamela was almost 7 months pregnant. We had just driven two vehicles (me in the U-Haul, her in the Honda) almost 1200 miles from Dallas, Texas to Grand Forks, North Dakota. I-35 plus I-29 to…well, not the edge of the world, but as they like to say, “You can see it from there.”

Grand Forks. Located on the Red River of the North. [Yes, one of the rare US rivers that flows north.]

Our first church ministry assignment.

Not long after we arrived, we met a couple with whom we would be life-long friends. Jay and Ilene Anderson. A young dentist and his wife, having their first child just about the same time as us.. Cam (ours) and Tripp (theirs) would become fast friends as little boys. Jay and Ilene, treasured companions who had a deep commitment to loving others like Jesus loves.

Which is why, today as I write, I mourn the loss of my friend. Ilene’s husband. Jay suddenly slipped away to heaven just a few days ago. Ugh.

SOMEONE TRULY LIKE JESUS

Jay had met Christ during his days at university. He never got over his love affair with the Savior. When he graduated from dental school (Northwestern), with Ilene he established his practice in Grand Forks. They would find the Faith Evangelical Free Church there and serve the Lord with faithfulness all their married years.

We need more men like John “Jay” Anderson. Our broken world is poorer in his absence.

JESUS IN US, OUR GREATEST ADVANTAGE

Today, people are less and less interested in religion. Not unlike the 1st century, formal religion was simply not working, a show for which no one wanted to buy tickets. Then Jesus strode out of Nazareth and was humbly baptized by John. Full of God’s Spirit, he began to help people see a side of God they never thought existed. A God who cared for people, who wanted to listen to their prayers, who responded to their desperate cries, who offered truth instead of tradition, grace instead of condemnation. Jesus was so loving, and so remarkable.

“I’ve been crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me” (Galatians 2:20). Christ lives in me. Think of this!! Let’s think of this more often than we have. Christ Jesus himself lives in me.

He lived so powerfully in Jay for the better part of his 73 years. He can live in each of us.

And when He does…as we invite him to with our prayerful, cooperative hearts…He will draw all men to himself.

There’s nothing like someone like Jesus.

FOR WHAT KIND OF (Sr.) PASTOR SHALL WE SEARCH?

Because we want to be good listeners, we are hearing some “rustling in the bushes” on the question, “When are we going to start looking for our new Senior Pastor?” That’s a good question. As you may recall, we are making our way through an assessment process with IPM (Interim Pastor Ministries) which calls for some preparatory work BEFORE we look for our next leader.

That said, we also need to do some “preparatory” work on the kind of pastor we are looking for. Two steps are needed.

#1 - We need to be UNIFIED on WHAT KIND of Sr. Pastor we are looking for. In order to gather some input from the Free Church body, a Senior Pastor Profile is available for you to fill out and return to the Free Church office by February 1. Use this link, print off and fill out the questionnaire, and return it to us by that date.

#2 – We need to be CLEAR on the position (or job) description for the new Senior Pastor. This will be the responsibility of the Elder Board, referencing both what our by-laws require as well as other aspects of leadership we will need in our Pastor. We invite you to pray for our Board as they discuss this matter.

The next 6-8 months will go quickly. Thank you for participating in the good processes which the Spirit has us working through. Thank you as well for faithfully praying.

This Sunday at the Free Church

For more information, find our website at www.efreechurch.org