The Redemption Blog

A Pastor Who Loves...

It is a rare opportunity to spend time with a guy who planted a church over 20 years ago and has seen Jesus grow it well over 10,000 people over four campuses with a fifth on the way.  By God’s grace, I have been blessed with this opportunity in spending time with Pastor James MacDonald of Harvest Bible Chapel and I wanted to share what I have seen of him:

1.  A Pastor who loves God’s Word
I have heard the Harvest staff say time again that no other Pastor works harder in study and sermon preparation.  He never phones it in and after 20 years is taking a sabbatical primarily to study apart from sermon prep.

2.  A Pastor who loves his people
Last Saturday as I sat with Pastor James during the service he pointed out person after person and preceded to tell me the story of how Jesus saved them and brought them to Harvest. To live with the level of complexity he does and still be so engaged in the lives of the people at Harvest is inspiring and challenging.

3.  A Pastor who loves excellence
Nothing is done halfway and nothing is done if it cannot be done well.  Perfection is not the value, but offering God our best because He is worthy of it, is. 

4.  A Pastor who loves to invest in his people
I have been blessed since my days at Northwest Family Church, to have guys who were willing to pour their own lives into mine, and Pastor James has done the same.  He invests time, energy, and prayer into his staff and congregation. 

I want to thank Pastor James for his encouragement, example and wisdom.  My prayer is that the investment he has made would run deep and that I would be able to follow his example, by God’s grace, and give the next 40 years of my life to Redemption.  For the glory of God and the good of our city...

Posted by Ryan Huguley
Lead Pastor for Preaching and Vision

Remember...

I remember being young and hearing having my dad ask me, "Why didn't you (you fill in the blank) like I asked you to?" I would always respond with the same tired reply, "I forgot!". To which my dad would reply, "You did not forget, you chose not to remember!" In truth, my dad was right and unfortunately this issue has not gone away in my life.

I choose not to remember the times God has provided for me and instead choose to worry.

I choose not to remember the gospel and instead think I must earn God's love.

I choose not to remember my identity must be found in being a child of God and instead choose to find significance in what people think of me.

I choose not to remember that God is in control and instead I choose to try and control my life myself.

The command to REMEMBER is found all over the Scriptures. In Exodus 13:3 right after leading God's people out of slavery in Egypt, Moses exhorts them saying, "Remember this day in which you came out from Egypt, out of the house of slavery, for by a strong hand the LORD brought you out from this place." The Jewish people celebrate Passover to REMEMBER God's grace to them in Egypt. Jesus commanded we take communion to REMEMBER His sacrifice in our place for our sin.

Yet, we are prone to forget. In fact, I believe one of the greatest ploys of the Evil One is to encourage us to forget: to draw our attention away from the goodness of our God and fix our eyes on our present circumstances. This means it is of the utmost importance that we make a discipline of remembering. Remembering was one of the reasons God had people construct alters in the Old Testament. They were to serve as a sign and help people remember their God.

So how are you fighting to REMEMBER? One of the things that helps me is to journal. I right down my thoughts, prayers, worries, concerns, and trials so I can look back over them at a later time. This helps me remember that God has always provided and protected in the past so I have no reason to worry. It's also important that we talk with God and with each other about who God is and what He has done and is doing in our lives. We must always fight to remember and write down the evidences of God grace in our lives because:

"When we forget the grace of God, we forfeit the peace of God."

Weekend Recap...

1 Weekend + 180 Students + 5 Worship Gatherings = 1 Amazing Weekend

This weekend I was back up at Camp Harvest in Michigan for the High School Winterfest Retreat. We had an incredible weekend and amazing times of worship. It was probably the most engaged I have ever seen a group of students in my 11 years leading worship. God did some amazing work in all of our hearts and I'm excited to see what more He has in store in the weeks to come!