I love the holidays!  I love Christmas most of all!  It’s fun to see who gets their Christmas lights up first in my neighborhood and as much as I love Christmas it’s never me.  That’s because I have to put my reservation in with my good friend Mike Lyskoski who won’t allow me to put them up by myself.  
In fact I think what made me sit down and write this blog today was also a first and that’s the first rain.   Last night I opened the window all the way and listened to the sound of the pouring rain all night!  It never stopped!   The rain was accompanied with a cold breeze that made me pull the covers up all the way to my face and it was then that I realized there was a change in the season and I just love it!
It makes me think that there is hope and favor and provision for those who love Him and obey Him and are called according to His purposes!  It excites me to think that He loves me enough to come to this earth to save me and provide a way out of my used to be terminal condition!  God is so GOOD!  That’s why I love Christmas.  Because He took me out of a situation where once I were to have realized it I would have had certain uncontrollable panic.  I mean the only way I can illustrate what I am trying to say is paralysis.  Something I know of all to well and still think of often.  When I broke my neck three years ago and felt the sentence of death itself.   I was stricken with a panic that I will never be able to describe with words but when I was set free I wept with JOY!  SET FREE are the words I want to teach this Christmas SET FREE to Give, SET FREE to Love, SET FREE to Live with a new found sense of gratitude for what Christ has done for me!  Yes, I love Christmas.  I hope you have an amazing experience this year too as we celebrate once more the reason for everything that is and will be!  God bless you as we live on the earth together this Christmas in 2000 and 8!  Pastor Bryan

How honest should we be?  YES.  The answer is yes.  Obviously prayer changes things.  We have grown up to believe it been taught to value it but how many of us really have the Where with all to choose prayer as a primary option over our own doing?  When facing a wall we think surely there must be something that I havn’t thought of or something more that I can do.   Someone I can call.  Why?  Why is our rational to always do life on our own or what may be worse to include God when and where we want Him.  We serve a merciful master!  A master that rejoices when we make the right decision to seek Him first.  We have the knowledge to know that all these things will be added unto us and yet we still gather together comittees and focus groups to find our answers.  We book end the meetings with prayer but with the word amen we quickly slip into our carnal minds once more.

My richest times with the Lord are when I need Him.   When I have no where else to turn.  That is why in third world countries there is so much Faith.  We are a rich nation that has lost our need for God and our chances of fitting through the eye of a needle are becoming increasingly slim. 

If Need is the Catalyst to a rich relationship with the Holy Spirit,  sooner then later we have to understand that we are in a constant state of need.  Prayer is the life line to Pauls confession of contentment when he says that he has learned to be content whether with little or with much.  When we find ourselves pressing into the heart of God we too will find the peace that surpasses our understanding and fills us with His.

As a church we need that understanding if we are to turn the corner into a new season of richness and blessing that comes only from seeking the heart of God.  Over the next several weeks I will be calling us out by families to man the walls.  We are not finished just because we are inhabiting the land there are many stones that are left unturned and dangers at every corner.  Let’s be alert building with one hand defending with the other.  Seeking the heart of God together will create great anticipation and dependence on the one who can save and create revival in our City unlocking and unleashing the blessings of Heaven.

This week we continue our series SO YOU’RE DEAD NOW WHAT?  Our topic is HEAVEN  don’t miss it!

What a day!  Everything was amazing!!  I’ll probably use a lot of exclamation points in the next several lines, just a heads up!  We spent hours upon hours of preparations for the day to be as perfect as possible.  So many people poured their heart and soul into every last detail.  When Deborah and I rolled in we were greeted just like you by the smiling warm faces of the parking lot crew only to be greeted again by our connection team and then again by everyone who had arrived before us.  The excitement level was so high and every one around us had a grin from ear to ear that just seemed to say WOW I can’t believe we get to worship here!  Seriously it is so nice!  You would have thought that we broke the bank putting this thing together with the opposite being true!  The band was electric the slide show video of all the volunteers was riveting and breaking in the pulpit was like nothing else I have ever experienced.  We had record amounts of people show up and there was no doubt that Jesus was right there with us!  I was worshipping with tears in my eyes most of the time while muttering the words Thank You Jesus from my lips over and over again.  I probably spoke for to long but what the heck you only get one chance to break in a new first facility!  At the end we gave an invitation and many prayed to receive Christ for the first time!  We finally had to ask people to clear out into the parking lot so we could head out over to the baptism which was also wonderful by the way!  Thank you 3 in 1 for such a great experience to serve You as the Pastor of tides church!  May we Rock this town for You!  Give us favor where ever we go and make us into a generation that brings You praise! 

Make sure you come out this week for the continuation of our NEW series called… So You’re Dead Now What?  The subject this week is Hell.  I promise this one you will want to see!  See you all there!  Bryan

Living In The Present (NEW BLOG ENTRY)

What a great ending this past Sunday to our 5 week series entitled Disciple.   Of course don’t miss the kick off to what should be another great series exploring the afterlife!   We will tackle everything from Death to Heaven and Hell and of course Life in the present! 

Brand new cushy chairs arrive on Thursday and all of the indoor signage by Friday.  New things are arriving at various peoples doors all the time, mainly at overstock.com’s door!  That’s my nick name for Brian Gowing.  He has everything known to man in his house or garage.  No Seriously He Does!  By the way, Jeremy is OSO, which means Large Bear!  Paul is the Dark Knight and I am Pastor 7 (Which has connotations of perfection associated with it LOL) according to the CITY of Lake Elsinore.   Believe it or not we are managing to have fun along the way which is important and we are really looking forward to our moving date.  It has felt good and difficult at times to go about this process the right way but I know God will and is honoring it!  Keep checking back often as I will try and update more frequently.  What am I reading right now some have asked?  I am reading a book called He Loves Me!  by Wayne Jacobsen.  I highly recommend it I have been very encouraged.  Also be thinking of who you can invite on October 12th!  This is our first service, we are calling it a soft opening.  That will give us the time we need to kick the tires and blow a few breakers during the middle of worship before we have a GRAND OPENING WITH 15 TONS OF SNOW!  Yes we are bringing it back!  Love you all!  Let’s all be together at cottonwood this weekend for our last service in a temporary school site!

We are however very Grateful to the School district especially Preston Perez the Principal of Cottonwood for sticking his neck on the line to host us!  What a true leader and an ambassador for the Kingdom!  Thank You Mr. Perez!!!!

Leave comments and questions so I know people are reading.  If I know you are there I will write more!  So WRITE, WRITE,WRITE!!    Bryan 

Tonight if you drive by you will be able to see our sign all lit up carrying on the vision and commitment of a great saint in our city’s history named Amy McPhereson who sought to establish a great Light on a hill the whole valley would see.   What a great heritage we get to carry on.  Our church comes from a long list of great reformers like A.B Simpson who left a high paying church job on the East coast to reach out to the lost and unloved on the shipping docks of New York City.  Boy, what would they think of us today as we carry on a great work that above all is pleasing to the Lord.  Now that’s some good ole Baptist preacher coming out in me!

The me of right now is so proud of everyone who has lent their time, energy and resources to be such a big part of all of this coming together!  We started with a very limited budget and I am literally watching as Jesus multiplies the fish and the loaves.  It is truly amazing.  I would get writers cramp if I had to hand write all of the thank you notes to the many who have gotten involved!

In October we will all stand together in worship in our new auditorium in our new church building for the very first time.  Be thinking now of who you will invite to help us reach 100’s people on our first sunday for the Kingdom of God in Lake Elsinore!  Keep watching for more updates and stop by the building to see the progress when you get a chance!

Pastor Bryan

God will never insulate me
from my need for Him.

I think too many of the prayers I pray revolve around God giving me more security.
Not the good kind of security: security in Christ, security in His Word, etc.
The kind of security that would make God unnecessary in my life.
In other words, false security.

I want God to tie up all the loose ends in my life, until I’ve got it all under control. Tell me the 50 year plan so I can get cracking, and never look back. And that’s just never going to happen.
The nature of relationship with God will not permit Him to position me circumstantially so deeply in my self-sufficiency that He becomes a footnote in my life.

God will never insulate me
from my need for Him.

Come out this week for the next installment of Hostage where we address the topic of Anger.  See you all on Sunday!

Where do I start?  Am I excited about tides church right now?  Only more excited then I have ever been!  Today we had our first ever 4th of July Golf Tourney put on by Mason Bragg our Summer Intern.  This Summer Mason is focusing on sports outreach and youth and so far has done a great job.  We had 24 men attend the tournament who are either from tides or who were invited by a friend.  Of course you know who’s team won but there’s no sense in announcing the obvious in order to retain some humility.  All friendly fun that’s what I always say (wink). 

BUILDING UPDATE!  The City has moved up our August 5th Conditional Use Permit hearing to July 15th.  What that means is that we could prayerfully be approved earlier so that we can get into our new facility to make the necessary improvments for a September 1st move in date.  My goodness I can’t believe that we are getting so close.  Please do not stop praying, we are trusting God for an amazing annointing on our church to reach this city and beyond for the power of Christ!

Remember we were created to enjoy each other through a supernatural realationship in Jesus Christ.  This Summer take some time in between services to connect with someone new or someone you see all the time.   Starting this week we are bringing back the TIKI VILLAGE filled with ice cold drinks and chilling refreshment to off set the summer heat.  Buy the kids a shaved ice with any flavor of the rainbow to create the feeling of being on the shores of MAUI!  Whatever service you choose, come early or stay late, just have fun!   We have two more weeks of Habakkuk so take them all in as we explore real life picking up this week in Chapter 2.

I heard Pastor Matthew Barnett say this a year ago.  I never forgot it.  That may not even be the exact quote, but I’m pretty sure I nailed the main idea.  Now if only I could put it into practice.

Too much of our (ok, I don’t know about you, but at least my) time and energy is invested in our ambition to arrive.  To make it.  To prove “them” wrong.  To prove myself competent.

For pastors, this success is often defined by an attendance number.  Our self worth is subtly wrapped up in “how many ya runnin?”.
WARNING: when you arrive at that magic number, whatever it may be, it automatically increases, and the game starts over.  You’ll just find yourself running to another gate to catch the next flight to temporary fulfillment.

For parents, this success sometimes takes the form our kids’ accomplishments.  Instead of raising them to be a blessing to their generation, we raise them to be impressive to our neighbors.  What a shame!  Right behaviors, wrong motivations.

Let your dream of succeeding fall to the ground.  Let it die.  The seeds of that dead dream will eventually produce a non-perishable harvest.  Chances are you’ll stay hungry for the some of same things (higher numbers, well-behaved children, whatever…).  But you’ll want them for the right reasons.

On another note continue to pray for the building.  We are making real progress and are getting close to a confirmation.  We have submitted a Conditional Use Permit for our purposes and expect to hear something back very soon.  This is all very exciting!

I will keep you all updated as news unfolds until then I will plan on seeing you this Sunday for another great weekend with Jesus!  Bryan