Seems like Ebola is the “hot topic” that is being talked about more than anything else on the news and among people. When I heard that one of the Ebola patients flew into NIH for treatment during the week, I couldn’t help but worry about our church people who work at NIH. Not only them, but for most of us who live not too far from NIH, it’s something that gets our attention for sure.  I felt so bad that an ordinary nurse who was simply trying to help out an Ebola patient ended up contracting the disease. I’m sure a lot of things could have been done differently to prevent such a tragedy, but I can’t imagine the pain and the hopelessness she is dealing with knowing that there is no cure for the disease. I just pray and hope that we find a way to cure this deadly disease as soon as possible.
I’m currently listening to CNN news where John Kerry, the Secretary of State, is having a press conference as he was making an urgent plea for more countries around the world to step up and respond to the Ebola outbreak to fight against this deadly disease. However, the contributions made by a few countries tallied up to only a third of the $1 billion dollar goal set by the UN as of Friday morning. The news anchor was emphasizing the fact that only a handful of countries have contributed to this important cause out of 193 UN member countries so far. One of the lines that really stood out from his speech was “winning this fight is going to be costly and will take all our effort.” I don’t know much about politics and I’m not trying to promote anyone, but the Secretary Kerry is right on point on that. I almost said “amen” to it because that applies to not only the fight against Ebola but our missions as Christians living on this earth.
The great commission that we are called to carry out will require everyone’s effort, not just pastors and leaders. When the news anchor made the comment on how only a few members of the UN countries are making contributions, I immediately thought about the current state of the church. One of the hardest things to do in church is mobilizing and gathering up the members to be involved in the Kingdom work. Whether people are too busy or not motivated, only a handful of people end up doing the majority of the work for churches. The same trend has been and is still happening in local and global missions where only the so called, “missionaries” are evangelizing with urgency. Many of us who are living the American Dream, are busy pursuing our own agendas and thus have put aside the great commission that Jesus commanded to every Christian. 
The bible tells us that every believer has a role to play in the body of Christ. In Ephesians 4, the apostle Paul urges (just like John Kerry made an urgent plea) the church to live a life worthy of the calling we have received. And in order for a body of Christ to grow and mature in the likeness of Jesus Christ, Paul says it’s crucial that each part has to do its work (v. 16). As quoted earlier, not only will it require everyone’s effort, winning this “fight” is going to be costly. Someone has to be willing to pay the price as our Lord Jesus Christ stepped up and paid the price for us on the cross. And Jesus is asking us to do the same. We currently have a couple hundred “members” of NCFC but only a few are making a contribution toward winning “souls.” It is my plea to the church of NCFC to step up and get involved in saving people from the deadliest disease called “sin.” I pray and hope that many more will join in and become more involved in winning souls for the Kingdom of God.

From Pastor Brian’s Heart
October 19, 2014

As you probably have heard, we recently added a new family member at our home. She is not a human; rather she is a puppy, named Hazel, now about six months old. We can say she is almost housebroken. She still cannot let us know if she needs to go outside, but she can hold it until we let her outside. So we assumed she was under control.  Well…let’s face it. Every dog owner knows that whenever you say “my dog is housebroken,” in fact it really isn’t. We’re going through that reality with Hazel at home.
A couple of weeks ago, we had the pleasure of having our son Chris visit from Japan. He had come home for his cousin Jonathan’s wedding. I had just come home from church, and as I was passing by the stairs that lead to the basement, I could smell something like the stench of rotting meat. So I asked Chris “Do you smell something?” And he said “No.” But when I looked down the stairs, I could see several chunks (11 to be exact) of dark brownish chopped off sausage like stuff strewn all over the small flat area half way down the stairs. You guessed it right. Those were Hazel’s poop. I usually get really irritated when something like that happens. But this was so out of character, totally unthinkable and unimaginable, my mouth just dropped and my brain literally became frozen. I couldn’t talk. I couldn’t think. I couldn’t get mad either, and instead just started laughing. If you had seen it, you probably would’ve reacted the same way.  I should’ve taken a picture of it before I cleaned it up.
I believe this how our loving God the Father would react whenever we make mistakes in our lives. I am sure that He just smiles and laughs when He sees our mistakes because He knows how incomplete and mistake-prone we are. Then some of you might ask, “Didn’t He say, be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect?” (Matt. 5:48).  But God also said, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9). See, we only can be perfect through God’s grace which is in Jesus Christ. So God leaves us room to be human where we can make mistakes. In Jesus, God provides an environment where we can make mistakes so that we can learn from our mistakes and grow. Of course, our puppy Hazel had no clue about what she did and never will.  Will she learn and grow through this experience? I will let you guess…
Often, people can become easily entangled with some absurd notion that people expect them not to make any mistakes. You must give yourself a break or others a break. Mistake-making is actually a part of growing up. Mistakes will happen for people to grow, develop, make changes, and become better and successful. And this is so true in the church all the more. We need to make sure we’re supporting a safe environment in the church that allows a little wiggle room. Growth cannot happen in a place where mistakes cannot be tolerated. If you only reward perfection, people won’t be willing to push beyond anything that’s not “safe,” which can be crippling. Plus, if you are constantly holding back to try to be perfect, you’re going to be under constant stress and there will be no joy in your life.
I believe God wants NCFC to have a safe environment where people can come and make mistakes and not be judged. When we see someone making mistake, we shouldn’t be mad at them or disappointed in them or criticize them harshly or wish God would punish them for their mistakes because our God isn’t like that. God is not mad at you. Sure, His brain may freeze for a moment, but He is always madly in love with you and won’t reject anyone who comes to Him. He is not waiting to punish you. Rather He wants you to come to Him and receive His abundant grace so that you can learn and grow from your mistakes. This is the environment that God wants to create in NCFC so that we can grow as a believing community, and in order to do so, we all need to be more gracious toward one another as our God is gracious to each one of us.

From Pastor Neil’s Heart
October 12, 2014