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Remember the story that I shared last Sunday about my soccer tryouts? It was probably one of the most embarrassing memories I can recall during my high school years other than all the silly mistakes I made not knowing much English. As I was preparing my sermon, God brought up this shameful memory and highlighted an area that I overlooked because I was so caught up in not making the team. So even after I told the story on Sunday, I couldn’t shake off the thought of appreciation and love for my brother. Now that I think back, I should have told my brother how much I appreciated his loving and courageous act that he showed on that day. Can’t believe my brother, as a teenager himself, decided to come run with me for another mile or two after he finished the five mile run. I honestly don’t think I would have done that for my brother. Although I love him very much, I would have been very embarrassed of him and would not have had the courage to run out to finish the race together. No wonder I’m the younger brother!
Many of you may not know my brother Jacob. He is only two years older than me so we basically grew up together going to arcades, playing sports and even getting in trouble together in our early teenage years. When I was in 4th grade, I got in trouble with some older bullies in my school because I stood up against them. They threatened to beat me up after school for what I did. So that day my brother, along with some of his friends came out and protected me from those bullies. It sounds so silly now but it mattered greatly then because I was so scared that something might happen to me. Another memory that I have is when we got into big trouble because we stole something and lied to our dad. Long story short, my brother took everything on himself and kept me from getting a good “spanking” from my dad for what we did together. We lived in a house with two rooms at that time and I remember that in one of the rooms, my brother was being disciplined and in the other room, I was crying because of what my brother did for me. There are many more stories I can share but due to limited space I can’t. Just wanted to share that my brother has been there for me all along and I truly honor and love him for being such a wonderful brother to me.
Please understand that I’m not trying to brag about my family and how blessed I am. I shared about my brother because his love helped me to understand how Jesus loves and cares for me. And what I want to ask is that we need to practice such love toward one another in the context of church communities as well. We have been brought together as a family through the wonderful work of Jesus Christ.
There is a story of friends who brought a paralytic to Jesus in Luke 5. These men must have had a great desire (love) to see a paralytic get healed so they went out of their way to make sure that he is seen by Jesus. When they could not get through the crowd, the friends went on the roof and lowered him on his mat through the tiles into the middle of the crowd, right in front of Jesus. What a wonderful picture of how a faith community can be! These men didn’t care about what others thought of them. They were willing to do whatever it takes to bring their friend to Jesus. How many of us will go out of our way to help and minister to a brother or sister in our community? And how far will you go to bring someone to Christ? I just love how the bible describes that the paralytic was brought “right in front of Jesus.” There might be people in your life that you want to bring to Christ. What are you willing to do and how far will you go to bring that person “right in front of Jesus?” Something to think about…
BTW, my sister (Jenna) who might be reading this right now may feel left out that I didn’t write anything about her. I will do that in my next column!  


From Pastor Brian’s Heart
February 21, 2016



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A couple of Sundays ago, I shared the story of Cornelius from the book of Acts and said that it was a very important event in the early church that brought about change to break the cultural barrier in order for the gospel to move from Jews to Gentiles. Most people don’t like change because change is uncomfortable, and it can be hard. Churches are known for resisting changes. Even when people know in their head that the change would be good and pleasing to God, they still resist.
And yet we all know also that responding to change well is critical to our success in everything we do, especially doing God’s work. Jesus rebuked the religious leaders of his day because they couldn’t read the signs of the times and refused to change. And change doesn’t come easy either. With change comes much uncertainty and unsettledness, if it is a major change.
But during the unsettling times, it will help people to keep moving forward if they can focus on what can or might be done, rather than fixating on events over which they have no control because with change new opportunities are created. Of course, with new opportunities you are going to face new challenges. But when you allow your uncomfortableness and turbulence to push you forward, you will be able enter into uncharted territories and gain new experiences in life.
When we were dealing with a major change as a church three years ago, we were faced with much doubt, unknowns, uncomfortableness and unsettledness. But God told us to stay calm and focus on Him alone and later gave us His assurance through His Word as we were going through a transition as a congregation from Isaiah 43:18-19, “Forget the former things; do not dwell on the past. 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.” Basically what He said was, “I know what’s going on, and your situation is under My control, and I am going to fix it. You simply watch what I do, and trust and follow My lead.” And God brought many great speakers through our conferences and spoke to us the words that we needed to hear on a timely basis as well. God’s faithfulness was great and amazing.
Also, during this transition time, God challenged every one of us to step up and be involved in the process. He taught us how we should work together as a team rather than depending on a few gifted and capable leaders who are making all decisions and giving directions. He also wanted us to understand that God’s work is not depending all on your gifting, abilities, or intelligence. Rather God wanted everyone to be involved in His work and to give whatever they could give, and work together as a team through acceptance, patience, love and forgiveness. God was making a cultural change in our congregation. And I truly believe you’ve responded well.
I personally want to thank all of you for trusting and believing in our leadership during this transition time, even though none of us were best qualified for doing His work. Our pastoral and support staff worked hard and faithfully, and we functioned well as a team. Our lay leadership was just amazing. They served willingly and sacrificially. But most of all, our God’s been so faithful and gracious to us, and He never let us down.

It’s been an amazing ride. Now the time has come to pass the baton, and God has perfectly orchestrated it. With the new Sr. Pastor expected to come on board, God’s work at NCFC will continue on in even greater measures. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us as we move forward. Once again, thank you all and God bless!


From Pastor Neil’s Heart
February 14, 2016



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