Announcing Pastor Tony

If you were with us in worship on Sunday you know that the Staff Parish Relations team announced the name of our new Lead Pastor to be effective on July 1. If you missed it, I want to share with you that we will soon welcome Pastor Tony Fallisi to our Rock Church family. I am super excited about Pastor Tony. He comes with tremendous experience and has served very effectively in other large church settings. I know he is going to be a gift and a blessing to Rock Church as God leads us into our next chapter of life and ministry. Below is a summary of the announcement that was shared by the SPR on Sunday at all campuses.

Pastor Tony and Dotty currently live in Raymond and have daughters living in Haverhill, MA and Loudon, NH. Pastor Tony currently serves three churches in New Hampshire, namely Bethany UMC in Rochester, People’s UMC in Fremont, and East Kingston Community UMC in East Kingston.

Pastor Tony is originally from New England and earned his bachelor’s degree in economics at Merrimack College.  Feeling the call to ministry, Pastor Tony became a Licensed Local Pastor in 2005 and went on to graduate from Duke Divinity School’s Course of Study in 2010. He has pastored churches in Pennsylvania since 2005 including Holiday Park United Methodist Church. He served there as Senior Pastor for 8 years and saw attendance roughly triple from about 250 per week to about 750 just before COVID.  

Pastor Tony is a man of God, an accomplished leader, a gifted encourager, and loves scripture. When we met Pastor Tony, he let us know that he had reviewed the Statements of Faith on our website and said he reviewed and fully supports our values without reservation.  We eagerly look forward to welcoming Pastor Tony and Dotty Fallisi on July 1st!

If would invite as to keep Pastor Tony and his wife Dotty in your prayers as they prepare to transition from his current appointment to serving here at Rock Church. I know God has great things in store for Rock Church!

I hope you will be with us in worship this Sunday as we continue our brand new series “Good Growth.” I’m particularly excited about this week’s message “Manure Happens!”

I love you all,

Pastor Steve

Via Dolorosa

Via Dolorosa is a Latin term that means “the way of suffering.” It is the words used for the route that Jesus took through the city of Jerusalem on his way to the cross. But it also represents the overall journey. This is Holy week. During the seven days we take a journey with Jesus from the procession of Palm Sunday to the Last Supper to the garden where Jesus prayed. It was there that he was betrayed by Judas and arrested. After that was a mockery of a trial and Jesus condemnation. It was here that one of his closest friends, Peter, denied even knowing him.

After the trial, Jesus was beaten, mocked, and humiliated. He was paraded through the streets on this Via Dolorosa as the people jeered and insulted him. His disciples wept as nails were driven through his hands and feet and he was crucified like common criminal. After he had died, they prepared his body for burial and laid him in a borrowed tomb. For the disciples, all seem lost . . .until. Three days later, as the women approached the gravesite to grieve, they discovered the stone rolled away. They found an empty tomb and the greatest news ever proclaimed, Jesus is alive! Resurrection to life, Jesus had defeated death.

No one ever wants to have to experience the Via Dolorosa, the way of suffering. But without the crucifixion there was no resurrection. In order for Christ to defeat death he had to confront it. Sometimes we must travel the way of suffering in order to experience the joy of victory. This is what Holy Week is all about. As Christ followers, it is important that this week we make the journey with Jesus to the cross, and the grave, before we celebrate the empty tomb.

To help us experience that, we have prepared two special services for Holy Week. Tomorrow is what we call Maundy Thursday. Maundy actually comes from a Latin word for mandate or commandment. At the Last Supper Jesus gave the disciples a new commandment, “love one another.” At the Maundy Thursday service we will walk through the story of the last supper and then share together in communion.

On Friday we will hold a Good Friday service that continues the journey through the betrayal, the arrest and the sacrifice of Jesus. We offer these services so that we can walk with Jesus along the Via Dolorosa. This is important because we cannot fully experience the power, and the joy, of the resurrection on Easter without having gone through the struggle of Holy Week. The combined Maundy Thursday service will be held at our Plaistow campus at 6:00 p.m. Then the combined Good Friday service will be at our North Shore campus in Amesbury at 7:00 p.m. Both services are open to everyone. I invite you to attend both if you are able.

Then on Easter morning, I look forward to us coming together to celebrate joyfully the resurrection of our Lord and savior! Having walked the Via Delarosa with him we can fully experience the joy of his resurrection.

Have a blessed holy week.

I love you all,

Pastor Steve

Unpacking Our Process

I suspect that many of you have heard by now my announcement from Sunday that, effective July 1, I am being appointed to a new church (actually two churches) on the coast of Maine. If you missed the video I would invite you to watch it at this link. I've had a number of questions since then about the whole process. It made me realize that because I have been here so long, most of our folks are not really familiar with our United Methodist process in regard to pastoral appointments.

So, I thought it would be good to give a brief overview. As a United Methodist church, we are an “itinerant” church. What that essentially means is we have a pool of pastors within our geographical area (what we call the New England conference). From time to time, pastors are moved from one church to another at the direction of our District Superintendent and Bishop. Sometimes those moves come for missional reasons, where a pastor may be asked to move even if a move wasn’t requested. But often the moves are initiated by the pastor or the church's Staff Parish Relations committee.

In my case, as you may have seen in the video, I have felt for a while that God was calling me back into a church planting or congregational redevelopment setting. Out of that leading from God, I shared with our DS a number of months ago that I would be open to a new appointment if it was in a church there was in need of redevelopment. The DS and Bishop identified a setting they felt worked well with my gifts, and passion for redevelopment, and have appointed me to move there. All appointments officially begin on July 1st. This is so all pastors who are moving will transition on the same week. So, the week leading up to July 1, we will be preparing to move to East Boothbay and Southport Maine. At the same time our new Rock Church Pastor (soon to be selected) will be moving here.

I know some folks have wondered how Pastor Jake would do everything by himself. Rest assured, we will have a second pastor and will likely be on the lookout for an additional Campus Pastor in the near future. I've also heard that some have wondered if our pastoral transitions have been in some way connected to the upcoming General Conference in April. General Conference is an every 4-year gathering of representatives from Methodist conferences from throughout the world. There will be some important matters being addressed at General Conference, but our transitions are not in any way tied to that.

We will be holding congregational meetings on April 7th in Sandown, April 14th in Plaistow, and April 21st at North Shore to address questions related to General Conference. I would encourage all who are interested to attend one of these. All three are open to everyone, so you are welcome to attend the one that best fits your schedule.

Before I sign off, I do want to remind you that this Sunday is Palm Sunday, the beginning of Holy Week. We are putting our current sermon series on hold for Holy Week and will finish it up after Easter. During Holy Week we will have a special Maundy Thursday service at 6:00 pm in Plaistow and a Good Friday service at 7:00 pm in North Shore. I hope you will put those on your calendar and plan to join us.

Finally, I want to invited us to keep Pastor Paul and Lisa in our prayers as they prepare for their move to Alabama this coming week. Have a blessed week.

I love you all,

Pastor Steve

Embracing the new

It has been an emotional week at our house. Our son Clifton left for Air Force basic training this week. We were very busy with some special family outings, a going away party and lots of little details to prepare. Both his workplace and the fire station had going away events (Clifton was a Lt. in the Plaistow Junior Fire Fighters program). Then there was the final check in with his recruiter before taking him up to the Portland Maine MEPS center. There was an overnight in the hotel, a swearing in and then a flight to Texas.

It has definitely been a week of mixed emotion. We are, of course, sad to see him leave home. But at the same time, we are excited for all the possibilities that the future holds for him. And we are proud of him for being willing to leave the comfort of what is known to embrace an unknown future that is ripe with potential as he sets out to serve his nation.

I think God does amazing things in our lives when we are willing to step out in faith into unknown territory. To leave behind what is familiar is always uncomfortable and often hard. But what I have discovered is that these are the times when we are drawn closer to God. When we feel like we have everything under control, it is very easy to slip into a pattern of trusting in ourselves. But when we journey into unfamiliar places, we need God’s guiding hand to lead us through.

As a church family, we are going through some transitions, and it feels like we are entering unfamiliar territory. But these are the times when we can be drawn closer to God, trusting him to lead us through. While it may feel uncomfortable, we have nothing to fear. God is with us. Jesus promises he will never leave or forsake us. Even when we are not sure where the path is leading, God already knows. And God has a great future for us. In one of my favorite scripture verses the prophet Jeremiah writes “‘For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord, ‘plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future.’”

As we go through a season of change, let us never forget that God is in control and he has a great future planned for us. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for Rock Church in the days ahead.

Have a blessed week.

I love you all,

Pastor Steve

The Lord your God goes with you

Shortly before his death, at the age of 120, Moses called together the people of Israel. He had led them from slavery to freedom. He had journeyed with them for 40 years through the wilderness. But it would soon be time to enter the promised land. God had great blessing in store for them in this new homeland. But there would be enemies to confront and battles to be fought. And there would be change. Joshua would now be their leader. They would cease to be a nomadic people, wandering through the desert. They would leave what was familiar, in favor of greater opportunities God was providing for them.

As they turned their eyes towards the promised land, the people began to be anxious, even fearful. Fearful of what they might confront. The wilderness was not great, but it was familiar and it was safe. In response, Moses said to the people “Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you.”

Over the years, Rock Church has been through many changes. With our pastoral transitions, we are going through a new season of change. Change can be hard, and it can be a little scary. But the promise of God for us is the same as it was for the Israelites. “The Lord your God goes with you, he will never leave or forsake you.” No matter what challenge or change we go through, we know that God is always with us. He will lead us through our “wilderness” to a new promised land.

God is the master of taking even the hard things in our lives and bringing good from them. Even as we go through these transitions, I know that God has great things prepared for us. I am confident that in the days ahead, God will continue to use Rock Church in more powerful ways than we can even imagine. Our mission is to make disciples of Jesus Christ who love God, love others and do good. I’m excited to see all the ways that God will fulfill that mission in us in the years ahead!

Have a blessed week. I hope you will all be able to join us in worship as we continue our new Lenten Series “The Search for Truth” In this new series, we take a deep dive into Christianity and other world religions. This is a fascinating study that will help us to better address the faith questions people are asking in our world today.

Have a blessed week. I love you all.

Pastor Steve

A season of preparation

Tomorrow is Valentines Day. But it is also Ash Wednesday. Ash Wednesday marks the beginning of the season of Lent. Lent is a special season in the Christian year leading up to Holy Week and ultimately the cross. Over the next six weeks we will prepare ourselves spiritually for Christ’s suffering, sacrifice and glorious resurrection. Lent is often a penitent season, a time when people choose to “give something up” as a way of joining ourselves with the sacrifice of Christ.

I don’t know about you, but I find that sometimes I get a little bit comfortable in my faith. My devotional time can become routine. My prayer life starts to feel perfunctory. Before I know it, I have been lulled into a spiritual funk. Or sometimes it is not that I have become too comfortable in my faith. Sometimes I can get so caught up in the craziness of life that my devotional life begins to feel lost in the shuffle.

These are the times when I need to refocus and recommit to an intimate relationship with Christ. Lent provides a perfect opportunity to take our spiritual life to a deeper place. It can be a time of spiritual growth and strengthening. I want to encourage us to take that opportunity. Beginning tomorrow, let’s take the next 40 days of Lent to pour into our faith journey in a new way. Tomorrow we will offer a ministry wide Ash Wednesday service at 6:00 at our Plaistow campus. This service is a wonderful way to spend time with God to commit the weeks ahead as a season of preparation and growth. I hope you will all join us.

I also want to let you know that we are starting a new teaching series this Sunday that will take us through the 6 Sundays of Lent. The title of the series will be “The search for Truth.” Through the series we will do an in depth study of Christianity as compared with other world religions. We live in an increasingly pluralistic world. As Christ followers, we need to be prepared to address questions related to the intersection of Christianity and other belief systems. This series will equip you to address some of the challenging questions that are being asked in culture. And it will help us to build a theological foundation to better understand our own faith and why we believe what we do.

This is going to be an inspiring and fascinating series. You won’t want to miss a single week.

Have a blessed day and I hope to see you tomorrow (Wed. Feb 14) at 6:00 pm in Plaistow for our ministry wide Ash Wednesday service.

I love you all,

Pastor Steve

Thank you Pastors

This past Sunday we took time in worship at our Plaistow Campus to express our love and appreciation to Pastor James and his wife Lynette. For a number of years Pastor James has served as the campus pastor in Plaistow. His wife Lynette had also served for many years as the Administrative Assistant at the Plaistow campus. Effective this week, Pastor James is stepping down from his pastoral role. As you may have heard, Lynette is facing some significant health concerns, so Pastor James felt it was best to step back from the pastoral position in order to focus more time at home. As we expressed on Sunday, I want to repeat here a heartfelt thanks for the years of sacrificial service both Pastor James and Lynette have provided.

Some of you may also have heard that Pastor Paul, from our North Shore Campus, has announced that he and Lisa will also be transitioning. For several year Paul and Lisa have been considering a move South to enjoy a warmer climate and be closer to family. With the housing market being favorable, it seemed like the right time to take this big step. They announced a couple of weeks ago that they had put their house on the market. They have had an offer on their house and, if all goes according to plan, they will be moving towards the end of March. Pastor Paul’s final Sunday in church will be March 17th. I want to invite you to join us for that special service as we take time to express appreciation to Pastor Paul and Lisa for their ministry among us.

I want to encourage us to take the time to express appreciation to each of these great pastoral families. Whether it be a written note, text, email or an in person conversation, let’s all take the time to let them know how much we appreciate their faithful service to God through Rock Church.

On another note, I want to let you know that next Wednesday, February 14th is Ash Wednesday. This day marks the beginning of the season of Lent. Lent is that season of preparation leading up to the Cross and ultimately, the resurrection of Jesus. On Ash Wednesday we will have an all church combined service at 6:00 pm at our Plaistow Campus. We invite everyone to join us for this important observance that marks the beginning of this holy season.

This Sunday will be the final week of our “house of prayer” series. You will not want to miss this important and impactful final message. I hope you will all be able to join us at one of our Rock Church locations. Have a blessed week.

I love you all,

Pastor Steve

Back to the gym

I have a feeling I will be a little sore tomorrow. I did something today I haven’t done in a long time, I went back to the gym. If I am completely honest, it was “pre-covid” when I last went to the gym with any regularity. I always liked going to the gym. After going consistently for a little while, I always feel better. It helps me manage my weight better. I have more energy. I just feel healthier. But for some reason, I hadn’t been in long time. And as I think about it, I realize that this isn’t even the first time I’ve “fallen off the wagon.” Over the years I have gone through several cycles of being very intentional in exercising and then going for extended seasons without it.

If I know it is good for me, and I actually seem to enjoy it when I finally make it to the gym, why do I end up with these extended absences? I suspect there are at least a couple of underlying causes. First, it takes time. Far too often, I feel like I don’t really have the time (although I seem to find the time for lots of other things). I’ve also noticed that sometimes I get in my head about it. The more I think about it, the more daunting it seems. I have to actually get dress. I must face the cold. And then there is that long (5 minute) drive to the gym.

But the truth is, if I just set my mind to it, I do it. I make the time. I grab some gym clothes. I hop in the car and make the very quick drive. When I’m done, I feel great (most of the time). And by taking care the temple that God has entrusted to me, I know I will live a healthier life and be better able to serve Christ for years to come.

I think sometimes we look at our spiritual practices in the same way. I bet many of us go through cycles of being much more intentional in our daily prayer, scripture and devotions and then having times when we just don’t seem to get to it. I understand. It is much like going to the gym. It takes time. It takes intentionality. If we are not careful, it is easy to fall out of the habit.

But I want to remind us that there is real blessing in being consistent in our personal spiritual life. When we start the day in prayer, when we take time each day in the Word of God, we are spiritually stronger and healthier. We are better equipped to do the work of God. And we are better able to stand against the attacks of the enemy that invariably come.

So, I want to encourage us today. If you have been in one of those spiritual dry seasons when you have not been as consistent or intentional in your time with God, today would be a great day to get back at it. Make the decision. Find the time. And be remind of what a blessing it is to start every day with a focus on Christ.

Have a blessed day. I love you all.

Pastor Steve

Transitions

If you were with us in worship in Plaistow this past Sunday, you most likely heard the announcement shared by Pastor James. Pastor James has made the decision to step down from his role as campus pastor. As he shared in worship, his wife Lynette was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. We are grateful to God that it was an early diagnosis and are very optimistic that by the power of God, and the help of a great medical team, Lynette will be fully healed. But James feels is best to release the responsibilities of pastoral ministry so he can devote as much time as possible to Lynette and his family. James and Lynette will still be an active part of our Rock Church family. Lynette looks forward to returning to the praise team after her treatments, and she and James will will be returning to choir as soon as they are able.

As timing would have it, Pastor Paul also shared an announcement at the North Shore campus that he and Lisa have put their house on the market. For a number of years now they have been working towards being able to move South to be closer to their family and enjoy a warmer climate. When their house sells, they will begin to prepare for their move. So, Pastor Paul will also be stepping down from his role as campus pastor at North Shore. I would invite us to keep both families in your daily prayers as they prepare for these transitions.

We are in a season of transitions. For James and Lynette, and for Paul and Lisa, these will be significant transitions at a personal level. For Rock church, these will be significant transitions in terms of our ministry. The Pastoral team, Church Council and SPRC (Staff Parish Relations Committee) are all hard at work preparing a way forward for our church. With God's help, we are confident that we will continue to move forward in our mission to make disciples of Jesus Christ who love God, love others, and do good.

Both Pastor James and Pastor Paul have had a significant impact on our ministry. I know I speak for our whole church when I say that we praise God for their faithful and sacrificial service to the kingdom of God through Rock Church. They each have brought great gifts to the role of campus pastor and their transitions from those places of pastoral ministry will definitely be felt. In the immediate, Pastor Jake will take on much of Paul's duties with the exception of music. I will similarly be taking on many of Pastor James tasks in Plaistow. Myself, Pastor Jake and Pastor Beth will all be taking on additional responsibilities in the preaching rotation. There will be many tasks and responsibilities to be cared for. We will certainly need additional help and support. And so if any of you are feeling led to get more engaged in ministry, please don't hesitate to speak with Pastor Jake or I about some tasks that can be shared.

Transitions can be hard. But God is always with us. My experience has been that He has a way of bringing good, even from the hard things. So we are trusting God to carry us through this transition, using it for good for James and Lynette, for Paul and Lisa, and for the ministry of Rock Church. In all things we will praise him.

Have a blessed week.

I love you all,

Pastor Steve

Snow Days

When I was a kid, I loved snow days! Back then, the only way to find out if there was no school was to watch the local news. So I, and thousands of kids across the region, would wait patiently for our school name to come up on the crawl to see if school was cancelled. When Winnisquam Regional showed up, it was like my friends and I had hit the lottery. Woohoo! We gave little thought to what that mean in terms of an additional day at the end of the year. We just knew that today we got to sleep in, watch TV, go sledding (and, of course, sometimes help shovel).

Snow days can be great. Even as adults, they can be like a force respite. When we can’t get out of our house in the midst of a heavy snow, it often means no work, no shopping, on errands. It is a forced sabbath. Pour a second cup of coffee. Sit and read a book. Maybe even curl up on the couch with the family and watch a movie. We might even take some of that time for extended prayer that we never seem to be able to have. Or we can spend a little extra time in the Word of God.

In many ways, a snow day is a little bit like what God intends for us in sabbath. God established in the Ten Commandments that every week we are to take one day for rest and worship. If you are like me, you may find it difficult to really live that out. What God meant as rest, we see as an opportunity to catch up on some work, busying ourselves with all kinds of tasks. But that is not really what God intended when He established the sabbath. It was to be a genuine time of rest and renewal, physically and spiritually. It was to be time set aside for Him in worship and for us, and those we love, in relationship.

I think snow days are God’s way of drawing us back to Sabbath. A time for us to be reminded that it is God’s intention that we regularly have time for rest and renewal. And if a snow day happens to fall on a Sunday, God has given us the wonderful gift of technology that allows us to gather virtually, even from our snowbound homes. This past Sunday, we launch a new teaching series entitled “A House of Prayer.” If you missed the livestream, I would encourage you to watch it on our church Youtube page.

So when the next snow day comes around, let it be a reminder to us that it is God’s plan, and desire, that we have that kind of rest every week. Have a blessed week!

I love you all,

Pastor Steve

A House of Prayer

Dear friends,

I pray you had a joyful Christmas and a blessed New Year. On New Year's Eve many of us had the opportunity to gather for an amazing time of praise and worship. I could not have imagined a better way to cap 2023 and launch into 2024 than this night of worship. I want to thank Rob Woulfe for coordinating the evening and for all of the musicians and support people who came out to help lead us into God's presence in song and praise. It was truly a blessing to all who gathered.

This Sunday, as we gather for our first services of the year, I'm so excited to share with you that we are kicking off a new teaching series entitled “A House of Prayer.” I believe God is calling us to renew our focus on prayer as a church and as individual followers of Christ. Prayer is at the very heart of our faith. It is our connection to God. It is the power behind all we do in ministry. And I believe God is calling us to begin 2024 with an intentional focus on our prayer life.

The truth is, in the midst of our busy lives, it is very easy for our prayer life to get pushed to the back burner. It can become routine and perfunctory. My hope is that this new series will help us to reignite our passion for prayer and a deeper understanding of what it really means to be the house of prayer that both Isaiah and Jesus spoke of. So I want to invite you to join us this Sunday as we launch into this important new series. God has placed it on my heart that this is how we are supposed to begin this year, and I know you will find it to be a blessing.

I want to take a moment to lift up a couple of other things. First, if you have not yet had the opportunity to jump in on our “All For One” campaign, I want to invite you to do that. This special initiative is going to help us do some important work in our facilities in 2024. You can get all the details, and sign up to be a part of it, at this link.

Also, I want to remind you that our Night to Shine event is just 5 weeks away. We still need a number of volunteers. At last count, we were up to 80 volunteers out of the 100 we need to fully staff this great event. If you have not yet heard about the night to shine, it is an unforgettable prom night experience, centered in God’s love, for people with special needs, age 14 and over. It will be held on Feb 9 at our Plaistow location. This is an amazing opportunity for us to show the love of Christ to a community of people who are greatly overlooked in our world. You can see more information, or you can sign up to help, at this link.

Have a great week. I look forward to us all being together for our first Sunday of the new year. Have a blessed day.

I love you all,

Pastor Steve.

A New Year

Can you believe we are only a few days away from the start of a new year? Here at Rock Church we are going to end 2023 and welcome 2024 in the best way possible, in worship and praise to our living God. New Years Eve falls on a Sunday. So in the morning we will have a full schedule of morning services at all location. I hope you will plan to join us for our last Sunday morning services of the year. Then, in the evening we will prepare to welcome the new year with a Night of Worship. This ministry wide celebration will be hosted at our Plaistow Campus. The Night of Worship will begin at 7:00 pm. Doors will open at 6:30 pm. After a great time of praise and worship, we will gather for a time of fellowship. Feel free to bring a snack, appetizer or dessert to share after the music.

I also want to be sure you have heard about our Night to Shine. Night to Shine is an unforgettable prom night experience, centered in God’s love, for people with special needs, age 14 and over. It will be held on Feb 9 at our Plaistow location. This is an amazing opportunity for us to show the love of Christ to a community of people who are greatly overlooked in our world. But it is a huge endeavor and we really need everyone’s help. There will be an information nights this Saturday Dec. 30 at 9:00 a.m. You can get more details at this link.

Finally, as we come to the end of the year, I want to invite you to consider making a special year end gift to the ministry of Rock Church. 2023 has been an amazing year. But I believe God has even greater things in store for us in 2024. It is your support that makes all we do in this ministry possible. So I want to first thank you for your wonderful, generous support over the past year. And I want to offer you the opportunity to make a year-end tax deductible contribution that can help us end 2023 strong and get the new year off to a great start. You can give you year-end gift in worship this Sunday, or through our online giving at this link.

Have a blessed week and I look forward to us all being together on Sunday morning and at our Night of Worship on New Years Eve.

I love you all,

Pastor Steve

Merry Christmas

Dear Friends,

With Christmas nearly upon us I want to begin this week’s blog by simply saying to all of you “Merry Christmas!” Unfortunately, a number of years ago I gave up on trying to send Christmas cards (when my list broke 200 and I just couldn’t keep up anymore.) But I want you all to know how much I love you and truly wish for each of you a joy-filled Christmas. Christmas is a wonderful season for many. But as followers of Jesus Christ, this is more than lights, decorations and gifts. This is the celebration of our Savior’s birth. For us, this is a sacred and holy season. I pray that you will experience spiritual blessing in this season that moves your heart closer to Christ.

I do want to remind everyone about our Christmas Eve schedule. Because Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday this year, there will be both morning and evening services on that day. In the morning we will complete our Advent series on the Greatest Commandment with a message on what it means to truly love God with all our strength. The morning schedule will be 9:00 am services in Sandown and Plaistow (NOTICE THERE WILL BE NO 10:30 AM SERVICE IN PLAISTOW.) There will be a 10:30 a.m. service at our North Shore campus. Later in the day we will offer our Christmas Eve Candlelight Services at the following times: 3:00 p.m. and 5:00 p.m. in Plaistow, 4:30 p.m. in Sandown and 5:00 p.m. at North Shore. I hope you will not only join us, but take this opportunity to invite a guest to this special Christmas Eve service.

I also want to remind you of a couple of other things that are coming up. On New Years Eve will will hold a Night of Worship at our Plaistow Campus. Doors will open at 6:30 p.m. Then we will prepare to welcome the new year with a time of praise and worship beginning at 7:00 p.m. Following the night of worship, we invite everyone to stay for a time of fellowship. You are welcome to bring a dessert or snack to share. I can’t think of a better way to ring in the new year than to be together as the people of God singing praises to our Lord! This Night of Worship is open to all campuses and our communities.

Finally, I want to lift up the Night To Shine. Night to Shine is an unforgettable prom night experience, centered in God’s love, for people with special needs, age 14 and over. It will be held on Feb 9 at our Plaistow location. This is an amazing opportunity for us to show the love of Christ to a community of people who are greatly overlooked in our world. But it is a huge endeavor and we need everyone’s help. There will be two information nights. The first will be via zoom on Wednesday Dec. 27 at 7:00 pm. The other will be in person on Saturday Dec. 30 at 9:00 a.m. You can get more details at this link.

I hope to see many of you on Christmas Eve, but if I do not get the opportunity to speak with you in person, please know that you are in my thoughts and prayers for a blessed and joy-filled Christmas!

Love you all,

Pastor Steve

An invitation and an encouragement

With some of the warmer weather we've had, it might seem a little hard to believe, but Christmas is less than 2 weeks away! I suspect that some of you had your shopping done by September and were all decorated by early November. But I can imagine there are also many more who still have much to do to prepare for Christmas.

Can I offer you some friendly pastoral advice? If you are not quite ready for Christmas, don't sweat it. Sometimes we allow ourselves to get so stressed about the shopping, decorating, baking and the likes, that it robs us of the spiritual blessing that this season is meant to be. If there are a few less gifts under the tree, or a few of the decorations never made it out of the box, or if there won't be five types of pie at Christmas dinner, it's okay. Because this season is much more than the trappings we often get caught up in, and distracted by.

Truthfully, the joy of the season is much more about the time we get to spend with friends and loved ones than it is about the gifts. It is more about who's around the table than the amount of food upon it. And ultimately, the greatest blessing is the opportunity to celebrate the birth of our Savior, the greatest gift of all. Christmas is meant to be a season of peace, joy and love. Let's decide together that will not allow the busyness of the season to keep us from experiencing all that it is truly meant to be.

I want to take a moment to extend to you an invitation and an encouragement. Christmas Eve falls on a Sunday this year. So here at Rock Church we will offer Sunday morning services (with a slight schedule modification) as regular Advent Sunday services. Then in the afternoon we will offer our Candlelight Christmas Eve services. The morning services will be at 9:00 a.m. in Sandown and Plaistow and 10:30 a.m. at our North Shore campus. There will be no 10:30 a.m. service in Plaistow on Christmas Eve morning. Candlelight services will be at 3:00 and 5:00 p.m. in Plaistow, 4:30 in Sandown and 5:00 p.m. at North shore.

My invitation to you is to join us for one of the morning services as we wrap up our Advent series. And then to join us later in the day for our Christmas Eve Candlelight services. My encouragement is to invite a friend. Christmas Eve is a wonderful time to invite guests. Many people who do not yet have a church home are open to an invitation on Christmas Eve. In fact, there are people all around us who would like to attend, but don't know where to go, or when. They are actually hoping someone they know will extend an invitation. You could be the answer to that prayer. So this Christmas, let's take a step of faith and invite a friend to join us for worship.

Love you all,

Pastor Steve 

All For One

“I was glad when they said unto me, Let us go into the house of the LORD” Those are the opening words of the 122nd Psalm, spoken by King David thousands of years ago. I think we all know that the church is not a building, it is the people of God. And I know that ministry is by no means about facilities and structures. But our buildings do provide us a place to gather for worship, study, fellowship and much more. Our buildings are an important and valuable resources that help to make all we do as a church possible.

So I want to take a moment today to talk to you about something we often take for granted, our buildings. At Rock Church we are blessed to have some wonderful facilities. As stewards of those facilities, it is always our intention to continually care for, improve, and even expand those buildings in order to provide excellent space for effective ministry.

About six years ago we launched a unified capital campaign where folks from all three campuses worked together to raise over $200,000 to facilitate expansions and improvements at all of our locations. The biggest piece of that project was the pavilion in Plaistow. We constructed the pavilion to provide a central gathering place for ministry wide special worship gatherings, concerts, men’s and women’s events, children’s programs and so much more. We also used funds from the campaign to prepare the Amesbury parsonage for sale, helping us purchase our new building at 58 Macy Street and to do work in the lower level of the Sandown building.

The pavilion is completed, approved and operational. We have purchase our new North Shore building and the work in Sandown is about 75% complete. We have made great progress ministry wide! But there is still a little bit left to be done. So I am excited to announce that we are launching Phase II of our All for One campaign. The goal of phase II is to complete the lower level fellowship hall/nursery/multifunction space in Sandown and to make much needed repairs to the exterior of the North Shore building.

As we did in the original campaign, I am asking us to all come together as one church to complete this important work. I’ve prepared a brief video that shows and explains what is to be done and we have set up a simple online pledge form where you can sign up to help with this important work. So I would ask you to take about 10 minutes to watch the video, prayerfully consider how you might be able to participate in this campaign and then take a moment to make your pledge online. This is to be a one year campaign to run from Jan 1, 2024 to Dec. 31, 2024.

If we all pull together, I know we can reach this goal in the coming year. We will continue to care well for the facilities God has blessed and entrusted us with. Thank you for prayerfully considering your part in our All for One Phase II campaign.

I love you all,

Pastor Steve

How will you prepare?

Advent begins this Sunday. You may know that the word Advent means “coming” or “arrival.” If you have been around the church for a while you probably also know that Advent is a season of preparation for the coming of Christ. What you may not know is that the season of Advent has a dual purpose. It is meant to focus our attention on preparing to celebrate the birth of the savior as told in the beginnings of the gospels of Matthew and Luke. But it is also meant to remind us of Christ’s second coming.

Most of us know the Christmas story, celebrating Jesus first coming as a baby, born into the most humble of circumstances. But we may not be as familiar with the accounts in scripture related to Jesus second coming. At His second coming, Christ will not come as a humble child or a sacrificial lamb. He will come in His full glory and power to judge the world. In all four of the gospel there are passages related to the return of Christ. If you want to read through these Biblical accounts, you can find them in Matthew chapters 24 and 25, Mark 13, Luke 21 and towards the end of John 14. Then, of course, there is the book of Revelation.

So the question I want to encourage us to think about today is “how will I prepare?” Most of us have some idea of how to prepare for the first coming of Christ, the celebration of his birth. But what about the second coming? How do we prepare for that? Can we even prepare for Christ’s return, particularly considering we have no idea when that advent will be.

To prepare for the celebration of Christmas, I know that many of us will decorate our homes, buy gifts for our loved ones and enjoy wonderful meals (eating more goodies than we ever should). But I hope there will also be, for each of us, spiritual preparation for Christmas. I encourage us to take some extra time in prayer and in God’s word. I hope we will all make the extra effort to be in worship every Sunday during Advent. And I pray we will use this season as an opportunity for invitation for our unchurched friends and neighbors.

But what about that second coming? How do we prepare for that? The answer is actually fairly simple, but not always easy. We prepare for Jesus’ return by living for Christ everyday. In I Thes. 5 the apostle Paul explains that Jesus’ return will come like a thief in the night. In other words, we won’t expect it. So, by simply living a life every day that honors God and reflects Christ, it won’t matter what day Christ returns. We will be prepared.

So during this Advent season, I would certainly encourage us to prepare well for the celebration of Christmas as the birth of Christ. But I would also want us to be mindful that this season is meant to be a time of reflecting on our preparation for Christ’s second coming. May we remember the former without neglecting the later.

I look forward to us all being together this Sunday for worship as we prepare together for the Advent of Christ.

Love you all,

Pastor Steve

Thanksgiving Dinner

What will your Thanksgiving dinner be like? Will you stay home? Will you be traveling to visit family? Will it be 10, 12, 15 of you crowded around the table? More? My guess is that many of us will enjoy a delicious meal, eating way too much. There will be wonderful conversation with much love and laughter heard throughout the house. After pumpkin pie, you may slip into a comfortable chair, or couch, to enjoy a football game, a movie or just a tryptophan induced nap.

Unfortunately, that won't be everyone's experience. There are those all around us who cannot afford all that goes into a nice Thanksgiving dinner. Or there will be those who simply don't have the health, or strength, to prepare such a big meal. And there will be some who are simply alone on Thanksgiving because they have no family nearby with whom to celebrate. Wouldn't it be great if there was some place where people who might not otherwise enjoy a nice Thanksgiving dinner could come and share a delicious meal and great community with others?

Praise God, there is such a place. This year Rock Church will provide a free, delicious turkey dinner with all the fixings for all who would like to come and join us. The dinner will be held on Thanksgiving Day from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. at our Rock Church Plaistow campus. This dinner is open to everyone who would like to attend for any reason. Some of you who are reading this may want to come. Please do! We would love for you to be our guest. And for that matter, bring a friend or two.

Some of you may want to help or donate food. If you would be interested in helping, there is a sign up form at this link. But even more than helping us with the meal, we need help extending the invitation. We want to get the word out to everyone we possibly can. Think about your friends and neighbors. Is there anyone that you could extend an invitation to? Perhaps a widow or widower, or even an older couple that doesn't want to do a big dinner just for two. Maybe it's a single mom who doesn't have the resources or a young person who is away from home without a family. Maybe it's a homeless man or woman who would be blessed to share a meal in a loving community setting. I would ask every one of us to help get out the word, to extend the invitation, so no one is left out. Anyone can sign up to attend at this page or by calling 603-887-4922. Let's make this a great Thanksgiving for everyone.

I love you all.

Pastor Steve

Hard to reach

I think one of the most powerful things about the ministry of Jesus and the early church was the way they so intentionally reached out to the least and the lost, the marginalized and ostracized, the forsaken and forgotten. I think about the demographics of our church. We have young and old, people from different backgrounds, social status, education levels and more. I love that we are a diverse community. But if I'm honest, there are still certain areas, certain people groups, that we are struggling to reach.

But one of the key tenets of Rock Church is that everyone needs Jesus. So that includes even those groups of people that are harder to reach. While I don't think there are easy answers, I think we should be asking the question “How could we be more effectively reaching the subsets of our communities that churches often struggle to connect to?”

Who do I mean by that? If we look around our church on a Sunday morning, and honestly ask who is missing, it would help us answer that question. What have you noticed? Who seems to be underrepresented? For example, one of the groups that seems to be increasingly hard to reach is youth and young adults. What could we be doing to better reach this age bracket? What might we have to add, or change, in order to connect meaningfully with people in their teens and twenties?

Another area we, and many churches, struggle to reach are those on the margins of society. People battling addiction, those who struggle with depression, anxiety and other mental health issues, those wrestling with their identity, the poor and the homeless. I think if Jesus walked the Earth today, these are some of the people he would be most intentional in reaching out to.

I am well aware that it often takes extra effort, and sometimes specialized ministries, to effectively share the gospel in these harder to reach areas. It's hard, but it's not impossible. For example, one of the most challenging groups to reach is the deaf community. But as we have seen at our North Shore campus, it is possible. Another underserved demographic is families with special needs children and adults. But I think the “Night to Shine” event is going to help us begin to minister to families that are often overwhelmed and isolated, and rarely connect to the church.

I believe the family of God is meant to be inclusive of people from every walk of life. And the truth is that some will be harder to reach. But we must never give up trying, even when it's hard, because in the end, everyone needs Jesus.

Have a great week. Don't forget to bring your Bible to church this Sunday.

Love you all,

Pastor Steve

B.Y.O.B (Bible)

This coming Sunday we are launching a new teaching series entitled “In Christ Alone.” And I would like to declare this a BYOB Sunday. Now I know what you're all thinking, Pastor Steve has lost it! But I'm serious. This Sunday I would like you to bring your own Bible to church with you. In this series we're going to dig into the book of Colossians, where Paul spends a significant amount of time teaching on Christology.

Christology is a theological study of the nature and purpose of Christ. So in this series we are going to work section by section, in some areas verse by verse, through Paul's teachings in a way that will help us understand it at a deeper level. We will dig into the nature of Christ and avoid some of the heresies and misunderstandings that many people have had about Jesus.

So, the reason I want you to BYOB is so that as we explore Paul's teaching, we can have the verses right in front of us. You can do this in a couple of different ways. Some people prefer to read and study scripture from a print Bible. I'll be honest, I'm a little bit old school in this area, and I still prefer to read from my printed Bible. I like to be able to underline verses that speak to me in a special way. I like to write notes in the margins.

But there are also those who prefer to use a digital version of the Bible. You can read your Bible right on your phone, iPad or tablet. I know there are ways to also mark up your digital Bible. You can highlight passages, take notes, cross reference and more. I know folks who have set it up so the verses they highlight go out to their social media feed, allowing them to begin spiritual conversations with others. This can also be a great resource.

So whether it is in print or a digital format, I would encourage you to BYOB this Sunday and every week through the month of November. You might find it so helpful that you decide to continue to BYOB going forward. And by the way, if you don’t have a Bible, we will have some to give away at each campus. Just stop by the table and pick on up.

I’m very excited about this new series. I know you are going to love digging deeper into the Word of God as we grow in our understanding of the nature and purpose of Christ.

See you Sunday!

Love you all,

Pastor Steve

Puppy Training

I don't know if you've heard, but there is a new member of the Murray household. His name is Banks (taken from a song by NEEDTOBREATHE) and he is a Bernadoodle. He's sweet and affectionate and seems to love everyone he meets. He is fun and playful and energetic. But let's be honest, he's a puppy. So he's also a lot of work at times. He has to be fed and walked. He has accidents, from time to time, that need to be cleaned up. He jumps up on people and particular loves to nibble on people's hands, toes and anything else that he can. The truth is, he needs to be trained.

Training a puppy can be a lot of work. It takes time and effort. It requires consistency. But in the end it is worth the effort. It is an investment. Because if we put in the hard work when he's young, he is going to be a great family dog for many years to come. I was thinking about that this morning when I felt like God was saying ”it's the same with people.” The Bible says “train up a child in the way they should go and when they are old they will not depart from it.” We have a whole generation of young people, growing up all around us, who need love and guidance. The kind of training and guidance this generation needs will not come from the world. It must come from the church, the people of Christ.

We probably all realize that raising up a generation of children with a knowledge of the truth, and a faith in Christ, will be hard work. That is particularly true in light of our current culture that not only does not support a Biblical worldview, but is often antithetical to it. But I believe it is worth whatever time and effort it will require to raise our children in the faith. It is an investment in our greatest treasure, our kids.

I believe God is calling us at Rock Church to make a significant investment in the next generation. More than ever, our kids need the truth of scripture and the hope of Jesus in their lives. And no one will provide that for them but us. There is no doubt that children's ministry, youth ministry, personal mentoring and other aspects of our investment in our young people, is hard work. But the return on this investment is life-changing. In fact, I can't think of anything we do as a church that has the potential for a greater impact.

I want to encourage every one of us to be in prayer for our children and youth. Please pray every day for those within the church and beyond. We also need people to get involved in a hands on way. I am praying that many of us will sense God's call to find a way to intentionally invest in this generation through children's ministry, youth ministry or some other area. Yes, it can be hard work. But there is no greater investment.

Have a blessed week.

Love you all,

Pastor Steve