I’ve been writing on this blog since 2006…. Click here. Continue Reading

February 9, 2016
by Steve Sanchez
4 Comments
February 9, 2016
by Steve Sanchez
4 Comments
I’ve been writing on this blog since 2006…. Click here. Continue Reading
July 28, 2023
by Steve Sanchez
0 comments
I TENDERED MY RESIGNATION at Community Church of the Hills after eight years of fruitful labor.
When I got there in 2015, the Elders told me that they were two weeks away from shutting their doors permanently.
As I leave in 2023, the fellowship has the largest attendance ever in over a decade with record offerings.
They are even in the middle of a Capital Campaign to remodel the Youth Wing.
The congregation ranges from young’uns, to young families, to middle-agers, to those in their late-eighties.
A 40th Anniversary celebration was had in late April with a commemorative 20 minute video made by a former Hollywood Reality Show director honoring the founders.
The reason for my departure was ultimately a fundamental disagreement in ministry philosophy and objectives, primarily, my emphasis and practice of evangelism and discipleship.
Pray for me as this has been the most difficult event to ever happen in my life. And pray for this wonderful congregation. (Read the whole account of what happened when I moved from California to plant a church in Texas 10 years ago, culminating in this post.)
If you’d like to know how I actually feel about this,
here is what I wrote in my daily devotionals,
of which a book is coming in December.
“IT WILL BE WORTH IT ALL SOMEDAY.”
Those song lyrics ring in my ears when facing another disappointment, because it’s true. One day this vale of tears will be lifted, and life lived seen only through a glass darkly as we walk through the valley of the shadow of death, will one day end.
“In this life, we have an incomplete view of God’s dealings, seeing his plan only half-finished and under developed,” writes J. R. McDuff (1818-1895). “Yet once we stand in the magnificent temple of eternity, we will have the proper perspective, and will see everything fitting gracefully together.”
Our hope is Heaven and all we experience prepares for it, making us even more anxious to see our Savior face-to-face.
“We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed” (2 Corinthians 4:8-9).
All for God’s good purposes.
Charles Spurgeon says, “Many people owe the grandeur of their lives to their tremendous difficulties.”
A godly perspective will get us through the tough times now and tomorrow.
“Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4: 16-18).
Can you pray like the Puritans prayed?
My God,
I bless you that you have given me the eye of faith, to see you as Father, to know you as a covenant God, to experience your love planted in me. Lord, awake faith to put forth its strength until all heaven fills my soul, and all impurity is cast out.
Amen.
July 8, 2023
by Steve Sanchez
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A MINISTRY LEADER WAS CAUGHT OFF GUARD when a pastor asked her to do a reading of Scripture before the church service started. That’s all. “Just a simple reading before he preached—no commentary, no embellishments, just read it and take my seat,” said the writer for Christianity Today. “Why my sudden crisis of confidence? The text was Luke 3:23–38, the genealogy of Jesus, composed of 77 tongue-twisting names, requiring a solid two and a half minutes to read aloud from start to finish.
“The pastor, a dear friend, noted the look on my face and asked, ‘Is it weird to read that before I preach?’ Everything in me knew I should say no, but I wanted to yell, ‘Yes! I’m just going to read these endless names and wander back to my seat in the awkward ensuing silence?’”
I can relate. Though I haven’t yet read any genealogies to my congregation, I do have to slog through them in my daily reading of the bible. I just started 1 Chronicles in the Old Testament. There before me are nine chapters of names I’m not familiar with—nine chapters!!! Here’s how to do it: Skim.
Now before you call me a slacker, a cheat, or a lazy Bible reader, please know that I’ve read through these names word-for-word at least once in the twenty-plus times I’ve read through the Old Testament. You need to as well. Why? Continue Reading
June 4, 2023
by Steve Sanchez
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I think we can all agree that America is no longer one nation under God, indivisible.
Not since the 60’s has there been such a cultural divide with everyone insisting that they are right with no compromise and no middle ground.
Jesus called us to “Love our neighbors as ourselves,” which is the second greatest Commandment, but that seems impossible, an old-fashioned idea. “That’s a nice idea, Jesus, but really?”
Wait a minute. Jesus was saying this to the crowds who gathered around him, so, these concepts are not passé. Neither was this: “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also” (Luke 6:27-29).
We have become an irreligious, irreverent society, soon to become irrelevant. According to a Wall Street Journal article from March, patriotism, religion, and community involvement are disappearing faster than the Eastern Lowland Gorilla.
• They found that just 38% of Americans believe patriotism is “very important” to them, down from 70% who said the same thing in 1998.
• How important is religion? 39% of Americans said it was important, while in 1998, 62% believed that.
• 69% believed raising kids was “very important” in 1998. Today: 30%.
• Only 27% believed community involvement was important, when in 1998, 62% believed it was.
• How about tolerance? 58% believe that is important. But just four years ago, 80% did.
Concerned yet? That’s why it is encouraging to know that Dr. Robert George “by the authority vested in me by absolutely no one…have declared June to be “Fidelity Month”—a month dedicated to the importance of fidelity to God, spouses and families, and our country and communities.” (FidelityMonth.com) Continue Reading