What Comes Next?
Hey Friends, Pastor Trevor here,
What a crazy start to the year it has been. We started 2024 meeting at Skyline park, it was another awesome way to see God move both in our community at The Table and East Mesa. It always takes me about a week to adjust to the location, my nerves are shot as I feel like all of the people are watching us asking “What are they doing?” But we remained faithful to what God has called us to do and step out of our comfort zone.
February seemed to fly by as we joined together at the Farris’ home. They warmly opened their backyard to have Campfire Church. Each night Charles built the fire for us providing warmth for the chilly desert nights, we worship by song and sermon each night as we continued the One Story, One Year series. The end of that month came and Pastor Ryan announced that he and his family would be leaving after Easter to take on a new ministry assignment in Northern California called Watsonville Church of the Nazarene. We are so thankful for the Albaugh’s and their faithfulness to The Table over these past years, and we prayerfully look forward to the new found success they will have for the kingdom at WatzNaz!
March felt bittersweet as we knew our friends and Pastor would be leaving soon, so we tried to make the best of what time we had left. We jumped back into our house church gatherings hosted by the Cherryholmes family and stepped into a new rhythm of life. Pastor Christy planned and created a great Good Friday service of liturgy through word and Song. The MCA (Mesa Christian Academy) began hosting a second church on Sunday mornings called FireSide, and we were able to gather with them on that Friday. We stepped into Resurrection Sunday with a joint service with FireSide Church. Both worship teams worked in tandem to bring powerful worship through song and Pastor Christy led an inspiring message titled “What are you looking for?” from John 20:1-18.
So what comes next?
As we step into this next season of life at The Table, we have to start asking this question, what comes next? It has been something that God has placed on my heart as we will continue to be faithful to God’s calling. To start, is there anything that needs to change? As I have reviewed and looked at the path The Table has journeyed down I don’t see much that needs to change, I believe that we are faithful to our mission and vision and that we are following God’s will, but there are some behind the scene things that will need to be reviewed.
First off we are excited to bring Pastor Christy into a larger role here at The Table, she will have more responsibility and will preach on Sunday’s more often. We are excited for her to step into this role as she is not only qualified, but will be ordained as an Elder in the Church of the Nazarene this May. We are so excited to have been a part of her journey to this point and can't wait to see what God does in her life next.
Second, we are adding an accountability board to The Table. Both Pastor Christy and myself have reached out to trusted mentors in our lives to join our leadership team to help provide us guidance as we continue to lead The Table. Their ministry and life experience will prove invaluable as we can lean on them in times of trouble and will be encouraged by them to remain faithful on the path ahead.
Third, We are bringing in some guest speakers. One of the original visions we had when planting The Table was to be a resource to the district. By helping provide district licensed pastors opportunities to grow in ministry that they might not have otherwise. We have already started to fill some of the gaps in our summer house church gatherings with these new Pastors, as they will preach to our church following the One Year One Story passages.
Fourth, we look towards the future. I have felt a calling from God to do a few things in 2024.
1) Keep faithful to our mission and vision of house church gatherings.
2) Do more, with less. How can we expand the kingdom of God with less hours and money, I am thinking 5 loaves and 2 fish here y’all!
3) Expand our understanding of what church is. Must church be contained to a building, or a certain order of service?
4) Encourage our people to truly become The Church. What would happen if each person invited someone they cared for?
Friends, I am excited for what 2024 will hold. I believe that God will continue to bless our church and those we share our lives with. Will you join me in praying for the future of The Table.
Grace and Peace
Pastor Trevor Cherryholmes
