Valley Center: Doing Life Together From Pastor Joseph Halbert

A Family Transformed From Amie Hanrahan

Stretched Between Water and Wine From Pastor Scott Daniels

2 • PazNaz

Transformed is a magazine publication of First Church of the Nazarene of Pasadena (PazNaz). It is designed to highlight the Church’s stories of personal transformation. For a complete overview of PazNaz, their beliefs, and ministries, please visit the website www.paznaz.org. TRANSFORMED Issue #34—February 2014 The Magazine of PazNaz 3700 East Sierra Madre Boulevard Pasadena, California 91107 626.351.9631 Fax: 626.351.5160 www.paznaz.org

Welcome to Transformed Under the Pepper Tree. In this monthly magazine, you will read stories of how God is changing people’s lives at PazNaz, transforming them into the image of Jesus Christ by the power of his Spirit! You might be asking, “Where can I find information about a specific PazNaz event?” Some information about specific events on campus is found within these pages, but each month Transformed is focused on relating stories about what PazNaz is really all about. Rather than programs or events, there are stories about changed lives, stories about people coming in contact with the Savior, and people exploring what it means to become a follower of him. It is exciting to hear what God is doing in the lives of people!

Years ago, Pastor Earl Lee and a group of staff members gathered around a pepper tree located on the northern-most point of what was to become the site for First Church of the Nazarene of Pasadena and dreamed and prayed that God would provide a place where more people could find power for living through Jesus. What began then has been going on for over thirty years as men and women, boys and girls have come into relationship with Christ in significant ways under the shade of that old pepper tree. The mission of the church hasn’t changed. May it continue to flourish as people experience the transforming power of Christ.

Blessings,

B. Scott Anderson Executive Pastor

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8:57am on Sunday morning and the announcement video “Life at Paz Naz” is set

to begin. The Worship Team is in place, there are greeters at the door, and many are finding their places in the auditorium. All around there seems to be a great sense of excitement and anticipation of what the morning will bring. If today is like most gatherings, there will be a time of greeting one another, sharing words of encouragement, praise and worship, a message, and a special time for prayer. If it’s the third Sunday of the month, there will be a brief “praise report” from the many who served our brothers and sisters in Central Park (Church in the Park) in Pasadena.

It’s

From the moment the service begins to the time that it concludes, there will be a genuine sense of shared community. There is real, sincere commitment to doing life together. In recent days many who attend carry heavy burdens. Some face tough challenges in the area of health, family, loss of loved ones, and finance. But the people of Valley Center can be characterized as a family who see life’s obstacles as opportunities for growth and are committed to partnering with one another in these times where real life circumstances can be shared and real life support from others can be engaged.

When the Pharisees confronted Christ and asked, “Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?”

Jesus replied: “‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the first and greatest commandment. And the second is like it: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ All the Law and the Prophets hang on these two commandments.”

In the New Testament the Greek word for fellowship, Koinonia, is referred to nineteen times. It can be translated to mean “participation and sharing.” Both of these words imply action in their meaning. Valley Center is not just a group of people gathering on a Sunday morning, but it is a group of people committed to carrying out God’s commandment of loving one another by doing life together.

When recently asked, “What does being a part of Valley Center Church mean to you?” Many responded with the common theme of family and participating in doing life together.

The Valley Center congregation consists of people from many different walks of life. Some have been long-time members of this church, while others more recently have made this their church home. Joanna Ramos Martinez and her family recently joined Valley Center, transitioning from the PazNaz campus. She states, “Life at Valley Center receives us with open arms. It accepts and

embraces us as an important member of its family and the body of Christ. Leaning on one another is an important benefit of being part of the Valley Center Family. Together we strengthen each other and carry each other as we work, pray, and worship side by side.”

Long time member, Jen Munroe, has been the recent recipient of many prayers from both campuses as she faces her own challenge of battling cancer. Jen says, “Being a part of Valley Center makes us feel like our church is a part of our family. Just as a family goes through challenges, so has our church, and we have been blessed to be part of them all.”

Associate pastor, Rev. Dr. Terry Irish and his wife Carol have been part of the Valley Center congregation since the first Sunday of 2009. They say, “Our desire was to be part of a Nazarene church where we could contribute to the life and ministry of the congregation, support the Pastor and his family, and offer help where it was needed. We were also looking for a warm, friendly, and welcoming church family we could call home. We found all of these at Valley Center. Since our initial Sunday visit, Valley Center has proven to be a church that offers not only a place to worship the Lord and hear strong, encouraging, Bible-based sermons, but also a place that extends the love of Christ in compassionate, supportive ways, caring for and encouraging everyone who walks through the doors each week. We are very thankful to be part of the growing, dynamic Valley Center family!”

Long time member, Ionie Jackson, was eager to share about what the Valley Center Family has meant to her throughout life, “This church has

been such a blessing in my life because you can really feel the Lord’s love. There are those special times when we gather together around the altar to pray for and anoint those who are in need of a special touch from the Lord. My church family has always been there for me. They were there to care for me with the loss of my little boy. Valley Center was there when my daughter, Courtney, was faced with numerous physical challenges as a child. Valley Center was continually there for our family during her two month and twelve day hospital stay. Thank you, Valley Center, I love you all!”

“Your love for one another will

prove to the world that you are my disciples” John 13:35, NLT

Someone said, “together all of us

are better than one of us alone. In this way God empowers us by His Spirit to do great things.”

We have been afforded a great heritage here at PazNaz and Valley Center; one consisting of a deep love for the Lord and a genuine concern for one another.

“If one part of the body suffers, all the other parts suffer with it. Or if one part of our body is honored, all the other parts share its honor” 1 Corinthians 12:26, NCV.

As we look to the days ahead here at Valley Center, we must constantly remind ourselves that God’s amazing love is what brings us together and invites us to be a part of his story and to be a part of his wonderful family.

- Pastor Joe Halbert

4 • PazNaz

Valley Center is not just a group of people

gathering on a Sunday morning, but it is a

group of people committed to carrying out

God’s commandment of loving one

another by doing life together.

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Valley Center is not just a group of people

gathering on a Sunday morning, but it is a

group of people committed to carrying out

God’s commandment of loving one

another by doing life together.

6 • PazNaz

The definition of the word transformed is to be completely changed in a good way. Looking back at our family only a few years ago, I can say confidently, “Yes, we have been and are continuing to be transformed, and it is completely by God’s grace.”

Being part of a church was not unusual to my husband, Sean, or me. We knew when we got married that we wanted to raise our family in the church, but we were never sure how we would get there. Sean was raised in a Catholic household and attended parochial school, and I attended my family’s Lutheran church. Once we reached college, we both fell victims to an “un-sticky” faith, which was during the time we met, dated, and got married. So, when it was time for us to find a church family to become a part of, we felt lost.

Three years ago God lead us to PazNaz after years of searching for a church to call home. Attempting to find a church for a couple that was half Catholic and half Lutheran had posed a bit of a challenge! The Lord first opened the doors to PazNaz for us through Mothers of Preschoolers (MOPS). I was a young mom who felt isolated, exhausted, and overwhelmed by my new role as a mother. God first worked on my heart through coffee, breakfast, and female fellowship because he knew my exact needs at that time in my life. MOPS became the first place where I began to feel God at work in me. The women and Mentor Moms in this group had a deep love for the Lord, and when I would share the struggles I was having, they would say, “I will pray for you,” and they actually did.

Very soon after I began MOPS, Sean and I started attending the 8:00 am Sunday service, and we both knew that we were where we were suppose to be.

As parents, it is our responsibility to teach, train, and discipline our children with love so they can transform into adults with a strong character, be responsible members of society, and have a love for the Lord. But, the lessons they learn many times are from the mistakes they make and the challenges that are laid before them. As a child of God, we too are truly transformed by him through making tough decisions, struggles, and in my personal case, illness.

A year and a half ago, my life took an unexpected turn. At the time our boys were four and two, and life was undeniably crazy. I began to not feel right. I had a constant high level of anxiety, my heart raced, my hands

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and arms trembled constantly, and my leg strength would periodically give out on me. All of these symptoms, however, were easily written off as stress. After a few months of it getting worse, Sean and my parents convinced me to have some testing done. They discovered that my thyroid was functioning at a dangerously high level, which was causing stress on my heart, and that I had developed an autoimmune disease called Grave’s Disease.

It has been during the last year and a half, while battling this disease, that God has revealed himself to me and my family in unexpected and beautiful ways. The Lord has taught me through this illness to be completely dependent on him and to lift up everything to him in prayer. I have learned that by giving him my fears and allowing the Holy Spirit into my life, I have opened the door to my heart and allowed him to become an integral element to every part of my day.

The Lord has used my diagnosis as an opportunity to begin to transform us into the family and individuals he desires us to be. After a year and a half of medication and routine testing, God answered our prayers of healing because the disease now lays dormant in my system.

The joy that meets us on the other side of this journey is seeing how we and our boys have grown through this process, and specifically how all four of us are being filled with his Word and Spirit here at Paz Naz.

So to answer the question again, “Has the Lord Transformed you?” We can confidently answer: “Yes, the Hanrahan family is Transformed… but we know he is not done with us yet.”

- Amie Hanrahan

iving, studying, and working

in a centuries-old city in

northern Europe with my

soon to be husband, Logan, could

not have been more idyllic.

Cobblestone streets dusted in

snow, small cafes perfect for

warming up, and towering

cathedrals in every town - these are

all blessings we loved and still

cherish. And yet, we struggled to

get through each day. We were

starving for something more. Far

too far into our semester abroad,

we realized that a church

community was the basic need

which was unmet in our lives, so we

started dreaming about and praying

for a church. Fast forward a few

months to our first week back in

L.A., and one of Logan’s closest

friends attends PazNaz. We attend;

I see an ad for volunteering with the

little ones, and here we are today!

We had been dreaming, and God

gave us PazNaz. It isn’t perfect, but

we learned we don’t want or need

perfect. Working with Early

Childhood Ministries has been an

amazing opportunity to share Godly

play, creation, and stories with kids

who are so ready to engage in it,

and it is an opportunity for me to

receive love from kids, parents, and

volunteers who have come to know

me week after week. I feel like

serving brought us into the heart of

PazNaz faster than anything else

would have, which makes me so

thankful for every hour we get to

spend here. Now nothing seems

more idyllic to me than life in a

family like PazNaz. Now it’s all

about the familiar faces in the

courtyard, our wonderful leaders

who think of us always, and the

truly meaningful meetings with

friends from many walks of life.

- Destiny Linn Schroyer

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We’ve got it

cookin’ for you!

Fairly new around the PazNaz campus? There

is a luncheon in your honor on Sunday,

February 9, following the 10:30 am service in

Gilmore Hall. You will enjoy a delicious lunch,

get acquainted with the Pastoral staff, and

meet other new friends around the table. You

will also get a great overview of the different

ministries available at PazNaz and a gift bag

to say “Thanks for being here!”

Please RSVP to Sharon Boulghourjian

at sharonb@paznaz.org by February 1

if you can attend.

New Friends Lunch

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As many of you know, I love the dialogue in the first chapter between Jesus and Nathanael. Frequently I will mention how the Church of the Nazarene draws its name from Nathanael’s suspicion that anything good – including the Messiah – could come out of Nazareth. Yet, when Jesus told Nathanael that he saw him under the fig tree, Nathanael believed and followed. Jesus may have come from the incredibly common town of Nazareth, but through this “Nazarene,” Nathanael would see “heaven open and God’s angels going up to heaven and down to earth.” In other words, if Nathanael would follow Christ, he would see heaven and earth

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[SPOILER ALERT] At the end of the adventure,

Walter finds slide 25 only to discover that it is a picture the photographer has taken of him doing his daily job of taking care of the film through which people have discovered LIFE. In the end it turns out that Walter doing his job, and doing it well, is the quintessential embodiment of LIFE.

I don't think this is too far off from what John wants us to understand about the gospel. The good news of the incarnation is not that our physical everyday reality can be escaped. The good news is that it has been redeemed. We may at times feel stretched between heaven and earth, but our common lives are the place where heaven is revealed, where water becomes wine, and where the Word is made flesh.

The stuff of the kingdom for John is bread and fish, water and wine, fishermen and tax collectors. Which means for me that it is lectures and papers, sermons and hospital calls, family dinners and trips in the van. The people of the kingdom are not just saints and prophets. They are lawyers and realtors, mothers and coaches, physicians and custodians, teachers and secretaries, accountants and students, actors and bus-drivers…

God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world. But so that, through him, the everyday realities of life in the world might be redeemed.

-Pastor Scott Daniels

camera film for LIFE Magazine and its many photographers. It is a somewhat detailed and tedious job, and so Walter spends a lot of his time daydreaming about living a more adventurous life through the many LIFE Magazine cover photos hanging on the office walls.

Walter’s life is being undone because of technology. The advent of digital photography means that the art of developing, archiving, and preserving film is no longer necessary. And the rise of internet technology means that the magazine itself will soon end its print edition and become solely an online venture.

The plot of the film centers on a lost slide. LIFE’s most famous and adventurous photographer sends in a roll of film with a note declaring that slide 25 is the greatest picture he has ever taken and that it will be the perfect image to grace the final cover of the print magazine. The only problem is, slide 25 is missing and is nowhere to be found. The rest of the film tracks Walter’s wild quest to find the photographer and track down slide 25.

One of the items Walter takes on his journey is a birthday gift he receives from his sister – a Stretch Armstrong Doll. As a child he loved to pull on the arms and legs of this great toy that would always stretch but never break. So as Walter launches out on his quest he takes Stretch with him.

In many ways the doll is a metaphor for the life Walter lives. He is stretched between several life pressures. But primarily he is stretched between his adventurous daydreams and the reality of his mild and somewhat monotonous daily life. His life is lived pulled between idealism and realism, dreams and facts, adventure and routine, heaven and earth.

touching and connecting in ways he could never have imagined.

The next story in John’s gospel is the wedding in Cana. The very first sign that the kingdom of God was breaking out through Jesus was when he took the most basic element in the world – water – and turned it into the finest of fine wines. In a common place, through common people, and through the most common material substance, the kingdom broke out. Water was made wine. Word was made flesh.

Scholars who study John believe that at least part of the apostle’s motivation in writing his gospel was to refute the Gnosticism that was present in the culture and thinking of the first century. Gnosticism – a word derived from the Greek word for “knowledge” – tended to divide the physical from the spiritual or material from abstractions. The basic idea of Gnosticism was that material realities are bad and spiritual things are good. So when Gnosticism connected with Christianity, it was easy to have a highly ascetic faith that saw Christlikeness as denying anything physical – food, shelter, clothing, sexuality – while embracing the “spiritual” – celibacy, contemplation, isolation, etc.

So what John is trying to get believers to see is that the Word (Logos) did not deny the flesh, but became flesh in order to redeem it. The great mystery of the gospel for John is that it is in and out of the water that the new wine emerges. The kingdom doesn’t eradicate everyday life, it is revealed there.

One of my favorite films over the holiday season was The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. In the movie Ben Stiller plays Walter, an everyday guy who works developing and archiving the