got CHRISTmas?
CHRISTmas or chrismas?
“got CHRISTmas?” is now in print. It’s only 46 pages, but contains the full text of ChurchForFamily’s five Advent service talks for 2011. This is our first attempt at packaging a series in advance of actually presenting it. I’m excited about discovering together the character of Jesus Christ.
A while back several of us were talking and someone said, “It’s not Christmas without Christ.” Yeah, I know we’ve heard that before, but think about it, we even pronounce it “Merry CHRISmas” don’t we. If we’re honest we often leave Christ out of our Christmas thoughts, shopping, events and wishes.
This year my prayer for all of us is that we really do find that we “got CHRISTmas!”
Pastor Verlyn R Newell 1934 – 2011
Verlyn R Newell. Dad & Pastor
My earliest memory of my Dad was praying with me in front of the church auditorium at Banner Baptist Church. My fondest memory of Dad is sitting on his lap, praying with me as I accepted Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior.
I have no memories of my Father that do not include church in some way. Dad lived his life for God, his wife and kids and those who called him Pastor. Though Dad loved to work in the yard, fish, and be with his boys, he loved being a Pastor most of all. I loved watching Dad “pastor”, though, in the process he worked David and I close to death weeding the church property, waxing the floors and making us “run up to the church to turn off the lights”.
Dad taught me how to be a father and pastor. What I know about serving others I learned from Dad. What I learned about loving others I learned from Dad.
Dad had confidence in people. He seldom gave advice, even when asked. He would always simply say, “What do you think you should do?” and then give you the sense of confidence that you could.
My faith, ministry and sense of humor are the legacy that Dad has left me.
Thank you, David, for staying physically close to Dad.
Thank you, Betty, for giving Dad a second life.
Thank you, God, for giving me a great Dad, mentor, and hero.
Verlyn R. Newell
1934 – 2011
Verlyn Ray Newell was born June 13, 1934, the fourth child of five, to the parents of Gerald and Alma Newell on a farm just south of Olivet, South Dakota. After graduation from High School in 1953, he enlisted in the United States Air Force and served in Philippines as a member of the Air Force Security Service during the Korea Conflict.
It was during his tenure in the Philippians that Verlyn met Baptist Bible Fellowship missionary L.D. Woosley . Under Rev Woosley’s influence, Verlyn committed his life to full time ministry, specifically as a missionary to the Philippine Islands.
Returning from the Islands, Verlyn was stationed at San Antonio, Texas where he met Margret Schupp who became his wife. Margaret had just graduated of the Baptist Bible Collage, Springfield, Missouri, where Verlyn planned to prepare for the Gospel ministry. Margaret had also prepared for the mission field and Verlyn always joked that he married Margaret for her books and college notes.
After graduation Verlyn assumed the pastorate of Banner Baptist Church, in San Antonio, Texas. Subsequently, they applied to become missionaries through the Baptist Bible Fellowship International. They were approved and began their deputation (fundraising for their work in the Philippines). It was during their deputation that Margaret entered the hospital and was diagnosed to have Lupus and the possibility that she would only life another two weeks. As Verlyn shared, “The door to my life and the mission field slammed firmly closed. But God is faithful and Margaret lived on for more than thirty years serving beside me and though she suffered with various medical issues due to the Lupus, she never complained.”
The mission field being the world, Verlyn simply changed fields, to the United States which brought them to California for a short stint as Associate Pastor in Whittier, CA and subsequently to a 15 year ministry as Pastor of Planz Road Baptist Church (now McKee Road Baptist) of Bakersfield, California. He then served as Senior Pastor of Grace Baptist Church, Vallejo, CA for thirty-seven years until his retirement and death of his wife, Margaret.
During their years of ministry God gave Verlyn and Margaret two children, David Ray Newell of Napa, CA and Pastor Paul Wayne Newell of Yucaipa, CA.
A year after Margret’s passing Verlyn married Betty Strach of Cobb, CA. Again in his own words, “I met a beautiful blond lady named Betty while visiting my son Paul’s church in Lakeport, CA. We were married shortly after we met. Betty is my “trophy wife” and she has brought joy back into my life”. Verlyn talked often about his motorcycle rides with Betty and the adventures she led him on during their years together.
Verlyn Ray Newell passed from this life on April 12th at his home on Cobb Mountain, CA. He was seventy-seven years old. He was doing what he loved, working on his property. He was with the one he loved, Betty. He asked that the following be read upon his graduation to heaven:
“God has abundantly blessed my life. Farwell, ‘til we meet in heaven”.
Surviving Relatives:
Wife: Betty Strach
Son: David R Newell & Beverly
Grandchildren: Michael & Jennifer
Son: Paul W Newell & Terrie
Grandchildren: Benjamin, Promise Anne, Joylyn, Marilyn
GrandPuppy: Wee’l
Me & Dad
Out of his league…
"Outta My League!"
‘Cause obviously,
She’s out of my league
But how can I win
She keeps draggin’ me in and
I know I never will be good enough for her.
- McFly “Obviously”
Just wondering how many times this has happened to you? Poor Wee’l did his best to court Coda (90% wolf by the way) and all she-wolf would do is push Wee’l (aka Pepper) away with her nose.
I’m glad that the one girl who was “outta my league” (Terrie Trent) showed compassion on me twenty-eight years ago. She’s still outta my league, but she loves me just the same.
Can’t say the same thing for poor Wee’l.
Do Be Doing (not a song)
"I felt like a human being instead of a human doing."
“I felt like a human being instead of a human doing.”
- Sage Cohen, The Productive Writer
I’m in “pre-writing” mode. Actually I’m writing just about every day, but I’m in pre-book writing mode and that means consuming several books on writing in great anticipation of actually writing something that someone might what to read. And that’s how I came upon the above quote.
Now that it’s the New Year (arbitrary as it all is), most of us have taken the time to create brand new or “new and improved” TODO lists. Some of us have gone so far as to purchase TODO apps. [http://www.toodledo.com - by the way is a must!) Now we are all in TO DO MODE and focusing on our various projects, goals, resolutions, etc.
With all of those lists and activities though, here’s what I’m thinking: Am I doing the things that are improving my being. A lot of our aspirations get in the way of our simply being what we desire to be – or more importantly what God desires us to be.
I could go on, but what about this? … “So you also are complete in Him (Christ)…” Colossians 2:9 The stuff we desire will not make us better as far as Christ is concerned, but by doing what Christ purposes us to do and seeking things that will honor Christ we get to experience Christ’s completeness in us now. What I do should help me be – or at least show Christ’s being in me.
Do Be Doing, 0r should that be – BE DOING BEING?
A HAPPY NEWell Year
December 26, 2010
I have a professional video-grapher, professional photographer and a creative director of a fashion magazine in my family – you’d think getting a family portrait would be a piece of cake – not! Getting everyone in the same location, color coordinated, and in the right frame of mind for a group photo (let alone deciding which is the best shot) is nearly impossible. After two years we made it. “Made it” included traveling to the outskirts of Calimesa/Yucaipa, hiking to the end of a muddy trail with a stool and a blue chair, waiting while someone went back to the car and drove home because of course something had been left behind, deciding what direction to face, who would stand and sit where, how to get everyone in the shot and actually take the picture at the same time – and smile naturally. We made it.
Life in the Newell family is becoming more and more like what I just mentioned. It’s exciting to see our children – strike that – our adults grow and go in their various directions. It’s also sad. Terrie and I will never again get to see what we have seen. We’ve seen little dependent infants grow in to capable adults who now tell us where to stand, how to smile and which is the right direction.
Nice picture! God is good.
Advent, what?
Crazy about Christmas
Advent what? We began ChurchForFamily.com’s Advent Celebration this past Sunday. I was thankful that all of the decor, props, events – and especially families – all came together for a great morning together. One of my favorite parts of our Christmas season is having different families introduce each week’s theme, light our Advent candle and lead in prayer. It’s always a sweat time.
It’s funny to me that so many people have no idea what Advent is. Advent is the four week celebration/anticipation of the Coming of Jesus Christ. Yes, Jesus Christ came over 2000 years ago as a babe in a manger, but He has promised to come again as the King of Kings and Lord of Lords. Isaiah 9:6 will have it’s fulfillment and Christ’s followers will spent eternity in His physical presence! Can’t wait!
Personally, the Advent Season is an opportunity to focus on my family from a little different perspective that the rest of the year. We plan holiday events and think about each others desires in ways we don’t during the other months.
My prayer for you, dear reader, is that you will enjoy and anticipate Christ’s Advent this season.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Happy Thanksgiving
I love this time of year. It hasn’t always been this way. There was a time – a decade or so ago – when I dreaded Thanksgiving and everything that followed. Terrie and I jokingly say we would kiss each other at Thanksgiving and say, “See you after Christmas!” It felt like we were all consumed with the holidays at church and in preparation for our own family events.
Then came that Christmas when – after experiencing phenomenal growth in our first church (were I solo pastored) and enjoying an exciting Christmas Eve with our four young children – Terrie and I sat staring at each other, asking ourselves what had “we” gotten out of the season. Yes, the church was growing, our kids were healthy and happy – we had a room filled with holiday gifts – but what had we actually received through the Season? Had we worshiped God or had we just worked for God? Had we enjoyed time with the Savior, or just pushed through the Season. We felt drained and empty – spiritually and in our relationship with each other.
We vowed to God and ourselves that that would never happen again – especially at Christmas. We made plans to change things and do our best to focus on the season as time to connect with each other, friends, and church family. We changed from focusing on Christmas – to preparing for a Season of Advent – when we celebrated Jesus Christ’s coming and His promise to come again. We added the “Advent Candle and Celebration” to our family traditions. We enjoyed four Sundays of Advent prior to Christmas and I, personally, started working on “time projects” with my kids and with Terrie. Instead of all my energies spent filling a box under the tree, I really have tried to fill my wife and kids souls at Christmas. We plan individual and ground activities – and let the gifts under the tree be secondary.
Don’t get me wrong – this has not all been perfect. We still fight the additional stresses and strains of the holidays, but we’ve learned to focus on the most important and in the process let go of some of the lessors.
Thanksgiving is the opportunity for our family to gather, share our thankfulness and plan our Advent Season.
I’m really looking forward to this one!
Happy Thanksgiving. 2010
Seacoast Church Redondo Beach 9-12-2010
Seacoast Church Redondo Beach
I’m pinch-hitting for Pastor Lee Huddleston this weekend at Seacoast Church in Redondo Beach, CA. Seacoast was one of our very first supporting churches when we began ChurchForFamily and they are the church that purchased our first “Toddler Town” Easy-Up Tent when our nursery was at the back of the school auditorium.
Pastor Lee and Pastor Danny have been friends since college (over 30 years) and they have an awesome ministry at the beginning of the Pacific Coast Highway (100 PCH).
I will be speaking on a topic from “HEROES: Ordinary People, ExtraOrdinary Lives” and challenging everyone to use their “weird” to impact their world for Christ.
So…what’s your weird?
Day 36 – Why So Surprised?
Summer Road Trip Day 36
Day 36
Why So Surprised?
“Do not be so surprised. You are looking for Jesus…He isn’t here!” Mark 16:6
OK, I would be surprised too, at least a little bit, but don’t say they were not warned – they were. On several different occassions Jesus told His followers that (1) He was going to Jerusalem, (2) He would be handed over to the Jewish leaders, (3) He would be cricified, and (4) He even told them that he would rise from the dead on the third day. All of that was know, not only by the disciples, but by the Jewish leaders.
Jesus had told them exactly what was going to happen and still they were surprised.
I don’t think it shows a lack of faith on their part or on ours when we are surprised to see God work miraculously in our lives. I just think, it’s surprising. Every time Jesus works it is amazing – and it should be. We should never lose that amazement. We should fully believe in Jesus’ power in our lives, but we should always be a bit surprised.
Here’s the truth – the power that raised Jesus from the dead is the same power offered to each of us today to live out our lives for God. Let’s use it as we, “Go into all the world and preach the Good News to everyone, everywhere.” Mark 16:15
Enjoy the Journey!
P.S. Thanks for taking this journey with me through the Gospel of Mark. My challenge for you now is to keep on traveling through God’s Word. Pick another book of the Bible and start reading. It’s not how much you read, it’s that you keep reading. Remember that as you gain knowledge from God’s Word you will also gain the power to use that knowledge in your life. Continue to enjoy the journey and stop by my blog from time to time and share with me what God is teaching you!
Day 35 – Torn In Two
Summer Road Trip Day 35
Day 35
Torn In Two
“And the curtain in the Temple was torn in two, from top to bottom.” Mark 15:38
The curtain in the Jewish Temple was no ordinary curtain. Historians tell us that it was at least 60 feet high and four inches thick. One historian said that if horses were tied to each side of the curtain they would not be strong enough to pull it apart.
The curtain was the dividing “wall” between the Holy Place – where the priests would offer incense and light the candlesticks before God and the Holiest of Places was where Arc of God was kept. Once a year the High Priest was allowed into the Holiest of Places – which represented the closest place to God man could approach. The purpose of the curtain was to keep “sinful man” out of the presence of God’s holiness.
The moment Jesus died on the cross and offered Himself as the ultimate sacrifice for our sins – Mark tells us that the curtain was literally torn in two pieces – opening a passage into God’s holy presence. Get it? The sacrifice of Christ on the cross is the means of our forgivenss and God’s Holiness. No longer do we need to go through another man (priest) to come before God – what happened on the cross opens the way to direct access to God!
Historians also tell us that later the Priests when in and sewed up the torn curtain and just kept right on doing what they had always done the way they had always done it. It’s that sad? They didn’t even consider the significance of what they had experienced.
I wonder sometimes if we’re guilt of a similar “sewing up”. God does something amazing in our lives to show us His power and love in our lives – and instead of changing us, we try to get things back to the way they used to be.
Enjoy the Journey.
