By Paula Willbrant, Ministry Pastor of Care
 
“Worship Our God”
 

“We worship God knowing that He is above all things, yet present among us”. Psalm 96:9.
 

What a truly beautiful thing to know that even though God is The Almighty, The Great, The Mighty Healer, The Creator of all things and the Wonderful Counselor that He is with us and as close as our breath! So often we go to God in prayer with our wish list and desires for what we want and think we need in our personal lives without so much a thought of worshiping Him and giving Him Praise!
 

In my personal prayer time, I am trying to discipline myself to devote the majority of time to worship and praise. By doing so, I feel my heart become more open and I feel the presence of the Holy Spirit. I know I am privileged to be in the presence of God and in a Holy place. The Holy place may be in our COTHA sanctuary, my own home or outside under a beautiful big blue sky! I don’t think “where” matters.  But, what does matter is that we Praise God, worship Him and love him with all of our hearts, minds and souls.
 

The second verse of the song Your Name says it perfectly….
Jesus in Your Name we pray
Come and fill our hearts today
 Lord give us strength to live for YouAnd glorify Your Name.

Want to be connected @ COTHA?  Come and meet others at the Thursday evening Bible study beginning  January 30.  Judy Baldry is leading He Speaks to Me: Preparing to Hear from God by Priscilla Shirer.  The study draws life lessons from the account of God speaking to the boy Samuel in the beloved Bible story found in 1 Samuel 3.  Preview video
The first night is a covered dish social and introduction to the study.  To join the group, contact Judy at jbaldry@sbcglobal.net or stop by the Resource Center in the foyer this Sunday.  Books are available at Lifeway.  Order at http://www.lifeway.com/Product/he-speaks-to-me-member-book-p001269686
​

By Antoinette Chew, Ministry Pastor of COTHA Kids
 When it rains, it Typhoons!
 
Gosh this sure has been true in my life lately. I said to a co-worker yesterday, “When it rains, it pours” and she said it actually should say “When it rains, it typhoons.” Life sure can seem very overwhelming at times. My life seems to be a roller coaster right now. I have a really hard time keeping my spirits up when everything seems to be crumbling around me. It is in these times that my faith seems to be shaken.
 
Faith, what is it really? Faith is believing in something bigger than myself, in something greater than this world, in God and God alone. In God is where I find comfort and peace.
 
“I have said these things to you, that in me you may have peace. In the world you will have tribulation. But take heart; I have overcome the world.” John 16:33
 God doesn’t promise us that we will never go through trials in our lives, but he does promise us comfort and peace in him. 

By Darrel Proffitt, Lead Pastor
 
Moving Beyond Going through the Motions
 

Sometimes living a life of faith is difficult.  The difficulty comes in all forms.  Sometimes we feel like we are going through the motions.  Sometimes the people around us make it feel nearly impossible to be Christ-like.  There are other times when we just feel down because of circumstances outside of our control.  It is not that we feel like giving up, it’s just that we seem to run out of energy to do much of anything, especially with regard to matters of faith.
 

Have you ever felt that way?  I have.  As I sit here at my computer looking out onto the churchyard with the sanctuary hovering over me, I wonder how many of us deal with a sense of apathy or malaise at times?  I suspect all of us.  What can we do to recapture both the energy and excitement that being a disciple brings?  What can we do to make sure we don’t stand in the way of what God wants us to do and experience on such days?
 

Paul writes something to the church in Corinth, in his first letter to them, that gives me a direction during times of struggle or apathy.  I don’t have to find a new way to God, nor do I have to feel particularly inspirational.  All that matters is Jesus.  If I can take my focus off myself and on to Him, not just what He has done for me but on who He is and the love and grace that He freely bestows on me, things begin to change.  Just listen to Paul and notice how he emphasizes that Jesus doesn’t needs us to speak eloquently or frankly do anything.  We need to focus on Him.  When we do, we will begin to realize what God has done for us and the promise of what is to come.  That changes everything for me:
 

And I, when I came to you, brothers, did not come proclaiming to you the testimony of God with lofty speech or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him crucified. And I was with you in weakness and in fear and much trembling, and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men but in the power of God.
 
Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away. But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glory. None of the rulers of this age understood this, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But, as it is written,
 
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
    nor the heart of man imagined,
what God has prepared for those who love him”--
these things God has revealed to us through the Spirit.
 
1 Corinthians 2:1-9

​By Richard Hunt, Pastor of Leadership
 tsror (Pebble in Hebrew)
 
Remember when you were a kid and everything was new and cool?  I used to love to skip rocks.  Well, actually the the skipping was just part of the fun the other part was looking for just the right stone. 
 
Sometimes you would spend hours just looking for the perfect skipping stone.  And some other times you would find one and hang onto it for the perfect day where the water was like glass and the air was heavy and you just knew you could skip that pebble across the lake.  Then there was the throw, it had to be just right.  Then just then the magic happened……
 
I loved the sound of the skips and the ripple that invaded the calm of the surface.  All this was followed by a gentle plooop sound as the stone just couldn’t make another skip and disappeared into the black belly of the water.   And then the quest would start again…..
 
I think some days this is like looking for God in our daily lives.  We spend a great deal of time looking to find that perfect moment with Him and some times we hold onto that moment just the right amout of time and sometimes we put Him away for a later day.  Ps. 77:10-12 talks about remembering a great day with God as a methodology for finding God in the midst of stressful times. 
 
For me my relationship with God is like the perfect skip on the water.  I will search many many hours for the perfect stone just for the perfect 15 hop skip.  Then I’ll do it again and again and again…..  

By Anna Vickerman, Pastor of LiL’ Kids
 This past week at COTHA we learned that the way we worship shapes what we believe!
 
Romans 12:1 “I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.”
 
LiL’ Kids learn at COTHA that they are created by God for God. God created each of us very special for His very special purposes. God speaks to us through the Bible. The more time we spend reading or listening to God’s word the more Truth grows in our hearts. There is awe, and wonder in the presence of God.  Watching young children worship is a true gift and an example for me each week. They are most often unhindered from social etiquette and not so concerned with themselves or those around when they are worshipping through singing, listening to a story, praying, or dancing. Each week it is a blessing to worship with one and two year olds ringing bells and singing to Jesus or three and four year olds wondering about the stories of Jesus and praying with childlike faith! As our we grow in the knowledge and love of our Lord Jesus we not only increase in faith, but who we are is shaped into Christ-likeness for His glory.
 
LiL’ Kids need love, security, and meaning from God and from their COTHA family as they grow to be the next generation of worshippers in the Kingdom of God sharing Jesus and their lives with a fallen and broken world. Just in case you didn’t already know it, our kids in the LiL’ Kids Ministry are amazing! 

Next month a new series on marriage will begin.  It will be an exciting series and helpful to all.  The following is a copy of a blog post by Carey Nieuwhof that draws the parallel between leadership and sex love and marriage.  What do you think?"I spent a day recently with a group of ministry friends and mentors, all of whom have been leading their organizations for a long time. In some cases, over 20 years.
We had a heartfelt, gut-wrenching conversation about the challenges of leading in the same organization for most of our adult lives.
As I processed our day together, I realized there are more than a few common denominators between leadership and sex, love and marriage.
After all … most of us are trying to make our relationships work out, both personally and organizationally. And it’s not easy.


Just like it’s easier to be unhealthy than healthy, at some points it’s harder to make the magic happen year after year than it is to keep starting over again.
Now, as you read this, please know this post comes out of my experience. I realize many marriages don’t make it and I realize that I will have a hard time understanding those dynamics.
I’ve been married to my wife, Toni, for 23 years. We have not always had an easy marriage, but we are both so thankful that we decided to work through the issues .
Similarly, I’ve been in leadership with many of the same people for 18 years in the same community. It hasn’t always been easy, but there we’ve seen some incredible things together.
While these reflections come out of my personal experience, I offer them in the hopes that they help us all filter through the challenges of life and leadership.
So whether you’re …
a young leader just starting out,
thinking about quitting,
are happily engaged in long term leadership,
… here are six things sex, love and marriage can teach you about leadership:
1. There is no such thing as casual leadership.As much as we live in a culture where casual sex has become normal for many people, it doesn’t produce strong or healthy relationships. Similarly, there is nothing casual about leadership.
Like a healthy relationship, it takes work, effort and commitment over the long haul. As much as we try to make things easier and easier in our culture, leadership will remain challenging by its very nature. Just like great relationships—it will always take work, effort and commitment.


2. At some point, you need to choose between serial commitment and long term commitment.Someone once told me that commitment in our culture has shifted from life-time monogamy to serial monogamy; you’re with someone exclusively for a few years until you move on.
Take a look around you. Many leaders approach leadership the same way. They’re with an organization for three to five years and then they move on.
I’m not saying that’s always a bad idea, but most of the people who make significant impact in an organization stay at least a decade. If you think about most ministry leaders you admire and who have transformed their organizations and communities, most have been there their entire lives.
I blogged in more detail about why most leaders leave their organizations too soon in this post. Regardless, at some point, every leader needs to choose between serial commitment and long-term commitment.
3. It’s easier to leave or have an affair than it is to work through your issues.This is the gut wrenching part. Every leader I know who has been in leadership for a long time has been tempted to leave, tempted to pursue other interest and hit cruise control … in other words, been tempted to have an affair on what might be their real calling.
Very few couples who make it over the long haul do so because they have “no issues.” They stay when it’s easier to leave.
(By the way, this New York Times piece by Wendy Plump is the most haunting article I have ever read on having an affair.)
4. There will be some joyless seasons.It’s not all dancing and singing all the time. Every leader I know who is in long term leadership has either had to scale significant organization issues or even personal crises. God uses dark nights of the soul to grow us and shape us.
(If you’re interested, I blogged about how I got through burnout to recovery here.)
But here’s the promise. If you’re being faithful, your emotions eventually catch up to your obedience.


5. As hard as it is to admit, wise people realize that they are the problem.So many relationships fail because one partner says the other partner is the problem. I lived like that in my marriage and in my leadership for a season until I realized, gulp, that I’m the problem.
In fact, the longer you stay in a relationship or leadership role, the more you will have to come to terms with the grinding truth that you are the cap on progress.
That’s why serial relationships and serial leadership are so wide-spread. Leave soon enough and you never have to look in the mirror. It’s always someone else’s fault.
Wise people understand and embrace that they are the problem. I tell myself almost daily that I am the problem in leadership where I serve, and that potentially God might work a solution through me.
Wise people also seek help in identifying their blind spots and problems by gathering mentors, counselors and friends around them to help them spot their issues. They are also wide open to hearing about problems from the people they work with.
6. There is a certain joy that can only happen after years of being together.When you are able to work through your issues in a marriage, everything gets better.
There’s a certain joy that comes in being with the same person for 23 years. We know things about each other that no one else can know. We can read each other better than anyone else can read us. And the deep pleasure in simply being together grows every year. There’s an intimacy that only time can deliver that is almost hard to put into words.
That’s one of the things I love about working with some of the same people for years and years. There are stories whose mere mention brings a smile to everyone’s face. The trust runs so deep. And there’s a joy in just knowing that you’ve been in this together for so long and it’s making a difference.
Let me guess your next question: Am I saying you should never leave?
No. Not at all. I wrote here about five signs that will tell you it’s time to move on and Ron Edmondson offers some great thoughts on the subject. But I do think many leaders leave too soon.
So, what’s your experience? 
Do you see parallels between sex, love and marriage and leadership? 
What are you learning? ​

​By Paula Willbrant, Ministry Pastor of Care
 

“Thankfulness for Prayer”
 

In Matthew 18:19-20 Jesus says, “Again, I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything you ask for, it will be done for you by my Father in heaven. For where two or three come together in my name, there I am also.
 

I am so thankful for the privilege to pray to God and to know that by praying I am willingly and devotedly communicating with God. He tells us numerous times in the Bible to go to him with our prayers, to retreat to a “quiet place” and share our desires of the heart.
 

Phillipians 4:6-7 “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God which transcends all understanding will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”  I say AMEN!!!!
 

Thanks be to God that at COTHA we have numerous opportunities to pray with and for others. The Prayer Team prays with and for anyone who wishes to receive prayer every Sunday during Communion. In addition, the Intercessory Prayer Team prays over the prayer requests written on the back of the church bulletin.  It warms my heart with such pleasure that we DO go to God in prayer and we ARE a PRAYING church!
 

Prayer is a calling. Scripture is clear that we are all called to pray in all sorts of ways. Our Father wants to communicate with us. Thank You Lord Jesus that You love us and do hear our prayers. What a privilege indeed!

​By Antoinette Chew, Ministry Pastor of COTHA Kids
 Rebuilding Walls
 
The past two weeks in Playhouse, we have been learning about Nehemiah and how he rebuilt the walls of Jerusalem. For those of you that do not know about Playhouse, it is COTHA’s Sunday morning worship service for kids. The Playhouse Crew, which is made up of kids from our Student Ministry, presents a skit that goes along with the Bible story. The skits give kids practical ways to solve their problems with a biblical foundation.
 
After being away for Christmas break, the Playhouse Crew comes back to find their playhouse in shambles. It is hard on everyone because this is a place where they hang out and share many fond memories. They learned that Nehemiah is the account of the rebuilding of the walls of Jerusalem. And Jerusalem is a symbol of the city of God, God's dwelling place and the center of life for the world. Although they were not rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem it gave them the picture of the way the walls of any life, of any local church, of any community, of any nation, of any playhouse could be rebuilt into strength and power and purpose again with the help of God. After hearing about Nehemiah, they were able to come together and come up with ideas about how to rebuild their playhouse.
 
 For the next couple of weeks the playhouse crew will continue to rebuild their playhouse. Although they will face many obstacles, they will learn to trust God. For it is through him that all things are possible.
 
Join us for Playhouse every Sunday morning during the 10:30am service. Open to kids ages Kindergarten- 4th Grade. 

By Darrel Proffitt, Lead Pastor
A Blessing Unexpected
Yesterday I celebrated my birthday. I told the staff that it wasn’t too long ago that I could look around the room when the church staff met and I counted myself as the youngest person in the room. This is no longer the case! That’s not a bad thing. Last night Julie and I went out to dinner to celebrate. At the table I told her that I no longer needed to worry about dying young! That’s not a bad thing either.
Birthdays come and go. I have never really made a big deal out of my birthday. I am not sure why but presents given or parties thrown have never been a big priority for me. I have had a couple of surprise birthday parties but Julie has learned over the years that I don’t like surprises! But there is something that I do like about birthdays.
Today at the gym, the machine will ask me to input my age. I’ll have to pause and think. When I punch in the two digits, I will pause for a moment and reflect on something that makes a big difference in my life. I will reflect on my blessings. As I span across the landscape of my life I will see several brightly burning lights. These lights are the places where God has given me the relationships that have blessed me beyond anything I could have expected. I will think of the neighbors I’ve had, my friends and family, those people I have known and pastored among at the various churches I have served and those of you at COTHA. I will also think of those thousands of students that used to call me Mr. Proffitt and now, thanks to social media, have reentered my life. Relationships are what life is about. Too many think that money is what defines wealth. They are wrong. Relationships do.
God has blessed me beyond anything I could have expected. On this day when I pause and reflect, I thank God for revealing Himself to me, adopting me into his family, and allowing me to love and be loved by so many. It was so unexpected!