​Those of you who attended the Christmas Eve services at COTHA understand what I'm about to type: wow, what a celebration! The worship space was so beautiful, the songs God glorifying and the community gathered expectant.

I am so happy to have had my first Christmas with all those at Holy Apostles. It was fun to see members, friends and families of members, and many guests who just chose to worship with us! God was glorified by our gathering and it was absolutely transcendent.

I know the children had a great celebration with the Kids of the King and by all reports it was a special, special time.

It is difficult to list all of the people who made our Christmas so special but let me just say that all who worked so hard decorating, cleaning, readying the space; all who prepared and helped the children celebrate; singers and acolytes; servers and readers... thank you.

Having all of my family present made my Christmas extraordinary. We got up early on Christmas morning and headed for the ocean, where many wonderful memories were made. We're getting ready to take our two sons to the airport and Emily will be here until Sunday evening. The best news of all is that Julie, my wife, is now here permanently! That's the greatest news that I could have!

Christmas at COTHA was so special. I definitely feel at home and thank God for calling me here to this place. As I look forward to the coming year, I know that God has something more...for me and us!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year indeed!

​Last night we had a great class of youth and adults for confirmation and reception (being received into the church). It was a wonderful time to celebrate what God is doing among us and wonderful to participate in the laying on of hands, as each of these individuals stood before God and the church to proclaim their faith.

It was also my first time to meet the Bishop, Don Wimberly. I guess I had forgotten that the Bishop and I had something in common, we had both served churches in Kansas. In fact, his church was about 40 minutes away from the one I served. Beyond that, I was taken with the graciousness and faith of both Bishop Wimberly and his wife Wendy. We left the evening feeling as if we had known each other much longer. What a blessing to have a Bishop who is so faithful and supportive of all of us at Holy Apostles!

Congratulations to all of those who were either confirmed or received.  We have a wonderful journey ahead for us all!

​I gathered with a crowd of parents, grandparents, children and youth last night for the annual Story Time. It was an evening of stories, Christmas carols, a puppet show, hot chocolate and cookies and making ornaments! It was an evening that I'll remember and look forward to including it in my preparations for Christmas from now on.

The tradition of Story Time is to have everyone wear their pajamas, bring a favorite stuffed animal, and perhaps a blanket and pillow! I boldly put on my pajamas, ran to the store and bought a robe!!, but on my slippers and headed out. It was fun to see all the children excitedly waiting for the show to begin. None of us were disappointed as we heard the story of Mortimer the Mouse and the journey of the little Star. The songs were led by Karen Henson and Bill Blomquist, and the puppet show brought down the house. We have several outstanding puppeteers who minister to our youngest week in and week out. It was a great night.

Karen does an outstanding job and I've never been around such creativity that we have in our children's ministry. I know that I will embarrass her, but if you haven't thanked Karen for all she brings to all of us, make sure you do! Thank you Karen, after last night, I feel that it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!

I had a delicious dinner and a wonderful conversation last night with many of the families connected to the Youth program at COTHA. It was great to have an opportunity to hear of the way our young people have connected to God through this ministry over the years. I left knowing that this ministry will continue to deepen and more lives will be touched by God as we find more ways to help our youth connect to God and one another.

The vision that God has given us to be stunningly spiritually mature is a vision that includes our young people. I want to find ways to help the connection that these people have with God radiate with God's love. Our youth program is as important as anything we do. It's not a tack-on but incredibly important. I want our young people to not only know that, but to feel it.

We talked about ways to keep our young people connected after they graduate from high school. I tossed out several ways that this might happen. We talked about how our young people in the program right now can feel connected to me and again, I tossed out some ideas how this might happen. We also talked about the importance of putting people with the spiritual gifts to help us further develop this ministry and, again, I shared some ideas.

The key to all of this of course is to seek other leaders to deepen this ministry. I also think that it is important to pay attention to the burden that God gives us for certain ministries. If God gives you the passion, then don't ignore it! I will help our current leaders and future leaders by supporting, nurturing and equipping them to lead.

If you want to learn more about our youth ministry then contact Craig. You can find his email on our website or give him a call.

May we dream big when it comes to our young people. May they, like our adults, become fully-devoted followers of Jesus Christ!

As you know, my family is busy getting ready to travel to Houston for Christmas. If you have ever travelled during Christmas you know how busy the highways are and how crowded the airports can be. Patience is usually a rare commodity for those traveling.
You can imagine how excited I am to be with my family. I know that all of the busy-ness surrounding their trip will be pretty breathtaking. Never the less, the excitement of the trip might be enough to overcome the hassle!
I just received a phone call from my daughter, Emily, that her preparations will be more difficult. She is in graduate school in DC and phoned to tell me that her car had been stolen!! She isn't harmed, though she is very upset. We both appreciate your prayers during this difficult time for her.
I can only imagine what might motivate a theft like this. As in all criminal activities, the end result has ripple effects on many people. Who knows what the motivation was, but I ask your prayers for the thief as well. Living a life where one steals the property of another cannot be much of a life of meaning. May God seek and find this perpetrator and lead him to a place of repentance and forgiveness.
Thank you for your prayers.

In just a little over a week, my family will be joining me in Katy. I'm excited about that, as you can imagine. I also know that all of them have a lot to do before they can get here. If you have ever travelled on the days leading up to Christmas, you know how busy the highways are and how crowded the airport is.
The normal hustle and bustle of getting ready is bad enough, but I just heard from my daughter (who is in graduate school in the DC area) that her car has been stolen! She's OK but very upset, as you may guess. We both would appreciate your prayers. I thank God that she isn't hurt.
I'm not sure what motivates people to do such things, but I think that most are either motivated by greed or just simply don't understand the ripple effects that such criminal behavior creates. I'd like for you to pray for the perpretrator of this as well. Perhaps they will "get away with" the theft, but such disregard for others has a way of harming both the victim and the perpetrator. May God use this incident for His glory.

Last night, COTHA hosted a concert by Kemper Crabb and his ensemble. Kemper is an extraordinarily gifted man. On his website, his biography reads in part:
No one would mistake Kemper Crabb for a modern man, and this is to his credit. You might mistake him for a medieval man born 700 years too late. His musical stylings are enough to evidence that fact. You might also mistake him for a Renaissance man. His breadth of knowledge and variety of skills are enough to evidence that fact. You might also mistake him for a postmodern Christian. His distaste for the philosophical errors of the modern era is enough to evidence that fact. He fits all of these categories and none of them at the same time. He is, in fact, a Christian man whose theological perspective is at once historical and contemporary.
I love that description because it sounds so closely to the Ancient Future church that I reflected on earlier. When we ignore the great cloud of witnesses that have gone before us, we are diminished. To hear in both song and teaching, the power of the Gospel to transform lives in the middle ages, I sat there and wondered why so many can't see how silly it is to believe that our generation some how has figured it all out. We are diminished when we think that our present world has nothing to learn from hearing the transforming stories of those who have gone before us. In some ways, the church needs to be aware of this so we don't suffer from the tyranny of the present. Kemper reminded us that the truth of the Gospel remains the same throughout all centuries and we are blessed when we see the unchanging Word of God shaping both us and the ancients in the same way, through the power of the Holy Spirit. We may express it differently, through images and metaphors, but the truth of God's Word, unchanging throughout the centuries, is the context for our relationship to an amazing God.
The concert was magnificient and Kemper held the crowd in rapt attention with both his music and his teaching. I left the concert richer and a little poorer. I was richer because I had been taken to a place of deep reflection through both music and word. I was poorer because I bought several of his CDs!
I recommend Kemper to anyone who has the opportunity to hear him in concert. I look forward to getting to know him better and inviting him to return to COTHA. The Holy Spirit is clearly in this gifted man's life and ministry.

We had our annual meeting at COTHA today.
We elected two new vestry members and examined our budget. It was a wonderful time and it was easy to sense God's presence and blessings on this place. After the business part of our meeting, I presented to those gathered what I believe to be our direction in the year ahead.
It is a vision of becoming a Biblically functioning church where God's priorities become our priorities. It's a place where the supernatural becomes commonplace, where God's activity is felt and experienced, where hearts melt, where difference fade, where needs are met, where the unwelcome feel welcomed, racial lines are blurred, and the rich and poor come together. It's like the Church in Acts and we will experience the same power because we will have the same unity that they did. It's a big dream but a faithful one.
I recognize that being able to dream this way means that we are positioned to move forward. Again, I know that it is only because of the good work of all of you and the leadership of COTHA over the years that has positioned us in such a good place. Our current leadership is a strong group of faithful men and women. We will see this leadership group grow because we will be intentional about it.
The vision of becoming a Biblically functioning community excites me but it's a church that I haven't seen in many places. It certainly is not the church I remember as a child and young adult. It's not that those churches were "bad";Indeed many, many fine people attended and participated in those places. It's just that church was not a place where lives were transformed, they weren't places where people would do all they could do to orient their lives around the ministry of the church.
It was a place for insiders, not outsiders. They were boring, if anyone found their life changed it was more by accident than on purpose.
The possibility that the mainline church might not survive unless it changed was introduced to me during my doctoral studies. What I heard and began to see startled me at first and then excited me. I began to realize that the mainline church had lost its way. In an attempt to maintain the way I've always done it" we were ignoring the fact that we weren't reaching people. In an attempt to be relevant, we let go of God's unchanging truth, the inspired Word of God.
We had become an institution. And the future wasn't bright.
Then God opened up something for me. In a variety of way, through authors, pastors and teachers, through mentors and friends, I realized that God's hand was in the slow, but rapidly increasing decline of the mainline church. God was doing this! He was replacing the tired old way of being church, where lives weren't transformed, and the lost were not being made the found. He was calling the church, from all denominations, to the way it was in the beginning. Someone called this the Ancient Future church. To say I was excited doesn't even get close!
And then God called me here. The strong beacon of light that illuminated a desire to see God bring hope to a hopeless world, through the ministry of a vibrant local church, lit the path from Kansas to Texas for me. He has brought me here so that we can become the kind of place where hearts are changed and hope overcomes despair. That beacon has not become weaker, it has become stronger.
This vision is not mine. It's a vision from God. We are being called to align ourselves with this God-sized dream and vision.  Today I painted this picture. If you weren't there, let me issue you the same invitation I did today. Where do you want to invest your life? Do you want to pursue a small dream, a dream that won't make a difference eternally? Or will you take a risk and trust that the kind of place we can become will increase the population in heaven? As one of my mentors says, the local church is the hope of the world. Let us, together, reorder our lives around the ministry of COTHA and let's become a biblically functioning community. When we risk this, God will receive the praise, the honor and the glory.

"They devoted themselves to the apostles'; teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer." With this simple description, we read in the book of Acts that the early church focused on the importance of spiritual growth and community. At COTHA we are called to the same focus. I truly believe that we are called to grow larger and smaller at the same time. We grow larger through the various ministries of our congregation and by inviting others to participate. We grow smaller through our small group ministry, our 2:42 groups.
I have been attending several of our 2:42 groups at COTHA over the last several weeks. I have been blessed to see the number of people who are involved, the level of connectedness that people have with one another, and the level of spiritual maturity that is being sought. I have also eaten very well at many of these groups!
Last night I attended the Russells and left knowing that I had experienced God. It was wonderful to be with people who truly sought the truth of God's Word. I was also thrilled to see two of our newest members at the gathering!
I know that not all of the people at COTHA are part of a 2:42 group. Sometimes schedules just simply don't allow for some people's participation. But having witnessed how great these groups are, I want to encourage you to at least visit one or more of these groups. You can go to our website and see where and when these groups meet or call Karen Pettit in the office.
I felt strongly that God is calling us to broaden this ministry and offer even more 2:42 groups. To do so means we will have to raise up, train and support new leaders. I ask all of you who are reading this to prayerfully consider whether or not God is calling you into leadership or perhaps just calling you to be a member of an existing or new 2:42 group.

I just got back home after teaching the first installment of "Digging Deeper with Darrel"t; As you may know, this is a study of the book of Romans, the apostle Paul's impressive letter to the church in Rome.
The introduction tonight was intended to set the tone for the rest of the study. We had a good group of people and I felt it went very well. I love to teach because I get so much more out of it than I ever expect. I don't know why that surprises me, but it always does. What an awesome feeling to experience the Holy Spirit in the midst of studying God's Word.
If you missed tonight and want to come to our next session, we will gather at 7 PM next TWO Tuesday nights. We'll then take a couple of weeks off and get going again on January 8th. You don't have to be present at each session to get something out of it. I know people's lives are busy and I try to make each session a complete study, so you can come and go as your schedule allows.
I once heard someone say that Bible study was probably "boring." This was a person who had never spent the time going deeper into the Word. I want to encourage you to make time in your life to learn more about what God has to say to His people. It is totally amazing how His Word still speaks to us in ways that transforms us. I don't teach the Bible in order to overload you with information. Instead, I seek to allow God to lead us to transformation. There is nothing more exciting than that!