What an amazing Sunday we had this past weekend with the leader of our tribe. If you didn’t make it to church, catch the podcast to hear the president of the denomination speaking about missions, then preaching Ps. 74 and telling his story.

As a follow up, the pastoral leadership team had a chance to spend a few hours with Dr. Stumbo Monday morning and it was a very significant time.

He shared that he was specifically grabbed by a prayer about us being “adopted in” as if NC was an orphan son, at the end of our Sunday leadership lunch meeting and remarked how the prophetic words he had received in the pre-service prayer time had blessed him and brought some clarity and peace to him. He was very affirming as he spoke of the ongoing work we are doing here at NC.

During our time together on Monday, I took the opportunity to repent on behalf of Neighborhood Church of Chico, for at times being like a prodigal son, who left home and needed to ask for forgiveness. I committed that that we will stay under the authority and blessing of this “Christ centered-Acts 1:8 family,” using our finances, time, influence and God given gifts to participate and bless the C&MA family the best we can. It was intriguing to hear that I was the first person to repent to him in his presidency of almost two years.

At the end of our time, Dr. Stumbo spoke this blessing over us as a church. May you be blessed as you receive it and further catch the heart of this humble leader.

“May the love of the Father, and the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all. The love of the Father: so that you know you are fully embraced and adopted sons. The grace of the Lord Jesus: knowing that you are full recipients of everything that He has in His heart for you and that nothing in your past, your failures or deficiencies, leadership mistakes or whatever, is in anyway an interruption to the flow of grace. And the fellowship of the Holy Spirit: may you be blessed with an increasing understanding of your unique roll as a church and as an expression of the powerful work of the Holy Spirit and His intimacy with the human experience. That Neighborhood Church would not be an imitator of anyone else and (you would walk fully in) your expression of what it means to walk in the Spirit as a congregation. May you be blessed with the “we” of the New Testament. The plural ya’ll walking in the Spirit. Ya’ll keeping step with the Spirit. Ya’ll listening to the Spirit. We are blessed to do that together, the unity of the Trinity who brings the love and grace and the fellowship together is a beautiful, integral expression. Amen.”

Be Encouraged church, it is still the year of Jubilee.