Pathway Church

Yesterday we worshiped at Pathway Church, 239 Braun Road, Beaver Falls, PA 15010, 724.843.6381, lifeatpathway.com, Jeff McNicol, Senior Pastor.

Scripture – NIV

Romans 5:8 –

But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

Luke 21:28 –

When these things begin to take place, stand up and lift up your heads, because your redemption is drawing near.

Bob’s thoughts:

Last week we were in North Carolina and looking forward to worshiping there, but our daughter was called to the hospital for heart-related emergencies so often that we missed the opportunity.

For Saturday’s Christmas Eve service, we worshiped at Grace Church. A friend of our daughters’ from Geneva College recognized me before the service and we got to chat a bit before she returned to sit with her family.

We enjoyed our coffee and worshiped in the calmer, quieter overflow room, by ourselves as it turned out. I enjoyed the lead female singer and the talented music team.

This morning we were blessed to worship at Pathway where several people welcomed us. With the inspired Christmas decoration I almost missed seeing the impressive cross. The sax and strings were a welcome addition to the other musicians and the voice of the female lead.

The sermon was presented by three of the pastors who commented on their favorite Christmas hymns.

It was mentioned that the beauty of God’s invitation is God’s perfect timing: I can certainly vouch for that based on when He called me.

One of the pastors spoke of his tragic loss of a child and that unlike the loss of a spouse, where one becomes a widow(er), or the loss of a parent where one becomes an orphan, there is no equivalent word when one loses a child. I had never considered the unnamed aspect of this loss, but he added that God had experienced this loss Himself and thus He understands. I was thankful we got to minister to each other some after the service and grateful God led us to worship here.

Noticing all the businesses closed reminded me of when I was much younger, there were two drug stores in our small town. One owner was Catholic and the other Jewish, so when one was closed for a special day like Christmas, the other would be open to handle the needs of the community. They had a lot more freedom then to help the competitor’s customers.

I don’t remember so many churches closed on a Sunday Christmas but I am thankful for God’s Presence here today.

Jan’s thoughts:

After missing church while traveling last weekend, I was pleased we were led to invigorating services both last night and this morning.

We have worshiped here a number of times, but the facility looked quite different than I recalled as the church is in the midst of a building project. The atmosphere was festive and friendly: several folks introduced themselves and welcomed us, which made it even more of a joy to be there.

The message was centered on hymns that bore particular significance to the speakers. Each included some background on the hymn and explained what it meant to them. The stories were full of passion and significance, appropriate for the day.

I truly appreciated the music: it was outstanding, and the violin and saxophone added an exceptional texture.

I was grateful for the time of the one pastor and his wife and the opportunity for mutual ministry in loss.

Our prayer for this church:

Lord, we feel the excitement of Your church and pray for Your continued overwhelming blessings. Amen.

Pathway Church

Today we worshiped at Pathway Church, Moon Campus, Gilmary Center, 601 Flaugherty Run Road, Coraopolis, PA 15108, 724.843.6381, www.lifeatpathway.com, Chad Agnew, Campus Pastor.

Scripture – Acts 15:13-35

"When they finished, James spoke up. “Brothers,” he said, “listen to me. Simon has described to us how God first intervened to choose a people for his name from the Gentiles. The words of the prophets are in agreement with this, as it is written:

“ ‘After this I will return and rebuild David’s fallen tent. Its ruins I will rebuild, and I will restore it, that the rest of mankind may seek the Lord, even all the Gentiles who bear my name, says the Lord, who does these things’ — things known from long ago.

“It is my judgment, therefore, that we should not make it difficult for the Gentiles who are turning to God. Instead we should write to them, telling them to abstain from food polluted by idols, from sexual immorality, from the meat of strangled animals and from blood. For the law of Moses has been preached in every city from the earliest times and is read in the synagogues on every Sabbath.”

Then the apostles and elders, with the whole church, decided to choose some of their own men and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas. They chose Judas (called Barsabbas) and Silas, men who were leaders among the believers. With them they sent the following letter:

The apostles and elders, your brothers,

To the Gentile believers in Antioch, Syria and Cilicia:

Greetings.

We have heard that some went out from us without our authorization and disturbed you, troubling your minds by what they said. So we all agreed to choose some men and send them to you with our dear friends Barnabas and Paul— men who have risked their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Therefore we are sending Judas and Silas to confirm by word of mouth what we are writing. It seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us not to burden you with anything beyond the following requirements: You are to abstain from food sacrificed to idols, from blood, from the meat of strangled animals and from sexual immorality. You will do well to avoid these things.

Farewell.

So the men were sent off and went down to Antioch, where they gathered the church together and delivered the letter. The people read it and were glad for its encouraging message. Judas and Silas, who themselves were prophets, said much to encourage and strengthen the believers.

After spending some time there, they were sent off by the believers with the blessing of peace to return to those who had sent them.

But Paul and Barnabas remained in Antioch, where they and many others taught and preached the word of the Lord."

Bob’s thoughts:

At Easter we received a postcard inviting us to worship at this church (see, someone does respond to the mailings).

The complex is spread out a bit and we were a little later arriving than we had hoped. We wandered around the buildings to where I had noticed some people standing; it turned out they were blocking the sign directing toward worship. We were greeted by a few people during the service; I thought with a smaller congregation we would stand out more.

A lot of the modern churches don’t display a cross, but this service was in the gym of a Catholic retreat center and there were a number of cross banners on the wall. I appreciated them, whichever entity was responsible. During Communion there was a cross displayed on the screens.

I did not need my faithful earplugs and thought the praise worship was enjoyable. Also I could hear the words over the music. I particularly enjoyed the keyboardist as she smiled through most of the praise songs.

The sermon was well developed with good Scriptural references. The main points from Acts 15:15-35: the church was from Jewish law and tradition and met to see how to incorporate the Gentiles into the faith. There were some who wanted to burden the Gentiles with the very load from which Christ freed them. In their meeting they came to agreement on a few specifics that were acceptable to all without compromising their core beliefs. Perhaps the mainline churches should look closely at this idea. Standing for nothing does not grow churches.

Jan’s thoughts:

This campus of Pathway Church meets at a Catholic retreat center, so I imagine the weekly set-up and tear-down takes considerable dedication and work. It also meant a tour and seeking signage was meaningless, which worked out well since we arrived just about start time.

Still, there were worshipers outside who welcomed us as we entered, and additional greetings once we were inside where the pastor and several other gentlemen were setting up additional chairs.

Although not an order of worship, the bulletin is colorful and full of just about any sort of information one might want about this church. They are surely a busy group with all sorts of inviting events.

The music was excellent. In spite of sitting as far back as possible since we fully anticipated needing earplugs, but neither of us did. To me this is proof that the power of the music is not in the volume but in the words (which were large and white and readable even on gorgeous and colorful backgrounds) and the emotion with which the song is presented.

The message about “Essentials” was part of a series called “Real Church: Going Viral – A Teaching Series in the Book of Acts.” After opening with the replay of the viral video “Charlie Bit My Finger,” the points of the message were made: Christ’s sacrifice of His rights for our good is our standard and when we voluntarily limit our personal freedom, our sacrifice demonstrates maturity. We must lift our eyes beyond ourselves because letting go of self-interest is true freedom.

I was glad to participate in Communion, but the format was new to me. The words of institution and prayer were the same, but when the people went forward to partake, the elements were sitting on a table and everyone simply took a piece of bread and a cup, went back to their seat, and, as instructed, partook of the bread individually and the cup communally. I’m not sure yet what I think about that.

I appreciated meeting the pastor’s wife afterward, who is also a blogger, and am anxious to visit her blog.

Our prayer for this church:

Lord, we pray we all learn to embrace truth, consider others, and choose unity in Christ. Amen.

Pathway Church

Today we worshiped at Pathway Church, 239 Braun Road, Beaver Falls, PA 15010, 724.843.6381, www.lifeatpathway.com, Jeff McNicol, Senior Pastor.

Scripture: Luke 19:28-44 –

After Jesus had said this, he went on ahead, going up to Jerusalem. As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him ‘The Lord needs it.’”

Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?”

They replied, “The Lord needs it.”

They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road.

When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen:

“Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!”

“I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.”

As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace – but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

Bob’s thoughts:

It was good to again worship in a church that isn’t embarrassed by the cross. I was heartened to see a large one on the rear platform wall.

I guess it has been a while since we visited this church last. I don’t know if there is an entrance that doesn’t bring you to be back of the building first, but we sure could have used some signage. We followed some people around the building and the main entrance was apparent.

I noticed almost every row had someone sitting on the end and most of the center seats were empty…it looked as if everyone was saving seats for someone.

I was glad the female lead singers were also allowed to be heard, and enjoyed their voices.

This church is planting a church in Moon Township and asked for 100 volunteers to worship there to help get the church established.

The message was from Luke describing Christ’s compassionate entry into Jerusalem on what became known as Palm Sunday.

The pastor related the three entities that responded to Christ’s entrance: those exuberant at the coming of the King, those in defiant resistance who were so caught up in their religion that they thought they were pleasing God by opposing Christ. The third was the unbridled compassion of Christ, driven to tears at how Jerusalem had fallen.

Each in their own way, all in, “No Turning Back.”

The city of God was overwhelmed by the spiritually dead. Christ’s knowing what the week held for Him and how it would end reminded me of Marines running toward the gunfire, fully engaged, “no turning back.” Our Savior is like that.

He raised good questions: are we fully engaged in worship? What makes you weep? And calling us to be fools for Christ.

I was once referred to as one of those Jesus jerks, the highest praise I have received.

Jan’s thoughts:

We visited this church twice before when it was called Chippewa Evangelical Free Church. It has recently changed its name to Pathway Church, so we thought we’d see what else might have changed. As it turns out, not much, which is just fine.

In March they plan to launch a new campus in Moon Township and today presented the pastor they have identified to lead this new campus. What impressed me most were the details of how God prepared this pastor for this position of leadership: first he spent a fair amount of time learning and serving this church in various capacities, until the time was right and God indicated to those involved and who knew him that he was His choice for this position.

The praise band had a great sound, and the volume was good even for us.

At very large churches with 2 (or more) services like this one, visitors are anonymous unless they identify themselves. Since we arrived a few minutes late, there was no time to do that, and we ended up approaching no one and no one approached us. I miss the personal contact and conversation when this happens, but it was not unexpected.

The message was the first in the series “No Turning Back” and was entitled “All In.” It was introduced through a brief video of Felix Baumgartner’s 24-mile parachute jump from the edge of space in October 2012…a pretty terrific depiction of “no turning back” I thought.

The pastor taught that three groups responded to Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. The first group was comprised of His disciples and those who believed in Him, who responded with exuberant praise. They were as fully engaged as Jesus, and some may have even recognized Jesus riding the colt as the fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy. Throwing their cloaks, a cherished staple of their wardrobe, was the equivalent of an ancient red carpet, and their praise was loud and sincere.

The second group consisted of the Pharisees who responded with defiant resistance. The pastor likened their telling Jesus to rebuke His disciples to the Browns coach telling Coach Mike Tomlin to quiet down his fans in the heat of a football game…a ridiculous request. Strangely enough, the Pharisees’ request was based on their commitment to please God. We may be committed, but are we submitted? Are we committed to our practice or religion, or are we submitted to God?

The third “all in” response came from only Jesus, Who responded with unbridled compassion. He was heartbroken because He knew the people were spiritually dead, and He did not just weep…the Greek word indicates intense sobbing. The peoples’ rejection of Jesus left them spiritually vulnerable, and He was well aware of their need and despair as well as what the future held.

The pastor boldly pointed out that “If you only spend one hour per week with God, you are part of modern-day Jerusalem.”

“All in” is indeed a choice.

Our prayer for this church:
Holy Lord, we pray we don’t wait for the very stones to cry out in praise, that we come to worship and glorify You with no turning back. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.