Hello WHC!

All the way back in January and February of this year, the Church Council started interviewing potential candidates for new elders. We believed God was bringing two more people onto our Council and were about to go public with this when COVID-19 chaos occurred.

Last month, we introduced these two candidates at LEAD Night to be affirmed as elders – Gary Manford and Cathy Norris.  For those who are not familiar with these two, be sure to watch the video below to see an extended interview with each of them. This coming Sunday we are asking for congregation affirmation as the final step in this journey.

For those who are not familiar with our process, candidates are nominated to the Council in December and January.  They are given an extensive application to fill out and then invited to a series of conversations with Pastoral staff and current Council members on the qualifications of an elder.

In February and March, they are invited around the table to observe how we meet and make decisions and to participate in individual appointments with every current Council member.

When we – Council and Pastors – have a unanimous decision as to who we would like to invite to the Council, we go to the Congregation for affirmation. Typically this whole process takes 3 months. This year has been anything BUT typical. At any rate, we – pastors and council – are incredibly humbled to present these two for congregational affirmation this Sunday.

These are great additions to our team! Thank you for your consideration.

– Western Hills Church Council
Grant English, Lead Pastor
David Manner, Council Chair
Chuck Stones, Vice-Chair
Jennifer Norton
Levi Perkins
Cullen Swearingen
Stacy Zeigler

We’ve covered over 2,300 miles in the last few weeks. Spent some time at the lake with the family, helped my dad build a gazebo, moved my son to Austin, Texas and read/listened to 5 books and countless podcasts. (I’m now an expert on the point-shaving scandal of Boston College basketball if you are interested.)

The next few weeks will include getting one daughter ready to go back to college and getting the other ready for her senior year of high school. I’ve been most concerned about my senior in high school. This is not shaping up to be exactly the senior year that every kid dreams of having. We are not excited about having another season of disappointment and unmet expectations.

My daughter showed me once again, I have much to learn.

She’s made a decision about her senior year. In her opinion, “I’ve got some options. I’m going to explore them and see which ones will work for me. I’m excited about it. Most of it, anyway. No – it wasn’t what I thought my senior year was going to be like, but this is not devastating.”

“This is NOT devastating.” What a perspective.

This is hard. Disappointing. Frustrating. Upsetting. But not devastating. It’s not going to crush me. It’s not going to send me into a dark pit of despair.

_____________________

January 2015.
Rick and I go to the Philippines with Trash Mountain Project. 56 hours of traveling on 8 hours of sleep. Missed flights, 10 hour van rides in the mountains to a new church plant in a trash dump community. The church building was a 50 square foot concrete pad with a recycled tin roof and no walls. Flea-ridden, malnourished dogs roamed the grounds along with chickens and flies. Millions of flies.

It was 90 degrees with 90% humidity, unless there was a breeze… that would bring in the stench from the trash dump 80 yards away which housed up to 2 square miles of trash. Dirty, half-naked children playing in the filth. Moms nursing babies, dads absent because they were working the trash dumps as new trash trucks would come in every 10-13 minutes.

I remember two distinct moments about that trip. Moment 1: After being on the site for 15 minutes, one of the guys went back to the van, climbed in, closed the door and just wept. He wept like a grown man. Not one of us judged him for it either. Eyes red, face wet with his tears, he looked up at me and said, “To think I complained about the food on the flight over here.”

Moment 2: The worship service. What a challenge. Outside venue. Two translators. Neither one of them had ever translated in front of an audience before. One translated from English to Tagalog. The other translated from Tagalog to the local dialect. Long. Inconvenient. Tiring. Lots of hand motions and questions.

Children crying. Trucks honking. Flies buzzing.

Place was packed. The smiles were fierce. The hugs and handshakes strong. We stayed three days. They were so thankful and appreciative of us that they had a feast for us the day we left. It was rice, noodles, and beans served from steel pots on open flames.
________________________________

I’m not always appreciative when Jesus works to gets my attention. Particularly when He uses my kids to do it. But He does. And let’s face it, I need it. I’m guessing you do, too.

This is not devastating. What a perspective from my daughter, and one I desperately needed to hear.

What a time we live in.

I can’t remember a time in our country’s history being this divided over so many things:

Mask/No mask
Real/Hoax
Red/Blue
Black/white
School/No school

Every single issue has become this no holds barred, fight to the death that seems impossible to make sense of.  Every single person has been pushed to their limit. Tension is at all-time high.  It appears that nuance and civil conversation has become extinct.

Every institution, organization, business, and school has been forced to rethink and reimagine why they exist and how they operate.

And the church has not been immune to any of this.

Barna Research has been studying the church through this whole pandemic, and the numbers are pretty depressing. The average percentage of in person attendance is 20% of normal. 2 out 3 active churchgoers have told polls that they will probably not return to the building until a vaccine is discovered. 82% of churches across the nation are reporting a decrease in people engaging in church – both online and physical.

Is this a hopeless situation?
Are we now just supposed to huddle up, study the end times, and just wait on Jesus?
Are we supposed to work twice as hard to get church ‘back to normal?’

Here’s both a freeing and a terrifying thought… Maybe ‘normal’ wasn’t quite right to begin with. Maybe what this pandemic exposed are the weak places where we – and the church – need to reset. This could be the time for a reimagining and rebooting of our faith, our reason for existence, how we should live and how we engage the combative culture around us.

These are deep, foundational questions that we need to answer again. And we don’t need hot takes or ‘expert analysis’ on these. We need to hear from the very heart of God.

The church in Philippi had to navigate all of this… and Paul says they did it well. Paul lays out all of this in his letter to the Philippians. What is the Gospel? Why do we need a gospel? What does it mean to be a saint? What’s the point of the church? As a Christ-follower, how am I to interact with my culture? What is my model for behavior? How is the church supposed to navigate the complicated waters of a highly combative culture?

Let me invite you to hit the pause button and gather around this book of Philippians. Let’s allow God to hit the reset button in our life.

I’ll let Cooper tell this in his own words:

I completed chemotherapy a few weeks ago (ring ring) and the PET scan results came back this morning! Everything is looking good and my lymph nodes have returned to their normal size, mass free! I have a follow up scan in 3 months to ensure, but I’m on the fast track to being healthy again!

They don’t really use the term cancer-free with my type of cancer but we can still use that term in pencil, just maybe not sharpie until after a few more follow up scans.

I’ve also graduated from K-State with a dual major in both Marketing and Sales with a minor in Spanish. I will always be so thankful for the community and family I have in Manhattan, how it helped strengthen my faith, and the man it’s shaped me into.

I have accepted a job with Dell and will be moving to Austin, Texas… someday soon. I start work with them next week virtually as an Inside Sales Associate.

Big thanks to mom and dad and sibs for all the drives to Manhattan, weird food requests, and time spent in a mask to help me get better.

I love you guys big time, thanks for all the support and prayer in the last few months. It means so much and it has been so appreciated.

Allow me to fill in a few more details. His blood work looked great, his counts are improving, his energy is returning, and no lumps, masses, or inflammations. That’s a good day, kids. They will keep scanning – every 3 months, every 6 months – just to keep an eye on the situation. The doctor was very happy with the report.

More good news (for Cooper at least) – Austin, Texas (where his job is located) is still under work from home orders. So he probably will be working from home until September, maybe even later. That means more time for his immune system to rebound.

When we first got the cancer diagnosis… I jotted down a journal entry. I intended to keep it private, but over the last few months, God has prompted me to share it with friends who perhaps needed it as much I did. Here’s an excerpt of it…

Amy and I are obviously praying for healing for Cooper.  I mean, we’re his parents. Of course we want to see him healed.

But I am finding that my prayers are changing. It’s not the only thing we are praying for. For him or his sisters. Or even for us.  

I’m praying for a deepened, rooted faith in Jesus for Cooper. For us all, actually. A faith that is impervious to our environments and surroundings, a faith grounded in the reality of the person of Jesus who loves us and promises us rest IN Him.  I’m praying that our family will find our identity in Him, be conformed to His character, that we would anchor our hope in Jesus.

If Cooper is cured of this, and his faith doesn’t change… or deepen… If we all emerge from this nightmare as the same people, then cancer was wasted on us.

A wimpy, selfish faith that is not rooted in Christ has the same death sentence as cancer.  If my family walks through this and our faith hasn’t moved beyond ‘ATM’ or “911” prayers, what a waste of a trauma.

The blessing of God isn’t the healing or the cancer. The blessing isn’t physical health or security. The blessing isn’t job security or good behaving kids or a nice house or a great family.

The blessing of God is Himself.

That’s where I want our faith to be. So help us get there, Jesus.

I am thankful for the great diagnosis and the positive report. So grateful.  But I am still praying this other, deeper prayer, as well.  For Cooper.  For Amy.  For Camber.  For Cayden.

For me.  To know that the blessing of God is Himself.  That everything else is a pale substitute.  It exists to point us to the real blessing. And to miss that – to live this life without that blessing – would be the greatest tragedy of all.

Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord.  Apostle Paul, Philippians 3:8

July 4th is our family’s second favorite holiday of the year. (Christmas is first, if you were wondering.)  We love the fireworks, being outside, cornhole, brats, burgers, friends, staying up late, and the occasional close call with a firework or two… or three.  Here’s a dirty family secret… We even have some family photos with those USA shirts they sold at Old Navy stores.  Remember those?  We’ve got multiple summers of those pictures.

Our family has a heritage of service for our country, in the military and as first-responders.  Amy has multiple generations of her family who were in the Corp at Texas A&M and served in the military.  Both of my dads served in the military, one of them a career fire-fighter. My grandfather was a World War 2 veteran.  I served 10 years in the Army. 

For whatever reason, the word “served” has stuck out to me this year.  

When I think about my time in the military, the word “serving my country” doesn’t immediately come to mind.  This is what comes to mind:  We woke up when it was dark.  We didn’t stop until way past dark again.  We trained in the snow and the rain and the blazing heat.  In fact, the only acceptable time to train was when the weather was miserable.  We got yelled at when we did it right.  Got yelled at when we did it wrong.  Hurried everywhere.  We were reminded that we were never fast enough.  Waited forever once we got there.  Waited some more. Hurried some more.  Got orders that didn’t make sense and we didn’t like.  Always tired.  Terrible food.  Awful accommodations.

So why do it?  What is the value of serving like that?  Why have a holiday for it?  

The answer is a little complicated.  I haven’t met a soldier yet that doesn’t complain.  As James Garner said in The Great Escape, “It’s a soldier’s right to complain.”

But every soldier also knows that freedom isn’t free.  Somebody has to get up in the dark, go to bed way after dark, train in miserable weather, withstand constant yelling, get pushed to the limit, obey orders they don’t like or understand, be constantly tired, eat terrible food, and sleep in awful accommodations so that others can enjoy freedom.

The fastest way to lose freedom is to focus on the freedom and not the responsibility and the cost of it.  Soldiers know somebody has to stand at the gate to protect those freedoms from those who wish tyranny on all.  Soldiers know somebody has to put themselves between those who want to oppress and take away those freedoms and those who enjoy them.

Soldiers know somebody has to give up their freedom so that others can experience theirs.  

There’s more than a few parallels here for the Christ-follower.  Our citizenship in God’s Kingdom comes with the most important freedom in history – the freedom from sin and death.  That freedom wasn’t free.  Nor was that freedom given to us to do what we want to do when we want to do it.  Humanity tried that kind of freedom, and it failed miserably.

It was such an expensive failure that it cost the King His own son.  Jesus’ death and resurrection paves the way for us to experience grace, forgiveness, redemption, purpose, and unconditional love.

For others to enjoy this freedom, someone else has to serve.  Some have to stand in the gap and give up their freedom so that others can experience it.  We consider others before ourselves so that some will accept the gospel.

On July 4th, I celebrate the freedom I have as a citizen in the United States.  I celebrate it remembering that I and many others purposely give up some of those freedoms so that others may enjoy it.  

I remember my other citizenship that has given me the best kind of freedom.  And how I have chosen to serve in that Kingdom, to give up some of my freedoms, so that others would know Jesus.  There is much more at stake in this Kingdom.

Paul said it best in 1 Corinthians 9:19-23:

Though I am free and belong to no one, I have made myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God’s law but am under Christ’s law), so as to win those not having the law.  To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.  I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

For The King,

Grant

As our Church Council, pastors, and staff wrestled through all of the reopening decisions (Read the FAQs HERE) (See video summary HERE), I found myself incredibly conflicted. Some of the decisions we made I am 100% behind and believe in. Some of the decisions (after a lot of thought and prayer), I recognize as necessary for the time being even though I don’t like them. I haven’t known what to do with this inner conflict until God reminded me of a scene that played out in our driveway a few weeks ago.

As many of you know, our family is also navigating Cooper’s (our 22-year old son) cancer diagnosis and chemo-therapy during this global pandemic. It has radically challenged and changed our family. We are exhausted – emotionally, spiritually, and physically.

Cooper has a group of friends that he has navigated life with since middle school. They are all very close – been in bible studies together, graduated high school together, roommates, housemates, vacations, graduated from K-State together. Cooper was supposed to be in a couple of their weddings this summer, but obviously he can’t do that.

Like many of you, we have dealt with a lot of disappointment.

A few weeks ago, his friends wanted to have a graduation celebration together. It was to be their last hoorah before they all got jobs, got married, and moved away. How could they do that with Cooper, given his vulnerable immune system and the COVID-19 pandemic?

If Cooper gets sick, it could kill him. So Amy and I set the ground rules:
Must be outside, in our driveway/cul-de-sac.
Nobody comes in the house.
Must maintain social distance.
Wear a mask.
Nobody touches Cooper or anything that gets to Cooper.
Hand sanitizer will flow like water.
We can shut it down, so Cooper doesn’t get exhausted.

Every single one of them responded: No problem. We’re in.

It was 100 degrees with no breeze. We had Popeye’s and cookies. Not one of them complained. They were too busy laughing and telling stories. I was blown away by their act of love and kindness towards Cooper.

They chose to be inconvenienced because…

They knew it was only for a short period of time.
They knew there were better days ahead.
They did it for someone they loved.

That driveway lesson has stuck with me, because it’s a picture of Western Hills Church.

Western Hills Church has an incredible legacy of serving others. We have a trophy case full of stories where we chose to inconvenience ourselves for the sake of others.

Opening our building and facilities to the community.
Scholarships for a Christ-centered sports experience.
Providing hundreds of meals to food-insecure families.
Providing funding for COVID-19 affected families.
Adopting three different schools.
Engaging with trash-dump communities.
Supporting missionaries in at-risk/closed countries.
Adopting international college students to show them the love of Christ.
Partnering with Antioch to model bridge-building to our city.

We have consistently chosen to be inconvenienced because we knew that it was only a short inconvenience in light of eternity. We know that there are better days ahead. Most importantly, we do it because we deeply love people.

All people. Because they are made in God’s image AND because God loves them deeply.

This is living out the reality of Jesus. And my prayer is that this once again comes shining through during this difficult season.

Let’s go be the church.

We have reopened the building for worship services!
The Church Council and staff worked very hard to make this a reality. We are very excited about this and have created this FAQ to help with the transition.

Do we have to reserve a spot for our family?
No, but we are asking for reservations particularly these first few weeks because we don’t know how many to expect, if we need more chairs, or even need to add a service.  (All we need is your family name and how many will be attending.)

Will there be something for the children?
Yes. If you choose to have your children sit in service with you, we will have coloring pages and other activities for the kids when you arrive. You will have plenty of space to spread out with your kiddos, and we are keeping the services to 45 minutes.  (And if you wanted a coloring page or activity booklet for yourself – that’d be okay as well.)

Starting Sunday, September 13th, we are relaunching a modified version of our children’s ministry! Here are the Children’s Ministry Reopening Guidelines.

What can I expect when we show back up to the building?
To be treated like a rock star. We will have a dedicated entrance and have some hand sanitizer waiting for you. You’ll have a spacious place to sit and get situated. After the service, you will have a dedicated exit. Don’t worry, we will have signs.

Will we sing?  Have music?  Teaching?
Yes! We are gonna sing.  We will start by live-streaming our worship team into the gym.  This allows us to fit around 50 more people into the gym.  Teaching will be live and in-person.  Service time is going to be around 45 minutes long.

Will you still have the service online?  With chat and live prayer?
Yes and yes.  If you are not comfortable coming back with all the precautions, join us online on Facebook. We will broadcast live and would encourage you to even have watch parties with your Connect Group. Our online presence will not be going anywhere. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and click to accept notifications to be informed of any new live broadcast postings.

What’s with mask wearing and social distancing?
When we provided the church survey, 44% of you said “Yes, I would wear a mask” while 38% said “No, I would prefer NOT to wear a mask.”  Of all the questions we asked, this was by far the most polarizing.

Yes, we are asking people to wear a mask (not small children), and we are observing some physical distancing. We are allowing mask removal while seated, during the message. Masks will remain in place during any movement around the building and while singing. There were three reasons for this decision.

First, our research shows that most COVID-19 positive cases happen when there is prolonged exposure to the virus in droplet form in enclosed spaces. Some activities – like coughing, sneezing, eating, and singing – exponentially produce more droplets. Going to the grocery store or running in and then out of a store provides very little time or opportunity for exposure. Sitting in the same place for 45 minutes while singing does increase the risk significantly. By wearing a mask and physically spreading out, we are lowering the risk of exposure.

Second, we live in a litigious culture, and we received some guidelines from our insurance providers to follow so that if anyone contracted COVID-19 at WHC, we would have coverage for that.

Third, we wanted as many people as possible to feel comfortable coming back to the building. We know that there are people who have strong beliefs all over the spectrum. We believe these initial guidelines navigate a middle road.

How long will these guidelines be in place? 
We don’t know.  We anticipate there will be changes every week as we are constantly researching and learning new things.  We are always going to change and adapt as new information comes in.  We are hoping to have children’s ministry up and running in time for the start of school as well as our student ministry and small group Bible studies.

What if I’m having a hard time with some of these guidelines?
First, know that we – Church Council, pastors, and staff – had a difficult time with these decisions. Reopening the building presented the most complicated series of issues we have ever faced. We found ourselves wrestling with our personal convictions versus what was going to be best for a congregation of over 400 people, ages 85 to 8 days.

Second, pray with and for us. We spent weeks praying through this, seeking God’s wisdom. We still are. This is a starting point for us to open, and we know it will change. Every step will require more wisdom than we have right now. So pray that God would give us all a spirit of unity and of grace.

Third, talk to us. You can drop us an email to set up an appointment. We’d love to hear you and see if there is some way we can help each other keep moving forward.

Personal Note from Grant English, Lead Pastor:

As our Church Council, pastors, and staff wrestled through all the reopening decisions, I found myself incredibly conflicted. Some of the decisions we made, I am 100% behind and believe in. Some of the decisions (after a lot of thought and prayer), I recognize as necessary for the time being even though I don’t like them. I haven’t known what to do with this inner conflict until God reminded me of a scene that played out in our driveway a couple of months ago.

As many of you know, our family was forced to navigate Cooper’s (our 22-year old son) cancer diagnosis and chemo-therapy during this global pandemic. It radically challenged and changed our family. We were exhausted – emotionally, spiritually, and physically.

Cooper has a group of friends that he has navigated life with since middle school. They are very close – been in Bible studies together, graduated high school together, roommates, housemates, vacations, graduated from K-State together. Cooper was supposed to be in a couple of their weddings this summer, but obviously he can’t do that.

Like many of you, we have dealt with a lot of disappointment.

A few months ago, his friends wanted to have a graduation celebration together. It was to be their last hoorah before they all got jobs, got married, and moved away. How could they do that with Cooper, given his vulnerable immune system and the COVID-19 pandemic?

If Cooper gets sick, it could kill him, so Amy and I set the ground rules:

Must be outside, in our driveway/cul-de-sac.
Nobody comes in the house.
Must maintain social distance.
Wear a mask.
Nobody touches Cooper or anything that gets to Cooper.
Hand sanitizer will flow like water.
We can shut it down so Cooper doesn’t get exhausted.

Every single one of them responded: No problem. We’re in.

It was 100 degrees with no breeze. We had Popeye’s and cookies. Not one of them complained. They were too busy laughing and telling stories. I was blown away by their act of love and kindness towards Cooper.

They chose to be inconvenienced because…

They knew it was only for a short period of time.
They knew there were better days ahead.
They did it for someone they loved.

That driveway lesson has stuck with me, because it’s a picture of Western Hills Church.

Western Hills Church has an incredible legacy of serving others. We have a trophy case full of stories where we chose to inconvenience ourselves for the sake of others.

Opening our building and facilities to the community.
Scholarships for a Christ-centered sports experiences.
Providing hundreds of meals to food-insecure families.
Providing funding for COVID-19 affected families.
Adopting three different schools.
Engaging with trash-dump communities.
Supporting missionaries in at-risk/closed countries.
Adopting international college students to show them the love of Christ.
Partnering with Antioch Church to model bridge-building to our city.

We have consistently chosen to be inconvenienced, because we knew that it was only a short inconvenience in light of eternity. We know that there are better days ahead. Most importantly, we do it because we deeply love people.

All people. Because they are made in God’s image, AND because God loves them deeply.

This is living out the reality of Jesus. And my prayer is that this once again comes shining through during this difficult season.

Let’s go be the church.

Grant was able to sit down this week with his friend Pastor Marcus Clark from Love Fellowship Church. Be sure to take some time to listen to their discussion and thoughts on the events of the past couple of weeks.