Woodland Forest Church
  • About
  • Pastor Jeff
  • Our Ministries
    • Infants and Toddlers
    • Children
    • Middlers and Youth
    • Young Adults
    • Adults
    • Deacon Ministry Teams
    • Community
  • When We Meet
  • Donate
  • Chill on the Hill
  • Pastor's Blog
  • Recorded Sunday Services
  • Recorded Wednesday Services
  • Upcoming Events
  • Media
  • Contact

Woodland Forest Church
​             Pastor Jeff's Blog

Pastor Jeff's Reflections . . . from a social distance

The first step . . .

7/24/2020

0 Comments

 
I want to say thank you again to Pastor Gardner, our guest speaker from last Sunday, who spoke to us about our continued Christian response to justice and specifically our response toward racial justice. For more information about Pastor Gardner and his work you can click here: plumgrovebaptist.com/pastor/

If you were not able to be present for worship or live stream the service, I encourage you to take the time to listen to his sermon on our website. He provided a powerful message challenging us as Christians and specifically for us as Woodland Forest Church, to take the next steps to continue pursuing justice at all levels and specifically racial justice.  

His message was incredibly rich and complex, but one of the takeaways that I received from the message was incredibly simple and tangible . . . be a friend. Be a friend not just to people that are like you in appearance, status, and beliefs, but be intentional to also be a friend to those who are hurting, different, marginalized, hungry, and in need. Because when we are able to be a friend, we allow ourselves to stop seeing all of our differences and begin to see the person (created in the same image of God as we are, equally a child of God as we are).  Simply, just be a friend.
​

That is my challenge, start making new friends and in small steps and increments we will begin to address the issues of race and injustice. We don’t have to fix the entire problem today, but there will never be a better place to begin than now. 
0 Comments

History as teacher . . .

7/16/2020

0 Comments

 
As I drove my youngest to the beach last week to surprise her older sister who was enjoying the waves, sun and breeze with some family friends, I was completely shocked to see the words, “History is to be honored,” emblazoned under the Confederacy crest on a memorial on the roadside. In this case, I could not disagree more strongly. 

Certainly, much of our American history should be honored. We, as an American people have made numerous noble accomplishments over the course of our country’s existence. There is no room; however, to honor a specific history that enslaved other human beings, treated them with unspeakable injustices and cruelties, and viewed them as less than human, simply because they had the “wrong” amount of pigmentation in their skin. There is no honor in such behavior and beliefs.

All history should be remembered, but not all history should be honored. The Confederacy and American slavery should be remembered just like the Crusades and Holocaust . . . remembered so that we can learn from our past mistakes . . . remembered so that we may never allow ourselves to repeat certain evil horrors.

Conversely, our Hebrew predecessors in faith established festivals to remember and honor specific historical events. These were events of God’s deliverance, faithfulness and continued covenant with God’s children. These were events that celebrated God’s continued pursuit of God’s children, in spite of our times of waywardness. This is history that deserves to not only be remembered but celebrated and honored, because God continues to love and pursue a relationship with us.
​

As Christians, may we be a people who prayerfully discern the difference between history that is honored to help us remember our past journey with God, specifically God’s work in our lives, and that draws us into a deeper relationship with Christ, as opposed to a history seemingly devoid of God, lest we forget that we are sinful people capable of great evil when we are divorced from relationship with our loving God.
0 Comments

Freedom . . .

7/1/2020

1 Comment

 
Galatians 5:1 – For freedom Christ has set us free. Stand firm, therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.
 
What do you, a 13th century Scottish warrior and repetitive, thunderous, sparkling booms have in common? They scream the sounds of freedom. I am probably showing my age with the Braveheart reference; nevertheless, later this week we will celebrate our freedom and independence as an American nation. It is only fitting for us to spend some time in reflection, considering what this freedom means for each of us. Men and women, past and present, have made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedom that we continue to enjoy. We cherish the freedom that we have and pray that we may always enjoy our liberties as American citizens. 
 
But we also must push further and more deeply consider true freedom. The freedom that comes to us by way of the price that Christ paid for us, giving up his divinity to live a mortal life only to be killed (and resurrected) as a way for us to experience a deeper relationship with God.  
 
Freedom is defined as one’s power or right to act, speak, or think as he or she wants, without hindrance or restraint. But that is not the freedom that we experience in Christ. The freedom that we experience in Christ comes only through us acting as Jesus did and being or becoming willing to give our life for the sake of Christ’s work in this world. Freedom is not the opportunity to do any and everything that we want, act, think or choose just simply because we are free to do so. 
 
Grace was not given to us to act in any way in which we desire. The freedom that we experience through the grace of God is a freedom that compels us to act in accordance with Christ’s example so that we can further God’s work, mission, and ministry in this world. Freedom, outside of Christ’s freedom, is just disguised captivity to sin. But when we live and walk in the example of Christ then we become truly free because our mind is not set on things that are limited by this world, but instead on things that are understood only fully in the vastness of eternity.
1 Comment

    About Pastor Jeff:

       Pastor Jeff Howard began his journey at Woodland Forest Church as Interim Pastor in the summer of 2017.  In January 2018, he was called by the church family to become our Pastor.
       Pastor Jeff lives in Birmingham, AL.  He enjoys spending quality  time with his family, playing outside, hiking, playing card and board games, listening to music, and watching movies.  
       Pastor Jeff has over 10 years of experience pastoring diverse church congregations.  He was ordained at Shades Crest Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL, and received his Master of Divinity from McAfee School of Theology.  

    You can reach Pastor Jeff by email at jeffhoward100@gmail.com

    Archives

    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020

    Categories

    All

    RSS Feed

Contact the Webmaster.
© 2014-15 Woodland Forest Church. All Rights Reserved.