Slideshow image

Hello Sun City West Christian Church!


If we haven’t had the opportunity to meet yet, my name is Chance, and I
get to serve as the new Associate Pastor here at SCWCC. To all of you that
I have met, I want to say thank you for welcoming me and my family with
open arms to this church. It has made our transition into a new ministry a
whole lot easier.

If there is one thing that this transition has reminded me of, it is that
change is hard. Whether it’s a new job, a new house, a new community, a
new church, a new Associate Pastor, or no tables in the fellowship hall—
whatever it is, change is difficult. But what I have learned about change in the midst of the hardship is that change is also necessary!

One of my favorite Christian leadership experts, John Maxwell, said, “If
we don't change, we don't grow. If we don't grow, we aren't really living.” And John F. Kennedy even
went as far as to say, “Change is the law of life.” So that poses the question: if change is necessary,
why is it so difficult?


Whenever I have difficult questions like this, I like to look to Scripture for wisdom, and this
immediately made me think of the ministry of Jesus. When Jesus came, the Jewish church and
leadership strongly resisted Him. They were set in their ways and didn’t like that Jesus came in to
“change” their customs and turn their religion on its head. They were so set in their ways that they
would rather kill the Messiah than accept Him. They valued their traditions and customs (religion) over a relationship with God in the flesh. But what Jesus knew was that change was necessary, and He would go as far as to be crucified to change our eternal destiny.

As the global church, we are often so resistant to change because we are comfortable—even if it is to our own detriment, just like it was for the Jews. We have fooled ourselves into believing that this
Christian life was meant to be easy and comfortable. But nowhere in the Bible does it say that. In fact, Jesus says in John 16:33, “In the world you will have tribulation.” But He does promise that He is with us in those trials. And that is what I find rest in as I step into the change and transition of this new role. I serve a God who is faithful, and I want to be faithful with the ministry He has allowed me to step into. While I don’t like change, I know that I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength—and so can you!

Let’s lean on Christ together and continue to spread the gospel to a world that so desperately needs to hear it by not letting fear of change stand in our way.

In Christ,

Chance