What a great honor and privilege it is to have God’s faithful servant, Loren Cunningham, the founder of Youth With A Mission (YWAM) as well as a world renowned author, pastor, and missionary, visit NCFC and share God’s heart, not only for our church but also for the universal church of Jesus Christ!  I’ve read several of his books, watched him on Youtube, and got to hear him in person at the 2007 New Wave Rally in Silver Spring, MD, alongside the Match Strike worship team, but to have him speak at our own church during both the KC and EC Sunday Service is indeed special.  I am also looking forward to the Sunday evening “Big Wave” Rally with many churches joining together to hear what is on God’s heart, where God is moving, and how to join Him where He is working.  The 2007 New Wave Rally definitely set things in motion, and now we are willing and ready to ride a Big Wave with Jesus Christ! 
On Monday afternoon, there will be a leadership meeting, where the area pastors and other church leaders will get together with our guest ‘up close and personal.’  We pray that God will challenge us through Loren so that we can begin to walk in greater anointing and authority to fulfill God-ordained dreams, both here in the DC area and throughout the world.  I look forward to hearing God’s message to me specifically as well as getting to know Loren better. Hopefully some of his anointing and awesomeness will rub off on me as I spend time with him!
You may not believe this, but I am actually shy when it comes to meeting new people. I am not good at striking up small conversations with people I do not know that well, especially if it’s someone who is famous and important like Loren Cunningham!  But Loren is like a father to my beloved brother and sister in Christ, Chongho and Kris Won, the NCFC-sent missionaries serving at YWAM Kona, and that makes him sort of like my uncle!   When we share Jesus Christ, we indeed become like families no matter what nationality, age group, or socio-economic background we may come from. Jesus Christ indeed is the great equalizer!
Speaking of Chongho and Kris, they didn’t just talk about the cost of following Jesus Christ, the cost of discipleship, but they’ve fully embraced it and are living a life of discipleship through their involvement with YWAM.  The Wons had just purchased a 7000+ sq. feet, 3-car garage mansion when God called them into the mission field.  It’s not like Chongho and Kris were living a selfish life, pursuing worldly dreams, either. They were faithfully serving at NCFC in various ministries and contributing a lot financially as Chongho’s business was really successful at the time.  They could have compromised and settled to be wonderful senders of missionaries, supporting others to go into missions through prayer and financial contributions. However, they sought the Lord earnestly, not settling for what is good but wanting God’s best, and received confirmation that they were to go into the mission field. 
The Wons have been living at the YWAM base in Kona, Hawaii for the past 11 years, but have traveled all over the world, whenever and wherever God called them to go.  They’ve indeed witnessed God work powerfully in and through them during this journey of faith, but that’s not to say the ride has always been smooth and without challenges.  It’s not because God lacks heavenly resources, but it’s because God wants them, having responded to God’s call by faith, to continue to walk by faith.  Someone has said, “Salvation costs you nothing, but discipleship will cost you everything.  Salvation occurs in a moment, but discipleship takes a lifetime,” and Chongho and Kris are a shining example of the truth of this statement.  Yes, a life of discipleship is not easy, but if you ask Chongho and Kris, I bet they will say they’ll do it all over again in a heartbeat because you get to go on amazing rides with Jesus.  Once you experience it, nothing this world can offer come even remotely close.
They say there are only two groups of Christians in this world, those who send and those who are sent.  We have only one life to live. This is not a dress rehearsal. We should not waste our life on things that will fade away.  I pray that you make plans to attend the Big Wave Rally Sunday evening at 6 PM at MD Campus and discover what God has to say about the purpose of your life. See you all at the Rally!

From Pastor Sara’s Heart 
June 1, 2014

This Monday is Memorial Day.  Wikipedia, my go-to-source for all information (after the Bible of course), says that “Memorial Day is a US federal holiday wherein the men and women who died while serving in the United States Armed Forces are remembered.”  In truth, I never really thought about this holiday, and always lumped it in with other random days off throughout the year.  And I doubt that I’m alone in these kinds of thoughts.  Does anyone even actually know what Labor Day commemorates?  Or Presidents’ Day?  In fact, why limit it to 1 day for all the presidents?  We should definitely have a separate day for Abraham Lincoln at least.  I mean, he abolished slavery and killed vampires!  Why should he get lumped in with scrubs like Franklin Pierce or Chester Arthur? (Thanks, Wikipedia!)  What an insult!
Despite being lumped in with other miscellaneous holidays, Memorial Day is absolutely different though.  There’s some real meaning behind this day.  While someone like me who doesn’t have any immediate family members in the military may not fully appreciate the weight of Memorial Day, at the least I can acknowledge that my life as I know it today would not be as it is without the ultimate sacrifice given by so many.  I will never understand and appreciate how someone who never knew me would willingly give his/her life for me.  While it may not have been a personal connection, rest assured, the sacrifice was immensely personal to him/her and his/her family.  If we don’t have the opportunity to personally thank a member of the armed forces today, church, let’s at least say a prayer for those we know and their families.  May God bring them all home safely.
The sacrifice of our soldiers reminds me so much of the sacrifice that Jesus made too.  The parallels are numerous: dying for those who didn’t/don’t/won’t appreciate you, bravely facing death when the opportunity to flee exists, sacrificing your life for the continued freedom of so many.  However, while we should undoubtedly remember what our soldiers have done for us on this Memorial Day, as Christians, every day should be spent thanking Jesus for the new life he’s given us through the cross and the resurrection.  Christ’s sacrifice is the reason we can live the lives of freedom, joy, revelation, and peace that God offers us every day.  His freely offered submission to death on a cross is the reason we are sitting here today under the grace of God.
In Galatians 2:20, Paul states, “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I now live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  Earlier, I mentioned how there is typically personal connection with the soldier who died for us.  But with Jesus, even as he was going to the cross, he knew us and loved us (John 17).  His connection with us was intimately personal.  And so, today, we thank you, Lord.  We remember what you’ve done on the cross.  And like Paul, we say let us live lives by faith in you.

From Pastor David’s Heart
May 25, 2014