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 It has all been a bit overwhelming. In the past few months I have done quite a bit of traveling, job interviews, family visits, Thanksgiving... etc, add to the list the effort required to clean a home and place it on the market for sale and you have a busy few months.  It is now the first week of December (wait, it is the second!) and I get to take a breath. As I look up from my desk winter is beginning to settle in and Christmas will soon be upon us. Isabella will rip through her gifts and we will soak in the joy of the season. Very quickly it will be January and Lindsey and I will be fighting the crowds at the gym we belong to. 

The cycle or rhythm of our lives seem to go on without anyone truly noticing. We do the same thing every year. We will complain that Christmas went by too fast and that we can't believe how quickly 2009 came and left. Not to mention mortality this time of year, but we don't get too many trips around the Sun. I don't believe that God gave you this life just so that you can absorb time. I believe God wants what is best for you and that requires you to dream about what he says in John 10:10 - "The thief comes to only steal, kill and destroy. I have come that they may have life, and have it to the full."

God came so that we may have life - and a full one at that. So, what does that mean? I believe living a full life, means leaving nothing on the table. Discovering what your God given dreams are and then chasing them. 

Can we afford to go through the motions and just get by as each year passes?

What were your dreams when you were a kid? Do you even still remember what it was you desired when you were young and could do anything? Why aren't you doing them now?

I suppose this posting is about taking a breath. Step back and before this year is over look honestly at what you have accomplished. Then take a moment and dream with God. Ask him to give you "the desires of your heart." God will give you what he desires for you and wants you to wake up and breathe again. 

May you have a great Christmas and a better 2010. 

Blessings, 

Tom

 To my family at The Center,

This letter is one of the most difficult I have ever had to write. I have approached it from multiple angles and points of view, but I will just write from the heart. I will be transitioning away from Lead Pastor of The Center to a new opportunity that awaits us in Duluth Minnesota. This has not come as an easy decision, and frankly this has been a process of continuing prayer and conversations with God.  Through discussions with the Executive Board, and the Leaders of The Center we have begun the transition process. Specific details for this season of transition are attached.

It was God’s calling to lead Lindsey and I to plant The Center in January of 2005. It had been an incredible season of ministry with our college kids from Louisville First Brethren Church, and we decided that The Center was the type of church that God had called us to start. Since that time we have basically made it up as we went along, and prayed for the day that a structure would be in place that would actually decentralize leadership away from one solo pastor. 

This past summer we sat down and began the difficult work on the development of a vision and core values. The vision and the values demanded a change in how The Center operates and as we moved along two things happened. First, I began to see the dream of decentralization take shape which demanded my role as the Solo pastor to change immensely. This conversation about a restructure began before God’s calling of our family to Minnesota. Second, at the same time God was calling me to “Be Open” to what was out there and this was how I was called to be the Pastor of the church in Duluth. I had heard from God at my retreat in May at Lake Erie that I was to “Be Open” to the changes that were coming, both for me and The Center. I ask you to do the same with this whole process. 

With that in mind I will not be transitioning completely away from The Center. You are my family and how do you leave that? I will become the Coach for The Center and its main leaders during this transition and for as long as you will have me fill this position for you. This role will allow me to help the leaders succeed from a distance and I am very excited about the new role. Coaching is the process of helping someone else succeed and I am currently in the process of being certified as a coach by a national organization called CoachNet. This will not only provide leadership during the transition, but also afford the new leaders of The Center a sounding board and guide for this process they are about to go through. 

The next steps that God has for Lindsey and I are also beginning to come into focus. God has called us to serve Eastridge Community Church in Duluth Minnesota. It is here where I will serve a church that desires to see the type of changes that The Center has already accomplished. They have sought me as a Pastor to help guide them in the process of becoming a missional church that seeks to be a force for good in their community. It is with fear and excitement that I accepted the position and will do everything that I can to make sure the transition is seamless both here and there. 

So I suppose the question is “What Now?” This decision did not come out of the blue and I have been working with the Church Board as well as the key leaders of The Center to make sure that both sides are blessed during this process. 

We have done a lot of work to make sure that not only does The Center transition well, but that it thrives with its new vision and core values. Sure, it will be different and we have much to learn during this season. Please continue to support the leaders and pray for them consistently. Lindsey, Isabella and I will be around until Late February helping with everything personally. We then will continue to be involved as friends and as a coach to the Center itself. In a world of facebook, skype and webchats we will never be that far away. 

God has a plan for all of us and he promises not to leave or forsake us. I’m certain that this season was not only for me, and that God has a plan for you as well.  God has been working within Lindsey and I and He has been doing the same for you as well, I have seen it already happening. God’s timing is His and His alone, and He has been at work at this transition for some time. 

Let me end this letter this way. I love you. I have had an amazing privilege serving you as a pastor. Thank you for believing in this ministry and for continuing along with us through our ups and downs.  We have learned so much together and I believe that the future is even brighter for The Center.  I am very excited about what the future holds for this ministry and will do everything that I can so assure its success.  I will miss all of you as you have become a part of me and I hope in some way that I have become a part of you. 

Many Blessings, 

_________________________

Tom Asbury

I really enjoy Thanksgiving. The food, the traditions, but most importantly they have yet to figure out a way to sell something to me. We celebrate thanksgiving by sitting around a table, eating too much, watching the Lions lose and laughing at one another. 

This holiday was almost ruined for me at one point in my life. For those of you who don't know. I used to work retail. I had these jobs at RadioShack and Best Buy during Seminary and for the beginning of the Church Plant here. These jobs were generally ok most of the year, but the month of awfulness would start the day after thanksgiving.

Those who work in the retail industry need to be at their stores at 2 am on Friday morning in order to set up a pile of cheap things for you to purchase. If they must get there at 2 am, that means they generally need to get up at 1 or midnight. Which puts them in bed by 5 - 6 pm on Thanksgiving if they want to be able to function the next day. Most of their shifts will be at least 12 hours. One good friend of mine has a 17 hour shift on Black Friday. Why? So we all can get a cheap laptop that will break in 3 months. I know I am bitter about this, but for all of those who work retail, the consumer side of Christmas now absorbs Thanksgiving. 

So why do I talk about this. Perhaps it is to start a revolution. Or maybe it is just taking a stand. If you must go out the day after Thanksgiving, don't go early. Dont applaud them for being open so soon. I know the sales are good but at what cost. The price that all of those kids at Best Buy pay is to miss or leave early from Thanksgiving Dinner. The stores will continue to push the time up. I am certain one of them probably opens at midnight by now. and at what cost? It is at the cost of someone's family.  

So, is there a spiritual element or is this just Tom's rant on a monday :) - There is to me. The Christian church needs to stand for something. We need to stand for what Paul says in 1 Thessalonians 5 - "Hold on to what is Good"- I believe that Thanksgiving and more importantly that family is very good. Hold on to it. Hold on to your family and your loved ones. Stay away from things that drive a wedge into that, which in my opinion is the Day After Thanksgiving. When we shop that day, we give the retailers more reasons to take people away from their families on Thanksgiving. As you sit around the table and enjoy your food may you remember those who are preparing for bed. And especially during the holiday season, but all the year may you be kind and thoughtful to those who work retail or are in any service industry. May we as Christians become known as what we ought to be - A light in this world. 

So please, Hold on to what is good. 

May you have a blessed Thanksgiving. and leave some turkey for me. 

Many Blessings, 

Tom

 We have been talking a lot about worship this month (as it is our theme / Big Idea). I had an interesting experience yesterday as God broke into my day and reminded me of his blessings.  God sometimes reminds us that He is important and his gifts to us (like family) are all of the blessings we need. God allowed me to worship him as I listened to this song. 

So I had a hectic day yesterday as I was traveling from meeting to meeting and on the way to the last one I was proud of the day's accomplishments. Sometimes we can worship busyness and urgency. Then God let me hear a song that reoriented my priorities. God has a way of reminding you of what is important. And SHOCKINGLY it wasn't my meetings. It was my family. This song made me cry. 

BackStory - The writer of this song lost his little girl last year in a tragic accident. You can google it if you want. Here is one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard. 

Many Blessings, 

Tom

 It has been a little bit since I last wrote. A lot of things going on, personally and churchily (Oh yeah, just made that word up). That being said I am preparing for the upcoming month in November where our focus will turn to the theme of worship. 

I remember when I was not a follower of Christ and the thought of worship was so foreign to me. My thought process basically led me to believe that Sunday morning (or whenever you meet to worship) was a social gathering where you listened to some dude talk to you and listened to music. You would then put money into a bowl and you would go home and watch the Bengals game. Whenever we would happen to be in a church, weddings and funerals, I never really got the concept. I would thumb through the Bible and land in Revelation because it had dragons in it. So, now as pastor, whose job is to orchestrate and deliver a worship experience every week, how do we go about making this element of our following of Christ seem less foreign and odd?

The way I feel that you pull this off is to first admit that we are all broken people who happen to gather together on a Sunday morning and worship the God who has saved us. When we first admit that we are not the "experts" we can begin to chip away at the unapproachable feel that we often get when we attend a Church for the first time. Another way to make this more approachable is the overall connection the pastor has with the congregation. If I approach a "Lectern" and deliver a 30 minute high level lecture, what good does that do for your monday. The conversation I lead on Sunday's needs to be just as applicable to Monday as it is to the moment of the worship service. My job is to make scripture real to your life, make it dare I say "approachable." 

This may be an odd statement, but it is my belief that this is why Jesus came to Earth the way that he did. God was so elevated and exalted that we dare not approach (or even see his face, say his name... etc). Jesus came and was born a servant and made it so that we can approach him and learn at his feet. Why then would our worship of this God who came to Earth (Emmanuel - God with us) be any different?

Just my thoughts, what are yours?

Blessings, 

Tom