My Final Sermon at Village Community Church

MY FINAL MESSAGE AS PASTOR OF VILLAGE COMMUNITY CHURCH

“I thank my God every time I remember you. In all my prayers for all of you, I always pray with joy, because of your partnership in the gospel from the first day until now, being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.” - Philippians 1:3–6 (NIV)

Do you remember what you were doing on Wednesday, August 9th, 2006? Probably not. But I do.

The reason why I remember Wednesday night, August 9th, 2006, is mostly because Thursday night, August 10th, 2006—the very next night—was one of the most significant nights of my life. That was the night I was ordained into Christian ministry.

I had spent years preparing for ordination. I had taken classes to fulfill educational requirements, completed multiple years of ministry in the local church to fulfill service requirements, and I sat through several consecutive years of being interviewed by a ministerial credentials board of ordained ministers. That credentials board was tasked with the sacred responsibility of affirming that I indeed did have the calling, gifts, and graces for ordained ministry. I completed all of those things, and the credentials board affirmed my call. They recommended me for ordination. On Thursday, August 10th, 2006, at College Church of the Nazarene in Olathe, I was ordained by a General Superintendent of the Church of the Nazarene, Dr. Paul Cunningham.

Now the ordination service, an actual church service, was a part of the annual district assembly of leaders from Nazarene churches in the Kansas City area. This cluster of churches is simply called the “Kansas City District.” So, this was the Kansas City District Assembly. It’s basically a week-long event. It happens every year, and the ordination service almost always happens on the Thursday night of the assembly. That’s when it happened in 2006.

However, another thing happened the night before I was ordained that year, on Wednesday night. On this night, another church service took place. Back then, the Wednesday night service was called the “Catch the Vision” service. At this gathering, our district superintendent—the head minister who has oversight of the whole district—gives their annual report of things that are happening with churches across the district. I was there that Wednesday night, and I remember it vividly because our district superintendent at the time, Dr. Jeren Rowell, was giving his report, and Dr. Rowell is a great speaker.

I remember sitting in the audience and listening to Dr. Rowell talk about exciting things that were happening on the district. One of the things I remember him mentioning was a brand new church that was going to be planted in the Village West area of Kansas City. According to the published journal of the proceedings of the Kansas City District Assembly that year, this is exactly what Dr. Rowell said about it that Wednesday night in 2006:

“Among the areas being targeted for a new church is Village West, the rapidly developing area of western Wyandotte County that is home to the Kansas Speedway, the Legends, and an explosion of homes and business in the area. Pastor Clark Armstrong and the Victory Hills Church and Pastor Edwin Weaver and the Bonner Springs Church are partnering together to sponsor a new church in the Village West area. I am very pleased to share with you tonight that we are working to finalize a contract with Pastor Dave and Cheryl Hazel to be the church planters in this new work. The Hazels formerly served as youth pastors on our district at Central Church. Right now we are in the process of finalizing the details and getting started in the birthing of this new congregation. Please welcome Dave Hazel and his family to this bold faith venture.”

Now, I remembered hearing this announcement that night, but it was only about a year or so ago that it dawned on me that the announcement was made just one night before I was ordained as a Christian minister!

Some people might think that was entirely coincidental. But I would like to think that the Holy Spirit was active in that. Is it possible that the reason I was ordained the very same year Village Community Church was conceived was because God, in God’s providence, knew that eleven years later I would pastor that church?

Whatever the case, that announcement is the very first written record we have about our church. Conversations were obviously happening before that between our district leadership, our mother churches, and our founding pastor, but that announcement is essentially where VCC’s history begins. We were planted by people who had a vision and a heart to be a part of a “bold faith venture” in the Village West area of Kansas City.

One year later at the same event, the Kansas City District Assembly of the year 2007, Dr. Rowell shared these words:

“We celebrate the birthing and early growth of new churches this year … We also want to welcome Pastor Dave Hazel and the Village Community Church. Their official launch date is September 9, but already they are gathering an average of 72 in worship each Sunday. God also blessed them with a beautiful facility at 115th and Leavenworth Road in the northwest corner of the Village West area. I want to honor the official sponsor congregations of this new church, Pastor Clark Armstrong and the Victory Hills Church and also our Bonner Springs Church. Let’s congratulate these new disciple-making ministries!”

Some of you were there that day for our official launch on September 9th, 2007. It was exactly sixteen years ago yesterday. That was the day of Village Community Church’s opening service in the building at 115th and Leavenworth Road.

Pastor Dave Hazel would serve as our Lead Pastor for the next nine years. A lot happened during those years. We relocated from the building at 115th and Leavenworth to what is known today as the Patricia Diane Kane Community Center at 3130 North 122nd Street in Piper. We relocated from there to Basehor-Linwood High School. During this era, we also purchased land at 131st and Parallel Parkway to build a permanent home.

In the summer of 2016, Pastor Dave was called to a new ministry assignment in California. His final Sunday as our pastor was on September 11th, 2016, exactly seven years ago tomorrow. Many of you were here that day as well.

Almost five months after that, on January 26th, 2017, while I was pastoring a church in Kentucky, I received an email from Dr. Rowell, the same person who announced the new church in Village West several years earlier. His email contained these words:

“Ryan, I met last evening with the board at Village Community Church. You may know that this was the congregation planted by Dave Hazel about ten years ago. He moved to El Cajon, CA so we are searching for a new pastor. I shared your resume with the board and they are very interested to learn more about you. They are wondering if you might be open to a Skype conversation on February 4th, perhaps early evening…. Thanks for your consideration. Let me know what you think.… Peace of the Lord, Jeren.”

If you were here for our service a few weeks ago you heard me share a little bit of this story. After receiving Dr. Rowell’s email, I took a few days, got a bit more information about the church, talked it over with the people closest to me, and a few days later I notified Dr. Rowell that I would be open to a conversation. So he set up that Skype conversation between me, him, and the church board of Village Community. The initial Skype conversation was followed by an invitation for me and my family to fly out from Kentucky to Kansas City to meet face-to-face with the board. We accepted the invitation. That seemed to go well, and the next step after that was that the VCC Church Board voted unanimously to present my name to the VCC church membership for a vote to become VCC’s next pastor. I agreed to come on a Sunday, meet the whole congregation, preach, and to allow my name to be presented for a vote. The vote took place on Sunday, April 2nd, 2017. It was a strong vote of affirmation. We took all those things as signs that the Holy Spirit was actively leading both the church and us in the whole process. I accepted the results of the vote, announced the news to our church in Kentucky, submitted my resignation to our church there, and two months later, on May 21st, 2017, I was installed by Dr. Rowell as the second Lead Pastor in the history of Village Community Church.

That was nearly six-and-a-half years ago. In these past six-and-a-half years we’ve continued to worship at Basehor-Linwood High School. We’ve completely paid off the land we purchased at 131st and Parallel Parkway. We’ve continued to raise funds to build a building. We’ve weathered a global pandemic. We’ve loved God. We’ve connected with others. We’ve served the world. And we’ve continued helping people take their next steps toward Christ.

As this leg of VCC’s history comes to an end, I want you to know how grateful I am for you. As I’ve already said to you in this season of transition: I love you. I love our church. It has been an incredible joy to be your pastor and your friend.

Thank you for sharing your life with us these past six years. Thank you for opening your hearts to us. Thank you for listening to my sermons, trusting me when we’ve needed to make changes, allowing me to administer the sacraments to you, letting me receive you into church membership, and letting me lead you in worship. Thank you for the privilege of dedicating your babies, for the happiness of being a part of your weddings and vow renewal ceremonies, for the blessings I’ve received from visiting you in the hospital, for the honor of officiating funeral services for your loved ones, and for the invitations to your anniversary celebrations and birthday parties. I’ll never take for granted how you’ve invited me into these special moments in your life.

As I look back on these years, I’ll be echoing the words of today’s Scripture passage: I will thank my God every time I remember you. I will continue to pray for you, and in all my prayers, I’ll pray with joy because of your partnership in the gospel from May 21st, 2017 until September 10th, 2023, being confident of this: that he who began a good work on September 9th, 2007, in Village West will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.