A couple weeks ago in our “Pillars of Ministry” teaching series, I indicated that discipleship is a three-legged stool comprised of the WORD OF GOD, RELATIONSHIP, and MINISTRY.

I even asked a few poignant questions to help us consider the comprehensive nature of the task:

1. Are you a self-feeder of the Word of God? Are you increasing in your knowledge and ability to read, interpret, and apply the Word of God to your everyday life? Are you a self-feeder of the Word of God or do you outsource that task to others?

2. Is the ethic of Jesus permeating your relationships? Is Christ increasingly making a difference in the quality, authenticity, and manner that you relate to others, especially those closest to you?

3. What is the new calling that sends you forth into the world? Are we growing in our recognition that ministry is not for “graduate level Christians” but that we are all called to serve and to minister in ways that exercise our spiritual gifts and passions which in turn release Christ’s life and love and joy to others?

Discipleship is costly.  Discipleship is a life-long process.  Yet notice the words “growing” and “increasing” in the above questions. We are all works in progress, and none of us have arrived!  Part of the beauty of discipleship is that God uses the community of faith to teach us, sharpen us, and encourage us in our walk of faith.  Part of the joy of discipleship is that it overflows into mission as we take the gospel to our hurting world.

Grateful to be with you on this journey of discipleship,
Pastor Jason Carter
Lead Pastor

“My calling is to be and to make disciples of Jesus Christ through preaching, teaching, and living the Word of God. No one can make disciples without being a disciple.” I adopted this motto years ago. My heart is to be a disciple of Jesus Christ which overflows to disciple others and leads our church to effectively make disciples who are transformed from the inside out.

Discipleship lies at the heart of the local church. Discipleship lies at the heart of the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). Jesus started his mission by calling ordinary people to follow him. Discipleship was Jesus’ plan to launch a movement that would change the world. As Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, “When Christ calls a man, he bids him come and die.”

My heart for discipleship largely stems from three men who all poured their life into mine. Before I had graduated from college, Bodie (my youth pastor), David (the missions pastor), and David (an elder who led a college bible study) in my home (Presbyterian) church in Wichita, Kansas all played important roles in my discipleship – sometimes at my request, but often through their intentional living. They not only talked about the faith – they lived it. And they let me peer into their lives and how they followed Jesus from close range.

I feel that I have received an embarrassment of riches from Godly men that I can never repay. I can only pay it forward.

The beauty of being and making disciples is that this life-long process is never done in isolation but in the context of relationships. If we are to be formed into the image of Christ – to become “little Christs” as C.S. Lewis once said – we need one another. We need the community that Paul called the ecclesia – the local church. How gloriously strange that God would entrust our discipleship to other believers in this quirky place we call the church!  Yet, I – for one – am glad He did!

Grateful to be with you on the journey of discipleship,

Pastor Jason

Lead Pastor

One of my heroes of the Christian faith, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, a Christian theologian who died in a Nazi concentration camp in World War II for attempting to jam a spoke in the wheel of Hitler’s regime, once observed: “Absolute seriousness is never without a dash of humor.”  Despite living through very serious times, Bonhoeffer never lost his faith in God or, apparently, his sense of humor.  Though Bonhoeffer was not especially known for his humor, I can imagine that both elements – faith and humor – were necessary to persevere under the extreme duress of Nazi Germany.

In life, I believe that we often take ourselves too seriously and God not serious enough. That is, we are often serious about the wrong things! The same goes for leadership in the church: we often take ourselves too seriously and God not serious enough.  We often make church more complicated than it needs to be. That’s why I’ve been preaching through the “Pillars of Ministry” to remind us of the beautiful simplicity of being a church family: Gospel, Prayer, Servant Leadership, Discipleship, Community, Mission, and God’s Word.

In the end, being the church is fairly straightforward and simple.  Sure, TWC has a finance team, a personnel committee, and a team to fold the bulletins. Yet, let us not forget that every time we step into “the church” (building), we are called to connect with God and/or connect with people – for the health of our church and for the joy of all of our lives.

It’s such a privilege to be your pastor.

Grateful to be with you on this journey of discipleship,
Pastor Jason

P.S. And, hopefully, we all find a dash of humor in following Jesus together from time to time!

“In the beginning, God…” No greater beginning can be conceived than the book of Genesis which gives the whole of creation and all of humanity a radical orientation around a majestic God-centered vision of life.  The Bible clearly lays out its programmatic emphasis in its first four words (actually only two in the Hebrew). The sublime beginning of Genesis reminds us what we are often prone to forget: that God, rather than humanity, lies at the center of the cosmos.  Our propensity to make our own lives the center of our story is fool’s gold, a cheap counterfeit which cheapens the impact of the Genesis message which symbolically re-orientates our lives with God at the center of our lives rather than at the periphery.

The beginning of Genesis births not only the cosmos but also an invaluable teaching message for all time: all of life is about God. What a beautiful beginning, full of symbolic meaning for those who have eyes to see and ears to hear!

I believe in symbolic meanings, especially at the beginning of my pastoral ministry.  Unbeknownst to many, my first Sunday at Trinity Wellsprings Church was actually last Sunday!  I wanted to communicate to you, at least symbolically, that my pastoral ministry began with me doing two things.  First, I wanted to begin my ministry among you sitting under the Word of God.  At Trinity Wellsprings Church, the Word of God is primary, not the preacher!  We stake our lives of discipleship and our vision of the church upon the life-transforming Word of God. I sat in the 8:00 am service mindful that my ministry among you can only have a lasting impact insofar as I am faithful in sitting under the Word of God and its authority.

Second, I was delighted at 9:00 am and 10:30 am to meet a vital and essential part of our church family: our students and children. Make no mistake about it, our children and youth form the backbone of our church family! I am excited to get to know all of our adult members but I am equally enthusiastic about communicating a simple message to our children and youth: “I feel privileged to be your pastor as well!”

Brothers and sisters, I am excited to be here and lean into all that God has in store for us as a church family!

Be encouraged,
Pastor Jason

To the disciples of Jesus at Trinity Wellsprings Church:

Grace and peace to you in the name of Jesus Christ!

If I had to compress my calling at Trinity Wellsprings Church into a memorable phrase, it might be to Preach, Pray, and Be with People.  I recognize, of course, that my pastoral calling is multi-faceted.  Leading teams (esp. session and staff), casting vision, planning worship, celebrating the sacraments, showing hospitality, teaching the faith, discipling believers, living missionally in our community, and…yes…all…the…meetings! 

Many of these tasks are indispensable to the life of our church. Our covenant partners have a natural and healthy desire to see their church run well administratively. I concur.  Our covenant partners expect a high degree of relational integrity and authenticity from their pastors. I agree.

I hope to consistently model a character that embodies those “old time” pastoral traits like empathetic listening, encouraging others, and compassionate sensitivity. Pastoral leadership is more than the sum of one’s tasks but resides in the character of one’s calling.

Yet my desire, primarily, is to Preach, Pray, and Be with People. I remember some of the pastors in my Covenant Group adopting this axiom simply because it spoke to the “center” of our calling as pastors.

Preach: I want to immerse myself in biblical texts because I believe these truths transform us from self-centered sinners to God-glorifying saints.

Pray: I want to enroll in the School of Prayer and be found praying for our church and with our covenant partners. In short, I want to be a pastor who prays with and for you.

Be with People: I want to know your story – your joys, your hurts, your doubts, and your journey. This is who I am. And these are the ideals that I strive to live and breathe and embody as your pastor.

Grateful to be with you in this journey of discipleship,
Pastor Jason Carter