What’s In a Name?
This week I announced to our church family and friends that my wife, Aimee, and I are moving to Austin, Texas to plant a new life-giving church. It will be a walk of adventure and faith, full of miracles, mistakes and memorable moments where we will witness first-hand the protection, provision and promotion that only comes from God.
One of the moments I will always remember is the process of naming the church and how agonizing it was. In general, naming something is a challenging process whether it’s naming a child, an event or an organization. Finding the right name for what you want to say, creating an identity and giving off an ethos are all part of starting something new. Most people experience a moment when the name finds them, when they realize “this is it.” For me, that happened several weeks ago during a daily Bible reading time. The reading for that day was John 17; the prayer of Jesus for his disciples.
Jesus Prays for All Believers
20“My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, 21that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: 23I in them and you in me. May they be brought to complete unity to let the world know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me.
My wife had already proposed the name ONEchapel but I just wasn’t sure until I read these words of Jesus and it struck me that this is not John’s prayer or Peter’s prayer or even the prayer of the Apostle Paul who wrote two-thirds of the New Testament. This is the prayer of the Son of God just before he leaves his disciples. This is what is on his mind and heart that comes out in a prayer to his Heavenly Father during His last days on earth.
HE PRAYS FOR US…
Not only is Jesus mindful of his disciples and what they are going to go through over the ensuing years of their lives, Jesus is fully aware of the struggles and challenges for all of us who believe in him. Jesus is praying for you and me. He was praying for the next twenty-one plus centuries of believers—for all who will believe through the message He is leaving for his disciples. He does what he continues to do today; He is making intercession for you and me at the right hand of God the Father (Heb. 8:1).
THAT WE WOULD BE ONE…
But, what is his prayer for us? What is first on his list of things to pray for you and me? He asked the Father to make us ONE just as He and the Father are one. Jesus didn’t pray for strength. He didn’t pray for provision, deliverance or peace. He prayed for all believers to be one in the unifying message of the Father’s love and redemption. Jesus puts a priority on connectedness, unity and harmony, echoing his earlier statement in John 13:35 that the world will know we are his disciples by our love for one another. The Apostle Paul encourages the Philippians to be one in spirit and purpose (Phil. 2:2) which reminds us of David’s Psalm 133, “How good and pleasant it is when brothers live together in unity! …For there the Lord bestows his blessing, even life forevermore.” Regardless of our background, experience or church upbringing, becoming one with a community of believers is significant for Jesus, not only for spiritual blessing and power but also because the world will recognize us as His people and come to believe in Him.
MAY THEY BE IN US…
Jesus wanted the kind of interconnectedness among us as believers that He himself has with his Father. He asked for a unifying spirit to be in us, pulling us together, enveloping us in a kind of oneness that will be impenetrable to the enemy of our souls and the world around us. He then expounds on this idea by praying that He and the Father would be in us and that we would be in them. This is an identity making prayer and thus, we are defined by our oneness with Jesus and His Father. They are “in” us and we are “in” them. This prayer suggests that God is fully integrated into our lives and, like Jesus, we can become the full expression of God’s love for we are being transformed into the image of Christ by His overwhelming grace and love-filled process (2 Cor. 3:18).
SO THAT THE WORLD MAY BELIEVE…
The prayer that Jesus prays over us has a result, a reason and a resolution; it is for the world to believe. Our purpose is not ourselves. Unity is not an end in and of itself but something that results from our common purpose. As we share access to our lives with each other and with our Heavenly Father, the result is that the world sees a community of people to which they either want to belong or despise (they won’t all love us). The point is that God is illustrated for them in our love and care for each other. We cannot fight among ourselves as believers and expect the world to be attracted to our message. 1 John 4:12 says, “No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.” This means that the only way others see God is through our love for each other!
ONEchapel – Father, make us one so that the world will see you, come to know you, and believe in Jesus!
December 10th, 2009 at 9:24 am
Dear Pastor Ross and Aimee,
It has been on my heart to write you both and to thankyou profusely on behalf of our family for your faithfulness to the body through these seasons of testing, affliction, persecution, betrayal,
and lessons on endurance. Aimee I remember when we were all in the tent, and you were upfront leading worship….just weeks before the scandal hit in the women’s meetings. I can only imagine what you both have been through, not to mention the relocation of so many friends….so many losses….and yet in the end it is obvious you both have gained Christ in a deeper sense.
Pastor Ross, Wow….the older brother, bearing so much responsibility to keep things steady for the sake of the rest of us. I am certain that as a burden is lifted, that you will enter times of refreshing…I pray that the next several months, the body of Christ will lavish on both of you the honor and gratitude you both deserve.
I love the name of the Chapel….Jesus was one with the Father, and the Holy Spirit. Out of this communion with the trinity, we will be one with each other. His richest blessings…kathy walton
(on behalf of family)
December 26th, 2009 at 5:10 pm
Ross and family. I agree with Kathy…Wow! I was looking at NLC’s times, as I have not attended the church for a few years. God is good. Praying for a new start, with new friends, and a new and refreshed faith. Ross, you have always been a strongly grounded individual…and now with a very abundant family, praying that God continues your growth, leadership, and mostly your faith. We all understand this concept (the ones who are spirit-filled) of faith; however, we are human; Praise God for forgiveness!
Ross, you and Aimee will flourish no matter where you are; the Lord has blessed you and continues to pour his love and grace upon you. God be with you Always.
Will miss your outstanding musical leadership, Ross! W/Care, Marcia, a years-past Choir member
January 6th, 2010 at 1:58 pm
Dear Ross & family
Welcome to Austin, Texas. Sam Noerr informed me today that you were coming. Sam is the creative director at Integrity Music. Sam and I go way back. I live in Cedar Park with my wife Carolyn.
Phone: (512)249-7658. I’d like to help in any way I can. Somehow I don’t think this is coincidence.
In His Service
Joe Collins
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:15 pm
Hello Ross and family,
We would also like to welcome you to Austin. My husband and I pastor a church in Round Rock(north Austin area)which we planted five years ago. We are excited that the Lord is moving you into this area. God is truly up to something BIG! We keep hearing of people that are feeling led to move to Austin to base their ministries here. We look forward to meeting you in the future.
Blessings,
Richard & Sylvia Neusch