Gary and Gail moved to Phoenix at the beginning of the year to serve as region leader couple for the SE Region of the Phoenix Valley church, one of our four Regions. Due to their obvious spiritual maturity, Gary quickly joined the elders on what we call the Leadership Team for the church. At the same time, Steve Hiddleson, another of our Region Leaders, was also added to this leadership group. And, although the men are viewed as the ultimate decision makers, all of the wives of these men attend the majority of our meetings. The women’s perspective is just too important to our overall direction to leave out, and God has blessed us with very wise, spiritual wives.

Gary and Gail met and were converted in college at the University of North Carolina, Charlotte in the mid 1980s. After graduating in 1988, Gary went into the full-time ministry. Together they have led teen, campus, single, and married ministries in Charlotte, NC, Atlanta, GA, and Connecticut. The Sciascias were married in 1990 and have three children: Garrett (age 13), Brennan (age 10), and Nicole (age 2). They led the Groton/New London church of Christ from 2000 until the end of 2007. Their decision to leave the Northeast was difficult for them, the church in Groton/New London and other church leaders in the area. The love and respect they all shared for one another was itself a testimony to the kind of family the Sciascias are. Thankfully, their final decision was accepted gracefully by all, as the needs in Phoenix were such that everyone affected was willing to make the sacrifice. For that, we offer our appreciation to the Groton/New London church and the leaders in New England.

As we enter a new chapter of the Phoenix Valley church of Christ, we see the hand of God moving in a powerful way. Gary, Gail and family – thank you for responding to the amazing potential you and we see in the nation’s fifth largest city, projected to become the third largest. Surely God has amazing plans for us all, and we are delighted in the team he is putting together here − with our ministry staff, eldership and Board of Directors. Our unity as we all serve together is destined to lead to more impact for God than we could ask or imagine. Sciascias – thanks for joining us!

(NOTE: When Gary was appointed, he delivered a great lesson entitled “A Healthy Church,” which he put into a printed version, which follows. Read and enjoy!)

MY PHOENIX VISION – A HEALTHY CHURCH
By Gary Sciascia

It is an indescribable honor, privilege, as well as a tremendous responsibility to serve as your congregational evangelist. There is much work to be done, but I have confidence in the leaders and disciples of the Phoenix church, and ultimately God. As I contemplated the prospects of taking on a greater leadership role here, my thoughts turned to the future. What is my vision for the Phoenix church? I certainly want to be aligned with God’s vision first and foremost. And as I thought about God’s vision for the Phoenix church, I came up with three simple words: “a healthy church.” Who can argue with that?

God Wants a Healthy Church

We must begin with the notion that God is the progenitor of the healthy church concept. He desires a healthy church more than anybody – after all, it is his bride! He is concerned with our spiritual health. When I was in high school, all juniors were forced to take a health class called Decisions. It was a class designed to tackle life’s various health issues. But for me, the problem with the class was that I was bored to tears. As a 17-year old, I was young and healthy and it was hard for me to fathom being anything but healthy. Being in bad health was almost inconceivable. I was young, vigorous, and still growing.

But skip ahead 27 years (I am now 44-years old), and I look at health issues quite differently. They are very much of interest to me now. If anything comes on TV about cholesterol (mine was sky high not long ago), or joint function, I’m all ears. I will drop what I’m doing to learn how I can eat better or learn about something that reduces cholesterol.

Similarly, when we were a younger movement of churches, we were not so concerned about our long-term spiritual health because we were young and we were growing, and growing fast! Similar to a teen-ager, being unhealthy was almost unfathomable. Skip ahead a couple of decades and these issues are much more significant. Now we better understand that decisions we make today will greatly impact our overall spiritual health for many years to come.

In at least a couple of places in the New Testament, the church is compared to a physical body. This is a great analogy and it works well on many levels, but there is at least one sense that it doesn’t work. Our physical bodies will all eventually decline and finally experience death. Death is something that we expend lots of time and energy trying to avoid, but in the end it will catch up to all of us. However, this is not the case with the Body of Christ. In Luke 1:33, an angel tells Mary (at that time pregnant with Jesus) that her son’s kingdom will never end. A prophecy about the church in Daniel 2:44 says: “In the time of those kings, the God of heaven will set up a kingdom that will never be destroyed, nor will it be left to another people. It will crush all those kingdoms and bring them to an end, but it will itself endure forever.”

The church, as a part of God’s kingdom, is meant to forcefully advance. It will sustain blows and wounds along the way, but nothing and nobody will ever stop her or shut her down completely. It is pretty incredible to think that through the centuries, the church may have been injured or not in the best condition, but it has never died, and it never will! God wants a vibrant, healthy church today, not a lame, lethargic one.

What Does Health Look Like?

Before we can become the healthy church Jesus desires, we first must have some idea of what health looks like. Just because a person stops eating deep-fried ice cream doesn’t necessarily mean they’re suddenly healthy. If you want to know if a person is healthy, you need to look at a variety of health indicators. A good pulse rate gives an incomplete picture at best. What about things like blood pressure, cholesterol, body fat, diet, exercise, etc.? Then there are emotional wellness issues like, stress, depression, etc.

What is the application for us? Just because we may have ended some bad practices from the past does not necessarily mean that we are now a spiritually healthy church. In my opinion, we have also jettisoned some very healthy practices that we should have held onto. Four years ago I broke my ankle playing ice hockey. It was a nasty break. It required nine long weeks in a hard cast and crutches, many more weeks in a special boot, and several months of rehab before my ankle was restored to its former glory. The day after I broke my ankle, my orthopedic surgeon told me that I could be playing hockey again in as little as six weeks, but in actuality the rehab process took close to one year. At the end, my wife Gail said, “that’s it, no more hockey for you.” After what I had been through, I was in agreement – I was ready to hang up my skates.

But at about the time my ankle was healed, I got a report back from a blood test which revealed that my total cholesterol was 283! (That’s fairly high, in case you were wondering.) Of course, my family doctor started asking me many questions about my diet and exercise regimen. When he found out that prior to my broken ankle, hockey provided regular rigorous exercise in my life, he strongly urged that I go back to it. I jokingly asked for an official doctor’s note to show my wife! Here’s the point – hockey did in fact cause my broken ankle, but to completely eradicate hockey from my life was not wise; it was an over-reaction. There were so many good things that came along with hockey like lower blood pressure, better metabolism, better sleep, better aerobic shape, not to mention that I just really loved playing. To completely dismiss hockey from life, even though it caused some short-term pain, was not best for my health.

The spiritual application here is obvious. We cannot go through our spiritual lives afraid of things that are healthy and good for us, even if they may have caused some pain by being misused in the past. For example, in the past we had high expectations of church members. Sometimes the expectations were not the best. But does that now mean that we should toss all expectations out the window? That is hardly the picture of health.

Health Indicators

So what are some health indicators? When you go for a physical exam, there are many things a physician can check. Your doctor is not likely to be real concerned with your eyebrows. But they will want to check your major systems. I came up with a few significant things that need to be sound in order to have a healthy church. This is not an exhaustive list for sure, but it is a good starting place.

Growth and Maturation of Individual Disciples

2 Peter 1:5-9 says:
“For this very reason, make every effort to add to your faith goodness; and to goodness, knowledge; and to knowledge, self-control; and to self-control, perseverance; and to perseverance, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness, love. For if you possess these qualities in increasing measure, they will keep you from being ineffective and unproductive in your knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. But if anyone does not have them, he is nearsighted and blind, and has forgotten that he has been cleansed from his past sins.”

“In increasing measure” implies growth. We are to grow in Christ. Stagnation is not healthy.

Ephesians 4:11-13 teaches that we are all to grow up and mature in Christ, even though we never fully arrive at being just like Jesus. We need to see the cessation of the growing process as a problem. A good question to ask yourself is: “Is real spiritual growth occurring in your life right now, or is your walk with God in cruise control?” Sometimes I get so distracted and caught up in life, that I forget to ask some very simple questions like, “How am I growing now to become more like Christ? What am I working on in my character? What is my plan to change?” These are much more than nice ideas. They are questions critical to the well-being of individual disciples, and therefore the church. My vision is that disciples in the Phoenix church will be very much in touch with what we need to change, and regularly talk about it with other disciples.

Fulfilling our Purpose and our Mission

I don’t mean to split hairs over semantics, but I like to make a distinction between our purpose and our mission. I do not believe that our ultimate purpose is to seek and save the lost. (Stay with me for another moment or two before asking for my resignation!) I believe that our primary and ultimate purpose is to glorify God. We glorify God when we walk with God in prayer, study his word, say no to ungodliness, and make decisions that Jesus would make in our lives. When we grow spiritually, love other disciples, and praise and worship God we fulfill the purpose for which we were created.

But each and every disciple has also been given a mission. The Great Commission tells us that we have been co-missioned by and with Jesus Christ to share with others, baptize them, and teach them so that they too can hear the good news and be given a chance to glorify God. We are not to keep it to ourselves! Just as we all have a purpose, we also have a mission.

You may be weak in your evangelism, you may be fearful. I have been both many times. But I am determined to lead the charge evangelistically for the Phoenix church. It is one thing to be weak; it is something altogether different to refuse the Lord’s mission. And as kindly as I know how to say it, if you refuse to be a part of the mission we have been given by Jesus himself, then this is unlikely the church for you, because we are going to be very much about fulfilling his mission.

A Healthy View of Leadership

1 Peter 5:1-3 tells us that leaders should not lead by pulling rank. Whether an elder, evangelist, minister, deacon, board member, family group leader, or whatever, we cannot lead by lording it over people, nor should we be addicted to titles.

“Now we ask you, brothers, to respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you. Hold them in the highest regard in love because of their work. Live in peace with each other.” 1 Thessalonians 5:12-13

A healthy view of leadership doesn’t just come from leaders. The world we live in tends to have less respect for spiritual leaders and ministers than it once had many years ago. For a long time, our movement did not have that problem. We often treated leaders, especially full-time ministry staff, like rock stars. I do not advocate treating leaders this way for the simple fact that it is not healthy. We should not revere leaders, but we are commanded to respect them. There’s a big difference and a healthy church strikes the proper balance. Let’s not worship our leaders, but let’s not fail to respect them either! They work hard, and assume a great deal of responsibility for all of us. Ultimately, I believe they are out for our best spiritual interests.

If we continue to grow in our walk with God, if we fulfill our purpose and our mission, and if we maintain a healthy view of leaders, it will be hard not to be healthy. Thank you for appointing me to be your congregational evangelist. I’m deeply honored. Let’s all go together as we build a healthy church that will shine even brighter than the sun in Phoenix − to God’s glory!