6 Years Your Pastor

So flee youthful passions and pursue righteousness, faith, love and peace along with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. - 2 Tim 2:22


This coming Friday (10/1) will be the 6 year anniversary of which the primary teaching role for West Hills Community church in San Jose was conferred to me through the laying on of hands. Before my public commissioning, I thought God was calling me in a different direction.  But He conveyed definitively to me through the authority of my church elders that MY plans were not God’s plans for my life. And so I read the verse above, took a deep breath, and committed to do this with all of you, with all my heart.

The congregation looked very different back then. The church was about 5 years old. Many of our college students/graduates were still in middle school and high school. We were a budding ministry trying to figure out how to make the transition from being a growing church plant to an established congregation (and what we were going to do with the amassing army of young children). Baptisms were in the Oliver’s pool, and the church office was in the bedroom of my small apartment.

Much has changed over these past 6 years. A lot of people we have loved and formed close relationships with have moved away. A lot of people have stayed and have continued serving faithfully to an amazing effect. Many new people have come and knit themselves into our church family. We have grieved the loss of loved ones. We have rejoiced at the baptisms of others. And at the end of every year we continue to hear testimonies of the ways God has demonstrated His faithfulness in the lives of our church family.

As I look back at the past 6 years, I can say with a full and joyous heart that I believe we have pursued righteousness, faith, love and peace together with a pure heart. Not perfectly. Not without the need for confession, repentance, and reconciliation. But that is—in FACT—what we have pursued together. We pursued faith and righteousness through a major leadership transition. We pursued love and peace through a global pandemic. We have called on the Lord from a pure heart as we transitioned our meetings to a different part of town; and I believe we will continue to do this as we stand on the precipice of moving again. And the reason this has happened is because at the center of our church’s story is the Lord Jesus Christ. His gospel and his example have never ceased to be central to the life and ministry of our church family. His presence and His power has never ceased to be the strength in which you have ministered, and His effect is obvious through the lives He has changed.

When I was very young in the faith, John Piper told me “Don’t waste your life.” Which is another way of saying, flee youthful passions and pursue holiness with those who call on the Lord from a pure heart. When I look back on the past 6 years I see a whole family worth of experiences and growth that I would not trade for a billion earthly dollars. Shepherding at West Hills and living in pursuit of God’s will with all of you has been the honor of a life-time. I am so grateful for each of you (long-termers and new) and for your continued desire to seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of the Father.

I can’t wait to see what the Lord does next as we continue living for the King!

For Him who sits on the throne and for the Lamb,
Joshua