PNA Connect 2025 - SOAR. - Part 1
The Pacific Northwest Association of the Church of God gathers annually at rotating host churches. This year we gathered in Spokane at New Horizons Community Church. These conversations are about what we heard and experienced at PNA Connect 2025 and go beyond, listening for God's divine echoes calling to us, reminding of us of who He is and who we are because of Him. The theme this year was SOAR. out of Isaiah 40.
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[Music] Hey guys, welcome to the Beyond Sunday podcast. This is the space where we get to take a conversation beyond Sunday and this one is a special edition. Yeah, it is. This is the PNA connect edition and so uh in this we're going to share about our Pacific Northwest Association of the Church of God. uh we have an annual gathering and then this year we went to Spokane met at New Horizon Community Church uh one of our churches within our association within our district and um in this conversation it's you know what is it we're hearing from God beyond Pina connect
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what is has um stirred in our souls and uh what is still God's still speaking to us. Yeah. And this gets to kind of be a series because uh we'll we'll have this conversation, but we're also going to invite some other voices that were present at Connect um both as uh part of the the um speakers as well as people who got to just come and join us from our churches. And so we're going to have a couple of these episodes where we really want to um not move past the way that God spoke and moved in that time together. Um, and so there'll be a few of these episodes
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where we get to talk about like what did God say and what's he still saying beyond that. So on this one you get to hear from us as if you don't already hear enough from us. Um, but then there'll be part part two, part three, and maybe part four. Yeah. But before we get into all of that, uh, check out this video that opened up our time together in Spokane a couple weeks ago. Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] Heat. Heat. [Music] [Applause] [Music]
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Heat. Heat. [Music] All right, welcome back. Um so our theme was Isaiah 40 this year for our gathering and this really came out of um just really clearly what God was guiding the we were asking the question way back in May before our board retreat even um there our rhythm is is to have our board retreat in May um prior to this gathering in October and even at that point it was like God what do you have for your PNA family um for the the churches that call the PNA home um and the people who call those
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churches home what do you have for us this year. And so out of that, it was like Isaiah 40 was kind of the resounding like this is the space that I want you to exist in and to hear from me in. And there's so much in that chapter. Um but that's really what we emphasized throughout the weekend. And what we what we find I guess give us a give us a brief overview. Um Isaiah 40 is a chapter that offers what? Oh yeah. Um it offers uh a reminder of who God is. Yeah. uh who God is uh to God's
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people, but also to us. Um and in in in as the time Isaiah is writing this to God's people, things are not going well, right? Um hardship, uh trial, struggle, like it it all exists in there and they're crying out to God like, "Where are you?" And Isaiah is writing this as a reminder, as a an encouraging word in many ways of like this is who God is. Yeah. and and what he uh offers us as we are called his people as we are following him. Yeah. And um and so it ends in a in a really encouraging way. I mean it's I think it starts also in an encouraging way. It literally
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says comfort comfort comfort my people. speak tenderly uh to to them and uh and so even you know as I think about Isaiah writing this to God's people that is like a a comforting word but also in the midst of that is truth of don't forget don't you might be struggling but do not forget that um this is who God he created the the heavens and the earth he he he formed all of this he he um he raises up valleys he makes mountains flow, right? This this is also the the the chapter or the passage where um it's like make straight the paths in the wilderness, right? And the the the
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the call out that even uh John the Baptist later on in his ministry is is utilizing Isaiah 40. So, um there is so much in there, but it is and I think for me in in regards to PNA connect um with this theme of soore that all all through throughout this year of what God has walked us through and the things that are going on in our in our district and association, we are such a uh geographically spread out um with 42 churches. Um 41. 41. Okay. But it's okay. You thought that was necessary, right? Yeah. I wanted it to be factual. Okay. Thanks. Thanks for clarifying. Now,
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if I mess up another number, will you be sure to help you? Okay. So, some 7,000 uh people called PNA home and churches across our association. Are you asking? I don't know that number. Anyways, yes. Spread out geographically. Yeah. But also the the the different what people when they come into the room for PNA connect and what they're coming in with. Many needing a a god to speak to them tenderly and offer comfort. Um many coming in tired and weary. uh others needing to be reminded
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that we worship and serve a God who uh raises up valleys and um flattens mountains to make a way that otherwise may seem impossible. Many coming in there um needed to to be gathered with the people in the midst of what's what we they've been navigating, others have been navigating to be encouraged. Yeah. And that was a sense of of of that with Isaiah 40 and being in the room with our our PNA family. Yeah. Yeah. So out of that um we uh because we're both on the board we were involved in the planning and the preparation of this and and even in that we both had an
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opportunity to speak um at the conference uh not not because of our roles or positions but actually we were really intentional and like hey this is the word that it feels like God wants uh to be offered to his people. And so we got to ask people that um it was like I think that you actually you have something to say here. God's given you something to say. And so for both of us, I think that's true in in what we offered. But outside of being speakers, um I I felt like the cool thing
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about this is like I got to hear from God in that space, right? So we're sitting at Connect. We knew intimately the schedule. We knew what was going to take place. We knew who was going to do what. And still we get to sit in that room and God gets to speak to us. um not necessarily through what we've planned and prepared, but through what's just existing in his presence in the room. Um and so what what's the thing or some of the things um uh for me I think the sense of just the the entirety
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of it Friday, Saturday and and into Sunday um was um I had heard from others like this feels like a family reunion like we get to come together and be in the room. Um but more than just the gathering of the family and having a feel of family reunion, um the sense I had through those three days was uh uh we're going to spend time intentionally listening for the Holy Spirit. And that did seem to be something that has carried on uh for maybe the little longer than a year of like before we
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get to uh initiatives, before we get to putting a a plan down on paper, we need to spend time listening and discerning God's spirit and and where where he's calling us, right? not not where we have our eyes focused on like here's this issue, here's this thing, here's here's this area needs attention or needs to be fixed or this needs some people to to come and be a part of that. like before we send or do anything, might we together as a PNA family spend time listening, discerning,
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praying, and hearing from God so that we can at the as as it says at the end of Isaiah 40, that we can um mount up on wings like eagles. Um that we will run and not weary, that we will walk and not faint. that um might we spend time listening and discerning collectively before we go and do those things or send people in those areas or have our attention be focused in in these things that are are not necessarily bad. They were good. Uh but is it what God has would have us put our hands to or focus on our attention? Right. And I felt like we get we got to we spent intentional time doing
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that. Yeah. Um and with an idea that there is a mission, there is a work, there is a uh God is calling us into into his into his um kingdom work. Uh and that is coming. That is what he's called us into. But for that time and space, could we come together and maybe be in the throne room together just worshiping God? Yeah. Yeah. That's good. Uh similarly, um I guess yeah, there's a lot of things that were said or spoken out and there's a lot of spaces that I felt like um you know,
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God was speaking and I I think probably we'll get to those maybe even in some of the other episodes of this. But I think the overall thing for me um kind of in the same way that you're talking about but uh three years ago when we when our district went through a transition of leadership um and I stepped into into the board chair role um Frank stepped into our executive director role um and in that space Frank and I spent a lot of time um a lot of time in prayer and and asking the question like God if you've called us into these roles what's it for? uh what do you have for your
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people for the PNA family? Um and a couple things that for me that were really heavy on my heart uh was the understanding of like we have these 40ish churches um 100 plus pastors and countless people who call the Church of God home in the Pacific Northwest. And we're all really isolated. these churches are operating um on their own without connection to the other churches that may just be down the road or you know across the state or whatever. Um and so that was one piece of it. Um my heart is for uh togetherness and collaboration and that's why we're even in the room together
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right now, right? And so I I just knew um from conversations I'd had with with pastors and and people at these churches that like there was this sense of um autonomy is this word that we use a lot in our movement. Um but there's this like this isolation and so there's part of that and there was also and and we've talked about this specific moment but um at our at our at this gathering three four years ago um four years ago I guess I sat in the room with all of these pastors and
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leaders and there was this sense of like there was a somber kind of feeling um and I remember in that space I remember looking around and thinking like there's a quietness a subduedness. Uh people are just sitting at their table kind of hushed tones. And I remember think sitting in that room at a rowdy table, the one rowdy table, right, as we're laughing and joking. And it's not even necessarily um about the laughter, but I remember thinking like, doesn't everybody in here know Jesus? Why?
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I it felt so much it felt like joy was missing in that room. And not that I don't understand that there's heaviness and and it's hard to be uh in ministry. It's hard to follow Jesus in the world, right? We know Jesus told us that was going to be true. But I just remember sitting there thinking like this doesn't look like the joy of the Lord in this place and everybody is just really like sitting by themselves or sitting with the few that they may have come with. Um and that was
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a heavy burden on my heart. And so as Frank and I stepped into leader the the leadership roles, that's something that we just like in our time of prayer and in our discerning, those were the things for me that kept coming to the surface. Like we're supposed to be a family like you have each other and what would it look like if we were a people that leaned into that. And a lot of that starts from like are we expecting the spirit to show up and work and move within us? Um and this year more than any other year uh there were a number of times where I stepped back or even
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I was on the platform and I'm looking out and the entire space felt different. Um there was joy and laughter from across the entire room and people were getting up. I was watching people like nobody was really locked into like this was my seat. People were getting up and perching on that chair over there and going over here to talk to that person and that person. Um, and I just multiple times I was standing back going like this is this is the thing that God had laid on my heart. Um, and I even was I a few different conversations, but one in particular this weekend and as we were
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talking um this person this was their first PNA connect and they were like I love the way that everyone showed up expecting the spirit to move and inviting the spirit to show up. And I I told him in that conversation, I was like, "Yes, because that all has not always been true." Um, and and there have been times, and I think this is true in our own churches, and our own lives, there have been times where we're not either we're not expecting the spirit or we're also not
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welcoming. Like, it's weird and I'm uncomfortable. Um, that's not the case. We We got to gather in that place and there was an expectancy. Yeah. Of like God's going to speak and move. We don't know exactly what he's going to say, but we expect him to and we are waiting and welcoming that. Um, and because of that and because of the leadership, and that's not just Frank and I, that's you guys on the board as well, stepping in and saying, "Yeah, this is what we feel like
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God's calling us to." And because of that, and the response of God's people to lean in and say like, "Yes, I want to be connected and I am going to expect the spirit to move." Then I get to have a conversation with uh like with somebody at my church who comes to connect for the first time and we come out of that and she tells us like I felt the Holy Spirit for the first time in 20 years. Yeah. And that reminds me of the the gal who shared on Sunday afternoon from New Horizons
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that was serving there. I think at that point was serving on the tech team and came down out of the balcony to come and and share uh what she had observed and and what had blessed her was that being in that room as we're worshiping God and she goes, "You all sound so beautiful." Yeah. Um and I don't think it's cuz we're all great singers. I think it's cuz our heart cry. We were worshiping God. Um Um Yeah. worshiping with our whole selves and whole being that then she gets to as and she's
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in a position right of serving right and watching this take place and and um being blessed by that and being in the room and around around that that as we're worshiping God. Yeah. Yeah. It it um it felt like evidence of God's faithfulness like um and and the way that we get to experience that when we're faithful because it hasn't always been this has not been an easy um stepping into something new that God's calling us into. Right? So as he says, "Yeah, I I want you to shift the
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culture in this space." That hasn't always been easy, right? Um but in this year it felt like a um like I see your faithfulness God. This this is what this is what God has called us to to walk out obedient and to and to lean lean into um where he's leading and guiding. Yeah. And we get to experience that. It's being connected. And it's so rewarding because it's um it's rewarding because the reward is like look how many people experience the presence of God. if the presence of God is the
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blessing and the reward, which it is every time. Um, look how many people got to do that and we got to do that together. And that's even one of the questions um that had been asked was like uh I think the the New Horizons team was going around, you know, videoing and like, okay, why is PNA connect important? And for me, it was like this is the place we get to hear from God together. We get to do this on our own. Um certainly individually and in our churches, but this when we come together here, we get to hear from God collectively. um that doesn't always get to exist
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and take place. And there's something powerful in hearing from God like as a people group in the in the the broader context of like the family and the kingdom to hear from God collectively. Um and the the people are expecting that now. Yes. In fact, even the ask at the at on Saturday afternoon of what are um what are you hearing from God and are are there those in the room who would who would like to share that this is for the room? And many many people stood up from from around the room and from different regions within the PNA to share here's what I've sensed here's what
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I've heard. uh this seems to be an area that God is getting my attention and I think this is for the whole room to to hear and and I thought you know the there was a a uh a great representation of all those who shared in the different spaces and places they not everyone who stood up as a pastor right not everyone who shared um is is is necessarily leading in their church in that kind of way but they're there uh together because the um what draws us together is Christ and that we're a part of this PNA my family. Yeah. Yeah. It's so good. So good. It is so good. And
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um we'll be having other conversations with um others who were maybe speaking or or tending and being there and and what God had been stirring in them coming out of DNA connect. Also at the end of this podcast will be uh the recap video uh that uh New Horizons put together and just to give you a glimpse of a piece of of what it looked like to be there, what it sounded like. Yeah. I love the PNA Connect because it's a it's a chance to reconnect and connect and hear stories of what God's been doing around our PNA family. It's good to be here.
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I love the PNA Connect because the relationships that are represented here and just the collaboration and camaraderie of the leaders in our district. I love the PNA Connect because one, it's free coffee. M way to go New Horizons. I think it's important because um it's an opportunity for us to connect with other pastors and for us to know that we're not alone in this wonderful work that we get to do. And um it's just a great time to connect with other folks. [Music] [Music] PNA Connect is important because not only is it a space for us to come to to say
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hi to people we haven't seen in a while to build connection, but it's also the place that we get to come and hear collectively from God for what he's doing already, the way the kingdom's already breaking through in our district and for what he's inviting us into going forward. I love the PNA Connect because it's an awesome opportunity to reignite our plans as ministry leaders and connect as a family to get ready for the year ahead. I love the PNA Connect because I love connecting with other people. I love the PNA connect because it's a great way to
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connect with other churches in the area as well as other churches that are farther away that we don't always get to communicate with. I love the PNA connect because it is a time to connect with fellow pastors and ministry leaders and to just pause, reflect, and be inspired to continue on the work of the ministry for the sake of the kingdom. We love Frankie Boy. Woohoo. [Music] [Music] as they go back to their respective locations and regions. Father God, I thank you Lord that they Lord God will expel darkness in that
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area because they are the carriers of your glory in the mighty name of Jesus.
