Passing the Baton | Brad Leach

Well what's up Allison Park Church family, how are you today? Thank you for being at church, for really what is gonna be an historic moment in the life of this church. We're gonna party today, we're gonna celebrate today, because God has been with us these past four months and he's opening the door to something beautiful as we step into the future. And really we're gonna witness a generational handoff together today. I love the Summer Olympics and my favorite event in the Summer Olympics, every time it rolls around every four years, is the 4x100 meter relay race. I love the 4x100, I love the intrigue, the speed, the athleticism, and most of all I love that moment that the baton is exchanged. I love the handoff that takes place and the precision that is required in that moment. The relay race is so fascinating to me because it's the one sport that is built entirely around transition. And that transition, that handoff, is so critical. If you get the handoff right, if you nail the handoff, something special can happen in the race. If you botch the handoff, if the baton gets dropped, then it's very, very difficult to come back and to win the race. And the most successful race, the greatest relay race, 4x100 relay race in history, it happened at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London when the Jamaican relay team beat the world record and they set it at 36.84. We got some Jamaicans in the house today. Some 36.84 seconds it still stands today was their time in the London Olympics in 2012, a team that was anchored by Usain Bolt, the legendary Usain Bolt. And it's interesting because they actually got off to a slow start. Nesta Carter started the race for the Jamaicans and after the first leg, the U.S. team had a lead in the race. But after three perfect handoffs, when Usain Bolt took the baton for the final leg of the race, he was just about neck and neck with the U.S. runner at that point. Now, I mean, you know, in 2012, nobody was beating Usain Bolt in a dead heat. And so he crossed that finish line, 36.84 seconds. And he did something really interesting. Many of you watched it on TV. He talked the official into giving him the baton. It was a yellow baton and he took it and the first thing he did was he kissed it. And then he called his other teammates together and he passed it around the circle and he asked each of his other teammates to sign the baton. Because what Bolt recognized was that the trophy did not belong to him. He wasn't the only one who ran that race. There were three others who together ran that race with him to get the baton across the finish line. And we're here today because in the kingdom of God, the church of Jesus Christ not only carries a baton, we carry the greatest message, the best news that has ever been proclaimed that Jesus died and now he is

risen and he's coming back again. We carry that message and it has been passed down for 2,000 years from generation to generation. It started with names like Peter, names like John and Paul and Lydia and Priscilla being etched on the baton. But it has been handed off now from century to century to century, generation to generation, which is why the church of Jesus Christ is the most resilient, enduring movement in the history of the world. When Jesus gave the Great Commission to his disciples, he understood this isn't going to happen in one generation. But he knew that if we could get the handoffs right, that we could cross the finish line before he returns. And that's what today is about. And I want to tell you the story of an ancient handoff that took place in the Old Testament in Joshua chapter 1. This was when God's people were on the brink of entering the promised land. 40 years before this, God had led them miraculously out of generational slavery in Egypt under the leadership of Moses. And when we come to Joshua chapter 1, they are at an epic moment of transition. And here's what it says. We'll start reading in verse 1. After the death of Moses, the Lord's servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua, son of Nun, Moses' assistant. He said, Moses, my servant, is dead. Therefore, the time has come for you to lead these people, the Israelites, across the Jordan River into the land I am giving them. When Moses died, it triggered a cascading chain of change that began to take place, monumental change. First of all, a leadership change from the leadership of Moses to the leadership of Joshua. You talk about a legendary leader. For 40 years Moses was the only pastor that God's people knew. For 40 years he led God's people in a miraculous way. He's the one who showed up and said to Pharaoh, let God's people go. He's the one who lifted up his staff over the waters of the Red Sea as God split the waters right down the middle. He's the one who came down the mountain with the tablets of stone in his hands, the 10 commandments etched out by the finger of God himself. That was Moses. Moses, whom of which scripture says was the most humble man to ever walk the face of the earth. Now he's the one who wrote that down, so it makes me wonder a little bit if the whole thing gets canceled out. But the Bible does say that he talked with God face to face, like a friend. I mean, that's a tough pastor to replace. And when Moses died, God's people not only now are going to adjust to a new leadership and a new assignment and a new season, but they're having to grieve the loss of a leader who was larger than life in their lives. And that's what we've been doing the last four months. We've been grieving. We have been saying goodbye to a leader, to a pastor who was humble, who was so down to earth, yet also larger than life. A pastor

who for so many of you here in the room and watching online, he baptized you in water and he dedicated your children to the Lord, maybe officiated your wedding. A pastor who preached for us and prayed over us and cared for our soul. And it's an incredible change that we walk through. Here in this story, it was also a location change from the wilderness to the promised land. And if you've ever moved to a new community, you know that even when it's a good change to adjust to a new school, to adjust to a new job, to adjust to a new neighborhood, it can be really challenging. It was third, a change in assignment from let's get out of Egypt to let's get into the promised land. And so the assignment that was on Joshua's life to lead God's people, it was unique. It was different than the assignment on Moses' life. It was going to introduce new responsibilities for the people to carry and new obstacles for them to confront. And then we know it was also a lifestyle change from being a nomadic, wandering people to a people that were really going to begin to build and fight in a new land. And so now they're getting agricultural jobs and they're going to, instead of just looking up to God to send bread down from heaven, they're going to be growing their own food and really building their own homes. And it was going to be a very, very different lifestyle. I'm sure that there were many days when they felt like in this season, like everything in our lives is changing. It was the end of an era and it was the start of something new. So we continue reading in verse three. Here's what God said next. I promise you what I promised Moses. Wherever you set foot, you will be on land I have given you, from the Negev wilderness in the south to the Lebanon mountains in the north, from the Euphrates River in the east to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, including all the land of the Hittites. So now God outlines for them the geographic boundaries of the promised land. This was a promise that was first given to Moses. God told Moses 40 years before this, I'm going to use you to lead my people out of Egypt we're going to take them to the promised land. And here is the outline of that promised land. And when you think about Moses and his life and his experience, you know, Moses passed away in a place called Pisgah, which was the mountain, the name of the mountain peak of Mount Nebo. And when Moses died from the peak of that mountain, he was able to see, I mean, he had a fantastic elevated view. He was able to get this panoramic view of all of the promised land. He was able to see the Lebanon mountains and all of these landmarks that outlined the promised land. But what's fascinating about Moses' life and experience is that while he was able to see it, he never touched it. He never personally stepped foot in it. For Moses, he saw it, but he didn't touch it.

And this was Pastor Jeff's conviction that success is not what you accomplish. It's what you set into motion for others. Success is not what you personally achieve. It's what you leave behind for others to achieve. Success is not what you can take credit for yourself. It's not for what you put your own name on. It's living and leading in a way that allows those who come after you to walk through new open doors, to fight new battles, to occupy new territory because of the way you ran your leg. of the race. And I love this quote, I wanna share it with you from Dr. Alan Tennyson, and if you're a grandparent in the room, if you are a parent with children, if you are a leader, if you have any influence in your life, if you are a young adult thinking how do I wanna chart the course of my race and my life, here's what you need to understand. Your lifetime is not God's finish line. Like Moses, God gave Pastor Jeff a view and a vision that would extend beyond his lifetime. Why? Because the church wasn't created for one single generation. The church of Jesus was created to transcend generations. Moses did not run for the trophy, he ran for the people. And the mark of his greatness wasn't that he reached the promised land, it was that he handed off a baton in good enough shape for Joshua to continue the race. And that's what Pastor Jeff did. Come on, how many of you are grateful that he ran his leg of the race obediently, he ran it with integrity, he ran it generously, he ran it for others, he ran it for you, he ran it with faith.

He didn't finish the race, he completed his leg, and now it's up to you and to me to receive the baton and to take our own steps of faith into the future. I wanna ask Pastor Sean, he's gonna come out here and help me for a minute, here's why. Because Pastor Sean, I learned this weekend, he in eighth grade ran track. And that's why he looks the way he does, fit, strong, because he put in the work in middle school. He was a prodigy, he left it all on the altar to follow God's call on his life and in ministry. A lot of people don't know that, but he did it. And so Pastor Sean's gonna, he's gonna help us demonstrate this, but I learned researching the four by 100 meter relay race, that the exchange that takes place, it's a blind exchange. In other words, the handoff from one runner who's incoming to the outgoing runner, they never actually make eye contact with each other as the handoff is taking place. And so the runner who's about to receive the baton, to Pastor Sean here, look at that form. Tested in middle school. He is looking forward and he's got his arm reaching behind him, his palm is open, his palm is up, and the runner who is coming in behind him is gonna simply yell the word stick. And when the outgoing runner hears that word stick, he has to trust that the baton is gonna be there. And as soon as he feels it, wrap his fingers around it

and he takes it and he runs it across the finish line. Come on, give it up for him. Beautiful. Beautifully done. And here's why I mentioned that, because it can feel scary receiving the baton and stepping into a future when you feel a little blind. When the future feels uncertain. When you're not exactly sure what's coming and it feels like a blind handoff that's taking place. But I wanna tell you today, even if the future feels uncertain, we're gonna step into it with faith and we're gonna step into it with hope. And I'll tell you why, because we have the most fantastic promise. You wanna hear the promise? I'm gonna do even better than that. You're not only gonna hear it, I'm gonna have you say it. I'm gonna have you declare it with me. We're gonna put it on the screen. It's verse five, it's the next verse here in our text. But I want you to read this out loud with me. I want you to read it like you believe it. I want you to read it like this is your promise. Like Jesus himself is speaking this promise over us today. Here it is, verse five. Let's read it out loud together. No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live.

For I will be with you as I was with Moses. I will not fail you or abandon you. Muhammad, you're grateful for a God who is the same yesterday, today, and forever. And I'm here to tell you today, he's not going anywhere. He's not going anywhere. And let me just remind us as a church family that the same God who gave birth to this church six decades ago and raised up leaders like Pastor Ron Bailey and Pastor Jeff Leak and Pastor Josh Leak, he's not going anywhere. And change may be a constant in life. And yes, you can count on just about everything in your life changing at some point. But do you know what else you can count on? You can count on the fact that God is the one being who will never change. You can count on him to build his church. You can count on the fact that the gates of hell will never prevail against it. You can count on him to keep anointing the leaders of this church. You can count on him to keep showing up every single weekend. and to breathe on his word. You can count on him to keep speaking prophetic words that are gonna open doors into the future for this church. You can count on him to keep healing the sick, to keep connecting the lonely into the family, to keep saving the sinner.

You can count on God to keep on being God and doing the things that only God can do. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. So here's my big idea this weekend. Get this down. The baton changes hands, but the God who empowers each runner and marks out the race is the same yesterday, today, and forever. I wanna jump ahead just a few chapters in the story because while we don't know what's coming next for us as a church exactly and the specifics of it, we do know what happened next for Pastor Josh here in Joshua chapter one. So I wanna take you to Exodus chapter three because the Israelites had a challenge in front of them. Once they got into the promised land, they were gonna face enemy armies and nations that would come against them, but even to get in, they had to figure out how are we gonna get across this mighty river, the Jordan River, that was actually flooding at this time of the year. And so they had to get the ark of God,

they had to get the people of God across this river safely. And here's what it says in Exodus three verse seven. The Lord told Joshua, today I will begin to make you a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites. They will know that I am with you just as I was with Moses. So as they stood there in front of this body of water, the Jordan River, it was a little deja vu because 40 years before this, when God anointed Moses to lead the people out of Egypt, they also came up against the body of water. They had the Egyptian army coming in at them from behind, and then they couldn't move forward because they had this ocean of water, the Red Sea, in front of them. They were desperate, they needed a miracle, and God gave them a miracle that would go down in history, in their memory banks. The waters of the Red Sea split right down the middle, they crossed through on dry ground. And for the next 40 years, those little kids grew up on Red Sea stories. Hey guys, don't forget what God did for us at the Red Sea. A lot of these people who stood at the Jordan River now with Pastor Josh, they were little kids. God carried their, or their parents carried them across the Red Sea on dry ground as babies and little children holding their hands, walking across the sea, and now they stood here at another defining moment in their history, wondering what's about to happen,

and I wonder if God is still with us, and can we trust him as we move forward. And now came this new defining moment, everybody's eyes on Joshua, God performed another miracle and split the water of the Jordan River, and here's the postscript when they get to the other side in chapter four, here's what it says took place, verse 14, that day, the Lord made Joshua a great leader in the eyes of all the Israelites, and for the rest of his life, they revered him as much as they had revered Moses. The parting of the Jordan River, don't miss this, it was more than a miracle, it was a sign, and it was the most powerful illustrated sermon from God to say to his people, I know a lot is changing, leadership and location and lifestyle and all of it, but my presence and my power is never gonna change, I'm still a mighty God, I can still make the wet ground dry, I can still get you where I need you to be, and I can still overcome every obstacle that's in front of you. And APC family, I don't know when it's gonna happen, I don't know how it's gonna happen, I don't know exactly what it's gonna look like when it does happen, there's gonna be a moment when there's gonna be desperation as a church up against something that God wants you to break through, and at that moment, as you seek him, and as Pastor Josh seeks him and follows his voice, you are going to see the waters of the Jordan River part,

and you're gonna see God's hand on Pastor Josh and on his leadership, and you're gonna see with your own eyes that God's just getting started with this church, not because of Pastor Jeff or because of Pastor Josh, but because the same God who gets you through the Red Sea, he'll get you through the Jordan River. In fact, I just wanna take you one more chapter into this story, into chapter five, because when they got to the other side of the river, now all of these kings, the Ammonite kings and the Canaanite kings who were in the promised land. They heard about this miracle, they're starting to recognize we got a problem here. And so they start to prepare their armies, they begin to mount up for battle, and Joshua was trying to figure out what am I gonna do? And he's praying and he's seeking God, and he gets the most amazing visitor who shows up in the camp. And here it is in chapter five, verse 13. When Joshua was near the town of Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with sword in hand. Joshua went up to him and demanded, are you friend or foe? You with us, are you against us? Neither one, he replied, I'm the commander of the Lord's army. He said, I'm here to take over.

At this, Joshua fell with his face to the ground in reverence, I'm at your command, Joshua said. What do you want your servant to do? The commander of the Lord's army replied, take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy. This was, scholars tell us what's called a Christophany, but it's simply an appearance of Jesus himself in the Old Testament. This is Jesus who walked into the camp. This is Jesus, the one who would hang on the cross, who would shed his blood, who would rise from the dead, who would make a promise that I'm gonna build my church and the gates of hell aren't gonna be able to stand against it. This is Jesus who walked into the camp and said to Joshua, I'm with you, and I've got this. And that's why today, listen, this is holy ground in this room. And you felt it, I know you did, when you walked in and we began to worship that God's presence is here and this is a sacred moment and this is a holy moment because of Jesus, because Jesus is here, because Jesus, who has always been and will always be the senior pastor of the church, Big C Church, the bride of his bridegroom, who never changes, the head of his body. Jesus is the constant in our lives. He's the constant through every change. If you're here today and you have been anxious

because you've been walking through transition in your own life, maybe you're freaking out because you've lost a relationship that you counted on or you lost a job or a financial nest egg that you counted on, you need to know that Jesus is here, he's in you, he's with you, he's not going anywhere. And just as, and as a church that exists to worship Jesus and lift up Jesus and represent Jesus and proclaim Jesus, he's reminding us today that we'll never have to do it without Jesus, he's the one responsible to give this church vision and wisdom and resources. And so today, let's take our cues from Hebrews chapter 12, verse one, that says, since the grandstands of heaven are filled with heroes of the faith, people like Moses, people like Pastor Jeff Leak, it's our turn now to take the baton that's being handed to us and to run the race that's been marked out for us, how? By fixing our eyes on Jesus, the author and the finisher of our faith, who filled with joy hung from the cross because he knew what he was setting into motion, the church of Jesus Christ that will never be silenced, that is continuing to expand, that is growing all over the world, on every continent of the world, Jesus right here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, as we lift him up, is gonna move this church forward into the future, our everlasting king.

And our eyes today are on him. He's the good shepherd, he's the chief shepherd. We're following him into the future. And so how do we respond? I wanna go back into chapter one and I just wanna close with two more verses. I wanna speak first just to Pastor Josh and then to all of us as a church family as we close the message. But first of all, here in chapter one, I wanna go back to verse six and I wanna just speak this verse over you, Pastor Josh, today. And I just continue to pray that this verse, this word would lodge in your soul, that it would become an anchor in the days and the weeks and the months and the years to come, the decades to come, which by the way, is one of the benefits of receiving a senior pastor who's young is that, look at all of the time that you're gonna have to grow together, to run together throughout the lifetime of this leader. And I pray that God will use this word to encourage you, to strengthen you in the moments when you feel intimidated, in the moments when the enemy's voice is coming in, that this word is gonna hold you up. And here it is, verse number six. Be strong and courageous, for you're the one. You're the one.

Be strong and courageous. We all believe this today. The overseers, the board, the staff, this beautiful church family, we believe that you're the one God has appointed to lead the earth. these people to possess all the land, I swore to their ancestors I would give them. Every prophetic word that has yet to be fulfilled, every prophetic word that has yet to be spoken and will be fulfilled through your leadership and ministry in the future, you're the one that God has called and appointed in this season, you're the one that God's hand is on, you're the one that God has assigned to lead this church into the future, and so be filled with strength, be filled with courage, because we are with you and we're behind you. Thank you. You're the best. One more little random fact about relay races. I just, I gotta give it all to you today because I don't know if I'll ever preach with a baton again. I've been geeking out on all of this stuff, learning this, but in a relay race if a handoff is gonna be successful, while the runner who's coming in is decelerating,

the runner who's going out has to be accelerating. If you're standing still when they try to hand off the baton, more often than not the baton gets dropped, you lose all of the momentum in the race. The outgoing runner has to actually be speeding up and running and accelerating when they receive the baton. And we know that's been the case for you, Pastor Josh, that God has been preparing you for this. You haven't been standing still for years. You have been leading with integrity and skill in this church, and we have seen God lift you up and raise you up within this church more and more responsibility each year that has passed, and your leadership has been proven, it's tested. You are already running, and now it is gonna be full speed ahead as God continues to accelerate you into the future. And here's the challenge then that comes to all of us as a church family, and I wanna call us to respond today as a congregation, and here's what I pray that God'll put on your heart. It's the response of the people in verses 16 and 17, and here's what it says. They answered, Joshua, we will do whatever you command us, and we will go wherever you send us. We will obey you just as we obeyed Moses, and may the Lord your God be with you as he was with Moses.

Come on, you're ready to get behind your new lead pastor. Thank you. Thank you. Check out this video. As we are preparing to look forward towards the future, we need to not just look back and thank God for all the things that he's done amongst us. We can also look to our history. We're going to remember what God has done so that we can expect what God wants to do next, right? Jesus has always been in charge and he's still in charge now. He doesn't change. He's eternal, he's unchanging, and he has a deep love for his people and for this church. It's a church that believes in the presence of God and believes that Jesus is alive and he's still moving today. And that when we corporately go after God with passion, incredible things happen. Jesus built this church. He did it through Pastor Jeff, my dad. He did it through other staff. He did it through members and leaders. We need to look within us and see the people that are coming up in this house right now, the young men, young women, young in Christ, or young in age that we can give permission to take the next step. My dad would say, there is greater things ahead.

There is greater things ahead. Lord, give us more disciples who are absolutely on fire for you. There's more, we don't want to rest in it. There's more, come on. Let's go after God together because the best days are yet to come in Jesus' name. There's greater things ahead. There's greater things ahead and we wanna believe, God, you are in charge. Jesus, you are the head of your church and if you spoke it, you'll bring it to pass. And now's the time, grab the baton. Let's run into the future because the best days are yet ahead. So we are not elected. being a new head of the church. We're electing an assistant. Jesus is still the head, he's still the leader. We're just electing an assistant. ABC has a new lead pastor. Being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus. I believe you have the potential. Even if you fail, even if you make a mistake, even if it doesn't go perfect, I know you can do this. I believe in you, I'm proud of you.

I think you should take this step, you're gonna do a great job. I'd like to invite Josh and Allison to the platform. Here we are. Josh, your dad ran his race, the race that God had marked out for him. And truly, we can say that he fulfilled his purpose in God's generation, or in his own, God's purposes in his own generation. And we're so proud of you. I know you're gonna do a great job. I know you're gonna do a great job. I know you're gonna do a great job. I know you're gonna do a great job. I know you're gonna do a great job. God's purposes in his own generation. And I know that he heard. Well done, my good and faithful servant. I'm so convinced of that. And today, as I prepare to hand you this baton that represents everything that your dad built, I symbolically hand this to you. Everything that God and the Holy Spirit built together over 35 years. I'm so confident that you're gonna do a great job. This is for you. This is your season. And so I give this to you with joy. I'm gonna give it to you right now. Let's do this well.

After all of this baton pass talk. But I just wanna say, I know you're ready. From the moment you were born, and each of my children were born, dad and I prayed for you. And we just declared that you would fulfill God's call on your life, whatever that would be. And we prayed for each spouse. And Allison, you're amazing. I'm so grateful for each spouse that God brought to our children. And you're ready. You're ready for this. And so it's with great joy that I hand that to you. But I just wanna now say to you, Josh, run your own race, right? Like was coded earlier, there's a race marked out for you. And it's not your dad's race. It's your own race. And we're gonna throw off everything that so easily entangles. Throw off people's opinions, throw off any comparison, throw off sin that easily entangles. And run the race marked out for you. So I just wanna pray for you. Would you stretch your hands forward this morning? Lord, I thank you for Josh. And I just add my own affirmation that this is your will and your purpose.

And I thank you, Lord, that you have created Josh in Christ Jesus to do good works that you already prepared in advance. You already laid all of this out. And so now I just pray as he steps into that, Lord, he will feel your grace. He will feel your strength. He will feel your protection. Lord, I thank you for his life. And I thank you for Allison's life. And I just pray grace. In fact, I pray 1 Timothy 1 that I've already begun to pray over you, Josh, for a greater release of God's love, of his peace, and of well-being. Shalom, shalom, his peace, the peace that passes understanding. And I thank you, Holy Spirit, that you never leave us or forsake us, that you empower us to do everything that you've called us to do. And so I just now pray that over Josh and Allison, Lord, that they would walk in your wisdom, in your discernment. And I ask now, Lord, that the mantle that rested on Jeff of leadership and of wisdom and discernment, I pray now that that mantle would fall on Joshua, Lord, and he would walk with that the rest of his days. And I pray this with total confidence in Jesus. Amen, amen. Amen, amen.

Amen, amen. APC family, can we just continue to just lift up in prayer this family in particular, Josh and Allison and their three kids, Ben and Clara and Annie. Will you just continue to intercede with them? You can extend your hand again to just pray for this family. Jesus, I thank you. God, for Josh and Allison. God, I thank you for the way that you chose them to be together. That God, to be husband and wife. I pray for their marriage. I pray that you continue to protect them, to be a shield around them, a favor and protection on every side. God, I pray that they would continue to fall more in love with you and with each other, God, with every year that is to come. I pray for Ben, God, for Clara and for Annie, God, that you would be a protection around them, surround them. God, again, with your favor is with the shield, protect them physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually in this new season. And for Allison in particular, God, I pray that God, she would just lift her head to heaven and be radiant, God, with just a new infusion of your anointing and your power and her favor in her life. I just pray specifically, God,

just from Proverbs 31, 25, and 26, bold power and glorious majesty are wrapped around her as she laughs with joy over the latter days. Her teachings are filled with wisdom and kindness as loving instruction pours from her lips. And so, God, I just pray that you would just wrap around her grace. I pray that you would wrap around her joy, God, that she could shake off anything that is holding her back or that would hinder that, and that you would, God, just continue to unwrap things in her, God, as new gifts and as new things that you want to just present to her to be able to do in her, but God, to do through her as she pours it into others. And we just ask this in Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. Amen. I want to share on behalf of our entire staff, I've had the chance to do ministry with both of you since you were teenagers. And 16 years ago, Josh, you and I went

on a missions trip together with a group of high schoolers, and we came back from that trip, that was in the season of time that I think you wanted to be a rock star. You were pursuing music and worship, and I came back from that trip and I told your dad, I said, Josh has more than just music and worship on his life. And he was proud in that moment, but he had so much curiosity. He said, well, what do you mean by that? And I went on to explain what I saw in you. I saw there was a communication gift that you were able to use. I saw that there was leadership in you, and I also saw a pastor's heart. For the last 12 years that we've been serving together on staff, I have had a front row seat to seeing you develop each one of those gifts. And on behalf of our entire staff, I want to say that we are behind you. We are ready to submit to your leadership. We are ready to follow your leading, and we are fully committed to you. I want to give you a gift from our entire staff, and I think the most appropriate gift to give you is this mug that says world's best boss. So that seems like the right gift. But, Josh, I want you to know we are committed to you.

We are submitted, and we are fully ready to back you in every leadership decision that you make, and we're ready to follow you. We love you. ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ I want to just thank some people who have been so instrumental over the last four months in helping us as a church family to navigate this transition. I want to thank all of our overseers here at the church. Pastor Ron Johnson is here with us this weekend. Pastor Ron Heitman, who's gonna lead us in a commissioning prayer in just a moment. Pastor Nisi Dennis as well, who had a scheduled conflict this weekend and couldn't be here, but all of you are spirit-filled leaders, full of wisdom, full of discernment, and so thank you for walking through this season so steady. And I want to thank all of the staff here at the church who have led with such consistency and stability and passion and skill. I want to thank all of our board members at the church, the transition team who led with discernment through the selection and the interview process. And I want to thank, really from the bottom of my heart, I want to shout out Pastor Joe Schaefer and Rachel. Thank you.

Thank you. If you were here at the members meeting a couple weeks ago, we were able to share a lot of numbers and just reports. And not only over the last four months This church stayed together and stayed strong, but APC has actually grown. Giving records have been set, attendance records have been set during four months of transition. That's unheard of, and that's a testament to the steady leadership that you have provided, Pastor Joe, and the entire staff. Man, setting the bar for intern pastors everywhere that they will never be able to reach. And so we honor you today. And Pastor Josh, I wanna charge you. Pastors are people of faith and vision. Pastors say to a church, this is God's call on your life. This is God's word to you. And pastors stretch us to believe there's more of God to experience and to follow. And as you preach, God inspires faith in us to step out and obey him and become the people he's called us to be. Pastors are equippers. They recognize the spiritual gifts in people's lives. And pastors teach and train and motivate us to be fully devoted followers of Jesus. Pastors are shepherds. And we actually have a shepherd staff

that belonged to your dad that we wanna give to you today for you to have. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. And as you see that shepherd staff, to remember that God has called you to pray over his sheep, to shepherd his sheep, to care for their souls. And Jesus told Peter in John 21, feed my lambs, feed my sheep. And right after he told them, he told him that, he said, follow me. And that really is the job description of a pastor. You are following Jesus so that as we follow you, you can lead us to follow Jesus. And so I charge you to preach the word of God. I charge you to adorn the doctrine of our Savior by living a holy life. I charge you to reprove, rebuke and exhort with all long suffering and doctrine, to preach the word of God with the love of God in your heart, with the desire to meet the needs of this church family from the youngest preschooler all the way up to the oldest senior citizen.

And I charge you to proclaim the gospel of Jesus with the needs of those who are far from God always before you. Pastor Josh, do you accept this charge? We're behind you, man. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. God has been so faithful to this church, hasn't he? Amen. It's in moments like this. I was actually sitting in the front row last service when I realized that today is exactly four months since my dad passed. So this past four months has been whirlwind for us as a church family and for my family as well.

But it's especially moments like these, even in the moments where it's hard seeing my dad up on the screen and also seeing a million different haircuts that I changed every year, apparently. That was wild, seeing that. But it's moments like these where I get to see the faithfulness of God and the people that he's used to build up this church and to build me up. And so as I look around at the legacy of what God has done here, first of all, I just see my parents. Mom and dad, you guys are one of a kind. I know, I wish he would be standing here, but I'm so grateful for you. And I realized how good I had it with you and dad. So I wanna say thank you for that. And the overseers, you guys have all been incredible friends, mentors to my dad. Thank you for caring for him, for loving him, for investing in this church. We're so grateful for you guys. And then I just also gotta give a shout out for Pastor Joe because for over 20 years, he has been not only serving on staff, but investing in my life. And I know looking around the room, there's countless people my age and younger, or maybe even older, who you have directly been invested in by Pastor Joe

as he served on staff of this church for 20 years. So can we one more time just give it up for Pastor Joe? We love you. Thank you for how long you've invested in this church. And so you can see some of the legacy of Allison Park Church even here now in this moment. And this is how I learned what life is about, following Jesus. This is where I got my ministry call. And so I just wanna say, I am unbelievably excited to serve this church. I'm so pumped for the future. We are gonna see more souls transformed by the power of Jesus Christ. We're gonna see the city of Pittsburgh. transformed. We're gonna see more disciples who make disciples, especially in the next generation. We're gonna plant more churches, come on. We're gonna build the kingdom of Jesus Christ together. So my prayer is let's learn to seek God with everything we have, to trust His voice and His leadership. In Jesus name, everybody said, Amen. I feel God is about to do something huge. How many feel something on the inside? I believe there's a spirit of heaviness that's going to be replaced with a blanket of outpouring of all God's Spirit on us. And I don't want to pray this one by myself. I want you to stand to your feet. Come on, stretch your hands out to this beautiful couple. Let's pray God's blessing as we know that we are only affirming what God has determined for years in heaven in His sovereignty. Come on. God, we thank you right now and we declare your power to the next generation. Come on, say it with me. We declare your power to the next generation. One more time. We declare your power to the next generation, O God. And we pray, Lord, your blessing. We pray your outpouring. We pray, God, for wisdom

beyond their years, knowledge beyond their experience, your Spirit beyond their capacity, God, to do and accomplish all that you will put in their hearts and minds. God, there's a city to reach. There's a nation to be transformed. There's a world to turn upside down for God and right side up again. God, we pray that you would do what no other power can do as you anoint and bless and commission them to fulfill your great purpose for them and for this great church. We thank you, God, for you will do greater things in Jesus' name. In Jesus' name. Come on, let's shout to God today. Come on, let's give God praise. Hallelujah to God. Hallelujah to God. Praise the Lord. You are worthy of it all. You are worthy of it all. For from you are all things. And to you are all things. You deserve the glory. Come on, church. Let's sing it together. Lift your voice and sing. You are worthy of it all. You are worthy of it all. For from you are all things. And to you are all things. You deserve the glory. Yes, you do. Day and night, night and day, let worship arise. Day and night, night and day, let worship arise. Come on, sing it. Day and night, night and day. Day and night. Come on, every voice in the house, let's sing it. Day and night, night and day, let worship arise. Day and night, night and day. Oh, God, right here.

Day and night, night and day, let worship arise. Hear your people. Oh, night and day. Day and night, day and night. Day and night, night and day, let worship arise. Oh, right here in your house, God. Night and day, let worship. From my heart to your heart. Day and night, night and day, let worship arise. Oh, we say day and night, night and day. You're worthy. You're worthy. You're worthy. ♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ You're worthy. You're worthy. You're worthy. ♪ You are worthy of it all ♪ You're worthy. ♪ Blessing and honor, glory and power ♪ ♪ For from you are, we believe in God to you ♪ ♪ You deserve, you deserve it all ♪ ♪ One more time, Jesus you are worthy ♪ ♪ You are worthy of it all, oh God ♪ ♪ You are worthy of it all, yes you are ♪ ♪ For from you are all things, and to you ♪ ♪ From you, for from you, and to you too ♪ One more time, say, for from you are all things, oh yeah, and to you, you deserve the glory, yes you do. Let's give it up for our King, eternal,

and for our Savior, Jesus Christ. The Senior Pastor of Allison Park Church, come on. Come on, let's clap for our King. It's so awesome to be here on this day. Flew in from Africa just to dance and celebrate. Come up here, Pastor Joshua, Pastor Allison. I'm here to represent Africa as a missionary of this house, and I got two bouquets. One is actually from our General Superintendent of AG Africa. He called yesterday. You can see they are African-wrapped at Trader Joe's. And so he instructed me what to write on a card. Fortunately, your name is not spelled right. I did my best. I was drunk in high school after all, you know. But here's the bouquet from Barnabas, and here's a bouquet from me and Maria. And I just wanna say, because I've been praying for you around the clock for four months now, I wanna say you can't beat Goliath in someone else's armor, Josh. Be you, just be you. And you're going to take the head of Goliath, and from time to time, this uncle will come in and have breakfast with you with Goliath's head on the table, huh? I believe in you, and I believe in Jesus in you, and I stand with you. And I'm so glad you got this amazing woman at your side. So to the congregation, you got your baton.

At least you will get it at the end of the service here. But I wanna say that I was reading Luke's gospel, chapter one, as I was praying for you. There's an amazing story there when Mary has just conceived through the Holy Spirit, and angel Gabriel tells her to run from Nazareth in Galilee all the way to the Judean hill country and meet with Elizabeth, another generation, right? An older woman who has also conceived. She's carrying John the Baptist. And here, when she comes into the house, and the baby in the womb of Elizabeth hears the greeting of his boss, right? The mother of his boss. The baby inside John kicks, and Elizabeth is filled with the joy of the Holy Spirit. How many of you that are of the elderly generation can feel that kick in your womb today? You maybe don't know it, but just touch your belly. You're all pregnant. Pregnant with youth revivals. Pregnant with mighty outpourings. And when destinies connect, age makes no difference. And I wanna say this. Don't listen to those that don't have the kick in the Spirit, Josh. Listen to those that are connected to the future destiny. And there is, this church has it all together, according to Malachi 4, 6, that the parents' hearts are turned to the children,

vice versa, and you're going into a great future. And there's a kick in my spirit. I came to, can everyone kick a little bit here? Come on, let's kick. You're pregnant with something amazing. So, I want to introduce to you your brand new lead pastors. Come on, Joshua and Allison. Give it up! Come on! . Come on, what an amazing day, and the party's just gonna continue as you leave today. The team is at the doors. We've got a baton that we want to give to everybody today, so you're gonna get one as you go, and I pray that when you hold it, when you see it, you'll remember to pray for your pastors, and you'll remember to just make yourself available to the Lord and ask Him, what's the part you have for me to play in this next leg of the race? And we've got some dessert out in the concourse, and so stick around, connect with each other, get something sweet to eat, and have a wonderful week. Thanks for being here to celebrate today.