Pastor's Blog - Exciting News for Pentecost Sunday

Exciting Plans for Pentecost Sunday

May 15th, 2020 // Pastor Scott Reece

The Wilderness called Corona

Mar 31st, 2020 // Pastor Scott Reece

The Ekklesia is being called of God to move out of Egypt. These days of the coronavirus are the wilderness experience that must be navigated in order to move into Canaan. It was in the wilderness that God set His covenant in order that would forever set apart His people from the nations of the world.

The church has allowed itself to compromise and make room for the worldly and the ungodly in her midst. Out of that “church”, God is calling His Ekklesia to rise up and be set apart unto Himself. This is the “divine reset”. The one event that launched and released the nation of God’s chosen from the bondages of Egypt was Passover. The prophets have spoken…as Passover is celebrated this year, it will be more than just a Jewish or even a Messianic observation. It will be a supernatural release that precedes the divine reset.

During the Passover season, let your decree of faith rise up from the earth. Let your proclamation be heard without prejudice. Let your reach be unto the heavenlies, appropriating the supernatural provision of God over the earth. You will pass through the wilderness, your enemies will be defeated, God’s hand of grace and sovereign justice will be seen and established in authority. The scepter of the Father’s favor will be extended over you and you will set your eyes on a new land, never to be the same again.

As the Ekklesia, let’s be found faithful as Joshua and Caleb. You will hear the voices of the ten unfaithful spies over and over again. If you give them your ear, you will be filled with fear and not faith. Do not allow yourself to be stranded in the wilderness of doubt and unbelief because of the voices of the unfaithful. Do not believe the lies, do not give credence to the boasts of the wicked or the tales of giants in secret places. Do not allow your hearts to be turned to stone and quake at the sights and sounds before you. Set your gaze on Canaan, hear the sound of heaven as it roars over you. Follow those that walk steady and without an unrighteous gait in their step. Gird up your loins, you are being tested, but this test is for the sole purpose of promotion.

On the other side of this wilderness experience is the establishing of a new nation. This is a people that will never bow, will never bend and will not break. This is people who are tuned in to a sound that cannot be heard by the carnal. Many will not understand your faith, but they will be drawn to it. Many will be brought into the kingdom for such a time as this. The generations will look upon this brief season of history and will identify it as the door that opened and ushered in the greatest move of God in the history of the world.

God gave me a vision regarding the corona crisis.

Mar 27th, 2020 // Pastor Scott Reece

God gave me a vision regarding the corona crisis.

It’s 3:30 am...

I am wide awake after a fitful night of sleep. The stress and pressures of yesterday were greater than any day since the corona crisis began. 

My dreams were filled with one issue after another dealing with the fallout of what we are facing as a nation, a church and as a family. 

As I teeter-tottered between sleep and being awake, God gave me a vision. I’m not prone to visions, so this was unusual for me. 

In the vision, Michelle and I were standing with several other couples from our church, and before us was a great canyon that we could not cross in the natural. Instinctively, I knew that it was the “corona canyon”. The canyon and the land around it was harsh, ugly and barren. You could see no life for miles around. I did not dare even peek inside of the canyon. 

In His grace, the Lord was “airlifting” each couple over one at a time... but it was taking time. Suddenly, it was as if the Lord changed His mind and instead of picking us up and carrying us over, He turned and addressed the canyon itself. 

He simply took His hand and pushed the canyon together, eliminating it completely. When I became fully awake, I felt like the word of the Lord to me was that instead of all the time necessary to carry us over this great divide, He was going to do a great work and a quick work and resolve this by virtue of elimination. 

The last thing that I saw in the vision was after the canyon was eliminated, the crack where the earth came back together was very unsightly. I watched as the Lord took His finger and etched along the “fault line” and instead of an ugly scar, He created a beautiful flowing river in a picturesque valley that was lush and fertile. 

I prophesy that the work of the Lord in our nation would be a “suddenly work” that takes the ugliness of the enemy and creates a Godly beauty that cannot be denied. I prophesy that the intervening hand of God in this corona crisis will leave a memorial that generations to come will look upon and know that our covenant God rescued His people and that a nation was saved because the people of God rose up as a mighty force of intervention, and intercession, and became a people to be contended with against the threat of the enemy. 

May we be a people whose hearts are steadfast, and whose eyes are clear. Our gaze is set and our hands are steady.  This is the Church’s greatest hour... may your voice be heard in the courts of heaven!

Pastor Scott Reece

Updates regarding the life of our church

Mar 16th, 2020 // Pastor Scott Reece

 

Monday – March 16, 2020 

Dear New Hope Family, 

I wanted to take a quick moment to bring you some updates regarding the life of our church. As you know, during this “corona crisis”, we are posturing ourselves in faith, hope and love to see this thing fully eradicated in our nation. Our faith is that we stand as a people who walk in a Psalms 91 Covenant Order of Protection. I encourage you to declare and decree that Psalm over yourself and your family every single morning when you wake up and every night before you retire!

There is not one single thing that we are facing that has caught God off guard. The resolution to this already has an appointed end and we WILL get through this! Our hope is our expectancy. We are not walking in defeat or discouragement, nor are we walking in fear. We have a supernatural and divine expectancy that God is going to redeem this for His purposes, His glory and for the sake of His name. The world will see that the church did not cower in fear, but that we rose up to be a source of readiness and reliability when so many things around them are caving in. Our love is to reach out and be a tangible presence of the grace and mercy of God to our community. We are already organizing and preparing to assist our community in practical ways. We have made ourselves available to the local schools to come alongside any families who need assistance.

During the next few weeks, how we do life together as a community of faith may look a little different. For the time being, we may not see each other as often as normal, but very soon, things will return to normal. In the meantime, I make a commitment to keep you updated and informed on a regular basis. Here are a few things that I wanted to bring to your attention:

THE OFFICES ARE CLOSE THIS WEEK FOR SPRING BREAK

As we have in the past, we have closed the offices for Spring Break. If you have any needs or emergencies, the office phones are ALWAYS manned. When the offices are closed, we have an on-call operator who will take your message and pass it on. We have on-call team members and elders, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week who will get your message and make immediate arrangements to help you. You are never left alone. Particularly, for our elderly members, do not hesitate to call for assistance!

IF YOU NEED HELP OR ASSISTANCE…PLEASE ASK IMMEDIATELY…309-764-5685.

THE ENCOUNTER BIBLE STUDY

Until further notice, the Encounter will be online only. I encourage you to grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair, get your bible and study notes and let’s get into the word together. Encounter is held on Wednesday mornings at 10:30 AM and the study notes will be made available online.

COVENANT COMMUNITIES

In the spirit of wisdom, we do not want to ask our Covenant Community pastors to take unnecessary risks and expose their homes or families. Due to that, we will not be having Covenant Communities until this crisis ends, which we believe will be soon.

PLEASE BECOME FAMILIAR WITH OUR WEBSITE & FACEBOOK PAGE

We have an awesome website and have also submitted our new App to Apple for approval. Once it is posted, we will send you the link to download it on your phone. We will keep all updates and happenings on the website and Facebook and will keep you informed on a regular basis.

 MEN’S AND WOMEN’S MEETING WILL NOT MEET IN APRIL

Please take note that we will not hold these meetings.

SUNDAY SERVICES

At this time, we have not made any decisions regarding this coming weekend. Obviously, we will do what is best for our congregation. Our commitment during this crisis is that we will not overreact, but neither will be underreacted. If we do not hold live services, we will continue to broadcast our services live online. Either way, we want you to be safe and comfortable in your decision whether you stay home or come to the building. If we do have live services, please know that all precautions will be taken to ensure your safety.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT

I want to thank you in advance for continuing to financially support your church during this time! We have always been very wise and responsible with our finances and operate on a debt-free basis. However, we have a lot of financial commitments that we do not want to see upended. Even if we don’t gather in person, there are still three specific ways that you can continue to support the church: 

1.    Mail-in your tithe and offering. We will still be checking the mail on a regular basis.

2.    Online giving: our website has a “giving portal” where you can safely and securely enter your information to donate online. Simply visit our website at newhopeqc.org and click the giving option.

3.    Text to Give: this is a very safe and practical way to donate to the church. Once you enter your information, all you have to do in the future is text the amount you want to give and it takes care of the rest and will confirm the success of your giving. That number is 309-214-9302.

I stand with you in faith as we walk through this unprecedented time. You are going to hear lots of information, both pro and con and your emotions may be all over the map during this time. Let’s encourage one another, stay in touch with one another and continue to follow hard after the heart of God. Again, we WILL get through this and while we are, let’s stay close to the heart of God…He is our hope, our strength, and our refuge…an ever-present help in the time of need.

Remember…the devil is defeated, God is exalted and Jesus IS Lord!

 Love you all,

Pastor Scott

A word of encouragement. and clarity for uncertain times>

Mar 14th, 2020 // Pastor Scott Reece

Hello Church…

We live in some strange and tumultuous times…what we are seeing now across America and around the world has never before been witnessed and will be a turning point in our history and one that will be studied and talked about for generations to come.

I personally believe that we, the church have a wonderful opportunity to be a grace and a guiding strength and force to a world that is being literally rocked by the spirit of fear. Let me make it very clear…while we are certainly being cautious in all that we do, we WILL NOT be a people of fear or dread. I stand on the word of Psalm 91…that we are delivered from the snares of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence. We will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day, or of the destruction that lies waste at noonday. The Lord is our dwelling place, He is the Most High, who is our refuge and no evil will be allowed to befall us, nor any plague allowed near us.

I’m sending you this video because I want to be very clear about our position of faith and leadership during this crisis. I can share with you my personal conviction regarding the issues that are before us. With all of my heart, I believe that this will ultimately be short-lived. There are several national prophets that I respect and the word of the Lord through them is that this is already beginning to take a turn towards resolve. 

For the next few weeks, it may mean that things look a little different and how we do what we do as a congregation may look different. It doesn’t change our commitment to lead well, to love well, and to passionately pursue the heart of God. 

The “why” of who we are will not look different at all…we will continue to place a high value on being a blessing to the families of our church, to reach out to our community and most importantly to be a people and family of faith unto the Lord, who pursue Him in our worship and in our walk.

Around the country, the government is putting restrictions on the number of people who can gather at one time. May God give us the wisdom that we need both locally and nationally to see the tide completely turned on this unexpected intrusion into our lives. We didn’t anticipate this, we didn’t ask for this, but we will rise up to the moment, we will step out in faith, boldness, courage, and wisdom to do the right thing that honors God and brings Him glory through us, His people.

If we are not governmentally restricted, we will continue to hold our regular services. Having said that, we will maintain the diligence in ensuring that our campus is safe and our gatherings are protected. We have already initiated protective measures around the campus and in our children’s and youth ministries to make sure that all risks are minimalized. 

I would ask that if you are currently sick, please refrain from attending any of our public services. We want to afford you the opportunity to get better while at the same time, protecting those that will gather. 

Even if you’re not sick, but you are uncomfortable with a public gathering, please feel safe and comfortable to remain at home without any sense of judgment or condemnation.  We want each person to be at a place of confidence in doing what they feel is best for them and their family.

As we move into the next few weeks and face whatever lies before us, we will do so knowing that God is exalted, the devil is defeated and Jesus is Lord. 

For those of you that feel comfortable in attending live services in our building, we are going to establish a few healthy parameters that will keep all of us safe and confident as we continue to be a people unto the Lord and a family unto one another. 

First, we will maintain our “no touching” policy. If you want to greet somebody, please do it from a distance with a smile and a wave. I know that we are hugging and loving people, and we will one day return to those affections, but for now, let’s give each other a little space. Secondly, we will continue to offer communion on a weekly basis, but it will be served to you by people who are wearing sanitized gloves. Do not reach into the basket for or tray for the bread or the juice and do not ask the attendant to break the rules and take their gloves off. 

When we minister to the Lord in our tithes and offerings, we will do so by bringing our gift to the altar where there will be giving receptacles on the steps. If you are uncomfortable with that, you can always give in the designated giving stations around the campus. 

We will continue to have two services and are asking that if you have children, please attend the 11:00 service if possible. Obviously, we will have a ministry for your kids in both services, but it will help with the sanitizing process between the two services if there aren’t a lot of kids in the first service. 

If you aren’t planning on participating in the live congregational services, I encourage you to join us online. Right now, we are live-streaming from our Facebook platform and you can locate us at MGT New Hope.

As we walk through this time of unknowns, may I ask you to continue supporting the church with your tithes and offerings, even if you don’t attend a service. We have two different ways that you can give: one is through our “Text to Give” 309-214-9302 for the Moline campus and 309-226-5722 for the Milan Campus. The other is through our website at newhopeqc.org.  We have a lot of commitments that we have made and while we certainly have reserves, we don’t want to expend them all due to something of this nature.  Your faithfulness will allow us to be strong, to provide for our team and staff families and maintain the commitments that we have made to so many. Thank you for standing with us financially. On top of everything else that we are facing, we really don’t want to have to walk through those struggles as well.

Our school is on Spring Break next week and we will be making a decision in the course of time, as to whether or not we will extend the spring break. Obviously, it all depends on the outcome of the next several days. So far, every day has looked different. We are committed to doing what is safe, what is responsible and always what is required of us and the faith that we walk in. God is faithful, His word is true and is NOT a man that He should lie.  His Word is true, steadfast and we have trust and confidence in who He is and what He has declared over us. 

There are a lot of things that have been canceled, but let me assure you of a few things that HAVE NOT been canceled…

The power of Jesus' Name!
Loving our Neighbors
Reading the Word
God’s good promises
Laying hands on the sick
Checking on elderly friends and family
The church – however, we gather!
Christ’s resurrection
Those who need hope (and we are that hope)
The prayers of the righteous
Sharing our resources
Peace in the midst of chaos
Looking into the eyes of our children and loving them
Turning off the news for awhile
Reading a good book
Asking for help
Offering help
Solitude
Heaven
His Kingdom
Our Daily Bread
Your witness
Your life
And….You!

We’re gonna make it through this…we are gonna come out stronger, more faithful, tuned in to the Spirit of God and ready to continue changing the world! The devil does NOT win, he doesn’t have the last word and this virus WILL bow its knee to the authority and power of the Name of Jesus Christ.

We love you, we thank God for you and stand with you in all that God is doing in you and through you…rise up, be the church, be somebody’s answer to prayer and be somebody that God can count on during this time.

See you soon!

Pastor Scott

Coming Into Focus!

Sep 16th, 2019 // Pastor Scott Reece

As I grow older, I notice that things are starting to shift and require a readjustment of my focus. I’m not talking about the shifting of things around my body...that’s yet, another blog! Lol. I’m talking about values, priorities, purpose and pleasures. 

When I was younger, I didn’t give a lot of attention to the world around me. I didn’t have a deep appreciation for the world that I was living in. In fact, everything about me; the way I lived, the way I thought, the things that I pursued, and all that was important to me was all about changing the world, not appreciating it. I was living at 90 miles an hour and there wasn’t a whole lot that you could tell me. I was young, I was smart and I couldn’t wait to impress the older leaders with all I knew. I just knew that they would abandon their old crusty ways because I was bringing them enlightened understanding. Thank God for me!

As I have gotten older and hopefully matured somewhat, I realize that there’s more that I don’t know, than I do know. In fact, I go back and either read or listen to the sermons of my younger years, and I actually am astounded. I’m astounded that I was allowed to stay in the ministry!

Admittedly, I still move through life pretty fast, but I’m learning to enjoy the journey. There is so much that God wants to teach us through the day to day ordinary issues of life and through people that are just doing what they do and do it by virtue of all that God has invested into them. I have grown to realize that I have a particular anointing that nobody else possesses. But what I have also realized is that those around me have a particular anointing that I don’t have and I need to step aside and let them function in the fullness of who God has created them to be. I want to spend my life building the kingdom of God with my friends…and that happens when I surrender to the natural and supernatural shiftings of life!

The value of every Man

Jul 29th, 2019 // Pastor Scott Reece

Michelle and I had the opportunity to attend a conference in Chicago. In the four years that we have been in the Midwest, I have been to this world-class city a few times, but never to just casually walk around and take in the sights like this.

Obviously, we were impressed with the city and particularly how they have managed to create a unique blend of the old and the new. We saw young families, couples, lots of children, plenty of tourists and of course, those who were hawking their wares. 

Over the years, I have been in my share of world-class cities, both in America and abroad. I have always enjoyed visiting the city but never have had a passion to live there. A little too much concrete and not enough trees and grass for me. At the end of the day, I guess I really am a country boy at heart and mind. My soul doesn’t necessarily breath in the big city environment and context. 

As we walked around Chicago and experienced the hustle and bustle of busy city life, we walked past the multitudes of tourists, the homeless, and those who were looking about as lost as we probably did! In the middle of that moment, I heard the Lord whisper something to my heart that I think I instinctively knew but had never felt the passion as strong as He communicated it on the corner of Michigan and Monroe.

I clearly heard the Lord speak to my spirit that every single person that I was passing was created for a very unique purpose in the kingdom of God and that He had a plan for each of them. As the Lord continued to impress this on my heart, He said that He not only had a plan and purpose but that He had specifically invested in each one corresponding gift relative to those plans. 

At that moment, my perspective completely changed! I didn’t see people as lost, but I began to see them as gifts. Many times, we want to lead people to Christ in order to “save” them from hell. Obviously, that’s huge, but being redeemed isn’t only about eternal salvation, it’s about redeeming lives and gifts and destinies to be lived out on the earth. The people that you live around, work with, pass in the mall and that is a part of your world...they are gifts from the Lord and the redemptive plans and purposes of God are to bring those gifts to life. God wants to breathe His life on the embers of their spirit and soul and launch them into an exciting world of being His child. 

May God use us to bring light into the darkness, hope into despair, peace into conflict and healing into hurt.

2 Corinthians 5:21 “For He made Him who knew no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”