Welcome! This is Pastor Art's devo and blog.

Hey! This is Art, pastor of a small but significant kingdom outpost in the shadow of Mt. Diablo! Welcome, here you will find a smattering of my personal reflections as I think on what the bible says, a recipe for you meals now and then and the occasional contribution by my awesome, creative and insightful daughter Madison.

My wife Angela grew up in Ukiah in Mendicino County. (Ukiah is is Haiku spelled backwards . . . but you didn't know that!) I grew up in Almaden (now South San Jose) the SF Bay Area and have two daughters who are incredibly creative and fun personalities, Maddie (an outstanding future journalist) and Katie (a future Disney princess and she is serious!). Angela is amazing. After years with the State serving visually impaired (blind) adults, she now works with children and babies who are visually impaired and often have many other issues. Some of these parents too, are amazing in the love they give. For many of these parents coming to terms with reality is hard and your quick prayer to the Father as you read this is significant.

I on the other hand work with people too, who like me are in all phases of health from fit to phoney to broken. I too have known brokenness both Angela and I have been divorced. We know the pain that comes from failure and its effect. We also know God's amazing power to restore and redeem. I pray for more apprehension of God's power both in my life today and yours.

I witness heartache and the miraculous as lives are transformed in followship of Jesus. That is my greatest joy by the way, that is one of my most authentic joy moments, when I get to witness the leap, the bump, the morph of transformation in a specific place in a person's life. Its an amazing journey.

We serve in the Diablo Valley, East Bay Pleasant Hill Ca. Its a spiritual hard place, granite is the image God showed me once. Leaders move out to the "harvest" in the emerging new "move in areas" where seekers are seeking. In our community the need is great, but the seeker is not dislodged nor so intentional in the search for Christ and there are a plethora of options and distractions. The church seems ill equipped as it huddles together. But it is not ill equipped, it is simply too satisfied limping.

Okay that sounds pretty negative. Forgive me! In so many ways its a great place to live and serve. It's just a place like many others that needs a breakthrough, a shaking, move of the Holy Spirit in ways and shapes we have never considered or will not risk or affirm. I just want you know and motivate you to pray for God to break through in our community with unimaginable transforming effect.

God has done a significant thing in our community with many of the pastors. There has been much before but for the last five years a group of senior pastors from across the denomination lines have chose to see the Kingdom as more than the parcel they steward. These visionary and believing leaders have for the advance of rule of Christ not just in my church but in the surrounding community choseto say, "He must increase, I must decrease." (see sayyes.info/40days) I am honored, as I am impassioned by this work.

In our church, I have a great team of people at New Life. Their servanthood makes Eph 3:20 easy to believe every day. (God is able to do much more than we ask or think through His power working in us. New Life Version). They make New Life a place that is young, authentic, relational, multi-cultural and alive. This is an exciting time to be at New Life.

The Bible is full of help for real life issues all of us face. God wants us to know and experience His very best. Knowing God's love and living in active relationship with God can bring real joy into everything you do. MY HOPE is that you will discover New life and be spurred on to experience the depths of the love of Jesus. Please share your experience at with me by e-mail at: art<AT>new-life.org

~Pastor Art