I continue to be amazed and deeply grateful for your continued love, support, encouragement and prayers for me and my family. Thank you seems so inadequate, but - thank you.
Good news! I got my blood checked yesterday and for the third straight month, my PSA did not go up, it's still 0.4! Thank you Jesus!
As most of you know, my doctors (both here and at UCSF) said that when my PSA rose to 0.3, it was the biological indicator of the "reoccurrence" of cancer. Subsequent bone and CT scans, however, showed no metastases (spreading cancer) so the doctors said that the cancer was back, but "hiding somewhere" in my blood. So, the plan is to "wait" until my PSA rises to 1.0 (if it ever does, and we're praying that it doesn't!), and at that point, I'll go back on hormone therapy. Fun! So dear ones, I'll get monthly blood tests, watch the PSA., and I'll let you know. Join us in prayer that it will stay down.
I have even better news! Jesus rose from the dead! I had the best Easter of my life! Why? Why not! I'm alive! I have an intimate, loving relationship with Jesus. I have an amazing wife and great kids. I have two supportive brothers and a sister (one has moved here, one is moving here, and I'm working on the third!) I have many wonderful friends, many of whom actually read these updates and pray for me! I pastor the best church in the world, in one of the most beautiful places in the world. Thoughts of cancer occasionally cross my mind, but gratitude for my life in Christ continually fills my heart! Because He lives, I live, and I refuse to lose the quality of my life for fear of the brevity of my life. The Psalmist said in Psalm 90:12, 14 (NLT), "Teach us to realize the brevity of life, so that we may grow in wisdom. 14 Satisfy us each morning with your unfailing love, so we may sing for joy to the end of our lives." All of our days are "numbered," so let's be wise and live life to the full, and sing for joy to the end of our lives!
Another reason that this Easter was the best for me was because God did some truly amazing things in answer to concerted prayer, hard work, and courageous obedience to His call for us to take the gospel outside the walls of our church building! On Saturday, the day before Easter, we went down to the Pismo Pier and had an outreach service on the pier. We had an awesome praise band, a couple great testimonies (including one of our young, "on fire for Jesus" New Life surfers) and I brought a brief message (yes, I can do it!) about a message too good not to share! Basically . Jesus is alive, and wants to change your life! I began with an apology. I said, "I'm sorry that I've been waiting for 15 years, trying to get you to come and sit in one of our seats. But most of you have not come, so we're coming to you! I'm sorry it's taken so long! But you don't need a seat, you need a savior! It was so loud, you could hear us for miles!
We also handed out thousands of bottles of water with "RU Thirsty?" printed on them along with Jesus' invitation in John 7:37-38 to drink his living water of salvation. We had an awesome army of smiling, loving New Life people with blue, "RU Thirsty?" tee shirts on and they went down onto the beach on both sides of the pier to give out water and talk to people about Jesus. People who would never feel comfortable "witnessing," were amazingly comfortable and effective at passing out free water bottles and just talking about how Jesus has changed their life! We had a tent with an "RU Thirsty?" banner with some info on our church and an invitation from me signed, "Soaked and Stoked!"
But the coolest thing is that at the bottom of the water bottle label and on the tee shirts, is the web site WWW.RUTHIRSTY.ORG <http://www.ruthirsty.org/> (click here and check it out!) where I've written a short invitational message about the living water and invite people to pray a simple prayer. Then, at the bottom of that page is a link to WWW.CentralCoastChurches.com <http://www.centralcoastchurches.com/> where there is a list of web sites of scores of strong, evangelical churches from across the Central Coast, and people can find a church that is close to them. We're excited that it's not a New Life thing, it's a Jesus thing! We want to see His Church grow, not just New Life. What a day! But, it wasn't over.
That night at 7 p.m., and the next day at 7, 9, & 11 a.m., we had 4000 people come and celebrate Easter at our church campus. Our theme was, "Is There Power in The Cross?" At the conclusion of the service, people came forward in our Worship Center, and at The Vertex (our new, Student Ministry Center) with a live, fiber-optic cable feed, and people placed a nail in a cross representing their trust in our living Jesus for the forgiveness of their sins. With their nail, they also nailed a small piece of linen grave cloth representing something they were committing, surrendering, or laying down in choosing to follow Jesus. As they left the cross, they were given a small wooden cross, with a small card tied to it by a scarlet chord and the card read, "Will You Serve Me?" At the end, I challenged them to go with the knowledge that they are saved for a reason and cleansed for a purpose - to go and serve Jesus! It was an awesome service!
But I will forever be changed by our Beach Event. As wonderful as our Easter services at our church campus were, they felt more like a "means to an end" than the "end" itself. For the past 15 years, I've thought of our worship center as the "epicenter of ministry." Now, I see it as the "training center of ministry." The beach, the streets, the neighborhoods are the "epicenter!" I know, we all know this . but now I KNOW IT!!! So, we will train to GO! And Easter was only the beginning! We'll order another 5000 waters, more tee shirts, and we'll look for crazy ways to love and serve our community! I'm sorry it's taken me so long. It's kind of embarrassing. But, I get it! And, we're going! There are thirsty people we've got to reach!
Soaked and Stoked,Pastor Ron Salsbury