"Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not yet see." Hebrews 11:1
GOD’S STORY – an introductionGod’s Story. All of history is part of it. History is HIS story! And every one of us who were brought into God’s family of faith, the Christian Church, by His love and grace, are now actively and faithfully playing our specific part in HIS story of salvation through His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ. Our part in God’s Grand Story of Salvation began at our baptisms and continues to be played out to this day as His Spirit and His Word guide us into His plans and purposes for each and every one of us. What an indescribable joy and honor it is that the Creator of the universe, the Redeemer of our souls, and the Sanctifier of our lives, God the Father, Son and Holy Spirit, has chosen you and me to each fulfill an important part of HIS Story from the very moment He saved us to our very last earthly breath! Wow! Amazing! How exciting! What a blessing!And while our Heavenly Father is writing His story of salvation throughout the world, all of us who are part of the Waikoloa Lutheran Church Ohana, by local membership or mainland support, are very specifically part of His story of love and grace for our beloved Waikoloa Village. We invite you to read on and discover for yourself the story of God’s love for this growing family community built on the volcanic lava beds far above the beaches and waves of the South Kohala Coast on the Big Island of Hawaii. Mahalo!
LIVING OUT GOD’S LOVE STORY IN WAIKOLOAGod has been writing His love story in the hearts of His Waikoloa Lutheran Church Ohana for fifty years and counting. It’s a beautiful story filled with God’s provision, power, persistence, peace and protection for and through His small but faithful church Ohana. It’s the story of how the Gospel of His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, has been, is being, and will be shared more than ever to our growing island village and all its families. It’s a story about commitment, challenge, change and conquest. It’s God’s love story in Waikoloa and the best chapters are still to be written! “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21
LIVING OUT GOD’S LOVE STORY IN WAIKOLOAGod has been writing His love story in the hearts of His Waikoloa Lutheran Church Ohana for fifty years and counting. It’s a beautiful story filled with God’s provision, power, persistence, peace and protection for and through His small but faithful church Ohana. It’s the story of how the Gospel of His Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ, has been, is being, and will be shared more than ever to our growing island village and all its families. It’s a story about commitment, challenge, change and conquest. It’s God’s love story in Waikoloa and the best chapters are still to be written! “Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21
PAST CHAPTERS (Where We’ve Been)Up to this point, by His love, mercy and faithfulness, God has written fifty years’ worth of chapter after chapter of His story in Waikoloa. We are so grateful for His fulfilled promises and provision that has brought our Lutheran Church Ohana through five decades of grace and growth. We have seen so many blessings and so many lives changed for eternity throughout the past years of service to God, each other and our village. Keeping our eyes of faith fixed firmly on Jesus, we continue to live out our calling and purpose as God’s Spirit-filled children in the current chapter God is writing for His love story in Waikoloa and the marvelous chapters yet to be written. The best is yet to come!
CURRENT CHAPTER (Where We Are Right Now)The exciting chapter of His love story in Waikoloa that God is currently writing could be best described as “New”. Over the last se9veral months, we praise and thank our Lord for all the new people, new leadership, new strategies, new possibilities, and especially a renewed vision to fulfill God’s desires and plans for us in the future chapters He is about to write. In His divine wisdom and through His Spirit-led guidance, we are fully convinced that He has prepared us over the last fifty years up to this very moment for “such a time as this”.
FUTURE CHAPTERS (Where We Are Going)While we pray our Lord continues to write His love story for Waikoloa Village for decades to come, with many new and exciting chapters yet to write, He has been generous and gracious to us in revealing what the next three chapters here at Waikoloa Lutheran Church will be all about. We are calling these next chapters of God’s love story in Waikoloa “THE VISION”, “THE VOYAGE” and “THE VICTORY”.
In reality, the next chapter was already started by our heavenly Father eight years ago when He provided the funds to purchase one acre of property strategically located in the heart of Waikoloa. Thus, in a spiritual sense, He began writing our future as Waikoloa Lutheran church several years in the past, the future chapter titled “THE VISION”
THE VISION
“Many are the plans in a person’s heart, but it is the LORD’s purpose that prevails.” Proverbs 19:21
Vision: “The ability to think about or plan for the future with faith and wisdom”.
Godly Vision: “A current hope, trust and obedience for a future purpose, a future calling, a future mission, laid out by God”. God has a very specific and marvelous plan laid out for our next chapter of His story; His vision for us to follow in the months ahead. When it’s God’s vision it becomes the assurance of a future reality. For where God guides, God provides!
“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and He will establish your plans.” Proverbs 16:3
Eight years ago, God provided us, His faith-filled children, the perfect piece of land for His rescue station called Waikoloa Lutheran Church. Over the next several years, He has placed a growing and passionate vision on our hearts to see what is coming; to envision what He has planned.
He alone knew way back over fifty years ago, when Waikoloa truly was just a village, as He first gathered a handful of Lutheran families together in their homes to worship and study His Word, that Waikoloa Village would someday start to grow, and expand. Out of His deep and abiding love for all those who are already living in our village and the thousands that are moving “next door” in the years to come, He has planted in each one of our hearts His Vision for them to be saved by His grace through the gift of faith in His beloved Son, Jesus!You can see our village growing and expanding everywhere, from hundreds of new condos and apartments being built, to vast single home developments being planned, to all the new retail stores opening, and to large hotels being built. This is why God has chosen this time to launch His vision – all for the sake of those who do not yet know Him like we do. His vision for us is born out of His love and compassion for them. That’s the loving God that we serve and adore! Amen!And His vision, those plans, that mission is about to become a reality. Can you envision our future? Can you imagine what is coming? Can you see with your eyes of faith what God desires all of us to see?The vision God has placed on all our hearts in the near future on His land of promise - the one acre of perfectly-located property, on the busiest street in town, next to the elementary school and nearby parks – looks like this to us:
Sunday services packed with worshippers, many of which are in the overflow seating outside our beautiful new sanctuary. Our small but gifted worship team leads us in singing glorious hymns of praise as the Lord’s Supper is shared with kneeling worshippers in front of the altar.Fellowship Hour is a coveting time to catch up with each other over coffee and donuts in our spacious covered Lanai. Delicious-smelling hot dishes are brought out of our very own large and modern kitchen as we sit down to enjoy our monthly Pot Blessing together.Children of all ages run out of the sanctuary, through the lanai and into the large classrooms excitedly talking and laughing as Sunday School is about to begin.The sanctuary on the opening morning of a wonderful week of Vacation Bible Experience is packed with excited children and loving volunteers as they sing and dance to a Jesus song!A long line of happy elementary students are led down the sidewalk from the school every weekday afternoon to “Walther the Whale’s Winners” afterschool program for snacks, games, songs, homework help and “Jesus time”!On Saturday morning our growing middle school youth group kids wave large signs along Paniolo Blvd. inviting passing cars to come get their car washed to raise funds for next year’s LCMS Youth Gathering.Almost every evening the sanctuary lights are on with cars parked in the lot for Bible studies, youth group events, worship team rehearsals, and even perhaps AA/NA meetings as we serve our community in meaningful ways.Our sanctuary becomes an ongoing sacred place for heart-felt and grateful memories of baptisms, confirmation
Neighbors driving by see all the activity every day and God starts to nudge them to check it out for themselves.This is the life-changing ministry vision God has placed on our hearts in the near future. Can you see it with your eyes of faith? “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” Ephesians 2:10
This Vision chapter, written by God on the hearts of all of us who love Waikoloa Village and desire to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone who calls this growing village their home, is so thrilling, capturing our attention with each new paragraph, that before you know it, we will have read it to the end, turning the page to God’s next chapter for His faith-filled Waikoloa Lutheran Ohana with the heading “THE VOYAGE” !
Neighbors driving by see all the activity every day and God starts to nudge them to check it out for themselves.This is the life-changing ministry vision God has placed on our hearts in the near future. Can you see it with your eyes of faith? “For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do” Ephesians 2:10
This Vision chapter, written by God on the hearts of all of us who love Waikoloa Village and desire to share the gospel of Jesus Christ with everyone who calls this growing village their home, is so thrilling, capturing our attention with each new paragraph, that before you know it, we will have read it to the end, turning the page to God’s next chapter for His faith-filled Waikoloa Lutheran Ohana with the heading “THE VOYAGE” !
THE VOYAGEVoyage: “A journey involving intentional travel to a specific destination.”
Throughout history we have learned about bold and brave men and women who have ventured out into the unknown to reach a specific goal and destination. When we think of famous voyages, Christopher Columbus, Capt. James Cook and other famous explorers come to mind. Here in the Hawaiian Islands, we also reflect on the voyage of the first Polynesians to arrive on these shores so long ago. As LCMS Lutherans, we look back with fondness at our spiritual ancestors, the Saxon Lutherans, who left their German homeland on a voyage to Missouri.Voyages come in all sizes and lengths, and many have changed the world as we know it, but the greatest voyage of all was when God’s Son, Jesus, came down from heaven and entered the womb of a virgin named Mary and was born into our world as our Savior. It is that amazing voyage all the way from heaven to earth of our Savior that brought about God’s salvation for you and me and as a result, we who know the world’s greatest adventurer, Jesus Christ, as our Redeemer and Lord, by His grace through the gift of faith, have been called to join Him in this very special and specific spiritual voyage for the sake of Waikoloa Village.In John 10:10 Jesus tells us that He came to give us life and life to the fullest. He said: “I came that you may have and enjoy life, and have it in abundance - to the fullest, until it overflows.” (Expanded Version)God says that the life He gave us as His redeemed, baptized, Spirit-filled children was meant to be enjoyed, by living it to the fullest for His glory.Here’s the point: As a Christian, chosen and loved by God, you and I were made for adventure, God’s adventure!
This shared voyage we are about to embark on with our Lord is certainly an adventure! And every adventurous and successful voyage has a vision; a goal; a specific purpose, and God has shared a very clear and reachable goal for our voyage with Him and each other. God has opened wide the door for us to walk into our future here on His land of promise with adventurous faith.During this voyage over the next few years, we apply for our county building permits and raise the rest of the funds needed to break ground and start building our permanent rescue station for our beloved Waikoloa Village. These next several months and years are going to be quite an adventure, challenging our faith more than ever before. And that’s what God’s adventurous voyages are all about – doing whatever it takes, sacrificing whatever is required, fully trusting in Jesus as He leads us, to His appointed destination, His land of promise! “Trust in the LORD with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know. Follow the LORD in everything you do, and He will show you the right way.” Proverbs 3:5-6 (GNT) What satisfaction, what joy, what contentment awaits all of us as we strive together on this spiritual voyage with our Lord, facing every challenge with bold faith and complete trust in Him. And above all, we keep in mind and heart the greatest motivation of all on this “journey” to God’s land of promise, His love! “For Christ’s love compels us.” 2 Corinthians 5:14 The love of Christ compels each and every one of us to seek His will and to trust His vision as we respond to His call to do our part in completing the voyage and celebrating the victory! Every one of us, as God’s faithful stewards (managers) of all the vast resources He has entrusted to us, have the privilege and honor to seek His will for how much of His financial blessings we will return to Him for the sole purpose of completing His permanent “rescue station”, our new church buildings, parking lots and landscaping. This is the destination that our voyage together will arrive at in the near future. But it will take every one of us sacrificially and joyfully giving a generous and abundant financial gift towards God’s vision over the next three years of the voyage.Now is the time to go to our loving heavenly Father in prayer and seek not what we would give, but what He desires us to give, to fulfill His mission, this journey, our shared voyage, for the sake of all our Waikoloa friends and neighbors who don’t yet know God’s unconditional love and amazing grace, like we do. “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:7-8 As we all do our cheerful, generous and faithful parts in providing all the financial resources God has already and will continue to give to us to use for His glorious vision and voyage, we hold fast to His unbreakable promise above that His grace will accomplish everything we need both now and throughout the next three years of our pledges. This is the voyage, and what a memorable and blessed voyage it will be, especially when God then writes the third chapter in His most recent pages of His love story for Waikoloa, the chapter titled “THE VICTORY” !
This shared voyage we are about to embark on with our Lord is certainly an adventure! And every adventurous and successful voyage has a vision; a goal; a specific purpose, and God has shared a very clear and reachable goal for our voyage with Him and each other. God has opened wide the door for us to walk into our future here on His land of promise with adventurous faith.During this voyage over the next few years, we apply for our county building permits and raise the rest of the funds needed to break ground and start building our permanent rescue station for our beloved Waikoloa Village. These next several months and years are going to be quite an adventure, challenging our faith more than ever before. And that’s what God’s adventurous voyages are all about – doing whatever it takes, sacrificing whatever is required, fully trusting in Jesus as He leads us, to His appointed destination, His land of promise! “Trust in the LORD with all your heart. Never rely on what you think you know. Follow the LORD in everything you do, and He will show you the right way.” Proverbs 3:5-6 (GNT) What satisfaction, what joy, what contentment awaits all of us as we strive together on this spiritual voyage with our Lord, facing every challenge with bold faith and complete trust in Him. And above all, we keep in mind and heart the greatest motivation of all on this “journey” to God’s land of promise, His love! “For Christ’s love compels us.” 2 Corinthians 5:14 The love of Christ compels each and every one of us to seek His will and to trust His vision as we respond to His call to do our part in completing the voyage and celebrating the victory! Every one of us, as God’s faithful stewards (managers) of all the vast resources He has entrusted to us, have the privilege and honor to seek His will for how much of His financial blessings we will return to Him for the sole purpose of completing His permanent “rescue station”, our new church buildings, parking lots and landscaping. This is the destination that our voyage together will arrive at in the near future. But it will take every one of us sacrificially and joyfully giving a generous and abundant financial gift towards God’s vision over the next three years of the voyage.Now is the time to go to our loving heavenly Father in prayer and seek not what we would give, but what He desires us to give, to fulfill His mission, this journey, our shared voyage, for the sake of all our Waikoloa friends and neighbors who don’t yet know God’s unconditional love and amazing grace, like we do. “Each one must give as he has decided in his heart, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work.” 2 Corinthians 9:7-8 As we all do our cheerful, generous and faithful parts in providing all the financial resources God has already and will continue to give to us to use for His glorious vision and voyage, we hold fast to His unbreakable promise above that His grace will accomplish everything we need both now and throughout the next three years of our pledges. This is the voyage, and what a memorable and blessed voyage it will be, especially when God then writes the third chapter in His most recent pages of His love story for Waikoloa, the chapter titled “THE VICTORY” !
THE VICTORY“Commit to the LORD whatever you do, and He will establish your plans. The LORD works out everything to its proper end…” Proverbs 16:3-4a
PROPERTY PURCHASEDPhase One Completed!$300,000
In an era where many churches throughout our country are closing their doors for the last time due to many unfortunate reasons, with the most common being a lack of passionate leadership, renewed vision or genuine love for the lost, God has raised up His Waikoloa Lutheran church Ohana for such a time as this! As we move from Vision to Voyage, and then Voyage on to the first day of Victory, can you imagine what He has planned for all of us as we enter through the back of our new sanctuary in a long line of joyful worshippers, singing that glorious processional hymn “Lift High the Cross”, and begin our divine service of dedication to the glory of our gracious and faithful God? I sure can and it fills me with holy anticipation and passion!
Allow me to describe what God’s Victory chapter may look like as His Spirit writes it, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, page by marvelous page. It might just read like this: It’s been six months since our glorious dedication worship service when we moved into our brand-new spacious church facilities.Our church’s typical weekly schedule over the past several years consisted mostly of Sunday worship at the rented Community Room next to the golf course.Before God brought all of us to the end of the chapter on our Voyage and began the new chapter celebrating the Victory of the ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony on our permanent church property, we were limited in what we could offer our village and were unknown to most residents. “Out of sight – out of mind” was often true, especially when we had no access to adequate ministry space beyond a few hours on Sunday mornings. But God’s Vision has brought us the Victory of completing the Voyage, and now our ministry schedule each week is filled every single day with activities and people driving and walking to our church property and lives being transformed and souls being saved. God’s Rescue Station now known to every resident of our thriving village as Waikoloa Lutheran Church is seen as a “light on a hill”, a place where the hurting and lonely and doubtful and guilty can come and receive God’s healing and hope in Jesus Christ, His Son, through the love and joy of His faithful children, you and me, and so many other families and individuals that His Holy Spirit will bring through the front door of our sanctuary and into our hearts.God’s Victory is always and forever ultimately about salvation and eternal life for every open heart who gladly receives His gracious gift of saving faith in Jesus, our Savior and theirs. God’s Victory is about genuine repentance, Holy Baptism and His Word of Truth planted deeply in each believer’s heart. And He has called you and me to be a vital part of bringing about that Victory, for one soul after another, in the years and decades to come, here at Waikoloa Lutheran Church. To God alone be the glory and praise! Amen!
In an era where many churches throughout our country are closing their doors for the last time due to many unfortunate reasons, with the most common being a lack of passionate leadership, renewed vision or genuine love for the lost, God has raised up His Waikoloa Lutheran church Ohana for such a time as this! As we move from Vision to Voyage, and then Voyage on to the first day of Victory, can you imagine what He has planned for all of us as we enter through the back of our new sanctuary in a long line of joyful worshippers, singing that glorious processional hymn “Lift High the Cross”, and begin our divine service of dedication to the glory of our gracious and faithful God? I sure can and it fills me with holy anticipation and passion!
Allow me to describe what God’s Victory chapter may look like as His Spirit writes it, sentence by sentence, paragraph by paragraph, page by marvelous page. It might just read like this: It’s been six months since our glorious dedication worship service when we moved into our brand-new spacious church facilities.Our church’s typical weekly schedule over the past several years consisted mostly of Sunday worship at the rented Community Room next to the golf course.Before God brought all of us to the end of the chapter on our Voyage and began the new chapter celebrating the Victory of the ribbon cutting and dedication ceremony on our permanent church property, we were limited in what we could offer our village and were unknown to most residents. “Out of sight – out of mind” was often true, especially when we had no access to adequate ministry space beyond a few hours on Sunday mornings. But God’s Vision has brought us the Victory of completing the Voyage, and now our ministry schedule each week is filled every single day with activities and people driving and walking to our church property and lives being transformed and souls being saved. God’s Rescue Station now known to every resident of our thriving village as Waikoloa Lutheran Church is seen as a “light on a hill”, a place where the hurting and lonely and doubtful and guilty can come and receive God’s healing and hope in Jesus Christ, His Son, through the love and joy of His faithful children, you and me, and so many other families and individuals that His Holy Spirit will bring through the front door of our sanctuary and into our hearts.God’s Victory is always and forever ultimately about salvation and eternal life for every open heart who gladly receives His gracious gift of saving faith in Jesus, our Savior and theirs. God’s Victory is about genuine repentance, Holy Baptism and His Word of Truth planted deeply in each believer’s heart. And He has called you and me to be a vital part of bringing about that Victory, for one soul after another, in the years and decades to come, here at Waikoloa Lutheran Church. To God alone be the glory and praise! Amen!
“Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen." Ephesians 3:20-21
As we cling firmly in our hearts of faith to God’s Vision for Waikoloa, and as we launch out together on His Voyage towards His land of promise,and as we confidently hope with complete assurance that His Victory will soon come, and even after that, as we experience the future chapters God will write for and with us in His ongoing love story for Waikoloa, may we always hold fast to the unbending, unending truth of Hebrews 12 and forever fix our eyes on Jesus, our everything! Amen!
“Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him He endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider Him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.” Hebrews 12:1-3