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New Life Presbyterian is not just a social club
“We seek to walk in that new life with Christ through the gospel.”
Joel Wood
New Life Presbyterian Church of La Mesa
Contact: 5333 Lake Murray Blvd., La Mesa 619.667.5999 www.newlifelamesa.org
Membership: 300
Pastor: Joel Wood
Age: 47
Born: Lima, OH
Formation: Moody Bible Institute, Chicago; Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Pittsburg, PA
Years Ordained: 16
San Diego Reader: What is the mission of your church?
Pastor Joel Wood: We are a gospel community, loving God and others through gracious means, generous mercy, and global mission. “New Life” in our name speaks to that new life that comes through Christ as the Holy Spirit changes our hearts and we find ourselves loving him and understanding our separation from him through sin. We seek to walk in that new life with Christ through the gospel. That gospel marks us out as a body; we’re not just a social club or community service endeavor. We seek to be experiencing and sharing the gospel of Christ as a church body.
SDR: What one book has had an important influence on your ministry?
PW: One of the most formative books for me, although it’s out of print now, is The Bond of Love: God’s Covenantal Relationship with His Church by David McKay. In struggling with coming from a broader evangelical background to a more covenantal theology, I found the book helped me understand the basis of God’s work in the world, Christ’s mission and his incarnation, as well as the great acts in history found in scripture. All these things are rooted in God’s love for his people. The book was extremely helpful in clarifying some things for me and helped shape that accent of my preaching, rooting it in God’s desire for people to have eternal life.
SDR: Where is the strangest place you found God?
PW: Walking with my wife through the loss of two babies in utero within the space of ten months. Prior to that, we had no issues in pregnancy; we have five children. I had thought I had walked well with people through that type of loss before, but walking through it myself, I was surprised to find the comfort of the Lord in that, even when a few months afterwards, I’d find myself sitting there as I’m putting on my shoes and found myself crying for a bit. It was a loss of a potential relationship with one of my children. I imagine what they would be like now. We found out we were losing our second child on Christmas Eve. So, Christmas becomes a reminder of that loss — but there is that touch of joy in the experience as well, because the Lord has comforted and brought hope to us.
SDR: Where do you go when you die?
PW: It’s clear there are a number — we don’t know what that number is — who through Christ will have eternal life with Christ, and there are those who will not have eternal life with Christ. I believe in the life to come which will be in the presence of God, where we will serve him in heaven and on earth forever. There is also the place of judgment, where God is present in his wrath. That’s a hard message. I tell people on a regular basis that the Good News of the gospel isn’t really good news until you understand how bad the bad news is. We know it’s coming to grips with that bad news which makes Jesus and the gospel all the more beautiful and more important to the life and mission of the church.
Here's something you might be interested in.
New Life Presbyterian is not just a social club
“We seek to walk in that new life with Christ through the gospel.”
New Life Presbyterian is not just a social club
“We seek to walk in that new life with Christ through the gospel.”
Joel Wood
New Life Presbyterian Church of La Mesa
Contact: 5333 Lake Murray Blvd., La Mesa 619.667.5999 www.newlifelamesa.org
Membership: 300
Pastor: Joel Wood
Age: 47
Born: Lima, OH
Formation: Moody Bible Institute, Chicago; Reformed Presbyterian Theological Seminary, Pittsburg, PA
Years Ordained: 16
San Diego Reader: What is the mission of your church?
Pastor Joel Wood: We are a gospel community, loving God and others through gracious means, generous mercy, and global mission. “New Life” in our name speaks to that new life that comes through Christ as the Holy Spirit changes our hearts and we find ourselves loving him and understanding our separation from him through sin. We seek to walk in that new life with Christ through the gospel. That gospel marks us out as a body; we’re not just a social club or community service endeavor. We seek to be experiencing and sharing the gospel of Christ as a church body.
SDR: What one book has had an important influence on your ministry?
PW: One of the most formative books for me, although it’s out of print now, is The Bond of Love: God’s Covenantal Relationship with His Church by David McKay. In struggling with coming from a broader evangelical background to a more covenantal theology, I found the book helped me understand the basis of God’s work in the world, Christ’s mission and his incarnation, as well as the great acts in history found in scripture. All these things are rooted in God’s love for his people. The book was extremely helpful in clarifying some things for me and helped shape that accent of my preaching, rooting it in God’s desire for people to have eternal life.
SDR: Where is the strangest place you found God?
PW: Walking with my wife through the loss of two babies in utero within the space of ten months. Prior to that, we had no issues in pregnancy; we have five children. I had thought I had walked well with people through that type of loss before, but walking through it myself, I was surprised to find the comfort of the Lord in that, even when a few months afterwards, I’d find myself sitting there as I’m putting on my shoes and found myself crying for a bit. It was a loss of a potential relationship with one of my children. I imagine what they would be like now. We found out we were losing our second child on Christmas Eve. So, Christmas becomes a reminder of that loss — but there is that touch of joy in the experience as well, because the Lord has comforted and brought hope to us.
SDR: Where do you go when you die?
PW: It’s clear there are a number — we don’t know what that number is — who through Christ will have eternal life with Christ, and there are those who will not have eternal life with Christ. I believe in the life to come which will be in the presence of God, where we will serve him in heaven and on earth forever. There is also the place of judgment, where God is present in his wrath. That’s a hard message. I tell people on a regular basis that the Good News of the gospel isn’t really good news until you understand how bad the bad news is. We know it’s coming to grips with that bad news which makes Jesus and the gospel all the more beautiful and more important to the life and mission of the church.
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