By Pastor Rocky

As Evergreen Church prepares to hear from special guest Pastor Chris Mueller this Sunday, October 9, we thought it would be great for Pastor Rocky to share more about how Pastor Chris Mueller has been a particular source of encouragement to him and to our church family.

Who is Pastor Chris Mueller?

Pastor Chris Mueller has been married to Jean for over 40 years. They have two adult sons and three grandsons. Chris has been serving in pastoral ministry since 1979. He is currently the teaching pastor at Faithful Bible Church in Murrieta (Faith Bible Church | God-centered, Bible-saturated (faith-bible.net). He has earned a Master of Divinity from Talbot Seminary and a Doctor of Ministry from the Master’s Seminary. He is passionate about discipleship, and he has left a lasting impact upon every local church he has been associated with. He believes that the local church is the most effective training environment from which to disciple men and women. His main aim in the local church is to preach God’s Word and train up leaders. He has recently published two books that are pictured.

Please share how you first got to know Pastor Chris Mueller?

Providence brought Chris Mueller into our lives. In 2019 as I was researching how to implement a discipleship culture into the local church, I was having lunch with Pastor Harry Walls of Grace Community Church, and I asked him what discipleship looks like at their church. Harry gave me a staggering answer as he said that I needed to call Chris Mueller. Harry said, “I am happy to share with you how we go about discipleship, but Chris Mueller is the greatest discipler that we know!” That says a lot coming from Harry who is also passionate about discipleship. Therefore, I contacted Chris, and he was happy to talk to me about how their church goes about discipleship.

How has Pastor Chris Mueller been an encouragement personally to you? To the church?

Firstly, Chris is a very relational man and has been a great big brother to me as he has personally taken an interest in me and our church. Chris has encouraged me through our friendship. He is always encouraging and affirming as we talk through various personal and pastoral issues. He has met with me along with various groups from Evergreen Church. A group of us went to visit Chris in Murrieta to share a meal together.

Our staff took a field trip down to Temecula in January of 2020. Pastor Chris and Pastor John Pleasnick invested two whole days with our staff. They talked to us about how the Lord transformed their church to one with a strong discipleship culture. I was blown away with their intentional efforts to care for us. We felt how much our Lord loves our church by sending these men to care for us.        

The main take away that I gained from our visit with them was that the entire church family is necessary to experience a fuller picture of Jesus Christ. The Lord has gifted every local church with diverse members. Each member brings unique talents, experiences, passions, strengths, and weaknesses to help one another become more like Christ. Therefore, diverse relationships are critical to be able to experience all of this. The church must be connecting with one another. Various life stages must be intertwined with one another. The local church must coordinate formal opportunities to meet in the hopes of informal relationships being birthed.

As I reflect upon our staff trip to visit Chris and John, I am reminded of this picture taken during our Temecula trip. The gardeners pruned the local vineyards to allow the vines to be fruitful for the coming season. This reminds me of the wisdom Chris and John shared about Discipleship. It is challenging work, and it will require much patience. There is a season for everything.

What are your hopes for Pastor Chris Mueller’s time with Evergreen Church on Sunday, 10/9?

Pastor Chis has agreed to preach at our Church and to record a podcast with us. I know that we will be blessed by the sermon on discipleship out of Matthew 28. It is always good to hear from different outside voices who have been fatherly to our church. Our church family will be encouraged to see how our Lord has provided us with relationship to help build up Evergreen Church. Our Lord deeply loves Evergreen Church. The Church will be able to see how Pastor Chris and influenced us.

By Pastor Rocky

As Evergreen Church prepares to hear from special guest Pastor Mark Dever this Sunday, June 19, we thought it would be great for Pastor Rocky to share more about his relationship with Pastor Mark Dever and how much of an encouragement Pastor Mark Dever has been to him personally and to our church.

Who is Pastor Mark Dever?

Pastor Mark Dever is a uniquely gifted man who has a particular passion for the local church. He and his wife Connie moved to Washington DC where he has served as the Senior Pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church since 1994. CHBC has been around since 1878! The Lord has used Pastor Mark in a unique way to impact the local church globally. He is also the president and founder of 9Marks Ministries which exists to serve and equip local churches with valuable resources that are all designed to build healthy local churches (www.9marks.org). The ministry produces books, blogs, podcasts, journals, conferences, interviews, etc. The 9Marks is designed to provide resources to help produce healthy local churches. He has authored several books on the church. “Nine Marks of a Healthy Church” is a hallmark book that has heavily impacted me and many other pastors. In it, Pastor Mark offers up 9 distinctives that a healthy church is marked by. The book has given me a clearer picture of how the Lord has designed the church to be.

Please share how you first got to know Pastor Mark Dever?

Providence is the short answer. It goes back to 2003 when Pastor Jeremy Yong moved to Washington DC to live with his future brother-in-law. Capitol Hill Baptist Church became his new church home and he got to know their Senior Pastor. Jeremy would join the first class of interns under Pastor Mark and would be asked to remain on the staff as a Pastoral Assistant. Jeremy would be trained to help oversee discipleship, membership, life groups and adult education at CHBC. We at Evergreen Baptist Church are benefiting from the investments that Capitol Hill Baptist Church made into Jeremy Yong almost 20 years ago. As Jeremy and I became friends, he introduced me to Pastor Mark, which opened the opportunity to develop a friendship.

How has Pastor Mark Dever been an encouragement personally to you? To the church?

Pastor Mark has encouraged me through our friendship. He is extremely passionate about discipling and has been an incredible model of a discipling man. He is intentional in everything that he does to connect people with one another. He has been intentional about contacting me whenever he came to Southern California, and he allows me to tag along with him. We have been able to FaceTime or text to check in with each other for various things.

He invited me to bring some pastors to join him at the “Weekender” at Capitol Hill Baptist Church. The “Weekender” is an intimate gathering of pastors where we can have a behind the scenes look at the life of Capitol Hill Baptist Church. Therefore, four pastors from our team who were able to attend the “Weekender.”  We were given a living picture to see how the culture of discipleship is lived out in the local church. We observed their Elder meetings and saw how they prayed and cared for the flock. A sizable portion of the meeting is dedicated to discussing and praying specifically for specific church members. The affection that the Elders and congregation have for one another was evident during their membership meeting as they discussed how to care for various church members.

Breakfast with Mark Dever; Elder’s Meeting

What are your hopes for Pastor Mark Dever’s time with Evergreen on Sunday, June 19?

Pastor Mark has agreed to preach at our church, and we are extremely excited about it. I am hoping that our church family will be able to be encouraged by seeing firsthand how the Lord has been caring for Evergreen Church. The Lord shows how much He love us by gifting us with brothers like Pastor Mark into our lives. We will be blessed by strong preaching. I am super grateful to the Lord that our church family can personally see firsthand those who have taken a special interest in our local church. It’s all from the Lord!

By Pastor Rocky

As Evergreen Church prepares to hear from special guest Pastor John MacArthur this Sunday, 2/27, we thought it would be great for Pastor Rocky to share more about his relationship with Pastor John MacArthur and how much of an encouragement Pastor John MacArthur has been to him personally and to our church.

2014 - Personal Visit

Please share how you first got to know Pastor John MacArthur?

Providentially, our Lord was providing a mentor and friend for me as He would know that I would be called into pastoral ministry. In the 2000’s, I had known about Pastor John MacArthur because someone had gifted me a MacArthur Study Bible and I was listening to “Grace to You” on the radio. Back in 2009, when I served as a coach at the University of Southern California (USC), a portion of my recruiting area was in the San Fernando Valley. Therefore, I decided to stop by Grace Community Church to drop off a copy of our “Marriage Pyramid” that Sharla and I had developed. Weeks later, Pastor John wrote me telling me how he liked it because it was biblical. Providence would move our family to coach for the Seattle Seahawks in 2010 and in 2012 the Ligonier’s Westcoast Conference happened to be held in Seattle and John MacArthur was one of the speakers. Since he is a football guy, I decided to extend an invitation to visit our Seattle Seahawks training facility. Troy and I were able to give him and Steve Lawson a tour of our training facility. From that point on, he has graciously allowed me to contact him for advice or for a visit. In fact, in 2016, as we were wrestling over the decision to enter full time pastoral ministry, I had consulted him about how to discern the call of the preacher.

2017 - Q&A at The Master’s University

How were you able to maintain a relationship with Pastor John MacArthur over the years?

Providence would keep connecting both of us. In 2017, another Ligonier’s conference was hosted at Evergreen Baptist Church and we were able to meet up in the office in between his sessions. During our visit, he had asked me if I had any formal ministry training. I told him that I had begun an online master’s degree in theology while I was coaching. He would extend an invitation for me to sit in the Doctor of Ministry in Expository Preaching program at the Master’s Seminary. Therefore, I audited the program since the summer of 2017 and officially enrolled in the summer of 2021. Being able to be on the campus of the seminary on a regular basis has helped deepen my relationship with Pastor John as well as other leaders of Grace Community Church.

How has Pastor John MacArthur been an encouragement personally to you? To the church?

I can trace back the hand of the Lord moving providentially in my life through the people He has surrounded me with. Even at an early age, I always looked for role models in my life. During my formative years, the Lord provided great role models for me through my own father and mother, the greatest influences in my life. Sharla’s parents have always been a positive model for me as they are an example of generosity. As I began my football journey, the Lord provided the greatest coaching influences. I could not have asked for a better football mentor in Coach Pete Carroll and the other assistants as they have left a massive imprint upon me that would shape the way I approach challenges. Relationships with outside coaching influences such as Coach John Wooden served as a unique source of encouragement to me during my USC days.

It is true that the Lord equips the called. Since calling me to serve Him in a pastoral role, I have been provided a great role model in pastoral ministry through Pastor John. He is always available for a question, but the greatest encouragement that Pastor John has been to me on a personal level is the mutual friendship that we share. As a man who has gone the way before me, he understands my joys and pains. Looking at his life provides me with perspective.

The church can be encouraged by knowing how the Lord is caring for His church by equipping me with so much support from the Body.

2020 - Shepherd’s Conference with Evergreen Pastoral Staff

 What do you respect most about Pastor John MacArthur as a person?

When I think of Pastor John, his enduring commitment to be an expositor of God’s Word comes to mind. This is what our Lord calls His under shepherds to be about. However, the thing that I respect the most about Pastor John is that he is a genuine man of God. As a person he genuinely reflects what he teaches. I love him as preacher, but I love him more as a person. As I get to spend time with him in informal settings, I can see the work of the Word in his life. He reminds those around him what the Apostle Paul said to Timothy in 1 Timothy 1:5, “the goal of our instruction is love from a pure heart.” He genuinely loves Christ, and people. As I have gotten to know him and see him interact with his family and other church members, I can see the love of Christ in him. The word “encouraging” come to mind as I see him interacting with people. He is one of the most gracious and generous people that I have had an opportunity to know.

Please share how it came about that Pastor John MacArthur is going to preach at our church on Sunday, 2/27.

Pastor John had wanted to preach at our church for a few years, but the COVID-19 season hit and things got very busy for him. Last Monday, I woke up thinking that I should check in with him to see if he would be able to fill the pulpit this year. He responded and asked if February 27th would work. He apologized for the short notice but would explain to me that this may be the only time in the foreseeable future, as the elders of Grace Community Church had given him that week off from preaching so he could prepare for the Shepherd’s Conference (takes place in early March for the equipping of pastors).  Instead of resting, he has made a special effort to serve our local church.

What are your hopes for Pastor John MacArthur’s time with Evergreen on Sunday, 2/27?

The Lord loves His church at Evergreen! He has shown His great love and care by providing people to encourage and equip us. My biggest hope for Pastor John’s visit is that our Lord will be glorified by our people being able to see His providential care for us by providing a unique gift to the church like Pastor John MacArthur. I am eager to hear God’s Word preached by him from our pulpit that Tommy Yamada built for our church, and I am excited for our people to see how our Lord has been working behind the scenes to care for us. For the investments he has intentionally made in us, I am hoping that Pastor John leaves feeling the affection and appreciation that Evergreen Church has for him. This will be a significant moment in the life of our church family.