Encounter

New Blog

2009-12-07T10:53:00.000-05:00

After much thought and inner debate, I have decided to move this blog to:

shanehart.net

Check out the latest post there.

Thank you.

Winning the God is faithful competition...

2009-12-03T14:08:00.004-05:00

We, as Christians, talk so much about God being faithful. I’m just not sure how much we trust His faithfulness. We speak it well, especially around other Christians. There are times it even seems to become a competition. Kind of an “I can express His faithfulness better than you can,” or, “He’s been more faithful to me in tougher times,” one-up-man-ship.

When we are caught in the crisis of life, do we truly trust Him to be faithful? I meet with people in all kinds of stages of life and emotional states. I get to see people at their best times and at their worst times. In the reality of the situations that people face, I don’t often see the trust that God will come through like is seen in the moments of braggadocio conversations among Christians.

To trust that God is really going to come through, that He is faithful and never late is to not worry or fret over the situation; even in the worst of crises. Not to suggest that trust rules out all emotion, because clearly emotion is a part of it. Even Jesus wept at times. He was emotional as we are.

Trust, however, brings peace that passes understanding and a strength in the knowledge that God will come through in the way that is best at the time. We know God is faithful and that let’s us sleep when the medical report says “cancer” or the bank statement says “overdrawn” or the relationship is broken. Trust overcomes worry which frees us from stress ending in perfect peace and the understanding that God is right here in the moment.

Matthew 6 commands us not to worry. In that teaching, Jesus reminds us of nature, how God takes care of the birds and the plants. He also tells us we are more important to God than these.

God is faithful. He never fails. He is never late. He doesn’t forget. He is merciful. He is bigger than whatever we face. He knows what is best. He is God.

Feel free to weigh in...

Take advantage

2009-12-02T09:26:00.004-05:00

It’s Christmas Season. The debate rages on about whether or not people should say “Happy Holidays”, “Merry Christmas”, “Season’s Greetings” or whatever. Matters little to me, only because it really is not going to make much, if any, difference in any individuals heart. No, there is a much bigger opportunity here than trying to convince the world to say “Merry Christmas.”

The opportunity we have is touch hearts, start conversations, invite, share, live. It’s Christmas. People are open to discussions about God. Not about religion or church, but about God. Even the mainstream radio stations are playing songs about Jesus. The stores have Christmas carols playing over their sound systems. While not every song has a God theme, many do.

We have an incredible possibility in front of us to engage people in conversation. To share with others the truth of God’s love and the purpose of the virgin birth. We don’t need theological debates about the time of year or location on the wise men’s visit. We don’t need arguments about decorated trees in the church, or about Santa. It is pointless to try to convince anyone to do things our way. We can take advantage of the opportunity to give someone the gift of life and freedom in Christ.

Take advantage of the season. Don’t get lost in the hustle and bustle of gifts and commercialism. Avoid the pitfall of busyness and keeping up with a schedule or trying to make everything perfect. The best memories come from relationships and time together. The presents are forgotten. The decorations eventually thrown out. The leftovers will spoil. But the memories will be centered on people and time and they will last. Make some memories with your family. Attend Christmas programs and then talk about the meaning of Christ and His birth and the reality of God with us. Have fun with your family and friends. Be spontaneous. Do things out of the ordinary. Touch the life of another. Give anonymously. Bless your children by showing them how to give and that the time is more important than the stuff.

Take advantage of the season. Take advantage of the opportunities that God is giving you. Encounter the possibilities and watch in awe as God does something great.

Discipleship

2009-11-23T15:26:00.004-05:00

There was a quote making the rounds of Twitter and Facebook recently that got my attention. I don't normally write about what I disagree with, but this time it has been rolling around in my head for a couple of weeks and I want to jump in and open a discussion on something. The quote is attributed to George Barna, a man I respect and who is much smarter than I am for sure. However, this time I disagree with the quote. Here it is:

"Evangelism without serious discipleship is abuse."

At first read, it is an "OUCH" statement that hits the church and church leaders in a let's-wake-up-and-get-busy kind of way.

Before I state my disagreement with this quote, let me qualify a couple of things. First, discipleship is a primary function of the church. A pastor's main job description as given in Ephesians 4:11 is to train people, which is discipleship. As the church and as a local congregation it is vital that we have systems and strategies in place to give people an opportunity to grow in their journey with Christ. On the one hand, I believe that is what Barna's point is. I don't know the context in which he said (or wrote) it. Up front, let me be clear that I am taking this statement exactly as shown and addressing that alone. I am not and cannot presume to know Barna's full thoughts on this and in no way intend to suggest anything negative toward him. My comments are handling this as a stand alone, unqualified quote.

In fact, it was more the shear quantity of times and short statements of agreement with this stand alone quote that got my attention. Many even wrote "Ouch!" or some other form of exclamation and seemed to indicated that the church has majorly missed something here. There is no question that we as the church have areas to improve and need to put more energy and effort into this.

My question is this: does it really qualify as abuse to tell someone about Christ and then not make sure they are discipled? Abuse is a really strong word. It invokes images that are difficult to look at and unpleasant to even think about describing. It makes an accusation of someone with malice in their heart. An abuser is generally thought of as evil. I do take issue with that choice of words and all it entails. It also doesn't line up well with scripture.

For this statement to be true as presented here, then Philip, Peter, Paul, and even Jesus were guilty of abuse.

In Acts 8:26-40 we have the account of Philip and the Ethiopian. While they did have time to talk and Philip shared a lot with this man, it was hardly what we classify as discipleship. In fact, as soon as the man was baptized, Philip disappeared.

After bringing healing to the crippled beggar in Acts 3, Peter shares the truth of God's Word with those that had witnessed it and anyone else who stopped near. In chapter 4, he and John were arrested. While they did return, there is no indication of any form of follow up with the crowd that heard that day. Not to mention the day of Pentecost itself. Again, we have no record of any form of follow up or what we call discipleship taking place after this with those who were there that day. Many were foreigners and did not remain in town after that event. There was no way to make sure they got into a new believer's class or anything else.

I know Paul started churches most places he went, but not everywhere. In Acts 28 on the island of Malta, Paul prayed for and healed many people. This is evangelism though admittedly not expressed as such. Then he left. Again, no discipleship program.

Finally, we have Jesus. He went around preaching the Good News and healing people and He rarely stayed any place longer than a few days. One of the better examples of this is found in Mark 5. A man who had been possessed by many demons is freed. As Jesus is leaving the area at the request of the people, the man "begged" (word used in Mark 5:18 NIV) Jesus to let him follow. Jesus told him no. Definitely no discipleship.

It is just hard to use the word "abuse" in this context in light of the Biblical accounts we have. My whole view of discipleship changed upon the understanding and realization of how Jesus approached it, particularly in that last passage.

We are to help each other grow in Christ. We are to train and lead. We are to make disciples. Absolutely.

We should do both: evangelize and disciple.

We are also to tell the story of Christ and share His love. Sometimes, there will be no follow up program to plug people into. That does not mean it would be abuse to tell them anyway. Is it abuse to save a drowning person even if we have nothing else to give them? Or is it abuse to let them die?

I say we do both, but we make sure we are saving as many as we can, even if we have no way of following up in a givne circumstance.

What are your thoughts?

Coaching/Mentoring

2009-11-23T15:17:00.003-05:00

I am a strong proponent of continuous learning. No person, regardless of education or any achievement, has reached a place where they can stop learning and striving to grow. Even the highest level leaders need to be learning from someone.

This is why, I signed up for a pastor's coaching network next year. I will have to make some sacrifices to participate and it will take real effort on my part to get out of it everything I need to. It will be well worth it. If for no other reason than the experience and relationships formed, it will have great value.

It is also why, a group of pastors who I am friends with are forming a network to walk through some of the issues unique to pastoring. Only with others will we be able to accomplish what God has placed before us. It is part of His plan. He even modeled it for us in the life Christ.

Everyone is a teacher and everyone is a student. This should be the ongoing status of our lives in order to most fully live out our potential.

Chaos Continues

2009-11-18T10:17:00.006-05:00

There is no way in a series of blog posts can all the nuances of chaos be discussed. In fact, each instance of chaos is unique so only a few basic principles can be touched on in any discussion of the general reality of chaos.

As I think through chaos and recall the various and numerous situations of it in my life, I am struck by one reality. This one reality goes back to the second post in many ways, but is more than was mentioned there. We must have a relationship with God and we must trust Him, absolutely. However, the only way we are going to survive and even thrive in chaos is to be secure in ourselves.

Please don't get crazy and think I am suggesting any form of humanistic belief system or am in any way putting anything human above God. No. I am suggesting that we need to have an inner security of who we are in God and who He has designed us to be. The security is what enables us to stand when criticism hits. In leadership and in chaos, there will be no shortage of criticism. This inner security also enables us to make the decisions necessary to successfully navigate the chaos. Without it, we won't trust that the voice we here is the Holy Spirit. Without it, we will cower in fear of the mounting pressures instead of stand on the core values and convictions set on God's Word. Without this inner security we will begin to treat others poorly and with mistrust as paranoia sets in. Chaos reveals the flaws in our character, and if we are not secure, then those flaws will be large and in charge as it were.

This really is about pride. As counter-intuitive as it seems, the more pride-filled a person is, the less secure they are. A truly secure person can be humble, not know it, and not even care as they are just doing what they do. A secure person doesn't bow to the pressures of the whims of people because they are rooted in their core values. The secure person celebrates with others in their triumphs. He/She recognizes the value of the process and the treasure of people and can stay calm in crisis because their perspective is not in the immediate gain of self. In fact, the least selfish people I know are some of the most secure. The most selfish are extremely insecure.

Surviving chaos is about giving glory to God and allowing His purposes to be done. This motive is not at all focused on the effects or gain to self. The insecure can only think about how something is affecting them.

The best way to prepare for the next season of chaos is to repent of selfishness, get firmly centered in God and His Word and get over yourself. :)

Surviving Chaos

2009-11-15T22:43:00.002-05:00

After a solid foundation and trust in God, surviving chaos is possible by preparation and organization. As unlikely as that sounds, it is not only possible, but it is imperative that we plan for times of chaos. The moment of chaos arriving in your life and mine is a matter of when, not if. We all face it and a new season of chaos awaits around some corner of tomorrow. Denying it or avoiding it or just simply living oblivious to its reality is not a solution. In fact, it is not even a good idea.

Planning for the unknown chaos lurking ahead is difficult, no question. Even getting our head around the concept is akin to trying to explain the modern political system to a kindergartner. Well, that may be a bad example as the same level of maturity may be needed in both. Sorry, I digress. Pulling in the details and knowing how to plan for the unknowable is about like trying to herd cats. There are just so many directions to keep up with.

The planning and organizing needed for chaos is more about life in general and the specific chaos that will come. When our life is in order and chaos strikes, we are able to keep from falling apart. Trust in God is where it starts. After that, the next step is to be in control of our schedule. Our regular, every day/week schedule must have some margin in it so that we are prepared for the unexpected.

It's often said that the best defense is a good offense. This is true here as well. The best way to deal with chaos is to be proactive with our schedule every day. Know what is coming and prepare for what can be foreseen. Many seasons of chaos can be predicted to some degree. When we fail to recognize this we miss out on an opportunity to thrive in chaos.When we prepare for what can be known, we can simply walk through the steps and the process in the moment because the decisions and direction have already been made and set. We have to let our core values and principles be our guide when life is crazy and things are flying at us quickly. These can only be set in times of calm and through the intentional decisions we make.

If we keep our focus on what matters, our core values are strong, we control our schedule, and how each component fits then chaos won't shatter us.

Preparation and planning are about doing all we can to have margin in our lives to handle the unexpected and then grow through and recover from the times of chaos.

If you have ever wondered how some people seem to thrive in chaos, look at their lives when things are calm and you will find they are planning and organizing and in control of their schedule.

Surviving Chaos

2009-11-06T14:00:00.006-05:00

How do we survive and even thrive in chaos?

One of the first most important factors is to have a solid foundation and relationship with God. That seems so obvious and basic, yet it is true and needs to be said. We cannot handle the chaos of life without this relationship being at the core of our lives. It is much easier to stand and not be devastated when we are well grounded in our hearts and minds with the King of Kings as our Father. This helps set us up for the next factor...

Trust that God is in control. Nothing can separate us from His love. Nothing is outside His understanding. Nothing is bigger or more powerful than He is. Nothing causes Him to fret, worry, or panic. As such, we can rest fully in that knowledge and find peace in the storms and chaos that may surround us. This is the peace that passes understanding seen in Philippians. My daughters both get scared in storms, except when they are with me. They trust me and if I am calm, so are they. This has taught me about the level of trust we are to have with our heavenly Father. He is completely in control. It is hard to trust God at times because it is admitting our weakness and inadequacy to handle things ourselves. Truth is unaffected by our feelings or bias. It is what it is. We are inadequate and weak. But, in God we find strength and He is more than enough for whatever the situation. We don't have to panic or fret and we can remain calm, even in chaos.

Chaos is a matter of perspective much of the time anyway. I still have to fight within myself at times to overcome the sense of urgency that comes with projects and events. This urgency can cause us to lose perspective and focus and put the wrong things as the priorities. The more chaotic it seems, the more we can end up bulldozing people and leaving a wake of hurt and mistrust. I work to maintain a big picture focus and long term vision with whatever is being undertaken at the time. The process and the people involved are far more important than the details of the event or project. Chaos comes in and makes it appear that the people are the cause of the chaos and the problem.

People are not the problem, they are the purpose we are doing what we are doing. A year from now, it won't matter as much the details as the relationships and results in people's lives that came out of the situation. Perspective makes all the difference. Some things can only be appreciated and are effective only from a big picture view. Take a painting and try to enjoy it from 1 inch away with a magnifying glass. There is far more enjoyment in stepping back and taking the whole thing in. Chaos tries to get us to hold tight to the magnifying glass and miss out. Chaos distorts our perspective and redirects our focus if we let it. It serves much better to keep the focus and perspective on what is truly important to the overall vision.

This is why vision and purpose and core values are so important. These things have to be worked out beforehand.

Coming up - preparing for chaos.

Chaos

2009-11-05T11:17:00.004-05:00

Truth is, if life is smooth and has no chaos it is boring at best and meaningless at worst. Not to say that for life to have meaning it must be a state of madness all day every day. In fact, routine and the mundane are what keep us grounded and should be the base rythm of our lives.

However, there will and needs to be some chaos existent if we are to live effective lives of purpose. Relationships bring an element of chaos. We are relational beings and designed to to build and maintain relationships. This is a messy process as emotions, opinions personality, and an abundance of other factors jump int ot he equation. As we mature and grow and lead others to the same (relationship) there will be issues at times and full on chaos at others.

As we read through the sacred text of God's Word we see chaos time and again in the lives of those following God's plan. We also see it in those who did not follow His plan. The difference is always the end result.

Life is full of chaos. Soon as we think we've got it all figured out and under control, BAM, we get nailed with something we didn't see coming. God's plan adds a whole other element to it. One of the chief reasons that His plan adds so much chaos is that it si often conflicts with human desire and understanding. God's will always requires faith and involves risk. By nature and definition, risk and faith are catalysts of chaos when mixed in with human characteritics.

The key is to learn to embrace and live in the chaos and to know when it is of God and when it is man-made. We must also know when and how to disengage.

More to come on this issue...

What seems to bring the most chaos in to your life?

Challenge

2009-11-01T21:30:00.003-05:00

Today we had a missionary guest couple as part of our missions convention. Jim & Meg Thacker are missionaries to Burundi in Africa. Jim's blog is here. Jim & Meg have pioneered the missions work in that country that was so devastated by war. In the last 4 years they have seen 47 churches planted and 23 buildings built; amazing!

As they prepare to head back to Burundi next year, they are trying to raise enough money to build 20 more church buildings. This will take about $150,000. He is looking for 300 people/churches to give a one time gift of $500 to accomplish this. To me that is a no-brainer. Capital City for sure will be part of that challenge.

We took it a step further today.

I presented to the people at the end of the service and challenged individual families to accept the challenge and give $500. So far 7 families have stepped up and there will be more as the week goes on. That is incredible!

The "experts" say that in this economy, you can't raise money and people have nothing to give. God's economy doesn't work the way that man's does. There is money available when the cause is worthwhile and significant. More importantly, God always provides! When we believe in something and have a passion and heart for it, there is no problem going against the "experts" and wisdom of man and trusting God. It was easy to present this challenge today. There is no more worthwhile cause than building churches in strategic areas to help reach people who are far from God. More than that, many of the people groups in that part of Africa are completely unreached to this point.I know not everyone can step up to this challenge in this way, but many can.

It will be thrilling to see what God does through this! Hang on, He is just getting started!

Sunday Thoughts on Monday

2009-10-26T15:13:00.002-04:00

I have gotten away from doing a Sunday wrap up post. However, I wanted to do one this week. I know I am writing this on Monday afternoon, but it's still focused on Sunday.

Sunday started very early as I was awake before 6 am. There was a spiritual tension building for the day. That tension is not anything new. I know it well. I'm glad I do. Every pastor should be familiar with it. The tension should always be there, though there are days when it is stronger than others. This was one of the stronger ones.

We had a great time of praise with music led by my favorite leader. She happens to be quite beautiful too! :) (for those who weren't there, I am talking about my wife of course.)

The board presented myself and the pastoral staff with a very generous gift for pastor appreciation. We have a tremendous group of men who serve our church as board members. It is a privilege to work with them. On behalf of the staff and my family, Thank you everyone for the kind words and expressions. It is truly our honor to serve God at Capital City.

Sunday kicked off our missions convention. I love this event! This is when we get to cast vision for our partnerships with missions around the world. It is also when we get to highlight and tell the wonderful stories of what God is doing. We'll take faith promises in two weeks. A good friend and missionary to eastern Africa will be with us on November 1. We are showing the documentary "Beyond the Gates" about Jim Elliot and his friends who gave their lives in Ecuador 50 years ago. We will wrap all of it up with a banquet on the 8th.

Yesterday, I spoke out of Romans 10 and Philippians 2. Our theme for this coming year of missions is "Every Way." Jesus did whatever needed to be done to accomplish the work of God. We need to have the same attitude. We must be willing to do whatever it takes to fulfill the great commission. People are living and dying without hope all around us and around the world. We have the hope and peace and answer they need in Christ. "How can they believe if they have not heard?"

There was a tremendous response at the end of the service. Several indicated a move to commitment without reservation. One person took the step of accepting Christ into their life! That is what it is all about for us.

In the middle of our convention we also have two community connection opportunities. For Halloween we have homes throughout the community handing out candy bars and hot chocolate along with an invite to CapCity where three lucky guests will receive a gift card. On Saturday, November 7 we are hosting a tailgate party around the OSU @ Penn State game.

I can't wait to see what God is going to do in these next two weeks!

Coming Up

2009-10-22T09:47:00.003-04:00

Let me tell you, I am PUMPED up about what is next for Capital City Church!

Today is a vision planning/focus day for me and already (10 am) I am ready to jump up and get going on these things!

Here's a few of the things that have me so excited right now:

THIS SUNDAY! I have great expectations for every Sunday, that is never more true than it is for the next one coming up. This Sunday, we launch our missions convention. I love this event as we dream and prepare for how God wants to use us to touch souls around the world.
The rest of missions convention - Sunday, November 1 missionary Jim Thacker from Burundi will be with us. Wednesday, November 4 we will be watching the powerful missions documentary "Beyond the Gates." Sunday, November 8 we wrap it all up with a banquet and we are going to be announcing the 2010 missions trip!
The 2010 missions trip! It's quite difficult for me to not spill the beans on this trip right now!
TAILGATE PARTY - Saturday, November 7 we will be hosting a community wide tailgate party in out parking lot. OSU plays @ Penn State that day and we will have big screen TVs games for kids, cornhole, and of course, lots of food!
Our new Saturday night service! This will be launching early in 2010. Again, I want to share everything that is in the works for this, but it is not time yet.
Christmas Eve service - I love this event. It is one of my favorite traditions at Christmas. We will have a candlelight service with carols, stories, and family coming together to celebrate the birth of Christ.

These are some of what has me charged up and I just wanted to let you in on it.

Bible Study

2009-10-20T15:31:00.002-04:00

A couple of weeks ago I preached a message on reading the Bible. Due to the electric going out and operator error on my laptop, the message was not recorded. Here is a quick breakdown from that message.

We have all heard it said that we need to read the Bible. Too often that is all that is said. I know I was never really taught how until I was an adult and I grew up in church. I was taught to memorize and even bribed to do so with trophies, candy, etc. But, I was not really taught how.

It's amazing the positive response I get when I bring up this subject and start talking about it. People are hungry to know how to have an effective pattern and life of reading the Bible.

The thing is, it is simple. There are no secret tricks. There's no insider information only given to Reverends. God hasn't made it complicated. He gave us the Word in written form and then provides the Holy Spirit to guide us through and reveal the applicable truth us.

The Bible is called the "Living Word" because it is always applicable and transcends time and culture. For us to have a truly vibrant spiritual walk with God, the Bible must be a significant element in our lives.

Here is a quick run down of how to read the Bible effectively:

Get a translation you can understand. All English versions are translations of the original. What is important is that you are reading and that it is understandable to you. I even recommend using multiple translations in deep study to get the full essence of what is written.
Pray, ask God to make His Word clear and applicable to your life.
Start with Jesus. It’s all about Him. The books of Mark & John in the Bible are great for reading His story.
Have a plan. Use a study Bible or get a devotional journal or book, pick a topic, study a person’s life in the Bible, whatever, just have a plan of what you are going to read. Random does not work long term and you will get frustrated.
Journal your reading. Get a notebook or journal and write down your thoughts each day while and after reading. This will help you to think on what you have read as well as have a record of what you hear God’s Spirit say to you through the Bible. I have found this to be the best way to process what I have read and keep track of what God speaks to me through His Word.
Have a set time. Know when you are going to read each day. Make it an appointment on your calendar if that’s what it takes. Guard this time.

Staying Focused

2009-10-12T22:25:00.002-04:00

My last post gave a run down of last week and some of the unexpected it entailed. Let me tell you, it is very easy to get off track when things get busy and surprises happen. How do we stay focused in these times?

Great question and one I have struggled with over and over again. Today is another great example of having a certain flow in my mind when I came into the office and it all blows up with unplanned and unexpected issues and directions. It is 1:20 pm and I am just now getting to what I had planned as my projects for today. On this front, an agenda and having things organized and well planned out is one big key.

There is a bigger issue along this line also. Sunday morning when we were scrambling around trying to get the computer stuff straightened out, I was aggravated. It had been a less than smooth weekend and we had been dealing with the computer for a couple of days. Also, my girls had been less than cooperative that morning. The tendency would be to let it get to me and lose focus for the day. I have grand experience with letting that happen.

We must remember the big picture and what is truly important. Fact is, if the computer had not been able to work, so what. That is not a needed element. It is a nice touch and wonderful tool, but not an element. God's Spirit and Presence do not rely on technology or even on things going smoothly. It is important that the leader stay focused with a right heart attitude.

Sunday morning, I had to stop and make the decision not to get upset and not to lose my focus. It takes a big picture mindset. How insane would it be for me to preach on prayer and that very day have let little things get me off track and not pray?

We all face scenarios that will try to distract us from what really matters. There are things every day that come in and demand attention away from the truly significant. Little things can seem so big when they are immediate. The old saying, "the devil is in the details," does apply here. I believe the details matter and that we must be aware and attentive to them. However, there comes a point where the details can actually take over. This is usually at a critical mass moment and the details seem to be falling apart. Sometimes we must let them go and get back to the basics and focus in on what it is really about.

Staying focused takes discipline, intention, and resolve.

Flexibility - the word of the week

2009-10-12T21:52:00.002-04:00

I have written here about flexibility before. This past week has been a real opportunity to live it out.

It started early on Sunday, October 4. We had a schedule for the morning to get things ready for the day. Jacob's Road was with us as special musical guests. A couple of things happened to throw that schedule off. No problem, adjustments were made and it all came together. At about 9:40 or so I was in the sanctuary and the lights literally went out. My first thought was a breaker had blown, then I heard the fire doors coming down with a loud crash in the kitchen. This was more than a breaker. After the initial check of the building, we learned from the power company that over 1700 in our area were without power due to an incident. (We later found out the "incident" was "animal contact at a power pole.")

You can imagine, this caused a bit of scrambling to take place. Everyone involved did fantastic. Jacob's Road rolled with it and put together a fully acoustic song set for a time of praise. Our children's workers adjusted and kept the children in the lobby where we receive the most natural light in the building. We got everyone to sit as close to the front as possible in the center of the sanctuary and we opened the doors around the sides allowing sunlight to come in. We had church! It was a great time!

I have received so many positive comments about the day. People really connected with the time of praise and just got into the feel of the day. No technology, no hype, no pretension, just simple. Just awesome. I greatly enjoyed it.

Monday brought a couple more surprises that changed my schedule a bit for the week. No big things, just had to flow and adjust. Monday night an opportunity arose to spend some time with other pastors in serious iron sharpens iron time. It was late and unexpected, but it was very cool. Having it take place over wings and Monday Night Football didn't hurt! :)

Tuesday night had me out unexpectedly at 1 am helping a group out that was in from out of town. Wednesday brought schedule changes as appointments shifted and plans were changed. Thursday, Friday, & Saturday welcomed an outside group of Korean churches using our building for evening rallies. This was planned, but these events always involve a surprise or two and this one did as well. Friday morning brought an inspection to our HVAC and Fire Alarm system that we weren't aware was going to take place. Friday also brought with it a good amount of rain which was a problem for the men's campout that night. We held it anyway and just made some adjustments.

In the middle of all this our main computer that runs the projection in the sanctuary had a serious virus issue that rendered it unusable. Sunday morning we were loading software onto a different computer to make things work for the day.

It was a great week in so many ways. God moved and spoke. People contacts were made. Lessons were learned. Much was accomplished.

All of that to say, when you speak of flexibility, be willing to live it. :)

Got Questions?

2009-10-08T22:35:00.005-04:00

Got questions?

You should. I know I do. I have way more questions than I have answers. That is a good thing. Someone who has run out of questions, has stopped learning.

As soon as we start to believe we know all we need to know, our minds begin to dull and lose the ability to retain knowledge. The human mind is an amazing thing with great ability to store huge amounts of information. Like anything else, it needs on going use to remain sharp. Let your arm hang by your side for a couple of weeks and don’t use it and see what happens. It will become weaker, less mobile, less flexible, less useful. The mind is the same way. If we don’t keep it engaged and thinking and growing, it too will become weaker, less mobile, less flexible, less useful.

So ask questions. If you don’t know something, ask someone. If you aren’t sure, ask. Seek knowledge, understanding. Grow in capacity. Expand your creativity. Discover new horizons. See things in a new light, a fresh perspective. Think. Learn.

This is discipleship. What did Jesus do? He opened people’s eyes to new things and took them to greater heights of understanding. As He led the disciples, He taught them to think and to learn. The way Jesus prepared Peter, James, John, and the others to impact the world was by preparing them to never stop. Never stop asking questions. Never stop seeking truth. Never stop finding answers.

The average 4 year old asks 400 questions a day. This probably does not surprise parents, especially those who currently have a 4 year old. There is no question that a person’s greatest capacity to learn is when they are young. One way this is accomplished is by asking questions. Kids ask questions. Much to the annoyance of adults some times. We should be more tolerant of their questions as we realize they are just trying to learn; something we should greatly encourage and not suppress. In fact, we could take a cue from kids and begin to ask more questions ourselves.

The keys to effectively asking questions:

Think about the question and word it well to get the most complete answer you can. Know the question before you open your mouth to ask or begin the search
Ask the right person or look in the right place for the answer
LISTEN to the answer to its completion. One of my biggest pet peeves is when someone asks a question and then continues to keep talking or interrupts the answer with an argument or another subject. This indicates they really didn’t care about learning anything. They either just wanted to enter the conversation or they had their own agenda and the question was their way of inserting their view, opinion, or manipulation. If you are going to take the time to ask, take the time to hear the answer.
Think about the answer. Sometimes it is best to not respond immediately until you have processed it. This all is weighed on what’s appropriate for the question asked and answer given. Some things are minor and don’t need much thought to the answer, others require time to meditate on the answer.
Ask more questions. Follow up questions and clarity questions are vital for things in an answer that were not completely clear. Remember the goal is understanding and growth.
Keep asking questions/seeking answers - never stop.
Repeat all the steps above.

Got Questions?

Quick Thought

2009-10-08T22:11:00.001-04:00

“The significant problems we face cannot be solved at the same level of thinking we were at when we created them."
Albert Einstein

The legends surrounding Einstein are vast. Whether or not they are all true has nothing to do with the fact that he was a great man and a great thinker. His ability to think beyond his context and transcend into higher realms intellectually has been repeated by very few.

The quote above is very appropriate for the state of things in the church today. There is no question that we face significant problems in the American church. However, those problems will never be solved by trying to do the same things and think the same ways we always have. That is what got us here in the first place.

The answers we need lie in a radically new way of thinking and doing things. I am not saying a new theology as some fear this means. I mean embracing new techniques and methods and using technology and situations that exist within the culture to impact individuals. Mark Batterson of National Community Church in Washington, D.C. is often quoted as saying, "I believe the best ways of doing church haven't even been invented yet."

If we will be honest with ourselves, the vast majority of problems we face were created by us directly or through inattention.

God is calling us to a new thing and a new level.

“See, I am doing a new thing! Now it springs up; do you not perceive it? I am making a way in the desert and streams in the wasteland.” Isaiah 43:19

The 24 Hour Rule

2009-10-02T14:57:00.003-04:00

This past week I had the privilege of teaching a couple of sessions at the annual Ohio A/G minister's retreat. This event is always a highlight for me. The speakers and sessions are always good, but mostly, I enjoy the interaction and laid back atmosphere. There is so much of an iron sharpens iron element. In the lobbies, the cafeteria, hallways, throughout the campus there are conversations happening that are strengthening and encouraging. Leaders learning from each other is a great thing!

It was a very real honor when I was asked to be a part of this event as a presenter.

I taught both sessions on technology in ministry. The first was a basic look at organizing and using email effectively and efficiently. The second was talking about being mobile and leveraging technology for our benefit.

I will from time to time post some of what I taught as well as what I am currently learning in these areas.

Michael Hyatt has a great series of posts on his blog regarding email. Click here to read his insights. I used some of what he has written in my sessions this week as they are things I have implemented.

One thing we use around here that I feel is very important: the 24 hour rule. It simply states that ALL phone calls and emails are to be responded to within 24 hours (those that require a response , of course). This holds, even if the answer is no or not now. The reply might be as simple as, "Thanks for the email, I will get back to you with that information when it is available," or, "Received your message, I will be in touch with you to follow up by ________."

There are some specific reasons and benefits related to this rule.

It is common courtesy; something this world could use more of.
It keeps us responsive.
Nothing is more frustrating than feeling ignored.
It shows that we care about people.
It makes a person feel valued that they received a prompt response.
It keeps things from falling thru the cracks.

A couple of exceptions to the rule are days off and vacation. Otherwise, we return calls and emails. I do allow for exceptions to unsolicited sales calls. No need to rush a return call there, they will call back. I learned this rule a long time ago and rarely does it get broken. Now my staff follows it as well.

While I am on the subject, if you are a Pastor or church leader, return your calls! Even to missionaries. I know they are asking for platform time and money, but even when the answer is no, they will appreciate the returned call. It is hard to do what they do in contacting churches and pastors. I know how hard it is to tell a missionary no. I have to do it as well. At some point in the future you may be able to work with that missionary or may have an opportunity to get to know them. Think how much better that will be if there is already some respect there.

I have personally experienced this. At my last church, we supported missionaries, but did not have the ability to add more. The number, while good for that size and location church, was much smaller than the number of missionaries the church I am currently pastoring supports. When I moved here and suddenly became a supporting pastor for many missionaries I had not been for the previous years, it was great to know that I had no reason to avoid any missionaries because I had not returned their calls before. Several times, missionaries have commented how much they appreciated me returning their call, even when the answer was "no." At least they knew and could move on and not spend time trying to track me down.

Sorry, I'll get off me soap box now.

What rules do you have regarding emails, phone calls, etc. that work in your context?

Time Flies

2009-09-24T22:17:00.004-04:00

Wow! I just looked at the date of my last post. Time does fly! This recent break from blogging was not intentional, it just was. However, there are times when breaks like this are needed. Turns out this was one of those, I just wasn't aware initially.

As I think about how quickly these last few weeks have gone, it is quite honestly a bit scary. It seems like I was just waiting for school to start back up for my girls so we could return to a more "normal" schedule, and here we are 5 weeks in already. This week, my wife and I celebrated our wedding anniversary (14 years! I know, hard to believe anyone has willingly put up with me that long!). While I was out shopping for a present for her, I came across Halloween items. Wow, it is only a month away now. Then I turned the corner and it was all Christmas! Really?

This week, I also sent an email to my staff going over the next few weeks of events and activities. I think I scared them. I know it got my attention.

In all of this, the point is quite clear: if we are not intentional with each day, then it will be a missed opportunity lost forever. It would be very easy to go into the "live our lives right because it will be over before we know it" or the "tell everyone about Jesus while there is still time" mode. Both of those are true and both are good messages. But, let's look at it from a different angle and maybe see something.

What if in realizing that every day is a fleeting breath, we mapped out our priorities and lives with absolute intention to squeeze every drop of possibility from each day? How many times do we catch ourselves saying, "the day got away from me and I didn't get anything done I needed to"? Follow the stream on Facebook, this may be the most common post next to "is". If the day got away from us, it is only because we weren't prepared for it.

It has been a hard lesson for me to begin to map out my days. Most of us have calendars to track appointments and to do lists to track tasks, but are we creating a plan for the day?

I am working on this skill and have made some strides, but still have a long way to go. Not a one of us wants to get to the end of anything and look back and realize all the lost time leaving us full of regret.

There are so many time-wasters vying for our attention. They are attractive. Some of them are even good things, but they may not be the best things in the moment. Hard work and efficiency are important for productivity and that is something we need. However, this does not guarantee effectiveness. To be effective in life and in our God designed plan, is going to take something more. It is going to take the extra step of planned intention. Knowing what needs to be done is not enough, we must strategize and then implement what it is going to take to get it down. (On a side leadership note, many times this means giving it to someone else.)

Here is what I am beginning to do. Each night I check my calendar and notes for the next day to make sure I have a big picture understanding of what I am facing. This gives me time to "sleep on it" and then wake up with that in mind. In the mornings I double check the calendar. Then I look over any reminders or thoughts for the day I have may noted (whether you use a computer program or paper journal for this, use one thing consistently). Many times I already know at this point or have even laid out the truly significant things that must be accomplished or addressed that day. Then I simply adjust or align the priorities of the day (not necessarily tasks, these are objectives) and do what needs to be done to fulfill those objectives starting with the most important and hardest first. This leaves the easier and less intense items until later in the day when I am getting tired anyway. Objectives early when we are sharp and focused, and tasks later when we are tired and spent. One key to this is to learn to say "no", "not now", and/or "you take care of it".

It also involves learning how to recognize those urgent things that pop up that seem immediate, but truly are not that significant. Distractions exist for every one of us. We must be able to know how to deal with them and this requires an intentional plan that allows us to side step the time-landmines that exist.

Now, there will be things that pop up that are both urgent and significant which will necessitate a shift in the plans for the day. It takes discernment and experience to know what fits this. That's also why margins in schedule are important. There must be some room to maneuver.

What are some things you are doing to keep time from "getting away from you"?

Discipline

2009-09-09T08:59:00.003-04:00

Ed young posted this tweet this morning "Discipline is doing what you have to do so you can then do what you want to do."

Simple and profound yet extremely difficult.

I have two girls, 8 and 10 years old, and they are wonderful. I love them more than life. However, they can frustrate me like no one else. (Don't look at me that way, if you're a parent you know it is true.) Part of my responsibility is to train them to be productive in life that they may live up to the potential God has given them. That means teaching them to do what needs to be done, even if they don't feel like it.

Parents, see if this scenario is familiar. I ask one of my girls to clean a room or pick something up. The response I get is that she didn't make the mess and doesn't want to. My reply is to guilt them into it by reminding her all the things her mother and I do for her. Actually, most of the time I do try and help them see that we have to do things in life, just because it is a part of life.

Last night, it played out this way. My youngest wanted to have a friend over after school today. Her room and the basement were both less than tidy. She was told to clean them. It was easy for her to grasp the reward part of the task and so she bounded off to clean with no fuss. That is not normal by any stretch. The difference was she understood and could sense the immediate result of doing what she had to in order to get to do what she wanted.

Yet, much of life is not that way. Too often we choose the immediate want over the long term need. One easy example is in the way we eat. Too often we grab the quick burger and fries chased by ice cream rather than eating a properly healthy meal. Then we complain about the expanding waistline and the fact that we get winded climbing the stairs. If we would be disciplined and eat right most of the time and exercise regularly, then we could eat the junk once in a while and be much more active in life.

In our jobs, we do what must be done so we can do what we want later. We work and earn a living so we can afford the trips and leisure activities and so we can support missions and live generously.

For my daughter who doesn't like school so much, it is hard to understand that she has to go to school and it is important to go even when she doesn't want to. Of course, we understand the reason she must go and what the reward will be later.

One thing I have found to be absolutely true, if I live disciplined (spiritually, relationally, physically) and do what I need to do, then what I want to do does change and begin to line up more with God's wants and purposes and with what is good for me and not just what pleases me.

By the way, Paul wrote about this pretty extensively in Romans 7. While he directly references sin, I'm not sure there is much difference to how it plays out in every area of our life. Plus, being irresponsible and not living up to our potential in God is sin.

What is it you need to do today that you are putting off because you want to do something else?

The Go-Giver

2009-09-04T14:57:00.007-04:00

Earlier this week I read a book entitled "The Go-Giver" by Bob Burg & John David Mann. In fact, I read it in a couple hours one evening. Once I started, I wanted to finish it right away. This book is a parable and I love that. Too many books written in the business and leadership world lack creativity. This book is creative while it imparts some business and leadership principles that are excellent. Really the values this book suggests are life values. The book calls them the 5 laws of stratospheric success.

I don't know much about either author. Whether this is a compliment to them or not, they have quite wonderfully captured a very real principle of the character of God within the pages of this book. The whole concept of the book is give of yourself generously and you won't be able to contain the results. While the immediate context of Luke 6:38 is speaking to judgment, it holds true to most of the rest of life as well: "Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you." Jesus also instructs in Matthew 16:25: "For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me will find it."

Whether it is money, time, knowledge, energy, experience, whatever; there is no substitute for generosity. Jon Acuff (@prodigaljohn) recently posted this Tweet: The lie is that you'll run out of ideas if you write all the time, the truth is you will if you don't. I would expand that to be true of most things in life. The lie is if you give more away you will have less when the truth is the more you give the you will have. That is one of the points of the parable of the talents that Jesus told in Matthew 25.

I recommend this book for everyone. It will inspire you. It will challenge your thinking. It will entertain you. It will give you and opportunity to take a good look at yourself and the way you handle relationships and people.

If people would live life how this book proposes, the results would be nothing short of amazing across society.

The cover has the line, "A little story about a powerful business idea." It easily could read, "A little story about a powerful life value."

Buy it on Amazon here.

Generations part 2

2009-09-02T14:46:00.003-04:00

As we launch in a new direction with our mode of ministry to youth and start ministering with youth, some might (actually have) ask, "where is this coming from?" or "what prompted this change? Is there a problem?" Truth is, there is a problem. The one I mentioned in the last post about the rate we lose students from the church after they graduate high school.

Here's a little more background.

I spent about 13 years in full-time youth ministry in four states. I served in small, medium, and large churches. I saw God move incredibly among youth and watched youth do incredible things. Today, there are youth from our former groups who are pastors, missionaries, youth workers, worship leaders, sunday school teachers, children's workers, and various other levels of involvement in their respective churches. While I can easily point to the success stories and am proud of each one, that is not the whole picture. Unfortunately, I have to say that most of the young people that attended the youth groups we led are not actively living for God today; some are flat out living very tragic lifestyles. It would be normal to claim that is true for everyone and that our percentages are better than the average numbers we read about. That would be a cop out and just trying to ease the blow.

Did we fail? Yes and no. I have stories to illustrate both. The problem is deep and has as many facets as individuals being talked about. With some we did fail, with others, nothing we could have done would have changed the choices they have made.

Several years ago I was in a conversation with a leader from what was a nationally known, very large youth ministry. We were comparing insights and talking about some of the frustrations of youth ministry and seeing students walk away. This brought up the topic os defining success. Of course, that conversation came down to the fact that real success is defined by God not man and numbers do not tell the whole story. Every endeavor to reach and raise up people for God will have the gamut of stories to tell, leassons learned, mistakes made, and lives affected.

As I walked away from that conversation, there was a real uneasiness in me that I couldn't shake. I didn't want to take the cop out approach and "feel better" because even the largest youth ministries were experiencing the same issues we were.

We started to take some hard looks at how we were doing youth ministry and realized we were very top heavy. Meaning, it was mostly adults who were doing ministry and the youth were spectators. We immediately started making changes. Teams were formed from among the young people to get them more actively involved in actually doing ministry on an on-going basis and the adults were adjusted to more of a mentoring and guiding role. I even had a group of youth who met at my house regularly to help me brainstorm, plan, and even present the messages. This creative team took our services to a new level.

We saw some success as youth became much more involved in the overall life of the church as children's workers, tech crew, in the music department, taking part in outreach, and on and on. As youth pastor, I was limited in the full impact of these changes on the church as a whole, but it was a step in the right direction.

Since that time, I have been rethinking youth ministry as a whole and wondering what if we built a youth ministry that was focused on youth doing ministry and made it part of the churches DNA to have the generations working side by side. Much time has been spent in prayer, conversation, and meditating on this.

That is just a bit of the background for the changes we are making.

This post is long enough, so I will wait until the next one in this series to start putting some structure to this new endeavor.

Yesterday & Tomorrow

2009-08-31T08:35:00.003-04:00

The yesterday is literal, the tomorrow is more figurative.

What an incredible day we had at Capital City Church yesterday! It's always a blast to have the children open our service! The rest of the praise time was great. My favorite worship leader of all was up there. She's got a fantastic voice, awesome heart, and she's beautiful too! :-)

We wrapped up our vision & direction series with a look into James chapter 2. Faith without action is dead. Action without faith is dead. I don't remember where I first heard this quote, but it is very good, "Faith without action leads to narcissism. Action without faith leads to despair." The two cannot be separated successfully any more than a man can be cut down the middle and continue on. Action, works, deeds, whatever word you use, are a result of our faith. They are born out of it. The fruit of faith if you will. Action does not earn us salvation or God's favor, He has given freely to us. However, action does prove that our faith exists.

I announced yesterday a couple of things in our future. The move to cross-generational ministry is one that I have been talking about in this blog already. We are going to take some aggressive steps to pay off our debt and to make major increases in missions and outreach monies and resources. Very soon we will be announcing the details for adding a second service. The time frame is not yet set, but when I say VERY soon, I mean it. It has been burning in me for a while and the time is about here for it.

We ended the service a bit differently, I had people write their names on an offering envelope and then, after some prayer, had them write on that envelope what their "action" offering was going to be. What was it they were committing to obey God in by putting feet to their faith. This included opportunities to serve in the church as well as serve people outside the church in the community. Then everyone came forward and laid those envelopes on the front of the stage. I can't wait to process through the responses.

After a little time of relaxing in the afternoon, we had our church picnic. Fantastic turnout! Great food, great conversations, and lots of fun. Nearly perfect weather, too. I was a bit nervous after announcing no rain and then have a light rain falling as I am greeting people in the lobby at the end of service. But, it cleared up and was beautiful by the time for the picnic. Nathan and I did go down to a couple of teams in cornhole. Our undefeated streak is over. We had a blast with some good clean competition.

Well, I'll post more later, but I have some training to do to reacquire our position atop the CapCity cornhole whatever. :-)

P.S. Breawnn took some great photos of the picnic. You can find them by clicking here.

Wasabi Gospel

2009-08-28T09:38:00.006-04:00

I have been following Shawn Wood on Twitter for several months and enjoy his insights. When I started seeing the ramp up to the release of his book Wasabi Gospel, I decided it would be a good thing to check out. I was not disappointed.

There are a couple of things that stand out about this book that are refreshing. One is the interweaved story of "Laura" in the form of diary entries. The raw reality and emotion of working through life change is captured very well using this method. It adds to the draw to continue reading. So many books that are written on Christian life have great information, but lack something because they don't tell a story at the same time. Not having a story or stories tied to what is being presented can leave some very good teachings and valuable insights a little dry. Shawn does a great job keeping the insights fresh and connected with the reader. "Laura's Story" is a big part of that.

There is another aspect of this element that I very much appreciate, but I hesitate to mention because it could be a bit of a spoiler to someone who has not yet read it. Hopefully this is a good compromise: the way Shawn leaves Laura's Story is well done as it matches the raw reality of the whole.

Another thing that stands out about this book is the no holds barred honesty that Shawn uses to address each of the sayings of Jesus that he chose to address. Right off in chapter one Shawn shares of a time he was going to speak on a part of the Sermon on the Mount. As he was preparing, he was hit hard with the reality of what Christ was saying. Here are a couple of excerpts from that chapter (pages 7&8):

"I have a long standing rule against lying when I preach. So, in an attempt not to go get myself struck by lightning, I read over and over the statement above [Matthew 5:7] and asked myself the hardest question that someone can ask themselves when studying the Bible: 'How can I live this out?' ...
"Suddenly, God placed a name in my mind. It was the name of someone who had hurt me and many people whom I love very much in the worst kind of way. ...
"I had to be honest. Not only did I not want to give this person mercy and forgiveness, I wanted to hurt this person back."

He goes on the chapter about how he did manage to work through that and gives some great insight into forgiveness and mercy.

Each chapter is like that. It will cause you to think and evaluate. If you will be honest and allow the experiences Shawn shares along with the very pointed statements of Jesus that are addressed in this book to get a hold of you, you will be forced to repent and change at least once before you reach the final page of the book. The words of Christ are powerful and they bring us closer to God. But, that process requires humbling ourselves, realizing our faults and shortcomings, and moving forward with resolve to let those words shape us.

While the length and format of this book lend it to being called an "easy read", it only qualifies as that if you read it thinking about how someone else needs to read it so they will change. The book is easy to read, the truths take effort to apply and live out. If we all lived out the words of Jesus the way He intends for us to, well, life would be much different and this world would be turned upside down.

Generations

2009-08-27T07:02:00.004-04:00

Last night was the first night of the transition we are making in our youth ministry. We are moving from a rally/spectator model to involvement. We have no specific model we are following. This is an experiment. I am going to post about this new endeavor off and on as we work through this.

I had a great time last night sharing with our students the "why" behind the changes and casting some vision with them to get them ready for what is about to happen.

Too many churches and people push student ministry off to the side as more of a babysitting service to keep them out of the way while the adults do the "real" ministry. There is too much talk about the "church of tomorrow" in referencing youth in church. The church is losing too many upon graduation. Upwards of 90% of our high school graduates will walk away from church in the four year of college and not come back.

Young people are full of potential. Most would agree with that. The problem is, too many see that as future potential vs present potential. A healthy and vibrant church is one that merges the generations to serve together. The church that is going to touch their community in unprecedented ways is the one that has children, youth, and adults working side by side growing and learning from one another and allowing the strengths of each individual and generation to add value to the whole.

We are not going to keep youth on the sidelines watching. We are not going to have a nice little youth group that keeps students separated. We are going to engage youth and give them significant opportunities to use what God has given them and to see Him move in and through them. We are going to challenge them, resource them, train them, and send them. We are going to incorporate all the generations in the DNA and life and activities and outreach of Capital City Church. The adults need the youth and children. The youth need the adults and children. The children need the adults and youth.

Will this always be smooth and seamless? I hope not. If it is, then we have not accomplished anything worthwhile because we took the easy road and didn't really change anything. God is speaking to His people and His church. It is time we stepped up and finished the task He gave us. That is only going to happen together. We must come together in unity across generational, social, denominational, racial, economic, and any other lines we have allowed to divide.

In the next post, I'll give a little more background and start to reveal some of the practical things this will entail.

General Council

2009-08-21T10:07:00.005-04:00

I was going to write a few posts on GC09. I have several things to say, but I have decided that this post will be it. Mainly because, well, to be quite honest I was going to rant about a couple of things and there is no value in that.

That said, I am going to attempt to process one area of concern I have and let you in on that process here. As I said before, overall I am encouraged about the future of the church and of the Assemblies of God. We have some great leaders and there were some significant steps taken in the right direction two weeks ago.

However, there is something that I am struggling with. From the discussions held in the business meetings and on Twitter and in the blogs, I am not the only one struggling here.

The AG and the leadership of the church in America is not getting any younger. In fact, it seems there is a generation or two that is clinging to positions and power with a near death grip. At GC09 more resolutions were presented in an attempt to bring in some younger leaders to the bodies of influence within our fellowship. There were even a couple of people elected into these groups; token at best, but elected in nonetheless. Truth is, nothing changed among any of the highest levels. The resolutions were discussed and tabled for another two years. My concern is two-fold: first, we just keep putting off actually doing something; second, the solutions that are being offered are quotas and don't change anything really.

Adding more people to a body that at times is already too big and bureaucratic isn't going to be effective. Plus, it doesn't really change the complexion of that body. Trying to change things with mandates and resolutions from the top down often just centralizes things more and can have the reverse of the intended effect. It seems that the real answer is for those currently holding the positions to mentor and raise up the next leaders and then step aside gracefully instead of holding on for decades. Term limits definitely seem like a better step in the right direction than age, gender, and ethnic quotas. Why is it so hard to look across a room at the District level and find those with energy, vision, and anointing and give them the opportunity to lead? Why do we allow ourselves to become comfortable and complacent to the point of hanging on too long and allowing others to do so as well?

I honor and appreciate the generations that have gone before. Those men and women that have paved the way are a tremendous source of wisdom and guidance. I frequently seek out the counsel of those with more experience than me. That doesn't mean, however, that the roles of leadership should be held solely or mostly by only those with so many decades of experience. I would contend, that the ones who willfully and intentionally step aside and let the generations after them step up and even encourage that will have more influence and a greater legacy than the ones who hold on to position and titles.

I don't have a program oriented solution or one that can be easily "RESOLVED" after a few "Whereas" statements. I do believe that we must each examine our hearts and ask if serving is our real motivation or is power and political position? If it is serving, then we will do so wholeheartedly and understand that seasons change and come and go. If it is power, title, and position then we will strive and claw to get there and then hold on for as long as we can get away with it.

Maybe the best, most effective, and influential leaders are those who give it all away and raise up the next generations.

Feel free to weigh in... what are your thoughts?

General Council

2009-08-19T16:51:00.003-04:00

I will have a couple of posts that reflect some of my thoughts and impressions from General Council (GC09)in Orlando two weeks ago. In this first one, I will hit some of the overall things and the tone etc. In other posts I will address a couple of specific issues regarding decisions and business conducted.

Overall, GC09 was a great event! We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Everything except the registration was run very well and quite organized. Not sure what happened at registration, I have attended Councils before and never had to stand in line for more than a few minutes to get through, especially when we were pre-registered. I was in line for almost an hour and a half and know of some who did so for over three hours. Oh well, I wouldn't want to be in charge of processing 29,000 people.

The Kids Council registration was excellent. They took pictures of the kids and of the parents and even fingerprint scanned the parents. After that, parents signed their children in and out via fingerprint and then received a printout with pictures of kids and parents. That print out had to be turned in and the child's sticker placed on the paper before a parent could leave the area with a child. Very secure and very well done.

The children's workers were wonderful. They engaged the kids and they showed great energy even when I know they were tired. There were field trips in the mornings, activities in the afternoon, and children's services in the evening. My girls loved it! They made friends and they came away telling us about the Bible lessons learned and singing the worship songs. They are already asking if they can go to Kids Council again in two years. Very cool.

The exhibit hall was impressive. It was very hi-tech with computers and video screens everywhere. There were interactive media displays and a couple of stages set up to try out new audio/visual gear from Yahama and even record in a studio set up.

As part of the exhibit area, there was a Eurasia Experience that took you through a full production starting as if you were going through an airport and flying overseas. It walked you through a couple of areas that gave the feel of being in various parts of Eurasia and ended with a great program.

There were a couple of schedule changes that were really nice this year.

On Wednesday, the Youth and Kids Councils had their normal evening services, but there were no adult services. This was designed to give parents a night out alone. Great idea. (We took advantage and had a very nice meal at one of our favorite restaurants.)

On Thursday night, there was a combined Youth and Adult service with elements geared toward each. It was an amazing evening. There is not much that compares to radical and passionate praise taking place across generations in one place. A few rows in front of us was a lady well advanced in years and dressed traditionally. At the front of the room and scattered throughout were teens and young adults. On stage Jeff Deyo was leading worship. There were moving lights, giant screens, and motion graphics. This dear woman had both arms raised fully engaged in worship of God, and so did the thousands of young people as they jumped and shouted! Across the room, people of all ages proclaimed dedication and praise of the living God in one voice. Awesome!

The overall tone of the Council was very good. I am encouraged about the future of the Assemblies of God, but more importantly about the future of the church. This wasn't just about our specific fellowship as moves were made and things were done and people represented that go beyond a labeled group and have Kingdom significance. I walked away challenged and encouraged. God is doing something incredible around the world and we are privileged to be a part of it.

The Magic Kingdom

2009-08-18T23:24:00.006-04:00

On Sunday, I promised I would blog some of my thoughts from our two weeks away for General Council and family vacation. General Council is the bi-annual national meeting for the US Assemblies of God. This year it was held in Orlando, Florida. We decided to tack on some days before and a week after in order to have some vacation as well.

On one of our family days we went to the Magic Kingdom at Disney World. Many pastors and leaders have documented well the level of hospitality and imagination that is very evident from the moment you step onto the property. Mark Batterson weighed in his thoughts here and here which were very good. There are many others I could point to as well. I won't take time here to add to what others have noted except to say, the Disney plan and vision is quite impressive and they do hospitality and details like few others.

My take in this post will be somewhat different. First, I will say that we went at the wrong time. Orlando in August is NOT the time and place to go anywhere outdoors that the crowds are large and the lines long. It was the least enjoyable day for my wife and I. Truth is, our daughters were ready to leave shortly after lunch as well. We stretched it out to dinner time because of how much it cost. The day was more hot and humid than some of the surrounding days and there was little to no breeze to bring relief. We found our most enjoyment to come from the indoor shows. I don't mean to whine, just want to give some background and perspective for my comments.

Maybe my expectations are too high. Maybe I was hot and cranky. Maybe my daughters were a little too whiny and had asked for one too many things to buy. Or maybe Disney is in danger of losing sight of who they are. Maybe the success that Disney has and is enjoying is causing them to lose focus.

The biggest problem of our day there was the amount of people in the park. There was little room to move and the lines were extremely long to everything, including the food. Has Disney crossed the line of being more worried about profit than providing a quality experience to every visitor?

Here's a radical thought, what if Disney limited the visitors each day to a set number that would allow for a better experience for those who made it in. I know that goes against the grain, but so has much of what Disney has done over the years. I would have been disappointed, but understanding, to find out that the day we wanted to go was sold out. We would have tried for another day. I know it isn't the best business model to turn away customers, but neither is unhappy and dissatisfied customers walking away feeling like they just wasted precious time and money. My point is simply that Disney has found a better way to do most things, but they are failing in finding a new way to approach the size of their crowds and the cost of their parks.

Now let me turn this around a bit. As a church we must make sure that we are constantly evaluating what we do and make sure that we are doing everything we can to provide a positive experience to our guests so that nothing hinders them from having and encounter with Christ. That means asking the question is there a better way. A modern example of that question being asked and answered has to do with the very things that disrupted our visit to the Magic Kingdom: crowds and costs. As churches have grown, many have not built huge buildings costing untold millions where larger crowds could gather. Instead, they have chosen to "limit" the amount that could be there at any one time by keeping facilities smaller and meeting more often. This helps keep the indebtedness down freeng up money for ministry and it helps give a better overall experience to those who attend. I am not against large gatherings or mega-churches by any stretch. I greatly appreciate and celebrate them. A new day is here and, for some, a new approach has also arrived. This has come from leaders asking the hard questions.

Disney has been known for asking hard questions in the past. The problem is, the larger you get, the higher the stakes for asking those questions and then acting on the answers. I don't know that Disney is now capable of some of the radical risks they once took because of their current size and scope. For the church, the same can hold true (on a much smaller scale of course): the more we grow the higher the stakes. If we are not careful we stop asking the questions and start protecting the status quo and it will cost us. That cost will be much higher than a profit margin on a spreadsheet.

Would love to hear your thoughts on this...

The Return

2009-08-16T22:07:00.003-04:00

We had a wonderful vacation! But, it is good to be home. We have never taken a full two week vacation as a family like that. I am sure we will be doing it again.

That said, I am ready to jump right back in and charge ahead. That is one of the points of vacation after all; recharge and refresh for the next season.

It wasn't planned beforehand, but I ended up taking a break from blogging as well. Even my activity on Facebook and Twitter was greatly diminished. I'll be picking back up this week. I have several posts I want to write about some of the observations and experiences coming out of General Council and our time away.

For now, a couple quick thoughts:

We MISSED Capital City! It was even more evident as we were talking with people in the lobby and halls today. During the service this morning, I was very aware of how much of a privilege it is to pastor here.

While we were away, we had a couple of different approaches to filling in for me being gone on Sunday. The first Sunday, Lou Scalzo, youth pastor at Highway Tabernacle in Youngstown, filled in. Lou is my successor at Highway and he is a good communicator and storyteller. Many have shared some very positive feedback from his message. Lou was quite complimentary of the people of CapCity. He thoroughly enjoyed his time here. The second Sunday, we showed a video message from Craig Groeschel. Again, I have heard very positive feedback from the message and even the effectiveness of video. One of our board members and missions director, Don Rowles, wrapped up the service. Nathan did a great job covering things in my absence. God is putting together a fantastic team here.

This morning was incredible in so many ways! Elena led the songs; of course she is my favorite worship leader! She did awesome as always. The whole band sounded very good and they handled things well.

We had a full service with communion, a missionary guest, a couple of videos, and I was pumped up after not preaching for two Sundays! We went a little longer than normal today. :-)

Missionary Guy Deal and his family joined us today to share what God is doing in intercultural ministries here in Columbus. Very cool to see people from different cultures coming together to grow and serve in unity.

It was a very impactful service as God was speaking very specifically to some folks and we took a few moments in the middle and at the end to give them on opportunity to respond. The communion time today was significant in itself.

I won't rehash the message here, but I started sharing on our vision and direction covering the core value of courage. The next two weeks, we'll cover some other areas of the vision and direction that I believe God has set before us. A line was drawn in the sand. And when the challenge was given to cross that line several did boldly! There are some families and lives that will be impacted greatly because someone said "yes" to God today and stepped out in spite of fear. You can listen to the full sermon online tomorrow (hopefully, the podcast will be on the site then). I will also make sure the podcast from the Sunday Lou spoke as well as a link to the video from Craig gets posted.

As I said this morning Capital City, hang on it's about to get very exciting!

I could ramble on here all night, but I have done enough of that today. ;-)

Will post more later...

Rain, Rain Go Away!

2009-07-29T10:33:00.004-04:00

I am not a big fan of the rain. I like the results of rain and understand its importance, but definitely do not enjoy the whole experience of rain. Rain is gloomy, it makes me tired, and it is very inconvenient. As a sign I am getting old, my joints ache when it rains, especially my knees and right hip.

Rain is one of the few things that can cancel golf for me or even cause me to leave a course early. I have golfed in the rain, but usually only for the benefit of someone else or as part of a golf scramble. Once it starts really raining, I'm done.

When we sing songs asking God to rain on us in church I always pause. Truth is, I don't want God to "rain" on me. It's not enjoyable to have God "rain" on my parade or to experience His "rain." I understand the intent of most of these songs are for refreshing and an outpouring of Him. Just the concept of rain always gets me because I don't like the rain.

I think there are a lot of things like rain in our spiritual lives. God wants to come in and cleanse something from us. He wants to wash us and restore us. Sounds great. Experience tells me it is not always the most enjoyable time to walk through, much like a rain storm. It is inconvenient, it is uncomfortable, it is hard to see, we tend to be grumpy, we lack zeal and energy, we get tired. Sometimes it hurts. Why? Because God is doing a deep work within us that is causing us to be confronted with ourselves and our shortcomings. He is asking us to change and remove things. He is leading us into a deeper and fuller understanding of Him and of ourselves. We are never consulted about whether or not it is a good time to do this. It is always on His schedule. Much like when rain pops up when I am supposed to golf; I didn't order that!

The cool thing is what happens after those periods. Things really are refreshed and rejuvenated. Growth is taking place and beauty is seen. Everything is a bit softer and brighter. We sense life and feel in tune and harmony.

As much as I don't like rain, I love the results; in nature and in the spiritual.

What are your thoughts?

Flexibility

2009-07-28T07:54:00.001-04:00

Of the many lessons I have learned over the years in ministry, flexibility is one of the more important.

Every day there are new challenges and new things that come up. Surprise in schedules and unforeseen issues are common occurrences when dealing with people. As long as we realize that and are flexible, there are no problems with this.

I have heard it joked before that the ministry and church would be great if it weren’t for the people. What a sad view. People, or more specifically individuals are what the church and the ministry are about. Of course, God is our central focus, but our earthly mission is reaching and training and equipping and encouraging people.

With people, there will be the unexpected, the uncertain. To be inflexible and think that everything has to be just so and on a certain schedule will just cause frustration and, even worse, ineffectiveness. Every ministry group and missions team I have ever led, this word has been a major part of our language. On one trip we used the phrase, “everything is tentative until the day after.” Just for emphasis, I would sometimes add, “and even then it may change.”

As we look at the life of Christ, He was flexible. His day changed often based upon the needs of those He was ministering to. A servant is sick, He stopped to heal. A little girl has died, Jesus went to her and brought life. A woman at a well needs forgiveness, Jesus is there.

As the unexpected comes our way each day, may we be full of enough grace to do what Jesus would do and remain flexible.

It's Sunday

2009-07-26T22:55:00.003-04:00

It's late Sunday night and I am sitting here relaxed and content. What a great day!

Powerful service this morning!

A couple highlights:

Worship was strong right off the bat.
We tried a slightly different version of an older favorite, "Shout to the Lord," it was pretty cool
We had a special guest from the Gideon's today, Aaron Trevis. He is the president of the Gideon's in Australia. He did a great job sharing the vision of the Gideon's. The accent doesn't hurt for getting people's attention either. :-) I think a couple of more of our people are signing up to be a part of this cool ministry. Love the unity across the body of Christ that happens within the Gideon's.
Wrapped up our series "What I Wish Someone Had Told Me" today with the "10 Things I Must Remember." Posted below.
Powerful response at the end of service. It never gets old seeing people make life changes.

10 Things I Must Remember:

I cannot change people; only God can do that.
I cannot make people love Jesus and serve Him; only the Holy Spirit can do that.
No matter what a person has done, he is worth saving.
Listen carefully to others.
Do not set goals for others. Expect more from yourself than them. Help them find their dreams.
I cannot take myself too seriously, but must take the time to enjoy life.
Accent the positive. Spend more time in praise and less in complaining. Be an encourager
I, too, have needs and God will use others to minister to them.
I will fail in many areas of my life, but Jesus never fails. Exercise faith daily.
I belong to God. I am answerable to Him. I must always do that which pleases Him only.

The Drop Cloth

2009-07-25T21:02:00.004-04:00

We have had several painting projects over the years. One of our last ones was in our previous house painting the basement den.
I went and got the paint and supplies and prepped the room. Of course, this means I moved all the furniture away from the walls and cleared things out. Now, if you ask me, we got dark brown for one wall and light brown for the other three. In case you didn’t know, the room HAS to have an accent wall. (If you don’t know why, ask a woman, she will explain it you.) If you ask my wife we painted the accent wall Belgian Chocolate Mocha (or something) and the other walls Waverly Antique (or something). Dark brown and light brown.
So the trim was taped and everything was ready to start painting and out came the drop cloths. There are all kinds of drop cloths you can use. Ones that are actual cloth (canvas, etc.), ones made of vinyl, ones of plastic, disposable ones, reusable, and on it goes.
The thing that is true of every drop cloth is that it going to be abused. It will be stepped on, pulled, tugged, spilled on, dripped on, and then put away dirty or discarded. All of this is OK. That is what it was designed to do. It is there to help keep the carpet from getting paint on it. The drop cloth has a very specific purpose. That purpose is not very glamorous, it is not noteworthy, it is taken for granted, it is temporary. Yet, in spite of all of this, it is important.
I might be able to paint without a drop cloth and get away with it, but maybe not. My wife might also get away without one for a time. My daughters, well, they must have a drop cloth. Yes, they have helped paint, so a drop cloth was absolutely essential.
This piece of fabric so under appreciated, so seemingly insignificant, serving its purpose saves me a great deal of time scrubbing paint out of carpets. Not to mention the strain on my voice from yelling at my girls for getting paint on the carpet. :o)
Truth is, there are times when each of us feels like a drop cloth. Under people’s feet as they walk over us, being tugged this way and that, problems and junk dripping on us, stresses and circumstances spilling out, and then being thrown aside, discarded in a heap, unappreciated.
There are times when our duty is one that is not glamorous or noteworthy or exciting. That doesn’t mean that our purpose at that time is not essential. It might be just as important, or even the most important of any of the other things happening at the moment.
We can’t all get the spotlight or glamor. Some times we have to settle for knowing that we did our best and accomplished our purpose in a situation.
Several years ago, I read of a high school art class that had a piece of plywood that had made up the top of their work station for mixing paints and painting small projects. They took this piece of old wood that had been abused and ignored for years and instead of throwing it away, they entered it into a modern art contest. It won and ended up on display in a gallery. It was sold and the proceeds went to helping that art program expand some of what it was doing.
Don’t get discouraged if it seems you aren’t getting the recognition or attention you should. Keep doing, keep living your purpose and in time this moment will pass and the next just may have you on display in a gallery as a great work of art.

Too Stuffy

2009-07-24T14:46:00.003-04:00

I just watched a great video on Youtube. You can watch it here. I've had weddings where they danced out, but never in. This is cool.

Truth is we have become way too stuffy about some things. I didn't say serious, I said stuffy. Serious means we understand the reality and the weight and the responsibility. Stuffy means we have drained the fun right out of it. Marriage is serious, but it is a blast. Weddings are sacred and a significant event, but why can't they be fun? Can something be sacred and fun?

I say yes! Worship is sacred, yet when combined with others and using music can also be quite fun! There are many other forms of worship. The artist who paints or sculpts or designs for God's glory is worshiping. David when he danced before the Lord was worshiping and I find it hard to believe that he wasn't having the time of his life.

How did the holy and the sacred come to be made stuffy? Yes, there are times for reverence and times to be subdued and reflective, no question. But, not everything or every moment is that time. We really need to loosen up and learn to have fun. I believe Jesus did. I believe He was a fun person to be around and knew how to laugh. I spoke about this a couple of Sundays ago. In case, you missed it, go here.

We take ourselves too seriously. In this sense we see ourselves as the answer or as having the answer and then start to trust ourselves more than God. We need to see God as the only source and the only answer. If we will worry less and trust Him more, I believe, we will find more joy and more enjoyment in life.

So go out today and find an opportunity to have some fun. Do something different, something random, something unexpected and have some fun. You just might make someone else's day in the process.

Recently, we were standing outside a pizza joint with several friends of ours. Our daughters and our friends daughters saw a red Corvette convertible with top down coming toward us. Knowing that I love Corvettes they pointed it out. As the Corvette passed slowly in front us, for whatever reason, we started clapping and cheering. The guy driving the car looked a bit confused as about a dozen adults and kids were cheering as he drove by. Then he caught on and just started laughing. It was random and spontaneous and it was fun. I have no idea what that man's day had been like, but I guarantee we brightened it at least a little.

Look for the enjoyable, the random opportunities we have every day to do something fun. And stop walking around like you have a sour cherry ball in your mouth. :-)

Killing Cockroaches (Thoughts)

2009-07-22T17:48:00.002-04:00

I just wanted to weigh in on a couple of thoughts from the seminar I went to last Tuesday with Tony Morgan, author of Killing Cockroaches.

First, what a brilliant idea he had: take a several week family vacation and each week make a stop at a church for a half day seminar based on his book. Sweet! Tour the country with your family and get others to help pay for it; now, that is using the thing between your ears for something other than a hat rack!

Seriously, the cost of the event was more than reasonable. Believe me, I go to conferences and receive invites and promo pieces all the time. Most get pricey very quick. Not without reason, but they can become expensive. On that note, kudos to Tony for not having books to sell and turning it into a marketing event.

Now to the meat. I have already posted my notes so I won't rehash any of that here.

I love the basic premise that Tony is presenting in his book, his blog, and this tour: keep the main thing the main thing. In other words, don't do what you should have someone else doing. Or at least, don't do that thing any longer than it takes to raise up someone else to do it. This of course applies to leaders and specifically the leader in the given context: pastor, ministry leader, etc. We all need to evaluate and make sure that we are staying on task with what we have been called to do, not just what seems to be needed in the moment.

No seminar or conference is worth the time and effort at any price if you don't walk away with some action steps or ideas to implement or changes that need to made. These usually start with you the individual, but should also transfer into the entity, organization, or ministry you lead.

Without going into too much detail (for many reasons), here are a couple of things I walked away with that we will be looking at here at Capital City:

Putting more effort into raising leaders of leaders and not just filling holes to get tasks done
We will be evaluating all of our forms of communication to make sure we are sending out one message. We will also be looking at frequency of our communications and make sure that we are going for effectiveness and not "noise."
We will always ask the question: does this ministry/event add value to people's lives?
No announcements will be made from the platform that are not truly whole church and vision specific. We will leverage our other mediums to get word out to those who need it for all other things.

By the way, I do recommend Tony's book from what I have read so far.

Week Unwind

2009-07-19T08:35:00.006-04:00

Instead of a Sunday Unwind or one day wrap up, I want to recap this whole past week. So much happened and was accomplished that it needs to be recorded.

This week was VBS which made it busy to begin with. On top of that there was a seminar, surgeries, medical tests, work days, a ministry anniversary celebration, and life.

I'll start with the medical stuff. My wife has been having a few health related issues that may all have a singular cause. So last Sunday night and most of the day Monday she underwent testing. We will have the full results at a follow-up visit with her doctor in a few weeks. Thank you for your prayers as we are trusting God for a healing for her.

This past week we had two friends undergo cancer surgery. Both are recovering and moving forward. One had a tremendous report from the surgeon. Next to a "total healing surgery wasn't necessary" kind of report, this was the best possible word coming from the surgeon after surgery. As we walk through this time for this couple, it is awesome to see the peace of God and the provision of God in their lives. I firmly believe there is something significant that is coming out of this whole thing; something God is doing that when revealed will be a serious "WOW!" moment.

This was also a Teen Challenge work day week, which always means at least two days for me. You know, like those 2 day "One Day ONLY" sales that certain department stores are famous for?! Anyway, Friday and Saturday I was at the local Teen Challenge center working on the entrance ramp and steps for their soon to be office building. This is a summer long project that I am heading up for the men's ministry in this region of Ohio. We have had a couple of other churches participate so far and expecting others in the next couple of months as we finish the project. Saturday went well as we had a smaller crew, but turned out to be the right size for the day. With the rain, we could not have painted and the building work was more detail and only required so many. We got quite a bit accomplished in spite of some challenges we faced (you can read that mistakes as well as normal construction glitches). We overcame them and got everything fixed and the front entrance ramp is finished.

Tuesday, Pastor Staci and I attended the "Killing Cockroaches" seminar with author Tony Morgan. I posted my notes already and will dedicate a separate post to some of my thoughts that came out of that day. I'll just say it was good.

VBS was exceptional. What an incredible job by our volunteers and workers! They went above and beyond expectations and just nailed it all week. The stage and the themed rooms around the building were impressive. If you are on Facebook, you can see it all in photos on the Capital City Fan Page here. The children had a blast! The adult and teen workers did as well. 55% of the children that attended were guests! That is a big WHY we do these things. Reaching those far from Christ is our purpose. We put so much energy and resources and time into what we do so that lives can be touched and changed and for people of all ages to be introduced to the God who loves them. I am very proud of Pastor Staci and her team! Everyone deserves recognition, but I want to highlight two: Matt Muir and Scott Crawford were awesome this past week! So many are worthy of mention, so I will just say, "THANK YOU!" to all those who prepped food, taught, cleaned, ran tech, assisted, and did anything with VBS. The finale Friday night was great. Thank you to 104.9 the River and Dr. Magic Smile for being a part of the night.

This weekend marked the 5 year anniversary for Pastor Staci here at Capital City. What an awesome outpouring of love from the people! Staci does an amazing job with our children! Her love for and passion for God drives her love and passion for kids. Great things are in store for our children's ministry.

Our worship gathering on Sunday was incredible! God is so faithful! I love that I get to be a part of what he is doing at Capital City. Worship was full and very real as the congregation connected right away. The kids did a VBS wrap up with some songs. Then we recognized Pastor Staci's five years which included a nice video from Pastor Jim & Renee Palmer. We also had a missionary; one of our own, Madeline Wengert. She is heading to the University of Indianapolis with Chi Alpha campus missions. Then we continued the series, "What I Wish Someone Had Told Me..." I talked about honor today. As Americans in our busy lives we dont' honor others enough. It is too easy to get caught up in the routines and tasks we face everyday and we forget about the people around us. We need to do better at giving honor to others and keeping "love and faithfulnes... wrtitten on our hearts." (Proverbs 3:3-4). The podcast should be up on Monday late or Tuesday early.

Have a great week!

Killing Cockroaches

2009-07-15T14:03:00.003-04:00

Here is part two of my posts from Tuesday morning's Killing Cockroaches Tour seminar. These are the notes I took from session two. I will post some additional thoughts later.

Tony Morgan, Killing Cockroaches
7.14.09

Session Two: 3 questions we must wrestle with to gain focus...

Question 1. Are people hearing the message and experiencing life change?

Tony gave the example of concert violinist Joshua Bell playing in a metro stop and nobody stopping to hear him play in spite of being one of the best in the world and normally tickets to a symphony with him are exclusive and expensive. In the metro stop he was out of context and didn't connect with situation and bustle of the environment.
We have a great message (the best message), but we have not been effective at putting it into the context of people's daily lives. People are overly busy day to day and just trying to keep up.
We need to help people identify what is most important in the Word of God and then help them apply that Word to their daily existence.
Two questions that matter regarding God's Word:

What do people need to know?
What do they need to do?

Question 2. Are the next steps clearly defined?

We need to define what it means to be a fully devoted follower of Christ and be able to communicate that to help people get form where they are now. We must be able to explain who we are trying to get people to become.
(My thoughts: Variety may be the spice of life, but it can be poison in the church.)
People don't need more options, they need clearly defined steps.
Lots of activity does not guarantee results.
Research has shown that more options actually generate less sales
Complexity creep - adding new things and never unplugging anything old. Starbucks is experiencing this. They started by offering specific and focused menu of coffee. They keep adding to the menu and have lost much of their edge and even retreating in the market place as they close locations.
Evaluations:

What event or program requires a major platform announcement? If people have to be coerced for the event to happen, it may not be viable or needed.
What would you not participate in if you were not on staff?
Does this event or program reach outsiders or just satisfy insiders?
Where is the fruit? What areas is God blessing the most? These may be the areas we should be focusing on.
Who do we want people to be and how do they get there?

Question 3. Are the next steps clearly communicated?

One message for the church that everyone knows and can articulate the same way.
Are we over-communicating? In the corporate world, would much of we put out be called SPAM?
We may just be adding noise to people's lives.
Viral (word of mouth) is preferable and much more effective than a marketing campaign.
The vast majority of new guests to a church come because they were personally invited by someone or heard directly of something that is happening.
We need to make the experience better and work to build relationships.
Luke 11 - We cannot create impossible religious demands or we are the same as the Pharisees. This would include attendance to all programs, events, etc as well as following a prescribed set of rules or expected actions.
Jesus is supposed to be the center of a person's life, not the church.

Killing Cockroaches

2009-07-14T17:05:00.005-04:00

This morning I had the privilege of attending the "Killing Cockroaches" Summer Tour with author Tony Morgan. It was held at Grace Church in Powell, just a bit north of Columbus. Kary Orberbrunner was the host for the event and he and the rest of his colleagues at Grace did a great job welcoming those that attended. It was a small gathering of pastors and leader which gave way to great discussion and networking in a relaxed atmosphere.

I took several notes and am going to post them here in two posts. One today and one tomorrow. Then I will follow up with some thoughts. I am still reading his book with the same name and will post a review when I finish it.

5 Reasons We Get Stuck Killing Cockroaches...

Reason 1. We settle for something that's not God's plan.

Abram's father, Terah, settled in Heron instead of finishing the journey to planned destination of Canaan
Leadership is hearing from God and then obediently doing what He says

Reason 2. The ministry outgrows us.

It will happen if we are following God
We must have enough confidence and security in our leadership that we can empower others to do great things. This will allow the ministry to continue to grow beyond us. We cannot try to hang on and control things.
The trap is being involved in God's ministry instead of being true to God's calling. What has He called you to do? NOT... What activities are you involved in?
Leading is a cycle os training and raising up to send and release others into leadership. Like parenting, the goal is to get them to move from dependence to independence.

Reason 3. We stay too focused on execution instead rather than outcomes.

Move from delegation to empowerment.
Let those leaders you raise up take care of the how as long as you make the expected results clear. Otherwise you are a backseat driver. They are driving, but you are barking out the instructions the whole time. You might as well drive.
We should only get involved in the execution details when the results aren't what was expected. (In the parable of the talents, the master didn't worry with what the servants did with the money or give any advice when they got a return. He only spoke to the execution of the one who did not bring the desired results.)

Potential leaders are asking:

Am I really needed?
Will I have input?
Will I be kept in the loop?
Do they care about me or are they just using me?
Will I get to lead something significant?

Reason 4. We avoid giving volunteers the opportunity to serve and lead.

We have become to professionally minded thinking that it takes a staff member or position to lead a ministry.

A healthy progression of ministry:

Lead by example (early on in planting, beginning something new, small churches, etc.). The leader must do much of what needs to be done and show others how to do it.
Lead others (after a time of growth and stability is setting in). The leader is now overseeing others who are doing the bulk of the tasks.
Lead other leaders (the step that many never take in growth, it requires a major change in the leader and his/her relationship with people). The leader is now directly leading fewer people who are overseeing the ones doing the bulk of the tasks.
Lead thru vision leaders who lead other leaders (only a select few make it to this step and then actually follow thru with it). The leader is now setting the tone and casting vision to a group of high quality leaders who then impart that to others who are raising up people who do the bulk of the tasks

Reason 5. We embrace and are controlled by fear and/or pride rather than humility.

We must embrace humility!
EVERY leader does or will deal with one or both of these.
Fear and worry are just as much about self and about control as pride is.
These can paralyze a leader or destroy a leader. Either way, he/she become ineffective and God's Kingdom suffers.
Trust God enough to follow through and take the risk stepping out into the unknown.

Sunday Thoughts

2009-07-12T21:07:00.003-04:00

Today was powerful!

I had a real sense early this morning that God wanted to do something special during the service today. In my prayer and prep time in my office it was very clear that God's Spirit was stirring.

The songs "Mighty to Save" and "How Great is Our God" have become modern anthems of the church. I love the energy of corporate worship. Today that energy was high!

At what seemed like just the right moment we gave people the opportunity to come forward to seek God for Him to move mountains in their life. Incredible response. We have a couple of people dealing with cancer, some facing surgeries, others with family issues, and the list goes on. I firmly believe that this morning was a breakthrough point for some. Fantastic time of prayer and very moving. Looking forward to hearing the testimonies of God's power working in lives and answers to prayers from this morning.

We continued our series "What I Wish Someone Had Told Me" today. Life is too short to let the pain and tough situations dictate how we live. We can't take ourselves too seriously, but must learn to trust God and His design for our lives. This is the key to living a joyous and fulfilled life. The podcast is here.

Facing a very busy and quite diverse week. Some great things with VBS and the Teen Challenge project. Some things are more challenging as a couple of people face serious surgery. Expecting God to work mightily in all of it.

Quick Hit

2009-07-11T22:03:00.003-04:00

Just wanted to put up a quick post. This past week was quite crazy and the next two are shaping up to be as well. I will get back to a more regular posting schedule, but probably not until after vacation which begins in 18 days.

Here's a couple of links to check out:

In the spirit of the great OOPS! Someone really messed up this car (click here). And... It took several someones to mess this up and build a house like this... (click here). WARNING, while the two links I have provided are clean humor, if you decide to explore the FAIL blog website you will run across some photos and things that are off color and even offensive.
In the learn something new every day catagory, the right way to open a banana is here.
An interesting and thought provoking post on status quo here.
Michael posted a short but insightful thought here.
Steven nails another post here. This one if about faith.
Whether any of this is real or just very good editing, it is still a very cool video here.

Have a great Sunday and see you on the flip side...

Weekend Unwind - Monday style

2009-07-05T21:41:00.003-04:00

GREAT WEEKEND! It extended into today, so here is a Monday night edition of the weekend unwind.

Friday was a terrific daddy/daughters day. We walked around a lake, ate pizza and ice cream, and my older daughter and I went for a bike ride along the river. Friday night I took the girls to see the fireworks over downtown as part of Red White & Boom.

Saturday we got up early and walked a few blocks over to watch the Upper Arlington Parade. It was a great time and we had a perfect place to sit and watch right next to the main grandstand. Very patriotic event and lots of honor was paid to the veterans and active duty service personnel. Some of the floats were pretty amazing.
The rest of Saturday was very relaxing. Elena took Kiersten shopping and Bre and I hung out at home. We grilled out and had a family movie night. It was just about perfect.

Let me just say, I love Sunday mornings! Worship was very good. The opening video was quite appropriate as it took a look at the signers of the Declaration of Independence.
Communion is always such a meaningful moment and yesterday was no exception.
The three guys who gave the announcement for VBS were hilarious. Great job Scott, Van, and Matt. Loved the announcement video. Nathan is starting to get into a groove there.
The offering video was another powerful patriotic video.
We began a new series this week, "What I Wish Someone Had Told Me..." Before I got into my prepared message, I felt it was right to pause and take a moment to give someone and chance to respond to God. One person surrendered their life to Christ! That is ALWAYS incredible and NEVER gets old! It is a big part of why we do what we do.
I did get part of the way through my planned message for the day, "Sit Down & Shut Up." You can listen to the podcast here. As we look through Proverbs it is interesting to note that the wisest man to ever live instructed over and over again to listen.
Sunday afternoon was spent with friends and capped by watching Tiger win the AT&T National.

Today we had a great family day on a lake with some friends as we were learning to water ski.

What America Needs...

2009-07-02T15:04:00.004-04:00

This video was recorded a couple of years ago and used for a Veteran's Day program we did. I wanted to post it here to kick off the July 4th weekend.

On another note, I know I haven't been blogging much lately and I am supposed to be writing a series of posts on follow-thru. I will. It will just take some time. I am spending a bit more time with my daughters while they are out of school and I am reworking some internal structure things for the church to get us ready for the next step. With all of that and the normal routine of life, I am just not devoting much time to the blog. It will pick up again when the time is right.

Happy 4th of July!

Sunday Thoughts

2009-06-28T19:40:00.003-04:00

A-MAZING!

All week I have had a sense about what God was going to do today, and did He ever show up HUGE!

The picture is what the stage looks like in preparation for our VBS "Crocodile Dock". The team did an incredible job! I'm very proud of them. Looks like I will be preaching in the "bayou" for the next few weeks. :-)

Great day yesterday as we joined with Continuum Church to work at the Teen Challenge center. This is a summer long project that I am heading up trying to help them get moved into a new office building on their property.

This morning we had our typical video technical difficulties before service, but got through them. A change is coming real soon that will stop these issues, I guarantee it. With that and the fact that I left my power adapter at home for my laptop and didn't have a fully charged battery, I was fighting frustration early on. Thankfully, God is bigger than my frustration.

Once I got settled in to my office, the Holy Spirit really began to work in my heart as I had a terrific worship & prayer time.

We kicked the service off with my favorite video "Resurrection Injection." This was put together by Elevation Church this past Easter. I could just about start off every week with it. Powerful.

The band today sounded as good as they ever have. Today was one of our best times of worship since I've been here. Right from the start it was obvious that God wanted to do something. The flow, the sound, the energy, the connection of the congregation, all of it fell right in place. To grab a phrase from someone else, it was a Whole Nutha Level!

Even the announcement video clicked today. Great job to Nathan and his team in putting that together. A bit cheesy and fun, it was great.

Today was wrapping up the One Prayer series. I was going to show a clip from Dino Rizzo of Healing Place Church, but the aforementioned video glitches stopped me and I wanted to have full time this morning to share what God has been preppeing in my heart all week. I did leap frog off Dino's title though, "God is Here and Anything Can Happen."

Used my favorite story of Jesus as the text today, Luke 7:11-17. I am waiting for that to happen today. Stop a funeral procession and raise the person to life! That would cause a stir! If we would truly live our lives expecting God to be God and know that He is always with us and when He is around ANYTHING can happen, I believe lives would be changing at a tremendous rate! Imagine all that God would do through of us if we had that level of faith and audacity!

The response today was off the charts! People came to the altar and poured out to God and laid it out for Him to do His work. Knowing some of the situations I am fully convinced that miracles are happening right this very minute as a result of what God started this morning! Can't wait to hear the stories of life change and healing and restoration and the hand of God.

Just wait, I don't think we've seen anything yet! God is here and ANYTHING can happen!

The podcast can be found here.

We also have the Wednesday messages available here on Spiritual Gifts.

Just for Fun

2009-06-24T11:25:00.003-04:00

Every now and then I like to pass along something funny for no reason other than the humor value. Golfers enjoy:

A husband and wife are on the 9th green when suddenly she collapses from a heart attack!!!

"Help me dear," she groans to her husband.

The husband calls 911 on his cell phone, talks for a few minutes, picks up his putter and lines up his putt.

His wife raises her head off the green and stares at him. "I'm dying here and you're putting?"

"Don't worry dear," says the husband calmly, "they found a doctor on the second hole and he's coming to help you."

"Well, how long will it take for him to get here," she asks feebly?

"No time at all," says her husband. "Everybody's already agreed to let him play through."

**************************************

A young man and a priest are playing together. At a short par-3, the priest asks, "What are you going to use on this hole my son?"

The young man says, "An 8-iron, father. How about you?"

The priest says, "I'm going to hit a soft seven and pray. "

The young man hits his 8-iron and puts the ball on the green. The priest tops his 7-iron and dribbles the ball out a few yards.

The young man says, "I don't know about you father but in my church, when we pray, we keep our head down.."

**************************************

A golfer teed up his ball on the first tee, took a mighty swing and hit his ball into a clump of trees. He found his ball and saw an opening between twotrees he thought he could hit through. Taking out his 3-wood, he took a mighty swing. The ball hit a tree, bounced back, hit him in the forehead and killed him.

As he approached the gates of Heaven, St. Peter asked, "Are you a good golfer?"

The man replied: "Got here in two, didn't I?"

**********************************

The bride was escorted down the aisle and when she reached the altar, the groom was standing there with his golf bag and clubs at his side.

She said: "What are your golf clubs doing here?"

He looked her right in the eye and said, "This isn't going to take all day, is it?"

Father's Day Message

2009-06-23T16:45:00.001-04:00

Here is the link to the Father's Day Message: God is Father

Sorry it took longer than normal to get online.

Father's Day Wrap up

2009-06-21T22:41:00.003-04:00

A very full day!

We had some technical issues even before service started. I think some changes are coming to the way we handle some of our media things. It was just one of those mornings where little glitches and issues add up. I felt very out of sync all morning and just like I was pushing through.

That was until the last song of worship. Just had a "release" at some point. Showed a fun video after offering, dads in minivans. Hilarious.

Tag-teamed with Craig Groeschel via video as he opened the sermon God is Father with a couple great illustrations of fatherhood from his own life. Finished the message looking at the authority of God. He has all power and all authority and yet we can come to Him as children with no fear or trepidation. He protects and provides and He is never overwhelmed by any situation we can face.

Very good response to the message.

I think the men enjoyed having a choice of a gift from the church; sleeve of golf balls, nice rollerball pen, or keychain flashlight.

After service, my family took me to Outback for my new favorite dish (fillet and stuffed shrimp) and of course a bloomin' onion!

Then I met up with some guys for a round of golf. Didn't shoot that well, but had a great time. A bad day golfing is still a good day. :-)

I ddin't get the message from this morning yet, so I will post the podcast online tomorrow (monday) and add a link to this blog.

Follow Thru - part 2

2009-06-17T10:12:00.002-04:00

In the last post found here, I brought up the swings of some golfers and how important follow-thru is to the result. This principle is true to so much in life. It is the idea that how you finish is more important than how you begin.

When I was working with youth, we were very involved in the creative arts; singing, instruments, graphic, drama, video, etc. One of the things we made sure they understood in live presentation that the end is vital. If they stumble in the beginning, it's ok, they can end well and that is what is most remembered. While the goal was to make everything the best it could be, the focus was placed on having the right amount of "punch" to the ending for maximum impact.

In working with young people and others in preaching or other speaking situations, I have always worked backward with them. By starting with the point that the audience is supposed to walk away remembering or applying we can weed out the unnecessary and really focus in on making sure everything leads to what matters most. Knowing where one is going is essential. That is always the question: where is this going? What is the goal?

Here's a little inside scoop. Even when I "call an audible" and change a message at the last minute or I feel like the Holy Spirit leads a new direction when I am speaking, there is always an end goal in mind. Sometimes it is a phrase or a sentence, but it is always a concept or principle for people to remember and apply to life. Every message I give has a point that is predetermined. I won't speak without that, it would be pointless. Follow-thru in preaching/teaching/speaking requires knowing the intended result.

A good message, a memorable drama, an effective presentation must have a purpose, a point. The end must always be determined and set before anything else in order to be most effective.

This is also true in much of our daily lives. It is not just something that applies to public presentations.

Follow-thru requires knowing how to finish even before one actually starts.

Sunday Unwind

2009-06-14T17:22:00.004-04:00

I'm zapped. Just woke up a bit ago from a nap and yet still tired. Not complaining at all, it's part of it and I have had a full weekend.

Spent the day Friday working at Teen Challenge Columbus on the entrance ramp to their office building. Just getting things ready for our next work day there on the 27th. Friday night was a great evening with some friends.

Saturday was a typical work around the house day as we got ready to host the NEXT? group for a BBQ last night. Fun time! Elena rocked the food! She always does. After the meal we played some cornhole. Love it! And, don't mess with Nathan and I cause we will take you down. :-) Just saying.

Today was another incredible day! It never ceases to amaze me that God allows me to be a part of what He is doing each week.

We continued the One Prayer series with video guest Steven Furtick of Elevation Church. He gave a great illustration of the greatness of God and the goodness of God and how they work together. I tagged off the end of the video and shared out of James that every good gift is from God. What an amazing thought that God not only loves us, He likes us and wants to spend time with us! The podcast can be heard here.

At the end of the service, the response was a total God thing. A number of people not only raised their hands in response to God working in them, but walked forward and knelt down. It is ALWAYS a joy to see people respond to God and watch Him work in their lives. God was breaking some chains and removing some junk in hearts and lives. I'm excited to hear the stories coming out of today.

Next week is Father's Day and we have some special things in store. See you there!

Balance & Boundaries Pt.2

2009-06-11T13:51:00.003-04:00

"I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received." Ephesians 4:1
In the previous post I dealt with balance and why I believe the idea of living life in balance is a myth. Let's talk boundaries.
Boundaries are crucial to an obedient and God pleasing life. They give us parameters and a guide where to go and where not to go.
We all have them. The question comes down to whether or not our boundaries are intentionally set based on God's Word or are they there by default based on our past experiences and upbringing. Our sense of right and wrong starts with our built in conscience but is built by our experiences and background and influences in our past. This sense in part sets our boundaries. We are far better off if we can make a serious and intentional effort to set and reset our boundaries according to the Word of God led by His Spirit.
I'm not just talking rules of conduct and accountability here, though that absolutely is a part of it. Yet, boundaries are much more than these.
Boundaries coincide with our core values and motivations that move and lead and guide us. Boundaries work to keep us focused and in tune with our purpose and calling. Boundaries dictate our relationships and where they go. Boundaries affect our schedule and our free time. Boundaries actually bring freedom and not restriction because they remove they bring clarity and understanding and remove the guessing.
In my life, boundaries mean that I do not find my identity in what others say or even in what I accomplish. A very wise pastor who was a mentor and hero of mine would often say, "If you don't get too high when they praise you, you won't fall too hard when they criticize you." Because both will and do happen. This helps me combat pride and depression. Both issues that have had too much control at differing times of my life.
In light of this past weekend's event with the public confession of a pastor, it would be very easy just to focus on moral boundaries. Truth is, we know those. So did and does he. His transgression happened because of a crossing or improperly set boundaries in other areas long before it got to the point of the moral issue at hand.
Boundaries help us live with proper priorities in every area of life. To be a healthy person spiritually we must look after the physical body and keep it disciplined, we must tend to our emotional needs, relationally we must keep all things appropriate, and it is imperative that we keep our personal walk with God tight through everything.
When the boundaries begin to break down or get crossed in the little areas is when we are on the path for the "big" problems. It always starts small and seemingly innocent. I know that those who hold tight to their boundaries can appear rigid and even legalistic, but for many that very thing keeps them on track. We must learn to keep all things in proper perspective and not force our boundaries on others. The standard is God's Word, not our thinking or opinions or ways. This doesn't mean we can't share with one another for the sake of growing together, but it does mean that we do so as equals moving forward together as not in judgment or self-righteous piety.
There is much more I could say on this, but I would love some feedback from you on boundaries and what you have found that works in your life.

What boundaries do you have with your time, family, work, etc. that are helping you move into a life pleasing to God?

(I'll resume the postings on follow-thru with my next post.)

Balance & Boundaries Pt.1

2009-06-10T10:05:00.005-04:00

I know it is not usually good to start a series in the middle of another series, but I am going to do it here. Hey, it's my blog and I'll wander if I want to. :-)

"I urge you to live a life worthy of the calling you have received." Ephesians 4:1

A few days ago I asked a question on Twitter and Facebook: "do you think Jesus was more concerned with a balanced life or an effective life of complete obedience to the Father?" I received some comments and feedback on this.

Then, this past weekend the social media sphere blew up with the news of a popular pastor stepping down due to an "emotional and physical affair." Many blog posts and articles and rants on all sides have been written since then. Yes, I am joining the cloud and commenting here also. However, I am going back to the question I asked last week about balance.

A lot of talk goes around about being balanced. You can hear sermons, read books, blogs, participate in discussions, and find tons of resources trying to help us live a balanced life. The idea is we become well rounded (figuratively, not physical shaped) and don't live in the extremes of life. It seems another way to get everyone on the same page of "normal."

In the church we talk about balance as a way to not be part of the weird and fringe elements of religion. I believe that often when someone talks about balance they are just trying to convince others they are right about something. It's one of those spiritual "ace" cards we like to pull. Kind of like, "I've been praying about this and..." "I feel led..." "God told me..." On and on it goes. People can be very good at spiritualizing their opinion in such a way that they bully others into agreeing with them. But, that's another subject and I digress.

The idea of balance is that everything is equal on all sides: equal time, attention, energy, etc. I love it when someone says that balance is Biblical. Not to be smart, but I'm still waiting for the scripture reference that backs that up.

I personally believe that balance in life is a myth. Worse yet, it may be a lie. If we get ourselves so focused on achieving balance we can become preoccupied with the wrong things. Chasing balance can cause us to miss out on what God really has for us. The truth is, we can not live a fully balanced life. It is not possible to spend the same amount of time on each area, family, God, work, and play. It is not possible to be in the balanced middle of all issues and all circumstances. We cannot live that way. I'm not sure we should.

Jesus told us the two greatest commandments were to love God with everything and to love our neighbors as ourselves. That seems out of balance to the human understanding. The human wisdom of balance would say to love God with the appropriate measure so that we can give equal attention to the natural. The idea of balance says we become a well-rounded individual equally good at everything. Impossible. And, not very productive. What is the old saying? "Jack of all trades, master of none."

As I work through scripture, or more accurately, let scriptures work through me, I find a call to an unbalanced life. A life of radical and complete surrender to God. Absolute devotion and commitment to Christ. Fanatical love for people. Life totally submitted to the Holy Spirit. Unwavering devotion. Unhesitant obedience. Leap of faith trust. These are Biblical directives and they are a life out of balance.

I maintain that boundaries are what so many are really defining or leading toward in the conversation about balance. With proper boundaries to guide us and keep life in check, I think we will find ourselves much closer to living a life worthy of the calling God has on each of us.

We'll explore boundaries more in the next post and then I'll resume the posts on follow-thru, though there is corelation between the two.

Sunday Unwind

2009-06-07T21:24:00.003-04:00

Here goes:

Fantastic weekend in so many ways! Went to the Memorial Golf Tournament at Muirfield Village because of the generosity of some folks in the church. Took my youngest daughter on Friday. We walked all 18 holes as part of the Tiger wave. It was fun watching him and Zach Johnson and Ernie Els play. A very cool thing for me. Yesterday, I got to go again. This time with one of the young men in our church. We were given hospitality village tickets which meant free food! That's always a good thing. :-) Actually, his roomate knows someone and got us into one of the private parties overlooking the number 12 green. Great place to watch some golf! Tiger winning the tournament today was fun to watch as well. This time I watched it on TV though. BTW I love DVR!

Today was even better! Not because Tiger won. Because God showed up and is doing great things!!!

Today was promotion Sunday for our children's ministry. All the kids moved up to their new grades and classes. My daughter this morning looked at me wide-eyed and said, "Daddy, I'm now a 5th grader! That's scary!" I responded back, "You have no idea!"

Pastor Staci introduced all our coordinators for the various children's ministry areas. Thes people are great! The time and energy and care they put into taking care of our children is priceless.

Along with promotion Sunday, we honored our High School and College graduates. Congratulations Natasha, Kitch, Katie, and Robert!

Today was the kick off for ONEPRAYER. I love this movement! It so fits with a core value conviction of mine for unity in the body of Christ.

I got to tag team with someone I admire as a pastor and leader, Perry Noble. Of course Perry doesn't know he was tag teaming with me, I used his video message as part of the ONEPRAYER series. Perry pastors a tremendous church in Anderson, SC called NewSpring.

The message today was "God is Here." What a statement. I could preach several messages on that reality. God is here, right now. He is with you every moment of every day. If we ever get a hold of this reality, it will revolutionize us. We will act, talk, and relate differently. We will become more bold and more effective. We would walk in peace and share that peace with others. The podcast is here.

Awesome response as people were listening to God and making new decisions about life!

Capital City, hang on, GREAT things are ahead!

After service we held our Honor Star crowning for the MPact girls clubs. These girls have to do a tremendous amount of work and memorizing to reach this. Congrats! Along with their ceremony we had all the Mpact Girls clubs awards and the Royal Rangers boys clubs awards.

Follow Thru - part 1

2009-06-02T20:46:00.006-04:00

I am going to write a series of posts based on a sermon I preached recently that has been bouncing around my noggin lately. I don't know how many I will write or over how long. We'll just take it one at a time. I'm sure I will sprinkle other things in the middle and bounce around a bit as that is just me. Anyway, just wanted to warn you. :-)

I have played several sports in my life (not all of them well). One of the things I find true in most of them is the importance of follow-through. How one ends is as important, if not more, as how one begins.

The examples are immense. In bowling (yes I do know something about it), once you let go of the ball, the finish motion of your hand has a lot to do with where that ball is going to end up going down the lane. In baseball, proper follow-through is what gives accuracy and power to the one throwing the ball, whether it is an outfielder or the pitcher. In basketball, follow-through is extremely important to the "touch" on the ball and it's flight to the basket and is often the difference between a made shot and a missed one. The list goes on through tennis, volleyball, football, soccer, and on and on.

The one example that rings most for me right now is of course golf. I have used Jim Furyk and Kenny Perry as examples before in this. However, I have a new appreciation for it now. Yesterday, I spent the day at Muirfield Village watching the pros practice in preparation for the Memorial Tournament. A good part of that time was spent just a couple dozen yards from Jim Furyk and Kenny Perry side-by-side at the driving range. (In the photo above, Jim is in the light blue and Kenny is in yellow.) These two men are near the top of the golfing world; both are ranked in the top 15. They are multiple winners on tour. Yet, they both have... um... unconventional swings.

It was wild watching them practice: Jim with his multiple plane, meandering take away back swing, and Kenny with the double hitch in his. Right next to them was another player also practicing. I have no idea who he is. I do know he is not one of the elite golfers in the world. It was obvious from his equipment and the number of people concerned with his equipment and practice (I should say lack of number of people) that he is not on the same level as the other two. Yet, his swing was picture perfect. Absolute classic, fluid, poetry in motion. What all three had in common was follow-through. Three different approaches in set-up, grip, equipment, style, backswing, tempo, everything. From impact to finish, all three had great follow-through. It looked different for each, but they finished strong and they fully finished their swings. As such, that little white orb sailed off all three clubs.

Sunday Thoughts

2009-05-31T20:35:00.004-04:00

A few quick thoughts today:

Loved having the kids open the service with a couple of songs. They bring so much energy and life with them. No too mention we actually have a full room at 10 am. ;-)

Nathan and the band are moving forward well. Great worship today.

We announced today that Nathan is changing roles a bit. He is moving from youth to creative arts. Basically, it means he has more responsibilities. He will be overseeing music, video, drama, web & print, and the other creative aspects we do. He will be working with children, youth, and adults in these areas. His job will be to assemble teams of people in each of the areas for the projects and events and activities as needed.

For the youth this means a few things. Nothing will change until August. Then the volunteer leaders will start taking on a bit more responsibility within the ministry. We will move to a more small groups based format week to week on Wednesdays. Once or twice a month, I will speak to the youth. We will be giving the youth more opportunity to be involved.

There are a few reasons for the change. One, I believe this puts Nathan closer to his "sweet spot" in ministry given his giftings and passions. Also, it moves us closer as a church to where we need to go. This will help bring us closer to cohesive and continuous ministry across generations.

There is another reason. I believe that one of the reasons the church as a whole is losing 9 out of 10 of our youth when they graduate high school, is we don't effectively connect them to a church. They are connected to a youth group, but not a church. With the changes we are enacting and other things we will do in the future, I believe we can do our part to reverse this trend.

This is the direction we are going now and will adjust as needed along the way.

We also took time today to highlight missions and give those who are not currently giving to missions on a regular basis to partner with us. Great response!

Here is the podcast from today.

A quick side note:

The new AC units are in place and almost fully hooked up. We replaced the eight units which were still original to the building. The work on the parking lot has begun and should be complete in a couple of weeks. The ditch in the front of the building is being filled in to give that a nice finished look, and we will have a new sign in June or July. Finally, the work on the cafe should begin soon.

Choose

2009-05-29T13:44:00.002-04:00

Don't know where this came from as I am sure it is not original.

You cannot choose your birth.
You cannot choose your death.
You MUST choose your life.

I have always been a proactive person and followed the carpe diem model of living. It has worked well for me for the most part and only gotten me in trouble a few times. :-)

However, I haven't always been intentional about the way or what means I use to seize the day. Sometimes I just grabbed what was and went with it. Other times I just went without looking. There have even been the times when I just flat missed it.

In life, we must make choices daily. Those choices compound and grow and set us up for the next day and beyond. Too many are just going through life waiting for each day to happen and waiting before they act or engage life. A reactionary life is one that will never be fulfilled because it will always be "victim" to time and circumstances and emotions. While the above statement says we MUST choose life, many are choosing to let life be whatever. By not intentionally choosing, they are choosing to let others decide for them.

God has a better way. He has laid before us a plan and a design that will bring fulfillment and purpose and understanding. He has given us a way to live that is effective and powerful. We must choose it. It takes effort. It takes intention. It takes daily choices that build and lead us closer to that image of Him in which we were originally created.

What choices need to be made today to choose the life that God has?

Feel free to weigh in with your thoughts.

The Power to Change

2009-05-28T08:30:00.003-04:00

“What this means is that those who become Christians become new persons. They are not the same anymore, for the old life is gone. A new life has begun!” – 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)

In ministry I have encountered people of all ages in some of the darkest struggles of their life; suicide, cutting, abuse, eating disorders, unwed pregnancy, uncaring parents, family conflicts, death, divorce, and the list goes on. In all of this, there has been one theme that we have endeavored to make clear; only God has the power needed to change their situation. While many of these are still walking through the valley of their current circumstance and struggle, some have experienced God’s power to change, which has brought them freedom and victory. One who has struggled with an area for many years was touched in a marvelous way and is now a testimony to the healing power of God. Another young person recently gave their heart to the Lord out of a great trial in their life as they let faith replace unanswerable questions and doubt.

Each one of us has a past riddled with mistakes and regretted decisions. Thanks to a God who loves us, we can count those things as behind and leave them there. We have no reason to go back and relive the past. As Paul stated in Philippians 3:13, “Brothers, I do not consider myself to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: forgetting what is behind and reaching forward to what is ahead,” (HCSB). Once we have been touched by the power of God to change our hearts and lives we are a different person. When people come to us with such dark and impossible issues, Christian cliches and pithy words won't do them any good. They do not need pat answers or quick fix solutions. Offering human centered advice won't cut it. They need faith in God that will sustain even without having the answers to "Why?".

It is only in the Word of God that we can offer them any hope. Anything else would be hollow and worthless.

Only Jesus can give the power to change.

Sunday Unwind

2009-05-24T20:10:00.004-04:00

Absolutely awesome day! Yet a complete struggle at the same time.
Woke up with some pain in my gut that just got worse.
By the time I got to the church I was lightheaded and suffering greatly. I have never missed preaching because I was sick, but I really thought today was going to be the first. I started making plans for the service to go on without me.
After some prayer and rest, I was able to make it to service.
Still not sure what it was, either God healed me or it was spiritual warfare and God intervened. Whichever, God gets all the glory!
We opened with a memorial day tribute using the Toby Keith song, "American Soldier". Love that song. Moving video, gets me everytime.
Once service started I became stronger as the worship went on. The team did a fantastic job in worship. My wife is a great worship leader! I am very proud of her! There was a sense of significance almost immediately. The congregation engaged and jumped right in with both feet.
The Spirit of God was speaking and broke into the day and significantly started touching lives. It was powerful. It was clear what God was speaking, He is all we need, more than enough. No matter the circumstances we face or what we lack, He isn’t just what we need, He’s more.
There were a couple of people who made significant steps forward. Literally. It NEVER gets old seeing someone boldly surrender their lives to God and allow Him to work. It was powerful to see so evidently that God was moving so mightily.
Today was the second installment of our series on the Third Person of the Godhead Trinity, the Holy Spirit. Changed the message up a lot in the last couple of days. Look at the fruit of the Spirit out of Galatians 5. I really don’t care what someone believes about speaking in tongues or some of the other things associated with Pentecostals, if there is none of the fruit working in their lives, the Holy Spirit is not at work in them.
The Spirit leads us away from sin and away from the pleasures of self. It leads us into lives that bring glory to God. It leads us to live lives that are effective and impacting producing evidence of His work.
I find it interesting that this passage includes dissension, discord, envy, & selfish ambition with drunkenness and orgies and calls them all obvious sins of the flesh.
The full podcast is here.
God is working. He is guiding. He is speaking. He has great things in store.
The best is yet to come!

Holy Spirit Baptism

2009-05-20T11:41:00.003-04:00

I'm going to go out a limb here a bit. I received an email with a question from this past Sunday's service. I will post the original email and then my response unedited except for greetings and names. Feel free to weigh in with comments

Original Email

I just wanted to send you a note to let you know how encouraged I am that you are sharing on the topic of the Holy Spirit.
In my personal search for "that single point of truth" there is one scripture concerning the forementioned topic that I would like your input on
1 Corinthians 12:27-30 Says:
27Now you are the body of Christ, and each one of you is a part of it. 28And in the church God has appointed first of all apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then workers of miracles, also those having gifts of healing, those able to help others, those with gifts of administration, and those speaking in different kinds of tongues. 29Are all apostles? Are all prophets? Are all teachers? Do all work miracles? 30Do all have gifts of healing? Do all speak in tongues[a]? Do all interpret?
My questions is: Is the gift of tongues the only evidence that one has recieved the baptism of the Holy Spirit? Can someone have the baptism without speaking in tongues?
I look at the impact that many ministries (across denominations) have had on reaching the lost and can't help but to believe that although not all of the practice the gift of tongues, many have experienced fruitful ministries like that mentioned in the book of Acts (i.e. Billy Graham Ministries)
Many of the old Penticostals refuse to believe that you can have the baptism of the Holy Spirit without the evidence of speaking in tongues.
Can you share your viewpoint on this?

My response:

Great question and one that has been asked many times.
I may or may not get to it directly in the next two weeks, so I 'll answer it some right now.
The passage in 1 Cor. 12 is speaking to special gifts of the Spirit. Most scholars and theologians agree this is not a statement regarding all tongues, just the gift of tongues used in public settings or where one speaks fluently a human language they have not learned for the benefit of another. The gift of tongues and the personal edification tongues spoken of in 1 Cor. 14:4 and much of Acts.
In the AG our doctrines state that speaking in tongues is the initial physical evidence and much of the accounts of Acts seems to support this. However, tongues is not the baptism and should not be the focus. I do believe the AG (in practice more than doctrine) is a bit (or a lot) out of balance in this area as too much emphasis is on tongues. I think it can in some circumstances border on the case of Simon the Magician liking the show of it and seeking the power to make it happen. Too me the real evidence is in the things you mentioned of people reaching the lost, loving, caring, leading, etc according to the fruits of the Spirit in Galatians 5 as well as the gifts in 1 Cor. If there is no t love and a desire or striving for unity, then I have a hard time believing the Spirit is actively working in someone's life no matter how much they speak in tongues, dance, shout, or what have you. 1 Cor. 13:1
I was a little on the fence about my Wednesday night topic coming up this summer, but the response to this past Sunday may have just solidified it as a teaching on the spiritual gifts.

Sunday Unwind

2009-05-17T20:32:00.003-04:00

It never gets old! I love what I do! I love the people of Capital City Church!

Our new pattern of service prep for the worship team is settling in. Great time of prayer before service and great time of worship during. We've got an announcement coming soon regarding our music and arts program. Looking forward to what God is going to do in this area.

I always anticipate baptism days. It is one of my favorite things I get to do as a pastor. We had three baptized today. Awesome! Great testimonies of God working in their lives.

We started a new series today called "Third Person." This series about the Holy Spirit will address some myths and some misunderstanding about who the He is and His purposes and workings in us. We will be looking at what the Bible says and hopefully bring some clarity. Ultimately, each person must decide how much they will allow the Holy Spirit to work in their lives.

The question comes down to, do we trust God to do everything He wants to do in us?

Too many have taken the things of the Spirit and caused confusion and division with their own goofiness. The Holy Spirit is not weird or goofy or scary. He is real and very much a relevant part of our practical and daily lives.

We discussed two major purposes the Spirit has in our lives:

The first is to glorify God. Everything the Spirit does is for this. If something is bringing glory to a person, it is not the Holy Spirit's work. He brings glory to Jesus and the Father.

The second is to guide us into truth. He brings understanding and clarity as we read the Bible and He guides us in our daily lives. The Holy Spirit is God. If we follow Him, we follow God.

Several responded to say yes to God today. Some to something that the Holy Spirit has been guiding them in already and they have not fully surrendered, others were giving their lives in surrender to God to follow His journey for their lives.

You can hear the full podcast by clicking here.

I can't wait to see what else God is going to do over the next few weeks!

Legislative Action

2009-05-14T09:58:00.002-04:00

I don't usually use my platforms for political issues, but this is one exception.

The article I am linking below is about a bill recently passed on Congress and is now before the Senate. Read it and make up your mind whether or not you need to act, but I have already contacted the Senators from Ohio asking them to vote NO.

Freedom of speech and religion are foundational to our country. We have plenty of laws that make acts of violence against any human being illegal. There is no reason to give special treatment to a group in this category that makes it more illegal to commit acts of violence on them than any one else. By giving any one a greater class of protection we take away some protection and safety from the rest of society. This is just setting up a hierarchy where those who have made a choice to live a certain way have greater power and position due to their sin. The more we sit back and do nothing, the more government and special interest groups promoting sin will intrude into everyone's rights until only a select few elites among us will have any rights.

http://www.wnd.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=96595

Sunday Unwind Mother's Day Style

2009-05-10T21:00:00.003-04:00

I trust all the moms reading this had a good day. And, I also trust that everyone who could called their mom or saw her today. Moms take a lot from us and deserve honor and more than just on a designated day!

Quick run down of the day:

Proud of Nathan and the worship team. They are taking some good steps forward. We have changed a few things up in their preparation (mentioned that last week) and there are a few more changes in the works and they are stepping up.
Great spirit of worship in the room today. Seemed like much of the congregation was connected. It was quiet and peaceful and very real. I like it both ways. The loud and driving and exuberant is great; so was this. Both are important and good.
Through a couple of curve balls at the tech crew by changing up a bit, but they rolled with it. Those guys do a great job! They are usually only recognized when something goes wrong.
We dedicated a baby today. That is always a treat! This one happens to be the first CapCity baby born after I moved here. I think we had been in town just a week or two when she came along. Beautiful family that God is definitely working in. The dad is going to baptized next Sunday! I love baptisms!
Gave everybody a treat today, I didn't preach! Instead, I turned it over to Elena. She brought a great message about being a Proverbs 31 woman and used Ruth as an example. There were even some words in there for the men! ;-)
One guy told me after service that he took more notes from her than he does from me. Thought that was funny.
I am very proud of my wife! She did a great job today! More than that she is more than I deserve and she keeps me grounded. She is a Proverbs 31 woman.
The podcast can be found here.
Next week we not only have our baptisms, but we will begin a new series called "Third Person" about the role of the Holy Spirit in our lives.

Got a busy week ahead. The Ohio Assemblies of God District Council meetings are the first couple of days. I'm also playing in two golf scrambles this week (I know tough tasks, but someone has to!).
Until...

Personal Journey

2009-05-07T09:06:00.003-04:00

I'm going to share a little bit of what is happening in me right now. Just decided to offer some transparency here as well as continue processing through some of this. By the way, it's all good. Well, it's moving towards good, at least. Some of it is difficult and even painful as I confront things in me and change and refocus and learn and grow.

Too often I think we see growth as this fun and exciting thing with great benefits and wonderful outcomes. While those elements are involved in stages of growth, more often than not there is also pain and conflict and upheaval involved in growth. Like a plant pushing through the soil, personal growth means things get pushed back, pushed out, displaced, moved, changed, choked out, taken over, and on it goes.

That said, here are some issues, ideas, concepts, etc. that are in upheaval in my life.

I have been rethinking ministry for some time. Let me clarify to try and head off confusion. I have been rethinking ministry roles and definitions for some time, not God's call. I am very sure of God's calling, just working through the details of some aspects of that calling. As life and ministry move forward, my role is changing and the way that I go about things needs to change. My girls are growing up faster than I want them to, health issues are a factor now, and the list continues. Capital City is unlike any place or position I have been in before and so the way I approach it must be different as well. All of this factors in.

Beyond all of it, God is speaking. He is pruning, He is working and molding. He is doing what He does. It's awesome, but it isn't easy. It isn't always fun. In fact, it is hard work. It is demanding. It requires much. Because of this I am going through a change in my routines and my approach to things. All of this is still very much a work in progress and I am more convinced than ever it always will be.

One specific area that I am being challenged in is health. A few years ago, I lost a substantial amount of weight, though I never reached my final goal. I have a gained a portion of that back. And I am not in the physical condition I should be. How I remedy that is one of the things I am working through. A regular exercise regimen will be a part of it though. This is not a diet, it is a mindset I am changing.

Another area is time management. I have become lax in this area and even allowed some laziness to set in. That is painful to face and admit, but it is there. I waste time that I should redeem. I'm not talking about working crazy hours and not relaxing; been there bought the t-shirt and almost lost more than it was worth. Anyway, I am speaking of making better use of time. Working smarter and more effectively. Being intentional with my schedule at the office and at home.

The way I lead is also undergoing a shift. I am spending more time in planning and working out systems and structure and vision. I am trying to do less and empower others more. Ironic thing is that makes my schedule busier. The standard is being raised and the expectations are greater for me and the team around me.

I am also journaling and reading a lot more right now. Prayer is a bigger and more significant part of my life and time. Bible study is taking on a different light as it has become even deeper. Things are becoming more focused and more simple.

Yes, I said simple. Really this isn't complicated and neither is life. We make things complicated. Sin complicates things. Lazy and apathy muddy the waters. God and His Word brings things into focus and makes them clear. He simplifies everything down to faith, hope, and love.

The funny thing is, simple isn't always easy.

Would love to hear some of what God is speaking and challenging in you...

Yes & Amen

2009-05-05T21:42:00.003-04:00

But as surely as God is faithful, our message to you is not "Yes" and "No." - 2 Corinthians 1:18

I was going to share this with our staff this morning, but circumstances changed our plans a bit.

Paul is addressing a change of plans himself in this passage. (To be honest the irony of this just dawned on me. You'll have to trust me that this was not thought out this way. I'm not that clever.) Anyway, there were some that were questioning Paul's integrity or at least his sincerity when he had shared his planned itinerary to be there at a certain time. He wanted to make sure that they understood the truth and that the message that was preached was true.

So many times in life we send conflicting messages. While there are times this is unavoidable, as in the case of Paul, most of the time it is simple carelessness or a looseness on our part that causes this. I'm not going to touch on the side where intentional deception comes in, we know that lying is clear cut sin. We can be very flippant with our promises and our words so easily. If we are not careful, we can even do this in spiritual matters. "I'll pray for you," yet, we never get around to it. "I was thinking of you recently," yeah, the moment we saw them or their name popped up on caller ID. "I felt God leading me..." the second we wanted to do something else or got uncomfortable with a situation. On and on it goes.

So quickly our lives and our message becomes "yes" and "no". Our message should be the same as Christ's. His was "Yes." Meaning, His message was sure and it was consistent, and it brought hope and life to all who heard and accepted. Paul continues in this passage and says that our message is to be "Amen". Most of us know that "amen" means "so be it." It is not actually a statement of completion or ending, it is a statement of agreement and alignment.

"Amen" became the ending to prayers out of a desire to express agreement with the prayer just prayed by another. It is an affirmation of what has just been proclaimed or petitioned. The word also means "believe" or "truly". Amen is not a conclusion it is a declaration of faith and faithfulness. When our words and our lives are "Yes" and "Amen" we are aligning ourselves with the Word of God, the message of peace and salvation, and with great faith in the sovereignty of an Almighty God. May our words and our actions consistently portray this to the best of our ability as we live intentionally for Him and for His glory.

Sunday Unwind

2009-05-03T21:31:00.004-04:00

I am spent. Physically, emotionally, spiritually, completely spent, yet I am also mostly content. I say mostly because I do still have a preaching headache.

Let me start from the beginning.

Woke up at 5 am with pain in my back and in my gut (not swine flu though, don't panic: leave that to the media. :-P). Anyway, I could not go back to sleep so I got up. Really felt like it was spiritual more than anything physical happening. Spent some time praying and just trying to get in tune as much as I could with what was really going on. Mostly, just trusted God and sought Him for what He wanted to do and say today.
Got to the office about normal time and just went over the sermon one last time and checked on the tech elements. There was a weight about the day in every step. It wasn't a struggle to do or get through, just a sense of something significant.
We changed the preservice schedule and routine of our worship band today. I like what we are doing now, but it will take some time for them to find this new preparation groove. Giving them more time to focus and get in tune spiritually.
The twitterverse was teaming this morning with some great quotes and encouragement. The weight of the day wasn't just at CapCity, it seemed to be many places. God is setting His Church up for soemthing amazing. May each of us be ready for it when it comes.
Coming out of prayer with the team, I saw some friends from our neighborhood walk in. What a treat to have them in service today!
Love taking communion as part of the worship set! Again, there was a weight in the room during that time as the Spirit was just doing His thing.
Took a few minutes to launch a fundraising campaign to complete our café area. This is not a normal effort. Someone stepped forward recently and offered $10,000 in matching money for this project. After presenting it and giving some instruction on timing and response, CapCity once again stepped up to the plate and knocked it out of the park! I haven't seen the full numbers yet, but nearly a third has already been pledged or given. That is just preliminary of what I know from direct contact!
I settled right in "the groove" today during the message. We wrapped up the series, "What's In Your Bag?" Today I took a lesser known parable out of Matthew 21 of the two sons and talked about follow-thru. In golf, as in many sports, the follow thru motion is at least as important if not more important than anything else. In life, we have to follow thru. It's not enough to start well if we don't finish. Jesus said, "Well done..." not "well started..."
I broke off for a few minutes and talked about forgiveness, that wasn't planned but really felt compelled of the Spirit to do so.
I did say that teh church does NOT have a follow up problem at all. We do not NEED another discipleship program or curriculum. There is nothign wrong with soemone writing one, it is just not needed for us to move forward, we have plenty. No our problem in the church is not a problem with follow up, our problem is follow through. We don't finish. We don't walk the journey with people over the long term. We want them to finish a course and get a certificate and think it is done. Acts 2:42 tells us that those who had just been added to the believers "devoted themselves" to the teaching and to prayer. We do not do a good job of helping people to devote themselves. We try to do it all for them.
There are some who have been saying "No" to God, but are ready to change and say "Yes." There are also some who have said "Yes" but have yet to actually follow thru and obey.
Had another salvation today! That is ALWAYS awesome. I don't have the exact numbers in front of me but it takes us to around 20 on the year! We have a wasy to go, but I will NEVER complain in any way about any number of people givign their hearts to God!
We're working on a few things that we are tweaking in our follow through as a church. You'll see these come in to play in various ways.
Let me tell you, God is setting us up for a move that is far beyond anything we have ever experienced!
Got together with another family and cooked out lunch today. Love brats and burgers on the grill!
Played golf this evening. 9 holes with a couple of guys and then 9 on my own. Normally, I try to rest on Sundays, just didn't happen today, might pay for it tomorrow. But I very much enjoyed being out on the course. Took my own advice from the service this morning and worked on my follow through and was hitting the ball much better. Enough about that.
Like I said, I'm spent. Until...

Unique

2009-05-01T10:11:00.003-04:00

I am sitting here going through my notes from Thr3e this past Tuesday. One of the statements made by Steven Furtick was, "The thing that makes you unique makes you powerful." I have heard this concept espoused in various forms before, so it is by no means exclusive or new with Furtick.

However, it is a compelling statement and one that needs to be heard and lived more in the church world. Especially in the church conference and leadership realm. Way too often we go to conferences or seminars or just visit other churches looking for a formula to copy. We download sermons and copy them word for word thinking that is the answer cause it worked elsewhere. We change our look, our style, even our personality to try and emulate someone else who we see as successful. I say "we" because I have fallen prey to this at times too. It is easy to do.

Now, I am not espousing that attending these events or using the resources of others is wrong in any way. The exact opposite as a matter of fact. There is so much out there that is good that we need to use what others are offering as helps and starters and even springboards for messages and ministry. It is good stewardship to share what we have and share what others are offering to make all of us better. Lifechurch.tv gets this as well or better than anyone else.

However, when we do use these resources we must do so with the individual flair of who God is molding us to be. We must be DEVOTED to prayer and preaching of the Word. That means we get our context from God even when we are filling it with content from other sources. Only in prayer will the vision and ideas and all that is needed to please God where we are as who we are come out and be revealed. It may happen at a conference or some other place, but it is not because of or from the speaker(s) or church(es) involved. They may have been used by God to spark something, but the origin is God, or at least it needs to be. In His prayer Steven said it this way, "God take what I say and turn it into what needs to be heard by the time it gets to the heart."

Everyone of us needs a direct encounter with God to know the direction we are to go. We need to hear from the Holy Spirit what it is we are to say and proclaim. Once we hear from the Source, then we can sift among the abundance of resources available to get that message that God is burning in us out to those He has placed before us. We do so using the uniqueness of who He has created us to be.

I can't be you and you need to thank God you can't be me. So let us leverage our uniqueness and accomplish what God has for us.

More Thr3e

2009-04-30T09:30:00.002-04:00

I am still processing everything from Tuesday and what God was/is speaking to me.

I mentioned in my last post about THR3E that the level of transparency was unusual coming from a church and pastor hosting a conference. Many conferences will make light of some past mistakes that have been made, but they still work hard to present themselves in the light of "success." This is not an indictment, I fully understand it. In the attempt to put "their best foot forward" it sometimes gets overpolished and overcooked to the point of being too slick.

We have hard wood floors in our house. They are beautiful and they look great when they are polished and shiny. My wife is teaching our daughters various life skills including cleaning. Not long ago, she let them take turns polishing the floors. They got a little carried away with the polish in a couple of spots. The floors looked great! But, if you weren't careful, you would have an undignified slip and even fall because the floors were overpolished and too slick. Not even shoes could prevent this. Eventually, the polish wore down and now those spots aren' treacherous any longer.

It was refreshing to see and hear Steven Furtick and staff be brutally honest about what got them where they are and what they face. He laid it all on the line and held nothing back. Even admitting his personal struggles and insecurities as a leader. He is a great man of God and a great leader, but he is human and flawed. That is vital. It is vital because that is what and who God uses: flawed men who do not shrink back because of their flaws and do not attempt to present themselves as more than they are.

Everyone of us could do with some more transparency in our lives. I'm not talking about dumping our crap on everyone we meet and constantly presenting ourselves as needy and whiny and weak. I'm talking about living real and not being phony and plastic in our relationships. Life is gritty and it is dirty, so why do we try and present like we are living on clouds and everything is white and shiny and clean?!

We are flawed. Let's admit it. Let us also strive to overcome. Let us live to encourage and build up. Let us work to glorify God. His strength is made perfect in our weakness, not in our best most polished projections of ourselves. If we really want to glorify God, let's allow people to see that He is working in, through, and among us even though we are not perfect. That brings Him more glory than anything.

Elevation church is glorifying God. They are doing it by giving their best most passionate effort, by obeying His Word, by trying things and failing and succeeding, by being real and raw, by allowing God to do His thing among them and in them. Would that more of us would live and operate the same. We would see more churches have exponential growth.

Spring Game

2009-04-29T15:31:00.003-04:00

I have more I am going to post about the Thr3e event yesterday, but that will come later. I planned this post before yesterday and want to get it online.

We had some friends in for the weekend. On Saturday, the men went to the OSU spring game and the ladies went shopping. The attendance at the spring game set a new national record: over 95,000. The weather had some to do with it as it was an absolutely beautiful day. To the credit of OSU all the gate money ($5 per person) went to local charities. The concessions, um, probably not. More on that in a moment.

We arrived two hours before game time and there was a lacrosse game taking place vs. Notre Dame. There was already 31,000 in the stadium. I don't know what a normal attendance for lacrosse is, but it is not 31,000.

Even arriving that early we had to park some distance away and then sit in the upper deck. The parking lots were crammed with tailgaters that had been there since very early that morning. They were going through the food and drink! It was quite the sight to behold. Remember all of this is for a practice! Not even a scrimmage against another team. It is a teammate vs. teammate practice.

Allow me to stop and say this has nothing to do with which team this was surrounding. I am sure the same is true at any serious football school.

As a sat there contemplating all of this while drinking my FOUR DOLLAR bottle of Diet Coke, a few thoughts hit me. This was "church" for many of the folks there. They were sacrificing their time and energy to be there to watch their team play and get "revved" up. There was cheering and clapping and worship. There was loud music and voices coming over the sound system. There was a playbook. There was even a bulletin (program)! People were generous with their money, at least in buying from the merchandisers and concessions. These people were committed and loyal and unashamed in their praise. They were loud and boisterous and demonstrative.

That even I was having a conversation with a friend in our neighborhood about all of this as we talked about priorities. The amount of money spent on the day and the tailgating and the food is a bit mind-boggling. Yet most everyone there was not complaining and they will come back.

Oh yeah, they will come back even if coach Tressel or his staff never calls them or shakes their hands. They will come back in spite of being crowded and uncomfortable. They will come back despite the loudmouths and the jerks and the hypocrites. They will come back even though they don't like what the coach called or how the officials handled the game. They will come back because they are sold out to the team. They will come back because it is an unforgettable experience and it grabs their passion.

I wonder...

THR3E

2009-04-28T17:40:00.004-04:00

I am sitting here in the airport in Charlotte waiting to catch my flight home. To say I am overwhelmed, would not adequately explain it.

I knew that today would be worth the time and expense. Just the experience alone plus the resources that were promised made the trip worthwhile. I was hoping that I would also have a God encounter today. I did. In fact, everything exceeded my expectations.

Allow me to use this blog as a public journal over the next few days as I process what God is speaking. For this post, I will give the initial and surface things I observed and experienced today.

First, I don't know that I will ever attend another "typical" conference/seminar. I might, but right now, I can't imagine how the typical format could be as worthwhile as today. I will attend events, but I will be quite selective and even extreme in being exclusive about the ones I choose. The reasons will be many of the things I share here from today over how ever many posts it ends up being.

There was no hype, no music, no booths, no vendors, no marketing, limited use of video, no slick presentations. It was raw and it was real. It was as authentic and transparent as I have ever seen a church and leadership be in a group setting. It was also limited. Truly limited. I've seen events called "limited" but they were not. 1500 is not truly limited. This was 150. On top of that there was a volunteer worker for every three attenders. More on that in a moment. The point is, there was nothing to distract from God's voice and the principles being shared.

I was impressed the moment I walked down the street toward the venue. There was a crowd of volunteers wearing Thr3e t-shirts standing outside with Krispy Kreme donuts and they immediately engaged anyone who walked up. The volunteer that got to me first was Maria. She made me feel like a VIP instantly. She wrote down my name and info and walked me into the registration table where she got the name tag (pre-printed and nice!) and conference pack for me. Then she made sure I had something to drink and showed me to the snack table. Maria introduced me to some of the staff members and a couple of other pastors who were for the event. She then handed me a business card with the Thr3e logo and her name along with her cell phone number and instructions to call or text for anything that I might need that day. Throughout the day she checked in on me and made sure I had water etc. and introduced me to others as the day went on. The care and attention was amazing. As far as I could tell, every person there got the same treatment. Amazing! I spoke with some of the church staff and they could not say enough about volunteers in their church. These 50 or so individuals took a day off work and arrived at 6 am knowing they would be there until 7 pm and spend the whole day serving others. We have got to find a way to make that the normal way we treat people week in and week out at church.

I have so much more to say, but I've written enough for now. More will come.

Posted from Thr3e

2009-04-28T15:05:00.002-04:00

Absolutely incredible. God is speaking thru Steven Furtick and the staff of Elevation at Thr3e.
There is so much truth and wisdom and insight being imparted.
I'll be blogging about it for some time I am sure.
There are some things that are just reading me right now. As I process all of it there will be some things I implement in our context.
One thing that has been in my heart was confirmed. Something else is going to be changed. Details will follow.

Sunday Unwind

2009-04-26T22:54:00.004-04:00

It's late and I'm sitting in my chair with my feet up for the first time today. Not complaining at all, though.

Had a great morning before service. Started the day outside on our patio for a bit just focusing on the beauty of the day God made.

I had a different kind of sense about the day early on. During worship, I knew God wanted to break in some way, and I was just making sure I was in tune with Him. Called a HUGE audible and had everyone sit down and went right into the message for the day. It was basically what I had prepared, but with a few on the fly tweaks.

God has the miracle ready for each one that needs it. The answer is going to come through something that is already there. The widow in the account in 2 Kings 4 didn't think she had anything, much less the answer to her dilemma. Yet, God used what she did have and brought the provision that was needed.

The twist came in as I added another group that I was speaking to from this passage. Those that feel like they are not receiving from God like they once did. Their passion and life have grown a bit stagnant spiritually. When we stop pouring what we do have, God stops flowing more. The oil kept flowing for the widow as long as she had jars to pour into. As soon as she stopped pouring, the oil stopped flowing. Many are receiving from God, but never pouring themselves out.

You can catch the full podcast here.

Because I spoke first and then had a response time followed by the offering, etc. We ended about 15-20 minutes earlier than normal. Had some funny comments regarding it. It also exposed a couple of things we need to work on as a team in our Sunday morning structures. I will be processing it all and even asking some questions about the length of our service and the elements involved. It is always good to evaluate, especially after an unexpected change that gives a slightly different perspective. Don't know what, if anything, that means fully yet.

After a great lunch (steak and grilled shrimp!) I spent the afternoon washing the vehicles with my daughter. Then our family went to a neighborhood thing on the next street over. I love living in this neighborhood, it is incredible! That was followed by some intense racquetball. :-)

Tomorrow, after a round of golf, I am boarding a plane for Charlotte, NC to go to THR3E at Elevation Church on Tuesday. I am greatly looking forward to this! This church has gone from 119 to over 5000 with a record attendance of 7800 on Easter in three years!!!

Gonna crash soon. I'll post some this week about my trip as well as the OSU spring game I went to yesterday with some friends. Also, I'll be sharing some things we are preparing in the days to come.

Until...

Sunday Unwind

2009-04-19T23:24:00.003-04:00

WHAT A DAY!

I love what I do and I love Capital City Church!

First, we had a good time at the Bible quiz meet yesterday with our kids. We had three teams of children competing in matches of Bible knowledge. The competition is just an incentive and structure. The real purpose is to get kids to memorize and learn the Word of God; always a good thing. That said, we did have two of the teams come in first place in their respective divisions.

A few thoughts from this incredible Sunday.

We showed a video to start the service today. It was powerful and inspirational. If you were late, sorry, you missed it. We're giving fair warning, you never know how we are going to start a Sunday gathering, if you're late, you'll miss out.
Worship today was very good. The congregation was into it and really connecting with God.
I struggled for a few minutes with what I felt God was leading, and then I followed and God broke in!
We had a tremendous altar time right there during the worship segment. God was healing and guiding and doing His thing. I felt very impressed that it was someone's moment with God and the urgency of that in me was quite strong. I hope and pray that person(s) didn't miss God today. There was some very real breakthrough happening, I know that for sure.
Made and appeal today for the Teen Challenge of Columbus. We are partnering with other churches from central Ohio to help them finish a building they need in order to expand and refine their services to women dealing with life controlling addictions. We'll be taking an offering for this project, next week.
Started a new series today, "What's In Your Bag?" About fulfilling our purpose.
Today we dealt with fundamentals. If we want to hear the voice of God speaking to us, we must get the basics right: love God, love people.
It is that simple. We must always come back to that every day and every situation. It is where we start and where we must live.
Jesus made life and spirituality simple for us. We are the ones who complicate everything.
It's simple, yet is is also hard. It is difficult to stay focused and live out our purpose for God. We are bombarded by so many voices and distractions and our own issues as well as dealing the complications of man and life. As long as we always come back to the basics and let the fundamentals be our foundation, we can make it through the stuff and get past the noise.
Here the full podcast here.
I was wiped out after service. We had a cookout with some friends and then I crashed for a while before and evening meeting followed by racquetball.
I am pumped about the next two weeks! I could just about preach next Sunday's message right now!
We have some cool things coming up.
Baby Dedications on Mother's Day!
Special surprise speaker on Mother's Day, don't miss this!
Water Baptism on May 17.
Friday night golf will be starting soon.
Softball season is approaching quickly.
Teen Challenge work days.
Much more...

A Thought

2009-04-15T14:00:00.004-04:00

Not sure where this is from or what inspired me to write it, but I ran across this in my journal:
"It is not a life of faith if one is engaged in the work of God. It is not about position, titles, or volunteerism; it is about being active in making God known to those who do not."

So many church goers would say they are living a life of faith or some equivalent form of that saying. I wonder how many really are. In hearing and reading church folk it seems that way more are concerned about their own personal preferences, comfort, and desires. If the music is too new, too old, too loud, too quiet they complain. If the preacher wears a tie, doesn't wear a tie, shouts, doesn't shout, preaches series, preaches verse by verse, preaches from a script, from notes, from memory people gripe and complain. Folks leave churches over the color chosen to paint something. People get upset over and announcement that was made. Folks fight over who gets recognition. People are offended if they weren't personally greeted by the pastor or some other leader. Offenses, gripes, complaints, confrontations, pouting, quitting, and so on are all signs (fruits) of a life that is not living in faith. Rather, these are all fruits of a life living in self.

What would happen if we became less focused on what makes us feel good and comfortable and we started working to help others find the love of God even when it is outside of our comfort zone and preferences?

I think things would change in this world.

Sunday Unwind

2009-04-12T17:32:00.005-04:00

Easter weekend. JESUS IS ALIVE!

This is what we celebrate. This is the message we proclaim. It's why we exist.

Yesterday was incredible! We held our Easter Egg Hunt in the morning at Winterset Elementary. The attendance was fantastic! Largest ever for Cap City. Best of all, 75% of those there were guests. That is awesome! We gave out 5000 eggs, who knows how many pounds of chocolate, and 60 prize packs. Next year we plan on at least 10,000 eggs. Cap City folks, as you have opportunity, hit the post Easter sales and pick up plastic eggs for our Egg Hunt next year. Thanks!

After the Egg Hunt we had some men show up to do some work around the grounds. We pulled weeds, raked mulch, and just did some general sprucing up. The place looked very nice for this morning.

This morning, we started the day with the Sonrose breakfast. The men and women who put that together just rocked it! The food was terrific and everything looked so elegant! Thank you for the extra effort! I love this church! We have some of the best people you can find anywhere!

10 am.

There was definite anticipation in the air. The worship team locked in and we were off and running. God's Spirit was there and moving among hearts and lives. The song "Mighty to Save" is becoming an anthem of the church. One of my favorites for sure.

Shared from Luke 24 this morning. Today is Easter so we focus on the resurrection. I never want to fall into the trap of trying to get cute and clever with the story of Jesus. There is no reason to preach anything other than the cross and empty tomb at Easter.

Focused in on the fact that the disciples struggled with the reality of Christ's resurrection. You and I would have also. We have the luxury of 2000 years of history to look at those events. They lived them. They saw Jesus die. Their hopes were dashed and their lives turned on end. We shouldn't blame or judge them for their struggles. We struggle with our faith and trust in God still today. We have been told that God is in control and He has the end in hand, yet we worry and stress and get down trodden.

The disciples on the road to Emmaus were discouraged and didn't recognize Jesus because they couldn't get past themselves and their own let down of what had just happened. Even as Jesus walked with them and talked with them, they didn't realize that their Savior, Lord, Messiah was right there. So often, we don't realize God is with us or hear His voice when He speaks because our own discouragement keeps us down. But once Jesus reminded them of the prophets and scriptures, their eyes were opened. He told them the story of Himself. When life is blinding us to the truth of God and we are struggling in our walk with God, we just need to go back to the story. We need to tell others of the story, we need to live the story. When we do, our eyes are opened. The eyes of others are opened. Once their eyes were opened, they told the others and there was no turning back.

I wonder what would happne if we truly got a view of the risen Savior and lived out our lives everyday proclaiming that "He is Alive!"?

You can hear the full podcast of this morning's message here.

Today was the wrap of the "HiStory" series and next week opens up the series "What's In Your Bag?". In this series we will be looking at fulfilling God's purposes in our lives.

Great things are happening and the best is yet to come!

Friday

2009-04-10T09:46:00.003-04:00

Today we remember the death of Christ on the cross.

It is a celebration because of what was accomplished.
It is also a somber remembrance of the suffering He endured.
It is a day of sadness because our sin is the reason He went to the cross.
It is a day of healing as it is by His stripes we are healed.
It is a day of forgiveness as our sins were atoned for.
It is gory.
It is gritty.
It is ugly.
It is dark.
It is grisly.
It is holy.
It is pure.
It is for everyone.
It is personal.
It's Friday, but Sunday is coming!

The Shack

2009-04-07T22:40:00.004-04:00

I finished reading the book "The Shack" recently and I wanted to post some thoughts.

First, I don't see why all the controversy. I know some big name people have some very strong opinions about the book and people are quite concerned about it. I don't get it. The most important thing to remember about the book is it is FICTION. This is not a theological text book or a claim as an add-on to the Bible. It is a work of fiction and should be taken as such. Anyone that is wasting their time trying to pick this book apart theologically is just focused the wrong way and spinning their wheels. Why do we have to make everything an issue as if the future of the body of Christ rests on a book? Many did so with "DaVinci Code" and now this. These are fiction works.

Are there problems with "The Shack" when stacked up to theological understandings? Yes. The same could be said about almost EVERY piece of literature ever written. No work outside of scripture is the infallible and perfect Word of God.

However, I do believe "The Shack" does a decent job addressing why bad things happen and what God's role is in the dirty and dark side of life. I also think it captures God's character in many ways, though not perfectly. Again, only scripture does that. I appreciate how the author dealt with man placing self in position of judge over God and the emotion involved in it.

The book is pretty well written. It engages the reader from the start and keeps you engaged. I didn't get bored reading it which I easily do with many books and the vast majority of fiction. If you are a parent of young children, the emotion and description of the abduction is heart wrenching. Honestly, I almost stopped reading it during that portion because it was hitting close to home.

I'm glad I read the book. One thing that always irks me is when people are against something based on what someone else says. I heard many say negative things about the book and they had never read it or done any real research on it. They heard a sermon or read a blog by a person, who didn't necessarily read it either, and then made their judgment based on that. I also know of people warning others not to read it and turning it into an issue of spiritual warfare. WHAT? is all I will say to that.

If you like fiction or are curious, pick up a copy and check it out. If you know someone dealing with a tragic loss, this is something to consider as a conversation piece with them.

We just need to remember, this is not scripture and does not claim to be.

I'm sure there are some that have very strong feelings about this. You are free to comment. Just remember, it's my blog, and I'm free to moderate. :-)

Sunday Unwind

2009-04-05T19:43:00.002-04:00

I never get tired and never want to get used to the move of God. I love being amazed by what He does. I love the adventure and excitement of anticipating what He is going to do. Today was no exception.

We started the morning in a new way. We are going to have someone in the sanctuary reading scripture before service beginning at 9 am. Don't know how long this will last, but I like the idea.

Worship was powerful. The congregation was definitely engaged.

The skit announcing the upcoming karate classes was hilarious!

We continued our series "HiStory" today looking at how radical Jesus really was. Actually, He still is! After I started the message this morning, I felt led to change directions slightly, so I went with it. Trusting God in that way is always a little unnerving, but when it is Him, it always ends well. He was definitely speaking to hearts today. The response was dramatic as people answered what the Holy Spirit was saying to them. One more week in this series: and it is Easter on top of that! Next week is going to be incredible!

Our Easter Egg Hunt is Saturday at 11 am at Winterset Elementary. It's going to be a blast. We have over 4000 eggs ready to go now and will have 5000 by Saturday.

Let me tell you that some absolutely amazing things are ahead. What God is speaking in my heart and where I see Him taking us is far above and beyond what is or has been. Fasten your seatbelts and hang on. :-)

My Response

2009-04-02T11:44:00.002-04:00

I shared this thought in staff meeting this week, and it has been hanging in me for the last couple of days.

In the Message, Ephesians 3:14 says, "My response is to get down on my knees before the Father, this magnificent Father who parcels out all heaven and earth."

Paul was addressing being in jail for proclaiming the Gospel. While, I could say much about the faith and dedication and attitude of Paul, this is striking me a different way right now.

The obvious is to ask the question, "What is my response to the trials of life?" Let's take it one farther, "What is my response to life?" How do we respond to the good, the bad, and the indifferent of daily existence? How much better and more effective would our lives be if this was ALWAYS our response?

Way too often we pray as an afterthought. We relegate prayer to a compartment of our life. We make communication with God something that is separate and sanitized. Communication with God should be as raw and gritty and normal as that with our spouse or best friend. God is the ONLY One who can do anything about what we face, the highs and the lows. He is the One responsible for giving us life and it is His plan that is before us. Why would we NOT go to Him? He will give us comfort in the pain and hurt and trials of life. He is the One who deserves glory and honor in the triumphs.

I know, not every situation allows for us to physically get on our knees. I know some that are not able to anyway due to limitations of the body. Surely, we each understand that this is a visual for prayer. Nehemiah didn't have time to kneel down and pray when the king addressed him. The Bible tells us he prayed "under [his] breath." Nehemiah 2:4. His first response was to go to God.

Our first response should be to go to God. Period. No caveats, no exceptions, no others, just God!

This is easier when we remember that He "parcels out all heaven and earth."

Sunday Unwind

2009-03-29T21:55:00.003-04:00

I love what I do! Today was another incredible day!

Our children's ministry opened our service with a couple of worship songs. It was awesome seeing 30+ kids on stage jumping around praising God. The adults got involved as well. There were cameras everywhere. By far the biggest crowd we have had in the room right at the 10 am start time. Overall attendance was slightly above average.
Worship was good as the congregation really engaged. There was a great feel on the room the whole day.
Got to meet some people from out of town as well as some new folks that were guests today. I love that.
Spoke on the reality of Christ today. We get too caught up in a sanitized "plastic" idea of Jesus. He was a real person dealing with all of the real issues humans face. He walked as walk and lived as everyone lived in His day. He felt heat and sadness and discomfort and pain and all of the emotions ans senses that all of us feel. He was fully God, but also fully human and it is imprtant to remember both.
We need to live with the reality of Jesus in our lives every day.
Several made a fresh commitment to God to do better at walking out the reality of Christ in their daily lives.
One made a new commitment to Christ today! God is AWESOME!
The next two weeks are going to be powerful as we continue looking at the story of Christ.
Fun time connecting with people in the lobby after service. I so enjoy that!
I was wiped out today though. For whatever reason, the service took all of my energy. I had a big time preaching headache and my knees were hurting. Got a short nap before playing racquetball ( I may regret that). Great dinner with friends and then a Wii challenge. We played through the Wii sports. Great fun.

Some have asked for the funeral arrangements for Renee Palmer's sister:
Viewing Hours: Tuesday, March 31 2-4:00 PM and 6-9:00 PM
Service: Wednesday, April 1 11:00 AM
Busch Funeral Home
7501 Ridge Rd
Parma, OH 44129
(440) 842-7800

Check these out

2009-03-25T16:27:00.002-04:00

Just wanted to pass along some things I have read lately:

I almost cheered out loud when I read this short thought from Steven Furtick
Gary Lamb gives some great thoughts on consistency here
Michael has some good thoughts on leadership here
Seth raises an intriguing idea here
Dino shares a fantastic quote from Mother Theresa here
Some encouragement from Mark here
Nathan hits thinking vs. action here
All I can say about this is... WHAT??????
Perry Noble has been reading my sermon notes here :-) Not really, but one might believe it.

Have a great day.

Weekend Unwind - Monday style

2009-03-23T20:28:00.002-04:00

Sorry for the lateness of this post. There are many reasons, none which matter.

This weekend was incredible!

First - GAMEDAY! Men's convention. Nothing like hundreds of men getting together to worship God, grow, and have a good time. We laughed and laughed and we got serious about what God was saying.
I had a blast being on the serve team for the weekend.
Chuck Davis and I had a great time with the Gameday Crew stuff on stage. Chuck is a great guy and a man of God. He is making a difference in Orrville.
Craig Krenzel is the real deal!
So is Chimdi Chekwa. Look forward to seeing where his football career goes.
Tom Mullins (Christ Fellowship Church) did a fantastic job. He has some great stories! He is also a very down to earth and genuine guy. I enjoyed getting to spend a few moments with him in the green room.
I know lives were touched and men were strengthened and challenged this weekend. I have already heard some of the reports and stories coming out of it.
After we wrapped up Gameday and got everything torn down and put away, I got to lead the discussion for our NEXT? journey group. We met outside even though it was a bit chilly. Our discussion got very real and raw and down to the everyday in what we deal with in relationships outside of church. Thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated the openness of those that were there.
Slept like a rock Saturday night! I was whipped!
Sunday came and WOW! God is so faithful! I am amazed that He allows me to be a part fo what He is doing.
Spoke on regrets. Took both angles - avoiding and living life free of spiritual regrets and overcoming those we already live with.
I knew going into the day that God was going to set some folks free of guilt and bondage from their past regrets.
I also knew that some were going to be challenged deeply about their lives and choices.
I have received emails and other communications already about some of what God was speaking to people.
We had a couple of new commitments to Christ this week!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That's what it is about!
Loved the "What if...?" series, but am thrilled about the series we start this Sunday - "HiStory"
I forgot to mention the postcards we have available. These are invites that you can give our mail to people to invite them to church during this Easter series. Stop by during office hours or pick yours up on Wednesday and get them out into people's hands!
My in-laws came up for the day. After lunch, they took our girls home with them for the week to spend spring break. This gives Elena and I our own spring break. We love our girls dearly and we will miss them, but it is nice to have a quiet house for a couple of days. It is also nice to have some uninterrupted us time.
Played golf today with one of my best friends. It was my first time out this year. Knocked some of the rust off. It was cold when we started. It warmed up, but the wind kept it brisk. We had a good time. It really is more about the company than the golf when the two of us get together.
Hopefully, I will have the podcast from yesterday up on the web tomorrow. We have been having some recording issues, but think we may have a solution. I'll post the link once we get it.

2009-03-18T22:48:00.003-04:00

I am getting pumped about the new series we kick off on March 29 - "HiStory." This is our Easter series as we look at the life of Christ in a mix of ways. Each Sunday will bring some surprises I am sure!

March 29 we are starting the service in a unique and very fun way. You don't want to be late. If you show up at 10:10 you might just catch the end of it, 10:15 you won't even be aware of what just happened. Point - be here and in the sanctuary on time on the 29th. :-)

On Sunday, we are going to have postcards of the series promo available for you to send or give to your friends, families, etc to invite them to Capital City.

God is going to change lives this Easter season!

Sunday Unwind

2009-03-15T15:36:00.003-04:00

It's 3:30 and I'm sitting here watching the WGC-CA Championship (golf). Wanted to take a moment and post some thoughts.

This morning was another just incredible day! God is definitely doing something special.
I had a sense of anticipation from the moment I woke up this morning.
The band sounded great today. Justin absolutely tore it up on "Everyone" and "Healer".
If more people would arrive a few minutes sooner and engage in the music from the start, we would reach the next level as a congregation in worship. The band is there and we are ready, it is just going to take a little adjustment by more folks. I expect it to happen soon. :-)
In two weeks, our children's ministry, Kids Ignited, is going to kick off the service right at 10 am. You don't want to be late!
Spoke on comfort zones today. It was kind of the wrap up of the last several weeks in the "What if...?" series we have been doing. One more week, but it is going to go a different direction then we have been.
We have to bring a merging of our faith with our actions in order to have an active and alive walk with God. James 2 gives us a very clear understanding that faith and actions separated are useless, dead.
Thanks to Danny for being a good sport and letting me pick on him a bit today.
God was speaking very specifically to some folks this morning. As I was wrapping up today, I felt the Spirit guide me to say some very specific things to allow people to respond to. A number took the bold step of standing in response to obeying what God is calling them to that is outside of their comfort zone.
Three people raised their hands to surrender their life to Christ! That is ALWAYS a thrill to be a part of.
The one negative from today was another audio glitch that caused this morning's message to not be available to put up on the podcast. The CD burner is encountering an error when they try to finalize it. I can't tell you how ticked off I am about it. I WILL make sure it is taken care of this week. This makes two in a row and the fourth issue we've had in a month with it.
After church we hooked up with some friends and grilled out burgers and brats! The weather is incredible. I am so ready for spring! I love the smell of grilling burgers and the taste of grilled brats.
I am pretty wiped out. Got a bit of a preaching head ache. Fairly normal on Sunday afternoons. I will enjoy my day off tomorrow.

Something To Watch

2009-03-13T07:34:00.001-04:00

Matt Knisely posted this on his blog and I thought it was cool enough to add here:

Feedback

2009-03-11T22:47:00.003-04:00

Two things you can help me out with:

First: I'm doing a sermon on regrets soon and would like some feedback on this issue. If you have a story you could pass along to me about a regret, a picture that depicts regrets, link a video that fits, or something else you think may be relevant, it may just show up on an upcoming Sunday morning. The regrets can be serious, funny, or somewhere in between.

Second: I am in the process of completely rethinking and overhauling Capital City's web presence and would love to have some thoughts and input. This is wide open for ideas and serious outside the traditional norm of a website type of thinking.

Email me or comment right here your feedback.

Also, if you are not yet following me on Twitter or Facebook, swing by and see if it is for you.

Thank you.

Sunday Unwind

2009-03-08T21:23:00.004-04:00

UNBELIEVABLE! That is my word for the day. I mean it both directions.

I'll deal with the good first:

This morning was absolutely incredible!
The worship team had so much energy; even before the service. That energy came out on stage.
The congregation was really connected in worship.
The Holy Spirit broke into the service in the middle of "How Great Is Our God." Love that song, it is the new anthem of the modern church.
God was calling someone or someones to make a serious life change today.
Great spirit in the room all day. People came in with passion and anticipation and it showed.
We continued our "What if...?" series this morning. Spoke on taking risks. Shared one of my favorite stories from the Bible; when Jonathan and His armor bearer attack the Philistines by themselves. I truly believe that God is calling people to step out in big faith and do some radical things for Him. It is going to involve risk and will require overcoming fear, much like jumping out of an airplane. (I will go skydiving very soon, by the way.) :-)
There was a powerful response at the end of the service as folks came forward seeking God and saying "yes" to Him.
We also had some of our closest friends come in for the weekend. It was wonderful to have them here. Mike & Pam, thanks!
On top of that, three of our former youth from Youngstown came to service today. They were in town for the weekend as well. We had a blast with Jess, Kara, and Danielle.
Lunch at Las Margaritas was a riot! We completely took over that place.
It seems we may have had a glitch and this morning's sermon may not be available for podcast. I'll know for sure tomorrow. If we can get it, I'll send out a separate link for it when/if it becomes available.

Now the other side of unbelievable:

Shortly after I got home I heard the news coming out of Maryville, IL.
My heart and prayers go out to Pastor Winters family and First Baptist Church.
Tragic is not the right word; atrocity is closer.
It's time for the church to start taking security seriously.

With Daylight savings, staying up late with friends, preaching my guts out, time with friends, and a full afternoon, I am wiped out. Later...

Motivation - part 3

2009-03-06T12:55:00.003-05:00

To please God - this has to be our motivation in everything! If that is our motivation for life and for our obedience, we don't have to be specifically motivated for the immediate task in front of us.

When I played football, we started meeting the end of July as a team for practices. The first week was "Hell Week." Aptly named to be sure. All we did during our 3 hour evening practices was run drills (no pads) and run and then when we were dropping to the ground, coach would scream in our faces and make us run some more.\

The next week started "two-a-days" This was two practices back to back with a 45 minute break between. We had to be on the field stretching by 6:30 am and got to go home around 1 pm.

The following week was camp. This went Sunday to Saturday. Monday through friday we had a morning practice with conditioning and weights, an afternoon practice in full pads, and an evening practice of running drills.

Let me tell you, the motivation for practice wasn't always there. The motivation to play was. That was the motivation that caused us to follow through and give it our all (those that cared anyway).

As Christ-followers, we may not be motivated in the moment to do what needs to be done, but if we have a bigger motive, then we can obey and do what's right with a right motive. I know this thought is somewhat abstract, but what matters is our life motivation, way more than our moment motivations. It is our life motivation that we are going to be judged by. Yes our moment motivations do matter and we need to work on them, but after our life motivation is fixed on God. We have to get first things first.

The analogy of filling a jar with water, sand, small pebbles, and large stones comes to mind. To get everything in the jar, the order matters greatly. First the biggest items, then the next biggest, and down to the smallest followed by the water. It all fits. If we put any item in in the wrong order, it won't all fit. Life is the same way. The order we do things matter. God works from the inside out. Salvation comes BEFORE the changes in behavior and lifestyle.

Once we get down why we live and who we are in Him, then we can start to bring all the little areas of our lives in line with Him.

So, the question is - why do you live each day? For God or for self?

Outsider, Visitor, or Guest

2009-03-03T15:44:00.002-05:00

Today I attended a meeting. Well, I attempted to attend a meeting anyway. It was a meeting for minsters and church leaders. I won't reveal which organization it was or in which local church because that isn't really the point.

I do want to share some thoughts I had and what it has me pondering.

It is easy for pastors, leaders, and other insiders to forget what it feels like to be an outsider. Today I was hit with it pretty hard. This is actually the second time I had attended one of these meetings. Since I am new to this area, I walked into the first meeting not knowing anyone and a little unsure why I was there. The host pastor greeted me at the door and introduced me to a couple of people and made sure I had a table to sit at during the meal. It was easy to stay and I ended up having a fairly positive feeling about the organization and their monthly meetings. This is what opened up for me to be willing to attend again.

Today, it was held at a different church. When I pulled into the parking lot, it wasn't very obvious where I should go as there are many entrances to the building. I parked where it seemed to be most appropriate based on the cars that were there. As I walked into the building I saw several folks who made no gesture or greeting to me at all. If I didn't acknowledge someone first, they didn't acknowledge me. I walked past a couple dozen people without being greeted once on my way to hang up my jacket. I found my way into the main room (multi-purpose sanctuary that was beautifully decorated). None of the ones I had met previously were there. I had to walk around several groups of people talking. Not a word was spoken to me. I stood in the back and looked around the room (I am intrigued by how places are set up with equipment, etc.) More people filtered in. If someone's eye met mine I would smile and say something, and they would nod back and move past. I started feeling very uncomfortable and very alone. Then one guy started trying to get everyone to find a table to sit at so they could start serving the food, which did smell very good. A few moved toward the tables, but no one sat down. He kept insisting that people find a table. I was trapped by people standing between me and the tables. Finally, I slipped out into the hallway again. I had been there nearly 20 minutes and had no interaction with anyone. I grabbed my jacket with several standing in that area and walked out the door. I passed a few more coming in. I got in my car and left.

As I was driving away, I had a few thoughts as I tried to process my feelings from my experience. I was reminded of what it is like to be an outsider. Today I felt very much on the outside and like there was no desire for me to be on the inside from anyone there. I am quite happy I had not yet made out the $50 check to join the organization. It came to me how someone feels the first time they walk into a church where they don't know anyone. If someone doesn't catch them right away, they more than likely won't stay.

The first time I attended this group, I felt like a visitor, but felt welcomed. This time I was an outsider. Our goal shoul dbe to help everyone who attends to feel, not like an outsider, not even liked a visitor, but to feel like a guest.

A guest enjoys their experience. They feel valued. Their fears are calmed and their uneasiness soothed. A guest easily becomes a friend.

May we each strive to help others feel like our guest and not like an outsider. I can assure you, I will do everything I can to make sure Capital City is a place of hospitality where no one that walks in feels as uncomfortable and excluded as I did today.

Sunday Unwind

2009-03-01T14:47:00.006-05:00

WOW!... WOW! What a fantastic day! God is moving and speaking.

A few thoughts while they are fresh:

I had a real sense of anticipation for today. I just new God had somethign in store for us.
The message for today got changed late friday night. Was going to speak on compassion and ended up speaking about Passion. I had been struggling a bit with the preparation of the message that was planned for today. Friday night late I got a stirring in my heart to switch things up. Saturday morning, before playing racquetball, I spent soem time letting the new direction for today burn within me. Then after playing, I spent a couple of hours getting things ready for this morning with the new direction.
The band was ready this morning. Before the service they were bouncing around and full of energy, I told them to let that energy translate on stage; it did. There was a great spirit in the room and the congregation engaged in the worship.
We took communion this morning. That is always a cool thing. It isn't about the tradition or the ceremony, it is remembering what Christ did for us. Today, even more than normal, there was a noticeable significance to the moment.
We also had a couple of kids being baptized today! I love that! I know it was meaningful for Pastor Staci as she was able to conduct the baptisms. The rest of Kids Ignited joined us in the service for the baptism. That was cool having them in there for a few minutes. I'm very glad they got to experience it and cheer on their friends.
In speaking about passion today, I evoked some in the room when I displayed the Michigan "M". It always cracks me up the reaction that brings, but it made the point. David was willing to be humiliated in his own eyes for God's name and glory. Jesus lived His life with passion and strength. He was passionate about people and passionate about the things of God. We need more passion in our lives! The world would be very different if more of us lived with the same passion Jesus lived His life with.
I was spent at the end of service today. My voice is still not recovered a couple fo hours later. I don't mind a bit.
Had some wonderful conversations with people today. I love what I do and I love the people of Capital City!
We've got a couple of things in the works that will be pretty cool when they come about.
I said it at the end of service today, "You ain't seen nothin' yet!"

Today's message can be heard here.

Motivation - part 2

2009-02-25T11:13:00.003-05:00

How do we walk the line of motivation when we don't want to do something, but know it is the right thing? This line of obedience can get quite blurry in life. This is especially true as we navigate life using the Word of God.

This past Sunday, I made a statement about not really wanting people to give money if they were only doing it out of a sense of obligation. A dangerous statement to be sure. One that could easily beg the question: what about obedience to God?

How many times does the Bible give us a command that really we are not all that motivated to do? Love your enemy. Love your neighbor as yourself. Do not think more highly of yourself than you ought. Do not covet. The list goes on and on calling us away from selfishness and self pleasing. So, should we do them anyway out of a sense of obligation or wait until we feel like it?

I actually believe the answer to be neither. I don't think we should do the right thing simply because we "have "to. I also don't think we should wait until we feel like doing the right thing either; our flesh most likely will never get there on at least some things. Somewhere, we have to make the decision to please God and let that become our motivation.

We give, share, go, follow, sacrifice, serve, love, and so on because it pleases God. We should not do these things out of fear or obligation or compulsion or guilt or in trying to punch the right buttons on a vending-machine-god to get the right results. When we do these things of a wrong motive, there is no reward and it does nothing to bring us closer to God or closer to His will.

The Pharisees did everything right. They obeyed completely. Many, if not most, did so with wrong motives and as such were called, "Hypocrites," "White washed tombs," and a "brood of vipers." Not exactly what we should hear from God. The Pharisees who did desire to please God, realized that their obedience was a result of a right heart, not anything else.

Today, if we are doing things for the wrong reasons, it does not matter at all if they are the right things, we are not pleasing God. We can only please God when the heart behind the action is right. Even if we don't feel like doing it: even if it is unnatural for us to do: we do the right thing to please God, not self or anyone else. Our motivation must be Him.

So, yes, we can obey with a right motive even when we don't want to do that specific act. As long as that motive is our love for God.

Back to a previous example: when I tell my daughter to do something she doesn't want to do, she can do it with a right motive (love for me), or a wrong motive (selfish gain, fear, etc.). True it is obedience either way, but one is much better all the way around than the other. Much less painful also.

We do what we do for Him and His glory. That is the right way to approach life. This mindset makes it easier to follow and obey, even in the hard things.

to be continued...

Sunday Unwind

2009-02-22T18:54:00.007-05:00

This is going to be a different post, because, well, it was a different day.

It could be the subject, it could just be one of those days, it could be a number of things, but I never felt "the groove" this morning. It is always tense to deal with the subject of giving and money. It probably shouldn't be as the Bible has much to say on the subject. It always seems to be. Could be it is more on my end then on the other end. Either way, it is what it is. I felt very compelled in my spirit to say what I did this morning. I did receive some good comments and encouraging words after, which, while not necessary, is always nice to hear. :~)

To be honest the whole day had a "plowing" kind of feel. That is natural and normal in the life of a church. Not every day can be "off to the races." That isn't healthy and it isn't real. It was a good day, but just seemed to take a little more effort than some days do. Some Sundays just flow and everything is smooth and feels "in the groove."

Don't get me wrong, I am not disappointed with today by any stretch. There are a couple of technical things that we will work to improve as always. I am just being honest and open. Truth is, those that were there probably felt at least some of it as well, so why be any other way about it?

I did have the privilege of praying with a couple of people. That is always a great honor as a pastor. We said goodbye to three individuals today who have been studying here in the US for the past four months. They will return to Indonesia on Saturday.

Next week, we will continue the "What if...?" series. We also have a couple of people getting baptized, which is one of my favorite things I get to do as a pastor. I am greatly looking forward to next Sunday! It is going to be off the hook!

Motivation - part 1

2009-02-20T15:49:00.006-05:00

Let me ask you a question. It is one question, but I'm going to ask it more than one way...

What keeps you going? What is your motivation? Why do you do what you do each day?

Ultimately our true motivations will determine our actions and our actions will be what we are defined by with others.

What we are on the inside DOES matter. It matters to God. He is who we are trying to please. But is that really WHY we are and WHY we do? Or is there something more to our motives? Do we do the "right things" for our own benefit or because we really do want to please God?

There is a difference between wanting to please God for His sake and wanting to please God for our sake. When my daughter cleans her room for no other reason then she knows I want her to, then she is doing it for my sake. When she cleans her room to butter me up to ask for something, then it is for her sake. Same action, two very different motivations. I just wonder how often we do that with God?

As I read through God's Word I see that if our motivation is correct, then we will do the right things (mostly) and will eventually become known for what we do. That may or may not be positive, depending on the context. Jesus was known for what He did, but there were many that didn't appreciate that at all. This primarily was the religious leaders. His motives were not known, but His actions were. He was judged by His actions. Most saw these actions as good, but many did not.

I know I have opened up some things and not wrapped them up nice and tidy. I have more to say but am going to come back to it in another post or posts. So, until then:

What motivates you?
Thoughts and answers are welcomed.

A few thoughts

2009-02-17T11:15:00.005-05:00

I've got that random feeling again today...

I've been reading some incredible blog posts lately, here's a couple to check out:

Ben gives a quick encouragement on living life here
Mark has a great post on trusting God here
Steven has a good word on being mindful of what is happening in our lives here
Carey speaks here about clarity
...and Dave discusses friendship here

I've already gotten some good response from our new endeavor of podcasting our sermons here from Capital City. I did for most of the time I was in Steubenville. We are working out some kinks and hopefully will have everything as seamless and smooth as possible very soon.

I played racquetball yesterday. Have really regained my enjoyment of that sport and am less sore after each time I play. However, I did hit my left hand with my racquet once when I missed a shot. Sliced my finger right open and ripped part of the nail off. That was not the way I wanted to take a break. We did play two or three more games after that. It is not throbbing much today, thankfully.

My wife and I started the South Beach diet again yesterday. I lost 50 pounds on it a couple of years ago and have kept off all but 15 of it. I want to lose that 15 again and maybe 15 more. I'm not allowed to say much about my wife's results and goals, but she is serious right now, I can tell you that.

I woke up this morning with the old song by Greg Volz, "The Exodus", running through my mind. Specifically the line from Exodus 15, "The Lord is my strength and song, He is become my salvation... my Father's God and I will exalt Him." It has just been there in my mind today. In fact, I'm listening to that song on my iTunes right now. It is also a great thought to carry us through our day. When He is my strength and song and salvation, it is not about me and I can focus on exalting Him and not myself, my agenda, my ideas, or my way.

Sunday Night Unwind

2009-02-15T23:03:00.003-05:00

AWESOME! AWESOME! AWESOME!

I really felt "in the groove" this morning as we kicked off the series "What if..." this morning. God was speaking and moving as only He can. The vibe and energy in the room were, to borrow the phrase, OFF THE HOOK! There is no end to the possibilities if we really would live our lives actually believing the words of Jesus in John 14. He promised that if we lived by faith we would do the same kinds of things He did, and even greater things. What an incredible thought!

We are going to start offering our sermons as a podcast. I have already uploaded today's sermon here. We will be working out some glitches and the actual host site name may change, but the link on the main website will always be updated. Also, you can listen online or download it into iTunes by clicking the sunbscribe link on the page. This works easily for both Mac and PC. We are working on this to be as compatible as possible and will be improving it more all the time. Thank you for your patience as we work out the kinks and issues.

Elena sang a song this morning that was written by some youth in Steubenville a couple of years ago. She rocked it. I love her voice and the power and passion she puts into her singing. It was the first time many in the church heard her sing, very cool response. Sorry, I like to brag on my wife, she deserves it.

After service, Elena hosted an open house for the ladies of the church at our house. She said it was a very good turn out and a lot of fun. She also wants to convey her thanks for all those who came and for the very nice expressions and gifts. She cooked and prepared for 12 hours or so yesterday. I say she is insane when she is getting ready for a party, but she loves it. The food was incredible. I had to check it out first of course, and then I had to help "clean up." :~)

Due to the number of females in the house, I was no where near here this afternoon. So, I took the girls out for a daddy/daughters' date. We went to Bravo's for lunch. (Bre lost a front tooth in the middle of the meal which is always exciting.) Then we went to the church and hung out for a little while. We played some pool and ping pong. Before coming home, we hit the Chocolate Café for dessert. Yummy to say the least. We arrived to find that our house was still not quite empty. The ladies were having way too much fun.

It's getting late, until...

Snotty Noses

2009-02-11T19:43:00.002-05:00

I just spent a few minutes in the nursery. While there God reminded me of something.

Let me back up. Every Wednesday I float around the building and just talk to people. It gives me a chance to get to know the people here better and a chance to experience what is happening in each of the ministries and classes. I pop in and say "hi" to the classes and chat with the teachers.

Tonight, I walked into the nursery and there were 7 children in there. I think 5 of them under the age of one. The three ladies in there each had one that they were tending to and one more was on the floor crying. Not screaming, but crying. I picked her up for a minute, wiped her nose, and walked around with her. To be honest, I haven't held a young one like that for more than a minute in quite a while. I definitely haven't wiped a snotty nose that wasn't mine in a looooong time. My girls are old enough to wipe their own. Anyway, she was still fussing so I gave her a bottle and walked around with her some more. While she was drinking I looked down at her and the thought crossed my mind about how God takes care of us. This little girl is fussy, not just because she was hungry, but she has had an ear infection lately as well. She doesn't feel good. This is hard enough for an adult to deal with, almost impossible for an infant.

As we walk through our daily routines we have moments and circumstances and times we go through that just have us out of sorts. We don't know how to handle it. It's not that we are being immature or are wrong in any way, it is just where we are at the moment. The little girl tonight wasn't being unreasonable or immature, she was acting appropriately for her age and situation. In our journey with God, we will have those times that we end up not knowing what to do with ourselves and our noses are snotty and we don't know what we need. God does. He picks us up, wipes off our noses, and gives us what we need.

He does this because He loves us. He isn't offended at our imperfections or our situation. He isn't upset by our condition. He doesn't blame us. He cares for us. He holds us.

Now, there are times when the situation is our fault and we do have the ability to do at leats something about it. That isn't what I am talking about. There are also times when it is just what we are dealing with at that the point of our journey.

God loves each of us, snotty noses and all.

Sunday Night Unwind

2009-02-08T20:42:00.002-05:00

What a privilege!

Today was definitely a God day!

The band sounded good today and "How Great Is Our God" was powerful in worship! There was a good sense of expectation from the get go!

We had a guest speaker today, Mike Froitzheim. He is a missionary who provides glasses and other eye care in some of the poorest areas of the middle east into Asia. He shared his story of the grace and power of God throughout some extraordinary circumstances in his life. All I can say, is in the 1980's it was not a good idea to be in a car with this guy as many serious accidents as he was in! Wow! The miracles God performed saving his life over and over again! Since a life changing encounter with God 15 years ago, he and his wife have been a part of some incredible adventures as they have seen so many miraculous healings around the world. A couple of dozen people came forward to be prayed for and a few committed their life to Christ today! I NEVER get tired of that! It is what we are about!

I am looking forward to hearing the results of what God was doing today in that time of prayer.

Before service someone shared with me a great account of the blessing and provision of God. This person is struggling financially, as so many are. They were trying to figure out how they were going to give their tithe and still be able to put gas in their car for this week. In the middle of their dilemna, a perfect stranger provided for them a full tank of gas! God takes care of every detail when we trust Him!

This afternoon we enjoyed a great lunch with some friends from out of town. I recommend the Philly Cheesesteak at the Rusty Bucket. :-)

Then we had our annual members meeting at the church followed by a wonderful meal. We elected four new board members: Ove Fladburg, Allen Markarian, Christopher Minter, and Don Rowles. I am honored to have these men join the three that are remaining on the board; Jim Barnett, Scott Crawford, and Frank Howse. A huge "THANK YOU" goes to Dave Ewing, Cori LeMasters, and Adam Scheetz for their service on the board.

Looking forward to a fantastic week and I'm already getting pumped about next Sunday as we start the series, "What if...?

New Series

2009-02-04T12:54:00.005-05:00

We are starting a series on February 15 entitled, "What if...?"

We are going to explore the ramifications of this question from a few different angles and see what God has for us. Get ready for your faith to be stretched, your thinking challenged, and your journey to move closer to God.

The question "What if...?" is a powerful question. What if you suddenly received a million dollars? What if you could start over? What if you knew then what you know now? What if you got that new job? What if you could hear God speak to you every day? What if your prayers were answered? What if your dreams came true?

Also with this series we are going to begin podcasting our messages. This is something I have wanted to do since arriving and we are going to get it up and running. You will be able to subscribe through iTunes or from our website. More details to come.

Updates

2009-02-04T08:09:00.002-05:00

Yesterday afternoon I received a notice from my computer that updates were available for some of my software. This is not that unusual as software developers are constantly working to improve their products.

As the updates were downloading and installing, it occurred to me that as people we need to make sure we are getting our upgrades. My computer checks on a regularly scheduled basis for new versions of my software. It could check daily if I desired.

From time to time, the updates stop and the developer will issue an upgrade. This is different in that it often involves more features, not just improvements, and it usually requires spending more money for the upgrade. Updates are free.

We need to check daily if there are areas in our life that need to be updated and even at times upgraded. The Holy Spirit uses the Bible and our prayer time to help us make sure we have the newest “updates” with what God is doing in our lives. There are times that the Spirit will show us an area that needs major attention and we must “upgrade” by changing how we do some thing(s) or the way we think in some area(s).

If we are not participating in God’s plan to keep us up to date, we will miss out on the latest thing He wants to do in us.

A computer that doesn’t get proper maintenance and updates will over time begin to slow down and loose its efficiency and eventually crash as files get corrupted and programs get fouled in their source code: conflicts arise and the operating system gets clogged with too many processes (PC's anyway :-)).

A Christian that doesn’t receive the proper correction and instruction from the Holy Spirit and God’s Word will begin to slow down in their faith. They will loose their trust in God and eventually become cynical and jaded causing a “crash” in their walk with God. This will cause conflicts and compromise to arise within them and their thinking will become clogged with too many distortions of truth.

Romans 12 tell us to be transformed by the renewing of our mind. In computer speak this would be a low level reformat of the hard drive which cleans out the old junk and preps it to receive new uncorrupted code. Once that is done, a plan of proper, on-going maintenance is needed to keep the junk from coming back.

Sunday Night Unwind

2009-02-01T22:13:00.004-05:00

After that game, unwind is the right word. My heart is racing like I just got done running. :-)

Great game! One of the best Superbowls in a long time! Unfortunately, the Cards couldn't hold on in the end. Congrats to the Steelers, they earned it.

Today was a fantastic day!

The band was on today in worship. The song "Enough" was powerful. The congregation seemed very engaged through worship also. We celebrated communion today, always a great addition to the service.

There are some incredible days ahead. We are preparing for those that God is going to send to us. Today we took a couple of steps that way. There are some more steps we are going to take in the weeks to come. Keep an eye out and see what those steps are.

We are working on an overhaul of the website. We have made a few updates already, but the complete makeover should be done by the end of February at the latest.

Our annual members meeting is next Sunday at 5:30 followed by a dinner. Should be a great time.

In two weeks, we will start a series entitled "What if...?" My previous blog post will give you a very brief snapshot preview. Looking forward to what God is going to do through this. That will be followed by a series called "Under Par". You can guess what the theme will be, but these are not sermons about golf. That's all I have to say about that. :-)

Enjoyed the evening with a few families from Capital City as we watched the first half of the game together. The food was very good and the company was even better. Lots of fun.

On a very somber note:
Funeral Arrangements for Gary Harris (Tricia and Jill's Father):

Calling Hours: Tuesday, 5 to 8 pm and Wednesday, 10 to 11 am
Funeral Service: Wednesday at 11 am, reception to follow
Location for both:
Walker Funeral Home
98 West Main Street
Norwalk, OH 44857

Donations in memory of Gary may be made to:
American Red Cross
www.redcross.org

Abigail Pregnancy Services
PO Box 68
Norwalk, OH 44587

Flowers:
Betschman's Flowers
419-668-6323

What if......

2009-02-01T07:53:00.002-05:00

What if... ? Powerful question.

What if we let go of all of our pre-dispositions to the way things are supposed to be done and started with a new slate, a fresh look at what needs to be done. Is that possible? Is it possible to open our minds and let our creativity expand beyond what we know to what could be? What if we could?

I am becoming more and more able to cope with questions without answers. I like knowing why. I want to know what is going on and have a fix on everything around me. Yet, as I journey through life, I am finding that is not as often possible to have the answers as I would like. In dealing with this, we can either scream louder for answers and demand our way; deny the fact and pretend we have the answers; blame the questions and declare the right things aren’t being asked or it is wrong to ask; or we can accept it and learn to walk in the understanding that some things are bigger than us and beyond our ability to know.

With this last mindset comes a few other things: amazement at life; wonder at nature; joy in little things; peace in storms; hope for tomorrow; and a new way of seeing situations. Instead of looking at everything for the sinister plot, the evil motive, or the hidden conspiracy, we come to the point where we are seeking the opportunity of God to impact a life, expand His Kingdom, and serve His purpose.

What if we moved beyond fear and trepidation and boldly proclaimed the love of God and reality of Christ to those around us?
What if we stopped seeing church as a form of worship on Sundays and Wednesdays?
What if we went to where people already are instead of expecting them to come to us?
What if we found new ways of presenting the Gospel in real and relevant ways in real situation in real life?
What if we stopped relying on programs and models and forms to get the job done and started trusting in the power of God to work through us?
What if each person in the body of Christ got into “the game” and did their part?
What if we put aside petty differences and juvenile arguments and joined in unity to accomplish God’s mission?
What if we followed the example of Christ and not the traditions of man?
What if each one of us ventured out to do what God has called us and an individual to do with reckless abandon?
What if we lived out of our faith that God is real and is working instead of by our sight and human understanding?
What if we dared to ask God for the big, the impossible? And, then actually lived in expectation?
What if we looked for what we can offer and give instead of what we can get?
What if you accomplished that dream in your heart?
What if ... ?

Book Review

2009-01-30T08:45:00.003-05:00

Here's another book review, though this is a very different kind of book. It is a resource and a guide.

I find it very helpful for Christian writers as it is easy to navigate and well planned. It has a great amount of detailed information for contacting publishers and their requirements.

Anyone who uses this will find the "How to use this book" section very helpful as my wife and I have. Whether you are looking to get an article published, an opinion piece, self-help guide, or a novel, this guide is well worth the price. I do recommend this for anyone wishing to get their written work out into the marketplace.

My wife just recently finished writing a christian novel and this book is very timely for her as she begins the process of finding a publisher for her work.

You can buy this guide at:
www.amazon.com

Here is a summary from the publisher of this guide:

For 24 years running, the Christian Writers’ Market Guide has remained the most comprehensive, complete, essential, and highly-recommended resource for beginning and veteran Christian writers, agents, editors, publishers, publicists, and those teaching writing classes.
This year’s Guide is even handier with a CD-Rom included that features the full text of the book for easy searches of topics, publishers, and markets, as well as 100 pages of exclusive content including indexes and writing resource listings. This is the resource you need to get noticed—and published.

Completely updated and revised to feature the latest on…

more than 1,200 markets for the written word
416 book publishers (32 new)
654 periodicals (52 new)
96 literary agents
100 new listings in Resources for Writers
226 poetry markets
316 photography markets
25 African-American markets
and 166 contests (29 new)

Author Bio:
Sally E. Stuart is the author of thirty-six books and has sold more than one thousand articles and columns. Her long-term involvement with the Christian Writers’ Market Guide as well as her marketing columns for the Christian Communicator, Oregon Christian Writers, and The Advanced Christian Writer, make her a sought-after speaker and a leading authority on Christian markets and the business of writing. Stuart is the mother of three and grandmother of eight and lives near Portland, Oregon.

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It's Sunday

The Drop Cloth

Too Stuffy

Killing Cockroaches (Thoughts)

Week Unwind

Killing Cockroaches

Killing Cockroaches

Sunday Thoughts

Quick Hit

Weekend Unwind - Monday style

What America Needs...

Sunday Thoughts

Just for Fun

Father's Day Message

Father's Day Wrap up

Follow Thru - part 2

Sunday Unwind

Balance & Boundaries Pt.2

Balance & Boundaries Pt.1

Sunday Unwind

Follow Thru - part 1

Sunday Thoughts

Choose

The Power to Change

Sunday Unwind

Holy Spirit Baptism

Sunday Unwind

Legislative Action

Sunday Unwind Mother's Day Style

Personal Journey

Yes & Amen

Sunday Unwind

Unique

More Thr3e

Spring Game

THR3E

Posted from Thr3e

Sunday Unwind

Sunday Unwind

Links

A Thought

Sunday Unwind

Friday

The Shack

Sunday Unwind

My Response

Sunday Unwind

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