How does history feel? During the course of my life (and I am not that old) I have seen some incredible moments in history. There have been things that surely forced people to re-write the history books. For example: Challenger, Berlin Wall, 9-11, etc. This past week was no different with Wa-Mu getting Wa-Me’d. Not to mention a potential 700 billion dollar bailout. I can’t even wrap my little brain around how much money that is. On top of that we are staring in the face of a guaranteed history making election.
Some of that history was painful but with things like the Berlin Wall you can see the positive sides of history. With all of this history making going on I began to evaluate what I am doing to make history. What can I do in my little corner of existence to leave a positive mark? Even though I don’t anticipate there actually being a reprint of a history book based on the happenings of my life, there are choices that I make that can alter the future. We have been talking a lot lately about the sphere of influence that we can have just by impacting one life. You look at what Jesus accomplished with eleven. So I am trying to be more strategic in my actions. I am looking for the opportunities to influence people for Jesus. Whether that is my son or a co-worker, what can I do right now to make a difference that can be scene for generations to come? How are you best utilizing your time right now? Are you influencing somebody for Jesus right now? Are you doing whatever you can to help change someone’s future?
I stole this clip of some “hip/hop” worship from my friend Carl. I wish that I knew the context of this and that there were some crowd shots but based on the applause they thought that it was “dope”.
I am about to call our band and offer them a 20% raise. They are absolutely worth it…
Somebody sent me this link with the youngest “preacher” in the world and I really am torn on how to take it. Check THIS out and come back….
Okay, so I have a preacher’s kid (PK if you will) who every Sunday about mic check time goes to the platform sits on his daddies stool and begins to deliver some 4 year old theology such as “God is bigger than all the monsters.” No jokes… that is deep if you begin to think about all the monsters we face in life.
But I am wondering if his daddy was a yeller who spit over the first three rows when he preached could this be my kid? I guess the answer is probably yes, and I would think that it is great and be proud just like when he teaches from my stool. But would I then take valuable service time to hand my son a microphone and see hom many amens he could get as peop,e pretend that they can understand him?
So I am unsure, but do you find this cute, disturbing, in bad taste, “raising them up in the way they should go”, or other?
I don’t get into a lot of politics on this blog but HERE is a link to a site with the You Tube clips of Rick Warren (Senior Pastor of the Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, California) asking some great questions to Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain. I had some people ask me about it this weekend and I said I would post this link. This happened in mid August just in case you missed it. Regardless of where you stand I think you will be able to agree that this is an amazing thing to have the two Presidential candidates in a church being interviewed by a Pastor is awesome.
At breakfast this morning with my buddy Carl we were discussing some of our challenges. This time could easily turn into a one up or simply a complain session. (you thought I was going to say something else but I am working out my salvation) To this point we have been successful in making it an opportunity to encourage one another and offer feedback.
This morning I was telling him about my desire to establish some priorities and boundaries between ministry and life. I know some really “holy” people just said there is no difference; God has called you to be a pastor, so it is your life. No, it is only a piece… God has called me to be a man, a husband, a father, a friend, a witness, an employee, and a pastor so it is up to me to establish the priorities of these things and establish boundaries.
I have always been aware of the time vacuum that is ministry. I grew up with it and have vowed hundreds of times not to loose site of my priorities. Well, seemingly no matter how conscious I am or how hard I have tried I am missing the mark. God has a way of reminding us of where we are falling short. Sometimes they are subtle redirections and other times they hurt like a dull knife cutting out your heart.
So, I used the word Purpose Driven because that is one of the church planting models that includes the “launching large” concept. Obviously there are others, but I want to share today a price to “launching large” (especially if you don’t make it). The Bible talks about counting your costs and this was one that I didn’t consider and maybe you haven’t either so let me help you learn this so you might not have to pay the same price.Continue reading ‘Purpose Driven has a Price’
I am just throwing that out there because seemingly everybody with gold shoes is incredibly fast. In 1996 it was Michael Johnson, who I think started the trend, and then this year we have Usain Bolt with a 9.69 sec. 100-meter world record. I watched Cool Runnings and I think that the Jamaican bobsled team needs to do some recruiting.
It is almost like all of these track specialists who said Johnson runs to straight up and Bolt (great name by the way) is too tall to be successful getting a good launch out of the blocks missed the advantage of the gold shoes. Check this out… Bolt won with his shoe untied. I am sure there are a lot of athletes at the shoe store right now getting some of these… Nike has officially Pimped My Shoe.
I am not trying to get too spiritual here but John the Revelator wrote about God having feet like brass… kind of looks like gold. And God is pretty fast, creating the whole world in just 6 days, as an example. Coincidence?
The fall has always been my favorite season. I know I live in South Florida where I am not sure if that terminology even exists but… Maybe it is because my birthday comes in the fall. Maybe it is because that is when “football” season kicks off. Now that I live in South Florida I need to clarify, “American Football”. Specifically it is the time when the Buckeyes of The Ohio State University take the field under the fine coaching of Jim Tressel. O-H-I-O
Maybe it is because I remember taking great yearly trips as a kid to the mountains to enjoy the changing of the leaves. Maybe it was because I was married in the fall. Maybe it is because of Thanksgiving which is one of my favorite holidays. Maybe it is a little of all of that, but now that I am a church planter I have found a new affection for the fall.
I am anticipating the return of all of our vacationers in the next few weeks. As kids return to school and schedules begin to settle I am looking forward to making this fall our season of spiritual growth. We will trying to find out what sort of impact a New Testament church can have on our community.
So starting in September we will be taking the New Testament Challenge. We are going to read the New Testament cover to cover during the course of the next three months. We are going to be challenged to live out the life of a New Testament follower of Christ. We have taken off our lousy t-shirts and we are getting on with our own amazing journeys.
Who isn’t… I hate when people take a great thing and exploit it. I am all for taking care of our environment. I am all for recycling. I am all for taking a reusable bag to the grocery store. I am all for making buildings more efficient, saving fossil fuels with fuel efficient cars, etc. The V10 Excursion we use to pull our 24’ church trailer says otherwise but if you take into account the amount of energy used by a church that owns their facility I can guarantee my 10mpg to and from church + the additional energy used by the school while we are there doesn’t come close to the energy used when your building isn’t in use.
Sorry, I got sidetracked… But what makes me angry is that for many companies this thought of being environmentally friendly is nothing more than a way to make a buck. I know that is what supposedly makes the world go around but putting your same product in a green wrapper doesn’t make you any more of an environmentalist than having a diet coke with your Big Mac makes you a healthy eater. At the architectural firm I work for which is pretty active in the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Market but we get a lot of clients who want to put a finish material with some recycled content in it just so they can tell every client who walks in the door the story about this floor or this countertop. So what if they have a manufacturing process that gives of hazardous waste which they are dumping in the ocean and their company vehicles are H2’s. (Hypothetical example)I have not always been the most environmentally conscious guy but when I see not only the destruction of God’s creation but the exploitation of the effort to do a better job, it makes me want to try harder. So if it is in a green wrapper that doesn’t make it environmentally friendly. Some people who say they are going green are actually going brown because they are feeding you a line of crap. So don’t buy into the hype… buy into companies who really are making changes for the betterment of the environment not just a change to their marketing strategy.
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