I haven’t blogged in a few days because I have been focused on planning for our next series. It is called “Stories”. Our series scripture is Philemon 1:6 “I pray that you may be active in sharing your faith, so that you will have a full understanding of every good thing we have in Christ.” I am hoping that we will be able to kick it off on November 9th. I currently have our intro video being created. Which if it is anything like the last one our Full Sail student did… it will be awesome.
We all have stories but often times don’t recognize their impact because it is just another chapter in our life. I think through sharing them you can impact others in profound ways but it also brings new perspective to your story because you see the response of others. This is the catalyst to help us understand every good thing.
Through this series I am hoping that people will be motivated to vocalize their story as they experience first hand the impact of others. In conjunction with some amazing testimonies in the Bible we will be sharing video of some people from InDependence sharing their story.
God has done some pretty amazing stuff in some people’s lives but the only way to experience the true power of that experience is to share it. I can’t wait to share some of those stories on this blog as we finish the taping and editing.
I like what Rick Warren said on this subject at the beginning of the Forum on the Presidency back in August. He said “We believe in the separation of church and state but we do not believe in the separation of faith and politics. Because faith is just a world view and everybody has some kind of world view so it’s important to know what they are.”
We don’t talk politics a lot at InDependence on Sunday for a couple of reasons. First, I too believe in the separation of church and state and I am not interested in risking certain things like church tax exemption just to try and persuade people to vote like me. Secondly, I am not ready to declare that God is a Republican or a Democrat because in doing so I just told a bunch of people that they really aren’t welcome at our church.
But we do openly support people getting educated about their options, prayerfully making their choices and exercising their freedom to vote. Outside of church I express my opinion because I have every right to but it is usually because people ask.
Wednesday after our InVest Group a bunch of us loitered and watched the presidential debate. Is it crossing the Church/State line to do that? Well I looked into it and I am only limited to using the “pulpit” (which I am not sure how that relates to my stool).
Regardless, I walked away that night very encouraged. Not necessarily by any one candidates plan to solve our current challenges, but in the following:
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In our church we have people who are educated on the issues and the proposed solutions from both sides.
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They are prayerfully considering their selection and allowing the Holy Spirit and conscious to guide them.
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They are serious and passionate about that selection.
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They are willing and prepared to exercise their right to vote and their freedom to express their opinion.
As a pastor that made me proud and I think God is too.
A wierd source sent this to me today and thought it was worth sharing:
‘To get something you never had, you have to do something you never did.’ When God takes something from your grasp, He’s not punishing you, but merely opening your hands to receive something better. Concentrate on this sentence… ‘The will of God will never take you where the Grace of God will not protect you.’
I have often time used Pslams 23:5 “…my cup runneth over” as imagery along these same lines. If you have a cup full of blessings and you want to keep them, than the natural thing to do is to put a lid on them. That way they don’t get away. A lid is very effective in doing that but the problem with the lid is that when you seal anything in for an extended period of time it becomes will become stale and old.
So today’s blessings, if held on to, will become something stinky that you are carrying around. The other thing to remember about the lid is that not only does it keep stuff in… it also keeps stuff out. So by sealing your vessel you stop the flow of anything new to come in.
By allowing your cup to run over, you become a blessing to others by allowing your old blessings to be new blessings for others. You also, as mentioned above, make room for new blessings. That is the challenge of generosity… will you live an open or closed hand life?
So I don’t talk a lot about numbers on this blog but here are some worth mentioning. Outreach Magazine released the Top 100 Largest Churches and Top 100 Fastest Growing Churches in America list. I was proud of how well Florida was represented in this list.
Even South Florida, commonly referred to as a highly unchurched area, represented half of the Florida churches listed in the largest churches category. This does not change the statistics that this one of the top five most unchurched areas in the country, but for a church planter it is encouraging to think that it is possible to reach people here.
Any time you talk about “Mega” churches there are always the people that question the methods that are used to grow churches to this size. This week I was discussing one of the individuals on the overall list and I got “checked” by a friend with this thought… “Have you ever been in one of their services to know what really goes on?” My opinion was based on interviews, edited video and audio, media, etc. In reality I had no right justification for the opinion I had.
I have attended a few of these churches but this isn’t about methods today. What I want you to consider is that every one of these thousands or tens of thousands represents one of God’s kids. The word “go” in the Great Commission doesn’t say a lot about “how” we are to make disciples. There are some specifics on baptism there, but if these churches are expanding the kingdom of God and there really are 90,220 Floridians headed to heaven because of these ministries who are we question?
For a list of Florida Churches in each category click throught to the next page…
Continue reading ‘Top 100′
I had the best counseling session ever at 3:52 this morning. I don’t do a lot of counseling because there are a lot of people way more qualified. My wife is trained in counseling and all I have is a degree from the school of hard knocks. It wasn’t a scheduled counseling session but when my 4 year old came in to wake me up I had to do my vary best to be Daddy/Pastor.
Before becoming a church planter life was pretty simple for us. We lived a life right out of 1960’s television. Not the “Honeymooners” but more like “Leave it to Beaver”. I was home everyday at 4:30pm and our involvement in church was limited to a Council Meeting once a month, 2 services per week, and an occasional weekend event.
Our families were close and so Owen would have weekly contact with one set of grandparents or another. We had multiple family friends including some really close friends in our immediate neighborhood. So it wasn’t unusual for random drop-ins from neighbors so Owen and their kids could play while moms chit-chatted over cookies and coffee.
All that changed with our move to South Florida and is taking its toll on a 4 year olds emotions (and some 30+ emotions too.) So I spent an hour this morning explaining some pretty significant concepts to my son. These thoughts can encourage the 4 or the 40 so I thought I would share.
- A house is made up of walls floors, ceilings, doors and windows. But a home is made by a family. So even though we have moved to different houses and will hopefully be moving again in the not too distant future we will remain a family and that is what makes a home.
- God is bigger than all the monsters. Hence when we have God inside of us, regardless of how small we may be, we take on the size and power of God. So when we are scared of things we just need to remember that we have God on our side.
- God doesn’t always answer our prayers because He knows what is best for us. I was able to use our recent dog catastrophe to explain that even though we thought it would be a great idea to get a dog (two if you’re my wife) it wound up not being the right timing for us, given some of the other things going on in life. With a few scars to remind him he understood. So it isn’t that God doesn’t hear you or is ignoring you, it is that you may be asking for “good” but He wants to give you great!
- Enjoy the “fun” moments in life instead of worrying that they are going to end. In the last week or so my son (and wife) have made some new friends and since my son has just been starving for some play time he gets all worked up because he knows that at some point he is going to have to go home. Obviously we cleared up some “home” thoughts, but he needed to realize that worrying over what is going to happen in an hour or two when play time is over was cutting into the fun that he could have right now.
To relate that to us adults… The Bible says don’t worry about tomorrow because just as God has made provisions for the birds He will make provisions for us. This is that unexplainable joy that we read about.
The joy of the Lord is to be our strength so that even when it appears that the whole world is crumbling around us we don’t have to have an emotional breakdown. We can place our faith in God and even if a rough road comes, He able to bring us through it.
- God loves when we obey. Just like when Owen obeys us and we reward that, God also rewards our obedience. I explained to Owen that God asked us to leave the house that he loves in Oakland, FL and move here to plant a church. That even though we had to give up some things that made us comfortable, God was proud of us for doing it and in the end obedience pays. It may not always be in the dividends that we expect or desire but God certainly rewards obedience.
Seems like there were a few more things we discussed but in the end he just need some reinforcement. There are many things based on our current position that are in flux but there are certain things that are solid. Even though I have previously mentioned some chinks in the family armor we are fortifying that and have come a long way. So my wife and I are reinforcing that our relationship with God and our relationship with each other are things he can count on. I think we all need to know that those are things we can count on.
For those of you who don’t know I am O-H-I-O born and raised. That means that there is but one team in college football that matter and that is The Ohio State Buckeyes. I have had to take a lot of grief in recent years being that I live in Florida. In Central Florida by all of the Gators and now in South Florida by the Hurricane fans. (Who we defeated in 2002 for the National Championship)
Regardless of the recent losses in back to back championship games I still support my Bucks. Saturday night for those of you that missed it OSU played the Wisconsin Badgers. With our freshman quarterback, Terrell Pryor making his first start on the road, we found ourselves behind with about 6 minutes left in the 4th quarter.
Terrell proceeded to drive the offense down the field making some clutch throws and ultimately making a great run to get in to the end zone for the winning score. He showed some great composure under some intense pressure. The momentum of the game was against them. The crowd was against them. The fact that he had never been in this position before…
Life is full of pressure. Life is full of opposition from people and environment. There are even times when you can’t rely on your past experiences to help you through. But I believe God is looking for some clutch players in this 4th quarter; men and women who He can trust with the ball. He is looking for people who will say, “God I want to leave it all on the field for you.” Is that you?
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