Category: Personal

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New Year’s Resolutions

new-year-resolutionThere are many feelings on both sides of the isle about New Year’s Resolutions. There are some who think they are stupid. I’ve found most of the time, those people cannot keep a resolution themselves, so they criticize the whole thing. I don’t blame people for not being able to keep a resolution, most of the time people get caught up in the emotion of things and they desire change so they ramble off a resolution. (Weight loss, home improvements, more charitable giving, etc.) Who can blame them? I’ve had people get caught up in the emotion of our launching New Passion, promise assistance, but they failed to deliver. I remember when I was younger seeing one of those videos of the children in desperate need of support for only $31 per month, I was all excited to sponsor a child, only to lose the packet when I got home. Who hasn’t made commitments or resolutions they haven’t kept? Then there are those who can’t wait until December 31 so they can present their list of things they want to resolve in their life. Some of them hold to it, while others do not. I don’t think resolutions are a bad thing. Scripture constantly reminds us to make things new. (God’s promise of a “new” covenant, David: “Create in me a clean heart, O God. Renew a loyal spirit within me.“, Jesus: “Look, I am making all things new”

Several years ago, I made a resolution not to make resolutions any more. Guess what? I’ve held to my resolution. I do however like to set goals for the coming year. I was looking back on my 2009 goals and I can comfortably say that I feel like I’ve achieved the goals that I set out. So here are my goals for 2010:

  • To make Risk my drug of choice. Seriously, most things are not achieved without taking risks. (Check out this post from 2009 for proof)
  • To be a better husband and father – Three major things that drive me to get others involved in our ministry at New Passion is as follows: 1. To get people serving where they are passionate 2. To provide relief to those who are serving weekly 3. To free up personal time where I can spend more with my kids. I hated hearing Gavin ask in 2009, “Daddy, why are you always on your laptop?” And then once he gave me a pretend ticket for $1,000 for being on my computer too much…Ouch!
  • To continue learning – I’ve learned just how much I do not know in 2009. I’ve got a long way to go….
  • To love Jesus and Others more – How can one go wrong if this is their focus?
  • To be open for God to use New Passion in HUGE ways – I am not content in being an average pastor or having an average church. No matter how big or small we are, I believe if we are open to God’s plan, he WILL allow us to be a part of what he is doing, and there is nothing better to be a part of!

Join the Conversation…What are your 2010 goals or resolutions?

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2009: What A Year!

2009

I heard on the radio this morning that people had a shredding party to end 2009 and this decade. Since I am headed out of town for a few days, I thought I would go ahead and list some of the things I am thankful for in 2009. It’s been an interesting year, but I still have plenty to be thankful for:

1. My amazing wife Nicki. I, along with the rest of the world, am thankful that she is definitely not me. God knew what he was doing when he put us together. We couldn’t be any more different from each other, but that is not a bad thing. We help balance each other out. Nicki is full of mercy…I try to be, but its not my strength. I’m the type that calls it like it is, and I’m okay with that. Nicki has been a huge help to me in our new endeavors this past year. She is a great mother to our children, I couldn’t ask for a better woman to live my life with.

2. My amazing children: Gavin, Tristan and Hailey…yes they are still more amazing than your children 🙂 Each have their own personalities and characteristics. I love the way they make me smile. They are definitely a gift from God!

3. New Passion Church – Wow! I cannot believe it actually happened. There were days I just didn’t believe it was going to launch. There were so many thoughts and ideas that I had about launching this church that when they didn’t happen, I thought I had made a mistake. On September 13, we launched with 109 people and averaged 91 in our first month. We’ve now settled in the upper 60’s to low 70’s every week including our volunteers, children, and adults. We’ve already lost families to deployment, some of which jumped in and assisted from day one…I hated to see them go; and we’ve lost others because we didn’t fit their idea of church, it’s funny, I’m definitely at peace about that. We purposely started with our series “Rediscover Church” because we know we will not be for everyone. I am blown away by these numbers because we started with Nicki, our three kids, and myself, so yes, I am amazed at what God has done so far! I can look back over the first three months and see answered prayers and life change, and I know New Passion is definitely a movement of God and its definitely been worth it. I am thankful for the amazing team that God has assembled, they have huge hearts, have sacrificed greatly, and love Jesus with a Passion. They were definitely gifted to be church planters. I am thankful to everyone who has selflessly invested financial and material resources to help New Passion be successful in living out its vision to “lead people to a passionate relationship with Jesus.” I can’t wait to see how God uses us in 2010.

4. True Friends – “Best” friends is an overrated and overused term. “True” friends are what matter in life. I’ve come to realize in 2009 that “people’s actions are rarely as big as how they promote themselves…” A true friend is someone who you can rely on and who is honest. I think those two characteristics and qualities go a long way.

5. Jesus

Of course there is plenty more I could list, but this should be sufficient. I hope you all have an awesome send off to 2009 and a Happy New Year!!!

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One Last Year

hourglassWell….that dreaded time of my life has arrived. I seriously think I am having an early midlife crisis; I was on the drive home last night and I felt my chest hurting, sure some could say that it was just indigestion or something of the sort, but I swear it was 30 knocking on my door, and a heart attack or stroke about to take me to meet my Maker!

Yes, today I (and maybe a few others) celebrate my turning 29. That’s just a sober reminder that I have 364 days until my clock ticks past the big 30. Seriously, how did I get this old, this fast? It really feels like a blip on the radar. Other than the 4 gray hairs I’ve been able to count amongst my regularly colored hair, I feel like I am still a teenager. Wow! How many old people have I heard say that? And then they are in a pine box the next day.

I am thankful for all 29 years of my life (Disclaimer: I am actually typing this a day early and scheduling it for my birthday, so if I  am found dead, just ignore this line…I meant to say I am thankful for all 28 years of my life!) Thinking back, I have nothing to complain about, only things to be thankful for, here’s a handful, if you care to see how God has blessed me:

1. Life
2. I was raised on a solid foundation by loving parents
3. I have the sexiest wife on the planet (I was able to secure her before I was even 20…I know, I’m smart, very smart)
4. I have 3 of the most amazing, beautiful children on the planet…yes even more amazing than yours.
5. A Wonderful family (sisters, brother, cousins, aunts, uncles, Granparents, and the in-laws)
5. My dream was to visit California once in my life…I’ve been there 6 times now.
6. I have Amazing friends (and we let Laura Kerr hang around, because we like her husband, Trevor)
7. I get to pastor amazing people at an amazing church (New Passion Church)
8. I’ve got a home, a hot shower, a comfortable bed, a leak-free roof, a car to get me where I need to go, a job to help pay the bills, lights that work, food in the refrigerator, a stove to cook my food (and a wife who is a good cook).
9. A computer to connect me to the rest of the world via Twitter & Facebook
11. I got fat in my 20’s & I lost it all in my late 20’s. It was an interesting ride, but I don’t intend on going back that way (I truly cannot afford to anyway. Its going to take 8 years to replace the 8 years worth of clothes I had to give away)
10. The tiny impact I hope I’ve been allowed to make in the lives of students and adults through the ministries God has allowed me to be a part of. I only hope my influence changes someone’s world within their lifetime.

Though I could go on and on and on…I need to get started on the 364 days I have left until I am 30. I’ve got a lot to do, just in case I don’t make it, or I break a hip or something. Happy Birthday to Me! 🙂

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Legalism at its Best

judges-gavelI try to take my Bible with me to lunch to get some bonus study time in for Sunday’s message since I am bi-vocational and only have so many hours in a day. I swear that book brings out all kinds of people, including the weirdos.

Most of my encounters have happened at McDonald’s in downtown Augusta. I’ve had run-ins with weird pastors, a homeless man that sat down in my booth, didn’t say a word and fell asleep. I didn’t say a thing. I knew that McD’s would kick him out into the Summer heat, if he was all by himself, so why not let him get some rest in the A/C? Today, was a new encounter.

A guy stopped by and asked me if I knew of a church that worshiped on Saturday like the Seventh Day Adventist, but that was not Seventh Day Adventist. I questioned why he was looking for a Saturday worshiping non-Seventh Day Adventist Church and he explained that they have other Doctrinal issues that he did not agree with, which I agree with him on. However, as soon as I explained that I do not know of any type churches that he was seeking out, he asked if he could sit down and show me something, to which I agreed. Let me just say, this man knew scripture.

He takes me all over the Bible showing me the old Covenant and the new Covenant. 99% of the stuff he was saying was right on and true. I do believe this guy was well intentioned , but totally misguided. Of course he was putting his case together as to why Christians should keep Saturday as the Sabbath. I gave him time to make his case, and then I asked him a few questions:

1. What about Jesus? In the eyes of the Pharisees Jesus worked on the Sabbath and even defended those who labored on the Sabbath. (Matthew 12)
2. What about the first church? They worshiped God and met DAILY. I do believe daily is everyday including Saturday. Now of course, his angle was that we should rest and worship on the Sabbath, but this verse through him off and he started talking about how 300 years after Christ’s resurrection Christians still recognized the Sabbath as Saturday until the evil Catholics came along and brutally murdered Christians for worshiping on Saturday and forced them to worship on Sunday, for which this awful tradition began. He then quoted John 15:20 and declared that the Catholics fulfilled Jesus’ prophecy because Saturday worshipers were persecuted by the Catholics for their recognition of Saturday as the Sabbath.

3. What about the letter of the law versus the spirit of the law? Once again, he attempted to answer this one, but was angling to twist Scripture to back up his view. This time  it was my turn to share. I explained that the letter of the law declares that one must recognize the Sabbath on Saturday (a specific day) whereas the spirit of the law declares that we still honor that which we were commanded in Exodus 20:8 but that God’s desire is that we simply do it. We make sure we have A Sabbath, but to be dogmatic about the day is legalism, for which he declared Jesus was the ultimate Legalist. Hmm! Okay!

I could see him boiling at this point. He then went for Pharisee approach. He asked me what day did I think the Pagans who worshiped the sun god had for their Sabbath? For which I played dumb to his question and responded, “I don’t know, which day?” With a big smile he responded “Sunday!” As if he had cornered me. I responded, “Well, I guess that could be true!” For which he replied, “Oh no, its true, I’ve studied it!” – I responded that God was not worried about the day, just that we have a Sabbath.

Here’s Legalism at its best worst…When the man could not control me or move me towards his thinking or his religion, he got angry and he attacked me. He called me a pagan sun worshiper and got up to pack his Bible back into his book bag. When I refuted his claim he asked me to read 1 John 2:3-4, and tried to use Scripture to guilt me into believing his way, when I still did not bow at the alter of his religion, he declared once again that I worshiped the sun and took off. And then I sent a tweet 🙂

Join the Conversation…When was a time someone tried to use Scripture to point you in the wrong direction?