Lousy T-shirt Series

Hi all!

I know it has been a while since I have blogged on here, but it has been a really busy couple of weeks. Angelique and I are teaching through the book of Revelation in our high school youth class, and this has turned out to be a lot more of a daunting task than I had originally thought it would be. As if I even thought that was possible. It has been more difficult to research and put together, but highly rewarding, and the series has been fantastic! One of my favorites!

I have also been busy preparing for the new Round 2 Wednesday night series that Joe Rollins and I are beginning tonight! I am so stoked about this! The series is based on a book that Joe and I are reading called "I Became a Christian and All I Got Was This Lousy T-Shirt." What an awesome name! Come out and praise God with us for the next 6 weeks, and you will not regret it. If you come with an open heart and a willingness to delve into yourself, your life will be changed!

Here is the intro video for the series:



Come out and join us. It is going to be fun!

He's Calling!

We finally finished our Emmaus Walk this past Saturday! Since we were interrupted by Hurricane Ike's leftovers, we had to get out of the woods and postpone the last couple of hours. It was awesome to go back and see everyone, and I was back in the spirit of the original weekend within minutes! It was awesome!

Listening to some of the others share, one statement really stuck with me. He said, "God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called."

Some of you out there don't want to hear that because you have felt Him pulling you to do something you don't want to do, and your favorite excuse has been, "I will study for a while longer, and when I know enough, He will let me know." Nope. When God calls you, you go! That's it! He will provide you with what you need, but only after you have submitted to His will. If you are insistent on waiting until you are ready, the call will go forever unheeded! One of my favorite praise songs is "Come ye sinners," and there is a statement in it that resonates through me EVERY single time I hear it. It is, "If you tarry 'til you're better, you'll never come at all." WOW!

Friends, we are sent by God into the world to SAVE (eternal) LIVES! It doesn't matter what excuse you are using, STOP! Get up and do something for God instead of waiting for Him to do something for you! For most of us, I know we are afraid that we are not good/smart/confident enough to do God's work, and I pray that we can always remember, "God doesn't call the equipped, He equips the called."

Sadness

Sunday, we, as a congregation, had to face the sad situation of once again bidding
farewell to our Pastor. In one of the most emotional and hearfelt speeches I have ever seen, Chad explained to the church that he feels that the Holy Spirit is calling him to a different direction than our church is heading, and announced that he would have to resign his position with our church in order to accomplish this calling.

While Chad will be deeply missed - he has really helped shape me into the man I have become - I want to stress to those members of GCC who read this that now is the time to get up and get moving, not get down and out. Remember that God has plans for us, and even though Chad's season at GCC has been fulfilled, ours hasn't! We are to go out to the world and spread the Gospel of Christ until the day He comes back or call us home!

I know of some people in the church who have offered themselves to the elders to do whatever it takes to make sure GCC does NOT get down and start wallowing in self-pity. This is a difficult season, but it would benefit us all for everyone to remember that while God's blessings are raining down, it is in the valleys that you receive the most. For when you are on the mountaintop, the blessing land and tend to run downhill to those who are in the most need. GCC - we are in a valley right now. It is time for us, the church, to BE the blessings of God to those around us and to lift each other up!

I love everyone single one of you, and if there is anything that I or my family can do to help any of you, all you have to do is ask!

May God Bless You All!!!

Piece of Heaven

This past weekend I experienced a little glimpse of what I believe Heaven is going to be like!

I went on The Walk to Emmaus. If you are unfamiliar with this, here is the gist of what it entails:

A spiritual renewal program intended to strengthen the local church through the development of Christian disciples and leaders. The program's approach seriously considers the model of Christ's servanthood and encourages Christ's disciples to act in ways appropriate to being "a servant of all."

The Walk to Emmaus experience begins with a 72-hour short course in Christianity, comprised of fifteen talks by lay and clergy on the themes of God's grace, disciplines of Christian discipleship, and what it means to be the church. The course is wrapped in prayer and meditation, special times of worship and daily celebration of Holy Communion.

The "Emmaus community," made up of those who have attended an Emmaus weekend, support the 72-hour experience with a prayer vigil, by preparing and serving meals, and other acts of love and self-giving. The Emmaus Walk typically begins Thursday evening and concludes Sunday evening. Men and women attend separate weekends.

During and after the three days, Emmaus leaders encourage participants to meet regularly in small groups. The members of the small groups challenge and support one another in faithful living. Participants seek to Christianize their environments of family, job, and community through the ministry of their congregations. The three-day Emmaus experience and follow-up groups strengthen and renew Christian people as disciples of Jesus Christ and as active members of the body of Christ in mission to the world.

I can't explain how this weekend changed my life, I can only show you through the way my life will be lived from now on. I was fortunate enough to be able to spend this weekend with my good friend Mike, and it was absolutely amazing to see him transformed right in front of my eyes! I am telling you, this was the best weekend of my entire life, and I am so excited that my wife is going to experience the same thing this coming weekend. I can't wait to embark on our new lives together as a couple who are one with Christ!!!

Thank you Jesus for being who you were, are, and will be forever!

God speaks!

Sorry for taking so long to blog again, but it has been a really busy couple of weeks.

Pastor Chad told the story of Jesus dining with one of the Pharisees and the woman who wet His feet with her tears, dried them with her hair, and anointed them with perfume that is valued at approximately a year's wages. A year's wages! I think the average annual American income is between 30 and 40 THOUSAND dollars. Could you imagine buy 30 thousand dollars worth of perfume and pouring it over the feet of someone you have never met in your life? That is faith! Thanks Chad, loved the sermon.

What really stuck with me these past couple of days is the chronology of the life of Jesus that Chad mentioned. I have talked with some about reading the New Testament in chronological order, but that is just by the date that the books are written which is awesome when reading the letters. However, I have never thought of reading the Gospels in the same manner. I haven't been able to stop thinking about this for two days now! I have always found it confusing to try to understand Jesus' life by just reading one Gospel, then another, then another, then the last one. A lot can be forgotten in the amount time that takes, and it doesn't seem to flow as a story. Don't get me wrong...I love the Bible as it is written, but I believe that there are many ways to read it to gain more and more understanding. NOTE: If you are a new Christian, or someone who is new to studying scripture, find a mature Christian, and ask them about a reading/study plan. Don't trust everything you find in a bookstore or on the web because you can easily be led down the wrong path!

So, yesterday, I had to go to "ye olde enterwebb" (that is what it was called in the 17th century when Al Gore invented it...LOL). I Googled. I came upon a website called lifeofchrist.com where I found a list of the the Gospels in harmony with one another and a daily lesson planner to go with it. I passed this along to many of you, and if you didn't get it, email me. This morning I started reading the life of Jesus this way, and it is SOOOOO awesome! To me, it really brings out the "real dude" that Jesus was and is.

I challenge you all who don't get into the Word because it is "confusing" to try reading the life of Jesus this way. Always pray before you read the Bible, and ask the Holy Spirit to open your eyes to what He wants you to see not what you want you to see. I know that if you do this, you will be pleasantly surprised!

What Am I Not Good At?

I am a big believer that all Christians should find out what their God-given spiritual gifts are, and serve in a way that uses those gifts. Early on in my life with Jesus, I realized that God gave me the gift to teach. Since then, He has opened doors to allow me to use this gift for his purpose. For those of you who don't know, I teach the high school students at Greenville Christian Church on Sunday mornings, and I have filled in for Pastor Chad on a couple of Wednesday nights where I preached to the adult congregation.

Recently, I read a blog by Ben Arment about understanding what we are not gifted with. Wow. I had never thought about that. We always tell people to concentrate on their gifts, but we fail to tell them to recognize what they are not good at doing. I see people who try to force themselves to be good at something when it is obvious that God did not give them that gift. I will use myself as an example:

I love to play games and stuff with our students. When healthy, I am a good participant in games and events. However, I am terrible at creative stuff. I just don't possess the creativity to put games together or come up with themes for stages. I realize this, and therefore I try to stay away from this kind of thing. I have tried in the past to force myself to come up with ideas for the stage at our Thrive service, but it did nothing but cause tons of stress in my life!

It took me a while to realize that I just wasn't gifted with creativity, and no matter what I wanted, it just wasn't what God wanted for me. I can accept that.

I think it would be beneficial for everyone out there in the blogosphere to take a look at your own gifts.

Ask yourself what you are doing that you know you are not gifted at.

Ask yourself why you are trying to do something that you are not gifted at.

Are trying to do what YOU want, or what GOD wants?

Ramblings...

I haven't had a lot to blog about here lately. We are still unpacking from the move, but Dawn has done a tremendous job on the place. She has such a way with that kind of stuff. If it was just me, I would probably still be living out of boxes a year from now!

Drew is at camp this week. So, please pray that he has fun, makes friends, and grows his relationship with Jesus while he is there. It is awesome how spending time in the forest or just anywhere in nature can bring you closer to God. I guess experiencing creation helps us better understand the Creator!!!

That's all for now, but I do want to remind you all that we are having Discipleship Training this Friday at Sacred Grounds at 7:30pm. This week we are discussing the Cross!!! We will be asking what crucification is, how exactly Jesus died, and what did Jesus accomplish on the cross. Hope to see you there!!!