God’s agenda: People

Tonight a few of us met up at Stinson Park to pray for youth camp. When we got there the Holy Spirit had different plans… Brian Worley (who has a heart of GOLD & will witness to a tree) started talking to “Mary”.

Meet Mary and her dog Max. After sharing the gospel with Mary we asked if we could pray for her. She asked prayer for her son, John Michael, who is in prison in another state. A few seconds went by and she asked if she could pray with us. We had a great time tonight asking God to bless camp and praying with a lady named Mary.

Tonight’s experience reminds me of one thing… that PEOPLE are on God’s agenda! How else is He going to reach people if not through us? Whatever is on your agenda, always keep in mind that its about PEOPLE, not your plans & programs. Sometimes God likes to interrupt our lives a little to remind us that  - its all about people!

Will you take a moment out of your day to pray for Mary & her son John Michael?

How did you celebrate the fourth??

I love this guy, his name is Ralph Robinson. If you know him, you love him too. This guy dresses like this every Sunday! He takes the prize for the most patriotically dressed!

I asked him what he did for the fourth and he said, “My plans for the 4th was to be able to talk about it on the 5th!”

What a character!

• I spent the majority of my day getting my AC fixed
• Late afternoon, I headed over to the McLendon’s for a cookout, a swim, and some cornhole
• I got a twitter that Stovall Weems was stoked about the service that night at Celebration, so Josh Moncrief and I went to hear Stovall preach
• On the way back Josh & I stopped at Starbucks in San Marco, caught a few fireworks
• With all the people gathered around in San Marco, all I could think about was their need for Jesus
• After the Jacksonville fireworks show was over, I headed home – to a cool house with AC!! I’m very thankful for that.

So, How did you celebrate the fourth??

The East Coast Blog

For five years now, God has placed on my heart the desire to start a new work for Christ. A few months back, I finally surrendered to the call. Almost all of you know but if you haven’t heard, I am heading up a new church start in the San Marco area of Jacksonville Florida. East Coast Church will launch September 6th. I will be keeping everyone updated on the process and progress of East Coast Church. You can follow those updates on twitter here or on the East Coast Blog: www.eastcoastchurch.wordpress.com

What if we made church all about the guest?

In reading through “The Disney Way“, I came across Dunn Hospitality, a company that operates hotels throughout the Midwest. Here are a few points in their code of conduct as it relates to the guests:

We are here to make things easier for our guests

Practice a friendly smile

Maintain a neat professional appearance

Never complain or comment on operational or personal problems

Treat each guest as a special individual

Use the guests name whenever possible

As far as their team goes, they believe it should be friendly and informal.  This is great, I’ll quote it:

“We take our jobs seriously, not ourselves. We create fun in our roles, which creates fun for our guests.” – The Dunn Hospitality Code of Conduct

Just a thought here, but what if volunteers & greeters in the church adopted this?? What would happen? How would our first time guests feel? As if they are the most important people there at church that day? 

And for this we labor and strive, that we have put our hope in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, and especially of those who believe. – 1 Tim 4:10 (nlt)

Each first time guest represents someone who Jesus died for. Labor and strive to make it all about them, so they might meet their savior Jesus Christ!

Only a matter of time…

Tonight I was on my way back from St. Augustine driving up I-295.  When I came to my Wilson exit, I found a dog sniffing around on the exit ramp, exploring just a few feet from the interstate. I immediately thought, “Its only a matter of time”…

I instantly thought about some people I know who have made some mistakes, some friends close to me, others I have observed from a distance. They would say the same thing, “Its only a matter of time”…

We’ve all experienced the subtle power of sin. It doesn’t happen over night, its a gradual thing – with plenty of warning.

• What has God been warning you about?
• Are there any red flags that keep coming up?
• Is there something “questionable” in your life?
• Are you flirting with sin?
• Do you keep telling yourself, “I can handle it”?

Don’t lie to yourself and think you’re ok, that you can handle it. Don’t ignore that small voice, the prompting of the Holy Spirit. 2 Tim 2:22 says to “run”… in case you were wondering what the Greek word actually means when you break it down – it means RUN!

Sin isn’t something you can dance around. It’s waiting to destroy you, if you let it. God said this to Cain in Gen 4:7, and I think God would tell us the same…

“sin is crouching at the door; and its desire is for you, but you must master it.

You CAN master it – through the power of the Holy Spirit! God would much rather save you from that big mistake then to forgive you on the other side. At all levels of sin, submit your mind to Christ and take those thoughts captive (James 4:7, 2 Corinthians 10:3-5)

Don’t ignore God’s warning, if you keep sniffing around where you’re not supposed to be, its only a matter of time…

Its probably not as bad as you think…

On Father’s Day after church we went to the mall to get the girls ears pierced.  Lily had no idea what it meant to get your ears “pierced”. Though she had numbing cream on her little ear lobes, how she felt before was quite different than how she felt after…

My other daughter Madi watched the whole process, which gave her a different perspective on getting her ears pierced.

Though a little worried, when it was all said and done, you can hear it on the video – “That didn’t hurt?!”  Have you ever gone into something thinking it was going to be much worse than it actually was?

• What has God been leading you to do, that your fear has been telling you not to?
• God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power!
• Don’t listen to your hindering fears, listen to your Heavenly Father!

What is God leading you to do? Its probably not as bad as you think…

p.s. – Don’t let the pics of Lily be an illustration for you, c’mon she’s only three – the sound of the ear piercing gun probably scared her. BTW she’s real proud of those little earrings now – even if the process was a bit frightening

more about “Its probably not as bad as you think…“, posted with vodpod

The Philadelphia Zoo…

Today I went with my wife and kids to the oldest zoo in the United States.  It opened in 1874. It’s the Philadelphia Zoo…

 

We piled in the van Wednesday morning at 6:30 & arrived at 10:30 that night (yes it was a long drive).  This week we celebrated my sister -n- law’s graduation, fathers day, Amber’s birthday, &  Madi’s birthday.  Tomorrow evening I’ll get on a plane and head back to Jacksonville while Amber and the kids hang with her parents a little longer.

Servolution

Tuesday morning I read a blog post from Mark Batterson. He was talking about a book called Servolution.  I had heard about this book a few months ago, but forgot about it until just recently.  After I read the blog, I thought to myself, “Dude, I would really like to have a copy of that”. Six hours later, it was in my mail stack (thanks Catalyst Filter!!).  Im about a third of the way through it, Here’s something I just read:

In the New Testament, we never see Jesus hanging out, chillin’ in an easy chair while Matthew fans Him with palm branches and Peter feeds Him with grapes. Every account describes Jesus living in an overwhelmingly generous way with Him time, presence, wisdom, resources, compassion, and of course serving. He aggressively sought to serve humankind, even to the extent of enduring the cross.

Bottom line is we exist for others, not ourselves. God has a lot of people to reach – who else is He going to use??

Will your words make a difference?

This week has been unusual for me, I have had five counseling situations. Very few people know this about me: I don’t like counseling. I’m not very good at it. I feel like I don’t know what to tell people.

Five counseling situations and its only Tuesday…

People are always in need, always!  You never know when God wants to use you. 1 Peter 3:15 tells us to be ready, in season and out. Yes God wants to use YOU!  What are you going to tell people?  Your words or His? Well, probably a combination of both, but let me ask you this: Will YOUR words make a difference? Maybe… for a moment – but its God’s word that WILL make a difference forever. His words are timeless.

Psalm 19:7-11

⁷ The instructions of the Lord are perfect,
reviving the soul.
The decrees of the Lord are trustworthy,
making wise the simple.
⁸ The commandments of the Lord are right,
bringing joy to the heart.
The commands of the Lord are clear,
giving insight for living.
⁹ Reverence for the Lord is pure,
lasting forever.
The laws of the Lord are true;
each one is fair.
¹⁰ They are more desirable than gold,
even the finest gold.
They are sweeter than honey,
even honey dripping from the comb.
¹¹ They are a warning to your servant,
a great reward for those who obey them

We all feel like we don’t know what to say… well, most of us. There are some super-pastors that have all the answers.  For the rest of us we have to listen to the guidance of the Spirit for each situation is different.  Though 90% of counseling is listening, you do have answers. Be led by the Spirit and share the scriptures God brings to your mind.

Submit to God and do your best, He will take care of the rest.

Kids Camp ‘09

Just got back from Kids Camp Friday and I’m still catching up on some sleep.  Camp was a blast this year as always!  It is one of the things I look forward to most every year.  This years theme was “BIG” – Our God is big!  If you have ever been to kids camp, you know that the staff makes “the set” a BIG deal!  This year the set consisted of:

• An 8ft board games that Micah Caulder hand painted
• An 6ft x 3ft toy chest that doubled for puppets
• An 11ft tall fire engine red rocking chair made by Mark Kalina
• A 7ft Etch-a sketch that was used as a projector screen
• And the focal point was a giant bed that must have been at least 12 feet wide that the puppets used for a stage.

Cheryl gave the morning missionary stories and Jace gave the “Big God” bible stories. Jace’s lesson on Gideon was especially impacting to me. I also enjoyed hearing about Sam Childress

For 6 years I have been going to kids camp with Promise Land.  My favorite part every year is hanging with the students who work the show for the kids.  I love the Starbucks trips with you , but I love just hanging with you the most – I love you guys and will miss you!