I came across this thought today as I was preparing for Sunday…
Why would God pay for the sins of people
who could NEVER pay Him back?!?
Find out on Sunday as we conclude our Crazy N Love series
1030am San Marco Theater
February 24, 2010
Velocity (Day 2)
A peek into my journal from Velocity…
- If you will treat your wife like you treat your iPhone, you will have a great marriage
- Programming sometimes prevents the power of the Holy Spirit
- If you want resurrection power, you have to walk the path of suffering
- It’s not how FULL the church (building) is, but how POWERFUL the church (body) is
- You can impress people from afar, but you can impact people up close
- Relationships and responsibilities connect people to the church, if we don’t connect them here, good chance we’ll lose them in 60-90 days
- Pay more attention to 2nd time guests than 1st time guests
- The best quality for a small group leader is teachability
- What God is doing IN you is more important than what God is doing THROUGH you
- God loves us apart from our performance
- Bask in God’s acceptance of you in Christ
- People aren’t successful because they are smart, they are successful because they arent afraid to fail
- Don’t make all the mistakes in your church, allow others to make them too
- Legitimate growth is conversion growth
- A crowd is not a church
- Take people from “come and see” to “come and die”
- Sometimes more temptation comes through your strength than your weakness
- Choose to be effective over cool
- Its a myth to think you deserve things because you have worked hard
- When I’m generous my heart grows and I break the grip of materialism
- Be humble or you will stumble
February 23, 2010
Velocity (Day 1)
I spent the day in Atlanta at a church planters conference called Velocity. Here are a few things I thought about today…
God has made me unique… (Shawn Lovejoy)
- When we become insecure, we begin to measure ourselves to other people
- God didnt create me like them, He created me uniquely
- Fulfill YOUR ministry, not someone else’s (2 Tim 4:1-5)
- David fought Goliath in the way God trained him – as a shepherd, not as a soldier
- Fan into flame the gift that is in YOU, not someone else (2 Tim 1:6)
Gospel centered preaching… (Darrin Patrick)
- The bible isnt about what we should DO, its about what God has DONE for us – through Christ
- My motivation for obeying the bible is Jesus
Obedience to God’s calling… (Steven Furtick)
- The greatest ability for success as a church planter is the ABILITY to sense what God wants you to do next, the COURAGE to do it, and the LEADERSHIP to get people to accomplish it with you
- Its the thing that no one sees that produces the most results
- There is a cost to your calling, He requires it from you, and puts it in you
- If someone is keeping you from Gods vision for your life – let go of them
- Do what God has called you to do, His PROVISION will follow the obedience to HIS VISION
- Don’t wait to fully understand it… just do it
It was a good day today
I’ve been challenged
Im looking forward to tomorrow
Good night
February 12, 2010
Thank You From Uganda…
East Coast Church partnered with Marti Johnson and Project Perspective in Kampala Uganda to provide cameras, batteries, and SD cards to Orphans at St. Mary Kevin Orphanage. Inside and outside of East Coast, thank you for all who got involved!
more about “Thank You East Coast Church“, posted with vodpod
February 5, 2010
A wrecked trade in…
I work at Lucas Honda in Orange Park. Yesterday a guy called me wanting to trade in a wrecked vehicle for a new one. Out of curiosity (and for coming in on my day off), my manager made him an outrageous offer, one so crazy that we wouldn’t have made any money on it, nor would I have made any commission. To my surprise the customer walked.
No one will give him what was offered for his wrecked car. He could have traded it for something brand new. Your life & mine are wrecked with sin. Jesus offers to redeem us, wrecked life & all. What we deserve is to be towed off to Hell. What Jesus offers us is a trade in for a brand new life.
“Anyone who belongs to Christ
has become a NEW person.
The old life is gone;
a NEW life has begun!”
2 Cor 5:17
BRAND NEW! It would be a stupid decision to walk away from an offer like that, trading in your wrecked life for Heaven & brand new life in Christ! It’s not too late to trade your wrecked life for a something new.
February 4, 2010
Do someone else a favor today…
This morning I got a message from someone who I haven’t seen in a long time. What he shared with me was very encouraging – exactly what I needed at the moment. God knew, he didn’t. I’m grateful that my friend listened to the promptings of the Holy Spirit. His obedience affected me today.
When The Holy Spirit prompts you:
- To say something to someone
- To do something for someone
- To share Christ with someone
- To send an encouraging text
- To invite someone to church
- To pray for someone
Do someone else a favor – listen and follow God’s leading. Your obedience, no matter how weird it may seem, affects someone else.
January 20, 2010
Sunday at East Coast: Haiti, Uganda, & a girl named Marti…
If you want to catch what happened Sunday, click here
In short…
- East Coast gave to Haiti Relief and exceeded our goal by $400!
- We met a missionary to Uganda named Marti
- You can help her out my donating Digital Cameras, AA batteries, and SD cards
To wrap Sunday at East Coast in one thought: we were challenged to be broken by the burden; not to turn our head – but to take it in. You can catch the audio here.
Oh yeah, and we saw BEN on Sunday, back from Tallahassee.
He gave his life to Christ at one of our preview services in October.
Rumor has it he will be there next week…
January 7, 2010
More efficiency in weakness…
I was recently talking with a pastor friend of mine about church planting – the areas of struggle and weakness came up. “How do you gain more efficiency in your area of weakness?” You have one of two options…
A – Work your tail off to take your weakness from a 5 to a 6, neglecting your strengths and consequently letting them drop from a 9 to an 8
B – Ask God for & seek out individuals who are strong in your weakness!
I prefer option B for a few reasons
- I can keep working on my strengths, potentially increasing to a 9
- I stay humble – I know I struggle in certain areas, so do those you lead
- It gives others an opportunity to develop their strengths
- I’d rather have a team of 8’s or 9’s than a “well rounded” team of 5’s or 6’s
- I don’t have to live with a “super-pastor” complex
I came across something Mark Batterson said this morning:
The unwillingness to delegate is “opportunity robbery”, robbing someone of an opportunity to step up & step in!
STOP…
- trying to do everything
- feeling sorry for yourself
- trying to be a super-pastor
- stroking your ego
- believing that your team doesn’t know where you’re weak
- thinking you suck, because you don’t lead like someone else
- being mediocre in all things, so you can become a master in a few things
- robbing others of a chance to grow & get involved – That’s the Body of Christ!
January 1, 2010
Top 9 of 2009
These are the top nine blog posts of 2009 for me. They in no way reflect how many hits they got or how much my readers (what few I have) liked them. If I had to pick my favorite posts of 2009, these would be them…
- Spontaneous trip to the zoo
- Pirates in the backyard
- FNL 3.13.09
- What I learned in 1 Kings
- Kinds Camp ‘09
- What if we made church all about the guests
- It’s only a matter of time
- Protect the space with your family
- What happened on Nov 15th
I am really looking forward to 2010. One of my goals is to be more consistent in blogging. Thanks for taking the time to read, I pray it is helpful. Happy New Year!!
December 31, 2009
Self-drought
We’ve all been through seasons of self drought… or seasons of self-doubt. Show me someone who has never struggled with that & I’ll show you someone who struggles with insecurity. Self confidence fades because “A” – you might really suck, or “B” God may be trying to show you something. The more confidence we put in ourselves, the less confidence we tend to put in God. Paul, in Philippians 3 warns us of putting our confidence in ourselves (our flesh). Confidence in our own ability is at best secondary to what can be accomplished through God. Consider these words from Oswald Chambers…
Once God has begun the process of sanctification in your life, watch and see how God causes your confidence in your own natural virtues and power to wither away. He will continue until you learn to draw your life from the reservoir of the resurrection life of Jesus. Thank God if you are going through this drying-up experience!
Confidence in you and your power will never come close to what God wants to do in you through His resurrection power. God shares it with no one! Like Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:31, “Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord”.
Are you trusting in your ability, or Christ’s?
