I have a friend in Port St Lucie Florida that started a church over 6 months ago –> Discovery Church. The church is lead by 25 year old pastor Tim OCarroll. I am asking prayer for him as the school they were meeting in gave him a few weeks to find another location. Will you join me in praying for Tim and Discovery Church? Heres what you can pray for

• Pray for Tim’s leadership as he tries to lead the church in a time where he probably can’t see too clearly himself
• Pray for his family
• Pray for Discovery Church that they would be able to see the hand of God
• Pray for them to find a facility to meet in this sunday!

God is faithful and takes us through times of testing – this is a test for them. As you know, God ALWAYS lets us know that He is in control – often in just the nick of time

If you would pray for my friend Tim, I would be grateful! Drop him an email to let him know you are praying for them: tim@discoverypsl.com

Here is a quote from a man in whom most of his writings never became famous until after his death. His name is Oswald Chambers, and his devotional, “My Utmost for His Highest” is one of the most widely read devotional books of all time.  This is what I read in the October 31st entry…

“Faith by its very nature must be tried, and the real trial of faith is not that we find it difficult to trust God, but that God’s character has to be cleared in our own minds.”

Would we ever say anything that would put a mark on Gods character? No! —but we think it. If we REALLY believed Gods character to be true and perfect, fully worthy of trust… then we would trust Him. The real problem lies not with trusting God, but with trusting His character.

Does God have any character flaws??

Ill let you answer that & let it lead you to a wrestling match of why you don’t trust Him…

My Father-n-law gave this to my 6 year old this summer, adding to her confusion. I thought he needed to borrow one of Lily’s shirts in honor of the big game this weekend…

There’s a lot of talk about reaching out to your community these days. I came across this yesterday. I took this picture from a church parking lot… Why would you pad lock plywood on top of a basket ball goal? The only answer I could come up with was so people wouldn’t use it.

Why wouldn’t you want someone to use a basketball goal? I know there are many reasons why you wouldn’t want someone using a basketball goal… but dont we have insurance for all that? I don’t think God wants His church to live in fear of what could happen. Why not just take them down?

If this church unlocks it after school and on the weekends, great! If not lets consider what kind of message it sends to those outside the church… the ones we are trying to reach out to.

Your thoughts?

If you want to see some pictures and hear about our first preview service, I wrote a post about it on The East Coast Blog. You can check it out here. Thank you for your prayers! Our next service is November 15th at the San Marco Theater.

Have you ever noticed a pattern in your life of the same repetitive prayer? I can remember times in my life where I have prayed over and over again – to be soulbait, to live crucified, for boldness, to be the hands and feet of Christ. My most recent prayer is this…

“To be filled with The Spirit that I may bear the fruit of The Spirit”

I heard that from Stovall Weems a few weeks back, and God has just been ringing that round and around in my mind & spirit. To be filled with the Spirit of God so I can bear the fruit of The Spirit, for apart from God I can do NOTHING! I want to bear spiritual fruit in my life and I know I cant do that apart from the Holy Spirit!I seem to be praying that everyday, multiple times a day.

So, what are you currently praying for right now?

I learned a lot about leadership over the past week. Wednesday night East Coast had a planning meeting that mapped out in detail what the preview service was going to look like from start to finish. The next day I received a phone call that the school we were going to use pulled the plug on us…

• My heart skipped a beat
• I didn’t know what to think
• All that planning – for nothing?
• We had no place to go

I spent the better part of the day with a blank stare on my face as I thought to myself, “I’m the leader, and I don’t know what to do”. We had already exhausted our options for meeting places. Then I remembered what I heard from Tony Dungy at Catalyst…

“Your team needs you to lead the most when things aren’t going well”

At a time where I needed the leadership, my role was to lead. Here’s what I did – I told the East Coast team that I take responsibility for the school falling through and I gave hope that we WILL still press on and change the world for Christ! (Even if we had a preview service in 48 hours and no place to meet – FYI, God opened up The San Marco Theater that afternoon for us and we had 60 people show up Sunday!).I learned a few things about the school falling through. I felt that if I had done a little better at communication with all the parties involved, we’d be in the school. Call it the sovergnity of God, call it bad leadership – the bottom line is that when you’re the leader and things don’t go well… its your fault, take responsibility. That was all I could do in the moment as the leader was to give hope & take responsibility.

Leaders that is our job! Often times there is no one there to lead us when we’re the ones that need leading. God has placed you where you are for a reason. When things don’t go well, that’s when your team needs you the most. Don’t duck & hide – give & take! Give hope and take responsibility.

This was BY FAR the best thing about Catalyst. If you look closely East Coast Church is stage left. We got to sit right up on the stage for this moment. Let me recommend sponsoring a child through Compassion International. We have one child for each of ours.Watch this video (when you have 18 minutes) to see a man that has been supported through Compassion for 20 years who finally get to meet his supporter face to face. Its amazing! There were 12,000 people in the arena and I don’t think there was a dry eye there.

Thats my little girl on the left. She’s a natural, dominating the soccer field! She’s my girl, I’m so proud of her! In all actuality, she stepped up and kicked the ball when the opportunity came to her… yeah, you know where I’m going with this.

I proud of my daughter no matter what, but Im especially proud of her for stepping up when opportunity came. You cant imagine how much God loves you, You cant imagine how much God is cheering you on. Nothing gives Him greater joy than to see you step up when opportunity rolls your way!

Has God given you an opportunity…

• To show someone the love of God?
• To walk through a door He has opened?
• To experience something new?
• To renew a broken relationship?
• To serve someone in need?
• To reach out to someone that most people wouldn’t?
• To share the gospel with someone?
• To pour your life into someone?
• To give financially to something?
• To be a part of something bigger than you?
• To take a stand?
• To help someone in need?
• To feed someone who’s hungry?
• To encourage someone who is afraid?
  
• To keep quiet and let love rule?
• To elevate someone else over yourself?
• To…

God LOVES YOU SO MUCH!! He’s crazy about you! He thinks about you constantly! He’s cheering you on, hoping that when the ball comes your way, you’ll step up to that opportunity!

This week, what opportunities has He or will He roll your way?

Be on the look out for them, step up, and go for it!

This morning when I dropped my girls off at school. I was reminded that It was time to clean out my truck. This fell out and madi said, “Ooo, a dead banana!”

I couldn’t help but laugh out loud right there in the parking lot.