Catching Up

Wow! What a summer! A quick trip to Indiana over July 4th - a week is just not enough time to see family and friends. Cheerleading, church camp, work. Church has been pretty much amazing. Over the summer, we've had Jentezen Franklin, Chris Hill, Bishop David Evans, Paul Andrew, Michael Jr and of course Steve & Sharon Kelly, Carl Lentz and Greg Phelps.

My goal for the next couple of weeks is to get some of our recent cell studies online. We've looked at expansion and what it means to be a priest in our home. We're starting tonight on a study on 9 principles for guaranteed success in your life and marriage.

Be blessed and check back again soon.

Bring It!

We started services in our "Ministry Center" for the next 16 or so months and it is amazing in there. It's a much smaller place, but it was electric with excitement. It was hot and loud and bright, but the atmosphere was awesome. You should come visit Wave Church if you're in VA Beach. We have a ton of services to choose from.

Pastor Steve shared from Psalm 100 on Sunday night and i wanted to touch on a few points he made.

the whole Psalm is about coming to church. in verse 4, it says to come with thanksgiving and praise. that is a choice we each have to make every time we come to church. what attitude are we coming with? one other thing - we come with the praise and thanksgiving, we don't rely on the worship team and pastor or the service itself to fill us full of thanks and praise - WE BRING IT!

verse 1 says to make a joyful noise to the Lord. some versions say to shout with joy. Steve asked the question, "What noise are you making?" is it a joyful noise? grumbling or complaing is a noise. whining and woe-is-me are noises. worship and praise and thanks and joy and hope are all noises also. what noise do you make?

Just a couple of thots on what we make of church. WE are the church. we meet at a place with other members, but we are the church and we have the opportunity every time we meet to bring something and build it up by adding to an atmosphere of expectation and joy or tearing it down by complaining, self-focus and back-biting.

Bring It!!

Back to the Church Thing

I think i need to go back to church culture.

I was thinking the other day about how i've changed over the last 5 or so years and i think my view of church has been a big change. i've always loved the church and known it's the bride of Christ, the body of Christ, God's ambassadors to the world...

But there are words that pop up in my thinking and my speech when i think about the church that didn't really pop up before. Words like Expectation, Culture, Atmosphere, Potential, Hope, Local Church, Global Church, This House are a part of me now. My church and christian "DNA" have changed.

i'm so excited to think about church. i'm excited about my church, but also local churches around the world. As we talk with friends and hear what God is doing in Indiana, Ohio, London, Sydney, Norway, California, West Virginia, and i'm sure all points in between, i get so fired up to be called for "such a time as this."

i pray that as you watch this clip, you get excited about The Church - your local church and the global church - the Bride of Christ!

A Good Old Fashioned Ponder

Man, i have just been overwhelmed by stuff to make me think lately. What i'm reading, what i'm hearing in church, talks with my lovely wife, chats with friends - it just doesn't let up. Let me go over some stuff in a little more detail.

I just read Ted Dekker's latest novel called "Skin". I love Ted's stuff! He's so readable and makes some great points along the way. This book really made me think about who do i think i am and who do others see me as. It really brought out the point of real and imagined and what is reality.

After i finished Ted, I started on a book by Dr Henry Cloud called "The Nine things You Must do to Succeed in Life and Relationships". with a title like that, i HAD to read it. it has been increadibly thought provoking - do i do these principles? how can i apply them to my life and current situations. I'm on #4 - i only read about a half a chapter at a time and then chew on it for a while. Great stuff that i don't want to give away, you NEED to read it!

We just had author and speaker John Bevere here at Wave Church. First off, let me say, i was very bummed that Gez didn't make the trip with him - next time, man, or else we're all meeting in the Springs! Anyway, he spoke out of his latest book about the church needing to be more eternally minded, our calling, our rewards, heaven. Probably the two most significant things to me were:
1. What we do with the Cross determines WHERE we spend eternity. How we live out our calling determines HOW we'll spend eternity.
2. As Christians, we won't be judged by what we did, but did we live out our calling.
I need to go through my notes and verses again and dig more out.

Basically, i've really been thinking about my calling and why God has me here for this time in history. Obviously there is a very beautiful Brook and three young ladies who sit at my dinner table every night. But what is the plan God has for me? What are the good works that i should walk in? I'm getting it, i just really have to be focused and not bogged down by the good on the way to the great.

what about you? are you fulfilling God's plan for you life? are you entangled by the stuff that trips us so easily?

A Little Harsh

Ok, i may have been a bit harsh with my last blog. As i thought about it more i'd like to post an update.

Culture. i think that's what it comes down to - Culture. Churches operate in the culture that they have carved out for themselves. if the culture is one of the people of the congregation control every minute detail and decision, that's the way the church will operate. If the atmosphere is one of support and vision - there you go.

Changing culture is one of the most difficult things in the world to do. it's a slow but sadly needed process in some churches.

Not all churches need the same culture and it would be a sad and boring world if all churches were the same. I'm just wanting the church to be all it can be! we all have different styles and likes and takes but the church is the vehicle God chose to impact the world. it's not a social club or a conscience soother, it's the main tool that can change the world.

Let's be who we're called to be. God has saved us and empowered us and filled us with His vision and gifts and talents to fulfill that vision. Let's roll!

The Good and Bad of Easter

I LOVE holidays! i like the family getting together. i like the significance of why we celebrate. i like the fact that people who don't normally go to church tend to go on holidays.

Easter is an amazing holiday - the resurection of Jesus Christ! we've all seen babies being born, or at least know a couple who were, but a resurection - alive again after being dead. I don't know anyone personally that has done that (other than Jesus). This day alone should be one day churches seek out and go after those who aren't saved. (My hope would be all days are days that churches seek to get people saved, but...)

the church we go to had over 100 salvations this past Sunday - I LOVE it! one guy said the pastor couldn't keep up with the hands being raised. the church we were visiting had 10-20 people give their hearts to Jesus over the weekend. again, VERY cool!

but one thing i saw broke my heart. i was watching an Easter service online and the pastor had a prayer for salvation and i couldn't tell how many raised their hands. At the end of the service, he said they had tried to connect with new salvations in a couple of different ways that weekend and "the didn't really work out." that right there gave me a little alert. then he asked for those who said the prayer to come down to the front to meet him AS EVERYONE ELSE WAS LEAVING. That broke my heart.

Churches try to make "getting right with God" some sort of therapy thing or something that you-could-do-if-you-really-wanted-but-it's-ok-if-you-don't-because-we-don't-want-to-offend-you-or-make-you-uncomfortable-so-we-really-won't-commit-to-anything.

To have people who just made the MOST IMPORTANT decision of their life fight a mass of people going the opposite way is kinda crazy. It does nothing to help the culture of the church to say that salvation is something we thrown in at the very end and all the motion of the room is going towards the back while the new christians are supposed to move to the front.

Every service i've been in the last 3 and a half years at Hillsong and Wave have had an altar call no matter what the message was on or what happened in the service and all but maybe 2 have had at least 1 person, normally multiple people, respond and get saved.

it doesn't seem that hard. i guess i'm just not getting American, seeker-friendly mentality. This is the antidote to the greatest disease on earth - sin. How can we pick and choose when we offer it or make it so non-commital that people aren't sure what happened.

I'm really stirred and convicted of my personal example of this and am making a committment to live what i preach. Please come with me - the world is counting on us.

FINALLY!!

Hooray for the Colts! After years of just missing and heartbreak, they put it all together. It wasn't pretty, but it's a Super Bowl victory.

Time to go deep. I want to tie together two things that i love - football and God.

The Colts season is really a great picture of a Christian life. They started strong, winning their first nine games. But the problem was they played just better than the compitition in some of those games. They beat weaker teams by only a few points. Then the losses came and after starting strong they finished 12-4. Good, but no where near what they could've done.

They got back to basics, made the main thing the main thing again and rocked through the playoffs. Then the capper was winning the big game.

It's so easy in Christiandom, especially here in the States, to just "play to the competition." We are just good enough or go to church enough to stay one step ahead of problems or the devil himself. We do enough to keep us saved, but there's no tapping into the true power of the cross.

We (i) need to get back to the main thing - seeking Jesus and living as close to Him as possible and craving, depending, feeding on the power of God alive in us. We don't all face being down 18 points in a championship game against our arch-rivals, but we face health, financial, relational, work, family, emotional obstacles sometimes daily. We really have to keep our cool - know that "greater is He that is in me" and that "nothing is impossible for God" and just keep at our game plan.

I know i'm probably over-spiritualizing the Colts season, but i think the lesson is solid. If you have the Spirit of God dwelling in you, you can't just get by. We are "more than conquerers through Christ Jesus" who lives in us. We win!

Think about that as you watch the fantastic parade as the Colts get back to Indy.