Thursday, June 26, 2008

Grace, Grace, God's Grace...

Good Thursday to everyone out there in the blogosphere! I just wanted to share this video that I found on another blog. It tells a lot about what Jesus has done for us in a humorous way. I look forward to this Sunday as we continue our series "To Eternity and Beyond." This week will be a little challenging but I know that Jesus will get me through.

Monday, June 23, 2008

What a Weekend!

What a great time we had yesterday morning at church. God is so GOOD! I also want to take time to thank everyone who helps make Sunday morning what it is. Without Sunday school teachers, childrens church workers, nursery workers, worship team members, sound room and computer operators, ushers, greeters, the hospitality corner, those who lock up, and those who do things that are unnoticed (but never unappreciated) where would the church be? Keep praying as we pursue seeing everyone involved somewhere. What ever you are passionate about, we want to see you minister in.

I also wanted to say it was refreshing to watch the Disney movie "Camp Rock" with my family. Isaiah loved the music in the movie and would get up and dance and play his ball popper which is his guitar at home. It was a good clean movie with an excellent message of being yourself and not putting on a show just to try and fit in.

Thursday, June 19, 2008

The Butterfly Effect

Snare drum roll please... this is my 100th post! Oh Yeah! Just thought you would all like to know that.

The Butterfly Effect is a phrase that refers to the idea that a butterfly's wings might create tiny changes in the atmosphere that may ultimately alter the path of a tornado or delay, accelerate or even prevent the occurrence of a tornado in a certain location. The flapping wing represents a small change in the initial condition of the system, which causes a chain of events leading to large-scale alterations of events. Had the butterfly not flapped its wings, the trajectory of the system might have been vastly different. Of course the butterfly cannot literally cause a tornado. The kinetic energy in a tornado is enormously larger than the energy in the turbulence of a butterfly. The kinetic energy of a tornado is ultimately provided by the sun and the butterfly can only influence certain details of weather events in a chaotic manner.

In thinking of this, my thoughts have wondered to my words and my actions and the change they can bring or not bring. I don't think we take time to think about eternity enough and how eternity for us can be affected by our words and actions. I know I speak words and act out without even thinking about the consequences they might bring. They could bring a tornado or when spoken and done with love divert a tornado. Even the smallest word or action that I might say can cause a ripple effect in the spiritual atmosphere of the church and my family.

Especially now with Isaiah being old enough to hear words and repeat them. The other day we heard him repeat a word that we do not say in our house. He heard someone else saying it, understood what it meant, and presceded to use it. Bethany and I had to bring correction to him and explain that we don't use that word because it is a very negative word. But it has made me think of all the negative words I say and the negative actions I commit that don't bring life but hinder and even destroy it.

I need Jesus to guard everything I say and do, not just for Bethany, Isaiah, and Chloe's sake, but for the sake of all who come to the New Life Center. And we need to have that same mentality. We do not want to usher in tornado's we want to divert them.

Wednesday, June 18, 2008

Must See...

Check this video out. His name is Brian Welch and he is the former lead guitar player of a band called Korn. If you have never heard of Korn, watch the video and you will learn what they are all about. This is a powerful testimony.

Tuesday, June 17, 2008

The Whale Seat

Sometimes I wonder why I'm so distracted. I'm a guy who wants to get things done but I tend to push the envelope on when those things need to be done. I drag my feet. Find other things to do. And basically stay away from what I need to get done. Typing that makes me feel like I spend a lot of time sitting in the whale, like Jonah, running from what God wants me to get done because I don't want to do it or I have other things that I would rather do. Help me Lord, to not drag my feet from the calling and responsibility that You have given me to lead people into a greater relationship with You.

I named this year for the New Life Center, The Year of Fine Tuning So We Can Give Birth. The fine tuning, that I believe the Lord is showing me, is how we do church. I read a book called Fusion by Nelson Searcy on how to assimilate first time guests into your church. His words challenged me to want to do everything with excellence. Why? Because each Sunday morning God gives us people who need to hear His Word. We can wait for worship to start and hope that that draws them and keeps them coming. We can pray that my message knocks their socks off and they want to come back until they find Jesus as their Lord and Savior. Or we can catch them at the door, helping them get rid of the earthly distractions that Satan is throwing their way to keep them distracted, and usher them into an experience with God that could change their life. That third choice is the best. So there is a lot of work to be done.

The problem I face that keeps me from launching is where to start. But it isn't always about where to start as much as it is about starting somewhere, anywhere, just as long as I start.

This morning as I held my son on the couch, because he decided to wake up at 6:00am, I began to think about what do we want to give birth to. I kept thinking a big move of God in this area and He helped me shrink that down today. I want to give birth to ministries that disciple men and women to be all they can be for Jesus. I want to give birth to a move of the Spirit that gets us away from talking negatively and draws us into speaking positively to everyone. Where we have a genuine concern and love for everyone who walks into the door. And everything we do is done with excellence, not just to do it so we look better than other churches but to do it because it is the way Christ would want it done. That we would all be and feel part of the OHANA, the family, that no one would be left behind or forgotten.

I type all of this to say that we are going to rethink the way we do church. Our vision is the same, reaching the people of Ford City, Kittanning, and all of Armstrong County. Our mission is the same building God's OHANA. We are just going to sharpen that and bring more clarity and direction to it. So pray for me that I can remain focused and not get distracted as I pursue doing everything with excellence.

Wednesday, June 11, 2008

Just Being Lazy

It has been a while since I blogged. I've been a little lazy. I'm in a meeting learning how to cast vision. It has been 4 years since I became the pastor of the NLC and I'm still developing vision. I'm learning how to process what is in my heart. There is so much in there and getting it out and put together has been hard. I haven't always understood how to do everything but as this year is called, "The Year of Fine Tuning so We Can Give Birth", I'm finding out just how much tuning I've needed and how much I need to bring to the NLC. These next few months I am hoping to implement the ideas I'm learning so that we all know what the NLC is all about. It is going to be an exciting ride and I hope we all will enjoy it.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

Baccalaureate

Thank you to everyone praying for me as I did Ford City's Baccalaureate. It went well. I admit I was a little nervous preaching in Christ Prince of Peace, which is a Catholic church. I wanted to respect them and their beliefs so as not to come across arrogant, especially since a lot of the parents who were there are Catholic. If you want to win people for Jesus you got to empathize with them and I did my best to respect. The guys shook my hands and told me a I did a good job. Time will tell what God does in their hearts. I gave each of them a Young Adult New Testament Study Bible and encouraged them to pursue an encounter with Jesus. I let them know they could call me anytime if they had any questions or wanted to talk. I also let them know that they can call out to Jesus for any and everything that they can think of because God is big enough to hear and answer. Keep praying for God's will to be done from this opportunity.

Blessings to all of you on this Wednesday.