the details

I can honestly say that I do not think I have ever met a child as passionate about life as our little P.J. is. When she is a part of something no matter what it is she is electric. It's passionate, it's wide open and it's fun. We recently took her skiing and while on that trip she commanded the slopes from the easy bunny slopes to the black diamonds she did not care, she was wide open all the way to the bottom each time. I will confess I don't like skiing all that much, it just isn't that much fun to me after I go down a mountain a few times I am ready to go relax, it's just that simple. But, this past year I enjoyed skiing more than ever as I watched P.J. and Alexa take off, and P.J. is so much fun to watch I actually crashed a few times myself because people were stopping and watching her go by. When I could actually talk her into going inside for a short break it was filled with her telling anyone and everyone who would listen all the details of how much fun she had and it was told through a smile and huge big blue eyes lit up with enthusiasm. She delighted in every detail of her day.
I find myself delighting in about 90% of my children's lives, there are those rough times and bumps in the road when they misbehave and we have to get onto them, but the rest of the time is filled with delight. What about God? How much of our lives does He delight in?
Psalm 37:23 The Lord directs the steps of the godly. He delights in every detail of their lives."
THere you have it, when you are living the life of a godly person God is delighting in every detail of your life. God has embedded in your life a desire, and those desires are what drive you and fuel you. God gave you those desires so that you can become exactly the person He designed you to be, and when you seek HIm and seek His will on a daily basis, just as the verse above tells us, he "delights in every detail" of your life.
So make God proud, allow Him to embed desires in your heart and then delight in you as you follow His will on a daily basis.
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

Love wins!

A friend of mine had Love wins, as his status on Facebook yesterday, and yes it does. There are few things in this world that endure everything that life throws at them, but love does. Love makes it through every time no matter how rough or how smooth things go love endures. Chapter 13 of 1 Corinthians has a lot to say about love. I feel that anyone who attempts to do any sort of ministry work without God's calling will eventually burn out completely. Why, because they don't have the love and passion that it takes. I am not on my high horse, or boasting in any way, I am simply stating the facts. So many awesome Christians jump into ministry and do ministry work because it feels so good, and usually it does feel good, and then they dwindle steadily down to nothing. They get wronged, they get burned in some way either by the church they serve or by the people in it and they decide to walk away from the ministry entirely. This is sad on both sides, it's sad for the church who has crushed the enthusiasm and hunger in a person's heart. It is even sadder for someone to step away from an opportunity to serve God in the highest capacity by being one of His ambassadors.
Love is important, and I can tell you there is not a person in my life that loves their ministry more than I do. I eat, drink, sleep and thrive on teh opportunities that it gives me. From Sunday School, worship and lunch with members on Sundays to guys' small group Sunday night, to youth on Wednesday nights and lunches at the school in between each part of it is passion filled. A co-worker of mine recently commented that I seem to switch gears when I am doing something ministry related there's a glow about me. This is true in so many ways, and it is because of the love and passion that God has given me through calling me into the ministry.
1 Corinthians 13:6-7 say, "Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres."
When all is said and done, the one part of my ministry that I know will always make it is my love for God, people and ministry. Love always hopes and always perseveres there is no better way for me to put it than the way Paul just said it in 1 Corinthians.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

A ficticious pastoral search

I put this together as a ficticious pastoral search committee's report. I have been around several pastoral search committees but never sat on one. I know that it can be a very grueling event, with trips to hear the candidates preach. Searching through hundreds and hundreds of resumes, digging into them and reading their ministry details on a piece of paper and trying to decide if they fit the church you are searching for. Deciding if they not only fit, but will they be able to take the church in the direction that it is headed. There are hundreds of questions that have to be answered just by reading that piece of paper, then countless hours of prayer are added to the process and eventually you end up with the person God wants for your church and that is what the whole process is about.
On that piece of paper you cannot tell how good of a preacher he is, how good of a pastor he will be, how good of a counsellor he will be. You can't tell if he is a type A personality or a Type B personality, you have to trust prayer with those details.
Paul addresses some of this in his letter to the church at Corinth. He tells them that sound preaching has nothing to do with eloquence, knowledge or ability. It simply has to do with the message. Churches today need pastors who are preaching straight from the Word of God, and straight into the hearts of the congregation through the power of the Holy Spirit. If they accomplish this, that is what preaching is all about.
Paul said, "When I cam to you, brothers, I did not come with eloquence or superior wisdom, I simply proclaimed to you the testimony of God! 1 Corinthians 2:1

Now here's my ficticious pastoral search committee's report:
After much work, much studying we have narrowed our search to several, and then narrowed it once again to just one.
- Adam - great man, but has problems with listening to his wife's bad advice, also references to him walking through the garden nude
- Noah - Former pastorate of 120 years with no converts, prone to unrealistic building projects
- Abraham - another great man, kind of sketchy on scripture interpretation, while he never slept with another man's wife, he did allow his wife to sleep with another man.
- Moses - a great person, a lot of great attributes but he stutters a lot, he also once left a ministry because of a murder charge
- Solomon - a world of wisdom both worldly and spiritually, problem is our parsonage could not house all of his wives
- Jonah - refused God's calling on his life until he was forced into it by being swallowed by a whale, claimed the fish spit him out on the shore somewhere close to here, we just hung up.
- John - says he is a baptist but doesn't dress like one. Has slept outdoors for long periods of time and was homeless. Has a wierd diet.
- Paul - powerful CEO type, has been know for his harshness and rough edges, not the greatest orator, short on tact and has been known to preach all night
- Judas - His references are all 100% solid. He is a steady plodder, he's conservative, he has awesome connections. Knows how to handle money and is great with people, we are inviting him to speak this Sunday!

Do you see how we can find something wrong with every person, every candidate for a pastorate is going to have a flaw, or list of flaws. We need a person who lives for Christ, who preaches the cross, and allows God all of teh glory for each and every thing he accomplishes in his life.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

So we closed out our series on accountability last night at youth. We have discussed the importance of finding people, or friends, that will help hold us accountable for our actions and help us stay on the right track towards growing closer to Christ. We talked about the dangers of trying to face everything life throws at us on our own. Well, we actually closed out last night's lesson with a game. We played the lifesaver pass game with a few twists. I took the sticks that are used to make kabobs, skewers i think you call them and had them each put one in their mouth. THey then had to pass a lifesaver with the skewer in their mouths without using their hands at all. It was nearly impossible to do because the skewers are about 12 inches long. The winning team took about 2 minutes to pass the lifesaver. Then, I added a couple twists. We passed it around again only this time with toothpicks used to pass the lifesavers in each group. This time it was much easier, except for the fact that I had given a member of each team a bad full of funyuns that they had to eat before the passing could begin. Well, one of the guys that was trying to receive the lifesaver from the funyun eater said he couldn't breath and kept laughing hysterically and dropping the lifesaver. The game worked perfectly.

John 13:34 A new command I give you; Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another.

Why did the game go with accountability? Here's how, they learned that it was very easy to pass the lifesaver with teh toothpicks because they were closer, they also learned that it was easy to smell bad breath if they were closer. Moral of the story is, love one another. There is no way you can love and care for someone without pointing out their mistakes to them, and there is no way to pick out their mistakes if you aren't close to them. Take those you love and take them to the cross with you loving them every step of the way!
Thanks for reading and have a great weekend!

coaching like witnessing

So as many of you know I love sports. A few years ago an opportunity presented itself for me to be able to coach girls' softball at the high school level. I never even blinked an eye, I was ready before I said yes. I loved the game of baseball and missed it dearly so an opportunity to coach the next best thing was a great one for me. Being a youth pastor at the time it was another awesome opportunity to reach young people and their families for Christ. I see things that way for some reason, I see them as mission fields instead of jobs or places. God has equipped me with Gospel glasses so to speak so that I do see things that way.
Well, there is one thing about coaching that is so much like being a Pastor, and a Christian for that matter. Each day we go to practice, we let the girls throw and warm up. I watch them throwing and I see things mechanically wrong so I help them throw correctly. Then, we may hit or we may do some fielding drills either way we take the girls out and help them get better. Without fail, every day we will correct someone's mechanics on something and walk away to help someone else. I can turn back around a few minutes later and catch them back doing things the same old way. They are comfortable their way, and they don't want to make the needed changes to see improvement in their abilities.
We are the same way as human beings, we see people living in the world and in their sins. We try so desparately to share with them the Gospel and let them see that life can be so much fuller, so much greater with a personal relationship with Jesus Christ. Many times we can share it, see that they somewhat get it, then we turn around and they are right back in their "comfort zone". It's sad but true, John talked about this some in his Gospel.
"I tell you the truth, we speak of what we know, and we testify to what we have seen, but still you people do not accept our testimony." John 3:11
John was telling people not just what he had experienced but what he had seen with his own two eyes. Yet, without fail people were not accepted the message or him so he was voicing his frustration here.
So just as I do with coaching, keep on sharing your faith and your relationship with those who are lost. Eventually, it will click and they will want to do things the right way. They will not only prosper, but they will experience the greatest thing we have as Christians a personal relationship with a Savior!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Ski Devotionals

So on our recent trip to West Virginia into the mountains we did some morning and evening devotionals. My intent was for them to begin to forge relationships with people who will care for them, pray for them and help them reach their potential as believers as well as people. We talked about the number of friends many of us can boast of on Facebook and Myspace vs. the number of true friends we have. Friend is a word we throw out there a lot, I think back to high school and I had a lot of friends I would have had a pretty healthy looking Facebook account(if it had existed way back when, haha) and lots of acquantances but to this day only a dozen or so of those friends are still close friends that I keep in contact with. And only about half of them stay in close contact with me or even contact me when there is an issue. It's sad but true, we need to spend far more time being friends and far less time trying to have friends.
Romans 12:9-10 Love must be sincere, Hate what is evil and cling to what is good. Be devoted to one another in brotherly love and honor one another above yourselves.
Now let me ask you, how many friends do you have that you honor above yourself? That tends to be a very short list doesn't it, but if you are being a friend you are putting them and their needs first. We do a great job of this with family and loved ones, but not so great with friends and such.
As a pastor I constantly need to exemplify this type of selfless living to those in the flock and those involved in our ministries. But, I find myself not doing such a great job of it to those friends I have outside of the flock because it just doesn't come automatic all the time.
So love your family, love your friends and work hard to put them first and lower yourself so that you can become a great friend to those who need you most.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Beating the Grumbling!

Yesterday I talked about grumbling and how it many times starts with the people who are not in power yet seeking it. Today I want to take a look at how to stop the grumbling. How do we combat the grumblers when they are after us, or even when they are after those that we love? We don't, we absolutely do not fight back because that is what they want. Inside of any organization there is going to be a select few people who like or want to stir up problems. They will in our case be the grumblers, and they start out light. They throw a rock in and see what type of ripples they get from the people around them. Then, once they have a following and have a few others in their corner they start to get personal and do what they can to get others fired up.
We need to understand that when these people are stirring up trouble they aren't just wanting to get everyone on their side, they simply want trouble. They stir the pot and they don't care if you are for them or against them so long as you are involved in the fighting. They want grumbling and they want more and more of it regardless of sides or affiliation. We combat this by not combatting it at all.
Romans 12:18 addresses it well, "Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Be careful to do what is right in the eyes of everybody. If it is possible, as far as it depends on you, live at peace with everyone."
There you have it, God does not want us getting involved in the grumbling and He goes so far as to say do what is right in the eyes of everyone. In other words the best thing to do is keep your mouth shut. When the grumblers don't get a rise out of you and when they can't get you on their side or even to be against them they get madder and they walk away feeling as though the failed completely. Especially in a church setting the absolute worst thing you can do is fight back and make it into something larger than it has to be.
So live at peace with those around you, let God take care of the wrath department and go on with your life living as peacefully as you can with those around you whether you agree with them or not.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

A little grumbling goes a long way

I am sure you have heard that one bad apple spoils the bunch but have you really thought in depth about that statement. As a highschool softball coach there is one part of it that is not so much fun at times, that is the naming of team captains. Without fail you choose someone that the kids don't think should be a captain and you leave out one or two that they think should. No doubt there are kids born who are natural born leaders, more vocal, more physical, more aggressive but that does not entitle them to be captains. You cannot merit a captain on those things, it has to do with work ethic, attitude and very little to do with ability. Kids just don't get that most of the time. Also, sometimes you don't pick someone who is potentially your best captain, and the overflow of that choice leads them to become a better leader than ever imagined. Other times they shell up, mope and drag everyone down which is never good. Regardless of the coach, the captains and leaders are the ones who make the difference in the team, when they are up the whole team is up, when they are down they drag everyone down there with them.
Numbers 14:2 All the sons of Israel grumbled against Moses and Aaron; and the whole congregation said to them, “Would that we had died in the land of Egypt! Or would that we had died in this wilderness!
Here we have the same thing going on, but these people are so busy grumbling they are wishing they were back as slaves in Egypt. A little extreme but still the same that is their wish. They wish they were back being beaten and forced to work daily for no pay and very little food and shelter, rather than in the wilderness facing the chance to inhabit the promised land.
Now understand they have been in route to the promised land for close to 40 years now, it's actually a trip that should have taken by foot, stopping regularly to rest and refresh themselves less than a month. Think about that, it would be like us driving to Ghent, West Virginia a trip that normally takes about 11 hours with all the stops, but instead we grumble, and argue and soon we are on the road for about a month. THat is about what happened here, with them, the grumbling started with a few, a few who wanted to be in charge and in power. Usually when grumbling arises in a group it is because there are a few that aren't in power who want to be in power and they slowly turn the group into a bunch of grumblers.
So be thankful for all you have, be thankful and supportive of your leaders, whether it's at work, your church, your sports team, or on your campus or even the president,God placed them in power and the sooner we start supporting them the sooner God can show us His plan in their leadership.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

To lift up is a take down?

So you look around on television, in our neighborhoods and certainly in the workplace we can find someone who is proud. Someone who is so puffed up and so arrogant that many people cannot stand them. They're the ones who let you know all that they have accomplished and all that they have done every chance they get. They have awards hanging in their offices, pictures all over the wall(wait I have those, that can't be me!) and so on. Everytime they boast of their accomplishments they take down their value in God's eyes.
Think about it this way, the second you drive a brand new car of the lot it isn't brand new any more. It loses value almost while you are signing the paperwork. It's funny how that happens, in theory if you buy a brand new car at a dealership, you put the keys in it drive it 10 miles and attempt to sell it you will never get your money back no matter how good of a deal you got. It loses value immediately and its a sickening feeling, but we have to have cars don't we?
That is how our value to God decreases when we brag or get puffed up. We accomplish some great feat, whether it is a sports accomplishment, a workplace accomplishment, or a spiritual gain. THe second we brag about it to someone else is the very moment it loses it's value, in God's eyes. But, when we accomplish great things and let everyone know how we did it, with the abilities that God gave us, or with the luck that came our way from God's plan for our lives we allow it to keep it's value.
Luke 16:15 says, "What is exalted among men is an abomination in the sight of God."
EVERYTHING we have and are able to do is because of God. Life itself is only possible because of God, our salvation is only possible because of God's grace and mercy. There is not one single merit that we can accomplish, not one thing we can do that is by our own doings(except for sin).
So think about what you do with your accomplishments, are they GOd's accomplishments or yours. The accomplishment is the same, but its value hangs in the balance!
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

Every young Pastor's favorites

It's an interesting dynamic, building a church. There are several different styles of preachers but usually there are only two types. There are flock watchers and flock growers. The first, the flock watcher is a manager type who watches over the needs of his flock first and then if everyone is taken care of he begins to think a little bit about reaching the lost. The second type of pastor, this is the category I fall into, is a flock grower. This pastor will do whatever it takes to get himself and his flock off the pews, out of the church building and sharing the Gospel with the world. There is no one that is better than the other, the great commission tells us to go unto all the world, baptizing and discipling. One pastor majors on the baptizing and reaching the community and the other majors on discipling and growing his flock spiritually. The truth is every good pastor strives to be 50/50 and share both attributes perfectly. I know that reaching the community comes easily for me, and growing the flock is more like a challenge to me. I love hospital visits and I make them almost daily when needed. I love visiting shut-ins and going to nursing homes. But the truth is I would much rather be at a table with a room full of lost people caring and sharing. That's just me.
Matthew 16:18 "And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it".
Here is a verse that all young flock growers love. I love it, I know that once the foundation (God's Word) was laid at our church the growth would come. As long as we focus on God and Jesus crucified and not on me or anyone in the church that growth will continue. There is no substitute for knowing that Jesus Himself said that He will build His church, on teh rock and nothing will prevail against it.
Nothing will stop Jesus from building His church, no rough looking building, poor attitude of a church, uneducated pastor, no not one thing will stop Him from building His church in His time.
Jesus is ready to do some major church construction right here in St. Johns County, are we letting Him? Is your church, your heart built on the right foundation?
Thanks for reading and have a great day!

a few of my favorite verses

I am a huge fan of God's word and I am daily reminded of just what I am and what I would be without His word. I am most thankful for John 3:16 without the cross, without Jesus crucified all my faith is completely empty. As a pastor another set of verses I am most thankful for is 1 Corinthians 1:26-28 "Brothers, think of what you were when you were called. Not many of you were wise by human standards; not many were influential; not many were of noble birth. But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong. he chose the lowly things of this world andthe despised things--and the things that are not--to nullify the things that are, so that no one may boast before him.
I talked at length this past Sunday about how God blew our minds with the cross and its simplicity. If man had been in charge of salvation it would have had a list of demands and a checklist of things that must be done. And after we had finished that list we would be most proud of our accomplishments taking God out of it completely. Well, as a teenager I felt God's calling on my heart into the ministry. THere was no doubt that God was calling me out to be a youth minister and some day a pastor. I am most thankful for the verses above out of Corinthians. I am most thankful that God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and the weak things to shame the strong. I am most thankful that God chose me, one of those weak unwise things of the world to reach the lost. To lead a church and to be a part of building His Kingdom. This verse reminds me every time I read it that I cannot boast in myself, only in God and what He has done.
When it is all said and done, we as humans have very little to be proud of, it's our job to boast in the Lord and not in ourselves. Every ability we have, every thing we have aquired is all at God's hand and we should be most thankful to Him for everything, everyday!
thanks for reading and have a great day!

sympathy

As a community educator for the Betty Griffin House I deal with a lot of abusive relationships and talk about them a lot. I am not someone who can fully understand them because I was never in one. My marriage is not abusive at all, my parents were not abusive at all, I never dated anyone I controlled nor was I ever controlling to anyone I dated. I just can't fully get it, because I haven't walked in their shoes on either side of the equation.
Hebrews 4:15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, and yet is without sin.
That's so awesome that God has sent His Son to earth, we know that He has walked through the same temptations and trials that we have, and endured them 100%.
John Stott shares this brilliant thought: "I could never myself believe in God if it were not for the cross. In the real world of pain, how could one worship a God who was immune to it? I turn to that lonely, twisted, tortured figure on the cross, nails through hands and feet, back lacerated, limbs wrenched, brow bleeding from thorn-pricks, mouth dry and intolerably thirsty, plunged in God-forsaken darkness. That is the God for me. He set aside his immunity to pain. He entered our world of flesh and blood, tears and death." These words provide one of the best arguments for both the existence of God and the power of the cross.
I think Stott covers it all, there is no way for us to believe in anyone outside of Christ as a savior because only He has endured it all and placed Himself in a place of just and justifier, as well as being able to sympathize completely with my life.
At the cross Jesus bridged so many gaps, the most important was sin, and our relationship with God, but also He brought us power and strength in knowing that He too suffered on earth and dealt with earthly temptations and struggles.
It's so awesome to know that we worship the God, the one who sent His son to die on a cross and live on earth.
Thanks for reading and have a great day!