I am the church (and so can you!)

What's next

2011-04-12T07:00:00.000-07:00

I find myself constantly asking, What's next? Whether it's at church, school, or in our family, I always seem to be asking what is the next big project, what can we do to improve, what can we fix, where can we be better?

I have mixed feelings about this personality trait. Sometimes, I think it keeps me on my toes and excited about something new, but at the same time I feel like I am constantly finding myself disgruntled and frustrated with the things I am involved in.

Here are my thoughts about how this characteristic should play out in the 3 big areas of my life:

1. Family - I love fixing up the house and working on little projects here and there. But, I don't want to become obsessed and never spend time with my family because I'm working. I also think it's healthy to discuss with Tracy how our family is doing and how we can improve things like disciplining our children, family devotions, eating healthier, etc. But, I don't want to wish away the years. I want to enjoy each and every day with Wyatt and Avery and Tracy and take full advantage of TODAY! So, maybe, with the family, I need to be asking less of what's next and enjoying more of what's now!

2. Work - I think it's healthy to always be looking forward at work, but it's also important to take care of the task at hand. I think I have begun to prioritize my work efforts such that I am accomplishing my assigned task, my current job to the highest level of effectiveness. However, I do my best to incorporate some margin in my day so that I can spend time working on future projects, brainstorming how to be better and making sure that I am up on the latest developments.

3. Church - This is the one where I struggle the most. I feel like I am NEVER satisfied with the way we "do" church. I constantly have ideas in my head about how we can do things better and about how we can reach more people, preach more effectively, organize the ministries more strategically, etc. etc. I actually think it's really healthy to be asking what's next. I don't think, though, that it needs to come with an attitude of superiority or anger about what is happening at church now, just a realization of how we could do better and movement towards that.

We will never reach a state of perfection in any of these areas. And, I think if I ever get to the place where I say I've got it figured out, I probably will be the one who needs to change!

Obligation vs. Passion - Part 1

2011-04-06T05:11:00.000-07:00

Picture this: We go to Heaven, we meet Jesus, we're tossin' the football with him one afternoon and hearing all about his time on earth. Then, He drops this bomb: I didn't really want to come to earth, make disciples, start the church, die and be resurrected and forever change the course of history. I did it because I was supposed to.

Ok, maybe that's too far? But that would NOT be fun to hear. What if your wife/husband/boyfriend/girlfriend/best friend/dog told you (yeah, dogs can tell you things) that they didn't really LOVE spending time with you, they just did it because they were supposed to? I don't know about you, but that would pretty much mess up my whole world?

Sad truth is, a lot of people in church are doing things because they are supposed to, out of obligation, instead of doing the things that they are really passionate about. And, as a result, the church is not living up to its full potential.

So, what happens each Sunday or Wednesday is that someone shows up to serve in an area they are not passionate about. They count down the minutes until it's over and then leave, hoping that next week takes a long time to get here before they have to come back and do that thing again.

What if, when that person came to church, they were crazy passionate about what they were doing? They got there 30 minutes early to set up, they always ran out of time because they had so many things they wanted to do, they thought about that area of ministry throughout the week and prayed for the people involved.

How much could this change the church?

The big question - but if I don't do that "thing", no one else will do it!!! Who cares!!! Drop it!!! Go to your passion!!! Either that ministry is dead and dying anyways and needs to go the way of the dinosaur or someone who has been sensing a leading from the Lord will discover the need and step into their area of passion.

The truth is, most of the ministries and programs we have at church are not biblically required, so if we don't have a Friday afternoon Bible study on the book of Ezekiel, God will not punish us with a Mario-like assault of fireballs!

God HAS mandated that we make disciples, and the tool He has given us to do this is the church. We have been given a huge responsibility to be the church, and if we squander away our years in the church miserably following the routines or expectations of others instead of doing that which we are passionate about, we are wasting our lives and God's resources!!!

More tomorrow.......

Lip Dub

2011-04-05T11:04:00.000-07:00

Fox 50 in Raleigh is having a contest for high schools in the area to complete a lip dub video for the chance to win $10,000. I am teaching at Southern Lee High School in Sanford and we completed our video recently and posted it on the Fox50 site.

The video is below and can also be found here. Voting will start on April 13!

Not Normal

2011-04-05T05:02:00.000-07:00

I've always been the kind of guy who likes to be a little off normal. Sometimes, I actually make an effort to not be normal, other times it just sort of happens. If I completely explored what is it about my personality that makes me "not normal" we could be here for a while. So, we won't go down that road. But, one of the things that Tracy and I decided a long time ago is that we need to do things occasionally to break out of our routine, we need to be willing to be a little spontaneous and have a little fun.

So many times, we get stuck in our daily routine and just miss some really fun and incredible opportunities. So, Monday night, Tracy and her friends Valerie and Landis spent the night at the new Krispy Kreme store in Fuquay-Varina. They were about 35th in line, landing them a ticket for free doughnuts for a year!! Woohoo!!

I'm also trying to step outside of my comfort zone. This sounds a lot more boring and closer to normal, but I'm going to give it a go this year for planting a garden. I'm pretty excited to see how this works. We have an acre yard, so there's plenty of space, and I'm excited to see what happens. I'm going to grow tomatoes, peppers, squash and a few other veggies! Who knows, we may need to grow our own stuff to survive in the near future, so this might be good practice.

It's fun to try new things, even if I am horrible at gardening it will be a really great experience! I think we all need to take this approach sometime in our walk with the Lord. At church, many times we fall into a rut of doing the same thing over and over and fail to step out in faith to see what we might be able to experience if we are willing to try new things.

Sometimes, we struggle with whether the idea of what we are thinking about is an idea from me or an idea that God has planted in me. Here are a few questions to consider as you try to determine if God is leading you to do something or if it's just a hairbrain idea that you came up with when you weren't paying attention to the sermon one Sunday (these were borrowed from a pastor named Perry Noble):

1. This thing that you believe you are called to do by God will not contradict God’s Word!

2. You can’t get away from this thought…it dominates your thinking and the more you marinade on it the more you feel like you might explode.

3. Godly people in your life affirm it. (Proverbs 15:22)

If the thing your thinking lines up with these three statements, go for it!! Don't be scared, don't be afraid of change or what people might say to you or about you, just follow the leading of God. He will lead your steps, he will lay out the path in front of you and lead you in His way according to His plan.

Bringin' up old stuff - Ecclesiastes 3 & 4 - 2009

2011-04-01T11:38:00.000-07:00

Re: Ecclesiastes 3 & 4

This book continues to confuse me and astound me all at the same time. One of the things that I am quickly realizing is that a life dedicated to Scripture will still be light years away from being able to fathom all that God is.

Yet, I am excited because of the way God uses His Word to encourage me. I am also seeing that my daily time in the Word is stockpiling ammunition against the sin that reigns in my mortal body. When I have not been in the Word, I find myself falling deeply into sin and not being able to pull myself out of it. And, it spills over into the rest of my life, I'm a better husband, I eat healthier, I work out more often, I lose weight. The Word of God is profitable in all areas of my life.

Today, 3:11 - It says that God has set eternity in the hearts of men. Wow!! Just last night, we met for our first meeting with Cynergy Church. And, a major point of our time together was to point out that we will expend a lot of resources in order to see people come to know Christ.

This is an encouraging passage, because it tells me that God has already set a recognition of eternity in the hearts of each human being (the word "man" meaning mankind or human). So, our job with spreading the gospel is that much easier, we're just like traffic cops. We are just waving our hands, pointing people in the right direction, towards Jesus. And, when they see Jesus for who He really is and put that together with the eternity that has already been set in their heart - they'll give their lives to Him and His kingdom and His name will be praised!

I'm excited about Chapter 5, it's gonna be sweet. But, I didn't want to read too much, I want to make sure I digest everything instead of just rolling through it.

I'm done.

Re: Balancing Family and Ministry

2011-03-30T09:11:00.000-07:00

Anyone in ministry is constantly dealing with the struggle of balancing family and ministry time. Now that I am serving in ministry alongside a full-time job, I am finding that this an even more difficult challenge. I have 3 very important aspects of my life and I want to be excellent and extremely successful in all of these.

From my observations, I have seen men who have had similar situations but it always seems that they end up failing in at least one of these areas. And, most often, the area where they fail is their family. Because of this, I have decided to set up my life in such a way that my family has as little chance as possible of suffering at all.

My priorities work like this:
First - Family
After that - Job and Ministry

These priorities play out in my life like this:

1. My family is my highest priority - If I am a leader in the church, I must be a leader not just by word, but by example. So, I will orient my life in such a way that my family gets the time and attention they need and deserve. That may make me sound all holy and awesome and stuff, but the reality is it's pretty selfish. My favorite person to spend time with is my wife. After her, it's my babies, I love hangin' with Wyatt and Avery, I really love it!!

2. I will love the church and serve the Lord, but I will not worship the church - The church is the method God gave us to communicate the gospel to the world. But, I will not worship the church, I will not let the activities of the church dominate my life. This is a whole 'nutha post, but I think too often that the church derives its success from activity instead of results. So, I won't wear myself out trying to attend every event for every ministry. I will be selective and do the ones that I am most passionate about.

3. I will pursue excellence everywhere - I will pursue excellence at home, at church, and at work. I think one of the best ways I can reflect Christ at my work is by being excellent and excelling at my job. If I am a slacker and fail to do my best at work, it will negate any testimony of Christ that I attempt to have. I really love my job! I don't want to jeopardize my job and I actually want to get really good at it. If the Lord allows me to continue and have a lengthy career in education, I want to be someone who improved and became a master of his trade, not someone who did the bare minimum for years and years, counting down the days until retirement.

Re: What happens in church doesn't have to stay in church

2011-03-29T15:38:00.000-07:00

I read a bunch of blogs, articles and books about leadership, both by pastors and business leaders. I have noticed, though, that a lot of the points of effective leadership really do work both in the church and in the business world.
Most recently, I listened to a sermon by Perry Noble, here, in which he discusses 5 things to get your vision right. The list looks like this:

1. We must make Jesus the end goal of all that we do
2. We must be more concerned with the outsider than with the insider
3. We must help people establish a new identity
4. We must be patient with people as they develop and mature spiritually
5. We must make it our mission to proclaim freedom in Christ

I have preached for a long time that we shouldn’t compartmentalize our Christianity. Jesus shouldn’t be something that we save for Sundays, but our God 7 days a week, at work, at school, at home, at church, everywhere.

We can take what we learn at church and apply it to our work life, our school life, etc. I found these 5 points to be really effective in helping me to evaluate my pursuit of Christ, but also effective in helping me to evaluate how I am reflecting Christ at work. I am a public school teacher, not a place where Jesus is exactly glorified every day. But!!! These 5 truths can be very insightful for me as I think through my work. Like this:

1. Make Jesus end goal of all we do – when I work, am I working to glorify Jesus? Does my work ethic bring glory to Jesus? Do I follow rules, respect my boss, avoid gossip…something to think about.

2. Be concerned with outsider over insider – We are focused on the students, not the comfort of the teachers. It is our goal to see students succeed, even the ones who don’t want to succeed or don’t think they have any future. We are focused on enjoying work, sure, but the real victories come when that kid says “thank you” because they succeeded despite everyone around them saying they couldn’t.

3. Help people establish a new identity – We strive to help students become winners, to see them develop a vision for themselves that includes future success.

4. Be patient as they develop – My students aren’t perfect, and I have to learn to be patient with them sometimes as they make mistakes on the way to becoming an adult who actually contributes to society.

5. Make it our mission to proclaim freedom in Christ – I take every opportunity I can get to point out the amazing love of Christ in my life and the love that He has prepared for them. It’s just got to be a part of who I am every day!

We don’t have to separate the Bible and good sense. This stuff is just good sense AND it’s from the Bible! I may teach this stuff one day to a group of teachers and principals and that’s great. It’s practical, useful and it comes from the greatest source of truth on the planet. Dang right!

We gon rock this club!

2011-03-26T18:10:00.000-07:00

Friday was a work day at school, some of my personal favorite days!! A few teachers and myself led about 40 kids in filming the "Lipdub" for school. We will be submitting the video for a contest that could win $10,000 for our school. When the final video is posted on the Fox50 site, I will post that here. But, in the meantime, I had the song on my mind, so I played it at home that night and Wyatt really got into it. Here's what it looks like when an 18 month old white boy tries to throw down!

And here's another one, just for fun:

Forgotten God - Week 2

2011-03-24T05:43:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday nights in youth group, we are reading through a book called "Forgotten God" by Francis Chan. It's an interesting look at the member of the trinity, the Holy Spirit, that many of us in the American church so often leave out of the discussion.

As we were talking through it last night, we read Romans 8:26-27:

"In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit himself intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God's will."

As we were discussing this verse, I was reminded of an encounter with someone who walked daily with the Holy Spirit. I have forgotten the exact names, but I will use some names that I think are pretty close.

We were in Jamaica on a missions trip, not the luxurious Jamaica that you might see on the commercials, but the incredibly poor Jamaica, deep within the mountains. There was one church in particular that we visited that was at the top of a mountain, accessible only by a dirt road, unless it was raining, then it was not accessible at all because the road served as a huge gutter for the rain.

At the church, we met one lady in particular, I'll call her Ms. Betty. She was a large woman with a little bit of a moustache and a lot of sweating!! She loved giving hugs and kisses and displayed a relationship with Jesus that I could not comprehend at the age of 16. The missionaries who were previously in Jamaica with her had returned to the States for the wife (Mrs. Story, I believe) to receive treatments for her cancer.

One day on arriving at this mountaintop church, the current missionary wife (Kim) was approaching the church and Ms. Betty came huffin' and puffin' up to her with a huge grin on her face and began to offer praises to the Lord for the healing of Mrs. Story. She continued to tell Kim that the night before as she was interceding with the Spirit for the healing of Mrs. Story, the Spirit released her from the need to pray for Mrs. Story anymore.

Ms. Betty had been praying for Mrs. Story for a long time and was only able to hear news about her once a month when Kim and her husband were able to visit the church. When Ms. Betty told Kim she was instructed by the Lord that there was no longer any need to pray for Mrs. Story, she was floored. Kim was then able to share that just a few nights earlier, Mrs. Story had gone to be with Jesus, and it was for that reason that she was no longer in need of prayer!

Prayer is not just about us communicating with God, but (as the verse says above) it's a time where the Spirit will lead us in what to pray for. The Spirit told Ms. Betty that Mrs. Story was no longer in need of intercession because she was healed, and eternal healing, and she was hangin' out with Jesus!

THAT is communion with Jesus, THAT is hearing from the Holy Spirit, THAT is what I want people to be able to say of me!

Re: What is a church?

2011-03-23T05:23:00.000-07:00

One of the most significant differences I have noticed about my generation as compared with my parents is our willingness, or even our desire, to question everything. For some, this can be a negative characteristic, while for others this may be something that is good.

For me, it's just the way I am! I love asking questions, I love challenging status quo, I can't stand just doing stuff because "that's the way it's always been done". Maybe our generation is more willing to change because we are used to it. In my lifetime, we have gone from not having computers to them being a part of our lives in multiple formats, we have seen the revolution of media, communication, even a major shift in the way we make friends and form relationships.

So, I ask questions, I like to see change. I ask stuff like what is a church? What characteristics do a group of people need to display to be a church? Do we have to go to church to be a Christian?

I have been exploring this issue for a long time in my head, in my heart and in my relationships with other believers around me. And, I have made some conclusions that will be a good starting point for future discussions:

1. Be the church - I have heard and said this a million times, but I think it's increasingly more important that, as believers, we display the characteristics of the church of Jesus in our attitudes and relationships instead of just treating church as something we attend weekly.

2. Communicate the Bible (for people who are alive today) - There are many sides to the argument of entertainment vs. education or the pros and cons of making the Bible relevant to today's culture. One thing is for sure, the world spends an inordinate amount of time and money marketing their message to children, to teenagers and to adults. Disney, MTV, Apple, Nike have all done an amazing job of communicating their message to their target audience. One of the most common arguments I hear is "I'm gonna preach the Word and let the Bible speak for itself". I am confident that the Holy Spirit can use any moron to communicate the Bible, but shouldn't we also put as much effort as Disney into HOW we communicate the most important message of all time!!!!??!?!?!?!? I think the church (big C church) needs to invest in designers, writers, actors, artists and other talented believers who can help communicate the message to the citizens of earth in 2011, instead of using 1970's material and calling it a dependency on the Spirit. That's just lazy to me!

3. Let pastors be about the ministry of the Word and prayer - I have mentioned this before, but I think that too many pastors and church staff are "event planners". I think it's time that we as the body of Christ begin to take responsibility for the social activities in a church and do our best to create an atmosphere reflective of the church in Acts 2. The pastors need to lead with this example, but we shouldn't be constantly relying on them to schedule events, plan outings and develop the calendar. They should be (reference back to #2) developing tools to communicate the gospel, setting and advancing the vision the God gives them for the church and praying (communicating) with God about the next steps in all of these areas.

4. Communicate real stuff with each other - I think all too often the relationships that are developed at church are unbelievably fake and the world sees it! We have Bible studies, book studies, Sunday School, VBS, youth group, music ministry, drama ministry and a trillion other things that are hosted at the church. But, what ends up happening is we walk the halls with these people and even talk about a book or a Bible study with them, but we never really open up with them, we never really discuss the reality of life, the ups and downs, our struggles and our victories. I am someone who loves programming and structure. But, sometimes I feel like we need to be more structured and planned out in times like Sunday morning, but less structured and almost unplanned in times like Bible studies or small group get togethers. Why can't we just hang out? With no agenda, except that people who love Jesus are spending time together. We might begin to really know someone, how to pray for them, things we can do to encourage them and what they really want to see God do in their lives.

Sadly, the great majority of believers will walk through life in a church model that was developed a hundred years ago, having a pastor "work for them" while never giving them an opportunity to lead, using ideas and materials that are more outdated than a Trapper Keeper and never really developing any deep meaningful relationships with anyone in the church.

And, we wonder why the younger generation doesn't want anything to do with the church?

Re: A Christian Teacher

2011-03-22T09:05:00.001-07:00

I have been teaching in the public school system now for about a year and a half, and I have loved every moment of it. For the better part of my adult life, I have been working in full-time ministry and I felt like I had been in the "bubble" of the Christian world for too long. It has been amazing being exposed to people who don't know Christ and learning about how they approach the world and their life. I have had some awesome opportunities to share the gospel to other teachers and to students and it has been amazing how it can really flow naturally when you have already developed a relationship with someone.

Up to this point, I have only shared the gospel with someone who is a "stranger". I've knocked on doors, handed out tracts, done VBS, etc. But, unfortunately, this is the first time in my life I have developed relationships with a number of people who are lost and then had the opportunity to share the gospel with them.

I have also been in the process of developing what a Christian teacher should act like. How should I approach the teaching profession, how outspoken should I be about my beliefs. Here are a few ideas that I have developed so far.

1. Humility - I must lead with humility and not with arrogance
2. Passion - I need to display passion about the subject matter I am teaching as well as about my life, my family, my faith, etc.
3. Excellence - I am committed to being the best teacher I can be. I want to stand out in the crowd not only for my beliefs, but because I am a distinguished teacher. I believe that the Lord is honored and glorified when we do our work with excellence!
4. Discernment - I need to develop discernment about the right times to share my faith. If I share my faith when I am supposed to be teaching or doing other work, then I am being a slacker, I am avoiding work and that is not something that is glorifying to God. I need to find times in the margins of the work day to share my faith with those around me.
5. Love - Many of my students and my coworkers come from broken homes and bad relationships. I need to be a person who cares for them and their future, who displays a concern for their well being, while still maintaining the professionalism that my work deserves.
6. Discipline - I need to be disciplined, to stay current with my work, to keep up with assignments, to display an ability to accomplish the tasks to which I have been assigned.
7. Leadership - I believe it is important to be a leader in the workplace, to lead by example, to support your bosses and to encourage those around you. This isn't being a "yes man", this is simply doing what is asked of you. It also goes a step beyond in making an effort to excel at a particular part of your job so that you can be a leader, a trainer or a mentor to others in the organization. This will not only provide opportunities for promotion, but will help others to see that you are someone who takes your work very seriously and always works to the best of your ability!

I believe God cannot be glorified in us if we have a poor work ethic, if we are lazy or if we display an attitude of slothfulness in our work. I want to be excellent in my work, at church and in my home. These characteristics will be universally useful in any job, any position at the church or in any role in the home, they will help us in our efforts to communicate to the world their need for a Savior!

Re: Amazing Wife

2011-03-21T12:24:00.000-07:00

Keeping up with my blogging is something that helps me think more clearly, practice my writing, process through some of the stuff that I've been tossing around in my head, it's one of those activities that just helps out in a lot of areas. Plus, it helps me work on my really fast typing!

Today, I wanted to write a post to brag on Tracy, my amazing wife (now of almost 7 years). Writing this post, though, is not an "exercise" or something difficult, the hard part is limiting all that I could or want to say. So, I wanted to share a few of the many reasons why my wife is amazing and why I'm way more blessed than she is!

I also have a passion for lists (is it me, or are they just awesome!), so I am going to make a list of things that make Tracy the most amazing wife ever:

1. She loves our kids way more than I can even comprehend - I love my kids a ton, more than I ever thought I would love a little being. But, she loves them in a way I can't even begin to understand. She is with them all day, and when she is away from them for just a few hours, she misses them like crazy!

2. She is staying home with our kids - I love that Tracy was willing to put her career goals and work life on the back burner so that she could stay home with our kids. She will be successful at whatever she does, but for now she is focused on being a mom! Wow!

3. She is willing to homeschool our kids - I used to thinking homeschooling was really weird. And, maybe I still do, but we are pretty excited about possibly homeschooling our kids. The best part is, Tracy really wants to! She's a math teacher, so it comes natural, but it's going to be a HUGE commitment. But, she will be amazing. And, our kids are gonna be crazy smart! Of course, they will come by this incredible intelligence naturally based on their fraternal genetics (aka baby daddy), but I know she's going to make sure our kids reach to their full potential!

4. She wants to study the Bible and she wants to teach it to our kids - I love that she loves the Bible and has an awesome passion to teach it to our kids, to hide it in their hearts, to lay the foundation for the rest of their lives. I love to hear Wyatt say "Amen" at the end of our nightly prayers. I love that us praying and reading the Bible together is something that will be a normal thing in the Benfield family.

I could keep going for a long time, but I'll stop there! I'm blessed! God brought Tracy and I together in an unlikely way, but I know that He has had His hand all over our family, and He will for a long time to come!

That's it for now!

Re: Bringin' up old stuff - Ecclesiastes 1 & 2

2011-03-18T05:05:00.000-07:00

On Fridays for a while, I'm going to re-publish some of my old posts. I'm going to start with the posts that I wrote as I worked through Ecclesiastes. Here goes:

I'm going to work through sections of Scripture here, both for my personal growth and for anyone who's bored enough to find and read this.

These first 2 chapters of Ecclesiastes are pretty frustrating to me. Bascially, they say that everything we do in this life is meaningless, it's all a chasing after the sun.

1:8-9 - Especially stands out, the eye never has enough of seeing, the ear never enough of hearing, what has been done will be done again.

For me, I tend to waste my time filling my eyes with TV, internet, movies, etc. and no matter how many hours of that I watch, I always want to see the new episodes, the new movies, because it never fully satisifies. Same thing with the ear - music, radio, etc.

It takes a long time to get there, but eventually at the end of chapter 2 we see that God did give us these things for enjoyment (2:24). God wants us to enjoy life, to eat, drink and find satisfaction in his work.

Here's the kicker, though:

At the end of it all, it's meaningless, UNLESS.... we live life in an effort to please God, to bring praises to His name, then He returns to us wisdom, knowledge and happiness (notice is does not say riches, safety, etc.)

But, for the one who ignores God, that person will work all his life for something that he'll have to give away at death...MEANINGLESS!

Re: Forgotten God

2011-03-17T11:59:00.000-07:00

Last night was our first night discussing the book "Forgotten God" by Francis Chan in youth group. I think it is going to be an amazing discussion and it has already pushed me to process my lack of reliance on the Holy Spirit.

The premise of the book is that, in church, we discuss God the Father and His Son, Jesus all the time. We do a good job of teaching through the characteristics and importance of both of them. However, we seem to have done a poor job of discussing the Holy Spirit in the common language of the church.

Moreover, we seem to have failed miserably in relying on the power of the Holy Spirit, both in our personal lives and in the church.

Last night, I discussed a few times in my life where I literally sensed the presence of the Holy Spirit. While that may sound pretty mystical, it should be more of a reality for those of us who are followers of Jesus and who have been given the Holy Spirit to guide us.

I am looking forward to the continued discussions of the Holy Spirit and the potential of unlocking a whole untapped part of the God we serve.

Do you have any thoughts about the Holy Spirit? Any personal experiences? Have you read Forgotten God or any other Francis Chan books?

That's it for now!

Re: Ministry

2011-03-16T05:20:00.001-07:00

From the time I finished college, I have been involved in ministry, mostly full-time. At this point in my life, I am not working full-time for a ministry, but I am still serving as a youth pastor among other responsibilities at my church. Through the last few years, I have begun to develop a philosophy of ministry that is probably very different from the picture of ministry that many of us currently have.

So, here goes, my ministry manifesto:
1. I will not let "doing ministry" cost me my family - Too many people "do ministry" and are at the church 3 or 4 nights a week, and end up ignoring their spouse or children because they are "serving the Lord". This is crap! Serving the Lord means being a Godly spouse and parent first. If you can't be effective at that, then we don't need to be in ministry!

2. I will not let "doing ministry" be the biggest drain on my life - As I talk with church leaders, pastors, people "in ministry", too many of them share the same sentiment - "I'm worn out". Why is ministry so draining? Perhaps we are misguided in our efforts, maybe we are aiming at the wrong goal or worse still, maybe those of us in ministry have failed to walk daily with the Holy Spirit and are in turn completely reliant on ourselves to accomplish the work of the ministry.

3. I will not let "doing ministry" be "event planning" - I think a lot of the people who are leaders in the church, overseeing ministries, etc. are really just glorified event planners. When did it become more important to schedule over nighters, cookouts, softball games and fish fries than to be about doing the Great Commission. The Bible says that they were dedicated to the ministry of the Word and to prayer. I don't think any of the activities we do are wrong, but should we be placing that much emphasis on them? We need to stop measuring the success of the church by activity and start measuring success based on results! And by results, I am saying we need to determine how many people are experiencing life change as a result of a relationship with Jesus. How many marriages are being healed, how many teenagers are walking away from the world towards Jesus, how present is the Holy Spirit in the life of the church? It should not be this - how full is the calendar and how much fun stuff is going on at church?

4. I will not let "doing ministry" rob me of having real friendships - I have noticed that pastors and ministry leaders are often some of the loneliest people in the world. Sure, everyone wants to talk to them, but they need something from them. And, for people who are on staff, there is often a tension between the staff pastor and the people because the people pay the salary of the pastor. I have noticed this in my own life - I have very few friends that I can REALLY be open and honest with and can just hang out with and enjoy a true friendship. I have one close friend, in particular, who I long to spend time with. But, because we are so busy in ministry, we pass each other in the hallway or sit in a meeting together but rarely get time to function as friends. I just don't want to grow old and be lonely with no friends because I was so freakin' busy in the ministry.

5. I will not let "doing ministry" destroy my wife - I could make a list of 50 pastors wives who HATE ministry and probably even hate most of the people in the church. Why? Because, some pastors become workaholics, sometimes because it's their personality, other times out of guilt or pressure from the deacons, other staff or the church body. And, they choose instead to give all of their quality time and hours to the church instead of honoring their wife. We are the bride of Jesus, and He certainly does not treat us like that. I want to honor my wife with my life (nice little rhyme, I like it!). I want to lavish her with love, quality time, gifts (Dave Ramsey approved, of course). And, that's going to mean that I have to say 'NO' at church sometimes. That is a word that many pastors and ministry leaders need to work into their vocabulary.

I could go on for a long time about this, but it's something I'm working through in my own life right now. I love ministry and I love seeing people's lives changed. But, I will never be effective in ministry if my family life isn't right at home and my walk with the Lord isn't fresh every day.

I have some other ideas about ministry I will post in the future. That's it for now!

Re: That's life!

2010-12-20T20:06:00.000-08:00

One of the most frustrating things about church is the freedom that some people feel to take stabs at you and throw darts that they know will hurt. But, in their selfishness and sin, they don't seem to care about hurting others, only about having their voice heard.

The thing that I have come to realize, I'm a sinner just like them. I have probably said worse stuff about people in my head and even though I've never said it to their face, I still am guilty of the same thing.

I was reading in Ecclesiastes 7, starting in v. 21 - "Do not pay attention to every word people say, or you may hear your servant cursing you - for you know in your heart that many times you yourself have cursed others."

Ecclesiastes will do a number on your thinking sometimes, it's got some crazy good stuff in there and it will lead us to wisdom and a better understanding of God.

So, I hate the way adults handle themselves like children. I hate that people will trust church leaders with their souls but not with the money that they are supposed to be turning over to God. I hate that people will stir up gossip and dissension just to get their voices heard.

But, the Kingdom of God is more important. The message of Jesus will be heard above their noise. The Gospel will be spread and the sacrifice of Jesus will remain enough, despite all of this!

Thank be to Jesus, the author and perfector of OUR faith, who for the joy that was set before Him, endured the cross, scorned its shame and is now sitting at the right hand of Abba, Father!!!

That's all for now!

Re: Hmmmmm.......

2010-11-30T05:26:00.001-08:00

So, I haven't posted in about a year and a half. It's not because I haven't wanted to, it's just that so much life has happened in the last year and a half and I haven't had a lot of time to blog. Blogging is a weird thing for me, kind of like journaling. Some days I'm fired up and I could write 10,000 words. Other days, writing something is the last thing that I want to do.

I think, though, that this could be a fun opportunity for me to spill my thoughts again and share some stuff about what's going on in youth group, at church and maybe a little stuff in my personal life.

So, that's the goal. Maybe this will turn back into something, who knows. I love to share my thoughts, so this gives me a little bit of an extra platform to do that.

Have a great day!

That's all!

Re: Engagement

2009-05-17T20:22:00.000-07:00

No matter how crazy my life is, no matter how unsure I am of the next step in life, no matter what stuff is happening, the lives of other people keep going on.

Friday, May 15, my little bro, Daniel, proposed to his freakin' awesome girlfriend, Leah Casky. OH, yeah, she said Yes!!!

So, in honor of my brother, I am making a list of why he is awesome:

1. He actually paid for his ring!! Here's the story. Our grandma left us one diamond. Me, being the loving big brother, I took it and used it for when I proposed. I spent a total of about $500 on a ring that is worth about $5000. Daniel actually went out, saved a crap load of money, bought a flippin' awesome ring and it's BE-E-A-UTIFUL!!!! WOW!!

2. He has lived like 5 places since he graduated from high school. He lived in Africa, West Viriginia, back in Charlotte, Montana, Asheville, Montana, back in Charlotte. Wow!! He lived the life, did what he wanted and then decided to sort of settle down. I'm a little jealous of all the cool stuff he has done in the last 7 or 8 years.

3. He picked an awesome girl. Leah is the perfect complement to him. They are both freakin' crazy, exciting, funny and all kinds of weird. She is perfect for him. I've prayed that he would find someone who would complement him the way Tracy complements me. I would be totally incomplete without Tracy, now that's Daniel and Leah. SWEET!!!

4. He has good taste in beverages. I'll leave it at that...fat tire.

5. He's a risk taker

6. He can do anything. He made Tracy and I a table of like 5 different types of wood - oak, maple, cherry, other stuff. He can paint. He's all over the place. He can do just about anything.

7. He has really cool goals. He doesn't see life as a boring job to be had, but an exploration that he has been on for 26 years.

8. He loves Jesus.

9. Tigger, Kentuck Mumbler, etc.

10. He is the only other person in the world who truly understands how weird our parents are!

11. He is crazy loyal, especially to our family. He's a much better grandson, nephew, son, etc. than me.

I think I'm going to stop at 11. I don't have to have a good even number. I'm just going to stop there. My brother is my best male friend in this world (only Tracy is closer). I don't think many people in this world have brothers as good as mine. He's awesome. I can't wait for him to be married, have some babies, do awesome things with his life!

So, yeah, he and Leah are engaged. I'm pumped! The ring is beautiful (see above).

I'm done.

Re: Emotions

2009-04-25T09:49:00.000-07:00

So, apparently, part of being a church planter means that there are going to be UNBELIEVABLE emotional ups and downs. One morning, I wake up fully confident that Cynergy Church is going to take Holly Springs by storm, that we are going to start a revolution that will multiply across the world as God provides. The next morning, I wake up pretty sure that I've done the most stupid thing in the world and we are going to fail, Tracy and I will be poor forever and I'm ready to give up.

I am an emotional guy, probably a little more than most guys, and I tend to wear my emotions on my sleeve just a little bit. But, the one thing that has remained constant through my emotional ups and downs is the clarity of the calling that God placed on my life to be a part of a church plant that's going to change a town, city, region, state and world.

So, I'm not quitting, right now. I knew this wasn't going to be easy. I'm not sure I was prepared for it to be this hard, but I know that God is going to take care of us. He's going to provide us with the things we need, he's going to honor our efforts and he's going to accomplish what He has set out to accomplish, with or without us.

Truth is, I'd rather be on mission for God and be on an emotional roller coaster than to have a lots of money and worldly success but have nothing real to live for.

Guess that's it for today.

I'm done.

Re: Worried

2009-04-19T19:54:00.000-07:00

So, I'm worried. Here's the deal, I like kids, just not that much. For the most part, kids tend to get on my nerves. I don't think this is all that unusual, but there are 2 major problems. First, Tracy is 4 1/ 2 months pregnant with our first child, who at this point is a boy named Wyatt Grady. Second, Tracy and I are leading "CynergyKIDS" at Cynergy Church every Sunday night at 6:00pm.

Truth is, I really do enjoy being around children and I enjoy getting to tell them about the difference that Jesus has made in my life. I probably enjoy teaching teenagers more, but kids are fun, too. But, I guess one of my major concerns is that it seems like so few parents are investing real time into raising their children. They simply give them what keeps them happy and/or quiet and/or occupied.

Tracy and I sense a strong burdening (is that a real word?) from the Lord to be about raising Godly kids who are secure in who they are, who are respectful of adults and WHO WE ENJOY SPENDING TIME WITH!! I don't think most parents enjoy spending time with their kids.

Anyone who reads this (which I know there's only like 2 people, one of them is me), anyways, anyone who reads this and has kids is probably thinking that I'm fooling myself and it will never happen like that. You're probably thinking, "you just wait, it will change". Yeah, I've heard it. But, I've seen families (maybe literally 1 or 2), but I've seen them, who enjoy being together, who don't get wrapped up in dating, where kids don't hate their parents, where parents enjoy time with kids, where Jesus is the center of the family. I wanna be that.

I'm excited about being a dad, I really am! I'm excited about raising a son, too. I can't wait to teach him about the most beautiful woman in the world (whom he will know as Mom, or Mama). I can't wait to sit him down one day and teach him about being a man, to see him taking care of his younger brother(s) and/or sister(s) if the Lord gives us that. I can't wait to tell him about how Tracy (aka Mom) is way more important to me than him, but outside of Jesus and Mom, nothing else in the world comes even close. I can't wait to see him take his first step, say his first word, make an eternal commitment to Jesus, do crazy stuff for the kingdom and be an awesome big brother. And, hopefully, he'll be left handed, just because that's cool.

Geez, this is enough. I'm freakin' pumped!! Cynergy went well again tonight! I'm flippin' pumped about what God is going to do!!

I'm done.

WOW!!

2009-04-16T19:54:00.001-07:00

The last few weeks have been a blur and we've already had 2 Sunday evening services with Cynergy and we're just a few short days from our 3rd.

And, all I can say is WOW!!

Here's the thing, we thought we knew exactly how to do everything!

We didn't.

We thought tons of people would show up and we'd have a mega-church by the 3rd week.

We won't.

We got this idea that all we had to do was just say we would do things with excellence and everything else would fall in to place.

Didn't happen.

So, I'm ready to quit, right? Umm, heck no!!!

This is the most amazing thing I've ever been able to be a part of.

I am learning that if I want something to happen, I need to make sure it happens.

I am learning that when I say that the core team is here to be the "staff" for Pastor Perry, we need to be the one who hold him up. When I say that, we really have to do that. Even within the first few weeks, it's easy for the pastor to get everything thrown at him, we gotta have his back, FO REAL!!

I'm learning that part of doing something for the kingdom of God means that there is going to be a personal investment, there is going to be a personal cost. If it costs nothing, it's not worth it.

On top of all that, Tracy and I found out we are having a boy. Wyatt Grady. In the midst of all this, WOW!! God is bringing about 2 of the biggest changes in my life all at the same time! Wow!! I want to talk more about fathering a son, hopefully next time.

WOW!!!!

I'm done.

Re: Cynergy Church

2009-04-01T20:37:00.000-07:00

The time is almost here!! We have been praying and planning for this moment for what seems like two years now!

And, it's getting here faster than we ever imagined. This Sunday night, we will be having our first public service for Cynergy Church at the Holly Springs School of Dance, located at 136 Oakhall Drive in Holly Springs, NC - at 6:00pm!! The owner of the studio has been incredibly generous to allow us to use the facilities there for our gathering.

I am so incredibly excited to see how God is going to use Perry and the team from Cynergy to make a crazy big impact on the Holly Springs area. I really do believe that God is setting each step in front of us. And, in his timing, he waits just long enough so that we really have to depend on him, not on ourselves. I have been just blown away by the way that the Lord has provided over the last few weeks and how He has orchestrated each step before we were ever sure how or when we might take that step.

Now, we will turn our attention to putting all of these thoughts and ideas to action. We are going to hold a church service. We are going to share with the community what has been in our hearts for an exceedingly long time.

Thank you, Lord, for the opportunity to serve you!!

I can't wait to see what He's going to do with Cynergy!

I'm done!

Re: Clarify the Win

2009-03-16T07:09:00.000-07:00

I missed a few days because we went to Unleash Conference at NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC. It was amazing!! I really can't explain it. If you ever get a chance, go!!! I think this years main sessions will be online soon, www.newspring.cc/unleash Once the videos are online, it will be worth your time to watch them!!

As I continue to take a look at the 7 principles (from Andy Stanley's 7 practices of effective ministry), today we look at Clarify the Win.

This is such a simple concept and it makes me sick to my stomach that churches, by and large, have simply ignored this idea for the sake of laziness or tradition.

It's simple - ask yourself this question - For our church, what is a win? A baseball team knows what a win is. A teacher knows what a win is for her students. A business knows what a win is. What is a win for the church?

For Cynergy, we have compressed it down to one simple phrase, A win is....That people would realize that there is more to life through Christ!

So, every ministry, everything we do will have to answer to that. We will ask, does this ministry, does this series of messages, does this outreach accomplish the win that people would realize that there is more to life through Christ?

If the answer is no, we simply won't do it. We'll talk more about this tomorrow. But, one of the ways that this will manifest itself is that we won't do a bunch of programs and ministries to meet the needs and wants of the congregation. Everything will be about accomplishing the win.

And, as a member of Cynergy, it won't be about what you can get from the church, but about what you can accomplish for King Jesus through Cynergy Church.

Think about that in your church? Has your church clarified the win? Your youth ministry? your children's ministry? What would happen if the whole group got on board with accomplishing the "win"? We might actually see hell a little less crowded and heaven a little more!!

I'm done.

Re: Cynergy Church

2009-03-11T06:27:00.000-07:00

I'm gonna take a short break from Ecclesiastes. We have been meeting with the core team of Cynergy Church and we are spending the next 8 days reading through the 7 principles of effective ministry by Andy Stanley. What we've done, though, is to take a look at the 7 principles through the lens of the vision and values of Cynergy, and it's turned out to be very interesting. It's also really helped us to develop a very clear picture of what Cynergy is going to look like.

I know that the 7 principles are not a new concept in churches, Andy Stanley has been developing them and sharing them with leaders for a while now. But, it's new to us and it's exciting to think about the possibility of approaching church in a simple, straightforward way that keeps us focused on the one thing that's most important - to help people realize that there is more to life through Christ!

One of my worries, though, through this entire process is that we'll have the best plan, the best principles, the most amazing theories for church ever thought up, but we won't be able to deliver. We won't see anything really happen, it'll be a flop!!

So, what's the IT factor? What is IT that actually causes life change. Of course, the answer is that people realize that there's more to life through Christ and they give their lives over to Him!!

I tend to be very practical, though, and there are 2 main things that I have given a lot of thought to that can be the IT factor:

1. Be in the business of people. We can't put ideas, principles or plans ahead of the people who we are trying to reach. We must give ourselves to developing relationships, to loving people, and only because of what Christ has done in our lives, not because we want a big church of successful ministry.

2. We must set a clear vision. The Bible says in Proverbs - where there is no vision the people perish. Every human being is looking to be a part of something bigger than themselves. So, we must set a clear, consistent, powerful and motivating vision of why we're doing this, what we're doing and what we expect to happen.

IT will happen and people will know that there is more to life through Christ!!

I'm done.

Re: Ecclesiastes 9 & 10

2009-03-10T06:29:00.000-07:00

9:17 - The quiet words of the wise are more to be heeded than the shouts of a ruler of fools.

10:12 - Words from a wise man's mouth are gracious, but a fool is consumed by his own lips.

These verses are as accurate today as they were the day they were originally penned. I think one of the most frustrating types of people for me to deal with are those who, when you're talking to them, are not listening but trying to think of a good response.

I've noticed this type of personality since I was a kid and it has always driven me crazy. But, it's also driven me to be a good listener. There are some times that it takes a while for me to come up with a response, because I'm trying to soak up what the person was saying.

I read somewhere recently, listen to someone as if you really care about what they're saying, and something strange will eventually happen, you will start to care. I don't know if that's completely true, but I think it's at least a good idea.

I want to be the type of person that, when I speak, I'm listened to. And, it's not because of my authority or whatever, it's because I choose my words carefully, I don't speak just to be heard, I speak because their is something to be said.

I'm actually reading a book right now called "Why aren't we better listeners?" It sheds some interesting light on the whole thing.

Moral for today - You've got 2 ears and one mouth, so you can listen twice as much as you talk. Be a listener, care about what people say, and when you say something back, don't let it just be empty words, speak from your heart. One more quote, "People won't care how much you know, until they know how much you care".

I'm done.

Re: Ecclesiastes 7 & 8

2009-03-06T07:59:00.000-08:00

7:14 - When times are good, be happy; but when times are bad, consider: God has made the one as well as the other.

7:1 - A good name is better than fine perfume.

7:21 - Do not pay attention to every word peope say...

Isn't it amazing when we read Scripture, when we faithfully make it a part of our daily lives, it seems like God begins to bring certains texts in front of us on the exact day and time we need them!

Times are bad. I won't have a job in t-minus 25 days. The prospect of me finding another job within that time frame is quickly dwindling. But, God has made the bad times as well as the good. And, he is teaching me patience, faith and perserverance, to follow what He's leading, no matter how ridiculous it might seem.

I have been reminded of the importance of having a good name as I have been preparing to step back into the secular work world. Not that I've been a slacker in my job now, but it is all the more important to be a hard worker, to have integrity and to have a good name. Again, Scripture affirms what God has been speaking in my heart.

Last thought - I worry about what other people think too much. In my job search, I recently applied for a job that I was thinking - I would be embarrassed to work there. But, then God reminded me - "Josh, your first priority is to provide for Tracy and the baby, not to be in a prestigious job somewhere".

Wow! That hit me like a ton of bricks. I am ready and willing to work anywhere. And, I'll give my all, maintain my integrity and make sure that my name is spoken well of, or at least thought of in connection to a passion for the kingdom of King Jesus!

I'm done!

Re: Ecclesiastes 5 & 6

2009-03-05T06:23:00.001-08:00

As we move closer to planting Cynergy Church, I also am moving closer to stepping down at Macedonia. My last official day will be March 31st, a day that is too rapidly approaching. With that day approaching, I find myself crippled with fear and worry about finding a job. One of the hard parts about planting a church is that there are no jobs at the church to be had, so I've got to find a job somewhere else. But, in the midst of an economy in the toilet, a guy with a banking degree and 6 years of experience in ministry is not of particular interest to those few people who do have jobs available.

But, as I read in Ecclesiastes this morning, I am somewhat comforted by the words spoken through this text. One of my favorite songs of all time comes from 5:2 - where it says "God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few."

Later on in chapter 5 I am reminded that in the pursuit and love of wealth, we will find that we will never be satisfied with our income. Whatever our goal is, when we reach it, we will want more, ALWAYS!

God is so hammering down on this for me, I think, because the pursuit of wealth does tend to be a focus in my heart.

Perhaps the lack of success in my job hunt is the beginning of God calling on me to rely on him. I heard someone say the other day - "work like it depends on you, but sleep like it depends on God".

I won't sit around the house and expect a job to show up, I will go on interviews, submit resume's, keep looking. But, if I really trust God, I'll go to bed at night confident that God is going to provide for our NEEDS according to His perfect will.

Thank you, LORD, for your promises.

5:7 - Much dreaming and many words are meaningless, THEREFORE STAND IN AWE OF GOD!!!

I'm done.

Re: Ecclesiastes 3 & 4

2009-03-04T05:22:00.000-08:00

I'm excited about Chapter 5, it's gonna be sweet. But, I didn't want to read too much, I want to make sure I digest everything instead of just rolling through it.

I'm done.

Re: Ecclesiastes 1 & 2

2009-03-03T04:36:00.000-08:00

I'm gonna try something new, I'm going to work through sections of Scripture here, both for my personal growth and for anyone who's bored enough to find and read this.

These first 2 chapters of Ecclesiastes are pretty frustrating to me. Bascially, they say that everything we do in this life is meaningless, it's all a chasing after the sun.

1:8-9 - Especially stands out, the eye never has enough of seeing, the ear never enough of hearing, what has been done will be done again.

Here's the kicker, though:

But, for the one who ignores God, that person will work all his life for something that he'll have to give away at death...MEANINGLESS!

Re: contextualization

2009-02-18T12:49:00.001-08:00

As we are progressing with planting a church, we are doing all that we can to soak up wisdom from those who have gone before us. Last night, we got the chance to go to the church planting center at The Summit Church in Durham, NC, where J.D. Greear is the lead pastor.

The main purpose of his talk was the idea of contextualization. There are certain things that do not change in the pursuit of preaching the gospel in any culture. For example, in any culture, Jesus is always the way to salvation, the Bible is always the Word of God, etc.

But, we need to contextualize these truths in a manner that is communicable to the culture that is being targeted. Therein lies the most important task in church planting. We say that it is our desire to reach out to the people of Holly Springs, NC who currently do not either know Christ or attend a church. In order for us to accomplish this task effectively, we will need to understand what it is going to take for this type of person to commit to Christ.

What an incredible task that lay before us.

I'm done.

Da-na-na-na, BABY TIME!!

2009-02-13T09:59:00.000-08:00

Well, I really do intend to be more regular on this blog, but I'm not, oh well.

Getting close to a month ago, Tracy and I found out we are pregnant. Wait, she is pregnant. I am in no way pregnant. But, because the Bible and God say that we have become one because of the covenant of marriage, then, WE ARE PREGNANT!!!!!

WOOHOOO!!!!!!

So, the baby is due on September 16th, which is crazy exciting.

Also, lots of stuff happening on the church planting front. I will be stepping down from Macedonia at the end of March. Between now and then, I need to find a job. But, I will be stepping down in order to devote more attention to Cynergy Church, the name of our church plant.

We are going to begin small group type meetings at the end of March and we'll probably be aiming for an official launch date sometime around September.

So, that's what's been happening. I'm going to try to make sure to update this once a week or so with updates about Cynergy.

I'm done.

Re: Church Planting

2009-01-14T11:36:00.000-08:00

I don't even know if anyone ever really reads this thing anymore. I really do want to be a more frequent blogger, but it seems like I'm not great at coming up with stuff to write.

But, the big thing in my life as of late is church planting. Tracy and I are on the verge of joining with a group of people here at Macedonia and planting a church in a nearby city. It is going to be something that will stretch me in every sense of the word, it's going to be something that will change my life, my job, everything.

In all of this, I am extremely excited to be a part of this work of the Lord that is going to reach people with the gospel.

One of my goals through this transition is that it is well documented via this blog. Maybe that will help me be a more regular blogger. Then again, maybe not.

I'm done.

woohoo

2008-12-30T16:19:00.000-08:00

hey yall. I am updating this blog using tracys phone. so this will be short. God is really doing amazing things. Pray that tonight is another special night. We are getting ready to start. I can't figure out how to do a comma. Anyways.tonight is Third Day and Ergun Caner. it should be an incredible night. Thanks for all your prayers. my fingers are tired. I'm done.

Xtreme Update 1 - Monday Night

2008-12-29T20:57:00.000-08:00

Well, we are here, and I'm really tired.

But, it has been one of the most amazing nights ever for our youth group. An awesome guy named Tony Nolan spoke to us tonight and brought da THUNDA!!! It was great, he spoke the gospel simply and plainly. A big number of our youth made recommitments and realized there need for a stronger commitment to Christ.

There were 2 of our teenagers who, for the first time, committed there life to Christ!!!!!

THERE IS NOTHING IN THIS WORLD THAT COMPARES TO SEEING SOMEONE TURN THEIR LIFE OVER TO CHRIST!!!

Well, I'm too tired to write anymore.

We are here, check back tomorrow for more info.

Check out this picture of Daniel Stephenson. That's what happens to youth leaders on a trip!!!

Wow!

Later!

Re: What is Jesus telling you to do?

2008-12-08T08:20:00.000-08:00

Macedonia Family,

Sunday, I was given the privilege to share with you all what God has been speaking to my heart lately. But, the biggest thing that God has been speaking to my heart lately is something that goes beyond Sunday morning. I think so many times we're guilty of hearing the sermon and being moved at a worship service, but finding ourselves back in the same rut on Monday morning.

So, I want to ask you to consider again some of the ideas we spoke of Sunday morning!

What Jesus do you believe in? Convenient Jesus? Rabbits foot Jesus? Or, the dangerous Jesus of the Bible!?!?!?!

What risk is Jesus leading you to take that you just aren't taking?

I want to hear from you and what the Lord is doing in your heart. I also encourage you to be in this conversation with those closest to you. Ask yourselves on a daily basis - what does Jesus want me to do today?

What risk does He want me to take? What bold move is He leading me to?

For me, God has been leading my heart over the course of a few years and he's implanted into my heart 3 big risks for the church:

1. That we would boldly reach the unchurched people in our community (and don't kid yourselves, there's a bunch of them and you know some of them)

2. That we would plant churches in communities that are out of our reach (Holly Springs, Dunn/Erwin, Sanford, etc.)

3. That pastors and missionaries would come out of our church and spread the name of Jesus across the globe.

THIS IS RISKY BUSINESS!!

If we plant a church or send missionaries, we might be sending families who are big givers and who are heavily involved in ministry. But, IN GOD'S ECONOMY, the dollar doesn't matter.

What matters is:

That we go and make disciples of all nations!

That we further God's kingdom, not ours!

So, what's God leading you to:

Share with me! Share with your friends, spouse, children!

LET'S START A MOVEMENT!

Leave some comments here to continue this discussion.

I'm done.

Xtreme Winter Conference - Part 2

2008-11-25T07:05:00.001-08:00

I've got some more details for our Xtreme Conference. I don't know if anyone has actually checked out the information here, but I'm putting it up anyways.

So, what's the info? I've been informed of what hotel we're staying in!!

And, it looks like this year we'll be in some nice digs.

Anyways, we're staying at the Greystone Lodge. You can check it out by clicking here.

Don't forget, if you want to find out more about the Xtreme Conference, you can go to the website here.

We're getting pumped about our time there. Don't forget, have your money in by December 1st. So, far, Joseph Jarmon and Nick Thomas are the only 2 that have turned in everything!!

I'm pumped!!!

Xtreme Winter Conference

2008-11-18T10:53:00.000-08:00

Parents, hopefully you have received a letter about our upcoming winter conference to Gatlinburg - Xtreme.

I just wanted to let you know that this is the right place.

If you want to check out the website for the conference, it's www.xtremeconferences.com

Check back here regularly for any updates.

If you have any questions, you can always email me - joshbenfield@gmail.com

Thanks!

Re: Missions

2008-08-18T06:31:00.000-07:00

God has been dealing with me on some pretty big issues lately. And, I want to take some time here to sort of write these thoughts down.

One of the biggest things that I've been learning from the Lord is the idea of seizing divine moments. When God gives you an opportunity to follow through with something He is calling you to do, it is an opportunity to seize a divine moment.

What are the moments that God is placing in front of you?
What excuses are you using to avoid the opportunity to seize?
Who in your life is a discouraging voice in the face of these opportunities?
Who is an encouraging voice?

I believe that the voice of God in our hearts is often pushed away because of hurdles that we can't see a way over. We are guilty of not seeing the forest for the trees. We're too stuck in our little lives and our tiny circumstances to see the part we play in the grand purpose of the Creator.

If that's you today, I pray that you will seize whatever divine moment God is placing in front of you. As I have taken the first step of seizing that moment, God has continued to display to me each step along the way.

I'm done.

Re: Wednesday Night Update

2008-06-25T19:48:00.000-07:00

So, here are a few more pictures. I know they both include me or Tracy, but hey, we'll have more pictures later.

The pastor's wife convinced me to dress up in this ridiculous blow up bull outfit and jump around the stage like a wild man. The other picture is Tracy, April, Jacob and the rest of the group jumping around to the theme song of "Round Up".

It's been an awesome trip still. Today, Barron Harrison had the highest privilege of a believer. He was able to lead someone to the Lord today while we were walking around a shopping area. It's amazing to see how the Lord used Barron to do such an awesome work today.

We had our third night of camp and it went great. We only have 2 nights left!! Wow!! This week has already flown by. We are all anxious to be home but already we are not looking forward to leaving our new High Tide Church family behind.

Thank you for all your prayers and comments.

We are so blessed to be a part of such an awesome work up here. I wish all of you could see the incredible things that are happening in Delaware. Please pray that we continue to be a benefit to them and to the people with whom we come in contact. The manager at the hotel we are staying said that we are the best group she's ever had and all of our kids have been very respectful. That's so great (and, partially because I threatened them with their life if they messed up anything at the hotel).

Well, it's 11:00 on Wednesday night, I need to get to bed. We love you all!! See ya soon.

Re: Tuesday Morning Update

2008-06-24T04:22:00.000-07:00

This is a beautiful Delaware sunset.
We have now finished the first day of G-Force camp with High Tide Church.

We had the privilege of having 136 kids come to the camp on the first night!! That is the highest attendance High Tide Church has ever had at their summer camps. This camp is a big catalyst for their church and typically brings in a large number of new, unchurched families. Our teenagers did an incredible job leading the small groups. Every one of our teenagers was leading one of the small groups of children: teaching lessons, playing games and loving on the kids.

Many of these kids come from very rough homes and a number of our teens shared how heartbroken they were to hear the stories of these kids who have seen so much hurt and dysfunction in their lives. But, the Lord is good and He will use this opportunity to plant the seed of the gospel in the hearts of these children.

I will try to post some pictures of the camp sometime later today, but it's 7:00 in the morning and the camera is still in one of the rooms with sleepin' people. I want them to get their sleep, so I'll get the camera later.

Re: Delaware - Sunday update

2008-06-22T13:32:00.000-07:00

Well, I think we have completely exhausted everyone of energy and we still have about 4 more hours of preparation left.

Today was an awesome day. We got here at the fire hall at 6:00am. Yes, parents, your kids do function that early in the morning. We helped the High Tide staff turn the empty rooms into an amazing worship center, kids worship center and a preschool area. After set up, we had an 8:30 service and a 10:00 service, then we broke down all of that stuff again.

The commitment of this church is absolutely amazing. In only 5 years, they have grown a church to an average of close to 400 in attendance. God has truly blessed Pastor Andy and Tanya (his wife) and the rest of the staff and leadership here. Today was an unforgettable experience.

After lunch, we reported back to the fire hall to set up for our week of camp, which is called G-Force Camp. We are getting close to finishing up the prep work for that, then we will be having a worship time with the youth from High Tide and some pizza!

Please keep us in your prayers. Most everyone is tired and in need of some sleep.

Tomorrow morning will bring some rest, but we are still just at the beginning of this week.

We are sure that God is going to grow each and every one of us in an awesome and unexpected way.

Hopefully, I'll keep the updates regular.

Later!

Delaware - Saturday Night Update

2008-06-21T19:20:00.000-07:00

So, we're here. If you haven't heard from your kids, I wanted to let you know.

These pictures are proof. We got here in 9 hours, the trip was smooth and we even had a few hours to run to the beach and hang out for a little bit.

We also got the chance to hang out with Pastor Andy and his wife and two other staff members of the church we are working with here. The church is called High Tide Church. Andy and Tanya started it 5 years ago and they have more than 350 people attending their services each week. Even cooler than that, a bunch of the people who come to their church aren't Christians. So, they are having an awesome opportunity to share the gospel with people each week.

Andy even shared with us that they baptized 4 people this morning (and they baptized them at the beach, which is saweeeeeettt!!!!).

So, that's a quick update for today. We are getting up at 4:30 tomorrow morning to go help the church set up for their service.

Tomorrow is shaping up to be an awesome day.

So, please keep lifting us up.

You'll hear from me tomorrow.

Re: Delaware Update: Night before

2008-06-20T17:23:00.000-07:00

WOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am so pumped about this trip. This evening, most of the leaders came to the church along with a few of the students and we got all of the food and equipment packed and ready to ride.

Tomorrow, we'll leave bright and early and get rolling for a good long day of traveling.

I am absolutely blown away at the way people have been lifting us up in prayer. Today, my dad prayed with me over the phone, a bunch of friends called and emailed and said they are praying for us, and one close friend even typed out a prayer in the email. It was awesome.

We need your prayers. This trip will be exhausting spiritually, physically and emotionally.

I have included the prayer that was sent to me over email, read this and pray it for us.

""Dear God I lift up all our leaders praying for a safe and progressive trip. I lift the teens going up asking that you would do a great work in their lives and they would be surrounded by the Holy Spirit. I ask that you cause hearts to burst , and eyes to be open by the truths of your word. I pray the teens would experience spiritual revival on their trip and know that God is real and able to take their lives and transform them into His will. I pray for everlasting changes to take place in their hearts. Oh God hear our voices , we cry out for a revolution amongst our youth. We fight the attacks Satan sends our way, and with loud voices, we say "our God says you ,Satan, have no authority over us!!" We shield ourselves in the comfort of your words, change the lives OH Lord of those who believe they are unchangeable and strengthen the lives of our leaders , so they may feel your power within them! We give you praise our Lord for your goodness, and remember the ones who are willing to make the steps necessary to minister to your children.""

We love you all.

Check back regularly. I'll do my best to update it each day of the trip.

OH, and if you want to relay a message to someone on our trip, click on comments at the bottom of each update and leave a comment and tell me who to relay the message to. Thanks!

Re: Believe

2008-06-04T04:29:00.000-07:00

If we, as Christians, really believe what we say, shouldn't the attitude of Christ be so dominant in our lives that nothing else is seen but that?

I am absolutely exhausted of experiencing gossip, bitterness and flat out hatred among so called believers. What is wrong with us?

Do we really believe? Do we really believe that Jesus died for our sins? Do we really believe that without Jesus we are destined for eternity in hell?

If we really believe that, shouldn't it be easy and natural to get along with our fellow Christians, to seek true fellowship with them? Instead of holding on to a root of bitterness!

I know, weird post, just something I've been working through lately. Jesus, give us the courage to live out your words.

I'm done.

Re: Preaching

2008-05-27T07:09:00.000-07:00

So, I'm up in two weeks for the Sunday morning worship service. I have been at Macedonia for about two years now and this will be my 5th time preaching the morning service. I would say that's probably more than average in a church where the pastor has been there for 20 plus years and I'm the new guy, so I definitely count it a privilege to get to speak.

But, I've been wrestling on what to bring that Sunday morning.

I thought I would have more to say about this subject, but apparently I don't.

I don't want to bore them to death for 30 minutes, I don't want to bring some lighthearted mess that doesn't have any sort of life application, I don't want to spend the bulk of the time exegeting the text and talking about the Greek form of the word (plus, I don't know how to do that).

I do want to stir their souls. I do want to move them to action. I do want to light a fire under their tails to get them excited about God's kingdom.

Lord, show me your Word, give me the courage to teach your Word and, more importantly, give me the courage to live it!

I'm done.

Re: Prayer

2008-05-20T19:54:00.000-07:00

I am fully aware of the importance of prayer in the life of a Christian. Sometimes, though, it's easy to forget that. Sometimes, we forget about prayer because we don't do it.

Something I have realized lately is that when I try to live for the Lord on an island, it's impossible. Most of the time, I work by myself in the office, so it's easy for me to get accustomed to being alone. But, I have learned recently how much more gets accomplished when a team is working together for one purpose.

Ok, so, it's taken me 20 minutes to write this and I feel like my brain is all over the place.

Here's where I was trying to get:
This morning, I spent a lot of time praying with two of my closest brothers in the Lord. It was awesome! It is a special thing to pray for each other, to know that someone else is thinking about you, praying for you and cares about how your day, week, month, life turns out.

I love to pray alone, it's an awesome time with God.
But, I really love to pray with others who are pursuing Jesus too! That is something that is particularly special to me!

OH, and I got a new banner. DTD made it for me, best graphic designer ever!! Sweet!!

I'm done.

Re: Honor

2008-05-14T10:22:00.000-07:00

In my last post I referred to the things the Lord was teaching me and walking me through on my own spiritual journey. And, a lot of that was the source for when I preached on Sunday morning a few weeks ago.

One of the things that continues to be brought to my attention through a number of different ways is the idea of honoring our leaders. It seems like so many churches are falling apart at the seams because of a lack of respect for the leaders of the church, lack of respect for parents, and the list could continue.

For me, specifically, my burden has been for the issue of showing honor to my pastor. While I can't say that I agree with every decision my pastor has ever made, I can say that I recognize that he is a man of God and has walked with God for much longer than I've been alive.

I must honor that. I must honor the fact that he has walked through things I can't even imagine. Even as fresh as today, I was able to be transparent with my pastor about what the Lord may be stirring in me. If I had a non-existent relationship with my pastor, I couldn't go to him with those sort of thoughts and lay them out for him. But, because I want to honor him, I don't want to walk into his office in two years and tell him I'm moving on and I've been thinking about it for two years. Instead, I am asking him to be praying with me on the ground level of what God is stirring in me. Perhaps God will reveal some things to him as well as me and through that we will receive confirmation from the Lord. My pastor will also be able to extend words of caution, wisdom, experience and instruction.

It's more common in today's society to strive for the top, no matter who or what it costs. However, I believe that God will honor the level of communication and respect I have for my leaders. Perhaps when I am leading a church, I will be able to have people serving with me who will extend the same sort of honor and respect.

Well, that's my thought for now.

I'm done.

Re: Lessons

2008-05-05T05:35:00.001-07:00

I had the awesome privilege of preaching at our morning service yesterday and it was a really great experience. I've preached in that service a few times before, but this time seemed different.

The only way I can explain the difference that I felt is that God has been teaching me SO much lately and I had SO much to say through sharing all of those lessons that God has been pouring in to me.

Here are a few of the things that God is teaching me, I just want to share them again:
1. Pastors equip the people for the work of the ministry - they can't DO all of the ministry. Historically, Southern Baptist churches have pretty much relied on the pastor to DO all of the ministry. There's a major flaw in that reasoning, it's WRONG!! Pastors are to teach the word, pray and equip the church for ministry. Then, followers of Jesus are to go out and do ministry!

2. I need to take risks - I need to take Jesus directed risks. I refuse to be OK with how things are because I have a good income, the church keeps doing OK (just OK). I want to take some Jesus risks to see His kingdom grow. I can't say that I know exactly what that means right now, I just know that I need to be risky (not risque).

3. I need to act with urgency - I need to make sharing Jesus more a part of my everyday life. If I believe that heaven and hell are real, and that people without Christ are destined for hell, I need to act with urgency to infiltrate the culture with Jesus. One of the ways the Lord has been teaching me to do this is through my finances. Jesus has been generous with me, I should in turn be generous. I should use my finances to infiltrate this culture with acts that reflect the light of Christ in my life.

Well, that's just a sample of what God has been teaching me. I'll admit that it's been a somewhat difficult time and that some of teachings have been humbling and have really broken me at times. But, I know that God, in His perfect sovereignty, sees the end result and He is still working on getting me there.

I'm done.

Re: Being the church

2008-04-21T09:32:00.000-07:00

If I was asked what lesson God was searing into my heart over the last year, the overwhelming answer is simple, that we are to "be the church".

For my entire life, being at the church has been normal. My parents were a part of church growing up and we were always there, for everything, always!! But, as the Lord has been teaching me recently, the idea of being the church has little or nothing to do with a building and everything to do with actions that are reflective of the presence of Christ in one's life.

Saturday, a friend of mine was involved in a fundraiser for a guy who was injured at work, had no disability insurance and had a young daughter at home. He is a single father, and with his injuries he will be out of work for a few more months. The awesome thing about this fundraiser: it was initiated by individuals. These individuals came from different churches, backgrounds, religious beliefs, etc. But, they were all united in raising money for someone in need.

Shouldn't that be how we represent Christ? We shouldn't be dependent on an event at the church to share Christ through our lives. We shouldn't have to wait for the church to schedule something so that we can volunteer our time for a worthy cause.

To my friend, thank you for being an example to me. Thank you for shining like a star as you hold out the word of life and shine as a light for Christ in a world that is filled with darkness.

Jesus, give me the courage to do the same!

Re: Chicago

2008-04-17T07:53:00.000-07:00

I have not updated in a long time and there's really no good reason for it. I was very motivated at the beginning to write some awesome articles about Jesus, life, stuff and other random thoughts that pop out of my head.

Well, what has happened in the last few months? By far, the best thing I've done was surprise Tracy with a 3 day trip to Chicago. We flew to Chicago on SkyBus, the now non-existent discount airline. We only paid 10 bucks each for our tickets. Maybe that's why they're bankrupt?

Those are a few of our pictures from Chicago. It was so awesome. It was the first time in my life that I actually surprised Tracy. She's like a flippin' detective. She always figures out everything. I actually booked the trip and kept my big mouth shut for over 2 months. The main reason that she always figures stuff out is because I'm stupid and terrible at hiding stuff, so it normally slips out.

One of the most important things I have been learning through the last few months, and it was reinforced to me on this trip, is the importance of protecting your wife in ministry. It's always possible for the wife of a pastor to get some unrealistic expectations slapped on her back. But, I have taken seriously the importance of protecting my wife.

She's not your typical pastor's wife who plays the piano, leads children's ministry, teaches all the womens classes and cooks 15 meals a week for everyone who's ever been sick. Tracy has a full-time job, she's the best math teacher ever, she's a softball coach (also the best ever) and I refuse to ask her to take care of 38 different ministries at the church.

God has called her to work with teenagers, so she's a middle school girls small group leader in our youth group. Her ministry, though, is not limited to that, she is in the midst of hundreds of teenagers and teachers every day, living as a light for Christ.

Sidenote: She's definitely the hottest teacher at school, she actually has a student who has a crush on her and had another teacher ask her out the other day!!! Ha!! (He must have missed the big fat diamond on her hand)

Anyways. That's my 2 cents for today. I love ministry, I love teenagers, I love being a pastor. But, none of that comes anywhere near how much I love Tracy. And, she's way more important than anything at the church. She's my #1 ministry and I refuse to fail as the leader of my home!

Ok. I'm done.

Re: Fasting

2008-02-26T18:46:00.000-08:00

There have been key moments in my life where I fasted and prayed that the Lord would direct me, my thoughts and those involved with the circumstance. Tracy and I fasted for 5 days before we were married. We fasted again for a few days when an opportunity for a job change came up just a year into our marriage. We fasted one more time when we were praying about moving to our current situation at Macedonia Baptist in Duncan, NC.

Is fasting only supposed to be for major events, though? Does it have to be a day, week, what?

Fasting, like exercise, is something that is hard to commit to but always ends with good results. Every time I have fasted, I have found myself at the feet of Jesus and in a place where my thoughts are becoming like his.

So, why do I avoid it like the plague sometime?

Unconfessed sin, laziness, satisfaction with mediocrity, who knows.

I know this, my greatest desire is to Love God with all my heart, soul and mind. And, when I fast, I am getting a glimpse of what that really means.

I'm done.

Re: Love

2008-02-07T05:37:00.000-08:00

When the Pharisees asked Jesus which one of the commandments was the greatest, what did he say?
His answer gives us a peak into what should be the foremost characteristic for those of us who call ourselves followers of Christ.
Simply put, Jesus spoke: Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your mind....Love your neighbor as yourself!

As I have thought about this idea of love in the context of the church, many different ideas have come to mind. We are to love the unloved, the poor, widows, orphans, kids from bad homes, families who are falling apart. Yes, this all is true, Jesus' love in action. Good stuff.

But, as I consider the idea of church, I have begun to think of a different sort of love that we (as pastors, leaders, etc.) could display to those who are in the flock. I must first ask the question, though, what qualifies a person to be called a committed believer? Is it church attendance? Is it involvement in everything? Is it busyness?

I think that, many times, those who are considered to be the strongest believers are simply the ones who are at the building the most. I am not saying this is totally incorrect. But, as I have begun to develop the idea of a simple church (that's the title of a book I read, it's awesome, read it), I have begun to realize the necessity of doing less for more (that line is stolen from Andy Stanley).

A successful Christian or a successful church is not simply marked by the busyness of their calendar, but by the actual impact they are making for the kingdom of God. My next thought is, at this point, banter. I have not studied it nor do I feel as if it is the perfect answer. It's simply in the philosophical realm for now. Here goes. What if the church put together its calendar in a way that increased the impact of the body instead of simply increasing the busyness? Do we really have to have Bible studies when we already have Sunday School, morning and evening worship services and mid-week gatherings? Do we really need to have 7 different Christmas parties for all the different ministry groups in the church?

My biggest concern is this: We fill all of our heads with knowledge. We know HOW to be men of God, we know HOW to love our wives, we know HOW to act like Jesus, but it never turns into action. All this knowledge is worthless unless it is played out in our lives through our actions, aka OBEDIENCE!!

I just read an article by a writer named Kim Heffner (no relation to Hugh). In her article, she asks this question:
“Are you fulfilling your purpose to love those around you like Jesus does?”

That, my friend, is the right question! Our calendars will always be busy enough. There will always be enough to do. The question is, do we love like Jesus does?

I'm done.

Re: Excellence Part 2

2008-02-01T08:23:00.001-08:00

I was recently reminded of a quote from my first pastor as a child, Dr. Jack Hudson. He said this, "There's first class and there's no class". Dr. Hudson has been with the Lord for 18 years now, but I still remember how he always put an emphasis on doing things right. Dr. Hudson did not solely focus on excellence for excellence sake. He was also known for this saying (I hope I get it right): "If you and your folk love me and my folk like me and my folk love you and your folk, no one will love folk like you and your folk love me and my folk". Dr. Hudson was the last of the Charlotteans who was still a good ole country boy. In this quote, he was simply stating that if we love each other in the body of Christ, we will reflect the love of Christ to those around us. And, our love for Christ and each other will be hard to ignore.

Where am I going with all of this? Well, I am coming to understand that excellence and love are two elements of the church that are almost synonymous. As I said earlier, when we gather as the body of Christ, we have the opportunity to share the Word of God, possibly to some who may be far from God and have no relationship with Jesus. If we love them and care for those people, we will do everything within our power to place them in an environment that is conducive for worship. We will also do everything within our power to bring the absolute best that we have in music, preaching, sound, video, announcements, EVERYTHING! We should never take lightly the opportunity that we have to share the gospel for the first time with someone.

It is also important to realize that when distractions exist, we are allowing ourselves to get in the way of the work of the Holy Spirit. I was in chapel at seminary yesterday and I experienced this first hand. The speaker was wearing one of those headset mics and, as he began to speak, the mic began to crackle and pop. Finally, after 10 minutes, the doofus at the sound board figured it out and shut that mic off and turned on the podium mic. Well, the speaker was clueless about all this (and possibly deaf, too) and continued to walk around the stage despite the fact that the podium mic was the only one picking up his voice. There we were, 1500 students or so, straining to hear what he was saying. I left that chapel frustrated, annoyed and without a clue of what the speaker had brought before us that day. That was NOT EXCELLENT!

Hear this, as well. I quote a good friend, Brady: "The kingdom of God will not be singlehandedly thwarted by my incompetence". I do not think that a simple sound issue will prevent the work of the Holy Spirit. I believe that God works when He wants, despite us. But, He does want us to bring our best.

Simply put, I'm of the opinion that when we do something, we are a reflection of Christ and a reflection of Christians. If we don't take our gatherings seriously, then those far from God may get the idea that we don't take our faith seriously. Lord, may that never be said of me.

I'm done.

Re: Excellence

2008-01-14T13:08:00.000-08:00

I haven't blogged in a while, mostly because I'm just not sure what to write. I have different ideas about stuff, but I don't want this to be my online journal, but an expression of what I believe God is calling us to be, as His church.

Last night we had an awesome meeting at church that took a look at our upcoming year and how to accomodate and encourage the growth that is taking place in our ministry. It is always exciting and humbling to take steps to prepare for growth.

A big part of what the Lord laid on my heart for last night dealt with the theme of excellence.

I want to really hash out the idea of excellence and study it and understand what God desires from us. But, I think I can take a quick look at it here. The first thing that comes to mind is that in the Old Testament, God required that a SPOTLESS lamb be brought to sacrifice. Anything less was unacceptable. Then, when it was time for God to make a sacrifice Himself, He gave that which was most valuable to Him, His Son.

Should that not drive us in the way we approach life, church, our job. We should give just as He gave to us. We should do everything with excellence. We should give our best.

This is especially important to me in the execution of a gathering of the church. I think we should strive for excellence in everything: high quality music, smooth transitions, seamless media and powerful preaching. This is not something to strive for just to be excellent, but because this may be the one chance we have to speak to someone's heart who may be far from God.

I'll close with a statement from my Teen Valley Ranch days (www.tvr.org). We want to create an environment conducive for worship and for the ministering of the Word, FREE FROM ALL DISTRACTIONS!

I'm done.

Re: Christmas

2007-12-18T07:39:00.001-08:00

I recently read an article in Relevant magazine (http://www.relevantmagazine.com/) about the origins of the idea of Santa Claus. According to this article, there was a guy who was considered a Saint whose name was Nicholas. It was in the 300's A.D., I think. Anyways, he inherited great wealth and wanted to give gifts to some orphan kids. However, he wished to do this anonymously and began by dropping the gifts through the window of the home. But, they were onto him the next year and were waiting, so he decided to drop the gifts down the chimney.

Is that not true religion?

James 1:26-27
26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not keep a tight rein on his tongue, he deceives himself and his religion is worthless. 27 Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.

The Christmas season has become something I really don't like. I hear so many people talk about HAVING to go buy gifts and being so busy with all the SHOPPING and all that goes along with Christmas.

Tracy and I celebrated our first Christmas as husband and wife in 2004. We both spent a large amount of money (at least for us) on each other. And, what we realized was that instead of enjoying the event, we were both stressed out hoping the gifts were perfect and we both lost our vision not just for Christmas but for being a Christ-follower in general.

So, we decided to do away with buying gifts for each other. It has been so freeing. We enjoy working together to buy gifts for family members, friends and others, but we just don't buy anything for each other. And, it's been amazing.

We have had the privilege this year of being involved in giving some gifts to a number of different families and orphanages that do not have enough money to get gifts on their own and that has been a gift to me as well.

As we prepare for the climax of this holiday season, maybe we all could consider the way we view Christmas. We might find that we have turned our kids into self-centered narcissists instead of Christ centered givers.

The passage above says to keep oneself from being polluted by the world, that is true religion.

I've talked a lot about how we should change the way we view church and the idea of church in general. Perhaps it's time we change the way we view Christmas as well. While we're at it, if we are going to be true Christ followers, maybe we should take a good hard look at every aspect of our lives and ask ourselves if it would be something that Jesus would accept as pure and faultless or if we have allowed it to be polluted by the world.

I'm done.

Re: More on authentic community

2007-12-14T08:14:00.000-08:00

I have felt compelled to understand the idea of Biblical community. It is important that I surround myself with the right kind of people in my life who will hold me accountable to being the disciple of Christ that I call myself.

Here are some thoughts on authentic community from Ergun Caner:

1. don’t ever allow poisonous people to make you bitter (Paul did not let it get to him). Bitterness is someone else depositing poison in you and you holding on to it. Bitterness is a grudge.

2. Don’t’ let jerks or the jealous make you jaded. Jaded Christians think that everyone’s out for you and everyone will throw you under the bus. God HAS put someone in your life who will come alongside you and lift you up.

3. Don’t let idiots rob you of your worship. I go to church not for people, but for Jesus. I give my tithe not for the pastor, but for Jesus. I don’t care what others around me are doing, I will not let them drag me down or reduce me.

These are some important points to remember.

We go to church not for ourselves or for others, but for Jesus. It's all for Jesus. Jesus is not 'the reason for the season'. Jesus is the reason for life!! He is the way, the truth and the life!

Proverbs speaks seriously of what the Lord thinks of someone who attempts to stir up dissension or create problems.

Prov 6:16-19
16 There are six things the Lord hates,
seven that are detestable to him:
17 haughty eyes, - (haughty means behaving in a superior, condescending or arrogant way)
a lying tongue,
hands that shed innocent blood,
18 a heart that devises wicked schemes,
feet that are quick to rush into evil,
19 a false witness who pours out lies
and a man who stirs up dissension among brothers.

This post is a little bit random, but I came across this as I was studying the idea of authentic community and it seemed to be worthy of passing along.

I'm done.

Re: A Child's vision

2007-12-13T12:21:00.000-08:00

I recently read this quote from Tyler Jones, pastor of Vintage21 Church in Raleigh,

"There are 2 things God says to me each morning which frame everything I do as a pastor...

1. "You are my son." In other words, God says that there's nothing you can do that could make Me love you more; there's nothing you can fail to do that will make Me love you less. My love and approval of you is based on the Gospel, not on your successes or failures, and so you should base your identity on that, too--and NOT on how big your church is, how "successful" your ministry is, or how many people like you.

2. "I absolutely do not need you for anything I want to do today." This dissolves the pride I'm prone to feel for the things I've accomplished because I realize that the only good I've ever done is because God has invited me to join what He's already doing. He invites me into His work; I don't demand that He bless mine. This also takes the inordinate pressure I put on myself by destroying the ridiculous idea that I have to dream up and perform great things for God.

The second point strikes me.
I think all of us at one time or another have a feeling of pride that creeps in and tells us that our church can't survive without us. Whether we serve as teachers, deacons, pastors or worship leaders, it happens. We find ourselves thinking that no one else could ever do as good as we are doing and thinking that God just wouldn't be able to get much done without me.

I think it's an important point to remember, that God doesn't NEED us. Instead, He has invited us into His work. He has given us the privilege to bear His name, to be a representative for the powerful name of Christ! We should stand in awe of that alone. And, when we realize the gravity of the calling to bear his name, should it not drive us to our knees (both literally and figuratively)? Whether you are a nursery worker, a deacon, a Sunday school teacher, a member of the praise band, a mom, a teacher, a business owner, man, woman, teenager, banker, barber, lawyer, if you are a child of God, you are called to bear His name.

What if we woke up each day and went to work with that on the FOREFRONT of our minds? What if, every time we taught Sunday school, that was at the FOREFRONT of our teaching?
What if, at every deacons meeting, that was the driving force?
What if, in every business transaction, you were motivated by your status as a child of God to be a light for HIS name?

How would that revolutionize the way you approach life?

Another quote I recently heard: Vision arises out of calling.

When we get the idea that the calling on our lives is to exalt, glorify, share, live and be the name of Jesus, we will develop a VISION for our lives, for our families, for our church and for our future.

A vision that shapes every day of our lives.

I'm done.

Re: Authentic Community

2007-12-10T11:08:00.000-08:00

As I've stated before, I recognize that I am on a journey of studying and trying to understand what God wants me, the church, to be. Along with that, I'm learning what God wants us, the church, to be, as well.

There is an area in most churches that seems to be severely lacking, it's the idea of community. I recently heard someone say that a youth pastor will have, on average, 40 hours of face time a year with his youth group. That's less than two days a year. The same goes for many of us at church. We have those who we consider close friends that we rarely spend time with outside of the building owned by the church. However, we may only see them for an hour a week and we probably only interact with them for a few minutes each week.

This brings to light something that seems to be lacking among the children of God, authentic community. I recently heard Ergun Caner, President of Liberty Seminary (http://www.erguncaner.com/), he was speaking to a new church that he is a part of there on the campus of Liberty. The sermon I heard was actually the first sermon he delivered for what they call Liberty Campus Church (or maybe it's Thomas Road Campus Church). I need to get to the point. As he spoke, he was raw, he was open, he was honest. He spoke of the issues that abound on the Liberty campus, he spoke of some common flaws among American Christianity, he was authentic. He even said that, perhaps, many people would be committed to Christianity if it wasn't for Christians. True, authentic, Christianity would say that is a correct statement. And, he encouraged those in his church to be open, to drop down their guard and allow people to see their flaws, to be transparent.

I wish I were better with words and could lay out a beautifully written piece of literature that would send someone walking away with a great desire for community.

Alas, I cannot do that. I can, however, demonstrate with my life that I desire for real community within the body of Christ. Maybe, too, we could free our church calendars from pointless busyness and focus, instead, on authentic community. Perhaps, too, as we interact with those who don't know Christ, we could introduce them to Christ not through a badgering or a cheesy tract, but we could introduce them to Christ by means of our community. Perhaps, when they see the way we treat and interact with each other, and we show them that we love and care for them as well, they may be drawn to Christ because of our authentic Christianity.

I'm done.

3 - More of Be the church

2007-12-05T08:35:00.000-08:00

As I have begun to wrestle with the idea of not going to church, but being the church I have begun to look critically and skeptically (maybe too much) at the way we "do church" now.

I am on a personal journey of understanding what the church is supposed to look like and how I can be a catalyst for being the church that Jesus planted. One of the things that must change before we ever change programs, styles, buildings, leadership, or anything else is the way we speak of church. We must change our language from "Christianese" to culturally understandable.

One of the ideas that I have been trying to correct in myself is getting rid of the idea of saying that we are "going to church". If we are to really "be the church" we have to recognize that the building is no more sacred than our house, than our place of work or our school. The building is great and it must be taken care of (that's called stewardship), but it's not holy, we are holy, the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit. The building is just bricks and sticks and some horribly uncomfortable pews.

I think it is also dangerous to suggest that we should change our behavior when we are "at church". Comments like, you shouldn't say that "at church" or we shouldn't listen to that music "at church" or you shouldn't dress like that "at church" are harmful. Instead, we should teach the idea of being a disciple of Christ all the time. When we say those things, are we saying it's ok to do that or wear that somewhere else, just not on this "sacred ground" that happens to be owned by the church, inc.??

What if we viewed our bodies as the church (as Scripture is clear in teaching)? What if we viewed the building as a place of worship? What if we viewed our house as a place of worship?
What if we viewed our school as a place or worship? What if our churches were so focused on sharing Christ with those who don't know him that we had very few programs or activities but instead were constantly investing in the lives of those who are lost and destined for eternity in hell?

Would that revolutionize our idea of church? I know there are churches that have taken this idea of being the church seriously and are seeing the Lord do more than they could have asked or imagined. I pray that, here, we can do the same. I pray that we will never be content with just taking care of "insiders", but we will always have our vision focused on those who have not yet turned their life over to Christ.

Wanna see a humurous video about this whole idea?
go to http://www.crosswalk.com/video/11557283/ , then click play. Good stuff.

Be the church!

I'm done.

2 - Me so busy!

2007-12-04T10:31:00.000-08:00

I love being a follower of Christ, it is my driving force and it gets me up in the morning. I have been a church-goer all my life and have always been very involved from the time I was born. My parents still tell the story of taking me on a youth outing and, while I was riding the bus, I tossed a box of Cheerios out of the bus window, apparently just for giggles. Guess I haven't changed much since I was 3.

I have noticed, however, that the idea of church has, in many circles, not fulfilled what the Bible seems to teach about the church. Acts 2 teaches that the church (the people) devoted themselves to the apostles teaching (what we call preachin'), to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

Fellowship seemed to be such an important part of the life of the early church. As I come to church Sunday morning, evening and Wednesday evening, I feel like the programs and busyness of church has replaced the fellowship that the Lord longs for us to have. I was having lunch with a friend of mine last week and we realized that, up until that lunch, we had never spent more than 5 minutes just sitting and sharing our hearts. Yet, this is a person who is in ministry with me.

What has happened? Why are we so busy?

I have begun to feel as if we have programmed our churches at the expense of any real fellowship. What would happen if we replaced Wednesday nights at the church building with a community of small groups meeting throughout our town and having real fellowship for an hour and a half? The parents aren't running all over the place getting ready for the program, but just sitting and enjoying fellowship with each other, breaking bread and praying.

I think it's time that we step back from the "way things have always been done" and we ask ourselves, is this really what Jesus wanted when he told the apostles to go and make disciples? Is this what he intended church to look like?

Maybe we don't have to have a million programs. Maybe what the world needs is not another church Christmas play or VBS. Maybe what they need is to see us in authentic community, to see us living like Jesus in our homes, at work, at Wal-mart.

Maybe I'm wrong, maybe not. Fact is, we're losing people from Christianity because it seems so fake and unauthentic.

Has Christ really changed your life? He has mine.

I'm done.

1 - Be the church

2007-12-03T10:40:00.000-08:00

I've always wanted to say that I am an excellent writer. It's just something that I would like to be able to say. I got a 5.5 on my 10th grade writing test and, at the time, I thought that was really good. Now, I don't even know what it means. But, as it turns out, I'm not the best writer in the world. I use short sentences. I don't have fantastic words that you have to go to dictionary.com to look up. And, I am not great with sentence structure. I majored in Finance and Banking and am currently a Youth Pastor in Fuquay-Varina, NC. Yet, still, I like to write. I enjoy it as a way to express the things that have been on my mind.

So, it is with this approach that I begin to blog. I have resisted blogging for a while and am now doing it at the persistance of a friend who is a much better writer (breakfasttiffany.blogspot.com).

For a few months, the Lord has given me a very strong desire to communicate the idea of being the church. Growing up in a conservative, independent Baptist church I was taught (probably indirectly) that the church was a building that was sacred in which I couldn't run, wear shorts or sit within 6 inches of girls.

Between the ages of 18 and 21 I abandoned the idea of church in general because of a basic lack of trust for the church and what it stood for. As the Lord drew me back to Himself in my early 20's (weird to say that, now that I'm 27), I began to understand and look at being a follower of Christ in a different light.

That has led me to a place where now I am convinced that those of us who call ourselves Christians have got to get up and be the church. I think it's time we stop scheduling programs and activities that do nothing but serve those already in the church. We need to intentionally place ourselves in culture, in people's lives who don't know Christ. We need to show them that Jesus changed my life and I haven't been the same since (quote stolen from Dr. Alvin Reid).

I now run the risk of making this entry too long and boring. No one will really read this, so it doesn't matter.
I'm done.