Thursday, December 31, 2009

New Year's Eve

2009 is almost in the books. How time flys.

As we wrap up this year, I have a few thoughts to share with my readers.

  • The annual ball drop in New York City's Time's Square to ring in the new year has to be one of the biggest let downs in all of the world's New Year's celebrations. I'm sure the party on the ground is cool, but for the television viewer, all we experience is a less than glamorous ball dropping followed by a short and cheap fireworks display. This is NYC! Can't someone put together a bigger celebration?!? Blow the roofs off those skyscrapers. Fireworks should go for at least an hour. I'm just saying....
  • We're on the brink of having nationalized health care. It will be the biggest mistake the United States will have made since Social Security (which we all now know is not secure). Government has never been the solution to any of the nation's problems...NEVER!
  • I look forward to the congressional elections in November. If I had already had my hand in politics, I would probably be running. There will be a lot of angry Americans seeking political office this coming year. Be sure to choose the best ones to right the ship that the liberals are trying to sink.
  • Speaking of liberals. Give them a hug, but don't give them any power. Democracy and Capitalism are the answers to our country's problems, not Socialism.
  • Eluding to conservatives. Conservatives have the best answers, but don't be fooled by liberals and moderates in conservative clothing, lest they sell out their public image in order to improve their financial and political standing. The conservative uprising of 1994 was a great one for the country. Sadly, the real conservatives were beat down by the pretend-conservatives, and the conservative movement lost out in 2006 & 2008.
  • Speaking of the Republican Party, 2010 will be the resurgance of the GOP if true conservatives regain control of the party leadership. Otherwise, 2010 will the the year the GOP is replaced by a third party.
  • Speaking of third parties, I think some will win congressional seats in 2010, and we could see a third party (conservative) candidate win the White House in 2012. Conditions are ripe for that.
  • Government is not the answer, and 2010 should be the year that the Christian church rises up to provide the answers. The church doesn't need to get political to supply those answers. It just has to live up to the design Christ left it.
  • I have one resolution this coming year: to become more disciplined. That way, I should be able to tackle all the other things I want to accomplish in the upcoming 365 days.
  • If all goes as planned, my wife and I should be debt free in a matter of days. I still remember when we got into debt for the first time. It still makes me vomit a little in my mouth. We will not be going down that roller coaster ride again...not even to buy a house. I expect people will be looking at us oddly as we stop relying on credit to live.
  • I'm planning on reading through the entire Bible this year. One of my favorite ways to read the Bible is on my smart phone. It's easier to take it in chunks, and I can carry it with me everywhere I go. Now, if I can only get a more reliable phone.
  • 2009 had it's ups and downs. I'm hoping 2010 will be a great year.

That's it. Have a Happy New Year.

Wednesday, December 30, 2009

Bragging a Little

Friends, I'm in a jovial mood today. Some big stuff is on the immediate horizon that will change the lives of myself and my family.

And, today I learned that I am the winner of the Singing News Golden Mic award for the March 2010 edition.

So, today I'm totally jazzed. I hope you're having a good day, too.

Tuesday, December 29, 2009

Christmas Is Over, Now What

I've harped about it for most of the month, but alas Christmas is now behind us. Most of the world has moved on, and forgotten about all the needs that are out there.

We came out in droves to help people in need for the past month, but with a new year starting up we have turned our focus back to ourselves. For most of us, we don't have needs. We have wants.

If all you've ever had was wants, then you don't really know what it's like to start a new year with real needs. Needs are things like:

  • Shelter - Not a new home or bigger apartment, but shelter. Most people want bigger, better, newer. But, one drive down Commercial Street here in Springfield, and you'll see people who just want shelter.
  • Food - Whenever my pantry runs low, a trip to the local grocer takes care of my shortage. But, over the past year, my family experienced the real need for food. When money is tight, the economy is sour and prices are soaring, surviving two weeks on less than $50 cash becomes a crisis, especially if you have kids. This experience has helped me to relate to those who struggle just to feed themselves and their families.
  • Work - One of the biggest characteristics of recessions is the loss of jobs. Right now, nationwide, unemployment is around 10 percent. Essentially, one in ten people who want to work do not have a job. The Bible instructs us that able-bodied people should work to meet their needs, and take care of their families. But, in recessions, work can be hard to come by for someone who has lost their job.

All around us there are people with real needs. These are needs that you and I can help meet. Some of the best ways are by volunteering at local organizations who are commissioned to address these issues.

As we approach 2010, I encourage you not to neglect the needs of those in your community. Because, someone else's need today could be your need tomorrow.

Monday, December 28, 2009

Monday Ten

Here we go with the final ten of 2009.

1. Rebekah and I were talking last night and agreed that 2009 is ending up to be a much better year for us than 2008 was. 2008 was disastrous, but 2009 is ending on a high note.

2. That, of course, means that we're excited about 2010. We're anticipating some great things happening in the early part of the year...like being debt free. Big time WOOT for that.

3. That all being said, 2009 is ending a lot differently than I had pictured just a couple of years ago. I had originally pictured myself doing something completely different than what I am still doing today. On a side note, by the end of next year I might be doing something completely different than what I had thought I would be doing. Sound confusing?

4. My wife informed me last night that she doesn't do resolutions anymore. They're just a waste of time. I kind of agree, but I am going to make one resolution for 2010...become more disciplined. That should take care of all the other things I could resolve to do.

5. I'm brainstorming an idea that could revolutionize the way churches interact with their communities. I'm going to be taking come input from area church leaders to see if this idea stands a chance. The biggest obstacle I foresee is "denominational separation." In other words, churches in different Christian denominations just don't like to work together. We have to get past this if we are ever going to change our communities for Jesus.

6. White Christmases are over-rated, especially when you (a) don't get as much snow as had been forecast, and (b) it's too cold to go outside and enjoy the snow. On that note, it's a shame snow couldn't be on the ground in 45 degree weather.

7. I love the start of new years. If my birthday weren't in April, I think January would be my favorite month. There's just something refreshing about the start of a new year. We have a chance to do a year all over again...only different.

8. I also love the end of years, because the holidays can be fun, especially if you have children. However, this week between Christmas and New Years is rather anti-climatic. It's almost as if the calendar makers many centuries ago knew that people would someday need a week of nothing just to recover from all the Christmas gatherings.

9. I won't be getting plastered on New Years Eve. In fact, I don't drink alcohol. I like to remember what I did the night before, and not spend a holiday with a hang over. But, for those of you who get your kicks that way ... CHEERS and some aspirin!

10. Finally, I've referenced this already, but I'll put the question to you. Did your 2009 end up as you had planned it to be back in January? If not, it's most likely because you didn't plan your year out. As we head into 2010, why not take some time to map out your path through the year. You can fill in the details later, but I would encourage you to set some goals for the upcoming year. Maybe it's a trip you would like to take. Perhaps it's pounds you want to shed. Maybe it's a career you want to change. Maybe, just maybe, it's a God-sized task that the Almighty has been prompting you to do.

Monday, December 21, 2009

Monday Ten

Heading into Christmas week, here is today's Ten.

1. Today is the last day of my week-and-a-half vacation. I had never taken that much time off, and had a blast. I think I'll do it again next year sometime.

2. I'm glad I took seven work days off. It took a couple of days just to unwind from work. Seven days has really helped me get rid of the stress that has accumulated over the past few months.

3. We didn't really do a tremendous number of things on the vacation, but the few things we did go do were wonderful.

4. My whole family got new shoes over the weekend. Rebekah got hers here in town, and the boys and I got ours in Branson on Saturday.

5. Rebekah and I celebrated our 15th anniversary last Thursday. It was the best anniversary we've had in a long time. Four out of the last five years, I have been sick, mostly with the flu. That other year, we spent our anniversary in the hospital with our youngest, who was a premmie in the nicu of a local hospital. No sickness this year made for a great day.

6. The day was made even greater by a special phone call that shared some tremendous, life changing news.

7. One of my best friends did something life changing over the weekend. He proposed to his girlfriend of three years. Congrats to Sam and Emily.

8. The boys are out of school for the next couple of weeks. I really feel sorry for Rebekah. At least she'll have me today, Thursday and Friday of this week and Friday of next week.

9. I've raised a lot of feathers on Facebook this week (as have some folks from my church) in talking about the Xmas Christmas series. I'll probably blog about it this week, but let's say for now that I understand why Christians get all upset about the world taking Christ out of the list of December celebrations. However, I think this part of the discussion is one of those missing-the-forest-for-the-trees moments for western Christians.

10. By the way, church was a blast as we concluded the Xmas series. Today was the last day for our worship pastor (good luck Jeff May). We had a record, non-Easter attendance of just over 4,400 and 47 decisions for Christ. Pastor Tommy pointed out on his blog that nearly 200 people gave their lives to Jesus over the four week series. That is totally awesome.

Friday, December 18, 2009

Guest Blog

This past May, I made a decision that has changed my perspective on a lot of things. I chose to help out our church's kids area by teaching 4th and 5th grade kids during our Saturday night service. Prior to that, I had only helped occasionally with the class that my wife would teach.

This experience as a children's teacher has been eye opening. As a result, I probably wouldn't have appreciated a blog post from pastor Perry Noble from NewSpring Church in South Carolina. Enjoy.

Thursday, December 17, 2009

15 Years and Counting

It's hard to believe, but my beautiful wife and I are celebrating our 15th wedding anniversary today.


I love you, babe.

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Life Chapters: One Ends, One Begins

You have heard the expression "chapters of life?" Well, I'm experiencing the end of one of those. As of yesterday, I am no longer an ordained minister.

This decision has been several months in the making, and was based on a continual set of walls that popped up in front of plans that I was making to start and pastor a church. I have struggled to release this chapter of my life, but decided to end it, because I sense God is moving me in a different direction.

Part of me feels that the past three years have been a waste as I worked toward obtaining my ordination papers. But, as I survey that time period, I have come away with some valuable lessons. Here are just a few:

  • Ministry must maintian God as it's focus. Difficulties arise when it becomes focused on you and your ego.
  • It isn't easy for a public figure to let go of their ego in order to serve God, but it is necessary.
  • Always listen to your spouse.
  • Even though one dream dies, God still has a mighty plan for you.

And, that last point brings me to a new chapter in my life. I'm not totally sure where this is leading, but I believe that God is imprinting a new burden on my heart. When He called me to full-time ministry, it was with the instruction to change lives. The ideas that swirl through my head would accomplish that, and probably more than a single church plant ever could.

Additionally, the closing of the pastoral chapter of my life is going to allow me to become even more involved in the church my family attends now. I really love North Point Church, and am extremely excited about our future there.

Thank you to everyone who supported us over the past couple of years. I trust that you will continue to pray for us as we move forward in our lives.

Monday, December 14, 2009

Monday Ten

1. I am on vacation this week. I'm way overdue for one.

2. I'm taking a week and a half off. I've never taken this much time off.

3. This week of vacation emcompasses my youngest son's 4th birthday (yesterday) and my 15th wedding anniversary (Thursday).

4. I am slightly fearful this week. I typically take a week of vacation around my anniversary. But, the past four or five years I have ended up with the flu for my anniversary. Hence, the fear.

5. People keep asking me what my plans are for our vacation. "Where are you going?" is the most common question. The most common answer is, "No where."

6. The thing I'm going to enjoy most about this vacation is having nothing to do with my place of work. It's not that I don't enjoy my work, but the past three months have been some of the most stressful. An event back in October caused me to cancel a planned vacation that month. So, I'm going to enjoy this time off.

7. One of the things I'm missing at the radio station this week is our Great Christmas Giveaway. Check it out and enter. You don't even have to listen to win. There are lots of great prizes.

8. I am in the process of ending one dream, but am starting to dream a different one.

9. I am moving much more carefully on this new dream. I want to be sure it's what God wants before leaping in full steam.

10. Church services this past weekend were tremendous. I had a great time Saturday night teaching the 4th & 5th graders, then came back for the service on Sunday. North Point Church's music is the bomb, creativity is always a thrill and Pastor Tommy is the cat's meow. This weekend saw the largest non-Easter attendance of over 4300, and 65 people gave their lives to Jesus.

Wednesday, December 9, 2009

Can We All Get Along

The world chuckled a bit when Rodney King uttered those words back in 1992 in a public plea to calm rioting in the Los Angeles area after he was beaten by police in video that was seen worldwide.

While the world didn't take his phrase seriously at the time, it's interesting how a simple plea can stick with society. Sadly, few if any people during those riots put that phrase in to practice. They didn't care about Rodney or the police. They were merely interested in destruction and looting.

But, it's the phrase King uttered that sticks with us. It was a plea to end senselessness.

It's a plea that we could stand to use in the Christian world today.

Last fall, author Bruce Wilkinson chaired an event in Springfield for pastors to come together and work on a plan to work together. There was great potential in the event, but sadly nothing came out of it. One of the primary reasons for inaction, I believe, was revealed during a survey session when pastors admitted that most churches in the region don't cooperate outside of denomination boundaries. To be truthful, some churches won't work together inside their own denominations.

As I look around at our communities in the Ozarks, I see a lot of people in need. There are people living with sickness, in poverty and without Christ in every neighborhood around us.

The solutions to these problems lie right inside our churches. Christ commanded his followers on several occasions to take care of the poor, widowed and needy. Yet, a survey of churches today shows that most ignore the needs of those outside their walls. Others simply don't have the resources to do it on their own.

That leads to a suggestion. Can we all get along? At least enough so that we can work together to tackle the needs of our towns and cities.

Tuesday, December 8, 2009

Ideas and Dreams

Last week, I eluded to working on an idea that could have an impact on our communities. I'm no where close to disclosing what it is, or even if it will actually happen. But, I am still exploring it.

One of the major factors that I'm working through is whether or not God is encouraging this on me, or if it's just my dream. To me, that has to be a key factor in deciding whether to go ahead with the idea or not.

If it just impacted me alone, the decision would be a lot simpler. I can handle a success or failure if only I am impacted. But, a decision that has the potential to impact several or many people isn't that simple.

In my case, this idea could potentially impact entire communities. Hence, the desire for God to be the inspiration for it. For I know that if God is behind this idea, it will be a success. If it's just my idea, it might be a success in certain circles, but not the ones that will make the impact this dream is seeking.

Prayer and patience. That's where I'm at until God gives me a green or red light on the idea.

What about you? Ever had any ideas that you had to wait on God before making the big move? Share them.

Monday, December 7, 2009

Monday Ten

1. This is going to be a short work week. Ten day vacation starts Friday. Cannot wait!

2. Of course, vacation only means double the work this week to prepare for it.

3. KWFC goes all-Christmas music this Saturday. The majority of this week will involve adding Christmas music to our computer system.

4. Next week we will be giving away some awesome on air "Christmas presents." Be listening to 89.1-FM or online at kwfc.org.

5. Personally, I'm in a funky place at the moment. Trying to figure some stuff out, but not quite sure what it is yet.

6. More great services this weekend at North Point Church. Saturday night's kids class was wierd. We had enough teachers to split the 4th/5th grade boys and girls into two classes, but I only ended up with six boys. Meanwhile, the 2nd/3rd grade girls class had 22 kids. I think most of my kids went into the service.

7. The service was awesome. Music was torching the place and the message was practical. Xmas is putting Christ back into Christmas. Be there this weekend. BTW, over 4100 in attendance this week. 51 people gave their lives to Jesus.

8. Pyrotechnics can have a place in worship. Check out these pics at my pastor's blog.

9. I've been dwelling on a big topic the past couple of weeks, and that has led to one big question:

10. What is your church doing to meet the needs (not the wants) of your community?

Friday, December 4, 2009

Doing What's Right All Year Long

I haven't blogged in a couple of days, because I have been stewing on something. Today, I'll share.

I'm reading through the book of James right now, and chapter two has really grabbed my attention. This section of scripture takes two different topics and ties them together in a way that I need to speak about. I need to speak on them, because we Christ-followers mess these fundamental things up all the time.

We read this chapter, and believe what it says, but most of the time we neglect what it commands. That neglect will be amplified three weeks from tomorrow. That will be the day after Christmas. That will be two days after the red kettles are collected. That will be the day after the Christmas season's giving comes to an end. The day after Christmas, the poor and hurting will be suffering for another eleven months.

That is the part that has me bothered.

I've witnessed -- and been a part of -- too many churches that push for Christmas care for the poor and/or orphaned, but once January hits, these people get the treatment mentioned in the first part of James 2.

In this section, James encourages believers to not show partiality. It's human nature to want to shun people who are less fortunate than us. James saw this problem too, and he called out the Christians who were doing it. His words should burn our hearts today as well.

Too often, we see Christians and Christian churches doing what James describes in verses 15 and 16, "If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, "Go in peace, be warmed and filled," without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?"

What's the proof? Look around. Every community, every neighborhood has people in great need. Their need doesn't end when the holidays pass. Their struggles continue on into the next year.

So, as we move through this giving season, I would encourage you to determine to be a difference maker in the lives of the needy in your community -- and do it all year long.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Christmas Carols for the Hurting

A few years ago, I led the college class at the church we attended at that time. One Christmas, I got the wild idea that our group of ten or so should do something for someone else. We decided to go sing Christmas carols to sick children at one of the local hospitals.

On the surface, that can sound like a pretty good idea, and I'll go ahead and tell you that it is. But, before you go waltzing your group into the pediatric ward, you need to prepare yourself.

We thought we had a pretty good grasp on what we would encounter. We anticipated there would be some very sick kids there, and some about ready to head home. We didn't anticipate our encounter with one school-age girl.

In the course of our caroling, our contact with the pediatric ward asked if we would be interested in singing a couple of songs to a girl in the ICU burn unit. She had been the victim of a gasoline accident at her home a couple of weeks prior.

The nurse prepped us for what we should expect. The child had suffered critical, life-threatening burns over a vast majority of her body. Her entire body was wrapped in gauze and bandages. The only thing visible were her eyes and mouth. One's mind can only picture the scarred and burnt flesh that lay beneath those wrappings.

Only two of us could go into the room, while the rest of the group stayed at her door. A young lady from our group joined me in greeting the girl and her father inside her sterile room. The jump suits we had to wear seemed somewhat heartless, because you wanted to just hold this precious girl...to do something to relieve the situation.

My heart broke when we entered the room. Having worked in news media for several years, I knew what was going on with her body. I knew the chances for survival were minimal. The nurse confirmed that she could last a few days to a few weeks.

Because our time was limited, we were only able to offer a greeting, and our group sang a couple of Christmas carols. They appeared to touch the very soul of this girl who would never see her classmates and playmates again on this side of eternity.

A couple of weeks later, I read the story of this girl's death. My heart still breaks at the sadness of that tragedy. Even though we didn't know her, I believe we were able to minister to her in her greatest time of need.

But, I often wonder if we could have done more. We were all young adults who were inexperienced with life -- and death. I would've liked to have known if she knew Jesus. Perhaps that is why my heart still breaks for her. Perhaps that is why my heart breaks today for the hurting.