Vision

This past Sunday was a challenging Sunday for me and the church.  This past month we have been teaching our new mission statement to the Sunday school classes and preaching on it during worship.  The first three weeks were...

Following Christ 

Connecting with the Church 

Caring for the Lost 

We have done all types of different things to engage our people, and have them latch on to the vision we believe God has called us as a church and individual Christians.  The last two weeks we have been talking about what the church would look like if we lived these three things everyday of our lives.  This past Sunday every staff member had to get in front of the congregation and present there goals and vision for their ministry.  It was a hard week for me because I was really struggling with what to tell the people.  I didn't want to share with them goals that were unrealistic or stories of this great ministry if I did not believe it would happen. I spoke with many people about where our church is headed in the next 10 years and how that will affect the Student Life Ministry.  I have asked for many to pray for me as I really thought about what to say to this growing congregation.  Here's some of what came out Sunday...

93% of Christians make there decision to follow Christ before the age of 18. Our ministry is vital.  

Then I baptized a beautiful young girl named Torri.  (I am all about the visuals of what God can do)  Jesus said, "I have come to seek and save that which is lost!"  Same goes for us here.

Natalie said I did a "visual walk through" of what a church with a growing youth group would look like.  It included, packed parking lots, youth building full, gym full, offices full, students coming here because they are following Christ. 

I mentioned students baptizing other students which our congregations has seen but not on a regular basis.  Even students baptizing adults and parents because of their faith in Jesus.  

Can you see students leading ministries here at FCC.  A student visiting you in the hospital, greeting you when you come into church, playing music on Sunday's, setting up mission trips for all ages.  Can you imagine a church where students connected with all people.  

29% of Christians between the ages of 23-41 say they are sold out to the Christian faith. Dream with me about students who graduate from our youth ministry who want to reach and care for these lost people.  They would start a college ministry, a outreach night on Tuesday's or Thursday's because they want so badly to reach and care for this generation.  

It was a great Sunday and I hope what we see all the things talked about come to light.  

Matthew 19:26 Nothing is impossible with God...

Frustration...

We all have had days where we just seemed to be frustrated.  I have had days like that in fact today is one of those days. Something that cracks me up about frustration is that it isn't normally just one thing but many different things.  You might be holding many different frustrations in but usually something just gives you a little push and then you realize it, you have been frustrated for a while.  Frustration to me feels like a combo at Wendy's.  You pull up to the drive through and you order a number six (Spicy Chicken Sandwich) and the question comes through the speakers, "Would you like to up size that combo?"  You know what you should say but yes just seems to fly out of your mouth before you can think of it.  You pull up to the window and they ask you questions like what type of things do you need, and will that be all even though they asked that 2 minutes ago.  They hand you everything but you don't have time to check because there are a million people behind you and she took her precious time finding the BBQ sauce.  You drive away ready to take a sweet bite out of your number six and then you realize.  They gave you a fruit cup instead of fries, High C instead of Dr. Pepper, honey mustard instead of BBQ and this combo is far from a BIGGIE size.  But you know what you can do about it NOTHING...  

You maybe thinking that I am frustrated because someone didn't get my combo right but I promise that's not it.  It is a messed up combo of things.  But the lie that we are lead to believe is that we can do nothing about our frustrations.  I came into work today at 6:00 a.m (which is not normal) and just started reading my bible.  At first I thought I am to frustrated to even do that but I pushed through and began to get some sort of peace.  I am the only one here in the office and it is so quiet compared to the loud world we live in.  I then began to listen to some of my favorite music and began to pray.  

There are things we can do when we get frustrated but I can honestly say I don't do them a lot of the time.  Am I still frustrated, YES!!  I will say that my frustration seems pivotal and small when I spend time with God.  I see a much larger picture of the world and I know my frustrations aren't the center of it.  

  

My prayer for today...

God, 

Thank you for being a God that is in control and a God that has no limits.

Thank you for being a God that calls people out of darkness into light.

Thank you for the calling you have placed on my life and help me to do it with excellence.

May I not just be a fan of Jesus but a follower.

Give me the courage to show the real Jesus to all I would meet today.

Let everything I am and do be for your glory and yours alone. 

Help my family not just to be raised in church, but raised in Christ.

May we follow you together knowing that where you lead is where we seek to be.  

Help my students, church and friends not just to know of you, but to know you.  

I know that I am loved and valued and for this I love you...

In the name of my Savior, 

AMEN!! 

He is Holy...

If there were someone in Cumming that I would want all of you to meet it would be my 15 year old neighbor Ashton.  I have lived in my sub division almost 3 years now and he was one of the first of my neighbors I met there.  Ashton is an autistic teenager who loves to mow grass and ride his bike.  He says some of the funniest things you have ever heard.  When we first met I was checking the mail, and he was riding his bike up the street and decides to pull over into my drive way and ask me a couple of questions.  He looks at me and says, "Do you smoke?"  I laughed and explained that I don't smoke.  He said, "Good because you will die and I don't want that to happen to you."  I laughed my head off and yet in a weird way it was one of the nicest things someone has said to me after we just met. We have grown close through the years and if there is anything that Ashton loves it is God.  He drives down the road on his bike yelling Hallelujah, God is good, GLORY, and He is Holy.  He usually comes to my house twice a week but defiantly every Sunday to ask what songs we sang at church and to tell me that God is Holy. 

I am so thankful for Ashton because I need reminded that God is Holy and that he is in control. Ashton shows me what it means to love and how to take people where they are.  I see true innocence when I talk to Ashton and I see what it means to live out Joshua 1:8.  Ashton talks about God all the time and he really wants to live a holy life.  He has no fear of what people think of him driving down the streets proclaiming that God is good and that He is Holy.  

May we live our lives just like Ashton.  May we remind each other who God is and how he loves.   

P.S Last year at Caroline's 1st birthday party Ashton got a piece of cake but he wouldn't sit down any where because there were so many people at the party.  He struggled holding his drink and eating his cake at the same time so I suggested that he set his drink down until he was ready for it.  He said, "I can't do that because someone here may steal it, and that wouldn't be good."  I hope you all get to meet Ashton some day...

Things I love...

There are so many things that I love.  Here is a list of those things not in any order.

iPhone 

Sprinkles on my ice cream 

Natalie

Root Beer 

Friends 

Laughing 

Golf 

Cool Jackets 

Emma 

Apple Computers 

You Tube 

Preaching 

Caroline 

David Crowder Band 

Tuesday's 

Going out to lunch 

Church family 

Different seasons 

Bible 

The Office TV Show 

Basketball 

Singing 

New Stuff 

Warm hugs 

Listening to others laugh 

Jesus

You're Beautiful...

To everyone out there reading this blog, to everyone who is addicted, who is overwhelmed or feels hopeless, you are created in the image of God. You are worth so much... You are beautiful...

Recap...

This last week has been so crazy for me.  Here is what happened...

1.  Last Monday Caroline got the flu and threw up all night.  I had to take care of her since Natalie was with Emma and of course we didn't want her to get the flu being 2 weeks old.  

2.  At Edge we had a band called Me In Motion in concert and they were great.  We had over 100 people here which is the first time we have done that for Edge.  

3.  Natalie and I got the flu at the same time Friday night.  We both spent most of the night in the bathroom and praying that our new little one still wouldn't get it.   

4.  I have spent a lot of time in prayer this week.  Not just for Emma but for others and for the church.  It is humbling and comforting that we serve a God that is in control of all things.  

5.  Sunday night Edge and Invisible Children got together and we had some people from San Diego come and share with us how we can continue the mission of God in Africa.  I am so proud of the students leading that ministry and I hope they know the difference they are making.  

6.  I blogged everyday last week since I was at home and I really enjoyed it.  I hope you guys liked what was said and thanks for reading.  

7.  Our new church website should be done soon and I am really looking forward to seeing the whole thing.  

8.  I found out that I got our Preschool Director sick today so she couldn't come to work.  Isn't it crazy how fast sickness can spread?

9.  I am praying about what conferences to go to this year.  I have heard so much about Catalyst and it looks great but I am still not sure.  

10.  I have a couple of speaking engagements this summer so that gets me all excited for summer to hurry up and get here.  I love teaching and preaching God's word to others.  I pray God uses ME in spite of ME...

Where I go to School... DAY 5

Sorry I didn't get to blog yesturday but my family and I have been so sick. 

If there is a time in my life that I didn't want to end it would be the time I spent in college.  I loved bible college.  Getting deeper into the word, meeting men and woman who had the same passion as I and all while working in ministry.  I found it to be a great time in my life.  I have been out of school for years and yet I am growing and learning like crazy.  My teachers have changed now, they are no longer men and woman with degrees, I do not go to a campus, I take no test nor exams, and my grade is unknown to me.  

My new school is LIFE with God.  Spending each day with God has had it's share of great joy and disappointment.  I have learned from so many mistakes and failures what God wants from me in life.  I have been getting into the word on my own and realizing what a life with Jesus looks like for me.  I found good and bad and learned from both people, churches, and non-Christians.  But I have to say that my daughters have taught me more about God than anyone I know.  I have learned what it means to love because of them.  I have learned patience and sacrifice.  I have been tempted and tried but their purity has reminded me how great God is. My wife has shown me what it means to have true forgiveness, and John 3:16 has become so real because I am a father.  

My new school is great and I learn something new each day.  May we be a people that never stops growing and learning together.  May we look at our so called ordinary lives and see Jesus in the small things.  May we learn from sunsets and tragedy.  May we embrace our new school and those in it with us...

To Natalie, Caroline and Emma thank you for showing me Jesus everyday!

Me In Motion... DAY 4

Last night at Edge (our Wednesday night outreach) we had a concert with a band called Me In Motion.  I have become friends with their tour manager TJ and he has recommended different bands to come to our church from time to time.  We have many bands come to our youth group over the years but I have to say that Me In Motion were spectacular.  I found out after hanging out with them afterwards that they have recently signed with Warner Brothers Record Company and I hope they make it big (whatever that means).  The band only consists of three members but those guys played their hearts out last night.  As much as I love live music and concerts I love something much more.  As most of you know I have been off from work the last two weeks because of the birth of my second daughter Emma.  I came to church last night expecting to have a lot of work to do but I was so wrong.  I walked into to the student life building and the building had been cleaned from top to bottom.  The room was straightened and ready for the students to walk in and engage with what was going to happen on the stage. Our youth workers had already set up tables and they would later bring chips, drinks, cake, and of course the famous Chic-fil-a.  Students and youth workers arrived early to help the band unload and set up there equipment.  All the youth workers during the week had called every single student to let them know about the concert and tell them that they were loved.  There were students working the merchandise table, greeting people, getting others to sign up for CIY, and afterwards having prayer groups in our class rooms.  After the concert adults and students were cleaning up and waiting around to help the band get backed up and to wish them a safe ride home.  There were over a 100 people there and everything went great and I had nothing to do with it.  I LOVE THAT!!

I love to see the people of God in motion.  It is amazing to watch students and adults serving each other all because the love of Jesus has changed their lives.  To watch ministry happen and not just happen, but for it to go great without you having a part of it is just inspiring.  I love watching the church be the church.  I believe the people I love most will change the world. They are in motion...  They are in motion with the God that moves people... They are in motion with something bigger and greater than this world knows...  They are moving and following the one who moves us towards good.  And I love watching them in motion.  Here are some pics of the ones I love most...

I wish they would knock on my door!

New Respect... DAY 2

I have to say that being home for that last week has made me appreciate what a mom does on daily basis much more. I have found myself doing things that I don't like, but also doing things that I take for granted with my wife. My wife is seriously ridiculous!!!  She can do like a 100 things at one time and do them all well.  Most of these things are really hard to and what I have found is that none of it is fun.  I get to go to work, talk with people, take a lunch break, goof off, laugh, make new friends, grow in Christ, goof off a little more, get on the Internet and much more.  Now my wife doesn't get a lot of those chances being a stay at home mom.  This week I have found myself doing...

laundry 

dishes 

putting up dishes

taking out the trash 

cleaning the house

taking care of Caroline's every need

straighting the house

making beds 

cleaning bathrooms

fixing lunch 

disciplining my daughter 

giving baths every night to both daughters 

staying up all night with Emma

staying up all night holding Caroline while she throws up everywhere (last night was rough)

I will say that I do some of these things sometimes but not everyday.  I look at this list and I am blown away by the person I married.  I come home and rarely hear how bad her day was, and if I had to do this everyday I would probably be pretty negative.  I have a whole new respect for moms. I will never take them for granted again.  My wife is an amazing person and I am so thankful she married me.  

So today take sometime and thank about all the things that your loved one does for you. Whether it be your spouse, parents, or best friend.  Think about how special they are to you and how blessed we are to have them in our lives.  May we treat them with the respect they deserve.  

Remember I am blogging everyday this week so cya tomorrow!!

Never done this before!!

This week I am home with my girls and my beautiful wife because of the birth of our second child Emma Grace.  I find myself wanting to do so much and yet trapped in a house with a lot of females (I better get use to this).  So I am going to try something I have never done before.  I am going to blog every single day this week.  It might be a video, picture, my thoughts about anything and everything who really knows.  But I am sure it will be fun.  So be sure to check back everyday this week and who knows what you might find.

Since this is day one, the above will not count as a blog.  So here is a video that gets me excited for summer.

CYA at the pool!!

Another Reason I am so blessed!!

I thank God daily for having such a great family!!

I am so blessed!!

I think about all the things I have and all that is important to me and I am reminded everyday how blessed I am.  Thank God for all things he has done in all of our lives!!

Is He Serious?

I wonder when Jesus was teaching if people listened to what he said and thought to themselves, "Is he serious?"  There are times in scripture where Jesus was teaching and you can almost sense the people thinking, "There is no way I could ever do that." Jesus said some amazing things and yet some of his teachings are simple yet so complex.  I was talking with one of my students and she told me she had heard me quote the scripture"You must love one another..." I think I was speaking on how love forgives and covers over all wrong doing in our lives.  You could tell that something had happened in her life that was awful and she had been holding onto it for a long time.  She came to me and asked, "Do I really have to forgive people?"  Great question and yet the fact remains that most of us struggle with one or more  of Jesus' teachings. It's not that we don't understand it, we just have a hard time doing it.  I think when we look at the teachings of Jesus we think "Is He serious?"  There is no way that I could ever be that type of person nor could I ever do what he asks.  So I wonder what teaching do you struggle with? What teaching seems like it comes from another planet because you couldn't imagine yourself doing that.  Here are some examples...

Peter asked, "Lord how many times should I forgive my brother when he sins against me, up to seven times?"

Jesus answered. "I tell you not seven times but seventy-seven times!"

Jesus taught: Love your enemy's...  Do good to those who hate you...  Bless those who curse you!

Jesus taught: Pray for those who mistreat you...  If someone strikes you on the cheek, turn to him the other also...  If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your Tunic...  If anyone takes something from you, do not demand it back...

Jesus taught: Give to everyone who asks you...  Do unto others as you would have them do to you...  You must love one another...  Take your possessions give them to the poor and follow me...

Jesus taught: If anyone wants to be first, He must be the very last and the servant of all...  If I have washed your feet, shouldn't you wash each others feet?

  

Is he serious?  ABSOLUTELY!!  You and I may think that many of these things are impossible but nothing is impossiable with God.  A week later the same student came up to me and told me that she talked to the man who hurt her.  She knocked on his door asked him to come outside and told him that she forgave him.  She was not mad anymore and she in a weird way loved him.  He expressed his sorrow as well and she walked away looking like Jesus.  "Greater is He that lives in you then the one in the world."

So what teachings do you find hard?  What do you struggle with?  What is God calling you to right now in your life?  

I want to die!!!

Today was an unusual day for me.  As I celebrated the birth of my second child, I found myself doing a funeral for a friend of mine who had cancer.  She died at a very young age and left behind a husband and daughter that is ten and son that is two.  Since her sickness I found myself thinking a lot about mortality and new life.  On February 28th I found myself in the hospital holding my new beautiful daughter that you see below and meanwhile I am getting text messages and voice mails that my friend had just passed away.  Death and life all in one day.  I found myself looking through scripture for answers but came up with more questions.  What I found was truly amazing and unusual.  There seems to be a balance and yet conflict between life and death.  The bible says things like, "You must lose your life to find it, we died to self, we died with Christ, our old self must be crucified." There is this idea in scripture that things must die to bring life. We know this to be true.  Fruits, vegetables and animals must die to bring us life that we need. I think scripture is clear that the things that need to die in us are the things that pull us away from our Savior.  Then it hit me, I want to die!!

I have so many things in my life that is nothing like Jesus.  Here is a short list for your entertainment.

pride

complacency 

selfishness

faithlessness

insensitivity 

impurities 

This list could go on and on.  These things have to stop and these things have to die.  I need to have life and life to the fullest and if that is possible then these things can't be in my life.  God wants to kill these things in me so that people can see more of Jesus.  So today my prayer is that God would take his mighty hand and create in me a clean heart.  I pray that God would turn all of those ugly dead things into glory so that I may have real life.  So today I declare that I want to die.  Anything that is not like Jesus must be buried.  I don't believe we can live life the way that God would have us if death doesn't happen first.  The first step to life is death.  

So may death come to us all.  May we recognize what needs to die and bring that before God. And let us not be afraid of that death, for when we die life begins.  

Introducing... Emma Grace

Daddy loves her so much!!  Thanks for all of your prayers!!  

There are more pics on my facebook...