Wednesday, December 20, 2006

Merry Christmas!

Wishing you and your family a very merry Christmas!!! God bless each of you!

Monday, December 11, 2006

Cherry Garcia

Hello all! Now I'm almost officially a pro at not posting anything for months! Actually I should use "weeks" instead of "months" because it has only been two months. anyways....

Just thought I should drop in a note and let everyone know that I'm still alive and well. A lot has been going on since we've moved to Colorado Springs. Our church began services November 9th and since then has been doing really well. With only one other full-time staff member, things can get pretty busy for us. But the excitement of hasn't died off!

No one really understands what kind of things happen to a beginning church, the phases we go through, unless you experience it for yourself. We spent four weeks having services with previous church members. But now that they have seen what we are doing, some of them were unfortunately not as thrilled and ended up leaving (phase 1). But we had a lot of visitors come on the launch date and a majority of them have continued coming! We also had some people talk about receiving salvation!! And that is what we are excited about! With all the other stuff that has been going on around here, we've hit the "sophomore slump" (phase 2)....meaning we got ready for the launch and it came and left.....now what? We're now spending time working on outreach to the community. (Any ideas on outreach?)

We truly believe God has blessed us as we've begun this ministry. It's been awesome seeing God work in the lives of people and in our lives as we trust Him. One of the things that's difficult to do while beginning a new church is remaining focused on God. We hear lots of people talking about loving God and loving people (which is our motto - Serious about God. Crazy about people.) and we are supposed to do that. But sometimes it's difficult to keep God as our main focus when we are trying to reach people. The desire we have to bring people to a relationship with God can sometimes get in the way of what is supposed to be our main focus - God. We might have a tendancy to want to please people so they'll keep coming or want to come back. But trying to please people is fruitless and a waste of time.

So we've revamped, refocused our energies on pleasing God above all others. And there's that verse in Luke 12 that says, "Seek first His Kingdom and His righteousness and all these things will be given to you as well." Realizing that our main focus needs to be on the first and greatest commandment (loving God with all we are) and people come second has really helped our outlook on ministry here. We've basically given up trying. Now we are making sure that we are pleasing the Lord.

Well, the reason I've given such a title to this post is because I'm currently drinking a Ben & Jerry's Cherry Garcia milkshake. I've tried the double fudge brownie thing and that is just good. But this drink tastes more like milk infested cold medicine. Anyways...

Keep Him first!

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Getting Settled

Wow! Has it really been a whole month since my last post? Anyways, here's a new post.

We have been extremely busy getting settled in our new house and preparing for the launch of our church, Meridian Point. There has been so much going on that it seems we've barely had time to breathe! We should be getting our stage and curtains in today...exciting news. Those are important because we are having our services in the gym. The curtains are theatre curtains and they'll help with all the reverb that goes on while the music is playing. I'm really excited about it!

We had our first services last Sunday. They went well! Right now we are having services with our "core" group, the people who are committed to make this happen. They are kind of like "practice" services until we begin our public launch November 5th. That will be one exciting day. If you're in the area, come and see us!

On the lighter side of things, we spent all evening last night painting our living room, dining room, kitchen. One thing about moving into a house that someone else lived in is that their presence is still there because of the color of the walls. The previous owner didn't have bad taste or anything, but we needed to make the home our own. So we painted. Our house is beginning to feel like our house. It looks really nice. I'll have put some pics up so y'all can see.

Well, that's all for now folks. Keep seeking Jesus...

Thursday, August 31, 2006

I'm in Colorady!!!!

Hey all! Well, we've made the move to Colorado Springs. We made the trip Tuesday morning and stopped at Colby, KS for the night. Wednesday we finished the trip and today is my first day off! I don't officially start until the first. Right now we aren't in our house yet because we can't close on in until the 20th. So currently we are staying with the minister's family. We are really excited about the ministry out here and would covet your prayers as we begin. There's a lot of work to do though. Please pray that we keep our sanity as we adjust and make this huge transition. And pray that the minister and I still get along by the end of 20 days. Buzz me an email sometime or give me a call on my cell. We would love to hear from each of you. God bless!

Eph 3:14-21

Wednesday, August 09, 2006

Newborn photo


Just thought I'd put up another picture of Aaron... This was the day after he was born.

On to Colorado!


Ok, so I know it has been a long time since I've posted anything up at all. But here are the belated pics of our newest addition, Aaron Reed. He is now 5 weeks old. Christopher really enjoys being big brother, and Timothy has no idea what the little thing is. Timothy's really into climbing right now. Every once in a while we have to save Aaron from being a step.

For everyone's information, we are moving to Colorado Springs at the end of the month! Turns out, a new ministry opportunity opened up for us out there. I received a call about a month and a half ago, a few weeks before the time Aaron was born, about a worship ministry position for a satellite church Sunnyside Christian Church was overseeing. Through continuous prayer we believe God has called us to join the ministry that will begin Meridian Point. You can check out the website at www.meridianpointchurch.com and see all that is going on.

The plan began when Falcon Christian Church approached the leadership at Sunnyside describing their need to reach out to the generation that is so quickly moving into the area. At the time their attendance was anywhere between 40-50 people on the weekends, and they were without a minister. Sunnyside agreed to help and Jay, the small groups minister, felt God's call to pursue this opportunity. Jay contacted me and explained to me the vision of Meridian Point. We both spent a lot of time praying about God's direction and really believe that we have made the right decision.

The church is located in an rural area that is quickly urbanizing. I have seen the plans for expecting over 100,000 new residents to move in within the next 30-40 years. The neat thing is that the plans are having to speed up in order to keep with the pace of those moving into the area. Within the next month we are going to send out 50,000 letters to the residents that are within driving distance of the church about the launch of Meridian Point on November 5th. We are really excited about this and hope that you will join with us in prayer as we begin this ministry. Hope to hear from each of you soon! I'll do my best to keep everyone updated about what is going on. Have a great week!

Wednesday, July 12, 2006

New Baby!!!

I know it's been a while since I've posted anything for my faithful few viewers, but now I've come to that part in my life where I just can't keep quiet about something that happened last week....WE ARE PARENTS AGAIN!!!!! Last Thursday at around 3:30 p.m. Anastasia gave birth to our third son! He weighed 8 pounds and 8 ounces and was a hair longer than 21 inches. We are so excited about our new baby! Christopher seems to enjoy being big brother to little Aaron, and Timothy doesn' have a clue as to what just happened. He thinks he got a new toy or something. Anastasia is doing great and so is the baby.

Hopefully in the near future I'll post a picture of what he looks like. If you want to see him online, email me and I'll tell you what site to look up and stuff.

Things have been going pretty well for us. Recently I received an evaluation form from the board at my church. Anything like this must be received with humility and an expectation of criticism. This is where we find out just how teachable we are. Everyone needs one of those every once in a while to see how they are doing and what needs to be worked on in our lives. The character traits about myself from other's eyes has shown me a different picture of who I am. Nobody believes there is anything wrong with themselves until you have a lot of people write on paper what it is they don't appreciate about you or problems they have with your work. Needless to say it was a pretty hard thing to swallow. But a majority of what was explained ended up being benificial to my ministry here.

Anyways, keep praying and keep God first. Hope to hear from each of you soon.
Seeking Him

Friday, June 02, 2006

A lesson from the life of a farmer

For a long time I thought farming was an interesting job, something I could never take up. But what I didn’t realize is that I’ve been a farmer all my life. Being a city man, all I thought farming consisted of was putting a seed in the ground, letting nature do its work, and receiving a crop. But that isn’t all that’s involved. First, the farmer must prepare the soil for the receiving of the seed and know where to plant. Preparing the soil takes a lot of work and quite a long time to do, and bad areas are simply avoided. Farmers till the ground to break up the soil and loosen the dirt so the seed can take root. If the soil is solid the seed cannot take root at all. It might for a while but can’t stand through storms because of shallow roots. And if the ground floods all the plants will wash away. Sometimes the ground is too steep for planting and could cause erosion. All the water or mud will rush in one direction and destroy the crop as well. So the farmer uses a groundwork called “terracing”, in which the farmer creates what looks like giant stairs in the ground to keep the crop from being “washed” away or eroded. After the tilling is finished, farmers spray the fields with pesticides and chemicals to kill off unwanted plants and crop-damaging insects and bugs.

Then, there is planting. Farmers scatter many seeds in rows across the fields. A lot of the seeds don’t make it too maturity because of birds, rodents, and other seed snatchers. Some seeds the ground just won’t accept. A large crop requires an even larger amount of sown seed. If the farmer desires his crop to take root, the previous work to planting is critically important.

After planting there is fertilizing and feeding. This can last all through the summer and up until harvest. Farmers fertilize their crop to feed them, nourish them, and create a larger output from the crop. The better the food for the plants, the better the crop will be. Some fertilizers require some rain to activate it. After activation better crop results are promising. An interesting fact is that the seed, after being planted, must die in order for life to begin.

Weather is also extremely important to the farmer. Living in the city, this issue wasn’t really a big deal because we spent most of our time inside, unless we were planning a trip to a theme park or wanting to make our grass and gardens look pretty. But a farmer relies on the weather for a majority of his success. A lot of their hope for a good crop and income is based on a trust that God will do what is necessary to take care of things. Nature takes its course through the amount of rain and sunlight. Rain is good, but too much rain drowns the crop. Sun is good, but too much sun scorches it. God is the one who brings the growth and most farmers understand that one. The ones I know pray for the weather they need for a good crop during harvest.

Sometimes there are pests that get into the crop as well. Farmers continually go out to their fields to check on their crop as it grows so they can see what needs to be done to nourish and protect it. The more a farmer keeps his field clean of critters and pests, the more likely they’ll have a profitable crop.

When the harvest is ripe, it’s time to bring in the crop and store it away and sell it. The quicker they can get the harvest in they better reduce the risk of losing any crop to the upcoming harmful weather and other continual threats.

This whole process is exactly the way God works using evangelism. Before Seed can be planted, the heart needs cultivating. The kind of heart a person has will determine just how well they accept the seed (Matthew 13:3-23). If the seed takes root in their hearts, it is our responsibility to nourish what was planted as it grows. God causes growth (1 Corinthians 3:6), so it isn’t our responsibility to cause growth to happen. Our responsibility is to plant the seed, nourish, care for, and help protect them (1 Corinthians 3:7, 8). Knowing where to plant is just as important: plant where hearts are ready for the Seed. Scattering seed to the wind is a waste of time, so move on to where the soil is more fertile.

The weather of life is also extremely important, vital to the spiritual growth of any person. Storms are good. They help us grow upward. But too many storms can drown us if we don’t know who to turn to. Sunny days are good. They help us grow outward. But too many “sunny days” can scorch our view of God and get us distracted by being either too busy with work to be done, or by our growing sense of accomplishments. When we receive too much sun we run the risk of burn-out. It’s very important for the “farmer” to pray for them so their hearts can receive what they need to grow spiritually and produce fruit.

When the harvest comes, the farmer must be ready. The quicker the farmer can save their souls from the coming destruction and eternal punishment, obviously the better off all of them will be. No one should want to go to hell and the farmer who cares about his crop won’t let any of the ones under his care perish.

God is into farming. And I just found out… I’m a farmer!

Wednesday, May 31, 2006

For His Eyes Only

A man sat through a church service and then on the way home he fussed about the sermon, he fussed about the traffic, he fussed about the heat, and he fussed about the lateness of the meal being served. Then he bowed and prayed. His son was watching him all the way through this post-church experience. Just as they were beginning to pass the food he said, “Daddy, did God hear you when we left the church and you started fussin’ about the sermon and the traffic and the heat?” The father sort of blushed and said, “Well, yes, son, He heard me.” “Well, Daddy, did God hear you when you just prayed for this food right now?” And he said, “Well, yes, son, He…He...He heard me.” “So, well, Daddy, which one did God believe?”

Has there ever been something that you’ve wanted to hide from everyone’s knowledge, keeping it a secret that only you know about? I’m convinced that one of the best things that could ever happen to us is if our entire life, all the good and the bad, along with all the thoughts we’ve ever had, would be played on a big screen T.V. Then there would be relief from all the pressure we put ourselves through when we appear to be one thing while our hearts are condemning us. No more games, just honesty...people will see us for who we really are and we can just be ourselves. We all appear to be good in front of people, ourselves, and even God. We’ll condemn him because of his fault and keep our faults secret. And yet we all seem to struggle with the same things, we've all done some of the same things.

Hebrews 5:13 and 14 reads, "For the Word of God is living and active and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing as far as the division of the soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart. And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are open and laid bare to the eyes of Him with whom we have to do."

God’s Word frees us from those feelings. We only have to deal with ourselves. It’s comforting to know that we don’t have to judge anyone else, but scary because His Word has everything to do with us individually. Sometimes we spend our time looking at grey areas, but God doesn’t have to. He sees all our thoughts and actions. He weighs our hearts. And if He’s the One we’ll have to give an account to, we should live only for His eyes.

God Bless

Friday, February 24, 2006

The Babe

Well, we found out what the baby will be! And no, it is not a girl this time either. We are having another boy, and I am extremely excited about this one too. The due date stands the same. Just thought i'd inform the rest of the world. So now we are looking at names...aren't quite sure yet about what we will call him...hopefully nothing bad or weird. Anyways...another boy!!!

Tuesday, February 07, 2006

The Due Date!

Ok, so there are probably some of you who are kind of curious at to what the due date is for our next child. We went to the doctor Monday for the check-up thingy, and we got to see our baby and hear the heartbeat for the first time! Parents understand that that was something special...the rest of you could probably care less... We don't know what the gender the baby will be yet, but hopefully we will be able to find that out next week. Right now the due date is July 13. We are so excited! Keep my wife and our new baby in your prayers, that there will be no complications, that the baby will grow strong and healthy, and that God will prepare us to be parents of three kids! Life is such an adventure here at our house and it just keeps getting more exciting every day!!

Monday, January 30, 2006

The Steelers!


So here we are, wondering who is going to win the Super Bowl...How in the world did the Seahawks become a great team to make it to the big game? Who would have thunk it possible? But they finally made it! And I believe only to be let down. The Seahawks are a tough team, but the Steelers have made it there before and know what it is like. The momentum and energy of having been in the big game before will most likely give the Steelers an upperhand. At least I hope it does... I'm rooting for the Steelers and no one can change my mind!

I found something neat online that y'all should check out. Here is a neat video after the Steelers won their victory over the Broncos a week ago. It also gave me some encouragement about where prayer can still happen. People have tried to take prayer out of so many things, but prayer out of the NFL would cause a riot. I mean, nobody would want the entire Steelers football team to go after them...

Friday, January 20, 2006

It's late and I can't sleep!

So, here I am, it's late Friday night, my family has all gone to bed, and I am still awake just because. This happens often. I haven't quite figured out why that is. Am I the only person who is like this? No matter how early I get up, by the time everyone else has gone to bed I am still awake because I can't go to sleep. Even when I try to go to bed my eyes just won't close. And no, it is not because of all the caffine I drank in the morning. When I am tired I go to bed but lay there awake for about an hour just because I'm awake. The whole situation is weird. Does anyone else live like this? Am I alone in the universe? Am I some kind of alien and just don't know it yet?

Tuesday, January 17, 2006

Happy New Year!

I know, it is so late to say something like that, but who cares. Happy New Year! It's nice to be posting something for you to read for the first time this year!

Well, I don't have a bunch of time but here is what is going on in our world right now: Last weekend was the first week of the 40 Days of Purpose Campaign at our church! I am so excited about what is happening out here, the commitment level of our church as we pursue spiritual growth! Anastasia is about 3 months pregnant AGAIN!!! And yes, I do know what is causing that...Christopher and Timothy are growing quickly. Timothy can pull himself up and walk around while holding on to things now. They are just incredible boys! My brother just got engaged a month ago, finally! Life's been going pretty good I guess. God has really blessed us. I'll write more when I have time. As for now, love God because He loves you!

Peace