Bigger Faith

Ok. So in an attempt to be a more regular blogger, this is a follow up to my last post about markers. Last time i talked about markers that we look back on and remember times of change. More specifically “God Markers” or places in life that we can truly remember where we made a stand for Christ. These times usually call for tremendous faith, a faith bigger than what most of us have.

The best way that I can think to define faith is this: Faith makes us sure of what we hope for and gives us proof of what we cannot see. (Heb. 11:1 CEV) When God asks us to do something you can bet the farm that it will require faith. I also believe that as God gives us things to do they will likely require increasing levels of faith.

It takes faith to believe in God because we can’t see him. It takes even more faith to believe that Jesus is God’s son, that he never sinned, that he died came back to life and then went to heaven to sit at His fathers right hand to be the mediator between God and us. Oh yeah, and that he was born to a young lady who had never been with a man before.

I believe that it takes even more faith than both of those to believe that God will heal your heart after a loss and that even though you’re hurting, He’s still good and He still has your best in mind. It takes big faith to walk away from friendships because God is calling you to live a life more like His Son’s. It takes big faith to walk away from a steady paycheck and into the uncharted waters of ministry. If we live for Christ, our faith will need to continually grow

I guess what I’m getting at is that no matter how big your faith was when you left your last marker, chances are that next time it will need to be bigger. We will need to trust Him more and ourselves a little less…ok a lot less. It’s scary, but God is bigger.

Where Do I Go From Here?

I have been reflecting a lot lately.  Sunday I turned 30 and I have been wondering what i have done with the 30 years that God has given me so far.  Time has flown by, years run in to years and sometimes it’s hard for me to find markers that separate them.

There were several examples in the old testament where God told the Israelites to make a monument, or an altar that would forever mark a place where something significant happened.  Life is like that for us.  Some of your markers may be remembering when you lost your first tooth or when you first learned to ride your bike.  Maybe it’s when you got your drivers license, graduated from high school or college, got married, had a kid and so on.

What are the God markers in your life?  Do you remember when you first accepted Jesus as your Savior, when you got baptised, when God called you into ministry.  Maybe you can recall when you heard the whisper of God’s voice that changed the direction of your life or you might be wondering right now why you can’t seem to recall any of the God markers that your life should bare.

When i think about some of the most critically important times in my life, times where there are God markers, there are strands of commonality.  Here’s a few:

1. Life changing direction:  Think about it from a geographic standpoint.  If you are changing your direction you need to mark the place where you made the change, otherwise you will lose your bearing.  When we make a spiritual change in direction there is usually a very defined and memorable turning point that we can point to specifically.  Think crisis point.  Not that all change is terrible, it’s mostly good, but during the process it can be very painful.

2.  Life altering Sacrifice:  If I look back at any point in my walk with Christ in which I made a marker, I had to give something up.  Usually that something is a pet sin or some habit that keeps you from really getting closer to Jesus.  This could be major, like shaking a drug addiction, or have the somewhat minor appearance of just dropping out of a social club.  Either way there is a sacrifice.  We are giving up things that we want to spend our time, talent and money on to focus on the things that God has called us to. Side-note:  I have made some painful cuts in my life that have cost me dearly but because i was willing to make the sacrifice, I know Jesus in a deeper more meaningful way.

3.  Life giving Results:  When we make changes that lead to God markers in our lives, there is always an increase.  Think pruning.  Old, dead stuff cut away so that new growth can occur.  God will never cut things out of our lives so that we will only feel pain and loss.  Sure, during the process of change there may be some pain but the ultimate result is life.

A few years ago I made the decision to drop out of a certain social circle.  It was hard.  I couldn’t really see that harm in it.  I couldn’t see the dangers.  I can tell you what i did notice though:  God seemed to be further and further and further away from me.

When I dropped out of this circle 2 things happened.  First I lost a lot of friends and respect in my community.  Secondly I immediately felt a closeness to God that I have never had before.  I could hear His voice, feel His Spirit and see Him like I never thought I could.

So, where do I go from here?  Well, I hope to make more markers.  I know its like asking for punishment, but that only if you think short-term and that’s not how God works!

I would really like to know what you think.  Are you headed towards a change?  Did you just complete one?  Please join the discussion!

God Is…..

Currently we are in a series called “One Prayer”. During the four weeks we are hearing messages from some of the best communicators from around the world. Last year was the first year that One Prayer existed and I am glad to say that we had enough vision as church leaders to get in on the ground floor of something totally different that what we were used to.

One Prayer works basically like this. It last four weeks. During the four week period you typically would have one live sermon and the other three are taught via video. I was very skeptical of this when the idea was pitched and reacted probably very similarly to the way some of you just did: If i’m gonna watch a preacher on TV i might as well stay home and do it in my PJ’s.

A lot of you who read this (as is a lot of people read my blog) are very familiar with video teaching and One Prayer was not the first time you experienced it in your church, but I’m from Hampton. It’s not the middle of nowhere but you can see it from there. I mean Charleston is like 2hrs away but the two are worlds apart. We have to pipe the sunshine in! You get the picture.

People think Lighthouse is the snake dangling church because we have drums and guitars and don’t wear ties on Sunday morning. So you can imagine why I felt like One Prayer would create a huge backlash. You can imagine why I felt like we would lose all of our attendees by week three and it would just be the lead team remaining. Videos instead of a live preacher.

Instead One Prayer allowed Lighthouse church in little ol’ Hampton, SC to have messages from three of the top Pastors in the world. How else would we be able to do that? How else could we possibly afford that?

The theme this year for One Prayer is: “God is….”. I think I would answer that by saying that God is bigger than our traditions.

Because we were able to think outside of the box and be open to new things, we were able to be a part of something that had tremendous impact on the world. Our small town church was able to link with others in giving an offering to plant 660 new churches. I’m not talking about churches in places where there are already plenty of churches.

The church planting efforts were focused on Sudan, China, Cambodia, and India. All places that are certainly not friends of the christian church. All places where the love of Christ is needs to be poured out.

Because a few leaders were able to think not against tradition, but think in a way that didn’t make tradition the focus, a small church in a small town got to take part in a huge event that grew the kingdom of God significantly.

Hats off to Craig Groeschel and the team at Lifechurh.tv for dreaming up One Prayer! Learn more about it at www.oneprayer.com

Who is this Jesus guy anyway?

I am running up to Easter full speed ahead and feeling a little overwhelmed and under prepared.  The one thing that I hope to be able to do during this time of year is to share the greatest comeback story ever told in history to some people who may have never heard it.  ”Never heard it” you say?  Who in the world hasn’t heard about Jesus?

Good question.  Here’s my take on it.  (please note:  I am not a theologian or a scholar.  Most of you who read this probably know more about the subject matter than I do.  The point of this blog is to start conversations not so much to push and agenda.  What you read is my heart in all of it’s imperfection.  I’m learning everyday.)

I sat in church for years growing up.  I liked it when I was younger.  As I grew into my teenage and young adult years I became increasingly disinterested in church or anything to do with it.  Don’t get me wrong.  I was incredibly drawn to God and considered myself a christian and would staunchly defend my faith.  I just didn’t feel like the church was speaking to me.  I didn’t feel like I had any worth or anything of value to contribute.  I longed to share the passion and fire that was in me but time and time again, in the interest of denominational tradition and “religion”, it was snuffed out.  Looking back, I wish that I would have had the courage to walk away from that type of church and towards the freedom that I knew existed.  Instead, I walked away from church completely.

When I say walked away, I mean i totally walked away.  There was no trace of religion whatsoever in my life.  No evidence that I knew God or  had ever heard the story of Jesus Christ when the exact opposite is true.  The problem with me was that in my younger years I had put my faith in an organization and people rather than in Jesus Christ and the Word of God.  I put my trust in the physical church and it let me down as it had many others.

Then came my crisis point.  I won’t get into all of the details here (because it’s a blog not a novel) but let’s just say I lost everything. Everything, and had to start over.  My starting over began with a very real encounter with God and a true moment of surrender.  While it was one of the more traumatic moments in my life, I have never felt so loved.  I literally had nothing and nobody but I felt like I had it all.  I felt like I had a force field around me. I was walking on clouds.  As I continued to scratch and claw my way closer to God, I learned more and more about the story of Jesus.  For the first time ever I HEARD the story of Jesus, and he was telling it.

I really believe that you can’t read the story of Jesus and get it.  You have to experience it.  In my case, I had a life that needed saving and I knew it.  I knew that I was making terrible choices and that I was leading myself down the path to ruin. Ruin financially, physically, emotionally and spiritually.  But God, the perfect and holy creator and ruler of everything, reached down to me through His Son and saved my life.

So, who is this Jesus guy anyway?  This year i hope that people can HEAR the story as they SEE me live a life more like Jesus would.  He saved my life.  Changed my direction. All through love.  Selfless love.  Priceless yet worth everything.  Love that never fails.  Love that knows know end and has sought you since the beginning.

Let your life BE the story of Jesus so that others may HEAR His call and experience His perfect love.

words of purpose

I was just thinking earlier that I would blog more if I felt like I had something important to share.  Who should define important anyway?  I can’t tell you how many times I have been carrying on innocent conversation with people only to hear them say something that speaks directly to my heart.  The person that I was talking to may have had no idea that what they spoke was an answer or confirmation to me.

God, so many times, will give our words purpose beyond what we can see.  I think that, in itself, is why building relationships and establishing connections is so important.  Sure, God can speak through anything, but I believe that He would rather do it through us.

So go ahead and post the random one paragraph blog.  Don’t judge it because you never know how others may be able to relate to it.

The Calling

For some time now I have dreamed a big dream only to wake up to the realization that I lacked the talent, experience, finance, etc. to accomplish the dreams that I had.  This dream is huge, in my eyes anyway.  The fulfillment of this dream could change the sprirtual landscape of an entire community, and then some.  Who am I do take on a role like that? I KNOW somebody can relate! 

A friend shared a scripture with me the other day that began to reshape my approach to this situation:

Acts 4:13 NIV

13 When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.

The first thing that popped out at me was that they were ordinary, unschooled men.  I though, “Hey, that’s me.”  It doesn’t get much more ordinary than me and as far as schooling goes,  I don’t have any fancy degrees to hang on my wall.  I have learned what  I have learned mostly through living life. (as a side note, I don’t recommend that approach. Wisdom is learning from others mistakes w/out having to make them on your own.)

As I thought about this scripture over and over again I felt like God was telling me to read into it a little more.  So I did.  The end of this verse said this: “..and they took note that these men had been with Jesus.”

That’s it isn’t it!  That’s the difference maker.  Who am I spending my time with?  Who are we hanging with.  The people that see us everyday, (and don’t doubt for a minute that they aren’t watching) are they taking note that we have been with Jesus?

Now, let me be clear, we shouldn’t hang with Jesus so that people would notice.  Rather, we should be with Jesus so that we can know Jesus.  When we know Him we will be more like Peter and John.  Full of courage, unashamed, fearlessly proclaiming the wonderful message of hope and salvation that Jesus died for.

When we know Jesus we will not be able to sit on our hands.  We won’t have to worry about failure and success because its not about that.  To fail just means that we shut our mouths and hearts to the communities that surround us.

I hope that God continues to give us all dreams that are too big for us.  I hope He wakes me up with them and when He does I hope that I have the wisdom to get closer to His Son for the answers.

Struggling to Keep Up

So, I’ve been wanting to post a new entry lately but I have felt especially uninspired.  That seems so backwards because of the season of fasting and prayer that we are in.  I really believe that part of the problem is that I have to find my voice. 

I have been leading worship now for about 5 years.  In that time frame I have become a master of covering songs.  Now, don’t jump to conclusions, this is not going to be a dissertation on why we shouldn’t use somebody elses stuff.  Let’s face it, not everybody can write like Tomlin.  However, I do feel like I have done a very poor job of using the voice that God gave me.

We have been praying as a church over the last few weeks that God would reveal our niche in the community.  Over the last few days I have been praying a modified version of that and asking God what my niche is in ministry.

For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in,

Matt 25:35 NIV

This scripture has really stuck with me lately and it has me wondering this:  To those that are hurting, to those that are sick, to those that are addicted, to those that have less than I do:  What have I offered you?  What do I have to offer you?  What is my glass of water to the thirsty?

To those who lay their head down at night wondering how they will make it through another day, to those who lost their jobs, to those who don’t have a clue where their next meal is coming from:  What have I offered you?  What food do I have to offer the hungry?

To those who society has deemed an outcast, to those who have been rejected at every turn in life, to those who heard their whole life that they will never amount to anything, to those whose families have turned their backs on them, to those that even the church has called a stranger:  What have I offered you?  How have I invited you in?

These are the questions that are burning inside of me right now.  Of all the things that I have learned from scripture, here is one that I have to practice more:  Love your neighbor as yourself (Matt 22:39)  Today, especially, I pray that God will continue to teach me how to show His love to everybody that I come in contact with.

I will follow this up with other posts.  Right now I feel like I need to go and pray.

My Fast So Far

When I found out a few weeks ago that our church would be joining along with others to fast for 21 days in January I was less than excitied, to say the least.  For some reason, though, I felt like I should be doing it.  It seemed like the right time for me.  I knew it was the right time for our church as we are entering into a period of transition so I decided to give it my best shot.

At this time I don’t really have any great spritual revelation to share.  I don’t have any particular answer to a lot of the questions that I have been asking.  What I do have though, is a renewed sense of optimism for my particular church.  For some reason, many people were intrested in this fast.  For the first time in a long time it seems that the majority of our body unified for a cause.

For weeks now there has been a buzz about this fast.  People are excited about not eating steaks, hamburgers, chocolate cake.  That’s right:  People are excited.  Now, there are different reasons for this excitement but the point is we are excited as a body.  There’s promise in that.

I began to think earlier.  What if we had that same excitement about serving our community.  What if we just buzzed about the opporunity we had to feed a family that was down and out.  What if we stood around the coffee table talking about the guy that gave his heart to the Lord after he saw the love of Christ in us as we gave his kids new shoes.

My heart ablsolutley begins to pound when I think about the needs of our community and I KNOW that we have the resources to care.  Maybe your bank account is like mine latley.  Scratching out the monthly bills hopefully before they are a full month late and hopeing that nothing breaks.  But you know what?  Money isn’t the answer to everything.  Yeah, it’s necessary to a certain extent, but the most prescious commodity that we have is our passion!

So, my fast so far has shown me that I do belong to a body of passionate believers who can rally behind the furterance of one vision.

Greater things are yet to come…

…and greater things are still to be done in this city! 

That line is from the song “God of This City” and is a song that has been in my head for a few days.  It’s also one of my focal points during this fast.  God has great things in store for the place that I live and the place that you live.

As a church, we are praying for our niche in the community.  In other words we want to know how as a church we can be the most effective.  You see, we were all made differently and have different abilities.  If we don’t focus on the tasks that fit our giftings then we will work ourselves to death and not accomplish as much as we could if we were doing the things that we were made to do.

I truly believe that the best is yet to come and that God is going to do even great things in our future.  I just think of what He is doing in my family over the last few weeks.  Nothing is impossible with Christ!

So in this season of prayer and fasting please take some time out of your schedule to pray specificaly for where you fit in the ministry activites of your church.  If you can’t find a place to fit, maybe you need to start a new ministry.  You’d be surprised how many people around you might have similar gifts, talents, and intrests.

If you aren’t sure about fasting or you just don’t know how to check out awake21.org for more information.  If you are fasting, what is the one thing that you are praying hardest for.  I would love to agree with you.  Just leave a comment.

God Bless

Awakening is Here!

At sundown it begins.  21 days of fasting and prayer with 300,000 or more of our family!  People are reaching out across denominational, racial, gender, geographical lines uniting for a season prayer that I believe will have a huge impact.

“For where two or three have gathered together in My name, I am there in their midst.”  Matt  18:20

 Those words of Jesus ring powerfully in my ears today as I think about the impact this season of prayer and fasting can have on our families, our churches, our friendships…the list goes on and on.  My wife and I are beginning to see the answer to some prayers that we had for our family over the last few years.  I can only imagine how much God will do through this fast for us and our family members.

I hope that during this time that Kim and I will be able to host some of our friends and family members at our house for times of prayer and worship.  I also hope that we get invited to a few places.  If you are participating in this fast and know some others who are, don’t hesitate to open your doors and invite them in.  While there are some personal issues that we will all be praying about, there are corporate needs.

With that thought in mind, for those of you who are members of Lighthouse Church with me, please be in prayer for the leadership of the church as we take on the task of two important things:  finding our niche in the community around us and finding the right Pastor to lead us.

Be encouraged!  This is the day that the lord has made.  We will rejoice and be glad in it! (Psalms 118:24)  God has a plan and I believe we are postured to hear it like never before!