I Remember When...

I was reminded tonight at the mall, that it would no longer be socially acceptable for me to sit on Santa's lap to tell him what I want for Christmas. I know... that sounds weird coming from a guy that's 25!

But seriously... I miss that naive feeling that I had as a kid. I just knew that Santa was real! In the same way that we lose that naiveness (yes I just made that word up) about Santa... I think we also lose it regarding Jesus! We don't necessarily abandon our hope in Christ, but we do abandon the dream that Christ plants in our hearts. We think that they are too big and not able to be attained! We can't afford to lose our vision, passion, and dreams that we have for the expansion of the Kingdom of God! To take this leap of faith that God is calling you to, it might require you to be a little bit naive. Not in an ignorant fashion, but rather we ought to make sure that we are always susceptible to the things that God has for us to accomplish through him.

Do you still believe that God can use you to accomplish great things for His Kingdom, or has your flame been extinguished???

Do you still hear hooves on your roof when you go to sleep the night before Christmas???

A Harsh Dose of Reality...

I just thought that I would share this blog from Chris Elrod, a church planter and pastor in Lakeland, FL. His blog today rocked my world!!! If what he said isn't true... your only lying to yourself!!! Sorry... had to say it!

Check it out:

The Color Of Your Cow by Chris Elrod
Posted December 2, 2008 Filed under: General

One my favorite business books is Seth Godin’s “Purple Cow”. If you’ve never read the book, check out Mark Batterson’s recent blog post about it….it’s really good. Over the past four years I have really wrestled with the color of Compass Point’s cow. What makes us different? What make us unique in the community? What makes people want to come to Compass Point on Sundays instead of the dozens upon dozens of other churches in the Lakeland area? What makes people far from God even want to come to Compass Point in the first place?
I personally think it’s takes time…several years…to really discover the color of your church’s cow. In all honesty the pastor and the leadership doesn’t define it…it’s the people that attend your church that define the color of your cow. In Lakeland there are a BUNCH of brown cow churches (traditional) and even more black cow churches (hyper-charismatic, prosperity movement). There are also quite a few white cow churches that look a lot like the NorthPoint or Willow Creek model. I’m not so sure Compass Point is all that much of a purple cow in the community…but the people far from God that show up each Sunday think we are. In the end…that’s all that matters.
What they see as our purple cow appeal is not the size of our church (we’re small), how awesome our staging is (we suck at that stuff) or the cool postcards we’ve mailed out (we’ve never done that). No…the purple cow appeal they see in Compass Point…what we do well…is that we reach people in the margins…people in Lakeland REALLY far from God. We are really good at it…because we work hard at it. It’s not easy…people with drug problems, broken marriages, sex problems, alcohol addiction, living in homeless camps, just paroled from prison…or just the garden variety freak…are really messy. But that’s our calling…that’s our vision…that’s what God created Compass Point for. We don’t run from it…we don’t try to fight it…we don’t chase after other church’s vision…we just embrace it…and therefore our community embraces us. More importantly people really far from God embrace us…and come to know Jesus.
The point of this post? For God’s sake…literally…stop planting churches that look like every other church in your freakin’ town!!! Be different…reach a different demographic…find your purple cow appeal. What makes your church different from every other church in town. If the words “real”, “relational” or “relevant” are the best you can come up with…please do the world a favor…quit and go flip pizzas…you will probably suck at leading a church. Every church in the 21st Cetury should be real, relational and relevant! What makes your church different over and above those things? What is your church’s purple cow? If you don’t have one…spend some times on your knees getting broken before God!!! After that go hang out in a bar in your community and ask the drunk people what color your cow should be. Once that is all done…go be the purple cow church that reaches the people far from God that no other church in town wants to reach!!!

God's Providence...

Thank you God for always going ahead of us, clearing our paths, and providing wherever you guide us!

God never ceases to amaze me! I just found out tonight that my wife and I have raised some more support for our time at Mosaic. I received a message tonight from a friend of mine, Brandon Park, (aka the youngest guy I know with his Doctorate), who wanted to share some great news with me! He is the lead pastor of Wayside Baptist Church in Miami, FL. This is the same church where my father-in-law has faithfully served for the last 10 years. Brandon sent me a quick message just to let me know that Wayside would like to get on board to help support us while we are at Mosaic, and possibly beyond that (when we launch Baytown)! More importantly I have guys like Brandon, and churches like Wayside that are supporting Joy and me through prayer! I couldn't ask for anything more important! In my opinion (technically more than my opinion, because it's biblical)... prayer supersedes everything else!!!

So... thank you Brandon, Wayside, James, Mosaic, and all of the friends, family, and churches that are helping to support us through your prayers, and through your checkbooks!!! It does not go unnoticed!