Unbelievable

Well our event at Life Church with Facedown went amazing last night.  There was a crowd of 150 people there and they were almost all into it.  We sang our newest original song, "Rise" for the first time and went over real well.  We really had a phenomenal time last night.  The woman who spoke at the rally was real good.  Her name is Kim Sharp and she is the youth pastor of a church in Southern Indianapolis area.  Her message was on worship and she did a terrific job.  I really enjoyed it.  We are looking forward to the upcoming Kindle Retreat this March.  It should be a real good time.  I hope anyone that reads this is blessed today.  

Long Time, No See

Well, it's been a while since I've blogged.  Here are some updates going on in my life.  We celebrated my son's (Peyton) 3 year birthday party.  It was awesome.  He is getting big so fast.  I have been busy between being dad, husband, and pastor.  I have also had some side work come in, so that has kept me busy as well.  I am getting excited though.  Natalie, my wife, and I are going on vacation to the Big Apple in two weeks.  We are excited.  We are spending our 4-year anniversary there.  We are going to go see the Blue Man Group, eat some great Italian food, and just enjoy the city life for a few days.  It should be a great time.  Well, I hope everyone in the world is doing well.  Keep Facedown in your prayers.  We have a big worship night this Thursday and there will other pastors there to check us out.  When God is in control everything goes well.  Hope everyone has a great day and God bless.

Back At It

Well my band, Facedown, was back at it again last night rehearsing and we wrote another new song.  Doesn't have a title yet, but I think we may be on to something quality.  This song is a different type of praise song.  It has very driving guitars and is very conscious of accent patterns and stuff that I like a whole lot.  We also added a new guitar player to replace Scott Lack.  Scott Lack's family band is going on tour and is playing all over the US.  I'm excited for them and I hope it goes amazing for them.  Our new guitarist is Mike Ellis and he is really amazing.  I have a four year friendship with him and he has been a part of our church worship band for 5 years now.  He is very gifted and in tune with the Holy Spirit.  All is well with me accept for all of this evil snow we are getting again.  If last week wasn't bad enough already, but that's the midwest for you.  Hope everyone is well and God bless.

The Power of Five: Part Five

Sorry for the delay on this last one.  We were hit with a bunch of snow out here and I didn't have access to my computer.  Anyways, the last part of this has to do with the role of the teacher.  This is so vital in churches especially where Sunday School is a dying breed.  There has to be some way to teach others about the deep, hidden truths of God's Word.  Whether we facilitate this through some kind of small group program or whatever your church does, it has to be done.  Paul tells Timothy, "Study to show thyself approved, a workman who correctly handles the word of truth."  It's important for us to know what the Bible says so that we can teach it to others as well.  It's also important because if we don't know what it says then we can't defend it.  Apologetics is important so that we can know how to stand on Scripture when challenged with the philosophies of the world.  The last reason why it's so important to know the Word of God is because it's an effective weapon against the attacks of the enemy.  Think about what Jesus did when he was tempted in the desert.  He quoted verses which then was all the strength that he needed to get through that time.  It's so vital for us to know God's Word backwards and forwards.  Those who are gifted to teach should teach.

The Power of Five: Part Four

This one will be short because I don't have a lot to say about this.  The fourth characteristic that we see from Ephesians 4:11 is the Pastor.  I believe that not all people are called to be pastors and I will even venture to say that not even all Bible college students are called to be pastors.  The role of the pastor is more than just preaching on Sundays.  The actual role of the pastor is more about caring for people in the congregation that anything else.  We see many pastors who love to speak and fill their weeks up with business; however, the pastor's first priority should be people.  Now I know this becomes much harder in larger churches; however, a pastor should never become so consumed with the managing of the church and its staff that he loses touch with the real every-day needs of his people.  People are going through divorce, financial crisis, suicidal thoughts, affairs, out-of-control children and work issues every single day.  That list only represents a few problems.  There are many more I'm sure.  The bottom line is simply this:  We need to teach people how to take care of life's problems with some work on their own, but from time to time we need to be there to help pick up the pieces of other people's broken lives.

The Power of Five: Part Three

The third part of this is the office of the Evangelist. Now for how this relates to our daily lives and churches. Evangelism should be intentional on our part. We should be looking for opportunities to reach the lost every chance we get and not through leaving tracks at the table of the restaurant. The world is tired of our lame, ineffective ways of witnessing. They are wanting to see love in action. The appropriate times to witness are usually preceded by giving food to the hungry, listening to the problems of the emotionally hurting, or even clothing the needy. The fact is that most of the growth in the American church is transfer growth. People get upset at their last church and so they decide to come to yours. Is that even the kind of growth that we want? It's growth, but it's not healthy. I can eat all kinds of junk food and get real big, but it's not healthy growth. We should strive to build our churches on the growth that comes from seeing people give their hearts to Jesus. This will happen when evangelism becomes a vital part of our lifestyle. When we stop to see why our waitress is having a bad day. When we help the elderly person with their stuff in the grocery store parking lot. When we move in an attitude of love, then we have set up a perfect platform for us to speak into other's lives. The truth is that people are refusing to hear about Jesus most often times because we haven't even taken the time to figure out what they are going through. We are in such a hurry to get them saved that we do anything to get them to repeat a prayer with us. The problem with this is that people who use this tactic to reach the lost most often neglect the discipling part and that is tragic. When you take the time to build a relationship first, you are more likely to disciple. The world just needs to be loved by us then we can work on getting them to serve God.

The Power of Five: Part Two

The second part in all of this is the role of the prophet.  Prophets in the Bible were used of God to foretell events or heed warnings to the people of a certain nation.  How does that relate to the local church setting.  It could relate in various ways; however, I am only wanting to hit on one.  The prophet of God always had accountability.  If a prophecy was given and it was off then there was a lot for that prophet to lose including his life.  At times in our churches people throw around, "God told me" or say "God said" without any regard to the consequences.  We live in a day and age where people have lost there fear of God, so there is very little hesitation in saying those things; however, if God isn't saying it then let's not give him credit for it.  All we do is bring confusion to the unbeliever or the young in faith when our so called prophecy doesn't come true.  I'm not saying that God doesn't use people in the prophetic because I think that He very much still does, but I am saying that if you are going to give a word from the Lord, you better make sure it's really from Him.  Not everything that people say is taken correctly from God's Word.  A quote from the book Remnant says, "It's not just what the Bible says, it's what the Bible ALSO says."  We have to take the Bible in its entirety.  

The Accountability thing is a whole other animal; however, just as important.  It's important for all of us to have someone that we are accountable to.  They have to be consistent, open and honest and we must be the same.  Accountability is only as good as the people facilitating it.  If you are not good about showing up for accountability then your not being accountable.  It's important for us to be accountable and be consistent with it.  Allow someone the platform to speak into your life and be able to let you know when you are off in left field somewhere.  

The Power of Five: Part One

I have been reading this book that has been challenging me a lot.  "The Remnant" by Larry Stockstill, pastor of Bethany World Prayer Center in Baton Rouge, LA has a lot of good stuff to say about the power of the five-fold ministry mentioned in Ephesians 4:11.  It's important for each one of these to not only be at work in our individual lives, but at work in our churches as well.  We need these desperately to function in the body of Christ.  Today I want to talk about the function of the Apostle.

The word Apostle could mean "Mentor" or "Father".  The fact is that we live in a fatherless society these days.  Fathers come and go or are totally absent.  This makes our job as pastors hard when trying to portray the image of a "Loving Father" through God.  It's so important for all of us as Christians to find someone to mentor and pour into.  It's important for us as Fathers to love, train and discipline our children.  One of the most powerful things we can do for our kids is to refrain from ever saying things that would hurt them.  We need to be present in their lives.  Show up to games, events, band competitions, etc.  Basically, be a loving parent to our kids.  Remember, Jesus mandated us to make disciples (Mt. 28); therefore, find someone to mentor and father them with excellence.

Ordination

So I took my test yesterday to become an Ordained Minister with the Assemblies of God.  The test wasn't the easiest test, but with God's help I passed it with an 89%.  I was real happy about my score.  I studied pretty hard for it, memorizing a ton of terms.  So now it goes before a panel of pastors in February and then a different panel in March and then I will find out if I made the cut.  If all goes well, my ordination service will be in May and it will all be done.  I'm glad to have made this final step.  

Last Night's Grand Opening

The service at Parc-Way was awesome last night.  Our pastor, who spoke last night, was on his "A" game.  He brought it hard and did an excellent job.  The teens loved him.  The freedom in worship was amazing.  I give it off to the youth pastors who have worked with them because this is a very mature group when it comes to worship.  They worshipped their hearts out last night and it made for a real fun time for us as well.  I would go back there in a second.  Pastor Alex, the youth pastor at Parc-Way, is doing a great job.  Their youth facility looks great and the as I said before, the teens there are just awesome.  I pray that God continues to pour out His blessings on that church and Fusion Youth Ministries.  Way to go Pastor Alex and I hope we can do it again sometime.  

Grand Opening

There is a church here in Indy that is having their grand opening for their youth facility tonight.  Our worship band is supposed to be playing there, I just hope all the snow that we are getting right now doesn't delay it or cause it to be canceled.  It will be an awesome service.  My lead pastor is preaching at it and it's always a blessing to lead worship for him.  Well, I hope everyone is having an awesome day and if you are experiencing snow just remember that spring will be here before we know it.

Communicate

I just had the privilege of speaking to our congregation last Sunday.  It was a lot of fun.  Here are just a few thoughts from Sunday's message on how to communicate with God.

1.  I Peter 3 tells us that in order for our prayers not to be hindered, we have to treat our wives well.

2.  According to Psalm 68:18-19, if we cherish sin then God does not hear our prayers.

3.  God simply wants us to communicate from our heart and to make our prayers simple.  Matthew 6      tells us more about that.  

4.  One effective way to pray is to P.R.A.Y.  Praise, Repent, Ask, & Yield.

This is a prayer model that I practice myself and helps out a lot in my prayer time.  I praise God for a while, then I ask for forgiveness for my sins, I bring my requests to Him and then I surrender my life to His will.  There are many ways to pray, but if you are looking for one that is simple and can help give you stuff to talk to God about then this is pretty effective.

The last part is Listen.  It's important that we don't talk the whole time.  It's important for us to just be quiet and listen so that we can hear the voice of God.  

Again these are just a few thoughts.  You can listen to the whole message at www.lifechurchfishers.com/Podcast then look for my message titled, "Communicate"

What's The Purpose of Church - PART TWO

I do appreciate any of the comments that are being left.  Now that I have read some of the comments via this blog and facebook, I realize that I should have phrased the question differently. The real discussion I was looking for was not the purpose of church (the body of Christ), but more like what is the purpose or what should be the purpose of a Sunday Morning Service?  Is it to solely reach the lost or is it to strengthen and teach the body how to reach the lost outside of Sunday Morning.  I ask this because some churches are seeking to reach the lost in their Sunday morning services and have done things to make services more friendly to the lost.  Some people have said that their purpose for Sunday morning is not to reach souls, but to train the already saved on how to reach souls outside of Sunday morning.  I am looking for comments and discussion on this.  Do you think Sunday morning's purpose should be evangelistic or discipleship in other words?  What type of messages should you be preaching?  Give answers and then explanation as to why you think what you do.  Thank you so much

What's The Purpose of Church?

I got into an interesting discussion today with some other pastors.  I want to give you details of the discussion; however, I will do my best to not give you my opinion.  I do want to hear your comments and see what you think about it.  Here it is:  "What is the purpose of church?"  Is it so that we can save souls?  Is it to strengthen the body of believers?  Is it to equip the people to do ministry outside of the church?  These are all good questions.  One of the youth pastors feels that it is not necessary for churches to worry about trying to get people saved in their Sunday Morning ministry.  He said that the place to get people saved is outside of the four walls of the church.  The Sunday morning should serve only to give believers the knowledge and wisdom on how to reach others and grow spiritually.  I find this to be interesting.  His feelings were that we forsake holiness in our church services in order to attract the world to our churches.  He doesn't feel as if the world is attracted to our churches anyway, so why lower our spiritual standards by allowing willingly sinful people into our services on an on-going basis if they aren't trying to change.  What do we do with the passages of Revelation where Jesus tells some of the churches in chapters 2 & 3 that if they allow people in their congregation who are practicing sin to continue to show up then God will remove His Spirit from there?  What do we do with the passages of scripture that tell us to beware of wolves in sheep's clothing?  These are all good questions.  Our fear is that if we react to this frame of mind then we become cold-hearted and unloving.  Is there a way to be both?  Can you be warm, loving and totally closed-minded to sinners who are fully embracing their sin?  Notice that I said, "fully embracing", this does not refer to sinners who are coming but want to change.  There is more dialogue to this conversation; however, I would like to hear what all of you think about it.  I am willing to give my input, but for now I would just rather hear yours.  I'm not saying that I agree; however, I am not saying that I don't either.  I'm searching at this point.  

Back to the Grind

As most people are already back in the grind, I am just getting back into the grind due to being sick.  I came down with the flu a few days ago and am just now getting better.  I hate being sick, it's no fun.  The only benefit is the weight you lose; however, you gain it all back the second you start eating again.  What a mean joke that is to your body.  Why can't you just keep the weight off?  Oh well, I'm not bitter.  I hope everyone had a great New Year's and I am ready to do something for the Lord in a big way this year.  I want to leave my mark on the world.  God help me to do so.

Results

The results from last night's service were great. There were 300 students there and around 15 decisions for Christ. Steve Jones spoke and did a great job. Our original song went even better than expected. All in all it was a tremendous service. Then to top it all off my two kids finally started using the potty today. We have been having trouble with Peyton using the potty, but maybe since Mikayla is using it he will be encouraged to use it. I would have to say that it is a good start to a new year. My resolution is simply this: Have my kids be potty trained before the year's end.