Leave a Comment

April 30, 2010 4 Comments

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I see the above phrase quite often… on this blog. What this means is there are no comments and it’s asking you to be the first. I like comments. They make me happy. Even the ones that are mean telling me I’m wrong. I like those too. Do you know why? Because it means someone took time to read what I took time to write. Then they took time to express their feelings about what I took time to write. So were both sacrificing time to communicate with one another.

Comments good. No comments bad!

I really enjoy hearing from you who take time out of your day just to say a quick hey or nay. So if there were some kind of encouragement I could give you to leave comments when I write, I would definitely encourage you in that way. Maybe you could leave a comment letting me know how I could encourage you to leave more comments. Or… you could leave a comment encouraging me to write more often because you enjoy my writing.

Lastly, if your reading this on Facebook, I would encourage you to hop on over to my blog and leave a comment because the silly little Facebook app for the iPhone won’t let me see your comments on my notes. But if you desire, you can leave a comment there.

Comments good. No comments bad!

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Injury or Death

April 28, 2010 Leave a comment

Simon Peter crucified upside down
Andrew crucified. Peter’s brother.
James beheaded
John exiled, died of old age (brother of James)
Matthew speared to death
Bartholomew beaten then crucified. (aka Nathanael)
Philip crucified
Thomas speared to death
Simon crucified, the zealot
James stoned to death
Thaddaeus stoned to death. (aka Judas son of James)
Judas Iscariot

suicide by hanging

–> Matthias replaced Judas (Acts 1:26)

As you can see the disciples died for the cause of Christ. If you read the Foxe’s Book of Martyrs you will see many people throughout history have died for the cause of Christ. One person that had an impact on my walk with Christ was Cassie Bernall. She died in the Columbine shooting along with 11 other students and 1 teacher. Her unique story was told that she was asked if she believed in God and “She Said Yes“. The shooter shot her.

The question can be begged, “Would you die for the cause of Christ?” I’m not sure anyone could answer that question until they were put in the position to make it like Cassie was. But I want to pose another question along with that.

Would you be injured for the cause of Christ? Dying for the cause of Christ could be slow and painful but there is an end to it. After the intense punishment there is death and pain is gone, but what about injury?

With injury, you live on. There is no end to cause the pain, physical or emotional, to desist. I can only use my imagination on what injuries might be from those who insist that the cause for Christ is ludicrous and they aim to harm those that live for that cause. But I’m sure they would not leave you without some scarring and lack in mobility. So I leave you with a question.

You might die for Christ but would you be injured for Christ?

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Work In Progress

April 27, 2010 Leave a comment

Paul couldn’t have said it better when he said I do those things I don’t wanna do and don’t do those things I do wanna do. I don’t know if he knew that translated to English he was writing a tongue twister but oh boy.

There’s so much truth and not just in the spiritual realm in that statement. When I wanna eat carrots for a snack I turn to a fudge round. When I wanna drink water I drink a Mt. Dew. When I wanna be patient I get impatient. When I wanna be calm I get angry.

Facebook and Twitter are the social black holes in my life and when I wanna resist the temptation to post I post.

It’s funny how in my mind I’m thinking with all my mind that I really want to do something but my heart is so filled with lust that I do the negative damaging things that I know I shouldn’t.

I feel really good when I doing those things I wanna do and know I should but somehow there’s that little bug in me that says it feels good to do the right thing but it’s more fun to do the wrong thing.

If only I could figure out the trick to making my heart override my mind and do the things my heart says is right. Or maybe I am. Maybe it’s my mind that knows the right thing and my heart is corrupt. Either case there needs to be a change.

Have ya ever been doing the right thing but thinking how fun it would be to be doing the wrong thing?

I want to give myself to the right things and when I do I want to be thinking the right things when I do. I want to give of myself cheerfully not begrudgingly.

May God continue the good work He has started in me. I’m definitely a work in progress.

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In Or Out

April 19, 2010 Leave a comment

When I was a kid we lived in an old country house with white wooded siding and screen doors that would slam so loud you could hear it across the country side. As a kid you know that one of my biggest joys was running through these doors a thousand times a day forcing my mom to say those wonderful commanding words, “In or out. Make up your mind!”

How can a kid do that?  Son… just choose, chocolate or vanilla, Snake Eyes or Sgt. Slaughter, Easton or Louisville Slugger, Levis or Wranglers, Sun-Drop or Dr. Pepper, Ride in the back of the truck or… naw, nothing beats riding in the back of the truck. No decision to make there. But you get my point. Life is full of making hard choices like these.

But there is one choice that shouldn’t be hard to make; hot, cold, or lukewarm. Jesus said let your yes be yes and your no be no (Matthew 5:37). There is no such thing in the Hebrew language from any studies I have done for the word maybe. This is because when you say your gonna do something, do it. If you’re not gonna do something, don’t say you will try, or that you’ll see. Say no and don’t give the person the run-around.

There are a couple of things that make me mad to no end that is part of my everyday life. One is stereo amp in my truck. There’s a short in one of the wires and when I take a curve to sharp or I hit a bump hard enough, it looses the lows. It makes the radio sound like an old a.m. radio.

The other thing is we have an indoor antenna that the box raved that we should pick up around thirty channels. Along with the digital converter box the government forced us into buying if we didn’t get a digital tv. So now when a wind comes through or a helicopter flies over it scrambles the signal and we can’t even watch the TWO channels that we can pick up.

It’s not doing what is says it will do. It’s lukewarm. And if these things make me as angry as they do, I can only imagine how disappointed God gets in us and how angry He will be on THAT day when we stand before Him as a lukewarm Christian.

Are you lukewarm? Are you hot? Are you cold? Whichever you are trying to be, you better make up your mind. Either in or out!!!

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Is Today’s Church Structure Wrong

April 12, 2010 4 Comments

I’m writing a book. Actually writing two. One is basically shelved and the other is coming along slowly. The one that’s shelved for the moment is one about anti-traditionalism. I can’t stand doing things “because that’s the way we’ve always done it”.

Since our pastor had a moral failure and stepped down, our church has been contemplating something unique and very different from the norm. Which is why I pose the question, is today’s church structure wrong. Or should it better be asked is it biblical. I mean one things for sure is people are coming to the faith like it is but could we draw more people to the faith if we look at the biblical model of ekklesia and do it that way.

How’s that way you may ask. I’m not sure how it looks. I’ve never seen it done this way before. But I don’t thinks it’s supposed to be lecture style services.  I believe the gifts are still active today. I believe in the five fold ministry; offices of Apostle, Prophet, Evangelist, Pastor, and Teacher. I believe in the gifts of the spirit and that everyone has something to offer during the time we gather to worship.

I’m not sure and have never been sure about one guy standing before many, telling them how to live and then trying to run a church. Today, our interim pastor told us about 16 things a pastor has to do all at one time. I can’t remember all 16 so don’t ask. I think it’s time one person stopped being the hand, the foot, the fingers, the arms, the toes, and all of the body. It’s time the church stepped up and became the body like they should.

The only thing that I cannot vision is how can this look with 50+ people. How did the disciples make it happen when they were adding to their numbers daily. How can we get away from lecturing from one person and allow someone to bring a word, a prophecy, or a song. How does this look?

One thing that I have a problem with is it’s hard for me to jump on something if I can’t envision how something looks. I can see this easily with a handful of people, like in small groups or even house churches, but how does it look with small churches where there is 50+ people in worship. Don’t know! But I will say this. It’s time for a shift in the paradigm. I think it’s time we get away from being lectured to and start investing in one another.

Tell me what YOU think!!!!!!

Wanna know where you stand in the APEST? Are you an apostle. Do you flow in the prophetic, find out here!

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Results of An Experiment

April 11, 2010 1 Comment

I decided to do an experiment. If you remember me blogging about it, great. If not, you can read about it here. Now I would like to share with you the results of my little experiment. There are two. A good result and a bad result. Which one would you like to hear first?

I will share the good results first. The results to not posting so much and keeping it as minimal as possible means that I did not get angry and upset as much. I actually had a  peaceful week. I didn’t get upset at a lot of smart alleck answers and I didn’t get a bunch of rabbit trails away from the idea of the post in the first place. So I would go as far as to say that my experiment worked exactly like I hoped it would in this sense.

However

The bad results of my little experiment is this: no comments. You see if you minimize your posts there can only be one result and that is lack of comments. The one thing I have learned in this blog is that I have 126 posts with 147 comments. One would look at that and say that is at least one comment a post on average. Yes I would agree, however, I know that many of those posts are conversations between me and someone so I would go as far as saying an 1/8 of those comments are mine.

So lack of posts constitutes lack of comments. Lack of comments constitutes lack of traffic. Lack of traffic constitutes lack of popularity. This is rather depressing seeing I like an element of popularity.

My experiment shows that if you want peace, your activity must decrease. If you want popularity, you must be more active.

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I Think I Want My Rib Back

April 10, 2010 Leave a comment

I Think I Want My Rib Back

Now the bible tells the story about Adam’s rib.
How the Lord made a woman for companionship.
And the first thing she did,
Was take a bite of that forbidden fruit.
Well, I guess we’ll be paying till the end of time,
At least that’s how it is with that woman of mine.
Oh Lord, I think I want my rib back.

Now this is wrong and, baby, that ain’t right.
And I’m working tryin’ to please that woman day and night.
She’s never satisfied although I try to do the best that I can.
Somethin’s got a change honey, I’m gonna leave.
I won’t let evolution gonna make a monkey out of me,
Oh Lord, I think I want my rib back.

There’s been a hole in wallet and a pain in my side,
Ever since I made that girl my blushing bride.
Her daddy calls her angel,
And her momma calls her three times a night.
Her cousins on my sofa, her sister’s got my car,
Her brother’s drink my liquor like my house was a bar,
Oh Lord, well, I think I want my rib back.

Now this is wrong and, baby, that ain’t right.
And I’m working tryin’ to please that woman day and night.
She’s never satisfied although I try to do the best that I can.
Somethin’s got a change honey, I’m gonna leave.
I won’t let evolution gonna make a monkey out of me,
Oh Lord, I think I want my rib back.

Oh Lord, I think I want my rib back.

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In Over My Head

April 9, 2010 Leave a comment

It’s funny really. I have been leading worship for almost ten years now and I still get jittery when I discuss worship topics with other worship leaders.I think because there really is no one way to lead worship and there are churches all over America that are different in how they do their worship services.

I have had a vision for a worship leaders network for a few years and last night it finally came to fruition. Five of us met and simply built a relationship and discussed a plethora of topics concerning  worship leading and I was just like a kid in a candy store. I was soaking it up.

It’s easy though for someone like me to feel overburdened and over my head when even though I put it together, those who took part have churches twice the size or even three times the size of mine. So sitting there knowing the caliber of folks I was sitting with and knowing the responsibility level that they carry within their corporate church, I’m just asking myself, “Who am I that I can spearhead something these folks would wanna be part of ?”

I am blessed to have met other worship leaders in out community last night and definitely look forward to shaking in my shoes next month when we meet again. I only hope that they were as blessed as I was last night. We are at humble beginnings but I see great things coming out if this.

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Easter

April 4, 2010 1 Comment

I wasn’t necessarily raised in church. When I was young we went to a small country church complete with butt hurting pews, squeaky floors and the smell of White Rain hairspray.

When my teen years got here I made occasional appearances to church but nothing serious. It wasn’t till I was eighteen that I met a girl and the only way her parents would let me spend time with her I had to go to church on Sundays. So I did. Since then I have pretty much been a regular attendee of the corporate worship.

I say all that to say I have never been much of fitting into the traditional orthodox box. I never have liked wearing a suit and tie. When the choir had to wear black slacks I chose to where dark jeans.

I have had a few through my life in Christ to put their arms around me and embrace my rebelliousness of the norm. They didn’t try to change me. If God is a God of creation He most certainly had an imagination. So why do we try to create a cookie cutter mold of Christians?

So today I think I have attended the most comforting Easter celebration I have ever had the opportunity to being part of. In our church, we celebrate the idea of uniqueness. Ted brought the message in tennis shoes. Not one person sported a tie. I busted up in chucks and blue jeans. But really what made it “xtreme” was the fact that we were able incorporate White Lion music in a video capitalizing the fact Jesus is risen. Second, we were able to incorporate a Twisted Sister song into worship speaking how that since Jesus is alive we should celebrate and rock out in celebration.

I stepped out of my proverbial box and became even more xtreme than I ever have been. I’m sure if my previous churches had experienced what we prepared for church today, they would have flipped a loop at how we celebrated the resurrection today.

He is risen and we are Xtreme about it. If you don’t like that, get ready because I just might become even more dignified than this.

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