I know, I haven’t posted anything in several months, but this one was worth sharing.

Our student ministry is in the midst of a series called Life Interrupted: A Christmas Story.  One of our student pastors shared a story last night during the service that my 16 yr old daughter had written about her recent experience.  Being the proud dad that I am, I wanted to share it with you. Please indulge me.

It began on a Sunday morning before church. I was standing in front of my closet just staring at all the clothes. They were literally everywhere; on the floor, out of the drawers, on the hangers, when I thought to myself, “I’m pretty sure I have too many clothes. I won’t even wear all of these by Christmas time.” I let the thought just sink in and continued with my day.

Mom and I went to bible study that night when I finally said something to her. Francis Chan, who wrote Crazy Love, had inspired us. He had said what if we all lived in community with each other. What if we shared money and food? What if we shared clothes? What if? I followed on the idea. I got in the car and told my mom that I didn’t want any Christmas presents. I wanted to use the money for something else, for someone else’s Christmas. Jesus gave to me didn’t he? So why should I take away from people, it seems unfair.

It was then that our plan sort of made itself. My mom and I raved on and on about it in the car. We got home that night and told my dad. Almost immediately we all started talking about doing this and doing that and giving money to this person and their family.Finally our Christmas plans had been set. Starting on the 13^th of December and ending on Christmas we vowed to do something of service everyday. Even Christmas day!

It did take a little getting used to… We told my brother the grand idea and he responded with “Yeahs and oh cools…” all in that monotone voice of a boy who wants an XBox for Christmas. Though it’s such an outrageous and unheard of idea it will probably be the most rewarding thing I’ll ever do. Already we have my cousins in on the idea, and as one big family we’re going Christmas caroling at an assisted living facility. We are excited to have adopted a family through LHC and are humbled to provide for a 19-year-old disabled boy and his caretaker. In addition we’re sending money to some of our favorite charities and a good friend in Seminary. I’m counting down the days!! Only 4 left!

Thank you God for making my family and I realize what giving means. Thank you God for humbling me. And most of all Thank You God for loving me and showing me what it means to love others.

To God be the glory, great things He has done.

stealing a page from my friend Zak White, here’s the stuff i am excited/not excited about:

• JACKED about attending NewSpring Church tomorrow.
• SUPER JACKED about having the opportunity to spend Monday at the Masters in Augusta, GA.
• NOT JACKED that there is a chance of thunderstorms on Monday.
• NOT JACKED about leaving my family for 3 days.
• JACKED about it being Passover week. 
• JACKED about the new series, Soulmate, coming after Easter.
• JACKED about www.examen.me. not bragging, but i’ve spent time in God’s Word for 13 straight days thanks to this new tool.
•  NOT JACKED about missing services at LHC tomorrow.  Wish we had an online campus

you would have to be living under a rock to not feel/see the change in the local church.  it’s become pretty fashionable of late for churches to expand their local missions opportunities and to develop a greater social conscience. it’s not necessarily a bad thing, i’m just not convinced yet that it’s a God thing.

i do believe that we should be compassionate and extend a loving hand to everyone we come in contact with  – not just the least of these.  however, let’s admit it, it’s easier to be compassionate to somebody who is poorer or less fortunate. extend that same compassion to your next door neighbor, coworker, or colleague. go ahead try it. i dare you. it ain’t easy. 

so to make ourselves feel better, we work at the local soup kitchen for an hour, or write a check to an organization that provides clean water or clothes people we don’t know. and we fool ourselves by thinking we’ve made the world a better place. but we haven’t  because we have focused on the temporal (hunger, thirst, nakedness) and not the eternal (salvation). 

in John 6 we hear about a story in which Jesus and his disciples feed a bunch of people. who knows how many exactly, but it was several thousand (more than five thousand to be sure). most of the time the story stops there.  it’s what comes after that i find most interesting.

the day after this miraculous event, Jesus tells the thousands of people who now have a full stomach that they are following Him for the wrong reason. see, they were hungry and he gave them food and now they are not hungry. but they know they will be hungry again soon and he can do magic and make food – so they must follow Him around in case they get hungry again.  Jesus is just a meal ticket.

here’s what He says to them:

47 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

52 The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 So Jesus said to them, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. 55 For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood abides in me, and I in him. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever feeds on me, he also will live because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like the bread the fathers ate and died. Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.”

see I believe Jesus was not just interested in being a nice guy by turning 5 loaves and 2 fish into a meal for thousands. He was not just interested in keeping people from starving. He was concerned about their well being, but more importantly their eternity. the miracle he performed was about earning the right to be heard. about creating an opportunity in which He could share the gospel and tell them about eternal life with the Father.

so, if all we do is feed and clothe people, then all we have is fewer starving and naked. again, not a bad thing.  just not necessarily a God thing.

if we are not telling people about Jesus and the eternal life that He offers when meeting the needs of others, i would suggest to you that we are not following the example set forth by Christ.

am i wrong?

not sure why (maybe because i’m appreciate the bold faith of Mark Driscoll), but i am excited about watching the “Does Satan Exist?” debate on ABC New Nightline Face-Off tonight.  the face-off pits Pastor Mark Driscoll and  Annie Lobert vs. philosopher Deepak Chopra and Bishop Carlton Pearson.

you can watch the debate online here if you don’t want to wait.

what do you think? do you think Satan exists?

i believe that the best leaders are those that not only lead people well, but also allow themselves to be lead by those they lead. most people refer to this as “leading up”. it may seem like a contradiction, but it’s not. if leaders are learners, what better way to learn than from those you lead.

so, about a month ago, our staff held our annual performance reviews. about 10 days in advance, i sent the following questions to my team in an effort to become a better learner/leader. 

1. What do I do in my roll that leverages you personally and/or your area of ministry focus the most?
2. What do I do in my roll that stifles or frustrates you personally and/or in your area of focus?
3. What is it that I do that you wish I did more of… and what should I stop doing?
4. If tomorrow you were directing the Family Life Ministry at LHC, what are the first changes you would begin to make? Methodology… Structure… Program… etc….

rather than list all the feedback verbatim, here’s what i took away from this time that i need to be working on:

• more purposeful and intentional prayer time with team
• continue to develop team environment in student ministry
• lead team to do ministry out of the overflow/excess
• gather team for fellowship more frequently
• increased presence at weekly ministry events
• more feedback on weekly ministry performance

what are you learning from those you lead?

i used a new online tool today for my daily devotional time, and i couldn’t be more excited. i’ve actually been waiting for something like this for a few years and was excited when a friend shared it with me last week. it’s called EXAMEN.me. 

this is a simple-to-use web site that fosters your personal interaction with God. the site guides you to “examine” your life as you meditate on scripture, pray, and journal your reflections. you can choose from several different options, including a Gospel, NT, OT, or Psalm devotional. I have yet to tinker with the prayer or journal options, but look forward to experimenting with them this week.

you should take it for a test drive. would love to know what you think.

so, i just bought one. actually, i bought two snuggies because you can’t just buy one.  laugh if you want. i’m not embarrassed.  i might even take photos of wendy and i posing in our snuggies after they arrive. wonder if we’ll look as good as this couple:

admit it your jealous.

Top 5 places I’ve enjoyed visiting the most (in order):

1. Maui, Hawaii (A-MA-ZING)
2. Zermatt, Switzerland (i ate fondue at the base of the Matterhorn – heavenly)
3. Evian, France (drinking water is excellent – just kidding. just beautiful)
4. Disney World (the happiest place on earth – literally)
5. Asheville, NC (just like Austin, but east of the Mississippi)

What are your top 5?

One of the issues we wrestle with the most in Family Life ministry is extending our reach beyond the hour or two that children and students are in our ministries each week.

One of the creative solutions that our LHC Kids team has come up with to extend our reach is called Route 6:7 (based on Duet 6:7). We used to send the kids home with a weekly “talk sheet” with questions for parents to cover with their kids during the week. We noticed that these 1/2 page sheets ended up in their Bible, purse, floor board, or trash.

The newest member of our team, Sara, had the ingenious idea that we could condense the questions and print them on a card that could hang from the rear view mirror in the car where they would be visible throughout the week. They contain a weekly memory verse, as well as a question for each day of the week.

Here’s a pic:

The feedback has been incredible. Kids think they are the greatest thing ever and are begging parents to hang them up in the car immediately after church.  And, parents are actually using them. Just today I stopped by the local grocery store and saw 3 cars in the parking lot with the most beautiful pieces of yellow paper dangling from the rear-view mirror.  I can’t tell you how proud I was of our team in that moment.

“You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Deuteronomy 6:7

What are you doing that is extending your reach?

So, it’s officially been 138 days since my last entry in which i boldly stated that i agreed with Wired magazine’s assessment that blogging had jumped the shark. I still believe this to be true - for the most part.

My observation is that over the last several months there has been a decline in the frequency of blogging by established bloggers and an increase in other social media outlets like Facebook and Twitter.

However, for me, I have decided there are things that I want (maybe need) to say that do not belong on Facebook, or in which I need more than 140 characters to express.

So, I’m back. 

BTW – You like the new look?