Day 2 - Live from D6 Conference

Live from D6 Conference!

No We Won't Back Down!

Tom Petty had it right when he sang, "No I won't back down, you can stand me up at the gates of hell, but I won't back down." 

As many of you know Trinity Pinopolis began a new service called Trinity Sunday Night, a service geared towards the next generation and towards reaching people in our community. Well the day could have been interesting and was set up to be a disaster really. 

The family and I were settling into our new schedule of having Sunday mornings free before serving on Sunday night. I get a text from Hal, our Rector (lead pastor), asking if I had seen the TV in the parish hall (worship center). Last time I saw it was Thursday when I left. Well apparently, someone decided their home needed the TV more than we did. Long story short, and a police report later, I was reminded in my head of the Song from Tom Petty, "No I won't back down."

This song became a theme song for a good friend of mine in ministry when he and the church he was serving in at the time started going through a rough patch. He mention the song to me and I thought that was cute. But then I really read the lyrics. They really describe the life of a follower. Romans 8:31b - 32:

"If God is for us, who can be^[h] against us? ^32(BJ) He who did not spare his own Son but^(BK) gave him up for us all, how will he not also with him graciously give us all things?"

We also see a promise given to Joshua in Joshua 1:3: 

"Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses."

So with the reminder of Romans 8 and the promise of Joshua 1:3. My encouragement to you is to NOT BACK DOWN. Fight hell with water pistols. Take aim and the enemy and punch with a fire of worship. 

All that being I said, I am so grateful for the team that helped get Trinity Sunday Night off the ground. I feel because of the TV, the worship was just that much sweeter. I feel we encountered Jesus face to face and really felt a movement of the Holy Spirit. We could have easily given up, gotten down. But then I remembered that great theologian Tom Petty and his great words, No I won't back down. 

Trinity Sunday Night is going to be a great journey for Trinity Pinopolis. Be on the lookout for the Trinity Pinopolis podcast! Until then...

Grace and Peace.

Run, Phillip, Run

So I feel like Forest Gump, and Jesus is my Jenny. Ok, loose relation, but the idea is there. I have been undergoing some conviction about my health. I mean, I am in shape, since round is a shape, but I think I need to get fit. Now do not get me wrong, I am not going out to become a body builder, I just do not think that is me, but I do need to drop a pound or 20, and just be in shape cardio wise. In my study time this morning, I was looking for Biblical support for being fit, since I am trying to find motivation... so here is what I came up with:

Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. - 1 Corinthians 6:19-20

I had to ask myself if I was really glorifying God with the way I was treating my body, and the noticeable answer is, no.

"But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified." - 1 Corinthians 9:27

Now I understand that Paul is talking so much deeper than me getting my tail running and exercising. But the idea is there for me and the encouragement to get myself under control. So do not go and blame me for being a heretic, or someone who loves to pull scripture out of context, because that is not my goal at all. I am just trying to find encouragement through scripture.

There are 2 underlining reasons, besides conviction in why I see to start running important. One main reason is for my family. I need to be healthy and strong for them, so I can be around for a LONG time. Not trying to get all morbid, but I do have a history of heart failure, diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. in my family, and I need to get my body fit NOW, before it is too late.

The second reason come because I feel I need to be in shape, so when delivering God's word and doing God's work I can do my best. I hear that running is an amazing release for pastors and it allows you to just go run, and be in the presence of the Holy one.

My game plan? Couch to 5k. The whole idea is to get you to run a 5k in 9 weeks. The plan seems really simple and great for someone, who well, has never do this before. I am not trying to be the next USA gold medalist for cross country, even though it would be cool to run in the Bridge Run one day. Who knows, maybe some of my runner friends will see me there one day. I will keep you updated in my journey to being in a shape other than round.

In the world, not of it...

"Be in the world, and not of the world." Well I would usually put a reference, but I can't. No where in scripture do we find this exact wording. Now I will say there are parts of scripture that will, in context, bring forth the idea of not being of the world. The best place to look is John 15:19

19 If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you." -John 15:19

Just a side note: We as followers are not of this world. When we follow Christ we become His, "Marked as Christ's own forever." (Justification: made righteous before God)

Here in John 15, the word world is referring to the human system that goes against the things of God, which we can say that our culture is very saturated with. But the first thing that needs to happen is what do we use to measure the "worldliness" of something?As long as we are comparing and defining by Biblical standards, and not standards that are set out by denominational covenants and bylaws, we will find what is Holy (of Christ) and what is not (of the world). We must examine through the lens of Holy Scripture.

I rant to say that the idea of being in the world and not of the world is hard, especially for students. Culture's main goal is to throw as much stuff at us to help persuade us how to live life. If you do not believe me, just watch MTV, or any other network for about 10 minutes and I can almost guarantee that they will in some way portray to you sex, alcohol, materialism, image, etc. (yes, even kid networks sell image, you know the newest gadget or coolest book bag, etc). You see, in order for ministry and evangelism to take place, we have to be in the world. If we tried to completely cut ourselves off from that junk, we might as well lock ourselves in a closet and wait for Jesus to come back (you even witness it driving down the road on billboards, on the radio, and on bumper stickers). We cannot hide from it, that would be IMPOSSIBLE. BUT we can study it and offer something completely different. We can offer and fulfilling life full of grace and love, from a forgiving Savior. We also must be praying constantly for protection against these things that can easily influence us, pray that we can hold a steady mind and eyes fixed on Christ, giving our best to be a radical follower, and not giving into the the temptation that is offered to us.

How do we do this? How can we be in the world, and not fall to the temptations of the things around us that we can term as worldly? I turn to Romans 12...

1 I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. 2 Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.

Paul's words should speak for themselves. We are to approach this world with a renewed mind (grounded in christ, with the lens of scripture) so we can test what is right, acceptable, and yes, perfect.

So how do we as pastors teach this? How do we help those we teach understand how to be in the world proclaiming and living the Gospel, but to also protect themselves from the temptations that surround us?

First, I think we need to be doing some research. We need to research, test, and understand what our culture is throwing at us through music and media (the greatest avenue of communication). By listening, reading, watching, and understanding, I can begin to understand how I as a pastor can teach people how to determine what is good and what is not. Of course, I can easily tell them, in my opinion (and by Biblical Standard), what is good and bad, but what good does that do? Then we as the church by in to the stereotype that we just tell people they cannot have fun, and we are a crazy group of people with a bunch of rules that will determine where we end up. Are we as the church supposed to shake our finger and slap our Bibles at people and tell them they are horrible sinners that need to turn or burn? That they need to get their fire insurance? I don't think so. We are supposed to TEACH them how to decide for themselves.

Jesus taught his Disciples through parables, and do you think that left a lasting importance? Jesus wanted His disciples to know how to continue to live on and be evangelists when He left. Jesus knew he would not be with the disciples their entire ministry, so He did all in his power to equip them to keep going. I honestly believe that Jesus could have started his ministry and brought 3,000 people and began the church before going to the cross, but he chose to equip 12 men to do that. And we read in Acts about the day of Pentecost when the church began, the spirit fell, and 3,000 came to know Christ. We to, as pastors need to be equipping those we teach on how to determine what is Holy and what is worldly. (To be cliche': "Give a man a fish he will eat for a day, teach a man to fish, he will eat for a lifetime").

Now do not go claiming me a heretic or adding me to some crazy twitter list. I do believe that there are things laid out in scripture that we as the body of Christ need to call people out on, and I think we can get to relaxed in our approach to holding people accountable and presenting the Gospel. The Gospel is both a message of grace and judgement for our sin. We do need to call people out of their life of sin, I just do not want us to become a culture that gives the diagnosis of the sin and the medicine to cure it and then direct them to their assigned seat in our place of worship. I am not an insurance salesman.

We need to teach people how to begin living towards being Set Apart (Holy) followers of Christ. It is a process (sanctification: the process of becoming Holy), on which will not be completed until the day of glorification: the completion, the consummation, the perfection, the full realization of salvation. A journey that I as a pastor travel as well. May we all support, hold accountable, and present Grace as we all work towards being Set Apart, Holy, Radical followers of Christ. And I pray that we as pastors begin teaching those we teach how to begin to discern what is Holy, and what is not.

A new Journey/ Book Review of Sun Stand Still

I cannot begin to tell all of you how long I have been wanting to post this blog. I know my boy Robbie Foreman can relate to this feeling of freedom I now have, since I can now release it!

I will say that along with this blog there will be a book review of "Sun Stand Still" by Steven Furtick. This will not be your typical review though. I plan to review in how this book spoke to me and what it did and is doing in my life.

The whole idea of the book is to live out and Audacious Faith through audacious prayers and asking God for what can seem to be the impossible. Steven uses the story of Elevate (where he is lead and founding pastor) and how God used a Sun Stand Still prayer to ignite the city of Charlotte, SC through Steven and the core team. I will say, if you have not read it, go get yourself a copy, a cup of coffee (or 3) and read away and be transformed in your faith. If you want a more in depth review of the "content" just google Sun Stand Still reviews and read away. If want real life application, please stay with me, grab a coke, and read on!

I grabbed this book about 3 months ago with the intent of blogging about it, since that is why I was able to get a free copy, that I would agree to blog about the book. I couldn't get into the book for some reason (no offense Steven). The content was great, and life changing, but for some reason I could not be committed to reading and get it done. I later picked up Erasing Hell by Chan, read that quickly (another amazing book) and then felt lead to pick up Sun Stand Still and finish. Well, that took about 3 days and now I know why I could not get in it. I needed the message now, and not three months ago. God's timing was perfect, mine, as always, stunk.

Over the past 6 months or so I have been in prayer about the next step in ministry. I knew God was stirring my heart for something new. I think so often we feel that something new in ministry, means a new church, new people, and sometimes a new place to call home all together. There were times where I wondered where "next" was and where it was going to be, when all along God wanted it to be right here, where I am.

Three and a half years ago, I joined the staff and ministry here at Trinity. A young minister, finishing college, from a different denomination, unsure of the future, but certain of the call that God has placed in my life to come to the community of Pinopolis and begin my journey in ministry. The last three years have been full of ups and down, successes and failures, celebrations and sadness. After much prayer and many discussions with Father Hal, Karey, and mentors in ministry, my family and the church leadership has begun to see what God has called us to do as a ministry.

Recently Hal, the Rector (fancy name for senior pastor) I serve with, came to me about the realization of a needed change in focus at Trinity. The need was to begin becoming a church that lives out the Great Commission, Acts 2, in summary, be a church that goes and Evangelizes. Through prayer and discussions, the Holy Spirit laid on him a new mission and vision for the church and we began to move forward, with audacious faith. As we prayed and took time to realized the demographics of our area and our congregation, we noticed on big thing. The communities around us are slowly getting younger, but we as a church are getting older. There is a huge gap of what we call the "Next Generation" (Ages 35 and younger) attending worship. So, with the new vision and mission we realized that a core of what we do has to target them.

With that stage being set, I am excited to share that I have been called to step into the role of the Next Generation Pastor here at Trinity. As of September 11, I will no longer be attending the Sunday morning worship at Trinity and will be developing a worship service that is geared towards the next generation and the unchurched that will take place onsite Sunday nights at 6:00 PM starting September 18 (you are invited). I will be responsible for leading and developing Evangelism, Outreach, Worship, and Discipleship for the Next Generation (I will still be doing Youth Ministry on Wednesday nights). So right now I am flying an airplane and trying to put it together in the air, but God is guiding, blessing, and holding it all together. Stepping out on faith, since this model is very different than what most epsicopal/ anglican church are doing.

This is how the book ties in...

The idea of faith is something that was taught to me at a young age. I understood the concepts of by faith and not by site, by faith and not by works, but I believe I just realized what it means to live out and live in my faith. I began to understand to place my trust so hard in Christ that if he were to remove himself, I would fall flat on my face. I also felt that I was too busy praying and not doing anything, but waiting, when then I learned that I need to be working and praying at the same time (addressed in the book). The book gets you to the point of developing a Page 23 vision and Sun Stand Still prayers. SSS prayers can be short term and long term, and trust me, you will find both in your Page 23 vision.

I will say for me, I am still tweaking my Page 23 vision and my Sun Stand Still prayers, but I know that the new adventure of being the Next Generation Pastor is playing a huge role, as we step out in faith in this new service, knowing that God will bless it, and send people to hear about the gospel. I encourage you to live out your faith everyday and trust God to do big things in your life and through your life. I could easily debunk all of Sun Stand Still in this blog, but if I did I would communicate in a messy way what Furtick communicates so beautifully. Be prepared to be bold, step out and let God use you. I will say that it is a crazy ride, a beautiful struggle, and I am no where near the end, I am just at the beginning.

I do ask that you keep Karey, Sanders, and myself in prayer as we start this journey. Pray that Jesus will place a hedge of protection around our family from the darts of the enemy. The enemy wants nothing more than to keep people from walking into the light of Salvation, and seeks to target those who carry the Good News. Also be praying for the relationships we will build and for God to begin placing those people in our lives who would benefit from Trinity Sunday Night. Pray that our faith in God to do something huge in this community will change the way the gospel is seen in the lives of many. The days ahead are both clear and muddy at the same time, but I know that God is sovereign and will appoint the correct viewpoints and discernment in His time. I look forward to sharing with you what God is doing among us. Please never miss the opportunity to be used to further the Kingdom and know that I am praying for each and every one of you. Thank you for your support, love, and prayers. Keep the faith and press onward and upward.

A new Journey/ Book Review of Sun Stand Still

I cannot begin to tell all of you how long I have been wanting to post this blog. I know my boy Robbie Foreman can relate to this feeling of freedom I now have, since I can now release it!

I will say that along with this blog that will be a book review of "Sun Stand Still" by Steven Furtick. This will not be your typical review though. I plan to review in how this book spoke to me and what it did and is doing in my life.

The whole idea of the book is to live out and Audacious Faith through audacious prayers and asking God for what can seem to be the impossible. Steven uses the story of Elevation (where he is lead and founding pastor) and how God used a Sun Stand Still prayer to ignite the city of Charlotte, NC through Steven and the core team. I will say, if you have not read it, go get yourself a copy, a cup of coffee (or 3) and read away and be transformed in your faith. If you want a more in depth review of the "content" just google Sun Stand Still reviews and read away. If want real life application, please stay with me, grab a coke, and read on!

I grabbed this book about 3 months ago with the intent of blogging about it, since that is why I was able to get a free copy, that I would agree to blog about the book. I couldn't get into the book for some reason (no offense Steven). The content was great, and life changing, but for some reason I could not be committed to reading and get it done. I later picked up Erasing Hell by Chan, read that quickly (another amazing book) and then felt lead to pick up Sun Stand Still and finish. Well, that took about 3 days and now I now why I could not get in it. I needed the message now, and not three months ago. God's timing was perfect, mine, as always, stunk.

Over the past 6 months or so I have been in prayer about the next step in ministry (be it a lateral step or a step up) I just knew God was stirring my heart for something new. I think so often we feel that something new in ministry, means a new church, new people, and sometimes a new place to call home all together. There war times where I wondered where "next" was and where it was going to be, when all along God wanted it to be right here, where I am.

Recently Hal, the Rector (fancy name for senior pastor) I serve with, came to me about the realization of a needed change in focus at Trinity. The need was to begin becoming a church that lives out the Great Commission, Acts 2, in summary, be a church that goes and Evangelizes. Through prayer and discussions, the Holy Spirit laid on him a new mission and vision for the church and we began to move forward. As we prayed and took time to realized the demographics of our area and our congregation, we noticed on big thing. The communities around us are slowly getting younger, but we as a church are getting older. There is a huge gap of what we call the "Next Generation" (Ages 35 and younger) attending worship. So, with the new vision and mission we realized that a core of what we do has to target them.

With that stage being set, I am happy to say that I have been called to step into the role of the Next Generation Pastor here at Trinity. As of September 11, I will no longer be attending the Sunday morning worship at Trinity and will be developing a worship service that is geared towards the next generation and the unchurched that will take place onsite Sunday nights at 6:00 PM starting September 18 (you are invited). I will be responsible for leading and developing Evangelism, Outreach, Worship, and Discipleship for the Next Generation (I will still be doing Youth Ministry on Wednesday nights).

The Church has left the building...

Did the church ever start in the building? Some would think so, yet I would disagree. In fact the beginning of the church in scripture in Acts 2 (The day of Pentecost) comes from the Holy Spirit falling on 11 people. The Holy Spirit, through tongues and fire falls on the people, Peter then presents the gospel in an amazing way and 3,000 came to know Christ. This did not happen in a beautiful sanctuary, a revival tent in a field, or an old warehouse converted to be the next best church venue. Most likely in the streets of Jerusalem (where else would 3,000 people fit, maybe it is time to build a new building).

It is simple. The disciples lived in a such a way that it drew people in. People were amazed at was going on when the Holy Spirit fell on the 11. They did not have a huge building to draw people in, in fact, I like to think they were meeting in such a place that was among the people, to live out and speak out the gospel. not waiting for the people to fill the local church building at 11:00.

My rambling results to this. "Go." I can sit here and type out scripture after scripture that supports this two letter word. Go! It is simple. Jesus said GO into the nations (greek: ethnos, which translates to people groups, or english language: ethnicity). We are to Go. It is time for the church to leave the building. Time to stop waiting for them to come to us, and for us to go to them. Christ has given us the community that we serve, church rise up, leave the building, and GO!

Live out Acts :

⁴²And they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and the prayers. ⁴³And awe came upon every soul, and many wonders and signs were being done through the apostles. ⁴⁴And all who believed were together and had all things in common. ⁴⁵And they were selling their possessions and belongings and distributing the proceeds to all, as any had need. ⁴⁶And day by day, attending the temple together and breaking bread in their homes, they received their food with glad and generous hearts,47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to their number day by day those who were being saved.

Yes Lord, oh wait, I have to change?

Yesterday was an interesting day. Some great things happened in the ministry of Trinity, but in other places, the wilderness seemed like it would never end. So it got me thinking about change... here are my thoughts and ramblings...

Here are a few verses from Isaiah 43. Great chapter, I encourage you to take time to read it!

^8(AA) "Remember not the former things,
nor consider the things of old.
^19(AB) Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
^(AC) I will make a way in the wilderness
^(AD) and rivers in the desert.

²⁵"I, I am he
^(AK) who blots out^(AL) your transgressions for my own sake,
and I will not remember your sins.
²⁶Put me in remembrance;^(AM) let us argue together;
set forth your case, that you may be proved right.

Do we as the church honestly believe the above passage? "Behold, I am doing a new thing!" I am starting to get heart broken at the sound of followers saying, "No, God, I am too comfortable, you cannot do something new, even if that means people must parish in darkness for eternity." Do we often forget who Gods really is? (vs. 25) Things in our culture are rapidly changing around us, be it technology, the way we communicate, the way things move (very fast), how we are entertained, and the list can go on...

Yet it is one thing we as the church do not wish to do, is let God do something new (if it requires change), a new thing that will provide water in a dry place, that will bring forth wells in desert. For the church to do something new usually means one thing, one word we are scared of, "Change." In the book Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel he says, "Before you can tap into God's changing power, you have to stop making excuses." He goes on to talk about John 5:6 and the story of the invalid where Jesus asks him, "Do you want to get well?" (my translation: Do you want to change?") If you were sick and asked if you wanted to be well, wouldn't you want to change? What you want to be made healthy? Wouldn't you want Jesus to do a great work so you can go to the next level? The invalid responds, "I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me."

I want to pull something from this that Groeschel touches on as well, so some of this is my thinking and some I have adapted from him. I see two issues here with the invalid. If you take time to read the whole story we see that he has been in this place of suffering for 30 years. Time after time people have passed him at this pool, ignoring the help that he needs to get out of the state he is in. So my tie in is this... how many people in the communities around our churches have passed us day in and day out, wondering what is was like to come into our building, yet no one took the time to reach out and help them in? Maybe we did not take the time to look at what needs to change around us to make us more relevant to the culture we are trying to reach. How many people in our community are offered the chance to see the saving nature of Christ and miss out because we are too busy focused on how comfortable we are, to reach those who are looking for change, who are looking to be made well, who are looking to break the life of sin, yet no one was there to help them into the "pool." Ephesians 2:10, "He has grand designs for you, great works that he planned in advance for you to do."

God has great plans for the Bride of Christ, yet to embrace those plans, sometimes we have to change. Remember we are not changing who we are, who we are about, and what we carry, the Gospel. We are just changing in how we are relevant to the culture around us, as we can reach those who have been crying out for help into the "pool."

The best part of the story of the Invalid in John 5 is that he never had to get in the pool, Jesus just looked at him and said, "get up, take up your bed, and walk." This opens another blog for another day, maybe we are trying to hard to get people into our "pool" where we just need to go to them, meet them where they are, lend out a hand and say, "get up and walk."

Grace and Peace.

A prayer for Lent, for churches and individuals

Would you pray this for yourself and your church? Would you be willing to step out and say God, I have sinned and you have been right in your punishment? Would you pray this prayer? (Daniel 9:4-19)

³Then I turned my face to the Lord God, seeking him by prayer and pleas for mercy with fasting and sackcloth and ashes. ⁴I prayed to the LORD my God and made confession, saying, "O Lord, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and steadfast love with those who love him and keep his commandments, ⁵ we have sinned and done wrong and acted wickedly and rebelled, turning aside from your commandments and rules. ⁶ We have not listened to your servants the prophets, who spoke in your name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. ⁷To you, O Lord, belongs righteousness, but to us open shame, as at this day, to the men of Judah, to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, and to all Israel,those who are near and those who are far away, in all the lands to which you have driven them, because of the treachery that they have committed against you. ⁸To us, O LORD, belongs open shame, to our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against you. ⁹ To the Lord our God belong mercy and forgiveness, for we have rebelled against him¹⁰ and have not obeyed the voice of the LORD our God by walking in his laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets. ¹¹ All Israel has transgressed your law and turned aside, refusing to obey your voice. And the curse and oath that are written in the Law of Moses the servant of God have been poured out upon us, because we have sinned against him. ¹²He has confirmed his words, which he spoke against us and against our rulers who ruled us, by bringing upon us a great calamity. For under the whole heaven there has not been done anything like what has been done against Jerusalem.¹³ As it is written in the Law of Moses, all this calamity has come upon us; yet we have not entreated the favor of the LORD our God, turning from our iniquities and gaining insight by your truth. ¹⁴ Therefore the LORD has kept ready the calamity and has brought it upon us, for the LORD our God is righteous in all the works that he has done, and we have not obeyed his voice. ¹⁵And now, O Lord our God, who brought your people out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have made a name for yourself, as at this day, we have sinned, we have done wickedly.

¹⁶"O Lord, according to all your righteous acts, let your anger and your wrath turn away from your city Jerusalem, your holy hill, because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers, Jerusalem and your people have become a byword among all who are around us. ¹⁷Now therefore, O our God, listen to the prayer of your servant and to his pleas for mercy, and for your own sake, O Lord, make your face to shine upon your sanctuary, which is desolate. ¹⁸ O my God, incline your ear and hear. Open your eyes and see our desolations, and the city that is called by your name. For we do not present our pleas before you because of our righteousness, but because of your great mercy. ¹⁹O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive. O Lord, pay attention and act. Delay not, for your own sake, O my God, because your city and your people are called by your name."

40 days of giving it up

Yesterday, Ash Wednesday, marked the beginning of the liturgical observance of Lent. This is my fourth year being a part of the Anglican tradition, and my fourth lent. Over the past four years I have given up coffee, candy, soda, tried to give up facebook, etc. I have also tried to take on more reading, better devotional life, and a better prayer life. For 40 days, and then it was back to "normal." Back to sweet carbonated goodness, facebook stalking, teeth rotting candy, and a luke-warm devotional and prayer life. I did my check off for the year, it is now pentecost season, time to rest. Sound familiar?

Fasting is an important part of Lent, I just feel I have been missing, and so do many others, the mark on what our Lenten disciplines (those things we fast for 40 days) are all about. Even though this is my favorite time of year in the church because of the emphasis of self-examination and preparation for the resurrection celebration, I will say I despise the question, "So, what are you giving up for Lent?" I often ask myself is this a question for a later relationship of accountability or a question of curiosity? (Matthew 6:16-18) Fasting these things we decide to give up are great, but it is what we replace them with, that matters (great example in Daniel 9:3). We give things up, we take things on, but do we give someone up, ourselves?

However, we must remember that our Lenten disciplines are supposed to ultimately transform our entire person: body, soul, and spirit. Our Lenten disciplines are supposed to help us become more like Christ. Eastern Christians call this process theosis, which St. Athanasius aptly describes as "becoming by grace what God is by nature."

Steven Clark, , always said, "Lent is more than a diet." As you take on your lenten discipline, remember that is more about gaining spiritual maturity and righteousness, something I hope to accomplish. I pray that it is more than a 40 day focus, but a lifetime work, what I like to call a "Beautiful Struggle."

I have a great friend of mine who is currently undergoing to daniel fast (read about it: http://www.daniel-fast.com/). He started out full fledged with a great plan, and then realized it was starting become more about rules and regulations, instead of growth, discernment, and holiness, which I can say about many of the fasts I have done. I support taking something on or away for lent, I just pray that we can honestly come through with a closer relationship with the one who gave His life. That lent becomes "more than a diet," but a way to come to the cross a changed disciple of Christ. To me, Lent is not about putting something down, it is about putting someone down: myself. May we give our life to the One who gave it all for us!

Take up your cross... no really.

I recently returned from the National Children's Pastors Conference in Orlando. Now first I must admit that I am not your typical children's pastor that you find at this conference. I refer to myself as a family pastor, wear jeans to church with a cool sweater vest, have a fohawk, and use facebook, twitter, and an Ipad. Sound more like a student pastor... anyways.

I also just realized that I ranted and that it had NOTHING to do with where I am going with this blog. But then again, it may...

You see, I approach ministry a little different than some do, a more radical approach. The approach where I take the scripture word for word in what it says and instead of trying to take a "modern gospel" approach where we try to apply and mold the gospel to the culture today, I try to mold my life to what the Gospel was, is, and always will be. Culture is ever changing, the gospel is not.

i say that to say that this blog may be a little more radical than some may like...

This past week a speaker spoke on Taking up your Cross and reminded us of something that I am going to borrow for the purpose of this blog.

"Any man who wishes to follow me, must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow me!" Luke 9:23

How many times within the church realm have we used this verse? In fact I can hear one of my past sunday school teachers, in their sweet innocent voice.. Jesus said, "take up your cross and follow him." (said in the same way that you would greet a young child). It was not until recently that I gave this passage more thought.

"take up your cross." We say it so lightly and freely and almost in a happy tone that it does not make sense in the original context. Back in the time of Christ, if someone looked at you and said, "Take up your cross", guess what? You were going to DIE! Death was imminent at this point. Life was about to end. Yet we take the words written in red to passively. Jesus is saying, you must, "take up your cross," and not just yearly as a new years resolution, or monthly, or just on Sunday mornings. He says, "take up your cross, DAILY!" We are to DIE everyday. Die to self, the world, the temptations, and the list can go on. Even though the message leaves out the phrase, "take up your cross," I still like how it is put...

"Then he told them what they could expect for themselves: "Anyone who intends to come with me has to let me lead. You're not in the driver's seat—I am. Don't run from suffering; embrace it. Follow me and I'll show you how. Self-help is no help at all. Self-sacrifice is the way, my way, to finding yourself, your true self. What good would it do to get everything you want and lose you, the real you? If any of you is embarrassed with me and the way I'm leading you, know that the Son of Man will be far more embarrassed with you when he arrives in all his splendor in company with the Father and the holy angels. This isn't, you realize, pie in the sky by and by. Some who have taken their stand right here are going to see it happen, see with their own eyes the kingdom of God." Luke 9:23-27

WOW. We have to let HIM lead! We have to be ready to go and die, He did. Take up your cross, daily.

So are you like me, ready to fully die to self and let God take control? I stink at it, it is hard, scary, and especially difficult when you have a family that relies on you for strength, guidance, and provision.

Eventually I will share more to this awakening in my life, but until then, remember that we are called to come and die. Die in a way that lets Christ take control and not ourselves. And to that i say, Lord let it be unto me.