Moved

Moved Blog to new site (really the old site). It gave me more features to use and edit.

The Glory of God

God has been blowing me away with so much stuff lately. I wish I had time to write some of it out, but that time will come. For now enjoy this article written by John Piper on the subject of the glory of God.

Mission Resurgence

I saw this article somewhere, I don’t even remember. It was written by Richard Ross. He is a professor at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Texas. He has written a phenomenal article. I wanted to share it here.

Real men eat rare steaks cut from the grizzly bear they killed with a hunting knife. And, they think the only real sports are those that routinely result in crushed vertebra and ripped ACLs. Real men played football in high school and now they think that is the only sport that matters. They are certain that kicking a soccer ball into a net is a sissy sport, not worthy of their TV time.

But all of that begins to change when the real man’s son shows an interest in soccer. It doesn’t take long before he starts telling the guys at coffee break about the new soccer trophy sitting on his mantle. Suddenly the dad finds himself online, learning all the intricacies of the player positions and strategies. When his son makes the traveling team, the dad cancels important meetings to help the coach on the trip. And without blinking an eye he pays $500 for a summer soccer camp that will give his son a leg up on the other players.

Why would a real man give this much attention to sport he doesn’t like? Because it is important to his daughter or son. And why would a parent who has dozed through years of missions challenges suddenly become vitally interested? The answer is the same — because it has become important to a son or daughter.

I dream of a day when God’s people will call out and send out almost all students to spend a summer, semester, or year in front-line missions, within a year or so of high school graduation.

God seems to be orchestrating a cultural shift to make this practical. An increasing number of secular and Christian universities are granting admission to recent high school graduates but not requiring them to register for classes for one year. They use the term “GAP year” to describe this period where students are allowed to do something immersive before beginning university studies.

For Christian students, that could mean going to the hard places internationally, nationally or even locally. Parents will never see missions the same after they get the e-mail that says, “Daddy, I held a baby while she died last night. I cried a long time because this is so needless. If believers just sent a little money, we could dig a water well and the dying would stop.” Or, “All the people crowding around our van wanted Bibles. But I ran out before most got one. I do not understand why Christians don’t live more simply so they could give more.”

For the life of me I do not know why some theologically confused people in Utah would be the only ones to prepare and send out all their sons and daughters on an adventure that will shape their lives.

The Great Commission Task Force and then the Southern Baptist Convention must weave together many elements to achieve a true resurgence in missions. But sending our own children to the front lines can capture the hearts of churches in ways few other things can.

Family Matters (Part 2)

Sorry that I missed a post yesterday, but it was a little busier than expected. I hate to disappoint the three or four readers of this blog, but sometimes you just have to wait.  Today I want to want to explain the role of PROPHET that a father/husband has with his family.

A prophet is one who speaks a message or word from God. In the OT as we look at the prophets, they were all given a message to deliver to the people from God. Unfortunately, we expect prophets today to call down fire from heaven or raise people from the dead and we have lost the understanding of this role.

The beautiful thing for you husband/father is that you have a message to speak. It is the word of God. Understand that the very Bible you hold is the breath of God (see here). I wish I could go into more detail here, but I do want to keep this shorter than the last post.

So how do I teach my family the Bible? From the men that I have interacted with through student ministry and beyond, teaching the Bible to their family tends to intimidate them the most. Let me share a tool that we use at Capstone. It’s called SOAP. It is an acronym that stands for: Scripture, Observation, Application, and Prayer.

This is a great tool for family worship. So here is the challenge to you men. This week will you sit your family down or maybe just your wife and share what God taught you through your personal time with him. Sit down with them and read the Scripture passage, tell them the things that you observed from the passage, explain some applications for you and your family, and then pray with your family.

As your children get older, guide them through this process. Sit with them and help them learn to observe and apply. Allow your children to close out your family time with prayer.  Just some thoughts. Any other thoughts out there from you?

I am praying for you guys.

Family Matters (Part 1)

This past Sunday we began a discussion in our Community Group about leading families and men being the spiritual leader of the home. I thought I would share on the blog some of the things I been teaching our Community Group through emails.

Just to let you know, this is not going to be an exhaustive study on this blog. I invite any comments, but I am just trying to give a brief overview. Each post will be relatively short and not some exegesis of the entire Bible. So with that said, let me share how this blog series came about.

I made the comment that a MAN’S role is to be PRIEST, PROPHET, PROTECTOR, and PROVIDER for his wife and children. So many times, we say things like that but never give anyone guidance beyond that saying. So I am going to take each role and do a quick breakdown of the role along with one action step for MEN to do with their families.

Let’s start with the responsibility of being the Priest for your family.

The role of the priest established in the Old Testament is to go before the LORD on behalf of the people. In the OT one was not allowed to randomly go before God in the Temple. Only a certain group was allowed (priests) and they had to meet strict requirements because of God’s holiness. The High Priest through the sacrificial system was able to approach God on our behalf, but was never able to bring a perfect sacrifice.

In the New Testament we find Jesus as our High Priest. A perfect sacrifice. The spotless Lamb. See Hebrews 4:14-5:9. Because we have the great High Priest in Jesus we can go before our God for our family.

So what can I do? I am so glad you asked. As the Priest for your family I invite you to pray for them. Pray for your wife. Go before the LORD on behalf of your children. Spend time each morning or evening alone praying for your family. Lifting their needs, burdens, joys, sorrows, etc. before the Lord.

Will you take that step today? Will you get alone and pray for your family?

Quick Recap (Sunday Rundown)

There is so much for me to cover, and I do not have the time now to do so. So I just want to write out a few thoughts from this past Sunday. I hope to throw out some Catalyst takeaways in another post very soon.

• The Adoption series that we just finished was incredible.
• From seeing people understand and acknowledge their adoption into God’s family to seeing families interested in adopting a child, it doesn’t get any better.
• We have a new family member. Her name is Andrelyn. She is a sixteen year old girl who we adopted through Compassion International. It is my hope and prayer that my children will each sponsor a Compassion child as they grow up.
• The Stoners are getting louder and louder on Sunday mornings. I love hearing you all sing way better than hearing myself. All of your voices united as one sounds way better than anything I could ever do.
• Sunday night was just STANK NASTY AWESOME. There is just no other way to say it. We saw 6 people give an outward expression of the inward change in their lives through baptism.
• Plus we had our sponsor church, Rocky Creek Baptist Church, join for the evening. Simply phenomenal. My voice was dead by the end of the night.
• The place was packed and you guys were rockin.
• I have to give a major SHOUT OUT to the whole band. Saturday and Sunday were long days with a lot of practice. You guys and girls could never know the appreciation I have for your commitment and sacrifice.
• Well, I am headed home now. Still got things in my head from Catalyst, but like I said, another post for another day.
• Good Night to All.

Leadership = Obedience

Just a quick thought before I head up the road to work. I have been thinking a lot on the subject of leadership and success in ministry. This got me thinking about something that a mentor said to me.

Success in ministry is OBEDIENCE.

Short. Simple. True. Success in ministry is NOT numbers, but I have spent time worrying about numbers before. Looking back the most fruitful time of the student ministry started when we LOST numbers. We began to focus on the Word and play fewer games. We had the numbers go down, but through our obedience God blessed it in many other ways. Our numbers eventually went up, but not because of some HYPED idea, but because of a group of students who had grown more in love with Jesus everyday.

Leadership is the same way. I am in a new position. I have been a worship leader (yes I know worship is not just singing it is a lifestyle, just go with me) for a long time, but that has never been my primary function when on staff at a church. I have always helped out and led when and where necessary, but this is new territory for me. So I have been thinking about the changes that I have to make from a leadership standpoint.

Obviously integrity and character are still important issues, but in thinking about leadership the most important thing (MIT) is walking with Jesus.

Leadership = Following Jesus. I am never going to do anything in the arena of leadership if I am not following Jesus. The last few months have created a renewed desire to rest in the shadow of the cross. I can’t do this journey called life without HIS spirit and HIS power.

It doesn’t matter what position you have. It doesn’t matter your background or story. True success is measured by your obedience to Scripture. There are a lot of examples of decisions that don’t make sense in my life other than me saying “Jesus told me to.” Your influence as a leader will be defined by your relationship with Jesus.