Helpful Links

A few links I’ve found helpful recently.

• Praying this article is widely read – 10 Reasons to Partner in Planting Now
• Al Mohler spent some time with Acts 29 guys and weighs in
• This is the kind of church I want to be a part of too…
• Does size matter? This is a helpful reminder for every church leader.
• I know it’s not Thanksgiving yet, but I’m going to keep this Tozer piece close by this Christmas

 

Praying for the Roma

Very proud of some family members prepping to GO (Matthew 28:18-20) to Eastern Europe to work with an unreached people group in the region. Looking forward to hearing their God stories and drinking the Turkish coffee they will be sending our way :)). Check out some info about the people group here and here. Also follow Justin & Beth’s personal blog here.

Check out this interactive way to pray for the Roma of Central and Eastern Europe that could include the whole family.

 

Veteran’s Day Pics

A few of my personal pictures from our trip to D.C. earlier this year.

10 Easy Ways to Know You’re Not a Leader, from Killing Cockroaches by Tony Morgan

Just finished the book Killing Cockroaches by Tony Morgan. A book of posts from Morgan’s popular blog on strategy, leadership, etc., etc., etc. The book and the blog are well worth your time. Loved the practical, personal nature of the book which demonstrates how leaders should learn and grow and teach as we process everyday life and leadership. Blogging is a tremendous tool for sharing our life lessons. Looking forward to future books like this from other favorite bloggers. Some of my favorite posts/chapters/essays, whatever you want to call them, was the Top ten list. Here’s a list I appreciated:

10 EASY WAYS TO KNOW YOU’RE NOT A LEADER:

1. You’re waiting on a bigger staff and more money to accomplish your vision.
2. You think you need to be in charge in order to have influence.
3. You’re content.
4. You tend to foster division instead of generating a helpful dialogue.
5. You think you need to say something to be heard.
6. You find it easier to blame others for your circumstances than to take responsibility for solutions.
7. It’s been some time sine you said, “I messed up.”
8. You’re driven by the task instead of the relationships and the vision.
9. Your dreams are so small that people think they can be achieved.
10. No one is following you.

Just one of the thought provoking posts from the book. More later…

“…evangelicalism with more cowbell”

Six flags over Jesus by Jared Wilson.

A Boys World

I’m a Published Photographer!

Check out the cover of Voice of Martyrs Spanish Edition. I snapped that picture on a 2008 trip to a remote village in the Lacandon Jungle of Chiapas, Mexico. VOM’s Spanish Publisher found it on my blog (with this post) and requested to use it. I was honored for them to do so because I’m a fan of the work of Voice of Martyrs and I’m burdened by the tremendous needs in Chiapas. The current issue will be on the persecution of Evangelical Christians in Chiapas. Sign up to receive their free newsletter here.

Hope Church of Waldheim has been on two trips to the region, providing medical care and cultivating the ground for church planting among the Tzotzil Indians in the Highlands of Chiapas. Bridge Church, the new church we are a part of in West St. Tammany Parish, recently sent a team back to the Lacandon Jungle to continue the work. We hope to return in 2009. Keep in touch for info about future trips.

Check out our partners at http://gled.net/.

Proud Member of the Junky Car Club

If my dad had an iconic symbol (i.e. Lincoln’s hat, Churchill’s cigar, etc.) it would have been the beat up, worn out, broke down truck that he had to work on for an hour before work everyday. He constantly drove clunkers and suffered greatly when he finally got to the point in his life that he was able to afford a new vehicle and purchased one. After a few months, he threw in the towel and gave the new truck to his teenage son (that’d be me) and came home with a school bus yellow ‘70 something dodge.

I always despised the old trucks and vowed to never drive clunkers when I grew up. Now, 18 years later, I’m 35 and I’ve never owned a new vehicle. I find myself working on mine regularly before work and I can’t stand the thought of driving something brand new. I can’t believe it! What happened?

Standing Where It’s Already Burned

One of the favorite titles I’ve held in my life (behind “Dad” of course) is Volunteer Fireman. I was honored to volunteer with one of St. Tammany Parish’s finest Volunteer Fire Departments for a number of years and still like to provide spiritual care for our first responders as a Volunteer Chaplain. One night I was out with our guys for a woods fire near Abita Springs. The fire was away from a road so our trucks couldn’t get close. The chief says, “I need to know how close that fire is, two of you go see.” Since I hadn’t volunteered for any assignments involving burning buildings, I jumped out first and took off through the thick woods. As we approached the fire, the wind picked up and we noticed that it was coming at us fairly fast and the way we had come was too thick for us to be able to make a quick escape. We began clawing as fast as we could parallel to the fire until we found a spot that was burning low enough for us to jump over. The environment at that point changed from scarry to eery. The ground singed and scarred, smoke rising, but we were safe. We were standing where it had already been burned and the fire would not be able to burn there again. We followed the fire up to the trucks at which point it was quickly extinguished.

That night I was reminded of 1 John 2:2, “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.” The word propitiation is used only here in the New Testament and it is filled with meaning for the real Christian. The word means “the appeasement or averting of God’s wrath or justice.” So, Jesus, through His death on the cross, appeased, absorbed, and averted God’s wrath toward me. Because of my sin, I faced the fire of God’s judgement (Romans 1:18, John 3:36), but in Christ I’m moved over to where the fire has already burned. Jesus took my judgement, He took my sin, He took my penalty, He took my justice. In Christ, there’s an eery safety. There’s been fire here, but it can’t be again.

Hebrews 9:27 says, “it is appointed for man to die once, and after that comes judgment.” On that day of judgement, which side of the fire line will you be standing on?

I know what God says, BUT…

I know what God says, BUT…

• “my situation is different.”
• “that will never happen to me.”
• “everyone else does it.”
• “that was a long time ago.”
• “they deserve it.”
• “god understands my needs.”
• “who really does that anyway?”
• “that’s just not possible for me.”
• “I’ll get around to that one day.”

When you disobey God it means there is a gap between where you are and where you know God wants you to be. “I know what God says, BUT…” or “I know what I should be doing, BUT…” reveals that gap for all that it is. When you excuse your disobedience, you are saying more about what you believe about God than anything else. What you should just go ahead and say is, “I know what God says, BUT…”

• “He really doesn’t matter that much to me.”
• “I know better than He does about this issue/situation. I’m so much wiser about these kind of things.”
• “God has changed since the Bible was written and all that stuff doesn’t really matter anymore.”
• “I’d rather do what my friends say than God. They are so much smarter than him.”
• “I don’t really think He can provide for this need. I’ll just do it myself.”
• “I don’t really believe in God at all. Since he’s not real, I can do whatever I want.”

If you can easily excuse a pattern of disobedience, blowing off the word and will of God, the book of 1 John says you are a liar, deceived, and in darkness.

The real Christian responds to God’s word with obedience. He’s revealed Himself in Christ who is willing to transform our lives. The transformed one responds to God with obedience.