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Hope to see you over at the new place.

(update…  I honestly have no idea why I can’t get this video to embed on my blog but it’s SOOO worth the click!)

As i sat there I began to evaluate who I was and what I was doing. About five years before that day Meri and I had packed up everyone and left our first home, first real jobs and tons of great friends behind and moved to Cleveland so that I could work as a community pastor for a large young adult ministry. Very quickly the course that I had set out on took some very dramatic left turns and in a little over a year I had become the leader of that young adult ministry.

The next couple of years were some of the hardest years of my life. There was heart ache, loss, break down, threats, doubt, pain, confusion, anger and along with that a little fun. I believe in all of that God was working things together for His (and by default) my good.

As I sat in that room last summer I came to the conclusion that I wasn’t living the life I was meant to live and I wasn’t the man I was called to be. Looking at the list of things that we had walked through you might guess that I had some pretty good excuses as to why that was – and over the years I had used all of them – but for some reason that day I came to the realization that most of that was my own fault.

In that moment – apart from everything else that was happening in that room – I understood why.

I was just letting life happen.

I was letting things happen to me.
I was acting in response to what was going on around me.
I was leading in the way that I assumed were required based on circumstances.

Don’t get me wrong, I had a good job and was doing good things at that job but I was just letting life happen and if I wanted to live the life I was made to live and be the man I was called to be I was going to have to take action.

It seems to me that most of us know life isn’t going how we had hoped or in the direction we thought it would many of us are disappointed in who we’ve become and how we are living but for whatever reason we just assume that’s how things have to be.

That’s a lie.
That’s a ploy of the enemy.

You don’t have to just let life happen. You can be who you were called to be. Jesus Christ rose from the dead and the same Spirit that did that is at work in you.

It’s a battle I have to fight every day – but I have already overcome.

I will live the life I was made to live and I will be the man I was called to be.

Will you?

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This post was inspired by this video and this website

Today I became a full time church planter.  After five years of being on staff at sevenoseven today I started something new.  By new I don’t just mean new for me – I mean completely new.  There is nothing yet (we do have about 20 people connected to a launch team, but you know what I mean).

There are all sorts of feelings that bounced around my head and heart today but I just want to share about this afternoon.  After sharing some great time with Dan Kopps through the morning and early afternoon I headed home to get ready for tonight’s Launch Team meeting.  As I was getting everything set up and reviewing my notes I had an overwhelming feeling of “WHAT IN THE WORLD AM I DOING!?!?!  IS THIS THE WORST IDEA I’VE HAD?”

I tried to fight through it.  I tried to reason with myself.  I tried to play it cool.  The feeling remained.

It got to the point where I felt like thinly option I had was to lay on my face in our living room and pray.

I’d like to say that as soon as I prayed the feelings subsided but they didn’t really but I have to say I’m glad they didn’t.  I hope they continue to drive me into prayer and that through my fears I am pressed deeper and deeper into trusting God to be my hope and security.

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You can follow our church planting adventures at RenewCommunites.com.  If you would like to help support us financially you can get more info here!

I’m not one to complain (publicly) about the frustrating aspects of ministry but this week a few things have come up and as I’ve wrestled with the impact on me personally I thought I’d put some thoughts out there.

This week I received a “comment card” about a message that I gave about a month ago.  The commenter was a bit upset with the fact that I used some lyrics from a secular song to illustrate the idea that everyone, whether they know Christ or not, longs for the world that will be after God restores His creation.  The commenter made two insinuations that I had allowed Satan to twist God’s word through the sermon I had written.

While I am a tad bit frustrated with the fact that because they don’t agree with my sermon or the use of a certain song’s lyrics within it I must clearly be aligned with Satan – a pastor gets used to those kinds of accusations – my real issue is with the anonymity that this person chose to hide behind.  When you chose to withhold your name you guarantee that you have a chance to say what you want to say without ever having to talk through the issue you have or even give the person you’re criticizing a chance to respond. In most walks of life this kind of thing would be considered a cheap shot but somehow in church people assume they have the right to say these things without any other conversation.

If I were reading this post I would think “that guy’s just mad because someone accused him of being in partnership with Satan,” but honestly it’s more than that.  In reality I see church as a community (maybe even a family) and the only way that community stands the test of time is if we speak the truth to each other in love and that’s just not possible with anonymous notes.

So do the body of Christ a favor and be honest and open with everyone so that we can represent Christ as we’re called to do – together.

I can’t get the video to embed for some reason so you’re going to have to follow the link.  It’s fully worth it!  Please don’t miss the chance to be inspired!

I laughed so hard I almost cried…

It’s really interesting because as of right now I haven’t met the family.  They know me from the handful of times I have taught in the morning at CVC but sometimes that’s all the connection that’s needed.  A few of the pastors on our team had to pass on officiating for one reason or another and when I got the call I was tempted to do the same.  It’s not that I don’t want to be a part of it because I consider it a great honor but to be honest most of that is fear.  The first time to do anything is tough but something this important to people is downright intimidating.

In the end I embraced this opportunity because Jesus didn’t call me to do what’s best for me but instead to consider others higher than myself.  In this case the emotions that I’m feeling seem silly in light of what the family and friends must be going through.  In fact there’s probably not a more important situation that a pastor could be called into and I am convinced that these situations are exactly where God wants us to be spending our time.

I’ve been wrestling through how to best go about preparing for such an important event and have had some great encouragement from my friend Ron Williams at Pathway in Fort Wayne.  Tomorrow I’ll meet with the family and Wednesday we’ll celebrate this life and talk about the hope that is found in the resurrection.  If you think about it pray for me and more than anything lift up this family.

In looking around some old blog posts that I had saved about the subject I came across an article by A N Wilson talking about his conversion from Christianity to Atheism and then his conversion back to Christianity twenty years later.  It’s very intriguing to hear him talk about the peace he felt when he decided he didn’t believe in God.  He compares it to what he witnessed at a Billy Graham crusade when thousands came forward.

His return to God was not as sudden as his departure but he talks a little about why at the end of the article (mortality and morality played a huge role as well as the idea of language) but my favorite paragraph was this.

When I think about atheist friends, including my father, they seem to me like people who have no ear for music, or who have never been in love. It is not that (as they believe) they have rumbled the tremendous fraud of religion – prophets do that in every generation. Rather, these unbelievers are simply missing out on something that is not difficult to grasp. Perhaps it is too obvious to understand; obvious, as lovers feel it was obvious that they should have come together, or obvious as the final resolution of a fugue.

You can read more here.

Some people can’t overcome their present circumstances because they’ve somehow been convinced that it’s just their lot in life.  Somehow the cross they have to bear is mediocrity/unfulfilled dreams/frustrating circumstances.

That’s just not true.

I’m not saying that everyone is going to get their book published/album made/dream job/happy family.  Just because you dream or want something doesn’t mean that thing will come to pass.  In fact thinking that way is what locks so many people into the life that doesn’t go anywhere.  When the dream isn’t achieved they point the finger and ultimately become bitter non-productive members of a bitter non-productive society.

What it does mean is you should write/perform/work/love. If this isn’t enough then that’s not really what you want to become.  What you really are hoping to become is famous/rich/lazy or something worse.  It’s important to know who/what you want to become because it will impact the direction you live your life.