Simple

According to plan?

This week has been very different than I anticipated. I had anticipated a nice, relaxing ministry week, but what I got was way more involved than that. I've been dealing with a crisis marriage situation. I got my lesson done early in the week...so no issues there. But my sermon, oh man, my sermon has been kicking me in the butt all week long.

I came in Thursday morning and deleted everything I had written (on purpose) because it was really ticking me off. I figured that anything was better than what I had up to that point. So I scrapped what I had and went skipping off into the great unknown with my sermon and feel like I have exactly what God wants me to share now. Maybe that's why it was such a dang struggle this week.

But we also completed our Easter video. (I'll post that here later.) And I helped out a friend this week, had several meetings this week, made some hospital visits this week and still had time to be Dad/husband/superpastor (or maybe masterpastor).

By the way, if you are new to my blog, I really am not an egotistical maniac. "Masterpastor" is my Xbox Live sign-in name. Maybe it would better read...I am an egotical maniac...but not because of the name masterpastor.

I'm not crying about my week, I just think it is funny how we have these little internal talks with God and they go something like this: "Okay God, it's been crazy for a while so I want to have a nice relaxing week this week. Thanks." And then we expect God to just bend right over and accomodate for us.

Well, what we desire out of our week and how God expects to use us in a week typically NEVER measure up. So just because my week doesn't go "according to plan" doesn't mean that God isn't busy working and using me as He deems fit. He just doesn't feel compelled to do things the way we would do them.

God's funny math

I'm not a liturgical guy. I'm just not into liturgy, in fact, I think in many cases it is heartless and moves people farther away from God rather than closer to Him. But I was reading a blog the other day where the author shared about what he was sacrificing for the Lenten season.

He said he was going to sacrifice something and then add something. I found that interesting. God's math is funny. Subtraction plus Addition equals Multiplication. - + + = x

So I decided I am going to sacrifice pop, tea and any other kind of drink except water and I am going to add another chapter in my Bible reading each day. And God will multiply blessings in my life.

Again, I'm not a liturgical guy. But I like God's funny math. So what subtraction and addition do you need to make in your life right now?

Congressional Relief Action Plan (C.R.A.P.)

The Crisis of Credit

The following video is excellent content to make a complex problem more understandable via visual means. Let me know what you think...


The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

My Inner Pirate

On the website Pirate Name Generator I found out that my Pirate Name is Cap'n Bud Buttscar. I like it! I think I am going to ask that everyone refer to me as Cap'n Bud from now on!

Shiver me timbers!

Always read the Terms of Use fine print!

Best Version of Amazing Grace...Ever!

I came across this from a blog and it blew me away...enjoy!

Youversion 2.0

Got an invite (along with hundreds of others) to get a sneak peek at Youversion 2.0 today from Terry Storch with Lifechurch.tv's digerati team. All I can say is WOW! He asked us to not share any screen shots from what we saw. It was a conference call and presentation using ZOHO free remote presenter.

I love Youversion. I think the innovation these guys are pushing with this is going to have a significant impact on the Body of Christ! Some of the cool new features include the ability to have parallel views of Scripture in multiple translations, and the ability to share scriptures and other Youversion features through the various social network mediums (Facebook, Twitter, etc.), currently you can only share via e-mail so this will be a nice improvement.

It has a very clean, smooth look to it that is VERY user-friendly. It was fun to be in on the meeting and seeing this stuff pre-release. You won't see Youversion 2.0 for a couple months at least. But in the meantime go check out the current version of Youversion.

Willing to Fail

This is an excellent video from Craig Groeschel from the book-to-video: It. This is an awesome clip.


Bookie from LifeChurch.tv on Vimeo.

82

In 1982 the first National Day of Peace was celebrated. The famous Hollywood sign was erected just over 82 years ago. Most people have at least 82 friends on Facebook. In 1982 the Commodore 64 was introduced. In 1982 Knight Rider premiered on television.

But here's the most important 82...

Researchers tell us that 82% of people who are invited to church from someone they already know will say yes. 82% of unchurched people will accept an invitation by a friend or coworker if they are simply asked!

82%!

Easter is April 12th! 82% will say yes! It's time to invite!

R & R

We're on a little excursion away from things over in Omaha. We spent the afternoon in the pool at the hotel and then went to Red Lobster for supper (Oh Man did I eat way too much!) and then over to Wal Mart to get a couple things...while we were there Jakey and I had a little fun down the Valentine's Day Clearance Aisle...Watch and Enjoy!

My Favorite Scripture - March 2009

Beginning with next month's newsletter, we are adding a feature called, "My Favorite Scripture." We will be highlighting one person each month that attends The Fort and having them share what their favorite verse is and why. Here is the very first one:

Dan Morgan, member at The Fort for over 10 years shares his favorite verse from Numbers 23:19, saying, “This verse has been an encouragement to me in my walk, reminding me that God’s promises are sure.”

Selective Hearing

I preached a sermon from the book of Acts today on Courage. One of the things I shared was that we need to quit caring about what people think and start caring about what God thinks.

After I preached that at first service, I had one person (who seems to have a nack for delivering little barbs of discouragement) tell me that my usage of the pronouns "you and I" are in poor sorts.

How crazy is that? I preach on not caring about what people think and instead caring more about what God thinks and then this person THINKS that I would give a Crap what they think. Interesting.

You and I both know that I don't give a rat's rear end about how I use the words "you and I." BUT, I do care about what God thinks about what I say. And I am pretty sure He isn't grading my pronoun usage...but He is grading my handling of THE MESSAGE.

The Church in action...

It's been a crazy week. Thought a lot about life, death and choices lately. I can't escape a couple of realities currently. Last Sunday a 14 year old boy sat in Sunday School and participated in discussion about the Bible and three days later he's dead. But seeing our church respond in love and kindness to this family that is in the pit of a hellish darkness dealing with this death is really inspiring.

I am so happy to see the church BE the church. The church isn't a place. It isn't something we go to but it is something that we are.

Helping each other through difficulty is what we are to be about.

The worst ministry experience ever...

Today I think ranks very, very close to the worst ministry experience of my life. A 14 year old boy in our church overdosed and consequently died today. Going into his grandmother's home and ministering to his family was so tough. They are so heartbroken. My heart aches for them in such deep sorrow.

Please pray for them. Pray God's Presence in their life. Pray for strength.

Crazy Love

I am reading Francis Chan's book Crazy Love with my family each morning. This morning there was something pretty cool that we read. Here is the excerpt that we read today that really challenged me...

Recently I saw a bag of potato chips with a bold declaration splashed across the front: "Zero grams of trans fat." I was glad to know that I wouldn't be consuming any trans fat, which research has shown is detrimental to my health. But then I flipped the bag over and read the ingredients list, which included things like "yellow #6" and other artificial colors, and partially hydrogenated oil (which is trans fat, just a small enough amount that they can legally call it "0 grams"). I thought it was incredibly ironic that these chips were being advertised in a way that makes me think they are not harmful yet were really full of empty calories, weird chemicals, and, ironically, trans fat.

It struck me that many Christians flash around their "no trans fat" label, trying to convince everyone they are healthy and good. Yet they have no substantive or healthful elements to their faith. It's like the Laodiceans, who thought they had everything until Christ told them they were poor and wretched. They were all about declaring, "Look, we have no trans fat. We are wealthy, or we have good families, or we go to church every week." Obviously, it's not what you advertise that counts; it's what you are really made of.

So what am I really made of? My good deeds are like "filthy rags" according to God's Word (Isaiah 64:6). That word translated "filthy rags" there is actually a reference to used menstrual rags. Yuck. What horrific imagery. God is making it ultra clear that when I puff myself up thinking I am good...it really is disgusting.

I need to be good because of Christ in me. My goodness can only come from Him and for Him. The less of me and the more of him the better off I am.

Acts unscripted

I am currently preaching through the book of Acts. I remember when I was in Junior High one particular night while I was staying over at my grandmother's house, me and my Uncle Scott (who now preaches at Crown Hill Church in Seattle, WA) stayed up into the wee hours of the morning reading through the book of Acts.

Honestly, it is something I will never forget. He would read a chapter, I would read a chapter. He would explain stuff as we went along. And I remember being so moved by what I was reading. I got emotional and so full of passion as I read about the courage of those disciples in the first century.

I wish I could replicate that experience. I don't think I have ever read Scripture like that since that time. In those moments I felt so close to God and my faith was so deeply encouraged that it is really hard to describe.

Nothing snazzy, no frills. All we did was read and talk about Acts. It was a profound moment for me in my faith journey.

Viral Vision

Being a pastor in a smaller church is a real struggle sometimes. You want to do so much. You see the need for so many things to be fixed or made better, but the reality is you are always in a catch 22. If you focus on too many things as a pastor, you fail at everything. If you don't do enough, it usually doesn't get done.

The trick is being okay with that. One guy can't do it all. There has to be a vision that is cast (and re-cast and re-cast and re-cast) and there has to be a motivation for people to embrace that vision and then be willing to sacrifice personally to make sure it gets accomplished.

Seminars and conferences for a smaller church pastor can be intensely frustrating as well (even for the church he serves too). Because you see all these great things and get all these neat ideas, but you are still left with the fact that it will only happen if you end up doing it.

Over these past few years I have allowed myself the freedom of being okay with only doing a couple of things...and doing them to the very best of my ability. (I can't say that I don't fall back into old patterns from time to time.) Preaching my message on Sunday is my TOP PRIORITY. Nothing supercedes that.

My next focus is relationship building/leadership development. Part pastoring, part teaching. It is the slow prodding of people to the next level. And it is grueling work at times. But it is something that a smaller church pastor needs to pour his life into.

I think that the challenge is realizing when it is okay to change your focus (although I believe my first focus should never change). I think that I cannot continue being so entrenched in people's lives if the church is going to grow. If the church starts to grow and I continue the ministry the same way, the growth will only be sporatic at best and will only go to a certain level before it stops completely.

Because more people are doing more ministry, the church is being energized and growth is happening. I am just being honest with the fact that most of the time, I am flying by the seat of my pants with this whole thing. Being a leader is a drag at times because you want people to have confidence that you know what you are doing, but any leader would probably confess that (at least at times) we don't know what we are doing.

And I think that's okay, ultimately. Because that requires more dependence on God. I know momentum is increasing in the church right now and I want it to continue. But that doesn't happen with me. My preaching is NOT a sustaining element. It is definitely within the Body itself (as well as God's Spirit moving in our midst).

So I've been praying about my next step. My next focus. What it should be. Our growth at the church also cannot be "event" centered. (I'm convinced of this.) It has to be a cultural shift within our Body. People in general will desire to make invites happen. That is how serious growth is going to occur for us.

I think that culture is getting there, but we still have a way to go. And, to be honest, I will still be an event-promoter for a while. But hopefully soon, it isn't going to be about any event. It will about who we are as a church. That we will become something viral...like a crazy Youtube video that everybody just has to see. We will become a place where everybody is just wanting to see what we're all about.

Missions

One of the folks from our Missions Committee told me today something that was incredibly cool. In 1998, the year I started at The Fort, we gave a total of $8,100.00 to Missions work. Last year, in 2008, ten years later, we gave a total of $35,000.00 to Missions.

That is waaay cool! I believe as a point of conviction that God will not bless our church if we don't give beyond ourselves. If a church stays so selfish and only uses the resources it has for itself, then it is destined for failure.

A few years ago we went through a difficult financial period. I had one person tell me that he believed that we needed to think of ourself as a mission and we needed to cut back on what we were giving to global missions. I was defiant and told him over my dead body.

A church that doesn't give to missions won't grow. Period.

God's kingdom has been advanced, and we have been blessed by blessing other mission works around the world.

Deaf children in Council Bluffs, IA have been reached with the Gospel because our church was faithful in missions work. A five year old girl was saved from the sex slave trade in Cambodia because our church was faithful in giving to missions.

That is important work. Paying for our heating, or even my salary, pales in comparison to that. So good job! I know God is pleased with our giving. Now let's take it up a notch in 2009!