My baby Abigail

I love both of my girls. Kylie is 2 years old. Abigail is 7 months. I will dedicate this blog to Abigail.

My prayer is that Abigail will grow up and marry a godly man. I pray that with her sweet smile she'll bring warmth and comfort to her family and friends. I pray that she would love Jesus and make His name known throughout the nations. I love you Abigail and with God's strength, I will continue to be a godly daddy for you.

New Life

I love to teach the Word of God. The book. The Bible. It is amazing to see the life change that it can bring to one's life. While four students gave their lives to Christ last night at Student Venture, many others were challenged to embrace the sovereignty of God in their lives.(Ephesians 1:3-7)

I think people really want to live. Not just exist, but live. If we understand that God is in control and we submit to Him, we will see His greatness and our freedom, then we will begin to truly live.

Today embrace the sovereignty of God.

Preaching

I absolutely love studying the topic of communication. It is such an art. Preaching for example, on average you have 30-40 minutes; what do you say? I love to hear guys that can capture the attention of a room full of people that range from 8-80 in age. It is so interesting how you can say the right words in the right way and captivate an audience. Of course the other side is that you choose the wrong words and your audience is nodding off or counting down the time until you stop talking about whatever it is that you are talking about.

Andy Stanley and Lane Jones have written the book "Communicating for a Change". Andy is an incredible communicator and basically tells you everything he does. I believe that while you are your own preacher and need to be original with your preaching, you can still take this format and apply it. This book is a must buy for any kind of communicator. Here are a few random thoughts that I like to use from the book:

One Point: Talk about one point and build illustrations, stories around it. Just one point. Not five. Not even three. One.
Sticky statement: When you find your one point, fashion a sticky statement and say it throughout your message over and over. A sticky statement is a short statement that gets your point across.
Story: Jesus always used illustrations and parables. People love stories! Use them near the beginning of your message to draw people in.
Tension: build tension right before you bring the Word. Create a problem or a question that people are dying for you to answer, then bring Gods Word to answer it.
Apply it: Its great to find the context of the culture back in the day, but make sure the audience knows how to apply it to their marriage, finances, kids, work...
Vision: Cast vision as you close your message to say "Could you imagine if we applied this to our lives, what our community would look like."

Great book. I hope this helps you in your communication journey. Everyone has their one book that they refer to everyone, this is mine. Buy the book.

Life is hard

Life is hard sometimes. I often have my ups and downs in life just like the next guy, but I like to evaluate the ups and downs. When I get through the good or bad times in my life, I look back and see how I responded. If I responded without faith, I realize it and repent. If I responded by faith, I praise God and pray that He would continue to fashion me so that my life would look more like Jesus.

I am in a season right now where times are tough and God is in the process of building my faith. When times are hard, people either turn to faith or fear; they trust God or they don't.

I am learning that I have no fear when I realize the sovereignty of God. And when I realize His sovereignty I am satisfied in Him. And when I am most satisfied in God, He is most glorified in my life.

Today I choose faith. Today I will trust in God's sovereignty to get me to tomorrow. It's my only hope. How about you? How do you respond in tough times?

Net Work ing

I love people. I love hearing of their hopes and dreams. I love sitting with them as they share their hurts. I love people and just being there for them and with them. There is a special group of people that I love talking with and they are church planters. See, there is a big movement along a lot of younger men to plant churches and reach those people who are not being reached. Going into bars to meet and love people. Finding ways to reach people in what may seem like a radical way.

Shane Craven is a new friend of mine. I am currently a youth pastor, but would love to one day plant a church. When I met Shane, I felt like we had an immediate connection (i mean that in a totally heterosexual way). He has the same passions, he's Biblical and he wants to reach people for who they are; sinners. Because by His grace, God plucked us out of our depraved nature and made us right with Him. Shane wants to be use to do the same in other peoples lives.

I love the power of networking and love how God uses that to change the world. Let's change the world Shane!

Get a job.

It is amazing to find someone who really cares about their job. Here is an example: I called to get a lower interest rate on my credit card. I would actually call and hang up because it was hard to understand some people. They would speak in an accent and sounded like a robot. I tried to be nice, but they were just "doing" their job. It is amazing that many people hate what they do. Here is some advice: Quit and go somewhere else. I encourage people to follow their dreams. If it requires education, then go and get it.

Many have the mindset that "I'm here, so I got to work". I believe God wants us to live the abundant life, a life of fulfillment. Ultimately that is in Him, but also, I am sure He would want you to be in a job you like. Go get a job. Start serving, volunteering or researching things you are interested in. Get good at it, and then ask someone to hire you.

I'm Gay. So what now?

I met with a guy today that is struggling with Homosexuality. He sees it as a sin and as a struggle. He wants help and wants to honor God. How many people do you think really care about him and his struggle? How many do you think get nervous and unsure and therefore do not help him? This is life. This is Christianity; meeting people where they are and helping them get closer to God.

I encourage you, to see people for who they are. We have all sinned. We have all fallen. Just because one persons sin looks worse or different than yours doesn't mean that the same God that died for your sins did not die for theirs.