How Bout That..

So we are getting ready to start the miracle series this weekend. I am pumped about it can you tell? I love it when God does things that are so beyond our ability to grasp it that we can only praise him for it because nothing within us could possibly claim credit for it.

So, and I know this is a small one but still, I couldn't believe my eyes when I saw it. So I go to the mail box over the last week and we get our first utility bills from the new location and to be honest I am a little afraid to even open them. We did plan for them don't get me wrong we weren't not planning on them but we had no idea what they'd actually turn out to be since we were going into the new place we just had to take a guess and budget that amount. We I get the first bill which is our gas bill, opened it up and the bill is $10.38 for 21 days of service and I have to admit I am stunned. Honestly, who gets a $10.00 gas bill these days? A day later I get the electric bill and it's for $55.00 for 35 days!

I have to say I am completely stunned. Needless to say, we budgeted much more than that for utilities. We have done a great job of keeping the stuff under control but still. A pilot light costs more than 10 bucks a month to run!

I love it when God blesses his people. That is so cool!

Off The Hook

Spent quite a bit of time over the last few weeks working on the Miracles series.....The first two messages are off the hook. Not teaching over the last month has left me ready and raring to go. I really enjoyed the financial series and we'll probably do another lifechurch.tv series in the future. Everyone seemed to really enjoy Craig's teaching.

I cannot wait for Sunday. I am ready to bring it. I think this could be the best series ever. Seriously. Ever. If you know someone struggling with the storms of life get them into church this weekend. Some things will really start to make sense for them.

See You all Sunday!

Miracles.....

If God has performed a miracle in your life what was it? Did you realize it at the time?

Feel free to hit comment and tell me what God did for you. I promise I will only share it with your permission.

Snow Day!

I love snow days! You wouldn't believe how much work I can get done sitting home all alone. It would get tough everyday but now and then it does the trick. At the end of our last small group meeting we were joking about some people praying for the snow and some people praying against the snow. I just want to humbly say I WIN!

Sunday Mind Dump

Had a great service today. Aaron and April really sound great together. The band did a really good job today and sounded awesome. I am getting really excited about some things that are up and coming at Real Life. I can't wait to get back in the saddle and back to teaching again. This has been a great month and a long month. I needed a teaching break but I am really looking forward to getting back to it. What do we have to dump about today:

• Had a leadership team meeting today and there are going to be some cool ministry things on the horizon in terms of reaching out to working women. Don't want to give it away but it is going to be really big and a great ministry.
• The band was really good today. Almost sad I wasn't playing in it :)
• For some people the Mind Your Own Business series was life changing. I know it was because we gave away 17 books, 53 DVD messages, and a host of other things. Where ever you are remember to keep things in perspective. Get a vision, become a better steward, learn to put God first, and above all remember it's all God's.
• Miracles kicks off next week. You are going to be blown away by a story none of you have every heard from one of our people.
  
• Small group was a hoot tonight. We have a great group of people. I love leading you guys.
• Radio ads start again tomorrow and run until April 5th. Remember to invite your friends.

Love the extreme sport of church planting.....it's a rush!

Worship

Worship is one of those things that helps define a church. It can be one of the first selling points of the church or it can be something that people have to explain away. We have always been blessed with people who can really play. I know of many churches with hundreds of people that would kill to have the talent we have because they have no one. It really is awesome to see God put this together.

From the beginning I have always wanted people to have freedom to worship God as they felt him leading. For some that is quiet reflection for others that is singing passionately with tears in their eyes and their hands raised toward heaven. Our goal was to have modern music that virtually everyone that would be attracted to a church like ours would enjoy and listen to outside of church. We have done pretty well up till now, but, we are about to up the ante so to speak.

Starting tomorrow you'll notice one big difference on the worship team. You won't find me playing guitar and singing. It's not that I don't enjoy it because I do but the fact is God has called me to lead a church not be a worship leader. Sometimes in life, and in this case in ministry, you have to give up to go up. For me, that means giving up my spot in the band and stepping back allowing others to do what God has gift them to do and doing more of what I am called to do.

I am still helping out with the band as needed and I'll be playing guitar occasionally but not every week. Starting this week Aaron Hammitt will be taking my place. He is an awesome guy and everyone is really going to enjoy hearing him play and sing. He brings much more to the table than I do musically and vocally. It's going to be a really cool thing for Real Life and I just know every one is going to love hearing him play and sing.

New Series

Been working all afternoon on our next series called Miracles. I have to say I am really getting excited about it. This is one of those teaching series all of us need to hear. For some it'll stretch our faith, for some it'll confirm things we already knew, for some this will be revolutionary stuff. I am still looking for people to tell their personal stories of how God has touched their lives and done a miracle for them. If you'd like to tell your story or have me tell your story make sure you get with me soon so I can write it into the upcoming messages.

We say all the time God wastes our pain and we are going to see that big time next week. We also have a great line up of songs to go with this message. Can you tell how excited I am ?

Tunes...

I am really digging some newer tunes......some of the stuff I have play listed on Napster right now are:

• Leeland - What a great band.....these guys are just kids and can they ever worship.
• Starfield - Loving the songs Son of God and Glorious one....they are coming to RL soon.
• Sanctus Real-Really digging the new disc...adding another guitar player and some BGV's did the band good.
• Big and Rich-Ok...not worship or even a Christian band....but they are really creative and rock the country scene.
• David Crowder Band-Like the new remedy cd...

What's on your playlists?? Let me know? Maybe I am missing something here....

I love what I do.....

Most people never get to see the stuff I get to see. Most people would miss the little things that make ministry so cool. They get caught up in the ebb and flow and loose sight of the big picture and that is a problem. In ministry sometimes we look for and at the big things as proof that our ministry is "working" or that we are in the right place. Those things are great and I love it when something big happens.

Just as much as I love it when God moves mountains I love it when God is moving in his people. I love it when people who are proud humble themselves and ask for prayer because they just don't know what to do, I love it when people come to church week in and week out because their kids cry if they miss kids church, I love it when people ask me questions about the Bible because they are trying to find answers, to me, these thing are just as big and just as powerful as many of the bigger things people look at as a "sign." If your basing ministry success or failure on mountains moving you will be frustrated.

Try looking at the smaller things. When you start adding the smaller things up there are some huge mountains getting moved daily. I love seeing people grow plain and simple. I love seeing people reach out and minister to friends and family. I love my job.

Mind Your Own Business - Investing for the Future.

Mind your own business has been a huge success. We have given away hundreds of dollars worth of resources including books and dvd's of messages.

• During the first week we looked at learning to develop a vision for our spending based on what God would have us do with his resources. We learned that we are not going to let this world drive us but we will be driven by God and his leading.
  
• The second week of our study looked at learning to live under our income levels. We cannot spend more than we make plain and simple. We learned how to eliminate consumer debt and how to begin living on a budget.
• Last week, we learned that part of our being good managers of God's resources is putting him first and giving back (with a cheerful heart) a portion of what he trusts us with. Some people call it a tithe some don't. For us, we want to make sure we are putting him first whatever we call it.

This week we are going to learn what God says about investing his resources so that we can allow our money to work for us and for him. Believe it or not the Bible has quite a bit to say about investing and we want to make sure we are learning to use his resources with the proper guidelines in place. You will not want to miss this week. It is going to be fun!

Sunday Mind Dump

Great to see so many new faces around Real Life over the last month. We are going to be doing more big things over the next year that will help us reach our vision of tripling in size in 2007. We have 150 ads that are going to start running on YESFM over the next month. That equates to a little over 4 runnings per day. A nice little build up to Easter.

• The band has some things that they are going to have to address. They have to get a little tighter. That should start to happen this week. People are going to notice a big difference in the quality of worship this week.
  
• A nice turnout yesterday. I love it that our people feel so good about Real Life they are inviting their friends and family. Think about that. Pretty much everyone knew we were going to talk about giving yesterday and they still felt good about inviting. What does that say about us?
• I love the fellowship that is really starting to develop in the church. It doesn't always happen on it's own. Sometimes you have to put people in the right place at the right time. This weekend we took a pretty big step in that direction. We, like all churches, still have a ways to go but we are a step closer.
• God has blessed us so much. We took the building on faith and he has provided. Our giving has exceeded our budget for the last 2 months. It's not like we have more than we know what to do with but it's just so cool to see God's people step up and God provide for our needs.

Really looking forward to the next series. It's called Miracles........guess what we are going to talk about?

Giving Back to God

As I mentioned in an earlier post this weekends message is going to be on Giving/Tithing. I know that some people really struggle with giving, and for many, it's one of those hot button issues. There are two main reasons that giving is such a delicate subject.

First-Far too often preachers have built church empires that need to be sustained. Whenever giving isn't what they planned on they get nervous and all of a sudden start teaching on giving in hopes that people will give more and the programs that they (and I say they, not God) created will continue as they planned. The result is that far too many preachers feed the stereotype that all we care about is money.

Second-Sometimes we know that we need to be giving but the lifestyle and choices we have made are keeping us from it. In this case what we are feeling is called conviction. We feel guilty about not doing something we should be doing.

When it comes to Giving/Tithing there are a few things to keep in mind. First off, there are good people who believe that we do not have to tithe. They believe that because we no longer live under the law of the Old-Testament. There are also people who believe that we do have to tithe. I personally do not believe we are required to tithe. I do however believe that as Christ followers that our resources actually belong to God and that we are to give regularly and with a cheerful heart as part of our worship to him. We do not live under the law of the Old Testament we live in an age of grace.

So then, the question becomes, how do we know if what we are giving is the right amount? First off, let me say even though I do not think we HAVE to tithe I do believe it is in our best interests to tithe. The Biblical principles of being a good manager of God's resources apply to us and as such we are not being the best of stewards if we are not giving back to God a portion of what he allows us to have.

The biggest issue for us is we all need to learn to place God first. That means first in everything. If we wait until we have enough it will never happen. If we give to God first it will happen. The same principle can be found in almost every other area of our life. If we do not plan for something and make it a priority it's not going to happen.

For many years now I have taught that, for most people, giving back to God usually happens in three stages. If you are struggling with giving. I suggest you think and pray about the following.

1. Learn to give regularly. Simple enough. Sit down with your spouse. Look at your budget and decide up front how much you are going to give. That way you have budgeted for it and it becomes a priority. When you are paying your bills write a check to your church. If you wait until Sunday morning you'll find that you will not give regularly.
   
2. Learn to give proportionally. After you have made a habit of regular giving you'll most likely find that God has blessed you financially. As that happens allow him to stretch you and as he blesses you increase the amount of your giving to account for his blessing. Pray about what he would have you to do and follow his leading.
   
3. Learn to give sacrificially. Once you have gotten to the point of increasing your giving as God blesses you, you'll find there are times that you feel led to give to this cause or that ministry. If you have been a good steward and followed God's leading then go for it!

There are a few other pointers when it comes to giving.

• Never go into debt to give. God doesn't need your cash that badly (trust me, we'll live)
• If you aren't earning a paycheck. Don't worry about giving. Pray about a job. When the job comes make God a priority. Find other way's of serving the God as your offering.
  
• Just as we talk about waiting for a big purchase and praying on it. Do the same before writing a big check to your favorite ministry. If God is in your giving you'll know it.
• Offer everything back to him with a cheerful heart. God isn't extorting your cash for a blessing. Giving is part of your worship.....treat it that way.
  

Finger Foods

Sometimes after playing my guitar for hours at band practice my fingers feel like they are going to fall off....The guys tease me without mercy about it. I must be all wuss.....Sorry, I try......Maybe I should go back to just playing bass :)

Profit Sharing

This weeks message is one of those messages that I already know isn't going to sit well with everyone. Anytime you talk about tithing some people are going to get offended, upset, and uncomfortable. That doesn't mean that it doesn't need to be talked about.

Sometimes in life, and in this case, at church, when things bother or upset us it's because deep down we know that we are not doing what we are supposed to be doing and rather than face that head on and make some difficult changes we lash out.

We are often times comfortable with the word of God being a double edged sword when it is cutting at others for their wrongs or shortcomings. We have a much harder time when the word of God is cutting at our hearts. I say it all the time and it's true in this case as well. We like to judge others by their actions but we like to judge ourselves by our intent. In this case, we mean to give, but stuff (or something like that :)) happens and we never have enough left to.

Don't allow this weeks message to get you down and make you feel bad. Giving is part of our worship and if we could really get a grip on that we'd be much better off. Allow the message this week to motivate you and allow God to stretch you into something that is more like his image.

Snowing

Just drove home from school. Man is it coming down out there! Teachers think snow that happens at any time other than overnight is a waste of perfectly good snow. Too bad it'll all be cleared up by tomorrow and all the kids will be in school on time.

My Jeep is a serious pain to drive in this junk too.

Sunday Night Mind Dump

A pretty solid service today. The message was off the hook good. The band struggled a bit. It was just one of those days were everyone was a little off their game.

• We gave away all but one of the DVD's of today's message. How cool is that.
• Attendance was about half today. We had a few families out sick and when it gets this cold people stay home. It's sad but what are you going to do. On the plus side, extra bagels for me!
• People are digging the series. Can I say again how awesome Lifechurch.tv is for partnering with other churches and allowing us to use their resources. One of these days I want to personally thank Pastor Craig for that.
  
• I love the job our children's leaders do. Jackie and Martha are one of the primary reasons we have grown as fast as we have. I owe you both a cookie!
• Had our business meeting tonight and we talked about some of the messages coming up. We are going to be doing some really cool things.....If we can pull off the stuff.
• A nice small group tonight. I love the lively discussion. Tonight we talked about the significance of the empty tomb.....awesome stuff.
• I also told a story about how some "friends" of mine signed me up for the mailing list for the American Nazi party. The did this while I was in the Basic Training in the Army. It was NOT pretty.....I am ok now though :)
  

Act Your Wage - Part II

I am getting pretty excited about tomorrow. Most people go about paying down debt all wrong and as a result don't get nearly as far as they should. Tomorrow you'll hear about the debt snowball. If you can stay focused and follow the plan you can pay down large amounts of debt pretty quickly without actually paying out much more than you are paying right now......imagine that....no schemes....no loans.....just paying down your consumer debt with basically the payments your paying right now and actually having them make an impact on the overall amount of debt....It's called the debt snowball and it's going to knock your socks off.

See you tomorrow!

Some things just stink!

I have been working on church finances all morning trying to get a new online version of our accounting program up to speed. This program can do literally ANYTHING you would need as a church. The problem is that since everything is linked together if one little thing is off suddenly everything is off.......Sometimes technology is great sometimes it's a royal pain in the rear........It looks like we are going to keep two separate systems. One for church finances and record keeping and another for individual donor records. I really wanted to not do that but..........if I don't my brain might explode.....and you all know how much April hates a mess.

Mind Your Own Business - Act Your Wage

Week two of Mind Your Own Business might just be my favorite week. This week Pastor Craig is going to hit consumer debt head on and hard. Most of us have little to no clue about the real costs of our consumer debt. We tend to ask how much the payments are or what the down payment is instead of what the real cost of the item is if we use credit to pay for it.

The average American spends $1.22 for every $1.00 they earn. That just doesn't work for long. The average American also has $8500 in credit card debt. If a person paid the minimum payments it would take them forty years of paying $141.00 per month on that debt. That $8500 has a real cost of $70,000 over all those years. Consumer debt will wipe you out. We have to learn to live under our means.

You can start finding out how this weekend. See You Sunday!!

Sunday/Monday Mind Dump

Sunday was a great day at Real Life. The band played really well together and everyone was having a great time worshiping God. We are really starting to come into our own with who God has called us to be as a church and that is a pretty cool thing. So let's dump:

• Attendance and giving have been steadily rising. Not that those are solely measures of success but they are measures of ownership in a church and that is a good thing.
  
• The band is getting really good and I love being a part.
• The message yesterday by Pastor Craig was awesome and a little more in your face than people are used to. That's a tough pill for some to swallow but it's a message that so many people needed to hear.
  
• Really excited about the rest of the series Mind Your Own Business. There are some great things to come and people are going to see some life change if they can get a hold of it.
• The super bowl party was a lot of fun and I am already looking forward to next year and doing it again.
• John Myers won the grand prize. I am bummed but the guy can make some Chili!

Be ready. Next week we are going to flat out bring it in terms of learning to become and live debt free!!!!

Gary Nails One

Gary Lamb pastors a church down in Georgia. I read his blog daily and he really does an awesome job in detailing the life we in ministry lead. Most of the stuff we see and deal with we are not at liberty to talk about. For those who think we work for a few hours on Sunday mornings and sit around drinking coffee the rest of the week......you might want to read this week in the life of Gary Lamb......if you are thinking and dreaming of a ministry reaching the lost print this and make as many copies as you can......put it everywhere as a reminder of what is in store for you..

This was taken directly from his blog....check it out for yourself www.garylamb.org

The Title is: Allow me to Rant.....

Every church planter I meet says they are starting their church to reach those that are disconnected from God. Many of them grew up in church, became Christians at a early age, and don’t even have a relationship with someone far from God, but they are going to reach those far from God. I listen to a lot of podcasts, watch a lot of videos from other churches, and it breaks my heart to know they are doing a lot of things and a lot of things well, but reaching those far from God is NOT one of them.

I have learned that most church planters REALLY don’t want to reach those far from God, they really want to do church in a cool way. There is a difference. Just because you have great video, loud music, dress casual, and use movie clips doesn’t mean you are reaching those far from God.

I honestly believe most planters would freak out if they started having to deal with the issues that come from reaching truly unchurched people. It is messy, ugly, scary, and actually can keep you from growing because it scares the hell out of those who grew up in church.

We had a person on our staff a couple of years ago who came here because he wanted to be part of a church that reached unchurched people. The first time his wife sat next to a couple of lesbians, he was rethinking that. This guy was a nice guy, but he couldn’t handle the ugliness that comes with reaching those that are far from God. He literally walked around the church on Sundays with a look of terror in his eyes. He didn’t want to reach lost people, he wanted a church where he could come and wear whatever he wanted and impress other Christians because he was at an church with a little edge. It wasn’t long before he was running for the hills. He couldn’t handle the messiness of reaching those with problems. The sad thing is he isn’t alone. Most guys can’t handle it.

When I say it is messy, I don’t think most guys understand what I mean, so allow me to walk you through my week that just got done. This is a pretty typical week at Revolution and the side 99% never see.

• I have a bottle of pain pills worth about $400 on the streets sitting in my desk that one of our people’s spouse brought me after finding them. The name on the prescription isn’t the name of the person who brought them because they were bought on the street.
• I had another one of our people lose their job for stealing thousands of dollars from the company they work for.
• I have a addict in our church who has relapsed and in the process is about to lose EVERYTHING and he doesn’t even know it.
• I set up an intervention for an addict that will take place this week. This is his last chance and he doesn’t even know it.
• Last night I was at the ER until 3 in the morning because one of our people took a razor blade and slit both his wrists, his neck, and took around 80 sleeping pills. He’s alive, but I have to say it was the most horrific thing I have ever seen in my life.

All of that was just from this week. That is the life of reaching those disconnected from God. None of those people care how “cool” our church will be tomorrow. All they care about is we have created a place where they can come with all their crap and feel loved and connected.

I’ll be honest and tell you that there are times when pastoring Revolution freaks me out. There are times when I think it would be easier to do what most guys do and plant a church that really is a place for other Christians to come hang out and talk about how we are reaching unchurched people instead of doing it. I think that would be easier, but we would not be charging the gates of hell with that mindset. There are enough guys around doing that and doing it well.

Canton didn’t need another church. Canton didn’t need another church with loud music, casual dress, and “relevant” teaching. Neither do most of the towns where guys are planting. However, Canton did need a place that was loving the unlovable. It needed a place that was willing to get it’s hands dirty and deal with the messy crap that takes place in the lives of those far from God.

When a guy wants to tell me they are starting a church to reach the disconnected, I always ask them if they are sure they want to do that. I don’t think they understand the cost that comes with it. It literally can almost kill you at times.

BUT, if they do understand the cost, they will realize it is nothing compared to the reward of seeing lives changed with the gospel of Jesus Christ. It is worth whatever cost there is. I would put everything on the line to continue to do what we do because the payoff is so huge.

Most guys won’t.

end rant.

Volunteer of the Week - Erica Stone

Erica Stone kicked butt this week!

We needed some color in our new sanctuary and we decided that some valances would do the trick. Not only did she shop for the material, she sewed them all by hand. I am a pretty typical guy and would normally not pay much attention to stuff like that but those things look really good.

Make sure you tell Erica how nice they are!

Those Days

There are those days that help define ministry. I think for us as a church this whole month we are going to have one of those days. I cannot put into words just how excited I am for the teaching series this month. IT IS going to be life changing to some people and I love it because life change is what a church should do best.

This weekend will just be the tip of the iceberg. The big stuff is coming and people are going to be blown away I can promise you that!

Get ready Real Life! Change is a coming!