The Ranch

Gone for a long time

Ok...now I am beginning to think that just maybe I can't keep one of these things up.  I have also ventured out into Myspace and have found lots of connection there especially with some of the students that I work with...so two personal sites...too much!God is continually doing new and good things...especially when it comes to our Sunday night Interfusion.  God has added to our numbers those that are wanting to become missional in their everyday life.  We are in the process of beginning small groups that will help with maintaining community within our group.  This Sunday we will also list many service areas that will help us accomplish with excellence our task every Sunday.  So have you given it a try?  Come check it out ...don't live anywhere close...be in prayer!  See you  on this blog soon.....I hope

It's rising up all around

It seems as if God is up to something.  The hearts of many of my friends and family are being stirred in a very interesting way.  In conversation this morning with a good friend we both agreed that there is something rising up within us.  A cry to leave religion and make the name and glory of Christ known to those who we have contact with in a real and relevant way.  A passion for people, a love for God.... a desire to advance in our love and knowledge of a very real and personal God.  We both agreed that we are not very sure where God is taking us....but we are going.  No more talk, no more ideas.  Action. 

It's rising up all around, it's the anthem of the Lord's renown. 

I am going to engage God right where he is....where he is at work.  I see that happening in the cry for love and acceptance in my own neighborhood.  People who are hungry for God, but disenfranchised by religion and religious people.  I will have some apologizing to do...asking forgiveness for being religious and being steeped in religion.  I will have to ask forgiveness for not being real......only being a low whisper of God's love. 

I want to be Raw...unfinished....because God is still working...I don't have it all figured out. 

I want to be Real....nothing fake here....this is me...with all my struggles...victories....this is who I am. 

I want to be Relevant....speaking the love of Christ boldly...through actions of love and acceptance.....in a language that people will understand because it meets them right where they are....which is right where I am......in the neighborhood of Katy Crossing.

It's rising up all around.....It's the anthem of the Lord's renown.

Come......join in the journey

No More Church People

This past weekend rocked!  We held our 5th Winter Weekend at Crestview and had over 110 students 7th - 12th grade.  On Wednesday night we baptized an 8th grader by the name of Scott.  Through the witness of friends, and the message that was proclaimed this weekend he realized his need for a personal relationship with Jesus Christ.  As I sat in Scott's home and discussed his decision with his parents an incredible thought crossed my mind........and I think it's here to stay.  I don't want to reach or attract anymore church people!  Wow.....let that sink in.  It was real to me...sitting in Scott's living room...we were in the right place.  I wasn't explaining our ministry vs. another churches ministry, trying to get him to "come over to our side."  Instead...through the lives of students at Crestview, we helped him discover something.  And he will never be the same.  I want this to be your passion too!  Of course we will continue to minister to whoever comes through our doors, but let's not attract church people.  Let's attract people who don't think about church, they don't attend....it's the last thing on their mind!  Let's help connect people to this journey that we are on.  Let's be real, let's be relevant to the world we live in!

What do you do with this?

Sorry about the delay in any kind of activity here.  It's been Ca-RAZY around here this week. 

I want you to try something.  I did this Thursday...it was interesting.  Take your bible and find a nice quite place.  No one around, nothing to distract you (work, TV, music, etc).  Now just relax, clear your mind.  Forget about all those things to do........ Now as if for the very first time you picked up a bible.... read 1 John 4:7-12.  Now I want you to ask yourself...."What in the world do I do with this?"  "What does this mean about me?"

Justice and Equality

My world is changing fast.  Most importantly my worldview.  I have been tuned in lately to various issues like the One campaign, and the passing of Coretta Scott King.  This issue of human rights advocacy has been long suppressed by the conservative church.  While I do not agree with all theology coming from this movement for equality and justice, I do agree with equality and justice!  How can I advocate these issues?  Biblically?  I believe Jesus is a prime example of someone who was concerned for human rights.  Not only from a worldly stand point, but from a spiritual stand point.  What a thought...Jesus Christ our Spiritual advocate for rights.....rights that are only ours because of his sacrifice.  More thoughts on this later.

The Standing O

Think about this for a minute.  Don't you like to resist change?  We all do.  Now it's even become cliche to resist.  I was reading this week through some chapters in Acts.  Something really caught my attention.  In chapter 7 Stephen is before the Sanhedrin.....these were guys who knew their Hebrew bible.  They followed all the laws, in fact they made sure of it.  Now Stephen comes along with the message of the gospel, tells them the truth, shows them how it is life changing, meaningful, and what they have all been waiting and looking for, and they stone him.

Let me show you what stood out......... "Stephen full of the Holy Spirit looked up and saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God."  What!?  Standing...I thought Jesus SAT at the right hand of God...well he does.  In fact this is the only time in all of Scripture that we see Jesus standing at the right hand of God.  There he was next to God standing, saying....."that's my boy Stephen.......I am so proud....he's willing to give his life....."

What happens next...."the Sanhedrin, having heard enough cover their ears with their hands and begin screaming".....I can see it now all of them running around and yelling at the top of their voice, "La La La La."

Change is tough....even if it does make sense, even if it is truth, even if it does mean pain, or suffering, or life just a little different.

And when change comes....and we follow God's prompting, even in the face of those who are covering their ears screaming at us, Jesus stands.....smiles.....looks at God....and gives the standing ovation. 

"That's my child, when none would follow they did, they proclaimed the gospel even when it wasn't popular, even when it meant hardship, they are willing to give their lives, their friendships, their pedestal......I love that!"

Less me

Have you ever thought about the way that society holds up people in light of their achievements, status in society, accomplishments and job titles.  Those who are thought to be the best, more superior, those with "more to offer" get to have the highest pedestal.  They are praised and heralded for their work and sometimes not even their work, just because they seem to be the one we are to praise.  I often wonder what Jesus thinks about this.  Do you remember how he approached people, and what kind of people he approached?  I think about a few fishermen that he asked to follow him....the woman at the well.  He was best friends with Lazarus, Mary and Martha......single adults who even in their late 20s lived together in the same home.  When it came time to  miraculously feed thousands...it was a little boy with his lunch that Christ used....he didn't look for a successful business man with lots of money to send off to buy dinner.  Zacchaeus..what a loser by today's standards.  He was a tax collector, short, probably bald, maybe wore glasses.  Yet when Jesus stopped at the tree he had climbed he said, "Come down, I'm eating at your house today."  It's in this account with Zacchaeus we find out that Jesus came to seek and to save what was lost.

Sometimes I find myself thinking that I know all the right answers.  Sometimes even thinking about how Jesus must be really happy to have someone like me in his service.  Look at what I am doing for the Lord.  I bet Jesus is really proud of me!

It's in these times that a still small voice begins to speak in the depths of my heart....listen....can you hear it? 

You are not the center of everything

You are not in control

You are not the solution

You are not all-powerful

You are not the owner of anything

You are not holding it all together

And then....softly, tenderly, the Lord calls out....

I Am

Kids say....well.....you know...

Last night in a dinner conversation about what heaven must be like, our oldest Matt said, "Daddy, maybe we should just tell people they have to believe in Jesus....and if they don't......shoot'em."

As funny and crazy as that sounds all at the same time...it reminds me of TULIP.  The debate still rages on and is a huge debate within the Southern Baptist Convention.

Maybe we should talk more about Jesus.....and Paul.....and the divine inspiration of the Holy Spirit.

Well...after he said that it led into a great opportunity to teach about the freedom that God gives us......

I'm not going to BURN!

I think sometimes that's what salvation means to us.  I know for a long time in the Baptist church that has basically been the meaning.  Walk an isle, get saved, be baptized, don't go to hell.  I was at an event recently with about 100 other teenagers and an "evangelist" from Texas.  After the typical self promotion, he proceeded to ask the ever emotionally manipulating question, "If you died tonight would you go to heaven or hell."  This was his invitation to salvation.  To him at this moment the death and Resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ meant one thing..........you don't have to go to hell.  I really took some time to process this because I am guilty of the same thing, confronting people about their "salvation" with the same questions.  I think I have made a huge mistake in doing this and in fact believe that I have grieved the heart of God.  In reality, people made it to heaven before there was Jesus.  I'm pretty sure that guys like Moses, Abraham, Joseph, Noah, Adam and Eve etc. etc. are in the presence of God in eternity.  Then what does the death and Resurrection of Jesus mean?  To me it means that Jesus Christ was sent by the Almighty Creator of the universe to enable me....yes....little ol' me...to walk in an intimate relationship with him.  Not only did his death and Resurrection forgive all of my sins ever committed or to be committed, it enabled me to spend eternity in His presence in a place called heaven.  Once I realized that I was spiritually dead...not living, and trusted Jesus Christ to make me alive..... I was in, you know the Lamb's book of life, Heaven not Hell etc......but......it has everything to do with NOW.  Heaven is experienced here on earth....eternity is NOW.  Because of the death and resurrection of Jesus I am able to approach the very presence of God...something we could never have done without forgiveness of sins.  At the same time those who do not choose life are already spiritually dead, they live outside the presence of God, sometimes unknowingly....but they will find out...that's in the bible to.

Our invitation should be to life......NOW..an awe inspiring relationship with God.  That's intense...can you grasp it?

New Pic

Check out the new picture of me and Matt.  I think it was taken by camera phone in Chipotle last summer.  Last night some how I was able to hold him still for a few minutes and just look him in the face.  I'm not really sure what I felt in that moment or how to describe it.  Unmeasurable joy because he is mine!  At the same time I was proud of him, at the same time I thought, "Man he's good looking."  At the same time I was sad because already he's grown this much so fast. 

It was one of those experiences where time just stands still for a moment and you think to yourself, "why don't I come to this place more often." 

The coolest of cool......in that moment he looked deep into my eyes with his big brown eyes and said.......... "Daddy, do you think you could teach me guitar?"