Steak Inn

We had a couple from the church last night take us to eat at a restaurant called the "Steak Inn". Going to a restaurant called the "Steak Inn" made me think we were going to a fast food joint that would put your steak in a paper bag for you to take and eat at home. Only in Arkansas can a place really nice like this have such a crappy name...only it wasn't in Arkansas...it was Missouri, but it's close enough. Anyway, I though I would give you a quick little review:

• Main Course= Amazing. Possibly one of the top 3 steaks I have ever had in my life. I had the 11 ounce sirloin with 4 grilled shrimp (quit with the fat jokes). The steak had a really nice peppery taste, and the shrimp were loaded with flavor.
• Salad= Huge. I have never had a salad were I had to cut my own cheese off a block. This, to be honest, was sort of weird. I mean what do I do with a big slice of cheese? Do I put salad in my mouth and then take a bite off my hunk like it was a cracker or something? If you know...please do tell.
• Bread= Nothing is better than homemade bread. And I learned a cool way to melt the butter for my bread and improve my marriage all at the same time...guys feel free to ask the new incredible advice Mrs. Kim gave me:)
• Lighting= Very dim. I felt like I should be making a move on Megan the entire time, and maybe I would have if I could have seen anything.
• Fellowship= Top Notch. These are incredible people who love the ministry and have taken care of my family from day one. I know you are expecting me to say something like, "Well the food was great, but the fellowship is what was really worth it." Well here is a shocker: as good as the fellowship was...nothing touched the food:) Thanks Phillips' family for a fantastic evening.

Ministry Requirements (part 1)

This past week has been really convicting. I felt the challenge to read through the Pastoral Epistles (1 & 2 Timothy and Titus), and make note of all the requirements Paul gave Timothy. Wow...I had no clue what I was getting myself into. I have a friend who is the student pastor of a large church in Auburn, AL and our conversation went a little like this:

-Me (in a real struggling, serious voice)- Dude, the more I read the bigger the demand seems and it is a little overwhelming.
-Greg (being ridiculously sarcastic as he always is)- I know man...that's why I quit reading them a long time ago.

These are some of the toughest things I have ever had to swallow. I have read these books countless times, but God is speaking to me more through them now than He ever has. Here are my conclusions on the first 2 chapters of 1 Timothy:

• Confront false teachers
• Pay no attention to fables
• Edify
• Love from a PURE heart and a GOOD conscience and SINCERE faith
• Understand your a sinner and God's grace makes you able
• Fight for truth
• Pray for peers, people in authority, for salvation for the lost
• Pray with a pure heart and clean hands
• Lead by example, with humility, and with godly fear knowing you have been called as a Shepard over these people

Bobcat Volleyball

The Olympics gave me a love for the sport of volleyball. I hate to admit it, but I think some of our greatest athletes could be beach volleyball players. Don't freak out because I'm not saying they are the best...just really amazing. Honestly, have you ever tried to jump on sand...repeatedly? They have my respect. Since I now love volleyball, I was pretty excited to find out our Berryville girls were having their first game last night, and to make it better it was against county rival Green Forest. So I got in the car with some of my students and took off to a night of graceful setting and face smashing spiking. Our girls absolutely dominated. It was a lot of fun. To make it even better I got to hang out with a lot of students I don't get to see very often and try and build some relationships. I was encouraged to see well they took to me. We were able to talk about life and a lot of it's challenges, and plus Jessie (aka Lydia, aka my little Jesus Freak) was there and I believed that helped the other teenagers see I wasn't going to smite them and condemn them into an eternity in a frying pan covered in Crisco oil. So spiritually, I believe the doors will be open really soon to effectively share Jesus with these students and I'm thankful for that. Worldly, I freaking love volleyball. Here is some things I picked up about our girls:

• Elise and Megan are beasts. I'm not sure I would charge the net if I saw they were about to spike the ball. I can't believe a girl from Green Forest did not receive an inverted nose last night.
• Jessie is the team setter. Honestly, if she was near the ball on the first or second touch, everyone else got out of the way so she could put it on the net for one of the two beasts. Extremely talented. I see the Olympics in her future.
• I would never tell Levi this but his girlfriend is a ridiculous athlete. I'm not sure what her name is but she was extremely quick and controlled. His head is big enough and he doesn't need anything else to brag about.

So there it is...go support your local high school volleyball team.

Elevate Recap

Yesterday I had some questions that were really crowding my mind about last night's big back to school event. I thought I would share the answers with you:

• We had MORE than the projected 40 students and ended up having 47. 47 stinking students. God is ridiculously amazing.
• Did it rain? Well, while we were sitting in the Chinese restaurant at lunch, everything went completely black. It looked like we were going to have a full blown storm. When we got back to the office and checked the weather, it was raining EVERYWHERE but here. I actually saw with my own eyes God change the weather...Again, ridiculously amazing.
• The band, Dash-3, did a great job. As they play more places and get more comfortable they'll do some really cool things for Jesus. They lead worship this morning at church and did an incredible job.
• Are the adults excited about the ministry?? I'll say yes after 40 of them showed up for Elevate last night. I'm truly thankful for adults who love Jesus and love kids.
• Will our students grasp the mission and when their peers to Jesus?? Yet to be determined, but I think things are looking up for Berryville.

Elevate

Elevate is tonight, but there are some serious questions going through my head:

• Will we have more than the projected 40 students?? WOW!! I can't believe we are even thinking that many will be there just after a year of work starting from scratch. God has done some amazing things.
• Will it rain? Of course it will...it's Berryville and it rains every day, but will it be enough to make us move locations last minute?
• Will the band be able to engage that many kids? And adults?
• Are the adults as excited about the student ministry as they make me think they are?
• Will our students grasp the true mission of Elevate...to take the trials and temptations they face and use them to grow deeper with Jesus?

I'll let you know soon.

Fire Came Down

Last night we got to look at some incredible verses in Acts. 2:1-13, tells the story of the day the Holy Spirit came down and started a revolution among somewhere in the neighborhood of 18 people groups!! Every time I read this scripture preparing for the message I got chills. Can you imagine what it was like to be there. Wind blowing, fire dancing, Galileans speaking clearly all of the dialects that were present. That's just so exciting to me. I went in last night expecting some of our students to really get the message, and they did. When we live by the power of the Holy Spirit in our life...it is obvious something is different about us. The way we talk is different. There isn't anymore foul language, slander, or gossip. The Holy Spirit is in control of your tongue. The way we sing is different. We can't be quiet because Psalm 40 says God has put a song in our mouths. I get so frustrated when all of these hardcore guys refuse to sing because they are too prideful. Dude if you have the song of the blood bought-redeemed in your mouth you have to shout!! When we talk to people they will see such a difference in our lives when we live by the Spirit. But...there will always be the doubters, the mockers, and the rejecters. I understand that and even in our very own students ministry we have the doubters and rejecters. The one's who sit irreverently thinking they have it all together. Or the one's who are there just to please their mom. These are the one's who break my heart. Not because they are trouble, we really don't have those kind of problems here, simply because they are lost and not searching. My prayer is this: That we will allow the fire (Holy Spirit) to come down in our families, in our church, in our lives so that they will be astonished at the wonder of God. That the very people we come in contact with everyday will see how much we love Jesus because we have allowed Him to take control of every aspect of our lives. Will you let the Fire come down on you??

FOCUS!!

I stare a lot. I don't stare at anyone or anything particular, I just sometimes get caught up in whatever is in front of me. Take this morning for example. I got up a little early to watch the US basketball team play Germany, but when JP got up and began telling me approximately 1million times that he wanted to watch Word World I decided getting a shower and coming to the office early may be my most productive option. So, I get here to the church and kind of stare out my window which seemed to only be for like 30 seconds...but it was more like 30 minutes. I live in a beautiful place and I happen to think that the view outside my office window is the best view ever for a youth pastor. I mean in Louisville, AL I had the roof of our fellowship hall to stare at and in Abbeville I had frosted glass which severely ticked me off every time I went into my office. So I really appreciate the view I have here, but that is not the point. The point is I stare at things even if they are not beautiful...or extremely horrendous for that matter. I just stare. What if I focused on God like I focus on the things of this world. What if I just stared at His glory and appreciated Him for who He is in complete awe of how BIG He is. Everyday we have a choice to either focus on Him or focus on the world. What if we focused on Him like we focus on the world? How much time and effort do we use focusing on things like paying the bills, cleaning house, making "enough" money, our looks, making sure our kids play sports or are involved in other activities (and not making sure they are always in church...ooohhh that's a hotspot)... None of these things are bad things, except the part about not always making sure your kids are in church...that's a real bad thing and when your child ends up rejecting Christianity after he/she sits in one philosophy class in college with a smart atheistic professor or ends up raising your grand kids in a surface Christianity home after you realize the mistake you made don't blame the youth pastor... but we tend to focus on not important things like they are life and death. Challenge: See Jesus...See His Worth...and express it in your lifestyle.

Friday Five

After reading Lucy's blog, I decided to give you guys 5 things about the Olympics I just don't understand...

• I watched the ladies gymnastics last night. It may seem a little feminine to watch it, but hey, I want to see you go do what they do. Anyway, does anyone understand the scoring??!! I know about the difficulty score and things like that, but where in the world do they find deductions? Nastia crushed the vault and uneven bars and her score was ridiculously low...I demand an answer from the judges!!
• Staying on the subject of gymnastics...What were the Chinese thinking?? At least get someone who resembles the age of 15. Those girls looked like they were barely 9. Don't just go get an 11 year old girl and hand her a new birth certificate and say, "Hey, you are now 15!!"
• How amazing is the US men's basketball team!! I know there are a lot of people out there who despise the NBA. I'm one of the rare few who actually love watching it. I'd rather watch college any day, but I still thoroughly enjoy the NBA. I got up early Thursday morning just to watch the game, and man it was so worth it. A complete highlight reel. What I don't understand is this: Why can't people just enjoy talent instead of dogging them all the time. Yes I know they make 100 million a year and sometimes act like babies. I'm not telling you to go eat lunch with them...All I'm saying is appreciate their talent and let others (like me) enjoy the sport without you constantly saying, "I hate the NBA!!"
• Volleyball players are beasts...Olympic volleyball players scare me. How (and I'm talking about beach) can they move so quickly, jump so high, and cover that much area on sand. Truly amazing.
• Lastly, Why isn't Golf an Olympic sport??!! I know we have the Rider's Cup, but we should have some guys over there in Beijing playing right now. Have you ever tried to hit a golf ball?? those are some talented and gifted people.

Lessons from Judges

I have started reading through the Book of Judges again after 4 days of encouragement from my good friend Jonathan Schroeder. He is a straight up Old Testament guy. Don't get me wrong, he understands grace and the necessity of it, but at the same time he loves using the law to show how we need grace...typical "Way of the Master" stuff. We were riding down the road together and was just so fired up about some OT stories and how God just reveals so much about himself through these classic events. So in my reading yesterday morning, I got to the story of Deborah in Judges 4. A couple of things stood out to me here:

• God told Deborah to go relate to Barak that it was time to fight for their freedom. Then he said what may be the wimpiest thing I have ever heard, "I'll go if you go..." What is that all about??!! This is a dude telling a woman (not to down the women or anything, but they are not typically known for their skills in battle especially in the OT) that I'm only going if you go. First of all, men we need to lead!! Quit being a pansy and lead your family like God has called you to do. Secondly, following God may not always seem like the smartest safest thing to do...but it is. We find nothing good outside of God's will...Take risks for Jesus. Lastly, there are no rewards for disobeying God. Deborah straight up said, "I'll go but you want receive anything for it." God called Barak to do something and Barak started trying to make deals...Do what God has called you to do, and don't try to justify your fear and make deals so the situation may SEEM easier for you.
• In chapter 5 we see something beautiful. In verse 2 Deborah sings a song that simply says, "When the people willingly offer themselves, Bless the Lord!!" When is the last time we have willingly offered ourselves to do the work of Jesus.? We don't want anything for it, no reward, no thank you, no glory, no recognition, we simply want to see God glorified...That blesses the heart of God when we see His worthiness and understand the privilege it is to lose our lives for the sake of His Kingdom.

Death by Love

I love Mark Driscoll...and I can't wait to read this book.

P.S. You're obsessed...Get over it

This will be the post that finally pushes away my three female readers...if there's that many. And before I ever get started let me warn you this blog will probably contain spoiler content (I'll ruin the movie for you) on P.S. I Love You.

I would never say this in front of some of guy friends, namely Kevin Disheroon and Russell Tucker, but since I'm confident they never read this I'll say it...It wasn't a horrible movie, it was even pretty funny at times, but it wasn't something I would ever want to watch again. Basically this ladies husband dies, she can't get over him, and he leaves random letters all over the place for her to find and read after he's dead (he died of a brain tumor so apparently this gave him time to set all this up). The weird part is this. Every once on awhile throughout the movie there would be scenes with her being held by him and them speaking together. This lady was so in love with this man that even after he was dead she could think of him so much he would appear. She couldn't get over him. Of course she was having some schizo moments, but this raised some serious spiritual questions in my head:

Think of time were you didn't feel the presence of Jesus on your life...What did you do? Did you cry and plead for Him to reveal Himself to you? Or do you say, "well life goes on and I got things to do."

This reminds me of Exodus 32 where the Israelites decided since Moses wasn't around when they thought they needed him, they built a golden calf. They needed something spiritual in their life so bad they actually built a calf...a stinking calf...instead of getting on their faces and pleading with God to reveal Himself. Keep in mind all of the miracles God had just produced...The Red Sea, Bread From Heaven, Deliverance from Egypt, Ten Commandments... and even after all of this they still deciding to go on without God and do what they thought was best.

When are we as people going to stop moving as soon as we since ourselves out of the presence of God. I know this was a movie but there are people whose life stops when a loved one is lost or something else tragic happens. And I don't mean to minimize that, because those events are horrible. But how much more horrible is it when we continue on when we know that we are out of the will of God and that He isn't with us. Exodus 33:15, Moses says, "If Your presence does not go with us...don't let us take a step from this place." Maybe we should make sure we care as much about God's presence as we do our jobs, our family, or our obligations...Because we can't do anything well without It.

Saturday's 7

An Omaha Recap:

• I love TJ, Nick, Johnny, and now Courtney. Their hearts are incredible. Worshipping and sharing Jesus with these guys are some of the best times I have ever had. They will always be extremely dear to my family.
• I love preaching. I remember the night I felt God's call into the ministry, and I never knew it would turn into a deep love I have. Being with students, teaching students, loving students, talking to students...I wouldn't want to ever do anything else.
• My wife is amazing and she sacrifices so much. She takes care of JP so I can do what God has called me to do. If she had any other attitude besides the attitude she now has life would be miserable...She serves and sacrifices so I can preach Jesus at events like this week. I love her.
• We are starting a new discipleship class in my home in a couple of weeks. This is for students who are growing in their faith. We'll have fun and be able to hang out a little...but for the most part this is going to be a bible reading, on our face praying, God change my heart kind of a time. I'm extremely excited.
• Praying with the band before services each night was probably the most life changing thing I experienced this week...They taught me that prayer was a deep privilege and I need to treasure it.
• By the way, the band SOUNDED great. Their timing and sound was just intense. If I was lost I would dig their album just simply because it sounds amazing.
• New Hope Baptist blessed us this week. They'll never know what their gift to us did in our lives...Mine personally and the bands.

Recap of night one

-TJ falls asleep in a rocking chair in the cry room...
-I learn that Courtney is a regenerated Jewish girl...
-Johnny wants ice cream...
-Nick takes like 7 dumps in a period of about 4 hours...
This was my day yesterday before the service started last night. It was way interesting but I'm reminded every moment why I want my family to live with these guys...They love Jesus. Despite everything that goes on in their lives, they are consistently expressing their love for Jesus. I want JP to be able to see that when he gets old enough to realize it. That there are people who want what Jesus wants and is consistent in their lifestyle. Then the service starts...
-We pray, and again my mind is blown by the desire to see God move and the realness in their lives...
-TJ sings...
-Nick Shreds...
-Johnny amazes...
-Courtney rocks...
-A girl named Morgan passes out and busts her face open on the pew...
-I preach...
-Jesus worked...
That was pretty much the night in a nutshell. It had some highs and some lows. I tend to get so frustrated with students and adults who don't seize the opportunity to worship corporately when we have the chance. Courtney has a quote on her facebook, "When I'm leading worship and the people are staring at me like a television I just want to throw a hymnal at them." The idea that it felt like we were worshipping against a brick wall was tossed around in the air. God did some amazing things last night in some peoples lives and I don't want to minimize that at all, but I do want us to see that there is some reason the majority of "believers" are not in love with Jesus. And I just don't understand. John Piper says the reason there is so much nominal ism or "so called Christianity" or "in name only Christianity" in the church today is because we accept Jesus as sin forgiver because we don't want to go to hell. We accept Him as provider because we like stuff. But we don't accept Him as our treasure...as one to be savored. Tonight I'm going to try and make that as clear as I possibly can...Pray for me and the band. That we won't be glorified because of talents or abilities, but that Jesus will be magnified because He is God and He is worthy.

Prep Time

I love student ministry. It is incredibly tough and backwards sometimes, but God has placed a passion in my heart to see young people not only know Jesus but to GIVE UP their lives for Him. So in preparation for this 3 day student speaking event I somehow got asked to speak at, I've decided to do things opposite of what I have experienced most youth workers to consider normal. Tonight, the first night, will be the Gospel...Straight up Jesus. Just thinking about it makes sense. If they don't know Jesus and we, as speakers, speak to them like they are believers then to them it will be foolish. 1 Cor. 1:18, "For the message of the cross is foolish to those who are perishing..." And if we wait for the last night to finally talk about the justification offered by the work of Jesus Christ for the "Big Ending" to see many students flood the alters...what was done in the hearts for those who were lost the first two nights? Understand that we'll preach the Gospel all three nights, and especially since I'm working with TJ, Nick, Johnny, and Courtney (the worship Band) we'll know it will happen repeatedly and I'm ok with that. the Gospel just isn't for those who are lost, but for us who are saved we hear the Gospel and are reminded of the complete regeneration we experienced at the time of justification (I'm typing so fast to get this out and I hope it is making sense...) What caused the absolute change in our hearts that made us hate what we used to love and love what we used to hate...THE GOSPEL!! So tonight it will be different: 1st night- Gospel; 2nd Night- Live it; 3rd night- Preach it...I'm a simple guy and these will be simple messages straight up from Acts 20:17-31. I'm incredibly pumped and humbled that God would use me. He uses me, He uses me, He uses me...does that not freak you out?? That God would choose to use you after we have rejected Him for so long...

Father,
May I not come with excellence of speech or with persuasive words, but may I come knowing nothing but Jesus and Him crucified. I am in constant weakness and fear, but You...You are my strength, my portion, my peace, my guide, my righteousness. May nothing in my life be done by human strength, but completely by the power of the Holy Spirit so that people's faith may not rest in wisdom of men but in the power of God.

A Day to Enjoy

Something really weird happened this morning. I woke up early and felt good. I was shocked. You see normally I wake up crying saying, "Why do have to get up? I never get to sleep!!" Not this morning. I woke up with eyes wide open looking forward to the day...and I liked it. Megan and JP were still in bed so I made my way over to the game house...yes we have two house connected by a garage...and played some Tiger Woods 08. Then I made my way back into the living house and saw that USA was playing Australia in Shanghai. It was just a good morning. When I made into the office...an hour early...I realized I don't have much to do today. So I started wondering what should I do? I don't want to waste time and spend the majority of the day on YouTube or addictinggames.com. The Lord just kind of spoke Psalm 46:10 and said, "Be still and know that I am God." I look forward to these days. So many times I would go and completely waste the day. So many times I would ignore His calling to just sit in His presence. But today I saw it...I noticed from the beginning that today was going to be special. So I'm going to enjoy my Jesus today in a different way. I'm going to sit and read and sing and pray. When is the last time you have just enjoyed Jesus??

Saturday's 7...Listen I know it's Monday

Well, I may be a little late but here are the 7 things that have been jiggling my brain here lately...

• I ordered my Toms last night. They are freaking sweet. Please check out the site and make an order. For every pair of shoes you buy a child in need gets a pair!! It's an easy way to help.
• I went golfing with the family the other day. JP had a blast. Every time I got on the green he pulled the flag for me and waited to pick up the ball out of the cup.



• I don't if I say this very often, but I have the absolutely hottest wife in the world...Not to mention she is the most incredible mom, cook, cleaner, organizer, driver, shopper, badminton player, swimmer, babysitter, and nose picker...she is amazing.

• I'm not sure how much your child eats, but JP will eat as long as he has something in front of him.

• I got a iTunes gift card for my birthday and I have enough left for one more cd...I'm struggling one which one to buy. There are several options like Trip Lee's new 20/20 or J'son's new album or maybe go the other direction and go with the favorite Hillsong. Help a brother out...
• I cannot listen to Toby Mac's Boomin without dancing in my chair here in the office. One of the most hype songs I have ever listened to period.
• Preaching in Omaha three days this week. Titles of the messages: Not sure yet but we are focusing on God's special calling on each one's life...It should be real good.
  

Mission Fuge: Complete

I know it is a horrible quality...but I love these guys!!