The goal . . .

To start with – I am sorry that it has taken me so long to get back to posting on this site. Honestly – my focus has been so scattered that words would not come together in any way close to a c complete sentence. Maybe with this series of thoughts I can turn the corner for a while.

This past Sunday evening I had the privilege of teaching the bible study during our time together at The Journey. We talked about loving God and loving others based upon the scriptures found in Matthew 22:37 and Mark 12:29-31. This week during my personal study time I have been reading and studying in 1st Timothy. What I found was a verse (verse 5) that has steadied my mind. In this verse it states that the goal of our teaching is love. In The Message it is stated “simply love”. The questions that I have batted around in my head are – what is simple love and does simple mean easy?

Over the next couple of posts we’ll deal with both of these questions, but until next time – I’ll let you chew on the questions yourself. Let me urge you to read Matthew 22:37 and Mark 12:29-31 in light of 1st Timothy 1:5 and chew on it for a while. That being said – keep your eyes on Jesus and Keep it simple.

Yard work and my spiritual walk . . .

Well, we have made it past another Memorial Day weekend and I am stiff and sore. This has traditionally been the weekend that we attack the yard work that we have let go for a while around our house. This weekend I have laid sod, put down stepping stones (which I still have some to put back down where I laid the sod), I have cut back Azaleas, trimmed tree limbs, bought a new gas grill (which I am trilled with) and a new set of chairs and a table for the patio. To be honest and transparent to those who read this blog – I really do not like yard work. That is the reason that I am stiff and sore. If I used these muscles all the time – by doing yard work and enjoying it – I would not be stiff and sore. You have to understand that I have seen all this work that needed to be done for a while – I just kept putting it off. If I didn’t put these things off to the last minute, it would not be so hard to get them done and my body would not have to be put through so much stress. But, I do have to admit, I like the way everything looks after it is done.

I started thinking this morning that sometimes our lives are a lot like Memorial Day weekends. We see things that need to be done in our lives (things that God has revealed to us) that need to be taken care of and yet we just keep putting them off. If we would just deal with those things when God revealed them our lives would be a lot easier and yet, we continue to hang on to them or put of dealing with them. I am far from perfect, and I procrastinate with the best, but I know in my life after these things are dealt with I like the way my life looks after it is done. Even dealing with the stiffness and soreness after dealing with something that God has revealed, the outcome is well worth what we go through. My question to you is this – what has God revealed to you that needs some attention?

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and let’s get the work done.

Living your life out load . . .

Are you living your life out load? Let me tell you what I am talking about. Are you living your life so that it affects those around you to the point that they become followers of Christ? You may say this can’t be done and I would say that you are wrong. I have had men and women who have affected the way I live my life just by the way that they live theirs and I would venture to say that so do you. The real question then is – how do we live our lives so that they affect others and their beliefs?

I ran across a scripture in the book of John this week that has stemmed this line of thought. In John 12:9-11 it is said that the High Priests plotted to kill Lazarus because people were becoming followers of Jesus because of him. Now I do find it strangely funny that they were plotting to kill a man that had already died once. Just by living his life – Lazarus was affecting peoples lives around him for the kingdom of God.

We need to live our lives so that we affect those around us. They need to see that we are regular people who lead regular lives – with one difference – where our faith lies. Our faith as believers lies in Jesus as our Lord and Savior. This should permeate every aspect of our lives to the point that people see Jesus in everything that we do. My question to you is – when people see you living your life – who do they see?

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and live you life out loud.

Who are you, Judas or Mary?

As I sit here this morning, eating pop tarts and getting ready to start a day of work, I’m asking myself, which attitude do I have Judas or Mary. Here’s where I’m coming from. Remember the passage in John 12:1-8. We discussed this last night in our Bible study with The Journey. Jesus has been traveling and stopped by to see Lazarus. Martha was serving supper and Mary poured an expensive bottle of perfume on Jesus’ feet. Judas fussed at her for wasting such and said that she should sell the bottle of perfume and gave the money to the poor. Of course, Jesus told him to be quite because Mary was doing the right thing.
Mary was worshipping in her own way. She cleaned His feet and dried them with her hair. She was at His feet, enjoying His presence. I wonder if she knew that six days later He was going to be hung on a cross.
Judas fussed at Mary because she wasted money by pouring an expensive bottle of perfume on Jesus’ feet. That bottle of perfume was like 11 months wages in that day. Judas was the “chastiser” of the bunch and a thief. He also kept the money bag for the disciples and yes, he embezzled (that’s why he fussed at Mary; he was thinking he was “the poor”). As most of you know this is the same Judas who took money in exchange for turning Jesus in to be crucified. Judas also had a habit like a lot of folks in today’s church. “You shouldn’t do that” or “You can’t come in like that”; “we’ve never done it that way”; “this is the way we’ve always done it”. Need I go on?
In my new church experience with The Journey, I’m learning to have an attitude more like Mary and less like Judas. I use to have an attitude like Judas but now I know that it’s more than the do’s and don’t ‘s. God is not concerned with all of the formalities of worship or going “to church”. He is concerned about worship. God does encourage us to come together as believers to encourage and lift each other up. Worship should be a 24 hour a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year thing. Corporate worship is an overflow of what has taken place during the week. It should never end. It’s never going to end when we get to heaven.
Hopefully this has stirred up something in you like it did me. Give me a shout and let me know what you are thinking. I hope all who has read this will have a wonderful day. Remember to be watching for what God is trying to get your attention about in your life.

How do we impact our world . . .

Do you ever wonder how we impact our world? You know the people that you see everyday. How do you impact them for the kingdom of God? That is one of the things that we are thinking about continuously as we work at planting The Journey. Our focus from the very beginning is to “Love God and Love Others.” But in a practical way how to we do that?

Well, in Mark chapter 6 (which is quickly becoming one of my favorite books to study) in verses 18 – 20 (in The Message), Jesus told the man, that He had cast the Legion (many) demons out of, to "Go home to your own people. Tell them your story—what the Master did, how he had mercy on you." We don’t need to over complicate matters. We each have our own story of what Jesus has done in our lives. We just need to tell our own people – those that we come in contact with everyday what Jesus has done and is doing in our lives.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and who have you told your story too lately? Who’s the next to hear your story? Pray that God would give you the opportunity to tell your story soon.

Nuggets of wisdom . . .

Have you ever stumbled upon something that you were reading in the Bible, maybe in a different translation, and suddenly a light seems to go on? Well, that’s what happened to me this morning. I was reading in the 4th chapter of Mark in the Message this morning and suddenly a light went on. I know that I have read this same scripture lots of time and for some reason never had it hit me the way it did this morning.

This scripture talks about the way that Jesus was teaching the people. It says that He taught in stories to those who did not have the insight to the kingdom of God. By doing so the stories were “creating readiness, nudging them toward receptive insight.” I have been thinking a lot about the way I teach and those around me teach and whether we sometimes over complicate things, especially for those who may not have a relationship with our Lord. The conclusion that I have come to is that we should basically use the model that Jesus used.

Our teaching never should be overly complicated. Teach in stories that apply to the people that we are teaching allowing the Holy Spirit to work in their lives. What do you think? How do you teach? Let me know.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and keep it simple.

Props to my friend Phil . . .

Last night I had the opportunity to go to a reception for one of my very best friends – Phil Edge. The reception was in honor of his retirement at the end of this school year. Phil and I have been friends for 30 years. We have seen each other through some great times and we have seen each other through some hard times. I can truly say that this is someone that I have traveled the roads of life with. Phil is retiring after 36 years in the education system as both a teacher and a principal. The following are a few things that I have seen in the life of my friend . . .

In his life as an educator – what he did was for the kids – not for himself. The kids under his care were what was always the most important. Greenville County schools are loosing a great educator.

Allow others around you to grow and empower them to lead.

Genuinely care about those under your care, especially kids – they can tell.

Look for the great qualities of people from our past and emulate those qualities in your life today.

Bad day fishing is better than a good day at work.

As you walk through God’s creation – keep your head up and focus on the journey and not the destination. If you don’t you will probably miss something great.

Take time to enjoy life.

Love God and love the people around you.

Those are just a few things from 30 years of friendship. I look forward to the next 30 in our journey through life together. Phil has poured a great deal of his life into me over all these years and for that I am eternally grateful. Phil – I love you as a friend and a brother. Blessings to you as you retire and start the list your wife has for you.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and when are we going to try out the new boat?

The road less traveled – revisited . . .

You know, I find it quite fascinating that I consider myself pretty well read and yet I have never seen this poem. I was talking about the latest post that I made with Mike Thompson and he asked if I knew that there was a poem with that name. Since I did not, I Googled it and low and behold there it was. So for others that may not have ever read this poem – here you go . . .

ROAD LESS TRAVELED

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood

And sorry I could not travel both

And be one traveler, long I stood

And looked down one as far as I could

To where it bent in the undergrowth

Then took the other as just as fair

And having perhaps the better claim

Because it was grassy and wanted wear

Though as for that, the passing there

Had worn them really about the same

And both that morning equally lay

In leaves no step had trodden black

Oh, I kept the first for another day!

Yet, knowing how way leads onto way

I doubted if I should ever come back

I shall be telling this with a sigh

Somewhere ages and ages hence

Two roads diverged in a wood

And I took the one less traveled by

And that has made all the difference

Robert Frost

I’ll revisit this topic again soon, but until the keep your eyes on Jesus and let’s see where this road goes.

Road less traveled . . .

I don’t know how that statement (a road less traveled) jumped in my head earlier this week, but I don’t seem to be able to get it out so . . . that is now our topic of discussion. When I first started thinking about this statement I was thinking of the scripture talking about narrow is the way. Since then I have moved on to a different train of thought.

I’ve been thinking more along the lines of discipleship and relationships. What I have noticed over most of my Journey as a Christian is that discipleship was done in a group and through a program instead of face to face and person to person – basically relationships.

If asked, most people would say that they have many friends. I would say that they have many acquaintances. A true friendship is built around a deep relationship. A disciple of Christ should be actively seeking those that he or she can build a relationship with in order to influence their lives through the touch of the Holy Spirit. So why don’t we do this more often? Because people’s lives are messy. Especially those which are far from God.

I’ll dig deep into this thought and statement in the days to come – but for now keep your eyes on Jesus and see you in Pigeon Forge this weekend. Irene and I will be at the Apple Barn for breakfast.

What a weekend . . .

Just to let you know, in some ways I had a great weekend and in some ways I would have been better off staying in bed most of the weekend. I jsut trying to be honest and transparent to those that read this blog. I am far from perfect and I have bad weekends.

Friday was a great day. I met with one of the guys from The Journey and we had lunch and went to Woodcraft and hung out a little while. Then Irene and I closed on the refinancing on our house.

Saturday started as a problem. Everything that I touched I either dropped, broke, or had to fix to be able to use. I went to Lowes and evidently so did every other oerson in the eastern seaboard. There were no parking places and the walkways were clogged with people. If I had not known better I would have bet I was at the Mall at Christmas time. Saturday evening got better as we met two friends for bar-b-que and later a trip to see the Greenville Drive play baseball. The game was supposed to start at 7:00 pm. There was a rain delay and the first pitch wasn’t thrown until after 9:00 pm. We still had fun jsut being at the part and fellowshipping with our friends. When we left to come home, Greenville was ahead 2 to 0. We checked the paper the next day and they had lost 7 to 2. We should have stayed. Their luck ran out when we left.

Sunday was great. We went to First Baptist Church Fountain Inn and listened to Mike preach a great sermon. After lunch it was nap time and then out again for Bible Study with The Journey. This week we had (23) come to our Bible Study. We had a family offer their home to meet until we ran out of room. We also had someone offer to work with our children during the adult discussion of the Bible Study. God is answering prayers.

Today, I was in the first of a two day training class for work on holding Crucial Conversations. It is a little more that humbling when you realize that you are not as good a communicator as you think you are. But that is OK. I want to get better and this is going to help me do that.

Next weekend Irene and I are heading out of town to Pigeon Forge TN and I can’t wait. I need a couple of days to kick my head out of gear and see if I can get my perspective back.

Tomorrow will be another all day class and then it is back to work on Wednesday. Until next time - keep your eyes on Jesus and let’s see what the Lord has in store for us in the future.

Things that I am looking forward to . . .

• There are a few things that are coming up soon that I am really looking forward to:
  
  

• Irene and I are closing on the refinancing of our house tomorrow. I am loving it. That will be one step closer to nothing outside of normal household bills.
• Irene and I are celebrating the closing by going to a Greenville Drive baseball game Saturday evening with two of our best friends.
• I am really looking forward to Bible study with The Journey Sunday evening. We had (22) at our house last week. I am praying that it gets more crowded this Sunday.
• Next Monday and Tuesday I will be out of the office at a training session on Crucial Conversations. I am hoping that this will help me with my conversation skills. Especially in those tough conversations.
• Mike is on his way back with a list of things that we need to tackle to begin to move The Journey forward. I look forward to seeing what he has learned at Exponential in Orlando.
• A chance to get back to reading “Church is a Team Sport” by Jim Putman. If you have not read this book yet, get a copy. It is a course changing read.
• Possibly spending a weekend out of town with my beautiful wife in the next coupe of weeks.
• Disney in October. That’s right. Irene and I will be celebrating our 10th wedding anniversary at Disney. I can’t wait. I haven’t been there since the park was (2) years old.

What are some things that you are looking forward to? Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and where’s Mickey? I want my picture taken with him.

God is so good . . .

God is so good. I just was thinking about how blessed I am. I turned 49 years old a couple of weeks ago and it has me thinking about how God has blessed me.

I have a beautiful wife that pretty much puts up with all of my nonsense.

I have great friends and family that love me and care about me.

I have a great job at a greta company - Devita and Associates, Inc.

My wife and I are closing on refinancing our home and rolling in a couple of bills that we have been trying to get paid off. If all goes as expected, our mortgage payment will go down from what we are paying right now and we are going from a 30 year loan to a 20 year loan.

My wife just called and said that she had discovered some moeny that she had coming to her from a past job that she had when we first met.

I am helpping a friend of mine plant a church here in Greenville.

I could go on and on, but for now that will do. How has God blessed you. Take a few minutes and make a list. Until next time - keep your eyes on Jesus and count your blessings, name tehm one by one.

A book that I am reading right now . . .

I am reading a book called Crucial Conversations right now. This is something that I would not normally pick up, but maybe I should have earlier in life. You see I have to read this book for a two day class/training session that my job is sending me to next Monday and Tuesday. I am actually looking forward to going. I really hope that it helps me with my communication skills, especially in tuff conversations.

I hate those types of conversations. I had to have a couple of those conversations last week with some guys on my team. I guess that the reason that I hate them is that I don’t think that I do them very well. In fact I now I don’t do them well at all. I probably hate being ion the receiving end of one of those conversations more than the one conducting the conversation. Mostly because I don’t process things very quickly and it is hard for me to know how to respond. Reading this book has caused me to look at the way I communicate and have communicated in the past, especially when I feel threatened.

One thing that it has triggered, unexpectedly, is to look at the way Jesus communicated in tough conversations. He always had the Pharisees, Sadducees, and scribes asking questions and starting crucial conversations with Him. I like the book that is required for the class. I like the example that Jesus set for us even better. I’ll let you know how they mess after the class next week.

How do you handle crucial (tough) conversations? Let me know. I really am interested. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and your ears open more than your mouth.

A Great Weekend . . .

I was sitting here at the computer on Sunday afternoon, which I normally do not do, and I decided to get off a quick hits list from the weekend. This weekend was great for several reasons, and some of them are as follows:

• Friday evening we clowned at Greenbrier elementary school for their spring fling. We tied balloons for 3.5 hours straight with no breaks. The kids were great as always. My hands have hurt me for two days now. I stand in awe of anyone that can do that everyday.
• Had to work at the office yesterday morning. I am blessed that I have a great job and a great company to work for. I am also blessed that I don’t have to go into the office on Saturdays very often. This was the first time in over a year.
• Last night we had a gathering here at the house to celebrate my birthday. We fired up the charcoal grill for the first time this year and cooked hamburgers and hotdogs. The only thing better than the food was the family and friends that were here at the house to help me celebrate my birthday. I am truly blessed.
• Today was awesome. We had a Sunday morning Bible study for The Journey here in mine and Irene’s home. We had no idea how many would show up. All we knew going in was that we would make contacts and see what happened. God is so good - we had (17) adults, (1) teenager and (4) children show up for Bible study. We worshiped together - Jonathan Whitten led us in some music. Mike brought us a lesson from God’s word that was great and we are going to seek to apply it this week. We had lunch together - baked spaghetti, salad and bread prepare by Irene and Karen (you to girls are da’ bomb). Some desserts were brought and enjoyed. The fellowship was great. One of our first time families even stepped up and offered their home for next weeks meeting.

This weekend was over the top incredible. I can’t wait to see what God has in store for us in the upcoming week. Until next time - keep your eyes on Jesus and what did we do with the left overs from lunch, I’m hungry again.

Why I do what I do . . .

Do you ever just look at your life and think – there must be an easier way of life than this? Why do I do what I do? Well, as someone who can now be consider as a church planter – that question does pop into my mind. I guess that he has for a long time even prior to helping plant a church. That question I guess surfaces in all lines of work, especially if you work with people. But I think that I have stumbled upon the answer and it is not that I am simply a glutton for punishment.

I was reading in Matthew yesterday morning in my Blackaby study bible and came to the scripture where Jesus is talking about being yoked with Him. Blackaby talked about if our work is just wearing us out and beating us down, then chances are we are not yoked with Jesus. To be yoked with Jesus does not mean that our work will not be messy. Dealing with peoples lives will always be messy. What it does mean is that Jesus will ease the work load through His spirit within us. As our relationship with Jesus grows, our passion for working along side Him grows and with passion comes energy. We do not need to work out of a sense of duty but out of a sense of relationship.

I find it funny – since I started helping plant this church, it has been confirmed in my life that all that I have taught is the past about relationships was dead on the money. Our relationship with Christ and relationships with the people that we are surrounded with are tantamount (wow – big word – where did that come from) to doing the work of a disciple. What do you think?

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and let’s put on His yoke. To quote Blackaby – “God does not reward our duty; He blesses our relationship with His Son Jesus.”

A conference fully worth the time . . .

I spent Monday and Tuesday of this week at a conference at White Oak Conference Center and I can say that it was fully worth the time spent there. Now, I have been to conferences in the past and generally always came away with some little tid-bit that I could use in some way. This conference was different!! I came away with several pages of notes in my journal and excitement in my heart. You may ask what breeds this excitement. I finally see a working model of a way to do discipleship that I have been talking about for years.

We had the opportunity to hear Jim Putman and several of his staff talk about a discipleship method (notice I did not say program) that produces disciples that re-produce themselves. It is done in small groups of people and is based in relationships that are built. It is the most biblical model that I have ever seen.

I also was able to see a method of teaching that is probably the most effective way of teaching that I have seen in a long time and it revolves around telling stories. Avery Willis brought this part of the conference. Something that was pointed out and I have recognized for a long time is that people will remember a story and repeat it far more often that they will remember teaching in its other forms. It hit home in a mighty way when one of the speakers asked us to tell him the second point of his talk that he had given just one hour before and we could not, but we could all repeat the story that he led into that point with.

The main excitement that I carry within me right now is because this is the skeleton that we have been trying to put meat on since we started The Journey. I have so much information that I need to process now into a form that we can use in what we seek to join the Lord doing here in Greenville and there is a definite direction to move in now.

Keep watch in the future for updates and information as I get it processed, until then – keep your eyes on Jesus and I do truly love to tell the story.

Mental Picture . . .

Do you ever get a mental picture when someone says a name or you get that passing fragrance that triggers a memory from your past or maybe a song that triggers a thought or a memory? I think that we all do. For me there are certain things that trigger those pictures almost instantly. The name of a school mate and I’m back in school. The smell of sun tan oil that has cocoa butter in it and suddenly I am just out of high school again. Although I am getting a little age on me now, there are times that I am still 21 in my mind.

Now that we all have the same foundation for this thought process, I have a question that I have been kicking around in my mind for a couple of weeks now. When someone says the name Jesus - what picture do you get in your mind? I am going to spend some time, maybe a long time, in various posts talking about a portrait of Jesus. Some times we get part of a picture in our heads, but we leave our other aspects of the picture. To give you an example – we understand that Jesus was fully human. We can see that in birth and death, but do we see him as fully God?

For now, I am going to leave this post with another question that has been kicking around in my head – when people that do not have a relationship with Jesus hear His name used, what mental picture do they have?

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus.

Catch up . . .

Sorry that I have been away so long. My focus is crazy here lately. Let me catch everyone up with what has been happening over the last couple of weeks.

I have been reading a book called “Church Is a Team Sport” by Jim Putman. If you are looking for a great read about how God is still moving within churches today, you really need to pick this one up. I am reading this in preparation for going to a conference that Jim and Avery Willis will be leading. I am really looking forward to this conference and to hear how these men have come up with a unique way to impact communities for Christ through use of the Word of God.

The Journey is going well. We are going through PLACE together. This is a way fro us to discover each others personality traits and spiritual gifts and how they work together for the cause of Christ. It is a lot of fun going through this together and surprisingly we have people showing an interest in joining us in this early part of our Journey together. Continue to pray for our group as we get to know each other better and seek ways that we can serve our Lord most effectively.

My mother is in the hospital with pneumonia. They have been giving her antibiotics and she seems to be getting better a little at a time. We took a walk to the end of the hall and back twice yesterday. It is really important that we keep her strength up as much as possible so that we don’t have more problems with her being self sufficient when she gets home. Please continue to pray for her.

We will be getting our Growth Partners started this week through The Journey. This is the way that we will be growing as Disciples of Christ. I am really looking forward to this. The first topic that we will all be dealing with will be prayer. The group that I am going to be a part of is going to read and discuss Jim Cymbala’s book “Breakthrough Prayer.” I am finally going to be a part of discipleship the way I see it mapped out in God’s word.

I think that I am going back to having just one blog and this may be it. I really like the other format and some of the things that it allows me to do but it is wearing me out trying to keep up with two Blogs. I still have not completely made up my mind and if you would like to have some input into this decision, leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and let’s meet for coffee and talk about it.

P.S. I just noticed - I had my blogging birthday the 16th of March. We should have a party.

Hello world . . .

For those of you that may be wondering why I have not been posting lately – well, I am now trying to keep up with two Blogs. You may be asking yourself, self why would Allen want to try to keep up with two Blogs? I am testing a different blog site and format to see if I like it better. It also helps me keep things a little more separated in my head. Now that may seem a little obscure to you, but it is working, kind of, for me right now. You can read form my other blog by using the link named – Allen’s other blog.

Just to catch everyone up on what has been happening in mine and Irene’s life:

• The Journey was commissioned by Rocky Creek last Sunday evening.
• We have a few families that are committed and others that are still praying about joining up.
• We will start going through a process called PLACE this Sunday evening and I am really looking forward to it. It will be great to learn each others personalities and their spiritual gifts.
• Mike Thompson and I meet weekly to talk through the business of the church and its direction. It is great to watch how God is working in our lives and the life that He is breathing into this church.
• Irene and I have ordered three new windows for our house and they will get put in place over the next week. I love having a brother that knows how to do this stuff that is willing to come down to the house and help.
• We actually have a couple of spring clown events that are coming up in April and May. This is generally a slow time for us.
• Irene and I have booked and are in the process of planning our 10th anniversary trip in October. You may wonder where we are going – Disney World. I have been looking at maps of the park and can hardly wait.
• I still get out in my shop and work from time to time and once spring clean-up around the house is done, I hope to get out there and get a few projects ahead.
  

Well, that’s enough for now. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and full speed ahead number one.

Mr. Magorium’s Wonder Emporium . . .

If you have not seen this movie – get a copy and watch it. It is like being a kid again. The movie is absolutely delightful. It is full of wonder and magic that could only be seen through the eyes of a child. The movie surrounds a magical toy shop. The story is fun. Dustin Hoffman does an excellent job is Mr. Magorium. I love the door of many rooms and the dodge ball that can not be dodged. I also thought that the counting mutant was a great concept. There was one statement that I thought was wonderful – “life is an occasion that you have to step up to.” (I think that is correct – I’ll let you know when I watch it again this weekend.) I recommend this movie highly. If you have sent it or after you have seen it, drop me a comment and let me know what you thought of the movie.

Until next time – I think I’ll wear the red fedora today.

Spring Fever . . .

I don’t know about the rest of you, but as for me, I have spring fever. I am now ready for all of the crazy weather to go away and the weather to settle down. These 30 degree temperature changes are killing me. I get up and it’s cold outside, ok, at least it is cool out side and by 3:00 pm it’s 70 plus degrees outside. Now, I’m not really gripping about the temperature right now because it is awesome. I’m gripping because I am at work and it is really nice outside. I am really blessed to have a great job and great people to work for. I still want to be outside on a 70 degree day. I begin to think of all the project that I could be working on at home. Even better yet, since I am struggling right now, a nap in a hammock would be really nice. Now that I am off my soap box, it’s back to work. If you are struggling with this also, send me a comment and we’ll support each other in this pity party.

Until; next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and hang that hammock under the tree.

Where are you ?

If you have been wondering where I have been - I have been developing a new Blog. It is not complete yet, but I am really excited about it. I started this blog when I was a student Pastor and it still holds a specila place in my heart. I will continue to post here from time to time and I am going to encoureage Irene to post here more often. you can get to my new blog here - notes from a traveling man. E-mail me and tell me what you think at adavis1959@gmail.com.

Until next time - keep your eyes on Jesus and let's keep in touch.

“Quiet Strength” – By Tony Dungy with Nathan Whitaker

If you are a football fan and have not read this book, run – do not walk – to the nearest book store and buy this book. This is honestly one of the best books that I have read in the last few years. The lessons that can be learned form this book is almost limitless. I just found out that there is a bible study companion to this book and I can’t wait to get my hands on it. The following are a few quotes that hit me where it did some good:

• “It’s not all about football. It’s about the journey – mine and yours – and the lives we can touch, the legacy we can leave, and the world we can change for the better.”
• “Tony, I think you’re at a crossroads” said Donnie (Shell). “You know what life is all about. You profess to be a Christian, and you tell everybody that God has first place in your life. Now, when your career looks like it’s teetering, we’re getting a chance to see what really is in first place for you.”
• “It was the first time I was able to look at football as something that God was allowing me to do, not something that should define me.”
• “I learned three key truths from Nehemiah. First, Nehemiah’s opportunity came in God’s time, not his own. Second, Nehemiah diligently prepared his mind and his heart so he would be ready when God’s time arrived. Third, Nehemiah needed to be prepared to take on the problems, doubt, and adversity that would come his way both from the outside and from within.”
• “I’m a firm believer that the Lord sometimes has to short-circuit even our best plans for our benefit.”
• “Respond to adversity; don’t react.”
• “Be on time. Being late means either it’s not important to you or you can’t be relied upon.”
• “Execute. Do what you’re supposed to do when you’re supposed to do. Not almost. All the way. Not most of the time. All of the time.”
• “Take ownership.”
• “The competing views of success in our world often create an interesting tension. Society tends to define success in terms of accomplishments and awards, material possessions, and profit margins. In the football business, winning is the only thing that matters.
  God’s Word, however, presents a different definition of success – one centered on a relationship with Jesus Christ and a love for God that allows us to love and serve others. God gives each one of us unique gifts, abilities, and passions. How well we use those qualities to have an impact on the world around us determines how “successful” we really are.”

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and let’s talk football.

Reflections from the weekend . . .

Am I the only one that felt like this past weekend went away in a blink? Here are a few reflections from this past weekend:

• Irene and I both seem to be finally on the mend from the upper respiratory infection.
• I carried mother to have a bronci-scope done Friday, so now maybe she can start to get better. She at least got some rest this weekend.
• I really enjoy being around the people that we are starting The Journey with. Next week we are doing a celebration time together and look at who is serious about becoming a partner in The Journey.
• I finished reading “Quiet Strength” this weekend. I’ll post my thoughts later in the week.
• I hate to say it, but I am hooked on Extreme Home Makeover.
• Did anyone else see the new “Knight Rider” last night? I think that it has real potential.
• NASCAR and racing season is finally back. I love to watch the races – I love the NASCAR naps even more.
• Mike had a great post on “Who would you like to be like?” I may try to tackle that one later in the week.
• Irene informed me that next weekend may be a yard work weekend. If it stays 60 degrees – I think that would be great. If I can get ahead, maybe I can keep up this year.
• Celebrated birthdays with my father in law and sister in law this past weekend. We had great steaks, but the true hit of the weekend was Drake – the nephew. He is def the coolest kid around. I’ll try to post pictures this week.
• Irene and I are trying to get everything ready to go to Disney for our 10th anniversary. I am looking forward to the trip, but not as much as the rest of my life with the woman of my dreams. I Love You – Irene.

Until, next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and I’m going to Disney World.

My Walk in The Journey – Continued . .

Well, it seems like it has taken me forever to get back here to continue the post about The Journey and the part that I play in it. In this post I want to spend a little time on the L.I.F.E. groups. L.I.F.E. groups are the way that we are going to reach our communities for Christ. This all ties back to our neighbors. Our job according to the Great Commission is to go into all the world and make disciples. That seems to be a pretty daunting task for any one person. Then God showed me in His word another daunting task. In the book of Nehemiah the people had to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. That would seem to me a pretty overwhelming task. Unless, you look at it as Nehemiah did – each family is responsible for the wall in front of their home. I believe that we need to be responsible for that part of the world right there where we live. If each of us becomes responsible for that – then the world will be reached for Christ.

Through L.I.F.E. groups we will be concentrating on four basic things:
L – We are going to learn from one another. One of the greatest motivators to learning is the people that we are learning with.
I – we are going to intentionally grow. Where there is no growth – there is no life. We want our children to grow and develop – God wants the same things for His children.
F – We are going to learn to follow biblical principles. We are going to seek out life applications to all of the lessons that we will be studying. God gives us principles to live by to help us live to our full potential.
E – We are going to evangelize through relationships. Through praying for our neighbors, building relationships with them and inviting them to join our L.I.F.E. groups we will evangelize our neighborhoods through relationships. These relationships will be developed when we see our community as Christ does – full of people that He was willing to give up His life for.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and lets focus on what is in front of us.

How would you handle this . . .

For those of you that read this blog and have a heart for working with young people (students, teenagers, youth, etc.) I have a hypothetical situation for you. Let’s say that you have a student (non-church member – one far from God) that is coming to your Wednesday night program. One Wednesday night, this student steals a pair of expensive sunglasses – let’s say $100.00 plus. There is no doubt that this student is the one that did this. How would you handle it? Would it make a difference if the student was a member of your student ministry and a church member?
I am really curious about how others would handle this. If you have a student pastor that does not read my blog and you would like his or her take on this, send a link to this post to them. Comments are open and waiting. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and let’s work through a difficult situation.

Where have I been? ? ?

Sorry that it has taken me so long to post. Since getting back from Meltdown two weeks ago – I have missed (5) days of work because of an upper respiratory infection that went to pneumonia. I am still trying to get me feet back under me. Irene has been sick with the same stuff (we were both out of work at the same time) and she is still dealing with it. My mother has this stuff also and we would appreciate your prayers for her healing. Needless to say this is some nasty stuff.

I am so behind in my posts and I promise to get back to posting more about The Journey and our church plant, but for now I am going to stop and get some work done. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and wash your hands. You do not want this bug that is going around.

Weekend Recap and Looking to the Future . . .

Just a few thoughts from the weekend:

• Irene and I spent the weekend at the Meltdown Student Conference. It was over the top. Thank you Toby for inviting us to come and help out – you are the man.
• We heard Scott Smith speak Friday evening and then heard Adrian Despres and Ken Forester speak on Saturday.
• When we went to breakfast Saturday morning it was snowing.
• 33 Miles was in concert that night and they were fantastic. Rumor is they may open Meltdown ’09.
• We had White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Banana Pudding Saturday Night. Holy Mackerel that was good.
• We saw Jared Hall, a Christian illusionist Saturday night and he was – WOW!! Where did that bowling ball come from??
• We got to spend some time hanging out and eating with Steve, Kim, AJ and Molly Conley and hear about their new church and talk clowning.
• Sunday mornings highlight to me was the splat experience. If you don’t know what that is – check this out.
• We got to eat at the Apple Barn, Alamo Steak House, Calhoun’s, and the Old Mill. I love being married to a woman who likes to eat at good restaurants.
• Why does the ride home from Pigeon Forge always seem longer than the one going up there?

Looking at the future:

• We start training sessions with our prospective core group for the Journey this weekend.
• I talked with a friend of mine about designing me a sweet new background for my blog and the future.
• Mike’s at a training session for the next two days. I can’t wait to hear the great things that he has learned.
• I’m still working on reading the “Simple Church”. Hopefully I’ll have it finished in the next couple of weeks.
• Irene gave me a book for Christmas and that is what I am reading next, just for pleasure.
• I have got to get back in my shop this week. There are projects that are backing up.
• I am having lunch with Robbie Funderburk this Friday. We haven’t had a chance to talk in a couple of months and I am really looking forward to spending some time together.

Next time we’ll spend some time talking about LIFE Groups, but until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and one more white chocolate macadamia nut banana pudding please.

My walk in The Journey . . .

Last time I talked about The Journey and I told you that I would let you know where I fit into The Journey. Well, I have the privilege of being asked to be the Connections Guy at The Journey. You may ask, what is a connections guy and what exactly does he do? As the Connections Guy I am the person in charge of connections – meaning that I will help organize and help to keep on track the L.I.F.E groups, Growth Partners and Ministry Teams of The Journey. I will talk about each of these aspects of The Journey in separate posts.

One of the foundational beliefs of The Journey lies in Matthew 22:37-38. I believe that those of us who follow Christ generally do a pretty good job loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind, and strength. Where we often fail, especially in today’s busy life, is in loving our neighbors as ourselves. More often than not, I have found out that we don’t even know who our neighbors are. I did a series of posts on who our neighbors are in the last couple of months. You can re-visit those posts here, here and here.

Next time we’ll look at how we think we can begin to build relationships with our neighbors through the L.I.F.E. groups at The Journey. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and say hello to your neighbors.

The Journey that I am on . . .

I am finally at the point where I can begin to share the journey that God has been directing me on since leaving New Hope in October. Last night we did our vision cast service at Rocky Creek (our sponsoring church) about the church plant that I am helping with. It is called The Journey and we are calling it a new church experience instead of a church plant. We are calling it a new church experience basically because it is completely new for this area. No one is doing this model of church around here at all. At The Journey we have three things that we focus on – Celebration, Connection, and Commission. I will do individual posts on each of the focus areas but for now I will be brief. We believe that we should celebrate through corporate worship by loving God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength using every tool available to us today. We should connect by growing together in groups of three (Growth Partners.) And lastly, we are called to fulfill the great commission to reach the world around us through serving others in our neighborhoods (L.I.F.E. Groups) and ministry teams.

This is really one of the biggest faith steps that I have ever taken. We are doing things now that I could never have dreamed about before. I’ve gone from having an office at a church and a youth group to having staff meetings with my pastor at the local coffee shop. Just as a point, if any of you wonder which local coffee shop we have settled on – it is Java Jolt on Butler Road. There are a lot of reasons – but lets just say it is comfortable and it has good coffee. Back on subject – what has my step of faith gotten me into? I have gone from a programs based ministry (which is where most churches are) to a relationship based ministry (which is what I have been teaching for years.) Everything that we do at The Journey will be wrapped up in relationships. For those of you that know me really well will understand what a step of faith that this is for me. I am one who must now lead out building relationships with the people around me, and that is stretching me like never before in my walk with Christ.

Next time I’ll talk about where I fit into The Journey. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and I take a Grande Decaf Skinny Caramel Latte, please.

Sorry . . .

To those who read this blog, I am sorry that I have not been posting like I should. Right now I am way behind in a lot of things. So here are a few of the things that I have been dealing with:

We finally got the big submittal out at the office that I have been working on, so that is one thing off my plate. Now all of the follow-up begins. This is the part of my job that I enjoy the least.

Mike Thompson and I have been meeting a least once a week at area coffee houses trying to find a home for our meetings. I think that we have settled on Java Jolt on Butler Road. The coffee is good and they have WIFI. It is the biggest rush to see how God is directing people into our paths with the same burdens that we have. One thing that I am seeing through all of this is that God has His hand on this and He has a set direction for this Journey.

I will get back to the acrostic on Disciple, I promise. It just seems that the time to finish that up seems to go somewhere else when I get a little spare time. Something else to watch for in the near future is a discussion of our upcoming L.I.F.E. groups through The Journey. I am finally getting my head wrapped around that whole concept.

I have been reading the Simple Church along with a couple of other books. If you have not read this book, get your hands on a copy and start reading. It is a book about how we have over complicated the church with an overload of programs. This is something that I have been feeling deep in my soul for several years and did not have a clue what to do about it. Whether you agree with what is said in this book or not, it is an excellent read.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and try a caramel latte – they are over the top.

D – Develop spiritually

OK, finally I can start trying to explain the acrostic of disciple that a friend gave me. Understanding the foundation that I have laid in the previous posts about the personal responsibility discipleship, today we will look at how a disciple should develop spiritually. Discipleship is a continual walk with Christ. It was always meant to be a growth process that never stops. The same as a child continues to develop until adulthood, our discipleship should be a process of continual spiritual development until we arrive in the presence of Jesus.

Moses called the nation of Israel, in Deuteronomy 5:1, to three distinctive development stages – to hear, to learn and to follow. Let me take a minute to briefly look at each of these. We’ll start with hearing. We need to understand how we hear from God today. He has given us His word and we must spend pointed, focused time in His word each day. When we spend time in His word, He will begin to speak to our hearts things that we need to influence our lives. Hearing is absorbing and accepting information about God.

Once we have heard from God, then we need to move to learning from God. Learning understands what we have heard. We need to understand the meaning of what God has spoken to us and the implications of that meaning and the way those things will impact our lives. We need to grab hold of what God has given us and study it until we fully absorb it until it is a part of us and our way of thinking.

This will lead us to following. Following is putting into action all we have learned and understood. This is simply life application of what God has given us. We need to understand that is God gives us something, we study it, understand it and we don’t live it, our mouths may profess Jesus as Lord but our lives deny Him and His teachings.

As disciples we must develop spiritually in our lives. If we don’t, we all nothing more than children in adult bodies. Until next time – keep you eyes on Jesus and remember a race is not over until we get to the finish line.

Clown Program - report . . .

To those who read the post about the clown program that we did last night in Union, I thought that I would give a brief report. We had the privilege of doing the program at the First Baptist Church. We were invited by our friends Janet and Spencer Ledford. Janet is actually the one who prayed me into clowning, so it is always a special time to gather with them and their family. It was extra special since this is their first ministry as staff at a church. We had a great time and so did all that were in attendance. The best part of the night was that God allowed us to see a harvest for His kingdom. A teenage young lady accepted Christ as her savior last night and we have a new sister to journey through life with. It is always fun to make people smile, laugh and bring joy into a church, but it is special time when you get to see a life changed. We thank the Lord for what He did last night, we give Him the glory and thank Him for the opportunity to join Him in His work. That is what makes all the effort worth while.
Until next time - keep your eyes on Jesus and keep smiling - people will wonder what you are up to.

Clown Program . . .

For those of you that follow what we are doing as clowns - we have a program with PeeWee and Bumper tomorrow evening at the First Baptist Church in Union, SC. This is Irene's home town. Pray that God will use us in a mighty way to bring joy to the people of this church and even bring a harvest of souls for the kingdom.

Until next time - keep your eyes on Jesus and smile, there are clowns on this page.

I don't usually . . .

To begin with, I'm sorry that I didn't post yesterday, but things were crazy at work trying to get a project ready to submit. I'll post either later today or tomorrow starting the acrostic on discipleship. As for the title of today's post - I don't usually post things from e-mails but the following struck a cord with me. I don't know if it is true, but I would like to think that it was. So here goes . . .

If you don't know GOD, don't make stupid remarks!!!!!!!

A United States Marine was attending some college courses between assignments. He had completed missions in Iraq and Afghanistan. One of the courses had a professor who was an a vowed atheist and a member of the ACLU.

One day the professor shocked the class when he came in. He looked to the ceiling and flatly stated, 'God, if you are real, then I want you to knock me off this platform. I'll give you exactly 15 minutes.'

The lecture room fell silent. You could hear a pin drop. Ten minutes went by and the professor proclaimed, 'Here I am God. I'm still waiting.'

It got down to the last couple of minutes when the Marine got out of his chair, went up to the professor, and cold-cocked him; knocking him off the platform. The professor was out cold. The Marine went back to his seat and sat there, silently. The other students were shocked and stunned and sat there looking on in silence.

The professor eventually came to, noticeably shaken, looked at the Marine and asked, 'What the heck is the matter with you? Why did you do that?'

The Marine calmly replied, 'God was too busy today protecting America's soldiers who are protecting your right to say stupid stuff and act like an idiot. So, He sent me.'

A big thanks to all those in the service that are defending our rights around the world. May God bless you and keep you safe to return to your loved ones. Until next time - keep your eyes on Jesus and pray for our troops around the world.

Discipleship continued . . .

Last time we looked at what discipleship is not. Now, to look at what discipleship is, we need to look at the followers of Christ and what their lives modeled. What I learned as a definition of a disciple was a person who learned at the master’s feet. This is what I see in scripture, but I also see this going a step farther. Not only do I see disciples learning from the master, but I see what they have given up to do this. Jesus said that in order to follow Him, one must take up their cross daily. Those people that He was speaking to understood that in order to follow Jesus, they would have to give up everything. There were those in scripture that were not willing to do that and they walked away. That was their choice – their personal responsibility. Those that did follow Jesus, took the personal responsibility of doing so and understood the cost.

To take discipleship one step further, Jesus left instructions for those of us that are disciples to make more disciples. Once again, notice that there is personal responsibility involved in this part of discipleship. During this series of posts, I am going to expound on an acrostic that a friend gave me. We’ll take a walk and try to understand what Jesus meant when He commanded us to go into the world and make disciples.

Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and remember – church is the people, not the building.

Discipleship . . .

Have you ever sat down and thought about what it means to be a disciple of Christ, what discipleship really is or what it might cost? I have been thinking about this a lot over the last couple of months. If the truth be known, most of my adult life has been spent trying to figure out discipleship. I will try to be brief in my conclusions.

Let me start by telling you what discipleship is not. It is not a program in a church. That is what the church has tried to do for years and it hasn’t worked because it was never designed to be a program. Discipleship was designed to be something very personal. I can remember growing up and going to something that was called Training Union. Then the program was renamed and called discipleship training. The problem lies in that discipleship was never designed to be ten people sitting in a room reading parts from a book. By doing what we have been doing in the church, we have removed the personal responsibility of discipleship. Discipleship is not a program, but it is a personal walk with Jesus.

Let me know what you think about this subject. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and a pizza with everything for me please.

A New Year and I’m back . . .

Hello world. I hope that everyone had a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful start to a New Year. I’m back as I promised from my brief break from blogging. I really needed that break. I had gotten to the point where I could not even put together a complete thought with everything else going on. So let me take a few sentences and catch you up on what I have been up to:
• Completed all of my Christmas projects and everyone that got one as a gift seemed pleased.
• Put my mind in cruise control for a few weeks, no reading, concentrating, major thinking, etc. It was nice.
• Spent some wonderful time with my beautiful wife and loving family over the holidays.
• Watched several movies. Lots of fun-nothing that made me think to hard.
• Helped a friend (Mike Thompson) and his family get moved to the upstate. This included a trip back to the low country to pick up an estimated handful of stuff. This led to some nice fellowship.

With all of that out of the way-what is coming in the New Year?
• Begin working on the church plant that I will be helping with. More on this in the near future.
• Begin to sort out in my head what is really means to be a disciple of Christ. That series of posts begins shortly.
• Spend time building relationships with people that don’t know Christ. This hopefully will lead to an opportunity to share Christ with them. Also to get them plugged into a group of believers that will help them grow in their walk with Christ.
• Learn how to love my wife and family more.
• Grow closer to God.

With all of that said, it is to work I must go. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and follow the yellow brick road.

TSO . . .

Ok, I know that I said that I was going to take a break, but I can’t resist. I took my wife to The Trans Siberian Orchestra concert at the Bi-Lo Center last night for her birthday. All that I can say is - WOW!!! That may very well have been the best concert that I have ever been to anywhere. I knew that the music would be over the top because I listen to their stuff at Christmas, but the concert as a whole was beyond description and well worth the money. The staging and the light show/pyrotechnics were way over the top. Maybe the best of all is that they made it snow in the Bi-Lo Center – way cool!!! TSO played for a solid 2 ½ hours almost non-stop. Their mix of classical music and electric instruments is perfection. These guys and girls may well be some of the best musicians around. If you have a chance to see them, go! This is definitely a show that should not be missed. I know one thing – my wife and I will definitely be back new year if they come to Greenville (she’s already asked for tickets for her birthday again next year.)
Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and remember the reason for the season.

A break from blogging . . .

If you have been wondering where I have been and why I have not been posting like I have in the past - well it is Christmas and work at the office is crazy. My work schedule is wide open right now and when I get home I am brain dead. I have also been in my shop almost every spare minute for the last few weeks working on Christmas presents. With all that said - I am going to officially take a break from blogging until after Christmas. Irene may post if God gives her something but I am going to rest from this for a little while.
There is a series that I am going to be working on during this time off that I will start with when I get back that has something to do with the new working coming to Greenville after the first of the year. I am getting really excited about that.
Until after Christmas - keep your eyes on Jesus and quit shaking the packages under the tree, some of those are breakables.

Where in the world have I been . . .

Sorry that I have not posted lately. Between work at the office, working on Christmas presents that I am making and trying to keep up with everything else, time has been very limited. I have also been chewing on a few things here lately. I promise that I will post on every one of them in the future.
Pray for Irene. She has a horrible bad cold and has lost her voice. Going into the Christmas season this is probably the worst time to get a cold. We have a Christmas parade to walk in this Saturday in Travelers Rest. Also Irene’s birthday is next week and the gathering in Travelers Rest that we do in clown is coming up next week. Pray that God heals her quickly and that she does not give it to anyone else.
I was humble to my bones this week when I read this blog. I was humble because I’m not so sure that I would have been open to following God’s leadership so quickly. Now my prayer is that I would be. Occasionally God reminds me that I am still under construction.
I listened to Perry’s sermon this morning from yesterday at Newspring. All I can say is WOW. I do love the way this guy brings God’s word to life. If you have not heard this sermon yet you can go hear and listen.
Well, I have to get back to work. Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and remember that you only have 21 shopping day left.

Tradition vs. God’s Word

Allen has been slack this week so I thought I’d post. For those of you who know me, know that I do not beat around the bush. Allen likes to tease me by calling me an Old Testament girl and having no mercy. Which in some cases it’s true. I am one of those “if it’s in the Bible, yep, we need to do it!” I guess it falls under the gifts of faith and discernment.

This “what if” was given to me, if one Sunday morning a person comes forward to let the pastor know that he has accepted Jesus as his Savior and Lord and the pastor presents him to the church for a time of celebration. Then the pastor goes on to announce that in the evening worship service that same Sunday, they were going to observe the Lord’s Supper and the next Sunday morning, they would have baptism for the person who just got saved. Here’s the question, could this new believer participate in the observance of the Lord’s Supper? I said yes, he could participate. The person asking me this question told me that I was incorrect. They went to check their notes and asked me to look up Acts 2:41-42 . So I read it, now what? If we look at it in context of the day that it was written, Peter was preaching on the day of Pentecost. There were thousands and thousands of people gathered around to hear. Most likely they were outside and were near a river, maybe the Jordan River? Yes I believe that baptism should follow accepting Jesus as Savior and Lord. If you stop and think about it, we’re baptized twice. First with the Holy Spirit and then with water (a complete dunking, not sprinkle). Neither dunking nor sprinkle will get you into heaven. Jesus set the example for us to follow. That example is an outward sign of the old self dying, being buried and being raised new in the likeness of Christ. Where in God’s word does it say that we have to be baptized first before we can participate in the Lord’s Supper? Yes in Acts 2:41-42 it says that the gospel was presented then there was a baptism service and then there was a meal. Unlike today’s time, we have to arrange for a baptism service; back then, they didn’t!

O.K. some of you are asking why are we splitin’ hairs over this subject? Well………… here’s where tradition kicks in. It’s called church constitution and by-laws. This is the church’s handbook on how to run the church. Now wait, don’t get me wrong, we do need guidelines but they should be according to God’s word, not according to the people who write the constitution and by-laws. Don’t forget, we are humans and we make mistakes too. There are churches out there that uphold their constitution and by-laws higher than God’s holy, perfect, inherent, life giving, life changing word and to those who do, may God have mercy on you.

I was born and raised as a traditional southern Baptist but as I have matured in my walk with God, He has shown to me that we can get so wrapped up in traditions that we forget about Him. God is not traditional, that’s for sure. He’s not predictable, He’s not boring, He’s not plain. He is wonderful, He is a loving and just God. Need I say more? So, what are you, traditionalist or a believer of God’s Holy Word?

Happy Thanksgiving . . .

To all that spend time reading my blog, thank you. To those that may stumble upon this blog, hang around and lets converse. You may be the friend that I have not met yet. To those that don't read this blog, well, why not?
To everyone every where - Happy Thanksgiving. Don't eat to much on Thanksgiving Day and if you do - take a nap. Shopping is exercise - you will burn it off on Friday.
Until next Monday - when I'll pick back up again with personal responsibility - keep your eyes on Jesus and be thankful - and pass the dressing and gravy.

Personal Responsibility – Part 1 – personal discipleship . . .

We need to come to the understanding that discipleship is not a program at church; it is a personal walk with our Lord and Savior – Jesus. In Luke 9:23 the statement that Jesus makes is to individuals and it is personal. If you accepted Christ, as your, Lord and Savior and are not striving to follow Him in a personal relationship daily; it is not the church’s fault or the fault of a program, it is your fault. We need to take personal responsibility for our own relationship with Christ. We need daily to be spending time in prayer. Conversation with the Lord was meant to be two way, not a shopping or wish list given in a few moments, say good bye and run. We need to daily be in God’s word. When God gave us His word, it was given for us to spend time in, learning and understanding how we are to live. We need to be saying no to our wants and saying yes to God’s. Discipleship is a personal thing.
Tomorrow we will move onto Part 2 but for now – keep your eyes on Jesus and extra Turkey with gravy for me please.

Personal responsibility . . .

Have we as Christian’s lost our understanding of what personal responsibility means? There are a lot of people in the world in which we live that do not understand or want to take personal responsibility for anything. There are those that believe the government should supply them a place to live, food to eat, money for retirement, insurance – and the list goes on and on and on. Maybe that is why we are not reaching out to the world around us the way the Bible commands us to. We don’t think that it is our responsibility to do that. Somehow we have had someone sell us a bill of goods that says that the church is what (notice I did not say who) should reach out to the world. It is easy to give money and have someone else get in the trenches and do the dirty work. You may wonder why I said what and not who. If I had said who – then it is personal and we are responsible – if I say what it is and object – non-personal. I really believe that it is a matter of perspective; even it is a bad perspective.
If you are wondering where this is coming from – well, it comes from a discussion that I had with a friend of mine that is a minister in Charleston. I told Irene coming back from Charleston – if I miss anything from when I was at North Greenville it is having people that I sat around with and talked through the problems involved in ministry. I had the opportunity to do that this weekend with two of my closest friends and I had a blast. Passion comes from those kinds of discussions. A passion for: serving God, touching the world around us, leaving a mark and making a difference.
This week I am going to try to convey what God has taught me and is teaching me about personal responsibility over the past year.

Road tripping . . .

This weekend Irene and I are road tripping to Eutawville, SC. If you don’t know where that is don’t feel bad, there are quite a few people that don’t know where Eutawville is. Just for the record, it is in the lower part of our state – northwest of Charleston. We are going down to spend sometime with our friends Mike and Karen Thompson. Mike and I are going to sit around and talk church plants Saturday. We hope to eat some bar-b-que while we are down there. Then Sunday after church we are heading to Charleston for the afternoon to meet some other friends, possibly for supper.
There is something about getting out of town for a few days that is just relaxing, and Irene and I are both looking forward to this weekend. Good friends, good fellowship and good food make for a great weekend.
Until we return – keep your eyes on Jesus and remember – you never put a screen door on a submarine.

Where are you seeking praise . . .

I have finished reading through the books of Acts and have moved on to the book of Galatians. As I was reading the first couple of chapters this morning I ran across a foot note that took me to Romans 2:29. I read the New Living Translation during my quiet time right now and when I got to the end of this verse, I came upon this statement - “And a person with a changed heart seeks praise from God, not from people.” When I read this my mind stopped and began to chew on this part of the verse. Here a few thoughts that I have had as the day has gone on and I have had time to chew on this:
At times I can be considered the chief among sinners in context with this verse. When I have preached in the past I would always ask Irene how I did. I would ask others did it make sense or was I off the mark. Now at times I wanted to know this information so that I could improve at what I was doing and at times, I must admit, I wanted the people around me to give me a little praise. Where I should have been seeking this information and this praise is from God Himself. You know, as I sit here and type this – this is a hard pill to swallow, but I have always tried to be transparent in my walk with the Lord.
I have watched adults and students stand and lead in worship and I could tell you which ones were there for the praise of the people that they were leading and which ones were there for God and Him alone. There are certain students that stand out in my mind that as I sat there and watched them lead in worship I felt as if you were almost interrupting something that was designed to be shown to God and no one else. Their praise will come one day from God Himself.
Early in my time clowning I was sitting around talking with a close friend about the praise in laughter and applause that we get during a service. I made a statement that I believe can be applied to all aspects of life – if we are only doing what we are doing for the laughter and applause, then at the end of a program we are paid in full. If we are doing what we do for the glory of God – then our praise is waiting for us in heaven. Just speaking for myself – I’ll wait to collect my praise.
One last thing – the heart of a person is revealed by the praise that they seek. If one is seeking the praise of man – has their heart really been changed?
Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and your treasures in heaven.

Don’t settle for less . . .

John F. Kennedy once stated – “Once you say you’re going to settle for second, that’s what happens to you in life.” I have a new little gadget on my desktop that pops up a new quote everyday. When this popped up it started a whole thought process. Let me expound for a few minutes.
I have the privilege of being friends with Bo and Brynda Brown – some of you know them as PeeWee and Bumper the clowns. They were given the “Citizens of the Year” award for Travelers Rest (the community they live in) last night and Irene and I had the privilege of being at the dinner. They were given this award because they offer their best to the community that they live in. I have often stated that Bo Brown was a better man than I am, because no matter how tired he is or what he has been through that day, when he clowns – God always gets his very best, nothing second rate. I have known Bo for about 6 years now and there has never been a time that I can remember that he would settle for second best. To my friend Bo, I salute you as one who always gives his best, you inspire me to offer my best.
There have been times in my life that I have not always offered my best and have settled for second. That is a dangerous road to walk down. Settling for second is easy – striving to be the best or offer your best is often hard, time consuming, inconvenient. As of this day, settling for second in my life is not acceptable. God has given me His very best – salvation through His son, the blessings of wonderful families on mine and Irene’s side, the best wife in the world, and the best friends a man could want. I should never offer Him second best.
In the future I’m going to follow this post up from the perspective of the church, but until then – keep your eyes on Jesus and never settle for second.

Reflection from a great weekend . . .

This was my first weekend that I did not have to have a sermon or a Sunday school lesson or both ready in almost four months. It was nice to kick my mind into neutral for a little while.
I spent a lot of time in my shop this weekend. About half of my Christmas projects are done. I should be able to finish up these projects over Thanksgiving weekend. Then I can see about doing projects just for the joy of it.
If you know someone that wants something that I make for Christmas, please get your orders in now. Overnight orders sometime take longer than over night.
I’m really looking forward to Christmas this year. We are not involved in any kind of Christmas production at a church anywhere. We are going old school this Christmas. Irene and I are going back to family and friends and not so much running in forty different directions. At least that is the plan, right now.
We tried to visit a church this weekend. We got there at 10:45 am so that we could be a few minutes early so that we could get a seat. Before anyone asks, we had called to get the service time. When we walked into the entry area, it was obvious to us that the worship service had already started. We looked around and found a newsletter that had the worship times printed in it. This church’s worship started at 10:00 am. We were a little confused about how far into the worship service they were so, we just left. It would have been wonderful if there was someone in the entry area that would have welcomed us, told us to what point the worship service had progressed and invited us to stay. It was a missed opportunity for the church and for us.
Irene and I spent part of the afternoon watching the NASCAR race. Generally this brings on something we call NASCAR naps. Jimmy Johnson won again. That is four straight. Is there no one out there that can outrun this guy?
I am really fighting the urge to start to listen to Christmas music. If I start too soon, it gets old before Christmas get here.
Speaking of Christmas, Irene has already started her special cleaning that leads up to putting up the Christmas tree. That means multiple trips to the attic stairs and the living room.
I hope it snows for Christmas. That would make my wife very happy.
Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and Christmas cakes and cookies are da’ bomb.

Oh me, what am I going to do?

As I sit here and read blogs from several different folks, the main underlying voice is worry. Yes, I’m just as guilty as everyone else in this world when it comes to worrying over things that I have no control over.

Two of the bloggers hit the nail on the head. One said, “It’s not about us, it’s all about God.” In fact, that’s the first line out of the book titled "Purpose Driven Life" by Rick Warren and a very similar comment is made in the book called "Experiencing God" by Henry T. Blackaby and Claude King. (Which if you have not read these two books, GET THEM AND MEMORIZE THEM!!! If you have read them, read them again!) The other blogger used a portion of my life verse, Philippians 4:6-7 “Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.” The Message. (I really like this version!)

It is easier said than done. It’s easy for us to worry than not to worry. Satan knows that it’s a sin for us to worry and that’s why he keeps taunting us about things. Things that we have no control over. He knows that he can push that button on me and when I realize that I have given in, I stop and ask God to forgive me and give me peace over the situation and for Him to take it back to deal with it. “Satan, in the name of Jesus, talk to the hand!”

Oh by the way, worry will cause health problems. So, in order to keep your peace and to maintain control over your health, give it to God. He knows the outcome of the situation anyway!

What I have been reading lately . . .

I love to read when I have time. I enjoy reading fiction, non-fiction; books that will help me improve what I do. In all honesty, if the book is written well, I’ll probably enjoy reading it. The problem is that I don’t always have time. I have begun to try and change that. A friend gave me this book and asked me to read it. My friend and I will in the future be acting as a team. In my work at DeVita & Associates, Inc. I hold the position as a team lead. So, when given a book on working as a team, I was interested. The following are a few random thoughts from my reading this book:
It is an easy read. It is written more as a fictional story than a text book. All of the parts are there and explained very well in terms that anyone could understand.
As I read this book, I reflected on places that I had worked in the past, where I am working today and on the future. It has me thinking in a different way about team work.
One thing we need to understand – if you have more than one person working for a common goal – you have a team.
Trust in a team is foundational. Without trust, the team falls apart.

If you are part of a team there is going to be conflict. That is not a bad thing. Resolving the conflict and moving forward on the same page, as a team, is a good thing.

Commitment is a must. All must be commited or none will be commited. There will always be an internal struggle without commitment. Count the cost, commit and stick it out to the end.

You must have accountability. Without accountability, there will be caos. Holding someone accountable so that the team can reach its common goal is a good thing.
Clear goals need to be set so that there is no question about what the team needs to be doing.
I must go back to this book being an easy read.

I recomment this book to everyone that works as part of a team.

Until next time, keep your eyes on Jesus and are you a cause of dysfunction on your team?

Follow-up to Complicated or Simple . . .

In the post about Complicated or Simple, I started talking about the scripture that states “love God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself.” This follow-up will be long and short together, As far as loving your neighbor as yourself; I am going to refer you to a few recent posts like this one, and this one and this one.
Tomorrow I will post about a book that I have been reading and one that I will be starting soon. Have you clicked in on the survey? If not I would appreciate it. I am curious about the outcome.
Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and dream of a white Christmas.

Change . . .

I have been thinking about shaking things up lately with the way my blog looks. Let me know what you think. I'd bet ( if I was a betting man) that my wife will like this layout.
Until next time - keep your eyes on Jesus and hot chocolate is good on cold mornings.

Complicated or simple . . .

Recently I ask a group of students if the gospel was complicated and their response was – “it sometimes can be,” I followed the first question with this – “was it meant to be” to which they answered “no.” So exactly how did we take something that is supposed to be simple and complicate it? We bind it up in our preconceived notions and agendas to the point of complicating the simple.
Over the next couple of days I want to examine this concept. Today we will start with a question (a trap that was set) that was asked of Jesus.
Jesus was once asked what was the greatest of all the commandments and He answered “Love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself.” There is nothing complicated about what or how He answered that question. God is to be most important in our lives. We should love Him with all that makes us who we are. To give Him any other place in our lives is to break this commandment. It is fascinating that we would say that we love God that way and yet we barely spend anytime with Him. We allow everything else in our lives to take up time and we give the One who should be most important our leftovers. If I loved my wife the way I often love my God I would not be married very long. You may say that you go to church three times a week – that would be about 2% of the total time in a week. Loving God is more than just going to church, reading a verse out of a devotional, and praying before meals – it is a lifestyle. It is how we should be approaching everything in our lives. People that we come in contact with should be able to tell that we are in love with God. That doesn’t mean that we won’t stumble and fall. A lot of what people will observe will be how we pick ourselves up, ask for forgiveness and go on loving God.
Next time I will deal with the second part of Jesus’ answer. Until then – keep your eyes on Jesus and try the Hershey’s kisses with hot cocoa crème filling.

Random thoughts from the weekend . . .

This past weekend was a great weekend for a lot of reasons, it was also sad for some reasons also. Here are a few thoughts from the weekend:
Friday after noon was fun. After doing a little running around, I got in my shop and finally finished a project that I had been working on this summer. During the weekend I also got a list of Christmas projects together. My time in my shop is fixing to go up. :)
Friday evening Irene and I had supper with Sam and Cookie Chapman. These are two close friends that we don’t get to see often enough. They had a hand in pulling off the first Judgment House at Pleasant Grove Baptist Church along with a lot of other people. We talked about the lives that were changed through that event and caught up on each others lives. It was a fun evening.
Saturday was good in some ways and bad in others. The morning started out with breakfast and then Irene and I were off to one of my favorite places – the Woodcraft Store. We bought some things to do Christmas projects with. I am really looking forward to hand making some Christmas gifts this year for some of our friends. While we were at the Woodcraft store, Irene found a toll demonstration and a power tool that she liked and said that it would make a good birthday or Christmas present in the future. God really did me the best when He gave me a wife that appreciates good power tools. Then it was home for yard work. Cutting limbs, and grass, getting up leaves, finding a water leak under the house. I am too old to crawl around under my house, but I got it done and at no cost for a repairman.
Sunday was both good and sad. Worship and Sunday school were both good. Last night was my last night as Youth Pastor at New Hope. After youth worship we went out to the new McDonalds in Simpsonville. The students and leaders gave Irene and me a card with Gift cards to Ruby Tuesday’s in it. If I never work with another group of students, I have worked with the best. I will miss seeing them every week, but I will always love them. I’ll see them at Meltdown in January if not before. They all have my phone number and know that they can call me any time about any thing.
This morning, with sore muscles, I am back to work – seeking to follow Christ and His leadership. Our next steps are going to be great and I can hardly wait. So, until next time, keep your eyes on Jesus and the hot cocoa Hershey’s kisses are over the top.

Who’s your neighbor – Part 3 . . .

Ok, yesterday we talked about our neighbors in light of; if they had value and seeing that value in light of how God sees that person. Today we will move forward with the next step. Now we are going to look at our neighbors through the light of scripture. God says that we are to “love our neighbors as we love ourselves.” I know that when I placed value on the relationship that Irene and I had, when we were dating, our relationship changed. When I realized that I loved Irene, our time together was necessary to me. Understanding that, and understanding that God places value on our neighbors, we need to understand that a relationship, with that neighbor, is longed for by God. When we begin to look at our neighbors as having worth and understanding that we are to love them as we love ourselves we should want to introduce them to the most important person in our lives – Jesus, so that they to can have a relationship with Him and His Father. So how do we bridge the gap with our neighbors so that they will be receptive to being introduced to Christ? We need to build relationships. There is generally is nothing complicated in building relationships. Generally it just takes time and effort on our part. Maybe, start with an invitation to a cookout in your backyard or dessert and coffee, maybe a churn of ice cream. There is any number of ways that can lead to building relationships. Hopefully these relationships will lead to a time that we will be able to introduce our neighbors to a way that they can have a relationship with Christ.
Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and ice cream is good for me.
P.S. Check out the poll on knowing your neighbors and cast your vote.

Who’s your neighbor – Part 2 . . .

Yesterday we started this discussion about who our neighbors are. Today we will go a little farther. I guess my question would be; why at one time in our society did we know who our neighbors were and today we may or may not know who they are? I think the answer to that question would be – value. Do we place a value on knowing who our neighbors are? Is there value in that person or persons that live next door or down the street from you? In God’s eyes there is. There was value enough in our neighbor that God sent His son Jesus to die on a cross, so that our neighbor could have the opportunity to have a relationship with Him. What we need to be able to do is see our neighbor as God sees them – as a person of value. We need to come to the understanding that God has placed a great value on each and every person in this world. Understanding that, we would never want something that we value to be ignored, forgotten, or discarded as something without worth. When we place a value in the people that live around us, then we will do what is needed to get to know our neighbors and possibly help in bringing about a change in their lives.
Until next time – keep your eyes on Jesus and go next door and introduce yourself.