Daddy D Was Calling Me

If you haven't ever been to "Daddy D's" BBQ Joint off of Memorial Drive in DownTown ATL, you need to get there. It's the best I've ever had in my life. It's not too far from Turner Field, so it's great if going to a Braves game to go a little early, get some amazing Ribs or Pork or Beef, or whatever else they have-'cause it's all good, then go to the game.

Speaking of the Braves, the home opener is March 31. I hope they do better this year then last year. That game was awful and the weather was freezing.

Today I got to take Dr. Vines to the airport, which was cool, b/c he's an awesome guy that has been used in a huge way by God, so having him captive in my car for an hour or so is a great opportunity. By the way Joel, my driving didn't scare him (it's not b/c he has nerves of steel, I can actually drive good enough to not freak people out. Of course, my Impala isn't quite as strong as the Mustang-or even the Tahoe, was.) Anyway, on the way back, I got to hook up some Daddy D's. Man, it was great!

I'm thankful to God for modern day heroes of the faith that He has allowed me to have access to. It's awesome when men like Nelson Price or Jerry Vines or Johnny Hunt genuinely care enough about you to take the time to learn about what your passions are in your service to God, and invest their resources and/or wisdom into you to assist and propel you in service to God and His Kingdom.

One great thing about this year is the time to work on school work and time and resource to order books and resources to prepare for the future.

For anyone who may be intersted, I just finished reading several books I'd recommend to you, some in the past couple of months, some in the past week or two. I may not agree with all that these authors may believe, but there is good stuff to learn from each of these authors. As Pastor Johnny says, learn to eat fish, which means to chew the meat and spit out the bones.

"Starving Jesus" by J.R. Mahon and some other guy.
"Planting Missional Churches" by Ed Stetzer.
"Developing the Leader Within You" by John Maxwell
"Velvet Elvis" by Rob Bell
"Blue Like Jazz" by Don Miller
"In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day" by Mark Batterson
"UnChristian" by Gabe Lyons

There are a couple others I've read recently, but can't remember right now.

Books I'm Reading Right Now

"Leadership Promises for Every Day"-Devotional by John Maxwell
"Vintage Jesus" by Mark Driscoll
"They Like Jesus But Not The Church" by Dan Kimball
"Choosing to Cheat" by Andy Stanley

My current Bible Study time, I'm studying Proverbs each day and various Pauline Epistles.

I have several huge needs that I'm praying for right now. I won't share those, I want to see God answer these prayers without my influencing the outcome. It's awesome to see God work in His power. Pray for Lisa and I as we walk through this journey this year. We are loving this mentorship, but also looking at what we'll be doing now in 9-10 months. We have our dream, we need to make the decisions on the path towards that dream.

I'm listening to a Humanities lecture right now as I type (I'm multi-tasking!) Anyway, I'm moving into the section from Roman Art into early Christian art. The professor qualifies this section as telling us we are about to take a nose dive into the quality of the art, but all arts are equal in sophistication b/c of the meaning of it. I have an opinion on that. It seems like the quality of many things done in the name of Christ have been poorly done since the first century AD. Meaning is important. However, imagine if all things done in the name of Christ were done well, with quality, in art, ministry, etc..., so that people didn't use the lame excuse of "The Holy Spirit will bless it b/c it's done in the name of Jesus." I think that the Holy Spirit likes to bless things done well with quality in the name of Jesus, and I know that our culture would appreciate it.

A small church littered our neighborhood yesterday with black and white photocopies of some special events coming up at their church, inviting everyone to join them. This church meets in an old dilapidated house with a gravel parking lot in front of it close to our subdivision. The people in our neighborhood aren't likely to attend this church, unless driven their by the Holy Spirit, because it looks like the building is about to collapse. I'm sure they mean well, but they probably annoyed everyone in the neighborhood with their attempt to reach them. Let's start putting some thought and quality into what we do. Sometimes doing nothing is definately better than doing something, no matter what our intention or reasoning.

Bad Diapers Are Coming

My son will be 8 months old on Sunday. This week he started scrawling (it's a mix between a scoot and a crawl). Anyway, tonight we had my sister and her family over, and we were eating chili (with the infamous crumbles-and it was awesome!!!). He was looking at my plate, so I decided to give him some of my chili beans, along with some sour cream. He loved the beans and cream and ate a bunch. I think there are some gnarly diapers on the way...

Tonight we pulled my oldest daughters second tooth! Hopefully it will be the last for a while. All of the kids are growing too quickly, which means I'm growing older quickly too...

It Doesn't Make Sense

Today I went shopping at Wal-Mart. I was looking for the Morning Star Crumbles (Ground Beef style tofu crumbles). My friend Jeff got me started on some great meat substitutes that are high in protein and healthy for me and my family. Speaking of that, thanks JR for trying to exploit me for money today in your diet money scheme. He wants me to enter because he knows it's easy money from me b/c of being on the road so much and not being able to exercise very much, etc... and he knows I won't be losing much weight-although I'm losing a little bit, so ha!!! Anyway, back to the Crumbles. I go through the healthy frozen stuff, the veggies, the entrees' and meals, etc.... and can't find the crumbles anywhere. As a last resort, I go down the frozen dessert and ice cream isle, where I finally find the meat substitutes and other healthy stuff-in between the cool whip and frozen pies. Totally makes sense...

Proverbs 21:25

A cool verse, "Despite their desires, the lazy will come to ruin, for their hands refuse to work" (NLT)

God places dreams and desires in the hearts of his active followers. It's great to have dreams and desires and passions-and for the person following Christ, they are often times given by Him as He prepares to do in us more than we can ever imagine. However, it's easy to keep dreaming while staying in our current situation or circumstance, dreaming and praying, but not actually doing anything to prepare and begin to equip ourselves and prepare to act upon that desire.

I don't want to be one of those people. I have a passion given by God. I have a dream. I don't want it just to be a dream. I want my passions and dreams to be my reality, and with God's blessing and guidance, it'll happen-if I do something about that passion!

Desires remain desires if we don't act on them, but when we do, our desires can become our reality!

Cool thought.

Evolve-ing Amazing

Evolve has come and gone. What an amazing 2 days! Mark Batterson spoke today, along with Darin Patrick and Bil Cornelius. Yesterday, Shawn Lovejoy and Steven Furtick spoke. The teaching was top notch. It was cool that they gave God the glory for what had happened in their churches. Most of them shared some of their failures as well, from family relationships to failed church plants. I got to speak briefly with Mark Batterson about his book, "In a Pit With A Lion on a Snowy Day", and tell him the impact it had on my life. He told me to keep him updated in the future b/c he wanted to see what God does in our life. He said as he wrote the book, he had a team praying for the readers and that it would have significant impact on lives. I'm thankful to Brett for recommending it. After reading it, God gripped my heart and that was the point that I realized I had to leave Acworth. That was the turning point that God put on my heart that it was time to either fully follow Him or just settle for a position and a paycheck. I decided I don't want to settle. It was definately hard to leave Brett and Joel, b/c people rarely get to work with the friends that we share life with, but it was something I had to do, and even though it was difficult, I am glad I did and it's amazing seeing God honor our obedience!

One of the coolest features of the Evolve Conference was that our wives got to come for free. It is awesome seeing the vision that God has placed on my wife's heart for ministry. I'm thankful that she got to attend this conference with me. Not only did God speak to her heart and confirm His calling for our service to Him, but we got to have 2 dinner dates since the kids were at her parents house until this evening! It was great to get to date my wife again. My friend, Mark Ayers, said he could see a huge difference in the burden lifted off of her since this past summer when his wife and he hooked up with us and Brett at PC Beach for dinner during Summer Xtreme. I'm thankful to Pastor Johnny not only for his investment into my life and ministry and future, but I'm also thankful for my wife to have the opportunity to be ministered to in the church!

By the way, after all the trash talking on his blog re: the Guitar Hero contest, Gary Lamb got embarrassed. He's definately a great leader and church planter, which is probably why he wasn't that good at guitar hero. Too busy doing ministry...

Lisa was reading Proverbs 19 today. We have a vision now of what we desire to do in the future in what we believe God is leading us to do, but we are praying for wisdom in the journey to get to that place. A couple of verses she underlined today.

Prov. 19:1 Better to be poor and honest than to be dishonest and a fool. (be honest in all that we do, in our success, failures, self-evaluation, relationship with God and others, etc...)
Prov. 19:2 Enthusiasm without knowledge is no good; haste makes mistakes. (Don't rush into where God is calling us without being properly prepared!!!)
Prov. 19:20 Get all the advice and instruction you can, so you will be wise the rest of your life. (we're totally in an amazing place to get advice and instruction during this year!!!)
Prov. 19:21 You can make many plans, but the Lord's purpose will prevail. (We must be sensitive to the leading of the Holy Spirit in our lives so that we properly prepare and equip ourselves to follow God's purpose for our lives!)

We had lunch with a new friend that is a church planter in Vegas. It is amazing what God is up to there. We are praying about an opportunity there, but we're unsure of the timing. However, if we are obedient to God and use the wisdom He provides, everything will work out in a way that is honoring to Him.

Speaking of preparation, I need to finish (and start) preparing for a Bible Study I am teaching tomorrow at Woodstock, then get ready for a test. I'm drinking a Latte' I made-I definately kick Starbucks butt with my Latte's and home made frappachinos.

Looking forward to hooking up with one of my old roomates from Liberty, Trey, tomorrow evening. He is a student at SouthEastern Theological Seminary now. I haven't seen him in years, so I'm looking forward to it!

Oh yeah, started back on the exercise and "watching" what I eat (watching every single bite!!!) routine. Working on some new veggie dishes (like Tofu Pot Pie-which sounds horrible, but tastes amazing with bacon grease added (kidding about the grease-but it probably would be good)) and the self-discipline factor in my life. Fun stuff!!!

Evolve is Awesome

I'm waiting on the last main session of Evolve to start. So far, so awesome. My wife's sense of sarcasm is improving greatly. We just left Breakout Session 1. It was about churches planting churches. Honestly, it wasn't what I was expecting. There was one guy who wanted to stick out and talk about what he was doing. He was obnoxious. My wife had a couple of funny things to say about him (during the session) and then a couple of things about the session in general. Funny stuff. I won't give details b/c you had to be there to understand, but just know that I'm very proud of her.

Main Session 1 was awesome. Shawn Lovejoy, the pastor and host of the conference, talked about personal discipline. It was great. It was convicting. It dealt with several key areas that I have been addressing recently in my own life.

Well, the music is about to rock. Can't wait for more!!!

Real Evangelism

Is over....Thursday night with Pastor Johnny and Jerry Vines was awesome.

I'm really looking forward to the Evolve conference this week. I'm meeting a church planter from Vegas there. I don't know where we'll end up, or when, but my wife and I have a heart for the work going on in Vegas. On Valentines day, we spent some time at Starbucks together, and she shared with me her passion for our future serving God. It's awesome what God is doing in her heart. God puts stuff on her heart often times before it's on mine. God is aligning our passion in serving Him. It's awesome how He calls us to stuff together. That is such a key to successful ministry. I'm moving forward well on my school work, and I definately want to have my bachelors done and prefer to have at least an MAR (thinking from Liberty in Christian Leadership) before I plant as a lead pastor. Until then, it would be awesome to work with a plant there. I don't want to attempt to plant a church before I'm ready. People are too special to God for me not to be ready to do things right. No-one deserves to be a "guinei pig" in church work. There is a church planting school in Vegas that I've been told about that sound interesting. Vegas (I'm pretty sure) is the fastest (at least one of) growing city in the US, and is severely underchurched.

I'm reading Planting Missional Churches by Ed Stetzer right now. So far, it's awesome! It's exciting looking to the future!

Life Milestones

There are certain milestones we pass in life, and more specifically, family life. My wife and I have 3 awesome kids. Last night we pulled our oldest daughter's (who just turned 5) first tooth last night, and another is almost ready to come out. Also, our infant son is on the verge of crawling. He's sitting up by himself & pushing himself up. I just turned 30. Lisa will be 30 next month (she's getting old, but still looks 18 (I have to stay legal you know)). She'll appreciate the "old" comment. Anyway, life is passing by. I'm realizing that I don't want to waste mine. I'm thankful to God for what He's doing this year in the mentorship program, in my schooling, (I just received a full tuition scholarship to complete my school with Tennessee Temple (I'm checking on how everything will transfer over) and in my family .

Life moves quick. One major thing pastor is challenging me on is being fully prepared in my education. That was what Dr. Price challenged me on as well. It seems in ministry that if you're not rocking by the end of your 30's or at least by early 40's, the opportunities for dynamic ministry aren't as available (I saw this first hand at Acworth in the search for a pastor before Brett came). I want my life and ministry to count for something great for the Kingdom of God!

Life moves quick and is short. I'm learning that I'd better take advantage of the opportunities God gives me for my future in serving Him, because life doesn't come around a second time!

Enjoy the time here and now. Don't miss out on the blessings of life. Don't miss out on the future. Don't be short-sighted. Use the time now to prepare for the future, so that the future is always brighter than the present.

I'm Officially Old Now

Today is it. It's all downhill from here! 30 smacked me upside the head today. I can't believe it's actually here. I also can't believe how I look in my new Drivers License picture today. Ouch. I guess pictures are reality. I really need to do a crash diet or something.

God back from the Jax Pastors Conference last night. There was some great preaching. One of my favorites was a guy that Brett spoke very highly of, Don Wilton. He was a highlight. Pastor Johnny rocked as usual. I got to sit at a table with Pastor Johnny and Erwin Lutzer and learn some stuff-mainly, learn who you're at a table with and observe and say little.

I also got to hang out with my friend Darryl, a pastor from N.C. He was in town to bring his brother in-law Greg down to get acclimated with the city since he's going to be in Jax for 2 months undergoing cancer treatment. Pray for Greg. This doesn't look good. He needs encouragement and the hand of God.

Also, Darryl found out this weekend that his student pastor's wife had a little innapropriate "fling" going on with their daughters 18 yr. old boyfriend (who was leading worship in the youth group). Pray for that family. They need it. Pray for Darryl and his church. They are at the crossroads of exciting days. They have recently gone multi-campus and are in the beginning of an awesome building campaign.

One night Jeremy and I were out to eat and we asked the waiter if we could pray for him. He is a newly-wed Christian. He was a cool guy. He said he had been working at Chili's for over a year, and we were only the second people to ever ask if we could pray for him. He also said he hates waiting tables on Christians b/c they complain too much, are too high maintenance and tip too little. As a former waiter myself, I agree.

My oldest daughter must have grown 3 more inches while I was gone. She's definately going to be tall. I love my kids-and my wife- all whom (except for the oldest) have been sick here while I was away (and sick) in Jax. Fun stuff!

My Kids Are Getting Old and I'm Getting Sick...

My oldest daugher will be 5 this Sunday. Unfortunately, I'll be in Jacksonville, but I did get to take her out last night on a Daddy Date! It was fun. Chuck-e-Cheese's is not overcrowded on rainy, Thursday nights, so if you need to go there, go then! It's amazing watching her grow up. She was around 2 months old when we left Woodstock to serve at Acworth, but she's doing great with the transition. Indoor playgrounds help with that a lot! She wore a new B-Day dress that was cute. I'm glad I didn't have to dress up like a Prince. We talked on the way about her understanding of God. It amazes me that from the time she was around 3, she has had a relatively good understanding of God. She told me last night when talking to her that Jesus already lives in her heart because she loves Him and believes in Him. What a foundation! However, I will be ticked if someone besides myself leads her through a true confession of sin and a making a true commitment to Christ-so Pre-School workers, BACK OFF! Consider yourself warned.

I think I'm getting the flu. I feel great!

Mike Huckabee will be coming to church Sunday. He's supposed to share his testimony in 5 minutes. Let's see if a politician/preacher can do that!

I'm going to get some OJ since the machine at church wouldn't take my money. I have to get a better laser printer. Anyway, dinner is at 4:30, after which I'll be joining around 8,000 of my closest friends for the men's conference here at Woodstock. Joel, you loser. You should have come...