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...