Category Archives: Faith in Action

Discipleship, Faith in Action

Letter to The Next President

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Over the last few weeks, I have been preaching a sermon series entitled, Good Faith: Being a Christian in a World That Thinks You’re Irrelevant and Extreme. It is based, in part, on the book of the same name by Gabe Lyons and David Kinnaman – which you should get and read TODAY. In yesterday’s message, I told our people that, as men and women of Good Faith, rather than wringing our hands in worry over the election on November 8, we needed to commit to raising our hands in prayer on November 9th and beyond. Regardless of who is elected President of the United States tomorrow, disciples of Jesus Christ have a greater calling that goes on regardless of the person who resides in the White House. Below you will find the full transcript of the letter I wrote to the Next President. I am committed to doing these 3 things in the name of Jesus and I invite you to join me.

Dear Mr. President-Elect,

After a grueling and (at times) unbelievable campaign, you have received the votes necessary to become the President of The Untied States. Now the hard work begins: Putting together your leadership team, selecting Cabinet members, connecting with Senators and Congressmen, laying out your agenda for the first 100 days and beyond. The pressure from political allies and foes alike is, no doubt, immense. You certainly have no shortage of voices to listen to. However, we would like to add our voices to the mix and write you a short letter of encouragement explaining to you our commitment to our Lord Jesus Christ, to you, and to the country we call home.

We are a group of Christ-followers who meet together for worship, fellowship, and service to our community which is just south of the Dallas/Ft Worth metroplex. We seek to grow as disciples of Jesus Christ in our relationship with Him, our friendship with one another, and influence with those around us. We strive to be men and women of Good Faith – people who seek to love well, grounded in our convictions, and living out the Gospel so that those we come in contact with may experience abundant life in Christ Jesus.

As you step into the Oval Office, we have some things that we would like to share with you as you begin to serve the great people of this great nation. In the New Testament, the Apostle Paul writes to a young preacher that he is mentoring. His letter, 1Timothy, details for young Timothy, how a leader is to serve, mold, and lead a young congregation to faithfulness and fruitfulness in an ever-changing world. In chapter 2 verses 1-7, Paul says,

I urge, then, first of all, that petitions, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for all people— for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness. This is good, and pleases God our Savior, who wants all people to be saved and to come to a knowledge of the truth.For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all people. This has now been witnessed to at the proper time. And for this purpose I was appointed a herald and an apostle—I am telling the truth, I am not lying—and a true and faithful teacher of the Gentiles.

Based on this passage, there are 3 things we would like you to know about what we as a church are committed to do for you over the next 4 years.

First, we will pray for you. The tremendous amount of stress that being President will put on your heart, your mind, your family, and those around you will be more than you can bear on your own. God’s Word tells us to pray to God for His wisdom in difficult situations and trials. God tells us to pray for our friends and our enemies. To pray when we are sick and to pray when we are thankful. In prayer, we connect to God, those we are praying for, and our own hearts. We are committing to you that we will pray for you by name. We will pray for your family. We will pray for wisdom and strength.

Secondly, we will work for Peace and Prosperity. In the Old Testament, God’s people were about to fall into the hands of their enemies and be carted off to live in exile. The prophet Jeremiah, speaking the Word of God to God’s people, tells them how God expects his people to live amongst their new neighbors. He says them to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I have carried you into exile. Pray to the Lord for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper.” We are committed to working for the peace and prosperity of the world around us. It seems as though our country and the world around us are more divided today than at any other time in recent memory. Our God is the God of Peace and his son, Jesus, is the Prince of Peace. Peace isn’t just the absence of war or violence, it is a wholeness and state of being that is a gift from God. Prosperity doesn’t just come in the form of coins and monetary notes. Prosperity is the abundant life that Jesus offers to all who will believe in Him. We are committed to the flourishing of the American people and every other human being on the planet. Rather than be divisive, we will work for peace. Rather than hoarding our blessings, we will seek to be a blessing.

Finally, we will continue to proclaim the goodness and the glory of Jesus Christ. We believe that the pathway to life is through Jesus Christ. Our faith is a personal matter but it is not a private matter. Throughout history, men and women have lived and proclaimed their Good Faith which was formed by Jesus and the Bible – the Word made flesh and the Word of god passed down to us. These people of Good Faith created hospitals to care for the sick because Christ healed us from the greatest sickness of all: sin. They created organizations to help the poor and the down-trodden because Christ cared for us. They took in orphans and gave them families because our Heavenly Father took us in. They fought to free slaves and pushed for human rights because all men and women are created in the image of God. Thank God that men and women of Good Faith didn’t keep their faith to themselves. As disciples of Jesus Christ, we are obligated to those who reject God and those who accept Him, both the wise and the unwise, the haves and the have-nots, red, yellow, black and white – that is why we are eager to write you this letter. For we are not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God that brings salvation to everyone who believes. For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed —a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: “The righteous will live by faith.”

Congratulations on your victory, Mr./Madame President.

Our prayers are with you.

Discipleship, Ethos, Faith in Action

Time to Shine

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In my sermon yesterday I tried my best to address some of the problems we see happening around us as it relates to issues of race, divisiveness, and hateful rhetoric.

Recently, Rasmussen revealed the results of a poll that said 60% of likely voters believe that race relations in America are worse than ever before. The poll was clear that “We the people” are deeply divided. We are even divided on the solutions for how to address these divisions with some advocating for more Governmental laws and oversight and some wanting to see more personal responsibility and a strengthening of the home.

Obviously, I believe that what the world needs more than anything is the Good News of Jesus. The results of the pain and hurt that we see daily on our television screens and read about on the internet are indicative of what happens when a culture removes God – the author of life, liberty, and freedom – and attempts to pursue these things apart from Him. We pay lip service to the Father and we offer up hashtag prayers and then the world continues on its own way searching for peace that it cannot find outside of God’s will and ways.

What God wants is for us to TURN from our sin and our ways of living on our own, to ABIDE with Him in relationship, faith, and trust, to EXPERIENCE forgiveness, grace, and love in Christ Jesus, and be transformed by His Holy Spirit.

Two thousand years ago, the churches in Galatia were dealing with the same divides that we are dealing with today. Fighting over race (Jew and Gentile), arguments between the genders (male and female), and class divides (slave and free) were all causing pain, disunity, and frustration. In Galatians 3:26-29 Paul boldly issues this statement:

So in Christ Jesus you are all children of God through faith, for all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. If you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham’s seed, and heirs according to the promise.

The Word of God is crystal clear… No matter our differences – skin color, economic background, or sex – we are ONE in Christ. Jesus has leveled the playing field. Jews are not greater than Gentiles. Men are not better than women. Freemen and Slaves can share in table fellowship with one another because of the sacrifice and resurrection of Jesus Christ.

Admittedly, this is the ideal of the Kingdom and we aren’t quite there yet. This is one of those “already/not yet” realities that we are still striving to achieve. We’ve seen progress though. I believe that the power of this statement was used mightily by abolitionist to once and for all break the chains of slavery. The scriptures were never meant to be used to declare “men good, woman bad” but thankfully this passage flies in the face of that backwards thinking. The last year or so has tested our resolve to be a “post-racial” society. We, like Dr. King, still dream of a day when we will judge people by the content of their character and not the color of their skin.

So what can we do? How can we work toward making Paul’s declaration about unity applicable to our lives today?

Yesterday I made the case that in order to be RECONCILED to one another we must REFLECT God in RELATIONSHIP.

God is One yet He is also three. This is the majesty and mystery we call The Trinity. God is One and God is relationship. He exists in relationship as The Father, The Son, and the Holy Spirit. Stephen Saemunds in his book Ministry in the Image of God: The Trinitarian Shape of Christian Service draws from the Gospel of John to unpack the loving and working relationship that exists between The Father, The Son, and The Holy Spirit. He says that 4 things are evident in the character and nature of the Trinitarian relationship:

Full EQUALITY
The Father, The Son, and The Spirit each have separate identities and roles but each of them treat one another with full and mutual equality.

Glad SUBMISSION
We see glad submission to one another in the way that The Son “who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage” but submitted to the will of the Father and willingly went to the cross.

Joyful INTIMACY
John 1:18 declares that Jesus is Father’s only Son and is “close to the Father’s heart” and in John 10:30 Jesus says that he and the Father “are One.”

Mutual DEFERENCE 
John 3:35 tells us that The Father loves the Son and, even though He created all things, The Father “has placed everything in (Jesus’) hands.”

All of this to say:

The way that God exists in relationship has great implications for how we ought to live in relationship with one another. 

Imagine the impact in our churches and in the culture if we reflected these characteristics in our relationships with one another. Genesis 1:26-27 tells us that we have been made in the image of God. What if we really lived out this calling embedded deep within our DNA by the God of relationship who exists in relationship?

Imagine if we treated everyone around us with Full EQUALITY seeing everyone as a person created by God in the image of God.

Imagine living in Glad SUBMISSION to one another and doing away with selfish living and self-serving decision making.

Imagine what Joyful INTIMACY would look like as we draw closer to the ideal of enjoying unbroken and joyful fellowship together.

In a world devoid of honor and humility, imagine what would happen if we lived in Mutual DEFERENCE to one another setting aside our own preferences for the sake of others.

There is hope.

Recently Barna released results from a survey that said 73% of US adults believe that the church has a role to play in racial reconciliation. 73% of the country is looking to God’s people to reflect God in relationship and point the way to life in the midst of a desperate and dying world.

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2 Corinthians 3:17-18 says, “Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”

It is time for us to reflect to goodness and the glory of The Father, The Son, and The Spirit and to make a difference in this world.

It’s time to shine, Church!

Ethos, Faith in Action

The Difference

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I want to write.

There I said it.

I want to write books and challenge people’s thinking and encourage their hearts to live lives of greatness and significance.

I want to write to challenge and change.

There is a difference in saying and doing. In wanting and producing.

The difference is in the DISCIPLINE.

The discipline to get up early and bang out some paragraphs.

The discipline to put down the phone and pick up a pen.

Tbe discipline to turn off the tv and turn on my imagination.

The discipline to quiet my mind long enough to cull through my thoughts.

The discipline to quit consuming that news story about the election or that that article about some far off tech or that article about stupid cat photos.

The discipline to create.

The discipline to do the work.

The discipline to put something out there. Regardless of wether it is good, mediocre, brilliant, mundane.

I can say I want to write.

I can say I want to create.

I can say whatever I want.

So quit just wanting. Quite just saying.

You want to be a runner… RUN.

You want to be a singer… SING.

You want to be whatever… so do whatever that is.

The DIFFERENCE is in the DISCIPLINE to actually DO.

I want to be a writer… so I’m going to WRITE. That’s what writers DO.

Discipleship, Ethos, Experience, Faith in Action, Thoughts

Coda

As I wrap up the last few minutes in my office on this final day of 2013, I wanted to post a thought or two here before I power-down the Mac, lock the doors, and head home for the evening.

I keep thinking back over the previous 364 days and I’ve come to the conclusion that this past year was a bridging year for me and my family. We had to cross a mighty river and we experienced a myriad of emotions, setbacks, triumphs, near-tragedies, exhaustion, much grace, and lots of mercy.

All this to get us from where we are now to where God intends for us to be.

I look forward to the new year because I can see a hint, a glimmer, of hope and God-sized possibilities. This vision has been born out of the crucible of this past year. I wouldn’t trade the last 12 months for anything because I believe God gave us this past year to lay a foundation for what is to come.

I’m ready to live in 2014.

My prayer is that you are too.

Let’s live a better story together as we move forward into whatever God has in store for us this next year.

 

Collecting Experiences, Experience, Faith in Action, Personal Leadership, Pope Bono

Dream Out Loud for 2013

In the final moments of 1989, U2 played a handful of shows at the Point Depot in their hometown, Dublin. The concerts brought their Love Comes to Town tour to a close and marked the end of what had been a phenomenal and meteoric rise to becoming the World’s Biggest Rock Band.

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Two years earlier, the band released The Joshua Tree. This seminal album contains the hits Where the Streets Have No Name, With or Without You, and I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For. These four boyhood friends from Ireland had officially made it. The album went on to win Album of the Year and the band became a household name. Next they made a movie and released the follow-up/extension album Rattle and Hum. They had rode a fast and high wave to superstardom and in the final days of the decade many, including the members of U2 themselves, wondered what was next.

As the clock counted down the last remaining seconds of the decade, the band started playing the opening chords to Streets and then as the clock struck midnight, Auld Lang Syne kicked off a pretty boisterous and incredible live show that was broadcast on the radio all over the world.

Sometime during the night Bono, the lead singer of the band, address the crowd saying, “This is just the end of something for U2. And that’s what we’re playing these concerts — and we’re throwing a party for ourselves and you. It’s no big deal, it’s just — we have to go away and … and dream it all up again.”

Of course, everyone wondered if the band was breaking up. They weren’t.

Bono has a flair for the dramatic but he and his bandmates were at a crossroad. They had experienced tremendous success as a result of their very hard work and effort for many years. Here they were at the top of the game and faced with a new year and a new decade they had to wrestle with what to do.

Today, is January 1, 2013.

What I love about the beginning of the New Year is that we all get the opportunity to “dream it all up again.”

You may have experienced your greatest success last year. However, what got you here may not be enough to duplicate that success in 2013.

Conversely, 2012 may have been devastating for you. It might have been so bad that you were actually looking forward to the Mayan apocalypse. The great news is that today is a new day. Today is a new year.

U2 did go away for a while. In fact, the start of the new decade actually was an extremely difficult time for the band personally and professionally. The process that they endured as they dreamed it all over again was rough but it was not a wasted effort.

In 1991, U2 released the album Achtung Baby complete with a brand new sound and look. They had dreamed big and it paid off. Achtung Baby also won the Album of the Year and for some, it is an even greater album than The Joshua Tree.

So, what are you going to do today?

I would suggest that you do reminisce about the year that has just past. Give Thanks where Thanks is due. Address mistakes and work to strengthen relationships with those closest to you.

And after that… dream it all up again.

All is quiet on this New Year’s Day. Don’t let the sun set on January 1st without making some concrete decisions to do things differently this year. Don’t rely on your past successes and never allow past mistakes to crush you completely.

My prayer for you is that God will pour out every grace and mercy he has on you so that 2013 might be your greatest year ever. As you dream about what may happen this year and what you may do, allow God to give you His agenda for your life. He is the one who wired us to dream and He is the one who gives us the strength to move.

I’ll leave you with some more of Bono’s words from that first day in January, 23 years ago.

“Forget about the past. We’re gonna celebrate the future. Seeing as it’s New Year’s Day you probably expect me to get all sentimental, yeah? Well, you’re exactly right. The only limitation are the limits of our imagination. Dream up the kind of world you want to live in. Dream out loud at high volume. That’s what we do for a living.”

Happy New Year everyone! Dream out loud today. And tomorrow. And the day after that.

Ethos, Faith in Action, Jesus, Jesus is the Christ, Lauds

Blessed

When it is late at night and everyone has gone to bed I find myself alone in the quiet and stillness- often for the first time of day.

It is these times that I’m able to reflect on the events that have transpired over the course of the day. I think about things I learned or opportunities I missed. I think about places where I fell short and victories attained. It is in these times when I feel a strong hand form the Lord.

It is in these times that I know I am blessed.

  • I have a wife that loves me unconditionally.
  • I have a beautiful son who has a personality as large as his heart.
  • I have a beautiful daughter that is, right this minute, being knitted together by her heavenly Father.
  • I get to serve a church body that I love with all my heart.
  • I have men in my life that walk beside me as mentors, guides, and friends.
  • I have the ability to read and laugh and grow and share and the ability to do countless other things.
  • I have a Savior who, while I was still a sinner, died for me and purchased my freedom with his own life.

I live a crazy BLESSED life.

Want to know a secret? So do you.

Get quite, get still, and get thankful for all that you have been blessed with.

Experience, Faith in Action, Leadership, Mission, Prayer, Self-Leadership

Setting Goals for 2012

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I hope everyone had a very, Merry Christmas and that you were able to spend time with your family and friends over the holiday weekend. In less than one week, we will be celebrating the New Year so today I want to give you a few tips on planning and preparing so that  2012 can be a great year for you and those closest to you.

For the last week, I have been taking a few minutes out of each day in order to plan and set some goals for 2012. Over the years, I have gathered a handful of tips that have helped me set and achieve goals. I have come across these tips in books or at conferences or from practical experience. It is my hope that at least one of these tips will help you. Nelson Searcy talks about living a philosophy of “Learn & Return.” He says that anytime you learn something significant you should gladly return it back to the Kingdom by sharing what you’ve learned with others. It is my hope that by sharing some of what I’ve learned about setting goals that your life will be impacted in such a way that you will want to share this with someone else.

Begin and End In Prayer
When setting goals you definitely want to begin with prayer. You want to make sure that the plans you are making or the things you want to accomplish are firmly set and find their meaning within the purposes of God. When I am in a season of setting goals I often start by praying through Psalm 139. Asking God to search your heart and to test your motives is a difficult but crucial task if you are going to do anything of real significance for God this year. The psalm ends by asking God to lead you in his way- his will for your life. You can pick some things to do this year or you can ask the God of the Universe to help you accomplish great things that will have a lasting impact on you and those around you. To me, the choice is easy. Spend some time praying before you just start listing things you’d like to do this year.

Also, make sure to end your planning time in prayer. Thank God for the wisdom and insight he has provided. Pray that he will give you the strength and focus you need to carry out the goals he has given you. Praying before and after your planning puts a Prayer Parenthesis around your goals.

Think in Categories
In 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Steven Covey encourages you list out the various life roles you play on a daily basis. For me, I have about six roles and relationships that I do life in every day. I am a Disciple of Jesus, a Husband, a Father, a Minister, a Friend, and a Son/Brother. Each of these roles call for a different set of responsibilities and growth happens differently in each of the realms. I have a different set of goals for developing my relationship with Jesus and I have different goals to help me be a greater spiritual leader in my home as a husband and father. There is a sense where growth in one area will impact the others but I feel like God calls me to list specific goals for each of these separately.

You can also break up your goals in to areas such as Emotional, Spiritual, Relational (What are my goals for my relationships this year?), Influence (Who do I need to influence this year and how?), Physical (What are my goals for my physical health this year?), Financial, and Intellectual (How am I going to grow intellectually this year?).

Breaking you goals up into categories helps you see what areas need growth and it can help you be specific about what goals to set.

Be Specific
Often, our goals are pretty vague. Getting specific helps us craft a plan for actually achieving the goals we set before us.

“I want to grow closer to God this year.” Ok. How? What steps are you going to take to grow closer to him? Will you spend more time reading your Bible? Will you make it a goal to pray more consistently? Be specific with this goal by stating something like this:

It is my goal to grow closer to God this year. In order to do this I will start my year off with a fast and I will read one of the gospels each week for the entire year.

“I want to love my wife more deeply.” What are you going to do to achieve this goal? Will you write her a love letter each week? Will you arrange a babysitter each week so that you can treat her to a weekly date night? Specific example:

It is my goal to love my wife more deeply through daily sending her a text message telling her how much she means to me, weekly sending her a card by mail, and monthly planning a date night to reconnect as a couple.

Don’t set vague goals. Vague goals do not change lives.

Tell Someone
Accountability is setting goals is a must. Tell someone your goals. Share with someone you hope and plans. Let a friend celebrate your victories and lift you up when you fail. Goals set in community impact a greater number of people. Don’t keep your goals to yourself.

Pray Hard, Work Hard
A phrase that I have always loved is “Pray like it depends on God, Work like it depends on you.” I have been using this phrase since I first heard it in college. This idea of Praying Hard and Working Hard recently popped up again because it played a big role in Mark Batterson’s The Circle Maker and Dave Ramsey’s EntreLeadership (two of my top 5 books for 2011). Batterson writes that too often we set goals, pray to God about what we want,and then fail to do anything because we want God to just give us what we’ve asked for. We shouldn’t simply pray and walk away. We should pray and entrust our needs and desires to God but then we should be faithful to get after it and work toward that end. Sometimes God is gracious and drops things in our laps. Most of the time though God answers our prayer when we are obedient to him. You aren’t working to curry God’s favor so that he will give you what you desire. You’re work is carried out as an act of faith and trust in the One who truly determines every outcome. God delivered his people from the hand of Pharaoh but Moses still had to travel to Egypt. God gave Jericho to the Israelites but Joshua still had to march. Jesus prayed that God’s will be done but he still had to go to the cross. Praying hard and Working hard are not at odds. Both are acts of faith and both are needed when you set out to plan and achieve godly goals.

Celebrate
There are 366 days, 52 weeks, and 12 months in 2012. Celebrate little victories along the path of achieving your goals and celebrate big time when you are able to cross a goal off of your list. Two passage that will help you celebrate small and large victories are Ecclesiastes 3:11 and Lamentations 3:22-24.

He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the hearts of men; yet they cannot fathom what God has done from beginning to end. (Ecclesiastes 3:11 NIV)

“The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness. “The LORD is my portion,” says my soul, “therefore I will hope in him.” (Lamentations 3:22–24 ESV)

God wants to accomplish great things in and through your life this year. It is my prayer that you will set aside some time in the next few days to plan and dedicate your time, talent, and treasure to following after the goals God sets in your heart.

For more on prayer and setting goals, check out The Circle Maker by Mark Batterson which helped inspire and give structure to today’s post.

Discipleship, Faith in Action, Preaching, Unremarkable

Convert Life to Truth

“I once heard a preacher who sorely tempted me to say I would go to church no more.

A snow-storm was falling around us.

The snow-storm was real, the preacher merely spectral, and the eye felt the sad contrast in looking at him, and then out of the window behind him into the beautiful meteor of the snow.

He had lived in vain. He had not one word intimating that he had laughed or wept, was married or in love, had been commended, or cheated, or chagrined. If he had ever lived and acted, we were none the wiser for it. The capital secret of his profession, namely, to convert life into truth, he had not learned.

Not one fact in all his experience had he yet imported into his doctrine. This man had ploughed and planted and talked and bought and sold; he had read books; he had eaten and drunken; his head aches, his heart throbs; he smiles and suffers; yet was there not a surmise, a hint, in all the discourse, that he had ever lived at all.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson

RWE delivered this story 173 years ago and in some churches the problem still remains.

Preacher, if the people who gather to hear you connect their lives to the Way, the Truth, and the LIFE see that there is NO LIFE within you- don’t be surprised when they don’t come back. If you cannot convert LIFE– your relationship to Jesus- to TRUTH– that a relationship with Jesus is real and vibrant and life transforming and to be lived out- then sleep in this Sunday. Do not bother delivering that sermon you pulled out of your filing cabinet this week.

When I step into the pulpit each Sunday or when I stand beside my table to teach class or when I open up the Word over a cup of coffee with a friend the whole point is to connect our lives to the life of Jesus.

In the Incarnation, Jesus became flesh and bone, blood and sinew. He was real. His words were alive. He is still real. His words are still alive.

In John 15:5-8, Jesus gives us the key to converting life to truth. He says to us, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing. If you do not remain in me, you are like a branch that is thrown away and withers; such branches are picked up, thrown into the fire and burned. If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.”

If you want people to be moved by the Son of God you’ve got to let them know that he moves you. If you want to see others transformed by Jesus Christ, than they have to know that he radically transforms you.

Otherwise, you might persuade them to skip out or check out… Permanently.

This Sunday, make sure you connect Life to Truth.

Best Practices, Bible Study, Faith in Action, Life, My Life, Personal Leadership, Thanksgiving, Wrestling With Scripture

Why We Decided To Sell My Car

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Next month, my wife and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary. In the last decade we have moved from Arkansas to Alabama and then to Texas. We have lived in 1 apartment and 3 houses. I have served as a Campus Minister, a Youth and Family Minister, and now as a Lead Minister. We have a beautiful son and a wonderful life. We have faced challenges and we have met them head on because of the grace afforded us from our Heavenly Father and our love in Jesus Christ. Life is good and we give thanks everyday for the blessings we have received. However, lately we have been feeling a tug, a challenge, from God to step out and risk for His glory.

Last week, we decided to take a giant leap of faith based on something we felt God was calling us to do.

We sold my car.

We really want to be in a position where we can GIVE more and SAVE more. It was a tough decision (I loved that car!!!) but we know it was the right one. If you compared the average debt that each American family carries to being dipped in honey and thrown into a pit of quicksand, our debt would be more like having peanut butter stuck to the roof of your mouth. We don’t have a lot but we are tired of feeling stuck.

On Thursday night, we gathered together with some of the people from our church body and watched Dave Ramsey deliver a challenging message on the people of God turning the economy around by getting their personal economies in order. The part that stuck with me was when Dave asked us to imagine what life would look like if God’s people handled money according to God’s ways. My blood began pumping as he said, “the Debt Rate would plummet, Savings would grow, Employees would work hard as if working for the Lord, Employers would be shepherds of their people, and marriages would be saved.”

That’s not even the best part! If God’s people began handling money in a way that glorifies God- The Gospel will spread! People will want to know why we live differently. They will wonder why we give gladly. They will see how we bless others and want to know why.

When we got home from that night. My wife looked at me and I looked at her. I knew what she was going to say because I had felt it too. We knew that in order to really begin handling our money in the way God wanted us to that we would have to make a few sacrifices. My car had to be the first to go.

It is a bold step for sure. We are still in the process of working out our driving schedule and that is also sure to change when school starts back. We have taken a step of faith and we are trusting God to carry us through.

This fall I am teaching another  Financial Peace University for our church. I’m the first to admit that I R Stupid when it come to handling my money. My wife is the Nerd and I am most definitely the free spirit. The last time we participated in FPU we had a blast. The class really allowed us to open up and talk freely about a subject that typically breeds fighting in most marriages. I can’t wait to take another group of men and women through this life changing course.

My encouragement for you is that you too begin to see out God’s desires for your finances. Most of us are in our current financial situations because some one in our families failed to handle money properly. Change your family tree and get your financial house in order. Not so you can get that new 100″ flat screen.

Get your finances in order so you can GIVE more and SAVE more so you can BLESS more. That’s the story I want to tell my grandkids. What about you?

Books, Campus Ministry, Discipleship, Faith in Action, Harding, Resources, Study, Uplift 2011 Resources

Uplift 2011 Faith Resources

I spent the first part of the week at Harding University teaching junior and senior high students at Uplift summer camp. This was my 6th year teaching a class and marked my 19th anniversary of attending Uplift. Yes. I am officially old!!!

Tuesday, my class focused on the Shield of Faith that Paul writes about in Ephesians 6:16. I told them that our Shield of Faith is indestructible if it is built on the foundation of the truth of who Jesus is. I encouraged them to read and study scripture and reliable resources that will help them find the truth of Jesus and who he really is.

I promised the students that I would post some apologetic resources here on the blog for them to look at. The books by Lee Strobel were books I read as a teen that were indispensable for me in strengthening my faith and showing me that Jesus Christ really is the Son of God.

It is ok to have questions about what you believe. It is ok to struggle with answers and to seek out help in strengthening your faith. It is my hope that these resources will be helpful to you as you seek the truth, face your doubts, and find security in Jesus!

The Case for Christ: A Journalist’s Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus
The Case for Christ records Lee Strobel’s attempt to “determine if there’s credible evidence that Jesus of Nazareth really is the Son of God.” The book consists primarily of interviews between Strobel (a former legal editor at the Chicago Tribune) and biblical scholars such as Bruce Metzger. Each interview is based on a simple question, concerning historical evidence (for example, “Can the Biographies of Jesus Be Trusted?”), scientific evidence, (“Does Archaeology Confirm or Contradict Jesus’ Biographies?”), and “psychiatric evidence” (“Was Jesus Crazy When He Claimed to Be the Son of God?”). Together, these interviews compose a case brief defending Jesus’ divinity, and urging readers to reach a verdict of their own. (from the product description)

Case for Christ–Student Edition
Who Was Jesus? A good man? A lunatic? God? There’s little question that he actually lived. But miracles? Rising from the dead? Some of the stories you hear about him sound like just that–stories. A reasonable person would never believe them, let alone the claim that he’s the only way to God! But a reasonable person would also make sure that he or she understood the facts before jumping to conclusions. That’s why Lee Strobel–an award-winning legal journalist with a knack for asking tough questions–decided to investigate Jesus for himself. An atheist, Strobel felt certain his findings would bring Christianity’s claims about Jesus tumbling down like a house of cards. He was in for the surprise of his life. Join him as he retraces his journey from skepticism to faith. You’ll consult expert testimony as you sift through the truths that history, science, psychiatry, literature, and religion reveal. Like Strobel, you’ll be amazed at the evidence–how much there is, how strong it is, and what it says. The facts are in. What will your verdict be in The Case for Christ? (from the product description)

The Case for Faith: A Journalist Investigates the Toughest Objections to Christianity
Award-winning reporter and author Lee Strobel (The Case for Christ) once again uses his investigative skills to address the primary objections to Christianity. As a former atheist, Strobel understands the rational resistance to faith. He even names the eight most convincing arguments against Christian faith:

  • If there’s a loving God, why does this pain-wracked world groan under so much suffering and evil?
  • If the miracles of God contradict science, then how can any rational person believe that they’re true?
  • If God is morally pure, how can he sanction the slaughter of innocent children as the Old Testament says he did?
  • If God cares about the people he created, how could he consign so many of them to an eternity of torture in hell just because they didn’t believe the right things about him?
  • If Jesus is the only way to heaven, then what about the millions of people who have never heard of him?
  • If God really created the universe, why does the evidence of science compel so many to conclude that the unguided process of evolution accounts for life?
  • If God is the ultimate overseer of the church, why has it been rife with hypocrisy and brutality throughout the ages?
  • If I’m still plagued by doubts, then is it still possible to be a Christian?

These are mighty tough questions, and Strobel fields them well. Rather than write a weighty dissertation about the merits of faith, he brings us along on his quest as we meet leaders in the Christian community, such as Peter Kreeft and William Lane Craig. We also encounter his everyday friends and acquaintances that serendipitously fill in the holes in each of the eight arguments against faith. The use of dialogue from personal interviews and a scene-by-scene active narrative makes this an easy and engaging read. However, easy does not mean breezy. This is a book of substance and merit, one that will help Christians defend their faith, especially during the hardest of times, when they have to defend their faith to themselves in moments of doubt. (from Amazon review)

Also available as Case for Faith–Student Edition

The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God
Are Christianity and science incompatible? If there is a God, is he only an impersonal starter force? An introductory high school biology class first propelled Lee Strobel toward a life of atheism. God and science, he reasoned, were mutually exclusive. When the former legal editor of the Chicago Tribune converted to Christianity, he decided to investigate the science he had once accepted as truth. Did science point toward or away from God? As Strobel interviews a variety of scientists on everything from debunking evolutionary icons to the implications of the Big Bang to the existence of the human soul, he builds his case: scientific evidence points toward Intelligent Design.
Although the discussion often veers into the academic, Strobel works hard to make it accessible to those without scientific training. Throughout the book, he salts interview transcript information with interesting personal stories of his own spiritual and scientific quest for knowledge, as well as sometimes over-detailed descriptions of the actual interviews. Each chapter contains suggestions for further reading on particular issues of science and faith. (from Amazon review)

The Reason for God: Belief in an Age of Skepticism
Why does God allow suffering in the world? How could a loving God send people to hell? Why isn’t Christianity more inclusive? How can there be one true religion? Why have so many wars been fought in the name of God? Timothy Keller addresses the frequent doubts that skeptics and even ardent believers, have about religion. Using literature, philosophy, real-life conversations, and potent reasoning, Keller explains how the belief in God is, in fact, a sound and rational one. To true believers he offers a solid platform on which to stand their ground against the backlash to religion created by the Age of Skepticism. And to skeptics, atheists, and agnostics, he provides a challenging argument for pursuing the reason for God. (from the back cover)

Is the Bible True . . . Really?: A Dialogue on Skepticism, Evidence, and Truth
Did the Resurrection Happen . . . Really?: A Dialogue on Life, Death, and Hope
Who is Jesus . . . Really?: A Dialogue on God, Man, and Grace
With over 40 million books sold, bestselling author Josh McDowell is no stranger to creatively presenting biblical truth. Now, partnering with fellow apologist Dave Sterrett, Josh introduces a new series targeted at the intersection of story and truth. The Coffee House Chronicles are short, easily devoured novellas aimed at answering prevalent spiritual questions. Each book in the series tackles a long-contested question of the faith, and then answer these questions with truth through relationships and dialogue in each story.

In Is the Bible True, Really?: A Dialogue on Skepticism, Evidence, and Truth, we meet Nick, a college freshman at a state school in Texas. Nick has his spiritual world turned upside-down with what he hears in an introduction to religion class. His questions turn into conversations as he dialogues with professors, friends, and family about the authenticity and authority of the Bible. The other two books in the series: Who is Jesus, Really? and Did the Resurrection Happen, Really? continue the unfolding story at the college campus and the coffee house down the road. (from product description)

Is God Just a Human Invention? And Seventeen Other Questions Raised by the New Atheists
Atheism is making a comeback. From bookstores to bus campaigns, the question of God is up for public debate–and well-known atheists like Richard Dawkins and Christopher Hitchens are leading the charge. While these authors, who have been dubbed “The New Atheists,” argue against religion in general, they aim most of their criticisms and complaints at the world’s largest religion–Christianity. Why are people reading books that bash God and ridicule faith? And how can Christians respond? The writings of the New Atheists are especially challenging to the emerging generation who are skeptical of authority and have not been given answers to the hows and whys of faith’s honest questions. For these readers especially, authors Sean McDowell and Jonathan Morrow have penned an accessible yet rigorous look at the arguments of the New Atheists. Writing from a distinctively Christian perspective, McDowell and Morrow lay out the facts so that the emerging generation can make up their own mind after considering all the evidence. Divided into two parts–the first addressing the scientific and philosophical challenges to belief in God and the second dealing with the moral and biblical challenges–Is God Just a Human Invention? will respond to each major argument in a way that is balanced, thorough, and easy to understand. McDowell and Morrow believe that the current religious landscape is both an opportunity and a challenge for people of faith. Now is the time to respond. (from the publisher)

I’d love to hear from you what you think of these resources. Drop me a message in the comments or hit me up on Facebook or Twitter. I really hope that at least one of the resources will be helpful to you and your faith journey. My prayers are with you a you…

Seek the Truth.
Humble yourself.
Be Introspective.
Enlist help.
Listen.
Decide to stand!

peace,
Micheal