Pray without Ceasing

Shaina and I have been at a pace that isn't healthy. We've eaten dinner at the church it seems at least once a week for the last month. The frantic pace of ministry can be exciting, fulfilling and draining. It's interesting that in the midst of a seemingly frantic pace of ministry...healing...teaching...etc. Jesus made sure to withdraw. He made time to connect with his Father.

We are no different...except that we aren't fully God and so making time to connect with the Father isn't actually connecting with ourselves...I digress.

Shaina and I leave in the morning for a 48 hour prayer retreat. We need you to pray for us. Pray for clarity. Pray for revelation. Pray for rest. Pray for new vision. Pray for God's presence to encounter us. Just pray. If you want to set aside an hour, great. If you are one who fasts and want to do that, great. If you don't ever pray normally but think we're worthy of you throwin' one up there, great.

Thanks...No blogging until Wednesday. I know...what on earth will you do with your life?

Ignite

This morning was our Fall Leader Training Event, IGNITE. It was a good morning of gathering the teachers of children, youth and adults. The best part for me personally was singing praise to start the morning off with the leaders of the church. Each person took a candle and 'Ignited' it off the Christ candle on the altar. By the end of 'Jesus Paid It All' the room was illumined by leaders ignited by Jesus. We ended singing the chorus to Jesus Loves Me.

"Were Not our Hearts Burning within us as He opened up the Scriptures?" Luke 24:32

Friday Unwind

This makes me want to follow horseracing.

Best Horse Race Call Ever - watch more funny videos

Quotable II.

The late Henri Nouwen, a Roman Catholic Priest when he was preparing to leave Lima, Peru and return to the U.S.

"I look forward to going home tomorrow, to sitting in a comfortable airplane. I like being welcomed home by friends. I look forward to being back again in my cozy apartment, with my books, my paintings, and my plants...But is it there that I will find God?

Or is God in this dusty, dry, cloud-covered city of Lima, in this confusing, unplanned, and often chaotic conglomeration of people, dogs and houses? Is God perhaps where the hungry kids play, the old ladies beg, and the shoeshine boys pick your pocket?

I surely have to be where God is. I have to become obedient to God, listen to God's voice and go wherever that voice calls me. Even when I do not like it, even when it is not a way of cleanliness or comfort."

Where do you know God is at work and what do you need to do to join Him?

Kenya help the Widow and the Orphan?

So, September 25 is a big day for Empower Worldwide Outreach, the organization that our young adults have partnered with the last two summers to go to Kenya. They have one primary fundraiser to help fund the day to day operations of the organization over in Kenya and this is it! It's Amazing Race, Ashland style. The game is based on the popular TV show. Teams of 4 will trek around Ashland (you don't need to be an Ashland native to succeed!), gather clues, accomplish tasks, figure out riddles and arrive safely at the end point trying to win the top prize! Even if you're lousy at all that, you still get a tee shirt and an amazing dinner at the end of the evening. It's from 3-8 p.m. and you can register your team at www.empowerworldwideoutreach.com.

I am on the board of the organization and I have been mandated from on high to bring 5 teams to compete in this, so I need your help!

Even if you can't make it, there's a second way you can help, which is by entering to win one of our raffle baskets!

I can appeal to the self indulgent stuff...that you'll enjoy yourself...eat amazing food...win prizes...but the reality is that if the funds aren't raised, it has a significant impact on whether grandmothers can take care of orphans in rural Kenya, give them food, pay for their school, get them out of the cycle of extreme poverty. I've seen it with my own eyes that it is really about life and death.

So help out. 3 reasons...1. the need is great in Kenya. 2. the fun you will have is substantial 3. I need to get 5 teams put together!

This Fall we are instituting a new wave of discipleship that I am really hopeful will take adults to the next level in the way they study the Bible and how that study transforms their walk with Christ.

lifeWorth Groups are beginning in September and we are studying the Gospel of John. I had a seminary professor say that John was a book that infant Christians could wade into and mature Christians could drown in. I love it. I have spent a good number of hours writing a curriculum supplement for John this summer and am down to the last three chapters in preparing the study for groups. Can't wait!

Best Bible Study you ever did was________________?

Expectation vs. Hope

Just been meandering around this subject the last few weeks. As followers of Jesus, are we called to replace expectations with hope?

Legalism might cause us to expect that someone do something the way they ought, when they ought, where they ought.

Hope causes us to want others to want to do right.

Expectation leads us often to disappointment in others.

Hope leads us to see the good of a God who is at work in others.

Expecation severs relationship with deadlines and immediacy.

Hope preserves the relationship with anticipation and eternal perspective.

Expectation isn't particularly biblical.

Hope is.

Expectation leads to sentiments of entitlement and rights.

Hope relinquishes rights out of love and humility for others.

So when we expect from others...we are disappointed in others. When we hope for others, we are blessed by others.

When we expect from God...we find a God who is controllable and impotent.

When we hope in God...we find a God who is able to do immeasurably more than we could ask or imagine.

What do you think? Do we need to start repenting of areas where we are expectant rather than hopeful?

Just pulled the trigger

Just made a big decision this week that is largely self-indulgent! By August 30, Shaina and I will be completely debt free. This has meant that vacations have been pretty much non-existent. The extent of the 'V' Word in our marriage has been a couple trips to my sister's in South Carolina and weekend trips to the bustling metropolis of Cleveland, Chicago and Erie, Pa.

So, because God has provided in an unexpected way (yet again!), we have our debt covered and money to take a trip. With that said, we board the Carnival Fantasy on September 11 in Charleston for a 7 day cruise to the Bahamas and Grand Turk.

I am pretty well spent at this point in the ministry at WUMC. It has been a great, yet hectic summer and its time to detox. This will serve in some ways as the honeymoon that Shaina and I were never able to take. I can't wait!

So...if you've been on a cruise...got any advice for cruise newbies?

Quotables!

"People who love Jesus but not the church are booing the bride at the wedding and the groom is not ok with that." Perry Noble

"Unfruitfulness alone separates men from Christ and His Church. The Church without a sense of mission is no church." R. H. Strachan

"Tradition is the living faith of those now dead. Traditionalism is the dead faith of those now living." Chuck Swindoll

"Jesus does not call us to evangidating." Yours truly on dating unbelievers.

"We are not Destination Christians. We are Journey Christians." (How we get where we are heading and our attitudes there within, are of utmost importance) Terry Wardle per Alicia Penrod.

"Abide in me and I will abide in you." Jesus in John 15.

Got a quote of wisdom or hilarity to add to the mix?

"Don't Sweat the Petty Things...and Don't pet the sweaty things." is not wise or hilarious so don't try it.

Redeeming Fantasy Football

So, the REAL Men of Genius young adult men's group that I lead is trying out something that I think will bring about a redemptive quality to Fantasy Football.

People blow a ton of money on Fantasy Football gambling. It's becoming a huge industry.

I enjoy fantasy football. So do the guys in the group.

So, we are all paying $20 to enter the league. Each guy picks a Christian organization/charity/ministry that they are going to play for, and the winner gets to donate to their pick.

On top of the donation idea, each week, the opponents for that week are not only to talk trash, but they are to provide accountability with their opponent...ask them questions about how they are living, pray for them, etc. It's a sure fire way that we can stay accountable to one another while many of the guys are off at school.

Pretty sure the REAL Men of Genius marker is accurate on this one.

Whirlwind

I am in a crazy season of ministry right now. I am leading two small group settings, REAL Men of Genius and the Edge Young Adult Sunday School class. I'm also writing a curriculum supplement for a new small group movement at church that will be centered on the Gospel of John. I'm spearheading a church wide movement called Church ReVerb. I've preached twice in the last 3 weeks. I'm co-leading a 3 hour teacher training seminar at the end of the month and I begin leading the leaders of the John small groups in an indepth bible study. Simultaneously, I am doing intense study and work in the book of Ephesians (Sunday sermon series), 1 and 2 Timothy (REAL Men of Genius) and the gospel of John (lifeWorth Groups).

Two men were in the woods chopping down trees. One man had a relentless work ethic...vowed to keep at it until the work was done and just kept a fierce pace at all times. The other man took breaks every hour, sat and drank coffee and sharpened the axe while he drank. By the end of the day, the man who took the breaks was much farther along in tree chopping than the one who went at it relentlessly.

We need to sharpen our axes. Frantic pace can only be maintained for a short period.

I've got a 48 hour prayer retreat coming up at the end of the month and then if things work out, I will take vacation for two weeks in September.

If anointing seems to be missing and there's not a whole lot of progress in your chopping, now is the time to look at how and when to get away.

so what are you doing to sharpen your axe?

1st Ever Softball Tourney Experience

So, got a facebook message from a high school friend of mine, Phil. He told me there was a softball tourney in Smithville for a 7 year old with neuroblastoma cancer. Her name is Karrie Dodez.

I got 10 guys and we played.

Cancer sucks.

Kids with cancer sucks alot.

We made it through Pool Play, Intriguing Umpires, Rain Outs, Loser's Brackets and illegal bats to reach the final.

Before the game, I was amped up...first softball tourney experience and we're playing for top honors...and then as I was high fivin' the guys gettin' em pumped up, Karrie came out onto the field and threw the opening pitch.

Forget softball. Everything came into perspective. This life is short and nothing is guaranteed. Don't waste your life.

All told, the tourney raised $3000 for Karrie and I think more importantly, it raised awareness and my hope and prayer is that you'll hope and pray with me, for her. Don't just pray safe prayers...Pray bold prayers to a God who hears and answers. Let's pray that we have to have another softball tournament that is a Celebration that Karrie has kicked the crap out of cancer.

Please take 5 minutes and pray for this girl, her family and a miracle!

(p.s. we took 2nd place)

Indians Trivia

Can you name the pitcher in Cleveland Indians History to have been the most dominant ever in their first four starts for the team?

Not Bob Feller.

Not C.C. Sabathia.

Did you say Jeanmar Gomez? If so, you'd be absolutely right. And I went and watched his 4th start last night. Gomez is 3-1 to start his career with the tribe (only 3 others in Cleveland history started off that well) and to add to that, Gomez' ERA is a whopping 1.54.

So yes the Indians are 19 under 500. Yes the average, run of the mill Indians Fan couldn't name 2 of the guys who started last night. Yes, interest in the Indians is at a 20 year low. (I honestly hadn't watched a game all year until I went to Progressive Field last night...and even that was for the Dollar Dogs.) But history is being made...not just in futility, but also with Jeanmar Gomez.

Dear football season, get here fast.

Mission Sunday

Getting excited to preach on Sunday for our Mission Sunday. It's one Sunday where we gather all the year's Mission Trips for a time of celebration of what God has done, what God is doing, and what God will do next.

The problem with me getting excited to preach...is that I'm limited to between 10 and 15 minutes. It'd be easy to preach that if it wasn't something I was absolutely passionate about.

Anyways, I get a chance in this time to really lay out the plan for Church ReVerb which is quite honestly where the church is going in the next 25 years.

The play I plan on making

I'm playin' church softball tomorrow. Pretty sure I will match or exceed this play.


EMBED-Spiderman Style Baseball Catch - Watch more free videos

Be still...

I would do karaoke if this were how the night ended (thanks Mike!)

Undercover Karaoke with Jewel from Jewel

And another example I'd seen awhile ago showing that things aren't always as they seem. Joshua Bell, violin virtuoso plays in a DC Metro stop...


In the 45 minutes the musician played, only 6 people stopped and stayed for a while. About 20 gave him money but continued to walk their normal pace. He collected $32. When he finished playing and silence took over, no one noticed it. No one applauded, nor was there any recognition.

No one knew this but the violinist was Joshua Bell, one of the best musicians in the world. He played one of the most intricate pieces ever written with a violin worth 3.5 million dollars.

Two days before his playing in the subway, Joshua Bell sold out at a theater in Boston and the seats average $100 each.

Where are you missing the music for the mundane?

Fore!

Off to the Bridgestone Invitational over at Firestone in Akron this morning with my buddy Scott. Thought about wearing my LeBron James jersey with James crossed out and JUDAS written instead...but that's a little over the top...haha.

Anyways, the last time I was at this tournament was with my dad when I was little. True story, we were standing under a section of trees when all of a sudden I got plunked in the leg from the hole behind us. Lo and behold Jon Daly had hit me with an errant tee shot. If only my dad would have trained me to fake serious injury to get a gift from him, that would've been great.

Today, I'm ready to do whatever necessary. haha.

Sacred Echos

Ok...so the more I've followed God, the more I've seen the truth of this principle enacted. Time and time again, God reenforces something He wants me to get in my life by making a scripture or a theme show up in multiple places in quick succession. The skeptic (also known in these cases as the fool) will say that it is nothing more than mere coincidence.

It happened again this week. REAL Men of Genius, the young adult men's study I teach in the summers has been digging into 1 & 2 Timothy this summer. On Monday, we were in 2 Timothy chapter 1. There are 18 verses in this chapter. We could of focuse on any number of them...and we did, but the one that God led us to end on was verse 7..."For God has not given us a spirit of timidity but of power, love and self control." It was a really enriching time.

It's now Thursday. I sat down to go through my Sunday School lesson that I will be teaching this Sunday out of Mark Batterson's "Chase the Goose". It has been a great study and I highly recommend it if you feel trapped in where your life/faith are going. So I answer the questions on the Cage of Fear and get to the last section and lo and behold there's 2 Timothy 2:7 being quoted and then is in the reflection section at the end of the chapter as the week's memory verse!

There are 31,103 verses in the Bible. The fact that this one verse gets plucked out in two different settings is remarkable. It doesn't stop there. We started Chase the Goose and I felt like we needed to spend two weeks on one of the chapters...so we did. We've been going a chapter a week in REAL Men...so the 7th meeting for the men's group and the 6th session of chase the goose aligned themselves to get this verse across.

So the only thing left to examine is whether God's sacred echo will spurn obedience from His hearer.

Has His echo ever been clear to you?

Zeke

You should listen to the above song while you read this blog. They fit together.

Ezekiel 47:1-12 pumps me up. Happened to stumble across it while writing some curriculum for the Gospel of John.

Ezekiel is taken in a vision to the Dead Sea...It's Dead...The salt makes it virtually impossible for any organism to live there. There is water flowing into the sea but no water flowing out...which causes stagnancy.

But in this vision, Ezekiel is shown by God that there will be a source of water that flows into that Sea that will cause abundant life to explode out of abundant death.

God is a God who brings life out of the deadest of dead.

So when Jesus teaches in John 7 about those believing in Him having living water flow through them...we should see the correlation. God is stirring New Creation where nothing but death could've existed before. He makes beautiful things. So what dead thing in you needs resurrected.

Shack it up!

I am almost finished reading The Shack for the second time (I read it on vacation in 2007). Bottom line...you have to read this book. Best fiction book I've read...ever.

I love what Paul Young says..."In the deepest pain, we ask the best questions."

This book will challenge your view of the Trinity, your understanding of the Gospel, and your relationship with God.

It has opened a dialogue across the world about who God is. Pick it up. Read it. Give it to other people.

If you've read it...what did you think?

Here is a link to Paul Young's talk at Ashland Seminary...so good.

Sunday Morning Reflections

I preached yesterday. Everybody asks afterwards how it went. I don't know how to respond...I can't tell if things land...if God encounters...if people are comatose. So I usually respond "Well, no one threw anything at me..." No one threw anything at me yesterday...Here are a couple things I'm still hanging out on a day after the message fom Ephesians 4:1-16. Title of the message was MORE MATURITY.

Maturity has little or nothing to do with age.

Are we righteous because we do right things or do we do right things because we are righteous? (If you answer the former...you've missed the gospel!)

Paul's ORTHODOXY (Right Worship) precedes his ORTHOPRAXY (Right Action)...Too many in the church are only concerned with behavior modification (Orthopraxy) and have missed the point of the kingdom...namely to Worship and align ourselves with the most high king of kings.

Tradition is the living faith of those now dead. Traditionalism is the dead faith of those now living. --Charles Swindoll

Speaking the Truth in love means gently letting those you know and love when their breath stinks.

You are a producer of worship not a consumer of worship...start acting like it.

I get very irritated when I hear of people leaving churches because "they are not being fed" Mature Christians don't need a 20 minute message on Sunday mornings to be fed...They feast from the hand of the Feeder all week. It's time to GROW UP!

Want to grow in Christ? FOCUSED INTENSITY OVER TIME MULTIPLIED BY GOD = MOMENTUM!!!
F.I./T(G) = M