Well, the names are in - the A/G has new leaders…

District Superintendent = John Wootton

Executive Secretary = Jim Palmer

We’ll see how it all works out…

I’m here in Columbus with the CLC staff (rooming with Dirk) for Ohio District Council.  It’s the Assemblies of God governmental structure for the state if Ohio.  Our district supt. is moving on to national office and we are getting a new leader.  Let’s see how it goes…I hope we get a leader, we need it!  Pray!

Today I dealt with withdraw. My email was down until about 4 p.m. Seriously all I could think about was the lost communication with others. I am so geared to check it…often. It drives me crazy to have unanswered email. If I don’t answer there is usually a problem or I cannot get to it.

It got me thinking…am I that addicted to really connecting with people. Too often we replace real connection for a quick phone call or an email. I think our society suffers from disconnectedness. Are we really connected to people like we think?

When I finally got to my email at 4 I checked it and all was right with the world. Seriously the world kept turning and it wasn’t a problem. So my personal challenge - REALLY CONNECT WITH PEOPLE they deserve it.

Well, it’s Earth Day.  I bet Al Gore is excited - it must be like Christmas for him!  I can just see Tipper giving him dirt and some carbon credits on the big day.  I’m totally kidding.  I actually think it is good that he trying to do something!  While the “climate crisis” may or may not be as bad as advertised I think that it is important that we are GOOD STEWARDS of the planet.  God gave it to us - TREAT IT THAT WAY!!!

My biggest problem with the environmental movement is when they treat it like a religion.  The earth is NOT a god!!!  It’s not our “Mother” either.  It’s a place that our FATHER made for us - it is a gift, a temporary home.  I love the planet - seriously, without it we would not be alive!

So on this Earth Day - let’s focus on the One who made the earth.

Lord, thank you for earth.  Thank you for creation.  The heavens declare your glory, the skies proclaim the work of Your hands (Psalm 19!  You are the reason we celebrate - you are our God, our creator, our redeemer, our friend!

We just closed out the series “An Inconvenient God”. It was a series on the book of Numbers and to be honest turned out really well. I had the opportunity close out the series for both campuses. My talk was “Do It Right…This Time!”. We looked at how God allowed the first generation of Israelites to wander in the desert until all of those from the 1st census (Numbers 1) died because of their grumbling and disobedience. We picked up in Number 26 which is the second census and God essentially asks them to do it right…THIS TIME!

I looked at 2 extremes of God’s character - His JUSTICE and MERCY. God’s justice allowed the entire generation to die, but he still was merciful and gracious to them - he feed them, clothed them, His presence went with them (cloud & fire - Numbers9) and ultimately allowed them to enter the land He promised to them.

Between chapters 26 & 36 we see God basically laying down what He requires of them. He simply wants OBEDIENCE. My “Big Idea” was this: “Obedience MUST be our RESPONSE to God’s justice & mercy”. Obedience doesn’t earn God’s grace, but should be a natural expression because of what He’s done! Grace was never intended to be a “sin-all-you-want” thing, it was intended to bring us to Him. After that we must respond with obedience.

It was a fun yet difficult talk to give, but the response was incredible. We asked people to stand for prayer that had areas of disobedience in their lives. Hundreds stood - it was a great moment. Obedience is not easy, but it is what we should strive to give back to God.

Church Marketing Stinks (I thought I’d use the that name instead of the other) recently highlighted a blog that is satirical in nature but is SO true to life - Stuff Christians Like.

This site cracks me up. Today’s entry “The ‘pray if you feel lead’ prayer” is so true! It makes you honestly look at things the way someone from the outside sees things. If you were raised in church (which is actually one of the entries) or have been around it for a while you will totally enjoy. If you are new to the church thing you’ll probably laugh because sometimes Christians can seem weird…I’m even a violator sometimes. Enjoy!

I thought I’d share my Top 25 Most Played on iTunes.  It’s an eclectic mix - if you saw all my iTunes you’d probably laugh, it’s all over the map.  Here it is…

1. “Grace’s Amazing Hands” - Dave Barnes
2. “OK” - MuteMath
3. “Fix You” - Coldplay
4. “How to Save a life” - The Fray
5. “Your Love Will Never Change” - Dave Barnes
6. “All I Know” - Matt Wertz
7. “Until You” - Dave Barnes
8. “I Will Not Take My Love Away” - Matt Wertz
9. “Slow Dancing In a Burning Room” - John Mayer
10. “The L.A. Song” - Dave Barnes
11. “Waiting On the World to Change” - John Mayer
12. “Crashing Down” - Mat Kearney
13. “Beautiful Lord” - Leeland
14. “How Can I Keep From Singing” - Chris Tomlin
15. “A Lot Like Me” - Dave Barnes
16. “The Time Has Come” - Hillsong United
17. “Stop This Train” - John Mayer
18. “I Stand Amazed” - Candy Pearson Shelton
19. “Glorious” - Chris Tomlin
20. “Someday, Sarah” - Dave Barnes
21. “Wholly Yours” - David Crowder Band
22. “Everybody’s Changing” - Keane
23. “Marianne” - Matt Wertz
24. “Everybody But You” - Dave Barnes
25. “Butterflies” - Dave Barnes

There it is…

With the technology available today it easier than ever to take your favorite speakers with you. Honestly, I listen to Podcasts more than music on my iPod. As a pastor it is easy to be so involved in church that sometimes you don’t get much out of it - don’t get me wrong, I do grow spiritually from our services, but sometimes it is good to just allow other leaders and ministries shape you.

So here is a list of the Podcasts on my iPod. Here are the rules I have imposed on my Podcast subscriptions…you have to keep my interested, the quality (both material and audio) must be good, and it must ‘move’ me. So as you read this list, you will see some surprising speakers listed - some I have theological disagreements with, but nevertheless (fyi - that’s the biggest word I’ve ever typed!) I listen to them. Here we go in no particular order…

Catalyst is an amazing conference that I’ve never been to, but their Podcast is incredible.

Ed Young - incredible! I love his Creative Pastors Podcast and his Ed Young Podcast.

Gregg Matte is the pastor of Houston’s First Baptist Church and founder of Breakaway - a ministry to college students at Texas A&M. Gregg became the pastor at HFBC at 33 and truly is incredible. Honestly this is the Podcast I listen to MOST! Love his heart and passion. He is playing on my drives home from the office A LOT!

Charles Stanley. Incredible. So steady, grounded. I really like him a lot. Plus he raised Andy Stanley - how could he not be incredible?

Craig Groeschel. LifeChurch is redefining how we all do church. You have to listen to him!

Mark Driscoll. Okay, there are some theological and stylistic bones I have with him, but his church is amazing. His heart for church planting and the city of Seattle is inspiring. He is an expository preacher and I enjoy seeing his thought process in Bible study.

Andy Stanley. You knew it was coming! He is THE leader that is shaping church culture more than anyone (in my humble opinion)!!! This guy pushes me like crazy. “Choosing to Cheat” changed my life and his simple process has changed the way I lead. A few personal observations on Andy - I think he uses the words “environment” and “leverage” more than anyone in history. I challenge you to listen to his talks a find one with out both of those words said several times. Seriously - ANDY HAS DONE SO MUCH. Many of us owe him so much! ANDY - CALL ME!!!

Chad Gilligan. Not a household name, but I guy I know personally and love to listen to. He pastorsCalvary Assembly of God in Toledo and is an incredible guy. Check him out!

Bill Hybels. Need I say more?

Louie Giglio. My hero! He is hands down the BEST speaker I’ve ever heard. I also hope my hair looks that good when it is gray - if I still have it. Louie is one of my biggest influences. He’s amazing!

And last but not least…

Stan Tharp at Christian Life Center. Sure I work there, but P. Stan is incredible. Since I get to work with him, I know his heart and ministry. I have grown so much in the past 4 years. It is a pleasure to lead our regional campus. Sometimes I’m even on this Podcast…love speaking weekends at CLC!

Well, that’s who I have. Anyone I missed?

1 Corinthians 3:18 (NIV)

“Do not deceive yourselves. If any one of you thinks he is wise by the standards of this age, he should become a ‘fool’ so that he may become wise.”

Lord, may I always be a fool…a fool to standards of this age and a fool for You!

This weekend we kicked off our post-Easter series “An Inconvenient God”. As we continue our journey thru the Bible we find ourselves in the Book of Numbers. To be honest, I was a little scared about this series. I have been speaking for almost 10 years and I think I’ve had one talk come from Numbers. I’ve also used the “the Lord bless and keep you…” passage in a few wedding ceremonies. However, it is amazing to see what you learn about the character of God - even in passages that aren’t particularly inspiring at first glance.

We are purposely dealing with the aspects of God that make Him inconvenient. This week Pastor Stan spoke and hit on the fact that God is a God of ORDER (look at the great pains Moses goes thru to show God’s orderly side in numbers 1), God is a God who commands more than requests (Jesus said, “If you love Me, keep my commands.”), God is a God of ‘right now because I say so obedience’, God is a God who blesses, and finally God is a God requires praise in the midst of it all (i.e. the tabernacle) and before (i.e. the tribe of Judah lead in battle). We camped on the thought that in all things - even the inconvenient things, God asks us to worship Him WITH everything & IN everything. No matter our circumstance our response to God must be our total and complete adoration thru worship!

There was on sentence that struck me that he said at the close of the message & I repeated at our campus. He said, “I thank God that He is inconvenient, because if he did everything I asked Him or wanted Him to do I would limit Him to my power.” God is so much bigger than we are and if we simply ask God to convenience us, we truly do limit him to our experience, bias, thought, etc. It is best for us that God is inconvenient - that sometimes (o.k., a lot of times) he asks/requires things from us that aren’t easy, but are RIGHT! It all comes back to OBEDIENCE.

I’m speaking for both campuses in a couple of weeks and I can’t wait!

Thank you God for being AN INCONVENIENT GOD!