Are You Awake?

Have you ever had an awakening?

All your life you live with a certain paradigm and then one day – BOOM – you see things from a whole new perspective.

An AWAKENING.

I’m praying for that today.

Yesterday I began the Awakening Fast that Stovall Weems created.

(You can get all the details, including calendars and devotions, at their website awake21.org)

But it’s not about me… our church began this fast and here we are in day two with God already moving among us.

I received an email from a woman in our church who decided to not only participate in the fast, but decided to add that she wouldn’t spend any money outside of her budget for bills.

The ATM ate her card and she can’t get a replacement for over a week.

Funny how God works. Maybe we should be more careful about how we ask for God’s help.

Or… maybe we should get more careless.

God is dangerous and I love that about Him. If he was the safe cuddly teddy bear that we often make him out to be, why would I follow? Why would I work for less pay, tirelessly teach and do the things I’m doing today?

I’m privileged to serve a God who is truly God over everything and anything. God will be God and our absolute surrender is demanded in order to make him Lord in our lives.

Two days of surrender are opening the floodgates of Heaven to bring about revelation of who God is. I’m thankful.

I know this post is out of character for this blog, but I wanted to mark certain days through the fast that God stirs me. Maybe it can help you find your own awakening.

If you’ve had an awakening experience, I’d love to hear about it!

Does God ever answer your prayers in a “dangerous” way?

Get Salty!

Influence.

Everybody has a some of it, but not everybody uses it to their fullest capacity.

There is a common misconception that one can only influence those in his or her own sphere of influence.

Not true and here’s why:

• How you greet the grocery clerk at check out - Influential
• How you drive on the highway - Influential
• How you speak in public settings - Influential
• How you persevere during times of trial - Influential

As Christians, God has called us to live a life of influence – salt of the Earth and the lighted city on a hill – where the people we encounter will be changed because of the Holy Spirit working through us.

We often take it for granted that people are constantly watching us, measuring us and like it or not – judging us. How we respond to various situations and how we initiate others will leave a lasting mark on the people around us – in our circle as well as beyond the circle.

Earlier this year I was invited to speak to a church in Reno during their student ministry’s Speed the Light (You can check out what Speed the Light is here) Annual Dinner. This was a group of believers from outside my normal circle of influence and as I was speaking they were watching. I had one shot… one chance to leave the right impression and allow God to use me to make a difference for a great cause.

One chance is sometimes the only chance we get. Did we influence for good – propelling people to Jesus – or did we influence for bad – driving people away from Jesus?

Today I wanted us to recenter our thinking on influence and attempt to map out an idea of how to better use it.

My prayer for you is that as a people of God – a influential movement – we might deliver some salt and light beyond our normal circles and into the masses. To the ends of the earth or to the ends of your neighborhood. To the ends of your city limits and to the ends of the block of bars on main street. To the ends of the classrooms on your school campuses to the ends of wherever you go… influence the world around you with the hope, the life and the power found in the spirit of Jesus Christ.

Where do you go that you can bring influence beyond your normal circle?

* Photo credit: Andy Heatwole courtesy bluehourphoto

Who will slay the giants?

David and Goliath.

If you’ve been raised in church, you learned about this story about 40 times by the time you made it to kindergarten.

David the under-appreciated, errand boy of his father defeats the baddest and most skilled fighter of the Philistine army. It’s a story that every underdog wants to make their life’s mantra.

Occupy Wall Street!

Protest the war!

Down with big oil!

The little man competing with the big man.

This story has been rumbling through my mind the last few weeks, but not for what lies on the surface but the character of David.

There are three things that stand out to me; each of these ideas would serve the church well if we embraced them in order to further the Kingdom of God.

David was passionate. He loved his country as well as his fellow countrymen. When he wandered up to the batter field, the taunting from the enemy stirred his soul and prodded him to leave behind his security in order bring freedom to his people.

David couldn’t not act. The only response David knew was to fight for what he believed in. There was no way he was going to walk away and pretend nothing had ever happened.

David knew who his God was. Before rushing into battle David declares that God had already given him the victory… There was no other option. The Israelite God had prepared David for a fight such as this.

Giants surround us everyday. The giant of a mortgage payment, the giant of sex trafficking, the giant of unsafe water and world-wide poverty… These giants need to be slain, but who will rise to the occasion?

It’s time the church begins to think beyond Sunday morning attendance numbers and margin in the bank account. There is risk when we involve ourselves in the pursuit of killing giants, but freedom awaits on the other side.

With all I am, I desire to slay the giants of the world. And you…

Are you a giant slayer?

* Photo credit: saavem courtesy of stock.xchng

Step by Step Towards the Next Level

Like a hot air balloon that gracefully floats upwards into the depths of the blue sky, I love to watch Christians realize new truths that take them deeper into their faith journeys.

When a new follower of Jesus realizes that a new world of potential stands before them, my adrenaline flows heavily through my veins.

It’s an awakening… for them and for myself.

And then I ask myself the question: How do we see more of this on a much grander scale?

How do we get to the next level?

Not implying church attendance or ego stroking… I’m talking about moving the UnChristian to the next level of life, the life that implores them to live at another level.

There are two things that I am seeing in the ministry I’ve been entrusted to lead:

1) It’s not events that grow Christians, but relationships.

For a while we were doing a junior high event every month with the hopes of reaching new students and building a youthful base of students that would take our city by storm… but alas, new kids never plugged in and therefore the ministry never took off.

Then I began coaching junior high basketball for our Christian school… BOOM! Instant growth as 5 of the 7 players plugged into the ministry not only attending Wednesday nights but also getting involved with small group discipleship and serving teams. Coaching players is so much easier than planning the next big event.

2) Meeting the practical will lead to growing the spiritual.

This is evidenced all throughout Scripture when God would meet practical needs through Jesus. Can’t walk? No problem, stand and give glory to God. Can’t see? Here, let me spit in your eyes and give glory to God. What, you’re dead? Easy cheese… arise Lazarus, live and give glory to God.

We often push people to only receive the spiritual while physically they are dying. We need to learn how to repair both physical and spiritual to see people truly grow into the next level for their lives.

Mother Teresa played to this key very well. She forsake the comforts of modern life to live among an outcast people to give them what they needed physically only to leave a legacy of spiritual renewal and revival in her wake.

The next level is not just for the seasoned Christian, but God desires to elevate His people so that even more might be drawn to Him. Let’s continue to move people to the next level through relationships and meeting their physical needs.

How have you seen God use you to move people to the next level?

*photo credit: srbichara via stock.xchng

Get up and ride!

Breaks (vacations, quitting something that has become unproductive or a short sabbatical) can be just what you need… but eventually you will need to saddle back up and move forward.

The longer the break you take, the more it compounds the difficulty of restarting.

Today is the first day I’ve look at my blog in a month. I needed to step away because I just didn’t have any more to give… I was dry, empty and frustrated.

But now it’s time to get going again. There are other levels to complete and goals to conquer. Just think about the great posts to come awhen I begin to compare church attenders to holiday fruit… er, joy cakes

Wherever you are, if you still read this blog after it’s month long absence, don’t ever just give in and give up.

Maybe you’ve attended a church and got burned, I’m sorry… but don’t let that experience keep you from ever being a part of the community again.

Maybe a separation from your wife, your school, your job… are what’s in order to gather your bearings and reignite the passion, but NEVER give up… get back in the saddle. Ride that horse hard and move forward in your relationships, your goals and your career.

I’ll be honest… my month of stagnation was nice. It was the first time in months that I didn’t think once about what to write, blog traffic, RSS subscriptions and everything else that goes along with expanding a blog, but I’m ready for something more and I hope you are too!

Let’s re-imagine and re-establish what it means to be the Church.

Have you ever had to take a break to find inspiration?

*Photo Credit: Scotsxc via stock.xchng

An adventure beyond I Heart the Church

[This post is part of the From the Inside Out series]

Each week I Heart the Church leads you on an adventure to find some of the best content that reflects the heartbeat of what makes this site tick.

The Church (capitalized for a reason) is a powerful organism. As the body of Christ on this planet, when we come together across denominational and geographic divides… we see greater accomplishments for the Kingdom of God.

I don’t know how many of you are aware of the orphanage in Haiti that was recently shut down due to their disgusting acts of trafficking children, but Seth Barnes (from Radical Living in a Comfortable World) has not given up the fight for these children to live safely and securely in a corrupted country.

This week I want to highlight Seth’s update on these children since the closure of the orphanage. I wish it was good news, but it’s not. Many children never made it into new orphanages, which means they are unaccounted for… meaning possible further abuse.

You can read his update and follow the link at the bottom of the page to sign the petition for an investigation into this horrific crime.

Please, let’s stand up against injustice and be the voice for the voiceless.

Will you be the church and take a stand?

[Check out other posts from the From the Inside Out series.]

What are you willing to pay?

Starbucks is my vise.

Really my vise would be any great coffee if Northern Nevada had good coffee, but alas, Starbucks meets my caffeinated junkie fix.

What it doesn’t serve is my wallet.

$11.45 for two coffees. Sure mine had chocolate and my wife’s with extra cream… but seriously? For coffee?

Everything costs somebody something.

My $11.45 had to pay for workers growing the coffee, the transportation of the beans, roasting, packaging and that’s before it even hits the retail shelf. There were hundreds (if not thousands) of people working and paying a cost for me to drink my warm mocha on my way to work on a brisk fall morning.

Everything costs somebody something.

There’s a common remark about the no-cost grace that God provides… it still cost one man his life.

The church buildings we gather together in to shake Heaven with praise… it cost somebody (most likely some people) some coin.

The gentlemen on your left in church who seems to always have faith that moves mountains… it cost his parents many nights of prayers and his own time and dedication to know the God that moves the mountains for him.

Everything costs somebody something.

I’m feeling very grateful today… my wife, my boys and everyone and everything God has brought into my life is good. I’m honoring God tonight as I know somebody somewhere has paid the price so that I may enjoy this life I live.

And I’m asking myself… How can I pay it forward?

What are you grateful for today?

*Photo Credit: Images_of_Money, Flickr (Creative Commons)

An adventure beyond I Heart the Church

[This post is part of the From the Inside Out series]

Each week I Heart the Church leads you on an adventure to find some of the best content that reflects the heartbeat of what makes this site tick.

If you are a regular reader, you’ve probably noticed I’m struggling to find balance right now.

I Heart the Church will have five updates one week then two the next… I think I’ve lost a little passion somewhere.

I don’t believe excuses are the proper response, so I’ll save those for myself. But I do know that my content as of late has been lackluster to what stirs within my soul.

As I reevaluate how, where and when I write… this post by Jeff Goins: Don’t Avoid Painful Writing, really captured my thinking.

Maybe honesty, even the cold-hard kind, really is what makes passion come alive…

Jeff drives home a great perspective on writing that is absolutely applicable to the church. We should teach, mentor and love without the facade and with truth: We are a broken humanity, finding our way through a faith journey and hope in Jesus Christ.

Go ahead and click the link, read the post and then head back over here and join the discussion.

Do you allow people see your human side of your life?

[Check out other posts from the From the Inside Out series.]

Too busy keeping people out?

It’s not about you. It was never about you.

It is so much larger than you.

What is it?

The church…

Nobody likes to be told that the music isn’t about them or the preaching isn’t for them.

We have manipulated what church is supposed to be.

We’ve made it all about us and not about others.

Take your hat off, it’s irreverant.

Pray this way or that way.

Shut your whiney kid up in the nursery.

Don’t bring coffee into our beautiful sanctuary… we want it to smell heavenly not like hell served burnt coffee.

Enough with what we like or we want.

God designed the church on a much bigger scale than you and I.

It’s about our guests.

It’s about the people who have yet to enter your sanctuary, auditorium, warehouse or wherever else you meet.

It’s about the community you are situated in, the district you may belong to and the nation you reside.

It’s about the world that surrounds you, which is desperate for God to work a miracle in their dire situations.

If all we do is cater to our current people base… all we will attract is the same. People jumping from one church to the next, consuming but never giving.

Let’s build a culture in our churches where the people in our grocery stores, walking their dogs in the park and painting graffiti on fences are more important than reaching our own kind.

Give an honest evaluation: Do you create a church culture that values the outsider?

* Photo Credit: Morten Rand-Hendriksen (Flickr Creative Commons)

An adventure beyond I Heart the Church

[This post is part of the From the Inside Out series]

Each week I Heart the Church leads you on an adventure to find some of the best content that reflects the heartbeat of what makes this site tick.

When we encounter fear: Do we let it paralyze and force us to retreat or do we press into the unknown, willingly taking risks for greater results?

Fear will always be prevalent in unknown situations, but we can trust God knowing that his favor rests on every Christian.

Move beyond the fear to see the power of God. Love beyond the fear to see a life transformed. Live beyond the fear to experience fullness.

This week we highlight an excellent post about fear from ThinkGrowth (Gap International): What Are You Afraid Of?

Go ahead and click the link, read the post and then head back over here and join the discussion.

How do you respond to fear of the unknown?

[Check out other posts from the From the Inside Out series.]