A few moments ago, Grandpa met Jesus face-to-Face.
And was reunited with his wife.
Love him.
A few moments ago, Grandpa met Jesus face-to-Face.
And was reunited with his wife.
Love him.
At the 2nd Informational Meeting for our new church start-up, we shared some exciting news with the 50+ who had gathered to hear our vision and plans.
Somebody whipped out their iPhone 4 and caught some of the action.
Enjoy.
Grab more info at LifeChurchMichigan.com.
I love the Book of Acts!
Its God's constant reminder that following Jesus is not about erecting a monument, it's about building a movement!
These men who have turned the world upside down have come here also! - Acts 17:6
Reaching the Lost at Any Cost is the mission of the Church!
Not turf wars.
Not insider churchy politics.
Not mere information transfer and lectures.
Its all about life transformation!
Jesus is intent on building a movement of changed lives.
The Church exists for the benefit of its non-members.
We are tasked with turning the world upside down!
John Calvin summarized the story of the first Christians this way:
Through men of no importance and endowed with no skill, He (Jesus) brought the whole world into submission to Himself so easily by the sound of the Gospel, despite the fact that Satan rose up in opposition with so many hindrances.
In it (Acts) we also see the incredible power of the Gospel, because, in the face of the resistance of the whole world, not only did it win through, but with the greatest honor brought all that seemed invincible into obedience to Christ.
Therefore more was achieved by these few contemptible little men against all the stormiest of commotions of the world, with the humble sound of the human voice, than if God had thundered openly from heaven!
Just returned from speaking for the
Arizona Southern Baptist Convention.
I love talking about Jesus,
but hate being away from the fam.
So I stole this idea from my buddy Ken Wilson:
my 5-yr-old picks out his favorite toy to send with me on my adventures.
I in turn text pictures of said toy throughout my time away.
Makes him feel connected and gets my wife laughing.
This weekend's toy: Little Plastic Batman. Click any pic for larger version.
Every person the Father gives Me eventually comes running to Me.
And once that person is with Me, I hold on and don't let go.
I came down from heaven not to follow my own whim
but to accomplish the will of the One who sent Me. - Jesus in John 6
I am excited out of my mind to begin this new journey Sunday night.
Imagining the stories of life-change that will ripple through this region,
stories of kids and teens and singles and drunks and couples,
coming face-to-Face with Christ Jesus...
Experiencing life to the fullest? Goosebumps.
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And it's so freeing to simply be following the Father's calling.
I have nothing to prove.
No agenda. Not following any of my whims.
Just making Jesus famous.
Reaching the Lost at Any Cost.
And He is making amazing pieces fall into place.
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Father,
Thank you for this tremendous opportunity.
Search the hearts of all who come to our Info Meeting.
Clear us of agendas, whims, and pride.
Hold us and don't let go.
Make Jesus famous and draw all men to Yourself.
Amen. Amen.
"If you roll the clock back two years ago...
one of the things we realized is we just had too much complexity.
The more that you can have a point of view about the future and clarify what you are about... the more it just unleashes all that creativity."
- Alan Mulally, Ford President & CEO
Editor's Note: Number 1, I'm not an Editor. I just thought it would be fun to write that.
Number 2, I write a weekly local column called Caffeinated Journey. I've shared some of these thoughts before here on the blog, but for what it's worth, here is today's column.
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One December evening the cry of ‘Fire!’ echoed through Thomas Edison’s plant. Spontaneous combustion had broken out in the film room and within moments all the packing compounds, film and other flammable goods had gone up with a whoosh. When the family couldn’t find Edison, they became concerned. Was he safe? With all his assets going up in smoke, would his spirit be broken? He was 67, no age to begin anew.
Then they saw him in the plant yard, running toward the family.
‘Where’s Mom?’ he shouted. ‘Go get her! Tell her to get her friends!
They’ll never see a fire like this again!’
At 5:30 the next morning, when the fire was barely under control, Thomas Edison called his employees together and announced: ‘We’re rebuilding!’ One man was told to lease all the machine shops in the area. Another, to obtain a wrecking crane from the Erie Railroad Company. Then, almost as an afterthought he added, ‘Oh, by the way. Anybody know where we can get some money?”
Later on he explained, ‘You can always make capital out of disaster. We’ve just cleared out a bunch of old rubbish! We’ll build bigger and better on these ruins.’
Whatever happened last year is now in the past. If you had a great 2011, great! But if you had a rough 2011, it’s over and done. And if there’s anything we can learn from Edison in this New Year, it is that you do not have time to maintain past regrets.
This year, start fresh. Dream big. Stand back up and stretch your faith further. That’s the beauty of following Christ: your vision is never too big for God. He forgives, He authors second acts, and He releases you from your past (see Romans 8:1).
Now be careful; don’t waste this fresh page. Don’t be obligated to ordinary. No one will ever follow you down the street if you’re carrying a banner that says, “Onward toward mediocrity.”
Instead, take risks. Paint a big picture of what could be and should be.
And then do it.
Every time the Wright Brothers would attempt to fly their plane, they would bring enough extra materials for multiple crashes. Which means that every time they went out, they knew they would fail. They would crash and rebuild. And crash and rebuild. And that's why they took off.
If you dream big and work hard, you can do anything in this world.
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Jonathan Herron is the pastor of a new church start-up holding its first Informational Meeting this coming Sunday, January 8th, 5:30pm at The Lighthouse on M-81 in Caro.
More information is online at LifeChurchMichigan.com.
The motion picture Ghostbusters was originally written with the intention of John Belushi and John Candy having starring roles.
That was Version 1.0.
As pre-production casting progressed, their roles were eventually given to Bill Murray and Rick Moranis.
That was Version 2.0. The classic movie we now enjoy today.
Moral of this story? Be open to improvement with your ideas.
Version 1.0 isn't the final answer.
The paradigm shift to Ghostbusters v2.0 may be the recipe for a classic.
The question is whether or not you're flexible along the journey.