Shepherds- No More Same Old, Same Old

Here is the podcast from the second message in the Pardon the Interruption: Life Lessons from the Characters of the Chrhristmas Story series.

To listen now, click on the podcast icon below.


Shepherds- No More Same Old, Same Old (Length 17:56)

Message

Often times Christmas can become the same old, same old with the parties, the gift buying and the family traditions. This is O.K. except when when the same old, same old prevents us from seeing Christ in the season. This message shows that like the shepherds who were divinely interrupted and shook out of their same old, same old we too need to listen for God this Christmas season, do what God says, and worship Christ.

Series

This message is from the series "Pardon the Interruption: Life Lessons from the Characters of the Christmas Story." The characters in the Christmas story experience divine interruptions like the ones represented in the lives of Zechariah, the shepherds, Mary and Jesus. Are we open to God's interruptions in our lives or will it be Christmas as usual? During Christmas and at all times, God stands ready to interrupt our lives and fill them with his love as he did the characters of the Christmas story.

Fizzit Mama

One of the things I get in my inbox on a regular basis are writings and collections from the sermonfodderguy- Keith Todd. According to his signature "The Sermon Fodder list shares a daily dose of Christian humor and modern-day parables for personal enjoyment. Our material is often used as sermon illustration material by pastors and Sunday School Teachers."

You can check it out more thoroughly by visiting sermonfodder.com. The little vignette below was too good not to share. It is wonderful how a story or illustration like this can say in two minutes what some of us talking heads seek to convey in twenty minutes. I hope you take something away from what is below like I did.

Fizzit Mama

A friend of mine recently shared a little "parable in real life"that God sent her several years ago. When her son was quite small, he had a small stuffed gorilla that he wagged around with him everywhere -- and I do mean EVERYWHERE -- he went. She could sometimes sneak it away for a quick laundering during nap time, but Heaven help her if her son awoke before his friend "Rilla" was out of the dryer! As such '"loveys" will do, Rilla's seams gradually began to weaken and his stuffing began to leak. As she tells it, "Poor old Rilla was in desperate need of some corrective surgery, not to mention a stuffing transplant. One day, John waddled up to me and held up his battered, beloved Rilla and said, 'Mommy, Rilla's broked.' I explained that I would be happy to fix Rilla up -- a little new stuffing, some seam reinforcement, and he would be 'all better' again. John held Rilla out toward me, and said 'Fizzit, Mommy!' But, when I reached down to take the little gorilla in my hands, I found that it had a two-year-old firmly attached to it. As all parents know, a tug-of-war with a two-year-old is frequently a losing proposition, and is ALWAYS accompanied by loud cries and copious tears. Finally, in exasperation, I said, 'I can't fix it until you let go of it!!!' And just at that moment,the Spirit of God tapped me on the shoulder, as it were -- and I realized that God was waiting for me to let go of several things, too.

"This is one aspect of Christianity that I suspect will always be astruggle for many of us-- "tis not I, but Christ liveth in me". It's so hard for us to get out of his way and let him "fizzit" in his own good time, because we're living in the present moment and He is living in eternity. Waiting on the Lord, whether it is for healing, for understanding, or a much needed job, is not an easy task. But, I truly believe it is essential for all of us to be as patient with Him as He is with us.

Redeeming Technology

Mark Batterson over at evotional.com has shared the seven keys to kicking it up a notch that he presented a at a church planting conference recently. Here they are:

1) Create Culture
2) Cast Vision
3) Redeem Technology
4) Study Culture
5) Do Ministry out of Imagination
6) Be Yourself
7) Enjoy the Journey

I really like number three- redeeming technology. I think redeeming technology is so crucial for the church today. The church is charged with sharing the greatest message ever told- the good news of Jesus Christ. It makes sense that we would avail ourselves of every tool at our disposal to share that good news. This includes technology. Using technology to present the age old message of Jesus crucified, dead and risen is redeeming technology. It is like the cliche goes "the message stays the same, how we present the message changes." If we truly want to make and empower radical followers of Jesus Christ we must do so in a way that will connect with those we are trying to reach. I think Paul did that with the Athenian philosophers in Acts. Leonard Sweet once said something to the effect that in our churches we ask children to come for 45 minutes to an hour of Sunday school and we expect to hold their attention and capture their hearts with the greatest story ever told by using flannel graph characters when these kids know how to navigate the Internet and use interactive Cd-Roms by the time they are five. Hmm?

We always must remember why technology is used in the church. It is not because it is cool, or because the megachurch across the country is using it. We use technology in order to draw people closer to God so that they can experience the love of Christ in their hearts, be changed on the inside and go out to serve Christ. That is what redeeming technology is about.

Snow Rant

Caution you are about to enter a rant zone.

People- clean off your cars. I mean really!! With the snow this past week in Virginia the "I am to lazy" to clean the snow off my car monster has reared its ugly head. In case you couldn't tell this infuriates me. Clean the snow off your car!! What is so hard about that??

Oh, I know- you are in a rush to get to work. I know you left your brush in the garage right underneath the box of beach stuff you take every summer to the Outer Banks. No, I am sorry, you thought the heat in your car would melt it off before it turned into ice after being on there for three nights in a row of 20 degree temperatures. You thought it would be gone before it flew off the top of your Camry into someone else's windshield.

Unless you drive a tractor trailer, a big van (not an SUV) or are physically unable, there is just no excuse for leaving snow on your car. It's just lazy.

You see there is a theological issue here. If you are leaving snow on your car because you have to get to work earlier, because you are just too lazy to dig out the scraper or you just don't care then you are making yourself the center of the universe. Guess what? The Bible says time and time again it is not about you!! It is about having enough consideration (i.e. love thy neighbor) for other drivers out there doing their best to avoid black ice, other cars careening into them, and snowplows. They don't need snow from someone else's car blowing in their face or huge ice chunks flying off to hit their windshield. Enough.

Peace.

Zechariah- Guess What I Am in Charge

Here is the podcast from the first message in the Pardon the Interruption series. To listen now, click on the podcast icon below.


Zechariah- Guess What I Am in Charge (Length 17:38)

Message
This message introduces the theme of the series- how God interrupts our lives to demonstrate his love, power and majesty. This week we looked at how God interrupted the life of Zechariah, father of John the Baptist, to show Zechariah who was really in charge and in the midst of doing so demonstrates His love to Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth. So too God interrupts our lives and teaches us that he is in control. When we learn that lesson it is a comfort.

Series
This message is from the series "Pardon the Interruption: Life Lessons from the Characters of the Christmas Story." The characters in the Christmas story experience divine interruptions like the ones represented in the lives of Zechariah, the shepherds, Mary and Jesus. Are we open to God's interruptions in our lives or will it be Christmas as usual? During Christmas and at all times, God stands ready to interrupt our lives and fill them with his love as he did the characters of the Christmas story.

Christmas Lights

As it gets ready to snow here in Virginia and as we hurtle to Christmas I wanted to share with you this video that has been circulating on the blogosphere. You do well to have high speed for this one (does anyone but us who live in the country and are doomed with no cable/ dsl not have high speed anymore- go to high speed you will never go back!). Turn up your speakers. I thought I was doing well to get up a few lights this year but this is pretty amazing. Click here to see it.

Think and Let Think

It amazes me how much time we waste in the church over matters of opinion and not the core of the Christian faith. What if we spent more time trying to make disciples of Jesus Christ instead of arguing about what color the carpet should be in the worship space, whether to have a Christmas Eve Service and a Christmas Service when Christmas falls on Sunday, whether gay people should be pastors or even members of the church, whether megachurches are the best form for doing church or whether we should have house churches, whether we refer to God as he, she or it. Just imagine if all the energy spent on these types of issues was spent feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, and helping persons to have a heart changing encounter with Jesus Christ. Praise God that He still uses us to do great things!! He is an awesome God!!!

I like what John Wesley had to say about controversies like the ones above. Wesley said quoting Augustine, "In Essentials, unity. In non-essentials, liberty. In all things, love." This doesn't mean an "accept every thought" type of thinking. Instead, it displays a willingness to be open to ,and to work closely with, those whom differ on such matters as worship and teaching that don't affect the essence of Christian belief. The essence of Christian belief would include such things as doctrines about the Trinity, who Christ was and what he did, the human need for God's grace and more. The non-essentials are things like those listed above.

Wesley was responding in his time, at the earliest stages of the Enlightenment, to the bloodshed caused by the wars of religion. I think we do well to hear these words again ourselves in Christianity. While we are not killing each other on the battlefield over opinions, we continue to wage bloody wars of words (on all sides!) that do advance the cause of Christ while people are perishing. Lord, have mercy.

Reaching Up: To Become a More Radical Difference Maker

Here is last week's message.

This is the last message in the series Reach: How Radical Followers of Jesus Make a Difference. This Sunday we begin Pardon the Interruption: Life Lessons from the Characters of the Christmas Story. Enjoy.

If Only...

Well, here it is Black Friday and the hordes of people are frantically living out the consumeristic values of a culture that has lost its way (I know that sounds cynical and anti-capitalist but I am actually a strident defender of capitalism as the imperfect economic system that brings the most good for the most people).

Even before Black Friday though, you may have seen on the news the scenes that played out with the release of the new XBox 360 video gaming device. Persons camped outside stores in order to get the coveted $400 video game system. Persons endured hanging out at the McDonalds in a Wal-Mart and played Uno for hours on hours. And, unfortunately, some shoved and pushed and even robbed others when the eschaton arrived and the games were put on the shelf and sold. Just amazing!

One thing you have to admire here- the passion. As misguided as it is, there is no doubting the strength of the passion among these people. Why isn't there that same passion for Jesus in our world? Why aren't people waiting to get inside to worship Christ? Once people do get inside our places of worship why does it seem more like a mortuary than a glimpse of heaven (at one church I served I used to walk in the worship space with the choir and one day it was so quiet when we walked in I asked "Who died?")?

Is there something to be learned from the makers and marketers of XBox? We in the church have the greatest offering of all time- Jesus Christ- yet we rarely see the passion like with the release of XBox, Tickle Me Elmo or the Cabbage Patch Kids. These people are going to go home and play their XBoxes for hours on hours into the wee hours of the morning. Imagine if people were having a life changing encounter with Christ in our churches where they returned home and spent hours reading the scriptures, praying, and soaking in Jesus.

While I know this passion is out there and on display in different parts of our world, if only it was a worldwide phenomenon. If only this passion (sans the robbing, beating and pillaging) was a common occurrence instead of the exception in Christendom.

The Perils of the Occupation

This poor guy. He was giving an altar call when all of a sudden shazam he was punched in the face. He continued to preach even after being hit. If there had not been so much blood I would have said they were trying to follow Seth Godin's advice and were being "remarkable". Here is the full story.

Top Ten for Church Planters

Mark Batterson, Lead Pastor of the National Community Church in Washington D.C., over at evotional.com has listed his 10 Tips for Church Planters. Mark and NCC are the doing some really great things doing multi-site church in theaters. There is a lot of truth in this list and it is a good reminder to those who are planting and their teams.

Also check out their upcoming Buzz Conference in 2006!

Godcasting

What is godcasting. Godcasting is the same as podcasting but is named differently to reflect the content of the material available for download to your mp3 player or other software. Godcasting usually includes messages, devotions, and even worship music. At New Season Church we are still perfecting the art of recording and editing the messages and we have our good weeks and bad weeks. We are currently using Steve Kropp's Hp laptop and a program called Audacity to record. Below are two godcasts from two messages from our latest series "Reach: How Radical Followers of Jesus Make a Difference".

Will the Real Jesus Please Stand Up


Reaching in To Radically Help Each Other

For more information about podcasting here is a link to a good description of the steps to take in order to be able to download these messages to your mp3 player or other software from our friends at Ginghmasburg Church. Enjoy.

Knee Jerk Church Planting

One of the things in this world that is truly bothersome is knee jerk church planting. What is knee jerk church planting?

Knee jerk church planting goes like this: A denominational executive, or independent church planter with a call to plant a church, gets their hands on some demographic info that lists the fastest fifty growing counties in the United States. The independent church planter who engages in knee jerk church planting chooses the county that fits him/her and their family the best and moves there and seeks to begin a church (along with the other 25 people who have felt called by God to start a church plus the 15 denominational church planters there). The denominational executive takes a look around the area to see if there are any churches from his/ her tribe serving that area, and if not, decides that we really need a church in Kalamazoo.

Apart from the necessity to get on one's face before God in sustained prayer before starting to plant a church, there are other major problems with this type of church planting strategy. Instead of asking what the fastest growing counties are in the nation and using that as the sole basis for beginning new churches, it might be better to see which counties are most underserved, most in need, and most importantly most prechurched. The days of starting churches based solely on population demographics must come to a close. For the denominationalists, it should never be a question of whether my denomination has a presence in an area but whether or not the area is effectively being reached for Christ regardless of what tribe is doing the reaching.

I am a big proponent of holistic church planting that starts with a commitment to discernment in prayer, searching the scriptures and fasting. This would be a system that takes into account population trends but does not let them be the sole basis for the decision to plant or not plant. In fact, there is something to be said for planting in areas without a "through the roof" population boon. This can be particularly effective if one is the first to plant a church that is a fresh expression of Christianity in a particular area and be the first to do it well.

Wesley Covenant Prayer

This past Sunday in our worship celebration experience we prayed the Wesley Covenant Prayer together and gave each person their own personal copy to use in their own devotion time. What is known generally as the Wesley Covenant Prayer or A Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition is a pietist prayer adapted by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, for use in Watch Night dedication services. The prayer is often used, particularly by Methodists, to re-dedicate oneself to God. While the prayer is most often associated with the Watch Night worship ushering in the new year, the prayer also serves as a daily reminder of who we are and whose we are. A friend of mine gave me a framed version of the prayer that hangs in the New Season offices today. As you look at the words and really think about what they are saying they are some pretty powerful words. I invite you to make the prayer a part of your daily life and I invite you to join me and other Jesus journeyers as we always seek and struggle to live out the prayer in action and in our hearts.

The Prayer
I am no longer my own, but thine.
Put me to what thou wilt, rank me with whom thou wilt.
Put me to doing, put me to suffering.
Let me be employed by thee or laid aside for thee, exalted for thee or brought low for thee.
Let me be full, let me be empty.
Let me have all things, let me have nothing.
I freely and heartily yield all things to thy pleasure and disposal.
And now, O glorious and blessed God, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, thou art mine, and I am thine.
So be it.
And the covenant which I have made on earth, let it be ratified in heaven. Amen.

Getting Comfortable

One of the things we encourage people to do at New Season is to be comfortable as they worship. We invite them both in our worship program and in our time of welcome to just relax and let go of some of the trash that has been part of life the past week and turn their focus on God. This "culture of comfortability" is played out in the casual dress of worshippers and our ancient future style of worship as well. This is all cultivated of course so that people can give their full attention to worshipping the great God of us all. And of course, it is a reaction to the fact that for so long coming together to worship was an uncomfortable experience.

Lately, I have been rethinking this idea of being comfortable. I still believe that we need to remove as many barriers as possible to the end that people might experience the risen Christ and be transformed and grow into being radical followers of Jesus. But, perhaps the greatest purpose of helping people to be physically and mentally comfortable is so that the Holy Spirit can move to make them spiritually uncomfortable. The Holy Spirit makes us uncomfortable through the faithful preaching and teaching of the scripture, in music, and through community. In the end, church is supposed to be uncomfortable spiritually as we are convicted of sin, called out of the safe places, and confronted with our lackluster response to injustice and oppression in the world. We cannot stay comfortable. This is what differentiates the church from a country club. I think it has something to do with what we call "comforting the disturbed and disturbing the comfortable."

Blog Round Up

I like to read a number of different blogs of people who are smarter, funnier, and better at leadership than I am. One of those blogs is Perry Noble's Blog. Perry is the pastor of New Spring Church in Anderson, SC. There was one thing in Perry's blog that struck me this past week.

It had to do with some of his thoughts on leaving the safe places as Christians. It reminded me of our current series at New Season, Reach: How Radical Followers of Jesus Make a Difference. As Perry reminds us, radical followers of the radical Jesus move out of safe places. I like to say to the churches that I have served "if we are not willing to do everything we can within the bounds of the Gospel to help people come to know Christ then we are basically telling people in our community they can go to hell." Perry put it even better with these words:

"Churches are called to reach beyond their walls to people who do not know Christ--BUT many refuse because this is unsafe. "Those people don't know the rules--they don't dress like us, they wear NASCAR t-shirts and believe that wrestling is real!" Nope--many churches want a church full of people JUST LIKE THEM--this is safe, it's COMPLETELY UNBIBLICAL--but safe. And so every week people show up at their stained glass fortressed and give their community the middle finger and tell them to go to hell because reaching them would take some serious changing...and that would just not be safe!"

Are we willing to change and move out of safe places? Are we willing to give up buildings, our sacred worship times, our favorite pews/ chars, and whatever else for the sake of making and empowering radical followers of Jesus Christ? Seems to me that as we move toward Christmas and celebrate the birth of Christ we are celebrating the One who left the safe place of heaevn and came to us that we might be saved. Might we as His radical followers leave our safe places that some might be saved.

God's Wonderful Sense of Humor

God has a wonderful sense of humor He keeps demonstrating day after day. I have especially sensed God's sense of humor starting a new faith community. If there is one thing that planting a church will teach and reinforce for you it is that God is in control. I do not have enough fingers and toes to count the number of times God has thrown me and the people around me on our faces to let us know He is in control.

One such instance occurred this past Sunday. We usually have our worship celebration experience in the auditorium of our local high school. However, upon arriving at 8:00 a.m. to begin set up, Bill- the school's head custodian and the best custodian in the country by the way- informed me that the main house lights in the auditorium had gone out since the board used to control the stage lights had been taken away for repair. I would of thought that the house lights would have still worked but they didn't no matter what we tried.

So, it was to the school library we went. At first look it seemed impossible to set up in there (and it was impossible for us but not for God). There were big wooden tables and wooden chairs all over the place and flags hanging from the ceiling. The first thing we did was just stop and pray and ask for the Spirit's guidance, wisdom, and help. We got the room set up the best we could by moving a lot of furniture, getting chairs arranged, and setting up a makeshift screen, all before 10:00 a.m.

The great thing about it all was that it was some of the best worship yet. The Holy Spirit seemed to be moving in some great ways. Christ was exalted. Because we were in a smaller space there was a community feel. All in all, it was a great day of worshipping God.

We won't go back to the library again unless we have to but it was good to be shaken out of our routine. I am so glad God has a sense of humor.

Halloween

It is that time of year again. The time for witches, goblins, monsters and more. My son Robert is going to be Thomas the Train this year, Jack is going to be a pumpkin. It is also the time of the year for the great Halloween controversy in the church. Should Christians be participating in Halloween? This controversy has always amused me. In the end do what you want in good conscience with your faith and your beliefs as you have formed them through God's word.

Over at gospelcom.net James Watkins has a great article examining this great controversy in the church and he gives some history behind how we ever came to dress up as ghosts and gorillas. I especially like how he uses Paul's admonition to the Corinthians in regard to eating meat to inform our decisions about Halloween. After reading that skip over to servantevangelism.com for some great tips for turning Halloween into an event where you can share Christ's love in a practical way and forge relationships with neighbors no matter what you think of Halloween.

Those People

Did your mom or dad ever tell you to stay away from those people- whoever those people were at the time. Maybe it was the neighbor's down the street that had the loud all night long parties. Maybe it was the kids at school who were always in dentention. Maybe it was the homeless man with a sign on the side of the road at the exit ramp. You know- those people.

It is striking that those people are the very people Jesus hung out with in His day. They were the sinners, the tax collectors, the fishermen, the prostitutes and other ilk: you know- those people. Christ said he came for the sick, not the healthy. I think it is those people in our contemporary culture that God calls us as Christians to hang out with, have relationship with, and present the Gospel to. If we are indeed Christ's hands and feet today then it makes sense that the church would be doing this.

During my time of assesment and training before planting a church, my coach Jim Griffith said that church planters need to be the kind of people who hang out in the smoking section. I thoguht that was right on! He then asked us how many friends we have that are not Christians. Ough, my toes began to hurt!!

May we all spend a little bit more time hanging out with, having relationship with and presenting the Gospel to those people in the smoking section.

The process of making disciples for Jesus Christ has changed in the last 100 years. This is true for long established churches and for new church starts like New Season.

There was a time, before the 1950's, when we lived in a culture where persons were disposed to Christianity. There was little suspicion of Chrsitianity and the well respected people of the day of course went to church. There were two things done for entertainment- going to school and going to youth group at church. If one started a church or wanted to revitalize an existing church one simply undertook an evangelism campaign which usually included knocking on doors and raising awareness that a church was now in the area to serve people's spiritual needs. People came. Basically, this was the "build it and they will come" stage of church planting and revitilization. This was how a majority of the mainline protestant churches got started in America. Most of them are still around today and averaging 200 or less (which is OK by the way if they are doing all they can to make disciples). In one area where I served there were three small United Methodist Chruches within 5 miles of each other because when they were started the served the village they were where people could only comfortably travel a couple of miles to go to chruch.

As times changed and mobility increased we saw a differnet model used to make disciples. All of a sudden chruches dotted the landscape of counties, towns and cities. No longer did people come to a church because it was there or convenient. There were many churches to choose from. Life was becoming more hectic as schedules became a flurry of activities. Entertainment options multiplied. This is when churches began to realize that they could no logner just "Build it and they would come" or just "be there" in the case of existing churches and people would naturally come. Something needed to be done. This is when we witnessed things surface like direct mail, newspaper advertisement, radio, television advetising and more forms on interruption advertising. What the church was communicating here was "we are here, why don't y'all come on." This worked for a time and these churches are to be commended.

But, alas, times have changed again- especially in the last ten years. With the quick spread and proliferation of information and advertising through the Internet, mobile phones, and other technology people have come to be bomarded with competing messages. While technological advances have made great strides, persons are as busy as ever. We no longer live in a culture where persons are disposed to Christianity but are leary of Christians. New religious beliefs have arisen with great speed. What is a church to do?

While I don't have all the answers I think what we will and are witnessing is that the churches that will thrive and effectively make disciples of Jesus Christ are those churches that are incarnational. Here is what I mean: you used to be able to just "buildit and they would come". Not anymore. You used to be able to just say to a community "hey, we are here come to us now." Now, I think we have to say "yes, we are here but we are going to come to you." We need to leave the idea that the four walls of the church make up the church and realize that Christ calls us to be hands and feet in the world. Here is what some of that might look like practically.

• Instead of having your Vacation Bible School or Easter Egg Hunt at your church (within the four walls) make provision to have it at one of the commons area of a subdivision, at the local YMCA, or in someone's backyard.
• Instead of worshipping one Sunday in your chruch building worship one Saturday during the day at a local park or a popular square. Really this is Biblical, though make sure you get any necessary permits from the powers that be.
• If you have a sizeable company in your area that will let you use their break rom or a shop of stores and can find space, have a lunch time Bible study about contemporary issues that requires no preparation.
• Demonstrate Christ's love in a practical way through a servant evangelism project.

Anne Rice Finds Jesus!

Some of you may have read Anne Rice's stuff in the past. She is the one who wrote a vampire series of books that thrilled millions. It appears now that Ms. Rice has taken a differnet direction. I came across this article from MSNBC describing things that have gone on her life in recent years: last year she came cose to death after surgery for an intestinal blockage, back in 1998 she went into a sudden diabetic coma, her husband Stan died of a brain tumor in 2002 and she most recently had some property in New Orleans damaged by Katrina. In 1998 she returned to the Roman Catholic Church she had left when was eighteen. Her next books are a series about Jesus. The first in the series is "Christ the Lord: Out of Egypt" a novel about a 7 year old Jesus narrated by Jesus himself. She is already working on a second book.

It seems to me there are two things especially worth noting about Ms. Rice's new found faith. 1. God uses the muck of our life (sickness, grief, and other struggles) to draw us closer to Him. God does not cause those things but He is there to pick up the pieces and use them to melt and mold us and knock on the door of our hearts. 2. Even after one has come to have faith in the radical Jesus, it does not mean immunity from the trials and tribulation of life. Notice Ms. Rice's troubles continued even after she rediscovered her faith. I think Ms. Rice would tell us that while her faith does not shield her from such things it equips her to handle them, learn from them, and then help others going through the same things.

Thank God for the work He has done in Anne Rice's life and the way He works in all of our life's in the same way though we are not as famous.

I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent.

Jesus in Luke 15:7

Here is my first post in the blogosphere. I hope to post on a regular basis but do not make any promises. While this blog is about doing curch in the 21st century, culture, and God I suspect that I will be writing about anything I feel like.

To that end, please know that this blog does not necessarily reflect the views of New Season Church which I pastor. It reflects my own views which some, many or none at New Season may or may not hold. I hope to pass on some things that I have learned along the way because I think that is what Christ calls us to do. I invite you to shamelessly steal any ideas and put them to use in your context for minsitry recognizing that all contexts are different and what works in one context won't necessarily work in another.

So, I invite you to make this blog part of your rss reader or visit often through the web.