What I am reading
I am currently reading two books by Francis Chan that really have me re-thinking my walk with God. These books are challenging in that the author is expressing his own dissatisfaction with the status-quo and really seeking to have a deeper and more intimate walk with God. In Crazy Love the reader is challenged to view God in a whole new way in order to deepen our walk and relationship with the Lord. Then in Forgotten God we are really called to examine the role of the Holy Spirit in our walk with God. If you are hungry for an intimate relationship with Jesus and feel that your walk has been a little routine and dry lately then pick up these books and join me in the quest to go deeper with God.
Every Wednesday night our Young Adult group is exploring Crazy Love.
Inspiration
Have you ever been just completely overwhelmed? There are so many emotions running through me that it makes it hard to find the inspiration that I need. I know I have been neglecting a very important release and that is writing things out in a format like this. I am so very excited about the babies that are on the way! These girls are such an answer to prayer as Camille and I have been praying for children for a long time. ROCC has certainly been an excitement in my life as it seems like every week we continue to draw in new believers for the kingdom. This summer was full of celebration and heartache as we had all sorts of things happen at the church. We added many new families while at the same time we have lost some that were very dear and close. I always hate it when friendships are built over time and then destroyed in an instant. Sometimes I think people just assume that Pastors don’t have feelings…in all actuality we are probably the most sensitive and so this aspect of the church really hurts. This summer has also been filled with marriages and deaths as some families grow and others shrink as our loved ones have been called home. Seeing a family going through the grieving process is never easy. In the midst of all that is going on we also have to deal with and confront the increase of violence in our community. Kids continue to be gunned down and now the mob violence has claimed a life as a young man was beaten to death. While Fenger High School gets all the media attention we had the very same sort of incident happen in our own parking lot when Thornwood students began fighting after school. Thank God that our situation did not prove to be fatal like the one at Fenger.
So I said all that to simply say…Lord speak! We need a word from God that can penetrate our community and penetrate our hardened hearts! I want to be a vessel that the Lord can use to bring change that will bring about a revival. So as I sit at Starbucks this morning and I pray for direction I find myself asking the Lord for the inspiration I need to be able to deliver a life changing message of hope, love, and mercy!
Reflections
What a season we have had! I have been so busy since returning from vacation that I haven’t even had a chance to catch up here on the blog! So let me just bring you all up to date on this past week.
Over the last week I have been with people in the hospital for a broken neck, an 11 week old baby getting open heart surgery and a young lady that might have had a heart attack. Being involved with all of this has certainly brought a great appreciation for this truly AWESOME medical personnel and facilities that we have here in America. The doctors have all been very open with the procedures and reassured the families even while bracing them for the worst. We serve an awesome God that has given our doctors incredible wisdom.
This weekend was one of our biggest of the year with many first time visitors! The cook-out was a great success as Warren really did a number on the chicken! So far we have heard nothing but positive comments from our visitors which is also a great thing. My sermon illustration with the balloons did not quite work but I do believe that God provided a suitable alternative.
GREAT Vacation
I will keep this short as we are waiting to disembark from the cruise ship. I will say this has been an awesome trip! When we arrived at Nassau Bay we rented a scooter and gave ourselves a tour of the island. This was an incredible adventure as I had never been on a scooter before and then we were driving around an island that I had never visited before. The beaches were just what you see on TV with white sand and crystal clear water and the people were as nice as can be…that is until I crashed our first scooter and had a Haitian that lives on the island try and take advantage of us! Long story…the good thing is that neither of us were on the scooter when it happened so we were not hurt and we just returned the scooter and they gave us another one so we could continue to have fun!
Vacation
We made it to Florida! This day began as an interesting adventure. We had to set the alarm for a 4:30am wake up so we could make our flight that had a scheduled departure of 7:20am. Itof a much more civil plan…seemed that we were well on our way to a relaxing and slow paced day until we realized that our journey to Midway was taking a little longer than expected. We decided to wait for breakfast until after we had had checked in and gone through security. There was only one small problem with this plan…unusually long wait for electronic check in! Our bags were marked as a late arrival and so we did not know if they would make it with us to Ft. Lauderdale. So, after this we made our way to the TSA screening area only to find that moving slower than normal as well! Then our gate was the last one in the terminal so I tried to run with my flip flops on to make it and was trying to keep an eye on Camille since she is moving a little slower now. As I was approaching the gate I saw the attendant closing the door…I wanted to yell “Hey hold that plain!” Instead I thought of a much more civil approach. I ran to the gate counter and began pleading with the agent only to have her tell me that I was too late without even looking up from work which was obviously much more important to her than me! Finally an agent with a little (I really mean a little) respect for the customers came and walked us to the gate and allowed us to board. WOW! We were up at 4:30 and almost missed our 7:20 flight! CRAZY!!!!
So we arrived in Ft. Lauderdale and got 2 of the 3 bags that we had checked in Chicago. Fortunately the rest of the day has been relaxing and stress free! Oh yeah, we did get the other bag about 2 hours later. So, life is good and we are set and ready to relax and connect!
Thank you ROCC family for making this trip possible back in January when you all surprised me with this gift for my birthday!
Daily Reading
Today’s reading really hit a nerve as I prayed that the same things could be said of me as what was stated in the Word of God about David. We all know that David had his issues with poor leadership and lust and all sorts of other things yet in Psalm 78:72
And David shepherded them with integrity of heart; with skillful hands he led them.
Now, I know from reading the word that David has his faults yet God allowed this statement about him to be included in His Holy Word. This tells me and reaffirms that God does not judge us the way men judge rather God looks into our heart. The New Living Translation says that David cared for God’s people with a true heart! Since coming to ROCC it has been my desire to always lead this congregation with a true heart and to truly let God lead. This has been difficult because often God leads us in ways that do not follow the standards of man. When Gideon was choosing the men to take to battle God had him go through a very unique selection process one that would not have been understood by those wanting to fight. When God had Samuel anoint David as king this made no sense to the family seeing how David was the youngest and most illogical choice. Even Jesus being born in a stable made no sense to to the religious scholars of the time. So when we look at the ways that God does things it often makes no logical sense to us.
This verse really struck a chord today because of an event that occured yesterday. I had a young man that has not been in this church for over a year walk in the office after scheduling an appointment the day before and literally just attack everything I have done since being installed as the pastor of this church. Now I must admit that I am human and I am certain that everything I have done has some room for improvement. Yet as a servant of God it has been my desire to lead as closely as I can in the ways He directs. When doing this it means that at times worldly people may not understand what we are doing but those being guided by the Spirit can see the heart behind everything and know that I am following the lead of God. I pray that God will look at me and say that I have served Him by leading His people with integrity of heart!
Transformers, The Taste and Sunday Service
I really enjoyed the first Transformers movie so as time quickly came for the second I could not wait! However, I must say after running out to see the movie on Thursday I was so let down. After about the first hour I was completely bored and ready to go. The unnecessary sexual content was really bad and definitely did not belong in the movie. I don’t know if I am just getting old or if there really was just unnecessary parts to the movie. Last comment about the movie is this…if the transformers are another intelligent life form from a distant planet why do they come down to such a primitive level and begin cursing? I can’t believe they would not be able to control their tongue! The whole thing was really just stupid!
Friday I went to the Taste with our staff team here at the church and once again I ate too much! The food was great as always but I have to say I really didn’t like the format much with the food vendors being on the side walk instead of the middle of the street. The funniest thing is that the ladies liked BJ’s catfish so much that they went there on the way home to get more catfish! As if there was not enough to eat at the taste!
Finally, Sunday service was another awesome time of worship and fellowship. One of the highlights was a facebook post last night from a mother in the congregation. The mother commented how her teenage daughter was taking notes and following along with the message. Thank God that His word still pricks the hearts of the young people! Another highlight was to see that just about everyone in attendance came forward to stand in agreement and commit to fasting for our nation at some point this week. Praise God for giving us a burden to pray for our country!!
Sunday Reflections
What an awesome Father’s Day service! Antonio shared his testimony and I tell you that I am very happy to involved in a church where we still hear testimonies like this. People are being saved and their lives are being transformed! I have just been thanking God for allowing me to be a part of these new Christians as they begin to take steps of faith in Christ! After service we went out to lunch with Ocie to celebrate his 21st birthday. Again I say I am so happy to be involved in these lives. Ocie is much like me in that I never thought I would be alive at 21. God is doing great things as we continue to see young men whose hearts are being changed for the sake of the Gospel!
The Baptism service scheduled for next month should really be exciting as so many of these young hearts will be going into the waters of baptism. Mark your calendar now for July 12th as that will be a service that you don’t want to miss!
Awesome Weekend!
Last week I spent over 24 hours listening and learning from some of the most influential Christian leaders in our nation. I was challenged and pushed in every way to go deeper in my relationship with our loving savior and God. After a week like that I knew that I was going to have a great weekend yet I was surprised to see what God is doing through so many here at ROCC.
Saturday we were crazy enough to hold Choir practice and a Board Meeting even though it was a holiday weekend. The holiday didn’t stop this family from gathering together as we all joined together for the various task that needed to be completed. It is always risky trying to hold any gatherings on a holiday weekend but it is nice to see that when we need to the family still does what needs to be done!
During the board meeting we made a very big step that will certainly change the dynamics of our church and really catapult us into a challenging new level of ministry. We are working with the Hispanic church that meets with us on Wednesday nights and will soon be worshipping all together on Sunday mornings as well. More information will be coming about this soon as we continue to iron out all the details! I am just blown away at the tremendous favor God has given us in our journey to become the church He had in mind for us before the foundations of this earth were established. Pray with me as we continue down this exciting path!
Sunday, was awesome as we had one of our largest attendance days of the year! Usually holidays bring a lot of empty chairs in the sanctuary but this year things are different! Now only were the chairs full but the decisions to follow and Christ and seek the baptism of the Holy Spirit were remarkable!
Monday, was off the hook as well! We had over 60 volunteers out to walk along the parade route and help us distribute goodies to all the folks that came out. Over 1,400 bottles of juice and 600 bags of candy along with 180 pounds of minature twix all gone by the time we crossed 159th! The ROCC family is really incredible and I certainly appreciate your commitment to the ministry!
Day 14
We now come to an important decision…What will you do? Will you give? Will you serve? Will you pray? We have all the resources at hand if we will simply honor God and give Him glory and praise! See you in the morning!
The Decision….
A young man was waiting in an airport when he observed the reunion of an older man with his family. The man had just gotten off the plane and run to his lovely wife and two children. The children didn’t even attempt to hide their joy as the man first stood before his boy and gave him a big bear hug. Then he swung his little girl in his arms and kissed her gently. Finally, he turned to his wife and they embraced with a long passionate kiss. The younger man observing this realized that he was staring at the whole scene with rapt attention and become somewhat self-conscious. Still he couldn’t help but speak: “Sir, forgive me for watching, but I couldn’t help but notice your reunion. You must have been gone for a long time.”
“Yes,” was the distracted reply. “After seventeen years of marriage, three days can seem like eternity.”
The younger man was stunned and said, “I hope my marriage lasts the way yours has,” the young man said.
At this, the older man turned his full attention to the young man. His eyes burned with intensity as he spoke: “Don’t hope. Decide!”
Very often the difference between success and failure lies in a firm decision. Moses and Joshua each exhorted the people of Israel to make a decision—to choose life, to choose the LORD. Jesus’ teachings always brought people to a crucial decision as well—to follow or turn away.
Our choices today have the power to change history. Many are in the valley of decision, and we must do our part to lead them to the love of God. The Reaching Up, Reaching Out stewardship campaign can be precisely the thrust we need to reach the lost as never before. But much still depends on your decision. Will you give? Will you pray? Will you serve? Will you love?
Prayer focus: Pray that the uncommitted will choose to do their very best in this project. Pray that God’s favor will be upon our church and community. Ask God to bring multitudes to a saving knowledge of our Lord, Jesus Christ.
“Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by
and that has made all the difference.” Robert Frost