Two Months Until...

...Lindsay and I leave for Guatemala.

With the holidays between now and then, I'm sure the time will fly. I'm looking forward to returning to Guatemala, but I'm particularly looking forward to experiencing this with my wife. I'm so excited to see how God will use this in each of our lives.

In order for this trip to become a reality, we have committed to raising $3,000 ($1,500 per person). With about 35 letters mailed out between the two of us, we have only heard back from nine people. So, we are still quite a bit short, but we are trusting for God's provision. He is obviously interested in stretching us in that area. He is faithful.

With Thanksgiving on the horizon, it makes me even more aware of the privilege to serve the people in Guatemala in the name of Christ!

Short post, I know. I'll try to blog some over the Thanksgiving break...

New Blog Format!

So, when I started this blog a few months ago, I selected a template and never really made it my own. Today, as you can see, that changed. Hopefully, I can add some more picture and content to make it a more interesting place to visit.

Leave a comment and let me know how you like the new look or what you'd like to see. Can anybody guess the color scheme?! First one to get it right wins a virtual high five from your's truly!

Peace.

Soul Discovery in the News!

Just wanted to share something exciting with you. Our church (Soul Discovery Church in Salisbury, MD) was contacted about our billboards around the area, and it ended up being the front page headline/photo/story in the Sunday paper, complete with a color picture of our staff in front of our most popular billboard.

It's really neat how God has orchestrated the timing of this because 1. we had no idea it would be a front page feature and 2. it comes exactly a week before one of our big semi-annual open house outreach events called "Friend's Day" (kinda like a high attendance Sunday). Hopefully, God will use it to draw many new faces to our church. Free advertising is exactly what we need!

Anyway, thought you'd like to share my excitement...

Click here to read the article on www.delmarvanow.com...

Busy Month

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. It's been about a month since I last blogged. But I'm full of excuses--it's been a busy month. Here's the (not-so-short) recap:

The first half of August was the storm before the calm, or so I thought. Our pastor was on vacation for a couple of weeks, so I was filling in for him. Our vacation was scheduled for the last two weeks of August, so I was anxious to get some time off. There were some major decisions facing our church, so I was also looking forward to taking a mental break.

All the while, Lindsay had been dealing with some digestive issues since the middle of July. So, we started vacation with some hesitation in our steps. We met my oldest sister's family in Jamestown, VA on Monday for a fun day seeing the historical settlement (home school points, too!). Everybody had a blast, especially the cousins. We stayed a couple of days at their house just outside of Richmond and had a good time, but Lindsay's illness overshadowed it a bit.

Wednesday, we made a pitstop in Fredericksburg to see my parents and their house renovation project. It's neat to see them so excited about building their dream home--they deserve it! After another pitstop at IKEA and dinner at Macaroni Grille, we headed back home.

After a Thursday full of laundry and house projects, we welcomed our good friends Mike & CJ from Fredericksburg for a weekend visit. It was so good to hang out and catch up on life. They are friends we just feel at home around no matter what, the "friends for life" type of people. Both of our quivers have gotten quite a bit bigger, so having all the kids together was a trip. They returned home Sunday evening...

Monday and Tuesday were filled with packing and preparing for our trip to Jacksonville to see Lindsay's dad and his wife. We were blessed to fly out of Salisbury, so the trip was very smooth. After arriving at the Salisbury airport at 5 a.m. Wednesday morning--five suitcases, two carseats, one double stroller, three carry-ons, three daughters, and one airsick son in tow--we landed in Jacksonville.

After one day exploring our new surroundings, Lindsay's brother's family joined the fun Thursday evening. Did you pick up a theme throughout all of our vacation adventures? A lot of people, especially wild and crazy kids!! We ate, we swam (30 minute rule observed), we went to the beach, we romped around St. Augustine (cool place!), we ate some more, we swam, we ate three birthday cakes and one birthday pie (OK, I ate most of the pie--key lime is my favorite!). Did I mention the food? Don and Susie definitely fed us well...a little too well.

All the while, Lindsay continued to struggle with the cramping in her stomach. She hardly ate anything and was fatigued most of the time. She generally napped twice a day and did remarkably well considering the circumstances. After six days in Jacksonville, we made the trek back home.

So, vacation was over. I hate that feeling, but I was also eager to get back into ministry mode. Those major decisions had been made (I'll blog more on those later) and I was energized for the fall. I went back to work the first day and had made Lindsay promise to call me if she needed me. Ring, ring, ring!!!

Lindsay went to the E.R. because her pain had gotten more intense. Gall stones--big ones and lot of them--were the culprit. She had an appointment with a surgeon the following day to plan a course of action. Great! Now that we know what it is, we can get this resolved this week!

Or not. Surgery was scheduled for the following Wednesday, which was almost a week away. I was ticked! First, that she would have to continue to endure this, and second, that she would have to continue to endure this. So, we waited.

Surgery Day finally arrived and went smoothly. So smoothly, in fact, that Lindsay is at a Women of Faith conference in Philly right now. I'm so glad she got to go as she had been looking forward to it for months. I can't wait to hear all that God has done! I worked from home most of the week (and ironically I feel like I'm actually more productive). I am so thankful for a job that allows me to put family needs first with any threat of docked pay or lost time. The past two months have definitely been a struggle, but it looks like there's light at the end of the tunnel. At least until the next challenge which is sure to come!

That's the recap and the reason why I haven't blogged. I hope to be more consistent in blogging and start covering a broader range of topics that swirl around my mind.

Until next time!

Elusive Odes...

So, I've tried on two different occasions now to compose an apparently elusive "Ode to Iced Tea." Why? Just a crazy idea I thought would be funny, at least to me (Can we all agree that this is all that matters anyway? After all, this is my blog...).

Odes don't come easy.

At least ones that are trivial, as one about iced tea would surely be. Don't get me wrong; I love the stuff. In fact, I break out into a sweat every time I see that new "Ice Gold" McDonald's billboard in town with a giant styrofoam cup supposedly housing that intoxicating elixir called "sweet tea" (some of you reading this may be able to hear my obnoxious rendering of that phrase). Back to my point...

Trivial things are, well...trivial. Dictionary.com defines trivial "as of very little importance or value; insignificant." So, I'm coming to grips with the insignificance of iced tea. Pray for me!

After reading that definition, I started looking for more trivial things that take up space in my life. While delivering this past Sunday's message, I confessed before my church things that have been (or have potential to be) idols in my life. Idols meaning things that keep me from God. Idols are trivial, are they not? Idols are things that are "of very little importance or value; insignificant" in the grand scheme of life.

The great lie of idols is that they seem vital, valuable, and utterly significant at the time. Otherwise, they would struggle to command our attention as they do.

• That new instrument is vital until it becomes the god I serve instead of a tool to worship the one, true God.
• That 12-win regular season for the Hokies is valuable until it fades into just another year.
• That ministry job is utterly significant until I realize I'm doing it for all the wrong reasons.

Idols seem to be something they are not--vital, valuable, and utterly significant. This is not say that everything trivial in the world is inherently evil or should be condemned, but at the very least, we should guard our hearts from the idolatry that can so easily slip into life virtually undetected. In other words, iced tea isn't evil (thank God!). But, as silly as it sounds, it has the potential to be if I put it between God and me. So it is with other, not-so-silly things in my life.

Even "good" things can be idols. Like technology, relevance, tradition, a denomination, or even your kids. But, in the grand scheme, when God is put first as He most certainly should be, these things become blessings and extensions of His goodness. Sometimes, we get it the other way around, that these things lead us to God's goodness. These are the hardest idols to avoid, and that probably explains why we pursue them so hard, because they seem noble at the time.

Idols lie.

My prayer today is straight out of God's Word.

Psalm 24:3-6 ~

3 Who may climb the mountain of the Lord?
Who may stand in his holy place?
4 Only those whose hands and hearts are pure,
who do not worship idols
and never tell lies.
5 They will receive the Lord’s blessing
and have a right relationship with God their savior.
6 Such people may seek you
and worship in your presence, O God of Jacob.

Personal Vision - Do I Have One?!

Our pastor has been on vacation the past week or so, so I've been filling in giving the messages. I preached last Sunday and will again this Sunday. We did four weeks of co-talks during July's Just the FAQs series where we answered tough questions submitted by attendees. So, that will make six out of the past seven weeks that I've been preparing messages.

Problem is, I don't feel particularly gifted to do them. It's definitely uncomfortable for me because I'm more of a writer than an orator. I like to chew on my thoughts before they have to leave my lips. I'm constantly trying to find the balance between finding my "main thing" and focusing on it with laser-beam precision and doing all the general things that are required of me right now. Sometimes, I even question what my "main thing" is...

The messages I've prepared the past two weeks have been about personal vision. They have been spawned largely from Craig Groeschel's book Chazown and his Life Development Plan message series. They have really challenged me to examine my own life, which was my prayer as I sought what God wanted me to teach on. I'm glad because I'm being forced to wrestle with my own personal vision God has for me.

For example, I'm a horrible steward of time. Yeah, I get a lot done, but it's usually under pressure and not all it could be. I'm good at a lot of things, but...

Good is the enemy of great. We often think "bad" is, but greatness is usually thwarted by our tendency to settle for average, mediocre, simply good. I'm realizing that many areas of my life are good, but not all that God intends them to be.

1. I'm a good follower of Christ, but not a great one.
2. I'm a good husband and father, but not a great one.
3. I'm a good pastor, but not a great one.
4. I'm a good money manager, but not a great one.
5. I'm in good shape, but not great shape.

What are you settling for good at in your life like me? Are you all God wants you to be? Are you willing to endure the pain and discomfort of striving for God's best for your life, that personal vision?

Father, I pray that you would continue breathing Your vision into my life. Help me be receptive to how You guide me. Empower me to make tough choices and trim the fat, lazy, empty things from my life. Help me to honor You as Your child, Your servant, a husband, a father, a minister, and a friend. Order my steps and call me to submission. For Your glory...Amen.

Ministry is about...

So, yesterday was a wild day. We had our final preview service for the new campus. After church in Salisbury, there were some major storms and steady rain most of the day (which we haven't had in months). Just as we dropped the gate of the trailer to unload in Pocomoke, it started pouring again. It seemed to set a tone for the evening.

We slammed the stuff into the building and began setting up. The four preview services before this one saw increased attendance each time, culminating with about 115 in June. Granted, a good portion were supporters from Salisbury, but there were a lot of Pocomokers that were coming, too. Last night, there were only about 14 visitors that weren't Salisbury folk, and even they were carrying embroidered Bible covers, indicating they were very churched people (maybe I shouldn't judge, but I do!). We set up for KidMo for the third time, but there were no children other than our own.

So discouraging. But why?

I think we get impatient with our expectations and easily lose sight of the fact that churches just don't sprout overnight. Whether or not the Pocomoke campus makes it, God is still about revealing more of who He is to us. And, as Reid preached, God is about pursuing and redeeming people.

I've always said two things: 1. I didn't go into ministry to be rich or popular, and 2. Ministry is about people. Yesterday, I learned that regardless of our perceived successes or failures, ministry is about people...again. But, didn't I just say that's one of things I've always said? Yes, but I never claimed to always live by it.

You see, we need constant reminding of even the things that we have always known. Just like we need to give our lives to Christ on a daily basis, dying to self and carrying His blood-soaked cross. Just like I need to commit each day to being a loving husband and father. Just like I need to remember that, amongst the mechanics of "doing church," ministry is about people. I know these things, but that doesn't mean I automatically live these things.

Father, burn onto my heart that ministry is about people because You are about people. Let Your heart beat in mine. Help me see the opportunities you place before me this week to be the hands and feet of Jesus.

"Weight" on God...

Day 2 of my "blogsperiment." I haven't given up yet!

Today has been a challenging day. I am being challenged in my faith. Sometimes I wonder if faith isn't being challenged, is it faith at all? Hmmm...

I'm learning that faith is stepping with your full weight into the unknown. That's not a profound statement by any measure, and it's one that I learned--at least in head knowledge--when I was quite young. Learning and experiencing, however, are two vastly different things.

So, how exactly am I being challenged? Our four-year-old church is planting a south campus, and it's scaring the heck out of me. Not from a physical standpoint, but from an emotional and spiritual one. Being a mobile church, this proposition means we will be loading in at our main campus at 8 a.m., having church, packing up, driving 30 miles south, grab a quick bite to eat, start setting up again at 3:30, have church again, pack up, drive 30 miles north, and get home around 9:30 p.m. Every Sunday. If you do the math, that's at least a 15-hour day from wake-up to head-down.

The vision is that God raises indigenous leaders to take the ball and run with it, but so far after four preview services, that has been an elusive thing. It's causing me to question my leadership and our leadership as a staff. But at the same time, it could be exactly what God has sovereignly ordained...at least for now. I'm reluctant to step with my full weight, and that bothers me tremendously. I want to be all in or all out, none of this in between stuff.

The Good Book says, "Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see" (Hebrews 11). In this situation, I know what I hope for and I know what I can't see. I guess that's right where God wants me--to trust only in Him...rather than strategies, technology, relevance, etc. Those are all important things, but how often do we make idols of them? God calls us to walk by faith in a dark, dying world. Sometimes, that just really stinks! But at the end of the day, what choice do we have but to follow Him? Our new campus could belly up and "fail," but whatever happens I'll bet my bottom dollar God has a plan for it all. Sink or swim, God is on His throne and He will be glorified.

Where is God asking you to step with your full weight?

Father, help me to step with my full weight (minus a few trips to Krispy Kreme and Taco Bell) into whatever it is you call me to. Help me to cast off my unbelief, abandon my preconceived notions, and trust Your divine hand to do YOUR work. Redefine success to me. Thank you for the privilege of being a part of this amazing thing called "the Church." Jesus, lead on.

Always a Little Late...

So, this is my first foray into blog-land. I've always noticed of myself that I tend to be a little (or a lot!) late with fads, fashions, trends, etc. So, it's no surprise that I'm a few years late to the blogging phenomenon.

Pardon me while I take off my K-Swiss tennis shoes and change my parachute pants into something a little more comfortable...

There. That's better! I must say, I've been inspired to take this step by my wife. She has been such an inspiration to me since she started blogging a few months ago. I joke with her that it's the best way for me to really know what's going on in her life. While that statement could be perceived as a sad commentary on our marriage, it's not. In fact, I think blogging will be an avenue for me to journal, which is something I've always had the desire to do. Yet, I've always lacked the will to back it up. Hopefully, this is the beginning of a new season for me.

As much as I want for myself the spiritual benefit of journaling, I also it to be an encouragement to you, whoever you are! I look forward to this journey and pray God's blessing on it...

More tomorrow...hopefully.