BLeach

Slice of Heaven

I'm enjoying a slice of heaven this week.  Last night I spoke to a group of church planters about Raising Warriors.  The atmosphere was charged with faith.  I honestly felt like anyone could have stepped up and taught and knocked it out of the park.  I felt like I imagine Saul felt when he walked into the company of the prophets and couldn't help but prophesy.  Sometimes what God is doing in one place at one moment is so unique that it lifts us above our natural potential into an arena where the anointing takes over. 

It's a humbling experience.

Stephen Marshall and Pam Thum were leading the music for the service.  While I was speaking the Holy Spirit was speaking to Stephen.  He was thinking about how he should close the service and God gave him a song during my message.  He wrote it out and when I was done stepped up with his guitar and led us all in singing it without even practicing it once. 

He's a gifted song-writer, but I told him that what he needs to do now is take me on the road with him:)

Not to mention I was able to prepare my message poolside and pray over it while walking along the beach!  Don't get that back in Michigan:)

Got a few more sessions before I take off with some young church planters to check out Superman Returns. 

In my opinion, they're the real supermen.

Church Planting Week

I'll be leaving for the airport within the hour.  I'm on my way to Florida to speak this week to a gathering of church planters. 

I live to plant churches.  God wired me for it.  I think it's the extreme sport of ministry!  Thanks for the picture Matt.  I think it captures what it takes to pioneer a vision from the ground up.   Church planting is edgy ministry.  It is risk-oriented, faith-driven and miracle-dependent. 

At some point during the week I'm going to try and speak from 1 Samuel 22.2 about Raising Warriors.  This is a verse that I've been stuck on in my personal thoughts for a solid two months.  I'm looking forward to seeing how it comes out:)

Looking forward to hanging with some risk-takers this week.

Looking for Work

To say that I don't remember everything from my Bible College homiletics class would be an understatement.  But I do remember this. 

Some sermons are timely.

Some sermons are timeless.

There's a teaching that's starting to stir in my head that I think is timely.  On July 16 I'm going share a message titled What to do When You Can't Find a Job.

I can't remember a time when I knew so many people who were out of work.  I'm talking about faithful people who love God and serve in ministry.  There are financial crises happening throughout our church and all over our city.  My goal is to offer some spiritual advice for dealing with seasons of financial strain.

Perhaps some of you have been through times when you weren't sure how you were going to pay the bills.  What got you through?  Are you there now?  How are you responding?  What are you thinking?  What do your prayers sound like?

I believe that God can use any crisis to prove faith.  Since we are people of faith we should also be people who stick out during a crisis.  Unemployment may be an indicator of Metro Detroit's economic health.  Unemployment is not an indicator of Metro Detroit's spiritual health.  To gauge that you'll have to find someone whose disposition isn't defined by a bank statement.  You could visit our church.  Watch those who are lifting their hands to worship.  Chances are you'll be looking into at least a few faces that aren't smiling because of a guaranteed salary.  The smile means more.  Their worship means more. They may not be sure where their mortgage money is coming from.  But they are sure of who we call Provider.

VBS in Outer Space

Tonight starts a week of outreach toward kids in our city.  We're taking them to outer space where we'll hopefully introduce them to Jesus!

Just a moment ago I was able to get a pre-launch picture with our three interns space people.  Captain Lani and Unigoogoo are battling SM 1737 from the planet Snark.  SM 1737 is a robot who if seen, can be deadly.  There is only one way for kids to defend themselves.  They must dance:)

JT and her leaders put their whole hearts into this week of ministry.  I'm really proud of them.  We have whole families in our church today who were hooked at VBS.  Looking forward to seeing what God has up His sleeve this year.

Good Times

One more thought on this past week of youth camp.

One of the highlights of the week for me was the relationship connections.  Tony Sebastian is the youth pastor at Christian Life Assembly in Camp Hill, PA.  He and his wife Jamie also happen to be two of my best friends from college.  Spending time with them was energizing.  I also got to hang with Josh Willeford who came in for the week to lead the worship band.  He's got the church planting bug so I loved spending time dreaming with him.  Hanging with these guys made for some long nights, but they were a breath of fresh air for me.

Incidentally, I also got to have breakfast on Thursday morning with Jonathan Herron.  I've gotten to know him some through his blog.  He's planting a new church in Kent, which was only about an hour from the camp I was at.  We got to do one of my favorite things; talk church planting.  This guy is living on the edge.  Pray for him as he gets ready to launch Catalyst Church on September 10.  I think you're going to hear alot of great things coming from his ministry.

Warrior Pictures

I'm starting to collect the pictures of all the warriors in waiting that God is bringing me into relationship with.  This picture is a tenth grader named Michael.  Tuesday night I taught a simple message with one big idea.  Jesus believes in you, and Jesus chooses you.  He came to the altar and wept.  He told me after that the thought had never crossed his mind before that Jesus would choose him. 

All week long, whenever I saw this kid, my heart skipped a beat.  I watched him during the services.  God gave him a vision for his school and a passion for prayer.  I watched him during the free time.  Kids who were on the fringe or left out of the main group gathered around him.  He didn't have to force it.  It was very natural.  He will be a gifted leader for those who don't seem to fit.

Michael doesn't come from a ministry background but he's headed toward a ministry future.  I've committed to keep praying for him.  Who knows?  He may start a church in Detroit someday:)

On a lighter note, you may be surprised to learn that Michal is half Puerto-Rican.  Richie Galindo was definitely surprised to learn it!

More Crazy Weather

The weather will cause the Beulah Beach youth camp to live on in my memory.

After our first service Monday night was cut short by fierce winds and rain that blew in off Lake Erie, Tuesday night was nice and clear. 

Wednesday night was even crazier than Monday night. 

We got a tornoado warning just before the service started.  Tony called all the leaders together about five minutes before the music was set to start.  The teenagers didn't know what was coming, but he wanted to put a contingency plan in place to make sure that if the storm hit we'd have all the audio/visual equipment taken care of. 

This time I made it through my whole message, but as the worship team came to the front and I transitioned into the beginning of the response time another storm hit.  Lightning and thunder proceeded to fill the sky for the next 7 hours.  The tent started shaking again and it began to pour.  We had to move all the teenagers over to the cafeteria while trying to keep a timely moment of ministry going.  I've got to give it to those teenagers.  They stayed focused on what the Holy Spirit wanted to do.

It was great to be back with our church this morning, although I must admit that it seemed a little boring without hurricane winds and torrential downpours interrupting the service:)

Was I Really that Bad?

Last night was my first experience preaching where everyone in the service ran out of the service while I was still talking:)

I'm at Beulah Beach in Vermillion, OH this week speaking to a camp full of teenagers.  Last night we had a powerful start to the week.

The services are outside in a tent.  While I was preaching last night a severe thunderstorm (with lightning) came in off Lake Erie.  It was some of the most intense winds I've seen in a long time.  The tent almost collapsed. 

I wasn't giving up!  I was actually preaching about death and had no intention of stopping until someone actually died.  Finally Tony Sebastian, the youth pastor, ran to the front and told everyone to evacuate the tent to find cover in one of the buildings. 

We proceeded to furiously tear down all the audio/visual equipment. 

The experience really made me wonder if Jesus ever had some interesting teaching experiences from Peter's boat on the Sea of Galilee.  He had a unique advantage though.  He could just tell the winds and waves to chill out until he was done with his message.

Pray for us.  Hopefully tonight will be even more powerful, just without any evacuations:)

Warriors Wanted

I really enjoyed teaching on Father's Day this year.  I've felt an urgency for a few weeks now to challenge men in our church.  So on Sunday I dressed up in fatigues, painted my face, and challenged men to take hold of God's Kingdom forcefully. 

You can read Warriors Wanted here.

I really think that men are wired for challenge.  Without it we get distracted.  Without it we get bored.  Without it we stop living for eternity and start settling into the temporary.  When we ask nothing great of each other, nothing great is what we usually give. 

We spread out camouflage bandanas across the front of the church.  At the end of my teaching I had all the men grab a bandana and join me at the front of the stage.  I blessed them to be warriors.  I blessed them to fight for their marriages, their friends, their futures and their kids. 

Let's get ready to rumble!

Happy Fathers Day

I missed seeing my father this Father's Day.  He's in Florida for a little down time.  What I didn't miss was appreciating his influence in my life.

My dad made up his mind to give me something he never had, a father figure.  He fought for me without an example from his own life of a father fighting for him.  I love him for that. 

Thanks dad, for breaking a vicious cycle.

Thanks for fighting for mom.

Thanks for fighting for Betsy.

Thanks for fighting for me.

Legacy is a great thing to have.  It's an even better thing to give.