OH MY!! IM BACK!!

So you could call it a vacation, a sabbatical, or even just lazy on my part but I have not blogged in a while. I believe since June maybe? Lots of cool stuff going on. My wife and I moved to a 2 bedroom apartment in the same complex in August. We now have more room to put more stuff. Our church freechapelaustin.com is in a new location. We are now meeting at an elementary school just minutes up the road from the theatre. Our church also celebrated it's one year anniversary in September. It's hard to believe we have been here over a year already. God has been growing the church and stretching us as individuals. As one might expect there are growing pains associated with a young church. People coming and going, an ever-present need for volunteers, and financial needs to keep us going. God has been truly faithful in all of those however it's cool to see Him take care of it all. Paige and I also celebrated our one year wedding anniversary in October and spent some time in ATL for that. It was great to get away and see some changing leaves. Kind of reminds me of our lives. We bloom, we change, sometimes we die off for a season, but are eager for rejuvenation again in the next season.

Peace

James rocks

So things here in Austin have been going great. Our church is thriving an really making an impact on our community. We are looking at the possibility of moving to another venue to save some cash. So much prayer is needed for guidance in that. 

So I have been reading in James a lot here lately and that dude is just crazy. Crazy in the sense that he is full of wisdom crazy. I believe James has to be one of my all-time fav's in the bible. He is a lot like me..to the point! He doesn't mess around and after reading this particular passage it hit me in the face!!! Stop messing around!!!! Stop messing around with crap that really doesn't matter anyway! And quit being a scared little baby. Let me show you the scripture first (if you might be reading and if you are awesome) so here goes

James 2:1 " My dear friends, don't let public opinion influence how you live out our glorious, Christ-originated faith."

second verse

James 4: 4-5  " You're cheating on God if all you want is your own way, flirting with the world every chance you get, you end up enemies of God and His way. And do you suppose God doesn't care? The proverb has it that "He is a fiercely jealous lover" and what He gives in love is far better than anything else you will find." 

Whoa! So God has been blowing me away with these two simple things.

1. Stop allowing outside things to dictate your relationship with Me.

2. Stop cheating on Me

 

Ill stop there.

Peace out!

Leadership Thoughts

Well I have needed to blog so here goes..ha. I have been reading the book of Nehemiah for the past month or so, actually twice through and have been blown away at what is found in that book. If you are looking for a good one to read, take a look at that one. Matter of fact the bible is full of examples of great leaders. Leaders that were chosen by God to lead His people. Men that had wisdom, character, hearts for him, and for his people. All through biblical history there is a changing of the guard so to speak of new leaders. I have often focused on the great things that some of these leaders have done because of bible stories I've heard child, or sermons etc.. but had never really looked closely at their weaknesses. Weaknesses which eventually led to their fall. Why? I believe it was because they relied heavily on their strengths to get them through life, but failed to deal with their areas of weakness. Hidden areas of their life not exposed to the people, but totally exposed to God. Not only that, but some fell because of the influence of unbelievers around them and were doing things contrary to what God had commanded.
I believe we can learn from the mistakes of those leaders in our biblical history. If God has put you in a place of leadership there are things that we must do.

1. Pray daily-- wherever and whenever
2. Read the Bible- study it don't just read it
3. Deal with your sin- don't save it for later because of guilt
4. Get NAKED--be accountable to others
5. Ask for wisdom-- from God FIRST!!-- and maybe talk to other respectable leaders as well

Now I am NOT the expert, but I am going through alot of this right now in my own life as a leader in the church( FREE CHAPEL ). God has been dealing with me personally and I am desiring to be the best that I can be for Him and for His church. My gifts and strengths will not be of much help if I fail to deal with the weaknesses of my life.
I hope and pray that God will help all his leaders be righteous, God-fearing, people loving men and women until He returns!
Peace out!

Sunday Recap

Well it was an awesome day at Free Chapel. We had a good attendance which is nice considering Easter was a week before and usually it goes down a lot after that weekend. We had 12 people stand to receive Christ. THAT IS AWESOME!!!! If just 1 stood THAT IS AWESOME!! That is a testimony of God having His way if we let Him and seeing Him do amazing things in the hearts of people. The funny thing is we were doing a video series with Dave Ramsey (Financial Peace University founder) and when Jeremy gave an opportunity at the end to receive Christ I think he and I both were HUMBLY surprised. I'm gonna admit I had a little doubting Thomas in me as I was praying for God to use us and for people to receive Christ earlier before we started the service. Not that I didn't believe it could happen, but there was a part of me saying "Really?? Nah....that couldn't happen through this.....I mean...can God save lost people through a financial series??" But I prayed with the small faith that I had and believed with that same small faith and gave it to Him. And wouldn't you know it.....God moved!!!!!! You know what.....He doesn't need a particular program or series to speak into the heart of a lost person. He just needs a place where His presence is welcome and where we trust with simple faith that He can do the extraordinary, far beyond what we can imagine! His Holy Spirit will do the rest!
Please help us pray for those who trusted Christ yesterday that they will grow in the knowledge of Him and be protected this week. The devil is mad and we need to cover them with prayers.
"Greater is He that is in us, than he that is in the world!" Sorry satan.

Peace

Easter weekend recap

Wow! What a great weekend! God is awesome and He is alive! Just wanted to recap some of the things that went on this past weekend. Friday night I participated along with several guys from church, in reaching out to a local bar. It was part of several types of outreach that we have been doing along with hundreds of other churches across the country called Servolution. So at 2am we were in the parking lot of the bar serving those who were leaving with free hot pizza and bottled water and teeling them that they matter to God. Most people were very curious as to why in the heck we were out there. Actually had several WTF's if you know what I mean. And that did not come in the form of a text message!. Ha. One guy told me in all the years that he had been partying and going to this bar he had never seen anybody out there doing what we were doing. Overall it was a great reception by those that our team were able to interact with. Matter of fact the owner of the bar said that we were welcome anytime!!! Praise God for that!! It was an awesome night! Sunday we had a great service at Free Chapel. We had a great crowd! Lots of visitors! The music was awesome! The message was powerful! Everything went very well despite a microphone glitch that happened mysteriously during the beginning of the service. Funny how Satan thinks he can distract us and keep God's work from happening. But guess what El Diablo....DENIED!!!! Don (our lighting guru and engineering animal) jumped right in and got it working without us missing a beat. Thanks Don!! And thanks to ALL our wonderful volunteers! You guys rock! We pray that God will help us to continue being a church that is life-giving and we are so thankful for those that He has sent us and continues to send to us. Cant wait till next week!

Greater Things Are Still to Be Done

So lots of things have been happening since my last blog. Sorry for the long absence. God has been doing great things at Free Chapel. Worship has been great. The band does an awesome job. Jeremy has been doing a great job bringing the word. Our volunteers are HARD workers. We have had many visitors in the past few weeks and have been able to serve the community in various ways. Last weekend a group of men from the church served pizza and water to two local bars at 2 a.m. in the morning. Greeting people s they were coming out from a night a partying. The following day we had several volunteers serve the people of Lakeway and Bee Cave at the annual Easter Egg hunt. We passed out waters which turned out to be a huge hit considering it was a hot day! These are just a few ways that we as a church are showing the love of Christ to our community and serving them in a manner that would glorify the name of Christ! We still have much to accomplish here as we have only scratched the surface of possibilities. I believe greater things are still to be done here!

Giving is a good thing

OK..so it has been too too long. I am a lazy blogger. So I recently went to South Dakota with my friend Derek Mills to move someone there. I loved seeing a part of the country that I had never been to. Crazy things always happen on trips though. We stopped along the highway (to pee) on the one of the many long straightaways in Kansas. Basically because there was absolutely NOTHING for miles except cattle and corn fields. Anyways, after the moment of my relief in the dark freezing wind filled night on a long distant road in Kansas... I lost my wedding ring in the snow while in the process of throwing a snowball at Derek's window. We looked for several minutes until our hands were numb from the snow. Didn't find it. My wife was very excited to hear my story later that night to say the least. It was an awesome trip. Very long. Very cold. It was seven degrees when we got there. Snow everywhere. But we both received an awesome tip from the customer and that was such a blessing! It was $500 a piece!! What?? Seriously??

God is amazing and blesses us in incredible and often the most random of times. I thank him for the opportunity to give and I want to simply be obedient in giving the tithe. Which according to scripture the tithe is 10% of what you make. That belongs to God. I didn't always do that or follow through with it. Sometimes I thought that giving that $100 or $50 was a bad thing and that it would put me in a bind. Especially when my finances were low. But I see now how God blesses me for being obedient. Its not and shouldn't be about getting something in return necessarily, but to simply be obedient God to His word. He promises to bless us for doing so. And when you do "Giving is is a good thing"

What a Glorious Day

I've been reading Malachi this week. Malachi is such an awesome and challenging book in so many ways. I love it. Im finishing up with Malachi 4 which talks about the Lords return. A message that should be broadcast to the world!  Jesus Christ has come to a fallen world to have a relationship with you and I. He longs for that. He is just waiting. He died for the sins of mankind so that we might be restored to a right standing with Him. The Bible says He is coming back for a spotless bride. The signs are all around us. Those who have put there trust and faith in Him will be saved and will live forever in eternity with Him. What an awesome message of hope and forgiveness! 

As a Worship Pastor at Free Chapel, my goal is to proclaim the greatness of Jesus Christ. To sing of His great love, His mercy, His grace, and forgiveness. To proclaim hope and inspire lives to live fully for His glory. It's not about me....and thank goodness because I would totally screw things up. But it is all about and always will be about Him. I can't wait to sing for all eternity to the One who saved my life!

Back in Texas!

My wife and I had a great time during our holiday break. We flew to Charlotte and spent time with her family in Asheboro, NC and drove to WV too see mine and drove to MD to see some close friends. It was great. We are glad to be back in Austin. Service was great on Sunday and the band did a great job. The sound was good. Jeremy delivered a great message from the book of Malachi. We have started a 21 day time of prayer and fasting. I must say it is challenging to deny your flesh of things you love. People that know me know that I love sweet tea, Starbucks, and the occasional blue Monster drink. But I believe that this will be a great time for God to speak and to move in my life. I desire more of Him and I desire to see God move in our midst and move in the lives of our people at Free Chapel. I don't want to be the same. No way!