“It’s a great strength to live knowing that if you lost every material possession, you would still have a life worth living.”
(Meg Meeker, author of Strong Fathers, Strong Daughters)
A life worth living
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Monthly Archives: March 2008
Sincere hearts and spectacular ministries
WARNING: this is a journal entry. For those of you not comfortable reading my journal come back later. 
Lately God has been emphasizing the need for and the priority of holiness in my life.
A couple of weeks ago God whispered to me, “It is more important to be a man of God than it is to be a church planter” (or anything else for that matter). (I blogged about it here).
This morning I was reading St. Paul’s letter to the church in the city of Corinth and he writes,
Because we understand our fearful responsibility to the Lord, we work hard to persuade others. God knows we are sincere, and I hope you know this, too. Are we commending ourselves to you again? No, we are giving you a reason to be proud of us, so you can answer those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart. (2 Corinthians 5:12 NLT)
Again this idea was reinforced, “I want a sincere heart more than a spectacular ministry.”
I want a holy/sincere heart that pleases God more than I want anything else in this world.
So what does a “sincere heart” look like?
St. Paul writes,
If it seems we are crazy, it is to bring glory to God. And if we are in our right minds, it is for your benefit. Either way, Christ’s love controls us. Since we believe that Christ died for all, we also believe that we have all died to our old life. He died for everyone so that those who receive his new life will no longer live for themselves. Instead, they will live for Christ, who died and was raised for them. (2 Corinthians 5:13-15 NLT)
Based on these handful of verses, a person with a “sincere heart”:
- lives to help others and bring honor to God
- is obedient to God even when others may think he/she is crazy
- acts out of love for God and others
- lives with gratitude and purpose = to please our Leader, Christ
Lord, this is what I want. Please keep rearranging my priorities so that when Walls Down is planted, the priority of my heart will be for a sincere heart before a spectacular ministry.
Waiting (the pictures)
It’s still rocking around here with tornado touchdowns happening all over the place!
Here’s some pics…
Please pray for Atlanta! As I type, they stand in the path of a big tornado!
Waiting…
Sitting in the path of a tornado… waiting… and you can bet we’re praying!
Going to Unleash
I’m so excited!
Tomorrow I’m going to be learning with my bride and Jeff Murphy @ the Unleash Conference @ New Spring Church!
I love spending time with my bride!
I love learning about how to lead the church with her!
And that Murphy dude ain’t to bad either!
It’s picture day
Tomorrow is picture day @ Lexington’s school, and for the second time on picture day she has a wound!
Last time it was a black eye…
Today it is a scraped nose…
Good grief! These people are going to think we intentionally inflict wounds on our children before picture day!
If ever questioned on this I will refer them to law #17 of the 21 Irrefutable Laws of Parenting.
Good reading
Rindy has a great four part series called “Life is tough… if you do it right.”
Her big points:
1. Friends don’t let friends crash and burn.
- In this post she discusses the value of a friend who will tell you the truth in love.
2. The best offense is not always a good defense
- In this post she talks about how to receive the the critique your friend has made.
3. “Those who hear not the music think the dancer is mad.”
- In this post Rindy gives an inside look at what it’s like to be called by God to step out in faith.
4. I can probably do it all, but I definitely shouldn’t
- In this post she discusses what she’s learning about “letting go”!
You can check out all three posts here:
I’m excited about planting Walls Down Church with Rindy and her guys!
Leadership Lessons from Tony Dungy (part 7)
- “There are times when I believe God welcomes the circus (i.e. crazy days) into our lives to give us an opportunity to
show that there’s another way to live and respond to things.”
- Most new stuff is just old stuff with a little tweak.
- “When you can do the common things of life in an uncommon way, you will command the attention of the world.” George Washington Carver
- “Death by inches” = it’s not the big things that lose the game, it’s the small things improperly executed or overlooked.
- “One detail at a time builds the whole.”
Leadership Lessons from Tony Dungy (part 6)
- “Quick fix”additions to the team generally end up limiting you in the long run. Recruit for the future and train for the present.
- Changing procedures = not bad. Changing principles = bad.
- Sometimes you have to release your friends so that the team can get better. Don’t do the team or your friend an injustice by refusing to make the tough call.
- “God allows us to feel pain for a reason: to protect us. God uses many things to show us what to avoid, and painful consequences often teach us lessons quickly.”
Las Vegas – Day 5
We wrapped up our time in Vegas by getting to the High School where Grace Point Church meets and helping them set up.
These guys are fans of Portable Church Industries and use their equipment to the max! I think Devin may have talked me into at a minimum having a conversation with PCI.
Andy and I had to draw stick figures on boxes for a game their kids were going to play. I’d tell you how good we did, but there are pictures…
OK, so we’re not artists, but at least we had fun and created something the kids wouldn’t mind destroying! 
Devin talked about Heaven and spit a big piece of meat-stick out of his mouth… yup, he sure did! Of course it was an accident, but it sure was funny!
I enjoyed learning from and spending time with Ty Neal, their Family Pastor and extreme door-hanger champion!
Meeting Wojo was a great experience too! This guy can sing and has some of the best people skills I’ve seen! If you’re handing out free stuff to college kids it’s an experience, but throw Wojo into the mix and it’s a high-adventure, laugh-til-you-hurt, I-can’t-believe-he-just-did-that kind of experience!
Bottom line for me, this trip was a life changer! Two key takeaways:
- Missions teams are an incredible resource, and when properly engaged, they provide mutual benefit! The guys at Grace Point have figured out how to engage Missions Teams in the local context as good as anyone I’ve seen! Walls Down Church will engage missions teams differently because of this experience!
- Community service has to be more than an occasional event… it must be a way of life!
I’ve enjoyed this mission’s trip and particularly enjoyed the self-imposed moniker, “Ocean’s Six.”
So for now, Ocean’s Six (minus one in this picture), signing off…
