Saturday, March 28, 2009

hope is rising

Just finished the first service (of 3) where we are collecting faith promises and cash offering for the Hope Initiative. I'm pretty stoked about the results tonight. Come to think of it, I'm pretty stoked about many things these days.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

what to say

Seems the excitement is wearing off and the reality is setting in . . . not so much for us as for those around us being affected by our recent decision to relocate and plant a church in Tulsa. I guess following God and learning how to do it in a way that's gentle to those around us are two different things altogether. I am learning . . . quickly, I hope.

Monday, March 23, 2009


Well, it's been quite a week. The long and the short of it is that God has called our family to move across the country and plant a church. I'll be blogging about the details in the coming days, but we will be moving to Tulsa, Oklahoma during the first week of January 2010. Our first monthly service will be Easter Sunday, 2010 and our church will launch September 12, 2010.

Already, God has drawn the hearts of a few people to commit to making the move with us and some more are prayerfully considering it. Beyond that, there are some more I plan to ask to consider it this week. In my gut, I feel like a strong group from PA will invade the city of Tulsa to plant a very significant church that will plant more churches. I feel so humbled right now by God. He is so gracious to even consider using me in this. Wow.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

back to blogging



It's been so long since I've written here. Wow, what a couple weeks it's been. God has called me to something new and really big. I'll write some more about it soon after I've had a chance to tell a few more key people about it. In the meantime, I've finished a couple more books.

Bringing Up Boys, by James Dobson.

This is the second time I've read this one. I read it when my twins were babies and it was good and seemed like it would help someday. Now, they are five years old and one section of the book helped me get a handle on an issue that was beginning to trouble me. It also helped me to rehash the chemistry (literal brain chemistry) of boys. I know that these little guys are just hard-wired to be little balls of energy. Dobson talked about how we often discipline and even medicate boys for just being boys. I'm sure not medicating my boys, but I do squelch their little boy spirits sometimes and I want to loosen up on that. There were various sections of the book where Dobson just pulled up his soapbox and went to town, specifically against public schools. I found myself yelling out loud for him to just shut up and change topics. I did skip a few small parts because I just could not take his ranting any longer. Overall, great book for parents of boys. I could use a little less soap, personally.

Ordering Your Private World, by Gordon MacDonald.

I think this is the 4th or 5th time I've read this book. It's one of my favorites. I would call it a classic if it's old enough. I just don't know how old a book must be to be considered a "classic". Well, it's a classic to me. If you're a Christian, especially a Christian leader, read it. End of story.


Keep reading. There is no standing still. If you're not growing, your dying.

Friday, March 6, 2009

focus those tired eyes

When ministry feels like a long series of meetings, keep this as your perspective. When I look at that kid's smiling face, I can't help but think how satan wants him dead . . . and how much God loves him. Wow. Thanks to my friend Brad Leach for keeping my eyes focused today.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

let's say yes

I spent the day at Valley Forge Christian College today, my alma mater. Well, actually, I'm still there. I'm on hour 14 of my day and it's catching up with me about now. But, my fatigue is not what I'm writing about today. Let me reflect on one part of our day today.

We met this morning with Phil McLeod, Vice President of academic affairs, and we pitched a new and aggressive plan to enhance VFCC's church planting major with a 1 year track that students would do in Gettysburg to be educated in some intense and hands on church planting education. After the initial pitch was over, I was bracing myself for Phil to tell us all the reasons we could not do what we were proposing. To my great surprise, he not only said it was a great idea, but also suggested other ways we could enhance our efforts to raise up and train church planters. Bottom line. He looked for a way (multiple ways) to say yes. I want to be one to say yes. Seth Godin wrote about this recently too. You can read it here. It really applies.