Shameless Plug

Mark, our worship leader, and i have started a new arm of minsitry at the edge church. it’s called Small Church Conference.
This ministry is designed to resource local church leaders and pastors of smaller churches. Most conferences you go to only cater to big churches and big ministries, when the vast majority of churches are under 150 members. We are catering to the smaller churches and minsters that are just getting started.
our first conference in March 3rd-4th of 2009! It’s right around the corner and we are very excited about it and we want you to come!
we have Toby Slough- pastor of Cross Timbers Community Churh in Texas; Dave Workman- pastor of Cincinnati Vineyard; and Craig Groeschel- pastor of lifechurch.tv all as speakers at this years conference!!!
it will be a great time all for ONLY $50!

go to www.smallchurch.tv for more info and to register.

hope to see you there!

Money, God, Trust and Divorce…

I just finished a series at theedge about money…

how to spend it, save it, share it in a Biblical way.

it was good……i think. it is always good in a time of crisis, like we are going through in our country right now, to remind yourself that God is in charge, everything belongs to Him, and He has not fallen off the throne because the Big 3 (automakers) need $35 billion to not go into bankruptcy.

but there were several things i didn’t say in the series, just because you only have so much time on a sunday, and you have to pick and choose what makes it to the final cut. so i wanted to say a few things here that i thought might keep the conversation going.

in studying for this series i watched a few of David Ramsey’s DVD’s. Good stuff, as most of you probably already know. David is the pimp when it comes to God and finances. he has really helped the kingdom in a big way and millions of people are getting on track because of his stuff.

Ramsey made a statement in his teaching about tithing that i thought was incredible. he said that in all of his years in ministry he cannot think of one family that has been faithful in their tithe that ended in divorce! What?! that’s right! he said he cannot name ONE family that has lost their marriage that was also faithful bringing their tithe to the Lord.

that is amazing! and maybe there is a family that has divorced, but Dave just can’t think of one.

so, i started thinking about that too. And here’s what i can say. i have been in ministry since i was 18 years old. i have seen a lot of families come and go through the years. and i also cannot think of a marriage that has blown up if they are also faithfully tithing.

i don’t think that tithing is a formula or a religious action that works like voodoo or superstition…but i DO think that God protects his children as they remain faithful to HIm.

just a thought…maybe it will give you something to think about when it comes to God and money.

things i am NOT thankful for…

mark getting a new macbook!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I am thankful for…

…a God who heard my cry and sent His Son to set me free from bondage,

…Brittany,the most amazing wife and mom ever…and she is SMOKE!

…Levi, my firstborn,

…Crew, the crazy one,

…Goldie, the sassiest princess,

…Jude, the best surprise EVER,

…my dad, the inspiration for so much of what i have become,

…my mom, for always fighting for the family,

…Jeremy, the best and biggest little brother a guy could have,

…John Savage, what a father in-law should always aspire to be,

…Lynda Savage, the reason my wife is the perfect wife,

…Mimis and Pop, the greatest grandparents in the world,

…Hannah, the crazy-fun sister-in-law,

…theedgechurch, a people that really DO what they SAY,

…Mark, a best friend and a helluva lead worshiper,

…Disciple, a real edgy guy, with amazing gauges, and a guy with a pure heart for the “widows and orphans” of our time,

…Kyle, an incredible drummer, but an even better youth director,

…Kathryn, for always using appropriate language and never losing her power,

…Stacie, the best kids worker for always being in some form of a cast or splint!

…Kathryn AND Stacie, for loving kids the way they do,

…Tonja, for her loyalty, love, service and humble heart…she is the first impression of theedge to others, and a great one at that!

…Charles Bello, for being a mentor, counselor, friend, and for listening to all my crap,

…living in a country where i am embarrassingly rich- i own a home, 2 cars, tons of clothes, an xbox, wii, AND a ps2, and i have never been hungry a day in my life. it’s really too much!

…being able to coach the best bunch of 3rd graders ever on the Natural Disasters tackle football team,

…great friends around the country that i have been able to meet-up with again through this crazy thing called Facebook,

…being able to do what i love, and love what i do,

…Starbucks: tall mocha cappuccino with a shot of cinnamon,

…my Mac book- the greatest computer EVER made!

…my iPod- the greatest gadget EVER made,

…a real wood-burning fire place, and the smell it creates in the winter,

…the colors of fall, and living in a neighborhood that has lots of trees,

…an electric leaf blower – to clean up all the said leaves after they fall,

…Rob Bell and his teaching,
John Piper and his teaching,
Matt Chandler and his teaching,
Francis Chan and his teaching,
Erwin Mcmanus and his teaching,
Mark Driscoll and his teaching,
Dave Edwards and his teaching,
Donald Miller and his writing,

…Favor of God and their willingness to serve in Gulu, Uganda the way they do, and for their hospitality shown to us when we visit,

…being able to worship God every Sunday in freedom and liberty,

…having lived long enough to see the first ever African-American president,

…that my biological mother did not take the “easy” way out, and gave me up for adoption,

…that my wifes biological mother did the same for her,

…s’mores,

…puma’s and nike’s,

…Ross- where you don’t have to pay retail for said puma’s and nike’s,

…Josh Bottomly’s blog,

…Kristy Gammill’s willingness to worship through her art,

…Bjorn Bauer’s paintings (that i have stolen and put in my office),

…Daryn Story and his unwavering loyalty and service for almost 8 years,

…the music of David Crowder,

…Twix,

…staff trips to Dallas, Tulsa, and New Mexico…”sticky!”

…staff Christmas parties,

…my health,

…the awesome Jesus Freaks in Germany and the Freakstock they put on every year,

…Sonic drinks,

…pizza hut thin crust pepperoni,

…but most of all this year i am thankful for Jesus the Christ and His unconditional love for me!

Obama, hope, and Jesus…

I usually don’t like to talk politics, mostly because i think people lose their ever-lovin’ minds when we talk about it…but, considering the historic nature of this years election, i feel a little obligated to write something.

i am a conservative, at least when it comes to government. i don’t think we should have BIG federal government or BIG fed government programs. i am one of those who believes the founding fathers did everything they could to establish enough checks and balances in our democracy to even out the insatiable need of man to rule and dominate!

i think “we the people” should make our laws and tell our leaders what WE want…not the other way around!

Now, with that being said, i am a liberal when it comes to the Kingdom of God.
what i mean is, i believe the Kingdom of God is wide open to everyone! Jesus came to set free and liberate ALL people, from EVERY tribe, EVERY tongue, and EVERY nation! Jesus is an equal-opportunity savior.

i also believe that Jesus was a new kind of political figure. His politics was one of loving, serving, suffering and dieing! yes, Jesus came to establish a kingdom…but not the way the typical followers of God at the time thought He was going to do it. They wanted the messiah to come in with guns-blazin’!!!! they wanted a Chuck Norris messiah. one that would kiss a** and take names! but, Jesus came as a simple man, with a “love others” and a put-THEIR-needs-in-front-of-your-own philosophy of taking over the world.

Jesus came to serve, not be served!

how does that match up with OUR politics? not very well, huh?

so, i am in a conundrum. i have many conservative views politically…but when i decide to put Jesus as my Lord, Savior, and Messiah…well, it seems that i begin to lean more liberal.

it seems that the more conservative of the parties in our 2 party system in America has been high-jacked by the more insane contingent of the christian community in our country. and, i just can’t help but think that these religious zealots are not any better than the religious zealots on the “other” side! it seems that all these people want to do is blow the crap out of each other and whoever does it first wins!

i have serious problems with religious wars. in fact, i’m still trying to figure out how the wars we are in right now aren’t religious. when you have the president of the most powerful country in the world saying we will “rid the world of evil,” and destroy the “axis of evil,” and hunt down all “evil doers”…that kinda sounds religious to me- or maybe i’m just being sensitive.

so, with all that being said, i am extremely excited about our next president. there are many things that i disagree with him on politically, and there are still many question marks about who he really is, but all that will play out now that he is the president.

I am unbelievably proud of our country. to think that this country was built on the backs of Africans – some of them Kenyans; to think that this country did not recognize women as equals, and would not let them vote; and to think that it was just a few decades ago that blacks were still told to stay in their own schools, drink from their own water fountains, and ride at the back of the bus…i think we have come a LONG way in beginning the healing!

i think Obama has a great opportunity set before him.

i am praying for him.

i will respect him as a man and as my president.

i will believe the best about him.

i will do everything in my power to help him as a citizen of this great country.

but, my hope is not in Obama. He is not the messiah, he is not the answer. he is a man, and he has been created for this moment by our God.

so, my hope is in Christ! My deepest convictions are that the ills and sicknesses of this life and our times can only be met and answered in Christ! We who are followers of Christ must never put country or politics in front of Jesus. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life! my hope is in Christ!

mad shout outs to tha deuce-quad-deuce!!!

being in ministry is not always great. simply stated, you are always working, you are always on call, and you are always “up for vote” so to speak. people either love you or hate you…there’s not a lot of in between.
but every now and then, something happens to you in ministry that is beautiful.
every now and then, God shows up. and when he shows up, all the bad, ugly, and hurting parts of ministry disappear and you are born again…again!

i had one of those moments this weekend.

my wife and i took our 4 kids to the woods of kansas to speak at a retreat for young adults. it’s a group called 242 (they get their name from acts 2.42). i don’t speak a lot – i mean, outside of my own church. so, this was a great chance for our family to get away and to do something a little different than the usual. brittany and i were excited about sharing with this group. we were excited about spending time with them and trying to serve and minister to them the best we could.

but something unexpected happened. they ministered to us!

they shared…

they served…

as we were leaving my kids were actually crying, because they had made such good friends, they did not want to leave! amazing! how do young adults love on little snot-nosed kids so much that those kids want to stay?!? wow.

so, this is a mad shout out to all of the 2 4 2 crowd! thanks! you guys were great. and we really appreciate your heart and the way you accepted us into your group. we feel that our family has been adopted, and we gladly accept! we love our new family and i pray it will be a long, beautiful friendship. your love and kindness probably did more ministry to us than we could have ever done for you.

so remember a few things…

don’t get in such a hurry that you eat bad burritos,

if you take the fruit you could be livin’ in a van down by the river,

and don’t ever forget that…………..
this is ALWAYS about that!

peace.out.

Better to Burn-Out or Rust-Out?

i have a great pastor friend that i spend a lot of time with. He is in his 50’s now and he is starting a new stage of ministry. i believe he has transitioned wonderfully! i am jealous of how well he has handled this move. i pray that i can have the same level-headedness in my decisions later in ministry.

one of the things he has learned and is passing down to younger pastors is the idea of finishing well.

most pastors do not finish well. in fact, if i were to ask you to name pastors that you can think of that have been doing it for 20-25 years and are still going strong, or who ended strong, your list would be very short…that is if you could even have a list. i’ve been around the church all my life, i couldn’t name a hand-full of guys that have ended well. On the other hand, i could rattle off truck-loads of names of guys that have crashed and burned!!! you could too.

Charles (my pastor friend) has said there are guys in ministry who have said to him, “it’s better to burn-out than to rust-out.” Think about that! That’s nuts! Burning out is bad! It means you didn’t finish well, or at all!

Burn-out means that you spent yourself too much at the beginning and never finished the race. How horrible would it be if you were an Olympic runner to say that you never finished the race?! it’s not enough to just be in the race…how you run it matters…if you finish matters!

As far as i’m concerned, i am hoping to rust-out! i want to be so old that people can’t believe that i’m still going! I want to preach and teach and pastor until i drop over dead! i don’t want to be one of those young, mid-life, moral failure guys who burns-out and burns-up the church and his family with me!

Let’s be men and women of integrity. let’s glorify God in the way we do ministry. in EVERYTHING we do, let’s put Him first and let’s do it for a long, long time!

so, for you…is it better to burn-out or rust-out? what do you say?

peace.out.

Oprah’s the Anti-Christ!

Now that i have your attention…
i am writing this post for 2 kinds of people…

1: The first group of people are the self-righteous, judgmental, know-it-all’s who think it’s their job to rid the world of evil and expose Oprah and her church to the rest of us idiots who can’t think for ourselves!
Yeah, i’m writing this to you! You guys are pathetic. Many of you have come to this post with unbridled enthusiasm, thinking that there is another good pastor out there that has come to the light and has joined the fight against “the Oprah!” let me just say, what a complete waste of time!!!!
There are women and children being abused and used RIGHT NOW as we speak, and you are worried about Oprah?!?
Most of the worlds workers are living on less than 2 dollars a DAY! And you are fighting Oprah?!?
Children in Africa are being abducted and forced to kill their friends and family members, and all you want to do is expose the “church of Oprah”?!?
What the hell!
I’m so sick of religious people in the American church fighting crap that we don’t need to fight! What a complete waste of time and not to mention a waste of the Blood of Christ!

2: The second group of people are those well-meaning church goers who are mesmerized by Oprah’s spirituality and think that “even if she has some weird views about Jesus, she is still doing good, so it really doesn’t matter what she thinks about church or Jesus.”
What?!?
That is insane!
How can we think that it doesn’t matter what one thinks about Jesus.
Jesus IS THE POINT! Jesus is the whole question! It all comes down to Jesus!

So, why would i say Oprah is the anti-Christ? I obviously do not believe that Oprah is the actual anti-Christ. But what i DO believe, is that Oprah IS anti-Christ.
Here’s what i mean…People who do not believe that Jesus is the one, true, and only begotten Son of God are anti-Christ. If you do not believe that Jesus IS God, then you are anti-Christ. It doesn’t mean you are the devil or are the worst person to ever live, it just means that you deny Christ is the Messiah and God’s ONLY son!
It’s OK. There are tons of anti-Christ’s out there! Billions in fact! and Oprah is one of them!
She doesn’t believe that Jesus is the only way, nor does she believe that Jesus is God! that’s fine, Oprah has the right to her opinion…
I’m not mad at Oprah at all. i think Oprah is actually one of the finest humans and humanitarians of the planet. she just happens to be anti-Christ.

here’s why this is a big deal to me. George Barna has done a study of evangelicals in America. One of the things he found is, “two-thirds of the (Christians) do not believe in the exclusive character of the Christian message, and almost have of all evangelicals say the same.”
this means, close to 50% of the people who go to church ever Sunday in america DO NOT believe that Jesus really is the only “way, truth and life” and there are other ways to God other than only through Jesus!
This is not good people! There are tons of “Oprah’s” out there!

Jesus is God! Jesus is the ONLY begotten Son of God! Jesus is the Messiah! Jesus is Lord! Jesus is the Christ! Jesus is the Son of David! Jesus is the Lamb of God! Jesus is the Lion of Judah! Jesus is who he said he is!!!!!!
If we don’t get this settled then we have much more huge problems on our hands than a talk-show host!
So, let’s preach Jesus and him crucified and forget about the rest! the church and america need more of Jesus NOT less of Oprah!

peace.out.

Freakstock!!!

I just got back from a mission to Germany. These are a few pics of what it looked like there.
There is a movement called Jesus Freaks in Germany. it all started back in ‘91. A lot of young people started getting saved and turned on to Jesus. They were punks! And the traditional churches really had a hard time accepting them in, with their crazy hair and music. So, they decided to call themselves the Jesus Freaks and start their own movement.
every year they have what is called Freakstock. they all meet at an abandoned race track in Gotha, Germany for 4 days. They have tons of music and speakers.
this year i was able to go with Charles Bello (a Vineyard pastor) and some other guys from OKC and speak at Freakstock! It was an awesome experience.
if you get a chance, go to youtube and type in Freakstock 2008 – you can find some cool videos.

peace.out.

Read This Now!

If you read my blog at all, you may have figured out that i am not too fond of religion and religious types. That is why i LOVE THIS BOOK!

It is not the rantings of a ticked-off, disgruntled former pastor. it is a beautiful picture of the relationship one man has found in the Trinity -in real life- and has put it in eloquent fictional terms for the rest of us!

Young’s book will stretch your mind, spirit, and emotions…and i believe, if you are willing, it will give language to what you know in your spirit is true about God already!

I lived in a shack for much of my life- my soul was a shack. i had hurts, lies, secrets, and addictions that i built rooms for in my shack. this book has helped me continue the healing that God has already begun in me. It has challenged me to see the true relationship God has within him/herself and the relationship God wants with me!

Get the book. Read it!

peace.out.