paulwirth.org

Backpacks of Hope

2009-07-24T09:36:00.002-04:00

BACKPACKS OF HOPE-

Our Backpacks of Hope campaign is in full swing and the money and supplies are pouring in right now. Just last night I received confirmation from Bic Pens that they are going to supply every child with pens and pencils. WOW! Yeah God!! Also, this week one of our member while "On Mission with God" in their work setting, told a client about Backpacks of Hope and the client was so moved that he took out his checkbook and wrote a check for $500 without batting an eye. THAT JUST PUMPS ME UP!!!! Also, last week in church someone who was a guest for the first time who is still not sure about this whole Jesus thing decided to invest in someone else and give $10 for a backpack. AMAZING!

I spoke with Mr Pepe this week at BT Washington Elementary and he was just overwhelmed that we would adopt their school this year and provide backpacks and more for every student. For those of you who do not know much about BT Washington Elementary. It is the only "D" rated elementary school in the city of Tampa, which means that most of the students are one or two grade levels behind in most of their subjects especially reading. Our goal is to develop a long term relationship with this school to help kids and families that are marginalized by society in general and help them begin to realize their God given potential.

So far we have collected about $1500 of the $5000 that we need to pay for the backpacks.

I am asking that everyone give at least $20 above their regular giving to help pay for these backpacks for the kids of Booker T Washington. If you can give more that would be great as well. You can give on Sunday in the regular offering or you can go to www.relevantchurch.com and click on the giving link and give through our secure online giving.

"VS" Update

2009-07-24T09:35:00.000-04:00

I hope that all of you have had a great week. I am now thick in the throws of football and loving every minute of it. Sometimes as a pastor you can get caught up in the business of the church and forget that there is a whole city out there who does not connect with the church. Not because they do not like Jesus but because they have never seen Jesus in the lives of the people who claim to follow Him. Coaching football allows me to be a regular guy and rub shoulders with people outside of the religious bubble.

Last week I had a compliment from someone who was watching me coach football. This person said "Paul when you are coaching you are just a coach and you get after kids just like any coach I have ever seen". Well for me I knew what he meant. He was saying you did not have your pastor face on out on the football field but everyone still knew who you were. As a Follower of Jesus we do not have to wear the Jesus t-shirts and carry a Bible around with us everywhere we go for people to know it. Who we are should shine through in the everyday circumstances of our daily lives. The problem with this idea is that there is a battle raging within us to keep us from accomplishing this sort of life. That is what our new series has been about and that is why we called is "VS" VERSUS. Because there is always a choice in our life that we have to make as to who we will serve and the type of person we will be.

I look forward to seeing all of you this weekend as we continue our series "VS". This week we will be looking at the topic of Going to A Church "VS" Being THE Church. I think coupled with what we discussed last week about Doing Missions VS Living on Mission With God, this weekend is really going to give us some traction for where God is leading us. This series is taking Relevant to another level in our commitment to Jesus and our commitment to our community. Make sure that you invest and invite someone to come with you this Sunday.

Spirituality and the Dentist Chair

2009-06-12T09:30:00.000-04:00

So yesterday I twittered something that I know sounded like I had been given too much novacaine. I twittered that going to the dentist was like coming to church in many ways. Now before you start sending me emails of your dentist horror stories just listen to mine. For one I have the most amazing dentist in the world. (Dr Mike) Shameless plug for my friend and fellow Relevant peep. So be kind with the dentist stories at church he is sensitive. (LOL) Back to the story. So a couple of weeks ago I went in to have some dental work done and at that time Mike told me that I really needed a good cleaning. So that is what I had done yesterday and that is when God spoke to me in the dentist chair. (I admit it is a little weird, but stay with me). As I sat down in the chair the hygienist (Penny) came in to perform the same cleaning that she has done on probably hundreds of patients, but God wanted to speak to me as His patient at the same time.

So the cleaning began. She started by asking me some questions you know the standard "do you have any pain in your mouth?" etc to which I responded, "actually one tooth on the top is kind of hurting." She then said, let's take a closer look at that and she pulled out the x-ray machine and snapped a picture. "We will take a look at that in a moment," she said as she went back to work. She proceeded to scrape off all of the tartar that had built up on my teeth over the past year. As she was scraping the tartar off she was telling me why it was hurting and bleeding a little. She said when you do not brush and floss on a daily basis the bacteria in the food mixes with your own saliva and creates this substance called tartar and then there is no way you can get it off without help. She then asked me the dreaded question, "Do you floss?" to which I responded, "Well sometimes but probably not as much as I should." I told her that I like the new flossing tools on the stick. I said "those make it easier," to which she responded. "They do make it easier but they do not do it properly." I was busted. She then told me she was going to polish my teeth and get them looking good. Then she said, "now I am going to teach you how to brush and floss the right way." I was a bit taken back, I mean I am 40 years old and I have been brushing my teeth and flossing occasionally for years. I did not think I needed a class on brushing and flossing. But she insisted. She then showed me that she had a mirror above the dentist light and she adjusted it so that I could see what she was doing. She said " I want you to watch how I do every step so you can replicate it when you get home." I watched her brush and floss every tooth with precise detail. Her next statement rocked my world. She said, "Paul I can show you how to do all of this, but now I am going to give you all of the tools and you are going to have to go home and do it every day for yourself." It was now my choice to determine the health of my teeth. So I left the office with a bag of tools that could and would help to keep my teeth healthy if I choose to use them.

WOW! that is when it all sunk in and God smacked me in the head with this idea that I had just experienced church. You see we come in each week and hear a message that generally poses a question as to where we are on our spiritual journey. Then we look into the Word of God to see what God has to say about that situation. Upon looking at what God says about it, sometimes we feel Him scraping the tartar off of our life and sometimes this process hurts. Then, we generally ask the question, "How did things get so bad?" This only leads to a response from God in the form of another question, "Have you been spiritually brushing and flossing each day?" After realizing that maybe we have been neglecting the proper form of spiritual maintenance, God tells us, "No problem I am going to polish you up and show you exactly what you need to do to continue the process". There is only one catch, "When you leave here, He says, you will have to do some of this yourself!"

You see, I think we get confused sometimes with two words. Salvation and Sanctification Salvation or the act of becoming a Christ follower is something that only God can do. Salvation comes from God, but sanctification is the process that God uses to make us more like Him and just like flossing and brushing, we are very involved in the success of this process. I think Proverbs is a great book to help us in this process. Keep reading this week and don't skip the process

Leadership Opportunity

2009-04-21T14:00:00.004-04:00

Well I know that yesterday I twittered that today I would share with you a great leadership opportunity so here it goes. Last year I took my whole SMT (Senior Management Team) to the leadership intensive training at GCC (Granger Community Church) called Leadership Live May 6-7, 2009. The only thing that I can say about it is WOW! We had been outside observers and fans of GCC and their ministry for a couple of years, so when we saw the opportunity to spend 2 days with their top leaders in a small intimate setting we said lets make it happen. All I can say is that it was worth every penny that we spent. Here we are a year later still talking about and using the principles that we learned from the Team at GCC.

So what is the offer you may ask? Well here is the deal. I heard that there were a few spots still available for this years Leadership Live. (Which I was shocked by) and so I wanted to help some guys out who would like to go but the finances are a bit of a problem. So here is what I am offering. I would like to pay $200 toward anyone that would like to go to this 2 day leadership training. The total cost for the trip is $1500 and I know that $200 does not seem like a lot but I can tell you that if you have any money set aside for leadership training this is where you should spend it.

This is what I can tell you from my personal experience about Leadership Live:

The GCC team is the most honest down to earth (real guys) I have ever rubbed shoulders with.
They share both the successes and failures of ministry (don't you hate going to conferences where everything is great and you feel like all your stuff sucks)
This is not a conference it is real people sitting around a table talking about how to expand the Kingdom of God.
This is not just for large churches. (we are only church of 400 and we learned stuff that is going to help us over the next 5 years)
The Systems and leadership structure that they share are extremely practical and useful for any size church.
This is not a 2 day event and then it is over. (The GCC team has made themselves available to our staff when we have needed them since Leadership Live)
Where else can you get one on one face time with 5 key leaders of a growing ministry for a round table discussion.
I do not know of any other training event that I have been to where the idea of Excellence was displayed better. (from the accommodations, to the food, to all off the little things that just made it over the top)

Guys I could go on and on. I feel like the guy from the Hair Club for Men. "I am not just a fan, I am a client". Well I am not just a fan of GCC but God has used this ministry in a huge way in my life personally and in the life of Relevant Church and things are different because of it. Last year like I said we took our SMT to last year to Leadership Live and then took 20 key volunteers to Innovate in September and things have not been the same since.

So if this sounds like something that you would like to do go to WiredChurches.com and Sign up. Just mention my name and GCC will let me know that you signed up.

FYI: I am not getting a kick back from GCC for this I really believe in leaders learning from great leaders. Trust me I have been to a ton of conferences and seminars and not one of them compares to the tools that I received from Leadership Live.

"I was Blind but now I can See"

2009-04-17T10:11:00.000-04:00

Well I am sitting here in my office in Ybor sipping some coffee while listening to the rosters in Ybor crow. Boy I love Ybor!! Where else can you look out of your window and see skyscrapers and listen to rosters at the same time. LOL. But seriously this has been an amazing week. Sunday was incredible with so many of you joining us for the Hope Epidemic and Easter. My prayer is that you have been able to share that hope with someone else this week.

I have heard some incredible stories about the hope epidemic this week and also have heard that some of you are struggling a bit. So I wanted to give you a few pointers.

Be natural. (Just walk up to someone and say "hey I just wanted to give you a little hope today")
Don't tell them it is from a church (many people think it is just religious propaganda then)
You may have to instruct them to look inside cause most people won't think that there is $5 inside. LOL
Be creative

Here is a story that I heard this week. I thought you might enjoy it:

Someone from Relevant gave their Hope Envelope to a cashier at a grocery store and then about an hour later someone from Relevant went into the same store and saw the envelope sitting on the cash register so the person enquired about it. The cashier said oh some lady gave it to me about an hour ago, it is just some church thing I think, I haven't even opened it yet. The person from relevant said "I kind of know about that Hope Epidemic and I think it is worth opening. So the Cashier opened the envelope and saw the $5 then he started running around the front of the store telling everyone the he got $5. The person from relevant said it was priceless. That is what the Hope Epidemic is all about. If you have a story of how you shared Hope this week go to HopeEpidemic.com and submit your story. Let's make this viral.

I was reading John 9 in my Bible this morning and there is a story in this chapter about a man who was blind since birth who Jesus healed. After he was healed the religious leaders began to question him about his miraculous healing and here is what he said.
John 9:24-25 (NLT)
24 So for the second time they called in the man who had been blind and told him, “Give glory to God by telling the truth, because we know Jesus is a sinner.” 25“I don’t know whether he is a sinner,” the man replied. “But I know this: I was blind, and now I can see!”

This statement rocked my world this morning "I was blind and now I can see" SIMPLE AND TOO THE POINT He was basically saying until this Jesus guy came along he was helpless, hopeless, and in despair, but when Jesus entered his world He opened his eyes to see thing completely different. That is why Relevant exists and that is what the HopeEpidemic is all about. To impact the emerging culture with the reality of Christ. To clear the vision. You see when you are blind like the guy in the story and someone helps you to see for the first time you cannot help but tell someone about it. My prayer is that we would begin sharing our stories of how we were blind in certain areas and then we meet this guy Jesus and he opened our eyes to the truth.

Good Golly its Good Friday

2009-04-11T16:09:00.000-04:00

Can you believe that it is already Good Friday and that this Sunday is going to be Easter? It seems like just yesterday that I was putting away my Christmas decorations and now I am prepping for summer vacation. Every year that I grow older I am amazed at how fast time seems to fly. One day I was 10 years old and the next day I have a 10 year old of my own and I wonder, "where did the time go?

This week Susie and I have been hanging out with my parents and our kids over here in Orlando at Universal Studios. I am now sitting here this morning on our last day reflecting a bit on our time here and to be honest I am sad and excited at the same time. I am sad because today we must pack up and head home. No more thrill rides that make me scream at the top of my lungs, no more all you can eat buffets where I don't care how much I eat cause I'm on vacation, no more staying up as late as possible just to catch a glimpse of the fireworks in the distance, no more completely uninterrupted time with the people that I love the most, my family. Not that all of those things cannot happen at home; but a lot of times they don't. Why? because time won't allow it.

This week I found myself excited while listening to my dad tell my son some of the same stories that I heard as a kid. He told them with the same excitement and passion that he shared them with me over 30 years ago when I was Anthony’s age. I watched my dad and mom ride the amusement park rides with my kids like they did with me when I was a kid still laughing like they were 30 years old again. But they are not and all I could do was keep hoping that this time would never end. It was that good. And as my parents drove away last night and I watched my son look out the window of his room and say, “we sure had a great time with Nana and Papa didn’t we dad” I was a bit overwhelmed. I kept saying to myself I HOPE we can do this again real soon, I HOPE that my mom and dad stay healthy. I HOPE, I HOPE, I HOPE.

All this hoping led me to the passage that I read last night in John 17 and all of the other accounts of the prayer of Jesus in the Garden just before he went to the cross. I kept reading over and over again all that Jesus was praying and this theme kept coming up. HOPE. Jesus was the giver of HOPE yet during this time He was asking for HOPE from His father. HOPE that this was the right choice, HOPE that His followers would be ok, HOPE that his followers would share His message with the world. Then I thought about Jesus human side and wondered if during His prayer to His father was He hoping for more time with those He loved so much like I was last night. Was He hoping for more laughs together, more meals together, more, memories? Probably. But he knew for them to have any eternal Hope that He would have to become their HOPE.

And so here I am at the close of another Holy week, so what do I do? I HOPE. HOPE for more time, more vacation, more food, and more fun. The problem is, all my hopes seem like dreams to me and I am tired of dreaming aren’t you. I want my HOPE to be a reality and I know that the only way for that to happen is for me to first find my HOPE in Jesus and then become His Agent of HOPE. I believe that Jesus wants His message of HOPE to become an epidemic that sweeps across our lives and transforms our world. I believe He wants it to become an epidemic -a HOPE EPIDEMIC. And this Sunday at Relevant Church we are going to launch that epidemic.

I want to encourage you to be here this week and to bring someone with you. We are about to launch into something BIG.

See you all Sunday,

Paul

Fast Tuesdy week 4

2009-03-31T09:27:00.002-04:00

Well it is week four of Fast Tuesday and God is doing some cool stuff. Join us today for Fast Tuesday. The instructions are below.

Here are the basic instruction again for the fast:

1. We are only fasting during breakfast and lunch on Tuesdays, (Drink water only).

2. We are praying for three areas and reading scripture that goes along with each prayer section.
Personal Direction (Spiritual Renewal)
Corporate Direction (Direction for Relevant Church and its leadership)
Global Direction (Direction for our Nation, our leaders and world leaders)
3. When you get hungry use that as a time to remind you to pray for an area.

4. To help with understanding the scripture each week stop after each section and ask yourself these questions and write out your answers:
What is God speaking to me/us through this passage?
What do I/we need to do?

FAST TUESDAY WEEK THREE SCRIPTURE (click on the verses to view them)
Personal Direction (Spiritual Renewal) Psalms 32:8-9(NLT)
Corporate Direction (Direction for Relevant Church and its leadership) Luke 11:1-11 (NLT)
Global Direction (Direction for our Nation, our leaders and world leaders) Proverbs 2

This will be a weekend to remember

2009-03-27T16:34:00.002-04:00

Well Susie and I have enjoyed another Friday date day and it looks like we are going to end it at the Cheesecake Factory tonight. Yum!! This morning over coffee Susie and I were reading in the book of Numbers. Not a book that I normally read, but that is the awesome thing about You Version. It forces you to read from all over the Bible. Well today we were reading Numbers chapter 8 and it was where Moses was giving instruction for the Levites. I have never noticed Gods retirement plan for the people that worked in the temple. check out theses verses:

Numbers 8:23-26 (NLT)
²³ The Lord also instructed Moses, ²⁴ “This is the rule the Levites must follow: They must begin serving in the Tabernacle at the age of twenty-five, ²⁵ and they must retire at the age of fifty. ²⁶ After retirement they may assist their fellow Levites by serving as guards at the Tabernacle, but they may not officiate in the service. This is how you must assign duties to the Levites.”

The only bad about this whole thing is the fact that I turned 40 this year. Wonder if this means that I only have 1o good years left to work in the church. So this got me thinking. What would I do if I only had 10 years left to make a difference for the kingdom? Then I thought I hope I am doing what I will be doing this weekend. Serving our community through March Madness (yard clean up) with over 70 people from Relevant on Saturday. Then having a BEACH BAPTISM service at the beach on Sunday where I get the privilege of baptizing over 15 people who have become Christ Followers at Relevant and are now taking their next step by getting baptized.

I think I could be part of this for the next 10 years and beyond if God allows me. Life Change is the most amazing thing to be part of. It never gets old.

If you would like to join us Sunday at the beach but find yourself too far away. We will be streaming the service live on Sunday at 11am. CLICK HERE to watch the service Sunday. Or to view last weeks service at Relevant.

Fast Tuesday Week 2

2009-03-16T22:21:00.000-04:00

Congratulations!!

You have made it to week 2 of Fast Tuesday. I do not know about you but last week God seemed to be doing some amazing stuff. The reason I know that is because I felt and saw satan working overtime. I really believe that when the people of God begin to live out the verse that we studied last week Satan really starts getting nervous. Let's look at it again.

II Chronicles 7:14
"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land." Satan know that something is about to change.

Here are the basic instruction again for the fast in case you were confused:

1. We are only fasting during breakfast and lunch on Tuesdays, (Drink water only).

2. We are praying for three areas and reading scripture that goes along with each prayer section.

Personal Direction (Spiritual Renewal)
Corporate Direction (Direction for Relevant Church and its leadership)
Global Direction (Direction for our Nation, our leaders and world leaders)

3. When you get hungry use that as a time to remind you to pray for an area.

4. To help with understanding the scripture each week stop after each section and ask yourself these questions and write out your answers:

What is God speaking to me/us through this passage?
What do I/we need to do?

FAST TUESDAY WEEK TWO SCRIPTURE (click on the verses to view them)

Personal Direction (Spiritual Renewal) Proverbs 3:5-12 (The Message)
Corporate Direction (Direction for Relevant Church and its leadership) Psalms 37:3-5; 23-24
Global Direction (Direction for our Nation, our leaders and world leaders) Ezekiel 37:1-4

Fast Tuesday Week 1

2009-03-16T22:20:00.000-04:00

I am thrilled that so many of you are joining us for Fast Tuesdays. I am so excited to see what God is going to do in our lives over the next 5 weeks as we seek God together every Tuesday. Each week I will be providing you with verses to read during your fast throughout the day. They will be specific to the three areas that we are praying together about:

Personal Direction (Spiritual Renewal)
Corporate Direction (Direction for Relevant Church and its leadership)
Global Direction (Direction for our Nation, our leaders and world leaders)

As you read the scripture each week stop after each section and ask yourself these questions and write out your answers:

What is God speaking to me/us through this passage?
What do I/we need to do?

Please keep me informed of what God is doing because I know that there are going to be some great stories throughout our journey together. If this is your first time ever doing a fast I have listed below some basic instructions on our fast specifically along with some general information about fasting that will help each of us get the most our of this journey. I look forward to what lies ahead for Relevant Church as we seek His face.

Key Steps for Fast Tuesdays:

We are fasting from the time you go to bed on Monday nights until dinner on Tuesdays.
We are not eating food, but drinking only water
We are asking each person to pray for three specific areas listed above and read the scripture listed for each week.
Just click on the scripture link and it will take you to the scripture reading for the day.

FAST TUESDAY WEEK ONE SCRIPTURE

Personal Direction (Spiritual Renewal) Psalms 25
Corporate Direction (Direction for Relevant Church and its leadership) II Chronicles 7:14
Global Direction (Direction for our Nation, our leaders and world leaders) Nehemiah 1:1-11

General Information on Fasting:

Fasting was an expected discipline in both the Old and New Testament eras. For example, Moses fasted at least two recorded forty-day periods. Jesus fasted 40 days and reminded His followers to fast, "when you fast," not if you fast.

Fasting and prayer can restore the loss of the "first love" for your Lord and result in a more intimate relationship with Christ.

Fasting is a biblical way to truly humble yourself in the sight of God (Ezra 8:21;II Chronicles 7:14). King David said, "I humble myself through fasting."

Fasting enables the Holy Spirit to reveal your true spiritual condition, resulting in brokenness, repentance, and a transformed life.

The Holy Spirit will quicken the Word of God in your heart and His truth will become more meaningful to you!

Fasting can transform your prayer life into a richer and more personal experience.

Fasting can result in significant personal, spiritual growth in your own life, and make you more ready to influence others spiritually.

Fasting and prayer are the only disciplines that fulfill the requirements of:

II Chronicles 7:14
"If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and will heal their land."

If you fast, you will find yourself being humbled. You will discover more time to pray and seek God's face. And as He leads you to recognize and repent of unconfessed sin, you will experience special blessings from God

The main idea is to let the Holy Spirit bring to your mind those offenses in your relationship with God.

Incredible Week Not so Incredible

2009-02-20T10:19:00.000-05:00

Well here we are at the close of another week and I do not know if you have ever felt this way but for me this week has been anything but remarkable or incredible. Sure I finished my first Triathlon in under an hour and finished in the top 50, Sure Ashlyn had an MRI on her knee that came back pretty clear, just a minor problem. Sure Anthony pitched his first 2 innings of baseball and got 6 outs, no hits, and no walks. But for some reason I have had one of those weeks I would like to forget. You may ask Paul did anything bad happen? "not really". It seems like I have just allowed things to get in my life this week and rob me of my joy. Now that may sound cliche but I really think it can happen. Things are going along pretty well for us and then all of a sudden something comes along and bam our day is shot. Well that has been my week. Multiple times Susie has asked me if I was ok to which I responded "yeah, I feel like I am just in one of those moods" (Fun week for Susie HUH)

So as I was basking in my funk. I decided I would read the Psalms because it seems to me that the Psalmist had some of those funk days as well. So I wanted to share with you what I found. Here is a small portion of it but is you want the whole passage click HERE.

Psalms 66:1-6 (NLT)
1 Shout joyful praises to God, all the earth! 2 Sing about the glory of his name! Tell the world how glorious he is. 3 Say to God, “How awesome are your deeds! Your enemies cringe before your mighty power. 4 Everything on earth will worship you; they will sing your praises, shouting your name in glorious songs. 5 Come and see what our God has done, what awesome miracles he does for his people! 6 He made a dry path through the Red Sea, and his people went across on foot.Come, let us rejoice in who he is.

For me these passages told me that even when I am in a funk I need to just keep shouting out all the wonderful things that God has done and then maybe I will not focus so much on the small things that keep robbing me of my joy. And this week at Relevant we have a ton to be joyful about. Here are just a few.
as crazy as this may sound to you we are launching our very first satellite campus via our live video stream in Centerville VA this weekend. That is right!! I was contacted this week by a couple who has visited Relevant several time who lives up there and they asked if they could launch a small house church in their home and watch the live stream with their friends who need Christ. WOW!!! I am so pumped about this I just know God is all over this and we are going to see him do great things through this. Pray for them this week their names are Alex and Charlotte Wright. You can like to their group via Facebook. Let them know that you are praying for them.
Our church blog has been taken over by some of the most creative writers I have ever read. There is a group of about 7 different people who write ever week about what God spoke to them about in the past weeks message. All I can say is that when I read what God is doing in the lives of people in our church I flipin go nuts. God is so Good. If you have not been to the blog in a while check it out here. You can follow the staff via Twitter from there as well.
This week at Relevant we will have a special guest with us. Dr David Clarke Phd. Dr. Clark is an incredible communicator and is going to share with us the craving that we all have as men and women for communication but for some reason our craving does not usually turn in to authentic communication. I cannot wait to hear him. Trust me you do not want to miss this opportunity.
Next week many of us will be traveling down Bayshore Blvd. Not in a car but on our feet. Yes that is right the Gasparilla Run is Coming up February 28 and if you have signed up for the race could you please shoot me an email so that I can make sure that we have your shirt for you. This is going to be a blast. I look forward to running with you all.

Crave Week 2 update

2009-02-13T11:28:00.001-05:00

I trust all of you are having a wonderful week. I personally have been enjoying the incredible weather we have been experiencing and getting pretty excited about my very first Triathlon tomorrow. (Pretty awesome Valentines Day gift for Susie huh? a day in the sun watching the kids while I race.) Trust me I have some ideas on how to make it up to her. I think if someone would have told me a year ago that I would enjoy swimming, cycling, and running for over an hour I would have told them that they were crazy. Funny how things change isn't it. This is kind of like our cravings as well huh. They change all the time.

Last week we began the journey of "Crave" a series that is helping us discover our deepest cravings and then look at them through some spiritual lenses. We unpacked the idea last week that cravings can be both good and bad and it is the object of the craving that determines weather it is good or bad. This week we are going to look at a particular craving that all of us seem to have and it is directly from God, because He has the same craving. It is this craving for community. And I am not talking about this surface community that many of us experience I am talking about a true authentic community. How can we experience this? What does it look like? Why would God even care about this? All of theses things and more are going to be discovered this week. So come on out and join us and invite someone to join you as well.

I wanted to leave you with this portion of an email I received this week from someone in our growth group. it is incredible that they were feeling the same things that we are going to talk about this week and we were just talking about the community of our group. I can hardly wait.

"We were SO excited to meet everyone last night...makes you wonder why it ever took so long! This is such an amazing opportunity to build the "community" that Paul was referring to last night.

On the way home, Kevin and I were discussing how much more community our country really does need...people live such isolated, divided lives. No one seems to know their own neighbors anymore, and unfortunately much less their friends, and sometimes family. When people live divided lives, they are unable to share their personal gifts, the gifts that make them who they are--the gifts God gave each one of us to use in this life to make up ONE entire body of believers that operate as a WHOLE."

My prayer is that this week we will begin to crave the real community that is offered through Christ.

Greeting from the Snowy White North

2009-02-06T13:36:00.000-05:00

Well I am writing you this update from the Cleveland International Airport. And yes it is cold outside and there is a ton of snow on the ground. (scratch that I am finishing this from the Houston International airport, got bumped for a $200 voucher. Still not sure if that was a good idea.) I have been in Granger Indiana for most of the week with about 15 other pastors from around the country discussing church leadership and the changing role of missions in the church. All I can say is WOW! God is really at work around the country and around the world and I am so glad that we get to be a part of it.

MORE TO COME ABOUT THE TRIP ON MONDAY!!

This week we are launching our new series "Crave" and I trust that many of you have been using the evite or postcards to invite you friends and family to join you this Sunday. This whole idea of Crave was brought to light in a devotional that one pastor shared yesterday morning. He said that about a month ago he was praying before a service and was asking God to give him strength and wisdom and courage to speak. He was craving for God to do something special in his life and ministry that day. Have you been there lately? Well he said that all of a sudden he really felt like God said "Mike stop asking me to give you strength and wisdom and courage, that is not what you need" Obviously he was puzzled but he said that this impression continued and he felt like God said "stop asking me to give you all of those things and start asking me to be your strength and be your wisdom and be your courage. WOW!!! I think so many times our craving are all about what we need or what we desire or what want to happen. All of it revolves around us. Maybe it is time to evaluate our cravings.

I think that During the next few weeks God is going to do some reshaping of our cravings. I am so excited about what we are going to be discussing this weekend as we unpack the first week of Crave. Please join us as discover what authentic cravings should be.

See you all on Sunday.

Super Bowl Excitement Not so Super

2009-01-30T10:06:00.001-05:00

Well the big day is just about here and it seems like there has been a buzz in the city for months now. From painting, to cleaning, to planning big parties, many are getting pumped about the big game. However, I am not one of those people. Not that I do not like football or the super bowl for that matter. I do. The fact is though ,this year, I could care less about the two teams involved. Sorry Hal Mayer and Danny Schafner. But there is something else, something is just different this year. There seems to be this cloud over shadowing the big game much like the rain clouds that have been hovering over our city for the past few days.

I guess my heart is just heavy today. This week has been anything but super. On Monday I found out that a church that I love dearly and respect a great deal had to lay off 8 people. One of which is a good friend of mine. Tuesday I got a parking ticket for parking in a lot where I have permission to park. Wednesday I found out that another friend of mine just lost his job and another friend has a brother who was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. Then yesterday I got word the club wants to talk about raising our rent (are you kidding me!!! I thought we were in a recession?).

So I know that you are saying Paul stop it with all the great news!! LOL! Well it is hard to find joy and excitement in the middle of difficult situations and yet that is what God asks us to do. I am not sure if you are feeling the same way that I am this week. If your week has been anything but super. However, I know this, all of the circumstances around me may be saying things are horrible and things are bad and things are going to get worse, and they may. But I refuse to give up, I refuse to roll over, and I refuse to quit.

I think that is the essence of the super bowl. In this game you have two teams one that everyone is calling one of the best teams in the league and another team that people are saying well they did what they had to do to get here and they made it. Think about it Arizona is a 9--7 team, they lost 4 of their last 6 regular season games and yet here they are 2 days from the pinnacle game in football. Why? Some would say luck, some would say determination, some would say heart, but no matter what it is they are here and history will tell their story of how they got here and what they accomplished. Win or lose they made it to the Super Bowl and I promise you when Sundays game is over each player will want said of them. "They left it all on the field"

My question for you today is, what super bowl are you facing? Or what has made this week or this month less than super? You see Jesus went to a Super Bowl type event back in his day with a cloud over his head. Everyone else was celebrating the Passover and yet He knew He was about to become the the person who would eliminate the need for a Passover. The cool thing about Jesus is that He refuses to give up, He refused to roll over, and He refused to quit. His Super Bowl was not played out in a huge arena but on a hill outside of Jerusalem and yet His victory there has sealed our victory forever.

So with that said I would like to have you join us this Sunday as we Celebrate Jesus' victory some 2000 years ago. I am going to be talking about the super bowl type event Jesus was a part of "the passover" and we will be having communion. I can tell you that I am pumped about the party that we are going to have Sunday morning. It is going to rock all other parties going on for the Super Bowl. Be here and invite someone to come with you, you will be glad that you did.

BTW- After some caffine and some time with God this AM I am feeling much better. ALMOST SUPER!!!! Look Out Sunday!!

Fire alarms maybe they are telling me something?

2009-01-23T10:44:00.002-05:00

I hope that all of you are enjoying the nice brisk weather we have been having the past week. It seem the cold has kept me inside for my workouts most of the week. That is until today. You see my first triathlon of the season is on February 14 and I really need to get some time in the pool so that I am ready. Well all week I have been going from YMCA to YMCA looking for a pool that was open. It seemed like every one that I went to was closed for the season. Well today I finally found out that the Campo YMCA in Brandon had their pool open, so I decided to check it out. Now mind you I am a pretty good swimmer, I was never on the swim team or anything but I felt I was ok. Keep in mind that it was like 38 degrees out this morning at 7:30am when I arrived and you could see the steam coming off of the pool. I have to admit it looked pretty cool. So I dawned my triathlon spandex shorts, grabbed my goggles and headed outside. I jumped in the nice warm pool all by myself and began to swim. 1 lap, 2 laps, 3 laps, "are we finished yet" I began to think. I was only at 150 meters and my body was telling me "you should have started working on this part of you training a whole lot sooner than now". Well I continued swimming for about a half an hour and I can tell you I was dead tired when I finished. But the story does not end there, you see as I was finishing my last lap the lifeguard came over to me and told me that I needed to get out because the fire alarm was going off. I said "but I only have my spandex on what about my clothes. They told me I could run in and get them and then change outside. So that is what I did. lucky for me (or maybe everyone outside) they had an outdoor restroom. That was my morning how was yours?

So I know you are all saying Paul what does this have to do with anything at Relevant. Well the fire alarm story was just for fun but the swimming story is the key. You see I have been telling myself for 2 months now "the swimming part of the triathlon is no big deal, just wait till a few weeks before the race and you will be fine" Well I am a few weeks before the race and my running and cycling are great and my swimming sucks. Do you know why? Because I have neglected that portion of training. I tried to skip a step in the process and now I am paying the price. Sure I will be ready and finish the race, but things could have been so much easier if I would have just been working on every part of the training a little bit at a time.

I think that the same is true in our spiritual journey. Maybe we have alarms going off all the time telling us something is wrong but we just ignore them. Many of us make a decision to become a follower of Christ much like I decided to become a triathlete but we leave certain steps out of the process that will help us maximize our experience with Jesus. We like the thought of being a Christ Follower but hate the training that goes long with it. Then we have an alarm that goes off and it reveals the problem that we have been ignoring. Well this week at Relevant we are going to be discussing the Spiritual Bailout that we receive from Jesus and also what process of spiritual fitness goes along with this Bailout.

relevantupdate

2009-01-16T11:03:00.001-05:00

Relevant Update 1.8.09

2009-01-09T10:08:00.001-05:00

Here is a little something about the game last night and our brand new series at Relevant.

relevant update 12.13

2008-12-12T11:33:00.001-05:00

Well here it is my update about this weekend at Relevant and my first duathalon enjoy. BTW no comments about the spandex that is what we duathletes wear. ha ha

relevant update 12.5

2008-12-05T11:23:00.001-05:00

Paul's update for Friday 12.05.08

Disney and Creativity

2008-12-03T13:15:00.002-05:00

So many of you who follow my twitter know that me and the family were at Disney last week and I picked up a few leadership/ creative things that I thought I would share.

1. "Customer Service"- some get it while others live for it. Here is what I mean. Disney is one of those place that has the mantra "to make people happy" Now that is simple and concise and many of their employees get this concept not all but most and because of it. Me and my family always leave saying that Disney is one of the Happiest places on earth.

Q- why don't we strive for the same thing at our churches. I think many people leave most churches feeling like they were imposing on the group that is always there rather than feeling like what was going on was designed for them. great Job Relevant you guys rock on this front. I would put our first impressions team up against any church in America.

2. Creativity, dreams and imagination. One thing that happens every time I go to Disney is my creativity and imagination are thrown into overdrive. I always leave wondering what can we do more creative at church for the author of creativity God.

Q- I think most people still leave church every Sunday saying that was the most boring place on earth. We can and should be changing this and I am so proud of our creative team here at Relevant. I do not think anyone has ever walked out of here saying it was boring.

3. Fanatical attention to consistency and detail- I noticed something about Disney this past week not from the park but from a TV show owned by Disney "Extreme Home Makeover" this past week I watched as designers spent painstaking hours pouring over the details of each room of a house to make sure that they got ever detail correct so that when the child or parent returned their experience would be magical. Then they went over the top by doing the extra thing that did not need to be done but sent it over the edge. That is what Disney does consistently and that is why people go there over and over again.

Q- When was the last time your church or leadership team became fanatical about the consistency and details of your ministry. I think this principle right here would change dramatically our view and production in ministry.

Hope that this has inspired you. I know for me I cannot wait to go back, but I also can't wait to have another Sunday to be creative, to be a fanatic, and to serve our people. That is what Jesus modeled and that is what my desire is for Relevant Church.

Peace

From Homeless to Home

2008-11-24T09:59:00.003-05:00

Here is a story sent to me by one of our members. It is one of those stories that you hope to hear but sometimes never do. I was moved by it this morning, I trust you are as well. This is why we do church. So the physically and spiritually homeless can find a home. Way to go Relevant!!! You Rock!!!

Hey Guys,
I just wanted to say thanks for making Rudy feel at home. He is our homeless, vet friend but we don't see him as 'homeless'. We see him as family. :)
We met Rudy 3 years ago in the Ybor park on 8th Ave. It happened to be Veteran's Day. I was still attending Bible College and a group of us kids from the school were doing street ministry in Ybor every weekend. Rudy stole our hearts the moment we met him. His has a huge heart, he has issues, and he is desperate for something more.
He made a promise that one day he would come to church...I never pressured him...his own words kept him bound...he finally did show, as soon as the second service ended. I was excited that he walked through the doors...As you preached that following week you said, 'Little progress is still progress...' . Rudy felt bad that he missed the service and promised that he would come again...hahaha. He did...this time he caught the service right after the worship. He hasn't stopped coming. He fell in love with the people , the band, and the preaching and won't miss them again. :)
When Rudy was young, he was an altar boy at a Catholic church and the priest would give him and his friends four shots of wine before mass....his mom couldn't figure out why he wanted to go to church so much!
Well, here he is many years later...and we are all amazed...we can't figure out why he wants to come to church so bad. :) He is being drawn to something more than wine. :) Jesus is totally changing his life...he is definitely not the same guy we met in the park. I filled out Rudy's visitor card. He didn't think the gift would apply to him...and then he got his starbuck's card....he was excited...he went and got a hot chocolate. :) You made his week once again.
This Sunday we printed his name tag...it's official...Rudy is now one of the bunch. This past Sunday, after the service was over he said, 'The preacher preached a damn good message'! ...Just thought you should know. :) (THAT IS MY FAVORITE LINE I DID NOT KNOW I WAS DAMN GOOD. WOW)
Have a great week and thanks for making a difference in Rudy's life...I know it's not by accident that he started coming to church during the 'Messy' series. It has been really impactful. You guys are amazing. On behalf of Rudy, thanks for everything.

relevant feed the bay update

2008-11-21T10:59:00.001-05:00

"I Don't Want to"

2008-11-17T13:27:00.003-05:00

Have you ever heard that before? have you ever said that before? I dare say all of us from time to time have wrestled with this notion "I don't want to" I know I have many times in my life. The strange thing is this attitude does not just happen to me it happens to my kids as well. I know many of you watched my update from Friday and commented on how awesome Ashlyn was in the video, and she was. But just two days before that she had an I don't want to moment before going to school.

It was Wednesday morning, Susie had to teach so I was left with kid duty. This mean s I have to make sure that they get ready, have the lunches made, and take Ashlyn to school on my way in to the office. (Did I mention that when this happens I cannot ride my bike in the morning? UGH)
Well on this faithful morning after Anthony and Susie had already left I proceeded to instruct Ashlyn that she needed to get dressed. Here response to me was less that desirable "I don't want to" is all that I received. To which I responded in kind. Well you better get dressed or you are going to be late for school and you are going to get in trouble. She did not care at this point, she had already made her decision, trouble or no trouble she was not going to get dressed when I wanted her to get dressed. After continual prompting she did get dressed and yes she did get in trouble at school for being late. So the next day she was dressed 30 minutes early and came into Susie and I's room and said I am ready for school. I am not getting in trouble today dad.

What I think is interesting is that this whole idea of "I don't want to" does not just effect 12 year old special needs kids who do not want to get dressed for school. It effects every single person on the face of the earth.
But what happens when you as a leader get to the place where you say "I don't want to"? Whatever the I do not want to is does not make a difference. But there comes a time and place where you put you foot down and say no do not want to do it no matter what happens. This has happened to me on different occasions and sometimes the outcome has been good and I needed to say I don't want to and sometimes the outcome has been bad because I said no to something I should have done. I think the key is recognizing the difference between the two.

Keys to Remember

you do not have to do everything that everyone says that you need to do
Saying "I don't want to" is not always bad
you better do what God is telling you to do
have a reason for your I don't want to
just because you don't want to does not mean it is a bad idea or a wrong idea
the key word in the phrase is "I" it is personal

relevant update 11.14.08

2008-11-14T08:25:00.001-05:00

just an update for the weekend coming up at Relevant. See you all Sunday

Leadership leadership wherefore art thou leadership?

2008-11-10T16:07:00.003-05:00

I know. I know my old theater days are getting the best of me today. But seriously, where are the real leaders of today. I know that I hear guys talk about their leadership and talk about their ideas but sometimes it all just seems like talk. In this rant I am including myself just for the record.

All too often we talk about our leadership more than we act upon our leadership.

So many times I hear people tell me that they are leaders and that they are ready to lead but they have not lead anything thus far. I know, I know you have to be given a chance to lead to prove yourself. But here was my experience. I felt like God had called me to be a Student Pastor and when I knew that, I wanted to do anything to get my foot in the door of that kind of ministry. So here is what I did. I went the student pastor at the church that I was attending and said I want you to teach me everything you know about student ministry and ever bit of time I have off i want to know if it would be ok if I came up here to help you do whatever you need. He said yes and over the next year and a half I did everything fill water balloons, to drive a bus to camp, to teach 7 grade boys Sunday School. But when he felt like God called him to leave guess who he suggested the church hire to fill his position. You guessed it me. Thanks Mike Vauters you shaped my ministry almost 20 years ago.

Fast forward 15 years later. I was working in student ministry at Baylife Church and I had a youth worker come up to me and tell me he wanted to work in student ministry. He said that he felt like he wanted to do it full time and what could he do in our ministry. I informed him that I did not have any paid position and he informed me that he would do it for a "PUNCH IN THE FACE" Steve Frissell you rock man!! That is leadership. BTW when I left to start Relevant who do you think I said should take my place at Baylife. You guessed it Steve.

Then at the launch of Relevant my BFF (James Adair) and his wife felt like they were called to go with us on this adventure. However, we did not have any money to pay him on staff so how could he work at the church and support his family. Well he informed me that he would do whatever it took for however long it took to support his family while he served as a full time staff member for no pay what so ever. He bought and sold houses for 2 years before he ever came on staff and then when he did he raised half of his salary for the first year.

I say all of that to say this: leadership in not found in a vacuum of service it is found in the middle of the heart of service. The person who comes to me with all of his or her degrees and accomplishments does not impress me as much as the person who comes in and say what can I do to see lives changed and what do you need me to do right now. There is an incredible book out by Mark Sanborn that really hits on this point of no matter what you do you can lead if you have "The Fred Factor". This idea is that service is at the heart of leadership. You have heard two of my examples of Fred's now how about you going out and being a Fred.

Leading like Fred seems to me like the example Christ modeled. His leadership was not from a stage but from the streets. The leadership of the men I spoke of was that of active leadership and by active I am not meaning an active tongue. These men lead by acting on their leadership. I am drawn to that kind of leadership because that is the leadership that I think our world is desperately looking for. That is my kind of leadership. That is the kind of leader I want to be.

relevant update Nov 7

2008-11-09T08:35:00.001-05:00

Here is my Friday update. Sorry I did not post it then. I forgot. Enjoy!!

Salt and Light

2008-11-05T10:17:00.003-05:00

Well happy Wednesday everyone. As I was out on my morning 20 mile bike ride this morning. (And for those of you who think I am lying about the 20 miles you can join me any day at my house at 7am for what I call the ride to glory) However, now that I am off of that hobby horse I was listening to a fellow pastor speak a sermon on the passage in Matthew 5 about salt and light and all I can say is that it rocked my world. Here are some thoughts that I had during my ride with God this morning.

the people that Jesus was addressing were living in the middle of financial, political, and religious unrest.

they were desiring something different and were hoping Jesus was going to provide it. I mean if he was the Messiah wasn't that kind of in his job description. You know come to earth, save the world, rescue the down cast, heal the sick, fix all of our problems.

They were shocked at his answers.

All of this unrest, and all of this oppression, and all of these problems, the people needed something different. Quite frankly our country has been in this state for years now. We have a financial system that has been based on fabrication, a political system that is limping along and quite frankly the worst thing of all is a religious system that is completely anemic. The third system is the one that I want to talk about because I think it is the one that Jesus addresses in him communication to the people in the book of Matthew. Here is his declaration.

You are the salt of the earth.

Notice that the very first word out of his mouth is not I am the salt of the earth but He put the ownership on them. He said "You are the salt". I think that this is interesting because salt back in those days was not used just to make things taste better. Salt in those days was made to keep things from rotting. It was a preservative. I think what we have done in our culture today is we have made the story of Jesus something that if people would just add a little dash of it their lives would be better. When the major problem is that our world is rotting away around us and people's lives are rotting away around them and they do not need a little dash of salt to make things taste better they need some radical, preservative, transformation that can only come from the salt of the earth and Jesus said you (the ones who call yourselves Followers of Jesus) are the preservative agents you and I are the ones who can offer that preservative that comes from Jesus and many of us simply satisfied with just giving out a dash.

Jesus goes on to say that when we loss our effectiveness in being the preservative agents in our culture then we are good for nothing and should be thrown out. The reason that the church has been so ineffective in the past decade or so is because it has lost its saltiness. And I believe that there is a new generation of leaders in our churches today that are saying "by what ever means necessary I am going to stand up and proclaim the name of Jesus, I am going to be a preservative no matter the cost" I am so glad I a part of this revolution.

"you are the light of the world"

The second point Jesus makes is that "you are the light of the world". I think that this is interesting because in our culture light is taken for granted so many times but in the culture that Jesus was talking to they understood the importance of light. Light was used to give direction on a journey. (God used this in the old testament with the children of Israel. Exodus 13) Light was used for protection. I don't know if the power has ever gone out in your neighborhood and there are no street light and no other house lights on for as far as you can see but in those time you feel the most vulnerable to invasion. Light was used to protect. Light was also used to provide. It provided heat for cold nights, provided fire for cooking meals. So here is what Jesus is saying here. He says you are complaining about what is going on around you, however, you have light that someone else needs and you are keeping it to yourself. You have something that can provide for someone else and yet you are hiding it or better yet hording it. He tells them that this is not way to live as a Follower of Him.

I am more excited than ever before about the opportunities that we have to share Jesus with people and be the true preservative agents and light for our culture. I believe that change is coming to our culture and I believe that it is going to start with the change that God wants to begin in us. Let's go change the world for Jesus sake.

Just Say It Already

2008-11-03T15:27:00.003-05:00

So I stated last week that Monday was going to be leadership day for my blog. Well let me just preface this first one by saying that Mondays for me are not my big mercy days. Not that I have a lot on any other days either but Mondays are: let's just say shoot straight days. So here goes on my first leadership bullets for this blog.

"Just say it already"

I have been in so many conversations with people over the years where there was so much said that had nothing to do with what needed to be said that it kills me. Quite frankly I have been the one initiating those types of conversations many times. When I think about why I choose to engage in conversation like that rather that get straight to the point I really had to unpack my reasoning behind it and this is what I came up with so here goes.

We don't just say it because we are afraid of what may happen if we do. But I think sometimes the better question is what happens if we don't. What will we sacrifice in our ministry or leadership or life if we choose not to engage in those Fierce Conversation. (this web site is part of Susan Scott's material from her book with the same title. Great stuff)
We don't just say it because we think it will work itself out. Quite frankly it does sometimes and maybe we have gained a small victory, but in the process lost some desire to communicate with the other person. When this happens distance is created in the relationship.
We don't just say it because we avoid a fight that way. I can tell you that for me this is true. When people come to me with issues about me that I disagree with I typically get angry first and get rational second. I am not saying that this is good, it is just the way I am and because of that I think that people who know me best may not even "just say it" to me. (side note this is not an call to everyone who has ever wanted to tell me something to come out of the wood works. I did not say I had a handle on it yet) HA HA

Maybe we need to take a que from the master confronter Jesus about just saying it. I was studying last week for my message and I was using the passage in John 4 about the woman at the well and Jesus engages her in conversation and the communication does not go very long until Jesus "Just says it" He lays out in front of her just who she is and what her life is like and in that moment she has to respond. There is no small talk, Jesus gets straight to the point because He know that if the woman deals with that issue many of the other things will fall in line.

Maybe this week you need to have some of those "Just Say It Already" conversations and see what happens. hey at least you will not have to spend 3 hours talking about nothing and get nothing resolved. Just know that in these types of conversations there is someone else involved and they may not respond the way that you want them to immediately. Give them time to process everything and consider coming back for a follow-up conversation.

Talk to you all Wednesday

relevant update halloween

2008-10-31T10:21:00.001-04:00

It's Been A While

2008-10-29T11:37:00.004-04:00

Well I was shocked to see how long it has been since I last blogged. And quite frankly I guess I just got out of the swing of things. I have since turned to Twittering because they are short bits of thoughts and I can then move on. I guess some would call this laziness while other may just assume that I have nothing really to say. Both of which could be true on any given day. So what I have decided to do is at least post something new three times per week. One will be spiritual in nature, one will be personal, and one will be leadership oriented. I think this will help me be accountable to actually do it and I will have implemented a system. So we will try it and see how things go. Here will be the schedule:

Monday- Sunday reflections/ leadership "careful I am sometimes grumpy on Monday

Wednesday- Spiritual

Friday- Personal/ update This will probably be via video so we will see how that goes.

Since today is Wednesday and we are launching this thing today I guess I need to talk about something spiritual. Well this morning I was able to visit a dear friend who was recently involved in what should have been a fatal motorcycle accident, however my friend Fred Stubbs is now in a rehab facility doing amazing. I know that this does not sound extremely spiritual but when I was with him this morning he was sharing how he has so much more to do for God and BTW he is 70 years young. I could not help but think of all of the people in the Bible who when they were old they we still doing great things for God. Moses, Abraham, Noah, David and many many more. When I looked at Fred and the adversity he has endured through the past few months and then compared it to the men of the Bible who were up there in years I was struck with something. I meet a ton of young church planters and pastors who get mad and even run at the first sign of adversity and yet this man I was with today was saying I want to endure through this adversity so that I can have more opprotunities to share Jesus with people. WOW!! I think Fred has once again taught me something. Adversity does not prevent you from ministering, it can actually enable you to minister on a whole new level. Thanks Fred!! you have taught me something one again. I think I understand Paul's passage a little better now.

Phillipians 4:11-13 (NLT)
11Not that I was ever in need, for I have learned how to get along happily whether I have much or little. 12I know how to live on almost nothing or with everything. I have learned the secret of living in every situation, whether it is with a full stomach or empty, with plenty or little. 13For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need.

I will choose to live in the moment that God has given me now and realize I will never have this opportunity again. So I will make the most of it. People around all of us today need to know that they can make it and it is our responsibility to let them know that they can through the power of Jesus. Thanks for modeling that Fred.

Susie and I are excited to announce the pre-release book/workbook, “30daysexchallenge-A Journey to Intimacy”

2008-06-27T08:07:00.004-04:00

With all of the buzz about 30 days of sex, 101 days of sex, and even 365 days of sex, we are confident that those who are looking to improve their relationship for the long-run will find that 30daysexchallenge-A Journey to Intimacy, will provide them with the knowledge and practical help that they will need in order to build intimacy, not just for 30 days, but for the rest of their lives together. 30daysexchallenge takes a holistic approach to intimacy and guides the couple into four mini-challenges: spiritual, emotional, sexual, and physical. After each challenge is studied the couple is ready to engage in 30 days of sex. However, the challenge is not just 30 days of sex. We have provided 30 days of questions that encourages continued intimacy in the four areas studied, and will cultivate and promote an environment of love and passion.

But don’t take our word for it. Hear what Dr. David Clarke has to say about the 30daysexchallenge-A Journey to Intimacy.

“Do you want to learn how to bond with your spouse spiritually and emotionally? Do you want a better-much better-sex life? Of course you do. I do. We all do. The 30 Day Sex Challenge will help you get the marital intimacy you've lost. It's easy to read, refreshingly honest, intensely practical, and based on the Bible. Best of all, it works!”

David Clarke, Ph.D.
Christian psychologist and author of Cinderella Meets the Caveman

To purchase a pre-release copy of the book click below:

Sometime I am too Blessed

2008-06-16T20:53:00.002-04:00

I received an email from a dear friend and children's worker of our today and it was about my daughter Ashlyn through the eyes of two other children. I truly have never been so touched in all my life. I am blessed to have a daughter like Ashlyn and friends like this. I hope this blesses you as much as it did me.

I just a discussion with my sons that I thought I would share. I've been working in children's church the last couple of weeks. Today Wesly was watching Ashlyn. He caught me off to the side and began asking questions (for 10 I thought he was very discreet). I told him we'd talk later. As is our tradition at the end of the day when tucking them in we talk about things that happened that day and Ashlyn came up. As best I could I explained the situation. I explained that she was sick... and that despite her body growing up her mind was staying very much like a child. I couldn't think of a better way to explain it. Wesly had quite a few questions. After the expected bout of questions... how she got sick... was it contagious...etc. He looked at me and teared up and said... "Daddy... she's not going to get better is she?" My answer (through tears) was that there was no known cure. But that in history smart men have been blessed by God to find cures for things that were thought to be impossible to cure.... that I didn't know if we would see a cure in our lifetimes or not, but that it wasn't impossible. He thought about it for a while and began to cry. I asked if I could help him with something... and he said "I bet her mommy and daddy cry." Then we all teared up. After a minute he comforted me and said, "Daddy... when we get to heaven she wont be sick anymore.... remember... you said there is no sickness there." In amazement at that statement... I agreed and tucked them in and stepped out. After a minute Wesly called me back into the room. He explained that he no longer wanted to be an Ice Cream maker when he grew up (this has been his dream for a year or so). I asked him why not... and he told me that he wanted to be a scientist researcher... and find a cure because he wanted to see her better before heaven. After I composed myself I told him that he was a smart boy and if thats what he wanted to do I believed he may be able to do it someday.

At this point Jacob... who had been on the bottom bunk listening the whole time piped in and said, "I know what I want to do." Wes and I both looked and he said, "I just want to be her friend."

Wow.

I debated sending this email.... I'm sure you guys get alot of emails from folks about it... and I didn't want to be just another email or comment from folks about how they felt sorry for you... but the insight from the minds of children I thought was a blessing that I couldn't help but share. God has blessed you and placed a burden that we cant fathom and wont pretend to. Just wanted to let you guys know that our family prays for you and that there are two little boys over here tonight that have absolutely determined that they are going to be Ashyln's friend. And a daddy who cant stop tearing up.

She will be healed one day!!!! Thank you God.

Mental Toughness Recap

2008-05-28T10:59:00.001-04:00

So this past Sunday we looked at the idea of "McGyvering It". Do you remember the show McGyver he was amazing!! I have never seen anyone in a bomer jacket with a mullet as sweet as his do so many cool things, and all in the middle of stressful situations. So this begs the question, how do you respond in the middle of crisis or stress? From athletes, to zoo keepers we all deal with situations that cause us to scratch our heads sometimes and wonder how in the world that we are going to make it through. I think that the key to all of this is mental toughness. I know for me every morning I am faced with the reality that there is a treadmill and weight bench calling my name and I have a choice to make when my body says no to have my mind say yes. And I can honestly say that for the past 30 days I have worked out 5 days per week and the amazing thing is that my body is responding to my mind telling it what it is supposed to do. To date I have lost 15lbs and have lost a whole pants size. I am stoked and am really loving the way that I am feeling because of it. So I just wanted to encourage everyone where ever you are on this journey of fitness to just not quit keep going and the results will follow. I think that this is true physically, spiritually, and mentally. So here are the key points from this past weekend in case you missed them.

Tools for Mental Toughness:

1. Listen to the experts. PRAY ABOUT EVERYTHING Check out success stories in magazines and the Internet - fitness, money, or otherwise - you'll find they are people JUST LIKE YOU. So if they can do it, WHY CAN'T YOU?

Philippians 4:13 (NLT)
13For I can do everything with the help of Christ who gives me the strength I need.

2. No pain, no gain vs. Patience, pacing, and persistence. PUT INTO PRACTICE WHAT YOU LEARNED. When you realize that failure and handicaps have NOT prevented winners in any area of life, you gain more confidence and courage to pursue your own dreams.

Phil 4:9
9Keep putting into practice all you learned from me and heard from me and saw me doing, and the God of peace will be with you.

3. "What next?" thinking. "KEEP MOVING FORWARD" -"Walt Disney" Give yourself solution-oriented feedback when solving your problems. Don't dwell on what went wrong. What are you going to do about it? Spend your energy on moving forward, finding an answer.

Phil 4:12
12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be.

4. Get comfortable with the unfamiliar. Make it a part of your daily routine to do something totally different than what you normally do. You'll be better prepared to handle diverse environments with greater calm and confidence.

Matthew 5:43-48 (The Message)
43“You’re familiar with the old written law, ‘Love your friend,’ and its unwritten companion, ‘Hate your enemy.’ 44I’m challenging that. I’m telling you to love your enemies. Let them bring out the best in you, not the worst. When someone gives you a hard time, respond with the energies of prayer, 45for then you are working out of your true selves, your God-created selve

5. THINK AND SPEAK WELL OF YOUR HEALTH. THINK ABOUT WHAT IS TRUE AND RIGHT. We tend to make real what is the "main feature" of ourselves. What's YOUR "main feature"?

Phil 4:8
8 And now, dear brothers and sisters, let me say one more thing as I close this letter. Fix your thoughts on what is true and honorable and right.

6. Don't be a victim of ads and fads. DON'T COPY THE BEHAVIORS AND CUSTOMS OF THIS WORLD. Yes, the world is full of greedy people looking for a fast and easy way to put your money in their pockets. Make sure the thing that impresses you meets your criteria, and satisfies your concerns.

Romans 12:2
2Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.

7. Hang out with people who have already achieved their goals or who are dedicated to goals similar to yours. Avoid associating with people who have the same unresolved problems or who are frustrated by their lack of achievement. You know, the pity parties. "Oh, woe is me. My life is in an upheaval. How about you?" "You poor thing. Woe is me, too. I feel terrible about myself. How about you?"

Proverbs 27:17
17As iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend.

8. Focus on desired results. Pure and simple: winners dwell on the rewards of success. Losers focus on mistakes and failure. Do what's necessary NOW. Be in the present. Then you don't have to worry about what happened yesterday or what's going to happen tomorrow.

Philippians 4:12-14 (NLT)
12I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. 13No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to heave

9. Expect the unexpected. You can't control what happens and what others do. You can anticipate what MAY happen, and prepare for them as best you can. You can also control your response to what happens.

Philippians 4:6-8
6Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. 7If you do this, you will experience God’s peace, which is far more wonderful than the human mind can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus.

Hope this helps you guys on your journey.

Thursday Morning Thoughts

2008-05-15T10:03:00.003-04:00

This week has been a roller coaster week, so to speak, around here and it has prompted me to reflect on a few things that I thought I would share with everyone.

1. Life is really short- Monday night I received a phone call from one of our members informing me that Dr. Forrest Pollock and his son had gone missing in their plane. Tuesday morning the search was over and they had found Dr. Pollock's plane wreckage and there were no survivors. I could not help but think of his wife and other 5 children and a church family that is crushed by this whole situation. I hugged my kids a bit tighter Tuesday night and reflected on the idea of what legacy would I leave if God were to take me home today.

2. Comebacks are awesome- I know that you have not heard a baseball story in a while so here is one for the record books. As many of you know Anthony has been playing his first season of baseball and at the beginning of the season things were not going so well. That is not the case now. He is now batting second and is about to make me go broke because of a deal I made with him that for every hit I would give him $5. Well Tuesday night was the second round of the tournament and our Tigers were down 7-0 in the bottom of the 3rd inning. I told Anthony this game is not over if you guys will just play your game. So that inning they did just that and scored the max 5 runs. So we have a score of 7-5 at the top of the 4th inning well things did not go so well on defense and the other team scored 2 more runs making it 9-5 in the bottom of the fourth inning. Well this was going to be it because there was not enough time to play another inning, however, we were at the bottom of our batting order. You know the guys who struggle a bit when they are up to bat. Well the 5th, 6th, and 7th batter got on base and then scored on pass balls then the 8th batter struck out. So here we were the score 9-8 with batters 9-11 up. Well number 9 leads off with a single up the middle, then number 10 hits a double to right field and the game is all tied up with the number 11 batter up. Now you must know that the number 11 batter has only had 2 hits all season. But tonight was his night, he has a great swing but has just not connected with one yet. Well he takes a strike, then a ball, then another strike, then another ball, then he connects and it is a bomb to right field that goes all the way to the fence. Well, crazy legs as we call him is trucking around the bases and by the time he gets to third he has caught up with the number 10 guy and they both run home for a 11-9 win. WOW!!! Can you believe a bunch of 9, 10, and 11 year old kids have the heart to come back for certain defeat. Why is it that as adults when faced with difficult times we often times quit instead of busting through and see the win? Boy I sure enjoyed watching and learning from theses kids. I want to be like them.

Working out is actually fun- yes I know that this sounds crazy but I am actually enjoying doing this whole workout thing. I am now on week three and I have not missed a day. I am so stoked . I have not checked the weight this week yet because I usually do that on Friday but I will let you know. I trust that many of you have decided to get off of the couch during this series and will continue the journey to fitness. Here is what one person said after viewing the burst training video.

Yeah!!!!
I am so glad I go to Relevant Church!!
I downloaded the Rocky sound track to my iPOD and Monday when the video didn't make it online I went jogging and jammed out eye of the tiger!
Today I am going out to my shed and dust off that old home gym wait bench!
I wasn't going to do it but after watching Paul do the burst training I gota try it ha ha!
You Guys Rock!

Well if you have not checked out the video or tried the Burst Training check out the BLOG. Let me remind you this is pretty intense.

Paul

Sweatin to the 80's is sometimes just sweatin

2008-05-13T09:39:00.004-04:00

Well Sunday we launched our "Sweatin to the 80's" series amid some killer 80's tunes, "Eye of the Tiger" to be exact. I think it is amazing how much I feel like working out when I have the right music playing on my ipod. Now I know that there are some people who can work out and listen to sermons or books, but I am not one of those guys. I really need some driving guitar licks and head banging music of the 80's to really get me going. So to help people "get off of the couch" and get moving we have created a workout video with me as your coach. Now I know what you are saying "Paul you as a coach? Don't you need this as much as anyone?" to which I would respond Yes. That is why I am sort of a player/ coach. You see I am actually doing the workouts with you. It is kind of funny and serious at the same time. Check it out at our church blog.

So I thought I would drop in here the main points from Sunday just in case anyone missed out or would like to refer back to the main points of the "Eye of the Tiger" message you can also check out the podcast from Sunday's service on our web site:

Main passage for series

Hebrews 12:1-2 (NLT)
1Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a huge crowd of witnesses to the life of faith, let us strip off every weight that slows us down, especially the sin that so easily hinders our progress. And let us run with endurance the race that God has set before us. 2We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, on whom our faith depends from start to finish.

Practical biblical tools for exercise

1. get off of the couch

stop making excuses for not working out
we cannot hire someone to exercise for us we have to do it ourselves

Proverbs 26:13-15 (The Message)
13Loafers say, “It’s dangerous out there! Tigers are prowling the streets!” and then pull the covers back over their heads. 14Just as a door turns on its hinges, so a lazybones turns back over in bed. 15A shiftless sluggard puts his fork in the pie, but is too lazy to lift it to his mouth.

2. Stop raiding the fridge

stop making it about what you eat and make it about how much you eat
a great web site to help track your food intake for you is Myfooddiary.com
to many people quite because they hate the food that they have to eat. Start by adding God food back into you diet.

Proverbs 23:1-3 (The Message)
1When you go out to dinner with an influential person, mind your manners: 2Don’t gobble your food, don’t talk with your mouth full. 3And don’t stuff yourself; bridle your appetite.

Proverbs 23:20-21 (The Message
20Don’t drink too much wine and get drunk; don’t eat too much food and get fat.21Drunks and gluttons will end up on skid row, in a stupor and dressed in rags.

3. Get a partner

Use the buddy system
Friends don’t let friends work out alone

Proverbs 27:6, 17 (NLT)
6Wounds from a friend are better than many kisses from an enemy.
17As iron sharpens iron, a friend sharpens a friend.

4. Get moving

stop watching people work out and start working out
stop talking about working out and just start

I Corinthians 9:24-27 (NLT)
24Remember that in a race everyone runs, but only one person gets the prize. You also must run in such a way that you will win. 25All athletes practice strict self-control. They do it to win a prize that will fade away, but we do it for an eternal prize. 26So I run straight to the goal with purpose in every step. I am not like a boxer who misses his punches. _ 27I discipline my body like an athlete, training it to do what it should. Otherwise, I fear that after preaching to others I myself might be disqualified.

We live in a culture that is obsessed with the physical body. My prayer is that by earning their respect in regards to the honoring the body that God has given me that I may earn a right to share with them about the love that Christ has for them and their body. Spiritually and physically. I do not want to be disqualified from being able to speak into peoples lives.
What about you?

Happy workout.

Paul

the workout video will be up sometime this afternoon. Sorry about the delay.

Sweatin to the 80's is sometimes just sweatin

2008-05-08T11:16:00.004-04:00

Well this weekend launches our brand new series "Sweatin to the 80's" and as many of you may know the staff and I started working out at the YMCA everyday for the last two weeks. Well I am excited to say that this past week I have lost 5lbs. I am so stoked about this I can hardly stand it. I know that it is not much but it is a start and I am pumped.

Know I want everyone to know that this series is going to be much more than just physical fitness. We are going to deal with emotional fitness, spiritual fitness, and our churches fitness as a whole. But this week we are going to focus our attention on our physical bodies.

Here are a couple of things I have noticed since I have begun to work out again. And please remember I am not the poster child for GNC. I struggle with a need for some double cheeseburger actions all the time.

Having a partner makes all the difference. Knowing that people are depending on me everyday to be there motivates me to get up every morning and workout.
When I work out I feel better about myself. I do not know what it is but when I am working out I feel better about my whole appearance even though there have not been significant changes yet.
My attitude is better. Maybe I just had a bad attitude before, but now I seem to be a bit more even tempered. My staff may disagree though.

During this journey we are going to be giving you tool to help you along the journey. So start looking at our Blog starting Monday for your first training schedule.

FYI message follow-up

2008-04-28T13:34:00.002-04:00

WOW!!! Yesterday was amazing at Relevant. I know that I told you that I would post some more Bible study helps for you today so here goes. I am going to give you the sketch outline from yesterday to make sure that you follow the proper format when approaching the Bible for Study.

1. Remember that you have to read it if you are going to ever get anything out of it

Read about what you dealing with right now.

anger
pride
lust
patience
questions about God
etc

A great source for this is Path Lights.

2. Find out the meaning of the passage that you are reading.

Ask the following questions

Who? is in the story? is it written too? wrote it?
What? is it about? kind of culture is it? type of people are they?
Where? are the people located? is the writer?
When? did the story take place?
Why? was the story written, did the situation happen?

A great resource for this type of bible study is God Squad .

This form of Biblical study is call the inductive Bible Study Method for a detailed program of inductive Bible Study Methods check out Into Thy Word.

3. Apply what you have read

Remember Information without application will never lead to transformation and the reason the Bible was written was for our transformation.
Application happens when you see your story as it related to the stories in the Bible not as you place yourself into the stories of the Bible.

4. Model what you have learned, examined, and applied

as we model what we have learned others will catch on as well.
people cannot follow what is not modeled.

I hope that this will help each of you continue in your journey with Jesus.

Remember what Starbucks says about what they supply.

flavors our senses
sweetens my disposition
stirs my imagination
nourishes my dreams

If Starbucks can do all of that I wonder what God could do in our lives if we would feast on His word.

Things I learned at Leadership Live day 1

2008-04-24T09:06:00.002-04:00

This has been an amazing 24 hours so far. I told Susie last night it is hard to put into words everything that i have learned. But I thought I would put down a few of the highlights from yesterday.

The most dangerous person on your team is not the one who opposes you it is the one who is just out of alignment
people follow for a variety of reasons

some because of your marriage

some because of your education

some because of you life stage

people will watch how I handle conflict
people will leave for as many reasons as they came to you church
team will out perform individuals every time
Every leader must get a stranglehold on what they are not good at
where you step today will be where you stand tomorrow so make sure you are careful where you step
The easier the product is to access the more people will utilize it

This is how to get your volunteers to reproduce what you want

people model what gets noticed
people model what get celebrated
What get celebrated and noticed gets replicated

Well there are a few things from day one it has been incredible so far I cannot wait to learn more today. Here is what I think is the most amazing thing about the SMT at Granger they are just real guys who are doing ministry together and want to help others. They are approachable. WOW that is a huge difference from other SMT's of other large churches.

More later.

It has been a while

2008-04-16T15:29:00.002-04:00

I know it has been a while but quite frankly I had to take a break with all of the stuff going on with the 30 day sex challenge. That was some crazy stuff let me tell you. I was thrilled at the opportunity God gave us but I really am glad it has slowed down. I have been spending some time with the family recently. Susie and I went to Costa Rica for 4 days and then we took the kids to Disney for spring break. It was an awesome time of refreshing. We just launched a new series called "TXT" it seems to be going great and we are working on our next two series after that "sweatin with the 80's" and our summer movie series. Both of these should be great. Well I have a leadership thing I am going to share tomorrow. Just thought I would say God has been great here and Relevant is still the best place in the world to serve.

What is it costing you?

2008-03-12T08:42:00.003-04:00

Two days ago we had about 10 pastors here for our monthly gathering of church planters. This is always a great time to get together and share ideas, struggles, and just life together. As I was preparing for the meeting and our challenge for the day this idea of cost kept coming up in my head. For weeks now the word cost has just been buzzing around every area of my life. So as I was preparing for my talk I started unpacking this idea of cost and here is what I came up with.

What is pastoring or church planting costing you right now?

I really believe that pastoring and church planting cost more than many men and women are willing to pay. And I totally understand that. But I really do get tired of hearing pastors of church plants say "I really hope we can find a place where we do not have to set up anymore" In a perfect world that would be great but I know that Saddleback Church did not have a building for 10 years and grew to over 10,000 people I bet that it cost them some stuff.
We are blessed in the fact that we can store a lot of our stuff at our rented facility but we still have a major set up and tear down on Sunday morning. In some ways I wonder just how we would plug that many people into serving if we did not have those jobs for them. Some of them will never be children's workers or greeters but they are fulfilled when they serve setting up and tearing down and they are awesome.

As a church planter I heard a guy once say that as a church plant pastor, you are the chief, cook and bottle washer. Basically he was letting me know you do everything for a while and then you as a leader enlist other people to join you in serving. Bill Hybels once said that we should never be ashamed to ask people to serve because we are giving them an opportunity to serve the King of Kings and that is so much bigger than any fortune 500 gig they could ever have. The problem happens when after 6 months or a year and you still have the same people helping every week and you have not enlisted anyone else to join you on the journey. We are blessed to have over 100 volunteers serving at Relevant. WOW!!! you volunteers rock my world every week.

Peter Drucker once said "whenever you see a successful business, someone once made a courageous decision"

That is so true and courageous decisions are not made while counting pennies they are made while spending courageously. Notice I did not say spending foolishly but courageously. There is a huge difference. We can spend foolishly and get no results or spend courageously and watch God show up big.

I was drawn to the story of King David in II Samuel 24 where David was going to build an altar and offering a sacrifice to God. Now the story goes that David went to build an altar to sacrifice a burnt offering to appease the anger of God but when he arrived at the place where he was to build the altar the man there said that he would give him everything to build the altar and he would even give him the animal to offer. Now I know most church planter that I roll wit would see this as an answered prayer and say God this is cool you have provided again just like you did when Abraham was going to offer up Issac. But for some reason David said no and I think his comments are piercing. Here is what he said "No, I insist on buying it, for I will not present burnt offerings to the Lord my God that have cost me nothing.” I wonder how many times we are offering up to God an offering that does not cost us anything.

I remember as a kid my parent would say just wait until you have to pay for things yourself then you will learn to appreciate them. They were right; now I find myself saying the same things to my kids. You see when things cost us something we work hard at them and we lay ourselves on the line to make sure that they make it but when it cost us nothing then we have nothing to lose.

I know for me this whole idea of church planting has cost Susie and I and our team a great deal; security, relationships, support, sleep, finances and much more but the rewards of lives being changed is so worth it.

My challenge to you today is that if you are a church leader and what you are doing right now is not costing you anything. Take a good hard look at your ministry and you life and ask God what He may be asking you to spend. Remember comfort is the breading ground for complacency and complacency only leads to a critical spirit. If you find yourself criticizing more than creating you may be in the dreaded comfort zone and not in the cost zone. In the cost zone you must create or you will go bankrupt. Think about it.

Paul

Birthday Week

2008-03-04T08:52:00.003-05:00

I know many of you have had those weeks where someone in your family is having birthday and so you are running around all week making preparations for the big day. Well that is happening for me this week except instead of one birthday in our house this week there are 3 yes that is right three. Ashlyn's (12) was yesterday, Susie's (I am not supposed to say 40) is Friday, and Anthony's (9) is Saturday, so need less to say there is some stress in our house this week. It is kind of cool to have them all so close together because I never forget them but the special day sort of thing is lost a bit because everything is so close together. You know we go from princess stuff. to over the hill stuff, to power rangers, I thought an Old Princess Ranger would be a cool twist but I did not receive any takers on the idea.
So we celebrated our little princess's birthday party on Sunday after church and Ashlyn was thrilled. You know sometimes her being special needs teaches me a ton of things. She received several presents but they were not huge dollar items, however, she just loved the fact that someone got her something and she was able to open gifts. After Susie wrapped one of her gifts Saturday night Ashlyn looked at it she said OH a new puzzle!! How did she know? But she kept it wrapped all night and even took it to church the next day clutching it in her arms because it was her present.
This got me thinking God has given us His son as our gift and many times I decide not to take him anywhere with me. I wonder why that is? Could it be that we do not view Him as being as special as He once was? Could we be treating Him like kids do with many toys "they are great for a while but then we want something different? I am reminded of a verse that maybe we all need to commit to memory.

Heb 4:12 (NLT)
12For the word of God is full of living power. It is sharper than the sharpest knife, cutting deep into our innermost thoughts and desires. It exposes us for what we really are.

The word of God is Living Power that means it should continually satisfy us. Just like in this series we are daily focusing on the intimacy with our spouses we need to be focusing our attention on our relationship with Christ as well.

OK so I have to go now I still have two parties to plan. BTW if anyone has any ideas about what to do for Susie's 40 please leave me some comments. I need some help.

Paul

Things I am learning

2008-02-26T09:11:00.004-05:00

Well we are 9 days into the 30 day sex challenge and the media buzz is still very alive. So today I wanted to write out what I have learned over the last 13 days from all of this:

The media is not our enemy. I say this because for the most part every main stream media outlet that I have spoken with has been more respectful to me and our our church than many religious people.

People believe what they want to believe even if the facts are right in front of them.

You really know who your true friends are when your are in the spotlight.

TD Jakes is amazing. I heard his message at C3 the other night and I wept. I cannot find it online yet but it was amazing. Thanks for bringing the word TD, God used you like you will never know.

New friend pop up that just bless your socks off like Mike Glenn from First Baptist of Brentwood. Thanks for the encouragement dude.

You pray like crazy. My wife and I have had a couple of all night prayer meeting over the last week that have been more amazing than any church service I have ever been to.

God is so much bigger than me. I am amazed and humbled that God would use me to share His plan for marriage and relationships to the masses. He really does have the best plan for singles and married people alike.

I love our people at Relevant. As I watched some interviews of couples taking the challenge everything that we prayed is beginning to happen. Couples are beginning to talk to each other and read the Bible together, they are turning the TV off and actually communicating with each other all the while meeting each other deepest emotional needs. Yeah God

I have the most amazing prayer team. They have been praying for me and Susie and our family nonstop since before we even launched this series. Thank you prayer warriors Susie and I have really felt your prayers.

Well I am off to a creative meeting with our team to pray and plan our next series "TXT" Trust me this one is going to stretch each of us spiritually like never before.

Paul

Relevant update 2.22.08

2008-02-22T14:02:00.001-05:00

Here is my update from this morning

My Prayer Time Today

2008-02-19T08:37:00.002-05:00

Well I had an extended prayer time today because God woke me up at 3am. I am not complaining although I did wake Susie up as well. So she may be a little sleepy this morning. I will tell you this when God does these sort of thing in my life I usually just go back to sleep but this morning was different. Susie and I enjoyed the most incredible time of prayer together and talking about what God was doing with this whole 30 days things and we just gave it back over to God and said this is all yours do whatever you want with it to make Your name famous. I truly believe God wants to restore marriages and relationship back to the way He intended them to be and for 30 days if we will do it His way I think there could be a revolution. Let pray that way.

Here is a verse that kept popping into my head this morning.

John 3:14-15
14Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, 15so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

This is my prayer in all of this that the Name of Jesus would be made famous over all of the earth.

Paul

What a weekend

2008-02-18T14:38:00.003-05:00

So there I was in my office on Valentines Day finishing up my message for Sunday and planning on a nice quiet evening with Susie over in Orlando when I get an email from someone letting me know that the story about our new series "The 30 Day Sex Challenge" was one the newspapers web site. I thought that was cool so I went and read the article and was pleased that God had given us favor and a story was being written about our church and our new series. What I did not know was what was about to take place over the next 72 hours. From that moment around 2:30pm on Thursday I have spoken with every network TV station in Tampa and have been contacted by a half a dozen radio stations we even made Fox News Nationally on Friday afternoon. Crazy

What I think is crazy is that when the church decides to talk about sex "God's Idea" the media go bananas and the "Christians" get mad. I can say that the vast majority of main stream media has been very kind to us and as clear as they can be without being a church. I think ABC Action News did the best job so far. They were out last night at our evening service. It was cool to see our band rocking on TV.

I write all of this to say that I am humbled by the fact that God would use us to do this think called church planting. Our goal in this whole series is to draw people to a closer relationship with Christ and a closer relationship with their spouse if they are married and if they are single to understand that singleness is not a bad thing it is incredible.

If you want to know more about the challenge you can go to our churches blog I will be posting there each day of the 30 day challenge. Hey if you are married or single why not join us for the journey. All the information that you need can be found at the blog site. If you do decide to join us please let us know so we can track the success of the series.

If you are local it looks like I am going to be on the radio with Nancy and Chris in the morning Tuesday at 7:40am on Mix 100.7 Please pray for me.

Peace

Giant Suprise

2008-02-04T20:05:00.000-05:00

WOW! I did not see that coming. Did any of you? As I tuned in to the super bowl last night I was quite dis-interested in who was playing. I mean one team is just to perfect and the other team seems to have a teenager as a quarterback. So as I settled in to my couch just to watch the commercials I begin to see this team emerge from the shadows of the perfect to completely disrupt the powerhouse Patriots. As I watched the scene unfold I found myself drawn into the excitement of rooting for the underdog. By the end of the game I was standing up rooting for the young Manning to win it all. It felt good to see the impossible happen. I mean no one really gave them a chance and yet they came out victorious.
This got me thinking I wonder how many of us in our faith walk feel a bit like an underdog and do not feel like we will ever end up on the win side of the win/ loss column. I know I have felt that way many time in my faith journey and for the most part when I feel that way I am prone to quit or get discouraged. Maybe you feel this way too sometimes. Well here are a few things I am learning about God on this journey of faith I am on.

1. God is not like me a fickle fan who only likes winners. In fact He specializes in failures and misfits. Read some of the stories of the disciples> Now that was a Motley Crew.

2. God specializes in turning Losers to winners. Just check out this verse.

3. God knows that the win is not always seen right away. Sometimes you have to wait a few days. Read this you will get the picture.

4. God knows the art of Declaring the win.

What's In Your Wallet

2008-01-24T10:13:00.000-05:00

Well We have been going through this new series called "Green" for the past few weeks and man has it been incredible. The first week we tackled the MasterCard slogan "what's in your wallet" and I think we really made some strides with this whole idea of debt and also how to put a little more green back in your wallet. Here are some stories that I received from people after last week.

story 1:

The way I save money is by washing clothing...I find miscellaneous dollar bills and I hide them until things get a little tight. Each week I try and put away about $10 and then when necessary...my stash becomes the saving grace..:) (Tip: Switch hiding places often...)
Also, I try to pay about 15% ahead on all the bills...when there is an emergency (car breaks down or Christmas comes around the corner and nothing has been purchased yet), no stress. The bills are tiny and non threatening.

Story 2:

When you go out to eat with you wife or significant other split every thing except the drink and you will find yourself spending about 1/2 the money and eating about 1/2 the calories. Also you most likely won't have left overs that sit in the fridge accumulating mold that will just get thrown out next week when the smell hits you as you look for a snack!

story 3:

Because of your teaching we spent some of Sunday afternoon creating a budget which included getting to our safety net goal, determining how much we could spend on fun every month, specific events for this year that we are saving for, and determining exactly what are our financial goals.

I know these are just a few and I am sure that there are many more but I guess I really just want us to stop spending money that we do not have and really start learning the principle of paying off debt and living within our means. There are so many people who could do some incredible things for God and for their families but they are strapped to the man because of debt and by the man I do not mean their boss I mean their creditors. Here is what Proverbs says.
Proverbs 22:7
Just as the rich rule the poor, so the borrower is servant to the lender.

What does that verse say to you? please leave comments. Also I have included the video that we used for the transition. I think This nails it one the head. Enjoy.

How to Stay Out of Debt

2008-01-24T10:11:00.001-05:00

WOW I can's believe it's been 3 years

2008-01-17T09:35:00.000-05:00

So I was came face to face with the reality that we are no longer a church plant but a church the other day when we celebrated our 3rd year anniversary. Yes that is right on January the 9 Relevant turned 3 years old. I know if you have been around here for a while it seems crazy that we are that old but we are. Here are just a few things that have amazed me over the past 3 years and also things that I am thankful for.

1. Thanks Perry for telling me to jump I really needed a friend to tell me straight just do it if God is calling you. And you have not stopped since then. Thanks dude you are an inspiration.

2. Thanks Kevin, Charlotte, Jamie, Carly, and Susie for believing in me even when I questioned myself. You guys are the best. I will never forget some of those meetings with just the 6 of us in a living room dreaming of what Relevant might be and now look at it. God is so good.

3. Thanks Carl and Kristin you are the best worship leader in the country and you listened to God and came on the dream of what God could do here at Relevant. You were worth the risk of having no money. You guys are incredible.

4. Thanks Bay Life Church. You guys have been such a great support church. You prepared me for the journey I am now on.

5. Thanks to the people who started with us in the hotel ballroom and are still with us today at the Italian Club. You guys serve like no other church in America.

6. Thanks Jason for serving here while working at other places just to be a part of Relevant your kind of commitment is rare.

So now that I have thanked people I just want to thank God because without Him I know I would be stuck in the burbs not having a blast in the city.

God I am amazed everyday that you choose to let me be a part of your big plan here at Relevant.

Thanks for proving all of our critics wrong who said that a church for 20 and 3o somethings was impossible.

Thanks for the over 150 people who have been baptized over the last 3 years.

Thanks for crazy growth. from 120 on the first Sunday to over 350 after just 3 years that is 50% growth per year. Only you can do that.

Thanks for taking care of us financially. Without outside support once we launched You God provided for every need. I am in awe of that.

From 1 service in Jan of 05 to two services 9 months later to three services one year after that WOW God you are awesome.

Over 100 volunteers serving each weekend just to make sure we make the name of Jesus famous.

God you allowed us to rebuild a house for a widow on our 1 year anniversary. WOW

I know I could go on and on at what God has done over the past 3 years . I am so blessed to be able to serve here at Relevant. But the past 3 years have not been without their challenges and I am sure that this year will not be any different. All I can say is I am ready for the challenges of 08 and I am ready to see how God blows us away this year.

The Least You Could Do

2008-01-04T15:48:00.001-05:00

Here is the new video for our Spring Growth Groups. The song was written by our worship guy Carl. I know I want to join a group now. How about you? Why not choose to not do life alone in 2008. Join a group today. For more info about growth groups view the following video of James our Growth Group Pastor.

GG Spring Welcome

2008-01-02T17:44:00.001-05:00

Crazy Christmas Gifts

2007-12-18T12:17:00.001-05:00

I don't know if any of you do crazy things for your kids at Christmas. But Susie and I have a problem I think. We start getting gifts around September just so we can get just the right gifts and also spread out the cost so that we can afford it. It works pretty well until one week before Christmas you find your sons Christmas list that he has wrote out and in big bold print he has the one thing you did not get. For us this year it was a puppy. now if you know anything about our family we have tried to do the dog thing twice now and not had such good luck one ended with Anthony in the hospital getting his ear re-attached and the other ended with a child from our church with teeth marks in his head. But when you read as a parent I would give everything back if I could just have a dog. WOW that cuts deep. So yesterday I set out on my quest to find a good dog for my family and that quest landed me in Miami 5 hours from home. But I have secured the dog that I hope will make a little boys dream come true. By the way it is a Dachshund, pictures will follow later.

So I was thinking of the verses in the new testament where Jesus says:
If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him!
Matthew 7:11 NIV

If this is true than why do we not ask for more things from our heavenly dad. I wonder if when we pray He acts like I did when I say Anthony's list. Does He get all excited about the list because we finally asked Him for something? Does His heart leap a bit when He is sure that we are going to get it? Does He have a hard time waiting to give us the gift because He is so excited about our reaction. I think that of all of the emotion that I am feeling right now as I anticipate my kids reaction I think that they must pail in significance to how God (our heavenly Dad feels when he gives us gifts) I wonder if that is how He felt when He gave the world His son as the ultimate gift. Now that was a crazy gift. One we needed but quite frankly could not even fathom receiving but He gave it and we can receive it. WOW our God is so amazing. Thanks for the Gift God!!!!!

I Love December

2007-12-03T10:56:00.001-05:00

I do not know what it is about this month that just makes me happy but I know I am happier in December. It may be the fact that I am hoping for some new stuff for Christmas or the joy that I see on my kids face when they open their presents but The excitement is sturring. We have already put up all of our decorations in fact our tree went up the weekend before thanksgiving. We are much like the Griswalds when it comes to decorations, I really do desire to have the best in the neighborhood and have them up before everyone. But I guess one of the things that I am most excited about is our new Christmas series "The Best Christmas Ever" that we are launching this weekend.

I do not know if you have ever felt this way but it seems like most Christmas series that churches do revolve around what we do not do at Christmas and then what we should do. So this year we decided to just talk about what people actual do during the holidays and actually do the same as a church. So we are going to try and help people have the best Christmas ever. We are accomplishing this each week by giving random stuff away to unsuspecting people. We have already given a Wii away (the hottest game unit of 2007) and that is just the beginning. This truly is going to be the best Christmas Ever. Don't miss out.

It is Finally Fall

2007-11-08T08:49:00.000-05:00

Well Fall has finally arrived here in Tampa and it is awesome. I know some of you live in the north and fall has already come and gone and now you are staring down 3 to 4 months of winter. Well I just want to say here in Florida we have summer and fall and that is just fine with me. With Fall comes the anticipation of Halloween, Thanksgiving, and then Christmas. And this year is no different my kids are already getting out the Toys r Us catalog and picking out the toys that they want for Christmas. It is funny Anthony has a total of $3000 worth of toys picked out. I quickly told him he may need to scale it back by about 95%.
There is something else that I notice during this time of year. I seem to slow down a bit. You know when the weather is nice outside I do not find myself walking so fast from one place to another I just seem to stroll and enjoy the day. Which is quite unusal for me. This got me to thinking is this what it meant that Adam and Eve walked with God in the cool of the day. I wonder if in the garden the weather was like fall where it is cool enough for a jacket but so nice you wanted to stay as long as possible. I can honestly say that my time with God is not often like this where I just want to hang with him as long as possible. Often time mine is more like "drive-thru Jesus" where I order my spiritual life to go and try to make that work.
I guess all I am saying is that during this season I am going to try to take more strolls with God and just enjoy his company. Maybe you will join me.

WOW WHAT A WEEK

2007-10-24T10:55:00.000-04:00

We are gearing up for our third year of helping out with Guavaween which if you are not from Tampa it is a huge festival here in Ybor City. We will have over 100,000 people walk right in front of our church. Yeah God!!!! This year we are having a huge role in the dayime events with the sponsorship of the main stage where we will be bringing in the Jump5 tour along with Need to Breathe and the Veggie Tales. This is a huge family event with safe trick or treating, face painting and much more. We are expecting over 20,000 people just for the daytime activities. Then when the sun goes down the party really gets started and we walk in the night parade giving out glow bracelets to all of the party goers. We expect to make over 50,000 touches this weekend so please pray for us that God would do some amazing things with this event. I will let you know how it goes on Monday. Have an awesome week.

scared church

2007-10-11T09:14:00.000-04:00

Well I have been doing this church thing for some 17 years now. I know by my pic you are saying but how he only looks 25. I know I know shocking but it is true. Well over my years in ministry I have been extremely bold on occations and extremely sacred in others. In the times when I am bold I feel invigorated and full of life and feel like I can take on the world. However, when I am afraid and I function based on my fear it is cripling. So today I wanted to talk about what happens when you lead church in FEAR MODE.

Here are some things that I have seen when church leaders lead scared me included:

1. You risk very little- When you are scared and also leading you many time risk very little. Here is what I mean by this. fear says "what if we spend the money and no one comes" ; "what if people are offending by what we do or say" (who will be offended the Christian sub-culture or the people you are trying to reach) Risk was the only thing that the followers of Jesus had. They risked everything for the chance to make an impact. I often wonder why we are so concerned about what others think when God is asking us to risk big for Him. GCC challenged me with this when they chose to do "MyLameSexLife.com in the middle of Granger, Indiana. If they can do that in the middle of Indiana what is keeping us from risking for God.

2. You listen to the naysayers- When you are scared you listen to everyone who says I don't think we can do that people may be offended, or people might leave the church, what if people stop giving, or what will my fellow pastor friends think. I am sorry but if that is you maybe you are in the wrong field. Maybe you should join the traveling puppet team because that is all you are a puppet on a string. God did not call you to be a puppet he called you to lead and when leaders do not lead they cease to be leaders. I can tell you this if I had listened to all of the naysayers in my life Relevant Church would not exist. Maybe we should listen to God first. For more on listening check out my buddy Jamie's post has some interesting insight.

3. You conform rather than create- Most churches that I see right now look like every other church around them and they send out marketing pieces that look like everyone else's and then sit back and wonder why no one is coming to their churches. Maybe they feel like they have already been there and done that. I challenge you to create mantra in your church. Create an image that only you can do. The key is only you can be you and just because someone else across the city says that you cannot and should not do it a certain way does not mean that you have to listen to them. Be creative that is the way God made you he did not mean for you to conform. Romans 12 talks about that and I think that verses has as much to do with the Christian world view as it does with the so called secular world view whatever that is.

So here is my closing thought. DON'T BE SCARED!!! Be Bold and watch what God will do. Here is a quick example. We decided 3 years ago to partner with a local event company to help put on an event called Guavaween here in Tampa. The first year we just served then last year we provided candy now this year we are running one of the stages for the daytime activity. Well with that involvement comes criticism and financial burdens and this year we have taken on something that was way bigger than we could afford. And I will admit I have been scared because I like for my kids to eat. Well all I can say is that just today a check came in the mail for $5000 from someone who does not even attend our church and I can tell you God was saying to me very clearly DON'T BE SCARED.

So on out and and raise a few eyebrows and ruffle things up for the Kingdom with being afraid.

Peace out

Holy Crap I am stoked!!!

2007-10-09T10:28:00.000-04:00

All I can say is that sometime days go from suck to great. I know my last post was a bit of me ranting and that is just par for the Paul course for those of you who know me but like the A-Team "I love it when a plan comes together". Things this weekend here at Relevant were really awesome. We were continuing our series "Confession" which for those of you who do not know about it is a series we designed for the church to confess not people. I think what Donald Miller said in his book Blue Like Jazz really resonated with our creative team. And amazingly we have had our largest crowds ever during this series. Yeah God!! I wonder if our world has been waiting for centuries for the church to just admit that they do not have all of the answers, and sometimes we do talk more than we act, and many times we judge much more than we love, and we have created a sub-culture that is just a bad copy of the real culture that Jesus loved so much and moved in seamlessly.
I can say for me as a leader this has been difficult and freeing at the same time. Because no one like to admit that they are wrong ever. However, when we do this there is an amazing freedom to just be you that is really refreshing. Check out our podcast for more info. Or you can check out the videos at this web site until we get our new and improved video podcast portion of our web site fixed.
Hey I just wanted to give a shout out back to our friend at GCC Rob Wegner for the shout out on his blog yesterday and for the opportunity to show some of our videos at the Innovate conference this year. And for those of you who missed Innovate they are giving it away for free online. Yeah I know crazy because no one will go next year but I am stoked that these guys believe in the local church so much that they want everyone to be able to benefit from the conference for free. So if you missed Innovate this year why not get some of your leaders around a computer and watch the sessions they will rock your world.
Well I gotta go for now. Stay tuned this week because I am going to be talking about the scared church.

Peace out

Today Sucks!

2007-10-04T15:27:00.000-04:00

Have you ever had one of those days where you came into the office and things were great then about 3 minutes into the day the wheels started coming off of your train? Well that has been my day today. Now I know that the spiritual answer would be to say "God is in Control" but I never really liked that song and it sounds really cliche anyway. So for me today just sucks. We are negotiating with the people in charge of this huge community event that we are partnering with for the end of the month and just yesterday everything looked like it was rolling perfectly but today we got a call from someone else that said one of the local TV stations is sharing the stage with us and our schedule was going to need to be changed. I know maybe I just hate it when things do not go according to my plans but as everyone know the WIRTH plans are the best plans. You know the verse. "For Wirth know the plans he has for you" ok that was pretty bad but I know things will work out I just feel a little stressed right now.
Also, just FYI we are extending our "Confessions" series one more week. Check out the video podcast from last week for a laugh. Then we will be launching our "Marked" series so all of you cool peeps out there with TATOOS get ready to show them off at www.showyourmarks.com this site will go live some time next week I will let you know. Have a great weekend.

Weekend Reflections

2007-10-03T10:55:00.001-04:00

Well, after returning from Granger at 10am Saturday Morning. Yes that meant we had to get up at 4am. My team was not to thrilled about that but I did become a hero to my son because I made it to his football game, which they won. (GO LIONS) So then after the game it was back home to crash. You see Saturday was my birthday yeas I turned 39 on Saturday which really sucks because I really do feel like I am 29 and my wife would say that sometimes I act 9 so if I average that out my average age is a little over 25 and that feels pretty good to me. If any one else would like to use my formula please send $19.95 to the address listed below for you copy of "Age Paul's Way" HA HA

Well after my power nap it was time for a little football and yes my Gators ave one away to the Auburn Tigers Saturday Night. I am just glad that I did not suffer through the game in Gainsville I actually went to bed long before the final kick sealed the deal.

So Sunday morning came with very little issues other than we are still in our confessions series which has been quite difficult for me as a pastor but very healing for many people in our church so that is awesome. Well the first service went well except for one of my illustrations but you will have to check out the video podcast to see that. It was pretty funny. Then we launched into the second service and a demon got into our sound board. There was snap, crackling and popping going on throughout the whole system finally we had to shut it down half way through our worship set. So I went out and just started my talk which was a little weird because my segue went the song that the band did not sing. We made it through and it was great but then the real greatness started. At the end of my message Carl was back stage and said don't worry we are ready to go. He and the band had during my talk put together an acostic set that was amazing. Really that is what I love about Carl he is a pro and pros do not leave things hanging they make things happen. We had more comments about the worship during the second service than we have had in quite some time. The worship was awesome. Also, we had 304 in our two morning services which is a record then we had another 98 during the night service for a grand total of 402 for the day. WOW God you are amazing. A year ago we were averaging 250 and now we had 402 I cannot believe this. I cannot wait till this weekend. See you then.

WOW what a week!!

2007-10-03T10:31:00.000-04:00

Well we just returned from Granger Indiana this past Saturday from the Innovate conference. All I can say about that is AMAZING!! Guy Kawasaki was on fire and now I understand that as a church planter it is ok to be crappy. HA HA I guess you would have to be there to get all of that but our team left with so much energy and excitement about what God is doing here in Tampa it was awesome. BTW the peeps at Granger are amazing!! special shout out the Jason Powell and Lindsay Wasik you guys made our stay fabulous. Can't wait to hang out with you guys next year.

So about our time in Granger, well we entered a few of our shorts for the film festival and what do you know we won two out of three categories from the people choice and won best of show for our Real Men of Genius. We were blown away. Special thanks to all of you who voted for us. We now feel like the little church that did not could. One of the things we learned at the Innovate conference is that if you are going to do a conference is that you need to go over the top with care and hospitality and Granger did that better than any other conference I have ever been to in my life. Also, their staff was available before and after the session to talk with whoever wanted to talk. I have never sen that before at any conference. Never stop doing that Granger that is what sets you apart you seem like real people. Well I want to blog about what went on this past Sunday so I will sign off on Innovate.

I am back

2007-09-06T09:47:00.000-04:00

I know all three of you who read this blog are so happy. HA HA Well I am sorry it has been a while since my last blog actually 3 months and I know in blog world that is a huge no non because no one ill continue to read your stuff if you do not keep posting. However, I thought this whole blog thing was for me not for everyone else. This is my place to mind dumb now I know some of you are saying so Paul you have not had anything to mind dump in 3 months. Well no but you need to understand that I am the worst typer in the universe. I think i am the only quite computer literate person who cannot type in the whole world. However, I will try to jot down at least a few things each week to keep everyone posted on the progress of me and our awesome church Relevant.

So about me. Well Susie and I had an awesome summer we spent 2 weeks at the beach with our kids one in Daytona and one on Anna Maria Island on the Gulf Coast. WOW that was awesome except for me trying to surf again which I had not done in 8 years. Let's just say I suck at surfing now. Not that I was good before, however my son Anthony is a natural he did awesome. Speaking of Anthony he is now playing football. Although I a not sure if his ADD distracts him in his quest to play. Sometimes at practice when he is playing linebacker is see him staring at the grass. Go figure like father like son. He is doing awesome in my eyes. Ashlyn is amazing she seems to be learning more each day and 80% of the time she is a real treasure. However, the other 20% she is still a treasure but the joy in the treasure seem to be buried in here stuburnness. Maybe you know what I mean. Susie and I are dong great working on our 18 year of marriage WOW it does not seem possible. Susie is really amazing. I do not know how she takes care of our home and kids and also does all of the stuff I ask her to do for the church. She is the best wife ever.

So about relevant. Well it has been one of the greatest summers we have ever had of course it is only the third but it has been great for a couple of reasons. i will bullet point them and briefly explain.

We did not take a vacation from church this summer- Here is what I mean many churches feel like summer is a low time of the year so they coast through without programming anything creative therefore no one feels like they will miss anything if they are gone. Why should they come. We did two of the best series we have ever done this summer as far as I am concerned and the results are in and they are awesome.

we had 115 first time guest this summer
we had 12 people receive Christ
we baptized 20 people in July
we averaged over 250 people each week
we launched preview Sunday night services that were well attended
we launched 14 new growth groups in August

We have a staff that knocks it out of the park every week. I can honestly say that in all of my years of ministry I am working now with the hardest working team that I have ever worked with. Carl (worship dude extrodinare check out his new CD on i-tunes) yes he is amazing, Jamie, Jason you guys are truly amazing and I am blessed to work with all of you. You rock. BTW i did give them vacation over the summer. I am not that cruel.
Satan was working me over. I know some of you are saying how does that make the summer great. Well when Satan is working me over then God must have some great things in store and He did. I feel more excitement about the future of Relevant then ever before. Yeah God.

Well that is about it for now. You can pray for us as we launch our Sunday night service every week this Sunday. Check out the video for it here.

Have an awesome week.

Paul

Creative Teams

2007-06-27T10:48:00.000-04:00

Well this is for all of you pastors out there who are doing the lone ranger preaching style where you come up with all of the ideas and your develop all of the sermons. STOP listen to your sermons your not that good. Start doing this with a team of people and you will get some amazing result. I am not the one who came up with this, the people at Disney have been doing it for years and Ed Young from Fellowship Church I think brought this idea to the forfront of the church. But to make this happen as the lead pastor you are going to have to do a few thing. Trust me I had to do them to and they are not easy in the beginning but over time creating as a team will make you a better communicator and give your people more buy in to what you are doing.

Here are a couple of things you as the leader need to to if you consider trying this model.

1. Check your ego at the door- you don't have to have all of the good ideas
2. Shut up- as leader we like to talk more that listen so listen more than you talk at theses meetings
3. Invite people who do not think like you. Some conservative, some radical. (if possible have a person who is not a Christ Follower yet on the team)
-I know the last one scared you but a bunch of Christ Followers sitting around a room discuss the needs of people who are not Christ Followers is a waste of time.
4. do the meeting when it is convient for the other people not you.
5. PRAY PRAY PRAY- Make sure that you are prayed up and ready to recieve.

Well now that you know what you need to do here is how we conduct our meetings I hope this helps. we have do our meetings about 4 different ways and we have only do two this way but they have both been the most productive.

1. Provide food for the team. If you are asking them to come to a meeting in the evening do not expect them to have time to go home and eat and then come so provide food for them. (If you feed them they will come)

2. Have a schedule for the time that your are going to spend on each topic. (you do not need a time natzi but a schedule help with the focus) Below you will find our schedule for last night

7:00-7:15p- Eat
7:15-7:20p- Personal mind dump
7:20-7:35p- answer questions about CHI series (series on Jesus) Series begins August 5
Chi Series Questions
1. Who is Jesus to You?
2. What is confusing to you about Jesus?
3. What misconceptions do people have about Jesus?
4. What come to mind when you see the symbol X?
5. List any set ideas for Chi:

7:35-8:05p discuss questions and ideas from Chi questions
8:05-8:15p Answer questions about confessions series (series begins Sept. 9)
Confessions Questions
1. What does the word confession make you think of?
2. What is your definition of confession?
3. What if the church confessed?
4. List any advertising ideas for this series?
5. List any set ideas for this series?

8:15-8:40p discuss questions and brain storm ideas for Confessions series
8:40-9:00p Brain storm ideas for lat two series for fall (one beginning Nov 4 Felt need, one beginning Dec. 9 Holiday series.)
9:00p Close in prayer

3. have 5-10 minutes of personal mind dump time with music and paper. (this encourages everyone to clear their mind of stuff from the day. The paper helps them to remember to come back to it if it is necessary)

4. Make sure that you have done your homework with a few people so that the question on the paper provoke the type of answers you are looking for.

5. Remember there are no bad ideas when it come to creativity. Plus everyone and all comments. I have heard people say before that they tell first time people in there creative meeting that their ideas are bad just to see how they will respond, to that I would say you are an idiot and uninformed about the creative process. Creative people are sensitive to criticism and a creative meeting in not the place for criticism it is the place for ideas. If a person becomes critical in the meeting you need to shut them down or they will shut down the whole meeting.

6. Personally invite people to the meeting do not ask for volunteers for the meeting our you will get all of the crazy people who sign up for everything.

7. Rotate people on and off the team.

8. work the main series first then spend small amounts of time on future series to prep for next meeting.

9 . Have fun.

Mid week Mind Dump

2007-06-27T10:31:00.000-04:00

Well it's Wednesday. And I am finishing up my thought for this weekends message for Live Free Die Hard. No I have not seen the movie I am going to do that at noon today but I have seen enough of it to know what I am going to talk about. Our new series "EPIC" has been just that epic. We have had so many people getting connected to other people just by catching a movie together every weekend. This truly has been an amazing summer. We have been averaging over 250 in attendance over the summer thus far which is over 100 people more than last year. God has been so faithful over the last year. I can tell you that last year at this time I was wondering if God had called me to the right thing. WOW am I amazed now. Thanks God for showing me that it never was about me and never will be about me. So This morning I could not sleep and got up around 5:30am. Now I know some of you do that everyday and to you I would say "good for you Just don't think you get extra credit with God just because your an early riser cause your not" HA HA. So when I decided that sleep was no longer an option for me I remembered some items on my "honey do" list so I went out into the garage in my underwear (I don't know why it matters that I was in my underwear" however, I digress I went looking for the touch up paint for the front door of the house because I decided to paint it at 6am. Susie came out into the garage and said what in the world are you doing out here in you underwear with a can of paint. So I explained to her that I could not sleep and thought it was a good time to paint, to which she said whatever and went back to bed. Now I know may of you are saying Paul what is the point. Well there is no point this is my Wednesday mind dump and I am wondering why I painted my front door, then mowed and weeded and edged my grass today all before 8am. Which is usually when I wake up. I don't know I just have a little more energy today so that is pretty cool. I am also going on vacation next Friday so maybe I am getting pumped for that. Whatever it is I am having an awesome day so far and I trust that you are to. I have another post for today on Creative teams that I will post in a bit have an awesome day.

Sorry It's been a while

2007-06-19T10:28:00.000-04:00

I can not believe that it has been almost a month since I have blogged. There has been so much going on around here. We launched our first night service Sunday June 3. It was awesome!!! We had 73 people attend and over 300 for the full day. Just giving people options I think helps people want to come to church. I am learning more and more that people really want to attend church but their lives are so crazy that they can only show up about once a month. So by adding options you allow people more opportunities to connect with God and others. This is one of our core values so it is really cool when a plan comes together.

Our new EPIC blockbuster series has really be great with several people attending the movie nights each week. This series has been particularly interesting for me because we are dealing with issues that we all deal with. From the first week with Shrek and dealing with the whole idea of not wanting to step up when called upon to Oceans Eleven and the whole idea of revenge. After our service on that Sunday I had a gentleman come up to me and say I really needed that to which I responded normally "thanks I am glad God used it" however, then he continued with his reason and told me that he had been attacked the previous week by 6 people and we all know as humans that revenge is what we want to do when we are violated in that manner. WOW just to think that God knew what was going to happen to that guy on that week and to orchestrate the message is really amazing.

Well this week we are gearing up for "Evan Almighty" and I can tell you that I am really jazzed about this movie because Evan does something completely out of the box. Maybe we need to step out of our box a little more and see what God could do when we did that. Well that is all for now. I promise it will not be so long between my next post. see ya.

things that matter

2007-05-21T09:35:00.000-04:00

Here are five things that I think really matter in Church world. Please know I am going with the assumption that people and God matter so please don't send me an email saying That I left them out. HA HA

1. Signs Matter- directional, parking, information, children's signs they all matter. Do not assume that guest will know where things are just because you do. You do not want people to say no before they ever say yes. If the have trouble finding you or parking when they get there their experience will start out on the wrong foot. (especially if you are in a temporary or rented space)

2. Greeters Matter- I do not know how to stress this enough. People want someone to say hello to them. I know I have heard all of the stuff that 20 somethings do not want to be talked to well let me be blunt that is CRAP. Our church is 65-70% single and the average age is 26 and they all like it when people say hello to them. This is one area that we cannot afford to screw up on. Guest already feel like outsiders don't magnify it by not talking to them. (with that said don't have them stand and recognize them in your service either. That is just lame. Just be friendly)

3. Quality not Quantity Matters- Just because you have a 45 minute worship set does not mean that I am going to enjoy it or that God is going to show up more there than in a programed out 2o minute quality worship set. People in our culture care about quality so the church should stop settling for mediocrity.

4. Time Matters- if Jack Bower can only keep our attention for 1 hour maybe we should cut back on the Bored of the Rings length services. In other words people should know how long your services last and we should leave them wanting more while honoring the time people give us each week.

5. Clarity Matters- We have the privilege of sharing the greatest story of all time, however we are sharing it with a culture that did not grow up on our religious verbage so why not share His story in their language. Isn't that what Jesus modeled. ( don't assume that people know what to do in your service or that they know what you mean because 9 times out of 10 they do not) I had a wise businessman once tell me Paul when I run my company I tell everyone what I expect and what they need to do but when I come to church I expect you to tell me what to do and what you expect. He said I need you to clearly tell me what it is that you want me to do.

These five things I really think will either make or break a ministry. I can assure you that at Relevant we screw theses things up all of the time. But our goal is to see these five areas at 100% every week. Let's knock it out of the park for God.

weekend reflections

2007-05-21T08:38:00.000-04:00

It was so awesome being back at Relevant yesterday. After being away for two weeks it was nice to be lead in worship by the best band in the whole country. I know a lot of people blog about their band and worship leader and maybe as a lead pastor you are supposed to but for me serving with Carl is a joy and honor. Every week he and his team just bring it.
Yesterday was my first service back after attending two other churches this past week for observation. So here is what I have to say. Our volunteer staff is amazing. Yesterday I arrived at the club at about 6:45am Carl was already there getting stuff ready for the day. Can you believe a worship guy who is actually early WOW. Then about 8am the troops started rolling in and by our 9:30am volunteer prayer time there were over 60 people there getting ready for the service. If you serve at Relevant let me just say everything you do matters. For putting out directional signs to filling communion cups, to the kids who place the pens on the chairs every week you all are amazing.
We had an amazing communion service yesterday. It is always incredible for me to watch people take communion who I know have just begun their faith journey. Life change is so awesome. If you are a pastor out there let me tell you we have the most incredible job in the whole world. Be thankful for it and stop whining about not enough people, and not enough money, and not enough volunteers and just start leading. That is what we are called to do. When men called by God lead through the power of God people follow and lives are changed. If we look behind us and do not see anyone following we need to look our leadership not the followers. I cannot wait for next weekend.

Peace.

criticism and fear

2007-05-04T16:57:00.001-04:00

Well another week has come and gone and if you are like me it has been full of so many opportunities to criticize it is scary. Just last night as I arrived home and washed my wife's van I was beginning to sense the critical spirit rise up in me. You know the thoughts: why do you not keep your vehicle cleaner, why do you let the kids tear the van up, why do you.... These thoughts always seem to be fueled by my own since of stress. As Susie and I were heading to Starbucks this morning for coffee, she said you know Paul isn't it strange that on the National Day of Prayer and the day before you have a huge meeting we are fighting rather than praying. WOW!! That hit me right between the eyes. Maybe you have been there? On the days when you should pray you seem to fight. So all I have to say is "Justin I hope you are still praying for me because you were covered last night." (HAHA) Sorry only my buddy Justin will get that.
This weekend we are heading straight into another topic that all of us deal with, FEAR. Yes that is right at some point in all of our lives we all look fear right in the face. Jamie was telling me last week that his son Ethan has just had his first dose of real fear. It was the infamous dragon around the side of the house. Remember when you were 3 and the dragon around the corner existed so you ran and got dad to get rid of the dragon. Well as any good dad would do Jamie went around the corner and took care of the dragon. However, because we dads want to begin the dragon fighting training early, Jamie shared with his son Ethan how to get rid of the dragons for himself. He told him "just say to the dragons in a stern voice BADA-BING!!!" I guess Jamie has been watching a little to much Sopranos . Don't you wish it was that easy with your fears I sure do. Well this week we are going to look at the spiritual BADA-BING and see if we can't get some control of some of our fears.
I look forward to seeing all of you this Sunday.

Sharing Your Faith

2007-05-03T09:56:00.000-04:00

So I was online the other night and ran across a web site that was pretty interesting. On this site there are several interviews with people who are not Christ followers yet and they begin sharing their stories and opinions about how they feel about born again Christians. I kept hearing this reoccuring theme they said that all of the Christians that they knew always tried to convince them that they were wrong and the Christian was right without ever dialoging with them. So let me share with you my experience. This past Friday night I was speaking at another church to their singles and after the service we all went out to dinner at a local Mexican Restarunt. Well as we were leaving two girls approached us and asked if we knew we were going to heaven. We said yes and she continued with the how did we know to which we responded that we had invited Christ into our lives. Well that did not seem like a good enough answer for her so she continued to probe further and I began to get offended and I am a Christ-follower. So I said well I may not be a Christian because I am a pastor in Ybor City. One of them said oh Ybor that is the best place to go and tell people about Jesus. I wanted to tell her that if that is gong to be her approach the I would prefer if she never came down to Ybor. You see we are down here everyday of the week developing relationships with the people of Ybor we are not rolling in on a Friday night when people are heading out to the clubs telling them they are going to hell for walking into a club. Because last I checked that is where Jesus hung out in the gospels building relationships and sharing good news. Not beating people up with self righteous religion. Here is what one of the people who was not a follower of Christ said about how we label them "LOST". She said "I really do not feel lost, I have direction and purpose, mostly I feel confused". After hearing her comments I thought to myself why do we call people who do not know Christ lost because the term lost assumes that the person had a map or directions and somehow lost their way. But people who do not know Christ for the most part just do not know that there is another way. I think that it is not our job to be the person who convinces people of their need for Christ but to just share with them what having Christ as a part of our lives has done for us. God is the one who draws people.
So here is my final thoughts. All of us want someone to listen to us. So why not begin developing some relationships with people who do not have a relationship with Christ yet and just share with them your story as you listen to theirs. Remember your story includes His story.

Waiting sucks

2007-05-02T11:16:00.000-04:00

Sorry if that title offended you but that is the way I feel right now. Waiting is one of those things that God allows us to go through during several times in our life and each of those times are not fun. Now I know the outcome many times is great but the waiting game is not a game I like to play. From the time I was a little kid and opened all of my Christmas Presents early and then re-wrapped them so my parents could not tell I have hated waiting. Well the problem magnifies when you are a church planter because it seems like this gig is full of waiting. Waiting for the people to come, waiting for the finances to grow, waiting for a building to materialize. We are always waiting.
Now please do not get me wrong you cannot say that you want to start a church and have the whole "Field of Dreams" mentality If you build it they will come. Because that is absolutely stupid, you have to work at it and make sure that you have something that people will want to come to. Now I know the first response to this notion is that we must be watering down the gospel if people like what we do. Well I would ask those critiques to look at the life of Jesus He always drew a crowd where ever He went because the message He was teaching was compelling.
OK I will get off o my hobby horse and get back to waiting. During this process of moving into a new building I am learning that waiting can be very liberating and when I wait and do not kick down doors that I want to be opened God starts doing what only HE can do and the doors just start to open. Now I am not saying that everything is a done deal with any of the building that we are looking at but some cool things are happening in on waiting period. I would just ask that if you attend Relevant or are a person who prays for Relevant that you would continue to do so because the leadership team really needs it right now.
The best days of Relevant are still to come. In fact at our elders meeting yesterday we discussed just how much we have grown over the past year and here is what we found out. We are averaging 100 people more per week right now that we were last year at this time. Yeah God that is awesome. So maybe we are not waiting maybe we are riding a wave of God that is amazing.
Our current series "Exposed" has generated more emails that virtually any other series we have done. I think that this is because we are dealing with stuff that we all have problems with. And let me tell you the next two weeks are going to be no different. We are tackling Fear this week and Addiction the week after and let me tell you it is going to be tense but good so make sure you are here both weeks.
Sorry if you have been waiting on the blog on the cussing courtesy driver but after my own message last week I decided not to write about it. But I will have a new post tomorrow on Sharing your faith.

Peace

Holy Harley it was Bike Week in Ybor

2007-04-23T10:04:00.000-04:00

Well if you are reading this and do not attend Relevant then you may not be able to appreciate this post. But I think that it is so cool that Bike week in Tampa resides right here in front of our church. Yes that is right yesterday our worship was accompanied by the roar of hundreds of Hogs and Choppers. It was awesome that some of the people coming to the Bikefest heard the band playing and actually came in for the service. Yeah God. We have the coolest church and the best band in the country and if you disagree I would say you would just have to hear them on a Sunday to appreciate just how amazing they are.
We also had 38 people attend our lunch with the pastor yesterday and it was so cool to hear how they found out about Relevant. From invite cards, to mailers, to friend invites, to Google people are hearing about Relevant and lives are being changed. For those of you in the throws of church planting, I just want to say don't give up God is doing some amazing things through church plants all over the country. If what you are doing is not working just try something else. Just keep moving forward.
Be looking for my post tomorrow when I discuss the cursing Courtesy Driver who was shocked that people actually work in Ybor. It will be a classic.

Peace

The Ritz

2007-04-17T11:57:00.000-04:00

I know many of you have been waiting patiently about what is going on with the Ritz. And all I have to share with you today is that we have been told we will know tomorrow. I can tell you this situation has really caused me to question God and trust Him more than ever before. The questions come from me wanting what I want just like a little kid and asking God like my 8 year old does me "why daddy" "why can't I have want I want when I want it". But secondarily I am humble by the fact that God would even allow me to ask Him questions and I know all to well that His plans are far better that any that I could dream up.

So here is the deal I would like for everyone to be praying for two things:

1. Joe Capitano (owner of the Ritz) that God would give him direction in what he needs to do with the building.

2. Relevant and our team. That we would be patient and wait on God and look for His direction in the next steps that we need to take as a church.

I will let you know more as things develop. Remember we are here to make Jesus name famous and we can do that from anywhere.

weekend reflections

2007-04-17T11:43:00.000-04:00

Well this weekend started out to be one of those weeks that in church world we call bomb Sunday. You see this usually happens when to have Palm Sunday, Easter Sunday, then people have gone to church two weeks in a row and then everyone takes a weekend off and you are left with bomb Sunday where attendance falls way off. Well this week as we were preparing we also had our local weather guys informing everyone that there was going to be a major storm blow through our area Sunday at exactly 10 am the beginning of our first service. Great I thought.

When I arrived at church it was just as I suspected the rain began to come. Slowly at first then the bottom dropped out. I was informed by our first impressions team that our signs could not be put out because they were just blowing away. So I thought OK God I guess there will just be the precious few today. However, God had other plans. Yes the first service was a little light in the beginning but it filled up nicely and the second service was as full as normal. Yeah God. I guess the guy who controls the weather also, controls his church.

Thanks God for the reminder that this is your church and you will bring the people. We had 17 first time guest on the worst weather day of the year so far. WOW. I hope all of you are having a great weeks.

Peace

Reflections of Easter

2007-04-10T10:08:00.000-04:00

WOW. We had an incredible service Sunday despite all of the crazy things that happened. We had 311 people with us this past Sunday which is 100 people more than last year that is 50% growth in one year and I think God is pretty awesome for that. Every week people are finding a new relationship with Jesus Christ here at Relevant and all I can say is that I am blown away to be part of the most awesome church in America. So here is the train wreck from Sunday that God still showed up at.

Let be begin by saying never have a prayer time before your service and say God it does not matter if the sound, music, and tech go well we just want you to show up. Because He may just take you up on the offer. That is the stupidest prayer I have ever prayed and let me tell you God and I had a conversation between services and I told Him hey God we need you to show up in all of the areas because they all matter. I know the prayer sounded spiritual but after closer scrutiny I realize it was not spiritual at all. Here is what happened in the first service because of my foolish prayer.
- One of the songs our incredible band of professionals started was in the wrong key. Not a good thing.

- Our transition video that set the stage for the sermon ended before the punch line. Not a good way to start a talk.

- My mic decided to have a short in it thus it stopped working as soon as I started talking.

- our new parking tent for parkers is no longer operational due to the creative dismantling of it by two college grads (who are great guys and I love them both)

Now you may be saying Paul this could just be coincidence but to that I would say bull. Because I believe God really does answer our prayers and when we decided that we do not need Him to show up in all of the areas of our ministry we find out what happens. Now I can say all of our staff got a good laugh out of this but it was a real lesson that we learned. God is so concerned about every facet of our ministries and if He is concerned then we as leaders need to make all of the areas of our ministry a priority. If I hear one more church guy say we just want the spirit to show up at our service, but they never plan for that to happen I think I am going to puck. Sometimes I wonder if God does not show up at our churches on Sunday because we did not create an environment for Him to show up. Now I know the theological problem with this because someone is sure to say well Paul God is omnipresent He is everywhere all of the time and that is true. But if that is true then why are more churches closing their doors than opening them.
I think the problem is planning and preparation. When we have guest into our house we plan and prepare our home for their arrival and we make sure the food and environment is warm and inviting. So why is it that so many people do not come to church? Maybe they feel that they are cold and impersonal. This is going to have to change if we are going to make an impact on this generation.
I am so thankful that I hang out with guys in this area that are changing lives for eternity. In fact I meet with 6 church planters yesterday who have been doing church for less than 2 years and there was a combined number of over 2000 people who were in church Sunday who were not in church 2 years ago. WOW GOD you are awesome.
If you are a church planter out there reading this keep doing what you are doing and if it is not working try something new. As church planters we have that privilege to try multiple things until we find out what works.

Peace Out

Thoughts on Thursday

2007-04-05T22:39:00.000-04:00

Well I guess by the title you have figured out what day it is and yes I have some random thoughts to share with you as Good Friday approaches. I have often thought of this whole Good Friday thing as just another day that my kids are out of school. But this year when our public school board decided to no longer recognize Good Friday as a holiday you should have seen the religious people rise up in protest. Now I am not saying that I agree with the school board because I do not. But I do this it is interesting that those of us who call ourselves followers of Christ would much rather follow from a far than right up close. You see following close would mean that we would have to do far more with this relationship that just pull out the Christian card when our family beach day gets taken away.

Peter learned this lesson all to well on probably a Thursday night some 2000 years ago. He had a decision to make "would he identify himself with this Jesus guy who had raised the dead, fed 5,000 people with a school lunch, and walked on water while letting Peter do the same. Or would he play it safe. And the survey says "yes Peter did what I do most of the time, he played it safe and in essence said "Jesus who"

Maybe tomorrow will be a different kind of Good Friday for me. Maybe I will wake up and realize that this Friday is far more significant that the invention of casual Friday were you can dress like you want at work. Maybe this Friday I will realize that Good Friday actually signifies the fact that because of someone else I can come to God just as I am and He will not send me home to change before I come to Him.

My prayer is that each of you will be struck with awe Friday like you have not been struck in a while. Then your awe would lead you to share with someone else just why you are awe struck.

Good Friday to you all.

GATOR NATION

2007-04-03T19:48:00.000-04:00

Some of you who may be new to my blog probably do not know that I am a Gator fan. Well that would be an understatement I am a Gator Fanatic. That is to say Susie and I usually do not watch many games with people who do not have the same persuasion because quite frankly it is a Gator thing and if you are not a Gator fan you would not understand. But I would like to do some recapping of this season of the UF basketball team. First, I think we could all learn a lot from what Billy Donavan said last night in his pre-game speech. HE said it is not about you out there it is about the person beside you. WOW that was a pearl of wisdom. It was awesome to see the team truly play like team and kick Ohio States butt twice in one year. Boy I would really hate to be a Buckeye. Oh well just wanted to give a shout out to the Gator Nation.

Beach Baptism

2007-04-02T11:35:00.000-04:00

Well yesterday marked our 4th beach baptism that we have done here at Relevant. And I will have to say it was one of the most memorable events I have ever been a part of. We do something here that is uniquely us when we move our whole service to the beach. Now I know many churches do beach baptism but I do not know of many that move their whole service to the beach. Our band did an amazing job leading worship with the Gulf of Mexico as a backdrop. When they went into the song "How Great is Our God" I was overwhelmed at just how great our God really is and the fact that He would allow us to partner with Him in His work.
I pinch myself sometimes because I get to do this job with the most amazing staff in the whole world. I am serious I have been on staff at a lot of churches but I can not think of any staff that is better than ours or works harder than ours does they are awesome. So Carl, Jamie, Jason, Susie, Kristin, and Carly THANK YOU for making ministry so much fun. Let's do this till Jesus comes.
Now back to the baptism. It was so awesome to hear the stories of people who a year ago were not thinking about church or a relationship with Jesus but because of Relevant their relationship with Christ and their community at Relevant are the most important things in their life. I do not know of a more incredible thing to witness than when someone who has had a major life change comes out of the water of baptism. I guess you just have to see it. So check out the media section of our web site this week we will be uploading the pics and some video of this event. God is so amazing.

weekend reflections

2007-03-19T09:27:00.000-04:00

Well this weekend we launched our new mini series called "I Am" and all I can say is that any time you do a series on God and just how big He really is He shows off. Now mind you when God shows off it usually directly benefits us. IF you have been reading my blog over the past week you know how God has been showing up big in regards to the building we are wanting to move into. But every Sunday over the past 4 weeks someone in one of our services has also begun their spiritual journey with Christ. WOW This weekend was no exception we had one person receive Christ and two more people sign up for our beach baptism. Remember on Sunday April 1 we will be at the beach for the whole day. The service will begin at 11am, then we will have lunch and after lunch we will head down to the beach for the baptism. I can't wait to see all of you there. If you still would like to sign up for the baptism just shoot me an email and we will get you signed up. Also, I would like to give a big shout out to all of our volunteers from this weekend you all rock. I know that there were people missing due to various reasons and yet everything ran incredibly smooth. That is totally a God thing.

WOW God sure is BIG

2007-03-16T10:48:00.000-04:00

Ok. Have you ever had one of those weeks that was so full of stuff that it felt like two weeks? Well that is a great picture of what has been going on for me and the rest of the crew here at the Relevant office. Right now Carly is giving birth to little Adair number 2 (they began inducing her this morning at 7:30am). Carl is frantically putting the final touches on our new set (it supposed to be simple, yet has taken the better part of two days). I am putting the final touches on my message for this week, called "Big G, little me". It all about just how big God really is. After this week let me tell you, my God is huge. Let me recap for you why I feel this way.

* Sunday during our communion service we had two more people put their faith and trust in Jesus Christ. WOW

* Monday I had an amazing meeting with 6 other church planters and just celebrated the fact that there are over 1,000 people represented in our churches and none of these churches existed 2 years ago. Of those 1,000 people over half are people who just began their faith journey. Double WOW.

* Tuesday we received a phone call from the owner of the Masquerade, who said that he wanted to talk about our proposal. We offered what we felt was a huge monthly payment for us. It was low compared to what he wanted but he did not laugh at our offer. In fact he said "Let me talk with our guys and see if we can make this work." Triple WOW

* Wednesday as I am sitting in Starbucks (the annex office in Ybor) I receive a phone call from the owner, who is with his team of people running our numbers. He asks if this is our best offer to which I respond "Probably." So he says he will call me back. No call for three hours, so we as a team go into prayer mode. At 2pm I receive a phone call back from him and he asks if we can we hold off for two weeks till after Festa. I responded that I thought we could raise our offer slightly and we that increase we came to an agreement. Now mind you, the deal is not done yet, but we do have a gentlemen's agreement. God still has to come through in a major way because after spending three hours in the building on Wednesday it is going to be a big job getting the building ready for us to use. Quadruple
WOW.

* Thursday I hear a story about a new couple that has been attending our church for about 2 months. They were with another couple from the church having strawberry shortcake at Parksdale Farms in Plant City (the best strawberry shortcake in the world bar none). The couple who has been attending for a while asked how they felt about the church and if they felt like it was a fit for them. The second couple responded "Absolutely", and they credited their decision to our small groups. They said we really wanted some community and we really found it here. WOW!!! Then Susie and I went out to dinner with a couple from our pre-marital class last night and they made the same statement. They said it is really so nice to have friends who you don't just see at church but you really want to do life with them, and they said it is all happening in their small groups. WOW! WOW!! WOW!!! (I forgot what comes after Quadruple).******editors note: Quintuple or Pentuple ********

Now this weekend we launch into a series called "I AM" with an emphasis on how big God is. Let me tell you right now my God is so freakin big I cannot even describe it to you. I am so pumped about this weekend. So if you were thinking about possibly missing let me encourage you to reconsider. Some of the stuff I have been learning about this God we serve has been rocking my world. If you have friends who do not have a relationship with Christ bring them with you Sunday. It is going to be awesome. If you want to ramp up for it, read Isaiah 40 that is where we are going to start this week. WOW! I AM SO STOKED. I cannot wait to see you all Sunday.

I'm Overwhelmed

2007-03-15T11:35:00.001-04:00

There have been so many things going on in the last week that I can hardly keep from jumping out of my skin. I know many of you may be thinking "Paul what is going on" and I really wish I could share all of it with you, however at this point I must keep some of it under raps. But let me just say that God is doing what He always seems to do. He is going Big.
So many times I think that those of us who call ourselves Christ Followers only attempt things that we know in our own strength we can accomplish. I have been wondering as of late why it is that we do not risk big for God anymore. Now I am not saying that everyone is like this. I hang out with church planters all the time who are on the edge for God each and every day. But let me share with you what I have learned as a church planter. When we first launched Relevant everything was a risk. Just spending $100 was a big deal. So every time we attempted anything we were risking big and expecting God to show up. Within the first 12 months of our church we decide to do a rehab o a widows house here in Ybor that cost our church $30,000 of which we had none. However, God showed up big and He provided all of the money. That was a huge faith builder. So back to my point. Why is it that it seems like as Christ followers and in church planting in the beginning stages we are ricking everything all the time but as we grow older we play it safe.
Here is what I am learning and I know that this is not new but it is revolutionary when applied.
- we need to redefine risk- Here is what I believe to be God size risking. Attempting something that is so big that is if God does not show up it will not work.

This is one of those things only comes from vision though. I meet to many people who when asked what do you see God doing in your life our your church in the next five years and they say well I hope He remains faithful to us. Here is a thought God is faithful He embodies that try something bigger. Let me give you my vision for the next five year.
My prayer is that God would allow Relevant to be know as the church in Tampa. Not for us but because I really want to make His name famous in the city of Tampa. Susie sent me the Jabez prayer yesterday and at first glance I was thinking "oh brother not the Jabez prayer again" But I was wrong I was focusing on the blessing part thinking of only money. But take a look at this verse it is amazing.

1 Chronicles 4:9-10 (NLT)
9 There was a man named Jabez who was more distinguished than any of his brothers. His mother named him Jabez because his birth had been so painful.
10 He was the one who prayed to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and extend my lands! Please be with me in all that I do, and keep me from all trouble and pain!" And God granted him his request.

This whole idea of extend my lands was puzzling to me but when I looked at it further realized that Jabez was asking for much more that just space he was asking for influence. And for me I really think that is what we are doing at Relevant. We are saying God would you grow this thing to a level so that we have influence in our culture and community so that people will know who you are. My buddy Perry Noble puts it this way, he says " we are here to make Jesus famous" How cool is that. I really pray that God would bless us so much with influence that Jesus' name would become the most famous name in Tampa. That is going BIG.

Let's stop going small for God and make the choice to GO BIG!!

fierce conversations

2007-03-15T11:33:00.001-04:00

Today I want to share some thoughts I got from a new book by Susan Scott called "Fierce Conversations" Here are the keys points.

"Fierce Conversations"

Principle 1: Master the Courage to Interrogate Reality

Everyone has a different take on reality and unless we decide to interrogate it on a regular basis we make wake up to the fact that reality has changed.

Principle 2: Come Out from Behind Yourself, Into the Conversation, and Make It Real

While many fear "real", it is the unreal conversation that should concern us. Unreal conversations are the conversations that happen around to water cooler because as leaders we will not face reality.

Principle 3: Be Here, Prepared to Be Nowhere Else

Speak and listen as if this is the most important conversation you will ever have with this person. It could be. Participate as if it matters. It does.

Principle 4: Tackle Your Toughest Challenge Today

Today is the day to have the conversation you have been avoiding. All confrontation is merely a search for the truth.
Make things hard up front so they can be easier down the road.

Principle 5: Obey Your Instincts

Don't just trust your instincts. Obey them.

Principle 6: Take Responsibility For Your Emotional Wake

There is no trivial comment. Something you may not even remember saying may have had a devastating impact on someone who looks to you for guidance and approval.

What people hear from your mouth they will associate to you and if what comes out is always negative or sarcastic that is who you become in their eyes.

Principle 7: Let Silence Do the Heavy Lifting

- Insight occurs in the space between words.
- Learn to love the sweet territory of silence

weekend reflections

2007-03-15T11:29:00.000-04:00

WOW! What an amazing communion service we had yesterday. The band did an amazing job on the Leland song "Carried to the Table". If you have not heard this song or if you have not had you band try this I strongly urge you to listen to it. We had two people trust Christ which means that over the past 3 weeks we have had 7 people begin their faith journey. This is why we do what we do. It is all about life change. I am realizing more and more that when I get out of the way and allow God to do what he wants in His church amazing things happen. Check out Relevantchurch.com later this week for the latest video podcast. We hope to have some of the worship up on the podcast as well.

Today was one of those days that boy I wanted to sleep in. I woke up at 6:30am to get the kids ready for school and by the time they were ready and the bus came at 7:15am it was still dark. I really like daylight savings time but mainly for the evening hours. I think if God wants us to experience the hours of the day he will supply light for them. Especially morning hours. Sorry for all of you who are morning people. After the kids got off to school in was into the favorite spot at Starbucks to indulge in a Cinnamon Dulce Latte now tht is the stuff dreams are made of. While at starbucks I was preparing for our monthly church planters coaching meeting. What a life.

home away from home

2007-03-15T11:16:00.000-04:00

I found it. I found it. Yes I am some 750 miles from home in Ybor City but I have found home. Susie an I left Sunday right after the second service and headed the mini van north toward Gatlinburg TN and two gas breaks and one potty break later we were here in 10 hours. Hwever, upon my arrival I began my search for home. Yet to my dismay there is no home in Gatlinburg. I know that many of you are asking right now "what Home?" well it would be my Starbucks home. You see Starbucks has become that sort of third place for me where I experience some really cool community and I was missing it because the closest Starbucks to Gatlinburg is 30 minutes away. Bommer!!! Well God obviously must understand how good a Pumpkin Spice Latte is because yesterday my brother-in-law secured a new condo that is just 3 blocks from my home away from home. So here I sit, sipping my pumpkin spice latte while blogging it does not get better than this. While sitting here I am reminded that our desire here at Relevant is that people would think of Relevant as their third place. You know that place where you can grab a cup of joe and have some community with people who really care about you. I am so thankful during this time of year because I experience that feeling every week when I enter the doors of Relevant. I have the best job in the world. Have an awesome Thanksgiving and know that there is a guy in Tennessee sipping a pumpkin spice latte who is very thankful for you.

7 days

2007-03-15T11:15:00.001-04:00

I am sitting here this evening reflecting on the past week just astonished at what can happen in just 7 days. Last week about this time on Thursday I received word that Stan Weiss, a man that was like a second father to me and a person who has been a part of relevant since day one suddenly went home to be with the Lord. Now I do not know about you but I have noticed some things about death lately that I did not notice before. I think that in death we think more about life that at any other time in our life because we realize how quickly it can end. Another unique thing that I have noticed in death is that we never really focus on the bad things that we experienced with the deceased because quite frankly at that moment those things seem so trivial. I know many of you are saying to yourself get to the point Paul we know these things already. Well here it is “I wonder if we can focus on what really matters like life, God, family, and relationships during times of sorrow how much more fruitful would our lives be if we did that on a daily basis. The bible encourages this in Philippians 4:8

Philippians 4:8 (MSG)
⁸Summing it all up, friends, I'd say you'll do best by filling your minds and meditating on things true, noble, reputable, authentic, compelling, gracious—the best, not the worst; the beautiful, not the ugly; things to praise, not things to curse.
Boy I wish that this verse described me sometimes but I must admit that it does not. Let me give you a quote for Anthony about the events of this week. He said “dad I sure am sad that Mr. Stan died he was really funny I am going to miss him”. Me to buddy me too.
So on the heals of the funeral service for Stan I came home exhausted only to find that my kids had a tremendous amount of energy and wanted to go mountain biking. As we were loading up both cars because Anthony invited the whole neighborhood my phone rang. Now most of the time when I am with my kids I will just let it ring but for some reason I answered the call even though I did not recognize the number. One the other line was a lady named Bobby and here is what she said “you may not remember me but my name is Bobby and I have cancer and lost my house last year during hurricane Katrina and you and your team came and helped me clean my yard and house and on the anniversary of Katrina I juts wanted to make sure I said thank you. I was blown away by your team as they came into my destroyed house and sat at my table and just listened and prayed with me. I will never forget your kindness and I just wanted you to know I appreciate it.” All I could do was begin to cry. Here was a lady that for a whole year she kept my business card and just a simple pray and a little work meant so much to her that wanted to call just to say thanks. I pray that I would be that thankful for what I have and for what people do for me.

lifelines and pool volleyball

2007-03-15T11:12:00.000-04:00

Sorry I have'nt been blogging lately. Maybe this entry will shed some light on it for everyone. Have an awesome week.

Well our company just left. Susie’s sister and her husband and their 4 kids have been with us for the past week and a half. Yes, that is right there have been10 people living in our house together for nearly 2 weeks and 911 was never called. AMAZING!!!

We have had an awesome time Ashlyn and Anthony have really enjoyed the company of their cousins and Susie has enjoyed spending time with her sister. So last night it was time for the family volleyball game in our pool. Now I do not know how many of you realize how competitive our family is, but when it comes to sports we all like to win.

So the game begins without incident. –I need to inform you that we do not have a traditional net across our pool we have blow-up rafts tied together which form our 2 foot wide by 3 inch high net- which by the way continues to move with the waves of the pool. With that said let me digress. We choose sides and decided who will be playing on what team when Ashlyn informs all of the “ButtHeads” -her favorite word- that she does not want to play. We then instruct her to sit on the side of the pool and not say that word again. This worked quite well until her cousin got a little to close to her so Ashlyn scratched her face. Mind you all the while the game is still going on. I am not sure what the score was but I think we were losing.

I re-entered the game after having a discussion with Ashlyn about why we do not try to scratch the eyes of our cousins out. Upon re-entry of the game I was determined to make a difference so in all of my Gaylord Focker fashion I began to smash everything that came on our side of the net back at face of someone on the opposing team. It was awesome!! Then Susie gently informed me that most of the players on the other side of the net were under the age of 14. I realized the error of my ways and began to play as normal as I could without losing of course.

I know you are reading this wondering what this has to do with anything so I will tell you. Have you ever gotten so involved in something where you were so focused on what you though was the goal that you really missed the goal. Last night the goal was not for me to win, it was for the kids to have a great time with their moms and dads acting like kids. I missed that for a moment.

Sometime I think we miss it when it comes to church as well. We get so focused on doing the right thing, singing the right songs, having the best equipment, sharing the best stories, being the coolest church, that we miss the most important thing. What is it? It is rescuing people who are lost in a sea of sin without hope and throwing them the lifeline of Christ. However, that does not seem all that cool or glamorous at times. But that is what we have been called to do. You see when we do that we will hear from those rescued words like the ones I heard from my little 6 year old niece this morning.

I asked here what her favorite part of her trip was in coming to Florida. Now you must know that she went to Disney, Islands of Adventure, Universal Studios, Downtown Disney, Fort Desoto Beach and many other cool exciting places but this was her response. She said I liked playing volleyball in the pool last night with everyone the best. My heart sank. She understood the big picture cool stuff, great music, good stories and awesome equipment without connection is crazy. She felt connected last night and it meant something.

I thought how may people are out there that I know who really don’t care about all of the fancy stuff and great stories they just want someone to climb in the water where they are and help them out. Maybe we should focus more on those lost at sea then those complaining on the shore. I don’t know about you but I want to be involved in rescuing people and throwing lifelines out. Will you join me?

exercise and faith

2007-03-15T11:06:00.000-04:00

Susie and I just got back from our Anniversary weekend in Nags Head. It was awesome!! We stayed in a three story house overlooking the Atlantic Ocean. The view was breathe taking.

Well Susie and I awoke on Saturday morning and, being the husband of the year that I am, I cooked her breakfast. After a wonderful breakfast I asked what she wanted to do, to which she responded “hey isn’t there an outlet mall right up the road? Let’s go Shopping”. Now I know that many men out there hate shopping, but I am not one of them. I made my way to the Gap and Famous Footwear. Once inside the shoe store I noticed that they were having a huge sale. So I decided to purchase a new pair of running shoes. Mind you, I have not been running in about 6 months. Now I am not saying that is a good thing it is actually horrible, but once you get out of the routine it is very difficult to get back into it.

So after my purchase Susie quickly reminded me that I no longer have an excuse for not working out, because I have been using the excuse that I do not have any shoes. So Sunday evening I began the beginning of a whole new me. I went running. I actually made it 2 miles, not bad for just getting back into it. Now I know for some of you like my friend Perry Noble who is running a marathon this weekend that sounds weak but I had to start somewhere. Perry has actually inspired me without even knowing it so thanks Perry for the push; you seem to be the one who always pushes me over the cliff. (That’s a good thing)

After the run I actually thought I was going to see Jesus right there on the driveway of my friends house, but I made it. Well, Monday Susie and I were traveling all day so I could not run which was not good, because when starting something like exercising, consistency is the key to success. So this morning I got up and got the kids ready for school, kissed Susie and headed for the YMCA. Upon arrival I knew that I made the right choice yet I hated myself and the treadmill I was on after the first 10 minutes. However, once I made it to 20 minutes I settled in and actually made it to 35 minutes without much pain. I actually feel pretty good right now as I am sipping on my latte while writing this entry.

So what does exercise have to do with our faith? Well I think that it has a great deal to do with it. You see physical fitness takes pain, time, and endurance and our faith, if it is going to be fit, requires the same thing. The problem is that many people have let their physical bodies and their spiritual bodies turn from fab to flab because of just neglect. So what do we do to turn the tide in our spiritual fitness? Here are some of things that may help you on your journey.

Start with attainable goals- Most people have heard the saying that if you don’t have a goal you will hit it every time. Yet many times in peoples spiritual journey they set out like they are running a marathon at a sprinters pace and they end up quitting shortly into the run. When I am running I set short attainable goals on my quest to finish the run that I have started. In our spiritual life we need to do the same. We need to set small attainable goals as we develop in our faith. I know it sounds spiritual to have a 3 hour quiet time everyday but if you are just starting out I think that may seem a little daunting. Set small goals and as you achieve them they will give you the stamina to achieve larger ones.
Understand the principle No Pain No Gain- In my quest to reshape my physical body I am finding out that it does not want to cooperate. My muscles are sore and fatigued and quite frankly I would just as soon quite then put my body through any more pain. However, I know if I can push through this quitting point it will get easier. The same is true in our faith. Many times we come to a place where things are just not easy and it seems like it would be easier to quite serving God and for the immediate time it may be, however in the long run we usually will experience more pain if we are not willing to endure the short term pain of becoming spiritually fit. I am not saying it is going to be easy, it is not. When you start the treadmill of spiritual fitness God will begin to shed the pounds of unwanted fat off of you, just remember when there is no Pain there is no Gain. I know in my own life I have learned far more through the painful experiences than all of the easy experiences put together. Because pain develops a greater dependence on God. Don’t avoid the pain.
Time to lace up- some people never make it out of the starting blocks of life because they will just not lace up and start running. Hey make excuses like “I have screwed up to bad”, or “I have tried that religion thing and it didn’t work for me” or my personal favorite “I need to think about that” Well here are my responses to theses excuses for not lacing up.

I have screwed up to bad- Take a walk through the Bible because last I checked it was full of screw-ups like murders, adulterers, whores, drunks, thieves, and crooks all who found that God’s grace was enough for them so I think it is probably enough for you too.
I have tried the religion thing and it didn’t work for me- Great religion didn’t work for me either and from what I can tell Jesus got pretty ticked at those spouting their religion without ever experiencing the changing power of a relationship with God. Religion will always leave you empty but a genuine relationship with God through His son Jesus will satisfy you completely.
I need some time to think about it- If I was giving out free hundred dollar bills I dare say many people would not have to think about it very long before they took one. So why is it that when offered something as priceless as eternal life do we say we need to think about it? I guess we are just not real good with investments after all.

bliss or blisters

2007-03-15T11:04:00.000-04:00

Tomorrow Susie and I are leaving for a little R and R on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. So you ask, what is the occasion? And maybe you noticed I didn't say our wonderful kids were going with us. Well you are right, they are staying with their Nana. This Friday Susie and I will be celebrating our 16^th wedding anniversary. I know we look too young to be married for that long. I agree!! We were just babies when we got married.

I was in my favorite place the other day, you know Starbucks, and actually that is where I am right now. When one of my barista friends and I were talking, I mentioned to her that Susie and I have experienced 16 years of wedded bliss. To which she responded “well I am sure that it has not all been blissful”. So I said well you are right sometimes the bliss has turned to blisters.

What is it that changes from the wedding day, which is so blissful, to the days full of blisters and pain? Susie and I were talking about this subject this morning in bed after our kids got on the bus for school. We began to reminisce about all of the places we've lived over our 16 years and all of the people who have crossed our paths. I told her “Susie I cannot think of anyone else that I would have wanted to spend the last 16 years with than you” (AWH) To which she responded “who else could have put up with you” She is right.

We laughed about all of the crazy hand me down furniture we've had over the years, and the places we've traveled. But one thing was missing. Neither of us mentioned the blisters. Oh we've had many, some huge ones that sidelined us from the blissful game of marriage for quite sometime. However, right now all I can think of are the blissful moments. So today I wanted to share with you some of the things I have learned over the last 16 years that have helped us make it even through the blisters.

You never graduate from the school of marriage- Many of us remember the day that we graduated from high school or college. We remember the excitement we felt and the sense of accomplishment. It was finished, for some that was the last time they would ever pick up a book for the rest of their life. However, any leadership guru would tell you leaders are learners and just because you are finished with your educational studies does not mean you should quit learning. However, that is what many people do with their marriage. In the dating arena singles study diligently because they want to pass from singlehood to marriage. However, I have seen it over and over, people graduate Suma Cum Laud from the single life and end up failing after just a year or two in the marriage classroom. Why? Because they failed to keep studying their spouse. If you and I are going to make it in the marriage classroom, we need to be committed to remaining students of our spouses for the rest of our lives.

Don’t trust your feelings; trust the facts- Too many people after a couple of years walk away from their marriage saying “I just don’t love them anymore." I think that is a load of crap. Sorry but last I checked love was not a feeling it was a choice. Feelings cannot be trusted; they will misguide you just about every time. You need to trust the facts of your commitment not the feelings you have. You may be saying Paul what do you mean by that? Well let’s look at our example of love, Christ, and see if we can see the difference.

Romans 5:8 (MSG)
⁸But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.

This example of love looks more like a choice than a feeling. He laid His life on the line when we did not deserve it. If Christ acted on His feelings He probably would have never gone to the cross and we would have never been able to experience redemption. Yet when it came time to decide on feelings or facts Christ choose to trust the facts not His feelings. Look at some of Jesus’ feelings.

Luke 22:42 (NIV)
⁴²"Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done."

Aren’t you glad that Jesus did not take the easy road? His road was the one more difficult but it was the one that was the road to redemption. I am not saying marriage is easy because I know for a fact that it is not. But after 16 years of bliss and blisters I find that the things I remember the most are the blissful moments. I think this is because when Susie and I had those blisters we did not bail out, but we stuck with it and went through the healing process.

If you are considering bailing out of your marriage because it has become more blisters than bliss, why not go see a counselor our talk to someone who can help you. I think it is crazy that we have life coaches for our careers these days, but let our marriages fall apart because we have too much pride to ask for help. All I am saying is that we all need to remain students of our spouses and focus on the facts about our relationship rather than our feelings that change as much as the weather.

Susie Thanks for choosing to love me in spite of me. You are my greatest source of encouragement. I am amazed that I have a portrait of Christ’s love as a partner in life and in ministry. I cannot wait to reminisce over the next 16 years. I love you.

fish tales

2007-03-15T11:00:00.000-04:00

So yesterday as soon as Ashlyn and Anthony got home from school we loaded up in the van and headed to Inverness, Florida, to this little campground on the edge of the Withlacoochee River where my mom and dad are camping for the next week or so. Just to give you a little background on this camp ground, I spent close to 4 weeks every year of my summer vacation at this camp as an adolescent; so taking my kids up there now to experience this is just incredible for me. This year is extra special because this is the year that my dad and I turned the captaining of the boat over to Anthony my 7 year old son. I know some of you are saying "but he is only 7, how can he become a captain of a boat?" Well our fishing vessel is only 14 feet long with a trolling motor on the front and a 4 HP Johnson on the back. I think he can manage.

So the ladies of our family did their traditional venture into town to shop, as the men (me, my dad, and Anthony) prepared for our maiden voyage with Anthony at the helm. After launching the boat and dad navigating it through the canal to the river, we realized this may not be the day for the young Captain Anthony to begin. You see as we approached the mouth of the river we noticed it had far less water than normal, as a matter of fact, the first thing captain dad did was tell me, the first mate, to get out of the boat, and pull us over to the new sand bar that was now where a portion of the river was once located. So after much pulling and paddling we made it to our favorite fishing hole, which did have plenty of water. This is where the fun begins.

Anthony has never been much of a fisherman until now. In fact, in the past when he went out with us, he was ready to go back within 30 minutes. But, yesterday was different. We anchored and began to get the poles ready. I got a nice juicy wiggler and placed it on Anthony's hook. Then I threw it out for him. After what seemed like just moments Anthony was yelling "I got one, I got one" and sure enough he had. I spent the next few hours baiting hooks and taking the fish off of the lines, but really not fishing. That is when it hit me. -I wasn’t fishing!- I was teaching my son how to fish. And as we were returning to shore I began to wonder why Jesus used so many fish metaphors. And here is what I came up with.

Jesus said on more than one occasion that He wanted to make people fishers of men and for many years I just thought it was part of Him being culturally relevant which it was. But I think it was more than that, so track with me here.

1. Jesus knew the thrill of landing the big one.
I think as Jesus was growing up that he probably experienced the thrill of hooking or netting his first big catch. He knew the adrenaline rush! He felt a surge through His body as the fish hit the lure, and he had the sense of accomplishment when the fish was landed. And I think he wants us to experience that same adrenaline rush when we share Christ with someone and see the light of their soul come on for the first time. It really is a thrill like nothing else in the world.

2. Jesus knew that fishing took patience.
Jesus knew that when fishing in the natural world or fishing in the spiritual world it was going to take patience. That is why some people never learn to fish in the natural world because they say “it takes too long and sometime I sit outside all day and catch nothing." I have experienced this and so did the disciples, but Jesus told them to just keep fishing and He tells us the same thing. It sometimes takes years to bring someone along this spiritual journey to where they accept Christ, but that is what we have been called to do. Jesus may be telling you today that you are fishing in the wrong place and you need to cast your nets on the other side of the boat for a big catch. Just don’t stop fishing.

3. Jesus taught them how to fish, He did not fish for them.
This was a big one for me yesterday, because I really wanted to fish. When I saw Anthony’s cork go down and I would yell “you got one” and he would just yank it in and miss it, I really wanted to say “move over and let me do it,” but I had to let him learn. I am sure that when Jesus looks at all of us who claim to be Christ Followers, He has seen us miss a few. But just as I did with Anthony yesterday, when He missed one, I think Jesus does the same with us. He says “hey you are learning, just keep it up!” And along the way He wants to give us fish tips to help us with our fishing, we just need to be listening.

This was a big one for me yesterday, because I really wanted to fish. When I saw Anthony’s cork go down and I would yell “you got one” and he would just yank it in and miss it, I really wanted to say “move over and let me do it,” but I had to let him learn. I am sure that when Jesus looks at all of us who claim to be Christ Followers, He has seen us miss a few. But just as I did with Anthony yesterday, when He missed one, I think Jesus does the same with us. He says “hey you are learning, just keep it up!” And along the way He wants to give us fish tips to help us with our fishing, we just need to be listening.

just listen

2007-03-15T10:59:00.001-04:00

WOW

What an incredible way to start the day. I just finished placing my kids on the bus for school, and I am now sitting on the back porch listening to the birds and watching the sun rise. I know some of you are asking, "Paul why are you being so sentimental?" Well I guess this week I have really been trying to take to heart my own message from a few weeks ago and just "Shut up and Listen." It is amazing what you hear when you listen. I just heard a train go by that I know has been going by at the same time for the last six years, but I guess I have become so accustomed to it that I just stopped noticing. Quite frankly I think it is because of the fast paced life that most of us lead that we all stop noticing things. Think about it. How many of you have driven from work all the way home without ever really being conscious of it? Now you may think I am crazy, but am I? Our lives have become such a routine that we miss even the little things that could make such a difference in someone else's life. Just yesterday I was reminded of this by my son. I had come home and had the usual list of things that I wanted to accomplish when Anthony and his friends asked if I would go swimming. (For those of you who were here last week, no I did not make him choose who could go this time. Lucky for me there were only two with him. HA HA) So I finished up what I was doing, got a running start, and did a cannonball right in the middle of the pool. This initiated an instant wrestling match and I started throwing small bodies everywhere. This lasted for about 15 minutes and I was exhausted, but for those three guys it was incredible.

In that moment I noticed something. A lot of time I talk a big game about being a good father and husband and spiritual leader. But most of the time it's just talk, because I fail to really hear what the actual needs are. So today I am choosing to listen. In order to do that I have to learn how to control my tongue. This is exactly what James is talking about in Chapter 3. And that is what we are going to be looking at this week at Relevant. We are going to play the game OUTBURST, and I am sure many of us have been playing this game quite a bit this week already. So join us Sunday as we look at another game that people play. See you then. Have an awesome weekend.

Paul

following God

2007-03-15T10:51:00.001-04:00

Have you ever wondered what it was really like to follow God. I mean to really follow Him. The disciples seemed to have this so easy and yet they struggled with it unless Jesus was right by their side. I have wondered for years “God if all you desire is for me to follow you then why is it so hard?" You would think that all you have to do is just have a desire to follow Him and it would happen, however, there seems to be so much more attached to it. One of Webster’s definitions of follow is “To go after, as if in pursuit.” I have been vexed by this for quite some time because I evaluate my spiritual journey and wonder am I really in pursuit of God.

I guess I am writing this because I am quite sure there must be others out there struggling with the same thing. Although I do not think I have all of the answers by any means, I am beginning to learn a few things about this pursuit. I think it is the word pursuit that is the difficult thing because the word makes me feel as if I am in a race to follow God, yet I will never catch up with Him. And while this is true in the realm of my spiritual development, I think God’s desire to have us personally connected to Him in our relationship to Him is also part of following Him.

I am still a firm believer that He really desires us to just walk with Him in the cool of the day as Adam did back in the Garden of Eden. The other day I was walking through Ybor quite early in the morning. No one was around and there was an incredible breeze blowing. In that moment, I felt as if God was telling me “Paul this is what I desire from you, for you to walk with me in the coolness of the morning and just be quiet.” However, it is so much easier to run with Him in the fast pace events of a Sunday morning when it feels like I am doing so much more for Him. But I am learning that if I do not spend the time in the stillness with Him, I probably will never hear Him in my business.

So you say Paul what is all of this rambling about. Well maybe you have been like me lately “just a little too busy to take a stroll with God." I found some verses in Psalms 119 written by David a fellow struggler that helped me with my strolling problem so I wanted to pass them along to you today. I trust you can find the time to stroll with God today.

Chapter 119
1. You're blessed when you stay on course, walking steadily on the road revealed by God. 2. You're blessed when you follow his directions, doing your best to find him. 3. That's right—you don't go off on your own; you walk straight along the road he set. 4. You, God, prescribed the right way to live; now you expect us to live it. 5. Oh, that my steps might be steady, keeping to the course you set; 6. Then I'd never have any regrets in comparing my life with your counsel. 7. I thank you for speaking straight from your heart; I learn the pattern of your righteous ways. 8. I'm going to do what you tell me to do; don't ever walk off and leave me.

Have an awesome day.

Paul

hell Week

2007-03-09T11:37:00.000-05:00

Sorry that I have not blogged in a while I have been a real slacker. So this one may seem a bit long. I will be writing more again this week. Happy reading.

Well, hell week as I like to call it is finally coming to an end here at the Wirth house. You may be asking Paul "why such harsh words about a week at you house?) It is not that bad I guess we just have 3 birthdays that fall within 7 days of each other. Ashlyns' is the 3rd, Susies' is the 7th and Anthony rounds out the week on the 8th. Now mind you this is a plus when it comes to my birthday (Sept 29 for those of you wondering) because I have the day, week and frankly the month all to myself except for the 1st which is my moms birthday. So last weekend Susie and I decided that we would do a complete makeover on the kids rooms for their birthday. Now mind you we decided this on Wednesday night and the project was to commence and be completed between the time the kids left for school on Friday and returned home Friday afternoon. As most projects go at the Wirth house we had great intentions but could not follow through in the time that we alloted ourselves. It is now a week later and I just finished placing the final touched in the kids rooms before the big birthday bash tonight.

You know this whole thing reminds me of our faith journey. Many of us when we first come to Christ see all of the things that need to be renovated and we are excited about it and want it to be done overnight. However, we all to often find that our journey with Christ is a life long journey through which He will make us into the person He wants us to be. Yet there are others on the journey with Christ who are in need of a major spiritual makeover because of spiritual arragance and apathy for those far from Christ. They are the ones who make statements that I find most offensive like "I just don't feel like I am being feed" or "I just need some deeper teaching" to those people I would like to leave a few scriptures for their consumption for the mouth of Jesus:

Matthew 9:9-13

9 Passing along, Jesus saw a man at his work collecting taxes. His name was Matthew. Jesus said, “Come along with me.” Matthew stood up and followed him.10 Later when Jesus was eating supper at Matthew’s house with his close followers, a lot of disreputable characters came and joined them. 11When the Pharisees saw him keeping this kind of company, they had a fit, and lit into Jesus’ followers. “What kind of example is this from your Teacher, acting cozy with crooks and riff-raff?” 12 Jesus, overhearing, shot back, “Who needs a doctor: the healthy or the sick? 13 Go figure out what this Scripture means: ‘I’m after mercy, not religion.’ I’m here to invite outsiders, not coddle insiders.”

WOW did you catch His words here. They are awesome. And here is some of that good deep teaching from Jesus as well. Check this out.

Matthew 22:34-40

34 When the Pharisees heard how he had bested the Sadducees, they gathered their forces for an assault. 35 One of their religion scholars spoke for them, posing a question they hoped would show him up: 36 “Teacher, which command in God’s Law is the most important?” 37 Jesus said, “‘Love the Lord your God with all your passion and prayer and intelligence.’ 38 This is the most important, the first on any list. 39 But there is a second to set alongside it: ‘Love others as well as you love yourself.’ 40 These two commands are pegs; everything in God’s Law and the Prophets hangs from them.”

Well I think I could stand to work on these few principles for a while. How about you? I am learning that a spiritual makeover is not so much what I think it should be but what God thinks it should be. We have done a great job in religious culture at manufacturing spiritual facades that look good for those who want to look spiritual but to God He see that they are just plastic. Maybe it is time to lay down the plastic and start being real.

peace