Let the Dunking Begin!!!

We are right in the middle of college basketball's "March Madness" which now stretches into April and that is kind of confusing to me, but I digress. This is the time of year when Cinderella stories take on a whole new meaning and sometimes the underdogs end up as heroes.  It is a time when dreams are made and hopes are dashed.  Since those games are sometimes only remembered by the dunks,  here are a few reminders of some of those types of dunks:  Tomahawk, Put-back, Reverse, Triple Pump, Windmill, and my personal favorite, The Alley Oop!  Oh the dunk is by far one of the highlights of any basketball game, and I realize that the three-point shooters reading this are probably begging to differ with me; but the facts still remains that the dunk is just an epic way to score in basketball.  My son Anthony loves to play basketball and he and his buddies like nothing more than to lower the rim to the height that they can take their place with basketballs greats and dunk. 

This got me thinking. What is it about dunking that is so incredible?  Dunking in basketball is something that sets you apart from the rest of the field. But I think there is another dunking that is even more incredible.  It is the spiritual dunking called baptism.  You see dunking a basketball is awesome and it sets you apart in the basketball arena, yet spiritual dunking, through baptism, sets you apart for the Kingdom of God.  Spiritual Dunking-Baptism is a public display of a transformation that has already happened on the inside of a persons heart when they began their relationship with Jesus.

Tomorrow there will be several March Madness games played and I am sure that there will be several epic dunks.  However, I do not think any of them will compare to the dunks that will take place at our very own March Madness here at at Relevant.  Come out tomorrow and support some life changing spiritual dunks.

If you have been thinking about getting baptized and would like to get baptized tomorrow just email me or Josette and let us know and we will get you added to the list.

It's Been A While

Hello Blog.  I had almost forgotten that you existed until someone recently told me that you were still around.  For some reason almost 5 years ago I started this blog as a way of expressing everything that I was feeling as a person and a church planter.  This was going to be the place that I would share with the world everything that God was teaching me as a person and as a leader, I was pumped.  But then writing everyday became difficult and then writing 5 days per week became difficult, then I said I will just do three days per week and finally I just quit.  In fact when I looked at the last time that I posted anything on this blog I realized that if I would have just waited another month it would have been 4 years since I wrote anything at all on here.  It is not as if I have been abducted by aliens for the past 4 years or something.  It is just that Life and ministry has just gotten busy and I have gotten lazy.

This got me thinking that maybe my laziness in my blogging is no different that many peoples spiritual journey.  We all start out saying I am all in for Jesus and we sign up and show up for everything.  Then we begin to sign up far more than we show up for stuff and finally church becomes something that we used to do but now it has been 4 years since we have gone and we are not sure why.  We liked going and we even liked the people but somehow life just got too busy and one week turned to one month and that turned to one year and so on.

So this post is one of questions more than answers for both my blog and our spiritual lives?

1. What are things that make a blog worth doing and a blog worth reading?


2. What do you do when you feel like you want to quit writing?

Now to the spiritual questions:

1. What are things that make following Jesus and being part of a spiritual community worth it?


2. What do you do when you feel like quitting spiritually?

Backpacks of Hope

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.

Spirituality and the Dentist Chair

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

Good Golly its Good Friday

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

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

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

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)

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

Fast Tuesday Week 1

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

1. Personal Direction (Spiritual Renewal) Psalms 25
2. Corporate Direction (Direction for Relevant Church and its leadership) II Chronicles 7:14
3. 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

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.

Super Bowl Excitement Not so Super

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?

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.

Leadership leadership wherefore art thou leadership?

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.

Salt and Light

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.

It's Been A While

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”

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

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

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

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

FYI message follow-up

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.

•