Why do revivals come and go?

This question was posed to me today and i thought it was a good question, because i didn't have an easy answer.

Why do revivals come and go?

Reflecting on Heaven

My picture of heaven:

One of pure intense serving and adventurous love

Pure: diamond, water, we love pure (see beauty without flaws)

Redemption: Like a Second Hand Furniture Store that Finds Beauty in Old

Intense: Love (the strong draw and feelings)

Serving: Jesus washing our feet

Risk- the unknown excitement of a wedding proposal

Work: great responsibilities

Will we be in want or need in heaven? ie. Adam still needed food.

Choice in heaven- can choose how much food we eat without eating same amount or going in excess or deficiency

Love acts: cooking dinner for Jesus with all we got, making the perfect gift for someone,

Time and money won’t be there: the stresses of life are gone as to how quick something needs to be done.

All flaws gone; could adam trip, fall, naturally die? What would be his reaction if he did trip over a rock or cut himself on a thorn? Can we trip in heaven? :)

Is Life Simple For Some People?

I just got off the phone with a friend in college whose life seems rather straightforward and simple and thought to myself, "Is life simple for some people?"
Ministry and loving people can seem so complex and complicated to me a lot of the times and i wonder if everyone else goes through the same things.

Or does my analytical mind or the complications of trying to love people the most Christlike way possible compound the complex issues of life sometimes?

Reading To Change

As i have been reading and writing lately, i realized i still want to read for quality rather than quantity. I want to soak in the words. I want it to change me rather than just collect info in my head.

I don't like to skim. If i am reading a book, i am reading to learn or more importantly so that it will strengthen or change the way i think so i have a hard time skimming a book and missing the illustrations or emotions or points that help lead you to the depth the author is trying to get across.

Also are there different ways or reasons to read an author's work. For instance
Reading to change (there is more-hope)
vs. reading to be accepted (I’m okay-acceptance)
vs. reading for relationship (I’m not alone-trust)

Instant Emotion

Emotions that I have not been able to change:

Over the years there have been a few times that I specifically remember wanting to feel differently or expected the situation not to impact or effect me the way it has. While i was in New Zealand, a friend of mine took the American flag I was letting someone else borrow, and right after I asked them to handle it carefully and not let it touch the ground, he picked it up and laughingly dropped it to the ground. His reasoning was that it “is just a flag.” This really upset me. It also shocked me that I had such a strong reaction. I don’t feel like I usually hold objects in too high of regard and usually I like to be able to down play things as not being a big deal. I tried to reason this one off as not a big deal, but for some reason I couldn’t shake the way that this offense made me feel.

The one other time I specifically remember being somewhat shocked with my response was after losing my last competitive intramural game in the first round of the playoffs during my last year of at uni at IWU.

I remember walking from the gym feeling very somber like someone had died or something. Through high school and college sports, I had prided myself in doing my best to be competitive and try to win, but in never taking the game so seriously that I couldn’t detach myself from it and have a good time afterwards, no matter whether we won or lost. I am not sure if it was because it was one of te last chances to be competitive that I knew I would have, or if it was the fact that I knew we should've won or whether it was simply the fact that we lost to my ex’s new boyfriend’s team, but for whatever reason I just remember thinking it shouldn’t matter that much but it just did.

No moral to these. Just story telling time.

Confessions 1: Moments I wish i Could take Back

Some people say they wouldn't change anything about their lives. I get what they are trying to say, but I think they are crazy!!! Here are two moments that i grimace about every time i relive them and wish i could take them back.

1: Sermon "Awesome God" dis. I gave a sermon in college and somehow was mentioning how some songs or christian things in our lives can get stale. I was going to use the song "Awesome God" as an example of an overplayed song,
but the band had done an awesome rendition of that song earlier that night and i wasn't quick enough on my feet to change my notes. I got to the point of that joking point in the messgeand wasn't quick on my feet so i told the joke flopped and i looked like a jerk taking a shot at the band from the stage. My heart and Gut sunk so deep into my stomach! and i never felt like i got to repair that situation.Ouch.

2. Spoiling Travis' Banquet ask. Travis was going to ask his girlfriend to the school banquet by having her get pulled over by a cop friend and get arrested where Travis would propose. It was an elaborate plan he was ecstatic about and i somehow gave it away while we were all sitting around one day and i just saw his face drop. He was nice to me, but i felt like the worse friend alive for a long time.

And here is a video of a best man who also probably wishes he could take back the moment

Desire

What can I do to become a man of God that is becoming Jesus and helping others become Him and living out the love and truth that I believe and profess?

Discipline.
Desire.
Working with Others.
Figuring out how to work with others.

What I need to know:
My boundaries.
My focus.
My goal.
My Beliefs
My God’s ability
My God’s will.

This is just thinking out loud... this is not hours of deep thought.

There seems to be more umf behind my thoughts than i can express on paper. Man, i want to live a life like him and know that i am fully living out his will and allowing God to do what He is capable of doing through my life!!!
(Journal 11/16/08)

My Productivity Killers

This is for all my friends still studying, over the last week of finishing papers(May 2009) and needing to produce large quantities of work and to concentrate for long periods, i came across three main productivity Killers in my life:

1. Checking my facebook habitually throughout the day

2. Checking my email habitually throughout the day
3. My recliner- it makes me fall asleep ...but its so comfy!

Pastor vs Preacher

I think sometimes that Pastor’s are setup to be pitiful preachers unless they are really make preaching a top priority in their time and schedules. Their are so many things to do that good sermon and preaching prep can easily take a backseat.

There is almost never enough time to continually develop and intentionally work on sharpening your teaching gift while having to develop one if not multiple fresh new messages each week.

At the same time as soon as you seem to focus in on more of the speaking and prep side and less on everyday "pastoral" logistics, a pastor can run the risk of removing the everyday tasks from his life and becoming less relatable and out of touch with everyone else’s day to day problems/struggles.

Just thoughts.

Vampires kill Jesus?!?

Who really killed Jesus?
Too Funny :)
This is when you know Twilight and vampires hit Ridiculously Obsessive Status!

Here's a blog post on the book

Why does everyone value the harsh critic's opinion

This is a question i have wondered for along time...

But why does everyone like someone like a Simon Cowell so much?
I am naturally a positive person

and I know there can be a place for brutal honesty, but why do we find so much enjoyment or pleasure in it, even if the person is wrong?

just a thought, i have no answer here.

Powerful Jonah thought

“And Jonah stalked

to his shaded seat

and waited for God

to come around

to his way of thinking

And God is still waiting for a host of Jonahs

in their comfortable houses

to come around

to his way of loving.”

Thomas Carlisle

Eye Opening: The World likes Americans up close but does not seem to be big fans of Americans from afar

These were some sombering stats i came across awhile ago. But once again, its one poll that might be biased(like i am not sure we are the worst dressed tourists). But if its not inaccurate, we've got a little ways to go to improve our image around the world :)
http://www.titanicawards.com/

The only two surveys we didn't make were the world's worst toilets and biggest drinkers

Hillsong in New York... crazy

Hillsong is here in New York and apparently doing well. They started a church up this last year here in the states.
I love their music and style.

I believe this is their heart to further the kingdom to the US and in that case...
it is fun andcrazy to see people coming here from around the world to spread the good news. It is fun to welcome missionaries here in the same way people have done for me and others who have gone elsewhere with the same heart. i love servants

Reminds me of...

The First Time i was in New Zealand, certain things would remind me of people that i was missing or away from. (4/15/07) The reason i never posted this was because i never had the time to compile all the pics :)

Here was my list of things that reminded me of a people.

Dad- every time i see Palm Trees

Kelly- Baby Pig

Logan M- "Prooove it!"

Nanna & Pappaw- everytime i see cows

Jen- Gifts to or from other people

Brandon- singing Will Smith "I can't stop this!"

Trace- Everytime i go surfing!

Levi Huffman- Exploring the Forest

Dave Hopewell- climbing buildings

Ryan Bales- Leading Worship

Chris Collins- Mac email

Corey Admitis- Dancing

Abby Dillinger- chacos

New Revelation for me! Jesus had to die for ALL.

Journal from 5/20/09
I guess I always believed that if Jesus never came that the people in the Old Testament could’ve kept doing what they were doing and made it to heaven by their obedience and sacrifices.

But the Bible says this wouldn’t have been enough.
That EVERYONE in the world would’ve gone to hell if Jesus never came into the world.

EVERYONE would’ve gone to hell without Jesus. No obedience or sacrifice would’ve been enough. The OT sacrifices and blood appeased God, but it did not remove our sins and sinful nature.

I have heard scripture and teaching say that even the people before Jesus were saved by faith in Jesus even though they did not see or know him, but I never got this.

We would’ve never been holy or pure enough for heaven by the hiding of our sins, they needed to be removed. Our sinful nature needed to be reversed before we can truly do desire God first. I think we forget that if we believe humans are born with a sinful nature, that we are naturally prone to choose the opposite of God and that we would NEVER be fit for heaven unless our innate nature is actually changed. A lot of us still subconsciously live under the thought that we are neutral as humans and not slaves to sin until Christ changes us.

WOW! Without Christ dying, heaven would not have been a possibility for humans.
I am assuming that even the paradise mentioned in the OT would’ve been impossible for humans without the foreknowledge and timeless sacrifice of Christ Jesus which reaches eternally to the past, present, and future.

And how interesting is it that Jewish faith which holds to the Old Testament would focus more on the living in this present world than the next world! It seems fitting that some Jewish parts do not hold to the same kind of Messiah anymore. Their anticipation of a Messiah being the answer in the past who would set Israel and the world right and if Jesus is the answer but not the answer they are wanting or looking for…

It would be better for a Jew to focus on the world here if they are no longer sure that the Messiah or “heaven” they are wanting will come.

I am thinking this out loud so I still need to do some more research to solidify and balance out this view, but feel free to comment.

Media Frenzie

3 January 2011 (after spending a solid week with no TV or movies)

Do You know how much time we use on entertainment? Football, movies, videogames. Youtube, facebook, etc. It has become such a default filler it is insane. To stop and think that people had approx. 2 more hours in their day where they weren’t sitting down looking at a screen simply because they didn’t have as much media entertainment. I was asked the other day by a college student when I said that I didn’t have netflix and an xbox, what do you do then? That is where we have gotten to. We are products of our world.

The TV has only been around for 60 years of at least 15,000 years of human history and we act like it is a must to survive or have a fulfilled life. The sports teams that we follow and allow take up so much of our brains have only been around 60(NBA), 100(NFL) or 150 (MLS) years too. The internet is less than 25 years old. Cell phones less than 20. Yet we act like we are stuck to those things for information and connection to live a full life as humans, that it is scary? It is just another way we have let the lies of the media get the best of us just like the need for debt. Does the entertainment industry sicken or scare anyone else as much as it does me? I don’t want to be the killjoy and i am just as guilty because i use it but the fact that I could easily spend 6 hours watching sports with a friend per week another 4 watching movies and another 2-4 on tv and youtube with friends just freaks me out. That’s two hours a day I spend doing nothing but taking in temporary stuff. Kind of freaks me out.

But you know what also freaks me out is becoming a workaholic. Tv is one of those lazy options to try and balance out life with fun, but I’m not sure that I like that as my fun option. Just because I need to balance out my work hours, doesn’t mean I should add something in that is just as much worthwhile or antiproductive as working too much. $55 a month on TV or 6 nights of bowling and other fun. I just need to be intentional about getting out and playing.

Having outside time, play time, and also personal ministry time. Time, time, time, Always biding for time. I didn’t realize that was going to be my tension and ongoing struggle in this life God. Why is it? Because there is too much we can do, that I want to do, too many people to include, too many problems to fix and ways to grow, too many ways to prepare for the next step and also just enjoy the people and the amount of people I already enjoy. I really do need to take my life in check and decide which way I want my life to go before it runs away with me. What do I want to become and make sure that I am continually striving to be that. What is it that you truly desire for me to become and have called me to and to hold on to those things with my dear life but never as much as holding on to You. Things are always up for change and discussion because it is a relationship with You where you are Lord, not me.

You create an atmosophere around you

You create an atmosphere around you!

I recently noticed that when i enter another person's world or they enter mine, they often affect the atmosphere. The initials of friends below all bring a different feel usually with them:

L- tornado/crazy/busy

V- Tornado

M- lackadaisical

M- peaceful/quiet

M place of love/acceptance

D- tension at times

and it made me ask the question. What kind of atmosphere or energy do i naturally bring to a room and is it what i want to add to other people's lives? Is it Crazy Energy? Contemplative love?!? Genuine Care? I just hope that whatever it is, it glorifies God.

Rob Bell Learning

The one thought i read on someone's facebook that really stood out to me said something like...
We are criticizing Rob Bell for missing his chance on national TV to say that Jesus is the only way to salvation, but God please forgive us for those daily opportunities we miss to do the same thing every time we talk to someone at the store or on facebook or at work or school.

Now that's convicting. I don't want to feel obligated to be "spiritual" online because i am pastor, but i definitely am reconsidering whether i will be held for my lack of words pointing to God on the platforms that i do have.

No Negative

No Negatives for a whole week!!! Is that possible?
That's my goal for this next week, so feel free to keep me accountable if I'm not.

I realized today that my verse for the month of February was
Phil 4:8 Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things.

And yet i have been allowing a lot of defeating thoughts and negative outlooks on opportunities to cloud my thoughts. That needs to change. Lord lead the way on this.

Adventure 2: DeWitt Campus Launch

On March 6, 2011
Faith Church Launched our second campus up in DeWitt.
I have an amazing team alongside of me making it all happen as the campus pastor!
The First Sunday we had a lot of new visitors from the central campus as well as the community. The service was lively and energetic with over 160 in attendance.

It is fun to see a growing younger crowd and new faces involved.
People are already starting to feel more comfortable as they find their place meeting each other after the service. God has big plans for this campus that He has been revealing and is excited to continue to unveil to us along the way.Jumptown is our children's program that has always been an exciting highlight for the children who come. Ashley and Matt Burger are doing a great job of heading that up, creating a fun environment and getting quality help!
The Moffits are the solid core family who have been the founders and generational family over the years. They have been so supportive and exciting of this whole new adventure and i can't wait to see how we will all work together to make a huge difference for the kingdom.Tomorrow will be Week 6! It is crazy how quickly time passes! So much of the stress and work leading up to the launch seems like it was forever ago, but none of it was wasted.

God, please continue to work through the obedient and open hearts that simply desire for you to do an amazing thing of your will through us as your body. In the name of the Jesus who had the amazing ability to find and save the lost, Amen.

Adventure 1: Grand Canyon Family Time

The Last Few years two of my uncles have been hiking down and back up the Grand Canyon in one day. That is about a 5,000 ft elevation change and about a 16 mile hike total! This year they invited the rest of the guys in the family along so me, my dad, brandon, and kirby joined them on the adventure this year which was amazing! Here are some of the pics below. It was good family time, dad time, rest time, outdoor time, God time... just an overall good time.










In-N-Out 3 times and staying at my Uncle Gary's amazing place in Gilbert, AZ were definitely added bonuses!!

Blog Frenzie!!!

For my faithful followers who have gone three months without a blog... you are in luck. I had a free day to catch up so not only am i going to catch you up, but i am also bringing up a bunch of old unfinished thoughts that were drafts that never got posted. So you are going to get new info and archive thoughts over the next couple of weeks that will be fun! :)

20 minute 5k

20 minute 5k
That is my goal by the end of this month. This is celebrating being able to run outside again as it warms up and to set a new goal since i have never really ran a 5k for my own pr(personal record). I have been running and training hard to get up to par. I have been running light while recouping from some small snowboard injuries, but this last week, i shave 3 minutes off my time down to about 22 minutes at the moment, so now comes the big refining time! :)