Why I Love DCC!

Over the last few months my family has joined together with an awesome church family. This post is dedicated to some reasons why I love Denton Christian Church:

1. Their courage! This church had the courage to realize when they needed some help and was willing to ask for it! They partnered with ECEF and moved forward!

2. Their patience! This church has been patient with me in this transition. My way of communicating was new, and they are adapting. My ideas about how to do church were different, and they are moving with me. They have been patient when communication broke down and excited when it worked well!

3. Their commitment! I think what I love about DCC the most is the fact that they are more committed to Jesus than to any method of doing church. These people WANT to love and serve Jesus and be an effective tool for God in this community.

I wanted to put into print for the World Wide Web to know: Denton Christian Church is awesome! I love being a part of this family of faith, and look forward to 2009 being the biggest year in the history of this congregation!

25 Random Things about me (repost from FB)

This is totally a repost of a note I wrote on Facebook. This note is exclusively dedicated to: well, uhh, me! These are 25 random things about me. Feel free to respond and/or add to the list.

1. I love unintentionally funny movies movies, known to most people as B-movies! What I recently learned is that this AWFULly good movies also happen to be the ones you can LEGALLY watch for free online!

2. I love church. I bleed church. I think about church all the time. Also, the church irritates, frustrates and infuriates me more than anything else in the world!(Not one congregation in particular, but The Church as a whole) ~One of those really annoying paradoxes in the journey called my life~

3. I can't stand my office. It's not the paint or the room or anything. It is just there is no one there. So I moof! (For those of you unfamiliar....moof=mobile out of officing...check it on urban dictionary!)

4. My wife is stinkin' awesome! (much more of the latter than the former!)

5. I definitely have a man crush (non-homo, thank you!) on Jack Bauer and Perry Noble!

6. I can moderately communicate in Haitian Creole. (300 words or so)

7. If I could be anyone from 'The Office' I would be Andy. Why?!? Because he is blissfully ignorant of everything! Ohh to not know how much crap is going on around you!

8. Who do you think I am most like from 'The Office'? (BTW--The Office is officially my fave entertainment experience!)

9. The worst nickname I ever had was Free Willy. (Aren't children so nice to the fat kids?)

10. I think email forwards are one of the worst forms of torture in the world! (Here that Frm. Pres Bush-- stop the waterboarding and start the forwarding!)

11. My secret--Most of the time I have no idea what I am doing, and have no idea how I did what I did or how I could do it again.

12. I am a huge fan of the New England Patriots.

13. My dream getaway currently is: to spend the weekend in Boston hangin' out in different coffee shops and seeing a Patriots game live on Sunday afternoon!

14. I also dream of being a huge blogger. Like the one people actually read!

15. I also kinda dream about earning my PhD someday....yeah, I know, Dr. Billy is kind of a weird thought for me too!

16. I really wish I was a musician. When I hang out with Joe Goehringer, my mouth literally waters at his musical talents. Makes me sick! (not really...)

17. I am finding myself trying to sum everything up in 140 characters or less! (THANK YOU TWITTER!)

18. My fave radio station right now is Acoustic Alternative on iTunes Radio.

19. I wish I was as smart as Mark Driscoll, as cool as Perry Noble, as savvy as Mark Batterson, as techy as Tony Morgan, and as creative as Carlos Whittaker. (if you don't know who those guys are, you should! google them!)

21. I literally lose sleep over two things-- the future of my family & the future of the church.

22. i really like coffee. coffee makes me happy. coffee gives me joy. and lattes, they take me to a whole new level of coffee happiness.

23. I definitely should be spending this time writing this working on a sermon....

24. I have mixed emotions about our President! I mean, I liked most of Dubya's policies, but man, he had a really bad style. President Obama- uber hip style, but his policies are not my favorite!

25. Yes! I skipped #20 on purpose. If you missed it so much, add it for me in the comment section!

Sermon Blurb 1-25-09

Yesterday we had a great time mining the story of the Rich Young Ruler to see how we can live! Here is what we talked about as a crucial step he took that we often miss:

The RYR asked a question that most of us will never ask! Once Jesus had called him to make sure he was doing the right things, the RYR was still sure he was missing something. Something wasn't quite complete and he knew. So he approached Jesus with a question that most Christ followers will never ask. He asked Jesus, "What do I still lack?" Basically, he says, "Yeah, yeah. I know the good Jewish answer: Obey, Obey, Obey. But what is still missing? Where do I need to work on things?"

Most of us never ask this question for one of two reasons: Either we already know the answer or we are scared to know it. We don't want to deal with the aspect of our life that Jesus wants us to deal with! So, we sit stagnant. We sit doing the "Jesus things" we have always done, and don't realize that we haven't gotten any closer to Jesus in 20, 30, 40 years.

So take some time to seriously inspect your life. Ask Jesus where you are still lacking. And I guarantee it won't be comfy and cozy, but if you go where He calls, step where He leads, you will be closer to Him than you have ever been before! So ask Him today, what do I still lack?

Inaugaration Day!

Today we inaugurate our new president, President Obama. I want to personally say that I want him to succeed and do well as President.

Many well-meaning, and well-intentioned Christians need a reminder today that no matter if we voted or wanted President Obama to be the leader of our nation, he is. As followers of Christ we have the responsibility to submit and respect our nation's leadership. Not only because we know that they are appointed for a time by God to that position, but also because respect and submission wins us a hearing among those who don't know Jesus.

1 Peter 2:13-16 speak to this subject well. You should definitely read it, but let share with you one point that Peter makes: by our submission and good will that we "silence the ignorant talk of foolish men." The world has an idea that "Christians" are nothing but right-wing hacks sold out to a political agenda. That is not who we are. We are people who desperately want to follow Jesus and the way of living He advocates.

By sharp sectarianism we do nothing but isolate ourselves and eliminate our opportunity to share the message of Jesus. So, today, I will be celebrating and praying for our new President. And maybe, just maybe, God will open opportunities to talk about my Lord.

Sermon Blurb 1-18-08

I like to be in control! I see that mostly in the car. You will never have to ask if my wife or I drove. The answer is always me. Always. Even on a long trip, say 12 hours to Illinois, I drive the whole way, no matter what! Even if I get sleepy. If she gets into the driver's seat, and I lean back and close my eyes, inevitably, my left eye will pop open. And my mouth will begin saying things like, "Do you know how fast you are going?" AND "Do you see that guy stopping?" AND "Why are you swerving all over the road?" I just can't stand to NOT be in control of the car.

Many of us are like that with every aspect of our life. We want to be in control of everything. But Jesus says that if we truly want to be His disciples we must lay down our rights to our life. We must carry our cross and follow Him.

Caption Please

Somebody hook me up with a caption for this hilarious picture!

February Sermon Series

Hey all! Thought I would give you an idea of next month's messages. We are going to be looking a little up close at some of the parables of Jesus! For sure we will be looking @ the Parable of the Sower and the Seed (Matthew 13) AND the 'Prayer-ables' in Luke 18. It is gonna be a fun month!

1.11.08 Sermon Blurb

On Sunday, I talked about God's expectations of our life and illustrated His desire this way:

We all have basic expectations. One of my basic expectations was forgotten one weekend when Roseann and I went to a conference together. It was a great weekend. The kids stayed home with Grandma Joan, and Roseann and I went up to Peoria, IL for a conference. While there, I told Roseann I was gonna take her to a swanky restaurant, and the hotel we were staying in just happened to have one. (When I say it was swanky, I mean there were CLOTH table cloths, and we got TWO forks that weren't even plastic!!) So we ordered our food. I don't recall what I ordered, but Roseann got some kind of chicken dish. (More chickens die because of her than anyone else I know.) The food was good until Roseann got a few bites into her chicken. And it was raw! Not just a little pink, it was like almost frozen in the middle! It was gross!

When I go into a restaurant, I have some basic expectations. I want to get what I ordered, and I want it to be cooked! These aren't unreasonable demands, they are the basics. God has taught us since Cain and Able that when we bring an offering to Him, He wants our FIRST and our BEST. These are the basic expectations He has.

Pushing Cheeks Up!

So, we were eating at our fave place in the house today: the kitchen island. The two older kids, Tori and Will were in barstools up to the island, and Elizabeth was in her highchair. I was distracted with something. (far more normal than I'd like to admit!!!) Tori interrupted by telling me that she made Elizabeth happy and she knew because Elizabeth was "pushing her cheeks up to her eyes!" Of course, it took me a second to realize that she couldn't see her mouth, but could tell Elizabeth was smiling because,well, her cheeks were pushed up to her eyes. Kids say the coolest things....

Question for you: What have you done today that made God push His cheeks up? What about tomorrow?