True Religion

James 1:27
Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress.

John 14:18
I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you.

 

Pray and ask God how He might use you to affect the life of an orphan today.

Compassion Art

Think about what would happen if you took Steven Curtis-Chapman,  Israel Houghton, Tim Hughes,  Matt Redman, Michael W. Smith, Chris Tomlin, Darlene Zschech, Martin Smith, and a few others and put them in a room together for a few days. They would have a good time wouldn’t they? What would happen if you asked them to write an entire album of worship songs. The greatest part is that all the proceeds from this album would go to help those in need all across the world.  This project is called Compassion Art.  You can find more info at http://compassionart.tv/.  The project released this month in the UK and will launch in the US at the end of January. The album also includes several additional guest performers: Kirk Franklin, Amy Grant, Joel Houston, Christy Nockels, Leeland Mooring,  and tobyMac.

Here is just one of the songs from this album.

God Puts the Super In Your Natural

Check out this video at http://vimeo.com/2324704.  Perry Noble preaches at his church about waiting on God. He shares how sometimes we use prayer and other spiritual disciplines as an excuse for not doing what God has told us to do.

Choices We Make

“Experts say that in order to provide water, basic health and nutrition for everyone in the world, it would cost 20 billion dollars, which is how much Americans spend in one year on ice cream.” Rob Bell

Can Your Grandma Rap Better than Mine?

Funniest thing I’ve seen since “Jesus is My Friend,” but it’s just wrong.

Tips for a Young Pastor

Even though I am headed to Africa for the next few years, I feel called to be a Senior Pastor one day. In my free time, I have been reading books on leadership and pastoring. I am also reading a ton of blogs and listening to podcasts on those subjects as well.  I came across a blog by Craig Groeschel, pastor of LifeChurch.tv.  He shares 40 leadership tips for young pastors. I am going to share some of my favorites.

• Life is short. Make every day count for God’s glory.
• God called you because He is good, not because you are.
• If you blame yourself for bad results in ministry, you’ll likely also take credit for the good results.
• Err on the side of generosity.
• Hire staff members that you like.
• Don’t just delegate responsibility, delegate authority.
• Talk about Jesus every time you preach.
• Always be caught speaking well of others.
• Love your wife more than you love the church.
• Don’t return emails angry.
• When you suffer and hurt because of ministry, worship Jesus all the more.
• Believe in people that others overlook.
• If you’re going to reach people that others aren’t, you’ll have to do things that others won’t.

and my favorite one

• Laugh frequently.

Something Big

I stole this from this from another blog, (http://jodyrlanders.com/)  but I totally see myself in it.

“I have a savior complex, and since I fear my efforts won’t end in grandiosity, I’m tempted to not try at all. That’s pride. Jesus could of had a savior complex if anyone could, but he was humble enough to stop and heal one obscure man. Jesus was motivated by compassion, “When he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless…” (Matthew. 9:36)

When Jesus looked at this world, he wasn’t thinking about influence, he was responding in compassion. I want my motivation to be compassion and love, not a desire to do something big” (Amber Van Schooneveld)

5 a.m.

That’s what time I was awakened this morning by a loudspeaker from a police car. “This is a mandatory evacuation”. We had watched the news all night and was hoping the flames wouldn’t get close to our house, but they did.  I went outside and saw my neighbors sprinting across the street with their lives in their hands. My job was to pack up the home movies. Check. Then I went for my college diploma and pastoral license, then this collage of pictures my mom made for me.  Grabbed some clothes, my phone charger, Bible, some of my favorite books.  You always talk about what you would grab in case your house was on fire, but now this was almost reality.  You really find out what your stuff means to you, when you have to load it into a car at 5 a.m., which turns out to be not that much. We ended up not having to evacuate (even though Channel 9 told us to).  I think our street is no longer in danger, but the fires continue to burn. I can still hear the water planes fly over my house. Please continue to pray for those who have lost their homes or are in danger of doing so.  Like Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, Jesus is with us in this fire.

Creation Groans

“As the deer pants for water, so my soul pants for you, O God.”           Psalm 42:1

I am not to this point yet, but hopefully I will be one day.

Matt Chandler, pastor of The Village Church, urges us to long after God with desperation.

Ditka for President

In 2004 Mike Ditka, the beloved former coach of the Chicago Bears, was contemplating running for a Senate seat in the state of Illinois. His opponent would have been, current President-elect, Barack Obama. Can you imagine what might have happened if Ditka ran against Obama? Ditka is the most beloved person in Illinois other than Michael Jordan. Let’s see what the Chicao Bear superfan has to say about it: