Life is Crazy

Sometimes life takes on a crazy turn. For me, the last several months have been just that. I feel like I have been on a roller coaster and have not been able to get off. The Christmas Season started off for me with staff problems. Then my father went into the hospital several times beginning the weekend before Christmas. It is amazing how the roles begin to change as our parents get older. My Dad is now 80 years old and sometimes it seems that I am the parent and he is the teenager. I guess this is the great "get back at you."

We have been in the midst of struggle for so long that sometimes it is hard to see beyond it. But, we are right around the corner of a new beginning. For the last 7 years we have fought with everything we have to build the Kingdom and the church in St. Augustine. I am believing what God has said that this is the 8th year and there is going to be release.

If you are fighting for the Kingdom and know that God has not told you to move on, hang in there. Listen to what God is saying and then do it.

I Wait Before the Lord-Psalm 62

Today's lectionary reading from the Psalms is Psalm 61 and 62. As I read Psalm 62, verse 1 stood out. "I wait quietly before God, for my victory comes from him." (NLT) During this Lenten Season many of us are in need of a breakthrough in some area of our lives. For each of us the area is different - but no less important.

We need to understand that we must wait before God. This is not just an empty act but it is knowing that He is our rock and our salvation. In the midst of all the pain you and I may be going through, we need to raise our voices, and let our actions worship the Lord our God, because our victory comes from Him. Begin to look at the bigness of God instead of the bigness of your problem. This does not mean the problem will go away, but our attention does turn away.

3-4-07 Sermon Podcast

This is a link to the sermon from Sunday's Mass 3-4-07.

It has been a while!

It has been awhile since I posted on the blog. Life has been very crazy for me over the last month. Lots of stuff happening and trying to figure out what is next. But, I am back and ready to post. Look for reflections on the lectionary readings.

They Learn By Example

Couple of weeks ago my family and I went to Miramar, Florida, for the consecration of our new Bishop, David Simpson. After we had lunch, we went shopping. I took my oldest daughter (5 years old) with me and my wife took our youngest daughter with her. As Elizabeth and I were walking I saw a homeless man with his shopping cart sitting on a bench. As I saw him God spoke to me to give him $5.oo. In the past, I would have only asked if he wanted some food and gone and gotten it for him. But lately, God has been changing my heart. We walked over and I told the man that I felt like God wanted me to give him $5.00. He thanked me and we talked for awhile and we went on our way. Later, Elizabeth asked me why I gave the man some money and why he didn't have a house. So, dad explained as best I could to a 5 year old. I told her that God told me to give him money and I had to obey God.

Later that night at the service, Elizabeth made friends with the lady sitting behind her. She colored a picture for her and then gave her some of her pennies. That's a big deal! The lady did not want to take her money, but Elizabeth said "God told me to give them to you and I have to be obedient."

What example are we teaching by our actions?

Can Starbucks Teach the Church Anything? Part 2

One of the principles that Starbucks continues to express is they are active in the community. There is a social responsibility that they are committed to. Some of these concerns effect their "bottom line" but they are still committed to it.

What would happen in the "evangelical" church if we took the "social gospel" seriously? Most times we have left the "social gospel" for the "liberal" side of the church and have only looked at spiritual matters. Well, it is past time for us to get off our backsides and merge the two together. We serve people not to convert them - but because that is what Jesus did. St. Francis of Assisi said, "Preach the Gospel, and when necessary, use words." Our actions will speak volumes to the not yet believers. Remember, words are cheap.

This past Sunday was my youngest daughters 4th birthday. We had lunch with the Godparents at a Mexican restaurant. After we cut the cake and everyone was eating it, my wife said "I think I need to ask the family sitting near us if they would like some cake". (They had several young children with them.) I told her to go for it. She did and they accepted and were very kind. When I took out some of the presents, the father of this family asked if we needed help. My wife thanked him but told him it was OK, we could get it because there was not that much. As we were loading up the kids, they came out and got into their SUV. It had a fish logo on it, only this said Darwin in the middle of it and had feet on the fish. We began to laugh at what God had done. You see, we had just come from our Sunday service and I still had my collared clerical shirt on. There was no mistake that this family encountered kindness by someone who called themselves a "Christ-follower."

We need to go "out of our way" to touch the lives of people with our simple acts of kindness. "Small things done with great kindness effect the world."

Preparing for Treat Me Like A Lady

This St. Valentine's week we are going to have an outreach called "Treat Me Like A Lady." We are going to give gift bags to prostitutes to let them know that they are special and God's not mad at them. In fact, He loves them more than they could ever dream. We will not be preaching to them - just showing the love of God in a really practical way.

We did this several years ago during Christmas and the impact on people's lives was unbelievable. One girl told us that it was the only Christmas present she would receive.

What would happen if all across the country groups of people and communities began to do this on Valentine's week? Well, we would be like Jesus - hanging with the prostitutes and sinners.

Quote on Criticism

"Don't mind criticism. If it is untrue, disregard it; if unfair, keep from irritation; if it is ignorant, smile; if it is justified, it is not criticism - learn from it." Author unknown

If you are the one speaking it, remember how you say it will go a long way in how it is received - vinegar or honey.

Good Quote

"I slept and dreamt that life was joy. I awoke and saw that life was service. I acted and behold, service was joy." Rabindranath Tagore

First Coaching Session

Last week I had my first ever coaching session. What an experience! Steve Sjogren, founding pastor of Vineyard Community Church in Cincinnati and founding pastor of a new church launch in Tampa called Coastland Tampa, was my coach. I had an hour long call with about 7 others on communication - speaking and writing.

It was a really good experience for me to have someone with the background in speaking, writing, and church planting that Steve has to speak into my life. I received a lot of very practical things to take back to St. Andrew's and apply.

I would like to continue coaching sessions with Steve. So please pray with me for the funds to do so. We are a small church and it is not in our budget to do this now. I really believe that it is a key for our growth as a community as well as my growth as a leader. If you would like to talk to me about this please email me at frjoe@standrewscec.net.

Can Starbucks Teach the Church Anything?

I am reading a book by Joseph A. Michelli called "The Starbucks Experience." (Really easy read.) As I have been reading this, I have asked the question - what can the church learn from Starbucks? So, I am going to share with you what I have discovered over the next few days.

Michelli states that Principle 1 is "make it your own." Under this principle he says that Starbucks has a model for their partners called "Five Ways of Being." Here they are: 1. Be welcoming 2. Be genuine 3. Be considerate 4. Be knowledgeable 5. Be involved.

1. Be welcoming. Remember what it was like the last time you walked into a Starbucks for a great cup of Java. You were welcomed and made to feel at home. You belonged there. Michelli says that there are several questions that guests ask. Do the staff members care to get to know me? Do they remember me? Will they take care of my needs? Do I matter? Am I invisible?

Now relate that to our churches. How do we rate? I know that it has made me take a look at what we as a community do to embrace our guests on Sundays. I know that we are in for some changes to be more welcoming to our guests.

New Podcast-Community-What is the Church

Here is a link to Sunday's sermon - "Community-What is the Church?"

Resolutions, Resolutions

At this time of the year everyone is making resolutions. We all do it. I'm not going to do this or I'm going to do this during this new year.

Well, I am no different. I have made some resolutions that I hope and pray will help change my life.
Here they are:
1. Take care of myself physically. So many times as a pastor it is so easy to skip this - especially being a bi-vocational pastor. Well, this year I am going to eat better-eat the right foods. I'm going to exercise. Well, I'm going to begin by walking and as I lost weight and the knee is better add some other types of exercise. Got to be here for my girls!

2. Date my wife. This past year we have not had very many date nights. I have just let stuff get in the way and not having family in St. Augustine to help with the kids has also not helped. If I do not make my wife a priority and date her, my ministry is useless.

3. Spend more time with my girls. It's time to begin daddy date night with the girls. They are 5 and almost 4 years old now. They need to know how a man should treat them. I want to instill this into them now, so when some boy comes along they will not fall for his junk.

4. Spend more time reading my Bible. As pastors it's easy to read the Bible to get your messages or sermon. I have begun with a reading plan to read through in the NLT.

5. Pray with my wife. One of the dangers of being a bi-vocational pastor is that you are so tired by the time you get home and do something with the kids, or go off to a meeting that sometimes you don't pray together. Well, that's not good enough any more. This is a priority for me this year. My wife needs her husband to pray with her every day.

6. Understand my "vocation" is be a pastor/priest, it is not my life.

I want to thank Perry Noble , the pastor of New Spring Church , for his writing about this type of stuff. Perry, your blog has been a life line for me and my wife. This past Sunday I told my church that Eileen and I are going to date. If they call with an emergency it will be passed on or it can wait. If fact, during date night I am turning the phone off!

Happy New Year!

I want to say Happy New Year to all of you . I pray that 2007 will be your best year yet. May you know the favor of God this year.

Committment

Got this from Mark Batterson's blog.

"Anything less than a conscious commitment to the important is an unconscious commitment to the unimportant." Stephen Covey

Simply Strategic Stuff

I just got my copy of Simply Strategic Stuff! - Help for leaders drowning in the details of running a church. I wish I had had this years ago. Some really good information in it. Check it out.

Outflow

I just got this month's copy of Rev! Magazine. There is an article that is a must read called OUTFLOW by Steve Sjogren and Dave Ping. "What if your church really embraced the idea of letting God's love flow out into your community?" This question is address in the article. Also Steve has a book coming out in Jan 2007 titled "Outflow." Need to get it!

Wild Sunday Celebration

Yesterday, my associate came in and said we have a guest and she says that she has "something that needs to come out". As the service began I could tell that she was uncomfortable. As I preached I could tell that she was even more uncomfortable. After Communion, I gave an invitation for anyone to respond to God's call. She did, and prayed "the"prayer - God here I am. After the the service she came up for me to pray for her. I asked her what she needed and she told me "it needs to come out". She had been involved in a spiritualist ritual and became "infected" by a spiritual force (i.e. -demonic presence). So we began to pray for her and watched as God set her free from that and many other things from her past.

Now here is the kicker about the whole thing. One of our single guys was on his way to church Sunday morning. As he was driving he saw this lady that appeared to be homeless and hiking on the side of the road. God spoke to him and told him to stop and pick her up. Fear and all, he did what God said. He asked her where she was going and she said the beach, but she needed to go to a church because she needed to get rid of this thing. So, he told her he was on his way to church and our church was meeting at a hotel on the beach. So she came in and found what she was looking for.

God, please let us be faithful to hear and obey what you are saying to us!

What An Eye Opener!

I have been having some knee pain for some time now. I just kept saying it was an old football injury. Well, this past Monday I went to see my orthopedic surgeon to finally take care of the problem. During the exam, I thought that the headlines on the St. Augustine Record on Tuesday would read - "Priest Hurts Doctor During Exam". To say the least, my doctor discovered the source of pain and created even more. So, the testing process begins with an MRI and what ever else is needed.

The eye opener were his words to me, "If you don't do something about your weight you are headed for knee replacement in the future". That may not mean a lot for some, because it is done every day. But to me it was the "last straw that broke the camels back." For months and months I felt that God was telling me to do something about my weight. I would hear this "word" and say yes Lord I know but continue my bad habits. As a bi-vocational pastor, it's easy to let bad eating and bad exercise habits continue. You are always running from here to there. You work all day at one job to come home to the ministry and start all over again. It's easy to drive through and get some fast food and give an excuse not to exercise. But the realization for me and hopefully for others is - it is killing us.

What good are we going to be with our church plants, churches, and our people if we eat ourselves to death? The enemy of our soul doesn't need to take us out, we are doing it to ourselves.

Well for me, I had already decided that it was time to become disciplined in this area of my life. Between God speaking and the doctor's report, it's hitting home. But the most important thing was my beautiful almost 5 year old saying, "Daddy, I want you to be smaller so you can play with me on the playground". Want to talk about ripping your heart out. As I think about putting the food in my mouth I have to remember her face and her words.

I know that this has been really personal and it's been hard to say this, but I know that there are others in the same situation. Know that we can become healthy and live for years to build the Kingdom. Let's go for it!!

Come with ears wide open!

On Monday nights, I and 3-4 other guys meet and pray for the needs of our church and for the mission of St. Andrew's. Our major thing is we just want to hear what God is saying. We pray for awhile and stop and listen and I ask if anyone is hearing, feeling, or seeing anything.

Well, tonight we began and I kept hearing Isaiah 55. So I turned there and the first verse I look at is verse 3. It says, "Come to me with your ears wide open. Listen, and you will find life..." (New Living Translation) I began to think and ask myself the question, how many times have I come to God with ears closed shut. I really didn't want to hear because I wanted it my way. How many times had I been like a spoiled kid who always gets their way?

It made me remember that this is not just some spiritual exercise, theological discussion, or just another religious experience. This is real life. If I will listen to Him when I pray - he will speak!