Shallow Waters Devotional 5

Shallow Waters Devotional from Shaun Mayfield on Vimeo.

Explore the bible as we look at Paul and his "thorn in the flesh". Could it be simpler than once presumed? Could it be pink eye as he references in Galatians, "See with what large letters I write." Maybe he was struggling with conjunctiva and couldn't see well, just a thought.

**So those of you who know, I actually had pinkeye a couple weeks ago but after this video was made audio would not upload due to technical difficulties, it is now working and my pink eye is gone!**

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They Have a Mac

This is a leadership lesson I put it together a couple years ago and used it in Peru when I spoke as the speaker for a Pastors Leadership conference to all the Youth Ministry leaders (don't worry I did not show the Mac commercial).

Don't worry about what someone else has, worry about what you got. Leadership is stewardship and you need to focus on that. If you are a leader then steward what you have.
----

How to Stay Put for the Long Haul: Being happy fulfilled where God has planted you.

Ministry is not measured by your happiness, it is measured by looking back at your fulfillment. Every great leader has hit a moment where raising the white flag seems easier and better then staying. Almost every study on pastoral longevity has shown that ‘long-term’ pastorates are the most fulfilling and fruitful. There are great leadership qualities required for great leaders, such as vision (discovery and articulation), discipline, empowerment, and persistence. Of course true leadership senses two parallel dichotomies; vision, and the management (of that vision), again the discovery and articulation.

However it is not these attributes that keep you as a youth pastor/leader, full-time/part-time/volunteer at your post. It’s often the overlooked areas and the subtle leadership qualities that keep a team together. The average teenager will experience on average 4-5 youth pastors, the average for a YP is 9months. Following are five areas to focus on in staying for the long haul. Hopefully these help remedy some excuses that may come.

1. Build Personal Connections. [Doorway] This is your way into peoples personal lives. When you develop connections in a personal way you will enjoy where you are at. Jeanne Mayo said, “safety is in relationships, not in doctrine.” Doorways are not given, they are made and created. You must be intentional and care enough to get into people's lives and let them in yours.
   
2. Building Personal Vulnerabilities. [Windows] This is allowing others to see you, the real you. Pastors live in a glass house. When we live vulnerable people relate and see that we are genuine. No fakies!
3. Building Creative Adaptations. [Remodeling] Growing stale and comfortable is a wasted effort. Nothing is more annoying then bread that is dried out. Look at your surrounding, your environment and change it, remodel it. Spurgeon says, "When fatigue walks in faith walks out." Get out your tape measure and start making measurements and evaluate everything. Maybe just a remodel in your ministry might save you and help you stay for the long haul.
4. Building With Better Tools [Sharpening] Now that you have measured all that needs to change go and sharpen your tools. Abraham Lincoln said, "Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe." Don't waste your efforts working to hard when a little more work upfront pays off in the end. Read a new book, a new blog. Listen to a new podcast, there are many AMAZING ones! Learn, grow and adapt.
   
5. Build Comfort Without Getting Comfortable [Redecorate] Get new furniture, or remodel, don’t move. Apply this to ministry (this doesn't mean a new sofa for your office), change the look, the feel. Begin a new campaign. Launch a movement. Start a Cause. Experiment in a new way. Start a new ministry. Roll out a new strategy. Launch an outreach. The only thing is to not be comfortable. The day you get comfortable in your ministry sofa is the day you stop affecting lives in your ministry. No spiritual couch potato pastors! However make your ministry a comfortable place for people, students, people, VISITORS, and make it an enjoyable experience not boring.
   

Let the words of Jeanne Mayo be a boost to you in ministry! "It is precisely where you are gifted where you are dangerous." She also had this to say about your position, "Your charisma may get you in the door, but your character will keep you in it."

But they have a Mac, they have lighting, they have a nice sound system and videos, people actually show up to their outreaches and service, it's no fair. Remember to be a steward where you are, it is not yours, it is God's. What the other churches/ministries has is of no issue to you to be jealous, chances are they are possible feeling the same feelings at a different level. If you have a vision and they have what you need in order to fulfill that vision then just hold on to that vision and God will make it happen in due time.

This post was published by a Mac... but our ministry needs a good speaker. That other church has a great speaker. *oops was that out loud*

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You Matter [a bunch]

It is scary of the amount of jobs that are being lost in the past 4 months. American job loss has accelerated at an alarming rate, especially at the end of 2008, and 2009 is keeping the trend strong. Pastor friends of mine has experienced this. I spoke to one pastor luckily enough, who's church administration chose a 5% reduction in pay for all staff instead of having to let go of great leaders. His comment to me was:

We couldn't think of trying to decide who is 'it' to let go. Ministry is what we do and our life is designed to love others. We couldn't even think to have to let someone go.

However there are a couple other churches in Arizona, megachurches, who are on their second and third job cuts. This takes a huge toll on the emotional and spiritual climate of a church.
Having the largest job loss at a level higher than that of the last six decades for America as a whole is a tough reality. There is an implosion in the job market and Lawrence Mishel, president of the Economic Policy Institute says,"We're seeing a complete unraveling of the labor market and are on track for getting beyond 10% unemployment."

This WILL affect the church. In multiple ways:

• Those needing help and the church being a help financially. [This definitely will be a larger topic in the near future for the church response to this issue]
• The church not being able to 'afford' to keep staff or able to keep paying staff as they are currently being payed.
• The churches ability to pour money into evangelistic efforts.
• The ability for children, students, and even adults in participating in events that costs money. [Blog to come to discuss how do we do ministry less expensive but still good]
• Families that have one or no parents that are working. They will need groceries and clothing for their families. How does the church respond?
  

Okay so here are some things to consider about your current situation and where you are at in life/position. Here are a couple thoughts on perspective:

• If you have a job, count your blessings. Make everyday worth it. Begin, if you're not already, to start working as if your job was dependent on your work ethic. Don't take any day for granted. Your church may feel the crunch even harder as congregants struggle to keep their jobs and pay their bills.
• If your church has cut your income don't revolt. Be thankful that you were considered worth keeping and that the whole team meant more to the church than any one individual. Find ways to bring in extra money, sell a kid or kidney (I think eBay frowns on selling people or body parts), sell the golf clubs, pick up side jobs.
• If you are one of the many that has lost your position due to the financial crisis in America keep your head up. Right now will be a tough season trying to find another ministry position. Here this next line well: Your job does not define your calling, and your calling does not define your job. Live out ministry where ever you are, in whatever location you are. Find fulfillment in living the moment real and not based on your 8 to 5.

Now for the message everyone reading this needs to hear for yourself but also to be your message to others. It is this.

What you do matters. It does! What you do matters a lot.

EVERYTHING you do matter; you matter! Make that your personal mantra and make that your pulpit/soapbox/social megaphone voice. Believe it for yourself and tell everyone you know. Each person that God has for you to meet by appointment is no accident. This is not based on whether you are on payroll at your church of choice or are searching Monster. Everyone you meet matters and everyone that meets you needs you to know that you matter. Walk in those shoes and begin to 'matter' to everyone you meet. You have significance that is more than people may recognize, possibly even more than you realize. Your job or lack of does not define your significance, or maybe it does.

Thoughts?

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The Generational Crisis

Check this out, nearly a third of younger employees would consider quitting their job if Facebook was banned in the workplace. The way many boomers respond to this is that they say they are a bunch of immature kids that need to grow up. But not forgetting the Millennials, they say, "Hey listen, if we are so immature then why are we the most educated generation in the history of mankind. The Millennial could be best described as adaptive, collaborative, updative, and integrated. Their ability to work together and dream a creative perspective of life is the driving force of the future!

Why else would Google, the largest most used search engine, be hit with a lawsuit about age discrimination? Google says that their company emphasizes "youth and energy." The strategy has led to a work force with an average age of under 30 and with less than 2 percent of employees over 40, according to the claim. Google employed just more than 1,600 people in 2003. 1600 new highers and only 2 percent are over 40. If you are not "Googling" Google to see what all they are doing then you need to start! As a leader/pastor/specialist this an interesting lesson learned.

So what is the problem? The disconnect! What is the disconnect? We have the most prolific generation we have ever seen. Watch the video below and see where we are headed but first read this:

Titus 2:1-8

1 Your job is to speak out on things that make for solid doctrine. 2 Guide older men into lives of temperance, dignity, and wisdom, into healthy faith, love, and endurance. 3 Guide older women into lives of reverence so they end up as neither gossips nor drunks, but models of goodness. 4 By looking at them, the younger women will know how to love their husbands and children, 5 be virtuous and pure, keep a good house, be good wives. We don’t want anyone looking down on God’s Message because of their behavior. 6 Also, guide the young men to live disciplined lives. 7 But mostly, show them all this by doing it yourself, incorruptible in your teaching, 8 your words solid and sane. Then anyone who is dead set against us, when he finds nothing weird or misguided, might eventually come around.

We have lost the generational bridge. The problem is that the bridge has crumpled from each side. Boomers don't see Millennials as focused, determined, respectful. All the while Millennials see Boomers as disassociated and unable to relate. They see all their issues as if they are the only humans to ever go through this problem.

So what does this all mean? Here is Ryan Adams attempt to address the larger issue:

• To the Boomers: seek to understand before you judge. Second guess your assumptions. Address the core issues, not the peripherals. Yes, some millennials are unproductive punks. Facebook may or may not have anything to do with it. Learn more about the tool first. And listen, really listen to a millennial when he tells you about it. Judge them by the output, not the methods.

• To the millennials: why so cocky? It makes enemies out of potential friends. We've got to learn to address other generations with a more respect and a less swagger. Use gentle persuasion techniques. Seek to inform, but only with humility. We do become punks when we become arrogant. You'll never influence a person by showing them how wrong they are. Be wise enough to recognize how wrong your ideas often turn out to be. That'll help keep you humble. (These are notes to myself...)

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secular & sacred (re)visited

This past Friday we had a concert [show] at our youth center. The venue is called eikonARTS, you can check out the fancy experiment here. I would love to show/explain the whole vision, yes it is huge, it will shape the culture of the East Valley community of where our church is for music, arts, drama, theater, etc. However after this past show, our first official launch as a venue (our first show was in-house for our own students as a soft launch) there were a couple life focusing moments that I want to share about. I had a previous post about [secular & sacred] that this post will very closely parallel no doubt. I made a remark in that post:

There is something magnificent about how we treat what is secular and what is sacred. It seems to me that growing up, those were not able to coexist, much like a radical Muslim and conservative Christian strolling through the park sipping ice tea together laughing at the most recent 'Fox Trot' Sunday comics. See, I was brought up to believe that once something or someone becomes sacred that any signs of the old, any signs of the secular must be doused with gasoline and torched.

Nate Ward put on a concert for us with 5 bands and to my amazement he had over 100 ticket sales. With all said and done, with band members, staff, sound guys, security we pushed close to about 150 for a local concert!

As I walked the parking lot after the show I realizing the couple hundred, no, about a thousand or more cigarette butts around that needed to be picked up. Picked up because it is trash and we need to be responsible but also because there would be, only 8 hours later, older people arriving for a event at our church and the sight of all the cigarette butts might be offensive. It then hit me the irony. The fact that we had 100+ kids out at our youth center for a concert that have probably never touched foot in a church and saw it as a comfortable place is worth it all. As I strolled with my water bottle serving as a a waste receptacle to place each butt I thought more. I thought about all the lives that were there that night so caught up with the music/lights/event that have not stopped to think about eternity. There was something about all the kids that have no hope yet enjoy life or maybe have a facade and hate their own existence, and for a moment, a brief moment in their life I/we have the opportunity to infiltrate it and in someway put hope in it.

I thought, but how, how might we do that? Well the night wasn't half over before we put our eikonLIVE cards on every car, I didn't pick up ONE SINGLE card off the ground, they were all taken, maybe someone will be back! Then I thought, but that isn't enough, see I just taught the morning before Evangelism for eSOM/Western Bible College and I had this itch that only a soul could quench, a soul that was lost and searching, one that was on a quest to find meaning to this life.

The night would not end without that happening. Jordan, the lead singer of The Constellation Branch who was headlining sure enough was on that quest, tonight our paths would cross. As we finished and I was talking to one of the band guys and I realized that there was a conversation about God and hope, I looked and I saw Jordan. We met earlier that night after they finished playing and I thanked him and asked him what he thought of our venue. He was ecstatic and loved it and thanked us for having them. I shook his hand, he shook mine and embraced it, I felt a connection, I felt something, there was a feeling that this guy is looking/searching.

That night would end after midnight as we would stand in a circle talking about hope and life and eternity and God's love, yes, his unconditional love! I was reminded by my daughter, only 18 months old. We play hide and seek, sometimes I hide from her and she can't see me. This is similar to God, many times we don't feel him and it may feel like he is nowhere around and we are lost, all alone. Me as a father, the moment I realize that Amberlyn is scared I jump out and get her and she laughs. Same is with God, many times we don't necessarily see/feel/experience him then when we really search he can be found.

What is sacred, our church building, our pretty church asphalt and planters with the secular influence of cigarette butts became beautiful to me that night. As I would pick up butts that prolly had germs on them and a pop can or two and get pop spilled on my hands and got dirty I couldn't help but be broken that lives had the opportunity to be in a safe environment, and be around a place that was so sacred.

Let us never sell out our understanding that we are what is sacred, our very lives is what the bible says is the salt and the light of the world. Not our buildings, planters, youth centers. Here is another thought from my previous post:

Take a walk through the gospels and see how many times Jesus was with the seculars. The interesting thing is both places he went... He was either at the sacred Holy temple chastising the "self-puffed, self-righteous sacred leaders" explaining to them that they have missed it and simply don't get it. They were great on theology but lousy on application. They knew how to live the bible intellectually but not missiologically. Or the other place Jesus was at was with the seculars, the lepers, the drunks, partyers, etc. hanging out, feeding, teaching, loving, and number one of all SERVING. I do believe secular and sacred can coexist, the main difference is that the secular does not try to convict but loves and serves!

That night we were missiologically blending the secular and sacred! We simply loved and served!

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Faith Makes Failure

To say that faith "is" or "makes" failure would be a sad ignorant definition but allow me to elaborate on faith becoming failure. A person must know faith makes things happen. Faith creates blocks. Those blocks then build structures. Our faith has the ability to create dreams, they have the ability to make masterpieces.

Many things in life that is powerful typically has the ability to be a power for good or to be a power to do harm/evil/ugliness. Faith is one of those things. I can have faith that a good person will make a good choice but I can also have faith that a bad person can make a bad choice. Most speak positively of faith and how it brings something out form within that one may have never have seen or felt inside. However we shouldn't fool ourselves to think that faith can't also be a destructive force.

For many, the problem is that faith for them has lowered their own expectation, or I should say their low expectations has changed their faith. Now they still have faith but their faith has a new target (maybe faith is similar to a habit, never destroyed only replaced). Maybe it is you, maybe your low expectations for yourself has begin to cause you to have faith that you will fail. The problem is that some of you have faith that you can't do anything so you fulfill your expectations. You typically live to your level of faith.

If I have faith in God I will live like their is a God (imagine that life lived out). You see my life will begin to change. If I live like I can overcome then I will be a champion. Whether you believe in God/bible or not, James in the bible talks about this, he says in chapter two, "do you think you’ll get anywhere in this if you learn all the right words but never do anything? Does merely talking about faith indicate that a person really has it?" He is saying that faith is lived out, what you believe is then turned into action. My best definition for faith is, "belief in action."

Check this out, a few verses later it says, "You can no more show me your works apart from your faith than I can show you my faith apart from my works. Faith and works, works and faith, fit together hand in glove." Here is the dilemma, if you have faith that you will fail, faith that you cannot overcome, faith that you will fall short then it is highly probable you will fail. James is almost willing to wager, set up a little gamble that you cannot do one without the other. True faith will cause action in your belief system.

Be careful for what you believe you will fail at, it might come true...
| but even bigger |
be aware [beware] at the world that you can change if you believe that you are a world changer!
[Maybe the world needs to beware of you]

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My daughter

My beautiful daughter playing in the mall in Chandler, AZ.



sent via Moto Q9c

Mobile post sent by shaunMayfield using Utterli. Replies.

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Trends Facing Youth Ministry

There is a great post over at the Youth Specialties blog about the trends facing youth ministry. Youth leaders were asked to identify the top three trends they felt students and youth ministers were facing as it related to the future of youth ministry. Read it to get a better perspective of what I am writing. Here is my response to some of the questions and my insight to some of the issues affecting youth ministry. Let me know what you think.

These at least for me are not new but put me at ease that I am not the only leader dealing with these problems (tongue in cheek).

#1 square off has, I think, always been a battle, Competing for Time of a student is tough. I remember when I was a teen hearing my YP voice his frustration. OF course we can wrestle it till we are blue or learn to leverage it. I think there are ways to leverage the time we have and the time we don't. Help the student who is on the football team adopt his team as his personal mission field and help him identify himself as the pastor/shepherd to them instead of making him feel guilty over choosing football over a youth event/service. Allowing students their 'spot' to shine can help us with our 'need' of their time. We need to learn how to make the secular and the sacred mesh into harmony and not battle it, I admit it is very tough!

#3, Social Networking for me at home has been a win. In ministry/life learning to leverage what we cannot muscle has been the biggest advantage anyone has with something. Let us not be quick to call this a lack in any proportion, possibly we are seeing a new wave of culture moving across the horizon that many of us leaders are not a tune to. Learning to ride the wave can be your biggest advantage. Marty Burroughs, a District Youth Director for the state of Texas told me a story how a church of a 100 had a youth ministry of about 90, that is insane. Every kid that came in, they got their Facebook and Myspace and added them and their top 10 friends. Then when an event was to happen they would sent invites out to the students and their top 10. They were sending upwards of 5000 invites. I have responded to a post on twitter here, what a TOOL, I would pay for this if it weren't free (Twitter don't get any ideas). There are great ways to harness these tools.

twitter.com/shaunmayfield
twitter.com/eikonlive

#4, Economic Turndown is a killer, parents out of jobs is huge add-on to that one. There is not much to do but be more creative about our events and look and alternatives to costly events, sometimes those cheaper events can be more richer in the end.

#2 & 5 are tough, the Definition of Family and Sexual Confusion. These represent the cultural trend of a cultural agenda. Never before have we seen such an agenda at the forefront of America. The definition of family, at least here in AZ and in California and other states is in a battle to be redefined. This may not seem like a big deal but what it has attached to it's roots can hugely impact the church and pastors.

Secondly, identity issues and sexual confusion, I am so glad this hit the top 5. That sounds horrible of a statement, but I am glad because this will put more focus from a broader audience of YP's to effectively build curriculum and teaching lessons and sermons. For many years the 'church' at large has not been equipped to handle this and has almost feared the subject. We are dealing with it huge. What hurts the most is the agenda from MTV and Hollywood. The agenda is trying to make it a civil issue which then means that anyone who speaks out against it can be charged as a hate crime. It has become so rampant in the school system and what was once considered PDA between a girl and guy is now accepted as normal between two guys or two girls. This agenda has made it very curious for our teens to experiment. That experimentation mixed with just the sexualism of puberty has made so many students confused.

This will be probably one of the biggest topics of discussion amongst church leaders in the next decade, that is my prediction. I believe this is just the beginning of an issue that will hit the church so hard we BETTER begin now or even a year ago on developing strategies on winning this war and #1, helping students learn their identity roles. We need to be teaching masculinity to the men and what marriage is and why the definition should be preserved in our hearts of a 'Holy Matrimony' between one man and one woman. That is why I grouped these together. When the definition of marriage is attacked and the agenda of homosexualism as a trend widens, these two unite as one joint problem. Let us look to God to direct us on how to love and teach and allow the Holy Spirit to convict and change hearts.

Thoughts?

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Frugal: A Trend or Reality?

I have a question: Is a person who is frugal simply green or just trendy?

What is sad is that in a down economy it becomes trendy to be frugal. Is being green with your green just a trend? Because one is sparing and economical with their money doesn't make one trendy however one who is trendy may become frugal because of the look it gives. It is quite funny how many people change their lifestyle based on trends. Now if it is a direct response to their financial hardships, understood. But if it is due to the positive look then quit, knock it off, you look silly. For many the slow down in our economics at least on the consumer side is a simple issue... fear. Many have stopped spending because of fear.

When one changes their values/character/reputation based off trends I personally have a hard time recognizing the integrity in such decisions. Now call me a bigot but I think we adapt to changes that are helpful to better ourselves and others around us. No doubt that many trends could be based off those needs that can better our lives but the changes we make should be based off the issues that relate to our life the most. Trends have a popularity contest of sorts attached. Notice how many people jumped on the global warming agenda. Did I make changes, sure, added a Hot Water Heater timer, you can read that post here. But there are things I have always done, I was taught as a child to always turn off the light behind me, shut the door or I would hear the famous, "Were you born in a barn?" which I still don't understand. The timer, simply because my in-laws did and saved money and that is the basis of many changes for me.

So you have the trend of issues, Gore's and Nobel prizes to be awarded, then you have the issues that affect people where they are in their every day lives. Sure we are responsible for our footprint on earth and have a responsibility to hold those accountable to being on the same page, but let's not throw out the baby with the bath water.

In fact, there is much advice about money management and frugality in the Bible. This comes from Proverbs 6:6-11:

6 Go to the ant, you sluggard;
consider its ways and be wise!

7 It has no commander,
no overseer or ruler,

8 yet it stores its provisions in summer
and gathers its food at harvest.

9 How long will you lie there, you sluggard?
When will you get up from your sleep?

10 A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of the hands to rest-

11 and poverty will come on you like a bandit
and scarcity like an armed man.

Thoughts? You frugal? If so is because you are trendy or because it helps?

p.s. click on the pic above to get great ideas on how to be green with your green.

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Merry Christmas!

Just wanted to wish everyone a Very Merry Christmas!

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Simply Broaden Your Horizon! (re)Dream

There was a previous post in my blog that you will need to go read. It is kinda funny. I had people read this and comment to me that it was really good lyrics/poems. That poem was actually me writing about the absence of me writing my blogs. Poetry is the beautiful artwork that can mean one thing to the artist but is created to be interpreted by the observer. I remember that time period and it reminds me of now, I have been crazy busy/exhausted and haven't written in the last week how I should. Writing is a great escape/need of mine and always has been. It seems when there has been lengthy times that I have not been writing, that is the time that life can get a little more (in)tense.

I say all that to say this, write! Be creative, put your thoughts to words and put your words to an audience. Maybe you don't want an audience, no biggie, journal. This is such a a great asset that you can have to relieve stress, exercise your creativity and explore a new talent.

One other challenge I have for you is to read more. Pick up a book and read. I ran into one of my friends from college and I asked him what book(s) he was reading at the time. That is a general question I ask others from time to time. He laughed at my in a scoffing type of attitude and said, "Dude, I haven't read a book since college". This was about 3 years after college, I was dumbfounded. This was a pastor who is leading people and isn't a learner. I personally feel that just about every profession of life needs to have constant schooling and we need to be responsible for learning and growing. Why not?

I will be blunt: if you are not learning, educating yourself, finishing your degree that you started years ago, becoming better, then ask yourself, what is stopping you? Have you given up on your dreams, failed yourself, STOPPED!!?? Don't! Get started again, get up, enroll in classes, buy a book. Relive the moment that the dream was birthed and recount the feelings that erupted in your heart a that time in your life. I am sick and tired of seeing the greatest potential in peoples lives and them not fulfilling them. Help be my Vicks and Nyquil, help me feel better. Become!

I am done rabbit trailing. But simply broaden your horizon; begin to read:write! (re)Dream! Become!

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Privileged?

A great, great friend of mine, Rich Peterson, is a great pastor and is the father of my boss/pastor Jeff Peterson and he is currently the pastor to seniors at RMCC. Rich just celebrated a couple of years ago being in the ministry for over 50 years and in those 50 years he still has an amazing outlook in life and ministry. Every time he speaks of something he has to do or something he got to do he says he had the privilege in doing it. I didn't get it at first, I didn't realize it at first. As a matter of fact it wasn't until working with him for over a year and a half on staff with him before it clicked. We were discussing in staff four questions which I will be blogging about shortly. And after we would answer the four questions our pastor would exhort us and bring up some highlights of our past year that he had thought of.

It was as Rich was speaking that he said as a pastor to seniors he has to do so many funerals. He said that he had the privilege of doing eight funerals this year. I thought how could anyone think that a funeral is a privilege. Then I began to look back over the past 18 months at the moments that Rich would chime in, few and rare, but when he did everyone would listen. Rich has an enormous amount of wisdom with his 50 years of ministry and he spent many years as the Superintendent for the A/G in Illinois. I realized that almost every time Rich would speak of an event in his life like; speaking at a funeral, visiting someone on their death bed, telling a family member that their loved one has a terminal disease, at the bedside of an elderly man or woman as they draw their last breath he would share about the privilege he had.

This has caused me to think, think about how little value I put on the general things I do. How do I begin to look at each person, each event, each interruption in life as a privilege? I don't want to think about this in 50 years, I want to be that person now in this era of my life. I want to begin a new chapter in my life, I want to turn the page that is completely blank, dip my pen in the ink and begin developing a life of looking at every thing in life as a privilege. Let the penmanship of my life begin to write about the privileges I have.

Let me ask you something. What has happened lately that was not a privilege that you could renegotiate your thoughts and change your perspective and realize that you were privileged by the interruption in life?

How do I operate in 'privileged mode'?

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Weakness Produces Anger and Desperation?!?

I was watching Heroes last week and they had lost there powers for a while. The father of Nathan, Arthur Patrelli made the comment that when one loses their power they become:

• Desperate
• Angry
• Weak

Here is my thought, what happens when we are not on top of our game? What happens when you as a creative/pastor/leader isn't on top of it and you are being slightly subjective in your approach? I know there are times when life is going tough I get desperate for things to go right. Maybe I get irritable and even angry at people easier. Maybe my weakness causes my desperation and anger to leak out... no, no, maybe even poor out. So what do I got? What can I do to overcome my anger and desperation when I am weak? I must recognize where I find my strength, for me it is in God. In my weakness it gives me the opportunity to delve into the position of humility and seek God to be strong and give me the adequate strength, the endurance I need. Could it be pride that cause me to become desperate? I can't lose so I must fight to get what I want, I get desperate. Pride. Maybe I get angry when things aren't going my way and in the time that I want it to happen. What brings humility? When I choose to! It's when I choose to say I can't do it on my own, I have no more available. I can only win if I allow humility to rush in. God holds his hand back to force us to do what he wants. He hopes that we "tap out" so that he can allow his strength to be ours.

What about you? How do you help from becoming weak, then allowing your desperation and anger to come out?

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When the Golden Calf Becomes A Bronze Bull

Jesus People Pray That False Idol Will Save God’s Economy

I have so many thoughts that come to mind when I see this picture and read the headline above. "Jesus People," that's me... "pray that false idol will save God's economy." Hmm, ok this is clearly an incorrect assumption of all Christians. Should I, as a Christian, be praying for the economy? Sure. Should I spend $900 in airfare to go pray at the bronze bull in lower Manhattan? Certainly not. Then again, for people to be saying that those here are praying to an idol is ludicrous, they are praying at a statue for the economy, a statue that represents the monetary system...

Here is what one very liberal writer said in mockery:

Did you know that some Christian dingbat has dubbed today the “Day of Prayer for the World’s Economies?” Well here they are, at the Wall Street bull statue thing, praying to Jesus for money. The dingbat has explained, “We are going to intercede at the site of the statue of the bull on Wall Street to ask God to begin a shift from the bull and bear markets to what we feel will be the ‘Lion’s Market,’ or God’s control over the economic systems.” Don’t they know that God taking over the economic systems would be SOCIALISM from SPACE? Also: God will be very mad that they are worshiping a bronze idol here, since his second commandment PROHIBITS THAT, duh? Thank you Wonkette operative “Dan the Man” for the photo. [CBN]

I sometimes wonder about radical Christians that make so much noise in protest or in this case bugling a horn to get people to notice them. I wonder if those that are not Christian, those outside the church get so confused by our actions they don't what a Christian really is. One day they see some radical pastor shooting and killing an abortion doctor and on another corner see other Christians with signs saying "Turn or Burn" and "Gays are going to hell." When will Christians just live life as an example and learn to LOVE? If our demonstrations were in truly loving then nobody could be offended, maybe someone could be offended by a glass of cold water, but the Bible is clear that we break no law if we simply love.

Maybe what they were doing in this picture was right, maybe not. If my friends were going today to pray at the bronze bull I would stay home, that's just me. Maybe this is similar to See You At The Pole, where kids every September stand at their flagpole at school to pray for their nation, school, and friends. I see it a little different. The school represents the kid's mission field. I also see this as a easy way to publicly show they are Christians in a non-threatening way with the hope of starting conversations. See You At The Bull however, to me is a little different.

Is it different? Should it be different? I honor their prayers at the bull and hope and pray that America learns to steward itself better. Then again it was America's greed for money and devaluing the end user/buyer to make some big/quick bucks that has put us here. Lenders creating explosive home loans set to explode after 3 or 5 years and called them adjusting. Yeah they adjust, they adjust out of the reach of the home owners while you sit back and make millions then when it get's tough, big brother will bail you out, yeah the big brother that just a few months ago rolled 10 trillion dollars in debt. I will keep praying in my prayer closet. not for 'them', but us, we all got into this together and now we need to all get out together.

So I offer my prayer...
Lord Help?!?

This is very open ended discussion but what is your thoughts?

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Lego Blocks [An Architective Design of Life]

Blocks even though much bigger than Legos, which happen to be my favorite, are one of Amberlyn's favorite toys right now (here you can read an old blog on Legos here). I am a typical father that loves playing with his child and because of my affinity towards Legos and blocks I can spend a long time playing with Amberlyn. As I sat down to play, I knew that meant quality time with my daughter.

As I began playing with her I realized she had a process to her building. I did architecture, both commercial and residential professionally for 6 years and have done a lot of remodeling and construction so I assume it must of been in my jeans figuring I learned all my construction from my father. I am proud that she cares about your building construction if only with blocks. She began to grab a block and add it the construction project. I would move it and place it where it 'should' go. Sometimes she was okay with that, sometimes she would move it back to where it was letting me know with her action that I was to follow her moves and I was merely invited to her construction project, I kept forgetting that. We began building bigger and higher and I was getting excited for how well her skills were for constructing such a high tower.

Higher, higher I told myself as I would point to where to put the purple 3 block, then came the 4 block and I would point 'here'. Then the 4x4 block and I point to the place that Amberlyn needs to put the block on our building. Then the hot pink single block and point to its future destination. Then I keep instructing her where to put the blocks so that our structure becomes a masterpiece. I have become the project manager. Notice the change from her structure to our and the her to I.

Then it happens, in an instant she is no longer an architect or contractor or project manager, she has thrown in the towel and found a new job of a demolitionist. She begins taking it all apart. Not as crazy as you would think, her girl qualities are apparent. She is descuplting it piece by piece. Where is the pile that it all goes, on daddy's lap. Each one at a time is placed on my lap and if one should fall she is quick to pick it up and place it in it's primary location that she has decided and I recognize my position is not of management but merely a hired hand in her demo crew. [That's the pic above of her placing the pieces on my lap.]

I realize the life lessons learned from a child, in this moment all is good and she has taught me a valuable insight into my life and hopefully yours.

You see God begins to place things in your life and asks you to do something or move, change directions, don't say something, speak into someones life, etc and many times we listen. Then it's almost as if God becomes predictable so we begin to look ahead at the seemingly predictableness and make the decision for Him. Not a big one, we are not that proud, we humble ourself and make a seemingly easy decision despite God's desire, why would we? We know what God wants. Next thing ya know we become the project manager for our life and begin to direct it and tell ourselves what to do, where to go. When something doesn't go right we respond to the problem instead of respond to the foundational issue. I became the project manager in the structure for my daughters creation. Many of us take the same role in our own life, we become the manager of our structured life.

Even worse, there comes a point that our life is so much a mark of our own architetive design that it no longer resembles the creation of our creator, like Amberlyns structure had become that of her dad's. Then what happens? Well with the blocks Amberlyn began to painstakingly take it apart one piece at a time.

There is a story in the Bible where Judah is stepping out of what God has for them, they are constructing their own fate. The are trying to build an alliance with Egypt and God is explaining to them the true depth of how bad Egypt has it in for themselves. In the beginning of Isaiah chapter 30 God is warning them. He tells them in verse 12 since they have rejected Him they will suffer, He explains that they will begin to fall and crumble as if Judah was this block construction of mine and they watch Amberlyn begin to destroy it one block at a time. God even says in verse 14 that their collapse is like the smashing of a potter's jar. I see Amberlyn destroying the structure taking it all apart and laying it as ruins, clay pieces in my lap.

Then verse 15 is the key to it all. God promises that in repentance and rest they will be saved, in quietness and trust is their strength. Here are four things to consider when you have began to make your own choices and run your own life

1. Repent - self explanatory, say you are sorry and vow to turn away from those decisions.
2. Rest - When we rest we are not making any moves.
3. Quietness - I am no longer making the call, I am quiet.
   
4. Trust - I give God the control to make my life into what He wants.

Here is the astonishing situation. Verse 16 God says, And you said, “No, for we will flee on horses,” . It is amazing that in those simple 4 steps Judah failed. They thought their choices were the best. Lord break me into the smallest pieces, into dust, that I can no longer build so that I can only depend on You!

Are you able to put those 4 steps into practice? What is stopping you? What makes it difficult?

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Tech Stuff

Let me introduce you to Delicious Library 2. If you have any sort of library of books or a pile of toys and tools, music, software, electronics or movies this is for you. Ever have people borrow things and forget who has what? Want an easy way of checking stuff out to people, knowing who has what and when it's due that also automatically puts it in your calendar for it's due date? Want a simple way to look at everything you own on a nice bookshelf on your computer screen (Mac only!)? How about a way to input it all by scanning your items by it's UPC with your digital camera, video camera, laser barcode reader, or the best, through your iSight camera. Ever want to be able to see the library of others in your office and what they have soyou can borow? What about a program that will take your library and export it as a website that anyone can see, here's mine that I was messing with.

From their website:

When we demo Delicious Library to people, about ⅔ of them instantly say this:

“Wait, I just hold a CD or DVD or video game or book or whatever up to my webcam, and it magically reads the UPC and downloads that item’s cover and all pertinent information about it, and displays all my stuff on photorealistic shelves? I’ll take it! Right now! This is why I bought a computer in the first place! ”

This is a must checkout, it is awesome! The free version allows for 25 books, $40 gets you an unlimited library. Let me know what you think when you try it out.

CLICK on the picture above to go to their site!

...read more on "Tech Stuff"!

MADE Week 5

This is week 5 of RMCC's series based off the MTV show Made where Pastor Jeff will be discussing what is our purpose in life. We will be hitting several areas, lifegroups, where real life happens, worship encounters, where we get to experience God, and volunteer teams, where we get to serve the body and people of our community. Join us as I get to coach Cougar McSangston on life and how to get made into what God has him to be.

This week I get to coach Coug in the area of serving. He decides to help me out in making some food for a homeless shelter. Of course there were challenges along the way. Enjoy!

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Souper Salad and Being a Disciple

My wife Krisann, aka Chez has this enormous like for the restaurant Souper Salad. To me, Souper Salad is more like a garden for rabbits; where's the meat? I'm not a rabbit. The extent of meat is little cubits of ham that I refer as 'hamlets' and then bacon bits for your potato. I'm sure to complain and hate the place but recently I have given in to the taste and can enjoy it as needed. So my main issue is I am a meat person, steak, burger, ribs, pork, t-bone, etc. and this place doesn't do it for me on that scale.

When I think about this introspectively I think about how in my personal life I like to get in deep into subjects. I love to learn, I have this innate desire to try and learn all I can do on a subject or experience or item. Some say I am argumentative, I conclude I am when I feel I have a strong foundation on a certain subject, BUT I see my argumentative side more as my passions, however I am trying to become more professional at how I demonstrate my passions. Sometimes it gets me in trouble because it can be a bit over the top. On another note I typically don't argue in areas I don't know much about, I tend to open my ear and look at this as an opportunity to listen and learn. Life offers so many opportunities to learn. We need to learn to listen more instead of always having the answer.

So what does this last dissertation have to do with soup and salad? Maybe not much except that I see soup and salad as a introduction to a meal, but certainly not as a meal. Hebrews 5:12 says, "In fact, though by this time you ought to be teachers, you need someone to teach you the elementary truths of God's word all over again. You need milk, not solid food!" If you consider yourself a follower of Christ, wanting to live like him and better yourself and the world around you then you need to be eager to dig deeper into the Bible and learn everything you can. Be a meat eater, even if you are a vegetarian!

I want to be a disciple of Christ, while eating my veggies. What are you doing to grow yourself, to learn and grow more?

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Is All Truth God's Truth?

Is all truth God's truth?
A pastor friend of mine argued that that this statement is not true. Let's discuss that for a moment.

"Epistemology" is defined as "the study or theory of the origin, nature, methods, and limits of knowledge." This is is the investigation of what distinguishes justified belief from opinion. When it comes to truth there is ZERO opinion. If your opinion happens to land on truth then great, your opinion is right. If your opinion does not align with the truth then your opinion is not true. You have a right to your opinion however you do not have a right to debate your opinion as truth if it is not true. Does perspective change truth? No. Perspective is how you may agree or disagree with truth, a sort of lens on how you view truth, but doesn't change it. What is comical about 'epistemology' is that can we really study knowledge? It almost seems like a paradox. But here is the main question, is truth a social construction or solely God's? I would relegate this to an absolute, I personally feel it can only exist wholly God's or man's. All things are created by God, He is the causality of everything. I process things through reductive reasoning, reduce this down to it's simple form, truth is God's or it isn't!

Truth is not subjective, truth is not opinionated, truth is not debatable, truth is not irrational even when you disagree with it, truth stands on it's own always remaining the same and being unchangeable. So I want to use a simile to look at truth; truth is to light as untruth is to darkness. There are verses like John 1:5 that says, the light shines in the darkness, but the darkness has not understood it. Then Isaiah 5:20 NIV says, woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter. So if dark and light cannot coexist then (un)truth cannot coexist. So truth and untruth cannot coexist then can there be truth that is not of God, if God is truth? This is commonly called the "correspondence of truth". This basically means that something is true only if it corresponds or agrees with factual reality. Again this is limited to our understanding of our universe and reality. So check this out, this basically presupposes a flow of logic called bivalence. In technical terms, bivalence is a very deep part of epistimology. Basically, any unambiguous, declarative statement must be entirely true or entirely false. So God is either wholly true or wholly false, we know he is wholly true, this is pretty declarative in studying God with the process of epistimology, again, only limited to how we interpret and understand what truth is, the absolutism of truth. For post-moderns I can stand firm upon their belief and say they are not human, based on their definition that truth is relative, they are a higher bread of mosquitoes (this is a joke based off their reasoning). Relativism is an attempt to not have to pony up to the admittance of self-responsibility, what a nice life. However that belief does not remove truth, ignorance doesn't create, again it is perspective.

Satan has no creative abilities, he can only use what God has created. He can manipulate truth, he can stretch truth, but he cannot tell the truth and lie at the same time, refer again to the rules of bivalence. Satan can borrow only. So the same rules apply, either Satan is a being of truth or he lies. We must understand his nature is evil so if he does tell the truth it is motivated my ill actions and will be used for bad. Now his truth is truly borrowed from God, not created. So even in this understanding we can say all truth is still God's truth. It either is or isn't. If it isn't all God's then whose else is it?

If God is true and God is the creator of all things then false is the lack of truth, just like darkness is the lack of light. Did God create evil or is evil the absence of Godliness and truth? Is there hate or is hate the absence of love? Thoughts?

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MADE Week 4

This is week 4 of RMCC's series based off the MTV show Made where Pastor Jeff will be discussing what is our purpose in life. We will be hitting several areas, lifegroups, where real life happens, worship encounters, where we get to experience God, and volunteer teams, where we get to serve the body and people of our community. Join us as I get to coach Cougar McSangston on life and how to get made into what God has him to be.


This week I get to coach Coug in the area of relationships. Of course like normal, he is terrified and freaks out at the thought of having to meet 'others'. He get's a first hand encounter of Lifegroups. Enjoy!

...read more on "MADE Week 4"!