Silence, Listening, Thinking, Dreaming

It's been over 2 weeks since my last post. I would apologize for that but . . . well . . . I'm not really sorry.

A lot has happened in the past 2 weeks and it's been good to sit back in silence, listen to God, think about what He's teaching me and dream of what He has in store.

I turned 40 last week. While many people did and continue to call me old or make "Old Man" jokes, I don't feel any different than I did at 39. However this mile marker has forced me to think back on my life. What have I accomplished, what has God been able to do through me, what has God not been able to do because of pride or disobedience or distractions. And then there's the big question, What does God have in store for the next 40 years?

I've taken a lot of time, over the past couple of weeks, to really connect with God, plug into Him, ask some hard questions and listen to His response. While He's not laid out the next 40 years, He's starting to put the next couple of steps in front of me. I heard an illustration one time that God's will is like the headlights on your car. They don't illuminate your entire trip, they simply illuminate the next few steps. God is my headlight and is beginning to illuminate my next few steps. I'm excited about the next few steps as well as the next 40 years. As long as I'm connected with God and allowing Him to control the steps, it's going to be a crazy, exciting, challenging and totally fulfilling.

G3

Fireworks, Cell Phones, Sundays and Tears

Saturday night we went to the Nazareth Park with some friends and watched the Fireworks. This was the conclusion of Nazareth Days which is a weekend of block parties, sidewalk sales, special events and vendors throughout the town. It culminates with a big fireworks display that rivals most big cities. It really is awesome.

We try to sit in the outfield of the baseball diamond at the park. They set the fireworks off in the far out field of the park so from our vantage point they explode almost directly over our heads. As I laid on the blanket and looked up at the kaleidoscope of colors in the sky I couldn't help but notice a group of teenagers sitting near by. During the entire fireworks display they were talking with each other, talking on their cell phones, text messaging their friends and seemed to be hardly looking at the beauty all around them. It almost as if the fireworks were simply a distraction to what they came there to do.

Fast forward to yesterday morning. We had an amazing service at The Carpenter's. In fact if you missed it, please get the CD, it will rock your world. From the moment the first song started the Holy Spirit was in the room and moving. The kids from Avalanche Ranch (our VBS program) did a great job singing and doing motions, the praise team led us into God's presence and then Tucker brought it. We are in the middle of the series, "Chase The Lion" and tucker delivered the message on Overcoming Adversity. It was powerful, motivating, thought provoking and total Spirit Filled.

At the end of the service, he gave an invitation for people to accept Jesus as their Savior. We saw one woman stand up and acknowledge her need for Christ. What's interesting about this woman was that she was there just to see her daughter sing the VBS songs and then she was going to leave. She ended up staying the entire service, gave her life to Christ and stood before God and our entire congregation crying. Other people moved out of their seats and comforted this woman, prayed with here, hugged her and supported her. In fact it was one of the best displays of true "Community" I've seen in a long time.

Now, what does yesterday's story and fireworks have in common? Well, I think too often we get caught up in our own interests, focus and priorities and we totally miss the beauty of God in the sunsets, stars, trees, flowers, streams and a new believer putting her faith in Christ for the very first time. We get caught up in the details of "church" and miss the purpose of church. I think sometimes we act as if the move of the Holy Spirit is a distraction to what we came to church for.

The Carpenter's Church won't be distracted from what God has called us to do. We will communicate the best story on the planet to the Lehigh Valley. Hang on tight. As Tucker said yesterday, it's going to be an adventure.

G3

Looking To The Stars

I have to admit that yesterday was a LOOOOOONNNNNGGGGGG day.

Have you ever had one of those days? About halfway through the day you feel like you've been up since yesterday and you can't even remember getting out of bed.

I arrived at the office about 7:45am, had several meetings throughout the day, worked on some long range planning stuff, finished up the music prep for this weekend, left the office about 4:15pm, arrived home about 4:30pm and helped my daughters with their homework, grabbed a quick dinner, took my daughter to her softball game at 5:20pm, left the game at 6:45pm, went back to the church for Praise Team practice at 7:00pm, ended practice at 9:00pm (ish), stayed in the office until about 9:45pm to finish up some stuff for the weekend, because I won't be in today and finally arrived home about 10:00pm last night. I have to admit that by the time I left the office, about 9:45pm last night, I was spent. However, as I locked up the church, ensured that the lights were off and as I made my way to my car, God grabbed my attention. At the end of a very long day, I was tired, I wanted to go home, I wanted to sit down and mindlessly watch anything on T.V. God showed up.

I walked out into the parking lot and looked up at the sky and . . . There He Was! God was smiling down at me. Now, I know that some of you are thinking I'm nuts. No, I didn't hallucinate and see some face in the sky. I saw a beautiful clear sky with shinning stars and an amazing sliver of the moon. The light from the stars and moon seemed to light up the sky and I felt like God was saying, "I'm here." I felt like He was telling me, don't get caught up in the stuff of life and forget Me. It was like He was reminding me that in the midst of a busy day God is still God and we can see Him in everything from big meetings to people coming to Christ to stars in the sky many miles away.

I have to say that it was a perfect end to a long day and I wouldn't want it any other way.

Keep your eyes open. You might just see God in some bizarre way today. If so, comment here and let me know about it. It would be a great encouragement.

G3,
Steven

Encouraging 411

I sat in and played bass for the Ignite Band at our Ignite Students service last night. It was really awesome to see so many students authentically connecting with God during the worship time. Yes, they had fun before the service started. Some were playing basketball, some were listening to music, some were hanging out in "the loft", some were playing the Wii and some were just sitting in the big room talking with friends.

But when the service started and the music kicked off there were many students authentically connecting with God. It's hard to see that connection from the audience but standing on the stage I was able to see hands raised, eyes closed and students singing praises to their God. It was truly awesome.

I also heard yesterday that there were several kidz who gave their lives to Christ this past weekend in KidZone. You'll be hearing more about that in the coming days/weeks. However, I just want to reiterate that God is moving in the lives of people here at The Carpenter's and we can't even dream or imagine what He has in store for us.

If you've been encouraged by this glimpse of what God is doing at The Carpenter's, then forward this information to a friend and encourage them as well.

Three Little Words

As many of you know, radio personality Don Imus was fired from his MSNBC cable show on Wednesday and his CBS Radio show yesterday. Don apparently had a very strong laps in judgment. On April 4th he made a racial comment about the Rutgers University Women's Basketball Team on his show.

Don began his radio career as a disc jockey in 1968. In 1998 he began the Imus Ranch, a home for sick children, in New Mexico. However, after a successful career spanning almost 40 years, he'll will be remembered for the three words that got him fired from both MSNBC and CBS within 24 hours of each other.

What's interesting is that after just a 3 year career as a missionary & evangelist Jesus is remembered for three little words as well.

"It Is Finished!"

When Jesus spread out His arms on that cross and he hung there for the world to see, He took on the sins of you and me forever. He stated it, once and for all . . . "IT IS FINISHED!"

We had a great weekend last week as we celebrated Christ's Death and Resurrection and the reality of those three little words. We also launched "24" and you're not going to want to miss this weekend as we enter week two of "24". We'll be talking about our Work Life and how God fits into the work hours of our day. We've got some really cool things planned and you'll want to be at either the 9:00 am or 10:45 am services and bring a friend. It's going to be awesome.

Your Journey - Your Story

Until today I had never heard of John Hope Franklin. You probably haven't heard of him either. However, Mr. Franklin was born in 1915, received his doctorate in history from Harvard in 1941. He was a professor at some our countries greatest universities including the University of Chicago and Duke University. He also wrote several books on US History and slavery. As I said, I didn't know anything about John Hope Franklin until I read a quote by him today. Mr. Franklin once said this:

"We must get beyond textbooks, go out into the bypaths... and tell the world the glories of our journey."

How true this is of life in general but more specifically I think it's true of Christ Followers. As a follower of Christ, one who has experienced God's Grace first hand, we have an amazing story to tell. However, we can get so caught up in learning "about" Jesus that we never tell anyone what Jesus has "done" for us and the glories of our own journey. I've heard many people say that they don't know how to tell others about Christ. They say they don't know enough, they aren't educated enough or they don't have enough bible knowledge to talk to someone about Christ. My response is; If you are a Christ Follower. If you have experienced His grace first hand. Then simply tell others the Glories of Your Journey. Tell others what Christ has done for you.

Maybe it's as easy as telling someone what God had done in you, through The Carpenter's Church. Maybe it's as easy as inviting them to experience what you've experienced and bring them to "Your Life" tonight and the launch of "24" on Easter Sunday. No matter how you chose to do it, don't just become book smart but "go into the bypaths . . . and tell the world the glories of your journey."

We've got the best story to tell so let's start telling it!

If you've got a story to tell, why not click the Comments link below and share it. The world needs to hear what God is doing.

Why we do . . . What we do!

I must say that I've had some very mixed emotions in the past 24 hours. I found out yesterday that there is a person, who recently left our church, who is praying that our church fails. That's not a typo, this person is actually praying that God would make our church fail.

When I heard this information I was instantly defensive and angry. However, I've had a chance to reflect on it and I've come to this conclusion. Rather than get angry, I need to pray for this person to come face to face with Jesus. They apparently have a very messed up view of who He is and who we are, as a result of the Blood of Christ. I mean for any "Christian" to pray that another local body fails, simply because this person left out of anger and immaturity is sad. We, any authentic Christ Followers, are the body of Christ and we MUST work together to reach our world. Not everyone will like The Carpenter's and that's OK. However, we all need to plug into our local church, serve, tithe, support and be used by God to reach those He's called us to reach. We have 165,000 people in our county who don't know Christ and this person is praying that we reach them with one less church.

However, I also received a card yesterday in the mail. It was from a woman who attends The Carpenter's and it is the reason why we do, what we do. It is the reason we put up with the immature "adults" who are being used by Satan to attempt to derail what God is doing.

Here's a quote from this letter.

"I felt I should drop a line of encouragement to you. My husband has not quite been the same the past few weeks. It's a good thing . . . I'm not sure what part of what you shared hit home with him, but it did. For the first time in years I see rays of hope again where things were getting very grim and bleak. Thanks for being faithful to proclaim God's truths even if it's not aways the popular thing to do or what many want to here."

Ladies and Gentleman, this is why we do, what we do! Lives being changed by God's Truth.

This weekend Tucker will continue our 'til Death message series. If you know anyone who needs restoration in their marriage or is on the brink of divorce, do whatever it takes to get them here this weekend. It's going to be awesome and could just change their life.

Remember: God's love, changing lives, is what it's all about.

Are We Ready To Look Foolish?

Well, I finally finished Mark Batterson's book, "In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day" and I must say that it is an awesome read. It's taken me a few weeks to get through it because I'm reading several books at the same time (not the best idea by the way).

The last nugget that I got from the book is that we as leaders and Christ Followers in general, need to be more concerned about what God thinks than what anyone else on the planet thinks. Too often we get concerned about what "our friends" or even "other believers" think of what God is telling us to do. So, we short circuit God's ideas or plans for us and modify them to make things more palatable for those around us.

In Mark's Book he reminds us that if we are going to do great things for and with our great God, we are going to look foolish to those around us . . . and that's OK. We're reminded of how foolish Noah looked building an ark in the middle of the desert. How foolish did the Israelites look as they marched around Jericho blowing trumpets? How foolish did David look as he attacked Goliath with a slingshot? How foolish did the wise men look as they followed a star? How foolish did Peter look as he stepped out of the boat in the middle of a lake? And how foolish did Jesus look as He hung half-naked on a cross?

I don't know about you, but I'd rather look foolish and be doing exactly what God is calling me to do than to try and look good for those around me and allow God's plans to be sidetracked.

Are you with me? Are we ready to expose Jesus to our community . . . even if we look foolish in the process?

Start by inviting someone to church this weekend for the second week of 'til Death. We've got a couple of surprises in store. You won't want to miss it.

Expect Great Things

I've been reading a lot lately about the power of Prayer. I have to be honest, I've never been a real consistent "Prayer Warrior". It's an area of my spiritual walk that I constantly have to work on. Now don't get me wrong, I talk with God on a daily basis but I've never been good at praying very specific prayers on a consistent basis and watching what God does.

Last week we had our staff and leadership team pray some very specific prayers for the launch of our new message series, 'til Death. It was awesome to see God work in some big ways this past weekend.

We had 4 people make decisions for Christ, we had the largest attendance of the year and the largest offering in 11 weeks. God heard our specific prayers and answered them in a big way.

It was very convicting for me. How many times have I missed opportunities because I didn't pray consistent, specific prayers with the expectation that our Great God was going to do Great things?

I want to encourage you to pray big prayers with me, expect our big God to do big things and then step forward with Him as we watch and experience all He has in store for us.

Sink or Sit?

I was reading today, the story of Peter walking on the water toward Jesus. I've read this story many times and I've always looked at it from a perspective of Peter's Lack of Faith. I mean if only Peter had just kept his eyes on Jesus he would have been OK.

However, today I saw it from a different perspective. Peter was the only disciple willing to get out of the boat and walk toward Jesus. Yes, maybe his faith wavered a bit, but he had enough faith to get out of the boat and make steps toward Christ. That's more than we can say for the rest of the disciples in the boat that night.

We've been going through a lot of "issues" at our church and often times I'll say, "I believe we're going in the right direction." However, in the quietness of my head, I ask, "Am I really sure this is right." Everything I'm reading and learning and everything I'm hearing from God says we are on the right track but attendance is down, giving is down and it forces me to question.

As I looked at Peter today, I realized that not only do we have to keep our eyes on Jesus but we have to be willing to take the hard steps. We have to be willing to step out of our comfort zones, into the unknown and do what God is calling us to do. No matter what others may say or what the outcome may be.

I believe that God is calling The Carpenter's Church to reach the Lehigh Valley for Christ. While we may have our "sinking moments", I'd rather sink, as we take steps toward Christ, then to just sit in the boat and do nothing.

Can You Feel It?

I'm getting my mobility back, have drastically cut back on the Vicodin requirements and seem to be progressing well.

I was talking with Art today. (Art is one of our Elders and he is responsible for our drama ministry) He was giving me the update on the video shoot from last night.

As many of you know we are launching our new message series this weekend called, 'Til Death. It's a marriage and relationship series and it's going to be amazing. Last night we shot one of the sit-com videos that will air during this series. It killed me not to be able to be at the shoot but I understand that it went really well and Clint and Jesse did a great job. (Way to go guys!)

I also received this weeks copy of the Key Newspaper and opened up the front page and . . . BOOM . . . there was the ad for 'Til Death. It looks awesome! I hope to see the ad in the US Newspaper tomorrow as well. I really believe that God is going to use this new series in a big way. I think we're going to see God move in our community and our church like never before.

I can feel the excitement; Can You?

I'm Not Going To Settle

The past few days have been very different for me. I've spent a lot of time laying down, ice pack on and when I do get up and move it's very ssssslllllllooooooowwwwww! I never realized how much we use our stomach muscles. Try sitting down, getting up, getting in and/or out of bed, brushing your teeth, or doing much of anything without your stomach muscles. Trust me it's very heard.

Before I had my surgery, I spoke with a lot of people about the procedure and the recovery process. Everyone I spoke with said that I would not want to move around much but they also said the more I do get up and walk around the faster the recover will be. In fact the papers that I received from the doctor indicated that I should be up and walking around 3-4 times per day. As I mentioned the other day, with in an hour or so of the surgery, the nurses had me up and walking around.

I must say that when I'm laying on the couch, reclined back, ice pack on, blanket on, T.V. and/or Computer on . . . I feel pretty good. I don't really feel like moving much at all. When I do move it hurts. it's difficult, it's slow, I feel like an old man and it's not fun at all. However, I know that if I'm going to get from feeling "pretty good" to feeling great, I need to go through the difficult, slow, not fun process.

Isn't that the way we can be with God sometimes. We settle for "pretty good" when we could have the "great" things that God really has in store for us. However, in order to experience the Great Things of God, we may need to go through the difficult, slow, not-so-fun process that helps us get from "pretty good" to "Great." We sit in church, go to work, enjoy our family, watch some shows and experience a "pretty good" life. However, if we'd step up and step out and really pursue God, we could have the "great" life that God promises.

I was reading Mark Batterson's Book, "In A Pit With A Lion On A Snowy Day" and he was talking about this same concept. We settle for God's Goodness when we could have God's Greatness but too often we are not willing to go through the pain, discomfort, not-so-fun process of following God.

I don't know about you, but I don't want to settle for "pretty good" when I could have "Great." Even if it is uncomfortable.

On The Edge . . .

I've never been rock climbing; I've never stood on the edge of the Grand Canyon; I've never been to the top of he Empire State Building; And I've never had any desire to go bungee jumping. However, I believe I am on the Edge of something great and I'm not sure what will happen as I jump.

The Carpenter's has gone through some major changes in the past few months. Some have been very painful and others have been very helpful. God has used them all to strengthen our leadership and prepare us for something amazing. As we stand on the edge of what God has in store for us, I believe He is going to give us a little push and allow us to be totally amazed at what He does through us and in our community.

Stay tuned. . . it's going to get exciting.

Eye On The Ball

For the past 5 years I've been an assistant softball coach for my daughter's softball teams. I started when my oldest daughter was 6 years old. One of the first things you teach a young girl about softball is to Keep Her Eye On The Ball. It doesn't matter if they are up to bat or in the field. This is the key to not only softball but most sports. You watch the ball into your glove, you watch the ball out of the pitcher's hand and all the way to the bat. If you take you eye off the ball, you're going to miss it with the bat, drop it out of your glove or not catch it at all.

As the Worship & Administrative Pastor for a local church, I see so many times when people take their eye off the ball and forget why we do what we do. Rather than focus on bring people to a place where they can connect with God and then help them take steps in their spiritual journey, we focus on our preferences or pleasing the already convinced.

I've spent many hours over the past 2 weeks in meeting after meeting answering questions and justifying our methodology so that the "already convinced" are happy. When what we really need to be doing is determining how to get more people in the doors so that they can come face to face with Jesus. That's the goal. That's the "ball." It's so easy to take our eyes off the ball and put them on ourselves.

What would our world be like if churches everywhere gave up their ideas, thoughts and preferences for the sake of exposing Jesus to their communities in their culture?