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

I Wonder?

Marcus Aurelius Antoninus was the Roman Emperor, A.D. 161-180. He was once quoted as saying,

"Waste no more time talking about great souls and how they should be. Become one yourself!"

I wonder if we waste too much time trying to fix other people, rather than being the best individual we can be?

I wonder if we waste too much time trying to disciple other people, rather than being a disciple and authentic Christ follower ourselves?

I wonder if we waste too much time trying to reprimand other people, rather than taking care of ourselves and taking our concerns to God in prayer?

I wonder if we waste too much time trying to tell others what to do, rather than actually doing the best we can at what God has called us to do?

I wonder if we waste too much time trying to fix our own problems, rather than allowing God to work through us to accomplish His will in His timing.

I don't know about you but I don't want to waste time talking about great souls and how they should be, I want to become one myself and allow Jesus to be reflected in me everywhere and all the time.

I wonder . . .?

Ice Hockey and "The Church"?

Unless you are a die hard Hockey Fan most of you have no idea that the National Hockey League is currently in the Playoffs for their championship, The Stanley Cup.

When I was a kid, I used to follow hockey very closely. We lived in up-state New York (about 3 miles from the Canadian boarder) and the only sports programming we got in the winter time was Hockey. Back then I was a die hard Buffalo Sabers fan. We watched every game we could, I knew the players and followed some of them like rock stars. Over the years my interests changed and I must be honest that I don't really follow it much any more. However, I do know that the Sabers are playing really well and are currently in the hunt for the Cup.

Even if you've never watched an NHL game in your life you've most likely heard of Wayne Gretzky. Gretzky is the greatest hockey player to ever play the game. In 1978, his first season with the Edmonton Oilers he scored 110 points on his way to becoming the rookie of the year. He had four 200-point regular seasons and was a 10-time season leading scorer. This guy knew how to win, knew how to score and knew how to be successful.

Gretzky once said,

"A good hockey player plays where the puck is. A great hockey player plays where the puck is going to be."

You see in order to score and have the success that Gretzky had, you can't play in the moment you need to look ahead and be ready for what's coming next.

I think the same thing is true in the church. We can't be successful reaching people, using the same methodology that we used yesterday. We won't be successful reaching people using the same tools that we are using today either. We have to constantly look ahead to where our culture and our community will be and begin taking steps to be prepared to reach people with new technologies, methodologies and tools.

I believe we've got the best and most important message to share. Our methodologies will continue to change and morph and evolve but the truth of Scripture, the truth of the Gospel and the message of Jesus Christ will always remain the same.

If you're on board with a thought process that says, "I'll do whatever it takes to stay ahead of the culture so that we can reach the culture for Christ", then please leave a comment and let me know that you're "On-Board."

The Competition?

Jerry Flint is a senior automotive editor for Forbes magazine. I read a quote from him today that speaks volumes about the church. Jerry flint said this:

"Competition is a painful thing, but it produces great results."

For far too long "the church" has considered other churches to be "the competition." However, I will never consider another church to be a competitor. With 300,000 people in Northampton County and considering that national statistics suggest that 165,000 of those people don't know Christ, other churches are allies not competition. The real competition for growing, relevant, bible believing, Christ preaching churches is not other churches but anything that will keep people from coming to church on the weekend.

Our competition is the golf course, the movie theater, night clubs, sporting events, T.V. shows and anything that keeps people from coming to our church buildings. As Jerry Flint suggests, competing with those kinds of experiences can be painful but if we do it right, if we truly develop the kind of quality that people experience everywhere outside the church, if we tell the greatest story in the world in the most compelling and creative ways possible, we will reach our community!!

That's who we are! That's what we are going to do!

We will not compromise the message and we will not compromise the quality. The results will be great!

Stay tuned, invite your friends and watch what God does!

Storage Units?

I had to run to the bank this morning. The primary branch that we bank at sits up on a hill and overlooks a neighborhood and what used to be a large field. About a year ago, they began to excavate the field and I assumed they were building more homes. Much to my surprise they weren't building homes, they were building Storage Units. You know the u-store-it kind of buildings where we spend $100.00 a month to store the stuff we can't fit into our 2500 square foot homes that sit on 1/4 acre lots with 2 car garages and a shed out back. I don't know about you but I see these kind of storage companies all over the place.

Now I know that some people have legitimate reasons for needing these storage units. They run a business out of their home and they use their storage building for a warehouse. Some people are in between homes and need to store their stuff until the new place is ready. We actually used one when we first moved to Virginia because our new house wasn't ready yet.

However, as I rounded the back side of the bank this morning to go to the ATM machine, I noticed they were clearing more ground and building even more storage space. I wonder why we need so much stuff that we never use? I wonder why we strive to obtain more stuff then our neighbors only to end up not having a place to keep our stuff so we rent a storage unit to store our over abundance of stuff and most likely forget that it's even there?

Isn't this what most Christians do? We attend church every week from the time we're 6 until we're 96 and we store in our brain everything you can possible know about God, His Son Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Ten Commandments, Noah and the Ark, Paul and his journey & everything in between. We keep notebooks of every message outline since the beginning of message outlines. We have libraries filled with highlighted books that we'll never look at again. We end up forgetting most sermons, bible studies and messages within 36 hours of hearing or reading them and yet we still want more. We want to go "deeper." We want to feel "spiritual." But we forget the information and never use it. We never tell anyone about Christ, we never invite someone to church, we never put into practice the principles that Jesus taught nor do we try to emulate or reflect the lifestyle that Jesus led. I read in a book that the vast majority of "Christians" are educated way beyond there ability to actually act or live out that education. We just keep storing it up, wanting more and never using it.

Here's my challenge. Don't just acquire knowledge. Don't just sit in church, take notes, go home and file them and never use them again. Share the knowledge with those who don't know Christ. Reach out to your neighbors, friends, relatives and share your spiritual journey with them. If you don't feel comfortable sharing with them directly then invite them to church so they can hear what Jesus has done for them. Don't waste your time storing up knowledge and forgetting its there. Live it out and invite people in. It will have a dramatic impact on their lives and yours for all eternity.

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.

What To Learn From Apple

Apple TV hits the stores this week. This little device will allow computer users to download TV shows or feature films from iTunes, play them on the computer and see them on their TV via a built in wireless connection. I don't know if I'll ever own one of these new devices but I believe they will be very successful. One of the reasons for Apple's success is a philosophy of Steve Jobs and the leadership team at Apple, Inc. When asked about the success of Apple, Steve Jobs said this:

"It comes from saying no to 1,000 things to make sure we don't get on the wrong track or try to do too much."

I think the church can learn a lot from this philosophy. Too often, the church tries to be all things to all people and ends up with tons of "Ministries" that don't have any effect or impact on anyone.

At The Carpenter's Church we've made a decision to focus in on four areas.

1. The Weekend: Nothing competes with the weekend. This is where we have the opportunity to reach the most people and share the Gospel to our community. We'll be relevant, contemporary and show people from Scripture what God has to say about the pressures, successes, failures, joys and sorrows that everyone faces every day.
2. KidZone: The Children's Ministry at The Carpenter's is called KidZone. This is where Kids and God come together. We believe that children aren't the future but rather they are the present. They are the church of today and we're going to invest time, money and resources into making sure that the Kids of our church and our community have the chance to know Christ and learn how He can be effective and relevant in their lives.
3. Ignite Students: Our student ministry is absolutely off the hook. Tucker and his team of V-Staff do an amazing job of bringing the Gospel to life in a way that Jr. and Sr. High students can relate to and understand. Current statistics indicate that 4% of graduating high school seniors claim to have a relationship with Christ. We have made the decision that this statistic is not acceptable in our community and we're going to do our best to change it.
4. Connecting Points: Our Connecting Points are where adults can meet in a small group each week and connect with each other and with God. We believe that the Great Commandment is lived out through our Connecting Points and we are committed to continued leadership and leadership development to start, grow, build and strengthen Connecting Points all across the Lehigh Valley.

We can't be all things to all people. In fact, no church can. There are 165,000 people in Northampton County who don't know Christ. We need lots of churches and lots of Christians to focus in on a few things, do them really well and watch God do His thing.

Shocking Statistics

Every once in a while I come across a shocking statistic. Something that comes out of the blue. When I read it I am completely blown away because it is so outrageous that it becomes hard to believe. Well, the other day I came across one of those Shocking Statistics that has my mind all twisted up.

I'm reading a new book by David Ferguson called "The Big Idea" (If you are a church leader and you've not read this book, I highly recommend that you drop whatever it is that you are doing, after you finish this blog, and get this book in you hands. It's awesome)

Anyway, in David's book, chapter 1, page 16 he states a statistic that blew me away. He says,

"Even though there are more big churches that ever before filled with people who proudly wear the title Christian, 50 percent of Christian churches didn't help one single person find salvation."

Now, take a moment to re-read that statement and digest it for a moment. 50 percent of the "Christian Churches" in America didn't lead one person to salvation.

WHAT???!?!?!?!?!?!!

If our churches aren't leading people to Christ, then what are they doing? I don't see any passage of scripture that suggests that we have a responsibility to feed the full, dress the clothed, care for the healthy or facilitate a social club. I see Jesus telling us to "Go and make disciples." He tells us to go and tell people about me, go and find people who are willing to follow me, to learn about me and to put that knowledge into practice by telling others about me.

Juan Carlos Ortiz once said,

"The average Christian is educated to at least three years beyond their level of obedience."

That means we have a ton of churches that are educating people in theology and those people aren't using that knowledge to minister to or reach a single soul. I don't know about you but I don't want to be a part of either of these shocking statistics.

Over the past 4 weeks of the 'til Death message series, we've seen 7 people accept Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. We've heard stories of marriages being restored and families being strengthened as a result of God working in the lives of people. The Carpenter's Church is intentional about evangelism and sharing Christ with our Community. We are programing our services and special events purposely to put people in a safe, comfortable, relevant environment so they can come face to face with Jesus.

We are making a difference and will continue to make a large impact on this community for Christ. Join us as we carry out God's vision for this church, this community and the world around us. It's really exciting to see what God is doing and I for one am looking forward to what He will continue to do.

March Madness

Well, it's that time of the year again. For all of you "non-basketball" fans, it's March Madness. The biggest basketball tournament in the world. For the next 3 weeks men and women from all over the globe will be glued to their TV's on Thursday, Friday Saturday and Sunday to watch 64 college basketball teams play a total of 63 games that will culminate in the national championship game on April 2nd.

One of the most successful college basketball coaches in NCAA history is John Wooden. He led UCLA to 10 National Championships in his last 12 years of coaching. During his 27 seasons as the head coach at UCLA he won 665 games including 4 perfect seasons of 30-0.

John Wooden lived by a 7-point creed that was given to him by his father, the day John graduated from Grammar School.

1. Be true to yourself
2. Make each day your masterpiece
3. Help others
4. Drink deeply from good books, especially the Bible
5. Make friendship a fine art
6. Build a shelter against a rainy day
7. Pray for guidance and give thanks for your blessings every day
   

John once said, "You cannot live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you."

I don't know where John will spend eternity and I don't know where John's dad got these 7 points. What I do know is that if Christ Followers all over the world would live by these same 7 points and live out the "Perfect Day" quote our lives and our world would be very different.

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.

Chazown Recap

Well, last night was AWESOME!

We gathered our leadership team together and reviewed the Vision or "Chazown" for The Carpenter's Church. With 6 video clips, 3 audio clips, 6 different communicators, pillows, light bulbs, sunglasses and 300 & 1/2 chairs, courtesy of Tucker and a chainsaw, we explained in detail why we exist and where our church is going.

It was an awesome and unifying night and I believe a giant step forward. It's going to be incredible to see what God does as we unite together to reach our community for Christ.

Stay tuned, there's some great things on the horizon.

Chazown

I am really pumped about tomorrow night. Our staff and elders are hosting our first ever "Chazown" event. For those of you who don't know what Chazown means or have never read Craig Groeschell's Book "CHAZOWN", it is a Hebrew word that means a Dream, Revelation or Vision.

We are inviting all of the Elders, Trustees and Connecting Point leaders to come together and re-experience the Vision or Chazown of The Carpenter's Church. We've pulled out all the stops, we've prepared the media, the message, the chain saw and the illustrations. It's going to be an awesome night to unify our leadership and set the stage for what God is going to do in and through our church over the next 10 months and beyond.

For those of you who call The Carpenter's your church home, stay tuned. It's going to get really crazy around here. . . and that's a good thing. God is doing a New Thing (Isaiah 43:18-19) right here in the Lehigh Valley and it's going to be awesome to be a part of it.

Spiritual Impotence

OK, I know I already posted today but I came across Perry Noble's Blog entry and I had to link to it. Perry is the pastor of NewSpring Church in Anderson, S.C. What he has to say to Pastors and church leaders is incredible.

Here's a bit of what Perry had to say:

The church has ALL that it needs…an empty tomb, the Bible, the Holy Spirit…and combine those with the technology that none of the Apostles had and–DANG–we should be making noise!

BUT the stats on the church in America are sobering. Over 80% have hit their max and are now declining. Around 3,500 churches every year are shutting down…and over 80% of church plants fail within the first three years. NOW putting this into business terms…if a business operated like this then it would go BANKRUPT! Is that where the church is heading?

Check it out the entire blog entry by clicking here.

For those of you who call The Carpenter's Church your church home, let's grab the vision, put passion behind our actions and reach Northampton County for Christ.

Hang on, it's going to be an awesome trip!!!!!!!!

Why So Complicated?

Last week I found myself so busy that I feel like I hardly accomplished anything. Have you ever had weeks like that? You work hard all week, you're busy everyday but when you reflect back on the week you wonder where the time went and why you didn't accomplish much as all. Between meetings, taking kids here and there, meetings, services, rehearsals, meetings, small group and prep for the weekend, I felt like I was really busy but didn't go anywhere.

Why do we fill our schedules so much and allow life to become so complicated? I think we bring it on ourselves because we don't make "life" the priority. Instead we make everything else a priority because we think it will give us the "life" we want.

Isn't that the way our Christian walk is as well? We fill our life with so many "Religious Activities" in hopes that we will feel closer to God or feel better about ourselves when all God really wants us to do is to simply Love God and Love Others. I met with some friends on Friday night and we talked about this very issues. We (humans) tend to complicate everything from grocery trips to spiritual relationships and everything in between. When we allow our lives to become complicated it's very difficult to see truth from fiction and to see God at all.

John 17:3 says, "And this is the way to have eternal life—to know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ, the one you sent to earth."

"Life", Eternal Life is knowing God. So let's keep the Main Thing the Main Thing. That is, let's focus on Knowing God and Loving Others and everything else will fall into place.

I know this is basic stuff. It's simple but not-so-easy to do. However, what would our church, our families, our neighborhoods, our communities and our world look like if Christ Followers across the planet decided to focus on Knowing God and Loving Others?

Just a Thought!

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.

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.

Christian vs. Christ Follower

Well, it's been a long week. Actually it's been a long 10 weeks.

I came across this series of videos on YouTube called Christianity vs. Christ Follower. They are a parody of the Mac vs. P.C. commercials and they very much parallel my thoughts on the past few weeks.

Enjoy!

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?