We kicked off a new series this weekend at Mountainview called "Chase the Lion." It's based on a book by Mark Batterson that features an obscure character from the Old Testament - Benaiah. I had the privilege of kicking off the series with a message entitled, "Defying the Odds." The basic premise was this: your view of God will determine the size of the challenges you tackle. Our creative arts team did a fantastic job of designing the stage. Our music was good, as it always is. At our second service I had the opportunity to baptize a young lady into Christ as her mom stood near by. Tonight we hosted "Laugh All Night," a Christian comedy concert to benefit mission efforts in Haiti. It was very well attended and everyone seemed to enjoy it. I was a bit disappointed that there was no open mic ... but that's probably…
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How many things might we improve if we learned to ask the right questions? Here's an example of one powerful question we ought to ask when considering the tasks, jobs, and dreams we're trying to accomplish: "Is there a better way?"
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I enjoy being around church planters. This morning at Mountainview our guest speaker was Todd Sinclair, a church planter who started Life Church in Aurora, CO. Todd challenged us to think of our journey with Jesus as participating in God's story. He also challenged us to think relationally. After starting a new church in San Diego (LifePoint!), I can honestly say that starting new churches is the single most effective way to reach people disconnected from God. Those four and a half years with LifePoint were wonderfully challenging but wonderful nonetheless. We saw people discover God for the first time sitting while sitting on one of our couches. That's a thrill that's hard to describe but it's addicting. If you are a pastor of a medium to large church, I want to encourage you to begin praying about how God might use your church to start new churches. It may…
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I love great titles (and subtitles, for that matter). Blogger Scott Ginsberg comes up with some of the best blog post titles. Here are a few samples: 8 Ways to be More Sought-After Than The Jonas Brothers at a Middle School Sleepover Now You Can Become as Trusted as Oprah without Resorting to Brainwashing or Jedi Mind Tricks 8 Ways to become More Buyable than a Bottle of Viagra at a Boca Raton Bingo Hall
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I once read something Jim Sheppard wrote about how our money goes to three basic places: giving, saving, and living. We either give it away, save it away, or spend it away. When it comes to stewardship, the order of these three are very important: "A tithe of everything from the land, whether grain from the soil or fruit from the trees, belongs to the LORD; it is holy to the LORD" (Leviticus 29:30). God is clear that he wants us to be generous first. The concept of the "tithe" is that the first ten percent of all we have belongs to God. Before we offer the service of our hands, God desires the giving of our heart. After giving should come saving. Why? Because if we don't save, we'll spend it all on living! Many Americans, including American Christians, find it difficult to save because the impulse to buy…
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