176 days in

The school year is like the baseball season - it seemingly goes on forever. And also like baseball, the significance of any one day or game really seems fairly meaningless. It's in the day to day routine of working on the skills or standards as we call them, the patient but confident building of abilities and molding of character that things happen. As a teacher now for a while and a pastor for much longer, I've learned the routines and accepted them.

When a batter is in a slump, one of the first things he does is to go back and watch film of when he was in the groove. If it's a really bad slump, he might even reach out to an old coach. I've read of stars who were struggling calling in high school coaches.

When a teacher can't reach a student, they do check to see if they are teaching the fundamentals well. They examine their interactions with the child, and talk with others who interact as well. They try other approaches. They seek to find a motivating tool to use to get the student to perform in a way that will help them grow.

176 days in, after doing all of that and much more, after being at the point of frustration many many times, I think it happened.

I was hugged by a nine year old boy.

He's so very bright. I have never had a child who has asked so many questions that were worthy of adult conversations. Of course most all of those occurred when we were discussing something else, but...

Yet he is always on his own path, that only occasionally coincides with what all the adults who want desperately to see him grow have planned.

But Friday, after a typical day of trying to encourage him to persevere in doing his best and finding him doing far less, we had a conversation. Nothing unusual on my side - another try at getting him to see that if he'd set his sights on a goal and work hard until he got there, all the adults who care so much about him would not only rejoice in a way the heavens would hear, but he would find that all the structures we've constructed to keep him in line would fall away, like training wheels taken off a bicycle do once the skills are mastered.

He listened and went back to work.

Then right before he left, he came up to my side and gave me a hug before he left.

176 days in.

Teaching...

It made me wonder... "Lord Jesus, how in the world do you put up with us?"

Like That!

1 Watch what God does, and then you do it, like children who learn proper behavior from their parents. 2 Mostly what God does is love you. Keep company with him and learn a life of love. Observe how Christ loved us. His love was not cautious but extravagant. He didn't love in order to get something from us but to give everything of himself to us. Love like that.    Gal 5:1-2 (MSG)

This crazy bifurcated life I have now puts me in contact with kids 5 days a week. Hundreds of them. I get to see a lot of different ways children relate to them, and for the 15 I see up close and personal, sometimes it's funny and sometimes it's heartbreaking.

Two children may be at odds all of one day and be best friends the next. There can be tears and laughter together in the same day. And once you meet the parents a lot of times the things you see in the children become a lot clearer. For good or not so good. That's what children do.

In my case, the closer I can get to Jesus, the more giving I am, the more forgiving I am, the more tolerant I am of others, the more I put myself second to loving as Jesus did. So many times the creeping selfishness that is human nature comes a calling.and I relate out of a "what's in it for me" heartset. So I stop and remember - I am a follower of Jesus and He is my leader and my Lord. I may not have a Bible handy, but if I pray, asking Him to give me the strength and courage to love extravagantly, I can too.

So read the Scripture above. Think about how much YOU ARE LOVED BY GOD.

Now go, love like that!

Sundays Are the Hardest

Our friend Allan.

For the last three weeks, I've been a bivocational pastor. Full time third grade teacher (long term substitute) and full time pastor to the people and church I love. This bifurcated role has been necessary to help New Hope during a lean season. It's been a tough year from the beginning. We've been hit with a lot including some long time friends departure. But God has miraculously (and I do not throw that word around lightly) provided for our needs and even provisioned us to do more ministry this year than last despite it all. Hopefully once I get paid regularly for substitute teaching I can relieve some of the intense pressure New Hope is under every week.

We are truly living and serving by faith.

I love both jobs and definitely feel that God is using me to change the lives of 16 third graders. And there's no question that His call is still real in my life to be a pastor. I get excited every Saturday night thinking about seeing what God is going to do at New Hope the next day. Today was a good day - great worship, sermon went well, and we had several visitors who seemed to enjoy being with us.

But now it's Sunday evening and instead of thinking through what happened and what we'll be doing next week at New Hope, I have to turn toward school and prepare for the Monday morning rush.

Where I used to have an "off" day and Saturday each week to renew, now Saturday is the day I cram everything in. Two jobs that require dedication, focus, and passion that each are more that 40 hours a week mean long days and short nights.

But it's where God has placed me for this season.

Here's how I have to approach it.

First - I have to make sure I do the work to prepare my heart. Each morning when I walk, I pray. Since I don't have the flexibility I once enjoyed as a pastor, I maximize what time I do have.
Second - I use every means I have to learn. I found that 91.7 has Moody Conference Echoes every morning and so I listen to it. During lunch most days I spend a few minutes reading through my devotional regime.
Third - I accept this as God's will for my life right now and give everything I can give to both jobs. That means getting better at delegating and in training leaders so that New Hope can continue to serve and grow.

But there's no time to enjoy what God did today. Tomorrow is calling.

So yeah, Sundays are the hardest.

Monday Matters

Well, I decided to listen to music as I walked this morning and it shuffled "Can't Get No Satisfaction" and "19th Nervous Breakdown" first. I had to laugh out loud. For "preacher-creatures" like me, Mondays can be toxic. We have a tendency to analyze everything that happens on Sunday with a hyper-critical eye. So any humor helps.

The last day of Spring Break 2011 has come and gone, and I'll be glad to get everyone back next weekend. In our post-multiple PCS state, we can really tell when some of our regular families aren't with us in worship. And with vacations, sickness, and whatever keeping people away, we're less than we could be. Still, I thought we had a pretty good day, all things considered. Our worship team stepped up and delivered on songs that we had trouble with in practice. "God of This City" is usually a New Hope favorite, but we just could not get it done Wednesday night. In fact I was 90% sure I would leave it out on Sunday. But after praying about it, even up to the last minute, I thought that we needed to sing it - that God would speak to us through it. So I asked everyone in the congregation to both pray and sing us through it. Thank God, it worked.

The songs were: Our God Is Greater (first time we've done it); Forever, God of This City, and Grace Flows Down. I thought the singers did well again and the band was really good at following them. Sean just blew me away on lead guitar on the first song. Just wow. If worship is bringing your best to present before God, then he did it!

We've been looking at John's gospel - specifically the portrait of the Messiah he tries to paint with the 7 "signs", and yesterday we looked at the man of Bethesda who Jesus asked "Do you want to be well?" All week long as I thought about the passage of Scripture, I kept seeing other people - people today - that over time found that their misery was more comfortable to them than the idea of change and healing. I also kept thinking that I had to make sure that the answer people walked away with wasn't a Tony Robbins like human potential message, but that the secret to change was reliance on Jesus. Hope that happened and some people were helped.



Be praying for New Hope as we go forward toward Easter.

Pray that we will have the opportunity to see people come to know Jesus as Savior and Lord.

Pray that God will provide the resources we need to continue to minister to our community.

Pray that I will be able to balance family, school, substitute teaching, and my calling as pastor.

New Hope needs me to relieve some of the financial pressure by cutting the amount of compensation the church provides for my family to live here. We're operating on a shoestring and really need a change until God sends us more to work with. Without that change, we are going to face some tough choices that I don't want to have to make. So pray that I'll continue to do well in my teacher certification program, and that I'll get enough substitute work to contribute to New Hope's needs.

This is such a special place, and I serve alongside some amazing people. I truly do thank God every time I remember that. Even on Monday.

Carrying Water In A Sieve

From It's Like Herding Cats

So I was born with "that" chromosome.

You know, the one that doesn't like to ask directions. The one that likes things spelled out. That puts things in boxes and just presses on. Shows up for work every day unless an arm is falling off and pushes the rock a little farther uphill. Takes the licking and keeps on keeping on.

But sometimes it feels like no matter what...

It's not going to be enough.

Like carrying water in a sieve. Lots of activity but a poor result.

Key words are "going to be", as in hasn't happened yet. So yeah, if I let myself go there I am literally pre-stressing out. And right about here the Holy Spirit shows up and reminds me of some important information that I know, but for whatever reason sometimes let slip out of my view.

God is with me. When Jesus said "I am with you, always" that means I am never alone, and never have to face anything or anyone by myself.

God is for me. The most powerful force in the universe is working everything I encounter together for my good.

So my feelings of inadequacy may be completely valid. Or not.

What matters is God's ability, not mine.

Thank God!

Just as the creator intended

“Come, follow me..."

About 10:20 AM Sunday, I was in the sanctuary getting ready and it appeared that the lights flickered. Then they did it again. Every so often, they'd flicker for a few seconds. Then about 10:40, it got worse - much worse. I went around back to where the main power line comes in and there was a branch across the line. "Maybe that's it", I thought.

Went back inside and it got really strange. The lights up front were really bright and those in back weren't. Then the projector and PC started recycling on and off, and the piano turned off by itself and wouldn't come on for a minute. In the age of electronics we live in, that was our cue to take radical steps.

We cut all the powered devices off and went old school - no ppt, no praise band, no amplification.

In the aftermath, we discovered a light bulb that blew apart, and a fluorescent fixture's ballast gave up the ghost.

And two surge suppressors died to save our PCs and printers.

We spent some money on the suppressors, but they did just as their creator intended. They gave up their lives for the devices that plugged into them.

Was just reading a passage from the Message.

So here’s what I want you to do, God helping you: Take your everyday, ordinary life—your sleeping, eating, going-to-work, and walking-around life—and place it before God as an offering. Embracing what God does for you is the best thing you can do for him. Don’t become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out. Readily recognize what he wants from you, and quickly respond to it. Romans 12:1

...and wondered how many of us will be able to look back over our lives and know that we lived them just as our Creator intended.

It's not too late to start following Jesus.

Dear 98.170.219.187

From It's Like Herding Cats - A Pastor's Life

98.170.219.187, you've come to my blog 6 times today. You came 5 times yesterday. You live in Niceville, have a Mac with Safari and a PC running Internet Explorer and Vista and are connected to the internet through Cox communications.

I must be one interesting character. :) Life's kind of busy for me right now so I haven't been able to blog as much as I was, and I really need to get better at letting people know what's going on with my family and with our spiritual family here at New Hope.

New Hope is a unique group of people who are really working sacrificially to make a difference here and around the world. We're small, but we're believing in a large God who can do more than we could ever ask or imagine. We figure that no one would have a problem believing a mega church would do big things, but if we see big things happen - it had to have been God.

If you are interested in walking with a group of people who love God and each other, you should come check us out.

Please feel free to email and ask any questions you might have.

Sincerely,

192.168.7.17

Every now and then...

I posted this yesterday on Facebook: "If I were to write about the burdens of the preacher as I have experienced them and as I know them," declared Martin Luther, "I would scare everybody off."

And it's true. If I hear one more person talk about how preachers need to get a "real job" I may scream. After being with people dying and trying to offer comfort, counseling with people at the end of their rope and on the edge of losing it all, making decisions on how to best reach people in a way to change their eternal destiny, and yes, confronting people with the real consequences of their actions - if that's not real...

But you need to hear about the flip side too, about those moments of surpassing joy that make it all worthwhile.

- Like seeing Gracie on percussion last Sunday morning. Gracie's a wee lassie and is always full of life. She wanted to help the praise team on Wednesday night, so Pam gave her the "egg" which is a small percussion instrument. Well Sunday Gracie was giving it everything she had - on beat most of the time. :)

- Or when I was cooking supper last week and Caleb asked if he could help cook. I said "sure" and he got busy. Soon Devon wanted to know what he could do, and before it was over 5 of the boys from the neighborhood were helping the pastor cook supper.

- Or looking out over the congregation and seeing Robert and his kids there. He's had a tough road back but he's done it with honor and his kids (and his parents) are absolutely loving having their son in worship and serving the church that prayed him through hard times and is rejoicing with him now.

- Or sitting in quiet office and marveling at the enormity of God's grace. That Jesus would drop down into the sewer of humanity and not just throw us a rope, not just jump in and rescue us, but that we'd be able to read this...

Look at how great a love the Father has given us that we should be called God’s children. And we are! 1 John 3:1 (HCSB)

That "prince of preachers" Charles Spurgeon read that and wrote:

"Behold!" ye angels! stop, ye seraphs! here is a thing more wonderful than heaven with its walls of jasper. Behold, universe! open thine eyes, O world. "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God."

If we only realized that what we have and what we have been called to do was the stuff angels only dream of...

Every now and then we need to be reminded that we are what God says we are.

How Much Is A Church Worth?

Seriously.

It's Wednesday night and I'm tired, my throat's scratchy, and I'm on the ragged edge of crabbiness. Studied for school, studied for church, bought food for church supper, cooked supper, cleaned up the cooking dishes, went over to praise team practice, from there to prayer and Bible study. Came home and replayed the day.

Around me tonight were other people who probably had tougher days than I had.

And yet, they were there, serving kids and youth, helping them find their way, helping them find THE WAY.

What's that worth?

Frankly?

More than most people are willing to give.

By faith, by faith, by faith...

Early on in the adventure called "following God's call", I was fortunate to be invited to preach in various churches around the Macon area. Usually I was standing in for the pastor who was away,or even more likely one of a parade of "pulpit supply" preachers. When a small church loses its pastor, many times two committees are formed - a pastor search committee and a pulpit supply committee. The first is thinking long term, and the second is focused on finding someone for each week.

My experiences and venues varied wildly during that time.

So did my preaching.

My first attempt, which I had practiced for over and over again and honed to 22 minutes of brilliance, delivered a stunningly succinct 10 minute message. What the congregation didn't know was that the original 22 minute message had actually been combined with another to make it to the ten minute mark. The funny thing was that I made it back to our home church (Mt Zion Baptist in Bolingbroke GA) before they got out.You'd think I'd have been invited back simply because of my brevity, but no.

Later, after desperately studying preaching fundamentals and having the benefit of the beginning of my seminary education, I got better. One thing a professor told me really helped a lot. "Preach two or three sermons really well", he said. "You are only there once and they won't know you've preached it before." After thinking about that, and considering the alternative, I decided to do just that. So I had a handfull of sermons that I worked on every week and kept practicing and honing the insight and illustrations. People seemed to respond to them. Well, most people. My family got a little tired of hearing one in particular.

Hebrews Chapter 11 is an awesome list of some of those God considers as faithful. It's like a "Hall of Fame" for faith. So in my search for sermons people would connect with, the passage was perfect. Here are ordinary people doing extraordinary things because their faith in God was real. Part of the sermon was my stirring repitition of the passages "By faith (insert Biblical heroes name), repeat, and repeat a few more times.

It's not an exaggeration to say that my family, while outwardly supportive, inwardly GROANED when that began, and gave me fits about it on the long rides back home. I think one even said she'd throw a hymnal at me if I ever did it again. Now to be clear, she didn't have a problem with faith - just the repetitious way I was preaching about it.

You've got to have faith.

As a pastor and as a family, we have to live by faith.

Faith in God, and faith in the group of people that God has placed us within.

We all repeat that here. Often. No groaning accompanies it. Must have been the preaching.

What are you GIVING for Christmas?

Don't race by that question or auto-correct it.

I know that "getting" is what we have been trained and train our kids to think of - but is that really the godly way to approach Christmas?

I don't think so, and from what I gather from the Scriptures, neither does Jesus. He was quoted as saying "It is more blessed to give than to receive" as well as other scandalous statements about giving coats away, going extra miles, and opening your home to strangers.

So if you are really, really committed to keeping the "Christ" in Christmas, my suggestion is start right here.

What are you really excited about GIVING this Christmas?

There are so many opportunities.

Toms Shoes gives a pair of shoes to a person in need for every pair you buy.

The Water Project provides clean water to thousands through drilling wells, repairing older ones, and purification. Every item in their store gives someone life giving water.

The Heifer Project gives you a chance to provide a way out of poverty for someone and your giftee gets a card letting them know just what your gift has done in their name.

Christian Flights International is an organization that serves the people of Haiti. New Hope is sponsoring their "Angel Tree" initiative and angel ornaments that were hand painted by the children in Haiti are available for purchase in our lobby.

What are you giving for Christmas?

You Need To Know This

Love Wins!

You need to know that. I need to know that. LOVE WINS!!!!!

I'm sitting here tonight finishing the power-point for tomorrow's sermon and praying.

I'm praying for people.

A dear friend from church who's headed to Georgia tomorrow to help his family get ready for his father's funeral. My pastor friend in New Hampshire who laid the body of his mother to rest this week and doesn't think he has anything to give to his church tomorrow. Another pastor friend who is supposed to leave his church at year's end but doesn't have anywhere to go. The family of another friend who was touched by grief this week. All of those whose loved ones exist now only in memories - this season is hard for all of them.

So I pray.

The friend still without a job. His wife recovering from open heart surgery. Our niece struggling with cancer. The elderly woman who can't make ends meet. Another with a teenager who tests the limits on a regular basis. Families separated because of a war that seemingly will never end. People trapped beneath a mountain of wrong choices. People dealing with chronic pain, with heartache, with loss.

I pray for them, that God would supply all their needs through Christ Jesus. That the author of all compassion and comfort will surround them with His love. That they will see God and know He loves them.

And I pray for New Hope.

We're the church in the neighborhood, with a heart for anyone who comes through our doors. We've seen many people come to faith here, and others deepen in faith here. But we have many needs. Life in a smaller church has been likened to draining the bathtub with a colander. Sure you seem to be busy, but are you making progress? God is sending us more and more children from broken homes, triple-blended families, and hasn't sent the relief workers yet. And some of our people really could use some relief.

And yet we're realizing there are more needs in our community that we ever knew were here, and God is moving within us to act as His hands and feet right here in Valparaiso and our area. We're getting more opportunities to help with other missions while still trying to take care of basic needs. We're sending out families through PCS moves and other life-changes but we haven't received the replacements for them. I know God is in charge of outcomes and everything comes in His will, in His time, but... now would be nice.

So I'm praying. Earnestly, passionately - praying.

But here's the awesome truth - Love Wins.

No one's ever seen or heard anything like this,
Never so much as imagined anything quite like it-
What God has arranged for those who love him. 1 Cor 2:9 The Message

Now and Not Yet

When I asked the youth yesterday in Sunday School what the best gift they had ever gotten for Christmas was, my friend Kira had a problem. See she knows what she's getting for Christmas this year, a new state of the art iPod touch ("with two cameras!"). It's already been purchased. But she doesn't have it yet.

Still, it's what she wanted to claim as her best Christmas present ever.

I can feel her pain. As I read the Scripture opening the season of Advent yesterday from Isaiah chapter 2, there was so much there that I wanted NOW.

2 There's a day coming when the mountain of God's House Will be The Mountain— solid, towering over all mountains. All nations will river toward it, people from all over set out for it. 3 They'll say, "Come, let's climb God's Mountain, go to the House of the God of Jacob. He'll show us the way he works so we can live the way we're made." Zion's the source of the revelation. God's Message comes from Jerusalem. 4 He'll settle things fairly between nations. He'll make things right between many peoples. They'll turn their swords into shovels, their spears into hoes. No more will nation fight nation; they won't play war anymore. 5 Come, family of Jacob, let's live in the light of God.

Isaiah 2:2-5 (MSG)

Almost every day of my life opens with a prayer for God to come and put things right - for people to come to know Jesus as Savior - for peace. And though God has given me so much - so many blessings - even though I know that Jesus will come and do everything this passage says, chances are that I'll awaken tomorrow with the same hopes to pray.

It's life living in the now and not yet.

So what should we do - today?

"Come, family of Jacob, let's live in the light of God."

We face life together as the people of God - as family bound by blood.

We LIVE! Not fearfully or anxiously - we know the outcome - we win!

We follow Jesus as the Spirit leads "in the light of God."

I'm looking forward to seeing Kira's face after Christmas as she proudly shows me her new toy. But as cool as that might seem now, what Kira's going to receive one day from her God (what we all will receive as believers) is so much better it boggles the mind and warms my heart.

Come join us as we live out Advent at New Hope in the "now and not yet."

I Wonder

Had a friend I worked with years ago named Ray Cagle. I was a bivocational pastor at the time, and Ray was a member of a nondenominational church and seemed to me to try and live out his faith. We stopped by his house on the way back from lunch one day and I when I went to flip a light switch I noticed a bible verse was taped to it. Looking around, I saw other verses taped on things like the TV set.

I had to know - so I asked Ray about it. He said that as a family they were trying to get as much Scripture in as many ways as possible into their hearts. So they chose Scriptures and printed out slips that would cause them to think about their devotion to God.

After all these years, I'm still impressed by the sincere desire Ray expressed that day to follow Jesus and lead his family to do the same.

Haven't thought about it for years.

But it's Christmas season.

So I wonder... if we printed out slips of paper with "For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also." Matthew 6:21 and taped them to our checkbook, to our credit and debit cards - would it cause us to consider whether what we were about to spend was the best God honoring use of the money God has blessed us with.

I wonder.

Might make a difference this Christmas...

An Advent Conspiracy Begins

Something is wrong with Christmas in America.

We work ourselves into a frenzy during the season of hope, peace, joy,and love - rushing around buying presents with money we don't have for people who don't need what we are giving them. By doing that, we are robbing ourselves of an unforgettable Christmas experience.

Well at New Hope, we've decided to step off the Consumerist merry-go-round and give more presence and less presents. During the next four weeks we will focus on worshiping fully, loving deeply, spending less, and giving more of ourselves to God and to our friends and family.

Our worship gatherings will point us in that direction and our efforts on behalf of Shelter House, local needy families. Haitian orphans, women in Malawi, and to drill a well in the Sudan will cause us to focusing on giving, not getting and play our part in God's plan to love the world with the love of Jesus.

We're joining thousands of other Christ followers in forming an Advent Conspiracy Come join us - Christmas can still change the world.

"I Know What It's Like To Be Poor"

Katie and her kids

We were gathered around the table Wednesday night after our fellowship meal, preparing to pray for the needs of friends, family, and others. As we got started, in walked Evelyn Brown and Jimmie Hill, two of our "senior saints." Taking their places at the table, we continued request time. When I asked people to pray for our efforts during "Rice and Beans" week to focus on the poor, Miss Evelyn spoke up.

"I know what that feels like."

She then told us about her life as a child (she's 80+), and how what we ate this week was not all that unfamiliar to her then if you substituted potatoes for rice. As she looked back, she told us of those rare Fridays that her Mother would buy a small piece of pork (streak o lean - which said another way is stripes of fat) and cook the greens or beans with that, and then carefully cut it into small chunks to put on her children's plates. She spoke about a Christian neighbor of theirs who would share her meager food with the kids when their mom was working late. After she painted the picture for us, she finished with "I know what it's like to be poor."

I should mention to you that even though Evelyn has medical issues that prevent her from eating beans, she ate a rice dish every night for supper this week.

Out of all the people around the table that night, Evelyn had first hand knowledge of what we were trying to experience. We hoped to better understand what it meant to eat what the poor eat everyday.

Evelyn already knew.

And she did it again anyway.

Would you? If you had grown up with the crushing weight of poverty? Most people who break free swear they will never go back there again.

I think Evelyn heard her Savior's call to come and follow Him - and she did.

Awesome faith. What a great heart for God and for the poor. I LOVE NEW HOPE!

Tonight we'll meet and share our stories and give an offering that will go directly to care for orphans and those in critical need through Amazima Ministries

We're investing in God's work. Join us. Tonight at 7PM.

33 "Be generous. Give to the poor. Get yourselves a bank that can't go bankrupt, a bank in heaven far from bankrobbers, safe from embezzlers, a bank you can bank on. 34 It's obvious, isn't it? The place where your treasure is, is the place you will most want to be, and end up being.

Luke 12:33-34 (MSG)

But We Want To Come

On Wednesday night, our smaller church shares a fellowship meal with each other and with the kids of our neighborhood. Nothing fancy, here's how you'd know - I cook. But it gives the kids a good meal, their parents a break, and leads in to our missions organizations for boys and girls. We've been doing it for years.

Last night we had black-eyed peas and rice, along with cornbread and some other dishes brought in by our folks. I had to cut and run to worship practice so I didn't get to hear how the kids fared. Did get to taste the peas later, and you could tell Bunny supervises all my cooking because they were good.

In prayer group they told me that we had over 30 children here last night. To put that in perspective for you, only 4 or 5 of those are from families of kids whose parents or grandparents go here. The vast majority are kids from the neighborhood. They outnumbered the adults by plenty too. It was awesome.

God must really love us, to trust us with telling those kids about Jesus.

This coming Wednesday night is the night before Thanksgiving, and we have learned over the years that turnout from adults is low and so since many of our volunteers are gone, we don't meet that night.

But last night, when our RA leader Joe Stoy told the kids that, they said, "why?" Joe explained and they looked at him and said "But we WANT to come here." He told them that if they were here, he'd be here too.

I am so thankful for the people God has placed here at New Hope. This is often a tough place that demands a lot of our volunteers. Lost people, kids or not, have a disturbing tendency to act, well, lost.

But love wins, friends. Love wins.

And as long as we have people like Joe loving lost kids like that, we're going to see God smile on a place called New Hope

Just Can't Get Over It

Last Sunday's message centered on the actions of Jonathan, son of Saul, prince of Israel as he decided that the status quo was not acceptable to God and decided he'd find out if he, Jonathan, might be God's instrument of change.

He had received no clear direction - "Thou shalt go!" from God.

His superiors - his father the king and the religious leaders - were laying low and had not given him permission.

Nothing about the situation had suddenly changed. The Israelites were still outnumbered - 30,000 to 600, and outclassed 2 count 'em 2 swords to thousands of them.

And yet on that day, something stirred in Jonathan.

Now that stirring wasn't even a clear call as far as action goes. Jonathan looks out and lays out a plan that would take into account the very real possibility that his plan and God's will did not coincide. The strongest word Jonathan used to describe the chance that he might be in sync with God's plan was "Perhaps..."

But here's the thing. The thing that keeps beating me brutally about the head, shoulders, and heart. Jonathan knew that doing nothing wasn't an option for him, or for his people, and he was willing to be a test of whether the time was now.

It was.

And you know what?

It is.

No Fence To Sit On

The beast in me is caged by frail and fragile bars. Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash was one of those things that you take for granted growing up, assuming that they will always be there. Now he's not. Just when the world realized what a treasure we had, he was gone. His video of "Hurt" filmed in the months before he died was the most raw video I have ever seen. Cash was someone who regardless of your taste in music - was heard. Authenticity - he embodied it.

He was a man who had horrendous flaws in his character. And he didn't excuse them away. His understanding led him to turn away from his strength - that frail and fragile strength - to search for something more than fame and success. He turned to faith in Jesus.

Funny thing was, he once had been a regular attender in church. It was easy, he said. "You went every week, put in your time, and went home. But nothing changed. You still lived the same way during the week."

It wasn't until Johnny had almost lost it all, had contemplated taking his own life - that He and God "got back together."

How well I have learned that there is no fence to sit on between heaven and hell. There is a deep, wide gulf, a chasm, and in that chasm is no place for any man. Johnny Cash

Thank God that Johnny was able to have the time he needed to come home - to get off the fence and leave that chasm behind forever. There must be millions though - still stuck there.

A man dressed in black. And yet inside him was the Light.

If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious Message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That's to prevent anyone from confusing God's incomparable power with us. 2 Corinthians 4:7 - The Message

Friends, it's not too late to let God take over.

"Incomparable power" is there if you'll just let go, seek forgiveness, and turn toward God. Change may be impossible for you - but nothing is impossible with God.

How To Encourage Your Pastor

Hi there,

David Wilson here, just one of thousands of pastors across America and around the world. I've come to you today to offer you some insight on how you can do something that will encourage your pastor and help your church accomplish all that God wants it to do. I'm not going to drop an exhaustive list of things on you, or suggest you do anything that's beyond your ability to do. What I'm suggesting is simple and easy to get done.

Are you ready?

Here it is.

Grow in your faith, be faithful in your attendance, look for ways to serve, and be excited about God's Word and the work God has given your church to do.

That's it.

Try it and you'll see God at work in your life and in the life of your church.