Protecting The Crown

Posted by Pastor D | Posted on 08-04-2010

Category : Formation, Lessons, Lifestyle, Uncategorized, example, how ya' livin', witness

There is a show that I watch called Human Target, which is a pretty good show by the way. The recent episode was about the Princess of Wales. There was a negative twist in the plot, but one of the lines said was, “I am protecting the crown.” There was anger over some things the princess was doing and the thought was that she was disgracing the crown. The premise behind protecting the crown is that there is a reputation there that must be maintained at all costs. This is an idea that does not just stay in the monarchy, but makes its way into several sectors. In the mafia or La Cosa Nostra there is an ideology that no one is above the family. What each person has to do us uphold the family. In New Jack City it was said that “No man is above the crew.” This is what it is all about. It is the responsibility of each person to do whatever possible to uphold, uplift and maintain the rep of the crew, gang, mafia, monarchy or family.

As beleivers we have the exact same responsiblity. Everyday and in everything we need to do what is withn our powers to porect the crown. The crown that was worn as Jesus died on the cross and the crown that He wears as king. If we wake up every morning with it on our minds that we are protecting the crown I wonder how our actions, thoughts and words would vary and change. There has to be an understanding that we are representing a kingdom. With this in mind we understand that it is not about us as individuals. Most time our decisions are all about us rather than the crown that we are protecting. This needs to change. This is something I remind myself of everyday because I want to do a good job for the crown.

All Money ain’t Good Money!

Posted by Pastor D | Posted on 16-03-2010

Category : Formation, Lessons, Uncategorized, how ya' livin'

First let me start by saying, “Sheesh! I have not blogged in about a month. What is wrong with me?” Okay, now let’s get back on topic. I live in the South right now, but I am a Cali boy at heart. That being said I enjoy an occasional game of dominoes. How about you? When people are new to dominoes they make immature plays just to get on the board. They make panic plays when they are pressed into a corner. Can you see where I am going? Maybe now, let’s continue. :-) We all know that the scoring in dominoes is by 5′s. With this in mind the lowest you can score is, you guessed it ~ FIVE. Many times the immature players will try to score quickly and all the time. All they want to do is score. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with scoring. You need to if you are going to win, but dominoes more than scoring is a game of strategyas well. I remember the early days of playing dominoes I would try to score quickly and small and one of the other players would say to me, “All money ain’t good money.”

Here is my point… Many times in life we go for the easy way out because we are backed into a corner or we do not clearly see all of our options. What we end up doing is opting for a temporary or easy solution. It is harder to wait for and strategize for the good money so instead we shoot for the easy money. Remember, according to what are called dominologists“all money, ain’t good money.” Our lives should be strategized and patient. What are the fruits of taking the easy money? There are get rich quick schemes, lotteries, gambling and one night stands. It is easier to pull a lever and spend a few dollars than it is to work, save, sow and invest. It is easier to pick someone up at the club and have sex than it is to court them, get married and have your life partner with lots of days of sex. Can you hear me now? Good…

Let’s live our lives out with strategy and patience and not chasing after the next hot thing. Hot things become cold. I’ll see you at the domino table.

The Untouchables!

Posted by Pastor D | Posted on 08-02-2010

Category : At the movies, Community, Connections, Cultural Relevance, Formation, Lessons, Lifestyle, Spiritual Fitness, Uncategorized, evangelism, example, how ya' livin', witness

Okay, show of hands. Who likes The Untouchables? I love that movie. It talks about a great era, which I love. I love the 20′s era gangster stuff. This movie detailed a group of lawmen called the Untouchables. They were tasked with the mission to stop Al Capone in prohibition eta Chicago. As usual for me I find something in a movie that works as a ministry point. I think it may be a preacher thing where lots of things can be illustrations. At any rate, there is a scene in the beginning of the movie where Ness is selecting officers and law enforcement to be a part of the Untouchables. As he looks through the classroom type space where the officers are he says, “I know many of you take a drink now and then, but since that is what we are fighting against let’s not do that anymore” (paraphrase).   His whole point in saying this was to say that the Untouchables had to cease participating in the things they were supposed to be rallying against. This speaks volumes to believers.

How many believers have done or do the things that their code (the bible) says that they are supposed to be against. I know many people criticize the church because they say they are always against something. The truth of the matter is that there are things that believers are against and are supposed to be against as well as things that believers are for. In order for the witness to be the most effective believers need to make it a point to not participate in the things they are going to have to stand against. Elliot Ness wanted there to be a moral authority to their crusade against prohibition. How do we live that out in our everyday lives? Sometimes it seems that we want so much to be a part of the crowd that we put down what the original instructions were. Elliot Ness said to stop doing what they were doing if there were going to do what they needed to do. We need to live right lives and be an example. The question for us needs to be what are we wanting to be an example of? Elliot Ness has an important message for us from the 1987 movie that should work its wat into our 2010 lives.

No Quitters Allowed

Posted by Pastor D | Posted on 28-01-2010

Category : Community, Connections, Cultural Relevance, Formation, Lessons, Lifestyle, Spiritual Fitness, Uncategorized, example, how ya' livin', witness

My family joined the vast group of wii owners during this past Christmas season. Everyone has their favorite game on the wii or better yet, the game they each excel at. However, my son is still trying to find the game he likes the best. While he searches for what suits him best he went and played a few of the games. After a while since it took so long and produced a little frustration he said, “I QUIT”… Duh, duh, duh (dramatic movie danger sound track). Things got a little hard and required more effort, determination and work and my little man said, “I QUIT”. My son is not a quitter, but in this instance he was. I had a quick thought when that happened. I asked myself, “What am I?” In addition to that I asked, “What are you?” Are you a quitter?

Once thing I have seen with people is as soon as things get a little hard and a little inconvenient we bail out and quit. It seems easier to quit and throw in the towel than it is to scratch and fight to finish what we started. When we look at many marriages we see it all of the time. Either spouse will stand before a preacher and invited guests and declare their undying love for each other. They will share endless and heartfelt vows. About a year later the spouse finds out some not so good things about the other spouse and the spouse bails. What? What happened to, “Till death do us part?” Somehow the commitment had become inconvenient to keep so we bailed. Life requires that we fight and fight hard. Life will throw things at you that make you want to quit, but that is not what we do. We fight! Look at those in Haiti and all they are experiencing and fighting through. So many of them have hope and are still fighting. Which of you reading this blog is going through anything even close to what is happening in Haiti? My thoughts exactly.

So, the next time life gut punches you and you experience trying times do not back out and quit. I know it is an old school cliche’ saying, but “winners never quit and quitters never quit.” Do you want to win?

A Hero for TODAY!

Posted by Pastor D | Posted on 22-01-2010

Category : Amazing things, Community, Connections, Cultural Relevance, Formation, Lessons, Lifestyle, Uncategorized, evangelism, example, how ya' livin', random acts of kindness, witness

What can I say? Everyone loves a hero. Would you agree? I hope so. The heroes that we have today are not the ones we see featured on the image above. No tights, capes, superhuman strength or underground caves with bats as friends. No, the heroes we have today deal with larger hurts and crisis situations and their response is no less awesome. It is even more awesome. The help they gives does not come by way of super power, but they come by way of love, a concern for people and relationships. If I had to point to a hero for the here and now (totally subjective, you may choose someone else) it would be my buddy Pastor Shaun King. He is the lead pastor of Courageous Churchin downtown Atlanta. They recently celebrated their one year anniversary. In that one year they did far more than several churches that I know of with more members and bigger budgets. There is a heart that beats within Pastor Shaun that aches and breaks for God’s people.  Here is a quick rundown of some of the major things Pastor Shaun and Courageous Church have done within the year.

  • Supplied toys and school uniforms for the children of Stanton Elementary School (2 Christmases in a row)
  • Started Hope ATL to assist with supplies, money, shelter, demolition and etc for the 2009 Atlanta flood
  • Positioned Courageous Church and those within his reach to respond huge to the Haiti Earthquake
    This has shown itself by way of money, sending neurosurgeons, coordinating rescues and numerous other   things.

Do not  get me wrong. I am not necessarily promoting a man or doing any kind of idol worship. However, I do recognize the calling on his life and appreciate his heart for God’s creation. Truth be told when we see things on television happening in other countries or even on our own street corners we get very apathetic. Sometimes we shed a tear and sometimes we do not even do that. In the final analysis we do not do anything. There should be something in us that jumps when we see tragedy whether it is over the seas or across the street. God created us to have a concern and a desire to help people who are in need. I so admire this hunger, thirst and yearning to help “the least of these.” If you were to ask Pastor Shaun he would not make a big deal of it because these heroics (and this is what they are) are commonplace to him. This is who he is. What he does, how he leads and how he loves inspires me. It calls be to be a better church planter, pastor and believer.

If you want more info on Pastor Shaun and Courageous Church, check out the following;

www.courageous.tv
www.shauninthecity.com
www.hopeatl.com
www.theywilldie.org

Under Attack!

Posted by Pastor D | Posted on 19-01-2010

Category : Community, Cultural Relevance, Formation, Lessons, Spiritual Fitness, Uncategorized, example

Do you ever feel that way? I mean when it seems that Murphy’s Law goes into effect “whatever can go wrong will” (that is one of Murphy’s Laws, right?) Oh well… It seems that sometimes things happen in a stream during your life that makes you feel like you are under attack. It is not just one, but maybe two or three over a span of time that make you say DANG!(and no, dang is not a cuss word). I am leery to use words like attack because sometimes those kinds of words can be overused, especially in church world. The following rant is not at all a complaint, but it is merely what is happening in my world that seem a little attackish (I know that is not a word) to me. The three attacks that seem to be in my world these days are;

  • Health
  • Finances
  • Relationship

Both of my children over about the last month have been sick. They have been trading off with stomach pain, vomiting and diarrhea. It has been pretty overwhelming with the children not feeling well. It has been crazy. They cry, they grimace and want mom and dad to make it feel better. As soon as it seems that one gets well the sickness comes back or the other one gets sick. You have got to be kidding me. Yes! I am a man of faith, but this has happened in life and just seems again, a little attackish. :-) I think this has all been done to keep us distracted and not focused on some of the other things going on and to throw a schedule into the things that need to be going on in our home. As recent as last night my daughter had a hard time sleeping and was in big discomfort. We are praying and pushing for them to be fully well and declare healing in Jesus name for them both. :-)

Alrighty then, the next is finances. We are at a pivotal place where money is needed to make some things happen in our family lives and things come up to mess up that effort. Anything from a bank snafu to a major car repair needed. What? Let me pick one financial thing that seems a little attackish without going down the list. We went to Courageous Church this past Sunday to celebrate the one year anniversary with Shaun King. By the way, this was totally an AWESOMEservice.  We had been having some car trouble with our main car. While driving to service the car was smoking and making loud noise. Got out of service and prayed to make it home. Guess what? We did not. The car died in the middle of the interstate. Aargh! I had to maneuver the car to the should which is tough because the steering wheel locked. At this point the car is smoking and will not turn on. Fast forward to Monday after we hear back from the garage. Just to get the car to run costs crazy moneyand that is only the beginning. After it runs, there ware some radiator issues. Aargh! This sounds like more crazy money. Talk about bad timing, this was it. Again, this seems a little attackish to me. :-)

I was going to write about the third thing that has been under attack, but I will save it for tomorrow because this post has been pretty long as it is. See you all tomorrow. Peace!!!

Whatever You Say Daddy

1

Posted by Pastor D | Posted on 04-01-2010

Category : Formation, Lessons, Lifestyle, Spiritual Fitness, Uncategorized, example, how ya' livin'

Lately when I talk to anyone about what is going with the church plant and what season I am in, my answer is simple. I respond to them that I am in a place of, “whatever you say Lord!” That is honestly my state of mind these days. I want to do what God says for me to do. That is in regards to the church plant, family etc., etc., etc. I am so done with doing things my own way or from my own intelligence and ingenuity. My trust has been totally refocused an re-shifted. I have to say, I love it. This is the paramount place of any father and son relationship. My son and I were at Target spending a gift card he had gotten for Christmas. There was a group of toys he wanted, but he did not know which one to get. He turns to me and says, “Daddy which one do you want me to get?” In my mind I thought, “Just make the decision.” However, he did make a decision by deferring to me. This instance was not isolated because he has done it with his food choices, clothes etc. Every time in my mind I think the same thing, “Make a decision for yourself.” This last time being at Target God gut punched with the realization and said, “This is the way it is supposed to be.” God used my son to show my how it should look between me and my heavenly Father.

Many times we head through life making all of our decisions ourselves and never asking what God what He wants us to do. Now, I am not saying you necessarily need to ask him what color jeans or shoes to buy, even though you can. I am merely saying that so many of our life choices never seek God for any consultation. What we typically do is make the decision and then we ask God to endorse the decision that we have made. The process should be the other way around where God makes the decision and we agree.

Our lack of asking God is really a lack of trust. I figured out that my son often says to me, “What do you want me to do, get or have daddy” because he trusts me and knows that I want what is best for him. Is that your point of view as well. Since you know God wants what is best for you do you defer to Him on every decision? Or, are you still confused as to what God’s intentions are for you? I would encourage you to join me in letting 2010 be year of Whatever you say daddy!

Game Changers for 2009

Posted by Pastor D | Posted on 31-12-2009

Category : Amazing things, Church Planting, Church Stuff, Community, Connections, Cultural Relevance, Daily Babble, Formation, Launch Team, Lessons, Lifestyle, New Things, Purpose Church, Purpose Church launch, Smart Stuff, Uncategorized, example, how ya' livin'

Alright guys, here we go… We are about 14 hours or so away from a brand new year. We are literally at the edge of 2010. I am pretty sure that many of use are ready for the new year to come and the old year to be gone. Many people are making bucket lists, goal and vision lists as well as countless resolutions. However, let’s look back for a second. When you look back on 2009 is there any one thing that was a game changing decision for you? Okay, here is the definition of a game changing decision. It is a HUGE decision that you make that sets up the stage for something HUGE and DIFFERENT to happen in your life in the new year. Got it… Let’s go! While you reflect on your own game changing decision let me let you in on mine.

My game changing decision for 2009 was putting the brakes on Purpose Church back on May 31, 2009. Whew that was alot to even say for me. Yes, after years of being the pastor of a church and people I loved dearly we closed up shop. We did not close up shop forever, but nonetheless we closed up shop. There was a serious overhaul that needed to take place in the ministry. The analogy I used on our last Sunday was that “you cannot repair a car while it is still driving, you need to pull it into the garage.” How about that? So, during this downtime there is a lot of under the radar stuff that God is doing to prepare for the launch of something new. I say something new because it will not be named the same, look the same or feel the same as what we had before. It is not that anything before was bad, but I really feel something new happening. We shot for a January 10, 2010 and then rescheduled for Easter 2010 in order to hit some benchmarks, but God said no. It was not a reprimanding no, but it was a pump your brakes kind of thing and I am at peace with that because I know what is coming will be great. In the meantime there is a lot going on that I will let you know about soon in regards to what I am getting into, what is going on with the launch and how you can help.

This game changing decision for me was extremely difficult and emotional. My wife and other friends helped me get through it and navigate my way to where I am now. Wisdom from other ministry leaders and guidance from God have hooked me up. I am good now and saying do it Lord in 2010.

Stay tuned guys… By the way, lookout for the new blog name and new blog design in the early part of the new year.

Previous