THE BLOG

20
Feb

Convictions

Lately I have been thinking about my life and what my “non-negotiables” are. These are those things that I hold dearly and need to practice in my life daily. Some areas I am MUCH stronger in than others but nonetheless these are areas I know I want to get stronger in or stay strong in. I have been asking the Lord to keep the important things, important. I figure if that happens, my life should basically work out! Some of this is ministry related some is personal.

#1: The Baptism of The Holy Spirit. I am more convinced than ever that we need the power of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit will come upon us and give us POWER. Pretty simple… I personally believe that every believer can be baptized in the Spirit and speak in tongues just like the disciples did in Acts two. However, I am not here to debate that in this blog. As leaders and believers our reliance must be in God and not in our abilities. Jesus takes the personal responsibility to baptize YOU in The Holy Spirit! I think it is important to Him and should be to us as well. A great resource on this subject is The Holy Spirit Today by Dick Iverson.

#2: Daily Bible Reading. We must understand that there is a difference between discipline and the law. Many times we read the words of Paul in the epistles and every time we read that “we are no longer under the law” we think spiritual disciplines are no longer needed. We are no longer bound to the 613 Mosaic laws. We are now under the law of love. Love God, love people. EASY! Here is what I have found. When I am daily in the Word, I love God and love people! HELLO! Eat that book every day, it will change you. The word of God is the will of God and the will of God pleases God. So get His word/will IN YOU. 1st John 5:13-15 in the NLT helps us understand this.

#3: God calls people YOUNG. Jesus called teenage disciples. Jeremiah and Samuel were kids, David, Timothy, Joshua and the list goes on and on! This is a constant haunting reality that I must take seriously! Every time I preach, lead worship, disciple, spend time with a young person I need to believe that it could be the day they hear the call! You never know what God is doing in the hearts of people. Don’t preach to people’s faces, preach to their spirits! Preach to their potential!

#4: Life is Short and Eternity is Long. I read a tweet yesterday that said “The day your life ends and eternity begins you will have a face to face conversation with Jesus”. According to Matthew 25, in the parable of the talents we will either hear Jesus say “Well done” or “depart from me”. I want to hear WELL DONE!!! I want to use every opportunity, talent, resource, and motivation of my heart for the glory of God. Lord, help us all.

#5: My Spirit, Soul and Body are all Connected. Simple huh? Not really… Every level of my life must be a priority TO ME. Recently I heard Wayne Cordeiro say, “that it is God, you, family, church. NOT, God, family church.”  I am taking my health seriously this year. Ill be thirty in 18 months. That freaks me out! Gotta be sharp in every area.

13
Feb

Why I Am A Conference Junky

Let me start by saying, this is not a plug for Dedicated2012. Though, I will say, I would LOVE for you to come! Anytime you can get Chad Veach, Carl Lentz, Chris Hill, Benny Perez, and Wendy Perez in the same room its guaranteed good things are going to happen! This blog is why I personally love conferences and attend many every year and why I pay for the travel cost and conference fees personally.

#1: Inspiration. As a leader you know that you can not put a price on inspiration. It is invaluable! Inspiration comes and goes so when it comes you need to capitalize on it. Every time I go to a conference I leave inspired, energized, and excited! If for nothing else you get to worship and hear the word in a different, fresh setting and that in itself will bless you.

#2: Relationships. I have met so many great friends through out the years at conferences. I can honestly say that most of my closest friendships started at a conference. Two friends come to mind off the top of my head. I was in Utica, NY freezing attending Mike Servello’s youth conference. I ran into two guys (brothers) Robbie and Ricky Hilton. We had an immediate connection and have been friends ever since. You know never when God has a Kingdom Connection waiting for you.

#3: Life Change. I was saved, called into the ministry, filled with the Spirit, met life long friends, and the list goes on and on at conferences! YOU should work hard in your budget (ministry and or personal) to attend at least one or two conferences a year. It is a total game changer! If that is a total impossibility because of finances then make sure you are a voracious reader and “podcaster”. Keep the information and revelation flowing.

jsc

01
Feb

Psalm 126: Dreams

This week I will be writing about a chapter that is very near to my heart… Psalm 126. This has become the vision and picture to the Seven leadership team of what our ministry could look like. It is marked by five keywords that I want to focus on.  Everyday I will write about one of those keywords.

Before I go any further, let me first define culture. Culture is important because EVERY family, business, church, restaurant, etc. has a culture. Culture defined by Sam Chand is, “This is how we do things here.” So that means  this is how we do it, why we do it, when we do it, at what volume we do it, on and on. These five words that I will highlight are helping shape our culture. Although I am giving you our five words, they may not be the words that you want to define your ministry. I would say that you are currently building a culture whether you are trying to or not. Culture is built/created by words and values. So figure out what you want your ministry to look like, sound like, feel like, etc. and move forward in that!

#1: DREAMS

The psalmist said that when God delivered them “we were like those who dreamed.” I want to empower a generation to dream! This generation needs a God kind of dream that only comes from the Holy Spirit (Acts 2:17). A man given dream only blesses you; a God given dream blesses you and others. It is not a self help new age idea to dream. It is from God! To see what God sees, think like God thinks, and to live the life Jesus came to give us (John 10:10)! I want to empower young people to think bigger than Jersey Shore, The Kardashians, or how many likes they can get on an instagram photo! I want them to not only be inspired by man like Dr King but to imitate him! Could they be modern day reformers and dreamers? YES! Release them to dream and think big. Kingdom thinking.

As a leader you must dream, and then release your ministry to dream.

If we live in the fulfillment of the former generations dream but never dream for ourselves we will have nothing to give to the next generation.

jsc