Common to Uncommon

“What are we going to do today Brain?” “The same thing we do every day Pinky, try and take over the world!” That is how every episode of an Animaniacs cartoon started. It was two lab rats bent on escaping from their scientific lab-rat cages to take over the world. They did the same thing everyday. Like a hamster on a wheel, but these were rats in a cage.
We tend to do the same thing everyday, especially as school is getting ready to start and our schedules find a more familiar rhythm. We jump into our well worn rut and trudge ahead into obscurity. Of course, when you read that last sentence, something inside you gets a wee-bit agitated, because you have no desire to work yourself into obscurity. Normal. Common. No, we want to be popular, well known, and very successful. So I guess the real question to ask then, is how did those truly successful people climb out of the rut of mediocrity and start running up the slippery slope of success?
What are we going to do today? Well, the same thing we do everyday, try and make a buck, feed our family, and pay our bills; That normal, common stuff. Every one of us has tasks that are common to our daily work. We don’t even consider them important, yet they are. In order to reform our ruts, we need to begin doing our common things in an uncommon way. Don’t stop doing what has always worked for you, just amp it up to a whole new level.
What separates a common company from an extraordinary one? Simple. The best companies do common things in an uncommon way. It says in the Bible that we should do everything we do as though we are doing it to the Lord himself. Now that’s a challenge.
If we take that challenge and apply it to our personal lives, then what we find is a new filter to run our thoughts and actions through. No longer can we allow our common tasks throughout the day to just be common acts. Now they must be uncommon. Extraordinary. Our days then evolve from the mundane to the spectacular.
To be honest, I’m sure this sounds as far fetched to you as it does to me, but the truth of the matter is that it really works. Over the last few months I’ve been applying this principle to my own life, and it truly changes the very fabric of my day. I take almost every event and attempt to make it uncommon. It doesn’t always happen. In fact most retain the same commonality as before, but now and then you push one of those common tasks over the bar of heightened concern and viola, your day is special. On top of that you realize that not only was that day or event special to you, it was special to someone else. Maybe a neighbor, or a co-worker, possibly even your child.
Everything we do, we should do it as though we were doing it for Jesus himself. Many times that’s just the motivation we need to turn those ordinary common tasks, into uncommon works of art. After a few years of that we’ll turn around and realize that not only have we enjoyed life to the fullest, but we’ve also decorated our communities with incredible masterpieces, that all resemble the master himself.

I'm a complete person again.

My laptop has been in the shop for an entire week. I felt lost. Abandoned. Lonely. Ashamed. Guilty - yet no reason to - sad. Depressed. I know sounds like it was a rough week. Okay actually it's been a pretty good week, but I must say it feels REALLY GOOD to be typing on my very own FIXED laptop. YEA! Who knows, now maybe I'll even write a real blog entry. :)

wanna see the video?

We baptized 15 people for oour very first baptism. WOW! It was Awesome! Wanna see? Click below.

Just a tidbit of the H2O Experience

Microsoft is still alive

You just gotta watch this. Seriously.

Discovering God's Will

If everything goes according to plan then I know I made the right choice. If all the proverbial doors swing on their well-oiled hinges, and I walk through without a hitch, then obviously I’m in God’s will. Those statements sound nice and true. We often judge how deep we are encrusted in God’s will by how well our circumstances are going. Unfortunately, external indicators are no indicators at all.
Most people that I talk to in the church realm want to know God’s will for their lives. In fact, many people not in the church realm still have this desire to do God’s will. They call it different things, but a rose by any other name…yea you get the picture. Since we want to do God’s will, the next logical question is how do we know God’s will? How do we hack into the cosmic communication network to hear and understand exactly what God wants us to do?
We hear sermons, we get advice, or we trudge it alone. But when it is all done and said we determine if we are in God’s will based solely upon the outcome of our lives. If we are successful and have money in the bank then we are in God’s will. If our families are happy, healthy, and wise, then we are in God’s will. If tears never run down our face then we have heard from God and are in the center of his will.
The last time I checked the center of God’s will is not the center of the “American Dream” will. When you pore over the Bible you find that the main characters who were absolutely in God’s will had horrible lives you begin to question the American mindset. The Apostle Paul wrote over half of the New Testament, had a personal visit from Jesus Christ, and was instrumental in shaping the church that we now hold dear. So was he in God’s will?
I would say yes, but then why was he ship wrecked? Beaten? Stoned? Ignored? Imprisoned and executed? Sorry this is not according to the good church plan now is it? Being in the center of God’s will is the most tumultuous place to be. It is a place reserved for those that are not scared of adventure. Not frightened by the unknown, and not unearthed by adversity. The center of God’s will is not a place for those who question every step of life, but are faithfully moving forward in spite of the groping darkness.
Does that mean that we are only in God’s will if things look like Hell on Earth? Of course not. In the book of John, chapter 10, it says, “A thief comes only to rob, kill, and destroy. I came so that everyone would have life, and have it in its fullest.” God wants us to have life to the fullest, but we also need to recognize that the enemy wants the opposite. It’s a balance in life. Just because things are going awry in your life does not mean you are out of God’s will, it could just mean that you are messing with the enemy and his territory. That’s not a bad thing, but a godly thing. After all, Jesus called for workers and warriors, not satisfied spectators.
So the next time you want to know if you are in God’s will, don’t just look at the ease of the journey. The trail that God lays out is not a concrete nature trail but an open terrain with obstacles, valleys, mountains, and streams. You’re not lost, you’re on an adventure.

The 'and' Factor

How big is your ‘and?’ Do you ever feel like your ‘and’ is longer than everybody else’s? You think you have it all figured out, but then something else happens, or actually something doesn’t happen, and you question it again? Sometimes the ‘and’ can seemingly take forever!
And, is a conjunction. It links two clauses in a sentence. That’s important because we read Bible passages and take two clauses and make them one, totally ignoring the all important ‘and.’
In the book of St. John it says, “Ask, and you will receive, that your joy may be full.” We read that and we get all excited and ask, and wait. Then we ask again, and wait. We wonder why nothing is happening so we dive into the bible to see if we have the right code or combination to make it all work out. Of course, after you do this once or twice, you realize that God can’t be figured out, and on top of that, there seems to be no one secret ‘code’ to make God work his Heavenly miracles. The simple truth of the matter is that some times we are just in the middle of our ‘and.’
I’m sure that tid-bit of information does not make your six month wait any easier to swallow, but if you swallow it with a dose of sand it just might. Imagine, the children of Israel wandered around in the wilderness (dessert) for forty years. To me that sounds like a really big ‘and.’ What they had prayed for in Egypt was coming to pass, it was just taking a really long time to walk through their own ‘and.’ Their long wait was based one their own poor attitude. The real trip would have only taken roughly seven days. Imagine how messed up they got in just seven days that God had to detour them from the promise land.
Realistically we need to look at our own lives as we walk through our ‘and.’ As we wait from asking, to receiving. Not all the time, but many times we will find that the waiting process is really a purifying process. God is trying to work things out in us.
Imagine if you prayed for success in a certain area. Then ‘poof’ God answered your prayer overnight. You were an instant success. You would probably thank God for the first hour, but then your human nature would kick in and you would think you had actually done something special to deserve or earn this new successful standing.
God has an incredible way of knowing what is in our hearts even before we do. He is more interested in the outcome than the time frame. He is patient; we are not. We get in our Egypt and ask God to respond now! Then he helps walk us through that big fat ‘and’, and we balk and say, “Come on God where are you?” We complain. Really, we were born complainers.
The Children of Israel were led through the dessert by a towering pillar of fire. Pretty Sci-Fi wouldn’t you say? Yet they still cried out, “Where are you God?” I read stuff like that and I want to reach into the Bible and snatch those Israelite bald-headed. It’s like, “Hey idiot! Your God is right there in a towering flame!” So obvious.
Then we turn that same intuitive gaze to our own lives and God is just as obvious. Just as present, but we are so focused on getting this one specific prayer answered that we are missing the hand of God in all the other vitals areas of our lives. We ask for something, and while we are walking through the ‘and’ process we only focus on that one thing while God is molding, shaping, and rejuvenating hundreds of other areas in our lives.
In life we all have to walk through our personal ‘and’ times, but in those times we can’t contract tunnel vision. We need to look up and realize that God is not just at work in our lives, he is leading us through those wide-open ‘and’ times.

He Looked, and it was good!

Today we baptized 18 people at our very first baptism! How incredibly awesome is that? And on top of that we had 4 million people show up to watch and participate! Yes it really was exactly 4 million people. I counted each and everyone. Of course I am a preacher and we tend to exaggerate. But we did have 18 get baptized and it was awesome! It was so neat to watch these people get baptized. Knowing that behind each dunking was an incredible story of redemption. I stand utterly amazed at how God brings everything together for such a time as this. Wow.

Wet & Holy

I am so stoked! July 8th we are doing our very first water baptism at SouthPoint! It is going to be at Kevin McCandless' house at 6PM. We are going to do the whole finger food, hangout thing. And then BAPTIZE!!!! Yea! This is going to be an awesome event that will be a major line of demarcation in so many peoples lives. If you want to be baptized you can email me for more specifics, or you can sign up in the lobby Sunday at the welcome table. of course if you're reading this blog from a different state or city, well then, never mind. But I'm still stoked about Baptizing!!!! YEA!!!!

Why Am I Here Again?

‘Why am I here’ is a very popular question. So many people ask it and even more people think it. It’s like we get our life somewhat on track and then we get hit with the mother of all questions, ‘why am I here?’ I can answer that question in six hundred words or less!
To answer it we have to answer an even bigger question that will in turn answer our question. Confused yet? Probably not, you appear to be highly intelligent. The bigger question is why did God make man? Why did this omnipotent God choose to create man? In fact, why did He even take the time to create the Earth, and the garden of Eden so that man would have a place to live? Why?
When you look at the creation account you see that God not only created everything, by calling it into existence, He did it so that man would have a place not to just exist, but to live and flourish. God’s creation was established for man, so that man could thrive. Of course that still doesn’t answer the why question. Remember I said in six hundred words or less.
So God spoke all this good stuff into existence, then God changes His tactics and bends down and creates man. The book of Genesis says that God breathed life into Adam’s still form. Imagine, God did not just say, “Let there be man.” But He took His time to create, make, and mold, man; and then breath the very creative breathe into man. This is the same creative breath that went forth to create the land, the sun, the animals, and the leaves. This breath is what invaded Adam’s body and brought him to life.
The bible goes on to tell us that God created man on the sixth day. So what did God do on the seventh day? I’m sure you already know the answer since you probably went to Sunday School, I mean why else would you be reading this article? Yes! God rested. Man’s very first full day on planet earth was spent resting, hanging out with God, the creator. You might not realize it, but I am really close to answering your big question, and I have over a hundred words left!
God created man not to perform by jumping through hoops. He did not create man to have some sort of voodoo doll where he could inflict pain at will. No! God created man so that He could fellowship with him. God created the Earth so that He, God, could have an environment in which to walk and talk with man. Our existence is summed up in a relationship with God.
Why are we here you ask? It’s actually an easy answer. We are here to have a relationship with God. God desires it. It is why we were originally formed from the dust of the ground. Why the Triune God-head knelt down and formed the first mud pie was so that we could partake of the first human – divine relationship. Of course we struggle with this assessment some what because we all know that relationships are messy. They never go exactly like you planned, some times they are uncomfortable, and some times they are a blast. When you put the two extremes together, and all the stuff in between, you have the ingredients for a relationship. And that is exactly what God is looking for. Not perfection. Just simply a relationship and that is why you are here; In less than six hundred words.

Clean or Funky?

In Acts 10:15 we find this neat little phrase,
But the voice spoke again: “Do not call something unclean if God has made it clean.”

It comes from the vision that Peter received while on the roof on Acts. If you want the whole story then crack your bible and read it. I read it this morning and I thought to myself, wow. I wonder how many things in my own life am i calling unclean when God is calling clean? How many things am I saying is unclean just because I was taught it was unclean? And vise versa. How many things am I saying is clean when it is really unclean?

It is so important in life to hear from God not tradition. It is so vital to continually have an open and contrite heart, that allows God to speak into our lives in a powerful way. Of course just like Peter on the roof, God may speak, but we are so deeply rooted in our traditions that we think God is crazy because surely he wouldn't be telling us to do that! But like God said in Isaiah, "I am doing a new thing."

Last time I checked a new thing means......NEW! No previous track record! No pre-established form! Simply NEW!

Yea I like new. I enjoy new, don't you? That shinny sparkly thing that makes everyone oooo and aaaaahhhhh!

So today I'm gonna try and figure out the things in my life that I am holding on to just because I always have. I think it's time to not only hear from God, but apply what we hear.

Man Notes - (not flatulence)

I realized just the other day that boys are different than girls. Have you ever noticed that, or am I the first person to receive this revelation? I’m sure everyone has noticed a minor difference or two if you’ve ever raised children, or if you have children, especially one of each variety, then you have undoubtedly noticed the differences as well. My girls like shiny things and my boy likes dirty things. My girls smell sweet and my son has a fragrance all his own. The most noticeable difference is that my girls are fearful to do daring things, yet my son, will jump before you even notice. He’s a maniac, all afterburner, and no rudder. Of course, those boys then grow up and become men who have children all their own.
All throughout the Bible we see example after example of powerful men leading others. Sometimes they lead them into battle, other times a revolution, but always into precarious situations. Men were created to be pioneers, Warriors, Volatile pieces of humanity. Let’s face it; boys are just different than girls.
With the subduing of the modern world, we also find the organized church trying to subdue the revolutionary spirit that is in a man. We expect men to come into our differing religious camps, get transformed, and then don the sweater vest and loafers and be nice! Above all, just be nice. After all isn’t that what Jesus would do? Actually no. Jesus was all man, and He was all God. Complete divinity in complete human form, and yet we see Him as a complete non-conformist. He didn’t do it Buddha’s way, nor did He do it Confucius’ way, He did it the Creator’s way. Through that window of time we can see not only how Jesus lived, but as men we can see how we should live.
Living life to the hilt is not just an expression; it really is a way of life. Jesus has shown men the way to live. It is not through conforming, but leading. Not jumping on the same well-worn paths of history, but forging into new areas, new ideas, and new adventures. Pushing the limits in areas that have been stagnant for decades. The primal initiative of man is to lead.
In the book of Mark, chapter 9, we find Jesus’ disciples arguing about who is going to be first. Your typical guy conversation, a little old school trash talk. You would think that Jesus would bring the heat and put them all in their place. But He doesn’t. Instead He tells them how to be first. He said, "If anyone wants to be first, He shall be last of all and servant of all."
As men we have an innate desire to be first, to be the leader, and to take other people on an incredible journey with us. We do that not by bullying our way over others, but through serving them. We lead our families by serving them not manipulating and controlling them. We serve our community not by complaining and yelling but by serving and becoming the catalyst for change.

What an Incredible Time!

Today I went and watched two of our SouthPointers in action. We went to John Wade Karate and Day camp to teach a little Bible and have fun with the kids. It was such a great time. Crystal Thompson taught the kids, and Matt Souders played some mean electric guitar for them. It was great. The kids seemed to have a great time, and I know Crystal and Matt did as well. What an incredible opportunity to share the power of God with the next generation.

If you want to get involved in this we do it every Tuesday at 10:30, so just email me or give me a call and we will put you in the rotation. Let's role up our sleeves and get involved in our awesome community.

wanna see

If you wanna see the bassinet video just click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCN36mU5Zig

I was thinking.....

I was thinking that summer was when things slowed down. I thought when school got out you spent more time with the kids. Mowing the lawn, maybe even reading a nameless magazine that has no content to speak of.....yea like TIME.

Well summer is here but I' hav'nt slowed down one bit. In fact time seems a little bit crazy. Thus the reason for no blog entries in what, like a year? I'm hoping to get my feet under me again this week and be a little more proactive instead of feeling like i'm playing catchup all the time. Sunday afternoon I realized I might need to do something since I double booked 4 appointments! ouch! I think my brain is in slight overload.

But incredible things are happening. Sunday we did another newcomers reception and had over 20 new people join the ranks of SouthPoint! YEA! What an incredible group of people. More than just their talents and gifts (which are crazy out of this world) their hearts are golden. Precious people. I look forward to getting to know them better.

If you're interested my birthday party was awesome! We had almost 100 people over to our house and it was great! We rented the big boxing ring and the 22-foot slide.....Oh what fun it was to slide on hot rubberized plastic!

farewell to Dawn - Dawn Whittington has been a part of SouthPoint since we began. She moved here from Naples, FL to help us plant this vibrant church and she has done an awesome job! She has served in any and every capacity she was ever asked with a joyful heart. WOW what a servant. Lately she has been serving in a dual capacity : Nursery and Cafe'. She rocks! Unfortunately all good things eventually come to a close. Dawn is now moving back to Florida to finish up her degree. She is leaving this week to get settled and get everything situated before classes start. in the fall. Dawn we are gonna miss you :( thank you for everything you have done, are doing and will do for the Kingdom of God. You're an awesome lady!

No Peace? Just Move.

Many times in life we look at peace as merely the absence of conflict, but in reality it is much more than just that. It’s possible to live in peace when your family is in upheaval. It’s even possible to live in peace while your spouse is generating conflict. It is possible.
Peace is not some separate entity that is out there in ‘wish land.’ Peace is an attribute or characteristic of God. In fact, one of the titles given to Jesus was, “Prince of Peace.” His very title is what we need and want in our lives. As followers of Christ, that peace is an innate characteristic that now resides in us, since Christ resides in us. It’s amazing! The peace everyone wants and needs is actually resident in me, and in you.
Of course, recognizing that peace and coming to grips with it are two different things altogether. We might say that peace is in us, but how do we leverage that and use it in our lives?
The first thing is to not think of it as a tool to be leveraged, but a state to live in. Peace is not something you take off the shelf when you need a peace fix, but it is the zip code of an easier life. There are so many trying things that happen in our lives. So many things that stress us out and overwhelm us that peace is not just a nice option, but a necessity for a sane life.
Think of peace as a place. Not a place you visit, but a place you go and live. Imagine if you moved here to Desoto County from a place like Michigan. You live here now, but your accent is still northern. It’s a different culture altogether. The food is different, the ice tea is different, and the people are different. You live in the south now. It might feel uncomfortable and even weird at first, but over time you will adjust, and realize that living in the south is good.
When you start living in the land of peace, it might feel a wee bit weird at first. You will have a sense that you should be more concerned or worried, but deep down you realize you don’t have to, because someone much higher has it all under control. It’s a weird feeling, but oh how refreshing.
The second thing we need to do is focus our attention on where we are - not where we’ve been. I cannot tell you how many people I talk to that want only to tell me where they have been. Okay that’s great and meaningful, but where are you going? Follow the analogy of the transient from Michigan. How fun would it be to have a neighbor who was constantly complaining about where they live and how wonderful it was where they came from?
If we are going to grab a hold of peace then we have to let go of our past. There’s an old church saying that says, “Let go, and let God.” Oh so true! Our past is our past and all it will do is form regrets and hardships for today.
To walk in the peace of God, we need to file for an address change. Sometimes it takes a few days for our mail to catch up to us, but it’s worth it. Let’s start living in a new place. A new zip code. Let’s all move from the land of worry and regret, to a land of peace.

Pain Heals Pain

Physical Therapy sounds so drole doesn’t it? Even borderline nice. Of course anyone who has ever undergone physical therapy knows that that is merely a sham. Physical therapy is always a painful experience that we wish we could bypass.
Several years ago I under went some pretty extensive surgeries due to an accident. After all said and done I was condemned to two months of physical therapy. At first I thought that it would be easy, a cakewalk even. I mean how can any place with hot tubs and “massage Therapists” be bad? This would be awesome! And to think insurance would pay for it. I could not have been more wrong. Never in my entire life had I experienced such excruciating pain. To top it off it was so called medical experts that order this barrage of torture! Thankfully within two months I was healthy again.
Over the past 18 years of ministry I have seen people come into the church, beat up, hurt, and wounded. They don’t really want to serve, well actually they don’t feel that it’s healthy for them to serve right now, because they need a time of ‘healing’. They need to just be ‘fed’ for a while. Then they sit, and sit, and sit. And wait, and wait, and wait. What are they waiting for, you ask. I guess they are just waiting to die.
Church and the Kingdom of God have never been set up as a hospice, yet that is what it has seemingly become. We enter the walls of a church when we are hurt, beaten, and bruised, and that is incredible because God cares for the hurting and battered, but he doesn’t re-establish our lives to merely see us sit and die. Nor does he want us to sit and wait on healing so we can then accomplish something. Church is much closer to physical therapy than a hospice.
P.T. is where the hurt, broken, and bruised are exercised, and pushed to their limits in order to rebuild broken and torn members of their body. To be honest with you, the times ive seen people heal the best is not when they are sitting in a pew, but when they choose to channel their hurt and pain towards helping others. More times than not, we find our own personal healing, not as a miraculous moment in time, but rather as a series of propping up other wounded individuals with the very crutches that we have been standing on. Somehow, in God’s miraculous way, He uses our pain and injury to heal others, and then in the process we find ourselves restored.
Think back through your past. How many times have you been helped or urged on by someone in the same situation as you? Someone who may still be in dire straights, or has just stepped out of their own personal hell to help you?
Just imagine what life would be like if we viewed the church as a P.T. office instead of a hospice. Imagine what it would be like if every Sunday we gathered together not to merely survive, but stretch. To be invigorated by our own troubles to go and help someone else who is hurting, bruised or broken. I believe that was the idea when Jesus told us to go out and bring them in. I think that was the reason he told everyone to go into all the world. Not when they were healed and healthy, but just go. Too many times we wait patiently in our stiff upright pews for our emotional and spiritual healing, when in all actuality our the mending of our hearts and spirits is waiting on us to move.
So how about today we all find somebody who could use a little love. Find a neighbor who could use a helping hand. Find your favorite enemy and encourage them. Who ever or whatever crosses your path, take a chance, bless them, and together we can see the kingdom of God take a step forward.

Bassinet give-a-way-praise

Hey, Another Co-worker who came Saturday could not express how thankful she was for the basinet for herself and got one for her friend. They are both struggling financially and this was such a blessing in their lives right now. She wanted me to be sure to let everyone know how much she really appreciated it. She also said she couldn’t believe how friendly and nice everyone was.

SouthPoint is such an awesome church and I’m so glad to be a part of it.

Praise God!!!!

Hey, I had lunch with the other co-worker who picked up a basinet and she said that everyone was so friendly and she was so impressed with the kids that were helping. She really enjoyed meeting everyone and is thinking about coming to visit.

SouthPoint Rocks!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Marco's Pearls of Wisdom

I had coffee this morning with Marco, who is one of our cool band guys. We were sitting there talking about the finer things in life, and he said, "Ya know what I like about SouthPoint?" I of course told him that I have not perfected the art of reading minds yet and to please expound. he said, "my favorite thing about SouthPoint is that it's a part of life. you don't have to stop 'life' to do church. I like it."

Thanks Marco. I agree.

Spit or Endure

Noah – my 2 year old – was eating a popsicle just now. He took a huge bite and then got a mouth freeze. He started screaming in pain. He had this look on his face of utter shock. Like how could something so sweet and yummy revolt within my mouth and become something so painful? He was standing close to the trash can so I said, “Dude come here and spit it out.” He looked at the trash can, and then looked at me like, “What? Have you lost your mind!? Spit out this precious morsel of ecstasy? I’m not bleeding it’s just pain.” He held the popsicle in his mouth and endured the pain. He endured the pain, of course after which there was no more popsicle.

Have you ever had a hold of something….or someone, that just feels right and makes life sweet, but just as quickly turns pleasure to pain? Makes sweet moments painful moments? Yet we still hold on tight. In spite of the pain we just don’t seem to want to let go of the habit. We hold it close, keep it where we can enjoy it, tolerate it. Of course all we would ever have to do is listen to our dad…..our heavenly father, and spit it out in the trash. Remove it, or them, from our lives and let the healing process begin. Most of the time if we choose to endure the pain, there’s nothing left in the end anyway.