Sunday ReCap -Nov 8

I have noticed a pattern… when Saturday feels funky, its because God wants to do great things Sunday… distraction and discouragement are some of the greatest weapons the enemy uses to cause us to miss God’s greatness. Here are some highlights of Gods greatness from yesterday

• 4 people raised their hands to acknowledge their desire to know Christ as Lord and Savior and indicate that they had prayed and asked Him to do so.
• I got to pray with 2 of the 4- one young lady, going through some rough stuff at home, realized that a relationship with Christ wouldn’t take the problems away, but will give her peace and hope in the midst of the storm. She wants to be baptized next week as a public demonstration of this new found faith.
• Another 30-something guy I got to spend some time with, wanted to move from hoping he will measure up to knowing Christ is his only hope. Years of searching for God, and believing He could be found led to a moment on Sunday of being found. He wants to be baptized and take His new-found internal belief and transform it to an long-term external lifestyle.
• Not much else I need to say after those two stories, huh? That’s what it is all about – both of those new believers are connected to families that from day 1 said they would be pioneers at Fry Road. When we talk about family and friends coming to Christ, this is what we mean! Who is in your 5?
• One of our Power Team guys told me, as we were setting up curtains, that he and his family tithed for the first time in a long time last week. And it was a sacrifice. With tears in his eyes, he went on to talk about how God stepped into his world in a real and tangible way this past week, doing more than he ever imagined. And more than the financial benefits of generous giving in obedience, was the faith on display in his words and life as he spoke. More than the new opportunities, was the fresh faith in his life and the way he spoke of God’s leadership in his family and job.
• Great stuff, that obedience. Makes me even more excited about our upcoming BELIEVE series- starting November 22… be there every week and let God challenge what YOU BELIEVE!
• We had a Life Group get together with the leaders and hosts Monday night. We shared stories of what God is doing through Belonging in Life Groups, and it was incredible to hear of people praying for, celebrating with, and mourning alongside others in community. If you don’t BELONG in a Life Group, this Spring, we are shaking a couple things up and tweaking some stuff (based on leader feedback) in an effort to get as many people to experience what it means to BELONG as possible!
• Back to Sunday: Worship with Adam was really uplifting… Love how he leads us toward God and makes worship about Him, not a person, song, or style.
• Had some specific conversations with people who said that Sal’s message from the life of Joseph on being Resilient hit them between the eyes and was exactly what they needed to hear. If you missed it, check here.
• Our 6AM Power Teamers have been awesome the past couple of weeks- praying with some of those guys yesterday morning and hearing them share their joys and needs, was an honor… I love how we can work to set up a church, but really it is all set up for life change!
• I am also fired up about everyone who stays around to help us all get out of Hopper by helping in load out… every week I see new faces.
• This Sunday will be a blast: we will be baptizing toward the end of the 9:30 service… in the pool… in the courtyard… in November. This will probably be the last one for 2009, so don’t miss it! Come early if you hang out at the 11:00 AM service.
• We are also recognizing and consecrating some great guys in Deacon ordination during the 11 o’c service… these guys are leaders and I am honored to serve at a church where Deacons believe they are there to serve the body.
• Awesome stuff is going on all around The MET… I hope you are in the middle of it!
• I am ok with some funkiness on Saturday’s if God’s Spirit shows up like He did yesterday!

Have a great week… Ask yourself who needs to come in contact with the Living God this week, and then… be THAT contact. You never know what an intentional conversation toward a heart’s condition might result in.

Meet You on Fry Road

B

And God Drummed Let There Be Light…

After Miley Cyrus firmly implanted her catchy kitschy country-wide party anthem in my head as I was driving to work this morning, the radio disc jockey talked about an event coming up this Sunday known as the Texas Big Beat. On Sunday a large group of drummers in Houston will attempt to break a world record by simultaneously drumming with drummers in 10 other cities. Sounds like a pretty amazing thing to witness and with Christmas approaching and charitable giving down, the organizations that will benefit from this event are probably very thankful, to say nothing of the little drummer boy.

After hearing about this though, the DJ began to speak of the spiritual experience that this big drumming would be, and of how there is something mystical about drumming (I am sure that Tommy Lee is excluded here) and how he believes that drumming explains the Big Bang and the origins of life. Drumming. And God drummed, let there be light… In the beginning God drummed the heavens and the earth…

While thousands of people people drumming in unison would be cool to see, there is still no comparison to what God can do with just a word.

Convincing the convinced…

To me, probably the saddest place to end up going for lunch is the mall food court, especially if you really have no other business at the mall… just going there to eat. To eat and therefore to be harassed by toothpick wielding chicken pushers. While some might say you could eat for free by simply making circles, I say you have just as good a chance in contracting salmonella…. except maybe from the old guy handing out Chick-Fil-A nuggets.

Which brings me to this thought: why is Chick-Fil-A even participating in this chicken-hawking food court madness to begin with? Don’t they know most of us have a low grade addiction to their God-ordained products already? The thing is- if my childhood memories are correct, and admittedly, most are fabrications of 30+ years of trying to be funny- Chick Fil A might have actually been the first people to stand around with toothpicks. However, in some ways today, they are really just convincing the already convinced, right? There is really no attempt being made to actually drum up new business there. Especially when the old guy with the nuggets at my mall is handing them out to people as they are getting in line… at Chick-Fil-A. And, as I proved (TWICE), he will give you one as you are walking AWAY after purchasing or getting a drink refill. So really, when it comes down to it, I guess these are just bonus nuggets for being a customer… either that or I AM as good looking as I think I am.

Which makes me wonder… how much of what we are doing as the Church is just convincing the already convinced? Are we distributing our best product to those in line who are already raving fans? Might we be going so far as to focus our energies on those who are already “all in” and be oblivious to the needs of people walking in and out of our lives and ministry every day? There are surely a bunch of other options out there for them to choose from (bourbon to terriyaki?), and we might be missing those who are truly searching, going for the easy sell to those already in line. Thinking about this brought to mind the story (and the song for that matter) of Zacchaeus from Luke 19:

¹Jesus entered Jericho and was passing through. ²A man was there by the name of Zacchaeus; he was a chief tax collector and was wealthy. ³He wanted to see who Jesus was, but being a short man he could not, because of the crowd. ⁴So he ran ahead and climbed a sycamore-fig tree to see him, since Jesus was coming that way. ⁵When Jesus reached the spot, he looked up and said to him, “Zacchaeus, come down immediately. I must stay at your house today.” ⁶So he came down at once and welcomed him gladly. ⁷All the people saw this and began to mutter, “He has gone to be the guest of a ’sinner.’ “ ⁸But Zacchaeus stood up and said to the Lord, “Look, Lord! Here and now I give half of my possessions to the poor, and if I have cheated anybody out of anything, I will pay back four times the amount.” ⁹Jesus said to him, “Today salvation has come to this house, because this man, too, is a son of Abraham. ¹⁰For the Son of Man came to seek and to save what was lost.”

So, Jesus was headed in a known way and intentionally intersecting with the lives of people who were looking for Him, doing whatever they could to just watch him walk by… Probably not so different than people around us who look to substances or relationships for fulfillment, even if it is fleeting and just walking in and out of their lives. It was not the easy or popular thing to do, but Jesus broke away from convention and offered samples of himself to the crowd of souls searching for something more. Not only did he meet them where they were, but He was compelled to be a part of who they were… allowing for public affection to become private adoration. And the result was salvation.

Jesus was here to save the lost, not satiate the found.

He came to seek the seeking, not convince the convinced.

Challenging thought as I lead myself and others to connect to the real Jesus in a real way.

Sunday ReCap Oct 18

You can sum up how I feel about last Sunday in 1 word: baptism. How can we not have a great Sunday when someone goes public with their faith in Christ! Here is the ReCap from Sunday:

• Setup team was SLIM Sunday morning… Our Power Team needs some recharging. We missed you at 6 AM at Hopper… if you are looking for a quick place to plug in, be a part of the Power Team!
• That said, we set a new record on Load Out Sunday, because many people stuck around and helped us load out! 1:13 and the trailers were shut! Wooo Hooo… I have always said that getting out by 1PM was the Holy Grail of load out… I think we can do it now more than ever.
• Worship was great Sunday, I am looking forward to having Adam lead for us 2 out of the next 3 weeks.
• I thought Scott nailed it with the message Sunday… I could see some holy discomfort in the crowd as I got up to lead in prayer at the end of the service.
• Also had quite a few people say they thought the message ended too quickly… that they were engaged in the thought of what resilience looks like from God’s perspective…. I totally agree and am looking forward to hearing from Pastor Sal this Sunday.
• Cannot say that I have ever been told I talked to little… oh well, maybe one day. Maybe not.
• Our Preschool and Children’s ministry leadership really felt the effects of the flu this past Sunday… I am guessing we can expect this for a few more weeks- I am drinking Lemon Tea as I type this… Please make every effort to fulfill your serve commitment during this crazy time.
• I did hear that the 1-3 grade worship has been pretty cool lately… I hope to get down there this week.
• Again, baptism was awesome – loved being soaking wet on stage during second service.
• If you didnt hear, during the 9:30 hour, I challenged “someone” in the audience who knew that they needed to be baptized to go ahead and do it- in their street clothes. I also said I would baptize in my street clothes as well…. One student who recently gave her life to Christ at Truth Students said it was her. So she did. And so did I. (see picture)
• We also celebrated new life in Christ with 2 other people who had never gone public with their faith through baptism.
• Every Sunday, my alarm goes off at 4:14 AM (odd alarm times help me get up) and I don’t usually get home until around 1:30 or 2:00 PM… then our Life Group meets from 5-7 PM… but let me tell you, Sundays are great, and our Life Group has been a needed breath of fresh air for Kelly and I.
• We are studying “Effective Parenting in a Defective World” in our Life Group, and every week we are challenged and encouraged by the study, but especially by our LG members. There is no way to express how much doing life together matters.
• I know some of you wanted to be in a group, but couldn’t this semester, even were willing to host or lead… don’t give up! Make sure and be a part during our next session… it’s totally worth the time and resilience!
• If you are not in a Life Group, already start praying about when and where you will regularly circle up with others passionately pursuing Christ and belonging.

That’s about it for this Sunday ReCap… I have a couple first time guests to email- one heard about The MET @ Fry by driving by, one received an invitation… Don’t forget about Your 5… You never know what God will do with a simple invite.

Have a great week… Meet you on Fry Road!

B

Sunday ReCap: Oct 11

Lately these Sundays are pretty interesting… With rain and rampant flu, a church just getting started can look very different from week to week. Even 8 months into this second campus of The MET, on a rainy flu-ey Sunday morning, I get that quiver of: This can go either way today. But thankfully, our God is good and has us out there in Hopper Middle School for a reason… and this Sunday, He changed lives and drew people to Him! Here is the rundown:

• We managed to load in and load out without too much inclement weather… although it did rain pretty hard during services.
• Load out went really quickly back in the Children & Preschool areas… Totally attributable to having 3 extra hands to help. Man, if you are looking to have an impact this week, hang out after the second service and load out!
• Our First Touch team manned the umbrellas and helped people get in and stay somewhat dry.
• Worship was great, Will Mitchell led us and we sang one of my favorite songs right now: “How He Loves” as performed by David Crowder. I am overwhelmed by the lyrical content of this song!
• The overcast weather helped our lighting again this week… every cloud has a silver lining, or in this case bright white spotlight.
• Discover The MET was awesome- had a family of 4 connect with our church and commit to Worship Belong Serve and Connect each day!
• Also had a woman give her life to Christ at Discover… she was just there to check a membership box so she could teach- now she will spend eternity with God in heaven!
• Hoping to get her into the baptism pool this Sunday as we do some dunking… Fry Road style. The pool will be inflated Sunday, do not miss out on this time to celebrate life change!
• People coming from other faith backgrounds, especially Catholic, struggle with baptism… I love sharing the truth of God’s word about baptism.
• Not to over-spiritualize it, but I do believe that while Baptism is not a CONDITION of salvation, there is a certain CEMENTING of salvation within the heart and mind of the individual when they stand before others and profess Christ as Lord and Savior and then get dunked.
• Can you tell I am geeked for baptism this Sunday?
• I love that people are hanging around and helping with load out each Sunday… who wants to try the 6 AM shift? Come on, all the cool kids are doing it….
• Did I mention that someone gave their life to Christ Sunday, and didnt even realize their need for salvation… makes me wonder how many people are sitting out in the crowd unaware of what the answer to their greatest needs are.
• The TOY DRIVE is going to BLOW UP at Fry Road this year… keep your eyes peeled next week for some opportunities to be a part.
• One thing does concern me that has become a habit at our campus… when these guest worship leaders start the service, there is generally about 7-15 people in the crowd… we need to figure out how to get people in and ready on-time.
• Oh yeah… Guess who else gets to service on time? Guests. They are actually a little early when they visit. So, for about the first 5 minutes, put yourself in the guest’s mind… what would you be thinking about the church when everyone trickles in for about the first 20 minutes? What can we do about this?

I am looking forward to an incredible Sunday celebrating life change… be there on time… I might just give something away at 9:30 and 11:00 this week.

Meet you on Fry Road

B

Returning…

Its been a few days since I last posted… The last couple of weeks have been a blur for me and there is a lot of ideas swirling in my brain, a really cool Sunday to ReCap and some thoughts from an amazingly timed leadership conference, Catalyst 2009, to share.Until then, its nice to be back on the keyboard, and thinking out loud…

This verse has been spinning in my head for the last couple of days as I (slowly) move through 1 Corinthians…

Be careful, however, that the exercise of your freedom does not become a stumbling block to the weak. 1 Cor. 8:9

Here is an initial thought that come to mind…

Our generation of church leader and pastor makes a big deal out of living in the freedom of Christ, which seems to spring from the legalistic, rules-over-relationship generation that led the church previously. But at what point does the  engaging in those freedoms around other staff and those who “get it” or are “one of us” break down and translate, even indirectly, to those we lead who may not get it or be as “cool”?

We know that it’s not the actual freedoms that are the stumbling block… I mean, really, the cussing in staff meetings or having a glass of wine with dinner or having a beer while grilling at home probably will not cause those weaker folks around us whom we lead to stumble- because they wouldn’t be around to see or hear any of that- I guess there is still the shopping cart dilemma… However, could it be that as Paul says, it is how we as leaders “exercise” those freedoms that really causes others to stumble: how we learn to compartmentalize our actions… how we learn to use certain words around certain people… how we learn to be comfortable contextualizing our lifestyle… That to me seems to be the larger danger for church leaders today.

Just thinking out loud a little…

Disclaimer: the situations and actions described herein are not necessarily implicative of any particular church leaders or pastors, myself included, but representative of actions and attitudes among a larger whole that I got to hang out with last week.

On Became Vs. Becoming

Ok- I am going to make an obvious statement that should shock no one who knows me… I am a controlling guy. I enjoy -maybe even need- control. I like what I like and I’d like it now. God works more on me in waiting on and seeking Him more than any other area. That rather obvious fact, coupled with some time spent with a young leader this week, as well as some time preparing for this Sunday’s message from Ruth 3, has led to this blog post. (Now you know why I blog so infrequently… the amount of thinking required hurts me to think about.)
At any rate, this trifecta of circumstances brings me to a couple of verses from the Apostle Paul, that have always made me think:

Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed—not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence—continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose. – Philippians 2:12-13

What does it really mean to “work out your salvation?”… There are a lot of ways to answer that question, Biblically, unbiblically, Baptistly, Assembly of God-ly, culturally, whatever. I dont know that I have a definitive answer, but maybe some follow up questions:

• Did you understand everything about following Christ when you made the decision to follow Him?
• Did you wait until you did, before you did?
• Since committing your life to Christ, has God shown you anything new?
• Are you waiting for perfection before pursuing His will or opportunities He has presented to you?
• Isn’t our faith best served to be something we struggle with rather than just know and move on?

It seems to me that the answer falls in the difference in became vs becoming…

When I was nine years old, I became a Christ follower. This morning, I woke up and continued becoming a Christ follower. I became a father when Macy was put into our arms, I am becoming a father every day as she and I grow. I became a Pastor (at some point – although my ordination council was very unorthodox) and am every day am becoming a Pastor.

We will never arrive. We can lose a lot of valuable time making a difference in the lives of others waiting around for ourselves or others to become what we think we need. Rather, shouldn’t we pursue becoming more of what God has called us to be?  Shouldn’t we look more toward what God can develop in others more than what they can provide to us?

For our campus and church… is it really about what it is today or should be, or more about what it is becoming?

Lots of questions… So glad that Paul goes on to remind me that it is “God who works in you” – maybe I can give up some control, maybe take a step back and watch what He will do, and act accordingly. This just became a blog post, but is prayerfully becoming a way of thinking.

Sunday ReCap – Sept 27

Another solid Sunday at Fry, here is the ReCap:

• David Quinones led worship Sunday, and it was great. God’s Spirit was vibrant and present again in his people as they sang to Him.
• Pastor Sal threw it DOWN Sunday, what a challenge to love beyond our means! I am including some links below to DO SOMETHING ABOUT what He shared!
• It was great having the crew from The Gate checking out our worship and gear. We will always be a learning campus… learning from others and encouraging folks to come and learn from us.
• I believe that there are plenty of lost people in Cypress to go around and God is shaping and forming us to reach a group different from any other church in our area!
• As I talked to Jason and the Gate crew, I was again struck with the incredible opportunity that we have to change lives all over Houston and the World… What God is doing through The MET as a multi-site church is amazing.
• I look forward to what is ahead for The MET @ Fry Road, we are planning and budgeting for 2010 and asking God to do great things.
• The Power Team continually amazes me… the adjustments we made to the Adventure Outpost environments are completely systematized… these guys are machines!
• I am looking forward to Truth Students making headway on the Fry Campus, life groups have cranked up and the Student Lounge is hopping on Sunday mornings.
• We had a great Life Group Sunday night… Its fun for me to see how God brings a unique group of people together to grow in Him!
• Our group will not help me in my journey to be in better shape- them folks can cook!
• Looking forward to this Sunday, my buddy Ricky is back leading worship again, and I get to bring the “good stuff” from Ruth this week. And we celebrate communion… remembering what Christ did for us on the cross.

So, I was moved by Sal’s challenge this week… Kelly and I are asking what Christmas will look like in the Rose family this year. We know we are called to be involved and there are some great organizations out there making a difference… Here are some links to DO SOMETHING with what God has done for us:

Compassion International – Sponsor a child each month from around the world, feeding, educating, and telling of the love of Christ!

Nothing But Nets – Buy a mosquito net and save a child from dying of Malaria.

World Vision – Tons of opportunities to help the poor and marginalized… every level of support is shown.

Looking forward to big things…

The Gift of Sarcasm

Its not that I think the traditional spiritual gifts listings are incomplete, but I do think that the gift of effectively using sarcasm or extreme irony is underrated from a Biblical perspective. Paul effectively used sarcasm, and as I was reading this morning, I was comforted in my sarcastic tendencies. In 1 Corinthians 4, Paul is essentially calling out the church leaders of Corinth who began to take themselves, their knowledge, their possessions, and their religion more seriously than their relationship with Christ and the people they were called to reach. Feeding their narcisscism, Paul compliments their richness… That they were kings… that compared to them, the apostles were the lowest of the low:

We are fools for Christ, but you are so wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are honored, we are dishonored!

I like to think that when Paul first wrote verse 10, that first ’so’ looked more like ’sooooooooo’ and every ‘you’ was in all caps.

Obviously, in reading within the context of Paul’s message to the Corinthian church, they were a group of people concerned with winning at their faith more than winning others to faith, and content to measure their self-worth above bringing meaning to those apart from Christ.

I look forward to studying up on other uses of sarcasm and extreme irony in the Bible, but in the meantime, I need to work on reconciling MY need to be wise, strong, and honored…

For the kingdom of God is not a matter of talk but of power. – 1 Corinthians 4:20

Sunday ReCap: Sept 20

The MET at Fry Road was buzzing this week and we got to do one of my all-time favorite things in church-life: baptisms! And while the HOW of our Fry Road campus still has some development ahead, there is no doubt that the Vision of WHO we are and WHY we do what we do has never been more clear. Here is the ReCap from Sunday:

• I love the Power Team… the 6am crew is a devoted bunch of doers, who love to see their work produce immediate results.
• We forgot a major piece of equipment, so I ran back to the Jones campus at about 6:45 AM… there was nobody setting up anything over there! While it may be nice to just walk in and go, I would not trade the spirit and fun we experience before the sun comes up each week at Hopper.
• Our new Adventure Outpost environments are incredible, nothing beats seeing children learn Biblical truths in an intentionally designed presentation that is relative to their learning stage… love the dueling worship!
• Exploration Island looks amazing! The huge leaves and jungle vines are an engaging exciting way to set the table for laying Biblical foundations in our preschool children.
• Bailey’s “baptism shirt” was awesome! I love celebrating life change and publicly declaring the life change of Christ in your life!
• “Love Story” promises to be a great series in the life of our campus… cannot wait to see what God wants to say to me through this series.
• Getting to be the 3D Pastor of Fry in moments like baptism and walking with families through life’s junk is humbling and challenging, and most of all rewarding!
• I tried to comfort Sal and told him that being the 2-dimensional Teaching Pastor is not as cool as being 3-dimensional, but hey- its much better than being 1-dimensional… deep down he thinks I am funny. Right?
• We have a big week planned and I am excited about what God has in store this Sunday… if you have not joined a Life Group yet, you need to do so asap… here is our group link online access.
• This past Sunday’s load-out was great, I will admit that for a couple weeks before that it wasn’t so great. We have had some folks out and some who had to leave… Thanks to all of you who stayed this past Sunday and helped us get out before 1:30! Every week many hands will get us all home to watch football faster.
• It looks like I might call out the Texans each week if it leads to a win… I am thinking that if we stayed every Sunday and had a great load-out, then we might have a SuperBowl in our future!

Have a great week, Meet You on Fry Road!