Sunday Rewind- 6.27.10

- I missed being at Meadowland Church this Sunday, but I would not have missed spending time in the hospital with Audrey and the newest member of our family  Nolan for the whole world!!

- Nolan was born on Thursday morning and 7:22 am.  Nolan weighed in at 9 lbs 2oz and measured 21′ inches long.  Both he and mom are doing well and it feels so good to be home.

- Bob Audette a good friend, and elder at Meadowland Church preached on Sunday and did a fantastic job sharing what God had laid on his heart.  If you missed if, you will want to listen to it on the podcast!!

- I love Meadowland Church and am so thankful to be surrounded men and women that love Jesus, the church and accomplishing the Great Commission and Great Commandant together!

- For those of you who know about Jack – Keep praying!   Jack is still in the hospital and I just got an email from Theresa saying that there are signs of improvement!  Keep asking, seeking and knocking in prayer!!

- I am on vacation this week, and am PUMPED to be spending time with my family!

- It seems like some of my best ideas come to be when I am unplugged and on vacation!!

Just for fun, here is a picture of Shane, Nolan and I spending some time together on the couch today!!

Sunday Rewind-Father’s Day

- Sunday was a great day at Meadowland Church, finally a day with no rain!

- We gave out Dad’s Root beer, Cream Soda, and Orange Cream Soda to all the Dad’s for Father’s Day this Sunday. Just our way to say Happy Father’s Day.

- I personally enjoyed the prayer series we wrapped up on Sunday.  I am so thankful that God desires a relationship with us, and when we pray like Jesus, prayer is the context in which God becomes our Heavenly Father and Jesus becomes our Savior.

-Personal Highlight: I sang one line from a Garth Brook’s Song – I am cannot stand country music!!

- Worship was AMAZING on Sunday, God of all Creation MOVED ME on Sunday!  Seriously love that song!!

- I am so thankful that Jesus address our frustration with Prayer in Luke 11.

- What are you Persistently Praying For?

-Jesus tells us that if we Ask, Seek, and Knock- God will ALWAYS do SOMETHING!! (Luke 11:10)

- I am so thankful this Father’s Day that we have the ability to call God our Heavenly Father! Jesus tell us that as a Father, Our Heavenly Father wants what is best for us, when we ask for something good, He will not give us something bad (Luke 11:11-13).

- As all good Fathers, sometimes our Heavenly Father says “Yes”, sometimes he says, “No” and sometimes he says “Not Right Now”.  When he says Yes we love it, but when he says “No” or “Night Right Now”, we need to remember He is still God and He is still Good!!

- Speaking of Fatherhood, our second son is due THIS WEEK!  I am seriously pumped and cannot wait to meet the little guy!

- I am so thankful that God desires a relationship with us, Jesus secured our Salvation, and the Holy Spirit fills us with the Power we need to do God’s will.  I am thankful for my beautiful wife and family.  I am thankful to be a part of a church that loves Jesus and one another!!  Press on Meadowland Church!!

Sunday Rewind 6.13.10

- I am not quite sure what is going on with the weather this June, but while it was grey outside, we saw AMAZING things happen at Meadowland Church Sunday Morning.  We saw several people surrender their lives to Jesus and take the next steps on their Journey – THAT NEVER GETS OLD!!

- This week was week #2 in our current series, “Pray Like Jesus”. I am loving this series!!

- Our worship team seriously rocked the set list this week!  Our time of worship on Sunday way AMAZING!

- While we probably have not thought much about it, how we pray is important.  In Matthew 6:5-15 and Luke 11:1-13, Jesus teaches us how to pray!!

- If the only time we pray is in public, or involves asking God for stuff, we are missing out and God has more in store for us in the area of prayer!!

- One of the most important questions we can ask ourselves as we pray is, “Can I say with integrity, Your Kingdom Come and Your Will be done on Earth as it is in Heaven?”  I we cannot say this we need to stay there until we can surrender our will, wants, desires and wishes to God.

- One of the biggest questions I receive during a prayer series is, “How long should I pray?”   The answers is:  It really depends on the condition of your heart and where you currently stand with God.  There are times Jesus prays 10 second prayers and their other times Jesus prays for hours.

- At the end of 2nd service, we all prayer together to close out the service, it was INCREDIBLE to hear everyone praying in one voice!!

- For all of you that submitted questions for our next series called “You asked For It”, THANK YOU!  If you would still like to submit your question, you can do it HERE.

- We had to cancel the Church Picnic this Sunday due to the weather. I was disappointed to cancel but can’t wait until we reschedule it.  I love being around the people that make us this Church!!

- God is doing amazing things in and through His Church and I am privileged to be a part of what God is doing here!!

10 Hard Questions from Perry Noble

This year I had the opportunity to be a part of Perry Noble’s Coaching Network. Perry is the founding Pastor of NewSpring Church which is one church with multiple locations through South Carolina.  One of the things I admire about Perry is his authenticity, realness, love for Jesus, the Church, and People, and his “don’t pull any punches” attitude towards life.   I personally gained a lot from my time with Perry and the staff at NewSpring and from time to time will repost stuff from Perry’s Blog.

Pastor Perry posted this one this morning – and I got to be honest- the Lord spoke to me through some of these questions this morning.   I saw a post from John Maxwell recently  on Twitter that said -”If your habits don’t line up w/ your dream, then you need to either change your habits or change your dream.”

So I thought I would post Perry’s questions here for you to read and think through these questions in your own life.

“10 Hard Questions” by Perry Noble:

Too many times we believe that being busy is equal to being godly…when the Bible says quite the opposite.

Psalm 46:10" href="http://biblegateway.com/bible?version=31&passage=Psalm+46%3A10" target="_new">Psalm 46:10 SLAYS me every time I read it…CONVICTED!

David said in Psalm 23 that the Lord makes him lie down in green pastures and leads him beside still waters.

The LONGEST, most detailed command in the 10 commandments is the one on rest.

Yet, all of us…especially those in the ministry…wrestle with this.  One of our MAIN temptations is being busy…here are a few questions we can wrestle through to see how busy those of us in ministry are…

#1 – How many times a day do you check your email?  Is there really any reason to check it as often as we do?

#2 – How many times a day do you check twitter?

#3 – How many times a day do you check your facebook page?

#4 – When you go home to do spend time with your family…or merely “tweet” about how you are spending time with your family?

#5 – Do you tell your kids you are too busy to go to their game…but then go to the game of the church members kid so you don’t get into hot water with them?  (BTW…good luck explaining that one to your kids in 20 years!)

#6 – Do you have a time during the day when you turn off your cell phone so that you can uninterrupted study time, prayer time and time with your spouse?

#7 – Do you always have to have noise around you…such as do you always have to have the radio on in the car OR the TV on at home, even if you are not listening to/watching it?

#8 – How much time do you spend commenting on blogs and social media sites?  (honestly, don’t know too many certified blog commenters that are actually changing the world!)

#9 – Are you accessible at any time of the day by anyone who needs you?  (LOTS of pastors LOVE to make this claim…usually at the expense of their family and their own walk with God.  If you want to walk with Jesus you can’t do it by always having a crowd around…you’ve got to have some time set aside.)

#10 – Are you willing to make the adjustments that you need to make based on the nine questions above?  If not then you are most likely addicted to noise and being busy…which looks good to others but absolutely destroys our walk with God.

PSALM 46:10!

ONE MORE THING…this is absolutely the most convicting blog post I’ve ever written…He’s PRESSING into me to make some major adjustments in regards to the noise in my life, would appreciate your prayers as I try my best to fully obey Him.