why?

I think that if we truly asked ourself this question we would be so much more solid in the decisions that we make, the things that we do, the opinions that we have.  But we don't because we do not want to answer truthfully, we don't want to face the reality that maybe, just maybe our heart is in the wrong place.

i call my self a Christian........why?

i think he/she is "the one"......why?

i want to start a church........why?

i don't like my job......why?

it is so hard to keep good friends.....why?

i can't trust anyone........why?

no one is following my vision........why?

this problem will not go away......why?

............................................why?

James 1:14 but each one is tempted, when by the desires of their heart, they are dragged away and enticed.

10 random things about my current daily life

1. I am reading through Proverbs very slowly. I am on chapter 9 after a month of reading and it is changing my life!

2. I have seriously increased the number of meals I eat at home due to health and finances.

3. My Alltel report says that I average over an hour and half on the phone a day.

4. I watch 99% of Pardon the Interruption episodes.

5. I typically wake up at 6am and go to sleep around midnight.

6. I try to listen to a sermon a day.

7. I spend at least 30 minutes studying/discussing a religion besides Christianity.

8. I am experiencing the benefits of deep prayer life for the first time in a long time

9. I enjoy reading (or listening to my wife reading) Cameron a book every night.

10. Everyday,  I am confident that tomorrow will hold great things...

an audience

Earlier today, I was thinking about how I am so amazed at what God is doing in my life and the life of the church I pastor....

......my first thought was to twitter.....

......then to blog, what I am blogging right now......

not just to praise God for His goodness.

I worry sometimes that having this constant audience via the web replaces me talking to God. (Yes, I realize by blogging about this I am doing the very thing I am concerned about.) 

I had a great time with an audience of one this morning. 

Hopefully our twitters and blogs flow out of our personal communication with God.  

questions about beliefs

if you are a one of the following and are open to discussing your faith and to my questions about it please contact me...

atheist

muslim

jew

jehovah's witness

morman

hindu

i will not try to convert you, i just have questions for a teaching series we are doing

james@mosaiccrestview.com

it begins

This has been a  mentally exhausting week.  It makes me question the fact that I registered for classes over the summer today (after 1.5 years off from school).  

This nomorechristians teaching series is provoking a lot of questions.  This week....

• I have had four deep conversations about the existence of God, validity of the Bible, and other religions in addition to a group discussion on atheism last night.  
• I have had two e-mails wanting an explanation of this upcoming series.
  
• I have been called blasphemous twice (one joking, one serious)
• Adam Duckworth and I have been referred to as geniuses and idiots
• I have scheduled three meetings; one with an atheist, one with former atheist, and one with an agnostic.

and we haven't even promoted this thing yet.

I don't want to be the guy who only blogs about what the church is doing, but I am so excited about what God is going to do with this series!

nomorechristians.com

We are exactly 30 days away from the most exciting teaching series to hit mosaic crestview so far.  

This is the commercial we will be running during the month of April.

Walker and Amanda Sherman

God has answered a prayer of mosaic church this week as Walker and Amanda have decided to lead worship for our church!

As the leader of our church, I strongly desire to see every worship service become an incredible experience of worshiping God through music and hearing relevant teaching of the Bible.  I am confident that the Sherman's joining our team instantly brings us to that point.  

Here are just a few of the reasons why I believe that Walker is the guy to lead our worship music.

He has an evident love for Jesus Christ

He has an incredible desire to put his wife first

He has an authentic call to lead worship

He has learned from the experience he has

He has a desire to learn more

He is self motivated

He is very talented

He gets the vision of mosaic crestview

He is supportive of me as the Pastor of our church

He wants to see others use their gifts to serve Christ

He is fun to be around

He believes that God is doing great things  and will do even greater things with our body of people

I am excited to see how God uses Walker and Amanda to see lives changed in Crestview.

i am thankful to leaders who have gone before me

In "next generation leaders" Andy Stanley talks about how uncertainty increases with increased leadership responsibility.   The more things that you jump into as a leader the more things are uncertain.  With a lot of areas of leadership there is a great deal of intangibility, which means leaders have to make their best guess at deciding what is right for the situation.  

I am very thankful for the many Pastors and leaders who are ahead of me in their journey.  Leaders who have faced a lot of the same intangible decisions that I am facing or will have to face.  I am thankful for their courage to lead in the midst of uncertainty and for their willingness to be transparent about struggles they have faced and mistakes they have made.

I have benefited greatly from these men and women who have given me a lot of information to help me make the best guess at deciding what is right for situations.  

With twitter, blogs, websites, books, etc. there are some many opportunities to be able to learn from these courageous leaders.  

If you are young and in leadership, it is a mistake to think that you know best, that you are the LONE RENEGADE who is facing challenges and doing the right thing!  Everyone has their flaws, but everyone also has amazing strengths and experiences that we can benefit from!  Let's start letting them know how much we appreciate them!

Thank you leaders who have gone before me for making my life easier!

 

crazy day

6:20 wake up (overslept and did not make it to the gym)

6:45 Time in Proverbs, Prayer and enjoyed a skinny soy vanilla latte

7:00 worked at Starbucks (was on bar for the first time in over a month)

10:00 showered and headed to Cameron's Dr appt

10:45 Cameron's dr ran out of the office b/c of an emergeny at the hospital (reschedule for later)

11:15 lunch with the fam at Hideaway Pizza

12:15 came home to fix a panel of our fence which had fallen down this morning and led the dogs to run around the neighborhood (they are big but wouldn't hurt a fly - ok they kill small animals, but no people)

1:00 conference call with Chris Hodges (pastor of the church of the Highlands) he was 30 min late, but it was a great call!

2:00 finished fixing the fence

2:30 e-mails and changed to go back to cameron's dr

3:15 Cameron's dr appt (royal treatment was given)

3:57 arrived at signs galore which closes at 4pm to place t-shirt and sign order

4:25 picked Cameron up (Christie is working tonight)

4:30 received back to back to back phone calls about complicated stuff

5:00 sitting down blogging about this and realizing that today could have been very stressful, but I chose to have a good attitude today and I started the day off with some QT with God.  

I know it is overstated but that really is a good start to a day in which anything and everything could happen.  Hopefully I will begin tomorrow that way as well!

five questions I ask myself just about every night.

What did God teach me today?

How can I be more like Him tomorrow?

What decision do I need his guidance on?

Who do I need to intentionally talk to about their walk with (or lack of) Christ?

What am I afraid of?