some good reads

Five books that have helped shape me into the man I am today:

Velvet Elvis

Crazy Love

Mere Christianity

Encounter God in the City

winning with people

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!

four blogs that annoy me (part 4 of 4)

the continual response blog

What I did this week probably is annoying to some bloggers out there.  Imagine if my blogs were like this all the time.  What annoys me more than anything is a blogger that only blogs when attacking what other people have blogged about.  

It is like they don't have anything to say but they want to be heard.  

A lot of people are like this in life as well.  Pastors who have no vision but love to criticize Pastors who are actually doing something.  People who don't have courage to follow their dreams, but make fun of others who chase after theirs and fall short.  Unhappy people trying to tear down people who are happy.  

Come on now.  I would love to read your blog, but I want to read YOUR thoughts.  

Love and respect others.

Live your life to the fullest, and if you have the time...

....blog about it.  

WARNING: 4 types of blogs i am tired of seeing

I haven't been a blogger for that long and I usually do not do stuff like this, but this week I am going to blog about 4 types of blogs that I am tired of seeing (yes seeing, because I usually don't read them).  

I am not singling anyone out and I am not trying to be mean.  I just hope to inspire some people to start something great........to start not blogging about the things I mention!

I will begin tomorrow.  

philosophy from Barry Manilow

"success comes when preparation and opportunity meet together."  

I heard this quote last night out of the mouth of none other than Barry Manilow!

This sums up what life is all about.  Opportunities are going to come, but what happens with those opportunities is all about what we have done to prepare ourselves.  

This applies to our jobs, our marriages, our financial opportunities, sharing the message of Christ, and pretty much everything.   

If I can teach my son one thing in this life, it would be to live his life in preparation for the opportunities that God will put before Him.  

Proverbs 16:1

to man belong the plans of the heart, but from the Lord comes the reply of the tongue.

I think we can all apply this principle from Barry Manilow.  

who is going to take care of that?

YOU.

YOU really can make a difference in people's lives.  The Bible is just screaming with promises of God to take YOUR effort, YOUR time and use YOU to make a significant impact in the life of someone.  

There is so much pain in the world, some much hurt, and so many problems that we stand back and look at it and become overwhelmed.  We almost give up because we cannot do it all.  It is like we are a perfectionist that will  not even try if we aren't going to be able to cure all things that are sick.  But we can do something.  If you have no idea where to start, go to your pastor or a leader in your church.  See what you can do.  

You don't have to be the person who preaches/teaches, you don't have to be the one that leads the mission to africa/asia, you don't have to be in control; you just need to be the person who fills whatever role is needed.  

The world doesn't need another savior, but it does need servants!

mosaic update

Here is a snapshot of what is going on with mosaic right now.  

• God is being faithful to working in the lives of people.
  
• We have two people scheduled to be baptized next month.
  
• We have a couple of people who are so close to realizing what their life should be about.  
  
• Our attendance is in the 90's consistently. 
  
• Our childrens ministry is finally organized well.
  
• We are changing the layout of the Sunday experience to be more comfortable for guests.
  
• We are in a transition time as our worship leader's last Sunday was this past Sunday. Hoping for people that we already have to rise up or for God to bring someone to us.
  
• Finances have improved but are still a struggle, giving needs to increase!
• Our student ministry is doing great!
• We are about to start a new life group for married/engaged couples
• We have started podcasting!  Mosaic Church Crestview
• and much much more!

the right thing

Sometimes doing what is right does not make sense.

It is so easy to lean on our own understanding. We are comfortable with it. We are familiar with what the consequences are. We are in some sort of control of the situation. Even if it is bad there is not an element of surprise.

We don't like surprises; or better put we don't like the time leading up to the surprise. I want to know my choices:

If I am not the one picking where we go to dinner, I like to know beforehand so that I can prepare myself if I am going to be disappointed or eat less during the day if it going to be somewhere good. I do not like just showing up somewhere.

If someone is paying, I don't like rules on what to order. I want to have the freedom to choose. I want to be able to do what I want.

Why do I say all this? Because God asks us to follow him, to make decisions that are not based on our understanding but are leaps of faith.

I have to ask myself a question a lot? As a pastor, as a church planter, as a husband, as a friend, as a leader, as a father, as an individual

am I willing to follow God into the unknown?

steps

So, it is a new year and I have some goals. The date I have set to meet these goals varies from during this year to five years from now.

-Finish my Masters.
-Get back into the shape I was at our wedding.
-Pay off our car/have only our mortgage as debt and then save up to pay cash for the next car.
-Become a better husband.
-Lead our church to experience growth and no longer need outside support to carry out the vision God has given us.

Probably a few more to come!

You know what's crazy, people set goals without ever determining the steps to get there. I am setting the steps now! Pray for me as I work on all of these!

plans

GUEST BLOG: John Wise (friend o james and guy who helps at mosaic from time to time)

it's funny. as i look back there is only one question that seems to always come my mind. in fact it is probably the most overused question that is presented to every graduate whether they are graduating from college or high school.

"what do you plan to do next?"

sometimes when that question comes up around the parents, they usually try to answer it for you. am i wrong?for me, that question had to be the most annoying. every time i ran into someone with my parents that they knew, they had to tell them i was graduating. and every time i had to prepare myself for that dreaded question.in all honesty i had no idea what i was going to do. i still don't. if you even mentioned this to the person who asked you that question, they followed it up with even more questions. "well, what about this? or this? or how about this?"and then you get those who ask, "well what is God's will for you?"there it is. the question that leaves me speechless.

but why is it? it should be an easy question to answer. THIS is where God wants me to go. THIS is what God wants me to do. THIS is who God wants me to marry. and the list goes on.what is God's will for our lives? what is God's will for my life? what is His plan?

the verse that is quoted a lot when faced with this dilemma can be found in proverbs. it says: "trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding. in all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight."paths. plural. not singular.

sometimes i think we view God's will as this small box that we have to stay in. and if we go here, or do this we break and step out of the box and out of God's will. it is as if we are limiting God. saying, "this is it. this is all You have for me." we change "paths" to "path." in essence, we are limiting God. saying this is all He can do.this thrill ride of abundant life. this journey that we are on can't be one of simplicity and singularity. i don't think that is what God intended for us. if that is what He indented then there would be things in this life and in the Bible that we would completely understand. but instead, the Bible leaves us with questions. it leaves wondering and wanting to know more. i don't see that as simple.look back at those verses and read the first part again. the writer says that we are to "trust" God with everything we have and acknowledge Him in everything we do. part of this complex, intimate relationship that God desires to have with us. He wants us to seek Him and Who He is.

there are numerous verses in the New Testament that show how we should live and act all saying, "it is God's will."for an example:1 Thes 4:3 - "it is God's will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality."1 Thes 5:18 - "give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus."and the list goes on.it is all part of this complex relationship.once we sit down, take a deep breath and just focus on Who God is and get to know Him more and more "He will make our paths straight."He will present these "paths" to us. He will guide us. He will help us on this thrill ride. this journey. we just need to focus on Him and not get bogged down with worry about the decision.

later in that same chapter in proverbs the writer says, "then you will go on your way in safety, and your foot will not stumble; when you lie down, you will not be afraid; when you lie down, your sleep will be sweet. have no fear of sudden disaster or of the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being snared."meaning this God who wants you to get to know Him, who wants you to experience this thrill ride, this journey is going to be there, helping you. He is not just going to show up when needed, He is always going to be there, watching, helping, guiding. making our paths straight.

so i sit here on my parent's porch watching the sun set on another day. i still do not know what is going to happen in the months to come. i don't know where i will work or where i will live. what will i do?i will continue on this joy ride, this journey where i experience the love and joy of God and get to know Him more in a way i never have.opportunities will come. paths will appear in front of me and i will have to choose where to go and what to do. but if i just have to continue to grow and mature and experience the joy in this thrill ride of abundant life. and if i do that, God will make my paths straight and keep my foot from stumbling.how awesome is that?

I said that

Here are some things I never thought that I would say and I could have said before I became a church planter.

-Almost everyone at Whataburger knows me by name (and give me a discount).
-I have worked at Starbucks for over a year.
-I have had three people tell me that I am an incredible pastor and that they are behind me 100%, who later said that I was terrible and the worst pastor ever.
-I have to walk on egg shells around the custodians at Antioch elementary school.
-I have 240 - 400 bottles of water in my car at any time.
-I love the feeling of being overwhelmed and watching things come together.
-I have four people who serve under my leadership that "work for food."
-I guess they're right, senior citizens although slow and dangerous behind the wheel, can still serve a purpose.

well done

I constantly struggle with what God views as success and what man views as success.

When I worked in the mortgage industry what I needed to do was clear, whatever made me the most money.
When I played competitive sports what I needed to do was clear, whatever caused me to have the best chance to win!

I know that God has called me to pastor for a reason. I know that He wants me to help lead people to be more like Him and for them to lead others to be more like Him. (Ephesians)

For those of you who do not know, I didn't plan to plant a church. I didn't dream of it for years and years. I didn't even know much about church planting. It just happened ( which has been cool and not cool in many ways, lol).

I believe that it was God's plan. I believe that I was obedient to His call on my life. I believe that He is using us to do incredible things.

Our church is growing numerically, but I don't just want to have bigger numbers.
People are getting excited, but I don't just want our church to be cool.
We are doing things, but I don't just want to do a lot of stuff.

I want God to be pleased with me. I want to be in His will. I want people to be transformed through what we are doing.

I see a lot of guys who are pastors or want to be pastors who (regardless of what they say or what I will say about them) want man's recognition for what they do.

I do not want to be that guy; I can't be that guy even when I try.

I don't want to be successful, I want to be a servant. For even the son of man did not come to be served, but to serve.

Love is not a victory march,it's a cold and it's a broken Hallelujah - Leonard Cohen

what is your motivation?

Just over four years ago I served as a summer intern under John Cross at South Biscayne Church. I did not grow up in church all my life and I had never actually "worked" for a church until that summer so I had no idea what to expect. When I got there, what I found was that it was hard work. In addition to the fact that we as interns had submitted ourselves to serve in whatever way they needed, it was also a transition time in the church and there were a lot of staff issues and people issues going on. We had one day off a week (every once in a while and I usually didn't get home until 9) It was tiring, stressful, aggravating, painful, etc, etc, etc. To be honest at some moments I felt like breaking my 3 month commitment and going home.

But then I took part in a service at the beach where 67 people showed their commitment to Christ and how He had changed their life through being baptized. As I stood there in the water helping people to and from the Pastor; the cleaning bathrooms, walking to homes in 100 degree weather, and daily hard work became worth it! So, I continued to work hard, I continued to do things that I wasn't excited about doing, I continued to do whatever it takes because I was playing a part in the Church reaching real people.

Some people will work harder if you pay them more, if you give them some fancy title, or if they get recognized by others. God wants to work hard because of the need. In Luke 10, Jesus said that the Harvest is great but the workers are few.

I know as staff and as volunteers at mosaic (and other churches with a similar vision) we do a lot, but people's lives being changed is worth it!

open

Last night, I decided to drop in on our life group entitled open. Open is a group that meets at Starbucks every Sunday night. They usually start by discussing the topic of that day's sermon and then whatever is going on in someones life. The idea behind this group is to be a small step for someone to make to get more plugged into our church.

WOW!

I was absolutely amazed at the openness between people who had not met each other before that day. I was amazed at the willingness for new people to share what is going on in their life. I was encouraged by this small groups success in doing what we believe God has it there for.

If you are not seeing guests/regular attenders become more invovled in the body, then be creative. Start service based groups, interst groups, use different nights of the week, go to public locations, and do whatever it takes!

What works for us may or may not work for you, but is part of our call as Pastors and leaders of the church to do something to try and equip people (eph 4) and we have to figure out steps that people can take to move them along on their walk with Christ!

IN THE HOUSE!!!

On October 29th of this year, my life changed. My wife and I (more so my wife) gave birth to our first child, Cameron Daniel Ross. As most parents would agree, words cannot describe how incredible it feels to hold your child (something that you created) in your hands.

I am filled with excitement because this young man has so much ahead of him and at this point in his life anything is possible. I am nervous because I don't want to screw him up too bad to stop him from being able to follow His dreams. By the grace of God, I think that I will be alright in this.

As the definition of my family has taken a drastic change, I cannot help but think of the many families that are struggling right now with financial stress, divorce, and many other things. It is a great time of uncertainty in our country and in our churches.

So, for the next five weeks we are going to look into the foundation of our country, the homes across America. I invite you to mosaic church's worship gathering as we go IN THE HOUSE and I ask you to keep your heart opened that God may cause a drastic redefinition of priorities, marriage, parenting, communication, and serving one another in your family.

I believe God is going to do some incredible things in our lives if we allow Him!

money

The most common thing that Christians refuse to give to God is their money. People say that they love God with everything they have, but refuse to obey Him and sacrifice finances. They blame pastors, churches, situations, and who knows what else.

But the reality is that God doesn't hold us accountable for others actions, He holds us accountable for our devotion to Him. According to the Bible, we are robbing God by not sacrificially giving to the Church as an act of worship.

"Tithing" has changed my character. It can change yours.

Don't rob yourself of the joy of trusting God financially.

PS: Don't blame God for you financial situation if you haven't put it in His hands.

baseball and staff meeting

Last night I watched the Rays destroy the Red Sox. It was cool to see them so "in the game" after being defeated at home in game 1.

Every week, our paid staff (me, tripp, eric) meets to see how we can better lead the church. Our agenda is simple and as follows:

-Last week- victories and areas of improvement
-People of our church and their needs/what needs to be done
-Various items that concern the life of our church
-This week: Leaving the past behind, while learning from it. Moving forward towards the vision that God has given us!

We start with our past and what we can learn from it. We finish by focusing on the future and how we can be used by God.

I think that this is a great model for our relationship with God. It is great to celebrate our victories and repent over our losses, but we must always press on to the fact that God has given us tomorrow. While He desires our realization of how we may have struck out, He is more focused on our intention to step up to the plate for Him again!

Defeat does not discourage great leaders, it becomes a catalyst towards a higher level of intensity during the next at bat!

imagine what we as the children of God could do for His kingdom, if we were debt free

GUEST BLOG: Tripp Battle (Pastoral Intern)

The focus of this past Sunday's message is that "the borrower is slave to the lender." This can be found in Proverbs 22:7.

Here are some alarming statistics I came across about the American cultures issues with debt...

• If you go to cardweb.com, you will see that the Avg. American family with at least one credit card is $9,200 in debt
• The avg. cardholder has 2.7 bank credit cards, 3.8 retail credit cards, and 1.1 debit cards. That’s 7.6 cards per cardholder!!!
• 43% of American families spend more than they earn each year.
• In the past 10 years, bankruptcies have gone up by 100%.
• In 1929, 2% of American homes had a mortgage, In 1962, 98% of American homes had a mortgage.

The point is… We have a problem!!!!!!!!!!! The good news is… there is some pretty cool principles in the Bible that can help lead us out of this debt that we have gotten ourselves in.

I would encourage you to read 2 Kings 4:1-7.
This is the story of a widow whose husband left her with some serious financial debt. It was so bad that the creditors were going to take her sons into slavery as payment. She approached the prophet Elisha and told him that she literally had nothing except a little oil. He then told her to collect as many jars as she could from her neighbors. When she had done this she waas to pour the little oil that she did have into all of these jars. She ended up filling up all of the jars and had enough money to pay off her debts plus some to live off of in addition to that.

You and I might look at this situation and say that it was crazy that the prophet told her to go out and collect all of these jars from her neighbors. After all... she had NOTHING!!! Plus... thnk of how this must have hurt this woman's pride to have to ask her neighbors for these empty jars.
The worse off you are financially, the crazier the things you might have to do to get out of this "Money Pit" we call debt. Cut your cable; get rid of your WiFi; stop eating out at places you can’t afford; start cutting out coupons and shop for bargains; forget that vacation you’ve been saving up for and pay off your credit cards; etc, etc, etc… Even if you don't totally get rid of something like your cable... you can at least down size in the amount of channels you have. It's OK not to have 5,000,000 channels-4,999,980 0f which you'll never even watch!!! After all, do you really need ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN News, ESPN Alternate, ESPN Plus, ESPN U, etc... ???

So... with all of this in mind... Is there such a thing as a good debt??? YES!!!

Romans 13:8 says not to let any debt remain outstanding, but to be in debt to one another in love. So we are not to let any debt remain outstanding, but we are to have a continuing debt to love one another. I believe that outstanding financial debt that you and I have can sometimes keep our focus off of the debt that we are supposed to have… and that is the debt to love one another!!! So if you remember any of this blog... remember this!!!
THE ONLY DEBT THAT’S PLEASING TO GOD IS THE DEBT TO LOVE OTHERS!!!

lives of luxury

We look at the wealthiest and see the things they have, the places they go, and the way they do things. We see how much money is blown on extra homes, really nice cars, traveling the world, and being extravagant. We see what their money could do for the rest of the world.

1% of people in the world contain %90 of the world's wealth and if they gave up 90% of their income they would still live above the average income in the U.S. and there would not be a person in need.

Not all of us are rich, but still many of us pattern our lives in the same way. I am going to spend my abundance on me.

If you are not a follower of God or another religion that promotes charity, then there is not a reason to question your spending.

However, there are many "followers" of Christ who make selfish decisions with their money every day:

a nicer car instead of feeding 50 orphans in india for a year - $20,000
a small remodeling project instead of building a well for a village in africa - $3,000
an extra home instead of financing a new church start - $150,000 - $200,000
a lavish vacation instead of paying for several to do foreign missions - $12,000

I could go on and on and I have personally made some of these same decisions.

For a long time, I have avoided calling people out on spending and I don't plan to tell you where you should spend your money. But you have to realize that you are choosing to spend it on self instead of others when you get anything that you do not need!

We would tell a person that is getting hammered every friday night and then faithfully worshiping on Sunday to stop being a hypocrite. So what about the person who spends, spends, spends and then gives to God on Sunday?

I am not sure where the line is, but I know that as a church we crossed it a while back.

how do i grow?

Regardless of where you are in the spiritual growth process there is probably some worry/anxiety about being able to get the place you desire to be.

I remember when I wanted to begin to grow in my walk and even had a feeling that I was called to serve God in some capacity vocationally, I had no idea how in the world I would ever get to the point where I could lead people to Him.

2 Peter 1:3
His divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

It is by His power that we are equipped with everything we need for life and for living like Him. We are not the ones who make life change possible, it is Him!

He does this through our knowledge of Him. That word knowledge is actually a greek word which literally means - recognition -.

So God's divine power gives us everything we need for life and for carrying out His will simply by our recognition of who He is!

Amazing!