Looking forward to our new series on September 9th called "God @ the Grand Ole Opry. We will be taking a look at three popular country music songs such as "Jesus take the Wheel" by Carrie Underwood and "Bless the Broken Road" by Rascal Flatts and discussing the spiritual meaning of the songs. This a great opportunity to invite those that may not attend church. I heard a staggering statistic that said 60% of Americans get their theology about God from music and movies. Most of the time, the church preaches against these things but I believe it is time that we start speaking to our culture in ways that they understand. There are thousands of Americans that has heard "Jesus take the Wheel" yet they have never set foot in a church. My prayer is that people will really understand what Jesus take the Wheel means. Let us use this opportunity and sermon series to reach out to those that need to hear this the most.

Keeping Under the Chuppah

We had a great Sunday yesterday as God's presence was so incredibly strong. I talked about the parallels of the Jewish Wedding to God's relationship to man according to Exodus 19 and 20. I think we miss so much sometimes in the scriptures not really understand the Jewish context. We tend to think Western but the Jews were great at using illustrations to get their point across. The Jewish Wedding is a great example. The Jewish bride and groom are married under the chuppah. The chuppah represents the glory of God that rests upon the marriage. The chuppah is there when they recite their vows and it is then moved over the bed when the bride and groom consummate the marriage. The point being that God rests above the marriage. Marriage is a representation of God to the world. It is interesting how our culture has tried to take marriage out of the chuppah. Satan has attacked the marriage and has brought something counterfeit. Satan is constantly trying to break up marriages and get people to settle for less. Satan has also taken sex which is supposed to be holy and pure and has made it dirty and has plastered it all over for everyone to see. It is our job to protect what God has made holy. Whether your single or married we all can take a stand and say, "I will not settle for the counterfeit but I will stay under the chuppah, God's plan for relationships."

Whirlwind

Well, I'm officially back from vacation and it has been a crazy week. I haven't had much time to blog with all that is going on. My uncle passed away on Monday so we had to drive to Des Moines to do the funeral. God keeps using me to speak to my family. Many of them do not know the Lord so I thank God for every time I get to speak into their lives.

On a positive note, I also have a wedding this week as well. The wedding is a Hawaiian theme so this is the first wedding that I've done that I get to wear a Hawaiian shirt and lei! What is really cool is the unity candle is Toucan Sam ( The parrot from Fruit Loops!) I love it!

Fishing Trip

Well, here it is. A whole week in Canada and yes Jen caught more fish then me. I only caught one fish the whole time. Oh well, it was beautiful there and we had a good time on the water. Jen caught a 33 inch Northern in the picture. With her is her Uncle from Olkahoma. Jen didn't wan't to touch the fish so he had to help her.

Vacation

Jen and I will be gone this Sunday as we will be headed to Canada with her Aunt and Uncle to do some fishing. I'm not a very good fisherman so I'm hoping my luck will change in another country. Pastor Keaton will be preaching Sunday so make sure you give him all your support.

God Moment

Sunday was one of those God-Moments. I was preaching in Revelations 2 where Jesus talks to the church about loosing its first love. The church has all the right head knowledge but their hearts had went a drift. Christ was calling them back to their first love which was Him. I used the illustration of Mount Everest and how only 1-8 people actually make it trying to climb the mountain. What is interesting is that most of the people that have died, have died climbing down the mountain instead of up. The illustration and point was that we have to be very careful when we get in a spiritually low place. There are some serious dangers in our spiritual lives if we drift from the things that are so important.

After the service, I had a woman come up to me in tears. She was visiting from Youngstown, OH (Which I'm very familiar of since we used to live in Cleveland.) She had family and friends at the Lake and decided to come to church that morning. In tears, she opened up her Bible to Revelations chapter 2. There in Revelation 2 was two obituaries of two young men. She went on to explain that these two men had died trying to climb Mount Everest and she was very close to them both. She has kept their obituaries in her Bible ever since and they were bookmarked in the passage I read that Sunday morning. WOW!

I'm not for sure what God was trying to say to this woman, but I know that God was trying to say something to her. I believe it wasn't coincidence that she happened to come to Montezuma, IA all the way from Ohio to hear about the First Love and the illustration of the mountain. God was obviously trying to say something. This was definitely one of those God-Moments that makes you say Wow!

Bait of Satan

Last night we started our video series on the "Bait of Satan." This curriculum is so important for any church to go through. So many people find themselves in offenses in the church and some people even leave the church because of offense. Jesus said that in the last days, many will be offended. I have seen this countless of times in my ministry. John Bevere lays it out so well on what our response should be in dealing with offense. I want to encourage anyone and everyone to attend this important teaching. We are meeting at 6 p.m. every Sunday Night.

10 YEARS

Today is Jen and I's 10th anniversary! Hard to believe its been 10 years since we've been married. We will be leaving tomorrow and headed to Des Moines for a little anniversary trip. Looking forward to getting away and spending some quality time together.

Reflections

This past Sunday it was two years since Jennifer and I accepted the position to be the new lead pastors of Community Hope. It is hard to believe that two years is already gone. When I think of the two years I think of the great times we have had to share with one another. This past week I was told of two pastor acquaintances that I know who have resigned from their pastorate to take other churches. These pastors started about the same time we came to Community Hope. As I reflected on that, my heart was stirred even more to stay and reach the community of Montezuma and the county of Powesheik. I stand on the dream that I know that God spoke in my heart over a year ago that Community Hope would a church that would reach the lost and be an example for other rural areas. I stand on these principles that I will not waiver on:

1. We will be Kingdom Focused
2. We will be Missions Minded
3. Reach every generation
4. Relevant to our culture
5. Every person can minister

These five essentials are so important for us as a church to move forward. I look forward to the years ahead serving this great church.