Back to the Basics

Just got done with my sermon for Sunday. We are still in the "Unusual" series. God shifted gears on me early this week as I had another message planned. This Sunday I'm going to talk about the unusual God we serve. It is a basic message of grace vs. works. Ethan is being dedicated this Sunday and there will be a lot of our family members at CH that have never heard this type of message. I'm praying that God will use it greatly. Please be in prayer for God's annointing and that His Word will not return void.

Prodigal Friendly

Just got back from our Iowa District Ministers Conference. What a great couple of days. Dary Northrup spoke to us on Monday and Tuesday morning. He is the pastor of a church of 5,000 people in Fort Collins Colorado. He spoke on the prodigal friendly church. He has an amazing story on how God began to transform his church from an insider church to a church that reaches the lost. It all began with a stripper that got saved in one of his services. After she gave her life the Lord, her friends began to attend and some of them got saved and began to attend the church as well. At first, it was messy. Sometimes church folks don't like it when things get messed up. He talked about the struggle the first few years of changing the mindset of how they must welcome the prodigal home and not be like the elder brother in the parable of the prodigal son. I challenge you sometime to read the story and read how the elder brother reacted to his younger brother coming home. It is found in Luke 15 and it is very interesting. Sometimes we can be like the elder brother in the parable. Even in my own life, I have had expectations and thoughts that God has had to crush. The goal of Jesus is to seek and to save that which is lost. God's heart is to see the prodigal come home. The conference reminded me once again how important it is that we keep our focus to reach those that need to come home.

Awesome God!

Another great Sunday at CH we had. I was battling a serious cold today. During Sunday School, I could hardly talk but I was thankful that the class laid hands on me and prayed for God's touch as I preached. I am so amazed at how faithful God is. While I preached the message this morning, I didn't feel the effects of the cold at all. I am so thankful that God always comes through and His Word was delivered. How has God been faithful to you recently? Post a comment on the blog and let me know.

Gifts of the Spirit

What a great past Sunday we had. We were jammed packed full as we had 131 in attendance. Gary Smith was having to park cars on top of one another. It shows our need for the two acres directly behind us for parking. What was definitely neat about the service was the moving of the Holy Spirit after worship. The Lord spoke through a tongue and interpretation of tongue. I know for many of us, this is new. I want you to sometime look at 1 Corinthians 12:7-11 sometime. In this chapter Paul talks about the 9 gifts of the Spirit. Two of those mentioned are tongues and interpretation of tongues. Paul then goes on in chapter 14 to explain the purpose of tongues, interpretation of tongues and prophecy. In a quick overview, here is what he says.

1. Church should desire the spiritual gifts vs. 12
2. Speak in a tongue, pray that it would be interpreted vs. 14
3. Tongues are a sign to the unbelievers vs. 22
4. If anyone speaks in a tongue, let there be two at the most three and let one interpret vs 27
5. All things to done for the edification of the church vs. 26
6. Every shall be done in decency and in order. God is not a God of confusion. vs. 40

I hope this helps everyone understand a little more about the gifts. If you ever have any questions, please don't be afraid to ask.

Unusual Life

Here is a quick recap from yesterday on how we can live the unusual life.

1. Dare to be Different
2. Dare to be available
3. Dare to give yourself completely to God
4. Dare to never give up

Genesis 6 tells us that Noah lived the unusual life in a world that was full of evil. Today, God still searches for those who will live the unusual life even in a world that is full of darkness. 2 Peter 2:9 tells us that we have been called out of that darkness to walk into God's light. That's what makes us peculiar as the KJV states or in other words "unusual". Dare to live the unusual life!

Unusual Sundae

Here are the pics from Sunday morning and Pastor Keaton's human sundae. The kids really got behind the whole thing. We had five girls spend the night because Olivia wanted to see Keaton get the ice cream on his head. It was a huge mess but worth it all.

Unusual Weekend

What a weekend we had. The free car wash went well even though it was a cloudy day. I think people have a hard time understanding the word "free." We had lots of people ask us "what's the catch." There really wasn't a catch, it was a free car wash! That's why it was unusual. Thanks to my home church Glad Tidings in Des Moines for all their hard work. Pastor Matt Loomis is doing a great job with those youth. What is really crazy is some of those kids were in my children's church. What an awesome thing to see them grown up and still serving the Lord. At the end of the day they all laid hands on me and prayed for this community and church. What an awesome experience.

Everything is an Experiment

I was reading an article by Mark Batterson the other day about action regrets rather then inaction regrets. In a recent survey, most people regret not doing some things they wish they had when they had the chance. I'm sure all of us regret not doing some things in our lives. As a church I never want us to be afraid of failure. Let us not be afraid of trying new things and stepping out of our boats so to speak. I don't want us to say, "We never tried it because we were afraid we would fail." Remember that there are lost people in this world that need to hear about the good news of Jesus. For that reason alone, it is worth trying. For that reason we are doing a free car wash on Saturday morning and also going door to door asking people in our community if they would like prayer. Even if we can touch one person for the kingdom, it will be worth it. So remember, everything is an experiment and don't be afraid to fail. Do something unusual!

Great Exchange

I hope everyone had a good labor day weekend. Mine was full of good food and school shopping for the kids.

Sunday's message is still on my heart and I once again want to go over the main points in case you missed it. Isaiah 53:4,5 tells us of the great exchange that occurred on the cross. The Bible says that Jesus took and carried our griefs, our sorrows, our punishment and even our sicknesses at Calvary. It was the greatest exchange ever made for mankind. It is nothing that we deserved but what Christ did on our behalf. Christ died so that you and I can not only be made free from our sins but be made whole. (in our souls, spirit and body.) If you have not exchanged some things that you have been holding on too, I encourage you today to do so. Christ wants to totally set you free. He made the great exchange for us.

We are gearing up for the Fall and our theme will be the Unusual. God has called us to live in the unusual. I am excited about the month that is ahead of us. On September 9th we will be doing an unusual free car wash for our community from 9 a.m. till noon. We will also be going door to door asking our community if there is anything we can pray with them about. On September 10th we will start our new sermon series and our Sunday School contest. If our children reach 25 that Sunday, Pastor Keaton will be made into an unusual sundae. I would like to see this. Make sure you mark your calendars and get ready for the unusual.

Church Picnic

What a great time we had this past Sunday at our picnic. Curt Bates did a fantastic job grilling for us again. One of the highlights of course was the famous dunk tank. (or should I say garbage disposal because that's what it looked like.) I have to say I was scared to death as you can see from the picture. Plus the water was freezing. It was all good though because we raised $70.00 for BGMC missions. Thanks to Pastor Keaton and Katy for being a good sport and getting in the dunk tank as well.

Master Asker

It was great to be back in the pulpit yesterday after a three week break. I have to say I was pretty pumped and ready to go. I love to preach the Word of God. There is nothing greater and I thank God that He has given this great privilege to explain His Word. Yesterday's Big Idea was how to become a master asker in our prayers. A master asker finds the will of God and is persistent in their praying. Jesus gave us many examples of persistent prayer. I want to encourage everyone who hasn't seen the breakthrough to their prayer just yet. Hold on to your faith and be persistent until you see that answer come to pass. Many people give up too soon. Paul said that there is a fight to our faith. Many give up after the first round but that is not God's will for you. God's will is persistence! Why doesn't God just answer our prayers right away? Maybe He wants to teach us something along the way. Many of us will become stronger people in the end if we hold on. Life is not always easy, but find the will of God, be persistent and become a master asker in your prayer life.

The countdown to Celebrate Recovery has begun. We took a team of leaders to Des Moines on Sunday Night to watch an actual Celebrate Recovery in action. What an awesome ministry to see people being set free from their addictions and compulsive behaviors. The team we took over is absolutely awesome. I know the Lord has brought this team together for reason. Our launch date is September 10th at 6 p.m. Please be in prayer for this ministry in the coming weeks.

First Day of School

Well today is the first day of school. You would think that it would get easier the second year of school but it sure doesn't feel like it. Caleb started preschool today and Olivia is now in 1st grade. Caleb was so excited this morning that he was up before any of us. Olivia went right to her class and just waved goodbye. It is sometimes hard as a parent to let go of your kids but I am reminded by what God's Word says in the book of Proverbs, "Train a child in the way he should go and when he is old he will not depart from it." It is our job as parents to train our kids. We are training them for life. Sometimes we want to hold on to our kids as tight as we can (believe me sometimes I do.) but that is not our job. Our job is help them and train them to become mature Christ-followers. It is our job to let them go so that they can impact the world for Christ. It's not easy but in the end it sure will be worth it all!

Great Sunday

What a great Sunday we had yesterday. I was very blessed by the ministry of John and Dina Mussacchio. It was so good to see them after so many years. I was very blessed by how our own people got behind the vision of John. The church gave yesterday the highest offering it has ever given to a special speaker. Praise God! What a privilege to bless people above and beyond. Way to go church!

Special Sunday

I am looking forward to this Sunday as my good friend and former youth pastor John Muscacchio will be with us at CH. I have great memories with John and his family at Glad Tidings in Des Moines. John is now a missionary to Guatamala. It is hard to believe that it has been almost four years since I last saw him. In fact, I was in Ohio the last time we got together. This will be a great Sunday and I hope everyone can be here to listen to what John has to say. I know you will be blessed.

DREAM

While we were in Tulsa, Jen's cousin was able to take us to Church on the Move. Church on the Move is known for their awesome children's and youth ministries. I was able to take the grand tour of their new Oneighty Youth Building. Check out some of the pics.

Excited to be back!

Today is my first day back at the office. Jen and I had a great time on our vacation. This past week we took the kids camping. Olivia and Caleb had a great time fishing and making sand castles on the beach. Overall it was a relaxing time. One of the things I was encouraged about was when we told the kids they were going to visit another church yesterday, they were disappointed that we were not going to CH. Pastor Keaton is doing a series on the Armor of God in children's church and they didn't want to miss it. I was excited to hear that that our kids enjoy going to our church above anywhere else. I guess the old saying is true,"There's no place like home" and home is here at Community Hope.

Precious Moments

I'm here in Tulsa OK on my first week of vacation. Jen's uncle has a computer so I thought I would update everybody with a picture. Before we came we stopped at Precious Moments Chapel in Carthage, MO. The kids were especially cute. Here are a few pics!

Blog Vacation

Jen and I will be celebrating nine years of marriage this week. I will be taking a much needed vacation for the next two weeks. Jen and I are planning on getting away by ourselves and then we plan to do a few things with the kids. Looking foward to investing in my family. God Bless!