March 2012
1 post
The Connections Pastor
This past week was the Verge Conference in Austin, Texas. For more information on Verge, check out www.vergenetwork.org.
During the conference, and living in the age of social media where people know you and things about you before ever meeting you, I was contacted by a number of other Connections Pastors from other parts of the country. I felt it necessary to lead with, “I’ve had...
December 2011
1 post
A New Season
Dear friends,
For the past seven years, I have had the honor and privilege of serving students and families at The Austin Stone Community Church. At the outset, I was tasked with building and shaping a student ministry that “when you look back on all the years, the only explanation to all that has happened is that God did something powerful.” God has indeed done something powerful. In our...
November 2011
1 post
"No Such Thing as a Stupid Question"
“It is what it is.”
There was a period of time in my life when I absolutely grew to hate this response. It was the first year of my life after I got saved (in college), and now faced with the new reality of a brand new outlook on life, I heard this answer a lot in response to a host of questions I still had.
I wholeheartedly embraced Christ in my life now, but the chains of my...
October 2011
5 posts
31 Random Thoughts and 1 to Grow On.
1. I love my friends.
2. As an exercise for my 21st birthday, someone challenged me to write out a 10 year plan. The items on that list will shock you and will have to be another blog post.
3. Courrier left today on a national tour with a big name band. I’m sad they can’t celebrate with me today but there’s no more fitting birthday present than seeing them “make...
“It’s just a season thing. It’s just this thing that seasons...”
– John Mayer “Wheel”
“And all that September stole October overcame.”
– Philip Edsel “Tribute to October”
September 2011
4 posts
“As my understanding of my sin and of God’s holiness grows, something else...”
“As I pursue my heavenly journey by thy grace let me be known as a man with no...”
– Valley of Vision “Divine Support”
My Breaking Point
This entry was written on April 19, 2011 and it’s been saved for quite some time in my queue. The timing of the posting of this blog is significant only in that I read it back tonight and felt it was time to go ahead and post one of the most vulnerable and honest moments of my life. So here goes:
“Trial isn’t evidence that God has left you but rather that He has a hold on...
August 2011
2 posts
I Wanna Quit the Gym!
I’ve been doing Crossfit for three weeks now and I’m 100% committed to it. Best workout around. Fastest results I’ve ever seen. One hang-up though. I still have a gym membership.
It should come as little shock that it’s extremely difficult to cancel a gym membership. What I’ve learned in the past day or so as I’ve been navigating through cancelling mine...
July 2011
7 posts
“In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses,...”
– Ephesians 1:7-10
June 2011
11 posts
“Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you...”
– James 1:2
“We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to...”
– 2 Corinthians 4:8-12
“The fear of the Lord is instruction in wisdom, and humility comes before honor.”
– Proverbs 15:33
My Praying Life
Something that I learned over my sabbatical is that I don’t think I ever REALLY knew how to to pray.
Yup.
For me, there was always an element of “dressing myself up” before I approached God in prayer. To reference a Lecrae lyric, “I thought that first I had to clean up my life…”
This showed up in a variety of ways.
1. I felt like I had to use the right...
My Praying Life
“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom and the knowledge of the Holy...”
– Proverbs 9:10
Lessons from Sabbatical
I’ll be honest. The idea of “sabbatical” always seemed to me, as an outsider looking in, like a magic pill that brought about magical healing and restoration.
It took going on sabbatical myself to realize it isn’t a pill. It’s a plan.
I say this, because at the outset, for the first three days of my break, I spent much of it, “doing what I wanted.”...
“For the grace of God has appeared, bringing salvation for all people, training...”
– TItus 2:11-14
“I want to begin by asking you a question that comes from the book of Acts. When...”
– John Piper in 2002
“My son, if you receive my words and treasure up my commandments with you, making...”
– Proverbs 2:1-5
May 2011
13 posts
“Learning to pray doesn’t offer us a less busy life; it offers us a less...”
– Paul Miller, “A Praying Life.” This book is making me more emboldened in my daily prayers.
“Great indeed, we confess, is the mystery of godliness: He was manifested in the...”
– 1 Timothy 3:16
“Let me know that the work of prayer is to bring my will to thine, and that...”
– Valley of Vision; “Living by Prayer.”
I’ve been viewing prayer in a whole new light. Suggested Reading: “A Praying Life.”
“But I received mercy for this reason that in me, as the foremost, Jesus Christ...”
– 1 Timothy 1:16. My being alive today is a display of God’s mercy and thus his perfect patience. I am reminded today that any capacity I have to show mercy and display patience stems from His example and grace.
“Let me hear in the morning of your steadfast love, for in you I trust. Make me...”
– Psalm 143:8
“If you tarry, until you’re better…you will never come at all.”
– Come Ye Sinners: Words by Joseph Hart, 1759. Music by William Walker, 1835.
““I dwell in the high and holy place and ALSO with him who is of a contrite...”
– Isaiah 57:15
“Have you not known? Have you not heard?
The Lord is the everlasting God,
the...”
– Isaiah 40:28-31
“Teach me to see…that Christ does not desire me, now justified, to live in...”
– “Belonging to Jesus” (Valley of Vision)
April 2011
1 post
“Trial isn’t evidence that God has left you but rather that He has a hold...”
– Matt Carter preaching on Genesis.
March 2011
1 post
What Happened to TeenRock Sermons?
I’ve gotten several emails in the past couple of weeks as well as a couple of questions in person concerning the “State of the TeenRock Sermon.”
First off, to know that these sermons are being heard and shared is quite a humbling reality as well as a healthy reminder to approach the preaching of God’s Word with diligence and humility.
Second of all, there indeed have been...
February 2011
11 posts
My "Untold" Story: Conclusion?
Conclusion?
We’re all still “in progress.”
As I started writing down my thoughts and hopes on my whole experience, I always came back to the thought, “I wonder how this is going to end.”
It doesn’t. There are more journeys and more opportunities and new seasons and new lessons to learn.
My mentorship of Nijalon doesn’t end. It’s a lifelong...
2 tags
My "Untold" Story: Part 5
Me and Ministry:
I had never known this about myself before, but apparently I struggle with anxiety. Don’t let the spontaneous, rambunctious, and boisterous reputation fool you, it’s all cosmetic.
When Nijalon came to live with me, I developed a pattern of fixating on things. The reason that the pattern manifested itself was simply because most of these things seemed beyond my...
2 tags
My "Untold" Story: Part 4
Parenting 101:
I had a meeting with a group of parents in November (Nijalon had been living with me for 2 months at that point).
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss some upcoming initiatives in the ministry but before I began the meeting, I went off-book.
“Parents…I get it.”
They all laughed. Here’s why.
Sometime in the Fall, I was invited to speak at a UT FCA...