Russ Chambers

4 answered prayers this thanksgiving

2011-11-09T09:54:00.000-05:00

Morgan (my wife) and I are very goal oriented people. Each year we sit down to make goals for the year about where we hope to be at years end. We seek the Lords guidance on what we should pray/ strive for and then go on a date to talk about what we feel God leading us to go after. At the beginning of this year we sat down with 4 clear prayers/goals on our hearts.

1)Start a family
2) Buy a house
3) Morgan find a job using her college degree
4) The Church to double

To make it clear to you, these were not easy attainable goals in our minds. We financially had budgeted well, but had given to the Church to an extent that we did not have any savings. Morgan has a passion for kids, but no doors were opening for her to really use her degree out here in our first year in Bakersfield. Starting a family was something we wanted to do, but we wanted to make sure we had prepared for parenthood (I understand your never fully ready yatta yatta yatta).

After a few weeks I was reading in Luke 18 about the rich young ruler. I have read this story hundreds of times, but this time it was difference. As I finished reading I felt the Holy Spirit telling me to give every dime Morgan and I had to the Church. It was an all in moment. I immediately assumed that I was hearing God wrong, but began praying that if God wanted me to do something so outrageous as give every dime we had that He would confirm it in Morgans heart as well.

When Morgan came home for lunch I asked her what the Lord was telling her to do that day. Without batting an eye she looked at me and said, "Give a lot of money to the Church." I immediately said "How much," which she followed with "All of it."

My heart started racing, and we felt the Holy Spirit rush into the room. We pulled out our check book, looked up our bank account info, and wrote a check to the cent for what we had. After doing so Morgan and I got on our knees and prayed the goals we felt God leading us toward over that check. It was our way of saying to God, we trust you, and your ability to provide over our own.

After a few days crazy things started to happen. We came home one day to find a grocery card on our door. Another day someone had left a gas card at our door.

By May the Church had more than doubled, and we had seen 8 weeks in a row where we saw people give their lives to Christ.

By April we found out that we were pregnant! Then in June we had purchased a house (There is so much to that miracle that it deserves its own post). Finally early this fall Morgan found out that she was one class away from being able to be a director of a preschool. Today she finished her last homework assignment for that class. Following our daughter (Macie Leigh Chambers) arrival this December she will be starting a director position at Heir Force academy.

To say this year has been a Wow God year is an understatement. We have learned that God is more real than we believed. We are so grateful for what Jesus has done, and coming up on this thanksgiving I thought that we should share this story with you.

3 Churches I wanna learn from in 2012

2011-11-08T11:20:00.000-05:00

I am big into learning from other Pastors and churches. I am just as big of a fan for my staff to learn from them, so while making 2012 plans today I decided to share the 3 Churches I want to learn from in 2012.

1) Element Church in Cheyenne Wyoming. I got to meet Pastor Jeff in a coaching network last year. Element Church began meeting in 2007 and I think that our staff and myself could learn a ton from them. Here is to hoping we can get out to see them sometime in 2012.

2) Transformation Church in Charlotte, NC. Pastor Derwin Grey is someone I first met in college. He is a former NFL player, but he is an incredible Pastor and communicator. I especially value how multi-ethnic his Church is. I know that it will be a bank buster to get our staff out to TC, but I know it will be worth it. If you live in the south you should definitely go and learn from Pastor Derwin.

3) Gateway Church in Dallas, Tx. Pastor Robert Morris' book "The blessed life" has radically changed my wife and my life. We have given every person who took the tithe challenge with our Church a copy of the book this fall, and we are already seeing peoples hearts being changed in our Church. Hopefully we can get some of our staff out to their Church conference in 2012.

We (Hingepoint Church) will always spend money to learn from people who are running hard after Jesus. I don't worship them, or what Jesus has done at their Churches, but I do value the wisdom He has given them.

Proverbs 4:7
The beginning of wisdom is this: Get wisdom. Though it cost all you have, get understanding.

Expose the sin

2011-10-13T17:35:00.000-04:00

Psalm 32:3-5 When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Selah Then i acknowledged my sin to you and did not cover up my iniquity. I said "I will confess my transgressions to the Lord"-- and you forgave the guilt of my sin. Selah Sin wants to hide.

Sin is a burrower.

It clothes itself with darkness, and it desires to remain hidden deep within.

Its ultimate goal is death, death to your body and death to your spirit.

John 1:4-5 says that "In Him (Jesus) was life, and that life was the light of men.The light shines in the darkenss, but the darkness has not understood it."

Jesus exposes sin.

Jesus leaves it naked, vulnerable, and powerless.

Expose the sin. Don't allow it to clothe itself with darkness.

In doing so, I promise you will find freedom.

Integrity

2010-06-08T13:39:00.004-04:00

Integrity is huge in life period.

Lack of it can cut the legs out from any company, team, or organization.

We have read stories in the news where integrity was neglected privately in leaders lives which has resulted in public scandal.

I personally have always recognized the need for integrity, especially in ministry. I have read books about it (Cloud "Integrity" great read) and in my estimation I personally believed that integrity was about not doing bad stupid things.

I rationalized out that the reason guys like Andy Stanley, Craig Groeschel, Perry Noble, and so on had successful ministries was because of the great measure of integrity guys like them lived out both publicly and privately.

AND THIS I BELIEVE TO BE TRUE.

But somewhere in my thinking I began to think that being a man of integrity was about always being perfect. I would do my best to be the perfect leader for everyone around me. I made sure to not touch certain "unpardonable" sins. Publicly I put my best foot forward, because I desired/desire to be a man that lives the Gospel.

Some where in these thoughts I bought into a lie. The lie was "Being a man of integrity, is being a perfect man."

Last night I felt like the Holy Spirit exposed this lie through my executive staff.

At the end of the meeting our operations pastor looked me in the eye and said "You are leading us with great integrity."

That statement freaked me out because I believed that men of integrity were perfect.

I AM NOT.

In that moment I looked at the floor, feeling horrible about my imperfections.

And then through the Holy Spirit I realized something I had never thought of when it comes to leading with integrity.

My imperfection does not DQ me from being a man of integrity, its what I do when I mess up that points out integrity or lack there of.

We are going to make mistakes, but men of integrity confess there sin, faults, and errors. We learn from them and continue to move forward.

On the flip-side the Holy Spirit revealed to me that lack of integrity is sinning and hiding it. (Check out the story of Ananias and Sapphira in Acts 5)

Now this is the point of the blog where I have to insert the line that says this does not mean you can sin all you want, confess it publicly, and expect no repercussions. But you have to realize that no man (other than Jesus) is perfect.

We are being made perfect in Jesus. My boast and hope is in Jesus righteousness in me, not my own.

So with that I encourage you not to allow your mistakes to clothe themselves in darkness. Bring them to light, repent, apologize, admit your imperfections and mistakes.

And in doing so may you realize that this is what it actually means to be men of integrity.

Church planting encouragement

2010-05-13T19:32:00.004-04:00

Today I had an awesome conversation with a buddy who is in the process of a Church start. I shot him a text message after our conversation to encourage him, and I felt like I should post it to encourage any other pastors/church leaders out there.

Keep your head up. The call to ministry is a blessing and a gift. You aren't going to pastor for eternity (on the other side faith will be made sight, and Jesus wont need our messages to describe Him)

So be RISKY. Don't be afraid to shake it up.

From what I am learning there are no rules in Church planting other than listening to Jesus and doing what he says. The measure you will be judged is by that.

Did you listen?

Did you do what Jesus said to do?

Thats all that matters.

He (Jesus) grows his Church. Jesus changes lives. We are attendees along for the ride.

So just be BALLSY obedient even when it disappoints people, causes them to leave, or whatever else people may do.

The same power that raised Jesus from the grave is alive in you...

Don't ever forget it.

4 Months and a day

2010-05-11T17:11:00.002-04:00

Morgan, I, and eight people moved from SC last fall with the conviction that Jesus was calling us to be apart of a new Church He was starting in Bakersfield, Ca. When we arrived in August we knew two people (and we weren't sure if they even wanted to help start the Church).

After two months of rallying up a core group of people (around 25 total) we introduced Hingepoint Church to Bakersfield California January 10th 2010!

At launch 53 people showed up to hear the Gospel.

Weeks have turned into months and today is four months and a day from Jan. 10. With that there is a ton to celebrate.

Since our launch 33,000 dollars has been tithed to Hingepoint!

Of that 33,000, 12,255 has gone straight back out the door to meet needs all over Bakersfield!

Over the past two weeks we have given our people 10,380 dollars to go out into the city to meet the needs of mom's and anyone the Holy Spirit lead them to! (More information coming about this on our website www.hingepoint.cc and via Hingepoint's facebook page)

Sunday May 2nd 75 people showed up to worship at Hingepoint.

Last Sunday May 9th 119 attended Hingepoint's worship experiences.

Thats 40% growth in one week!

To top it all off in our first four months of being a Church we have seen 30 people give their lives to Jesus! This is what the bottom line is all about.

Three weeks ago 10 people went public with that decision at our first Baptism service!

Jesus is changing lives.

Single mom's lives, kids lives, teenagers lives, and my life.

These past four months have totally changed me. I am in awe of Jesus, and so thankful that He has invited me to this party.

Family

2010-04-21T18:05:00.002-04:00

My cousin Shane lives in Columbia South Carolina. We talk frequently about life, Jesus, football, and our family.

We have a great family. We have always been close, and weekly growing up we spent time sharing meals and backyard football games together.

The other night Shane told me something that I had never known about our Granddad(Allen Smith). My Granddad told him that when he had his first son (Rick) he began stopping and praying for him every night before he would go to bed. He continued this practice when my Grandmother and him had my mom (Karen), and then the same when they had my uncle (Steve).

Every night he stopped,

got on his knees

and prayed.

Pretty amazing huh. Every night of his kids life (he made sure to let Shane know he had never missed one) Granddad prayed/ prays for his kids by name.

If that were the whole story it would be incredible in itself.

But it doesn't

Every day since each of his 5 Grand kids had been born, he has every night prayed for us by name!

But it gets even better

Now Granddad has 7 great grands. Every night he prays for them by name as well!

It absolutely blew me away to hear that I have a Granddad like him.

I teared up that night on the phone, and still tear up thinking about how blessed I am to have a Granddad that prays for me daily by name.

Easter 2010

2010-04-05T14:50:00.003-04:00

Hey guys,
Easter at Hingepoint was amazing. For the first time yesterday, we went to 2 services. Between those two services we had 94 people in attendance! Our previous high had been 68. We also had 4 people give there lives to Christ for the first time! Since Hingepoint Church has launched in January, we have seen 29 people give their lives to Christ.

Keep up to date with us, and what is going on via our Hingepoint Facebook page. There you will find up to date pictures and video about the happenings at Hingepoint Church.

Easter prep

2010-03-25T14:45:00.002-04:00

Hey world.

I wanted to drop in and give you guys another Hingepoint Church update.

1) Last Sunday (3/21/10) two more people gave their lives to Christ! This year we have now seen 25 people give their lives to Jesus. This is why we do Church, and it never gets old.

2) We have changed locations. We will be meeting at the Marriott at the convention center now through the end of the fall. We are really excited about the down town location, and our ability to grow.

3) We are moving into our Easter Series this week called "Deliverance." For the last five weeks we looked at Gods deliverance of his people through the book of Exodus. You can check out the series buffer from that series here. I just watched the series buffer for our Easter series, and it is one of the most intense videos we have ever done. Stay tuned to Hingepoint Church Facebook page for that .

4)Easter Sunday Apr.4 we will be moving to two services! This Easter we will be meeting at the Marriott convention center at 9:30 and 11:15. We are extremely excited at what Jesus has done and is getting ready to do through Hingepoint Church.

It still overwhelms me to thank that Jesus chose me to be apart of this. I cannot get over how under qualified I feel to be apart of a move of God like this. Gods favor is great, and I am thankful that he is choosing to bless us with it.

To all the people who have faithfully given to the vision of Hingepoint from the East Coast over the last year.

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.

You are a huge part in the story of how Jesus has gotten Hingepoint Church to this city. We appreciate the sacrifice you have/and continue to make to equip us to reach more people.

Thanks for reading
Pastor Russ

Hingepoint

2010-02-17T14:51:00.004-05:00

Today is a good day to take a second and update the world on the happenings at Hingepoint..

We are officially 7 weeks old (7weeks into launch)
So far 20 people have given their lives to Jesus through Hingepoint this year!
On top of that we had our second membership class two weeks ago with 30 people attending!

Every week we have new families and visitors that are coming to check out Hingepoint. About half of our people who are attending were not going to Church before Hingepoint started. Beyond that we have a ton of momentum heading into our sprint towards easter.

Thank you to all of our supporters on the East Coast who have never seen Hingepoint. You have and continue to equip us to reach Bakersfield. You are as much a part of what we are doing as anyone. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU.

Post again soon.
Pastor Russ

Check us out on facebook on the Hingepoint fan page... There are videos from past weeks, and updated information on the happenings of Hingepoint Church.

Post Launch thoughts...

2010-01-11T19:58:00.004-05:00

Wow...

I am still recovering from what happened this past weekend. We have officially begun our introduction of Hingepoint Church (more importantly Jesus through Hingepoint) to Bakersfield. Yesterday was an intense day of worship, motion, and vision.

The first thing that I have to say is that the band absolutely rocked. They kicked off our gathering with a cover of a "Never knew" by the Rocket Summer"

Our launch series is called "Bio." Each week we are sharing stories of how Jesus has moved on individuals behalf, and then from that I am trying to impart some simple biblical truth.

This week Chris Heimburger shared her powerful story of how Jesus brought her down a crazy road that led to her meeting Jesus, and beginning a relationship with Him.

Things are going great. In Craig Groeschel's book "It" he talks about having a sense when you are around certain churches or people that the Holy Spirit is doing something big. For the past three weeks we have really felt like we have "it". Jesus is moving powerfully in our midst, and we have been gaining a ton of momentum.

Finally Sunday was extremely humbling to here, read, and talk to tons of people all over the US who were praying for Hingepoint and me as I prepared to speak. You guys who called, twittered, facebooked, texted, and emailed have no clue how encouraging it was to hear from you.

I look forward to sharing more with everyone about the crazy journey soon. In the meantime check out facebook for more video footage of the past several weeks.

Launch week pt:2

2010-01-06T19:04:00.002-05:00

More news from the Church plant front...

Today Lee Bryson, Tyler Stroud, Aaron Hartsell, and I recorded a commercial to air every Friday and Saturday on 95.3, the local top 40 radio station throughout the month of January. We are targeting the peeps heading to the club/ coming home from the club at night. I knew that this was a good risk when the radio people said, "No Church has ever tried anything like this before."

We also met with a local agency that works with adults with special needs. We talked with them about possibly partnering to volunteer for some of there upcoming events. If you are reading this from Greenwood, SC and you know what the Burton Center is then you can get an idea of what BARK is about.

The other big news is how many people have been jumping on board for good to help us out this week.

The band has come together and is set to do some incredible things in 2010. Tyler Stroud arrived this week, and has brought an immediate boost for us. That dude can play just about anything, and is pretty much a musical genius. Most importantly Tyler loves Jesus, and I am excited to see the passion he will add to our worship sets. We also just today found out that we have a really solid drummer for good as well.

Morgan (My wife) found out that 5 of her co-workers are going to check us out this weekend. The rest of our core team has been investing and inviting this week to. I cant wait to see who all will be at Hingepoint this week.

Finally I am really excited to have some reinforcements coming in this weekend. Rick Rollins and Dave Wright are coming in to be apart of our launch. Rick is an incredible bass player, who I have gotten to watch grow in his passion for Jesus and worship in the past 4 years. Dave is a level 9 jedi master of all things sound and video. He is my favorite sound guy on the planet, and I love that while he is mixing he does it with an attitude of worship to Jesus. This weekend is going to be incredible.

Oh and there is a rumor that Mr. Wright could be making a return visit in February for a longer period of time.

Things are going great! Please continue to pray for our staff and city. God is giving us a platform to resound Jesus name all over this city, and your support is going a long way to aid His movement.

Pastor

Launch week

2010-01-05T17:29:00.002-05:00

Hey guys,

I feel like every blog I have written lately has started with an apology about my lack of blogging. Instead I just want to get to the point.

Hingepoint Church is launching this week!!

We have been meeting with a core group of people for 4 months now, which has led us to our first official service this weekend.

During our core group time we had a lot of BIG GOD moments.

Two weeks ago we had our first person pray to receive Christ! Also that week, we had people in Church who had not been there in 10+ years!

Our core group has been volunteering and learning how to get plugged in and involved with specific ministry areas for the last four months. They have been doing an incredible job of standing in the gap anywhere we have needed them to.

Thank you to everyone in around the US who has been financially and prayerfully supporting us. You are a big part of what Jesus is about to do through Hingepoint Church in 2010!

We are moving toward getting an office, and post launch my hope is to be able to blog more, and share alot more about what Jesus is teaching us.

Thanks for reading,
Pastor Russ

21 days 21 chapters

2009-11-09T15:18:00.004-05:00

Hey guys,
Last week we began a new series in the book of John called "Encounter." We are looking at how Jesus encounters with the world, humanity, and death. It is going to be an incredible journey.

With that I asked everyone at Hingepoint to read a chapter of John a day starting last Friday.

There are 21 chapters in John.

On Thursday (5th) we were 21 days from Thanksgiving.

If you jumped on board with us (which means you would have to do a lil extra reading) we will have together read the entire book of John by thanksgiving day.

The fun part is that you are not doing this by yourself.

Jump in if you can.

The Church is...Eternal

2009-10-19T13:51:00.003-04:00

This past week we did not break down any statement about the Church except to say that The Church is Eternal.

With that statement I wanted to frame why raising the next generation is so imperative. There are not many things that will still make a difference 100 yrs from now, but you can bank on the fact that 100yrs from now the Church will still exist. With that in mind we have to raise the next generation up knowing who Jesus is and what His Church was placed here on earth to do.

I am going to die within the next 100 yrs.

Most of you will as well, but the next generation will still be here.

We are apart of a story that did not begin with us.

The Story is not about us; its about Jesus.

Each of us (who are in Christ) have a part in the Story where God moved on our behalf. This is also known as your testimony.

The Next Generation will either move forward in God's purpose or totally miss His purpose for their lives all together.

We do not perceive God on our own. God chooses to work through people to connect His message to there hearts.

Text wise we looked at the story of Joshua. (Joshua 4:1-7, Joshua 24:14-15,25-28, and Judges 2:6-10)

This week is the last week of the Church is... Series. We are one month away from moving our meeting time to Sundays. We especially now moving forward need people praying for our team and young Church by name daily. We covet your prayers and encouragement as we move forward to see Jesus change Bakersfield, one person at a time.

The Church is.. Gods power wk.4

2009-10-11T19:05:00.002-04:00

The Church is...
Filled with God's power visibly healing and changing people
Who are broken, hurting, and searching
for a savior that is real and active here on earth.

Scripture:
The whole bible literally. Acts 3:1-16, 1 Corinthians 4:20, Acts 4:13-31.

Main points
Power behind compassion.
Power behind the Word.
Power in the Life Change.
Power behind prayer.

Key statements

The Church is not a social service movement.

We have something greater at work behind us that touches deeper than momentary help in a persons time of need.

There is power in our words when they point out and connect people to the truth of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit shows up to make a big deal out of Jesus, not us.

There is power in our prayers, because of who we are praying to.

Do you remember what you prayed last year on this date? (Jesus does)

Do you remember what you prayed last week on this date? (Jesus does)

There isnt a word that you have prayed to Him that He has forgotten.

*With this series winding down to an end, I wanted to let you guys know that we have video of each of these messages. If you are back in SC or anywhere for that matter, and would like a copy of this series, we can mail you the DVD's.

To get more info about the DVD's of "The Church is..." series shoot me a message here in the blog reply area.

The Church is... Generous wk.3

2009-10-11T18:34:00.004-04:00

The Church is...
A generous people who have been given much so that they can bless much
and in doing so reflect to the world a sincere dependence on Jesus and nothing else.

Scripture:
Gen 12:1-3, Luke 7:36-50, Matthew 25:31-40, Acts 2:43-45, Acts 4:32-35, Matthew 10:8, Isaiah 32:8

Key thoughts...

Immediately when you read this you are probably thinking that I am talking about tithing. FALSE. I didn't once even mention the word tithing.

Tithing is not generosity. Tithing is the first 10% of your income being given back to God (via the local Church).

Generosity is what your doing with the other 90% of what God has blessed you with.

Every day we should be looking for Jesus to open our eyes and call us to step into someone's need generously.

I am not frustrated because were not giving enough. I am frustrated because we are missing out on being the Church.

Generosity has to be planned. (Isaiah 32:8)

Every major move of God early in Acts was filled with people who encountered God, United together, and became generous to everyone around them. (Acts 2:43-45, Acts 4:32-35)

Why do you need the Church to vote on what Jesus has already told you to do?

Generosity is a chance to show value in someone else, that is greater than your value in personal resource or luxury.

Church is Wk2

2009-09-25T12:43:00.003-04:00

Alright world... I am writing you with a ridiculous Holy hangover. Last night was awesome at core group... we had fewer people than we ever had, but we have more momentum now than we had two weeks ago (I know it doesn't make sense... but Jesus is doing something big right now).

This weeks Church is series opening statement was this.

Church is...
A unified diverse body of people who do not gather based on appearance, socioeconomic status, or personal like/dis-likes; but rather find there unity in Jesus and every mans need for salvation, mercy, grace, and life found only in Christ.

Scripture:
1 Corinthians 12:12-20
Ephesians 4:1-6
Ephesians 4:15
Acts 2:42-44

We really drilled what brings us together. How we can be diverse but be totally united behind Jesus.

Three key statements from the message

"Every "tribe" unites by something that connects them together." (Check out Seth Goden's book called tribes... great resource)

"Hingepoint Church is connected and united because of Jesus." (not peoples preferences, opinions, good ideas, stage of life)

"We are not bringing people into the Church to meet our pastor. We are bringing them in to meet Jesus."

It was a great night. If you are in the Bakersfield area next week you should come hang out.

Peace

The Church is series wk 1

2009-09-23T14:34:00.005-04:00

So I promised last week that I would post the opening statement to each weeks "Church is" series message on Friday's. Needless to say I am late....but better late than never.

This series is laying out biblically what we believe Hingepoint Church is suppose to be. Over the next four weeks we will continue to add to this idea of what we believe Jesus has called His bride to be. At the end of each statement there will be several scripture references for why we chose the wording, and statement as core to what we believe.

The Church is...
A chosen people(A) whose head is Jesus(B), whose help is the Holy Spirit(C), who enact the word in their lives(D) in order to see the Great Commission fulfilled in there city and around the world(E).

Scripture references.
A) 1 Peter 2:9
B) Eph. 5:25-27, Eph. 1:19-23, Heb. 3:2-4, psalm 127:1.
C) John 16:5-11
D) James 1:22-24
E) Matt. 28:18-20, Acts 1:8

First week update

2009-09-17T14:27:00.002-04:00

Hey Guys (non-gender specific term meaning both male and female)

I have intentionally pulled away from writing or posting anything for the past couple of weeks. I have decided to devote myself to reading a ton of scripture and listening to Gods voice.

I figured that it was time for me to do more listening than blogging or tweeting or whatever else I tended to use as an outlet other than God.

With that I felt like today i needed to post a lil update.

We FINALLY had our first meeting last week. We had 21 people there, and to be honest it felt great just feeling the Holy Spirit speak through me.

Want to know what I talked about? Having a hunger for Jesus. Our core group left hungry and they all said that they would be back this week....

Maybe I need to preach harder this week.

With that we are starting a 5 week series with our core group tonight called "The Church is..." I cant wait for tonight to begin this series at looking at what Jesus said about His Church.

Over the next couple of weeks I will post the opening "Church is..." statement on the blog every Friday.... So be looking for that tomorrow around 10 west coast time.

Thanks so much for everyones prayers. We are in a battle and Jesus is showing out.

Peace,
Russ

Things were flowing easy.....but

2009-07-31T19:18:00.002-04:00

Hey guys,
Many weeks have gone by since I last logged anything on this page. Morgan and I are finally on the West Coast in Bakersfield, and we have "nested" into our apartment. The road trip out here was great. We had an opportunity to catch an Astro's game with my Aunt Dottie, and spend some great quality time with Morgan's sis Courtney. However driving in the 10000 pound truck through the rockies sucked. At one point I was flooring it and we were going 35 miles per hour. Lee Bryson our worship pastor road out with us, and upon his pleading we decided to stop at the "Road Kill Cafe." The food was actually incredible and you can see many of the pics on my facebook page.

When we arrived in Bako I was on like a 3 day adrenaline rush. We moved in Tuesday of this week, met some incredible people who seem ready to charge the gates of hell with us and that was just the first day. Day 2 sent us to Tehachapi to preach. People there were extremely fired up about Hingepoint, and quickly have contacted family and friends down here in Bako to connect them with the Church. On day three Morgan received a job opportunity at a day care! We are extremely excited about that, and after receiving the job I was beginning to wonder what people were talking about when they called church planting "hard".

That was until today. Today has hit like a load of bricks. I am not sure if its the speed at which we have been moving or what, but today I definitely feel like Satan is near and is giving me a swift kick in the man part.

In church planting there are alot of questions that you have no clue how to answer. That is part of the fun, and also the opportunity for torment. Today all of the un-knowns have come up at the same time. I am writing this for therapy more than anything, but I definitely could use your continued support and prayers.

For those of you who are sponsoring us, I want to thank you again. In this process God is really helping relieve alot of the pressure of starting the church with your support.

Until next time.
Russ

Check it off the list (Vacation and the purchase)

2009-07-14T00:23:00.006-04:00

I spent last week at Wild Dunes with a ton of family on vacation. I was really excited to go to Charlestone, the beach, and enjoy some time reading. On vacation I read three books. I finished "Vintage Church" by Mark Driscoll, I also read "Reformission Rev" by Driscoll, and read "5 dysfunctions of a team" by Lencioni.

I will blog more about these later, because they were awesome, but a child hood dream came true on vacation.

Ever since I was 12 I would go to the beach and look at surf boards. I have always wanted one, but b/c of how expensive they are never made the purchase. While in Chucktown I met a cool guy at a surf store called point break. He was a skater/DJ who I dont think knew anything about surfing (not that I did or do either). He saw me doing my usual look over the surf board section and offered me any board for $200 dollars off. At that moment I knew that if I were ever to buy a surf board it would be then. I began pricing and found a 6'4 board that with the price break would total $225. It was perfect, my wife walked in the store.

I thought that this is where my dream would end, but she said buy it.
And so after 10 minutes of flipping quarters and playing rock paper scissors against myself I bought it.

We still had one day left on vacation and the wave had been perfect all week, so I went to sleep with dreams of surfing greatness in my head.

The following morning I blitzed the beach like a fat kid blitzing the bar at Golden Carral. People took notice to, I had a surf board, I was a surfer.

Until I hit the water. There was a ridiculous rip tide that day. The waves while they were big were crashing verticle to the beach. I jumped in and for the next hour got pounded by waves. After an hour had passed I felt like Frank Mir following his fight with Brock Lesnar last Saturday night.

My trunks were so drenched with water that they weren't staying up anymore. I accidentally mooned people, they awkardly tried to act like they were not looking, and then after pleading with God for grace I trudged back into the ocean to "catch" one more wave before calling it quits.

20 more minutes later I realized that not only had I not caught a wave, but that my surfboard and the rip tide had worked together to drag me over half a mile down the beach from where I had begun the day.

To make things worse (or perhaps this is where I was saved) my wife and her mom appeared ready to take pictures on the beach with me and the board.

I felt cheezy as mess, but I did walk the 1/2 mile back down the beach with the best looking woman on the planet beside me.

I don't regret buying the board. I look forward to attempting to surf alot in Cali.

However as it stands now, I really suck at surfing.

Thats all for now...
More serious post coming really soon.

P.S. 10 days until Cali.

Hingepoint in 20 words....

2009-07-01T15:50:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, Jamie Salmon and I met with Joshua Blankenship. Joshua is currently working on a full branding/website for Hingepoint Church. Joshua is an incredible Graphic/Branding designer, and has a great ability to accurately portray the culture of your church through the web.

During our conversation he asked me to describe Hingepoint Church in 20 words. I loved that question so I decided to share with you the 20 that popped into my head.

Passion
Energy
Excitement
Anticipation
So. Cal Attitude
Direct
Connecting
Moving
Forward
Generous
Growing
Momentum
Life Changing
Powerful
Epic
Generous
Vibrant
ADD friendly
Bright
Loud

If you are in Bakersfield Ca. and this intrigues you then you should definitely come check out our first core group meeting in early September.

If you attend another church give me 20 to describe your church.

Clanging in my brain....

2009-06-21T22:15:00.004-04:00

For the last week I have been working FUGE camp at NGU. With that I have not had an opportunity to write for a while, but Jesus has still had His finger all up in my life.

First off is hunger. I am so hungry for Jesus. I am about to flip my lid in anticipation of releasing what He has been preparing in my heart at Hingepoint Church. I have an urgency in my gut for Christ that actually began escalating back in the spring. In the spring I called it going into fifth gear, now I have no clue what to call it. I do know this, I have never felt God's power more active in my life and I have never been bolder about it.

The second is this. I am not a speaker, I am a pastor. My goal is not a neat oration on a weekly basis that impresses, but my target and aim is through the word for people to see a picture of JESUS. Then through the Holy Spirit for people to encounter the very Power and presence of the one true living God. I don't want to be neat or predictable, instead I want to communicate words inspired and given straight from Holy Spirit. Those words are the sharpest. They communicate and hit thousands in a room right at the point of there need. Speakers give good speeches, but pastors deliver the inspired word straight from God to the people, given through the Holy Spirits.

I never want to forget that.

P.S. this only come from time on your face with Jesus. You want words from Him then you have to spend time with Him. No duh statement of this blog, but it is the most neglected, clear your schedule and get on your face.

Finally there is power in Jesus name. Eight more paragraphs could not expound on this enough, instead just check out Acts 5:12-42.

WORD

Hingepoint

2009-06-04T16:38:00.004-04:00

Wow wow wow wow...
So there are an insurmountable amount of things that have to happen in order for Hingepoint Church to become a reality and a place for people in Bakersfield to encounter Jesus.

With that said, God is just flat out showing out right now.

Mark and Chris (awesome peeps moving with us) just had there house sell today! Then in the same day Mark received a call from Cal State Bakersfield telling him that they were wanting to have another phone interview with him about a potential accounting job next week!

If Mark were hired that would put two of our church plant team members on Cal State's campus. I believe that a lot of the life blood and passion in the city of Bakersfield is in that place. I cant wait to see how Jesus uses our team and connects us with people on the campus who have a divine calling that they have not even dreamed yet.

Also last night was the first Wednesday in over a year that I did'nt speak at SMU. To be honest yesterday internally sucked. I still don't know what to do with my self, but I got to hear Lee Bryson lead worship at Seacoast Greenville's first Wednesday. Lee is anointed by God to lead worship.

Right now I have to get our core group study material written for the fall. I am jacked up about what God is speaking into my life. If you are praying for Hingepoint please keep praying that God would speak words of inspiration into my life, instead of ripped off imitation.

I cant wait to be in Bakersfield, and all the 100+ degree's of heat.

If your reading this and you live in Cali. email me to let me know. I would love to network with you when we get out west.

russ.chambers@gmail.com

PEACE

Pics from last week SMU

2009-05-29T10:12:00.002-04:00

Opening to tonight's message

2009-05-27T13:24:00.002-04:00

Jesus is the savior and hero of all humanity,

In Jesus death is defeated

brokenness is made whole

Hopelessness meets hope

Hate meets Love

Death meets life

Chains are broken

Dead men rise

dead hearts beat.

In Jesus people encounter

Truth, love, hope, purpose, and life,

Pain meets glory

Suffering meets purpose

The impossible is made possible,

The imperfect are perfected in Him

Jesus name is eternal,

God sent Jesus to die for a debt we couldn’t pay

In an imperfect world Jesus was perfect,

Where there is Hate Jesus brings love,

In the beginning Jesus was there.

At creations fall He was there

God did not sit idle after our fall

Jesus walked into time and our pain and brokenness

Jesus was the living word of God.

On the cross our rebellion and death was carried by Him.

The third day Jesus rose as the victor of sin, hell, and death.

And in the end Jesus will stand as King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

Thoughts on a thursday...

2009-05-21T14:39:00.002-04:00

Today has been rare...

For the most part I have been left alone in the office. This has given me an opportunity to sit, listen, and think. Here are some of the things going through my head.

Last night we had 140 students at SMU. During the message I asked for students who had been baptized and received Christ over the last two years to stand. I have no clue how many stood, but it seemed like a ton (to many to count quickly). The room erupted in applause. My eyes filled with tears.

Today while looking back on that, I realized something.

God didn't have to do it. He didn't have to send Jesus. He didn't have to call me to pastor (He doesn't need me).

But He did...

He saved me. He still pours out grace on me, that I don't deserve. He still covers my weakness, and in power does something significant with my brokenness.

The last several months at SMU could be summed up with two words...

Desperate urgency.

And He has come in and supernatural done something I felt as if He was wanting to do in the beginning, but never thought I would see. This has been an incredible journey. I am thankful that Jesus works and will continue to work in spite of my disfunction.

With that said, I long for the moment that I can preach with urgency and desperation to the people in Bakersfield California. I can honestly say that I have no clue how I am going to be still over the summer and not preach somewhere.

But if this is the season that God is calling me into I will listen and learn, and hopefully my urgency and desperation for people to encounter Him will grow even greater.

Orthodox theologian quote

2009-05-19T10:27:00.002-04:00

So this quote is from Kallistos Ware. An orthodox theologian.

" The world was not created unintentionally or out of necessity; it is not an automatic emanation or overflowing from God, but the consequence of divine choice. We should think, not of God the Manufacturer or God the craftsman, but of God the lover. By voluntary choice God created the world in "ecstatic" love, so that there might be besides himself other beings to participate in the life and the love that are his."

I love this... took me a while to process it , but I love it.

What its all about.

2009-05-19T09:24:00.005-04:00

This past Wednesday 14 more people declared Jesus as Lord and were Baptized. Here are some of the pictures from the night....

Never forget that this is what its all about.

Church plant front news

2009-05-19T09:18:00.002-04:00

I am in awe....

Absolute awe of how God is working. This past weekend we had three youth @ South Main, feel the need to jump in and help out financially with Hingepoint.

They each decided to partner monthly and now 3 teenagers and a college student have combined to supply Hingepoint Church with over 1000 dollars!

God supplies His Church, and I love the way He has chosen to do it...

through teenagers!

Now Morgan and I are trying to get packed and get ready for the move.

Bakersfield we will see you soon.

Church plant freak out

2009-05-14T10:43:00.005-04:00

All Pastors understand that there are moments in the process of starting/pastoring a Church where you absolutely lose it and FREAK OUT.

For some reason this past Sunday night I was in one of those places over money. I stayed up for several hours not sleeping trying to figure out how to make a miracle happen..

I laugh(looking back) at how often I try to make the miraculous happen by myself. After a sleepless night I walked into the office frustrated and overwhelmed.

A couple of hours into the day a college student called and asked if they could come by. I was on my way out of the office for lunch, but I said sure. They swung by and handed me a letter in passing that I tucked away into my bible to read later.

After a full day I sat down that evening and opened the letter. The student had written my wife and I a lot of encouragement and followed it with Psalm 32. That was awesome, but then there was another folded piece of paper with the note.

I opened it and saw that they had include seven 20 dollar bills.

That broke me...

I remember what it was like to be in college. I have lived off of quarters and nickels, and so I know that 140 dollars is a small fortune to a college student. Immediately I felt foolish for even questioning whether or not God would provide the resources for His Church. (Thats the best line yet its His Church)

That shut me up...

I don't know if you are having a freak out moment right now....

but if you are

Remember that God is in control.

He has the back of His bride.

He will grow her, supply her, and use her for His glory.

And even when you don't know how He is going to supply the need trust that He is at work in it before you ever began freaking out.

God is good.

Reading updates

2009-05-07T13:20:00.003-04:00

I wanted to share with you guys some books and scripture that is absolutely rocking my world.

Since January there are several books that I have blogged about that I think if you are in ministry are must reads. These books include "Axiom" by Bill Hybels "Red Moon Rising" By Pete Greig and "Tribes" Seth Goden.

Back in January I felt like God told me it was time to enter into a season of reading so I did. My pace on books outside of the bible has slowed a lot, but I believe its because of what God has me reading now.

Currently I have been going through "Vintage Church" by Mark Driscol and Gerry Breshears. Every senior pastor in a Church, Church staff member, and 20 something must read this book.

Slowly

It is packed with scripture, and really is challenging in a good way to anyone who is associated (good or bad) with Jesus and His Church.

I am planning on reading this book thoughtfully through June.

Also God has really been wrecking my world with a lot of scripture. Here are three that have really been hitting me.

Acts 4:13-19

¹³When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. ¹⁴But since they could see the man who had been healed standing there with them, there was nothing they could say. ¹⁵So they ordered them to withdraw from the Sanhedrin and then conferred together. ¹⁶"What are we going to do with these men?" they asked. "Everybody living in Jerusalem knows they have done an outstanding miracle, and we cannot deny it. ¹⁷But to stop this thing from spreading any further among the people, we must warn these men to speak no longer to anyone in this name."

¹⁸Then they called them in again and commanded them not to speak or teach at all in the name of Jesus. ¹⁹But Peter and John replied, "Judge for yourselves whether it is right in God's sight to obey you rather than God. ²⁰For we cannot help speaking about what we have seen and heard.

There is power in the name of Jesus.... Never forget it.

Acts 20

²"And now, compelled by the Spirit, I am going to Jerusalem, not knowing what will happen to me there. ²³I only know that in every city the Holy Spirit warns me that prison and hardships are facing me. ²⁴However, I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me—the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.

Kingdom upgrades don't always come with bigger churches and easier paths... Sometimes when God calls you to the next phase of your calling He calls you into difficulty, persection, and a rough path.

Psalm 145: 3-5

³ Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom.

⁴ One generation will commend your works to another; they will tell of your mighty acts.

⁵ They will speak of the glorious splendor of your majesty, and I will meditate on your wonderful works.

The next Generations idea of what the Church is, who Jesus is, will be reflected first to them by this generation. They will be the ones to reach back and paint a picture of the beauty of the bride of Christ. For further study on this check out the story of Joshua right after he leads the people into the promise land.

The word is good, truth, and eternal get in it.

22

2009-05-07T13:13:00.002-04:00

Last night at SMU was absolutely incredible. Every time that I think that the Holy Spirit cant get more intense, something huge seems to happen.

We are doing a series that is called "One last thing." Last night the message was Finish Strong. Twenty two kids at the end walked forward fell on there knees and cried out to God to help them finish strong. Some rededicated there lives to Jesus, others repented from sin. One thing is for sure...

Last night was extremely intense. So intense that I still have not recovered.

I cant believe that I get to do this for a living.

God is good.

California trip cont....

2009-04-30T13:11:00.005-04:00

While we were out in Cali. God sent some amazing people to us. Since the body of Christ is made up of people, it is good to have some you know in the city where you are starting a church (that was a good church planting tip).

Dan and Jeri Bridgen have been an absolute God send in this process. I first met them through there daughter Lisa, while working up at Jenness Park for FUGE. I had no clue when I first met them what God was planning on doing through our relationship (usually you never do at first).

Last year Lee (one of the dynamic duo worship leaders) and I drove down to Bakersfield from Sacramento on a trip. I was not sure if I was really going to follow through with the whole church plant idea at the time. Needless to say I was wrestling with God in a strange place, not really knowing what to do. Dan and Jeri took us in. They both talked to us, made us feel at home, took care of Lee who was sick, and Jeri cooked some of the most amazing food I have ever had.

I left still wrestling with God, but thankful that He had allowed us to spend some time with them.

Fast forward to this year. I fly back out to Cali. and speak at a Church in Tahachapi (a lot more to come about Tahachapi later), after speaking there we go and eat at a place called "city slickers"

There a couple named Dave and Aurora start talking about Jeri and Dan. After a minute it hit me whom they were speaking of.

They gave us there number and told us to call them. I thought about it, but I did'nt want to bother them.

Well back down the mountain in Bakersfield some of our other team members were out at lunch. "Randomly" Dan and Jeri walk in to where they are eating. Lee recognized them and immediately they told us to come back over.

Again Jeri cooked an amazing meal and we caught up with them about the Hingepoint.

Which brings us to our last Cali. trip. I called Lisa (Dan and Jeri's) daughter before heading back out to Cali. She told us to stay at her parents place while we were out.

Again I felt bad b/c I knew that I was going to be out there for a week and 1/2. Jeri called a couple of day's before to make sure we were staying with them, and we did.

Again for a week and 1/2 Dan and Jeri took us in, they cooked, we talked, they honestly helped us not freak out, and in the end I was excited about how excited they were about Hingepoint.

At the end of our time with them they talked about how frustrating it had been for them not to be able to serve in the church. It was amazing how God allowed us to be blessed by them being the church for us while we were out in Cali. I am thankful for God allowing our paths to meet and excited to see how they are going to impact Bakersfield through Hingepoint.

God is good.

God doing more amazing things.

2009-04-30T12:22:00.003-04:00

Definitely been a while since I blogged last.

Since last time I have journeyed back home to Cali. On that trip God definitely showed us where are calling is, and I wanted to share some of the stories with you guys.

First I flew out April 6 with Brandon and Rachel (Awesome team members, soon to be married). It was there first time in the beautiful city of Bako, and they had a ton of questions to be answered.

The first full day out we did walk up job interviews.

I hear that this is not the best way to successfully get a job any where other than Burger King or Carl's Jr.

Rachel was dressed to impress,

Brandon and i were wearing jeans and t-shirts.

We looked like rift raft tagging along behind the business lady.

I knew that jobs were going to be a huge priority since our entire team is going to be bi-vocational to start. I started praying as we walked into different places, in many spots getting weird looks (to which I began imagining beating people up).

Rachel handed out her resume and actually met with the dean of the english department.

That should have never happened. A week later she had a phone interview. The lady at the university thought Rachel had taught college. She has not yet. The lady loved her though, and wants her at the university. Aka Rachel is going to have a job out there, God parted waters and hooked her up.

Then there comes the whole issue of Brandon and Rachel telling there boss back home that they are moving. They did and there boss decides to keep them on as writers for their website. God parted waters again.

I love seeing how God is affirming our team members in there calling to Cali. It excites me to look back at the stories and see how God is all in what were doing.

More to come soon....

Your Love Never Fails -Chris Quilala / Jesus Culture

2009-04-26T12:19:00.001-04:00

You Won't Relent - Jesus Culture - Kim Walker and Chris Quilalaa

2009-03-31T12:16:00.001-04:00

This song has been echoing in my head and heart for the past 3 days...

Baptism 3/18/09

2009-03-24T11:12:00.005-04:00

SMU last week was amazing. We saw 8 students professing Christ as Lord through baptism. On top of that we flat out celebrated what Jesus is doing in there lives and in the lives of our student ministries.

Here are some of the pictures from last week

CT Studd

2009-03-23T09:53:00.002-04:00

I have been putting up a quote every week that has stopped me in my tracks the previous weeks, so to continue here is one from CT Studd.

"Some want to live within the sound of church or chapel bell; I want to run a rescue shop within a yard of hell."

What is going on... really

2009-03-18T09:48:00.007-04:00

A church planter told me that he never has seen God do as many miracles as he did during the first two years of his church plant.

While I hope that 5 or 10 or 50 years from now there are even greater miracles taking place around me, I have to say that this first few months of prep (were not even "planting" yet) have been absolutely ridiculous.

First let me tell about the team that God has given me. I read a book by an awesome pastor about picking out your all star team.

I loved this idea, but God has not seemed to into this yet.

I think its because He knows I would really screw this one up.

Anyhoo I have no freaking (stress the "g") clue why or how these people got around me.

Morgan was the real key player to the church plant move. She is my wife, and Gods affirmation in her life about our call to California has been the greatest affirmation that God could give me. She has been a voice of calm when I have just wanted to freak out. I am positive that when she sings angels dance around the room (you really need to hear her worship Jesus)... Most importantly she shows me love that I don't deserve. I couldn't move out west if God wasn't at work in her heart about this as well. I guess what I am trying to say is that I married way out of my league (God hooked me up).

Then there is Jamie. Jamie is an 11 on a leadership scale from 1-10. He works at a church that honestly inspired me to jump into the ministry. Career move wise what Jamie is doing doesn't make sense. But I know that he is called to Bako.

The other day he told me "My job is to make sure you finish strong." WHAT that is awesome. I am jacked up about what God is going to do through Jamie.

Then there is Mark and Chris. When I first met Mark I was pretty sure that he didn't even like me (the students at SMU kept taking sound gear... long story). Then one day Chris (who is one of the realist people I know) and Mark sit down with me to talk about the church plant, and then after fasting and praying tell me there in.

I was like what do you mean?

They put there house on the market

I puked (But I got what "were in" means)

and there getting ready to move their two kids and lives across country.

WHAT?

FYI... I am confident that God is going to use Mark to bring thousands of people out of the bondage of debt... People in Bako who are hurting in debt, Mark is going to be your BFF.

Then there is Lee. Lee is a hippy trapped in 2009. Rainbow flip flops and shorts are year round preferred attire. I remember that I did everything I could to describe how bad Bako was to him. For some reason though he is ready to leave his job as a worship leader so that he can move across country to work a job (to start) so that he can lead for us on the weekends.

I am convinced that some of the next great worship songs are going to be written through Lee. The other day he (Lee) sat in my office and with tears filling his eyes talked about his heart and passion for lost people to meet Jesus.

That got me so jacked up....

Then (I know this is long, but its good keep reading) there is Brandon and Rachel. These two are eclectic and I love it. Morgan and I met Brandon and Rachel in college. Brandon is an amazing musician who has an amazing ability to connect musically with a non-Christian audience. I love how God allows me to connect with hurting people through teaching the word, but what I do speaking Brandon is able to do through music.

When Lee and Brandon start writing music together music is going to take a ridiculous shift.

AKA Sundays are going to be a circus musically.

Rachel is an all star. I am convinced that she has the highest IQ of anyone on our team. You are probably going to be reading books by her really soon, and when you see our print material its her wisdom that has insured that we do not sound like rednecks from Moonville. Her personal story alone is going to go platinum (or whatever books do when they sell lots of copies), and more importantly because of what God has brought her through she is going to be a beacon of hope to a ton of hurting people.

Look God knows and knew who He was going to use for this mission. My job wasn't to choose them, He had already chosen them for me.

And that is dangerous....

This is not something being put together by me, a couple of people, or an organization. This is a move of God, being staffed and equipped by God.

Oh and speaking of equipped....

The other day (without us even asking people for help funding wise) someone wrote us a check for 5 grand. WHAT...

This is amazing.

William Booth

2009-03-17T12:53:00.003-04:00

Reading up on prayer, and came across this little nugget from an old school dude named William Booth.

"While women weep as they do now, I'll fight; while little children go hungry as they do now, I"ll fight; while men go to prison, in and out, in and out, I'll fight; while there is a poor little lost girl upon the street, I'll fight; while there yet remains one dark soul without the light of God, I'll fight-- I'll fight to the very end!"

(Richard Collier, The General Next To God)

Meditate on that for a minute....

Billy Graham

2009-03-10T13:32:00.002-04:00

I was reading last night and I came across this statement from Billy Graham. I thought it should be shared so here it is.

"The evangelistic harvest is always urgent. The destiny of men and of nations is always being decided. Every generation is crucial; every generation is strategic. But we cannot be held responsible for the past generation and we cannot bear full responsibility for the next one. However we do have our generation! God will hold us responsible at the judgement seat of Christ for how well we fulfilled our responsibilities and took advantage of our opportunities." from the book "Just As I Am"

Tribes

2009-03-02T14:20:00.003-05:00

I finished a book by Seth Godin last week called "Tribes"

It has me thinking about community and the way the Church tries to manage or create something that already exist.

No one had to tell you to make friends...

no one told you to communicate or share life, you naturally do it...

everyday

but for some reason the Church is programming itself into the dirt trying to pull people out of existing community,

into a sub forced Narnia approved, family friendly, more Christian community...

Immediately half of you (thats 2 out of the 4 of you who read this) are saying, but fellowship of fellow believers is good, what is wrong with wanting to be around other Christians....

Isn't there something in the bible about it? (Hebrews 10:24-25)

Answer: Nothing

But we don't walk in Christian circles for the majority of our life....

Community at work (unless you work at a Church) is not "Christian"

Neither is the community that you live in at school or college...

Beyond Chic-Fil-a how many restaurants do you actually eat in that are family friendly, that are wholesome and Christian?

But these are the communities that we live in outside of our planned Christian communal meetings...

And you will spend more time in these naturally built communities than you will in your "C-group, D-group, or bible study group."

and you learning how to engage this community is epically important....

Some would say that its of Kingdom importance...

and I agree

You have a "tribe" at the

YMCA,

on Saturdays at your kids ball game (where you wear the my son is # whatever shirt)

at the place you work,

at Starbucks

at the dorm room that you live in....

or fraternity/ sorority that you belong to

Community it exist

but what if we intentionally began to engage these naturally existing communities with the changed lives that Jesus has given us...

What if we began to see the tribes that we belong to in a different light?

And then

through Jesus

began to impact these naturally existing communities and tribes that already exist

instead of trying to pull people out into our sub-created Christian communities?

Would the Church begin existing more outside of Sundays and Wednesday's then?

would we still be trapped inside a box while God is at work in the YMCA, Starbucks, and other places that we assumed He had forgotten about....

Just some thoughts...

Oh and this really is impacting how Hingepoint Church is going to do/be the Church....

Bakersfield, Ca.

God is good and His Church will be a reflection of His goodness to you...

See you soon.

Jesus wants to save Christians

2009-03-02T14:07:00.005-05:00

I am currently reading a book by Rob Bell and Don Golden called "Jesus wants to save Christians,"

I started the book 4 days ago, and I am about to start the last chapter. The book does an incredible job of getting you to think.

I am 24

I realize that I am settling for comfort in my life,

and this book is messing with

Idols,

Idols that I didn't know that I had. (More quotes and questions to come later)

taxes and the Government

2009-02-24T13:24:00.001-05:00

Taxes suck.... That is all. No meat to this blog post, just figured I would state the obvious.

Coldplay - Life In Technicolor ii (HD)

2009-02-24T11:23:00.001-05:00

Awesomeness from Coldplay

Church

2009-02-18T11:41:00.003-05:00

I have really been wrestling with how Hingepoint Church is going to be the hands and feet of Jesus for Bakersfield, CA.

Today I realized that I wanted our church to be known more for the ministry 6 days outside of Sunday than for our once a week gathering.

With that realization I also realized this. There is no 3 step way to program people to do that. Bible studies, mission projects, home groups, none of these things (although they are good) can make this happen.

It takes a tribe that is totally sold out on being a reflection of Jesus for there city. That is the only way you or any group will ever be known for anything more than "that church that meets on Sunday."

Up coming speaking schedule...

2009-02-18T11:35:00.003-05:00

Life is already out of control, but here are some places outside of SMU where you can come hear the word soon.

February 20-23 Greenville, SC (Overbrook Baptist Church)

February 26 Anderson University BCM

March 19 Lander University BCM

March 27-29 Liberty, SC D-Now

April 6-14 all over Cali. details to come soon.

random verses that have been tearing me up.

2008-12-01T16:34:00.004-05:00

I have not had any time to blog anything of substance lately, but Jesus is teaching me so much.

Here are some verses that have been stopping me in my tracks right now.

1 Samuel 17:48

"Then it happened when the Philistine rose and came and drew near to meet David, that David ran quickly toward the battle line to meet the Philistine."

(Full blog of thoughts on this verse to come some time soon)

1 Samuel 17:47

"and that all this assembly may know that the Lord does not deliver by sword or by spear; for the BATTLE IS THE LORDS and He will give you into our hands."

Psalm 84:5

"How blessed is the man whose strength is in you, In whose heart are the highways to Zion!"

I have so much that I wish I had time to talk about, maybe later this week I can get a lot of stuff out for you to read.

Word

Coldplay

2008-11-20T12:50:00.005-05:00

I made a list in college entitled "bands to see before I die." On this list I listed a variety of artist who I felt if given the chance at whatever cost I would go to see live.

This list is topped by bands like U2, Jack Johnson, Ben Folds, and John Mayer. However there is one band that hails above them all, Coldplay. Two weeks ago it finally happened. I got to see Coldplay at Phillips arena. Matt Ware, Matthew McMinn, Tom Mcminn, Brandon Batson, and Molly McMinn were all there as well.

Now I dont flip out about a lot of things, but when Coldplay hit the stage I am pretty sure that I looked at Matt and fluttered my hands like a little school girl. It was amazing.

Oh and to see 17,000 people passionately worshiping something was intense. We are all intrinsically wired for worship. I am sure there is more to blog about this at a later time. In the mean time here are some pictures.

Incramentalism

2008-10-31T11:14:00.004-04:00

Wow this one may get me in trouble, but well you know I am going to write it anyway.

I am reading a book by Bill Hybel's pastor of Willow Creek in Illinois. The book is full of leadership nuggets that span Bill's pastoral career of 20 plus years of ministry.

The last chapter stopped me in my tracks. I want to give you some of the quotes, and then some of the stuff that is bouncing around like pong in my head right now.

"Over time, church leaders and congregations alike are dismayed to learn just how much energy and enthusiasm it takes to keep the machinery of a growing church chugging along."

"The biggest financial dream is a 3 percent increase over last years income, because anything more than that would be going out on a wild limb of faith. Very slowly, and quite subtly, you find yourself increasingly satisfied with nothing more than incremental growth. And from there things really start to go downhill."

"Incremental thinking, incremental planning, incremental prayers--it's the kiss of death. Don't fall for it."

Now this is where honesty hurts. Speaking as a leader working for change in the church I am in, honestly it needs to be heard that this is the funk that as a church we are in. We as a whole student ministry, everywhere, expect what is incrementally predictable. Meaning if one or two come to Christ in a month then obviously we have done our job (insert statement about how overjoyed we are about the 1 or 2 who come to Christ or join our church).

Be honest. We are in a season of plateau, we have been there and made great friends with it. We are no longer praying big God size prayers. Realistically we are doing church as if we were tired, and reality is that we are. Living within the predictability of what you should annually expect growth wise has rendered the church into a stooper that is slowly leaking away the passion of the "body."

If we continue to pray incrementally, think incrementally, and plan incrementally we will never recover. As Hybel's says "It's the kiss of death. Don't fall for it."

Think about it.

When is the last time you hit our Church parking lot feeling as if Jesus himself were about to speak to you?

When was the last time you took a God size risk (by the Holy Spirits prompting) and knew that if God did not intervene, you would be ruined?

God please disturb us.

Random thoughts...

2008-10-28T12:49:00.006-04:00

It is time to live the Gospel and Live it hard.

With every....

Conversation, laugh, tear, action, dollar, word, breath, and beat of my heart.

Live the Gospel and live it out hard.

Take nothing for granted. Perceive it all as divinely planned, and God ordained.

From the drive through

to the golf course,

to evenings with your wife,

to moments at starbucks with friends,

to standing in line anywhere,

to moments of solitude,

to time with your kids,

to work,

to the car ride,

to vacation,

to holidays,

take nothing, none of it, for granted.... Know that these were crafted moments by God.

and may I start expecting that a divine God, has planned out divine moments with each minute of this life that God has given me.

Leadership quotes from Cloud

2008-10-27T15:43:00.003-04:00

I just started reading a book called "Axiom" by Bill Hybels. The foreword was written by Henry Cloud. Cloud wrote an awesome book called "Integrity" that you should definitely check out.

Here are some of the things that got me thinking in his foreword to Bill's new book.

"A leaders responsibility, first and foremost, is to cause a vision and mission to have tangible results in the real world."

" Without a real difference made in real people's lives , a vision is regulated to a pipe dream.."

- I loved this quote. It stopped me dead in my tracks as a church leader. I probably will write more about this later.

"Great leaders grow not just results, but people too."

- As a leader this really yanked my focus when it came to how I am leading those around me.

"Few things are more tragic than seeing zeal, talent, and a God-given goal fail because a leader neglected to get better."

-I better become more intentional about growing, resting, and spending time with God.

I hope these get you thinking.

It: is finished

2008-10-26T18:30:00.005-04:00

I just finished reading the book "it" by Craig Groeschel last night. There are very few books that I read through all the way. Most of them start repeating themselves mid-way through, and due to ADD I lose attention and interest quickly. "It" has been amazing, and the best book that I have read since "21 Irrefutable laws of leadership." I definitely recommend any pastor or frustrated church leader checking out this book. I was disturbed while I read this book. Often times I would read it late at night, and because of what God would start doing in my heart I would stay up ridiculously late.

Groeschel also has written a book that I would recommend for 20 somethings who have no clue what they are going to do with there lives. "Chazwon" takes you through a very practical easy to follow look at who God has created you to be.

Next up on the book list is going to either be "Axiom" by Bill Hybels or "Church is a team sport," anyone read either of these two?

Church and Culture

2008-10-26T11:38:00.003-04:00

I was thinking about the Church last night while driving back home.

As I was thinking I felt God wrestling with me about Church and pop-culture. Traditionally there have been two things the Church has done in response to pop-culture.

First is the ignore it approach. This works great for those living on a farm in Pennsylvania driving a horse and buggy with no t.v. or commercialism being pumped into there world. However this approach has given the message to the world that Christians are nothing more than a step away from a cool-aid drinking cult.

The second response that has been given is to consume it, or mimic it. This gets ugly quick. In doing this I have found that we (The Church) come across looking like a 50 year old youth pastor trying to where Fubu and quote Puff Daddy while applying it to the greater knowledge of Trinitarian theology.

But neither of these two seemed to make any sense to me.

In the car I began to wrestle with the idea that the Church should be the ones creating it. In some way I think that the Gospel we have should if we are the Church infiltrate and influence the culture. Instead of being consumers of the culture, the culture should be consumers of the Church (can I say that, or have I become a heretic for thinking this?) I am beginning to think that if we look to the Gospel and allow it to penetrate our hearts, then as a result of that encounter our culture will then be changed?

Again still wrestling with this one, but think about this.

What would happen if the local Church stopped looking to culture for answers on how to be relevant, and in some way did not ignore it as if to become totally irrelevant to the world around us? What if we began truly allowing the Gospel to change us, and then we radically began to live that Gospel in the cities around us? Would this change/set the culture? Is this the biblical idea of in the world, but not of it?

Your thoughts would be awesome.

Dixie lunch

2008-10-22T15:23:00.002-04:00

We have this amazing burger joint called the Dixie. Its where grease, chilly, and cheese meet to bring colon cleaning happiness together.

Every time that I go I have the same waitress. Today she decided to talk to me about her church. With some hesitation she began to tell me that her church was boring. The message's she said were long, and the prayers even longer. She began to laugh and tell me that before she went each week that she had to drink a vault energy drink just to stay awake.

Honestly I was sad. I wondered why she attended, and stuck it out even if it was a snoozer of a church. So eventually I worked up the courage to ask her why she stayed.

Her reply broke my heart. "We are a family church, there is only 30 or 40 of us on a good Sunday." It was an admittance that the church was dead. Even sadder was her admittance that after some people passed away that she would move on to another church.

Never once was there mention of any kind of excitement over what Jesus was doing. Just talk of a weekly obligation to go and sit through what was expected every week.

Jim Cymbala's words came to mind, "I despaired at the thought that my life might slip by without seeing God show himself mightily on our behalf."

I cant imagine not dreaming, hoping, and anticipating God moving in a miraculous way, and I guess it grieves me to meet people who vocally have lost hope in seeing God move through His local church.

Again God please continue to disturb me.

It... and another Holy Ghost kick from P-Noble

2008-10-17T14:33:00.003-04:00

Wow.

It was mid-night Wednesday. I was shot, and really ready for my face to meet the pillow. I had just finished preaching twice on two different messages and I felt like something was off. I had no clue what, but something was missing....

from United Youth

the music

the message

My Life.

Lee Bryson (my favorite worship leader) was there. He twittered the most awesome twitter afterward. "How can we truly experience God and respond with half hearted praise? Maybe the song of our hearts need to catch up to the song of our lips."

Lee felt it to. Something was ooozing away....

Something was there a minute ago, but now had shifted somewhere else.

The next morning I woke up dreading to drive into work. With my short commute I decided to listen to the Catalyst lab CD's that S. Main had so generously purchased for me. I grabbed P-Nobles lab on passion.

God began speaking directly to my heart. Perry's words faded, but God's voice began resounding in my soul.

I tried to focus at work (haha thats funny God is speaking to me and I am trying to flippin do work), but all I could do was think and listen.

My mind was fluttering out of control.

I drove home with the intention of finishing Mark Driscol's book "Vintage Jesus." Convinced that somewhere in my reading about Jesus, I would encounter Him. I arrived home and realized the book was still sitting in my office at the church.

God had other plans.

I pitched a fit and grumbled about not having what I wanted to read.

Then I picked up "It" with the intention of just reading the pre-face and going to bed. I hate starting a book when I have not finished another.

6 chapters later I was on my face. Then I grabbed this huge note pad and started vomiting out stuff that God was saying to me (in words not food). Morgan woke up with that look like "its frikin 1:30 what are you doing," she rolled over and I kept going.

I have no ending with three great nuggets for you to take away (as if any of you are still reading anyway). But I want you to know that I am thankful that God disturbed me. I hope that maybe today He will interupt (disturb) you as well.

How He Loves Us - Kim Walker / Jesus Culture

2008-10-14T15:58:00.001-04:00

loved this song from catalyst

Underoath - Some Will Seek Forgiveness, Others Escape

2008-10-07T13:50:00.001-04:00

I think this is my new favorite song

Jason and Nikki's wedding

2008-10-05T22:40:00.003-04:00

This past weekend I officiated (thats weird) my second wedding. This wedding was a lot different than my first. Jason (the groom) and I have been best friends since 2nd grade. We went on vacations together, spent most weekends growing up together, and when Nikki and Him started dating went on plenty of double dates together.

Needless to say knowing someone the way I know Jason put my stomach in a ton of knots. While Jason's mom was being seated I looked over at him and told him that he had a great mom. We both got choked up. Cheryle was a second mom to me growing up. When Jason was'nt at my house I was over at his. I guess what I am getting at is that this weekend was like being the pastor in a family members wedding.

I am so excited about what God is going to do with Nikki and Jason. It is easy to see that God has brought those two together. I am just glad that I was able to have some part of there special day. My wife was absolutely gorgeous as a bridesmaid in the wedding (just saying).

Un-popular series + the Gospel

2008-10-02T14:58:00.004-04:00

For the last two weeks we have been pulling double duty on Wednesday nights.

In youth we are doing a series called Un-Popular. The basic premise is that we are taking the messages from the last 2 years that our students have noticeably cringed at hearing, and put them all in one series. Last night we took an awesome look at what the bible has to say in reference to sex. The praise band played AC/DC's "you shook me all night long." Parents were rocking out, and I think a mini revival started.

What's new has been our 20 something bible study @ 9 o'clock on Wednesday nights. For the last two weeks we have begun a journey through the Gospel. It has been amazing (at least for me). I cant wait to see where God takes this group next.

I can definitely tell you that speaking two different times on two different subjects each week is carrying a weight. I am definitely learning how to be organized, and prepared. I wont lie though I am loving it.

preview of next week youth

Fee and Lee McD pics

2008-09-30T12:02:00.002-04:00

1 year with Morgan

2008-09-29T22:23:00.003-04:00

Today is officially Morgan and My 1 year anniversary. This morning Morgan, being creative as always had filled our bathroom up with balloons.

I picked her up at 3:30 with a 1/2 dozen roses in hand. Instead of going out again (thanks for the food suggestions for Friday) I decided to cook dinner in.

I waited for Morgan to get in from her grad class, and waited on her as if she were at a high dollar restaurant. Then we laughed for hours. I love the fact that we still act as though we are 10 at home. We decided to go to Sonic for Dessert and finished up watching CSI Miami.

Tonight I prayed that God would give me 50 more amazing years with Morgan. She is a constant reminder to me of His goodness, and love. I cant wait to spend the rest of our lives together.

Dinner with my wife

2008-09-24T14:37:00.002-04:00

Morgan and my one year anniversary is this Monday! This first year of marriage has flown by.

I am taking her out this Friday, and I am debating between taking her to Bonefish grill or this restaurant called the American Grocery in downtown Greenville. Has anyone ever been to either of these two places?

Or does anyone have a better restaurant suggestion in Greenville?

Toby Keith - Love Me If You Can

2008-09-24T14:36:00.001-04:00

Sometimes you just need to listen to a good country song.

Commitment and focus

2008-09-23T19:02:00.004-04:00

I am really learning how hard it is to lead. The more I work in Church the more Moses story becomes real to me. I have always read through the story of Moses leading the people out of Israel, but I never had thought about how annoying it must have been to watch the people you were called to lead ignoring, rebelling, and flat out working against the very thing that God had called him to do.

At Unleashed (a newspring church conference) last year Perry Noble talked about sticking to the calling that God had on you (in terms of being the Senior Pastor). His wisdom really has been ringing true today. Either you are doing what God has called you to do at your chuch, or you are a prostitute of the church. Being paid to make people happy.

The truth is there are people who just like in Moses time see God part waters and rain down mana from heaven, and still wish they had things the way they used to be (Nehemiah 9:16-18).

As a leader you have to be committed and focused to what God has called you to. Its important that you never forget that He opened the door for you to be where you are at. While people may complain, they arent who you are trying to make happy. Ultimately we must trust that if we are faithful to what God has called us to, that nothing can stop us from the place that God has called us to go.

I am not sure if this blog is really for anyone else, but me today. Take this for just a blurb about whats going on in my head.

Fee re-cap

2008-09-19T11:00:00.003-04:00

So two days later, and I still can't believe that Fee and McD happened. To say that Wednesday was an amazing night is a huge understatement.

Final count was that we had a little over 1300 people who packed the floor of the civic center.

I constantly observe people, and love to hear people's thoughts. Thanks to Emerald High's football coach, coach Clowney, who brought the entire football team. I overheard two of the guys (from the football team) who had never heard of Fee or McD say "this is a great free concert." Other kids were totally freaking out about Lee McD's sick breakdowns that reminded them of a hardcore band that they all loved.

Needless to say none of this would have been possible with out the help of the AWESOME SOUTH MAIN VOLUNTEERS. Denise, Steve, Gina, Todd, Kevin, Tammy, Greg, Mark, Gary. all greeters, everybody from the bottom of my heart THANK YOU. You guys are awesome and I know that God is getting ready take His church and break through to this city.

Stephen Fee's road manager told Morgan that most of there shows are not put together as well as our event was. For all of you who know me, you will know how much of a miracle it is that anything went smoothly. Organization and I tend to not get along.

Anyhoo anything I write now is just blabbery so thinks again to everyone....

Pictures to be posted soon.

God's dream is big....

2008-09-18T08:41:00.003-04:00

I am learning something that is very simple and very dangerous

God's dream is BIG.

His plan for our lives
for His Church
and His Kingdom are life changing, world changing, and eternally changing plans.

To often I settle for what I can do within myself. I never want to go back to relying on myself again. The past two years of my life have been a constant faith builder. Jesus has proven Himself over and over and over again. There has been constant, and visible times in my life where if God had not intervened I would have been totally screwed. Now I fear the very moment that God's hand were to not be on my every moment.

I am learning that I was created to be in total reliance and trust in God. Not myself. God's call is possible, but only when we totally rely on Him to in power miraculously reach down into our lives and place us in the places that only He can.

anything short of this is not of God, but of man.

Steve Fee in Greenwood

2008-09-18T08:40:00.001-04:00

Yeah more to come but this pretty much sums last night up.

I am totally freaking out

2008-09-16T14:30:00.002-04:00

I have not been sleeping exceptionally peaceful lately. I keep having the same two dreams every night.

The first is that I am at the Greenwood Civic center for the Steve Fee and Lee McDerment show (which is tomorrow by the way!!!). Anyhoo I am standing there with Steve and Lee and nobody I mean nobody shows up. I began freaking out and about the time I think all hades (nice way of saying hell) breaks loose I wake up.

Then after waking up I go back to sleep and as soon as I am asleep again I began to feel like I have a gooey, sticky, melting wad of gum lodged in my mouth and throat. As soon as I fish the gunk out my mouth fills with more, until I begin to freak out and literally feel like I am choking.

Now I know that these things may not seem like no big deal to you, but almost every night for the past week I have had the same two dreams.

Its really getting old...

Im just saying.

Worst Worship Ever?

2008-09-15T13:48:00.001-04:00

I cant believe this is real....

Fee and McDerment

2008-09-15T11:06:00.003-04:00

This Wednesday we are having 2 of the biggest up and coming worship leaders in the country in GREENWOOD!

Steve Fee and Lee McDerment are going to be hanging out with us on Wednesday night Sept. 17. God's hand has been all over this night of worship.

Today i found out that the entire Emerald High football team is coming on Wednesday night, as well as the entire Boys home of the south. I am so excited about what God is going to do this Wednesday.

Jesus is a Friend of Mine

2008-09-10T16:18:00.001-04:00

Did'nt want to do 2 videos in one day but I had to. Contemporary Christian music in the 70's cant beat it.

MUTEMATH Studio Vlog: New Orleans Critique w/ Momma Sunshine

2008-09-10T15:27:00.001-04:00

New Mutemath cd coming out soon. Until the check out the street's response to some of the new songs.

Whats up world

2008-09-10T11:16:00.002-04:00

I have definitely been more than sporadic about posting lately. For the 4 of you that actually read this blog, I promise that more consistent posting is to come.

I have been working on a lot of stuff. A lot of it I will post about soon, but for now I will let everyone in on the chaos that is September 17th.

Steve Fee and Lee McDerment are both coming to Greenwood for a huge night of worship. I am extremely jacked up about it. We have almost 600 ticktes sold, and chances are we will move another 350 before this Sunday (all the last minute ticket buyers).

South Main has been awesome. There are tons of people at the Church who are enabling us to pull this off.

United Youth is going ridiculously awesome. Last week after youth I overheard a girl who had attended our Wednesday night say " We almost had a freakin revival break out in there."

Ha I love it.

More postings to come.

Sin wants to destroy you

2008-08-25T14:44:00.002-04:00

I hate sin. I hate it because I am good at it, and all it wants to do is destroy me.

Today I read another article from the Mike G. (writer of the song healer) story. You can check it out here. Its sad, and these things suck. Whats amazing about God is I believe that God is going to give Mike what he has been crying out for "healing"

Grandpa Paul's funeral

2008-08-19T22:34:00.004-04:00

Today I went to my wife's grandfather (Paul's) funeral. Last night the family had asked me to read some scripture during the chapel service.

So this morning Morgan, Libby (Mo's mom), and I awoke at 5:30 to head to Waynesville, NC to be with family members. We arrived to the funeral home around 10 and quickly the directors of the funeral home asked for where the other "Reverend" was. People began pointing at me.

The directors came over and began to explain to me that the other "Reverend" who was suppose to do the funeral, could not make it.

With a shocked look on there face they said, "you have to do the funeral."

Yup at that moment I knew that this was going to be an interesting day. Thank God that I constantly try to put myself in other peoples place. On the car ride up I had been thinking about what I would say if I were going to be doing Grandpa Paul's funeral.

Aunt Neddy was a hilarious lady who I met for the first time today. I think that She liked me, but she was very nervous about such a "young pastor" doing her brothers funeral. I could'nt help but begin to laugh at this whole crazy situation. Aunt Neddy quickly began to try to find someone else to help me with the service.

Mrs. Libby looked at me like are you okay and Morgan just started to laugh.

The service came and with some nervousness I walked down in front of the casket and began speaking at the funeral.

Preaching at funerals is far different from teaching the Word at United Youth on Wednesdays. Yup I am tired, and in a total blur at what just happened today.

Its time for bed.

WHAT AM I DOING?

2008-08-11T00:59:00.004-04:00

I was really struggling tonight with why I am in the ministry. Most of the time I feel alone, misunderstood, and mistaken for just a "young adult" who will get over there passion for Jesus and the Church.

For months I have refuted the skepticism of others, but honestly cynicism has settled into my heart a little bit. Its hard to constantly deal with critics and people questioning your every move. Soon you really begin to wonder if you are making any progress within the vision and ministry that God has called you to.

Key leaders and even students who have made large steps in there journey disappear, and your vote of approval sinks to all time lows.

And today I think I realized that I have lost some hope. Or at least the same joy that permeated and fueled the passion for what Jesus has called me to where I am has been lost. Tonight for perhaps the first time I sensed that people were starting to run away and abandon ship.

It hurts...

Others have become increasingly vocal in there anger about whats not up to there standards and in the middle of it all I just wanted to run away to some Island far away from people.

I love Jesus, but man its hard to love His followers.

so here I am sitting and wrestling

Frustrated, burned out, and tired.

Then God reminded me of my calling. He took me back to the night He stole my heart and gave me a passion for His Church.

And then I remembered that this is what I have to do. Not because its easy, but because its hard. Because its the very thing that God has called me to.

So I am going to stop whining on my blog now, and get back to

Spinning w/ lots of quick hits

2008-06-30T10:07:00.004-04:00

So it has been over a week now since I last paused to blog anything. Life is going great, but with so much on my plate I have found it hard to sit down and write. So to catch everyone up, I am going to do a lot of quick hit updates.

1) I played 54 holes of golf with my dad last weekend. I love golf but not as much as I played. By the time we hit the 54th hole my hands ached and I was ready for a BK stacker.

2) I tried to get UFC tickets for Atlanta. They were 600 dollars for the good seats; it looks like I am not going to see Chuck Lidell fight.

3)My wife and I went to Charleston, S.C. two weekends ago. If you are looking for an amazing romantic getaway, you should go to the Isle of palms. It was amazing. Also you should go and eat at Waters Edge. We sat outside on the water front, and dolphins swam up into the inlet and jumped around. It was awesome.

4)I finished the 21 Irrefutable laws of leadership. People tell me that once you have read 1 Maxwell book, you have read them all. But this book was amazing, so if amazing is the standard for Maxwell's leadership books, then I guess thats a great standard to have.

I now have started "simple church" by Rainer and Geiger.

5) Next week I am going to be traveling with the united praise team to Mississippi. It is going to be an amazing time to spend a lot of time with some of the best leaders from the up-coming generation.

6) Steve Fee and Lee McDermott planning is going great. A radio station in Spartanburg is already promoting the worship night, and it has been amazing to see how God's hand has been on the worship night.

Soul food

2008-06-17T12:32:00.004-04:00

When I was a kid I would eat every other meal with my Grandma. Now the title Grandma in the south means: One who cooks the most amazing food that makes your soul leap with joy at the sheer smell of it.

Look it up..
Its Science

Anyhow my wife and I now live a little over an hour away from where my Grandma lives, which means we do get to eat as much of my Grandma's cookin.

Greenwood (where Morgan and I live) has more restaurants per population than any other place in the state of SC. People here really know how to eat out.

But one thing is for sure....
Nothing is as good as Grandma's cooking. Cracker Barrel although great still is not Grandmas soul food.

So now to the reasoning behind this rant. Today I walked up stairs to the kitchen at the Church. To my surprise there was a four course meal that some of our elderly (I mean young at heart) ladies had cooked. Meatloaf, lima beans, cheesy potatoes, and of course pecan pie.

On a Tuesday.
How Baptist are we that we have dinners at lunch on a Tuesday?

Anyhow needless to say I just now ate some great soul food.

Traditional Baptist churches may not have a lot going for them, but they sure do know how to cook.

stupid or called but definitely out of control

2008-06-16T16:08:00.003-04:00

I am either completely stupid or miraculously called.

A lot of people talk about being in over there heads, and I have heard it a lot

so much so that the phrase rolls off my ears and sends me into auto think mode

(you know where you turn into some kind of star trek droid who is there but not really)

But

I realized today that if Christ does not show himself powerfully in my life over the next couple of months how screwed My wife, Church, and I are.

I have no clue what I am doing.

The financial end of things that is going into the next couple of months is a figure that makes me extremely nervous and even sick. The next four months holds a lot of possibility and promise, but when I look at it from my perspective I feel like

I am on a train going faster than I am comfortable with and if I am in control of it
then were cooked, and heading for disaster fast.

Pretty much everything that I do seems to teeter on disaster and success.

so I am either incredibly stupid (and this option is definitely viable) or miraculously called to hold onto and trust in what I cant see that is truly in control.

Last Week

2008-06-15T15:38:00.002-04:00

Last week I journeyed with 54 students down to Myrtle Beach for summer camp.

I knew that I would not be able to blog, so I made some metal notes of things to say when I got a chance this weekend. For time sake I will list them in quick hits.

1) David Platt is one of the best pastors in the world today. I promise this is not an exaggeration. All week long he brought it extremely hard, and our students were given a crash course on what the Gospel is.

- Davids style is very unique. He reminds me of what I would imagine Charles Spurgeon (Old School pastor)

2) I definitely learned that I lack the gift of organization. I totally have surrendered all details over to the mom squad at S. Main.

3) We are joining with Northside for youth this week. A lot of you are going to breeze through this one but its huge. Imagine two of the larger student ministries in your town uniting together for a God given purpose. This is guaranteed to be an amazing week, much follow up to come.

4) Emerge 08 prep is going great. You don't want to miss it, and if your in the area stop by. Check out the website here (Emerge Web)

UFC

2008-06-08T17:33:00.002-04:00

My friend Jamie Salmon just sent me a email that announced that the UFC will be heading to Atlanta in September.

The only thing better is that Chuck Lidell will be fighting at the event! Someone please buy me a ticket.

Check out the official announcement here UFC Atlanta

Quick hits.

I watched last nights UFC event with several of the guys from the youth group.

- Matt Hughes probably has on fight left (Matt Serra) sometime this winter.

- Thiago Alves is a beast, and if he can cut weight down to 170 I he will undoubtedly be the welterweight champ.

- Big John McCarthy apparently retired. Who ever the new guy was last night stunk. He stopped Brandon Vera's fight way to early.

Vision

2008-06-07T13:43:00.003-04:00

Over the last 4 years I have really had a hunger to begin growing myself as a leader, pastor, and person.

Within this time frame I have read lots of books, and listened and sought out the best mentors that I could find.

Now four years later I have realized something when it comes to vision.

1) People lack vision.

This is why people are flocking to churches and businesses with leaders who posses this quality. People like Steve Jobs (apple CEO) are rare people to find. Steve took apple from near bankruptcy to now being one of the premier companies in America.

When it comes down to it we all as humans hunger to be apart of something that is going somewhere. Or as Craig Groeschel would say, "We all end up somewhere, but most people don't end up somewhere on purpose." Deep down we want to have a goal in sight, but most of us need someone else to help show us the goal.

2) Vision alone is not enough

This may sound weird, but think about it. There are tons of dreamers and people with vision for where they are going but they have no clue how to connect the vision that they have to the people around them.

When it comes to a God given vision you can count a few things.

- The journey to the place God is calling you will involve people.

- Without them you will not be able to reach the place God is calling you.

To many times people who have been given a vision never reach the place where God is calling them because they lack the people skills to connect the people to the vision. Having a vision doesn't mean that your a leader. It means that you have a responsibility to connect the people God has put in your path, so that they can grasp and begin the journey themselves.

3) Heart first

The people that reach the places God has called them are those who capture peoples hearts first. I attended a church called Newspring for 4 1/2 years during college. Newspring is a church filled with a God given purpose, and moving together towards a specific place. Right now thousands of people come every week to see and hear what God is doing.

But Perry Noble (the pastor) first won over key leaders and staff members. I am convinced that Perry's staff would follow him down any valley and over any mountain. They trust him, and because they trust him they want to move in the direction that he feels God leading him.

Perry could be the most vision filled person in the world, but if he were enable to connect the people that God has put in his path to the journey that He (God) has called them on then it means nothing.

It is rare to find leaders with vision for where there going...

Even rarer is to find a visionary leader with the ability to connect people to go with them.

To Small

2008-06-07T00:29:00.003-04:00

Today I sat through two graduation ceremonies @ Lander University.

I am pretty sure that I am going to be hearing the graduation song in my sleep tonight.

Any how while I was sitting in the auditorium I thought "Man we have a lot of students who are graduating today,"

and then students began to pile in the auditorium

Today over 500 students graduated from the two High Schools closest to S.Main. Currently we are one of the larger student ministries in Greenwood, and with the boom of growth we have had over the last year it is easy to become stagnant.

Tonight I was talking to some of the students in our youth, and I had to tell them

We dreamed to small.

Throughout the hours of names being called I felt God speaking to me and somewhere in the midst of graduation God renewed in my mind how far S. Main has to go.

I guess i better get to steppin on raising up more leaders who will impact there schools for the Kingdom.

oops

2008-06-04T10:34:00.002-04:00

So I was checking out Carlos's Blog today ragamuffinsoul.com

and I saw a place where you could post your blog name and link.... Without reading what you were posting it for I linked my blog to his page....

Then I read that it was about people who were trying to lose weight and get healthy. This is great, but I weigh 147 ibs and I am 6"2. I need to gain some stinking weight.

So here today I think that I should start a gain some weight together link post. This way all the sticks in the world can come together around lost of donuts, and baked potatoes so that we can become average size together.

Wait no this was a dumb idea.

What Death Valley really sounds like

2008-06-03T16:43:00.001-04:00

Jesus and Jail

2008-06-03T00:30:00.000-04:00

So there is this lady in our church named Phylliss McMinn that has been doing jail ministry at the womens prison in town for 1 1/2 years now. The prison is called Leaf Correctional center and it is the largest female prison in the state of S.C.

For several months now we have had conversations about what God is doing in that prison, and several times she had mentioned that i should come out to preach at one of there Saturday services.

Last weekend I finally was able to head out to the jail to teach. My wife came along with me to sing as well as Phyllis's son Micah who led worship (this guy is going to be one of the great worship leaders from his generation).

Upon arrival we were walked through metal detectors, leaving nothing in our pockets. The Jailors were stern and did not smile a whole lot. After entering through the detectors the lady at the desk gave us a name tag with a number. Our licenses were left on the front desk and we became known by the number on our tag (I was number 2).

As the first door opened to the inside we could hear the choir and several hundred women belting out gospel music. There was an electricity that immediately hit my body and rolled down my spin. As a pastor I get pumped when people are already excited and embracing the Spirit of God in a place.

After walking through another couple of doors we entered into a library type room filled with about 500 women.

Immediately the women began clapping

Phyliss has built up a great relationship with these women and they were extremely thankful that she had come and brought friends.

I will admit that there is something intimidating about seeing 500 women who are in prison (some for life) for committing some crime that deemed a judge to rule them un-safe to be on the outside.

But the Spirit of Joy that was in the room quickly helped me get over any thoughts of fear that I honestly had had in the car.

After Micah, Morgan, and the choir sang I got up to teach, and the ladies in that prison were hungry for the word. Through the message moments of praise would break out, women would stand up, women would shout, but most of all they let you know that they were with ya.

After about 45 minutes of teaching there was a great sense of God's presence in the room. My wife came up and sang "Knee's to the earth," women swayed, cried, wept, raised there hands, and when the song was over I was filled with hope.

I was given a gift. These women hungered for the hope of the Gospel message more than anyone I had ever met. I have been to, and spoken at charismatic services but something was different about this place.

God began really speaking to me and still on early Tuesday morning i am sitting here processing this experience.

Here are some things that are running through my mind.

1) If you get a chance to go minister in a prison do it.

2) Leaf correctional Church (as I like to call it) has one of the best choirs I have ever heard. If I were to do choir led music I would want them singing it.

3) About 1/3 of the women in the room were wearing a vest of some color over there tan jail issued outfit. These vest were not for fashion purposes, but rather were for those who had committed an offense such as cursing or fighting. Man I am glad that I don't have to wear a vest that makes me stick out every time I sin.

4) The next service that Phyllis gets to plan out is in July, and it looks like I am going to be preaching at it again. It should be fun and I cant wait to worship with those ladies again.

5) Leaf Correctional Church is the crunkest (yes crunkest) church I have ever attended (and they don't have any awesome lights, or a great sound system just a heart and hunger for the presence of God).

24

2008-06-02T10:29:00.000-04:00

There are a lot of things that you dream of being as a kid....

Being a superhero saving the damsel in distress

Being the next great athlete in some sport

Being a fireman putting out fires and saving cats (wait dogs while watching the cats burn with shear screams of horror)

Sorry I got carried away

needless to say pastor of a church usually is not up there in the top 10 .

Like most major occasions in my life today I have been thinking back to when I was young, and the dreams I had of what I would be today.

To be honest a lot of them are funny today, but I can honestly say that I never thought that my crossover to 24 would look like this.

This is not a statement of disappointment, rather its a realization that I could not have picked how sweet life is for me right now.

I have the most incredibly beautiful and amazing wife in the world. Her passion and drive for the Lord pushes me to go deeper with my walk and faith with him. She is a gift I didn't deserve and honestly I have no clue how or why she actually said "I do."

The church I am at has been overwhelming, but the ways that God has chosen to show himself to us here has been remarkable. I still am not used to people asking me questions about why or how the things that are happening here are happening. It is overwhelming and scary to be in a place where God's hand is blessing what you are doing.

So today 24 years in I can say that life is looking better and better with each week, and I love the adventure that God is carrying me down.

I think he can dance! Do you?

2008-06-02T10:25:00.001-04:00

Woman in the closet

2008-05-31T12:51:00.000-04:00

This is a new story worth reading. A woman in Japan lived in a man's closet for over a year un-detected. Definitely check the story out.

Vortex

2008-05-31T11:41:00.001-04:00

Last night one of my best friends (Jamie Salmon) took me to Atlanta for my birthday.

For weeks he has been raving about this place called the Vortex. I knew from his description this place was going to be unique.

We rode the Marta into Atlanta and after a short walk we arrived.

Our table was in a corner under a bio-hazard barrel. The music set a hard rock cafe scene gone hardcore. Behind where Jamie sat there was a "proud member of the 4-H club" sign, and above our heads to the left a vacuum cleaner that had been converted to look like a flamingo.

Yup the scenery was unique.

After we sat I ordered a Cajun burger and sweat potato fries (yup sweat potato fries) from our waitress Elizabeth. Most of the waiters and waitresses were tattooed and I enjoyed looking at all the Vortex staffs ink.

After a short wait our burgers arrived...
the burger and fries definitely lived up to there hype.

Warning the CAJUN BURGER has some kick

Their burgers are definitely in the top 5 in the world.

quick shots
1) You should definitely check out Jamie Salmon's blog.

2) Some other must have burger joints are Five guys (franchise out of Washington, D.C. area) and of course Red Robbin. These both should take care of your burger fix.

3) Anyone ever eaten the Elvis Burger at the Vortex? meat, bacon, peanut butter, and fried bananas. If you dare try it let me know how it is.

4) After the Vortex we went to see the premier of the AFL (American Fight League), the fights were great, but they announced that former WWE wrestler Bobby Lashley is crossing over to fight in the AFL

The next pay per view is in October and he will hopefully be on the card.

United youth pics from tapout series

2008-05-13T00:05:00.001-04:00

Orlando weekend

2008-05-12T23:56:00.001-04:00

Random thoughts in the car

2008-05-12T23:23:00.001-04:00

Almost everything that God calls you to will be followed by people telling you why you should or cannot do it.

Over the last year there have been several things that God has called me to do that were slightly out of the expectations of what people deemed capable of a 23 year old. Every time I clearly would hear God's voice, I would then audible hear 3 telling me that I could not do the very thing that I felt God leading me to do.

Tonight on the car ride home I was thinking about some of those things and realized what would not have happened had I listened to the people over God.

1) Come to South Main
There were plenty of people warning me about this move. A youth minister in the area had told me that the kids in Greenwood were not spiritual enough to engage with God. I was told by a college professor that there was no way that I could get a job and much less have any success in a church until I went to seminary. (Good thing success depends on God and not me)

Glad I didnt listen to those people. 30+ students have come to Christ along with whats fixing to be 21 students being baptized before the 1 year mark.... Yeah glad I stuck with what I felt God calling me to.

2) Coaching middle school girls b-ball.
This is a crazy story. The middle school b-ball team @ GCS at best mimicked the bad news bears. If you were a betting person you probably would have taken the bears over the ms girls. Lets just say that they were not exactly heading for WNBA glory and plenty of people including members on the team themselves told me that this was a hopeless situation. I really debated and prayed hard about possibly taking the coaching job at the school. I was really busy with youth group, I was a newly wed, and honestly did not know where coaching was going to fit into my already crammed schedule.

I walked in feeling like God had honestly put me there for a reason, and throughout the season I just encouraged and taught the team everything I could.

Two weeks ago half of the MS girls team came to our student ministry. At the end of that night I got to see one of our players raise there hand after praying to receive Christ.

It does not matter how many games we lost or won in the past b-ball season, all that matters is that there is a student who I was given the opportunity to make contact with, and now that student has had there life changed forever by Jesus.

Yup people will say stupid things to try and discourage you from making the God moves that only make sense to you (and sometimes do not even make sense to you). Listen to Gods call and journey for your life. Plenty of people stand on the side waiting to say I told you so (this is the easiest place to live) watching and waiting for you to screw up. But the sidelines are for people who have given up. Don't stand and watch when God calls you to move, move.

Adventure with Morgan

2008-05-05T14:14:00.000-04:00

2 1/2 weeks ago I decided that it was time for Morgan and I to get away. Naturally I began where all great get aways begin....

On Ebay.

I shopped for tickets to all sorts of shows, and events. Eventually I stumbled across the tickets for the Broadway play "Wicked". I quickly remember Morgan telling me how much she wanted to go to this play so I began to hunt tickets for us to go.

Some how I ended up on a website called ticketsmyway.com. Here I found what I thought were great seats. There was a Saturday matinée which fit perfectly into our tight schedule that required us to be back in Greenwood on Sunday morning.

I ordered them.

Last Wednesday I received a call from the people that run the web site (this is never good). They began to tell me that they did not have the tickets they sold me.

I got angry and "you dont want to see me when I'm angry" (The Hulk)

just kidding.

After a hour or two they found me better seats, and decided to overnight them to me.

Problem solved......yeah right

Friday afternoon roles around and we have no tickets in our mail box.

I call the ticket guys.
They apologize and two hours later a fed-ex lady shows up at our door with a pakage.

Problem solved......it gets better.

Morgan and I drove to Jacksonville, and awoke very early to ensure that we would have plenty of time to make the play and grab a good lunch in Orlando.

At 1 o'clock we stood outside of the Bob Carr performing arts theater pumped.

My wife was dressed in her best (and she was looking great)

I was in my pink tie, feeling like an accomplished and good husband...

Until....

The plot thickens....

Drama builds....

We looked at the tickets and realized that they had sent us tickets for the evening performance and not the matinée.

Uggggh.

At this point we both realize that we have to make a decision. Do we go ahead and drive back home in order to get some rest or do we stick it out and just plan on not sleeping at all in order to get back to the Church.

Of course we went with option B.

With an afternoon to kill we drove to several outlet malls and shopped.

Tourist from Germany and other countries were there...

And everyone was dressed in tank tops and shorts.

Morgan

nice dress

Me

Tie and slacks

Needless to say we stuck out and all the outlet owners thought we had money so they rushed to help us when we entered there stores.

Ha we were broke.

Finally after much delay we sat in our upgraded but wrong time tickets for the 8 O'clock performance of "Wicked" and I must say that the whole adventure even the ride home was well worth the trip.

Take time to date and pursue your wife. Its worth it.

17

2008-04-30T22:48:00.000-04:00

Wow. I am not sure that i have ever felt this way before.

Tonight at our youth group 17 students gave there life tot Christ!

There are no words that can describe how I am feeling tonight. My eyes have continually filled with tears at the thought of the faces of those who accepted Christ tonight.

We challenged our students a week ago to reach out to there friends that do not know Jesus.

They did it and tonight God rocked the foundations of our student room.

At the end of it all I fell on my knees and put my face in the floor shaken and thanking God for what He can only do.

Quick hits
1) Within the last month of our student ministry, we have seen 22 students accept Christ! (God is so amazing)

2) In two weeks 10 students are going to be Baptized on Wednesday night.

3) I love not being able to explain what it happening.

A Friend

2008-04-29T03:11:00.000-04:00

Tonight has been a night where God has left me speechless and sleepless.

Jamie Salmon is doing some amazing ministry at NewSpring Church. Tonight they gave away a house to hard working single mother. I have gotten to follow Jamie on his journey through twitter updates, and phone calls throughout the building process. There are several things that make him a one of a kind teammate.

1) Humbleness.
Every time you approach Jamie and brag on him, he always defers the gratitude usually with a simple "Naw man." God is doing ministry through him unlike any other i know, yet he doesn't boast in himself, and that is an amazing thing.

2) Encouragement.
Every time I would talk or read something on twitter about the house project, Jamie was always bragging on how awesome his team was. This quality makes people want to work with him.

3) Practical
I think that Jamie does the practical Jesus ministry that most people are afraid of doing. Tonight people were dressed in collared shirts and it was great to see the turn out. But there were a lot of hard days filled with sweat that went into organizing and building that house. I love the fact that Jamie is not afraid to jump down in the mud in order to be apart of something significant in the kingdom of God.

I stand amazed at who God is, and at what he accomplishes through the people that make up His Church.

Also major big up's to New Spring for daring to ministry that no other church (at least that I know of) is doing.

Morgan

2008-04-24T22:34:00.000-04:00

I am currently sitting in the apartment watching my beautiful wife pack a suitcase. She is going to Washington D.C. with her school tomorrow.

I sit here feeling extremely blessed right now. Morgan is my rib. She reflects God's goodness to me everyday that were together. Her patience in her love for me is a priceless gift that only comes from a loving God through her to me.

There are times where I think that I could not love Morgan any more than i already do, but then God comes into our relationship and shows me things about her that make me love her more than I ever thought that I could love another person.

We are called to love our wives as Christ loved the Church. I am beginning to understand what that verse means....and I am loving it.