Last night I went and got a haircut. I really like my new style. I am back to a short look, which I must say Jimmy enjoys. He told me that I should never let my hair grow as long as I had it in high school (when we first met). I don’t think he likes to be reminded of the fact that he is eight years older than me or that I was only sixteen when we met while he was twenty-four (don’t worry! Romantic thoughts never even entered our minds at that point! Ew!). So to honor him, I have kept my hair well above my waist since he made that request. :)
Although I really love my new hairstyle, it wasn’t the most important thing about getting my hair cut. I actually attempted getting my haircut Wednesday afternoon at the Fantastic Sam’s near my house, but I waited and waited and waited and they were never able to get me in before I had to leave for church. So that was a no go. Last night, I went to pick up some groceries at Wal-Mart and noticed that there was no waiting at their SmartStyle so on an impulse I walked in and got my hair cut. The most important part of my haircut experience was meeting Michelle, the stylist. It wasn’t just because my hair turned out awesome! Michelle really encouraged me and I hope that I was able to encourage her too.
In the typical manner of hairdressers, she started up a conversation as she shampooed my hair. We talked about the work I do at the Missouri Baptist Children’s Home, and the ministry opportunities that come with it. Then we started talking about our youth groups. Michelle works with the youth at her church, and although I could tell that we weren’t the same denomination it was still neat to feel the mutual bond of trying to lead students down the path that God has laid out for them. We talked for the duration of the hair appointment and now I know why things didn’t pan out on Wednesday. God wanted me to meet Michelle!
It just goes to show you that God has a plan for our divine appointments. Sometimes there’s a reason that things just don’t go the way we planned. Thank God for the times that you don’t miss out on an opportunity to encourage or be encouraged because of your agenda. God even has a plan for our haircuts!
Friday, March 26, 2010
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
When God Moves
In the 26 years of my life and 21 years of my Christian walk, I can probably count on my fingers the number of times I have felt God move in a big way. God often answers prayers (even if He doesn’t give us the answer we want to hear) but He seldom shakes us to the very core. However, I saw God move this weekend and I felt Him shake me in a way that I haven’t felt for sometime. This past weekend we had our 3rd annual Disciple Now weekend at Villebrook. The theme of the weekend was Epic. We wanted the youth to experience God in a way that they have never before. I don’t think that any of us could have imagined what God would do, which was appropriate since the theme verse for the weekend was 1 Corinthians 2:9 …
This weekend strongholds were broken. Sins were confessed. Lives were changed. It’s all because God moved. God began convicting His children of the sin they had been harboring in their life and they listened to Him. They confessed it to Him and to one another. Then they prayed for one another and built each other up.
God not only spoke to the teenagers this weekend, He also spoke to me and to Jimmy and the other adults. Then He answered my prayer for the weekend. I have been praying for weeks that whatever God started with the youth group would pour out into our church and begin to rekindle the fire in the adults. Sunday morning, some of the teens shared testimonies about the weekend. Others praised God through the reading of scripture. We all praised God through the singing of worship songs. Then it really hit and the adults began to confess their sins and pray for each other. It was an overly emotional time, but the healing process was genuinely started for the first time! Praise the Lord!
Over the next few days, I am going to talk about some of the issues that God dealt with me on Saturday night. For now, I simply want to show you a picture of our kids (who are very much my family).
By the way, in case you are wondering…the logos are on the back of the t-shirts, but they look like this…
“However, as it is written:
‘No eye has seen,
no ear has heard,
no mind has conceived
what God has prepared for those who love him’”
This weekend strongholds were broken. Sins were confessed. Lives were changed. It’s all because God moved. God began convicting His children of the sin they had been harboring in their life and they listened to Him. They confessed it to Him and to one another. Then they prayed for one another and built each other up.
God not only spoke to the teenagers this weekend, He also spoke to me and to Jimmy and the other adults. Then He answered my prayer for the weekend. I have been praying for weeks that whatever God started with the youth group would pour out into our church and begin to rekindle the fire in the adults. Sunday morning, some of the teens shared testimonies about the weekend. Others praised God through the reading of scripture. We all praised God through the singing of worship songs. Then it really hit and the adults began to confess their sins and pray for each other. It was an overly emotional time, but the healing process was genuinely started for the first time! Praise the Lord!
Over the next few days, I am going to talk about some of the issues that God dealt with me on Saturday night. For now, I simply want to show you a picture of our kids (who are very much my family).
By the way, in case you are wondering…the logos are on the back of the t-shirts, but they look like this…
“However, as it is written: ‘No eye has seen, no ear has heard, no mind has conceived what God has prepared for those who love him’” 1 Corinthians 2:9
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Bread Making Ministry
Today as I sit and think about all the things that God has done in my life, I see that Jimmy and I are extremely blessed. We praise the Lord over the successes we have had in both our personal lives and ministries. We praise God for the struggles that we have lived through that have shaped who we are today. I must even praise God for my failures that show His true measure of grace.
What Make's a Great Ministry?
When people ask how you make a ministry successful, I tell them about our “bread making” ministry. No, we don’t literally bake bread. Hang on for a minute and let me explain to you what I mean…
What is a "Bread Making" Ministry?
All my young life, I would go to my grandmother’s house, and one of the things we would do was bake sour dough bread. The secret to making amazing sour dough bread is the starter. A starter is a small portion of bread dough that is reserved to start a new batch of bread. You must feed it to keep it alive and when the time comes it will be ready to perform. When you make a new batch of bread, you get out your starter and mix it with all the new ingredients for this batch of bread. It becomes completely absorbed into this new dough. Before making your bread, you must reserve a portion of it for your next starter. This bread and this starter are even better than the last because they both contain portions of the new ingredients and the faithful old starter that you have been diligent to feed and nurture. A dead starter cannot be revived nor can it be used to make new bread. Yet the bread that comes from this starter is better every batch because it blends all the different batches of bread you have ever made into one incredible loaf. That’s how we do ministry.
Our "Bread Making" Ministry
Even before I came into the picture, this was how Jimmy would do ministry. He received his very first “starter” when he was in college learning the skills he needed to feed the ministry. Then he made his first “batch” of youth ministry bread when he did a summer internship at a church in Columbia, Missouri. As he moved on to Fritch, Texas he expanded his bread making repertoire. When Jimmy moved to Fulton, Missouri, and we first met, I also had the privilege of being exposed to “starter” members that he had collected along his ministry path. Some of the people he brought along with him from previous ministries were Jeremy, Jeff, Dave, Troy, Chrissy, Penny, Bethany, Mandy, and others. They were able to do things together that they were never able to do alone. Jimmy met Jeremy when he was his youth minister in Texas. I met Jeremy at Millersburg when he came to help Jimmy with our first ever DNOW. Jeremy met his wife Hannah when we all worked together doing ministry in DeSoto, Missouri. Last night Jeremy, Hannah, and their children all came and helped Jimmy and I prepare our students for this weekends Disciple Now. Our kids are going to be the best “bread” yet because they have been exposed to the best “starter” so far.
Do You Get It?
I hope you get what I am saying. This principle can be used in any ministry and in life. Nurture the friends and relationships you have made along the way. Bring your “starter” of people, relationships, and experiences into your current life and ministry to make things even better! Learn to build from the strong foundation that you have been building all these years and someday the people you minister too will hopefully do even greater ministry than you! Wouldn’t that be amazing?!
My RED ALERT for You
WARNING: The quality of your starter will affect the quality of the “bread” that is made from it. Use wisdom and discretion when choosing the relationships and standards that you choose to expose your ministry to.
What Make's a Great Ministry?
When people ask how you make a ministry successful, I tell them about our “bread making” ministry. No, we don’t literally bake bread. Hang on for a minute and let me explain to you what I mean…
What is a "Bread Making" Ministry?
All my young life, I would go to my grandmother’s house, and one of the things we would do was bake sour dough bread. The secret to making amazing sour dough bread is the starter. A starter is a small portion of bread dough that is reserved to start a new batch of bread. You must feed it to keep it alive and when the time comes it will be ready to perform. When you make a new batch of bread, you get out your starter and mix it with all the new ingredients for this batch of bread. It becomes completely absorbed into this new dough. Before making your bread, you must reserve a portion of it for your next starter. This bread and this starter are even better than the last because they both contain portions of the new ingredients and the faithful old starter that you have been diligent to feed and nurture. A dead starter cannot be revived nor can it be used to make new bread. Yet the bread that comes from this starter is better every batch because it blends all the different batches of bread you have ever made into one incredible loaf. That’s how we do ministry.
Our "Bread Making" Ministry
Even before I came into the picture, this was how Jimmy would do ministry. He received his very first “starter” when he was in college learning the skills he needed to feed the ministry. Then he made his first “batch” of youth ministry bread when he did a summer internship at a church in Columbia, Missouri. As he moved on to Fritch, Texas he expanded his bread making repertoire. When Jimmy moved to Fulton, Missouri, and we first met, I also had the privilege of being exposed to “starter” members that he had collected along his ministry path. Some of the people he brought along with him from previous ministries were Jeremy, Jeff, Dave, Troy, Chrissy, Penny, Bethany, Mandy, and others. They were able to do things together that they were never able to do alone. Jimmy met Jeremy when he was his youth minister in Texas. I met Jeremy at Millersburg when he came to help Jimmy with our first ever DNOW. Jeremy met his wife Hannah when we all worked together doing ministry in DeSoto, Missouri. Last night Jeremy, Hannah, and their children all came and helped Jimmy and I prepare our students for this weekends Disciple Now. Our kids are going to be the best “bread” yet because they have been exposed to the best “starter” so far.
Do You Get It?
I hope you get what I am saying. This principle can be used in any ministry and in life. Nurture the friends and relationships you have made along the way. Bring your “starter” of people, relationships, and experiences into your current life and ministry to make things even better! Learn to build from the strong foundation that you have been building all these years and someday the people you minister too will hopefully do even greater ministry than you! Wouldn’t that be amazing?!
My RED ALERT for You
WARNING: The quality of your starter will affect the quality of the “bread” that is made from it. Use wisdom and discretion when choosing the relationships and standards that you choose to expose your ministry to.
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
Dream Big
“Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.” Ephesians 3:20-21
This weekend is our church’s DNOW (Disciple Now) weekend. Every year as Jimmy and I plan for DNOW, we sit back in expectation of what God is going to do. This year’s theme is EPIC. We are fully expecting God to come and do Epic things in our lives, the students lives, the adult workers live, and in our church. We are claiming the promise of God that He can do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine”! I don’t know about you but I can dream pretty big. Still He is able not just to exceed these dreams, He can do IMMEASURABLY MORE than what I can imagine! I can’t even fathom that but I’m not supposed to be able to get it otherwise it wouldn’t be beyond imagination.
How many times have we robbed God of what He wants to do just because we don’t dream big? Seriously, how big is your God?! My God is HUGE! Do I always have faith? Heck no! In the last few years, I have had major struggles in belief and faith. I am just starting to come around and realize that God’s faithfulness has never changed. He is still there waiting for me to ask Him to do big things in my life and in our ministry. Yes, He can do them without me asking Him to do them, but I believe that He wants us to be faithful in asking and He delights in answering our requests. Does He always give us the answer He wants? Heck no! But rest assured God always answers. Sometimes He says “No” or “Wait” and we use our selective hearing and claim that He didn’t give us an answer, but He always, always answers.
So what are you asking God for? Is it in-line with His will? Are you dreaming big? Do you have faith that God can do even more than you can ask or imagine? Try it. Trust God. Believe He can and will answer your prayers. Be faithful in listening for His answer. Be obedient in the things that God asks you to do. Just wait, He’s going to blow your mind!
“Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request.” 1 Chronicles 4:10
This weekend is our church’s DNOW (Disciple Now) weekend. Every year as Jimmy and I plan for DNOW, we sit back in expectation of what God is going to do. This year’s theme is EPIC. We are fully expecting God to come and do Epic things in our lives, the students lives, the adult workers live, and in our church. We are claiming the promise of God that He can do “immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine”! I don’t know about you but I can dream pretty big. Still He is able not just to exceed these dreams, He can do IMMEASURABLY MORE than what I can imagine! I can’t even fathom that but I’m not supposed to be able to get it otherwise it wouldn’t be beyond imagination.
How many times have we robbed God of what He wants to do just because we don’t dream big? Seriously, how big is your God?! My God is HUGE! Do I always have faith? Heck no! In the last few years, I have had major struggles in belief and faith. I am just starting to come around and realize that God’s faithfulness has never changed. He is still there waiting for me to ask Him to do big things in my life and in our ministry. Yes, He can do them without me asking Him to do them, but I believe that He wants us to be faithful in asking and He delights in answering our requests. Does He always give us the answer He wants? Heck no! But rest assured God always answers. Sometimes He says “No” or “Wait” and we use our selective hearing and claim that He didn’t give us an answer, but He always, always answers.
So what are you asking God for? Is it in-line with His will? Are you dreaming big? Do you have faith that God can do even more than you can ask or imagine? Try it. Trust God. Believe He can and will answer your prayers. Be faithful in listening for His answer. Be obedient in the things that God asks you to do. Just wait, He’s going to blow your mind!
“Jabez cried out to the God of Israel, "Oh, that you would bless me and enlarge my territory! Let your hand be with me, and keep me from harm so that I will be free from pain." And God granted his request.” 1 Chronicles 4:10
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