Brooklyn Raye

This morning at 7:22 am Janna and I welcomed our little girl, Brooklyn Raye, into our family. She weighed 6 lbs 12 oz and was 19 1/2" long. Janna and Brooklyn are doing just fine. Thank you Lord for our little blessing!

Easter

Love, compassion, the cross, healing, redemption, resurrection, victory: Thank you Lord Jesus!

2009 NCAA Basketball Champions: UNC Tarheels

I'm a big fan of the North Carolina Tarheels. I was a Michael Jordan fan growing up and I found out that he went to college at UNC so I started following the basketball team. Janna and I had the opportunity last summer to visit the campus on our vacation. It's a beautiful campus and the basketball program has a great history of a winning tradition. The Tarheels ran through most of the competition during the tournament this year and beat Michigan State in the championship game decisively. It's good to see them bring another banner back to Chapel Hill, NC.

Ashley's First Birthday

Ashley turned 1 on April 5 and she started walking a couple of weeks ago. It's always exciting to see your kid just take off walking after they have been standing and kind of wobbling. We had a good time at her party and she got her face a little messy with some good birthday cake. Happy Birthday Ash! Daddy loves you.

Birthday Surprise & First Day at School

I woke up on Thursday, March 26 to a great birthday suprise. It was the sound of Kaytlin singing Happy Birthday to me as Ashley patted me and said, "Dada". This is my first year to have little Ashley wake me up on my birthday and it was a great feeling. Janna & I are so blessed!

Also, I think that it's cool that the girls get to experience school together. Kaytlin & Ashley's first day at Play School was on Tuesday, March 31 and I took a picture with them. When we picked them up from Play School, Katie told us how much fun she had and Ashley smiled, because that is what she does...smiles!

Selah

I thought that this would be a very fitting topic for our 2twenty students during spring break. Most students are very busy throughout the school year with academics and extracurricular activities that sometimes they feel overwhelmed. I have seen students come into church on Wednesday night looking exhausted from that day's activities. I ask them, "Did you have a long day at school?" and I am given a blank stare with a very tired nod of yes. I think the key component to the daily grind is balance. We all deal with this at times, some more so than others. I know that personally I have not achieved the pinnacle of success in this area. I am still learning how to balance my marriage, parenthood, ministry and graduate school. I have tried several things over the years to get a release from everyday activities. I have went to the gym, played basketball, hit a punching bag, went to the lake, read some scripture, read a book, wrote a song or poem (in my teenage and college years), or just played a video game. I think that we need to find our "thing". Whatever it is to get away mentally from the stuff going on in our life. I believe that it helps us to come back refreshed, even if we only spend 5-10 minutes to unwind. Then we need to spend the same amount of time, if not more, in our devotion time with God.

In the book of Psalms, David models this for us through his songs and poems. He used this as his devotion time and his "unwind from the day" time because he was a songwriter, musician, and poet. At times he shows his frustration with a situation that he is in and then with the word Selah, he takes a break from that thought and moves towards praising God. I love how he shares his raw emotion in Psalms. I believe that God wants us to be authentic with him at all times, but have an underlining faith in him to provide for our needs.

For my message on Wednesday, March 18, I used Psalm 3 for my point of reference in conjunction with an article from Relevant Magazine. The article was written by Mark Driscoll, Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. He talks about the busyness of life and how to take time to spend with God and to reflect on what he is doing in our lives. The following is a portion of my message outline from Wednesday, March 18:

Selah is a Hebrew word and translated it means to praise or to think about it. It is used in scripture so that the reader will pause and reflect on the previous verse and then to move onto the next verse. This word occurs 71 times in 39 of the Psalms, and 3 times in Habakkuk 3.

Psalm 3
1 O LORD, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! 2 Many are saying of me, "God will not deliver him." Selah 3 But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head. 4 To the LORD I cry aloud, and he answers me from his holy hill. Selah 5 I lie down and sleep; I wake again, because the LORD sustains me. 6 I will not fear the tens of thousands drawn up against me on every side. 7 Arise, O LORD! Deliver me, O my God! Strike all my enemies on the jaw; break the teeth of the wicked. 8 From the LORD comes deliverance. May your blessing be on your people. Selah

I recently read this article in Relevant Magazine that inspired me to pause and reflect on what God is doing in my life. I would like to share this with you. The following link will direct you to an article from Relevant Magazine. The article is located on page 33. The author of the article is Mark Driscoll, Pastor of Mars Hill Church in Seattle. http://www.mygazines.com/issue/353

Realife Youth Leader's Conference

Janna and I will be attending the Realife Youth Worker's Conference at James River Assembly in Springfield, Missouri this week. I was able to attend in the inaugural year of 2007 and enjoyed it. The conference delivered practical information that I have been able to use in my youth ministry over the past couple of years. Scotty Gibbons is the youth pastor at Realife and has been for 15 years. I was encouraged by his longevity at the same church and by his testimony. When he first started at James River, there was barely enough kids to fill a church van and now their youth group has grown to over a thousand students. I'm also a part of the Realife Network, which is a youth pastor's mentoring group. The Realife Network was started a couple years ago by Scotty and the staff at Realife. It's a small community of 20 youth pastors from all over the nation. We have monthly conference calls where we discuss various topics from disciplining students to outreach ideas. We are also able to communicate through group forums, discussions and blogs. The network allows us to download some resources from Realife and we get a great discount at the Youth Worker's Conference, which is cool. I'm heading to Realife a day early so that I can check out their youth service and how they minister to students. I pray that God continues to mold me to be a better Christ follower, husband, father, friend, minister, and youth pastor. God has blessed me with great students at Lakeside. My goal in youth ministry is to do my best at assisting parents in developing the spiritual of lives of their students and mentoring their students. I have a great responsibility and I want to make the most of it!

North Carolina: ACC champions...again!

My favorite college basketball team behind OU is North Carolina. I've had several people ask me how that came to pass and I explain that I was a Michael Jordan fan growing up and his Alma mater is UNC. So I began to follow the team in the early 90's and have been a fan ever since. When many of my peers were intrigued by the talented teams at UNLV (University of Nevada Las Vegas) or the Fab 5 at the University of Michigan, I became a fan of a program with a long history of tradition. Janna and I had the opportunity last summer to go to the UNC campus, but unfortunately the Dean Smith Center was closed because it was a Sunday. We didn't get to go inside, but it was cool to look in and see the court, the sea of Carolina blue chairs that surrounded the court and the multiple championship banners hanging from the rafters. Yesterday UNC beat their in state rivals Duke 79-71 to capture the regular season ACC championship. Put another banner up for the Tarheels!

I saved $600

Recently I went into an auto mechanic shop to get my car checked out because it had been leaking fluid. After the mechanics did their $44 routine check-up it appeared that my water pump was needing to be replaced along with several other things. They wanted to replace something called my tie rod ends which they said had been worn down and were almost broken. The tie rod ends purpose is to keep the steering functioning. (I found this out by hearing a rough explanation from the raspy voiced mechanic and by looking it up on the web.) They also told me in order to replace the water pump that they would need to replace my timing belt. Then they tell me the importance and urgency of the situation and I asked for the price. "It will be $1131 to replace the water pump and timing belt. It will be $425 to replace the tie rod ends, but we have already taken off the tie rod ends since they need to be replaced so badly." Hmm...well okay I guess "ya got me on the tie rod ends" is what is going on in my mind, but I'm not getting the other stuff done by you. I will go to another shop.

I thought that this was just a bad business decision. They put me in a spot that I wasn't happy to be in. I came to them so they could do a routine check-up and correct the problem of the leaking fluid. How did the tie rod ends become more important? I hadn't even heard of this auto part before this phone call. I told them to go ahead and replace the tie rod ends, but not to fix the main problem. They were confused over the phone and even when I went back in there to pick up the car. I told them that I would get it taken care of and I did. A couple days ago I went to another shop and they replaced my timing belt, water pump, thermostat and even the radiator cap for $520. Over $600 cheaper than than the other joint. Ridiculous. I can't believe that people are getting ripped off from that place. I was mainly disappointed in the fact that the first company claims to be "Christian". They were considerably higher than the second shop and I felt that they were taking advantage of the situation that I was in with a part that I didn't even know about. Often times we will get a second opinion when it comes to a physician about a medical condition and I would suggest the same when it comes from a mechanic. My wallet is thicker because I didn't feel pressured to fork over the money when they had my car in the garage and that is how I saved $600.

Toby Mac is 44?

I was at Winter Jam last night at the Ford Center with our students and Toby Mac was performing. One of our youth sponsors, Brianne, told me that he was 45 and I couldn't believe it. Of course I had to text my brother who has been a big Toby fan ever since the debut album of DC Talk in 1989. Brent texted me back, "Wow she is close. He will be 45 this year in October." I was watching this guy rap, sing, dance, and stage dive like a guy half his age. It was amazing and a great live performance. The show was cool. I was diggin' Hawk Nelson, Brandon Heath and Toby. The show was definitely worth the $10 admission and then some.

Check out this video from Toby. http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=24USgRNeQxc

PAUSE

Pastor Darren is out of the country and ministering in Kenya for a couple of weeks, so this past Sunday morning I had the opportunity to preach. My message was entitled, PAUSE. The main text was Luke 8:40-48, which speaks about the healing of the woman with the issue of blood. This passage of scripture is powerful because it shows us the compassion and concern that Jesus had for this woman. Jesus was asked by a synagogue leader to come to his house to heal his 12 year old daughter who was dying. As he was going through a crowd of people this woman reached out and touched the edge of his cloak. The bible says that immediately the woman was healed and that Jesus turned around and said, "Who touched me?" Peter responded, "Master, the people are crowding and pressing against you."But Jesus said, “Someone touched me; I know that power has gone out from me.”

I like this passage of scripture. Jesus modeled how to PAUSE and take a look around at the needs of others. He was on his way to heal a young girl, yet someone reached out to him. I utilized the picture above to symbolize how fast life is for most of us. We have our responsibilities and priorities on our mind and we do not have anyone else’s needs on our radar. I went a little further with how our witness is modeled. We can minister to others through our compassion and authenticity.

Jesus showed his compassion for Mary and Martha after the death of their brother Lazarus. John 11:35 states that Jesus wept. I have heard various views about why Jesus wept, but I have adopted the thought that although Jesus knew that he could raise Lazarus from the dead, he had sympathy and compassion for these ladies that just lost their brother. He could have said, "Woman, why are you weeping? Do you not know that I am the Son of God and I can raise your brother from the dead?" This didn't' happen because he felt for them and demonstrated this through his tears. I personally believe that we connect better with our family, friends, neighbors, and co-workers if we show compassion during their challenges. Meaning, when a person asks us for prayer that we actually pray for them and not just pat them on the back and say, "I'll be praying for you brother." Also, when someone is hurting the problem that we have as Christ-followers is that we tend to pull out the address book of scripture and bombard them with it. I believe Jesus modeled to us in this passage through his tears that it is better to feel for them through their pain than to say, "Well you know in the bible it says..."

Paul and Silas show their authenticity through their witness in Acts 16:16-40 when they minister to the jailer and his family. Although they were put into prison and were guarded by this man, when God broke off their shackles and opened the prison doors these men didn't run out. In fact the jailer was going to commit suicide, perhaps to make it look like the prisoners escaped and killed him instead of having to comment to his superiors on how the prisoners escaped. Paul and Silas immediately minister to the man, he accepts Christ and then they go to his house and the man's family accepts Christ then they have dinner. They show their authenticity of committed believers by ministering to this man. I feel that often times we have made it so hard to minister to someone. We think that we have to do a number of steps and then close the deal. This idea was created several years ago in the evangelical church, but it does not show much commitment to the relationship or authenticity of the witness. We have borrowed from the business world utilizing the ABC's method: Always Be Closing. Yes, we must share our faith! It is a command and part of the great commission, but we cannot utilize the antiquated door to door salesman approach in the 21st Century. If you are going to share about the Lord then you must take interest in their needs just like Paul and Silas did. They should never become a notch on our belt or a check mark on our "Christian Report Card". On the flip side of the coin, if we are not active in sharing our faith then we need to realize the importance of our ministry. We all have a been given an opportunity to minister to the needs of the people within our circle. At the close of the message I utilized Brandon Heath's video, Give Me Your Eyes. Just like Jesus modeled for us when he stopped and ministered to the woman, we need to PAUSE and look around at how we can help with the needs of others. Check out this link to the Give Me Your Eyes video by Brandon Heath.

http://http//www.youtube.com/watch?v=OihvG607W-c

Katie's Bike

We recently had Kaytlin's birthday party in the Family Life Center. Janna and I gave her a pink princess bike. She rode it around the FLC and loves it. It's always cool to see your kids happy and having fun!

Family & Ministry

Kaytlin's birthday was on February 13 and she turned 4 years old. Janna and I spent the morning with her at the OKC Zoo as our little Ashley stayed with my mother-in-law. We want to make an effort to spend quality time with our kids together and individually. One of the things that I always admired about my father-in-law, David, is that he would spend individual time with Janna.

In high school and college he would take her out to lunch and they would call it their "daddy-daughter date". When she was in high school, he traveled frequently with his job and was out of town for half of the week. He knew that he wanted to spend quality time with his family when he had the opportunity so they began to develop their time together. When I was dating Janna in college, David was completing his bachelor's degree along with serving as a senior pastor and he made time for her. David still takes Janna out occasionally and spends time with her even though she is married with kids.

In 2008 I was away from Kaytlin & Ashley for 34 days on ministry related events such as a mission's trip to El Salvador, Youth Camp, I-Camp, Six Flags, National Fine Arts in North Carolina, Youth Convention and D-Camp. Janna and I also took a personal vacation for 5 days. Although I enjoy these ministry events and spending time with our students, I am not necessarily looking forward to being away from my kids this much in 2009. However, the perspective that I have on this is that as long as I make an effort as a father to have quality time with my kids when I am at home, then the relationship that I have with them will continue to grow. I am not attaining to be the guy that sits in "his chair" every night and kicks off his shoes as he reaches for the remote control to click on the television and zones out because it has been a long day at the office and is too exhausted to be productive at home. I also do not want to be the minister that puts more time and effort into ministry, the church and other people's needs before the needs of my family. I cannot be that guy, nor do I want to be.

When I was an associate youth pastor I was a single man with no kids. When I started at the church I did not have a day off for the first 3 months. The senior youth pastor was also the senior children's pastor and I worked closely with him and the associate children's pastor. We were starting a junior sports program and we spent Saturdays canvassing the neighborhoods with fliers and having some outreaches. We would be up at the church 7 days a week. Sometimes at 6 am to get the baseball fields mowed and ready for that night's sports program. Then we would stay and clean up and come home around 10 pm. I remember one time when the senior youth pastor, who was 29 at the time gave me some of his best advice. He told me I needed to guard my time now as a single man so that once I had a wife and kids then I would be able to balance ministry and family better. I do not think that I have attained this goal and I know that I am growing as a father and a minister, but I do cherish the time that I have with my children and want to give everything that I can to my family and to my church. I can go back and look at the picture of Kaytlin (located at the top right) when we went to the zoo before her first birthday and the recent picture to realize that time goes by so quickly and I cannot take a "day off" as a father.

My Circle of Influence

Our goal for 2twenty Student Ministries in 2009 is to have every student engage in a personal ministry within their circle of influence. I shared the following notes with the students during last night's message.

Who is in my circle of influence? Family, Friends, Classmates, Teachers, Teammates, Co-Workers & Employer.

The Circle of Influence was modeled by Jesus: During the earthly life of Jesus his circle of influence included his family, friends, followers and the twelve disciples. He also had an inner circle of disciples that were close to him that included Peter, James & John.

Mark 16:15 - Jesus said, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.” (This passage of scripture is our foundation in sharing our faith with others.)

When we commit our lives to the Lord we want to become his disciples. Just like the twelve gave up their time, jobs, homes, etc. in order to follow him, we give up what is comfortable to us in order to share our faith. (Luke 5:1-11 & Luke 5:27-32)

Pilcher 4 Presbyter

Last night at our Sectional Council for section 9 north in the Oklahoma A/G District, Pastor Darren was voted by his peers to serve as the Sectional Presbyter. He will be the first presbyter to serve this new section. We want to congratulate him on this high honor and we are praying for many blessings on him and his family. Who knew that our 2008 summer t-shirts were going to be helpful in promoting our lead pastor!

2twenty Student Ministries

We dropped the new youth group name in our middle school and high school services last night. The name is 2twenty Student Ministries and it is taken from Galatians 2:20. Personally, I believe that this one scripture sums up the commitment, challenge, and lifestyle of being a Christ follower. Last night I preached a four point message utilizing this one scripture. The following outline notes were given to every student in attendance to briefly explain the meaning of the scripture.

Galatians 2:20 - “I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me. The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”

What does this passage of scripture mean?

“I have been crucified with Christ”
Although we are challenged daily by our sinful nature, we have made a commitment to Christ by burying our sinful lifestyle.

“and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”
With a genuine relationship with Christ, we begin to develop more of a Christ like nature and our desire is to please God.

“The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God,”

We make a statement with our faith by believing that Jesus is the messiah, the Son of God and that we will live for him.

“who loved me and gave himself for me.”
We believe that Christ has unconditional love for us and that he saved us from eternal punishment by sacrificing his earthly life.

I received positive feedback from the students over the meaning of the name and the look of our new logo. I'm happy that they are excited about our new identity and direction!

Super Bowl XLIII

I dig football...High School, College, NFL, and even the Arena League. Super Bowl 43 should be a good match up of the Arizona offense and the rugged Steeler defense. I enjoy watching the Super Bowl, even if my beloved San Fransisco 49ers have not been in one since the year I graduated High School. In recent years the Super Bowl has become a great game, unlike the blowout match ups of the 90's. My prediction for the game is Arizona 28 - Pittsburgh 24. Although I like the Steelers head coach, Mike Tomlin, I cannot root for the Steel Men because if they win they will become the only franchise to win 6 Super Bowl's placing them above the 49ers and the Dallas Cowboys in which they are all tied with 5 Super Bowl wins. Go Cards!!!

What is the clincher?

The Clincher is a song by one of my favorite bands, Chevelle. The meaning behind the song has drawn various circles of debate from fans and critics. Some suggest that the song is about claustrophobia, while others suggest that the song is about the crucifixion of Jesus. This was the first song on their 2004 album entitled, This Type of Thinking (Could Do Us In). When I first heard the song I thought it was one of the most explosive ways for a band to start out an album. Heavy guitar rifts along with a little screaming helped kick start their second major label album release and drew my attention to the rest of the album. Regardless of the differences in opinion of what the meaning behind the song is, fans and critics alike agree that the song is one of the band's best.

I've had the opportunity to experience various discussions on scripture and theology in college classrooms, church small groups, personal conversations with friends and co-workers, and with students in my youth ministry. I've experienced some incredible discussions that I value what I have learned. Some of my beliefs have been formed through discussion formats in which I adopted an opinion that was shared, along with the validation of scripture in my study time. I've also listened to some bad discussions that made me frustrated and exhausted. I cannot count the times when I have sat in a Sunday school class or church small group and have had the teacher read a proverb or portion of scripture and then hear the teacher ask the same old tired question after the conclusion of the passage, "What does that mean to you?" I always thought that the teacher just didn't prepare well enough for the class and then they open up for any random or off the wall answer from the entire classroom. Of course there is a time for analyzing the meaning of the passage, but honestly can we really do justice to the hermeneutics of the passage within 35 minutes as we are eating our glazed donut?

Everyone has their own opinion on the meaning and context of scripture formed by their upbringing, education, value system, part of the world they live in, and denomination or fellowship that they are a part of. One of the unique things about scripture and theology to me is that someone that is a student of formal education can never uncover all of the deeper truths in a lifetime and the simplicity of scripture can penetrate the heart and mind of a common villager in a remote area of the planet. The fact that scripture is still relevant and applicable to mankind in the 21st Century as it was when it was written shows the common thread that connects us is our relationship with our creator. With nearly 38,000 Christian denominations today and the greyness scale between many of their doctrinal beliefs, it is important for us all to agree that The Clincher of scripture is the redeeming work of Jesus Christ for mankind.