He is watching you!!

I will let you in on a little secret. I have always had a interest in clandestine activity. Really, I am not kidding. It partly comes from my father's career that included top secret work that he kept with him to his grave. I admire that character trait.

Many years ago I even looked into getting into the clandestine services of this country. One thing that "spies" do is watch. They watch and listen to governments and to people. Looking for information and patterns of behavior that prove to be useful to know. So everyday they are watching and listening to their target. Over time they learn their weakness, their times of vulnerability, their habits, and just when would be the best time to strike them.

Well, I have learned the you and I are targets of the clandestine services of the enemy of God. Yes your life is being studied and the "enemy" knows your weaknesses, when you are most vulnerable, and when to throw a temptation your way.

I find that I am most vulnerable to fear or frustration on Monday mornings. I expend so much energy on Sunday that I am emotionally and spiritually exhausted on Monday. I am vulnerable. It shouldn't surprise me that the day that I usually find a situation before me that is fearful or frustrating is Monday. Because of this I try to monitor my heart and emotions on Monday more than any other day.

I challenge you to get to know YOU like Hell does. Study your life, learn your moments of weakness, your unhealthy habits, and other things about you the Satan already knows and will use against you. Then when those vulnerable moments come you know to be on the look out and protect your heart against the attacks. He is watching and learning...in this ignorance is not bliss.

I am amazed and ready to dominate!

I work with the greatest people in the world. I really do. The staff and volunteers of Piedmont Church are what makes it the incredible church that it is.

We are about 6 1/2 months old and we had 530 people worship with us on Easter Sunday. If you are not into church planting let me tell you, that number is unheard of. I recently read a study of 2000 churches that are 5 years or less in age. That survey discovered that the average attendance of a church at 4 years old is right at 100 people. We hit 530 at only 6 1/2 months. AWESOME!

I am so pumped! God is moving and we are riding the wave. The interest that we are getting is largely because I have a church full of people who love people and love Christ. They go the extra mile to show the love of Christ to anyone and everyone.

I am so thankful for Christ and the work that he is doing through Piedmont Church.

Lets go DOMINATE this city for Jesus Christ!

Steven Curtis Chapman made me mad

Ok, I went to a SCC concert recently. My 9 year old daughter found one of his old CDs we had and downloaded it to her ipod. She really liked it, so when I was given an opportunity to go to the concert I jumped at the chance.

I took Kenzie as my date, a little daddy daughter time. Well SCC has a song called Cinderella. It is a song about a dad and his daughter. It tells of how fast the little girl grows up and leaves.

Now I am not an outwardly emotional guy and I am uncomfortable around men who cry a lot, but I struggled with this song. About two minutes into the song I was talking to myself, "Don't cry, Don't cry, think happy thoughts." I made it through the song but just barely. So I am not real happy with that man right now.

I do realize that she is not going to remain my little girl forever and it makes me a little sad. There is something about that one little girl of mine that has a special place in my heart.

To you guys who think my teariness is a little wimpy, just wait till you begin to see your daughter grow up and become more independent...it is exciting and it sucks all at the same time!

I believe in you

I was thinking today how you rarely hear pastors say that they believe in their people. We tend to tell our people what they should do, get on them about what they are not, and teach them bible knowledge but that is about it.

Well, let me change that. I want you to know that if you are reading this...I believe in you and what is possible in your life. I believe that you are a person of incredible value, and no matter your past, your future potential is amazing. I believe in you so much because you are uniquely created by God with a potential and a future. Just as a Picasso painting is valuable because of who painted it, you have incredible value because of who created you.

I do not want to hear you say, "Not me, I have made so many mistakes." Join the crowd!! God is more consumed with what you can be than what you have done. That is what forgiveness is all about. It is time that you start looking at your tomorrow like God does...it is a bright view.

If your today is dark because of circumstances out of your control, He is aware of that too and is prepared to walk you through to a better place.

I want you to know that there is a little, crazy, out-of-the-box preacher that believes in you, and a huge, eternal, uncontrollable God who does the same.

Have a Great Monday!

A work in progress

This morning at the Gathering a guy spoke about how he was a work in progress. That he realized that he was something that is not finished and that he was still being built.

I can not agree more. I think that so often we approach life as something in the future, a destination that we are suppose to one day arrive at and enjoy. So we are always thinking that real living is a future event. That is so wrong, life is a journey (or as one of my favorite songs go, "life is a highway") and the destination is death then judgment.

Listen to what it says in Acts 13:36, "36 For when David had served God's purpose in his own generation, he fell asleep." What this means is that David sought to live the purpose of God for him in whatever generation he was in at the time, and after that he died. In other words, life is about seeking to live the purpose of God in the teenage years as a teenager, then seek to live God's purpose as a 20 something when you are 20 something, and on and on. To often we live thinking that God's purpose is always something in the future, or we think that when we get to some stage or age in the future that then we will live God's purpose. No, God's purpose is always in the now.

I am convinced that we miss so much of what God has for us today because we are so consumed with trying to arrive to the future. Today you are not too young or too old for God to work in you and through you. Today could be the first day to living God's purpose that he has for you to live today, at this stage, in the generation that you are currently in...after that the only thing left to do is die.

The Power to Dominate

Ok, lets continue to wrap our minds around this idea of dominating the city for Christ. We must not strive for less or believe any less than that we can have an impact on the lives of people who are disconnected with God beyond what we imagine .

I believe that we have something working for us that is going to empower us to dominate the city. That being unity of vision. I have never worked in a church where there has been so many people with a clear understanding of the vision for the church. We are a church that provides environments that helps people connect with God and others no matter where they are on their spiritual journey. That is our focus. We work hard to communicate that we do not want people to put on masks or pretend they have it all together (we already know you are not perfect so don't try to convince us of anything different.) for we are about being real and relevant.

All our volunteers work hard to accept people, to lower anxiety that comes with going to church for the first time, and to create environments that cause those who are coming to want to bring their friends. There is an unexplainable excitement and power when you have a large number of people who in unity have this vision. It creates momentum.

In Luke 17 Jesus reminds us of the power found in a group of people who are working for one vision, "22 The glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, just as We are one; 23 I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, so that the world may know that You sent Me, and loved them, even as You have loved Me." Our passion to stay true to our vision, to invite those who share it to work with us, and to encourage those who do not to find another fine church is what unites us, and together we are going to dominate the city for the Glory of God.

You rock PC'ers!!!