I need a Holiday from the Holiday

Tricia and I and the kids got back from our Thanksgiving weekend in South Bend, Indiana early this morning around 4am. I must say I enjoy getting away, but I so much more enjoy coming home. I spoke at a church in Hartford, Michigan on saturday night (getting back to the hotel at 1am) and then spoke at a church in South Bend on Sunday morning. I really believe I was at both churches on purpose and was able to be a source of inspiration and faith. But besides those events, It seems to me that the Holiday season drives us to be here and there, on time schedules, shopping malls, dinners, gatherings, etc... that I need a break from those breaks. I'd like a holiday to be just that, a holiday. With the simple responsibility of eating, sleeping, Football, laughing, conversing, and being with Family. Nothing more, nothing less.

Every Thanksgiving I attempt to walk the campus of Notre Dame, feeling it's great spirit of faith as the wind blows, always giving me cold chill bumps ,and those are not caused by it being 20 degrees and snowing, I just love the atmosphere of that deserted campus on its last day of regular football season. BUT this years schedule did not permit, and I am sad. Although we did get to visit the bookstore and purchase IRISH clothing for my wife and kids. (I didn't get anything b/c I'd had to remortgage the house) :-)

In the hustle and bustle of my lifestyle I am leaning towards a retreat. Not a vacation, a retreat, a time to slow down, seperate myself to pray, medidate, and think. I am in a position which requires me to be Godward, and I find myself constantly being manward. I truly need some serious time with God. OVer and above the time I spend during the mornings before I start my day. Now the alone time is quite difficult for me because I am energized and fueled by people. I think I would be better for my family, for my church, and for me, if I did that. No laptop, no cell phone, no ipod, no palm pilot. Just me and God on Holiday.

Oklahoma Preacher Gets Punched During Sermon

A well known Oklahoma pastor was attacked Sunday while giving the alter call at his church. See video

Pastor Billy Joe Daugherty of Victory Christian Center in Tulsa was almost knocked out when 50-year-old Steven Rogers walked forward and punched him during the time when people were joining the church.

As the music played, without warning, the man punched Daugherty in the face. Before he could land a knockout blow, he was yanked away. With blood pouring down his face, Daugherty kept on preaching and forgiving.

Daugherty says the attack came after telling the biblical story of Paul and Silas being beaten and thrown into jail. He says the attack "was like an illustrated sermon."

Rogers was hauled off to jail after allegedly hitting two more people, including a security guard. The pastor now has a black eye and stitches three days after the altercation that was caught on tape.

No one knows why Rogers attacked Daugherty. Church representatives say Rogers was bused to the service from a local mission. After his arrest they found out there was a warrant out for his arrest for violating a protective order.

Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving!
Wishing You Success and Abundance

After driving 11 hours yesterday and arriving in South Bend, Indiana at 2 AM, we woke up this morning to what would look like a Christmas morning. It is cold and snowing here today, when we left Tennessee it was sunshining and in the high 50’s. The twins were in awe looking at the snow. :-) We will be sitting down with our family in a few hours to eat the traditional turkey dinner, and reflect and be thankful for life, family, friends and most importantly God. So on behalf myself, Tricia, Cierra, Christian, Grayson, Emily and Evan, we wish you an incredible and wonderful Thanksgiving Day. We all have much to be grateful and thankful for, and we wanted to share our desire for you to have a blessed and wonderful day.

Thank you Lord for your blessings, for my family and friends, and good health.

By him therefore let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips giving thanks to his name. Hebrews 13:15 (KJV)

JFK on Leadership

I've recently been reading John F. Kennedy on Leadership by John A. Barnes. In the 40-plus years since John F. Kennedy's assassination, many people have forgotten how far American politicians have come in their public personas. Every candidate tries to use the media, savvy advisers, staged events and a winning personality to develop an authentic, vote-getting public voice. Kennedy was the first president to master these essential political tools. This made him one of America's most popular presidents, as well as a celebrity. Kennedy's political personality was so strong that it virtually transformed the presidency. In this rich historical and personal story, author John A. Barnes does a great job of showing how Kennedy operated. JFK was enmeshed in pivotal events and each circumstance tested his ability to lead. Barnes clearly presents Kennedy's triumphs and shortcomings as well as his formula for successful leadership. We recommend this to aspiring and current leaders, and to those interested in history - or in politics the way it used to be.
The Chapter on Team Building:Find your "Bobby" was most interesting. He said the team you put together to surround and advise you says a lot about your leadership. Every leader needs someone who can be trusted above all else. I must say that this is such a need for those in leadership.

Choose Your Words Carefully

Mark Twain put it this way, "The Difference between the right word and the almost right word is the the difference between lightning and the lightning bug." Words are so powerful, we must choose them carefully. Organize your thoughts before you speak, and dtermine which words will best communicate the message you want to send.

One morning, President Franklin Roosevelt asked his secretary to take down a brief message to Congress. As he dictated every word, including punctuation marks, she wrote out, "Yesterday, December 7, 1941, a day that will live in World History, the United States was suddenly and deliberately attacked...." After typing the 500 word message, she returned it to Roosevelt. He made only one change, crossing out "World History" and replacing it with "infamy". As we all know, "A day that will live in infamy" are sopme of the most famous words ever spoken by a United States President. The right choice of words created a message that will live forever in history.

Remember, death and life are in the power of the tongue. Weigh your words, because you never saw a fish on the wall with its mouth shut.

Dr. Adrian Rogers: September 12, 1931 - November 15, 2005

September 12, 1931 - November 15, 2005
Dr. Adrian Rogers, Founder of Love Worth Finding Ministries, Pastor Emeritus of Bellevue Baptist Church and a gifted man of God passed away in to the presence of the Lord early this morning after battling cancer and double pneumonia. It is pretty amazing that this generation's Generals of the Kingdom are moving to the next level of eternal life. The poet Shakespear said in one of his immortal works, "We have come to bury Caesar, not to praise him." This cannot be true of Adrian Rogers. You can never truly bury a work of God. Amidst the talk of the lack of integrity among television preachers in the last decade, you never heard one negative comment concerning Adrian Rogers. In his passing, For him, the dark shadow of death has been illuminated by the shining face of Jesus Christ, for truly to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. Pastor Rogers was the epitome of integrity, therefore let a new generation of men and women arise to the example of such a giant in the faith.

Google Print Goes Live & Microsoft Follows

In case you missed it Google Print Beta went live November 3rd. You can find full info on the service here. At the moment you can search books from public libraries that are public domain, and there is a publisher programme to put books online. They hope to work on scanning copyrighted books, to enable searches and drive sales for books and downloads, but have some legal issues to work out, not surprisingly!

Microsoft are also set to digitize 100,000 books from the British Libraries 13 million books, at a cost of $2.5 million.

We Need a Revolution!

We Need a Revolution!

Here is a little piece that might give you a little kickstart to your day.

The word revolution seems so harsh. Visions of bloody battles and peasant uprisings stir in the mind. But revolution is a beautiful word. We may have heard Christ referred to as a revolutionary. Yet our modern Christian minds want to reject this designation for our commander in chief. Maybe the effeminate pushover portrayed in our art and pop culture has seeped into our brains. Christ was not a violent man, at least physically. He never advocated overthrowing the reining government system. More importantly he championed the radical, violent overthrow of self. A revolutionary, yes.

We hear everyone talking about revival these days. I don’t think revival is the best term to describe what we need in this country and abroad. WE NEED A REVOLUTION! There is so much hurt, destruction, hopelessness and helplessness. Revival spikes then leaves. Spiritual revolution changes the very fabric of a being. For a nation to change, individuals must be rocked by Christ himself. Change cannot be legislated. A government or church program will not make a lasting dent. We must believe that the very power and love of God is our only hope.

The true love of God is blindingly extravagant, lavish, unreasonable, and unbelievable. The church must begin to understand and embrace the truth of God’s love. Not in a casual “yeah God loves me, he kind of has to. . .” kind of way. Christ knows everything about us, every detail even to minutia. Beyond this it is His desire for us to share in his abundant love inheritance. Yes in eternal life, but also in real-time. There are tools and authorities given to us for the purpose of seeing a dying world find Christ. The apostles in the book of Acts were continuously throwing cities into “uproar.” Why aren’t we seeing uproar? Could it be our comfort, our fear, or our unbelief?

We have complete hope in knowing that in Christ anything is possible. If God can speak the world into existence, surely he can overcome my unbelief. Surely faith can and will reign again in Christ’s glorious church. When the world sees the radiance of his love manifest in salvation, healing, freedom, and joy—then they will take notice. But we have some spring cleaning to do among our ranks don’t we? If we are nothing more than a country club with pews, how will we affect anything or anyone? It is time that we looked deep inside and reevaluated our understanding of the person of Christ. If his commission in Luke 4 is our commission, our lives must be reevaluated. God was so passionate in seeing us live, he was willing to die. The passion, the guttural urge to see transformation in ourselves and our communities has waned.

Is it wrong that your blood pressure rises when you think of the state the world is in? When you realize all the territory the enemy of your soul has stolen? I would dare to say it is quite healthy. To be meek is not to be weak. We must overcome the misconception that Christianity is a defense mechanism. The scripture is quite clear that we are forcefully to be on the offense (MT 11:12). We all know another verse in Matthew that states “the gates of hell shall not prevail” against the church. Gates are a defensive tool. We are commissioned to smash through the gates of hell and take back what has been stolen. Did somebody say Revolution? It is ok to be fed up! It is ok to be passionate! It is the compassion of Christ rising in you, longing to see restoration.

Let the revolution begin in us. There is no time to waste. The love of Christ beckons you!

Me, Mark Hanby, & Paul Bishop

A few weeks ago I attended my good friend, Paul Bishop's, 10 year Church anniversary (in which I help plant) and 25 year Ministry Anniversary. I spoke on how much my covenant relationship with Paul has been such a blessing to my life, and we are who we are by the people we connect ourselves too. We have known each other for almost 16 years. We celebrated birthdays, christmas's, ups and downs, and joys over the years. That evening I was extremely blessed to share the pulpit with one of the worlds greatest preachers, Dr. Mark Hanby. When I was 12 years old I was listening to a tape at my grandparents by Mark, entitled "From the Oil to The Gold"(it was 15 years from when David was anointed then crowned King), it was then I heard God speak to me and call me to ministry. 15 years from that time I was at Mark & Linda's home in Tennessee and Mark prophesied that this was going to be my year to enter into what God anointed me to do. 3 months later I accepted the pastorate of my first church in Mansfield, Ohio. It is quite interesting how time brings things and people together. Thanks Paul for making two calls: one for me to and come preach at New Life and second, for us to leave Wisconsin and accept the Youth Pastorate at New Life in Lancaster, Thanks Dr. Hanby for your anointing, prolific words, and apostolic utterance to shape a new generation of preachers, and I will see you at the Ranch.

Experiences and Moments Create Memories

How many times during our days that we miss "moments"? Those uncanny, happy, sad, funny, frustrating experiences we face everyday. These experiences are what creates memories. What you see, hear, enjoy, and even say triggers memories. Our mind was designed for two things: memory, in which you replay experiences in your life, and imagination, in which you preplay what you desire to happen. Both are powerful tools and should be used for the positive.

Here are some of my "Moments":

1. The first time I saw my wife Tricia: In the midst of a crowd of people coming towards me with a smile, to introduce herself to me. WoW.
2. The moments when all 5 of my children were born: seeing life and a part of me and my wife right before my eyes. You talk about emotional!
3. Driving up RT 71 from Columbus, Ohio to Mansfield and looking at the rolling hills of Ohio during the changing of the color of the leaves during the fall. A Wow experience. I had to pull my car off the road and just look.
4. As a 11 year old boy, being at relatives in Maryland, and getting the phone call that my Grandpa had just died. Never had I experienced grief when I had heard the words "Pappy just died".
5. Heard the song the other day, "Never Say Good Bye - by Bon Jovi" and my memory went back to 1987 my senior year in high school.
6. Having a conversation with my oldest daughter Cierra the other day on why she couldn't go to a certain place, and I actually heard my Dad saying the same thing to me when I was younger.
7. Waking up my first time in Florida and watching the sunrise while Tricia and I walked the beach and then that evening watching the sun set. Things like that you don't forget.
8. Recently took Christian and Grayson to WWE wrestling in Jackson and watching their reaction to their favorite Wrestlers coming out. It was worth the money just to see their excitement. In which it triggered a memory when my dad and grandpa took me to see WWF when I was a kid and my excited reaction when the likes of Andre the Giant, Jimmy Superfly Snuka, etc. came out to ring.
9. Sitting on a boat on Horton's Pond in Michigan on a hot summer day with my Uncle and best buddies, Fishing and catching bass on every cast. I am ready to go back!
10. The first time eating at a Ruth Chris restaurant. I ordered the Filet and it came out on a 500 degrees plate marinated in Garlic butter. ummmmmmmmmm. There is still no filet like it in the world.