Top 25 Moments from 2011

It's New Year's Eve and time to take a look back at 2011. It's been an amazing year. I can't wait to see what God does in 2012.

Here's my Top 25 Moments of 2011:

25. Unexpected trip to NC to visit family.

24. Christmas Eve at FCBC.

23. Signing my son up for his first international mission trip.

22. Watching the Cowboys beat the Redskins (second time in season.)

21. Operation Christmas Child - ALL of it. It's an amazing thing to see!

20. Catalyst Conference.

19. Travelling to Nashville with Marsha for a friend's wedding.

18. Watching the Cowboys beat the Redskins.

17. Seeing all the amazing results of our Kenya Team's work.

16. Our family's visit with Mike, Alice, Daniel and Ben in England.

15. Visiting my brother and his family in Berlin.

14. Dinner with Marsha in downtown Berlin.

13. Visiting Cathy and Alex in France.

12. Having Alex give us a tour of his home town, Pavilly, France.

11. Taking a picture of the four of us crossing Abbey Road.

10. Seeing my kids faces on their very first airplane ride.

9. Pastor Charle's last minute visit from Nairobi.

8. All the weddings, baptisms and baby dedications. Those never get old!

7. Orange Conference - truly an amazing group of folks leading leaders!

6. Pappadeaux's in Atlanta. Now that's some good food!

5. Dinner and great conversation with long-lost friends in Atlanta.

4. Watching our church showing God's love to the homeless in our community.

3. Hanging out with the guys in my coaching network and learning from each other.

2. Celebrating another anniversary with Marsha - 18 years and each one gets better.

1. Baptizing Abbey!

Merry Christmas

As I'm writing this it's Wednesday, four days until Christmas. I had an interesting conversation this morning with a kid in our neighborhood. He's in the 6th grade and comes to our house each morning to have breakfast and walk to school with Abbey and me. His mom's a single parent and works long hours in order to provide for three kids. She leaves early and comes home late most days.

Last week he noticed some Christmas presents under our tree and jokingly asked which one was his. He was surprised, and thrilled, when Abbey went over and pointed to his Christmas present - it had his name on it. Everyday since he's asked "When can I open my present?"

But today, as we were walking out the door he asked a different question. He asked "Did you get me a present because I'm poor?" I have to say I was not expecting the question and something inside of me broke when I heard it. But somehow, God gave me a quick response. I said "You're one of the richest people I know."

On the walk to school he asked me what I meant when I said he was one of the richest people I knew. I told him that everyday when he comes to our house, regardless of what's going on, he always has a smile on his face and is always happy about something. I told him he was rich in joy and that everyday he makes my day better because of who he is. I'm not sure if he understood what I was saying but someday he will.

It's hard to have joy sometimes, especially when things are not going well for us but are going well for others. But if a 6th grade kid can find joy in the middle of a difficult life, surrounded by friends and peers who have so much more than him, then so can we.

I think that's a big part of the Christmas story. So many people, in difficult circumstances, finding joy because of a baby that changed the world. I hope no matter what the circumstances are in your life this Christmas that you will have an experience like mine this week to remind you of what a joyful time this is.

Merry Christmas!

What's Your Question?

We had an "all church" meeting today. The goal was to give some of our leaders a chance to share some of the things we're going to be trying or tweaking or doing differently in the next few months. The four areas we talked about were:

1. Family Ministry
2. Small Groups
3. Vulnerable Children Initiative
4. Strategic Objectives

We've uploaded the PowerPoint that we used. Click here to view it.

Our goal wasn't to answer every question that people might have about these four areas. Our goal was to paint in broad strokes and we probably generated more questions than we answered. So for those of you who were able to join us what's your question?

What questions do you have about any of these four areas or any other part of our church? If you are wondering about something chances are someone else is too.

Ask your question here, on FB or Twitter or send me an Email. We'll answer them in public forums so everyone benefits.

30-Day Scripture Challenge - Day 9

But Samuel replied,

“What is more pleasing to the Lord:
your burnt offerings and sacrifices
or your obedience to his voice?
Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice,
and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.
Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft,
and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols.
So because you have rejected the command of the Lord,
he has rejected you as king.”

Why is obedience to God's voice than sacrifice and submission to him better than our offerings? And how do we, today, play the same role that Saul played in story?

30-Day Challenge - Week 1

We've finished the first week of the 30-Day Scripture Challenge.

We started with Adam and Eve, living in the perfect environment and yet they still chose to follow their own way rather than God's. Then God blessed Jacob and set his family apart as God's chosen people - Israel. God gives Israel the Law - a perfect law given by God himself. And we see Israel time and time again not be able to keep that law.

Paul writes in Romans 3:20 "For no one can ever be made right with God by doing what the law commands. The law simply shows us how sinful we are"

Hindsight is 20/20 and we can look back and see how right Paul was and how true is statement still is today. Israel was saved but not because they had the law of God and were able to keep it. They were saved because of the relationship they had to God. The same is true for us today.

Perspective

I just read a statistic, actually I re-read it because I already knew it. The stat was in a report from one of our church's Vulnerable Children's Task Force members concerning our work in Kenya, Africa. Here's the stat:

Across Kenya, the unemployment rate is 40 percent and 50 percent of Kenyans live below the poverty line. The World Bank defines the poverty line as people living on less than $1.25 a day.

"Less than $1.25 a day." I'm sitting at Starbucks drinking a $4 latte while I read this. Talk about putting things in perspective.

30-Day Challenge - Day 1

Our church is taking a 30-Day Challenge.  Starting today we'll be reading scripture together for the next 30 days.  If you want to join just click here to view the reading list.  I'd also suggest going to BibleGateway.com and reading from a modern translation like the New Living Bible, Message or the New International Bible.

The challenge is part of a Sunday series we're doing on 5 of the habits we need to establish in order to grow spiritually.  I'll be blogging along the way.

Today (day 1) we read about the fall of humanity in Genesis where Adam and Eve give in to temptation eat the fruit from the forbidden tree.

A couple of observations about the story:

1.  There decision affected a lot of people - actually everyone.  But one thing I think we tend to forget is how their decision to disobey God must have affected God.  I tend to forget about God's emotions.  And the fact it he created Adam and Eve out of love and he loved them more than anything else he created.  It must have been painful when they walked away from him.

2.  No one took responsibility for their choices.  Adam pointed at Eve and Eve pointed at the serpent and the serpent had no where to go.  And really we're not different.  We still tend to point the finger and blame someone else for our poor choices.

So what are your observations from this story?  Did you see anything new when you read it again?