Dodgeball Tournament

The goal for the first month of my sabbatical was to disconnect from South Hills Church.  The goal that I had planned for the next month was to have fun!  Part of that included playing a dodgeball tournament with some of the guys who grew up in our church and have become friends of mine!  The tournament was held at Lake Mead Christian Academy sometime in mid-May.

Our team did pretty amazing but in the end we got second place.  Here are some pics from the day!  Love you guys!

The team in action

Stay focused on the start

Thats a happy team!

Moving up the ladder to the finals

The Team!

Chasing Francis: Book Review

Book Title: Chasing Francis

Author: Ian Morgan Cron

Pages: 253

Publisher: NavPress

Recommendation: Yes! Read it! 

Favorite Quote: "Thomas, why does it feel like God's abandoned me?" I asked at last.
Thomas sighed. "Sometimes God's presence is most strongly felt in his absence."


During my sabbatical I read only a few books (in addition to the Bible) and this was one of them.  Now the interesting thing about this book is that is spoke deeply to my heart given the condition of my heart.  The even more interesting thing about this book is I have no clue who recommended it!


The book is a fictional story about a lead pastor from the Northeast area.  He (Chase) is about 38 years old and comes to a crisis of faith.  The tough thing about this is that Chase comes to this crisis while leading the church when he encounters the death of a young girl.  This culminates when Chase stands on stage, one Sunday morning, and announces to his church that he is not even sure if he believes in God.  After this he walks off the stage and leaves the church.


This obviously leads to an interesting outcome in the life of the pastor.  His elders encourage him to take some time off so both they and he can figure out what is going on.  During his time off he calls his cousin, who is a Franciscan Monk, in Italy.  Chase ends up going to Italy for a couple months (I think) to seek God and figure out what is missing in his life.  I am not going to give the rest of the story away but I will encourage you to pick up the book and see what it would like to seek after God in news ways. 

As for Me and My [Crazy] House: Book Review

Book Title: As for Me and My [Crazy] House

Author: Brian Berry

Pages: 154

Publisher: Group Publishing

Recommendation: Read it Now!

Favorite Quote: "So how about you? Did you sign up for the marriage you're living? If not, it's time to rethink some stuff and remind yourself that the best gift you can give your kids is not whatever they want, but the marriage they don't know that they desperately need you to have." (page 84)

This was one of the books that I bought while I was still working on seminary and thought I wouldn't get to until I finished.  Once this book arrived at our home Charity picked it up and started reading it; her enthusiasm for the book sparked my interest to begin reading it while writing my final paper (it was better than what I HAD to read).  There are books you read because you have to and books you read because they speak to your soul; this book spoke to my soul in a much needed way.

If you read my blog last week you will see how important this book was to me; it honestly came a critical time in my life.  I started this book before I graduated seminary but finished it on the plane ride to Hawaii.  It was cool reading it on the plane and reading how Brian affirms the need for family vacation (page 135) it made me feel like I was doing something right in the chaos of my own life.  I am pretty sure that the cover talks mentions youth ministry but I am going to just say that this book is a must read for anyone in ministry.

The principles that Brian shares are from a man who had tried and tested them; they come from a man who is leading out and doing what he writes!  Here are some quick thoughts: Brian Berry is a stud!  I love Brian, I love his heart for ministry and I love that he is doing ministry in the trenches.  The book is broken into three understandable parts:

1. The best gift I can give my marriage is a healthy self
2. The best gift I can give my family is a healthy marriage
3. The best gift I can give my community and ministry is a healthy family

I am committed to getting this book into the hands of as many people as I possibly can because I believe that what Brian is talking about here can help our communities find and follow Christ.  I really believe that the world is sick of they way they are living and they are looking for men and women to model something new to them.  Its going to take time to implement these aspects into my life but I am committed to making that happen for the health of my family.

Thanks Brian.

Spiritually Empty

Three months ago if you would have asked me how I was doing I would have given you the answer that most Americans give when asked that question: "I'm good"

If you would have pushed me a little on that answer you probably would have gotten: "I'm tired"

As I reflect back on the last couple years of my life I realize that I was constantly "tired".  I was tired of school, I was tired from being woken up at night by our daughters, I was tired of ministry being tough and I was tired of not spending time with Jesus.  The day after I left for sabbatical I took a picture of my phone and it was a good representation of where my life was at; I was empty.  You could also say: tired, drained, exhausted, depleted, empty, not full and pretty much any other word that relates to those words.

Now I understand that writing about this subject makes me vulnerable but I have to image that I am not the only one out there who has experienced this.  Now I also understand that not everyone is given the opportunity that I have been given (a sabbatical) to address this issue.  In reality it took me about three weeks of sabbatical before I actually realized how drained I was.

One glaring issue was that I had made my quiet time just that.  I would read the Bible, try to pray and failed to sit and have a relationship with God: it was definitely quite.  Let me share a handful of things that I began to realize on sabbatical that is going to change in my personal walk with Christ as I move forward in life (at this point I am not talking as a pastor but a believer in Christ).

NO MORE QUIET TIME
Maybe you have called the time that you spend with God on a daily basis your "quiet time" I want to push back on that verbiage.  Over the last couple months I have become convicted that I do not want the time that I spend with God to be quite.  I want the time I spend with God to be interactive, communicative and uplifting.  I want to sit on my face before God.  If I feel I am not hearing God's voice I want to read the Bible out loud.  I am going to switch up my relationship with God to be multi-faceted and interactive but in ways that will require me to shut up and listen.

INTENTIONAL GET-A-WAYS
During my sabbatical I was able to get a few days in Utah, by myself, to connect with God.  There is something important about not just getting away but about being intentional with that time.  I'm not going to take too much time here since I will go more in-depth in a few days on this topic.  To wet your appetite go check out Mark 1:35.

DOING LIFE WITH OTHERS
While on sabbatical I realized how important friendships are to my life.  When we are busy some of the first things to go are our time with God and then our time with others.  You cannot read the Gospels and tell me that friendships are not important.  Jesus calls us to a life with others, share meals with others, be real with others and walk with others.  I had neglected that in my life and realized that is going to change as I move forward.

MORE TIME WITH MY FAMILY
I'm not sure if most people would include this in their spiritual health but I cannot see it being separate from my spiritual health.  I make that statement because as the leader of my home it is my responsibility to take care of my family.  One thing that God spoke clearly to me is: "Love your girls."  That will be a main focus in my life from here on out.  I have put other things above the needs of my family too many times and moving forward I am going to make sure that is not the case.

In conclusion I want you to think about this verse and ask yourself: "Who is in control of my life?"

"Come to me, all you who are wearied and burdened, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.  For my yoke is easy and my burden is light."  Matthew 11:28-30

Hawaiian Vacation Round Two

As I attempt to recap most of my sabbatical I wanted to take another post to talk about the blessing of our Hawaiian Vacation.  It was so rad to have our family there to spend time with, but also, to watch our kids so Charity and I could get some "us time".  One of those times was taking a helicopter ride around the island of Kauai.

One of the blessings of the ride we took is that the helicopter actually lands at the waterfall featured in Jurassic Park.  Having never ridden in a helicopter before this was a treat for me to experience.

Charity and I sat shotgun in the helicopter and it was such an amazing view of the island.  Heading into sabbatical I was pretty tired/exhausted and taking this ride was a great reminder of all that God has created.  Its interesting to me how a ride like this was able to lift my spirit some and show me more of the beauty that God has created.

Check out this video of the Na Pali Coast from our ride

Hawaiian Vacation

The day after my graduation from seminary our family jumped (we actually walked) on a plane that was headed to Kauai.  Looking back on my sabbatical leaving town immediately was the best decision we could have ever made!  We spent the next ten days in Kauai with my family and had a GREAT time.  The girls loved hanging out with their cousins, I loved seeing my sister and it was great having Oma and Opa there.

Kauai was filled with adventure so I think its going to take more than one post to share but for starters I had a great time with my kids!  Kauai is filled with chickens; they are every where and Sophie and I had a great time catching them.  This is a pic from the first morning we caught a chicken.  Sophie was so excited to hold it!  Leah held one but quickly let it go to watch her sister.  My sister (Beth) also has some made chicken catching skills while holding her son!

One thing I promised the girls was that we would get shave ice every day.  Shave ice is pretty much the best invention in the world and I enjoyed every time we ate it.

Finally, for this post, I have to mention how much fun I had snorkeling with my wife and my sister.  I love being out in nature, I love chasing fish around the ocean and I love being able to see more of what God has created!

God knew this was how we needed to start our sabbatical!

Seminary /// Support

The other day I wrote about how I finally graduated seminary.  That post didn't allow for the time to really thank some of the people who have been a huge support (my cheerleaders) while I was working on my degree.  I am sure that I am going to forget some people in this post but there are three main groups I want to thank!

My Family
Seminary took a toll on my family.  That is probably not what you expected to hear but its true.  I am eternally in-debt to my family for the sacrifices they made for me to finish school.  My wife was extremely supportive when I had to read books, write papers, be gone for weeks at a time and stay up late to finish up a project.  Charity was my biggest support and I am so thankful to you wife!  My kids also took a blow during these last four years of their lives.  Sophie came up to summer school once but in the other eight times I had to travel to Redding I did it solo.  Leah is still young and may never remember but I will never forget the times I missed with them.  Thank you girls for making the sacrifices for me.  Thank you for letting me use our families resources and thanks for Skyping with me in the mornings when I was away; that kept me sane!

Extended Family
Thank you to everyone of you who encouraged me during these last six years.  My extended family was super supportive when I would explain to them what I was learning; they always extended a listening ear to hear what God was doing in my life.  They understood when I would have to leave family vacations to go to Starbucks and finish up a paper or stay up late to write one last book report.  They also took their time, and resources, to attend my graduation and that was a huge blessing to physically have them all there!

South Hills Church Community 
My Church was key in my completion of seminary!  They supported me when I needed to take a day off to finish a paper.  They gave me weeks (yep, weeks) off every year so I could travel to take courses. They understood the time commitment that was involved with seminary and they understood the Kingdom value of school.  I didn't have to fight with them about the importance of seminary because they understood the value it presented in my life and the benefit it was to the Kingdom to train up leaders.  More than that, I am so thankful that Pastor Brandon Gallup took the time to travel up to Redding for my graduation also!  Church; thank you for believing in me, investing in me and all your support these last six years!

If you are going to take the plunge into seminary I was to remind you that you are not meant to do it alone nor should you ever think that you can!  Seminary is costly (not just financially) and it requires a deeper commitment but if God is calling you to take that commitment start now because we are ever in need of Theologically sound pastors!

I did it (finally)

On April 28th 2012 something monumental happened in my life!

My journey in seminary is totally different than what I expected!  In September 2004 I started working on my Masters of Divinity at Azusa Pacific University's extension program in San Diego.  After taking two course God lead me to Las Vegas to minister with students which put a halt to my studies.  After getting the ministry up and running I chose to go back and work on my degree but now I was heading to Fuller Seminary.  March 2006 I took my first course at Fuller and my time there was amazing!

Once I realized I would not be able to complete the program through Fuller I transferred to a new seminary in Northern California called Tozer Seminary.  That was the most enjoyable, difficult, time of my life.  Seminary stretched me, shaped me, frustrated me, challenged me, gave me new friends, took lots of time, and encouraged me (Did I mention that I started Seminary as a single man and graduated a marriage man with two beautiful daughters?).  After three years at Tozer I graduated on April 28th 2012 with my Masters of Divinity; this is one of the top ten happiest days of my life!

I have referred to Seminary as the modern day discipleship process in my life; I needed Seminary in my life.  There were times that I wanted to quit but it shaped my Theology.  It helped my understanding of Scripture.  It provided a route to learn the Biblical Languages.  I wish that every new Christian would take the time, make the commitment and go to Seminary so that they can grow in their knowledge and love for Christ.

Seminary taught me how to think Theologically.  It helped me understand Scripture in a new way and make it understandable to the world around us.  My heart breaks for the lack of Biblical literacy in our society and I feel that God has called me to help combat that; I think Seminary has helped prepare me for a life of that.

Slow Return

I almost titled this post "I'm Back" but the truth is I am not back.  I really still have two weeks left of my sabbatical but some of the advice I was given was to come back a week early and work part-time for two weeks.  With that said I figured I would sit down and blog to prepare myself for my return.

Since I am not really sure where to begin I am just going to write what comes to mind...

These last few months have been some of the best, and toughest, times of my life!  I have spent more time with my wife, kids and God than I have been able to in the last eight years.  I have been able to get away and hang out with just me and God.  I have been able to sit and talk with my wife and just dream.  I have been able to spend precious moments with my children.  I have been able to see most of my family members, sit with them, grab a meal and talk (miss you sister).

Here is an overview of some of the things I have been able to do while on sabbatical:

• Graduated Tozer Seminary 
• Kauai with the family
• Dates with my wife
• Attend a rad Church in Vegas
• Spiritual Retreat in Utah
• Marriage Mentoring
• A Week at the Beach
• Went to a rad Church
• SeaWorld
• Disneyland
• Time with Mom in Big Bear Lake
• Time with Dad in Santa Clarita
• Went to a rad Church
• Time with Charity's family in Santa Maria
• Time with great friends in San Francisco
• Went to a rad Church

This is what I plan on blogging about more in depth in the next few weeks.  I want to breakdown my sabbatical and share what God taught me.  I want to share some memories that our family made.  I want to share some convictions that God has been working in my life.  I want to share some books that I read that I think might be helpful for you to read.

Bottom line is my life has changed since I've been on sabbatical.  My priorities have shifted and my life is going to reflect that from now on.  

Will Return: July 2012

This will be my last blog post for the next two months

If you are a regular visitor to my blog you are just going to have to go through the archives to see the crazy things in my head.  If this is your first time popping in, just come back in a few months!

I have been on sabbatical for ten days now and I think that leaving town, initially, has helpful for me to disconnect from full-time ministry but I have noticed that I have some auto-responses that need to die for this to be the best use of my time.  That being said, here is what I am going to "go dark" on for the rest of sabbatical.

Facebook
I will be disabling, or deactivating, my Facebook account here in the next couple days.  I am sure that many of you are shocked, amazed, maybe encouraged or just not sure how you would live without Facebook.  I have noticed that checking my Facebook takes time away from my family.  I am not sure I would have noticed how much time if I was as busy as I normally am but I have noticed and I am acting on that.  No more posting rad pics of my fam, checking in at amazing restaurants or stopping in to stalk others.

Twitter
This may be the most difficult one for me but I think it's a must.  I have noticed that I am not checking my feed and have used Twitter like I use Facebook; to post and get out.  Twitter has been a place for me to get encouraged, share wins, and stay connected with friends I don't always see.

Instagram
This has become a new found favorite for me.  I love seeing what my friends are doing, seeing the cool pics they post and adding a few myself.  I feel like I am so new to Instagram that leaving this soon sucks but it needs to happen.

Blogging
This will be one of the more difficult ones for me.  I love to sit down and write out my thoughts about what is stirring in this crazy brain I have between my ears.  I remember when I first saw blogging and was certain it would never pick up; but boy was I wrong.  I enjoy reading my friends blogs which allows me to keep up with what they are doing, what lessons they are learning or how to pray for them.  I will miss the blog world for the next two months.  I will miss being able to get my thoughts out of my head and process through them.

With all that said you can be sure that I will come back slowly but surely.  I do not plan to re-enter the technology world all at once.  This sabbatical thing is going to be a crazy lesson for me in the next 10 weeks but I am excited to see what God is going to teach me and speak to me.  Please pray for me, my family and our church while I am away.  If you wanna talk to me just give me a call!

Peace out; see ya soon!

Monk Habits for Everyday People: Book Review

Book Title: Monk Habits for Everyday People

Pages: 144

Author: Dennis Okholm

Publisher: Brazos Press

Quotable: "But a vow of stability is unique to Benedictine monks.  It is a commitment to stay with the same community for the rest of one's life."

This week I have been blogging about some of the books that I read for my Church History class and this was one that I bought as a resource for my final paper.

My interest in the monastic practices really began when I took a class in seminary called Christian Spiritual Formations.  This class taught me about new ways to connect with God that I had never really explored.  The professor helped teach me more about my personal relationship with God and how dudes from hundreds of years ago have impacted the Church.

This book is really good if you are curious about the Benedictine monastic practices and how to apply them to your daily life.  I appreciate the viewpoint that Okholm brings to the table on this book.  The book is very readable and practical in its explanations.  If you want a quick overview of some of the monastic practices that are found in the Benedictine order than I would encourage you to grab this book. 

Water from a Deep Well: Book Review

Title: Water from a Deep Well

Author: Gerald L. Sittser

Pages: 365

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Favorite Quote: "But we should never work so much that we neglect prayer, which in my minds seems the more urgent discipline, at least in our culture."

This book was one of three books that were required reading for my Church History course.  This book really taught me about many different eras of Church History and was a great compliment to the other books we read.

I feel like this book is very readable where some books like this could be very difficult to understand.  Sittser presents the information in a way that you can grasp and makes it easy to apply to your life.  I personally enjoyed the first couple chapters most as I really dig the monastic practices.

If you are looking for a book that will give you an overview of Church History in understandable language then you need to check this out.

Church History in Plain Language: Book Review

Title: Church History in Plain Language

Author: Bruce L. Shelley

Pages: 532

Recommend: Yes; for sure

Favorite Quote: "Despite widespread and determined efforts to eliminate the new faith, it survived and grew.

Taking this class on Church History rocked me!  This book helped me to learn about the 1900 years of Church History that I really had no clue about.

I remember one night an Elder called me while I was reading this book and as we were talking I told him that I am ashamed.  I was ashamed that I have been a Christian for twelve years and was so ignorant about the leaders who paved the way before me.

This book was great to learn about so many spiritual leaders and the impact they had on shaping the Church as we know it.  It was fun to see the impact of the monks, the dark ages, the church fathers, the Catholic church and every other significant point of history that brought us to where we are.  If you haven't read a book on Church History consider reading this one.

Be Present

I struggle with being present!

I have struggled with this for a long time!
(now that I have confessed it you can trust I am a fellow learner in this)

Being a dreamer I struggle with being present.  While I was leading in our student ministry I would struggle with being present in conversations, being present with my wife, being present with my children, being present at school and other places.  I remember driving home from a mission trip one time and just wishing I was home.  Finally a student reminded me that I could talk with them in the truck and it hit me how unfocused I was being.

While talking with a trusted mentor one day I shared this struggle and began the road to healing on this topic.  I had to slot in times in my day when I could dream and then find people to share those dreams with.  I learned to be present more with my family while thinking less about work or school.  I had to teach myself how to be present in situations and just dreaming all the time.

About a year ago I got some pretty sweet TOMS that helped me with this concept even more and put words to my struggle:

The journey is the destination

I wish you could see these shoes up close!  TOMS found a creative way to write this slogan out over and over again.  I had these shoes for about three weeks before I began realizing how important this saying was for my life.  When I began to realize that the journey was the destination I began to realize how important it was for me to be present in situations that I don't always desire to be present in.

I am not saying that I am perfect at this by any means, yet, but I am working on.  I am working on being present when my children need my attention.  I am being intentional to turn off my phone after work to focus on my family.  I am learning to say no to things that drain me and yes to things that fill me.  I am taking a day off every week to just rest and fill up my tank.

Here are some practical ways to be present

IN YOUR RELATIONSHIPS WITH GOD
Turn the TV off and take some time to be still and listen to God

IN YOUR MARRIAGE
Instead of cooking your spouse dinner at home, take them out to their favorite restaurant and engage them in conversation (don't be on Facebook)

WITH YOUR KIDS
When you get into your house, put your phone in the bedroom on silent until they are in bed

WITH YOUR FRIENDS 
Plan to hang out with them outside, don't just invite them over and be on the computer

Wedding Verse

Its fun to think that Charity and I have been married for over seven years now!  After we were married for almost two years I ended up getting a tattoo for her on my right side (you can see the bottom of it in the picture).  After thinking about it for a while I decided to get the verse we put on our wedding invitation tattooed on my side as a reminder to the commitment we made seven years ago.

The verse is from 1 John 4:19 and says: "We love because he first loved us."

That will be a constant reminder about how I treat my wife and where our love stems from.  Marriage is tough and being married for seven years seems to be a feat in our day and age.  My hope, and prayer, is that Charity and I will be married for the rest of our lives!

Empowering Leaders

Empowering leaders to lead can be a difficult task to undertake.  I recall my first year of Bible college and one of the professors going over this passage:

"It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." Ephesians 4:11-13 (NIV)

This passage has always stuck with me and the reasons have varied at times in my life.  Yesterday this passage became very real when I sat down with Julie Andrews and finalized some of the tasks she will be working on while I am away on sabbatical.  Since August 2011 I have been working with a team of people that have been the backbone in creating a healthy groups ministry at our church and Julie is just one of the seven people on that team.  Julie has an amazing passion for getting people connected in Life Groups (mainly because her life was changed drastically by a group) so it made sense to invest into her.

I know that leaving on sabbatical is going to be amazing for my lifetime of pastoral leadership but training up leaders to take your job is a tough role.  You may not be in my shoes right now but what if you used these three principles as you trained leaders:

GIVE PEOPLE EVERYTHING THEY NEED
Many times in ministry I hear people complain to me about the tools they don't have to do their job.  In my mind that is just poor leadership.  If we are going to set people to succeed in ministry we need to give them everything they need (not want).

SHOW THEM HOW TO DO THE ROLE
Someone I used to work with on staff taught me this principle.  First we need to let people watch us in the role we are training them to do.  Then we need to explain to people how to do their role in a way that they clearly understand.  After that we need to take the time to show them how to do the role.  Finally we can now watch them do the role on their own confidently knowing what is expected of them.  This is a great way to train leaders!

HELP THEM BE BETTER THAN YOU 
This may sound crazy but I hope that one day Julie takes my job.  I have usually taken the stance that my job in life is to train people to take the job that I am currently doing (sometimes it has been difficult) but when I do so I find that I always have a job!  Ask yourself this: "Are you comfortable with people being better than you are?"

Training leaders is tough but once we empower more people to do ministry we get to see more people find Christ as we realize that we are working towards the Kingdom of God not our personal empire.

Denomination: Blessing or Curse

I know that there are some people who swear by having a denomination that they are affiliated with and others who prefer to be on their own.  I have really been a part (on staff) of churches that are affiliated with a greater group of church.  Now I know that people are going to have their reasons for either way and we all have our personal preferences but let me share some of my experiences in the last seven years at my church.

When I was hired I was required to get licensed, and ordained, through our denomination.  I really didn't know much about what I was getting into but when I started studying more I really started agreeing with their stance on theological issues and doctrinal points.  It took me about two and a half years but I finally was ordained September 2007 through the Christian Missionary Alliance (now called The Alliance.

The longer I was with The Alliance the more I learned and the more I appreciated them.  I began to find out that more of our churches are located overseas than an in the United States.  I also learned that we had missionaries in Vietnam that never made it out alive and it was tragic.  Once Vietnam was opened again (as a safe country) we sent missionaries in who started making connections and found out that The Alliance was strong over there!  We actually had over 1,000,000 Christians in Vietnam when the missionaries went back and its so cool to see the involvement in spreading the Gospel.

In May of 2009 something happened that I would never have imagined.  Our founding lead pastor resigned due to moral failure.  I was shocked and had no clue what to do.  The great thing is that within two days our District Supervisor was in town and helped out with everything that happened that week.  I was in meetings I never thought I would be in and learned so much that week from the leadership in The Alliance.

On Sunday, April 15th, something really cool happened.  Our District Supervisor was back in town and we had lunch with him before the restoration service for Bret Johnson.  It was very cool to see that our group of churches hadn't abandoned a fellow worker in Christ when he made an unwise choice.  I have been able to spend time with Bret over the last three years and spend lots of time working with our denomination.

In the last couple years I have been able to help other workers get licensed and ordained with The Alliance.  Is our denomination perfect?  Nope, not at all but I trust that I am involved with a group of churches that radically care about advancing the Kingdom of God.

Life Groups Celebration

This Sunday, April 15th, we are doing something that I am very excited in the life of our Life Groups Ministry.  About eight months ago we started working on groups and shaping the future of them at South Hills Church and this week we are going to have our first celebration event!  To me this is like the party that someone would throw if their best friend just finished a marathon; we just finished our first Life Group marathon!

This event is for the Life Group hosts and facilitators in our church (and for the people who want to be a host of group facilitator).  There are three things that I am really hoping to accomplish at this event:

1. Encouragement
Encouragement is something that we tend to lack in our culture.  I love to encourage people and consider that one of my spiritual gifts.  I am excited to get all our team, in one room, give them a high five and tell them how proud I am of them.  This semester we had over half of our church in Life Groups and that is something that we need to be excited about!

2. Cast Vision
How true is it that vision leaks!  I know that vision leaks in my life and I need to be reminded about what I am doing and why I am doing it.  I want to re-cast the vision of our Life Group ministry.  I want to remind our team about the lives that have been changed in our ministry and how I see God using groups in the future of our church.

3. Future Training
I once heard a statement that has stuck with me for life: "leaders are learner".  If we are going to continue being the people who lead the way in our Life Groups ministry there is going to be an element of training involved in every event we have.  Sometimes the training may be the main thing and sometimes it may play a more minor role.  For this event training will play a minor portion and require some follow-up as we encourage all our team to know the online system we have moved to.

Sabbatical Goals

Much of the last six weeks of my life have consisted of preparing for my sabbatical.  This includes: training people to lead while I am out, having meetings that need to be had, creating teams to function in my absence, eating lunch with rad people, more meetings and more preparation.  To be honest I am shocked that I get to take a sabbatical and so ready at the same time and so thankful to my church!

As I have been preparing for my sabbatical I have been also preparing my soul for what God wants to teach me through this time.  As I have been praying I have come up with three things that I really want to focus on during this time.  I am sure that the wording could use some massaging on these but here is the basics on this:

God: Refreshing my relationship with the Lord
This is going to be the most important aspect of my sabbatical (and the main reason sabbaticals are granted to pastors).  I want to get some amazing times with God in places that I connect well with God.  For me this is going to mean getting up to the mountains every chance I get!  I want to get up to Duck Creek for a spiritual retreat, spend some time in Big Bear, maybe stop by Hume Lake and hopefully get to Lake Tahoe towards the end to connect with God.

Marriage: Learn to love my wife in a way she feels loved
My wife helped me craft this statement since I was having a difficult time figuring out how to word it.  For the last seven years I have helped to build the church and worked hard on seminary.  With the time that has taken there have been situations where I have neglected my wife.  My  hope is that on sabbatical we will  get some times that refresh our marriage and help me learn how to be a better husband (than I already am).


Family: Effectively co-parent our children
I originally wanted to say: "love my kids more" but Charity was quick to let me know that I am a great dad.  We both agree that taking a sabbatical will give us time to figure out how to get on the same page with parenting.  I don't want to say that I am absent dad but Charity definitely takes the lead on parenting right now and that has to change.

If you are curious how you can pray for me on sabbatical; here are three major ways!

Love & Respect

Earlier this year Charity and I started leading a Life Group at our church.  We knew we wanted to do a marriage group since the health of marriages is important to the both of us but we're totally sure what study to do.  We ended up landing on Love & Respect since a few people who we would start the group with had recently purchased the book.

Something that I always say for people who are in groups is: "What is said in group stays in group."  I will apply that same principle here but I want to share some of my personal thoughts about the book and how it is impacting my personal life and my marriage.  The group has been going for just over ten weeks now and I have to be honest it has been really challenging for my marriage.

Let me explain that more so I can help you to see where I am coming from.  Over seven years ago I started working on my Masters Degree.  A few months after that I accepted a call to ministry at my church.  After moving to Nevada I went back to California where Charity and I were married.  We started working hard in ministry and that meant I would stop in Masters Degree.  We finally got to a place where we thought I could resume my studies and so for the last six years I have focused more on finishing school that I have on our marriage.  This sucks for me!  The book has revealed to me my failures in marriage and that is tough.

The book is basically broken into two sections:

The Crazy Cycle:

The Energizing Cycle:

It seems that with both the charts its pretty self explanatory.  So my main goal, in the next few weeks, is to help energize my marriage.  Something that is going to play a huge part in this is my leaving for sabbatical on April 26th and my graduation from seminary on April 28th.

Five Things I Love About My Church

As I am getting ready for sabbatical I wanted to take some time to share about some of the things that I love about my church.  When I look back on the last seven years of my life I cannot help but look at how much my church has invested into me.  It is a crazy thought to think about how much I have changed here in the last seven years (I came as an unmarried twenty-four year old).  As I reflect on my time at South  Hills it seemed right to just remind myself about how rad my church is and how many things I love about it!

MY FAMILY IS LOVED

I remember when I first moved here I was unmarried and twenty-four years old.  My fiance and my mom came to visit me for Christmas.  My pastor asked me if we had plans for Christmas dinner and I told him that we didn't.  That year we spent Christmas dinner at his house with his family.  When my kids were born people came to the hospital to love on them and pray for them (when Sophie had to stay there).  I was reminded about how much my family is loved just last week when all of them came to the office to just hang out.  My girls have freedom to run around the office, make noise and interrupt any staff member they choose.  Its nice to be at a church where you are not looked at like a burden and your family is more than welcome to come around and just spend some time with the team.

FREEDOM TO FAIL

There are many people who feel like they are not allowed to fail in their roles.  I know that I have been given freedom to fail in my church.  I know this because I have been allowed to try some crazy things that it was going to take God to pull it off!  A few years ago we did an event called "Battle for a Grand" and I really had no clue if we could pull it off.  After some planning and making it happen we had over 600 people in our church on Friday night to hear students play music to win a thousand dollars.  That time we succeeded.  I have also failed and had times where I wanted to quit but my church has always allowed me to think out of the box and try things that are going to take God to pull it off!

INVESTING INTO YOUNGER LEADERS

There are lots of churches that say they care about young people and they really care about investing into them.  There are also lots of churches who say they care about young people but they would prefer to not invest any money into developing them.  My church cares about young people and invests into them with time and resources.  For years we have taken young adults and older high school kids to the Leadership Summit (by Willow Creek) to help them grow into better leaders.  Ok, that's not good enough for you?  My church helped me get through seminary for the last six years.  They gave me time to write papers, they let me have time off to go away for weeks at a time to study and they encouraged me this whole time.

THE STAFF

Over the years I have always loved the people I have worked with.  I have had the opportunity to work with some amazing pastors, admins, interns, worship leaders and current missionaries.  We have had some super fun times as a staff and we have worked through some tough situations.  I remember one time we went on a house boat retreat to do some staff planning.  While on that trip we also did some fishing, wake boarding and riding Jet Skis.  Our staff knows how to have fun but it also knows how to work hard.  I am reminded about how important it is, for me, to work with people that I love, that make me laugh and that challenge me to grow.  

EXPECTING GOD TO MOVE
Not the final thing but the last thing I am going to write about today is how my church expects God to move.  Our leaders have thought up some crazy goals and every time they expect God to move.  We trust that God is leading our team.  We trust that God speaks to us in prayer and we trust that God wants to move in the lives of people in new ways.  We expect God to move so much that our church has given me time off to seek God and His direction in my life and ministry.

These are just five things that I love about my church; I suspect that if I were to write more you may stop reading.  What are some things that you love about your church? 

Vegas Theme Verse

As I am preparing for sabbatical there are a whole bunch of thoughts and emotions that are stirring in me and today I wanted to share what I have called my "Vegas Theme Verse".  Many of you know that I grew up in a small mountain community and haven't really been much of a city kid for my entire life; there is actually a weird struggle in me that would prefer to be in the mountains but feels called to the city to share Christ.

After being in Vegas for a year or two I called one of my mentors to chat about what God has been teaching me.  See I love to read the Bible from cover to cover every year.  One year I was reading and this verse just stuck out to me:

Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands.  Deuteronomy 8:2 (NIV)

After I shared the verse with him he said something I will never forget: "You know you are dry when the Old Testament speaks so much to you."  He was right I was dry.

Now I know you may be thinking something like: "But you are a pastor, don't you have it all figured out?"

The truth is no, I wish I had it all figured out but I am on the same journey as millions of other people in the world who are seeking to know Christ more.  As I read this verse there are four things that stick out to me:

GOD LEADS
I know when I face situations that may not be what I desire most that God is leading me.  Moses is asking the Israelites if they remember how God lead them in the desert.  God did not abandon them mid journey (even though He had ever reason to) but saw to it that they would safely enter the Promised Land.

THERE IS A HUMBLING PROCESS
I am not much into being humbled but I can tell you this "I am a different person today because of what God has taught me in the desert."  Just last week I was meeting with my mentor and was telling him that when I go back to So Cal on sabbatical that people are going to know I am a different person.  God wants to humble our hearts which leads us the next step.

WHAT IS IN YOUR HEART
Have you ever sat down and taken some time to examine your heart?  The Bible tells us that our of the overflow of our hearts our mouth speaks (Matthew 12:34-35).  While God has been leading me in the desert, and humbling me, I have had to deal with the junk that is in my heart.  God has been purifying my heart during these last seven years.

KEEP HIS COMMANDS
The last line in here that sticks out to me is will I keep God's commands?  During all of this, all of the times that God is teaching me to trust Him I have to make sure that I will keep His commands.  As much as God is shaping me, humbling and purifying my heart I am committed to trusting in His commands.  I want to seek hard after God to become the man he is making me; that is what I am committed to.

Sabbatical Breakdown

Yesterday I blogged about my upcoming sabbatical and how thankful I am to get the opportunity to have this spiritual refreshment break.  Today I want to line out some plans that I have for sabbatical and how I plan on getting the most out of my sabbatical.  Now what I am going to line out has come out of many conversations from pastoral leaders who are much smarter than I am and have taken sabbaticals.  I am so thankful for the older pastoral leaders, and mentors, in my life who have helped to shape this time.

Month One: Disconnect
The counsel I have taken from these mentors in my life is to take the first month to really just disconnect from the pastoral ministry.  I leave on April 26th and we are heading straight up to Redding, CA where I will graduate from Tozer Theological Seminary on April 28th with my Masters of Divinity.  It will be great to finish my masters work at the beginning of sabbatical to have free time to just disconnect from ministry and spend time with God.  Practically this means that I will not be checking email or taking phone calls (related to church).  I am seriously considering deactivating my Facebook during this time also.

Month Two: Have Fun
From what I have compiled from the mentors in my life I will taking the second month to just have fun with my family.  Pastoral ministry is very demanding and this often means few days off and having to miss important family events.  For the month of June I plan to be in California spending some time at the beach, taking my kids to Disneyland one day and then seeing our family.  It will be great to have time to just sit with our family members and hang out!

Month Three: Re-engage
This is the part that I heard can be the most difficult.  While I am away the leaders at my church will all be working as hard as they normally do and even a little harder to help out in my absence.  This last month will be a time where I slowly re-enage back into ministry.  I will start meeting with my Executive Pastor to get caught up on what has taken place while I was away.  I want to make sure that I re-engage well.  One of the pastors I spoke with strongly encouraged me to not just come back and plan on working a full-week but to  come back a week early and work two half-weeks so that I can maintain a healthy pace.

Right now this is the overall plan.  I am sure that there will be minor tweaks to the plan but I would prefer to enter the time with a plan and make some adjustments than just expect that everything will work out fine.  I am very excited to get some extra time to connect with God and I plan on taking some spiritual retreats to Utah while I am away, chasing my kids around and expecting God to prepare me for my next run in ministry.

Sabbatical

Something that I heard about early in ministry was this spiritual refreshment break called a sabbatical.  Now I had just heard rumors of what a sabbatical was but all I really understood is that it was generally a three month break from ministry (some people took more time while some people took less).  I knew that some guys took it because they were hitting a rough patch and some guys took it because it was part of their church policy.  I had seen some pastoral staff leaders take a sabbatical but it still didn't register in my mind the need for it and the main purpose.  I knew that there were some principles of it found in the Bible but I never took the time to study them since it seemed like something I would never have.

Throughout my time in seminary some of the professors would talk about sabbatical and how to get the most out of that time if it ever was allotted to you.  November 18th marked seven years of leading for me at South Hills Church Community which offered me the opportunity the to take a sabbatical.  Starting on April 26th 2012 I will be out on sabbatical for twelve weeks which will put me back in the office around the middle of July 2012.  Now that I have been in pastoral ministry for over nine years I fully understand the need for a sabbatical and what the purpose of this break is all about.

This is such a huge blessing to me that our church is giving the time off for spiritual refreshment, personal development and time with my family!  The last seven years of ministry have been such a huge blessing to me and I am so thankful for everything that my church has invested into me to help me grow into the pastor I am.  At the same time I am very much looking forward to my sabbatical for some intense spiritual renewal.

Here are some facts about ministry that play into the need for a sabbatical:

• Ministry is tough
• Ministry is demanding
• Ministry can be lonely 
• Ministry is not a 9-5 job
• Ministry requires a deep connection to God

Throughout my ministry career I have seen some amazing wins and had the opportunity to grow immensely.  But I also have seen some difficult situations, been in intense conversations, and encountered situations that broke my heart deeply.  My goal is to use this post to prepare our church for my absence during May, June and some of July.  Tomorrow I will write more about sabbatical and how I plan on breaking down the time to get the most out of this opportunity.  

Seeking Spiritual Intimacy: Book Review

Book Title: Seeking Spiritual Intimacy

Author: Glenn E. Myers

Pages: 219

Publisher: InterVarsity Press

Recommendation: I would encourage anyone who is curious about Church History to pick up this book and see how it impacts you life.

Overview: Seeking Spiritual Intimacy is about the Beguine women who lived during the twelfth and thirteen century.  Myers takes the time to lay out the lifestyle, spiritual development, life commitments and impact these women had on modern day spiritual formations.  He is so creative and takes pretty much the second part of each chapter to share how the lifestyle of these women can be implemented into our modern culture.  Myers is actively encouraging the reader to not just understand historical content but to live out those principles in their daily life.

Seeking Spiritual Intimacy could be the best book I have read all read for spiritual development this year.  Myers is actually my professor for the class so it was a bit intimidating reading his book (and having to write a ten page review on it).  As someone who considers himself  a monk in training I loved reading about the spiritual disciplines that these women actively lived out in their lives.  The book brings Church History into a new perspective and sheds light on a time group of people who are not frequently written about.

I think I am able to write about this book in this manner after spending a week with Dr. Myers.  He is a kind, compassionate, man who is all about training up the next generation of spiritual leaders.  He is actively living out what he writes in this book and more importantly he cares about helping young leaders impact the world for Christ.

Too Many Forms of Communication?

A few months ago I was talking with one of the Elders at my church about the many forms of communication.  We were talking about how students are bombarded with all the different ways they connect with each other.  The conversation was interested because for me there were three basic forms of communication when I was growing up:

1. Phone Calls
2. Postal Service
3. Yelling Downstairs

Most people wouldn't consider the third a real form of communication and since my family didn't have a fax machine I am going to leave that off of the list.

Now here is a list of the many different forms of communication that a high school student has access to:

1. Phone Calls
2. Postal Service
3. Fax Machine
4. Email
5. Facebook
6. Twitter
7. Text Message
8. iMessage
9. iChat
10. Facetime
11. Skype

I am sure that there are some forms I am missing (please feel free to add to the list).  Since we all know that Facebook does not just include your timeline but also messaging and chat that could add a few and Twitter also has direct messaging but it didn't seem right to bolster the list too much.

The interesting thing is that with all these new forms of communication it seems that our society is more disconnected with those around us.  This disconnection means that parents, youth pastors, coaches and teachers have to work all the harder to keep students engaged and feeling they are important in a world that can seem overwhelming to some.  This is where the local youth pastor needs to be able to step in, partner with parents and help out to get students into real relationships.

Women's Resource Center Banquet 2012

When we moved to Nevada my wife got a job at an amazing ministry called The Women's Resource Medical Centers of Southern Nevada (WRC).  Now to be honest I really had no clue what Charity did when she got the job but it didn't take long for me to learn all about her role and how important what she was doing was to the community.  The WRC is actively involved in the community by helping with crisis pregnancy counseling.  Now I am not the stat guy on this one but I know that there are so many people who find themselves in a situation with an unwanted child.  The bummer is that many of these women abort their child because they believe there is no other option.  The WRC is here to let women know that there is another option and that the baby shouldn't have to suffer for the choice of the parents.

Every year the WRC holds an annual banquet to help keep the awareness there in the community and to raise money.  We are super blessed because we have been able to attend this banquet almost year we have lived here and recently we have been able to secure a table so we can bring students along to help them understand the importance of the sanctity of life.

This year we were blessed to bring some students that we have worked with for years to this event so they can hear about the importance that there are options when people find themselves with an unwanted pregnancy.

Here are three things that stuck out to me from the banquet

1) I WISH I COULD BRING 100 STUDENTS 
This event is so much fun that I wish I could bring 100 students with us to it!  The message is so vitally important and there are kids in every city in America making choices they will regret forever.  If we could bring more students to hear this message I think that we could see more of an impact of the ministry.  Since we can't bring 100 students there it means that we (pastors) need to bring the message to the church of how important this is!

2) WRC MADE A BIG ASK
Every year the WRC makes a request for people to help support them financially; and I think that every year we have written a check to help them out.  This year they needed to raise money so they could buy their own commercial building since they are outgrowing their current location.  They didn't pull any punches and put a line on the card to see if anyone wanted to give $1,950,000.  Yep, they asked for someone to give them 1.9 Million dollars!  It made me think of James 4:2

3) GOVERNOR HUCKABEE
This year Governor Huckabee was the keynote speaker and he brought it!  The students who came with us were talking about the message he gave and how it impacted them.  This was so important for them to have an engaging speaker to keep the crowd interested in the message and he did that!

I am thankful for the opportunity to attend this event every year but I am more thankful that we can help students understand the value.

Made for Relationship

I have always thought that people are made for relationship.  I read the Bible and see it clearly laid out; to be honest you can't get past the first couple pages until you see how Adam was lonely without Eve.  I truly believe that we are all made for relationships so I figured I would share my heart some and let you know four relationships that look forward to in my life:

MY WIFE
My wife is the second best thing to ever happen to me (the first being giving my life to Christ).  I love the conversations that Charity and I have.  I love that I know my wife prays for me on a daily basis.  I love that our relationship is ever progressing.  I love that I have a partner to do life with and someone to come home to when I have good days and bad days.  Now is our marriage perfect?  By no means!  We have our tough times and we have our conflicts but we have chosen to press ahead to grow in our relationship.

MY KIDS
This has been an ever changing relationship in my life.  I will never forget the day that I met both of my beautiful little girls and how much they have changed me.  See as my children grow up I have to constantly be on my toes in this relationship.  I have gone from being scared to changing diapers to knowing how to make it happen.  I went from never really holding a child to playing My Little Ponies pretty much every day after work; and sometimes before work.  This relationship has shaped my life in so many different ways!

MY ACCOUNTABILITY PARTNER
Not only do I love coffee but I love hanging out with my accountability partner.  I love that I have a guy in my life that I can share life with and be completely honest.  We need weekly (most of the times) to share life.  We talk about what God is doing in our lives, the newest apps we have on our iPhones, how are kids are doing, how we are treating our wives, when our next fishing trip will be, what we are reading in our Bible and pray.  The deal is whoever shows up last has to buy which sucks for me who is always late but the relationship is so valuable that I would pay every week!

MY LIFE GROUP

Something that has been cool for me, in the last couple months, is seeing people get connected in relationship at our church.  Most of you know that I recently took a new leadership role at South Hills and this position has STRETCHED me in some crazy ways.  Charity and I have a Life Group that we meet with on a weekly basis.  We are reading "Love & Respect" and this book has been great for my relationship with Charity.  And by great I mean it has shown me how much I fail as a husband and how much room I have to improve.

What are some key relationships in your life and what makes you excited about them?

Little Hands Finished!

Just over a year ago I started the tattoo on my left side.  The goal was to get the girls handprints on my side and have their names under it.  After talking with my tattoo artist he came up with this idea that I truly love!  It has taken much longer to finish than I would have ever imagined but I am stoked that it is finally finished.

I think that I have about five (maybe six) sittings on this.  We started out with doing Sophie's handprint from two years old.  After I got home I realized that I was going to need to get Leah's handprint immediately or it wouldn't fit.  Jonny Five had to do some creative work to get them both to fit in their but we did.  At the last session, which I finished about two weeks ago, we put the girls names underneath the frame with their birthdates.

Encourage Yourself

I have been talking about how to encourage others in the last couple blog posts on here but I think this post is the most important post of the series.  Hopefully the title of this post grabs your attention and makes you want to read what is going to follow.  See it seems pretty simple to encourage others around you but the only way we can do that is to be full of encouragement!

Every single one of us is going to encounter difficult situations in life, the thing that matters is how we respond to these situations.  There is a great story in the Bible where David (not yet king) encounters a pretty sketchy leadership situation.  Now before you say: "I'm not a leader, keep reading."  David is leading a band of the toughest dudes that have ever walked the earth and one day they are out doing what they do best but they come home to find that their camp has been ransacked.  The men get home and find that their possessions and their families are missing.  The Bible tells us this:

"David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God." 1 Samuel 30:6 (NIV) 

When is the last time you encountered a time and instead of venting, calling a buddy, crying or just giving up you went to God to find strength?  Who do you think would be the biggest encouragement in your life?  If you have read through the Gospels there are a handful of times that we even see God being a cheerleader (for lack of a better word) for his Son (Matthew 3:17, 17:5)

Here are some thoughts on how to encourage yourself:

SPEND TIME WITH GOD
If you call yourself a Christian I want to ask you a tough question: "When the last time you spend time with God?"  When was the last time you just created some space in your life to hang out with God?  When you chose to spend time with God there is something special that happens.  The Bible is very clear that David made a choice to spend time with God when he was feeling discouraged.

REST IN THE LORD
We live in an extremely busy culture.  With that said have you taken time to follow the command, found in the Old Testament, to take a day of rest?  Our bodies are not meant to go, full-time, for 365 days in a row.  God is very clear that He desires us to take one day a week to slow down and rest in Him.  I have found in my life that if I don't do this intentionally God will figure out ways to make this happen.

LISTEN TO THE VOICE OF GOD
There is a great verse is the Psalms that encourages us to be still and listen to the voice of God (Psalms 45:10).  When you spend time with God, resting in His presence, you will begin to create space that will allow you to listen to the voice of God.  Now when God begins to speak get ready because these are going to be some of the greatest times of encouragement in your life!

In conclusion the best way to encourage yourself is to rest in the presence, the comfort, the strength, and the power of the Lord.

Encourage Your Pastor

Last week I started a blog series on encouragement and how we can be an encouragement to those around us.  I meant to finish this up last week but we all know how life gets crazy!

Today I want to talk about how to encourage your pastor.  Now we must remember that we all have a different relationship with our pastor.  You may be involved in a large church and therefore its more difficult to encourage your lead pastor but on the other hand you may be in a smaller church and have an extremely close relationship with your pastor.  You could be very close to the Student Ministry Pastor, Children's Pastor or Associate Pastor at your church.  No matter what context you find yourself in the question always remains the same: "How can I be an encouragement to my pastor?"

WORDS OF AFFIRMATION
I think that there are many things that we can do to encourage our pastor.  Many pastors are filled up by words of affirmation.  Understanding that, and speaking as a pastor, it's amazing how much a short note or quick compliment can encourage your pastor.  I am not asking you to lie about anything or say something that you don't believe, but I am asking you to think long and hard about how amazing your pastor is!

Think about all the long hours your pastor puts into sharing the truth of God to the lost people in your city.  Think about all the long hours your pastor has already put into studying God's word so they can accurately help you grow in your walk with Christ.  Think about the last time your pastor came to your kids birthday party or visited someone at the hospital.  Think about the last time your pastor asked you how you are doing and really meant it.  These are some great places to start to think about where you can begin to encourage your pastor.

PRAY FOR YOUR PASTOR
Words of affirmation are great but I think praying for your pastor is the best way you can encourage them.  You can spend time interceding for your pastor in prayer.  You can pray for your pastor at your next life group meeting so that others will catch the need to pray for him or her.  You can pray with your family for your pastor so they also catch the need to keep your pastor in prayer.  You may want to send your pastor an email to see how you can be praying for them and what is on their heart.

Today is a great day to start praying for you pastor and beginning to encourage him!