Looking back on '08

Right now I'm sitting at a table in my pj's, sipping on some coffee, looking out the open glass doors of a beach house in Myrtle Beach. It's heavenly. My family is here, my girlfriend is here, and some friends are here.
2008 has been a great year. Even though I've been more broke this year than any other (grad school will do that), it has been beautiful. This year, more than any other, I have tried to see God's grace all around me. The breath I currently breathe is a result of God's grace. My mind, intellect, health, my family, my girlfriend, my education, my friends, my home, my vehicle, my jobs, and my spiritual life are all results of God's grace. The Scriptures tell how God's grace and mercy is new every day. He daily allows mankind to experience life. He is good. He is for us, not against us. He loves us. Even though we live in a world often characterized by evil, crime, destruction, and tragedy, God has not abandoned us. He is with us. How do we know? He had demonstrated to us His immeasurable love through His Son, Jesus. When we did not deserve it, Jesus came and lived the life we should have lived, he died the death we should have died, and he gives to mankind new life connected to God forever.
Today I thank God for richly and abundantly pouring His grace on me. 2008 was beautiful.

Jesus and other gods

Why should I worship Jesus? (This message comes from Camp Victory Tuesday night)

Well, I'm not sure if you knew it or not, but everybody has a god, and everybody is worshiping something. Even the atheist college student that stays wasted all week has a god. (The next blog post will cover that topic in detail.) So, what is so special about Jesus that I should worship him?

Actually, he is the best God to worship because he is God. I know, that sounds a little crazy and maybe heretical to some of you, but Scripture teaches that Jesus is God the Son, who entered human flesh and history to redeem the fallen race of man. That is why almost 2 billion people on the planet today worship him as God the Son. He is the most famous person who has ever lived. More books have been written about him, more songs sung to him, more artwork painted of him, and more movies have been made about him than any other man or woman who has ever breathed. He has made such a huge impact on the world that our historical calendar is divided into B.C., "before Christ," and A.D., "the year of our Lord." No one has ever matched the life Jesus lived and no one has ever created a following of so many people like Jesus did. Why? Because he is God.

The book of Romans in the New Testament, specifically chapter one, talks about how me and you have turned our backs towards the one true God. Even though we know or knew at one point in time that God was real and powerful, we rejected that thought inside us and made or own god. The author of Romans says "we exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator." You see, we were made to worship the one true living God. When we follow that purpose for which we were created, we become fulfilled and satisfied and happy in Him. However, instead of that plan, we devise our own. We make a god of something or someone and worship and serve it without realizing that our own god cannot fulfill us and satisfy us like we want him/it to. This is the trap of life. This is what Satan is constantly trying to get people to do, and it is detrimental, just has history has shown us.

Instead of worshiping God, we worship our girlfriend or boyfriend or car or house or job or hobby. However, all the things that aren't God dissapoint us. They turn their backs on us and abandon us. They cheat on us and hurt us. They make us feel good for a moment, but they leave us with nothing left. We become empty and broken, unsatisfied and miserable. That is the problem. Ultimately, we make "idols" and "bow down" to them, and it usually takes some desperate broken situations to realize that our idols are worthless.

Therefore, the cure to idols is repentance. Repentance is making a total change of mind which leads to a new direction and lifestyle. We turn our backs to our idols and turn towards the one true God. We turn to Jesus and worship him. We let him become our joy, satisfaction, fulfillment and happiness.

Who or what do you worship? Hopefully it is Jesus.

Jesus & religion

This post comes from the Wednesday night session at Camp Victory.

When I talk about religion, I'm not talking about it in a good way. This is my meaning of "religion." Religion says I am a good person. Religion says I can be my own salvation. Religion says if I'm good enough I can get to heaven. However, Jesus believed quite differently. Jesus said religious people were like evil snakes. Jesus said religious people were hypocrites. Jesus even said religious people have a hotter section in Hell. And, for some odd reason, religious people didn't like Jesus either. They actually are the ones who murdered him.

Many times we take two approaches to get to God. 1) We try to be a good person and come to God with our hands full of "religious deeds" hoping that God will see how good we are. 2) We realize we are messed up, evil people who have no possibility to stand before a holy God, so our only means to God is Jesus. Because he suffered the penalty for our sins, we don't have to bring "religious stuff" to God, we just have to bring faith in Jesus.

In Philippians 3, Paul said the same thing. He gave his own personal story of trying to be a religious person. He even says he was more religious than anyone alive! He then lists out all his religious credentials that he thought made him a good person, but then he said after he met Jesus, he dropped all his religious deeds and counted them as "rubbish" or "dung" or manure. Frankly, this is the same way God looks at our religious stuff..."manure."

Paul used to believe a False Gospel:
"If I obey God, than He will love and accept me."

Then Paul learned the True Gospel from Jesus:
"Because God loves and accepts me, I will obey and follow Him."

Every religion in the world, other than Christianity, believes the False Gospel. They believe that if we are good enough people, then our god will accept us. However, this is drastically different in Christianity. Even when we were terrible evil sinners that hated God, Jesus showed us how much he loved us by giving his life for us.

My pastor, J. D. Greear says this often,
"Nothing I do today will make God love me more or love me less than He already does right now."

God's love for us isn't dependent on our actions or deeds. Rather, God's love is unchanging. On the cross, Jesus demonstrated that God loves us more than we could ever think or imagine.

The only righteousness we have is Jesus. Are you coming to God with hands full of religious stuff, or are you coming to God with faith in Jesus?

(closing disclaimer: this doesn't mean that we don't live holy lives. One of our goals as a believer is to be holy as Jesus was holy. This post today is focused on how we view the love of God and the gospel. Our holy living doesn't get us closer to God, but after salvation, we have a motive and a new desire to be holy.)

Jesus & new life

This past Thursday night, I spoke on "Jesus & new life" from 2 Corinthians 5. I had no idea what the night would turn into when I first started preparing the message months in advance. I thought the students needed to hear that we become new in Jesus, but I was deeply moved by how many students needed hope and encouragement. Some students were struggling with losses, broken families, being outcasts, not being loved, not being valued, not feeling beautiful or pretty, and not feeling a sense of worth. Thankfully, we find the remedy of all these things in Jesus. He makes us new, He shows us how much we are loved and valued as children of God, He says we are His friends, we are the called, gifted, chosen, and set apart for a specific relationship and calling with God. He takes our hopeless lives and breathes new life in us.

"When we meet Jesus, we become new."
2 Corinthians 5:14-17

What is new about us??
*our heart, our mind, our desires, our goals, our gifting, our calling, our Spirit

Where do we experience this new life in Jesus?
*in the Spirit of God, in the Word of God, and in the People of God

Ladies: Don't ever let anyone tell you that you are not beautiful and valuable! You are incredibly beautiful and valued and loved by God, and He has chosen you, called you and gifted you to be a beautiful daughter of His

Guys: Don't ever let anyone tell you that you aren't good enough, talented enough, big enough, or strong enough to be a successful person! You are loved and valued by God, and He has chosen you, called you, and gifted you to be an awesome leader for him.

When we meet Jesus, we become new.

Jesus & His mission

For those of us who are Christians, we have been called and invited to Join Jesus in the greatest mission on the planet...His mission. These are the notes from the last night of camp!!!

1. What is Jesus mission?

**the people of God bringing redemption and restoration to all peoples through the gospel.
2 Corinthians 5:16-21; Colossians 3:17-4:1; Mark 12:28-31

2. Why help in Jesus' mission?

**B/c you have experienced the gospel personally.
**B/c Jesus' mission is unstoppable. (Matthew 16:18)
**B/c it is the most satisfying and fulfilling thing you can do with your life.

3. How can I join Jesus and His mission?

Locally-
mow your neighbor's lawn, take your neighbor's trash can to the street and bring it back, rake your neighbor's leaves, serve at the rescue mission, buy your friends a meal, bring drinks and snacks to soccer practice, buy everyone on your ball team or cheer squad a Bible, have an eBay competition selling your junk and give the money to someone who needs it, pray with your pastor at the hospital for sick people.

Globally-
check out Zack Hunter, Toms Shoes, Compassion, Blood:water mission, One Verse, and go on a mission trip

In conclusion, lets use our lives for the greatest story thats ever been told, the one thats still going on and will never end...the story of Jesus and his rescue for all mankind!! His kingdom will never end, ours will be tiny and gone before we know it. Build His!

Camp Victory 2008

Hey Hey Everybody! What Up!! Yes, you have successfully reached my blog. Congratulations! Go ahead and pat yourself on the back. First of all, I want to give a shout out to God for giving us an awesome week at camp. God is Awesome!! Secondly, thanks to all of you campers who made the week tons of fun. You guys are great! By the way, who won? Marines or Army??

Two Big Things You Need To Know:
1. I want you guys to know that everyday I will be posting a new set of notes on the blog from each of this past week's services.
2. Check the right hand side of my blog for the "Teen" section. Over there I've put several links to websites that you can check out...including my facebook.

To the guys, if you want to know about "X3 Watch," the accountability thing i was talking about this past week, click on the link to your right, and download the program for free.

Now, go get some sleep and worship Jesus!! Make sure you check back tomorrow!!!!

Tonight is the Night

No, I'm not popping the question, going on a date, or hoping "tonight will be the night that I will fall for you." For the first time in the history of the world, I'm the main speaker of a youth camp this week, and tonight is the first night. Ok, that was a little over-done, I apologize. Seriously, I'm speaking at Camp Victory near Burlington NC this entire week, and I need you to lift me up this week in prayer. I'm very stoked about the week, and I've been planning for almost 12 months. I'm asking God to rock some student's lives with the truth of the gospel, changing them for His glory. The entire week will be focussed on teenagers removing themselves from the center of their lives and replacing their kingdoms with Jesus at the center of their lives. I want God to get the credit and show up. Thanks so much!!!

For the glory. Jude 25

Preaching methodology

I want to mention my preferred methodology on how to preach. Obviously, I'm a young guy without a ton of wisdom, but everybody has an opinion right? I really enjoy preaching through books of the bible and I thoroughly enjoy listening to preaching through books of the bible. Here's why:

1. It helps me remain true to Scripture and avoid heresy.
2. It gives me confidence to know I have the authority of the text behind me.
3. If someone disagrees, they will have to disagree with either the text or my application because the sermon was not my idea.
4. It teaches people how to study the Bible without having to host a hermeneutics class.
5. It is much easier to follow the grand narrative of the Bible (God's redemptive plan and story).
6. It disciplines me to preach tough passages that I may have skipped otherwise.
7. It helps towards the process of preaching the whole counsel of God.
8. It helps me preach God's mind and not my own.
9. It helps me avoid preaching my personal hobby horses.
10. It eliminates Saturday night fever and worry of what to preach from week to week.
11. It allows the congregation to study ahead and prepare for the weekly gathering.
12. Over the course of a life-long ministry, I believe it will best aid in the spiritual maturity for the church.

Agree? Disagree?

**As a sidenote, Colossians is the only book I've actually preached all the way through in succession. It was awesome!

terminology

I guess I'm in the mood to expose the fallacies of our contemporary Christianity this week. I have another issue to manifest. However, I'm not some jerk seminary student who thinks he knows it all and wants to demonstrate how his theological perspective is more accurate than everyone else's. Instead, I have found some things in my own life that were harmful to God's glory, harmful to the health of the church, and harmful to my joy, and therefore, I would like to share them.

The terminology I would like to speak of today is "the church." A couple days ago someone asked me where my church was. I responded, "They are located all over Raleigh and Durham and some other places." They replied, "what??" What is the first thing that comes to your mind when I say "the church?" Most of us think of that funny shaped building down the street with the weird glass and the really weird structure that stands way up in the air on top of the building. Colorful carpet, long wooden pews, a manly stout pulpit, a choir loft, and a huge cross on the wall behind the choir loft are all images that fill our memory. It is the place we visit each Sunday, and sometimes if we are really spiritual, we visit Sunday night. However, is this what Jesus meant when he said he would build his church? I think not. Contrary to the popular assumption, the church is not a building, the church is the people that claim to be followers of Jesus. For instance, if a religious riot broke out tomorrow and all the Christian church buildings in America were burnt to the ground, would "the church" still exist? Absolutely yes! You may be thinking, this is a little overboard coming from some "nutjob" Christian who has nothing better to do than sit around and complain about his corrupt upbringing. Well, not actually. I recognize this isn't the greatest issue in American Christianity today, but it is very helpful and revolutionary to the health of the church.

If the church is a building, than Christianity is something we go to once a week, wear weird clothes, say and sing weird things, waiting for Monday so we can be normal again. If the church is a building, than Christianity is a destination and not a way of life. However, if the church is people, than the building is just a place where we can all meet together for corporate singing and hearing the preaching of the Word, and the rest of the week we can be the church, living out the Christian life in our family, work, school, and community environment. Please, don't "go to church," "be the church." This may seem minor to you, but it will greatly influence the way you and the people around you perceive the people of God...followers of Jesus. If you "go to church," then, by definition, you are not the church. Lets rethink our terminology.

the sinner's prayer

Most of you who are reading this blog are familiar with the phrase "the sinner's prayer." For those of you who aren't, the phrase is used by many evangelical pastors and evangelists; it refers to what a sinner should pray to God in order to have his sins forgiven and be able to go to heaven one day. When I was a child, I was led to pray the sinner's prayer and I did. Therefore, you could say I'm pretty familiar with the prayer. However, I'm determining where the concept originated and how biblical it is.

This past week I read through book of "Acts" (in the Bible) exploring what the apostles said to people in order to be forgiven of sin and reconciled to God. The only phrases I found that came from an apostle's mouth instructing people to "be saved" were things such as, "repent and be baptized" (2:38), "repent and turn again" (3:19), "repent of your wickedness and pray to the Lord that, if possible, the intent of your heart may be forgiven" (8:22), "everyone who believes in him receives forgiveness of sins" (10:43), "everyone who believes is freed" (13:38), "believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved" (16:31), "repent because God will judge the world through Christ" (17:30), and "believe in Jesus" (19:4). I could not find the "sinner's prayer." The only time prayer is mentioned for salvation is chapter eight verse twenty-two, but even there the apostle is not asking someone to recite something after him. (I realize that I'm only covering one New Testament book of several that would be helpful to the conversation)

Am I completely against the sinner's prayer?? No. However, I believe we should be cautioned because it has done much harm to the church and the world. This prayer many times is used as a magical formula that if said in the right manner will get you a "go to Heaven free" ticket. Many times I believe children and teenagers have been deceived and lured into thinking they have become regenerated believers when in all actuality, they just recited some words while they were emotionally scared of going to Hell.

So, what should we do? We need to be biblical and develop our understanding of salvation and the gospel from the Bible. Do I have it all figured out? Do I completely understand how salvation works? No. My hope is that you and I will become more glorifying to God by becoming more biblical. In the meantime, lets show people they need to repent of their deep, unsatisfying wickedness, and believe in the gospel, and turn to Jesus in order to be clean, reconciled to God, and fulfilled through knowing and pleasing Him. (Let me know if you think I'm right on or if I'm missing a few steps in my thinking.)

demonstrating the gospel

I have an incredible opportunity to demonstrate the gospel to non-Christians I know at work. recently, one of my co-workers had a tragedy occur in his life. his teenage daughter was in a house that was barraged with drive-by shooting. she was shot in the back and has no feeling in her legs. she's been in the hospital for several weeks, but may be coming home this week. since my friend hasn't been able to work since the incident, he has trouble paying the bills. I'm planning to help him out by giving him some cash to pay for rent this month. also, i hope to provide some meals for him and his daughter when she moves back home. this is the gospel in action. the gospel is not just sharing with someone the story about Jesus, but also is loving your neighbors and the world. hopefully my friend will ask why i go out of my way to help him. my reply will be, "once when i was in need, someone helped me out. his name is Jesus. this is why i do this."

causal agents

So, this morning i had an incredible opportunity to have coffee with my Theology prof, Dr. Ken Keathley (I hope he is cool w/me speaking of him; disclaimer: he is in no way responsible for the information published on this blog). anyway, He's the man! i met with him to discuss the providence of God and God's will(s). most of the time we spent together revolved around the truth that God has created humans as causal agents. this is part of our having been made in God's image, the imago Dei. "causal agents" is understood to mean that humans have the capacity to cause something. God made humans as "mini-creators" so to speak. not that we are part deity, but rather, we have the opportunity to cause things. for this reason, we are held responsible for the decisions and choices we make.
this has huge ramifications. we are always under the lordship and sovereignty of God. however, this does not mean (from my knowledge) that God has determined and fixed every event that ever happens. He is sovereign over every event, but He has given man the ability to cause an event (this does not take away from God's sovereignty). this is why God is not the author of sin. Man is accountable for his actions, and we cannot blame God for the events, good or bad, that happen each day. if we are causal agents, then we have great responsibility in this world. we are not just puppets in a show, but we are people who truly have a part in making history. as followers of Jesus, we have the opportunity and responsibility to display the grace and redemption of God by the way we live, in the choices we make, and the actions we show. we can live in a way that matters for eternity. we can live out the gospel. we can demonstrate and show the world where true happiness, fulfillment, and hope come from. that is a beautiful thing!
-for His glory

authenticity

last night as i went to bed, i had a conversation with God, and i realized it is very easy to fake faith. it's easy to go to church services, smile, raise your hands every now and then, attend small group, say the right things to other Christians, and the like. however, when you talk to God, he knows exactly whats going through your head. he knows if you're legit or putting up a facade. he knows if you're faking it. he knows if your trying to get religious on him. he knows if there is any faith behind your words. sometimes i think it's easier to be fake than have faith. thats a struggle for me. often i remember a familiar passage in Hebrews that is quite debasing, but also encouraging... "without faith it is impossible to please God. for he who draws near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who diligently seek him." my mom often quotes a phrase for random life situations (not faith situations) that we enjoy saying and laughing about. she says, "fake it 'till you make it." this does work sometimes with people, but fortunately it never works with God. don't fake it. ask and plead for faith.

duke divinity school

right now i'm sitting in an Old Testament class at duke divinity school. one of my new friends, Tony, is finishing his Master of Theological Studies here. i'm quite blown away by the beauty of the campus, because of the impressive architecture. i'm out of class for "easter recess" at my seminary (Southeastern), so i'm chilling over here today in a few classes with Tony because i'm a theological junkie. today has been excellent to visit Duke.

anyways, getting to the good stuff, i'm more and more convinced that our view of Scripture determines how we view life, theology, God, history, ministry, and Jesus. this is so so very important for the church. right now, i hold Scripture as highest authority for my life, theology, ministry and view of Christ. it determines and defines me. i don't determine it. why? because i believe it is the very word of God, that is truthful and authoritative for all of life and practice. this is huge for your worldview and philosophy of ministry. hold firm to scritpure. hold firm to scripture.

God is smarter than i

i know this seems like an obvious statement, but we don't always act like it. God is ultimately smarter, wiser, and more knowledgeable than me in every area of my life. he's the one who came up with the whole idea, and he's knows better how everything works together, way more than i do. SO...all this to say, when we find in Scripture that God has a plan or method of doing something in our lives, he's right. it doesn't matter what it's about, his way is so much smarter than my way. it's not that he's a mean God who doesn't want for us to be happy, but rather the extreme opposite. God's design and plan for us is so that we will be ultimately happy and fulfilled and satisfied in Him. His way, in the end and now, is the most satisfying, pleasing, and happy way to do things. history is a testimony to this and your life should be. when i desire to do something that doesn't please God or fit with Scripture, it will ultimately be to my dissatisfaction and ruin. however, when we follow Scripture and God's desires for our life, we will be "blessed" the Psalms say...ultimately filled with joy and satisfaction in every area of our lives- dating relationships, marriage, finances, time, school, family, work, entertainment, church, etc.

Longhorn and the Word

i've been working at Longhorn Steakhouse for the past 7 weeks in order to have a job and pay the bills. however, there is a greater purpose in me working here. God has called me, in whatever i find myself to be doing, to live for the name of Jesus (Col. 3:17). so, this has been fleshing itself out in my work environment with my co-workers. there are probably about 35-45 servers (waiters) including myself that i work with, and there are probably about 30 other cooks, hosts, managers, etc... . I believe God's desire for the world is to make His name great everywhere. so, i am the personal agent/vehicle of God's mission (to use weird Christian language) at Longhorn Steakhouse to make His name great. to my knowledge there are only 3-4 believers at my workplace.
so, i've been firstly, loving my co-workers and placing their well-being above my own. as i love them, we become friends and they enjoy talking with me about religion and morality. i haven't stood up on a booth yet with my Bible yelling at them to repent, but i have had a couple incredible situations arise. here is one:
for the sake of not embarrassing my co-worker friend if he ever reads this blog, "Jack" is a host at our restaurant. he recently moved down from New York. he has some Catholic background, but i'm not sure about the object of his faith. so, the other day i had my theology textbook and my Bible with me at work so i could do some school reading during the breaks. well, we began to get busy and Jack asked to move my books out of the way so he could sit people at that table. i said "of course." a few minutes later he came back to me and asked if he could read my bible while he was at the host stand. i was amazed and shocked, and i told him "of course" again. so, he read the scriptures during that entire lunch shift. incredible. then, that evening we were both working again, and he asked to read my bible again. so, i went back out to my car and grabbed it so he could read it during that evening shift. wow. since, we've had several conversations about life and religion, and hopefully i'll be able to bless his life with the message of the gospel. you can pray for him. i believe he just quit his job b/c of some other issues, but pray that our relationship will continue.

are there really seekers?

(i'm back guys...both of you, and back with something pretty sweet today)

over the past couple decades (to my knowledge) there has been a great deal of thought and conversation given to The Seeker Movement. ultimately my perception of this phenomenon is that churches want to be sensitive to the unbelievers, "seekers," who are in the world, so they make their corporate worship services and strategies more open to the unbeliever who is seeking God. this also has been a debate of different degrees of the seeker position such as seeker sensitive, seeker targeted, seeker intelligible, seeker resistant, and the list probably goes on way further than i care to know. however, i don't want to talk about which of these seeker movements is correct, but rather, i'm questioning the whole idea of a seeker...and i don't have it dogmatically figured out, and that isn't my ultimate goal.

this is my perception of what a "seeker" is: a person who is without a relationship with Jesus, unsaved, unregenerate, lost, depraved, an unbeliever...but this person is "seeking" the idea of God in life and the world. they are searching to find God.

what i'm questioning is this: does this kind of person truly exist? what started this whole discussion in my mind is Romans 1 & 2 & 3. Paul lays out a theology that all humans have knowledge of God, that he exists and is the creator of the universe (they can percieve this in nature and the human makeup and conscience/moral law within us), but he says we've all turned away from that knowledge and supressed it, and in so doing worshiped the created thing instead of the Creator. we have rejected the knowledge of God, resisted it, and turned our backs on it and him. me, you, everyone (...before God saves us). then in Romans 3 (vs. 10-), Paul quotes Psalm 14 and says God has looked down from heaven, and there is no one that does good, no one that understands, and no one that seeks God...all have turned aside and become worthless. notice there is "no one" who seeks God, an all-inclusive statement about mankind. so, is there really a person out there that is unregenerate who is seeking after God. if there isn't, there are some intersting implications.

let me know what you think. i am familiar with the Etheopian eunich and Dorcas in the book of Acts, but i think those may be different situations.

blog praise

today i want to just rest a minute and use my marvelous blog to praise God.
lately, i've been going through a serious, radical transition in my life, and things are crazy!!! seriously, they are crazy! within a couple weeks i've moved to a new city, moved into a new appartment, got a new roommate, started a new school semester, joined a new church body, got a new smokin hot girlfriend, and started a new job. so, i'm beat, a little stressed, finances are really slim, and it feels as if i'm spinning in circles sometimes. however, i'm completely content with God's provision and wisdom He's given over the past few months to arrive at this wonderful place. i'm so stoked about the new opportunities each day to form new relationships, serve people, live the gospel, and learn new stuff about God and scripture. so, in the midst of all this chaos...I give a great big SHOUT OUT to our awesome Creator God for being so dang good to His children. God, i love You b/c You loved me first.

more boasting on my church

let me boast a little on my church again. this Christmas we took up a "Christmas Offering," with the aim of making Christ and His purposes for the world our goal for the season. so, the plan was that we would try to give enough money to:
1) Support international church planters that will be leaving from our church over the next two years -approx cost $120,000
2) Build a Habitat for Humanity home in Durham -approx cost $40,000
3) Support 4 new North American church planters- $40,000
Totaling: $200,000

Notice the goal of the offering was not for our own church expenses and budget. so, after the season is over and the offering has been received, the total amount given is $202,000. awesome! i love my church and our pastor. you should check out his blog post today about the offering and the gospel at http://jdgreear.com/

its official

most of you may not know that i've been pursuing an incredible girl for the past 2 months, but i have. i know this is new news...sorry i didn't call you. disclaimer: if you're on here today hoping for a deep theological post, sorry, scroll down a little ways:)

back in the fall, i met a girl named ashley, who lives in raleigh and attends a rockin church, The Summit Church. i was quite "WOWed" by her presence when we met for the first time, and when we surprisingly met for the second time at a "Mullets for Jesus" rally (j/k about the rally part), i had to get her number. so, after getting to know each other and hanging out and going on a couple dates, we're now a couple. yay! i know you're as excited as i am! so, attached on this post is a picture of my lovely and "hot" girlfriend. she's pretty wonderful! i'm blessed.

the poor & blankets

this morning i was reading the proverb for today, and came across a powerful verse. 14:21 says, whoever despises his neighbor is a sinner, but blessed is he who is generous to the poor. God has really been changing my view on the poor in my area and around the world. i believe it is the church's responsibility & the heart of Jesus to meet the needs of the poor.
so, my church is doing this incredible thing this sunday. our entire congregation has been given an opportunity to purchase & bring a new blanket to the service next sunday morning and drop it off at a huge cargo truck that will be parked outside. after the services, the truck will be taken to our city's shelters so the blankets can be given to the homeless and poor. more than likely we should have over 1,000 total blankets...maybe 2,000. wow!!! my eyes are tearing up as i write this. i love it. it moves me. i feel like i'm bringing help, hope, restoration, and a story that is unbelievable. a story that was started a long time ago by God Himself. a story of love to the peoples and nations across the globe. a story of rescue by His Son.
by the way, this is not our only interaction with poor one time a year, but rather it's an ongoing mission that our church feels we are called to do all year long, in every way possible. wow

psalm 34

last night i had a small but great feast in Psalm 34. it covers one of my favorite passages in
scripture. verse 8 is one of my life passages that talks about tasting and seeing that God is good. i love it. particularly last night when i read this psalm, the first verse really struck a chord with me. it reads, "i will bless the Lord at all times; his praise shall continually be in my mouth." that is deep and rich for me. no matter where i find myself today or tomorrow or the next, and no matter how good or bad a day may become, one thing is sure, i will bless our awesome God at all times, and his praise and glory will constantly be in my mouth...at least thats my goal. wow. i don't know about you, but that makes me stoked (weird surfer word for being really pumped about something), and it keeps things in focus

christian subculture

for pretty much my entire life i've lived in christian subculture. this is what i mean by the terminology...christian subculture is trying to turn everything in life into its own christian thing. for example, we like to create christian schools b/c we want christian education for our children & we don't want them to be influenced by "the world out there." is christian school bad?? no. will i send my kids to christian school someday?? maybe. to further illustrate, we create our own "christian" coffee shops, sports leagues, bookstores, music, schools, tv stations, clothes, etc... So, what's the big deal about all these things Ethan?? the deal is that there is a temptation that we will create a christian huddle or hide-away so that we can have nice and tidy environments where people don't cuss, drink, or smoke, and in so doing, completely remove ourselves from the world around us.
if i remember correctly from Scripture, we are the light in a dark world. we shine the light and truth of Jesus Christ into a fallen and broken world, bringing hope and peace and restoration. if the light decides to huddle together and have environments away from the darkness, how will it ever shine into the dark??
solution?? lets stop creating so many "christian" things, and start stepping into the places where the dark live, work, and hang out. lets be a light in the darkness. Scripture never (to my knowledge) commands the darkness to come to the light, but rather commands the light to go into the darkness. i'm tired of being light shining on light.

my buddy's new blog

hey everyone, do yourself a favor and check out this new blog !!! Patrick is one of my best friends in the whole world, and i consider him a true revolutionary for the gospel. add him to your favorites, and swing by every now & then! http://patrickmitchell.blogspot.com/

prayed '08

last night there were billions of people staying awake until their timezone stepped into the new year at midnight. i was one. however, mine was probably a little different than most. some had a toast with champagne, some kissed, some shot massive fireworks, some danced, some sang, some rocked out to an unknown indie band. i prayed. i know that sounds like i'm trying to be better than you, but i'm not. i would've loved to have done most of the above. however, i was with some of my dad's church family down here in myrtle, and they did a pretty cool prayer deal. every new year's eve, they get together to hang out and eat food or have a bonfire, and then as midnight nears, they gather in a massive circle, hold hands, and pray it the new year. it was really, really cool. i was moved. i didn't get to kiss a hot girl, but it was still a good time.
i believe God's has awesome things planned for 2008 for His world, His church, & ultimately for His renown.