burn…well maybe not!

i just finished a series of messages called burn…but here’s one thing i truly don’t want to burn!
it’s mothers day and i took my mother in-law and my family to buca de bepo. love me some italian food. came home and crashed for a few listening to the lakers game…i got a call that there was a fire so i went and looked ant the smoke. right now there are ashes falling like rain around my house. say a prayer for my hood. i sent the family packing and i am like the captain of the ship, not leaving till the house across the street is on fire! i just talked to our children’s pastor, he lives in the neighborhood where it all started and is still in the house!

here’s a few pics…

burn…the sermon series continues

tonight we continue in our series entitled burn. i am bringing in a fireman to talk to the students about fire and explain what a backdraft is. the way i see it in scripture on the day of pentecost a backdraft hit the upper room and it was explosive. a mighty rushing wind hit an upper room where 120 people were gathered together and it was hot! the room was so hot that scripture says tongues of fire rested on each and every one that was present. yes they were all filled and the church went out in revival! tonight we dive into the baptism in the holy spirit. yes we are unashamedly pentecostal and tonight students will be baptized in the holy spirit! it’s the power of pentecost that makes all the difference in what we do at crave. i am going over my message and will post more later tonight!

Burn!

sermon series burn pt 2

wednesday night i took a side road from the series and allowed a friend to minister to our students. we are in the middle of a series raising the spiritual temp of the group! it’s always cool to bring in a DH to hit one out. we kept eryone together at crave and worship was truly an event. you see, last week we handed out candles and this week kids came back excited about the amount of time they spent burning! it was easier this week to jump in right into the presence. in the end of the service allen griffin set up an altar call to pass a huge cross over the crowd…nice. God showed up tonight! I look forward to the next few weeks at crave!

a spiritual awakening!

well this month we are shaking things up a bit in order to go deeper.  sometimes you get moving so fast in one direction in ministry that you have to just stop, look around and see what’s really happening.  we have had some good growth recently, in spite of dropping a bus route to the inner city. it was a tough call for some, but it was the best call in the end for all. we have seen kids come to the altars on a regular basis! we have seen an increase in our fine arts program-a big one! sometimes you just feel like there has to be more! i want to see more in the lives of our students and leaders.

what’s the real issue? creativity doesn’t seem to be an issue, numbers aren’t really an issue-although i am not satisfied and determined to see growth all year long. when kids come in and feel something and then leave the same is messed up!  i hate when the enemy comes in and snatches away the deposit made in lives.  the issue is simple…we need a fresh awakening! a fresh experience and a fresh look at living the life!

so…this month we are determined to get closer to God…we are determined to press harder and watch the oil flow…we are determined to burn! 

my prayer this month is simple-lord send the fire! 

wednesday night recap…

good feel tonight. we mixed it up some and started with a slow set and jumped into worship. i stepped up and led the kids in prayer before the shift into praise…God was good tonight. the word was challenging and when we passed out candles i felt led to grab a few students and speak life over them. God is up to something fresh here…next week will build on this.

we handed out candles to burn…

i truly wanna see students burn bright and hot for God!

we had cake tonight to celebrate my birthday…what a surprise-i thought i got out of it…but my love brought in 2 huge sheets and i ate my fill. 41 aint that bad…at least people still think i am in my 20’s…ha little they know!

burn…sermon series part 1

here is the direction we are headed for in burn part 1… 

What’s it take to start a fire?

1. a spark-what sparks are flying in your life
2. pressure-friction! pressure to smother and pressure to produce it’s all around us!
3. material-kindling! Something has to burn!
4. oxygen-something has to breathe life on it!

Hebrews 12:29 for our “God is a consuming fire.”

leviticus 6:13 The fire must be kept burning on the altar continuously; it must not go out.

our goals for this month are…
- start a fresh fire! it only takes a spark in the right conditions and a fire will burn!
- increase worship in this place – sat april 12 a night of worship!
- increase prayer – every Wednesday at 6:30 pre service prayer!
- increase the amount of bibles that students bring and read.
- increase the number of people in attendance!

when students burn you can’t help but see an increase!

sermon series…burn!

this week we start a 4 week series called burn!  we are going to start a fire and keep it burning! i am looking forward to see what God will do in this series!