the thin place…

starbucks this morning for some oatmeal and an upside down caramel machiato…yum! i am reading “wild goose chase” by mark batterson and felt God in the middle of the norm! let me explain. he talked about driving up a mountain road through clouds and breaking through and the clouds looked like a “celestial carpet.” now that’s pretty descriptive writing…you would not understand unless you were there! Tuesday i climbed into a twin engine cessna o fly to st. pete with our pastor (he is a preaching machine…i am so impressed with how much he preached at ctn this past tuesday. Mosesit was deep) well we climbed to 8 thousand feet and broke through the clouds! below is a pic. the thin place is what the celtic christians called the place where heaven seems to touch earth. thin places…moments where god shows up! moses had a moment in the middle of a desert…God showed up in the middle of the desert. God can show up anywhere! it does not matter where you are He shows up! what makes the difference is when you are aware of his presence. last night…in the middle of the message things shifted, changed, got in the groove and it was as if we broke through the clouds and hit the thin place. i was so aware of God showing up in the middle of the service and it energized my life…i have a terrible cold with that raspy smokers voice (i do NOT smoke) and it seemed like when i hit the thin place my voice was strong the students were hanging on every word and something powerful was happening in that moment…i love moments where god shows up!

BUT – he always shows up! what makes the difference is my awareness and desire for him to show up. at the moment of writing this blog in my journal i am listening to amazing grace by sarah kelly and i can see the hustle and bustle of people in starbucks…and i become so aware that God is here! it was like breaking through the clouds and hitting the thin place!

the word for today…break through whatever is in the way and hit the thin place!

the thin place

fine arts is upon us…

last night was a preview night at crave and we had a time. parents, friends and families came to watch our students in many different categories. in the end one of our worship teams threw it down and we closed the night out with prayer. you could feel God moving in the end of the service. the night was not the smoothest and never is due to technical issues for bands, singers, acoustic sets and human video..but all went well and it was a good night for students to practice in front of an audience before the festival. I am so proud of these kids…there are some extremely talented kids in our group and we are blessed! God is so good.

in the end of the service i spoke about what happened the night before at camp meeting…i could feel God all day long! tommy bates was praying for a young adult that use to be involved in crave and i squeezed through the crowd to get close. i wanted god to do something big in this kids life, well after he prayed for him he grabs me by the hand and speaks of change…for a moment i wanted to pull away because i was not ready for that word and he clarified that he was not sending me out! well, i have been praying for a definite change in this up and coming group of students and he spoke directly to what i have been praying for! God is truly about to do something in students lives and push the shy and timid to the foreground. tuesday night was a great moment for the portion of students that were their. last night i spoke to them about moving when God moves and told them of the change that was coming to crave.

God i truly desire for you to move in a powerful way in crave! i want more!

its time for a move of God in crave…

media fast…

went on a media fast for the last few days for our trip to nicaragua this summer. our team fasted media and it was truly tough on many. you never really know how you are attached to something until it’s taken away. i turned off xm radio, the tv, the internet unless it was for work, movies and set down the ipod. spent more time reading and doing other things…noise is all around us and its peaceful to just turn it all off for a season. i did not even know that “david” won idol until a few days ago…i was cut off from society.

well today i broke the media fast…woke up and found out what’s going on in the world of sports, played a few rounds of mario kart on wii and then went to see Indiana Jones and the kingdom of the crystal skull. today is memorial day and it has shaped up to be a fun day!

peace…

if you loved the original indy movies, then you will love this one too.

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! 

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! 
 

the end of a daniel fast…

well here is what God has taught me during this fast…

1. my season is now…he wants to use me now to be the best I can. But i need more of him this season. the fast got my attention as well as his, but ultimately will bring about his purpose in me!

2. I can control my flesh and fast for a season…without complaining and moaning and groaning. some times we get on a fast and look to the end just to fill our flesh-it seems like the one thing that sustains. really now…leaning on Jesus is the one thing that sustains in and out of a fast.

3. I need to stay in control of my flesh and not let my flesh control me…therefore i need to fast on a regular basis to train my flesh that it is not in charge and my spirit is. control- so many want to be in control- but what they are is out of control. to truly be in control one just has to control the passion of the flesh!

4. the breakthrough is not after the fast…the breakthrough happens in the fast! I broke through in so many ways-God truly showed up! he spoke clearly during this time…i need to look for the breakthrough to happen all around me!

5. after the fast I went to takeya a japanese steak house and ate – not till I was over full- I just was satisfied. Now I believe the hunger that I have for Him will be satisfied in new ways!
the one thing that God wants to do is bring satisfaction to my life…he is the only one that can truly satisfy!

dinner was good…and a starbucks coffee was simply marvelous!