The Blame Game

This afternoon I watched most of the Cowboys game (I dozed off a few times since it was such an exciting game), and was very disappointed in how they played, for obvious reasons.  I started thinking about who the blame game will revolve around, whether it's Romo, or Roy Williams, or the penalties, or the injuries, or bad coaching, or just being plain outplayed.  It amazes me how people these days rarely ever own up to their own mistakes and just say "it's my fault", or "I played like crap today".  It seems like everywhere we turn, someone is blaming someone else for their mistakes.  Why do we do this?  Why is it so hard for us to admit failure, poor effort, irresponsibility, etc. etc...  Are we that afraid of what the outcome of us admitting we messed up will be?  I do realize that professional athletes are always under the microscope and someone admitting they played poorly might affect their job, it just would be nice to hear one say it every once in a while.  Unfortunately we live in a society that admitting our mistakes is a sign of weakness.  I once read an article about mistakes made in the workplace, and a survey of managers said they would rather the employee own up to his mistake rather than some lame excuse be made, or the blame be passed on to someone else.  They were more likely to fire the one that passed the buck than the one that fessed up. (besides, everyone knows who screwed up anyway)

This morning at Lifestone Church we started a new series called Parenting, and while the message didn't address this particular issue, I started to think how as parents we often blame society or other children for influencing our own kids, or blaming teachers for this or blaming coaches for that.  I heard a parent say one time that her kids teacher just had it out for her kid and that is why he was always getting in trouble, ('cause he's a good kid;) and the parent refused to recognize the kid was a little brat!  As parents we should defend our kids, but we must also realize that our kids aren't perfect either and there is a good chance that our kids are the ones messing up.  We should also admit that as parents, we aren't perfect either.  We aren't teaching them Godly principles all the time, we aren't consistent with our discipline, we don't spend enough quality time with our kids, the time we do spend with them our mind is elsewhere, we're running them from one event to another and running them ragged, and the list goes on.  I'm also not saying that we should just come to terms with this and embrace the fact that since we aren't perfect parents, we shouldn't do anything about it either.  I guess what I'm getting at is that we need to take responsibility for our actions, and teach our kids to do the same.  The best way our kids are going to learn is by us leading by example.  If our kids hear us passing the buck all the time, what do you think they're going to do?  The exact same thing.  It comes naturally by the way!

Lets be the best parents we can be.  It's not accomplished by making our children our number one priority, it is by placing God in the center of our life, and leading our children by His example. I read a quote today that brings this all home:

I want to live my life as a fully devoted follower of Christ, and allow this to influence me as a Christ-centered husband and father, to become more like Jesus in my actions, thoughts and dealings.

Lets make that commitment today.

*disclaimer: I wrote this without watching any of the post-game interviews. Read Full...

Monday Night Football Fellowship

For the last several weeks I have had the honor and pleasure to lead a men's small group at our home, and let me tell you, it has been nothing short of amazing.  The guys that come are a really awesome group.  The concept of the group is to have a biblical conversation and after, watch Monday Night Football, so we call it the MNFF.  It's a good mix of ages and backgrounds and it just makes for great discussion.  Last night we had the best discussion we have had since the group began.

The discussion revolved around the topic of church, and our idea of what the church looks like, and what it should look like.  How the church is not a building with four walls, but how we are the church, a community of believers, and we are supposed to be engaged in the conversation of Christ.  Sometimes we forget that church is not just a building, it is a body, a family, an army, a flock, and a bride.  My favorite example is an army.  After all, this is a battle we are in.  A spiritual battle.

Eph. 6:12  

¹²For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly realms.

We also discussed what I believe has been an aspect of church (the four wall kind and the person kind) that needs serious attention.  I believe if the church is going to thrive and be effective in reaching the lost, it must be theologically relevant and culturally relevant.  For us to reach young adults (there are fewer 18-30 year-olds in church than there ever has been), we MUST be able to speak their language, relate to them on a personal level, and be able to meet them at their felt needs and minister to their true spiritual needs.  This is how we are going to engage in a conversation about Christ with them.  What does this mean?  The method of delivery is constantly changing with the time, but the message stays the same.  Paul was the pioneer of cultural relevancy in meeting people where they were as we see here:

1 Corinthians 9:19-23. 

¹⁹Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. ²⁰To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. ²¹To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. ²²To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. ²³I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings.

My prayer is that we get the opportunity this week to encounter and minister to someone in need.  Let's make a point to engage in the conversation! Read Full...

My Story

I promise this will be the only long post, but I felt you needed to know where I was coming form, so bear with me for a bit.

I grew up in a not-so-typical home, my parents were missionaries to Mexico and to South America, and so an American kid living in a foreign country isn't something you see every day. The other thing that is unfortunately not-so-typical today is the fact that I was raised in a Christian home by both parents (they're having their 50th wedding anniversary next summer how awesome is that!). I was saved at a young age in a hotel room with my parents somewhere in Mexico. I still remember the feeling I had leading up to that night. I had this heavy weight on my chest and knew something in my spirit wasn't right. I think those were the words I used when I told my dad I knew I needed Jesus. I prayed a simple prayer inviting Him into my life, to have a relationship with Him and become His follower. I was baptized at Christ for the Nations in Dallas soon after. We used to go there every summer for their annual seminars. I felt God's calling on my life that summer, but as a kid, I don't think it's possible to really understand what that means, and really, it took God whacking me over the head with a two-by-four for me to finally sort of understand!

Athletics have been a big part of my life and as a kid, raced BMX bikes, and was actually pretty good at it. I've got an old box full of old gold colored plastic trophies to prove it if you ever want to come over and check them out! I started getting too big for the little bikes, so I moved on to football. There was also a "cool factor" that played into me not riding my bike any more I'm sure! I went to Rockwall High School from the middle of my 9th grade year to the beginning of my senior year where I decided to transfer to a private school called Lexington Academy. I transferred for a couple of reasons, the head football coach at Lexington was really persuasive, and I had several church friends that went there. Not getting to play the position I wanted to play @ Rockwall also played a factor in my decision. The reason that I never factored was God's plan for my life. Playing football at Lexington brought me to Hardin-Simmons University, where I would soon meet Janna.

Janna and I have now been married for 15 years and have really been the best years of my life. Janna is the perfect wife. We tell people that we never fight, and no one believes us, but it's true, we've never had a knock down, drag out fight, and really have never even raised our voices at each other maliciously. We're both really laid back and that may have something to do with it. I don't know. I do know that we have placed God at the center of our marriage and it shows. Our kids are great, I couldn't ask for better ones! Dane is 10, and Claire is 7. They are everything we imagined having kids would be like, and then some!

Going to Hardin-Simmons (HSU) I really had no idea what I wanted to do. I knew I liked "helping people". It sounds like a really cheesy interview answer I know, but I did. I got a packet in the mail one day talking about Chiropractic and how it was the greatest healthcare profession and how chiropractors were in the top 5% of income earners etc... I was sold! I applied and got in in January of 1997. I was on my way to becoming a great Doctor of Chiropractic (D.C. for short) I graduated in 2000 and opened a practice in Mansfield TX, in an old house in the old downtown area. Opening a new business is TOUGH! Let alone a chiropractic business. People usually go to see a chiropractor only if they are really hurting and/or if they've been everywhere else and you're their last resort. If you can help them, they become great patients! As with any business starting out, I struggled. I partnered with another chiropractor across town after two years of being on my own, and still struggled. I questioned why God would have gotten me thru all these years of school and not make me successful, but in the back of my mind I still knew that God had a plan for me. After a bad week at the office, I was offered a sales job by a friend of mine from church and decided it was the right move for me and the fam.

Mineral Wells is a great town, but I still have friends ask "why Mineral Wells?" From the first time my boss at the time talked about moving the company to the MDub, Janna and I felt very at peace. We made several trips out here looking at houses and just dreaming. Small town life has been something we always liked the idea of, and so it wasn't a stretch for us to know that we'd fit in here.

We looked at the church scene here after we moved, and decided on First Baptist Church. We came from a great church in Arlington, and there wasn't really anything like it here in town, but in a small town you are pretty limited on church choices, let alone styles of worship. We became heavily involved at church, just like we were at our old church, but there was something missing, or maybe not missing, but there was a lack of abundance of young(er) adults. Finally one day the question was asked, "what do we need to do to reach younger adults?" I, along with a few others, proposed a new service, unlike anything that was familiar to the typical traditional Baptist church. It was something I saw at a church in Abilene that really caught my attention. It was a church service that met in their gym. It had everything that would appeal to young adults, modern music, conversational messages, cool lights and FOOD! We called it "The Gathering". I felt it was the reason God brought us to Mineral Wells. The convoluted story of how we got here now all of the sudden made sense. The ministry we were doing finally made me feel like my life had purpose. I felt it was the calling God had placed in my heart so many years ago. We felt we were right where God wanted us to be. We had battled very hard to get this service going and on its feet, and to keep it going as well. It was a constant struggle, and for a while, it didn't matter. The ministry we were doing was worth it, but it seemed like we were always one business meeting away from being shut down. It was hard for some people to accept this new ministry, and there was always a constant noise in the background about it. So, after much prayer and seeking God's face, this past June, we decided to leave. The funny thing about being sensitive to the Holy Spirit and listening to what God wants you to do, is that it sometimes makes no sense to the people around you. Sure enough, it didn't! We decided that we weren't trying to please people, we wanted to please God, and we were willing to follow Him wherever He leads us, no matter what.

I began to pray a simple prayer a few months before we decided to leave FBC and all it said was "Lord, present an opportunity for us to serve and minister to someone somewhere". We had seen the amount of hurting people that came to The Gathering and knew we wanted to be part of something like that. We began visiting some other churches in the area and also in Weatherford, and just didn't feel like any of the places we went were where God wanted us to be. Still this simple prayer kept running through my head, "Lord, present an opportunity.."

We were with some friends one day and we saw a small yard sign at a stop light that said Lifestone Church and gave the web address. Janna looked it up on her handy iPhone and it looked interesting. We got home later that evening and I looked at the website again and felt impressed to email the lead pastor, Ben Helton. He invited us to a launch team service that next week. This church was brand new, it had only had a few preview services, and wasn't even fully up and running yet. We hit it off with the staff and felt that the opportunity we were praying for had just presented itself.

I'm so amazed and humbled at the mystery of who God is, and how my upbringing, schooling, career choice, hometown, and ministry are, and were always about His perfect plan for my life. I lay awake at night often thinking about the ministry possibilities and opportunities He has in store for the rest of my life!

Stay tuned. Read Full...

First Post

Ok, so I've been thinking about starting a blog for a couple of years and so I'm finally starting one. I had some motivation because Janna started one a few days ago, didn't say a thing about it until she had it up and running. You can check it out here. My sisters are HUGE bloggers too and I've always been a bit envious. I hope that some day I can be like my big sisters ;) My sister Rachel Anne's is here, and my sister Katherine's is here. I believe God has given me something to say, so hopefully what I write here will speak to you. Read Full...