Me or Jesus?

This has been an incredible year of growth for me, and I am so thankful to God for the things He has taught me. I guess the big question that I have had to come to grips with is the "Me or Jesus" question. I have let this question seep into every part of my life. Here are a few examples:

1. When I am evaluating whether or not I can do something, I have to bring Jesus into the question in a few ways, such as, motive (Am I doing this with Kingdom purpose?) ability (Do I have the gift mix to accomplish this and with the power of the Holy Spirit do I have the horse power), and priority (is this part of God's call on my life).
2. When I am raising my sons I have to ask if am I am trying to shape them into mini Me's or am I forming them into Christ's image?
3. When I am walking out my marriage I have to ask am I just living for my pleasure or are we displaying God's glory through our relationship.
4. and the list goes on........

How about you, how much do you allow Jesus to be a part of your everyday life? What changes do you need to make? Who do you need to invite to church on Sunday?(Sorry I had to throw that in ;) )

Things to be thinking about.

I am stoked! I am so excited about what God is doing and I know that it is just the beginning. We went out this morning and raked leaves for people just to show them God's love with no strings attached. I am praying that the seeds sown this morning will be effective in leading some people to Christ but also that those who participated would also feel as though they had drawn closer.

People, we are living in a world that is desperately in need of Jesus, and we have been given the responsibility, and privilege of helping them find Him. I am praying that God will give us wisdom on how we can do a better job of that. Here are a few things you could pray about.

1. Pray about who you should be inviting to church over this next few weeks as we tackle the subject of marriage, dating and sex.
2. We are getting ready for our Christmas service, so pray about who you could invite for that. That service will be totally geared to reaching lost people, because Christmas is a time that people that don't go to church will go, so don't miss the opportunity!
3. This week I am hoping to get away on Tuesday and Wednesday to pray and set the direction for o9 so please pray that God will give me wisdom and that I will be able to connect with His heart for the coming year.
4. Next week I am going to be dealing with the subject of sex, and it is going to be tense so pray that God will give me the courage to say what God wants me to say about the subject.

Thanks for all you do!

Three Questions I am Asking Myself.

It is my goal to honour God in all that I do, and one of the things I have found that helps me stay on track is asking myself good questions. Here are a few of the questions I have been asking myself lately.

1. Is my relationship with God close and growing? I don't know about you but I can really get distracted by all kinds of good things, while missing out on God's things. You might think it is easier for a pastor to stay connected to God in relationship, but the truth is that I am always doing things that seem Godly, but often times I am doing them for others and not for God. I study like crazy for Sunday morning and for youth, but I need to spend time with God just because I love Him. One of the key indicators for me that my relationship with Him is going off the rails is when I stop enjoying ministry, and that reminds me to connect with the reason I do ministry. How is your relationship with God going?
2. How am I spending my time? I am one of those people that has two gears, full throttle or asleep. and many times as life gets busy I start to lose track of how I am investing my time (That's right, investing) of all the things that we have, time is one area of life where we can't get a do-over. Once time is spent we can never get it back and once spent we must give an account for it. again we can spend our time on good things and miss out on the God things. You might be thinking that I am saying that you can never relax but that is not at all what I am saying. What I am saying is that I need to make sure that I take time with Kristine, to just shut down ministry for a while and enjoy our relationship. I need to spend time with my sons, (it seems like yesterday that they were babies and now they are almost men) to connect with them and share my values and my heart with them. I need to stop wasting time doing good things and invest time doing God things. How about you how are you spending your time?
3. Who are the people God has put in my life, and am I connecting with them enough? I strongly believe that we all need three types of people in our lives, those whom we are helping up, those who are peers and those who are helping us up. I need to ask myself, who am I helping? That list can keep me pretty busy at times and I really enjoy these relationships. I also need people that are my friends, those people that I can just kick back and relax with. people that I can go to a movie with or have coffee with or just hang out and do nothing with. I also need people that can help me. People that have been where I am and have moved to new levels, people that can let me no that it is going to be OK and that I will survive to see tomorrow. people that will help me survive through the trial so I can see the victory! Who are the people in your life, and are you connecting with them?

Have a great one!

Pastor Appreciation!

It is Pastor appreciation month in October and I just want to thank the people in my life that have been pastoring me and pouring into my life.

1. Pastor Paul thank you so much for challenging me and helping me to become who God has called me to be. Thank you for believing in me even when I wasn't sure that I believed in myself, you and Elaine are a blessing to Kristine and I and we wouldn't want to do life without you.
2. Pastor Steve and Beth, thank you for all the advice and encouragement that you have given to us. Thanks for asking us good questions about our personal lives and ministry. Thank you for sharing your time and your life with us. thanks for taking care of us at conferences, and for giving us the opportunity to connect with amazing leaders. Thanks for caring about us and our sons.

I am so thankful for all the other people that mentor me and I just want to say thanks to Pastor Peter Dempsey, Pastor Ted Yuke, Len Zoeteman, and Kevin and Sheila Gerald for all you do for me. You are all awesome leaders in God's Kingdom!