Good thing this guy can dance because he can’t fight… Check it out
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I am just throwing that out there because seemingly everybody with gold shoes is incredibly fast. Â In 1996 it was Michael Johnson, who I think started the trend, and then this year we have Usain Bolt with a 9.69 sec. 100-meter world record. I watched Cool Runnings and I think that the Jamaican bobsled team needs to do some recruiting.
It is almost like all of these track specialists who said Johnson runs to straight up and Bolt (great name by the way) is too tall to be successful getting a good launch out of the blocks missed the advantage of the gold shoes. Check this out… Bolt won with his shoe untied. I am sure there are a lot of athletes at the shoe store right now getting some of these… Nike has officially Pimped My Shoe.Â
I am not trying to get too spiritual here but John the Revelator wrote about God having feet like brass… kind of looks like gold. And God is pretty fast, creating the whole world in just 6 days, as an example. Coincidence?
I am getting some great feed back from the survey we put out. There are a lot of encouraging things, some surprises, and confirmation that some of the changes that we are working on are needed. Â
I am keeping a close eye on a few of them and one specifically is the ranking of factors for deciding to attend InDependence. “Worship style†and “casual atmosphere†were on quite a few peoples top three. Location was an important part as well. I am hoping for a few more “sounded like a cool place†people because my mom always said I was cool and I want to plant a cool church. But I guess core values and beliefs are important too and many of you agreed.
If you haven’t taken our little survey yet please take a look in your e-mail inbox because even though it is anonymous I would like to track how many people from our e-mail list took the 10 minutes to take it.  Â
I will post our findings in the next couple of weeks and once we have exhausted our efforts to get information from the people who have a personal relationship with InDependence, I will open it up to public view via this blog and our website.
I am getting ready to celebrate 6 official months at InDependence. We launched on January 20th of this year. God has enabled us to do some incredible things and we have learned some valuable lessons along the way. So today I heard the audible voice of the Lord and it sounded a lot like a church planter friend of mine that suggested I do an e-mail survey.
I had heard of people doing church surveys and being blown away by the information that they received. I found some good examples to work from here and I plan to put an InDependence twist on it. We are in the people business… more specifically people’s soul business so the thought of asking the people that your ministry has reached their opinion, seemed like a no-brainer.
To be quite honest I needed some reminders that we are being effective.  I was looking here and was encouraged because God really has kept us on a faster learning curve. But I don’t want to be just average, or even above average, I want to our ministry to be exceptionable.
I have been somewhat disappointed by the numbers of new life commitments that we have seen at InDependence because that is really what it is about. I know that we have helped to facilitate renewals and recommitments but I am praying for some flat out radical life changes. The ones where people say I can’t believe that so and so just gave their lives to Christ. We didn’t advertise here and with this on Y100 because we wanted somebody’s disgruntled church members.
So we are going to figure out what we are doing right, and we will take it as a pat on the back. We are also going to figure out how we can improve inside of the vision that God has given us and fix what is wrong. I want to reach our community and introduce them to Jesus Christ and if that causes a blow to my ego, so be it. So if you are on our e-mail list be looking for the survey and please take it. If you want to be on our list go here.
The fall has always been my favorite season. I know I live in South Florida where I am not sure if that terminology even exists but… Maybe it is because my birthday comes in the fall. Maybe it is because that is when “football†season kicks off. Now that I live in South Florida I need to clarify, “American Footballâ€. Specifically it is the time when the Buckeyes of The Ohio State University take the field under the fine coaching of Jim Tressel. O-H-I-O
Maybe it is because I remember taking great yearly trips as a kid to the mountains to enjoy the changing of the leaves. Maybe it was because I was married in the fall. Maybe it is because of Thanksgiving which is one of my favorite holidays. Maybe it is a little of all of that, but now that I am a church planter I have found a new affection for the fall.
I am anticipating the return of all of our vacationers in the next few weeks. As kids return to school and schedules begin to settle I am looking forward to making this fall our season of spiritual growth. We will trying to find out what sort of impact a New Testament church can have on our community.Â
So starting in September we will be taking the New Testament Challenge. We are going to read the New Testament cover to cover during the course of the next three months. Â We are going to be challenged to live out the life of a New Testament follower of Christ. We have taken off our lousy t-shirts and we are getting on with our own amazing journeys.Â
A fairly common term used lately in business but this time I am not using it in relation to corporate America. My family is putting the wraps on a move tonight and tomorrow. This is the first time that my wife and I have downsized in our soon to be 9 years of marriage. It’s the pottery/willow anniversary and I already have the gift picked out… way ahead of schedule.
We started out in a 1200sf (2/2) apartment. First house was a 1700sf (3/2). Second house was an 1800sf (4/2). Then the last house we were renting was a 2400sf (4/2). This house was way too big for us but to get 4 bedrooms in Weston (to house the church office) this was one of the smallest models. Â The 1800sf house was a great size for us. Not too big and not too small. The four bedrooms allow for an office and a school/playroom for Owen, which is really nice.
This week we moved into a 1350sf (3/2) apartment. Talk about scale shock. All of the furniture that swam in the big house is sinking the apartment. This process has forced me to face some important realizations.
10. We have way too much stuff.
9.    A majority of it is really not that important.
8.    Maybe I am a little bit of a pack rat.
7.    If you haven’t used it, much less seen it in a year…
6.    It really pained me to part with yard tools even though I haven’t used them once since we moved here. (they were the nice fiberglass handled ones)
5.    God has really blessed us during those 9 years.
4.    Paying $60/hr to have (2) guys from U-haul to move our heavy furniture… worth every penny.
3.    Size does matter, especially when selecting a U-haul truck.
2.    If you think paper cuts hurt… try cardboard
…and the number one realization I had in downsizing…
1.    My wife is an incredibly strong woman… not only physically but in every other area.
Ok so you may be thinking that was cheesy but you don’t know how much effort my wife put into this move and I just want her to know that I love her and appreciate her.
Who isn’t… I hate when people take a great thing and exploit it. I am all for taking care of our environment. I am all for recycling. I am all for taking a reusable bag to the grocery store. I am all for making buildings more efficient, saving fossil fuels with fuel efficient cars, etc.  The V10 Excursion we use to pull our 24’ church trailer says otherwise but if you take into account the amount of energy used by a church that owns their facility I can guarantee my 10mpg to and from church + the additional energy used by the school while we are there doesn’t come close to the energy used when your building isn’t in use.Â
Sorry, I got sidetracked… But what makes me angry is that for many companies this thought of being environmentally friendly is nothing more than a way to make a buck. I know that is what supposedly makes the world go around but putting your same product in a green wrapper doesn’t make you any more of an environmentalist than having a diet coke with your Big Mac makes you a healthy eater.  At the architectural firm I work for which is pretty active in the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) Market but we get a lot of clients who want to put a finish material with some recycled content in it just so they can tell every client who walks in the door the story about this floor or this countertop. So what if they have a manufacturing process that gives of hazardous waste which they are dumping in the ocean and their company vehicles are H2’s. (Hypothetical example) I have not always been the most environmentally conscious guy but when I see not only the destruction of God’s creation but the exploitation of the effort to do a better job, it makes me want to try harder. So if it is in a green wrapper that doesn’t make it environmentally friendly. Some people who say they are going green are actually going brown because they are feeding you a line of crap. So don’t buy into the hype… buy into companies who really are making changes for the betterment of the environment not just a change to their marketing strategy.Â
I haven’t blogged in well over a week. My three faithful readers may wonder why. No good excuse just traveling at the speed of life. Here is a quote that we use this weekend in our “Lousy T-shirt†message that applies to me and probably to you:Â
“God walks ‘slowly’ because he is love. If he is not love he would have gone much faster. Love has its speed. It is an inner speed. It is a spiritual speed. It is a different kind of speed from the technological speed to which we are accustomed . . . It goes on in the depth of our life, whether we notice or not, whether we are currently hit by storm or not, at three miles an hour. It is the speed we walk and therefore it is the speed the love of God walks.†- Kosuke KoyamaÂ
I don’t know about you but I feel like my life is moving much faster than 3 mph. So it seems to me that if we are supposed to be followers of Christ than we would have to be going 3 mph or less. Anybody else just get caught speeding?
Here is the advice I gave myself this weekend along with InDependence:Â
Divert daily: Every day have some time where you slow down, eliminate distractions, and spend time with God. Speak to him. Listen to him. Just rest with Him. Â
Unwind weekly: Every week have a day of rest, of refreshing. A day just for you. A day to reflect. A day to do things you enjoy doing, to spend time with friends and family, maybe to serve some people who are less fortunate or need help because that fills you up inside.
Abandon annually: Every year, get out of town for a week or so. Abandon your regular schedule, your to-do list, your ringing phone, and just relax and recharge.
The world calls it margin and God calls it Sabbath. It made His top ten list and it should make yours. So regardless of what you call it, you need to do it and so do I. Â
Mark 2:27 (NIV), “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.â€Â Take the hint…
This last Sunday my family and I, along with our guitarist, and his girlfriend, made the trip to West Palm to hang out with our worship leader, David and his family. Our bass player was there also so I found myself surrounded with some very musically talented people. Other than experiencing some incredible food… and by incredible, I mean incredible, I enjoyed spontaneous breakouts in music and song. Â
David has a music room with a drum kit, keyboard and about 1500 guitars. OK so it wasn’t 1500 but he did have a ukulele. I almost asked for a little “Somewhere Over the Rainbow†but I didn’t want to have my man card revoked. Probably just mentioning that on the internet is going to cost me some points. Â
The amazing part was that he would just hop from instrument to instrument and just start playing. So then Sebastian (our guitarist) gets in the mix and started playing random tunes. The experience brought two thoughts to my mind:Â
It was either like being the non-musical kid adopted by The Partridge Family or watching the making of the “Viva Viagra†commercial. I am glad to announce that jingle was never sung but if you ever get a chance ask David and his family to sing their jingle about cheese.
A group of alumni, all highly established in their respective careers, got together for a visit with their old university professor. The conversation soon turned to complaints about the endless stress of work and life in general…Â Offering his guests coffee, the professor went into the kitchen and soon returned with a large pot of coffee and an eclectic assortment of cups: porcelain, plastic, glass, crystal - some plain, some expensive, some quite exquisite. Quietly, he told them to help themselves to some fresh coffee…Â
When each of his former students had a cup of coffee in hand, the old professor quietly cleared his throat and began to patiently address the small gathering… ”You may have noticed that all of the nicer looking cups were taken up first, leaving behind the plainer and cheaper ones. While it is only natural for you to want only the best for yourselves that is actually the source of much of your stress-related problems.” He continued… ”Be assured that the cup itself adds no quality to the coffee. In fact, the cup merely disguises or dresses up what we drink. What each of you really wanted was coffee, not a cup, but you instinctively went for the best cups… Then you began eyeing each other’s cups….”Â
”Now consider this: Life is coffee. Jobs, money, and position in society are merely cups. They are just tools to shape and contain Life, and the type of cup we have does not truly define nor change the quality of the Life we live. Often, by concentrating only on the cup, we fail to enjoy the coffee that God has provided us. God brews the coffee, but he does not supply the cups. Enjoy your coffee!” The happiest people don’t have the best of everything; they just make the best of everything they have… So please remember: Live simply. Love generously. Care Deeply. Speak Kindly. Leave the Rest to God.Â
And remember - the richest person is not the one who has the most, but the one who needs the least.
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