Category: God

Christian Living, God, Life, Newspaper

Death, Loss, and Devastation: How Do We Respond

I want to take a moment of your time to brag a little bit about the people in my home state of Tennessee.  First, I am not the first or the last that will make this observation, but none the less I feel that I need to make it.  You see, this past week a devastating fire burned a good portion of Gatlinburg, TN and the National forest around it.  At least seven people are confirmed dead in the fire, and thousands have lost everything, just a month before Christmas.  Hundreds of homes, cabins, and businesses have been completely burned to the ground.

But Tennesseans are resilient people.  Fire departments from at least and hour and a half drive all converged on the blaze, attempting to salvage as much as they could.  Not only that, there has been zero reports of rioting or looting in the area.  Instead, there are reports of generosity toward those who lost everything that is almost unfathomable.  Food, clothing, and supply drives popped up all over the state, and generated so much that Sevier County, where Gatlinburg is located, had to ask that no new drives be started for the time being because they could not find anywhere else to store the donations.

Dolly Parton, who is originally from there, has made a very generous offer to any that lost everything.  I will not go into detail here, but the figures she has offered simply amaze me.  I have always been proud to be from East Tennessee, and the south.  The response to this devastation, however, has only deepened that pride in where I am from.  It is great to see people come together in a time of need, and do whatever they can to help one another out, instead of only looking out for themselves. 

I have a theory as to why this has been the case during this tragedy, and I would like to share that with you today.  East Tennessee is part of what is known as the “Bible Belt”, and while a lot of people in this country are trying to distance themselves from Christianity (that is a whole other article for another time), Christian-living seems to still be alive and well there.  Even those that do not claim to follow Jesus, or the Bible seem to live by some of the principles found there. 

Seeing what is taking place in Gatlinburg and the surrounding areas where this devastation has taken place reminds me of something that we can read in the book of Acts, chapter 2:44-45, which states; “44 All the believers were together and had everything in common. 45 They sold property and possessions to give to anyone who had need.”  They took care of one another, just like the people in Tennessee are taking care of one another right now. 

We need to learn to look out for other people, and not just ourselves.  May we all take this to heart, and seek to help one another when needs arise.

Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak

Christian Living, Encouragement, God, Life, Ministry, Newspaper

Do You Trust God? (11-19)

Thanksgiving is upon us.  Where has this year gone?  It simply amazes me that we are just over a month away from ending the 2016 calendar year.  As we get into the Thanksgiving holiday, we are all reminded to take a step back and reflect on what we have to be thankful for.  And we have so much, even if life is not going exactly the way that we thought it would this year.

This has not been the most straight-forward of years for me.  There have been things that have happened along the way that I did not see coming.  Such is life, though.  It started off with my mom falling and shattering her shoulder in three places.  On top of that, she lives in East Tennessee, so I was not even able to be there to help her. 

My wife was working for a family here in town, and really enjoying her job.  The family, however, ended up moving out of state due to a job promotion, and due to some other unforeseen circumstances, she has not been able to find another job yet. 

Most recently, my wife’s grandmother was diagnosed with a very aggressive form of cancer, and passed away so quickly that we were not able to make it to Ohio until two weeks after she passed away.  That does not even start to cover things not going the way we thought in regards to friends and church members that we know. 

I am sure you can relate, because life usually does not go the way we think it should or the way we want it to.  It just does not work that way.  So, what do we have to be thankful for?  For me, I have a job that I love, a family that loves me, good friends, and most importantly, Jesus who went to the cross to die for me, even when I did not (and still do not) deserve it.  He went there for you as well!  That should be the best news you have ever received in your life, and something that you can be thankful for, even in the hard times of life.

There is a story found in Acts 16:1-10 that I believe can show us what can happen when we trust God and are thankful for Him, even when life does not go as planned.  I will let you read it on your own if you want, but basically it is a story about a man named Paul.  Paul is going around, preaching about Jesus, and desperately wants to go preach the gospel in the province of Asia.  He is laser focused on the idea of going to Asia to preach, yet every time he tries, the story says that he is prevented by the Holy Spirit. 

If you read about Paul, one of the things you will see is that once he sets his mind to something, he is going to do everything he can to get it done.  When he is prevented from doing something he feels strongly about, he does not take it very well.  This would be the case with being prevented from entering Asia as well.  But Paul trusts God, and is thankful for His guidance. 

How do I know that he trusts God?  Paul is able to sleep that night, right after being prevented again from going to Asia.  In his sleep, he has a dream that basically calls Paul and his companions to go to Macedonia instead of Asia to preach.  And that is exactly what he does.

It was not where he saw his life going, but he did not lose sleep over it either.  He trusted God, and was grateful for God’s guidance in his life.  So what about you?  Does anything keep you up at night, or are you able to trust God and be thankful, even when life is not what you think it should be?

Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak

Christian Living, Encouragement, God, Life, Newspaper

Legacy (11-5-16)

Legacy.  I have been thinking about that term a lot recently.  We all have a legacy of some kind that is passed along through our families, or those that we spend the most amount of time with.  In a lot of ways, we get to help build those legacies and pass them along to the generations that are going to follow us as well.  Just in case you are not with me on the term legacy, Merriam-Webster.com defines legacy as “something transmitted by or received from an ancestor or predecessor or from the past”.  There are other definitions as well, but this is the one that I have been thinking long and hard about.

Why?  I am a first generation preacher on my side of the family.  As far as I know, I am the first person to make preaching my career path in my family.  My family, however, has a long legacy of being Christ-followers.  More than that has me thinking about legacy though.  My wife’s grandmother just passed away a few weeks ago.  Last week, we were finally able to travel to Ohio to spend time with her family, and a lot of memories were shared.  It was a very quick trip, but well worth it. 

While we were there, we got to talking about the fact that my wife’s dad, brother, and I have all preached from the same stage at their church in Georgetown, OH.  I new that, but being there and seeing it again, it was a great reminder.  I love that we have all had the opportunity to preach God’s word from that stage.  I was sharing that with my mother-in-law, and that is when the real idea of legacy hit me.  Their side of the family has a lot of preachers.  I already knew that, but she told me that they had been counting.  Including me marrying into the family, and my brother-in-law who is currently in Bible College, we have 20 active preachers in the family.

I was blown away by that number.  That is crazy, but that is awesome.  And my wife’s grandmother is a huge part of that legacy.  Her and her husband helped start a church early in their lives, in their living room.  That church today has thousands of people that attend weekend services.  While I have a legacy of being faithful to Jesus in my side of the family, I married into a legacy of preachers and missionaries as well!

But that is not where I want it to end.  I want to live my life in such a way that I can help build that legacy and pass it to the next generation.  Not to make a name for me, but to exalt the name of Jesus Christ throughout this world.  And I have a challenge for you as well.  Find your legacy.  If you find that you have a legacy that you want to change, do so. 

Hebrews 12:1-3 states, “Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, 2 fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. 3 Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

You see, we have a legacy of those that went before us.  They set the example of how to live as a Christ follower.  But we also have Jesus himself.  This passage also tells us how to continue that legacy so that we can pass it along to those that follow us.  And when the world makes us lose our focus, just remember, “let us fix our eyes on Jesus”.  What legacy do you want to pass along to the next generation?

Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak

Christian Living, Encouragement, God, Ministry

Ministers, Guard Yourself

I wrote an article a while ago (click here for that article) challenging my ministry friends to make sure they carve out time to listen to other sermons for their own growth.  Not growth in preaching skills or anything like that.  Their personal spiritual growth.  In my weekly schedule, I try to make time each week for at least a couple of different sermons from preachers that I learn a lot from.  Although I am not perfect at doing this, I try to make an effort to keep this a part of my weekly schedule.

Something took place late last week that reminded me more than ever that we, as Christian leaders, preachers, and ministers, have got to guard our hearts and focus on our relationship with Jesus.  This whole thing is still a little raw, but I want to pass this warning on to you.  All of us, as Christ followers have to work on our relationship, but those that are in the ministry are sometimes more susceptible to not guarding ourselves. 

It is easy to forget to work on your own relationship with Jesus when you are busy with preparing lessons, sermons, worship sets, etc.  The week is gone before you realize that you never cracked the Bible for your own study, or spent any time in prayer.  I get it.  I struggle with this more than I would like to admit.  And it has got to change.  If you do not struggle with that, please guard yourself, because that will be an area that the enemy attacks at some pint. 

So what event took place last week that makes me want to warn all of you, especially those in ministry?  A man that I respected, that had 25+ years in ministry, that was the first worship minister that I remember (from when I was in 4th grade), a man that helped me form who I am in my relationship with Jesus in the way I thought he led his life, went on stage at a Freedom From Religion event in Pittsburgh, PA and announced to the world that he is an atheist, and has been one since 2008.  He did not leave full time ministry, however, until at least 2013. 

To say I was shocked is an understatement.  Sitting in worship with him, seeing him lead worship, participating in board meetings with him, I had no clue anything like this was going on in his life.  I am still processing, and in reality, going through some of the stages of grief.

For my purposes here, I do not want to go into the details of why this man did what he did.  I want to use this as a warning to all of us.  Guard your heart.  Guard your relationship with Jesus.  Do not put your job, even if it is ministry, above your personal relationship with Jesus.  Paul challenges us in Romans 12 to not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but to be transformed.  Let me just quote it here.  In Romans 12:1,2, Paul states, “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God—this is your true and proper worship. 2 Do not conform to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will.”

When we lose sight of our relationship with Jesus, and trying to be transformed into His image, the world begins to transform us into what it wants us to be.  For those in ministry, it can be even harder if we do not guard ourselves more vigilantly.  Let’s rally around each other, and help each other to not lose sight that our relationship with God has to be strong before we can try to help others with their relationships.  As the author of Hebrews tells us, “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus…”

Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak

Christian Living, Encouragement, God, Life

How Much Time Do You Have?

It seems that every time we turn around anymore, there is more news of tragedy.  Whether it be a school shooting, bad storm or flooding, a fire, an accident resulting in an untimely death, illness, or anything else you can think of.  Life is not something that we should be taking for granted.

I was reminded of this even more over the weekend.  As an avid sports fan, I try to stay up on all the major sports news happening across our country, and in some sports even all around the world.  There are so many ways to do this, and getting sports news updated on my phone is one of the ways that I stay up to date with what is happening in the athletic world. 

Baseball is one of the sports that I like to follow, and have been a fan of the Atlanta Braves for as long as I can remember.  Over the weekend, tragedy struck in the MLB.  A pitcher for the Miami Marlins, Jose Fernandez, who was only 24 years old, was killed in a boating accident Sunday morning.  The Marlins just happened to be playing the Braves over the weekend, and because of the accident, the game on Sunday afternoon was rightfully cancelled. 

Over the last few days since his passing, the MLB and specific teams have been paying tribute to Fernandez, and mourning his loss.  Unexpected death is always something that is hard to understand and to deal with.  My thoughts and my prayers go out to his family and loved ones that are grieving over his death. 

The situation happening in Miami, while tragic, has got me thinking.  I saw a quote somewhere this week, and honestly cannot remember where, but I want to share it with you.  It said something along the lines of “you are only one breath from eternity at any given moment”.  It is so true.  None of us knows what is going to happen later today, tomorrow, or next week.  We never know how much time we have left on this earth.

In Philippians 2:9-11, Paul writes, “Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, 10 that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11 and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”  In other words, one way or the other, everyone is going to acknowledge Jesus as Lord.  You never know how much time you have left.  Have you acknowledged Jesus as Lord of your life and are trying to live for Him?  If not, you might want to give it some serious thought.  “You’re only one breath from eternity at any given moment”, and you want to make the acknowledgement of who Jesus is before you get to eternity.  If you have questions, I would love to talk with you. 

Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak

Christian Living, Encouragement, God, Life

I Despise Politics

If you know me at all, you know that I despise politics, in any form or fashion.  I rarely if ever engage in political talk with anyone, especially people that I do not know well.  Political arguments have been known to destroy good friendships, as well as turn into knock-down, drag out fights.  It just seems like nothing good ever comes from talking politics, yet all you see in our society at the present time is political ads, debates, arguments, and more…everywhere. 

I guess that is natural with the presidential election coming up in just over a month, but I have to admit, this is my least favorite time of the year, news wise, because all you see or hear is politically charged.

Well, like I said, I despise politics, but I am going to break for and write about the election coming up in just over a month.  Before you get too far ahead of me, I will not be “endorsing” anyone.  In fact, I really do not think that we have any good choice this year when it comes to the candidates for president, and I will not even name a single candidate by name.  You know who they are anyway. 

What I want to write to you this month is about all the doom and gloom that seems to be present on both sides of the election process.  Democrats are talking about how horrible it would be if the Republican candidate were to be elected.  Republicans are talking just as much about how horrible it would be if the Democrat candidate were to be elected.  Both are completely ignoring any third party candidates that have gotten into the race. 

Here is the problem as I see it.  I see just as many Christians talking about how horrible it would be if one or the other were to win the election.  The problem with that is it seems that they are putting all of their hope in a political party, instead of trusting in the only One that we can truly have hope in; Jesus Christ.

This world seems to be in a bad place.  But I have news for you.  A republican is not going to fix things.  A democrat is not going to fix things.  Only Jesus Christ, and people fully committed to following Him are going to fix the problems of the world.  I am not trying to tell you not to be involved in the election.  By all means, vote, but do not hang your hope in a political party.  In fact, scripture tells us that our hope is not on anything in this world. 

Paul writes in Philippians 3:19-21; “19 Their destiny is destruction, their god is their stomach, and their glory is in their shame. Their mind is set on earthly things. 20 But our citizenship is in heaven. And we eagerly await a Savior from there, the Lord Jesus Christ, 21 who, by the power that enables him to bring everything under his control, will transform our lowly bodies so that they will be like his glorious body.”

Our hope is in heaven.  Jesus is the only hope this world has.  Never lose sight of that.  A fellow minister that I went to school with sent this out today on Twitter.  Ben Stroup wrote, “God isn’t desperate to ‘MAGA’ (Make America Great Again) nor is He ‘With her.’  The kingdom is about way more than one election in one country. Relax”.

Encouragement, God, Newspaper

I Will Never Forget

There are a few days from my past that stand out.  The one’s that are hard to forget.  Getting baptized, feeling God’s call on my life to go into ministry, meeting my wife for the first time, asking her to marry me, and our wedding day.  Those are all days that I will never forget. 

There are two dates, however, that are etched in my mind, that were not good days.  For some reason, they stand out so much more.  June 4, 1999, the day I lost my dad to a massive heart attack when I was 15-years old.  That day was a shock, and one that will always stand out.  I have a feeling that the other day that stands out in my mind is one that many of you remember well.  September 11, 2001 is my generations December 7, 1942.  The day airplanes were used to crash into buildings, on purpose, and kill thousands of people. 

I was a senior in high school on 9-11, and I do not think I will ever forget where I was, what I was doing, and the general emptiness that I felt when I heard about the World Trade Center and Pentagon.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day in East TN that day, and the sky was a crisp fall blue color.  But it was so erie seeing that beautiful day, knowing what was happening in our country. 

I will never forget the pit in my stomach the next week at a high school football game, when an airplane, coming in to the local airport for landing, flew over the stadium, and it got dead quiet.  There is something more that I will always remember, however, about 9-11 and the response to this tragedy.  Local churches were a little fuller the next few weeks.  There were community wide prayer services.  This nation forgot our differences and came together supporting one another and crying out to God. 

This Sunday, we come to the 15th anniversary of 9-11.  Can it really be 15 years?  I long to see a return to unity and crying out to God in this country.  No, I do not want another 9-11 type event, but we need to come together again, and turn to God.  Jesus is the only hope we have in this world.  That is why this Sunday, at Central Christian Church, we are starting a sermon series about becoming a follower of Jesus. 

We are also following that service with a cookout, and would absolutely love for you to join us at 10:30 for our worship service.  There will be hamburgers and hotdogs provided by the church, and church members will be bringing sides, desserts, and drinks.  You are welcome to come, and just bring yourself.  Better yet, bring some friends.  It is time that we come together and cry out to God, not because of a tragedy, but because we realize our great need for Him.  Join us!

Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak

Christian Living, God, Life, Ministry

The Church’s Job

We are beginning a sermon series all about discipleship on September 11.  This is a series that I am really excited about, and one that I think can help us all in how we interact with each other and those that do not have a relationship with Jesus yet.  In fact, I think we all need a reminder of this from time to time, the first part of discipleship is actually sharing your faith with someone. 

When we hear discipleship, our first thought is usually something about gaining deeper understanding of scripture, a better prayer life, or something along those lines.  Those things are definitely a part of discipleship, and something that we should all be striving for.  But we are called to make disciples.  Not just help each other that are already in a relationship with Jesus be a better disciple.  This is something that I am just now really starting to understand, and something that I think has the potential to change how we interact with other people that we come into contact with in the world.

Think about it.  Matthew 28:18-20 states, “18 Then Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’”  We talk about this passage all the time.  You know what it is usually referred to.  “The Great Commission”.  It is Jesus’ final command to His disciples (and us) after His resurrection before His return to Heaven. 

All to often, however, I have missed the command here.  We talk about “going” and “baptizing” and many other things in this passage.  Or we focus on the promise at the end that Jesus will be with us always.  And that is a great promise.  One that we should talk about and should give us the courage to live for Him in this broken world. 

We seem to miss the “make disciples” part of this though.  I know I have missed it many times.  But that is the central command here.  Go and make disciples.  Not wait for them to come to us, not just help each other grow that already know Jesus, but go and make new disciples.  That can get messy though, because we are dealing with imperfect people that carry baggage of hurts and failures with them, along with our own baggage as well.  It does not give us a pass, however, from not attempting to follow this command. 

I saw a friend post this quote from John Ortberg earlier today, and it kind of brought all of this into perspective for me.  Ortberg wrote, “The mission of the church is not to go out into the world of disgust and shape it up.  It’s to go into the world with compassion and help it out.”  In other words, God has extended you grace, even when you did not deserve it, and His grace is available to others that are still mixed up in the world of disgust out there.  Our job is to help them find Jesus, not condemn the world for acting immoral. 

Paul put it this way in his writing to the church in Corinth; “12 What business is it of mine to judge those outside the church? Are you not to judge those inside? 13 God will judge those outside. ‘Expel the wicked person from among you.’” (I Cor. 5:12-13).  Our job is not to judge and look down at those outside the church.  It is to try to find a way to help them become a disciple, and that is what our 4-week series starting on September 11 is going to deal with!  I cannot wait.  Please invite your friends, family, coworkers, neighbors…anyone who does not have a relationship with Jesus yet.  Who knows, they might say yes.

Christian Living, God, Life, Ministry

Family Calling

I grew up as an only child, so when my wife and I got married, I not only gained a spouse, but I gained a brother that I had never had before.  Kelley has a brother that is a few years younger than her, and he became my brother.

The family I grew up in is very faithful in being Christ followers, but when I answered God’s call after high school to go into ministry, I am pretty sure I was the first in my family to do so.  I might be wrong, because I do not really know our family’s history past my grandparents on each side, for the most part.  I did not really have a legacy of ministers in my family line, although I never even thought about that because it did not seem strange to me.

Then Kelley and I got married.  Her dad, Kevin, is in ministry, and multiple grandparents, uncles, and cousins on both sides of her family are as well.  I gained a legacy of ministry when our families joined together through our marriage.  The incredible thing to me is that her younger brother is now studying to go into ministry as well. In other words, I now have a younger brother answering the call from God to go into the ministry.

While I was in school for ministry, I did an internship at Kelley’s home church in Georgetown, OH.  That is actually how we met, as she was finishing her time in the youth group while I was there, and we started dating when my internship officialy ended that summer.  While I was there as a student ministry intern, working with the teens mostly, I was given the opportunity to preach in the main adult worship service near the end of my time there.  That was the first time I preached in front of a group of more than 100 people, and I got to do it twice, as there are two services every Sunday.  It is an experience that I will never forget. It is also from this stage that Kelley and I got married as well.  The stage at Georgetown Church of Christ has been a pretty special place in my life.

As I was stating earlier, Korey (Kelley’s brother) is currently working on his ministry degree at Johnson University.  A few months ago, he had the opportunity to preach at Georgetown as well, as part of the requirements for a preaching class he was taking.  Kelley and I were unfortunately unable to attend, as we live in New Mexico, but the church uploads the sermons every week, so we were both able to watch Korey preach.  Sidenote, I love technology!  While I was watching him preach, I was struck with an incredible thought.  I have had the honor and privilege to share the same stage or pulpit with not only Kevin (Kelley’s dad), who is the preaching minister in Georgetown, but now with my brother as well.  That is a very cool realization to make, and it is also very humbling. (I have also gotten to preach from the same stage as some of my biggest mentors in ministry as well, which is pretty awesome as well).

What got me thinking of all of this again is that Korey just preached at Georgetown again this past weekend, and again, I was able to listen to his sermon thanks to technology.  I found out the morning of that he was going to be preaching, and immediately posted something about it on Twitter, offering a prayer of encouragement to Korey, and ended the tweet with the #FamilyCalling.  When I got to listen to his sermon today (Monday), I was so proud of the growth that he is having in his communication skills, and the fact that he is so willing to use his talents for God.  It again got me thinking about the idea of a family calling. I got to marry into a family that has many that have answered the call to ministry.

It is truly a calling as well.  I do not believe that you can be successful in ministry if you make the decision on your own that you want to do it.  As I listened to his sermon today, I was struck by the theme of his message, because it is something that I have been trying to stress in my own ministry as well.  It is the idea that as Christ followers, we have work to do. We have a calling. Our faith in Jesus should lead us to put in some major hard work and dedication for Him.

I will not give away too much of what he had to say, because I am going to provide a link at the end of this for you to go check his message out yourself, but he was preaching on Ephesians 2.  It is a very beautiful and powerful passage from Paul, and Korey nailed the idea from my favorite part of the passage, Ephesians 2:10.  It states, “10 For we are God’s handiwork, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.”(NIV)

Other translations use the word masterpiece instead of handiwork. We are God’s masterpiece! And the fact that we are His masterpiece means that we were created for a specific purpose. We have a job to do; bringing glory to God. God has this work in mind for every single one of us.  I mentioned earlier that those of us in ministry have “answered a calling”, that you cannot really be successful in ministry if you have not been called.  What I did not mention then, I want to stress now. While you may not have been called to be in vocational ministry, if you are a Christ follower, you are called into some kind of ministry. It could be anything that you do to bring glory to your Creator, who created you as His masterpiece.

Korey made a statement in the middle of his sermon that was so dead on I just sat here in my office shaking my head in agreement. In fact, I have made very similar statements multiple times to my faith family here in New Mexico.  He said, “Everywhere you go should be your mission field.” Think about that. You should be sharing Jesus and His love everywhere you go. Here is how I have tried to stress that idea here; I had signs made that are now hanging beside every exit door we have in our church building. They simply read, “You are now entering your mission field” and then quote Matthew 28:19-20, which reads, “‘19 Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.'” 

In other words, we all have a family calling if we are in the family of God. If you claim to be a Christ follower, answer your calling, and get busy in your mission field. It could be in your own back yard, or it could be half way around the world. Where it is does not really matter. What matters is that none of us sit idly by and expect someone else to do it for us. Let us all answer our “family calling”!

Click here to listen to Korey’s message on Vimeo.

Thoughts From a Crosseyed Jesus Freak

Christian Living, God, Ministry

It’s (Almost) Football Time in Tennessee! (August 2016 Newsletter)

I don’t know about you, but I am having a hard time believing that we are already through July, and that school is starting here in town in just a couple weeks.  Where has this year gone?  Even though it has gotten to us fast, I love this time of year.  There is almost a renewal of things.  Not to mention that (hopefully) we’ll start seeing some cooler temperatures soon.  A new school year is starting, high school football season is here, and in just a month’s time, I’ll be hearing those famous words that get my blood pumping UT Orange; IT’S FOOTBALL TIME IN TENNESSEE!

If you’re not familiar, that’s a phrase that is said by the radio and loud speaker announcers at the kickoff of every Tennessee Volunteer home football game.  It’s the signal that the game has begun, and it’s time to pay attention.  Along with the phrase, I’m looking forward to hearing “Rocky Top” played and watching the Big Orange take the field through the Power T.  I’ve probably confused many of you if you’re not familiar with college football, or the Vols at all, but that’s ok, because there is a point to all of this, I promise. 

Tennessee is expected to have one of their best years in recent memory, and there is a lot of excitement surrounding this team.  There is also a little nervousness from the fans, however, because if something goes wrong, and the team disappoints, it could set the program back a few years.  In other words, this season, in terms of college football, is very important.  I’m extremely excited about the season, and no matter what happens, I will be a VFL (Vol For Life).

There is another reason that I love this time of year.  And that is you!  Our faith family, through the summer, is scattered.  We don’t get to see each other as often as we do during the fall, winter, and spring.  People are traveling, working longer hours (because of the daylight), and just generally busier during the summer.  We’ve had weddings out of town, people traveling for work and vacation, and many other things that have kept us apart.  It seems that every year, once school starts back, things settle in for the Church as well.  While school is starting the second week of August, we are going to launch our Fall sermon series a few weeks later.  This launch will be September 11, when we start a series about discipleship, looking specifically at the ways that Jesus discipled His disciples, and seeing how we can implement those same techniques as we try to build disciples today. 


I’m even more excited about this series than I am about Tennessee football!  And for those of you that know me well, you know that means a whole lot.  I believe that we are poised here at Central for a great “season” of ministry.  Things are coming into place, and it’s time that we fully trust God, get out of our comfort zones, and reach our potential that we have in regards to sharing Jesus with others.  That’s why we are going to be focusing a lot on discipleship, and the things that get in the way of discipleship in the coming months.  But just like the Vols, while the potential is high, this is a critical season.  I will share more next month about what our “game plan” is for this season that we are entering in to, but there are two things that I’m sure of that I’ll end with.  As the Wednesday Night Kid’s Ministry begins in August, and our Fall series starts in September, I’m excited to say, “IT’S MINISTRY TIME AT CENTRAL!”  More importantly, no matter what happens, if this season goes as well as we could ever hope for, or there are some disappointments along the way, I will be a CFFL (Christ Follower For Life)!  That is my prayer for you as well.  Let’s get serious about building disciples!