 Thread: Submission |
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06-13-2007 08:54 |
Forum: MIND |
When I hear spiritual terms, I always filter them through the heart of Jesus Christ. In spite of humanity's misuse and abuse of the word submission, it is essential to discover its meaning from the originator of it. And Philippians 2 is definitely the first text to pop into my mind.
With regard to submission in ministry, I am experiencing a marvelous team of submissive leaders and servants. Now I have not always been in this situation, but the joy of mutual submission is infectious. It is living out the Biblical command to "... esteem others better than self."
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| Thread: Happy Memorial Day |
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i send all of you a Happy Memorial Day greeting from the California Bay Area! Have a beautiful and safe day!
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| Thread: All God, No One Else |
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Do you ever feel that God is constantly rescuing you from the brink of disaster so that you are convinced it was He who did it and not you?
I know that that was a long question, and I'm not quite sure that I am completely conveying my contemplative inquiry to you. So let me try to analogize my question.
Trinity Church has embarked on the difficult journey of a building program (of sorts). We are selling our property and purchasing a commercial facility for the sake of creating a new church campus. We call it "20 Into 2," meaning it is a 20 year plan that we are compressing into 2 years. I must tell you that it has been a long, painful, rough, and yet spiritually joyous experience. It seems like at every phase, there is something that comes up which could implode the entire process. The recent showdown involved the residential neighbors who border our current property. They live in Eichler houses, beautiful and indigenous to the Bay Area. They rightfully so are concerned that the buyer of our property will build multi-story homes that would invade the privacy of their Eichlers, which all have glass in the rear of them and have low flat roof designs. So the neighbors successfully commission and petition to impose a single story overlay on our entire property. The "first" buyer of of our property got wind of the petition and bailed, leaving $500,000 in escrow for Trinity (but so what?). The City Planning Commission reviewed the petition and decided to compromise by recommending to the City Council to impose the overlay on the back third of our property where the Eichlers border. With this recommendation, the current buyer immediately dropped their buy offer by over $1,000,000. We were no longer able to afford the commercial facility and thus 20 Into 2 was dead (for about the 4th time - a much longer story). Last Tuesday, there was a big showdown at the City Council meeting. The neighbors and Trinity showed up in huge numbers, possibly one of the biggest turnouts at a City Council meeting ever. Bottom line ... God came through once again. City Council reduced the size of the overlay as to give us barely enough to keep 20 Into 2 alive.
Our staff, Elders, members are exhausted. We have praised, mourned, rejoiced, cried, prayed, released, been hopefull, and a whole lot more all in a matter of weeks. I gotta tell you... there is no doubt in my mind who is running this. And it is not Trinity. It will be absolutely impossible for us to receive any glory whatsoever from this process. God is doing it, and He is doing it the way He wants it done.
On the other hand ...
I sometimes feel like "enough already, Lord. You are God and I am not. I get it." Then I quickly repent so that lightning doesn't shoot down from Heaven on my car!
Can anyone relate? And what can we pray about on your behalf?
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| Thread: Lord, I Don't Know What To Say |
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Listen To Our Hearts
Words and Music By Geoff Moore and Steven Curtis Chapman
1) How do you explain?
How do you describe
A love that goes from east to west
And runs as deep as it is wide?
You know all our hopes
Lord, You know all our fears
And words cannot express the love we feel,
But we long for You to hear
CHORUS
So listen to our hearts
And hear our spirits sing
A song of praise that flows
From those You have redeemed
We will use the words we know
To tell You what an awesome God You are
But words are not enough
To tell You of our love,
So listen to our hearts
2) If words could fall like rain
From these lips of mine
And if I had a thousand years,
Lord I will still run out of time
If you listen to my heart,
Every beat would say,
Thank You for the life,
Thank You for the truth,
Thank You for the way!
CHORUS
So listen to our hearts
And hear our spirits sing
A song of praise that flows
From those You have redeemed
We will use the words we know
To tell You what an awesome God You are
But words are not enough
To tell You of our love,
So listen to our hearts
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| Thread: Response |
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05-06-2007 09:44 |
Forum: MIND |
Thank you Sam for this post. It is right on time!
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| Thread: Video for wedding reception |
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04-20-2007 02:12 |
Forum: TEMPLE |
Ask them if there is a budget for it. And as a "non pro," keep the charge low. My shot in the dark price would be $50-150. Sounds reasonable to me.
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| Thread: Gregory Smith |
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04-19-2007 09:50 |
Forum: PRAYER |
From Gregory this morning ...
| quote: | | I'm good....8 hours of laying still with a camera up my leg was not fun, but no by-pass at this point, just an angioplasty, the balloon deal. Feeling better, but told to stay in bed till today...then limited up and down stuff. |
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| Thread: Va. Tech. |
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04-16-2007 05:52 |
Forum: PRAYER |
I have been praying for most of the day.
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| Thread: Love Hopes All Things |
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Do you know anyone who seems to always think the worst in people? Know anyone who is constantly jumping to the wrong negative conclusions? They tend to put 2 and 2 together and come up with 22. Last week was a tough week for me in a couple of instances. I found myself needing to perform damage control with a few folks who chose to lash out rather than get all of their facts straight. I think that is pretty sad. All of that fuss and energy and huffin' and puffin' just to end up no where... what a waste If you ask me, I think that exhibiting love would have been a better way to spend their time:
| quote: | | If I speak in the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am only a resounding gong or a clanging cymbal. If I have the gift of prophecy and can fathom all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have a faith that can move mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. If I give all I possess to the poor and surrender my body to the flames, but have not love, I gain nothing. Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It is not rude, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails. 1 Cor. 13:1-8a |
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| Thread: Gregory Smith |
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Very unexpectedly, Gregory is in need of major medical treatment. He is scheduled for an angiogram today (Monday) and bi-pass surgery tomorrow (Tuesday). Brothers and sisters, please take time out right after reading this and lift our brother up in prayer.
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| Thread: Loving your church |
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04-16-2007 08:31 |
Forum: MIND |
Sam,
Yes ... I am a lot like you. Thanks for the reminder that God has blessed me with the privilege of serving in HIS church.
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| Thread: Investments |
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04-16-2007 08:29 |
Forum: MIND |
Adam, I am definitely feelin' your frustration. Though I do not fully have an answer for you, I do have another perspective. Perhaps God calls some ministers and pastors to be "Kingdom" equippers rather than "congregation" equippers. Is it such a bad thing to prepare Christians for works of service at other churches? I would conjecture that the need for Bible universities and seminaries is because the Church has refused to step up and equip the saints. Anyway, just a thought.
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| Thread: Easter: But On The Other Hand ... |
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We held an unusual "hands on" worship event at Trinity called Journey To The Cross. It was on the Saturday evening before Easter. I just got this email from a member, who is often critical of a lot of things that go on "at church." Check this out:
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Avery,
I wanted to again express my thanks for all the work that went into Journey to the Cross. Having overseen big events myself, I know the amount of work that goes into planning, setting up, and taking down. It's not a small job, and I'm guessing that you may have wished more people attended.
But I wanted to share two vignettes from the evening with you, both related to the international student group from San Jose Sate which attended:
a Palestinian Christian washing the feet of a Japanese non-believer
two Saudi Arabians--one of whom had joined the group for the first time that evening--asking tons of questions about various parts of the exhibit; neither is a Christian
Those are things that you might not know happened in the ordinary course of events....and I wanted you to know.
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I am feeling what everyone has been saying about "da show." But perhaps it pleases God by the foolishness of da show to save some that believe!
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| Thread: Today's Schedule |
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04-13-2007 09:02 |
Forum: MIND |
Hey my dear brother Ike,
Thanks for a great question! I am in my office at Trinity working out last minute details for next Sunday's South Bay Night of Praise. Jesus' prayer in John 17 lives and ferments in my mind and soul. His prophetic desire for His believers to "...be one" is quite heavy on my heart (as you already know). SBNOP is currently being led by a team representing 17 churches throughout the Bay Area. 17!!! So I am working off of my "to do" list to get things ready, i.e. create a survey card for attendees, finalize worship order, laminate backstage passes, blah blah blah. Yes, I truly want to make an earth shaking, denominational shattering impact for The Kingdom.
But the REALLY huge thing on my schedule today is taking my kids out to a movie. My kids know that their dad loves them and loves to hang with them. I am modeling only a small taste of what they can experience with their Heavenly Father!
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