Boy Scouts ROCK

My favorite group of young people are the Boy Scouts of Troop 650 that I get to interact with at least two or three times a week. Well tonight I again saw just how great these guys are. They decided to make a donation to our church to help pay for a portable sound system we are in need of. What a dichotomy, they are getting hammered with lack of funding because or our whacky PC mess in our culture seems to be in,yet they can dig into the shallow pockets they have to help us out, I can say I am beyond proud to call the REAL MEN, of Boy Scout troop 650 my friends.

Rock on Troop 650
Mr.O

Faith, Hope and Love

We need to consciously grow in Faith, Hope and Love during our day-to-day walk, but can we? Three of the greatest Christian powers for life are faith, hope and love, without these in our lives we are all but sunk. For a Christian walk to thrive we must either attain these qualities or at the very least strive for them. This is especially true during in the preparation for marriage. When we council young people on the sanctity of marriage and how they must grow together as a single unit, these three components must be central.

During the courtship period for a couple it seems like two out of these three are very strong. It is a time of intense love and euphoria like they are walking on water, never to be separated. Once the decision to marry is made, the world seems like the Garden of Eden. It is also a time of great hope, not in the sense of a clear hope that everything will be all right, but more in the sense of having someone that is so worth living for and with. So often though the one trait that is neglected is faith. This is the one quality that so many people are so unsure of, if they think about it at all. But no need to fret, God is there in the background and what a time it is for us to redirect the conversation to how Faith is a core component in the lives of newly weds. You know, never let the sun go down on your anger, seek the Lord while he can be found.

The pre-marital counseling time is such a special time to work on growing the faith of a young couple that will carry them through a lifetime of Love and Hope. It is a time when couples are going to look to us for prayers and advice, let us not forget the larger picture. Make it a time not just to chat but also to enter into real conversation of how God needs to be a core component in the bond of family and marriage. It is a time for them to grow in the knowledge of what the sacrament of marriage is and to discover the reassurance that Jesus will be with them always in their Love and Hope. It is a time to teach them to pray together for their marriage and for all that The Lord has for their life together. And it is a time to appreciate once again the responsibility we have to shepherd those we are entrusted with. So that their love will grow and their hope can become ever stronger and Faith can be developed.
Tone

Sunday no longer a day of rest

Sundays used to be the day for a BBQ with the family and a day at the park. Not any more.
Welcome to the modern enlightened day of 24/7, where Sunday, is just like any other day, a day of work, play shopping, hustle and bustle rather than rest, prayer or anything other than a time of intimacy with God.

This is not new, many people, already routinely work on Sundays or just run them selves so ragged during the week they spend the day in any other place but Church. In fact, contrary to the image of the Little House on the Prairie, we never stop, We Americans work harder than many of our counterparts in European countries and our workweeks seem to continuing getting longer. We commute an hour plus twice a day, then when we get home it is rush to the PTA, Scouts, Soccer, you name it. Then it is a rushed, for lack of a better word, dinner. Choke down a PBJ sandwich, cup of tea and drop off to sleep on the couch only to do it again tomorrow. Without much forethought or planning we are putting in a 60 hour week, go ahead and try fit God in there.
How do we reverse this trend? How do we get "flexibility" in our workweek? With Sunday just being another Monday. Our concept of priorities needs to change, I know, easier said than done but how about setting at least one day aside for God and family, both will appreciate it. Turn off the TV and pray over a meal with the kids. Say I love you before you pass out on the easy chair. Go ahead and try it for one week, make the effort and see how it changes your outlook.
These changes will rekindle the light that has gone dim and once the process is under way mix in a little time for God, surprise your family with a morning at a local church, and maybe a breakfast at a local diner. Jut try it for one week, it works.
We work enormous hours and if you put your mind to it you can find the time to enjoy life. The kids will be gone before you know it and when you do find the time to get back into their lives the will be in the same rat trap you trained them for, so go ahead, try it for just one week this month. Grab the family station wagon, press the shirt, and make a day of it.
You will reap ever-higher benefits and those around you will not suffer for your falling to pay attention to the spiritual side of love and family.
It's called real love and the changes are powerful and noticed.
Tone

Just Do It

Communication Is Key in Life


As Church Planters we are all marketers. That should step on a few toes. Well In the world of Church Planting, we've seen church marketing go to a world of targeted, measurable dialogue with “customers”. We've also seen “customers” become empowered, as never before, where they expect immediate, relevant communication in real time.

So, whether communicating with consumers or congregants, our programs need to support real communication in ways that reflect the mind of Christ.

This should create an impact on our advertising. In the world of the Bornstein group marketing and other marketing techniques "real-time" relevance manifests itself in a variety of ways. For example, “customers” today are "high tech", they are using a variety of media venues to communicate with their favorite brands and their loyalties to any one medium have given way to preferences among a variety of media. So, all methods must work together, and this will create an interesting demand on us church planters. Digital media will changed our playing field in that “consumers” will research products and services on the Internet. So, planters will need to ensure a Web presence that effectively communicates our messages about the Good News and how it will offer, from a “customer” point of view, an impact on the day-to-day life they are living. All the advertising, direct mail, e-mail, telemarketing, search, direct-response print and broadcast we are doing needs both to drive them to a relationship with Christ and away from further consideration into a world of distraction.


As ministers of the Gospel, we need to do just that. We need to manifest to the “the would-be buyers’ an expectation that the Gospel is what they need to do business with life. Their history and, life experience need to understand and track a transaction of service that requires a huge commitment for a quality of life, and for a life experience to maintain integrity. In short, everywhere a “customer” is "touched" by a planter, there needs to be an integration of that love and caring that will enable a "full customer view" and dialogue.

Tactically, today's church needs to rise to the challenges for “Christ’s sake”, and answer these questions: In our communication, are we targeting on a local level? What about on a global level, are we targeting “customers” depending on whether they are in a certain class such as “churched”, Non-Churched”, high-tech, or not and is there an ability to target the individual, one-to-one? Are all our messages harmonious, or does there remain conflict? Are systems in place to account and manage a return on investment?

We need to do a much better job of reaching our “customers”. How, I am not sure. But for long-term potential, we need to understand that the end-game is a “customer” relationship that needs to leed to a lifetime of care. Some “customers” are more of a challenge than others to reach but we need to think through a more effective way to reach them.

It Just Makes Sense

What are you thinking!! We are living in the new millennium it is 2006.You cannot possibly say there is a God, now can you. Get a clue dude; I thought God was dead, what proof can you lay on me.

Wow, I am sure you have all heard this stuff. Well, as I think through how I might answer these inquiries, I realize there are so many directions this conversation can go.

As for me, the reasons for believing that there is a God are so numerous; it racks my mind as to where to start .The first reason I believe in God is I am so unable to rationally define a world without a God. Look the vast universe; Science says that our universe had a beginning and that it is now running down due to the lack of available energy. In fact, the universe in which we live is fading away because of heat loss. Well since our scientific understanding rules out an eternal universe, and since it is totally irrational to believe that the universe sprang from nothing, the only rational explanation is that a supernatural being created the world in which we live; and that this being is all powerful, intelligent, moral, and, self-existent.

Another reason I believe there is a God is that atheism is incapable of accounting for the overwhelming experiences we encounter every day. The Non-Theistic worldview cannot fully account for such things as, the widespread laws of logic, laws of science, and the universal standards of ethics and morality. Also, if there is no God, then there is no ultimate meaning or purpose to life; we are no more than animals or rocks.

In closing, the major reason I believe there is a God, is that He has revealed Himself to me through the person and work of Jesus Christ. Jesus claimed to be God in human flesh (John 8:58). Wow, what a claim, but it is not just an empty bit of clatter from a nut He supported his claim by His unrivaled personal character, His fulfillment of all Old Testament prophecy, AND His influence on human history, but most notably, by His confirmed resurrection from the dead. So, if you are looking for God, Just look to Jesus Christ Himself. As the author Josh McDowell says (I think it was him), he was a liar; a lunatic, a legend, or He was, in fact, Lord So if you seek with an open heart, all the evidence, will surly point you to the very real fact that He is the Lord, the one who spoke and the universe into existence.
Tone

Long Train Coming

Well, it was a long train comming but before I knew it it was a quick train stopping.

As the lyrics say "Makes me believe to my soul my rider calls that gone
But if I had wings, friend, like Noah's dove Friend, if I had wings, friend, like Noah's dove
I would raise and fly, God knows, where my lover was"

If I only had wings, Wow, This was the sixth "event" I was on with metrolink, and it is funny how my perspective has changed. I have been on the train for three or four suicides and a few "accidents" and it is funny how my perspective and attitude has changed. The first few "issues" I encountered I wondered how sad it was that people would be so distressed that they would step in front of a moving 200 ton moving train and end their life, but on this one, I found myself thinking, Oh my, I will be late for work,''' how sad the transition.

I hope I can "raise and fly" once again and that I am not so anesthetized by life around me that I do not once again, remember "where my lover was"

I can be, and I hope it is, "I am" raised on the wings of an Eagle,and am renewed in HIS strength, to be able to sore high above the distractions of life.