Out of Bondage

This weekend I am speaking at HCBC-UT. I am really excited about the opportunity of speaking at such a missionally-minded church. If you have a spare Sunday come check HCBCUT out this weekend. Anyways, this Sunday is the first week of Advent. Typically, in the first week of this season, the focus is on hope. I've really had to wrestle around with this message. I keep asking myself questions like, "Why is hope so essential in our lives?" and "Where does our hope stem from?"

In my studying I really focused my efforts on Romans 8:18-25. The brokenness of this world seems to pervade from this passage. It speaks of how all of creation is held in bondage to corruption and futility. We, as humans, and the rest of creation recognizes that the world isn't as it ought to be. A tear in the universe has occurred (because of our sinfulness and nature) and something deep within our souls lets us know that we are broken. Creation desires to be set free from this bondage. It instinctly knows that somehow we must find freedom. Out of this recognition of our broken state, we MUST and NEED TO hope that freedom is possible. We must hope that life is available through Jesus. We must hope that one day God is going to reconcile and restore all things. We must hope that God is our refuge and strength. Genuine and true hope starts when we confront our own brokenness and understand that we need saving from it.

Through Jesus, God has come to rescue his creation from its' broken state.

I Need Your Address

I am about to send out a prayer/update letter. If you would like to receive it, please give me your e-mail address AND your home address. Thanks!

Happy Thanksgiving

Just wanted to tell everyone...Happy Thanksgiving. I hope you celebrate all that God has done for you tomorrow. I know that Heather and I have so much to be thankful for. We are truly blessed by the Almighty!

Top Ten: Reasons Why They Leave?

Ed Stetzer and others have done some interesting research on why 70% of 18-22 years old drop out of church. If you want to go to the article here it is (click here). I highly suggest that you read it, if your interested.

Here are the 10 top reasons why these individuals leave the church:
1. 27% simply wanted a break from church.
2. 26% felt that church members seemed judgmental or hypocritical.
3. 25% moved to college and stopped attending any church.
4. 23% had work responsibilities that prevented them from participating/attending.
5. 22% moved too far away from their church to continue attending.
6. 22% were too busy, but still wanted to attend.
7. 20% did feel connected to their church.
8. 18% disagreed with the political or social stances of the church.
9. 17% chose to spend more time with friends outside the church.
10. 17% originally went to church to please others, but had no interest in attending themselves.

As the church we must wrestle with how we keep these individuals involved in a local body and then use them to reach their generation. What do you think?

Thick Skin and Beautiful Feet

As any church planter knows building relationships within your target community is hard. Heather and I have been doing surveys, trying to start conversations with complete strangers, and talking to whoever will listen. Sometimes great conversations formulate, but the majority of the time this doesn't happen. We have been rejected countless times by many indidivuals. I guess if I wasn't connected to a church or God, I wouldn't want to talk to some weirdo, who brings up God and starting a new church in the area either. When talking with these people, I feel like am this giant weirdo who has a third arm going out my forehead. If your skin isn't thick this can be very disheartening. I do want to mention, I am not forcing God, the Gospel, or the church down anyone's throat, rather I am just trying to engage in a natural conversation that may or may not have a spiritual twist. It all depends on the situation and context of the conversation.

There have been several instances where I just wanted to quit and tell God I prefer the attractional model over the missional model. I want people, who are interested in God, the Gospel, and the church to come to me and the environments I create. There is a certain ability to control the conversations here and spiritual questions seem to natural follow. Spiritual discussions are easier to generate here. It's hard to go to the community and search out those who are receptive and form meaningful relationships with those that aren't receptive for the purpose of eventually getting to the Gospel and Jesus. Yet, I believe that God called us to be missional. The Great Commission starts with the word "Go" and not "Come." It is our job and task to go to them with the news of Jesus, the cross, and the resurrection.

I think this is why we are told in Romans "how beautiful are the feet of those who bring the good news." These individuals set aside themselves for the sake of people's souls and the Gospel. Though rejected and dismissed by the masses, they continue to bring a message of hope and reconiliation with God and man to whoever will listen. Bringing the Gospel to people is hard. You have to have thick skin and beautiful feet.

Will Ferrell as Bush

I love this video!

What is our mission again?

One of the most engaging questions in Mark Driscoll's Confessions of a Reformission Rev. was "Will your church have a mission of community or be a community of mission?" It is the tendancy of most Christians and most churches to become inward-focused communities. Most Christians seem to go through various spiritual stages and at some point in this process they cut themselves off from the world surrounding world. They find contentment in surrounding themselves with other believers and removing themselves from everything else. We get "Christianized" and our mission switches from reaching and connecting with non-believers to creating a community of themselves, which typically turns out to be a pretty judgmental community. Now don't get me wrong, I believe that we all have a God-given need to be around others, relate with them, encourage them, and "do life with them." However, it seems that is the mission for many of us - community.

Is this what Jesus died for? Is the message of the cross to create safe, warm, and friendly environments for believers to exist in removed from the world? I think not! Instead having a mission of community, we must have a community of mission. A community of people that are dedicated to being missionaries to their work, nieghborhood, and zip code. The beauty of community is only reflected when people do life together because of the mission they've been called to.

From the top down

Last night was a pretty incredible night at Hill Country Bible Church. It was the annual leadership meeting, where Tim Hawks (the Senior Pastor at HCBC) cast the vision for the next year. As the leader of our church, he sets the spiritual tone for reaching every man, woman, and child with the Gospel and guess what? He is serious about this! It's more than just a catchy slogan or motto for the church. More than just a purpose statement that stays on the wall or website. It is the heartbeat of Hill Country. It is a vital part of our strategic planning. It consumes our time, energy, and resources. Every man, woman, and child has to be reached with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.

Tim nailed down a few areas that needs our focus and attention for next year. The first one being church planting, of course. As the most successful form of evangelism in our culture today, it is necessary that Austin is saturated with church plants. Only 17% of Austin is churched, this means somewhere around 1.2 - 1.3 million people in the Greater Austin area do not participate in a local body. We have to plant churches to reach these individuals. We have to have missional communities of faith stretching into every pocket of Austin.

Next, we have to pass the baton of faith to the next generation. My generation has drifted further and further from Jesus and the church. They are the largest segment of the population missing from the church today. My generation needs to be rescued from a Christ-less grave. We have to prayerfully and strategically reach these individuals. If we miss this generation, I fear that the church will lose any foothold it had in America and we will become a completely lost and dark society. Reaching 35 and under has to be at the forefront of our efforts.

This is the mission and vision! May God use Hill Country and the other churches in the area to reach Austin! If you want to check out the video, here it is Leadership Community Meeting (then click on the video file to watch).

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

This past weekend Heather and me had the opportunity to go the Love and Respect Conference by Dr. Emerson Eggrichs. The entire conference focuses on Eph. 5:33 which says, "However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband." What's interesting about this verse is I have never really heard a teaching from it. Sure, I've heard plenty of "Wives submit, husbands love" messages and "mutual submission" messages, but I've never really heard about Eph. 5:33.

As I am processing this conference, the enormity of this teaching is hitting me. I've never really thought about my need for respect, until this weekend. I know I need to be loved by my beautiful wife, but what about respect. But the more I search my soul, the more I understand that I NEED respect. The dictionary defines respect as "esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person."

I need my bride to find worth in me. I need her to admire and esteem me. I need her to respect me enough that she believes in me and what I do, especially when planting a church. If there is only one person in the world that supports, believes, and ultimately respects me it has to be my wife. Without her respect I feel the weight on my inadequacies and weakness like never before. I know that God has placed Heather in my life, so I can accomplish the task He has given me with confidence. I need her to give me this and she does such an incredible job unconditionally respecting me. I love you babe and I desire to fulfill my end of Eph. 5:33.

Is it a T-Rex or baby?

The most exciting thing of the pregnancy happened today! We had a nine-week ultrasound and the pictures were incredible. For the first time, I actually felt the reality and gravity of having a child. This reality is exciting, yet scary. God is providing us with another life! So much responsibility is associated with leading and parenting another human being, so if you got any good parenting advice please send it my way.

I do have one question, though, is Heather is having a T-rex or baby? Let me know your thoughts!