Change

Change is a fact of life. Change is a product of growth. Change is inevitable. So why do so many people hate it, resist it, or fight it? Its really not hard to understand, change around us requires change within us. I heard someone say not long ago, everyone likes change, as long as its someone else doing the changing.

That statement is funny, but so true. What I have come to realize as a leader is is we are going to be progressive, forward moving, or successful in anything we do we must learn to lead through change. If what you’re doing is going to grow it must change. Look at a tree, when it grows it changes. It takes more room, it changes shape, and size. As it grows it creates new issues and needs. Its the natural way of growth.

We all say we want growth, but do we want the change that growth requires. When God puts opportunity in front of us, it requires change on our part. If we have to change the way we do things, it requires an internal change of submission in us.

In sharing vision with one of campuses about our new connect group ministry, I asked, “how many of you want to be a part of helping people becoming followers of Christ?” Of course everyone wants to be a part of this great cause, the question is are we willing for our lives, friendships, comforts, schedules to change to accomplish this.

We need to change our thinking. Change is good. Change is exciting! Change is growth. Remember fear paralyzes us. When we resist, hate, or fight change we are driven by fear. Positive change is a natural part of positive growth. So lets grow and change.

Embrace the Change!

Marriage, how to do 21 years Effectively

You can live in the shadows, or the light….

Tonight’s meeting with Ambassador Simington was a real treat. We had met with the ambassador at the embassy and he invited the whole team to his house, or “our house” as he liked to call it.

We came in and he introduced us to a couple of friends from the peace core. Nice people. We set around and talked as the staff brought us drinks and snacks. He asked the entire team their name, what thy did in life, and what most impacted them about Rwanda. It was a very interesting conversation. After everyone had shared, he began to tell some stories. He ended with a story of his visit to the Genocide Memorial.

The second story of the memorial is dedicated to the children who were killed in the genocide. He said he had noticed something particular about the photos. The pictures were obviously of dead children, and it reminds us of the atrocity of the genocide. He said, however, if you look at the photos all the children’s eyes look they have a bright light in them. It was from the flash bulb, not the red eye effect but the flash bulb reflecting in their eyes. He said when he noticed it he had the thought. The Rwandan people have a choice, they can live in the shadows of the past or the light of the future.

He teared up when he said it, it was a very moving moment for he and the team. You know Jesus said that he was the light of the world. He also goes on to say that we are the light of the world.

When we are reaching out to others, when we are sharing the love of Christ, in practical ways, in spiritual ways, in any way, we are carrying that light and we are modeling that light.

They key to Rwanda being all it could be has to do with that light. The light of the world Jesus himself. They can make laws, they can build an infrastructure, they can do a lot of things, but what will truly make a difference is a heart change. A relationship with Jesus Christ.

I was inspired by the Ambassador, he cares about America and about Rwanda, and how we can help them. I’m encouraging you. Reach out and help someone else, whether in Rwanda, or in your own neighborhood. Live out of the light of the future, and not in the shadows of the past.

So now we go home and start planning for next year, and in the mean time, reach foster kids in our county, teens from around the nation, then leave for Cambodia and help widows and orphans there and teach leadership through Christ to those who want to learn.

Don’t just see the light, be the light.

God bless you

David

Next Generation….

OK, I’ve had it…Sound mad don’t I? Not really, I just hear so much talk about how bad the Next generation is coming up. It May be true for some, but I know a lot of young people who are productive, who care about life, who care about the important things. It will not be some political plan, some technology, some process or ideology that ushers in the next great thing, or the next great leadership movement. It will be the leaders of this next generation. The young people so many love to hate today.

I know that all we hear about is the negative on everything, partially because the media stokes that fire, and partially because we buy the smoke. However There are some great young leaders coming up. Oh there not in Hollywood, they are not even visible to you and I, but they are there and they have some thoughts.

My Daughter is one of those. Guess what, My daughter is not in to drugs, My daughter is not caught up in things that are illegal or self destructive. Now hold on before you judge me for being prideful, which, alright I’m a little guilty of, She isn’t perfect, and she tries my patience on a consistent basis, just by being a teenager, I try hers as well.

Taylor turned 15 today, she is, and I can’t say this without partiality, one of the best kids I know. She really wants to change the world. She cares about people, she cares about her relationship with Jesus and allowing Him to use her life, and their are tons like her. Volunteering, using their gifts and talents, and time to help others.

I think our future looks bright! I love it that my daughter wants to change the world. That can sound kind of idealistic to us over 40 crowd. I must still be idealistic too then cause I’m trying to change the world as well. So Taylor is going with me to Cambodia this year, and we will do our best to help others together, and by the way, that’s how you change the world. So all you young people out there, we believe in you, we see potential in you, and we are depending on your leadership and enthusiasm in the future to help change the world.

I have people ask me all the time how did you get your daughter to think like that, to be like that. I use to say, just the grace of God, but the truth is a little more specific than that.

1. I spend time involved in her life, and listening, cultivating and supporting her dreams and talents.

2. I surround her with dreamers. I have lots of friends who are big thinkers, and world shakers and I get her around them and let her listen and naturally they speak into her life.

3. She is planted in a great church and has great Pastors and pastoral figures speaking into her life, and helping to encourage and support her.

4. We Talk, talk, talk about everything.

5. I have listened to parents who have gone before me, and employed their advice.

6. She has the most incredible down to earth yet faith filled mother on the planet.

7. She surrounds herself with friends who are full on committed to Christ and she creates friendships with kids who she is reaching out to for Christ.

I can hear someone saying right now, well she’s still young and she could mess up. Yep, and probably will, Thank God for His Grace and the knowledge that His dreams for her do not hinge on my imperfections, her mothers, her leaders or hers, but rather on His perfection.

So Thank God for Taylor and her generation….Can’t wait to see how the world changes.

David

Friends in all kind of places…

I think we live in a most interesting time. I love the whole social networking, micro blog, and blogging scene. I have friends from all over the nation and the world. Friends that I probably never would have spoken to again. Friends who I know but rarely communicate with. It was funny the other day, I was literally talking to someone in the states, someone in Uganda, and Someone in Cambodia all at the same time.

A lot of people try to resist technology but I think we should embrace it, and use the tools we have to benefit others.

A good friend is a precious commodity.

So join the fun, connect with others.

I’m 40 years old and i have reconnected with a friend I went to Kindergarten with. How cool is that. Have you reconnected with friends, or family

“Recieve”

“Receive”….blog I wrote in 2006

If we’ll notice there are times in life that we’re more receptive than others. This should really be a lesson for us. It seems that all people are more receptive when life is brought to its basic simple reality. We live and we die, and then life after death. When people are brought face to face with mortality it’s amazing how receptive we become. I have very distinct memories when I was 20 years old, watching George Bush Sr. Declare war in the gulf coast to save Kuwait from its impending doom at the hands of Saddam Hussein and Iraq. The very next weekend our church which already had great attendance was at full capacity. In our church we could seat about 700 people including the balcony. We usually ran in attendance around 400 adults. That weekend every seat was full including the balcony, it was amazing. People we hadn’t seen in a while were at church, we had many first time guest and they were there to connect with God. People who were once a month or twice a month people all of a sudden became faithful attendees. It was a moment where we were faced with our mortality. Faced with the fact that our lives could change drastically, faced with the question are we safe? The sad part is that although we did grow overall, after a few weeks, slowly but surely people began to go back to their normal routines, God was no longer as important as He was in those moments that we desperately needed Him. I see this every time I preside over a funeral, every time I counsel someone who is in a moment of reality. I saw this Friday night, as I stood on the front lawn of Mitchell Hall on the University of Central Oklahoma Campus, as we honored the memory of an incredible young woman who was a member of our church, Hannah McCarty. They were unveiling a beautiful piece of art in her memory and to honor the scholarship that has been established in her name. What a great honor it was for me to be able to share in that moment. The head of the arts department Dr. Clinton presided over the ceremony, The president of the College, Dr. Webb was there and addressed the crowd, Jack and Pam sent out a clear message with their speech that Hannah’s life was so meaningful and continues to have meaning because of her relationship with Jesus Christ, as they say and I’m sure you’ve seen on city buses, “when you know Jesus the dance never ends.” Hannah was a prolific dancer, more importantly though she was a prolific Christian. I had the wonderful privilege of being the last speaker and had the opportunity to close in prayer. I hope that I represented Hannah and the McCarty’s and our church well in that moment, but most importantly I hope that I represented Jesus well. I simply told the truth. I told the crowd of it seemed like a couple of hundred people, how Hannah lived. She lived life with Passion and on purpose. I said to them she lived life to the full. “Many of us thinking living life to the full is filling our lives up with busyness and things, but she superseded that by living her life as busy as it was, with purpose. It wasn’t just about doing things but it was doing things on purpose.” I said.
I told them, “she looked her obstacles and problems and sickness in the eye, without complaint and simply said, I’m going to live anyway. The reason she had this Joy, the reason she had this peace, the reason she had this purpose, was her relationship with Jesus.” It was a great moment.
The context of this event was interesting, I’m sure that there were several Christians there, but there were also many very secular people there, but it was amazing how receptive everyone was. I didn’t feel a resistance at all as I spoke very clearly about Jesus Christ, I looked out on the crowd, and saw some smiling faces, some somber faces, and some faces caught in the act of introspection. Thinking over their lives, seemingly asking “am I living, really living?” It was a great moment. I am very proud for Jack and Pam, that Hannah was recognized in this way, but more importantly that they have taken a personal tragedy for them and turned it into a day to day ongoing outreach to people, who are getting saved and their lives changed. Pam told me that Hannah always said, I want to be responsible for at least one person going to heaven, and as Pam says, she has impacted many more than that.
It is very telling on us as humans that we are receptive at certain times more than others. It is very revealing when things are going well how easily we forget, how much we need Jesus and how unreceptive we become to His desires for us, and His purposes for our lives. If we could only find a way to tap into those moments of decision and understand how important it is for us to constantly and consistently be receptive to His spirit and His word.
We have been taught to be so cynical. Question everything, don’t believe anything, or believe everything. I don’t suggest that anyone go around blindly following others with no discernment. I think everything we see and hear and are a part of should be ratified by the word of God in us. Let us today make a commitment to God and to ourselves and to our church that we will be receptive. Receptive to the voice of God to His word and to His purpose for our lives. Why do we need to go about our own way until forced by circumstances to change our perspective, lets just keep a holy perspective and reverence for the things of God and watch Him use us to profoundly change our world. I am so grateful that even in our inconsistency and wavering God’s grace is sufficient, and He is not angry with us but longing for an close relationship with each of us.

worship

God wants to do great things for us and does them. The other side of that relationship is the thanksgiving, praise, and love that is due him, not just for what He does but for who he is. That’s what we contribute.
Mark 14:3 3 And being in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper, as He sat at the table, a woman came having an alabaster flask of very costly oil of spikenard. Then she broke the flask and poured it on His head.
I personally think this is one of the greatest depictions of worship in the bible. Here is a woman who had been forgiven of great sin, and freed from major bondage. Jesus is reclining and eating with his friends. They were listening to and expecting something from Him. There was one person in that room, however, who had already received so much from Him, that she had but one objective, to worship her Lord. She faced the opposition of men, who would think it inappropriate for a woman to behave that way. She faced the obstacle of religious mindsets. However, her desire to worship the king of her heart, the answer to her prayers, and the savior of her soul, was greater and more compelling than the obstacles she faced.
What she did was phenomenal. First her gift was unbelievably generous. The perfume that she carried was worth a year’s salary. This could have been her life savings. It was rare, so it could have been something left to her that she would leave to her children. She took that very expensive gift and then did something even more interesting. The bible says she broke the bottle, revealing her heart, to give all of it, she would not keep any for herself she would pour out the whole gift on Him. I would imagine, if we could ask, she would think it less than what she wished she could have given. She made it clear, no matter what else was going on in that room, to her there was only one important thing, and that was worshipping her Lord. “Keep talking if you wish”, she might have said, “but I am going to worship”, “criticize me if you must”, she thought, “but I am going to worship.”
What are the results of this kind of worship? The fragrance of her worship filled the room. No matter where Jesus went from that point he carried the smell of her worship. Not only he, but she was fragrant as well. When we worship, the fragrance of Heaven invades our lives and affects all that we are and do, and we become to the world a reflection of heaven.
Peace, contentment, and life are found in the presence of our King, and he is deserving of our passionate praise and worship. So, today take time to worship your Lord and listen to his voice, and let your heart beat with His heart beat, as you diligently worship

Grace

Thank God for His grace. Unmerited, undeserved, unearned favor and blessing. His grace is him reaching out to me, and my faith is me reaching out to him. His forgiveness is the ultimate in freedom and his sacrifice the ultimate in love.

I know that in myself, my own efforts, my own abilities whatever they may be, I can not be perfect enough, or right enough or behave well enough to make me truly righteous. Thanks be to God, however who gave his son Jesus, to be the sacrifice once and for all. There is no greater love.

I can not obtain Gods favor or blessing by my efforts, only by my faith, believing in His word and his actions, receiving the gift of grace and righteousness, I can have a relationship with him, that changes me from the inside out. So no, i can not do it by striving with my own effort, but I can become what I should by trusting in Him.

My heart is filled with gratitude today, as i continue to grow in my relationship with God, knowing His heart is not evil towards me but good. He is the loving father to the prodigal son, who never gives up hope that the boy will come to himself and make His way home, only to be received into the loving arms of a father without condemnation. How can we resist such grace.

I love Jesus, and and am thankful for all he has done for me.

David

God Connections

God connections are imperative to our spiritual growth and human significance. People are a very important part of our lives. I have so many great relationships. My wife, daughters, friends and leaders are wonderful God connections for me. We all have a great need for these connections. They produce encouragement, love, friendship, fellowship and accountability.
When God created the world, he said all is good, accept for when He created man. He said and I quote, “it is not good for man to be alone.” I realize He is referring to the mate that he would give Adam, but I think there is a larger issue here. He is saying man has a real need for relationship with others like himself. We as humans have a need, not only for a relationship with God, but a relationship with people. This is one of the great reasons that God established the church. It was His idea. Jesus said, “Upon this rock, I’ll build my church.” The writer of Hebrews says that we should not forsake getting together, because its good for our edification. Join us at harvest, and just see what God connections there might be waiting here for you.
Harvest is definitely a God connection.

David

He Cared

As a preachers Kid I grew up in church. Yes, I’ve seen a lot of things; I’ve seen the positives and negatives in people and church life on extremes, most good, but some bad. I’ve seen imperfect people behaving imperfectly. I’ve seen the same thing in families, on jobs, and in neighborhoods that I’ve lived in. It’s human nature.
To help people get into a relationship with Jesus we don’t have to be perfect, non Christian people are not expecting perfection from Christians, they’re just expecting honesty. Wanting us to be true to who we say we are. They are looking for authenticity and sincerity. It’s ok not to be perfect, but it’s not ok to be pretentious.
I’ve seen hypocrisy and pretension at its height in my life growing up, and in my adolescence I was confused about my identity, who I was, or what God really wanted for me. All I knew for sure, I wasn’t going to be a phony or a hypocrite.
I just didn’t understand grace. Grace is the idea that if we choose to live in relationship with Jesus and commit our lives to Him, He will give us the ability and power to live our lives for Him, Grace is the unmerited, undeserved, unearned blessing and favor of God on our lives.
When I was a sophomore I had a turn around. I decided to give my life to Christ. I was lost and self destructing, truthfully my life was spinning out of control, and it was getting worse. (You might say, how bad could it be, when I was so young, but I had some horrible influences outside my family). Somehow God arrested my attention, and so I made a commitment to Him, and began to follow Him. I started bringing friends to church, and they started bringing friends. Many young people made decisions for Christ in our church. We were actually filling up pews with young people.
Most of the teens who made decisions for Christ were coming without their families, so they didn’t have parental support for this new decision. With no support structure they slowly disconnected and left the church. I gave into pressure and slowly disconnected myself, and decided I wasn’t going to live for God.
I never stopped going to church, thank God, because it was ingrained in me, but I backslid with a vengeance. I attended church consistently but was fading off into the spiritual distance and needed help before I would disappear into a future disconnected from God.
Thank God for a friend named Terry, he was the high school Sunday school teacher in our church. He wasn’t perfect, but he cared. Other people didn’t know what was going on with me, and to be honest wouldn’t have done anything anyway, because it’s intimidating to try to connect with the pastor’s kid, whose messed up, but Terry would call me, and ask me to come to his house and hang out with his family. He cared. He would encourage me, or hug me, or ask me how I was doing. He just wouldn’t let up. He saw I was lost, and he knew I needed help. He saw something in me that I didn’t see myself. Terry cared.
One day I couldn’t take it anymore. I just made a decision, “God, I want to live for you, If you care for me so much that you’re talking to Terry about me, than you must have a purpose for me.”, and from that time until now, I have lived my life all out for God, and trying to do for others what Terry did for me. He cared.
So today, find someone, who has never had a relationship with Christ, or maybe someone who is a prodigal like a was, running from destiny, confused about identity, frustrated about hypocrisy and trapped in sin. All it takes is for someone to care. I’m not perfect, but I am living for God today, because my friend Terry cared about me. Who will you care about today? Over Twenty years later I still Thank God for Terry.
I have a terrific family, an incredible church, a wonderful life, and have been blessed to have the opportunity to minister to thousands of people with the grace and love of Jesus in spiritual and practical ways. All because Terry Cared. I can’t imagine where my life would have gone without his influence.
My life is not perfect, but Gods grace is sufficient to give us victory in every situation.

David