Random Rantings of a Redheaded Reverend

New Blog Address

2007-01-22T13:11:00.000-05:00

In case anyone is still checking in on this old blog site, we have moved! You can now go to www.hopecreekchurch.net and click on our new pastor's blog there.

Easter Series!

2006-04-13T12:02:00.000-04:00

Hello everyone! We are gearing up for the biggest weekend of the year to celebrate the biggest event in history-- the Resurrection of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ! I hope that you are excited about this incredible weekend when God showed how very much He loved us by giving His life for us! Jesus said in Luke 19:10: “I came to seek and save those who are lost.” So many people feel that way today: "Lost." People feel lost in the direction of their lives. People feel lost in the pain from their past. People feel lost in their problems and weaknesses. People feel lost in their relationships. Many even feel lost from God. But Jesus came on God's search and rescue mission: To seek and to save the lost! I hope you will jon us on Sunday as we begin our new Series LOST with Episode I: Lost from God. We will have two service times. 9:00 and 10:30. It is going to be awesome!

QUESTION

2006-03-17T15:04:00.000-05:00

I have been thinkin a lot latley about a creative way to build curiosity in people we invite to HCC with our invite cards AND about calling the "service" something besides the "SERVICE"! Man, does that captivate??? "Hey ya'll come check out our "service"." "Boy our service sure was good wadn'it?" Sounds like a FUNERAL! "Boy, mama shore looked good didn't she?" "What a good service." SERVICE just don't cut it! So help me out with ideas.

How about an invite card shaped kind of like a movie ticket? Saying something like..

MessageattheMovies.com

or

ChurchattheMovies.com

Then we could invite people to the Message at the Movies or Church at the Movies.

(Gary Lamb, dude, do't steal my idea and register the domain name! Or any other of you theater pastors for that matter!)

Or what about the Sunday Ticket?

Ideas that have been shot down...

Come check us out at the Moveme's. (that was mine and i even think it is pure CHEESE!)

Let me know what you guys think and any ideas you my have!

Thanks a bunch. See you at the service Sunday. Dude, that has got to go!

HUGE FRIDAY SHOUT OUT TO KAREN SHIRLEY, TINA HAWKINS, and ASHLEY JONES

2006-03-17T14:57:00.000-05:00

I have got to give a HUGE shout out to these three God gals! They are all new to the Creek and doing GREAT! Their enthusiasm about HCC is just AWESOME! We are so glad to have them and their families! Karen is like BRINGIN' EVERYBODY! We are feeding her family with free chicken sandwich cards! -)! Tina is just ON FIRE about what GOD is doing. And so is Ashley! You guys are such an encouragement to me and your enthusiasm is contagious! Keep it up!

ONLINE SURVEY

2006-03-17T14:42:00.000-05:00

SERIES IDEAS

Dreaming together to find God’s creativity for Hope Creek

Hey ya'll. Online Survey for Creekers. Here are the ideas that I believe GOD is giving me for upcoming series at the Creek. To be honest I am BLOWN AWAY at GOD'S goodness. There is NO way I would know what to say to people if GOD didn't show me! Give me your thoughts on these topics and let me know which are your top three or four that you wold like to see us do at the Creek. Thanks so much for your input. Travis

The COLOR Of MONEY (March 19^th – April 9^th)

Keeping the GREEN in the BLACK

GREEN with ENVY

STAYING out of the RED

INVESTMENTS of GOLD

The VERDICT (April 16^th – 30^th)

How do I get to Heaven?

Am I Living the LIFE?

Am I a Christ Follower?

::RELATE:: (May 7^th – June 25^th)

Why Learning to RELATE is Vital

RELATE with my KIDS

RELATE 101

RELATE with GOD

RELATE with my MATE

RELATE on my JOB

RELATE with my CHURCH

RELATE with the UNCHURCHED

JULY (2^nd-23^rd) OPEN

SUMMER BLOCKBUSTER: The Life and Times of David Jessie’son (July 30^th- August 27^th)

Fighting Giants

Forming Friendships

Flirting with Temptation

Facing Discouragement

Fathering Kids

INKED: What would God say in PRINT

A Series on the Sermon on the Mount

Live Like You Were Dying

Know GOD

Make a DIFFERENCE

LOVE people

ENJOY the Ride

SHARE Christ

Pure SEX

Sex is a ~~good~~ GOD thing

The GREATEST Sex You’ve Ever Had

Twisted Sex

What Happens in Vegas WON’T Stay in Vegas

Sex and the Single

AMAZING GRACE (A Series on the hymn Amazing Grace. In a modern version!)

Amazing Grace

Grace from Fear

Grace through Trouble

Grace for Eternity

PAST TENSE: How to RELEASE MY PAST

RELEASING My Guilt

RELEASING My Grudges

RELEASING My Grief

ROOTS

A series about Adam and Eve to help explain the roots of man.

KEYS

The Key to Peace

The Key to Fulfillment

The Key to Power

The Keys to the Kingdom

The Key to Everything

MARGIN

Time Margin

Financial Margin

Emotional Margin

Relational Margin

GOD in HD

GOD is LOVE

GOD is HOLY

GOD is SOVEREIGN

GOD is FORGIVING

GOD is GOOD

GOD is LORD

GOD is COMMANDER

CARDIAC ARREST (Jan 07)

How’s your Heart? (Spiritual Heart Health Assessment)

Blockages (Blockages to God’s best)

Open Heart Surgery (Letting God give me a new heart)

The River of God (Jan 07)

Intimacy with God

Interaction with People

Impact through Ministry

BLUEPRINTS for RENNOVATIONS (Series on the book of Nehemiah)

Brokenness/Desire to renovate

Dependence on God

Perseverance

Teamwork

SHOUT OUT TO MY GOD DAUGHTER HANNAH

2006-03-14T22:10:00.000-05:00

I have got to send out a SHOUT OUT to my God daughter Hannah Smith! She is an incredible, awesome young lady and I am SO proud of her and my God son Jacob. They are both just GREAT, SMART, and COOL kids. Can Frank Smith really be their dad?? Anyhow, shout out to Hannah because the girl has about the whole Salem High School at HCC! Seriously, she has brought about 5 friends to HC already! It is so AWESOME to see all of those kids there on Sundays. This is a hoot. Hannah got her drivers license the other day (watch out world) and Rhonda asked her if she wanted to get something to eat. Hannah said sure I have like 5 chicken sandwich cards that Travis sends me for inviting people to church! (We give free chick-fil-a sandwiches to people who invite their friends as a “thank you” for not being chicken to invite people to church.) That is a HOOT! You keep ‘em coming Hannah Banana and we will keep your family in chicken! I love you, Trav.

HUGE SHOUT OUT TO GARY LAMB AND RIDGESTONE CHURCH

2006-03-14T21:55:00.000-05:00

Hey ya'll. WOW! God is brangin' da' WAVE at HCC! 128 on Sunday with 3 of us in Canton to check out Ridgestone Church and some other regulars out too. More new people again with 4 more welcome packs going out! There is just a BUZZ in the air at HCC that I have so DREAMED of but NEVER seen like this! It is AWESOME! Huge thanks to Buck for bringing the word Sunday for me. Also, a HUGE shout out to Gary Lamb and the volunteer staff at Ridgestone Church in Canton, Ga. We went over Sunday to check them out because they meet in a theater too and are a lot bigger than us. It was awesome! There is such an incredible buzz in the air there about what GOD is doing. The volunteers were awesome. And Gary, dude, he is like John the Baptist...with ADHD....on STERIODS! The man is WILD! But way COOL too. It was a great experience for us and showed us that we are right on track. I was stoked about the way they do kids ministry and set-up. Their band was awesome too. They were so receptive to us and Gary even gave us an unscheduled tour before the service started. I really appreciate that dude. Ya'll are right on track man. Stoked to about C3 next week. AWESOME things are happening in the KINGDOM!

COOL STAFF

2006-03-08T18:02:00.000-05:00

I am so grateful and thankful for our staff at HCC. Yesterday and today have just been two of the BEST staff days you could imagine. Sheila just sacrificed yesterday and stayed way late too finish up the month end and today W and I just had an awesome day working and dreaming. It takes a TEAM to be the CHURCH and to quote the coach of the 1980 US Hockey team. "The NAME on the front of the jersey matters more than the name on the back." Man, is that ever true in the KINGDOM of GOD. At HCC we have a staff that feels that way. And I am blessed to have them.

GOD IS AWESOME!!!!!!!

2006-03-08T17:56:00.000-05:00

Wow! GOD is blowing me away! We sent out 11 Welcome Packets today to visitiors at the Creek! ELEVEN! Is that AWESOME?! And what is way cool too is how many of them are young people, more than 1/2 were teens! I am SO STOKED! The WAVE is UPON US. Are you ready to RIDE?

SO HUMBLING

2006-03-06T17:55:00.000-05:00

I am just BLOWN AWAY and SO MOVED and HUMBLED at what people are sharing about what GOD is doing at the Creek. Here is what a new person e-mailed today.

"I wanted you to know how much [my daughter] and I are
enjoying Hope Creek. We love the music and your
messages. and Thank you for the Bible you gave to
[my daughter]. ...[A friend] came with [us] yesterday and she really
liked the service. ...She told me she really
enjoyed it and she is planning on attending this
Sunday. I think [she] is on the verge of really
giving her life and heart to Jesus Christ. Please pray
for her..."

AWESOME!!!!!!

ONE GOOD LOOKING HEEL

2006-03-06T16:17:00.000-05:00

Can you believe we beat the Dukies on Saturday! Woo Hoo! That is the FORMERLY #1 Dukies! On SENIOR night.... IN DURHAM!

Let e just say that UNC-DUKE is THE RIVAVLRY in SPORTS. Not just basketball. SPORTS.

Tiger vs Mickelson at Augusta. Nope.
Palmer vs Nicklaus. Nope
Nicklaus vs Watson. Nope
Georgia vs Florida?
Auburn vs Alabama?
Ohio St vs Michigan?
Army vs Navy?
Oklahoma vs Nebraska?
nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope, nope

Florida vs Florida State?
Clemson vs USC?
Lakers vs Celtics?
Cowboys vs Steelers?
Oakland vs Chiefs?
"Nature Boy" Ric Flair vs Dusty Rhodes (ok close but still nope)
Braves vs Mets
Yankees vs Red Soxx?

NOPE.

UNC vs DUKE
Tarheels vs Blue Devils (devils,,, and you wonder who's side God is on? -))

There is NO GREATER RIVAVLRY in SPORTS. At least in my book. (I don't really have a "book". What does that mean? Ok, I digress.)

Tarheels. Blue Devils.

Heels win. Did I mention that?

Somebody console Ronnie Hodge, Gerald Towe, and Mike Reynolds.

DO YOU BELIEVE IN MIRACLES!!!!!! YES!!!!!!

2006-03-06T14:49:00.000-05:00

One word: WOW! Maybe two: AWESOME! Ok three: INCREDIBLE!

Five words: PRAISE YOU JESUS! YOU ROCK!!!

Man, Sunday was just awesome at the Creek! GOD did AMAZING things! We had 134 people there Sunday! 134! That is a 25% increase in attendance in ONE DAY! GOD IS AWESOME! The service was POWERFUL! I had been dog sick during the week and God just showed me that His strength is made perfect in weakness. I felt like the message was just so from God. It just flowed. I began the message asking the question that Al Michaels made famous in the 1980 winter Olympics when the big time underdog USA team defeated the mighty Russians. As the game ended Michaels asked “...do you believe in miracles? Yes!” So I asked “Do you believe in miracles?” We then talked about Jesus healing the bent over woman and raising the widow from Nain’s son from the dead. I said that what we need in life is JESUS.

A FRIEND instead of a FORMULA

A PERSON instead of a PRESCRIPTION

A SAVIOR instead of a STRATEGY

A MESSIAH NAMED JESUS instead of MOTIVATIONAL JARGON

Then we simply asked people to “Cry out to Jesus”. Sometimes that is all we can do. The band then did Third Day’s “Cry out to Jesus”. People were praying. Three people came down front to pray with me. It was AWESOME!

GOD is doing so many INCREDIBLE things at the Creek. The WAVE is HAPPENING! There were so many new people there! And we had a BUNCH of Creekers out Sunday! I PRAISE YOU SO MUCH LORD! It is ALL of YOU and ALL for YOU!

THEN, (I know, it just keeps coming), we told the church at the end of the service, (we have GOT to call it something besides “the service”), we told the church that we had an incredible opportunity to purchase a newer video projector from this place we found out about in Atlanta. We could get a 3000 lumen projector (way brighter than the one we have now) for $1200
(a $3000 projector) and then the software we need for $400. (I mistakenly thought just the projector was 1600. But that was for both things.) We told the church that we believed this would enhance our worship services and that it wasn’t so we could IMPRESS but to be a BLESSING. But the deal was that I had like $20 bucks for it. They laughed! So I asked them if they would respond and help us get it. After the service people just kept bringing me money. It was so awesome! By the end of the day we had over $1600! PRAISE JESUS! We ordered the projector TODAY! EASTER at the Creek is going to ROCK about THE ROCK!

WOW! GOD YOU ARE AWESOME! THANK YOU SO MUCH for just allowing ME on THE RIDE!

HOW BOUT THEM TARHEELS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-03-05T00:13:00.000-05:00

Tar Heels Upend No. 1 Duke, 83-76

North Carolina's precocious freshmen earned another victory on the road, in perhaps the toughest setting. They ruined Senior Night at Cameron Indoor Stadium. Tyler Hansbrough scored 27 points, fellow rookie Danny Green came up with the key defensive stop and the 13th-ranked Tar Heels held off No. 1 Duke 83-76 Saturday night in the final home game for J.J. Redick and Shelden Williams. Bobby Frasor, yet another first-year player, converted two clutch free throws with 23 seconds remaining, and Hansbrough later made two more.
(more)

from: tarheelblue.collegesports.com

All is well in BLUE HEAVEN!

Demonic Stomach Gerbil Update

2006-03-04T01:25:00.000-05:00

The demonic stomach gerbil is KICKING my BUTT! It is 1:30 AM and the stmach gerbl is RUNNUNG RAMPANT through my stomach pouring KEROSINE on my stomach lining.

I hate stomach gerbils. Seriously, this is the only ned that I can remember having a bad reaction to since I was little. It has not been fun. I am still excited about the Creek this weekend. I really believe that God is going to do some AWESOME things. Listen, if you anyone who is un-churched and hurting you need to bring them to the Creek Sunday.

Do you believe in miracles?

POUND YOU...IN JESUS' NAME

2006-03-03T15:38:00.000-05:00

You have GOT to check out Mark Driscoll's post about DOG The Bounty Hunter!
An Emergent, Modern form of Evangelism for SURE!
To read it click here: this one is awesome!

MY IPOD PLAYLIST

2006-03-03T15:22:00.000-05:00

James Blunt

You're Beautiful

Commodores

Easy

Sail On

Eagles

Take It Easy

Peaceful Easy Feeling

The Doobie Brothers

China Grove

Listen to the Music

Jesus Is Just Alright

Long Train Runnin'

Dwight Yoakam

Streets of Bakersfield

Suspicious Minds

Ain't That Lonely Yet

Things Change

Eric Clapton

Wonderful Tonight

Bachman Turner Overdrive

You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet

Chris Tomlin

The River

Willie Nelson

Always On My Mind

Rod Stewart

The First Cut Is the Deepest

Maggie May

Gavin Degraw

I Don't Wanna Be

Creed

With Arms Wide Open

Sheryl Crow

Good Is Good

Kansas

Carry On Wayward Son

Jewel

You Were Meant for Me (what a babe)

Third Day

Without You

Train

Calling All Angels

America

Sister Golden Hair

Tim Mcgraw

You'll Think of Me

Live Like You Were Dying

Albums:

Broken Things: Julie Miller

Buddy and Julie Miller: Buddy and Julie Miller

How Great Is Our God: Passion

I know, I know, How COOL is that???? No responces are necessary to tell me how cool my music taste is. (But you can if ya' want. -))

Smitten, you raised me right dude. Are you proud?

KEEP PRAYING FOR ME

2006-03-03T12:49:00.000-05:00

The only other thing I could think of other than prayer as a possible solution to the demonic stomach gerbil was the STAPLES EASY BUTTON. Dude, it didn't WORK! So please PRAY for ME.

Seriously, how does a normal,, less macho, man handle this kind of pain????

DEMONIC GERBIL UPDATE

2006-03-03T12:32:00.000-05:00

In an UNPRECIDENTED show of EVIL and lack of MERCY the demonic stomach gerbil is now not only running through my stomach wearing STEEL CLEETS but HAS POURED a GALLON of pure KEROSENE onto my RIPPED UP STOMACH LINING! I can relate Boss, “ohh ohh ohh I’m on fire…”.

Good news: Doc has changed my meds. And I have lost 5 lbs!

Woo Hoo!

As Yosemite Sam would say “Ooohhh I hates demonic stomach gerbils!”

SICK UPDATE

2006-03-03T09:49:00.000-05:00

I go to the doc in about an hour.

SICK UPDATE

Now stomach cramps and pain are BAD!

How bad Travis?

It is SO bad that I now feel like a GERBIL on STEROIDS with STEEL CLEETS ON is running through my stomach like a mad gerbil on a GERBIL WHEEL!

(And the other stuff is still there too. See yesterday.)

Man, what would it be like if I wasn't so tough? I mean, could a normal man handle this kind of pain?

Don't tell the devil that you have never been happier!

2006-03-02T21:51:00.000-05:00

Seriously, I think the devil is trying to kill me! I am SO SICK! I mean SICK!

I am having some kind of allergic reaction to a new med from my doctor that is causing major nausea, stomach cramps, etc…. I think this is the SICKEST I have been in a year or more! Man! SICK.

How sick are you Travis?

Imagine guzzling a 12 pack of Old Milwaukee beer (I don’t drink by the way), then chasing it with four whiskey sours, then two real sweet wine coolers, then riding at a fast speed down a curvy mountain in the very back seat of a 12 passenger van, while looking down reading the encyclopedia the whole time…. Then riding the drunken ship 25 times straight at Six Flags…then immediately riding the spinning barrels 25 times straight….then immediately going deep sea fishing. Then multiplying that by 100 and that is about how sick I am!

Possible solutions that I have thought of…

Somebody could SHOOT ME.
Someone could hit me over the head with a SLEDGE HAMMER.
Someone could cut my torso out of my body and then sew my shoulders to my waist.
I could drink a 12 pack of Old Milwaukee (just kidding about that one).
You could PRAY for me. (I think I like that one the best).

Yes, I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow (in case you read this Mama.)

At least I am not a WHINER. -)

UPDATE and TRIBUTE to LITTLE HAILEY BROOK FITZGERALD

2006-03-01T16:48:00.000-05:00

Update:

Hailey is doing great! Praise the Lord! Please pray for Charlie. Her blood pressure is still too high.

Hailey was born yesterday. Tuesday, February 28th. She weighes 5 lbs 1 oz and is 171/2 inches long.

Seeing Fitz and Charlie's reaction yesterday just blew me away! It was so touching. So here is my tribute to little Hailey Brook, her mom and dad, and Jesus.

With Arms Wide Open

Well I just heard the news today
It seems my life is going to change
I closed my eyes, begin to pray
Then tears of joy stream down my face

With arms wide open
Under the sunlight
Welcome to this place
I'll show you everything
With arms wide open

Well I don't know if I'm ready
To be the man I have to be
I'll take a breath, take her by my side
We stand in awe, we've created life

With arms wide open
Under the sunlight
Welcome to this place
I'll show you everything
With arms wide open

Now everything has changed
I'll show you love
I'll show you everything
With arms wide open

If I had just one wish
Only one demand
I hope she's like me
I hope she understands
That she can take this life
And hold it by the hand
And she can greet the world
With arms wide open...

Written by Tremonti/Stapp Published by Tremonti/Stapp Music
(Adm. by Dwight Frye Music, Inc.)/Dwight Frye Music, Inc. (BMI)
Produced, Engineered & by John Kurzweg
Mixed by Kirk Kelsey

LISTEN TO THE SONG HERE:

http://www.creed.com/music/greatesthits.html

INVESTMENTS

2006-03-01T15:58:00.000-05:00

We have an incredible opportunity at HCC to join God in the most awesome thing going in the world. The advancement of the Kingdom of God! This year is the defining moment for us as a church. The question is “Will we buy in to this incredible, once in a lifetime INVESTMENT opportunity?

If I told you today about a SURE THING investment opportunity. A CAN”T MISS. An investment that has a sure payoff that blows away anything going on at Wall Street, would you be interested? Would you want to tell ALL your friends? Sure we would! And this is the INVESTMENT opportunity of a LIFETIME. The KINGDOM of GOD breaking in at HCC!

Want in?

3 WAYS You Can INVEST

1. INVEST YOUR TIME. We need people in every arena at HCC. You can decide today to invest your life in something that matters. Something ETERNAL. Something that will CHANGE lives for Jesus Christ. There is NOTHING going on in our lives more important than this! Are you in? Get involved today in the Coffee House, Guest Services (greeters), Nursery is in DIRE need right now. Help us! Preschool is about to have openings. Studio G needs people. (See specifics online at www.hopecreekchurch.net)

2. INVEST YOUR MONEY. If I told you today that I had a sure thing, no lose investment opportunity that would pay 10 times the amount invested do you think you could come up with some $’s??

Here is what Jesus said, "I tell you the truth, no one who has left home or brothers or sisters or mother or father or children or fields for me and the gospel will fail to receive a hundred times as much in this present age (homes, brothers, sisters, mothers, children and fields--and with them, persecutions) and in the age to come, eternal life.” Mark 10:29-30

"Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal.” Matthew 6:19-20

Here is the thing. Some of you are Christians and you aren’t tithing. You know what that is? God told the children of Israel that it is stealing.

"Will a man rob God? Yet you rob me." But you ask, 'How do we rob you?' "In tithes and offerings. Malachi 3:8

That is God’s. Really, it ALL is GOD’S.

Some may say that the New Testament doesn’t explicitly say to tithe. I know, it says to …EXCEL in this grace of giving. 2 Cor. 8:7. EXCEL!

Here is the thing. If EVERYBODY doesn’t get it on this we can’t do all of what God wants us too! Right now we need a new video projector, a video camera for filming church mini movies, new worship software. Right now, we need dollars for Sheila to be added as Children’s Ministry Champion and for Dana to come back on board as financial secretary. Right now, Mike would come on staff as youth and media pastor if we could afford to hire him. Right now Thad is working for way less than he deserves, and full time at that, because we can’t afford to pay him a true salary. I am just going to tell you, if you are new to HC or haven’t committed your life to Jesus yet, please disregard what I am about to say, but if you are a Creeker and you don’t tithe I HOPE you feel BAD! You should. And I feel bad FOR you! Because of ALL YOU are missing out on! You should repent and decide TODAY to start HONORING and TRUSTING God in your giving! Get in on this!

This is the defining moment for Hope Creek. This is our last year of support from Cedar Creek. It is now or never for HCC!

Again, here is the way JESUS put it…

The INVESTMENT opportunity of a LIFETIME! With ETERNAL REWARDS.

Also, some of you can give beyond the tithe. God has blessed you financially and you have extra money. Will you help us to get the new video equipment for Easter? It is an awesome investment opportunity! Some of you know people, family members, etc., who have money. Why not give them the opportunity to get in on this?! Seriously. This thought came to my mind this week. “If you knew of a SURE THING INVESTMENT opportunity, would you tell your friends about it??? DEFINITELY. And UNASHAMEDLY. What better investment is there is the WORLD that the KINGDOM of GOD? Reaching people for Jesus? There isn’t one. I am going to seize opportunities that God gives me to offer people an IN! Are you in?

3. INVEST and INVITE and INTERCEDE for the un-churched around you who need to know Jesus. We are going to offer a second Easter service this year. We are believing God for at least 300 Easter Sunday. Will you bring 5 people? If you ALL will we will have 500! 500 people hearing the greatest message in the world…. Jesus came to be Savior, Forgiver, Provider, and Friend! EVERYBODY needs to HEAR that! Start bringing them NOW! What is lost is more URGENT than what is found!

These are THE MOST EXCITING days of my life and ministry. I am so proud of you all. God wants to do EXPONETIALLY more than we have ever imagined at HCC. Are you in?

SUSPICIOUS MINDS

2006-02-28T20:26:00.000-05:00

I am ROCKIN' to Dwight, Supicious Minds on the Ipod right now!! Dude, I have been doing Elvis karate moves and all!

Caught in a trap
Can't walk out (ohhh oohhh oooh ooooh ooooh)
Because I love you too much baby

Why can't you see
what you're doing to me
when you don't believe a word i'm sayin'

Caught in a trap
Can't walk out (ohhh oohhh oooh ooooh ooooh)
Because I love you too much baby

BLESSED and SO HAPPY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-02-28T20:18:00.000-05:00

Can I just say that I am the HAPPIEST I have ever been in my life!!! Man, I am BLESSED! I can't believe I get paid to do this???!!!! (Don't tell anybody!)

I love my church!

JESUS is ROCKIN MY WORLD! LORD I am ON FIRE FOR YOU! It is ALL about YOU!

I love my family! My family means the WORLD to me. My sisters, mama, Tim, JD, the kids, Zack, Sarah Grace, Levi, m cuz's. Yo do not know how MUCH I love you!

I love being a pastor.

W and Sheila, and Buck. Ya'll are the coolest staff on the planet!

God, send me a WOMAN and a young'un and I will be FULL!!!!!

I praise you Lord.

I HAVE AN IPOD!!!!!!!

2006-02-28T20:05:00.000-05:00

I have wanted to say this for SO LONG!

Ladies and Gentlemen.... "Here is what I currently have on my Ipod...." (Dude that felt GOOD!)

Dwight Yoakam:

Things Change (ROCKIN to it right now. She said you once cried my name...I said well baby things change...Let's don't go placin' no blame cause you know things ca change...)

Bakersfield
Ain't That Lonely Yet
Suspicious Minds (Man if you don't like Dwight get saved!)

The Commodores

Easy
Sail On

The Doobie Brothers

China Grove
Listen to the Music
Long Train Runnin'
Jesus Is Just Alright

Eagles

Peaceful Easy Feelin'
Take It Easy

James Taylor

Greatest Hits

Clapton

Wonderful Tonight

James Blunt

You're Beautiful (dude why have the f word n the song????? It was awesome without it. You about ruined it. Sorry to be so BLUNT!)

BABY GIRL!!!!!!

2006-02-28T20:01:00.000-05:00

Fitz and Charlie girl had their baby girl today! She is about 7 weeks premie but Charlie was having problems with preclampsia (i probably butchered that spelling) and they had to do a c section today. Baby was born this afternoon after 1 and weighed in at a healthy 5lbs 1oz! Mom and baby are doing great. PRAISE JESUS!!!! I have NEVER seen Fitz so shaken up....Dude I bout started crying! We prayed and praised. What a MIRACLE! Don't know her name yet...narrowed to 2.

EVANGELISM CHICKEN NOW ONLINE!

2006-02-28T17:09:00.000-05:00

the years most anticipated creekside productions short film release is now available online at W's blog. go to thadwood.com and be prepared to BELLY laugh. You heard me...BELLY laugh!

LOVE SONGS

2006-02-27T23:35:00.000-05:00

A Random Ranting of a Redheaded Reverend...

1. Coolest love song EVER: "Always On My Mind" Willie (especially when I sing it.)
2. Smoothest love song EVER: (and I think best): "Wonderful Tonight" Clapton (especially when Smitty sings it.)
3. Cheesiest love song EVER: Achy Breaky Heart. Billy Ray. Somebody SHOOT me.
4. Smoothest Love Song Singer EVER: Lionel Richie. Seriously the dude has still got it. "And I will love you (whisper) still." Cool.
5. Most Jimmy Conners looking love song singer EVER: Lead Singer: Journey.
6. 2nd Coolest love song EVER: "Oh Girl" O'Jays.
7. Best Break up love song EVER: "Sail On". Lionel. Told you he was smooth.
8. Sweetest Love Song Ever: "Jesus In Yor Eyes" Julie and Buddy Miller.
9. Love Song that HAS to be done at my son's wedding reception (when I have a son): "Son Of A Preacher Man/Only One Who Could Reach Me."
10. Best Love Song Ever that Can't Make #1 Because of Being DONE to DEATH. "I Will Be Here." SCC (Seriously it is a way cool love song but dude, DONE to DEATH.

Ok Respond. "What you got?"

PRAISE JESUS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

2006-02-27T22:38:00.000-05:00

GOD is doing so many awesome things at the Creek. It is SO encouraging, and motivating, AND humbling to hear people share how they feel about what God is doing here. I feel a little awkward about sharing it because I don't wany anyone to think we think it is about or because of us. Give me a break! But I want to share it so you will PRAISE GOD for what HE is doing and so you guys too will be encouraged, and motivated, and humbled that God is doing a GOD thing at HCC and we get to be a part of it. I know that is a run on sentence but I have run on adrenaline (Spirit Oxygen. H2 O Living Water.) lately!

Anyhow, here is what a 1st timer said about SUnday at the Creek who was invited by a 1ST TIMER last week that I posted about!

"I think I might be the friend of the friend. My family came to HCC this past Sunday and we all loved it. I have already invited five friends. You are just what many are seeking a place where we can worship Jesus and feel comfortable and accepted for who we are. HCC was a breath of fresh air. I am looking forward to next Sunday and speading the word about your awesome ministry. The music was unbelievable."

THANK YOU SO MUCH for the ENCOURAGEMENT!! You don't know how that makes us feel!

Another new person who has been twice said...

"Hey Travis - I just wanted to tell you how much I have enjoyed both of my visits to Hope Creek. You are a very interesting (and funny) man to listen to. I have to say I feel really good after I leave the 'service' (I read your blog) and that hasn't happened to me much with different churches that Brad and I have visited through the years. I just wanted to say Thank You. I can't wait to see and hear you again next Sunday!"

THANK YOU ASHLEY! Seriously, I will pay you the $20 spot later for saying that about me! -)!

Oh and this was from a pastor buddy in AIken on staff at "Mama" church after reading my blogs!

"I think you need to lay off of the espresso beans dude.... Just kidding. Looking forward to seeing the chicken video."

LOL!!

GOD IS! LOVE WINS!

AWESOME POST

2006-02-27T22:29:00.000-05:00

Mark Battersons post today called "Thou Shalt Not Wash Thy Hands" was great. You really need to read it especially if you are a Creeker and sometimes wonder why we do what we do. Also, it was a great challenge to ALWAYS think outside of the box for new ideas and startegies for communicating our MESSAGE. The message is TIMELESS. The mehtods AREN"T. You can read it at blog.theaterchurch.com/

Questions

2006-02-27T06:47:00.000-05:00

A couple of questions...

1. Has anyone seen "When a Stranger Calls" and is it any good?

2. Does ANYONE have a used Ipod for sale or post boards where you work that might list one? I got to get me one of them!

3. Does anyone have any idea how much a seven year old 10 disc Pioneer car Cd changer (with fm reciever) is worth? Got to sale mine to raise Ipod money!

4. Would anyone like to contribute to pastor Travis' I NEED an IPOD Please Fund?

5. Will someone volunteer to call and console Mike Reynolds and Ronnie Hodge after the HEELS put it to Duke on Sat night? (Seriously, we may not beat ya'll sat night at Duke butt watch out for us in the Tourneys!

6. Should have been 1st. Ya'll pray for Rog Conrad. His mom past away this week in upsate NY. But she had made peace with Christ!!! Praise GOD! Rog and Cindy are there so ya'll pray for them.

7. Will anyone sign up for PIMP my PASTORS DECK! Seriously, I am building a new deck for the summer and I need HELP! If you will come help me I will grill you a mean burger!

8. I have got to GO to SLEEP at night! Any suggestions?

9. We need 4k. No SERIOUS. We need four grand. W, Mike and I are going to Atlanta in a little while looking for new video stuff. We need a new projector and a camera for making our creekside productions. We need about 4K. Want to CONTRIBUTE??? The return on INVESTMENT is OUT OF THIS WORLD!

I LOVE MY LIFEGROUP

2006-02-27T06:38:00.000-05:00

I LOVE my LIFEGROUP! You guys are SO COOL! I am SO PROUD of how you guys have reached out to and ministered to Fitz and Charlie this week. Charlie girl had to be put in the hospital for a while because of her blood pressure, etc., with the baby, and our group has just been so great about showing love and concern for them. Fitz told me that people who don't have a LifeGroup just don't know what they are missing! It is just SO COOL when you see a group of people GET IT! That we are a FAMILY in Christ and HE wants us to DO LIFE TOGETHER! So way cool LifeGroupies, "I love ya'll man!"

I LOVE Creativity

2006-02-27T06:27:00.000-05:00

Can I just say that the Evangelism Chicken video was SO HILARIOUS! I can't get over it! What a creative way to express truth! W and Mike worked so hard editing it and I am so proud of all of you actors (I would like to thank the academy) were just great! I love adding a powerful, funny, memorable element like that to express truth. Then after the service (we have got to think of something to call Sundays besides "the service". Man. Anyway...) the EC was in the lobby giving out invite cards to people to bring their friends and he had a sign hanging around his neck, like the Chick-Fil-A cow signs, that said "Invite yer frinz 2 cherch." It was so cool! W, we have got to figure out a way to post the collections of HCC videos and spoofs on the website!

Shout Out to the Clays

2006-02-27T06:17:00.000-05:00

A HUGE shout out to Brandon and Jenni Clay! They have just dove in at the Creek and we love them! Brandon helps with set up and we appreciate that SO MUCH. He also is a lights tech. He is going on our missions trip to the Gulf. AND the dude wore the chicken suit on Sunday! Jenni is going to be a media tech! They are in a LifeGroup! They are bringing people to the Creek! BC and JC you guys are TROOPERS! I know ya'll don't like praise so we will give it ALL to JESUS, WHO DESERVES it ALL anyway! I just want you guys to know that I love, and appreciate, and thank GOD for you!

I LOVE MY JOB

2006-02-27T06:00:00.000-05:00

I love my job! Seriously, I can't believe I get paid to do this! It is 6 am on my day OFF and I am blogging. Sunday was AWESOME! The Evangelism Chicken video was HILARIOUS! I felt great about the message. There seemed to be an excitement in the air. We had more new people! My friend Teon and his fam were there! It was so good to see them. Smitty and family were there! (Seriously "Mama" you got to feed me some of dem' chimichangas!) Georgia M was back. And can I just say that the music ROCKED! Man, the WORSHIP was INCREDIBLE! Our band is clicking, annointed, and blessed! Sunday was GOOD! GOD is doing AWESOME things at HCC and I praise HIM for it. It is a GOD THING so I can express my JOY, and not in pride but in PRAISE at what HE is doing! Pray for us. We still need our giving to increase so we can do what we need to. Also, me, Mike, and W are off to Hotlanta today. We heard about a store with great deals on video projectors. Prat that God will buy us one! I LOVE my job! I LOVE HCC! I love JESUS CHRIST! HE is THE WAY, THE TRUTH, and THE LIFE!

BLOG POLL

2006-02-25T15:48:00.000-05:00

What do you guys think?

1. Our next series will be about personal finances called "The COLOR of MONEY"

messages would be:

Keeping the GREEN in the BLACK
GREEN with Envy
The BLUES from the Bills and getting out of the RED
Investing in GOLD

What do you think?

2. Do we want to show The PASSION of the CHRIST on Good Friday night at The Retreat???? Or the cinemas as a late show?

I bet a lot of people that have been coming to the creek have not seen it and it would be a great outreach.

What do you think?

3. EASTER SERIES: THE VERDICT

1. How to get to Heaven?

2. Is Jesus really the ONLY way?

3. Am I saved?

4. Am I living the abundant life?

4. Post Easter Series: ::Relate:: How to get along with just about anybody

1. Why I have to learn to RELATE

2. How to RELATE with people.

3. RELATE with God

4. RELATE in my Marriage

5. RELATE with my Kids

6. RELATE with my In-Laws

7. RELATE on my Job

8. RELATE in my Church

9. RELATE with the Un-churched

5. "HITCHED" The Series for Singles (not sure exactly when to do this one)

6. August: Either 1) INKED "What GOD would say in PRINT" (A Series on the Sermon on the Mount) -or- PURE SEX (A Series about sex in life and culture.) (Did the preacher say a series ABOUT SEX???? You heard right!)

What do you guys think? E-mail me some feedback!

YOU DON"T WANT TO MISS THIS SUNDAY!!!

2006-02-24T16:11:00.000-05:00

Ok, you have been warned! You DO NOT want to miss this SUnday at the creek! For one, GOD has given us an AWESOME message and HE is going to do AWESOME things!

and 2: You will get to see the FUNNIEST, most HILARIOUS, most AWESOME, video we have EVER done at HCC!

Nuff said....

Bring like 5 people with you...seriously...at least 5!

PRAISE BUZZ

2006-02-24T16:07:00.000-05:00

Hey Ya'll! I got this email today about a 1st timer at the creek. It was SO encouraging. God is creating the BUZZ about the creek!

This is amazing.
I was talking to my friend who I invited to church last week. As I was talking to her she invited a friend who had come to visit her class today to come to church with her next week. I wish you could have heard how excited she was about what she saw last week. She absolutely loved the kids "Studio G" that her daughter went to and loved how relevant your message was! You are right God is doing amazing things at the "movies".

Friday SHOUT OUT

2006-02-24T10:38:00.000-05:00

A HUGE HCC SHOUT OUT and THANK YOU and YOU GUYS ARE AWESOME and COOL and HAVE HUGE REWARDS IN HEAVEN and I LOVE YA"LL MAN, to our SET UP and TEAR DOWN crews at HCC! Fitz, Chief, Brandon, W, Micheal, Bruno, Nowell, Tim, Seano (on injured reserve), Shane, who did I miss??? You guys are awesome! Big Mike is hanging out at the house for a while as he looks for a job (dude you are supposed to be right here!) and last sunday am i heard him getting up at like 7 AM to go help set up and play. (FOR FREE). It really ripped me. That is WHAT it is ABOUT.
SO many of you set up guys are behind the scenes and don't get a lot of recognitin and stage glory but GOD SEES it and He gets GOD GLORY from it! Keep up the GOOD work guys and I thank God for you SO much!

For the rest of us the question is NOT just "Would you DIE for Jesus but will you LIVE for Him?!
Not would you rather take a bullet than deny Him but would you rather take a bullet than not be able to live for Him and serve Him!!

There is NOTHING on the planet going on more important than God's KINGDOM ADVANCING. NOTHING!

Are you just a big stinky fish in you rown little teeny pond of life OR are you a player in HIS STORY???

If you are not already "Get in THE GAME ya'll!" Don't miss out on this!

STOKED

2006-02-24T10:32:00.000-05:00

Seriously, I have got to figure out how to sleep at night! I worked till 4:00 in the morning last night...today...whatever! FOUR! I can't hel it. I am SO STOKED about GOD, HIS KINGDOM< HIS PLAN< HIS CHURCH! And the fact that HE lets ME be a PARTNER in the GREATEST thing happening on the planet! The local CHURCH! Reaching peole for JESUS. There is NOTHING better. NOTHING! NADA! I am so passionate about outreach that i can't stand it. I have never been so on FIRE about reaching people for Jesus! I have NEVER loved my job so much! I have never been so productive, creative, inspired...
Dude, I get PAID to do this! Praise You God. that is all i can say PRAISE YOU! Hallelujah!

HCC DISCO

2006-02-23T00:39:00.000-05:00

Can I just say that the HCC Disco was THE MOST FUN I have ever had at a church event in my life! Man, it was awesome…no….”groovy”. You can check out a few pics at W’s blog. (thadwood.com). We boogied. We ate. We karaoked. It was too cool! And yes, I performed an earth shaking, ground breaking, breath taking duet of Willy’s “Always On My Mind” with preacher Dan the preacher man! Can I just say we NAILED it!

It is so awesome that Christians can have a great fun laughing time like that together. Who else in the WORLD has more reason to rejoice than believers in Jesus?? NOBODY! And I will just say to JD…I was second in the threads contest man! Yep. Real Christians dance. Real believers boogie.

FLAME

2006-02-23T00:24:00.000-05:00

Last week I talked to Swifty, the pastor of our “mama” church in Aiken, SC where I used to be on staff. He was telling me about his daughter Sophie having a new baby girl and about how her Home Group was just right there ministering to her, and about how her Home Group leader was there a the hospital for her, the group bringing meals to them, AWESOME! But what was so cool to me was that her Home Group leader is a girl that I discipled as her Home Group leader 8 years ago, Marni (and her cool hubby Kevin). When I met Marni she was a baby Christian. Sort of like a new Christian “fawn”. Wobbly in her new faith and trying to get her legs under her. I watched her as she grew in her faith, went through trials, and waited on the Lord. So many times she would ask if there were any good Christian guys out there and if she would ever meet someone. I assured her that there was and she would. And she did! There were so many conversations we had and so many home group bible studies and discussions and hopefully I was a bit of an example and an encourager to her along the way. She blossomed and matured into a beautiful godly woman who is now carrying on what she learned, at least in part I hope, from me. (And hopefully saw in me). She is now making a difference in the lives of others, caring for, encouraging, and discipling them to be followers of Jesus Christ.

Now I am NOT saying that this is of my doing. I have better sense than that. But that God would use me and allow me to be even a part of the spiritual formation and encouragement to one of His precious ones is SO humbling it moves me almost to tears just thinking about it!

Seeds sown over so many Monday night groups, and so many weekend hangouts, and so many prayers along the way, now bearing beautiful FRUIT in the lives of OTHERS eight years later. Let me just ask you WHAT ELSE in this WHOLE WORLD is there to LIVE FOR besides that?

Shout-out to you Marni Jo and Kevin. I am SO PROUD of You!

HUGE shout out to Perry Noble at NewSpring Church

2006-02-22T16:07:00.000-05:00

Last Thursday God blessed me with the opportunity to have lunch with Perry Noble, pastor of NewSpring Church in Anderson. The church has grown to almost 5000 people in six years! I want to know what the dude knows! He and Jason (their groups pastor) met me for lunch and they PAID! I know. I can’t believe it either! They are so humble and hungry for God. Man, if you read this and you are part of the criticism that they are getting, GET A LIFE! I say that with love. Anyway, they talked to me bout how to capture momentum and key Sundays, etc. It was so cool hanging out with them. You know, I can believe Perry would have had lunch with me 5 years ago. Who wanted to talk to him then? But know that he is “Hey you, MEGA church, cool church, techno swift pastor guy!” and he will have lunch with me. Well, that is impressive, and touching, and Christ like.

Thanks Perry and Jason for the time…and the grub.

PS. If you are a church leader you have GOT to come to NewSPring March 20^th for the C3 Coference with Ed Yong nd the staff of Fellowship from Dallas. I now it is going to be awesome! And you can bring all of your leaders for like 320 bucks. Go to CreativePastors.com for details.

FIRE

2006-02-22T15:33:00.000-05:00

Nothing on earth sets my heart on fire more than watching God CHANGE somebody’s life. Nothing compares. Nada. Zip. Not Mickelson and Tiger even up on Sunday at Augusta. Not the Bravos in the World Series. Not even my Heels winning against Duke….well maybe…NO, not even that! There are a lot of things that I like but NOTHING turns my crank like God changing a person’s life!

This Sunday at HCC, a new cool friend of mine got SAVED! Saved! Woo Hoo! Today, Seano, a friend of mine at HCC, dropped by and was talking about how much the church meant to him. The dude was SAVED at the Creek just a few months ago! Sunday night at our Studio G children’s ministry workshop my friend Melissa Jones was talking about how her kids came to HC before she did and how they influenced her to come. Now the girl is GROWING, connected in a LifeGroup, and a part of the CHILDREN’S MINISTRY team! Does that ROCK or what??!! Also, my new friend Stacy is the same. Coming faithfully. Connected in a LifeGroup and joining Studio G to make a DIFFERENCE for Christ’s Kingdom with her life! Now, her husband, my man Jason, and big daddy Don are coming too!

But make no mistake about it. It is GOD, not HCC that is CHANGING people’s lives! The INCREDIBLE thing is that HE allows US IN on IT. The IT is not Ebay. IT is Jesus!! To GOD be ALL the GLORY!! I am FIRED up! Bring on the flame!

Partners in Crime (Prevention)

2006-02-22T12:45:00.000-05:00

I just want to take a minute to do a shout out to my partner in crime prevention at HCC, Thad Wood, the W.

For the body to work each part has to do its part and work in unison with the other parts. I.E. It takes us ALL. I believe I have a clear (albeit ever developing) vision from God about what He wants HCC to be and to do. But the implementation of that vision comes only through a partnership, teamwork, a body of believers.

Thad has become that missing link for me at HCC. We just seem to compliment each others gifts in amazing ways. Thing I can’t do, he can, and can do them well, and vice versa. Things I can “see” but can’t do, he has the ability to do it.

My gifts are teaching, leadership, encouragement, motivation, a people-person. All things that Thad would probably say weren’t his real strengths. (At least not primary ones.) And the things I can’t do, he nails! His ability to lead worship with a live band. His graphic design ability for developing series graphics, videos, etc is un-believable. It is scary how fast he has developed in that area. His skills at web-site design and layout have just expanded exponentially. And he has matured and grownin his faith in enormous ways over the past two years.

We could not do what we do at HCC without W. To be the kind of church that we believe God has called us to be requires a complimentary gift mix that is just remarkable with me and W combined. A hand in a glove.

Lone Ranger and Tonto. Batman and Robin. Andy and Barney. Fred and Barney. Ponch and John. Starsky and Hutch. The Skipper and Gilligan. (LOL you get to be Gilligan W) Partners in crime prevention. I thank God for sending W here because it just wouldn’t work without him.

So go on with ja’ bad self Mr. Techo Worship Web Can Man.

We love you being a leader at the Creek and we thank God for you.

Leadership

2006-02-22T12:43:00.000-05:00

Be shepherds of God's flock that is under your care, serving as overseers--not because you must, but because you are willing, as God wants you to be; not greedy for money, but eager to serve; not lording it over those entrusted to you, but being examples to the flock. And when the Chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the crown of glory that will never fade away. 1 Peter 5:2-4

I urge you then to see that your "flock of God" is properly fed and cared for. Accept the responsibility of looking after them willingly and not because you feel you can't get out of it, doing your work not for what you can make, but because you are really concerned for their well-being. You should aim not at being "little tin gods" but as examples of Christian living in the eyes of the flock committed to your charge. And then, when the chief shepherd reveals himself, you will receive that crown of glory which cannot fade. JB Phillips Translation

John Maxwell gives a short, succinct, simple, one word definition of leadership. Leadership is Influence.

Or as an ancient Chinese philosopher once said, “He who thinketh he leadeth, but hath no one following, is only taking a walk.” I love that!

I want to talk about what leadership is, really in any capacity (parenting, marriage, the workplace, coaching little league, quarter-backing a football team, or leadership in the church) but especially in the context of leading a small group.

10 CHARACERISTICS OF A LEADER

1. A Leader KNOWS what a WIN looks like. A leader knows the objective. A leader knows where the GOAL LINE is. A leader is going somewhere and you can tell it.

2. A Leader is PASSIONATE about the Win. You don’t have to worry about whether a leader has the fire or motivation to succeed. It is built-in to their very being.

3. A Leader knows that he cannot win ALONE. He must win as a TEAM. A leader knows that he can’t go it alone and be successful. He must lead a team to be successful. A leader knows that if WE don’t win, I don’t win.

4. A Leader is an EXAMPLE to the team. A successful leader not only KNOWS the way, he SHOWS the way. You don’t have to wonder is a true LEADER is prepared, passionate, willing, committed, sacrificing, or for real. These things are clear through observation.

5. A Leader KNOWS how to get to the GOAL LINE. A leader either has a clearly defined game plan or he is passionately pursuing one. He doesn’t think in terms of philosophy “Wouldn’t that be great?” He thinks in terms of REALITY. “How do WE get there from here and let’s go for it NOW.”

6. A Leader knows how to MOTIVATE a team. You know if you have been around a leader. You leave with your HORIZONS broadened, your heart CHALLENGED, and your conscience TOUCHED. You walk away WANTING to be a part of something BIGGER than yourself.

7. A Leader knows how to COACH and EQUIP a team for success. A leader is not afraid to recruit, challenge, and enlist others because he, or she, KNOWS that being a part of a winning team (ESPECIALLY GODS!) is beneficial to the player and leads to a life of SIGNIFICANCE. He also, intuitively knows how to help people find their position or role on the team. He just has a gift for seeing what position people can play well, and helps them to play well.

8. A Leader knows when the team or a team member needs ENCOURAGEMENT. A leader knows that people don’t live on bread alone. They also need a little “buttering up”. He is usually a gifted encourager and knows that ENCOURAGEMENT is a FUEL that everyone on the team needs.

9. A Leader, in the Christian context, is a PRAY’ER. Winning matters to the leader but so do the players. The leader prays to the only ONE who can determine, envision, equip, and ensure victory for the team asking HIM, THE LEADER PAR-EXCELLENCE, to LEAD the way.

10. A Leader feels INTERNALLY and HEAVENLY MOTIVATED. To him NOT FOLLOWING the VISION is NOT OPTIONAL. His desire is to PLEASE the ONE ABOVE. He knows that this is GOD”S GAME and GOD”S TEAM and so His desire, passion, commitment, compulsion, and willingness to sacrifice all for the sake of the call is INTERNAL and INSTILLED from above. He wants to WIN because GOD MUST WIN.

Lead on my brothers and sisters. Our Victory is Sure. God WINS!

The Lost Art of Disciple Making

2006-02-15T16:25:00.000-05:00

…Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. 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, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
Matthew 28:18-20

The mission of the church, our mandate, given personally from our Lord, is to make disciples. Period. It is the mission of the church. Our purpose is to help people become fully devoted followers of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

The process of doing this is just that, a process. And, although "it is God who works in you to will and to act according to his good purpose…" (phil 2:13), he uses people in the process.

In 2 Tim. 2:2 Paul gives us the “Timothy Principle” for developing leaders and disciples. He tells his apprentice/disciple Timothy, “And the things you have heard me say in the presence of many witnesses ENTRUST TO RELIABLE MEN who will also be qualified TO TEACH OTHERS.” It is in a sense “spiritual reproduction” one disciple at a time.

I think this kind of attitude toward real effective disciple making has become a sort of “lost art”. We send people through a 12 week bible course and thus “don themdisciple". Or we tell them if they come to all of the preaching services, then they will be a disciple. Or worse, we lead them to Christ and then leave them alone, feeling as though our work is done. (By the way, if you treated a baby who had just been born that way you would go to jail! What about a new “born again” spiritual babe?)

So, if making disciples IS our purpose, the questions, at least to me, are:

1. What is a disciple?

And

2. What does it take to make one?

First. A disciple is a person who…

Has accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.
Has become a committed part of a spiritual family.
Is being grounded in basic biblical truth.
Is growing in understanding and application of God’s word through regular biblical teaching.
Is investing regular time with God in personal prayer and bible study.
Is a committed part of a group of Christians who are “doing life” together in community.
Is discovering their spiritual giftedness, involved in personal ministry, and growing toward a lifestyle of “servant-hood.”
Is, over time becoming more Christ-like in their character and lifestyle, and Kingdom-driven in their life’s pursuits.

Or to put it more simply, a disciple is a person who is developing

Intimacy with God, Interaction with others, and Influence through ministry.

Second. What does it take to make a disciple?

You have heard the saying “It takes one to know one.” When it comes to disciple-making “It takes one to grow one!” Life change happens best in the context of a relationship, or better, relationships, with other believers. As Timothy’s mother, grandmother, and Paul discipled Timothy, and Barnabas (in many ways) discipled Paul, as Elisha was discipled by Elijah, Joshua by Moses, Apollos by Priscilla and Aquila, John mark by Barnabas, and Ruth by Naomi, God still uses people in the discipling process. Most of the time it is a partnership, a conglomeration of people, that he uses to help us to grow.

Part of the partnership of people that God uses to help us grow as disciples are pastors, teachers, worship leaders, gift discovery champions, and a host of others, but today I want to talk about simply a person, a friend. Which I believe may be more important than any of the other relationships that help us grow as Christians. A “Paul” in our lives.

This person (or better, in a small group context, a group of people) helps us to grow as disciples by:

Developing a personal meaningful relationship with us through investing their lives and time into our lives.
Modeling for us by example and lifestyle what it means to be a Christ-follower.
Praying for us specifically to grow in our faith.
Encouraging and even exhorting (challenging in a constructive way) us to grow in our relationship with Jesus.
Teaching/Explaining/Mentoring us, as we go, what the Bible says about life and what it means to be a Christ follower. (We are much more prone to receive instruction when it is needed and relevant in our lives at the time. And a person who is “in our lives” would know better than anybody what we need to learn the most.)
Growing continuously themselves in their faith.
Exemplifying passion and enthusiasm about Christ and his Kingdom.
Holding us accountable for our continued growth and obedience.
Being there for us when we need a friend.

When these principles and practices are applied in our relationships with younger (in the faith) Christians then we are doing our part in the disciple making process.

Here’s the thing, are you a disciple? Are you taking anyone with you?

Just a random ranting of a redheaded reverend.

FUEL

2006-02-07T18:50:00.000-05:00

Hey Creek’ies. I want to talk to you about FUEL. Soul FUEL.

Sunday we launched RETRO talking about the woman at the well and how she was trying to find fulfillment drinking from the world’s water pot and how that is destined to fail because it doesn’t last. We talked about how she discovered through her encounter with Jesus that he, and He only, offers the continuous satisfaction of drinking living water from the fountain of God. He is the only source of any lasting satisfaction and fulfillment.

But I couldn’t help but think about how sad is it when we, the ones who KNOW this and have DRANK from the fountain of living water, turn away to some pseudo satisfaction and drink again from the world’s water pots. The times when we walk away from the Living FOUNTAIN and drink again from lust, workaholism, materialism, and whatever else the world beckons us to drink from. All mirages. None satisfy. They are like a thirsty man drinking saltwater.

Most of the time, though, I don’t think it is the world’s water pots that get us as much as that we stray from the FOUNTAIN of God. We go days or weeks without any kind of meaningful time with God to drink from His fountain and we wonder why we feel dry! When we start to sputter, spark, and backfire things like temper, discouragement, sin, gossip, lack of spiritual passion, and low energy to serve, and we wonder what’s wrong! Cars can't go without gasoline. Our bodies can't go without water. And our souls can't go without the water of LIFE! We have to DRINK and drink DEEPLY from the fountain of God so that we can be renewed, restored, redirected, and REFUELDED. It is essential.

In Mark 1:35, the bible tells us that “Very early in the morning, while it was still dark, Jesus got up, left the house and went off to a solitary place, where he prayed.” Jesus knew that he was too busy NOT to pray.

And Jesus says…

"He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being shall flow RIVERS of living water.' " John 7:38.

David said…

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters, he restores my soul.

Psalm 23:2-3

In Isaiah 58:11 God tells us…

The Lord will guide you always; he will satisfy your needs in a sun-scorched land and will strengthen your frame. You will be like a well-watered garden, like a spring whose waters never fail.

WOW.

I think about a plant that has baked in the sun, sapped by the heat, wilting away with no water for weeks and then a cool rain begins to sprinkle, then pour, down on it’s branches. The plants brown leaves turn back green. It’s wilted branches stand alive again. It’s buds begin to blossom and it’s fruit begins to grow.

Water of life. Heaven’s drink. God’s fountain. Open 24x7 to us. Free. Fulfilling. Freeing.

Make time regularly this week to get by yourself with Jesus and REFUEL your soul. Drink deep from the well of life so you will be like a well watered garden, bearing fruit, and be able to offer life to those around you.

Just a random ranting from a redheaded reverend.

HCC back over 100!

2006-02-07T18:48:00.000-05:00

Hey everybody! Great news... HCC was back over 100 on Sunday! 106 woo hoo! We had at least one new person, other new people back again, and people back who haven't been for a long time! There is a new excitement in the air at the Creek and I PRAISE God for it!
Man, is this coffee house thing going over like gang busters or what??? People are luv'n it! Kudos to Cindy C!

Our new series Retro kicked off great Sunday!

Let's continue to IGNITE the INVITE at HCC!

Invite everyone you know who needs to hear the Message!

Seano and Alicia Shout-Out

2006-01-26T11:35:00.000-05:00

A huge Hope Creek shout out to Sean and Alicia Shields. They are just such incredible examples of what we are all about at HCC. They have joined us from the River (a new and renewed relationship with Christ), to the Raft (connecting in a HCC LifeGroup, even hosting it!), to the Rapids (Sean helps out with set-up, greeting, announcements, and missions. Alicia is now one of our Preschool champions, a greeter, and a LifeGroup host [she is so Martha Stewart]. AND they have brought people to church!).

They are such awesome examples of what we are all about at HCC. We love you guys!

Reversed Road Rage

2006-01-25T10:31:00.000-05:00

What’s the deal with Road Rage?

I have been thinking a lot about road rage lately. But not about the road rage’ee but more about the road rage’or. Why do we get SO angry and bent out of shape driving?? Man, I mean if we acted in the workplace the way we do on the highway, most of us couldn’t keep a JOB! We get behind the wheel of a car and morph into some HULK-like creature filled with rage and violence! Why do we do that?? I mean, I drive and all of a sudden I have 0 patience, become an ultra smart aleck, and want to pick a fight! Some of the phrases I have thought behind the wheel: “I could ride a BICYCLE faster that they are going!” “You better slow that thang’ down son.” (Like I am going to get out and do something. Right.) “Yeah go on with your SEWING MACHINE engine!” “Go on GRANDPA!”

What is wrong with us? I am not talking about the obvious maniacs on the road but we have NO tolerance! You know what I mean. If you have been MAD at a stoplight and called the traffic light names, you might be a…

Why do we do this?

Just a random ranting from a redheaded reverend. Ever thought about it?

A Note to Creekers

2006-01-24T11:11:00.000-05:00

Hey guys! We had a great day of worship on Sunday! We also had a visiting family who had just recently moved here from Atlanta. They had attended Andy Stanley’s church (which was funny that I talked about Andy in the message!) They told me that they really enjoyed our service and it seems that they definitely plan to come back! I think if someone who is used to being a part of Andy’s church (which is probably averaging over 15,000 people a week, is one of the most sought after churches in the nation as far as being a model to look to, and certainly has an awesome, creative, worship service) comes to our church at HC and they really like it, then we must be doing something RIGHT!

Keep the faith gang! God has a good thing going at HCC! We just need everyone to make a commitment to being a part of it and seeing it happen. Here are 6 things that we need EVERYONE to commit to.

BE HERE on Sundays! It takes people being here to build momentum. Try not to miss if at all possible.
PRAY! For our staff, our services, our people, the un-churched. PRAY!
SERVE on SUNDAYS! We need EVERYONE to make a commitment to helping on Sundays. Our commitment to what God is doing needs to be greater than ever. Are you in?
A COMMITMENT to CONNECTION in a LifeGroup is essential to success.
BRING SOMEONE to CHURCH! We must ALL decide that we are going to be a part of seeing people come to church!
GIVE! Let’s face it, it takes $ to do church. It just does. Are you INVESTING in a HEAVENLY KINGDOM? NOW is the time.

Here is what I believe. I believe that God (GOD!) has YOU strategically right here for such a time as this. What will your response be? What will be your legacy?

(Please circulate this to everyone you can think of at HCC!)

Riding the Rapids,

Trav

Creativity

2006-01-24T11:00:00.000-05:00

I LOVE CREATIVITY. The right creative element can drive a point home, touch the emotions, and impact a service or message in awesome and memorable ways. I believe that God, too, loves creativity. One of the first things we find him doing in scripture is creating. He must love being creative. Have you ever seen a giraffe? A sunset? The roll of the ocean’s tide along the coast? The foliage of fall covering the Blue Ridge mountains?

God is a God of creativity. I think that part of being made in His image is being creative. Some can create in incredible ways with wood, and others with words. Some create with music chords, and others with painting canvas. God loves creativity. Creativity can be used to touch and impact people’s lives in ways which otherwise they wouldn’t have been.

I believe that God loves creativity in his church. Here are some of the more creative things we have done at HCC.

We once gave everyone in the service a red balloon and we all went outside together at the end of the service and released the balloons into the air to symbolize our releasing our guilt and grudges to God. It was awesome. As the balloons rushed away and became smaller and smaller I thought of God removing our sin as far as the east from the west.
At Easter last year we did an Easter CSI. We decorated the stage with police tape, a bloodied cross, nails, a crown of thorns, and an evidence recovery vile. We then proceeded to investigate the crime scene at the cross. It was great!
We had a team use interpretive movement to perform “I Will Worship.”
I once brought a bag of trash onto stage and tore it open and threw trash all over the stage to illustrate the way we often bring our “garbage” from the day into our homes and families.
We once gave everyone a compass to help them to remember that God is always our true North.
We have gone “on location” to race tracks, coffee houses, road sides and even river rapids to film series intro’s or message points.
This week we showed humorous video clips of “make believe” LifeGroup experiences to help people overcome their small group fears.
Once I brought a clean new $100 bill onto stage and asked if anyone would like to have it. A lot of people raised their hands! I then crumpled it up, threw it down, and stomped on it, then asked if anyone still wanted it to illustrate that God values each of us no matter how “dirty” and “broken” our lives have been because our value is un-changing to Him. I then actually GAVE it AWAY to a person in the audience to illustrate that though God’s free offer of grace seems unbelievable, it is REAL!
We once gave everyone a free sample of fragrance from Belk department store as a reminder that we are to God the aroma of Christ.
We once had a 175 pound Newfoundland dog walk right into our worship service, but that one wasn’t planned!

God loves creativity. Use yours to drive home a point for a kid’s class, to touch the hearts of your children or your LifeGroup, to do a job well done, to enrich a worship service, to bring glory to the God of creativity.

Perfect Grace, Not Perfect People (Part 2)

2006-01-19T16:32:00.000-05:00

Ok, I know that was a looooongggg post but I told you from the start these are random rantings!

So here's part 2.

If there is one community of people in the world who should model grace, who should be a beacon of forgiveness, it is the CHURCH! Christians. And sadly, the local church is probably one of the most UNFORGIVING places in the world. We say that we acknowledge our sinfulness and our need of grace. We say that forgiveness is perhaps THE Christian virtue, except when it comes time for US to FORGIVE somebody! It amazes me! We know that WE aren't perfect. We can't even get along all of the time with our own families, the people we love the most! And yet, let someone in the church sin against us, hurt our feelings, gossip, not show up for something, or not acknowledge something we did, and we are STUNNED, dazed, like “how dare them!” They did wrong! They sinned. DUH!!! No kidding?! Sure they did. They are SINFUL! They are people. They aren't perfect. They don't bat a 1000. They miss the mark sometimes. Guys we just do. All of us. The best of us. We blow it sometimes. And far too often when it happens at church, or in a LifeGroup, or in a ministry, we act like something fatal has happened. So we pout. We leave. We quit the group. We quit the ministry. We quit the church. As though it was supposed to be perfect. And it ain't. And if it was, and you joined, it sure wouldn't be then!

I am not saying that it is good to sin against each other. Nor am I saying that it doesn't hurt. Nor am I condoning sin, especially grievous things like adultery, abuse, etc. that leave wounds that often take years to forgive. What I am saying is that far too often we have this fatal notion and terrible misconception that the Christian community should be perfect. And it just isn't.

We give grace too ourselves. We show mercy and forgiveness to our families. Shouldn't it be true in the fellowship of the church? Shouldn’t it be more true there that anywhere?

God sets before us Christ as the supreme model of forgiveness. And he expects the same mercy from us.

…be kind to each other, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, just as God through Christ has forgiven you. Ephes. 4:32

Too often the local bar is more accepting and forgiving than the local church. That must change.

I think a few reminders would help us:

1. Expect imperfection. People make mistakes. We sin. So expect your friends in church, even your staff, to be less than perfect.

2. Evaluate my expectations. Ask yourself if your expectation of people is realistic. Do you expect perfection? Don't skim over this because most of us would answer "Of course not." but the proof is in how we respond if someone hurts our feelings, or lets us down, or doesn't call us when we missed, etc.
A good question would be "Is my attitude toward forgiveness and mercy the same at church as it is at home?” “As it is at work?” “As I want others to treat me when I blow it?"

3. Practice being merciful. Cut people some slack. Never lower the bar in terms of God's dream and ideal for people, but be merciful toward them along the way. Much like a parent teaching a child to ride a bike, we should applaud the effort, even when they fall off, and certainly not kick them while they're down.

4. Keep short accounts. Learn to forgive the sin "debt" that others owe you. If you can't just forget it, then address it in love and tell the person the main reason you are telling them about it is that you desire to preserve your relationship and that you don't want anything to come between you that would keep your friendship from flourishing.

5. Let God deal with it. Learn to give your grievances to God and let him handle it. He certainly will do a good job so the real question sometimes is "Do we trust God to do what's right?" "Do we desire for God to deal with them mercifully, or do we want vengeance?"

Here's the drill. I believe that the crowning virtue of the local church should be FORGIVENESS.

If there is one place in the world that should model mercy it must be the local church. A fellowship of flawed but forgiven, sinful but saved, imperfect but adopted children of God.

Perfect Grace, Not Perfect People

2006-01-19T14:47:00.000-05:00

I remember seeing the movie “10” in high school. The one where Bo Derek was supposedly the perfect woman. A perfect “10”.

The truth, however, is that there are no perfect people. Physically, Spiritually, and Emotionally we are all imperfect, very imperfect. No one gets it right all of the time. You rarely will see a “10” in Olympic gymnastics, and if you do it is the stuff of legends. If you can make 60% of your shots in the NBA, or complete over 60% of your passes in the NFL, then you are an All Star or Pro Bowl'er. If you can get a hit one time out of three in baseball you could be a Hall of Famer. 1 out of 3! 1 out of 4 makes you a MILLIONAIRE!

And life is the same. There is NO ONE who is perfect. NO ONE. There are no 10's.

Look at God’s word…

If you, O Lord, kept a record of sins,

O Lord, who could stand? Psalm 130:3

…no one living is righteous before you.

Psalm 143:2

We all, like sheep, have gone astray,

each of us has turned to his own way...

Isaiah 53:6

…all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God… Romans 3:23

We all have falling shorts!

No one bats a 1000. We all blow it.

That is why Christ came, because we were bankrupt. But God didn’t just wink at our sin and turn his head, pretending we didn’t do it. He paid for all of our sins. All of them. He ransomed us through his blood. God doesn’t grade us on a curve, he grades on a cross.

...the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all. Isaiah 53:6

When you were dead in your sins...God made you alive with Christ. He forgave us all our sins, having canceled the written code, with its regulations, that was against us and that stood opposed to us; he took it away, nailing it to the cross. Col. 2:13-14

For there is one God and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave himself as a ransom for all men… 1 Tim. 2:5-6

But because of his great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy, made us alive with Christ even when we were dead in transgressions--it is by grace you have been saved. Ephes. 2:4-5

We are saved by GRACE. Grace alone.

Newsflash. If it is grace alone that saves us, then it is only GRACE that keeps us saved. We still blow it, even as Christians. We just do. Hopefully much less often and much less seriously, but we still do. Being a Christian doesn’t make you sinless, but it should make you sin less.

If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. 1 John 1:8

The good news is that there is continuous mercy and grace available to us as believers.

My dear children, I write this to you so that you will not sin. But if anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense--Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins… 1 John 2:1-2

…if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us and to cleanse us from every wrong. 1 John 1:9

So here’s the thing. Should we use grace as a “get out of jail free card” to sin and do as we please? Obviously not. As a matter of fact, if you can just sin and not feel guilty or desire to repent then you should ask God if you are even saved. But so many of us crucify ourselves over and over again spiritually. And usually, it is the ones who love God who do this. We beat ourselves to death, showing no mercy, and walk around guilt-ridden over ANYTHING we do wrong. For DAYS, and sadly, years for some. If God forgave you, forgive yourself. As one person said, If we condemn our sins we act with God already. So also act like God and forgive yourself.

It is GRACE and not perfection that frees us from condemnation and enables us to live freely, and righteously, for God.

Grace. Amazing Grace. Perfect Grace.

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now I'm found,
Was blind but now I see.

T'was grace that taught my heart to fear
And grace my fear relieved
How precious did that grace appear,
The hour I first believed.

Through many dangers, toils and snares
We have already come
T'was grace that brought us safe thus far
And grace will lead us home.

More to come…

Listen to HCC Online

2006-01-17T10:44:00.000-05:00

Hope Creek Messages now available online.

You can now listen to HCC messages online by going to www.hccmessages.blogspot.com

I hope they are a blessing. Enjoy!

In Memory of Ken Boggs

2006-01-17T10:37:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, I had the honor of officiating at the funeral service of my friend Kenny Boggs. It was a blessing and honor for me to have been able to do that. Ken had fought a long and difficult battle with cancer that had wreaked havoc on his body. We can learn so much from a person fighting cancer and someone who is facing death. Cancer has a sobering effect on our lives. Like having cold water thrown into our faces, cancer is sobering. It alerts the senses to things that matter. It has a way of boiling life down to the essentials. I want to share some observations from my all too brief time talking to and visiting with my friend Kenny. To glean from him some of the wisdom and boiled down elements of living that matter. Things of significance. As I reflected on his life there were four main areas that came to my mind.

Attitude. As I think back over my conversations with Ken as he battled cancer and faced the real possibility of death, one thing that stands out to me was his incredible attitude. His outlook was so hopeful and positive. Life is not what happens to us, but our respone to it that matters most, and Ken’s response was so very admirable. He seemed hopeful and talked of the future even up to the last couple of days of his life. He almost always seemed optimistic. He didn’t wallow about in self-pity when it would have been understandable to have, and many would probably would have. Instead, he demonstrated concern for others. He sent handwritten cards to some 50 co-workers for Christmas. He showed compassion to the medical staff even while in pain. He talked of his work and things he wanted to do around the house. And even though cancer ravaged his body, it did not claim his spirit. When I think about being aggravated waiting at a stoplight, Ken’s attitude is convicting. I believe Ken would say to us “Don’t sweat the small stuff.” “Be positive about life.”

Relationships. As I listened to Ken over the last couple of days of his life, it was apparent to me that he would say to us today to get along, to forgive, to stop fighting, and to love each other. I heard him say that holding grudges is more destructive than cancer. I believe he would say to us that life is just too short. I believe he would say to value people, to value relationships.

Work. Ken worked up until the first of the year, literally until just weeks before he passed. He enjoyed his work and found satisfaction in it. Even when he found out that the cancer had spread, one of the first things he asked his doctor was when he could return to work. And even when it became apparent to him the last week of his life that he probably wouldn’t be able to return to his work, one of his main reasons was that in his weakened condition it would not be fair to his co-workers. In an age when far too many of us see vocation as a drudgery we can learn a lot from the attitude and example of Ken.

Faith. I will never forget sitting beside Ken at the hospital two days before he died. He was weak. He looked frail. He was obviously very ill. Yet he said to me with a serious steadfast determination “The devil can do whatever he wants to me, I WILL NOT give up my FAITH.” I looked him in the eye and said, “Ken, you are saved, right?” And without hesitation and assured he responded “Oh yes!”

Cancer wreaked havoc on my friend’s body but it could not touch his spirit and soul. He believed in and had accepted Jesus Christ as his Lord and Savior. In the end to the naked eye this would seem a story that ended in tragedy. A story where cancer ultimately won. Oh but to the eye of faith one knows better, because the truth of this story was that cancer was the big loser. Because Ken’s faith in Jesus gave him the victory. And though his last breath on this earth may have been drawn through the pain of cancer, his next was one of the celestial air of heaven in the presence of his Lord. Love one. Ken won. Jesus gives the victory. He again reigns triumphant.

"Where, O death, is your victory? Where, O death, is your sting?"

1 Corinthians 15:55

As I thought of Ken’s awesome triumph over cancer through Jesus, the words of this song came to my mind.

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
Born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.

This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior, all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior, all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight,
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
Angels descending bring from above
Echoes of mercy, whispers of love.

Perfect submission, all is at rest
I in my Savior am happy and blest,
Watching and waiting, looking above,
Filled with His goodness, lost in His love.

This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior, all the day long;
This is my story, this is my song,
Praising my Savior, all the day long.

Are you a victor?

A Huge Shout Out to the Clemson Football Staff

2006-01-13T13:45:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to send a HUGE shout out to Jill Wilks from Clemson Football and to Coach Bowden!
I just took at wild shot and called to see if I could get coach to sign a football for my nephew who turns 7 today. I spoke with Jill and she said that if I brought it over, and coach was there, that he wold sign it. And he did! My nephew Zack is going to LOVE it. I heard that it is a big recruiting weekend at CU, so for coach to be willing to sign them for me today just amazed me. Jill was so very nice and helpful. In a world of BIGTIME college atheletics, I appreciate a coach who still takes a moment to make a little boys day. God bless you Coach Bowden. You made an impression on me.

Happy Birthday Zack!

2006-01-13T13:29:00.000-05:00

A HUGE HAPPY BIRTHDAY to my nephew Zack who turns 7 today! He is one of the coolest kids in the whole world and he is my nephew! Zack loves, and I do mean LOVES, football. Playing football. Watching football. Play Station 2 football. Tiger football. Panthers football. Razorback football. The boy is a football fanatic! I can’t wait to give him his present, a glossy orange football with a picture of Death Valley on one side and a personalized autograph from coach Bowden to Zack on the other! Yep, he is going to like that!

I love you buddy. Happy birthday from your Uncle Ta!

Sean Interview

2006-01-12T12:25:00.000-05:00

Here is the video of Sean Shields that was shown this past Sunday.

Sean QuickTime Video

If you don't have QuickTime you can get it here.

In The Hope Light

2006-01-12T09:53:00.000-05:00

I just wanted to take a minute to recognize our band members at HCC. Bruno, Nowell, Dana, Jillian, and Mike. They make a huge commitment to HC and are a huge part of what God is doing at our church. Bruno and Nowell are students and I know it would be easy to put God on the back burner while in college but these guys don’t. They are exceptionally gifted musicians, but more importantly, they are worshipers of Jesus. We have missed Noel a LOT and we are so GLAD to have him back. We miss big Mike a big bunch and hope to possibly have him back soon. Very few people at HC have made more of a commitment to ministry here as Dana has. She has been very faithful over the long haul and she can flat “Brang It” vocally. Jillian has an awesome stage presence that is filled with enthusiasm and worship which I believe is obvious. They give their Thursday nights to practice and are here at like 7:30 am on Sundays. 7:30 AM!!
They do an awesome job and are shining the light of Jesus and of hope at the Creek! So we just wanted to shine a little appreciation hope light on them! To God be the Glory! I love you guys.

For Your Con-Cider-Ation!

2006-01-11T16:43:00.000-05:00

Shout out BIG TIME to Amici’s Coffeehouse and Internet port on Hwy 123 in Seneca. I was at Amici’s a month or so ago and I saw that they had flavored hot apple cider. Not just hot cider mind you, but FLAVORED. Peach pie. Hot Apple pie. And my personal favorite, hot Apple Cider with CARAMEL! Good is not the word. It simply cannot be explained, only experienced.
But I will take a shot. Imagine a gourmet caramel apple that has been melted, liquefied, and steamed into a frothy, aromatic, sensation to be sipped and savored and you will begin, and I say begin, to imagine the taste of a Caramel Apple Cider at Amici’s.

These things are seriously so delicious that one day I stopped by for some and they were OUT of CIDER! I said that I would go get them some cider. Sylvia was like “Are you for real?” So me and W went to BiLo and hand delivered two jugs of the sweet juice from the apple tree. She couldn’t believe it but we had to have the CIDER. Go try one today and tell Trish and Sylvia that Travis sent you so give him one for free!

What does God want?

2006-01-11T15:52:00.000-05:00

What does God want? What is our purpose as Christians? Why does the church exist?
I think most church people could give somewhat of an answer to that. Love God. Care about people. Be saved. Go to church. Witness.

But where do we find the direct, specific, barebones, absolute, unwavering, you MUST get this RIGHT, mission central, Christ-o-centric purpose for the church?

In Matthew 28:18-20 Jesus gives us THE marching orders for the church. Our mission, or Mission Possible, duh duh duh da duh duh duh da (Mission Impossible theme) is to MAKE DISCIPLES! There is no other mission. Make disciples. (period). The mission central for the local church is to help people become disciples, fully devoted followers, of Jesus Christ.

But as significant a question as asking "WHAT are we supposed to do?" is to ask "HOW?" "How do we do this?"

The North Point staff at Andy Stanley’s church has helped us so much to see this as a PROCESS. A think steps, not programs, mentality, from their book 7 Practices of Effective Ministry. Like North Point, we cannot make anyone become a disciple of Jesus, but we can create environments and steps where this can happen. At HCC our strategy for disciple-producing environments is The River of God, which contains three essential elements.

1. The River: Our Sunday morning environment that helps people to discover and develop INTIMACY with God. Encompassing the on-going encouragement for people to develop their personal relationship with God through prayer and Bible study.

2. The Raft: Our LifeGroup environments which help people to discover and develop INTERACTION with others within the church community.

3. The Rapids: Our environments which help people to discover and develop their personal SHAPE for serving so that they can INFLUENCE their world through ministry.

We believe when people connect within these three environments discipleship can occur in their lives and, ultimately, the lives of those around them.

For an awesome real life example of how this process works, see the video post SEAN INTERVIEW where Sean Shields, a cool newcomer to HCC, describes how this process has worked in his life.

The Great Co-Mission. It is why we are here.

Impressed

2005-11-23T12:38:00.000-05:00

I have been thinking about our short term missions team lately. They have been to Venezuela twice now with two more trips scheduled in the next 6-8 months. As I was thinking about what to call this post the word “impressed” came to my mind because that is how I feel toward the team when I see the sacrifice and commitment they make for their ministry to Venezuela. Then I thought no, because they don’t want to be “impressive”. But then I thought about the word “impressed” and I decided to stick with it because that is what they are, they are “IM-pressed” (or perhaps better, IN-pressed). They have the “Impression” of Jesus love for people stamped, or “Impressed” into their hearts. Their sacrifice to raise the funding for these trips is unreal. They walk miles selling programs at Clemson home games. They have waited tables and washed dishes at Mutts barbeque. They are running concessions at Clemson basketball games. They have yard sales. They send out support letters. They invest their own money. Why? They are “Impressed” with Jesus stamp of compassion for the people of Venezuela. When they return you can see a fire, a flame, a blue hot fire, burning in their lives. It is life changing. There is not doubt about it.

Ministry has become a part of “who” they are, not just something they do. Their motivation is internal. Their passion is obvious. Their commitment is solid. This peeks my curiosity because this is how we are “ALL” supposed to live as believers. Sold out. “Who” we are. Internally motivated to give, sacrifice, serve, love. Passionate. Committed. This is the attitude I preach for on Sunday from everyone. I wish this attitude were contagious. Not just for short term missions but for everyday living with the stamp of Jesus’ Impression on us all. I wish I knew better how to spread the “Impression INfection”. So kudos to all of you Venezuela team members and a prayer for all of us to be “Infected.” I am “impressed” by you.

McCreary

2005-11-09T17:46:00.000-05:00

Scott McCreary was in church Sunday. He got a brief four day pass from active duty with the Army Reserves. His wife told me that the one thing he told her to put on the calendar was to come to church on Sunday. I appreciate him so much. And I am terrrible at writing him. He has been gone for about three or four months and has another year or so before he can come home for good. He has two way coold kids Samantha and Brandon. I can't even conceive of how hard that must be. To be away from your wife, children, home, friends, his hunting (smile) for that long. I hope we understand the sacrifice our service men and women are making for freedom. I appreciate them so much. McCreary just brings it close to home that THOUSANDS of wives are waiting for their husbands, husbands are waiting for their wives, children are waiting for their moms and dads. And many, at least 2503 of them now, have made the ultimate sacrifice of their lives.

Let's appreciate them. Pray for them. Go to America Supports You.Com and send a thank you note. Give some money to a military wife. Send a "comfort basket" from home. Shake the hand of a soldier when you see one and tell them that America does support you and we love you.

I honor men like you Scott and I am humbled by you.

God bless you.

Just a randm ranting from a red-headeed reverend. Have you ever thought about it?

Just a little bit more

2005-11-09T17:34:00.000-05:00

I recently put down some fake hardwood laminate in my kitchen/dining room and painted it sage. Actually Tennessee Haze. (How many nn's and ee's and ss's are there in Tenn. anyway?) I got an awesome deal on the flooring at Sam's. I like it. Can I just say that my kitchen rocks. But now, now, I want a new dining room suite. I mean, you can't have a new kitchen and not have new dining room furniture! Now that I am noticing... A cool, islandy ceiling fan would be great in there. And some cool palm tree cups and plates. And a rug for in front of the gas logs for winter with Millie the coolest Springer Spaniel in the world lying on it. And a new sleigh bedroom suite. And a sreened in back porch. And a mosaic light fixture for the foyer. Yep, that would just about do it. Yep. Then that would do it. That and an extra 10 grand a year. You know, just a little bit more?

A survey by the Barna Research Group revealed the average American adult believes he or she needs an additional $8,000-$11,000 per year to live comfortably. Tracking studies show, however, that even when adults reach or exceed the income levels to which they aspired, they still claim, wouldn't you guess it, they need another $8,000-$11,000 to live comfortably.

God knew that.

Whoever loves money never has money enough; whoever loves wealth is never satisfied with his income… Eccles. 5:10 (NIV)

Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, "Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you." So we say with confidence, "The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid…” Hebrews 13:5, 6 (NIV)

So I am learning to enjoy my new kitchen, and for now, my old table, and trying not to be always looking for the next present more...

Just a random ranting from a redheaded reverend. Hve you ever thought about it?

X Factor

2005-11-09T17:04:00.000-05:00

We are in a series at HCC right now called The Road:: Directions for Life's Drive. One thought that has really pegged me this week is that sometimes on the road of life there will inevitably be times when you wonder why? I hear those why questions in my ministry. I even ask some of them myself sometimes. Those moments that we all have on the road when WHY will drain us dry and weary and wondering will set in. Why? Why? Why?

Why am I still single? Why can't I meet someone to share life with? Share Christ with? Why? Why does my brother, husband, wife, mom, dad, have cancer? Why are we broke? Why can't I conceive? Why? Why? Why am I so depressed? Why is my husband in Iraq? Why did my friend, mother, husband, brother die? Why? Why? Why? Why did my Dad leave? Why did my wife have an affair? Why? Why? Why?

Oh that word WHY. Why will bog you down. Why will tire you out. Why will drain you dry. Why will steer you off course. Why?
Sometimes in the Algebra of life there is no formula. And if x has to equal something that makes sense right now, you are in trouble because life just often doesn't work that way.

It is in those moments on life's road when the devil will try to get you to take an exit from God's path. Can you hear him? "What has following God gotten you? Heartache? How could God love you if he allowed......? This exit right here is what you need. Drink this. Take that. Call her. Watch that.
Or, in those weary moments of why a voice inside will whisper "Just give up. Just lay down. Just give in. You can't make it."

Or, you may just be tempted to turn around. "Go back to Egypt" as the Israelites would say. What has following God's path gotten you?

It is in these weary, worn-out, heartaching moments of why, that X has to equal Jesus. We have to give the math to God. Let Jesus into the equation. And when you and I do that we find the strength to carry on. The energy to stay the course. Keep to the road ahead. When we allow X to equal Jesus there is a profoundly new, renewing hope. A renewed, refueled courage. When X equals Jesus a powerful, grace-filled, calming wind from on high begins to fill your sails and we begin to run again, dream again, believe again, try again, carry on.

God says...

Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, "My way is hidden from the Lord; my cause is disregarded by my God"? Do you not know? Have you not heard? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom. He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. Isaiah 40:27-31 (NIV)

Let God be the X factor in your equation. Sometimes WHO is far more important than Why.

Just a random ranting from a red-headed reverend. Have you ever thought about it?

DT in Oregon

2005-11-09T16:33:00.000-05:00

Today I talked with my bud DT out in Oregon. The cat is cool. He is such a great friend and brother. I miss him and Judy so much and wish they would just obey God and move back to God's country! (ok perhaps my will might be mixed in there just a little bit.) He is so good about just listening and encouraging. I can call him up and tell him about all of the ideas that I believe God is showing me and he just encourages me to ride on. He believes so strongly in what God wants to do here at HCC and even wants to be a part of it and he is all the way across the country! I have to admit that I played a large part in him becoming a kinder, gentler more in touch with his "feelings" version of himself (LOL). He and Judy are leading a LifeGroup at their church and DT is involved with sound. I am really proud of them. So shout out to you Oregon man and send me some coffee from your trip to Seattle!

Gratitude

2005-11-09T15:50:00.000-05:00

Here at HCC we have huge God-sized dreams. A problem is that currently we don't have a God-sized budget. SInce our transition to the theater (which has been awesome, by the way) we have had some folks leave who just didn't think they were going the same way we are, and that is ok. However, some of them were regular givers and that left a bit of a crunch. Also, the transition was expensive. The marketing promotion for makeovermyfamily was expensive. Doing creative, media-enriched church is expensive. Staff is expensive. And though this may sound "un-spiritual" to some, the fact is, doing church is expensive. (I thought this was a post about gratitude? ...Hold your horses.) Which brings me to my thought. Our staff is awesome. Our worship pastor is a recent college grad and he works full-time for, well, let's just say way less than full-time wages. And he just doesn't complain about it. He just doesn't. This week for the first time in a long time we had just a very small cash flow issue with payroll. Tuesday our secretary told me she came to work and found his check on her desk. We gave it back to him, and he will probably be mad that I blogged about him, but that is just his heart. The dude is sold out, passionate. He has grown so much since joining us and his music is awesome, his gowth in producing multi-media and graphics is incredible. He is just top-notch. (By the way, it turns out that $400 bucks was found this Sunday that had been missed in one of the popcorn offering buckets. So God did provide, we just accidently missed getting it.)

Our Connections Pastor's attitude is that way too. We received a gift that would staff him for five months until January. So here he is, sold-out, passionate, planning, producing, making impact in our church, passionate about people connecting in LifeGroups and ministry, and we don't even know exactly how he will get paid in January. Some guys would be looking for the door, faxing out resumes. He is just steady on and stead fast. He believes in what God is doing here and passionately wants to be a part of it.

They inspire me. They humble me. They move me honestly almost to tears and to praise God for them being here. I pray that God will provide them the resources necessary so they can do their ministry without having to think about getting by. They are cool. I think they would be the kind of guys that would have been following Jesus around everywhere in first century Israel. I have a sneeky suspicion that they would have been right there with Pete, Jim, and John, right on Jesus' heels, covered in the dust of their Rabbi.

I thank you for them Jesus. I love them.

Just a random ranting from a red-headed reverend.

Have you ever thought about it?

Faith Highway

2005-11-04T11:47:00.000-05:00

We are currently doing a series called The Road: Directions for Life’s Drive. This week’s topic is “Faith Highway”. In Psalm 23 King David makes an incredible statement, he says “even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death (or through the darkest valley), I will fear no evil…” Wow. How can you make a statement like that and be honest? What did this dude know that I need to know? How can you walk through life’s dark valleys and say “I will not fear”? I want to know his secret! Don’t you? I think David had insight into some powerful truths that we all need to tap into. So this week we will be talking about his secrets to turn Fear Freeway into Faith Highway. If you are a “creeker” please don’t read this post or you will be bored during the message Sunday. For anyone else, here are some truths I believe David had hold of that transformed his fear into faith.

I think David would tell us:

1. I will not fear life’s drive because God is my Shepherd.

The Lord is my shepherd… Psalm 23:1

2. I will not fear having enough because God is my Provider.

…I shall not be in want. Psalm 23:1

3. I will not fear running empty because God is my Source.

He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside quiet waters,
he restores my soul. Psalm 23:2-3

4. I will not fear finding my way because God is my Guide. My GPS (God Positioning System).

He guides me in paths of righteousness for his name's sake. Psalm 23:3 (NIV)

5. I will not fear dark valleys because God is my Companion.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death (or through the darkest valley), I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me. Psalm 23:4 (NIV)

6. I will not fear my adversaries because God is my Vindicator.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. Psalm 23:5 (NIV)

7. I will not fear the future because God is my Father.

Surely goodness and love will follow me all the days of my life…Psalm 23:6 (NIV)

8. I will not fear death because God is my Savior.

…and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever. Psalm 23:6 (NIV)

There are all kinds of fears in life. There is even a web site for phobias. It is called Phobialist.com.

There is:

Acrophobia- Fear of heights.
Arachnophobia- Fear of spiders.
Clowns- Coulrophobia. (Kramer!)
Anuptaphobia- Fear of staying single.
Bromidrophobia- Fear of body smells.
Peladophobia: fear of bald people
Ecclesiophobia- Fear of church.
Ablutophobia- Fear of washing or bathing.
Pentheraphobia- Fear of mother-in-law. (LOL)
Alektorophobia- Fear of chickens.
Achluophobia- Fear of darkness.

There are all kinds of fears on life's highway. I believe the thing that will transform our fear into faith is simply determining Who is traveling with us.

One night when I was a boy we thought we had seen a “peeping tom” at our house. There was only me, my little sister, my mom, and my grandmother. No man in the house. I can’t remember who had thought they had seen someone, but I remember us being afraid. We called the police and when they arrived all of a sudden my fear was gone. I mean I even got a little cocky. I remember being out in the back yard (with the officers) yelling “Come on out now you peeping tom! Where are you now?” All of a sudden my fear was transformed into courage. What had happened? One thing. My fear vanished because of WHO was with me. I wasn’t afraid anymore, not because of my strength, but the officers’. I think David learned the same lesson. He didn’t need to fear life’s dark valleys because of WHO was with him. “I will fear no evil, for you are with me…” (Psalm 23:4)
The same can be true for me and you. When we commit our way to Christ then He promises to walk with us, everywhere, always, and yes, even through the dark valleys. So why would we fear?

A random ranting from a redheaded reverend. Have you ever thought about it?

Word

2005-10-28T14:55:00.000-04:00

Word. Word-up. I know, I know, that is so yesterday. But I was thinking this week about that word… word. Words. They flow so freely, don’t they? What, we speak about 20,000, or so, words a day, or something like that? Words. We pour them out, and pour them on. But I wonder how often we really think about what we are saying. I wonder if we really think about the power that is in what we say. The bible says:

The tongue has the power of life and death, and those who love it will eat its fruit. (Proverbs 18:21). Life and death. Word.

I went out to dinner this week with a new couple at our church. (Shout out to Sean, Alicia, and their cool kid, Adan.) They were so very, very, encouraging to me. Man, I mean they went on about how much they were enjoying church, about how much they liked the messages, the music, my cool clothes (just kidding). They noticed how much effort we put into creativity and multi-media. I just walked away from them feeling great. Uplifted. Top of the world.

Then, the next day, I found myself on the phone with my computer company. They had messed up an order and did, what I thought to be, a pretty bad job of customer service in the process. So when I called them and spoke with a customer service rep, who had nothing to do with the mix up, I was pre-aggravated. I could feel it in my heart. I was half mad from the out-set. I went through the whole spill, got transferred to a supervisor, went through the whole spill again, and during the conversations I thought to myself, “Man, what are you doing? Why are you being rude? The people you are talking to had nothing to do with it anyway.” I was convicted. During the remainder of the time I tried to be nicer. I hung up thanking the lady for helping me and for solving the problem. But I still felt crappy. I, honest to goodness, turned in my chair, look at my bookshelf where there is a cross with the love chapter engraved on it, and fixed my eyes to the very words, “love is not rude”. No joke. And the truth is God has it right, love is not rude. I repented and asked for God’s forgiveness. I am not saying that we can’t stand up for ourselves or that we should just be a door mat for everyone to run over, but we should think about what we say and how we say it. I probably added grief to two people’s day for no good reason.

I decided that I wanted to use my words to encourage someone, build them up, show them appreciation, cause them to feel good. So I did. I picked up the phone one day and called someone, left them a very encouraging, heartfelt, message of appreciation and gratitude.
It felt good.

I once went to a conference where one of the speakers said that our words should be like “gifts”, like “silver boxes with bows on top.” Then I, along with a buddy, went to a gas station where I saw this babe (I can say that, I’m single). I told my buddy that I would like to give her a silver box with a bow on top and me inside it! He said, “Oh, you mean a gag gift?” Smart aleck.

The message paraphrase says,

Words kill, words give life; they're either poison or fruit—you choose.
Proverbs 18:21

So word up. How about your words? They can encourage or discourage, build up or tear down, cause laughter or tears, joy or sadness, inspire or deflate, promote or destroy, grip or show gratitude, gossip or pray, appreciate or depreciate, love or hate, complain or compliment, they have life or death.

Perhaps it would do us all some good to run what’s about to come out of our mouths by our brain before we say it.

Just a random ranting from a red-headed reverend. Have you ever thought about it?

Oh, and, by the way, thank you for reading this post. I wish you a great, wonderful, joy-filled day. Whoever you are, you are one special dude or dudette to God and He has no one else quite like you anywhere. I think the word for that is… rare. Things that are rare are usually valuable. And so are you.

Preying on Praying

2005-10-21T18:15:00.000-04:00

I saw in the newspaper the other day that the ACLU was again attacking prayer at council meetings. Most of us have the same reaction to that…that is ridiculous. I can hear us now “I can’t believe they are trying to take prayer out of meetings!” “Our country was founded on prayer and God!” “Those people are crazy.” “What is their problem?” “That is what’s wrong with our country now; people don’t want you to pray!” “Look at what happened when they took prayer out of the schools!” (Which, by the way, as long as there are pop tests, and essays, and Trig, there will always be prayer in schools.) Oh, I can just hear us now. Riled up.

However, this post is not about just slamming the ACLU again. Most of us know their philosophy is whacked. My curiosity is more about those of us who get so angry about them not wanting us to pray. My curiosity is this…do those of us who so readily defend the right to pray…pray? Do those of us who say that the problem with the world is people don’t want us to pray… do we pray? I.E. do we practice what we preach? My gut tells me that there are many who say “Boy, I tell you what, that is what’s wrong with the world today, people trying to take prayer out.”, who haven’t had a non meal time talk with God since they over slept two weeks ago and were driving like a bat out of Hades trying not to be late for work! Even us Christians, and too often, even me, who believe so strongly in the right to pray, do we take advantage of that right? Those of us who have access, constant, ready access to the very throne of God, do we act on it? I know that there isn’t a chance that I could get in to the Oval Office today to speak with W. I couldn’t pick up the phone right now and chat with the Governor. Foot, I doubt if I could just pick up the phone and even talk with the mayor right now. But God’s word tells me that I have constant, instant, 24x7 access to the very throne of God. (Did you get that?) Through what Jesus Christ did for me, I have an extravagant privilege… and awesome responsibility. And if you are a believer in Jesus, so do you.

Now I am certainly not saying that we shouldn’t continue to defend the right to prayer, but that we should act on that right far more often. Perhaps we just might win some of the ACLU to the JCLU (Jesus Christ Liberated Union).

There is a picture that I love of the Oval Office. It was taken during the Kennedy administration. It is picture of president Kennedy sitting as his desk and Jon Jon (JFK Jr.), who was about three at the time, is underneath his dad’s desk playing. What access. What an incredibly safe place to be. How did that kid get that kind of access to the most powerful man in the world? Simple. He was a son. The picture reminds me of the amazing access we have to our Father in Heaven. The Oval Throne room. The Father’s “desk”. And we can, at any time, go right in to the most powerful One in the universe, tell Him all our troubles, find wisdom for all our needs, and yes, be in the safest place in the world, because we too are… sons, and daughters.

Wow.
What a privilege.

What opportunity.

What responsibility.

So perhaps the question isn’t only “Can we pray?”, but rather “Do we?”

Just the random ranting of a redheaded reverend.

Have you ever thought about it?

Tail-Gate Gate

2005-10-20T11:50:00.000-04:00

Sadly, there are all kinds of gates: There was Water-Gate, Whitewater-Gate, Monica-Gate, WMD-Gate...etc, etc.
And today I must confess there is Tail-Gate Gate. You see, this year for the first time ever, we purchased season tickets for Clemson home games. The only real reason I did it was to share the experiences with my nephew Zack. And I have to admit, I just don't get it. I don't get all of the hullabaloo. Now put that rock down. Before you stone me hear me out. So many people seem to get it. I mean get INTO it. I mean make it tradition. For many, Saturday home games in Death Valley are part of the fabric of their family lives and relational heritage. They live for Saturdays during football season. Their emotions from Friday to maybe Tuesday (maybe longer) ebb and flow based largely on how the Tigers fare on Saturday. They get it. They are INTO it. They put flags and tiger tails on their cars. Dress orange and dress up. They get chicken, and lots of it. The paint paws on their faces. Many even have their own game day vehicles decorated in Tiger. They eat and eat well. They toss the pigskin around. They laugh and talk and sideline coach. They live for game day. They are into it. The tigers come down the hill, the band that shakes the south land plays Tiger Rag and the loyal followers think to themselves (and maybe even out loud) "Does it get any better than this?!" When it comes to Tail-Gate-- THEY GET IT.

But I don't think I do. Thus we have Tail-Gate Gate. Don't get me wrong. I enjoy it. I like sitting around eating some chicken. I like hanging out with family and friends. I even get into the games. The Miami game was awesome! I even have my own self a bit jacked up just describing game day! But I confess that really, truly, you know deep down, I look around at them and I really don't get it. I could go to a couple of big games a year, or even one, and be satisfied. And although it pained me to see them lose to Miami and Boston College, it wasn't anything like the way I feel when my Tarheels play Duke. I enjoy seeing the Tigers win. I pull for them. But it isn't like the way I feel about the Braves in the post season or even Mickelson holing out a birdie to win at Augusta. Nope, I must admit, I don't get it. What is all the hullabaloo about? Tail-Gate.

So what is the point of this random ranting? Well, I muse that perhaps that is how it seems to the angels of heaven as they watch us respond to God. They see our half-hearted worship. They see us yawn at our bibles. They see us get so caught up in this world that we barely pay attention to preparing for the next one and they must scratch their heads (or halos), and look upon us and think to themselves, "Those humans, they just don't get it, do they?" They have access to know Creator God, Jehovah, Yahweh, but they struggle to even find time to communicate with Him. They have access to the writings, the very thoughts of God, (God's blog, if you will), yet they seem to have such little interest in knowing what He said. They rally in the valley, but too often yawn in worship. Those humans. They don't get it. We really wish they did. How awesome it would be if His children lived for Sundays. If there whole weeks were a build up for Heaven-Gate! If their hearts were stirred each week to see what plays Coach Lord Jesus was calling for their lives. And then ran them with an all out passion and assault on the true enemy, the evil one. What if game day was really Sunday, foot EVERY day, and the theme that rocked the south land was 'Amazing Love how can it be, that You my King would die for me? Amazing love I know it's true, and it's my joy to honor You. In all I do. I honor You.'"
Worship God style. Heaven-Gate. Hallelujah.

Just a random ranting of a red headed reverend. Have you ever thought about it?

Looking Up To My Little Sister

2005-10-18T11:21:00.000-04:00

Two weeks ago my family received some heart-breaking news. My little sister's invitro fertilization was unsuccessful. She was not pregnant. She was devastated.

Last year our family received an awesome, incredible miracle. On their first invitro try, my sister became pregnant and gave birth to our little miracle baby Levi. We were overjoyed at what God had done and with this wonderful addition to our family. My sister and her husband had gone through years and years of praying and tears yearning for this child. Hannah's story in the bible became her story as well as she longed for this baby. And with such an awesome successful miracle on the first try and many remaining frozen embryos, we were wondering what we were going to do with all these kids! But on the next try only four embryos survived. Three were implanted and the fourth didn't survive the refreeze process. This would be the last chance.

Then the news came...negative. No baby. It didn't take. We were heart broken. But none more than my little sister. When I called to check on her, her husband told me she was devastated. That is the word he used, devastated. He said that she had gone home and had lied down. I can't begin to tell you how very worried and concerned for her we were. We had just thought she would be pregnant. God had done so much for us. How could it not have worked? And now with thousands and thousands of dollars spent, and no money or embryos remaining, all that was left was sorrow, weariness, devastation, and...........oh yeah, her faith.

What happened next, I can only say amazed me. My sister rallied with the cry of the faith from her heart and in her God. She sprang back with a faith nothing short of astounding. Only a few days later she is co-hosting a baby shower, a BABY shower, for one of her dearest friends and celebrated God's gift with her. A few days later she made a renewed commitment to the Lord in the area of giving. (She has since made a commitment to serve in the church nursery...with the BABIES!)

That Sunday evening the incredible occurred. My sister's father and mother-in law called her and her husband downstairs at their house. They told them that they had decided to do something they believed God wanted them to do...... They had decided to pay for another round of invitro! Pay for it! My sister and her husband were blown away. The next day they found out that their invitro doctor could possibly get them into a clinical study which would save thousands off the cost, but the study had closed. The doctor and his staff reached out with all they could do and, wouldn't you know it, got them IN! The doctor said that she was an excellent candidate and they just didn't know what happened the last time.

Amazing. Amazing faith. Amazing grace.

I am amazed at God. He is always good. He is always powerful. He is always in control. I am also amazed at my little sister. At a time when doubt, discouragement, and disillusionment could have sank her, her faith stood strong. I have a new found pride in her. I am looking up at my little sister.

The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge. He is my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. Psalm 18:2

A not so random thought from a redheaded reverend. Have you ever thought about it?

the chocolate of great price

2005-10-14T13:51:00.000-04:00

A parable.

Once upon a time there was a pastor (ok it was today, and it was me) who had a pang of hunger (ok, ok, a sweet tooth) and he journeyed across the land to the local market (aka the service station beside the office) and whence therefore came upon a discovery. A discovery of discoveries. A discovery whicheth took him to a new and henceback unknown realm of chocolate bliss and pleasure. The discovery...
a limited edition Reese's Extra smooth, Extra creamy, peanut butter cup. Might I say that the young pastor (ok 40'ish) gladly took the money he had and purchased the chocolate of great worth, and proceeded back to his den of origin (ok, my office) and proceedeth to enjoy, no, lose myself in, no, experience an up-to-eth now unknown sensation of chocoale and peanut butter pleasure...reese's chocolate peanut butter paradise.

And as any conscientious, fine young prince (ok prince may be a stretch) would do, I hereby proceedeth to share this wonderful tell and discovery in the hopes that you too, oh blogger world, may discover for yourselves this limited, and again I say limited, edition of chocolate peanut butter bliss, the Reese's Extra smooth, Extra creamy, peanut butter cup.

Just a random ranting of a redhead reverend. Have you ever thought about it?

I wanted to be a Christian but Religion got in the way

2005-10-14T12:31:00.000-04:00

One of the biggest obstacles as a pastor in helping people to become Christ followers (and I am certainly not there yet myself) is RELIGION. It, interestingly enough, was one of Jesus' greatest problems as well. Religion is much, much easier than relationship. Not more rewarding, not by a long shot. But easier. And it is an obstacle in helping people see the difference between the two, both for the churched and the un-churched. What's the difference?

Religion can be about a Place, relationship is about a Person.
Religion is about the right rules, relationship about the right, well, relationship.
Religion is about what I do, relationship is about Who I know.
Religion is external, relationship is internal.
Religion is obeying because I have to, relationship is following because I want to.
Religion is spelled "Do", relationship is spelled "Done".
Religion is obeying to get God to love me, relationship is obeying because he already does.
Religion is "I have to" follow God, serve God, obey God, witness, worship, serve, be devoted, relationship is "I get to."
Religion is about me choosing God, relationship is about God choosing me.
Religion is when I can put God in a box. 11:00 am Sunday. Relationship is when I put God in my heart. 24x7.
Religion can make me "feel" righteous, relationship makes me righteous.
Relgion makes me "holier than thou", relationship makes me say "Holy art Thou."

I want to help people become Christ followers. I wish religion would stop getting in the way.

Just a random ranting of a redheaded reverend. Have you ever thought about it?

What You See Is What You Get

2005-10-13T14:44:00.000-04:00

"What you see is what you get!" was a popular line in an old tv show. I think it was Flip Wilson. I am discovering that there is a lot of truth in that statement when it comes to perspective in life. Perspective, or perhaps better said, focus, is a powerful influencer in our daily living. I once read, "Two men looked through prison bars. One saw mud, the other saw stars." The difference-- focus. This is what I know: Attitude plays a large part in determining outcome. If I choose, and it is a choice, to focus on... what I wish I had, what I wish I had done, what I wish someone else would do, or what they shouldn't have done, what went wrong, what didn't go as expected....ie, the mud, then the outcome of that is, well, bad.

So, a question. Why not look up? Why not choose, and it IS a choice, to focus on... what I do have, what I did do well, what others did right, those who are an inspiration, a future that is bright (Jeremiah 29:11), on Who is with me (Matt 28:20), and for me (Romans 8:31), ...ie, the stars?

Chuck Swindoll said ...words can never adequately convey the incredible impact of our attitude toward life. The longer I live the more convinced I become that life is 10% what happens to us and 90% how we respond to it. I believe the single most significant desicion I can make on a day-to-day basis is my choice of attitude. It is more important that my past, my education, my bankroll, my successes or failures, fame or pain, what other people think of me or say about me, my circumstances, or my position. Attitude keeps me going or cripples my progress. ...It alone fules my fire or assaults my hope. When my attitude is right, there's no barrier too high, no valley too deep, no dream too extreme, no challenge too great for me.

He is right.

Focus is a choice. My persective matters much.

A pastor speaking to a group of preaching students once said,
"When you speak of heaven, let your face light up. When you speak of hell, well, then your everyday face will do."!

Mud.

Stars.

Positive.

Negative.

Hope.

Dismay.

They are choices. So will we get up tomorrow and say "Good morning Lord!" or will we get up tomorrow and say negatively "Good Lord, it's morning."

The difference will be in our focus.

Just a random ranting of a redheaded reverend. Have you ever thought about it?

Blog Fog

2005-10-13T12:55:00.000-04:00

Hello blogees and bloggers. I am lead pastor of a "modern" styled church that meets in a theater in Seneca, SC. A confession. When it comes to the exposion of blogging technology, I readily admit that I have been in the fog about the blog. However, the gift of having post-moderns on my staff has helped me to remain at least not too far behind with the times. So I thought, "why not blog?" Therefore, today is my first post in a blog trial. I suppose this will be a collection of "random rantings from a redhead reverend" falling into the category of reflective ponderings. Up front, I concede that though my inner man sees what I would like to say, and perhaps even how to say it, my use of puncuation is lacking. So if you can get past the poor punc, to the thought that awaits you, you may too be provocked to curiosity and wonder "Have I ever thought about that?"

My First Post

2005-10-13T11:30:00.000-04:00

Hello Blogging World! My blog is up and running. Stay tuned for more very soon!