I was asked to tape a message to place on the website of Messiah as a thank you for all of those that had joined us for the Christmas season and events. The script was fairly straight forward… after two days of taping of which the first day I was feeling dreadfully ill we ended up with a good video “thank you” message as seen below.
After that work was done someone got their hands on all of the footage from the two days and made an out takes video of the whole thing. I said that I would post it for all to see so here goes.
This upcoming week my wife and I are taking a huge step forward in bringing a small dream that we have to the next level. The full back story of the dream will come as the process moves forward. So why write about it now? A wise friend gave me this counsel:
When God gives you a vision for something you need to write it down and do something about it. Christians have walked away from God’s command to steward the whole planet, which is why so many people have picked up the call even though they don’t believe that God created it in the first place. Collaboration is important to sparking innovation. But innovation should not be slowed by pride (people wanting credit for the new ideas). There are business strategies that are creating the potential of unleashing opportunity like never before.
So we are taking the steps to write it out in legal form so that something can be done about and with it. The glorification of this work shall not be placed on us but to the Lord, it is all about the Kingdom impact through a vision that has been given.
This is the first recipe we have tried out of the Beachbody Power 90 Recipe Book. Delicious!
Vegetarian Curry
1/2 onion, diced
1 Tbsp curry powder
1 cup vegetable stock
3 oz tomato paste
1 small garlic clove, minced
1 cup chickpeas
1/2 cup tomatoes, chopped
1/2 cup cauliflower, chopped
1 cup cooked brown rice
Prepare brown rice according to package directions. Saute onion and garlic in 1 Tbsp of stock until tender. Add remaining stock, chickpeas, vegetables, and tomato paste; stir together. Sprinkle in curry powder and mix well. Simmer for 10 minutes or until cauliflower is tender. Serve over rice. Serves 2.
For those of you that know Sean Bartley, one of the amazing baristas at journeys coffeehouse, you will know that Sean has always seemed to have this long hair that he loves. Just over a week ago now two of us were joking with Sean on shaving his head… the matter quickly came to that if we could raise $500 basically overnight he would shave his head and donate all of the money to breast cancer research. To all of our amazement we were able to raise not $500 but over $1000.
So today we gathered at journeys coffeehouse as well as online via a live streaming of the event to share in this amazing story. Sean has is hair dresser of many years, Kathy, come out to do the honors. We had several breast cancer survivors join us in person as well as on the live stream.
We just wanted to share the story and one man’s step in helping fight to find a cure. Please don’t let the fight end with just one event, keep on fighting for the cure.
For those that are on Facebook, there is a full photo collection here.
Sean, thank you for letting me play a small part in this awesome event and the fight for the cure. You are an amazing man and this was an awesome change.
It is blueberry season here in Michigan. One of the ways that we like to enjoy blueberries is in the following blueberry muffin recipe.
Blueberry Muffins
1/2 cup butter
2 cups flour
1 1/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 cups blueberries
Preheat the over to 350 degrees. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. Cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs to the butter mixture and blend well. Add the milk and the flour mixture and beat until combined. Fold in the blueberries. Fill muffin tin sections 2/3 full and bake 25 to 30 minutes. If you wish sprinkle a small amount of raw sugar on the top of the muffins before baking.
This recipe has been requested by some friends at work, so here it is. … looks like a flop while you are making it, turns out awesome in then end.
Rhubarb Cobbler
4 cups chopped rhubarb
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup milk
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup sugar
1 tsp cornstarch
1 cup boiling water
Evenly distribute rhubarb on bottom of baking dish (8×8 in original, we used a 9×13). Cream together sugar (1/2 cup), butter, milk, flour, baking powder and salt. Pour mixture over the top of the rhubarb. Combine sugar (1 cup) and cornstarch and sprinkle over the stop of the creamed topping. Pour boiling water of the top of the whole thing and bake for 60 minutes at 350 F.
We it hot out of the oven with a little bit of ice cream. This one originally comes from my dad, it is awesome.
The first in what are going to be some new posts to post some of my and my families favorite recipes. This first one of marinated tomatoes comes to us from our wonderful friend Jennifer. They are simply a wonderful addition to a meal in the summertime when the tomatoes are at their peak.
So what is up on this end… I use to be a power blogger and now it seems as though I have dropped of the face of the blogsphere? I am here but my public writing has fallen off a bit so here is a slight catch up on some happenings.
I had the wonderful pleasure of joining with Third Place Consulting in helping to open up a cafe. It was an amazing time of ministry, leadership and training. As a side note… remember “ceramic works far better than paper when drinking coffee in the shower”.
From a local ministry perspective, this past Easter was the first since I have been full time at Messiah, that is a learning experience of really understanding what work / life balance is. For those that have never been in employed full time ministry with at church, there as you would guess are two times that the work load goes up: Christmas and Easter. This does not discount any and all of the other worship services that happen throughout the year, but those are two key opportunities to reach out and there is extra effort placed in those times. If for some in America that are CEO Christitan (Christmas and Easter Only) than that is a key and curcial time to pour the love and salvation message into everyone that enters in either physically or virtually.
Virtually, what the heck do I mean by that? One of the first items that we took on at Messiah was to launch a live streaming worship experience. Messiah currently offers a live streaming worship service every Sunday at 9:30 eastern time. We have blown the doors of the church and said that no matter where you are in the world, if you would like to worship with this faith family, then join us in worship online and give glory and honor to Jesus just like if you were sitting in the physical worship center. Some time has passed now and we have most of the bgs worked out, a few more to go. I am so honored to be a part of getting it off the ground and seeing it start to take a footing. I was amazing the first time that we were able to witness someone through this streaming service give their life to Christ, that makes all the hours worth it. All honor to Jesus for a transformed life and I am humbled to be a part in it. If you would care to join it you can find it at Messiah On Demand.
journeys is still rockin’ away and I continue to see it as a valuable ministry tool to connect people, develop leaders and fund causes. They just posted a brief on the latest cause the help to fund… nothing but life transformation and life saving.
Right now I am jacked to see spring is here and to enjoy being outside with my family. Our oldest is starting soccer this year and she could not be happier. Our youngest is still pushing in teeth, so that is a bit rough, but is all over the place and is bundle of joy and love. My lovely wife is doing well, she is an amazing woman of God, awesome wife and unbelievable mother. She is getting close to finishing up a large project at work and balances it all so well. I can’t wait for the backpacking trips this season… I totally missed out last year with the bad knee.
Have you ever been curled up in the fetal position wondering if you made the right decision to enter full time ministry?
Anne Jackson brings this very issue to light in her book Mad Church Disease: Overcoming The Burnout Epidemic. Instead of internalizing the fears, anger, sadness, and other emotions that can sometimes lead to and result in burnout, she encourages us as leaders to look to accountability people who can help us see the path that God has for us and stay closely on it.
Since I had allowed spending time with God to be replaced by spending time doing things for God, my spiritual tank had been sucked dry. When that happened, I began to lose perspective on almost every area of my life. My defenses were down, and I allowed myself to start believing little lies the enemy would throw into my path.
Mad Church Disease is a well written path through the troubled road that one might walk in ministry. Anne writes from the heart with very authentic and real life examples from her own walk as well as friends that have walked the road as well. We applaud her courage for bringing the epidemic into the light and encouraging the rest of us to respond well to the challenges that ministry presents.
Thanks Anne for aiding in keeping us aware of staying fully grounded in God’s Word and time alone with our Savior. Reading this has also helped us be aware others whom may be facing these challenges as they lead in their ministries. It reinforces the need to surround ones self with authentic accountability and ensuring that one takes time away to relax and recharge.
We are recommending this book to our other ministry leaders that we serve along side. It would be well for every ministry team to read and understand what could happen and guard against it.
Have you ever been curled up in the fetal position wondering if you made the right decision to enter full time ministry?