Grow Up and Serve.

How do you know if someone is maturing in his or her faith? Some Christians have a set of matrix to measure spiritual growth and in turn others by. Is someone mature in their faith if they’ve defeated the “giants” in their life like additions, or maybe have 100 Bible verses memorized? That’s not to say that victory over sin issues in your life or that studying or memorizing the Bible isn’t important because they are.

But one thing sets leaders, those who understand that they are called to be disciples of Jesus apart from those who just follow. Service!

You are growing/maturing in your walk with Christ when you know that you are here to serve others not be served by them. This doesn’t meet we don’t need others. Christ describes the church as His body. His body is like the human body with all different parts like arms and legs, each with different functions. We need each other.

True leaders serve. Jesus washed his disciples feet not because they were dirty. Fact is they were probably really dirty! No, he washed their feet to demonstrate a servant’s heart.

After all, washing someone’s feet (or the equivalent) is not a job for a king but for a servant/slave, right? That’s what we find in most cultures. That’s what we find in most organizations, companies, and for that matter relationships and marriages. When Jesus washed their feet he once again demonstrated a life that was filled with humility, grace, compassion. It’s just another glimpse of God’s heart and how far He is willing to go for us. Even to the cross.
Grow in your faith by serving someone, somehow, somewhere today. Someone right where you live and/or work.

Our Update Jan. 21

Time for a little update. This will be a bigger than normal update because It's been a while since I've posted anything or since we've been in contact. Things are going great but I’ve/we’ve been very busy. For those who don’t yet know, we have bought a house. Our closing date is this Thursday Jan. 24th. We are very excited about getting into our own place! It’s not far from Paula’s sisters, about 15-20 min. and it’s about 15 min. from the church where I’m working.

I‘m spending a lot of time at our church helping out in several capacities. I just finished organizing and teaching a three hour workshop on personal finances. Over the past month and a half the preparation for the workshop has taken up a lot of my time and energy. I’m very glad that it is over so I can focus on some other projects.

The gentleman that had been in charge of cleaning the church just moved away from the area so Pastor Clay asked if I would be willing to help out in that capacity for a short time. Clay thought of me because they were paying the gentleman to keep the facility clean, so until the church can bring me on as a paid staff member this would help us out financially. It will be vital for me to build a team of volunteers to assist in the weekly cleaning of the facility. To clean the facility thoroughly it takes about 20 hours a week.

My main function within the church is Director of Community Groups, which is like a pastor in training because we plan on planting additional campuses/worship locations around the area. One of the main goals in 2008 for our church, especially the Community Group ministry is to help our members enlarge their visions for ministry. Each of us are called to get off the sidelines and into the game. I'm working closely with my community group leaders, helping them see themselves as ministers, and equipping them to do the work of the ministry. We believe that community/small groups are important because as Christ followers we grow as we do life together with other Christians. We will never be all that we can be if we try to do life by ourselves.

In 2007 the church launched a second Sunday service and now our weekend attendance is nearing 750. We are scheduled to have three services on Easter this year with that third service being a permanent addition going forward.

Personal note: Paula is doing well. She is working three days a week as a nurse. Chloe is doing well. I am loving and learning much in my three days a week Mr. Mom role.

*Many of you knew that I was planning on beginning Graduate studies. For various reasons that plan is on hold. My main purpose for Graduate studies was to be better equipped as a leader/minister. I'm still open to the idea of doing graduate work in the future but the things that I am doing and learning "on the job" are keeping me busy and training me to be a better minister.

Please feel free to respond to any postings or email me directly. We love you all.