kids fest

Don't forget, no service tonight. Everyone is invited to Paradise Park at I-470 and Colbern rd. in Lee's Summit for Kids Fest.

God help me

God help me today.
-Help me to not take myself too seriously.
-Help me to admit my mistakes and learn from them.
-Help me to appreciate the life you have given me.
-Help me to live life today with tomorrow in mind.
-Help me to have a willingness to learn.
-Help me to grow in your wisdom.
-Help me to add value to someone else's life.
-Help me to choose what I say carefully.
-Help me to be a better husband and father.
God help me today so at the end of the day, I can say with full confidence I am better off than I was when I opened my eyes this morning.

Moment of truth

I have been somewhat hesitant about this subject, but I feel like it needs to be opened. For the last nearly 20 years of my life I have watched friends and those I knew only by names, walk away from church and eventually God. These are people that were raised in our Assembly of God churches, most of them by Christian parents. But somewhere along the line, something was missing, because they continue to step away from a relationship with Christ. It's like a continual epidemic. What happened? I think I have some insight because I have first hand knowledge. I grew up in church with the best parents. I was surrounded by Christianity. But when high school hit and then college came, I began to walk away from what seemed like too much of what was talked about but never lived out. Then there came a day in my adult life that I had drifted so far away from God that I believe he sent out possibly one of his last life preservers. And it was at that moment I believe for the first time that I put God on the throne of my life. You see I said the prayer and ask Jesus into my heart at the age of eight. And the stats keep telling us we have to reach them at a younger and younger age. But I believe in every persons life there comes a moment when the gaunlet is thrown down and you will either embrace a growing life with Christ or pull the plug. There is a reason why the Bible tells us when someone comes to Christ and knows the truth, then walks away, it would be better if they had never known. It is because of the suttle hardening of your heart towards the things of God. God will not allow his grace to be made a mockery of. My heart splits wide open whenever I think of those that I knew so well that have turned their lives over to the world. I know that some of them read this blog. So let me be as plain and to the point as I can. There is no amount of talking, preaching, or sobbing that can convince you to run to God. You can either choose to have your moment of truth now and stop the games or you can have your moment of truth when you kneel at the feet of Jesus to receive judgement. It's your call.

The student from Englewood is safe and back home now. Thank you for your prayers.

prayer request

I received an urgent prayer request this morning from Pastor Brad at Englewood. A high school girl that attends Englewoood school and is also a member of the youth group and their worship team, disappered last night. Shen went to Independence Center and has never come home. Please pray for her right now.

If you missed the Extreme Makeover video or would like to view it again, here is the link...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rj9oWXx7j6o

No loners

On Saturday I had the privelage to speak to some of our guys at the prayer breakfast. I want to give you the condensed version so you can give it some thought this week at work. Here's the question...Do people come to you? At work, in your family, among your friends; do people come to you to ask your opinion, to ask for prayer, for insight, etc. If they do, why do they? If they don't, why not? When Jesus walked the earth, people always came to him. And don't play the "well he's God card". Everything he has, he offers to you. So people should be coming to you, because of what is inside you. And it's not a pride thing, just the opposite. Who should the world be going to looking for life help and direction? But it is also possible that people may be coming to you for the wrong thing. People do it all the time. Are they coming to you to be fed a healthy diet or do you feed the disease they already have? Gossip, poor atttitudes, bitterness, rebellion...
So this week, just think about it...can a healthy Christian really be a loner?

What a Day!

Sunday was just too awesome! First, we were able to hear some great insight from the ladies conference that took place last week. The ladies who shared really gave us some insight into what a powerful conference it really was. (I am trying to get my wife to sit down and share some more on this blog about the conference) Then we watched the video that Jordan Mills and Pastor Chris prepared from Extreme Makeover. It was incredible to see the transformation in a 3 minute time period. My only complaint was somehow the shot of Ron falling through the floor with a sledgehammer, ended up on the cutting room floor. We also honored some of the people that went above and beyond to make makeover a success. And the icing on the cake was an incredible Bears victory over the Green Bay Packers! Sorry Chiefs fans.

Fire at will

Do we blame the devil or not? Often times as Christians we have a tendancy to give the enemy way too much credit. Many times what is going wrong in our lives has to do with unwise choices we have made. However, there is no doubt in my mind when you are in the center of God's will, satan will intentionally and relentlessly throw his arsonal in your path to divert you away from God's plan and purpose. This week, in the ministry of TPC is a great example. We just came off an incredible week of the makeover project where people inside the church and outside were impacted. Then this week is the women's conference. In other words we stirred up a hornet's nest. Myself and several other people just that I know of personally, have been bombarded with missles from the enemy. It's been rough. But I want you to know, I couldn't be happier or more excited! No, seriously! As the body of Christ we are advancing forcefully and the devil can't stand it. I never will be able to be in a church that is not smack dab on the front lines. This is where the action is. Don't ever retreat, keep firing!

makeover '07

WOW! UNBELIEVABLE! INCREDIBLE! I could go on and on with words trying to describe the last 7 days. There is nothing that compares to the week of extreme makeover. The challenge seemed too big. But we prayed and you did it. With God's favor, strength and wisdom, you did it. There is freedom when you exchange your religious garments for serving clothes. The true test of having a servants heart is when you don't mind it when people treat you like a servant. As a church we preached 7 messages in 7 days on servanthood through this makeover to a community. A neighborhood was inspired, we were blessed, and Wanda is exstatic. We capped it off with a service yesterday where God was present to honor your faithfulness. I'm proud of you. I can't wait for the next challenge.