chazzdaddy

Archive for February, 2009|Monthly archive page

to the max.

In church planting journey on February 25, 2009 at 1:46 pm

That’s how we feel right now. Ever been there?

I can’t even describe what happened at NH last weekend as they honored us for serving as their pastor. Person after person lined up to thank us and tell us that we had changed their lives forever and to wish us nothing but God’s blessing as we “go do it for people like me.” We were overwhelmed. I likened it to a funeral line without the body. Tears and hugs everywhere.

What a weekend. THANK YOU NEW HOPE! We thank our God every time we remember you for your PARTNERSHIP in the GOSPEL! [Phil 1]

But it wasn’t about us. Check this: 30-40 people trusted CHRIST as SAVIOR and we had a spontaneous baptism in a kiddie pool at the last service. It was so off the chain, that I won’t even try to describe it. ONLY GOD.

I am stacked appointment to appointment and person to person and event to event over the next few weeks. Utah tomorrow for 6 days to pray and interview. Actually gone as much as I am home over our last month home.

We had our first Utah launch team informational meeting last night where we have around 30+ interested in joining the work in Utah. Including 7 online, 1 of which is joining us out west. Once again…ONLY GOD. Are you kidding me?

Hosted an on-line small town ministry gathering yesterday where we had up to 20 people join us to talk about what God is doing in small town America. What a blessing that was!

THE STICKS conference in less than 3 weeks where we will see many, many lives encouraged, strengthened and challenged at BRAND NEW CHURCH. REGISTERED YET?

This crazy church is heating it up in ALABAMA where we will be for 3-4 months before heading to Utah to be full time consultants to help shape what God is doing in their ministry. Can’t wait to hang with them!

All of this while trying to get houses sold, details arranged, funds raised…to the max…told ya.

But there is no place else I would rather be. There are a lot of things that could max us out. Glad I can do this for OUR KING!

Thanks for praying. Thanks for being bold. Thanks for being a family to our family. Thanks for your love. And thanks be to GOD for HIS INDESCRIBABLE GIFT. He is worth maxing out for! Let’s take new ground in JESUS NAME [and don't forget to keep it real with yourself, your family, your God...this is just a season for us, then it has to slow down or we will not make it :] 4 weeks to go.

Here’s to the Study Spot.

In church planting journey, New Hope Stuff on February 19, 2009 at 9:42 pm

I am a little ADD. If you didn’t know that…hey it’s snowing out right now, and of course…the Bengals are terrible [did you hear they made their KICKER a franchise player?], I can’t wait to grill out tonight, we really are, and man this song on my tunes rocks…oops, there it is.

So in order to keep you all awake week after week and to be faithful to the WORD OF GOD, I have made it a rule to lock myself in the ASHLAND THEOLOGICAL LIBRARY week after week to study for the sermons God lays on my heart. Above is a pic of my favorite little dive.

Nothing fancy. A wood carrel, decent chair [butt is always sore though], great view out the window, and tons of books. It really keeps me focused on the task at hand. Do you have some sacred space to share with and to hear from GOD? [by the way we are talking about that this weekend...HEARING THE VOICE OF GOD!]

I will miss preparing sermons in this spot. This is my last one. Wow. Hurts to type that.

And as I sit here thinking about how much I love all of you at New Hope…my mind has been thinking about how much I will miss journeying with you on a week to week basis.

Thank you for being a part of my life. And thank you for allowing me to be a part of yours. And of course…thank you for listening to really long sermons from a really crazy dude.

I pray you were touched, moved, made uncomfortable, and broken by HIS WORD. I also pray that you felt HIS touch, HIS love, HIS mercy and you felt HIS healing. I pray that they touched you in ways to drive you to the SAVIOR ONLY! And that NOTHING I said was contrary to HIS WORD.

That was my only goal. To see JESUS glorified and to see YOU live out your part of the story.

all things NEW HOPE.

In church planting journey, New Hope Stuff on February 17, 2009 at 5:00 am

Since this is my official last service @ New Hope this weekend [insert tear hear]…I want to devote this blog space to sharing about how God has changed my life through this gathering of some of the most amazing people I have ever shared life with. [i will be at the ashland campus in 2 weeks for a final hoe-down].

Next week I will get back at journeying our travels and also will rock a series on Multi-Site Landmines and Goldmines that we have discovered in 5 years of thinking, planning and doing multi-site. I presented this stuff last week in Orlando, where yes, the sun lives.

Let me start with this: the top 10 things we will miss most about New Hope [in no particular order].

1. OUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY. Yep. Enough said. Painful.

2. THE PEOPLE HERE WE DON’T EVEN KNOW. Who have rocked the mission at all our campuses without having to be our best friends. We don’t even know your names. Maybe we know your beautiful faces, but no recognition had been asked for. Quite warriors praying, giving and serving behind the scenes for the MISSION of CHRIST, not NEW HOPE.

3. OUR STAFF. I have said it before…find me a group of people who are more talented, gifted and passionate about small town ministry…I’ll fight you any day. I will miss this family I have walked with over the years.

4. OUR VOLUNTEERS. Dang. They have freaking bled for this thing. We don’t drive an easy train around here. I didn’t say it enough: THANK YOU!

5. THE PASSION. Second to none. Top to bottom, side to side, passion drips for Jesus and HIS KINGDOM off of this place and it’s people. It’s like BRAVEHEART on steroids around this place. No challenge has ever been to BIG. And together with each other and our GOD, we have conquered them ALL!

love you all…more tomorrow.

Interested in UTAH?

In church planting journey on February 16, 2009 at 7:20 pm

We already have several couples interested and 2 committed to joining us in the wild west to help start what God is laying on our hearts. Crazy how God works! We are honored that people are praying and considering this amazing venture! [One couple who lives out of state who does not even attend NH!]

If you would like more info [absolutely NO OBLIGATION]…come to our house next Tuesday night [February 24th, 6:00 pm]. Child care provided and of course, we will feed you dinner. What do you think this is? Food is part of church planting if you didn’t know that. Planning to grill out…don’t miss it!

If you need directions, e-mail me: charles@newhopewired.tv

We will be discussing the process for praying and considering joining the Utah Launch Team. Overwhelmed that so many have considered joining us. Let’s leave it in HIS hands and if you were CALLED by GOD, not by just a wild thought…we will see you there!

what NOT to do…

In church planting, community, multi-sites on February 14, 2009 at 3:32 am

That’s what I can teach you. And I am doing that tomorrow as I teach a group of church planters about multi-site LAND MINES and GOLD MINES.

Maybe they will pick up on what GOD IS ASKING THEM TO DO after I try to teach them what we and others have learned NOT TO DO in this arena. Pray for me and the pastors as they DISCERN WHAT GOD IS LAYING ON THEIR HEARTS!

One of my favorite verses is:

“Where there is no guidance the people fall, But in abundance of counselors there is victory.” [nasb]

Do you seek MANY COUNSELORS along with the most important one: THE HOLY SPIRIT? Just asking. Most never do.

Also hitting the theology of multi-site. Should be interesting. I will blog some notes after the session.

See ya here next Monday…blackout for a few again. Refreshing really.

Wooster Celebration

In Wooster Campus on February 9, 2009 at 2:28 pm


Yesterday we had an amazing day of commissioning and celebration as our family was at the Wooster Campus for the last scheduled time before we move. What a special memory for our family!

Their is passion, fire and traction at our Wooster Campus, and I believe that this is just the start of something incredible to burst on the scene of the 92,000 un-churched in Wayne County! Wooster is turning the corner as a new campus and it shows big time!

But what messed us up the most is the people who came up to us to share stories of how God has used us to push them toward Christ. I was blown away. I know it wasn’t me…that I [and our team from NH] were just being obedient, but wow, I was touched at the deepest levels imaginable.

As we shared hugs, laughs and memories…I can’t imagine a more fitting send-off and commissioning that we had yesterday.

To the LAUNCH TEAM [you guys were and are amazing], THE STAFF [Tim, Allana, Matt who started this with us and has moved on...and others] along with the VOLUNTEERS who have laid it on the line at Wooster and have brought it week in and week out, whether this is your first week, or you were with us since week1, I say a HUGE THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for pursuing this passion and journey with us.

I can’t wait to see what is to come in the days ahead! We’ve only just begun. Thanks for the partnership in the gospel [Philippians 1] then and into the future together.

Whose message is LOUDER?

In Christ and Culture, creativity and the church, Watch This on February 6, 2009 at 1:39 pm

I wrote a post on this kind of inspiration earlier HERE. Check it first, then take the time to watch the effort, creativity, passion, drive and money that it must have taken for these groups to get THE LOUD MESSAGE THAT THEY WANT OUT THERE.

Now, track that with this ?: How do we present the dangerous message of Christ that is timeless truth in a way that would make deaf ear and hearts SPRING TO LIFE? It’s not EITHER/OR in the church. It’s BOTH/AND.

We must present the TIMELESS TRUTH. And we must allow the AUTHOR OF ALL CREATIVITY AND PASSION to make us care more than MTV about HIS MESSAGE. WHICH SHOULD BE THE LOUDEST!

from the 2009 European MTV Music Awards [ht: KEZ]

Thursday Laugh…

In Watch This on February 5, 2009 at 5:01 am

And the office isn’t even on yet. Trust me, this is worth it!

[ht: dave anderson]

faith in times of crisis.

In Devotional, faith on February 4, 2009 at 1:04 pm

If there is one thing I have learned in my crazy walk of faith and in my crazy pre-pastor life of being a cop in the inner-city it is not to panic.

I think “not panicking” is a huge expression of our faith.

Did you hear the story of the dude who jumped out of a plane and his instructor had a heart attack and died while on his back during a private lesson? Stop and think about that. Read it here. Here is what the man said:

“We’re just taught to deal with adversity, whether it be on the battlefront or at home or … up in the air, and you just do what you have to do — assess the situation and keep a calm head about you because it doesn’t do anybody any good to panic,” said Pharr, a private in the Army. (cnn.com)

How about it? In life that is so true…I have faced many, many panicked situation with calm that I learned as a police officer.

But what about our faith life? How often do we panic when God doesn’t grant our request right away or at all? God has had to slow me down big time by MAKING me trust him all the way through it. Forced to do that right now. Forced like that man did, to use what little training and faith I might have to steer toward God’s landing zone.

We had a great opportunity to take this interim position before Salt Lake City. In the past maybe in a panic, I would have jumped on the first thing. This time, we all took our sweet time, and it was so affirming and so much sweeter than jumping and realizing that I made a bad decision.

As a leader, I have panicked before and made hasty decisions that were not God ordained. Are you slowing down every moment of every day and remaining calm when the storms of life are raging around you? LEADERS, especially, type-A, driven ones like me… TAKE HEED! Be calm. Slow down. Let HIM lead. He won’t die on you, even when you are in the free falls of life. But you have to LET HIM INSTRUCT AND LEAD YOU TO LAND!

Panic and lose your faith and trust in yourself. Bad move.

“Be STILL and KNOW that I am GOD!” Psalm 46.10

notice how mission works.

In church planting journey on February 3, 2009 at 5:01 am


Posting another letter to me that really touched me deeply, but notice that the MISSION was planted as a seed and blossomed to FULL GROWTH. God reached this person through New Hope, and then in God’s power, she went out and did likewise. Imagine if everyone in our churches did the same. Talk about VIRAL, Jesus-style!

Alan Hirsch said at the small groups conference I was at over the weekend: MISSION is VIRAL. Seed–>Tree–>Forest

But mission can end as well: Spark–>Fire–>Forest Fire
______________________

It was a great honor to watch the HS move this weekend. Thank you for following your heart and speaking what the Father told you. You and your family will prosper wherever He calls you because He says so. His plans are not to harm, that is the enemy and the enemy has been exposed. “I am sure that God who began the good work within you will keep right on helping you grow in his grace until his task within you is finally finished on that day when Jesus Christ returns.” Phillipians 1:6

Thank you for speaking to my heart this past weekend and know I consider it a great honor to be asked to intercede for you and your family. I will never forget how your family has changed my life by coming to Loudonville. Had you not been obedient I could be going to hell and not ever known my Father. Don’t ever doubt what God has called you to because there are people like me who need your family. The harvest it ripe but the workers are few.

Since coming to NH not only have I been saved but my niece, my grandma who is now in heaven, my friend’s mother, my aunt, who gave her life to Christ this past Christmas Eve service and I know someday my husband and the rest of my family WILL know him. Thank You!

May He strengthen you through the inner man without weakening. I pray that His voice would be loudest and clearest in your life and the others would be shut up. I pray for clarity where there is confusion and hope when you are down. Just like you said this past weekend He will never leave you or forsake you. I pray for a peace that surpasses all understanding to guard your heart and mind in Christ Jesus and that you would continue to be bold and courageous knowing that He is your defender. Stay strong. May peace be your umpire.
________________________

Go passionately live out the mission. COME ON!

pic: http://flickr.com/photos/suyog/2483740302/

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