all packed and ready to go...

We're all packed! We're ready to move!

We're staying at a hotel tonight compliments of a great couple that blessed us with a free night's stay! Thank you so much for taking some of the stress out of this move! My family and I appreciate you very much!

appreciating the love...

We are moving in a few days, and I'm past the point of being excited. I'm tired of all the last minute things to do, but in the last few days so many people have offered their help for anything that my family needs. People have offered to help us pack, watch our girls, cook us meals and even put us up in a hotel while everything is packed! There hasn't been a day this week where someone hasn't offered. Every time I check my email or facebook, someone is asking how they can help.

This is the church loving and serving one another, and I'm appreciating the love this morning!

hearing God speak

Last night I was sitting off to the side during North Way's All Worship Night in the Atrium of our Wexford Campus building. One of our worship leaders said to imagine yourself in the presence of God, and my mind went immediately to Isaiah 6. As I read through this passage, I felt prompted to share it with all who were there last night. How would I know to do that?

1. This passage dropped into my mind out of no where. It wasn't like I was thinking about Isaiah in that moment. It was a God-drop.
2. I read the passage to myself, and a certain verse jumped off the page and into my heart.
3. I asked God if this was something I should share with everybody.
4. I had a notion/impression that God said, "It wouldn't hurt."

That's it. Hearing the voice of God sometimes gets so over-spiritualized and complicated. Maybe you need to hear this today from Isaiah 6:7: "...your guilt is taken away and your sin atoned for."

Our Nicaragua team...

I'm following 2 blogs that are keeping us up to date on what's happening with our church's team(s) in Nicaragua.

Leaving Them a Better Place - Mark Feldman

What's God up to in La Chureca - Doug Melder

Who Do We Think We Are? - Parts 5&6

Ephesians 4:17-32

I had the opportunity to preach on this passage yesterday. Here is a quick recap of my notes.

Jesus Christ delivers us from verses 17-19.
Jesus Christ delivers us to verses 20-24.

Paul addresses four areas of our every day life:
1) Our speech 2) Our anger 3) Our work ethic 4) Our way of relating to others.

I hope that you'll take some time this week to reflect on Paul's letter. I encourage you to really think about how you're doing in each of these areas. Are you and I living a life of righteousness (right living) and holiness (a life set apart for God's purposes) in these 4 areas?

God is doing a new thing...

The winds are changing, and God is doing a new thing. There are a lot of people in my life that are entering a new season...including myself. Moving to another city. Buying a new home. Taking on new positions. Starting new ministry initiatives. Going on missions trips. Adding to their families. Taking new territory for God's kingdom.

This can be an extremely exciting time, but it could potentially be dangerous. This could be a time when these people (and me) try to do it all in their own strength. May we all continue to humble ourselves before the Lord and recognize that He's the One that causes the winds to change. He's up to something new, and we're simply holding on for the ride of our lives!

Sports Clips!

I'm moving to Ingomar in less than 2 weeks, so I'm in search of a new place to get my hair cut. I received a free cut coupon in the mail for a place called Sports Clips. I went there today, and I had a great experience.

As soon as I walked in, I was greeted with a smile, and I was checked in immediately. I was a new client, so they said I received a complimentary MVP! I was taken to a barber's chair right away and asked how I would like my hair cut. Through out my hair cut, my hair stylist kept the conversation going by asking me questions about my family and job. After my cut was done, I was taken to the sink where she washed my hair and put a warm towel over my face. She took me back to my chair, and she had a machine that gave me a back massage. On my way out, she gave me a $5 coupon off my next visit and a free cut for a friend. This was the best hair cut experience I've ever had!

I think there are some things the church can learn from Sports Clips.

1. They made me feel right at home right away.
2. They explained everything before it happened.
3. They treated me like an MVP.
4. They made me want to come back.
5. They gave me an immediate tool to invite a friend.

accountability & discipline...

5:30am. My alarm goes off, and I don't want to get up. I don't want to start my day this early. I don't want to drive 35 minutes to the gym by my church. I don't want to work out! But, something keeps me going.

1) accountability - I can't let my accountability partner down. I can't have him show up and me not. He would let me have it and never live it down.

2) discipline - I have to do this. If I don't, I won't be healthy. This is a "must" in my life, and a "must" deserves a consistency and hard work. Time must be dedicated to it.

I find that these 2 things help tremendously with working out at the gym, but they also apply greatly to my relationship with Christ. I need accountability and discipline to stay healthy in my walk with Christ. The difference is that I WANT to do this, but often times I find it very hard to keep this consistent. What about you?

moving in 2 weeks...

I can't believe we're moving again in two weeks! This will be our 8th move in 11 years of marriage. My poor wife!

We're moving for good reason though...to get closer to our church community. We've had a commute for the last 3 1/2 years of 35+ minutes, and we weren't able to do ministry the way we want. We love to have people over to our home. The problem was that if we invited people from our church over to our current home, sometimes it would be close to an hour drive for them. Therefore, Erica and I found that we almost stopped having people over to our home.

Now we're excited that we will be 10 minutes from our church's Wexford campus. We're also excited that our home will be able to hold a lot of people. We can't wait to get over to Ingomar so that we can start building and reaching our community for Christ.

the fellaz back together...

Today, I'm going back to Hollow Rock Campground. This camp has a huge place in my heart. I try to get back there every year, at least for one day.

This year, my best friend, Ben Kendrew is the youth speaker. This is one of the rare occasions that I get to hear him speak. With us both being in ministry, we rarely get to enjoy one another's sermons. On top of that, our great friend, Franco Salvatori is coming in all the way from the Philly area. Ben and I met him at Hollow Rock in junior high, and we became instant friends. All three of us are in ministry, and we owe a portion of our combined 40+ years of ministry to our Hollow Rock roots.

This is going to be an incredible 24 hours! The Fellaz haven't been all together at Hollow Rock in 14 years!

Who Do We Think We Are? - Part 4

Bryan McCabe...

You have to RSS feed this guy's blog. It will make you think!

Bryan McCabe is friend and co-worker. He's the Director of L.A.M.P., the Learning and Mentoring Partnership. This is a collaboration between the Pittsburgh Public Schools, Family Guidance, Inc., and area churches, including North Way Christian Community.

The vision of L.A.M.P. is to impact the City of Pittsburgh, one student at a time, by matching a church (or churches) with a specific Pittsburgh public school to serve and provide mentors to the school’s students. In 2006, North Way partnered with the District by providing mentors, services, and resources to the Helen Faison Arts Academy in the Homewood neighborhood in the East End of the City of Pittsburgh.

waiting game...

My family is in this waiting period. We have a sales agreement on our current home. We're in a sales agreement on another home. Our closing date is August 2nd on both homes, and now we wait. But, it's not like we're just waiting around with nothing to do. We have a ton to do!

In some weird way, this made me think about God's Kingdom. As Christians, we're in between things right now...playing the waiting game. But, it's not like we can just wait around and do nothing until Christ returns. There's so much Kingdom work to be done! We partner with God to advance the Gospel here on this earth.

Unlike our closing date on our home(s), the day and the hour of Christ's return is unknown, but we labor to advance the Kingdom! We're actively waiting for the day when "the trump shall resound and the Lord shall descend." Man, that's going to be an awesome day, and we need to work hard for the Gospel until that glorious day!

free

I'm sitting here in a church building thinking about my freedom. I have complete freedom to worship God. No person of authority can hinder me from reading God's word, the Bible. I have complete freedom to do what I want when it comes to Christianity. I am allowed to gather with 100's of others today to worship God. I'm free.

I'm thankful to God and the 1000's of men and women that give me this freedom. Happy Independence Day!

last day of vacation...

This is our last day of vacation. We fly out late this afternoon.

I'm bummed, but I'm also excited. I'm bummed because I'm now thinking of the "to do" list that's waiting for me at home. I'm excited to hug my girls and tell them we bought a new home! I'm bummed because I have to mow and trim tomorrow. I'm excited to celebrate the 4th of July with many family and friends. I'm bummed because I won't be blogging poolside. I'm excited because I will get to be with North Way this weekend.

I could keep going, but I'll stop now and make the most of this last day of vacation!

red hot...

Usually it takes me a while to decompress on vacation. Sometimes it takes until day 3 or 4 to fully feel relaxed. Not on this vacation! I was able to relax almost as soon as Erica and I got here because we didn't bring our wonderful 3 daughters. That sounds bad, I know.

You know I love my daughters so much, but I was excited to spend this time with Erica only without any distractions from each other. We have not been able to do this in 8+ years, and I have been having a wonderful time with her. The best thing that I could show my daughters is a red hot marriage with their mother! I told my girls that the reason we were going on this vacation was because I love their mom! I love you Erica!!!