A quick recap of the service this morning…the presence of God was strong in service today! Terry, Kylie, Jason and Rick did an awesome job leading worship. Pastor Dan gave me the opportunity to preach this morning at the Rancho campus, which I appreciated.

During our time in the theater we saw people commit or re-commit their lives to Christ, get involved in serving on a ministry team and draw closer to God. It’s such a blessing to be part of a church like New Life and we look forward to continuing to fulfill the vision that God has given us. To all of you who played a part in the RSD campus, I want to say, “Thank You!”. Your prayers and your efforts are all appreciated and I know that God heard your prayers and honored your efforts.

So, for one year and one week we were 1 Church/2 Campuses. As we move to 1 Church/1 Campus/3 Services, keep praying, keep serving and together with God’s favor, we will take New Life Church to another level.

This particular post may seem a little self serving…but so be it…this needs to be said (AND…I don’t mind asking people to pray for me!) 

This past Thursday (Thanksgiving) I was enjoying some great food and watching a football game when all of a sudden I began receiving text messages about something happening to Matt Chandler, the pastor of The Village Church in Texas.  Long story short…Matt passed out, hit his head…was rushed to the hospital and after some tests was diagnosed with a mass on his frontal lobe that will be looked at this week.  Matt is a young leader (33 or 34 I believe) whom God’s hand is all over.  His preaching/teaching is amazing…and God has used him to grow the Village Church from about 100 or so people to over 7,000 in just a few years.  (He is an incredibly gifted preacher/leader!)

Hearing about what happened to him shook me up…BIG TIME.  I had VERY few words for the rest of the day as I began to think about the stress and pressure that is on pastors that simply is not understood by many.

My prayer is that things like this will cause the church to rally behind their pastor…and pray for him with more passion and intentionality than ever before.  Here are several areas where you can be praying for your pastor…

#1 – His Walk With God – Pray that his relationship with Jesus isn’t one out of obligation…but of OBSESSION for HIM!!!  It is VERY tempting for a pastor to read the Bible for sermon prep and NOT to know Jesus.  Pray that His relationship with Jesus will be FRESH and that he will be filled with vision and passion like never before.

#2 – His Integrity – It takes YEARS to establish integrity…and it can be destroyed in seconds.  Pray for your pastor to keep his eyes on Jesus and OFF of anything that might lead him astray!!!

#3 – His Marriage – Pray that your pastor just doesn’t preach about a healthy marriage…but LIVES it out.  I promise you the enemy comes STRONG after his marriage…and his kids!!!  Lift up his wife and children by name as well!!!

#4 – His Sanity – He deals with critics, he deals with unrealistic expectations, he deals with accusations, he deals with pressure that is intense.  Pray that he will keep his sanity.  I recently heard of a survey that said only 10% of the men entering the ministry actually retire…the others either get disqualified OR drop out!  That is a 90% failure rate!!!  THE STAKES ARE HIGH!!!

#5 – His Health – I was in a meeting of pastors a few years ago…everyone of us were leading large churches…everyone of us were under 35…and over HALF of the men in the room (remember, we were under 35) had been hospitalized in the past two years because of serious medical problems (most likely brought on by stress and anxiety!)  Good health is so vital for ministry…and I can promise you that physical, emotional and spiritual health do not just “happen!”  Do not assume that just because your pastor is young that he is healthy…lift him up.

Whoever your pastor is…seriously…I would ask that you lift him up.  No matter who you are…no matter who your pastor is.  I don’t care if you are reading this site and hate me…don’t hate your pastor.  Cover him…and pray that Jesus will speak to him and through him in ways that he has never experienced.

Rick Warren once said that he believes pastors are the most underrated change agents in the world…and I believe that!!!  SO…let’s lift him up before God…and pray that Jesus will have HIS way in his life!

AND…keep praying for Matt!!!  He is in God’s hands…God has a plan for him…and I know God will receive ultimate glory out of all of this!!!

Some people have asked me how she’s put up with me for so long. Easy…she’s the most compassionate, caring and giving person I know. I’ve given her a lot of opportunities to practice those things over the years and she’s become very skilled.

Seriously, I can’t believe that it’s been over 21 years since I first saw her. She looks exactly the same to me. She was beautiful then and she’s beautiful now. She has grown in her faith substantially and has become an awesome woman of God. She’s an example of the Proverbs 31 woman and her wisdom blows me away.

There is absolutely nobody else that I would rather spend time with; not for 1 minute, 1 hour or 1 day. Given the choice, I choose Sharon every time and I’m so grateful that she chose me. I’ll never forget the first date at Disneyland and the first time I held her hand. It’s been those hands that have held mine as we celebrated or faced challenges; when we cried tears of sorrow and tears of joy together.

Together we have 3 AWESOME KIDS, but they wouldn’t be nearly as awesome without her pouring into their lives exactly what God gave her for them.

20 years is a long time, but we weren’t shooting for 20 years; we just promised each other that we would be there for life. Well, I’m grateful that God has given us 20 years together so far and I’m looking forward to as many years as the Lord gives us. I can picture it now…walking into the Coco’s or iHop together for the early bird special, trying to beat the youngsters to dinner and then get home before we need to take our medicine. I don’t mind getting old, because I know we’ll be together and I’ll always be holding her hand.

Take a look at these posts from Perry and ask the questions of your spouse … if you dare:

http://www.perrynoble.com/2009/07/23/five-questions-husbands-should-ask-their-wives/

http://www.perrynoble.com/2009/08/05/four-questions-wives-should-ask-their-husbands/

Anyway, Dan called me up and asked if I could fill in for their team who was missing a few players. Dan pitched, I played 1st base and we won 11-4. It was a lot of fun to get the old softball juices flowing again. There were no injuries and the only problem was that the road got the best of Sharon, on the way there and on the way back. Looks like I’ll be on my own if I’m asked to fill in again.

Thanks for going Babe. I love you too!

This is us way back when we were 11 years old (I’m the one on the right). It was great to sit down and try to catch up on things that have transpired over a 30 year period. We got a decent start, but catching up is definitely going to require more than 1 hour. Hoping to meet him and his wife for dinner in the near future.

This weekend my kids head off to camp. DJ is part of the first group of interns under the direction of Terry V. and Kylie Skiles (they have to be the coolest couple ever). He’s learning about leading and serving and he couldn’t have two better models than TV and Ky. I’m sure he will never be the same.

Jason will be part of the Senior camp which starts this Sunday and Jessica will be part of the Jr. High camp which starts a week from Monday. Sharon and I have tried to model what we want to teach our kids. However, there is something special that happens when your kids get around others they think are cool that are also modeling a Christ-like life (typically as their parent, you are not cool).

I’m grateful for all of the young leaders that take their vacation time to be up at camp with my kids. Year after year they help my kids take another step closer to God and I pray that God will overwhelm them this year as they pour their hearts out for the students of So Cal.

I want my kids to have an encounter with God that will change their lives and God is certainly big enough to do that over and over again for every student at Bethel In The Hills. Please join me in prayer for the students and the leaders at the So Cal camps. God is faithful!

I caught fish every day except day 2. The rest of my family caught fish on day 2, but not me. I got skunked. I’ll attribute that to a lack of time with my line actually in the water. You see, one of the responsibilities that comes with being a Dad is making sure everyone else’s line is setup (hooks, bait, swivel, bobber, weight) and reels are working properly. You’d think that my 18 & 16 year olds would have learned how to set their own rod up by now, but I guess that was wishful thinking.

Actually, I didn’t mind that they still relied on me for that. The last time we were in Bishop, DJ was 12, Jason 10 and Jessica was 7. Before too long, they won’t need Dad to fix their line, just like they don’t need me to kiss their owie or comb their hair. I am grateful for my family and for the week we had together in Bishop – where I won the biggest fish contest! A whopping 1 lb 2 oz rainbow trout. Maybe next time guys! And maybe next time you’ll clean your own fish too.

DJ, you have made being your Dad one of the greatest honors any man could ever hope to have. I’m excited to see what God has in store for you and I encourage you to keep pressing into the things of God.  He is faithful! Your life is ahead of you and I expect major blessings and prosperity for you. So,  . . . DON’T SCREW IT UP! (Just kidding. I started to cry and had to lighten it up a little.)

I love you son. You make me proud!

A couple that I’ve known for almost 30 years came to church at Central today. We had the opportunity to go to lunch with them and visit. It was great to see them.

It is great to see how many new people are making New Life RSD their home church. We had 1 person come to NL RSD for the first time last week and then they came at 7:30 this morning to help set up. That was cool!

I’m grateful for our team of hard workers that make it happen every week. You guys are awesome! Looking forward to next week and the final message in our Rebel series.