Life At Grace Point

2007 was a great year for Grace Point Community Church. To night was Primetime, our annual celebration of all that God has done, and continues to do. I feel blessed to be part of such a great community of people!

Here is the slide show we played. It's 12 minutes in length, so if your interested, make yourself comfortable, grab your favorite beverage, and enjoy!

A View From The Ride

My next installment of A View From The Ride comes from Mission Connexion Northwest. On Saturday night I had the privilege of helping my friend Jon lead a workshop at the conference that we entitled "When Slide Shows and Potlucks Don't Cut It." It was a workshop focused on igniting a heart for missions within your church. Jon opened the workshop with a talk on the importance of Kingdom living, and then had three from our church share how we have sought to live in such a way. I spoke to how I have done so in the context of our ministry to students.

After the workshop we went to the last General Session of the weekend, and heard International Evangelist Luis Palau speak. It was a great session. One piece in particular really grabbed me. Palau shared how God moved him into the ministry that he is now in.


He spoke of how as a young man he was working in a bank, knowing the whole time that God had big plans for his life. When his mom asked him what he was doing wasting his life working in a bank, he replied to her that he was waiting to hear God call him to where he was to go. I loved his mother's response. She told him, "Forget about waiting for the call. God called you over 2,000 years ago. He's just waiting for you to answer!" Love it!

So often we the Church, sit around waiting to be called to particular place, person, or ministry, forgetting that God has us right where we are now, to use us right where we are now. He has called us. He simply wants us to answer.

Are you waiting, or are you answering?

Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age. Matthew 28:19-20

Breathtaking

Yesterday we took 37 people up Mt Hood for a day of snow boarding, skiing, and tubing. It was a great day. It was both breathtakingly cold, and breathtakingly beautiful. At 16 degrees with a wind chill factor of 0, it was painfully cold, but it didn't stop us from having a great time. It was also incredibly beautiful! The sun was shining and the sky was clear!

When you get to enjoy beauty like this

and smiles like this,

you know you've had a great day!

See more pics here.

On The Move

The best word to best describe my son Benjamin is active. He is three years old and fast! Any time we are at church he can usually be seen darting around running through the crowds of people. It makes it very challenging to hold a conversation with someone while trying to keep an eye on him. To say, he thinks he owns the place, would be an understatement!

I am currently in the process of putting together a media presentation to be shown at Primetime. Primetime is our church's annual business meeting, which is really more of a celebration of what God has done over the last year, and a look toward the year ahead. It's really a wonderful time, and very unlike your typical boring business meeting. For the presentation, I have asked all the different ministry leaders to give me pictures they have taken over the last year. There is one I must share now!





When I received the pictures of our new parking lot dedication that took place last Spring, I cracked up when I came across this one. It sums up perfectly the first paragraph of this post. Yep...that's my boy. On the move!

If interested, you can view last year's slide show here. I will post this year's, next week.

Right now, I've got a boy to get after!

A View From The Ride

The tag line of this blog is "...enjoying the ride." Life most definitely is a ride, an adventure. One that I enjoy and feel privileged to live.

I recently got a new iPhone, and must say, I am enjoying it very much. It occurred to me that since I now have a pretty decent camera with me at all times, that I ought document the ride a bit. In that spirit I start a new series on my blog..."A View From The Ride." I will occasionally post pictures of life from my vantage point, as it happens. A view from the ride if you will.

I start off with two pictures I took to night as I stood in front of my middle school students. I took them right before I began my talk on living an overflowing life. We have been in a series recently on having a life that overflows with God's love. See more here.

This is what I saw. I love the students God has entrusted to me and count it a great honor to be a part of their lives. Enjoy the view!

The Chair

I have had many people sit across my desk in one or both of the two chairs that sit there. What a privilege it is to play such an instrumental role in the lives of people. Some of the conversations from those chairs have been very fun and enjoyable, others have been difficult. All important.




Each year at the National Youth Worker's Convention I look forward to seeing The Skit Guys; two very funny guys with big hearts for youth workers. In this video they do a very funny skit highlighting all those that sit in "The Chair." Prepare to laugh. It's hilarious!



HT to elevating a generation.

A Funny Thing Happened

You ever have one of those mornings that just gets off to a bad start? Who doesn't? Today was my turn. It all started at 5:45 am when my son decided it was time to get up and that everyone else should be up as well. He not only was up, he was off his game and not in a good mood. Needless to say that started the day off for all of us on the wrong foot. We were all pretty tired and pretty grumpy. As I drove into the office thinking of all the things on my plate to get done, coupled with the morning I had just had, I was not feeling all that excited.

My routine in the morning is to get into the office, fire up the coffee, and then spend some time alone with God. Recently I have been working my way through 1 Samuel. I have been enjoying the incredible of journey of David, watching how God took a seemingly insignificant individual and raised him to great power and prominence. As interesting as 1 Samuel is, it is filled with a lot of bloodshed, war and terror, something I really wasn't interested in reading, with the mood I was in. Instead, I thought I would just open up the Daily Bread devotional, in hopes of reading something on the feel good side. That is where God's sense of humor comes in.

I opened the devotional and flipped to January 8. The scripture.... 1 Samuel 30:1-6. Incredible! In this passage we read of David and his men arriving at Ziklag only to find that the Amalekites had attacked the city and had taken their wives and children captive. Hmmm......seems David was having a pretty bad day too! At least my wife and children weren't taken captive!
Verse 6 of 1 Samuel 30 reads, "David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God." Message received!

The devotional went on to talk about how we can find strength in God by remembering all that God has done in our life, and remembering all that God has promised. There is much! I am thankful!

God is good, and I am fine now.

30 Hour Famine

This year's 30 Hour Famine is quickly approaching. Happening February 22-23, the 30 Hour Famine is an international youth movement to fight world hunger. God calls us to care for the needs of the poor. The 30 Hour Famine is a great way for students to come together and follow God into that mission.

As last year, I have the privilege once again of leading the Portland 30 Hour Famine Rally. We are expecting 1,000 students from all over the Portland area to join us as we come together to seek God's heart for the poor.

Are you doing the famine this year? Have you done it in the past? I would love to hear about your experience. Please share your story in the comment section of this post. If you are considering doing the famine this year but have questions, let me know. I would be happy to help.

God In Control

I love when in moments of hopelessness or in times in which we feel we have no control, God shows that His ways are always greater than man's.

This video of Vertical Shift Records recording artist Rezound in Vietnam, is an awesome display of God showing His favor, and accomplishing what He desires.



HT to Adam

Overflow

This week I begin a new series with our middle school students entitled "Overflow." We will be taking a close look at how our lives should be overflowing with God's love. As a fountain overflows with water, so should our lives overflow with the love of Christ.

Acts 1:6-11 will be the basis of the series as we look at how we can effectively overflow God's love into the lives of those close to us, those in our community, and those around the world.

I appreciate the words from Chris Tomlin's song "Overflow"

Like a waterfall You fill my heart and overflow
Like a candle flame You light my way
And lead me as I go
Spirit overflow
Let me overflow

It's my prayer that we make loving God our priority, and allow His love to flow from our lives, as opposed to memorizing bullet points, formulas, and sales pitches.