What's In a Name

Do you know the meaning of your name? My mom got the idea for my name from a soap opera. I really don't know what to think about that. While I was studying the first chapter of Ruth I came across interesting discoveries when it comes to the names of the characters in the book. Elimilech means "My God is King." Naomi means "pleasant." Ruth means "friend." Orpah means "back of the neck." Mahlon means "sickness." Chilon means "spent." Boaz means
in him is strength." Now that you know the meaning of each name take an opportunity to read the book and see how each name has significance in understanding the story.

Maybe you don't like your name. Maybe your name has been the source of ridicule. Maybe your name has you associated with abuse, pain, or hurt. The Good News is that God knows your name and he wants to give you a new name. A name that stands for forgiveness and love.

Fail to Plan

"What could we do that would guarantee we never see our vision materialize?" The answer: fail to plan. As a pastor one of my duties is to preside over weddings. I usually do a minimum of three counseling sessions with the bride and groom before the wedding. It never fails that brides will come in with a plan for the whole wedding event. Many will have a schedule printed out on what needs to be ordered by a certain date. The whole wedding day is broken down into thirty minute blocks. She has everything planned out. But I ask if they have a goal, a plan for the marriage and most look like they don't have a clue. One thing I require for couples desiring to get married is that they have a marriage plan. I want them to have a vision for their marriage. A sure way to fail at anything is to NOT plan.
While in college we took a trip to South Carolina. On the bus trip I sat beside a guy who was looking through a notebook. I asked him about the notebook and he said it was his plan for the life that God was calling him to fulfill. After law school he had plans to build an orphanage in Eastern Europe. He had a beautiful vision. And a plan to back it up. What could we do that would guarantee that we never see our vision/s materialize? We never plan. Take an opportunity to plan today. Write down on paper the steps necessary to fulfill the vision. Jesus says, "Count the cost."

Visioneering by Andy Stanley

Chapter Three: Positions Please!
Quotes:
- Just about every God-ordained vision appears to be impossible.
- God-ordained visions are always to big for us to handle.
- God is using your circumstances to position and prepare.
- If you are "seeking first" his kingdom where you are, then where you are is where he has positioned you.
- Success is remaining faithful to the process God has laid out for you.
- You are as successful now as you will be the day you see your vision materialize.
- To focus on what's around you diminishes your ability to focus on what's before you.
- Waiting time is not wasted time for anyone in whose heart God has placed a vision.

QUESTIONS:
1. What does remaining faithful in your current situation entail?
For me, it is doing with excellence what is before me.

2.What is the main thing about your current situation that makes it difficult for you to believe God is preparing you for his vision?
- it takes a lot of time and energy
- people do not share the same passion

Would you be willing to pause and express your faith in God's ability to use your present circumstances to position you for the fulfillment of his vision for your life?

Coming in October @ LibertyHill Church

Drought

It is with irony that I read I Kings 17 today in my devotion. The story starts out with Elijah prophesying NO rain for the land to King Ahab. As I write this we are receiving record rain falls and people are being evacuated from their homes in and around Atlanta. Elijah was told to go hangout by the brook Cherith. If I was to go to a brook at this moment I would need to take my kayak for fear of getting washed away. It was this time last year that the news media was feeding on our own fears of drought by telling us we only had so many more months of water left in the reservoirs. How things change in a year. We may not know what is coming but we can trust in the One who does.

Sunday @ LibertyHill

* Great presentation on Latvian Angel Project. Check it out: http://www.latvianangelproject.org/
* Chad rocked on drums
* Great to see the commitment level of folks on a Sunday with all the excuses to stay home
* 9:45 Small Group: distinguishing between what is essential and nonessential.
* Karina shined in reading scripture
* Most folks didn't know that we had issues with the lights early on - thanks Karen you rock!
* Mark, Walt, Daniel, Karina, Jim pulled trailers and set-up in the pouring rain - the rain will not even stop us from praising God - even if we have to do it from an Ark!
* Don't forget to pray for the New Orleans Mission Team
* Ran into a colleague from Sears at the gas station - small world
* mom cooked some GOOD vegetables
* put up fence posts in the rain with dad and brothers
* niece staying with us for two nights
* my wife looks beautiful tonight

Time

You know the cell phone commercial where the mother is fussing over "unused minutes?" I have a few of those "unused minutes" in my past. They are the wasteful hours that I spent doing mindless things. It is more than just staring at walls. It is filling my schedule with pointless things. I would love to be at a place in my life where I live so intentionally that I never have to ask "What might have been." It is important to remember that heaven can be won or lost in one tiny moment. God never gives the future. He gives only the present. Jesus says, "The Kingdom of God is at hand." It is here. This is the moment we are meant to live.

Apricots

If you have the privilege of being in my presence today then you will notice a unique aroma. I ran out of my "man soap? and had to use my wife's body wash. I noticed on the bottle that it is apricot. So today I get to walk around smelling like a fruit. I have never figured out why we want to bathe our self in an aroma similar to a bowl of fruit. It makes me want to start smelling people: she is an orange, here comes a peach, there stands banana.
Did Jesus say we will be known by the fruit we "bear" or "wear?" Paul says we are to be a walking fruit tree. I just hope we don't let it go bad- have you ever smelled bad fruit?
It stinks.

Still Believing,

Jamey

Visioneering by Andy Stanley

Chapter Two: Praying and Planning
Quotes from book
* We see often what we are looking for, we often miss what we don't expect to see.
* Prayer sensitizes us to subtle changes in the landscape of our circumstances.
* Pray for opportunities.
* Dreamers dream about things being different. Visionaries envision themselves making a difference.
* Dreamers think about how nice it would be for something to be done. Visionaries look for an opportunity to do something.
* Pray for favor.
* Focus your prayers on what you know needs to happen in order to get your vision off the launching pad.
* Plan as if you knew someone were going to come along and give you an opportunity to pursue your vision.
* Opportunity apart from preparation results in missed opportunity.
* Why should God bring an opportunity your way if you are not in a position to take advantage of it?
* If you were God, to whom would you give opportunities? Wishful thinkers, Dreamers, or Planners?
* Vision usually precedes just about everything necessary to bring it into the sphere of reality.


Questions
1. What opportunities do you need to be praying for?
- relationships w/ M.
- open doors into M.E.
- connections with persons of influence

2. Who are the people who could help you accomplish your vision?
(I have a list of people/organizations)

3. What changes would need to take place in their thinking in order for them to support your effort?
- realize the need/opportunity
- more support
- vision to reach out
- clarity of call
- become followers of Jesus

4. Write a simple plan
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4

(working on this)

5. What can you do now?
(pray and plan)

Book Review

If you have teenagers, work with teens, or have children who will one day rise up to be teenagers then you need to read Do Hard Things by Alex & Brett Harris. Better yet, read it together with your teen.

The premise of the book is that as a culture we have set the expectations of teenagers too low. They say, "Where expectations are high, we tend to rise to meet them. Where expectations are low, we tend to drop to meet them. And yet this is the exact opposite of what we're told to do in I Corinthians 14:20: "Brothers, stop thinking like children. In regard to evil be infants, but in your thinking be adults." Our culture says, "Be mature in evil, but in your thinking and behavior be childish." The authors argue that teenagers have proven strength and God-given potential that is not being tapped into because as a culture we put low expectations. Their goal is to show that deep down teens what to do hard things, that they were created to do hard things, and they can do hard things.

They outline "Hard Things" into five categories:

1. How to do hard things that take you outside your comfort zone.

2. How to do hard things that go beyond what's expected or required.

3. How to do hard things that are too big for you to do alone.

4. How to do hard things that don't pay off immediately.

5. How to do hard things that go against the crowd.

The book ends by telling personal stories of teens doing hard things. It is a book for teenagers (and adults) written by teenagers.

Sunday @ LibertyHill

* 9:45am Small Group: Acts 9 Paul's Conversion or Commission/Call? Great Discussion. Relationship w/ Jesus is dangerous
* Great to see some of our college students come back and visit for the weekend (even if one of them does put up a fake b-day on FB :) )
* Andy gives an awesome testimony.
* Sign up today for Rock Eagle Men's Retreat: http://www.ngcumm.com/
* Commission New Orleans Mission Team. They will be leaving Saturday. Pray for them.
* Habitat Home dedication this upcoming Saturday - Don't forget.
* Mission Trip to Kenya on Oct. 25th. Spaces available
* Challenge: Write letters to the person/s who introduced us to Jesus Christ
* Charge Conference: great to have a D.S. that is passionate for people being introduced to Jesus
* Falcons win!

My Thoughts on the Health Care Debate

I am not sure if I am intelligent enough to dig through all the misinformation so I will keep my comment simple.

I am happy with my insurance. The United Methodist Church provides excellent insurance for the clergy in our system. Unfortunately, the cost for churches continue to rise but that is for another day.

The point is not that I am happy with my health care. As a follower of Jesus, I have to ask, "Am I happy with my neighbors health care?" I am part of a church that takes seriously meeting the needs of the poor. Weekly we have people walk in our office looking for assistance for house payments, car payments, rent, and medical bills. I don't know the answer to the debate. I do know the faith community needs to be part of this debate. BTW: health care has its beginnings with the church. The church is called upon to serve the poor and the widow. Would we be having this debate if the church took serious its call to serve the "least of these?"

Burden turned Vision

Starting this week the staff is going through Andy Stanley's book "Visioneering." We are not doing it so much for the sake of developing a clear, articulate vision for the church but that the individuals leading the church may be able to understand their own vision or lack of vision. Stanley says visions are multifaceted. My goal is that the staff come to discover God's vision for their life as it relates to children, spouse, fiance, and ministry. I want to use this blog as a way to redefine the visions of my life. I would love to hear from you as you think through these categories as well.

Project # 1 (from Visioneering)
1. You have multiple visions for your life. Some are clearer than others. To begin clarifying what you believe your future should hold, write a one-sentence summary of how you believe life ought to be in the following areas.
* Career (Church): I believe the church structure should serve to help people discover the passionate life that Jesus came to give us.
* Finances: I want to be completely debt free and able to serve God in financial freedom.
* Spouse: I want to love my wife with a passion that grows deeper over time.
* Children: I want my children to have a joy about life that radiates in whatever they do.

2. Visions are born in the soul of a man or woman who is gripped by a tension between what is and what should be. Are you gripped by a particular tension? If so, take a minute to describe your dilemma
* What's bother you? I am bothered by the fact that a particular people group (those that know me know what I am talking about) are not being engaged with the Gospel.

* What is the solution? The solution is intentional engagement through incarnational living among this particular group.

* What should be? The unengaged group should be discovering the life found in Jesus.

3. Have any burdens begun to feel like a moral imperative?
It is imperative to share the Gospel if we are convinced that the gospel is Good News. We cannot allow fear and ignorance to limit the stretch of the Gospel.

4. Do you see a connection between your vision and what God is up to in this world?
God wants all people to come to know Him. He is raising up people now to extend the Gospel into this area of the world. We just need more creativity and the ability to think outside the traditional missional way.

Share your thoughts here or on FB.

Jamey

Sunday @ LibertyHill

* Worship was totally "INTERRUPTING" today.
* Impressed with the crowd during small group hour - great to see LibertyHill folks waiting until Monday to celebrate Labor Day.
* Nice lunch w/ missions pastor.
* Got a chance to reconnect w/ Jon Poole and the gang (i.e., Echoing Angels)
* Dinner at Cracker Barrel w/ folks who make me feel like "family."
* Miss my family. Can't wait until they get back.
* Nascar race in Atlanta at night - cool!

Engage:Part Four

Jesus wants us to have an abundant life. An exceptional life, or as Eugene Peterson translates John 10:10 in The Message: “A life that you could never dream of.” A passionate life. Can you honestly say right now that your life is “passionate?” Jesus is not interested in how religious we are. Jesus wants us to live life passionately wherever we find life. He wants you to be a passionate father, husband, and friend. He wants you to be a passionate mother, wife, and friend. He wants you to be a passionate teenager. A passionate child.

A passionate life is not a life of comfort. It is not dependent on outside circumstances to make us happy. It is not obtained quickly. A passionate life is a life abundant in love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self-control. It is a Christ-centered life. It is a life with purpose. It is more than existing. It is engaging.

An engaging life truly exists for others. It gives up luxury so that others may have necessity. The engaging life rejects the lone-ranger mentality and lives in a sacrificial and compassionate community. Those engaged in the life of Jesus view money as a resource of God’s kingdom and not as an object to be consumed. They are people that trusts the Spirit and takes risks for the sake of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Engaged in a passionate life is the abundant life.

Engage: Part Three

The irony is we are not comfortable. The mom driving the SUV with the child star on it is soulless. The father who takes on a suffocating commute for the sake of the family is exhausted. The teenager who is taught to put on a “perfect face” even when things are not is lost. The child who is taxied to one event after another has forgotten how to dream and have an imagination. In the opening paragraphs of Message in a Bottle, Walker Perry asks, “Why does man feel so sad? Why do people often feel bad in good enviroments and good in bad enviroments? Why do people often feel so bad in good enviroments that they prefer bad enviroments? Why is it that a man riding a good commuter train home from Larchmont to New York, whose needs and drives are satisfied, who has a good home, a loving wife and family, good job, who enjoys unprecedented cultural and recreational facilities, often feels bad without knowing why?” That is a great question. “Why do we feel bad in good enviroments and good in bad enviroments? Another way of saying this is “why is ‘Desperate Housewives’ the most popular show being watched in the suburbs?”

Engage:Part Three

Engage: Part Two

Churches in the suburbs buy into the honor code as well. Whole staff meetings are focused around how to make people comfortable. We discuss parking issues, easy access points, and how not to be too offensive. We stand up and say we are going to go to downtown Atlanta to visit a homeless shelter on Monday night but we can come home to our comfortable beds instead of saying we need two families who will move to downtown and live among the homeless for a year. We create sports programs that pull kids out of public sports with unchurched kids because they need to be in a “Christian environment.” We do the same with school choice. We send our kids to private “Christian” schools where they don’t have to be salt and light in a dark world. They can just hang out among other salty kids. Why do we go to extreme measures? Because we are following the honor code: everything is fine and my life is in order – We are comfortable.

Engage: Part One

During the week I will post excerpts from last week's message.
People are attracted to the suburbs for many reasons. We want to get away from the hectic lifestyle of in-town living. We want to divide our lives in that I work over here and I live and play over here. We like the safety of the suburbs. We want our kids to go to good schools. Suburbia is the context and the setting for the fulfillment of people’s hopes and dreams. A place for new opportunities. The suburbs promise prosperity, upward mobility, a healthy life, safety and tranquility, the best place to bring up kids.
When you moved into the neighborhood you probably signed a covenant. The covenant says you won’t put your car on blocks in the front yard, you will not use the old toilet for a flower pot, the grass will not get as high as your knees and your child or dog won’t leave a smelly gift for the neighbor in his front yard.
We also sign an imaginary honor code. It is a code that rather we were aware of it or not by the simple fact of moving into the suburbs all of us sign. It is obvious in our conversations or lack of. It is obvious in the way we structure our lives. Most of us live by this honor code until the end but we don’t ever bring it up. Men ignore it on the golf course by talking about sports, politics, or nothing at all. Women out of pride refuse to bring it up in conversation around coffee or tea. It is an honor code that destroys life, destroys family, and destroys children. It is an honor code that leads to a shallow life, a life with no depth. Here is the honor code of suburbia: “Everything is fine” and “my life is in order.” The day you arrived at your new house you stood in the drive way as the movers moved you in and you looked around at your husband, children, house, and neighbors and you said, “Everything is great and I am finally getting some structure to my life.” That is the secret pledge every person makes to live in the suburbs. Don’t believe me try this experiment when you are at the little league field this week. Ask someone how they are doing. What will they say, “I am fine?” Then ask about their family and they will tell you about little Timmy who is a great soccer player, little Suzie who is at choral recital, and daddy, husband Jim Bob who is working late today so that he can take off on Friday to go play golf with the guys. Ask her how she is doing she will in one way or another tell you: “I am fine.” Which translates I have my SUV with my child is a star student at perfect elementary sticker on the bumper. I am not saying this is bad. I am just saying this is the honor code: “everything is fine and my life is in order” that we in the suburbs live by. The problem is we continue to live by this honor code even when life is not fine and my life is not in order. Or that we have come to define a “fine life” by the things we own, drive, or live-in and order is understood as comfort. Another way of saying the honor code is that I am comfortable.