Vacation

November 30, 2008- Man I had a great time at the beach. The first day however, Meg had to go to the hospital for a stomach problem. She had to stay overnight(poor baby!!!). But the next day we were back on track for Rest & Relaxation, then followed up the day after with Thanksgiving dinner(complete with oyster dressing). Man you don't know what you are missing. Anyway, I had a great time. Those vacations should happen at least monthly. It rocked. And thanks to everyone that helped make it possible. Here are some pictures of the fun and friends.

Also here are a few great places to eat if your in Orange Beach or Gulf Shores:

Lambert's Cafe in Foley,Al.

Mikee's in Gulf Shores

Tacky Jacks in Orange Beach

R&R

November 24, 2008- I'm taking a few days off for R&R. No work, cell phones, no blogs. Just a few days spent with my two favorite girls. So have a very Happy Thanks giving. We have so much to be thankful for. Like this.

Thoughts for the Christmas Season

Breakthrough

November 21,2008- Great night at Celebrate Recovery. My buddy Chosen did a great job and the whole ministry loved it. I think in having him over, we found an effective angle to take on growth. Anyway, I just wanted to share something personal as a public declaration of God's Power. I have been waiting to get married now for 20 months. The reason we haven't taken that step yet is because I had a few things that needed to be straightened out personally. These thing kept compounding due to the way my life used to be. It really looked like it would take forever. But last week, my fiance and I agreed to put it fully in God's hands and stop trying to fix it(easier said than done, I might add). Yesterday, only days after that declaration, I received my breakthrough. Now the light at the end of the tunnel is visible, and it's not a train. God is so powerful, and His love for us is indescribable. The thing is trusting in His timing. If you are going through anything, I mean anything, trust Him. Give it to God and your breakthrough is just around the corner.

Rapping it up!

November 20, 2008- Things around here are subject to change. We had the Celebrate Recovery meeting all laid out for tonight for weeks, then last night at 10:30, things drastically changed. Tonight we are hosting Gospel rapper "Chosen" from the group Gods Army. We absolutely were not ready for this but it's going to be great. Hope you can make it by 6:30 central.

ONE

November 19, 2008- Tonight we are doing something different in Starting Point. We needed a break from the norm and are trying to spend some quality time with each other and recognizing the season of Thanksgiving. In preparing for the night I was reading a portion of scripture out of Acts. Acts 2 talks about the day of Pentecost. All the people were in ONE accord. Do you know what that means exactly? It means they were in ONE place at ONE time, waiting on ONE thing to happen. Every ONE of them was waiting on the the same ONE thing... So we are following up on a leadership blog that I saw on the topic of ONE. Here are some of the thoughts of the exercise...

• Take ONE minute and consider ONE thing you are truly thankful for...


• Take ONE minute and think of ONE person you really appreciate and tell them...


• Take ONE minute and think of ONE thing about yourself that you would like to improve, and devise a plan to make that happen.


• Take ONE minute to reflect on ONE thing you are talented at and sharpen that skill. Thank God for that talent and ask Him to stretch you capacity to improve it.

Anyway, ONE effort could potentially change your life, family, etc.

What can we do?

November 18, 2008- There are so many arena's that have not been reached effectively by the Gospel that we must stretch our capacity and do something. One thing that has to be done for effective ministry is, we have to really evaluate those among us who are sincere. That sounds crazy, but people know fake. If there is one thing I have learned in ministry, it is that people's main hindrance to accepting the Gospel is the fact that they see people riding the coat tails of ministry when, "what they say, doesn't match, what they do"(Pastor Mark, emphasis mine). That is never a good thing for the effectiveness of the body of Christ. I know there is the argument of Grace and Mercy, but I'm talking about someone seeing Jesus in our lives and changing theirs. That my friend is the first step in becoming effective. 1 Corinthians 7:17-24 speaks to the issue of living as we are called. 2 Tim. 3:5 says ," having the appearance of godliness, but denying it's power". We have to do all we can to remove the fake. We must not use judgement but rather discernment and above all be led by the spirit of God.

Strongholds

November 17, 2008- We had a great weekend at the Celebrate Recovery outreach. We went to the football game and gave away hot dogs and water. I know what you are saying right now and I agree totally. You are saying, "that's not feeding the hungry, therefore that isn't what you need to be doing, Scott, to reach people for Jesus". You are most definitely 50% right. That means you are 50% wrong also. You see we experienced a need that went beyond food. We talked and shared with people who had strongholds. Our college campus's are bound by strongholds of alcohol, drugs, fornication, and homosexuality. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10:4,"For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but have divine power to destroy strongholds". You see we were making sure that we were breaking down strongholds. How do we do that? One word. One simple word. Love!!!

Dirty Hands

November 13, 2008- As Christ followers, the tricky thing is trying to be effective in a world that's "sold out" to... materialism, relativism, postmodernism, pluralism, you know all the basics of ism-ology. We know it's hard to be in the world and keep our hands clean. We fall victim to assumption and accusation, and sometimes the only ones who know the truth is us and God. David struggled with this often. In Ps. 7:3-5 he tells God that if his hands are dirty to give him over to his enemies and let them trample him. We have to have that same boldness in dealing with the common issues of society. We have to confront materialism! We have to stand, on our moral absolutes! We know, and must share the one and only way to God! And most importantly, if we ever feel that our hands have gotten dirty in the fight, remember 1Jn. 1:9. God will wash our hands.

John 17

November 12, 2008- ( John 17 ) I've read quite a few blogs over the last couple of weeks about the topic,"be in the world, not of the world". How do we do this? How do we reach the lost effectively without coming across as weird? Catalyst had a post that got me thinking (here), the guys at Deadly Viper had another post on the subject (here), and I have a few thoughts of my own. I tried to work those into the ABC's but had to drop the A&B, so here you have it, the CDE's.
Create Culture- We have to be charismatic enough for people to want to be a part of what we are doing. Many church's seem to be grasping this principle and that's great. So guys that are being culturally relevant, be encouraged, we must create a culture that those far from God see as real.
Develope dreams- God usually calls us to a place that is beyond our mindset. So we have to be willing to dream big, and set out to bring that to fruition.
Encourage & Empathize- We not only have to encourage others that things will work out(Oh, just pray and God will bring your wife back and restore your credit), but we truly have to empathize a persons situation. I think people see the church as not really understanding what they are going through, and we need to be mindful of that, and step it up.

Remember?

November 11, 2008- To avoid repeating it, we must remember the past. Everyday of our life represents a time past when something happened. So what happened today?

• The end of WWI
• Rome
• Napoleonic wars
• Route 66 est.
• Operation Commando Unit in Vietnam
• Church of England allows women as Priests

You know parables aren't just for the days of Jesus. Here is a parable totally relevant to our society and our Church, the body of Christ. What if... Starbucks marketed like the Church?

Practice promotes Potential

Nov. 7, 2008- It's easy to see now some of the things that hinder our potential, but how do we approach the other side of the coin? How do we try to make it work for the best? Well, there is a simple principle found in scripture to set our focus on moving forward and allowing the release of our potential. Look at Deuteronomy 28. This chapter of the Bible tells us all about our potential. It tells that our potential is determined by one factor. That one factor is the answer to unleashing our potential. Practice Faith Principles. The Bible says starting in verse 1, "If you fully obey the Lord your God and carefully follow all His commands I give you today, the Lord your God will set you high above all nations on the earth. All these blessings will come upon you and accompany you if you obey the Lord your God..."

It's simple, we have to practice faith principles if we are to truly tap into our potential. God has great things for us and He has given us everything we need to finish the race if we only follow His instructions. So go for it. Unleash your Potential.

Past hinders Potential

November 4, 2008- If you agree that proximity hinders our potential. You will surely recognize the second major factor. I hate people that use literation but it's OK when I do it, I think. Anyway, the second thing that will stunt the growth of our potential is our past. Not only will other people fail to see what's inside you because of you past, but you will lose sight of it at times. It is so easy to get into the rut of, "what do I think I'm doing". We buy into the lie that we aren't called to what we are doing or that we have been promoted to incompetency. There is no such thing in Christ Jesus. Yeah, we get lazy at times. And no, we don't always perform up to the level we have been called. But God has begun a good work, and He will complete it. Our past will always try to drag us down. Put up a vacancy sign on your past life and come back to the course God has called you. 1Corinthians 5:17 "...old things are passed away, behold all things have become new. And remember, there's nothing new in the past.

Proximity hinders Potential

November 3, 2008- Each of us has a level of greatness inside that would blow our minds if we were fully aware of it. God didn't just make us to be people who constantly had struggles and had to fight to have a full life. He created us in His image and in His likeness and that means He created us fully able to accomplish what He has for us in this life. He gave us potential. I think that potential is hindered by several things in life, and if we become aware of these, we can move into a realm of accomplishing the things God has for us to do. The first thing that can hinder our process of accomplishment is proximity. It is hard to see the true potential of someone in your inner circle. David dealt with this when the prophet Samuel came to anoint him king of Israel. His own father didn't see the possibility of his potential, he only saw him as a tender of the sheep. Jesus had the same problem in His hometown as He was not received because of proximity. We must be aware of this and not let it draw us off course in our task of fulfilling our purpose. God has given us everything we would need. Remember not to be deterred by proximity the next time your coworker or family member says something to question your authority in God. God has purpose for our lives that seem so crazy, we can't even imagine. The crazy thing though, is that He has already placed the potential inside to accomplish it!!!!