Connecting Point Church

It is official -- after over 10 years of wondering if God would ever lead me to start a New Church He is moving me and a solid Core group of people in a NEW DIRECTION, with a fresh vision and loads of enthusiasm. For over 19 years I have tried my best to lead two established churches to accomplish the MISSION our LORD has given us. (i.e. to take His Gospel message to those who do not know Him! see Matthew 28:18-20; Luke 19:10; etc.) My first Pastorate was for 11.5 years and I have been in my current position for over 7.5 years. In both of these churches I have done my best to follow Scripture's mandate in accomplishing His vision. Unfortunately, the established church has long been self-absorbed to the detriment of the masses of hurting people in our world.

Don't get me wrong, I love both of the churches God has allowed me to serve! I have met some of the greatest people in the world and have made lifetime friends (eternal relationships!). I in no way put down any of the churches I have served or any of the established churches many of my dear friends serve as Pastor. My calling in this stage of my life has become more and more passionate for those who have never heard or experienced the TRANSFORMING POWER OF JESUS CHRIST. In order to get those who need Jesus the most to listen to His Message, I believe we have to "earn the right to be heard."

Basically I mean that we have to demonstrate our claim that we really want people who are far from God to come near to His loving embrace. If we claim that we want these "lost" souls to know Jesus then we have to seek practical, loving methods of demonstrating this desire. This will cost us something! It takes time, energy, money, and a willingness to be humiliated for Jesus to get His message of LIGHT to the DARKEST corridors of our world! In organized churches we became so "busy" working for God that we just didn't have any time left over to take a cake to our neighbor who had surgery, or cut our neighbor's grass while he was on vacation! (as well as numerous other practical ways that we can show the love of Christ to our world)

For the next few days, weeks and months I will be sharing the progress of this exciting new journey on this blog. The name of our NEW Church will be: CONNECTING POINT CHURCH. Another amazing thing about this adventure is that it looks like we will be meeting for a period of time in the High School where me and many of our Core group graduated. The facilities are brand new but the name and location are the same. I am excited about this because I rebelled against God in my last two years of High School. To have the opportunity to go back and preach on the same campus where I denied my Lord over 30 years ago is nothing but a God thing.

I ask for your prayers as we take this journey. I have never done anything like this before so I am both excited and a little tense. Some of the things that I have tried to work on this week have not materialized so pray for me to have complete trust in God's Sovereignty in this "birthing" experience. Stay tuned for more information about CONNECTING POINT CHURCH.

Head for the Mountains

My recent blog-vacation turned into a Sabbatical! I did not intend on staying away from this online newsletter for such a long time. To say that I have been busy is an understatement. Since we left for our family vacation in mid-June til now has passed so fast! Ashley will be starting Furman in just a few weeks. I can't believe my baby is going to college.

Last week I was at Student-Life with our students and some other great adults. Chris Tomlin's band led the worship all week and Louie Giglio brought the Word of God. I knew before going to Daytona Beach that the worship would be incredible. God surprised me with something even more than I imagined. He showed up and did something special for us on the very first night. Then, things just got better. We worshiped our Lord with abandon and learned very practical Truths from His Word that are immediately applicable. I was blessed to experience this with these Students. I believe some of them had an experience that have the potential to make their teen years different.

I know that these camps are "Mountain Top" experiences and many criticize this process by saying that it does not last in teenagers lives for more than a few weeks. I have no argument against this being a "Mountain Top" experience. What I do suggest is that these kind of 'spiritual highs' are necessary on our journey through this earth. It is way too easy to get so ensconced in our everyday lives that we treat our spiritual relationship with our Creator very casually. It many times takes a difficult time in our lives to make us stop and think about our need for God and about His mercy and grace for our lives.

I wonder how long it has been since you have had a "Mountain Top" experience? I encourage every Christ-Follower to do something to alter your routine by specifically focusing quality time on God's Word and worship. You will find that these experiences, no matter how short-lived, can make a huge difference in the quality and passion of our walk with Christ.