Failure to Update
I have seriously been ignoring my blog recently. And that’s a shame, especially since I am such a believer in blogging. And I subscribe to multiple blogs and such. So Imma try and do a better job and be more consistent.
So most of my recent blogs have just been telling the world how I feel about certain subjects. Not tonight. Tonight I just want to tell the world that I learned some stuff this week.
I am a terrible event planner. I mean, straight-up awful. Mostly I just sit and stare at my notes and think, “man, how am I gonna get from here to there?” Thankfully, God knew that and hitched me up with my amazing wife who excels at that stuff.
The thing is, for some reason, I basically planned the fundraiser dinner thing that we did today all by myself. I don’t really know why. For some reason I didn’t bring Amanda in on any of it. And because of that, it was a mess. Now don’t get me wrong, it went just fine, and we raised a little money. But that’s only because the few decisions I did make weren’t that bad–by the grace of God. But it could’ve been absolutely terrible.
So, I did learn a ton of things this week about planning a fundraiser dinner. The biggest of all: allow my wife to use the gifts God gave her!
I love my wife so much!
Ignite Recap for 1/10/09
The Jesus Journey
Most people who take great journeys do so for their own benefit: They want to be the first to scale a mountain or cross an ocean. They want to be famous and receive the benefits of their fame. But, the greatest journey of all time was taken by Someone who had a more eternal purpose. Jesus took the ultimate journey for one reason and one reason alone: you.
Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:5-11
Journey Leg #1: From Heaven to Earth (vs. 5-7)
Picture Heaven in your mind. It’s perfect in every way. And Jesus is there, of course, being perfect, being worshiped constantly, free from all worries and care of being human. And now, He’s given that up. He made a conscious choice to serve instead of being served by coming in the form of a lowly human peasant.
Journey Leg #2: From the Earth to the Cross (vs. 
Jesus could have taken on the form of a king or emperor. Or, like I would’ve done (good thing I’m not God…), as some sort of superhero (of course, the image in my mind is some random Japanimation hero with all kinds of crazy superpowers). But He didn’t. Instead, in the greatest of all paradoxes, Jesus won by losing. He stepped away from Heaven, “became obedient to death”, and allowed Himself to be at the mercy of something He had complete power over. Jesus endured one of the most painful and agonizing execution processes, so that we wouldn’t have to.
Journey Leg #3: From the Grave to the Sky (vs. 9-11)
Jesus’ humiliation and death wasn’t the end of the journey. Our Scripture text tells us that God exalted Jesus to the highest place, giving Him the Name above all Names.
God is in the midst of writing an incredible story of our lives. And of course, we won’t pay $10 to watch a movie where the lead character never has to face any difficulties or tough moments, or even a hard fight. Great stories happen through great drama. And so it is with our story. God isn’t writing an owner’s manual of our life–He’s writing a sweeping epic novel! And that story finds its ultimate turning point when we decide to make Jesus the Savior of our Life. Have you made that decision?
Pastor Doug Brown
I can’t say I didn’t see it coming, but when it did it was still quite a blow.
Pastor Doug Brown announced this past Sunday to the congregation of The Rock Church that, effective Sun., Jan. 31, 2010, he will be resigning our church.
Pastor was good enough to give me a few days warning, which of course came with the plea that I keep it to myself so that he could announce it to the people personally. So it wasn’t quite as big a shock to me when he announced it. That doesn’t mean my heart wasn’t pounding when he did.
I want to go on record to say this: I have a tremendous amount of respect and admiration for Pastor Doug Brown. I’ve had the pleasure of being his Youth Pastor for these past six months. And, though I’ve only known him for a total of 7 months, it didn’t take long for me to figure out that, when he is speaking, I need to shut up and listen. The words that come out of his mouth are wisdom like that of Solomon. He has years of experience not only Pastoring, but on the missions field, and he has taken those experiences and become a wealth of knowledge and compassion. I’ll never forget the staff meetings he and I had where he sat behind his desk and related to me his vision and passion for The Rock Church.
For those that don’t know, Pastor Doug has been battling cancer: melanoma. The typical life-expectancy is a maximum of five years. He’s had it going on six. And most people that see him in public would probably never know he has cancer, because he looks and acts healthy. And he will probably never tell us of the private health battles he fights at home. But I know he is very tired, and he deserves this rest–retirement, if you will.
It has been my honor to have served with him these few months. My regret is that I didn’t get to know him sooner, and learn from his vast wisdom.
He will probably be embarrassed if he ever reads this because he doesn’t want the attention. It’s his desire–and I can personally attest to his sincerity in this matter–that his efforts disappear and that God gets the complete and total glory. So, Pastor Doug Brown, may God be glorified and exalted because of your life. And may you find rest, comfort, and peace in the hands of the Healer. We will miss you greatly, Pastor, but our prayers for you and your family will continue, and we will rejoice together when you are healed. Go with the honor and blessing of The Rock Church.