More Revolutionary Love...Keep spreading the love

Last Thursday, I was getting off the exit in Lenoir City, on my way to Wal-Mart, when I noticed a man on the side of the road with a sign saying “Anything will help.” My first reaction was the usual: lock my doors & keep my eyes on the red light. I had already been praying that God would show me what He wanted me to do with the Revolutionary Love cards (which, “conveniently”, were right next to me) & I just knew that God wanted me to feed this man dinner. But of course, I was in a rush to get to Wal-Mart & get home. If I’m being honest, I immediately started wrestling with myself. I knew in my heart that I was supposed to feed this man dinner, but I thought, “I’m a woman. I’m alone. People are crazy these days. You can’t trust anybody.” So I went on to Wal-Mart, got my items & left. As I was getting back on the interstate, I noticed he was still there. I knew I had the choice to either be obedient or disobedient. After all, THIS is what I had been praying for!!! And I was going to be disobedient in the moment of opportunity??! I made a quick decision & moved over into the opposite lane. I ran to Krystal’s & bought him a sackful! I put the Revolutionary Love card right on top of the burgers, so it couldn’t be missed. I beeped my horn, he came over & I could totally see the surprise on his face. I told him that God loved him & that I hoped he found what he was looking for (which, I have no idea why I said that! Lol! Afterwards, I thought of about 50 things I could have said!). He thanked me, said “God bless you”, and went back to his post. I cried the whole way home. I was just completely humbled by the whole experience. It is just a really good feeling knowing that God has used me to meet someone else’s need. If you do it once, you want to do it again! So I bought my friend (who is a single mom, with another on the way) lunch today!! Knowing you’ve been the “hands & feet” of God is an awesome, humbling feeling!

TC3 OnePrayer....

I am excited to partner with LifeChurch.tv and over 544 other churches from at least 15 nations in www.oneprayer.com The premise for this series is what prayer would your church pray for the church at large if God would answer it? God make us _____. I will preach June 8th and then show video teaching from some of the greatest churches of our time. My sermon will be God make us CONTAGIOUS. LifeChurch.tv is recording God make us ONE, we will show this the following week and follow up the next couple of weeks with other sermons from the best speakers of our day. I am so excited to partner with other churches and unify the church in such a way. As of this post there is a combined attendance of over 388,202!

blog, blog, blogs...

I'm not a big fan of blogs. I know that sounds wierd since I am writing one. I read one daily, keep up with one or two others maybe monthly and sort of force myself to write on here.

I just realized that everyone has a blog. I guess everyone thinks they have something to say. Reading Swerve has often led me to reading many other blogs that respond to Craig's thoughts. Some of these guys that post are interesting, in similar or inspiring spots. However, some blogs just should not be. Some may say the same about mine. But, some bloggers, that's what we're called, really have nothing to say. I find I waste some of my day chasing these blog trails.

(I guess most of my responses on Swerve have been to see if anyone might stumble onto my blog or get a response from Craig--oh I got a response from Crag the other day!!--I don't know if you know it, but I'm kind of a big deal now.) (Craig is the pastor of LifeChurch.tv--a church that is totally impacting my ministry. I've read his books and attend his Internet worship experiences every Tuesday evening. They have 22,000 attendees!)

Of course, my primary purpose in this little blog is to provide insight into my random thoughts and certain direction for TC3. And God has again turned up the heat on our calling! Stay tuned for more~

More RL stories....

· I used my first card at Starbucks on Cedar Bluff. The guy at the window was very interested in the whole deal. However, he did say that I was not the first person to use one of these cards. Anyway, then another guy came over to the window to talk about it too. I paid for the person behind me & when they handed her the card, she then took out her debit card and paid for the person behind her. It was awesome!
· I used my 2nd card @ Hardee’s. A very old car pulled up behind me so I was thrilled to get to buy her breakfast. I got to show the card to 2 different ladies at the window & they were both really impressed! We’re spreading the LOVE! What an awesome feeling!!!

RL Stories....

That was so freakin awesome. I woke up this morning thinking about where and when I could use RL today. I was so stoked, I couldn't wait to try it. So I pull into Bojangles. Two cars jumped in front of me in line. So, now there was nobody behind me. I was so bummed. It was almost my turn to order, so I asked the Lord to put somebody in line behind me. At that moment an old red clunker pulled up behind me and it appeared to be a husband and wife. I order and get out my debit card and the RL card. As I pull up to the window, the lady tells me my total. I said " I would like to pay for the person behind me as well". She gave me this look of confusion and said OK. She rings me up and goes to hand me my card back and says "Are you sure". I said "yeah". She gives me my card back and my receipt, but not theirs. I start seeing a few employees gather around. I ask her for a copy of their receipt. She leans over and asks another employee for their receipt. He says "Why". She says "Because he paid for theirs" All of a sudden there are 4-5 employees standing around doing nothing, looking at me like I was a ghost. Haha..it was so killer dood. So I give her the RL card and said "Would you give this to them, and tell them to consider this not a gift from me, but a gift from Jesus Christ". At this point, she is the one looking like a ghost. I started to realize that this was not just witnessing to the person behind me, but to all of the employees that were staring at me like I was crazy. As I pulled away I began weeping and I was hit with a priceless revelation. The feeling that I got when we were able to help send that girl on an ambassador trip, was the same feeling I had by spending only $7.56. It doesn't matter whether we spend $5000 or $500 or $7.56, giving is giving and I truly feel that I was more blessed by being able to buy their lunch than they were by receiving a free lunch. Thank you for these cards and for sharing this passion with us and the rest of the church. What I have realized is that, this is just the tip of the Iceberg. We are going to be able to advance the Kingdom of Heaven and destroy the works of the enemy with huge strides. And give all the glory to God.

Disciples or Christians....Pt 2

Week 2 of Disciples: becoming fully devoted followers of Christ kicks off in the morning. I am stoked about the direction of this series, the feedback and the momentum. Tomorrow we will announce the launch of 7 new LifeGroups. 7 couples opening up the borders of their lives to invite others to learn to do life together with them with a spiritual emphasis. Every follower of Christ is qualified to lead and LifeGroup. Go make disciples--its not really an optional thing in the eyes of Christ. Our Rabbi calls us, mentors us and requires us to do the same things He did. It's not at all about leading a Sunday School class. (I'm actually quite comfortable with the churchy stuff-its the real life stuff that's difficult). I pray that 15 more couples catch the passion and vision of LifeGroups and jump in.
Also, we launch Revolutionary Love. We will give out our RL cards and ask people to spread God's love in creative ways and share the cards. I feel a sense of God's activity in the air.

Finally, coming soon more info on OnePrayer, our uniting with thousands of churches to pray, fast and listen to God together to advance His love.

God bless....

American Idol Church....

I'm not a fan. Don't ask why. I'm not even a causal watcher. But the last two weeks I have caught American Idol Gives Back on Wednesday nights. They actually have a full choir and "worship tunes" with megastars. It seems that they even take an offering. Actually listening to Shout to the Lord right now! Many mixed emotions here. Great songs, great message, great cause great theology.....except that the rest of messages they 'preach'. I hope that the message of the Gospel sticks and the message of dualistic lifestyle doesn't. However, if history means much, the dichotomy will win out. Jesus and blank you in the same show within two minutes, that's the message this world is preaching. It seems that everyone wants in on the power and mobilization of the message of love and giving. However, this hybrid message of Jesus and everything else will lead to death. This should challenge the church to know that we are not cutting it. We need re-evaluate how we are communicating and reaching out. The church must rise up and offer the pure Gospel without dumbing it down, reach the world and make a difference.

oh well, my thoughts.

Revolutionary Love.....

I am excited to announce that Revolutionary Love is coming soon. At TC we refuse to just show up on Sundays and play church. We have to be the church; not just go to church. The most powerful force on the earth is love. God is love and I think He's got the power thing locked up. He's the hands down favorite. If we have been touched and changed by His love then we should share it. The Bible even says that we have freely received and we should freely give. So I am encouraging us to share the revolution, the revolutionary love of God. Stay tuned for more info on this crazy opportunity.

Ten Questions Every Leader Should Ask....

The following is taken from Craig Groeschell's blog...swerve.

Ten Questions Every Leader Should Ask

1. What did I learn in God’s word this week?
2. Is my burden for prayer growing or diminishing?
3. Does my heart break for the things that break the heart of God?
4. Have I grown accustomed to or accepted sin in my life?
5. Am I doing ministry out of an overflow of God’s work in my heart or out of my own strength?
6. Has my teaching and ministry deepened, changed, or evolved in a positive way in the last year?
7. Do I have a sincere peace that I’m living an authentic life of spiritual integrity?
8. Is my heart growing larger for people and God or is it shrinking?
9. Am I closer to God today than I was a year ago?
10. Do others comment that they can clearly see evidence of God’s work in my life?

Which of these resonate with you? What else would you ask?

Man 2 Man....

Coming soon..... Man 2 Man, a monthly service designed to empower, mobilze and encourage men to be priests of their homes by being formed in the warrior image of God. Stayed tuned.....

Disciples or Christians....

I am really excited about starting this new series. Disciple: becoming fully devoted followers of Christ. A mentor, Craig, has preached this series and I really sense God's hand on this series. Too often our Christianity boils down to religious practices and looses intimacy with Christ. This series will help us recapture our distinctives, passions and callings. Are we concerned with obeying Christ with illogical obedience or blending in to the cultural landscape, not make too many waves and mind our own business and arrive in Heaven safely. Do we want to spend it all, leave it all on the field for Christ? This five week series will challenge us to meet weekly in homes as in Acts 2 and be the church not just go to church once a week. Its my prayer that we radically answer His call and fulfill our destiny. Join me for this exciting journey. I commit to being a lead-learner on this adventure.

Secret to doing Kingdom work....

God has placed His Hand on you to do mighty exploits for His Name. Be encouraged to not lean on your own understanding. Schooling, training and work experience teach us to figure it out, work through it, pull all-nighters and dig deeper. There comes a time that we as ministers must cast all our cares on Him and lean not on our own understanding. We allow His Spirit to refresh and restore (Acts 3) and we literally enter into His rest. His love, joy, peace and grace produce fruit that will remain. The funny thing about a fruit tree is that it doesn’t stress about producing fruit. If it rains enough and has adequate soil it will just bear fruit without trying. Worshipping and hearing God speak will cause the joy of the Lord to be our strength. We will hear His voice and another we will not follow. There’s a word in the Greek that means automatically, without human effort. It’s found in Mark 4:28 when Christ is speaking about earthly seeds automatically growing. He is sharing a powerful parable that illustrates the seeds of the Kingdom of God growing and producing fruit through our lives. As seeds grow and don’t show up in one day, so are the spiritual seeds growing in our hearts.

Mark 4:28
‎Automatee‎. By its own energy, without either the influence or industry of man.