Near and Far Faith

Just wanted to say that I'm pumped to be working with our newest leaders. Sunday we voted in 2 new elders and 4 new deacons.

Mike has been an awesome leader in Ignite. It's through rubbing shoulders with him there that I saw tremendous potential for leadership. His calm wisdom and experience in the school system brings something we don't have to the elder team.

Dave has been instrumental since the formation of the Elder Advisory Team last year. Before that, I didn't know he existed. He exploded on our scene with unmatched personnel advice and guidance. He'll be the breath of fresh air  the Elder Team needs. When it comes to team building and problem solving he is the man with the system.

John is Wink's dad. I got to know him through his family's hospitality and his servant's heart. His organization skill will bring some much needed structure to our... structure as the Deacon of Building and Grounds. He's a listener and a man of action.

Steve is gonna bring the finances to order - thank God! I know he will not "solve the problem" but his expertise with accounting is a huge weight of our shoulders. We need a numbers guy with a vision - Steve is that guy as Deacon of Finance.

Mark is my step dad. He's taking the reigns on our 1st impressions ministry as the Deacon of 1st Impressions and I'm excited to see this area that has long been lacking in vision and growth really take off. Mark's fresh perspective will bring some devotion to an area that gives people their 1st reasons to stay.

Scott... finally has a direction for all that energy to be put towards. His role as the Deacon of Connecting Points fits him to a T and I'm almost as excited as he is to see our community involvement start to take hold. He'll guide and direct not only our Connecting Points (small groups) but also our events.

Even talking about these guys relaxes me. Sharing the load is... nice. Thanks guys. We're behind you and next to you and cheering you on. Look out Valley.

That's my brother. He's a talented photographer and this shot fits my point well, so... sorry about the copyright stamp.

I'm always itching to change things. Some as simple as my vantage point from where I usually sit. Cherie and I regualrly move our living room around. I moved (A.C.E.D. moved) my office around a few weeks ago. Maintaining freshness is important to not letting life get stale.

I finished Vince's book last week. I changed me. God spoke to me through it and reinforced this idea: following Christ should not be boring. Buy it here. Read it now.

So what do you need to change? What's become routine? What in your life is boring and something cries out inside of you that it shouldn't be? Try something. Failing is fun - you always get another chance to change it again. Do we want to end up old and stagnant, set in our ways? Do you have it all figured out? You shouldn't. I shouldn't.

The next few weeks are going to be exciting. This week (1/25) Jake is going to be preaching for the 1st time and I'm excited to hear him bring the message. The following weekend Holyfire Ministries and Out of Hiding will be here doing the whole weekend for Ignition '09. BE HERE FOR THAT! There will be a public concert Saturday night (1/31) at 7:00.

Then I get to preach for 4 weeks straight! I've been working on the series and have decided to call it "The Mask". I'll be talking about faith and walking through Hebrews 11.

Then (this is really exciting) the 1st two weeks of March our 1st pastoral candidate will be preaching. If you didn't know, Jim Grimes -Carpenter's founding pastor - resigned and finished his time with us on Dec. 28th. Though it may seem quick to have a candidate in, God's been moving us through doors with little less than our permission! We're excited to see Bob Hampton be our 1st possible new pastor. Please pray that we walk wisely and on our knees through this process.

So if you've left or have just been lazy, you should come back... NOW! It's an exciting time in the life of Carpenter's and we're pumped about seeing this community change in the near future.

I met Andrew a few weeks ago for breakfast. He had been involved in other churches but had just moved to our area and had checked out Carpenter's a few times. He wanted to get involved and had a passion for small groups, or connecting points as we call them here.

What's been cool is to see him actually follow through on his interest in the past few weeks. He's shown a sacrificial heart that's willing to serve. He's jumping in after only being here a short time.

2 questions: Why do we often wait to put people in leadership or ministry and why do people wait to get into it? I think the 1st one answers the 2nd. We are not supposed to wait until supposed "Christian Maturity" (I think I've ranted on that concept already) to serve. I've seen the passage used from Matt. 10 to justify waiting to place people in leadership since Jesus had quite some time in public ministry prior to this, but that's not what Jesus did at all. He waited to send them out on their own, not to let them lead. Maturity is not for me to control, but to inspire no matter the case.

As a result of forcing people into our own version of maturity - which the only thought Christ gives to it is fruit in Matt. 7 - most followers of Christ shy from ministry scared of lacking maturity. Why are our volunteer forces waning? Because of our own pride. It takes humility to let someone serve beside me that has recently come to Christ. That is the real battle.

He Holyfire fans - they just released a new song on their website - one that they did at the Brave Generation conference called Door of Heaven.

Here's the link to it

They will be at Carpenter's the weekend of Jan. 30 - Feb. 1 doing Ignition '09. If you or your student ministry would like details on participating in Ignition '09 email me.  Saturday night the 31st at 7:30 PM will be an open public concert for anyone not participating in Ignition '09.