Near and Far Faith

Diggin Carlos' podcast! He had some great resources that are so practical for worship leaders. Started using one of them today - worshipplanning.com - Check it out!

He also was on L.A. ink recently - watched it last night (God made the DVR himself).

Bought my tickets for the David Crowder Tour this morning! WOOO HOOO!! I can't wait to see a show where he headlines! AND he's touring with Phil Wickham who's music has been rocking the Hibbs house for the last year or so.

I'm still going through Daniel and I'm in chapter 9 where Dan is praying and he says this (in The Message): [God] Act out of who You are, not out of what we are.

That thought just blows me away. First off, what if God in all his power did act on who we are? Some of us that have been in church for a long time may immediately wander to "the Sinner" (ie. the murderer or adulteress), completely passing over our potentially gossip filled and lieing hearts. Yeah, see, what we deserve, you and I, is the same that"they" deserve. We deserve eternal separation.

One of the students at Ignite asked this question Tuesday during Open Mic: Why is hell so bad? First we established and agreed that South Park and the Simpson's were a little OFF with it. It's sad, but they're really just expressing what the culture truly believes - Hell's fun. Then I told them this (and it was good to put into words what I've thought - not often we have to do that as Christians): what's so bad about hell is simply that we are alone - no friends, but most importantly, no God. See we'll have been judged and have seen our true and exhaustive need for Him by then and be destined for eternity apart from Him.

That's what we deserve. But the second thing that gets me about Daniel's prayer is this: How often do we act like we'll get what we deserve - good or bad? I believe that we lack a true understanding of Grace in it's purest Godly form.

Way back The Newsboys wrote a song about it. Check it out here.

Let's find out what it means to live in grace.

Tuesday we wrapped up Parents of the Caribbean and got the results from the DX and I was blown away. Just goes to show that people are looking to connect with their creator.

One student gave up texting. Another gave up TV. Tom gave up torturing his teachers and told us how much he learned for 3 days. One of the V-Staff fasted for 3 days. Another student let TV go for the DX.

To read more about how the DX started click here.

Can't wait to turn it onto LTM tomorrow!

Ok so it's not a real danger (no limbs are close to falling off) and many of you most likely do not face it as much as pastors, however I've realized that at the rate that I listen to podcasts (one a day sometimes) it's easy to stop thinking for yourself. The primary job that have as Christians is creativity - using the imagination God gave us to show His message as the ever appealing gift that it is.

Some have said that creativity is really just stealing other ideas and improving on them, but I believe God's bigger than that. While I'll continue to get ideas form other churches, I will make sure to sink my thoughts more into the living Word.

It's easier to listen to other pastors and get "fed" (check out what Perry said about that here) than to really study scripture for ourselves. It's simply a wrestling match of priority.

Last night was my final night without TV.

Here are a few things I've learned from The Disciple Experiment:

• TV easily distracts me from my family time and my God time - I need to be careful
• I miss The Office the most (THAT'S WHAT SHE SAID!)
• Time with Cher is precious and it needs to take priority - while we do love watching thins together - that's NOT quality time.

I'm pumped to share this same message that brought on The DX with Langhorn Terrace Ministries next Sunday! Their pastor and good friend has given me the privilege of speaking and leading worship for them.

The picture doesn't really do it justice. I tried to get Rory (my 2.5 yr. old) a sticker at the grocery store and instead she got one of those temporary tattoos of Donkey from Shrek. She's now watching Shrek and comparing the tattoo on her stomach to the actual character. It's priceless.

But it's got me thinking, how often do we question God? He speaks into our life - gives new revelation - and while we're in the midst of moving on it we doubt. If we're honest we doubt ourselves more than anything else. It really comes down to a misunderstanding of Grace and it's forgiveness. That doubt is reluctant wafts of past failures, mistakes, or sin. They've been forgiven but East from West (Psalm 103:12) hasn't solidified itself in our hearts. It also says in Psalm 103 that He has "removed" our sin. It's gone - all gone. Restoration is the outcome of grace - the working of that which we don't deserve or quite understand. We should have confidence, obviously not in us, but in the grace and power that we've submitted to. That is where the confirmation will come from.