My Texas Two-Step

I am back in Texas! I am presently in a community called Frisco, (a suburb of Dallas), writing this blog from my room at Homewood Suites. I am here to attend the Elevate08 Conference at Covenant Church pastored by Mike Hayes. I really decided to come here at the request of my friend, Pastor and Author Phil Munsey, who is on the docket as one of the Conference speakers and since I had to cancel my Pastor's Conference trip to Houston a few weeks ago because of Hurricane Ike, I felt this would be a suitable replacement -- so here I am.

The Conference is going well. The church and its staff are doing a great job of hosting the conference. They have great music and singing. I have enjoyed good preaching and excellent workshops. Making new friends and rekindling relationships with guys from my past. Even though I feel like somewhat of an "outsider" (must be that California thang, y'all!) I have gleaned much from being here.

The real reason I wanted to share, however, is an incident that happened Monday night. I flew out of LAX on Monday afternoon, changed planes in Denver (always an adventure) and finally arrived in Dallas at about 10:00pm. Upon arrival, I called my wife (whom I miss very much) and let her know that I had "made it." I picked up my rental car -- which happened to be a sweet Dodge Charger -- hooked up my Garvin GPS Navigator, and headed for Frisco in a slight rain!

Driving north out of the airport I came through the community of Grapevine and passed Ed Young's huge Fellowship Church campus. I was impressed by the sheer magnitude of his place -- one of the largest churches in America. As I was driving, I started looking for a place to grab a bite to eat. It was just after 8:00pm California time and I had not eaten anything but airplane snacks all day. I was on the lookout for a Chick-fil-a drive-thru or a Whataburger (Texas' answer to our In & Out Burger) and low and behold I see the lights of a Steak 'n Shake Restaurant.

For the uninitiated, Steak 'n Shake is a midwest institution originally out of Illinois. Steak 'n Shake is the home of the "Steakburger Sandwich" and, my personal favorite, the "Orange Freeze." If you have never had the opportunity, you just don't know what you're missing.

When I saw the Steak 'n Shake, it was on the other side of the freeway and I had just passed the exit. My GPS companion was loudly telling me to continue on to the programmed destination of my hotel and I questioned whether or not I should stop to eat or just keep on going. For some reason, unlike me, I decided to stop and backtrack to the Steak 'n Shake. There was a lot of construction going on in the area with detours and closed ramps, etc. So I ended up meandering my way to finally get to the restaurant. As I was getting ready to drive-thru, something told me to go inside. So I parked the car and went in.

Inside the Steak 'n Shake, there were just 11 customers and I made 12. It was late on a slow Monday night, so the staff was small, also. I stood at the front waiting to be seated as the sign told me to. As I waited, I noticed that three ladies in a nearby booth were looking at me and talking amongst themselves. Finally, one of them said to me, "Weren't you on the plane from Denver?" I replied; "Yes, I was." She said; "I thought I recognized you from the flight." I said something about the odds of being in two places at the same time on the same day - what a coincidence. The ladies agreed as the waitress showed up to lead me to a booth in the back. I told the ladies it was nice meeting them and followed the server to my booth.

Upon finishing my Steakburger and Orange Freeze, I headed to the front counter to pay my bill. As I approached the register, one of the three ladies was finishing up paying her bill and asking for directions from the waitress. She said, "I'm from California and if you could direct me to the right highway, I would appreciate it." The waitress began giving her directions to get to where she needed to go as the Manager rang me out. After completing my transaction, I told the lady; "I'm from California, too." She said, "Really? What part?" I said, L.A. -- Torrance, actually." She yelled at me, "You've got to be kidding!" I said; "No, I'm not -- born and raised there." She said, "That's incredible -- I'm from Torrance and I went to North High School in the Sixties with Chuck Norris!"

We spoke for a few minutes and she asked me what I was doing in Texas. I told her that I was here for a Pastor's Conference. When I said that I was a Pastor, they all said, "I knew there was something different about you!" (I took that in a good way) She wondered if I knew her old Pastor, Gary Leary, and I said yes, we served together on the T.U.R.F. Pastor's Group (Torrance United for Renewal and Fellowship). She went on to say that she retired and moved to Texas a few years ago and that her cousin (also from Torrance) had just flown in on the same flight that I was on coming to visit her.

The cousin, who had been in the Rest Room, then joined the conversation and was told that I was Pastor of a Church in Torrance. What she said nearly blew me away; "I have been looking for a church in Torrance." I was floored. You see, I thought it was about a Steakburger and an Orange Freeze. I thought it was about curbing my hunger. I thought I had made a U-turn just for me. When all along, God brought me over 1,200 miles away to share His love and grace with somebody from my city who, right now, is looking for a church home! Of course, I told them about and invited them to the incredible Cornerstone Christian Center. I then blessed them and went on my way rejoicing. Who knows? Maybe that is the reason I came here.

Isn't that just like God?

In my life it is.

Until Next Time.

What a Day!

Karlene and I flew from LA to Houston Sunday night, rented a crossover vehicle that I had never even seen before, (a Kia Rondo – should’ve upgraded), drove into the city and checked in to the Houston Renaissance Hotel next to Lakewood Church at around 11:00pm after a long day of ministry and travel. We wanted to get some good rest before our big Monday meeting with Joel and Victoria Osteen at Lakewood Church.

Lakewood Church is the largest church in the United States with four services that bring in more than 40,000 people each and every weekend. Miraculously, they were able to purchase the Compaq Center (former arena home of the NBA’s Houston Rockets) and transform it into a beautiful church.

We got up Monday morning and made our way over to Lakewood Church and were warmly greeted by some staff members as we entered into the massive arena-turned-church. They escorted us up the elevator to a reception area on the upper level where they had provided a continental breakfast. There we met the meeting coordinator, my friend, Pastor Phil Munsey from Life Church in San Juan Capistrano. There were about a dozen or so pastor’s from all around the country – most of whom we knew, a few that we were able to get to know.

Joel came over and we chatted for a few minutes as he made his way around to each of the Pastors in attendance. From there we were guided into the 16,000-seat Sanctuary and down to the platform by Joel and several members of his staff (Lakewood Church employs nearly 300 full and part-time workers). Victoria came in and greeted each of us warmly and spent some time getting to know all of the pastors and wives that had come in for this special session. Karlene talked with Victoria for a while and took some pictures. Pastors Joel and Phil then shared their vision to help small churches (under 75 attendance) across America.

We had a great time getting to know Joel and Victoria better, touring the incredible Lakewood Church ministry facilities and doing a special video shoot with the Osteen’s. It truly was a wonderfully exceptional day -- one that we will not soon forget. It was a day that encouraged our spirits, increased our vision, and strengthened our commitment to the cause of the gospel of Jesus Christ.

Thank you, Joel and Victoria, we love and appreciate you.

The Big Catch

This past Sunday at Cornerstone, I talked about fishing in my Labor Day Weekend message aptly titled, “Go Fish.” The message was about the importance of Christians fulfilling the great commission – by being fishers of men (and women, of course, since I am not sexist. At least I don’t think I am. Well, let me ask my wife just to be sure.).

Matthew 4:19 "Come, follow me," Jesus said, "and I will make you fishers of men."

Anyway, the three points that I made about being fishers of men were the things that are necessary to be a good fisherman. I have fished since I was a boy and have landed a few trophy fish in lifetime. In fact, truth be told, fishing used to consume my life – it wasn’t a hobby, but a habit. I still enjoy fishing, but those days are now few and far between.

1) You Need the Right Enthusiasm.
Quoting the late Allan Oggs, “You gotta have the Want-to!” People usually end up doing what they want to do. Desire is the driving force behind success.

2) You Need the Right Equipment.
You don’t take a Cane pole to fish for Marlin! You need to be properly equipped for the job at hand. You can be in the right place at the right time – with the fish bitin’ – but if you have the wrong equipment, you’ll get skunked.

3) You Need the Right Education.
Having the right equipment is not all there is to fishing. I have seen this principle played out time and again. People spend big bucks on expensive tackle, but do not know how to use the tackle that they have. You also need to know what works and what doesn’t work for specific places and seasons.

All of this brings me to the subject at hand -- the big catch.

My son, Zac, and myself, take a fishing trip just before he goes back to school. Last year we went out on the Redondo Special out of Redondo Sportfishing and had fun catching fish on the Ocean. This year, however, Zac wanted to go out on a lake.

So Tuesday we loaded up the truck with our fishing gear with our sights set on fishing. We headed north toward Castaic Lake, which is about an hour away (my first mistake). Friends, Castaic is not the easiest lake to fish – especially for a kid – doubly so for an Autistic kid. I knew this but, for some inexplicable reason, went on ahead anyway. Maybe it was its close proximity and easy accessibility. Maybe it was the thought of catching the big Bass lurking there that clouded my judgment. Maybe it was my sleep-deprived brain not functioning as well as it should. Whatever it was, Point #3 from my own Sunday Sermon of two days earlier had just gone out the window.


We had the desire to go fishing and catch fish. We had the right equipment to get the job done – four poles, full tackle box, bait, net, cooler, snacks, lunch, sunscreen – we had all the bases covered, or so I thought. Everything was in place, with the exception of Point #3 – Education!

I had failed to properly educate Zachary about the type of fishing that we were going to do. Oops. He has gone fishing with me only a few times and most of those were short, small excursions that were easily managed. In fact, it dawned on me that this was the first time that it was just he and I in a small boat on a big lake together. What was I thinking – or rather, not thinking? I had made a critical error and it cost me.

Trying to teach and educate an autistic youth with a short attention span can be challenging in the best of circumstances. Trying to teach him all the nuances and concepts of lake fishing on the fly – in a boat – on the lake – under the Sun – is virtually impossible (especially if you actually want to fish).

The fishing trip ended early with Zachary’s Catch-of-the-Day. I was teaching him how to cast a lure with one of my open-faced Spinning Reels (he generally uses his own closed-face, Spincast Reel). He was doing quite well. He had gotten the hang of it and was casting his lure around the cove we had ventured into.

I sat down in the boat, picked up one of my poles and began to change the hook. Simultaneously, Zac dropped his arm down and fired-off a side-arm cast. Unfortunately, his lure caught the tip of my pole. Fortunately, my pole didn’t get jerked into the water. Unfortunately, I was still holding onto the end of the line to change the hook. I let out some sort of pain-filled yell as the hook I was holding bore deftly and deeply into my right thumb -- the result of the split-second casting accident. Upon seeing the hook fully embedded in my thumb and realizing that he had hooked me, he freaked.

Trying to tend to my wound out on the backside of the lake and calm my Son down at the same time was quite the challenge. I pulled out my trusty all-in-one "survivalist" tool (insert joke here), opened the pliers and began my attempt to operate on myself and remove the hook. After the first tug, however, I quickly realized that it might be quite a bit painful and anyway it could be potentially hazardous for me to continue to play "survivalist surgeon" out in the middle of nowhere. I guess the pain caused my brain to start functioning again.

We fired up the motor and headed back to the marina. I docked the boat, got all of our gear out of it and headed to the First Aid Station – with the hook still embedded in my thumb. The Lifeguard on duty looked at it and said, “You need to go to the ER!” He poured Peroxide over it and wrapped a bandage around the hook to hold it in place.

Zac and I loaded up the truck and began the trip back home. Upon arriving at the house, Karlene loaded me into the car and took me on another adventure – a trip to the Emergency Room. Of course, as luck would have it, it had to be the day after a holiday, which means one of the busiest days of the year for hospital emergency rooms. Four hours after checking me in and my sitting, standing, sleeping throughout the waiting areas, they took me in to “surgically” remove the hook from my thumb.

I guess I was quite the novelty as the news traveled around the ER and different nurses came over to “check-on” the guy with a fishhook in his thumb. The older doctor apprised me that he had removed fishhooks before to which I replied, “Me too, only generally from fish.” He almost smiled. I guess it had been a long day for him too.

"Doctor Pain" proceeded to shoot me up with painkiller in my thumb that, ironically, was very painful. In fact, I have had more pain from his needles, than I had from my hook! For whatever reason, he seemed to make it his mission to attempt to stick or shove an 18 gauge syringe filled with anesthetic all the way through the base of my first metacarpal! You talk about pain! Yeouch! So once my thumb was deadened, (or perhaps just dead), he took a scalpel and made a somewhat deep incision from where the hook had penetrated up to its point – using the hook as his guide. He then opened the incision (that was interesting to watch) and pulled out the hook with his own pliers (well they looked kind of like pliers, anyway) proudly showing me the extricated hook as if I really wanted to see it.

The doctor poured about a gallon of some sort of solution on my wound and started scrubbing it intensely – I mean intensely! Then came the stitches (actually “stitch” -- at least they made it seem more impressive by using an entire roll of bandages on it). Once bandaged, they wanted my credit card and that was that.
My apologies for not taking pictures to document my misadventure, but it’s probably just as well.

I am on the road to recovery. I saw the nurse today (Friday). She took the bandages off (enough to stuff a small pillow) and said it’s looking good. It doesn’t look very good to me, but what do I know – it’s only my thumb.

What a catch.

Change, Growth & Christianity

The following is a blog from one of the Pastors at NewSpring Church in South Carolina. (In 10 years, their church has grown from zero to over 9,000 in attendance.) I liked his blog so much I wanted to share it here on my blog and to the leadership Team at Cornerstone. It speaks to where we are right now as a church and the direction we need to head in.

If you come to Cornerstone for services tomorrow, you will notice changes -- literal, physical changes. We realize that we cannot sit still or idly remain on the sideline, but must continue to grow, to change, to push forward -- to reach a new generation for Jesus.
-PT

Are You Comfortable in Being Uncomfortable?
By Tony Morgan

Last Sunday at our Greenville campus, we had an older couple, probably in their sixties, accept Christ. That's worth celebrating. I love to watch life change happen.

Here's what's amazing about stories like that. Our services in Greenville aren't designed for people in their sixties. Our services are designed for a much younger audience. It's an audience that loves loud music. They are comfortable with video teaching, because video is already a huge part of their lives. They love the coffeehouse atmosphere.

Here's what we've learned. If we design our service experiences for a younger audience, we're more likely to reach that younger person and we'll also reach older folks. The reverse is not true. If we designed our service experience for an older audience, the younger crowd would not show up.

Now, here's the reality. Most churches in America are designed for an older audience. In fact, the more-seasoned folks in those churches are sitting on committees telling the students and young adults how they can and can't do ministry. The result? Younger people are leaving churches in droves.

Here's what I know to be true. If the church is going to continue to reach the next generations:

* I have to be willing to give leadership to people younger than me...and let them make mistakes.

* I have to be willing to let younger folks lead me in worship...even when it's not my favorite style of music.

* I need to embrace new methods of ministry...even though it makes me uncomfortable.

* I need to pray and encourage and finance the next generation church...and stop trying to make church a place that I like to attend.

It's not about me. It's about the people who desperately need to know the hope, love and forgiveness found only in Jesus Christ.

For the ministry of the local church to remain effective, I need to get comfortable with being uncomfortable.

Going Back to School Blessed

Jesus said, "Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."
–Matthew 19:14

This past Sunday was a great day for families at Cornerstone. It was our annual “Back 2 School Blessing” Day in which we pray a special prayer of blessing over the Children as they begin their new school year and then we load them up with free school supplies.

This year, Cornerstone was able to bless around 100 children by giving away backpacks filled with school supplies and sundry products. With special thanks to Trichel Ramos of the Skechers Company, (they generously donated the new boys and girl’s backpacks), World Vision, and Staples, we were able to help many families in need get their children ready for the new school year.

Special thanks also to Tami Harmon and the Kidz Kingdom team who volunteered to come out and “Stuff” the backpacks in preparation for the big event – and then, pull the event off.

All in all it was a super day… children were blessed, families were blessed and Jesus was glorified – and that’s what its all about.

Disconnected!

The past several days, we have had issues (once again), with one of our fav-o-rite companies – AT&T. Please, pardon the sarcasm.

Tuesday evening we noticed that our telephone service was acting “funny” for lack of a better word. When we awoke on Wednesday, we discovered that there was no landline or internet available at all – the line was simply dead. To our chagrin, the unlimited knowledge-base known as the World Wide Web -- that we rely on heavily to stay in contact with the world and people around us -- was suddenly inaccessible. Our line of communication had been severed. We were disconnected.

It’s no fun being disconnected. When you are disconnected, nothing comes in and nothing goes out. Information and inspiration cease. The needed flow of life-giving knowledge is missed – because somewhere and somehow the line has been severed.

Disconnect is one of the favorite ploys of the enemy of our souls. His goal is to keep people from connecting, communicating and communing. He does his devious worst to try to separate people from their families, friends, churches, etc. He uses real and perceived offenses, envy, pride, jealousy and any number of other things to keep people away from where they should be.

There is strength in numbers and great power in unity. The Bible tells us that two are better than one. Jesus said that where two or three are gathered “together” in his name, he is there with them. The enemy knows that it is easier to defeat one individual than it is to defeat an entire army. If he can separate the individual from the army, it is much easier to defeat them.

Several things can lead to disconnection. Uninvolved people – those who chose not to participate in life with others -- often become disconnected people. An unforgiving spirit will lead to disconnecting. Un-repented sin in our lives will disconnect us from God and others. These and more are some of the tools that Satan uses to disconnect us – eventually from our glorious destiny in Christ.

God has placed certain people in our lives that love us and care about us. We have been connected to people -- parents, siblings, friends, and even Pastors – people that care about us and we care about for a reason. God brings good people into our lives to make our lives better. In some way, or sometimes in many ways, they add value to our lives. Therefore we need to stay connected to them.
When we praise God together, when we learn together, when we pray together, when we work together, when we grow together, and when we break bread together we are connecting as God designed and desired us to. This is known as doing "Church” – an assembly made up of many people who have been brought together by God as one body.

This is doing life as God intended… Together… Connected.

Friday afternoon, the landline at our house was finally re-connected. We are now back in the flow, sending and receiving information, connecting with people, and doing life as we are supposed to.


I’ve discovered something important:
Two days disconnected is two days too many!


How's your connection?

Powerful Praise

“I will bless the Lord at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth.” -Psalms 34:1

The book of Psalms is one of the most powerful books in the Bible. It is filled with instruction regarding our spiritual lives. One of the principal authors, David, was a man after God’s own heart, because he understood that God’s heart was touched by praise and worship. If one does not know how, use the book of Psalms as a guide to praise the Lord. It is the instruction manual telling us how to praise God.

A FEW REASONS TO PRAISE GOD:

1. God is Worthy of Praise.
"Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive… honor and glory and praise!" (Rev. 5:12) Probably the number one reason to praise the Lord is simply that He is worthy of our praise. Something inside of each of us wants to extend praise to someone, somewhere at sometime -- well, that someone is the Lord Jesus Christ!

2. We are Called to Praise the Lord.
But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people belonging to God, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light" (1 Peter 2:9). We have been called by God to be praisers. Not compulsory, but voluntarily. One of the greatest things we can do is honor God with our praise.

3. Praise Enlists God’s Presence.
God inhabits the praises of His people (see Psalm 22:3). When we praise the Lord and call upon Him, He shows up. When the "shout of the King" is among you, the King of the shout will be with you! (Numbers 23:21)

4. Praise brings Victory.

a. When the huge, walled city of Jericho was between the Children of Israel and their promised land, Joshua commanded them "Shout! For the Lord has given you the city!” The trumpets blew, the people shouted and the walls fell down before them. (See Joshua 6)

b. When confronted by several armies that had come together to defeat and destroy God’s people, King Jehoshaphat of Judah (which, by the way, means “Praise”) chose men to go out on the battlefield before the army to sing and praise the Lord. “As they began to sing and praise, the Lord set ambushes against the (enemy)… and they were defeated.” (2 Chronicles 20:22)

c. Paul & Silas were in Jail for doing the work of God. They were placed in chains and locked-up. Yet, at Midnight, they began to sing and praise the Lord – even in the midst of their incarceration. Miraculously, an earthquake hit the jail and all the prisoner’s chains fell-off and the jail doors flew open! (Acts 16:25-26)

Are there big walls in the way of your advancement? Does it seem as if you have been surrounded and attacked by different enemies? Are there chains binding you and locked doors holding you back in some area of life? The key to victory in every situation is taking the Pathway of Praise. Give God the glory, bless His name, praise Him for His excellent greatness -- and see the miraculous power of God begin to move in your life!

Don't wait 'til the battle is over, shout now!