did you know....

in 2007, for the first time in 65 years, more churches were actually started than those that closed. could be both positive or negative. good things, i think. 

who i met and what i've learned so far...

so, right off the top, i was invited to be part of a pretty cool dinner last night. among the new 'friends of dave' are a cool group of people responsible of putting on the CATALYST CONFERENCE, Ed Stetzer (church planting beast and SBC rep - i had to walk behind him to take a pic with him), Allan Hirsch (i think he's a modern day prophet and visionary of the organic/missional church movement), and the purpose driven guru himself, mighty rick warren (as i kissed his forehead, he fell over in uncontrollable laughter).

what i've learned...

christianity - christ = religion (duh, but take a look around, sounds all to familiar)

church the way we are doing it is good for about the 20% of americans that would be open to it (about 12 - 15% actually attend once a month based on stats.)

WHAT ABOUT THE OTHER 80% that don't care??!!! WTF! 

we don't take christ to people - if he's God, then he's already working. our role is to help people interpret these 'religious' experiences through the filter which is christ. this is pretty profound in that most people know that if they want to get closer to god, they would normally go to church. the irony lies in that God is everywhere, whether the church is there or not. so what's he doing? he's prepping the people to meet him through the expression of church - His people and oddly enough, not His building.

meaning, the people in your circles of life, have been waiting for you - God's been working on them before you even got there. how will you engage them to help them understand their experience with the almighty?

the church does not have a mission -- God's mission has the church (missio dei - latin for the mission of God - to reconcile a dead world back to himself by using any means possible, mainly the church (people -- you and i )

how are you involved in this? 

totally psyched because it helps to answer the question of what matters most.

any how, just some tid bits. that's all for now. i believe God's gonna do something amazing in miami soon with our current churches and the ones that are to come! be part of it!

if you are not, consider joining a new effort in your town

what do you think? 

in orlando...

so, i'm in olrlando this week at the national church planters conference. for more info: http://www.exponentialconference.org/

lots of different people, different ideas, different forms...same goal. work with God to build His kingdom.

please pray for me as i discern the next steps of this new work. also, please pray for those that are considering joining this effort. it's not like what most of us know, so it will mean almost detoxing from previous ideas of what is and what was to what could be.

anyway, see you guys on friday.

question for the e-world reading...how are you working with God to build His kingdom where you are?

at work?

at school?

at home?

at church?

let me know. just trying to gather info as we determine the strategy for this new work

peace

to what's next...

just in case you missed it, the announcement was made this last weekend - with God's help, adriana and i will be working towards launching a new church here in town. we've been wrestling with different circumstances to get us overseas, yet we've not been able to go. after prayer and searching for God in his word, we believe that our calling to missions is still valid, we just need to put into practice what we'd be doing over there, over here. so this is where we are and where we hope to go for the next step. 

excited and nervous. anyhow, that's how it is. we are grateful to MBC for all their support and help over the last 4 years. we've been blessed and have grown as we've served there. we know that God is working there and that he has a great plan for MBC and it's team. we love them all dearly.

so...to what's next - there it is. join us in prayer as we venture out to the great unknown...again.

how to pray:

God's direction and guidance for the new church

housing in right area of town

for the lost to know Christ

for God to grow his church here and globally

will you join us in prayer? let me know. thnx again. 

ms/hs spring retreat 08 update...

hey all! here at spring retreat - it's going great! just to wrap it up, 

theme: "As Seen on TV - Take control of your reality"

kids: 56

counselors:9

first time decisions for Christ (so far): 7

lived dedicated to ministry: 5

lives touched by God:65

pretty awesome how God works in the lives of students and adults. keep us in prayer as we finish up and come home tomorrow

peace

2 questions...

ok, here we go. one question, maybe the question that i've been dealing with the most...ready?

WHAT MATTERS MOST?

help me find the answer to this question. i can't place a context or limit it to a circumstance, because then is ceases to matter most in other circumstances. so what is it?

next question...once we discover what matters most:

WHAT WILL WE DO ABOUT IT?

that's it for now. 

losing sleep and the mice in my head are running pretty fast.

what do you think?

easter moments...

so on friday night, for the evening worship concert, for some reason, i sensed that someone was looking at me. have you felt that sensation? when you know you are being watched; weird. any how, in the middle of the concert i look back and there is jason; a young teen who is para-palegic in his wheel chair looking at me. i looked at him and smiled. he smiled in response. i winked at him and  he winked back. after my time was done at the sound board, i walked back and sat next to jason. for some reason he reached over and held my hand as we sang in worship. the song playing was 'shout to the lord' by hillsong. needless to say, i was moved to tears quickly because jason can't speak. at best, he made sounds to get across what he felt inside as he joined with the rest of the church. i can't imagine how Christ must have felt in that moment to know that one more was doing his very best in worshipping Christ. moved, proud, happy, proud. 

i thought for a moment about how poor of a worshipper i truly am. sometimes i don't want to and sometimes i just don't care. 

his mom didn't know what was going on (they were first time visitors). she'd never seen him so moved before - the power of worshipping Christ.

once again, i realized, that worship has very little to do with a song or how well i may or may not sing. worship has to do with the object of my attention. as long as it's Christ, i don't think He cares too much about how great the notes are, as He does the intention and sincerity of heart.

Christ taught me and spoke to me through jason; through one that cannot speak. worship Christ with all that you have - that's why you have it.

what was your most inspiring moment this easter? 

how did God speak to you this weekend? 

easter...

hey blog world. i've got one word - EASTER. been a bit busy as of late getting things taken care of at mbc. if you haven't made any plans to attend anywhere, love to have you there. whether mbc or any where else, be sure to go, it's EASTER. 

any how, more to come after EASTER.

p.s. jesus wins - it's EASTER

cop out...

in john 12 it says that during Jesus' entry into town, his presence was a bigger deal than the actual celebration that was taking place. as i shared at the movement tonight, i questioned the students on how excited they are to celebrate the biggest Jesus party in the world - to think that for a weekend, believers world wide unite in celebration, remembrance, and victory. i compared the fact that the police concert sold out in 15 minutes; jonas bros in about 8, hannah montana in about 4. 

where is the line to celebrate Jesus?

are we inviting anyone to his party?

for a man who raised the dead, healed the sick, cured the blind, forgave all sin, and resurrected from the dead - i'm sure that he'd have no problem filling up any venue. yet why is it so difficult to grab the attention of those who don't know Christ?

could it be that i'm not inviting anyone to the greatest celebration on earth?

could it be that i'm not celebrating Christ in my daily lifestyle?

could it be that i truly don't believe that what Jesus did then, he can do now?

these are the questions i posed to the students. as i thought about stuff later on, i thought it fair to ask myself and the rest of the 'grown up' blog world - why aren't we inviting others to Christ more often?

i thought to myself that perhaps its because... 

of what they might here or see. cop out.

of what they might like or dislike. cop out.

of what they might understand or not understand. cop out.

the reason they are a cop out: whether the church experience is right for them or not, you and i have been placed there intentionally to clarify the matter. it's just easier to not invite anyone - there's less work on my part that way and i can pass the blame. it's a cop out, again. 

let me ask: why?

why don't we invite others more often?

why don't we reflect this celebration more often?

why do we choose the easy route and blame others instead?

help me out. why?

it's not Him, it's me... seriously

there's a pattern that i'm seeing in life. things that i want. things that i can't have. things that i can't have now. things that i shouldn't want. and then, again, there is this thing called "WHAT GOD DESIRES." a.k.a - God's will, God's plan, God's preferred plan, God's sovereign plan, whatever. pick anyone of those titles and if you're like me, you wrestle with the why's of life and the why not's of life. 

see, the problem is that i'm not always satisfied with His choices in my life. i'm not always satisfied with my choices in life either, but i think i give God more beef because He's perfect - and because He is, i guess when He doesn't do what i want, somehow, i seem to fool myself that he's less than perfect - which he's not. hear me clearly, HE'S ALWAYS PERFECT and RIGHT!

it's part of that pattern that i was mentioning to you. i discovered the problem in the formula. it's me. it's always been me and what i want. major problem. it's not Him, it's me. it's not Him, it's you and me. it's not Him, it's us. seriously. i know it sounds like a bad break up line, but it's so true. 

amazing, that as cheezy as my excuses seem to be, even to me, he doesn't break up. i'm sure that it bothers Him. but He's slow to anger and quick to forgive - me and my stupid patterns. it's in this that i take satisfaction. it's in this that i find joy. even though i'm me, He's still Him. that's enough for me and us all.

happy birthday...

just wanted everyone out there to know that today is adriana's birthday. she's hot and my wife; one the greatest blessings that God's ever given me. give her a call or drop her an email and let her know that you love her.

splash...

have you noticed the great amount of movement that's occurring everywhere? i'm not sure if it's the price of gas, the recession that 'we are not in,' conflicts in the middle east, or just the amount of people coming and going these days. the world truly has become a smaller place; because of it, i think i notice the motion, transition, and constant change that we as a people, we as a culture, we as a country, and we as individuals are always in. 

it's so easy to get caught up in the movement mistaking it for accomplishment. if there is one thing that i know, busyness doesn't = accomplishment. busyness = busyness. sometimes things get done, sometimes i go backwards. 

so i was thinking about the idea of movement and where God seems to be moving my city (miami) as a whole. always transition. always multi lingual, multi cultural, multi faceted - moving in multi-ple directions. it is what it is. but what will i make of it and what kind impact can be made in such a fluid culture. 

when you think of your home town  and you consider the way it's moving and where it's going - what can you see being the greatest area that needs to be addressed in the ever-moving culture, people, and society? 

i figure, once you pick a direction to move in, you'll make the biggest splash and impact there.

where are you moving? what are you doing to cause a splash? 

connected in community

where are you connecting for community? where can you let your 'hair down' and just be you?

cool thing about tuesday nights is the way that a bunch of different kinds of people connect, have coffee, pray, eat sandwiches, study the bible, laugh, and stay connected. it's cool because people can just be people. 

as i was hanging out with adriana, a couple of thoughts came to mind - especially as i was thinking of community and how we do it today and how it was done in the book of acts. 

that first group of leaders and original group of emerging leaders had no idea that what they were doing would change the world. they were simply 'being' and 'doing' instead of being so technical or precise. 

so a couple of things from these 1st generation leaders and groups:

-they spent time together (lots of time)

-they spent time eating together (lots of time)

-they spent time not in a church building, rather among the 'normal' people (lots of time)

-they prayed (lots of prayer)

-they devoted themselves to the things that were most important (do we?)

so...i wonder if we over complicate things. do we distort and over kill the simplicity of simply doing life with others? is there something more needed than a bible, people, a cup of coffee and God?

what do you think? 

what can we learn from the 1st gen. leaders and groups? 

in your opinion, what do you think we should be most devoted to doing?

journey...

as we finished zeal this evening, i was thinking about how all that we experience at zeal happens. just wanted to extend my thanks to the whole team that makes these gatherings possible. from everyone on stage to the folks that you never see -- the people who do everything that no one else wants to do, THANKS!

regarding tonight, i think it went really well. as i was reading some the 'next steps' that some of us need to take, it made me smile - God is actively at work in our of lives as we're traveling through this journey. i know that the future is unknown, but what about your very next step?

so...what is your next step? what do you sense God is asking you to do? where do you sense He's leading you to go? what's the next step you need to take?

let me know how God is working in your journey - let's journey together. 

fyi, tonight's podcast will be up soon at www.zealmiami.com

next week at 6.30 -- homeless feeding, be there!

don't forget...

all right blog world - this is your official reminder ZEAL is tomorrow night: journey starts @ 7.30 pm - don't miss it.

also, as we get ready for ZEAL april, if you have any thoughts or suggestions on subject matter that would be good to be addressed, let me know. if not, then we'll probably end up talking about sex. that's right. that's what i'm thinking right now.

any how, best thing that happened today - my son made a clown feel bad. she started making something for him out of a balloon but he just wanted the balloon.

made me think, sometimes we try to over complicate matters when it's the basics of simplicity that will make the lasting impression -- it's also the stuff that we are more likely to remember. 

we don't remember sesame street because of the amazing graphics or computer generated effects. we can see the sticks the puppets work off of. what we do remember is how to count, spell, and identify colors (for most you at least).  any way, details can sometimes bring things down. keep the basic plan excellent, the rest will fall into place. good night. 

wisdom from others...

i'm always impressed when i spend time with a local pastor and wife. they are some of the people that i probably respect the most in this world. they've been around longer than we have in different circles of ministry. either way, i'm grateful for examples like theirs. these are the kind of people that i want to be like when i'm older. things that we touched on our time with each other...

1. fear God above all things - when you mess with God, you're gonna get messed up

2. know that you know beyond all things that you know what God has called you to do and where to do it

3. being a 'man' is a hard thing to do, especially when most remain boys

4. God is the One building his church, not anyone of us (no matter how cool or innovative we think we are - at the end of the day, He's in control, not you, me,or the iMac)

5. today, it may seem like God and church are separate from each other. that should not be the case. when church is not in God, then church has a problem, not God

6. 3 sides make a square. (i'm not sure how, but it makes sense when he explains it to me.)

-what do you think about this advice?

-what's the best piece of advice that you've ever received from people that you respect and listen to?

growing bigger..is it better?

what are your thoughts on bigger churches and what they do? check this out and let me know. 

Jesus Factory 

time for change...

tonight i shared a tough message with the ms/hs students at MBC. we touched on the idea that God gives to us, so that we can give to others. not for self comfort or satisfaction; it's a means to something greater. as i prepared, i came face to face with numbers, faces, and lives of so many displaced and hurting people. real, actual human beings. after doing some homework on invisible children, i was deeply moved. it's been racking my brain -- what can i do TODAY to make a change. im sure i can give a few bucks here or there. but truly, what can be done now?

call me crazy, but do you think that it would be possible to organize something here in miami to help those who are in need of help? to provide some form of relief to those that suffer from social injustice?

im not talking about a rally or a info gathering. rather a place where a group of people committed to change can actually stand together for something greater than themselves. can we do that?

something else that keeps me up at night, it's not the church that's leading the way towards social reform, towards educational reform, toward defeating poverty, sickness, or any other killer of life. why is that?

do you think that it would be possible for 'church' to be the one to lead the way to world reform? not gov't. not obama, mccain, hillary, or even hannah montana. nope. just the hands and feet of the savior; the church.

tell me, what would it take and would you be willing to be a part of it.

let me know - maybe this is the beginning.

control le bouche...(french for 'the mouth')

have you ever noticed how some folks find it difficult to control what they say? sometimes it's those soccer moms that are too competitive; the ones that yell at 4 year old kids trying to distract and belittle them. sometimes it's those people that are too smart, even for themselves. sometimes it's the people that you work with, live with, do life with. either way, controlling what we say is critical to our character and development. both now, but more importantly in the future. as we continue to grow in life and relationships, do you always think before you speak? do you always speak to those that will in turn spread what you have shared?

proverbs 13:3
he who guards his lips guards his life, but he who speaks rashly will come to ruin.

what steps have you taken to control what you say?

how do you monitor what you speak out loud?

who loves you enough to correct you in truth?

fill me in.

a bowl of warm soup...

people often expect life to be a piece of cake. i'm not sure why. if there is one thing that i've learned, it's not easy and i don't think that it was meant to be easy. something else that i've seen, when we don't get our way, we make decisions to get our way as soon possible. instead of dealing with the situation, we try to go around it -- we prefer to do that than to have to deal with the matter head in. sounds good in theory, but what i've learned is that 'going around' typically leads to someone compromising something, somewhere, along the way. compromise, can be painful. not immediately, but eventually. in genesis 25, esau gives up his birth right for some food. jacob trades him soup for the rest of his future. a bowl of 'instant goodness' was far better than the rest of his future that was before him. instead of dealing with the situation, like a grown up, he simply caved in and did what he had to do to get what he wanted. it was as simple as that. i bet you that esau didn't even think about the significance of his decision. the people it would impact, the lives it would change -- the life that he would no longer have. the part that kills me, it's over a bowl of soup.

i know it sounds silly, but in retrospect, how often have i compromised something great for something instant? how many times did i see that 'thing' that i 'needed' to have and i did what needed to be done in order to take hold of it - without thinking who it would affect and how it would affect them. we sometimes forget that our decisions don't just affect us, but those that we live in community with. a bowl of soup. something nice and warm for the moment.

the part that sucks is that a few hours later, he was probably hungry again. then what? what do you do when the 'food' has run out but you are hungry again?

what have you found the toughest areas of compromise to be in?

what kind of safe guard to you have in place to protect you from not compromising in these areas?

how do you continue to move forward in your resolve?