ultimate fighter

preaching again this saturday in our ultimate fighter series on 2 timothy. should be a great night so come check it out here at 5pm.

building a city within a city: discovering sabbath

the sabbath was not a topic i was initially excited about preaching on, due mostly to my own misconceptions about the day, but the more i learned and the more i implemented into my own weekly routine, the more i got excited about sharing.

due to high demand :-), you can listen to my most recent sermon here. but before you listen check out the teaser video we played before i spoke below, and in my music playlist to the right you can give a listen the song i will possess your heart -by death cab for cutie, our band nailed this cover, it was awesome, they even played the four minute intro during our "countdown" to the start of service.

all in all, i felt pretty good about it, i went in about as comfortable as i ever have before, yet i left the stage about as stressed as i ever have. i actually couldn't sleep saturday night until about 2:30am, that may have had to do a little with how long it was, anyway always a blast!

sabbath

i am preaching this saturday at revolution on nehemiah 15-22. in preparation i read this book sabbath by dan allender, a very unique book. one might think an entire book on the sabbath would dive into its history, it would reference a number of the 70 or so passages in the bible about the sabbath, but not this book, it simply helps you practice the sabbath better.

as a history guy, i look for those aforementioned things and was a little disappointed at first, but as i got into the book i began feeling, just by reading, that i was experiencing the sabbath.

i told my wife, its almost like poetry, it sucks you in to the essence of what the sabbath is about. after i read the book, i read the back. "dan allenders lyrical book about the sabbath expels the myriad myths about this 'day of rest'. that was it, a lyrical book.

christe began to read it, "wow, forget preaching, you should just sit down and read out of this book!" i guess that's how highly she thinks about my preaching. :-)

if you are looking for some aid in experiencing the sabbath, check out allander's book. if you are unsure of what the sabbath is and how its applicable to your life, come check us out at revolution, 5pm saturday night.

if today was your last day

i spoke on elijah this weekend at revolution. started off a little shakey but i think it went of pretty well as things moved on. if your interested you can check it out here.

how does God change the world?

you will have to come to revolution saturday to find out

c u @ 5!

church, the way it should be

since i visited the church i grew up in over christmas i have been thinking about church a lot. i remember why i never invited my friends to attend with me. it was not a place that would be relevant to their lives. church should be a place you can be proud to bring your friends.

my church has gone through some major overhauls and relaunched as revolution about five months ago. it was shaky at first, there was a point where only 11 people were in the service. God is moving, not to say the only way to gauge how God works is through numbers, but for numbers people like me it has been nice to see our growth pushing 80 over the last few weeks.

about a year ago my wife asked me why we were still in tucson, it took me off guard, but as i thought it came to me that the reason we are here may be revolution. since then, i have been asked to preach three times(the third is coming next week on valentines day, i will speak on jonah 3...see above graphic). i have also joined the elder board.

as i have been thinking about church i have realized how blessed i am to be apart of a church that is both challenging to the seasoned christian while presents the gospel in a way that is relevant to the first time chruch attender. a church that calls us to live out our faith and bring people back to Jesus. revolution, in my opinion is church the way it should be.

top 5 talks

i am posting my top five talks because i realized a while ago that i never saved them to the web so when i posted links in earlier blogs...those links didn't work with out permission. i got my first request for permission to read, got overly excited, and decided if one person wants to read one maybe i'll re-post them all!

i understand that speeches/sermons/talks are always better live. honestly, if you can't hear them live, at least get the video, if you can't get the video, at least get the podcast, if you can't get the podcast...well here they are.

ok who am i trying to kid, i only really have done 6 featured talks and the one of them isn't saved to the web yet. so...my top five talks!

1. Pure Sex -
a talk i gave to intervarsity christain fellowship at the university of arizona, this is also a promo for revolution, my church, which will launch on september 13 with a series of the same name!

2. Growing Life -
my latest sermon which addressed where i felt our church was coming from, where i believed us to be currently and what i hope for us in the future.

3. 8 Goals for the Next 8 Years -
my eighth grade promotion speech for the academy of tucson (who as far as i know still doesn't have a web site!). it was exciting, delivered to the largest group i have ever spoken in front of. i think the best compliment i got for this one was a mom who said, "wow, that wasn't just for the kids was it!"

4. Should Birds of a Feather Flock Together? -
another talk to intervarsity of the u of a...they invited me back, so that's good, but from what i understand is some places wont invite you back if you are real controversial...so maybe that will be my next goal. however, i thought this talk on race was at least a little controversial.

5. A Story Like No Other -
given at revolution and from my perspective, my least effective sermon, but still a topic i see as relevant. a story like no other is based off of paul's testimony at the end of acts and it's about knowing and sharing your story.

saturday night mind dump...

• to steal a title from josh, my pastor, who i'm sure is posting under the same title as i write
• i preached tonight, i think it went well, more me than last time
• i can always count on christe to be a voice of reason for me
• it's good i didn't preach two weeks ago, i spent all day today revising
• it's time to move forward
• my brother got married last week in colorado, it was amazing, i think i'll post about our trip tomorrow
• time for volleyball, anyone want to coach jv?
• baby bash coming up, let me know if you didn't get an invite, i'll hook you up...still hard to believe i am going to be a father
• love the shorts, thanks for dinner last night!
• church picnic was good
• mmm...food
• maybe i should be lesson planning...

growing life

i scrapped the sermon i thought i was going to preach at revolution on july 19 @ 5pm. some more changes have occurred at my church and i plan to address some issues we have had trouble with in the past, issues i hope we can improve on and where i hope we can go in the future. i pray it goes a little smoother than my last sermon, even if it doesn't i plan to bring it none-the-less.

preacher man

About a month ago, just prior to giving my promotion speech, 8 Goals for the Next 8 Years, I was irritable and not very loving to my wife. When this happens it is usually one of two reasons because I am either tired or stressed. Every day we have been married, Christe has gotten better at dealing with me when I get that way. I wish I could say I have improved that much. Anyway, she simply asked me, "Is there something wrong?" and I responded, "have you ever poured your heart out in front of 400 people before?"

"No"

"OK, try to imagine you are going to and hopefully that will give you a better understanding of how I am feeling right now...sorry if I'm being a jerk."

Which I'm sure I was being. I was significantly less stressed before preaching last night at church, maybe the reason was because I didn't feel like I was going to pour my heart out. When Christe asked how I felt about it, I told her I definitely didn't think it was my most compelling stuff. For whatever reason I never really got into my element with this one.

I try to learn from my experiences so I can make my next one better, like the first time I spoke at InterVarsity at the U of A, which was my first sermon of any length, not only did I not not have water up with me, we had a random schedule at school that day so I took one of my classes to play dodge ball, an hour of screaming didn't do so hot for my voice...about half way through my talk my voice gave out almost completely. So there I was in front of 75 college students with no voice begging the guy in the front row for some of his Gatorade.

Last night never really clicked, maybe because I was sitting instead of standing, maybe because I had to work from a large chunk of scripture, something I have never done before, maybe because I didn't tell enough stories or quote enough smart people? Maybe I just wasn't passionate enough about the topic? All things I will consider when I preach again on July 19 at Revolution.

Anyway, needless to say, no standing ovation like at the promotion speech, no one asking for a copy of my Sex Talk. What I did get was a learning experience. Amongst the prior list of things I need to consider I discovered why public speaking is a top three fear of in the United States along with fear of spiders and a fear of heights...all finishing higher than fear of . I had a moment, just after my opening, that I thought I was reading the wrong scripture, I froze, don't know if anyone else noticed but I freaked and stumbled through the next five to ten minutes of the sermon. Maybe you can notice once I get podcasted.

Here are links to the videos I wanted I show at church last night that tied in with the sermon.
Cardboard Testimony


Lifehouse Everything Drama


With all said and done I still think that A Story Like No Other is a relevant topic and I hope the congregation could see past the speaker and let God move in their hearts through it.

As scary as preaching/public speaking is I am happy to do it again and continue to try and master the craft...just don't call me Pastor.

Just prior to church last night Christie H. said, "Hey Preacher Man! Do you mind if I call you that?" I Said, "'Preacher' is fine, just don't call me Pastor."

See, I can speak in front of people, I can preach, and I am even fine with negative critiques of my talks, people can take or leave what they want. However, Pastors are Shepard's, there's a whole lot more into it than just preaching. If one sheep is lost its the pastors responsibility to find it...that's not something I'm ready for and something my pastor may be finding out just how difficult that can be.

Shout Outs:

James & Diane, Phil & Tyler for making a special trip to hear me last night. I appreciate it more than you guys know.

Seth & Kindra, thanks for the text and prayers, we missed you guys last night.

My beautiful wife, I love you more today than I did yesterday if that's even possible. Thanks for our first blog.

Other Business:

• I know blog posts are not supposed to be this long, I'll keep that in mind for next time
• Coco is still the best dog in the world...at least in his weight class
• I went to Vegas for my brothers bachelor party last week which I will post about later
• We watched our nephews this weekend which I'm sure Christe will post about later
• Beniah's room is almost done, a big step for me
• Summer has not been as chill as I had hoped but at least I'm livin'