The Way Church Was Meant to Be!

Monday night was one of the sweetest nights of ministry I have ever experienced!  We had the premier launch of "Church at the Joe."  This was a night of kicking country Christian music, worship, prayer and preaching.  God moved in a powerful way.  There were over 600 in attendance and over 30 people trusted Christ as the personal Savior of their lives for the very first time!  And all this took place in a country music dance hall and bar.

It was so refreshing to get outside the four walls of the Church bubble (literally for us) and just be the Church in our City!  It just felt so right.  It just felt like something Jesus would do.

There was an air of excitement and energy like I have never known as the people came pouring into the building.  We had media coverage from all three local television stations and the Knoxville newspaper.  We even discovered that a nationwide Christian radio station had picked up the storyline for the day.  ABC News, New York called and did a phone interview for thier webpage.  And all this started in the heart of a layman who had a dream to do something significant for the Kingdom of God. 

After the service, the dance floor was full of people laughing and smiling as they tried out some country line dancing.  Others were talking smack around a friendly game of cornhole.  Still others were praying together and celebrating the night with light hearted conversation and soft drinks. 

From a distance, as I took it all in, I said to myself; "I would have never thought in a million years that this could be what church or vibrant ministry could look like for me."  I smiled, breathed out a big sigh of relief and said, "now, this just feels right!"  "This is surely how Church was meant to be!"  I cant wait till December!

The Promise

Check out the video below for a special message for this coming Sunday!


<iframe src="http://player.vimeo.com/video/27887777?title=0&amp;byline=0&amp;portrait=0&amp;autoplay=1" width="398" height="224" frameborder="0"></iframe>

Half Way Home!

Wow!  Have you ever seen $1,600.00 worth of Quarters?  Well, now you have!  Our total for "Feed the Need" this past Sunday was $5,200.00!  Praise the Lord!  This is enough for 28,000 meals.  We are over have way home to our goal of 40,000 meals for starving Children around the world as part of Worship in the City. 

I cant wait to see "wheel barrow" offering part two this Sunday.  So don't forget to bag those quarters and dig out every one dollar bill within your reach.  I really believe we are gonna make it!  This is so the heart of Jesus! 

Calling all Quarters!

Hey Check out this picture I just got on my phone.  The sub-title said  "Oooooohhhhh.........look what i got!!!!   This is $162.50 worth of quarters!  Do you realize that will feed 650 starving Children around the world?  But, if you look real close in the picture, you can see additional coins in the bottom of a jar, not yet counted! 

This look like a challenge to me!  But, not only to me, but to you as well. So, I'm searching all over, digging out all my quarters for this coming Sunday.  I hope you do the same.  And don't forget those ONE DOLLAR BILLS as well.  If we all pitch in and do our part, I truly believe we can reach our goal of $10,000 that will feed 40,000  starving Children!  Wow, wouldn't that bless the heart of Jesus! 

Come get on board with us @ Northstar these next two Sundays as we partner with "Feed the Need" and "Worship in the City" on August 26-27 @ the Worlds Fair Park in downtown Knoxville.  Together our dream is to provide a meal for 1 Million starving children.  Together we can!

A Bear Crossing!

 This past Friday I made an early morning run around the Cades Cove loop on my Old School, Walmart special, one speed, Huffy Beach Cruiser Bike.  About 9 miles into the 11 mile loop I road up on this beautiful Smoky Mountain Black Bear.  By that time my legs were a little noodley.  I was thankful for big stand of Blackberries close by.  He chose them instead of me for lunch!  (They say preachers taste bitter anyhow you know.)  Thank you Lord for sharing with me such a beautiful display of your creation!  It was awesome!

A New Thing!

Tonight my mind races with excitement as the Lord continues to pour out His Spirit on me in fresh new ways.  As I sat and listened to the tree frogs and watched the twinkling of the fireflies in the tree tops, God reminded me that it is all for His glory!  I am more convinced at this moment that the Lord is preparing to do some incredible New Things at Northstar and Knoxville in the days just ahead.

This journey of faith is much like a trip floating down a river.  You watch with excitement and great anticipation as you make each turn, not really certain what is just around the next bend.  This is exactly how I feel in this moment of sleeplessness as the Lord just reminded me of the passage He recently gave me from the book of Isaiah chapter 43.
^{18 "Forget the former things;
do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the desert
and streams in the wasteland.} I really believe that God is about to do things in our midst that we once thought were impossible!  Please stop right now as you read this entry and pray that the Father would have His perfect way with us and that He would open doors of opportunity before us that no man can shut!  Get ready, It's coming!

Jesus Is Big on Forgiveness

I have been reading through the Gospel of Matthew the past few days and was reminded that Jesus is big on forgiveness.  It starts with the model prayer in chapter 6 where He says "forgive us our debts, as we have forgiven our debtors."  The last part is past tense, in other words forgive us only after we have forgiven others.  In verse 15 Jesus states; "But if you do not forgive men their sins, your Father will not forgive your sins."  This is serious business!

In chapter 18 verse 21, Peter is trying to be all holy and pious when he publicly asks Jesus "how many times should I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?"  And Jesus replies in verse 22, "not seven times, but seventy-seven times."  Seven being the number of perfection or completion, Jesus is not saying 490 times, but rather indefinitely or however many it takes.  He is commanding us to forgive every time, as long as it takes.  The number is irrelevant.

He then tells the parable of the unmerciful servant who is harshly judged because he was unwilling to forgive as he was forgiven.  He then brings the closer in verse 35 when He says; "This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart."  Did you see that?  He was not talking about lip service or just going through the motions of forgiveness just because you have too, but rather a true forgiveness that comes from the deepest part of your heart with great sincerity. 

This kind of forgiveness seems impossible at times and is, apart from the power of the Holy Spirit that lives inside of each of us as believers in Christ.  Lets all allow the Spirit of God in us bring us to complete forgiveness to all those who have wronged us.  This is His way!