No Electricity?

Today was one of those days where we begin praying even more fervently for our church to have its' own building! We arrived at 7:15 am to do our typical trailer unload...and the assistant custodian at the school informed us that the building had no power...only emergency lighting in certain areas. After exhausting the possibilities of getting it turned on quickly we realized it was time to improvise.

We moved the service from the auditorium to the cafeteria. We actually had a pretty decent crowd for Thanksgiving weekend. Josh, our worship leader, had to lead by himself with only his acoustic guitar and what little voice he had left because he was pretty sick. No mics, no sound system, no words on the screen, etc...so without all of our normal technology we had an awesome service. In fact it was one of the best services we've had in awhile. The electricity came on with about 15 minutes left in the service :-)

So God provided the power today...and it was good...very good!

Thanksgiving Day

This is truly one of my favorite days of the year! God has blessed me in so many ways...both tangibly and intangibly.

The tangible blessings I am thankful for:
- My incredible loving and supportive wife
- My awesome 3 kids who have a heart for God
- A comfortable, warm, spacious home
- 2 reliable vehicles (one totally paid for :-))
- Food (especially mom's dinner today)
- Money...God continues to provide what we need!
- A growing church family
- 3 NFL games on TV this year for Thanksgiving!

The intangible blessings I am thankful for:
- God's love and grace in my life
- Peace that I find being in His will for my life
- Security in my future with Him
- The fun and joy of authentic relationships with family & friends

The challenge for us all...to express our thanks to God not just on this one day...but every day of the year.

Confessions of a Pastor

This is the title of the new book I am reading. I am having a tough time putting it down...I guess it's really hitting home. This book was written by Craig Groeschel, pastor of Life Church.tv, a megachurch in Oklahoma.

Craig does an awesome job of talking about the things that pastors don't think they can actually admit. Here are some of the chapter titles (confessions):
- I can't stand a lot of Christians
- I worry almost all the time
- I hate prayer meetings
- Sometimes I doubt God

It's a little scary how much I relate to this guy. This book is not just for pastors, but for any Christian who wants to drop the POSE and GET REAL with GOD.