Branded With Love

[ht: the pez]

I love Beck.
He’s odd. strange. artsy. talented. I love it.
But this project is great, and Christians can learn so much from it.
What if Christians turned from lone rangers into collaborative dreamers?
What would it look like? The local church? Communities? Families? Schools? Work?
I pretty sure we’d see much of the same thing Beck & Co. did…

A wildly exciting time of people getting together, sharing life, and watching that expression of life bloom into something that no one could contain.
All the while God looks on smiling.

What’s your dream?
Let’s collaborate.  It’ll be beautiful.

Jason *over and out*

Hey blog people. My name is Carrie. I’m Jason’s wife and I’ll be taking over the blog on a weekly post to share my thoughts and take away from Sundays & life at Forefront. I’m new to this whole writing thing, but my hubby is helping me out. Here we go with installment numero dos…

• Definitely enjoyed the acoustic music that started off the service Sunday.  It was nice to change it up a bit.
• Watching little kids take their shoes off and throw them in the relief supplies for Haiti… man that was intense.
• We’re up to 30 women so far for the Women’s Retreat. Are you going? I’d love for you to come with us.
• I have been excited about this series through the book of James.  It’s neat to look through a whole chapter of scripture during service instead of just a verse here or there.

I have been thinking a lot about the scripture and the sermon Sunday.  What stuck out to me was the idea that we are all teachers all the time, whether we want to realize it or not.  As a kindergarten teacher myself, I know it isn’t always easy to be a teacher and teaching doesn’t always happen how you plan it.  There have been numerous lessons that I have planned to precision, but the teaching came when the lesson turned into TOTAL CHAOS.

It also made me think of our daughter, Chloe.  She is 19 months old and everyday she is learning new things.  Many times when she doesn’t do things the way we want her to, Jason is ready to drop the hammer, but I remind him that it is a teachable moment for her.  She is new to this following rules, respecting authority, not always getting it her way kind of life.  Many of us have been in this world 20, 30, 40+ years and we all of us still struggle with following rules, respecting authority, and/or not being selfish some of the time.  She has to learn all of that from her “teachers” and if we are still struggling with it, we can’t expect her to have mastered it in 19 months.

After the service Jason, Chloe and I attended the baptism of 2 teenagers.  It was awesome.  It made me think of something else I want to teach Chloe, I want to teach her that people coming to God is number one- and our plans are secondary.  We skipped our usual lunch plans, her nap time was put off, but she witnessed two people become Christians and I think that is awesome.  Although she doesn’t understand it yet, I want her to learn that we celebrate that life change and it is more important than anything else in our schedule.

At the baptism, James, our student minister said that the decision to follow Christ is the most important decision an individual makes.  It is more important than who they decide to marry, where they decide to go to college, what career they decide to pursue, or where they decide to live.  It is The Decision. So where did you go after church yesterday?

Did you race home to catch the football game?  Did you go to lunch like you always do?  
Thinking back to being teachers to those around us, I think about all the time we spend outside of Sunday morning and gel group time.  I don’t think those are the key “teachable moments” when we are teaching those around us.  I think a “teachable moment” occurred when you decided where to go after church. The baptism was announced and did that alter your plans at all or was it Sunday afternoon as usual?  I know we don’t have a building with a permanent place to baptize people.  I know the location was about 20 minutes away from Ocean Lakes High School.  But it’s worth it.  If this is the most important moment in someone’s life, and that someone is part of our church family, we should be willing to drive.  It is such a celebration and how awesome to celebrate that moment with people that will help you be accountable and support you as you grow and mature in your relationship with Christ.

It makes me think of Jason’s new car.  He went over a year without a car after giving his to someone who needed one- and so we finally decided to get one.  It’s nothing fancy, but it has that smell.  It has that new car smell.  When I got in for the first time I smelled that lovely smell and it made me think of how my car no longer has that smell.  It’s gone, it faded away over time.  I relate this new car smell to becoming a Christian.  When you made that decision to become a Christian and live for God, it was new and exciting, you were covered in the smell.  Everywhere you went people sensed it.  But as time went on, the “new scent” faded away.  Maybe that is why not more of us get pumped up and attend every baptism. You forgot what the brand new sensation felt like.  You forgot how exciting and amazing that life changing moment is.  Think back to when you became a Christian.
How did you feel in that moment?
How did it impact the rest of your life?
Did that feeling fade away?
How are you trying to revive it?

Until next time,
Carrie

My wife, Carrie, is going to take over the blog on a weekly post to share her thoughts and take away from Sundays & life at Forefront. Please be nice and show her a little love on her first installment. She’s a nervous and reluctant blogger. Enjoy.

Jason asked me if I would make some observations, jott down some notes, and share my thoughts from Sundays to give you “the other side.” I think this is good, even though it’s not really my thing. I’m a do’er- not a writer or communicator like this. I enjoy my time behind the scenes. Do’ers enjoy working and serving without needing recognition. In the Church (at large), it’s been labeled being a “worker bee.”

In the system of bees (I guess it’s time for a Discovery Channel lesson- hold on tight), worker bees get the short end of the stick in many people’s eyes. You see, the queen bee lives about 3-4 years, while worker bees live about 3 weeks in the summer or a couple months in the winter. The worker bees slave away for the queen and the hive and don’t get any of the glory, recognition, or pats on the back (or on the wings in their case). They just die. The thing of it is- they aren’t out for the medal ceremony, awards show, or nobel. They do it because it’s part of who they are. They are worker bees. Worker bees serve the hive. The overflow of their identity as worker bees demands that they serve. It moves them to do things. It’s part of their DNA.

As we listened today during the message, Jason talked about James Chapter 2 and pointed out this idea of faith and works. I like how James (the writer of the book) breaks the idea down for us to understand. We can believe in God, but even the demons believe. Belief isn’t enough for us according to God. Our faith becomes real when we begin to practice it. When we love, serve, share, do, give, extend a hand, open our homes, share our lives. It is at that point that our faith in God lives. The thing I get hung up on as a do’er is that I do so much of the things that I believe God would want me to do, that sometimes I just get in the do’er mode for the sake of doing. I forget the why and who. The why I serve and who I am serving.

That’s why I am excited for Forefront as we go through this series. I’m looking forward to the next three weeks. A couple other things that I walked away with today:

• I started to think about how excited James must have been when he started living for God. How come more Christians do not keep that excitement?
• The NeedtoBreathe song, “These Hard Times” was a good worship song. That was the first time I heard us sing it at Forefront and the band played it well.
• We have a ton of people volunteering at Forefront. I want to say thank you for the hard work you all put in. You expect to hear thanks from the staff, but I see it and you all are so wonderful.
• Praying for the women who are thinking about going on the Women’s Retreat in March. It is the 4th, 5th, and 6th of March. I would love to get to know you and worship/learn together. Email me or Lisa Gollihur if you are interested in going.
• I love my husband, but I do not claim him when he is in rap videos like this one today:

A special thanks to my hubby for helping me with the links and editing. I will talk to you all next week and if you ever have any questions, what to talk, etc. please contact me (Facebook or email).

Until next time,  Carrie

No matter what you do in life, you probably have things you don’t like about your job. Maybe it’s little, maybe it’s huge. But at the end of the day, when work, relationships, people, and circumstances are getting too much to bare… who do you unload on? Who do you let hear all your frustrations so they can help you process it in a healthy, Godly way?

If you’re in ministry, some things seem to be tough to share with your spouse, because you want to keep things confidential… and it could have a negative effect on how your spouse views the church. Check out the thoughts from Perry Noble in a candid interview with Steven Furtick:

Early on in ministry I just unloaded on my wife and I saw the outcome. It wasn’t good at all. I know in life we need to be close, open and honest with our spouses- but, we also need to protect them. If you’re having a difficult time with work, friends, life, etc. “Who are you unloading on?” Sometimes a friend can take the unloading, so your spouse & family can get your best.

Just something I’m working through to draw closer to God. How about you?

Jason *over and out*

Sitting at Panera taking my PRD. “PRD?
What the heck did you just say? P-R-huh?!”

You may not know this but we are required as full-time staff members of Forefront to once a month take a personal “Personal Retreat Day.” It’s a day to take some time away from the job, chaos, family, friends, etc. and connect with God. When I came on as a staff member, I was so amped that we were told to do this, but I didn’t take advantage of it… because I’m a workaholic.

Today I had to force myself to unplug (from the job). So here I sit and ask God to move in me. I have been praying for my heart and my family. I have been praying for you, your families, and that God will move in your lives. I am asking God to make me the spiritual leader He has challenged me to be. I am so humbled by every second He allows me to serve Him and sometimes it takes getting away form the norm and just listening to Him.

I need to make these days a priority. For me to be centered on God for my wife, daughter, the staff, and my Forefront family- these days have to happen. And I need to cherish them and guard them. If you are serving in a ministry area, talk to your staff leader and see how they are doing? Ask them how you can help them and ask how God is pouring into them? Ministry isn’t sitting around just relaxing. It’s can take a spiritual and emotional toll and it’s always amazing for people to ask how you are. So ask them when you see them.

Thanks to FF for having this and thanks to Dan (our Exec. Pastor) for pushing me to make these a big deal. I totally needed this today. God is pouring into me like an open fire hose.

Jason *over and out*

I’ve taken over the Forefront Blog this week so I’ll be posting some of the thoughts, vision casting, etc. from my posts there. Enjoy.

On the corner of my desk you’ll find a picture of my beautiful wife Carrie and our 5 month old daughter Chloe (she’s sporting the Mets hat in the Mets frame if you were wondering what team is the best in MLB). In the day to day work flow they are my reminder. A reminder that God is first, then family, and finally the church. Forefront is a great church and our mission is one of huge importance, but if I miss the boat with drawing near to God and loving on my family, then Forefront will suffer because of it.

Which leads me to the question, “How do you create balance in your life?” With God, family, church, work, little league, dance recitals, and so on… what are you neglecting? Whether you believe so or not, something is hurting. It might be work or maybe even hobbies, but a majority of the time it’s God and family. It’s a sad reality that many who follow Jesus come to understand.

Let’s say: You’ve been serving in children’s ministry since the day you signed up at a serving expo, you cart kids around to various student ministry events, you set-up and tear down every Sunday, and work a 60+ hour work week. You come home, find barely enough time to hang with the kids and spouse before you crash and go to bed only to start the chaos all over again. Then when you get into the quiet thinking moments, you realize that your family is suffering and you aren’t connected to God. Who do you blame for ending up in this stage in life? Unfortunately, we tend to blame the church. When that happens you’ll start to hear things like:

• “I’m not getting fed spiritually.”
• “My family and I are thinking of leaving the church.”
• “I like serving, but I think I am getting pretty burned out with this.”
• “God just doesn’t seem to be meeting my needs right now.”

Now I would contend that when things in our life arise they come from a deeper place than we would like to admit. When you hear these things you might look at the church, when I hear these things- I look in the mirror. I wonder where I stepped out of pace with God.

In the 8+ years of doing ministry before coming to Forefront, I had a season where the church was everything. I preached messages on reading your Bible, when I hadn’t read it in weeks. I had Bible studies on giving to God, and I wasn’t where I needed to be with my giving of time, money and heart. I was serving so much that I began to miss the point of being His in the first place. The problem was I blamed God, the church, the leadership and everyone within shouting distance, but it did nothing. It did nothing because they weren’t the problem- I was. I wasn’t close to God. I had walked away. I didn’t keep up my side of the relationship.

The eye-opening moment was when I got back into the groove. He and I were talking together on a daily basis (praying), I was learning about His plan for my life in a deeper way (reading my Bible), and I noticed my time wasn’t as constrained as I had originally thought and my joy was back (serving in the church).

Many times in life I’ve looked to place blame anywhere but with myself. Now being married, having a little girl, and growing along with God over these years in ministry; when things get out of whack- I look in the mirror. And when God and I are walking in step, my relationship with Him is stronger, family looks brighter and serving just becomes a natural part of my DNA.

So, to the question “How do you create balance in your life?” I would answer, Love God, Love Family, Love People… and you won’t be able to contain yourself as you Turn the World Upside Down.

“I’m beat the crap outta this thing!” is exactly what I said when our brand new Eureka vacuum cleaner just decided to suck (or not suck, which sucked). Just as I’m about to throw this thing out the apartment door my wife steps in and says, “Try taking it apart and see if you can fix it.”

I had poked, prodded, flipped switches, took off the back of the darn thing, but hadn’t completely taken it apart to see what the problem was. Two hours later it was dismantled on my floor and the lone motor was sitting there… plugged in. So I did what any rational-figure-outer would do: I flipped the thing on.

It went crazy, my daughter started crying, my wife leaped for joy… but it worked again. Which made me think…

As leaders, are we sometimes ready to give up on programs, groups, structures and plans in God’s church simply because we are just too frustrated to deal with them? Or maybe we want to, but fear the reaction of our people (crying like my daughter did). Possibly it’s due to the fact that pastors can be lazy. I fall into this rut from time to time and I imagine you do too.

It’s high time we step up to the challenge, and gut God’s church. Take it a part, and evaluate the problems, find a solution (even if it means people will react poorly)- because God has commanded His church to be the best. We’re His joy, and as a leader I need to learn to not be afraid and figure out the problems- and act on it.