Yeah, that’s how we roll.
Rap is what brings Chloe and I together. It’s fun times.
What are some funny things you and your family do that no one knows about?

Jason

In case you didn’t receive the letter we sent out last week, we wanted to post it here on the blog to make everyone aware of things at Forefront. If you have any questions, contact info is at the bottom of this post.

Dear Forefronters:

My wife and I were sitting the other day talking about how tough it is for families today (kids or not, married or single… times are tough). We looked at our monthly in flow and out flow of funds, and like many families- we live almost paycheck to paycheck (with a little in savings if things get crazy). It’s not always a good feeling when we take a look at the bank account. But, not too long after our conversation I was praying and got into my daily reading and happened to read this passage,

25″Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more important than food, and the body more important than clothes? 26Look at the birds of the air; they do not sow or reap or store away in barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not much more valuable than they? 27Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life?” Matthew 6:25-27 (NIV)

The Bible has a tendency to smack me in the face and shock me back into perspective. It’s not always a pleasant feeling, but it’s what I need from time to time. Our family is thankful that God gives us those reminders so we can regain focus. It’s about God and “He’s got this!”

Now, where does that leave our family and yours in all this? If “He’s got this,” what is our responsibility/role with God and His church? There are quite a few things we can do to preserve/cultivate a relationship with God and His church: prayer, bible study, serving our families, serving God’s church, loving others, giving of our time and finances, and living in full accordance to God’s word. These attributes/practices are commands of God for those who turn their lives over to Him. A life changed by His Spirit is a life that takes these things seriously.

A year ago we had a meeting about the “heart beat” of God’s church at Forefront. It was an open and honest meeting about things that have taken place and how the church needed to be the church. We challenged the church to take ownership and responsibility for the impact we have and the accountability we need. So, from that meeting we put some things in place: 1. Financial News in the weekly update via email every week, 2. Financial Updates thru Gel Group Leaders the first week of every month, and 3. Open financial talk whenever things might look tight, tough or looking unstable again.

If you’ve kept up with the updates, you know we have not been making budget for our weekly needs. We need $10,300 a week to meet our fixed costs. To do ministry and reach out to the community we need $12,000+ a week. The snow week earlier in the year where we were not able to have live services (but instead an online service), really hurt us. Which brings us currently to date- we’ve done better this year than in year’s past, but it hasn’t been what we hoped. Because of the snow storm, the reduction in giving, over the summer, and our current renewals and normal bills, we see a substantial shortfall catching up to us at the end of the month.

We will be behind $16,000 by the end of September. To make-up for this shortfall, we need our weekly $10,300 plus an extra $16,000 over the next three weeks. This would allow us to pay all of our bills, not pay anything late, do outreach, and pay the staff who work so hard to minister to your families. I know times are tough and money is tight, but this isn’t a money letter- this is a heart letter. I am sure God will show up through His church to take care of the ministry here. I never want what happened last year to ever happen again. Telling our entire staff to give back their paychecks was one of the hardest things I ever had to do. But, it was God moving through you, which enabled the church to recover. It was God through you, which allowed us to minister to the homeless, build homes in Mexico, share God’s love in Vietnam, and Turn The World Upside Down.

Recently I shared with our Gel Group, “I’ve yet to meet a person who is generous to God and His church who is disappointed with how God moves in their life & blesses them.” This could not be more true- and totally lines up with the passage I preached last weekend, “A generous man will prosper; he who refreshes others will himself be refreshed.” Proverbs 11:25 (NIV)

When we pour ourselves completely into God and His church, amazing things take place. God’s Spirit is moving here at Forefront and I am so thankful to call you all not just friends, but family. If you have any questions about finances at Forefront, you can contact myself or any of the elders of the church. If you are looking to give, you can do so on Sunday mornings or at http://giving.forefront.org.

Thank you so much for taking the time to read this and for allowing me the privilege of being your pastor. I wouldn’t trade it for anything. God continues to teach us so much about life through each of you.

Serving Him Humbly,

Jason
Teaching Pastor
Office: 757-468-1188, Email: jason@forefront.org

Elders:
George Pillsbury
gp_doughboy@yahoo.com
757-695-6784

Dan Nichols
vtx_1300rider@yahoo.com
757-831-1607

Mike Sayre
mikesayre@cox.net
757-647-4716

Kevin Miller
klmillerjr@verizon.net
757-286-3435

Doug Atkins
doug.a@fasterasset.com
757-333-2406

Dan Pollard
dan@forefront.org
757-618-5156

I clicked on a Twitter update from Tyler  Stanton and thought you guys might enjoy this list- “Warning Signs You Might Be Addicted To TV.” With Fall television about to get into full swing, I definitely need an intervention some of you might need an intervention.

1. As a kid, was the most exciting part of your summer vacation the ability to watch The Price is Right?

2. Would you literally give anything for a TV in the bathroom?

3. When you’re having a heart-to-heart with your child, do you require your spouse to play Full House-esque music softly in the background?

4. Could you sing the entire Mr. Belvedere opening song* right now?

5. Do you judge people who judge people for watching too much TV?

6. When you ask people about their favorite shows, are you secretly looking for an enabler?

7. Do you wish, not that there were more hours in a day, but that there were more hours of Law & Order: SVU in a day?

8. Did you petition to name your first child Dwayne Wayne?

9. When your wife objected, did you suggest Doogie, saying that would significantly increase his chances of becoming a child prodigy?

10. Has your favorite song ever been a commercial jingle?

11. Have you ever referred to watching 24 as “getting a fix”?

12. Have you ever planned a family vacation around your favorite shows?

13. Do you still recognize and celebrate TGIF?

14. Did you cry when you found out your grandparents didn’t have TV growing up?

15. Have you ever carefully crafted a presentation to give your wife on why you need a 47-inch flat screen?

16. Do you take someone’s cable package into consideration before starting a friendship?

17. Have you ever referred to Comcast as your “dealer”?

18. Are you concerned that your kid’s homework is going to interfere with his TV schedule?

If you answered yes to 6 or more of these… seek professional help immediately.

Jason

Each year around September we have some year end payables due- to the tune of about $15k. We’ve done pretty well with our weekly giving this year. God is truly blessing His church at Forefront.

One of the things that hurt us was a snow week earlier in the year. We did services online, but instead of bringing in $10-12k, we brought in $850.00. We’ve been trying to catch back up from that week, but it’s been a challenge.

I’m asking each of you who call Forefront your church home (or have been impacted by the ministry of Forefront) to consider giving a special gift to help offset this cost and help us get back inline with our ministry mission- which is to impact our community and world by Loving God and Loving People so we can see God and His Spirit Turn The World Upside Down.

If you have any questions please email Jason@forefront.org

Looking forward to seeing how God moves through His church.

Jason

Click here to view website for restoration, history, and more.
Speaking of road trips…

“What is the craziest thing to ever happen to you during a road trip?”

Jason

People can be scary.

Jon Acuff over at StuffChristiansLike.net wrote a pretty funny/ridiculous list of things to expect when heading into a small group environment…

1. The first night you go to a new small group is like a first date. Try not to openly sob on that night. Imagine how great a first date would go if you started sobbing before they even brought out the blooming onion at Outback.

2. You have an 87% chance that there will be a couple in your group who has been married for about 15 minutes.

3. You have an 88% chance that couple will make out during the group.

4. You have an 89% chance that couple will attempt to give you marriage advice they have culled from their 15 minutes of marriage.

5. Be upfront about your age when finding a group. Age, parenthood and location are usually the three main criteria groups are built on. We failed to mention our age early on, prompting one guy to say when we did, “Yeah, but you don’t look that old.”

6. Nothing brings a group together like an arch nemesis. (The nerd camp always needed the rich camp to compete against.) Feel free to find a shared enemy small group that you can prank.

Click here to check out the rest of the list

If you go to Forefront and you’re not in a small group, it’s kind of like going to Outback and ordering just a side salad?! Really!? Forget that, give me a steak! (Yes, that’s right. I just likened Gel Groups to spiritual steak). It’s a place to learn about the Bible, find accountability, and make new friends. If you’re down with checking out a Gel Group, email us here. I promise it will change your life (and your pants size if the snacks are good!).

Jason

This weekend Carrie and I celebrated our 6 year wedding anniversary. It was a blast. We’ve been together for eight years, and it’s been an adventure the entire time. Do we fight? Occasionally. Do we always see eye to eye? Nope. But, she can bring a smile to my face unlike any other. She daily shows me why God is the most important person in our lives. She’s also pretty sexy (my opinion, but it’s the only one that matters). We celebrated by taking a trip up to DC to watch my Mets get trampled by the Nationals. 13-3? Really?!

Regardless of the game, it was a fantastic time to get away with my wife and celebrate the marriage God has given us.

Jason

On a national platform, the media has weighed in.
Kanye West? People hate him. He hurt lil’ Taylor Swift, remember?
Tiger Woods? He cheated on his wife over and over again! How dare he?!
Matt Lauer? Speechless. How could he do that?
Mel Gibson? That’s the last straw! What was he thinking?

The example of how Jesus treated people in the Bible doesn’t match up with the way people view these men in their falls. I contend that Jesus would profess (and did to people like them) a much different message to these individuals. Should they repent? Absolutely. God is clear that there is a road that leads to eternal life and a road that leads to destruction. Should they turn from their mistakes/sin and move towards God? Yes. Every person to ever walk the earth has sinned and fallen short. If they are a Christian, are we supposed to help them and hold them accountable for the sin they are committing? Yes, God commands it. Are we in a position to cast hate and slander in their direction? No. We have a role in the process as people fall and stumble. Check out Matthew 18:21-35,

²¹Then Peter came to Jesus and asked, “Lord, how many times shall I forgive my brother when he sins against me? Up to seven times?”

²²Jesus answered, “I tell you, not seven times, but seventy-seven times.

²³“Therefore, the kingdom of heaven is like a king who wanted to settle accounts with his servants. ²⁴As he began the settlement, a man who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him. ²⁵Since he was not able to pay, the master ordered that he and his wife and his children and all that he had be sold to repay the debt.

²⁶“The servant fell on his knees before him. ‘Be patient with me,’ he begged, ‘and I will pay back everything.’ ²⁷The servant’s master took pity on him, canceled the debt and let him go.

²⁸“But when that servant went out, he found one of his fellow servants who owed him a hundred denarii. He grabbed him and began to choke him. ‘Pay back what you owe me!’ he demanded.

²⁹“His fellow servant fell to his knees and begged him, ‘Be patient with me, and I will pay you back.’

³⁰“But he refused. Instead, he went off and had the man thrown into prison until he could pay the debt. ³¹When the other servants saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed and went and told their master everything that had happened.

³²“Then the master called the servant in. ‘You wicked servant,’ he said, ‘I canceled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. ³³Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?’ ³⁴In anger his master turned him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed.

³⁵“This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother from your heart.”

As followers of Jesus, our role is to show grace.
Dispense love. Overwhelm people with the unconditional love of Jesus.
We’re to give people a second chance. We were given a second chance.
I’ve been given hundreds of second chances.
Maybe the next time we glance at a tabloid or watch the news we’ll have a new perspective.
Even better, we can interact with people who hurt us because God is our strength.
We have His Spirit.
We’ve experienced His love.
We are people of the second chance.

Jason

Because this video really makes me want to play it.
Pretty cool stop motion. Love this kind of stuff.

(video embedded below)

B.o.B. – Airplanes – OFFICIAL VIDEO found on Rap

I really dig this song.
I’ve felt this way from time to time through life.
“Man, if I could just have a wish or something go my way right now… that’d be great!”
I think I uttered that phrase a few times in my existence.
Unfortunately, I’ve treated God on occasion like a genie or wish granter.
“Let it go my way.”
“Give me this.”
“Make this happen.”
“If you pull through on this thing, God, I promise I’ll ______________!”
Now, I’m sure I’m the only one who prayed that early on as a Christian. None of you have ever stooped to the level of treating God like a spiritual genie or putting Him in your debt in any way, right? Ha. We’ve probably all been there at some point or another. As a child it was a race car. Teenage years it was a hot girl friend. In college, it was to pass with a decent GPA. Many people I talk with seem to believe He is the granter of wishes/prayers because of this passage in the Book of Matthew:76-12,

⁷“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. ⁸For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened.

⁹“Which of you, if his son asks for bread, will give him a stone? ¹⁰Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake? ¹¹If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! ¹²So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.

This text at first read could lend itself to some kind of thinking like that. But, if you dive deeper and take the whole Bible into context (that means weaving all the themes of the Bible together instead of ripping a few verses out to make it fit your point or desired meaning), you’ll begin to understand this is not about the new house, smokin’ hot wife, pay increase, and large bank account. The theme of “Ask, Seek, Find” is in reference to God’s love, grace, and forgiveness.

A running theme of the ministry of Jesus is a counter-cultural lifestyle. A life not of things, but of Godly worth from the Father above. People for ages have searched for material things and their own personal desires. How has that worked out for them so far? Selfish desires simply lead to selfish demise. Jesus turned the tables. Yes, ask of God and it will be given to you. Seek out God and you will find Him. Knock and He will open the door to an amazing life. A hard one, but one of grace and hope.

Maybe it’s time to stop looking for airplanes in the night sky or a lamp to rub- and instead ask the Creator of the Universe to move through our hearts, change us with His Spirit, and mold us into the disciples He desires us to be.

Jason