Survive Thrive Arrive – sounds good right? In our culture we encourage this type of behavior, don’t we?

1. Survive – who can blame anyone for wanting to survive?
2. Thrive – isn’t that what we all want? The nice house. The nice car. The beautiful family. The private schools. The trendy clothes.
3. Arrive – and who doesn’t want everybody else to know that we have those things.

There’s only one problem: Survive Thrive Arrive boils down to PRIDE. Pride, otherwise known as original sin.

More to come. Stay tuned!

Earlier this week I asked you where are your monuments? What do you do to remember the answered prayers, the many, many blessings that God gives you?

Yesterday, my mother received the best report that she could have hoped for. Just over a year ago, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. Her journey for the past 13 months has been arduous. But through that journey many, many people have been praying for her and yesterday, the doctor told her that they can find no trace of the cancer in her body! Praise God!!!

To those of you who have prayed for my mom during these past several months, I just want to say thank you. Thank you from the bottom of my heart. God has blessed her and she continues to gain strength as her body recovers from the chemotherapy and radiation.

We don’t know what tomorrow holds but we know that we have today. Make the most of it and find a way to REMEMBER God’s many blessings.

I met a man last night. A man who’s body has been ravaged with cancer. A man who was left for dead by one doctor, while being told by another that the only treatment available to him would make him sterile. That was four years ago. I also had the privilege of meeting his wife and 16 year old daughter. Oh yeah… and his 3 year old and 1 year old sons.

That’s right: 3 & 1. Not bad for a dead man that should he somehow defy the odds would at the very least be sterile. But here is my favorite part of his story. His 3 year old son’s name? Raphael. Rapha means to heal, to restore. His son’s name is a monument to the struggle that this man went through and his belief that God would heal him. Jehovah Rapha, the Lord that heals. What a marvelous monument.

How about you? Do you have any monuments in your world? Anything that you’ve set aside to remind you of God’s faithfulness? It doesn’t have to be big. In fact, it can be as simple as writing down a memory in a journal. All too often we forget when our God answers our prayer. This man named his son in such a way that everyday he will be reminded of God’s faithfulness. What can you do?

Joshua 4: ⁸ And the people of Israel did just as Joshua commanded and took up twelve stones out of the midst of the Jordan, according to the number of the tribes of the people of Israel, just as the LORD told Joshua. And they carried them over with them to the place where they lodged and laid them down there. ⁹And Joshua set up twelve stones in the midst of the Jordan, in the place where the feet of the priests bearing the ark of the covenant had stood; and they are there to this day.

God bless you and have a great week.

I had an incident happen to me a couple of weekends ago. Someone disrespected me. It was a security guard to a neighboring gated community where we live. The dude decided that a cyclist had no business being in his particular neighborhood despite the fact that I was on the open road and was turning around in the sales center parking lot and in no way attempting to enter the community. He made the decision that I didn’t belong and refused to even allow me to enter the sales office. I guess millionaires don’t ride bicycles. Needless to say, I was furious at being treated in such a manner.

I quickly went home, cleaned up and returned as a prospective client driving a car and dressed in my favorite resort casual attire. I relayed my experience at the sales office and received not only a wonderful tour of an absolutely gorgeous community but also had the opportunity to face my antagonist face to face and receive a proper apology. I thoroughly enjoyed “educating” this man on the proper way to handle this type of situation going forward and left knowing that the next person coming in would not be treated so shabbily.

Of course a short while later… guilt set in. Why? Did the guy not deserve his dressing down? Not a chance. If anything I went easy on the crusty crankpot. What made me feel guilty was that in the grand scheme of things, what that guy did to me didn’t really matter. It didn’t really affect me in any way. I don’t live to have someone show me respect while I’m bike riding.

No what really got me was that I was how quick I was to act when someone wasn’t nice to ME. However, several weeks ago, I witnessed an event where someone on a church’s hospitality team, greeting team,…. whatever you want to call it…. was less than nice to a family. A large family, more than eight and culturally different than this host team member. I don’t know that race had anything to do with it but watching how she treated all of her “kind” (my family included), it did make me wonder.

I shook my head thinking “that will never happen at Accelerate Church.” But instead of critiquing what that person did, why didn’t I take the opportunity to stand in and make sure that the family was made to feel welcome? So what if it wasn’t my church? What was more important? This family was treated just as if not more shabbily than I was but they were in church and I was on a bike ride. What matters more? Do you think that they were in the right frame of mind to enjoy the service and absorb the message? Probably not.

We need to remember that doing what’s right is important and doing what’s right for others is greater still.

Matthew 22: ³⁷And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. ³⁸This is the great and first commandment. ³⁹And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

I like vending machines. All kinds. My favorites are the ones I grew up with, specifically the soda pop variety. Remember the ones with the glass bottles all lined up vertically? Coke at the top, then Sprite, a couple of fruit flavored sodas (Cheerwine in my part of the world), and lastly Tab down at the bottom. Pepsi, Mountain Dew, and 7up were in a similar machine right beside.
I remember when I became old enough to ride my bike down the hill (this was in the Appalachians mind you, so my definition of hill might be different than yours) and go to the Mill Creek store and buy a soda and maybe a piece of candy for the long ride back. I remember standing in front of those machines, deliberating which flavor to choose, making my selection, dropping the coins in, pulling the glass bottle out, and popping the top with the machine’s built in bottle opener. What a simple treat but man was it fun.
These says we have vending machines for everything from a double espresso latte to the most recently released DVD movies. You name it, there’s a vending machine for it.
Here’s my question for you. In this world of instant gratification, do you find yourself treating God like a vending machine?
Think about it. Do you only go to him when you have a problem? “Jesus, I’ve lost my job. Need your help here.” “Father God, my child is sick, please help him” “Holy Spirit, I need some guidance on this huge decision I have to make.”
All of these are great reasons to pray and it’s exactly what we need to do. BUT, when was the last time you just thanked him for being him.
A couple of days ago, I was riding bikes with Kate & Josh. I was some distance behind them and for whatever reason, I was just overcome with how blessed I am. So right there on my bike, I just thanked God for my two incredible kids. I started to pray something else but then I just stopped and continued to praise my God for all that he has done.
Don’t know about you but I need to do that more. Just take a moment and say thanks.
Have a great day!

As you know, we’ve moved to southwest Florida to start a church. In fact, it was just over a year ago that we told our friends and family about our plans. We’ve been here for 9 months and I wanted to give you an update on exactly where we’re at. Personally, we’re doing well. The kids have just finished their school year. Kate’s even taken some college courses and will soon be driving on her own. Robin loves the climate. But we didn’t come here for the weather. We didn’t come here for the beaches. We came here for one reason and one reason only.

Why? To make a difference. It’s an easy answer but making a difference is what we’re called to do and we made the decision to get out of our comfort zone and do our best to help change lives, ours and others. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, while many people think of Florida as being part of the Bible belt, the reality is that southwest Florida is one of the most unchurched locations in North America. Get this, the estimates are that as low as 4% of the population here go to church on a regular basis. What does that mean? It means that out of 800,000 people, only 32,000 attend church once a month or more. If you want to believe the “high” estimates, as many as 7% attend. If that’s true, then 56,000 out of 800,000 go to church once a month. Any way you slice it: three quarters of a MILLION people don’t hear the good news of Jesus. Can you imagine? In an area so beautiful that there are so many living hopelessly without Christ. Even with all the economic problems in the area, Southwest Florida has grown by 33% in the last decade. Furthermore, the Hispanic portion of the population has increased by more than 400% since 1990. Why do I bring that up? Get this… Immigrants who move into a strange land often keep to themselves BUT their children want to be a part of the culture in which they live. That means 1,000s of young people of Hispanic origin that have been born right here in southwest Florida are waiting to be embraced by the English-speaking community in which they live.

SW Florida needs churches that are willing to get down and get dirty! Where are the churches that embrace red and yellow, black and white? Where are the churches that are passionate about reaching everyone in their community, not just the wealthy snowbirds but the poor who make up the huge service industry here? Are there any churches down here that care? Are there any churches that are actually teaching about life-change? The answer is yes but nowhere near enough. In our time down here, I’ve had the honor to meet some church leaders that have a passion for this area. Thankfully, we have even met some that are encouraging us and helping us to get started. But the surface has just been scratched.

Here’s where we’re at: A church has offered to let us use them as a home base, sharing their resources and even asking some of their people to step forward and be part of AccelerateChurch. That is a HUGE answer to prayer. I can’t tell you how energizing it is to have someone say “we have faith in what you’re doing and want to help.” We’re looking at officially starting this fall. Accelerate Church: A place all about bringing a transformation to a community that desperately needs to hear the Gospel message.

Here is my ask: We have many needs. We need prayer. We need partners. We need support.

• What type of prayer? Prayer that God will use us in his mighty way to make a difference. To create a movement that will change a community and that in turn will bring about change in other communities all throughout the world.
• What type of partners? We need you! There I said it. Maybe you’re comfortable where you are but consider this: Are you asking God to refine you, to mold you, to break you into someone that He can use to carry out His work? It’s not about doing ministry so that you can say, here God I did this for you now reward me. It’s about pursuing Him and asking Him to break your heart for what breaks His. I’ll tell you this… I’ve been crushed during this season. I’ve learned that God is more interested in me and my relationship with him than he is in anything that I could ever do for him. When we pursue him, THAT’S when he can use us. Is it time for him to use you? Is it time for him to use you here in SW Florida?
• What type of support? You name it. We need it. What is our goal amount to start? $100,000. We expect that we will need to be designed to be very mobile. That means that we will need our own equipment: Sound board, video, and lighting. Additionally, we’re looking at several locations. For that amount of money, it won’t be fancy and the equipment certainly won’t be new but it’s a start. We’re moving forward with securing some funds through organizations designed to help churches start. While that’s good news, we still are a long ways to our goal. So where do we turn? We turn to you. I hate asking for money but the truth is, if we don’t have your financial support, this simply will not work. Every dollar counts so please give what you can, no matter how small. Accelerate Church is already set up as a non-profit so anything you give will not only be appreciated but it will also be tax deductible. You can go right to AccelerateChurch.tv to give or mail us at Accelerate Church  PO Box 177, Bonita Springs, FL  34133.

We’re asking you to be part of getting AccelerateChurch started. Our prayer is that from the beginning we will be able to create a vibrant and energetic environment that will make it easy for those who attend to invite others to check out this new and different church. Every church claims to be different but the reality is that all too often churches end up becoming little more than a small group of people that see eye to eye and end up building a community within the community. We want to change that. We don’t want to build another community. We want to change a community! Our prayer is that our hearts will always be burdened for what burdens God’s heart.

I’m asking for help. I’m asking you to make a difference. You know what you can do. It’s up to you but we’re asking you to pray. We’re asking you to partner with us. And we’re asking you to give. Help us get started. Believe in the dream.

God bless you.

I like to paint. I’m not very good but I still love it. In fact, I’m fascinated with almost anything that will leave a mark on something. Paints, crayons, charcoals, grease markers, hi-liters, you name it and I like it. If Staples or some other office chain would ever put a dry erase board out on display, I would be just like the guys who gravitate towards the TVs in department stores. At a restaurant, I will often steal the crayons that the hostess gives to my son, so that I can color and not him (I know, bad dad). In fact, I’ve often told Kate that when I’m old, all she will have to do is buy me a box of Crayolas and some paper and I’ll be happy (When she’s mad, she threatens that she will break the tips off before giving me the box. A cardinal sin if ever there was one.)

As important as color is to painting or drawing so is what you’re going to paint or draw on. Be it a canvas or just a clean sheet of paper, you need that blank space to get started.

Imagine that you’ve been given a white canvas to paint on. But this isn’t just any ordinary canvas. This canvas is very special in that you’ll paint it with emotions, thoughts, and feelings. But here’s the catch: you’ve got to paint this canvas with your negative emotions, thoughts and feelings. Perhaps the colors look something like this:

• Green – envy and jealousy
• Purple – pride
• Red – anger, bitterness
• Brown – impure thoughts
• Black – allowing your heart to grow dark and cold
• Yellow – not standing up for what you know to be right
• Blue – not letting the joy of your salvation shine

Think about it. What would your canvas look like? I don’t know about yours but mine would be pretty colorful sometimes. Wouldn’t it be cool if we could actually do that and leave all our negative baggage behind?

Now here’s the deal. Jesus can take your canvas, all stained & spattered, and make it white as snow. Pretty cool, huh? The best part is that when you mess up, you can paint on this canvas again. Now it’s important not to keep painting the same picture but the point is that Jesus can keep your canvas clean.

So go ahead, paint your canvas today and leave behind those things that color your life in a bad way.

Fresh off of your Sunday morning go to meeting weekend, I wanted to share something with you. Hopefully you and I can both remember it all week long.
What you do here has a direct effect on what you do there. What you do here at church has a direct effect on what you do there at work. What you do here at work has an effect on what you do there at home. What you do here at home has a direct effect on what you do there at school. Get it? That’s point #1.
Now add to this: the top hobby in America isn’t watching football. It’s not going to the movies. It’s not attending the theater. America’s fave hobby is watching others. That’s one of the reasons why reality tv is so compelling.
How do these points come together?
Simply this. They’re watching you. Sounds creepy right? It’s true. Make no mistake, others watch what you do.
Remember that this week.
What you do here affects what you do there. And what you do here and there has an effect on someone else’s somewhere.