Resolution or Revolution

With the new year comes all types of resolutions: lose weight, spend less time at work and more time with the family, do this, do that... And in most cases, new year's resolutions fall by the wayside by the end of the first month.

This year, let me encourage you to stop setting new year resolutions and begin setting new year revolutions. A revolution is something that changes your life. It's a revolt from what you have been doing and demands a change. It brings with it much more power than a mere resolution.

Revolt from spiritual laziness.
Revolt from the sin habits in your life.
Revolt from staying in your comfort zones.

The biggest difference between resolutions and revolutions is that resolutions only change you. Revolutions change the world around you! Be a world-changer in 2010!!

You Are Mine

But now thus says the Lord, he who created you, O Jacob, he who formed you, O Israel: "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine. When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you; when you walk through fire you shall not be burned, and the flame shall not consume you. For I am the Lord you God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior." Isaiah 43:1-3a ESV

Did you know that you belong to God?

Many of us presume we're our own. But think of the implications of that. If we belong to no one but ourselves, then we're responsible for everything in our life. We're responsible for our jobs, our families, our finances. It's up to us, and only us, to make sure everything is fine and works out the way it's supposed to.

I, for one, am glad I'm not my own. When I read the passage above from Isaiah, I'm reminded that I belong to God. I'm His. That means He's ultimately responsible for me, my job, my family and everything about me. That doesn't absolve me of following Him and His will, but it allows me to rest in the absolute fact that He's watching over me, He's with me and He's protecting me.

When I approach life from the perspective that I belong to the Almighty God, it's so much easier to walk in faith that no matter what my circumstances are, He's my Savior.

Wild Goose Chase

This week @ COAHC, we're kicking off a 6-week series based on the book, Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson.

This series will passionately inspire us all to follow the Holy Spirit into an adventure-filled life. We will address the issues in life which keep us in bondage from experiencing all that God intends for us: the cages of responsibility, routine, assumptions, guilt, failure and fear.

Join us each Sunday @ 11am or listen online at our website.

Divine Intervention

The Culpeper Star-Exponent ran a story on Sunday morning about the progress of an effort to pray for our community. It's taken its twists and turns, but a few in the community have remained faithful to this vision. Read the article here.

Primal: Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity

Last week, I mentioned that I was reading Mark Batterson's newest book entitled Primal: Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity.

Batterson has hit another one out of the park with this latest release. The one thing I love about Batterson's style is that he doesn't leave you with any question about his passion for following Christ and the necessity for all of us to love our Lord with everything we are and everything we have.

Primal is a challenge to every reader to embark on a reforming journey of stripping down his faith to its most primitive element. This book leads us into a deeper level of loving God and walking in His presence. This is a must read for every Christian who is looking for something fresh, something new in his relationship with God.

rebirth

I'm stoked about what God is getting ready to do! This is one of those things that I'm as confident about as when He first called us to Culpeper to plant City on a Hill Church.

Get ready young adults.... rebirth is coming!

Young people in college and in their 20's are leaving the Church in droves. Why? I believe they're leaving because the Church has failed them. The Church has failed to teach them how to truly love God with all of their heart, soul, mind and strength. When you don't love God with everything, it's too easy to turn away when doubt creeps in and hard times create a lot of hard questions.

COAHC is launching a new ministry to young adults who are out of high school and through their 20's / early 30's. This is an another opportunity to reach and teach young adults how to love God with everything they are. This is ... rebirth.

2010 Challenge

City on a Hill Church is going to launch a huge initiative to help everyone grow in their walk with Christ. With the coming new decade, we're going to issue the 20-10 challenge to our people. We're going to challenge everyone to invest 20 days per calendar month and at least 10 minutes of those days in their relationship with God.

Beginning January 1, I'll be utilizing this blog as a devotional blue print for each and every person to use as their source of time with God. Of course, I'll still update this blog for other purposes as well.

This is one way we can be audacious in our vision for becoming more and more like Christ: making a stronger commitment to spend time with Him!

Audacity

A couple of months ago I attended a conference for pastors and leaders in Charlotte, NC. At the conference, the Lord challenged me to be more audacious in my ministry and expectations. As I reflected on that challenge, I realized that our move to Culpeper from San Diego was audacious. Our faith in the launching of City on a Hill Church was audacious. Now that things are moving along nicely, however, our ministry could be characterized as "less than audacious."

What audacity can be seen in our ministry for the last few months? I'm not satisfied... I hunger and thirst for more of God's audacity in my life and in the life of COAHC.

Here are a few things I wrote down at that conference...

"Do I have the audacity to call out vision into reality?"

"Audacity is the difference between vision and daydreaming."

"Audacity allows people to see the vision when there's nothing there."

"Audacity requires God to step in and take over."

So, we've got some audacious things in store for 2010. Hold on COAHC... Hold on Culpeper...

Primal: Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity

I'm reading Mark Batterson's new book Primal: Quest for the Lost Soul of Christianity. Batterson is one of my spiritual mentors (even though he doesn't know I exist) as I've read his other two books and follow his blog daily.

Primal is a book that really helps every believer get back to the basics of Christianity. What are the basics? Jesus boiled everything down to "Love the Lord your God with all of your heart, all of your soul, all of your mind and all of your strength." As believers, we've got to go back to that place and time where God was the most real in our lives and when He was moving the most powerfully. It's a reformation of our souls.

The first section of the book deals with the heart - more specifically, compassion. Batterson challenges us to open our eyes to what breaks our heart. What breaks our heart because it breaks the heart of God? Once we realize it, do something about it. Become involved in the solution of the problem instead of just praying about it or hoping someone else does something.

I believe that God has created within each one of us the potential to accomplish miracles by the power of the Holy Spirit working through us. We simply need to be willing to take the first step in the uncertainties of darkness of not knowing all that God will do. Our faith is in the One who will use each and every one of us if we're willing to simply love Him with all of our hearts.

The Rest of the Top Ten Lessons I've Learned

So here's the other top ten lessons I've learned in the last couple of years...

6 - What God starts, He finishes.
God initiated the call to Culpeper from San Diego. As crazy as it sounded, I was really excited because I knew it was the Lord. When we started City on a Hill Church, there were weekends when I wasn't sure if anyone would show up at all. In fact, there was one service when it was only my family and me - that's it, no one else. During those times, I doubted God's hand in COAHC. Even though it didn't feel like God was doing anything, He was doing something. He doesn't start something and then not finish it!

7 - Don't compare myself to others.
It would be easy to try and mimic others in order to succeed. We could fashion a logo that looks similar to a soft drink. We could acquire funds to build a family center. We could do all sorts of things trying to mimic other larger churches in order to draw a crowd. We'll never be Mountain View, Culpeper Baptist, New Spring, Elevation or any other church that's out there. We're City on a Hill Church, and I'm me - that's it! In order for God's will to be done in and through me, I've got to be me. I don't want to be the best Andy Stanley or Steve Furtick impersonator. I am simply the best GW Dameron anyone will ever be!

8 - Apathy kills any hope of accomplishing God's will.
In the last two years, I've seen more apathy and lukewarmness than I've ever cared to see. Too many people are content with mediocrity and settling for less than what God wants for them. Why? Because it's manageable. It's easier even though it's miserable. God hates apathy! It makes Him want to vomit according to Revelation 3:16. It cheapens grace, the most costly and extravegant gift God could ever give us. God was so passionate about His love for us, He died for us. Can we show just a little more passion people? Just a little?

9 - God's opinion is the most important opinion.
While judging your motives and methods, people will judge your level of success. It's based, however, on their own idea and concept of success, not God's. How many people are a part of COAHC? What kind of building do you have? How good's your worship? I've learned that the only measure of success is knowing God's opinion. God's opinion is the most important thing to me, because He's going to be the one saying to me on that day, "Well done, good and faithful servant." No one else's kuddos even come close. I know His opinion will be favorable as long as I'm staying close to Him, following and listening and obeying.

10 - It's okay to make mistakes. God doesn't expect me to be perfect.
So much of what we do at COAHC is an experiment. I don't mind when we try something and it fails. I don't pretend that I'm perfect. I've made, and will make, mistakes all the time. My decisions as a pastor aren't fool-proof. God hasn't called me or anyone else in leadership at COAHC to be perfect, only submissive to His will.

The Top 10 Lessons I've Learned

Since responding to God’s call to move across the country and plant City on a Hill Church, God has taught me some valuable lessons. I thought I’d share just a few of them with you. These aren’t necessarily brand new lessons for me. Some are simply reminders that God had to bring to the forefront of my mind again.

Below are five of the top ten lessons. I’ll post the other five tomorrow. Hopefully, the lessons I’ve learned the hard way will be lessons you can learn the easy way. Is there really an easy way to learn a lesson, though?

1 – Christian leadership isn’t for sissies.
I don’t mean to sound sexist when I say that because I believe women are called to leadership as well. I simply mean that you better pull your boot straps up when you assume a leadership position. Why? Other than the obvious challenges that come when leading a group of people, leaders become targets. The bigger impact you’re having for the Kingdom of God, the bigger the bulls eye is on your chest. You better be prepared for spiritual attacks from the enemy from every angle. And I mean, from every angle – angles you didn’t even know existed. Not only are you being attacked, but those around you (family, friends) are also being attacked because of you. At this very moment, my children are the target of attacks from Satan. Why? Because they're easier targets than I, and distraction is a great weapon. I’ve had to learn to really fight the spiritual battle. There’s nothing like praying for your family and friends in the wee hours of the morning.

2 – You can’t win ‘em all.
Jesus gave us the most important statistics lesson we’ll ever learn in the parable of the sower. He taught us that only 25% of the people who begin a relationship with God will grow to become who God wants them to be. That means that 75% will experience epic failure. Only 1 out of every 4 people will hear God’s voice and grow to maturity. This is a tough lesson to learn when you’ve invested yourself into someone who chooses to follow their flesh over Christ. It can be heart-breaking. I won’t ever stop trying to reach the world for Christ, though – even if my heart gets broken hundreds of more times.

3 – Don’t be distracted by all the chatter, and stay focused on God’s voice.
There will be people who will question your motive and your methods. It never fails. It’s easy to get caught up with trying to answer their questions. Soon, you’re so distracted that you’re hearing their voices instead of God’s voice inside your head. At some point, you’ve got to make a decision to stop listening to all of the chatter and get back to basics. Stay focused on the voice of the Lord.

4 – Don’t ever substitute the opinion of the “Experts” for God’s will.
The so-called “Experts” have all kinds of opinions about the methodology of church planting and church leading. These are great tools to use to equip you and prepare you for leadership. We can’t make the mistake in thinking there are only a certain number of ways to do what God’s calling you to do. If God calls you to something, He doesn’t sit back and say, “Okay, now go figure it out for yourself!” Of course not! He’s the kind of God who calls you to a task and then gives you the instructions on how to do it – if you’re willing to listen and follow those instructions.

There isn’t an expert out there who would have condoned the way we planted and launched City on a Hill Church. The bottom line, though, was it was how God wanted it done. Don’t ask me why. Maybe someday I’ll figure it all out. I just know that listening to God’s voice and following His instructions beats any book or conference that’s out there.

5 – Once someone’s mind is made up to leave a local church, there’s no changing it.
This is one of those lessons I learned a long time ago, but God brought it back to the front of the line. When someone has decided he/she’s going to leave your church, there’s nothing that the pastor or leadership can do to keep them. Nothing! All kinds of reasons can be offered, and those concerns can be discussed and assuaged. But it won’t matter. At that point, it’s more about pride than anything else. The person(s) who wants to leave could be given insurmountable evidence against their accusations. He’s still going to leave. I’ve been reminded that there are lots of people out there like that, unfortunately. My prayers and best wishes go with them.