Top 11 Blog Posts from 2010

Here are the top eleven blog posts from 2010:

Can't We All Just Get Along

Saved AND Called

Stripped Down

Despondency vs. Depression

Walking in the Same Way

Commitment

Be a Good Coach

Vision and Relationships

Good Enough

God's Discipline

A Big Deal

May the Lord bless you as we enter into the new year!

I'm So Excited - Part 2

Some more reasons I'm excited heading into 2011...

We're growing! City on a Hill Church's growth has necessitated that we take over more space in the building where we rent. We're practically doubling our square feet in the near future.

The Dameron's are growing, too! In February, we will take our first steps in moving forward with adopting a child through foster care. Carrie, the girls and I couldn't be more excited for our family to grow!

We're going to give more to missions! COAHC has long been wanting to make missions a priority in our church. We've been praying and brainstorming about developing a business plan to launch a new business in our community that would give profits to missions work. I believe this will come to fruition in 2011.

Celebrate Recovery is coming! COAHC will launch a new ministry for our community called Celebrate Recovery, celebrating God's healing power in people with hurts, hangups and habits through 8 Recovery Principles.

I'm So Excited!

Instead of reminiscing about all the great things that have happened in 2010 (there have been a lot!), I want to spend some time sharing what I'm most excited about in the coming year:

Awake 21 - This is a 21-day period of prayer, fasting and personal devotion focused on drawing closer to God. It begins January 10 and ends on January 30. In every major move of God in the Bible, prayer and fasting were a component. I can't wait to see what God does!

Guatemala Missions Trip - City on a Hill Church is taking its first foreign missions trip to Guatemala in July. We're going to get a chance to minister to a lot of people in different ways. Most of the people coming on this trip from COAHC have never been on a missions trip before. This is going to be exciting!

Apocalypse - In January, I'll be preaching the toughest sermons I've ever preached. We're going to spend several weeks looking at the Biblical accounts of the End Times. Hold on to your seat!

Lots more tomorrow...

Distractions

Awakening

In January, City on a Hill Church will be joining hundreds of churches worldwide in a 21-day prayer and fasting season. Our church believes strongly in the power of prayer. To cultivate the culture of prayer in a larger way, we will encourage our church family to devote themselves to prayer and fasting January 10-30, 2011. Click here for more information.

The Value of Twitter

When I first heard about Twitter, I thought it was the most ridiculous idea I'd ever heard. "Who would be that interested in what someone is doing every minute of the day?" I asked. I imagined posts like, "Sitting on the couch, watching TV" and "Heading to the grocery store now." Who cares?

Little did I know the impact it would have on me! 1566 tweets later I've come to realize the incredible worth and value of Twitter in my life. I've been mentored (through tweets) by great Christian leaders like @AndyStanley, @RickWarren, @perrynoble, @MarkBatterson, @stevenfurtick, @chuckswindoll, @BethMooreLPM, @craiggroeschel, @DerwinLGray, @MattChandler74, @greglaurie, @edstetzer, @jonathanfalwell, @JohnCMaxwell, @MaxLucado, @PastorMark (Mark Driscoll) and about 150 other leaders who have great insights into the Church and our culture.

All day long, I receive mentoring, encouragement and ideas from those who have blazed the trail before me and those who are blazing the trail with me via messages that are 160 characters or less. Thank you Twitter!

Life Groups

Imagine what it would be like to have a group of people who you loved and longed to be with as much as possible. Imagine being able to trust them with your most inner thoughts. Imagine that kind of relationship!

That's the kind of relationships that were shared in the early church. Luke wrote about it in the book of Acts.

They devoted themselves... to the fellowship... Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. Acts 2:42, 46-47 NIV

These relationships are fostered at City on a Hill Church today through our Life Groups. We're getting ready to launch our new season of Life Groups beginning this Sunday. We offer two open groups that meet weekly on Sundays and Thursday, respectively. They're open to anyone and everyone and provide free childcare.

We also have a women's Life Group that meets on Tuesdays (free childcare) and a men's Life Group that meets on Saturdays. Click here for more information.

Life Groups are important for two primary reasons. The first reason is that we, as the Body of Christ, need strengthening and encouragement from one another on a more consistent basis than just the few minutes before and after Sunday's worship service. God designed us for intimate fellowship with one another. That's what Life Groups provide! The second reason is that the genuine relationships that demonstrate love and care for one another are witnessed by others in the community and result in favor from those people (Acts 2:47).

Another inferred result of these close relationships is what we read in the last sentence of verse 47: And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved. We can conclude two important truths from this. Firstly, God liked what He saw and blessed the church. Secondly, people were attracted to it and came to know Jesus as their Savior as a result.

I believe in Life Groups. It's an important part of our vision for City on a Hill Church. Please join one as we launch this next week!

Money

Yesterday, I saw an article that reminded me of the poor job most churches do in communicating matters about money. Jesus talked more about money than He did heaven and hell combined. 15% of the quotes from Jesus captured in the Gospels are about money. So why shouldn't churches talk about money as much as Jesus did?

To be honest, I was convicted by this (again!) and have committed to doing a better job of talking about money and finances from the pulpit. No, I won't be preaching fire and brimstone sermons about tithing. While I will address tithing from a Scriptural perspective, I'll talk more about how the Bible tells us to handle our finances on a day to day basis.

Let's face it, practically all of us need this kind of guidance, especially in the economy in which we find ourselves.

Making A Difference

"We haven't celebrated Christmas in two years."

That's what one woman told me as I listened to her story. Another one told of her son who is legally blind while another child has a rare form of cancer. These are all stories of families who City on a Hill Church have adopted in our Angels of Love ministry this Christmas.

I'm probably more excited about this ministry than any other we've done in our community since the launch of COAHC back in August 2008. We selected one low-income apartment complex with over 150 dwelling units in our community on which to focus our love this Christmas season. The ministry isn't original, but it is going to make a difference in many lives. We're simply providing our church family an opportunity to select ornaments from our Christmas tree that have on them details of children who need some help receiving Christmas gifts. The children will attend either our Christmas Eve service or our December 26th service to receive their gift.

Jesus' ministry was constantly addressing the physical and emotional needs of those around Him while ministering to their spiritual needs, too. That's what this is all about. We're expecting many lives to be transformed this Christmas!