Jeff's Weblog

Fridays...mmm mmm good...

Today is my day with Christy and Paige. This is new for my world. I used to think that more and more and more work produced more and more and more results. But instead, it just created more ropes for me to trip over.

Spring?

So, 2/3 of the US are in the 30's or below right now...i'm just glad that we had SPRING FEST last Saturday. Many thoughts and prayers to all the churches that are planning big events this weekend.

Here's To Starting Over...

I'm 30 years old...been married almost 7 years...I'm 1 1/2 years into being a father...I'm 2 years "young" as a pastor... I've tried life my way. I've lived according to my own abilities and strengths...with my own hands...by my own mind...from my own dreams...through my own heart...and I'm done with that. Read this verse and you'll see where I'm going with this. We can all love on our own...but our love is small. We can all think up great ideas...but they all fall short. We can all hope from our own hope...but eventually we stop hoping. We can all lead from our own leadership "styles"...but a month later we'll be reading the next book on leadership trying to find where we went wrong. We can all dream from our own dreams...but they all get boring after a while. We can teach from our own knowledge...but nobody will really ever know anything. We can do so many things in our own power...but in the end, there's simply no sustaining fruit. This Easter season is rich for me. Yeah, the Easter service will rock...and yeah "Spring Fest" was amazing last weekend...but this year's Easter is different for me. Everything that we are teaching thru...everything that Jesus wants us to get about Easter...I'm actually - finally - getting. To die to self...to be in relentless pursuit of REAL LIFE...to partner with Him in changing the world...to live in community - not in isolation...and to be the kind of person that is constantly imagining what it would be like to live this way... So, here's to starting over my friends...

This is exciting for all church planters...God's moving at Elevation Church

Check out how God's moving at Elevation Church! Go Steven! CLICK HERE

Speechless...

so, Baylor gave up the big lead and lost by 5...this is why being a fan of the underdog hurts...i need to go to sleep and pretend that game never happened...

Baylor fan for life

Alrighty, so my family has an almost unhealthy support of Baylor Athletics. My brother went there, I went to Mary Hardin-Baylor (sister school to Baylor), but even before that my family bled green. No reason except there was deep Christian heritage at the university and then the Mangum's just kind of became grafted into the Baylor fan base.

Nobody has ever jumped on this bandwagon with me, I have been the only one out of my friends who has even uttered the "Go Baylor" cheers.

Baylor has been through much...the illegal recruiting of the men's basketball program in the mid 90's...then the penalties from the NCAA...after that, a player shot and killed a fellow player, the coach tried to cover it up (not to mention illegal recruiting - again...the players and the school got slammed by a massive list of penalties (including the men's basketball team not being able to play a single game until the Big 12 Conference schedule started in the 05-06 season).

So, it is a joy...yes, a joy that I'm watching Baylor lead Texas at halftime of the Big 12 Quarterfinal game 43-25...we'll see if the lead sticks...but, I'm proud of these fellas...easily the best guard play in the league...

I'm a BIG SAP!

Ok, so I just finished watching one of the many morally corrupt, compromised, borderline trashy shows that comes on each week on one of the major networks (ok, it's ABC and the show is "What About Brian?). Before you dawg me too much, show me some mercy.

Well, I seem to be a sucker for these certain characters in different shows. Even in the midst of these shows, there's this appetite that you can see in all of them...this hunger for wholeness, for redemption. In the most spiritual way I can say this...I'm a hopeless romantic for people's hearts to be connected with wholeness.

So back to the show...there's this husband and wife, they've been separated. They have three girls, one of them who is one year old. The one year old has just been "diagnosed" with being deaf. Through this hardship, and some tough decisions toward having an implant placed behind her ear...the couple has been drawing closer to each other.

ENTER my ultra-hyped SAPNESS:
So, the baby girl is crying in the middle of the night, she has a fever. They take her to the hospital and the doctor confirms that the implant is not working and that she cannot hear. All of the hopes that a parent has for their child was just squashed in this mom and dad (yes, I know they are not real...but go with me on this). I watched how they agonized over it, how they so badly wanted to help their daughter out with something that was out of their control.

So, I went into Paige's room. I took her out of her crib and have brought her to bed with me tonight. She's crashin' with daddy. It's unreal the love that a dad has for his little girl. I have nothing else to compare it to when it comes to that kind of relationship. I think it's in parenthood that you really hand yourself over to the sovereignty of God...even more heavy...handing your child over to the sovereignty of God. I don't breathe air into her lungs, and I don't cause her heart to beat...I simply take precious care of God's creation. He sustains His creation for His purposes. That's easily the hardest area of faith for a parent...at least for me.

A lot of SAP in the air tonight...I told you in previous posts, that I'm no good without my wife here...so if you want more testosterone filled posts, you should pray for Christy to hurry home.

Good People

My wife gets back tomorrow evening from a business trip in Ohio (where it is much too cold for us texans)...so, time by myself usually leads me down memory lane...or at least time to reflect on what is real in my life.

It's easy as a pastor to get so worked up over the ongoing "ministry" of the church, that we lose sight of what is in front of us...now, today, here.

So, starting tomorrow, I'm going to spend the next few days blogging about specific people in our church that simply bless me. Let me clarify that...my church as a whole blesses me, and I'd say to one extent or another they all do individually as well. But, there are these moments with people from the Vista that make me just step away and think about HOW God brought them to the Vista and HOW their story unfolded and then slammed into our story. It's in these stories, these times, these memories that we gain confidence in WHO He is and WHAT He is doing, because of WHAT He has done and WHO He always has been.

So, you will be encouraged over the next few days because you will see how the lives of "ordinary" and everyday people, have extraordinary impact to us as a church, and me individually (as well as for my family) by them simply being them. Can't wait to share!

Relearning

I'm supposed to be asleep. Christy flew to Ohio for one of the very rare trips away from home for her job. We're so blessed that God has given her a job that she can be home 95% of the time with Paige, yet still use her abilities in the occupational world. So why can't I sleep? Thinking...you know, the blessed curse of a church planter. We dreamers just can't seem to shut it off can we? Again...a blessing and a curse.

I've been thinking that on Easter, we'll be celebrating 2 years as a church. That's a misleading statement to be perfectly honest. Last Easter we (1) moved from Sunday nights to Sunday morning Gatherings, (2) moved to an elementary school for our Gatherings, and (3) re-launched the Vista. So, we're at the age of 2...but just one year old...makes sense? Good.

I'm relearning what it means to lead, to partner, to have strategy, vision, encouragement, and to assimilate, implement, create, and apply. Us planters are sick people...when the rest of the world starts to look for ways to settle, we're all about re-inventing...re-establishing...and stretching our dreams wider and deeper.

This past week marks the first week of our new Community Pastor Chris Marlow. Chris is great! A true brother. For me, the order of adding a new team member is SYNERGY first, and COMPETENCY second. Chris has both. I honestly feel like we have the team in place to move us into deeper and waters with God and wider pathways with people.

So, I guess I'll try to get some sleep. No promises though...but I will continue to dream!

The world without my Mac

Well, I'm trying to find life without my powerbook...it bombed on me last week. It's being shipped to the Apple people, but they are having to wipe everything...I backed some of it up, but it looks like a clean start for me and my powerbook. But hey, I do have a blackberry. I've been without Christy and Paige for 3 days. They went to Houston to see the family and went to the "rodeo" with some of her gal-friends. I pick them up in Brenham around 1:30pm Monday...I was born to husband and father. I forgot what life was like before my girls. What I do know is that life wasn't near as full and life-giving as it is now...I love my girls. I met a church planter from Hutto, Texas (10 miles east of us) today. He and his wife visited the Vista this morning. Though sometimes church planting is overwhelming and stressful...it's a complete joy. It's so much fun to connect with guy who are sharing the same vision, journey, and are willing to lay their lives down to start a revolution... I have a sense that God has our church in a very, very, very, very cool place. We're re-learning how to lead, love, and live. Pray for us as we discover the "how's" and the "why's" and the "when's" and the rest of the in's and out's of journey. More to come...