Parenting Survey

I thought I would pass along the word that our parenting survey (http://www.parenting.msconline.org/) is up and operational. Special thanks to Rod Rozin for all of his web design expertise and Andrew del Rosario for the video. Make sure to visit the site and take the survey so that you can get your free copy of the book Parenting Isn't for Super Heroes. I am very excited about this upcoming sermon series that will focus on Building Blocks for Successful Families. If you have friends with kids, make sure to invite them to attend. I know they will be helped!

Parenting Survey

I'm here in my Hebrew class and I got a couple of minutes free. Just wanted to let you know about our exciting parenting sermon series, seminar, and survey that will be launching soon. I especially want to encourage you to take the online parenting survey (should be ready by this Monday). Once you take the survey make sure to pass the news along to all your friends and family.

Watching The Olympics

I know...I should be asleep right now. I have a full, busy day tomorrow and I definitely need the sleep. But I'm really enjoying watching the Olympics. I guess its a combination of the competition and patriotism. I am very proud to be an American. No other country in the world has the unique mixture of freedom and opportunity. Phelps just won another gold medal in the 800m relay! I would be yelling at the television, but the everyone else in the house is asleep.

One last thought: As exciting as competing in the Olympics is...following Jesus Christ is a million times better!

Sunday Recap

It was a great joy to be in church today. Although it feels a little bit odd not to be speaking (I have had the last 2 Sunday's off), the message was just what I needed. If you missed hearing Paul Null's message on the need for rest you should visit the church website (www.msconline.org) and listen to it. After church we had Paul and Rene Null over to our home for lunch and some great conversation. I am grateful to have a friend like Paul. Every person should have a "Paul" in their life. He is the consummate mentor, friend, and encourager!

This evening's New Community service was rockin! The music and spirit was great. If you don't attend the New Community services (first Sunday night of each month) then you are really missin' out. Rich Stormo presented the budget for the new year. We confirmed the leadership team's decision to approve the hiring of Andrew del Rosario as full time staff! I had the chance to discuss where I believe the Lord is leading us as a church (being a day by day Christian - Acts 2:42-47). We celebrated our salvation and forgivness in Christ with communion. And we even got out close to on time:)

Well, it was a full day for me and I'm tired. We just got the kids in bed and Cecil and I are going to enjoy our favorite TV show Numbers(can it still be called a TV show if I watch it on my laptop over the internet?).

Video Update

Men's Bible Study Notes

Our church has a men's group that meets on the 2nd and 4th weeks of the month. Group 1 meets on Sunday at 5:00pm and Group 2 meets on Wednesday at 7:00pm. One of the areas that all men (including myself) need to continually work on is: leadership, especialy leadership at home. In last week's lesson I spoke about this subject. Hopefully the notes will be an encouragement.


Leading at home involves
1. Spiritual leadership
2. Financial leadership
3. Romantic leadership
4. Parental leadership

• By nature, women are responders. Although they may, because of lack of male leadership, fill a leadership need, this is not how they are designed.

Spiritual leadership involves:
1. Leading by example – I Corinthians 9:27
2. Establishing the direction of the home – Joshua 24:15
3. Insuring the spiritual health of your wife and children – Ephesians 5
4. Bringing your family to church and involvement in church – Hebrews 10:25

Financial leadership involves:
1. Providing for your family’s necessities of life – I Timothy 5:8
2. Establishing the financial objectives for your family
a. Necessities
b. Giving
c. Emergencies
d. Debt Retirement
e. Retirement
f. College
3. Rejecting selfish spending
4. Participating in financial decision making

Romantic leadership involves:
1. Committing to love your wife – Ephesians 5
a. Love her the way God made her
b. Refusing to cheat
c. Maintaining the dating/honeymoon approach to relationships
d. Proactively creating time to be with each other
2. Loving even when the feelings aren’t there
3. Spending time and money to pursue her
4. Separating her need from affection from your need for sex
5. Alleviating the worries of her mind (housework, child work, etc…) so that she can care for your needs 

Parental leadership involves:
1. Deciding the boundaries for your children – Hebrews 12:7
2. Disciplining your children when you are present
3. Interacting with your children to know and understand them – Ephesians 6:1-3
4. Making decisions about school, clothing, friends, sports, etc…
5. Protecting your children from over involvement in extra-curricular activities
6. Confronting children (when older) about wrong decisions

Home leadership principles:
1. Good husbands always involve their wife in the decision making process
2. Good husbands always take responsibility for the decisions of the entire family
3. Good husbands firmly but lovingly lead their wife and children
4. Good husbands always speak well of their wives

Steps to good leadership:
1. Confess to God your failure/sin in not leading your family
2. Confess and apologize to your wife for your failure/sin in not leading your family (and children if old enough)
3. Spend one week in prayer (and fasting) asking God to give you a vision for your family’s future in these four areas – write that vision down
4. Share the vision with your wife (and children if old enough) – allow them the freedom to help shape the vision
5. Firmly but lovingly lead in all of these areas

What if my wife won’t follow?
1. Do what is right because it is right; not because you want your wife to change
2. It is your responsibility to lead; it is your wife’s responsibility to follow
• You’ve failed in your area; give her some time and grace in her area
3. Stick with it
• If it took you years to get into this mess, you won’t fix it in one day

Genesis Essay

I just completed a week long class titled the Message of Genesis. The professor was John Sailhamer. One of our assignments was to write a brief essay on the message of Genesis. If you find any typos, there is a reason: My wife didn't have the chance to proof read it :)

Genesis Paper - Body - Upload a doc

Read this doc on Scribd: Genesis Paper - Body

Saying Hello With My Son

Baptism Celebration

This past Sunday was awesome! I had the privilege of baptizing five new believers. It was great to hear their testimonies as they shared about how they have made the decision to become followers of Jesus Christ. Baptism is the one external action that delineates believers from non-believers. It is the outward decision that symbolizes that God has already done a spiritual transformation on the inside. I am especially thankful that three of those who were baptized are a part of our children's ministry. It is a great testimony to effectiveness of Cyanna, Nancy, and our entire children's ministry team.

Dealing with Temptation

Having been a Christian since I was a child, it is easy for me to "get in a rut" spiritually. One of the things that helps prevent that from happening is to do different things in my devotional life. Sometimes I walk while I pray, sometimes I sing, sometimes I just sit and focus on what God is doing in my life and what He has to say to me. One of changes that I have made recently is that in preparation for Sunday's sermon I read my text each day of the week. This helps me not to rush through Bible reading and to really focus on the text, even the parts I may have overlooked in the past. As I have been reading this Sunday's text, Matthew 4 the temptation of Christ, I have noticed some interesting things.
1. It's not a sin to be tempted.
2. Jesus passed with flying colors, so that we can have hope that if we abide in Him we can as well.
3. All of the temptations have the same root cause: shortcuts to getting what Jesus wanted.

I think that most of the temptations that we "fall into" are caused when we take shortcuts: spiritual shortcuts, relational shortcuts, work shortcuts, etc...

So pray for me and you this coming week that we won't take any shortcuts!

Also here's an interesting take on the Temptation of Christ.

http://bigorangetruck.wordpress.com/2008/02/19/super-bowl-in-the-wilderness/

What I've Been Up To...

Life has been moving a thousand miles a minute over the last few months. Between Easter, Anniversary Sunday, Pastor's Retreat, Seminary classes, Financial Peace University, sermon preparation, and much, much more time just flies by. I'm sure your life experience is very simililar. One of the things that I have been investing a lot of my time in is my Old Testament class at seminary. So I thought I would post the product of my hard work for all of you to read. It is an exegesis of Isaiah 14:3-23. Hope you enjoy!

OT2 Final Exegesis Paper - Body & Bib - Upload a doc

Read this doc on Scribd: OT2 Final Exegesis Paper - Body & Bib

Financial Peace University

It was exciting to see over 30 adults meet tonight for the first session of Financial Peace University. I can still remember Cecil and I going through this course a few months after we were married. The principles we learned changed our financial future. The saying is true, "Either you run your money or your money runs you." For those of you attending the class, I encourage you to jump in with both feet. Don't hold back. The principles work and if you work the system your financial future will be changed. You can learn more about FPU at www.daveramsey.com

MacGyver

The other day I came across a web link for some classic TV shows (http://www.cbs.com/classics/). One of my all time favorite TV shows is included - MacGyver. My brother and I really loved watching this show. I had the opportunity to watch some of the episodes from the original season. For some reason, I still love them. Most of the actors are aweful, the dialog is hilarious, and the plots are always the same, but I still enjoy watching them. You might enjoy one yourself so take a look.

My Worship Pilgrimage

Today, I decided to post a recent assignment from the Worship Class that I am taking in seminary this semester. The title is My Worship Pilgrimage. I will spare you the title page and some of the other formalities.

The story of my worship pilgrimage is intrinsically connected to my faith journey. Church and faith have always been the priority of my life. Even at a young age, everything revolved around church and God. As you may have guessed, I was reared in the home of a pastor. When I was three years old, my father started a church in San Leandro, CA. My earliest memories are of knocking doors in the neighborhood to invite people to church, standing on a wooden stool behind the pulpit to sing special music with my brother while my mother accompanied us on the piano, and having missionaries and visiting preachers come over to our house for Sunday dinner. What makes my story unique is the type of church I grew up in. We were unashamedly fundamental, independent Baptists. We believed in knocking on doors, running buses to pickup children, and only using the King James Version of the Bible. Women were not allowed to wear pants, no one could listen to music that had percussion accompaniment, and under no circumstances were you allowed to go to the movie theater. I remember my Dad preaching against rock music, watching television, and women wearing “britches.” As a child, my favorite sermons were the ones dedicated to pointing out the ills of rock and roll and contemporary Christian music. What makes this context so important to understanding my worship pilgrimage is that our church movement considered the use of worship in connection with a song service to be a compromise. I even heard numerous sermons belittling the title “Praise and Worship Music.” For me, a good song service came down to two things. The first was making sure that the right music was being sung (only hymns and gospel songs). The second was making sure that the right music was being sung in the right way (no lifting of hands, no fancy accompaniment, and no sliding of the voice). In our song services we were encouraged to sing energetically and loudly. The idea that the song service was an opportunity to encounter God was totally foreign to my thinking.

Now fast forward about fifteen years and things have obviously changed. I’m enrolled in a Southern Baptist Seminary (this would be the epitome of the dark slide to liberalism), I started a non-denominational church, I no longer use the King James Version (I actually believe it to be an inferior translation from an inferior text), and our church has a rock band that leads worship each Sunday. Things have really changed! With the evolution of my theology and philosophy of ministry, my view of worship has also evolved. I can still remember the first time I closed my eyes during a worship service. I felt as though everyone would judge me for being too charismatic. Even when I started Morning Star Church, I can remember feeling awkward lifting my hands in praise to God (even though I was the pastor). Over time, especially the last seven years, my view of worship has evolved significantly. Because I am the pastor of the church, my evolution has had a profound impact on the worship services that I attend.

In the early years of my Christian life, the essence of singing in church was summed up with these two ideas. The first was that congregational singing was an opportunity for the local congregation to proclaim together their shared belief and faith. The second was that the music chosen for singing should evangelize the lost. Most of the singing in my youth would be considered revivalist in style. It featured upbeat piano music that accompanied gospel songs like: I Have Found a Friend in Jesus, Count Your Many Blessings, Victory in Jesus, and Blessed Assurance. My present understanding of worship, as a personal encounter with God, was not remotely connected with my early thoughts or experiences. This one shift in my thinking has been the most significant. Instead of viewing music in church as simply a traditional element that needs to be included, the focus is now on finding ways for people to encounter God. The emphasis is switched from specific activities to cultural avenues of encountering God. Music is just one avenue that can be used to worship God. Everything in our Sunday services should be designed to assist people in connecting with their Creator. Because of this transformation in my thinking, our church has been free to utilize any and all means, within the boundaries of Scripture, to create these life changing moments. In a normal Sunday service, you might find a loud, rocking praise song and a simple a capella hymn. By recognizing the importance of the end and not being overly conscious of the means, we can study our culture and create meaningful opportunities for connection.

Worship is simply a personal encounter with God. Sometimes that encounter includes praise, sometimes it includes repentance, sometimes it includes silence, and sometimes it includes celebration. Meaningful worship brings me face to face with who God is. God’s truth and essence intersect my fallen, frail humanity. The revelation of truth demands a response. For me that response is called worship. Worship cannot be limited to a service or sacred moment (church). Worship can take place as I watch my children run and play, as I enjoy the comforts of a soft bed, or as I weep in confession of my sin. Worship is a relationship with God. One mark of maturity that I desire is that these moments of worship would increase each day. I can become far too busy in the routines of this life and I miss these God-moments.

As it relates to worship services, I have a few preferences. Some are Biblical preferences while others are just personal preferences. For me, the most important component of a worship service is the idea of truth. Music that communicates truth about God assists me to worship more than any other type of music. In some of the modern worship music, the focus is on the experience of the worshipper. It deals with how we feel, think, and act. There is a place for testimonial worship, but God’s truth is what produces our testimony. The first thing I look for in a great worship song is how much truth is communicated. Personal experiences can vary from person to person, but truth is relevant in all of our lives. The second preference I have is that music not be too repetitive. I am not interested in getting hyped up about a certain line in the song that is repeated twenty times. Unfortunately, many a worship service has been ruined for me by the over use of a particular phrase. Obviously this is a personal preference, but nevertheless it influences me.

The greatest worship discouragements revolve around my personal failings. Because of my upbringing in a legalistic, fundamentalist church, my conceptions about God were quite twisted. It has taken many, many years to detangle myself from these partial truths. The worst conception that I embraced was that I could impress God through my good words. As I grew older, the reality of my fallenness hit me very hard. After sinning, I felt I needed to prove to God that I could do better. Hence, I would wait sometimes for days to pass before coming back to God in prayer and confession. This greatly affected my ability to worship. If I had a morally good week, then I felt worthy to worship God; but if I had struggled with sin, I felt unworthy to interact with Him. The quality of worship was determined by my ability to keep myself in God’s good standing. All of these ideas are obviously unhealthy and unbiblical. The recognition that God’s grace was free, abundant, and always available has helped to liberate my worship experience. I cannot earn my experience and interaction with God.

God continues to work in my life to teach me about Himself. Organized worship is forced focus on God. I look forward to our worship services because the Holy Spirit uses them to remind me about His love and grace, convict me about sin and rebellion, and encourage me to fulfill my God-given mission. My prayer is that my worship experience would never become routine or programmatic. I want to experience God every day in new and exciting ways. Organized worship is an opportunity to have new avenues of connection opened in my life.

Hello Again

It's been a month long hiatus from posting here on my blog. There are numerous reasons for this but the primary one is: laziness...I just haven't gotten around it. But that doesn't mean that nothing important has happened over the last few weeks. Here are a few of things going on:

1. I started the spring semester of seminary. I am taking Introduction to Old Testmant II and Worship and Music in the Faith Community. The countdown is on until graduation. I only have 21 more credit hours to graduate. At my current pace I should graduate in May of 2010 :).
2. Our church is launching Financial Peace University starting on March 8. We currently have over 30 adults registered to attend. I truly believe that this program will change our church forever! It certainly changed my life when Cecil and I attended.
3. We have seen over 40 first time guests attend our services since January 1st. Many of these people are continuing to attend and some are starting to get involved.
4. Church attendance has grown by 40% since January 1st. For the first time in our church history, we are averaging over 100 each Sunday in attendance. I believe that God is preparing us for our future at the Patterson Ranch Property.

So that's a brief summary of what is new. Don't forget Easter is just around the corner! It's on March 23rd this year.

Health Update

As many of you are aware, I was diagnosed with high cholesterol this past November (264). My doctor at Kaiser suggested that I start taking medication to help bring it down. When I was 24, I was also diagnosed with high cholesterol and my doctor had me take Lipitor to bring it down. So...for the past three months I have been on the diet from hell. I decided back in November that I was going to do everything in my power to keep from taking medication. I cut out all desserts, all saturated fat, almost all regular fats. I cut out beef and pork. I limited myself to small amounts of chicken and fish.

So you are probably wondering what happened. First I have to thank my wife for making this lifestyle change much easier to accomplish. She is totally supportive of my diet. In fact everyone in the house basically is living on this same diet. We started making homemade soups, substituting egg whites for eggs in baking, cooking without added fats (butter & oil), using lots and lots of fruits, vegetables, and salads. So here's what happend: 1. I lost 15 pounds (not purposely, but as a side affect of eliminating bad food) 2. My energy level went way, way up (I feel better, sleep better, and need less sleep) 3. I lowered my cholesterol by 74 points (It is now 190!!!)

Maybe some of you need encouragement to make a lifestyle change. In hindsight, I'm really glad that I found out about my high cholesterol because it forced me to change. If you haven't been to your doctor in while you should make it a priority to have a yearly checkup. So eat healthy and live happy!

Time To Start Fresh

Sometimes in life, I just have to start things over again. There have been times with my kids that I have responded the wrong way, I was too harsh, or I was just no fun to be around. Instead of trying to explain to my 3 and 1 year old why Daddy was grumpy or angry, etc...I just told them this: "Daddy's sorry for acting the way he did, please forgive me and let's start over again." Similar things have happened in my relationship with my wife, instead of trying to sort through who did or said this or that, we just decided that we needed to start from scratch, start over again. That is one of the things that I love about the New Year, it's a chance for a fresh start. Thankfully, God is a God of new beginnings and second chances. Maybe there are things that happened in 2007 that didn't turn out how you hoped. Maybe you made some wrong decisions. Maybe you had misplaced priorities. Don't let your past determine your future.
This Sunday, I will be starting a new sermon series on Starting fresh in 2008. I hope that you will either join us at Morning Star Church or take the time to download the sermons from the church website, once they are posted. Remember this is a New Year, make it count!

Two Sunday Services

This morning we officially kicked off our new early service at 9:00am. I am thankful for the people that made the switch to the early service. It will help us open up additional space in our 10:35am service. It is always encouraging to me to watch our people at work. Our band members played for both services and did a great job. I know how hard it is to be energetic at 9:00am but they did awesome. I'm also proud of our church and how they have embraced the goal of reaching out into the community. Sometimes that means we have to make sacrfices but it is always worth it.



















This week we will be sending 37,000 of these mailer pieces to our community inviting them attend our services. Please pray with me that God will work in our community so that we have a great response to this outreach. Next Sunday should be exciting! Have a great first full week of 2008.

Interesting New Movie Coming Out

This upcoming movie by Ben Stein really caught my attention! It focuses on the hostile academic environment that surrounds Darwinism, evolution, and the theories about the origins of man. In almost of schools and colleges in America, Darwinism or evolution is presented as fact not theory. As this movie so easily points out, there are growing numbers of scientists and biologists that are questioning evolutionary theory. Personally I have always found the theory of evolution to run contrary to the most foundation scientific principles especially the 1st and 2nd Laws of Thermodynamics. The First Law states that energy cannot be created or destroyed. The theory of evolution can offer no logical explanation for the origins of energy or matter. Who created what evolved? The Second Law states that "energy systems have a tendency to increase their entropy." Entropy in layman's language means chaos or disorganization. Simply stated it means that things get worse not better. The entire concept of evolution is based on the foundation that things are slowly yet surely getting better. Life is evolving into more complex forms. The Second Law says that isn't how things work. If you have some free time go ahead and visit www.expelledthemovie.com and check out the trailer, I'm sure you will find it intriguing.

Happy New Year!

We had a great time ringing in the New Year (we didn't quite make it until midnight, Ethan got tired around 10pm) at Andrew and Cyanna's house. The theme of the party was the 80's. As you can see from the pictures it was quite a sight to behold. Cyanna and Nicole even got my wife to redo her hair. It was great to see our singles (and young marrieds) celebrating the new year in a way that brings glory to God. There wouldn't be any regrets or bad memories from this party, just good, clean fun! It was great to hang out, eat, listen to 80's music, and play video games! Happy New Year!