Faithful or Famous?

God did some amazing things this weekend in Albuquerque. It was such a blast being back with students and leaders that were a part of our lives for so many years.

The theme of the teachings this weekend was living to be faithful, not famous. We learned from people throughout Scripture who lived with that purpose in mind.

I had all of my messages mostly done by the time we arrived in Albuquerque on Wednesday, but there were pieces that still needed to be put into place. The main one that I felt was lacking something was today’s message from Hebrews 11. For some reason, for the last month or so, I’ve felt like that message was missing a major piece, but I couldn’t figure it out. This weekend, God put the last piece into place…

As I blogged about earlier this week, I met a girl named Natalie (she and her son, Spencer, are pictured to the left) at the college ministry I taught at on Thursday whose life was changed 4 1/2 years ago through a message I taught. She had scheduled an abortion, but upon giving her life to Christ that night (4 years ago), decided to keep the baby. She was the perfect illustration of living to be faithful, not famous. After all, life is a series of decisions, made in the  moment, that change who we will be and which route we will take. Thank God, Natalie made the right decision!

I got to meet 3-year old Spencer for the very first time this morning about 10 minutes before I taught the last session. At the very end, I brought her up and shared her story with all the students.

You can watch the video below. Be prepared…there was barely a dry eye in the place…

Abortion Averted

Last night after I taught at Calvary college group, Renovate, I met (for a second time) a 22-year old girl who told me her life had been changed 4 1/2 years ago after a message I taught.

It was October 2006 and I was teaching at Renovate. She was 18 at the time and had just found out she was pregnant. She was devastated and knew she was too young to have a baby, so she had decided to have an abortion…until she came to Renovate. I can’t remember what I taught on that night, but God used it powerfully in her life, and after service I prayed with her to recommit her life to Jesus. She decided at that moment that she was going to keep the baby. Abortion averted.

That night, not one life, but two lives were saved!

When I shook her hand last night, she told me this story, and told me that because of how God had used me, she has a 4-year old little boy named Spencer today (Natalie & Spencer are pictured to the left). I couldn’t believe it. I almost starting crying as I realized how God had used me in a way I had never realized. It probably hit me even harder since I have a 4-year old of my own!

What a powerful reminder that God can use our words and actions in someone’s life in ways that we could have never planned. I didn’t speak about abortion, but simply the hope that exists in the name of Jesus saved Natalie spiritually and Spencer physically.

Whatever your gift is, use it to benefit others and glorify God. He can use you in ways you’d never imagine!

If you’d like to listen to or watch last night’s message from Renovate, it will be available HERE shortly.

The short version

It’s been a year since I’ve seen most of my Albuquerque friends, so the first question that I get asked a lot is, “How’s the church going?”

That’s a good question. It’s also a challenging question. That’s like asking an astronaut that just got back from a lunar landing, “What was the moon like?” There’s SO much to be said and so many experiences to relay.

How do I sum up the hardest 18 months of our lives?

How do I put 16 months of church-planting into words?

How do I summarize renovating 4 buildings in 16 months (one of them twice), losing everything in a flood, seeing lives changed and marriages restored, trusting God to pay our bills when it looks impossible, and so much more?

One word:

Abbrev.

That’s the abbreviation for “abbreviate.” in case you weren’t aware.

I’ve been doing a lot of abbreviating. It comes NOWHERE close to capturing the emotions, faith, tears, and joy that have gone into the church plant, but if you’d like the abbreviated version of Awaken Church’s first 16 months, here’s what I’ve been telling people…

“It’s great. It’s keeping us super busy. I don’t know if you heard or not, but we lost the church building to the Tennessee floods 7 months into the church plant, so we relocated to a bank for 2 months, renovated the old building, moved back in, outgrew it in 3 months, renovated another building for 2 months, and opened that up on Christmas Eve. The new building is twice the size – we’ve been in it for about a month now, and we love it. God is doing some great things and we’ve seen lots of growth.”

I know, grammarians, that’s one long run-on sentence, but that’s what I’ve had to do to try to fit the highlights into an abbreviated response. It’s challenging, but that gives the Cliff’s Notes version of the last 16 months of my life. It’s been the hardest, most challenging, and most rewarding 16 months I’ve lived through…and we’re just getting started!

I’ve had a chance to share a longer version of the story with a few friends so far, and tonight, I get to do it again. My pastor, Skip Heitzig, will be interviewing me on stage during the Wednesday night service at Calvary Albuquerque at 7pm MST. We’ll show some pictures and videos from the flood as well as the old and new buildings. I’ll share briefly about some of the experiences that we’ve been though and the great things that God has done and is doing. If you’re in Albuquerque, make sure to be there, but if you miss it or you’re out of town, the service will be live at calvaryabq.org and also available afterward in the Calvary service archive.

the NEW (again) Awaken Church building!

This is our 4th remodel of an Awaken Church building in 16 months – that’s an average of 1 building every 4 months. That’s WAY too much painting, cleaning, and moving for anyone, in my opinion.

Our Christmas Eve service last night was our first service in our new building. We worked till midnight on Thursday night finishing it up. It was a fun family service – we were joined by all the kids and families as we worshiped together. My good friend, Ryan Wylie, was here from Albuquerque to lead worship for us as well.

On our very first service in the new building we already filled it up! That was fast…but that seems to be how God moves! I had a couple people ask me last night where we’d be moving next. Believe it or not, I already have my eyes on a place and have been praying for it for months (more on that when the time is right).

Tomorrow (the day after Christmas) kicks off our Sunday services in our new building. We’ll be debuting our new electronic kids check-in system, expanded and updated kids classrooms, plus, a special message from Luke 2, which I’m excited about.

We’ll have pictures posted soon from our Christmas Eve service, but below is a little walk-through of our new building that I shot on my phone a couple hours before service began.

If you’re in the Clarksville area, join us on Sunday mornings at 10am or Wednesday nights at 6:30pm. What a ride it’s already been – I can’t imagine what’s next!

 

Just What I Needed

Dr. Pepper used to advertise that their drink is just what the doctor ordered. I have yet to go to a doctor that orders me to drink Dr. Pepper. Could someone please tell me where his office is?

The idea behind the advertising was that Dr. Pepper was just what you needed right when you needed it. I must agree – sometimes there is something so refreshing about drinking your favorite frosty beverage. But as timely as Dr. Pepper claims to be, it’s nowhere near as timely and accurate as God’s Word.

One thing I love about systematically teaching or reading through the Bible is how God uses it to speak to me with precision and clarity. Somehow He times my reading and my life’s circumstances to line up exactly where they need to be so that when I sit down to read my Bible, it comes to life. It’s as if each passage that I read is custom-tailored for that specific day. I wish I could say it’s always this way. Sometimes I get distracted, or I’m a bit tired, or I oversleep, but today was one of those perfectly aligned days.

Here’s the verse that stood out to me as I finished reading 1 Chronicles today…

David also said to Solomon his son, “Be strong and courageous, and do the work. Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will not fail you or forsake you until all the work for the service of the temple of the Lord is finished. – 1 Chronicles 28:20

That verse was just what I needed to hear. These last two weeks have been a bit overwhelming as I try to oversee the renovation of our Riverside building, study to teach, go between different church locations, spend thousands of dollars replacing destroyed church stuff, see my good buddy Denver off as he moves away, and rearrange schedules after multiple construction delays – all in preparation for the kick-off of our Sunday service this weekend. Needless to say, it’s been a high-stress couple of weeks (and months).

If I’m not careful, I can forget that it’s God doing the work, not me. Sure, I need to do the best that I can, but ultimately, He’s putting everything together. For some reason, though, I get this idea that the Creator of the Universe may need a little help.

Then I read verses like 1 Chronicles 28:20.

It was one of those verses that I just had to stop and thank God for including in the Bible. You know those verses?

What a great reminder from a father (David) to a son (Solomon) that he should work hard, but that God would put all the pieces into place. I needed that reminder.

My dad is visiting this week and I’m so glad he’s here. He’s a huge help with doing a lot of the hands-on stuff that I’m not good at. But as much help as my dad is, my Heavenly Dad is still the One putting everything together.

It’s exciting to see it all come together and I can’t wait to kick off our Sunday service this weekend. I’m about to start studying for my message in a new 10-week series that also starts this Sunday called “The Forgotten: Unforgettable Stories of Forgotten Lives.” Can’t wait to see what God does as we re-open our Riverside building this Sunday at 10am!