The Merge

Sarah and I have been discussing whether or not to merge our blogs and we decided it would be better for everybody if we did...I know, what you're thinking: this is a big step in our cyberspace relationship but I believe that after five and a half years of marriage we are finally ready for this level of unity! :-D From now on you can find BOTH of us at www.stepsonthewater.com

See you over there!

Opportunities

I'm very excited about where we're at right now and where God is leading us (me, my family, the church). There are great things going on on every level. I have already heard some great things from the Life Group times on Sunday mornings and about some awesome outreaches and servant times that have already taken place or are coming up soon! I believe that God wants us to be intentional about community and missional in our outreach. I think those two things even compliment each other. When we talk about being "a house of prayer for all nations" we MUST be a house for ALL People and one of the ways that we do that is through intentional community and missional outreach. As we are sharing life on every level (community/fellowship) we begin to position ourselves to share HIS life on every level (missional outreach). God is putting OPPORTUNITIES before each of us, let's continue to pray for the courage and obedience to make the most of every opportunity that He gives us.

One opportunity that I am VERY grateful for is my job with T-Mobile! I am enjoying it because of the technology (yes, I'm a nerd) and the problem solving involved, as well as getting to know my co-workers. I keep praying for God to help me see what He is doing in the lives of my co-workers and how I can help bring His life and joy to every situation through my actions and my words. I have been looking forward to the opportunity to serve in the church AND in the workplace for a couple of years now and am very thankful to have the opportunity. I pray that you will see the opportunities that God has for you as you look around where God has placed you as a representative of His Kingdom.
May His Kingdom justice, peace, joy, and power come and His perfect will be done IN and THROUGH our lives!

Identity

This Sunday James Underwood from Bethel St. Paul shared in Minneapolis. It was a great word about our true identity. In life we all wear different kinds of hats and those things aren't what truly define us. He had an awesome way of illustrating that with a bunch of different literal hats that he wears as part of his life and what they represent, but how those things don't define him. He read from Ephesians 2:11-15 and pointed out that God has bought the naming rights to our lives...just like big companies pay big money for the right to put their name on a building or stadium, in the same way, God has bought the naming rights to your life as Creator & Redeemer!
1. He Created us! (Genesis 2:6)
- Very personally: Formed us with his hands & breathed into us!

2. He Redeemed Us!
- He purchased us with His life and has the right to name us (Revelation 2).

There are many voices trying to label you, but only one has the right to name you and be the source of your identity. At the time of Jesus there were many voices labeling Him, but He looked to the Father for His identity ("this is my son in whom I am well pleased"). It was as people saw who the Father said Jesus was that they truly knew Him. Jesus asked His disciples "who do you say that I am?" His disciples picked up on what God the Father said and answered that He was "the Christ, the Son of the Living God." Jesus asked them for their good not His. It really should have been them asking Jesus "who do YOU say that I am?" Because being who God says you are is more powerful and more important than trying to be who others say you are or should be.
What about you, are there old "names" or labels that someone else put on you, or you put on yourself, that you need to get rid of today? Take off those hats!

Boundaries

Last year I read this GREAT book called "Boundaries with Kids." I wish I had read it before I started youth ministry because it makes the shaping process that kids need to go through so clear. It provides good ways to put boundaries in place for your kids no matter what age they are. I felt like I had learned some of those things along the way by trial and error (because nobody else was teaching this stuff) and other things I saw that I had totally missed (many "aha!" moments). Now that we have Abby I need to go back and read it and work on applying it to the stage she is at right now.

I want to read one book on parenting each year, but I also want to review this book each year because what it contains is so simple and powerful, yet easy to forget over time. I would HIGHLY recommend this book to ANY parent, no matter how long (or little) you have been parenting or grandparenting. You can take this and apply it to any stage of development in your kids' lives. You will probably have a few "aha!" moments along the way and be encouraged to keep pressing on as you train up your children in the way that they should go so that when they are old they will not depart from it!

Seven Practices of Effective Ministry

Last year I was privileged to get my hands on an awesome book that summarizes a lot of what I learned in my Organizational Leadership studies: 7 Practices of Effective Ministry.

It takes some fairly complex concepts and puts them in ways that are easy to understand, communicate, and apply. This is something that we were working through in Breckenridge when I left and something that we have started working through with our leadership team at Bethel Minneapolis!
Here's a quick summary. I highly recommend this book to you if you are in leadership.

Practice #1 – Clarify the Win: Define what is important at every level of the organization.

• As long as the win in unclear, you force your team to guess at what a win looks like.
• If the win is unclear, you may force those in leadership roles to define winning in their own terms.
• When you clarify the win on every level you help your team stay on the same page.
• When you clarify the win you can manage your resources effectively.

Practice #2 – Think Steps, not Programs: Before you start anything, make sure it takes you where you need to go.

• Every step should be easy
• Every step has to be obvious
• Every step must be strategic

Practice #3 – Narrow the Focus: Do fewer things in order to make a greater impact.

• Churches feel constant pressure to provide programs on the basis of needs.
• Resist complexity and pursue simplicity.
• Choose what potentially works best over what is presently working.
• The more you focus the environment, the greater the relevance, the better the connection, the higher the quality, and the stronger the impact.

Practice #4 – Teach Less for More: Say only what you need to say to the people who need to hear it.

• Decide what you are going to say
• Decide to say one thing at a time
• Decide how you are going to say it
• Say it over and over again

Practice #5 – Listen to Outsiders: Focus on who you’re trying to reach, not who you’re trying to keep.
- (we really miss the boat the on this one sometimes)

Practice #6 – Replace Yourself: Learn to hand off what you do.

• Prepare someone to do what you do and strategically replace yourself.

Practice #7 – Work On It: Take time to evaluate your work, and to celebrate your wins.


I highly reccomend you read this book if you would like to know some of the details involved in this process. You may also find it helpful to go through this with your leadership team and apply this to every level of leadership.

Goals Update

At the beginning of the year I set some goals of what I felt God wanted me to do as a steward of what He has given me this year. I share them with you briefly. I hope to get better at dreaming God's dreams for the future and moving towards what God has.

- Read Through the Bible chronologically in the English Standard Version in a year.

• This is going great, especially now that I switched to an RSS feed.

Get Back in Shape

• I've lost 20 pounds so far this year and am hoping to lose 8 more by the end of the year.

Finish Graduate School

• I was blessed to complete a Master's degree in Organizational Leadership AND Practical Ministry. By starting at Regent University and completing at Beacon University I was able to get a dual emphasis in practical ministry (specifically small groups and other ministry things) as well as Organizational Leadership.

Work on Book:

• I put a basic outline together last year. Unfortunately I haven't done any work on this in 2009. I do want to work on refining the outline and beginning to put content into the right spots.

Transition:

• Work on transitioning Valley Christian's worship and student ministries to continue strong after we leave. I was able to work with Dean and other staff members to setup some systems to keep things running smoothly and set the stage for MORE growth in those areas.
  

Work with a Church Plant that is an Intentional and Missional Community:

• Sarah and I dreamed of doing this for a while, but it was a "some day" dream and god has blessed us to begin leading a church plant with Bethel Christian Fellowship.
  
• The first thing I wanted to do was to work to clarify the "wins" and define our steps for implementing the vision and "win" in the ministry. And it's been awesome to begin this process.
  
• One of the things we really wanted to make a part of our church life was to do small groups as part of the service after the message on Sundays and then to also meet outside of the church to DO ministry.

Message Series Prayer and Planning:

• I have been working on praying and planning out the series of sermons for at least a year in advance; including concepts and images used in the messages. This is still a work in progress, but I am working towards it: I have sets of series plans, but need to work harder on filling in the message titles and contents farther ahead of time.
  

To Grow as an Effective Communicator:

• By working on how I prepare and deliver messages using more than just words.

Lead My Family:

• I decided a while back that I will not sacrifice my family on the altar of ministry! This is something that takes work and I have to move towards this intentionally (word of the week) by spending more time with my family by using the free evenings we have and by guarding my day off. I am a work in a progress, but I am looking for progress.
  

Reading:

• My goal is to read all of the books I own that I have not read yet...this has been a problem as I have continued to add books to my collection.
  

These are the goals I have been working towards this year and as the year ends I will be looking at what God wants for next year!

Intentional

I saw this as I was walking around Catalyst. The title jumps out to me :-) Here's what I firmly believe: I believe that the major problems & injustices of the world (hunger, AIDS, poverty, human trafficking, etc.) would be solved if the church as a whole cared about what God cares about as much as He cares about them! What if we united with others & with God in the advancement of His Kingdom, which is defined as justice (righteousness), peace (!), joy (in the Holy Spirit), & power!

I believe God has given us the power to do this with the Holy Spirit & the Body of Christ! May His Kingdom Come & His will be done in & through us!

Practical and Powerful

Here's a powerful story of people in our church being intentional (word of the week) in meeting practical needs in powerful ways!

Bible in a Year

Earlier this year I made a list of goals for the year. One of those was to read through the Bible chronologically in the English Standard Version. I have grown to enjoy doing that each year, although there have been years that I have focused on specific parts of the Bible and just read them over and over. There was one year I just read and studied the Gospels over and over while another year I just read the New Testament several times. Although I don't know how many times I have read through the Bible I DO know that the chronological way has been the best way for me to get the most out of it. It really helps me to get the bigger picture of God's work throughout the Bible and throughout history.
If you've ever tried a Bible reading plan or a chronological reading you have probably had some difficulties keeping track of where you were, losing your reading guide, losing your place as you jumped around in the chronological piece. Or falling too far behind that you felt like giving up. Well don't be troubled because everyone that has ever set out to learn more about God has faced similar difficulties UNTIL NOW (cue the "ShamWow" music): I just found an AWESOME way to do my Bible reading the other day. www.BibleGateway.com has an awesome reading plan system that allows you to choose between 5 different plans. You can currently add your plan to your RSS reader and it will appear each day as your other blog posts do (they are currently working on an email system too). Here are several reasons that I have found most helpful:

• You don't have to carry around reading plans (I just read my Bible and Bible reading on my phone or laptop).
• You don't have to wonder whether or not you already read something.
• If you miss a day it will be there for you when you come back.
• When you're doing a chronological reading you don't have to jump all over the place and you can really feel the flow of the greater story.
• If you're a blog reader, it sets up a system for you where you will be reminded of reading every day...which when you think about it, it's kind of messed up that we would have time to read a blog and not God's story...

So, in making the switch between my chronological plan and BibleGateway's I missed some pieces of the Prophets, but the overall benefits of switching to something that helps me be more intentional (word of the week) far outweighs that.

Another really cool thing was you can choose from multiple versions. I'm finishing up the ESV this year, but next year I'm reading the Bible in The Message translation. Trying different translations has helped me continue to gain greater perspective as I grow, so I'm very excited about finishing this year in the ESV and doing next year in The Message!

Church Planting

I'm at a meeting today and tomorrow where many things have been discussed and will be discussed, but the one that I was eagerly anticipating was the discussion on church planting. A group of pastors in our region (MN, IA, and Western WI/MI) worked on an intentional plan for starting churches in our area by working together that I am VERY excited about and today it was presented to the other regions. The plan is called Apostello (sent forth) and you can access the full version of it here. Today we talked about what role we need to play in church planting; locally, regionally, and nationally as the Fellowship of Christian Assemblies. The conclusion was that church planting is something that is already happening in our fellowship but that we can definitely grow more in that area by being more intentional. I'm excited that we're having this discussion about church planting and here's why:

• I believe that we have to be intentional (my word of the week) about reaching people everywhere with the good news of Jesus Christ and one local church cannot do that.
• I believe that churches should plant churches that plant churches that plant churches...I don't just say that because I am now working with a church plant, but because I firmly believe that healthy things grow and reproduce. Sarah and I talked about working with a church planting team "some day" for many years. I even had a vision for church planting 9 years ago. For doing many of the things we're doing as part of Bethel Christian Fellowship. Neither Sarah or I were expecting "some day" to come this soon, but we are blessed to be part of Bethel and be leading such an awesome group of people!
  
• I believe that starting new churches creates opportunities for more people to get involved in ministering to other people.
  
• I believe that churches that start new churches unleash leaders to serve in capacities in the new church and also creates opportunities for other leaders to take their place where they were. Many leaders also emerge from other areas of ministry in successful church plants and more leaders are raised up because there was a place for their giftings to be used in making a difference in people's lives.
  

I'm not saying everything will be easy for any church that decides to plant a church (or for us for that matter), but I do believe that working together towards what God has for us is better than working alone. I am eagerly looking forward to what God has in store for us in Minneapolis and throughout the churches of the FCA!

The Sound of Silence

Sarah, Abby & I made a trip up to Breck-Wahp the other night for a ONE24 Board Meeting. On the way there the muffler began to go out. By that night the broken piece had fallen off and we ended up driving it without the muffler for about 70 miles...that little thing was LOUD! I got that fixed the next morning and then we headed back to the cities. Sarah and Abby in the Civic and me on my 1979 Suzuki 750GS (which is for sale BTW). Much like the Civic the night before, my bike doesn't have baffles so it was also very loud as I cruised down the highway at 70 mph (I wore earplugs because I knew it would be a long ride).

By the time we got to our apartment I had been exposed to so much noise for so long that I felt that the absence of it was eerily quiet. It was almost as though silence had a sound. Which made me think of how rarely we spend time in silence and enjoy it. Silence is one of the reasons I like working on things at night (although it tends to make the next mornings miserable). I feel like I can think better in silence. When I pray I like to spend time in silence asking God to speak to me, this is hard because of all the other noise in my life. In 1 Kings 19:12 God speaks to Elijah in a "gentle whisper" and not in a loud way. If God spoke to you in a gentle whisper right now, would you be able to hear Him? Or, would there be too much noise?

I want to encourage you to take some time and sit in silence with God today. See what happens. See what He speaks to your heart as you wait.

On a slightly related note, I'm sorry for the "sound of silence" here on the blog. There has been a ton going on in my life and in my thoughts that hasn't made it to the blog. :-(
You have probably wondered if I would ever post again. That was a sound of silence I don't want to practice. I switched to the Palm Pre a couple of months ago and discovered I don't really need a computer anymore :-) Consequently a lot of thoughts have been jotted down on my phone and haven't made it to the blog yet. Tonight I had a little time and figured out an easy system that I could use to get those thoughts from my head - to the Pre - to the blog quickly. Soooo...hopefully you will be hearing more then silence on this blog in the near future!

Abby's Friends

I got some pictures of some of Abby's friends before we moved and I thought I'd post them. Here they are, Abby's monkeys:
Monkey Fa, Monkey Sol, Monkey La, Monkey Si...Abby is Monkey Do...
She seems to like Monkey Si the most...I guess they're meant to be together as Monkey Si and Monkey Do...
I'm still missing Monkeys Re and Mi :-(

Here they are all together having a very harmonious time (in case you didn't get it):

ONE Summer Night

Are you ready for one summer night to remember? This year we're featuring Children 18:3, Kaboose, Senseless Beauty, Solace, and Sarah O'neal!

Ticket Costs:
$8.00 [in advance]
$10.00 [at the door]

*Ticket are available in Fargo and Moorhead at Family Christian Stores, Rainbow Shop and Melberg's...for other means of purchase, please call (701) 219-0918.

This show is going down rain or shine! We have an indoor auditorium available on site in case it rains.

Come early for some outdoor fun in the sun like volleyball, ultimate frisbee, etc.

For all of us who get hungry rockin' out, concessions will be available!

And, if you think you might need it, consider bringing a lawn chair along.

way, Way...WAY More!

Sarah and I are very excited to be joining an awesome group that has launched out from Bethel Christian Fellowship in St. Paul to start a church in Minneapolis. We are currently commuting from Breckenridge on the weekends. The whole thing of launching out from this place of safety to start a church goes back to a clear impression I had of God calling us to step out of the boat, our place of safety, and take a step into the unknown where we would have to keep our eyes focused on Him. In the last several months leading up to this there have been several verses that God has used to strengthen and encourage me for the task ahead.

2 Peter 1:3 HIS divine power has given us everything we need for life and godliness through our knowledge of him who called us by his own glory and goodness.

God's power has given us EVERYTHING we need to live for Him! Everything we need for the move. Everything we need to start a church. EVERYTHING we need for what He has called us to do!!!
One of the other passages is Ephesians 3:16-21 that says,

“I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the saints, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge—that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Now to him who is able to do Immeasurably More than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to HIM be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen."

• Immeasurably More = exceeding abundantly above = way, Way...WAY More!

Our God is Powerful...He is Awesome! If you're facing something that seems like more than you can do in your own strength, remember that it is in our weakness that we see Him move in power! In Him we have EVERYTHING we need for life! We have been allowed to participate in God's divine Presence, Power and Purpose! We need to make sure we are tapping into His power that He has for us. I know I can get distracted easily, but these verses inspire me to pursue Him passionately!!!
He wants to do immeasurably more than all we can ask or imagine IN and THROUGH our lives!

Last Day

Today was my last day at Valley Christian Church. I've been on staff here for over 6 years! Wow, time flies when you're having fun! It was a privilege to serve at this church and with these students! I will miss everyone very much...Don't hesitate to come visit us!
Tonight Stephen Bjorlin, who will be leading the Student and Worship Ministries for the summer, opened up the mic and let students share after I had said my final words of encouragement to the group. It was a great time, sad, but nice to go out this way then the other ways Stephen mentioned he has seen happen. I was also surprised to see that Stephen had taken some group shots from over the years and framed them for Sarah and I. Then they went beyone that and the students wrote notes on a poster for us as well. I even got an awesome cookie gift from Tiffany and her mom (the cross and the Bible one in the pic)! It was a good way to say goodbye. Stephen mentioned closure, but hopefully no one gets so much closure that they don't come help us load up the truck when we find a house! :-D

Mixed Feelings

There have been lots of changes in the last several weeks and with those changes come mixed emotions. We've announced that we are moving to Minneapolis to lead a church planting team sent out from one of our sister churches. There's sadness and then anticipation as I think about leaving here (sadness) and I think about moving to Minneapolis (anticipation). In the weeks since the announcement we've looked at houses and have found really good deals only to find out they had been sold and the system wasn't updated right away. So there's anticipation and then sadness.
Here's another one for you, this week we dropped off my favorite dog in the world (Mocha) with some friends of ours. They're checking her out for a week and if they like her they will get to keep her. They're a great family and I know they will take care of her and she'll even have a buddy named Moses to play with, but the mixed emotions come into play when I am sad that she won't be a part of our lives, yet I'm happy that she will have a good family to be a part of.
Wouldn't it be easier if things were just good or just bad? :-) I know that all of that is part of the the experience that we call life, but I thought I would share what's going on in my head at 12:50 in the morning: I have sadness as I begin the process of saying goodbye to what has been our life for the last 6 years, but I also look forward with anticipation to what God "has prepared for those who love Him!"

Life

This Resurrection Sunday Dean shared about the facts that support the resurrection and the difference that the Resurrected Jesus can make in our lives. One phrase that jumped out at me as Dean was talking about the crucifixion, he said that "Death makes us think about life." It really stuck with me because it has been the loss of our three children that have really changed my perspective on life. Death became very real to me after that and it has transformed how I approach life now. Viewing their deaths, and my own mortality, in light of the the resurrection of Jesus brings me hope and joy for this life and for eternity!

The Road Goes Ever On And On...

“The Road goes ever on and on - Down from the door where it began - Now far ahead the Road has gone - And I must follow, if I can - Pursuing it with eager feet - Until it joins some larger way - Where many paths and errands meet - And whither then? I cannot say.”
– Bilbo Baggins –

Over the past several months God has been showing Sarah and I that our time at Valley Christian Church was coming to an end. It has been an awesome several years here since I came as an Intern in the Winter of 2003. This year's graduation will be the 7^th one that I attend here...that's a lot of cake and mints! We have been blessed to see kids in our church and community become teenagers and teenagers become adults. We have poured all we've had into this community and have been blessed to see lives touched during our time here. We have been blessed to serve alongside awesome ministry teams and leaders. Hopefully we never forget the many lessons that we've learned while serving here!

Sarah and I weren't looking to leave when the call came to join a church planting team in Minneapolis. Our first reaction was that we were honored, but weren't really looking to leave, we liked it here...it was comfortable. At that point God began to make it clear that he actually thought we were a little too comfortable and we needed to take a step towards trusting Him more deeply. He was, in effect, asking us to "Step Out of the Boat." As Sarah and I prayed about it we realized that, even if we didn't understand how everything would fit together, it was the right time for us to take a step towards church planting that we had always wanted to do "some day."

This Sunday we took the final push off the edge of the boat and announced that we would be moving to Minneapolis this Summer to join a church planting team out of our sister church Bethel Christian Fellowship in St. Paul. We were sad to be saying goodbye, but we had a peace in our hearts and a still small voice that reassured us "this is the way, keep walking in it."

In the coming years we look forward to being a part of the lives of the students we have worked with...thanks in a great part to Facebook! We also look forward to working with the ONE24 team of leaders to see the doors open this Summer!

I believe that God is doing great things in Breck-Wahp and that He is also doing great things in Minneapolis! I am blessed to be able to participate with God in advancing His Kingdom here and now and there in the future!

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will direct your paths."

Proverbs 3:5-6

Tasty Fundraiser!

I'm very excited to team up with Schwan's to help raise the money need to open ONE24. It doesn't matter where you live...YOU can help with this fundraiser AND enjoy delicious food!
Click on the image to read the details of how you can order to benefit ONE24!

I Hate Bacon

I love breakfast. It's my favorite meal. It's also the only meal of the day I know how to cook different types of food for, I think I could make pretty much any typical breakfast meal, except for bacon...I despise it! Don't get me wrong, I love eating it. It's just that I can never cook it right! It's either dried out or burnt! This morning I was making eggs and bacon for myself and managed to fill the house with smoke with the first batch of bacon...so cleaned up the mess and started over...then I dropped an egg on the floor, so Mocha was volunteering to clean it up, but I got to it before her. By the time I cleaned up my mess and made my breakfast it had taken me like 40 minutes! Cereal is soo much easier :-)