Convictions...

My bible reading plan has me reading through Daniel now. I read Daniel chapter one and two. A few months ago we taught through the first 6 chapter of Daniel in a series we entitled "Stand". As a staff we felt as though it was a good series for our church and for us personally. That being said it was good to start reading through this book again. What jumped out at me in chapter one is the very familiar verse that many of us know; verse 8 "But Daniel resolved not to defile himself..."
I love that. Daniel decided to take a stand. Daniel decided that it would be better to trust God with his life and follow the Lord with all his heart. That is essentially what this verse is saying. Daniel in the most challenging of circumstances decides to stand on what he believed. He had conviction and commitment.

A lot of times in the Christian faith we say we have some convictions, but what it turns out is that we have some legalistic stance or jargon that if the truth be told we would compromise at the drop of a hat. I know at times I can be guilty of that. Conviction in the Christian faith I believe should be so much more than just my stance in opposition to something, but moreso my belief and trust in someone, that someone being Jesus Christ. I think that is what maybe missing in our society. Our "conviction" speak louder to what we are against rather than point to who we serve and worship. I want my convictions of course to line up with biblical principles but I also want them to lead to life change and point people to Christ. I want my convictions to be so rooted in who I am that I won't compromise them for anything. I want my convictions to be fueled and sustained by the ongoing presence and power of the Holy Spirit and not a week to week sermon or gathering. Daniel stood on God and he was willing to face the consequences. You could take the man from his homeland but you could not strip him of his commitment to an almighty God. That is awesome! So today I pray that God would help me and cause my heart to "resolve not to defile myself..." If you've stumbled across this rambling, I hope you will pray the same for yourself. Don't settle for religion, that will never lead to a life of commitment, but to a life full of compromises. My friend, Todd, always says there is no power in a compromised life! God Bless You.

Weekend in Review

This weekend we had Nate Larkin the author of the book "Samson and The Pirate Monks" as our guest speaker in all of our services at both of our campuses. Nate did a great job sharing his personal story of addiction and the power of God's redemption. He talked about the danger of living in isolation and he challenged our people to understand that Christianity is a team sport. It was a powerful weekend. We had a special gathering for men on Sunday night that we encouraged our men to come back for. In that setting Nate had the freedom to speak more openly and frank about his personal battle with addiction and the dangers of addictions in general. I was so encouraged to see so many of our MEN come back. We had roughly 250 guys show up. That wasn't the most encouraging part, the best part was that we had over 70 men sign up to be a part of a Samson group.

Over the last two days we have had several men call, email and come by and say they no longer want to live in the dark. It has been amazing. God is moving and people are responding. We have challenged our people and have told them that Summit is and will be a safe place and I have been encouraged by how people are putting us to the test. I know this is only the first step, but nonetheless it is a step and I pray that this would be something that leads to life change, freedom and God's ultimate glory. I am so tired of the enemy sniping out and nudering our men. If we our going to see a move of God in our community and in this generation then we need some men to get the stones to deal honestly with their junk, pick up their cross, die to their crap and follow Jesus with tireless vigor. Please join me in prayer to that end. Just a rambling, but one full of conviction and expectation. God Bless!

Snap Shots

This week I have been blogging about some of the awesome God stories of the past year. So here is another one of my personal favorites from the last year.

Walk Now for Autism...Last October one of small groups got together and decided that they wanted to do something to live missionally. One of the ladies
in the group heard that the annual Southwest Florida Walk Now for Autism event was coming up and she thought it would be great if they all participate. They also wanted to walk in honor of our three year old son, Max, who is living and fighting with autism himself. When my wife and I were informed of this we of course were overwhelmed and felt extremely blessed, but we thought it would be more appropriate if the group would walk in honor of the other eight families in our church that have a child with autism.

From there a lady in the group thought it should be a church wide effort. Well in a few weeks we had over 400 of our members volunteer and participate in the walk. They also raised over $25,000 for Autism Speaks. It was awessome to see our people serve our community and be an expression of God's hope and love. My wife and I were certainly blessed and so proud to be a part of such amazing people who strive to live missionally for sake of the Gospel and for the glory of God!

A Look Back Continued...

Yesterday I made reference to the fact that Septemeber is the start of a new calendar year for our ministry and that this weekend we will actually celebrate our five year anniversary. What I wanted to do this week is just post about some of the amazing God stories and snap shots of God's faithfulness over this last year. It has been a joy to serve God at Summit and be a part of this incredible journey.

At Summit Church we have four core values: God, Truth, Love and Mission. Our hope is that our people would truly embrace and center their lives around these values. We believe that as we do that their will be five outcomes that will be evident in our lives and will flow out of our lives. Those outcomes are; Intimacy with God, Qualitative Distinctiveness, Grace Story, Spiritual Giftedness and Stewardship of Life. Back in October we did a series entitled "Hi Def" where we spent time explaining and unpacking each of these outcomes. It was a great series and we had a great response.

During the week we were teaching on Stewardship of Life, we received a phone call from one of our local ministry partners, Interfaith Caregivers, that there food pantry was extremely low and they were in desperate need of help. What we decided to do at both campuses was end our services early and tell our people that today was an opportunity to be the church and to live out the outcome of Stewardship of Life. They had no prep, no warning. Every person received a list of items needed. Well the people of Summit responded. We cleared Publix out! It was awesome. We not only filled the food pantry for Interfaith Caregivers but three other local partners as well. Our people invested over $30,000. The managers at Publix were absolutely blown away. That one act has opened up a great door with Publix for future community outreaches and it also served as a statement to our community that we truly do desire to be a blessing to our community and an extension of God's hope and grace.

"Command those who are rich in this present world not to be arrogant nor to put their hope in wealth, which is so uncertain, but to put their hope in God...Command them to do good, to be rich in good deeds and to be generous and willing to share." 1 Timothy 6:17-18

A Look Back...

Today is September 1st and today marks the first day of a new calendar year for Summit Church. Yesterday Jamin wrapped up our eight week series entitled "The Invitation." Throughout this series we have been walking through God's mission and vision for Summit Church. Jamin did a great job of closing down the series and challenging people to consider what their response to God's invitation would be. He challenged people to send us an email if they were in and ready to go. It has been encouraging to read some of the emails that have come in thus far. It is always awesome to see and hear about what God is doing in the lives of His people. This weekend will mark the 5th year anniversary of Summit Church. It has been an incredible journey. My wife and I feel so blessed to be a part of this ministry. God has taught us so much through this journey. As I look forward to another year and as we believe God for some big things in this new year I can not help but to reflect back on this past year. I thought I would share some of my favorite snap shot moments of the past year of our ministry...

* The first Sunday in our new facility! Back in September of 2008 we moved into our own facility. Before we ever had one official service,
Summit was given ten acres of prime realestate to build a facility on. We thought it would be years before something like that could ever happen, but God had other plans. In just four short years God made a way for us to build our own facility. We have always down played the building in hopes that our people would never see the facility as a destination or they forget the fact that the church is NOT a building. It has been great to see our people not lose their missional mindset and heart as we have made the move into our own facility. The building has been a true blessing and the reason why it will always be a powerful and memorable snapshot for me, because it will always serve as a reminder of God's faithfulness and amazing provision. Many thought we were crazy to begin a stewarship campaign only a year and a half into our ministry and many thought we were just plain stupid to think we could raise essentially 3 million dollars with just over two hundred people to get the project started; we thought we were just being obedient. It was amazing to see God's people respond and to see so many give sacrificially for the sake of the mission and for the glory of God.

Guatemala Visit

I have been in Guatemala this week and I am looking forward to flying home later today. It is always tough to be away from my wife and kids and I am so grateful for a supportive wife who has always encouraged me in my pursuit of fulfilling God's call on my life. This aim of this trip was to see the ministry Living Water up close and to see some of the things that they are doing in the different regions of Guatemala. I hope to bring a group back in December and hopefully our college students during their Spring Break. I have really enjoyed my time here. I have been pretty impressed with what the ministry has accomplished here in this region and I have loved getting to know some of the missionaries on the ground here.

We have had the privilege to meet the vice mayor and the governor who are both strong believers. I was so impressed with their humility, fear of the Lord and their deep concern for the people of their country. Yesterday the vice-mayor took us to one of the poorest areas in which they are working hard to bring hope and relief to. I have been to several different places around the world and I have seen poverty up close, but it doesn't matter how many times you see it, it will still break your heart. It is always such a convicting thing. You are quickly brought face to face with how blessed we truly are and how clueless we are to the reality of how most of the world lives. In spite of the deep poverty we saw we found the people to be quite resilient and extremely friendly.

Observations on Servant Leadership

Observations of Servant Leadership from the Life of Jesus
John 13:1-17

In these verses, Jesus reveals His heart and His mission. He proves to these men that He did not come to be served, but to serve, Mark 10:45. In showing Himself to be a servant of men, Jesus left us a vivid portrait of the kind of heart we are to have for others. In these verses, among other things, we will find out that God's will for our lives is that we learn to give ourselves in service to others.

#1. Servant Leaders are fully devoted to God & His mission. (v. 1)

Having given to them decisive and constant proofs of his love. This was done by his calling them to follow him; by patiently teaching them; by bearing with their errors and weaknesses; and by making them the heralds of his truth and the heirs of eternal life. He loved them unto the end. That is, he continued the proofs of his love until he was taken away from them by death.

#2. Servant leaders are confident in their God-given call & identity. (vv. 2-3)

We should note that the source of Jesus’ actions lay in His knowledge and security of who He was and where He was going (vs. 1-3). Jesus was completely aware of His sovereign authority, His origin, and coming destiny as He submitted and depended by faith in what the Father was doing (vv.1, 18).

Thus, in that confidence, He voluntarily took the place of a slave and washed the feet of His disciples. Jesus knew who he was—because he was SECURE in own IDENITY that he could bow to the lowest point of service.

#3. Servant Leaders are willing to be vulnerable. (v.4)

Why would vulnerability be important?

Where else in the Scriptures did Jesus show His vulnerability?


#4. Servant Leaders are engagers. (v.4-5)

Servant Leaders do not fall into the trap of “it’s not my job” deal…

In that culture the most demeaning task around was to wash the guest’s feet. This was job done by lowest slaves. It was necessary because people wore sandals did most of their travel by foot. They walked along trails that we not only dusty but also cluttered with camel and donkey dung.

#5. Servant Leaders seek to serve everyone God has placed in their path.

Jesus does not distance himself from Judas. Jesus does not point his finger at Judas and say to him, “How dare you—after all I’ve done for you?” Instead he loves him to the end. He does everything possible to bring Judas to repentance. He washes his feet with the same tenderness and affection that he gives the other disciples. Maybe that will soften Judas’ heart.

#6. Servant Leaders understand the power of leading by example.

If everyone in your organization or under your leadership acted like you and did what you did, what would your organization look like?

Paul said “follow me as I follow Christ”---does your example not your words proclaim that…

#7. Servant Leader inspire others to live on mission.