Thanksgiving this week!! Tis the season to be thankful, yet shouldn't we always...but this is a time that everyone comes together to give "thanks". So my question to you out there is what are you thankful for.

This week and year I am thankful for:___________( you fill it in)

• my new life in Christ and His unfailing love for me (some don't know his love for them)
• my girls, Casey, Olivia and Madeline (some don't have any family)
• my job (blessed to have these day)
• all my peeps with Overflow, you all Rock! (some don't know the value of this)
• Starbucks (being able to afford once in a while)
• Macs (not PC's)
• Pittsburgh Steelers (some people, have no clue on who to root for!)

What are you thankful for ???

Pics and Video

Here is a new blog to check out with Overflow, pics and video of baptisms! God is on the move in big ways... Click Here

Curriculum Vitae

I am currently reading For All God's Worth by N.T. Wright. In this fabulous work, Wight tells a story about a gentelman who once approached him and asked if he would consider working as a professor at a seminary this gentelman just became president of and asked Wright if he had a copy of his Curriculum Vitae (don't worry, I didn't know what this was either,before reading this). Wright follows with some sarcasim of his own with response to the question and then leads into the telling of another persons Curriculum Vitae, if you will. Now before I go any further in the post, I guess it would be good to explain what Curriculum Vitae or CV actually means. Basically this is a detailed synopsis of a resume, usually two or more pages.
So from this point forward Wight takes the reader through 2 Cor. 11 and 12 and the account of Paul's CV, or atleast what the Corinth church wasn't looking for. You see, the church at Corinth was looking for something more and some new teachers were advocating and teaching that they could experience more levels of "spiritual attainment" and "spiritual experiences" than what Paul had first brought to them (Christ Crucified). So what does Paul do? He gives them the complete opposite of what they were looking for, you see, they were looking for Paul to give them his CV, the best of his best credentials if you will and instead Paul tells them the following...
What anyone else dares to boast about—I am speaking as a fool—I also dare to boast about. 22Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they Abraham's descendants? So am I. 23Are they servants of Christ? (I am out of my mind to talk like this.) I am more. I have worked much harder, been in prison more frequently, been flogged more severely, and been exposed to death again and again. 24Five times I received from the Jews the forty lashes minus one. 25Three times I was beaten with rods, once I was stoned, three times I was shipwrecked, I spent a night and a day in the open sea, 26I have been constantly on the move. I have been in danger from rivers, in danger from bandits, in danger from my own countrymen, in danger from Gentiles; in danger in the city, in danger in the country, in danger at sea; and in danger from false brothers. 27I have labored and toiled and have often gone without sleep; I have known hunger and thirst and have often gone without food; I have been cold and naked. 28Besides everything else, I face daily the pressure of my concern for all the churches. 29Who is weak, and I do not feel weak? Who is led into sin, and I do not inwardly burn?
Now, listen to what Wright says about this..."But they are the real fools. They have exchanged the gospel of the crucified Messiah for the gospel of success (ouch..); and the only way that Paul can get through to them is through his shameless tease, exposing their pride for what it is." (My emphasis added).
OK. So how does this speak to the church in America today? Where is our boasting in our sufferings for Christ, how have we and how are we living out the gospel for Jesus' name sake? Just some thoughts to ponder.

Baptism Celebration!!

God has truly blessed us to be part of what He is doing here in this region. I come to find that this is not just an "Overflow thing", but it's so much more than that, its about God's kingdom and I believe that God is awakening this region for His kingdom and His glory.  Check out this video and all that God is doing in the lives of these individuals.  We are truly blessed!  Baptism Celebration.

God's Presence

Last night my family attended a service at my father-in-laws church that a Hispanic Church was having with the youth in place of Halloween. Let me start off by saying how moved I was by these teens and young adults, it was amazing to see them pouring their hearts out to the Lord and the music was awesome!! They also put on some drama's and skits to music which was very powerful and moving, plus almost the entire service was in Spanish, which I love to worship and sing in that language!
God's presence was so real with us last night and it was very refreshing for me, this was something that I needed for some time now, just to bask in his presence was so filling! Now if you know anything about Hispanic culture, you know that they are very passionate people and love their music very loud and very long times of worship...we praised God for hours and the time went by like minutes. There were kids dancing, and waving flags, just OVERFLOWING with joy and happiness, praising God with reckless abandonment, loving on the God who created all things and who loves them.
Take time today to practice God's presence, do whatever you need to do, read, listen, sing, solitude, journal, take a walk, WHATEVER it takes, but take time today to enjoy His sweet presence!

Overflow Veggie Tales Night!

This was a huge success in our eyes.  check it out Veggie Tales

Overflow Veggie Tales Night!

Overflow update

I thought I would take the opportunity to share with everyone on the blogsphere what's been happening with Overflow.

Click HERE

What Are Spiritual Gifts? Rethinking The Conventional View

This book written by Berding is a must read for anyone who is looking to broaden their education on Paul's theology and teaching on the "so called" spiritual gifts.  This is a book that expressed in a lot of ways my own personal thoughts, questions and concerns about spiritual "gifts" that I have had for sometime now.  I can remember the first time taking one of these tests that was to help me "discover" my gifts/abilities and to be quite honest I was really excited about it. And rightly so, who wouldn't be.  Anyone who has been around church or church people of any length of time has heard the phrase "discovering one's spiritual gifts" and the importance of "discovering" to help edify the body of Christ.  That everyone has a gift or gifts and some have yet to be discovered or manifested but that they are in you given to you by God.

Basically the essence of Berding's book is that these lists found in Paul's writings in Romans 12, Ephesians 4 and I Cor 12 should be view in light of Pauline theology as a whole as Spiritual Ministries verses Spiritual Gifts partly because of our monolinguistic  understanding of the word "gift or gifts".  Berding does a great work here with the original languages showing a wide range of use of the word Charismata outside of I Cor. 12. in other scriptures, and the contrast between Charismata and Pneumatika with I Corinthians. Overall this book is well worth the reading, he did a great job at presenting both views (spiritual gifts vs spiritual ministries) in both the technical sense as well as the most practical one also addressing the many questions I had trying to embrace the conventional view of the "gifts", such as, natural abilities vs. special abilities? Comprehensive vs. Representative? One Ministry or Many? Discovering your spiritual gits?  These were just some of my questions that the author address throughly in this book.

Great Weekend

We brought Maddie home Thursday and my mom came in that same night from PA. We had a blast this weekend, plus the fact that Grammy got up with the baby and let us get some sleep, however we still wanted to get up with her and take care of her since we didn' have much time at home with her, but overall it was really great to have an extra helping hand! Thanks mom!

Both the girls just had there check ups today and all looked well with both of them. We are truly blessed to have them in our lives! I really look forward to all the joys and memories we will have as they grow up and watching them become close friends. Here are some pics from this weekend.

Stressed, Frustrated, Tired...

These are pretty much the words that would describe my last 48 hrs or so, however on the bright side of that I got some quite time in to pray and read the word, God really encouraged my heart and lifted me!  Often at Overflow you will hear us talk about "As God pours in, we pour out" and so how true is that statement for me lately, I have been running on "E" for the past couple of days and it was really starting to catch up with me.  I'm not one to hide my thoughts and feelings very well at all, I guess you could say that I am pretty expressive with my emotions, needless to say you can tell when I am having an off day :)

It's just been a combination of things with not being able to have Madeline home like we expected (though she should be coming home today!!), to not being able to see Olivia very much these past 5 days, to having car trouble (that my wonderful father-in-law is fixing for us today), to lack of sleep and staying at the hospital every night, kinda gets old.  So that has been our world for the past week and we are all ready to just go home and relax! 

Equal Time

Now we begin the quest of a delicate balance with our time with Livy and Maddy, just over the past 4 days we have been in and out of the house and have had limited time with Livy. Just this morning she was upset with me cause I have been around for a couple of days, that made it really hard to come back to work this morning. Well I guess they are releasing Maddy tomorrow from the hospital and so starts our quest for equal time :0 should be fun!

The Spoken Word

Today I had the honor and God-given privilege as Madeline's father to speak the word of God over her life today. This was something that just happened, as I was about the do some reading of my own, Madeline decided that it was time for someone to pick her up, so of course I jumped up right away and snatched her up from her little bed as Casey finished her lunch.  As I sat there on the bed with the word of God open beside me, the Holy Spirit spoke to me, "read my word to her" so I thought of one of my favorite scriptures to read and how fitting it would be to read over her... Psalm 139

"Oh, Lord you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O Lord. You hem me in behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me. Such knowledge is to wonderful for me, too lofty for me to attain.  Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?  If I go up to the heavens you are there; if I make my bed in the depths you are there. If I rise on the wings of the dawn, if I settle on the far side of the sea, even there your hand will guide me, your right hand will hold me fast. If I say "surely the darkness will hide me and the light become night around me," even the darkness is as light to you; the night will shine like the day, for darkness is as light to you. For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb. I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful I know that full well.  My frame was not hidden from you in the secret place. When I was woven together in the depths of the earth, your eyes saw my unformed body. All the days ordained for me were written in your book before one of them came to be. How precious to me are your thoughts, O God! How vast are the sum of them. Were I to count to them, they would out number the grains of sand. When I awake I am still with you. If only you would slay the wicked, O Lord, and abhor those who rise up against you? I have nothing but hatred for them; I count them as my enemies. Search me O God and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts.  See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.

God is the giver and sustainer of our life, He created us and know us completely. It's my prayer for each of my girls that they would grow up knowing the Lord our God who created them and that they would continue to give Him all the glory, praise and worship that He so deserves. So just as Paul tells us in Acts "Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved"  Thank you Jesus!

Madeline Rae Johns Arrives!

10/5/08 9:25am

Both mom and baby are doing great! Praise God for miracles!

Scripture of the Day

"Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, in everything give thanks, for this is the will of God is Christ Jesus. Do not quench the Spirit. Do not despise prophecies. Test all things; hold fast what is good. Abstain from every form of evil." - I THESS. 5:16-20

Anxiously waiting...

We'll Casey's due date has come and gone now and we are anxiously awaiting the arrival of Madeline now... of course this is nothing new, with Olivia, we wanted 12 days past due date! The doctor has here scheduled for 10/7 to come in to start the inducing process, as long as the labor room is not to busy... we'll see. We are all just praying and waiting on the time she comes, can't wait to see her! We'll keep you posted!

JOY

"You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; therefore God, your God, has set you above your companions by anointing you with the oil of joy."

Psalm 45:6-7



I can remember when my great grandmother would stand at the door at the crack of down and say these words "this is the day that the Lord has made, let us REJOICE and be glad in it". To this very day those words are at the very core of my being and I remember them often (almost every morning), that my day and life for that matter is made complete in Christ Jesus and that His joy is my strength.

As I think on things above as the word directs me to, I come to realize that life is to be joyous and that the Holy Spirit does lift me as I call on him to be the "oil of joy" in my life. Recently, I have been rethinking what the calling is in my life and how I am first and foremost "called" to be a disciple of Jesus and to live on "mission" as he did. So, I am living this life in Christ continually dying to self in whatever context I find myself, home, family, friends, job (whirlpool headquarters), church life/ministies, etc...

So, as I was driving to work this morning, giving thanks to God for everything in my life when I had this overwhelming sense of joy that I was on my way to work...now I know that may sound funny to some of you, but really, I was overwhelmed with a sense of joy that I was actually living on mission and that God has placed me in a vocation that allows me to earn a living for my family, and also at the same time hopefully help to expand the Kingdom of God amongst the people I rub shoulders with daily and to me that is not drudgery one bit. At one point in time I looked at my "calling" as the institution of the church and that my ministry was within the 4 walls of it, I boxed it and wrapped it neatly with all the bells and whistles and said this is what it should look like. But as God so graciously does, He has been showing me my narrow mindedness and allowing me to see a bit from His eyes, where there's a world out there that may never make it within the 4 walls of the church, so to speak, and may never have the opportunity to come face to face with someone trying to live out Christ, Christ cruicified through the ever increasing power of the Holy Spirit to the point that people actually notice that there is something strangely different about you and that the love and joy we carry with us in "whatever context" (whirlpool) we find are selves, we are and will LIVE ON MISSION as Jesus did.
We must continue to Love God and Love People and allow the JOY of the Lord to be our strength always!

Decisions...

So last night after we got home from another long day, after we put Olivia down for bed, I started to look through some of the books that I have looking for some resouces for an upcoming class I'll be teaching on spiritual gifts and on my search I found a book called Day by Day: Compilations by Tozer, so I thought I would go through this book in the morning for some devo time.
This mornings words of Tozer struck me, so I thought I would share (nice of me, I know)...

II Cor. 6:1
1As God's fellow workers we urge you not to receive God's grace in vain

Here is the synopsis of Tozer's words. Basically that there are many people in our world in even in our churches that think that they are going to get to heaven by osmosis!! There are some people out there who think that God is just going to look past all there junk and all there sin, cause he is a good God (which He is) and let them slide on in to heaven. This kind of thinking is ludicrous.
We are given a choice and we must choose to walk with and accept redemption through Christ, a decision is to be made, and by the grace of God who calls us into relationship with Him through the Holy Spirit we choose life!! Life in Christ, and death to ourselves as our Lord has showed us with His time on this earth.

I will leave you with this...

ACTS 3:19-23
19Repent, then, and turn to God, so that your sins may be wiped out, that times of refreshing may come from the Lord, 20and that he may send the Christ, who has been appointed for you—even Jesus. 21He must remain in heaven until the time comes for God to restore everything, as he promised long ago through his holy prophets. 22For Moses said, 'The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your own people; you must listen to everything he tells you. 23Anyone who does not listen to him will be completely cut off from among his people.'[a]

People's Soul's Do Crave

So last night was the kick off night for the young adult life group held at the Overflow Warehouse (this is the back space behind our leased spot at the mall). We had some people in and out of the office that night, pretty typical, but then about 15 min. before we were to get started another person walked through the door with her bible in hand, a new face that I had not yet met.
She sat down at one of the high tops and began to tell her story about how God's has been drawing her for sometime and some of the events leading up to her coming to our Sunday morning celebration at the theatre. Basically that morning from the moment she walked into the theatre she "felt the presence" of God in her and she told us that she cried the entire service. It never ceases to amaze me how God works, that morning I was sharing on community life and how we are to be "Known by our love". God's timing is always perfect. She shared how that morning she didn't want to go but her mom insisted that she went with her, and she said that she was glad she did.
So last night was a great night overall, and it was amazing to see continually how God is working in the hearts and lives of people in St.Joe/Benton Harbor region and beyond, and how we conintue to "journey together, as we learn to passionately follow Jesus and joyfully serve others."

Soul Cravings

Tonight we kick off our young adult life group with a book study on Soul Cravings by Erwin McManus. This is a great book for those who maybe on the "fringe" of finding God in their lives. We will look at Intimacy, Destiny, Meaning and Mulitiplying (our words) and what those things look like in our lives as God created us. What are we destined for. At Overflow we believe that as God draws and calls people into relationship with him, they can begin to walk in the good works that were prepared beforehand (Eph 2:10).

Back from a LONG........ Vacation

OK.  So I am finally back from a long vacation from the blog world.  I feel good and well rested. Sometimes you just need a break from things, you know what I mean? There's been a good bit going on in my life and I guess that's the main reason I haven't blog anything in over 3 months! Time is hard to come by when you are working 40 + hrs a week and also doing about 15 hrs a week with the church and plus I do have a wife and a little one (with one on the way in about a week, very excited about that!!)  Don't worry pics will be coming as soon as she arrives. Well I have a lot to write about but not enough time (there is that word again) tonight to write it all, so I thought I would send this along for you all to check out.  CLICK HERE.

Long time No Blog :)

Well, plenty has been going on since my last blog, so here are the highlights.

• Found out we are having another GIRL !!!!
• Traveled to 4 states
• Visited Family in PA
• Transitioned to Community Life Pastor with Overflow
• Visited 4 ministries/churches in Chicago - Willow Creek, Lawndale comm. church, International teams, Urban min. Inc.

Very busy lately, but plan to update soon and post some new pics :)

Golfing in KY.

Ya I just wanted to do some golfing in Kentucky over the Holiday weekend, so the family jumped into the car and traveled 5 hrs to do some golfing over Memorial day... well, not really. Though I did golf in KY, we went to visit some of Casey's family and be with everyone even if it was for just one day! We got back in last night around midnight, but we had a great time with family and it was definitely worth the trip! Even for just a night and a day.

Chicago Trip

A group of leaders and staff from Overflow will be going next week to Chicago for a meeting with "Coach" Wayne Gordon, Pastor of Lawndale Community Church, author and co-founder of CCDA. Really looking forward to meeting Coach and hearing more about the urban ministry that has been taking place for the past 30 years there in Lawndale. Afterwards we will be meeting the Director of Extension Ministries at Willow Creek and taking of tour there as well, and then wrapping it up with meeting with another local Urban ministry in the area. It will definitely be a long couple of days, but we are truly blessed to have this opportunity to learn from others and to hear how God has worked in their ministry settings. Stay tuned...

ReCap on the week...

Well this week was extremely busy as usual, however, it was a great week at the same time. Had great connections this week with lots of people and really just felt blessed by God this week. All week long he was giving me new perceptions and helping me to see things the way he sees!
Simply amazing the way God works these things out. Been planning and preping this week for Sunday, which I'm totally pumped about. This will be my first morning preaching at Overflow, pray that God would use me to speak to people's needs and then most importantly that they walk away with a biblical belief/conviction for their lives.

BREAKING NEWS....

The Johns' Family is having another GIRL!!!!
Stay tuned....a name coming soon!

We are truly blessed and really excited about God's blessings in our lives with what the doctor said today, all looks well and the baby is looking good and healthy and yes it does look like its a girl!!!! I love it, I am completely thrilled that I get to have another daughter, I think cause, Livy is such a Daddy's girl already :)

Mother's Day/Child Dedications

Today was a day of "firsts" for Overflow. This was offically our first Mother's Day celebration as well as baby/child dedications. We had 3 families dedicate their children today at the start of the service and also this was our first service with all of the kids in the worship time with their families.
Needless to say, it was a big day for us at Overflow and we were truly overflowing with families and God's love this morning. What a joy it is to see all the kids and families coming in, some for their very first time in church, others their first time back in a long time. Regardless, we are there week in and week out at Celebration Cinema Theatres sharing the love of God with the people of this city.

6 objections of Christianity

OK. Here is the broad themes of the research done by Barna on the book I am currentely reading UnChristian.

1. Hypocritical. Saying one thing and doing another. The act of being a pretender and acting like they are morally superior.

2. To Focused on getting Converts. This are raises the question of concern..."do they really care" ... "targets rather than people" all in the name of trying to "save us".

3. Sheltered. Old fashioned, out of touch with reality, boring, ect...not willing to deal with the dirt in peoples lives. Seeking simplistic answers to question.

4. Too Political. "overly motivated by political agenda" Right or Left wing?

5. Judgmental. Quick to judge and we are not honest with ourselves with our attitudes and perspectives of others, this brings doubt of our love.

The author states time and time again that we may not agree with these statements/findings of the research, HOWEVER, we cannot ignore them either! Any thoughts?

UnChristian

Started to read this book today, which looks like its going to be a great read! Here's a brief quote "To engage nonChristians and point them to Jesus, we have to understand and apporach them based on what they really think, not what we assume about them."
This book is base on research done over the course of three years through the Barna research institute. Looks like there are going to be some hard core realities to face in the pages ahead, but also a good sobering look at how the unchurched/dechurched view the body of Christ today, which even looks way different then it did just a decade ago. Keep you posted.

Parenting OFFLINE a Generations Growing-Up ONLINE.

A good friend of mine, Jess Bousa, is currently a grad student at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary studying for his M.A. in Biblical Languages and NT. While there he linked up with Rich Cortese to help plant Garden City Church in Beverly, MA. Though the church has yet to officially launch, Rich, Jess and a ton of other people are committed to the people of Beverly and seeing them become fully devoted followers of Christ.
I'm excited to see what is taking shape over there through emails and their website (check it out, HERE). I also thought it would be cool to give them a plug here on my blog with all that is going on with them. Along with that I was talking with Jess today and he was telling me about a presentation he will be giving in the community for all the parents who have questions and concerns about what this "myspace" and "facebook" is all about, and what this generation looks like growing up on the web. Sounds really interesting, can't wait to get the lecture/Q&A's on this one. Feel free to visit them if you are in the area...keep an eye on this, I have a feeling this is going to be some good stuff.

Holy Spirit Connections

I was just having one of those mornings were the Holy Spirit was so real and evident around me and in me, of course this is a constant thing, maybe I was just listening more for whatever reason. But Brian and I were talking in the office about the upcoming Sunday and some other stuff, when he pops up with a question that only the Holy Spirit could have laid on his heart about something that God had been dealing with me about for days, it totally through me for a loop. But he was dead on. This was really cool to see and from that time on for the next hour or so we just connected on things with planning and looking ahead on our calendars and how God was working things out...it was simply amazing to see. I don't know how many times we looked at each other with that look, like someone was reading our minds! God was connecting Brian and I in ways that only he can do and so I walked out of the office this morning totally encouraged by how God is doing great and mighty things here and we are being used to bring glory to his name here in South West Michigan. As God Pours in, We Pour out - Overflow Motto!

Word of the Day

12Be joyful in hope, patient in affliction, faithful in prayer. 13Share with God's people who are in need. Practice hospitality. (Romans 12:12-13 NIV).

Being faithful in prayer is what the Lord was speaking into my spirit today. Be faithful and know that I am with you always, every second of the day. Talk to me as you would talk to your best friend for I am here with you, wanting to hear from you and for you to speak to me brings me so much joy, my child. Know that you are loved and I bless you this day!

$5 Blessing Continued....

So, here is a story I thought was worth sharing. If you don't already know our church offices are located in the heart of the marketplace (a mall), and so as you can imagine we have tons of people that stop in for numerous reasons. Over the past year we have made relationships with some of the other store managers and workers. Well, Brian the Lead Pastor, of Overflow was in the office the other day and was thinking of how to bless some people with the remaining money that was left from the Sunday service. The money came from a donation made in which Brain felt that 10% of that donation should be used as a blessing to the community.
So as he sat and pondered he thought it would be nice to bless the workers in one particular store in the mall, and just as he was having the thought, the manager of that store was passing by, so he called them into the office and asked if they would like a free lunch today on Overflow. The manager gladly excepted and then left to start her shift in time. A few minutes went by when a girl came rushing into the office and asked Brian "Do you hear from God?" He was a little hesitant to answer, she said "like in your thoughts and stuff" "ya" Brian replied. She proceeded to tell him how her and her friend that works with her were just talking about how hungry they were but had no money for lunch. They both were totally blown away by this.
A few minutes later the other girl came into the office almost in tears. She told Brian that the night before she got our her Bible for the first time in years and that, that very morning on her way into work, she was praying and telling God how she wanted to start fresh with Him again!!
How amazing is God! What an opportunity to share how God cares and how He loves them beyond their realization. Not sure what is going to come of this, but one thing I know for sure and that is, GOD is on the move big time here with Overflow and I am truly blessed to be a part of this and to be a servant of God in this area of Michigan.

Still planning on blessing all my co-workers tomorrow with some early morning pastries and also taking one person out to lunch next week, just to be a blessing to others. Keep you posted.

Learning, Growing, Maturing....

11"It was he who gave some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to be evangelists, and some to be pastors and teachers, 12to prepare God's people for works of service, so that the body of Christ may be built up 13until we all reach unity in the faith and in the knowledge of the Son of God and become mature, attaining to the whole measure of the fullness of Christ." Ephesians 4:11-13 (NIV)

As I read over this passage of scripture today I could not get the Unity, Knowledge of the Son and Maturity out of my head. It just kept coming back to me. Wheather you hold to a 4 fold or 5 fold ministry, is besides the point. God has given these to help edify the body and for all to come to have unity with one another, knowledge of Jesus and being fully mature in our faith. Just thought I would share this passage with you today...more thoughts later.

Momentum

Momentum is a great thing to have on your side, especially in the early life of the church. I realize that there is an ebb-n-flow with how things will go down the road, but for now the momentum is going strong and I feel like there is another swell of it about to burst, coming just around the corner. Well I should say I know there is.
You see we are about to add a new dynamic to the adult service with Overflow. When we first launched back on 3/16/08, we felt that we were unable to make this happen, mainly cause of the lack of volunteers starting out. We probably could have made it happen, but we are committed to excellence and didn't feel like it would be the right time or manner in which to do what we are about to do starting Mother's Day.
Starting 5/11/08 "Mother's Day" all the "mothers" for the first time will be able to enjoy there kids with them during our worship part of the service. We have always envisioned the families praising and worshipping God together, sharing with one another that time of intimate worship with our Almighty Creator, we just didn't have the volunteers and/or maybe the plan in place once we launched. Plus the KidMo and Lil'K cirriculum that we are using provides a worship time geared towards the kids. However with that being said we decided as a team last week that this would do a couple of different things for us. One being the obvious and already stated, family worship time, second being that this would add even more momentum in the adult service and the people with out children will see that there actually are kids attending SPLASH (our children's min)...
I'm really excited personally to be in the adult worship time, plus it will be good for all the volunteers as well. This is just for the preschool and 1st-5th rooms, the nursery will be open the entire service. I'm also thinking about the families all being together, learning, growing and understanding more about what it means to priase God who is worthy of all our praise!

5 Dollar Blessing

Sunday we were givin $5 to bless some one with as part of a sermon about leaving a legacy. Now I know that this shouldn't be hard but I'm having a bit of a problem finding someone to bless...any suggestions. Well I'm just praying that somone comes my way or I run into someone or something I can give to that will be a blessing to them.

Quote of the Day

Came across this quote in Leadership Mag.
"I can no longer condemn or hate a brother for whom I pray, no matter how much trouble he causes me. His face...is transformed in intercession into the countenance of a brother for whom Christ died, the face of a forgiven sinner." - Dietrich Bonhoeffer

Hanning out with Hanna

Today Casey and I took our friend's little girl, Hanna, with us today to help give them a break as they move into their new home. I probably had more fun than our little one, Olivia and Hanna did. I was such a joy to have Hanna around, even if it was for only a few hours. First we went to MacDonalds grabbed some lunch and played around for awhile. From there we went to the local craft store and grab some things we needed for the church office and got a craft for Hanna.
While I was in one of the stores Hanna told Casey that she KNEW that we were having a boy! We laughed and said well that would be nice, but we'll have to wait and see. It just reminded me how kids are so honest and sincere when they say things like that. Anyway, having a blast with all the girls today, couldn't have thought of a better way to send my Saturday.

Building Relationships

My wife and I had our first house guest over for coffee this morning, well I should say Apartment guest, since we moved in 3 wks ago. She's a single mom who started coming to our church a few weeks back. Her son is in SPLASH and he's loving it. Its' really nice to connect with people and hear their stories. God is building His Kingdom and making His glory known here in SW Michigan! And I'm lovin it!

Vision Or The Lack There of...

To be honest with you this is an area that I struggle with as a leader. Not that I cannot envision where things are heading or atleast where things should be heading and it's not that I cannot catch the "God-Size Vision", but it's more along the lines of I'm not real sure that all that Vision is all that necessary all the time. Not that I don't believe that it's not important or anything, it's just that I struggle with the "where we're going" when most of the time the church doesn't even know where they are at, at this present moment to begin with.
Please hear me out on this...I do believe that vision is essential, I'm just not sure that the traditional way of getting and casting vision is really what it's all about. I mean for the most part "vision" as we call it, usually is the lead pastor's heart for their "Idealistic" way of doing church, and their heart for a people or an area. These things are not bad, they are actually very good, I just think that things get more complicated along the way. Andy Stanley talks about keeping your vision simple. How that vision comes out to play in the life of the church and as time goes by it becomes more fluid and organic, if you will. It looks differently as things come up and as people lead and take ownership of it.
That's what I love about one of Overflow's values: Discipleship Movement. Connecting, Growing, Serving, and Multiplying. It's this thing that as people get connected with the body things happen naturally at different speeds and levels, but that's why its a movement.
Just some thoughts that I was having on this and my own struggles with this. Still learning, growing and wanting to hear what you have to say on this.

"Developing vision is right-brained and organic - like composing an album" -NLC Next Level Church

Touch of Summer

For the last week, the weather has been amazing here in SW Michigan! It's actually been in the seventy's a few times. This has been a very very long winter here, probably the longest winter I have ever experienced and I grew up in PA, that should tell you something about the winters here.
Anyway, the season is turning and so is life. Our little girl just turned 1 year old on the 12th. It's really hard to believe how fast this year went by and now we are expecting another at the end of Sept! So as there is excitement in the air for the touch of summer, so it is life.

Benton Harbor High School

I had a great time this morning down at the local high school. There is a program they do here that encourages the community to be involved with encouraging the students on their progress reports. This is not their actual report cards but it's more like a mid-point check to see how they are doing. Back in the day, we had the parent/teacher conferences.
This was a great experience for me. I really enjoyed talking with the kids and encouraging them in the process. Plus it was my first time in an urban school setting, security/metal detectors and all. I was really intrigued by everything. I guess I didn't realize how rural I grew up until today :)

Out of Step

I am way out of step with this blogging thing...it's like I have no time to do it (except at work :0)
Well my parents are coming in from PA today for Livy's 1st birthday tomorrow...can hardly believe that she is a year old already! Anyway, things are going great with Overflow, Family, Work..etc..life is just extremely busy right now. But through it all its been amazing to see how God gives me breathing room every day and we know that He is our source of strength.

New Apartment Here We Come!

We are finally moving into our new apartment, after struggling for some time on what to do, whether to buy or rent...God has showed us the way! We'll kind of. For now we are just excited about getting our own place once again. We have been living with Casey's parents since June of last year, but it's time to move on now and we could be more excited. Love my in-laws but we all need our own space again. Casey is totally excited about decorating and making our place home again and so am I. I'm sure Livy will have some getting used to, I'm sure she'll be into everything. Anyway, good times. Can't wait!

LAUNCHED!

Instead of blogging this twice thought, I would just pass you all along to the church blog :)

LAUNCH SUNDAY...T minus 1.5 days

It's really hard to beleive that we are about to have our 1st ever service open to the public. It's almost surreal and I'm really not sure what to expect. I mean we have been holding preview services every other Sunday now since Jan. 27th, so I am definetly feeling good about things, I just know that tomorrow will be a totally different dynamic.

I have been thinking about what SPLASH (childrens min) will look like and how many kids we'll have to share God's love with and teach them about Jesus. Regardless how many show up we will love on those that do and love them are Jesus would love them.

Please keep us in your prayer this weekend. More updates to come.

Team Building

God continues to blow us away! I would like to welcome Gloria, our newest addition to our SPLASH team!!! Gloria is going to be an incredible help in the area of our children, whom she really loves. She's very crafty and very sharp on the admin stuff as well.
Right now we have a great team of volunteers who are dedicated in seeing the children of Overflow come to know the love of our Lord Jesus and to help them grow in walk of faith. We also had a great response from a handful of people from Central Weslyan who may want to come and volunteer one or two Sundays a month to help us through the summer :)
So, just wanted to give props to the SPLASH team of Overflow and to say, You ALL are awesome and you rock! Love you guys and know that you are making a difference for the kids!
"I will teach you. My words will be like rain on tender young plants..." - Deut. 32:2

Colossians 3:16

"Let the Word of Christ richly dwell within you..."

Unmistakable Voice of Steeler's Passes Away

Myron Cope passed away today at the age of 79. See here

The Wheels on the Bus Go Round and Round...

We just got word that someone wants to donate a nice dial-a-ride bus to Overflow!!! The cool thing is, is that God has already brought the driver to our church! It just blows my mind to see just how God's hand is all over this thing and how as we pray things happen! We plan on shuttle kids and hopefully their families in from one of the local projects in Benton Harbor, where we have been doing outreach to once a month. God has been doing amazing things there and the team has been so blessed to be able to share the love of God with people. The kids really look forward to the church coming out and there is always great testimonies that come out of it. God is really working not only in the unchurched/dechurched people of Benton Harbor, but on all of us as well. Our hearts are longing more and more for this city and its an exciting thing!

Scripture of the Week

"Your love for one another will prove to the world that you are my disciples"
-John 13:35

Leviticus 17:11

Well, I am reading through the book of Leviticus and I stumbled across this particular verse, which intrigued me. 17:11 "For the life of the flesh is in the blood and I have given it to you on the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is the blood by reason of the life that makes atonement."
As I read that first part of the verse it struck me as simple yet profound. Our bodies need the blood to live, this is where the life comes from, our blood. Just like our blood allows us to continue living, and as the writer of the book of Hebrews reminds us, How much more is the blood of Christ than that of the bulls, heifers, goats... You see it is the precious blood of Christ that was shed on the cross that gives us true life, eternal life. And so, as I read this passage, I though to myself, how true it is. LIFE IS TRULY IN THE BLOOD! The blood of Christ that covers all my sins. Praise be to God and to Him be the glory. For who am I to deserve such amazing grace!

Scripture of the Week

I thought it would be fun to memorize one scripture a week. So here it goes....
II Peter 1:5 "Make every effort to add to your faith virtue"

The Other Side of The River

Just finished reading this one and man was it eye opening!! This was a book based on a death of a teenage Afican American boy here where we are living and planting Overflow, Benton Harbor. The book descibes the history and tensions between the "twin cities" St.Joe/BH and some other murders that happened around the time of Eric's death. Though never was the death of Eric ruled a murder, there is much speculation here. This was a great read to give me some understanding of the history and the diverse socio/racial/economical diversity that surrounds us here in this area everyday.

Just a long week and not much time to blog, working crazy hours...trying to keep things in balance. Been processing Christianity and Culture a lot and talking with a friend of mine who got me going on it. Do we over emphasize evangelism to the point that we are not making disciples? And when is to much technology/cultural relevance not good? or is there never to much? How do you find the balance between reaching culture and intimacy and awe of the Holy Spirit within God's people?
Just some questions I'm pondering...any thoughts.
Also reading a great book right now, Theirs Is The Kingdom: Celebrating the Gospel in Urban America. Great read!

Headline News

The local paper here in Benton Harbor did an article on Overflow.  Following the link to the Herald Palladium online newspaper, search under E-Edition on the top column, choose 2/9/08 for the date and then on the right had side select Section D: Religion to get to the article.

Click HERE 

Sobering

I arrived yesterday afternoon at Pittsburgh International airport after a short flight from South Bend, IN. to Detroit, MI and then onto the Burgh, just a couple of 35 min. flights and there I am. The viewing was from 7-9pm and man was it sobering! I have never been to such a sorrowful funeral in all my 29 years here on earth. My heart goes out to the family and the wife and 2 kids left behind. The funeral service was today and overall it went really well. I remembered one particular statement that the minister made that stuck with me, he stated that funerals were not for the deceased but for the living, I thought he was right on. Like I said early "sobering".

Mourning Times

I just got word the other day that an old friend of mine from my hometown comitted suicide the other day. Its just one of those things that takes everyone by suprise. Then you run the taunting gauntlet of the mind asking all the questions and pondering all the senarios. Probably the biggest question of WHY? Enters the mind most frequently. I suppose there are many factors that come into play with any suicide, and I've often wondered what happens to that persons soul? Is it like the unpardonable sin? I don't think so, but what happens or better yet what did happen that would cause a person to take his or her own life? Again many factors, I suppose.
I posted a book review about a month ago on Judas and Jesus which I think helped me and broaden my view and perspective on suicide.
With all this being said, my friend, JAY, will be greatly missed and my prayers go out to all the family during this tradgic time of grieving.

Church Planting Communications

In the world of church planting communication between staff and launch team is key! One of our values at Overflow is authentic community and in striving to create and maintain this there must be open communication. This is highly important especially when your about to launch your first service or preview. Public enemy #1 is always looking to break this thing up, its the last thing he would want to see happen, and so the spiritual warefare is very real and very heavy. We must keep the lines open and be honest enough with ourselves and others to speak up when needed and to shut our mouths when necessary :) Here are some key things to consider when keeping open lines of communication:

• Pray before you speak (seriously)
• Be honest with yourself and with others
• Remember, Timing and Tone are everything when approaching a hot issue
• Keep things out in the open, don't hold it in
• Agree to disagree and move on (this will need to happen from time to time)
• Conflict transformation is the key

Leadership is not a destination, but a journey. Where will you allow God to take you today?

Full Time Ministry

Since graduating college I've struggled with the fact that I was not in "full-time" ministry, which means that I was not on a paid staff, at some church, over some dept of ministry. I have since come to realize that "full-time" ministry is about a calling to follow Jesus at all cost and that the faith of the bible shows us that it is a lifestyle and overflows into all areas of life, ie. family, work, play, etc.
To be called, means to love God and serve others in whatever context you may find yourself in, weather in a church building with a ministry or working at the local grocery store.
I am currently working a full-time job with some overtime every other Sat. and serving in the role of Family Ministries Director of an awesome church plant called Overflow in Benton Harbor, MI. With that being said I am realizing more and more that this calling on my life is not compartmentalized like I so often do. I'm learning so much during this season of life that I am in and in my walk with the Lord, it's amazing to me to see God working in my life. I fight hard to be a good husband to my wife and to spend time with her and our daughter, Olivia, because I know that I must minister to them first and foremost. And then to try to balance the rest of my time and energy where it's needed is a constant battle. But in the end, I know that what matters most is that I'm loving God and loving people, again, in whatever context I may find myself in .

1st Preview/Reheasal Service!

Well, it finally happened and man was it crazy! Crazy in a really good way. We meet at the offices to load up at 8am and had everything packed and ready to go by 8:30! The theatre that we are meeting in is less than a mile down the road, so we were all set to go. Here are some of the highlights without writing a book

• The glow and excitement was contageous with everyone.
• We out grew our theatre at our first preview! This was the smallest of all the theatres and we were more than 80% full!
• We had a total of 11 kids within SPLASH between nursery and 5th grade.
• One of the teens saw a friend coming in to see a movie and told him we just had church here! You should have seen the kids face, too funny.
• The Praise band did an awesome job and God's presence was all through that place!
• We got through some of the "hicupps" of the morning and no one walked out
• Our pastor, Brian, spoke on DNA and did an awesome job!!
• Overall the day was a success, everyone pulled together as a team!

Probably the biggest highlight for me was seeing one of the little kids during our worship time dancing between the first section of seats and the second section...he was just having a good ol time! And that is what its all about, praising God with all of our heart, mind, soul and strenght! We have much to learn from the children.

At War

Being in the trenches of ministry can get brutle from time to time, especially when planting a church. This past week has been a monster to fight, it's like you can feel it all around you. And the stories of things that happened this week already. Casey got sick a few days ago with the flew, which is not good. Oh, did I mention that we are holding our first preview service this Sunday. There's so much to do and so little time this week, but I have been encouraged by many friends this week and know that we are waging war in the spiritual realm. In spite of all this that I KNOW God is with us and that we have the victory in Him. Please pray for us as we move forward with this weekend.

Book Review

Transforming Children Into Spiritual Champions by George Barna, this was a great read...highly recommend ALL pastors to read this one. Barna basically states that after years of research on the development and growth of adults in their Christianity/Spirituality that they missed the Ocean!! He talks about the importance of investing into the next generation Christians and how it's ultimately the parents responsibility first then the churches to help educated and disciple the little ones. As I read through this book my heart became more and more aware that what Barna was saying was exactly right. I guess it just resonated well with my soul, now that I am the Director of Family Ministries at Overflow and very focused on our children's minisry right now. Whatever the case maybe, I just know that my eyes have been open to how we as a church and parents need to really step it up a notch in our discipleship to our children. We must begin to take measurable steps towards tracking the spiritual development of our children from nursery up through High School. He talks about how to go about doing this and that it may even seem far fetched for some, but don't we owe it to ourselves and to our children. Not only that but we will all be held accountable for all that God entrusts to us as stewards of all that is ultimately his, even our children. This is a must read!

Denouncing Entire Cities

So I'm reading through Matthew and come to the part in chapter 11 where Jesus begins to denounce the cities because of their lack of repentence. So Jesus blows through this list of cities that he says will decend to Hades and it will be more tolerable for the land of Sodom in the day of judgement than for them. YIKES!!
But what I find interesting is the following verses, "I praise You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and intelligent and revealed them to infants. Yes, Father this way was well-pleasing in Your sight."
These are some pretty harsh words, don't ya think? What do you do with this passage, does this passage show election or what? What do you think?

McManus Article

"self-indulgent" Christianity. Read here.

Pressing on... God connections

It never ceases to amaze me how big our God is!! I just got off the phone with our lead pastor who was telling me some pretty amazing things and how God has been connecting people to Overflow who have connections with people who, lets just say have some pull, for now. It's really allowed me to see just how God is orchestrating this entire movement called Overflow and I'm so amazed and blessed that I get to be part of it.
Like for instance, there's a couple who have been considering joining Overflow for the past several months now and we just found out that they are committed to joining us. Looks like she will be the Director of our Life Groups and He will be helping this summer leading our Habitats project. She was on staff at Willow Creek working in the hospice area min. with young adults. Also, today we meet at the Cinemea with our Techs and things went extreamly well, looks like some things worked out for us to save some money on the front end and really max out our potential with the theatre. Another thing was meeting that happened with an individual who donated 100 bibles for the church! How cool is that? Now there are many other things that have happened and/or are in the making which i am not at liberty to share just yet, but let's just say they are all really GOD Size opportunities! Again extreamly excited about all that is taking place right now and how God's favor is with us.

Scientology What?

If you haven't seen this, you have to check it out. Tom is out of his mind, But I must say, I do like his zeal. I wonder what would happen if we viewed Christianity with this type of urgency?

Check it out HERE

Sacred Marriage

Started reading Sacred Marriage last night with my wife. The goal is to read a chapter a night and to discuss the chapter together. I must admit the first night we didn't get very far, only half way through the first chapter, we were exhausted!
But we read enough to know that this book is going to be life changing. The central theme of the book is based around one question, What if marriage was not intended to make us happy, but to make us holy? WHAT? Think about that for a minute. As I pondered this thought, it struck me that maybe that is why opposites attract so often, because we are attracted to others who are different then ourselves and as a result we are to make one another holy, of course with the help and guidance of the Holy Spirit as we both submitt to God's leading and ruling our lives as Lord we come closer with him and with one another.
More to come on this book...

Overflow Happenings

Check out all that has been going on with OVERFLOW in the past 72 hrs, here

ZEN SAYING

Discovery consists in seeing what eveybody else has seen and thinking what nobody else has thought.

Cinema Pics

Here are the pics I promised of Celebration Cinema. I'm so excited about what God is doing with Overflow and how His favor and blessings have been with us from the beginning. The manager is so welcoming of us being there, she's been waiting 10 years for a church to come in and not only that, she has lowered her price 3 times on us without us even asking!! God is so faithful and good to us.

Celebration Cinema Here We Come!

Today I got to take a look at the Cinema we will be meeting here in just a few weeks to start our preview services. The newly remodeled cinema looked amazing! Everything from the new tile on the floors to the new look of the refreshment stand. I was definitely sensing God's favor with us and his peace there as we prayed over the building. But more than anything was the favor with the cinema manager who was just the nicest person and who has been waiting for the past 10 years to have another church come in to the theatre and she's actually some one who has not been going to a church for some time and considering overflow as her church! How awesome is that! God's favor again! I will post some pics here real soon of the theatre. Please keep us in your prayers.

A Gift

"Our life is not a possession to be defended but a gift to be shared." - Henri Nouwen

Turning Point

"There is a God we want and there is a God who is. They are not the same God. The turning point of our lives is when we stop seeking the God we want and start seeking the God who is"

No Condemnation here!

God will not condemn me. "Therefore, there isnow no condemations for those who are in Christ Jesus..." (Rom.8:1)

1st Launch Meeting!!

It's official. We had our very first launch team meeting yesterday! It was so exciting to see people coming together from all walks of life, to rally towards something greater then ourselves. This is a God-size vision (Overflow) and its unbelieveable how God is orchestrating it all. We have a total of 7 Directors who are over particular areas of minisitry and last night we had approximately 30 plus people who are committed to helping launch services come mid-march.
We were also able to get an awesome resource of our Children's Min. (kidmo) to use for as long as we need. This is a huge expense that God has provided once again for us. The Children's ministry, K-LinC or Kid's LinC, (havent decided yet) stands for Kid's Life in Christ, linking with God, our family and friends of Benton Harbor.
We are so excited about all that God is doing in and through us. Please pray for us as we continue on in the journey to which God has called us.

God Dwells Within

My body is the temple of the Holy Spirit, who dwells in me. "Don't you know that you yourselves are God's temple and that God's Spirit lives in you?... Do you knot know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit, who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own; you were bought at a price. Therefore honor God with your body. (ICor.3:16; 6:19-20)