Handle with Care

This morning I was reading in my devotional time and saw a note that I had written above another scripture on the same page. It was written above Hebrews 13:7-8 which states, "Remember your leaders, who spoke the word of God to you. Consider the outcome of their way of life and imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever." As I read those verses I remembered God speaking to me concerning the way that I treat those in leadership over me. I had written, "What He did for them, He'll do for me!"

This statement caused me to pause for a moment and think about the way I handle the gifts that God has given to me, those people that speak consistently into my life and care for my soul. Do I treat them as the gifts that they are or do I take for granted that they should be doing that because that is their job? Do I pray for them daily because I recognize my need for them to be spiritually and physically healthy or do I just look for ways that they can meet my needs? Do I work as diligently trying to make their dream and vision come to pass as I do my own?

If I truly believe that whatever God does for those in leadership above me He will do for me then I will be careful how I treat them. I will watch how I speak of them to others. I will never disrespect or dishonor them. I will rally around and cheer them on because their success will determine my own.

So today I pray for my leaders. I pray that if I have ever hurt or mistreated you that would be able to forgive me. I repent for any time I have participated in dishonoring your name, position or vision.  I petition heaven to bless you, to help you succeed in the calling that God has on their lives. I pray for your health and healing. I pray that God would strengthen your marriage and protect your families. I pray that every God-given dream of yours would come to pass. I pray for the Holy Spirit to keep me constantly in check so that I would treat my leaders like I would want my followers to treat me. Remember, what He does for them, He'll do for you!

Monday Mind Dump

And again we land on another Monday! We are one week closer to Easter (or Resurrection Sunday if the whole "Easter" thing offends you) and we are still in the middle of our series called #Bringer. We are preparing for many guests and believing that God is going to work in the hearts of everyone who attends.

Yesterday was our quarterly Pastor flip here at #HarvestChurchOK. Pastor Joshua came to the Sand Springs campus and I had to privilege of going to the West Tulsa Campus. I absolutely love what God is doing at that campus! I believe that we are watching God unfold something really special in that community. Miranda and her team do such an incredible job with worship and help create an atmosphere where it is just plain easy to preach. I want to give a shout out to the ushers there at West Campus because I threw them a curve ball a few minutes before service and they handled it with grace! Thank you guys for what you do!

Then last night was our quarterly Southern Nights at our traditional service. I guess that's just another name for "a singing." It was a great time as nearly twenty different people took the stage to lift their worship through song. It was truly a great night! I want to give a great big shout out to my hero, Kevin Clark! Kevin is an all around model team player who serves in Harvest Kids on Wednesday nights, is Head Usher at the Sand Springs Campus and organizes all of the music for our traditional service and Southern Nights! He is an absolute rock star! I really don't think he knows how much this pastor appreciates him! For all my pastor friends, I hope that you one day have a Kevin Clark in your ministry!

As I end this Monday's mind dump, let me remind you to INVITE, INVITE, INVITE to #EasterAtHarvest! We love and appreciate you all!

Monday Mind Dump

So here we are again... at Monday. We start another week, get into the grind and make things happen. But before we do, let's pause and contemplate with wonder what God has done for us. Let's talk for a while about the marvelous mystery that is His Church. Let's take a moment to have a Monday Mind Dump.

Yesterday was a wonderful day at Harvest church. Many of us were tired from the weekend. A few of our men were sore from our dodgeball tournament. We were able to push past the wear of the week and press into God's presence for some time of refreshing.

God moved in a powerful way in our worship experience yesterday. I feel like He is using our times of worship to really start to speak to us corporately and individually. These times aren't just stoic, produced concerts. They are precious times of intimate fellowship between us and God. We were challenged to not just worship from our experiences but from the perspective of the Lord. We aren't going to worship from our fear, our struggle, our sickness. We will worship God because He is holy, He is all powerful, He is victorious! Our focus must be on Him not on ourselves.

Then we were challenged by God's word to be a people FOR people, not against everything that's wrong with society. God doesn't need us to fight His battles. He wants us to LOVE His people. We decided that we wouldn't serve the gospel on a trash can lid but we would do our best to speak the language of our culture to reach those far from Christ. We will be full of grace and truth and people will experience our grace before we present them with truth. We will be a people of love, a people of grace. We will be a church for people who need another chance.

Then last night a bunch of people gathered to eat together, play some game and just hang out. It was wonderful. No agendas, no plans, just each other. I truly believe that we are better together.

I want to say a huge thank you to JW Cook for organizing our dodgeball tournament! It was amazing! We all had such a great time. Thank you to the staff at Harvest for getting everything together for the game night! I've heard it said that you are only as good as the team that surrounds you. If that's the case, we have great things ahead of us because we are surrounded with a wonderful group of people!

Monday Mind Dump

Monday mornings come with such frequency. Almost as much frequency as Sunday mornings. You wake up and start the cycle all over again. For me that cycle begins by processing all that happened the previous day at our services. That is the purpose of Monday Mind Dump.

Yesterday was a wonderful day at Harvest Church. We continued our series #Bringer where we talked about looking for those who are in life's storms and being the voice that calls out, like Jesus did to Peter, to "Come." We encouraged our people to look for three people this week who are in the middle of a storm and invite them to attend #EasterAtHarvest with them. I have to say that our people have responded to this series on creating a culture of inviting much more enthusiastically than I could have imagined.

Sidebar: If you don't have a home church and live anywhere near the Sand Springs / Tulsa area, I would love to host you as my personal guest this Easter!

Our teams did a wonderful job creating an atmosphere where we could respond to God's presence. Amy, in the Harvest Cafe, is knocking it out of the park! She and her team have created a new drink for the month of March and it is AMAZING! If you haven't tried it, you should!

In our evening, traditional, service Miranda Freeman preached and she did a phenomenal job! She talked about "What's in a Prayer" where she pointed out that prayer should be filled with and supported by humility, patience, and faith. We were stirred with faith to start looking at those around us, not from face-value but from faith-value.

If you haven't checked this girl out, you need too because God has truly gifted her! You can peruse her blog here.

Also, she and her husband, Joshua, who happens to be the campus pastor at Harvest Church West Tulsa, are going on a missions trip to Haiti this September! They will be serving Hope House Haiti and participating in local children's programs and feeding projects. They will be helping with sustainability projects in the surrounding areas such as fish farms, chicken farms, and producing crops to help produce lasting sustainability. To get there this couple is having to raise $3,500.00.

Would you pray about sowing into this couples journey? You can do that by clicking here and then clicking the giving link. When the new page is opened, scroll down to other and type in your amount. The click in the box next to it and type in "Haiti Trip." Thank you so much for considering this wonderful work!

Monday Mind Dump

It is Monday of spring break and today has started out like your stereotypical Monday. First, I overslept by like TWO HOURS!! (Who does that??) Now that I've gotten my coffee and morning banana, I am fine!

Yesterday was a great Sunday! Though our attendance seemed a little low to me, our people seemed to engage in worship. Our teams knocked it out of the park and the message seemed to connect with the people. There was a great response to the invitation at the end and there were a ton of names of people that we would pray for and invite to #EasterAtHarvest! There are always things that I think we can tweak but overall, it was a great morning.

For those of you who are unaware, we have an evening, traditional service. This is a time of worship with traditional hymns and southern gospel music that is really geared toward those that love that style. It is also a time for me to give opportunities for up and coming leaders, that I'm in relationship with, to preach. It is also a great time to hear from the wisdom of some of our retired ministers! But one of the things I love most about Sunday nights is that I don't have to worry about preaching another sermon. Now, don't get me wrong, I LOVE to preach! It is one of my greatest passions but when I have to focus on two messages in one day, I don't feel like I can fully focus on just being present in the moment with people before the service. On Sunday nights, I get to be fully there! I get to stand around and have conversations that I don't get to have any other time. I get to joke around. I get to connect with our people in a way that I don't get too on Sunday mornings. I LOVE Sunday nights!

This past Sunday night we had Veronika Jones speak on "Do You Know Me?"

Now, I don't know if you know this young lady but she is a powerful preacher! Whether she knows it or not, she has a great prophetic ear and a wonderful way of communicating what she hears the Lord is saying. Though I can't claim any responsibility for mentoring her in her calling, I am proud like she is one of mine! I can't brag on her enough!

Not only is she a powerful preacher but she is also a missionary and she is taking a trip this Summer to Africa! She does the hard work of raising the money all by herself and I would like to help her get that money raised! I am asking all my family and friend, near and far, to pray about giving a gift towards her trip this Summer. She needs $6,200 before she can go on this trip. Could you give something towards it? If so, log on to our website at http://harvestchurchok.org and click the giving link. When the new page opens, scroll down to "Other" and type in your gift amount. Then in the box to the right of that type in "Veronika Jones." Then you should be able to follow the instructions on the page from there. Thank you in advance for helping her reach her goal and get to Africa to expand the kingdom!

Let's talk about it!

What did God do in you yesterday? Tell me about it so we can celebrate together!

Monday Mind Dump

For those who do not know, my family and I have recently moved to Sand Springs, Oklahoma to take the Lead Pastor position at Harvest Church. I haven't written in a while but I used to do these "Monday Mind Dumps" to clear my head after the Sunday service. It allows me to process most of my thoughts about the Sunday service and you to see my process in evaluating the things that were done. (Don't worry! I will not evaluate anything that deals with specific people. I don't put people on blast like that.) I thought I'd try this again.

Yesterday we had to cancel our onsite services because of winter weather. Can I just say that I hate snow and ice! I hate to cancel church. Most people assume that it is because we can't take offering and then I have to be concerned about meeting budgets for the week. That actually isn't it at all. (I mean, I do think about those things but that isn't my main reason for despising having to cancel.) I LOVE getting together with God's people to worship and celebrate Him. I love the dynamic of corporate worship. I love to hear other people singing. I love it when spontaneous worship breaks out. I love to see how people respond to the Holy Spirit's presence. I love to teach God's word to a room full of people who are hungry to hear from Him. There is just nothing like it! Sunday really is my favorite day of the week. So when we have to cancel everything in me fights it. With that said, when we had to cancel yesterday, I contacted a skeleton crew who felt comfortable getting out in the cold to meet me so we could broadcast a livestream service for everyone who was at home.

Now, what you should know about me is I am comfortable in front of a crowd and I am comfortable in front of a camera in a small room with no one else present. What I am not comfortable with is a nearly empty auditorium and ceiling mounted cameras and you could probably tell it. I preached to the ten or so people that were there and to the cameras, all the while hoping that someone was watching. I stood in one place and tried to put the majority of my focus on the one camera. I tried to deliver what God had spoken to me but it wasn't my greatest preaching moment. We will be working on another method doing online services for such occasions.

The worship team, however, knocked it out of the park. They played and sang as though the room was full of people. They worshiped like it was just them and God. I couldn't have been a prouder pastor. And then there was the people that never get recognition; the people in the sound booth tweaking sound for the online audience, the people putting words on the screen so it could be broadcasted and you who were at home could sing along. Then there's the camera guy who showed up and had to sit there to make sure I didn't walk off screen! (And then I didn't even move! Sorry Steve!) We had people who showed up to just help in any way they could and also people who came to watch children. I was moved because these people, volunteers, came anyway. They chose to get up, get dressed and come out in the COLD so other people could still worship at home in their PJs!

As a pastor, our hope is that people will eventually be able to look beyond themselves and grasp the servant nature of Jesus for their own lives. We long for people to stop being so selfish and to serve others in the same manner that Jesus would and did. We hope and pray and teach so that people will get it. And yesterday they did! They served. No payment, no external reward and with probably very few thank you's. But I was ministered too. I am so thankful. I am incredibly proud.

So, not too much today in the way of critique today. Just a great big THANK YOU from an incredibly grateful pastor to the dream team at Harvest Church! We love you and are honored to serve God and our community alongside you! You rock and I can't wait to see as God brings you all into your More!

Decide Today What You'll Say Then

Do you remember The Grinch? Yeah, the one who stole Christmas! The green one. The mean one. I've learned a few lessons from him and the town that he grew to hate. You see, the Who's rejected the  odd, young Grinch. They laughed at him. They made fun of him. They rejected him and because of it, he grew to hate Christmas.

Have you ever met anyone that seems to push people away before they have a chance to get too close? Do you know someone that manipulates each and every situation so that they are portrayed in the best light? Maybe you struggle with feelings that if people knew the real you, they wouldn't accept you. If so, you may be dealing with a root of rejection.

Every person deals with rejection. It could be a parent that left home and you always wondered if you could have done something to make them stay. It may be that little league coach that relegated you to the bench because you weren't as talented as the other kid. Maybe you were infatuated with that beautiful young lady but she didn't reciprocate those feelings. Everyone experiences rejection at some point. But how do we handle it? Do we assess it and move on or do we constantly mull over it, see it as a personal attack and take it to heart? The way we handle rejection will reveal whether we will allow rejection to take root in our heart or not.

There are a lot of people in the Bible that experienced rejection. Adam was rejected when he was forced out of the garden of Eden. Cain was rejected when his offering was rejected. Ishmael was rejected because he wasn't recognized as Abraham's promised child. It is Joseph, however, that impressed me in his handling of rejection.

Joseph was the youngest and favorite son in his family. If that wasn't enough to cause tension in the family, Joseph had a dream that everyone of his brothers would eventually bow down to him. Once he told them his dream, they hated him even more and decided to sell him into slavery! Talk about rejection issues. Then he was rejected again by Potiphar after being falsely accused of inappropriate behavior and thrown into prison. He was also rejected by the two prisoners that he has interpreted dreams for. Joseph was rejected many times over and could have allowed it to take root in his heart. He could have let it discourage him so that he became bitter and angry. But he didn't.

If you study the Joseph way you'll find that every time he was rejected, he talked about God. At some point in his life, Joseph decided that his conversation was important in keeping him free from rejection's root. He decided that when he had an opportunity to be offended, he would talk about God.

So I encourage you to DECIDE TODAY WHAT YOU'LL SAY THEN!

If you nurse your hurt, it will take root in your heart. If you continually talk about your offense, it will take root in your heart. If you lay in bed at night and think about meditate on your rejection, it will take root in your heart.

Decide today what you'll say then! Make a choice that you will not allow your hurt, offense, or rejection get down in you. Think about now what you'll think about then. Be like Joseph and turn your focus to God. Let Him guide your thoughts and your words.

Don't be caught off guard. Decide today what you'll say then.