Thursday, October 27, 2011
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Last night was the last night of the Masquerade Series. Such an awesome series with Thrive. God did some really cool things.
It was Masquerade Night and the Thriveanators costumes were amazing.
Had a blast with pumpkin carving and cotton candy before service. Love watching everyone hang out and laugh.
Had some hiccups in worship but our students went with the flow and didnt let that stop them.
God is really growing and stretching us right now.
My favorite part of the night was the altar time and watching the students take their masks off and lay them at God's feet. Really believe that God changed lots of lives last night. Grateful for everyone honesty and authenticity.
I am very excited about things that are coming up for Thrive. November is going to be awesome.
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I am no where close to an expert on running. I can not run but about 10 minutes or so on the road without being wore out. I am getting better each week and able to go further and longer the more that I run. I just enjoy the exercise and I am always trying to learn from life.
One thing that I have learned is that I can actually go further than I think I can. I may only think I can run a little but I can dig deep and go a good bit further. I find myself asking two questions while I am running. First, can you breathe? Most of the time the answer is yes. Then, can you move your legs? Currently, yes. If the answer to both of those questions are affirmative then I keep going.
Same is true with you and I in life. Life gets pretty intense and there are days that we feel like we can not go any further, we can not make it another step. We need to slow down and ask ourselves two questions. Are you breathing? Did God allow you to wake up this morning? If so, then you can make. It is not going to be easy but He has put the strength and grace that you need to take another step. As long as you are breathing, keep going. Then, ask yourself which direction are you going in life. It has to be forward. There is no turning back now, you have come too far. There is no stopping, you can slow down but don't stop now.
Life can be rough, but keep going. You can actually make it further than you think you can. I believe in you.
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Tuesday, October 25, 2011
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Watch where you are going!
It is no secret to anyone who knows me that I am very accident prone. I can be very clumsy. I have fallen through the floor while preaching, I have tripped walking up the stairs walking up to the platform to open a service, and have even come close to loosing my pants while speaking. All of that said, last Friday I did something that even surprised me. While running, I ran into a parked car. Yes, you read that right. I was moving, the car was not, and I hit it. I am okay, thanks for asking.
As I was on my morning run I was pushing through a tough section of it and had my head down. I was trying to concentrate on my breathing and pacing. I was only looking at the sidewalk and thinking about the next 3-5 steps I was taking. Before I knew it I hit a little car that was parked in a driveway that was blocking the path. Who does that anyway? PULL UP IN YOUR DRIVEWAY PEOPLE!!!! No, it is not their fault, it is mine. I should have been paying closer attention to what was coming.
Same goes for us in life. We get so focus on what it happening right in front of us that we are not looking much further ahead. We do not see how some of the decisions that we are making will have a negative impact of our future and the future of those around us. If we are not careful, when we look up we will hit a car.
In the journey of life we need to watch where we are going. See what is coming on the path ahead. Know if we need to take a detour around something or we have a clear path to keep moving. Sometimes you have to drop your head a push through a moment but before you do look ahead and make sure the path is clear.
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Monday, October 24, 2011
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Starting blogging some again. Have missed it. I have learned that life is about seasons and some seasons I just do not have a lot to say on here. It has been some random thoughts but want to begin to do it more and more.
Life is really hectic right now. God is speaking in a lot of chaos. Interesting to watch what He is doing. Blown away by His love.
Spent some time with PK's (Pastor's Kids) from all over the state at Six Flags yesterday. Felt good to ride roller-coasters again. It has been a while.
Had some good runs this week. Got my pace down under 12 minutes per mile. Trying to get ready to run a 5K by the December.
Looking forward to this week. Excited for things to come.
The Masquerade Series ends this week with Thrive. I am very stoked about November's series.
Praying that God expands some of my dreaming and vision. Asking for passion and clarity this week.
I am still blown away by the people in my life that loves us and does life with us. Blessed does not seem like enough to describe it.
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Sunday, October 23, 2011
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Sometimes life can get some crazy that we loose focus in Ministry. We forget what Ministry is all about. It is all about people. You will argue and say that it is about Jesus and you are right, to some extend. If we have Jesus and do not share him, can we call ourselves doing ministry? It is all about people. The Church (capital C) is people, not a building or a place to meet. Without people there is not church. I know this sounds simple, but it is sometime one of the most complicated things to get.
Christ died for people, not just you. Every difficult situation has someone involved in it. It is all about people.
If I sound repetitive in this it is because I am reminded myself. Because from time to time I do not like to deal with people. I forget that behind every difficult person is a story. A reason they are acting the way they are. It does not excuse it, but it does explain it. It is hard to love someone like Christ did without knowing their story. Knowing where they are coming from.
Ministry is not about numbers or crowds, it is about people.
Thursday, October 20, 2011
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If you are in ministry long enough there will be services and events that do not turn out like you were expecting. What is humorous to me is that when you get online and begin to read feeds on twitter and facebook, you see how everyone else's service blew up. How they had an awesome night, and record crowds. You never read about how people felt like failures because their numbers are down or they laid an egg with their message. You never see anyone tweet about how no one responded to the altar call. I have never seen anyone put on their status on Facebook about going through a disappointing season in ministry. I might be the only one who has those nights or has those seasons. I may be the only one who feels this way from time to time.
What do you do when you have services or events that you do not want to post about? What do you do when things do not turn out like you think they should? Glad you asked!
Find The Win: It is there somewhere, I promise. Look for the one positive. A student that connected that has not been connecting. Someone you see growing in their walk with Christ, someone who gave their heart to Christ. You can not celebrate what you can not see. Look for it.
Redefine Success: We can not judge the success of a ministry by week to week. It is long term. Remember we are called to produce fruit. Fruit is not grown over night, it takes time and cultivation. I believe we will never truly know the success of our ministries on this side of eternity. What do you consider a success? A life changed and lived for Christ or a room full?
Keep Going: Do not give in or give up. Dig deeper. Now is not the time to quit. It is in these times that we grow. A Minister will always grow before their Ministry grows. Be consistent.
Pray and Look: Seek God and pick up your magnifying glass. What could you do better? What aren't you doing that you could be doing? Do not look in a mirror per say, but ask a lot of questions.
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Wednesday, October 19, 2011
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2 Corinthians 12:9-10, "But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong."
Have you ever met anyone who bragged about their weakness? Who loves to sit around and tell you in what they struggle in? Who gets their kicks out of listing off their resume of failures? Me either. Most people will tell you what they are good at. I am not sure about you but I am in more of the habit of sitting talking about what I am good at rather than what I struggle in.
It is in the areas that we are the weakest, God has the opportunity to show His Glory. If I never let you see my weakness then you can never see God glory in my life.
My name is Eric and I am weak.
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Tuesday, October 11, 2011
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People love to use the word potential. I believe that it is one of the most powerful words in the English language and one of the most dangerous. We look at people who are young or are just starting out on an adventure and we say they have a lot of potential. If things do not work out the way they should in that same situation we always they had a lot of potential.
Potential is defined as an existing possibility. A possibility to be good at something. Potential is dangerous because that means that we have placed a expectation on someone or something and most of the time when our expectation and our reality do not line up it bring frustration in our lives.
My question is what are we doing help people turn their potential into their reality? How are you helping them win? What are you doing to help them succeed? Potential is powerful but if untapped it is useless.
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Thursday, October 6, 2011
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