Quickening Day 2 - Tension

On my desk I have a multicolored ball of rubber bands. You might think it was a neat way to organize office supplies but really it is more of a thinking tool. (Have you ever seen the movie A Few Good Men? Remember Tom Cruise's baseball bat? Now you got it!) Well that ball of rubber is made up of smaller circular pieces that we commonly use to hold things together. But think about the job of a rubber band. When it is relaxed, it doesn't do much. Only when it seems like it is about to snap in half, does it fulfill the purpose it was designed for. As I have heard others say, "tension is good."

Tension is the act of stretching or straining. Most usually when tension is applied to something, it will end up reshaping it. Now think about what James said, "consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything." (James 1:2-4)

Let me boil it down to this formula:
A challenge to your faith + An "I'm not giving up" attitude = Spiritual maturity and abundance

Remember these things about tension:
1. In order to fulfill your Divine purpose, tension must be applied to your life.
There have been many times when I have found myself begging God to release the tension on my life. To take away the strain. To cancel the call of following Him. But then I realize that He is using my life in the middle of the tension to accomplish the purpose that he has for me.

2. After a while, the tension will reshape you.
If a rubber band has been stretched around something long enough, it won't return to its exact relaxed state. After a while, elastic doesn't return to its original shape. (Just take a moment to think about some of those long term items of clothing in your top dresser drawer!) For elastic that is a bad thing. But for a follower of Jesus, it is a good thing. When your faith has been stretched and you have not thrown in the towel, once the tension is released, your faith won't return to the same size. It will have expanded! God is constantly doing that to us. Why? Because stretch and release will bring about expansion. Expanded ability to believe God for the impossible. Expanded joy that extends beyond the daily grind. Expanded influence to touch others with the Good News that Jesus saves.

My prayer is that God will use the tension found in all of our lives for His glory and for growing us to reach new heights in 2011.

Quickening 2011 - Day 1

Today we kicked off Quickening 2011. A time of prayer, devotion, and fasting. I am very excited about what God is going to do in the lives of people at Journey. I am thrilled that there are so many who have expressed such an eagerness to draw closer to God and make this year a year of new heights.

Hunger is an incredible motivator. Think about how it influences our every day life. It effects our schedules, our energy levels, it even effects our moods! (I can get a little grumpy in the morning when I haven't had my Raisin Bran.) Hunger naturally causes us to develop habits that become so rote that at times, we eat without even really being hungry. It conditions our bodies to expect regular nourishment.

Jesus promised that a spiritual appetite would not go unrewarded. He says that those who hunger and thirst for righteousness WILL be filled (Matt. 5:6). The spiritual condition of a Christian depends upon the hunger they have for knowing God. My prayer is that the next 21 days will develop such "hunger habits" for God that it also effects our schedules, levels, and attitudes.

Scripture for today: Exodus 33:13,18 (Moses says) If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways so I may know you and continue to find favor with you...then Moses said, 'now show me your glory.'"

Sorrow is better than Laughter? What?

I really wish more people would go to funerals. I have been asked several times why I seem to be so serious most of the time. It is not that I don't enjoy life. It is the fact that I contemplate what life really is. Without becoming too philosophical or preachy, I just wish more people would clearly think about life and eternity.

There is a crazy verse in Ecclesiastes 7:3 that sounds so opposite to what we seem to live for. It says that "sorrow is better than laughter because a sad face is good for the heart." Wow, that is depressing. Why in the world would the wisest man in the world right something so foreign to our ears? Maybe because it was a wise saying. The writer comes to the conclusion that some meaningful contemplation of life will benefit you a lot more than a continual casual and carefree attitude. Funerals are better for us than parties.

The 17th century philosopher, Blaise Pascal said that humans tend to be miserable so they create diversions in order to take their minds off of their misery. Today, that may involve things like surfing the internet, watching TV, drinking, smoking, being obsessed with hobbies or sports, even dinking around on our iPhones or PDA's. The Danish philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard said that if he could prescribe one remedy for the human condition it would be to assign every human being to sit alone in silence so they could think about their own misery. In general, we despair in our lives and we do everything we can to keep from having to think about it.

To me, there is really one message: Everything around us is temporary and it is passing away. Everyone is going to die some day and that should give me every reason to think about eternity and what I'm going to do about it (2 Corinthians 4:18). So I apologize if I am not always laughing and happy-go-lucky. I just care too much about all the people who are distracting themselves from the true questions of life.

What do Winter Storms and New Churches have in common?

This past Christmas, something happened here in the Dallas metro that hasn’t happened in over 100 years. On Christmas Eve, DFW recorded its first measurable snowfall to occur on Christmas Eve since they began keeping records in 1898. Along with the fairy tale Christmas came a winter storm that the likes of which has not been seen in decades.
My family had traveled to Oklahoma earlier in the week and had been celebrating Christmas with our families. When we woke up on Christmas Eve, we anticipated another wonderful day with family. Then around 10am, sleet began to fall from the sky. For two hours, a steady stream of sleet come down and the ground began to look like one huge ice rink. We loaded my truck and went to Shannon’s grandma’s house as the weather began to worsen. The wind was gusting up to 50 mph and the roads were already become very difficult to navigate. I decided that we needed to leave very soon if we were going to make it back to Denton for Christmas. We only stayed at Shannon’s grandma’s for a few minutes and we quickly left out: Starting what would be a very memorable trip home.
After traveling south for about 20 miles, I quickly realized that the driving conditions were going to be very challenging. When we turned east on Hwy 70, a highway patrol pulled me over. When I got out of the car, I realized it was a friend of mine, Darren. The first thing he asked was, “what are you doing out here?” Immediately, he encouraged me to turn back. He said, “Scott, people are dying out here. The best thing you can do is turn around.”
Knowing the difficulty that we had just getting that far, and the fact that my truck was loaded full of our stuff, turning around really wasn’t very appealing. But to be honest, if I had known how difficult and dangerous it was, I probably would have never left. But now we were already 40 minutes from home, so we pressed on toward I35.
It took us 2 and a half hours to drive 50 miles. It was slow going. We couldn’t go fast and we had to be careful where we pulled over because if you sat in the same place very long, you would get stuck. Over and over we would have to pull to the side of the road and clean off the windshield because it would become so iced over that we couldn’t see the road in front of us. There were times when I had to bend over to see out a little hole near the dash that provided the only sight of the road.
I kept telling myself, “If we can just get to the interstate, we will be home free.” We finally got to I35 and turned south. We were just a few miles from the Red River and that’s when I saw lights on the highway that looked like a million Christmas trees in the road. Unbeknown to us, the bridge over the river had been closed and we came to a dead stop about 1 mile from the bridge.
We sat there in the middle of the interstate in a line of cars that reached farther than the eye could see. I was thankful that I had filled up with gas before I left because at that point I thought that we might be in for a long night in the truck. I saw some people who had turned off their cars and guessed that they didn’t fill up before they left home or they were extremely frugal.
After about an hour, the bridge was opened and a few cars began to try and navigate the treacherous icy bridge. Some didn’t make it. Others spun out but got some help from those around them and they got back on the road. We drove for another 2 hours. There were accidents and people off the road all the way to Denton. After 7 ½ hours, the trip that should have only taken 2 hours was finally over.
As I thought about our journey on Christmas Eve, I compare it to our journey in starting our new church. There are several things that stood out to me.
1. You have to know where you are going.
Vision is necessary. If you don’t have a destination, you are lost before you get started. I knew where I was trying to get to and anything short of that destination was not acceptable. The vision that I had was for my family as much as it was for me. I wanted my kids to wake up in their own house on Christmas day. I wanted my kids to be able to have their gifts on Christmas morning. I wanted us to be able to sit down to our traditional Christmas morning pancakes. It wasn’t just a matter of getting to Denton. It was what Denton had in store for us. Starting a church is as much about the shaping of its leader and his family as it is the growing of a congregation.
2. Faith is a requirement.
Just like the snowy trip on the icy roads, starting a church is a dicey proposition. Many have tried and failed. You usually don’t hear about them as much as you do about the one’s that survived. Had I know how difficult the roads were, I might not have ever tried to get home. I just believed that we would make it home just like we always did. If I had known what I know now about starting a church, I might have second guessed myself and God. But I knew enough not only to make an informed decision, I had faith that God would not fail even if I did. My faith was put in His abilities and not in mine. That conclusion forced me to pray. Just like in the truck that night. We prayed…continuously! It is amazing how little we pray when life is easy for us. When you set out on a journey like starting a new church, you will pray like you’ve never prayed before.
3. It works better with others working together.
I noticed that driving became much easier when there were several cars together. During the time my windshield was icing up so bad, I couldn’t see the road but I could see the lights of the car in front of me. I made ruts that allowed my brother-in-law to follow me. They didn’t have 4wd so I told them to “just stay in my tracks.” Teamwork helped us get to where we needed to go.
4. Trust your training.
There were times that I could not see the road in front of me but I could see the fence posts on each side. I knew my boundaries. Most of the time your training will not give you specifics, but it will give you the boundaries that you need in order to keep going in the right direction. You may not know the exact decision that needs to be made but you should have the knowledge to know which decision will keep you on the right road.
5. You have to work hard to keep the vision.
For most of my trip, ice covered my windshield. There where times when I had to bend over to see out a small hole just above the dashboard. The elements were crowding out my ability to see where I was going. When starting a church, everything will try and crowd out the original vision and direction for the church until it becomes so small you have to strain to find it. I found myself constantly chipping away at the build up on my windshield. Constant work is required to keep your vision on the main thing. As you have heard many say, "you have to keep the main thing, the main thing."
6. Never do anything without a full tank.
As we sat at a stand still on the interstate waiting for the bridge to open, I noticed some had turned off their engines. Dead and cold. That is exactly what churches can become who aren’t full of the life giving energy of the Spirit. I remember calling my dad and he asked me this, “do you have a full tank of gas?” I replied, “yes.” He said, “then you will be fine.” I knew that me and my family were safe because we had what we needed to keep us going through the night. The Spirit of God is the power behind any endeavor. Without a full tank of the Spirit's power, we will find ourselves at a stand still and could eventually be in danger of coldness and even spiritual death.

Follow Through

We finally finished up the baseball season for my son Seth. I was so proud of him. His team won the All Star Championship and played their hearts out. Seth loves baseball - all 60 lbs of him. He is put together like a stick man but he can really swing a bat. Toward the end of the season though I noticed that his hitting has significantly lost its power. One game in particular he hit the ball directly back to the pitcher three times and of course god put out every time. As I watched his swing I realized what his problem was: he wasn't following through. He would swing the bat and when the bat contacted the ball he would relax his swing and lose any power that he had generated. Before his next game, we went to the batting cages and worked on the follow through of his swing. I told him to keep pushing through the swing even after he makes contact with the ball and he will get power behind the swing and hit the ball farther. Sure enough, the next game he went to the plate and hit the ball all the way out into left field. Seth learned the importance of a good follow through.
We live in a culture where follow through seems to be relegated only to baseball swings. I see people start all the time but as soon as they come in contact with some resistance they slow down or even stop their progress. There is a story in the Old Testament book of 1 Kings 13 about a man of God from Judah. Amazingly, this man's name is not even mentioned even though he delivered a very important message from God. He walked for miles from southern Israel to northern Israel to deliver the message that cult priests that were serving the ungodly king Jeroboam would someday be burned on the very altars that they were making animal sacrifices on. God had told this man to deliver this very important message but to also not eat or drink but to come straight back home to Judah. The delivery of the message was critical but the "follow through" was even more important. You see, this man of God ended up not following through and it cost him his life.
As I read this story I can't help but ask God why he is so strict on a man who delivered this powerful prophetic message. I came to realize that no matter how gloriously you fulfill part of God's command it is not enough. When God gives instructions, it is important to follow them completely (even if the resistance comes from supposed religious people).
God help us to "follow through!" To remain faithful to ALL that you have told us to do.

Sunday @ Journey (May 3)

With rumors of swine flu circulating our community and the potential for sever weather, we had church regardless. Zach Brown made a guest appearance in the worship band this week as they lead us into the presence of the Lord singing "Holy Holy Holy is the Lord God Almighty / Who was and is and is to come / With all creation I sing / Praise to the King of Kings / You are my everything and I will adore You." My prayer is that we can always sing that song with sincerity and a heart-felt sense of awe towards God. Our subject was on Fear. Very appropriate for our day and time and I believe from the feedback that I have already received that the message hit the mark.

I was great to meet several new guests. We have new guests on a consistent basis but hearing how some found out about Journey is amazing. Some said that they had seen our billboard which has been down since the end of February. Others I met said that they received a door knocker which was delivered on February 7. Ironic, but that is how we pray - Lord help us to be the right church at the right time (1 Chron. 12:32).

I am always so thankful and humbled to see the efforts of our set up and tear down each week. Everyone makes it look so easy even though I know that there are a million other things that would be more pleasant that carrying speakers and putting down nursery floors on a Sunday morning. Glad to see new faces helping out. It gives me a pulse on the church when I see people just voluntarily jumping in and helping. At that point, Journey becomes less public and more personal. It becomes "my place of worship" not "their place of worship."

Sunday @ Journey (April 26)

It was a distinct day at Journey for a variety of reasons. First, Guy Delcambre spoke and did an amazing job delivering a message of timely truth through God's Word. I believe that people were truly ministered to and we saw evidence of that as several came forward for prayer during our ministry time. It is great to have a God-given team carry the weight of Journey. May God help us to continue grow on a personal level as the church grows.

A second distinction about this past Sunday was the fact that I got to be involved in the worship time in a "loud" way. I got to play in the band. Now those of you who might know me, that is really nothing unusual. I am a musician and I have been playing instruments and singing in church forever. As a matter of fact, some can remember the first set of drums at Bethel in Duncan. That white, now creamy white, set of drums on stage with a stringy headed 11 year old kid pounding on them. I was just a kid when I started playing drums in church. What a chance my dad took on me! This past Sunday I found myself playing drums once again. Our drummer called in on Friday and said he would be unable to make it. As a new church, options are usually pretty limited but I have always said, "if I have to I will" and I had a blast. I spoke to one of our first time visitors and she said, "I've never had a pastor who played the drums before." I just hope I played better than I did when I was 11!

Great job team! Another day of serving the Lord in our field!

Sunday @ Journey (April 19)

There was a great presence in our worship experience on Sunday. So many times we try to think that the things WE do make the day meaningful but in truth, it is the things that HE does that causes our corporate experiences worth while. As we were lead into worship by our team, I found myself lost in a moment of worship.

The vision for Journey is to be a place where people can genuinely experience the presence of God in a corporate environment. Sunday was a great day for that. Now you must understand that people come with presupposed ideas of what it means to experience God. My take is that when a person is truly touched by the presence of God, the grading system of our human wants gets set aside.

I thank God for everyone who made the day great...especially HIM.

Baptism Bash Time

It will be hard to compare subsequent baptisms to our first but I pray that baptisms can become a monthly occurrence around Journey Church.  Sunday, March 29, 2009, we baptized 11 people in water as an example of their faith in Jesus Christ. You can read about some of their stories on the church website and even get the video!

It has been said that Texans sleep with their boots on.  Well, they get baptized with their boots on too!

Sunday @ Journey (March 29th)

Sunday was a day that will go down in the books as won of the most exciting days in the history of Journey Church. You could feel the expectation of the day as it started at 5 am as Joe and I drove to the theater to drop off the baptismal tank a.k.a. cattle trough. We started filling it with water as we prayed the our heater would be sufficient to heat the tank in the 34 degree weather. I knew that it was going to warm up but putting people into a tank of 50 degree water was not what I wanted to be known for. But thanks to Shane Hall, we turned our cattle trough into a redneck hot tub that was perfect for baptism. All total, we baptized 11 people on Sunday from ages 7 to 70. You can catch some of their stories on the website (www.churchonajourney.com) and our facebook page. Baptism was their demonstration of their new found journey. May they always pursue the HIM with an uncompromising commitment. My prayer is that today will serve as a CRUX in the life of those eleven who confessed Jesus as their Savior. May their commitment never fade. As Maxwell said, "Until I am committed, there is a hesitancy, a chance to draw back. But the moment I definitely commit myself, then God moves also, and a whole stream of events erupts. All manner of unforeseen incidents, meetings, persons, and material assistance, which I could never have dreamed would come my way, begin to flow toward me - the moment I make a commitment."

Not only was Sunday the first day of baptisms at Journey Church but it was the first time we decided to do our worship time, acoustic. Sometimes new churches are forced to do an acoustic set because a drummer doesn't show but that wasn't our case. We found that Pablo, our drummer, has incredible ninja skills and can actually play the shaker and text at the same time (or so I am told from the guys at rehearsal). The most exception part of the worship besides Blair showing his ability on the djembe was Aaron bringing it with his standup, "doghouse" bass. I honestly wanted to cry for joy when I saw and heard Aaron pull out the bow and start sawing on that huge fiddle! Awesome time of worship!



As I continued our series, Crux, that highlights the cross of Jesus being the dividing line in history and our life, I felt the passion of God as I communicated what it was like to find true conversion. True transformation. True life-change. In our closing prayer, I ask for hands to be raised by those who were wanting to put their faith in Jesus. Several hands went up and I was able to pray with one man in particular who described to me how over the past few weeks while attending Journey, God has been drawing him closer and closer and today he wanted to affirm his faith in Jesus. What a great day!

God is blessing our new church beyond our expectations. It's not about being hip and cool. It is not about being impressive and catchy. It is about the life changing power of the Gospel. I realize that more every day. For that Gospel, I can and have given my life. And why shouldn't I, HE gave his!

Serving Denton through Convoy of Hope

What a great honor for our young church to be a part of serving our community on such a large scale event such as Convoy of Hope.  Even through the figid temperatures, churches joined together to show love to our city and those who were facing difficult times.  Here are the details: 

27 churches participated

16 community/social/business organizations

572 volunteers

1,516 guests

60 people prayed prayers of salvation

1,015 people were prayed for

In the words of songwriter Chris Tomlin - "greater things are yet to come, greater things are still to be done in this city"

Sunday @ Journey

What an incredible day we had this weekend. We got a late start but that didn't seem to matter to the TEAM. Everyone including those who have recently come on board to serve at Journey, jumped in and transformed our theater into a place of worship for adults and kids alike all in record time.

It was a busy day for our nursery/preschool team because we had almost 20 little guys and girls celebrating Jesus in their own way. Shannon, Melissa and Brandi will receive a crown in heaven that they won't be able to carry for all their work with those little ones.

Michael spoke on Sunday and became the second person to speak in front of a Journey Church audience in our short 5 week history. He didn't disappoint as he challenged us to follow Christ because he knows more of what we need that we do ourselves.

Overall, it was an incredible day. Growth. Relationships built. The Gospel preached. A win!

God, Family, Church - In that order!

It is hard to describe how proud I am of Sydney after her team won the 10U City Basketball Championship. I watched the games in amazement as our girls played with incredible heart and beat a very tough Laker team back to back.

It was worst case scenerio as it all played out. The championship game ended up being played at 5pm Saturday. The exact same time the our planned BIGteam meeting was scheduled. I was forced to make a split second decision at 4pm: Am I going to go to Sydney's game or am I going to skip the game and do the meeting? Family or Church?

It wasn't my daughter's fault that the game was scheduled at that time. We actually thought it might be played on Sunday afternoon. But no such luck. It also wasn't the team's problem that my daughter was playing basketball. How could I win in this situation?

Well, I know that it has been said - God, Family, Church, but many times that really isn't lived out. I can honestly say that my parents never missed one of my ballgames but there were times when I did feel like our family took a back seat to the church calendar. It isn't an easy thing to balance because the choices usually effect lots of people.

I chose to go to my daughters ball game because I wanted her to know that she was more important than it. It is one thing to know what you are getting into when you sign up for kid sports that you know will take you away from church. That is a different story! But when it falls that way without your knowledge, it is another thing entirely.

i chose to set the culture early for Journey Church. The order is not just talked about so it makes us feel good. The order is lived out - God, Family, Church. Why this order? Because I believe strong families have a focus upon God and strong churches have a focus on family. In God's plan, the family came a long time before the church did and that is they way it still should be today!

How do you grow a great TEAM?

One of the most amazing things that I have been able to experience since we began this journey of starting JOURNEY, has been the development of our TEAM. One of the first questions I started getting from people who were either asking from curiosity or asking for accountability was, "so how many people do you have on your team?" I would always do my best to give them the information that they were looking for and then try to give them the backstory of how we got connected. That is the real story!

For sake of time and space, I am going to skip the backstory and just give some thoughts about how God puts together championship teams.

In the early planning stages, we began to think through all the things that we felt had to be in place before we actually started having church services. At every corner we were faced with this question, "how in the world are we gonna do all these things when we don't have people to help us?" Now I know that this is a planting 101 question but let me tell you - when you are in the middle of it, it is a test of faith. Thankfully, the Lord spoke to me and encouraged me to get concerned about what HE was concerned about and HE would give us the help we need. That has certainly been the case.

On Saturday night, we had our first BIGteam meeting with all of our volunteer team. As I looked around I realized that 6 months ago, I didn't know 95% of all these people. Now they have become some of our closest friends. We followed the pattern of Acts 2:32 and we have seen God build an incredible team. I have found that Championship teams do several things: 1. They eat together often 2. They pray together regularly 3. They work together for the common good 4. They play together.

I have found that our recruitment process is at times flawed, but HIS process is always perfect and he knows the type of team it takes to win!

Sunday @ Journey

>> I was told that Daylight Savings Time weekend could possibly be a downer. But it didn't play out that way. We had a great weekend at Journey. Our attendance didn't bottom out and there was a lot of excitement in the air. I did see quit a few more blood shot eyes than usual.

>> Awesome job by Dustin and the set up team of making the best of a late start. You guys have the system down and it is great to see that you do what you do each week with an incredible attitude of service and love.

>> We welcome Aaron and Danielle as a part of TEAMJourney. We are so glad that we have gotten to know them and see their excitement for being a part of the team. They bring unique skills like knowing the molecular structure of an avocado and being able to arrange symphonies. Welcome to the team!

>> Each week we see new faces. It was great to get to meet several whose faces are becoming more and more familiar. I love to meet new people. Always have and always hope to have that opportunity!

Sunday @ Journey

Sunday @ Journey

1. Another great weekend for Journey. We had been expecting a great weekend and God didn't disappoint. I believe that lives were changed. Especially those who found a new vantage point of faith - ridiculous faith!

2. It was great to finally find a way to create a ministry and prayer time in our worship experience. The theater is great but it has its limits. Think about it. Movie theaters aren't usually designed for people to communicate. They are designed for people to sit and watch. I certainly don't want a "spectator" mentality to get into Journey. I like hands on. We just have to be a little more creative than most. Thank God for a handicap aisle. I mean it was designed for those who have special needs right?

3. It was great to meet new friends and see those who have been coming to Journey on a consistent basis. What was really incredible this week was the number of senior adults who attended. Edgy music, dark movie theater and all - they came and really entered into the service. I think that speaks volumes or at least it should. One lady came up to me afterwards and said, "I counted every time you said 'Jesus' in your sermon. It let me know that you know what church is all about." I counted that a compliment. And by the way, it was 36 times!

4. Great job for the music team that lead us into worship another time. I want to especially say that Joe is certainly Mr. Utility. He has played a different instrument 4 weeks in a row. Now that is awesome. As we sang, "Lead Me to the Cross" into "At the Cross" my heart wanted to explode. Everything hinges on the cross. The love of God, through the sacrifice of Jesus, for a rag-tag, unlovable, mass of helpless humanity. Brings tears to my eyes every time.

5. One exciting moment occurred just before sound check. We were in the main theater and all the sudden I hear this crash. Looking over my shoulder, my worst fear was confirmed - our projector fell from its 8 foot high perch and crashed to the ground. I didn't want to even look so Jeremy went to check it out. The projector fell into a seat and was still running lamp and all. No big deal? Oh yeah, God cares about the little things too.

6. We are still praying for others on our team to be able to relocate and finally get moved to Denton. It has been a great challenge to the Delcambre's and the Roberts but I know that God's plan is perfect. It will happen and we are praying that way. That just reminds me to repeat one more time - in basketball, you miss all the shots you don't take. Likewise, God doesn't answer the prayers that we fail to pray. So, I ask, Lord bless and provide for our team!

A Vision for Mexico City

I spoke with a close missionary friend of mine yesterday. Denzil and Rebecca have given their lives to the work of the kingdom in Mexico. I frequently travel there to join them in their work. They are driven by the desire to see people's lives transformed by the gospel. That is the kind of people that I like to be around. Although many in the world may never know their name, they have made huge differences in the lives of thousands of Mexicans.
It was my privilege to call him and tell them that the first offering of Journey Church will be given in its entirety to Amigos De Fe and the ministry in Mexico City. I truly believe and I constantly tell our team that we are to sow in fields that we may never reap. But in turn, we will reap in fields that we have not sown. That is the economy of God.

DQ - Texas version of Starbucks

Being a holiday, the kids wanted to go to grandma’s house and spend the night. It is great that they are only a couple hours away. I grew up with a pretty close relationship with my grandparents. I loved going to their house. There was always a buffet of food to be had or fun games to be played. They always seemed to huddle around me or put a lot of attention my direction. I know it sounds like I was spoiled but actually I was just blessed. One place always sticks out in my mind about going to the grandparents – Dairy Queen. It is kind of a hybrid between a Whataburger and a Grandys. It was always the place where the old timers would hang out for their coffee or it was the prize at the end of the week for those looking for something besides the familiar family kitchen. (The town I’m talking about only had about 900 people in it and that’s counting dogs, cats, and horses.)
So, rather than making the drive all the way to my folks house, we met halfway in Bowie at the DQ. All of the memories that I just described flooded my mind as we sat down. There were old timers visiting with one another. Some people were alone at their tables slowly eating their food as they casual observed all the commotion of the room. So why DQ? Probably wasn’t the food. I’m thinking that people just wanted to be with someone. So go somewhere where they might see someone they know. Talk to an old friend, or even see something out of the ordinary. If they came yesterday, they certainly saw something. My kids ordered ice cream and got it all over themselves. I think we provided the much needed entertainment for some of the patrons of the DQ. It sure brought a smile to my face!

Sunday @ Journey

• Another great day in the early history of Journey Church. We are finding our groove. Things went up fast and came down quickly thanks to our all star team and some superb direction by Dustin.
• This Sunday we were completely on our own. No out of town help came in for support this week. I kind of thin of ourselves as a chick that is hatching. When it is time to hatch, the chick begins to peck its way from the inside out. Through the process of hatching, the babay chick gains strength – strength it needs to survive. If it receives too much outside help, if someone comes along and cracks the shell off the little chick, then it will most usually die. Why? Because it has to learn what it takes to survive.
• Journey is doing more than surviving. We are alive and kicking. Even though it was a double holiday weekend and north Texas is suffering from a flu epidemic, our numbers were solid and there were several first time guests.
• Interacting with guests is one of the highlights of my week. Every hand I shake and every hello I say, my prayer is that every person will feel the presence of God in our meeting.
• Worship was great this week. Josh did a great job for his first time leading at Journey. And a shout out to Joe for bringing Jun to rock out. Thanks Jun! I could tell that you were playing for the glory of God! As for Stephen, your talent will be missed but I know that God’s hand is on you and He is leading you on your journey!