God in a headlock

Kenya Experience Kit

2009-07-06T14:55:00.002-05:00

On Thursday I fly out of Moline, Il.

After a few connecting flights and over 17 hours in the air, I will arrive in Nairobi, Africa.

I'm going to cut the ribbon on our church plant in Kenya and I plan on preaching my guts out!

I'm scheduled to preach and pray for over 20 hours in 2 days!

The other days will be spent catching up with the three children my wife and I sponsor and planning for the High School that The Rock is building in the next couple of years.

I plan on capturing as much of this experience as possible and making it available to you as I find wi-fi hot spots throughout Kenya.

Here is my Kenya Experience Kit!

500 gig Hard Drive, 4 gig Ram Duo 2.2 MacBook Pro

Flip Mino HD

120 gig Rocketfish External Hard Drive

Kindle 2 (Did I mention I will be on a plane for 17 hours)

Sony HDD 30 gig HandyCam

Canon Powershot SD870 "The workhorse"

~And I will be packing all of this into my new LowePro Camera/Laptop DayPack!

Rock Church Africa

2009-06-16T09:52:00.000-05:00

Interview with African Pastor from Justin Dean on Vimeo.

MLK in AutoTune

2009-06-16T07:47:00.000-05:00

Planting a Global Church

2009-06-15T21:16:00.004-05:00

Planting a church in another country is not a luxury bestowed upon financially "successful" ministries.

It is a command for all of us from the Resurrected Jesus Christ found in Matthew's Gospel chapter 28

8 And Jesus came and said to them, h “All authority i in heaven and on earth has been given to me.19 j Go therefore and k make disciples of l all nations, j baptizing themm in [2] n the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them o to observe all that p I have commanded you. And behold, q I am with you always, to r the end of the age.”

The Rock Church has succumb to the grace of God. By God's gracious hand, We have been forced from our "land of comfort" and into the African bush.

We have needs at home. We have an unfinished building project. We have underpaid staff. We have very little in savings. But we also have a mission from God. GO MAKE DISCIPLES OF ALL NATIONS!

When God speaks, we choose to move. When it looks fearful, we choose to trust in Him!

I am so thankful to be a part of a church that is more concerned with The Gospel of Jesus Christ going to all the world, than their own personal comfort.

This sunday we raised another $3,500.00 to finish the construction of Rock Church Kenya.

I am told that it is the nicest church building in the region.

In less than a month it will be filled with people, and I will be preaching my guts out.

I believe that God will be glorified, Jesus will change lives, and the devil will take another beating!

For less than $10,000, we were able to buy 10 acres and build this church building where hundreds of families can worship Jesus Christ and within the next 2 years we are planning on building a High School as well. God is Soooo Good! This is a picture of a New Testament Church in action!!

So Good!

2009-06-13T00:43:00.000-05:00

Birthday Suprise!!

2009-06-09T22:17:00.000-05:00

Last day at 29

2009-06-08T19:46:00.003-05:00

My life is good. Actually it's scary good and I don't want to screw it up.

Yesterday, another high profile church leader admitted to sleeping with his secretary and was asked to step down from the large church that he planted.

That really scares me.

Things can be going so good and be gone in an instant. We start to feel successful, like we are beyond moral failure. Who needs boundaries... not me! I am anointed. I am strong.

Such a lie.

I feel especially small today. I realize that I have spent 29 years 364 days on planet earth and I feel lonely and insignificant.

I have achieved a moderate amount of success but it does not bring lasting joy. I'm afraid my work will be devoured by fire or blown away like chaff. Have I built a ministry on me? If I have, it will not last. I place far too much of my identity in the office that I hold.

I am a Pastor. I am a Shepherd. I am a leader.

Today, I am a weak man that is struggling to keep his life on the altar of God.

Just being real.

May's Books

2009-06-04T16:22:00.002-05:00

I have a total ManCrush on John Piper. He really motivates me to Study and Preach Jesus Christ with Boldness! Great little book.
Why Great Men Fail was an awesome read! I suggest it to every leader. I might make this required reading for my proteges.

This was a very inspiring book. The grace of Jesus Christ is absolutely amazing.

Stay on top of your game

2009-06-02T10:37:00.003-05:00

Of those to whom much is given, much is required. And when at some future date the high court of history sits in judgement on each of us, recording whether in our brief span of service we fulfilled our responsibilities - our success or failure, we will be measured by the answers to four questions:

Were we truly men of courage?

Were we truly men of judgment?

Were we truly men of integrity?

Were we truly men of dedication?

-John F. Kennedy

It don't come natural!

2009-06-01T21:21:00.004-05:00

Some people think that growth comes naturally. People are like wine, they get better with age.

I disagree.

I have come to a place in my life and ministry where I don't know the next step to take.

Several other Youth Pastors in the area have raised up youth ministries that have reached the 300 barrier. In the past few years everyone of them has cashed in their chips.

Some failed morally, some moved away, some moved "up", and some just burnt out.

None had longevity. None broke the 300 barrier for any extended amount of time.

I pray that God grants me both!

But I know that it won't happen by me doing the same things I've always done. I need a fresh perspective, I need bold leadership.

Today I spent an hour on the phone with a Youth Pastor who is several steps ahead of me.

Brad Cooper is leading Fuse*, the youth ministry of Newspring Church, aka Perry Nobles church. God is doing some amazing things in their ministry and today God used Brad to encourage me, motivate me, rebuke me, and pump some freshness into my soul!

I thank God for this Web 2.0 relationship that stretched me to believe God for more.

More souls, more depth, more relationships, more margin, more results.

Growth does not come natural. Growth is intentional.

Quit sitting around waiting for the day that you grow up into what God is calling you to do.

Make a phone call to a mentor, join an internship, read a book, take a class, stretch yourself and at the end of everyday ask yourself this question...

What have you done today to grow yourself personally, spiritually, or relationally?

Bring it On!

2009-05-19T09:33:00.003-05:00

One thing is true about teenagers and that is they all have questions.

Questions about life, sex, the bible, sex, the end times, and sex.

We have been doing Question and Answer services for over 5 years at KYC, and we call them "Bring it on!" services.

We started out by passing out little slips of paper where they could anonymously write out their questions and I would answer them ALL! I think there was about 10 teenagers that first week.

Throughout the years, these services have become increasingly difficult because the number of teenagers that we have attending has went through the roof.

We are now only able to answer a fraction of the questions, and sorting through 300+ little pieces of paper is time consuming and difficult.

In comes Mobivity.

For less than a hundred bucks our teenagers can now text message their questions to us, during service.

All of the messages are routed to an email address. The questions can then be copied and pasted into our presentation software and projected on the screens, plasma tv's on stage, and in our overflow room.

This is the first week that we are offering text to screen Bring it On and I am very excited to see how it goes!

How are you leveraging technology to get your message out?

Killing is Killing no matter what you call it!

2009-05-14T12:28:00.001-05:00

How to be a Truth Drenched Youth Ministry

2009-05-08T09:04:00.004-05:00

My Prayer is that Youth Ministry around the Country would be shaped by a new set of behaviors.

I pray that Dodgeball and summer camp will no longer define us.

I have tried my best to exemplify all of these behaviors that are written below. I thank God for His grace and His blessings that have been poured upon myself, my family, and Kingdom Youth Church.

Currently, we are one of the largest youth ministries in the midwest but we are not event driven or entertainment driven.

I preach for at least an hour each week. (I'm not good enough to keep it shorter)

We have seen over 200 new teenage believers baptized in the past year and a half.

I would attribute this moderate amount of success to staying drenched in Gods Truth.

I have taken this straight from John Pipers, Desiring God Blog.

(Author: Abraham Piper)

The following is from my notes at Kempton Turner's session yesterday at the CDG conference.

1. Be a truth-drenched example.

1 Timothy 4:16

Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers.

The example of your life is the hammer that drives your message home. If your life doesn't exemplify what you expect, your message will not be believable.

2. Have a truth-drenched marriage and family life.

1 Timothy 3:4-5

He must manage his own household well, with all dignity keeping his children submissive, for if someone does not know how to manage his own household, how will he care for God's church?

We shouldn't see if someone is fit for the ministry by how they do in seemingly less important ministries. Rather, we should see what kind of husband and father he is. If he leads his family well, then maybe he's fit for the ministry.

Paul assumes that a church leader first leads his family. A truth-drenched youth ministry will get the overflow of the youth minister's leadership of his wife and kids.

3. Cultivate a truth-drenched staff.

Acts 13:2-3

While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them." Then after fasting and praying they laid their hands on them and sent them off.

Gather as a staff mainly to go vertical. Meet with God and see what strategy comes from this worship.

4. Preach and teach truth-drenched messages and lessons.

Hebrews 13:7

Remember your leaders, those who spoke to you the word of God. Consider the outcome of their way of life, and imitate their faith.

The main thing your youth should think about when they remember you is how you spoke God's word to them.

Don't replace teaching truth with games, media, skits, etc.

5. Develop and implement a truth-drenched vision and philosophy of youth ministry.

Proverbs 29:18

Where there is no prophetic vision the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.

Picture youth ministry as a mountain. Develop a plan that puts the cross at the top with all the other good (but less important) things below. Then the truth of the gospel will flow down that mountain over everything you do, drenching your ministry.

Get your bike on!

2009-05-07T18:48:00.002-05:00

I went for a little trail ride on Wednesday morning and decided to shoot a little video footage while I was out.

I love mountain biking! You get a great workout, your adrenaline starts pumping, and your outside. What more could you ask for?

I had the Red Hot Chili Peppers song Hump de Bump for the soundtrack but YouTube switched it out because of Copyright issues.

The place where I am riding is called Sunderbruch park and is in West Davenport, Ia.

April's books

2009-05-01T10:13:00.003-05:00

I finished three great books this month.

Sticky Church was all about how to get people plugged into your church and keep them growing. It was very insightful and enjoyable to read. We are using many principles for this book in our small group system at The Rock.

I believe Spiritual Disciplines is a must read for every follower of Christ. Great stuff on bible study, prayer, fasting, journaling, and silence and solitude.

The Divine commodity was eye opening and very fresh report on the state of the American Church and our personal faith. I really enjoyed his insights and loved the cover design. This book partnered well with "Flickering Pixels", which I am in the middle of right now. I would highly recommend all of these books.

The Dead Zone

2009-04-30T18:57:00.001-05:00

We started a new series this week at The Rock called The Dead Zone.

This is how we started the message.

Building Margin into your life

2009-04-23T08:52:00.006-05:00

This was emailed to me this morning by an awesome parent.

It goes along with what I preached last night, so I thought I would re-post it for you. It was from Rick Warren.

April 22, 2009

Building Margin Into Your Life

by Rick Warren

In our Devotionals series, Pastor Rick Warren discusses the Bible passages that inspire him the most. Today's Devotional is based on this passage:

"Jesus said to his followers, 'Go everywhere in the world, and tell the Good News to everyone'" (Mark 16:15 NCV).

A lot of people are on overload and headed for a crash. Consider these statistics among U.S. citizens:

• People now sleep 2 1/2 fewer hours each night compared to people from one hundred years ago.

• The average work week is longer now than it was in the 1960s.

• The average office worker has 36 hours of work piled up on his or her desk. It takes three hours a week just to sort through it and find what we need.

• We spend eight months of our lives opening junk mail, two years of our lives playing phone tag with people who are too busy to answer, and five years waiting for people who are trying to do too much and are late for meetings.

We're a piled-on, stretched-to-the limit society; chronically rushed, chronically late, chronically exhausted. Many of us feel like Job did when he said, "I have no peace! I have no quiet! I have no rest! And trouble keeps coming" (Job 3:26 GWT).

Overload comes when we have too much activity in our lives, too much change, too many choices, too much work, too much debt, too much media exposure.

Dr. Richard Swenson says, "The conditions of modern day living devour margin. If you're homeless we direct you to a shelter. If you're penniless we offer you food stamps. If you're breathless we connect you to oxygen. But if you're marginless we give you one more thing to do. Marginless is being thirty minutes late to the doctor's office because you were twenty minutes late getting out of the hairdresser because you were ten minutes late dropping the children off at school because the car ran out of gas two blocks from a gas station and you forgot your purse. That's marginless."

You need margin in your life. When you're not hurrying and worrying all the time, you have time to think. Time to relax. Time to enjoy life. Time to be still and know that God is God (Psalm 46:10).

Rick Warren is the founding pastor of Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif., one of America’s largest and best-known churches. In addition, Rick is author of the New York Times bestseller The Purpose Driven Life and The Purpose Driven Church.

This is my day.

2009-04-16T09:55:00.003-05:00

Help me God!

I think it is funny that people think pastors only work on Sundays.

Update

2009-04-14T09:58:00.003-05:00

(The quality of this pic sucks because I snapped it from my iPhone on Sunday morning and it was pretty dark.)

This is an extremely exciting time to be involved in the Rock Church.

1. In the last two weeks we have seen 94 teenagers baptized.

2. For the first time ever we had over 700 people attend our church in one week.

3. This was the first sunday we have had over 400 people worship with us. We had 429 people attend our Easter services.

4. God is moving, people are excited, and the best is yet to come!

Marchs Books

2009-04-10T11:56:00.002-05:00

This book has completely changed my life and ministry. If you struggle with getting things done or you are overwhelmed with how much stuff you need to get done this book is for you. I have to get a lot done and still be really creative. That is tough for me because my mind is always on my tasks at hand. This book teaches you how to get more done and more off your mind to enable greater down time and creativity. I highly recommend this book!

Ortberg is an amazing author. This was a good read.

If you read Tony Morgan's blog then you don't need to buy this book. It is filled with insights and leadership tips but overall it was a letdown for me. It was written similar to Axiom by Bill Hybels but was no where near as beneficial or as powerful.

God is Amazing!!

2009-04-05T17:32:00.003-05:00

Let me give you some stats.

This wed night at Kingdom Youth Church we had 320 people in attendance.

We baptized 94 teenagers for the first time!

It was a spontaneous baptism service.

We have been doing them for about 3 years but this was the largest by far. Last october we baptized 53, and last may another 50.

I have been saying it for years but we are seeing the fruit right now! God is up to something in the Quad Cities!!

What can God do with people who pray like it all depends on Him and work like it all depends on them?

I ain't there yet!!!

2009-03-19T07:39:00.004-05:00

I was notified a couple of weeks back that I am being recognized as one of the Quad Cites Top Leaders Under the age of 40. You can check out the website here.

To be honest, I am shocked. I am only 29 years old and I know that there is so much more that God wants to do through my life.

I am so thankful for God's blessing on my life and leadership.

To my knowledge, only two other Pastors in the Quad Cites have ever led a Youth Church from single digits to over 300 teenagers. One, Brett Black, moved away to Des Moines and started House of Freedom Ministries and the other one fell into sexual sin and lost his pastorship.

I am begging God to enable me to lead this Youth Church onward and upward. If we keep the same growth path that we have been on for the past 3 years we will be over 1,000 young people by 2012. That will be a miracle!

And that is what I am believing God for!!

I believe that the people in the Quad Cities are ready to see God do something that has never been done before!

Listen to your lady

2009-03-11T10:55:00.001-05:00

Awesome, hilarious video that all of us married men really need to hear.

The way of the artist

2009-03-09T11:57:00.002-05:00

Apple Connoisseur

2009-03-04T08:19:00.002-06:00

This is my obsession.

I love apple products.

In the past couple of years I have shelled out some serious dough to Apple, Inc.

Here is a list of the Apple products I'm rocking right now.

Ipod Shuffle. My wife uses this to workout.
Airport Extreme. This runs our home network.
Apple tv. I download movies, my iTunes, family pics, etc on the family tv.
MacBook Pro. This is my workhorse, I hardly go anywhere without it.

30 gig Ipod Classic. Amanda usually has this hooked up in her car.

20" iMac. This is Amandas home computer.

1st Gen 8gb Iphone "Jailbroken" Phone, video recorder, organizer, gps, store, kindle, nintendo, etc. I pretty much run my life through this thing!

I know... I am an Apple freak!