Rise Up - Better than an old school Kung Fu movie...

Recent Reviews:

"Follow the road of devastation left by an exiled Jewish Shogun warrior seeking to avenge the death of his local deli owner/sensei in this non stop action packed thrill ride!"

I couldn't help myself...

Rise Up Weekend - Promo

"Florida Woman Says Former Church Plans to Make Her Sins Public"

I saw this article yesterday and was curious to see what you all thought about the situation. Essentially, this woman was a member of a church in Florida and was actively in an immoral relationship. She was confronted by one person, then a group of ladies, and now the Elders have sent her a letter calling her to repent or have her sin taken before the church (all in accordance with Mt. 18:15-17). Before I write about my opinions, what do you all think?

You can read the article for yourself here.

Top of the Morning to You!

I am currently sitting at a Starbucks on Post Oak Blvd and 610 awaiting a 7:30 meeting at a nearby office building. The meeting was organized by my good friend and former board member, Jody Johnston. He asked me if he could arrange this breakfast so that he could invite some colleagues to come and learn more about Transform Ministries and give them the opportunity to support the ministry. I agreed to come and share with the group what God has been doing and how we have seen and experienced the Gospel transform lives through the ministry over the years. More than gaining financial supporters, my prayer is to make some new friends that will faithfully pray for us. If the Lord compels them to give, I wouldn't deny them that joy, however. ;-)

In other news, I have been greatly enjoying my time off from school. Don't get me wrong, I love learning and I love the fellowship I have with my fellow students and the professors, but I needed a break. In hindsight I am glad that I took 12 hours. While my grades may not have been as high as they would have been with 6 hours, I ended up doing pretty well. Plus, Steph and I are both at a place where I need to be done with this (6 year) season of our lives. This revelation (of my impending graduation) often illicits the following question, "What are you going to do next?"

My first response to this question is, "Geez, let a brother catch his breath!" Then I start asking internal questions like, "Do these people think that I haven't been doing anything 'grown-up' over the past 6 years?" This question isn't meant to reflect any sense of discouragement, but more curiosity. Perhaps my being in grad school causes people to think that I can't really do anything serious until after I receive my masters. Or, some people, because of their faith background, are used to 'pastors' not being able to 'pastor' until they get the credentials. Regardless, I understand that most of the time the question, "What's next?" is a natural question, which I don't mind answering.

This, however, begs the question, "What is next?" As of right now, nothing really new, but more time to invest into what I am currently doing; traveling & preaching, running Transform Ministries, Community Pastoring at Christ Church, building websites, helping out at Faith Mission, and leading a discipleship class at Brenham Christian Academy. For now there isn't any desire to look for a 'real job', i.e. a higher paying ministry position at a large church. Instead, I'd rather take the energy currently being budgeted towards my education and poor it into ministry endeavors. The rest is still yet to be revealed (further education, future ministry opps, etc.).

Well, I need to head out to the meeting. Thanks for taking the time to read.

Done At Last!

Well, for the semester anyway. By God's grace I now only have one iTerm (week long intensive course) and the spring semester and then I will have completed my Master of Divinity (Lord Willing)! I've enjoyed my time at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary's J. Dalton Havard School of Theology in Houston, TX. While my degree is technically 'No Concentration', all of my electives (with the exception of one or two) have been Bible. So, I guess my specialization is Bible, which is good, no?

Now that the semester is over, I hope to be blogging again far more frequently. There has been a lot going on that I would like to share, so stay tuned.

For those of you who don't know, I now build websites in partnership with Gutensite. My latest site is for Calvary Baptist of Brenham. Check it out and let me know what you think! Let me know if you would like for me to build you a site!