Filipe's Blog

Great Tech Tools For Church Planters & Pastors (Part 2)

2011-10-04T22:54:00.000-07:00

Evernote
Evernote allows you to keep docs, websites, files, notes, etc. all in sync with your mac, phone, iPad, or any other device you use. No need to connect cables, it all syncs automatically. It use it a lot for to-do lists, sermon prep, meeting notes, etc. I start on my mac, continue it on my iPad, and maybe do edits on the go on my phone. It's fantastic.

Crash Plan Pro
For those of you who don't have the patience to connect your computers or devices to external hard drives to back up, Crashplanpro is a great tool. Just download it on all your devices and it automatically backs them up anytime you're online. No worries no hassle.

Mediafire
Our entire staff is addicted to Mediafire. Mediafire works great to share large and small files, pictures, docs, videos, etc. It creates hyperlinks you can attach to emails, websites, or whatever else you use to share files. We also use it to store and share all our church pictures, graphic design, videos, MP3s of messages, staff resources, etc.

Trumpia
This is a text message service that allows you to send special SMS messages to groups of people. We are testing it with our Leadership Team right now. You can send them reminders of meetings, important updates and prayer requests, or links to a resource you want them to have.

YouVersion LIVE
We haven't started using this yet, but I've heard great things about the LIVE feature of YouVersion. It allows people to easily interact with church services and any other live experiences in your church. Many churches use it during their worship services, so that people can take notes on their phone, download resources, respond to polls, etc.

Square
If you need to receive credit cards from people for any reason, Square is just about the best new invention out there. The creator of Twitter created Square. It allows you to receive donations and purchases without having a merchant account, which is awesome. You literally just download the Square app and they'll send you a Square "box" to plug into your iPhone or iPad and you can start receiving donations/money. We use it at our Resource Center, to collect fees for seminars we host, and much more.

Eventbrite

Eventbrite empowers you with simple but powerful tools to manage, promote, and sell out your event. It's free and easy to use. You can use it to register people for conferences, retreats, events, etc.

QR codes
QR codes are a type of bar-code you can easily create that people can scan with their phones and it instantly directs them to a website. We use it on our Tithe/Offering envelopes to take them straight to our giving webpage. We use it on our Sunday programs to take them straight to our webpage. We also use them on mailers, doorhangers, and invite cards. I recommend using http://qrcode.good-survey.com/ so that you can track the effectiveness of your links.

Google Adwords / Yelp Reviews / Facebook Ads
Church planters are constantly asking us what are the most effective ways to use social media and online marketing tools to spread the word about our church. Obviously the #1 reason people visit our church (and yours) is through personal invitation, but in terms of web tools, here is how most people have found our church: (1) Google Adswords, (2) Yelp Reviews, (3) Facebook Ads. If you don't have those set up for your church, you're missing a great opportunity. In terms of Yelp and Google reviews, start by asking your core leadership team and volunteers to write 5 star reviews on your profile.

ElevationResources / LifeChurch.tv resources
In terms of free quality resources for churches, you can't beat Elevation Church and LifeChurch.tv's resources. They have awesome graphic designs, videos, and many other great resources that can save you a lot of time and money.

Great Tech Tools for Church Planters & Pastors (Part 1)

2011-08-27T10:59:00.000-07:00

As South Bay Church grows, so do the amount of questions that pastors and church planters ask us. What do you use to schedule volunteers? How do you track stats? How do you use social media? Which are the same questions we struggled with for a while. Well, I figured I would right down some of the tools that have been most effective and useful for us so far. Some of these are obvious and widely used, but others might be a new idea for you, so just take what you whatever you think would be helpful to you:

Fellowship One

Fellowship One is the online database system that we have found to be the best one out there for churches like ours. Here are some of the features I love most about it: (1) It is completely web-based, so anyone can access it from anywhere; (2) the inFellowship system for Small Group ministry is great, allowing your people to sign up online and your leaders to manage groups themselves; (3) the iPhone app is a great tool that puts the whole church database in your hands anytime; (4) it groups profiles by families, allowing you to communicate with families or individuals; (5) it allows you to query people by just about any category, for example, "all males, with kids, who attend a small group, and smoke cigars".

Planning Center Online
One of the only weaknesses of FellowshipOne is the volunteer scheduling feature, which is why we use Planning Center to communicate with and schedule volunteers. I guess F1 recognized that weakness, which is why this year they are 'merging' with Planning Center, which is incredible news to churches that already use both these database systems! PC allows you to create profiles for each of your volunteers, schedule them to serve, send emails with the request (in which they reply "accept" or "decline", and much more.

GOOGLE: Docs, Calendar, Apps for Business
One of the benefits of living in Silicon Valley is that we get to learn from great companies like Google, Apple, Facebook, etc. headquartered in our back yard. We have dozens of people in our church that work at all those companies, so we get to visit, tour, and learn from them often. Our Google buddies are constantly teaching us new tools and ways to use Google for our church, which I must say, has saved us lots and lots of time and maximized communication within our staff.

If you don't yet know the power of Google docs, you really need to try it. It allows you to share/edit live spreadsheets, presentations, etc. We use it for our stats, our new believer follow up, our events planning teams, prayer chain sign ups, etc.

The Google Calendar is also an incredible tool that allows your whole team to have easy access to each other's calendars. You can also create specific shared calendars for "printing schedule", "sermon series", capital campaign dates", "church leaders calendars", etc.

If you want to take your Google experience to the next level, you should also try Google Apps for Business - which is what we're transitioning to this month. It maximizes the way you do emails, calendars, website hosting, and much more.

Doodle

Doogle is a new tool we're just now starting to use, thanks to one of our Google friends. "Doodle eliminates the chaos that comes from scheduling and saves you a lot of time and energy when you’re trying to find a time to bring a number of people together. Instead of using just one option, you can propose several dates and times and the participants can indicate their availability online. With one look, you’ll be able to see what the best time is for the meeting, and this works with any calendar system that is being used." Another great feature is that it can be linked to your Google calendar.

IN PART TWO: Crash Plan Pro, Media Fire, Square, Eventbrite, etc.

God's Favor

2011-07-13T08:45:00.000-07:00

"What if the Lord had not been on our side?" Let all Israel repeat. What if the Lord had not been on our side..." Psalm 124

That is a question we should all ask at times. What would have happened if God hadn't stepped in? Who would we be if God hadn't intervened in our lives? In this Psalm, David takes the time to think about what would would have happened to the Israelites if God hadn't given them favor. Here's a summary of what David said would have happened:

"Our enemies would have conquered us"
"The pressure would have overwhelmed us"

That reality actually happened to the Israelites. God told them to go into the promised land and conquer the land, but the people sinned by not having faith to believe God would give them the strength to conquer these "giant" people. So God told them they would no longer be able to occupy that land and that He would give it to their children instead.

In Numbers 14:39-45, after the people heard that news, they felt "sorry" for what they had done and decided to try to go into the land anyways. But Moses said, "Why are you now disobeying the Lord's orders.... It won't work. Do not go up into the land now. You will only be crushed by your enemies because the Lord is not with you." Long story short: they went anyways and got crushed.

What if the Lord in not on our side?

Who would we be if God hadn't intervened in our lives?

I would have never gotten out of a life of drugs and unfulfilling addictions.
I would have probably not married a godly women and would be divorced by now.
I would be living a selfish life in pursuit of worldly wealth, a life with no impact.

As I think of the process of starting a church, if God hadn't been on our side...

Our fund-raising attempt would have failed
Our attempts to build a launch team would have failed
Our attempts to partner with our city would have failed
Our marketing and church growth strategies would have failed
Our efforts in reaching people far from God would have been empty

Wow, how we need God's favor. If God is not on our side, all this is meaningless. If the good things we do are not initiated and guided by His Hands, they will be empty deeds. This principle is why our core value #11 as a church is this:

"We depend on the favor of God – We believe God-sized movements happen when we act in audacious faith in the power of the Holy Spirit."

Without God on our side, we will fail.

What Does God Want?

2011-07-08T15:20:00.000-07:00

You ever wander what God really wants from us? So much of our energy is spent trying to figure out that question. What should I do next... what is my purpose in life... how should I live my life... what does God want from me?

Well, I love texts like this one I came across this week where God just plainly tells us what He is really looking for from us:

"What does the Lord your God require of you? He requires only that you fear the Lord your God, and live in a way that pleases Him, and love him and serve him with all your heart and soul. And you mus always obey the Lord's commands... for your own good." Deuteronomy 10:12-13 (NLT)

When you don't know what to do, just ask yourself these questions that I'm asking myself this week:

1. Am I living in a way that pleases Him? Do I have a healthy fear of God?
2. Am I loving God with all my heart and soul or is my heart cold?
3. Am I serving God with all my heart and soul or is my life lived for myself?
4. Am I obeying the things I already know He wants me to do?
5. Do I believe that obeying Him is really for my own good?

Maybe things would be much better for us if instead of trying to figure out our specific purpose in life, we would focus on pleasing Him, loving Him, serving Him, and obeying Him. Maybe that's how our purpose unfolds and we find fulfillment in life.

Our trip to Ethiopia

2011-06-29T08:15:00.000-07:00

This is a summary of our trip to Ethiopia this month. The purpose was to meet the staff our partner church, Nazret Emmanuel United Church, and develop a strategy with them of how our new partnership be mutually beneficial.

We also got to meet our sponsored children through Compassion International, which is one of the best organizations on Earth. Some of our staff that couldn't come in person to meet their kids made videos that we showed the children through the iPad. We had an incredible time getting to know the beautiful people of Ethiopia, going into their homes, praying for the sick, and participating in their coffee ceremonies. Enjoy:

LEVITICUS: God Expects More of Leaders (5 of 5)

2011-06-29T08:08:00.000-07:00

In my study of Leviticus, one of the primary recurring topics was related to God's expectations of leaders--high expectations, that is.

"The high priest has the highest rank of all the priests. The anointing oil has been poured on his head, and he has been ordained to wear the priestly garments... He must never leave his hair uncombed or tear his clothing. He must not defile himself by going near a dead body. He may not make himself ceremonially unclean even for his father or mother..." Leviticus 21:10-11 (NLT)

The point of the text is that God expects more of leaders, especially His leaders. The higher the priesthood, the higher the expectations of purity. Their lifestyles had to be different. Their purity had to be superior. Their humility had to be their mark. They were expected to sacrifice their comforts for the sake of the people.

1 Peter 2:5 says that we are now "his holy priests (or holy priesthood)", speaking of those who know and follow Jesus Christ. He now looks at us as His representatives, and high expectations of character comes with that.

A great reminder for those of us who desire God to use us for great purposes. The higher the leadership, the higher the expectations of character. That is why Jesus is the ultimate High Priest. The roots need to expand before the tree grows.

LEVITICUS: Stop the Ordinary Work (4 of 5)

2011-05-31T06:58:00.001-07:00

Usually when we think of pleasing God, we think of doing things for Him: serving Him, singing to Him, striving to do good things for Him... As I read through Leviticus this month, I noticed again another powerful truth: a huge part of pleasing and worshiping God is knowing when to STOP doing things, even good things.

Even those of us who have an understanding of the Sabbath day of rest that God requires of us, have a hard time really knowing how to apply it. Notice this phrase that continually repeats in Leviticus:

"On the seventh day the people must stop all their ordinary work..." (23:8, NLT)
"That same day (Festival of Harvest) will be proclaimed an official day for holy assembly, a day on which you do no ordinary work." (23:21)
"On the first day of the seventh month... you must do no ordinary work... (23:23-25)
"Do not work during that entire day because it is the Day of Atonement..." (23:28)
"On the first day of the festival (of Shelters)... do no ordinary work." (23:35)
"The first day and the eighth day of the festival will be days of complete rest." (23:40)

One of the healthiest things we can do in life is have days set apart to do no ORDINARY WORK. It doesn't mean we don't do any work, or lay around and be lazy. It means we change scenarios, we do something different, we get new perspective.

God knows how easy it is for us to get stuck in a rut and how easy it is for us to get so busy that we no longer enjoy life. That's why he built in days of rest (no ordinary work) in every Festival and in several seasons of life for the Israelites.

The Day of Rest is also a foreshadowing of the ultimate REST (peace) we would receive from Jesus (see my post on "entering God's rest"). Many people miss out on that REST also, because they never take the time off their ordinary work to think about life... to align themselves with their God-given purpose... to realign their lives with God's will.

Here are principles that have been helping me this year in applying this:

If your ordinary work is with your hands (manual labor...), then find ways to rest with your mind (read a book...)
If your ordinary work is with your mind (accounting, computers...), then rest by engaging in activities with your hands (clean the house, build something, go on a hike...)
Take at least one full day off work a week to reconnect with God. Don't worry about DOING anything for Him, just BE with Him.
Schedule one day a month to reflect on your work, to plan for the future, to evaluate your performance. Resurface...

Part of the reason I believe God asks us to develop a rhythm of rest in our lives is so that we would learn to trust Him. Trust that having His blessing is more important than accomplishing things with our own strength. Trust that He is ultimately the one producing the fruit of our lives, not us. It's out way of telling Him, "yes I trust you".

Do we believe that we can do more in 6 days with God's blessing and favor, then in 7 days without it? Try worshiping by "stopping the ordinary work"...

LEVITICUS: To Be Holy, You Must Be Uncommon (3 of 5)

2011-05-31T06:52:00.000-07:00

One of the most simple yet profound revelations from the book of Leviticus is in regards to Holiness. When we think of HOLY in our culture, images of halos, saints, angels, and the pope typically come to mind. That's why when we hear of commands like, "be holy because I AM holy," we feel like it's just telling us to be pure and sinless, or be something we really can never be.

Leviticus gives us a different way of seeing Holiness. We'll start with an easy verse to remember, 10:10, where we find a glimpse of one of best definitions of HOLY:

"You must distinguish between what is sacred (holy) and what is common..." Lev. 10:10 (NLT)

If I were to ask you what the opposite of Holy was, what would you say? Filthy? Sinful? Evil? How about "common"? That's what the Scriptures teach us. To not be Holy, is to be common. Which also means that to be Holy, we must be uncommon people. Notice God's command to the people in chapter 22:

"Do not treat my holy name as common and ordinary. I must be treated as holy by the people of Israel. It is I, the LORD, who makes you holy." Lev. 22:32
The traditional definition of Holy is to be "set apart," which is a great definition. But the problem is that we often don't know how to practically apply that definition. In simple terms, God wants His people to be different, to be out of the ordinary, to be uncommon from the world--that's what it means to be set apart.

That definition also helps us understand why God gave the people so many weird commands in Leviticus. Strange sacrificial requirements, strange customs, strange social requirements... The point was that He wanted them to look, act, and live differently--as a way of showing that they don't belong to this world--they were set apart for special use.

How can you be uncommon today? It starts by getting close to God. It begins with Him speaking to us. It comes as we have intimate encounters with His Spirit. The uncommon way He is trying to develop in us can only come from Him: "For I am the LORD who makes you Holy" (21:15, 23...)

"You must be holy because I, the LORD, am holy. I have set you apart from all other people to be my very own." Leviticus 20:26

LEVITICUS: Guilty By Default (2 of 5)

2011-05-31T06:51:00.000-07:00

One of the most eye opening truths that came our of my study of Leviticus is one related to our guilt. In Chapter 4, The Lord said to Moses, "This is how you are to deal with those who sin unintentionally by doing anything that violates one of the Lord's commands..."

Now, most people would think God would say something like, "If you didn't mean to do it or didn't know you were breaking one of my commands, you are only held accountable to that sin once you realize that you sinned or broke my command." Right? It seems strange for people to be guilty for something they didn't know was wrong...

Well, when you keep reading chapter 4 and beyond, you encounter a repeating phrase:

"If the entire community sins... but the people don't realize it, they are still guilty." (4:13)
"If one of the leaders sins... but doesn't realize it, he is still guilty." (4:22)
"If any of the common people sin... but don't realize it, they are still guilty." (4:27)

We are guilty by default. Leviticus reminds us that all of us are guilty and in need of rescuing, whether we realize it or not. We are much more filthy than we realize. The prophet Isaiah said this way,

"We are all infected and impure with sin. When we proudly display our righteous deeds, we find they are but filthy rags." (Isaiah 64:6, NLT)

So what what do we do? Here's the second repetitive phrase for us:

"When they become aware of their sin, the people must bring a young bull as an offering for their sin... the elders... must then lay their hands of the bull's head and slaughter it... then put some of the blood on the horns of the altar..." (4:13-21)
"The he becomes aware of his sin, he must bring as his offering a male goat with no defects... slaughter it... put blood on the altar..." (4:22-26)
"When they become aware of their sin, they must bring an offering... (4:27-31)

All those verses end with this statement: "Through this process, the priest ill purify the people, making them right with the Lord, and they will be forgiven." (20,26,31)

Once again, Leviticus points us to Jesus. Knowing that we are guilty and deserving of death (regardless of our awareness of our sin), He became our offering, our bull/goat slaughtered for our sin. As we become aware of our sin and confess them to Him, His blood, which was spilled on the altar of the cross, is what cleanses us of our guilt. So that through this process, the Ultimate Priest Jesus, purifies the people, making them right with God, and giving them forgiveness.

It's a beautiful picture. It's a free gift. It's available for everyone as we become aware of our sin...

LEVITICUS: Everything Points to Jesus (1 of 5)

2011-05-31T06:42:00.000-07:00

Leviticus is one of those books in Scripture that most people want to skip in their "Bible Reading Plans," but in the midst of all the weirdness in it, this book has actually grown to become one of my favorite books of Scripture. When you finally understand the meaning, significance, and depth of this book, it helps you see things through a whole different lens.

It's God preparing the people for the Messiah. It's God laying the foundation needed for His people to realize the depth of their impurity and their desperate need for Him. It's the groundwork for the salvation of humanity. If you ever asked, "why did Jesus have to die on the cross?", the answer is here in Leviticus. Let's start here:

"If the animal you present as a burnt offering is from the herd, it must be a male with no defects. Bring it to the entrance of the Tabernacle so you may be accepted by the Lord. Lay your hand on the animal's head, and the Lord will accept its death in your place to purify you, making you right with him." Leviticus 1:3-4 (NLT)

THIS IS THE WAY FOR PURIFICATION: A male... with no defects... will take your place. His death will be accepted in your place, making you pure and right with God. With process was established nearly 1500 years before Jesus, the only "male" truly with "no defects," would be the ultimate and last sacrifice.

The problem with the old way is that "it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins." (Heb. 10:4) So they had to keep offering sacrifices over and over and over again. This was only a "shadow of things to come" (Heb. 10:1), for Jesus "appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself" (Heb. 9:26).

We see this picture of again in the picture of the Scapegoat:

"He will lay both of his hands on the goat's head and confess over it all the wickedness, rebellion, and sins of the people.... in this way, he will transfer the people's sins to the head of the goat... it will carry all the people's sins upon itself into a desolate land." Leviticus 16:21-22

By coming to Jesus, confessing our sins and rebellion to Him, our sins are transferred to His body. On the cross, he carried our sins to a "desolate land"-- our guilt and condemnation, which steals away our peace, is finally dealt with. We can be made right with God. We can be made pure. But only by coming to Jesus and by grace receiving the forgiveness that His blood bought for us.

"It is the blood, given in exchange for a life, that makes purification possible." Leviticus 17:11

Ancient Leadership Lessons

2011-04-26T20:27:00.000-07:00

"So the people of Israel followed all of the Lord's instructions to Moses. Then Moses inspected all their work. When he found it had been done just as the Lord had commanded him, he blessed them" Exodus 39:42-43 (NLT)

After many years of leading millions of people, Moses learned some good leadership lessons. Here are some key simple insights that can greatly increase our effectiveness as leaders:

"So the people... followed all of the Lord's instructions to Moses"
1. DELEGATE - Just cause God calls you to do something, doesn't always mean you need to do it. In the beginning of His ministry, Moses assumed that if God called him to do something, that meant he had to do it alone. After a much needed talk with his father-in-law, Moses learned that God works through delegated authority. When you delegate authority, others can accomplish tasks in your name... and things get done better and bigger.

"Then Moses inspected all their work."
2. INSPECT - Just cause you delegated responsibilities, doesn't mean you're not accountable to the job. You have to inspect what you expect. There are many leaders who delegate well, but fail to inspect the work afterward. Great leaders, delegate the job to capable people, but then inspect the work to make sure instructions were followed.

"When he found it had been done just as the Lord had commanded him, he blessed them"
3. REWARD - Good leaders know how to delegate responsibilities. Great leaders inspect after they delegate. Better leaders take the extra step to then reward the ones who did they job well. Moses blessed them. Sometimes a simple "thank you" does it, but the greater the task, the greater the reward should be.

The three insights work best when they work together. It seems so simple, but even great leaders forget the simple lessons that can greatly increase our effectiveness.

What responsibilities can you delegate?
How will you inspect the work?
How will you reward the faithful ones?

South Bay Pastors Snuggie Rap

2010-12-26T16:52:00.001-08:00

I Love Snuggies from South Bay Church on Vimeo.

Jehovah Tsebaioth: The Lord of Hosts

2010-11-19T11:03:00.000-08:00

"For behold, He who forms mountains, And creates the wind, Who declares to man what his thought is, And makes the morning darkness, Who treads the high places of the earth-- The Lord God of hosts (Jehovah Tsebaioth) is His name." Amos 4:13 (NKJV)

Je-HO-va Se-baw-OT is how you pronounce it. This is perhaps one of the characteristics of God that is most ignored or unknown to many believers. When God reveals himself as the "Lord of Hosts", He is presenting Himself as the Commander of heavenly armies, a Warrior God, a God who fights for us and through us.

Knowing God this way requires us to understand that we are in a battle - a battle "against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places" (Eph. 6:12). God reveals Himself as the Lord of Hosts only to those who engage their lives in His mission - who set their hearts and minds on living a pure life and advancing His Kingdom.

I have learned more about this part of God's character in the last two years, than probably any other part. When our family moved to Silicon Valley with an aggressive vision of planting churches and spreading the love of God in a dark place, we soon found out that this was going to be quite a battle (see my post on "demonic tricks"). Most Christians today don't even see their need for Jehovah Tsebaioth, since they are Christians merely because they want to make it to Heaven or just have their sins forgiven.

It is so much more exciting to engage in God's mission for our lives. To do battle, to seek victory, to move forward in our walk with Christ. When we declare war against sin, when God's love compels us to spread His message - we will soon find that the Lord of Hosts not only sends His armies of angels to fight for us, but He also equips us with great strength to accomplish His mission and live with purpose. When you get tired of fighting on your own, seek Jehovah Tsebaioth, and let God do the fighting for you and through you.

Also read: Joshua 5:13-15, Romans 9:29, James 5:4

Jehovah Makkeh: The Lord Who Smites (disciplines)

2010-10-30T13:52:00.000-07:00

Do you know when God is disciplining you?

This is perhaps one of the hardest aspects of God's character to understand. God is surely a God of grace, but when we reject his gracious ways with us, He then has no option but to discipline us. After many warnings for the people to turn away from their sins, God finally says to the people,

"I will turn my eyes away and show no pity. I will repay you for all your detestable sins. Then you will know that it is I, the Lord, who is striking the blow (The Lord Who Smites)." Ezekiel 7:9

The big misunderstanding here is when people think that God's punishment is just to get back at us for our sin (revenge). Ultimately, Jehovah Makkeh is all about grace. God created us to know Him, walk with Him, delight in Him... and He knows that unless we turn from the sin that separates us from Him, we will not experience true life in its fullest.

He disciplines so that we have a chance to receive healing. He disciplines so that our pride doesn't destroy us. He disciplines so that our addiction doesn't overcome us. He disciplines so that we will stay on the path of LIFE.

We see this side of God's character when Saul is hit by the presence of God, falls off his horse, and becomes temporarily blind. It was the only way to get his attention. We later see Paul warning the church against participating in the Lord's supper without reverence for it's meaning. He even says, "that's why so many of you are weak and sick and some have even died" (1 Cor. 11:30).

Maybe some of the bad or unexpected things happening in our lives are God's way of getting our attention. Maybe he's trying to say something... or guide us the right direction... or show us a better way. Sometimes the only way we'll turn to Him wholeheartedly, is when He disciplines us with the consequence of our wicked choices. Then we see our need for Him. Then we recognize how much our sin has stolen our fulfillment. That's His way of molding us.

Whether it's the pain of a relationship, the lack of peace in your heart, or a sickness of some sort... maybe God is trying to get your attention in order to bring you into a life of abundant joy and fruitfulness.

"No discipline seems pleasant at the time, but painful. Later on, however, it produces a harvest of righteousness and peace for those who have been trained by it." Hebrews 12:11

Other Scriptures with Jehovah Makkeh: Lamentations 3:30, Zechariah 13:7, Malachi 4:6

Jehovah Rophi: The Lord Who Heals.

2010-10-22T11:30:00.000-07:00

When we think of Yahweh Yireh (The Lord Who Provides) we often only think of Him as being the Provider of material things, but we've seen that He is Provider of much more than just money... The same is true of Jehovah Rophi (The Lord Who Heals). When we think of God being a Healer, we often only think of him healing our physical illnesses, but He is so much more than that.

When the Israelites had been traveling in the desert for 3 days without finding water, they finally found an oasis. However, the water of the oasis was too bitter to drink, so they started complaining and becoming bitter toward their leader Moses. Moses then cried out to God for help, and "the Lord showed him a piece of wood. Moses thew it into the water, and this made the water good to drink." (Exodus 15:25)

Then the Lord said to them, "If you will listen carefully to the voice of the Lord your God and do what is right in his sight, obeying his commands and keeping all his decrees, then I will not make you suffer any of the diseases I sent on the Egyptians; for I am the Lord who heals you (Jehovah Rophi)." Exodus 15:26.

This part of God's character is so comforting and convicting at the same time. It reminds us that there is no room for bitterness in our hearts. God is basically telling his people , "I am a God who wants to heal you... I am not inclined to cast you aside. My heart is to mend you completely - body, soul and spirit. I want you to know this about me: I AM the Lord who heals you. I can turn bitterness into sweetness."

God wants to not only heal our diseases, but also our bitterness, our pride, our resentment. The parts of our hearts that become hardened, that disable us from hearing His voice. His touch can bring healing. His nature is to mend us.

What part of your heart has become bitter? What part of your life needs to be touched by Jehovah Rophi? What kind of healing to do you need? His promise is that if we turn to Him, listen to Him, obey Him... then He turns the bitter waters of our life, into life-giving springs.

Yahweh Yireh (Jehovah Jireh): The Lord will provide.

2010-10-18T10:43:00.000-07:00

This might be one of the names of God that people most recognize. At least for me, I've heard people quote "The Lord provides" several times, but almost always in the context of finances. Yahweh Yireh is so much more than a provider of money though. This part of God's character also speaks to those of us that are overwhelmed, feeling unable to accomplish anything significant, lacking strength...

The name Yahweh Yireh has these meanings: "God is showing us", "God who sees to it", "God who provides". God revealed himself as Yahweh Yireh when Abraham took his son up the mountain in obedience to God's command, and as he was about to sacrifice his son, the angel of the Lord stopped him and showed him a ram. The ram was God's provision for the sacrifice, in the place of his son. God provided what Abraham needed at the right time.

This is the part of God's character that assures us that:

when we are weak, He provides the strength
when we feel unable to do what He called us to do, He enables us
when we think we don't have what it takes, He provides what we need
when we don't know how to obey Him in the midst of our situations, He provides...
when we are feeling condemned, He provides forgiveness

He is the great Provider. He provides strength, forgiveness, peace, resources, and whatever else we need to accomplish what He's called us to do. When we feel we're way over our head in ministry (like I often do), or with parenting, or with work... we can be assured that our God is Yahweh Yireh - He will provide if we seek Him with sincere hearts. Trust Him.

El Shaddai: God All Powerful and All Sufficient

2010-10-08T10:18:00.000-07:00

God will often use our crises - the most difficult and trying times of our lives - to shape us and give us hopeful revelations of who He is.

In Genesis 16-17 we see Abram struggling to believe that God would and could still keep his promise of giving him countless descendants. He was now ninety-nine years old and he just couldn't see past his dried up body and his wife's dead womb. That's when God showed up and revealed a part of Himself that Abram did not yet know:

"When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the Lord appeared to him and said, "I am El-Shaddai--'God Almighty.' Serve me faithfully and live a blameless life. I will make a covenant with you, by which I will guarantee to give you countless descendants." Genesis 17:1-2 (NLT)

The literal meaning of "El-Shaddai' is "God, all-powerful and all sufficient." Earlier we saw that God revealed Himself as El Elyon, the Most High God in control of all things, but now God is saying to Abram, "Not only am I in control of all things, I want you to know that I always keep my word. I AM the God who does the 'impossible'. Nothing can stop my promise. I AM Almighty, beyond comparison, unstoppable."

Abram's response to this revelation is the same response that any of us would have as we meet this side of God, "At this, Abram fell face down on the ground..." God then goes on to give him a set of "I will's".

"I will make you a father..." "I will make you extremely fruitful" "I will confirm my covenant..."

As I've been asking God to reveal Himself to me as El Shaddai, I keep thinking of all the things in my life that I often just can't seem to look past: my weakness, my struggles, my lack of confidence, my fears, and my unbelief at times that God actually can use my life for great things. But then I start hearing the Spirit of God saying to me "I will... I will... I will..."

El Shaddai gives us confidence that even when we can't, HE CAN. Even when we are weak, HE IS STRONG. Even when we doubt, HE REMAINS THE SAME. He is able to do great things. And He is willing to do them through us.

Our God is Almighty, All Powerful, All Sufficient, and He always keeps His word.

"Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think..." Ephesians 3:20

El Elyon: God Most High. Creator and Possessor of heaven and earth.

2010-10-05T08:16:00.000-07:00

In Genesis 14, we see Abram was about to be faced with the biggest temptation of his life. An evil King offered him abundant riches, material goods, and fame, but this would mean he would have to compromise the reputation of God. Abram's response was amazing. With all confidence he says, "I solemnly swear to the Lord, God Most High (El Elyon), Creator of heaven and earth, that I will not take so much as a single thread or sandal thong from what belongs to you..." (14:22)

You have to ask, what gave Abram such confidence and boldness of faith? Well, right before this temptation, God revealed to Abram (through Melchizedek, the priest) a part of His Character that forever changed Abram's understanding of His God. Melchizedek blessed Abram with this blessing:

"Blessed be Abram by God Most High (El Elyon), Creator of heaven and earth. And blessed be God Most High (El Elyon), who has defeated your enemies for you." Genesis 14:19-20 (NLT)

This was the first record of God revealing Himself as El Elyon. El Elyon literally means, "God Most High, creator and possessor of heaven and earth." God was basically saying, "Abram you're going to need to know something about me. There is no one greater than Me, there is no one above Me. Everything on earth belongs to Me. I AM not only Creator and Possessor of all things, but I AM also in control of everything in the Universe. I AM Supreme and Sovereign."

Have you heard God speak those words to you? Every time I'm tempted or feeling like I don't have what it takes to accomplish my purpose, I've been hearing this whisper... "I AM God Most High, El Elyon..." That's why Abram felt no temptation to take the riches offered by the King. He knew God was ultimately the boss of everything, He owned it all already.

Let that be an encouragement to you this week. El Elyon is in control. There is no problem, or barrier, or person, or temptation too great for Him. Make David's prayer part of your daily worship this week:

"I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High (El Elyon)." Psalm 9:2

Other key passages about El Elyon: Genesis 14:18-20, 2 Sam. 22:14; Psalm 18:13, Psalm 7:17, Psalm 21:7, Psalm 46:4, Psalm 47:2, Psalm 50:14, Psalm 57:2, Isaiah 14:13-14, Lam. 3:38, Daniel 3:26, Daniel 4:32, Luke 1:32, Luke 1:35, Luke 1:76, Mark 5:7

Knowing God by Name

2010-10-04T08:52:00.000-07:00

"Our help is in the name of the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth." Psalm 124:8 (NIV)

It's very rare that I use a regular book as a guide in my daily devotional time with God. However, a few months ago, I kept feeling the urge to study the Hebrew names of God. I did some research on good resources and ended up ordering David Wilkerson's "Knowing God by Name: Names of God that bring hope and healing".

I've been using this book in the last couple weeks as a guide to my Bible study and prayer time and it's been powerful in my life. My initial thought was that learning God's revealed names in Scripture would expand my view of His greatness, and it has... but even more, it's also showed me the longing of God to be known intimately by His people. I sense God healing deep parts of my heart and showing me things about Himself that are directly related to my season of life.

You see, though God revealed Himself as the great "I AM" (Yahweh), He also revealed himself to His people with other names in order to show them other aspects of His nature and character (El Elyon, El Shaddai, Jehovah Jireh...). The interesting thing though, is that He would only reveal these names to His people as they needed them--in their moments of deepest crisis. It was His way of saying "I AM whatever you need, at any point in your life. I AM Deliverer when you need deliverance, I AM Healer when you need healing... I AM what you need."

For the next few days I will share some of my learnings of God's names and ways that He is speaking to me through them. My hope is that you would also find your perspective of God's greatness increasing and, at the same time, increase in your intimacy with God as you sense Him speaking hope and healing into your life through the revelations of His names.

Here are a couple ideas of things I'm doing to help this have a lasting impact in my life:

Write the Name of God and definition of that name in my journal, along with the Scripture of that Name.
Write and highlight God's revealed name in the margin of my Bible, next to the 1st reference of it in Scripture.
Use the Name in my prayer time as I intercede for my church, family, and others.

Google - unique place.

2010-09-07T16:53:00.000-07:00

Our staff took another trip to Google this week and enjoyed a great lunch with a couple South Bay Church members and other Google employees. Google is definitely a unique place and there are lots of things churches could learn from them. Here are a couple thoughts to consider:

(1) Every single Google employee I've met at Google is majorly high on Google kool-aid. They are raving fans and absolutely love working there. In many ways, their life is Google. In fact, Google tries pretty hard to keep employees there all the time by providing free b-fast, lunch, dinner, laundry mats, massages, work out gyms, pools, games, cafes, concerts, etc. The result is that Googlers are fully devoted to Google.

(2) Creativity and simplicity - Google's environment calls out the creativity in you. Their facilities are filled with white boards, huge plastic balls, fun statues, colorful chairs, creative technologies, etc. However, even though they are creative, things are fairly simple - nothing really extravagant. In fact, everyone dresses like they are on a college campus, people bring their pets to work, and ride their bikes from building to building.

(3) Team success - one of the most impressive parts of the Google culture is their team approach with things. There is no one superhero in Google - they all feel like superheros. Almost every employee working there is a specialist or expert in their area, and together they create impressive results. Not one person really gets credit for anything, yet each employee is encouraged to pursue projects that they feel passionate about.

Most of these values that Google tries to implement in their culture are the same values that Jesus started teaching 2000 years ago to his followers: 1 - radical devotion and passion (for God) / 2 - simplicity, creativity, relevancy / 3 - team success; individuals becoming powerful by using their unique gifts and strengths to advance God's Kingdom and not one of them getting the glory for it...

It's funny how many of the principles and values that make these powerful tech companies in Silicon Valley succeed, are the same ones that Jesus taught so long ago. The funnier part is that these companies think they are being innovative with their approach, but they are just applying age-old teachings and principles... They are the same principles and values that make God's Church effective also, but so many refuse to apply them. Things like openness, creativity, relevancy, valuing individual gifts, celebrating team success, putting people ahead of things...

Rhythm of Faith

2010-08-30T22:21:00.000-07:00

This past Sunday morning I got to teach at the South Bay Church worship services. I did part 2 of our "Rhythm of Faith" series and talked about building a foundation for faith. Here are some of the key principles I shared for those of you interested in taking your faith to another level:

To hear the whole talk, click here.

John 6:30-40 (NLT)

They answered, “Show us a miraculous sign if you want us to believe in you. What can you do? After all, our ancestors ate manna while they journeyed through the wilderness! The Scriptures say, ‘Moses gave them bread from heaven to eat.’”

Jesus said, “I tell you the truth, Moses didn’t give you bread from heaven. My Father did. And now he offers you the true bread from heaven. The true bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

“Sir,” they said, “give us that bread every day.”

Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry again. Whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But you haven’t believed in me even though you have seen me…”

Our experiences, families, and leaders can help us develop a foundation for our faith, but they cannot be the foundation.

Uncommon faith comes when you see God in the common realities of life.

John 3:11-12 "I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things?"

As we grow in our personal relationship with God, we also grow in our ability to see His greatness in the smallest details of life.

By ZOOMING IN and ZOOMING OUT we are reminded that in the seemingly common, we can see the infinite glory of God.

"ZOOM OUT" HERE:

Psalm 147:4 "He counts the stars and calls them all by name. How great is our Lord! His power is absolute! His understanding is beyond comprehension!"

Psalm 19:1 "The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him knows. They speak without a sound or word; their voice is never heard. Yet their message has gone throughout the earth, and their words to all the world."

Romans 1:20 "For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse."

Demonic Tricks

2010-07-11T03:31:00.000-07:00

"For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places." Ephesians 6:12

I have never in my life experienced as much spiritual warfare as I have since I moved to Silicon Valley. To some of you that read this, you'll think this topic is absolutely ridiculous, but to others, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about and probably experience it yourselves.

The things I'm writing here are my personal experience with the demonic world in the last couple years of my life. I'm not exactly sure all the reasons what, why, and how this stuff happens, but I'll do my best to give you a glimpse of our experiences here.

First, let me give you my opinion of why I think demonic activity is seen and experienced more here in our environment:

Variety of Religions - there is a high concentration of every world religion and cult in this area. I believe that false religions are inspired and, in many ways, controlled by the demonic world - whose goal is to distract people from the Truth of Scripture.
Evangelistic Focus - as a church, we are very evangelisticly focused. That is, we put a lot of value on reaching people who are far from God and bringing them into relationship with Jesus Christ. Churches who lose that focus are not a big worry to the Enemy.
Demonic Domination - the San Francisco Bay Area has for many years been know as an area dominated by liberal thinking, anti-family values, and opposition to Christianity.
Unchurched - The Bay Area is one of the most unchurched metropolitan areas in the country - 95% of people here don't attend church services anywhere. This is a weird thought, but Satan does not have many options of churches to attack, unlike other places.
Big Vision & Aggressive Agenda - If I were Satan and I heard the magnitude of the vision of our team - to start a church planting movement and transform the Bay Area with the Gospel - I would also be trying my best to stop them!

Secondly, let me share with you some of the things that have happened as a result of demonic oppression. Most of these things happened right before a big weekend for us as a church. For example, a weekend where we will do a focused call for lots of people to receive salvation or take the step to get baptized.

Cats - Before one of the biggest Sundays of South Bay Church a couple months ago, a group of 5 cats would sit outside our bedroom door (opens to the patio) and make horrific noises all night long. Trust me, this was not the normal cat meows, they were very loud noises that sounded like people screaming in HELL. I would kick them out and they would come right back. After the 3rd night of getting almost no sleep, my wife and I prayed together for them to go away and they did. (I mean no offense to cat-lovers).
Kids screaming - Just last Saturday night, again before a huge Sunday, my daughters came out of their room screaming at the top of their lungs saying they were scared. I put them back in bed, but every hour at night (a total of 6 or 7 times) one of them would come out screaming. The last time, Cailyn - my 2-year old, screamed: "it scared me... it scared me and went away!" I stayed up that night praying on my knees until they fell back asleep.
Vivid Nightmares - I can't tell you how many times, especially on Saturday nights, my wife or I have very vivid demonic dreams. My last one I woke up and couldn't move or speak. Then I finally got the name of "Jesus" out and whatever held me let go.
Other countless incidents: There are some so many other things I can share, from neighbors partying all night, to computers crashing right when we need it most (we have Macs and they don't crash easily), to our family getting sick during key weekends... They might seem like coincidence to some people, but their timing and patterns are almost predictable based on the magnitude of our events and impact.

Lastly, let me share why I think God doesn't protect us from all demonic activity, though I believe He shields us quite a bit already:

Reminds us to stay dependent - when this stuff happens we are reminded that the battle is bigger than us. It is a spiritual battle for the souls of people. We cannot do it on our own.
Keep us on our knees - nothing will motivate you to pray more than to see the demonic world attacking your family. They are reminders for all of us to stay on our knees and pray hard.
Remind us that this battle is more spiritual than physical - the Scriptures are clear that our battle is not against flesh and blood, but against the powers of the spiritual realm.
Same reason we're not exempt from pain - As Christians, we are not exempt from pain and suffering, because pain protects us from deeper suffering (like burning your finger on the stove), it reminds us of the temporal nature of our lives, it makes us long for eternity with God...

In spite of all this, in a strange way I feel very encouraged when we face these attacks. It shows that whatever we are doing is causing the Enemy to get very upset. He sees the potential in our vision. Also, I love seeing God come through as victorious every time. Just last weekend when my kids kept getting up due to something scaring them, we ended up having one of the biggest Sunday services in the history of our church. People still get saved, restored, and take huge steps of faith.

The Enemy cannot stop God's Church. He can play dirty tricks, disturb our sleep, attack our families and even our flesh, but God's Church still advances. She is an unstoppable force, because the Spirit of God lives in her and He cannot be shaken!

Life Apps Series 2010

2010-07-02T09:54:00.000-07:00

Life Apps 2010 from South Bay Church on Vimeo.

Teaching human ideas as commands of God.

2010-06-01T07:16:00.000-07:00

Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law now arrived from Jerusalem to see Jesus. They asked him, “Why do your disciples disobey our age-old tradition? For they ignore our tradition of ceremonial hand washing before they eat.”

Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your traditions, violate the direct commandments of God? ...And so you cancel the word of God for the sake of your own tradition. You hypocrites! Isaiah was right when he prophesied about you, for he wrote,

‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship is a farce,
for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God.’"

I've been thinking a lot about this little phrase that Jesus quoted to these people: "they teach man-made ideas as commands from God" or as the NKJ says it: "And in vain they worship Me,Teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.” I wonder how much of what I believe and teach come from human ideas, more than God's Word. They are things that are deep in the "church" culture, but you can't really find them clearly in the Scriptures. They are beliefs that people teach as "essentials", yet the Bible doesn't even mention them. They are man-made, but we treat it as God-spoken.

Think about these ideas that are often treated as commands from God or doctrines, but clearly did not come from the Scriptures. Some of them are actually pretty funny.

Christians shouldn't drink alcohol - even though Jesus and his disciples and the early Church clearly drank alcohol, so many people and churches treat this as the 11th commandment. The biblical command is "don't get drunk" and obviously consider your context so you're not "a stumbling block". But come on... drinking some wine with your family and neighbors at dinner time is more Christ-like than most of the other things we do.
Tattoos are wrong - Ok, there's a mention of this in the O.T. but it's clearly a cultural command for that time and makes no sense in our day. No time to explain that here, but if you're going to treat that one as a command from God to us, then you need to treat the one before as one also: "Do not cut the hair at the sides of your head or clip off the edges of your beard." Lev. 19:27. Good luck.
You need to dress up or differently to go to church. Several things are wrong with this statement, but it's amazing how many people and churches emphasize church dress-code like it came from God. First of all, you would never find the term "go to church" in the Bible. We are the church, we don't go to church. Secondly, Jesus spoke and dressed in the language of the people. If that's a way you want to "honor" God by dressing up to "go to church", that's fine, but let's not treat it as God's requirement for church attendance.
Worship Service Order - you're not doing things right as a contemporary church if you don't have 3-4 songs sung by a cool band, a 35 minute message, quick announcements, and an offering time during an upbeat song. Be careful to do it just like that or you're not doing it God's way--at least that's what I've heard. :)
Daily Quiet Time & Journaling - do you remember the passage where Jesus is sitting by the mountainside and he said "you should open your Bibles daily in a quiet place and read a chapter from one of the Gospels. Then make sure to spend a few minutes in prayer and write your thoughts in a journal If you do these things you will be godly like me." Maybe we like thinking of "quiet time" as God's standard of godliness because it's much easier than actually imitating Jesus, who would often spend "all night in prayer", would walk in communion with God every minute of the day... I think it's very important to have quality daily time with God, but there's no biblical "quiet time" guide.
Being Green - Don't get me wrong, I think it's important to be responsible with how we treat the earth and, we as a family and church, recycle properly. However, here in the Bay Area, being green is often treated as a command from God Himself and is often put as a priority even above humans. Often the people who want to "save the earth" are the same ones "destroying human life" by promoting abortion rights. Pretty backwards.
Praying to saints or Mary, Infant baptism... - There are so many ideas like these in some denominations that are taught as commands of God, but are not consistent with His Word.

Do you know some things we do that would fall under the category of human-ideas, but are treated as God-commands? Think about, we're all guilty of doing it at times...

CATALYST WEST: What I learned from Donald Miller, Scott Belsky, Kay Warren, Wes Stafford, and Andy Stanley

2010-04-28T07:52:00.000-07:00

CATALYST LEARNINGS #3:

Donald Miller – Author, “A Million Miles in a Thousand Years” and “Blue Like Jazz” (www.donmilleris.com)

We often try to avoid problems, danger, and conflicts, but those are the things that make life thrilling, interesting, and gets us to big results. Every good story has a character that wants something and overcomes an obstacle to get it.
What is the something I’m going for? What’s my story about? Will I overcome the obstacles to get it? What if…

Scott Belsky – Founder and CEO, Behance & Author, “Making Ideas Happen” (www.behance.net)

When working with the creative, set clear guidelines and timelines.
In our culture there are too many incoming information vessels (Twitter, Facebook, Emails, Instant Messaging, Texts, etc), so create windows of non-stimulation in your day and week: no task list… do only the important things, not the urgent ones.
Create short-term goals and measure your progress. Share them with others so that you stay accountable to them.
Measure the effectiveness of meetings with the action steps that result from them.

Kay Warren – Author, “Dangerous Surrender” and wife of Rick Warren, Saddleback Church (www.kaywarren.com) / Wess Stafford, President of Compassion International (www.compassion.com)

If our faith is genuine, we must do something about the poor, orphans, and widows in the world. It is not optional; it is a requirement of our faith. (James 1:27)

Andy Stanley, Lead Pastor or Northpoint Community Church & Author, “The Principle of the Path” (www.northpoint.org)

LEADERSHIP WISDOM: The less you do, the more you accomplish. The less you do, the more you enable others to accomplish. So do only what only you can do.
Focus on your strengths, position others to make up for your weaknesses.

CATALYST WEST: What I learned from Andy Stanley, Charlene Li, Mark Driscoll, Reggie Joiner, and Loiue Giglio

2010-04-24T19:07:00.000-07:00

CATALYST LEARNINGS #2:

Andy Stanley, Pastor of Northpoint Church (www.northpoint.org)

Your picture of the future will be no bigger than what you think is possible.
Jesus' movement brought about the reconciliation of sexes, cultures, ages, social status... we are called to continue that movement.

Charlene Li - Co-founder, The Altimeter Group & Author, "Groundswell & Open Leadership" (www.altimetergroup.com)

Social media is no longer to be treated as a side note or small part of communication with others. Make time to dialogue, innovate, and invest in this form of communication.
Organizations need someone in charge of dialoguing through social media - respond to people's comments, add new friends/followers, web communication, use it for specific purposes...

Mark Driscoll - Lead Pastor, Mars Hill Church (www.marshillchurch.org)

Ministry is not what we do for God, it is what God does for and in us.
Jesus Christ is the Senior Pastor of the Church. Don't build yourself as the head.
The Holy Spirit chooses leaders, we just appoint them. (Acts 20:28)
God gifts people in the church - build a team of specialists, not generalists.
We can't do what God calls us to do with our own strength.
The Holy Spirit falls when Scripture is taught. Teach a Scripture/Jesus centered life.

Reggie Joiner - Founder, The Rethink Group & Author, 'Think Orange" (www.rethinkgroup.org)

The ONE thing that gives us influence (Luke 15:2): See people through the eyes of a loving father.
Loving fathers are preoccupied with whoever is missing (friends of sinners); older brothers are preoccupied with themselves. Loving fathers operate from the context of forgiveness; older brothers operate from a context of shame. Loving fathers throw parties; older brothers throw fits.

Loiue Giglio - Pastor, Passion City Church & Leader of Passion Conferences (www.268generation.com)

The early believers didn't "decide" to be an Acts 2 Church - it happened as a result of something. All they had was: (1) The Word of God - teachings of Jesus. (2) They experienced the Resurrection. (2) The Holy Spirit's power.
Trust the power of God's Word in your leadership. Show people how to experience Jesus and know Him. Have Spirit-appointed leaders, Spirit-powered worship, Spirit-gifted believers, Spirit-filled preaching... and Acts 2 type of church will happen.

CATALYST WEST: What I learned from John Ortberg, Dino Rizzo, Dan Kimball, Scott McKnight, and Aaron Keyes

2010-04-24T11:22:00.000-07:00

Over the next few days, I'm going to post my top learnings from the Speakers at the conference. These are things I felt were most significant as it relates to my life and ministry. Also, in some cases, what I write I learned from these men/women are not things they directly spoke about, but I just felt God speak to me as they shared their messages.

Aaron Keyes – Worship Pastor, Grace Fellowship (www.aaronkeyes.com)

Some people don’t connect well with Aaron’s style of leading worship because he talks a lot in between songs, but what really challenged and encouraged me was the amount of Scripture that he quoted (from memory) from the stage. He led worship just as much with Scripture as he did with songs. Every song was soaked in Scripture as we sung it.
God’s Word needs to be a bigger part of my life and ministry. Always know the biblical foundation for the things you do.

Scott McKnight – Professor and Author, the Jesus Creed (www.jesuscreed.org)

It’s trendy to be a “missional” church, but many are becoming less evangelistic as they are engaging in justice and poverty initiatives. *Be missional, but also gospel-centered and driven. Souls are what really matter.
The definition of Christian is not someone who has all the spiritual disciplines, but one who follows Jesus – interacts with him, listens to him, goes where He leads…

Dan Kimball – Pastor of Vintage Faith Church and Author, “The Like Jesus, But Not The Church” (www.dankimball.com)

If we hold the church’s historical view of sexuality, it doesn’t mean we are fundamentalists or hateful. Teach your church to deeply love those who are not in alignment with you and teach a biblically holistic perspective on sexuality.
We have now shifted to communicate the Gospel with deeds and social actions well, but most of our churches don’t know how to articulate the Gospel with words anymore. Teach people to articulate the Gospel clearly with words.

Dino Rizzo – Lead Pastor, Healing Place Church (www.healingplacechurch.org)

Jesus washes the feet of His disciples and then tells them, “I have given you an example to follow… now that you know these things, God will bless you for doing them.” (John 13:17)
Guard your heart so that you are constantly growing as a servant. Also teach your team Jesus’ way of leading – by humbly and sacrificially serving others. God’s blessing comes when we lead this way.

John Ortberg – Pastor, Menlo Park Presbyterian Church (www.johnortberg.com)

If you gauged spiritual maturity by disciplines, the Pharisees would always win.
Let God’s grace shape your life in the uniqueness that God created you.

Big God, Small Worship

2010-02-03T09:04:00.000-08:00

"PRAISE THE Lord! Praise God in His sanctuary; praise Him in the heavens of His power! Praise Him for His mighty acts; praise Him according to the abundance of His greatness!" Psalm 150:2

I read Psalm 150 this morning and this verse jumped at me. I feel like so often our worship is so small because our perspective of our God is so small. When God is small in my mind, it's harder for me to pray, my worship times are shallow, my life is less surrendered, my faith and risk-taking is merely safe.

However, when my awareness of His Greatness is in my heart and mind, I find it so easy to pray fervently, worship deeply, give freely, risk greatly, and passionately surrender myself into His hands. I'm so glad the Psalmist said to praise Him "according to the abundance of His greatness".

That's the worship He wants. BIG worship. It's pretty easy to identify small worship among leaders, here are some signs:

When pastors become more passionate about their style or theological leaning, than God Himself.
When worship leaders care more about what other "cool" worship leaders think, than what God thinks. I often wonder if some worship leaders worship other worship leaders or their music more than God.
When church leaders care more about becoming great leaders, than becoming great men/women of God.
When talent is what impresses us, more than anointing.
When prayer and worship feels more like a duty, than a privilege.
When our prayers and pleadings are reactive, self-focused, and comfortable, rather than proactive (Kingdom-come), other-focused, and risky.
When churches settle on maintaining numbers, rather than growing and reaching more people.
When we are "too busy" to pray or seek God, as if He was that small.
When we get more excited about teaching and equipping other leaders, than being trained and equipped ourselves.
When our ways, traditions, and rituals become the standard versus listening the Spirit's voice.
When the name of Jesus becomes a common name to us - no longer bringing tears to our eyes or awe in our hearts.
When we no longer fear our God, then we know he has become small in our minds.

Wow, God help me to see you in your greatness. Open the eyes of our understanding, so that we may see the surpassing greatness of your Glory. Let us not settle for small worship, ineffective living, fruitless ministry, and shallow prayers. Let your Greatness bring me to my knees again, reminding me of my smallness and Your Surpassing Greatness.

Efraim Lucas Santos

2010-01-27T09:30:00.001-08:00

This is our new little boy born January 25, 2010. His name is Efraim Lucas Santos - born weighing 8lb 1oz and 20'' long.

Mandy and I choose all our children's names primarily based on their meaning. Their names become our prayer and blessing for their life. They become a point of reference in our conversations with our kids and our prayers to our God. They are, in essence, our main hope and desire for what kind of people they will be and what kind of life they will live.

Our first daughter's name is Liana (Lily) Kate Santos. Liana means "God answers prayer" and Kate means "innocence". Our prayer for her is that she would reach the end of her life and be able to say that God answered her prayers, because of her innocence of heart and strength of character.

Our second daughter's name is Cailyn Grace Santos. Cailyn means "purity" and Grace obviously means grace, but biblically speaking, it also speaks of God's favor. Our prayer for her is that should would be a model of purity to her generation and be able to see and experience the grace and favor of her God in every moment of life.

Our third child and first son's name is Efraim Lucas Santos. In English, his name would be spelled Ephraim, but we used the Portuguese version since I'm Brazilian. Ephraim was one of the sons of Joseph (Genesis 48) and when Joseph took his two sons to receive a blessing from Jacob (Joseph's dad), Jacob crossed his arms and gave Ephraim the blessing from his right hand, which was contrary to the custom in which the 1st born would receive that blessing. The blessing was that he would become very fruitful...

Efraim means "doubly fruitful" or "increasing" and Lucas means "bringer of light" or "luminous". Our prayer for him is that he would "remain" in Jesus (John 15), in other words, live in the Presense of Jesus, and therefore become an increasingly fruitful man in the Kingdom of God. We pray that he would be a bringer of light to his generation, luminous with God's power and love.

Kids are truly a blessing from God. With each child our love increases and our understanding of the love and greatness of God multiplies. I love being a dad.

Cailyn Dancing

2010-01-21T20:08:00.000-08:00

The Power of a Woman

2009-12-18T20:14:00.000-08:00

Some of you might think I'm writing this blog to earn "brownie points", but that's really not the case. I'm writing this because the Scriptures say "give honor to whom honor is due" and I was so reminded today of the amazing power and honorable role of mothers/women.

I'm constantly amazed at my wife's strength:

She manages to keep the house clean and organized, even with two toddlers at home.
She teaches them, entertains them, and plays with them in a well balanced way pretty much every day.
I come home to a home-cooked dinner most days of the week and often even for lunch.
Even with the busy schedule, she spends time with God consistently, she invests her life into a small group of girls every week, and takes the time to blog her learnings so that others can benefit from them (mandysantos.com)
On top of all this, she takes care of her body by eating well and exercising (not right now because she is 8 months pregnant!).
She is able to go grocery shopping and even Christmas shopping with a 2 year old and a 3 year old at the same time! When I try this, it's usually not such a great experience.
She has high standards for her life, strong values for our family, and always finds a way to bring "meaning" to the things we do.
She cares deeply about our family traditions and understands that raising our kids and investing in them is more valuable than money, career, or comfort.
She constantly puts her desires aside for the greater good of our family and lives an exemplary life, without whining about "having no one to invest in me" - like so many people do.
She builds me up in front of people and is careful to protect the integrity of our family. I could go on and on...

One of the most amazing parts of all this is that she can do all that while being 8 months pregnant! If that's not honorable, I'm not sure what is. Anyways, I want to applaud all you women who are so strong and live selfless lives like my wife. In my eyes, you are stronger than most men I see in our world. Thank you Mandy!! I love you and am so grateful for having you as my wife.

Entering God's Rest

2009-10-26T07:01:00.000-07:00

"God's promise of entering His rest still stands, so we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to experience it... For only we who believe can enter His rest." Hebrews 4:1,3

I remember the first time I entered "God's rest". I was in my room sitting on my bed... I was 15 years old and was living in Farmington Hills, MI. I had just come back from a weekend retreat with my church youth group. Before that retreat, I was living a "double-life" - using drugs every day, lying continually, yet claiming to believe in Jesus.

During a worship time in that retreat, the Holy Spirit touched my life and brought me to a place of repentance before Him. I cried and knelt and asked for God's forgiveness in my life. After the retreat, I came home and talked to my parents about the life I was living - I opened up my life and brought it to the light.

So there I was, sitting on my bed, with a clear conscious before God and people for the first time in my life! I experienced the fulfillment of Jesus' words, "Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." (Matthew 11:28) I felt an overwhelming sense of peace enter my heart and I said to God, "Father if this is what it is like to be right with you, then it's better than any drug I've ever experienced". That peace became my new addiction.

To this day I cannot stand to live outside of God's rest. If there's any sin or area of my life that's in the dark and that Peace begins to fade away, I immediately ask for God's forgiveness and bring it to the light again. I can understand why the writer of Hebrews said, "we ought to tremble with fear that some of you might fail to enter it" - because once you know what it is like to enter it, you know how terrible it is to be out of it.

Let me encourage you to bring every area of your life to the light. If there are sins you are dealing with that are unconfessed or that no one knows about, you will not have God's peace. God created this place of Rest, so that we would enter it every day and live in it. Get down on your knees, expose your heart before Jesus, and step into a new addiction of peace.

"God's rest is there for people to enter... so God set a time for entering His rest, and that time is today... So let us do our best to enter that rest" Hebrews 4:6, 7, 11

Tiago singing & laughing!

2009-09-03T11:09:00.000-07:00

One week after an accident that fractured his skull in 3 places and almost took his life, watch the miracle God performed in my nephew's life as he now is already talking, singing, and laughing. If you've never seen a miracle before, here's one right in front of your eyes.

God can turn the destructive events that come from our broken world, into opportunities for Him to be Glorified. When Jesus' friend Lazarus looked like he was going to die, this is what Jesus said: "Lazarus' sickness will not end in death. No, it is for the glory of God. I, the Son of God, will receive glory from this." (John 11:4)

God is surely good and He has surely been glorified.

If you're having a hard time watching the video above, try it here.

A Real Miracle

2009-09-01T20:54:00.000-07:00

Last week my family experienced one of the most horrific things someone can experience. My sister Cristine in Brazil was driving down the interstate with her 19-month as she lost control of her car. The car crashed at high speed into the side of a rocky hill.

I got a phone call from my dad, who was crying, saying that there had been a terrible accident and, though my sister seemed ok, her son, Tiago, was in critical condition and had fractured his skull in 2 places.

He was unresponsive and it didn't seem like he was going to make it. His brain was swelling and bleeding internally.

Within a couple hours, friends, family, and our Church family began to spread the news like wildfire. Literally thousands of people around America and Brazil began to pray fervently and ask God for a miracle. I spent several hours crying and praying and pleading with God for his touch in Tiago's life and His comfort in my sister's heart.

In the midst of all this, I received a text message from a my good friend Kevin Harris and all it said was, "he 'will not die but live to declare the works of the Lord' - Ps. 118:17" Though I wanted to believe this with all my heart, part of me didn't quite know what would happen. I fully believe God heals, but I also know that bad things happen to the godly and the ungodly. Life without pain and suffering is only guaranteed in eternity, not this life. Also, the odds were against Tiago - even if he survived, no one knew if he would be the same again.

To keep a long story short, a real miracle happened! Tiago's recovery has been surprisingly fast. As the Church began to pray, his brain stopped swelling and the internal bleeding stopped. Each day he has miraculously experienced healing. Only ONE WEEK later, he is walking, talking, and even singing! The doctors said he can go home from the hospital very soon! God is touching Tiago and restoring health to his body.

HERE ARE SOME LESSONS TO TAKE AWAY FROM THIS:

Miracles happen! God moves when people pray.
Don't take your family for granted, enjoy every minute. Life is very fragile.
The Church of Christ is powerful when we unite. I literally got over 100 emails in just a few hours with people offering help, prayers, and encouragement. So much love was poured on our family.
Always buckle up! Especially your kids. No one is exempt from accidents.
God helps us through trials. My sister said several times that she felt the supernatural strength of God in her as people prayed. I can't imagine going through something like this without the comforting power and strength of the Holy Spirit.

Thank you for all you who prayed! Glory be to God for healing Tiago and my sister. Glory to Him for reversing the consequences of this horrible accident and saving a little child's life!

Something God Hates.

2009-08-11T07:41:00.000-07:00

I've been studying the subject of marriage in Scripture lately and came across this powerful passage in Malachi - written 2500 years ago, yet totally relevant to our day as if it were written specifically for our generation.

"You weep and groan because God pays no attention to your offerings... I'll tell you why! Because the Lord witnessed the vows you and your wife made when you were young. But you have been unfaithful to her... Didn't the Lord make you one with your wife? In body and spirit you are his." Malachi 2:13-15

So many people get angry with God for not "being there", or not answering their prayers... Others keep wanting God to "bless" them and "guide" them... and wonder why God seems silent. "I'll tell you why!" Malachi would say. Marriage vows are just not treated with honor anymore. Love is not unconditional (in bad times or good times, in poverty or wealth...), love is often based on whether or not she "meets" our needs.

So many men in our day dishonor their vows by looking at pornography, flirting at work, not controlling their wandering eye, undressing women in their minds... Then, they wonder why God's blessing has left them. Wondering why there's a sense of emptiness in their hearts and marriage.

Malachi then finishes by telling us what God DOES want: "And what does he want? Godly children from your union. So guard your heart, remain loyal to the wife of your youth. 'For I hate divorce!' says the Lord... so guard your heart; do not be unfaithful to your wife." (15-16)

We all make mistakes and wander from where we want to be, but let's renew our commitments to our wives and God. Even if you've been divorced, start today the journey of keeping your vows.

God help us men have enough strength, courage, and honor to be faithful to our wives. Help us to guard our hearts and remain loyal to our vows. Help us to love our wives with the same intensity and unconditional love that You show us. Raise up a generation of men who will again honor our words and vows and experience the incomparable blessing that comes from being right with You!

The Power of God

2009-07-13T09:31:00.000-07:00

"For the Kingdom of God is not just a lot of talk; it is living by God's power. Which do you choose?" 1 Cor. 4:20

I'm amazed at how easy it is to appear to have God's power, but not have it at all. We've seen so many examples of people who seem to have it all together, who's speech is compelling, who's lives seem so spiritual, etc. but it was just a bunch of talk.

I so desperately don't want to be that person. What's the point of the Christian life if God's power is not in us? Why claim to follow Jesus, without having His power flowing through my hands, my mouth, my life... To choose to live that pretentious life is to cause "the cross of Christ t0 lose its power (1 Cor. 1:17).

Followers of Jesus should have His power flowing through us: "you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you" (Acts 1:8). Though I've experienced this power so many times, in answered prayers, in healings, in salvations, in real miracles... I still feel like I'm not even close to having God's intended measure of power for my life.

I'm determined to have more of this power. I want my words to be His words. I want to hear his voice and speak life into people's lives. I want God's power to flow through my hands when I touch people. I want His power to flow in my family. I want Him to use me to bring restoration and salvation to people's lives, marriages, etc. I want my life to count.

Who's lives has God changed through me?
When was the last time I clearly heard from God's Spirit?
How powerful is God's Word in my life? How much of it is in my heart?
Do people see Jesus in my daily life? In my talk, walk, work, play...

Father, remove from me everything that stops your power from flowing. Forgive me for often settling for ordinary living and not pursuing the Holy life. Use me Lord. Fill me Spirit. Make my life Glorify Your Name Jesus.

Worship That Counts

2009-05-21T11:40:00.000-07:00

"These people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. Their worship is a farce, for they teach man-made ideas as commands from God. For you ignore God's law and substitute your own tradition." Mark 7:6-8

I have read these words from Jesus so many times and it still always stirs my heart. How easy it is for us to have our "hearts far" from God.

The part that gets me is that Jesus says that when our worship is only "with our lips" (in other words, it is only external... appearing to be Christians by the way we talk and even pray), then our worship is a FARCE.

The question I'm asking myself is, "how close is my heart to Him?". If it's far, my external expressions of faith don't mean anything to him. It might convince others that I'm "spiritual" or Christian, but it won't please God.

Then, Jesus goes on by saying "they teach man-made ideas as commands from God... and ignore God's law and substitute your own tradition". How often I see myself and the church prioritizing our man-made traditions and ideas, over the very commands of God in Scripture.

Catholics and many other churches do this by teaching things like infant baptism, purgatory, prayers to Saints, burning of candles for forgiveness of sin... ("substituting God's commands with man-made ideas")
Other denominations and non-denominational churches often do this by thinking their 'style' of music is the right one, or by 'teaching' that worship is the music we sing on Sunday mornings...
Others do it by teaching that things like drinking alcohol is always wrong for every Christian or that the only translation that is truly inspired is the KJV...

How dumb we are sometimes! Get so caught up in meaningless man-made rules and teachings that we forget the things Jesus spoke about the most. Things like loving God wholeheartedly, loving our neighbors, giving to the needy, showing compassion, embracing the hurting, living pure lives, spreading His Message...

Two questions to ask ourselves and our churches:

Do I work more on "looking and sounding" like a Christian, or do I focus more on "knowing and loving" my God from the heart?
Am I known more for man-made ideas and traditions, or for following the words of God in the Scriptures?

God forgive us for so often forgetting the things that matter most to you, especially when it comes to matters of the heart. Forgive us for not honoring you with our hearts. Forgive us for not honoring your Words above our own ideas, styles, and traditions.

What the heck do Associate Pastors do?

2009-04-02T20:37:00.000-07:00

I get that question quite often these days, especially here in the Silicon Valley - a place where people have almost no understanding of Christianity or church work (95% unchurched).

What is the role of an Associate Pastor in the context of church-planting? I'm still trying to figure out this answer and I'm sure it differs with each team, plan, and cultural context - but I'll start by listing some of the things I've had to do and roles I've had to fulfill in the last 6 months of our church planting journey (all you other associate guys will relate to this). You might find this humorous:

SECRETARY: I printed, cut, and folded thousands of church bulletins, flyers, connection cards... Entered hundreds of names in databases...
GRAPHIC ARTIST: I designed dozens of banners, signs, promotional cards, t-shirts, stickers, door-hangers...
BUSINESS: I had to open bank accounts, prepare and file Articles of Incorporation, get our Tax ID number, Bulk Mailing Permit, Non-Profit certificate, EDD State Tax number...
ACCOUNTANT: I had to prepare budget sheets, learn Quickbooks, collect Expense Reports, reimburse employees for expenses, figure out California tax laws...
ADMINISTRATOR: I created forms, filed papers, purchased signs, printers, software...
COUNSELOR: I met with dozens of fun people, mad people, confused people, broken people...
DISCIPLER: I worked hard to develop leaders, lead Bible studies, invest in others...
EVENT PLANNER: I helped plan cookouts, bowling nights, movie nights, launch team meetings, volunteer celebrations...
TEACHER: I taught a weekly Bible study for guys, weekly Bible study for seekers, and one Sunday morning...
VOLUNTEER COORDINATOR: I recruited volunteers and helped develop a system of scheduling and training dozens of them...
MISSION COORDINATOR: I helped coordinate 4 or 5 mission teams they came from partner churches to serve our church and community.
SMALL GROUPS PASTOR: Just starting this role now, but definitely not an easy task.
ASSIMILATION: Helped people find the right place to serve and get involved in the life of the church. Followed up with 1st time guests, 2nd time guests, those interested in small group, volunteering, baptism...

Now that you read all that, I must point out a few side notes:

Just cause I did all that, does not mean I did all those things well.
Many of the tasks/roles were my responsibilities, but got done with the combined effort of team-work.
Our whole team had to do massive amounts of work with no office. My office desk is in my living room, with 2 little kids running around me!
On top of not having an office, we also did not have much storage. This led to us having tons of boxes all over our houses.
Doing all the above tasks is ultimately not the ideal role of an Associate Pastor, but in the the church-planting journey, you often have to do much more than only what you're good at.
Being a husband and dad is my primary concern (and joy), so prioritizing the family in the midst of the demands of work is hard, but essential.
People often don't realize how important the wife is in the life of a pastor. God blessed me with the most amazing wife - she has been so patient, encouraging, and supportive during this season. I couldn't have accomplished much without her.

I must say that though I feel pretty exhausted right now, there is nothing I'd rather be doing. We've seen so many lives get transformed with the power of God. We've seen people find hope, peace, and fulfillment for the 1st time in their lives! The journey is very hard, but the cause is more than worth it.

Church Planting Lessons

2009-02-22T21:32:00.000-08:00

Now that we've been here in the Silicon Valley for about 6 months, I figured I would take some time to write down some things I've learned in our church planting journey.

Church planting is very hard work, so we must know we're called to do it. I think pretty much every person in our staff team has gone through days of extreme pressure, stress, or even depression. If it wasn't the unquestionable calling we sense in being here, I'm not sure I could make it at points.
Church planting produces much fruit for God's Kingdom. I'm convinced that planting new churches is probably the most effective way to reach unbelievers in our culture.
The "business" side of church is much more complex than I expected. It takes quite some work to get a tax ID #, the 501c3 non-profit status, EDD numbers, Articles of Incorporation, accounting, etc. I'm very very glad that my dad is now in our team and will take the "business" responsibilities from my lap.
Staying tuned to God is a must. Church planting gets so busy as we meet with people non-stop, work on getting everything ready for services, etc. that it would be easy to forget why we're really here. We are constantly reminding each other to stay close to God and to keep the vision of reaching people with His Love as a priority.
God's favor is priceless. This is the first time in my ministry that I sense such a high level of God's blessing and favor over what we're doing. We have talked about this numerous times since we came - it feels like God is moving and we're just trying to keep up. He is going before us and opening miraculous doors and it has very little to do with us. I hope to always be in this position in the future.
Never underestimate the need to have the right team. If even one of the people in our staff team was not here, we would just not be seeing the fruit we're seeing. I see many church planters going "solo" or trying to do this without having the right people around them, and that is perhaps the biggest mistake anyone can make in this field. It is hard enough to do it with our 3 initial staff families (and these guys are top level leaders), so I can't imagine trying without a great team.
God is looking for people who will believe BIG. Too many people stop believing God for big results and settle for "maintenance" ministry. I have been reminded in this journey that God still longs to move mightily, but He will only do it for those who believe Him for it, take risks, and prepare themselves for the miracle. "Don't pray for rain without grabbing the umbrella".
Church planting is more about being a "learner" than being a "teacher". There is no room for pride in this journey. One of the best things we've done here is just asking questions, learning about people's cultures, recognizing our smallness in the midst of God's work. I have really enjoyed sitting with Hindus, Muslims, Buddhists, Atheists, etc. and just listening to them and learning about their lives. We are all "people" in God's eyes, He does not categorize us in the same ways we categorize each other.
Partnership with other churches will make or break you. If it weren't for the 15+ churches that are partnered with our project, we would not be even at 10% of our effectiveness. It is more obvious to me than ever that God designed His Church to multiply in partnerships, not as "independent" congregations.
God, Family, Ministry. Any other order will mess you up. Ministry at this level would not be possible for me without intimacy with my wife and kids. And true intimacy with my wife and kids could not be possible without intimacy with God. I have run to God and my wife more times in this journey than I can count. God first, Family second, Ministry third.

South Bay Church Grand Opening!

2009-02-09T15:11:00.000-08:00

"Only God!" is the phrase that comes to mind as I write this. South Bay Church's Grand Opening Sunday yesterday was amazing! Let me share with you some statistics:

Over 279 people including 40 kids were present (about 230 of these people are from the community)
9 people indicated they made a first time decision to follow Christ and crossed over into an eternal relationship with the living God! Best part of the whole day.
17 people indicated they recommitted their lives to following Christ.
61 first time guests filled out connection cards. The cookouts, mailers, and door-hangers continue to work and make an impact.
We had over 50 people volunteering and serving - amazing team for the amount of time we've been here! They continue to amaze me with their diligence and commitment.

We also had 2 mission teams from partner churches serving all weekend with us: Lake Pointe Church, TX sent 11 people and Pleasant Valley Baptist, MS sent 2 people. They hung almost 6000 doorhangers around the community and made a huge impact!

My parents, Renan and Juliane, have now officially joined our team! It is so good to have them with us and they found an apartment right across the street from ours! Our good friends from South Carolina, Brad and Laura Thomas, were also here this week with us serving and praying for confirmation about moving out here. They are pretty confident God is calling them to move here by the Fall to join our team!

THANKS to those of you that joined our 21 Days Of Prayer Journey, our 48-Hour Prayer Chain, all you who support us financially, all you guys who write us encouraging emails, and all you who are believing with us that God will use South Bay Church to reach thousands of the +2 million people in the Silicon Valley that don't have a relationship with God.

Join the Santos Family Support Team

Sitting Under the Vine and Fig Tree

2008-12-10T11:08:00.000-08:00

In Ancient days, grapevines and fig trees were extremely common in places like Palestine. To "sit under one's own vine and fig tree" became a proverbial expression among the Jews to symbolize peace, protection, and prosperity. Scripture refers to this phrase a few times:

"'...I will remove the sin of this land in a single day. In that day each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree,' declares the Lord Almighty." Zechariah 3:10 (also in Micah 4:4, 1 Kings 4:25)

In the midst of the busyness and pressures of this week as we try to get everything ready for South Bay Church's 2nd Preview, I heard a clear word from God this morning saying, "sit under the vine and fig tree". The prophet Zechariah wrote down this prophetic statement around 520 B.C. - speaking of the time when Jesus would come to earth and take the penalty of our sins upon himself.

Zechariah also says that in those days (after Christ provides forgiveness for our sins), we would be able to "sit under our vines and fig trees" - we would be able to enjoy internal peace and tranquility, which will transcend all common understanding. We will be able to experience an internal prosperity of the soul. Our loving Father would extend His arms over us, protecting us from the heat and pressures of life.

Well, I sat under the tree today. I felt the arms of God comforting me, refreshing me, and strengthening me to move forward. He filled me again with that unexplainable peace. There is no better place to be than under the will of God and inside His Presence. It's not religion or some impersonal force or entity. It's truly enjoying relationship with a loving, personal God - who cares deeply about every detail of our lives.

Let me invite you today to take time to sit under the vine and fig tree and receive the rest given by God to those who seek after Him. Enjoy forgiveness, peace, and internal prosperity that comes from the True Vine.

Why I love being a dad

2008-11-28T10:10:00.000-08:00

It reminds me daily to watch what I say and do, because they imitate everything they see in me. This morning my daughter saw me reading my Bible in bed, so she ran to her room, grabbed her "special" Bible, and came to ask me if she can read in bed also!
Everyday I'm filled with indescribable joy when I see them. I love it when they wake up in the morning laughing at one another. I love coming home in the afternoons a
nd they run with open arms to hug me.
It is truly impossible to fully understand fatherly love, until you have a child. I love these girls beyond my ability to explain it. And the love grows daily.
It helps me seek God more. I'm constantly reminded of how inadequate I am to train a child in such a messed up world. I need God's grace to guide me and give me wisdom.
I have the incredible opportunity to daily train up 2 daughters to serve God and change the world by the way they live.
I love the freedom that you find in parenting. Many people are scared of having kids because they might lose their "freedom", but I've found such great joy in the new types of freedom you find in having a family. Freedom to love differently, enjoy life together, learn about each other, make memories...
Being a dad makes me a better husband. I appreciate my wife so much each day, because of all the sacrifices she makes for them. We made a decision that the best gift we can give our children is a healthy marriage, so we're constantly reminded to stay close to each other.
I love it when I'm putting Lily to sleep and she hugs my neck and says "I love you so much daddy". Won't trade those moments for anything.
I love it when in the middle of my busy days and stressful times, I can hold Cailyn in my arms and, in that moment, I'm reminded of God's loving grace and everything just seems to get better.
Being a dad allows me to daily understand a little bit better how God loves me - as His child. Why He disciplines, forgives, guides... I love being a dad.

There are people in the numbers.

2008-11-22T16:51:00.000-08:00

Today as I read the Scriptures, I felt God reminding me of how deeply concerned He is about each person on this earth and, more specifically to where I live, how deeply He cares for each person living in the Silicon Valley.

My daughters were watching the "Jonah" Veggietales movie this morning, so I decided to read again book of Jonah in the Old Testament during my personal devotional time. It's a great story about God's mercy and never-ending compassion toward even the worst people on earth.

At the end of the story, Jonah, a devout and stubborn Hebrew Prophet, gets mad at God for mercifully "changing His mind" about destroying the city of Niveveh, since they had turned from their evil ways. I love God's final words:

"Nineveh has more than 120,000 people living in spiritual darkness, not to mention all the animals. Shouldn't I feel sorry for such a great city?" Johah 4:11

I could picture God saying, "The Silicon Valley has more than 2.5 million people living in spiritual darkness... shouldn't I feel sorry for such a great place?" I'm not saying all people in the valley are in "darkness", but I do believe that to live life to the fullest, or in the "light", we need to walk in relationship with our Creator. Statistics show us that more than 95% of people in the valley don't have a relationship with Jesus Christ, and in that way, they live in spiritual darkness.

Just as God sent a Prophet (who was also a sinner) to Nineveh in order for them to experience His Presence, He has also sent us to the Silicon Valley, so that someday the 2.5 million people here can experience His Love and then take it to the rest of the world. This also serves of a reminder of how God can use imperfect, but willing people, to accomplish great things on His behalf. We all have our areas of "darkness" and only through God's mercy we can live purposeful and meaningful lives.

"Thank you God for letting us be part of your Work on Earth. Thank you for not just looking at us as numbers, but as individuals who desperately need you everyday."

1st Preview Service for South Bay Church

2008-11-16T17:16:00.000-08:00

Wow, we had an incredible morning! 175 people at South Bay Church's 1st Preview Service. It was so exciting to see people from many different nations, faith levels, and backgrounds all together. All this is a dream coming true for us families who moved across the country to help launch South Bay Church.

Our goal for this morning was 100 adults and God definitely did more than we hoped for. The Kid's Ministry (BayKids) was exciting, the volunteers were incredible servants, and God was exalted in the Main Service!

Many people responded with commitments, including 5 people who said they were committing their lives to Jesus for the very first time!

So amazing to think that more and more people will have the opportunity to hear the most Powerful message on earth in a way that they can relate to.

Thank you all who have prayed, given, and served to make this happen. There's so much more ahead, but we're anxiously anticipating the day where thousands of people from every nation in the Silicon Valley will find the joy and peace of living life in relationship with Jesus

Christ.

Here are some pics:

Are We Crazy Enough?

2008-10-21T10:00:00.000-07:00

I'm convinced the Apostle Paul was crazy - but not crazy in the way we would usually think of it. He would constantly put his life at risk just for a small possibility to share God's message with people. I was just reading in Acts 19, how a huge riot broke out in Ephesus because of people's anger toward Paul, who was "convincing" people to not worship hand-made gods, but to give their lives to the Living God.

These people who were "boiling with anger", dragged a couple of Paul's companions into the city's amphitheater (actual picture above), and began to scream in rage against them... There were hundreds of people there with the desire to kill these Christians, and it says that "Paul wanted to go in"! (19:30) Is he crazy??

His friends knew what Paul was thinking, they knew he was nuts and would use any opportunity to spread the Message he so passionately believed in. So, they "wouldn't let him" (19:30) go in there. In fact, some of the officials that knew Paul, sent him a message "begging him not to risk his life by entering the amphitheater".

I wander what would happen if more of us were crazy like that. Our crazy love for God would compel us to take bold risks so that others can experience what we have. What if our friends had to "beg us" not to risk our lives, cause they knew we were so committed that we just might...

"Father, make us courageous risk takers. Make us crazy for you. Infuse us with so much love for this world, that we would go to great lengths to spread Your life-changing Message."

I envision a day...

2008-10-20T07:39:00.000-07:00

"A solemn fear descended on the city, and the name of the Lord Jesus was greatly honored (magnified)... So the message about the Lord spread widely and had a powerful effect (prevailed)." Acts 19:17, 20

I envision a day when the solemn fear of God descends on the Silicon Valley and the name of Jesus is greatly honored and magnified. I envision a day when the message of the Lord spreads widely across the country and the world and prevails in a world that is decaying and in need of God. I envision the Church taking its place in the world as the servants of God, the lovers of peace, the spreaders of love, the hands of hope, the keepers of justice, God's light in the midst of darkness.

I envision a day when the name of Jesus is once again honored among all people and recognized as the name above all names. The name that brings healing, peace, restoration, salvation. The name at which demons tremble and people treat with respect and reverence.

I envision a day when the people of God become known once again by their acts of love, not their words of judgement. I envision a day when the people of God become known once again by their hard work, their uncompromising integrity, their unshakable family values, their unselfish acts of kindness, their overflowing love for all people, their undeserving kindness.

"Father, help me to honor and magnify the name of Jesus above all other things in my life. I pray that your Word would spread widely and powerfully through my life."

Why the Silicon Valley?

2008-10-07T11:04:00.000-07:00

In the last few weeks, since we moved out here, people have been asking us the question: "why did you come to the Silicon Valley?" There are many answers to this question, but one of the main things that makes this area so unique is it's potential to impact the world. I really do believe that life with God is better than life without Him, and this reality makes me so excited to be in a place that has such deep influence in our culture.

When you look at the life of the Apostle Paul in Scripture, you see how strategic he was with where he stopped in his missionary journeys. Many of the cities where Paul planted churches were strategic centers that, when evangelized, served as focal poinnts from which the Gospel radiated out to the surrounding areas (Ephesus, Antioch in Pisidia, Thessalonica, Athens, Corinth).

In fact, this morning I read about when Paul stayed in Ephesus, a city where people from many countries would come to work and study, "so that all the Jews and Greeks who lived in the province of Asia heard the word of the Lord" (Acts 19:10)

I can't wait until people from all these different nations represented in the Silicon Valley get transformed by the love of God, and spread the Message to different parts of the world so that thousands of others can experience the joy of knowing Jesus Christ!

The Need To Know

2008-09-17T20:50:00.000-07:00

“The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand everything along the way?” Proverbs 20:24

In the last few years, I feel God has been trying to teach me this principle stated above. I’ve had a real longing to be in control of things – to understand where things are heading, how we’ll get there, and everything in between. He’s been showing me that the more I know about the process, the less faith that is required of me.

The Scriptures are clear that, “without faith it is impossible to please God,” so I believe that God will often leave us without answers so that we learn to trust Him and give over the control. My job is to stay close to His presence, hear His voice, and obey Him. The rest is in His hands.

Why try to know everything if God is the one directing us?

TIME & DISTANCE REVEALS

2008-09-17T14:54:00.000-07:00

I think one of the things that reveal what is deepest in our hearts is how we feel when we’re distanced from the things we love. When I’m away from my car, I don’t miss it at all. When I’m away from my TV, I don’t even notice it. I can also be far away from lots of people I know, but it doesn’t bother me too much. However, when I’m distanced from my top priorities (God & my family), I feel like junk.

[GOD] The last couple weeks we have been so busy trying to move our stuff, buy things for our new apartment, and prepare for our first South Bay Church event that it has been really hard to have consistent quality time with Jesus.

I feel such a longing for Him right now. I hate feeling distanced from Him. My attitude is not as good, my personality is not as friendly, my patience is limited, and my love is not as deep. I’m a much better person when I’m in close proximity to Jesus. When I’m not as close to Him as I want to be, I feel it strongly and deeply. He’s been my biggest motivation for getting our house in order quickly, because it’s really hard to focus when you’re living in an apartment full of boxes!

[FAMILY] Today I’m heading out to Kansas city to spend 5 days with one of our sponsor churches. I’m happy for the opportunity, but I absolutely hate being away from my family. I think of them all day long. I think of Lily singing her songs to me at night, I think of Cailyn trying to bite my nose and cheek, I think of the great intimacy I feel when Mandy and I are spending time together over dinner… I miss them beyond words.

The good part of all this is that I 1know I love God and my family more than anything on this earth. I can be away from many things for a few days, including ministry, and not miss it too much, but you get me away from my God or my family and I’m a miserable man.

“The Lord is close to all who call on Him, to all who call on Him sincerely” Ps. 145:18

Santa Clara Art & Wine Festival

2008-09-12T23:02:00.000-07:00

I'm so excited about this weekend! It's our first ever event as South Bay Church. We committed to bring 20something volunteers to this festival to help set up booths, clean up, play with kids, and serve in whatever way possible. A team from Lakepoint Church in Texas came out yesterday and they're staying through the weekend to represent South Bay Church and serve the city with us.

The city people are so shocked at our initiative to serve. The said they have never had a church volunteer at one of their events! We also have our own booth and we're excited to meet some of the 50,000 people that will be coming by. We're right in between the wine booth and the beer booth - quite ironic.

Please pray that people will recognize our service as a practical way to show God's love toward them.

Here's the link to the festival page: (click here)

Smoking What We Sell

2008-08-27T07:05:00.000-07:00

This week a good friend of mine, Josh Surratt, sent out a twitter message with a picture of their church-staff worship time, along with the quote, "we smoke what we sell".

My mind immediately went back to my drug-dealing days as I remembered the difference between buying drugs from people that smoked it themselves and from some that sold it, but did not consume it.

I was always hesitant to buy from those people. If it's so good, why don't you smoke it yourself? In fact, people were much more willing to buy drugs from me if I had already smoked some with them. Then, I could tell them, "this is really good stuff".

I know it sounds weird to compare drug dealing with worship, but isn't it true that our world longs for people who smoke what they sell? People who spread the Message because they are consumed by it? People who inhale so much of God, that they confidently can say, "this is good stuff!"

The women that saw Jesus resurrected, "ran to Him, grasped His feet, and worshiped Him" (Mat. 28:9). Overwhelmed by Him, they did not want to let go of his feet. They didn't just worship with words and songs- they bowed their hearts, humbly grasped His feet, and really worshiped! They smoked it!

I wonder how much more the world would listen to the Message we carry, if we Christians spent less time talking about it, and more time inhaling the presence of Jesus. So that our expressions are simply a reflection of who we are inside.

"God, I pray that we would smoke what we're selling"

1st Date with Lily

2008-08-14T16:16:00.001-07:00

Today I took my 2-year old daughter, Lily, on our first ever official date. Hopefully, this was the first of many of our dates. We ate pasta together, she gave me some of hers, I gave her some of mine... We talked about boys (really, we did), we laughed together, and had lots of fun.

The love you feel for your child is simply divine. I don't know how any parent cannot see God in their love for their children. It is unexplainable with human words. As I look at Lily and Cailyn, I cannot help but to be overwhelmed with this deep type of love. And this love is different than the love I feel for my wife. In fact, it fuels my love for her. My love for her is by far the most intimate of human loves, but it is like comparing apples and oranges, in a way. It's like my wife is the best orange in the world, and my kids are the best apples in the world. It's kinda hard to compare my family with fruit, but you know what I mean.

Anyways, after dinner, Lily and I ate some icecream and came back home. I'll never forget this moment.

Meeting with Bill Hybels

2008-07-16T16:40:00.000-07:00

Last week I had the privilege of meeting with Bill Hybels, along with Andy & Stacie Wood, Archie Jackson, and my dad. For those of you who don't know who Bill Hybels is, he is the pastor of Willowcreek Community Church - one of the largest (25,000+) and most influential churches in the world. He's had a tremendous impact in my life, my ministry, and my family.

We met him at his vacation office in South Haven, Michigan. We showed up to the beautiful little office that overlooks the Michigan lake, knocked on the door, and there comes Bill Hybels wearing shorts and no shoes. Though he was extremely friendly and laid back, we were a little nervous...

Anyways, we went on to share the vision of South Bay Church (the church we're planting in the San Francisco Bay Area) and then started asking him questions and getting his insight on leadership issues, church planting stuff, family, etc. It was awesome! The main insights he gave us were:

Stay flexible with your strategy and goals & be crystal clear with your values and vision.
In the beginning, focus 99% of your energy on people, not technology or anything else. Double b-fasts, double lunches, double dinners...
Don't over-rev. Don't push too hard, but give your best.
Schedule your vacations and day offs.
Don't wait till you're a mega-church to find your wife's strengths and place in the ministry, find them out in the beginning. (Lynn Hybels was there for this one - she was very nice).
Don't focus so much on breaking numerical barriers that you forget to focus on relationships.
Be the best Acts 2 church you can be at every level and in every season.
Don't appoint elders too quickly, take as much time as you need to ensure they meet the Biblical standards for Elders.
Enjoy every season of the church's growth and stay close together as a staff team.

There were so many great things he said, many that will stay in our minds for many years. His passion for God and the Church is still just as alive as it was when he started Willow 35 years ago. We could hear it in his heart the phrase that he so often quotes, "the local church is the hope of the world..."

At the end of our time, we took pictures with him, he showed us the first copy of his new book (Axiom), he showed us his office where he prepares his talks for the Leadership Summit each year, and then he gave us a check for $10,000 to start our new church! (that last one was a joke).

Before we left, we all thanked him with tears for the tremendous impact he has had in the Church and in each of our lives. Then he prayed for us and off we went... What a great experience!

Don't forget to remember.

2008-07-03T04:12:00.001-07:00

"I have been your God ever since... I took care of you... But when you had eaten and were satisfied, you became proud and forgot me." Hosea 13:4-6

I've been thinking about this verse for a couple days now and how it relates to this new season of life I'm entering. We're having to depend on God now probably more than ever before in our lives. We're motivated to pray hard now, because without God we will fail in this journey of raising funds to move our family to one of the most expensive places to live in America in order to plant a church.

Now we're praying, we're seeking, we're trusting, we're working hard, we're thinking about God every second... we're acknowledging Him for His miracles, we're praising Him for every act of kindness and every glimpse of provision.

But what will happen after He shows Himself faithful, after He provides, after He gives us success, after we experience His tremendous grace and favor, and after He answers our prayer? Will I still pray as hard, or will I forget Him? Will I still praise Him, or will I be prideful? Will I still risk and work hard after I've "eaten and become satisfied", or will I get lazy?

Will I allow success to blind my understanding of my dependency on Him?

"Father, thank you for reminding me now of what my response should be later. I pray that through your grace we will all still remember You on the other side of 'success'. You have been our Lord... You took care of us... now we choose to remember and never forget who brought us here."

Waiting expectantly...

2008-06-30T06:12:00.000-07:00

"So now come back to your God, act with love and justice, and always depend on Him" Hosea 12:6

I my study of Hosea I keep coming across a common theme that seems to reflect an important aspect of God's heart. It has to do with God desiring our trust, our acknowledgement of Him in our days, our dependency on Him...

The verse up top popped up at me this morning, so I looked up the word "depend"-- the word in Hebrew is QAVAH (kaw-vaw) and it means "to wait, look for, hope, and expect". It basically means that God wants us to wait in expectation, anticipating His action. David used this word often in the Psalms,

"I am counting (waiting) on the Lord, yes I am counting (waiting) on Him, I have put my hope in your word." Ps. 130:5

To wait on God is not to just sit around and have empty hope that something magically will happen. It is to take Him at His Word, to anticipate His action when we're seeking Him, it is to count on Him... It's expecting His favor, when we walk upright with Him... It's believing for His provision, when we obey Him... It's trusting that He's working, when things don't seem to make sense... It's depending on Him, because He is God.

My prayer is that we'd acknowledge God in every season, in every decision, in every move... then wait in anticipation for Him to do more than we can even dream of.

God I wait on you.

The beginning of a new journey

2008-06-14T08:50:00.000-07:00

This is my first blog about our future plans for South Bay Church. It feels good that it is now 'officially' public and we can openly talk about our dreams with friends and family. Here's what's going on:

We have been serving at Northwood Assembly Church since we met during college. I've worked as the assistant pastor for the college ministry (www.genesischarleston.com) for many years, and currently as the youth pastor for 6-12^th grades.

Last fall, we were approached by some close friends, Andy and Stacie Wood. They asked us to consider joining them in a vision to start a church in one of this country’s largest metropolitan areas. We were in a great season of our lives--ministry was going great and we were expecting our second daughter. At first, we were close-minded and hesitant to the idea of moving, but as they shared the vision, we felt a tremendous stirring in our hearts by the Holy Spirit that we should be a part of this. These are some of the facts about this area caught our attention:

95% unreached with the Gospel
One of the strongest liberal and anti-God forces in America
A technological hub of the world: the home of Google, Yahoo, Microsoft, Cisco Systems, Apple, EBay, HP, and dozens of other multinational companies.

If you haven’t guessed yet, it is the San Francisco Bay Area--more specifically, the Silicon Valley. Our hearts were captivated by the magnitude of the vision and the tremendous potential in this area. It is one of the most diverse, affluent, and influential metropolitan areas in the world. It is a mission field that has been ignored by many. Can you imagine the impact a multiplying evangelical church could have if it reached the people who most influence the world?

Well, after many months of prayer, we believe God is calling us into this journey and we’ll be joining the staff of South Bay Church. Archie and Rebekah Jackson are also part of the team. We’ll be moving to California in August 2008.

Our current church, along with many other churches, have committed to support us in this vision. However, we are now beginning the process of raising our personal salary and building a support team, who is a group of people who partner with us by offering their prayers, encouragement, and finances (www.southbaygiving.com). The goal of this team is to support us during the early years of South Bay Church--until it is self-sustaining.

If any of you are interested in joining our support team, let us know! Please be in prayer for our family as we enter into this exciting season of our lives!

Believing BIG,

Filipe, Mandy, Lily & Cailyn Santos

Up in New Jersey

2008-06-13T16:36:00.000-07:00

Wow, so many things going through my mind. I'm sitting here in my room in a retreat center somewhere in New Jersey. I was asked a couple months ago to be the "speaker" at this retreat for a Brazilian church from Connecticut. It's really weird being here for many reasons:

New Jersey is where I first lived in America - 16 years ago!
Most of the people I'll be speaking to are older than I.
I miss my family tremendously right now.
I'm not used to teaching/preaching in Portuguese
I'm doing 5 talks in the next 3 days.
Brazilians are late for everything - the first session was supposed to start at 7:30, it is now 8PM and we haven't even had dinner yet!

Though those things make me feel strange, I'm trying to focus on the positives of this trip. The things that excite me, like:

I got to visit old friends from Jersey and shared the vision of South Bay Church with them.
The weather here is not nearly as humid as Charleston.
I get to do one of the things I most enjoy in life: teaching God's Word.
I worked things out so that I don't have to go to Mexico next week for a Mission Trip. Though I love mission trips, I was not looking forward to being away from my family for another 9 days!
Being here allows me to relax (somewhat) right before I enter one of the busiest seasons of my life (raising money for South Bay Church).
This place is beautiful and I'm right by a lake where I'm sure I'll be spending some time with Jesus in the morning!

Well, let's see how it goes. Please pray for me and these crazy brazilians I'll be sharing God's Word with.

A barely controllable emotion.

2008-05-30T05:39:00.000-07:00

PASSION: A strong and barely controllable emotion. A state of outburst of such emotion. An intense desire or enthusiasm for something.

I came across a passage in Scripture this week that got my attention. It was in John 2, when Jesus--the gentle and peaceful leader, the one who cared for all people, the healer, the comforter, the loving shepherd-- saw something that ticked Him off so much, that He angrily turned over tables and chased off animals and people with a whip!

He saw people turning the Temple into a market place, a place for personal profit. The thing is that most people, including myself, sometimes miss the whole point of this event. It is hard to understand what happened if you think Jesus got so mad simply because a building was being misused. It was never about that Temple.

You see, in the midst of His outburst of emotion, the disciples remembered an O.T. prophecy, "Passion for God's house will consume me" (John 2:17 / Psalm 69:9). The Temple represented God's desire to live in HUMAN temples. God's passion was to make His home inside of normal people like us. Distorting the image of the Temple building, was so offensive to Jesus because of what it represented: HIS ULTIMATE PASSION. A passion so big, that eventually it literally consumed Him on the cross.

It was a passion to live inside of us. Stephen died believing in this truth, "The Most High does not live in temples made by human hands" (Acts 7:48). I've been convicted this week with this thought: 'how often in my day do I remember that passion that consumed Jesus' life? How often do I open my heart to Him, so that He can fulfill His passionate desire to live inside of me?' More than anything else, I believe God's passion is for me and you.

What makes Him happy is when I stop and remove the junk from my life so that He can make His home in me and thus fulfill His passion.

"I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through His Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in Him." Eph. 3:16

Family Pics at the Beach

2008-05-25T19:44:00.001-07:00

No need to DO anything for this one.

2008-05-13T05:23:00.000-07:00

"God blesses those who realize their need for Him." Matthew 5:3 (NLT)

What a great verse to meditate on today. There is blessing that comes when we simply admit we are completely helpless without God. We don't need to DO anything to get this blessing and we don't need to beg God for it, we just need to stop a little bit and say "God I really need you today" and there comes His blessing. Maybe that's why David said, "The Lord is close to the brokenhearted", because when we are weak, we tend to realize more that we need Him more than ever.

"God, I realize I need you today--to breath, to love, to play, to impact, to grow, to simply live."

24/7 Youth SpringBreakAway

2008-04-24T06:54:00.001-07:00

What is God looking for?

2008-04-23T06:28:00.000-07:00

That's a question I often think about: "What is God really looking for from me?" Today in my devotional time, I came across a verse I've read many times, but it unusually got my attention. Often when I'm reading the Scriptures I sense the Spirit drawing me to focus in on a specific verse and giving me new insight from it - that's what He did. This is the verse:

"My hands have made both heaven and earth; they and everything in them are mine. I, the Lord, have spoken! I will bless those who have humble and contrite hearts, who tremble at my word." Isaiah 66:2

At first I couldn't see the connection between the first part of the verse about God making and owning everything in "heaven and earth" and the second part about Him blessing those with "humble and contrite hearts", but it started making sense when I read it in some other translations that clarify the connection:

"I made all this! I own all this!" God's Decree. "But there is something I'm looking for: a person simple and plain, reverently responsive to what I say." (Message)

"All these things my hand has made, and so all these things are mine, says the Lord. But this is the one to whom I will look, to the humble and contrite in spirit, who trembles at my word." (NRS)

I think what God is saying is that though He created everything on the earth and heaven - all the amazing things in this universe: the skies, the stars, the oceans, the amazing animals, plants, galaxies, mountains, and all the spiritual world: the angels, spiritual powers, etc. - what He is really looking for is someone who is humble, simple, and submissive to Him. Someone who cries in His presence, someone who loves Him deeply, who trembles in reverence when He speaks, who takes His words seriously.

Often, I think there's so much pressure for Christians to focus on learning a lot of things, or to serve a certain amount, or to build significant ministries, or to accomplish big tasks, but then we end up missing out on what God is really looking for: people with humble hearts and broken spirits.

Paul spoke of these people as those who "brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart" (2 Cor. 5:12)

God forgive us for trying to serve you more than to love you. Forgive us for trying to build great ministries, but forgetting to build great hearts. I pray that we, Your Church, would be known once again for our unfailing love, deep compassion, and our Christlike humility of heart.

How Big Are We Willing To Dream?

2008-04-03T18:56:00.000-07:00

I often think about one of Louie Giglio's prayers recorded in the Passion OneDay Live cd that goes something like this: "I pray that they will dream dreams that are as big as You are God!" Last week I spent some time meditating and journaling on two Bible passages hoping and desiring for them to take my faith to a new level. They are verses that I have in my mind, but I have been trying to take them to the depth of my heart and faith. Here they are:

"Now Glory be to God, who is able, through His mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Glory to Him in the church and in Christ Jesus through all generations forever and ever! Amen." Ephesians 3:20

"My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts," says the Lord. "And my ways are far beyond anything you could imagine..." Isaiah 55:8

Both of these passages talk about how God is able to do more than I can even "think" or "imagine". The thing is... I can imagine some pretty big things, and those are already hard to believe God for, but what I've been praying is that God would show me how to trust and believe that He can do even more than the stretch of my imagination. Wow, that is faith isn't it?

Well, with this in mind, I did something that I had never done before and I'd like to recommend to anyone that might read this. I wrote down some of my dreams... as far and big as I could imagine them to be. I did not hold back. I did not want to belittle God with my small dreams. These are some of the things I wrote down:

That He would use my life to influence for His Glory every single nation on this Earth.
That millions of people would be healed, restored, and saved through my family.
That my life and my family would make an impact during our lifetime that would last through all future generations.
That my life and my family would not only live up to our human potential, but supernaturally exceed our limitations as we forcefully advance His Kingdom.

Then, after I wrote down these BIG dreams that I could imagine, I quoted and prayed those verses again: that He would "accomplish infinitely more than I might ask or think..." and that though my imagination is quite LARGE, His "ways are far beyond anything I could imagine."

That's what I'm shooting for, the outcome is His. My desire is that by looking at my life, everyone can see that I serve a BIG God - and that He is able to do whatever He desires- and He might just use us, if we believe Him for BIG things. How big can you imagine... ?

Living from the heart

2008-03-13T19:09:00.000-07:00

The more I live life the more I realize how easy it is for us to stop living from the heart. I look around and realize most people don't really have a passion - something that consumes every part of who they are; something that drives them to take risks, live adventurously...

Too often us Christians live from our minds. We have Scripture in our minds, but it doesn't make it to our hearts. Verses we've memorized as children, or in Christian school, or from countless Sunday services... we can quote them, but they don't impact us. They don't cause emotion to erupt! They don't create drive for His Kingdom! They are in the mind - that's it.

Too often us Christians live from our memories. Experiences of the past are the only stories we have to tell. The days when our hearts were tender and passionate. "I remember this mission trip... or youth group days..." But there's a lack of fresh passion in our hearts.

What is God doing today? Right now? I rather have one verse of Scripture make it to my heart, then 20 stay only in my mind. I want to live with passion, with a heart alive, with fresh experiences, with depth of intimacy, with emotion and zeal... I don't want to be like the "believers" that Stephen talked about, "You stubborn people! You are heathen at heart and deaf to the truth. Must you forever resist the Holy Spirit?" (Acts 7)

Too often we get too preoccupied with making our ministries effective, cool, and whatever else, but then we neglect the heart. I remember Paul's words about "those who brag about having a spectacular ministry rather than having a sincere heart before God" (2 Cor. 5:12).

I pray that I never forget to keep my heart healthy and alive in the midst of my ministry. I pray that I would never let me serving God get in the way of me loving Him. God keep my heart alive and fresh.

World Reality

2008-03-08T07:45:00.000-08:00

Last month we did a series at 24/7 youth entitled "The World Series" where we talked about how we can be used to change the world with even just a little effort. Think about these stats:

Half the world - 3 billion people - live on less than two dollars a day.
1 in 2 children in the world live in poverty.
1 child dies every 3 seconds due to poverty, diseases, etc. (27,000 a day)
Nearly 1 billion people entered the 21st century without being able to read a book or sign their name.

This information is not hidden - it's in front of our eyes. And when I think of these, not as numbers, but as real people - people God loves just as much as me - then it makes me wanna do something about it. We are responsible to do something about what we know. Jesus made it clear, "to those that are given much, much is required". Man we've been given much!

I think one of the best for us to impact the world is by partnering with some of the many world impact organizations like these on the Genesis website. These are some of the people Mandy and I sponsor:

This little boy on the left is Jossiel - we sponsor him through Compassion International. He lives in the Dominican Republic and we actually got to visit him in person a few years ago. His dad is a pastor and he also wants to be one. We love him and pray for him often.

This cool looking guy on the right is Ezra - we sponsor him through Gospel for Asia. He is a missionary in India. We also sponsor another child in India named Jishan.

Our goal is to increase our giving to the world every year of our marriage. Wouldn't it be cool if someday in Heaven we'll get to see people from all over the world that we impacted through simple gifts and prayers? I can't wait...

Check out my Slide Show!

2007-07-25T10:23:00.001-07:00

Eye-Opening Experience in Brazil

2007-07-01T04:48:00.000-07:00

We just came back from a mission trip to Sao Paulo, Brazil. I grew up in Sao Paulo, but still every time I go back I am shocked by the condition of life that people live in. Little kids living under bridges, families of 8 living in one-room "houses", homeless women drinking water from the sewer... Things that no human being should have to do!

This trip reminded me once again how priviledged and spoiled we can get living in America. Not only that, but it reminded me of our great responsibility and opportunity to use our resources to help people in need.

One night in Brazil as we were doing home visits, I sat in a house where 8 people lived. I was holding a little 1-year old baby in my arms that was growing up in not so good conditions. As I sat there and heard the family's story, I looked at this childs face and thought, "this child is no different then mine. My daughter Lily could've been born here. He is just as loved by God as my daughter. These people didn't choose to be born here, just like I didn't choose to be born in a middle-class home..." What a thought! It brought me to tears.

That is one of the reasons why I dedicated my life to spreading the love of God. It's a love that restores life. It's a love that renews hope. It a love that compells you to make a difference in the world. It's a love that can transform every life, in every nation, in every culture. I'm gonna try my best to do my part in changing the world.

Another baby coming...

2007-03-21T18:04:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks ago, Mandy said she thought she might be pregnant again so she took a Pregnancy test. She walked out of the bathroom and told me to go wait the 2 minutes and read the test to tell her what it said. I anxiously waited as I looked at + sign slowly appearing on the test. What a rush came over me! Fear, excitement, anxiety, confusion, joy... all at once. Now that reality has hit, I'm just really excited. I'm excited to be able to disciple another child. I'm excited to love him or her. I'm excited that Lily will have a play partner soon. Man, what a gift! and what a responsibility! I love being a dad.

A New Year & A New Commitment

2006-12-26T21:11:00.000-08:00

I'm excited about 2007. I love the chance to start fresh. New commitments, new goals, new opportunities. One of the things I feel God challenging me in is in giving. I've been meditating on 2 Cor. 9 the last few days and I've been reminded that one of the biggest indicators of my heart's condition is my giving. Do I really believe in the words of Jesus when he said, "the measure you use in giving will be used to measure what is given back to you..."?

2 Cor. 9 says that "a farmer who plants only a few seeds will get a small crop. But the one who plants generously will get a generous crop. You must each decide in your heart how much to give... for God loves a person who gives cheerfully." My goal this year is to learn to give. To give more than ever before. To mean it more. To do it more cheerfully. To ask God constantly when, how much, and to whom to give. To make it part of life. My goal is to act on the words of Jesus and plant many seeds that will impact eternity.

When Mandy and I got married we decided to try to increase our giving every year by a little bit. We started at 10% and continued to increase a little at a time. It has been very fulfiling to give to the church, to individuals, and to ministries; but at the same time I feel like compared to how much we have, we really should give more. When I read, learn, and remember the condition of the world outside my current little 'bubble' - the millions of people starving in poverty - I can't help but think "I need to do more!" Jesus taught that "the more you have, the more that is expected from you". Man, I need to reprioritize my life! I will try and with God's help and wisdom I will learn to give according to His Will.

Family Pics

2006-10-21T11:11:00.000-07:00

Get Your Own! | View Slideshow

I learned something really cool today

2006-10-13T10:53:00.000-07:00

I learned something really cool today: You're probably familiar with the story of Jesus sitting around the table with his disciples when he said, "The truth is, one of you will betray me". The disciples then asked him, "Lord, who is it?" Jesus replied, "It is the one whom I give the bread dipped in the sauce (or wine)." Then he gave it to Judas.

Well, the Palestian meal time was seen as very different then ours. It was a much more intimate time and something you would not do with just anyone. If fact, you were never to dine with your enemy, unless you wanted to reconcile with him. If you did want to reconcile, the tradition was to dip the bread into the wine and hand it to the one whom you wanted to be reconciled with, then he would eat it, dip in the wine again, and give back to back to the person who initiated the reconciliation for them to eat.

Do you see what I'm saying? Jesus was offering Judas a way out. It can't be any clearer what Jesus was doing. He was saying, "Judas I know what you decided to do and this is your chance to reconcile with me. It's not too late".

Judas took the bread and ate it, but did not pass it back to Jesus - he chose his path. He rejected the offer for reconciliation. So Jesus said, "lsince you've chosen to go forth with it] Hurry, go and do it now!" Man how sad.

A lot of times we look at Judas' story and wonder if he had a way out. Wasn't it prophesied that someone would do it? Wasn't he the chosen one to betray Jesus? Actually, he was the one who chose. All him. He had a way out and did not take it.

I wonder how many times Jesus offers us a way out or a way back to him and we just simply ignore Him. I love how Jesus initiated the reconciliation even though he did nothing wrong. It reminds me that when I sin, He does not run from me, but instead walks toward me longing for me to return. That's real love.

I can understand why...

2006-09-28T08:15:00.000-07:00

I can understand why some Christians make themselves believe that following Jesus brings only blessings, a pain free life, and prosperity. Life would definetely be easier if that was the case. This has been a tremendously busy and stressful week. I sold my house, stayed up late cleaning and packing, moved my stuff into a POD container, signed more papers and emailed more documents then I have in a long time, and on top of it all there are all the church related tasks I had to keep doing.

The crazy thing is I really believe we're doing God's will. Jesus warned us to expect tribulations, trouble, etc. But the most comforting part of all this is that He said that in the midst of all the stress, "I will be with you". Wow what a comfort! I've been meditating on Psalm 91 this whole week and it has given me tremendous peace and strength: "If you abide in the shelter (secret place) of the Most High, you will find rest in the shadow of the Almighty." I have found that sometimes unless we go through weeks like this, we forget to appreciate the good things of life and the blessing of just simply having God with us. Can you relate?