You Are Called

And he said to them, “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” - Matthew 4:19

“Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.” - Matthew 28:19-20

We are all called to ministry.

Dreaming of Something New

I know that I haven't blogged in a while. We've been very busy building our new home and getting it ready for launching a new missional endeavor. I really appreciate everyone who has dropped by the blog over the last few months. I'm hoping to post more regularly and wanted to kick things off with some ideas that my wife and I have been thinking through the last few months.

The old me is dead!

"Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold the new has come." - 2 Corinthians 5:17

The old me is dead.

What a statement! In those five words is a  whole new outlook and purpose for life. This week at Crosspointe Church in Ada, OK Pastor Shawn Wiebers helped to shed some new light on this simple but profound statement. 

Change of Plans

When things don't go my way I have a tendency to get depressed about it. I don't know if that's just the way I'm wired, but it is definitely something that I'm working on. When God doesn't open a door, He always has something else lined up. Isn't that what we've always been taught? But the truth is that we have to be ready and willing to accept that the door He opens may not be what we expected.

Through The Valley

Below is an exert from an email that I wrote to someone who is struggling. I prayed about it and I wanted to share this with you. It is part of my story with God and the hope that we can have when we walk through valleys in life. I hope you it gives you inspiration and hope.

When God says, "Wait"

Over the last couple of weeks God has begun to really work into my heart...or is it that I've finally opened up enough to hear what he's been saying all along? Either way, I've been really thinking a lot about what to do when God tells you to wait.

Reconciling being a Revolutionary and Responsible

"When I grow up I want to..."

How many of us remember saying that. We had such high aspirations as kids. We really thought that we could change the world and be anything we wanted to be. How is it that so much can change between then and now.

The Need for Local Missions in Hometowns

We launched our MC (missional community) a few weeks ago and it has been a great experience so far. Our little tribe is going through The Tangible Kingdom Primer (TKP) by Hugh Halter and Matt Smay. To be honest, developing missional habits has been a little tougher than I had imagined. It really makes you seriously think about some issues that I thought had been set in stone from my traditional church background. It's good to grow, but it can also cause healthy growing pains.

Servolution 2011

Servolution is coming April 16-23!!! I'm so excited about all that we are going to be doing. I truly believe that if we take the time to show God's love in tangible way it will change hearts and lives in Ada. Here are a few ways that we are going to be making a difference for our city:

Being Safe Will Kill Us

Alan Hirsch - Are You Stuck In A Rut? from Verge Network on Vimeo.

You can't be creative unless you risk failure. And we will never be able to achieve anything great if we don't take the risk. Let's step out and do something so crazy that God would be ashamed not to show up on our behalf.

The Mission Book

 

We all have a story to tell. And when we begin to listen and share our stories we all are able to learn from each other. With that in mind, the folks at Upstream Collective have put together a new ebook reader site centered around missions called TheMissionBook. 

There are articles from some great leaders and pastors: Alan Hirsch, Ed Stetzer and others.

This is an awesome resource for anyone wanting to dive deeper into the mission. Read other people's stories and submit your own.

Definitions and Discussions of Missional Communities

There has been some great blog posts and discussions revolving around missional communities over on the Verge Network site. The Verge team have brought together some of the leading people in the missional movement to discuss seven key questions.

Winter Weather and Living Missionally

So I am now officially tired of the snow. Besides the fact that it has had a huge impact on sales at our local RadioShack where I am the store manager, it has kept us inside for nearly a week. Yesterday I went out and shoveled ours and our neighbor's sidewalk of about 3 feet of snow drift. That got me thinking about something. What does missional life look like during winter storms like we've had the last few days?

Here are a few ideas:

The Ministry of Presence

The Ministry of Presence

Check out this short blog from the Missional Church Network. This is something that I deal with daily. The fight in myself between wanting to be part of some huge project vs. doing REAL ministry the way Jesus did it through day-to-day relationships, conversations, cups of coffee, and meals with those around me.

What are your thoughts on this struggle?

Random Thoughts

1. Church isn't about our programs, ministries, music, or even our gatherings. Church is about a group of people who have decided to live out the mission of God to redeem this world and the people in it. It's about taking the love of God outside our walls; shifting our focus from creating programs to sustain those already in a relationship with Jesus to reaching beyond a consumer Christianity and taking the Good News to those who don't have a relationship with Jesus.

2. What I grew up thinking church was supposed to be may not be what it really is all about.

3. The church is the people NOT a building. Its a call to adventure & revolutionary lifestyle change NOT a revival. Its being in the Bible, in prayer, in a community of others on the journey to Christ NOT about going to a building for an hour on Sunday to have as Pastor feed me spiritually.

Just some random thoughts and ideas I'm working through in my own life right now.

What I'm Thankful For

 

It's that time of year that you sit down and begin to think about all the things that you are thankful for. So here's my list of things that I'm thankful for this year.

 

 

1. God - I'm thankful that God loved me so much that he sent his Son to show us a new kingdom way of living and then died on the cross a horrible death to free me from sin and for His service.

"Members Only" Churchianity

This is an ACTUAL sign from a church parking lot in Hawaii. Saw this and it really got me thinking...What are some of the things that the church does that says we are for "members only"?

Transitioning from Traditional to Missional

Looking through a few blogs that I'm reading. Here's a link to a great article for any leader looking toward transitioning from a traditional to a missional model of church. Take the time to prayerfully read through it.

http://missionalchurchnetwork.com/transitioning-from-traditional-to-missional/

Called to Mission

I don't know how many if any readers I've got out there, but you may have noticed that I just changed the name of the blog from Beyond the Walls to Called to Mission. Let me explain why...

Over the last few months Amy (my wife) and I have been discussing and praying about what it really means to be a Christ follower and what that looks like in our own lives and in our own communities. A few comments from a new book that I've been reading really started to make us think about this. [You can check out the book on my Currently Reading section on the right]. Here's a few things that we are working through together and that might spark your thoughts as well:

Community Outreach and The Love Revolution

So much has happened over the last few weeks. God has really answered mine and Amy's prayers in guiding us into the ministry that He has for us. On August 8th Amy and I were welcomed as the Community Outreach Directors at Crosspointe Church in Ada, OK. This is an awesome opportunity to participate in ministry that is at the heart of our church and has deeply touched our hearts as well.

We will be actively involved in the community outreach events and ministries at Crosspointe Church. Some of the upcoming events that we are going to involved in are:

+Samaritan's Ministry Food-Giveaway (Last Tuesday Every Month)

+Ada Highschool Lunch Outreach (Sept 9th) - serving hotdogs to students for a free lunch


+Senior Citizen Outreach (Sept 11th) - Going to go out into our community and change batteries in smoke detectors, light bulbs and air filters.

Amy and I are also going to be heading up a Connection Group at Crosspointe for anyone interested in community service. We are going to be going through The Love Revolution by Joyce Meyer. This is going to be a paradigm (worldview)  changing study that will help us begin to understand that serving others is not an option for Christianity but is a primary way that others know we are Christians.

Look for our table on Connection Sunday at Crosspointe Church this Sunday. Come on by and chat with us about Servolution or The Love Revolution