Family Mushings From Me - Dad

I recently finished this painting called "Dressed In Summer's Best". It was inspired by a family trip to "The Grand Tetons National Park" this past summer. Family truly is important to me. I have a married daughter in Indiana, a college daughter who just got back to the states from a mission trip in Africa, a third daughter that is maneuvering through 8th grade and following in last, a son. I remember some wise soul giving a young couple words of wisdom after the birth of their first daughter. It went something like this: "Don't assume that she is yours to keep - You are just taking care of her for awhile. She really belongs to God." Yeah, sure - In my naive kind of way, I understood perfectly! We were just taking care of her for awhile. Of course I knew that... But somewhere along this incredible journey, my wife and I maybe forgot or just didn't quite understand the implications of this wisdom. Even with the best of intentions and even with the noble thought of being a temporary care-giver, we just got to thinking that she was "ours" as were each that came along. Years later after we dropped our oldest off at college and waved good-bye, my wife, through tearful eyes and a sincere mother's heart, whispered out loud, "fly away little birdie" only too many times since retract the command.Less than a year later came my "fly away" moment as I married off my baby girl. My wife and I really don't want our brood to return after they leave - we want to give them wings to fly to be all God intended them to be - but sometimes we wonder why someone didn't tell us a long time ago to prepare our hearts because one day they would take wing. Then I remember... oh yes, someone did ... Enjoy your kids today and give them wings to fly. - Jeff

I Love Monday Mornings

OK - so I said "I Love Monday's" because it is a time when the staff all gets together to review the weekend and hear the reports of changed lives. Here is what I'm talking about - I hope it helps make your Monday go a little smoother:
This last week there were 19 people who made decisions to follow Jesus for the first time! Yeah God - I'm telling you that never gets old. Thank you to everyone who serves on our Weekend Experience team to allow God to work in lives in that way - you all rock!!!

By the way, 15 of those commitments were in our Childrens ministry this week. If you really want to make a difference we still need more help in that area of ministry and lives are being changed. Contact Pastor Tom; tom@alivechurch.com

I have not had a chance to report this but we had some baptisms at our Continental Ranch campus a few weeks. Awesome stuff. One of those being baptized shared about the vital role that being in a Life Group had in their decision to take the step of being baptized. The entire Life Group was a part of this celebration.

Livin What You Know. You have been hearing about our spiritual growth campaign coming in September. We are doing this special campaign with three things in mind: Unity, Community and Spiritual Growth Opportunities. It will be a time where Alive is getting on the same page in Unity of what we are teaching, focusing on and praying for. One of the key elements in this is living out authentic community as a church. I am praying for everyone that we would all take the next step in our spiritual journey as we open ourselves up to spiritual growth opportunities. There are several pieces to this campaign. First is the weekend teaching series:
Week One - "23" - The Radical Nature Of The Shepherd
Week Two - "13" - The Radical Nature Of Love
Week Three - "3:16" - The Radical Nature Of Hope
Week Four - "12" - The Radical Nature Of Sacrifice
Week Five - "4:13" - The Radical Nature Of Faith

Another key element will be weekly scripture memory verses and a daily devotional blog. Also, we will have home groups that we are calling Growth Groups during these five weeks to develop community. I encourage you to give it five weeks and let God radically change your life - our life together.

School, Routine and Purpose

I don’t know about you, but I am glad my kids are back in school and life is getting back to some sort of normal routine. While I love spending extra time with the family during the summer and doing family vacation, I love getting back in the saddle so to speak and doing what God has me doing here in our church family and in life.

Even as I write this I realize there are many people who don’t feel that way and feel that life has no purpose. So often we look at our lives and feel that we can only be happy if we have certain things, careers or relationships. Let me encourage you that God has a much greater purpose for your life.

Many people spend their lives searching for a greater purpose. Yet we cannot discover the purpose we were created for outside of God. He is the one who made us with our passions, gifts, talents and skills with His purpose in mind. Everything about our fulfillment, our peace and our lives being lived for a greater purpose stems from the fact that we have a creator and He has created for His purpose.

I want to encourage you as we get back to the routine of life that if you have never read Rick Warren’s book “The Purpose Driven Life” that you take 40 days and do so. Or if you are like me, and have read it before, this is a great time to re-read it. God will use it in your life to change you forever.