I recently began reading Swerve, which is a team leadership blog for Pastors. The two main writers are Craig Groeschel and Bobby Gruenewald. There were a series of blog entries that they posted this week that I thought were very insightful and I thought I would share. See what you think. Just click on them below:
Think Smart
Think Fast
I want this blog to be a more diverse place. Sometimes the random video that makes you laugh will be on the menu. Like this...watch this video. It is genius advertising and pretty funny too!
There are 2 Birthdays worth mentioning today. Both of these people are very special to me.
One is my Assistant/CCF's Director of Operations...JAYE LINDO!!! Happy Birthday, Jaye. She is turning 21. Very special to me. Yall wish you knew.
The other is my nephew GABE CAMPBELL...my first nephew born the same time I left for college. Happy Birthday, Gabe! He is turning into a fine young man.
--Noah
The CCF lobby needs a makeover. It is nice and spacious, but it could be more attractive, comfortable, modern and inviting. If you have interior design skills, like to decorate, or are going to complain after we remodel it....
Come and let your voice be heard...TONIGHT at 7pm in the church lobby!
Hope to see a few of you this evening for Extreme Makeover: CCF Lobby Edition!
--Noah
Tricia's Mom arrived last night to spend some time with us. We are really glad to have her. Davis is so cute as he calls her "Abuela", meaning Grandmother is Spanish. She sings him kids songs in Spanish....I would love her to teach him Spanish!
Anyway, she cleans alot and is a killer cook! Looking forward to her stay. We are going out of town next week and Abuela is coming with us too. Gonna be fun! Welcome, Abuela!
On Sunday in my message I talked about the power of vulnerability and authenticity. Authentic is costly. A Redskins jersey that is fake sold at WalMart is $19.99. A real one is $130.00. Authentic is costly. The small diamond I used to propose to Tricia could have been WAY bigger if I would have settled for zirconium. Because, authentic is costly.
But, check this out. There is sometimes a very fine and dangerous line between real and fake. Dealing with U.S. dollar bills, fake and real look and feel exactly the same, but fake can cost you jail. I think that in our lives there is also a fine line between being real and being fake and the difference can be as important as life and death. People are watching you. Are they getting the real deal or a fake? The difference...the line.....could be their deciding factor between life and death.
Watch this video to illustrate this. I used it last weekend in my message. It is a clip from one of the One Prayer messages.
Woke up with the desire to pronounce a blessing on each person who enters this site today. I can only imagine all of your faces....all of which mean something to me! As you read this, I pray that you receive a rich blessing from the God that made you and loves you! I prayed for you this morning....that you would grow in wisdom, stature, favor with God and man (Luke 2:52). May God's peace be with you today.
Walk in the grace of God, the love of His son, Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit! The God that made the heavens and the earth is crazy about you...TODAY! Now.
--Noah
Someone passed this article along to me yesterday and I really appreciated it. I think that it is very well done and speaks to some real issues. It is a little long for a blog post, but it's worth the read. Enjoy.
____________________
Looking for the perfect church? Look no further; it doesn’t exist. The church is made up of people. Until we get to heaven, we can assume churches will have problems.
Regardless of church size, denomination or location, pastors are often troubled by how easily many members leave their church families. When someone leaves, the body is injured. Think of losing a finger or a kidney. You would feel the loss, and so does the church.
Most of us would not leave our biological families, but this doesn’t always translate to our church families. Members frequently leave without a word or with vague answers when contacted by a church staff member who misses them. This is personal for pastors and ministers, evoking emotion, passion, confusion and hurt.
There are both poor reasons and good reasons for leaving a church. Make sure you know the difference.
4 Poor Reasons to Leave:
3 Good Reasons to Make a Move
Leaving?
If you do decide to leave the church, continue to pray for your former church. In the meantime, be cautious of what you say to others about the congregation you left; the Enemy will happily use whatever we say to cause harm. Use wisdom and discretion about any information you pass on to friends.
Last, but not least, please know that your pastors are only human. They will err, misspeak and otherwise blunder from time to time. The church is one of the best places to find mercy and grace and to extend it to others.
You are an important, valued part of the church on a mission to transform the world.
Determine not to be tripped up by trivial matters.
This article first appeared in the May, 2008 issue of Focus on the Family magazine. Copyright © 2008 Gail B. Houston. All rights reserved. Gail B. Houston has worked in church administration for 14 years. She lives in Tucson, Ariz.
Amid a morning of numerous attempted distractions of the enemy, I want to take a moment and celebrate the Lord for what happened among us as a church this morning!! As we wrapped up our "One Heart" series, I could sense the presence of the Lord in our midst as more lives were touched for Christ! If you were there, you know what happened. If you were not there, are reading from out of state or stayed home today (insert conviction here), you missed a powerful time together at CCF! 19 people participated in the closing of my message this morning. The message was entitled "Father, Make us Real!" 19 people modeled it even before we left the room today by sharing their Cardboard Testimony. You know, one of the best ways to teach something is to tell it, and then do it! That's what happened this morning.
The video of what took place this morning will be available in 2 places:
To God be the Glory! The stories are coming in already and I look forward to hearing many more. The half has not been told!
With a full heart and tired eyes,
Noah
Our Associate Pastor, Nelson Okanya was born and raised in the village of Kenya, East Africa. He has now been in the US for 12 years. Last year, CCF sent a team of people to Kenya to visit Nelson's home town, family and various places of ministry.
This morning at 4:00am, Pastor Nelson received a call from his father indicating that his 31 year old sister, Lillian had died last night while giving birth to her 3rd child, a baby boy. The baby lived, but Lillian passed away through childbirth complications and no medical facilities. The newborn, needing to survive was taken to a local Catholic Mission Hospital. It is a very heartbreaking story that has unfolded for Nelson and his family.
Nelson will be flying out for Kenya at 8:15am tomorrow and returning on August 7th. Jessica and Barak (his wife and 19 month old son) will remain home here in Maryland. Our congregation rallied around the Okanyas this morning and supported them with love, prayers and enough money to not only fly Pastor Nelson to Africa, but also to pay for the funeral expenses. Praise the Lord for that!
Thanks to each of you for your continued prayer support and love for the Okanyas and their family in Africa. Let's reach out to Jessica and Barak these next 10 days as well. If you still wish to donate money, you may still do so all week and next Sunday.
[Just spoke with Nelson and they are absolutely blown away at the love and support of our church family already!! Go team! Keep it up!]
The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my savior; my God is my rock in whom I find protection. He is my shield, the strength of my salvation, and my stronghold. Psalm 18:2
Here we are. Mom, Dad, all 5 of their offspring, their spouses and their kids at Mom and Dad's 40th Anniversary Evening. I am REALLY blessed with an unbelievable family. They are dear to me and are another gift from God as I see it. Thought I would share this. They may kill me for it.
--Noah
Zep 3:17 - The LORD your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing.
Just two weeks ago in my message I shared that one of the ways that we can be the answer to Jesus's prayer in John 17 is to recognize that we have "one enemy." That enemy is the devil, Satan, the father of lies, the prince of darkness....he is a thief, liar and destroyer....his main target is the local church, which I believe is the tool of hope for the world.
That said, I want to acknowledge something VERY SERIOUS that we need to pay attention to...
You know what I say....Oh, no you don't!!! The devil will not have any place in Jesus's Church! Awe, heck no!
Ephesians 6:12 - For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.
Struggling a little these days. Lots going on right now that is not "bloggable"(yet). My heart is heavy and I ask your prayers. Sometimes we can lift people to the Lord without information. I ask you to pray for me....that I will walk under the anointing of the Holy Spirit and do what God wants me to do as a Shepherd.
I will tell you this....our God is always on time!! I received one phone call and one email today that were just what I needed! I am telling you, the caller ID and the "from" line of the email should have read "heaven". I just knew it was the voice of God speaking to me. He is always on time.
I love each of you. Thanks for reading this and thanks for your support. I may not blog a lot in the days to come. Sometimes sharing too much can create more harm than good. This may be a time where I need to chill a bit. Everything will be fine. Sounding no alarms, just being transparent. After all, it is my blog, right?
--Noah
Tonight was so amazing. I don't really have the words for it. There are about 20 people involved in my message on Sunday. Most of us cried during practice tonight. Hear this....YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS THIS SUNDAY!!! God is going to give us new perspectives and do something special in us...trust me!
Please come and bring people to church this Sunday morning!
(Also looking forward to hosting about 20-25 guests from Mountville Mennonite Church in PA for our service and a time of Q & A with the staff after church. They will be here to check out how we do ministry at CCF.)
My heart is totally full of joy tonight. Why? Because lives are being impacted for Jesus through the ministry of CCF! Left and right! These last few weeks, I have heard many stories of ways that the people are connecting to God in new and renewed ways.
2 that Stand out to me this week:
I love this stuff! I just had to share. There is more beyond this , too! I just LOVE seeing lives impacted for Jesus! Nothing better!
Not to us, oh Lord, but to your name be the glory because of your love and faithfulness!
--Noah
John 14
11Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me; or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves. 12I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father. 13And I will do whatever you ask in my name, so that the Son may bring glory to the Father. 14You may ask me for anything in my name, and I will do it.
Lover & follower of Jesus, devoted to my wife Tricia & my kids, Davis, Lily & Graceson, serving & living in Africa as a man on mission for the Kingdom of God.
