How to pray for one hour

At New Life Community Church we are in the midst of 21 days of prayer and fasting. Part of this includes each New Life location hosting 24hrs of non-stop prayer from 7pm on one day to 7pm the next. At New Life Lincoln Park where I am our 24hrs starts tonight. We have over 30 people signed up for 1hr blocks to pray for one another, our church, and our city.

Praying for an entire hour?!? Wouldn't you fall asleep? What all could you possibly pray about for that long?

Praying for an hour may seem intimidating at first but for the person prepared the time in reality flies by. At the end the prepared person would be checking the clock on their phone with astonishment asking, "That's it? That was an hour?"

Here's how you get ready to pray for an hour:

What Christmas is all about...

God showed how much he loved us by sending his one and only Son into the world so that we might have eternal life through him. This is real love—not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to take away our sins. Dear friends, since God loved us that much, we surely ought to love each other. No one has ever seen God. But if we love each other, God lives in us, and his love is brought to full expression in us.
- 1 John 4:9-12

So the Word became human and made his home among us. He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness - John 1:14

Aug 2nd: Gospel appreciation day

I am declaring that August 2nd is Gospel appreciation day!

• Let all those who love Jesus and say they are followers of Him live like it!
• Remember that sin is disgusting and you did NOTHING to redeem yourself - Jesus did it ALL.
• Embrace the life that you did not earn but were given based on the sacrifice of Jesus. 
• Find joy in the truth that you could change nothing about yourself that would make God redeem you or love you more - both before you met Him or after. 
• Find peace in the truth that God is continually working on you and is always with you.
• Find passion in the truth that God wants you to join Him in what He is doing in the world (though He doesn't need you to accomplish it).

Appreciate the Gospel today!!!

• Appreciate the Gospel by caring about the type of person you are!
• Appreciate the Gospel by caring about the type of character you have!
• Appreciate the Gospel by caring about the type of words that come out of your mouth!
• Appreciate the Gospel by knowing the names of those who live around you!
• Appreciate the Gospel by learning the stories of those you interact with! 
• Appreciate the Gospel by treating cab drivers and waitresses and fast food workers like actual human beings and not endentured servants. 
• Appreciate the Gospel by speaking truth from a spirit of compassion and not of judgement!
• Appreciate the Gospel by disagreeing with people respectfully and not in harshness! 
• Appreciate the Gospel by communicating your disagreement of politicians without insulting them!
• Appreciate the Gospel by being concerned with how the poor are treated!
• Appreciate the Gospel by being concerned with how immigrants are treated!
• Appreciate the Gospel by being concerned with how the LGBT community is treated!
• Appreciate the Gospel by caring about the manner in which you talk to people!
• Appreciate the Gospel by being a person of truthful character! 
• Appreciate the Gospel by being an honorable person! 
• Appreciate the Gospel by being a person of justice!
• Appreciate the Gospel by being a person of purity!
• Appreciate the Gospel by being a lovely person!
• Appreciate the Gospel by being a person who can be commended!
• Appreciate the Gospel by being a person of excellence!   

Appreciate the Gospel by living it!

Because how you live out the gospel with the people you actually interact with day in and day out is more important than if you bought a spicy chicken yesterday. 

Gospel Appreciation: not just Aug 2nd.  

Everyday!

I'm going to be on Moody radio this Monday

This Monday I'm going to be on Moody Radio participating in the program Midday connection. I'm joining my friend and colleague Christopher Yuan in a conversation about the church and homosexuality. 

Here is the program description for Monday from the program's website: 

Living in a fallen world means we encounter issues we are sometimes uncomfortable with. Homosexuality is one such issue, and on this Midday Connection, Moody Bible Institute professors Christopher Yuan and Bobby Moss join us for a discussion on how to interact with those who are living a homosexual lifestyle and those who struggle with same sex. It’s about homosexuality on this Midday Connection.

Should be interesting.  =)

The program is at noon on 90.1 FM. For more information CLICK HERE.

Don't quit too soon

Seth Godin wrote the following on his blog today.

"I don't even know what I'm afraid of"

This is the fear that kills brands and b2b sales and individual creativity. It's the fear without a name, without a face, without false facts that can be shot down or arguments that can be reasoned with.

This is the amygdala firing, the lizard brain being triggered without rational explanation.

When we are wrestling against the elusive and resilient fear with no name, often the only choice is to live with it, to care enough about forward motion and practical progress that we can come embrace the inner trembling that won't give up.

In market after market paralyzed with fear, this trembling might be the very best sign that you're on to something.

He is speaking about business, but the truth flows into faith and relationships as well.

Life gets shaky at time. Life can bring a ton of uncertainty. Life can be downright scarey. Throw in a side of loneliness or hurt or letdown and things can move from uncertainty to overwhelming in the blink of an eye. 

Living in the red white and blue doesn't like this. We don't like uncertainty nor imbalance and certainly hate the feeling that we have no control. So whenever we find ourselves wrestling with the "elusive and resilient fear with no name" we would rather step away than step up. We'd rather go after balance and wholeness somewhere else than risk facing the unknown outcome of where we are.

So where does faith come in then?

Maybe that shaky, uncertain, scary, lonely, confusing, fearful spot is the most amazing, holy, beautiful, incredibly spot you could be in. 

Maybe you look around with, "God, why do you have me in this impossible situation? 

And maybe God looks around with, "Why not? It's perfect! You get to trust me and I get to show off!"

Easy doesn't produce faith. 

Easy doesn't produce anything.

Imagine what you're on the verge of!

Whether marriage, family, friendship, or church: Avoid backwards. Move forward. Don't give up. Keep on.

Don't quit too soon.

But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. Hebrews 10:39-11:1

NLLP worship teams cover Coldplay's "Fix You"

Continuing in our teaching series called CONTRASTS this past Sunday, the message was on 1 John 3:11-24. The whole talk can be summarized with these four statements:

• Anger and hate make broken things more broken
• Love brings the power of God to broken situations
• God provides what we need to love when it's difficult to do so
• Only God's love can fix the broken

To help get my message going, our phenomenal worship teams at New Life Lincoln Park performed Coldplay's "Fix You." We have a service at 10am and one at 5pm so it was awesome to hear each team's take on the song. Here they both are:

Batter My Heart

Batter my heart, three-person'd God ; for you
As yet but knock ; breathe, shine, and seek to mend ;
That I may rise, and stand, o'erthrow me, and bend
Your force, to break, blow, burn, and make me new.
I, like an usurp'd town, to another due,
Labour to admit you, but O, to no end.
Reason, your viceroy in me, me should defend,
But is captived, and proves weak or untrue.
Yet dearly I love you, and would be loved fain,
But am betroth'd unto your enemy ;
Divorce me, untie, or break that knot again,
Take me to you, imprison me, for I,
Except you enthrall me, never shall be free,
Nor ever chaste, except you ravish me.

This is one of my favorite poems, a sonnet by John Donne.

It is a dangerous prayer to ask God to batter your heart in such away that it becomes untangled from all other things but Him. But such a prayer must be offered, that we would be divorced from all other allegiances and found only with eyes for Him.

A dangerous prayer, a possibly difficult prayer, but a necessary one.

Mother's Day and AntiChrists and Creepers

This past Sunday was Mother's Day. At church we had a special time during the service celebrating our moms, over 25 in total! Though we gave thank you gifts to all of them, special gifts went to specific moms from the group. The special gifts went to the newest mom (less than 2 week old), the mom who came the furthest to be with us (California), the mom with the most grand-kids (7), and the mom who had been in labor the longest (60 hours!!!!). Go ahead and let that last one set in for a minute: 60 hours in labor. It was summarized perfectly on Sunday by Rick when he said, "I wish we had a Purple Heart to give you." 

For the actual message we continued in our CONTRASTS series going through 1 John. The scripture we went though was 1 John 2:18-27, which isn't the first text anyone would probably pick for mother's day as it is about antichrists. But it was the next part of the letter so I went with it. 

The message was entitled, "Beware of the Creepers" and can be summarized by this image:

If you'd like to listen to it click here or to download it click here.

Thankfulness for someone who encouraged thought

A great man of God passed away yesterday: Chuck Colson.

There are leaders of the faith who have inspired me, those who have equipped me, those who have encouraged me. But Chuck Colson is a leader who challenged me to think about and understand my faith. And in doing so he inspired, equipped, and encouraged.

The first time I ever heard Chuck Colson I had no idea who he was or that it was him I was listening to. At the beginning of his song, "Heaven in the Real World," Stephen Curtis Chapman had a sound bite of Colson saying this:

"Where is the hope? I meet millions of people who feel demoralized by the decay around us. The hope that each of us has is not in who governs us, or what laws we pass, or what great things we do as a nation. Our hope is in the power of God working through the hearts of people. And that's where our hope is in this country. And that's where our hope is in life." 

His life story is about that hope. His story is a testimony to the powerful grace of God.

If you've never heard of or interacted with the work of Chuck Colson, I highly recommend you do.

Read his obituary press release here.

Read his story here.

Check out his books here. If you want some suggested starting places I'd go with The Faith, How Now Shall We Live, and The Body. 

And check out this video...

"It's tough being the one there holding a father and mother when they just lost their son"

That's what my friend Matt DeMatteo shared yesterday with our pastoral team after Johnny Vargas passed away. Around 1am I received this string of texts from Matt:

 

Johnny's death came from a gang related shooting (Tribune link). He was only 19 years old.

The father who keeps his promises

Sunday night our family visited Mosaic, Erwin McManus' church in West Hollywood. It was an incredible service and Erwin gave a phenomenal message, as expected. Before we left for church though, our kids had their hearts set on going swimming at the hotel. We knew we wouldn't be able to make visiting Mosaic if we took a dip, so we ensured them there would be swimming when we got back. 

While buckling Baylee in after church the first words out of her mouth were, "We're going swimming when we get back, right dad?" I love swimming and having fun with my kids, so with complete confidence and intention I said, "Baylee, we are going to swim! I promise you! Unless the pool is broken, we will swim. And if for some reason it's closed when we get back then I promise we will go in the morning." The result was one huge smile.

Now take the fact that 8pm Los Angles time is actually 10pm to Baylee and Jaxon's little Chicago bodies and add to it a 35 minute drive back to our hotel, and result is two zonked out little kids. Gone. Comatose. At this point it didn't matter if the pool was open or not.

But it did matter in the morning. At 7:45am Baylee was awake and the first words she said were, "Daddy, do we get to go swimming?" But she didn't stop there. She added the other words. She played the trump card. She called me out.

Two words you can say that will give someone an instant spirit boost

A couple weeks ago I did a message at church that I felt really didn't go over that well. It wasn't my worst ever, but it wasn't as I had hoped. The collateral damage wasn't a huge dark cloud, but there was a mixture of frustration and questioning of self. My sense of perfectionism can be rather brutal at times.

After service a guy from our church asked me if I could send him the notes from a message I'd done a few weeks prior. Out of my mouth came, "Sure, no problem." In my head was, "Obviously not wanting today's stuff." Despite my pity party I emailed the notes later that afternoon. 

In the morning my inbox had a simple message from him saying thanks for the notes. But he also had this post script: 

The Hearing God messages

This past Sunday at church we wrapped up our Hearing God series. I was so glad we did this series. It was a reminder of important encouraging truths that I know I needed to hear. 

Here are four of the messages if you want to give them a listen (the 2nd week wasn't recorded):

• God speaks
• Discerning the Whisper: listen or download
• Hearing Him in the Silence: listen or download
• Not Living Halfway: listen or download

Want to help make a movie?

Misha Geno, my friend from church, makes movies. She is an amazing fashion designer with a great artistic eye and passion for story telling. She uses her art as a wardrobe stylist to bring characters to life within their story.

Misha has an sweet opportunity before her! She has been asked to be the wardrobe stylist for a feature film called, "The Umbrella." 

She explains that the movie is "about Jared, who is haunted by his past, not dealing with his pain, and disengaged from life in the present. He uses his “imaginary” umbrella to shield him from life, but he soon must make a choice: to finally let go of his umbrella and find the freedom that comes from living honestly." 

The film is being made by YWAM (Youth With a Mission). Oh, and I forgot to mention, it's being filmed IN AUSTRALIA!!! 

Do you want to be part of the crew with Misha? She is looking for partners! People who want to join the film crew! Check out this short video:

Please consider joining Misha with me! This is going to be a really amazing film!

Check out the full story about the film by clicking HERE.

To download the informational letter on how to partner with Misha, CLICK HERE

Pearl Harbor Reflections: Unrecorded Heroism

Two trips to Hawaii for work in the last three months have each given me the privilege of visiting the Pearl Harbor Historic Sites park. Both experiences were very moving, with new sections of the sites being explored each time. This part of our country's history is something I've known of but not about. Like sitting down with a person you've known for months and being amazed after finally hearing their story, the history of Pearl Harbor feels new to me. Intriguing and fascinatingly new, the type of place you keep thinking back to, even days after being back home. Hence, this first post of others to follow.

The Reflection Circle is located toward the southern end of the Pearl Harbor Historic Sites park. Standing in the middle of its ring, you are able to look out over the area where the devastation occurred 71 years ago. Across the water on the other side of the harbor the USS Missouri is docked. It stands guard over its neighbor, the USS Arizona memorial. Of the 2,402 who died in the Pearl Harbor attacks, 1,177 of them were on the Arizona when it was bombed. The mental jarring your mind takes from contemplating everything from this vantage point make it easy to understand why it is called the Reflection Circle. 

God Speaks: preaching a message without saying a word

The first message in our new "Hearing God" series this past Sunday lasted 29 minutes. During this time there wasn't a word audibly spoken. It was the quietest I've heard the crowd or the sanctuary. As it was communicated Sunday night, if the message was about God speaking then it seemed best I didn't. So I just stood there, and let Him do the rest.

God speaks. That is the what this message is about. Just click through the slides and you'll hear what everyone heard Sunday:

For those from New Life Lincoln Park who were asking for the notes (or anyone), you can download a PDF of the slides here or the actual PowerPoint here.

A passion to end modern-day slavery

Highlighting the Passion2012 conference in Atlanta from this past week, this is pretty amazing 3 minute video. It's worth every minute to watch:

And now I'm asking myself what it looks like to join this movement on a day to day basis. 

Thoughts?

Immanuel of Everything

As part of the message Sunday during our Christmas service, our amazing New Life Lincoln Park worship team did this song by Coldplay, "Christmas Lights":

The theme of this song rings true: Christmas is an amazing time of year, but it doesn't always feel amazing.

Along with all of the fun, celebrating, and connecting with others, for some this season was nothing but the opposite.  It was a stressful season: Who all do I buy for? What do I get them? When am I going to have the time? That woman took the last pair, could I take her out before she gets to the register? It was a time that raised old hurts: remembering loss, broken dreams, loneliness, no presents under the tree. And these could create feelings of doubt: What’s the point? Anyone care? Is anyone out there?

No Slutty Halloweens

This is a picture of Baylee's Halloween costume: Hello Kitty. 

My adorable little girl.

My funny, caring, outgoing, social, loving, observant, full of life, beautiful little girl. 

As her daddy I take it as a deep personal responsibility to shower her with love, affirmation, empowerment, wisdom, and build up her self-respect so that when she is older she doesn't feel it necessary to dress up like a slut in order to have fun on Halloween.

Her decisions will be her own.

But it's my role to give her a foundation to make those decisions, and impart to her through our relationship the self-respect, confidence, and know how to be able to make the best ones. 

Dear Lord - please help me! 

 What matters is not your outer appearance—the styling of your hair, the jewelry you wear, the cut of your clothes—but your inner disposition. Cultivate inner beauty, the gentle, gracious kind that God delights in. 1 Peter 3:3-4

The king is enthralled by your beauty; honor him, for he is your lord. Psalm 45:11

Some thoughts about the fact the world is ending today

Harold Camping

Today the rapture might happen, the world as we know spinning into chaos. I type this while sitting in a Starbucks in downtown Orlando. Guess if I can't be in Chicago then the land of Mickey is as good a place as ever. It's unfortunate though because Baylee and Jaxon were anticipating the Magic Kingdom on Sunday. [insert churchee crack about the real Kingdom here].

Harold Camping predicted that this would all happen on May 21, 2011.  It didn't.

Mr. Camping explained his error and then rescheduled things. For today. Oct 21, 2011.

I'm going to bet my kids will be able to take a picture with Mickey this Sunday afternoon.  

A few thoughts on Mr Camping and end of the world predictions: