Joaquin Phonix, actor who played the role of Johnny Cash in the movie, Walk the Line, announced today that he is retiring from Hollywood to pursue a music career. I am a closet Johnny Cash fan and Joaquin’s portrayal was superb in my humble opinion. But, he’s no Johnny Cash. I imagine the music industry will be the long range judge of his choice. But, at least he is pursuing the dream. Men are created to live on the frontier, to take the risk, to extend the reach. So, best of luck to Joaquin. However, I probably will not be buying his new CD release any time soon!!
Now for all you real Johnny Cash fans–both of you, here is the real thing–with notes sung off key, timing murdered and well–Johnny’s gravel voice. He proves, America is great–anyone can make it. Hey Joaquin–maybe you do have a chance.
Join us at Baggett Elementary School at 10:00 AM the first 4 Sunday’s in November. Nobody’s perfect–but that’ not an excuse to find out how God can bring relief to the problems we face. Uncle Sam may try to offer a bail out plan for our country, but God is offering a recovery plan for his creation–us.
November 30 is our first Service Sunday. We shut down the worship as a gathering, and put people to work serving in our community, in the name of Jesus. We have two projects going on that Sunday. One is a Spring Mountain Assisted Living. We are not going to do the typical–sing some old songs, preach a message that misses needs present. They have that already. We are there to help them decorate their rooms and halls for Christmas. We plan to bring gifts for the residents and place the gifts beneath the trees. We want to interact, talk and help them get ready for the holiday season. Not very spiritual someone might say. Go figure, when Jesus visited the wedding feast in Canaan, I don’t recall them asking Him to have the blessing for the food. No, they wanted Him to make more wine. Velocity is not running away from a spiritual encounter at Spring Mountain, we are allowing God to use us to share joy, happiness and accomplishment to people who see very little of that in their lives. Let some other church preach at them. We want to give to them some joy in the Lord.
Our second destination is to partner with a project called, “Dude, Share the Food”. Eric Humphrey heads up this food program for the hungry in Atlanta. On Sunday November 30, we are taking several to help share the food. We will not just contribute lunches, but help pass them out in the designated park in Atlanta. Here is a brief video about Eric and his project, Dude Share the Food.
Velocity is serious about simple church. We worship, we connect and we serve. And we do it all with excellence and a spirit of awe for Jesus, who set down for us the example. Its early to mention this, but I want time for all who wish to help us, to connect with Velocity these next few weeks and allow Jesus to be seen in your life for real. Velocity
Yesterday at Velocity, our worship service was one of the best. Maybe it was because I had a chance to engage without the task of preaching. Our Connections Pastor, Brian Brunke, preached yesterday and did an excellent job of inspiring us to find ourselves. The real me is not the one that people see. That’s my Zombie image. I hide quite well those things which I don’t want the world or my friends to see in me. But for the church to grow, we need to get real with God and with each other. We need to live out loud with God and others, bumps and all. Hypocrisy is killing the church’s image in the world and its time we cleaned it up. Good preaching Brian.
You can hear his message on our web site. We will post it later this week.
Yesterday also saw more first time guests and many returning to worship at Velocity. We turn the corner this week and will open a series of messages entitled “Broken”. These next four Sundays will allow us to touch some important topics such as Finances, Sex, Relationships, and Sin. When we allow the world to lead us in these areas, we find ourselves failing. But when we allow God’s word to direct our lives, we can go from broken to recovered and resolved.
Velocity will soon have new office space. Our time line for moving is within the next week or two. And we know it will occur on a Saturday afternoon, because that’s the window in which our equipment truck is empty! Our new offices come with some great financial savings for us. We can park our equipment truck in a secure area without additional cost. We do not pay any utilities, except for our phone and Internet. We have access to a free meeting room which holds about 30-40 people. There is a secure mail box, so we can drop our PO box number and the fee to rent it. We have free trash service and plenty of parking for staff and guests.
The offices themselves have 6 rooms, two restrooms, two kitchen areas and access to long term storage for any of our extras that do not need to ride on our truck each week. (extra chairs, tables, popcorn machine, snow cone machine, canopies, carnival games, yard work equipment, cleaning supplies, etc.)
I have spent the last couple of Sunday mornings early, praying in the parking lot, just outside these new offices. I am looking forward to being able to have some quiet time on Sunday mornings before church to gather my thoughts inside these offices . Did I mention they are about 1 mile from our the school we meet at on Sundays?
So, that’s the exciting news. Watch for the new address to appear on our web page. But for now, its back to doing ministry and packing up.
Boy, there is about nothing I detest more than packing for a move. I am the world’s top pack rat. I save everything, for the rainy day. It would take another Noah length rain to justify all the things I have saved for that rainy day. I have quite a collection of junk. So, I need to set up a criteria system for what I save, what I display, use and what I pitch or give away. And I am speaking of books, files, pictures, toys (yes the inner child and a collection of Matchbox cars and action figures), electronic chargers, cords, keyboards etc. Yes, I seem to have saved it all.
This process is not new. I have painfully reduced my stuff before and like a vacuum in space–it attracts even more. Someone suggested that I give it all to God, and let go it. OK, but I’m sure He wants me to keep it available for Him!! I guess I am an addict to packing, collecting, keeping, stacking, boxing, shelving, and what ever space is available –I will get something into it, for keeping.
Confession time is over. I can hear my wife now–throw it away if you don’t need it. Give it away if its something you would have loved to have received. So, the process continues. I have taken this short break to blog, to look at all that must be done. And now I am determined to downsize. And if the truth be told, I have no choice. Our new offices are smaller than our current areas, so space is a premium.
I will keep everyone informed, whether interested or not about my progress. In this way, I will stay on task.
PS Oh, anyone interested in a Bob the Tomato Christmas tree ornament? Just thought I would ask, before I tackle that tough decision on poor Bob.
A cold chill has settled over Western and Northern GA this morning. Some temps were in the upper 30’s and expected to be even colder tomorrow morning. Frost is not on the pumpkin, but I think it’s laying in wait to make and appearance soon.
2 Timothy 4:21a (NLT) 21 Do your best to get here before winter.
This is an interesting little bit of scripture. I have often thought of how it gives a glimpse into the life of Paul. I don’t believe the entire story is just the fact that Paul was cold or anticipating a chill so he asks for his cloak to be brought to him. Rather it is a glimpse into his forward thinking. Paul was ready to move on–to continue his journey to Rome. Whether it would be by government escort or not, Paul wanted to move on–but the voyage was being postponed due to the onset of bad weather. So it was time to adjust–to accept that which might not be the first choice.
The name it and claim it crowd might urge Paul to pray harder–seek God’s guidance to break the normally harsh winter and allow the voyage to continue. We might expect Paul to pray for safety in such a dangerous route if it be undertaken. Maybe prayers and pleas to the sailors to give it a go, be the men you know you are! But no, Paul who tells us to be content in whatever circumstance understands that God’s timing is always best. If the Lord wanted Paul to stay the winter–well bring me my coat, let’s settle in and see what God has planned.
How easy it is for us to dictate to God, “our prayer requests” in the spirit of our “prayer demands”. Or worse yet, we try to live out our lives according to our will and hide behind claims of following the will of the Lord, when clearly His will was nothing of the sort. Seeking, finding and following God’s will is not easy. It requires prayer and more prayer. It requires seeking counsel from trusted friends. It requires a loving spouse to listen and guide. It requires church leadership attune to the movement of God. Most of all it requires a willingness on our parts to many times, “wait out the time of chill”. Spring will come soon. Learning to wait for God always brings the time of refreshing and times of growth as in spring.
“Come on in Mr. Frost and have a seat. I will enjoy a cup of hot chocolate, dream of spring and a new day that God will provide.”
As daylight seems to depart earlier and earlier by the day, the fall season unfolds around us. Trees in our area are showing signs of changing colors. It seems God is displaying his beauty in all the colors of the rainbow in painting mountainsides of trees for us to appreciate and to see His glory. The cooler temperatures are coming soon and a drop in humidity along with those temps allow us to get out of the family room and into God’s room. I have spent the last mornings of this week visiting a local park for my quiet time. Watching the evening harvest moon on one horizon and seeing the sun rise on the other is a wonderful experience. The early mist arising from the water, the geese swimming silently across the water and even some early morning joggers arriving for their daily ritual.
I walk, I talk and I commune with God. I also take my camera. It’s nothing special, just a simple point and shoot digital, but it allows me to try to capture the moment in time. There is really no other way to stop time. And if the truth be told, photography can record the event–but time can not be stopped. I have reflected on my years of living on this earth–the good times and the bad times. I think of my struggles, my failures and disappointments. I know I must leave those behind, but that’s always been difficult for me to do. God help me to remember to press forward, not glance backward.
But in that glance, I do see a very, very forgiving God, a very forgiving family and wife, who have been at my side all these years. And I appreciate others in my past, churches, elders, leaders, friends, and co-workers, who in some way or another influenced me or tolerated me in my attempts to live life. It would take a series of volumes to share my thoughts from the past few mornings. But let me quote a passage of scripture, which I mentioned in part above. Paul writes to us these words:
Philippians 3:12-14 (NLT) 12 I don’t mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on to possess that perfection for which Christ Jesus first possessed me. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I have not achieved it, but I focus on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, 14 I press on to reach the end of the race and receive the heavenly prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us.
Not that I am complaining, cause it wouldn’t do much if I did, but boy these last few days have been tough. I noticed my sore throat last week and felt the cold would work its way through my body in about 3 days. Well, the saying is 3 days coming, 3 days here and 3 days going. I must have been on the fast track, cause I am feeling much better today.
My first inclination was to discover, where did this thing originate? Whose to blame for me feeling like yucch. I tried to exam where I had been, who I had contacted and determine my donor. I spent a long day at Catalyst and perhaps brought home more than just knowledge and enthusiasm. Our Small Groups pastor’s wife was ill and maybe somehow it passed him by and jumped at me, but alas, now he is feeling the affects.
But isn’t this just like us humans. We have to find the blame for things, for they are never, ever our fault. Did I meticulously wash my hands after every bathroom trip? Did I rub my eyes, after pushing the buggy in the grocery store? Did I lift my hands to my mouth to cough, after I had filled up the truck at the gas station? Any one of those or million other ways, I transferred those germs. Me, myself and I are to blame for my cold. Bad habits, lack of proper hygiene or whatever, its my fault, so I will deal with it.
The human race seeks to displace blame and guilt by blaming parents, bad home lives, broken relationships, dead end jobs, etc for all the sin in their lives. It’s never our own fault, its never our bent towards living in sin that gets us every time. No, let’s blame someone else.
This week at Velocity we are preaching about Zombies–people who in all ways seem to be alive, but are corpses in God’s view. And their condition is a result of sin. That little 3 letter word which seems to be missing in our newest and latest lexicons and dictionaries. Sin is too personal, too close, too much like taking responsibilities for our error. But never less, sin is rampant in our society and though we think ourselves alive–we are dead. But the good news for us is that Jesus came to earth to eradicate the sin problem for each of us. His blood at Calvary can wash away our sins in our lives. And when properly applied, we are cleansed to walk in a new life–free from the penalty of death.
Look around you–you see the Zombies who need to hear about the new life in Jesus.
This past weekend we finished our very first series at Velocity. ‘A Church Like Jesus’ was a four part series. “Loving God with All you Have”, “Taking Down the Walls”, “Who We Should Look Like” and finally “Walking on the Bad Side of the Road for Good.” We could have kept going, for being a church like Jesus is our goal. But, we have put that series in files and are unpacking the next one for next week. Our next series focuses on Ephesians 2:1-10. Following a holiday theme, we are talking about Zombies-taken from:
Colossians 2:13 (NLT) 13 You were dead because of your sins and because your sinful nature was not yet cut away. Then God made you alive with Christ, for he forgave all our sins.
Are you alive in Christ–or dead in your sins. Are we just living for self and dead in our sins? This should be a great series to face the sin problem and offer Jesus as the solution to cleaning up our lives. Soon you can check out the information on YouTube. Log in to VelocityGA to see the information about this next series.
Here is an earlier version. Watch for final product later today.
