Outed by Ed Stetzer

Ed Stetzer has proclaimed on his blog that I’m Pentecostal.  I guess you can say he “outed me.”  I actually prefer the term “Continuationist“ since I have never had a Pentecostal experience like tongues of fire sitting on my head.  I’ve also never spoken in Spanish as the Holy Spirit gave the utterance.  But, I do embrace the Charismata and believe that the Holy Spirit continues to function in the lives of believers today like He did after the ascension of Christ.  To be honest, I’ve never met a person that has had a Pentecostal experience.  Here are some things I don’t believe in as a continuationist:

• miracle vials of water bottled somewhere in Ohio and sold on TBN like this fruitcake.
• green prosperity handkerchiefs given to you free by this fruitcake (for a “seed offering” of course).
• handling snakes (I was bitten by an alligator when I was 16 though)
• bee hive hairdoos and no make-up (I’ve never understood why the holiness women have to be ugly).
• running the aisles (we meet in a move theater so technically it is impossible…would love to see it though).

Anyway, I’m looking forward to hearing Ed and being at the conference…awesome guy speaking to a really decent group of people.

The Way We Roll

It’s 26 degrees outside and we rocked the A/C all night long.  Dang…wish I’d brought a good jacket.

Taking Breaks

I’ve taken a break.  And it feels great.

I worked like a dog on Sunday after church and the membership luncheon (which was awesome) so I could wrap up some of our stuff for Easter, especially, our Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt.  I stayed up late and hit the office hard on Monday basically wrapping up a week of work in two days.  When 5 PM came, I jetted out of town with Kelly and my crew of ankle biters.

I’m on my way to a conference in Tennessee.  Paul and Alex are flying up on Thursday.  Kelly and I got out early for a little family trip on the front side of the conference.  We’ve hit two hotels on the way up (in the ATL as I type).  We’re enjoying the ride with our kids and each other.   I could have stayed in the office and hammered out two more days of work.  But, I didn’t because I’m slowly wising up.  Here’s what I’ve learned:

• All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
• I think, dream, and lead on another level when I take occasional breaks.
• You need tension to grow.  You also need release.  Resting a muscle that you’ve exercised is as important as exercising.  The tension is partially destructive.  The rest brings repair.
• I used to live a life largely devoid of reflection.  That changed 2 years ago thankfully.  I’m wiser and slightly more balanced (nut not by much). Elected rest beats the heck out of forced rest.
• A change of place and a change of pace equals a fresh perspective.

This March is going to be the most aggressive month in the history of Life Pointe.  Going into it, I want to make sure I have a healthy mind set.  I want to be steady, prepared, and ready to run this race well.  Every person that is engaged with Life Pointe ought to experience a significant interaction.  They won’t get that if I come limping into the 21st or 23rd broken down and worn out.

How do you take breaks?  Any secrets to disconnecting?

Thank God for New Churches

Some 2,000 years ago, Christians began meeting together in homes and borrowed spaces to worship a revolutionary Jesus. That heart is alive today.

Check out these two blog entries from two of my friends whose new churches meet in homes and borrowed spaces, Chris in Lakeland, FL and Matt in Pembroke Pines, FL. Jesus is still the revolutionary that created the heavens and earth and who also became flesh and lived among us!

Check out these awesome stories from churches without a permanent home:

This is Pete. Pete’s tattoo may say, “Hell Bound.” But, the tattoo on Jesus’ thigh says “King of Kings and Lord of Lords.” (Rev. 19:16)

Francesca’s Story and Baptism Video. I love that Lauren, her best friend baptized her!

Sunday Wrap-up

• Chris has a great Sunday Tossed Salad, his version of a Sunday Wrap-up. Go there now…run don’t walk.
• The Ritz Crackah has a Sunday Rundown too.  Check out what the young pup has to say.
• After a shot of NyQuil around 1 AM, I was a tad loopy in the 9 AM service.
• I don’t know if anyone had a good time, but I sure did!
• I have never enjoyed church more than now…amazing people, amazing Christ.
• We closed out (un)Christian with the short film we produced.
• Jesse and his cast were exceptional.
• The video is 3 minutes too long for YouTube. Once we get the film online, I’ll post a link.
• Apparently, we set off the fire alarm in the 2 year old auditorium…have no idea how but, it definitely went off.
• Fortuntely, it was after services were ended and before the movies started.
• After services, we met up for our new members luncheon at the Capri. There were just under 50 of us there.
• Paul did a great job of putting together the lunch…very nice.
• It was exciting to see all of the potential there today. We can take over this town with the guys in that room.
• To everyone who made membership covenants, congratulations on taking a big step forward.
• Today’s crowd was almost evenly divided between the 9 and 10:30.
• Thank you guys for making the move to the earlier service.
• You’ve freed up room for a lot of new people.
• We now have more people in the 9 am than we did in our whole church 5 months ago.
• I think it shows your commitment to inconvenience…inconvenience for yourselves so that our community can be best served. Thank you.

A Church That Reflects the Image of God

I hear the chatter of a thousand accents…voices of the world talking to one another enthusiastically.  Its almost an oddity to hear two people engaged in conversation using the same rhythmic style.  Its like a chaotic poetry seasoned by melanin (or the lack thereof) that produces seemingly every skin color under the sun.

Every tribe.   Every nation.  Every people.  And, they’re all gathering together under the same roof.  It’s Sunday morning and we’re gathered to worship.  To me…it’s a truly amazing experience to worship with and live with approaching 40 different nationalities.  This past Sunday in both services, I asked “how many people were born in Homestead?”  Hardly anyone raised a hand.  When I asked who was born outside of the USA, almost half of our people raised hands.  It’s the closest I’ll be to seeing the face of God on this side of eternity.

More and more, I’ve had people to ask me to write, share, or teach about how we’ve assembled so many different cultures in one place to worship Jesus.  I don’t know a good answer other than to ask “Isn’t that what is supposed to happen when we love radically…just like Jesus loved?”

Certainly, our goal isn’t to be diverse.  Our goal is to “love God and man with reckless abandon.”  It seems like the result of that for us has been a church community that reflects the image of God.  We look like Him.  And, I guess we look like our community as well.

I’ve heard it said that Sundays are the most segregated days of the week.  I don’t know how true that is.  But, if it is, why?  Where did we fail to see just who God is?  Where did we fail to love like him?  Where did we fail to be inviting to everyone in our community?  How can we claim Jesus as our God if we reject or more likely are passively resistant to certain people?  How can we say we love if we only love some of the people, some of the time?

I have to say that my life is enriched from the many backgrounds that have introduced me to many ways to love, care…and to be loved and to be cared about.  It’s a beautiful thing and in it all I see people who wonderfully reflect the image of God.

Easter Drama is Canceled in Favor of a Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt

UPDATE 3/20: This page is getting a lot of Google traffic looking for information on the Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt in Homestead. Pre-registration closes on the late afternoon of Thursday, March 22nd. Once pre-registration closes, you can still get into the event. But, you’ll have to show up at the event to register.

HARRIS FIELD in Homestead, FL (corner of US-1 and Campbell DR)

Friday, March 21 7-9 PM (gates open at 6).

for more info visit: www.easterinhomestead.com

BEGIN ORIGINAL ENTRY

We met with the guys at Parks and Rec in Homestead…great meeting. Here’s the deal:

• we got a new venue: Harris Field. Its the best location we could ask for…beats the heck out of the Sports Complex, which was a good location. Harris Field is dead center in the middle of town. Rent is half the price.
• the helicopter still got the axe: even though the official landing site for fire rescue is Harris Field and our pilot has done virtually the same thing with the city of Miami Shores and we have all of our insurance certificates and we cleared our flight path with Homestead Air Reserve Base, we can’t do it…at least not this year. It was a safety issue. Adding the kids to the equation was too much for the city with only 7 weeks notice. Next year, with more time and prep we might be able to pull it off. We’ll see.
• the coolest thing…better than the helicopter: the city just quit doing their Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt because it was too big. They’re planning for a max of 600 kids this year as opposed to the 2,000 last year. They asked if we wanted to do the Moonlight Egg Hunt instead. Answer? Yes! Absolutely. We’re there.
• we forged some new ground with the city: I left the meeting with a couple new friends…community partners. They was to see a better city, just like us. I think we’ll be working with these guys a lot. I expect to see some great stuff coming out of that relationship.

Anyway, the new event, the Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt is Friday night, March 21st from 6-10 PM. We’ll have live music, tons of prizes to give away (iPods, a Wii, xBox 360s, a couple bikes, gift cards, and Saturn Project CDs). This will, without a doubt, be our biggest community event so far. But, with only 4 weeks to pull everything together, we’ve got our work cut out for us.

I hope you’re on board to serve. If not, we’re in deep!

Easter Drama

We’ve been trying to finalize the details of our Helicopter Easter Egg Drop. It has led to our first Easter drama…there’s a lot. I have a meeting at 1 PM with some folks at the city to try to get things figured out ASAP.

We had until today on our direct mail deadline. Fortunately, we’ve been given a one day extension by our advertising guys…until Monday to finalize our stuff. So, hopefully today yields a profitable understanding between all of us as we do our best to serve this community together…in a way that compliments one another.

“You All Are Everywhere”

One of our goals is to disallow Jesus from being ignored in Homestead.  I don’t want anyone to be able to say, “I never knew…” or “I had never heard…”

On Sunday, one of the connection cards from a first time guest circled that they had heard about us on our billboard, a handbill, the internet, and a street banner.  Then, in the blank they wrote, “You all are everywhere. “  That’s awesome!

Without a doubt, the biggest reason people come is that they were invited by someone.  But, we still try to cast the net as wide as possible so that really awesome people like these guys who may not be connected relationally to people in our church can see us everywhere!

The message of Jesus is neither boring, unchallenging, irrelevant, or lame.  So, why should it be easily ignored?

Fidel goes into retirement

The old fella has finally gone into retirement.  I wonder if he’ll trade in his oppressive, communist general’s fatigues for a pair of plaid shorts and begin playing shuffelboard?

Where are you?

We can’t get to where we’re going until we first admit where we are.

from Perry Noble via Tony Morgan

Sunday Wrap-up

• The 9 AM service was awesome…so good that we blew a horn on stage right.
• Did I mention we have a sound upgrade happening this week?!?!
• The vibe in the 9 is as juiced as the 10:30…love it.
• When the band played “Worth It All,” I was in awe…one person was singing through incredible pain. Not everyone can understand. But, I’m humbled at how real faith in Jesus is in the lives of some of our people. Your lives speak loudly!
• We now have three services in two venues. The Cure (for students 6-12the grade) kicked off today.
• The Cure was insane.
• We had a worship set, These Arms of Faith jammed, and our students moshed.
• I laughed at how many people were gawking trying to figure out what was going on in Pier 14.
• By the way, what’s up with the “hardcore two-step?” What’s that about?
• Anyway, we’ll move those guys into a larger venue for Easter. Great way to kick things off! Congrats to Alex – one of the Santoyos. I wish I had another 2 or 3 of those guys around!
• For those counting beans: we’re getting up there…hitting our numeric goals. What are they? Just 1 more!
• We’ve got an awesome crew on setup and teardown…amazing. I’m remembering the days where I was involved in setup/teardown. I was exhausted by the time I got up to speak. We’ve come along ways. I’m blessed to be involved with such a great team family.
• After service, my brother, Marcela, my parents, and my fam went to Sea Siam in Pinecrest…awesome lunch, at least until McKenna, my two year old ate a spoonful of Wasabi!!!!
• We fixed her up by taking her to Marble Slab for a Strawberry ice cream and everything was better.
• Now, Kelly and I have about 6 movies, including Nacho Libre…ready to veg out and relax before we hit it hard in the office tomorrow morning.
• Awesome days!…expect them to get better…more challenging.

WannaDoCity

Yesterday, the girls shopped, worked in a hospital nursery, were archaeologists, modeled, rode in an ambulance, went on rides, and had a blast. They also earned about 800 Wongas!!!

Me? I got worn out. But, we had a blast at one of the coolest places for kids on the planet at WannaDoCity. It really does unlock a kid’s imagination.

Praying for Rain

We’ve made the decision to have three services on Easter.  We’re tilling the ground, planting some seed, and praying for rain.  I believe God fills vacuums/empty vessels (2 Kings 4:1-7).  We’ll keep creating empty spaces and pray for God to use our people to fill them.

The truth is that our people are inviting their friends, neighbors, and co-workers like never before.  We have one person that’s been with us for five weeks.  Each week, she’s brought a couple new people with her.  That’s awesome.

I don’t know where we’ll end up this year.  I don’t know what my leadership capacity is to help lead what has been happening here.  I don’t know a lot of things.  But, I do know that we won’t let up in aggressively sharing Jesus relationally in this community.  Is our ceiling 700 people?  1,000?  2,500?  Nope…that isn’t the point.  Our point and our prayer is just 1 more.

Lord, give us 1 more…1 more person to love you and to be loved by you.   Wherever that takes us is where we want to be.  I don’t know exactly what it will take.  But, I’m ready to give it.  And, if I don’t have what it takes, I’ll work towards getting it and asking God for it.  Are you ready to do the same?  I hope so.  I know it will only be done when the church operates together, empowered by the Holy Spirit, and driven by passion for people.

Imagine if we all tilled the ground, planted seed, and prayed for rain.  What would that look like for you?

PDA Valentine

Its Valentine’s Day.  There will be no night on the town for Travis and Kelly tonight.  Why?  Because Lost, American Idol, and Survivor are on tonight.  That’s one of the things we do.  However, I do want to deliver a Public Display of Affection across the blogosphere on this special day to the most gorgeous woman on the planet, my smokin’ hot wife, Kelly.

After almost nine years of marriage, she still can’t keep her hands off of me.  She’s a babe.  Not only is she gorgeous.  But, she gave me two gorgeous girls and a strapping young buck of a son.  Life isn’t always easy.  But, navigating life together with my soul mate always makes it beyond good.

Happy Valentine’s Day, Kel.

If You Had Nothing But Yourself…

If you had nothing but yourself…to bless someone or some people who were not expecting it, how would you give of yourself?

If you had $1,000,000….

If you had $1,000,000 to give away…to bless someone or some people who were not expecting it, how would you give it?

Mark Driscoll on (un)Christian

The title of ths video is actually Jesus vs. Religion…same thing. Enjoy.

Potential Podcast

Last week, I was on the Potential Podcast with Troy Gramling, Raul Palacios, and Heredes Ribiero from Flamingo Road Church. We chatted a little about Life Pointe and handling negative criticism.

Check it out here.

Sunday Wrap-up

• Coolest moments of the day: baptizing Savannah, Nicole, Charlotte, Veronica, Jonathon, Flora at Bayfront Park!
• Another cool moment: Seeing my great aunts and uncles (JP, Helen, Hosea, Estella) come in unexpectedly from Huntsville and Atlanta. They were looking like a million bucks, always dressed to kill. They were accompanied by my cousins/neighbors, Terry and Veronica. AND, we rocked the place like never before.
• BIG MOMENT: We broke the 400 mark today!..don’t have final numbers We only had a few seats open on the first row in the 10:30 service. WOW! Hit the 9:00 AM next week instead. Keep opening seats up for our guests at the 10:30.
• New moment: Totally new stage setup…loved it. We’re staying with the new configuration. Its working well and adds an extra 20 seats per service.
• Sourest moment: 10 seconds ago, I downed a blazing hot concoction of lemon and honey for my ailing voice.
• Most embarrassing moment: fouling up my Scriptures in the 9 AM.
• Most redemptive moment: Seeing all the hands go up when I asked people to forgive Christians who have hurt them in the name of Jesus.
• Most humbling moment: Seeing all the hands go up when I asked people if they had wronged people in the name of Jesus and wanted forgiveness.
• Strangest moment: Losing my voice and changing from Travis to “The Macho Man” Randy Savage.
• Most relaxing moment: Hanging at Bayfront with about 100 friends, eating, talking, and laughing.
• Victorious Moment (for someone other than me): Seeing Gustavo, Christian, Thomas, and their crew dominate my team in a game of football.
• Most Juiced Moment: Jesse opening with “Say So.” These guys sound sick!…had a blast and lost myself (and my voice after promising Kelly I wouldn’t sing).
• Darkest Moment: Total blackout during worship. I loved it. We might need to hook up some lamps to make it a little easier to get in and out when its so dark. But, it was slammin’ and I was having a blast worshiping a revolutionary Jesus.

(un)Christian: all hell breaks loose?

Its the morning of our kickoff of the (un)Christian series, my voice is shot, I’ve had to delete some folks from my blog who’ve been upset with us for even doing this series (you should hear the voicemails), and there’s no football on this afternoon for the first time in months.

Its going to be a great day though.  We have a BBQ and baptism this afternoon out at Biscayne National Park.  Jesse’s throwing out a new song, “New Religion” by Alice Smith.  And, by the time the day’s over, we will have gathered, worship a revolutionary Jesus, and have enjoyed our time together.

Assimilation Seminar

Bob Franquiz is hosting a Fusion Seminar (on Asimilation) with Nelson Searcy in Miami Lakes on Thursday, March 6th.  Registration is only $39 and will be well worth it for a pastor/leader/volunteer who wants to help people take the next step forward in their pursuit of Christ.

In 2007, I was a part of Nelson’s pastor’s coaching network.  I drove round trip to Tampa once a month to meet with him and 11 other pastors.  It was a significant personal and spiritual growth experience for me, helping me to navigate our church through the 200 barrier to now approaching 400 in a little over 6 months.  It was so meaningful, that Jesse, our worship and creative arts pastor is going to the worship leader’s coaching network at the Journey Church in Manhattan beginning this month.  It was a sizable investment for us to make.  But, I know he will grow and our church and community will be benefited as well.

For a fraction of those investments, you can spend half a day tackling the Assimilation System.  I’ll be there and some of our leaders and volunteers from Life Pointe will be there as well.  If you’re a ministry leader in the Miami area, I hope you will be too.  If you’re not in Miami, check out these other locations around the US for the Fusion Seminar.

Miami #3 Recruiting Class Nationwide

According to Scout.com, we have the #3 recruiting class in the nation. We got a pile of kids from Nation’s top highschool teams, Booker T. Washington and Miami Northwestern. UM is on the road back to dominance…looking forward to the upcoming season. I don’t expect us to be perfect or the best. But, give us another year or so and we’ll be back in a big way.

Multi-site Exposed

I’m registered for the Multi-site Exposed Conference in Seattle, WA at Mars Hill Church in April.  To do it, I had to cancel my plans to hit the ChurchPlanters.com Conference next week to do it.  But, I think it will pay off…even though I’ll miss seeing some good friends and a great conference with Shawn Lovejoy and Mountain Lake.

We’re seriously looking toward a second site a bit north of us and a second venue at our theater in Homestead called Life Pointe Latino in the Fall.  We’re in talks with a great venue that could be huge for us. So, I’m going to get my hands on us much info and insight as we can before we jump off that cliff.  I have some questions about organization that I need to get figured out.  If you’re going to be there, drop me a note.  I’d love to connect with some guys before I get there.

“Smells Like Teen Spirit” – Ukelele Orchestra

Thanks to Open Culture

(un)Christian proof

We sent out postcards promoting the message series. Our hope is to apologize for the way we’ve misrepresented Jesus and to share how we can truly honor Him. We got a card back from someone today with three notes asking us to refrain from mailing “our propaganda and literature.” It kind of reinforces the first line on the back of this postcard that “Christianity has an image problem.”

The realization? Many of the people who have been deeply burned by Christians need to see changed lives, up close and in the flesh if their minds are ever to be changed about who Jesus is and what His followers are supposed to be. To my valued neighbor(s) who received this card and who are frustrated with us (Christians), I want to say to you “I am deeply sorry.”

(un)christian series kicks off Sunday

We’ve produced a short film which will accompany this 3 week message series based loosely on Kinneman and Lyon’s book, “unChristian.”  Find out more here.  Invite your friends.

Full Speed Ahead on Our Location

We just finished the negotiations with our theater concerning our meeting space. The school was great to give us the opportunity to move in. It was a really tough decision. I’ve not dealt with more gracious people. They provided us with excellent opportunities…all the way around. I believe that’s a relationship we can continue to cultivate.  Saying no to the school was a tough “no.”

Among other things, we’re staying in the theater because we now have permanent installation of our lighting, sound, projection in the theaters, and plasma TV’s in the lobby. We’ve also worked out the few minor kinks we were having. Staying in the theater allows us to have theCure youth service in the theater. That’s huge.

I’m glad to get this under our belt so we can take on the rest of this Spring. So, it’s time to run. I hope you’re ready.

Looking Glass Self

Charles Horton Cooley developed the sociological concept of the Looking Glass Self. It’s three components are:

1. We imagine how we must appear to others.
2. We imagine the judgment of that appearance.
3. We develop our self through the judgments of others.

In becoming the “self” or the leader that God has called us to be, we must consider the perception that others have of us. BUT, we must lean on the self that God created us to be. We must see ourselves as uniquely created by God and fashioned in His image.

Therefore, I am not who you think I am. But, I am who God says I am. With the understanding, we must reject our environment as our chief fashioner, people’s perceptions as the final say in our destiny, and our image or humanity as dependent on what people think of us.

We are called to boldly and lovingly move ahead in the calling God has placed on us. He did not create us to subordinate our influence to what others think of us. He created us, among other objectives, to take dominion over the earth and to create a future that is preferred above our present reality. And, so begins the struggle of every leader/Christ follower.

If the definition of leadership is moving people from where they are to a place where they should be, then we must begin moving ourselves beyond our imagination of others perceptions of ourselves and into the reality of who God says we are and are to be.

Sunday Wrap-up

• We had to break into the theater for the 2nd time in three weeks.  Apparently, after 2 years of meeting there, its a surprise that we show up at 7:30 AM on Sundays.
• Our lease is up at the end of this month.  We may be moving soon.
• I’m conflicted about that.  The theater has been a good situation for us.  But, it may be time to pull the trigger on this.
• I’ll give an answer on Tuesday.
• If you’re wondering, we do have another site secured with permission to do a permanent install of our equipment and more seats.
• Thanks to everyone that made the move to the 9 AM!  We’ll especially need it for this upcoming Sunday…had a blast.
• I’ve now had 17 families from my 60 house neighborhood visit church.  12 are coming every Sunday!
• Grant McClung shared on the church and Christ follower as counter-cultural agents.
• Does he look like Mitt Romney to anyone besides me?
• A call to living a fully committed life is an easy call to make but a tough one to live.  Still, you ought to live it.
• Baptism is next week.  I can’t wait.  Those are my favorite Sundays.
• Someone always brings a football.  So far, no one has gotten hurt.