Here is a quick snapshot of the last 3 months. It has been fun!
Holidays are a great time to connect with family and create some memories. Sure there is some stress, but it is a key time in the family to create traditions and connections with friends and family.
This is a picture from a family outing we had recently. Be sure to take some time around the holidays to create some memories!
Last week I was at Schlotzky’s and I heard this lady next to me talking about her Thanksgiving and she said, ”We spent it with our friends and it was so much fun, because it was with all the people we wanted to be with.”
Sometimes family can make the holidays a little noisy. In every family it is inevitable that there are different expectations around the holidays. Yet, even with all the chaos from traveling, and attending parties, I wish there were a dozen days throughout the year that we would celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ because it is a time when we are reminded of a tremendous amount of hope that is provided to all of humanity.
In Micah 5 we see a clearer picture of this hope:
How did they miss it?
Published December 7, 2009 North Village Church Leave a CommentTags: Scripture
In Matthew 2 it becomes obvious people knew Jesus was going to fulfill the over 300 descriptions of the promised messiah in the Old Testament.
1 Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, magi from the east arrived in Jerusalem, saying, 2 “Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we saw His star in the east and have come to worship Him.” 3 When Herod the king heard this, he was troubled, (Why?, there is a new king) and all Jerusalem with him. 4 Gathering together all the chief priests and scribes of the people, he inquired of them where the Messiah was to be born. 5 They said to him, “In Bethlehem of Judea; for this is what has been written by the prophet: 6 ‘AND YOU, BETHLEHEM, LAND OF JUDAH, ARE BY NO MEANS LEAST AMONG THE LEADERS OF JUDAH; FOR OUT OF YOU SHALL COME FORTH A RULER WHO WILL SHEPHERD MY PEOPLE ISRAEL.’”
The chief priests, the scribes, the magi, Herod the king, all knew Jesus was fulfilling the promise of a coming messiah. Later on in Matthew 2 King Herod even issues a decree to have all children 2 years and under in Bethlehem killed because he knew the promises had been fulfilled in Jesus. A new king was coming!
So how did they miss it?
What If Christmas Were Different?
Published December 7, 2009 Culture , North Village Church Leave a CommentTags: chrstmast
One of our tag lines as a church is “What if church were different?” It has been something that has resonated with many and hopefully it creates the possibility that the things that were frustrating before could be different.
So it is with Christmas. Perhaps all the chaos of stress, traffic, shopping, parties, etc. could be different? Here is a video with Advent Conspiracy that helped to capture the difference visually. Hope you like it!
We don’t like church people either…
Published December 4, 2009 Personal Leave a CommentTags: spiritual
Recently a friend tells me he was at Brentwood Park with his dog and started talking to someone about the dog fair that we did a month ago. My friend told him he was a part of the church that hosted the dog fair. The guy said, “I hate church people.” My friend said, I don’t like church people either, but I don’t believe in Jesus because of the people, but because of what He has done in me and in the lives of the people around me.
On the drive to Dallas this morning I was listening to a little Don Williams because who doesn’t love Don Williams? It was one of his classics, “I Believe In Love.” The kids love it! Not really, but there is only so much children’s music you can listen to and I like to think when they grow up they will be able to say, “I liked listening to Don Williams with my dad in the car.” Doesn’t that sound like a fun memory?
Anyways, as we were jamming out to country classics like Kenny Rogers, Dolly Parton, Hank Williams, one of my favorites came on with a little country twang and I noticed one of his lyrics:
Well, I don’t believe that heaven waits,
For only those who congregate.
I like to think of God as love:
He’s down below, He’s up above.
He’s watching people everywhere.
He knows who does and doesn’t care.
And I’m an ordinary man,
Sometimes I wonder who I am.
And I believe in love…it’s a classic. As we drove down the interstate singing as loud as we can in the car with the family I thought Williams articulated a perception of God and eternity that many have in our culture today. He recognizes the disconnection of heaven being only for those who attend church. It doesn’t sit well with him and I can imagine as he wrote the lyrics he must have wrestled with a type of God that is partial to only those who gather on the hours of 10-11am on Sunday. Seems a little short sighted on God’s part, huh?
We hosted the first Annual Allandale Food Drive and raised 678 lbs. of food which will feed over 500 meals for people over the holidays!
Our words can bring themes of destruction or themes of life transformation but notice the verse in James 3…
7 For every species of beasts and birds, of reptiles and creatures of the sea, is tamed and has been tamed by the human race. 8 But no one can tame the tongue; it is a restless evil and full of deadly poison.
What does that teach? The human tongue is uncontrollable. You can’t do it. We can train dogs to do tricks, Flipper to jump through a hoop, elephants at a circus, sometimes tigers and lions, we can train birds to send messages, but we can’t control the human tongue. We can’t do it. It must come from outside of us because our tongue problem is a heart problem. Look at verse 9.
Why should we submit to God?
Published November 16, 2009 North Village Church Leave a CommentTags: spiritual life
Seems like odd language..submit to God. I mean come on, we’re American’s aren’t we? It’s not like this is the 1700’s? Submit to God may sound like sort of giving in, relinquishing control, giving up our identity, not thinking, but in fact, in context it means active allegiance.
Actively aligning ourselves with God doesn’t mean passivity, but actively aligning ourselves with His will and realigning our heart, mind, strength, and soul to live for Him and His glory. I remember when I first met Jesus the hardest thing for me in the beginning was to pray because it was a tangible way that I was admitting that I needed help and it was really difficult to admit that I needed help. It is difficult because when we submit to God we are aligning ourselves with someone who might take advantage of us, who might let us down, who might abuse His power, or disappoint us and it makes it really difficult to trust Him.
The second theme that we find coming out of the condition of our heart is a theme of encouragement, transformation, and life-change through Jesus Christ. Proverbs teaches us that words from a friend are like perfume and incense, they are like water on a dry and weary land, they are like irons that sharpen one another, and although we can create a lot of pain for one another we can also speak powerful words of truth to one another:
Encouragement: We can send emails, texts, phone calls, notes, or in person and say things to people that are meaningful and important. Taking the time to speak specific encouragements to our spouse about their relationship with the kids. Telling our friends what we appreciate about them. Taking the time to appreciate a positive behavior of one of our kids.
Participation: Sometimes it is so easy to point out what people are doing wrong. My grandfather would always say, “Some people were raised nursing on a pickle.” Always see the sour things in life and for whatever reason we just always see the negative and as a result we remain really passive. Instead of being a passive observer, we can take active ownership and help make it better, and we can participate in our marriages, our children, our jobs, our friendships, our spiritual life and instead of sitting back and critiquing, get in the game and participate.
Compassion: Making time in our schedules to show compassion toward others. Sometimes our schedules are so busy that there is no room for compassion. We tell people to drink a six-pack of suck it up and move on. Sometimes we need to create some time in our schedules to show compassion toward others instead of filling up every hour of every day so that we can fill better about ourselves.
On November 21st, 12-3pm we are going to collect food from the Allandale Neighborhood to donate to the Capital Food Bank here in Austin. Click on the link for more details…
Words, Words, Words….
Published November 10, 2009 North Village Church Leave a CommentTags: spiritual life
Jesus said it this way, “Out of the overflow of the heart, the mouth speaks…” and sometimes the words don’t have to make it out of our mouth, but they are in our heart, they dominate our thoughts, and if you are a little more quiet they don’t always come out, but our words can be a gauge for the spiritual condition of our heart and as I examine my heart there are two types of themes that tend to come out of my heart. Themes of destruction and themes of transformation. The stream of destruction has words like:
Slander: When we put other people down with our words. Sometimes they are direct, but mostly they are passive / aggressive comments that we make to others, under our breath, or in our heart. We put people down about their personality, their ability, their looks, we condescend, we belittle, and take little jabs at one another.
Gossip: When we talk about people behind their back and for some reason our heart gets so excited to talk about someone else’s little secrets. Did you hear about, did you know, did you see, can you believe or even better, I think we need to pray, we need to help, and our heart gets so excited to gossip about the failures of others.
Creating a worship environment…
Published November 2, 2009 North Village Church Leave a CommentTags: singing
When your goal is to create something different and also include singing then it can sometimes mean different is confusing. As we have gone through the process of creating corporate singing / worship there are a few things we have learned as we begin to move in the direction:
1. You can’t start with a finished product. There are too many ideas, not enough resources, and too early on to have a finished product. Although it was tempting to go out and raise a salary to pay someone full time to take care of the singing and programming we wanted to resist the temptation and hopefully create a church model that is reproducible. So far our start up cost was $30K and a yearly budget of $150K.
2. Start small and grow. We didn’t want to give the impression that everything is taken care of when people walk in and people can just sit and enjoy the show. We wanted to start small and grow. Now to be fair this is tricky, but you don’t want confusion and chaos either.
How to avoid showing favor toward others…
Published October 31, 2009 North Village Church , Scripture Leave a CommentTags: scriptgure
When we show favoritism toward others it is evil
4 have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?
Showing favor toward others is placing ourselves as a judge over others and it is a position we don’t deserve and a position that scripture doesn’t desire.
First it is a position that we don’t deserve because in the end we are taking our achievements, our education, our appearances, our wealth, our intellect, and taking credit for it as though while we were in the wombs of our mothers we manipulated our DNA at the embryonic stage to give us a greater edge. Any talents, gifts, or abilities we might have are only because God made us this way. Some will push back and say that they worked harder, studied harder, tried harder, and yet still, the very tenacity that is within us to do those things are still attributes that were given to us through God. There is nothing in us innately that sets us apart from the rest of creation that qualifies us to be judges over one another. Therefore, when we step up to the table of humanity it isn’t with arrogance as though we made ourselves this way, but with humility because we are not in a position to judge and when we do it is evil.
Second it is a position that scripture doesn’t desire:
Continue reading ‘How to avoid showing favor toward others…’
How good is good enough?
Published October 30, 2009 North Village Church , Scripture Leave a CommentTags: Scripture
8 If you really keep the royal law found in Scripture, “Love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right. 9 But if you show favoritism, you sin and are convicted by the law as lawbreakers. 10 For whoever keeps the whole law and yet stumbles at just one point is guilty of breaking all of it. 11 For he who said, “Do not commit adultery,” also said, “Do not murder.” If you do not commit adultery but do commit murder, you have become a lawbreaker.
Verse 10 is teaching us if we stumble at just one point we are guilty of breaking all of the law because the law is the reflection of the character and holiness of God and if we are going to dwell in an eternal relationship with Him then we need to be perfect in character as well. We need to be holy.
Prayer / Worship Night
Published October 29, 2009 North Village Church Leave a CommentTags: worship
Last night we gathered as a church at our house to pray about personal transformation and city transformation. It is a transformation that only takes place through faith in the death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ and if we are going to even come close to see the church look different it will only happen through Jesus and through prayer.
Because of the amazing iPhone I was able to record some of the worship. It isn’t professional by any means but it is powerful to hear a gathering of people singing out worship and dependency upon Him.
The fourth one is to know this communion is collective.
We don’t celebrate reunions, gatherings, weddings, festivals in isolation, but in community with a meal. When we invite someone to eat with us it is an invitation to relax a little bit and get to know one another. In many cultures, to offer to eat with someone is to offer them friendship, however, in our culture the individual desires have been elevated over the family, group, or community and we have become isolated in spiritual relationships.
Scriptures teach us we simply need to listen and do. Listen and do what? Listen and do what the scriptures are teaching. Below are some simple questions to ask ourselves if we hope to avoid hypocrisy.
Is my heart receptive to what the scriptures are teaching me personally? Sometimes are hearts can become spiritually callous toward scripture and as a result there is a lack of receptivity. If this is neglected over time we will drift toward hypocrisy.
Last Saturday we hosted our 2nd Dog Fair. It was awesome. The picture shows a snapshot of the racing contest which was awesome. We created a bracket for the dogs to race against each other and I was surprised how competitive the owners were.
If you should find yourself in the midst of a trial…
Published October 16, 2009 Personal Leave a CommentTags: trials
Here are couple of things we have been chewing on as we enter into our sixth week of a church. Most of the lessons come out of the book of James, a series that we are working through called “Work In Progress.” Some of the lessons are from practical experience:
First: Choose to persevere instead of avoid. My first response is always to avoid, however, scripture teaches us to persevere. Take it one day at a time, push through, don’t quit, and persevere.
Second: Choose wisdom over knowledge. Knowledge always leads us to avoid trials, but Jesus is sovereign, in control and allowing this trial so choose wisdom and lean into Him.
Continue reading ‘If you should find yourself in the midst of a trial…’
This Saturday we are hosting our 2nd Austin Dog Fair! We are really excited. Sense its inception we have had people contact us all over the country (Denver, San Diego,, San Antonio, and Santa Fe) to host their own dog fair and we think pretty soon it will become an international explosion!
The first one was a blast and this time we have more vendors but we are doing less promotion to save costs so help us get the word out if you live in Austin.
What is communion? (part 3)
Published October 8, 2009 North Village Church Leave a CommentTags: Scripture
The third one is to know that communion is individual.
As we enter into this celebration there is a picture of spiritual nourishment that takes place as we grow in the truth of the gospel because what Jesus accomplished at the cross is beautiful. The gospel is like a diamond and the more we turn it, the more we look at it, the more we study it, the more beautiful it becomes.
Might we never get tired of growing more infatuated with the gospel and that it would continue to stir in us more joy, peace, and love for Jesus and one another.
In the picture (left) my wife and I got to watch Phoenix perform live at Austin City Limits Festival and it was awesome. Phoenix was my favorite show from the weekend. We got to the show about 15 minutes early, sat down, and talked as we waited for the show to start. It was a lot of fun. When we stood up to watch the show I looked behind us and out of nowhere about 60,000 other people joined us to watch the show. It was amazing.
Attitude Toward Trials
Published October 5, 2009 North Village Church , Scripture Leave a CommentTags: Scripture
2 Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face trials of many kinds
Notice in verse 2 it says “whenever” we face trials. It isn’t if, or might, but whenever we face trials. Trials are going to come. Life is hard. Some of us will push back and think that is a real negative way to look at life because Jesus brings joy, and He does, but it is important to get it in the right order. He doesn’t bring joy by the absence of trials, but He brings joy in the midst of trials. It is why verse 2 starts off with “consider it pure joy”.
For some of us when we are in the midst of trials and someone said this to us it would make us want to punch them in the face, but lets be clear that it isn’t teaching us to find joy in the trial as though we should experience smiles and dancing in the midst of pain like a bunch of masochist. It isn’t that we are to take joy after the trial which is what most of us want to do right? However, it teaches us to consider it.
What does it mean to consider? To reflect, to contemplate, to think carefully about “it” about the trial. This reflection will shape our attitude toward the trial and below is a simple way to help us move in that direction:
