Is It Okay To Feel Good?

Just got done with an amazing weekend at LifePoint Church. Some pieces:

• Over 170 women came together for the Beth Moore simulcast. I stopped in to see the crowd, and what an amazing sight. Heard nothing but great comments about the teaching - what would happen if all 300,000 women who were watching around the country started living without insecurities and taught their daughters and sisters how to do the same? I love the thought of that! I'm excited for what's going to happen when the women of the Carson Valley get it going on like that around here!
• We got to celebrate 15 baptisms this weekend! That has to get your pulse pounding! I love seeing the faces of people when they come up out of the water and hear their church family cheer for them, there's nothing like seeing the joy on the faces of people going public with their faith. I LOVE MY JOB!
• I'm hearing that the men's groups are filling up and getting ready to launch new groups. I'm so glad to hear the Spirit moving in the lives of guys, it's always good for the church family when men are getting lined up with God's plan.
• There's a group of people getting ready for their trip to Africa next month. God is already teaching and growing the team as they are preparing to go, and we'll get to pray for them and send them out next week. What I'm really looking forward to is the stories of what God does in them and through them while they're there.
• Invisible Children are going to be here on Wednesday night. I know the youth staff are fired up about having them come, and hearing from one of the child soldiers that was rescued out of that awful situation should be powerful.
• Last but not least: THRIVE is next week! This is my first one, so I'm extra excited. I'll be blogging about that more later, but just know that I'm fired up to learn, grow and see what's working at other churches next week.

So, is it okay if I'm feeling good about what God's up to these days?

I know that there are ups and downs on the journey of following Jesus, but right now, let's ride the high! Let's enjoy the excitement and the energy of the momentum God is building. Let's build on the good that's happening and push out in faith toward what Christ is calling us to next. What do you say?

What A Pastor Learns From Coaching Football

This is the fourth year of my football coaching career, and after a long, busy weekend of football and church, I have finally been able to put into words what I think I've learned about being a pastor by coaching youth football. Could be more later, but for now, lets go with these:

• I can't do it all. As a football coach, I'm on the sidelines, I'm at practice, I'm calling plays and sometimes time outs. I'm making substitutions, and putting players in position to succeed the best I can, BUT I NEVER MAKE A TACKLE! I don't do the work; I can't. Even if I could, I'm just one guy, and it would take 10 more to make the defense work. I have to do my work through others in football. It's the same in church! I can't do all the ministry, and I've tried very hard the last few years to learn how to minister through others to reach more and more people. I'm always trying to put people in position to succeed, and trying to get the 'plays' called so that we have the best chance to win.
  
• You can't win them all. I wish I could say that there was a formula to guarantee success in sports, but there's not. Sometimes, you work hard, you get the right people in the right places, and you still come up short. Bad bounce, bad breaks, or superior opponents, even illness or injury can change the outcome of a game. You try to do your best, give your all, but sometimes you come up short. I tell the players on the team to win with class and lose with dignity. Good advice in church, too. We don't always win. Ideas don't always pan out, but instead of getting upset, blowing up, pouting or other unhelpful responses, going forward with dignity and a posture of learning from defeat makes more sense.
• Winning feels good! Yeah, this is a 'duh' statement, but it's true. When we win a football game, all the work, all the effort, all the conditioning and practice feels worth it. It feels GOOD! When the church wins, we all can celebrate and NEED TO REJOICE! We can and should feel good about the wins we see in the church, whenever God's kingdom moves forward. We have a great opportunity to see some of that this weekend with baptisms, so don't miss it, and don't forget to clap and cheer!!
• There's more than one way to win. Seeing a player grow from an uncoordinated 5th grader into a young man with speed and agility in the 8th grade is an amazing experience. There are a handful of kids who've been with us for the full four years, and measuring their growth in their understanding of the game, their ability and skills, and most importantly, their character, has been the best part of this experience. I wouldn't trade that for anything. The same is true of some of the people in my church. Watching men decide to follow Jesus, then lead their families, or watching someone who was afraid to pray in front of a small group of their friends turn into a person of prayer and a leader in the church, those experiences are priceless. I love being a pastor for moments like that.

If I think of any more before the Lions finish the season this year, I'll pass them on. Meantime, we're 1-2 after this weekend, with a road game at Aberdeen on Saturday night. Feel free to pray for Coach Bill to do his best to coach the kids and represent Jesus.

Sex and the Single

As promised, some book recommends for singles on the topic:

• Every Single Man's Battle - a book dealing honestly with the temptations of lust.
• Every Single Woman's Battle - same idea, only a specifically female version.

I'm looking for more books on this subject. If you have suggestions, I'd love to hear them!

The Book List On Sex

As I promised in the message Sunday, here's a list of books that can help the conversation about your sex life, married couples (Singles, I love you, too, and I'll have a list for you later in the week, so check back). I will break them into two categories: Marriage books with good chapters on sex, and sexual relationship books. Here you go, enjoy!

Marriage Books:

• His Needs, Her Needs - one of the best marriage books around. Great for explaining to both partners the importance of taking care of each other's needs in marriage, including but not limited to, sexual needs. His are different from hers, and Dr. Harley does a great job of explaining both.
• Men Are Like Waffles, Women Are Like Spaghetti - a fun read for both men and women, with a lot of humor surrounding some great wisdom. Sex chapter is phenomenal.
• For Men Only/For Women Only - Two great books, one great idea: ask men/women what and how they really think, then write it down and share it with everyone. Great insights into how the opposite sex thinks. And you can read both the one for you and the one for your mate.

Books on THE SUBJECT:

• Sheet Music - A great begining book on sex for couples. Plenty to keep both parties interested, and answer some important questions you might be asking.
• Sex Begins In The Kitchen - Seriously, with a title like that, I need to comment?
• The Language of Sex - Relationship guru Gary Smalley gives couples much needed help to talk together about the subject of their sex life. Actually a very fun read!
• A Celebration Of Sex - A thorough treatment of the topic, starting with a biblical base of understanding and then proceeding into many helpful topics. A great resource for all things sexual for Christ followers.
• Intimate Issues - A question/answer format book for women. Everything from
  "what does God think about sex?" to "What's okay in bed?"

Here's why I can recommend these books: they all start with the three pillars I talked about on Sunday: God invented sex, God encourages sex, and God has a plan for great sex. Because all these books start with God, they are going to encourage you toward healthy, God-honoring sexual relationships. Enjoy the summer reading!!

Progress Report: Man Series

I will honestly tell you, the feedback on The Man Series had been far better than I expected. I was hoping that we could help the men in our community see how to follow Jesus in an honestly masculine way, and that we could help the women see how to help the men in their lives to do that. I knew it would ruffle some feathers (honestly, God's Word will always ruffle someone's feathers), and it has, but for the most part, folks have heard what God was saying. I'm hearing from folks, both men and women, that they are seeing their relationship with God in a whole different light. Guys don't have to be wimps to follow Jesus. Turns out, that's part of the Good News, too!!

Ladies, I want to remind you that the day is coming when you get your own series, too. Don't feel left out!! We're going to talk specifically about the female way of following Christ starting on Aug. 23 (right after school starts up again), and I'm just as fired up about that series as I am about this one.

Okay, that being said, I am glad to hear from folks that they are learning a different way of thinking about being a man, and connecting to the idea of gaining a relationship with God without losing your manliness. It is a part of what we are doing as a church family, helping each other to follow Jesus. We all need help, and when we can look at what the Bible says and see the truth of it, not just what we've heard from others but the real truth, we all benefit. God loves men for being men, and He doesn't expect them to become eunuchs or effeminate in order to follow Him.

Now, it gets REALLY exciting!! I did say it: Sunday will be rated PG-13, parental discretion is advised. We will be talking about sex according to God's Word. For some folks, it will be the first time they've heard about sex from a Biblical point of view, and it's going to blow their minds. Some of you have heard it before, but we're going to talk about it again (and again, and again...) because the world talks about it ALL THE TIME!!! and they don't get it right very often. God created sex, and God's people need to have the freedom to talk about what God has created without feeling dirty, awkward or sinful. We need to learn how to talk about it from a healthy, godly perspective. That's the goal of Sunday, to start the conversation.

So, invite your friends, put the kids in the Children's Ministry, and get ready to laugh and learn about God's gift of sex!

The Man Series

I've wanted to do a series for men about what God has called men to be and do for a loooong time. It starts on Sunday, and I can't wait! There's going to be something for everyone:

• For men, a biblical model of masculinity that lets you be a man and still follow Jesus. Not the wimpy, Casper Milqutoast Jesus, but the man's man Jesus that changed the world.
  
• For women, some understanding about the men in your life, and how to deal with them in ways that help them draw closer to Jesus and to you.
  
• For parents raising boys, some help to point them toward healthy, godly manhood.
  
• For parents raising girls, how to help them to understand the boys they will have to deal with in the world.

There will be encouragment and help for single men, single women, married men and married women. There will be some frank talk about sex at one point, and maybe some help to have 'the talk' with your kids if you haven't yet. And parents, please understand that if you aren't talking to your kids about sex, someone else is. They want to hear it from you, so talk to them.

The reason for doing this series is simple - we live in a culture that sends mixed and confusing messages about manhood to us and to our kids every day, and we need to hear what God has to say to us on the subject. Plain and simple, if we're following Jesus, we need to know what that looks like from a male perspective.

(Ladies, there will be a series for you coming up this fall. Look for it, it will be Beautiful, I promise!!)

Get ready to be encouraged, challenged, stretched and hopefully blessed over the next six weeks!