LONG TIME.....

It has been a long time since I posted on this blog. Since March 1, God has been doing some awesome things in my life, my family, IGNITE Middle School Ministry, and NewSpring Church. At this time we are gearing up for the summer and focusing on our summer camp, The Gauntlet, which will be off the chain! Lee McD is going to be leading worship, Perry Noble is going to preaching, Majestic Beach Towers is providing the digs for the week, needless to say it is going to be AWESOME! To all studnets involved in IGNITE & FUSE, sign up TODAY!! You do not want to miss this!

**Side Note: March 8, 2006 at 6:37 AM, Jonathan Ellis Neighbors entered into this world! He weighed 9 lbs. 6ozs., and 21 inches long! Deanna and I are so blessed to have another nephew. Nathan and Ashley are wonderful parents and are thankful to have a healthy little boy! Anderson, his big brother, is very excited!! Pray for them as they go home today!!***

IGNITE LOGO

Ignite Poster

Familiar Verse To Us....

Familiar Verse To Us All....
 
Lately, the Lord has been moving in my heart and it has caused me to really turn to His Word. (When the Lord moves it can be exciting and scary-in a good way, I personally love it!!)
 
First of all let me say that God's word is timeless, sharper than a two-edged sword, creative, and the best book I have ever read. Secondly, I am so thankful that God had the great idea to give us the Bible.  I think back to the days when the Bible was being written, those guys did not even have the Bible and their faith was astounding.
 
As I have been spending time in God's Word and in communication with Him, God has been revealing so much to me. I want to take a verse that is familiar to a lot of people, some people say that it is their favorite verse, some quote it in tough times, etc. (By the way, isn't it great that God has something to say to us in every season of our lives! Go God!) Proverbs 3:5-6, "Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight."
 
Notice that there are three things that we are to do: 1) Trust in the LORD with ALL your heart, 2) Lean NOT on your own understanding, 3) In ALL your ways acknowledge Him. What a minute....So, God is telling me that if I do these three things then my paths will be made straight? Yes, that is what the Lord is saying to all of us! WOW!!!
 
(Don't stop reading yet, keep on reading!!!)
 
Now we must be careful with those three things, they require all of you. I truly believe that the reason the heart is always the center point that we must give to God is because that is the center of who we are. My heart pumps blood to the rest of my body, which takes oxygen to my brain and other organs.  Without my heart there is no me! (I won't get into the whole scientific deal, because I would mess it up, but you get the idea!) 
 
With the promise that God gives in this verse, "and he will make your paths straight," we must remember that the path may not look straight to us. Not all paths we walk will look straight, there may be some that look windy, curving, hilly, and any other word that can be stated, but we have been given assurance that God has prepared that path for us. My prayer is that I will never depend on my own understanding (because it is very limited) but will walk the path that God has laid for me. 
 
Take a moment to really allow God to speak to you through His word. You will be amazed how clearly He will speak to you! “Be still and know that I am God…”  May God continue to bless you as you spend time with Him!

Messy side....

Tonight at IGNITE, I was informed of some stuff that would classify as the messy side of ministry (middle school DRAMA). We also had some students who came that would probably not be welcome at most churches. On the way home from the FUSEBOX, I had a thought from God. God spoke to me and all I could say was thanks! Thank you God, for allowing us to get neck deep in ministry, for allowing us to be apart of the “MESSY” side of ministry. Thank you for allowing students to feel comfortable to come to IGNITE and have fun. Thank you for allowing us to have great leaders that have built relationships with students that are open and honest!

TO ALL IGNITE LEADERS :: You are AWESOME! You are doing a PHEMONIAL job! Thank you for loving Jesus and loving students! You inspire me and spur me on! We are seeing God work and he is going to continue to move!

Taxes....

Okay, so I HATE having to do my taxes!  What a pain in the behind!  Does anyone else agree?

Correction.....

In a previous post, I made an error! I spelled a name wrong! Sorry GRANT LYERLY! You are the man!

Great Day.....

Today was a crazy but fun day! Got to work, check out messages, emails and all that fun stuff! By the way, the building is moving along and things are coming together! The children’s area is going to be unbelievable!!

Today I got the opportunity to hang out with John Flowers and David hall! Two of Ignite’s leaders! These guys have a passion for students. We rode to Clemson to interview some potential leaders and we ate at a place called Anchous (spelling wrong!!) I ate a sandwich called “BlackJack”! It was awesome!! John Flowers hooked us all up with some Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream; I had the “Chunky Monkey.” GREAT! Only bad part of the trip was that I got a parking ticket for $10. I was 5 minutes late to money in the meter and there was already a ticket! Hello!!!!! It takes longer than 5 minutes to write a ticket! Oh well.

Got back to the office to meet with the Ignite staff! What a great meeting we had. We planned out the service for this week and next week! It was awesome. These people have some great minds and a passion for our students to learn the truth of Jesus Christ! WOW! Tomorrow is the kickoff for Campus Groups at 7 PM! Things are rolling!

Now, I am at home and chillin! What a productive day! I am now going to leave and eat an awesome dinner with my AWESOME wife! Peace!

Busy.....

So I have taken a little break for a while!  So busy and so much to do!  Highlight of my day: leading an 8th grader to Christ on the phone!  YES, on the phone!  How wild is that!  Thursday, I am going to have lunch with him!  How awesome!  By the way, NewSpring moves in tour NEW building this Sunday!  It is going to be awesome.  See you there!

Today had Financial Peace class, Basketball game at 8:30.  Didn’t get there until halftime and they are down 16-21.  Come back and win 46-36!  Go NewSpring!  Great game in the 2nd Half!  Now, time to go to bed!  

Florence for a Day.....

I said I was going to post about my trip to Florence, which I have been really slack on, but here goes for the highlights:

Tuesday:

• Ate lunch with my former pastor, Kevin Qualls; Barry Moon, my good friend and cohort in crime, and Johnny McDaniel, new minister at FBC Florence. It was a great lunch and time of fellowship. I spent a good bit of time with Barry talking about all the things that were going on at the church and with his family. Deanna and I are very close to his whole family, Donna, Brittany, and Kara. It is always a blessing to spend time with him because I always walk away with a smile on my face and encouraged!


• Spent sometime with Danny Meetze, Youth Pastor at Calvary Baptist, and Brian Timney, Youth Pastor at Southside Baptist. These guys were “My Crew” for my time in Florence. We partnered in ministry for many different events! Solid Guys doing some solid ministry in Florence! Keep it up guys!


• FMU BCM…..What can I say? What a blast! The food was great, the fellowship even better, worship was awesome! Got to spend time with Kendal Danford, who has to be the best BCM Director in the state of South Carolina. Also spent some time with some of MY BOYS, Grant Lyerly and Cam Shepherd. (I drove 3 hours to hand out with them and Cam punked me for some girl he is hitting on! WRONG!!) These guys are solid and are going to make a huge impact on the world!! I always enjoyed being able to preach to that group! I spoke about living the UNSAFE LIFE. Going to where Jesus calls, doing what Jesus says, and saying what Jesus tells you to! God worked through the whole night (7 students accepted Christ! PRAISE THE LORD!)

Wednesday:

• Slept a little late got up and ate breakfast with my mom! She is the best!!! It was an awesome time to just hang out with my mom! I am so thankful that I have such a good relationship with my mom and dad, that we can just hang out and spend time together!


• Visited with Mammy, my grandmother on my dad’s side! My grandmother is the definition on Southern belle. Loves her husband, her children, her grandchildren, and loves life!


• Ate lunch with Warren, Kristie, and Chandler Merck at Redbone Alley! (Side note: if you are ever in Florence got to Redbone Alley, you will not be disappointed! Great atmosphere, great food!) I love this family! They have a son named Chesley, who is a royal pain in the b%#t, just kidding, who is an awesome young man! Chandler is the young lady that I posted about in HELPLESSNESS!?!?!?!? This lunch was someone of the lunches that just puts your life into perspective. I got the full story of what happened, the events leading up to the accident, the events afterwards, everything! To hear all of it and then to look on the faces of the family and see them smile, blessed my heart! They could not stop praising God for the miracle of saving Chandler! I heard a father talk of his love for his children, a mother talk about how precious time is with her children, a daughter talk about her thankfulness for her brother! WOW! Warren and Kristie, you are an example to me of how much I should love my children and how I should try to raise them! Thank you for your example and allowing Deanna and I to be a part of your lives and family! We love you! I spent sometime encouraging Chandler and telling her how excited I was that God performed this miracle in her life. I told her that God had something special planned for her and was going to use this event in her life to reach people in an amazing way. Needless, to say, this lunch changed my perspective on life! God allowed me to spend time with this family to be blessed! I wanted to be a blessing to them, but I got so much more than they got from me!

That is about it! What a great day and a half!

God, thank you for allowing me to experience some awesome stuff (salvations, miracles, blessings)! Use my life that I might be a vessel of hope and praise to others!

My Pastor......

Do me a favor and head on over to PerryNoble.com to check out this post!!

By the way, I love the fact that he communicates with his staff in such a clear way.  I am so thankful that Perry is my pastor!  

MOVING DAY.....

Today was awesome!  It was move in day at the new offices for NewSpring!  That place is amazing!  I love it over there!  What a great place to be a part of!  

I am going to be posting about my trip to Florence a little later!  Too busy to get my thoughts down!  One highlight of the trip was I got to eat lunch with the young lady, Chandler, that I posted about in my post titled HELPLESS!?!?!?!.  Tell you about it later!  It rocked my world!

Tomorrow.....

Tomorrow, I get to travel back to Florence, SC.  I have been invited to come and speak for the Francis Marion University Baptist Campus Ministry!  I spent a lot of time pouring into some students there and I look forward to getting to see some of them again!  Please pray that God would speak through me to them in a clear and relevant way!  I also look forward to spending time with Kendal Danford, the Campus Minister at FMU.  This man has a passion for college students and seeing them grow in their walk with Christ!  I am always encouraged by my time with him and always seem to learn a few things as well!

Also, I am going to catch lunch with my former pastor!  Should be a great trip to Florence, SC, although a little short!  I will post how it went a little later!

HELPLESS!?!?!?

Tuesday, I received many phone calls letting me know about an accident that one of my former youth was in while on a ski trip. Of course, my heart went out to her and her family! As it is with most situations, the story always gets a little messed up and I am sure that there were “many” different versions of the story floating around. Regardless, when I heard, I felt helpless!

Needless to say, I feel that when something goes wrong, I want to find the quickest solution and “fix” the problem (I am a guy and that is the way we think)! Well, I could not do a thing in this situation! I could not do anything, nothing, nada (you get the point)!

That was until I realized that I could ask my heavenly father to intervene. I could actually pour my heart out to God! WOW! I could do something, I could pray for the young girl and her family, the doctors and nurses!

**By the way, I was in a meeting when I received the call, I went back in and told the people about the situation. Their response was amazing! They stopped the meeting and we prayed! We collectively asked God to intervene! Thank you Michael, Sandy, and Meredith for being an awesome team to work with! You rock!**

Needless to say, the young lady is doing fine and it going to recover! Was it because of anything tangible that we could do? No, it was the wonderful working power of our Lord and Savior.

God, thank you for being the God that is totally in control. Thank you, for being the God that desires for his children to pour our hearts out to him! Thank you, for being the God that listens! Thank you God that we are NOT helpless in any situation, we can pour our hearts out to you! You are amazing!

New Year’s Resolutions.....

We make resolutions because we recognize a need, but it requires action and commitment!

If you made a New Year’s resolution, take action and keep the commitment!  If you know that you need to get in shape, don’t just join the gym and never go.  Commit to getting in shape, by going and working out!  (Can you guess what my resolution is?)

Ending 2005....

Last post of 2005…What a great year, with so many twists and turns.  At the beginning of 2005 I was in Gatlinburg, TN with a group of 50 from Florence, SC.  I hold so many great memories of my time in Florence.  Deanna and I were able to serve some of the most awesome students and families!  Although, I would have never thought that to begin 2006, I would be transitioned to Anderson, SC to serve as the Middle School Pastor at NewSpring Church.  What a great opportunity to serve with the greatest pastor, Perry Noble, and greatest team of staff members!

God, thank you for your provision and love!  You continue to amaze me!

Have a great 2006!  It is going to be awesome!  Also what a way to open 2006 by going to worship tomorrow morning with the body of Christ!

Why.....

Sometimes I wonder why we do the things we do.  What are the reasons that we do some things, not all of the things that we do are bad, not all of the things that we do are good.  Why do we have the jobs we have?  Why do we play the sports we play?  Why do we wash the clothes a certain way?  Why do we have to have the fan running when we are asleep, but need 50 blankets to keep us warm?  

Why did I spend all day working on the FUSEBOX (youth hangout for the NewSpring Church Student Ministry)?  I did not HAVE to, I was not required to do it, but…I wanted to!  I want to be a part of something that will have an impact on people; I want to make a difference in the lives of people!  I want to be a part of God’s work, if that means working on a youth hangout by spackling holes, vacuuming the floor, painting the walls, taking out the trash, then…let’s get to it!

There are things in your life, which you do because you want to, you have a passion to do! Let me encourage you, do it!  Be passionate about the things that God works in your heart about!  I do not know what that is or will be, but what a way to spend your time!

Perspective.....

Take time to read this article: Family, Colts, friends mourn James Dungy on ESPN.com.  Helps put things in perspective in what should come first in our lives: God, Family, Others (Jobs, etc).  Also pray for the Tony Dungy, he is a man of faith and believes in Jesus Christ!

Up Early.....(Not to Bad)

This morning I woke up early, which most of the time is awful!  I do not like getting up early at all!  This morning was GREAT!  My wife woke me up with her soft voice (by the way, my wife is AWESOME).  I got a shower and then fixed breakfast for us.  Not elaborate, scrambled eggs and toast with strawberry preserves, but very good, if I say so myself.  Then checked out some blogs, news, etc.  I am now off to take my great friend to the doctor’s office for a checkup.  Anyway, all that to say, I hope that you have a great morning!  

John 3:30, “He must become greater; I must become less.”  What a powerful verse!  I wake up early and get to be slapped in the face with the reality of God powerful presence!  Thank you God for loving us so much that you desire to spend time with each one of us!  

Long Time.....

It has been a long time since I posted on my blog. There has been a lot that has happen since my last post! Too much to catch up on a post, but I hope I stay up to date on my blog.

Merry Christmas (belated) and Happy New Year!