Stretch…

before doing any excercise, running, walking, lifting weights we all have been advised to stretch!

well, I’m beginning the marathon of a lifetime, more like decathlon, and am taking the time to stretch & be stretched!!!

I certainly don’t want to pull up halfway through with a hamstring injury, this is a challenge I must see to the end! I’m prepared mentally, physically & spiritually to see the finish line!

Lord, stretch me! allow me to see you in ways I’ve never experienced. show me who I am, who you desire for me to be. give me the directions, counsel needed, prepare my heart for this journey!

Amen!

Im expecting!!!

The news of finding out your bringing new life in the world is both exciting and flat out scary… And before the rumors start, no Esther is not pregnant, I am!!!

What?? No, I don’t have some “organ” condition that allows me to physically give birth, but spiritually my womb is with child!!

Have I been here before, yes! I have been pregnant with vision, with dreams, with hope for the city of Atlanta & old fourth ward. But…

I have also suffered miscarraiges & have aborted the very same seed I carry now! I have fallen on my face & repented before God & know that I have been forgiven!

I am expecting!!! And with eager anticipation I KNOW this process of pain, morning sickness, sleepless nights & lack of comfort is a MUST!

The next 10 months, ladies I know you feel me, are going to be filled with amazing revelation, with power, with pain & jubilation!!

Please pray for the birth of these dreams, the vision that God has given me for the city. Please pray for my family as God stretches me & that I will be first the leader & pastor of my family! Please pray that no weapon formed against the seed growing inside of me grow full term!!

I AM EXPECTING!!!

why here why now…

I’ve asked myself this question a million times! I’ve probably been asked this question even more!

Am I ready? With the economy the way that it is, is planting a church wise? Why the city? Why not work at a church, then plant? I could go on but I believe you get the point.

All valid questions, in which I’ve searched for answers & keep coming back to a still small voice trapped in my mind. The echoes of God’s voice are clear precise & intimidating!

GO!!

I wasn’t there, but I can only imagine the things that went through Abraham’s mind as he heard & heeded “The Call”. I don’t profess to be Abraham, just to clear the air, but I do share his passion to be obedient, no matter the cost!!

So, why here… Because He said so. Why now, because He said so.

It’s up to me, to be obedient, stay in constant communication, to trust, to lead & to BE who He called me to be.

Today is a new beginning! And, honestly it’s not the first new beginning, it’s up to me though to see it through to the end, no waivering & no turning back!!

Because HE is…!!!!

unfit…

I am unfit to lead…

If I had a quarter for everytime I’ve had a doubt, second guessed my ability, or questioned God’s decision about my calling I’d be a millionaire!

I know, some of you might say I’m sharing “too” much, but who really determines that?

And what I’ve discovered is that whether it’s my feelings, insecurities, fear or someone pointing out my shortcomings… I truly am unfit to lead.

I am unfit to lead, without His, Christ’s, grace, favor, love, mercy, direction, forgiveness, strength, arms wrapped around me, blessing, the Holy Spirit, obedience, sacrifice, Blood and on and on and on…

You see, I CANNOT, lead anyone anywhere in and of myself or in my OWN strength. I am but a worthless filthy rag without Him.

Sometimes I forget that. Sometimes I lead, alone. And in that very moment there is non one to blame, lean on, comfort, or even hear me but me! And frankly, I am not enough!!

Lead, your family, your life, your career, your friends-real & virtual, your calling & passion with Him, not on your own.

To lead alone is failure.

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Urbanmissionary

Why? Who? What? Why? I hope to be able to answer these questions over the next several days… My hope is that you read, search your heart, pray, are challenged & COMMIT to joining us as a financial partner in fulfilling the dream that God has given us for Old Fourth Ward & the city of Atlanta! WE NEED YOU! YES, YOU!

Why?

Because of the 14 plus thousand residents that call Historic Old Fourth Ward, O4W, home 80% do NOT attend church regularly, if at all!!

Because 80% comes to over 11,000 people, mothers, fathers, sons, daughters, teachers, CEO’s, friends, neighbors, nurses that would spend an ETERNITY in Hell! If that don’t move you then I’m not sure what will.

Because we are not simply starting a church, but our DESIRE & PRAYER is to build, transform a community with Christ as the HEAD. to be an example for other communities that call Atlanta home.

Because O4W is an extremely diverse community which gives a great chance to create a church/ community that resembles Heaven!

As missionaries it is our responsibility to BE a part of this community, to BE good neighbors, to BE the LIGHT, to BE the church & to BE THE ONLY JESUS THAT OUR NEIGHBORS MAY EVER KNOW! and in order to do that WE NEED YOUR HELP!

Pray about it. Then GO!

Imagine what two less Starbucks fixes a week, one less lunch out a week or drink or two less at the bar or club could do for us, the future of peculiarplace, this community and the Kingdom of God!!

Click the donate button below and become a weekly, monthly partner or simply give a one time donation that would assist us in doing the work of the ministry God is birthing in us!

I thank you and my family thanks you!


the morning after

I wonder if that’s the way we make communities feel…? You know. The way it feels the morning after an incredible night, event, indulgence… The heaviness, the worthlessness, the anxiety, the stress, fear, abandonment & most importantly the guilt… The morning after can have a horrible & unforgiven affect on both parties or all parties involved. So, I’m curious to know if this is the affect “we” have on communities, homeless, addicts & anyone else hurting when we show up PRELAUNCH on our white horse in our shining armor?

Do they know in advance that we probably won’t be serving them “like this” “post launch”? Do they wonder if this is service or advertising? Are we any different than the other groups that hand out thier sandwiches once a week then drive off making no connections? Are we using the hurt & pain of thier situations to tell everyone a “new church” is in town?

Seriously, these thoughts run through my mind as I dig deep into the identity of peculiarplace & the vision God has given me!

I’m not knocking serving! Not at all!! But my concern, questions & intent are aimed at the intensity at which we seek to “serve” our community “pre launch” & then we suddenly shift gears when the people show up.

I’m new to this, so admittedly all my thoughts could be dead wrong! And maybe they’re not!!!!

So, today we create & search for service opportunities that we can do now, but more importantly we are looking for things that we can continue to do long after we have launched!!

I refuse to leave Old Fourth Ward in the middle of the night to deal with the emotional earthquack of “the morning after”. We will stay, stand & stir up the transformative power of the risen Savior, Jesus!!!!!!!!

80

80. An arbitrary number that means nothing to me until I add a percent sign after it…

Most of us are familiar with the 80/20 rule that applies to a number of generes. In the church world it’s often applied to the 20% of a particular churches membership that is actually the “church” & for a long time I’ve prayed and asked God for more. Asking Him to show us a way to rewrite this prescription for church.

I’m not saying I’ve got the answer for your church, but I believe God has shown me what makes sense for peculiarplace…

Imagine 80% of your core, launch &/or congregation performing a minimum of 10 hours/ month of volunteer services in the community your church is in. Imagine 80 people (80% of 100 people, a foundational goal for us) doing 10 hours… That’s 8000 hours in our schools, parks, nursing homes, tutoring, mentoring, cleaning & repairing. Imagine the IMPACT this could have on a community! Imagine the impact it would have on the persons “BEing” the church!!

Crazy? Maybe? But I believe this is one way to make outreach a daily thing versus a holiday, speacial weekend or time of year thing. This is a way to get those living outside of the community to invest effort, time & money into O4W!!

Overcoming the “You Cannot Break Me” Mentality – Stuart McDonald

There’s no doubt that the average American man is emotionally constipated — at least about certain things — and this constipation is having an effect on the world in which we live. When men don’t know how to properly understand, process, and express their emotions, whether good or bad, happy, sad, or other, they look for substitute outlets. The outlets they find are rather unproductive — drugs, pornography, alcohol, women, sex, violence, and the like — and when indulged in long enough, not only do they become generational struggles that will be passed on to their sons, but they become reckless and destructive for the present generation. Until men open their eyes and realize that their inability to properly navigate their emotional waters has an effect on everyone around them, they will not find the needed motivation to change a thing.

Really, men are only emotionally constipated when it comes to things like fear, failure, sorrow, regret, disappoint, and sadness — things we deem make us “less of a man” when expressed. But can men show some excitement and passion over a football or basketball game? You had better believe it! The problem lies in the erroneous belief that men cannot be found to be weak — ever. We assume that a man must always maintain a “manly” stance and stoic outlook on life that says, “no matter what happens, you cannot break me,” when in fact, that same mentality is exactly what does break men in this country.

When I look at the strongest, most Godly role models in my life, they are all very in touch with their emotions and feel liberated in expressing them. Come to think of it, I believe I’ve even seen the majority of them cry. You think crying makes a man weak? You’ve got it twisted — ask any woman and they’ll confirm that a man who knows how to handle his emotions is immeasurably stronger than one who is emotionally constipated.

There’s an incredible book by a pastor from New York, Peter Scazzero <http://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/about/bio_pete.asp>, that I recommend everyone, but especially men, read. It’s entitled, “Emotionally Healthy Spirituality.” <http://www.amazon.com/Emotionally-Healthy-Spirituality-Unleash-Christ/dp/1591454522> Now, that’s a mouth full, but the premise is this — you are only as spiritually mature as you are emotionally healthy. In other words: the more emotionally constipated we are, the less we properly understand, process, and express our emotions, the less spiritually mature we are. I won’t go into the entire book, but I do want to give you the top ten symptoms that you might experience in emotionally unhealthy spirituality:

1. Using God to Run from God
2. Ignoring the Ungodly Emotions of Anger, Sadness, and Fear
3. Dying to the Wrong Things
4. Denying the Past’s Impact on the Present
5. Dividing Our Lives into “Secular” and “Sacred” Compartments
6. Doing for God Instead of Being with God
7. Spiritualizing Away Conflict
8. Covering over Brokenness, Weakness, and Failure
9. Living without Limits
10. Judging Other People’s Spiritual Journey

After reading that list I know you have a few areas you need to work on. And that’s good; it means your human. No one has it all worked out. But what it does mean is that we have to get working on ourselves. If we first want to change the world, we have to look at ourselves and make the change first. Don’t you dare make the excuse that “I didn’t see my father (or any other man) do it, how am I supposed to do it?” By the grace of God, that’s how! Men want to lead and guide and pioneer everything else, you we’re too afraid to cry for the first time? Get over yourself, men. Stop acting like a punk and show that you care about something for once in your life.

Fathers, let me tell you something before I finish: your children need to see you cry. They need to see you get excited, to laugh, to be angry. They need to see your emotions. It helps to humanize you and makes you more relatable. Your children, especially your boys, need to know that you go through the same emotions you do, but they need to see you handle them effectively. When you lash out at your kids or your wife, the children view that as acceptable. Why? Because they don’t know any better so they believe that the wrong way is actually right — or at least the acceptable — way to handle things. The good news is, you can also show them the right, and healthy way to handle emotions.

I had a phenomenal advantage in this area because of my father; I saw him deal with all of his emotions. I saw him cry, get mad (sometimes too much, and thus I had anger problems as well), laugh, get excited; you name it, I saw my dad experience. Seeing my father openly express his emotions helped me to feel safe when I had those same emotions. Isn’t that what we all desire our homes to be — A safe place where our children can feel comfortable and open to be themselves?

Let’s make a concerted effort, as men, to encourage one another to learn to understand, process, and express our emotions in a healthy way. Whether it’s love, anger, excitement, sadness, or whatever, God created emotions for a reason — but we were made to rule our emotions, not the other way around. So men, step up and be the emotionally healthy man that God has called you to be!

[For more from Stuart McDonald, check out his personal blog <http://stuartmcdonald.wordpress.com/> and follow him on Twitter<http://www.twitter.com/StuMcDnld>]

[Note: You can read more about the top ten symptoms in this PDF from the Emotionally Healthy Website <http://www.emotionallyhealthy.org/about/pdfs/The_Ten_Top_Symptoms_of_Emotionally_Unhealthy_Spirituality.pdf>]

i suck at it…

i admit it… I suck at sharing. I suck at opening up, sharing, giving up the details of my day, at being honest about how I really feel!

THERE, I SAID IT!!!

BUT, I’m getting better. I have to. It’s no longer about ME, or about how I used to be or how I used to deal with issues. I now, have a wife, who for only reasons God will know, loves me beyond judgement, who loves me in spite of & not because of. I have 3 sons who are looking to me to be BE a man & not just talk about being a man or what men do. They are looking to me to learn how to express themselves, deal & maintain a healthy emotional life.

So, I can’t & won’t suck any longer. I no longer have to fear being judged or looked at as less than a man.

I CAN FEEL AND KNOW THAT ITS OK!!!

I can and you can too! You should!

Men, anger, rage & frustration are not the end of your emotional map. It doesn’t stop there! You get lonely, you know what depression is, you know heartache, you know saddness & desperation, I know you do! Stop hiding! Stop hurting the women in your life because you won’t stop & heal! STOP!!!

I will not suck another day! I will no longer be emotionally retarded! I will no longer hide behind “strength” & manhood!

Pastors, I’m begging YOU, to free up the men in your church, by teaching them & showing them that it’s ok! Let them know that it doesn’t make you a PUNK to feel!

Ladies, free up the men in your life NOW! Don’t judge them or think less of them because they FEEL! You may discover a new layer to your relationship! Encourage them!!