Developing People Throughout The Community

So many incredible things are happening all around us when it comes to spiritual things... I hope you are seeing some of it in your circles. I am consistently hearing about unchurched, unconvinced individuals that are beginning to open up to spiritual conversations with their friends. I am excited to see the churches in the area that are growing by creating environments for people to explore faith (p.s. congrats to our new neighbors, The Orchard Church, on an incredible first week in their building). I am thrilled to watch my generation warm up to the idea that some people follow Jesus without being loaded down with religious baggage.



All of these things, working together, are helping develop people that are thinking about God in a new way. And, I believe with all my heart, that people will continue to seek God if we will continue to provide the opportunities for them to do so.



And... as the community seeks God... we will find Him... He will reveal Himself to us.

After three intense days, I've finally caught my breath

Catalyst was awesome (it always is), and it has taken me three days to recover from it, digest what I learned, process some of my "next steps", and have the energy to write a little bit. Of course, over the next couple weeks and months, I will write more, but I wanted to share a quick thing from Dave Ramsey that we were challenged with.

"Imagine what the people of God could do for the kingdom of God, if the resources that the people of God managed were freed up to do His work." Over the last several days, I've heard of several choices that friends and acquaintances of mine are making that will put them further in the whole, financially. And, if you're reading this while you are facing the opportunity to make a really stupid financial decision, I'm begging you to patiently wait and reevaluate it through the principles that God has laid out in scripture.

1. All the stuff you have is actually His stuff . . . you don't own it, you just manage it.

2. If you use every bit of His stuff to pay for your stuff . . . you won't have any of His stuff left to invest in the work He wants to do.

3. If we borrow someone else's stuff in order to pay for more stuff for us . . . we make slaves of ourselves, our resources, and the stuff that God lets us manage.

4. And, if we change how we live, buy less stuff, and manage His stuff better, we will free up more of His stuff to do what He wants to do.

The point is... if you are about t0 make a stupid financial decision... please wait, contact me (craig@churchatthegrove.com) so I can put you in touch with a financial counselor, and make the decision that you will no longer use all of God's stuff to meet your needs and wants. Trust me: there is freedom in handling your money with God's principles in mind.


P.S. Watch for Church At The Grove's new series in November: "Rich Man/Poor Man" where we will talk about this topic in depth.

Nothing But Clay

I'm heading off to an incredible 3-day conference called Catalyst. Russ, David, and I will be poured into for the next couuple days, so pray for us. But, before I went, I wanted to jot something down that I was reading this morning.

2 Corinthians 4:7 "We have this treasure from God, but we are like clay jars that hold the treasure."

When we begin a relationship with Christ, we truly have an incredible treasure put in us... eternal life. But, when God puts that treasure in us, he doesn't decorate the jar on the outside... we're still just "clay"... the most simple form of pottery that existed in the ancient world.

So, if God decided that "simple" people were worthy of carrying his incredible treasure, why do so many churches believe that "fancy" and "complex" is the only way to carry the treasure today?

Resist the urge to complicate the treasure... remember that we are nothing but clay.

Had a Bad Day? . . . join the club

For me, yesterday was a bad day... not as bad as this guy's, but it was still pretty rough. Life is not always easy. Life is not always fun. Life does not always bring joy. In other words, some days just suck. But that's normal.

The biggest problem comes when we don't have anybody around us to help us through the bad days. I was fortunate that, in the midst of the bad day, I had my wife that I could talk with, my friend and fellow-pastor (Russ Butcher) that I could sort things out with, a mentor that I could email, and some friends that I could just vent to if I wanted. It's those people and the relationships that I have with them that make life good.

Sure, life stinks sometimes, but if there are people around that you can laugh with, cry with, hurt with, dream with, plan with, work with, and just be yourself around... then, you'll survive and come out the other side of the bad day into a day of hope.

So, thanks everyone for just being there!!!

Bye-bye lawnmower blade

I was mowing the yard this morning and accidentally got my lawnmower blade in a fight with the metal water meter cover... ultimately the lawnmower blade won... but not without serious injury. The blade cut the grass fine and then took a 6 inch long chunk out of the water meter cover (I don't know how to explain that to the WCWSA). In the process, the end of the mower blade was bent at a 45 degree angle and after trying unsuccessfully to bend it back straight, I had to say goodbye to it.

Basically, the problem was caused by using the wrong tool to cut the grass around the water meter cover. The area is a little tight and is better suited for a weedeater than a riding lawnmower... but it's just so much quicker to use the mower. So, most of the time, I just head into that same spot with the same mower... and most of the time, it works out okay. But today, my "shortcut" cost me a cover, a blade, and a lot of aggravation.

Okay, now for the leap into the spiritual lesson... God has called every believer to be missionaries in a particular circle of influence... he has designed them perfectly for the ministry and relationships in that circle. If you don't follow through with your responsibility, I might wind up having to take the Good News into your circle of influence... that may work out fine most of the time... but, on occasion, something I say or do will create a little bit of chaos in that circle of yours... it might even have a higher cost than either of us want.

So, instead of taking the risk, let's agree as followers of Jesus that we will do everything we can within our own circles of influence. That way, we can use God's design in our lives to most effectively let the people that God has put us around know about the His love for us. And maybe in the process, we can avoid some unfortunate costs.

Free movie tickets and other stuff

If you drink Coke products, stop throwing away the caps and the labels and the mycokerewards points. Take five minutes, go to the http://www.mycokerewards.com/, and sign up. Save up a couple hundred coke points, get your free movie tickets or your gift card, then donate the money you saved to something worthwhile... something that meets a need... something that changes a life... something that offers people the hope that can be found in Jesus. "Go Green" with your "green" and do something meaningful... save money in one place so you can invest it somewhere else. Just a thought.

Do you ever feel lost in the shuffle?

I googled myself today just to see if I existed... so I typed in "craig story" and found 16,500,000 results. In the first 100 results, there were about 90 web pages with the "Larry Craig story", 9 with "my Jenny Craig story", and one about a boy named Craig that used to live in Africa titled "Craig's story." I didn't hit the other 16,499,900 results, but I bet they would be about the same. In other words, most people in the world don't even know I exist.



Fortunately, in my life there have been several key people that did know I existed, and even cared about the fact that I existed. It was through the influence of these key individuals that I began to consider spiritual things... and it was through their influence that I chose to become a follower of Christ. Even though most of the world didn't even know I was alive, a few people loved me enough to help me consider a relationship with God in a new way. It was their compassion that persuaded me to follow Christ. In twenty years, I wonder how many people will say the same thing about me and my influence in their lives... I hope there will be a lot.