Join the Journey

Aim Lower

2007-06-26T14:28:00.000-07:00

That Girl Can Teach and Preach!

2007-06-20T21:53:00.000-07:00

Have you heard of CJ Rapp? No it is not a rap group. She is a gifted teacher, communicator, evangelist and San Diego charger fan. With a touch of southern charm in her voice and a passion to go beyond the surfacey readings of scripture, CJ brings it! If you are looking for a guest speaker to teach the bible specifically to women (she has a burden to teach women), have a love for expository

Snippet - When People Say All Religions The Same

2007-06-12T15:25:00.000-07:00

"The soul of religions is one, but it is encased in a multitude of forms... Truth is the exclusive property of no single scripture... I cannot ascribe exclusive divinity to Jesus. He is as divine as Krishna or Rama or Zoroaster." - Mohandas Gandi, Hindu LeaderQuestion: That is an interesting claim. On what evidence, should I believe you? In other words, what supports that conclusion?

I Got My first HOA Warning - SWEET!

2007-06-10T12:19:00.000-07:00

Never has Jesus' words 'Love your neighbor' meant more to me than ever before. My wife and I are officially new home owners - coupled with the fact that it is in Orange County and on a pastor's salary, its a miracle in itself. At least until the next mortgage payment, we are here for God to use us. We want to be faithful and 'love our neighbors'.Well - but how? and what if they don't want to be

Outreach Events

2007-06-06T21:06:00.000-07:00

10 things to consider when planning an evangelistic event by Kerry Mackey & Erin Kerr We hate events ... so why are we writing an article about them? As sterile, programmed, churchy, and administratively taxing events can sometimes be, there is tremendous value when they are done well. They are "excuses" to build relationships, expose non-believing friends to

Generation ME not the ME Generation

2007-05-23T15:13:00.000-07:00

I was talking with my friend Doug the other day (yeah some of you know him-crazy teddy bear of a jesus freak) and as we talked, the conversation turned to reaching the 20 somethings.He mentioned the learnings of the US Army in how its old training methods weren't working anymore with this generation ( the screaming in your face, top-down authoritative model, whatever else they normally did was

Need Skills in Sharing Your Faith in Conversation?

2007-04-27T20:49:00.000-07:00

Greg Koukl from Stand to Reasons Ministries will share on "Tactics for Defending the Faith", a topic included in STRs Ambassador Curriculuum at our quarterly event called THE OVERFLOW. The OVERFLOW is a gathering for anyone wanting to be inspired and encouraged to share their hope in Christ with others. Date: May 7th, 7-9pmLocation: Saddleback Church, Lake Forest CA Cost: FreeCookies and Coffee

Vital Questions for 21st Century Evangelism

2007-04-20T10:03:00.000-07:00

VITAL QUESTIONS - We are hosting my friends Dr. Drew Lawson and Dr. John Riel who have developed a great tool in helping people from various spiritual backgrounds grapple with four key questions that lead them-on their own discovery to move towards Christ. In my own life, I have found their framework very helpful in discerning how to ask the right questions of people to consider God and even

Civil Debate Between Sam Harris and Rick Warren

2007-04-03T15:11:00.000-07:00

Pastor Rick Warren and Atheist Sam Harris discuss God and Religion. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/17889148/site/newsweek/

Be Inviting before Sending an Evite

2007-03-27T15:40:00.000-07:00

I just sent my first email invitation for my friend Eric and his wife to Easter Services at Saddleback.Eric is on an incredible spiritual journey. Jewish culturally, atheist spiritually... but I think now he has moved convincingly to belief in God... OK, next step Yeshua.He is intrigued by Jesus - so much so that I believe he has read more of the bible than many Christians I know. So heck - why

Zingers

2007-03-25T20:05:00.000-07:00

Been a long time since my last entry.Sorry about that.OK, so I am perusing through my bookshelf and as we all do – we have little gems just IDLING that have remained mostly unread and then one day POW – for whatever reason, we grab it and then laugh as we voraciously consume it – wondering why we hadn’t read it more when we first got it.Telling the Truth: Evangelizing Postmoderns, edited by D.A.

Are You Ready? Easter 2007

2007-03-14T17:13:00.000-07:00

Pastor Kerry Mackey has some great insights on one of my favorite blogs in maximizing your churches' impact in bringing people from the Street to the Seat. If you are a church leader, you can take his online survey to see how you might improve your churches' ability to utilize oral, print, broadcast and/or digital communication to reach your community this Easter. Some of Kerry Mackey's concepts

How Do You Share Hope When You Don't "Feel" Like it?

2007-03-06T15:29:00.000-08:00

Had a great meeting today with my leadership team.Ron kicked us off in God's word, reminding us that it first starts with internalizing how much God really does love us. This is the foundation for our hearts to be changed so that we can OVERFLOW [Rom 15.13] into others with that same love.Colossians 1:13-14 (MSG) 13 God rescued us from dead-end alleys and dark dungeons. He's set us up in the

Sowing at Supercuts

2007-03-05T16:24:00.000-08:00

"I just need a little trim on the top and the sides, leave the sideburns at their length. Thanks."I go to the same Supercuts near my house because I know that there is always the chance I may get the same haircut stylist. This time, I got "Loan" - yep, that is how you pronounce it.She is a wonderful lady. Family is from Vietnam, lived here for fifteen years. Two kids - boy and girl - 7, 8. A

Need Some Inspiration?

2007-02-08T15:25:00.000-08:00

I am not an advocate of guilt driven ministry but I am in favor of REALITY DRIVEN ministry. Let's be honest - we don't share our faith enough. I don't - you probably don't. It's OK, we are friends here. The latest statistics from Thom Rainer as quoted in Outreach Magazine for Jan/Feb 2007 says that on avg., it takes 84 Christians to reach 1 person for Christ in a year. I wonder what Paul might

Embarassing but True

2007-01-31T20:55:00.000-08:00

I love Golden Spoon - almost as much as my wife. It is literally 3 minutes from out apartment.We just got reaquainted with it recently after a few month hiatus from our addiction. Every time we go, I see the same clerk working at the counter. He recognizes us [more often just me since I am the one picking some frozen yogurt up for my hard working spouse:)] and he even starts our order as we, er..

How You Can SHARE Through Your S.H.A.P.E - Part 5 of 6

2007-01-29T14:31:00.000-08:00

P – PERSONALITY - How can I SHARE through my personality type?You’ve seen him before. Out on the street corner with the sandwich board sign that says: “Turn to Jesus or Spend Eternity in Hell! Repent!” Becky Pippert calls this “drive by evangelism” -where there is plenty of truth, but not a lot of relationship. Ironically, as brash and insensitive as this can be to the average non believer,

How You Can SHARE Through Your S.H.A.P.E - Part 4 of 6

2007-01-26T12:16:00.000-08:00

A – ABILITIES - How can I SHARE through my abilties/professional training?Your abilities and/or professional training is another avenue for: 1. Building redemptive relationships with others who share your training or abilities [1 Cor 3.5-6] and2. Serving othersAny ability you have can probably be used to share about God’s love and grace through using it to serve others or the church."So don't get

Personal PEACE Lifestyles in the NFL?

2007-01-23T15:22:00.000-08:00

From an online article by Michael Smith from ESPN regarding, men of color and character, Tony Dungy and Love Smith, both African-American Coaches going to the Superbowl: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/playoffs06/columns/story?columnist=smith_michael&id=2740318"Dungy and Smith are Christian men who serve the Lord first and spend nearly as much time serving their communities. Doesn't prevent them

How You Can SHARE Through Your S.H.A.P.E - Part 3 of 6

2007-01-19T17:45:00.000-08:00

H – HEART - How can I SHARE through what I have a heart for/motivated by?Pastor Rick says personal evangelism is as easy as picking the top five things you love to do and do it with your friends who don't yet know Jesus. Think about it – whether you love to cook, love technology, working on motorcycles, reading with a book club, playing basketball, involved in the PTA or coaching your kids soccer

How You Can SHARE Through Your S.H.A.P.E - Part 2 of 6

2007-01-18T11:14:00.000-08:00

S - SPIRITUAL GIFTS – How can I SHARE through my spiritual gifts?If you have never figured out what your spiritual gifts are, I would suggest discovering them [if a Saddleback member http://www.saddlebackfamily.com/ministry/] by taking a spiritual gift test available through most Christian bookstores.To those with the gift of evangelism:First things first, we want to address a common

How You Can SHARE Through Your S.H.A.P.E - Part 1 of 6

2007-01-17T15:30:00.000-08:00

Ever wish you were as evangelistic as say a Lee Strobel or a Rick Warren? Or just more of an extrovert with the people around you? Ever wish you could have someone implant a smart chip into your brain to help you remember all of the answers to common objections to Christianity? – well, yeah me neither. But I think it is safe to say if you are a follower of Jesus, and you love God, you care about

God is Ridiculous

2006-12-11T22:36:00.000-08:00

God is ridiculously generous.Last week the Membership team kicked off our meeting by reflecting on God's ultimate Gift and what that meant for us - personally. Simeon was there. He took the child in his arms and praised God, saying, "Lord, now I can die in peace! As you promised me,I have seen the Savior you have given to all people. He is a light to reveal God to the nations, and he is the glory

A person committed to Personal P.E.A.C.E. lives…

2006-12-05T13:52:00.000-08:00

What VALUES does a person committed to Personal PEACE understand and live out?1. I am a PARTICIPANT in God’s evangelistic PROCESS Key passages: Psalm 24.1,Matt 9.36-38, Luke 15, John 6.44, 17.2-3, Rom 1.16, 1 Cor 3.5-9, 2 Cor 5.11-17, 1 Peter 2.92. I am emPOWERED by the Holy Spirit when Christ is my life leaderKey passages: Zech 4.6, Luke 10.19, John 15.5, Acts 2.38, 4.30, 1 Cor 9.24-27, Eph 5.18

2006-12-01T12:39:00.000-08:00

HOPE gets clogged sometimes... Our new training to equip people to overflow their hope in ways that respect people's spiritual journeys. We did a test run on Nov.19th - we are making some tweaks but got GREAT feedback! We discuss AND PRACTICE the FOUR skills that are imperative in effective HOPE flow.What is unique about it? YOU GET TO CHOOSE to focus on any or all of the FOUR skills as long as

Hope: A Common Starting Point

2006-11-27T11:24:00.000-08:00

So I pray that God, who gives you hope, will keep you happy and full of peace as you believe in him. May you overflow with hope through the power of the Holy Spirit. Romans 15.13 [NLT]The message is the same but methods must change. Often times, older ways of sharing hope found in Jesus Christ were designed for people who, though were not believers, believed in the authority of the bible, the