Adios 2008

This weekend Mike preached a sermon that celebrated what God has done in our church this year. It got me thinking about the past year and taking inventory of what my year has been like. I have to admit, in a lot of ways, 2008 kinda sucked. We lost a few friends and family unexpectedly. We experienced a significant family crisis. We're still dealing with some of the fallout from all of it.

It was a reminder to me of two things. 1) What a grace it is that God chose me and gave me the hope of his gospel. I can't imagine how people deal with the kind of challenges we've faced without the hope that walking with God provides. 2) In spite of everything, how remarkably fortunate and blessed I am. Ending the year with a trip to Haiti really provided a much needed perspective. Seeing true, hopeless poverty was a shocking reality-check for me.

At the end of the year, I am healthy, rich and free. I have an awesome, smokin' hot, wife and two remarkable kids who love me and who I adore. I get to be a part of an great church. I get paid to do something for God that I love with people I love to be around. I have an amazing God and a wonderful Savior.

All things considered...not a bad life and not a bad year.

Haiti Travel Log

For the last 6 days Tyler Hari (new Missions Pastor), Brandon Grant (Young Adult Pastor) traveled to Haiti to visit Pastor Manno Laguerre. Pillatre, Haiti is one of the four places in the world that Eastview has committed to spread the gospel.  It was a great trip.  I thought I would post some of my tip journal.

Great day at the school today. These kids are so beautiful! Bright eyes and big smiles. I could only say "HI...What is Your Name...How are You?" I took pictures with my phone and showed them to them. That was a big hit. And yes...I wanted to bring about 20 kids home with me.

It is impossible for me to describe the roads here. washed out graded roads with people, bikes, mopeds and trucks...no lanes just horns honking. And that was the "Interstate."

We went back down a mud road with ruts that were literally 3 feet deep to a family's home. They are from the church. They live in a stick hut with a rusty metal roof. The floor is dirt and they have 3 "rooms" divided by sheets handing from the ceiling. They had a 6 week old baby they showed us. It was laying on a half broken lawn chair lounger.  It was good to go see. It's hard to imagine the way they live when you see them in their clean uniforms at the school. But to see what they go home to helped me to put into perspective what a ministry Manno has here.

Daily Bible Resources

In the sermon today I presented a challenge to make daily time in the word a priority as a preventative to temptation. Below you'll find a number of different online resources. You can also find daily reading Bible (printed) in the Bookstore.

A Verse a Day
(http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/share/rss2.0/daily/) - This RSS feed has a new verse each day picked at random from a list of 430 verses.

Through the Bible in a Year
(http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/devotions/one.year.tract/) - This web site gives you readings from both the Old and New Testaments and takes you through the entire Bible in a year.

Podcasts
If you're an iTunes user, just go to Advanced -- Subscribe to a Podcast and paste this RSS Feed in the URL box. http://www.gnpcb.org/esv/share/rss2.0/one.year.tract/

Power of the Word Conference 2009

One of the things we’re passionate about at Eastview is the importance of strong and solid Bible-based preaching. Mike and I are both, first and foremost, preachers.

We are planning an event next year (March 13-14) to promote this passion in other preachers and Christians. The conference will be a two day, weekend event designed to focus on the art of preaching.

The conference is designed for professional preaching paastors, aspiring preachers, or any Christian with an interest in preaching. We will have everyone from high school students to career senior pastors there. I am really excited about it and would love to see you there.

All the details are on our web-site (www.EastviewChurch.net). Please take a sec and check it out and see if this event might be something you’re interested in attending.