Incredible insight from a friend...

Ok, I've made a commitment to post something everyday and I've already done so today but I got this cool email from a friend of mine and fellow India mission trip (this summer in July) team member that I really wanted to share. I asked her if I could post it as a blog and she said "sure". Thanks Christina...here's her email from earlier today that she sent to our ten team members:

28Then Agrippa said to Paul, "Do you think that in such a short time you can persuade me to be a Christian?"

29Paul replied, "Short time or long—I pray God that not only you but all who are listening to me today may become what I am, except for these chains."

30The king rose, and with him the governor and Bernice and those sitting with them. 31They left the room, and while talking with one another, they said, "This man is not doing anything that deserves death or imprisonment."

32Agrippa said to Festus, "This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar."



Acts 25:28-32



I was going to text this to you guys, but I figured it would be like 10 messages, so I thought it would be easier to type...



I was reading this this morning, been reading Acts 24-26 little by little and thinking it over. I realized something this morning. In the preceding text, Paul has just spent 2 years in prison with no decision on the charge of him being a troublemaker and a leader in this new sect called, "The Way." Each time that Paul presented his defense over the course of 2 years, he was able to share the truth of the gospel to high officials in the Roman court. And although his freedom seemed imminent, his appeal to Caesar guaranteed not only more jail time or death but it also guaranteed that the Truth of "The Way" could reach even Caesar!



I realized that Paul's goal was not to be free! As I was reading, I found myself rooting for him, hoping that the officials would free him, but this morning, as I read, I wondered if Paul was rooting for the same thing? Or if in his foresight and complete abandon to the call, he was actually rooting to stay in chains as a means to reach the Gentiles with the message of Christ.



Wow! This made me think of the things I wish to be "freed" from- my job for example. A quick move to a counseling position is what we've all been praying for me, but I realized this morning that my career isn't what gives me my freedom, just like Paul's prison status wasn't what determined whether or not he was free. He was free because Christ set him free, once and for all. I realized I am here to share the message of "The Way." My position gives me unique daily access to 18 families in Southside Fort Worth. I want to be more like Paul, rooting to "stay in chains" as a means to reach Southside Fort Worth with the message of Christ.



I hope this makes some sort of sense- I have to pick up my kids from lunch now!



Be blessed team!

You are free!



Christina

God is really moving here...

If you're from or around Fort Worth you may be familiar with a monthly event we started at Waves of Faith last August called SURGE. By definition a surge is a strong, wavelike, forward movement and that's exactly what SURGE is-a strong, forward movement. The original vision was for it to be a monthly evangelistic event for WOF members to invite their 35/under un-churched friends to but what it quickly became was a "strong, forward movement" of young adult Hispanic believers from across DFW. Several churches and ministries are represented each month at SURGE. It is really amazing to me to see what God is doing with this group and I believe the next wave of Hispanic leaders will come from this group. This is a group with amazing talent, vision, and a heart for God. Over the last nine months this group continues to grow. But bigger things are in the works. This forward movement is getting stronger. This October, the 2nd and 3rd to be exact, Fort Worth will host the very first "SURGE Experience" for young adult (20-30 something's) Hispanic believers and leaders. Sure, Waves of Faith is the catalyst behind this event but it's all about investing into the Kingdom and building up the leaders of tomorrow. Already confirmed to be a part of this event are Comedian Carlos Oscar, Poet Amena Brown, Gabe Salazar, Aaron Escamilla, Loui Canchola, The Robbie Seay Band, and there's more to come. The theme is "Impact". Impact in your life, in your church, in your community, in your city, in the Kingdom. Stay tuned for more details as it keeps getting bigger and better by the day but one thing I know, "God is really moving here"...

Religious fanatic or Jesus Freak?

I was just thinking how funny, how ironic it is that when, as a follower of Christ, a person tries to live their life the way Jesus did (1 John 2:6) they are called a religious fanatic or a Jesus freak. Here in the US we have bought into such a diluted, watered-down version of Christianity that when someone actually tries to live out their faith the way Jesus commanded us to (not suggested btw...) we feel like they are going too far, going a little overboard with this faith thing. Granted, their are tons of people that are very legalistic and very religious and take things way too far, but I'm not talking about them I'm talking about those of us that truly desire to love God more than anything and love our neighbor as our self. The ones that are tired of being casual, uncommitted, complacent, consumers of "Christianity-Lite". The ones that are tired of making it all about us and tired of looking the other way when we see someone hungry, or thirsty, or without shelter. The ones that realize and embrace the fact that God's Kingdom stretches far beyond our church walls, our city streets, our state borders and even beyond the good 'ol U-S-of-A. It's not about us at all but once we start to lives our lives like it's not about us then the people around us start to freak out and want to know "what's going on inside that head of ours??"
Many of those people that are ok with a very un-Christ like Christianity are the very people we sit next to on Sunday. When Jesus said we are to take up out crosses daily I'm pretty sure that's exactly what He meant. I'm not too keen on religion but definitely don't mind being called "Jesus Freak."

God never ceases to amaze me

I'm not going to go deep into my testimony but I simply have to say, "it amazes me how God can take a messed up white boy from the hood like me and use me in the way that He has." I know in Paul's first letter to the church in Corinth he says that God chose the foolish things of this world to shame the wise, and that's about the most sense I can make of God's work in my life. By all rights I should be dead, in prison, homeless, on drugs, selling drugs, all of that would make sense given the environment I grew up in. It's "foolish" to think God would want to use a former drug-dealing, lying, cheating, stealing, adulterer, but that's exactly what He's doing, using me to bring Him glory. Think about it, if God only used people that had it all together, knowing the way "we" think "we" would actually think "we" had something to do with it. When God uses the messed-up people of this world, the foolish things, there can be no mistaking where the life-changing transformation came from. We can't take any credit for it because if we possessed the strength and wisdom to get ourselves out of the messy life we were in, we would have done it long before God began working in our lives. The fact is we have to give all honor and all glory to God because we could not and cannot do it on our own. Wow, God is so good.

It was an awesome weekend!

Wow, where do I begin? First, this past Friday was the monthly event we hold at Waves of Faith called SURGE. It was incredible! The Joey Rodriguez Band led worship and Sonny Olivarez gave a great message on passion. Mix in the ice breaker and group challenge along with more worship from Glory to One and it was a great evening. We had close to 140 people from all across DFW (close to 10 churches were represented) and it was great to see old faces and meet new ones. 

Last night we had our fourth installment of our weekly thing at Seeker's Coffee House in Hurst. We've met there 4 of the 5 past Sunday evenings (excluding Super Bowl Sunday) from 7-9PM in what has become a mini version of SURGE. I'm guessing close to 80 people which kind of make up the core SURGE crowd came together and were led in an acoustic set of worship by the JRB (joined by Yvonne Hernandez!) and my very dear friend Pastor Lano Patino from Freedom in Worship gave a very powerful word! We topped off the evening by hanging out  Whataburger for another hour or so (sorry Mario for putting salt and lemon juice in your Dr. Pepper!) until it got close to midnight. I'm really excited about what God is doing with this group of 20-something Hispanic believers and feel in my heart that He is going to use this group to do great things.