Wow, How time flies!
Well it's been five years since we accepted the call to come to Heritage Park, I can't believe that it's been that long - it doesn't seem possible. When I look at pictures of our girls it really sinks in as to how much has taken place; Mads has gone from, a 10 year old little girl to a 15 year old freshman in high school - learning to drive, young lady. Kenna and Morgan have made significant changes also, both are growing up so fast. All the girls are about the same height (much to Mads' dismay) and all are doing well in school. Nell and I have grown closer now that we spend much more time together, and our ministry here has seen lives changed and people growing closer to God. He is Good! We are thankful for his ever present help and guidance.
I don't know what it brings, but I'm looking forward to the next five years!
PD
Saturday, May 2, 2009
Thursday, March 26, 2009
How's that workin' for ya?
Life is hard!
Ever notice how any time you make a real intentional decision to get closer to God or start doing something that you believe will make you more like Jesus, the Devil flat out begins to fight against you every way he can to get you to mess up and discourage you so that you honestly feel it's better not to even try?
Well believe me, it just happened to me this last month! I came back from our pastor's retreat fired up, ready to set the world on fire, wanting to really get close to God and let him do great things through me. You know what happened, all the things that I wanted to do have fallen apart, people quit the church, finances have fallen below expenses and I'm sick of the stress - and Satan is sitting back somewhere asking me the question "how's that workin' for ya , Dave?" Satan really makes me mad!!!
Well, let me tell ya how it's workin' - If we are called to be great by a great God then I have to practice what I preach, I know life is hard but we have a God who promoses power if we wil lbut call out his name. When Peter was walking on the water and Satan distracted him, he called out to Christ for help and almost in an instant they were both in the boat, are we calling out for help or are we willing to drown so we can go to heaven a little quicker? Sometimes it seems that might be an easier way to take, but come on, Claim the victory and fight harder than you ever have, God is right there waiting for the request to lend a helping hand. We just have to put our pride aside and do life with him.
Nobody said it would be easy but it will be worth it, I promise! God has reached out and picked me up and I'm truly excited to see how this month will give me a greater realization of what God has in store for me!
Press on, purpose to finish well
PD
Ever notice how any time you make a real intentional decision to get closer to God or start doing something that you believe will make you more like Jesus, the Devil flat out begins to fight against you every way he can to get you to mess up and discourage you so that you honestly feel it's better not to even try?
Well believe me, it just happened to me this last month! I came back from our pastor's retreat fired up, ready to set the world on fire, wanting to really get close to God and let him do great things through me. You know what happened, all the things that I wanted to do have fallen apart, people quit the church, finances have fallen below expenses and I'm sick of the stress - and Satan is sitting back somewhere asking me the question "how's that workin' for ya , Dave?" Satan really makes me mad!!!
Well, let me tell ya how it's workin' - If we are called to be great by a great God then I have to practice what I preach, I know life is hard but we have a God who promoses power if we wil lbut call out his name. When Peter was walking on the water and Satan distracted him, he called out to Christ for help and almost in an instant they were both in the boat, are we calling out for help or are we willing to drown so we can go to heaven a little quicker? Sometimes it seems that might be an easier way to take, but come on, Claim the victory and fight harder than you ever have, God is right there waiting for the request to lend a helping hand. We just have to put our pride aside and do life with him.
Nobody said it would be easy but it will be worth it, I promise! God has reached out and picked me up and I'm truly excited to see how this month will give me a greater realization of what God has in store for me!
Press on, purpose to finish well
PD
Saturday, February 28, 2009
Not Yet!
Have you ever been asked if you are all that God wants you to be? If you have, your answer has most likely been "no" or maybe "not really", but in our quest to be great our answer should be not yet! We know we will be one day and whether that day comes while we walk this earth or when we die, we have the assurance that we will be great because of the power that the Holy Spirit will give us.
I went to a conference this past week and we were asked to look at our world through "not yet eyes", this is a great practice to see those people without Christ as "not yet" people instead of "NO" people. Do we have the faith in Christ to believe that he will keep his promises, that he will do what he says? if we do then those who we are influncing are "not yet" what God wants but by prayer and faith they will be soon!
And if it's true for those who don't know Jesus yet, then it has to be true for those of us who haven't reached the place that we can say we are all God wants us to be. So in your quest to be great for God, simply believe that you will be, but you aren't there yet!
Now we know that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the eveidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1
PD
I went to a conference this past week and we were asked to look at our world through "not yet eyes", this is a great practice to see those people without Christ as "not yet" people instead of "NO" people. Do we have the faith in Christ to believe that he will keep his promises, that he will do what he says? if we do then those who we are influncing are "not yet" what God wants but by prayer and faith they will be soon!
And if it's true for those who don't know Jesus yet, then it has to be true for those of us who haven't reached the place that we can say we are all God wants us to be. So in your quest to be great for God, simply believe that you will be, but you aren't there yet!
Now we know that faith is the substance of things hoped for, the eveidence of things not seen. Hebrews 11:1
PD
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
God is bigger than our problems
Well it's only been 9 days since my last post so that should keep some of you off my back, just kidding, I like the accountability. I hope that you all are having a great week - We started a new sermon series this past Sunday and my hope is that it will help some of our people really begin to live great lives for God. The sermon series is called "Identity Theft" and I hope to be able to show how one of the reasons that we live mediocre lives is that we don't really believe we are who God says we are. Satan steals our identity by taking our focus off our God and onto our problems.
The veggie tales song that my girls used to sing says that "God is bigger than the boogie man", most of us don't live like we believe that statement. We are going to be looking into God's Word and see - who, what, where, and why - we exist . God truly is bigger than our problems and it's time we start living like we believe it. Jesus said that we need to come as little children if we are going to be a part of the kingdom - So this week start singing the song and make sure that you trust God to be who he says he is, so that you can be who he says you are.
PD
The veggie tales song that my girls used to sing says that "God is bigger than the boogie man", most of us don't live like we believe that statement. We are going to be looking into God's Word and see - who, what, where, and why - we exist . God truly is bigger than our problems and it's time we start living like we believe it. Jesus said that we need to come as little children if we are going to be a part of the kingdom - So this week start singing the song and make sure that you trust God to be who he says he is, so that you can be who he says you are.
PD
Saturday, January 24, 2009
Sorry
Okay, Okay - I'm Sorry it's been so long! Nothing has been cooperating lately though, I've been way too busy and when I finally do sit down to do this - my computer freaks and loses all my stuff. But enough of the sob story and excuses...
2009 has began great! We have a new full time Children's minister and that is going to make many of our goals more attainable this year. call me or email me sometime and I will share how God has put this all into place. We are also seeing our small groups increasing in size, I believe we have had 9 new adults start since the first of the year, that makes over 30 in a church that aveages 70 and the 70 includes over 25 kids! So discipleship is being done, pray for our leaders.
I have personally been seeing God to some "God things" in the last couple of weeks, he is so faithful to keep me encouraged. I am so thankful to be the pastor of a church that wants to see God use them and help them grow in unbeleiveable ways.
Nell and the girls are doing reaaly well, Kenna is taking guitar lessons, Mads is still playing in the pep band and cheering at some of the b-ball games, and Morg- well she is just being Morg and making everyone smile because she is truely not afraid to be herself- kinda scarey at times to think of what she will be able to accomplish- gotta make sure we steer her in the right ways. Nell is subbing at the school district - she enjoys most grades, 1st grade is a challange, but she keeps signing up. And me, I spent last week running a "Little Debbies" route for a friend in our church - made me know that I am called to be a pastor! I had a great time though.
Trust all of you are doing well - remember that God calls us to be great, what have you done lately that fits that discription?
PD
2009 has began great! We have a new full time Children's minister and that is going to make many of our goals more attainable this year. call me or email me sometime and I will share how God has put this all into place. We are also seeing our small groups increasing in size, I believe we have had 9 new adults start since the first of the year, that makes over 30 in a church that aveages 70 and the 70 includes over 25 kids! So discipleship is being done, pray for our leaders.
I have personally been seeing God to some "God things" in the last couple of weeks, he is so faithful to keep me encouraged. I am so thankful to be the pastor of a church that wants to see God use them and help them grow in unbeleiveable ways.
Nell and the girls are doing reaaly well, Kenna is taking guitar lessons, Mads is still playing in the pep band and cheering at some of the b-ball games, and Morg- well she is just being Morg and making everyone smile because she is truely not afraid to be herself- kinda scarey at times to think of what she will be able to accomplish- gotta make sure we steer her in the right ways. Nell is subbing at the school district - she enjoys most grades, 1st grade is a challange, but she keeps signing up. And me, I spent last week running a "Little Debbies" route for a friend in our church - made me know that I am called to be a pastor! I had a great time though.
Trust all of you are doing well - remember that God calls us to be great, what have you done lately that fits that discription?
PD
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
A New Year
As we start a new year together let me begin with saying that I hope to do much better this year at keeping up with my blog, being truly bi-vocational now seems to take a lot out of my time for extras like a blog, but it is my desire to do a better job in 09' .
In the last couple of weeks I have been asking God what my focus for the New Year will be, I like to give a message at the beginning of each year to kind of set the tone and give direction to those whom God has given to me to lead. So as I have tried to listen and understand where God has taken me these past few days I think He has shown me that for where our people are and the ministry that we are doing for Him we need to make sure that we are keeping the main thing the main thing.
We are going to press this year for 3 things that I know will help us be what God intends us to be, both corporately and individually, first, we are going to focus on salvation and what that means for each of us. I want people to really know they are saved and believe that they belong to the family of God. Next, I want us to see that when we belong to the family we need to get involved with the father and his kids - really becoming disciples of Christ and learning to live life for him. And that will lead us to #3- pursuing holiness, really falling in love with God so that our love for him affects the way we live. Doing these 3 things will help all of us be more of what God wants us all to be.
So if you are reading this and are a part of our church be ready for a great year and be ready to really get back to some basics as we start this year, and if you're just reading this to keep track of me - pray for us that we stay the course and that we are all God intends us to be.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
PD
In the last couple of weeks I have been asking God what my focus for the New Year will be, I like to give a message at the beginning of each year to kind of set the tone and give direction to those whom God has given to me to lead. So as I have tried to listen and understand where God has taken me these past few days I think He has shown me that for where our people are and the ministry that we are doing for Him we need to make sure that we are keeping the main thing the main thing.
We are going to press this year for 3 things that I know will help us be what God intends us to be, both corporately and individually, first, we are going to focus on salvation and what that means for each of us. I want people to really know they are saved and believe that they belong to the family of God. Next, I want us to see that when we belong to the family we need to get involved with the father and his kids - really becoming disciples of Christ and learning to live life for him. And that will lead us to #3- pursuing holiness, really falling in love with God so that our love for him affects the way we live. Doing these 3 things will help all of us be more of what God wants us all to be.
So if you are reading this and are a part of our church be ready for a great year and be ready to really get back to some basics as we start this year, and if you're just reading this to keep track of me - pray for us that we stay the course and that we are all God intends us to be.
HAPPY NEW YEAR!!
PD
Tuesday, October 14, 2008
Mark The Calendar
Hey it's only been about 3 weeks and here I am blogging again! Well, I don't have alot to write about right now but what I am going to tell you is pretty cool. Our church is buying a piece of land that will one day see our church build a new building and become even more effective for God's kingdom. I know I have my head in the clouds but I can see how God can and is going to use this step of faith by our church to do some really important things for the kingdom. Just so all of you know, when our church does move we will no longer be "One block off success", we will accually be on a main street in town and we will have no trouble telling people where we are located. Pray for our church and me as we take the next steps to seeing a dream become a reality.
PD
PD
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