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West Rome Stepped Up Tonight

Posted on November 15, 2009 | Filed Under Sunday Night Updates, West Rome

WOW!!! God is so awesome!!! I truly believe that there is no church in the world that I’d rather be a part of than West Rome. We had an opportunity tonight to step up and follow God in faith, and they came through like crazy!!! God has called us to build a new building and reach more and more people for the Kingdom. We were in total unity that we must move on in obedience and continue to reach more people for Christ. It’s a huge step of faith and the Kingdom of God is going to grow because of it. It’s so awesome that God lets us be a part of what He’s doing. We do recognize that He could do it without us and it is ALL about Him. I’m just thankful to be a part of it.

Thank you West Rome for rockin’ again tonight. Thanks for allowing God to turn a discussion about a building into a full blown worship and prayer service. It’s great to be a part of it.

I’m honored to be your Pastor. This is just more fun than should be allowed!!!

A gift just to be a part of it…

Posted on November 1, 2009 | Filed Under Sunday Night Updates, West Rome, XL

Well, tonight was the night. The last night of XL in it’s current location. We won’t be having XL again until we are in the new building next Fall. We had a great night tonight of celebrating the past, laughing about our favorite memories, and seeing Craig baptized to show what God has done in his life. We had a video of all the baptisms that we’ve done in the last 3 1/2 years. That NEVER gets old. Our goal has always been to see people meet the God that has a great plan for their lives. No matter how XL may change for the future, it will always be about reaching people that don’t like church, and seeing them come to know Christ. Thanks to all of you that have done so much over the years to make XL work. God has used you and your gifts to bring people to Himself. I truly believe the best days for XL are still ahead. I look forward to what God has planned as we move ahead. Make sure you stay with us as we seek God to see where He is taking us. It’s gonna be an amazing ride as we see God’s Kingdom grown. You don’t want to miss a minute of it.

It’s been a crazy and amazing 3 1/2 years. It really has been a gift just to be a part of it!

WOW… What God did today!!!

Posted on October 11, 2009 | Filed Under Sunday Night Updates, West Rome

We started a new series at West Rome this morning called “Designed for Greatness” and today’s message was called “On Purpose, for a Purpose”. This was the scripture that we used:

Jeremiah 1:4-10
4 The word of the LORD came to me, saying, 5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart; I appointed you as a prophet to the nations.” 6 “Ah, Sovereign LORD,” I said, “I do not know how to speak; I am only a child.” 7 But the LORD said to me, “Do not say, ‘I am only a child.’ You must go to everyone I send you to and say whatever I command you. 8 Do not be afraid of them, for I am with you and will rescue you,” declares the LORD. 9 Then the LORD reached out his hand and touched my mouth and said to me, “Now, I have put my words in your mouth. 10 See, today I appoint you over nations and kingdoms to uproot and tear down, to destroy and overthrow, to build and to plant.”

My goal was that everyone in the room would understand that God made them on purpose and for a purpose. I think it’s one of the coolest things in the world to know that God knew EVERYTHING about me before He formed me and He made me just like this anyway. He knew our faults, He knew the things that you wouldn’t like about yourself… He knew it all, and chose to make us just like He did. Why? Because this is the way He needed us to do what He has appointed us to do.

I think the enemy has been lying to us for way too long and I want the Children of God to begin living in the victory of what God wants to do through us. Not wishing that we were somthing different or someone different. God built you just like you are and He loves you just like you are. If we could only grab ahold of that fact, the world would be a different place.

I learned from my children this weekend that, even at very young ages, they begin to want to look and dress and be like other people. The world has trained us to want to be something other than what God made us. I think this leads us to defeated lives because we are always looking for something “better” than God’s plan for us. And, just so you know, there is nothing better than God’s plan for us. If we would simply recognize that, we would be more effective for the Kingdom than we have ever imagined.

But, the big news to me is that, this morning, our staff prayer was simply that God would show up and do something amazing among us. Boy, did He!!! He truly blew our minds with that way He moved in our midst. The Holy Spirit was all over us and moving freely. There is absolutely nothing better that seeing God move as He desires. I hope and pray that we see that everytime we ever get together to worship Him. I know today was awesome and I don’t ever want to miss that in the future. Thank you God for coming through every time!!!

Good To Be Back!

Posted on October 4, 2009 | Filed Under Sunday Night Updates, West Rome, XL

Wow, it was so awesome to be back on stage at West Rome this morning. God blessed us with a great day today. I really believe people were able to lay some junk at the feet of Jesus and let Him take control of it. We learned today that we are too quick to forget how good God is when things get tough on us. My hope is that we will KNOW that God is good and has a great plan for our lives. When we know this, we can truly walk in faith and trust that God will take care of us every step of the way.
Kris Pyle spoke out at XL tonight. He did an awesome job and God really used him. We have 4 more weeks of XL in the current building. Don’t miss any of them. We’re gonna finish strong!

God is good. Don’t forget it.

The Challenge of Pride

Posted on August 23, 2009 | Filed Under Sunday Night Updates, West Rome, What I'm learning, XL

We learned a lot this morning in our study of King Solomon. We all know that Solomon was the wisest man in the Bible. We’ve heard how God gave him the opportunity to ask for anything in the world and he asked for wisdom to lead God’s people well. Yeah, that’s what I would have asked for…! HA! I must say, I think we all learned something about ourselves by seeing Solomon’s choice that day. However, the one thing we really learned this morning is that “it’s not how you start, it’s how you finish.” See, Solomon started strong and made some great decisions up front. But, at the end of life, he’s writing books like Ecclesiastes where we learn that everything seemed meaningless to him. What was it that took Solomon from having everything that we could all want or dream of, to sitting on his porch as an old man talking about how meaningless life was. Here are the four things we saw today that took Solomon down the wrong road:

1. He began to forget where all the blessings came from.
I think this is where the “slow fade” toward pride began in Solomon’s life. He began to think that some of the great things that God had done for him were actually his fault. We must be very careful to remember the blessings of God.

2. He decided he could handle things on his own.
When he started marrying the daughters of the Kings of rival nations, he was going directly against the command of God. At first, it’s a slow fade. Then, we are going directly against God’s direction for our lives. Be careful!!!

3. He surrounded himself with people that did not support his love for his God.
God specifically told him that, if he married these foreign women, they would turn Solomon’s heart against God. And, that’s exactly what they did. Learn from this. You cannot surround yourself with people that do not support you, and expect to grow toward Christ. They WILL have an affect on you.

4. He actually began to worship other Gods.
Anytime we allow the slow fade toward pride in our lives, if not stopped, it ALWAYS ends up with us worshiping something other than our God.

I was challenged this week that the story of Solomon reminds me of a lot of men in our churches today. We begin to think the good things we have accomplished in our lives have something to do with us. We move from there to trying to handle our lives on our own, and in our own way. Then, we find ourselves spending most of our time with people that WILL influence us against God. And, then, finally, we end up worshiping things (cars, houses, jobs, money) other than God.

Where are you on this scale? Are you fading slowly? Stop it now. Are you already worshiping things other than God? Repent today, and get back on track. You don’t want to end up like Solomon, looking back on a life that ended up meaningless. REMEMBER, it’s not how you start, but how you finish!

Have a great week.

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