O.K, folks. Here it is: the application that got tossed aside for an invitation to follow Christ. It’s been about two Sundays and I still have no regrets. Anyway, it’s key to make deposits into your marriage. A marriage is like a refrigerator. Whatever you put in is what you’ll find. We can’t expect to reap when we haven’t sown. My wife and I are working on making several commitments:
1. Daily Commitment/Deposit – What will you and your wife do daily to invest in your marriage? My wife and I pray together daily.
2. Weekly Commitment/Deposit – What will you do once a week in addition to your daily deposits? – From the beginning of our marriage, we made a commitment to have a date night once a week. We recently began holding a weekly bible study and a marital enrichment evening every week. By the way, the bible study and marital enrichment are on two seperate nights. Some couples wait a whole year to go to a marriage conference or seminar. We decided to pop in some DVD’s and have one every week.
3. Monthly Commitment/Deposits – What can you do once a month to pour into your marriage? We’re still working on this one. We’ve been talking and praying about spending more time with other couples. Maybe that can be our monthly commitment. I’ll swing by her and let you guys know .
4. Quarterly Commitment/Deposit – We try to have a getaway at least once every season (Fall, Summer, Winter, Spring). My new slogan: Romantic getaways are spiritual.
5. Yearly Commitment/Deposit – What will be that big yearly investment? For us, we take a vacation every year. We’re also planning to attend a marriage conference this year.
Yesterday, I closed out our Extreme Makeover: Love Edition series with the message, “Built to Last.” I encouraged married couples to make sure that their marriage is built to last. I was intending to gave an application on how we can invest in our marriage. By the time, I got to the end and began speaking of how marriage is a picture of Jesus’ relationship with the church, the application went out the window. The closing ended up being God making a proposal to unbelievers to be their bride. The result? Three people ended up saying, “yes” to Jesus’ proposal for salvation. Can we argue with that? I’ll give the application later. As for now, I’m getting ready to celebrate my wife’s 4.0 for her first semester in seminary. Go, Daf!
This weekend I meditated on Psalm 62. Ever so often we have to pour our hearts out to God and allow him to renew us. The psalmist talks about God being our fortress and stronghold. I realized how I allowed ministry to become my refuge in areas of my life. I became so consumed with my vision that I don’t realize how much I began to trust in it. God calls us to trust Him, but we must be willing to pour our our hearts before Him and let Him be our strength.
This was a great week for me. Things kicked off with my 36th birthday on Sunday, May 17th! I know. The big three six! I still feel 35, though. My wife took me on an overnight trip that evening. We had a ball! After that, we headed to Lynchburg, VA for the Innovate Church conference. Major kudos to SBCV, our church planting network, for providing this opportunity for its planters. The conference was great. It’s great to be able to pull away and be ministered to. We spend so much time pouring out. It’s wonderful to have others pour into you.
My buddy, Ben Arment, has announced his new venture, the STORY Conference. Ben launched and hosted the Whiteboard Sessions in Northern Virginia last year. STORY is going to be awesome. I appreciate Ben’s attempt to “re-create” the conference experience. I think Christian conferences need a face lift and it looks like Ben is leading the way. STORY will take place on October 28th, with additional seminars on the 29th. You can check out the STORY website for more info.
As a church planter, you get an opportunity to see God moving in the lives of individuals. This Sunday, we witnessed a skit performed by two people who have witnessed God’s power in their lives. It was such a blessing to see them. These moments remind you what ministry is all about. Check out.
I’m enjoying our Extreme Makeover: Love Edition series. I’ve enjoyed it so much, that I went into overtime the past two Sundays. Much thanks to The Bridge men that pitch in to make sure we are out of the theater on time. I spoke about dating on Sunday. Singles should date for the purpose of evaluation. Married people should date their spouse for the purpose of enhancing their marriage. The big take away was for the singles though: Be patient. Don’t rush the process.
Andre Sherin gave a devotional talk at our local church planting network yesterday. He gave an amazing quote from Daniel Floyd. Keep in mind, this is a second generation quote. Sorry if it get’s a bit butchered, Daniel . He said their church began seeing more results from their follow-up when he stopped doing it and allowed it to be done by other members of their team. First time guests were able to see that the church was not about him. There’s something about when people are hearing different voices. It’s no longer a one person show. People sense that others have bought into the vison and own it. They get a sense that something really special is happening.
I heard Craig Groeschel said something that continues to resonate with me. He said, we have a tendency of overestimating what God wants to do short-term and underestimating what he wants to do long-term. Yet, they fail to plan for 5,000 long term. For instance, we get disappointed and disillusion when we don’t see things happen as fast as we would like to in the short-term. Yet, we fail to establish systems to accomodate long-term growth. In my short journey of church planting, there have been times when I was disappointed at not seeing things grow as quickly as I desired. In the midst of it, we still had to begin establishing systems to accomodate growth. Systems are like shoes. Sometimes, you outgrow them and it’s back to the drawing board.
We’ve been talking and praying about spending more time with other couples. Maybe that can be our monthly commitment. I’ll swing by her and let you guys know 
My buddy, 