Pray for Our Men . . .

. . . As we are going to begin our Men's Retreat in just a couple of hours . . . Pray that the Holy Spirit will birth unity and passion for Jesus that we have never known. Pray that men will make new decisions to follow Jesus. Pray that new relationships will form that will lead to new spiritual adventures . . .

Maybe Potlucks Aren't So Bad . . .

Many of you know that I'm on the local board of Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA). We sponsor 47 huddles at area schools (a huddle is a 'group' at that school that meets weekly to encourage athletes in their walk with Jesus) . . . and one huddle on the North Slope of Alaska. A local coach went there this year to teach and coach as an 'FCA Missionary.' Here's a recent email:


"Some of my players said they had to miss volleyball practice to go help their whaling captains as the slush came in. And then I got the story . . . When the ocean first starts to freeze each year it's like slush ( ice and water mixed). When that happens, it's traditional for the eskimos to take out the tail of the whale from last April and have a feast on it.
They keep the Tail in underground coolers in the tundra. The problem is that even though it is cold like a refrigerator, it is not frozen.
Are you getting the picture?
It stays in there for 6 months and it is massive and they get it out now and it is completely fermented. They put it all out on the floor in the town hall.

[Yes, these are pics of it and notice the size of the people in the pics compared to the tail!]

I went to see it yesterday and it was one of the most horrible sights and smells I have ever witnessed. I could smell it way before I got into the building. There is no way to explain this sight or smell. . . It is like raw meat that has been left in your freezer when your freezer goes out and you find out 2 weeks later. And today is the feast. I don't know, but I think I will try one super small bite . . . 3 years ago someone died as you are not supposed to have sugar and someone had drank a coke and ate this fermented meat and something exploded in him and he died pretty quick."

Gary is definitely on mission for Jesus!

Fall Back!

YES!! One more hours sleep on Sunday morning!

Don't forget to 'fall back' your clocks on Saturday night or you'll get there in time to hear me twice on Sunday morning!

1.99

I just got gas for under $2 for the first time in about 5 years . . . Here's proof!

For you guys up north and in Cali . . . sorry!

Would you stop and pray . . .

. . . for a friend, Melanie Young. Her son (Drake) and Luke have played ball together for many years.
She's 39 and was diagnosed with colon cancer just a few weeks ago and it has already spread to her liver . . . I saw her in Bay Area ICU yesterday . . .

Would you take a few moments right now and pray for the healing of her body. . . pray for Jesus to be her King and her comforter . . . pray for peace and strength for Drake . . . pray for yourself to be aware of those hurting all around you and in need in hope.


"But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God's love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life." Jude 1:20-21

blogfog

The last week or so I've been suffering from blogfog --- I've started several blog posts and can't seem to get the words down right . . . could be an early form of internet dementia (or just busyness) . . .
But I think the fog is lifting . . .

Operation Christmas Child

A yearly mysterious phenomenon is at the starting gate as many people around us just blow through the Christmas season with very little thought of why they are spending money that they don't have to buy gifts for people they hardly know (or even like :)

Others quietly question why.

This is one of the opportunities where Operation Christmas Child can help us . Let me tell you a few of the reasons why we do OCC:

1) It is an easy way to involve friends and neighbors into the real heart of Christmas. Two years ago we took fliers to everyone on our street and we collected nearly 20 gifts from folks in our neighborhood. With each one of those families we got to share why we were doing this and invite them to celebrate with us on our gift collection day (this year November 23rd) - and a few came. Our desire is that will be an annual event in our neighborhood.

2) It's a great way to participate as a family in giving away to someone in need. Our kids purchase the items for their own boxes (click here to find out more about filling boxes). They get to right notes and pray over those children who will receive them.

3) We get to participate in sharing the good news of Jesus around the world in dark places. With every box goes the gospel and a connection with a local church in that area.

4) We get a little slice of what Christmas is about. It's not a celebration of your birthday. It's not mine. It's about Jesus. What honors Him is when we give ourselves away.

Are you In?

Next Friday the Oso Creek men will have our second Warrior Weekend. Being a warrior is not about putting on paint and throwing spears . . . it's about being engaged in the eternal battle for lives.

This is Greg Richmond - he's one of our growing leaders. One of the things that I love about Greg is that he doesn't like to lose. He doesn't like the Astros or Texans to lose, but more importantly he wants to win for the Kingdom.

Greg is leading our retreat. Our heart beats that every man who comes will leave with more of a vision to follow Jesus and impact the world.

Will you be there? Are you in? You can still sign-up on Sunday.

Stop Doing List

A few years ago as I read Jim Collin's book Good to Great, one of the things he challenged me with is the question: What are you doing that you shouldn't be doing? Then instead of making a 'To Do' list, he had us make a 'Stop Doing' list.

I did and it was very powerful. I was reminded of all of that this week as I'm in a mode where I need to make another 'Stop Doing' list. And it's difficult when none of the things that you are doing are 'bad' - they could even ALL (or at least most) be considered Very Good. But Collins also said that 'the enemy of Great is Good.'

So, I'm starting to pray through this because I don't want to exhaust myself doing a bunch of good things. I'm asking God, 'what are the great things you want me to do?'

How about you? What needs to be on your 'Stop Doing' list?

Discovery Dessert

One of the things we do that I look forward to the most is Discovery Dessert --- because I get to meet and hang out with folks who are new to Oso Creek at our home (and yes, we really do have dessert!).

If you haven't been to Discovery Dessert yet there's one this Sunday at 6:30 pm.

First, you just need to complete Discovery Online (click here) --- it'll take you 20 minutes or so and it will tell you all about Oso Creek and our history and vision and strategy. When you complete it you'll get your Discovery Dessert invite. It's worth it!

And if you know somebody who needs to come to Discovery Class then send this on to em' so they don't miss out.

Surfside Saturday

I'm excited that an entire Life Group and a few other folks are going to Surfside on Saturday to continue to help show the compassion of Jesus!

And there is still room for more if you want to be part of the team! Just click here to email Rick if you're interested or need more info.

Friends

"A man of many companions may come to ruin, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother." Proverbs 18:24

All of us are blessed to have a few friends who really 'stick' to us -- and our family is so pumped to have our 'sticky' friends the Richerson's back in Corpus!

They've been away seeing the world with the Navy for the last 4 years . . . Some of you may have seen Lisa and the kids (Connor & McKenzie) at Oso Creek yesterday -- they're staying with us until their moving van gets here . . . and then John will follow in a couple of weeks.

Thank you Lord!

Blessed Saturday

It was a beautiful day Saturday as I got to watch Laura run in a cross country meet and Luke play in a couple of baseball games . . . .

I'm trying to do better at not taking these moments for granted . . . Each second is such a blessing. . .

Inspired!

INSPIRED! As I continue to reflect on Matt B's life, that word keeps flashing in my mind and spirit. Inspired.

Matt was only a follower of Jesus for 4 short years. But on Monday, as we celebrated his life, when I asked everyone to stand who Matt had influenced spiritually or influenced through the courage with which he went through his illness - probably 90% (my son says 99%) of the people crammed (and I do mean crammed!) into our worship area stood. And then it was awesome how spontaneous clapping broke out. If you weren't there I'm sorry you missed that moment. A slice of heaven.
We were clapping for a life well lived.

The impact ONE life can have! That should inspire us! The impact of one - far less than perfect - but given to the King, life. Can you imagine the ripple effect of the 800 or so folks crammed in that building on Monday and the countless others who couldn't be there . . . .

I'm inspired to give more of myself to eternity. Thanks Matt.
As Matt heard a week ago today, one day I so want to hear God say, 'Well done good and faithful servant.'

How about you? How have you been inspired by Matt's story/life? What are you going to do with it?

The Sex Elephant

Yep, that's our subject for Sunday (and OK, maybe a pink elephant isn't sexy to you, but maybe it is to an elephant!) . . . and I won't be holding back . . .
Parents, just so you'll know, I'm gonna cover it with grace and truth.

So, it's a great conversation starter to invite your friends this week as you tell them that your pastor is going to talk about how God says sex is good :)

Christmas???

Yes, it's hard to believe but I've already seen Christmas stuff in Hobby Lobby and I'm sure that the celebration of the almighty Santa dollar will soon begin all over the marketable world :)

My heart this Christmas season is that we learn to practice more and more giving ourselves away as Jesus would want us to! We are going to have three unique opportunities as a body to do that and I hope that you will consider being a part of all three! I wanted to preview them all as we get close:

1) First and very soon (like this Sunday!) you will begin seeing Operation Christmas Child decorations. We have participated in OCC for about 6 years now and it is such an easy and powerful way to impact children and families around the world. It is also a great way to begin to teach your children to give themselves away. More info will be coming at you this week and OCC collection will be November 23rd.


2) Many of you remember Advent Conspiracy from last year! This is an incredible way to use our resources for compassion instead of consumption. The gist of AC is that we will be asking you to forgo some of your normal Christmas consumption (i.e. don't buy so many gifts!) and give that money towards the poor and needy.
What makes this even cooler is that this year we have 6 or 7 other Corpus Churches participating with us! More info will roll out soon . . .


3) Compassion Trip to Mexico - What could be better than giving ourselves away by going to the Pan de Vida orphanage in Querataro, Mexico.
This trip will be December 26th-January 4th and there will be the opportunity to join in various projects with our hands as well loving the children and staff of Pan de Vida!
Because of passport and other preparation needs, this is an opportunity that you need to begin preparing for now! Tim Klaus is leading the trip and you can get any information you need by emailing him (click here to email Tim).

Surfside Update

Every time we go, lives are impacted. Like the lady whose property the Creeker group completely cleared two weeks ago. She was overwhelmed by people being there who cared enough to drive four hours and give their time and resources to someone they had never seen.

Where lives are greatly disrupted - and sometimes reduced to piles of rubble - what a great opportunity we have to show the compassion of Jesus.

There are still many needs in Surfside and we are continuing to give you opportunities to go there and show the compassion of Jesus . . .

The next trip planned is in two weekends - October 25th - and there are already about 12 folks signed up to go - and plenty of room for you!

One of our great leaders - Rick Thornton - is leading the Surfside mission - so if you're ready to go (or can't go the 25th two but want to go later) and/or have questions, then click here to email Rick.

Matt's Video

If you would like to see the Video Tribute that was made for Matt and played at his service yesterday, click here and watch.

Fishing Fun . . .

I'm just getting caught up on my posts . . . but we had an awesome Men's & Boy's Fishing Trip last Friday night . . . Our largest ever and a blast . . . Check out these great pics that tell the story . . .

Thankful

It's hard to express how physically and emotionally depleted I am after the last few days, but I just wanted to say praise God for a couple of things before I go sleep for a couple of days!

1) What an amazing service today! Wow, we were all blown away by the number of people and what went on. All I can say is - incredible. Something we'll never forget. Thank you God.

2) I am so amazed at our church! I can't tell you how many people expressed 'awe' today of all the ways you served. And they didn't even see half of it. I am just so very proud to be the pastor of people so willing to give themselves away. Matt's family was blessed incredibly and God was glorified!

Matt B's Celebration

Tomorrow (Sunday) there will be a viewing and an opportunity to visit with Matt's family from 7-9pm @ Maxwell Dunn Funeral Home (1222 Morgan -- Morgan & 10th).

Then on Monday at 4pm we will have a Celebration of Matt's life at Oso Creek. What an incredible opportunity for us to love his family and hundreds of folks from our community! Please pray for God to be glorified and, if you're available, ask a staff person in the morning how you can help.

We will also host a dinner at our building after the graveside service . . . if you can help with set-up, or food, etc and haven't been contacted, please call Nancy @944-2201.

Matt Beveridge Update - 10-10-08

This morning at 11:30am Matt B. went to be with Jesus.

It was difficult. But Matt fought a great fight! He ran a great race! And now he receives a great reward . . .

We will have a celebration of Matt's life Monday afternoon at 4pm at Oso Creek . . .

Please keep praying for Gary & Laurie and their family.

"O death, where is your victory? O death, where is your sting?
For sin is the sting that results in death, and the law gives sin its power.
But thank God! He gives us victory over sin and death through our Lord Jesus Christ."

For Young Men Only

I'm blessed that Multnomah is sending me new books (for free!) and letting me do these reviews!

This week I read: For Young Men Only - A guys guide to the alien gender (in the series by Jeff & Shaunti - some of you may have read For Men Only or For Women Only).

The point of FYMO is to try to help young men understand the heart and thought process of young women. My first thought was: 'Yeah right! Then we'll teach them how to walk on water!'

But since I have a 14-year old son, I thought what the heck, I can't figure it out so maybe they'll give me something to tell Luke :)

I'll start by saying this about FYMO - it's very honest and direct. They say from the beginning that it's not just written to Christians, and not just God ideas, but based on actual feedback from young ladies.

With that said I would say to parents (that's YOU dads!): Read it yourself first. There is some great info for young men that could start awesome conversations - but you need to determine: 1) What your approach to dating/the opposite sex is 2) Where your teen is in his emotional development & understanding.

Some of the chapter titles are: What Most Guys Never Know . . . Ambercrombie Boy vs. Our Hero, Average Joe . . . Why Good Girls Like Bad Boys . . . What it Really Means to Score.

The overall theme of FYMO is awesome . . . That who we are on the inside is so much more important than what kind of front we put on . . . and giving ourselves away in a relationship is so much important than what we get out of it.

We need all the help we can get Dads! And if you've got a hormone flowing teenage boy (or one nearly there) this can be a great part of your arsenal. If you want to buy it . . . Click here.

And if you want it, but don't want to buy it . . . I've got 2 FREE copies to give away. Here's the deal . . . the first two DAD's to respond to my post (not your wife doing it for you!) and tell me they want a copy, get it.

Matt Beveridge Update 10-9-08

Please pray. Cindy and I have been at the hospital most of the day as Matt is very critical right now. Please pray.

Pray for Matt to have peace. Pray for his life to be a living picture of Jesus' grace to all around.
Pray for Gary & Laurie (parents) and Gary (brother). Pray for Jesus to surround them and show them His compassion in supernatural ways.

Pray for God to be glorified . . .

About the only movement we saw out of Matt today was when he squeezed my hand as I was reading these verses:

"Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal." 2 Cor. 4:16-18

Surfside . . . Ongoing . . .

Here's a pic of our crew that went to Surfside last Saturday to spread hope and life!

This weekend our crew did more debris removal as well helping to get started building stairs for an elderly homeowner so that they can get back into their home.

The restoration in Surfside is ongoing (you can check out the City of Surfside website by clicking here if you want to see how they are progressing) and we want to keep being a part of what God is doing!

Who's interested in going this weekend or next and being part of what God is doing? Maybe your small group or your family? Please call the office (993-4463) and let us know!

Matt Beveridge Update - 10-7-08

Matt is still in Driscoll Hosp and experienced a set back today. (Click here and here to see the last couple of posts about Matt)

He had a procedure done to try to determine why the pneumonia he has developed is not responding to any medication/treatments. After the procedure, he did not recover well from the anesthesia and had to be intubated to help his breathing. He is currently in ICU.

Please pray for Matt's parents (Gary & Laurie) as they are tired and discouraged from being in the hospital now for most of the past 3 months. And as always pray for Matt. Pray for God to fight for Matt and for Matt to experience God's comfort.


"Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy and my burden is light." (Matt 11:28-30)

Compassion?

From December 26th to January 4th we will be making another compassion trip to the Pan de Vida Orphanage in Queretaro, Mexico.

I like the idea of calling these 'compassion trips' (I stole it from another pastor) because that's exactly what we are going to do . . . show compassion to the orphans and anyone else who crosses our path.

Are you up for it? Our life is changed when we give it away . . .

Here's some of the details:

When: Leave Corpus Fri 12/26 @ 10am . . . Arrive back Sun 1/4 by noon

Cost: $400 (inlcudes transportation, food, lodging, constructing materials & tourist visa)

There will be an informational meeting after the 11am Celebration THIS Sunday (10/12) . . . or you can email Tim Klaus (click here) for more info.

Investing for the Future . . .

Yesterday afternoon as I went to Jubalee Ranch to watch our students mix it up and have a blast (and yes, that is paintball --- not some sort of terrorist training :) . . .

I was reminded of what awesome 'Investors' in our students we have!

Normally we call them 'Volunteers' but they are so much more!

You choose investments. You make them wisely so you receive the greatest return.

I praise God for the 8 adults who were out there investing in the lives of students. (And with the 35 students we had we need more investors!)

It requires time, patience, compassion - and a heart chasing after Jesus! I'm so thankful for them.

And yes, I played paintball . . . ONCE. I've got welps on my back to prove it :)

Funky Week . . .

I spent the week off and on sick with sore throat and chills . . . and then on Wednesday Cindy got sick (and it's not good when Momma get's sick!) . . . Our family has kind of been in the funk all week . .

Cross country meet this morning and 2 baseball games this afternoon are unraveling us . . .

Can't wait for Celebration tomorrow . . . .

Jubalee!

This Sunday afternoon our MS & HS Students are going to Jubalee Ranch to have a blast! It's an awesome student retreat just outside of town.

The reason I'm letting you know is in case you have a student who doesn't know about it??
OR, maybe you're an adult who has a heart for students and wants to check it out.

They're gonna leave from the building at 4:00pm and get back at 8:00pm. They're gonna be playing Paintball ~ Capture the Flag ~ BBQ'ing at the Fire Pit ~ and hanging out . . .

Maybe God has been/is drawing you towards students . . . This would be an awesome opportunity to go and just check out what's happening . . . and have a great time doin' it.

There's no cost . . . you can RSVP by calling the office (993-4463) or sign up Sunday morning in the lobby.

Eyes on the Prize

As I've continued to read through Matthew with my discipleship group guys, some of Jesus' words in Matt 10 have hounding me the last few days:

"Whoever acknowledges me before men, I will also acknowledge him before my Father in heaven. But whoever disowns me before men, I will disown him before my Father in heaven." (Matt 10:32-33)

I think about the amount of time, as I go through my day, that I ignore God. I just miss His presence. Sometime tells me about an occurrence in their life that is really a miracle - and I say: 'O that's cool.' No, that's GOD!
I have a prompting from the Holy Spirit to just go and start a conversation with someone. And I ignore it.
I'm with friends and see a side of the Creation that brings awe and fail to simply say: 'Praise God!'

I don't think these verses are just about wearing a sandwich sign that says: "Repent, the Kingdom of God is near!"

It's about this continual desire to hear God and follow Him. It's about the ever-deepening relationship that He desires to have with us.

I tell you what, that's what I so desire to keep growing in my life. And faster please! :)
That moment by moment I would acknowledge Him and follow Him. I've got a long ways to go. I just keep reminding myself: 'Eyes on the prize, eyes on the prize . . . '

Surfside Relief - This Saturday

It's really easy for Hurricane Ike to be miles from our minds now . . . it seems like all that commotion was last year . . .

But there are many folks to our North who are still digging out of the chaos . . . We are taking another relief trip this Saturday!

Are you ready and willing to go? Please call the office (993-4463) asap to get your questions answered or sign up to go.

Do We Believe?

Below is a post that I copied from Bob Roberts blog . . .
What do you think? Does it make you sad? Make you mad? Does it make you more hungry for the Spirit of God and believing Him for the impossible?

In light of what I talked about on Sunday about the hypocrisy that fills the church and the need to be real, in what ways do you need to be real about your faith?


Luke 18: 8b “When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth? ”

As I traveled this past week to Kenya, Africa with Bob Roberts, we walked through the largest slum in Africa called The Kibera--1.2 million people living in a 2 square mile plot of land. We met with church planters that are planting churches in the middle of hell. We joined our brothers and sisters in passionate prayer, exuberant worship and world class dancing in church . . .

They had very little on the outside. Their buildings were make-shift wood and zinc, tents, plastic chairs, horrible sound systems that punished your eardrums. Yet, I observed a vibrant and robust faith, a faith that was pleasing to God.

Here in America, we have nice buildings, incredible sound systems, soft chairs lest we offend the backside of our overindulged lifestyle, but our faith is weak, feeble and anemic. Many times it is non-existent.

Why do we need faith when we can do it ourselves? Will God find faith in America when He returns? Are you living by faith in any area of your life? Are you drawing upon the supernatural resources of God for any area of your life, or is everything in your life very manageable by your human strength?

By faith, Abraham went out not knowing where he was going? Not knowing is our curse. We hate not knowing because we are a culture of know-it-all. We have it figured out. We have broken the secrets codes and wrote the books to inform the world. They are not buying it. The other side of the world has figured out that all we do here in the west is talk. . .

By Faith, Sarah received power to conceive, even when she was past the age. Faith not only calls us to the unknown but also to do the impossible! If it is possible for you to do it, then you do not need God. Without faith, it is impossible to please God, and when God says it is impossible, trust me, it is impossible.