One Prayer - Week 3

Today's OnePrayer message was again by Craig Groeschel from Lifechurch.tv in Edmond, OK. He reminded us of the simple and yet powerful truth that God is Love. Love is not something God does, it's something He is. I'm on vacation with my family now and am praying that people invited their friends and family to Discovery Church to hear this message and respond to the love of God. In case you missed it, here it is.

Just press the PLAY button

One Prayer - Week 2

Happy Father's Day to all you fathers from me and the greatest Father ever know. Today's message was by Craig Groeschel of Lifechurch.tv in Edmond, OK. He spoke and reminded us that God is a great Father who loves us and wants us to be with him. In case you missed it, here's the message.

Just press the PLAY button

If you watched this, you know how powerful and timely the message was. You should have been encouraged even. But let me remind you that there are people who have not heard this message of hope and are longing for someone who cares. God cares, but people don't know it because so many don't really understand who God is. I'm begging you right now....get your family and friends who need God to Discovery Church next week. They will hear all about how God is Love so start praying now that they respond and their lives are never, ever the same.

Exclusively Mac (finally)

Finally did it. I've been telling Lora for nearly a year now that the time is coming when we will be done with our PC and we will throw it out with Windows. The time finally came. And because we homeschool and Apple is having a back-to-school promotion, we got the Mac at a discount AND an iPod touch for free (or at least it will be free once they send our rebate check) Lora has claimed that and is loving it because of all the educational apps she can load on it to harass our kids who are supposed to be "done" with school for the summer!


But wait, there's more. I'm so excited about this...

I have blogged about wanting an iPhone since they first came out (here) but was tied into a contract with Alltel (who by the way has had the best coverage I've seen of anyone out there). I hinted and begged for one when my smart phones were being dumb (here) and I all but tried to bribe people to get me one for Christmas (here, here and here) but none of that has worked.

I'm happy to say, that come tomorrow, I will be on a golf trip, but will also become the proud new owner of a long awaited (and planned for) iPhone 3Gs.

Let me just say this too....everything listed here adds up to a lot of cash. In fact, that's many people's biggest hurdle for getting a Mac (they're just so expensive). Not that it's any of your business, but since we've been planning for this, we've been saving for this. Nothing is financed, it's all paid for with money we have. See, if you want something bad enough, you might need to wait, but you can save and then pay cash. Gotta love Dave Ramsey and Financial Peace University in action!

Not When - What (and where)

I heard Dallas Willard talking about becoming more like Christ and it's been ringing in my ears. He was talking about discipleship and and how we need to focus more on helping people connect their walk with Christ to their everyday living instead of just another thing to add to their to-do list, things like reading your Bible, having a quiet time, prayer time, Bible study, church or any other number of "to-dos."

I'm not, for even a minute, going to suggest that those things aren't beneficial and important. But they're not the most important thing. In fact, they have become an idol for many people, especially those that consistently can mark them off of their to-do list. The most important thing is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, mind, soul and strength. That means the most important thing isn't limited to a time or place, but instead should be happening at work, when you're playing softball, watching TV, on the golf course, surfing the web, out to eat, driving, walking, sleeping, you name it.

Discipleship isn't about setting aside a time to read, study and learn. It's not about when you do that (or don't). Discipleship is about becoming like the one you follow - not at some pre-appointed time, but all the time. It's about what your motivation is. Do we really want to love God with all our heart? If so, it can't simply be limited to an hour set aside for "quiet time devotions." Do we really want to love God with all our mind? If so it can't be just focused on what we know about the Bible, but what we are learning about God's world.

And we can't limit discipleship to a place. School may be limited to a classroom, but education isn't. Discipleship is education and it happens everywhere, all day long, whenever we seek to become like the one we claim to follow. Don't you think it's time we take discipleship with us?

One Prayer - Week 1

Today we kicked off OnePrayer and we kicked it off in a great way. Steven Furtick from Elevation Church in Charlotte, NC spoke this message about how God is Great and God is Good. He did an amazing job and it was a great reminder that many of us needed to hear. In case you missed it or want to watch it again, here it is.

Just press the PLAY button

I really want to encourage everyone at Discovery Church to do anything you can to get your friends who don't know God to church over the next few weeks. People who don't God and don't know who God is will hear some very clear messages and be given a chance to respond. Start praying now!

Funniest Place For This To Happen?

Came across this on another blog and it got me thinking about marketing and also surprises. I think crazy stuff like this would definitely get people talking about whatever store they were in - maybe this was scheduled. But maybe it wasn't. Maybe it's just a plain 'ol flash mob (check some other ones out on You Tube like this) Either way, I think this would be hilarious if it happened at a graduation ceremony - even better, a law school graduation.

Where do you think the funniest place for this to happen would be?

TGIF

TGIF normally stands for Thank God It's Friday - which of course is true today. But at the Ebeling house, it's Thank God It's Finished, referring to school for the year. Yesterday the boys all finished taking their last exams in science, history and geography. They all passed! In fact they all did very well. That makes today a day to celebrate. They're sleeping in, playing Wii, we'll grill steaks tonight and they'll do their end-of-the-year presentation and play a little "let's-see-if-we-can-stump-Dad" (which shouldn't be too hard) and then it's just over a week until family vacation!

Lora's back at the hospital with our good friends Randy and Laci Strickland who are about to have their 2nd little baby so all the celebrating starts once she gets home.

Having a Baby

No, not us. In case you need a reminder, that won't happen again (if you need a laugh, click the earlier link)

Anyhow, Randy and Laci Strickland are currently at the hospital checking in and about to have baby number two. Many of you want to know what's going on so that's why I'm sharing it here on my blog. You can follow all the progress and leave comments and encouragement over here at their blog. Pray for them and a safe delivery.

Little Foxes

This morning I was reading in Song of Solomon and came across this verse that got me thinking:

¹⁵ Catch for us the foxes, the little foxes that ruin the vineyards, our vineyards that are in bloom.

Think about this. In a marriage, or any relationship for that matter, there should be some positive result. Husbands should love their wives and wives should respect their husbands. Friends should share joy, pain, secrets, hopes and dreams with each other and at the very least, make each other feel cared for. When relationships are cared for, the people in them bloom, just like a vineyard blooms when it's cared for.

What we all see practically everywhere we look, are dead or dying relationships (vineyards). How do they get that way? People ignored the "little foxes". You see, big foxes eat the grapes because they can reach them. That makes for an obvious problem. Big foxes in relationships are obvious - abuse, affairs, financial problems, constant arguing and fighting. But little foxes are easy to ignore. We think they're harmless, even cute, and assume they can't do any damage. The reality is they do more because they chew at the roots.

So many of us have little foxes in our relationships that we live with because we don't realize how dangerous they are. We have a disagreement and rather than trying to be understood, we give up trying to explain how we feel because we think it's easier than arguing. Little fox. We know we don't have the money, but it's on sale, we really want it and think "it's my money anyway." Little fox. We notice the response from somebody other than our spouse when we make a joke, wear certain clothes or flirt. Little fox. We think we can justify our actions by our feelings - I was just angry. I was just trying to be nice. I was just lonely. I just felt like you didn't care. Little foxes.

It's time we not only catch, but kill the little foxes before they grow up into big foxes. It's time to take action to protect your marriage, protect your relationships. You might feel pretty stupid and look even dumber chasing it around, but if you don't, it won't bite you - it'll ruin your relationship. Not so cute now are they?

Second Saturday Service

This Saturday is Second Saturday Service. We don't normally tell people what it is we're doing to serve, but we did let the cat out of the bag early for this one. It's another fun one to do, family friendly, helpful, and generates some pretty fun responses from people. It's our $1 car wash.

Now what makes it fun is that we have signs telling people that we're doing a $1 car wash, and then once we've washed and dried they're vehicle, while they think we're coming for the dollar, we GIVE them a dollar. People always look at us funny, in some state of disbelief or "what's the catch" and often try to give it back. We've had people get out and sing or perform for us, pray for us, thank us, and remember this particular project months later.

So come on out and bring your buckets, sponges, towels, soap, hoses, squeegees, sprayers or whatever else you feel like using - including $1 bills! Meet us at the Boys and Girls Club parking lot at 9:30AM and plan on eating lunch with us at noon. We'll see you Saturday.

One Prayer

Last year, we partnered with hundreds of other churches to be a part of OnePrayer and we spent 4 weeks answering the question "If you knew God would answer one prayer, what would you pray?" and all the messages started with "God make us...." We heard from Craig Groeschel of Lifechurch.tv, Perry Noble of NewSpring, and Wayne Cordiero of New Hope Fellowship and not only did they do a great job, but they really spoke to what many of us needed to hear.

Well, we're doing it again this year and I'm excited about who we have that's going to be teaching us. We'll have Craig Groeschel again, and then two new guys. One is from Charlotte where he pastors a church that in 4 years has grown from a few families to about 4,000 each weekend - Steven Furtick from Elevation Church. The other guy many of us heard speak for the first time at Catalyst a few years ago. He bared his heart and convicted many of the pastors and leaders in attendance. He pastors Cornerstone Church in California and his name is Francis Chan. He wrote a great book called "Crazy Love"

I am telling you now, you will want to be here, and you will want to invite your friends. These speakers are top notch and the message is all starting in the same spot - "God is...." Do you need a reminder of who God is? Of course you do, we all do. God is great, He is love, He is strength, He is here. Join us as we join with nearly 2,000 other churches and 1 million people around the world to answer Jesus's one prayer that He prayed in John 17:20-24 - 'that we may be one.'

Be there this week, next week, every week AND bring a friend who needs to know who God is

Yeah, Yeah, I Know

Yeah, Yeah, I know - it's been nearly a month since I last posted anything here on my blog. I'm not going to make any excuses either. Just honestly admit that I really didn't feel like blogging and even if I did, so many thoughts floating through my head that picking one or two and keeping it short would have been nearly impossible (at least for me).

So let me bring you up to speed with what's happened in this past month.

• We've started and now finished the FAQ series. I think it was a success with lots of questions asked and even a very nice spread in the Daily Reflector (the local paper). You can watch HERE or listen HERE.
• We've made the decision to change our church database and use Church Community Builder and we're currently switching over all our data, learning the new system and putting things in place to help us roll this out in September. Trust me, you're gonna love it if you are a part of Discovery. I do have to say, that we have nothing bad to say about Mark Kitts and People Driven Software (who we were using) we just needed to switch.
• Mother's Day - yeah, remember back then? - was an interesting and powerful service where people had the opportunity to create a video message to their mom or their kids, write letters, pray and be prayed for, take communion and have family portraits taken. Really enjoyed that.
• I am sooooo looking forward to vacation with my family and the men's golf trip the couple days before. Pastors really need more and longer breaks (at least this pastor does)
• Big news from Sunday's Lord's Supper is that our worship leader, Marcus, is sensing that his time here is finished and so he's stepping down and waiting for clear direction effective June 21. In the past, we've always had an obvious "next step," but this time things aren't so obvious so we really don't know what to expect and what will happen next. Please pray.
• I'm pretty excited about the new iPhone that was announced yesterday and will be getting one, but might have to wait until July since I'll be gone golfing and immediately leaving on vacation once they're available. Oh well - I've waited this long.
• I got the pool up and running and the kids and their friends are enjoying it. Funny thing is, while the liner ended up holding, the pump blew. Good thing I have a friend who gave me his! And another friend who gave me his pool cleaner! Looks great.
• A new pastime has taken control among the Ebeling boys - - - PAINTBALL! We all have guns, camo, acres of woods, places to hide, other friends willing to get shot and of course air tanks and paintballs for plenty of refills. It's a blast - and I have the marks to prove it. First time Chandler got shot he sounded like he was dying. Since then, he usually just surrenders before he gets shot - don't think he's been hit again.

There, you're caught up. More coming and it'll be more regularly - really.