Who will go?

Jesus has called each of us to witness, to minister, and to disciple one another in a Godly manner. Regardless of the status of our life situation right now, if you know Jesus as your Savior then you are called to spread the Gospel at any cost, to every person you meet. Author C.S. Lewis once said, “Christianity is the story of how the rightful King has landed and is calling us to His great campaign of sabotage.”

Today, you and I have a choice: Will we join in the campaign to spread the Gospel or will we ignore it and tell Jesus that “it is not for us”? Consider all the opportunities we have been given … there is NONE greater than the one we have right NOW to show people who Jesus is, and to lead others to Him.

Will you be so brave? ~ Bro TJ

God already knows!

Psalm 139:1-5 says, "O LORD, you have searched me and you know me. You know when I sit and when I rise; you perceive my thoughts from afar. You discern my going out and my lying down; you are familiar with all my ways. Before a word is on my tongue you know it completely, O LORD. You hem me in—behind and before; you have laid your hand upon me."

I tell you something friends, as I prepare to get ready for this ministry trip on Friday with No Greater Love I am filled with thoughts of wondering what God is going to do and how He is going to speak to me personally; and am then comforted in the above passage that God already knows!! I am excited and yet at the same time filled with a sense of calm that God is already there, preparing the places we will stay, the people we will talk to, and the witness we will proclaim. Truly, it is an honor to work for the Lord and follow in the footsteps of the disciples, going out and giving the Gospel to those Jesus died for. It is a humbling experience my friends .... humbling.

Throughout the weekend I will (hopefully) be blogging from the trip (as time allows) and will try to toss in a picture or two with the thoughts. I will have pictures posted to my Facebook as well and with any luck can keep folks up to date and in the loop.

If you are praying, my personal prayer requests are: for peace when chaos is abound, for rest when we are in need and weary, and for boldness and energy when God is moving us to expand our tent stakes and take back what the devil has robbed from those around us!!

Thank you for reading, and may God bless you always.

The Challenge of Obedience

It is Saturday night, and I'm trying to get my mind around this discipleship lesson for tomorrow; as well as thinking about the trip this coming Friday with No Greater Love Ministries. As I have been mentioning for weeks (read:years), this trip to New Orleans to minister during Mardi Gras always challenges me in different ways personally, professionally, and of course in my ministry. It is an eye opening event each year and each year the Lord speaks to me in different ways. For example, the first year I went I surrendered to a call to the ministry, and the year before last He spoke to my heart and gave me complete peace about resigning as a Pastor and being more concerned about following Him -- vice following people's opinions and thoughts. It is, in my view, an honor to see God work in my life and be able to look back and see His fingerprints on the lives of those around me.

Friends, I wish there was a way to clearly express what this 5 day ministry trip does to me, and how God uses it to strengthen my for the coming year of ministry work. While I am not sure of what God has for the future (and this has been a challenge for me lately), I received some good advice tonight from a godly friend that I wanted to share. She said, "Be obedient in what He asked of you to this point. Leave the next question for Him to answer as you remain obedient in what He has asked of you so far. Trust that the answer to the next question will be the exact answer that will bring you along the path He desires for you when He is ready to answer it. Do not wait to be obedient to the small part He has asked of you, or be concerned or worried about the next part while you do it." That's good advice in my view, and I think something that we can all gain strength from. God is calling us to simply obey and follow ... nothing more.

So I think I will get back to my lesson now and continue researching how God would speak to our Men's Discipleship Class tomorrow. God bless you and good night.

A tough week behind us

This past week has been a real challenge for my family. For the sake of some legal issues that are still ahead of us I am not going to go into details, but we have really seen some ups and downs this week and are now I think are beginning to see the sunlight again. There are some definite, challenging roads ahead that we have to face, but we confess that the Lord is in control and only through His grace and leadership will we see this through. After the ordeals of this week, I can only cling to this one verse which God gave me this morning when I woke up.

David writes in Psalm 30 verse 5, "For his anger lasts only a moment, but his favor lasts a lifetime; weeping may remain for a night, but joy comes in the morning." I believe we are seeing the joy return to our home and it is a very welcome sight. As I mentioned there are some challenges ahead, but my God is bigger than anything we can imagine and He has total control over everything we have faced, are facing, or will face. And that, settles that.

Chris and I, and his friend Stevens, are just 13 days away from attending the Mardi Gras Ministry outreach with No Greater Love Ministries and our excitement is definitely growing. We appreciate your prayers as we make the final preparations for this trip and confess that God is in control; and whatever circumstances happen He will get His Glory through whatever He brings into our lives. Thank you for reading friends - may you be blessed today and forever.

Get busy teaching!

This afternoon we witnessed the wedding of one of Chris's high school friends and it really got us thinking ... "We are turning older, aren't we?" Now, I know it is an inevitable thing that our children grow up and get married, but sitting in that sanctuary today it became very obvious that the time was growing closer to watching my own son get married and well, it touched me a little. In some ways I am anxious to see that day happen, but in other ways I'd love to have some more time with my little boy whom I've watched grow up into a young man that I could not be more proud of.

In less than three weeks he and I will part of No Greater Love Ministries heading to Mississippi, Lousiana, and eventually into New Orleans to witness on the streets during Mardi Gras. This is my 10th year with this ministry and every trip is for me life changing; but to see my son on the streets (this is his fourth year) passing tracts, street marching, dressing as a clown, and talking to perfect strangers about Jesus really is a sight to make my heart swell. His witness for the Lord is strong, and without being foreboding he is able to look people in the eyes and tell them Jesus loves them. Now you tell me: As a parent could there be any stronger legacy that I could leave behind?

A few weeks ago during discipleship training I got to thinking about this and used Chris as a perfect example of Titus 2 which instructs believers to train those younger them to be servants and leaders in the faith. So, while trying not to ramble you are probably wondering what am I getting at here? Well ....... here it is: Parents, we need to take the time we have now to teach our kids to be witnesses and to know when to take a stand for their Faith! The time we have to raise them is so short in the grand scheme of things, and we need to know how to witness to them, and show them through our own lives how to share the Gospel and witness for the Lord.

I believe, there is nothing more important that we can teach them ... then to share the love of Jesus Christ with those in their own circles. So, are we doing that parents? Prayerfully, we are - for without our involvement in our kids lives they will look for affirmation and direction wherever they can get it - and some sources available to them are NOT exalting Jesus Christ. Think about it, pray on it, and then I challenge you to get to teaching your kids! Time is short folks, their wedding day is coming.

"Train a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not turn from it."
- Proverbs 22:6

Are you GOING?

This week, I have been thinking a lot about No Greater Love's (NGL) upcoming ministry trip to New Orleans to witness on the streets during Mardi Gras and I have to admit I am getting very excited. This will be my 10th year on the streets with them and each trip (either to Mardi Gras or the Indy 500) with NGL I am challenged more than the year before, and it moves me farther out in my comfort zone - expanding my tent stakes and allowing me to gain more understanding on what God would have His people do to impact His world.

Each year I have gone I've been afforded the opportunity to learn, to witness, and to come back home and practice what I've been taught; and each year the Lord has grown me and stretched me farther than I ever thought I could in the ministry. Truly, this ministry has grown me beyond my wildest dreams in serving the Lord and I want to take the time to challenge any man reading this to GO with me. If you want to see your life changed, if you want to be a better husband, father, and man of God that the Lord has called you to be (see Ephesians 5:25-33) then you need to contact me about going. For several years now I have watched my own son, Chris, grow in his walk with the Lord and to a dad, there is no greater joy than seeing your own son take a stand for Jesus Christ and purpose himself to be a witness in this world.

I received an e-mail a few weeks ago that I would be the Assistant Street Minister/Camp Director in Mobile and to be honest, I am more nervous than I've ever been. Being able to serve in this capacity and learn from what I feel is probably one of the best teams of leaders assembled is extremely humbling and at the same time nerve racking as well. As a matter of fact, it has taken me almost 3 weeks to attempt to digest it and get my mind around it. In this, I ask that you would join me in prayer as I prepare to serve this camp and that I would remain focused on the main goal: which is to put the Gospel in the hands of faithful men (2 Tim 2:2); because it is about Jesus, and nothing more.

No Greater Love has changed my views on service to the Lord in more ways than I can ever imagine; and I am a staunch believer in the fact that if you can witness on the streets in New Orleans, you can come home and impact your church and community in a mighty way for the Lord. Guys, I challenge you to come with me and get a vision of how God views this world through His infinite love, and I promise you that you will never look at the Gospel the same way again. Won't you be obedient enough to follow The Great Commission and GO? I pray that you would, and I promise that if you go you will NEVER be the same man again.

Gentlemen ... If you are interested in going, please contact me through the links above. I promise you that your life will be impacted in ways that will truly rock your world.