God, I’m a little overwhelmed

Do you ever feel that life has a way to overwhelm you? Your plate is full but it seems that you always have to make room for more. Where can I find the time and energy to make this happen? Do I even have what it takes to make this happen? While studying the life of Moses, I think to say that he was overwhelmed would be an understatement. God called him to a huge task to lead his people out of Egypt, and Moses began to give excuse after excuse. If we were honest and transparent I’m sure our response probably would be similar. God made something very clear to Moses, first he said the success of this challenge did not rest on his ability and second, God simply promised that He would be with him all the way. When we are called by God, no matter how great the challenge, God will make it happen if we are obedient. It doesn’t depend totally on our skills and training but God’s power and what a great feeling knowing that we are not alone. God is with us each step making His purpose happen in our lives. Remember “We can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.” The key is “through Christ”. Instead of letting the challenge overwhelm you, let the awesome presence of God and His power overwhelm you as you totally trust in Him. Where God guides, God provides

Dave Bryan

Discover, Develop and Demonstrate

Blog Me, I’m Thirsty

Blogs are one of the hottest forms of communication going. We live in a culture where people are thirsting for information and crave for it where ever they can get it. Computers with the quickest internet service, I-phones, Blackberries, Google, text messaging and blogs they are all part of an arsenal to suck in all the information we can cram into our brains and also are great outlets to communicate. I have made some lame attempts to be a blogger, and just recently because some of my readers are calling me out to publish more, I have made a commitment to myself to try to blog at least once a week. Even though I believe that there is always some danger in the blogs you read, because let us not forget these are personal opinions being published. That said, I do believe the benefits outweigh the dangers. For me blogging is a kind of therapy that allows me to work through some concerns and thoughts. Even though I haven’t published a blog for a while it doesn’t mean I didn’t write, I just didn’t release them to be read by others. Some of my thoughts need to be kept for God and me alone. Sometimes when I read other blogs I wish they had the same restraint. Also I believe it is great benefit for my church family to know what is on my mind once in a while. It helps clear up the vision and direction we are taking our church. One of the best things I like about blogging is that I can share some neat stuff that God is doing in my life. I hope also that in my blogs contain spiritual thirst quenchers that help people grow closer to God and become more effective Christ followers. I don’t want people to know only what is on my mind but more importantly what is on God’s mind. When I first started blogging I didn’t even know that people would or could respond. I’m thirsty to know what is on your minds also, so respond. Remember to never let any source of information consume you more than God’s Word because that is the only thing that can satisfy your thirst. Jesus said, “Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be satisfied.” Thanks to those who want to know what is on my mind and in my heart.

Pastor Dave

Discover, Develop, Demonstrate

Confidence in God’s calling

Before worship service, about two years ago, our very talented and gifted worship pastor shared with me that he was stepping down. I was devastated at that moment! We are a small church operating on a limited budget and I considered ourselves blessed beyond reason to enjoy a worship leader of his caliber. As soon as he shared the news with our church community I immediately asked the congregation to pray that God would hand pick someone and lead them to our church. I for one, prayed hard and often knowing the importance of music in worship and also knowing that worship leaders are far and few between. I know that others joined with me and prayed passionately before God. In a few weeks God answered those prayers and sent us Jimmy, founder and director of All Praise Ministries, a seasoned worship leader who’s talent helped churches grow to mega church status. Once again God blessed us beyond our means and budget restraints. I shared with him my vision and heart to be a contemporary, progressive and diversified presence in our community. We agreed that if we were going to change our culture around us that we were going to have to make decisions to get our culture’s attention. The staff and leaders agreed that we needed to change our presentation, our stage, lighting, sound, message topics and style of delivery. I will admit that many of these changes took me out of my comfort zone but I was convinced change was necessary. I have been accused of targeting the younger generation. Even though I am always concerned about the future of the church, we are not targeting a certain age group but an undecided group. A group that has not yet decided to make Christ their Lord. Many times it appears that the younger generation is being catered to, but I have found that many in their 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and even order are being drawn to this style of worship which ultimately leads them to discover Jesus. When I look over our church community I see that many who attend are already Christians, but have children and grandchildren that are not. I don’t know about you but I would do about anything, in reason, to have my children or to see your children have a closer walk with God. In regards to music, which seems always to be a hot topic, Jimmy has taken us to the place that I laid out in the vision the first time we met. We didn’t talk about style or volume but he moved according to my vision to do whatever it would take to capture the interest of the non committed. Jimmy has a pulse on the style of music that is changing our culture around us and has moved accordingly. To be honest, as the concerns about style and volume of music escalated, being a person of grace, I tried to make everyone happy. God did not bless me with musical ability. I have never played an instrument, I can’t read music, I do not know how to turn on or operate the sound board, I didn’t even know there was an instrument called a decibel meter, but I quickly tried to become an expert in all these areas to get control of the situation. That is where I failed. Instead of being a leader I became a dictator trying to control the music. I had forgotten that I prayed that God would send a worship leader. I had forgotten that God had hand picked Jimmy for our church. I failed him by not putting trust in his talents and experience. And my greatest mistake is that I have become so distracted by the music that I have not been able to focus on the word and prayer. That’s exactly what the enemy wants. God has called me to preach and lay out His vision. I feel that he has gifted me with an ability to do that effectively. On the other hand, God has called Jimmy to lead the worship and I am confident that God has blessed him with that ability to be successful. Jimmy spends many hours in prayer seeking guidance for song choice and spends much time mentoring and challenging the worship team to display holiness in their daily walk and encourages them to be passionate about worship. While reading the Psalms, I started noticing that David was writing a lot to his director of music. Maybe music was a big debate even back then. Psalm 20 spoke to me as I read, “May the Lord answer you when you are in distress, may the name of of the God of Jacob protect you. May he send you help from the sanctuary…” I pray that God sends help from the sanctuary to support Jimmy and his ministry. To prepare meals for the worship team and their families, to offer to pray for them before practice, to pray for Jimmy as He seeks God’s leading in this ministry. Let us together put trust in the one who has been called by God to lead us in this area. The enemy want us to keep distracted and so that we will miss the working of God. He didn’t want us to notice that two young ladies made decisions for Jesus, he didn’t want us to see all the returning visitors, he didn’t want us to enjoy the largest Easter attendance in eight years at our church. When it comes to conversations about music, Jimmy is the expert and I encourage you to prayerfully go to him if you have any questions. You will discover that he is a man of God with a wealth of knowledge about true worship.

Staying True to God’s Calling,

Pastor Dave

Is the voice of reason always the voice of God?

In the ministry people approach me or send emails to share their concerns or criticisms about the direction of the church. Sometimes the voices I hear are reasonable and logical and many times pretty convincing. But does God always speak the voice of logic and reason? There is much evidence in scripture that He does not. God told David to go kill the giant. I’m sure there were a few of his brothers pleading him not to go. Be reasonable David, He’s too big, he’s too experienced, he’s too confident and there is no way you can beat him. King Saul even offered his personal armor to David, not believing that it would really protect him but that it might lesson the blow. But David discarded the armor along with the voice of reason and listened to God and conquered a giant. Gideon was another individual who had to discard the voice of reason and logic. God chose him to be his hand to save Israel. Even though Gideon had to see some proof to buy into this idea he eventually started to listen to the voice of God. He was given a bragging army of 32,000, but God wanted to prove a point. So he said to Gideon, “I don’t want anyone to boast that you did this on your own strength, so if anyone is afraid send them home.” Twenty two thousand men didn’t have to be told twice and left shrinking the army to 10,000. Logic and reason says, we have a better chance with 32,000 even if 22,000 are little chicken and don’t buy into the vision. God wasn’t finished and said to Gideon you still have too many men. God ordered that the men go to the water and He began to sift through the men, and those who drank like dogs were separated from those who lapped the water in their hands. Quickly the army dwindles to 300 men. Now the voice of logic and reason is screaming, “You can’t win!” But Gideon distinguish between the voice of reason and the voice God and was obedient. Because of that obedience Gideon accomplished the unbelievable and conquered huge armies. There are similarities to each of these incredible stories. First, both David and Gideon were God’s chosen, God’s called, no else was given the vision or the task. Second, both were obedient to the voice of God only. Sometimes the voice of God and the voice of reason can be the same but lots of times it is not. I have been prayerfully and obediently committed to listen the voice of God. I hear voices everyday. Some voices say the stage lacks luster because it is the “same old, same old” black, while others see the stage without distraction which helps individuals focus more intently on the worship. Voices tell me the music is not loud enough while other voices are saying it is too loud yet others say it is just right. Voices are saying that some of the sermons are without polish and punch while others are saying thanks that message changed me. Voices say we need to quit focusing on the community and start doing things for our own people, while other voices are saying thanks for caring about the community. I’ll be honest, sometimes the voices roll through my mind day and night and make it very difficult to hear God speaking to this ministry. I believe that I too have something in common with David and Gideon . I too believe that I have been called and chosen and given a vision. Now it is up to me to be obedient. We are up against an enemy that God wants to conquer. The good news is that despite the clutter of all the voices rattling in my head, God is still moving. A first time visitor responded on their information card that they had given their life to Jesus this past Sunday, despite the voices we have had more visitors coming and returning than what we have had through the history of my ministry, and despite the voices we enjoyed the largest attendance on Easter Sunday that this church has seen for many years. God is still proving the same thing that he taught Gideon, it is not what you can do but what I can do through you. As I was writing these thoughts it came to me that if I had listened to the voices of reason and logic I would not be ministering where I am today. I’m thankful that I listened to the voice of God. Pray that I can hear the voice of God clearly.

Listening to His Voice,

Pastor Dave

Falling Asleep at the Circus

Our family recently went to the circus. There were thousands of people watching the greatest show on earth. Even though the show was great, I was exhausted from a week of little sleep, battling with a cold that would not go away. As my son sat on my lap I felt relaxed, the stress of life slipped away and without warning I dosed off. I was awaken by the laughter of my wife, as I opened my eyes she was shaking her head and saying, “I can’t believe you could fall asleep at the circus.’How could anyone sleep in the middle of circus?” That is the same peace that I personally find in God. Sometimes life around us seems like a circus. We all have ferocious lions we must face, or we are desperately trying to balance our time money and resources on a tightrope, or maybe you just feel like a clown where the world seems to be laughing at you. You desperately need peace in your life and the good news is that when we truly trust in God we can relax in his embrace and rest in His spirit. We read in Philippians that “the peace of God” (4:7) is only available through “the God of peace.” (4:9) So when you feel that your life is seems to be in the middle of a circus you have the God of peace whispering in your ears saying, “come to me you who are heavy burdened and I will give you rest.” What an awesome promise!

Resisting the Vision

You would think that when God gives a vision that it would be easily accepted. God himself gave it. Why would we resist? He’s God, our Creator, our Savior, the Almighty One. As bizarre as this might sound there are many examples in scripture where God gave a clear cut vision but those who were on the receiving end resisted. When God gave a vision to Jonah he tried running from God. When God gave a vision to Moses he began to give excuse. When God gave a vision to Gideon he kept wanting more proof. Vision definitely is affected by fear, feelings of inadequacy and uncertainty, which leads us to question if this is really a God thing.

While studying the book of Acts I had a sense that Paul struggled a little trying to get a handle on God’s vision for his ministry. From the time of Paul’s conversion it seems the vision is clear that Paul is to focus his ministry to the Gentiles. Acts 9:15 God said, referring to Paul, “this is my chosen instrument to carry my name before the Gentiles…” Sounds pretty clear cut but yet time after time we see Paul directing his ministry to the Jews. I can understand that Paul being a Jew himself had a heart for his own people and had a passion to see Jews accept Christ, but this was not the vision that God gave him. In Acts 13:46-47 Paul said, “We had to speak the word of God to you first (refering to the Jews). Since you reject it and do not consider yourselves worthy of eternal life, we now turn to the Gentiles. For this is what the Lord commanded us: ‘I have made you a light for the Gentiles, that you may bring salvation to the ends of the earth.” Again in Acts 18:5 we see Paul focusing on the Jews in Macedonia. The scripture says, “Paul devoted himself exclusively to preaching, testifying to the Jews that Jesus was Christ.” It seems that even though something like scales fell from his eyes and his sight was restored after the Damascus road episode, it appears that God’s vision for his ministry was a little foggy. Acts 18 goes on to say in verse 6, “But when the Jews opposed Paul and became abusive, he shook off his clothes in protest and said to them, ‘Your blood is on your heads! I am clear of my responsibility. From now on I will go to the Gentiles.’” If you feel like your ministry is not going anywhere and you think your beating your head against the wall, maybe, just maybe you are resisting God’s vision for your life and ministry. Paul said, “I am clear of my responsibility.” Why did it take so long? Maybe because Paul is a lot like us questioning the leading of God, as if to say we know what is best. Finally, for Paul the vision was crystal clear, and he found key people to support the vision and according to verse 8, “many of the Corinthians who heard him believed.” The most ironic thing about this story is that when Paul was entirely focused on the vision of taking the message to the Gentiles, a Jew by the name of Crispus, who was the synagogue ruler, and his household believed in the Lord. When we are obedient and totally trust God’s vision, God will give you your heart’s desire. I hear people say all the time, the church shouldn’t have a target group that you are trying to reach, we need to reach everybody. I would agree that everyone needs to know Christ, but if you are not obedient to the vision, you are going to experience roadblocks, abuse, opposition and will become frustrated in your efforts. The vision for Dutch Fork is clear in 3-D. We are to help other discover God through relevant worship, develop relationships in community groups and demonstrate love. In our efforts to embrace this vision, our style of worship, events, programs, mission projects all need to reflect this vision and be directed to those who we are called to reach within this community. God encouraged Paul in a vision and said in verses 9 and 10, “Don’t be afraid; keep on speaking, do not be silent. For I am with you…” Sometimes my fear of walking into the unknown with the vision that God had given me is overwhelming but my fear that God will not be with me is even greater. I ask everyone to pray that I, like Paul, will clearly see my responsibility and have the courage to step completely into that vision.

Embracing the vision,

Pastor Dave

Discover, Develop, Demonstrate

Not Going To be a Christian

Last week at the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta, speaker after speaker left me spent emotionally. At least three times after the session I just sat there almost unable to move because of the spiritual workout I just experienced. The challenges through the spoken word performed surgery on my soul and cut away the junk that we so often store up in our lives that just weights us down. Things that we classify as Christian but many times we can not see the heart of Jesus in them. Shane Claiborne the founder of “The Simple Way”, recalled a conversation that he had with a Christian friend. In that conversation his friend blurted out, “I’m not going to be a Christian anymore.” Shane quickly asked”Why?” and his friend replied, “I have given up Christianity to follow Jesus!” My internal response was “ouch!” because I could look at my life and see that many times I do things that I label as Christian but yet it is very difficult to see Jesus in my action. Like so many words, the word “Christian” for some in our culture, has become a negative term even though it was first given to a group of believers in Antioch that simply were following Jesus. The platform of Christ was that of love but many times when our culture looks at Christians all they can see is hate. Certain segments of our culture such as the gay community and the voices of pro-choice many times do not see Jesus in our response but simply hatred. With these issues and others we are looked at as being self righteous pointing an accusing finger. Even though I believe that the scripture is clear on these issues I also am reminded that “love covers a multitude of sin.” Unless we are willing to embrace those who live a life style that is contrary to scripture and love them we will never penetrate those segments of our culture with the hopes of transforming lives. We have made ourselves comfortable in the recliner we call Christianity and the needs of the people living right across the street are not being met. People all around us are broken, frustrated, hurting and our vision so many times is clouded because we are consumed on what is going on in our buildings that we do not see those who are suffering outside. I pray that we can put on the eyes of Jesus. The eyes that “when he saw the crowds, he had compassion on them, because they were harassed and helpless, like sheep without a shepherd.” (Matthew 9:36 NIV) I still with great pride call myself a Christian but will be more passionate about keeping my eyes on the footprints of Jesus and walking in them. John said it best when he wrote, “Whoever claims to live in him must walk as Jesus did.” (1 John 2:6) We must love as Jesus did, we must forgive as Jesus did, We must feed the hungry as Jesus did, we must love sinners as Jesus did, we must walk as Jesus did.

Waiting for the talk

When it comes to sex, many are still waiting for the talk that most parents dread and some never muster up the courage to have with their children. I for one, never had that conversation with my parents and was left on my own to develop a view of sexuality. Christians many times have a false security that if they protect their children from a worldly view of sexuality that they have done their job. They wisely put parental filters on their TV’s and computers, they monitor movies and music and pat themselves on the back indicating a job well done. Even though I feel that it is our responsibility as parents to protect our children we also need to be active in providing our children a biblical point of view on sexuality. Be careful to never underestimate the influences of the world. No matter how hard parents attempt to protect the innocence of their children their are outside influences ready and willing to take that innocence away. There needs to be an equal effort in protecting our children and providing them with a Godly view of sex. If we do not take the challenge to teach our children they will receive an education from other sources. It is encouraging to find that statistics show that parents still have the greatest influence on their children. In preparation for a sermon series on this topic I received an education. I came across some phrases and terms that are common in the vocabulary of our teens. To open your eyes I recommend you go to the link below. This is a special presention on the NBC network led by Katie Kuric. Even though it is not biblical based it will inform you and let you know where are youth are on this issue. Teens from all different backgrounds openly and honestly talked about teen sex. It will open your eyes and give you a handle on what our youth experiencing and are being exposed to. I pray that God gives your both the wisdom and the confidence needed to face this challenge.

Some recommended books to help parents in this challenge:

 

The “God’s Design for Sex” series by Stan and Brenna Jones is great. It’s first two books are designed for elementary age, then preteen, then teen.

Before I Was Born by Carolyn Nystrom

 

The Story of Me by Stan Jones

What’s the Big Deal: Why God Cares About Sex by Stan Jones

Facing the Facts: The Truth About Sex And You by Stan Jones

Preparing Your Daughter for Every Woman’s Battle by Shannon Etheridge

 

Your Girl-Raising a Godly Daughter in an Ungodly World by Vicki Courtney

 

 

 

Katie Couric – 411 Teen Sex

Sex in the church

After a year of prayer and planning we have decided to attack a series on theme of what the Bible says about sexuality. Many feel that the word “sex” should be absent from our vocabulary in church, especially in a worship service. It will make people uncomfortable and on edge, is one of the fears. But what personally makes me uncomfortable and on edge is knowing that our children our learning about sexuality on the streets, homes are being destroyed by adulterous relationships, pornography is a multi billion dollar a year business in our country, and people are living in shame because they walked across a line that was not clearly marked by the church, but still is just as painful for those who walk across it. It is time that we decide to leave the ostrich syndrome behind us and take our heads out of the sand, and present a message that is very heavily presented in God’s word. Paul was constantly warning about sexual immorality and had no problem mentioning the word “sex” and many other words that describe sexual impurity. In this case, silence is not golden but a cop out from talking about tough topics which Satan has no problem misinforming all those who will listen. Isn’t it time to listen to God?

Labeled Unapproachable

I don’t know what other pastors call it but I call it “the zone”. Athletes often talk about getting into the zone as they prepare for game day but I have heard very little information regarding this special place in context with pastors. If you are a pastor or a pastors wife, a child of a pastor you will probably understand. After preparing and focusing on a message to be given on Sunday morning all that energy comes to a head. For me, it occurs somewhere between 5 and 6 on Saturday evening. I zone out from my wife, my family and all activity that is happening around me as my mind begins preparing for game day.  Over the years my wife has adapted to this unintentional emotional retreat and with grace tries to understand it. But for the church member or attender there is little understanding of this weird phenomenon.  As people approach me on Sunday mornings they might think that I am unapproachable or uninterested in what they have to say, but in reality I’m just in the zone and am trying to put all my energy on the worship that is going to happen that morning. It is not the time for complaints, appointment scheduling, or visiting but a time that the church should be praying for their pastor so he will not be distracted from what is about to take place in the worship service. Most pastors love people, and love to develop meaningful relationships. Sunday mornings is not the time to initiate those relationships. Be patient and understanding and pray that God can use the zone to bring a game day victory.