Nov. 28 I started to post. It was only a line or two. I saved it...came back...saved it...came back. I realized I had nothing. Maybe it was the day or my mind trying to function off of the coffee, but I had nothing. Maybe it is because I am new at this. Although, what I sensed and now know is that I need to be constantly filled by God. Without daily devotion, prayer, and reading of His Word, I am empty. I was empty. I want to be full. I read books, Christian books, but none compare. I need Him, only Him. God longs for conversation with us, yet we (I) deny Him when it is most needed at times. Sometimes I wish I had more physical need so that I would be more apt to take action. I pray for that need to be burning in me. Should one wish a thorn in their own side? Do I need something to dig deeper in me?
I think of the song, "I Dare You to Move" by Switchfoot. Move like today never happened. No matter how bad your day is or how guilty you feel for days, weeks, months, or years without maintaining your relationship with Christ...He awaits for us to move toward Him. I am so thankful for a merciful and gracious God!
Next...
As we venture into Christmas I again come to realize that we are so unbelievably consumeristic. My wife and I discussed one day how we needed to cut TV completely - cold turkey! Next day we stroll through Wal-Mart gawking at the wall of HD flat screen TV's...we actually discussed the feasibility of getting one!!! Galatians 5:17, "For the flesh sets its desire against the Spirit." (NASB) This is a battle we face constantly.
As for my cohort's most recent post...
Isaiah 58 will knock your ego on the floor and then knock it down again. What an unbelievable passage, as well as the others. Those filled me up today. I will be teaching in the main service Dec. 17 and 24. I will be praying and meditating on this passage as to what God wants to speak through me.
Faith of My Fathers...
I am about half way through Chris Seay's book. I am not to familiar with Don Miller's style but I haven't quite figured out why he is part of it. As I read on I will let you know. As for "Papa"...he rocks! What lessons to be learned from his experiences. What a blessing to have multi-generational pastor in a family as close as theirs seems to be. My father and I have some great conversations and I look forward to the conversations I can have with him and my son. Right now we get together and make silly faces at Trace (my son who is 4 months old). I will share more in detail as I wrap up the book. Meantime (which truly is "mean"-especially writing research papers) I will be concentrating on my seminary research paper for hermeneutics.
I am researching the differences between tongues as a true language (i.e. Spanish, French, Hebrew, Latin, etc.) and tongues as unintelligible utterances (heavenly tongues). I will share my paper with you if I get a decent grade.
By the way...Google alerts are awesome!
-JWShaw
Thursday, November 30, 2006
Monday, November 27, 2006
...from the lips of Bono
Yesterday, Crosscreek Church experienced an earth-shattering testimony. It was from Bono, yes THE Bono, lead singer of U2. "Why was Bono in church" you may ask? Better question: "Why did Bono agree to come to your podunk church??" Well, in short...he didn't!
On August 11th, 2006 John Shaw (fellow blogger), Lisa Rodriguez, and myself were attending the Leadership Summitt presented by Willowcreek Church. We were attending a satellite location in The Woodlands. I was particularly giddy (sp?) on this specific day because I knew that we were going to hear from Bono. Bill Hybels interviewed him several months before, and they were going to show that video.
It was nothing short of earth-shattering for me, and I know it was for John and Lisa too? Why? Well, it was the very beginning of a journey that I am still on. It began in me, a questioning of many things. All of these questions began to shape in me, a desire to do something radical for Christ...specifically the "least of these", in the name of Christ. I started to understand that we as a Christian subculture, have been almost exclusively focused on ourselves.
Bono said that years ago, a very good friend of his told him, "stop asking God to bless what you are doing Bono. But find out what God is doing, because it is already blessed".
Wow. That's so true, and man have I been guilty of that. So, what is God doing? Here's a simple reading assignment. Read these chapters of the Bible. Ask God to reveal Himself to you through these scriptures, and let it soak in.
Isaiah 58
Isaiah 61
Matthew 25:31-46
Galatians 2:10
These are just a few of the thousands of verses in the Bible, urging us as believers, and followers of The Way, to take up the yoke of the burdened, and serve the marginalized people. You have to ignore the scriptures to not see that His heart, is a heart for the broken-hearted, and for the poor, and oppressed.
Naturally I asked myself, "what have I done for the least of these??" The answer was crushing. If I'm honest, I had done NOTHING. I have been a worship leader in my church for 9 years, and it's been a comfortable 9 years. What I mean by that is, that I can't remember doing one thing or serving one of the least of these. I just can't remember. So, that didn't feel right.
In this video Bono said another thing that really rocked me. "The world is an unhappy place for the vast majority of people living in it". Immediately we think of Africa when we are told something like that. We picture the swollen stomachs of the starving children. We think of the hollow look in their eyes. But do you realize that there are people around us, here in Houston that live in the dark? There are people in Friendswood that need someone to reach out to them. In short...to LOVE them. It's all about love! It just, really is.
As we enter a season in which we will inevitably spend millions on toys, and gifts for loved ones, please also remember the poor. Teach your children by your example. Adopt a family, or bring blankets and food to the homeless, do something with your kids. It really will bless you, more than you expect, and no doubt you will bless someone else!! "Find out what Jesus is doing, because IT IS already blessed!!"
I am thankful for the message that Bono brought, and that I was able to listen. I am praying for you that read this, and that read the scriptures above, that God would begin in you a fantastic journey of what it really means to be the hands and feet of Christ. May God richly bless you through this endeavor. JC
On August 11th, 2006 John Shaw (fellow blogger), Lisa Rodriguez, and myself were attending the Leadership Summitt presented by Willowcreek Church. We were attending a satellite location in The Woodlands. I was particularly giddy (sp?) on this specific day because I knew that we were going to hear from Bono. Bill Hybels interviewed him several months before, and they were going to show that video.
It was nothing short of earth-shattering for me, and I know it was for John and Lisa too? Why? Well, it was the very beginning of a journey that I am still on. It began in me, a questioning of many things. All of these questions began to shape in me, a desire to do something radical for Christ...specifically the "least of these", in the name of Christ. I started to understand that we as a Christian subculture, have been almost exclusively focused on ourselves.
Bono said that years ago, a very good friend of his told him, "stop asking God to bless what you are doing Bono. But find out what God is doing, because it is already blessed".
Wow. That's so true, and man have I been guilty of that. So, what is God doing? Here's a simple reading assignment. Read these chapters of the Bible. Ask God to reveal Himself to you through these scriptures, and let it soak in.
Isaiah 58
Isaiah 61
Matthew 25:31-46
Galatians 2:10
These are just a few of the thousands of verses in the Bible, urging us as believers, and followers of The Way, to take up the yoke of the burdened, and serve the marginalized people. You have to ignore the scriptures to not see that His heart, is a heart for the broken-hearted, and for the poor, and oppressed.
Naturally I asked myself, "what have I done for the least of these??" The answer was crushing. If I'm honest, I had done NOTHING. I have been a worship leader in my church for 9 years, and it's been a comfortable 9 years. What I mean by that is, that I can't remember doing one thing or serving one of the least of these. I just can't remember. So, that didn't feel right.
In this video Bono said another thing that really rocked me. "The world is an unhappy place for the vast majority of people living in it". Immediately we think of Africa when we are told something like that. We picture the swollen stomachs of the starving children. We think of the hollow look in their eyes. But do you realize that there are people around us, here in Houston that live in the dark? There are people in Friendswood that need someone to reach out to them. In short...to LOVE them. It's all about love! It just, really is.
As we enter a season in which we will inevitably spend millions on toys, and gifts for loved ones, please also remember the poor. Teach your children by your example. Adopt a family, or bring blankets and food to the homeless, do something with your kids. It really will bless you, more than you expect, and no doubt you will bless someone else!! "Find out what Jesus is doing, because IT IS already blessed!!"
I am thankful for the message that Bono brought, and that I was able to listen. I am praying for you that read this, and that read the scriptures above, that God would begin in you a fantastic journey of what it really means to be the hands and feet of Christ. May God richly bless you through this endeavor. JC
Thursday, November 16, 2006
Beginning the conversation...
What an unbelievable 5 months it has been for CCC! It seems as if so much has changed over the last few months but to look back and realize how things have transpired - it is so God driven! Let me just introduce myself. I am the interim pastor of CrossCreek Church (also youth pastor).
As Johnny C said in the first post, this is a site for John and I to shed a few layers and share our hearts with our friends of CrossCreek and beyond. My personal perception for this blog, originally, was to make this an emerging(ent) genre book review blog but I realize that we (John and I) have much more to share with our friends than just book reviews. We will also invite others to blog some thoughts on here as well.
In all this my goal is to do nothing but unify and uplift. As Cordes stated we are from a contemporary church history at CrossCreek. As we move away from that model and towards this emerging/missional model I want it to be a compliment to what others in the body of Christ are doing, period. By no means do we want to down play the role that others have played for growing God's Kingdom.
I have been reading Chris Seay's book, "Faith of my Fathers." In the next week I will share some of my thoughts on that as well as other things happening around CCC. I hope this blog is informative as well as interactive. Please feel free to post comments and create dialogue. This site is not a sight to personally attack but to edify and have progressive dialogue. If you have personal issues that need to be addressed please email us at acts918@gmail.com.
As I continue to stretch my faith and scales seem to keep dropping from my eyes daily (hence Acts 9:18)...I hope this blog site is something that will in turn provide the same for you as you journey from afar or close by.
In His Grace and Mercy,
JWShaw
As Johnny C said in the first post, this is a site for John and I to shed a few layers and share our hearts with our friends of CrossCreek and beyond. My personal perception for this blog, originally, was to make this an emerging(ent) genre book review blog but I realize that we (John and I) have much more to share with our friends than just book reviews. We will also invite others to blog some thoughts on here as well.
In all this my goal is to do nothing but unify and uplift. As Cordes stated we are from a contemporary church history at CrossCreek. As we move away from that model and towards this emerging/missional model I want it to be a compliment to what others in the body of Christ are doing, period. By no means do we want to down play the role that others have played for growing God's Kingdom.
I have been reading Chris Seay's book, "Faith of my Fathers." In the next week I will share some of my thoughts on that as well as other things happening around CCC. I hope this blog is informative as well as interactive. Please feel free to post comments and create dialogue. This site is not a sight to personally attack but to edify and have progressive dialogue. If you have personal issues that need to be addressed please email us at acts918@gmail.com.
As I continue to stretch my faith and scales seem to keep dropping from my eyes daily (hence Acts 9:18)...I hope this blog site is something that will in turn provide the same for you as you journey from afar or close by.
In His Grace and Mercy,
JWShaw
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Welcome to our new little blogger site.
Acts 9:18a-"Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again..."
It's kind of like a great awakening in my estimation. Things are happening at our church that have really captured the heart of what we should be about. For 8 years, I have been a part of a contemporary church that was quite focused on herself. Things are starting to change.
This blog will attempt to share with you all, what many in our church feel is our great transformation. Thus, Acts 9:18. My name is John C, and I am the Worship Leader at Crosscreek Church in Friendswood,TX. I invite you, to journey with me as we discover the heart of Jesus for this broken world.
Acts 9:18a-"Immediately, something like scales fell from Saul's eyes, and he could see again..."
It's kind of like a great awakening in my estimation. Things are happening at our church that have really captured the heart of what we should be about. For 8 years, I have been a part of a contemporary church that was quite focused on herself. Things are starting to change.
This blog will attempt to share with you all, what many in our church feel is our great transformation. Thus, Acts 9:18. My name is John C, and I am the Worship Leader at Crosscreek Church in Friendswood,TX. I invite you, to journey with me as we discover the heart of Jesus for this broken world.
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