Mountain Bikes

About Bikes
Last week while riding @ USCU, I destroyed my mountain bike. It broke my heart. It was my first full suspension bike, and the one that I have raced twice. This bike was such a natural fit for me and how I ride. When riding it, the bike became an extension of my arms and legs. I could downhill fast, climb steady, and cross water hazards without drowning. I logged more than 700 miles of trail riding with that bike, which translates into a lot of abuse for a mountain bike. This bike will now be stored in my basement, as I have come to the conclusion that I can’t part with it, even in its broken condition.

About Family
Family is an extension of who we are. Some families are broken beyond repair due to death and sin. Other families are damaged because of un-met expectations, and listen to more of what Satan has to say, than speaking to and listening our Father. I’m convinced that most people want healing within their families but the sins of pride and Unforgiveness, seem to be the bigger giant. Lynn and I long to have healing in our own families, but just don’t know how to do it. Like many of you who try it in your own strength, it seems to bring only temporary results. I think that I’m learning something here about Trust, Faith, and Prayer.

About Church
Just like earthly family we have something in common. Blood. With that said, if we focus our efforts on what we have in common (HIM) then we see less of (US). At the end of the day its about glorifying our Lord. The expectations that you bring to your family or church has to be about (HE) and not (WE).

About Jesus
As I sometimes do, I tend to look back and reflect on my walk with Christ.
I have been taken to places that I would have never gone by myself. I have been disoriented many times due to my inability to trust the path on which I was placed on and the ONE who placed me there. I was never alone when I thought that the downhill was going to never end. Climbing trials on a bike, I relied on my legs and lungs. Climbing to a Spiritual Mile Marker, I had only one option and that was to rely on His strength and guidance.

About New Bikes & New Life
My bike can not be repaired. I have purchased a new one (see picture). New bikes are not cheap. Jesus repairs brokenness, even when in our eyes there is no hope of repair. The type of repair He does is everlasting, complete, and not cheap. I’m so thankful that Christ chose to repair me, because in HIS eyes, I (we) are beautiful to Him. My prayer is that I reflect Him to the Precious and I can testify that what ever type of dirt & brokenness you bring, you are Precious to Jesus.

PS. Looking back while mountain biking is not healthy for you or your bike. Looking back on past sins or successes normally causes you to miss a future blessing that has been prepared for you.

Gather, Grow, & Go
Pastor Tim

Daughter in Love

Today is our Daughter in Love’s Graduation from college. Brittany is a amazing young woman who has blessed us so much with her smile, love for the lost, love for family, but most importantly her desire to please God. Lynn and I are so proud of her, and we celebrate this mile marker in her life. We ask that all of our friends and family to join hearts together today and celebrate what God has done.

Britt, we LOVE YOU!!!

Proverbs 3:5-6

Trust in the LORD with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight.

Tim & Lynn

Tents

Realizing that not all of you that read my blog, also read the blogs of the other pastors of LifeSong Church, I have included in today’s update a guest blogger… Senior Pastor Jeff Hickman.
If you have visited LifeSong church or bumped into a LifeSong member in the community:
You will hear that we are about being missionaries where we live, work, and play.

You will hear that we will pitch tents, not build Cathedrals.
You will hear that we will be part of a movement, not to build monuments.
You will hear that we will avoid like the plague any activity that brings focus on ministry that fits only in the confines of the church building or only focuses on “Church Folk”.

From Jeff Hickman
It seems that the talk of the Christian "blogger world" is about Ed Stetzer's blog called "breaking news". The latest statistics from the Southern Baptist show that last year was the second time in the denominations history that there was a decline in membership. This is really not breaking news. It is has taken a long time for us to get here as a denomination. I am not a guru on this subject however, I do have my own opinions. I believe that LifeSong Network can help churches get back on track.

How?

The greatest error we made as a denomination was when the tail started wagging the dog. Local associations, state conventions, NAMB, and the International Mission board were created for specific purposes and we have relied upon them greatly. In most instances they have been effective, however it has moved the mindset in the pew from missional to mission-minded. People were taught to give and let somebody else go. This shift in thought and behavior within the church has created a crisis. Overcoming this mentality will be very difficult because it is built into our "DNA". Institutional thinking has been built into our pulpits, constitutions, budgets and attitudes. We must find a way to move the church back to missional living and destroy our institutional mentality.

It is very important that you hear me affirm our missions organizations. We need to continue to support our missionaries, but we must abandon the thought that our mission minded activities will solve this crisis.

LifeSong Network is aiming to help churches return to personal responsibility with our communities. We want to plant churches that build in a missional DNA. Churches that can see the importance of every person becoming a missionary where they live, work and play.

I believe that through coaching, pastoral encouragement and visional renewal pastors in new churches or in existing churches can see radical transformation in their churches and communities. We need to embrace a lateral growth plan where we are not looking to build kingdoms, but we help each other build the body. The church is one body. Many different names, but one mission. -Pastor Jeff Hickman

Gather, Grow, & Go

Pastor Tim

Heroes

For whatever reason in my quietness this past week, I have thought about our 2 sons a lot. Don’t get me wrong, I think about them daily, but last week they just seemed to be on my mind and heart. Like any parent, I enjoy telling stories about our kids, like the time Matthew drove the car into the den, or Andrew and I trying to camp at the lake during a lake wind advisory. There is also this major disease that Matt & Drew have which effects their ability to maintain car keys…(my sister Kim has the same disease).

But I can not forget the look on Matt’s face when his bride Brittany came to him at the altar, and to see how she has partnered with him in ministry, or the look in Andrews’ eyes as he shares how God has spoken to him while studying a John Maxwell series…that’s almost the same look that he gives when he says “Erin”.

To be quite serious I am amazed how God has grown our two sons into Men that seem to be fearless in their pursuit to follow the Messiah. This passion and pursuit has impacted the ones that they love, as well as the ones that have been loved by them. By no means are they perfect, but they simply are a joy & blessing to be with. I often worried as a young dad, was I doing the “right” things, and even now I find my self thinking “is there something that I could be missing?”

I wondered was I too hard on them when it was time to spank them. Yep I said spank. That was an activity that was not any fun for us or them, and I realize that many disagree with the method, and do not spank, but as a famous TV Dr. said “how’s that working out for you?” At the Lyda house it was used as one of many tools to grow men. Prayer and Love are the other tools. I don’t know a lot of things, but I am glad that the tables have turned, and I now get be the one that is daily, and weekly learning from some men that pursue Christ, that not too many years ago I was driving them to baseball.

Matt & Drew… my heroes

Gather, Grow, & Go
Pastor Tim

Prayer Walking

In the past few months here at LifeSong, you have heard a lot of discussion about
“Prayer Walking”.

So what does that mean?

http://www.waymakers.org/ is an organization that has championed this type of prayer activity in the local church body.


Below is what they have to say about Prayer Walking:

“Many Christians have been learning to quietly pray in the places that they live, work or play. We've come to call this sort of on-site intercession "prayerwalking."
Prayerwalking is simply praying in the very places we expect God to bring forth his answers. Prayerwalking is usually a low-profile affair: Friends or family stroll two-by-two through their own neighborhoods, schools and work places, praying as they go.

Once in a while the prayers can be demonstrative, but most prayerwalking is fairly quiet. It's usually being on the scene without making one.

As you pray God's promises with specific homes or worksites in view, you'll find that hope for those people begins to grow. You'll begin to see people as God might view them. You'll likely find yourself becoming more interested in the welfare of the people you are praying for. In other words, you might find yourself becoming the kind of neighbor that you always wanted to be.

Watch for the ways God impresses you to display his love in practical acts of kindness.

Be ready to offer to pray with your neighbors as opportunity may arise. Ask God to give you opportunity to explain clearly how people can enjoy friendship with God by the power of the gospel.

Check out the different sections on this website and the resources we have available. In a few years we'll be living in a prayed-for world and you will be part of it!”

Gather, Grow, & Go
Pastor Tim

Got Milk?

Have you ever seen a new born baby with a knife and fork, ready to tear into a medium well New York strip? Hope not. What about someone that has had major surgery and the day after is eating Chili Cheese a Plenty from the Beacon? That could land them right back in the hospital.

1 Peter 2:2 says:
2.Like newborn babies, crave pure spiritual milk, so that by it you may grow up in your salvation.

At LifeSong, we want to give you an opportunity to Grow and enjoy some Spiritual Milk.
On March 30th Sunday night we will be starting our 2nd Starting Point Class.

What is “The Starting Point”?
If you have recently started a relationship with God, or you are reconnecting with God after being away for a while, this would be a great bible study group to be in. It is a bible study that focuses on the foundations of being a Christ follower.

Where and when, does the Starting Point group meet? It is a 6 week small group study that takes place at LifeSong church on Sunday nights.

Who Leads Starting Point?
The study is being facilitated by Gavin & Patty Huckabee. The Huckabees are passionate about people and serving our Lord and Savoir.

The next “Starting Point” is scheduled for March 30th. Contact me if you are interested in taking part of this Growth opportunity.

Gather, Grow, & Go
Pastor Tim

What is the Roll of a Pastor?

Pictured to the right is C.S. Lewis, one of the greatest pastors of all time in my opinion.

After reading an article by Bill Easum (a ministry consultant) concerning Pastoral rolls, I felt lead to share some thoughts with you.

If you had to list only one responsibility of a pastor, what would it be?

By the way there is only one biblical answer.

You might say that it depends on his spiritual gift. To this I say, that this one responsibility doesn’t depend on a gift, but it should be on each pastor’s list.
You might say “shepherd the flock” or “it depends on the size of the church” or “making hospital visits (see Acts 6)”. Despite what people think or may have been told or taught their whole life that would be a big NO.

The ONLY biblical response is to ensure that the congregation is equipped to do ministry. Let’s look at God’s word together:

Ephesians 4:11-12
11. And He gave some as apostles, and some as prophets, and some as evangelists, and some as pastors and teachers,
12. for the equipping of the saints for the work of service, to the building up of (the body of Christ;

So the short answer is, a Pastor’s roll is not to care for the people, but to grow them into mature Christians, and that happens when people are serving one another rather than being taught a course at the church.

Shepherds in Christ’s day didn’t care for their flocks. Instead they made sure that the sheep were in pastures where they could graze, so that they’d mature, grow and reproduce. The goal of the shepherd was ultimately reproduction.

Does this mean that Pastors shouldn’t care about their congregations? Of course not! It’s because the pastor does care for the congregation that he focuses on equipping them to be missionaries where the live work and play.

The more ministry that a pastor does for the congregation, the weaker the congregation becomes. As one of the Pastors of LifeSong I desire spiritual growth that pleases God, and at the end of the day, the LifeSong Pastors will be focused on equipping those to have an impact on the community in which we live.

Thank you LifeSong for your love of Christ and community.

Gather, Grow, and Go
Pastor Tim

To Love / To be Loved

Questions:
If God makes no mistakes, what does it speak to the world when we treat a person as if they are not good enough? Does that say that this person that God created is a mistake?

If I can’t love the person that I can see, how can I love God that I can not see? Even as Christians, we sometimes try to convince ourselves and others that we are in a right relationship with God (our daddy) all the while we can’t or won’t be LOVE to someone. How is it that we can have the life changing experience of salvation and not love others, even the others that take a little more effort to love? I think that the next question must be, do we understand what it means to experience the redeeming power and love of God’s forgiveness and receive the free gift of salvation?

1 John 4:17-21 The Message

17-18. God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we're free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ's. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.

19. We, though, are going to love—love and be loved. First we were loved, now we love. He loved us first.

20-21. If anyone boasts, "I love God," and goes right on hating his brother or sister, thinking nothing of it, he is a liar. If he won't love the person he can see, how can he love the God he can't see? The command we have from Christ is blunt: Loving God includes loving people. You've got to love both.

Gather, Grow, & Go

Pastor Tim

Perfect Love

Today, Lynn and I are celebrating our 27th Valentines. Reflecting on that seems to humble me quite a bite. I think about Lynn many times a day and long to be near her all the time. Many times I feel completely lost, if I can’t see her face or hear her rumbling around the house, preparing for the Daycare. She is my perfect mate, she is my woman, and I would not want to be here on earth without her.

When we think of PERFECT LOVE, one must reflect on God’s word. Let’s take a look together:

1 John 4 (The Message)
7-10 My beloved friends, let us continue to love each other since love comes from God. Everyone who loves is born of God and experiences a relationship with God. The person who refuses to love doesn't know the first thing about God, because God is love—so you can't know him if you don't love. This is how God showed his love for us: God sent his only Son into the world so we might live through him. This is the kind of love we are talking about—not that we once upon a time loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as a sacrifice to clear away our sins and the damage they've done to our relationship with God.

11-12 My dear, dear friends, if God loved us like this, we certainly ought to love each other. No one has seen God, ever. But if we love one another, God dwells deeply within us, and his love becomes complete in us—perfect love!

13-16 This is how we know we're living steadily and deeply in him, and he in us: He's given us life from his life, from his very own Spirit. Also, we've seen for ourselves and continue to state openly that the Father sent his Son as Savior of the world. Everyone who confesses that Jesus is God's Son participates continuously in an intimate relationship with God. We know it so well, we've embraced it heart and soul, this love that comes from God.

Gather, Grow, and Go

Pastor Tim

Acts 2 Church

The first church truly got it right in terms of what Jesus intended to church to be. Acts 2 describes a people that ate together, studied together, prayed together, and the number of Christ followers grew daily. Isn’t it funny how God can take a group of people from being self centered to being Christ centered? And when we together, finally focus on the savior and not each other, that is when God uses us to encourage and minister to each other. When a person receives salvation, fellowship is realized, growing together in God’s word is realized, and becoming a missionary in your area of influence is now a “Must Be” reality.

I am overwhelmed of the GroupLink response from this past Sunday. We had 84 adults to sign up for small groups!! This represents 8 small groups in different parts of town, various ages and walks of life. I can see God planting a huge landscape of some amazing relationships that are about to be discovered. Your willingness to be a part of such activity, takes away the ME factor and now puts into play the WE factor. My prayer is that we continue to, not just to know what the savior knows, but to become who He is.

Three Reasons why the first church made an impact on their world:

1. Gather, Which is Fellowship
Acts 2:46
Every day they continued to meet together in the temple courts. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts,

2. Grow, Which is Bible study and prayer.
Acts 2:42
They devoted themselves to the apostles' teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.

3. Go, Which is be a Missionary were you live work and play.
Acts 2:47
praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people. And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.

Gather, Grow, & Go
Tim