// May 16th, 2008 // No Comments » // friendship, life struggle, stories
It amazes me what God uses to help people. Sometimes technology, sometimes medicine, sometimes other people. My friend Lindsay Spengler recently experienced something miraculous. After being stuck in bed for about 5-6 years she is now out and about and getting her life back. CBS news recently interviewed her about her recovery.
// May 8th, 2008 // No Comments » // friendship, my church
For those of you who didn’t make it to our farewell party for Matt and Carrie Silver a couple of weeks ago, below is a video of some of Matt’s many humorous moments here at CCV.
// April 29th, 2008 // No Comments » // friendship, my church
// April 21st, 2008 // No Comments » // friendship, relationships, spiritual growth
I have been thinking a lot about confrontation lately. I spoke about it in a recent sermon, given counsel to a few leaders and volunteers, and wrote about it in a recent post (here). David Foster, author and pastor, recently posted 10 Signs It’s Time To Confront:
1. It’s time to confront when things aren’t working out even after you’ve given them sufficient time to do so.
2. When you’re avoiding each other.
3. When your silence is more about fear than the truth.
4. When allowing the contact to go on is hurting the other person.
5. When the contact is hurting other people.
6. When you see there is still time to redeem the relationship, the job, the person, or the potential future.
7. When you’re responsible for the health and well-being of the people involved in the situation. You have the power to do something, therefore you have the obligation.
8. When you’re able to separate the behavior from the person. You love the person always, even though you can’t support the behavior.
9. When your integrity and reputation as a friend, manager, leader, or business owner is on the line, it’s time to confront.
10. When you understand that sometimes love must be tough if it’s truly love. Love that is based on a lie is indulgence. Love that is based on truth and applied with mercy and grace is truly a gift from God.
Confrontation can be such a good thing when done the right way. It presents a real growth opportunity for us and the other person.
// March 19th, 2008 // 3 Comments » // friendship, spiritual growth
If you arrive a church early on Sundays, many of our services start with a countdown video that we call the 5 minute window. A few minutes into the video below you will see a college student named Alex (when he was baptized). He was one of the founding members of the youth ministry that I helped start here at CCV. It was a great experience and I feel so privileged to be able to watch him grow into a young man that leads a small group, helps with student ministry, and plays guitar in our band on Sunday morning. I thank God for opportunities to know guys like Alex and to witness life change happen right before my eyes. Plus, if you take the time to watch the below video you get to see me when I had hair!
