~Following Him!!!~

I posted this on my church’s Facebook page.

U·ni·ty (n) – the state of being one; oneness; a whole or totality as combining all its parts into one; the state or fact of being united or combined into one, as of the parts of a whole; unification; oneness of mind, feeling, etc., as among a number of persons; concord, harmony, or agreement.

Those are some of the definitions regarding unity that I found on dictionary.com. However, the Bible describes it this way….

John 17:11 – “Holy Father, guard them as they pursue this life that you conferred as a gift through me, so they can be one heart and mind as we are one heart and mind.” (Message)

Imagine if we as a church (The River Church) and as the Church (the universal church) could be as one like the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are one? What would that look like?

I think that at The River Church we are really beginning to see the start of that. I know that in the past it has been rocky, but I really believe that we are in a time where we are beginning to see God unify us in some pretty awesome ways!

One way that I have seen this has been with the pastoral search team. From my understanding this is the first time in the church’s history that a search team has had such peace and unity amongst its members. We as a team have seen God do some really cool things and it is all because we came to the table broken and desiring to see God move through us.

Our process as a team has been that we would all receive a copy of the email with the cover letter, resume and picture of the candidates for lead pastor to review on our own. After reviewing it we would come together on Monday as a team and bring the resumes of candidates that we thought would be the best fit for our church. When we received the resume for Brad, who will be coming on June 20th to speak to the congregation and whom the members will vote whether or not to extend an offer to, every member of the team brought his name to the table. This did not happen for any of the other candidates. After sending follow-up questionnaires to a select few candidates we were all once again blown away by the responses by Brad and felt that he still was the top guy. As a team we spent some serious time praying before we decided which three of the six candidates that would be sent onto the elders and Brad received everyone’s number one vote. There was complete unity in this every step of the way.

When we sent the names onto the elders we did not reveal to them the order in which we had placed the top three. We gave them the names in alphabetical order. After each elder received an email with the candidates cover letter, resume, picture, questionnaire and link to a message for them to listen to, they met and all three of the elders had separately chosen Brad as the top candidate. (Bill Gregory did not vote since he was a part of the search team and didn’t want to reveal how we had voted.) Having that unity amongst them and Bill informing them how we as the search team had the same unity, the elders then decided that they would only focus on Brad.

The elders had the opportunity to meet with Brad and his family for dinner as they were passing through town on a Friday to attend his oldest son’s graduation from Taylor University. The elders and some of their wives, who were there, were impressed with how well it went and how there seemed to be a real sense of community there. The next Monday, the elders had an almost 4 hour Skype chat with Brad where they asked him lots of very tough questions and gave Brad the same opportunity to do the same. From what I understand there was a lot of honesty shared back and forth along with a unity about the direction they were headed. However, they decided to spend some more time in prayer to make sure that this was indeed the direction God was leading them.

After that time of prayer all parties decided to continue moving forward and Brad provided names and numbers of people to contact to check work references and accountability partners. The elders spent a considerable amount of time talking with several people and everyone they spoke with highly recommended Brad. Once again, we were seeing unity in all of this.

The decision was made to bring Brad and his wife, Heidi, out to speak with us, share their story, give the church an opportunity to ask questions and then allow the members an opportunity to vote as to whether or not we want to extend an offer to Brad to become the next lead pastor here at The River. Our hope and prayer is that the church will see the unity of the search team and the unity of the elders along with the time and effort put into the process, and that we as a church will have the same type of unity when we meet on June 20th. I know that there have been lots of questions about this feeling rushed, but the process has been anything but rushed. We have taken our time and done our due diligence to completely check this man out and spend considerable amount of time in prayer over this. We trust and hope that you as members and attenders of The River have been doing the same thing and will continue to do so. How else can we have unity unless we draw close to the One who is true unity?

So join us in prayer over this next week to pray for God’s direction and unity. Then come on June 20th with an expectant heart to hear from the Father and to sense the unity that He truly desires for the people at The River.

Ever since I was a little kid Haiti has been on my heart. As kids we would do a thing called the “penny march” where we would bring up money and put it in a jar and the money was going to some missionaries in Haiti that were raising money to build an orphanage in Port au Prince. When Kimmy and I arrived here at The River Church I was thrilled to see that this church had a heart for Haiti, and has gone there on mission trips for the past 7 years or so.

They were supposed to be going there to the Northwest Haiti Christian Mission in February to install solar panels at one of their buildings and I really wanted to go with them then. However, with us just moving down here and money being tight for us I knew it wouldn’t work, because I couldn’t get my deposit money in on time. Then the earthquake struck in Port au Prince and it delayed their trip until the end of March and the beginning of February. One of the team members was not able to go as a result and so there was an opening.

After spending some more time in prayer and talking it over with my wife I really feel that this is something God wants me to do. The problem is that we still don’t have the money to go, so God will have to lay it on some people’s hearts to donate money so that I can go. Fortunately, we are going to be getting a tax return and that will help with some of the cost. And there have been a couple of people have said that they could give some, but I am still a long way off from the $1800 that I will need.

I know that some people may be wondering why it is that I would be going to the northwest part of Haiti when it is Port au Prince that needs the help due to the earthquake. The reason is not just because that is where my church was scheduled to go, but that there is also a need there. Lots of people have migrated north to get away from the devastated areas in the south there, so there is a need there. The mission there has an opportunity to help people affected by the earthquake, so if we can go and help in anyway then I know that it will have a longer term impact then just the week and a half that we will be there.

So if you would pray that God helps me to be able to get the money to go I would appreciate it. And if God lays it on your heart to make a contribution to help me go that would be great. Just send me an email to: todd @ HitTheRiver.com (I spaced it out so that I don’t get spammed) and I will let you know how you can do that. Thanks, I want to embrace the danger and uncertainty of obeying God. As always I am just trying to follow Him wherever He leads me.

I posted the following question on my Facebook status update along with asking it on Twitter.

“Why do we (when I say “we” I mean those who are Christ-followers) expect non-Christian companies or people to say Merry Christmas?”

I have to honestly say that I really do not care if I go to Walmart and the cashier wishes me a “Happy Holidays” instead of wishing me a “Merry Christmas”. In the grand scheme of things it really doesn’t matter. Not too mention that somehow I am thinking that it really doesn’t spread the hope, peace, joy and love of the Christmas Advent when we shout back at that person, “IT’S MERRY CHRISTMAS NOT HAPPY HOLIDAYS!!!” Can you honestly say that you think that is how Christ would have us respond?

I believe that if Jesus was walking through Walmart and had the same encounter that He would say thank you. That should be our very same response if we are truly Christ-followers.

This week we are focusing on peace in the Advent season and I want to do what I can to show the peace of God here on this earth as much as I can. So instead of getting all upset and in a rage I would rather sow seeds of peace.

I also find it funny that in 1966 CBS aired an ad like this….

And people thought back then that it was okay. Now suddenly saying things like “Season’s Greetings” or “Happy Holidays” is bad. Why the difference? I know that some would say that they feel that our government and society was more “christian” then and it isn’t anymore. But I disagree. I don’t think that there should be any difference at all. Besides the word holiday comes from the words “holy” and “day” being mashed together.

So let’s make sure that we actually make it a MERRY Christmas or a HAPPY Holiday in how we respond.

My prayer is that Christ-followers would grasp a hold of the hope of the coming of Christ as we celebrate Jesus’ birth. That we would find ways to sow peace in our world and especially everywhere that we go. That love would be the greatest thing in our lives. And, lastly, that we would share the joy of the Savior with our friends and family.

Colossians 2: 2-3 – I want them to be encouraged and knit together by strong ties of love. I want them to have complete confidence that they understand God’s mysterious plan, which is Christ himself. In him lie hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

That is my prayer for the teens at The River Church and also for the church as a whole. This past Sunday we started a series titled “Rules, Religion or Relationship” that is based around the book “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan. I just really felt that as a group we really needed to grasp God’s relentless love for us. I don’t want our church or youth group to just be content with the status quo and I want them to grasp a hold of an authentic faith in Christ and to know His love for them in a deep and amazing way.

I had gone to the National Youth Workers Convention a few weeks ago and one of the things that hit me while I was there was that I want these teens to fall in love with God like I have fallen in love with him. I kind of stole the idea for the title of the series from an ad I saw as a teenager for the Bible college I went to and it was one of the main reasons why I went there. I didn’t want to follow a set of rules or just become a part of another religion. I really wanted to have a relationship with God.

God didn’t send His only Son to this planet just so that we could better understand rules or have a face to put to a religion. No, God sent Jesus here so that we could better understand the importance of having a relationship with Him. Jesus became God with us not above us. I think Jesus summed it all up when He was asked by the religious leaders of the day about what the most important commandment was and He didn’t even reply to them with one of the Big 10. Instead He replied with something completely different and said that everything was based on it and here is the exchange that takes place in Mark 12:28-34.

One of the teachers of the law came and heard them debating. Noticing that Jesus had given them a good answer, he asked him, “Of all the commandments, which is the most important?”

“The most important one,” answered Jesus, “is this: ‘Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.’ The second is this: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no commandment greater than these.”

“Well said, teacher,” the man replied. “You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices.”

When Jesus saw that he had answered wisely, he said to him, “You are not far from the kingdom of God.” And from then on no one dared ask him any more questions.

So If I want the teens at The River Church to get anything I hope that they figure out to love God and to love others, because then I know that they will close to the kingdom of God. This past Sunday I saw a glimpse that they were getting to that point as we discussed the mysteries of who God is and how our minds just can’t grasp all of who He is, but the overwhelming this is that He loves us. I am really looking forward to seeing more and more of our teens getting God and falling in love with Him.

So consider yourself warned…

Many people know that I am a huge fan of the TV show The Biggest Loser. I have watched it since the very first season and I have not missed an episode. It is one of the things that inspired me to put down the bowl of ice cream, get off of the couch, and change my lifestyle. I was borderline obese and I needed to do something. I had tried diets but it was time to change my life if I wanted to lose the weight, keep it off and live for a long time. I found that inspiration while watching The Biggest Loser.

In season 3 of The Biggest Loser I had a fellow youth pastor, that I knew through an online community (YMX), participate in the show as the representative for Maine. His name is Matthew McNutt and you can read his story on his website. This season there is another youth pastor that is participating on the show (and was sadly voted off this last week), whose name is Sean Algaier. It really got me to thinking, that in my limited view of the youth ministry world, there seems to be a lot of overweight youth pastors/workers out there.

I think that is a sad thing. Youth pastors are called to be an inspiration to the next generation and I think that we need to stop limiting that to only spiritual things. I believe that if we truly believe that our bodies are a temple of the Holy Spirit then we need to practice that in how we take care of our bodies. I hope that in my current ministry that I am inspiring my teens to not only to live a godly life, but that I am also inspiring them to live a healthy and full life.

I am so grateful to Matthew and Sean for inspiring many youth pastors to start changing their lives and to start shedding their excess baggage, so that they can be their for their families and for their teenagers long term. I hope that this doesn’t just become a fad that ends up dying out, but I hope that youth pastors, pastor and Christ-followers everywhere take it upon themselves to push themselves and get healthy.

I love what Bob Harper of The Biggest Loser has to say about weight loss, “The key to becoming a big loser is mathematically very simple: Eat less, move more.” And if you need someone to get up in your face and push you, like Bob and Jillian do on the show, the find someone to do that. The most important thing is that you do it. I hope and pray that the Church in America can not only show the world that living for Christ is the best way to live, but I also hope that we can show them that being healthy is also important. And I hope that youth pastors everywhere will take the lead on this.

Wow! I can’t believe that it has been almost a month since we moved down here to Cincy. We came down here to a house full of new friends ready to help us unpack. We quickly got everything unloaded from the truck and then was able to enjoy some delicious food made by a family at our new church. Even the next day we had another meal that a family from our church provided for us. It really helped us to feel very welcomed into our new community and home.

The week that we moved down here our new church was doing vacation Bible school. That gave us a great opportunity to meet some people at the church and to see people in action. It was neat to see people helping one another out and serving.

The church found me a great place to have for my office. I found a nice desk at Ikea as well. And despite the fact that we have gone there quite a bit since we moved down I insist that I am not addicted. However, I must admit that I was thrilled when I saw that there was an Ikea only 15 minutes from our new house.

Speaking of our new house, I am still in awe of how amazing it is that we have found such a great home in a very nice neighborhood. We are only 5 minutes from the church’s building and close to the kid’s schools. My daughter has a friend in her grade that also goes to our church only 2 doors down from us. My son has slowly began to make friends, which is a good thing because he really misses all of his buddies from our old neighborhood. It is nice to have a house where people can come visit and we can also have a group of about 20 parents come over. Our landlord is very nice as well.

I have already started making friends with some of the local youth pastors and they are a greta group of guys. They had organized the Unight Event before I came down, which was an amazing time for the teens to sing songs to God, listen to an amazing speaker named E.J. Swanson and then walk around Lakota East High School so that they could pray for their school and friends. How cool is that? I look forward to getting to know these guys better and seeing the amazing things that God can do.

We are also blessed to have an amazing group of elders at our church who are helping steer the ship while our church looks for a new senior pastor. Yes, you read that right. Our senior pastor resigned last week. I have been assured that my job is safe and that the elders believe that I am the man for the job. So during this time of transition the elders are going to be sharing the load and making sure that the church keeps moving forward. It is so peaceful to us knowing that God has entrusted this church with these five very competent men. The ship may be rocking in this storm, but knowing that Jesus is there in the boat is bringing us peace.

I am also in shock over how good the Michigan Wolverines did this past Saturday. They played a very good Western Michigan University football team and beat them soundly. I am looking forward to seeing what they can do when the Irish come to visit on Saturday. It is always a good rivalry game.

Last year, Michigan lost to all 3 of their biggest rivals for the first time ever and I don’t see that happening again this year. It was nice to see them win their opening game for the first time in 2 years and I hope that this year we can maybe also win our last game of the season for the first time in a long time. My prediction is that they will go 8-4 this season. GO BLUE!!!

I am feeling so overwhelmed by God’s love for me. We are so blessed to have such great friends and family who love us dearly. A few weeks ago we were singing the song “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” by Stuart Townend and I was blown away by these words that I have sung several times.

Why should I gain from His reward?
I cannot give an answer
But this I know with all my heart
His wounds have paid my ransom

I know with my whole heart not only that God is very real, but I also know that He sent His Son to the earth to pay the ransom for my sins. As I sang those words I was fighting back tears just thinking about how awesome God is.

My life has not always been easy and I would even daresay that since I became a Christ follower that my life has been even more difficult than before. However, I would not want to change a single thing. I am so much better off for it. I love the fact that God has given me freedom, because it is so much better than the “happiness” that the world was offering me.

This week is going to be kind of crazy for Kimmy and myself. We are having a going away party with some of the people from our church on Thursday, then a going away party with some of the people from the church where I was a youth pastor on Friday, and then a birthday/going away party for our kid’s friends on Saturday. So it will be three straight days of “goodbyes”, but we will still have two weeks left until we actually leave for Cincinnati and our new home on August 10th. We are going to miss everyone and have been so blessed by having all of these friends in our lives.

I am also overwhelmed with how much we have been embraced by the church that we are heading to. I had an idea of the church that we would end up at, but never really thought it would be like this. I know that my family is going to be so blessed and well taken care of by our new church family. I have no fears or worries about me moving my family almost 300 miles south. We have such a peace about this move.

I have also been fortunate because the wonders of social networking websites like Facebook, because it has allowed us to connect with some of our new friends at The River. It is so nice to already begin developing friendships with them before we even move down there.

It really is amazing that when you put your all into God’s hands and trust His guidance for your life that things work out so wonderfully. It may not be the smoothest or easiest path, but it is definitely the best way. Besides who likes to take the easy way anyway? It is so boring and smooth. I prefer the bumps and curves. Just call me a glutton for punishment.

You can listen to the song “How Deep the Father’s Love for Us” below.

Life has been very crazy for me lately, but it has been a good kind of crazy. My daughter graduated from 6th grade, which means she is now a part of the youth ministry at our church. I have waited for this day since she was born. People told me that I was nuts to be excited about my kids becoming teenagers, but when that is the age group you work with it makes perfect sense because you know how to relate with them.

So her first big youth trip was Rockpointe’s annual trip to America’s Roller Coast known as Cedar Point. We had so much fun together and I loved seeing her hanging out with the teens. As you can tell by the picture she pushed herself and rode one of the big coasters with her dad called the Millenium Force. It was a really great day.

During some of this time I went down to a church near Cincinnati, OH to interview for their open youth pastor position. Most of you know that I have been looking for a full-time youth pastor position since I graduated from Bible college in 1999. And have been looking to get back into some form of a paid youth pastor position since I left the church I was a part-time youth pastor at in March of 2005. It has been a long journey only to be added to when I got laid off in the middle of January from the factory job I had. So going for an interview was a very nice thing, but I really didn’t expect to get the job, because we had been on interviews for youth pastor positions a couple of times before.

I was really shocked when they called us back down for a second interview and was even more shocked when I was told that I was the only on being invited back down. So we made arrangements to go back down the last weekend in June, which threw a wrench into our annual 4th of July trip up to Manistee, MI. We adjusted our arrival dates with the campground and figured we would just take a day off to rest in between driving 4 hours south to Cincy and then 4 hours north to Manistee.

While we were down for the interview we fell more and more in love with the church and the people there. And they seemed to like us as well. We came back home with a good feeling about this one, but we had good feelings about other ones as well so we were cautiously optimistic.

The pastor had said that we would probably hear something back before he left for his trip to Haiti, which was Friday (July 3rd). However, I told people that we wouldn’t hear back until he came back on July 14th so we didn’t have to hear the constant barrage of questions if we “had heard anything yet”.

Yesterday I heard back from them and I am in negotiations to be the youth pastor at The River Church in Liberty Township, OH. I am very excited to be finally getting back into “the game” and can not wait to get down there.

We do not know exactly when we will be heading down there, but hope to be down there either the first or second week of August. The schools down there start a lot earlier than schools here in Michigan, so we want to get down there and get the kids settled in before school starts.

There are only two sad things in all of this. One is leaving all of our family, friends and loved ones here in Michigan. But we are only 4 hours south and we will be real close to Kings Island, so you are welcome to come visit. However, we will be home from time to time visiting family. The other sad thing is that I will be living in enemy territory with all of those Buckeyes, but they need Jesus too!

Lastly, I want to leave you with this video of Mike Yaconelli. I think it speaks perfectly to what I am getting into. Watch out River Church! It is going to be a fun ride! I can’t wait!!!

I saw this video and it made my heart jump! I agree with this. Especially the line that says, “What if church was more of an out-of-church experience. An opportunity to prove what we say we believe with our lives. Then perhaps Sunday could be a day of rest and reflection on all that we have accomplished Monday through Saturday.”

I had posted a statement on my Facebook status that got quite a heated response from people and I think that this video speaks to it. The statement was…

“If Christians in the U.S. would be quiet for a year and only do good works, that would be evangelism. Our actions are way behind our words.” —Dieter Zander

It reminds me a lot of the quote by St. Francis of Assisi…

Preach the Gospel at all times and when necessary use words.

It is really time for the church here in America to rethink how they do church and start thinking “outside the box”, and I believe that the box is a metaphor for the church’s building. Let’s make Sunday a day where we can rest, reflect and celebrate all that we did during the week to share the Gospel with people, even if we never used words.

What do you think?

HT to Adam McLane.

My beautiful wife posted this video on her blog yesterday and I had to re-post it here.

A lot of people who know my wife and I know that we have been on this long journey of searching for the place that God would have us to serve at. My desire since I was a young boy was to be a pastor and to serve God in full-time ministry. After leaving the church I was serving at as youth pastor for 5 and a half years, God led us on a path of healing and learning that I would not trade for anything. I have learned and grown so much as a person these past 4 years.

During that time there was something in me that knew that God had some work to do in me before I was ready to step back into ministry. I still pursued opportunities and sent out resumes all during that time and the whole time our prayer was that God would close the doors to the places we were not supposed to be at. These past 6 or 8 months I have felt that I am really ready now to take that position, so I was praying to God when I was in Pittsburgh for the National Youth Workers Convention about it and I felt that He told me that I was ready. The problem now is that the place He had for me wasn’t ready yet. I am hoping that it won’t be too much longer before they are ready, because I don’t know how much longer we can survive on unemployment. The song “Ready Now” by Desperation Band really captures some of what we are feeling. I posted the lyrics below in case you want to read them.

You come like You promised You would
I want to surrender for good
I know that I need You
And I don’t want to keep living life alone

So take my heart
And make it new
Make it true
And make it like You
Take my hands
I lift them high
They’re Yours not mine to do
Do what You will (3X)

I feel like a blind man in Your sight
I know that I’m wicked in Your eyes
So wash me and make me shine like Your Son
I want to tell everyone
That You’re the only one

So take my heart
And make it new
Make it true
And make it like You
Take my hands
I lift them high
They’re Yours not mine to do
Do what You will (3X)

I’m ready now (3X)
Do what you will
I’m ready now (6X)
Do what you will
I’m ready now (3X)

So take my heart
And make it new
Make it true
And make it like You
Take my hands
I lift them high
They’re Yours not mine to do
Do what You will

I’m ready now (3X)
Do what You will
I’m ready now (3X)
Do what You will
I’m ready now (3X)
Do what You will
I’m ready now (3X)