5 Reasons You've Gotta Come to ENCOUNTER2013

This March marks our 2nd ever Encounter Conference. www.encounterconference.ca

ENCOUNTER is a 2 day gathering of the High School and College Age generation focused on Creativity, Community and Jesus.

Here are 5 quick reasons why YOU NEED TO BE THERE:


1. Your Presence Matters

Did you know that JUST SHOWING UP says something?

It says:

"God is moving here"

"Our Generation is still hungry for Jesus"

You are REALLY contributing just by getting your butt in a seat.


2. Harrison Conley is a straight 'G'

I couldn't be more honored to have Pastor Harrison coming to join us from Long Beach.

He's a friend and he has a Heart and Hunger for our Generation.  He speaks with a real grace and his passion for Jesus is contagious.

Just hearing him is worth every penny.


3. God's Presence will be there

So... We've been like praying and stuff... for like, a year.

The whole purpose behind starting ENCOUNTER CONFERENCE was to see OUR GENERATION ENCOUNTER JESUS.

I know that God has something SPECIFIC and SPECIAL for you on March 1 and 2


4. We go ALL OUT and put our heart and soul into the Conference

I'm so pumped for the creativity that will be displayed at conference.

We've written songs, we've done videos, we're going to worship + God gets all the glory.  You gotta come be a part of it.


5. Your FRIENDS need this

Believe me when I say, we do this for YOU! BUT we also do this to empower you to be a minister and compel your FRIENDS to come.

Invite your friends to experience a weekend they'll enjoy AND the Gospel will be presented in WORDS and ACTIONS.

Don't come alone this year...

Buy someone a ticket. Kidnap someone. Trick someone.  Do whatever it takes to GET THEM HERE.


Lastly, TONIGHT (Wed Feb 13) is the LAST NIGHT tickets will be available for 40$ (They move to 45$ tomorrow)  Come on out to the Relate Generation and get a few.


I love you guys.  Keep serving with a Heart and Hunger for Jesus and others.

See you SOON!

Real Talk on Real Relationships

This week at our High School and College age service, my wife and I had a public conversation about RELATIONSHIPS.

 

A few people asked me to write a blog about it and I thought, why not.  So I hope you ENJOY the read.

DISCLAIMER: If you are NOT a Christian, this post might seem conservative to you.  Understand that I am writing to Bible believing Christians who love Jesus.  HOWEVER - I love you and believe these principals are TRUE and EFFECTIVE.

PS.  You're Beautiful

     1. Before you get good at ROMANTIC – you need to get good at PLATONIC

Every great relationship starts with a great friendship

Marriage is about serving and loving someone for your whole life.  Practice by serving and loving friends, family and PEOPLE.

As the Proverb says, "The world of the GENEROUS gets LARGER and LARGER".  Learn to GIVE.

     2. Notice the RIGHT THINGS about each other

-          Too many people don’t find or sustain the right relationships because they’re looking for the wrong things.

Here are some things to remember:

Looks Matter

Yes.  Looks matter.  Be attracted to someone.

But remember, looks fade... so there has to be more.

Character Really matters

And... Here's the key to finding someone with CHARACTER... BECOME someone with CHARACTER!

Don't just look for the right person. BECOME the right person and you'll FIND the right person.

      Remember, Jesus matters MOST

Fact: People who love Jesus are hotter then people who don't. #HELLO

     3.     Men: initiate - Women: respond

I know this sounds sexist.  But it's true.

Guys are HUNTERS. We hunt.  It's how we roll.

-         Women, NEVER make it TOO EASY. A guy will not respect prey that just 'falls into his trap'

Make him understand that you deserve to be PURSUED and RESPECTED

And then... RESPOND. Don't play games.

Bonus: Pursuing and responding doesn’t stop in marriage.  I PURSUE my wife DAILY

    

    4.    Healthy boundaries don’t RESTRICT your relationships – they ENRICH your relationships

Tweet that.


Some Wisdom on Boundaries:

It is not 'OK' to have sex with someone you’re not married to. Ever.

ESPECIALLY if you’re a Bible believing Christian and you love Jesus.

Sex is powerful and God created it for marriage. 

In marriage, it has the power to bring you close. Outside marriage, it has the power to hurt, confuse and damage.

    

    Set boundaries at a safe distance from temptation and sin

-     Don’t ask, "How far is to far" instead ask, "How can we WIN in this relationship."
 

    I enjoyed writing this. I hope you enjoyed reading it.  

    Be brave.  Be courageous.  

    Praying that you SUCCEED in all your relationships.  I believe in you!

    K.

Re-Cap of 'From the Inside-Out'

I wanted to give a quick re-cap on the message from the HUB last night for 2 reasons:

      1. It’s an important message that is easy to mis-understand

      2. I had the flu and my squeaky voice might have distracted you because it certainly was distracting ME!

Here’s the message in 7 points. Enjoy:

       Your Focus will Form your Future.

Your direction in life will be determined by what you FOCUS on.

Ask yourself: “What am I focusing on?”

       As Christians, we’re simply called to focus on Jesus.

The crazy thing is, it’s easy to get out of focus.  Check yourself

       The problem of the ‘Rich Man’ in Luke 18 wasn’t his MONEY, it was his FOCUS

Read Luke 18:18-23. 

The problem wasn’t that this man had money; the problem was, his CASH was keeping him from focusing on JESUS

       The message of Jesus isn’t ‘DO’ it’s ‘TURN’

People who see Church as religious think the Church wants them to DO

However, religion says DO but Jesus says DONE. (@Propaganda #Hashtag)

The message of Jesus (and the Church) isn’t ‘DO’ it’s ‘TURN’.  He’s concerned with you shifting your focus to Him.  He wants you to see him, to turn to him.  LOOK at JESUS

       DOING changes you from the OUTSIDE-IN, TURNING changes you from the INSIDE-OUT

Grace is not about staying the same.  Grace accepts you the way you are, but loves you WAY TOO MUCH to let you stay there.

If you focus on Jesus, you change - but not from the outside in, it's REAL change. From the INSIDE-OUT

** It’s impossible to look to Jesus and live in sin at the same time.  #hello

       Jesus moves towards those who look to Him in Faith.

Read Luke 19:1-9

The Bible says Zacchaeus, un-like the Rich Man, just wanted to 'Look at Jesus'

When he looked at Jesus in Faith, Jesus moved toward him, called him by name and came to his home

I wish our generation would stop focusing on what’s wrong with them, and instead focus on what’s right with Jesus

*Notice that Zaccheaus did what the Rich Man couldn't; He gave his wealth away.  He was CHANGED as he focused on Jesus

       What’s CAPTIVATING you more than CHRIST?

Is there something in your life that's captivating your focus MORE than Jesus?

I want to challenge you to take a deep breath.  Turn from whatever your focusing on and fix your eyes on the King.

When you live this way - day in and day out, looking to Him, honouring him, reading his word, talking to him etc… watch Jesus begin to transform you into who you were created to be.  

From the Inside-Out

Love ya.

K.

Leaders, Followers, Decisions + Honor

I'm a little nervous about this post,

Why? Because I have little right to speak into your life when it comes to leadership - especially when we have access to so much great content from leaders all over the world.

HOWEVER, something hit me while I was driving home from work yesterday that I think will be helpful to young/inexperienced leaders like myself + I'd love to share it with you:

Great LEADERS are great FOLLOWERS and great FOLLOWERS make DECISIONS that HONOR their leader.

First of all, what makes a great leader?  A great follower!

As a young pastor, I have many in authority above me. The strength of my leadership is my ability to follow, obey + assist my leaders. And ULTIMATELY I follow Jesus. In fact, I follow my leaders because they follow Jesus.

Secondly, All great leaders are GREAT decision makers.

I found that my leadership increased as my ability to make wise decisions increased. Making decisions, small or large, increased my influence - especially when those decisions added value to the people around me.

FINALLY comes the big problem I see and the question we should ask:

Many young leaders are HESITANT to make any decision, especially big decisions.

Should I buy this car?
Should I pray for this person? Is it appropriate? What will they think?
Should I order the fillet minion or the chicken strips?

This hesitation is DECREASING young leaders influence.

So how do we learn to make right decisions?  I believe its really easy.

Always make the decision that HONORS your leader.

When I'm faced with a challenging decision I always ask these two questions:

Is this choice honoring to my Pastor?
Is this choice honoring to God?

Since all I'm doing is leading people to the person I follow - it's easy to make wise decisions.

So lead by following, follow by deciding, and decide by honoring.

K.

"Called" or "On Call"?

2 Timothy 1:9 "For God saved us AND called us to live a holy life."

I would hate working at a job that put me "On Call".  It literary makes no sense.

When you're "on call" - you're not WORKING. You're not using your talents, your skills or your abilities... you're not even getting paid. You're just sitting... waiting for the phone to ring.  And the reality is, sometimes the phone NEVER rings.

I think far to many Christians live "On Call"

Think about it.  We KNOW what we WON'T do.  "I don't go to those kind of parties" - "I don't Smoke" - "I don't talk like that" etc...

And the world asks, "Why not?"

And we say, "Well... Because I'm "On Call"... That's just not what a Christian does."

That's all fine and good... but here's the point, what do you say when the world asks: "Well, who are you then? What DO you DO?"

Too many of us describe our Faith by saying who we AREN'T instead of describing WHO WE ARE.  We live "On Call" - We're sitting around, waiting patiently for Jesus to appear and tell us what to do. We're simply "on reserve" so to speak; steering clear from sin but wildly IN-ACTIVE in our faith.

But there's some good news. The Bible says that Jesus didn't put us "on call", Jesus picked up the phone and CALLED US!

You are Called.

Called people don't talk about who they AREN'T, they talk about WHO THEY ARE.

Called people don't sit around waiting for Jesus to show up.  They realized he SHOWED UP - they trust Him, they move for Him and they become His HANDS and FEET wherever they're at in life.

Being called is not about the BIG THING God want's you to do.  It's about being faithful with living for Jesus every day. It's about understanding that God has placed you at your Job, your School, or your Church for a HIGHER PURPOSE and TODAY is the day to reach people far from God wherever you're at in life.

So don't worry about missing the BIG THING God has for you.  Understand that you're CALLED today. Be faithful in the little things, the little conversations, the every-day opportunities to love.

Consider yourself called.

K.

Busy?

Philippians 4:9 "Be anxious in nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be known to God; and the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus."

I find it increasingly interesting that when I ask, "How are you doing" to people around me, close to 9 out of 10 give me the answer, "BUSY"

I'm like... Really? You're not GOOD, you're not BAD, you're not EXCITED, you're not FRUSTRATED... you're busy...

I'll tell you what that word means to me - out of control.

If you're busy you're anxious. Life is coming at you so fast that you can't handle it, and you feel OVERWHELMED.  Busy means - "I HATE WHERE MY LIFE IS AT RIGHT NOW."

And yet - 9 out of 10 people, without fail, say "Busy"

This is a problem.

The funny thing is, I don't think this 90% statistic of busy people says that 90% of people are totally overwhelmed and out of control - I think "busy" is just the new cool word to say.

Busy makes you feel IMPORTANT.  If we say we're busy, people think that we have "important things to do", it's a mask we put on to cover our laziness or self-consciousness.  Probably half of the people who tell me they're busy don't have kids... or jobs for that matter. lol.

Here's the point: Let's take the word "busy" out of our vocabulary.  Instead of sounding like we're OUT OF CONTROL let's remain IN CONTROL of our lives!  There's a thought.

Instead of "Busy" let's say "My schedules pretty full"

Instead of "Busy" let's say "HAPPY", "GREAT", "FANTASTIC" Let's speak some positive words over our life.

Instead of "Busy" let's say "It's a frustrating season" Let's be honest and get real. I'm all good with that.

The Bible says "Be anxious in nothing", in other words, Don't vent to others about how busy you are - especially in casual conversation.  Let's just take it to God and allow him to give us peace.  He's GRACED you for this season - he's not called you to be BUSY, he's called you to be IN CONTROL and at PEACE.

If you're feeling overwhelmed + busy, there's a great Biblical solution. Pray. You'll realize how busy you aren't.

K.

Just Bounce.

Proverbs 20:19 "A gossip goes around telling secrets, so don't hang around with chatters."

We need to bounce our gossip like we need to bounce our eyes.

I was taught by some great preachers to "bounce" my eyes when confronted with an opportunity to lust.  For example, when a good looking woman walks by, every moral man has a choice - look... OR "bounce" our eyes the other way.  Sometimes us men will use mental excuses to look in the inappropriate direction; something like, "I think I know her!" - The reality is, you DON'T know her but your sub-conscious is trying to make a legitimate excuse for your lustful look.

And you thought women were complicated...

Here's the point - I think GOSSIP works in a similar way.  We're having a conversation and then, all of a sudden, we're confronted with the opportunity to gossip.  Sometimes we reason in our minds, "This isn't gossip, we're just having a discussion" or "I'd say this to her face".  But at the end of the day, let's call a horse a horse.  It's gossip.

And I am not innocent of this...

What if Christians worked on a new spiritual discipline.  When somebody starts gossiping - just bounce.

Gossip is going down... you just check out, leave the room, stop them. Just BOUNCE.

You're going to bring honor to God, save your reputation and probably keep someone from putting their foot in their mouth.

K.