An Encouraging Quote

"God must have had a lot of confidence in you to put you on the planet at this time"

- Reggie McNeal "The Present Future"

Mr. Eko in the new GI Joe movie!!!!

WOW!!!!! Eko Lives!

Miracles

Married life has been awesome! It's been great-everything that I hoped it would be. But it also has its challenges such as finances. I don't usually share something so personal, but I felt I needed to share this story. As of now, financially we are not doing so good. We have been struggling to tell you the truth. With events such as Christmas and January Birthdays galore- plus the mortgage and the bills- we took a hit financially. This week for the first time in my life, we went into the red! If you don't know what that means, it means you go into the negative- you don't have money. Your spending money that you don't have.

So obviously, we were panicing and we were very worried. As you can imagine,we started quarelling and bickering about money. To be honest, these fights takes a toll emotionally and spiritually. It really is tough. And mentally it takes a toll, when will the money come in? Our paycheques wouldn't be in for a whole week! Where would we get the money to pay for the other bills??!! 

The next day, I went home to my parents house and I had some mail. So I check it and in one of the envelopes was a cheque! A $92 cheque! What the heck!! And it was just enough for one of our bills!

The next week we got our pay cheques and we had to pay our bills- but for some reason our pay cheques weren't enough! We had only $63 left in our bank account and we needed $200 to pay our tithe and one of our bills. Where would we get the money? 

So we were again scared! What do we do? I can't believe this is happening! For two weeks in a row we would be in the red again! Now I had to go get gas that evening and I was thinking of using our credit card since we had no money. But before I went to get gas I checked the mail. And in the mail was a $69 cheque!! But it didn't stop there, Shaula found a $100 cheque that she got in October 2008 but had forgotten to deposit! It was more than enough to pay our bills!

God is good man! God is soo goood! I cannot even describe how good He is! He always comes through for us. He always provides! I cannot explain what just happened- the only way I can explain it is that God showed up. He has never let me down.

God loves you! He knows your needs! Trust in Him! I don't say this because I am a "Pastor" or that I'm trying to sell you something. But this story truly happened to me and Shaula. This happened in real life. Does God still do miracles? I think so! Actually, I know so because one just happened.

LOST is back on Wednesday!!!

LOST is back this Wednesday! I cannot wait!! LOST is the best show ever! I'm going to be very sad when it ends in 2010. So watch LOST on Ch. 5 starting at 9pm with the recap show, then the first episode at 10pm and then the 2nd Episode at 11pm!! Can't wait!!!

New Chuck Promo!!!! Wow!!!!

New Chuck Promo!!! Check it out here!!!

Transition feels so weird

I'm definitly in a moment of transition in my life and it feels very very weird.  I cannot describe the feeling- it's like things are changing so rapidly that I can't catch up. My dreams and desires are changing so fast- faster than I had imagined. It's really really weird! Though these feelings are arising, I am definitly very excited for the future, but I'm sad that I have to leave the Bridge. It's been an interesting few months, my passions and desires are definitly changing from Student Ministry to the local church. Now don't get me wrong, I still love working with students. They are awesome! It's just my heart and my dreams are just shifting more towards the Church as a whole. 

I am very excited about the new adventure God has set before me. I would have never thought this would ever happen in my life. I am very excited but I am also nervous. Many thoughts come to mind like, what if we fail? What will I do with finances? Is creating a Church harder than I think? But truth be told I really do trust Christ to take care of me and my wife. I truly believe this is where God wants us to be. Is it scary? It is but it is also exciting!

I'm just at a point in my life where I need to see God move! I want to step out in faith and see God do the impossible. I'm sick of just reading about in the Bible, I want to see it with my own eyes. And I want to tell my children that I saw God move in tremendous ways! I want to be a part of the story that God has been writing. I want to join the Holy Spirit as He changes the world.

My wife has been so good to me. She is allowing me to pursue my dreams. We are both worried about many things like finances, but one thing we know is that this is where God wants us to be! I'm just glad that Shaula will be at my side as we go on this ride into the unknown. I am also thankful for the great team that I have. I'm thankful that they have decided to come along on this ride with me. They are certainly my "dream team", I really feel they are the best team that I can possibly have. I'm ready for this adventure- I hope they are too! Things are about to get exciting. 

Kelly Clarkson's new single!

Listen to Kelly's new single right here:

http://www.amazon.com/Life-Would-Suck-Without-You/dp/B001P9M8HS/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=dmusic&qid=1231470399&sr=8-2

New Transformers Poster!!!

This looks so sweet!!!!!

Chuck in 3-D!!!

Chuck comes back on February 2, 2009 and the episode will be in 3D! NBC is supposed to be giving out 150 million 3D glasses but I'm not sure if that includes Canada. I hope so! The episode will also be guest starring Dominic Monaghan aka Charlie from LOST and Jerome Bettis of the Pitsburgh Steelers! I can't wait! Chuck comes back in 25 days!

(Click on the Picture to see it bigger)

Movie Review: Marley and Me

4 Stars out of 5

Marley and Me is a great movie for the whole family and for dog lovers. I really loved how realistic this movie felt. If you have a dog, you will know what I mean! But not only that, they truly portrayed married life in its true form- lots of love and hard work! They showed that married life takes a lot of sacrifice, work and lots of love. It actually kind of scared me from having kids..lol..they were so stressed out in the movie. Yikes! 

It was also really cool to see Owen Wilson and Jenifer Aniston in these roles. They acted extremely well as husband and wife. They were able to capture the essence of marriage and how to truly love each other despite the many obstacles that they faced. This movie was so realistic I couldn't believe my eyes. They didn't sugar coat anything, they told the truth.

There was one scene in the movie where Owen Wilson'swho played John was telling his friend Sebastian about all the troubles and stress he was experiencing at home. Sebastian's intitial solution was to just get a divorce but thankfully John said no and that they needed to work things out. And it kind of tells something about the state of society where divorce is so rampant and to get a divorce seems like the preferred choice whenever problems arise. But marriage is hard work! It takes a lot of sacrifice. It's so easy to give up, but we must be willing to at least work at it.

Of course, the best part of the movie was the dog, Marley! Dogs are just simply amazing. It's so hard to describe what having a dog does to you. They are such a blessing and they are so enjoyable even when they are bad! I never understood why people loved dogs so much until I got one. Now I understand, they are truly a man's best friend. 

If you have a dog, this movie will truly move your soul and your heart. If you don't have one, then this movie will probably make you want one. If your alergic to dogs, that sucks for you! Pray you get one in heaven. I truly believe that when my dog dies, she will be the first one waiting for me when I get to heaven. Dogs are truly a blessing.

Verse of the Day

Colossians 4:5-6 (The Mesage)

Use your heads as you live and work among outsiders. Don't miss a trick. Make the most of every opportunity. Be gracious in your speech. The goal is to bring out the best in others in a conversation, not put them down, not cut them out

Verse of the Day

Acts 5:38-39

Therefore, in the present case I advise you: Leave these men alone! Let them go! For if their purpose or activity is of human origin, it will fail. But if it is from God, you will not be able to stop these men; you will only find yourselves fighting against God.

Kelly Clarkson is back!!!

My favorite American Idol is coming with a new album in 2009! I'm so excited! I love her! I wish she didn't cancel her concert here in Calgary, but I hope she comes back.

Something to remember and grasp..

Galatians 2:19-21 (The Message)

What actually took place is this: I tried keeping rules and working my head off to please God, and it didn't work. So I quit being a "law man" so that I could be God's man. Christ's life showed me how, and enabled me to do it. I identified myself completely with him. Indeed, I have been crucified with Christ. My ego is no longer central. It is no longer important that I appear righteous before you or have your good opinion, and I am no longer driven to impress God. Christ lives in me. The life you see me living is not "mine," but it is lived by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me. I am not going to go back on that. 

Is it not clear to you that to go back to that old rule-keeping, peer-pleasing religion would be an abandonment of everything personal and free in my relationship with God? I refuse to do that, to repudiate God's grace. If a living relationship with God could come by rule-keeping, then Christ died unnecessarily.

Grace Generation Church Meeting Minutes

Here are the Minutes:

Education

- encourage leaders to read the Gospels and study Jesus' life

- the UnChristian books are coming in soon; the need to educate ourselves is very important

Bank Account

- the need to open a bank account real soon, especially for donations that are coming before june

- need to open a bank account by end of January

- David needs to find out more info about finances in two weeks; the bank will probably have some info

- first aid for all the leaders? perhaps an option

Letter

- need to work on the letter asap!! Arvin and company have a deadline of two weeks for the first draft.

- we want to send out the letters by end of January

- first draft due on Jan. 11

- final draft due on Jan. 18

Renting a Building

- we need to look into renting a building and inquire about costs and monthly payments.

- if we grow like we are anticipating, the house will be hard to meet in

- raise enough money for 6 months of rent? could be the fundraising goal?

- services will start at the house first to test how many people come regularly

Strategic Plan for a Come as you are Culture

- just come! Everyone is accepted and welcomed no matter what their lifestyle is!

- everyone deserves a chance to encounter Jesus Christ

- this will start with us (church); to be accepting, to be loving

- to be real and transparent

- no dressing up needed

- we need to be more accepting of others and educate ourselves

- stop with the stereotypes and labels

- changing our mindset

- promoting come as you are on a regular basis

A Strategic Plan for Worship Services

- the goal of the worship service is for people to encounter God every sunday

- not a full band in the house

- mix it up between hymns and contemporary songs

- the songs and the message should match up

- there must be communication between audio visual, music and the Pastor every week as we plan for sunday

- instill in the DNA of the Church that every sunday is a chance to encounter to God; make each sunday and BIG sunday

- we must realize the magnitude of every sunday, a chance for people to encounter and experience God.

- create an atmosphere of freedom; people are free to worship in any way they want- dance, clap, shout, jump, or sit

- interaction between the worship leaders and the congregation

- for a house service, there will probably be guitar, congas, keyboard, tamberine, triangle, harmonica etc.

- mix of fast and slow songs

- not just worship songs; play like Skillet, or songs like "Lean on me"

- dramas/videos will be a big part of the service

- Lord's Supper will be done every month and of course baptisms

- Sermons will be Bible, video, and story oriented

- The value of Silence- more silent moments where people can pray and soak up the Spirit of God

- More congregation participation in worship- reading the Bible with your neighbor and talking about it, asking questions after the sermon, sharing in front of the Church

- Offering will be a part of the worship. The offering plate will be at the front of the Church where people can go up and give. We want to encourage people to give to God and that it is biblical, but in the end it is up to them. They don't have to give if they don't want too- there will be no pressure. Creating an atmosphere of no pressure but cheerful giving.

A Strategic Plan to Promote the Church

- Facebook

- Word of mouth

- brochures and flyers

- Street Team- Hazel Anderson?

- Community Events, cooking food

- Blogs

- Church launch in July

- lounges, church fantasy sports leagues

- web team, domain name, website- Arvin and Dan

Prayer Meeting this month- to be announced

Next Meeting: Stategic Plan for Community, Discipleship and Evangelism