The Gospel of Matthew

So we started a new study at Creekside.  We are looking at the Gospel of Matthew.  This was our first week in the series and you can download the message here.  You can subscribe to the podcast through iTunes or your preferred RSS reader.  But if you are looking for a good podcast to listen to this year, and spend some time learning about Jesus, than this may be a great resource for you.

So the reason that I am writing about this is two fold:

1)  I am really excited for this study because I’m a total Bible Geek.  So I am way into this kind of study, and by the time we are done with this, I will have participated in a study of all four of the Gospels.  I went through John with my first youth ministry, I went through Mark with a small group on Sunday Mornings when I first came to Northgate, and I just finished a study of Luke.  And know we are doing Matthew.   So basically in the span of four years I have studied all four gospels, and that really gives a sense of accomplishment.  Not that I know everything about these books, or that I was incredibly scholarly in these studies, but I have studied none the less.

2) This study marks a transformation in our church, we are really getting back to the basics of our faith, and what the essential things are, and we are coming to the Bible to see what the Bible says.   I think the farther and farther we go into this post-Christian era people will come back to curiosity of what the Bible really says, and instead of doing self help sermons and motivational pep-talks, I really think people want to know what God has said and what he is saying.

That being said, Creekside will always be a practical church.  We are not going to be parsing the Greek week to week, we break the book down into manageable chunks, and we look at the Bible to learn how to live our lives, not how to sound smart with words like transubstantiation, and pre-millennial, and so on.  But this transformation is really great, and I love what God is doing.   Every time we open the scriptures we are anticipating to hear from Him.

What a Game

So I don’t know how they do it, but the Seahawks have been able to stay in the playoffs with a 21-20 victory over Dallas. Incredible. I’ll be honest, I didn’t think the hawks would win just looking at how they have played the second half of the season. And if it weren’t for Romo’s botched hold, this game may have had a completely different outcome.

One word: Incredible!!!

This Service Brought To You By

Read this article at Church Marketing Sucks

It could be a great way to build community too. The Church that uses these free lunch cards could move very easily to people going out to lunch every sunday with new guests.  Brilliant.  And Chipotle wins so huge in that situation.  Wow, what a great idea.

And what if churches gave space in their programs or bulletins or monthly publications to companies like print shops, and places like that.  The poossibilities are endless, but you’ve got to set boundaries at some point, Like you can’t have the Men’s Ministry brought to you by, well you might know where that’s going.

Happy New Year!

Well the past week I have been silent with this here blog. I wanted to take a little break from my technology driven life and so I just hung out at home with Judah and Kathy, checked email occasionaly and played my new Wii (I didn’t take a complete break but I did take a break).

So it’s a new year and I have a lot of goals for this year.

Here are some that I am willing to share right now.

1. Lose 20 lbs. I have lost 40 lbs since may 2005, and since Judah has been born I have plataued, due to business and tiredness so now I’m going to get back on the train and try to drop some more of my flab. This is going to be a hard 20 lbs I feel so be praying for me.

2. Go on more Dates with Kathy. She’s hot and I like to be seen in public with her. :o)

3. Read a lot of books, and write reviews for each one to post here. I want to become a better writer, so I’m going to hang out with writers I respect and tell you why. If you want to see what I am reading, you can see my library right here

4. Watch less TV. I’m debating giving up TV for lent but 24 falls right in the middle of the Lenten season so I don’t know if I could do it. But I’ll be praying about it.

5. Pay off my Explorer this year. Kathy and I ahve been trying to be fiscally responsible and we are going to try to tackle our debts.

6. Get a handle on my organization skills. I purchased Getting Things Done by David Allen, and I have begun to implement some of the system.

7. Be more productive with less time. This is going to require me to build more teams and equip more people, but I have a lot of things on my desk that I know can be done better by people who have the right skills.

8. Organize and Execute an effective Missions Trip. We are going to Cofradia Mexico. And it’s going to rock.

9. Sleep more and better

5 things you might not know about me

I was tagged by JayCurlee.

1. I hung out with Christian Rock PowerHouse John Schlitt for several hours when we were playing in Lynden.

2. I am a middle Child

3. My first car was a 1985 Chevy Cavalier nicknamed “chip”

4. My wife is amazing – “Wait you should know that.”
5. “I Love Rap Music” has a very special place in my heart.

I’m tagging Chris, Jeanette, and Angie

Christmas Time

Well it’s almost here. The Celebration of the birth of our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. I love Christmas. It’s awesome to celebrate Jesus for whatever reason, and it’s nice that people give me stuff and I in turn give them stuff. It’s fun.

I don’t really like to think about Christmas until the week of becuase there is so much hype and lame-ness that just drive me nuts. I used to work at a Drug Store and they would play christmas music hours on end the day after thanksgiving. And Stocking all the tacky decorations was incredibly frustrating, there was no Jesus, Lots of Santas and reindeers but no Jesus. So it kind of soured me on Christmas.

So Whenever I hear “Frosty the Snowman” or “Here Comes Santa Claus” my skin begins to crawl. Kathy calls me Scrooge and Grinch, but I know that I’m not, I just want to play down the hype.

But this Christmas is really special becuase it’s our first Christmas with Judah. So we are going to do a living nativity on christmas eve in our front lawn and Judah is going to play Baby Jesus. Just kidding. I’m playing baby Jesus.

But Christmas is four days away and the festivities really start tomorrow, with our Christmas Party. Then Saturday we are going to go to Kathy’s Grandma’s house, then on Sunday Church in the Morning, Lunch at Kathy’s Parents, Gifts, Christmas Eve Service, Back to Kathy’s Parents, Home. Monday Christmas at my parents house, and I’m sure we will run back and forth between the families. So it’s going to be a busy weekend for us.

But I’m excited about Christmas and I hope you are too!