Teen Girl Pressure

Heard this today from a link on facebook from Walt Mueller, who is a expert when it comes to youth culture.  That is what he and his team do is study the dynamics of parents and teens.  His website it www.cpyu.org and it is a great resource for parents to talk with their kids/teens about issues that they are facing.  This is a great 1 minute clip that briefly lets you know what teen girls are facing today, it is definitely worth a listen.

LISTEN HERE

Bible Fast

Very unorthodox I know and most of my Baptist friends are probably praying for my salvation as I write this but it was what I felt I needed to do.  They say it takes 28 days to break a habit and so I took 28 days off from the Bible. Why?  Because I had developed a bad habit.

I didn’t do this out of laziness or because I had already missed that much time so I am covering it up by calling it a fast or because I read it in a book and thought to try it.  I did it because my time with God had become an item on a list for me to check off.  I wasn’t hungry for God’s word anymore.  I had become complacent and lacked a desire to dig deep and grow.  Don’t get me wrong I wanted to grow but the desire was not there.  So from March 10 to April 6 I didn’t read the Bible.

Here’s what happened.  My prayer time with God was better than it ever was and it forced me to listen to God through prayer instead of talking at Him.  I began to miss God’s word.  I began to have a desire to go deeper because I felt like I was missing something.  I broke the “checklist” habit of trying to fit it into my day and instead it became what I began my day with.  I have seen things in the Bible like never before.  I have had more passion for the gospel than ever before.  God has challenged me and given me a new vision, passion and excitement that I didn’t have before.

I don’t recommend this for everyone, but it was something that I needed to do for myself.  I didn’t tell anyone because they would all have thought I was crazy and maybe I was.  I just felt God telling me to check my motives about why I was doing what I was doing.  Was I pursuing His holiness or my happiness?  Did I want more of Him or just His blessings?  Did I truly want life change to happen in people’s lives or was it all about numbers?  What God has been doing in my heart I can barely explain but what I do know is that I God wants more of me.

Weekend Wrap Up

• Grandfather died on Friday
• Somehow God gave strength in the moment
• I am more than happy based on our talk today with it
• Setup and tear down went flawless and I am so pumped about that
• Our worship band did awesome today
• Had a great time speaking today…it was hard because God has been kicking my butt all week
• Cannot wait until next week!!!
• Heard so many people today talk about how they were searching for happiness and not holiness
• We had a lot of guest today and one said, “that was church, I am so coming back!”  Love to hear that
• Life groups went well tonight, some just took off to hang out together
• Can’t wait for UNITED next week
• I get to check out Shore Fellowship’s youth program on Wednesday…Eric Meyers is doing a great job there

Catalyst West 6 of 6: Perry Noble

Over the next couple blogs you will see quotes done by those who spoke at Catalyst West in LA over this last week.  Each of these guys are leaders in their field and have the ability to shape us with their quotes.  Just remember we were not there so some quotes are incomplete and we don’t know the context in which they were made.

• 8:38 PM tonymorganlive - Perry started talking about the other speakers. It was funny. You missed it.
• 8:40 PM tonymorganlive - “On the third situp I parted her hair.”
• 8:42 PM tonymorganlive - “Hey man, have you seen my Twitter?”
• 8:43 PM tonymorganlive - “The size of the vision God will give me is directly related to the amount of pain and discomfort I’m willing to endure.”
• 8:45 PM tonymorganlive - “The reason we experience pain is to understand his provision.”
• 8:46 PM tonymorganlive - “Trust him.”
• 8:48 PM tonymorganlive - “If you’ve been called to ministry, God’s hand is on you.”
• 8:50 PM tonymorganlive - “If you walked up to me and said ‘I like you but your wife is ugly,’ I’d punch you in the throat.”
• 8:51 PM tonymorganlive - (Perry just did his TV evangelist impersonation.)
• 8:52 PM tonymorganlive - “God said, ‘I don’t like those people either, Perry.’”
• 8:52 PM tonymorganlive - “I got to go to my first deacons meeting.”
• 8:53 PM tonymorganlive - “Dryness will always lead to desperation.”
• 8:54 PM tonymorganlive - “The Savior is trying to teach you and me who he is.”
• 8:57 PM tonymorganlive - “I don’t want to preach nice sermons.”
• 8:57 PM tonymorganlive - “Believe him.”
• 9:01 PM tonymorganlive - “God said, ‘I need you to feel what I feel, so you can do what I need you to do.’”
• 9:03 PM tonymorganlive - “Why do leaders run from big vision from God?”
• 9:03 PM tonymorganlive - “Leaders, we don’t have a hard time teaching on the sovereignty of God. We just have a hard time believing it.”
• 9:04 PM tonymorganlive - “There are people who are obsessed with discovery rather than development.”
• 9:05 PM tonymorganlive - “You feel stuck because you’re not ready for the next level.”
• 9:05 PM tonymorganlive - “Leadership is as easy as listening to God.”
• 9:06 PM tonymorganlive - “We don’t know what we’re doing?”
• 9:06 PM tonymorganlive - “Moses didn’t have a 40-year strategic plan.”
• 9:07 PM tonymorganlive - “God led Moses one step at a time.”
• 9:08 PM tonymorganlive - “If we got more concerned with repentance rather than attendance, revival would sweep our nation.”
• 9:08 PM tonymorganlive - “If you haven’t had a sleepless night about vision, you haven’t heard from God.”
• 9:08 PM tonymorganlive - “Cheese biscuits bring you closer to God.”
• 9:09 PM tonymorganlive - “What would you be willing to attempt for God if you knew you couldn’t fail?”
• 9:10 PM tonymorganlive - “Only when we surrender do we experience the supernatural.”
• 9:10 PM tonymorganlive - “I believe that God still heals people.”
• 9:10 PM tonymorganlive - “I dropped out of cemetary. I didn’t even finish.”
• 9:13 PM tonymorganlive - “We just consistently obeyed Jesus and, when we were ready for it, he blew our freakin’ minds.”
• 9:13 PM tonymorganlive - “We’re the church that’s known as the place where the ’sinners’ go.”
• 9:14 PM tonymorganlive - “The kid said, ‘I want to go back to the damn church.’ I said, ‘Get his name because he’s going to be on staff someday.’”
• 9:15 PM tonymorganlive - “Do you believe God has spoken a vision into your life?”
• 9:15 PM tonymorganlive - “Honor him.”
• 9:15 PM tonymorganlive - “Finish what you started.”
• 9:18 PM tonymorganlive - “She just stood there waiting for something to happen.”
• 9:18 PM tonymorganlive - “Don’t give up.”
• 9:20 PM tonymorganlive - “Don’t you dare give up on the God that’s never given up on you.”

Catalyst West 5 of 6: Craig Groeschel

Over the next couple blogs you will see quotes done by those who spoke at Catalyst West in LA over this last week.  Each of these guys are leaders in their field and have the ability to shape us with their quotes.  Just remember we were not there so some quotes are incomplete and we don’t know the context in which they were made.

• 3:54 PM tonymorganlive - Jud is introducing Craig from LifeChurch.tv.
• 3:55 PM tonymorganlive - (Just in case you didn’t know, Craig is the most handsome pastor in America.)
• 3:55 PM tonymorganlive - “I was taught and I thought” that’s the name of the talk.
• 3:57 PM tonymorganlive - “What believe determines what we do.”
• 3:58 PM tonymorganlive - “Do not be conformed any longer to the pattern of the American church.”
• 3:59 PM tonymorganlive - “I was taught the church should be a safe place, but I’m learning the church should be dangerous again.”
• 4:00 PM tonymorganlive - “We’ve been inviting people to a very safe God.”
• 4:02 PM tonymorganlive - “You are called by God to preach a very dangerous message.”
• 4:02 PM tonymorganlive - “Preach Christ.”
• 4:05 PM tonymorganlive - “He was different in the presence of God.”
• 4:05 PM tonymorganlive - “Don’t trust the package. Trust the power of the Gospel.”
• 4:07 PM tonymorganlive - “Practical Athiests = People who believe in God, but act like he doesn’t exist.”
• 4:07 PM tonymorganlive - “Lukewarm pastors build lukewarm churches.”
• 4:09 PM tonymorganlive - “I was taught was to build my church, but I’ve learned my highest calling is to build His Kingdom.”
• 4:11 PM tonymorganlive - “My pastor says your pastor doesn’t preach the Truth.”
• 4:12 PM tonymorganlive - “I was competitive with churches in my community.”
• 4:12 PM tonymorganlive - “I was building my own little kingdom more than I was building His Kingdom.”
• 4:13 PM tonymorganlive - “Build your church on what you’re about and not what you’re not about.”
• 4:13 PM tonymorganlive - “Don’t put others down.”
• 4:14 PM tonymorganlive - “One of my important missions in life is to unite the Church.”
• 4:15 PM tonymorganlive - (LifeChurch.tv offers all of their resources for free.)
• 4:16 PM tonymorganlive - “We can do more together.”
• 4:18 PM tonymorganlive - “I was taught that success is only found in the big numbers, but I’m learning that the scorecard is changing.”
• 4:18 PM tonymorganlive - “You can offer free beer and draw a crowd.”
• 4:19 PM tonymorganlive - “I was driven by the numbers.”
• 4:20 PM tonymorganlive - “Don’t blame yourself the declines, or you might be tempted to take credit for the increases.”
• 4:20 PM tonymorganlive - “Find your identity in Christ.”
• 4:21 PM tonymorganlive - “Otherwise, you’ll be preaching to bring people in rather than to glorify God.”
• 4:21 PM tonymorganlive - “We have to redefine the win.”
• 4:22 PM tonymorganlive - “There are 4 billion people who need Christ. How can we claim to be a megachurch? We are a small church with a megavision.”
• 4:23 PM tonymorganlive - “People want to join a big mission.”
• 4:25 PM tonymorganlive - “You may agree or disagree. I don’t really care a whole lot.”
• 4:26 PM tonymorganlive - Line 1 = “I believe in the Gospel enough to benefit from it.”
• 4:27 PM tonymorganlive - Line 2 = “I believe in the Gospel enough to contribute comfortably.”
• 4:27 PM tonymorganlive - Line 3 = “I believe in the Gospel enough to give my life to it.”
• 4:28 PM tonymorganlive - “What kind of message am I preaching and living?”
• 4:29 PM tonymorganlive - “If you stay the same, maybe you don’t really know Him.”
• 4:30 PM tonymorganlive - (Craig just did the worm.)
• 4:30 PM tonymorganlive - (That was a pretty powerful message.)

Catalyst West 4 of 6: Erin McManus

Over the next couple blogs you will see quotes done by those who spoke at Catalyst West in LA over this last week.  Each of these guys are leaders in their field and have the ability to shape us with their quotes.  Just remember we were not there so some quotes are incomplete and we don’t know the context in which they were made.

• 1:43 PM tonymorganlive - Erwin just took the platform. He has an interesting suspender thing happening with his wardrobe.
• 1:45 PM tonymorganlive - “There has never been one ordinary child born on this planet.”
• 1:45 PM tonymorganlive - “Why is it that so many of us end up leading ordinary lives?”
• 1:46 PM tonymorganlive - “We’re supposed to be unleashing people to do good.”
• 1:46 PM tonymorganlive - “The church has become more of a prison than a portal.”
• 1:50 PM tonymorganlive - (There’s a dance team performing right now. I think I should be on a dance team.)
• 1:54 PM tonymorganlive - “We can awaken God-given dreams inside others.”
• 1:56 PM tonymorganlive - “There are a lot of people who are pursuing dreams that don’t fit their lives.”
• 1:56 PM tonymorganlive - “There are other people who aren’t pursuing dreams that do fit their lives.”
• 1:57 PM tonymorganlive - “Is there a dream inside of you that’s waiting to come to life?”
• 1:58 PM tonymorganlive - (He just took a shot at the Cleveland Browns. That’s not right.)
• 2:04 PM tonymorganlive - “All of us have dreams inside of us that will never come to fruition unless we come together in community.”
• 2:06 PM tonymorganlive - “There was nothing wrong with me physically. I was just soul sick.”
• 2:18 PM tonymorganlive - (There’s power in story.)
• 2:18 PM tonymorganlive - “What would happen if all of us chose to live heroic lives?”
• 2:20 PM tonymorganlive - “I love when it looks dangerous but it’s not.”
• 2:24 PM tonymorganlive - “We must jump and step into that moment of fear and trust God.”
• 2:25 PM tonymorganlive - “In small packages, there are great dreams.”

Catalyst West 3 of 6: Jud Wilhite

Over the next couple blogs you will see quotes done by those who spoke at Catalyst West in LA over this last week.  Each of these guys are leaders in their field and have the ability to shape us with their quotes.  Just remember we were not there so some quotes are incomplete and we don’t know the context in which they were made.

• 5:06 PM tonymorganlive - Jud pastors a great church in Vegas.
• 5:07 PM tonymorganlive - “What do you see when you look in the mirror?”
• 5:12 PM tonymorganlive - Words Jud has wrestled with: guilty, ugly, small, alone, failure, not enough
• 5:12 PM tonymorganlive - “Until we settle the identify issue in our lives, it’ll never be enough.”
• 5:13 PM tonymorganlive - “In ministry, there is no ‘there’ there.”
• 5:17 PM tonymorganlive - “Do you believe that God really loves you?”
• 5:18 PM tonymorganlive - “Many Christian leaders are truly the worst when it comes to understanding God’s love in our lives.”
• 5:19 PM tonymorganlive - “We should talk to ourselves more than we listen to ourselves.” (Using God’s Word.)
• 5:20 PM tonymorganlive - “Our failures don’t ruin us forever.”
• 5:21 PM tonymorganlive - “Start celebrating the victories of others.”
• 5:22 PM tonymorganlive - “At Central, I’m not the most gifted leader on the church staff. And I love that.”
• 5:27 PM tonymorganlive - “God said, ‘I want you to serve me.’ Be faithful to that calling in your life.”
• 5:33 PM tonymorganlive - “What kind of difference can you make if you just decide to let God use you?”
• 5:34 PM tonymorganlive - “In Christ.”

Catalyst West 2 of 6: Guy Kawasaki

Over the next couple blogs you will see quotes done by those who spoke at Catalyst West in LA over this last week.  Each of these guys are leaders in their field and have the ability to shape us with their quotes.  Just remember we were not there so some quotes are incomplete and we don’t know the context in which they were made.

• 3:13 PM tonymorganlive - Guy Kawasaki is opening his session by taking some shots at Microsoft.
• 3:14 PM tonymorganlive - Guy has permission to use “suck” and “crappy” in this talk.
• 3:15 PM tonymorganlive - “I’m running God’s operating system.”
• 3:15 PM tonymorganlive - “Make meaning.”
• 3:15 PM tonymorganlive - “Make the world a better place.”
• 3:18 PM tonymorganlive - “Make a mantra.”
• 3:20 PM tonymorganlive - Guy is making fun of how we develop our mission statements.
• 3:23 PM tonymorganlive - “Are there two or three words that can define your church?”
• 3:23 PM tonymorganlive - “Jump to the next curve.”
• 3:25 PM tonymorganlive - “Most organizations define what they do by what they do.”
• 3:25 PM tonymorganlive - “If you define your organization by what you currently do, you’ll miss the next curve.”
• 3:26 PM tonymorganlive - “Roll the dicee.”
• 3:30 PM tonymorganlive - DICEE = Deep, Intelligent, Complete, Elegant, Emotive
• 3:30 PM tonymorganlive - “Don’t worry, be crappy.”
• 3:31 PM tonymorganlive - “If we would have waited for everything, we whould have never shipped.”
• 3:31 PM tonymorganlive - “In technology, we ship and then we test.”
• 3:31 PM tonymorganlive - “Don’t wait for the perfect world.”
• 3:32 PM tonymorganlive - “Polarize people.”
• 3:32 PM tonymorganlive - “If you try to create something that appeals to everyone, you will end up with mediocrity.”
• 3:34 PM tonymorganlive - “Let 100 flowers blossom.”
• 3:35 PM tonymorganlive - “You may find that people who are not your intended audience end up loving your church.”
• 3:36 PM tonymorganlive - “Desktop publishing saved Apple Macintosh.”
• 3:36 PM tonymorganlive - “One of the reasons I believe in God is that there’s no other explanation of Apple’s survival.”
• 3:37 PM tonymorganlive - “If people don’t get it in the first 15 minutes, they’ll never get it.”
• 3:37 PM tonymorganlive - “Churn baby, churn.”
• 3:38 PM tonymorganlive - “Once you ship, you have to listen again.”
• 3:38 PM tonymorganlive - “Niche thyself.”
• 3:44 PM tonymorganlive - “How is your church unique and adding value?”
• 3:44 PM tonymorganlive - “Follow the 10-20-30 rule.”
• 3:44 PM tonymorganlive - “You need to learn how to pitch.”
• 3:44 PM tonymorganlive - “Life is a pitch.”
• 3:47 PM tonymorganlive - “10 slides. 20 minutes. 30 point font.”
• 3:48 PM tonymorganlive - “Don’t let the bozos grind you down.”
• 3:56 PM tonymorganlive - “I picked my family over money.”
• 3:57 PM tonymorganlive - Check out church.alltop.com.
• 3:57 PM tonymorganlive - Twayer = Twitter + Prayer
• 3:58 PM tonymorganlive - “Dear God: Thank you for this opportunity to serve. Let your innovation shine & make the world a better place for all people. Amen! #catwest”

Read more: “TonyMorganLive.com” – http://tonymorganlive.com

Catalyst West 1 of 6: Andy Stanley

Over the next couple blogs you will see quotes done by those who spoke at Catalyst West in LA over this last week.  Each of these guys are leaders in their field and have the ability to shape us with their quotes.  Just remember we were not there so some quotes are incomplete and we don’t know the context in which they were made.

• 1:22 PM tonymorganlive - Thanks to TetherBerry, I’m live. We’ll see how this works. Just saw Hillsong United lead worship.
• 1:26 PM tonymorganlive - Jud Wilhite form Central Christian in Vegas is hosting. Good guy.
• 1:27 PM tonymorganlive - Watching the fun and games portion of the program.
• 1:29 PM tonymorganlive - Andy is about ready to take the platform.
• 1:31 PM tonymorganlive - “My favorite thing in life is to speak to church leaders.”
• 1:38 PM tonymorganlive - “The higher up in the organization, the greater the complexity and the more uncertainty there is.”
• 1:38 PM tonymorganlive - “Uncertainty is why we need leaders.”
• 1:39 PM tonymorganlive - “As long as there are unanswered questions, this organization needs me.”
• 1:39 PM tonymorganlive - “God created the gift of leadership. He gave it to certain people. Not everyone has it.”
• 1:40 PM tonymorganlive - “God is not uncertain.”
• 1:41 PM tonymorganlive - “Uncertainty is the arena in which good leadership is identified.”
• 1:41 PM tonymorganlive - “I will always be uncertain. I’m certain of it.”
• 1:43 PM tonymorganlive - “A story without uncertainty isn’t a very interesting story.”
• 1:45 PM tonymorganlive - (I hate hearing Andy Stanley speak, because it just fuels the drive and the passion of everything inside me.)
• 1:45 PM tonymorganlive - “You don’t learn anything when everything is going well.”
• 1:48 PM tonymorganlive - “Instill in me a deeper passion for leading your people”
• 1:49 PM tonymorganlive - “Clarity. Flexibility.”
• 1:49 PM tonymorganlive - “As a leader, it is okay to be uncertain but it’s not okay to be unclear.”
• 1:50 PM tonymorganlive - “Pull back to that thing that God called you to do in the beginning.”
• 1:51 PM tonymorganlive - “Clarity will trump uncertainty.”
• 1:55 PM tonymorganlive - “We’re going to trust God to take care of the part we don’t know about.”
• 1:56 PM tonymorganlive - “You can be clear even when you’re uncertain.”
• 1:59 PM tonymorganlive - “Retreat to the vision.”
• 1:59 PM tonymorganlive - “What can you do proactively around what God called you to do?”
• 2:00 PM tonymorganlive - “What has God called you to do?”
• 2:01 PM tonymorganlive - “Plans change. Vision remains the same.”
• 2:04 PM tonymorganlive - “Don’t confuse the plan with the vision.”
• 2:05 PM tonymorganlive - “In times of uncertainty, plans change a lot.”
• 2:05 PM tonymorganlive - “We fall in love with our plans. And we make the mistake of saying ‘God told me…’”
• 2:07 PM tonymorganlive - “In times of uncertainty, there is no better time to change plans.”
• 2:07 PM tonymorganlive - “Where is the vision conflicting with the plan? Sacrifice the plan for the vision.”
• 2:08 PM tonymorganlive - “No decision is ever sacred, but the vision never changes.”
• 2:09 PM tonymorganlive - “Blame it on the economy and change it baby.” (Smile)
• 2:10 PM tonymorganlive - “You need to learn how to confidently express your uncertainty.”
• 2:12 PM tonymorganlive - “Leadership is not about making decisions on your own. It’s about owning the decisions once they are made.”
• 2:12 PM tonymorganlive - “You have to pray like crazy for God’s wisdom and direction.”
• 2:13 PM tonymorganlive - “God, please show me your will for my life.”
• 2:13 PM tonymorganlive - (I needed this session today. Good stuff.)
• 2:16 PM tonymorganlive - “As a leader, I need grace.”
• 2:18 PM tonymorganlive - “God’s calling on my life is sure.”

Grandpa

Rough day!  Have not really even processed this nor am I good at doing that anyways.  All I know is that this morning around 9:00am I got a call from my Aunt telling me that she had bad news for me.  This day was coming and I was prepared to hear that my grandma had finally lost her battle with cancer but that is not what I heard.  Instead my grandpa had passed away peacefully in his sleep last night only to wake up instantly in the presence of the very God who created him.

There are a lot of “I wishes” that I have.  I wish that I had spent more time with him as an adult.  I wish that he had met my wife.  I wish that he had met my kids.  I wish that I had taken the trip out there to see him when I was going to.  I wish that he had gotten to see me preach.  I wish that I had lived closer to him and been able to take care of him.  I wish I had one more day to call him.  I wish that death did not sting so much.  I wish that tears did not flow.  I wish everyone could have a man of God like my grandpa invest in their life.  I wish, I wish, I wish.

I think the key when someone we loves passes away is to not dwell on the “I wishes” but on the I remembers.

• I remember wrestling with him when I was a little boy.
• I remember sleeping in his motor home when they would drive from California to Washington to visit us.
• I remember we always had fresh fruit when he was around.
• I remember him always sneaking us candy bars.
• I remember him always looking at maps, which either means he knew everything very well or never had a clue where we were going.
• I remember him riding his motorcycle and I thought he was the coolest guy in the world.
• I remember him modeling what it meant to be Godly even though it was not modeled by others in my life.
• I remember him reading his Bible with the night light on.
• I remember him snoring, it was such a unique snore for such a big guy.
• I remember going to Disneyland with him.
• I remember having to clean out part of his garage and I swear he tried to kill me doing it that day.
• I remember sitting on his lap and steering.
• I remember that marriage was important to him and he stayed married for 61 years with no regrets.

My grandfather left a legacy behind of kids and grand-kids who love God because we are all better people for the investment that he had in our lives.

Who do you need to remember today and instead of having “I wish” moments go to them and create “I remember” opportunities?

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