Trip To Haiti Day 3

Woke up this morning at 5:00am, after finally falling asleep at about 2:45am! Nothing like a little nap to get you through the day. Mark and I headed down to meet Joaquin for breakfast, we had some great Haitian coffee, and some scrambled eggs. Then we headed out on our journey to Value, which is only about 50 miles away however because of the traffic, bad roads and I mean bad roads, and the very steep mountain where Value is located, it takes about 2.5 hours to drive there.


After another nap, a quick stop to water the vegitation, we wher back on the road and actually made a quick stop at the church that helped launch Value Baptist Church. We stopped in too see how they are and was a nice quick visit.


As we headed up the mountain to Value, I was reminded about the how much these people want to be at church, they have such a hunger for the Lord and for His word that they will literally travel for miles on FOOT, just to be there. Today there was a young couple that came from an area near Port Au Prince, they walked over 40 miles! Now that is huger!


As we climbed the mountain, we could see the church on the mountain side, and immediatly to my mind came "like a city on a hill that cannot be hidden" we are to shine our light for all to see! As we pulled up to the church, my heart was filled with joy, and as we headed into the church , I was in awe of what the Lord was doing. There in one room there was 3 sunday school classes going, adults, youth, and children. There was about 80 adults and youth, and 50 children! My heart was so over whelmed. As the service started(service was over 3 hours long) we sang songs, and more songs, and more songs.

I can't tell you enough how my heart was challenged. I can't express you enough how my life will never be the same. I can't thank you enough for the countless lives that will be forever impacted in Value, Haiti because YOU Palm Valley Church, chose to answer the call that the Lord had laid before you. So thank you!

Trip To Haiti Day 2

I can't express how excited I am to be here in Haiti with my good friend Mark Gumm to visit Value Baptist Church, and to see it's finished building that our church (Palm Valley Church) was able to partner with to build.

Yesterday was a very long day as Mark and I left Phoenix at 12:00am headed to NY, then headed to Haiti and arrived at 1:30pm. We where met by Joaquin Vargas(a very good friend, who is also our contact for Haiti) and also by Guillo Herado(also a friend, and Pastor in Haiti), and headed to straight to the ministry center that Guillo oversees. It is at this center that they have started a school for those who are desiring to be in full time vocational ministry. This is their first year being open and they have 15 students. We had a chance to meet with a few of them and to encourage them. I loved watching these guys just hang on every word that was being said, they are so hungry to learn!
After that we headed to our hotel, and had dinner, then we called it a night at 7:00pm Haiti time, which was 5:00pm Phoenix time, and I didn't wake up until 7:00am. 12 hours of sleep was AWESOME! I really did not realize how tired I was until I found myself literaly falling asleep during a conversation at dinner, and I knew I had to get some good sleep and I did!
This morning after about 12 cups of Hatian coffee(very good by the way!) we headed out to see Haiti and to make a few visits at a few churches and to see the different parts of Haiti. I was so encouraged to see how it has changed even in the 5 months it has been since I was here last. It was a fun day except when we met with a couple who have been missionaries in Haiti for several years and are stuck in a different mind set, I was so frustrated that I left before the conversation was over. Not even going to start on that one!
We headed to dinner and at dinner I saw a friend that I made last time I was here, his name is Franklin. He's a cool guy, 29 years old, and graduating in May, and speaks very good english. Right now Franklin is a Childrens Pastor, and works with 8 different churches, that impact over 800 children a week! This guy loves the Lord and has a passion and vision to win children to Christ! I love it!! I was so challenged to also hear of dreams and needs of the mission in Haiti and I'm excited to see what God is going as we continue to partner with Him here in Haiti!
Tomorrow we head to Value to see the church building, and I found out last night....I'll be teaching as well. Pray for me.

There's going to be a new lady in my life....

Friday Violet and I went to our doctor apt, to find out what our little bun in the oven is going to be, and I have to be honest, both Violet and I wanted to have a little girl, but if we a little boy was on his way, we would be just as excited! We waited patiently to hear the doctor say those words, and finally she spoke up..."you are having.....a....little....GIRL! Violet and looked at each other and we both had tears in our eyes. I laughed thinking, if I'm crying now, I'm going to be balling when our little Riley Sophia is finally in my arms.

Volunteers Rock My World!

Last night we had our Volunteer Appreciation dinner to show our volunteers just how awesome they are and how much they mean to us here at Palm Valley Church. Over 500 volunteers showed up and that doesn't include children! We provided a nice dinner for everyone and then for the entertainment, our staff put together some hilarious acts that brought many to tears laughing so hard!

As I looked around the room, my eyes where filled with tears, and my heart was overjoyed by these people that give so much of their time to serve here at PVC. But as I thought about it, I kept coming back to the thought that these people have caught it, they understand what it means to give of their time, talents, and their treasure. To all our volunteers, THANK YOU for all you do!

The New Guy In Town!

It has been a few weeks now, and to say that I was unhappy about the Suns trade would be a lie. I was happy about it. I can't thank Shawn Marion enough for his commitment to this Suns organization and to the fans, but it was pretty obvious that Shawn was more likely to move on and opt out of his contract at then end of this season anyways, so to actually get something for him was a bonus in my mind. I really am happy for Marcus Banks too cause he can actually play some minutes for a team that desperately needs a point guard and I really think he will fit in great with Riley's system in Miami.

Now for Shaq, well the jury is still out on if this was a great deal or not, but I really think it's going to help us in the end. I'm not sure if it's the DIE HARD suns fan that I am or not(most likely is) but I still think that we are better than Dallas, San Antonio, New Orleans, and people are calling me crazy, but I still think we will beat L.A. And that mostly stems from hating....actually hate is a strong work, so how about "LOTHE ENTIRELY", the L.A. Lakers. Not sure if there is a team, actually I am sure of it, there is no other team that I dislike more.

But I will stand by my words that it the Suns meet L.A. in the playoffs, we will have their number the same way we have the last couple of years.

Bottom line, I'm excited to see the Suns in the Finals against Boston, and we will have a rematch of the first time the Suns went to the Finals, but this time, it will be ours!

the uncalling of God- obedience Part 2 of 2

I've recently really been wrestling with a few thoughts about pastors and what causes them to leave ministry. This all came about a few months ago when I heard again of another buddy of mine that I went to college with (Southwestern Bible College) and that he left full time vocational ministry, he told me that he was done, and that he wasn't going to do it ever again. And that was hard to hear, especially because I felt the same way before, however I was very fortunate to have someone who I really respect (now my Pastor) walk with me though that time and encourage me. My heart aches for my buddy, and it made me think of how many more have has some kind of bad experience as well. So I started contacting several of my old buddy's and was a little surprised to find out that 12 out of 20 of them are not currently in a full time vocational ministry an longer. Now please hear me when I say that I don't have a problem with someone leaving full time vocational ministry and making a career doing something else. What I am saying is I want to know what happened to this person along the way that caused them to go from believing that God had called them to full time ministry, then to walk away from that all together, I have a hard time with this. Is it that they where not called to begin with, or a lack of obedience, or did God uncall some of them? I really don't know, but I'm excited to find out some more info. I'm getting a group of the guys together that I graduated with and we are going to have a round table discussion about this very topic of why they pulled out of ministry. I'm convinced that something has to be done, because great leadership does not squash leadership potential, it develops it.

As I process all of this I came back to my thoughts on Obedience....and my question is this, and please let me know your thoughts I'd love to hear them....

If someone feels "Called" to full time ministry, can they be "Uncalled" or is it just a lack of obedience?

Obedience Part 1 of 2

I was recently talking with someone who had to make a very difficult decision. They sought advice from those they respect, they prayed about the situation, they had those that care about them pray about the situation and then something happened....God provided an option for this person to take. Now things at this point can go in 2 different directions. This person can either choose to acknowledge the opportunity and so then act on it, or choose not to acknowledge it and keep moving on and keep praying about it. I believe when we pray for things the Lord answers those prayers by providing options of how we can deepen our faith in Him. If we recognize these moments and seize them, I believe we are acting on FAITH, and when we act in faith we are walking in OBEDIENCE to how Christ wants us to live.