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Monday Musings

• Another wild day at The Mission
• I think I am getting used to the stage.  It has taken some adjustment but it is good to be able to see the folks in the back of the room.
• Friday night was really something else.  We do setup on Friday night and then we pray.  The Lord gave me a vision as clear as day.  As He did everything kind of broke open in the room.  Folks had visions of the harvest, others had encounters with the Lord as He addressed their sin issues and their future, some people did some radical giving including a cell phone, cash, and a fake ID (that’s the kind of folks that come to The Mission).
• I woke up Sunday morning and the anointing was on me like it was Friday night.  It was so heavy I had Tracey drive me to church.  That may have never happened to you but it did to me.  Not sure why but it did.
• Serg killed it in worship.
• Sometimes I feel bad for other churches that don’t have our worship.  Maybe we can raise up worship leaders to send into the harvest.
• I preached on the call of the lost.  Great message.  Unfortunately nobody outside of service will ever hear it do to some technical difficulties.
• I was going to pray for the revivalists in the room but stopped and said, “Is there anyone here is the room who is in sin and wants to give their life to Jesus?”  8 folks came forward.
• That’s what’s up.
• Go is dealing with me regarding leadership an systems.  Its hard to trust that others will do jobs with the same level of excellence and commitment.  But the Holy Ghost is telling me time and again that gifts are multiplied through leadership
• Wish I had the time to tell o some of the folks that have recently gotten saved at The Mission.  Really out of this world kind of stuff.
• Ok, one real quick one.  This girl came who had never been to church in her life.  I was praying for someone and she was near me so I reached out a hand to her.  I prayed for her and she was overcome with the Spirit of God.  A little later I prayed for her to receive Jesus as her Savior, then she flled with the Holy Ghost, prayed in tongues and hit the floor again.
• That’s whats up.

Monday Afternoon Delights

• Exciting times at The Mission
• We had a great guy deliver our new stage.  We really needed this.  We are not one of those churches that has some big church up north stroking checks.  Everything we have purchased cam through the tithes and offering of the people of The Mission.  We have a great testimony of how we came to be able to get this stage but the bottom line is we have it and the back of the room could finally see worship.
• I wonder if they thought Tracey and I were singing that whole time?
• Probably not.
• About a dozen folks came up for the altar call.
• We have released our first worship cd Raw & Uncut.  It is a live worship CD from The Mission.  We are going to use the proceeds to pay for the stage.
• Buy yours now!  http://www.musicfromthemission.com
• The music at the altar call kind of fell apart but we will work on that.
• We have a new head greeter.  Diane stepped in when we needed one but we were looking for a permanent replacement.  I really needed to free her up to focus on her ministry at FAU.  More on that later.
• Might have another member of the team to announce soon.
• God is blessing our efforts here.  For years I cried out to God to see young urban people saved and filled with the Holy Ghost.  I almost have to pinch myself as I see it happening.
• The  greatest days are ahead.
• Go buy a couple dozen CDs!

Monday Morning Musings

• Great Day at The Mission
• Had my friend Pedro Ortiz come and preach for me and he tore it up!
• Had another great crowd.  Gotta put out more chairs next week.
• We announced another engagement.  Believe it or not the wedding is today.
• I am really tired today so this may not be the longest recap ever.
• At the end of service Pastor Pedro had an altar call for refreshing.  Before we started ministering I saw the Holy Ghost hovering over a few people.  That gets me excited and worried.  Excited because God is showing me some people that are called.  Worried because it breaks my heart every time I see one of the called ones walk away from the call.  Someone came to church yesterday that has not been there in months.  They came with someone that thinks they are in control of their life but is being pimped by the devil.  I wish I could lift the blinders but I don’t have that power.  The bible tells us that wisdom cries out and some choose not to listen.  That’s painful but it is the truth.
• Sergio shared last night in ASD.  God is raising him up to be a giant.
• Podcast and pics are up.

Monday Morning Musings – Lake City Edition

• I am currently sitting in a Taco Bell in Lake City Fl for some free WiFi.  I just got done doing some guerrilla WiFi to upload the podcast.  I could not find a public access point that allowed ftp so I sat outside a large church and did it there.  Churches never secure their networks.
• We were planing to leave from church to go to my in-laws so we had the van all packed.  When we went to leave for church the battery was dead.  Not how I wanted to start the morning.
• We had our second baby dedication.  Alex owns the shop I get my hair cut at.  He and his wife recently started coming an have brought at least a dozen folks hungry for life change.  There is nothing like watching the Holy Ghost ignite someone’s gifting.
• We had an elderly Jewish lady in the service.  She did not agree with my interpretation of Exodus, said the service was too loud and “hated” the music.  Wonder what she thought of the strobe lights?  That’s usually the first thing older folks comment on about our services.  I would comment on that cute lady who usually does the announcements.
• I preached the third message in our Journey series.  Desert Instructions.  At the end the music was having issues in the altar time.  The mic was not working.  I could not get a flow.  So I just stopped and asked anyone who wants to get saved to come forward.  14 did.  That’s pretty cool.
• There was this really nice lady who refused to close her eyes when I prayed for her.  No problem.  I started praying an the Holy Ghost hit her like a truck.  People who have never been to church have no idea what is coming.
• Largest crowed ever.  We need to buy some staging.  We may have an offering or something.  Not sure yet but I could not see the folks in the back of the room.
• Had some great conversations after service with some folks who recently started coming.  Some amazing testimonies.
• On that note, I am amazed at the call on some of the folks that God is bringing.
• Since about the second week in January we have seen some amazing things happening.  I gave a series of messages at the end of the year that God was about to do some things at The Mission and that pruning was coming.  That pruning was painful but the new growth has been awesome!
• I start my coaching network this week.  Lookin forward to it.
• I can no longer stand this music in Taco Bell so I have to go.  Peace!

Sunday Morning Musings

• Here is a really short, really bad video clip of about 45 seconds of worship.
• We had a great crowd this Sunday.  Had to put out some more chairs.  Thankfully we just got a bunch from Ben and Melissa Pierce at Generation Church in Jupiter.  They got a new facility and felt like they were to sow their chairs into another ministry in faith that they could afford nice new ones.  Not an hour later, the church they were replacing in their new rental facility called and told them they felt they were to give them their chairs!  They gave us 100 $10 chairs in faith and God gave them 160 $35 chairs an hour later!  This weekend we needed them.
• Felt like I had a decent flow in the word.  I did not plan this series to map out the Exodus but that is how it has gone.  I don’t write these messages weeks in advance.  I am not opposed to that, I just don’t get them that far ahead of time.
• As a father, the best part of service might have been when I saw my little girl fill out an offering envelope and get $ .36 out of her wallet and put in the offering bucket.  She may only do it because Tracey and I give but tht is the kind of example I want my kids to follow.  Little times like this make you think you might actually be getting this parenting thing right.
• Did I mention we had a bunch of visitors?  The Mission is in a really good season.  When a season of increase comes to a church you have to recognize it and try to tend the nets and pastor the flock. They can leave as quickly as they came.  You have to be faithful with what God is doing.
• I made a statement I truly believe, “If your folks are not getting arrested, you aren’t reaching the lost.”
• Preached on the Exodus – Salvation, deliverance, the baptism of fire.
• Too many Christians are walking around living defeated lives because they need deliverance.
• Can a Christian have spiritual oppression?  A Christian can have whatever they want.
• Lots of folks got touched at the altar.  I mean, a lot of folks!
• One guy told me he was really happy because his old drug dealer was one of the guys who got greatly touched at the altar.  He said that he helped the guy up off the ground and he said that he always thought that Christianity was fake.  Then he got touched with the power of God!
• That’s what’s up.

Prayer and Fasting Recap #Awake21

This past week we finished our 21 days of prayer and fasting with the other churches of Awake21.org.  Pastors, you need to be a part of this next year.  Last year was good so the folks of The Mission were really looking forward to it this year.

I would say far and away the thing that I heard the most testimonies was the shedding of a works driven Christianity.  You really don’t know how religious you are till Jesus starts to touch your religion.  People even realized that they were striving in the flesh for gifts and manifestations.

Striving brings depression and frustration, makes you focus on you and your efforts more than on God and His grace, robs God of His glory, and flies in the face of why Jesus sent the Holy Ghost.

Another great fruit we saw was in the distribution of spiritual gifts.  One young man received an awesome call to ministry and many others had intense manifestations regarding their receiving of gifts.

Almost cant wait till nest year.

Monday Musings

• Ministry is feast or famine.  Yesterday was Thanksgiving, Christmas eve, Passover and Quince all rolled into one.  Some Mondays preachers wake up and feel like they are on top of the world.  Other Mondays they wake up and feel like the world is on top of them.  If you are a church leader you need to recognize this and pray for your pastor.  I don’t know why exactly but I am sure the devil is involved somehow.
  Yesterday was the day we broke our fast and man did the HOly Ghost show up.
• I was pretty sure it was going to be a good service when I started to get healing words of knowledge in the middle of worship.  I tried to do communion between the 4th and 5th songs but I could not stop.  People say that God would never interrupt your service, and for the most part I would agree.  If its your service He will not interrupt.  But if it is His service, He can do whatever He wants.  The truth is, most preachers are interruption God’s service.  Not the other way around.
• I love having communion.  We try to do it every month.  Sometimes we do it in a serve yourself fashion in the middle of worship.  Other times we will do it a little more formally at the end of service.  It all depends.  We practice open communion.  We say all who are hungry or thirsty may come to Him.
• Did anyone see Tracey preachin at the end of worship?  I was like, “Who is that woman?”  Could not be more proud of how she has allowed God to transform her in the last couple years.  Besides being cute, she is an incredible help meet.  Ladies, learn from her how to be a blessing to your (future) husband.
• I studied like crazy for my message yesterday then wrote it in about 5 minutes.  It was like a prophetic flow.  It preached really easy as well.
• Be looking for the angel Ex 3:3
• Powerful time of ministry at the end.  Really, really powerful.  Maybe one of the most powerful times yet.
• God is adding some mature believers to The Mission.  We have been praying about this for a while and we are seeing it happen.
• I cast the devil out of a muslim dude.  Don’t get to do that every day.
• At ASD it got even wilder.  At the end of the night Tracey said that it might have been the most powerful times of ministry we have ever had.  I hope to write more on that this week but it was other worldly.
• I went to bed really happy last night but really exhausted.
• I left like the first 15 minutes of the ministry time on the podcast.  It went on for like 45 more minutes.
• podcast up.  photos are sure to come.

What Does the Love of God Look Like?

Here is Kevin giving a testimony of his recent encounter with the love of God this past Sunday.  Completely wrecked my message.

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Mid-Week Recap

• What is a mid-week recap?  When I do the recap in the middle of the week.
• We did a new song this week.  We actually did it last week but we sang all the words this week with the lyrics properly displayed this week.  We call that a do-over.
• We have do-overs all the time at The Mission.  We mess up.  We do it again.  We have done the announcements, the offering, introductions, songs, I had the worship team start worship over once.  I told the folks that if they aren’t going to worship then we will keep doing the worship set till we run out of time if we have to.  Another time I stopped my message, had everyone stand up and pray in tongues till the funk left the room.
• Yep, we love a do over.
• God loves do-overs as well.  Acts 3:19.  Repent and turn again . . .
• Half The Mission is in the process of a do over.
• Yep, we love a do over.
• Funny thing happened this weekend.  I had a plan for a message.  Had it written out and everything.  But I did not have a peace about it.  All through worship I did not have a peace about it.  When I had folks come up and give testimonies, I had Kevin go last.  Partially because I knew God was doing something significant in his.  Partially because he was balling through worship and I wanted him to catch his breath.
  When his turn came, he began to lay out everything that was in my heart.  I tried to give the message that I had prepared and it would not flow.  Half way through I just closed my bible and began to talk.  Wish I was better prepared but I really felt like it was out of my hands.  I second guessed the decision but in the end I can’t get up and give a speech.  I gotta bring the message that God wants me to bring.
• We had a great time worshiping after service.
• I began to have a burden for folks that have fallen away.  Praying that God recaptures their hearts.

Monday Musings

• Service yesterday was out of this world.  I really don’t know how to describe it without sounding like I am exaggerating or being a hype master.
• Sergio had a new worship song that was really good.
• We introduced the Connection Group leaders.
• Really looking forward to The Mission FAU we are starting.  Diane and Sam are going to knock it out the park.
• Sign up for a connection group here.
• One week into our 21 days of prayer and fasting.  Already see the effects in the service.  I am getting so many testimonies from folks that are having breakthrough.
• You could feel that something shifted this weekend.  God touched people in such significant ways I was even surprised.
• I guess you just had to be there.
• ASD was the most anointed ever.  I can’t say anything more about it.  I know at least two men received a gift of healing.  One I prayed for and the other was a sovereign visitation.
• Amazed at how God is raising up leaders.
• No photos yet.   :’(
• Podcast is up.