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Monday Morning Musings–Christmas Party Edition

Note:  I was kind of thrown a curveball on Monday and it threw of my schedule.  I will talk more about that later today or tomorrow.

This was one of those Sunday mornings that I love / hate.  I knew that the Lord was going to talk to me Sunday morning, and He did, but that means I have less control of the Sunday morning message. I study throughout the week. I study the Bible and other subjects as I feel the Lord leading me.  I study for my message, I study for my personal growth, I study to show myself approved but If I am supposed to preach and not teach, I don’t get an outline.

God likes us to be dependent on HIm.

Lillian lead worship. She killed it.

In worship I had to deal with an unclean spirit that was trying to mess with the service.  I got testimony that the person who brought the spirit in got free.  Don’t think they knew I was dealing with the spirit in them.  Glad they got free.

When I got up to preach there was such a prophetic flow I had to share some prophetic words.  We decided to leave them on the  service video.  That should be up later.  Khamille played keyboard and sang for a while. It was great.

I had such a clear word from the Lord and yet I had no idea what it had to do with my message series I was starting that day.  Little did I know God has me prophesying over the house.  It took me about 24 hours to realize what I was saying.

God is still alive.

Sunday night we had our annual Christmas party.  This party is a blast every year.  This year was especially good for my house because my wife did not plan it.  That gave us a whole lot more peace leading up to it.  We had an onslaught of stress before the party because we had a BUNCH of folks that never bought tickets that wanted to pay at the last minute.  We only had so many seats so we had to cap it.

Isabel Pereira and Khamille Barbosa planned the whole thing.   It is great to have people serving in their gifting. 

We had four really special guests come and perform.  The church superheros.  If you have any video footage of them please upload it somewhere and send a link.  We want to make a full video.

We had the craziest thing happen with the DJ.  In the end it did not matter.  We had DJ Mikey Mike spin and we did not miss a beat.

I love living life with the people of The Mission Delray.

That Depends

The Mission Delray talent show is going to be so funny you may need to pick up a pack of these before you come.

If you have not bought tickets go here and pay online or you can pay at setup on Friday or Sunday morning. 

No ticket, no entrance so don’t miss it!  Get your ticket today!

Monday Morning Musings – Aristotelian Edition

I was really excited for service yesterday.  Sometimes that happens.  God does not always tell us what is going to take place but our spirit will bear witness that God is up to something. 

Sergio lead worship.  I did not know he was leading worship till I got to church.  Funny that as the church grows how these things happen more and more.  It is good and bad (mostly good).  It is great that God has grown me as a leader to where I don’t need to be in every decision and know the details of everything that is happening.  It is not as great in the fact that sometimes there is stuff I really would like to know before it happens.

Figuring out which is which and developing systems for information flow is the next step.

In this instance it is not that big of a deal.  Sergio is a licensed minister, was our worship leader for a long time and is a son of the house and most importantly, I trust him and our current worship leader Khamille (who happens to be his wife). 

In any event Sergio did a great job. You can watch a video of it here.

I finished up the I Am Your Sign series.  Yes I know Sean Smith has a book out the same title.  No the series is not titled after the book.  The phrase predates me.  I have not read the book but plan to.  Sean Smith is great and I hope to have him speak at The Mission Delray one day.

I talked about how, as a reaction to the shift away from a Platonic worldview in the Arab world, Thomas Aquinas wrote Summa Theologica with a more Aristotelian world view causing a reliance on teleological evidence of God’s existence away from what I would call a faith based evidence.  In my opinion that is not a great thing.  You can watch a video of it here.

The lights decided to turn off and on randomly.  That was kind of interesting.  Instantly my son pointed a flashlight me. Why did Isaac have a flashlight?  That’s Isaac.

There are things we will do that make no earthly sense but we have to do them anyway.  Nevertheless we still have to judge the fruit of these actions.

What does that have to do with baptism?  See Romans 6.

I don’t preach baptismal regeneration but Acts 2:38 is in the bible for a reason.

Had an altar call.  Had first time visitors come, answer the altar call, get water baptized, and get filled with the Holy Ghost. 

Some churches give out free books or a coffee mug to fist time visitors.  We give the Holy Ghost and fire. Here is a little example here.

I don’t know the exact number but we had ten or so first time baptisms.

Had a whole bunch of them get the Holy Ghost when they came up out of the water.  I kind of live for that.

I have a leaders dinner tonight. That is going to be fun but I have a ton to do between now and then.  Later.

Monday Morning Musings–What Was That? Edition

I had a great Thanksgiving this past week  Had some folks over the house and hung out after having a great meal.

Because of the holiday we did not have Friday Setup / Prayer.  I think we paid for that.

Here is a pic of Samantha feeding breakfast to Courtney’s son while she rehearses with the worship team.

It seemed a little like folks were still having a turkey nap in the middle of worship.  I decided to go up and wake folks up a little.

Speaking of worship, did you see Stefano’s new guitar? 

While I am talking about it, Let me tell you one reason I love the Barbosas.  Khamille got a new tablet.  Not an iPad, a Galaxy.  We are an Android church. Other folks need to line up with the anointing.

We had communion at the end of worship.  It was a really good time.  We try to do it once a month but it winds up being a little farther apart than that.  We received the elements then folks broke into groups and received it together.

Here is the Christmas Party Trailer.  Pretty funny I think.

Had some neat testimonies.  Here is Brandon, Here is Lillian.  Brandon got healed a few months ago.  Last week he went out with the evangelism ministry and saw God use him to heal people.  That’s what it’s all about.  Lillian received a miracle.  She had ultrasounds results to prove it.

I felt the strongest word of knowledge for healing specifically in the right glandular / ovary area.  We prayed for lots of people.  I have no idea if anyone got healed.  Trusting they did.

It would be really cool to be known as the church with an anointing for reproductive system healing.  We definitely want to be a fertile church.

Healing is part of the the Gospel.  It is impossible to prove it is not solely using Scripture.

Jesus is the light of men, we are the light of the world.  Taught on being a light to the world. 

In the middle folks just started wandering around the service.  It was kind of bizarre.  We have consistently prayed that God would bring the disenfranchised.  He has.  We have to figure how to handle it.

We never set to be a church for church folks, we want to be a church for folks that don’t go to church.  It’s not always pretty but it brings God glory.

After service hung out with some fellas and watched football.  I love watching football.  I rarely get to watch it.

Today is my son’s birthday.  Today is my day off and we played Twister.  It was a gift for his birthday from his sister.  btw, I am the Twister champ of this house.

Monday Morning Musings–Middle of the Night Edition

Right now I am laying on my couch at 2 in the morning typing this on my Kindle Fire. The fact my laptop is in reach yet I am choosing to type on this touchpad should be an indicator of my emotional state right now.

Sunday was another wild ride. I could not get any kind of focus or clarity on my message. I got together what I had and went into worship.  This may sound odd but sometimes God will give me a bunch of facts and then before I go to preach He gives me revelation.  At that moment I understand how all the facts he gave me fit together and how that fits into what He is trying to do in and through us.  Sometimes I will not get that revelation or understanding until I begin to walk up to the podium. 

This week we were half way through worship, I was face down on the ground worshiping Jesus when Holy Spirit began to speak to me.  He spoke three scriptures and in an instant I knew what He wanted me to say.

I would much rather get on the mic with a message then a sermon.

The message was as much for me as anyone in the room.

Khamille has done an amazing job with worship. 

I have been receiving some amazing prophetic words recently.

What is that picture I posted?  Well, you see Khamille leading worship?  See that guy standing with his hands raised?  He is standing on a chair.  No, nothing wrong with the guy.  He is married, has two adult children that love Jesus.  That’s the kind of church we are.

After service had a great lunch with some friends at the mall in Boynton.  While we were there got a word of knowledge for a pregnant lady with a blood issue.  That was cool.

Setup is today.

Podcast and videos are up.  Find links on the website of The Mission Delray.

Another Reason Why The Mission Delray is the Coolest Church in South Florida

At the Mission Delray we are a multi-cultural, Spirit-filled church.  Here is one manifestation of that.

Intercession in Spanish, English, Creole, Portuguese.

Monday Morning Musings – The Rock of Gainesville Road Trip Edition

As  I have talked about a little too much, I have been fighting a cold and Sunday morning it was really dragging me down.  I will be glad when it is completely gone.

When I am sick I get a little testy.  This is not one of my greatest attributes.  Nothing gets me more irritated then a lack of excellence when serving God.  We have to tighten up on that.

Khamille and the team did a great job in worship.  W finally did some multilingual worship.  At The Mission Delray, we have folks who come who barely speak English.  We have Spanish, Portuguese, and Créole speakers.  Looking forward to the day we can have translation in service.

I also can’t wait till we have services in different languages. I think folks can live with preaching being translated but there is something about worshiping in your native tongue that really makes a difference.  We have to figure a way to service the spiritual needs of this area regardless of race or ethnicity or socio economic background.  The churches in Delray Beach are so racially divided I a praying for more multicultural houses of worship to be established.

I preached on us desiring more of God and His glory for His benefit.  It is not that complicated but seems to be lost in this church generation.

At the end of service I had to dip for a road trip to Gainesville.  I am blessed to have folks on my team who are well able to minister in my stead.

Tracey and I have not been to Gainesville in years and years.  I got right with God there and they rarely have an evening service.  So when we heard they were having a special Sunday night service with Banning Liebscher we wanted to drive up to see Pastors George and Suzanne Brantley at The Rock of Gainesville.

It was a little surreal being there.  We left so long ago and so much has transpired in our lives since then.

Tried to make this a super short post per my friend Randy’s exhortation but the battery died. So now that I am back up several hours later, here is the rest of the story.

Tracey and I were sent out from The Rock of Gainesville to south Florida in 1999 to help start a church.  We lost touch for a while.  Banning Liebscher gave me a word one day that I absolutely did not understand.  About a year later I understood it had to do with my relationship with Pastor George at The Rock of Gainesville.  After that I reconnected with my spiritual roots in Gainesville.  This was my first time back since then.

It was a real honor to be in there. They don’t normally have a Sunday night service so when I got their newsletter about Jesus Culture being there it seemed like the perfect opportunity.

I am not a fanboy.  To my knowledge, I don’t have any living idols.  There are people I greatly admire from a distance.  People that know me know I am a big fan o Chris Quilala’s music.  My worship team refuses to do Burning Ones because I am so fond of it they are fearful of not doing it well enough.  Well, Sunday night I ran out to my van to get my little video cam.  When I came back in the building Chris was standing in the lobby and a girl was getting her pic taken with him.  For a moment I considered it then I said to myself, “I can’t be that guy.”  I shook his hand told him I was at VOA and asked if he remembered me.  I told him I was about in row 40 over on the left.  We laughed, told him I enjoyed his music and went on with my life.

After the service he was packing up his gear and I went and talked to him for a while.  I told him about wearing out Burning Ones in my discipleship class and my bootleg recordings of him and Steffany Frizzell that I played so much that folks on the worship team did one of her freestyles as a worship song.  We joked a little then I took a pic with him.  After that folks said I was “that guy.” Whatever.

Chris is super cool people and has unusually big hands for his frame.  That’s what I remember.  I am thinking about offering him a volunteer position on my staff.  I am sure it will be tempting. Far less travel and an opportunity to work retail to support his family.

This morning we dragged the kids around the UF campus so they can know what a real school looks like so they are not tempted by a counterfeit like FSU.  I am sure it was thrilling for them to hear things like, “I used to live there.” or “I used to ride my bike through that tunnel.” or “I had classes in that building.”  Lucky kids indeed.

This morning we woke up and did nothing for a while before the trek home.  Thanks to those who kept us in prayer.

Videos will go up tonight or tomorrow as I am sure pics and podcast as well.

Goodnight.

Monday Morning Musings – Sick In Bed Since Sunday Edition

Yeah, it’s Wednesday night but I have been pretty ill.  I don’t know exactly what has been happening but ever since I went to Nicaragua in January I have been fighting something.  Pray I finally get the victory.

Sunday morning I felt really bad. Before service I was in my little prep room trying to keep it together.

When I finally got it together I went out to worship.  The worship team has really hit their stride lately.  Worship has been really good.  We started doing this song With Everything by Hillsong and it has really resonated with The Mission folks.

So let hope rise,
And darkness tremble
In Your holy light,
And every eye will see
Jesus, our God,
Great and mighty to be praised.

Kind of hard not to rock those lyrics in worship.

We were supposed to start a multi-lingual thing in worship this week but we ran into technical difficulties.  By faith it will happen this week.

My boy was a greeter today.  First time.  I was really proud of him.  He has wanted to be an usher but this suits him a little better.

I love to bring folks on stage to tell testimonies of what God is doing in their lives. You never know what you are going to get. This week I had someone share a testimony of being drawn closer to Jesus after receiving the Baptism while driving home in her car.  It was an amazing email.  She was a little nervous on stage.  It makes no difference to me.  I think it is way more authentic when you have non-pros up on stage more often.

I shared a message about Simon, Peter, John, and Phillip I have never heard preached before.  I have never heard a message anything like it. I know it was straight from the Holy Ghost.   Catch the podcast here and the video here.

I am pretty sure I could have shared it with less humor.  I just could not help it.  Some of the stuff in Acts 8 is hilarious. 

You have to remember that the folks in the Bible are real people with real issues and real concerns. 

At the end I had an altar call for folks to renew the conviction of the Holy Ghost in their lives.  More on that another time.

After service I had a meeting with my ministry team leaders.  Had good fellowship and cast vision for about three hours.  When it was done I was completely spent.  Didn’t realize I was running on anointing way past my natural ability.  I have been in bed pretty much ever since. 

Lead the book club this morning.  About half hour into it I thought I might lie down on the floor for a few hours.  At the end I went home and slept for several hours.  (If you are looking for something to pray for throw me on your list)

I have the entertainment committee meeting for the Christmas party tomorrow night.  Nothing is gonna keep me from that!  This year it is on!

Service Stuff

I have been in bed all day fighting this cold.  Tomorrow I will write my Monday Morning Musings.  Till then, here is the worship and word from service yesterday.  I never knew the story surrounding Simon the Magician was so funny.

Monday Morning Musings–Pastor Appreciation Edition

Today is my day off but it feels like another of those days off that wasn’t.  At least I got my shower clean.

I feel like I say this a lot but it was a great day at The Mission Delray.  As a church we are really moving into the area God has given us to take.

When you line up with heaven’s purposes God sends all the resources needed to fulfill that purpose.  That is what we have been seeing, Heaven’s resources.  It has been amazing.

Met with the Mission Kids workers this morning.  Really proud of them rolling with all the changes.  I know it has been a lot of work and but we have seen amazing results.

Today I was taught “Patience: I will wait without complaining.”  That’s a good word. 

It was Fifth Sunday so we had the bounce house and for the first time had youth ministry.  Results? We had a youth baptized in the Holy Ghost.

BAM!

We had two more filled with the Spirit in the service.

BAM!

We continued out Manifesting the Glory series.  I don’t know if other folks are getting things but God has been taking me on a Master’s Level course on this stuff.

I could not be more proud of the folks who serve at The Mission Delray.  Amazing people doing amazing stuff for Jesus.

We had some amazing testimonies from our Evangelism ministry.  The problem with this anointing of evangelism is the preach gets on folks and if I give them the mic its hard to get it back.

I have to talk less about crack and meth in my messages.

I did an impersonation of a woman in childbirth to illustrate something.  It almost got away from me.  Had to bring it all back in.

Had an altar call and I was almost freaked out at the level of anointing in the ministry time.  If I told you you might not believe me.

Lidia Pereira really blessed me by setting up a pastor’s appreciation thingy.  I get really uncomfortable with these things but when I was reading the cards last night I was overwhelmed.  Thank you all who wrote a note or gave me a gift.  I love you more than the folks who did not write a note or gave a gift.  You are my favorite! lol

A whole bunch of folks invaded a Cuban restaurant and tore the place up.  Tracey kept trying to get us to quiet down but it was futile.

Service videos are rendering, should be up in a few hours.  Podcast and pix to follow I am sure.