Sunday Reflections

Here are some thoughts from Sunday:

• It was week two in our James series and we were in James Chapter Two.
  
• Chris preached on the topic of "Talk is Cheap: Put Your Faith In Action." He did a great job and it was one of the best messages I've heard him deliver. Here some points from the message:
  
• Faith isn't something you just say, feel, think, believe, as much as it is something you DO!
• It's easy to love those who love you, but to love strangers is to love Jesus. (Matthew 25:31-40)
  
• We are a lot better at verbalizing our faith than practicing it.
• "Faith is like calories, you can't see them but you can see the results." - Rick Warren
• Our faith isn't determined by what we do. Our faith is demonstrated by what we do.
• "People are justified by faith alone, but that faith is never alone." - Martin Luther
• Some staggering statistics: 94% of Americans claim they know God. 72% claim to have made a profession of faith in Christ. Less than 17% think the local church is an important part of their faith. Only a third of those claim to have made a profession of faith think that living a holy life is important.
• Practical Atheism as termed by Craig Groeschel: Those of us who believe in God but then live as if He doesn't exist.
• You can check out the message online here or on itunes by searching "elevate church san diego."
• It is so awesome to see people inviting others.
  
• People receiving Christ never gets old!
  
• I am very grateful for what God is doing right now in our church.
• I love to see people really taking the challenge to dive into James as we walk through this series.
  
• James is one of the most practical and challenging books of the Bible. The reason is because it is where the "rubber meets the road." He essentially says enough talking. It's time to prove your faith.
• Easter is four weeks away! I can't wait for Easter weekend and all that God is going to do.
• We are challenging all of our people to enter a 21 days of prayer and fasting starting next week as we prepare for Easter AND prepare to give toward a Living Water International project.
• $1 can provide one person with clean water for one year in a third world community. It's time for us to make a difference together!
• I love you Elevate Church!
  

Random Friday

Here are some Random Friday thoughts:

• I am excited about continuing our James series this Sunday. We will be in James Chapter Two and talking about putting your faith in action.
• We can't wait to share some of the ways we plan to put our faith in action over the next several weeks.
• Elevaters remember to read through James Chapter Two before Sunday.
  
• The past week or two has been a blur with moving and everything involved with it.
• Keep praying for Kate McCrae. She is having a tough time right now.
• The Tarheels have fallen off the map. It is a sad day when you hope they make it to the NIT.
• I'm glad Maryland beat Duke this week. I'm pulling for Maryland to win the ACC or just any team besides Duke. :-)
• We are loving our new house. My mom is in town helping us unpack and organize. Of course the real reason she is here is to see the grandchildren. :-)
• I heard Unleash was incredible. Can't wait to catch the main sessions online.
• We got some more bookshelves! I've had boxes of books in our garage since we moved to San Diego. Yes, I love to read. I actually forgot about some of the books that I had.
• Who else is lost watching LOST? I still think it is better than 24.
• I'm feeling the itch to play Golf. Hopefully, I can make that happen in the next few weeks.
• The Book of James is an incredible book. You need to read through it if you haven't already.
  
• More on James this Sunday!
  

Chris Reynolds

Chris and I have been on an incredible journey from our days at CrossPoint (a singles ministry we led in GA) through starting Elevate Church. Behind every great man is an even better woman. Chris' wife, Kelly, has been a tremendous help through this church planting process and has been just as valuable as Chris to our church.

The sacrifices that Chris and Kelly have made for Elevate have been incredible. I am truly grateful for their time at Elevate and the amazing impact they have had on those around them.

Chris came to me several months ago sharing a burden in his heart to finish college and feeling this deep need to get prepared for what is next for their marriage/family. He plans to finish at University of West Georgia where he has two years of credit hours already completed. Selfishly, I would love for them to stay. At the same time, I am proud of them for living the faith they have proclaimed.

God's timing is incredible as we decided months ago to walk through the Book of James during March. James Chapter Two is about putting your faith in action. Chris and Kelly have modeled this to our church and those around them. It is not lip service. They truly live with a deep faith in an unshakable God and are willing to walk with Him into the unknown.

It is hard to imagine doing ministry without Chris. I love Chris and Kelly deeply and as a church we will do everything we can to support them on this journey. I learned long ago that you don't need to lose staff. You need to send them, so that is what we will do. They will inevitably be connected to Elevate and are still a part of this family. We plan to bless them greatly as a church on their last Sunday in March. We are also committed to helping them when the opportunity arises in the future.

Chris and Kelly, I love you and this church loves you! Thank you for your faithfulness to put it all on the line for Jesus who gave it all for us.

You can also go here to read Chris' thoughts.

Sunday Reflections

Here are some thoughts from Sunday:

• It was week one in our James series. We were in James 1 and We talked about the "Marks of a Mature Person."
• Maturity isn't about age, appearance, or how many degrees you have attained.
• Maturity is displayed through your attitude. D.L. Moody said "Character is what you are in the dark."
• Trials are from the outside and are sent to strengthen our faith.
• Temptation starts on the inside and can destroy your faith.
• Anyone can act like a Christian, but it takes a real one to react like a Christian.
• Trials are not to punish us but to prove us! Eventually whatever is on the inside will come out.
  
• God is more interested in building your character than making you comfortable.
• Temptation equals an opportunity to accomplish a good thing in a bad way.
• If you haven't had an encounter with Satan lately, it could be because you are going in the same direction. "New Levels bring New Devils."
  
• Satan wants you to focus on the one "tree" you don't have and God wants you to focus on ALL He has provided for you.
• It doesn't matter how much of the Bible you know if you don't apply it. There was a name for people like that in the Bible: Pharisees.
• Most of us are educated way beyond our level of obedience.
• The Bible doesn't change our lives. The application of the Bible by the power of the Holy Spirit changes our lives!
• We are super excited for Chris and Kelly Reynolds! They are moving the end of March for Chris to finish college and get ready for what's next for them. We love them deeply and are so grateful to be a church that sends people out! I'll get Chris to share more in a separate post.
• It was great to hear of all the people that read through James this past week in preparation for this series.
  
• We had a mission team in town this past weekend. They helped move us completely to our new home too! God's timing is incredible. We scheduled this team before we knew we needed to move but thankfully God knew.
  
• I am so grateful for the many churches who partner with Elevate to reach people for Jesus.
• I'm excited about our upcoming prayer and fasting along with our offering that will go to help build wells around the world through Living Water International!
  
• James 2 coming your way this weekend!
  

FREE Unleash Tickets

Susan and I are moving next week. It is amazing how God has worked everything out for us to move in to this new home a few blocks from our previous one. It is across the street from our kids school too!

I was looking forward to attending Unleash but we will be very busy moving next week.

I really respect Perry Noble and I think he is one of the greatest leaders in the church today. I am grateful God has allowed me the opportunity to connect with him regularly and learn from his ministry experiences.

I get fired up just watching the promo video!

Unleash is sold out but I have a few tickets I am willing to give away for free.


Email me if you are interested and I will pass them along to you.

Sunday Reflections

Here are some thought from Sunday at Elevate:

• We concluded the "5 Easy Steps to Wreck Your Life" series this Sunday with the topic: How to Drift from God.
• It was an incredible day at Elevate. We had someone give their life to Christ and it was one of the most powerful and visible life change experiences I have seen.
• We want to be a church that will do everything short of sin to reach the one lost sheep! (Luke 15:1-7)
  
• Volunteers: what you do matters! You helped someone step from death to life! Thanks for serving like Jesus.
  
• It was so awesome to see so many people repenting and turning back to God as they acknowledged they have drifted from Him.
• I always enjoy taking communion together as a church. It was another great reminder of the high price Jesus paid for us!
  
• The good news: God hasn't moved! Seek Him and you will find Him. (Jeremiah 29:13)
• Return to your first love! (Revelation 2:4-5)
• To get what you had you need to do what you did.
• Yes, I do like oldies music. :-)
• Thanks again to LifeChurch for this series. I'm very grateful that they provide their series resources for other churches to use.
  
• Too many of us are comfortable with wearing a cross around our neck but don't want to carry one on our back. We want to be comforted but just not disturbed. If we get disturbed by God, we might actually have to do something!
  
• Yes, our worship leader (Jeremy Hicks) fell off the back of the stage after the first set. It was so funny!
• Excited about our new series called "The Essential: James" that starts this coming Sunday.
• Also, excited about a mission team that is coming in town this coming weekend.
  
• We started sign ups for people to serve at our Eggstravaganza event. Very excited about those who already jumped in to help serve with the planning and the event.
  
• Greater things are still to come. Greater things are still to be done!
  

Random Friday

Here are some thoughts as we head into the weekend:

• It is the last week of our 5 Easy Steps to Wreck your Life series. I have really enjoyed this series and helping people think through what could happen before it happens.
• I went to the young couples small group this week. Really enjoyed hanging out with those guys and we had some great conversation about marriage.
• Easter is only six weeks away. We have already started planning out our EGGstravaganza event and Easter Sunday. Really looking forward to the great things God is going to do!
• God provided a Children's Director for us. You can read about it here. We like to start them off slowly like planning the EGGstravaganza event. :-)
  
• Next week we start a series called The Essential: JAMES. It will be the first time we've went through each chapter of one book during a series. It is filled with life application and I can't wait to share these upcoming messages! Five weeks. Five Principles. One Book.
• My Tarheels are not doing good this year so I have been watching a lot more of the NBA. I love watching Lebron James play. They got beat last night but for some reason that makes me glad too.
• Speaking of basketball, we didn't lose this past week! We also didn't play. We had a bye week. :-)
• I love my kids so much! Here is a picture of Ava I took with my phone last night. She is washing dishes.
• I can only imagine the way God feels about His Son and what He went through for us.
• We have a mission team coming in town next weekend. I am very grateful for all the churches that partner with us!
  
• Keep praying for Kate McCrae. She had a good report the other day.
• I started a Pastors Coaching Network this week. It is pretty intense. We meet once a month but then have a lot of "homework" between meetings. I love it!
• "The Bible was not given to increase our knowledge but to change our lives!" - D.L. Moody
• We move into our new house March 1st. The next couple of weeks will be busy!