In the Storm

I have heard it said before that you are either "in a storm - heading into one - or you just got out of one". If that is the case than it is definately hurricane season around here... Since the majority of the people who read this thing do not attend Crosspointe - let me give you a little glimpse into into the past several weeks:

1. Sr. Pastor resigned (June) in order to follow God's Call to First Baptist West Palm Beach.
2. Sr. Assoc. Pastor resigned (August) in order to do the same.
3. Vacation plans drastically changed when when Anniston Lollis decided to be born (3 months early) in Hattiesburg, MS as we were driving down the highway.
4. Former Sr. Pastor forced to resign at First West Palm following allegations of deception.
5. Former Sr. Assoc. Pastor stuck without a place of ministry at either the new church or Crosspointe from which he had already resigned.
6. Interim Pastor resigned which was a surprise to everyone including myself and the rest of the staff.

Needless to say - it has been a pretty interesting time around here; however, in the midst of the storm, we can rely on God's incredible promises for His church. John 4:35-41 is a great example of the fact that even when the storms are at full force - it has already been promised that we will make it to the other side. That doesn't mean that we should stop praying or stop working - what it means is that as we pray and as we work that we can rely on God's promise to get us through the storm.

College Football!

I love college sports...There is just something about people playing for the name on the front of the jersey rather than just the name on the back of the jersey. With that in mind, the only team in college football that really matters (Miami Hurricanes) will take the field against the hated Florida State Seminoles in Miami on Labor Day. Yes - I will be in the Orange Bowl Lord willing (I definately learned this week that plans can change in an instant) screaming my head off as we take the field for the first game of the season. The last two games I have been to haven't turned out so well (FSU, LSU); however, this year we will turn all that around. Go Canes!

Irresistable Influence

I love to read. It is pretty strange since I hated to read for most of my life with a burning passion. Right now, one of the books I am reading is by Robert Lewis, entitled The Church of Irresistable Influence. If you are a staff member, pastor, or anybody who cares about the people who have never showed up at your church - you MUST read this book. Here is a quote based on Matthew 5:16 that is incredible...

"Jesus us telling us to take what he has done for you and in you...take that light...and what it has done to transform your lives, your abilities, your resources...and use it in such a way...which speaks to strategy, a strategy that draws people rahter than repels them...that they... meaning the world around us, our friends, our neighborhoods, our city, even our state...may see our good works...not endure our haughty arrogance, not suffer through more of our unsupported boasts, not react again to our mean spirited remarks-no!-see our good works...and because of that undeniable goodness, because of those humble works of love, our community rather than ignoring, ridiculing, or reacting in unnecessary anger, would instead do something absolutely amazing: Give glory to our Father who is in Heaven!

Pick up the book. Let me know what you think...

What are your thoughts?

Yesterday I wrote one little statement about the church that some people thought was pretty interesting. I wrote that the church is irrelevant in the minds of most people. Trust me when I say that I wish that wasn't so; however, that doesn't change the reality that it IS definately a true statement. People are so curious as to why we do things we do... For example...Many churches are answering questions - they are just the questions that no one is asking. This became more true to me this past Sunday. We were invited to go to a church on Sunday morning in the area. Did we go? No. Why not? The reason we didn't go is because we didn't have anything more than jeans, T-shirt, etc. to wear. Our lack of "proper" clothing actually kept two church staff members away from church. We are kidding ourselves if we think that this doesn't happen every single Sunday morning. Let's remove the barriers that the we have put up around Jesus Christ. Let's fall back in love with the God of the Bible. This is not a rant - just a thought.

Why Hattiesburg?

Joni definately decided to have this baby in an interesting place. Who would have ever thought that something like this would happen on the way TO vacation. We told her it would have been way better if she could have held off a little bit at least until the way BACK from vacation. At any rate - the baby (Anniston) is doing great. For all future updates on Joni and Anniston just go to www.toddlollis.blogspot.com. You will find everything you need to know right there.

Verizon Wireless has given me the worst phone on the planet. It works whenever it feels like it - which is not very often. Because we are in the middle of nowhere there are no Verizon stores anywhere in this city. Everything is done through Cingular and/or Cellular South (may not be a bad idea). Anyway - Devins cell phone and/or jrlee30@hotmail.com is the way to go when it comes to trying to get in touch with me. If you don't know it - just call someone who does.

We didn't go to church this morning (Gasp!). We did; however, drive around the campus of Southern Miss. Univ., and around the booming metropolis of Hattiesburg. It was pretty interesting to see how few people the church is actually reaching. It is very apparant that the church is irrelevent in the minds of many living in our culture. We have got to help reverse that trend... (More later)

MAJOR change of plans

We (Me, Devin, Todd, and Joni) decided to leave for vacation last night instead of waiting until this morning. We made it about half-way but Joni was extremely uncomfortable and felt like she was experiencing labor pains. This normally wouldn't be too big of a deal; however, she is only in week 28. To make a long story short - Todd brought her to the most ridiculous hospital in the world and they took her by ambulance to a much larger hospital in Hattiesburg. They checked her in and now I am sitting in the labor and delivery room waiting on a new baby girl to arrive. She is dilated to a 4 and things are going very well. Please just pray that the baby will be delivered very healthy and that there would be no complications due to her size, etc. I will try and update this thing as often as possible to keep everyone updated.

Couple things...

I am pumped as of right now because tomorrow morning I leave for Destin, FL to do absolutely nothing for an entire week! It will be incredible.

Aren't you glad that the Creator of the Universe loves you unconditionally? If His love was determined by my effort - I would probably be one very unloved person. Last night we kicked off the new year for H2O. We had a decent crowd of around 200 high school students. We had several people saved and it was just a great overall night. I spoke on the crazy naked guy from Mark 5. Pretty interesting fact that God changed the guys life BEFORE he did anything else. He didn't tell the guy to go home and put on some clothes or anything else for that matter. What if our churches were like that? Really like that... To the point that "come as you are" was more than just a statement. I could go on - but Destin is calling my name...

Elvis!

Elvis week has begun in Memphis... This is definately a week that I do not particularly understand. Thousands of people will drive to Graceland just for the chance to get up close and personal with a man who died almost 30 years ago. I had never been to Graceland before...that is until Saturday. Bill, Jeremy, Todd, and I traveled to Graceland to run in the Elvis Presley International 5K the other day. It was hilarious! I literally ran right past people running in Elvis costumes. I saw old man Elvis, little kid Elvis, extremely old lady Elvis, and even a Chinese Elvis. I have never seen anything like it. Before the race we walked up to his old house to look around at everything. I didn't realize that he (Elvis) was buried right outside in his yard. When we walked up to the gravesite people were placing flowers around the grave and some were actually crying! The four of us could not stop laughing...not that Elvis is dead but that these people were still so traumatized by the whole situation. We tried to convince Todd to do a cannon ball into Elvis' pool for $100 - but our plan fell short. Anyway - more than anything I just thought that it was pretty sad that a man who had so diligently climbed the "ladder of success" finally realized at the end of his life that it was leaning against the wrong building.

Venting begins now...

For the past few days I have been speaking and doing some other consultation type stuff at First Baptist West Palm Beach. Had a great trip. Several teenagers were saved and I had a blast...

Until, I got to the airport. I arrived at the airport in WPB at 9 AM to find out that a bunch of people in London had apparantly tried to kill thousands of people on airplanes using their chapstick, toothpaste, lotion, hairspray, gel, and anything else they could get their hands on that was made out of some type of liquid. As a result, they made me put my bag (normally a carry on) under the plane. This annoyed me because Memphis takes 25 years to get your luggage off the plane and onto that spinny thing inside the airport. I finally make it up to the gate and they announce that our plane is going to be 3 hours late. There are some people who will wait 3 hours for their plane to arrive...I am not one of those people. I went to another gate and convinced the lady to reroute me through Cincinatti so that I could still get to Memphis around the same time. She assured me that my luggage had been taken care of and that it would be waiting on me when I arrived in Memphis. I believed her and went on my way. Several hours later I actually arrived in Memphis. I went down to the baggage claim to claim my luggage and it was definately not there. This is a major hassle but to make it worse (because it was intended to be a carry on) my car keys were in the inside pocket of my suitcase. As a result, I had to call my Geico people and get them to send out a locksmith to get me in my car since I did happen to have a spare key in my glove box. Everything worked out pretty well - except for the fact that I am still waiting on my bag to arrive. Moral of the story - be careful when you are putting on lotion, chapstick, or washing your hair - because it is quite possible that you could accidentally blow up your face.

Keep on rolling

One of the things that excites me in life is to see incredible progress in the midst of adversity. We have definately had our share of adversity in the past three years....

1. 2 ministerial staff members have fallen morally in the past 30 months.
2. 7 Students killed in one wreck
3. Suicide
4. Major Financial Issues
5. Negative feelings within church and removal of over 200 people.
5. Sr. Pastor left to pursue God's Call to First Baptist West Palm Beach
6. Sr. Assoc. Pastor left to pursue God's call to First Baptist WPB

Trust me when I say that these are just some of the things that have occurred in the past couple of years. The great news is that in the midst of everything going on over 375 teenagers have been saved and baptized. Lives have been impacted and people have been changed! God is so good to allow us to continue moving forward as a Student Ministry in spite of all that is happening around us. I am thankful that God so cares for His church that the "gates of hell will not prevail against us!" Things haven't been easy - but God has been working! I am thankful that He is bigger than our problems. I love Crosspointe, the adult leaders who make H2O possible, and the greatest group of students on the planet! I can't wait for the ride that God will take all of us on in 06-07!

H2O is almost here!

H2O is almost here! Just 2 more weeks until we kick off H2O for the 06-07 school year. I can't wait! This will be the best year ever. We get things started with this coming Wednesday with a Back to School party for you and 200-300 of your closest friends. You don't want to miss it!

In other news....Next Saturday we are running in the Elvis Presley International 5k. This should be hilarious! It is right in the middle of Elvis week, which for all the Memphians out there, you know is a pretty huge deal. There is no telling what some of the runners are going to be wearing. Todd and I went to run through the course on Friday. It begins at Graceland and then goes through a couple of neighborhoods before ending at the same spot. To say that it is not the greatest and/or safest location in the world is an understatement. Everyone told us not to go and run that course by ourselves in order that we may continue to remain alive. We decided not to take their advice and we went and ran anyway. This was the first time I had ever been down there before and I was definately second guessing myself immediately upon our arrival. It was bad enough that we ran with our cell phones just in case someone tried to slice off our faces. I think we ran this course faster than we ever have before and instead of listening to music on my Ipod - I listened to a church podcast -I figured God would be extra pleased with me that day (JK). When I got done and standing near the car I saw three ambulances go flying by. Come to find out that a policeman had just been carjacked on one of the very roads that we had just been running. Very interesting day - the good news is that I guess the podcast worked. Go check it out at www.newspring.cc.