An Evening with Francis Chan @ Crossroads Church in Corona, CA

Last night, my wife and I, along with friends from our church went to Crossroads Church in Corona, CA for “An Evening with Francis Chan”. The evening started with great worship led by Rend Collective Experiment, a worship group from Ireland, and Rachel Chan (Francis Chan’s daughter), followed by a message from Francis Chan. As expected, the message was simple, yet incredibly convicting and challenging.

One of the most beautiful elements of Christianity… is that while doctrine and theology can be quite “thick” and there are lot of smart-sounding -ologies, -isms, -ications, etc… the message of the Gospel is elegantly simple. Jesus was God in a human body, who loved and served all of humanity past, present, and future, by sacrificing his perfect life, being brutally murdered on a cross, coming back to life, and going back to God the Father. Through His sacrifice, we get to experience a real relationship with the Creator of the Universe… the one, true, living God. As part of that, Christians are charged with serving humanity as Christ did, for the purpose of professing and multiplying Christ’s name to the nations.

Francis Chan is one of my favorite pastors. I have read all his books: Crazy Love, Forgotten God, and Erasing Hell.  He obviously deeply loves Christ and serves him well. He is one of my favorite pastors not just because he is a great and passionate communicator… but because the Holy Spirit and the gift of joy-in-Jesus just exudes from him. [continue reading...]

Romance Idea #6 – Hide a Love Note in the Pillowcase

During the day, write a sweet love note  that encourages, blesses, or compliments your honey, and slip it into her pillowcase. For those of you that are beginners… it’s OK if the note contains a few suggestive and spicy sentiments that make her blush .

After a long day doing who knows what, she will rest her head on the pillow… It will crinkle, make a noise, and she will know “somethin’ ain’t right”. She will then reach into the pillowcase only to find your note!

Even better… you will be in the room with her and be able to see her face light up in appreciation and joy.

A God Story: Mars Hill Church – “God’s Work, Our Witness”

Mars Hill Church, planted and led by Pastor Mark Driscoll is one of the most influential mega-churches churches in the United States. They are the 43rd largest AND the 43rd fastest growing church in the USA. In my opinion, numbers only matter because they are potentially an indication of Holy Spirit actively changing lives and of Jesus’ name being known / multiplied in the nations.

Mars Hill is much more than a “big church”; they are a church that preaches the Gospel soundly, passionately, unapologetically, loudly, and devoutly. They also provide many many many many many (many many!) teaching and training resources  to believers, non-believers, ministry leaders, and other churches.

Mars Hill recently launched a sermon series “God’s Story, Our Witness” (I really like that sermon series title!) by releasing a video that tells the story of Mars Hill from the beginning to today (the video located at the bottom of this post). The leaders and servants at Mars Hill Church were horribly and wonderful ill-equipped by all accounts. They would never have been capable of what’s been accomplished if not for the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s why I call it a God Story! Praise God for their obedience.

While it is no secret I am a fan of Driscoll’s direct, “intellectual”, and fervent teaching… The purpose of this “God Story” is NOT to extol Driscoll… but to praise God for the beautiful collision of the transforming power of the Holy Spirit with submitted, faithful, hard working disciples. As Christians, we should celebrate, learn from, be thankful for, be inspired by, and be driven to action by God’s work through and in other believers. (… continue reading…)

God Stories: The Hypocritical Characters & the Beautiful Endless Loop of the Gospel

Note: This short post introduces a new “column” at Christian Marriage Spice called “God Stories”. The first “God Story” will be posted next week.

God Stories = Crazy, Unbelievable Insanity

I love God stories. God stories are crazy, joyful, hilarious, non-traditional, painful, confusing, wild, unbelievable, exhausting, frustrating, emotional, overwhelming… and often lead us far beyond the perceivable end of sanity. The counter-intuitive beauty is that this “insanity point” is often where many of us experience God in a uniquely pure, more real, more whole, and supernatural way. This insanity point is where God makes Himself and His provision known profoundly.

These insanity points are where we are challenged with the Truths of the Gospel… and equally  importantly, where the Good News is NEEDED, EXPERIENCED, and PREACHED. Most of us are careful to try and never actually get to these insanity points. We do everything we can to ignore God and indulge complacent comfort.

Life stories are God Stories because they show us how great God is, how deficient we are, and excellently proficient we are only in Him. They occur far beyond our capacities, imaginations, personal provision, abilities, and capabilities. They depend on God. Afterwords (and hopefully sometimes during), we look at God and think… “How in the world can this be reality?” or “I can’t believe that happened or that we were able to endure that… Praise God”. [... continue reading]

“Real Marriage” Campaign from Mark & Grace Driscoll // Mars Hill Church

I am a long-time fan of Mark Driscoll (bio here) and the efforts of Mars Hill Church in Seattle, Washington. Pastor Mark and his wife, Grace Driscoll have written a new book on marriage, which is will certainly be great.

The new book is called “Real Marriage: The Truth About Sex, Friendship, and Life Together“. The book is being released on 1/3 (TODAY!), and I’m excited to report the book has skyrocketed to the top of the Barnes & Nobles AND Amazon book sales charts. Not only is a marriage book at the top of the charts… but a CHRISTIAN marriage book! Praise God for all the people and relationships that will be impacted for the name of Christ!

Pastor Mark and Grace Driscoll are real and authentic. They don’t just talk about ideals in a vacuum separated from everyone’s realities… they offer their personal learning experiences and struggles, while grounding everything in scripture.  They studied 187 books on marriage and could not find ANY that focused on friendship, so that is a core focus of the book. They also tackle many other very touchy issues.

Read More about the Real Marriage Campaign… 

“We Bought A Zoo” – A Charming & Inspirational Story

Last night, my wife and I went on a classic dinner and date night. After chowing down on tasty Mexican food at Chipotle, we ventured to Regal Cinemas to watch “We Bought a Zoo” (see trailer at the bottom of this post).

It is a charming and inspirational story about Benjamin Mee (Matt Damon) dealing with the sudden loss of his wife, parenting two children as a widower, and ultimately purchasing and managing a foreclosed, run-down zoo.

I dislike that my first response to “good” movies is thankfulness for what’s NOT in it! Read More…

[After a Long Commercial Break]… We’re Back!

[Are You] Dead Weight [in the Church]? – Author Unknown

My wife and I are in vacation in Maui; it is such a blessing. Yesterday we went to Calvary Chapel South Maui for church. Pastor Charles Casco talked through Revelation 19:1-10.

My current church, Sandals Church, is the only place I have experienced the overwhelming joys and occasional pains of being truly connected and invested in a body of Christ-seeking believers. I can truly say Sandals is my family. Heck, it is hard to be away from our church and small group even for a vacation. Christ’s Church, as beaten, battered, and neglected as it is… is so beautiful and worth the investment. Not to mention… Christ commanded us to be a part of a local Body. If we truly believed in Christ’s resurrection, how could we NOT want to be deeply connected and committed to a Body of believers?

Nonetheless, in reference to the Church and His being reconciled with Christ in Heaven, Pastor Charles referenced the following poem that I thought was very powerfully thought-provoking and poignant…

Simple Devotional: Bible Verses on Love

This post simply contains a selection of Bible verses on love. Read them. Pray through them. Experience them only in and through Christ. Share the verses with your spouse. Live the verses with your family and church.

Pray that the Holy Spirit reveal truth to you from these scriptures and they will manifest daily in your life as you submit to and pursue Christ. Christ is the only way to the Father. ‘

Read through this a few times over the weekend…

Be thankful.

Pursue and serve your spouse. [...]

Prayer Response to James 2:14-26 (Faith Without Works is Dead)

Tonight in my quiet time I read through James 2. In my journal, I wrote the following simple prayer, specifically as a response to James 2: 14-26, where James makes strong declarations on the reality of Faith and Works in a reborn Christian’s life .

My Prayer: Dear God, I offer you [...]