Sunday evening we hosted our 2nd Worship Night and it was one I will not soon forget and might just take the same amount of time to recover from. It all started last Spring when we hosted our first Worship Night with 9 scheduled to be baptized. At this first event I stood up and invited anyone that wanted to get baptized, who wasn’t signed up, to spontaneously get up and come get dunked. Another 7 joined the 9 and we baptized 16.

There was one man in attendance last Spring that wrestled with God too long and missed his opportunity to be baptized that night. His name is Josh and he later asked Michelle and I to join him and his wife for lunch. As we settled in and placed our orders, he leaned into to the table and asked me, “So Scott, you guys talk a lot about following Jesus. What does it mean to follow Jesus?” That one question turned into an entire sermon series we called Follow which we concluded last Sunday with another 69 people going public with their faith through water baptism. 52 of which were signed up so another 17 decided on the spot to go public with their faith in Christ.

My entire team worked so hard and they deserve a lot of credit. Our amazing volunteers stepped up huge and served their hearts out. To those that were baptized: I’m so proud of your step of obedience! And most of all, all glory to Jesus! He loves us, oh how he loves us!

More pics and video to come later.

Michelle and I are excited to join Tony & Lauren Dungy as they use their influence to call Americans to join the movement of providing a home and family to orphans around the world.

I’ll have more to say about what Michelle and I are up to but for now I’d like to invite you to check out Tony and Lauren’s video calling us to action by visiting AdoptionJourney.org and sign up for more information.

Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you.

- James 1:27 NLT

It seems like most of us confuse our desire for approval with getting advise. Most of the time I have my mind already made up and I’m just looking for someone to come along and put their stamp of approval on the decision I’ve already made. Except we make it sound like it’s a decision we’re wrestling with. We all do it. And it’s really stupid.

Can’t tell you how many times I made some fairly big decisions, ignoring advise that I asked for because it didn’t “validate” the direction I had chosen, only to later regret my choices.

You see, the reason you chose that person to get their input is because they have something you don’t. Experience, age, connections…whatever. You went to them for a reason. Wouldn’t wisdom say that the same reason you went to them in the first place is the reason you should seriously consider their advise?

I’m not saying that we should take everyone’s advise 100% of the time. But if you’re that guy whe seeks out someone to gain wisdom and then ignore what they offer…over and over and over. I would bet the success rate of your “good decision making” is pretty low.

Ask yourself, “Do I really want this person’s advise or am I just seeking his approval on a decision I’ve already made?” Surround yourself with people that tell you the truth. Whether they’re friends, employees, even professional coaches. We need people that we trust to tell us what sometimes we don’t want to hear. And have the humility that understands we all have the capacity to make really bad decisions even though they feel so right.

Over the long haul, our success rate will be much higher.

Plans fail for lack of counsel, but with many advisers they succeed.

Proverbs 15:22 NIV

Now these are the gifts Christ gave to the church: the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the pastors and teachers. ¹² Their responsibility is to equip God’s people to do his work and build up the church, the body of Christ.  Eph 4:11-12

Over the weekend we had the priviledge to elevate service in the mission of Jesus within Brooklake to it’s right place of high honor. Saturday evening we hosted our Volunteer Appreciation Dinner with almot 200 gathered for a catered dinner, great prizes, live jazz and much more just so me and the team could express our love and appreciation to all those who “do his work”. Our team put this video together to say thank you…

Thank you to all those who move the mission of Jesus forward through your church. We love you!

If you’re old enough to remember what this is, then you’ve been around long enough to see the most technological advancements in the history of the world.

That’s what we do. We change. It’s in our nature to make things better, faster, bigger, shinier. Some would argue that all this progress is not all that beneficial to our souls but that’s an arguement that’s just a bunch of white noise. Progress, whether helpful or not, is here to stay.

And there can be no progress without change.

I love change. Most of the time. Always when it’s my idea and sometimes when it’s not. But usually I’m on board with it.

If you’re in the other catergory that resists it. Fights it with all your might, think that just the mention of it is evil…

You’re welcome to use that rotary phone as long as you like.

Seriiously, do you like change? Why do so many people resist it?