How well do the kids in your life know the story?

The Will of the People?

Romans 13:1 says, "Everyone must submit himself to the governing authorities, for there is no authority except that which God has established. The authorities that exist have been established by God." 

Many of us see this election as a reflection of the will of the people and we feel frustrated that Americans would desire a leader who stands for so many things we don't agree with. However, if we take God's Word seriously we recognize that Romans 13 states that the election actually reveals, not the will of the people, but the will of God Himself. Am I saying that God wanted Barak Obama to be President? It seems that way. "Why?" You might ask. We have no idea, but we have to trust that God has a plan.

As long as an opportunity exists to elect someone who represents those things the Bible upholds as godly virtues, we need to work toward seeing that candidate elected. However, once an election has taken place with a different outcome than what we wanted, we must accept the idea that for whatever reason, God has another plan.

So what is our assignment now? Simple. We must pray for our elected leaders. In 1 Timothy 2:1-2 Paul writes, "I urge, then, first of all, that requests, prayers, intercession and thanksgiving be made for everyone for kings and all those in authority, that we may live peaceful and quiet lives in all godliness and holiness."

We are a divided nation with lots of challenges. We must pray like never before.

A Church With Connection

The dream is now a reality! We planted our very first Crossroads Connection Church in Denver this past weekend! Our campus pastors Shawn and Amy Reine and their team did a phenomenal job! We had 157 people in attendance and 4 people gave their lives to Christ! Everyone loved  the church and pledged to be back next week!

This has been in the works for a long time. We cast vision for the church plant a little over six months ago and Shawn and Amy began to build our launch team. Lee and Bri Blakney have been a huge asset to the team, as have other Crossroads members who have relocated to Denver to assist with the plant: Lahti Arsement, Renee Hoey and Anna Carrier.

We are meeting at a beautiful middle school in Highlands Ranch. The commons area will seat over 500 and includes a very nice theater-style stage with currents. We put together a killer media package for the new church that consists of two projectors and large screens, lighting complete with stationary pars and moveable intels, a sweet sound system and stage design that is a mini-version of what we are currently using in Louisiana. What new church has all that? A church with Connection! 

Golf - On Again!

I have had an on-again, off-again relationship with the game of golf for a long time. I never was any good at it. I never had a lesson and never had good equipment, so it was a pretty frustrating game for me. I gave it up about four years ago, but earlier this year some friends asked me to go up to Alexandria to play in a tournament benefitting Teen Challenge. I thought, "Good friends, a good cause - why not?" So I pulled my old clubs out of storage and went along for the ride. My partner was my good friend Spanky Arsement, who had probably given up the game before I did. Needless to say we didn't score well in the tournament. My clubs actually had rust on them! We shot a miserable round the first day (dead last) but did better on the second day and actually started enjoying ourselves. Spanky owns Moore's Machine Shop, so I asked him if he thought he could sandblast the rust off my clubs and maybe we could start playing every once in a while. He agreed to do so and took my clubs with him after the weekend. He and his business partner Kerry Emanis (another good friend) invited David and I to play the next week and when I got there expecting to get my sandblasted clubs from them, they instead presented me with a brand new set of Callaway Razrs! If that weren't enough, they also set me up with lessons with the pro at Oakbourne Country Club and a nice Sky Caddie. 

Since then we have played at least once a week, I've had four amazing lessons from Cliff Wagnor at Oakbourne and I am LOVING the game like never before and getting better each week. I actually shot two rounds in the 80's this week!