Ouch!

Saw this on twitter and wanted to share...

Once the Bible is less than God's Word Jesus becomes less than God & sinners become less than sinful. The Bible is highest authority. - Mark Driscoll

What do you think?

3 Questions, 3 Suggestions

Okay, so I know I'm not old. But I feel older than I used too. It's taken a day and a half to get over this trip and I still don't feel 100%. However, I wanted to give you a few more things before my official DCLA blog tour is done.

Three Questions:

As you talk to your kids (you do talk don't you?) here are some questions to ask. These questions we're asked of us each time we got together in the big room.

1) What? - What did God teach you? What stuck out the most?

2) So What? - What does that mean to you?

3) Now What? - What are you going to do about it?

These are good questions and should help you get a better understanding of the work that God is doing in the life of your kid!

Three Suggestions:

I am not smart enough to come up with all of this on my own so I wanted to share with you what Mark wrote on his blog about students coming back:

When your camper gets home, I suggest you do three things:

1. Let them sleep. Let them sleep a lot.
Fatigue is an enemy and they'll be at their best when they have had some rest.

2. Don't tap the brake.
Fight any temptation you may have to "temper" their enthusiasm for Christ. Even if they make bold and unusual statements like, "I'm going to win all my friends to Christ," or "I'm going to start carrying my Bible to school with me." Even then, don't yield to your temptation to suggest they calm down, slow down or lower their expectations. Let them dream. Let them step-up to a new level of devotion and commitment. Let them feel your support - even when they're attempting something that can only happen if Almighty God steps in and makes it so. (Because Almighty God just might!)

3. Say, "That's great," or "That's awesome," a lot.
When they tell you a story about camp, say, "Tell me more about that." When they talk about the steps they took toward Christ, say, "That's wonderful. I'm proud of you." Your encouragement means more to them than mine. Your encouragement means more to them than the encouragement of their camp counselors. Encourage them - and watch them grow!

That's good stuff there! Anyway keep on the lookout for more rewind info as we get it put together and if you get a chance ask someone who was on the trip those questions!

Pivotal Days

Every conference I've ever been to has what I like to call a "pivotal day."

It's a day when everything changes.

It's a day when people finally let go of their hang ups and worries and dive into what God has fro them at the event.

It's a day when all of the work that has been poured into them starts to bear fruit.

Here in Los Angeles, with your kids, I believe TODAY is that DAY!

We've had a day and a half of great classes and worship experiences. We've had a great week of bonding and laughing and disagreeing and just being together in a group. The ground work has been put down. And I believe that today will be the day when the work that God has been doing will begin to blossom.

What can you do?

Pray...

Seriously...

We need you to be praying for your kids.

Because as part of our church family even if their not YOUR kids their your kids.

God is doing some amazing things. We are seeing leaders being raised up, relationships healed, lives opening, maturity happening, and a bunch more.

Prayer is the key to unlocking it's full potential. We are going to be rolling back with a bunch of students who are going to be ready to live as integrated followers of Christ. We need to lift them up in prayer.

We've already had major attacks in getting here and I don't believe that they will stop when we get back. In fact, I would imagine that they will get stronger.

So pray for your kids, pray for kids that aren't yours, pray for the leaders and pray for Chris.

Something big is about to happen and I think it's happening today!

DCLA Update

Well we made it.

It took some phone calls and frustration but we finally got a ride to the Convention Center Yesterday. Our original bus was fixed and got to the hotel shortly after we left.

It seems that everything is smoothing out now that we are here. The opening session was very cool. A great blend of motion graphics, video, teaching, drama and music. It was very creative and engaging and gave me some good ideas to try later.

The students are doing great. They've held up under the stress of not having a bus and the fatigue of late nights and early mornings. Fortunately we don't have to be up early the next two days.

Several of our students were chose to lead groups of other students during portions of the event. Growth is happening.

We are going to do our best to put together a recap for all of you who aren't here with us. Look for it on this site and on Chris's blog.

Brakes or not!

So in case you didn't hear yet we've hit a snag.

We lost the brakes in the bus going down a hill this morning as we were leaving for LA.

No injuries, no damage. Just a jumped curb some ruin vines and a shaken up crew.

Needles to say the plans for today have been changed. We'll miss out on the Dream Center but we should still be able to get to the convention center in time for the start if DCLA.

As the week goes on it becomes more and more obvious to me that we are being fought against. The enemy seems to have a vested interest in keeping these students away from this event. His biggest problem is that he is not in charge. He can throw all kinds of issues at us but we are being watched a guided by the one who is really in charge!

The enemy has nothing that our God can't handle.

What you can do is pray for us and with us. The things that God has in store for each student on this trip is out of this world.

I will keep you updated as I am updated.

Welcome to California

We made it. Long bus ride and cranky people aside we are now in Southern California.

I don't want you to be jealous but we are a bout to roll to In-n-Out for lunch.

Today is a day of refreshing after a fourteen hour bus ride. A chance to rest and play as we get ready for the incredible things that God is going to do in our lives.

I've already read two book and written some new song lyrics, so look out.

If you think about it pray for our teens as they walk into this conference on Thursday. I feel like this is the start of something big in the life of our church, and it's important that we be praying about it so we don't walk into it blindly.

I will keep you updated as we go, and hopefully we'll get some live blogging during the conference.

Check back often...

Prayer Night Recap Part 2

Yesterday I gave you a list of some of the things we can be thankful for. Today I wanted to give you the list of things that we prayed for on Sunday night and that we need to continue to pray for.

• DCLA trip
• Project House
• 4th of July Parade
• Church Finances
• New Ministry Year
• Small Groups @ FBC
• New Families/People who are attending
• Habitat for Humanity
• Adoptions
• Vern and Carol Fraire
• Summer Weddings
• Parents Health
• Family Relationships
• Employment Needs

Our God is bigger than any of these things. We need to make sure that we remember that. It can be easy to let our problems become so big that don't give God the room to work that He wants. So join me in praying for each of these things and lets give God the opportunity blow our minds!

Prayer Night Recap

Ok so I know it's been a few days since the prayer night but I wanted to give you guys a recap in case you weren't there. Here goes....

We started by looking at Philippians 4:4-7

Next we took some time to thank God for the things that he has been doing!

Here's the list...

• 11 baptisms
• 2 new student workers
• Jobs
• Kids being discipled
• Provision for DCLA
• Marriages restored
• New babies
• I Saw the Lord
• Women's Bible study
• Personal witness
• Student Ministries
• Restored health
• Financial protection in our valley
• Rain
• Portneuf Gap Project
• Church Leadership
• Spiritual growth
• Prayers answered
• Stepping into service
• Madatchurch.com
• Regional growth
• Project house
• DCLA

Wow! God has been doing a lot of different things. You should take a second and give up some thanks for each of these things and anything else that isn't on this list.

Tomorrow I'll post the list of things we need to pray for...

Time to get this real!

Are you Brian? Will you be the realtor? Watch this and decide...

BRIAN HEAD WELCH - I AM SECOND from BRIAN HEAD WELCH on Vimeo.

Learning to lead better.

As a leader it can sometimes be difficult to find ways to grow. Lets face it, after so many books my brain just wants to shut down.

Conferences are great. But if you hadn't noticed most of them are not here and not cheap. That's one of the reasons why we have been trying to get more things here. (More on that in a future post)

However, I just got invited to be a part of something both very cool and very challenging. I'm going to be participating in a Creativity/Leadership Coaching Network with Carlos!

I'm really excited for a few reasons...

• I get to hang with some great people
• I know that God will use them to challenge me
• You will get some of the rewards of my growth
• I will be able to learn how to leverage online interactions for community building
• We may be able to transfer some of this to the region

There are a lot of other things I probably don't even know about yet but I'm still excited.

Starting in October I'll be meeting with Carlos and four other creatives from around the country once a month, and with just Carlos once a month.

It should be awesome!

The Green Bottle

This is exciting. I've been a dad now for 19 months and this is the first time I get to post something like this here!

Yesterday my son, Micah, was cranky. Not like the "I'm a little boy and I'm tired" cranky but the "I'm a little boy and I want you to do what I want to do so I will be happy" kind of cranky.

I love my Micah. I want to do things that make him happy but I also know that I need to do things that are good for him. We all know that those two don't always go together.

We were playing downstairs. I needed to go upstairs. Micah wanted to come, but he was holding his blankie, his milk, and a bottle of aloe (because it was green). I asked if he wanted help, he said yes. I took the blankie and the milk but he wouldn't give up the aloe (did I mention it was green?). I went upstairs and he tried to follow. The problem was, though, he couldn't climb the stairs and hang onto the green bottle. I asked if he wanted help he said no. He sat on the bottom step and cried because he couldn't get to where daddy was without letting go of the green bottle (it really is a cool color of green).

After a few minutes of crying I went down and took the bottle out his hands. This did not make him happy.

Then he looked up and saw his blankie and milk. He took off up the stairs and never looked back.

Then God said to me, "Do you want help?"

"You need to give me your green bottle (which is a cool color)."

So I am letting go of the things I'm holding onto that prevent me from getting to where "daddy"is.

It sucks in the moment. But as soon as I look up and see my blankie and milk I know I will forget about my green bottle.

Do you need to let go of your green bottle?

I'm just askin'

I want to pray for you.

Do you have space?

It sounds like a simple question, but the answer is very important.

This post by Brad started a line of thought in my head about it. (If you're tempted to not read Brads post stop right here. Don't go on until you've read it!) Where is the space in my life? How is that affecting everything I do and everyone I interact with?

It's that space that says, "I need drums and guitars to worship."

It's that space that says, "I can only worship in quiet and solitude."

It's that space that says, "I don't like it when you challenge me."

It's that space that says, "If it doesn't look/sound/feel like I think it should it's not really worship."

It's that space that says, "I can read a few blog posts and watch a few videos and know another persons heart."

It's that space that keeps us from being honest with other people.

And most importantly, it's that space that keeps us from being honest with God. Even though he knows exactly how we feel and what we're thinking the space makes us think we can get away with it. The Bible (Jeremiah 17:9-10) is clear that it's difficult for us to have a clue about or own motives and desires.

I know I have that space. I know that I am disobedient. I know that my life doesn't look like it would if God REALLY owned all of it.

I want that to change. Do You?

Change isn't going comfortable or easy though. As I get closer to who God wants me to be the things that are in that space are going to get squished out. Disobedience and God cannot occupy the same space, and I want God to win that one!

So you pray for me as I squish the space and let God really own me and I want to pray for you. 

Post in the comments the thing I can pray for you and everyday this week I will pray for that. 

God wants all of us and I want to help you... 

Creativity on a....

And people worry about Twitter and iPhone in church services...

Who am I?

This post from Brad made me stop and think about how I live my life during the week. 

I wonder if it will help you think about your day-to-day experiences also?

Beautiful

This is amazingly beautiful. It makes me wonder how close we get to others without actually connecting.


Parallelostory from impactist on Vimeo.

Something New

Hey all, so I have an idea for something new for us. I know that there are several of us here at FBC who take photos, I also know that there are several who take really good photos! 

I've been trying for a while to come up with a way to access and outlet all of the creative photogs that are running around this place, then Carlos started something at his church in Atlanta and I thought, "Maybe we could try it here."

So here's the scoop. Let's call this the official start of the discussion about the Pocatello Photography Project.

Sketchy details...

• Open to anybody
  
• We would have a different project three or four times a year (relationships, power, moments, etc.)
  
• We would take photos that center around the project theme
  
• Photos would then be submitted and chosen for display and other creative uses
  
• We would build community together by meeting at the beginning of each project
  

It's just the start of the idea. 

What do you think?

I've already been approached by one local artist (who goes to church @ FBC) about using his work in our worship services.

The creative opportunities are nearly endless.

This is something we are going to do... but I want your input as we start.

Let me know what you think and if you want to be involved.

Technologicality or something like it...

When it comes to culturally relevant technology there are no shortage of options. Ipod, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and many more. The big question is how can the church use them to be more effective? Perry Noble said this,"What we allow to distract us can often be the very thing that eventually destroys us!" The funny thing is that he said on Twitter. Which can be distracting...

I've been mulling over ways that I can use these technologies to spread the Gospel of Jesus. I have some ideas but I don;t know if they will work. I recently had a conversation with some pastors about Twitter and how I use it. They had some good questions but the one that kept coming up was basically "why do I care if Perry Noble likes ice cream?" 

See, their idea of how Twitter is used leads them to a particular place of thought. Now I happen to know that Perry does indeed like ice cream, but that's not the main way he uses Twitter. Through his blog, and his twitter, the people in the church he pastors as well as others around the world get a better picture of who Perry is. That's what we've been trying to do with the staff blogs here. We use them as a way to communicate, encourage, and be known to all of you!

I want to see some of these work but only if they make sense...

More of us blogging and connecting to each others online life

Twitter as a communication tool for teams

TokBox as a way to do small groups, and training

Some others that I don;t have figured out yet...

I want them to be used technologically. They need to make sense for us. 

What say you?

Does any of this make you excited to try it?

I'm serious about this.

Let me know

I'm Broken

I'm broken. I know that you don't hear that kind of thing very often from people. It usually comes at the point of recognition of a major problem. Addiction, financial ruin, etc. But here's the deal My major problem is me. I'll admit it, though it's only recently that I would. I am my biggest problem. 

I find myself doing and saying things that I will tell myself i didn't mean, but, when it comes down to it, if I didn't mean it I wouldn't have said it. See, that's the issue. I doesn't matter what I want because what I do shows who I really am. And I can't change that! Sure, I can alter behavior patterns for a little while, but I've never seen lasting change come from myself. 

Maybe you see this too. It could just be me, but I don't think so. The truth is that I can't change me. I just can't. Maybe some of you have been able to, but I can't. That's why I am so utterly and desperately thankful for Jesus. Because of his sacrifice, I can be changed. 

Things I have struggled with don't tempt me anymore. They don't have a foothold in my life. Not because I wanted to stop doing them, because I did, but because my life has been and is being transformed by Jesus. I'm not perfect. Never will be. However, as I let go of trying to affect change in my own life and let Jesus create change in me I see the way I act, think, feel, speak, all of these get better and better. 

If you already know Jesus, do you see that transformation in your life, or not? Take a good look. 

If you don't follow Jesus yet, come check him out. Easter is a great time to do it. 

Sat. 11th @ 5 & 7 p.m. and Sun. 12th @ 9 & 11 a.m. at First Baptist Church, 408 N. Arthur, Pocatello. 

Transformation is possible. Jesus wants to create it in you. 

Sunday's Gonna Rock!

Hey just thought I would drop a note to everyone. In case you were wondering Sunday is going to rock! Jesus has some awesome plans for us and I don't want you to miss them! Bring a friend and come ready to encounter the Savior!

Round Midnight - Creativity on a Monday Afternoon

Great musicians, and one of my favorite tunes...