What do you see?

Remember Ted Williams, The ex-homeless man from the Today Show, that someone decided not to just drive past, but to stop and help? When you look at his picture, what do you see? Most of you may see what I saw. A middle aged black man, in need of a shave and a shower. Well, maybe that's all true but should that be what we see?

Next week about 40 of our middle school students will be doing mission work in San Antonio, TX. Some of the things they will be doing is serving special needs youth at a center in the heart of the city and assisting a ministry that serves food to the hungry . My prayer for our students is of course for unity and safety, but most of all my prayer is that during the week they will constantly ask themselves not "what would Jesus do" (even though that is a great question) but, rather "what would I do for Jesus?"

In Matthew 25:35-40, we are reminded that whatever we do for the least of these (ie. the hungry, the thirsty, the lonely, the naked, the sick or imprisoned) we are actually doing for the son of man.

Pray that our students will see Jesus in the eyes of those they interact with, and while you do so...pray that you will do the same.

I admire Lady Gaga...

I admire Lady Gaga, because she is not afraid to be Bold.
In 2006, I remember asking God to give me boldness. That was the year after I graduated from College and was working in Corporate America. I was going through a management training class with about 20 other managers and our instructor challenged us to prepare a 3 minute speech about our favorite leader in history for the next day. That night I went to my hotel room and immediately felt led to stand up before my peers tomorrow morning in our session and talk about my favorite leader...Jesus Christ! Everyone else was talking about William Churchill, Martin Luther King Jr, their grandmother or their childhood coaches, but I stood up in front of my class and boldly explained why Jesus Christ was my favorite leader in history. Later that year I remember boldly going to the mall (more than one time) with the sole purpose of sharing the gospel of Jesus with people.

This morning I read Acts 4. The story of Peter and John going before the Sanhedrin because they didn't like the fact that they were teaching boldly about Jesus. After spending the night in prison, they went before the Sanhedrin again who threatened them to stop teaching about Jesus. Peter and John refused but they still released them. Peter and John went back to the followers of Jesus and reported to them what had happened, and this was their prayer...(Acts 4:29) "Now, Lord, consider their threats and enable your servants to speak your word with great boldness."

We live in a Country where for the most part we can be as bold about Jesus as we want to be and nothing will happen to us. There are people in other countries being arrested and even persecuted for proclaiming the name of Jesus. Why are we so afraid to be BOLD?


Join me in praying for great boldness, today!