13 Years!
“Find a good spouse, you find a good life-and even more: the favor of God!” Prov 18:22 (MSG) 
Reflecting this morning on 13 years of marriage to my gift from God, Heather Johnson Corley. Last year I wrote 12 things I’m thankful for after 12 years of marriage. I’ve updated my list & added one.
- “Find a good spouse, you find a good life-and even more: the favor of God!” Proverbs 18:22 (MSG). Thank God for showing His favor by giving me you!
- I started noticing in year one – People like me better when you’re around. Thanks for completing me.
- Finally realized around year three – I am better when you’re around. Thanks for making me better than I am.
- Two are better than one, because they never quit at the same time. Thanks for helping me persevere through tough times.
- It’s OK to not iron the tucked in portion of the shirt. Thanks for helping me to not sweat small stuff.
- A mother’s voice is a powerful weapon (Proverbs 31:26). Thanks for being a great voice of encouragement & empowerment to my boys.
- Unselfishness is a pre-requisite for success in almost everything, especially marriage. Thanks for demonstrating how to put others first so clearly.
- I’ve noticed, families that serve together make a greater impact & have more joy over the long haul. Thanks for serving along side me and opening my eyes to new opportunities everyday.
- Marriage is humiliating, because you can’t hide who you really are. Thanks for being patient and forgiving.
- Beauty is only skin deep, and I’m thankful for a wife who’s smokin hot, inside and out.
- Peach cobbler and red meat are still my favorites. Thanks for always going out of your way to know my favorites.
- “Lane, you know we only hired you, b/c we met your wife.” Thanks for inspiring confidence in me and others. I’m a better man because of you.
- And now we’ve got a little girl to grow up to be just like you!
Highlight of My Week
Baby Kate is 12-weeks old. She likes bottles. Her favorite word is “Ooooo….” And she’s the smartest baby to ever slobber this side of eternity. And, of course I’m wrapped around her finger. :)).
Faith in Action Needed
Dirt floors, no running water, the stench of open sewage, rats eating through the walls. This describes a home, not in a third world country, but in a wealthy suburban community in St. Tammany Parish. We found this family 3 years ago & I couldn’t believe the conditions they were living in. I told other people about it and they said, “I drive by that house all the time. I had no idea.” Over the past few years, Bridge Church, through Faith in Action has tried to improve their quality of life & be an encouragement to this family. This week, I’m excited for them, b/c they’re finally getting new floors thanks to Volunteers of America & on Sunday, during our quarterly Faith In Action Sunday we’ll be making other repairs to the home as well as cleaning up the yard. Still much left to do beyond new floors. They are still w/o running water to parts of the house & they have a lot of electrical problems.
Faith in Action Sunday is about not being content with just driving by. I don’t want to be a Drive By Disciple. Driving by the needs of the world on my way to church meetings. Through Faith in Action, we can bring Good News to neighborhoods in Tangible ways & keep the story of God’s provision & work spreading.
Every time there’s a 5th Sunday in a month we take that week and serve instead of soak. Check out some of the reasons why & videos from past FIA Sunday’s here. Check out some of our other projects for this FIA Weekend here. Also, suggest a project as you see the needs of your community.
Disabled sons bedroom.
Living room with new floor joists.
Back door. Porch repairs to be made Sunday.
Have You Been Squeezed Lately?
Each week us church goers, like sponges, sit and soak up great teaching and preaching
from professional and highly trained clergy, high quality Bible Study materials and devotionals, praise and worship music that moves us to experience God, and many, like me, listen to more great teaching and preaching through podcasting and conferences. Here’s the question: What’s next for the SPONGE after it’s has soaked? It SOURS and becomes unusable. Almost nothing is more disgusting than a sour sponge. No one wants to pick it up, it stinks up the entire kitchen, and most of the time at our house we just throw them out.
As a Christian, I’ve had seasons of my life that can be described as SOUR. The sour Christian is sour toward others – nothing meets their standard, no sermon is good enough, they and their class or group or church are the only ones doing it right. No one wants to be around the sour Christian and he/she doesn’t really care to be around them. Being right matters more than being generous and graceful. (For a Biblical illustration of a Sour Christian see the story of the Prodigal Son in Luke 15:11-32 and watch for the older Brother).
What’s the remedy for keeping sponges from getting sour in the sink and in the church? A GOOD SQUEEZE. A good wringing out. With the sponge, by hand. But how is the Christian squeezed? Two ways:
1) Through Suffering. When I’ve lost a loved one, or experienced discouragement, or dealt with sickness, or faced financial struggles, or walked with others who’ve experienced these and worse, I have been squeezed. I have had to put to use all that I know about God and His word. That’s why God’s word tells us that there is great benefit to suffering. See James 1:2-4, Romans 5:3-5.
2) Through Serving. You don’t have to wait to be squeezed through suffering. Give yourself away and be emptied out through serving others. As we give ourselves away as Christians, we are allowing God to squeeze us and use what He’s placed in us for His good and glory. As we serve others, we experience more of God and the joy of being used by Him and He continually fills us.
What are you doing that squeezes you? Church leader, is your church providing opportunities for people to serve and give themselves away on behalf of others?
This weekend, my faith family will be squeezing ourselves out through Faith in Action Sunday. Every time there’s a 5th Sunday in a month we take that week and serve instead of soak. Check out some of the reasons why & videos from past FIA Sunday’s here. Check out some of our projects for this FIA Weekend here.
Everyone is invited. Come out and get squeezed with us.
Faith or Feelings?
by Martin Luther
Feelings come and feelings go,
And feelings are deceiving;
My warrant is the Word of God—
Naught else is worth believing.
Though all my heart should feel condemned
For want of some sweet token,
There is One greater than my heart
Whose word cannot be broken.
I’ll trust in God’s unchanging word
Till soul and body sever,
For, though all things shall pass away,
His word shall stand forever!
Heard this earlier this week & it stuck with me. What’s the basis of your belief & your life? Faith or Feelings?
Helping Churches Look Outward: A Recap of our Faith-in-Action Roundtable
A 2006 survey of churches found that “nearly 95% of the churches’ ministries were for the members alone. Indeed, many 
churches had no ministries for those outside the congregation” (found in Tom Rainer article 7 Deadly Sins of Dying Churches). Well today it seems a growing number of churches are looking outside the walls as they strategize for ministry & missions opportunities. And immediately outside the walls to the local community, not just overseas. Seeing this trend in our area, the Northshore Baptist Association recently sponsored a Faith in Action Roundtable to collaborate with churches who are doing hands on ministry projects off campus. Here is the Handouts from that meeting which includes thoughts on why we should, how to get started, and a lot of tips & tricks & helpful forms that a church can use in planning ministry opps.
Lots of reason to look outward:
- Increasing needs & decreasing government funds for the needy.
- More lanes needed for people to serve through the church.
- Increasing number of people who are out of the pool of current church outreach methods. Higher % of churches fishing for the same 40% of the people.
Looking forward to future Roundtable’s & Collaboration with Outward Focused churches.
And here’s a few other individual forms that are useful for planning projects:
- Work Site Info Form-English
- Work Site Info Form-Spanish
- Res Safety Awareness Form- English 2010
- Res Safety Awareness Form-Spanish 2010
- Access Ramp Material List
- Blank Material List
- Example Paint List
- Roofing Material List
Special thanks to Seth Green, a World Changers Construction Coordinator, for his help with our Roundtable.
We are giving in to the dangerous temptation…
to take the Jesus of the Bible and twist him into a version of Jesus we are more comfortable with. A nice middle-class, American Jesus…who doesn’t mind materialism and who would never call us to give away everything we have…who would not expect us to forsake our closest relationships so that he receives all our affection. A Jesus who is fine with nominal devotion that does not infringe on our comforts, because after all, he loves us just the way we are. A Jesus who wants us to be balanced, who wants us to avoid dangerous extremes, and who, for that matter, wants us to avoid danger altogether. A Jesus who brings us comfort and prosperity as we live out our Christian spin on American dream.
~ David Platt in Radical
Social Media and the Local Church
“If there’s a space where conversation is happening, then we should fill it with God’s glory” ~ John Piper on Social Media.
Great session with our Unlimited Partnerships Network at NOBTS yesterday. Brandon Cox, who manages content for Rick 
Warren’s Ministry Toolbox & the very helpful site Pastors.com, joined us for a session on Social Media & Technology. It was a great honor to have Brandon with us. Check out his blog & connect with him on Twitter & Facebook. Here’s a few of my big takeaway’s from his talk.
What’s the Value in Social Media in 2012?
- Value & forge CONNECTIONS. We’ve gotten skilled at presentation, but not connection.
- Insight & engage CONVERSATIONS. They’re going to happen with or without us. How do we get involved?
- Observe & influence CULTURE. How do we be FOR the culture?
- This generation talks differently and thinks differently & they won’t accept canned marketing approaches.
- God wants his message distributed through relationships.
- People are conversational.
- Sin has left people lonely.
- God wants every space to be filled with his glory.
- God wouldn’t want us to leave the most influential platforms in culture without His message. “if there’s a space where conversation is happening, we should fill it with God’s glory” ~ John Piper
- Social Media: Pieces of information around which there is a conversation.
- Social Networking: People connecting by technology.
- Branding: Framing THE STORY that you hope people will tell about you. A logo is not a brand.
- User Experience: How things get used by normal people.
- Open Source: A piece of software developed by a large volunteer community.
Principles to keep in mind when using Social Media as a Church:
- Be purposeful. Know the why. Why am I doing it?
- Be social. Relate well. Be about other people.
- Be transparent & real.
- Be generous. Use the Share & Like buttons a lot.
- Be personal. Be like people are.
- Create Bridges. Our goal is redemption.
- FACEBOOK – Still the largest & fastest growing among all age groups.
- TWITTER – More important for the leader than the church.
- YOUTUBE – One of the largest search engines on its own. Most influential among teens.
- PINTEREST – Most influential among women. Image driven.
- FOURSQUARE – Important b/c it’s used by other Apps & b/c of it’s Viral potential.
- INSTAGRAM – Image driven. Use pics to tell the story. Healing Place’s Instagram page on the website.
- LINKED IN – More about professional development. Most effective when using groups.
- VIMEO – Best for Video Production Quality.
- GOOGLE+ – Technically better than others but not as used.
- MEETUP.COM – Good for missional engagement in the community.
- Understand the Social Graph: Facebook is creating a map of the world based not on links but on personal relationships. They only show you what they deem important to you and others, seeking to capitalizing on what people are saying is important. The “Like” & “Share” buttons being utilized tell Facebook what’s important.
- Put on a “Like” button on everything. This says to Facebook & the world, “this is important.” Go to facebook.com/developers to get the code for a like button for every page you create on the web.
- Utilize Facebook Tools: Facebook Events to leverage relationships. Private Facebook Groups – to leverage volunteers. Pages for Group Information & connections.
- Know WHEN to post. People are looking at articles during the work day & looking at pictures in the evenings. Events should be promoted three-four days before for maximum effectiveness. Facebook Ads work for only about 3 days at a time then they need to be deleted or changed.
- Make sure you’ve got your location under your settings for Check-Ins.
- Marketingprofs.com
- socialmediaexaminer.com
- Chris Brogan
- Michael Hyatt
- CopyBlogger.com
- wpforministry.com
Message me for more info about Unlimited Partnerships & upcoming meeting at NOBTS.
How to Stay Out of the Belly of a Fish
10 Lessons from the story of Jonah on Living as a Missionary. Just finished a series of messages at Bridge Church walking through the story of Jonah. Here’s what we learned in brief. Find the messages here.
- God wants to USE ME.“The word of the Lord came to Jonah” 1:1. God has a mission for each of us. God saves us so that he can use us to bring glory to himself.
Image courtesy of LifeChurch.tv.
- God COMMANDS ME to go certain directions. “go to Nineveh” 1:2. God’s desire for us is specific as it was to Jonah. Ephesians 2:10 – “We are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.” Jonah’s walk was to include a stroll through Nineveh.
- __________ leads me away from God. For Jonah it was his prejudice against the wicked Assyrians that led him “away from the presence of the Lord” 1:3. It may be different for each of us. Selfishness, Pride, Fear. We all have heart issues that cause us to hesitate & disobey.
- DISOBEDIENCE is dangerous. It’s the Worst Case Scenario for the Christian. Jonah found out just how dangerous it is to disobey God when God provided a storm & a great fish for him to retreat in for a few days to think things over. When we disobey we place ourselves in line for God’s discipline or for natural consequences of sin.
- God is a God of SECOND CHANCES. After Jonah confessed & repented, God gave him a second chance – “the word of the Lord came to Jonah THE SECOND TIME” 3:1. Thank God for second chances.
- God has a heart for the WHOLE WORLD. God’s love for the world (John 3:16) looks past our preferences, prejudices, & temporal judgments against people. God’s love for the world meant he even loved Jonah’s enemies, forcing him to deal with his anger & bitterness toward the Assyrian people.
- I must deal with my heart issues if I am going to be used by God. God’s mission often exposes our heart issues of prejudice, pride, self absorption. We can’t go with God & not expect our heart to change toward people.
- When I obey God, I can expect Him to be working on the other side. Jonah preached to the Assyrians & surprisingly they responded by repenting. God had prepared them for the message. When God places the order, He pays the tab. He doesn’t lead us somewhere He has not been himself.
- God’s will is not an optional item on life’s menu for the Christian. Jonah tried to pick & choose his path to obedience. “Instead of Nineveh, I’ll go to Tarshish.” God’s will is not optional. And religious practice is no substitute for dealing with our own sin & obeying God.
- Being on mission for God means His will & the lives of people trump my personal preference, comfort, & convenience. God continued to press the issue of Jonah’s heart issues. Jonah was angry that the Assyrians would receive grace, but grew happy when he found some good shade to cool him off. He was more interested in his own comfort than the fact that a whole nation of people was in danger of destruction. God’s will must be more important than our own comfort & convenience if we will have God’s heart for the world.
What other lessons can you think of from the story of Jonah?
World Changers Covington is a Wrap
Saying Thanks, Media Compilation, Next Years Dates:
The first World Changers Session in St. Tammany Parish is done. Looking forward to seeing the Before & After Shots of the 20
or so projects completed this week in the Covington West 30’s. Including 10 roofs, 9 paint jobs, 10 porch/ramp projects, & 10 other home repairs. Saying thanks to everyone who made it possible is hard, but you only live once, so why not try:
- FBC Covington for initiating the relationships with World Changers, housing the 300+ vols, & feeding them breakfast & dinner each day this week. Associate Pastor Bill Boren was our Project Coordinator for the week & was in charge of the day to day movements of people which went extra smooth. Dozens of volunteers from FBC helped make the week a success, serving as Crew Chiefs, cooks, etc.
- Seth Green served as our Construction Coordinator for the week. And special thanks to Kent Construction’s Faith Division & Adam Martin for helping with material list, working with the Parish on projects, & donating laborers & supplies to help get projects completed by Friday.
- St. Tammany Parish Government for funding the building materials & working with home owners through application & permitting processes. John Tobin’s Social Services office worked very hard to make this week happen legally & financially.
- The City of Covington & Mayor Mike Cooper for working with the Parish through the zoning issues as well as making city workers available to assure everything ran smoothly all week.
- Lunches were provided each day by Mt. Pilgrim Missionary Baptist Church, Bethel Reformed AME Church, Faith Bible Church, First Missionary Baptist Church, First Baptist Covington, Bridge Church, First Baptist Ponchatoula, Christwood Retirement Center, Habitat for Humanity, Aquistapaces Supermarket, & Chick Fil A – Hwy. 190.
- Special thanks to City Councilman John Calahan & former City Councilwoman Frances Dunn for their help raising support & funding for lunches, etc.
- Participant Churches: Burning Bush Baptist Church, Ringold, TX; Chinese Baptist Church, Houston; Dutchtown Baptist Church, Prairieville, LA; Eastpointe Fellowship, Orlando, FL; FBC Cleveland, MS; First Chinese Baptist Church, Duluth, GA; Lakeside Baptist Church, Dallas, TX; New Life Gospel Church, Lewisville, TX; Oak Crest Baptist Church, Midlothian, TX; Oak Ridge Baptist Church, Portland, TX; Pineview Baptist Church, Hattiesburg, MS; Sugar Land Baptist Church, Sugar Land, TX; Trinity Church, Edwards; Wylda Baptist Church, Boyce, LA.
- Florida Blvd. Baptist Church, Baton Rouge; Grace Memorial Baptist Church, Slidell; Baptist Association of SELA; & Northshore Baptist Association lent their Shower Trailers for the week. Flint Miller made sure all of those were on site.
- And the SE LA Southern Baptist Disaster Relief Feeding Crew prepared Jambalaya for over 500 at our Finale Block Party last night at Peter Atkins Park.
- St. Tammany Parish Government Press Release from July 2nd.
- Volunteers to Spruce Up Covington Neighborhood – Times-Picayune Pre-Week Article from July 3rd.
- A World of Good – Times-Picayune front page article from Friday, July 13th.
- Times-Picayune World Changers Photo Gallery from Friday, July 11th.
- Volunteers Help Revitalize West 30’s – Newsbanner front page from Friday, July 13th.
- Volunteerism Has No Boundaries – Newsbanner Opinion piece from Friday, July 13th.
- High School Students Seek to Help Needy – WDSU Channel 6 News Piece, Article & Heath Allen Video from July 13th.
Next years dates for World Changers St. Tammany is already set. June 22-29. Watch for info at world-changers.net.
The site I worked with most of the week was the Covington Council On Aging Senior Center. Yesterday one of the seniors told me, “This has restored my faith in today’s young people.” That’s what World Changers is all about. Young people learning skills, restoring homes, restoring faith, connecting with God’s mission. I was blessed to play a small part.
And here’s my gallery of pics from the week:
