Prayer |

Archive - Prayer RSS Feed

Rapture: May 21st 2011

May 21, 2011 in Current Affairs, Faith, Ministry, Prayer, Religion with 13 Comments

So, the much anticipated Judgment Day has come and gone… and we haven’t heard from Harold Camping.

I’ve seen the joking and jabbing. I won’t lie. I laughed at a bunch of them (I can’t help it. You guys are just so quick witted)… my heart is also VERY sad for Harold Camping (who has gone silent) and his followers. There have been many sad stories of how people have reacted out of fear to the end of times.

So much damage has been done. Not only is this another area for the world to make fun of Christians, but the reality is many passionate people were misled and are now left heart-broken and confused. I’m praying this doesn’t turn them away from preparing for Christ’s return, but that it’s drives them to dig into God’s Word even more and more importantly… for themselves.

Everyone has their opinions. That’s what I love so much about HOW God created us.

My opinion?

The end is gonna happen someday. Not today. And I don’t believe we can mathematically calculate when that’s going to happen. God is SO much bigger than that… however… we should live every day like Jesus is returning tomorrow. I am not afraid. I look forward to living eternity with my Jesus.

Till then, I will continue my best to do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly.

Now, to Harold Camping (let’s just pretend he’ll see this even though we all know he won’t).

Dear Mr. Camping and all those who followed his teachings…
I can only imagine how disappointed you must feel. I’m sorry. You meant well. You have passion and you truly want the best for people. I appreciate that. With that said… I’m here if you need a hug. No judgment here (no pun intended).

Now, how about YOU?
What’s YOUR opinion?

Bin Laden’s Death

May 1, 2011 in Current Affairs, Faith, Prayer with 134 Comments

I just have to write this.

Bin Laden’s death has just been announced. I saw it first on the Twitter feed, so Brian and I quickly turned our television to CNN.

Since I’m a multi-tasker, I’m sitting here watching the news AND watching Twitter… and I’m sadly surprised to see SO many people in the Christian circle celebrating the death of this man.

Yes, he was a terrorist. Yes, he hurt many. Yes, his terrorism became VERY personal to us on 9/11… but he was merely human.

Just like me… infallible, broken, human.

I tweeted (and facebook’d) this:

… and was honestly happy to see I wasn’t alone in how I was feeling.

But for those of you who are celebrating, I have this to say:

Bin Laden did a LOT wrong. He was misguided and was sold out to the wrong cause… but at least he was passionately sold out to something. I’m not justifying or saying what he did was alright… I’m just saying it wouldn’t hurt some of us to have a bit more passion (and compassion)… and for those of us who say we are SOLD OUT to Jesus… we should be the LAST people celebrating this devastating news. We should NOT be singing “We Are The Champions” in the streets as CNN is reporting.

Don’t get me wrong… I am relieved that his misguided passions have ceased with his death. And I believe God will be the final judge in all of this. But when did we become the monsters that cheer the death of another human?

I’m not one to say if Bin Laden chose to accept Jesus Christ into his life before he died, but an educated guess would say he didn’t… which means he’s most likely facing eternity without a loving Savior. A loving Savior NONE of us deserve… but many of us get. We should be mourning the loss of this additional soul… not celebrating.

What are YOUR thoughts? Share….

Paseo Staff

February 24, 2011 in Church Planting, Friends, Ministry, Paseo, Prayer with 12 Comments

I am very aware that many of you are constantly praying for me and my family. THANK YOU! And since you’re praying, I thought I’d start introducing you in on the people I work with down here. Not only does our team need prayer to accomplish the vision God has set before us… but the mere fact that they need to work with me… well… not much more needs to be said, right?

Paseo Christian Church is a 4 year old church plant down here in El Paso, Texas and we currently have 5 staff members (including me). I’ll eventually introduce to you the team members that directly report to me, but let’s just start with those I work for and with.

Let’s start at the top:

This is Greg Hunt.

He’s the Lead Pastor at Paseo. His wife’s name is Jill. She’s a stay-at-home mom and successfully home schools their 3 kids – Ethan, Mara & Reed.

While living in Illinois, God gave Greg the original vision of Paseo. He and his family not only heard The Call, but they followed through and obeyed. Because of them, Paseo was birthed.

Greg loves Mexican food and the Steelers. What I love most about Greg is he’s direct, yet gracious. I don’t ever have to guess what’s going on with him because he’ll tell me. For those who know me best, you know how much I value this in someone.

Greg’s Blog: DesertRambling.com
Greg’s Twitter: @deserthunt

This is Steve Jolly.

Steve is our Outreach & Missions Pastor and is one of the two original Paseo cast members.

He’s from Oregon too. Tigard area. He’s married to Anne who is a Nurse Practitioner and they are both fluent in Spanish. They have two kids – Abby & Caleb.

Steve doesn’t just “talk” outreach… he LIVES it. He knows just about all the downtown homeless people by name and they know him. My current favorite thing about Steve is he doesn’t laugh. He giggles. And it’s contagious.

Steve’s Blog: JollysHouse.com
Steve’s Twitter: @osujolly

This is Nate Williams.

Nate is Greg’s Leadership Resident. He oversees Home Groups and is a part of the teaching team at Paseo. He’s is married to Desiree and they have two beautiful daughters – Fiona & Elsa.

My first week here, Nate ran up to Mikey, hugged her and said, “I’m so glad you’re here and I can’t wait to work with you!” Apparently, we’re the only two Asians he’s ever seen. And he knows he’ll never live this story down.

Nate’s our token PC user. But I guess that’s ok for now because Nate is amazing at building community and raising up leaders that truly want to make a difference in their circles.

Nate’s Blog: NateHarriman.wordpress.com
Nate’s Twitter: @elpasonate

And last but not least…

This is Patrick Leong.

He may need the most prayer out of all these boys. Not only is he still going to college in New Mexico and commuting 1.5 hours round trip to be a part of the team at Paseo, but he just happens to be my Leadership Resident.

Patrick is pretty darn mature for being 19 and totally has “IT” when it comes to being a Worship LEADER… not just a song leader. There IS a difference. I’m humbled that I get to help mold him in any way… and hope I don’t mess him up… too much.

He, like Nate, is a PC user. I plan on remedying this soon.

Patrick is 1/4 Chinese, but speaks Spanish WAY more than Chinese. I say that makes him a Chinese wannabe. And when he eats, I have to make sure we quadruple the portions. It’s a flash forward of what my life is going to be like when Chance & Pax are teenagers. Oi!

Patrick’s Blog: PatrickLeong.com
Patrick’s Twitter: @patrickjukebox

———————————

Well… there you go. We may be “staff”, but we’re not the staff of a mega-church. We all raise our own support to serve Paseo, El Paso and Juarez. This is the team. Subscribe to their blogs. Follow them on twitter. Most of all… cover them… US… with prayer.

Ready? Get Set? PRAY!

12 More Days…

January 12, 2011 in Church Planting, Faith, Family, Life Experience, Ministry, Paseo, Prayer with 12 Comments

… till we hit the road.

Exciting times, people. Below is the newsletter Brian just wrote. Since I’m not doing so well with keeping up with my blog right now, I thought I’d just re-post his words

First of all, a huge thank you to all the prayer supporters, notes of encouragement, phone calls, text, twitters or FB messages and $$$. We are so thankful for every kind of support we are receiving and feel so blessed in our relationships.

We’re writing this extra newsletter this week because it’s crunch-time for us and so we thought we’d send out a request for extra prayers.

We are beginning to really feel the loss of leaving Portland because…

… to read more… CLICK HERE!

Thank you all for your continued prayers over us, our family and ministry in this new year. We feel it and are SO thankful for every breath you lift up on behalf of us!

Now… your turn…