One year ago God brought me to a very interesting place.  It was that place where you come to a fork in the road and it is obvious which way you are supposed to go, but you are not so sure because of all of the unknowns.  If you really love God, there is really only one way you can travel and that is on that unknown road of faith.

I have served as a pastor for over twenty years.  I love the church and have always believed the best about what it could and should accomplish for God and His glory.  I have always been totally sold out to the local church and it’s ministry in, to and through the community.  It has never been a job to me, it has always been a calling and even on the hard, frustrating days of challenge and warfare, I have been glad to have had the privilege to have a small part in God’s great big plan.

A year ago, God began to speak to my heart about the way we do church.  Specifically, He began to show me how church had become about all of the wrong things.  Church had become more about buildings and budgets and less about bridges and blessing.  Church had become about entertaintment and satisfaction, while trashing challenge and sacrifice!  Church had become inward focused and lost its outward drive.

I was in the process of finishing up three different books that at the time seemed to be dovetailing with my personal devotions.  The books were “Radical” by David Platt, “Crazy Love” by Francis Chan and “Outlive Your Life” by Max Lucado.  All three books talked about the same thing, but from very different perspectives.  These books, along with my devotions allowed the Holy Spirit to get a hold of me in ways that I never dreamed or imagined.

I had lost some weight and was trying on clothes one day and the Spirit started to take me to school.  God began to show me a movie in my head, heart and spirit of how His Church could build a bridge right into the heart of the community and really share love, grace and hope that makes a difference in people’s lives and eternities.  (And when I say church, I am not talking about a builiding, but people!)  I could not keep it to myself.  I began to share it with family and friends.  Some looked at me like I was crazy and others like I was inspirational.

Before I knew it, the movie that God played for me, began to become reality and today, we have ministered love, grace and hope to over 5000 families.  We have seen many come to the Lord and many come back to an interest in the spiritual.  We have seen a lot of church attenders become church ministers.  We have seen the hand of God move again and again to accomplish the supernatural and unexplainable.

I am thankful for this journey God has taken me on.  I do not have any idea where this journey will continue to take me, but I will trust God, because I know His plan is much better than any plan man can come up with!

It does not matter who you are or what side of the tracks you grew up on, discouragement eventually gets around to knocking on everyone’s door.  When discouragement is knocking on your door it is not any fun.  You are either coming out of discouragement, going into discouragement or smack dab in the middle of discouragement.  Discouragement is a reality for everyone and the really bad thing about it is it will wear you down!

Discouragement is a lot like a heavy dark cloud that follows you around!  When you find yourself in discouragement, you feel like the kid in the Peanut’s Cartoons, who always has a rain cloud over his head following him around wherever he goes.  It does not matter what you do or where you go, it always seems to be there!

Discouragement is going to come – this is the reality of life.  The question that you need to be concerned with, is this:  When discouragement comes knocking are you going to answer it the right way?

I’ve discovered that discouragement does not happen all at once!  It often comes in a little at a time and wears you down!  It messes with your thinking.  Screws up your sleeping.  And disrupts anything positive in your life.

There will be opposition to your courage!  This is really what discouragement is – it is opposition to your courage!  It will take longer and cost you more than you think, to take it on and take it out, but it’s worth it!

Don’t get discouraged because you are discouraged, simply realize that discouragement is a reality of living life in a sinful world.  Focus on the Creator rather than the creation and keep looking for the purpose that you were created for!  You will overcome, grow and develop because of your discouragement, if you handle it, rather than letting it handle you!

You can do this and when you do, you will be glad you did!