Thursday, April 25, 2019

Pastor your church like LIVES depend on it!




Pastor your church like LIVES depend on it!

Jeremiah 23:4 "I will raise up shepherds over them who will tend them, and they will no longer be afraid or dismayed, nor will any go missing, declares the LORD."

I love this verse. It speaks volumes of how I feel about the souls we’ve been entrusted.

Friend, never despise the comfort & counsel of a pastor. Especially one that is concerned about you, your family & your eternity. 

You may not understand why your pastor “pesters” you about your attendance...or speaks so much on the same topics...but if you knew the huge weight they carry for you & your spiritual well being it might change your perspective...if only for a minute. 

Eternity is forever. Don’t let this temporary earth distract you from it. Hold yourself accountable. Hold your children accountable. 

A pastor can’t cover what’s not undercover. Remain covered. Walk in seamless blessing. 

For all the pastors out there who are pastoring because of the calling remember this: People won't always get you. That's okay. What's important is that you be humble, kind & true to the call. Never give up doing what God put in your heart & never let people’s ways keep you from The Way, The Truth & The Life! 

#NorWillAnyGoMissing #ShepherdsLead

Wednesday, April 17, 2019

God Healed Me Of Depression

When our daughter, Kaitlyn, was a baby, I went through a season of depression. I had made some decisions with work that wasn’t working out & I was struggling to find my footing. I even thought God wasn’t pleased with me. I became very low in spirit & critical of myself & everyone else. 

I struggled to even go to church. It’s like I had no joy in anything that I was doing, even though God had blessed me with a wonderful wife & a beautiful daughter.  

One thing was constant though...my wife’s determination to love me through it & hold my feet to the fire in leading our family forward in faith...after all, I was a “preacher.” ðŸ˜³

I hear people today talk a big talk about “I need to step up my game with my kids’ spiritual life. I need to be the spiritual head of my family & lead better.” And yet, those same people, who make such declarations, seem to forget the vows they made & the words that came out of their mouth...once the “feeling” passes. 

They tend to let their children run their house. If the kids don’t want to go to church…they give them the option not to. Somehow they’re always sick on Wednesday night. ðŸ¤”

I don’t think we realize just how much God is going to hold us accountable for the way we’ve led our home spiritually. I don’t think we realize how much ground we lose by making slothful decisions concerning spiritual posterity. 

For me, I had a moment where I snapped out of it & recovered myself after months of battling with the depression. 

My wife made sure that even if I wasn’t in church with her...she was at church with our daughter every time the doors were open. She wouldn’t let me quit. She kept up her consistency & prayed for God to get ahold of my mind...she prayed me through it!

I don’t know what I would have done if she would have fallen into the same funk I was in. I guarantee you that we wouldn’t be in the ministry today...let alone pastoring for the past 20 years. 

I’ve never seen such a time like today, where people let the least little things keep them from the elementary principles of the Christian life like...attendance, tithe & serving, etc.  They wonder why they have so many problems. I’m certainly not pointing my finger at anyone, having received grace to get up again myself, but what’s good for me is good for them too.

I believe our daughter is serving God today, with fervor, because her parents made sure to position her in the house of The Lord & made The Lord our number one priority...before anything else in this world. Our parents instilled the same thing in us & the blessing of The Lord has increased in every generation. I pray for a triple anointing to be upon our grandson. 

I would say to anyone that’s going through a rough time spiritually or mentally...staying out of church is not the solution. Your solution comes when you press past the place of give up! 

Stop with the excuses. (I’ve used them all myself.) Get up. Do what you know you’re supposed to be doing. 

If your spouse won’t go to church...you go to church!! Don’t you let anyone talk you into one more excuse! Stop that mess. You’re going to give an account to God for keeping your kids out of church. You may not see it now...but rest assured you will wake up one day & realize it. Especially when you see them repeating the same pattern. 

Sanctify your house with your lifestyle of righteous living. 

My help came faster because I had a woman of God in my corner who wouldn’t let me stop! Today, I give honor to her. 

I challenge you today to be that kind of person for someone you know who is going through. Yes...empathize with them but don’t give into a mindset of self-pity. 

Jesus is the answer.
Jesus is the only way. 

Jesus will break the back of depression off of you!

Much love!

Tuesday, April 16, 2019

Spiritual Covering (Five Things For Tuesday)

FIVE THINGS FOR TUESDAY
1. FOOLS are blessed by the sound of their own voice & the slant of their biased wisdom. Their ignorance is obvious to all but them. Don't let yayhoos trip you up on your journey. Stay ROOTED & established in love.
2. It's the SEAMLESS walk NOT the project driven endeavor that understands & grows in the highs & lows. Be faithful & fruitful without applause.
3. My plan = (-)God's plan = (+)The will of God is a seamless garment. It's stitched with blessing. Counterfeits reveal fraying.
4. Satan gets an advantage over us by manipulating our BLIND SPOTS. That's why we need discerning, honest friends & spiritual covering.
5. POWER STATEMENT OF THE DAY: Be scared of a "prophet" who won't submit to a pastor/covering! #OutOfOrder



Thursday, April 4, 2019

Who’s Stretching You?


The STRETCH is good for me. Leaders will strengthen what’s in you, because they know that eagles don't avoid contrary winds; they position in the face of it & then STRETCH their wings to turn adversity into opportunity for lift & leverage! #StretchMe #Room


Who are you stretching?

Who is stretching you?

Monday, April 1, 2019

Your Gifts Make Room For You


“A man's gift maketh room for him, 
and bringeth him before great men.” 
Proverbs‬ ‭18:16‬

Thursday, March 28, 2019

Which VIC are you?

You can love someone dearly, believe in them, teach them, impart to them, train them, lead them, give them every opportunity & place high expectations on them.  


But you can’t make them.


Sometimes, in an effort to ignore internal insecurities & deeply rooted issues, that pre-date you, they’ll attempt to play the victim. They may act like their doing all they can do to please you, but it’s never enough-- that you don’t like them & thus you’re picking on them for no reason.


But the truth is, you’re trying to lead them out of learned behaviors, internal wranglings & dysfunctional patterns, while teaching them how to become what they say they want to be...out of a deep love you have for them.


But again, you can’t make them.


When someone plays the victim, they will convince themselves & attempt to convince others that they are being picked on for no reason. They ignore the fact that they are being given multiple opportunities to fix areas that need corrected, but keep returning to the same patterns. If only they would make the necessary changes & come up to the level they are being challenged to achieve...because you believe in them.  Things can be very different, if they will just do what they need to do.


But once again, you can’t make them.


People who convince themselves that they’re not “liked” by certain people or aren’t good enough have allowed their emotions get the best of them & thus they fumble down a repeated road of unnecessary emotional pain.  Sadly, this is a generational cycle they were raised in & will more than likely repeat again with the generation coming behind them, unless it’s finally dealt with.


They will feel they’re being excluded, when in reality they have always been included at every turn.  They will mis-read information, internalize it & then retreat deeper in the wrong direction.


They will convince others that things have been really rough on them & they don’t know how much more they can take. Their friends & family, going only on the information they’ve been given, will be convinced that they certainly are being victimized & it’s unfair.  But what their friends don’t know is that at every turn provisions have been made to provide blessings, opportunities & advancement. However, promotions only come when we pass the test(s). Until then, we must keep taking retakes till we eventually pass the test. You can’t continue to blame the teacher if you keep failing the test.


We can’t play the victim when we wrote the script.


The good news is that there is hope for someone who has mastered the role of “victim.”  If they will acknowledge the areas that need to be worked on, begin correcting learned behaviors & determine to retrain their thinking...they can begin moving forward in victory!


They can achieve their “dream.”  


One day, if their capacity can shoulder it, they’ll have the opportunity to carry the responsibilities they desire. Then & only then, will they realize the full weight of that responsibility.


I’ve said it for years, “If you can’t do it here, you can’t do it there.”  It’s still true.  Your NEXT is in your NOW.  If you can’t master the basics where you’re at now, how do you ever think you would be able to carry the full weight somewhere else?  It just doesn’t work like that.


Thank God we have people in our life who love us enough to hold us accountable, cut away the rough edges & push us to the place of fruit development & dream fulfillment! They’re not our enemy even though we may think they “harp” too much on “honor, alignment, protocol, etc.”  In actuality, they’re doing everything they can to prepare us...even if it means teaching on the same subjects repeatedly.

A victim's mentality is an evil stronghold used by Satan to bind the wounded. You're either a VICTOR or a VICTIM. Which VIC are you?

Thursday, March 21, 2019

DISCIPLINE not DESIRE...DETERMINES your DESTINY.


  1. DISCIPLINE not DESIRE...determines your DESTINY. If our desire to change isn’t stronger than our addiction to comfort, we won’t SACRIFICE for change.

  2. We don’t get what we want, we get what we PREPARE for. We often want success but prepare for failure. Sync your DESIRE with your LABOR.

  3. If we’re saying we DESIRE something but aren’t willing to put in the work to acquire it, we really don’t desire it...we just ADMIRE it.

  4. Do we have the DISCIPLINE to do what God has called us to do? It starts first with being FAITHFUL in the elementary things...easy things like church attendance. How is it that we can make it to work but always have an excuse on Wednesday & Sunday? #discipline

  5. If we DISCIPLINE ourselves, others won’t have to.

  6. One of the most important keys to SUCCESS is having the DISCIPLINE to do what you know we should do, even when we don’t feel like doing it.

  7. Do we have the same amount of DESIRE for The Word of God, Church Attendance, Prayer & Discipleship that we do for our hobbies, exercise, concerts & sports? PURSUIT is the PROOF of DESIRE.