Friend & Family Day 2011 @ Victory Church

We often say things like...that was incredible or it was amazing BUT Sunday @ Victory Church was a day that was simply PERFECT. God is blessing our church and today I am reminded of a favorite verse of mine: Praise the Lord all my soul and forget not all his benefits - Psalms 103:2

There are so many snapshots of Sunday that I'm replaying today and we are putting together a highlight video for this Sunday. I hope you'll be able to make it back this week as we continue our Christian Atheist series.

Here are a few Sunday highlights:

• Over 25 1st times guests
• 5 raised hands for salvation
• 7 baptisms
• Perfect weather
• Over 300 hamburgers/hot-dogs eaten (Thanks D.O.C. Short)
• 261 in attendance
• Some incredible pics of people riding the mechanical bull

Victory is growing and it's exciting to be a part of it!

Victory Church - summer updates

Growth! Believe it or not Victory is growing during the summer - it's so exciting to see the incredible favor of God on our church. Acts 2 says, the people were 'praising God and enjoying the goodwill of all the people. And each day the Lord added to the church those who were being saved.' I am confident as we continue to invite those we have influence on and ask God to direct our day we will continue to see our loved ones, co-workers and neighbors come be a part of a new victory

Golden Mic

Today my beautiful wife, Beth spoke at Victory Church. She did an amazing job. I'm so honored to be her husband and I'm blown away at the gift God has given me.

Today, we set another attendance record (non Easter crowd) so I will be presenting her with a Golden Mic next Sunday at church.

Congratulations Beth!

Faith

To say I'm excited about this week would be an understatement! Last year at this time I had just quit my full time job at a local college and was trusting God that He would supply the Warren's needs as I became Victory's full time pastor. Now one year later, Victory Church is growing and we're seeing new faces and families each week.

I believe that sometimes God blesses our lives and we become the beneficiary by just being. But then, more often than not, God will ask us to take a step of faith and trust Him with our lives. To be honest, often we wish, God would just take care of all our needs with no activity on our part.

The problem with that kind of faith is it's circumstantial. As long as God does what you think He's supposed to...everything is OK.

Taking a step of faith and trusting that God would supply my families needs took just what I typed - FAITH.

Faith is not a mystical force or a good luck charm. It's simply believing that God is who He says He is and will do all that He has promised to do.

Is there an area of your life that God is speaking to you about that needs to take a step of faith? If so, take some time and have an honest conversation with God about it and see what He wants you to do. As I sit here today, ONE YEAR LATER, I'm so humbled by the hand of God on my life.

Easter 2011

Sunday @ Victory Church was incredible!

It's so exciting to be a part of what God is doing. We had more people serving than we did attending six months ago. As I stood back and watched guest after guest walk through our doors I couldn't help but smile.

Each week people walk in and say the same thing: Is this church? I believe that the local church should be the place where grace is on display the most. When that's happening, people will be attracted to the church.

We set a new attendance record with 260 people and look forward to what God has in store for the future.

Expert

So we are in the process of updating our master bathroom. A few weeks ago we found a leak(s) and it was obvious that change needed to happen.

Now, being 'unhandy andy' I knew this definitely was not a job for me.

Today I met a friend of mine today at the hardware store. It was amazing walking around the store with him.

We were picking out tile, flooring and other things that I had no idea existed in a bathroom.

Being with an expert provides such peace and confidence.

That same peace and confidence is available to us when we connect with the "Great Expert" for our life.

Are there areas in your life that are leaking and it's obvious change is needed?

expectations

Nothing good ever happens to me.
It's just not in my future.
Why should I get my hopes up?

These are a few of the comments I've heard people say about their life.

They are expecting negative.

When we expect negative things it's a pretty safe bet that negative things will happen.

The word expectation means to anticipate or hope.

Whenever I read the bible I see that there's a pattern of how God wants us to place our expectation (anticipation or hope) in Him.

And as I read the bible I seeing a pattern: sometimes God doesn't intervene until it's looks like it's too late.

Why? God loves impossible odds and God loves getting all the credit.

Maybe our expecation should be to trust God no matter how impossible the odds are.

And remember to give Him the credit when He meets your needs!

LivGirl

Today after my Emma gets home from school I am taking her to Target and buying her a LivGirl.

This purchase is a reward for a solid week of having a positive attitude.

For awhile she's struggled with controlling her attitude. So we set a goal (1 week) of her having a great attitude and she achieved it!

Beth and I want to reward our children for good behavior (not just punish them when they misbehave).

So Emma - Daddy is proud of you!

Spider

Last night I was walking in our backyard and saw IT - (cue scary music) - this spider was close to finishing it's web when I spotted it.

It's a pretty good size spider!

I wasn't sure what to do or how to kill it - so I just hit with my hand and down it went - unfortunately for me it was dead but hurt. It later died and I almost felt bad.

I actually got a little anxious before I swung - guess I've got a small fear of spiders.

In fact, spiders are number #3 on the list of most common fears (after public speaking & dying).

That (little) bit of fear got me thinking - am I living my life out of fear or out of faith?

I want to say I have faith (in God) that everything will work out or be OK but often I find myself fearing what may never happen.

I read a few months back 90% of what we fear will never even present itself in your life. We actually are only born with TWO fears (fear of loud noises & fear of falling) all other fears are learned.

Which means our fears can also be UNLEARNED!

So my goal each today - choose to live by faith (and hope the spiders don't get any bigger).

175,000

My car just passed 175,000 miles!

So blessed to have a car that runs great and is dependable - (thanks Todd Burton)

Great Day!

Ha - it's been a few months since I've done this blog thing - so my plan is to jump back into it w/a goal of updating my blog 3X a week!

So today was a very productive day -

Morning Devotional
Early Workout
Met w/ new attender to Victory for breakfast
Got kids all signed up for school
Had good study time for Sunday @ Victory
Lunch w/ a young believer
ManUp (Men's Small Group) tonight went great
Reading a great book tonight
Blogged!

And I'm asking myself - why was today a 'great day?'

It wasn't because of all I did but how I started.

We all do something 1st each morning (hit snooze, complain its too early, watch TV, wish it was the weekend) why not make the first thing you do productive.

I'm convinced how you start your day determines your outlook on the day.

So how will you begin your morning?

PINK

Today I’m wearing PINK to help raise awareness for cancer. It’s a day that brings back lots of emotion. Ask anyone if they know someone who has had cancer or has died from cancer and they’ll share a painful story with you.

My mom was promoted to heaven after a battle with cancer. My grandmother has had breast cancer twice and beat it twice.

So today I wear PINK. I’ve never wore pink before and to be honest I felt a little awkward at first. I am supportive of cancer research and making people aware of the need for funding but just haven’t gone PINK.

To tell you the truth, I’m really liking my PINK shirt.

I guess you could say I’m going PINK for what I’m passionate about.

Today’s Walk-Away: What are you so passionate about that you need to make others aware of it? Take some time today and think/pray about what need in your life you need to go PINK for then do it. It may feel awkward at first but your passion should outweigh your pride – right?

Trust

Trust

\trəst\ trēowe – faithful, assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something b: one in which confidence is placed

I think a lot of people really struggle with the concept of trust.

· I see kids at the pool struggle to trust their dad to catch them as they prepare to jump in.
· I watch couples struggle to trust each other when one of them says, “I have to work late tonight, don’t bother staying up for me.”
· I hear employees complain that they struggle to trust their boss who told them, their job is secure.

With all this struggling to trust I wonder how many of us really believe that we can trust a living God?

There’s this verse I’ve read too many times to count that talks about, ‘trusting in the Lord with all my heart.’

To me that means no matter what circumstance I find myself in, I’m able to have the confidence that God is working his will out in my life for my improvement.

For me, the biggest struggle I have with trust, is why wouldn’t everyone want to place their confidence in a God who’s never let anyone down?

Moving to Facebook

My blog update has been moved to Facebook.

We'll see if that helps me stay current...if not I'll come back

Andy

Fantasy Christian

Each week millions of people play Fantasy Football.

Fantasy football is a game in which participants (called "owners") are arranged into a league.

The person who creates the league is called the commissioner, and that person invites other owners into his/her league. Each team drafts or acquires a team of real-life players and then scores points based on those players' peformance on-the-field.

It's a fun way to compete with your friends to see who can predict who'll peform the best when it counts.

What's interesting is that each week a player is given a "projection," or a best guess of to how many points they'll score against their opponent. Some weeks the projection is right on and other weeks the player performs poorly.

The weekly projection got me thinking about my life (and other Christians) and I wonder what projection I'd be given.

Each week we are called to imitate Christ and do our best against our opponent.

I realize we can't do it on our own but our works are a measure of our committment to Christ.

The saddest reality for me is that my Fantasy Football league is just for fun but in real life there are no Fantasy Christians - this game counts.

Today's Walkaway: How are you playing the game? If I were to project how well you'd do next week in your walk with Christ would you score big or be a bust?

True Worship

Big thought for the day - intimacy = reproduction

I heard Ed Young Jr. say yesterday that "true intimacy in worship will result in spiritual reproduction."

That's an amazing line.

Too often we say we are worshipping God BUT our churches, our Christ-like influence is not growing.

There are no spiritual babies.

Paul (writer of much of the New Testament) says in Col. 2 - that they (devoted followers of Christ) be "spiritually mature in Christ."

I trust that when I'm spiritually mature in Christ, I'll be growing in my committment to Christ. And if my committment to Christ is growing I'll have true intimacy with Him. And I pray that as a result of my intimacy with Christ I'll see spiritual reproduction.

Today's Walkaway: How is your intimacy level?

Intimacy is both the ability and the choice to be close, loving, and vulnerable. Intimacy requires identity development.

Take some time today and choose to remember "Who you are," "Whose you are," and "What you're called to do."

That's intimacy!

Brooklyn's #10

My daughter, Brooklyn turned 10 over the weekend.

Wow - 10 years.

We invited 10 of her friends to go rock climbing and had an amazing birthday party for her. Beth and I wanted to make her day special.

Fast forward through the day to bedtime as we are saying our good-night's, Brooklyn told us she had an amazing day.

To hear her talk and see her grin caused me to feel such joy. I find it such an honor to be a parent.

One of the highlights of life is simply to spend time with my children. I think that often times LOVE is spelled TIME.

Happy Birthday Brooklyn

your decisions cost you...

I've always heard that your decisions determine your destiny. That is, what you do will ultimately determine the direction and outcome of your life.

I always thought it'd be interesting to see what a dumb decision would financially cost. I mean if we could quantify the value of a mistake what would it be.

Well, I came across this article that answers the question. Super Bowl star Plaxico Burresswas suspended for one game by the New York Giants. He made a mistake (we all have, I'm not picking on him) and it cost him. The exact details - Burress will lose two paychecks under the suspension. He will not be with the team during the bye week and won't be allowed to practice with the team next week. His base salary under the new contract is $2 million. His suspension will cost him $235,294.

Say that outloud - $235,294! Maybe one more time - $235,294.

Even if you are making $2 million a year that's still a lot of cheddar.

Today's Walkaway: This football players mistake cost him a lot of money. We are able to see exactly what it cost. He'll pay the fine and live to play another down. But what about you and me?

When we make a mistake/sin, we can't just write a check and restore a relationship or say "I'm sorry" and repair a reputation.

Our decisions really do cost us...how much...I'm not sure...but remember that our decisions really do determine our destiny.

Holding Pattern

Have you ever been in an airplane and you're ready for takeoff but you're stuck in on the ground. Most likely, you're experiencing what is known in the airplane world as a 'holding pattern.'

Holding Pattern: Def. A state of waiting or delay;

I currently find myself in that situation. I'm ready for a change, I'm not sure when or where that change will occur and I feel like in stuck in pause.

As I prepare for takeoff I'm realizing that the preparation to fly is just as important as the flight itself.


My ability to "fly" will be determined by the disciplines I develop while on the ground.

Disciplines are tough to stay dedicated to.

We all want to - get in shape, eat healthy, make good choices, etc. But the want to and the will to are in direct conflict.

So I'm challenging myself to make the most of the holding pattern and learn what I need to while I'm circling the runway.

Today's Walkaway: Life is full of delays. We don't always get what we want when we want it. I've seen people lose their cool in their holding pattern and forfeit what could (should) have been theirs. My prayer (for me) is that we'll learn all we need to learn in this process of patience.

No Power

During the Windstorm of 2008 (Hurricane Ike) we lost power BUT the Warren5 made the most of it.

With candles burning and a great attiude our family had a great experience of making the most of a difficult situation.

And estimated half million are out of power in the Dayton area.

During this experience it's been incredible to see God's favor.

Our neighbor sent her kids down and informed us she had breakfast ready for her family and invited us to join them. Bacon, Eggs, Pancakes on the grill! We had a great time of hanging out. Then my other neighbor let me borrow his lawnmower (my has an attitude) while I got my yard cleaned up.

We had to cancel our small groups and youth service for the week so I'm spending time at a local coffee shop that has free wi-fi.

Today's Walkaway: Psalms 118:24 This is the day that the Lord has made; I will rejoice IN IT and be glad.