sammasteller's Xanga

update, new blog, this one is closing

Mon, 28 May 2007 10:10:48 GMT

For the 2 or 3 of you who may be interested, I'm closing down this blog soon and I have already started a new blog under this name www.sammylu.blogspot.com, so feel free to join my network. I hope to see you there!

Church planting conference, day 2

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 12:11:02 GMT

Yesterdays post was just uploaded because my computer died, so that was from yesterday. It is actually Wednesday today and it is a beautiful day. I'm going to be renewing my vows with my wife at one of the Disney resort this evening so I'm excited about that. The getaway has been more than needed or that I can write at this moment. I feel like God is meeting me where I'm at right now as a battle fatigue, frustration and discouragement. This mornings speaker is a guy by the name of Ed Stetzer. He is a really cool guy that did a seminar yesterday about trends in church plants that cause success. The report that he used for the entire seminar can be found at www.missionalresearch.com and is very interesting. This mornings topic is about being witnesses to our culture based on Jesus' commission to us in Acts 1:8. The church (meaning us) needs to be multiplying our lives into others. Here is some of the gyst of what he said. John 3:16 translates to John 20:22 in that as Jesus was sent he now sends us. He used the passage in Acts 16:9, "During the night Paul had a vision of a man of Macedonia standing and begging him, "Come over to Macedonia and help us." 10After Paul had seen the vision, we got ready at once to leave for Macedonia, concluding that God had called us to preach the gospel to them."
*Church plants should be based on the how which is influenced by the who, when and where of that community.
*We need to come over to the community that we are in and build a church that relates to that community. We should not simply build the church that we want but the church that the culture dictates. We are planting the gospel that creates a church, not simply planting a church.
We have been called to do it. We need to do something to reach lost people.
2 Cor. 5:11-20- We need to persuade men about the good news of Jesus Christ. (persuade, compel, appeal)
*Being missional is not being sympathetic or wrapped around simply helping others. Being missional is a buzz word. It is being on the Master's mission. Missional is more than identifying with culture, it is sharing the good news of Jesus WITH WORDS. Relevance is a tool but the gospel is the goal. Relevance is only helpful if its sole goal is sharing the gospel of Jesus Christ.
1. We should not focus on personal transformation and not gospel transformation.
2. When your sermons are so practical they lack any gospel.
3. When we talk more about practical more than you talk about biblical.
4. When your outreach demeans others that preach the gospel.
5. When your approach makes you the hero and not Jesus.
6. When 'personal evangelism' is an oxymoron at your church.
7. When 'invest and invite' never leads to personal evangelism.
I missed the last 3, sorry.
3. Us (refers to a lost world). All around us people are seeking something. We need to seek and save those that are lost. Our hearts need to be broken for our community, we need the heart of Christ. The only thing that matters in the church is whether or not we live out the mission. The church needs to be about God's mission and the cross. Come over to what calls you, bring the help of the gospel & remember the us, those that are lost without Jesus.
GREAT STUFF, GOD'S SPEAKING TO ME. GREAT REMINDER THAT IT'S ALL ABOUT THE GOOD NEWS OF JESUS CHRIST.

Church planting conference, day 1

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 09:37:21 GMT

I'm sitting in the first session at the National New Church Planting Conference in sunny Orlando, FL. The first speaker is Wayne Cordiero who pastors about 11,000 people in Hawaii. He launched his church about 11 years ago. He is talking about how to be a spirit-led leader. He are some points that he makes in regards to being a Christ-follower, pastor and/or church planter.
*The goal is authenticity. Realness is the virtue for this next generation and ultimately of the Bible.
*When you start, you won't have what it takes to make it, but you can gain the wisdom you need on the journey.
-You get wisdom from... 1. experience (from personal consequences) 2. others experiences (learn from others)
Why should we make all the mistakes ourselves? Wayne did a masterful job of reminding us that the ultimate source of wisdom should come from the unedited and raw stories of the Bible. The Bible should be the source of our soul and that we need to systematically work through the 66 books that are alive and powerful. He told the story about the sequoia trees in Yellowstone National Park. Two years ago 4 of the oldest ones toppled from the wind which resulted in a study at to what happened. The park rangers and scientists concluded that the trees fell as a result of the foot traffic (10's of thousands of visitors) walking around on the roots of the trees. They immediately put barriers around the oldest trees to keep this from happening. His point was that we have lots of 'foot traffic' in our lives and we need to have a holy barrier of time with God so that our roots remain deep and intact. He talked about the Holy Spirit being our divine mentor and that we need to continue to sit at the feet of Jesus (Luke 10). Here is what He does to remain close to God so that He can live out the freshness of a genuine relationship with Jesus. He sets aside time daily to spend time with God and he brings a Bible, a pen & journal with a reading program. He then encourages His people (churches literally around the globe, very impressive) to do the following based on this acronym.
S- Scripture (read the Bible reading for the day)
O- Observation (observe what God is trying to teach you through the passage)
A- Application (ask yourself how you can apply it to your life)
P- Prayer (asking God to help you apply it to your life and general prayer needs)
He uses a 20-20-20 format. 20 minutes of Bible reading, 20 minutes of prayer, 20 minutes of discussion with others that he meets with or thoughts about application. Simple but powerful. It encouraged me to dive deeper with God, how about you?

Great Weekend!

Tue, 10 Apr 2007 23:18:22 GMT

We had an awesome weekend this past Easter! We saw about 640 people show up for our morning services with some great stuff (that I know about at least) happening in peoples lives. Worship rocked, the message went great and there was a great presence of God. We are in a great season in our church as we are seeing some great spiritual growth happen in new believers and mature believers. Our small groups are growing (which is a 4 year answer to prayer) and relationships are forming throughout the church family. Some days I feel like my vision is coming to pass and other days I'm not even sure what my vision is. Either way, God is good and it is fun to see peoples lives changing. On a different note, 24 was awesome last night and Jack Bauer is a superhero. I'm sure Audrey, his girl, will bite the dust by the end of the season. Also, the office this past week was absolutely hilarious and will go down as an all time favorite. Hopefully, Pam will step to Jim and pick up the story line. Also, I'm going to a church planters conference next week in Orlando, Florida. My wife and I will be renewing our vows on the beach (10 years married this August) and we are going to do some family stuff at Disney. I'm believing for a great time with the fam and some clear vision from God for a strategy for church planting through our church. Thank God for the good days, not every weekend or day is great, but this one was. It reminds me to seek first the kingdom each day regardless of what the day may hold.

Back to School

Tue, 27 Feb 2007 15:54:51 GMT

I'm getting ready to go and share with a class at Valley Forge, where I once was a student and almost got thrown out years ago. I'm looking forward to connecting with some world changers that are serious about helping people find Jesus. Last week was such a heavy week. I had to bury a five year old and lay-off a long time employee, I've filed that week in the forgettable file and hope that there is no repeat anytime soon. I am pretty stoked about what is going on here at our church though. We are in the midst of a lot of change and there so many things that I'm fearful of in the days ahead...but the potential is so great that every risk is worth it. I have more clarity in my vision than I've had in a long time...My family is so awesome, I'm fortunate to have a smok'in hot awesome woman of God & adorable kids. I've been asking the question in my own personal life the question I've been asking everyone else these last few weeks on Sundays, which is, "what is the wisest thing for me to do?" That truly is the best question ever and the only way to fool proof our lives in every area. You should take some time and evaluate your finances, relationships, time and career and ask yourself if you are being wise, I know I am. What's up to my CFNI friends! Buddy tell Chelle to have that kid! Gotta go or I'll be late for class.

Snow and other meanderings

Wed, 14 Feb 2007 17:49:44 GMT

We've been getting hammered with snow and ice, which I don't mind for a day or 2. I'm getting ready to go to a marriage conference with my wife this weekend which I'm pretty excited about. My kids are such a blast, I can't wait to have another one. A tremendous blessing. Back to the snow, I read a great article from the Catalyst Podcast that I thought was good, I'll copy the link below...enjoy...Nate how are you?

www.catalystspace.com/content/monthly/

I enjoyed the article and I hope to read the book. I'm getting ready to do some things this spring (as far as leading the church) that are going to require some serious guts. I'm pretty pumped, it's time to reach the future before it reaches us.

24 Rocks!

Mon, 15 Jan 2007 12:21:48 GMT

I'm sitting here thinking about the last 24 hours and it was awesome. The show last night was intense (as usual) and I'm stoked for tonight. Our gathering on Sunday morning was really meaningful as we heard a stirring message and had some great prayer time. Most of you didn't come to the Sunday night missions night and you missed an awesome experience! We heard from Joe Barralle (state-side missionary), Lil Anthony (chaplain at Chester County Prison), John & Theresa Decker (MorningStar Quakertown), Alex & Cookie Velasquez (Oasis City Church) & Jerry & Paula Ireland (missionaries to Zambia, Africa) that we support monthly. It was humbling to hear what God is doing all of these ministries and areas. I could have listened to Paula talk about Africa for hours! It was heart-wrenching and amazing all at the same time. Their site is jerryandpaula.com is pretty informative and moving. Anyway, happy MLK day!

Vacation is coming...

Thu, 07 Sep 2006 09:53:34 GMT

Great to hear from all of you college peoples, I'm glad you're all doing well and we miss you more than you know! Pretty stoked with what God is doing around hear in never, never land. We kicked off our mid-week successfully this past Wednesday and we kick off our first video venue called, 'Traditions,' this weekend. I never thought I would be excited about anything that is traditional but I am believing God to help us birth a authentic community of about 50 believers by the end of the year in this venue. Check out our new website that Bryan Allain worked so hard on putting together. It looks excellent. Go to www.freedomlife.tv. Anyway, I am so tired from the last six months and this weekend I finally get to go away and be on vacation with my family. I can't explain how tiring ministry can be and these last six months have been a real challenge to my leadership and vision. Probably the toughest since I became the lead pastor. Anyway, we're heading to Colonial Williamsburg for 7 days beginning this Sunday afternoon. We're going to check out a Hillsong church plant in Virginia beach next week that I'm pretty excited about also. I'm looking forward to connecting with my family and with God without any day to day pressures. My family is awesome. Our new youth pastor Jake is coming in the last week of September which is awesome! It's been a long time coming but I believe it will be worth the wait. Battle of the Burgers is this week and I believe it will be a good boost for our youth ministry. Every facet of our church is growing healthier and I pretty excited about some BIG things we are working on over this next year. I can't talk about it publicly as of yet, but I believe that God is giving us a plan to rock our surrounding communities with the incredibly great news of Jesus Christ! I'm tired, have a ton of pressure with life stuff but my belief that our greatest days are still ahead have never been stronger. I'm reminded of the words that Paul encouraged the believers in Galatians with when he said, "...don't get tired of doing what is good. Don't get discouraged and give up, for we will reap a harvest of blessing at the appropriate time. Whenever we have the opportunity, we should do good to everyone, especially to our Christian brothers and sisters." (6:9-10, NLT) God is so good and I'm going to continue to passsionately pursue His purpose for my life!

CFNI Students

Fri, 18 Aug 2006 08:42:40 GMT

It's been over 2 months since I've blogged, so I felt a moment of inspiration this morning to blog away. I'm putting out this new post hoping to hear from all of your CFNI'ers in the deep (hellish hot) south in Texas. If you get a chance, leave me some updates. Also, keep us in prayer! We have almost finished laying the groundwork for all of our fall plans for the church and everything kicks off these next 2 weeks. I'm pretty stoked about what God is going to do in our church and also what he's going to do in you guys. Hopefully I can get out to see you guys sometime this school year, I've never been to Texas. The kids are up, gotta go.

Tuesday, October 04, 2005

Tue, 04 Oct 2005 23:46:08 GMT

My first foray into the bloggers world. The world is now a better place because of the meaningless drivel that will fill these pages. Actually, I hope to place thoughts that will be encouraging and help others in their spiritual journey.