It's Your Move--Orange Conference Opening Night

Tonight Reggie Joiner had the author of Same Kind of Different As Me Ron Hall share a few inspirational stories about Denver and their friendship that developed. The book is great and the brief conversation that Reggie had was good. The one quote that I wanted to share was this:

"We worship a homeless man on Sunday, but often ignore the homeless man on Monday."

Enough said...get the book. (One thing about the book, every page is engaging and heartfelt. I was actually moved to tears several times when I read the book two years ago).

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Also tonight Andy Stanley was the main stage speaker and delivered a great message as always. To be honest I am not sure how it totally connected with the theme of the conference "It's Your Move" but nonetheless he gave us some great points to ponder.

In essence; "We are stewards of the message of eternal life. We are stewards of the message of a better life here on this earth."

• He went on to talk about the pagan culture and religion when the church was birthed. 
• This perspective was totally counter culture to what was happening in the time of Jesus. 
• Compassion and generosity was what propelled the church out of the first century. 
• We may lose sight of what this country (the U.S.) really has in light of our nation being transformed by a Biblical world view. 
• Andy tied in Galatians 5:16-45 and stated how the Spirit of God drives our decisions. Paul was writing this to a pagan culture and the church that was being birthed was reminded about how this was against the nature around them, but to continue to move forward with acts of love, peace, joy, kindness, goodness, gentleness, and self control. 

This is a brief snapshot and putting a conference experience in as few as words as possible. 

What is my action plan in light of tonight's message?

There are people who are waiting for me to make a move that is bigger than myself and bigger than a program. Allow the Spirit of God to move in the direction that He desires and not what I desire?

En-Courage-ment

The early church was faced with persecution and a sense of urgency about the gospel of Christ that they had to give encouragement to one another on a daily basis. This allowed them to have courage to face the trials and persecution of those who were not accepting of The message of Jesus Christ being buried and raised from the dead as the Messiah.

Many times we think of encouragement as praise and recognition. What if we looked at encouragement the same way that the early church did? Would we live with more urgency and desire to share the gospel? What would be different in your life and the lives of those around you if you encouraged each other like the first Christians.

So...who is encouraging you?

Or better yet...who are you encouraging?

Don't wait on someone to encourage you, go and give encouragement for the gospel of Christ.

Here are a few passages to consider.

I Thessalonians 3

Hebrews 3

Hebrews 10 

Read the context and look for the word encouragement and see what God reveals to you.

Free Child Slaves and Win a TV

Aja is helping to free kids who are in slavery in Ghana, Africa. (Aja and I served together one summer at Impact Church of Christ in the inner city of Houston) Aja and her husband are giving away a Sony LCD HDTV to raise awareness for the Mercy Project. You can enter by reading her blog and following the instructions. This is all about freeing slaves, winning a TV draws attention to the Mercy Project so others will get involved.

Here’s the bad news: Right now, in Ghana, West Africa, there are an estimated 7,000 children in slavery. Some of these children have been sold for as little as $20. Many of them are as young as 5 or 6 years old. The kids often work as many as 100 hours a week as fishermen.  They fish, mend nets, and scoop water out of leaking boats.  They rarely smile or laugh.  Their childhoods have been stolen.

Here’s the good news: We can do something about it.  Yes, you and I.  It doesn’t matter if you are not rich or famous.  In fact, the Mercy Project was started by a guy who is far from rich and certainly not famous, and I started the project for people just like me.  People who want to make a difference in the world but don’t know where to start. People who wish there was something they could do to help but feel overwhelmed. People who want to help make the world a better place.

March Madness and Growing in Godly Character

The World Is Not Coming to An End Because of Health Care

Book Giveaway: The Hole in Our Gospel

Really? There is not a hole in our gospel. I mean look around in any city throughout the US and you will see churches, non-profits, rescue missions, and social services provided by the state helping and serving the poor and downcast. Surely there is not a hole in my gospel. Richard Stearns has written a great book that exposes the hole not only in my gospel, but most US churches.

We live in extreme wealth, comfort, and contentment, which has led us to our own idolatry of money. When there is an idol there is also a firm grip on the idol. In the book Richard tells about his personal resistance in his life to leave the corporate world as CEO and take a job with World Vision. He writes with humility, honesty, and transparency about his struggle to leave the "finer" things of his extravagant life and serve alongside an organization that reaches out to the downtrodden of the world.

My journey of the poor and outcast started when I was in the 3rd grade. My parents took me to Impact Church to be exposed to the orphans, widows, and those that society has cast out as "the least of these." I remember my first encounter walking under a bridge in downtown Houston and experiencing tent cities and shelters that mark all of our urban centers across the world. Years later I spent a summer at Impact working with the children in the inner city and reaching out to their families through various ministries. Not sure that my parents really grasped the full extension of the experiences they gave me as we visited different churches who truly reached out and ministered to the whole person. Today my life is not the same because of my life experiences and now "The Hole in Our Gospel" is a part of that overarching story of my life.

You cannot read this book and not be moved closer to Christ and those stricken by AIDS, hunger, malnutrition, disease and lack of educational opportunities.

Read Isaiah 58 and Matthew 25; if that does not move you and shake you then please give this book a chance. There actually my be a chance that your heart is hard like Eph 4 talks about. If that is the case then cry out to God to break your heart from your ego, pride, and idol of self.

Now for the book giveaway:

You have a really good chance to win this book; my analytic count is not high and I do not have many people subscribed via my RSS. Therefore, there may only be 3 comments and that would leave you with a 1 in 3 chance of winning.

Four ways to enter:

1. Tweet about the book giveaway and be sure to use @lantzhoward in the tweet so I can keep up with you.
2. Leave a comment below.
3. Post on Facebook about the book giveaway.
4. Write on your blog your first experience with the poor and downtrodden and link to this giveaway in your blog post.

You can do one or all four. Be sure to leave a comment for each one that you participate in. Next Wednesday I will use a number generator and try to figure out who won. Please keep in mind this is my first giveaway and there my be a few glitches, but I will contact the winner and send the book to you via the mail after you win.

Giveaway ends Wednesday March 17th at 12pm pacific time.

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Book provided by Book Sneeze and Thomas Nelson.

Must Watch Monologue...No Really

May your Kingdom be established in our presence!





May your Kingdom be established in our presence!

Traveled with Donald Miller

Ok...so I really didn't travel with him, but I read Through Painted Deserts this weekend while being laid up sick in bed. This is not a review of the book, I just wanted to capture what he learned while traveling from Houston to the Northwest. Ok...so I did not capture this, Don wrote it down and I wanted to share it with you.

"Relationships between men and women indicate something of the nature of God--that is He is relational, that He feels love and loss. It's a metaphor, and the story is about us; it's about all of us who God made, and God himself, just enjoying each other. It strikes me how far the commercials are from this reality, how deadly they are, perhaps. Months ago I would have told you life was about doing, about jumping through the religious hoops, about impressing other people, and my actions would have told you this is done by buying more possessions or keeping a good image or going to church. I don't believe that anymore. I think we are supposed to love our friends and introduce people to the story, to the peaceful, calming way of life."

We cannot try to reduce God down to logarithm (some math thing) or make Him fit in a perfect little box. God is a relational God. That's what I desire; to be relational with God and others. Through this I pray my life will overflow in worship, love, sacrifice, and living by faith.

(Photo depicts my mother sharing her overflowing love with a gentle woman in Abilene, TX)

Ask God to Change You from the Inside Out

"I will sprinkle clean water on you, and you will be clean; I will cleanse you from all your impurities and from all your idols. I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws"

Ezekiel 36:25-37

So Beautiful

So Beautiful: Divine Design for Life and the Church by Leonard Sweet comes with mixed emotions neither good or bad, just undecided.

To summarize the book with one quote from page 162, "When the one lung breathes in the Missional (God's Power) and the other lung breathes in Relational (God's Presence), the body comes alive and exhales the risen incarnate life of Christ."

Leonard paints a picture throughout the book of this DNA of MRI or Missional, Relational, and Incarnational. Nothing new, right?

Some think that this is a new way to look at the church or an old way recently discovered. Many people are searching for a meaningful body of Christ that not only worships on Sunday morning, but breathes with a mission, that extends to relational communities, and takes the message of Christ out into their everyday life or what Sweet calls MRI.

This is a very wordy book. I am not into repeating oneself. Sweet early on even mentions that if "you have not noticed I am saying the same thing in a different way (paraphrased)". One can simply turn to the book of Acts and read about this Missional, Relational, Incarnational way of the church. Sweet is humbly putting modern words into a language that some seem to have forgotten.

Keeping with the Sweet writing pattern he weaves multiple quotes throughout the book that unites everything together in a seamless manner. If you desire to have a renewed vision of the church reread Acts first and then read So Beautiful by Len Sweet. If you have not begin to ponder a deeper meaning for the body of Christ this may jump start your engine. Enjoy Len's words as he casts a vision that needs to be renewed for the body of Christ so others will begin to know, see, and hear that God is really among us (I Cor 14:25).

Inside Out

I am wrapping up a book that I have been tacking this summer with joy. Unfortunately I have only got around to this book a few times this summer. I wanted to share a brief quote with you from the book that I read on Friday.

"The gospel's power today lies in its resources to help us overcome a demanding spirit and to replace it with trust as we await the full revelation of its power, the day when sinful people will enter heaven as loving worshipers of God, when further sin will be unthinkable and pain will be unknown."

Dr Larry Crab
Inside Out

What is Renovatus?

Renovatus is a Latin word for renovation and restoration and I understand the deep longing of being part of a renovation and restoration process that my parents started when I was 14.

You see my parents started this small project (or so they thought) of buying a 1906 Victorian Farm House when I was entering the 8th grade, approximately in 1994. They had this grand dream and idea to renovate this house to its intended beauty. Well, true renovation may never end because to this day they are still working on the house. I have many stories to tell and will resume to blogging about renovatus when the summer youth calendar slows down. (You will not want to miss the story about me taking baths with a water hose. Not kidding!)

Many people have misinterpreted and have been misled to think that renovation and restoration is a external process to an internal joy. We know from Jesus words in order for renovatus to happen in one's life you must begin from the inside out.

"Woe to you, teachers of the law and Pharisees, you hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence."

Matthew 23:25

Please join me to explore a deeper meaning to restoration that looks beyond the external structure.

Some Things Don't Make Sense

Head over to Trey Morgan to read the entire list, but this one statement below is on the forefront of my mind as we take 7 teens to Youth with A Vision for Evangelism tomorrow in Portland.

"Why do some churches focus on everything BUT reaching the lost in their community?"

Over the next week we will be exploring how our story fits into the storyline of God's plan and what we do to reach our neighbors in their story. I pray it will not be just another week, but that when the teens return home the church, parents, and leaders will embrace their passion and step up with them to reach our Vegas valley.

King of Pop or King of Kings

I have been preparing for two upcoming camps and the respective classes that I am teaching at both camps. In the midst of preparing for classes I ask God to pour out His Spirit so I will listen to His guidance that I may seek His word and apply the teachings to teens in a meaningful and relevant way.

One way I will be using culture and the Bible is through the movie Transformers which I have not seen, but possibly can find time to see.

The second point and relevant way to teach class and the reason for this brief post is through the death of Michael Jackson. I am sick and tired of hearing about Michael Jackson.

I was born in 1980, right in the midst of Michael's prime time. I listened to MJ. His music is great and still speaks today.

We need to be slow with our words in speaking about MJ because many Christians have been to busy casting stones and I am one of them. The day after MJ's death we were in Paris and I was listening to Ben Stein and he quoted the Bible in saying, "He who is without sin let him be the first to cast a stone." We are quick to judge MJ about the child abuse scandal. Which is wrong and sinful, both child abuse and judging. I do not want to throw any stones, because I have fallen short of the glory of God and I am only saved through the power of the Cross and having my sins washed away through the grace of Jesus Christ.

Although I do not want to throw stones in my head and heart I know I have because paying children and their families millions of dollars to be quiet is wrong and the list continues.

Here is the point:

He may be the King of Pop, but he is not the King of Kings.

I did not watch any of the memorial service yesterday, but I briefly heard about what Al Sharpton said and wanted to listen to his words myself.

This is for anyone who has put their trust in Al Sharpton's words and not the words of Jesus Christ.

(The words below, are a reference to Al Sharpton's speech at the memorial service.)

There is only one person who came to feed the hungry. There is only one person who brought Blacks, Whites, Asians, Latinos together. There is only one person who has showed the world love. There is only one person who the world needs to uphold his message.

And it is NOT Micheal Jackson

His name is Jesus Christ. The Prince of Peace. The King of Kings.

Life Changing Trip

My first international mission trip experience came in the spring of 2001. I did not know that I was going to the Dominican Republic until the phone call came only a few days prior to leaving on the trip. The trip was paid in full and a person had to drop out. I was the blessed person to be able to fill that spot.

This was God's design from the beginning. I have no doubt God intended for me to go on that trip. This was the first time I saw real poverty, not our tainted view of North America poverty, but real disease ridden poverty.

Have you ever been to a dump (landfill) to feed people? Have you ever seen the face of a child digging through garbage just to find a small piece of bread?

Have you ever mixed cement for hours to build a bathroom? They called it a bathroom, but it was nothing more than a few cinder blocks with a hole in the ground, some call it an outhouse.

When was the last time you walked in the slums of shacks and one room homes for a entire family?

These experiences changed my worldview forever.

What do you fear about an international mission trip?

Side Note:
Throughout the next several weeks those of you who have either gone on short term mission trips or for those of you who are going I would ask that you add your comments and build a community around the topic of mission trips.

Many of you may be getting ready to go on a summer mission trip, either internationally or domestically. There are many concerns and fears that are natural when one embarks on a new adventure.

This fear keeps many from even signing up for such a trip, but you have overcome the fear by committing time, money, and energy to serve in the Kingdom.

Several times in the book of Jeremiah, God declares to Jacob, "Do not fear" and then God goes on to give a promise of deliverance and security.

What are the fears that you may have as your trip gets closer?

What fears did you have that were overcome on a short term mission trip if you have previously been on a trip?

How do you rest in the promises from God to overcome your fear?

This is YOUR Chance for a Mission Trip

Just got a call from our travel agent who is handling our group flight arrangements to Honduras this summer. She stated, "Lantz, there is actually a few more days if you have anyone else interested in going on the trip."

You see I canceled the tickets that we did not need last week...that was the deadline, but for some reason YOU have an opportunity to join us as we serve at Mission Lazarus this summer.

The dates are August 1th-8th.

Please leave a comment below if you are interested. Or drop me a line on Facebook. Or shoot me an e-mail.

Need to know by this Friday May 1st.




















Please read Isaiah 58 and pray about everyone who is going. Thanks!

Take No Credit

I am so pumped for one of our teens in the youth group. He recently got a job with a Christian media company in Las Vegas. Seth and I have worked together producing a few different videos for a sermon and various youth events. Once people can combine their passion with serving God amazing things start to happen for the Kingdom of God. Here is Seth's first "commercial" that he produced last week. (This video is worth your short time...not even 2 minutes.)

Church is about Who?

There is a wake up call that needs to happen in churches across the world, in our classrooms, pulpits, leaders meetings, song selection, worship, and at the lunch table on Sunday afternoon after church.

CHURCH IS NOT ABOUT YOU!

Church is made of a collection people that represent the body of Christ, with Christ being the head of the body. We are to make known the manifold wisdom of God, according to his eternal purpose in Christ Jesus (Eph. 3:10-11). Anything apart from this does not give glory to God.

Church is about everyone doing their part (Eph 3:16).

Are you contributing to the body of Christ or are you making church about you?

What is really a sin?

Could we be missing the picture about what sin really is?

Sin should lead us to the cross of Christ to realize we cannot justify ourselves.

We often define sins from a selfish perspective to justify our behavior or belief which does not lead anyone to the redemption of Christ.

May we come to know our sins as Paul stated, "I would not have known what sin was except through the law." (Rom. 7:7)

The purpose of the law was to reveal sin which leads us to the story of Christ.