Below is a quote from a sermon by Carter Conlon that has changed my life. I come back to it often. I hope it inspires you to live your life with the proper perspective.

“Isn’t a better testimony to get to the end of this life and just say, “It’s been all God, it’s been all grace, it’s been all goodness, it’s been all mercy, it’s been all glory, it’s been everything of Christ and nothing of me. Isn’t it wonderful if you get to the end and whether you’ve preached to ten or ten million, it doesn’t really matter, but you get to the end of the journey and your children say, “Mom, dad, how did such change come into your life, how did you become the person that you became, and at the end of the journey you don’t have a list of books for them to read, you don’t have a stack of proverbs, you don’t have a whole list of how-to’s, you have only one name on your lips, only one victory, only one direction, only one God.”

–Carter Conlon, Lead Pastor, Time’s Square Church

Thoughts?

“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life, no one comes to the Father except through me.” -John 14:6

Saturday night I went to 19 North and was deeply impacted. A friend shared his testimony of what God had done in his life. It was amazing to hear. I’ll end up posting the video’s/podcast here on the blog. The thing that impacted me the most was this:

He kept saying how grateful he was that someone talked to him about God. He talked about how he had someone just keep telling him, “There is a better way to live than how you’re living now . . .” He went onto say that because someone shared that simple truth, he started going to church and giving God a chance. 5 years later he is a completely different person, living the life he never dreamed possible just 5 years before.

The night ended with him and another person telling us that if it weren’t for people telling them that there is a better way to live, then they would probably be dead right now. They stressed the importance of us telling people that there is a better way to live.

That’s the purpose of this post. Jesus said that He is the way, the truth, and the life. He didn’t say he is a way, a truth, and a life.

If you feel like there is something more to life . . . there is.

If you feel like you’ve been living for no purpose, you don’t have to anymore.

If you’re in bondage to addiction, depression, oppression in your life, you don’t have to be.

If you’ve been wanting to pursue a relationship with God, but don’t know how, you can start today!

I mean this sincerely. The decision to pursue a relationship with God was the single greatest decision I have and ever will make in life. It completely turned my life around. I became a totally different person. I honestly believe that my life didn’t truly begin until I made that decision. I would be doing you a disservice if I didn’t give you an opportunity to do the same.

Please go to my About Me page and read my testimony of what God has done in my life. If you’re interested in pursuing a relationship with God, it starts with simply asking Him into your life:

Pray this out loud:

God, I thank you, for sending you Son, Jesus, to die for me. I believe in my heart that Jesus died on a cross and rose from the dead, for me. Father, I ask you into my heart, and I thank you for coming. I thank you that I’ll never be the same. In Jesus name, Amen.

The Bible says if you draw close to God, He’ll draw close to you. If you prayed that prayer I encourage you to do a few things:

1.) Get in a good church (ask me and I’ll help you find one)

2.) Get a Bible and read it!

3.) Get yourself around some Christian friends that are farther along in their walk with God and have them mentor you and help you along in your journey!

If you have any questions – just ask me! I love you  and I am pumped up about what God wants to do in and through your life!

Two roads diverged in a wood, and I–
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference

I got the privilege to go to NewSpring’s Unleash Conference today. It was an incredible experience. It was amazing to see what God has done here! This will be a 2-part review! One with a summary of key takeaways and another of the practical ministry takeaways. Here were my big takeaways:

It’s All About Making Jesus Famous One Life at a Time - This is NewSpring’s Vision. It is beyond evident that the vision is burning in the hearts of every staff member and volunteer. Everything they do as a church, is done with the intention of changing people’s lives. When I say everything… I mean everything!

Quit Playing Games and Start Preaching the Word - I love how simple Newspring is. I.E. The youth – ALL they do is preach, worship, small groups, and a summer camp. It’s all centered around pointing teenagers to Jesus. Period. I love it!

People Act Like they Don’t Know Christ, Because they Don’t Know Christ - Let me clarify! They had a 5th grader that went to their childrens ministry for the first time. He saw a PS3 and Wii and said, “They have a PS3! A Wii! This s*** is awesome!” Those are the people we’re trying to reach, we need to have people like this coming to church! Instead of correcting them, let’s love them and point them to Jesus. They’ll only change as a result of knowing Him!

People Can Believe in You and Go to Hell - I love Perry. He was saying that we should never try to get people to believe in us or think we’re awesome. We need to constantly be getting their eyes off  of us and onto Jesus. He’s the only one that can save them.

Celebrating Wins is Critical – Every staff meeting they start with sharing victories in their church. Then they celebrate them – this fuels them with passion every week becasuse it helps them recognize they are doing what God called them to do!

They Don’t Know How They Grew! - Twice in their church their attendance has doubled in a one week span… from 400 to 900 and 4,000 to 8,000. What did they do? Nothing… They have no idea how it happened! Perry always relays it like this: Leadership is as easy as listening to God. Then do what He  says! Perry said, “If you can explain what God is doing in your church, He’s probably not that involved in it!

I loved being at Newspring! I know it definitely fired me  up to come home and do more for Jesus. I’m so glad they are doing what God called them to do and inspiring the body of Christ while they do it!

Tomorrow I’ll talk about the practical things I learned that we can implement in our ministries!