Bobby Lepinay

Guilty Pleasures

My pastor buddy, Robert Pooley from Coast Community, posted yesterday his "guilty pleasure"....(...gagg...gag..).. a song by the group "Whiteheart"....:)

See it (if you can bear it...) here...Robert Pooley

I am in one of 'those moods' today, kind of ornery....so here goes.....:)

Let's be honest: We ALL have a 'guilty pleasure' song! You kind of feel a little guilty for liking them so much when you hear them......but you cant help it:  The songs just have "it", whatever "it" is, and try as you may,....if you hear it, even 30 years later (as in my case) the song stays with you the rest of the day!

Soooo.......

In the spirit of "one-upmanship", I introduce my own 'guilty pleasure' song.  :) 

I was a young lad of all of 13 when it first came out, and from the time I first heard it, til now, its THE song that goes thru my head when I am in "competitve mode", usually playing 1 on 1 basketball, whatever..... The song was written about trying to get away from the papparatzi (photographers) that were agressively following them everywhere they went.  They NAILED the 'feel' on this one....that "in your face!" feel that comes over us "high D types" when we are "in the zone".

Come on...come on....show it already...!!! :)....

Not just yet.....

I know Robert and some of my other comrades from the Messozoic Era :), who grew up in the 70's, are going to chime in and try to one-up me back, .....so I have to stake my claim: These sisters, hands down, own best voice and guitar duo ever.  Effortless..... And the guitar and drum licks are literally perfect .

Also, compared to my counterparts 'guilty pleasure', they werent TRYING....These girls OWNED the stage.... 

It is painful though, to see what the 70s REALLY looked like.....ugghhhh!!!....the thought hit me seeing the guitarist with his spandex and displayed chest now 30 years older (mid 50s???) showing his grandkids 'what REAL music was like in the day'!.......Ha!! :)

And lastly,...please.....for all of you too religious for your own good, who are going to be all offended over nothing....you and I both know you have your OWN little 'guilty pleasures'......you know, those songs you just cant help it with???.....

.....Come on, ...you can come clean.... what is that song that those "worldly folk" listen to..!!...but that when you are walking thru the mall or wherever and you hear it played....you remember and FEEL every lick, every nuance, every part... ?? .....

Alright....alright.....!.... Here it finally is.....as introduced in the mid 70's by a German music show host...."ladies and gentlemen, I give you.....!!...."   

Oh, and hey, Robert.....

I win.  :)

PB

Second Life

Over the past year, I have heard bits and pieces about the next big "thing" called "Second Life".  I dont understand much about it, beyond that it just seemed 'geeky and wierd' to me, so I paid little attention to it.

One megachurch, LifeChurch in OK, sees this as a new 'mission-field' --- so much so, they have "planted" a virtual LifeChurch on the virtual Second Life island, with a real-life staff member whose full-time, REAL life job is to be the full-time VIRTUAL pastor of the church on that VIRTUAL island....!

.....Gets a little...ALOT...???....confusing..??????

My sister-in-law sent me this fascinating article out of the Wall Street Journal this past week.  What is mind-blowing is that over 30 MILLION people world-wide are involved already......just on this ONE site they describe here alone! The average user spends 20 to 40 hours a week in the virtual world of their Second Life.

The ramifications are staggering.  The questions that arise endless.....at least in my mind. 

If, as this article states, these millions of people really are so identified with their 'Second Life' identity that they detach from real life and 'Second Life', in REALITY, becomes their life........when they die and face God....which life will they be judged on?????? 

Just thinking that one out, I guess it really doesnt make a difference, as rejection of Christ at the HEART LEVEL is what we all will be judged on......

....but still....:)...

...Is, as LifeChurch is attempting, this a legitimate mission field?? 

Do those who convert in Second Life really get converted?? 

...Man,......too much for my brain to handle, at least today!

I am pasting this article below, rather than linking it, as the WSJ only allows access for a week.  The article is pretty lengthy, but very much worth the read, as it really is a societal phenomena we will have to deal with in the years to come.  I anticipate that the 'addiction factor' on this is probably much stronger than any drug out there.

Lord Lead Us...!!!

PB

Is This Man Cheating on His Wife?

Alexandra Alter on the toll one man's virtual marriage is taking on his real one and what researchers are discovering about the surprising power of synthetic identity.

By ALEXANDRA ALTER
August 10, 2007; Page W1

On a scorching July afternoon, as the temperature creeps toward 118 degrees in a quiet suburb east of Phoenix, Ric Hoogestraat sits at his computer with the blinds drawn, smoking a cigarette. While his wife, Sue, watches television in the living room, Mr. Hoogestraat chats online with what appears on the screen to be a tall, slim redhead.

He's never met the woman outside of the computer world of Second Life, a well-chronicled digital fantasyland with more than eight million registered "residents" who get jobs, attend concerts and date other users. He's never so much as spoken to her on the telephone. But their relationship has taken on curiously real dimensions. They own two dogs, pay a mortgage together and spend hours shopping at the mall and taking long motorcycle rides. This May, when Mr. Hoogestraat, 53, needed real-life surgery, the redhead cheered him up with a private island that cost her $120,000 in the virtual world's currency, or about $480 in real-world dollars. Their bond is so strong that three months ago, Mr. Hoogestraat asked Janet Spielman, the 38-year-old Canadian woman who controls the redhead, to become his virtual wife.

Ric Hoogestraat's avatar, Dutch Hoorenbeek

The woman he's legally wed to is not amused. "It's really devastating," says Sue Hoogestraat, 58, an export agent for a shipping company, who has been married to Mr. Hoogestraat for seven months. "You try to talk to someone or bring them a drink, and they'll be having sex with a cartoon."

Mr. Hoogestraat plays down his online relationship, assuring his wife that it's only a game. While many busy people can't fathom the idea of taking on another set of commitments, especially imaginary ones, Second Life and other multiplayer games are moving into the mainstream. With some 30 million people now involved world-wide, there is mounting concern that some are squandering, even damaging their real lives by obsessing over their "second" ones. That's always been a concern with videogames, but a field of study suggests that the boundary between virtual worlds and reality may be more porous than experts previously imagined.

ONLINE TODAY

• Photographer Robbie Cooper and writer Tracy Spaight document virtual worlds around the globe in the book "Alter Ego." They answer questions about the nuances of identity play and the cultural differences of gaming. Also, a slideshow includes photos of subjects depicted in the book and comments from Mr. Cooper.

Nearly 40% of men and 53% of women who play online games said their virtual friends were equal to or better than their real-life friends, according to a survey of 30,000 gamers conducted by Nick Yee, a recent Ph.D. graduate from Stanford University. More than a quarter of gamers said the emotional highlight of the past week occurred in a computer world, according to the survey, which was published in 2006 by Massachusetts Institute of Technology Press's journal Presence.

"There's a fuzziness that's emerging between the virtual world and the real world," says Edward Castronova, associate professor in the Department of Telecommunications at Indiana University, Bloomington.

Weekends As 'Dutch'

A burly man with a long gray ponytail, thick sideburns and a salt-and-pepper handlebar mustache, Mr. Hoogestraat looks like the cross between a techie and the Grateful Dead fan that he is. He drives a motorcycle and wears faded black Harley-Davidson T-shirts around the house. A former college computer graphics teacher, Mr. Hoogestraat was never much of a game enthusiast before he discovered Second Life. But since February, he's been spending six hours a night and often 14 hours at a stretch on weekends as Dutch Hoorenbeek, his six-foot-nine, muscular, motorcycle-riding cyber-self. The character looks like a younger, physically enhanced version of him: a biker with a long black ponytail, strong jaw and thick handlebar mustache.

In the virtual world, he's a successful entrepreneur with a net worth of about $1.5 million in the site's currency, the linden, which can be earned or purchased through Second Life's Web site at a rate of about 250 lindens per U.S. dollar. He owns a mall, a private beach club, a dance club and a strip club. He has 25 employees, online persons known as avatars who are operated by other players, including a security guard, a mall concierge, a manager and assistant manager, and the "exotic dancers" at his club. He designs bikinis and lingerie, and sells them through his chain store, Red Headed Lovers.

"Here, you're in total control," he says, moving his avatar through the mall using the arrow keys on his keyboard.

Virtual worlds like Second Life have fast become a testing ground for the limits of relationships, both online and off. In the game, cyber sex, marriage and divorce are common. Avatars have sued one another, as well as the site's parent company, Linden Lab, in real-life courts for in-game grievances such as copyright infringement and property disputes. The site now has more than eight million registered "residents," up from 100,000 in January 2006, though the number of active users is closer to 450,000, according to Linden Lab's most recent data. A typical "gamer" spends 20 to 40 hours a week in a virtual world.

A closer look at some popular online worlds.

Academics have only recently begun to intensively study the social dynamics of virtual worlds, but some say they are astonished by how closely virtual relationships mirror real life. "People respond to interactive technology on social and emotional levels much more than we ever thought," says Byron Reeves, a professor of communication at Stanford University. "People feel bad when something bad happens to their avatar, and they feel quite good when something good happens."

On a neurological level, players may not distinguish between virtual and real-life relationships, recent studies suggest. In an experiment conducted at the University of Washington's Institute for Learning and Brain Sciences, test subjects were hooked up to neuroimaging machines while they played a simple computer game in which they moved colored discs to form a pattern. When told that they were playing with a person rather than a computer, participants showed increased activity in areas of the brain that govern social interaction.

Other experiments show that people socializing in virtual worlds remain sensitive to subtle cues like eye contact. In one study, participants moved their avatars back if another character stood too close, even though the space violation was merely virtual, says Jeremy Bailenson, director of Stanford's Virtual Human Interaction Lab, which was created five years ago to study social behavior in virtual worlds. "Our brains are not specialized for 21st-century media," says Prof. Reeves. "There's no switch that says, 'Process this differently because it's on a screen.' "

A Full-Blown Dance Party

On a Saturday afternoon in July, Mr. Hoogestraat decides to go to the beach. He lights a cigarette and enters Second Life, one of 42,752 people logged on at the time. Immediately, he gets an instant message from Tenaj Jackalope, his Second Life wife, saying she'll be right there.

They meet at their home, a three-story, modern-looking building on a grassy bluff overlooking the ocean, then head to his beach club by teleporting, or instantly moving to a new screen by typing in a location. A full-blown dance party is under way. A dozen avatars, digital representations of other live players, gyrate on the sand, twisting their hips and waving their arms. Several dance topless and some are fully nude. Dutch gets pelted with instant messages.

"What took you so long, Dutch?" a dancer asks.

"Howdy, Boss Man," an avatar named Whiskey Girl says.

Before discovering Second Life, Mr. Hoogestraat had bounced between places and jobs, working as an elementary schoolteacher and a ski instructor, teaching computer graphics and spending two years on the road selling herbs and essential oils at Renaissance fairs. Along the way, he picked up a bachelor's degree in education from Arizona State University and took graduate courses in education and instructional technology at the University of Wyoming and the University of Arizona. He currently works as a call-center operator for Vangent Inc., a large corporation that outsources calls for the government and private companies. He makes $14 an hour.

Mr. Hoogestraat learned about Second Life in February, while watching a morning news segment. His mother had just been hospitalized with pancreatic cancer -- she died two weeks later -- and he wanted a distraction. He was fascinated by the virtual world's free-wheeling, Vegas-like atmosphere. With his computer graphics background, he quickly learned how to build furniture and design clothing. He upgraded his avatar, buying defined stomach muscles, a furry chest and special hair that sways when he walks. Other, missing anatomy was also available for purchase. Before long, Mr. Hoogestraat was spending most nights and weekends acting out his avatar's life.

When Mr. Hoogestraat was diagnosed with diabetes and a failing gall bladder a few months ago, he was home-bound for five weeks. Some days, he played from a quarter to six in the morning until two in the morning, eating in front of the computer and pausing only for bathroom breaks.

During one marathon session, Mr. Hoogestraat met Tenaj (Janet spelled backward) while shopping. They became fast friends, then partners.

A week later, he asked her to move into the small apartment he rented in Phantom Island, an area of Second Life. In May, they married in a small ceremony in a garden overlooking a pond. She wore a strapless white dress that she bought at a Second Life yard sale and he wore a tuxedo. Thirty of their avatar friends attended.

"There's a huge trust between us," says Ms. Spielman, a divorced mother of two who works in office sales in Calgary, Alberta, and began logging on to Second Life in January. "We'll tell each other everything."

That intimacy hasn't spilled into real life. They never speak and have no plans to meet. Aside from the details they share over Second Life instant messages, each knows little about the other beyond what's posted on their brief online user profiles.

Mr. Hoogestraat's real-life wife is losing patience with her husband's second life. "It's sad; it's a waste of human life," says Mrs. Hoogestraat, who is dark-haired and heavy-set with smooth, pale skin. "Everybody has their hobbies, but when it's from six in the morning until two in the morning, that's not a hobby, that's your life."

Tenaj Jackalope and Dutch Hoorenbeek married in May.

The real Mrs. Hoogestraat is no stranger to online communities -- she met her husband in a computer chat room three years ago. Both were divorced and had adult children from previous marriages, and Mrs. Hoogestraat says she was relieved to find someone educated and adventurous after years of failed relationships. Now, as she pays household bills, cooks, does laundry, takes care of their three dogs and empties ashtrays around the house while her husband spends hours designing outfits for virtual strippers and creating labels for virtual coffee cups, she wonders what happened to the person she married.

Just a Game

One Saturday night in early June, she discovered his cyber wife. He called her over to the computer to show her an outfit he had designed. There, above the image of the redheaded model, it said "Mrs. Hoorenbeek." When she confronted him, he huffily replied that it was just a game.

Two weeks later, Mrs. Hoogestraat joined an online support group for spouses of obsessive online gamers called EverQuest Widows, named after another popular online fantasy game that players call Evercrack.

"It's avalanched beyond repair," says Sharra Goddard, 30, Mrs. Hoogestraat's daughter and a sign-language interpreter in Chandler, Ariz. She says she and her two brothers have offered to help their mother move out of the house.

Janet Spielman controls Tenaj Jackalope

Mrs. Hoogestraat says she's not ready to separate. "I'm not a monster; I can see how it fulfills parts of his life that he can no longer do because of physical limitations, because of his age. His avatar, it's him at 25," she says. "He's a good person. He's just fallen down this rabbit hole."

Mr. Hoogestraat, for his part, doesn't feel he's being unfaithful. "She watches TV, and I do this," he says. "I tried to get her involved so we could play together, but she wasn't interested."

Family-law experts and marital counselors say they're seeing a growing number of marriages dissolve over virtual infidelity. Cyber affairs don't legally count as adultery unless they cross over into the real world, but they may be cited as grounds for divorce and could be a factor in determining alimony and child custody in some states, according to several legal experts, including Jeff Atkinson, professor at the DePaul University College of Law and author of the American Bar Association's "Guide to Marriage, Divorce and Families."

This past June, the American Medical Association called for more psychiatric research on excessive gaming, but backed away from classifying videogame addiction as a formal disorder.

Some gamers say the addictive dangers have been overstated, citing surveys that show most players spend fewer hours online than the average American spends watching television. And unlike television, online games are social. In June, when Mr. Hoogestraat first logged on to Second Life after he had his gall bladder removed, he was greeted with 50 messages from virtual friends asking him how the surgery went.

Still, some antigaming organizations and psychiatrists say the social aspects of such games may be driving up pressure to play for longer stretches. Kimberly Young, a clinical psychologist and founder of the Center for Internet Addiction Recovery, said the majority of the 200 cases a year she sees for counseling involve interactive fantasy role-playing games. "They start forming attachments to other players," she says. "They start shutting out their primary relationships."

Back in the world of Second Life, Mr. Hoogestraat's avatar and Tenaj have gotten bored at the beach, so they teleport to his office, a second-floor room with a large, tinted window overlooking the stage of the strip club he owns. Tenaj plays with her pug, Jolly Roger, commanding the dog to sit and fetch its toy. Dutch drinks a Corona, Mr. Hoogestraat's beer of choice in real life, and sits at his desk. For a while, Mr. Hoogestraat, sitting at his computer, stares at an image of his avatar sitting at his computer.

The next morning, he's at his computer at 10 a.m., wearing the same black Harley-Davidson T-shirt. It is Sunday. He's been logged on to Second Life for four hours.

Staring purposefully at the screen, he manipulates his avatar, who is shirtless in cut-off denim shorts and flip-flops and renovating the lower level of his mall. "Sunday is my heavy-duty work day," Mr. Hoogestraat explains. Earlier that morning, he evicted 10 shop owners who hadn't paid rent, and signed up four new vendors, including an avatar named Arianna who sells virtual necklaces and women's shoes.

Sue Hoogestraat thinks her husband Ric spends too much with his Second Life wife.

From the kitchen, Mrs. Hoogestraat asks if he wants breakfast. He doesn't answer. She sets a plate of breakfast pockets on the computer console and goes into the living room to watch a dog competition on television. For two hours, he focuses intently on building a coffee shop for the mall. Two other avatars gather to watch as he builds stairs and a counter, using his cursor to resize wooden planks.

At 12:05, he's ready for a break. He changes his avatar into jeans, leather motorcycle chaps and motorcycle gloves, and teleports to a place with a curvy, mountain road. It's one of his favorite places for riding his Harley look-alike. The road is empty. He weaves his motorcycle across the lanes. Sunlight glints off the ocean in the distance.

Mrs. Hoogestraat pauses on her way to the kitchen and glances at the screen.

"You didn't eat your breakfast," she says.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see it there," he responds.

"They probably won't taste any good now," she says, taking the plate.

Over the next five hours, Mr. Hoogestraat stares at the computer screen, barely aware of his physical surroundings. He adds a coffee maker and potted palms to the cafe, goes swimming through a sunken castle off his waterfront property, chats with friends at a biker clubhouse, meets a new store owner at the mall, counsels an avatar friend who had recently split up with her avatar boyfriend, and shows his wife Tenaj the coffee shop he's built.

By 4 p.m., he's been in Second Life for 10 hours, pausing only to go to the bathroom. His wrists and fingers ache from manipulating the mouse to draw logos for his virtual coffee cups. His back hurts. He feels it's worth the effort. "If I work a little harder and make it a little nicer, it's more rewarding," he says.

Sitting alone in the living room in front of the television, Mrs. Hoogestraat says she worries it will be years before her husband realizes that he's traded his real life for a pixilated fantasy existence, one that doesn't include her.

"Basically, the other person is widowed," she says. "This other life is so wonderful; it's better than real life. Nobody gets fat, nobody gets gray. The person that's left can't compete with that."

Write to Alexandra Alter at alexandra.alter@wsj.com

Living in the Present

Being a pastor, I of course meet and counsel alot of people.  One thing I have noticed since I began over 20 years ago: A huge increase in the number of people struggling with depression.

I am no stranger to, as Winston Churchill called it, to this " 'black dog' that lurks in the shadows, awaiting opportune times....".  I believe that the root is usually a 'control issue', ie, we feel helpless to control life and the events of our lives. 

People who are always fighting to control life WILL flame out into tail-spins of depression, as life keeps moving, ever changing, never static.  It cant be controlled the way we always want it to be.  Much of life is beyond our span of control and we have to learn what we CAN control and what we CANT control.

Beyond that, of course there are heriditary, 'bloodline' issues where "propensities" seek to run through generations.  I believe with all of my heart that we CAN overcome these genetic propensities through laying hold of the Blood of Christ for ourselves and our families, declaring 'bloodline curses' null and void, stating by faith that rather than depression, JOY is ours and our childrens portions. 

Where a stronghold of depression was seeking to be established, we, by faith and by the word of our testimony, begin to establish a stronghold of joy!

This is getting too lengthy, but I want to add one more thought that really has been on my mind the last few days: Living in the Present.

Jesus said that God is not the God of the dead, but rather, of the living......those living in the NOW.  He is the Great I AM,.....not I WAS....not I WILL BE. 

.....I AM.  The One present NOW.  The God who wants to be involved with the moments of THIS day. 

I read a quote that really struck me yesterday: 

"The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, not to worry about the future, or not to anticipate troubles, but to live in the present moment wisely and earnestly."

Isnt that what living by faith is all about???  Believing God for TODAY.  Living life THIS DAY, anticipating His Presence and favor moment by moment.......

Godspeed,

PB

Monday Morning Musings....

Hope you had a great weekend.....ours was great!

Some thoughts from the weekend......

1. Deb and I went shopping for a new mattress Saturday.  Man, is it just us or is shopping for a mattress REALLY that confusing????  It seems each store, though they carry the same names (Sealy, Serta, etc...) all have their OWN names and models, making it almost impossible to comparison shop.  I am convinced that is the very reason they do it...! :)  We ended up buying a hotel model (Hilton), eurotop rather than pillowtop, from Mattress Depot on N. Davis, where they sell 'closeout' mattresses they get from distributers, etc....and have a 30 day return policy, which most didnt.
2. We then went to see "The Bourne Identity" Saturday night.  Kind of confusing, but good.  I gave it a 6.5 out of 10......I know, I am hard.....I havent seen many movies I would give a 10, as a matter of fact, I dont remember the last one..??? ......"Return of the King"???
3. Sunday morning was pretty cool.  We moved to the largest theater at the RAVE and were maybe 70% full??  Its funny how a new environment takes awhile for people to adjust to.....kind of like cats, I suppose!! :)  I anchored the teaching panel for the Q and A series last week; Pastor Craig anchored it this week, with Pastor Roger and Pastor Greg.  I had absolutely NO responsibility in the service, so I took advantage to go out and check things outside of the theater, feel out the atmosphere out in the lobby, greet latecomers outside as I filmed a commercial spot with our TV team, .....and just mill around, experiencing the service from different areas (trying not to let people notice me!)......while really feeling out what newcomers feel each week.
4. By the way.....the team did a GREAT job answering some very good questions!  Bill Robinson came up to answer the question on Islam.....solid stuff you can hear on the podcast at www.harvestpensacola.com
5. My daughter, Brittany, got accepted this morning to 24/7, a rigorous discipleship/leadership training school in Birmingham. * Twenty Four Seven * She leaves next Friday and will be there a year.  It is pretty cool to see God answering a prayer I made when our kids were born, that they, on their own initiative, would give at least a year after high school to something like this that would IMPRINT them for life for the Kingdom of God......
6. ....But gosh.....I didnt realize how hard it would be to let them go!!!! :)
7. As Pastor Craig said at Harvest @ 5, I am SO GLAD we have such great friends to 'do life together' with.  I cant imagine doing it alone!  The 'Better Together" series at our Harvest @ 5 venue is shaping up to be fantastic....very encouraging.

To a GREAT week....!

PB

Are you kidding me???

It's Friday,....I LOVE Fridays!

Some of you may or may not have seen this, but,.... man.....all I can say is OUCH!!!!  This is some seriously, seriously wierd stuff.....!

http://youtube.com/watch?v=vC_Maf9HcJI

You guys have been awesome at bringing your unchurched friends and family to church.  KEEP IT UP!!!  We are committed to presenting the truth as simply and from the heart as we possibly can, trusting the Holy Spirit to honor our desire to reach these Jesus died for.

Just keep INVITING, INVITING, INVITING!!!!  We had 16 baptized this past Sunday.  We are believing for MORE this next baptism!

And finally....WE MOVE INTO THE BIGGEST THEATER THE RAVE HAS THIS SUNDAY!!!!!!  This DOUBLES our seating capacity and our ability to reach more and more people for our KIng! 

God is doing something wonderful in our midst, folks......see you Sunday!!!

PB

Honor Your Parents

I got home late Tuesday night from helping Michael move into his new house down in Lakeland.  Let me tell you, ....doing that trip down to central Florida up and back so quick feels LONGGGGGG! .....especially that section of I-10 between Tallahassee and the I-75 turn off...

...BORRRRIINNNGGG!

Anyway....

Taking my dad along with me was wonderful.  It meant so much to him to see where his grandson was now living and going to school.  He felt a part of his life now.  The 3 of us got to eat a number of meals together, compare our hands at the table! :)....and just talk.

Dad and I had some very precious conversations during our trip.  I learned all about his parents, my grandparents, whom I never knew.  They would be 120+ now, as a generation was skipped in my family line with having children late in life. 

I learned alot during this trip.  Most of all, I got to know my dad in a way I had not known him before.

Life is funny:  When you are younger, you think you know so much more than your parents.  Then, as you get older and have kids of your own, your realize that maybe,....just maybe...they actually knew more than you realized.  When your own kids start to fly out of the nest is when you really begin to appreciate your parents and what they went through like never before.

You realize that maybe you didnt know all that you thought you knew...! :)  You begin to sympathize with their failures much more and you find forgiveness so much easier, as, hey, you now realize how much YOU want mercy from your own kids in places you failed!

I am getting to wordy here, so let me get to what is in my heart:  God commands us to HONOR our parents.....period.

"Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the LORD your God is giving you."  (Exodus 20:12)

I firmly believe this is a huge key to experiencing our Heavenly Father's blessing:  Honor of our EARTHLY parents. I know it is not always easy, nontheless, God's Word doesnt change:  Honor your father and mother.

I am deeply glad I was able to do this with my mom before she passed 7 months ago.  I have no regrets at all; I only fondly miss her presence with warm memories.  I am determined to do my best to bless and honor my dad as well, all the way to the time he departs this earth. No matter what your parents may or may not have done, how they failed, the PROMISE above stands.......

Set your heart to honor your parents, God will honor you.

Done for the day!

PB

Sunday Night Mind Dump

• Monday morning is one of those 'landmark' days in life:  I am helping my son move into his first home.  He and 3 other students rented a house down in Lakeland, about 15 minutes away from Southeastern U.  Pastor Greg and I traded vehicles, so I am driving his truck and trailer to haul Michael's room and various other furniture down there.  It is a special time, as I am taking my 84 year old dad with me to help Michael settle in.  We will spend Monday night down there with him and come back late Tuesday......
• Church today was once again, amazing. I know pastors say that all the time, but really, we are seeing something happen at Harvest that I have always dreamed of:  Awakening.  The lost are coming in and meeting the Lord in powerful ways, then bringing friends and family, and they get touched.  We had 16 baptized tonight, with some powerful testimonies!  The energy in the air is electrifying.......
• Q @ A went off great this morning.  We had a packed house, again, and great feedback from numerous folk.  Next week's questions are .....wow.....humdingers for sure!
• Worm song alert: The "Beautiful Girl" song. I dont know who sings it, except that I think it is a kid, but man, I hear it everywhere I go and you cant get the song out of your head....! :)
• No kidding.....in the past 2 months, EVERY restaurant it seems we go to, the waiter/waitress recognizes us and has heard about Harvest.   Needless to say, I am VERY careful nowadays to leave good tips!! :)
• CORE meeting was fantastic Friday night......over 100 there who serve.  The 'unity factor' is off the charts.  Things are meshing now, unlike ever before.  I love it!! :)

Have a great Monday!

PB

Q @ A

This coming Sunday @ the RAVE and next, we will be doing a 2 part 'miniseries' called Q @ A.  We received some fantastic questions over the past month.....man, you guys are FEARLESS!! :)

Tatoo's......homosexuality......you name it:  The questions poured in.  It should be fun and quite invigorating, as we will set it up like a gameshow, with a timeclock for our 'teaching panel' to answer each question as they come.

By the way......we just got back from our 'mini-trip'......man, am I fried!  I fell asleep on the beach yesterday and by evening, only 1 word describes what I was feeling:  PAIN! 

We have our 3 times a year CORE meeting tonight at 6:30.  This is the time all who serve here at Harvest gather to talk "in the tent" and CELEBRATE all that is happening!  To reward our servants at Harvest, we go all out to make this a special time.  Tonight will feature North Carolina pulled pork samdwiches....yum!! 

We have over 90 of our servants who have rsvp'ed....see you in a bit!

Grace,

PB

Mercy!!

I am writing from the lobby of Club Intrawest in Sandestin.......just chillin..!:)

Deb and I and the girls, in wanting to get away for a few days before school starts, decided to get a ridiculously cheap package at Sandestin on 1 condition: We sit in on a 90 minute sales presentation to buy into a timeshare package.

Because of how great the deal was, I signed up and braced myself to endure the harshest sales tactics known to man.  We were scheduled to do it at 11:30 this morning. 

Well,....I just got a call from the front desk that they had somehow made a mistake and no one would be here to do the presentation, so as the manager said, "We were off the hook!"

.....Mercy..!!!! :)

So we got the package without the hassle...!

We will be back for Friday's CORE meeting, where all who serve at Harvest gather for a great FREE meal 3 times a year and share "in the tent".  Its always a special time.

On another note, we had 366 this past Sunday morning.....blowing away our record from the previous Sunday of 278!  God is doing something amazing here, folks,.....special.  Seekers are bringing their friends and families and truth is not being compromised.  I have dreamed of this all my life and here it is..!

We actually had NO seats left by 10 minutes into the service, so we asked our Core leaders to give up their seats and go into another theater to pray for the service.  Amazing......

Stay in grace....stay in faith.....

PB

"Stand"

Its Saturday and I am in prep mode for tommorow morning @ the RAVE. 

I am completely psyched about tommorow, as every week we are getting testimony after testimony of what God is doing in changing lives!

....People's ETERNITIES are being changed, folks!!!  If that doesnt make you excited, nothing will!!! :)

Our band will take the Top 10 Billboard hit, "Stand" , by Rascall Flatts, with BA doing a twist on it, I am sure.  I will then be tackling the question of 'how can God let such terrible things happen in our lives and still love us???' 

Bring your friends and family and come early......it has been filling up quick in there.

I have to get busy, but I want to finish this by addressing the TITHE issue from Thursday's post.  I have been stunned by how many people have visited the blog over the past few days, with LOTS of comments. 

A few of you were taken back a little by my intensity.  Thereby, I want to further distill some thoughts to clear the air:

1. I AM indeed passionate about this, as one guy, who was a former youth pastor said, the work of God and the servants who serve in ministries around the world SUFFER beyond what any of you who have never been in ministry can imagine.  I know of many pastors, especially youth pastors (for some reason), who have had to declare bankrupcy because of starvation wages.  I will do whatever I can in my power to bless and take care of those who serve at Harvest, as they give their very best week in, week out.  The tithes of the people supply for their salaries, period.
2. I am violently opposed to CONSUMER CHRISTIANITY that wants great services (worship, childrens ministry, etc...) but doesnt feel the obligation to help provide for it by tithing.  The beauty of the tithe is that it is FAIR:  If you make $100 a month, your part is $10.  If you make $100,000 a month, its $10,000.  All share equal responsibility.  One dear saint, 'xyz', posted a comment and felt guilty about not giving more.  Don't.  All we ask and all that God asks is that you do your fair share, according to your income.  The problem isnt you, dear one.  It is those who know better and hold back, 'free-loading', without any sense of shame.  We bless you and pray for you to prosper and see God bless you further.   Hearts like yours are precious......
3. That brings me to the next point:  Jesus in Mark 9 talked about "sin, faith, and duty".  The tithe is about DUTY.  It is our duty to share in the ministry God has called us to put roots down in, to serve in it, doing our part (much like we all have household chores in a well run home, right???), to tithe, and to give above and beyond as the Lord blesses us, to keep our church running well and serving the community effectively.  It is just blantant immaturity to think otherwise, "baby thinking"....
4. Which brings me to the next point:  My intensity was and is aimed at those who should know better by now. Many of you are new to all this and it takes TIME to have our thinking become solid, responsible and mature as Christ-followers.  When your thinking becomes mature, you realize how irresponsible it would be to not carry your weight in your 'spiritual home', your church.  Its no different than if my 22 year old son lived at home and didnt do his part in paying rent, pitching in for the food, doing chores, etc...  When he was 10, that was different.  But our job was to make him RESPONSIBLE as an adult.  That is our job as pastors:  To produce RESPONSIBLE, MATURE Christ-followers.  If you are new to all this, GRACE to you, as you learn of your Saviour, as your mind is renewed, as you grow in grace.  We truly are here to serve His purposes toward that end.....to make you responsible and productive Kingdom citizens who reflect the excellency of your King, Jesus.
5. God has a calling on this church to impact our city and beyond.  As Todd Florres said in his comment, "that doesnt happen without money and lots of it".  We have many systems in place at Harvest to ensure financial integrity. That should be a part of your decision to make Harvest (or any other church) your home church. If you dont trust the leadership of a church, you should not be there.  If you do, and you settle in there, for the sake of God and all that is sane and responsible....PLEASE, dont just sit there Sunday after Sunday doing nothing to support YOUR church.......roll up your sleeves...SERVE!  Make tithing the first habit of your financial life, because you HONOR God first and foremost, but also because you BELIEVE in what your church is about!
6. Lastly, to be clear, tithing is not a 'salvation issue':  It is about honoring God.  God's Word teaches we are to 'honor the Lord with our tithe, the 'first-fruits' of our increase (1st 10%)".   Your tithe is a 'token' stating that you believe He is LORD of your finances.  Then, it is about RESPONSIBILITY, the fact you are doing your part in supporting the local church that is serving and blessing you and your family.  It is the fact you WANT (the big problem, as always: ..."people do what they WANT to do..") your church blessed and to go on providing great ministry. 
7. Finally, the tithe is a 'financial issue'.  It is the FIRST PLACE you say to God, "Jesus, you are now in control of my finances".  It is the first step to getting God's blessing on your finances.  All you have to do is look at the FRUIT of the lives of tithers and non-tithers.  By and large, its pretty evident.  "What a man sows, he will reap".  Enough said......

I will be out of the blogosphere this coming week.  Love you guys all and see you Sunday!

PB