I have learned over my Christian life to leave tomorrow in the hands of God. Do you know that when you do this some people will think you are careless and wreckless? It's the way of the world. Plan your future and work your plan is bred into us at an early age, but as Christians we are to live for today and leave tomorrow in the hands of God.

This doesn't mean that we totally forsake our future plans, or not plan for an education, career, or ministries. What this does mean is that we leave all our worries and concerns about our needs in God's hands. Our main concern is the kingdom of God and His righteousness. The main concern of people is to take care of my own needs and wants and give God the left overs of my time, gifts, and finances.

I can tell you one thing. Life is more abundant when you can leave tomorrow in the hands of God. Why? Because you are not wasting it on worrying about things you can't control in the first place.

Well the family is back from Ohio. When they visited our granddaughter they took a picture of her on their cell phone and sent it to me. What a sweety. She is beautiful. Tammy said she tried to come home with them. In fact she adjusted well to everyone. Even her daddy. You never know what life will throw at you. We never expected to be grandparents as this age. We never expected the situation and cricumstances that made us grandparents. It's true we have to deal with all that was morally wrong that brought our little grandaughter into our life. We have done that. Now all we have isn't a mistake, a product of a moral misjudgment, but a living, breathing, beautiful girl. That is the our responsibility now.

Say a prayer for my beautiful little grandaughter Abigail. Pray that she will know God and love Him with all of her heart, soul, mind, and strength and that she will love her neighbor and family as well.

Integrity. This word is important in the life of a Christian. To have Integrity means you can be trusted. I believe the opposite of integrity is doublemindedness, fear and corruption. In fact the opposite of integrity is a sinful nature.

To present yourself to a person as a friend and then act to hurt that person means you lack integrity and are sinful. To promise and say one thing to a person or a group of people and then act differently means you lack integrity. To blame someone else for your fault, actions or decisions means you lack integrity.  And let's not forget that this also means you are sinful.

When I was younger I once blamed my brother for a something I did. In order to get the cloud of suspicion off of me I sent a storm into his life. I lacked integrity and I was sinful. I acted in fear and I lied. These are a sure sign that I lacked integrity.

Did you know people pleasers lack integrity. Someone who wants to please everyone and have everyone like them will quickly become what everyone wants them to be. I wonder if these people know who they really are. I can say this because I was once a people pleaser. This came to a quick end in my life when I tried to please my parents and at the same time please my wife. It didn't work. I quickly found out that I needed to be able to stand my ground. I needed to have integrity.

Satan can do quick work in someone who lacks integrity. I hope that we all in the future will watch what we say and do, because I have seen a lack of integrity these days in many places and in many faces. May the Holy Spirit convict and reveal the sinful nature at work in us, so that we may be transformed into the image of Christ. He was the perfect example of Integrity for us to follow and become.

If you would have asked me at the beginning of the year what I thought the year would bring, then what we see at Community today would have been far from the thought. It's already August and it feels that I have seen and experienced years of activity in this short time.

Though tough and unexpected I am grateful for the experience. I am grateful for what we have. I am thankful for those who showed character, understanding and strength in difficult times. I believe that we have a church that is ready to make disciples and ready to grow with the community around it.

What do I mean by this?

Over the past fifty years this area and the entire United States has seen many cultural and technological changes. Social norms have changed. Some of these changes have been for the better and some for the worse, but thanks be to God the Gospel truth never changes.

How we deliver and present the truth depends on those we are trying to communicate that truth to. If you don't believe this is an issue then contact any Bible Translation group like Wycliff that translates bibles into different languages and ask them.

We may all speak English, but that doesn't mean we all communicate the same way. We may all be Americans, but that doesn't mean we have the same expectations, life experience, maturtiy, intelligence, likes and dislikes, upbringing, understanding, or worldview. It makes communication important and hearing just as important. The days of selective hearing and speaking are over if we are going to be the salt and light of the world for Jesus Christ.

Community is at the place where it will stand on the side of the Gospel, be unwavering in its love commitmment to God and neighbor, and sacrifice and serve for the glory of God. It understands there are a plethora of cultures outside of its doors, the true meaning of worship, and the life and light it is called to be. It is seeking to meet every generation where they are, so that we might win some.

I'm very proud of those who have grown in their faith and commitment to Christ in all of this. God will indeed use your offering to reach His lost sons and daughters. This above all is what I am most certain about.

We still have four more months in this year, but as the Lord said we will be concerned for only today. Tomorrow will have enought troubles of its own.

Today I received an unexpected gift from a friend. Thank you J. I believe I know your heart and I certainly know your situation. You too are in my prayers. I appreciated your gift dearly.

I also recieved gifts today from these youth that I love. Our converstations and experience today was worth the effort and sacrifice. We laughed, we worshipped, we learned, and some of us got wet. It was gifts of relationships that blessed me. We loved one another today and glorified God. God is certainly Good all the time, even when times aren't so good. It is God's Goodness towards us that will always get us through.

Tomorrow we will host our Day Apart for youth in our church and neighborhood. Some people will call this VBS, but its not your typical VBS.

Yesterday we had a group of about ten kids that we took to local neighborhoods and businesses. I called them Jesus' hit squad. I dressed them up in funny clothes and jewelry and when we saw kids they would jump out of the van and invite them as they handed them a flyer, then quickly jump back in the van and we would slowly....race away! I would drop a group off with an adult at a grocery store and they would jump out and hit up every kid in the store.

They had a blast! We made a scene and we created an encounter that people would remember and laugh about for days to come. Now thats what I call making an impression for Jesus.

I just hope that I am ready for tomorrow. Even if no child from the neighborhood shows up, then we wll still have had and will have a great time. I like giving our youth good and healing memories that relate to church. When they get older I hope these will keep them coming back, because in them they met and have come to know Christ. I hope they will commit to giving their children the same experience.

Too many people have had a negative experience of church. I know because I talk to them all the time. We would be amazed at the number of grown ups out there that won't return to church, because of their experience of it as a child. Some of us would think twice about what we say to them, how we are making them feel, and how we failed to reach out to them in love in Jesus' way, truth, and life.

Pray for us!

The Board has met with the Superintendents and the decision has been made to move forward with our current direction. There will be no pastoral vote. Though we recognize this as a very sad time in our church's life, it is a pivotal and needed change. Despite our broken hearts we will look forward to continuing the kingdom work, as we bring new people into the faith and give Heaven a reason to rejoice.

I apologize to any innocent persons that I offended or hurt with my words. I never meant to tear down, but correct and call people I love back to the fellowship. This has been a difficult time for us all, but I can say that God has supplied my comfort and I asked him for fogiveness for my misguided attempts at love. I am human like the rest of you, but the Lord has forgiven me and He can do the same for you.

1 Timothy 4: 1-2  "The Spirit clearly says that in later times some will abandon the faith and follow deceiving spirits and things taught by demons. 2 Such teachings come through hypocritical liars, whose consciences have been seared as with a hot iron."

I have encountered a strange phenomena recently. It began with an encounter with Patrick Mubobo of Greensboro. I recognized something in him that is not found in any American Churches that I have pastored. It is respect for the called leadership of the church. In Dallas Texas he made a statement about respecting leadership that I thought was Biblical and faith filled.

I encountered this again in Andrew. He is the brother in Christ who has been leading us in worship songs. When he talked about how he had been raised to follow his leadership I was amazed. I was amazed that he still felt this way even though he had experienced a situation where the pastoral leadership he had left was pilfering funds and exhibiting something less than a pastors heart. When I asked him why he still gave his pastor the same honored respect even though he had been treated so badly he stated that it wasn't because he deserved it, but because the bible taught him to give it. The pastor would have his respect until he was removed from his position by the elder board of the denomination.

Then I met Adrienne. Some of you will meet her Sunday. She has been taught the same thing. To never question leadership. They call the leaders in her church the Bishop and the Prophet. Tony, Kayla and Adrienne went to her church to hear the prophet speak. What they heard was the prosperity gospel. The prophet said look at my clothes, look how successful I am. God wants you to be successful too. People shook, wailed, and in one instance Adreinne shared her memory of a man in a previous service who flapped his arms like a chicken and pecked.

She has been listening to us lately and we have been showing her the bible. Imaginie this? She has come to realize that what she had been taught all her life was wrong. She looked at our church and its beliefs and when she began to compare beliefs with scripture she began to realize that she had been misled most of her life.

Pastors are suppossed to be able to teach, reprove, and correct, but we know that most Americans have trouble with somone pointing out their faults because they are narcissistic. It is a cultural thing. I am glad to see that there are still some churches that teach respect for their leaders and their called and appointed positions, though we have to learn to biblically discern true leaders who deserve our respect and those who are deceitful and demonic. It is my suspicion that many who have taught false biblical beliefs have been taught by demons. Timothy says they are "Hypocritical liars whose consciouses have been seared with a hot iron." What this means is that they will never be convinced of the real truth of the scriptures, because they have chosen to be their own truth. It is so engrained in them they have spiritual eyes for nothing else.

We will be cultivating a culture of respect for leadership at Community. It will our attempt to help our people live Holy lives according to the scriptures.  Pray that God would form us in such a fashion.