I’m very excited to announce that I’ve recently been promoted to Director of the In Ministry Training program at Victory Christian Center.  IMT is a program within Victory Bible Institute for young adults who desire to be in full time ministry.  Christina and I both graduated from IMT in 2000 and it’s been a dream of ours to one day lead this team of young people.  We’ve known for a long time that God called us to do this but it’s taken a long time to get here (9 years!).  We’ve been through good times and hard times but it has ALL been preparation.  And looking back, I’m grateful for all of it, even the most challenging seasons.  I’ve learned that some dreams you must pursue and others you just have to wait for.  What you do while you’re waiting for your dream determines if that dream will ever come to pass.

I’ve learned so much from Ryan Stafford, the previous IMT Director, and I will do my best to build upon the great work he’s done.  He will continue to work at Victory in the area of production, managing Victory’s big stage presentations and lots more.

I will continue to be the Pastor of Chosen, Victory’s urban youth outreach.  It’s going to be a lot of work but now I will have some extra help from the IMT students.  I’m thankful to be a part of such a powerful ministry and my goal is to fuse these two ministries together and cause both to be better because of each other.

I’ve never been more excited about what God is doing in my life!

Jesus said “The harvest is plentiful but the laborers are few…” Or, in the words of Keith Green, “The harvest is great but the workers are late.”  That means we are in over our heads. It means that there’s so much ministry to be done but there aren’t enough people doing it.

I think we’ve done the right thing by helping Haiti. Actually, it was the only thing we could do. We are generous and ready to act but it seems we first need to see the devastation with our own eyes before we do anything.

I hope that as believers we will start searching for causes. Searching and praying because they are out there.

There’s so much to do.

“…therefore pray earnestly to the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.” – Matthew 9:37, 38

After spending a lot of time in prayer (and even some fasting with the Chosen leaders), we’ve had some breakthrough’s at Chosen. First, our services have been great and we added a new bus for a route near Rogers High School.
Second, we launched small groups. This has been amazing because the Chosen leaders have really taken ownership over their groups. They love building relationships with these students – I think it’s the biggest strength we have as a leadership team. And the students are enjoying the small groups also because it’s a good chance to socialize and the leaders make the groups fun, not boring and not too serious.
Third, we’ve started the Chosen Chaplain program at Tulsa Public Schools. So far we’ve got 8 chaplains (Chosen leaders) who take 1 lunchtime each week to visit a public school lunch and meet new students, invite them to Chosen, build relationships and mentor students.
So recently, we’ve had some wins at Chosen and we’re looking for more…

I caught this video on CNN about a man who tried to climb K2 in Pakistan.  His name is Greg Mortenson and he didn’t make it to the top but got injured, almost died and had to be nursed back to health in a small Pakistan village.  He impressed me, not because he climbed K2, but because of how he spent his recovery time.  He noticed how the village lacked a proper school.  He saw kids writing school lessons in the dirt with sticks!  So he helped build them a school.  And then he built another one in a different village and has kept going and has now built 78 schools in Pakistan and Afghanistan!

There are so many causes in this world that need attention but it seems like some of us have to see the need with our own two eyes before we truly believe something should be done.  Or we need to see it before we believe that we should be the ones to do something.  Sometimes we don’t embrace compassion until it hits us right between the eyes.  But even then some people still don’t embrace it.

Click Here to watch the story

A few years ago at Victory I knew a lady named Nancy.  I didn’t know her very well but I knew enough.  She was a Bus Captain for Victory Bus Ministry for years.  A little white lady who beamed with compassion and love for inner city kids.  That’s what her life was all about.  There were kids that got on her bus as 1st graders and didn’t get off until they were Bus Leaders as high school graduates.  She would do anything she could do to reach a young person for Christ and then to disciple them.

I’m praying for some Nancy’s.  I’ve got some incredible leaders at Chosen but I need more.  I’m praying for leaders to step up and become Public School Chaplains, Small Group Leaders and Bus Captains.  I’m praying for leaders that put others first.

I won’t even begin to take credit for what happened last night.  It was Chosen’s first night back after taking the summer off.  Chosen is Victory’s urban/inner-city youth outreach that buses teenagers in from all around Tulsa.

First, I was very worried no one would show up because we couldn’t get the word out like we wanted to.  Second, our worship band was having a hard time coming together and I was calling people I’ve never met asking them to come play keyboard, guitar and drums.  Third, not only have I never led a Chosen service but this was a very busy service involving free pizza, drinks, a dance team, rap artist, free school supplies for everyone, my first message in a while and brand new worship team.

Well, 160 students showed up.  The worship team came together and played great ( I thought we wouldn’t get the drummer until I headed downstairs and heard someone playing drums).  The service was amazing – the students loved the dance team, rap artist and all the free stuff.  They even loved me.  I was amazed at how much they responded to me ( I stick out like a sore thumb at the service – it’s funny).  And I was amazed at God and what He did in their lives.  There were so many students that accepted Jesus as their savior that we couldn’t even count them.  The prayer time at the end of service lasted so long I thought we would get out late!  It was so powerful and it’s a night I’ll never forget.  God really showed up!