Having Revival

This week we are having revival at our church. Well, actually we're having revival services. Only God knows right now if we are truly experiencing a revival. We may know later, but not now.

As I type this, I am aware that there may be some reading this blog who may be unsure what "revival" is. For our church and many other churches, "revival" is 1 or 2 special times of the year that we set apart to have anywhere from 3-5 extra services besides the normal Sunday morning and Sunday night. Most of the time, we invite a guest preacher to come in and preach for the whole week or however long the revival is scheduled for. The purpose of the revival services is for the church to be "revived" spiritually... recharged or renewed in spiritual fervor. It is a time of making renewed and fresh commitments to Christ. A time to really seek His face in extra-ordinary ways.

So far, we have heard two powerful, Spirit-anointed messages from our guest preacher, Cory Wilson. It doesn't take long at all to know exactly where Cory's heart is as a man of God, and to know that God is definitely speaking through Him. Sometimes I wish, we could return to the days like when Billy Graham was a young evangelist. There were times when he would go and preach in a city and they just kept right on having worship services and hearing the Word of God powerfully preached for weeks... just as long as they felt the presence and power of God. If I remember correctly, one time they had a revival in New York City that last 10 weeks!! Wow!!

Oh, how we need so desperately to be fed continually from the Word of God. I simply can't imagine, the change in people's lives and in the life of our church... if say for example, we had 1 hour of worship every night for a month. What in the world might God could do, if we as His people decided for one month... to turn off our TV's and to purpose in our hearts to gather together to worship Him through prayer, song, and the hearing of the Word of God! As I said, I absolutely can't imagine what God might do. We might just have another Great Spiritual Awakening as our country had in it's early years.

"Oh dear Lord God... give us more of You!! Our hearts simply ache to know You better!!
Thank you, Lord Jesus, who by means of your sacrificial death and resurrection, for giving us the privilege and capacity to approach Your holy presence. May your fame and glory be known around the world!"

NO, My Kids Aren't Spoiled! (haha)

In case, you can't tell... this is my wife spoon feeding my two boys while they sip their milk and watch TV. In reality, this doesn't happen a lot. But it sure made for a funny picture!! :)

The Difference in a Good Business and a Poor One

A few months ago, I joined this gym in Washington. I was going a few times a week. But recently I figured out just how much it was costing me in gas to drive all the way to Washington. Needless to say, I soon came to the conclusion that the cost of the gym membership + the cost in gas every week was just not reasonable for me to do at this time. So, today I went and cancelled the membership. I was on a month to month contract basis. All I had to do was give him 30 days and they would cancel the membership. But the guy who runs the gym (and may own it, not sure) told me that he completely understood and that he would not draft my account for April. Legally and technically, he could draft my account one more time, and he would be totally in the right to do so, but out of the kindness of his heart, he said he wouldn't.

The treatment that I received today was completely different from the treatment I received 8 months ago from a gym in Concord, NC. While we were in Charlotte I joined a gym called Xcel Xpress. I was under the same month to month deal there as I was here. But right before we moved away from Charlotte, I cancelled the membership. When I spoke to the manager, he said my account would be drafted 2 more times (2 more months) because I was supposed to give 60 days notice. Which first of all, doesn't make sense if it is month to month... and second, this is contrary to what I was told at the beginning, which was that I only had to give 30 days notice. But evidently when I signed the contract I didn't look close enough at the fine print. So, they charged me for 2 more months, even though I was living 4 hours away.

Fitness Unlimited cares about it's customers. If they ever open one in our town, I will definitely join again. But regarding Xcel Xpress, I wouldn't join that gym again if it was the only one around. I refuse to patronize any business that cons and deceives people that way. Thank you Fitness Unlimited for caring about your customers!

Why I Love Jesus

In eternity past, for some reason beyond my understanding, the Lord God chose me for Himself and set His love upon me.

Before I could even reply, God had chosen me and had set His love upon me.

Even after I had come of age, and I chose to live in rebellion and wickedness, God had chosen me and had set His love upon me.

Yet even after I was knowledgeable and had great understanding of His kindness, love, mercy, and grace, at times I still willfully chose to scorn Him, to live in rebellion, to spurn the grace and blood of Jesus Christ... yet God had chosen me and had set His love upon me.

I am the man I am today for one simple reason... God the Father set His love upon me. I am who I am because of the unbelievable and unimaginable grace of Almighty God!!

And this is why I love Jesus!!

"Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ,  just as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love, having predestined us to adoption as sons by Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the good pleasure of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, by which He made us accepted in the Beloved."

Ephesians 1:3-6

Reminded of the Enemy

Recently, I was reminded that the church of the Lord Jesus Christ still has a real enemy that is watching very closely and is still very much opposed to any good thing that may happen.

Sometimes, I must admit, even as a pastor, I can get so caught up in doing all the things that the ministry requires (studying, preparing, visiting, counseling, discipling, administration, overseeing, getting a vision, guiding the ship, etc, etc....) that I can easily forget this is no ordinary work that I am involved in... this is spiritual work! A spiritual work that has real life & death consequences... a spiritual work that can't be accomplished without the power of the Living God working in and through me... a spiritual work with a REAL SPIRITUAL ENEMY who desires nothing but to see me fail and to see this church go belly up!

A Doctor doesn't have to think about a real, personal enemy out there who is watching and striving to undo any good that he may do.
A Business man doesn' thave to worry about a real, personal enemy who has work in his own company who is bent on seeing him fail miserably.
Bankers and Lawyers don't even consider in all that they do, that there may just be someone out there who is trying to block, stop, undo, and mess up the work that they are trying to do.
But as a Pastor... as a servant of the Lord Jesus Christ... I must remember that all of this work is first of all HIS work, without Whom, everything is in vain anyway. But also, I must remember that I do have a real, personal enemy out there who wants me to fail and who wants to keep the church from doing what God has called us to do at all costs!

2008 Pastors' Conference in Jacksonville, FL

I am currently in Jacksonville, FL attending the 22nd Annual Pastors' Conference. This is actually my first year being here. I've wanted to come for a long time, but never had the opportunity until now. And I must say that I have had a great time so far. For anyone wanting to grow in their faith and to do ministry, this is like Disney World. There are so many good seminars to go to... covering every subject from Preschool to Music to Administration. It is just an awesome learning experience. I have been blessed so much from being here. I appreciate our church so much making it possible for me and Andrea to come and learn. I already have several ideas that are brewing in my mind that I believe will greatly bless our church when I return. If we come back next year, I would love for more of our leaders to join us so that they too can be richly blessed!!

Christianity: Is it your life or just a part of your life?

I know it has been a while since my last entry, but as I'm sure you know (if you know me personally or you read my wife's blog) I have been out of town. But I'm back now, and I wanted to share what God is doing in my life a little bit... maybe to encourage you... maybe to get you thinking... or simply to share what's going on in my heart and mind.

Something that I know (and have known) in my mind for a long time, but need to be reminded of for practical reasons... is that the Christian faith... My Faith... should not be just a part of my life, but in reality IS my life. As a Christian, I am a Christian no matter what... regardless of where I am or who I'm with. I guess I have been thinking about this lately because I have begun to question how I spend my "off" time. For example, what do I do when I go home after dinner, 0r what do I do on my day off, or what is my mind-set when I'm out on a date with my wife.

Now, before you get terribly worried that Pastor Travis is leading a double life and doing horrible things in my free time, I'm not. But in all honesty, there are times when I believe there is too much separation from my ministry or "my job" and the rest of my life. For example, when I go on a date with my wife... am I just as intentional about trying to share my faith and having a witnessing encounter with the waitress in the same way as I would be if I was out to lunch with church member or co-worker? Or when I'm at home after dinner and my kids are in bed, why am I choosing to relax by watching some meaningless, pointless movie that is doing absolutely nothing for me spiritually... as opposed to watching a movie with a Christian message that will encourage me or even sitting down with a great Christian book that will feed my spirit while I relax? How did great men of God in times past relax and unwind, before all the technical luxuries we have today like Direct TV? How did they spend their evenings?

Something I believe that the Lord is reminding me of again is, that it is WAY too easy for anyone in a vocational ministry like myself... to separate my ministry from the rest of my life. I can put in 50 hours of "work" (aka ministry) in a week no problem... and then do absolutely nothing spiritually uplifting for myself or in service for someone else and still think pretty good about myself. "Wow... I put in 50 hours this week... I've spent 20-25 hours in the Word of God, I've spent 7 hours or more prayer... wow, look at me." But wait a minute...what about those other hours... what about all that other time? Why am I compartmentalizing my life? My Faith is all of my life... Jesus Christ is my Total life... not just the 40-50 hours part for which I'm being financially supported for by my church. Why am I not reading my Bible on "my" time? My church members can't read their Bible while they're "working." Why can't I spend time in prayer or in silence before the Lord on "my" time? My church members can't spend time in prayer or in silent meditation if they're busy at their jobs (unless of course, they have a special job). This is something that the Lord is dealing with me about right now.

But what about any of you who are Christians, but are not full time/vocational ministers? Are you compartmentalizng your life? Do you give Jesus Sunday mornings and Wednesday nights and thats it? Or if you're really spiritual, Sunday mornings AND Sunday evenings + Wednesday nights... but that's all? What about in your "down" time? What about when you're relaxing in your easy chair? Are you meditating on God, or listening for Him? Or are you just vegging out in front of that one-eyed monster like every other person? Do you have any form of ministry to others outside of the appointed "church" times of Sunday mornings, Sunday evenings, and Wednesday nights? Is Jesus really your life or just a part of your life? Just something to think about.