3 Comments Posted on February 3, 2015

Meet HCPN Resident: Joseph Ingram

We desire to be an idol-shattering church, that permeates the gospel within society and culture, so that people live out their identity in Christ.

This week, I want you to meet the Houston Church Planting Network Residents. Today, Joseph Ingram tells us a little bit about himself and what he envisions his church plant to be like in Houston. I have come to appreciate tis dear brother. His counsel, advice, and prayers have been uplifting and encouraging to me in the past 5 months. Always dressing sharp, he might as well be the best dressed resident out of our group! 🙂 Meet Joseph.

1. Tell me a little bit about yourself…

“My name is Joseph Ingram. I was born and raised in Steubenville, OH, a suburb of Pittsburgh, PA along the Ohio River. I have a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration from The Ohio State University, and subsequently worked 7 years for J.P. Morgan as an executive before turning pursuits to God’s calling as a pastor. Since then, I have obtained a Master of Theology Degree from Dallas Theological Seminary, and I recently married my life partner, companion, and love, Loren.”

2. What is your family’s favorite local restaurant?

“We enjoy many. Right now, we would probably say Common Bond Bakery.”

3. What books are you currently reading?

“Church Unique by Will Mancini,
Church Planter by Darren Patrick, and
The Art of Neighboring by Jay Pathak, Dave Runyon and Randy Frazee.”

4. Who is your favorite dead and alive theologian?

“Augustine – I enjoy his intimacy with God and his pioneering thoughts on personal depravity.”

5. What do you do in your time of rest?

“I enjoy working out, socializing with good friends, and dancing with my wife.”

6. Where would be your family’s dream vacation destination?

“A historic city in a country like Italy with artistic history, beautiful landscapes, great food, and romance.”

7. Tell me a little bit about your ministry experience…

“Just recently, while pursuing my seminary degree, I launched and led a worship service in a housing complex located in Dallas, TX. Also, I have been an Associate Pastor at two churches and a home director for a Dallas inner city ministry that provides housing, assistance, and discipleship for those who are marginalized.”

8. Where in Houston do you desire to plant a church?

“Upper Kirby – We are seeking to establish a center city model that sits in the midst of some of the historic residential neighborhoods of Houston, including West University, River Oaks, Montrose, and the Medical District. Additionally, it contains some of Houston’s major economic centers, retail shops and restaurants.”

9. Why Houston?

“I believe metropolitan cities are one of greatest tools in this modern time to facilitate the missional mandate to share the gospel to the ends of the earth. Sheer size and spiritual decay expresses the first need. Additionally, as an world urban center, Houston brings together people from across the globe for business, health care, education, and entertainment. Thus, if we share the gospel in Houston’s diverse urban center, people will take the gospel back to their places of influence, homelands, and even throughout the world.”

10. What is your vision for your particular church plant?

“The Houston urban center is known for its wealth, shopping, food, and entertainment. So much so, that the prime importance of God isn’t a focus. We desire to be an idol-shattering church, that permeates the gospel within society and culture, so that people live out their identity in Christ.”

11. How can we pray for you?

“Please pray that we begin to make relationships in Upper Kirby for friendship, the partnering of the gospel, as well as engaging identity driven people with discipleship.”

Folks, contact Joseph through any of the ways below with your prayers, encouragement, and any information you’d like to know about his church plant…

Email: j.ingram@gatheredchurch.org
Facebook Page
Twitter: @jhenryingram

The HCPN Residency Church Planters

HCPN Residency Men The Houston Church Planting Network is a fully funded residency that is giving seven men the time with key leaders and pastors in the city during the week to speak into things they need help in and has a system of soul care for church planters that often gets overlooked in the church planting process, preparing them to plant churches in Houston. I am glad to be part of this year’s group. That has been my life in the past 5 months.

Eager to plant a new church, we met for the first time together with our residency director in September, ready to get to work. Since then, we have met every week, to learn how to plant churches, to learn what to be aware of in the mission field, to grow in our character as well as in our preaching and a whole bunch of other things.

Two days of the week, we get together as a Cohort and meet with pastors, church planters and other people who help us plant churches with their insight. From confession of sin to preaching and from marriage nights with our wives to fundraising, we have been encouraged by faithful pastors and church planters. We cannot get enough of these days. For seven men who are entrepreneurial, ministry minded and feel like they are ready to start a new church, this residency has slowed us down (in a good way) and made us check some things in our hearts. That is a good thing. Something I have benefited from a lot.

There is much to be said about the willingness and availability of these pastors who have come and spent some time with us. They have gone before us, experienced ministry like we never have and I sometimes wonder if they think we are crazy when we talk about our big dreams. They have helped us keep our feet on the ground while at the same time encouraged us to move in faith to whatever God has called us to do. I feel so privileged whenever we meet with a pastor/church planter who has given up his morning or afternoon to come and pour wisdom into us. I am so thankful to be able to get together with exceptional men who meet with us every week to challenge us, lead us, pray for us, teach us, and make us confront issues that we need to face in order to go forward in this work.

We have grown together as a group, prayed for one another and encouraged each other. For the next few days coming up, I’d like to highlight these men and let you know who they are, so that you can pray for them and the work of ministry that they are doing as they prepare to start new churches in Houston.

Leave a comment Posted on January 24, 2015

What is a Church Planting Residency?

Many of the people who have known me for the past few years know me as a pastor. In 2010, I decided to plant a church in the Spring Branch area of Houston. I, along with a group of about 12 people, met in an apartment complex clubroom and then at a storefront location for Sunday church services. We were intentional about serving the community and, looking back, I believe that we served people well.

On August of 2014, four years later, after a few months of seeing some challenges in our current church plant, we realized that we were faced with a few things that were foundational for a church plant and we had not developed them. So, we closed our church. You could read about those 3 reasons by clicking here. In the following weeks, we helped the church members find other churches, met with whoever needed encouragement and had voiced concern to me. It has been an amazing thing to see the majority of people plug in to other churches in Houston as they continue to serve God.

This is the short story. Now, I am in a church planting residency of the Houston Church Planting Network along with 6 other men who will be planting churches in Houston. Some may have questions about what a residency looks like and I may post more details about it at another time, but I would like to give you a gist of what the HCPN’s residency is.

For that, I will link you to a brief and to-the-point blog post that a brother resident posted a few months ago. Jacob Sweeney is another church planter in the residency who has written about what our residency looks like. As you click onto his blog post, he sums up the residency well by giving you more details on it.

The residency of HCPN is a fully funded residency that gives 7 men the time with key leaders and pastors in the city during the week to speak into things we need help in and has a system of soul care for church planters that often gets overlooked in the church planting process.

Check it out by clicking the link below:
What is a Church Planting Residency? by Jacob Sweeney

Leave a comment Posted on January 15, 2015

Bible Reading Plan: John in January (John 2)

“Jesus Drives the Merchants From the Temple.” Jacob Jordaens, 1650. Louvre, Paris.

I am a fan of reading the chapter titles in books before reading the book itself. Usually, I read the back cover first and then turn to the Table of Contents and read the chapter titles. There is something about knowing what’s coming next that gets me engaged. Some authors don’t give much away and just number their chapters while others write such good titles for their chapters that it makes you curious of what story the book contains. But, sometimes looking at the chapter titles can be a bad thing. Especially when it comes to the Bible, since all the subheadings that the chapters in the Bibles have were not inspired by the Holy Spirit. In reality, the chapter numbers and verse numbers were added years later to make it easy to read. Sometimes those things make it much harder to read Scripture. Sometimes.

Last year, my wife and I purchased Readers’ Bibles for ourselves. Crossway put out these Bibles that took out all of the chapter numbers, verse numbers and subheading titles. They make good reading Bibles. Check them out here. End commercial. What these Bibles help us in is to not be guided by subheading titles, but be guided by Scripture itself. John 2 is a great example of this misguided way of reading Scripture based on the subheadings.

As I read John 2, I focused on the subheading titles that John 2 has. “The Wedding at Cana” and “Jesus Cleanses the Temple.” Quickly, I made up my mind about John 2. “Oh, here is where Jesus turns water into wine and where he goes crazy on the people selling stuff at the Temple.” But, in reality the text has much more to say about Christ and the purpose He came to earth. Sure, one can’t dismiss those details of Jesus’ life, but here is where the Holy Spirit gives believers illumination so they can read and understand. Side note: Every time you read Scripture, you should be asking the Spirit to show you what He meant through it. The reading of Scripture is not for us to just know about God, rather it is to give us God’s purpose through them.

Jesus’ Hour
So, before you get sidetracked with the subheading titles, read the text as it is laid out. When you do this, you make Bible Study Methods professors proud. “Observation” is what the method is called. When you read the Scriptures carefully, you start to notice several words, phrases, and ideas that jump out. In reading John 2, what jumps out at you? What does John highlight here? There is an idea that John threads through the two stories found in John 2 and this idea travels throughout his gospel. John highlights the phrase, “my hour.” Jesus says, “my hour” many times throughout his life and John captures that many times in his narrative.

When Jesus’ mother pressed him to do something about the lack of wine at the wedding in Cana, He addressed her with authority and said that His “hour” had not yet come. Jesus said,

“Woman, what does this have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” (John 2:4)

His “hour had not yet come.” The other day, my wife and I were having a conversation about Jesus turning water into wine and His statement about His “hour” having not yet come. What does Jesus mean when he says “My hour has not yet come?” His “hour” was that glorious period of time of His crucifixion where He would pay the debt of sin with His perfect life. At the wedding in Cana, His “hour” had not yet come, though. In other words, His time to be crucified was not then. Jesus was strategic in revealing Himself to people and He knew that He could not do so very openly at that particular time. Jesus had not come to overthrow the political government of Rome. Jesus had come for a higher purpose. He knew what was in man’s heart and He knew that what they thought the Messiah would be was not at all what His “hour” would accomplish. So, in Scripture we see Him saying this phrase and withdrawing. Here and there, He gives us signs, but does not fully reveal Himself to all people. At this time in Cana, His “hour” had not yet come. The time of His crucifixion had not yet arrived.

The Temple
Another thing that pops up when you read chapter 2 of John is the issue of destroying the temple and raising it up in three days. This happens in Jerusalem after the wedding at Cana. Jesus gets angry at the moneychangers that are “selling oxen and sheep and pigeons” for sacrificial purposes. Jesus’ zeal flares up because they’ve made His Father’s house a place of bargaining and trade. “That is a great picture of Jesus,” we say. We love that! But, in doing this, we miss out on the point of this story… on what He says afterward. It is what Jesus says next that we should pay close attention to since it is what connects what He is doing in Jerusalem to what He did in Cana.

Jesus says,

“So the Jews said to him, “What sign do you show us for doing these things?” Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.” The Jews then said, “It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?” But he was speaking about the temple of his body.” (John 2:18-21)

What pops up is the analogy that Jesus makes to the physical building of a temple where people would go and worship to his own body as a temple. The Jews around him didn’t get it. He was talking about his own body. There would be a time when Jesus’ body, the true temple, would be destroyed at the cross for Him to rise up three days later.

The Connection
Do you see the connection between these stories? Do you see the inferences that Jesus started with in his first 3 days of His earthly ministry? More than the miracle of turning water into wine at Cana and more than driving out the moneychangers from the Temple in Jerusalem, Jesus’ hour to die had not come. The temple of his body would be destroyed and raised in three days. The connection that we have in these two stories is the fact that Jesus was talking about the purpose that He had in coming to this earth. The glimpses of His death and resurrection become clear when you actually pay Jesus the attention He deserves. His “hour” and the “temple of His body” become so clear that it is difficult to ignore. You and I must wrestle with that. With the fact that Jesus came to dies for our sins. Jesus makes it clear in His first week of ministry that the purpose of His coming was to die for the sins of His people. May we see Jesus’ ministry in this light every time we read Scripture that testifies about Him.

For all “John in January” posts, click below:
Click Here for John 1, Part 1
Click Here for John 1, Part 2

1 Comment Posted on January 14, 2015

Bible Reading Plan: John in January (John 1, part 2)

“The Calling of Peter and Andrew.” Caravaggio, 1602.

Click Here for John 1, Part 1

There is something to be said about repetition. Yesterday, I was with six church planters and one of our facilitators talking about sermons. We focused on the art of repetition in sermons, and although John in his book is not writing an official sermon, when one reads John 1, the reader is struck by the repetition that John does when it comes to the phrase, “Come and see.”

“Come and See.”
After John states the fact that Jesus is God (see this post), the Savior starts to call men to take part in His mission. But, the interesting thing is that He starts by showing them how He lives. Many have made much of the phrase “come and see,” not really looking at the context of when it was said. To give them credit, people probably are referring to the second “come and see” phrase that Philip tells Nathanael. But, there is a “come and see” before that one and it is spoken by Jesus. This first “come and see” phrase is an invitation from Jesus to two of John the Baptist’s disciples. The disciples are Andrew and another one who is not named, but most scholars believe it was John. Their curiosity about Jesus leads to an invitation from Jesus to see where He lives. Who would not be curious about a man whom John the Baptist had referred to as the “Lamb of God?” (John 1:36) In an exchange of conversation these two curious disciples of John asked Jesus where he was staying. Jesus tells them plainly, “Come and see.” Curiosity and dialogue will get us to answers but it is obedience to those answers that gets us to a changed life.

Curiosity and dialogue will get us to answers but it is obedience to those answers that gets us to a changed life.

That obedience came the moment that Andrew and John took their first step to follow Jesus to where He was staying. That was the moment that they started to be on mission with God. They didn’t know much of who Jesus was. Yes, they knew about the coming arrival of the Messiah, but their theology had not been worked out completely. Yes, these guys knew the Scriptures, recalled a lot of it during their lives, but they were not there yet. Until, they grabbed their bags and followed after Jesus. Even then they had a lot to learn, but this obedience, this going after Jesus, was a pivotal moment in their lives, for sure.

This is a spiritual moment without the spiritual overtones that modern Christians work out of nowadays. This act of going with Jesus and seeing where He was staying was so mundane and so sacred at the same time. Much of the life we live is a routine, but in that routine as boring or as uneventful or as uninteresting as it may be, we must recognize that God is at work and calling us to go where He stays.

Much of the life we live is a routine, but in that routine as boring or as uneventful or as uninteresting as it may be, we must recognize that God is at work and calling us to go where He stays.

That day, Andrew goes to his brother Peter and brings him to Jesus. After they hang out all night, Jesus gets up the next day and goes to Galilee. Jesus is on a mission. Jesus pitches the mission to Philip with the words, “Follow me” and Philip is on board. Philip, quickly finds Nathanael; the naive, young, idealist Nathanael and tells him to “come and see” Jesus. This starts with Philip referring to Moses, the Law, and the prophets and follows with Nathanael dismissing it for a short moment. But, when Philip makes the invitation to “come and see” Jesus, Nathanael goes with Him. It is during the conversation with Jesus that Nathanael understands that Jesus is God. When Jesus sees Nathanael’s amazement at this fact, Jesus tells him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, you will see heaven opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending on the Son of Man.” (John 1:51) Flashbacks of Jacob, the patriarch of the Old Testament, and his ladder go through Nathanael’s mind. (Genesis 28) This response of faith, as dismissive as it was in the beginning, to a simple “come and see,” changed Nathanael’s life from that point on.

Do you see the two instances of “come and see” in this passage? When reflecting on them, we come to the realization that the mundane is as important and interesting as the sacred. The first “come and see” was to follow Jesus to where he was staying. Yes, maybe there was some thing, some further explanation about the Christ, something more about this “Lamb of God” that we don’t know about and that John does not give us. But, it is safe to say that what these two disciples wanted to find out right then from Jesus was where He was staying. The second “come and see” was to find out more about a man “whom Moses in the Law and also the prophets wrote.” (John 1:45)

Once you take the first steps to follow Jesus, whether it is a simple curiosity that was sparked when someone told you that He was the Lamb of God or whether it was because you were actively awaiting the man whom Moses and the prophets wrote about, your life changes.

Once you take the first steps to follow Jesus, whether it is a simple curiosity that was sparked when someone told you that He was the Lamb of God or whether it was because you were actively awaiting the man whom Moses and the prophets wrote about, your life changes. Your life changes when you meet the man who is God. For you who follow Jesus, there will be an opened-heaven, ascending-and-descending-angels, Son-of-man moment.

Yes, Jesus is God. And He is calling you to come and see how good He is. He is calling you to be on His team. He calls you to be on His mission. Whether you just want to know where He stays or whether you refer to Him as the fulfillment of what Moses and the prophets talked about, just come and see. Come and see. If you come and see, then this God-man will turn your world upside down.

Whether you just want to know where He stays or whether you refer to Him as the fulfillment of what Moses and the prophets talked about, just come and see.

1 Comment Posted on January 7, 2015

Bible Reading Plan: John in January (John 1, part 1)

This year, I want to focus on reading a whole book of the Bible every month. Maybe I’ll end up reading the whole Bible this year, on one of those times where I end up sitting down and not getting up until I finish Deuteronomy or something like that. It is possible, or maybe I’ll get in on the Bible reading plan that my wife is going through this year. But, for January, I thought I’d tackle the Book of John on the blog. Tackle may not be the right word. Soak is probably better.

So, this week I’ll be reading John 1-5 every day with the hope of reading the next 5 chapters next week and so one for the rest of January (this is a method I learned a few months ago from Jeremiah Morris, the Director of Evangelism and Mobilization at First Presbyterian Church of Houston). It takes me about 30 minutes to read 5 chapters without rushing it. I just timed myself. I, occasionally, stop at a verse that jumps out and write a note on the side it. It helps having a journaling Bible. It also helps if you read the English Standard Version of the Bible, but that’s another story. 🙂 I may not write a blog about every chapter, because of lack of time, but I wish to write a few posts about what I am reading. I hope you are blessed and encouraged by it. Today, we look at some of John 1.

John comes right out of the gate with a sweeping statement of who Christ is. The imagery of life, light, darkness, flesh, grace, truth is thick and grand. When you read it, you wonder who this John, this author of this book really is. But, then you realize that it was the Holy Spirit who inspired John to write these words and John comes out saying that Jesus is God. In the first few verses, he writes that Jesus was in the beginning with God and that He is God and nothing that is made was made without Christ having a hand in it (John 1:1-3). This is one of my favorite theological topics for me.

There are wonderful shifts that takes place in verse 14 and 19. Verse 14 describes that this Jesus who is God became a human. That is huge! The God from eternity shows up on earth as a human being. Not rejecting his deity, He takes the form of a servant and becomes a human. See Philippians 2:5-8 for a little bit more on this. But, John chapter 1 verse 14 lets us know that Christ became human, was full of grace and truth and that He gave Himself to people who were to receive Him. Verse 18 is clear that although no one has seen God, God has shown Himself and revealed Himself in Jesus Christ. Jesus has made God known by Him standing there in a physical body and fully expressing His deity at the same time. This causes one to worship.

Verse 19, though, brings Jesus to the time where He is a grown man and John the Baptist, his cousin starts to cry out in the wilderness telling everyone that Christ is coming. Remember that John, the author of this book and John the Baptist are two different people. John was a popular name back then, I guess. So, Jesus shows up and John starts telling people that Jesus is the lamb of God, the one that takes away the sins of the world. John, Jesus’ cousin, says that he didn’t know Jesus, as God obviously, until He saw the Spirit descend from above and fall on Jesus. He didn’t know He was God until it was confirmed to him by the Holy Spirit. In reality, we don’t know who Jesus really is until the Spirit reveals it to us. As we see Him working in our lives, the Spirit will show us that Christ is God. Without the Spirit’s help we cannot say that Christ is Lord. We need the Spirit to guide us and lead us to this truth.

Jesus, then, starts to call men to fulfill His mission. I’ll pick this up in the next blog post and write about this later.

For now, the message is for you to believe that Jesus is God and the Holy Spirit is the one who reveals this to you. I encourage you to continue reading the account of John so you can see that Jesus is God. After all, John wrote his book “so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and that by believing you may have life in his name.” (John 20:31) May you come to believe this truth: Jesus is God and only He can take away your sins.

3 Comments Posted on January 2, 2015January 2, 2015

How Many Books Will You Read in 2015?

Goodreads. I love Goodreads. Goodreads is where you find good reads, put all those that sit on your physical bookshelves at home and stock them into virtual shelves so you can track your progress on all the good reads that you are reading. Goodreads.

Reading is powerful. I read anything from Theology to books on Leadership. Last year, I got into reading Fiction, dabbled a bit into the Classics, read some Historical Fiction and even a bit of Mystery Thrillers. Last year, I read for sermons, for leadership development, for personal spiritual growth, for school, and for leisure. Although, this past school semester, there were two months where I only read 1 book each month, I still read. School classes were brutal. With so much entertainment in social media and TV, one has to make time to grow in knowledge by reading. It is fascinating to read sentences and paragraphs in books that ultimately move you, trigger a memory, or make you think deeper.

Maybe, in the future, I’ll write some blog posts on reading books. That’ll (for sure) drive away all the two people who skim my new blog posts. 🙂 Let’s get back to Goodreads.

According to Goodreads, they are the “world’s largest site for readers and book recommendations. [Their] mission is to help people find and share books they love.” On Goodreads you can:

“See which books your friends are reading.
Track the books you’re reading, have read, and want to read.
Check out your personalized book recommendations. Our recommendation engine analyzes 20 billion data points to give suggestions tailored to your literary tastes.
Find out if a book is a good fit for you from our community’s reviews.”

I’m telling you, it’s a great resource. I found out about this site a while back and joined it on December of 2013 and committed to use it. I organized the books I have into different shelves. As of now, I have a little over 500 books that I own and have on my shelves at home. I know this because I’ve put about 475 books on my “to-read-owned” shelf and have read 82 that are on my have “read” shelf.

This site has helped me track my progress on my reading. Seriously, reading can be a task. Although, I’ve always enjoyed reading, sometimes (often!) I would start a book and not finish it. When I entered the world of Goodreads, I found myself finishing my books. Why? Because I could track my progress and that would motivate me to finish books. I need those markers to accomplish my goals.

Goodreads made it easier for me to read more than I have ever read. In January of last year, I accepted the 2014 Challenge and set my goal to read 35 books in the year. Because of the progress-tracking feature (which I used as virtual “pats on the back”), I was always encouraged to continue reading, finish the book, and pick another one. By the end of December 31, I had read 50 books in the year 2014. It’s not that I am a fast reader, or a super smart guy, or someone who has a book on hand at all times (well, maybe that last one is true), but I get so amped about seeing my progress that every time I see that percentage bar get close to 100%, I continue to read the book.

Click here to check out which 50 books I read last year!

This year, I am setting a goal to read at least 3-4 books per month. So, my goal is to read 40 books by December 31, 2015. How many will you read this year? Sign up to Goodreads, upload your books, become my “friend,” and let’s keep each other accountable in reaching our reading goals! click on the 2015 Reading Challenge to go to my Goodreads Profile.

Leave a comment Posted on January 1, 2015January 1, 2015

On Goals and Resolutions

Happy 2015! With every new year, there is a rush to make resolutions and goals. Some quibble over these words. Others ponder and think on them. While others, simply do anything that comes in front of them. Today I want to revisit, maybe for my own sake, the discipline of setting goals. On resolutions, John Piper, pastor for many years and author of many books, asks this question, “How do you make resolutions?” He answers it by saying, “By God’s grace. Through faith in God’s power. For God’s glory.” So, this is my hope for this year: to set goals with God in clear view, work through faith and do them for His glory.

There’s a lot of talk about goals, resolutions, plans and other great things that people want to accomplish in 2015. A lot of it is good. But, one thing I’ve learned is that when one sets a goal and does not set out a plan to accomplish it, they don’t succeed in reaching it. And by “succeed” I don’t mean accomplishing that particular goal, but rather by really working towards it. I think all of us want to succeed in accomplishing our goals, but for those who will not accomplish them at the end, the question should be, “Did I work towards accomplishing it?” Maybe you won’t succeed in meeting your goal, but it wasn’t because you were lazy and did not set actionable steps to meet it. Rather, it was because as you were trying to accomplish it, x, y, or z didn’t line up for you and you goal was rethought or tweaked on the way.

For example, maybe your goal las year was to buy a home. It was an audacious goal, a goal that would need a lot of work, so you got to working on it. During the middle of the year, you were working towards that goal and were struck by tragedy (job loss, pay cut, personal struggle, whatever…) that hindered you from meeting your goal. December 31 came and you didn’t find yourself in a home of your own. As many would like to call that a failure, I would call that somewhat of a success. Because the question was not, “did you meet your goal?” The real question is, “Did you work hard towards your goal?” Some goals you’ll accomplish, some you won’t, but all the goals you set you’ll want to work hard towards.

I have a few examples of goals that I, along with my wife, set in early 2014 that were met by the end of the year. Others were not. But, that is not to say that we didn’t try… or that we were not working hard towards accomplishing them. You try. You work hard. You go for it! So what if you didn’t get to the finish one last year?! There is still this new year. My encouragement to you is to set a goal this year and also work hard towards accomplishing it. Someone once said, “A goal without a plan is just a wish.” So, stop wishing, set a goal that has a plan and work hard to accomplish it. If you don’t meet it, let it be because of legitimate factors you saw on the way to complete it that made you rethink and tweak your goal. But, never let your goal fail because you didn’t work the plan that came with that goal.

I am an avid podcaster. Maybe not as avid, but I listen to podcasts most of the time I’m driving somewhere. One podcast I listen to is Michael Hyatt’s This is Your Life. Michael Hyatt, former CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers and bestselling author, says, “25 percent of people abandon their New Year’s resolutions after one week. 60 percent abandon them within six months.” In his 10 Biggest Mistakes in Goal Setting, Hyatt gives us these mistakes that I hope to avoid this coming year in setting my goals. Here they are. I hope they are of help to you.:

Mistake 1: People don’t write their goals down.
Mistake 2: People have too many goals.
Instead, set 5-7 goals.
Mistake 3: People only focus only on one area in their life.
Focus on you spiritual life, personal growth, family, career, hobbies, etc.
Mistake 4: People don’t make their goals specific.
Mistake 5: People don’t make their goals measurable.
How many pounds do you plan to lose? How much more money will you save? How much more/less time will you spend on…?
Mistake 6: People don’t assign a due date.
By when do yo plan to meet this goal?
Mistake 7: People don’t keep goals visible.
Print them out and put them on the fridge, use as screensaver, make a vision board, etc.
Mistake 8: Pople don’t stretch outside their comfort zone.
Mistake 9: People don’t make compelling goals.
Compelling goals are spiritually-meaningful, intellectually-stimulating, emotionally-energizing, physically-challenging.
Mistake 10: People don’t identify the next action.
Whats the next thing I need to do to move forward with this goal?

If you are interested in listening to the full podcast, click the link below.

There is much to say on this topic. But, I’m not an expert at it. I am constantly learning from other people. Here are a few resources for you to read up on as you stare at the long road that 2015 has for you and say, “God willing, I hope to accomplish (fill in the blank).”

1. The Gospel Coalition: Don’t Just Make a Resolution, Make a Habit

2. Michael Hyatt Podcast: 10 Biggest Mistakes in Goal Setting

3. Desiring God: New Year’s Resolutions

Leave a comment Posted on December 30, 2014December 30, 2014

Top Lists “…of 2014”

We are one day away from saying goodbye to 2014 and welcoming 2015. There’s lots to plan for and look forward to in the new year, but first I’ve sorted out a few Top Lists “…of 2014” from sites that I check out throughout the year. Of course, this is not an exhaustive list, so if you think I missed one, let me know. If anything, bookmark these sites, since they put out great content during the year.

1. Best of 2014: Tabletalk Magazine
Tabletalk magazine is a monthly magazine that features “daily devotions and thought provoking articles from trusted Christian authors and teachers.” You cannot go wrong by reading the best articles from 2014 by Joel Beeke, Russell Moore, R.C Sproul, Steve Lawson, Nancy Guthrie, Gloria Furman, and others. They include topics like, “Praying for our Children’s Salvation,” “The Fall of a Believer,” “Glorifying God in the Routines,” “The Secret to a Happy Life,” and a few others.

Click the picture below… to go to Ligonier’s Ministries website to read these great articles!

2. The Gospel Coalition’s Best of 2014
The Gospel Coalition was read by 12.4 million people and reached 42 million page views this year. In the Best of 2014, after you get through Collin Hansen’s long introduction (full of great resources, by the way), you can watch Tim Keller’s and D.A Carson’s video on “When They Experience Revival.” You can read Jay Sklar’s (professor Old Testament and dean of faculty at Covenant Theological Seminary) post on “4 Things that Happen When You Study Leviticus for Ten Years” and other articles worthy of your time, as well.

Click the picture below… to go to The Gospel Coalition’s Best of 2014!

3. Desiring God’s Top 14 Posts of 2014
Desiring God is a website that focuses on this simple truth: “God is most glorified in us, when we are most satisfied in him.” They “exist to help people everywhere understand and embrace this truth.” This year, they have put out 14 of the most read articles in 2014 and state that these articles are “an interesting mix of commentary on current events, advice for seasons of life, and insight into the mind, heart, and life of a Christian.” Articles like “Lay Aside the Weight of Irritability,” “Three Tips for Better Bible Reading,” and 12 more of them show up on the link below.

Click the picture below... to go to Desiring God’s Top 14 Posts of 2014.

As we close out this year, and have a bit of downtime in the new year, look back to the things God let you go through this year and give Him thanks. Read some of these articles and ask Him to continue growing your faith in Him. I wish I could post more lists (there are so many!), so if you think I’ve missed one, let me know. If anything, bookmark these sites, since they put out great content during the year.

Leave a comment Posted on December 24, 2014December 24, 2014

Merry Christmas Eve!

My wife and I opened our presents already. Yes… already! We love some spontaneity at times and with us going to dinner on Christmas Eve with her side of the family and then lunch the next day with my side of the family, we thought we would have a special time reserved for us to open our gifts.

With a muted Polar Express flashing on the TV screen and Shane and Shane’s Glory in the Highest Christmas album playing, we settled in and decided to read Luke 1 and 2, the story of Christmas. We got the birth of John the Baptist in there, as well. But, once we got to the part where the angels appeared to the shepherds and the shepherds were so amazed that they went to see the newborn Jesus, our hearts worshipped. The phrase, “But Mary treasured these things in her heart” jumped out twice and we wondered aloud how Mary would have felt knowing that her son was really the Son of God. After our reading, we prayed. We prayed for us to experience the gift of Christmas. We thanked the Lord for His coming to this world and to our lives. We prayed that in the next year, we would glorify God with our lives and that peace would reign in our home. We prayed for those in our family who have yet to know Him. We thanked God for the gifts that we were about to open. He has been good to us. We prayed for those who would open a gift these next few days and still will not be satisfied because their hearts yearn for a better gift. We asked the Holy Spirit to magnify Christ in their lives and reveal Him to them. Then, we opened gifts, chatted some more and nodded off to sleep. It was a wonderful time, really.

My wife and I are by no means perfect. We have our share of conflict and sin in our marriage and in our personal lives, so the paragraph above must seem utopian and idyllic, romantic and perfect; like if we have it all together. Not so. Not so at all. We take this life day by day, as you do.

Today, I encourage you to really focus on God’s love for you in the incarnation of Christ brought to you through the power of the Holy Spirit. In times past, we have not really paid much attention to the real reason of Christmas. We probably have only mumbled a prayer with one eye closed and the other eye opened, fixed on the gifts underneath the tree that we will “get.” Today, remember that God’s love for you exceeds any monetary value. Christ was born! Let us rejoice in Him! Spend time with family, eat as many tamales as you can (I am having my share already!), kiss your spouse, hug your children, open gifts, and have a great time. But, in all your eating and gifting, remember that Christ’s presence is there to be embraced and worshipped.

So, if you don’t know what to do, read Luke 2 or pray with your family for a few minutes. Let your children see the value that you put on the arrival of Christ and ask them to participate in meeting Christ, the real gift, with you. Teach and model what it is to “treasure these things in your heart” (Luke 2:19, 51). This time will look different for you than the time we had last night. And it’s ok. We are all different. The idea is not to appear to have it all together, but to attempt to glorify God in all we do.

If you need some help in this, check out these posts I’ve written the last few days and let them stimulate in you a desire for Christ’s fullness:

Merry Christmas to you and your family!

“Glory to God in the highest,
and on earth peace among those with whom he is pleased!”
-Luke 2:14

Tony Villatoro