Yesterday around 1 PM my grandma, Granmary, finally went home to see her Creator.  I would say that at 95 she lived quite a life.  She was huge into missions and there are many more people that now know the Lord because of her.  She loved her Sooner football and walked with her sister from her house in Norman to Oklahoma football games well into her 80’s!  She loved her family and brought up three pretty amazing sons who all had 3+ kids each who many of them have had multiple kids as well.  She and Papa left quite a nice little legacy there.

For all of you that think you are good at Scrabble, she would kick your butt.  I used to think I was decent at Boggle, but she would come up with words that had to have been made up!  I’m not sure that anyone has EVER done more crossword puzzles than she did in her lifetime and she did it all with her tongue twisted and sticking out too (apparently that helps you think)!

I am very thankful for all the things she has done for me and my family and the love that she continuously showed us (even when I was playing with a ball in the house, knocked down one of the “special” plates from the mantle, broke it and found out there was one less plate that would be passed down to us).  I am thankful that she got to see her sons and their wives for extended periods of time before she went home.  I am thankful that she is no longer fighting (although she was quite the fighter and did so for a long time) and is now resting and worshipping with a scene that I can’t even imagine!

Goodbye Granmary!  I hope that when I get to be 95 I can follow your example and look back and see the countless ways that God has used me to change my world.  Tell everyone we said hi!

Change is a crazy thing sometimes.  As children, change is hard.  As a young adult we don’t seem to necessarily mind change or at least we seem to be better at coping with it.  But it seems to me that many times as we get older change gets hard again.  Last year I went for a job interview at a restaurant while my wife and I were in between churches.  As I was filling out my application and waiting for an interview an older guy came up to me and told me that they have a “no facial hair other than mustaches” policy.  I was a little caught off guard, but knew this was not gonna be the place for me.

• Technology changes and it is difficult to keep up with it.
• Music changes and our favorite bands start gaining air time on the classical stations.
• Clothing changes and we realize that our wife beaters and jams aren’t cool anymore.
• Hair styles change and people start looking at our mullet and mustache attitude funny.
• Church methods change and we just want to go back to the way we have “always” done it.

Each new generation wants to (re)invent their own style (which is generally a mutation of several generations before them).  We are constantly looking for bigger, better, faster.  We want new and fresh.  So at what point in our lives do we stop this search?  When do we stop looking for and implementing change?  Do we just assume that because it worked for us it will work for the next generation?

Technology, music, clothes, hair and many other things look completely different than they did for our parents and than theirs did for their parents.  Knowing this is true, why do we as church leaders all over the world assume that it doesn’t apply to the church as well?  As Craig Groeschel always drilled into our heads at LifeChurch.tv, the methods change but the message never does.

Disclaimer: I am not always good at changing.  I like my routines.  I like my comforts.  But I do hope and pray that I can continue to wrap my mind around changing methods in order to reach those that the old “style” isn’t hitting.  If I do get to that point, I hope that I have the smarts to step down from my role and let someone else in!

Do you accept, embrace and implement change?

What are you doing to change the methods from the old to reach the new with the only constant in our universe, Jesus Christ?

If you have not seen this video yet…well, that’s why I’m here.  OK Go, one of my favorite bands, is very creative to say the least.  It all started with the treadmills and dance moves and has taken off since then.  YouTube has been extremely kind to these guys.  They even play a song to only handbells live in concert.  That was pretty insane.  Well, now they have a new song out called This Too Shall Pass.  Not only is it a catchy song that I have had stuck in my head for a couple weeks now, but their newest video is, well, quite a work of genius.  I can’t imagine the hours spent figuring all this out and getting it timed out (well, maybe I can because I’m pretty sure that would be a blast)!  So here it is.  Enjoy this week’s amazing Video Of The Week!

Last week at Kingsfield we dodged a potential insanely crazy Sunday with a short setup crew, one staff member gone, another could have been and my wife possibly going into labor.  That would have been one “wing it” Sunday.  But, we made it through!  Now another week has passed and we still have no baby.  So here is our setlist for today!

Let God Arise – Chris Tomlin – Passion: God Of This City
Sweetly Broken – Jeremy Riddle – Full Attention
Came To My Rescue – Hillsong United – United We Stand
Salvation Is Here – Hillsong United – Look To You

Should be another great Sunday!  Please keep us in your prayers as we are staring down our due date this week!  We could have a baby at any moment!  That’s pretty crazy.  Am I old enough for that? (Maybe mature enough or grown up enough would be the better question.)

So yesterday was the last Friday before our baby’s due date.  We are so excited as I’m sure you know.  It has been a very fast and very long (all at the same time) 9 months.  One of the things that we have enjoyed is the email we get every Friday morning (beginning of each new week) from BabyCenter.com.  Yeah it’s a little cheesy, but they tell you all the general developments of the baby for that week.  I liked knowing that she was picking out her eyeballs one week and others learning to breathe.  Pretty freakin’ cool.  But now that we are at the end, I only have one major question.  What will the BabyCenter email say for this Friday?  I am not sure what to expect so here are a few things I can think of that the informative email may say when there is nothing left to say.

• Your baby is due.
• Have your baby today.
• Your baby is finally ripe.
• Good luck.
• Don’t worry.  If you still haven’t had your baby yet, your day is coming.
• If you still haven’t had your baby, look on the bright side!  At least they won’t let you go a month past your due date anymore!
• Enjoy the hospital bills!
• Dear husband.  You can have your wife back now.
• Dear husband.  You are now farther down the list of your wife’s most important things.
• Parents, say goodbye to birthday and Christmas presents for you!
• Every kiss begins with Kay.
• Ding.
• Don’t forget to check out our other website ParentCenter.com while your baby isn’t letting you sleep.

Did I miss any options?  What would you want the email to say?

Last night was our monthly worship night for Kingsfield Church.  I normally do the music for this, but because of the constant and eminent threat of baby, we subbed me out this month.  So I was back in the back listening to Aaron, one of our pastors, speak being distracted by the contractions my wife was having.  I was really trying to listen and pay attention, but when that is happening to your wife it is a little difficult to pay attention to everything else.  As Aaron was speaking he read a passage that I wanted to share with you.

It’s not very often I read Zechariah.  Did you know there was a book called Zechariah in the Old Testament?  Sure you did.  Well, in 4:6-7 it says,

‘You can’t force these things. They only come about through my Spirit,’ says God-of-the-Angel-Armies. ‘So, big mountain, who do you think you are? Next to Zerubbabel you’re nothing but a molehill.’

So, big mountain, who do you think you are?  That is a very good question to ask.  We all face problems and I know lots of people that are facing them right now.  In the midst of these problems we always feel like they are HUGE problems.  How can I go on with _______ in my way?  ________ is just too big too handle.  Whatever you fill in the blank with might seem like the most difficult thing to bear or that your whole world is coming to an end, but it’s not.  With the God-of-the-Angel-Armies on your side, the biggest things in the world have nothing on you!  The mountains are nothing.

With Him on your side, you can throw up one hand on the hip, the other making the sign for number one and zig zagging around, copping all the attitude you can muster and saying “mountain, puh-lease.”  I forget that a lot.  I have to be reminded by my failures to find my strength in Him and not me.  I have to be reminded that He is strong and I am less than weak.  With the God-of-the-Angel Armies on my side those mountains in my life don’t stand a chance.

What about you?  What mountains are standing in your way?  What mountain does God want to help you see that with Him it is nothing?  Thank Him today for being bigger than your issues.

There was an online conference yesterday put on by the Leadership Network called Aha!  I didn’t get to spend much time watching the conference because there was too much going on in my office, but I did get to hear most of one of the speakers (each speaker had a 6 minute video).  I don’t even know who the guy was, but what he said was really good.

Saul had taken the army out to fight the Philistines.  Enter the famous Goliath.  Now enter shepherd boy David.  He quickly gets fed up with Goliath’s crap and knowing that God is on his side decides to go out and fight Goliath.  As David is getting ready, Saul tries to get him to wear armor that belongs to and fits Saul.  The armor is far too big and bulky so David tells the king that he will go without (that and he has God on his side).  Then David proceeds to completely destroy a giant with a sling shot.

The point of the speaker yesterday was simply this.  Stop trying to fight in someone else’s armor.  It was made for them, not you.  It fits them.  It may provide some sort of brief comfort or protection, but you will quickly find out you are dead in the water that way.  I think David understood this.  He didn’t try to fight a very experienced and huge opponent someone else’s way.  He did it how he knew to do it.  He followed God’s calling on his life and not someone else’s.  This is massively important in ministry.  If God has called you into ministry, He has called YOU into ministry.

He hasn’t called me to be Billy Graham.

He hasn’t called me to be Chris Tomlin.

He has called me to be Brook James.

He has called you to be you!

I’m not supposed to be anyone other than me.  No matter what your role is in the church, you are there to do it as YOU!  This was something that took me a good while to learn.  I spent so much time trying to be what I thought everyone else wanted me to be, I wasn’t sure why I wasn’t fulfilling the calling God put on me.  Later I figured out that I was trying to fight my battles with someone else’s armor on and it didn’t fit!  I could fake it for a little while, but not for long.  Turns out the best way to minister is to do it as you.  The best way to lead is to lead as you.  God made you to be, lead, minister, love, etc. as you!

Are you leading as you?  Are you or someone else trying to get you to lead as someone else?  Maybe you are just doubting yourself.  Maybe you just can’t figure out why your ministry isn’t exactly like that person’s.  Just remember.  While there are always things to learn from other people and ministries, God calls you into YOUR role.  Do it as you.

As the clock is ever so slowly winding down to our due date, the waiting mode has gotten old quick.  I expected that it would.  I feel like I’m sitting there waiting for the red phone to ring.  All day long I keep checking my phone.

At work.

In the car.

At basketball.

All the time.

I am waiting (not so patiently) expectantly for this phone call saying it’s time.  I am waiting expectantly for my new baby to arrive.  Our lives should be the same.  We should be living our lives expecting that Jesus will return at any moment.  We don’t know when He will come, but we do know that it could be any day.  We should live our lives like it will be tomorrow.  Just as my life is consumed with the excitement, passion and joy of a firstborn on the way, we should be living in the same way with excitement, expectation of Godly greatness, joy, passion, contentment.

We are getting ever closer to this baby arriving.  As of last night we were having lots of contractions with some really good ones thrown in there too, but they just aren’t quite close enough together.  We could be in the labor and delivery room at any point!  As of now we are working on convincing our little one that it is time to come on out so we can get this going.

But she hasn’t decided she is quite ready yet.  So we play the waiting game.  Our hospital bags are backed and ready to go.  The playlist has been made.  The dog is prepared to hold the fort down.  24 has already been watched.  I sleep while she can’t (sorry, baby).  And we wait.  So if you are bored, keep us in your prayers!

Pray for patience!

Pray for strength!

Pray for health!

Pray for rest!

Mainly just pray for the whole baby thing I guess.  Check back soon and we will keep you updated as things progress!

It’s an all new Monday!  Because it’s an all new Monday, it’s time for a new Video Of The Week!  But it’s also the second half of our fake anniversary (got married on Leap Day and have 2 more years before that one rolls around again).  Therefore it’s a very special Monday, which calls for an especially rocking Video Of The Week.

Baby, I love you so much!  Thanks for marrying me two years ago!  This one’s for you!