Pastor Jon's Blog

This video came across my desk yesterday while I was working. It was actually a very hard day. Yet in the midst of the mundane, ordinary life, God showed up in my office via this video and before I knew it, I was in a heap. The anointing behind this song and this story is truly incredible. It has been a very long time since a song jumped out and grabbed me from the instant I heard it like this one did. I pray that as you listen it grabs you as well.

Here is my latest video creation . . .

In a previous post, I talked about beliefs, experiences, and convictions. In summary, a belief and an experience together produce a conviction. (BELIEF + EXPERIENCE = CONVICTION)

The church as a whole is full of a lot of people that have a lot of beliefs. Actually, the world (Christians and non-Christians alike) is full of people that have beliefs. However, I am realizing that beliefs are their own don't make any impact on the world. What truly impacts the world is convictions. People that not only believe certain things but have personally experienced the power and importance of those beliefs and are convinced that this belief is accurate.

This whole notion has made me stop and think? Is the reason the church isn't making an impact is because we believe a lot but haven't experienced a lot. We believe in healing; however, we haven't first-hand experienced the healing power of Jesus. We believe in God, but we haven't personally experienced Him. We believe in miracles, yet we haven't ever seen one.

Do you understand what I'm saying?? We need to experience what we believe in if we expect to make an impact on anyone. We must develop deep convictions about who God is, who we are, and what He wants to accomplish in and through us in this region if we truly expect to see our dreams become a reality. 

The disciples believed in Jesus and experienced Him. Their experience became even more dramatic when the promised Holy Spirit came upon them in Acts 2. Their belief was accompanied with a powerful experience that created a conviction that would change the world. All of us that believe in Jesus because of the impact and conviction of 11 men. 

Beliefs don't create change in us or impact on anyone else. Convictions do. It's time to get ahold of some deep convictions that will produce radical and dramatic change in us and in our region. 

I have had several people either comment on my post about my class or made comments in person. So, with that said, I thought I would write a bit more about what's going on there.

The one thing that has really been good from the textbook we've been reading is the notion of beliefs, experiences, and convictions. (By the way, the book is The Adventure of Worship by Gerrit Gustafson. You can order on Amazon if you like.) 

Beliefs are just that - the things that we belief. Experiences are just that - things that we personally experience in life. DUHH! But the key is how they go together. Many times, people have beliefs and experiences separately. But the amazing thing  about the two of these together is that the form a conviction.

BELIEF + EXPERIENCE = CONVICTION

You can have beliefs and experiences separately. Separately, they produce nothing. However, together they produce a conviction. Convictions are those things that we not only believe in, but are also those things that we are convinced of because we have personally experienced them. 

As you think about your own life, what do you really believe in and what are you convinced of? The only difference between the two is the experience that produces the conviction. We need both! 

In my next post, I'll explain what a conviction produces vs. what a belief produces. 

It's Sunday night and lots of thoughts . . . .

• What about that earthquake on Friday??? Selah had a dream about an earthquake the same night that it happened. Is my kid prophetic??
• This weather is incredible. If I could move somewhere where this is as cold as it gets in the winter, I would be in HEAVEN!
• It was good to be back in Gary leading worship today at Living Stone s - Gary. That's still my favorite sound system to lead worship with - the monitor system is great. You can hear everything so clearly.
• I ordered my Ultimate Ears custom monitors last week. It should be a couple of weeks before they're made but I can't wait!!
• I started Twittering. Twittering is a very short form of blogging answering the question, "What are you doing now."
• Did I say how much I love this weather?
• I really want to see Expelled.
• Charlene's Dell computer died. Well, I'm not sure if it's completely dead but it's not looking pretty. I'm going to take it to the office tomorrow and try to at least get our MS Money data file off of the hard drive. The girl needs to get a Mac!
• Mother's Day is coming. Any good ideas for the girls and I to get Charlene? Last year we got her a nice photo book from Apple that we created. Looking for something original . . .
• Looked at the south side of the house today, and we're definitely do for a major paint job on the exterior. Anyone interested in a fun experience painting with me??
• I wonder if the violent weekend in Chicago has anything to do with the full moon? What a great place for the next great revival. John just did an amazing post about the moon.

Today I started teaching my next class in the Living School of Ministry. This session I'm teaching a course titled, Worship As a Lifestyle. The basic idea is that worship is not reserved for a Sunday morning event but rather is a life that we live daily. One of the assignments I gave today was to write daily in a Worship Journal. Daily they have to find ways to worship in the ordinary, mundane things of life. The challenge is to find opportunities to find worship opportunities along the road of life. It will be interesting to see where we find worship opportunities before us.

I'll be posting along the way and sharing some of the stories. So . . . more to come. 

I just got this info emailed to me this morning by Pastor Dr. Pretty interesting! 

One of the common myths about marriage in America is that "50% of all marriages end in divorce." But that figure is derived not from long-term analysis but from the fact that the raw number of new divorces each year is roughly 50% of the raw number of new marriages. These numbers are distorted by the fact that people with successful marriages usually marry only once, while people with failed marriages have often married and divorced multiple times. Fortunately, new data from pollster George Barna included a more meaningful statistic. Of all Americans who have ever married, only one-third have ever been divorced. This two-to-one ratio of marital success should encourage young people who may actually fear the "50-50" marriage myth. Another misconception is that a person's religion and values have nothing to do with marital success. Barna found that the percentage of people who have been divorced after marrying is lower among Catholics, evangelicals, and conservatives than it is among non-Christians and liberals. That's not to mention the fact that more born-again Christians (84%) have been married in the first place than atheists and agnostics (65%). For those just embarking on the adventure of marriage, be encouraged--your chances of making it "until death do you part" may be better than you've been told. 

We've had a few days out of town to rest and relax. On Thursday, we headed to Indianapolis to stay at the Holiday Inn on the northside which has an indoor waterpark. We'd been hyping the surprise for days. The girls were really surprised once they realized what the big deal was. After 24 hours of wrinkled up skin from living in the water, we headed over to our friends the Trumps who live in Fishers. We're still here hanging out and just enjoying some relaxing time. I must say that we've eaten more in the last three days than we do in three weeks. We're going to have to hit the diet hard come Monday morning! Anyway, what I'm really excited about is being able to have a Sunday away from Living Stones - not because I don't love Living Stones. I am actually looking forward to seeing another church in action on a Sunday morning from the other side of the platform! In the last five years I can count the number of times that I haven't been at Living Stones ministering on one hand. So it's a nice opportunity to sit back and watch. Selah & I will be heading off early tomorrow morning with Aunt Denise to go to worship team rehearsal at Northview prior to their 10:45 service. I'll be meeting her new worship pastor for the first time as well. In the afternoon, we're having lunch with their life group. In the evening we're headed home and will meet my family (parents & sister's family) in Carmel before heading back to NW Indiana.

As enjoyable as it has been to have a week off and a few days away, it will be nice to be back home again. 

Well, today was an incredible day of celebration. It was like Brock said this morning during our services - as a kid, Christmas is your favorite holiday, but as born again Christian, Easter tops the list! 

• Living Stones - you were your usual amazing selves as you unashamedly worshiped with passion and zeal. It was a great morning. 
• Harvest and her dance team did an incredible job of reminding that He's not a baby in a manger and not a broken man on a cross. He's ALIVE!
• Charlene made a traditional Easter meal (NOT!). We are into non-traditional holiday meals. She made her famous ribs. I never liked ribs until Charlene made them. They are the BEST.
• The girls and I along with Beth Gray rented PPV, August Rush. It was a pretty good movie. The underlying premise is a bit off yet the musical theme that was woven throughout was what I really enjoyed. Many of the lines were good ones. It reminded me that the heavens are making music, and it's the musicians and artists job to hear the music of heaven and bring it to earth. WOW.
• We're on vacation this week. We're headed out of town on Thursday with a little surprise for the girls. I'll post about that later this week along with a few fun videos. We'll be out of town on Sunday. Yes, I'm actually taking a week off INCLUDING a Sunday. My boys have it all well under control so I can leave with a great peace of mind.