sometimes you have to face your fears

Here is Joel, me, Linda and Andrew (he goes by Andy) after we rode "Sheikra" that crazy roller coaster in Tampa. I have to tell you, it really made me nervous. You know, a bad childhood experience on a roller coaster that I just have not been able to shake. Well, so Linda tells me, "Sometimes you just have to face your fears." I assured her that, that cliche' must not have applied to me.

Well, I did it and survived. In fact it was fun...kinda. Have you ever been afraid to share your faith. I have. [I hope I have not disappointed you.] Not because I am ashamed of Christ, or the Gospel, but of the response from the people that I have shared with.

Understand, that it is not you that they are rejecting but Christ. Be at peace. What you will say, God will use to continue to work on their heart. Just face those fears and do it. One way we have made it easy at Christ Fellowship is by making available the Invest and Invite cards. These things are great. Be sure to pick some up this weekend.

Hey, we will see you tonight for rehearsal. We will be wearing black bottoms and any color solid top. Hey, the colors looked great last weekend.

Seek His Face
sammy

You know, when you go to share...

You know, when you go to share with someone, and you think that you will really be helping them. Then you end up learning from them. Well, that's kinda what happened to me when I spoke at "ascend" Bell Shoals Youth Camp.

As you may recall, their pastor and oldest son were killed in a plane crash, earlier in May. It was tragic. Obviously the church is still dealing with this. After fasting and praying, I sensed that God wanted me to share about "Worshiping through pain."

I wanted to share from the heart of God what the scriptures tell us about suffering. I believed that the Lord would allow me to encourage them with the Word. But by the end of the week, these students and adults showed me what it is to worship through pain and suffering. They were amazing.

This is Courtney Pollack, Pastor Pollack's daughter. It was amazing to see her worship. Knowing the pain she must be going through with the loss of her dad and brother. But she has continued to worship. We spoke some one evening, and what an encouragement she was to me. Her and the rest of the Bell Shoals folks really blew me away with their love for God.

It was great being back this past weekend. Rick did another amazing job in opening up the Word of God. "Rest" has been a good series already.

Connection Class was really good. The folks were tapped in and I will be following up with three people that want to know about salvation and their relationship to God.

Hey, I look forward to seeing you Wednesday. Be sure to check out the song list on Planning center.

Seek His Face
sammy

Did you know...

Where is the summer going? Does it seem like it's going fast? It does to me.

Hey everyone, we will be rehearsing tonight. I'm excited about the weekend. It was great being here last weekend, worshiping with the congregation from a different location. It was beautiful.

I can't wait to see you all and share a few highlights from the past few weeks.

Did you know that you if you stomp really hard at a charging dog they will stop? Yea, only if your as ugly as I am. That's right, while on a run in Alabama I thought I was going to have to fight a big dog. As the dog came charging, I turned to square up and face the dog. I stomped as loud as I could on the ground. Sure enough the dog stopped. It was great.

One suggestion: don't try this at home. This will only work if you have a shiny head and ugly mug like me.

See you tonight. The weekend is going to be awesome!

Seek His Face
Sammy

Sweet weekend

Abiel Mir, our Downtown campus worship pastor led this weekend at Palmetto Bay. It was a sweet weekend. They did a new tune by Israel Houghton, with a latin style beat. It was really good. High energy and a great song of celebration. The best part for me is when they went from "Majesty" Delirious to "Majesty" by Jack Hayford. The transition was really powerful. Both of the songs magnify Christ. I thought of the picture of heaven. Jesus as Lamb, on the throne bearing the marks of the abuse He took for our sins, and all those around the throne singing, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord, God Almighty. Who Was and Is and Is to come.

So let us exalt Him...wow!

And Rick knows how to bring it! What a powerful message. We saw some cool things happen in the service. It is good to be back at Christ Fellowship. It is an honor to serve here.

Saturday evening Jorge (our Homestead campus pastor) and I led for the funeral of David Santana, 19 year old who died in a car accident. Jorge did an amazing job in sharing a great message of hope by presenting the Gospel. Pray for the family. Two of the students that spoke at the funeral also came forward at our 12:30 service. Is God awesome or what!

While in Alabama for a few days, here is what I paid for Gas: $3.87 That price is long gone.

In the next few posts I will share some thoughts on worship. I love you all and look forward to leading this weekend.

Peace
Sammy

A Beautiful Ending

The last evening of the Bell Shoals Camp, I spoke from Isaiah 6:1-8. My topic was "Our "Response to Worship." When we encounter an Almighty God, we will worship Him and against His Holiness we will see our sin and confess it. We will receive forgiveness from our Lord and then act on His calling. As Isaiah did, we will say, "Send me."

We observed the Lord Supper at the end of our Worship Service. It was a beautiful ending to a great week. I will post some more info later.

I have been without internet access for the last several days, so today is the first day that I am back on. It is amazing how dependent I have become on technology.

We will be home soon, and it will be good to be back with you all. Tomorrow we will spend the day with Joel and April in Tampa.

Seek His Face
Sammy

more stuff from camp

It has been good. Let me share some more stuff.

We had a good night. I spoke on worship through suffering and pain. It was a heavy message, but I sensed a real burden to share it. Thank you for your prayers. Some folks came to me a shared that it was an encouragement. "We needed to hear this" they said. The Lord is good. So good.

My brother baptized three students last evening in the "Wave Pool." Yea, they have a wave pool. I haven't been in it, but it looks really cool.

Thanks for your continued prayers. There are some special things that the Lord is doing. I am humbled to be a part of it.

Tonight I will share through the Isaiah 6 passage on worship. "Our Response."

Thank you now for your prayers. I sensed His leading and your prayers.

Seek His Face
sammy

Some of camp

Camp Kulaqua is where we are. Nice place. Check out some of the sites:

You know how I love deer. Well during my running in the morning this is what I see.

Andrew and Austin are helping me during the worship. In the pic we are preparing for the service which has around 230 high school students and leaders.

Well, let me explain the picture with me in the air. That is me being "Blobbed." The Blob is a big canvas air filled oblong shaped balloon. One person sits at the end, another person jumps onto the blob and launches you into the air. You land in water. I almost left out that important element of the story. The person being blobbed should be smaller, as in my case, my son Andrew blobbed me. My form could have been better.

So my schedule is:
up at 6:10 AM
Quite time
Run
Staff meeting at 6:45 Am
Run back to my room.
Study/work for the rest of the morning.
lunch
An hour of relaxing
Back to work for the rest of the day in preparation for my talk.
6:15 the worship service begins
7:45 it is over.
8:30 large group stuff
hang out with the band, staff and students
11:30 meeting
12:00 AM or so, try to go to sleep and then do it all over again.

This is the church whose Pastor and son were recently killed in a plane crash. Tonight I will be speaking on worship through pain. This is an amazing church. The oldest daughter of the pastor is here. Please be in prayer.

Seek His Face
Sammy

PS, no worship rehearsal for the worship singers tonight. You will not sing this weekend.