Transparency

Looking For A Fight...

Well the last couple of blog posts have just been articles or other blogs that I thought were great resources and by the feedback I have received I am glad that others have found them useful.  I want to get back to posting some video blogs (because I really enjoy doing those), but this one I felt like I needed to write (because there is no way it will fit in my 2 min time limit...haha).  I have to admit I have a very heavy heart today.  I am feeling the urge to fight!  Not to fight a physical fight, but rather a spiritual fight!

Those of you that know me well, know that I am not a super "spiritual" person, I love God with all of my heart don't get me wrong, but I strive to be practical with my relationship with God.  I say that for nothing more to preface my thoughts. I don't like when people always like to blame everything on "a" or "the" devil.  But recently there has been some events that have taken place in peoples lives that there is just no other explanation.

Over the last couple of weeks and especially yesterday a verse has been coming to life for me and hit has made me want to start a fight! Its a very well known verse, its John 10:10 "The thief's purpose is to steal and kill and destroy. My purpose is to give them a rich and satisfying life." 

I am so sick of the enemy/thief (the devil) stealing the joy, killing the plans, and destroying the lives of the ones that I love. I am a protective person, if someone tries to harm one of my kids you bet I will do everything in my power to stop them.  The enemy is messing with the lives of the students in Axiom and friends in ministry and I refuse to sit back and just watch it happen!  

I want to payback the enemy for the lies that he is using to destroy lives.  He is feeding people lines and they are buying them hook, line and sinker. As a result lives are being ruined!  I can't get mad at the person(s), thought I want to, because its not them...its the enemy working against them.

My heart is breaking as I write this...I feel hurt, then I feel mad! I want to fight...but then the scripture reminds me...Ephesians 6:12 in the NLT "For we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places" and then the Message says, "This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels."

The question that I keep asking myself is am I fighting hard enough?  To be honest the answer right now is NO, but that HAS to change.  No longer am I willing to sit back and be a spectator as the enemy destroys the lives of the ones I love and care about...enough said....IT'S ON!

A Video For every Pastor and Church Leader...

Catalyst TV: Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel from Catalyst on Vimeo.

Distractions

Honduras 2008

On November 15th, I boarded a plane in Detroit with 4 other guys from our church and flew to Honduras to build a church.  We worked with Missionary Larry Walker, we could not of asked to work with a better person...he was awesome!  Larry and his wife have been in Honduras for 3 years, before that they spent around 17 years in Kenya and then a few years in Paraguay. 

The Walker's went to Honduras at the invitation of the Honduran Assemblies of God.  They had just done a large campaign to plant 100 churches around the country, and now they needed to work on getting them in buildings.  Larry has an extensive background in construction, so this was a complete fit for him!

In the past 3 years Larry, along with teams from the states, have built 45 churches in Honduras (we were the 45th church), the project is called Honduras 100.  For $12,000 a church could build a church in Honduras...that is incredible!  Let me clarify...this is not a church like what we have in the state.  It is a steel truss/sheet metal roof and block walls, it is up to the individual church to put in windows, doors, electricity, etc.  All Larry and the teams do is put up the structure shell and then the nationals take care of the rest, based on what they can afford.

It was truly a cool experience for all of our guys, and we hope to go back!  If you would like to see some more about the Honduras 100 project click here.  Check out our video from the trip...and if you are looking for a trip for your church, i would highly recommend going to Honduras!

Honduras 2008 from Tim Smelcer on Vimeo.

Present...

As a kid when the teacher would take attendance everyone would say, "here" but if you wanted to be clever (at least we thought so at the time) you would say, "present!"

I know that I have been "absent" from the blogosphere for the last couple of weeks.  With Pastor Tom's transition several things have needed my attention, making for a really full plate and some really long days.

A couple of weeks ago I went the Forum (a Ohio District Pastor's Seminar).  It was so cool to hang out with great friends like Gary Fowler and Konan Stephens.  Both of these guys serve as HUGE inspirations for me.  To see the way they approach ministry, family and life is really something that I strive to emulate!

One of the responsibilities I inherited from Pastor Tom was building maintenance and last Sunday everything hit at once!  One of the AC units that we have had a lot of problems with started malfunctioning AGAIN.  On top of that, we had been planning on remodeling the sanctuary ladies restroom (in one week)!

So I had to give attention and oversight to both of those projects...needless to say, both projects got done by Sunday AM.  Thanks to 15 volunteers and an awesome couple (Roger and Robin) who planned and organized everything!  Without them this would have NEVER of happened!

I have to also thank Steve for stepping in last week and this week to speak in Axiom.  It is truly a relief to have someone that can step in and take the speaking duties over so I can give attention to some other things.  I hate having to speak when I have not been able to prepare like I would like, so I really appreciate Steve helping me out!

Well anyway, now that you are thoroughly bored, I will shut up...I will fill you in later on other things going on in our lives...looking forward to next week when my mom (Grandma Sherri) is coming to visit for a week!

From FMC to ODC

I am sure most of you have heard by now the big announcement made by the Ohio District Council (ODC).  Our Associate Pastor Tom Groot has accepted the position of Student Ministries Director for ODC.  This is bittersweet for us here at FMC, it is going to be cool to have Tom over the students of Ohio!  He is going to do a great job in his new role!

However, it is sad for us here because Tom and Mandy have done so much for this church.  When you have been somewhere for 10 years, you invest a lot of time and energy in people, you can't help but have roots that go down deep!

If you don't know Tom and Mandy and how great of people they are here is a little bio that ODC did on them in the new position.

Change

Just got done meeting with my Senior Pastor this morning, as usual we had a pretty laid back meeting.  We went to Starbucks, I actually tried something different today, I got a Chai Tea Frappuccino.  This is huge for me!  I am one of those people that when I go to a specific restaurant I really don't even need a menu, because I already know what I am getting.

As we sat and talked about different random things, we began to discuss some upcoming changes here at Faith Memorial.  As we were talking, one of the things that came to my mind about change is this: During times of change is best time to recalibrate and redirect.  When change happens it is important for us to take that opportunity to recalibrate what we are doing and where we are going.  It is also important to redirect (or reassign) the energies of staff and volunteers. 

I am looking forward to redirecting or recalibrating some of my energies in ministry.  By all of us doing that I think it helps open doors for others to be able to participate in ministry.

By the way the Chai Tea was really good!

Photoshop

Recently I have been bitten by the photoshop bug, along with a few other programs like after effects.  I have been watching a bunch of tutorials trying to learn as much as I can about how to get better at doing graphics.  I don't necessarily consider myself the most creative person, but my father is a really creative person...He created the WORLD!  So I am trusting him to help me be more creative!  Would love to hear some thoughts about my work...don't worry be honest...I can take it!

Memories...

Just finished speaking in two services at the church I grew up in, in fact the Pastor was there that led me to the Lord.  It was so cool to go back and see people that I haven't seen since I was a small kid.   Something very cool about speaking at the place where you grew up!