Not sure how to say this other than to be very straight forward:I trust God. We have been stretched many times to believe for financial miracles, but never quite like this. We are one week away from April 1st and have only raised half of our salary for the month.I truly believe that we will be able to share in a week another miracle of God's provision. If you pray, pray for us 🙂

I have been listening to the song "God of This City" (by Chris Tomlin) for the past few weeks. I find myself driving around Charlotte praying and crying. This song has really hit a nerve with me and my heart breaks for this city.I love the people here. I love Uptown Charlotte and all of the communities and neighboring cities. God has put a love in my heart for this town that I have never known. I believe with all my heart that the chorus of this song is so true:Greater things are yet to comeGreater things are still be done in this cityGreater things are yet to comeGreater things are still to...

I started today down one game to Dara in our epic in-house battle of our NCAA Tournament brackets. I have made a strong push, however, today and I'm really hoping that I can finally beat my wife in this competition that she OWNS me in annually.

Dara and I have returned from an amazing couple of days in Washington DC. We headed up there on Tuesday to meet with Mark Batterson. I always leave encouraged when we spend time with Mark. He's one of the fresh voices God is using in incredible ways. We spent a couple of hours with him and then took in DC.It was so great to just wander around DC with Dara. We had so much fun walking all around the nation's capitol. We had absolutely no plans and no kids to dictate our day. No one said to us, "I have to go potty!" or "I want chicky and french fries!" The entire day was spent holding hands,...

We started a series this week at Hope called "3:16". It's a spin off of the book by Max Lucado. Mike spoke a sermon simply called "God's Love". It was one of the best sermons I have ever heard on this topic. You can check it out by tuning into our audio or video podast on iTunes.

I just got back from Max and Mary's baseball practice this afternoon. So much fun helping out with the team and teaching the kids the fundamentals of this game I love so much. It's great that they can be on the same team this year. We celebrated a great practice by getting popcorn and slurpees on the way home. This reminds me of a podcast I heard of Joel Hunter (lead pastor at Northland Church). He talked about the priority he put on attending his kids games and practices. He said something that really struck a chord with me. "Life happens to and from the games." He talked about the...

Dara and I are going head to head this year on our NCAA Tournament brackets. They will be posted on our refrigerator for all to see. She has a knack for beating me senseless in this annual competition, so I will be assuming the role of the underdog 🙂

I heard a friend of mine speak on the topic of doing ministry out of the overflow of our spiritual lives the other day. It really challenged me. It's so easy to spend time with God and always be thinking of other people when you are a pastor. Your personal time becomes ministry time.I have found a new depth in my relationship with God. I am so grateful for this. I find myself excitedly looking forward to breaking away and finding quiet moments reading God's word. I finally feel like I understand what it means to do ministry out of the overflow of my spiritual life. The private moments...

I joined the instant messaging party a bit late. I was well into college once I got an AIM account and I really missed all of the "IM jargon" that was sweeping the nation. Because of this I have found that I feel like a poser (yes, I said poser) if I use all of the typical abbreviations:LOL - Laugh out loudTTYL - Talk to you laterBRB - Be right backThe list goes on. I actually type out "hahahaha" when I'm laughing because I just can't bring myself to use the lingo that I never embraced at the beginning. I feel better now. Confession time over.

I can't stop staring at Baby Ben.He just turned 2 months old and he has captured my imagination. I was on the lazy boy this weekend holding him and watching his brothers and sisters play in the living room. It hit me that he will be there soon, running around with them, jumping off the couch, throwing toys in the kitchen trash can (Jack) and doing lots of kid stuff.He's already starting to hold his head up on his own and his smile lights up our lives. He has truly captured my heart.