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The Church Planter’s Wives Blog will be going live sometime today.  We had a small technical glitch that made it not go live this morning, but it will be up this evening!  You will be able to find by scrolling over the “Blog” menu above, then click “CPW Blog”.  We are very excited about this new tool and look forward to seeing many new readers coming on board!

People sometimes make fun of Dallas-Fort Worth being the buckle on the Bible belt.  It isn’t anymore.  It’s unbuckled.  The stats are in and church attendance is around the 17% mark - in northeast Tarrant county where I live it’s probably more like 9%.  We think because we see churches and some of them big that we are churched.  We are not.  A lot of the shelves (pews) are empty in those stores!  The ones that are full are often filled with people looking for a different kind of church - not Jesus!  If we were “churched” anywhere near what we were just 35 years ago at a minimum we would have to double the number of churches out here. 

For some pastors that would freak them out - more competition!  We need to shift our mindset from one that says “I pastor a church to reach this community . . . “ to one that says “I pastor a church to create communities of faith in this community all over.” One thinks like a preacher/pastor the other a missionary/mobilizer. 

We were the most wicked place on the face of the earth just a little over a hundred years ago.  Downtown Fort Worth was called Hell’s half acre.  Gun fights, brothels, gambling, you name it - it was there and out of control.  Most people didn’t venture there.  It was the last jumping off point till you started out west to nowhere.  Godly?  Not hardly. 

Then, a group of Christians and pastors had enough.  They became convicted and started starting churches right in the heart of Hell’s half-acre - a revival began to come - Southwestern seminary came on the scene - and the rest is history.  We became the Bible belt not because of our holiness, but because of our sinfulness and a sense of desperation a few people had a century ago. 

It’s time for us to once again have a burden for our city.  There’s not a greater place to live than DFW.  There’s not a more strategic city to live than DFW in the US, and for some reason the world. 

When the passion for Jesus is gone and you have the relics of religion left over - buildings/structures/organizations - then it looses its power and becomes counter productive. 

Father I pray for my …

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A key piece to our Church Planter Training that we do here at NorthWood is making sure that the family is the most healthy component in the journey.  To do this, we include the families in the entire process.  Several months ago, a wife of one of our Church Planters from Superior, Colorado decided to make a Facebook group dedicated to Church Planters Wives.  It grew very quickly, just confirming something we already knew… there are thousands of Planters wives out there looking for some support.  Niki, Bob’s wife, has a wonderful ministry to wives and her ‘right hand gal’ is Amy Colon, this very same person who began the Facebook group.  So, beginning tomorrow, we are starting a blog just for you wives!  Amy Colon is the main author, with Niki being a contributing editor when her schedule allows. 

So tomorrow you can find the CPW blog by scrolling over the “Blog” button at the top of this page and then clicking “CPW Blog” in the sub-menu.  We are very excited about this new resource and can’t wait to see what God does with it!

Who would think labor day would be such an incredible weekend for a church but it was for us.  You have to go to the http://www.northwoodchurch.org web-site and listen to the message - he was given a standing ovation.  Later in the evening he talked about men and marriage and leadership and it was awesome.  We love you John Jenkins!

Nikki and I were at the Del Coronado for a meeting and we enjoyed ourselves.  It is an old hotel from 1888 and the largest wooden hotel in the U.S.  Two nights the fire alarm went off - kind of scary - but we survived! False alarms both times. 

One morning as I ran on the beach I ran with a group of navy recruits - I praised them the whole time and talked to them like I was their training sergeant!  I later saw a group of navy seal recruits doing training off the coast.  I could see warships and one day a submarine out in the ocean from the beach - obviously it was not submerged!  At the encouragement of Ed Allen I’m reading Lone Survivor - it’s about a Navy Seal and a mission where he was the only one to survive - he is a Texan. 

When I see and read stuff like that I get inspired.  Maybe I should have been a soldier.  When I look at the Great Commission I feel the same sense of passion, enthusiasm, and abandonment for people to know who Jesus is and to see that transforming power. 

I believe it’s entirely possible that the Great Commission could be fulfilled in the next 20 years - how?

1.  Using all human tools at our disposal - airplanes, internet, domains of society, and resources people have.

2.  Using all spiritual power at our disposal - the Holy Spirit, prayer, making disciples with this in their DNA (are they a disciple if this is not in their DNA?), each person using their gifts and calling.

3.  Merging #1 and #2 - if we do that - it’s a done deal!

Omar and Elise Reyes’ oldest son married in Waco this last weekend.  Nikki and I went and hung out a while.  I got to see the wedding which was beautiful.  We hung out with Jill, she wouldn’t let me take pictures!  Wound up eating in the same restaurant as the new interim President of Baylor, David Garland.  It was the “Elite Cafe” where Elvis used to eat when he was at Fort Hood.  We then hung out at Baylor and visited all our old spots when we were students.  It was fun!

There’s been a whole lot of people meet Jesus this weekend at NorthWood - baptized a lot of people - saw God do some cool stuff.  Great worship service with Mazhar - just an incredible weekend.  There’s no one that has been a greater blessing to me personally than Ric Burkhardt.  He was trained as a wrestler under the Von Erick’s - and then became a referee.  He’s been on TV shows and lots of other things - also on the pay per view matches.  A couple of years ago he accepted Christ as his personal savior.  He turned 50 last week and I got to go to his party.  This is me and him - in another picture I got to visit with 2 other young guys that are wrestlers that were out of their costumes!  I’ve seen them fight before - they put on one incredible show.  Danny Matthews is on the left and on the right is Scott McKenzie.  I still don’t get it all - they have matches with no rules no holds barred - so why do you need a ref Rick?!!!!  Happy birthday man - glad you and I are in the same family!

Mazhar Mallouhi was incredible last night.  We met and he told his story.  He spoke on the Kingdom of God and what it meant to live it.  He and I like reading a lot of the same people I found out.  He talked about the best way for Christians to connect with Muslims.  He also spoke a lot on what it meant to be a follower of Christ.  Here are some things he said that really stood out:

1.  Let your life be your message.  It is not debate, but it is letting someone see the life of Jesus alive in you - your faith alive that becomes the message. 

2. Own your own experience.  Don’t allow others to color it or shape it for you.  It is a journey for all of us - enjoy and learn from your journey.  Americans are driven from church to church, program to program, personality to personality - be driven to Jesus. 

3.  We love the book (the Bible) but we should love the author of the book more.  I lives should be a reflection of who Jesus is. 

4.  Love your neighbor first.  We can try to love Muslims and others, but we must love those we are closest to and nearest.  If we do that, we will love Muslims, Bhuddist, communists and everyone else!

5.  Often we confuse religion with culture.  The Middle-East was Arabic long before it was Islamic.  To be a Muslim follower of Jesus - means I am submitted to God following Jesus.  Someone asked him, “Can you be a Muslim Christian?” To which he asked, “Can you be an American Christian?  How do you do that!”

There was much more - but what stood out for me - and stood our for me when I met him in Beirut a few months ago was more than anything, it was about following and loving Jesus.  Isn’t that what it’s always about?

I’ve been watching the Olympics and really enjoying them.  A couple of commercials however have really caught my eye.  The first is one on Coke.  It talks about how in 1886 - 122 years ago a man came up with a formula and the rest is history.  Another one is GM - how they started 100 years ago and to celebrate you get the employee discount if you want to buy a vehicle. 

Think about it - a little over a century ago - these two things didn’t exist.  They have changed the face of the world.  You can’t go to a village in the jungle or outpost in the desert and not find a coke - it’s impossible.  Cars are also global - if it weren’t for GM’s international market she’d be sunk.  I think Toyota came to the U.S. in the mid 70’s and it’s done in 30 years what it took GM to do in 100.  In other words, as things connect more - you can distribute faster and broader.  I was told in ‘94 there were a handful of web-sites - now there are millions.  The internet in just 14 years has connected the world, business - every domain in ways we couldn’t imagine. 

Soooooo - what is the implication for everyone getting to hear the good news about Jesus?  What is the implication for us being salt and light to the world?  What is the implication for all of us being able to be a part of fulfilling the Great Commission? 

In the past - people worked hard to fulfill the Great Commission with what they had.  Today -fulfilling the Great Commission is a matter of obedience.  Their dream, is now our opportunity.  What will we do with it?  All of us - will be held accountable, because all of us were given the Great Commission - not just the preachers, missionaries, denominations, agencies, and religious organizations.  It is not unrealistic AT ALL, that if a group of people came together and focused resources on it - every person in the world could hear the good news and every city in the world could be engaged in transformational ministry.  This is what God is doing in the world today - when we stand before him - his measure for us of “well done good and faithful servant” will be …

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http://www.globalartinferno.org is up - you can go there to visit and see what’s about to happen with my son Ben Roberts who’s a young businessman.  If you’re a NorthWooder and you’ve been to Vietnam, chances are you’ve been on Hung Gai street and the surrounding streets and seen all the shops where they sit and paint throughout the day. He wants to bring that to the U.S.  Go Ben Go!  He’s one of those millennial who wants to use his job to make a difference.  As they’d say in Australia “Good on ya Ben!”

My prayer and hope is that you see the future of faith in America not defined by “preachers” and how we do “church” but by “disciples” and how they live their faith in “society.” When that happens - we’ll have a healthy church.  I’m becoming convinced more and more churches don’t make disciples - disciples make churches - those disciples in those churches make more disciples and we get more churches and more disciples - i.e. Antioch.  It may seem unimportant - but it’s a huge issue - if what I’m saying is true - then as a pastor, and as a disciple - my primary function is that of making disciples. 

HEY I NEED AN ADMINISTRATIVE ASSISTANT: 
As some of you may know, my long-time Executive Assistant, Johnnie Morgan retired this month (I’m still in denial).  We are actively looking for an exceptional, experienced executive assistant to take her place.  If you know of anyone in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area who may be a great fit, please have them email their resume to info@northwoodchurch.org.  I need someone who is highly organized, possesses superior phone as well as face-to-face communication skills, and would be comfortable working with international government, business and ministry leaders and their staffs.  A lot of my assistant’s time is spent on arranging my travel and coordinating my schedule.  My crazy, fast-paced life can’t overwhelm them.  (Johnnie please come back!) I’D LOVE IT IF THERE WAS A “MALE-DUDE” WHO WANTED TO DO THIS THAT WANTED TO TRAVEL SOME!!!!!! 

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