I have been writing this for several weeks, taking bits and bits from articles that I have read, scriptures that I have read and making sure little by little that it is made understandable for those who are “leaders” or praying about leadership in the near future….Many have asked me “How do you put up with it? (the backstabbing, the “target on your back”, the negative comments, etc) Read below for an explanation….

If you ever plan to be a leader or already a leader now, in any situation, it will always involve risk. There is no way around this. Leadership requires us to be  open to go where no one else will go, do what others won’t do, become what others will not be, and say things what most say can never be done at the risk of failure. When I think of a person out of Scriptures, Nehemiah was a perfect example of a leader.

After hearing the news of his people, Nehemiah had an emotional meltdown. He was so deeply burdened that he cried, fasted and prayed for months over the situation. But Nehemiah was unable to allow his emotions to become public.  He was expected to keep his emotions hidden. Nehemiah knew if he allowed his sadness to be seen in the courts of the King, he would risk everything. Possibly even his on life. So, Nehemiah prayed to God, “Grant me success today by making the King favorable to me…”  (Neh 1:11)

As Nehemiah met with the king, he couldn’t hide his sadness any longer and the King took notice. The King asked Nehemiah, “Why are you looking so sad?” The scriptures tells us that Nehemiah was terrified as he approached the king and shared his burden. On top of his sadness and courage to share the problem, Nehemiah had the guts to ask the king for help. While, this may not seem too risky to you, it could have cost Nehemiah his life.

Nehemiah was willing to take a risk in order to help his people find meaning, wholeness, healing, and purpose in life. He was wiling to “ go a different way” and lay it all on the line for the sake of progress. Whether you lead a small business, or a large corporation you must be willing to take risks for the sake of progress. If there are no RISKS, there cannot be not GROWTH.

If you lead a church, risk is simply part of the calling. As with Christ, when you pick up the title of leadership, you lay down your desire for safety and a life of easy. Those who are leading churches and feel it is a safe place to work until you retire, think again. Without risk there can be no forward motion. Without a willingness to risk, you will be a “blind man leading the blind”

Here is a saying you can remember for the rest of your life: Those who never try to do anything great, never have anything that lasts a long time. Those who are against risk, who love to play it safe and “go with the flow” within their corporation or church, need to resign and find something more fitting to that mellow method. To move forward is to encourage GROWTH and that will always require risk. If we fail to lead people in GROWING,  is the same as to leading them to mellow living (go with the flow), going off the main course, and ultimately spiritual death.

Why I mention this? Because too many leaders are resigning for the same reasons. Instead of jumping into leadership, maybe you need to ask yourself the biggest question of all “Am I REALLY in?” or “Am I here temporarily?”

In the last few weeks, I have been challenged on this thought many times. “To be a praying person means to…” I recently have been praying more and more than usual the last few weeks. But thats not what a praying person means to do….. The more I think about it, the more I am convinced that many of us will never amass the amount of prayers that God expects of us sometimes.

1 Thessalonians 5:17 says “Pray continually” or in the King James Version, “Pray without ceasing”  I often wonder…wow! Pray without stopping? as in non-stop? as in 24 hours a day?  While some may percieve it that way, I tend to beleive that a constant awareness of communication to God is sufficient description of this scripture.

I mean lets face it, How many of us REALLY pray more than normal everyday?

Most of us are used to seeing our parents pray before meals. Or before bedtime. But God desires our communication more than scheduled appointments before we eat and before we sleep. Actually if you think about it….God desires us more than we desire Him. Its true and its sad.

Earlier this week, I had sent an email with a message to wish a family member an early birthday wishes. This family member was the one person who helped introduce me to Jesus. I also went on to apologize for issues and events earlier in my younger years that had caused an “emotional drain” to her and some other family members. My heart was sincere in this apology and I prayed for a reply back because it had been a few years since I spoken with this person, especially about this issue.

This morning, I recieved a reply back. And I was heartbroken. It appeared that because of my actions in the past, some of my extended family are still in doubt of who God has made me become today. My role in ministry is still being questioned by some of my extended family. But I am accepting of the fact that my heart-brokenness could never match the ones that I hurt.

While an apology may do some good for a short time, I am challenged now “to be a praying person” for my extended family.

Lord, I pray that the actions that I did years ago before I became serious in ministry will be forgiven and forgotten. Lord you know my heart and my actions are in a much better place than before. Many of the family and friends have seen my change and have seen the good that you are doing through me. I pray now for the few who have not gotten to see that, who still question me, and who still may have not forgiven or forgotten. I pray Lord that at this moment, that you humble me to be a praying person for these few. I pray that you will heal our hearts and spirits. I pray that you will send comfort and peace upon us so that Satan can no longer be welcome in our family. Lord, I ask for your Hand to guide this and to lead us the way that we must go to find that healing. So that when all is said and done, we can praise You in our storms and praise you in our victories. In Jesus Name, Amen

I was reading my Bible and studying a few things for this week’s sermon and came across this scripture that I hadn’t read in awhile…

7 “But blessed is the man who trusts in the Lord whose confidence is in him. 8 He will be like a tree planted by the water that sends out its roots by the stream. It does not fear when heat comes. Its leaves are always green. It has no worries in a year of drought and never fails to bear fruit. 9 The heart is deceitful above all things and beyond cure. Who can understand it? 10 I the Lord search the heart and examine the mind to reward a man according to his conduct, according to what his deeds deserve.”  (Jeremiah 17: 7-10)

i have had several people come forward to me admitting that they have gambled in the past and have asked if it was wrong for Christians to do these things. Here in Louisville where it is the heart of horse-racing betting at Churchill Downs and across the river is a casino boat that has generated millions of dollars for its city, I begin to wonder the same question myself. Is it really wrong for people to gamble?

One of the famous questions I can still remember well was “Why does God bless people financially to people that are stuck-up snobs and won’t give to others to help?”  That is a hard question to answer.

I admitted to having done gambling before I became serious in ministry. i used to love to go to Caesar’s and gamble $50 on blackjack or the craps table. If I recall, the last time I played was 1998, almost 10 years ago. I also love to play Fantasy Football which I used to play with a local deaf group of 14 guys. It was fun hanging out with them watching football every monday night and butting heads about players, teams, and just being real men.  Nowadays, I play for free on yahoo fantasy sports which I have won every my league the last 3 years. I begin to wonder…wow, I could have made some money off of that if I had really done something differently.

But then i realized, I was raised a specific way to believe that gambling is a big no-no. I have talked to several people about this issue. Gambling is wrong in the eyes of many of those I have spoken to, but nowhere in the Bible does it say “Thou Shalt Not Gamble” but if we look at various scriptures, there are tons of things that we could piece together little by little to get any idea on what God’s Word says about it but overall it is the individual’s decision on where they stand on this issue. As for me, I am a little challenged by this as I have beleived and felt this was out of the question, a big no for me. And I hope that it challenges you as well.

First of all, “Why gamble?”

Many people gamble because they feel they have needs that cannot be met through earned income. Gambling to them is their “opportunity” to gain more wealth and comforts.

Another group gambles just for the fun of it; they call themselves “social gamblers”.

A third group shows themselves to be ”compulsive gamblers.” For them, gambling is a disease that wrecks their finances, families, and careers.

At first glance, each group appears to have a different motive for gambling but, in reality, they all have the same goals: gaining more money without labor or work involved (Proverbs 14:23) – the ultimate in get-rich-quick plans.

Second, “Is gambling wrong?”

As I said, this is only my opinion, but every individual is to make their own decision on how they want to stand on this issue. But this may help you as a Christian evaluate whether gambling is an activity in which you should be involved, because gambling:

• Often is connected with other sinful acts, such as prostitution and drugs.
• Is always involved with get-rich-quick motives (see Proverbs 28:22).
• Discourages work or labor. typically late nighters or calling into work to be off (see Genesis 3:19).
• Often will offend a brother or sister in Christ (see 1 Corinthians 8:11-12).
• Grows and feeds a heart of greed and love of money, which Scripture says is the root of all evil. “Those who want to be rich fall into temptation, a trap, and many foolish and harmful desires, which plunge people into ruin and destruction” (1 Timothy 6:9).

I read somewhere in a magazine that “Christians are the only Christ that many non-Christians will ever see.” Remember that, more often than not, our actions and our decisions will have a great testimony of what should be the true nature of Christ. “I will honor those who honor Me, but those who despise Me will be disgraced” (1 Samuel 2:30). For me, I rather be safe than sorry and not do it at all. If I arrive in Heaven and someone up there tells me that I was allowed to gamble, then oh well, no big deal for me. Would love to get some comments about this if you could share.

Summer is here and that means what? Alot of vacation time, family time, and of course clean-up time around the house, ugh! We are in the process now of repainting the inside of our entire house…we were originally waiting for our big stimulus check to purchase some things for our home, especially for our bathroom. But come to find out, we will not receive it until next week, grrr! We was hoping to get it while the kids are away from home for the two weeks (my parents elected to keep the kids for two weeks starting on June 16th) We wanted to do it all in the two weeks that the kids were not here, but a blessing happened from one of our friends to purchase paint and a few other things that we needed for our home.

In the meantime, deaf church has been a blessing. I sometimes wonder at the things that God is doing. But as God is blessing many, Satan is also working overtime on many of us. We must be doing something right, I guess! (smile) This past two weeks have been a blessing for me and Mandi, not to say that we don’t miss the kids, but we come to realize that this was a lesson not only for us but for others who we meet. The lesson we are trying to teach is that above all, we put family first. When the kids are with us, we have to submit to helping others because our ministry at home is far more important than any ministry outside of our home. I think Satan has just about had it with me and Mandi meeting people that last few days. We met a couple this past SUnday and stayed until 4am in the morning. Then we went to another couple’s home and spent the night there but was up until 2am. So God has been working through us but Satan has always been working against us. Our van is acting up again, we have several of our friends in serious crisis, and our internet was accidentally cut off, our videophone hasnt been on for a month due to a fault in our router. So wow! Know what I say?  “Whats next, Satan?” If God is for us, who can be against us? To God be the glory!  Keep us in prayers as always as we pray for you too!

Many of you have probably been wondering what I have been doing lately and I apologize if you visit my blog day after day or week after week to find no change. Its been very hectic and busy with many things lately. I find myself thanking God more and more for volunteers within the ministry because there would be no way I could do all of it.

This past few weeks I have been very focused on the praying and preparing of our Deaf worship services at Southeast. The first one was on March 22nd (Saturday evening). The team did an awesome job with their music, preparing, and tech setup. The Worship coordinator, Brian Timberlake, did very well and was proud of him for what he did for the worship to get it ready, organize it, and lead it.

I also have been preparing the messages to preach. I am given a topic from the hearing church and I do my own messages as God leads me. I find that alot easier but I do know that I also have the freedom that if I don’t feel led to speak on that topic to go whatever the Lord leads me to speak about.

The team is pretty much like my Deaf Cafe years…we come together once a week to talk, discuss improvements, and practice. We setup tech, sound, speakers, etc. We give feedback to each other before and after the church worship. Sara & Derrick Milby, my wife Mandi, Brian Timberlake, and Vernon Gordon have done the music for the last two services and they have been very smooth and wonderful in their song skills. Even though we dont practice as much as we should, I have trusted each of them to practice on their own time and to have some personal worship time themselves.

John Eden and Derrick Milby did the tech for us which involves changing DVDs to set up the music with subtitles, changing to computer for powerpoint displays of bible verses, etc. They also have done a great job as well.

Other than the Deaf church, we have also been preparing for April which will be a very busy month for us. April 18th, we will have our Deaf212 social night which will add about 30 more deaf from a Deaf conference that is being held at our church. It will involve games, guest deaf speaker, and dramas…and maybe one or two songs.  April 25th, we have our first KODA night for kids of deaf parents to come and socialize, play games, and watch short clips, we also will have a guest speaker too for that event.

Anyhow…i also will be taking my first vacation in April to travel somewhere and then on April 10th, I will travel to Knoxville, TN to preach at the Baptist Campus Ministry at University of Tennessee. That will be a blessing as I have preached at Western KY, University of Louisville, Eastern KY, and now adding University of Tennesse to the list.

As for family, we have been very excited about the move to Saturday nights for our church worship. Of course that means, we get to sleep in on Sunday mornings but we have also agreed to visit other churches on Sunday mornings occasionally such as Louisville Baptist Deaf Church, or Valley View Church or Graceland Baptist Church but not limiting to only these…we would likely go to visit other churches that have smaller deaf ministries that we may know about.  Its a great blessing to be able to do that from time to time.

That is about all for now that I can share what i have been doing lately… some of you know that I joined the Biggest Loser Challenge back in January at my church for a staff competition. As of now, i have lost 8 lbs. January I had lost 6 lbs. February I gained 3. March I have lost 5 lbs. So please keep me in prayers as I get back on track. It has been hard but I know that I can do it.

Blessings to all!