Sam and Hiram went to the Miami Heat game tonight. Sam got to watch the Heat practice and he even got a pic with Kenya, a Miami Heat cheerleader. Yeah, they were that close and yeah, God’s been good to them. They had a great time!

So this is the secret I couldn’t wait to tell you about…my church is hooking up with XXXchurch.com to shine the spotlight on America’s dirty, little secret. Pornography is a world-wide epidemic affecting countless families, destroying the innocence of youth and hurting marriages. I’m excited to have been appointed to lead this event at the church because its just too devastating an issue for churches not to talk about it. I love it that I am part of a courageous church! Go PCC! It’s especially wild that Hiram and I always wanted to bring xxxchurch.com down for our own church and now God gives us the opportunity to do it with another church plant. Is that a coincidence? I don’t think so.

Why is this such a big deal? Here are some facts:

·         The average age of first Internet exposure to porn is 11 years old. That’s my son Sam’s age!!!

·         The largest group consuming Internet pornography is the 12-17 age group.

·         48% of Christian families admit that pornography is a major problem in their homes.

·         The porn industry brings in $57 billion world-wide. Its revenue is more each year than all professional football, baseball and basketball franchises, combined. 

Think it’s only a “guy” thing, think again: 

·         1 out of every 6 women including Christians struggles with a porn addiction.

·         70% of women keep their cyber activities secret ·         1 of 3 visitors to adult webs sites are women

·         9.4 million women access adult web sites each month!

·         13 of women are so addicted to porn they try to get access to it at work

·         Now this is the really scary part….

o   Women far more than men are likely to act out their behaviors in real life! 

The church can no longer pretend it doesn’t exist.

And I am proud to say my church doesn’t have their neck in the sand! 

Just because we pretend it doesn’t exist, doesn’t make it go away. Pastors, ministers, lay leaders and as we have seen government officials have been disgraced because of some type of sexual addiction. Usually porn is at the root of it all. So……….on Sunday, April 20, 2008, Craig Gross, founder of XXXchurch.com, will speak at The Pursuit Christian Church Celebration Service at 10:30 a.m. Craig is a nationally known communicator who has been featured on CBS Evening News, Nightline, “Good Morning America,” GQ and many other news outlets.

While exposing the tragic impact pornography has on people and communities, Craig’smessage shines God’s love onto the topic, bringing freedom and healing from use andaddiction. The message will be appropriate for middle and high school students. In fact, weencourage them to attend. We will also provide resources for parents about how to talk toyounger kids and answer their questions about this issue. The Pursuit invited Craig to present his story as the third in a four-part message series called “Hooked.” Hooked will address the danger of addictions and how God can set us free from them. In conjunction with the series, The Pursuit will provide information and resources about all the topics it addresses, including prayer, counseling, Community Group studies, books and audio/video resources.

If you live near Pembroke Pines and don’t have a home church, come out to the Hooked Series at the Pursuit (PCC) and find out about the stuff that keeps us messed up and far from  the joyous life God intended for us.

If you DO have a home church, see if you can come out to the special April 20^th event.

And finally, if you don’t live near the area but have friends who do, please let them know about the event.  We all have to pull the covers off this dirty little secret.

Please pray that God move in the church and that people bound by porn (or other addictions) will find hope and healing through Jesus through our Hooked Series.

By now, most people who know me know that my husband and I transitioned out of church planting. We are now no longer AG ministers by choice and are credentialed by a international fellowship of ministers. We didn’t want to be denominational any longer. We are post-post alot.  Without getting into things that might depress church planters who read this, rather say that I could have let this church plant lemon in my life make me roll over and play dead. I sure wanted to. For an overachiever that I am (at least that is what most personality tests say I am LOL), this was one of my most bitter failures. The other two were not be able to carry to term having my youngest son at 26 weeks of gestation which led to a whole other journey and that I almost lost my husband (usually its a two person issue so I take 1/2 the blame). The church plant is right up there in third place.  But you see, none of these things (I know now) were a surprise to God although they were a big surprise to me. I needed to go through that journey. Why? Because “the reason for the journey is this: in a journey, discoveries are made.” (unknown, wrote it on a piece of paper four years ago and found it in my binder as I work on my book proposal)

 Could we have continued? Yes. Did we want to? No. Do we miss it? Very much. What do you miss most? Our worship. Why didn’t we continue? That is forthcoming in my church plant adventures from a feminine perspective but bottomline…the third year hurt. It seems like others go though similar journey’s. Some make it through and thrive, others make it through and continue to struggle with 20 people, some like us, decide to “make the bad man stop!” and give it away and others fully merge with another church.

I found this story  by Chris Elrod of Compass Point Church in Lakeland, FL in Next Wave that I thought related to our story in some way. I want to post it here because this points out again that we need to share our stories because we all learn from each other. This is the 2nd part of that story and you need to subscribe to Next Wave to get the 3rd part.

I made many discoveries on my journey so far, here are some:

* I was self-righteous- I thought if I did things for God, God would protect me and never let anything bad happen to me or my loved ones. Wrong. Bad thing happen to good people.

* I was theologically messed up - My Latino Pentecostal upbringing had me believing that you just ask God, and he answers in the affirmative. Wrong. God does answer every prayer but sometimes its a most definite NO! or NOT NOW! I still haven’t got used to any one of those answers but I can handle them better now. I no longer believe in a Genie Jesus.

* I realized some Christians are just as bad as those who don’t know God - I thought those who professed to know God would be more responsible, more caring, more authentic, just more and that they wouldn’t be backstabbing, wouldn’t be jealous,  …and uh, you guess it. I was wrong again (what a bummer). I was near middle age when I figured this one out. So glad I finally got the human depravity thing before I was 80!

and drum roll please….

* I realized that there is absolutely nothing that can hold me back from pursuing God’s best for my life but me! That means that no matter how many lemons I had handed to me, I could always use them to make sweet, sweet lemonade! “It’s a sad day when you find out that it’s not accident or time or fortune but just yourself that kept things from you!” (Lillian Hellman).

It was in DJ’s hospital room, when he almost died on me that God gave me a word right next to his bed. That was when I was beginning to contemplate walking away from the church plant because of my family needs and I just felt God say, “this is why you need to write, to speak, because life doesn’t always turn out the way you plan but nevertheless, one thing is certain, you can always, always rebound. You will rebound from this and others need to know they can do the same!”  You know what verse came to mind when all this was happening? Proverbs 24:16, “No matter how many times you trip them up, God-loyal people don’t stay down long;…”(The Message). The NLT says it this way, “The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again…”

This is how our Rebound Life Architects started and the foundation of it all came from my journey. So you see, we all discover and yes, even birth, many things in our journey. Some will continue to live, others will fulfill their purpose and die but everything, everything in our journey is a lesson if we choose to let it be so. So don’t be afraid of life people! Don’t be afraid of risking because you don’t want to fail at something…that will keep you from EVER accomplishing anything worthwhile. Instead, remember this, “the people who are really failures are the people who set their standards so low, keep the bar at such a safe level, that they never run the risk of failure” (Robert Schuller).

A risk free life is a safe way to fail at life, don’t you think? So yeah, I haven’t succeeded at everything I have attempted to do but heck, I feel great to have attempted great things and I got some more living to do…so watch out world because “(lemons) others can stop you temporarily but you are the only one who can do it permanently” (Zig Ziglar).

Failed at something? Fell? Get back up again…we are internally wired to rebound so says the Word (Prov. 24:16).

This a a way long over due post and I was reminded about it when visiting another friend’s blog!  My friend, Fred Arzola, who I used to work with at LPAC and Nyack, got his book published. I read it before it came out and was honored to write an endorsement of it. It is a great read (although may be considered a bit academic by some) for youth ministers. I have to tell you this guy is the real deal. Sweet, caring, giving, smart and has given of his life to work with youth in “da Bronx”.  Buy his book here.

• It has been said…

naction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy. (Dale Carnegie)I am shy. Ok maybe not as shy as some people but nevertheless I am a forced extrovert versus a true introvert. I have fears just like anyone else. I am afraid to do things I’ve never done and I don’t have the courage anymore to get on rides at amusement parks. But perhaps my biggest fear is God doing something in my life that is so big that I don’t know what to do with it. The fear is not in “the big thing happening,” it’s in the not knowing what to do with the big thing, you get me? God has done some pretty big things in my life in the last 8 years. Sure, there was one thing I was really hoping would have turned out better than it did but I still believe God worked everything out perfectly. I will tell you about that in a few lines below.

he busy man is troubled with but one devil; the idle man by a thousand (Spanish Proverb) I truly believe this which is why I am so excited about a special event my church is doing come April 20, 2008. This is something Grace Fellowship (the church plant I was a part of) wanted to do in this area. We never got to do it for various reasons but hey God goes and puts us in a church where the leaders have the same heart and the same guts to do it. I can’t announce it just yet but by Sunday I should be able to announce it. But this thing I have to announce has a lot to do with “idle men” and the devil who keeps them busy doing uh, something that is well, a dirty little secret.

L et the refining and improving of your own life keep you so busy that you have little time to criticize others.” (H. Jackson Brown)This is pretty much what I am doing folks! But not only busy refining and improving my own life but the life of my family. From a full-time busy career professional to a full-time everything else! I am still making p/t monies but am also using reflection time (you know those times right…like bathroom breaks, laundry time, everyone in the house is asleep time) to refine and improve my own life and make decisions that will do the same for my familia. So in that regard, I don’t have time to be on top of anyone. I like that. More people should be this busy don’t you think? Success usually comes to those who are too busy to be looking for it. (Henry David Thoreau)I hope so. I want to be successful no, not the I will be rich beyond anyone’s imagination successful. The successful that matters.

• The kind of successful that makes God proud to call me “daughter”

• The kind of successful that makes my husband smile every day he comes home from work.

•  The kind of successful that my son will grow up to say “I hope my girlfriend can learn a few things from my mom!”

•   The kind of successful that keeps promises.

• The kind of successful where reputation matches character.

• The kind of successful that achieves personal purpose!

Success in God’s eyes does not depend on making a lot of money or making it to the top in your career. Success in God’s eyes is found by fulfilling God’s purpose for your life. It’s OK to want to have that kind of success in life and even pray for it. NIV Psalm 118:25 O LORD, save us; O LORD, grant us success. Yet there will be times in each of our lives when we fail. There will be times when you feel like giving up. Every successful person in the Bible had times when felt discouraged, when they had failed, when they had not lived up to God’s standard. The important thing is not to give up when you fail. Failure for the believer is not the end, but an opportunity to find a fresh start from God. I have to say that I was pretty bummed with our church plant didn’t go the way we planned. But in our hearts we know that when we left that behind, God had another plan. We still believe in our call. We still believe in God’s promise over our lives but maybe he has another way of fulfilling this. But God used everything in our lives up until this point to show us that pain points you to purpose and all the setbacks we faced were setups for something we could not or dare I say, never would have imagined.

NIV Proverbs 24:16 Though a righteous man falls seven times, he rises again, but the wicked are brought down by calamity. The point of this verse is not that the righteous man never falls, but that the righteous man rises again, he comes backThis verse is the premise for the book I am writing about getting back up again! My Rebound Coach ministry is all about believing that you can get back up no matter how many times you’ve failed or fallen. We Christians don’t do such a good job at helping people get back up again. Oh, sure, we are super great at pointing fingers, laughing, and criticizing even waiting in the sidelines hoping for failure.  Well, God used all my failures, all my pain, all my heartache and tears to give me a deep desire to help another sistah up. I just sent out emails to everyone I know about a new seminar I am going around doing called Scarred but Still Standing: Thriving When Life Hands You Lemons! It is based on the book I am writing and hopefully soon getting into the hands of my agent who has not bugged me at all about it (she’s super Rachelle!). I don’t want to waste my pain. My purpose is to help others find their purpose through their pain, setbacks and struggles. Why? Because the righteous get back up again!!! Period. Add to that, the fact that God has done some pretty great things in my life as I mentioned in the beginning of this post and you could get a little picture as to why the heck I am about to leave my comfort zone to go out and speak wherever someone would hear me.  Let me count the ways God has been great TO ME…

•       He saved me

•        He restored me

•         He was patient with me when I lost my faith

•     He didn’t zap me out of existence when I questioned everything about his existence

•       He gave me a really great guy for a husband, not perfect, “A little broken but still good” as the Stitch declared in the end of the Lilo and Stitch movie

•       He allowed me to have one healthy son who is smart and sassy and going on 40!

•         He kept me sane when I went through 28 surgeries with my youngest son

•         He gave me more time with my youngest son DJ after he almost died on me in May 2007 Mother’s day!!

•     He saved my marriage in 2001 and helped me not kill anyone involved in the drama.

•        He touched the incompetents at that hospital in NY and we won the lawsuit!

•     He lead us to the most perfect house for us after losing what we thought was the most perfect house for us while we were in the hospital that May 2007!

•         He continues to provide for me even though I don’t work full-time

Yes, people I am scarred but still standing! And the lemons of life have yet to take this girl out. I ain’t scared anymore. I know who has my back. Do you?

This elderly couple had 800 dogs in their triple wide mobile home. Uh, I am happy to report that we have not exhibited tendencies that require us to “hoard” dogs in our home. We only have four and we are 85% sure we won’t get anymore.

Eliot Spitzer, EX-governor of NY announcing his resignation

If you are one of the few who hasn’t heard the latest sex scandal read it here. It seems like everyday is a day to discover and remember that sex can grab a hold of ANYONE. No matter how powerful in public, whether you are a voice for people in government or in the church, locally or nationally, sex and the scandals that ensue always seems to have the upper hand. We need to keep our guard up, female or male, because its grip plays no favorites. The moment we think “it can’t happen to us” or “we are too holy” the first grip has already taken hold. We have a slew of people to name to prove this true. God help us all.

If you live in NJ or are willing to relocate here’s a job you might want to look into. It’s pastored by Rev. Dr. David Ireland, a graduate of Alliance Theological Seminary (where I used to teach) and Regent University (where I got my Masters):

We are looking for an energetic, dedicated individual to assist the Youth Director in the carrying out the various functions pertaining to the Youth Ministry.
Candidate would assist the Youth Director in overseeing the programs and ministries within the 800-member youth department. This includes event planning and management, along with other organizational and administrative functions. Serve as a liaison between the Director and ministry leaders, youth leaders, parents, and teens. The candidate should possess strong organizational leadership skills, administrative effectiveness, good communication and computer skills are a must.
Ability to work in a fast paced and dynamic atmosphere is a necessity. Individual must possess proven experience in event and project planning and management.
Youth ministry experience, bachelor’s degree in youth ministry or administrative/business field are all helpful but not required. We offer a competitive salary and a full benefits package. Send resume & cover letter to: humanresources@christchurchUSA.org or fax to: 973.857.7325

My son has been learning about Christopher Columbus, his ships, the Spaniards, their treatment of Indians, most of the tribes of North American Indians…. so when Matt mentioned he took Janie’s (his wife’s) nephew over to Miccosukee Indian Village, I had to make that part of our Field Day Friday. We drove deep into the Everglades, four years here and we had never ventured “there”.  It was kind of empty and some “demonstrators” didn’t show up for work today” but we did get to see the Alligator show by a part Cherokee indian, met a not too friendly Mayan Indian woman who was making bead bracelets, met a half Irish/Chickasaw Indian woman who made me “fry bread” (yes really healthy!). We didn’t do the air boat thing as my son wasn’t having it. He kept thinking we’d fall in the water and be gator lunch. He wasn’t fond of that prospect. Here are some pics:

The “Fry Bread” kinda like a giant zepole or funnel cake!!!

Don’t try this at home!

Baby gator kiss below!

I’m not the only one reflecting by the water…my dog Coco (who matches my sofa!) enjoys the view too!