Category Archives: Personal Life

confidence

Be Confident That God Is Confident

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Have you ever felt like you didn’t have a clue as to what was going on? Like you were just taking each step praying that it’s the right one? Maybe I’m making sense. Maybe I’m not.

Last night at LiveLoud (River City‘s Student Youth Ministry) I was speaking and the whole time everything I was saying just didn’t feel right. The funny thing was that I was speaking on confidence and the only thing I was confident about at the time was that everything I was saying was probably not making sense at all.

You ever feel that way? Like maybe you had a friend and they needed help and you wanted to give them advice and when you did you were like “did what I just say make any sense at all?”

That’s kinda how I felt last night.

After the service though I went up to my wife and whispered in her ear “how bad was it?”

She looked at me with this look of confusion and said “I thought it was perfect”.

At the time I thought she was just being nice like any wife would and was trying to encourage me. However, when we got to the car we talked more about it and she told me about some of the things she’s been hearing our students struggle with and she told me that she thought it was perfect. In fact, at the end when we offered prayer for our students, she informed me that several of our students who raised their hand for prayer have actually spoken to her about issues regarding confidence.

My point is this: If you’re not confident in what you are doing be confident that God knows what He’s doing.

There are times in all our lives that we just feel like everything we are doing has got to be wrong. It’s almost a feeling as if you’re walking in the dark. But the thing to remember is that in those times, just because you may feel like you can’t see where you’re going doesn’t mean God can’t. God has you right where he wants you. It may not feel right to you, it may be confusing at times, you may feel like you are stumbling, but at the end of the day, we serve a God who is confident in us, therefore we must be confident in Him.

Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid; do not be discouraged, for the Lord your God will be with you wherever you go.” (Joshua 1:9)

 

6 Reason You Should Come To River City Worship Center This Easter Sunday

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Let me just first off say that this is NOT me saying “these are the things we do that other churches don’t do”. All I’m saying is that this is what I think is awesome about my church.

Our People: I started coming to River City about 2 years ago and I’ll never forget how on day 1 my wife and I felt so welcomed. Members of the church introduced themselves and wanted to know who we were and what our interests were. It was just so welcoming and allowed us to feel so comfortable.

Our Diverse Demographic: I love the variety of people we have in our congregation. There’s black people, white people, teenagers, college students, couples about to get married, couples who just got married, couples having kids, single moms/dads raising their kids, couples who are celebrating their 40th/50th/60th anniversary. It’s impossible not to find someone you have something in common with.

Our Children’s Church: I don’t have kids but if I did I know they’d have a blast with our children’s pastor Jennifer Choate. Her and her team work hard each and every week to provide a fun learning environment for kids of all ages. Just recently we installed an amazing check-in for kids so that way your kids are even safer and you can be made aware if at any time your child needs you.

Our Worship: Every week we kick our services off with 4 worship songs and in the middle have a calling for prayer. It’s such a powerful and emotional time where we get to worship God and pray for one another about things going on in our lives.

Our Pastors: Our Teaching Pastor, Jason Isaacs, and our Executive Pastor, Cecil Green, lead River City. Together they have led the church for 5 years and have done an outstanding job. They do such and an amazing job at helping you connect to God and have a relationship with Him. I truly believe that most of our congregation doesn’t just view them simply as their pastors but also as their friend. You can come to them at any time and they’re ready to help you in any way possible.

Our Mission: At River City if you ask anyone what our goal is it’s simple: Love God Help People. It’s short and to the point and it’s exactly what we do here at River City.

I could go on forever about all the amazing things we do at River City and in the community but I want to encourage you that if you don’t have a place to go this Sunday for Easter to come to River City and check it out. This Easter Sunday we will be having 3 services at 9:00am/10:15am/11:30am. Hope to see you there!

River City Worship Center
7515 3rd st rd
Louisville, KY 40214

jesusis

A Book Worth Checking Out

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I just finished reading Judah Smith’s book, “Jesus is ____”, and I thought I would share with you my opinion on it. I’m by no means an expert on books and for those who know me you know I’m picky when it comes to reading.

Anyways, my opinion of the book is that overall it’s good. I found it to be more of a book I would give to a new Christian. I’m not saying I wouldn’t recommend it to you if you’ve been a Christian your whole life though either. The book makes some very good points and one of my favorite parts was when it talked about how we as Christians can sometimes be like the pharisees we read about in the Bible. No way? You’ll be surprised at how Judah Smith nails it when he talks about how us Christians can be so judgmental and he’s right in every way when he describes how.

Again, I’m no expert on books but I give it a score of 7 out of 10.

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Day 2: Guatemala

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Before coming down I was very worried as to if the kids would be receptive to Jason and I. For whatever reason, I had this picture in my mind that I’d be around kids with a camera and would receive dirty looks with thoughts somewhere in the area of, “Who’s this guy? Why is he taking my picture? Get out of here.”

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

This morning when I went to the cafeteria to get breakfast one of the first things this little girl did was come walking up to me with a smile on her face and just gave me the biggest hug. It wasn’t just her though. One after another kids were wanting to cling to me. They wanted to know my name. They wanted to speak to me even though I know very little spanish.

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After breakfast, I decided to go shoot some footage of the area and as I did I came across one of the areas the young boys stay at. They all came out curiously while waving at me and shouting, “Hola!”

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I sat down next to them and pulled out my iPhone. Now, I want you to think back to the most exciting moment in your life, times that by a thousand, and just maybe you’ll experience the excitement these kids had. I began to show them pictures of my wife, my dog, a couple of my youth students. I showed them some funny apps such as Fatbooth and Baldbooth which blew their minds away.

Playing soccer with them was also fun for them. These kids weren’t good. They were amazing. One after another they were showing off their skills and tricks they could do with the ball. Jason could keep up somewhat. Me, not so much.

Today though, aside from shooting video and editing, was a day I really wanted to get to spend time with the kids and I got to do that. Each one is unique in their own little way. I’ve gotten to hear about some of their backgrounds and it just makes me so grateful for the home I was raised in and how much God has blessed me.

Day 3 will be exciting because we will be heading to Honduras but it’ll be hard saying goodbye to these kids. Not because I’ve bonded with them like insanely or anything but because being around these kids makes you want to stay. To them you are their hero and when you see the excitement in their eyes as you walk into the room your heart aches at the thought of saying goodbye.

2 Things I Learned In Guatemala On Day 1

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1) “We’re not in Kansas anymore”

When traveling from the airport to the orphanage my eyes were opened. The way people interact, work, and move about is so different than what I’m used to seeing. It’s 7:38pm right now and kids are still in school. People are driving around on buses that are worn down and beaten up. 10 year old kids are lifting bricks and doing manual labor. Young girls are cooking and cleaning for their families. The culture is so different and nothing at all what I’m used to.

2) I serve a pastor who has a passion for helping others.

This is actually something I knew already but got to see it in action like never before. We sat down in one of the offices here at the orphanage and I watched my pastor, Jason Isaacs, as he listened to what was being needed here. One of the things that is needed is $5,000 to help fix a van that is driving 45 kids to school. Immediately leaving the office I asked my pastor what he thought and he looked at me and said, “We’re getting that $5,000 today.” There was determination in his eyes. No joke. No cocky attitude. Just a determination to help out with something that he believes we at River City can do so that the leaders here can sleep better here at night.

Day 1 was a long but awesome day. I’ll do what I can to keep posting what all is going on here as the week goes on.

What I Never Want To Hear My Kid Say

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I don’t have kids yet but that doesn’t stop me from being excited about it happening someday. However, there are times when I think about it and it scares me.

One of the things that scares me is the day that my kids can’t talk to me or feel as if they have to hide things from me. To be specific, I want to always know where my kids are going. It wasn’t long ago that I graduated from high school and I remember hearing other students talk about how they told their parents they were going here one night when in actuality they were going to a boy or girls house who’s parents weren’t there.

I’ve witnessed first hand a parent ask there daughter once, “where are you going?”, and all the girl said was “out”. If I ever ask my kid that and their response is simply “out” then I’m stopping them right there cause that’s a huge red flag.

1) “Out” isn’t an answer it’s a cover
2) “Out” I know is translation for “somewhere that I don’t want you knowing about because I don’t want you asking me further questions that I don’t want to have to answer”

Maybe you’re a parent and this sounds like the response you find your kid giving you. I’m not trying to worry you but if this is the case then if I were you I’d be wanting some further details.

Kids are smart. They know how to lie. They know how to cover their tracks. Once a kid realizes they can lie to their parent and get away with it then they’ll just keep doing it. I pray that day never comes for my kids.