Pastor Kevin

Yesterday is never as good as tomorrow could be.

Philippians 3:13-14 

Brothers, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

One of the greatest things I love about the Apostle Paul is that he was never satisfied.  Paul was not one to plop his feet up in an easy boy recliner, grab a cold beverage and recount all the great things God had done through him in the past.  No, with Paul there was always another person that needed healed, or another city that needed to be reached.  Paul had made up his mind to forget the great things of yesterday, and walk toward an even better tomorrow.

I've had the honor of being the youth pastor here at Oneighty, the youth ministry of Church on the Move for the past 4 1/2 years.  In that time one of the things I've noticed is that my Pastor, Pastor Willie George is a lot like the Apostle Paul.  He doesn't sit back and recount all the wins of the past.  No, Pastor, is always listening to God, receiving instruction, then moving onto the next thing God is calling us to do.

In the past 4 1/2 years, Church on the Move has...

1) Totally remodeled Dry Gulch USA.

2) Retooled and restarted Christmas Train (In the past two years we have ministered to over 100,000 people through this ministry)

3) Built a brand new High School for our Christian School.

4) Took on the largest Financial Campaign of our history to totally remodel our entire Church.

5) Re-organized our summer camp program (just had our best summer ever).

6) Redesigned our Childrens ministry to better fit our age groups.

7) Started a weekend relational Junior High Ministry.

8) Began a brand new College Age Ministry.

9) Currently having 8 Christmas services and packing the place out for each one.

These are just a few of the large things that we have done.  To be honest there are countless, little tweaks and changes that we've made to each and every ministry of our Church, and it all comes from our leader.  Pastor George has instilled in each of us, the desire to never sit back, prop up our feet and relive the good ol' days of yesterday. 

Just like the Apostle Paul and the great Christian Leaders of old.  God is calling us as individual ministries and churches to bigger and better things.  So lets, forget the successes and failures of yesterday and move on to what God has for us tomorrow.

Because, yesterday is never as good as tomorrow could be!

December Reading List

I try to read as much as possible. This month I'm loading up on a few books I've read before, but am looking forward to devouring over the holiday season.

The Greatest Salesman in the World, by Og Mandino.

God is Back, by John Micklethwait

Think and Grow Rich, by Napolean Hill

Looking forward to plopping my feet up and getting motivated for all God has for me in 2010.

This is my Family.

This is my family.  Veronica my wife of almost 20 years.  Jordan, the musician and my oldest son. Logan, the athlete and my youngest boy.  Mikayla, my oldest daughter, who is turning into a young woman quicker than I would like. And Lilly, my 2 year old that owns us all.  

This is my family.  We've had a wonderful journey so far.  Called by God into ministry, served at three churches, moved away from extended family, and have  built new friendships and relationships everywhere we've gone.  I love them with all my heart. They are my life. They are my calling.

This is my family.  No matter what I do. No matter where I travel.  No matter what I experience.  They will always be with me and I will always be with them.  God has given me the amazing opportunity to love my wife, train my children, and nurture a close relationship with each of them, so that through me they will begin to see how good, gracious, and kind God really is.  

This is my family.  I will make the most of everyday.  Build memories that last a lifetime and live a life that is worthy of the death Christ died for me.

This is my family.  This is why I am here.

 

Life lessons from my St. Bernard

For about 13 years I was the proud owner of "Budkis" a St. Bernard that we had seen grow from a tiny puppy to a 170# giant of a dog.  He was more than a pet, he was part of the family.  

Well, when Budkis was about 6 or so, he started to consistently wander off of our 3 acres of land and "do his business" on our neighbors porch.  Needless to say our neighbor was not to excited about a 170# mammoth of a mammal dropping several pounds of waste product right in front of his door, so we had to start chaining Budkis to his dog house.

After a few days of being chained to his house, he had totally worn all the grass out around his house. There was a solid dirt circle where Budkis has worn out all the plush green turf around his home.

I noticed one day that Budkis was standing right on the ledge of the dirt, getting as close to the grass and 3 acres of property as the chain would allow him to travel.  He was miserable.  I knew he wanted to run around and enjoy all the land around him, but he couldn't because his chain was holding him back.  So I went out to him, reached under his chin and unlatched the chain and put it on the ground. As I walked away, I noticed that Budkis was still standing there, right on the ledge of the grass. He was just staring out into the yard. So I started to call to him, "Budkis, come here boy, Budkis, come on, lets run".  But he never came, he just stood there.  I could tell he wanted to run toward freedom, but he didn't.

That's when I realized, he thinks, he is still chained to the house.  He doesn't realize that I set him free. So I went back to Budkis, looked him in the eye, grabbed the chain and shook it real hard.  When he heard the rattle of the chain, he knew he was free and he exploded away from the dirt he had been standing in for days and ran around in the yard.  In fact he didn't stay in my yard long, before I knew it he was over at the neighbors house dropping of a rather large package. 

Here is the deal, many Christians, are a lot like my dog Budkis.  Before they knew Christ, their sins, their past, their lifestyle held them back from experiencing the freedom that God had for them. Because of the chains in their heart, there was only so far they could go in life.  Like my Dog they wanted to be free, but they weren't. They were being held captive.

Then Jesus came along. He reached deep inside their heart and unchained them from the shackles of sin, mistakes, and previous limitations. Like me calling Budkis, Christ turned to them and started calling for them to walk in this new found freedom they had in Christ.  But many just stayed there, thinking they were still tied to their past, tied to their lies, tied to their habits, their lifestyle and their limitations. Never really realizing that "who the son has set free is free indeed".   Because of Christ they are absolutely free. There is nothing holding them to their past ...except themselves.  The sorry truth is many Christians never experience the joy of running toward the life that Christ died on the cross for them to experience.

When I stop and think about it, the same is true for many Christian leaders.  As leaders we have a path, an area that we have always walked in.  We have ways that we have always done things.  And many times we as leaders are dooped into thinking, it's always going to be this way.  We have to stay where we've always been, we have to do what we've always done, we don't have enough money, talent or skills to go where we would like to go and do what we would like to for God's kingdom.

We want to start that ministry.  We want to grow our church.  We want to remodel that building.  We want to be a better speaker. We want to go to knew places in our leadership development. But we don't. Not because we can't.  But because we tie ourselves to our limitations, and our past experiences. 

So like Budkis, many Christian Leaders just stand there, thinking, hoping, wishing they could run out and experience all the things that always seem to be just outside their reach.

If you are a Christian leader you need to realize..."Who the son has set free is free indeed".  

Nothing is holding you back...except yourself. Christ has set you free and he is calling you to move to new heights, to do new things, to lead in different ways than you have ever led before.

So shake off the fear, shake off the wrong thinking, shake off the compromise, as well as your past history and run toward the future God is calling you to.  

"Who the son has set free is free indeed.....so run!"

This is my body - four ways to protect your temple.

Here is a series that we almost did at Oneighty last year.  We held off and will be teaching it this summer. Thought you may find it interesting.

“This is my body, broken for you”.  Jesus said these words just hours before he want to the cross.  His body, his temple, was broken for us, now through him we can be completely whole.

Through Christ sacrifice we are now complete, however, because we live in a fallen world where temptation and the pressures of sin surround us everyday, we have to protect our body, our new temple that we have received through Christ.

The way we do this is by not allowing the world and sin to infiltrate us by what we see, hear, say and touch.  This is not always easy, however, by following Christ example we will discover four ways to protect our temple.

Lesson One:   SEE.

In this lesson we will not only discuss what we need to stop looking at, but also discover why certain things are harmful and how we can begin to remove them from our line of sight.

 

Lesson Two:   HEAR.           

Because whatever goes in, will eventually come out, in this lesson we will talk about the things we listen to and the role they will play, not only in who we are today, but who we will be in the future.

 

Lesson Three:  SAY.

Words are one of the most powerful things in the universe.  In this lesson we will reveal the devastating power of negative words as well as the regenerating power of positive words.

 

Lesson Four:  TOUCH.

In this lesson we will talk about the importance of choosing where you go, what you do and who you allow to be close to you.

Maybe you are reading this and you are a youth pastor needing some preaching material.  If so, feel free to use this series.  Maybe you are reading this blog and you are just a person, a regular ol' Joe that needed some encouragement on staying pure, protecting your temple.  If so, realize that Jesus gave his body for you, it only makes sense that you return the favor and offer your body as a holy temple for him to live in.

I'm glad you took the time to read my ramblings.  Until next time may HIS best be yours.

 

Year in Review

One of the things I like to do each year is to take stock in all that God has done in the ministry here at Oneighty.  I find that when you are in the heat of battle each week it's hard to take time to appreciate all that God is doing, but the end of the year, is a good time to gather data, sit down, relax and review the goodness of God in our ministry.  

Here are some high lights that my staff and I will be celebrating, before we get into everything that 2010 holds in store.

During our two Wednesday night ministries our volunteer staff of 80 to 100 workers, hosted and welcomed over 1,900 first time visitors and led over 400 to Christ via first time salvations and rededications.

Oneighty Junior Varsity (takes place on Wednesday night)

2009 was a jam-packed year for our Junior Varsity Ministry.  Here are some of the high lights.

 1) Started teaching in our Super Series format. Where we teach on a particular subject for 10 to 12 weeks. 

 2) Ministered to 900 in our first ever LIVE@180 event.

 3) Ministered to 1500 during our ALL OUT Event with Shaun Alexander

 4) Ministered to 1300 during our End is Near Event in October.

 5) Held our first ever GIVE LIFE water well project.  In two weeks our students gave over $6,000 to build a water well in Africa.

 

Varsity (is held on Wednesday night)

Varsity went to new hights in 2009 and is starting to find its groove.  Here are some things I'll remember.

 1) We moved into our totally remodeled Varsity Room.

 2) Expanded Varsity to two rooms….One for service and one for pre / post community events.

 3) Expanded Varsity to include College Age Students

 4) This new ministry grew so fast we started a second service at 9pm.

 5) Released our first Varsity Short “Flossin the Sauce”.

 6) Released our second Varsity Short “I love Christmas”.

 

Turn Life Small Group Discipleship Program (takes place on Wednesday nights)

Turn Life continues to be why we do what we do.  Our team of volunteer workers and coaches do an amazing job of ministering to our students via this relational small group ministry.  This year 100 students graduated the program, received their bible and publicly professed their faith in Jesus, pledging to live a life that gives him honor.

Campus Ministry.  (happens during the week and feeds the Wednesday night ministries)

 In 2009 God opened a lot of doors for us in the Campuses all across the Tulsa area.

 1) Started our own FCA program at East Central High School.

 2) Started ministering to Foster Middle School Bible Club each Friday morning.

 3) Spoke to 6 football teams about the ALL OUT Event with Shaun Alexander.

 4) Took Fruit and Drinks to 7 football teams this summer.

 5) Coaches allowed us to speak to the entire team at 3 of these post practice outreaches.

 6) I had the honor of speaking to 200 or so teenagers at the FCA Inner City Sports Camp for Tulsa.

 7) Held three Team Dinners for Football Programs during the season. 

 8) Gave fruit, drinks, and sling-bags to 4 football teams during the season.

I am so honored to have the opportunity to serve alongside of the team God has brought here to Oneighty.  Our full time staff has an incredible heart for God and our volunteer workers are the backbone of every single thing we do.  It is because of them that we are able to show the love of Christ to the harvest field that God has called us to.

This week my staff and I will be sitting down and celebrating the goodness of God.  Why don't you do the same? I know your busy, but this week why not take a time out, sit down with your team, and celebrate the victories you have won together.  You will be glad you did.

 

To: Anonymous

Dear Anonymous,

You recently sent me a note, commenting on a blog that I wrote on how I'm not really into the Social Issue Thing a few weeks ago.  

Here is your comment.

"You seem like a great guy, so i'm just trying to figure out how you "aren't really into the social issue thing". That's all Jesus did on earth...is tried to change different "social issues" to make them better."    

- Anonymous

First of all I want to say thank you very much for reading my blog.  I really enjoy writing them and I'm very honored that you would take the time to check in and actually read what I write from time to time.  So first of all, thanks.

I must admit, however, that I think you have misunderstood what I wrote about Social Issues.  In my recent blog I stated that I am not into the "Social Issue Thing".  By "Social Issue Thing" I mean, the tendency that people have on facebook, myspace, websites and media outlets to simply and only raise awareness of a particular social issue.  

Many social issues are buzz words that a lot of people talk about, and that is a good thing, words are extremely powerful, however, at some point we have to stop talking and simply role up our sleeves and do something about the issue we are aware of.  

Here is the thing...I'm 100% for helping people, feeding the hungry, giving water to the sick, and freeing people from the bondage of abuse, but I'm for helping them, I'm for doing something about it, not just raising awareness of the problem. And sometimes (not all the time) but sometimes the term Social Issue is a buzz word that people cling to and talk about in order make themselves feel like they are doing something, when in actuality they are only talking.  There is nothing wrong with talking, words are extremely powerful, but at some point we have to stop talking, roll up our sleeves and make a difference.

That's why we are raising funds to build a clean water well in Africa at Oneighty.  That is why my family and I are taking on a few Social Issue projects that we feel strongly about as a family this year.  I want to do something about the issues I am aware of.  

That is what I meant by the statement...."I'm not into the Social Issue Thing".

I also feel that I need to address the statement you made in your comment ...."That's all Jesus did on earth...is tried to change different "social issues" to make them better".  

There is one reason, that Jesus came to the earth and that is to "Seek and Save the Lost".  This mission of seeking out individuals that have been separated from God and reuniting them with their creator was the only thing that drove Jesus to the cross.  

I think in our desire to impact our world for the good, the church is in danger of substituting Social Issues for the Cross of Jesus Christ.

Did Jesus care about the poor? Absolutely he did.  Did Jesus feed the hungry? On many occasions. However, you stated that "all Jesus did on earth was try and change different social issues to make them better".  This is not true.  Jesus did not come to the earth to feed the poor, raise the dead, and heal the sick.  He came to the earth to save humanity from an eternal separation from God.  

While he was fulfilling that mission, he did feed the hungry, he did heal the sick, he did help those in need, but he did those things to give us an example of how we as Christ Followers should live out our life while here on earth.  As I read the scriptures, however, I see nowhere that making social issues better was Christ main mission for wrapping himself in human flesh and coming to the planet he created. 

Again, I sure appreciate you reading my blog and I hope you continue to do so.

May HIS best be yours,

Kevin Moore

Carpe Diem

One of my favorite phrases in all of life is Carpe Diem, it is a Latin phrase that means. 

Seize the day.

 The reason I love this phrase so much is, because I believe that there are specific moments that come in the life of every single one of us.  There is a very special time, where every person has the opportunity to stand in the face of fear, to push through pain, blow past obstacles, to go beyond their previous limits and step into their destiny. 

We see this all threwought the pages history, men like George Bush, Micheal Jordan, Babe Ruth, Winston Churchhill, the list goes on and on each of them had their time, they had a moment that defined them as men.

We see this played out in the pages of scripture – when David a shepherd boy who had been faithful at protecting his sheep, killed a lion, a bear and know found himself running down a valley to face a giant.  David had his time. 

We see this defining moment of time when three Hebrew young men looked a tyrant in the eye and said No – we will not bow down.  And we see Carpe Diem played out most of all when our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ put a cross on his back, climbed up a hill, and willingly gave his life for the sins of the world.  You see David had his time, Those Three Hebrew Young men had their  time, Jesus Christ our Lord Savior had his moment in time and today as I look around the landscape of Christianity and see volunteer, leaders, pastors, people that have surrendered their life to the Lordship of Jesus Christ .....I say this is our time.

This is our time to stand in the face of any fear.

This is our time to push through pain and blow past obstacles.

This is our time to go beyond our previous limits and define ourselves as who we are. Children of God.

This is our time.

Today we live in a world that puts money first but is always broke, sleeps around but is never satisfied, gluttonous but is never full and has absolutely everything but is still searching for something.  Plain and simply my world, your world, our world ... needs a savior.

Just like the days of old, today there is an enemy that is after our family, our friends, our future and our faith and to that I say....Carpe Diem.... seize the day!

When you are sitting at the table with your kids...seize the day.

When you are talking with a co-worker...seize the day.

When you are wondering if you should invite your neighbor to church ... seize the day.

This is no time for you and I to wait for a better situation, or an easier time to act.  No, today is the day, and you are the person to make a difference. So whatever it is that you have been wanting to do for HIS kingdom, shrug off your fear, blow past your obstacles, be who God has called you to be and do what God has called you to do......

Carpe Diem.

 

 

My top seven ministry one liners.

I'm a big time slogan guy.  I say them all the time.  In fact here are seven slogans or one-liners that I constantly speak to myself and my staff.

Reach - Relate - Renew

This is the mission statement for Oneighty.  We want to REACH out to student physically by giving them a compelling reason to come to church, RELATE the word of God to them personally, so God will RENEW them spiritually.  Reach - Relate - Renew is the process we want to take every student thru.

Refuse to lose what you've worked so hard for.

It is far to easy for some people to compromise and lose all the things they've been busting our rumps for. Not us, we understand how important what we are doing actually is and we refuse to lose what we're working for.  

Where there is no relationship there can be no change.

A football player will not trade in his beer bottle for a bible, until he first knows you love him.

Turn Life is why we do what we do.

Jesus said to go and make disciples, not converts.  Turn Life is our discipleship ministry program.  Everything we do is geared to funnel students into this life changing program.

Oneighty tonight is for the kid sitting on the fourth row, third seat from the left.

We never want to lose sight of the tree because of the forest.  Each week we focus on one student.

Tonight I will passionately preach in a humorous way, so that every student will clearly understand what has been said and be inspired to apply what they have heard.

I say this phrase backstage in my prayer time before every single message.  

If you have not been faithful in that which belongs to another man, who will give that thing to you which is your own?

Luke 16:12 - these words from Jesus are constantly in front of me and our ministry here at Oneighty. Oneighty is the student ministry of Church on the Move.  Pastor George is the shepherd of Church on the Move.  We need to clearly understand that Oneighty belongs more to him than to us.  And if we will faithfully serve our pastors goals, dreams, visions for Oneighty....we will not only reach those goals, but God will bless us as well.

One liners, slogans, mantra's (whatever you want to call them) are very important.  They give you an avenue in which to run, they keep the vision in front of you.  What are some slogans that guide you and your ministry team?

Three S's of Delegation

Delegation is not an option.  It is a must.  You must begin to only do what you can do, then raise up people around you to do the rest.  Here are three S's that guide my daily delegation duties. 

1. Speak it.
   Make an effort to clearly speak to each worker about the details of what they are suppose to do and how those details are important to the vision of the ministry they are serving in.
2. Spell it.
   Make sure that you spell out in writing (a) the vision and goal of the ministry, (b) the expectations and guidelines of the task, and (c) the details of the job.
3. Slowly Release.
   Let your worker watch you perform the task. Next allow them to work alongside of you. Spend some time observing them, giving complements and criticism when needed. Once they have learned from you, they are ready to succeed on their own.

Properly delegating to your staff and volunteers is one of the most important things that you can do for your church. It frees you to do what only you can do and gives those individuals around you an opportunity to rise up and do what only they can do.