More pictures of Hailey Gwynn!!!

Hailey Gwynn Owens

Here she is...the most beautiful girl in the world.

Here she is...the most beautiful girl in the world.
She was born at 2:23PM on Christmas Day. She weighed 7 lbs. 3 ounces and was 19 inches long.

Evel Knievel is in Heaven

I ran across this video today...it's worth your time.


He passed away shortly after this was taken...

peace,
glo

The Secret to Life!

I realize it sounds like a grand title for this post...but it couldn't be more of an understatement. It is human nature during the holidays to look towards our past, hopefully we can look back with happiness and enjoy remembering the journey that has taken us to where we are today. But there is something more that we can experience as we look back over our lives...the secret to genuine life! This is no special revelation that God has given me, by any means, it's simply a realization that God has shown me as I meditated on a few thoughts over the last couple weeks.

The early nineteenth century theologian and philosopher, Soren Kierkegaard, observed what most of us already really know: "Life can only be understood backwards, but it must be lived forwards."

If we truly understand that, it frees us from the chains of failure and doubt in our past to live the life that God created us to live. The past is a doorway to genuine humility. Genuine humility is the secret to really living life to the fullest.

The Bible tells us that humility is the secret to
riches and honor
unity and fellowship with our fellow man
rest for our souls
salvation
greatness
exaltation
revelation
faith
victorious living
and redemption!

Not too bad of a list. All of us want those things for ourselves, whether we openly admit it or not.

It's as simple as allowing God to identify the chains of our past that are holding us back and taking the key of humility to unlock them, rise up out of where we have been and live in the place God had intended for us all along!

It can't be done alone. We need His help.

Humility is the beginning...

I think Jesus said it best in the beatitudes...
"Blessed are the poor in spirit for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven."

peace,
glo

preach it Lenny!

Lenny Kravitz - Bring It On lyrics

Streetlight Art Gallery

KC Life's foyer is a little different...actually, a lot different. You see, when you walk in our church you are actually walking into an art gallery. The "Streetlight Art Gallery" is the first thing you see and the art on the walls is more than something pretty to look at. God is the ultimate creator and we believe that His creativity is available to us through His Son in new expressions of art. Every six weeks we have a new showing, the topic of our latest showing is "Love".

All of the art is for sale and all of the profits go to the House of Dreams orphanage in Cochabamba, Bolivia. If you are interested in purchasing any of the art, you can contact our gallery curator, Andrea Parnell, via email at andreakparnell@yahoo.com.

Here is the artwork and artist that contributed their time and talents to this showing.

Untitled - Andrea ParnellA Life of Love - Andrea ParnellTree of Love - Andrea ParnellLife's Visual Love - Andrea ParnellUntitled - Kayla RobbinsSycadelic Love - Kayla RobbinsMatthew 25:35 - Kayla RobbinsTreasure - Rachel PlanteTreasure (inside) - Rachel Plante

Andrea Parnell Kayla RobbinsRachel Plante

I promised

to put a picture of bob the Betta fish on here this week, so here it is.

I got a fish

I got a fish today...a beta. He looks cool, I will post a picture of him sometime later this week. I've made some early observations about him already...

Pet fish pretty much do two things : eat and poop.
Pet fish can’t feed themselves.
Pet fish can’t clean up after themselves.
Pet fish can’t handle a change of environment well at all.
Pet fish die way too easy. (my new fish hasn't died yet, but I had plenty of childhood pet fish that had to take the toilet turnpike.)

As strange as it may sound, this is all relevant to what I am going to be talking about this coming Sunday. Jesus said He would make His disciples "fishers of men"...He didn't say anything about us being "fish"...

peace,
glo

Fatherhood...

Many things in my life have been bringing me to contemplate fatherhood more than ever before. Just this week a good friend of mine, Nathan and his wife, Liz, brought a baby boy into the world. This Sunday I will be doing the first baby dedication in our new building for John and Jay Rosenbaum's baby girl, Isabella Pauline. We also finished our classes at the hospital where we will bring our baby girl into the world in less than 6 weeks. So, I've been thinking a lot about it...

I don't know if I could put it any better than "new-grandpa", Rick Gann put it, on a thread about his new baby grandson, when he said...

In producing a child, we share the glory of the Creator
In forgiving rebellion, we share the heart of the Father
In being reconciled, we share the love of God.

yeah, that just about says it all.

peace,
greg

The rules

So this Sunday a group of us are going to play some ultimate frisbee in the field behind the church building and since the world series is over and my Chicago Bears are re-defining what it means to be bad I thought I would post the "rules" of one of the greatest sports ever invented! Read and enjoy...

1. The Field -- A rectangular shape with endzones at each end. A regulation field is 70 yards by 40 yards, with endzones 25 yards deep.
2. Initiate Play -- Each point begins with both teams lining up on the front of their respective endzone line. The defense throws ("pulls") the disc to the offense. A regulation game has seven players per team.
3. Scoring -- Each time the offense completes a pass in the defense's endzone, the offense scores a point. Play is initiated after each score.
4. Movement of the Disc -- The disc may be advanced in any direction by completing a pass to a teammate. Players may not run with the disc. The person with the disc ("thrower") has ten seconds to throw the disc. The defender guarding the thrower ("marker") counts out the stall count.
5. Change of possession -- When a pass in not completed (e.g. out of bounds, drop, block, interception), the defense immediately takes possession of the disc and becomes the offense.
6. Substitutions -- Players not in the game may replace players in the game after a score and during an injury timeout.
7. Non-contact -- No physical contact is allowed between players. Picks and screens are also prohibited. A foul occurs when contact is made.
8. Fouls -- When a player initiates contact on another player a foul occurs. When a foul disrupts possession, the play resumes as if the possession was retained. If the player committing the foul disagrees with the foul call, the play is redone.
9. Self-Refereeing -- Players are responsible for their own foul and line calls. Players resolve their own disputes.
10. Spirit of the Game -- Ultimate stresses sportsmanship and fair play. Competitive play is encouraged, but never at the expense of respect between players, adherence to the rules, and the basic joy of play.

"Basic joy of play" should be a phrase that is found in every sport rule book...it just should.

peace,
glo

Homeless hot tubs?

While I was driving on Saturday I came to a stop at a large intersection in a wealthy part of Kansas City. My attention was immediately focused on the two homeless women standing on the corner. One of them was giving water to their pet dog, the other woman was standing with a sign that read "broke, hungry, need food or supplies, anything helps." I'm sure these women wouldn't have stuck in my head if it wasn't for the sign that I saw sticking up out of the ground behind them on the same corner. It read "hot tubs - half off!" and had a phone number to call on the bottom. It struck me as odd that we live in a society in which someone driving by these women could have two contradictory thoughts when passing by a scenario like the one I just described. I'm quite sure it's possible someone's reaction to this situation could have been...

"I don't have any extra money to give this woman, why doesn't she get a job!" and then in the very next instant have the thought...
"Oh, hot tubs for half price...we need one of those!"

I'm not sure if anyone actually had those thoughts in that order, but none-the-less we live in a society in which someone can be begging for food for existence and someone else can be advertising hot tubs for half-price on the same corner and most people wouldn't think twice about it.

Think
about
it.

peace,
greg

I love her already!

Yesterday my wife and I and her parents and my father went to go have a 3D/4D sonogram of our daughter. It was simply amazing. She hid her face from us most of the time with her arms and her feet. Yeah, her feet, up by her face...I think it would literally kill me to try to do that.

This is my daugther.

She is beautiful.

I will spoil her immensely.

Take a look!

we're going...

This is going to be awesome! We're going...you should too.

he who has ears...

....let him hear what the Spirit is saying.

That is how Jesus talks to the churches in the book of Revelation. Jesus talks to and through the church. He tells them what they are doing right (love) and what they are doing wrong (religion, pharisee's and other crap). Then He promises cool stuff to those who overcome.

He talks to the church.

He has a message to the local church.

We've been on a series about what Jesus said to those seven church in the first few chapters of Revelation and now I'm thinking about what would Jesus say to the congregation that He has given me to shepherd. It's amazing that I started to ask this in my prayer life and...

He's

talking to me about it.

He has a message. He knows what we are doing, both the good and the bad. I'm going to be sharing this with the church at the end of this series.

He has a message for each one of us.

He knows.
He loves.
He forgives.
He challenges.

I don't know about you, but I wouldn't want Him any other way.

peace,
pastor greg

Absolute History

The link below is to a transcript of the president of Iran's address at Columbia college and the comments from Lee Bollinger. It would be worth your time to read it. Yes, it's long, but human rights are worth your time and Maumoud Ahmadinejad's comments are quite simply...horrific


History isn't relative!

peace,
glo

The "church"?

What is it?
Who is it?

What does it mean in the new testament?

Is the church simply just a building? When you think of church, do you think of the building you go to on Sundays or the people that join you there?

Lately it has become "hip" to say "I am the church" or "nobody goes to church, because you are the church". While there is a measure of truth to the latter of those two statements, the former is simply theologically impossible, according to NT theology based of the words of Jesus and the writings of Paul and the other Apostles.

The reason the former statement, "I am the church", is so dangerous is that it focuses itself on the wrong thing. To understand this we need to go to the first mention of the word in the Bible...

Matthew 16:18 - "I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hades will not overpower it.

The word Jesus uses in this passage is the Greek word "Ekklesia" which is defined as...

an assembly of Christians gathered for worship in a religious meeting

a company of Christian, or of those who, hoping for eternal salvation through Jesus Christ, observe their own religious rites, hold their own religious meetings, and manage their own affairs, according to regulations prescribed for the body for order's sake

those who anywhere, in a city, village, constitute such a company and are united into one body

Notice any theme in those definitions? They all refer to multiple people in some form of assembly or gathering or group that comes together in unity. The statement "I am the church", is not only theologically incorrect, it goes directly against the definition of the word "church" that Jesus Christ used Himself. Church happens when multiple people get together...not just one.

This theme is found all through the new testament as well. Almost every one of the Pauline Epistles was written to a "church" of a specific area or town. Not the church of one individual person, but of a group of people. Jesus addressed the "churches" again after His resurrection, in the book of Revelation. He addresses seven churches, He doesn't address seven individual people who consider themselves to be the "lone rangers" as the church themselves, He addresses a group of people who exist in community and have a common goal with a unity of beliefs.

The church is NOT a building. But the church is not individual people either. The NT tells us that our bodies are the temple of the Holy Spirit, but that is not the same as the "church" as defined by Jesus Christ and the Apostles. The church happens when people gather together in community with a common goal, the furtherance of the kingdom of God on earth and the glorification of Jesus Christ.

Be weary of anyone who tries to convince you otherwise...

peace,
glo

Time for some props to my peeps!

Last week was one of those weeks. We moved KC Life into our new building, which freakin rocks, and it was a LOT of work...but it was absolutely worth it!

I need to throw some major props out to the peeps that gave so much of their time to help get everything ready. So here ya go, here's the shout out...

THANK YOU!
Brian
Andrea
David
Kayla
Aaron
Jen
Peggy
Carrie
Marcus
Crystalyn
Butch
Scott

There is NO WAY the work would have been done in time without all your amazing help!

You guys all rock my face off.

peace,
Greg

A few gifts for you

So we're on this series about spiritual gifts and I didn't get a chance to finish teaching about a few of the gifts on Sunday morning so I'm going to post some thoughts on here about three of the gifts from Romans 12 that I didn't get to talk about yesterday morning.

The Gift of Giving - Romans 12:8 ...he who gives, give with all liberality.
Is giving a gift? Yes, absolutely. It's a pattern we see over and over again in the new testament, not only in the church as it was operating in the book of Acts, but Paul sprinkles details in almost every epistle about one church giving to another or one person giving to others. Certain people have an ability to make money, those are who God uses with the gift of giving. That doesn't mean that you can't give if you don't make a lot of money, but just like the other gifts, some will have more ability to do so than others. If you have the gift of giving some basic characteristics are that you are inspired to give, not by a preacher, but by an inner motivation to see the kingdom of God advance on earth. The perspective on money, as a whole, is different as well. Money is seen as simply a tool to be used to bless others through the ministry of the church. That reminds me of a saying, "Money is a horrible master, but a wonderful slave."

On the flip side, some of the things you must guard yourself against are the idea that giving gives you the right to be critical of what others do with their own money. It can also be difficult to not want to control what is done with finances if you have given a large portion of what is being used. By far, the most serious error to be on guard against is the problem of giving so much to the church that your family suffers, that is not the gift of giving, nor is it the will of God.

Scriptures about the gift of giving : 1 Timothy 6:17-19, Acts 4:36-37

The gift of Leadership (or administration) - Romans 12:8 ...he who leads, with diligence.
While we are all part of the body of which Christ is the head, we still need people with the gift of leadership. We need leaders. Leaders have vision, they can see things that others can't. Not necessarily in the same way as a prophet, but similiar to that, none-the-less.

Those with the gift of leadership can get things done, the know how to delegate tasks effectively and how to communicate a vision in a way that inspires others to follow. For a leader without followers is simply a person on a walk by themselves. A leaders greatest satisfaction isn't how many people are following them, but how many goals are they able to accomplish together as a team.

Those with this gift must be cautious as well, for it has it's own pitfalls to be weary of. Dominant, demanding personalities often find themselves burdened with this gift, which in turn, can appear to be insensitive. Details may be annoying because you are focused on more of the big picture and you must learn to be alright with people questioning your decisions.

Scriptures about leadership - Live in Luke 16 and learn the "three rules" of leading...

The Gift of Mercy - Romans 12:8 ...he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness.
Having the gift of mercy is a beautiful thing. Those who have this gift exhibit amazing amounts of grace and compassion on those who are hurting or have hurt. If you have the gift of mercy you greatly desire to see people get back on their feet and want to be part of the healing process, sometimes at any cost.

The strengths of the gift of mercy are many; usually those with this gift are able to show amazing patience and unconditional love, kindness and gentleness. If you have this gift you may feel yourself being drawn to the "down and out" and take great joy in seeing people overcome difficulties.

At the same time, the strengths of this gift can also be it's most difficult weaknesses to overcome. Because of the nature of this gift you may have trouble becoming overly emotional about situations and getting emotionally attached in ways that are not healthy. A person with this gift is also very easily put in a position in which you could be taken advantage of easily. You also need to realize that all people don't have this gift and overcome the temptation to judge those who may seem to be less sensitive than you.

Scriptures to consider about the gift of Mercy : Ephesians 2:4, Acts 9:36.

peace,
glo

God speaks...

All we have to do is listen. Think about all the things you may listen to in your day. My day is less than half over and already I have listened to audio on the internet, in my car (both talk radio and music) to the conversation about burritos that the people in line behind me were having at Chipotle, I've listened to friends and colleagues on the phone, and I've taken some time to listen to God.

How many days go by in which we don't take time to do the latter on the list? Sometimes it's just a little too easy, or maybe we're just so used to having everything made obvious for us that we don't want to have to try to listen. Think about it, we live in a society in which companies are sued because they didn't warn their customers that their coffee (a drink most often served hot), was hot. Do we really need things to be that obvious? If so, how does this co-exist with the idea that we are still "evolving" into beings of "higher" intelligence. Will we eventually have shoes that have directions for tying the laces written on them, in case we forget? How about a coat that has the directions for putting it on and zipping it up printed on the lining?

Sometimes God is obvious in His communications with us...

sometimes
He's
not.

Don't let the obvious nature of the majority of the input in our lives acclimate your ears and heart to a point of not being able to hear the less obvious. Sometimes we just need to slow down and be quiet. Does silence scare you? Is it unbearable to sit in a room alone without a radio, TV or mp3 player turned on? If so, you might just be de-evolutionizing yourself with the obvious.

"Be still and know that I am God."
~God

peace,
glo

Just like home...

It isn't very often that I will post on here about a restaurant, but if there was ever a reason to make an exception this is it. Boudreaux's is in KC now! This is, by far, Jen and I's favorite restaurant in the entire world. Our first date was there, it's were we got engaged and celebrated with our friends and family. And they have the greatest chicken fried chicken in the world. I'm so excited that they've opened one down in KC, and only 15 minutes from out house.

This is a good week. A very good week indeed.

peace,
glo