This morning I had the chance to meet with a bunch of pastors in Riverside. Great bunch of guys, one thing that struck me as we went around the table, telling the ups and downs of what is going on in our churches, none of these guys ( me included ) are superstars. We are just regular guys trying to pastor His Church.
I read the article below and it struck me, we have a bunch of superstars in the church, a bunch of superstars leading churches. We need more team building from within. When we get people that want to be part of the team, wouldn’t it be great if we developed them and found way for their talent to be nurtured.
I guess rather than having a Dallas team we Pastors would do better to have a Philadelphia Eagles mentality.Look at what we have, support our guys, and let them learn our system.
Just some Saturday afternoon rambling .
Tone
” Perhaps John Harbaugh just got himself crossed off the Dallas Cowboys’ Christmas card list.
The Ravens coach lambasted Jerry Jones‘ team as “everything that’s wrong the NFL” in a new book about the Eagles.
Via ESPN’s Matt Mosley, who uncovered the quote in the book, Harbaugh said the Cowboys are built around a collection of stars and not on a foundation intended to support long term success.
He said the Eagles’ success since the start of head coach’s Andy Reid tenure in 1999 has come from the Philadelphia coach’s patient team-building. Harbaugh was an assistant to Reid for nine years prior to becoming the Ravens’ coach in 2008.
His comment:
“Why is that? Because what Andy Reid and his program stand for is the opposite of what the Cowboys stand for. The Cowboys are a star system. It’s all about building around individuals first and collecting talent, collecting great players. Andy has always been about building a team. And over the long haul, it’s a team sport, and one of the greatest examples of that is what’s happened with the Eagles and the Cowboys over the last 10 years. The Cowboys stand for everything that’s wrong with the NFL.”
I went to the mailbox this morning and found a beautiful card there, it realy made my day, then after church when I got back home I found another card on my Bible, that was just great. Then after lunch with some great people from ALCC, I went home and had a cup of coffee and checked Facebook and email. Well on Facebook was a post from someone I do not know to someone I do know, and my beloved ALCC was mentioned.
The topic was someone backed into her car and she was bummed out about it. The ( person I do not know) replied to this post and mentioned she had a bad experience at ALCC sometime back in our history, someone bashed her car and never owned up to it and that should have been or was a sign of things to come.…She was a victim of a church squabble and break up that I am sure left her in the ditch. It broke my heart to think of the great people we have at ALCC and how may people over the years were , well just not treated in a Christ like manor, for that I am so sorry. I know it happened before my watch but what kills me is it is happening all over the world , people getting trounce at a place that should be a loving Christ centered place, His church. So to all those out there that have been trampled by church folk,,,,,,I am sharing my cards with you, we are not all like that.
I went to reach out but ended up just deleting the emails, after all, she does not know me .
I sign of with Tone, from my heart ,not Mike……… Look ——> at the side bar to see why——>
I know we Irish can be a bit confused but……….
Well, my commute from the depths of insanity last night really wore me out. It took 4 1/2 hours to get home from work. As many of you know I take the Metrolink Train from LA To Upland every day, have been for ten years now. We this is at least the 10th ” incident ” I have been involved with , most of them have involved a death of someone. One was a local teacher and she was close to many of the young scouts I was working with, that was the hardest one to deal with, trying to show Gods love and grace to a shocked group of kids…. well we got through it.
I have seen more carnage than I would like to remember, they are so hard to put out of your mind. This one really made me dwell on just how final death is, there is no time to call home to let the wife know you love her, just BAM, your dead. No time to make up with the kids after the loss of your temper, BAM, your gone. No time to say, Lord, I am a broken sinner in need of your grace, BAM, your gone. I was so reminded of Paul’s words in 2 Cor 6:2 Behold, now is the favorable time; behold, now is the day of salvation.
The guy that was hit and died had no time to reflect, it was a sudden leaving of this body and an immediate introduction to his maker, I wonder how that meeting went, I wonder how many of us put off until tomorrow what we should square up today. I wonder what was his relationship with God was, I wonder what his family is going through today, I wonder why I was not allowed to leave the train to hold his hand….. I wonder
What I came away with was much more than I can put in this journal, I am going to try put together a plan with Metrolink to see how we can better reach out and act as a “Chaplain” while commuting, not denominationaly, not trying to figure out what “religion” the victim was, just reaching out to comfort. I will make this my next charge in life ( not enough on my plate )
Other things that struck me odd were the conversations going on around me, the callous jokes, the TICKED off people worrying about not getting to watch Cops @ 8, the bone heads that were worried about how long they had to sit on a train, it was a PERSON that we just hit and killed…. the Oprah reruns can wait. MAN I was shocked, it was still going on this morning on the commute to work, grumbling about how inconvenienced they were.
When we had to evacuate the train without the use of a platform step, grumbling about how far down they had to step, when we got to the stop, grumbling about how dark it was.
The only thing in this whole event that made me chuckle was watching the smoking brigade almost trample people to get the first hit of nicotine as they literally tried to light up before their feet hit the ground, man, where has human kindness gone.
OK, not a very Pastoral journal posting but it was what it was, we , the human race are an odd group HERE is the kicker, if you do not want to read the whole story,
just read this quote
“One local resident, looking to cash-in on the situation, rolled through the crowd on a bicycle selling cold drinks from a plastic grocery bag.”
Tone
When I was a kid there was a T.V news guy,he was best known for his intro “From the desert to the sea, to all of Southern California, a good evening.”. Well in not a so dramatic or famous way I am doing the same thing to a couple of ministries that I started and really enjoyed. My favorite was Doheny Fellowship , I loved going to the beach on Sundays and holding church for so many great , eclectic people. I had hippies, soccer moms, business guys, antagonist, and even people that did not like me show up 
but every Sunday was a thrill.
I met some wonderful people along the way, I had great friends and strangers help lead worship every Sunday. I had terrific support from the park ( names I keep to myself so as not to get anyone in trouble ) But most of all it was great to be able to share the love of Jesus in the park.
I got into kind of a pickle with a ministry partner because I said in the service that the service was more of a christian event rather than an outreach to nonbelievers, it was a statement of fact not a wish for how I hoped it would turn out, allof the people that showed up and sat through the service were believers away from home camping, looking to have church in the out doors, I never had anyone stick around just to see what I was up to. Anyway, I digress. What I hope to do is find a local church in orange county that would like to take over for the Summer 2010 season. If you know of anyone please put them in touch with me. As of tonight, I have officially pulled the plug on my involvement with both ministries, I am spread a little to thin between my paying job and my love, ALCC.
Please keep me in prayer, and keep an eye open for someone that would like to minister at Doheny beach and Joshua Tree National Park.
Tone
John Piper is my favorite preacher – teacher, I love to listen to his messages as I travel on the train and in my down time, it is much better than the junk on TV that trys to pass itself off as entertainment.
Anyway, he tags it once again for me. I have not been able to put my finger on it but this one HERE is exactly what I have been trying to say for a while, every time I say it, it just comes out wrong or I sound better than thou.
Oh well, let me be better than thou and keep on preaching the Word I like that camp anyway
Tone
Something about eating Salsa from the can, just makes it special. Jann and Conor
went to the desert today and I an headed up there in the morning, but for tonight
I am dipping right from the can, 
I only hope I can be as bold. This gets right under your skin and pokes at those nerves that are just under the surface. The reality is, we as parents would never want our daughters to go through this painful decision. I post this not to argue the point but to say, little women have the right to enter into the full joy of womanhood and not be a statistic or a “choice” to do away with
I think I will turn off the comments on this one
Tone
My friends at Legacy are having a yard sale May 16th. If you have anything you can donate please let them know, they need not only “stuff” but sure could use some help manning the deal.
http://www.wix.com/altaloma/legacy-yard-sale
Let me know if you have any questions
Tone
Philemon 1:7
For I have derived much joy and comfort from your love, my brother, because the hearts of the saints have been refreshed through you.
Again I find myself overpowered with joy. I wish I could quantify it all but I can not. I have so many things to be happy about and I know I will flop listing them tonight, but MAN I have derived much joy from:
- ALCC womens ministry, faith in action
- John Graham, faith without pretense, love without requirements
- Rick McCullough knock down guitar and worship to end all
- Carl, friend above all friends
- Conor, weight lifting nut, shoulders wider then the gulf of Alaska, love beyond that
- Potential at ALCC and the love of friends that is beyond words
- Legacy , top shelf home school group, loving people, great kids
- Journey to see where we go from here
- Don Overstreet, Church Planting gyro and guru
- My Ford truck, say what you will
- My Long, Lost Love……..SURPRISE
Way to much to mention, but at the base of it are my friends that call me Pastor at ALCC
Life is good……………….
Tone
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