Hotter than ever?

This is Scott Hodge, the pastor of the church Tricia and I attended before moving to Iowa and joining with Crossroads. I'm so proud... ;-) Oh and that's Mike Jones in orange, sporting the massive goatee...

Scott Hodge Live! from The Orchard on Vimeo.

Intentional fitness planning

Well, it wasn't intentional, but with the transition and all, my exercise habits have deteriorated considerably and I'm not as lithe and energetic as I like to be, so...

It's time to get healthy. I'm going to have to trim some of the treats out of the diet for a while, but mainly I need an exercise plan. I've thought a little about P90X but after a lot of research, I think I'm going this route... Thanks, Los for the tip.

Job update plus links for catching up

I'm letting people know about some news going on in our lives and of course it becomes obvious that many people have no idea where we are right now! =) So if you have any interest in what's going on for the Reeves family right now, try reading these 3 posts... they should bring you up to speed.

1. First mention
2. Big News
3. Early Update

Beyond that, we got some great news today... Tricia applied for the one and only job opening in the Norwalk school system--a 6-12 Gifted position. She interviewed for it this morning and we found out this afternoon that she got the job. AWESOME!! We are very excited!

I wish I could say that I'm surprised, but if you know Tricia, you know that she is not only one of the best teachers you'll ever meet, but she's the person you want on your team. She adds value to every thing she's a part of, and I'm very blessed to be her husband!

When I asked for prayers on Twitter this morning, many of you prayed and I humbly thank you. There were so many reasons why she might not get picked for this position, and yet she was anyway and we believe that it's our God making a way for us and confirming his calling of our family to Norwalk/Des Moines and to Crossroads Church.

It's definitely bittersweet to leave behind Illinois, (just as it was hard to leave Birmingham and Lanett/West Point) but we know that we still have awesome family all over the U.S. and are now able to add to that. So excited about serving at Crossroads. So excited that God is blessing my family. So excited to serve alongside PG and the rest of Crossroads' awesome staff.

Can't wait to see what the future holds!

Redeeming culture... all of it

This Sunday (4/19) we're using a great U2 song as we talk about our relational need for each other--the need we have for unity. "One" illustrates that very well, I believe. Plus it's a great song, and its going to be fun to play (and I hope fun to listen to).

U2 is in a special category because while they are far from being a "christian band," many of their songs delve deeply into spiritual and Christian themes. So they kinda get a pass in some church circles.

AC/DC, however does not get a pass! No one would ever mistake their lyrics for christian. But here is a great church in South Carolina taking a shot at redeeming a very un-Christian anthem. What do you think?


HIGHWAY2HELL_JUSTIN from Jiggle Snort on Vimeo.

This freakin' rocks!!

props to Terrace Crawford for sharing and to Calvary Chapel for ROCKIN my friday!

Since You've Been Gone...

Well, I'm officially in the once-a-month club when it comes to blogging. Sorry about that. If you don't follow me on Facebook or Twitter, I'll try to fill you in a bit.

For the past two weekends I've traveled to Crossroads Church in Des Moines, IA, where I'm serving as the Pastor of Congregational Development. Currently, what that looks like is me focusing upon and leading the Arts teams (Band, Vox, Tech, etc) and as we move forward, I'll be helping in the areas of leadership development and first impressions, as well as small groups.

Crossroads is a great church full of talented, dedicated people who are ready to move to the next level organizationally to reach their community, Norwalk and Des Moines, for Jesus Christ. They are an evangelistic congregation in a denomination not generally known for evangelism. Under the leadership of our Lead Pastor, Glen Blumer, Crossroads is in many ways setting the bar for RCA churches when it comes to strategy and mission.

Something you might not know about the RCA is that it has a very high Dutch population. What this means practically is that I'm (at 6'3") one of the shortest men there. I'm hoping we can start a church league basketball team... I wouldn't be able to get off the bench, but we could dominate in the paint!

I'm hoping to get back to a more consistent level of posting here at Intentionality. Thanks for sticking around, and get off your duff and check out Twitter and Facebook. Much more interaction for sure. And if you haven't yet, definitely get a blog reader... I use Google Reader.

Okay, that's it.

A Prayer for Our Church...

It's been a while since I've posted. As my friend Mike Jones was saying, Facebook and Twitter seem to be the enemy of blogs. Another of the pastors at the Orchard, Larry Boatright posted this which he attributed to John Piper... it's amazing and it's my prayer for my churches (the Orchard AND Crossroads) and even more so, the Church universal.

A Prayer for our Church

Oh, Lord, by the truth of Your Word, and the power of your Spirit and the ministry of your body, build men and women at (name of your church here)…

Who don’t love the world more than God,

who don’t care if they make much money,

who don’t care if they own a house,

who don’t care if they have a new car or two cars,

who don’t need recent styles,

who don’t care if they get famous,

who don’t miss steak or fancy fare,

who don’t expect that life should be comfortable and easy,

who don’t feed their minds on TV each night,

who don’t measure truth with their finger in the wind,

who don’t get paralyzed by others’ disapproval,

who don’t return evil for evil,

who don’t hold grudges,

who don’t gossip,

who don’t twist the truth,

who don’t brag or boast,

who don’t whine or use body language to get pity,

who don’t criticize more than praise,

who don’t hang out in cliques,

who don’t eat too much or exercise too little;

BUT

who are ablaze for God,

who are utterly God-besotted,

who are filled with the Holy Spirit,

who strive to know the height and depth of Christ’s love,

who are crucified to the world and dad to sin,

who are purified by the Word and addicted to righteousness,

who are mighty in memorizing and using the Scriptures,

who keep the Lord’s Day holy and refreshing,

who are broken by the consciousness of sin,

who are thrilled by the wonder of free grace,

who are stunned into humble silence by the riches of God’s glory,

who are persevering constantly in prayer,

who are ruthless in self-denial,

who are fearless in public witness to Christ’s lordship,

who are able to unmask error and blow away doctrinal haze,

who are tough in standing for the truth,

who are tender in touching hurting people,

who are passionate about reaching the peoples who have no church,

who are pro-life for the sake of babies and moms and dads and the glory of God,

who are keepers of all their promises, including marriage vows,

who are content with what they have and trusting the promises of God,

who are patient and kind and meek when life is hard.

That is a mouthful... That is challenging!