Multitasking is a huge part of American society, but I think it can sometimes be to our detriment. Nowadays you can be in the middle of a text conversation while listening to music on your computer and have the tv on in the background. I am often guilty of trying to do four different things at once, usually in my car!

My wife is constantly trying to get my attention while I am focused on other things. She can yell my name or even snap her fingers, and I will not hear her. It is only after she says, “Kevin…Focus” that I usually snap back into reality.

I think that this problem is everywhere today. Husbands and wives live under the same roof but they are not in love. Churchgoers attend every Sunday service, but they are not connected to God. People seem to be very social, but they actually feel lonely. I think this occurs because even if we are physically present, we can be mentally and emotionally checked out.

When I am trying to do fifteen things at once, I am really only accomplishing fifteen things faster. I think that most people have the misconception that more, faster, and busier is better. Yet, I feel that when we slow down, check-in, and live in the current moment, then our lives become joyful. Being in a relationship with your spouse, with a friend, or with God, doesn’t require just checking a box, but requires honesty and authenticity with them. Maybe that means we need to apologize, or maybe it means we need to serve someone, or just simply spend time with them.

The holidays are already speeding things up, so this season, slow down and check-in. It will let us experience this season with joy.

as reading a story last week and I loved it! It was the story of George Mueller. He was a pastor in the nineteenth century who was frustrated that the Christians around him no longer expected anything unexpected. They no longer thought that God would answer prayers, and they were living life from what they could accomplish on their own.

He was so frustrated he started praying that he would have a life and ministry that only God could explain. Anytime he started something, he would pray to God for the resources or strength, and wouldn’t tell a soul what he needed. He wanted to be sure that God was the source of his life.

By the end of his life he had established an organization that distributed 64,000 bibles and had built four orphanages that helped more than 10,000 kids.

You have to admit, that is pretty amazing!

What was more impressive was that he had distributed millions of dollars in direct answer to prayer, and when he died he had only 800 dollars in his possession.

I am thankful for guys like George Mueller that reminds us to plan on God to do the unexpected!

Happy Thanksgiving!

I was reading a flyer the other day from a gym that was introducing a new workout program. All of the details were on this beautifully displayed sheet. At the end of the sheet was a disclaimer that stated, “Individual results may vary.”

These types of programs are very common today. The exercise program that promises a slim waist and more confidence, the financial program that takes you from broke to rich, and even the dating program that matches you with the love of your life. But I think all of us know that to lose weight we need to burn more calories than we consume, to have good credit we need to spend less money than we earn, and that a dating site can help us meet more people, but not necessarily produce love.
I think that the disclaimer of “individual results may vary,” should be much larger and should state, “individual results will vary according to your willingness to change.” These programs provide knowledge or accountability, but they do not provide the results–you do.
There are many gyms that get paid monthly, but people that never use their membership. There are many people that have bookshelves full of dieting books, but never watch what they eat. There are even people that pay to be on a dating site, but never go on dates. The programs themselves aren’t necessarily bad, but if we never use them to our full advantage then we could be called insane. Isn’t insanity doing the same thing over and over again and expecting the same results?
If we are honest with ourselves, I think most of us would say we are all a little insane. What I like is that God brings my insanity to the forefront of my mind, and reminds me that if I want something different I am going to have to be willing to change.
Most of the time, you could replace any program with just pure and simple willingness.

When I was in high school I aspired to be a doctor. My dad had a great friend who was a doctor and it seemed to me like a great job.
The key word was I thought I wanted to be a doctor until I had to dissect a frog. I was really excited about the opportunity. We got into groups around tables and had all of our tools to dissect. We ripped open the container and the worse smell of my life (formaldehyde that keeps the frog preserved) came and almost made me throw up and pass out at the same time. I decided at that moment to take the option of coloring a dissected frog instead of actually dissecting.

The “stinky frog” ended my dream of being a doctor. Yet, I still think today, that each one of us desires to explore and dissect. Have you ever noticed that most people enjoy the first part of a movie trilogy? Or, how they talk about the first time they ate at their favorite restaurant? Or, how many people remember where there first kiss happened? Why? Well, the first of anything was the exploration. 

I feel that Imagine has been one big Petri dish. Exploring by putting certain elements in the dish, watching, waiting, seeing if things grow, cleaning the dish, and starting over. Because of that, we fail a ton! Although, the things we do discover are the byproducts of allowing God to reveal the results of our experiment.
Remember you were created unique, one-of-a-kind. Take out a “life” Petri dish, try putting new things into it, fail, who knows, you may rediscover your life.

As I sat in a restaurant, I noticed my friend’s eyes starting to drift. I thought he was bored by my conversation, but he asked me to, “hold on for a second.” I inquired about what he was looking at, and he told me that he was watching a customer storm out. I asked him if he was certain, and as I looked out the window I saw her slamming her seat belt on and speeding off. He then proceeded to tell me (because of where he was seated) that all of the waiters were in a meeting and the lady had been seated a long time and never got service.


He was curious to see if the wait staff would notice her discontent as she walked right past the meeting. Unfortunately, they didn’t notice.
He then said something very profound after watching the situation. He said it reminded him of the American Church. How? Well, many churches hold meetings, strategize, and place committees to position themselves to grow. Yet, at the same time, the people that want to “check out” God have not been included, feel judged, or haven’t felt accepted.
The customer at the restaurant wanted to experience the food, but the wait staff was communicating, “I’m sorry, we are busy right now, trying to plan a great experience for you.”
One of my favorite quotes is, “What you do speaks so loud, I cannot hear what you say.” Remember that your actions or your inaction communicates to those around you.

If you stop by at our Sunday experience, you will probably like the music, the people, and the message. Though, we have found that some do not like the large screen with twitter.


At our experience we encourage everyone to take out their cell phones…We display a huge image of live tweets and people text or “tweet” thru the service.
Some people have said, “Why do you do that??”
Three reasons and they are simple:
1. Coming to any new environment, let alone a church, is pretty intimidating. When we walk in to any room we quickly look for anyone we may even remotely know. People don’t like to be the immediate center of attention. Twitter allows people to start a conversation before they come to our experience on Sunday and they are able to recognize a familiar face.
2. Those that join twitter in our church, seem to be WAY more connected than those that are not. We have seen many unique friendships and opportunities for others to help each other out because they could communicate throughout the week and not just Sunday or a Thursday night.
3. We want people to engage in their faith, to join in a conversation no matter where they may be with God, and people can add their perspective to our experience.
If you haven’t seen it yet, come check it out here, or follow us at @imaginechurch.

Have you ever ran a marathon? I did once and it will definitely be my last! The run took place at Disney World and couldn’t have been better in terms of the environment. Goofy, Mickey, Donald Duck, cheered on all of the runners. We ran in between all the parks from Animal Kingdom to Epcot center…but I was not paying much attention to the surrounding environment at all! All I could think was, “OWWW”! (my knees hurt for 2 months after that race)


I noticed that we ran at the same pace about the entire race–until the end. There were thousands of people cheering, balloons, and tons of excitement! Almost every runner, including myself, ran that stretch way faster than the rest of the race. For some reason, we were more tired at that moment, but, yet, at the end, we ran the fastest. Why?
Most of us ran faster because we saw the finish line. We all tend to run faster in life, feel better about who we are, and are generally happier when we know where we are going. Although, where does that leave us when we are not sure where we are headed?

Ok, so my last mind dump is going to be a memorable one if only because Silas Joyce was born today! So happy for Kevin and Shaina. Let’s just go ahead and get right to it…

• Text received at 7:31A: “Hey guys! Shaina is in labor…going to take her to hospital, check her in, and then come speak” WHAT?!?!?
• Phone call at 7:36A, it’s Kevin, “Hey man, can you preach this morning so I can stay with Shaina?” Me, “Uh, yeah!”
• So I get up, walk to the office and start to go through some notes on a passage I had been reading for the last two weeks or so. I knew exactly what I wanted to speak on.
• So I read the passage four or five times, wrote down some notes and more notes and more notes, and then we’re off to Imagine.
• I didn’t set up with the guys this morning and I sort of regret it. Setting up with all the guys at Imagine is one of the best things about being part of this church. There’s nothing like making fun of them and getting made fun of. 
• I wasn’t worried about set up because my guys are good! I got to the Palladium at about 9:35 and it was all good! Band warming up, media is done, everything was perfect.
• I should probably point out that today is our last Sunday at Imagine. We attended the second service Imagine ever had back in November of 2007 and we’ve been hooked ever since. We went on staff a few months later and my life changed more than I ever thought possible.
• One of the things I’m going to miss most about Imagine is the band! They rocked the house like usual. I always love it when first time visitors walk out with that “wow” look on their faces.
• The relationships we’ve made over the last two years are what make Imagine special. When I was getting ready to speak in the first service, a number of people shared that they were happy I was getting to speak and I felt honored to be able to address such an amazing group of people.
• Even with only a few hours to prepare, I feel like I preached really good. Thank God for his grace and mercy. We (preachers) just get up there and try teach what we’ve studied and hope we don’t screw it up too bad.
• I spoke about how we respond when crisis comes. Here’s the amazing way God works and how this message came to be…
• About three months ago, the Jims’ Bible study guys and I started studying about the friction between Saul and David.
• We’ve studied 1 Samuel all summer long and this week we wrapped it up with 1 Samuel 31, a passage I’ve been reading over and over for the last few weeks.
• Shaina goes into labor this morning and I’m called on to teach, and so naturally I wanted to speak on the passage that hasn’t let me go for a while.
• God worked all of those circumstances out so that I could talk on a subject that really resonated with a number of people in both the first and second services. It’s always nice when people let you know that what you spoke about affected them.
• There are few things I enjoy more then realizing that God used me as part of His bigger plan.
• I love Kevin like a brother. I enjoyed so much the fighting, debating, praying, and learning. He’s been an incredible influence on my life. They say that imitation is the best form of flattery. Last week I noticed that Kevin had cleaned the inside and outside of his car. His car’s usually a wreck so the change was obvious. What did I do? I washed and cleaned my car the very next day.
• I’ve never met anyone that wants to see people introduced to Jesus more than Kev.
• Today was the first time I’ve ever preached back to back services and it was a little weird to do it all over again in the second service. Hats off to Kev for doing it every weekend.
• I started this post in San Antonio. I finished it in Las Angeles. I’m in Denver now finally uploading it. I miss home.
• It’s 3am in San Antonio and 2am here in Denver so please excuse the typos. 
• We are moving because my oldest daughter Kaitlyn lives in Corpus with her mom. Now that I’m done with law school, it’s time for me to be as close to her as possible.
• Not sure when we’ll be back but I can’t wait to be visitors at Imagine.
• I expect great things from Imagine Fellowship. You’re job is to fearlessly trust God and follow Kevin where he leads you.
• A few good friends got baptized today. So proud of them. I wish I could have been there but just know that I’m amazed at what God is doing in your lives.
• Kev would never say this but the most frustrating thing about leading a church is people who “love the church” but are unwilling to do the simple things that are asked of them.
• Three things, pray, read your Bible and show others Jesus in the way you live.
• If you haven’t gotten into a mentor relationship, you absolutely need to! The biggest catalyst to the change I experienced in my life over the last two years was having someone to personally challenge me. Having a person who would be brutally honest with me and who invited that same kind of honest was the difference.
• I’m gonna miss you guys. Farewell for now. 

Here is a small but powerful test. See if you can smile for most of today and tomorrow!  I tried it most of the day and some people smiled back as if to say, “thanks for smiling,” some looked at me strangely as if to say, “I wonder why he is smiling”, and some looked at me like, “why are you smiling at me?”

See if the people around you smile back, look at you funny, or look at you with an evil eye.  When you smile at someone, I think it brings a reflection of their heart out in the open.

By the end of the day, hopefully it brings a smile to someone’s face that really needed it!

When we were young, we were taught to stand in straight lines, fold our
hands, and keep our desks clean.  The people that taught that had their
reasons, many of them beneficial, but at the same time, I
think it killed some of us. There is a popular saying that “Curiosity
killed the  cat.”  I think I would rather be killed in a life of curiosity, then
lead a dead/boring life.

I think one of the main reasons we don’t experience excitement in
our lives is that we stop being curious.  We are afraid it will lead
to failure, a loss of time, or wasted energy.  But think about it like
this, what if that lurking curiosity is the next new adventure waiting
in your life?