faithrunner

Saturday morning Legacy hosted teams from the Miniature Football League or Electronic Football League . I'm just getting to understand the sport and am not sure of all the rules, but here are some pics from the day. Eight teams played from 10:00 a.m. until 10:00 p.m. And that was after Friday evening games that went into the early morning hours. Made me want to pull my old electronic game down from the attic! We then went down to Waco for Cambell's Dedication of Home and Family at her church . Here's a picture of my family and a scene from the service. It was so meaningful to be grandfather and stand in the stream of generations that seek to honor God. I'm a blessed man. After a wonderful Sunday afternoon with Graham and my families, I jumped in the Element and headed to a home outside Kerrville to meet up with LynnAnderson of Hope Network Ministries and a group of fellow mentors. I met Lynn over 20 years ago at a Leadership Network meeting in CO, and we have been fr...

Pro-life and pro-choice issues divide us politically in this as in many previous elections . If you are a one-issue voter , this may be the one that decides your vote. However, both positions have their inconsistencies. Pro-lifers protect the unborn but are mostly pro-death penalty and pro-war. They take life under the auspices of God-ordained governments. Pro-choicers , on the other hand, give the woman the right to take the life of the innocent unborn but on the whole stand against capital punishment and taking life by force of arms. We are all "walking contradictions," but t o try and settle the issue of the sanctity of life by voting on one platform item will not establish the kingdom value in our country . (Yes, it will establish the value through law but cannot change the hearts of people.) So however you vote on this issue, if you follow Jesus you need to ask, "What did Jesus do to demonstrate the value of life as its Creator and Sustainer ?" Walk with Jesu...

This past Sunday I tackled one of the most difficult topics a pastor in my faith tradition can tackle: homosexuality . It was a long journey personally for me to share my heart about such a sensitive subject in the church. God did a number on my heart along the way , humbling me to my own sinfulness and the expanse of His grace to all of us. The gist of my message was that we extend grace and acceptance to all others on the lists of sinful behaviors, but find it most difficult to extend that same grace to homosexuals . I did not go into the reasons why, but I did challenge us to stop weighing sins as if one is more serious than another . As Paul reminded us, "All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God." To judge and to exclude is the opposite of God's grace shown all of us in Christ Jesus. You can hear the entire message from the Legacy website . I used a couple of references from Paul's letters generally used to condemn homosexuality , but I made sure we r...

This past Sunday we followed Jesus into the issue of racism . Whether you admit it or not, you have a response to the presidential candidates based on how you were raised to respond to another person's race or color. Some people call it your "culture," others call it "prejudice." Whatever name you give it, it is the sum total of our values and meanings that guide our behavior and emotions toward others. I started by interviewing a friend and member of Legacy, Stephen , about his perspective on the election through the lens of an African American male whose great grandparents were slaves . You can hear him here . He shared honestly and provided a perspective I would never have from my experiences. Jesus busted through every religious, class, gender and racial barrier of his culture when he sat down at Jacob's Well and asked the Samaritan woman for a drink of water. Read John's account and note each boundary Jesus crossed by his intentional actions to he...

Friday at noon Jim Craig and I loaded our bikes and golf clubs in the Element and headed out on a sports-filled weekend. We first played in the Dallas Providence Homes golf tourney with Doug Miller and Stuart Prior . We shot a 61, and with our handicaps we ended up with a 53. Not near close enough to win. Mark Hagan knows how to gather good golfers on a great course. Great fun and stories to tell later. We drove from the Castle Hills Golf Club parking lot to Waco, where we met Billy Allen, his father, Sonny All en , and four of their friends. The group was there to celebrate the "Coach's" health after beating back West Nile virus a couple of years ago. All seven of us completed the 102-mile Waco Wild West r ide around Central Texas . Billy and one of his friends finished their first century ride, a nd we all enjoyed the event together. When I got home Saturday evening, Storey and Graham were there with Cambell Grace! The perfect ending to a great two-day outing. S...

We continued our journey with "Christ on the Campaign Trail" this Sunday by " Following Jesus into the Public Square ." My desire was to answer the question, "Should Christians be involved in politics?" Given the confessions of both presidential candidates to be followers of Jesus, and with one Veep nominee without a doubt a professing Christian, we needed to answer the question. We started with an interview with Cindy DePaolantonio , a member of the Frisco Independent School District Board of Trustees . She told how she did not seek the job, but through volunteering and opportunity she ran for the position and has served there since 2003. She told us that her desire was to be a "living example of Jesus" as she served the 32,000 children of the district. She acknowledged the limitations placed on her, but she tried in every instance to be like Jesus to the children and their families. You can hear her entire interview here. I then turned to cl...

We got off to a good start with our new series Jesus for President . I am pleased with the response and look forward to the continuing dialogue about the issues surrounding being citizens of heaven in America during this historic election . Here is some of what I said yesterday. Please chime in if you like: "Jesus for President" is the confession that Jesus is our King and we are first citizens of His kingdom and always activists for the kingdom way of life, love--always love. This is a confession of where our ultimate loyalties lie and the "platform" upon which we operate. Our calling to be kingdom people with Jesus as our King should translate into every language and ethnic group. We are not seeking an American Gospel. We seek to live out the kingdom Jesus inaugurated by his incarnation . Jesus' initial message was, "Change how you think and live because the kingdom of God is here." Matthew 4:17 I confessed that I had come to interpret the word ...