Celebrate! Recovery

My wife has been helping our church start up a new ministry called Celebrate Recovery.  She attended for two years prior at another church and begged me to go with her.  I just didn't like it.  It wasn't for me.  There was very little that helped me deal with the sin in my life.  Their motto and purpose is to help people with the hurts, habits and hangups.  It's sin, well most of it.  Some people refuse to attend because it isn't just outright called sin, but that's their hangup and eventually, just maybe they will realize that.  I also have had the pleasure of meeting people who won't attend because they say they don't deal with "any of that stuff".  Again, their hangup.  The thing that made me start attending, other than my wife's incessant begging me to go, is the fact that we all struggle with things.  I love to teach that. (It makes people squirm in their seats)  It may not be an alcohol or drug addiction, it may not be a sexual addiction or a codependency.  It may just be the fact that you think you have it all together and that you don't need accountability from other believers, or to work through prior or current hurts.  It may even be that you meet the "standards" of a "good church going Christian" and that you're a "good person".  However, that is your hangup, because you made it a habit and you will either hurt yourself or others.  See what I did there?

I may be a little biased, but this program is amazing.  I don't have to opportunity to go like I want to because of work, or the kids, but when I do go, it is so refreshing to see that I'm not the only person with a messed up life.  You're not the only person with struggles.  You're not the only person wearing a mask telling people everything is ok when in reality, your world is falling apart all around you.  It's ok to admit that.  It's ok to admit you're messed up and we're all messed up, but God isn't.  It's all about celebrating that a perfect God loves an imperfect you so much He sent His perfect Son to save your messed up self.  The Bible tells us that even though we all are messed up, Christ died for us.  See, so even you belong in this journey.  I encourage you to go check one out.  The Celebrate! Recovery in our church will launch very soon and I would love to see you there.  Plus, if you don't like ours, there are others in the area you can attend.  Different churches fit different personalities, so don't be afraid to try out another location.  For more information, go to this link.

Happy Birthday!

Today, my oldest son, Isaiah, turns seven. I can't believe how fast these seven years have passed. I remember the day he was born, and all of the drama that accompanied his birth.

I was in Charlotte when my wife went into labor. I had left my phone charger at home here in Weaverville and my phone was charging in my car. I worked for MEDIC in Charlotte and had an apartment for the nights I worked there consecutively. So, she called MEDIC and had a unit sent to my house to wake me up. I answered the door and thought they were playing a joke on me, so I went back to bed not thinking to check my phone. I woke up about 45 minutes later in a panic and went to check my phone. Yep, I had about 100 missed calls and texts. I called Candice and she was at the hospital with her parents. I doubt anyone has ever traveled as quickly from Charlotte to Asheville as I did that night. I made it just in time. My wife's labor pain was almost unbearable and she had refused an epidural until I arrived. They came in and gave her the epidural and a short while later I held this beautiful baby boy in my arms.

I was 22 at the time and was scared out of my mind. All of the responsibilities and questions were flooding my mind. This little 6 pound baby was overly intimidating. I also had never fallen in love with anything so quickly as I did that morning. I felt so proud of my son and in an instant there came a love that I had never felt before. I also, at that moment, came to the realization of the depth of the love of God for us and the absolute sacrifices He made on our behalf because He loved us, His creation.

I since have had two more children and have come to the realization that to be a successful father means to expect the unexpected and just be there for my kids. That may mean sleeping all day on your birthday because your daughter broke her arm the night before and you spent the night in the emergency room, or sitting in the floor with them laughing and playing, or just listening to them when they want to chat your ears off or when something is bothering them. One of the most rewarding things in my life is being a father.

I feel sorry for the dads that aren't there for their kids. They miss out on so much and the chance to watch their children grow up to be amazing. They also miss out on the chance to be changed by their kids. I haven't always been a great dad and I previously worked a lot, but since have seen that all the money in the world doesn't matter if you are missing out on your kids' lives and not taking care of your marriage the way you should.

Isaiah has taught me so much, and he has been there with me and for me even when he was so little and my life was destructing. He also was there for us when Candice and I picked up the pieces and restored our marriage. He's my helper and my buddy. He has a huge heart and is always ready to serve and help out. He's matured so much lately and I can't even begin to tell you how much he has been a great big brother to Makenna and Hayden. I love watching him frolic in the yard, or play around other kids always protecting his siblings. I love to watch how his brother looks up to him. He's very intelligent and does so well in school. I'm just a proud daddy who's a little sappy right now.

Today, he is 7 and will enter the 2nd grade on Wednesday. He's grown up so quickly. He's one super cool kid.

Happy birthday buddy! I love you and I am very proud of the little dude you are!

--Daddy

Sad but True

Pastor Jeremiah Steepek (pictured below) transformed himself into a homeless person and went to the 10,000 member church that he was to be introduced as the head pastor at that morning. He walked around his soon to be church for 30 minutes while it was filling with people for service, only 3 people out of the 7-10,000 people said hello to him. He asked people for change to buy food - NO ONE in the church gave him change. He went into the sanctuary to sit down in the front of the church and was asked by the ushers if he would please sit n the back. He greeted people to be greeted back with stares and dirty looks, with people looking down on him and judging him.

As he sat in the back of the church, he listened to the church announcements and such. When all that was done, the elders went up and were excited to introduce the new pastor of the church to the congregation. "We would like to introduce to you Pastor Jeremiah Steepek." The congregation looked around clapping with joy and anticipation. The homeless man sitting in the back stood up and started walking down the aisle. The clapping stopped with ALL eyes on him. He walked up the altar and took the microphone from the elders (who were in on this) and paused for a moment then he recited,

“Then the King will say to those on his right, ‘Come, you who are blessed by my Father; take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.’ “Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in prison and go to visit you?’

'The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.’

After he recited this, he looked towards the congregation and told them all what he had experienced that morning. Many began to cry and many heads were bowed in shame. He then said, "Today I see a gathering of people, not a church of Jesus Christ. The world has enough people, but not enough disciples. When will YOU decide to become disciples?"

He then dismissed service until next week.

Being a Christian is more than something you claim. It's something you live by and share with others.

Meaningless Words for Worship

I'm not your typical Christian.  I don't fit in with most popular sub-cultures of religion and that's ok, Jesus didn't either.  I try to see the beauty of God in everything.  Sometimes, it is a beautiful sunset, a smile on my 3 month old's face or just a beautiful picture.  Even though those things are definitely beautiful, the most beautiful things can sometimes be when God sheds a tear for us.  The recent shootings in Colorado, Chicago and New York or even this homeless lady named Boo who has lost the ashes of her deceased child.  God has such compassion for us and often we fail to recognize it and would rather categorize the bad situations of people's lives as God's justice.  God is just, but by receiving His grace and mercy every single day I came to the epiphany that God's compassion and love for us conquers all. I could go on all day about that, so I'll save that for a different time.

I began playing guitar at age 5.  By the age of 16, I played 5 different instruments.  I love music, it is always around me.  Having grown up in church, I surrendered to Christ at an early age, so church and music kind of went hand in hand.  The problem was my church was traditional. Very traditional.  So the music was old and seemed to have died in the chorus somewhere.  The choir sang with grim looks as the piano and organ played 4 songs with similar structures and I became bored out of my mind.  I would hear things such as "Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!  Oh, what a foretaste of glory divine!  Heir of salvation, purchase of God, born of His Spirit, washed in His blood.  This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long; This is my story, this is my song, praising my Savior all the day long."  Typically, the only thing long was the faces of the people singing the song.  (I really do like this song)  Then, a teenager at church brought a cassette tape in of dcTalk and I loved it, it was exciting and fresh.  After that came a rapper by the name of T-Bone and it was cool, but I couldn't listen to it because it was rap and that wasn't sacred.  I was terribly confused because this guy was rapping about how his life was a mess and Jesus came in a took his life over and he had been made this new creation.  How could that be what they called secular?  On a flip side, I could listen to all the classic rock I wanted.  Skynard, Zepplin, Pink Floyd and Journey were my favorite.  I could listen to country music too, but I've never really been a fan of country music so I refrained.  After this experience, I would eventually be allowed tapes and then cds of christian artists at the discretion of my parents.  When I was 15, I joined a praise band and would travel around to churches to play and lead them with praise and worship music.  Some churches we played at didn't really like our style, we were either too loud or there was no organ.  Then, I met my wife and we began attending at the church she had grown up in and it was worse.  The pastor would stand and preach about heathen music and how if it had a beat it was of the devil.  Yeah, the evil red guy with a pitchfork and pointy tail.  I found his theology and theory flawed as all music has a beat. Otherwise, it would be just a jumbled up mess.

A couple of weeks ago, my family was having lunch with another family from our church and they had just been to a concert the night before.  He was talking about how great of a worship experience he had at that concert even though the band was not considered "sacred".  The concert was Mumford and Sons and I already love them, so I was interested in what he had to say.  He described how at church, worship feels forced and even sometimes hindered.  I couldn't have agreed more.  He was talking about how at the concert, he was just being himself and worshiping in a way that made sense.  At this point, I almost said "Amen".  As a musician, I have some great times of worship just playing something random and thinking of things God has done, or lamenting in a time of struggle even if what I'm playing isn't attached to a particular group of words or song.  I have to believe that we can worship God in ways that most people wouldn't particularly approve of when the focus is taken off ourselves and is placed solely on God.  Isn't that what worship is all about?  I have to ask, why all the worship wars when God is the one with the opinion and His stance is He wants all of us, surrendered to Himself from our wants?  Why do we try to cater to people when people are not who we are worshiping?  Or are they?  In a Mumford and Sons song, they ask: "Can you kneel before The King and say, ‘I’m clean’?" and later in the song they sing "Lead me to the truth, and I’ll follow you with my whole life."  That's pretty awesome worship lyrics if you ask me.  It is a way of people relating to God.  How many times have you struggled with feeling like you're too dirty and too far away from God for Him to save you or even hear you?  I know I have felt that way a lot.  Too many times in Christian music today, issues that we face daily are looked over while feelings we have deep inside of us go unanswered.  Another group I like which is the band Gungor tends to do a good job of relating to people and their struggles instead of just celebrating the high points of this spiritual journey.

I know if you have listened to Mumford and Sons though, you are probably thinking "they use a bad word in one of their songs."  Why yes they do.  Have you ever thought you blew it?  That thing you did and you're hiding or it became public probably made you think "I really f---ed it up this time".  Well, they just sang it.  A moment experienced by the listener is one of total surrender and confession.  It's a realization of the need for repentance.  I do love a statement made in another song later in the album.  It says "In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die. Where you invest your love, you invest your life.  Awake, my soul. You were made to meet your maker."

Worship to me is the total eviction of me and total focus on God and His mercy and grace.  It is a profound conversation between a creation and it's Creator regardless of context.

Luckily, God is so great I can come to Him with questions and He has answers.  I can come to Him hurting and He has love.  I can come to Him happy and we celebrate.  By sending your Son to die and to carry the sin weight of the world, I'm pretty sure God understands my questions and pains.  There is no need to hide that, especially in music.  Those meaningless words are secular and sacred worship.  What does that even mean to call something sacred and something secular?


I created this blog with a verse in mind.  Psalm 33:3 "Sing unto the Lord a new song.  Play skillfully with a loud noise."  God wants our creativity and He wants our praise.  He wants our music and apparently, He wants it to be noisy and loud!

Death Sentence

It's 62 A.D., Paul is sitting in a jail cell for following Jesus.  The Roman Empire is bearing down on Christians for following the Renegade rather than pledging allegiance to Caesar.  Paul has been stoned (by rocks of course), shipwrecked twice (one time a snake bit him when he came ashore), beaten multiple times, as well as, suffered many other attacks.  His faith does not waiver despite these indignities.  He was sold on Jesus.  When someone who has died shows up in front of you to confront your actions, that is a huge game changer.  Paul was sold on Jesus, even though the punishment was to die.  This group of people who had been taught by Paul and who considered Paul to be a father of the faith were concerned.  They had nothing, yet they gave all they had and then gave more.  Paul states in chapter 4 of Philippians that he had received their gift and realized the sacrifice necessary to send a gift of that magnitude.  As Jay DePoy, my pastor, stated "Every act of love increases your ability to love".  These Philippians loved Paul.  My point though, comes at the very end of this letter from Paul to the Philippians in a very peculiar couple of sentences.   

Philippians 4:21-23 "Greet every saint in Christ Jesus. The brothers who are with me greet you.  All the saints greet you, especially those of Caesar's household. The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit."

Those brothers in verse 21 that Paul is speaking of are fellow inmates who were either imprisoned for their faith, or were converted by Paul upon his arrival.  They say "thank you".  The next verse is great.  "Especially those of Caesar's household."  They send a big "Hey".  Do you realize the implications of that?  These are people who are part of the empirical domain of Rome and they greet the Christians in Philippi.  The very people who were supposed to be persecuting and squashing this Jesus movement were now a part of it.  I imagine Nero's bed linens being changed and them being prayed over.  Or a feast for Nero's court, being blessed before it goes to be consumed.  I don't think they left tracts though, no tracts.  If theses folks were caught, I am sure that an example would be made of them as well as their families.  They didn't care.  They loved Jesus.

Is your faith strong enough to stand in the context of a death sentence?

An Event to Remember

In my current occupation as a firefighter, I have to see and do things that I typically do not wish to do.  On the rare occasion, I am able to see something great and even more rare, I am allowed the opportunity to just stand back and watch something amazing.  Today was one of those extremely rare occasions.  It's rush hour in Candler, and people are cranky.  I had the opportunity to park my 24 foot long big red truck in front of an intersection and prohibit people from passing.  It was anything but pretty for just a minute. "Just hold on, you will soon see." I told one lady who was very inquisitive as to the why I would not allow her to pass through.  Just peaking over the horizon, I saw the red an blue flashing lights and heard the faint sound of a siren yelp.  Everyone immediately stopped trying to find a way around my truck and began looking in the direction of the faint, yet familiar sound.  A Chief from the City of Asheville Fire Department, high ranking officers from both the North Carolina Highway Patrol, City of Asheville and Buncombe County Sheriff's Department as well as a motorcycle officer and other police cars filed through one by one.  They were immediately followed by motorcycles from The Patriot Guard and directly in the center of the 40-50 motorcycles came a white SUV.  Standing  out of the sunroof opening, breathing the air of home, stood Staff Sergeant Christopher Ollis from the United States Army to thank us.  After serving three tours in Iraq and Afghanistan, he was home.  The procession was taking him to McCormick Field in Downtown Asheville not to enjoy "America's favorite pastime", but to throw ball with his son.  His son had won a chance to throw out the first pitch of the game tonight.  His dad would appear out of the dugout before the game dressed as the team's catcher.  This excited kid would throw ball with what he presumed to be the catcher of the Tourist baseball team and then when he threw the first pitch, with the ball safely secured in the catcher's mitt, the staff sergeant would remove the catcher's mask revealing to the ecstatic child that his father had returned home safely.  In the above picture, the staff sergeant embraces his children much like he caught the baseball, wrapping them up tightly, safe and secure.  This day, I will remember for a long time.   Welcome home Staff Sergeant Ollis.

The Intentional Gospel

What I am writing about is scandalous.  It is so controversial people have been killed for spreading its message.  I'm sure there are people who dislike or even hate me because of my stance, but it's ok, I know the risks involved.  See, we have this epidemic spreading throughout churches of America.  There is an epidemic of omission spreading from our pulpits and street corners.  We have people on this "special agenda" from god.  It's the agenda of comfort.  People love their comforts, that's why we have churches growing stagnate at an alarming rate.  Being born into sin, we have this want and a catchy motto to accompany it: "If it feels good, do it."  Good church folks refuse to acknowledge such a motto, however the evidence is irrefutable.  In a recent survey, the number one reason behind church controversy is the style of worship.  Really?  Did I read that correctly?  How we worship God creates controversy.  Someone call a doctor, this thing is broken!  High on that list is the translation of Bible used in a congregation.  I'm not saying that all translations are inspired or even accurate, but I do know the King James Version of the Bible isn't the original, nor did it fall out of heaven to the early church.  By the way, those are two examples of why I have been given regarding my heathenism of carrying an ESV Bible.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying the KJV is incorrect or shouldn't be used, I have one I use.  However, my point is we have strayed so far from grace, we are blinded to it.  We have this comfort and we take everything out of the equation as long as our comfort is securely in place.  So I ask, why not be more concerned with the wants of God?  I refer to the verse that inspired such a blog, Psalm 33:3  "Sing unto the Lord a new song, play skillfully with a loud noise".  It is my belief that God wants our creativity, He did put that within us.  Evidence, look around.  God was creative when He made us.  People are all very different, unique and loved by God.  God doesn't want to hear the same stuff over and over again coming from us.  He wants us to find new ways to uplift Him.  There's a reason dripping water on one's forehead in equal intervals is referred to as water torture.  Think about it, you'll see the connection.

Secondary issues are placed in pulpits along with opinions and the Gospel is neglected.  Having been called to pastoral ministry, my calling and what God wishes for me to do is preach the Gospel.  When someone told one of the greatest preachers in history, Charles Spurgeon, his messages all sounded alike, his response was simple.  He replied he read the text and made a bee-line to the cross.  Our churches need more pastors with a heart for evangelism as well as a love for the lost as Mr. Spurgeon had.

The people from a certain church recently protested Billy Graham here in Asheville.  They have their signs that say God hates and at the bottom they have some group of people listed.  I also have had the misfortune of seeing people from other places come into Asheville and "preach" to people downtown with bullhorns and other media saying that God hates and the list is long.  If these people are correct, I'm doomed.  So are you.  However, I know that they are incorrect and have overlooked a crucial part of who God is.  His very name is Love.  Even in the most quoted verse of the Bible (John 3:16), it states that "God so loved the world".  It doesn't say God loves this group, but not that group, this denomination, but not them because their music is too loud.  It says God loves the world.  That's everybody.  He loves me and He loves you.  He doesn't care what you have done in your past.  He knows about it, so don't be fooled, but He loves you anyhow.  Even that stuff that no one knows about, He knows and He loves you.  

On the other end of the spectrum are the health, wealth and prosperity people who believe that God will give you good vibes, euphoria and everything you heart desires if you follow Him.  They are correct in a sense, but their timing happens to be a little off.  Jesus and His followers were persecuted.  Hated.  They were often times homeless and hungry.  They were beaten, imprisoned and left for dead.  We are told though that when we have finished the race, given our lives, not 10% of our lives (just our money) to Christ, we then will receive the health, wealth and prosperity of spending eternity with our Savior.  

I want to wrap this up by telling a story.  Soon after the resurrection of Christ, the Jewish hierarchy was pretty ticked off.  There was a group of people that just would not let this Jesus thing go.  They were growing larger despite the opposition and the Roman empire breathing down their neck. The Jews were convinced that this Jesus was trying to overthrow their comfort zone (and He was).  They paired up with the Romans and convinced the Romans that this Jesus movement would create an uproar to make the Romans look bad.  Neither group could allow that to happen.  They knew of this Jewish rabbi who had studied with the best.  He was also a killer.  They sent him from town to town like the Orkin man to exterminate these Christians.  He was on a mission from God, or so he thought.  That is until a once dead Jesus stopped him.  On the road to Damascus, Jesus appeared to Saul and  changed his heart and his mission.  Now known as Paul, this revolutionary was key to the early church and it's growth.  Paul didn't give Jesus part of his life, or part of himself.  He gave it all.  Everything Paul did was for the church and the message of the scandalous grace of the Gospel.  In my head, I picture the Romans would approach Paul and say, "stop spreading this Jesus or we will kill you".  His reply was, "to die is gain".  Frustrated, they would say, "ok, we'll leave you alone".  "To live is Christ", he would say.  Even more frustrated with this guy having the uncanny knack for getting under their skin, they would say, "fine, we'll beat you and throw you into prison".  Paul would laugh and calmly say, "that's fine, just give me a song book and I'll sing then lead your guards to Jesus".  He was unstoppable!  You have to love Paul.  But Paul's life was about Jesus.  He lived out what it meant to take up your cross and follow Jesus.  

I leave you stating that I have made some big mistakes in my life.  Even on my best days, I still come short of the standard of Christ.  But, so do you and that puts us in the same place of emptiness.  God works on a pass/fail grading scale.  We all start with a failing grade.  This guy Jesus that I've been talking about, He's our ticket to pass. Christ lived a perfect life to be the blameless replacement for us.  It's kind of like that report we did in school.  We received an F on it, but when Jesus was on the cross, he put His name on our paper and gave us His paper.  Jesus, on the cross, took all of the mistakes I made and all of the areas where we don't make the grade, and exchanged them for His perfection.  He only asks that we do one thing, we surrender.  We give up our hopes, dreams and well, everything to Him.  We get rid of our plan for life that in the end would be ridiculous and messed up leaving us in a pile of hopelessness and we embrace His plan.  It won't be easy, and we will still mess up, but He knows.  We will still have daily struggles and issues, but He loves us regardless.  People will hate our message and hate us, but that's ok too.  They hated Jesus, but He overcame them.  The Good News about this is we don't have to change ourselves first.  We just have to surrender.  Daily.  In the end, if we surrender, His love for us wins.  It conquers our anxiety, addictions, bad habits and imperfections.  If we don't surrender to Christ, we keep our F and we are doomed.  However, with His love, it is never too late. You can never be too far from Him to receive His grace.  He's looking for you and pursuing you relentlessly.  He is waiting on you and waiting to place that passing grade on your permanent record.  His grace covers us, His love for us never fails and it is so sweet.  Love wins.