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 Randy Santiago
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ARE YOU LEADING?
Randy Santiago @ Apr 29, 2008 04:02 PM
You Know You're Not Leading When...
Take a look at yourself and see if you are really taking the leadership responsibility. I've been looking for people on the team that have been stepping out as a leader. I found myself asking if they are doing these things, if they are, then I know they are not ready for leadership responsibility. If they aren’t, maybe it’s time I invest in them.
CULTURE DEFINED
Randy Santiago @ Apr 28, 2008 09:55 PM
I want to take a moment on this blog to discuss something I think is one of the most important aspects of church life: The "culture" of our church! Culture = the predominating attitudes and behaviors that characterize the functioning of a group or organization. Every ethnic group, every business, every family, and yes, every church has a set of predominating attitudes that characterize the environment and the way it functions. One thing that we are always doing in church life is “keeping the culture”. We want to have a culture that is life giving, inspiring and one in which people searching for Christ can connect with Him. And it's something that I'll fight for, but you know Paul calls the fight a “good fight”. Erwin McManus says in his book The Barbarian Way, “Because Jesus did not suffer and die so that we could build for ourselves havens, but so that we might expand the kingdom of His love. Because invisible kingdoms are at war for the hearts and lives of every human being who walks on the face of this earth. And times of war require barbarians who are willing to risk life itself for the freedom of others.” The reality is we must fight for the lives of others. It is not about us. Jesus died for all people to know Him; we can’t just settle down once we have things in order in our own lives. This fight is not against flesh, but it’s a spiritual war. Paul actually calls the fight, the GOOD FIGHT OF FAITH. I am committed along with our team at First Assembly to fight for others. Someone fought for me. Someone fought for you. Will you fight for others? LIFE IS A HIGHWAY: SHIFT
Randy Santiago @ Apr 28, 2008 12:43 PM
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SUNDAY NIGHT MIND DUMP
Randy Santiago @ Apr 27, 2008 06:39 PM
SHIFT: NEXT GENERATION
Randy Santiago @ Apr 27, 2008 06:23 PM
I enjoyed closing out our "Life is a Highway" series by emphasizing our need to be relevant in order to reach a generation for Jesus. Things are changing, have you noticed? Rapidly. Apple announced the release of their SDK to developers, to take the iPhone to the next level. If you watched the presentation, maybe it soaked in, they were living in a very, very different world. Those who are not able to keep up with the pace of change are going to be on the long slide to irrelevance. This is a warning to those of us who lead, particularly the church. Churches are notorious for resisting change but if we don’t (shift) we, like everything else around us will be on the long slide to irrelevance. One of the contrasts that the missional church is making is the difference between relevance and influence. I’ve heard people talk about the disdain they have for people trying to be relevant. And yet that’s the very thing Jesus attempted to be, relevant. Relevance isn’t a bad thing; it’s a good thing. It’s a God thing. As a matter of fact there is no influence without relevance. How can you influence anyone if you don’t speak their language, understand their needs, their hurts, their aspirations and desires? How do you connect the gospel to real-time dilemmas without seeking to speak relevantly and act relevantly? Influence isn’t given in a vacuum. It’s earned over time with relevant thought and relevant actions. Sunday morning influence should proceed to marketplace influence. And if it doesn’t, it isn’t the cutting off of the Sunday morning activity that we should be doing, but re-thinking what we do on Sunday morning that isn’t transformational. Maybe that’s our greatest challenge – to be relevant and influential at the same time; to be willing to be open to people who aren’t like us, don’t believe like us, don’t dress like us, or vote like us; people who may scare us, but people who should be made to feel welcome in our church. Again, it’s not either relevance or influence; it’s both. One can’t exist without the other. Let’s make the shift and win a generation for Jesus!
WALKING IN AUTHORITY
Randy Santiago @ Apr 23, 2008 06:39 PM
Building U last night was on the subject of authority! The big idea: You cannot be over unless your under! God expects all of His children to walk in authority. This expectation is even more pronounced for me as a pastor. I am commissioned to conduct my life with great confidence in my calling. It’s a sin when I fail to walk in authority. When I don’t respond to challenges with a holy boldness, it reveals a skewed interpretation of my identity. I can’t allow a circumstance or experience to interpret my identity. Only God gets to give me my self-image. It’s an even greater sin when I dare to walk in my own authority. It’s God’s authority alone that provides me with power. And His authority is on loan. Any authority outside of His authority is counterfeit, and will be exposed as such in due time. Matthew 8:5-10 is a great example of how to walk in authority in a way that honors God. This centurion is a man who is in authority, and also under authority. Jesus richly rewarded this man’s confident humility. In summary: Walking in no authority = my view of God needs to be elevated. Walking in the wrong authority = my view of me must decrease immediately. And it's a difficult continuum to navigate?
LIFE IS A HIGHWAY: YIELDING TO CHRIST
Randy Santiago @ Apr 21, 2008 12:48 PM
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Randy Santiago @ Apr 21, 2008 10:51 AM
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GOTTA REPRESENT!
Randy Santiago @ Apr 19, 2008 04:44 PM
Ephesians 4:1 begs me to “live a life worthy of the calling I have received.” As a pastor, I certainly realize the non-negotiable need for me to be pure, seek God, love my wife, stay off drugs… you know, the biggies. But there are many less obvious demands that I believe come with the territory of pastoral ministry. If I’m going to represent Jesus and be the ambassador of this move of God called First Assembly, everything about me matters. Everything. Here are a few things that I strive to give attention to: My health. I feel like my credibility would be severely damaged if I had a big bulging pulpit bumper (belly). I have a metabolism that would render me quite fat and sloppy looking if I ate whatever I wanted and never worked out. So I usually eat pretty well, and I work out as regularly as possible. Don’t get me wrong, I'm far from a six pack. I love popcorn (sorry Dr. Branch) and I drink way too much caffeine, but I keep it in check. My dress. I think a minister of the Gospel should dress well relative to the culture he’s trying to reach. This means different things in different places to different people. Every so often I hear someone say "people ought to dress in their Sunday best." What's that? And who has the right to define what Sunday best is? For 90% of Plainview, Sunday best is a clean pair of jeans. For me it's about maintaining a neat, current, appropriate, fashionable personal appearance. My hugs. I know it sounds gay, but roll with it. As I become more and more detached from folks at church, I find myself becoming increasingly more huggy. (Spell check is telling me huggy isn’t a word. Spell check is wrong.) I remember the first day I walked into First Assembly and I was met at the door by Gwen Thrasher. I reached out to shake her hand and she said "we hug around here." As a pastor, I need to realize the value of a simple thank you or acknowledgement of the people who attend on a weekly basis. Sometimes it makes all the difference, even when I don’t recognize it. My car. Yeah it looks like a low rider (lifters are going out) but I really try to keep it clean. It’s hard to set an example of a well ordered life with French Fries and Diet Coke cans piled up on the floorboard. What little things could you begin tweaking today to make you a more accurate and credible representative of Jesus Christ?
FAKE IT TILL YOU FEEL IT!
Randy Santiago @ Apr 17, 2008 09:28 PM
Fake it ’til you feel it! When something is the right thing to do, now is always the right time to do it. Whether you feel like it or not. Whether your motives are completely correct initially or not. Whether you perceive any immediate reward in it or not. When your feelings and God’s instructions are at odds with one another, you’ve got to fake it til you feel it. When you’re feeling envious of someone, don’t wait until you feel like celebrating their success… write them a note of encouragement when you’re at the deepest point of your jealousy. Pray for God’s favor to increase on their life until you can really mean the words you’re praying. It will expedite the process. Don’t wait until you’re feeling love for your wife to improve your marriage. Act out your love for her until the actions become an authentic attitude. Loving your wife as Christ loved the church means initiating love…Not reciprocating it. And certainly not just feeling it. Faith is not forged out of feelings. Faith is forged out of obedience.And what begins as obedience out of obligation will eventually metabolize from duty to delight. When it comes to doing the right thing, you can’t afford to wait for a feeling. I’m sure you’ve waited long enough to do some stuff because you aren’t feeling it yet. Well, fake it til you feel it. Faking it til you feel it isn’t hypocrisy. It’s faith. And faith doesn’t follow feelings. For God’s sake, don’t let your feelings force your life into a holding pattern. Force your feelings into alignment with the Word of God. And the feeling will follow… INCREDIBLE CHURCH OUTREACH!
Randy Santiago @ Apr 17, 2008 09:12 PM
On the night of April 15th, as Americans scrambled to mail their 2007 income tax forms, members of Pathway Church (Palo Alto, CA) eased the suffering by giving away 1,000 free postage stamps. As a “Planned Act of Kindness,” they created 500 mini-books of stamps (outreach cards with 2 stamps each). Standing on the streets near a post office, they held signs stating “Free Stamps! Tax-Day Relief!” as they gave away the mini-books. Scott Aughtmon describes people’s reactions as, They were so surprised and thankful, you would’ve thought we paid their rent/mortgage for a month! Even people driving by who didn’t need or want a card rolled down their windows and told me, “That’s so cool what you’re doing!” I like the creativity of this outreach. It ministers to people during one of the grumpiest times of the year and gives them a moment of happiness.
LIFE IS A HIGHWAY: HEALING BROKEN DREAMS
Randy Santiago @ Apr 13, 2008 10:58 PM
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Randy Santiago @ Apr 13, 2008 03:26 PM
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GETTING NAKED FOR GOD!
Randy Santiago @ Apr 10, 2008 06:54 PM
From time to time in reading Scripture I will come across a passage and think, “OK…is that REALLY in the Bible?” SO…in my journey I came across Isaiah 20 this morning…and this has to be one of the most unusual passages in Scripture. I had several random thoughts… #1 - Did God REALLY Say That? (Isaiah 20:1-2) Picture yourself as Isaiah…you have a pretty successful prophetic ministry going on, things are going well, and then all of a sudden God comes along and says, “Hey man, I’ve got a REALLY creative way to communicate what I am about to do next.” Now I imagine Isaiah getting pretty excited about this until God says, “My creative way of communication includes you taking off all your clothes and walking around for three years.” Personally–this is where my excitement would have ceased. Just being honest! Let me put that thought on pause though and ask this question: What if some of the church members that are here today would have existed back then? Can’t you just hear them now? “I can’t believe someone who claims to know God would do something like that!” “That is one of the most irreverent things I have ever seen.” “There is no way he is a Christian.” “There goes another one of those people who are trying to water down the word of God.” You get the picture don’t you? BUT…(or I could say butt)…from the looks of things here–God is into communicating His word in a creative manner–and sometimes that communication goes against what the traditionalists would consider to be acceptable. It’s funny–there HAD to be people taking shots at Isaiah, calling him all sorts of names–when in actuality he was one of the ONLY people in that time who actually heard the voice of the Lord. #2 - Did Isaiah Really Do That? (Isaiah 20:3) YES HE DID! Just being honest again…I am not sure I would have obeyed God on this one. Seriously, I would have had to have had some ID from Him if He would have asked this of me. I am willing to do some crazy things…but walking around in my birthday suit…I am thinking I might have to draw the line there! BUT (butt) - Isaiah did, he was obedient, radically obedient…even to the point where he was willing to endure criticism and ridicule…all because he was willing to listen to the Lord and then do exactly as He said. I say this because as a church we should be willing to go the extra mile and do whatever it takes to reach those far from God. If you keep reading this text (Isaiah 20:4-6) God had a message to communicate through this event. Yes, it was very creative. Yes, it made people VERY uncomfortable! And yes, God used it to speak truth…and I am sure NO ONE ever forgot this–EVER! In the past we have pushed the edge here at First Assembly of God to communicate God’s Word in creative ways…and at times we take shots from that…usually from those who, to be quite honest, aren’t reaching anyone. What do we do? IGNORE IT! Seriously…as a pastor I understand that I have TWO MAIN PURPOSES in life…to LISTEN to the Lord and then do EXACTLY as He says. I can promise that nothing will EVER take place here at First Assembly unless the Lord directs it–that’s just how we roll!!! Because as long as I listen to and obey the Lord–THEN I can rejoice in that! One more thing…I can pretty much promise that God has NOT told me to get nude!!! (I heard that Amen!!!) BUT…we’ve got some creative things heading our way that will raise an eyebrow or two!!! So get ready! NO POLITICAL ENDORSEMENT!
Randy Santiago @ Apr 10, 2008 06:31 PM
I have been asked if I would be endorsing a political canidate from the pulpit anytime soon and the answer is...I WILL NOT be endorsing ANY political candidate and/or political party from this blog or from the First Assembly pulpit!!! Folks, As a pastor I am to lift up one man–Jesus Christ, not the “Savior” that a party puts out every four years. As a pastor I am supposed to be about advancing the kingdom of God–not the kingdom of the red or blue (or green.) Now, on the other hand, I am NOT a pastor who thinks a Christian should bury his/her head in the sand when it comes to the political world. I think EVERY Christian on the planet should vote this way…first, spend time seeking the Lord and asking for His guidance…THEN vote. (Most people have it the opposite way…they vote and then pray that God will allow things to go their way.) Seriously, pray–THEN vote. That’s it–pray, THEN vote. I am convinced that the Holy Spirit is a MUCH better leader than the stupid television adds that basically attack and slander. Pray…then vote. It really is THAT easy. Who am I voting for in 2008? I honestly don’t know…but I WILL pray…and then vote. And no, I will not declare on this site or from stage who I voted for…but if you ask me person to person I will tell you…BUT, I will not argue with you if you voted for the other person. Once again…I am NOT endorsing anyone! Jesus Christ saved me–NOT a political party. And the church was NOT created by God to be a pawn of some political platform. We are to be about God’s Kingdom–not mans. One more thing…please do not send me any e-mails saying that you respect me for upholding separation of church and state. Folks…the phrase “separation of church and state” is nowhere in the Constitution. It blows my mind how educated people can pass legislation based upon phrasing that exists nowhere in the original documents of our founding fathers. Once again–Christians have EVERY right and responsibility to be involved in the political process…but should do so under the leadership of the Holy Spirit. I am learning that no matter who is the head of government–God reigns. In reading through Scripture this past year it was so obvious to me that governments, no matter how “good” or corrupt, are mere opportunities for God to demonstrate His Sovereignty and grace. He used foreign kings to rebuild the temple and the wall around Jerusalem (Ezra and Nehemiah) and if He did it then He can still do it today. (Hebrews 13:8) My passion is Jesus…my obsession in His Kingdom…He is Lord and I can not surrender promoting Him every week in favor of a politician.
FINDING YOUR RHYTHM
Randy Santiago @ Apr 7, 2008 08:36 PM
Matthew 11:28-30 [The Message] “Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me — watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” Over the few month's I have discovered that rhythm and rest go hand in hand. Have you ever seen someone try to dance that has no rhythm? (Not me, of course!) Instead of the smooth fluid movements that make up a dance, they look more like they are doing, “a full-body dry heave set to music” (to use Kramer’s description from Seinfeld.) It looks forced, uncomfortable and maybe even a little foolish. I believe that ministry – and life – function in much the same way. Like the verse above says, there is a rhythm of grace that we can find. It’s the unique way that God has wired you to walk out His vision and calling. It’s a place of rest where we are able to rely on God’s power and strength. It flows when we are in step with His rhythm for our lives. When you are in your rhythm, you position yourself to have a much greater degree of spiritual momentum and strength. When you are out of rhythm there is frustration, fatigue - even burnout can eventually occur. Your life is just noise. Find your rhythm today! LIFE IS A HIGHWAY: LIMITING YOUR SPEED
Randy Santiago @ Apr 7, 2008 05:15 PM
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Randy Santiago @ Apr 7, 2008 04:16 PM
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WHAT'S YOUR EXCUSE?
Randy Santiago @ Apr 1, 2008 08:46 PM
I’ve found that there are two types of people: Those who get it done. Those who make excuses. This morning I was rocked while reading Pauls words in Eph. 6:20. One line jumped off the page at me: “I am in chains now, still preaching…” If anybody had a good excuse to quit or complain it was Paul but he didn’t. What about you? What excuse are you tempted to throw out for why you can’t do what you are supposed to do…why you can’t serve…why you can’t give…why you can’t spend time in his word…why you can’t _______? Excuses are comical anyway…Excuses are our attempt at telling God what He can and cannot do. Just a thought! APRIL FOOLED!
Randy Santiago @ Apr 1, 2008 12:37 PM
Yes I did! I got fooled and it was GOOD!
10:00 A.M. Pastor Tom comes in my office with a phone number of someone who was asking for the pastor. 10:04 A.M. I call the the number and it's a church in Chandler Arizona. 10:10 A.M. I find a paper on the copier that is advertising for a youth pastor at same church in Chandler. 10:12 A.M. I approach Rhonda about her and Lonnie looking for a new church. They say it's not them. 10:15 A.M. I approach Tom about the same thing. He promises it's not him. He proceeds to plant something in my mind (he's the devil) that Lonnie and Rhonda did just get back from a trip to Arizona. Maybe they didn't go to the Grand Canyon after all. 10:30 A.M. I'm getting hot, waiting on the church in Chandler to get out of their staff meeting so I can call and find out who it is. 10:35 A.M. APRIL FOOLS! If you're a church that is looking for a Youth and Children's pastors, I have two you can have! |