Every morning begins a daily pursuit to no longer live for myself but sacrfice my life to be an authentic follower of Jesus Christ. My desire is to be passionate about the name of Jesus and about the names of those far from that name. My focus is to serve my community with an authentic love one person at a time as I attempt to give myself away through serving and relationships.
I have been married to my precious wife Amy for over seven years and we have two boys, Camden (4) and Cale (2). After six years in student ministry I decided to step out for awhile to rethink what it is to be the church. I felt like William Booth, founder of Salvation Army, who was ministering in a church. He once said,
“I was satisfied that the methods of the average methodist church were out of date. They had ceased to attract the people to the church – at any rate, in the city…I was not satisfied with the chapel itself, with its dull grey walls, detached life, class pews, and high-toned preaching. I was dissastified with my own work. I saw grown under my ministry warm, loving, soul-seeking christians, and then I saw them chilled, neglected, and killed. I rebelled against the repetition of this work”
After nearly three years of thinking, listening, and praying God stirred my heart to serve the community of Claremore Oklahoma by starting The Well - a different kind of church. I simply said yes to him and anxious to see where this journey takes me. We are six months in and it has been the most thrilling roller coaster I’ve ever been on. I truly feel like I’m living life to the fullest!
Before I get into what I was going to get into, let me make sure you even get this and I can get a response. So, here goes:
Testing, testing…you out there Rick-ay? Holla back if ya heard me.
Wow – your reading list is just like mine. You might enjoy Starving Jesus but the Pastors of xxxchurch
I was perusing your blogroll, and I thought of someone you might consider adding. He’s my pastor, and you can find him at http://bighairpreacher.com