My Friend Bob Pace

My friend Bob Pace died last week. We had his funeral last Monday. I've never been to a more God-honoring memorial in my life! It was truly awesome! Bob was a great individual and a true friend. He loved God passionately and he had this desire to see God's people spiritually formed. In fact, he told a friend that the reason most Christians never grow up spiritually is because they don't know what it means to love God. He said that Christians need to focus on loving God and then all the other stuff that goes with being a follower of Christ will take care of itself. I think he is so right! What if we spent more time learning what it means to love God with all of our heart, soul, mind and strength? Can you imagine what that would do to a person? It would revolutionize every facet of a person's life! There's no way they would be the same. Life would hold new meaning, relationships would take on a whole new life and the world would look so different from their point of view. You could not possibly stay the same. So maybe we need to stop spinning our wheels worrying about being better christians or running to another meeting on church growth or being concerned about creating another study guide on what it means to be a mature christian. Maybe we just need to focus on loving God. I have a sneaking suspicion Bob is smiling right about now as he's discovered the love of his life is far greater than anything he could ever imagine! Love has never looked so good to him right now! "We love because He first loved us!"

Beach Retreats!

I just dropped off my fourteen year old daughter at Ardrey Kell with the other students headed to the beach for their first ever retreat with Crosspoint. I must say it's a little surreal. She was going on the kind of retreat that I led every year for sixteen years. You know the routine. Parents drop off students, luggage is loaded in the vans, parents wave good-bye and youth leaders head off with teens in-tow for a time of fun and sun and bible study. The cool thing about this retreat is that I left my daughter with our volunteer team and one happens to be a former student of mine from back in the day. Her name is Lauren and she was one of our finest students. She loved God passionately then and she does today. She had a heart for her friends, constantly bringing them to our youth gatherings, and she does the same today, bringing friends to our church with her husband Chris. I tell you all of this because I'm moved that my daughter is now part of youth ministry being led by a former student who has taken up the mantle of ministry. Another generation leads another generation! That's the beauty of discipleship and giving your life away to something that has so many returns! God calls and adds new leaders to fill the shoes of others all of the time. So today, as my daughter drove away to the beach, I was awed that God has chosen to use every generation to reach the next generation. It's all the same. People loving students so that they will carry the same mantle that Jesus first gave to his disciples. And it never ends!