Busy...........

It's been really busy and hard to blog, so I wanted to let you know that you can find me on Facebook. We have an East Coast page so you can keep up with what's going on around campus. You can also go to the bottom of our home page to sign up for our e-newsletter. See you on the weekend!

Double Blessings!

Wow - it's been awhile since I've posted. I'm so glad to reconnect with you here, and I'm sorry for being absent for so long. Carolyn and I have had a wonderful summer full of ministry opportunities, traveling, refreshing times with new friends, and a fun vacation with our family. We jumped right into a busy fall season and then, as if that weren't enough, two new church members began demanding quite a bit of my attention. But, I haven't minded at all.

Kaia Jeanette and Kara Elaine ("Kara No-Hairuh" - that's how I tell them apart at the moment) were born to my daughter Jessica and her husband Femi on October 2nd. They weighed in at 6 lbs. 15 oz. and 6 lbs. 6 oz. respectively, collectively four pounds bigger than most twins at birth. The doctors were amazed at how healthy the pregnancy was and how well the twins have done. We know it's a manifestation of what we believed for all along. What a blessing to be walking in and receiving God's best!

Jess and Femi, I am so proud of you.


"Children's children are the crown of grandparents, and parents are the glory of their children." - Proverbs 17:6

If We Keep Silent

Thursday is a pretty big day.

Nope – it’s not the Macy’s holiday sale, or the day I start getting my boat ready for our upcoming vacation (our pit bull is staying home with our house-sitters). It’s the day that the U.S. Senate meets to begin debating a bill that will decide what parts of the Bible that I and other pastors and teachers are going to be allowed to preach without the very real threat of legal consequences.

It isn’t often that I call attention through my blog to something happening in the political arena. However, as Christians, we have not just a right, but a responsibility, to be aware of what is happening in our country and to be involved in the process of protecting our Biblical foundations.

Thursday’s Senate session on S. 909 (companion bill that already passed in the House is H.R. 1913) will affect you, whether you stop to notice it or not. The ultimate enemy of the believer is hoping you won’t.

U.S. Senator Jim DeMint is sounding the alarm on behalf of all Americans who want to preserve our hard-won freedom of speech:
So don’t just hoist the flag in the front yard and throw a fresh burger on the grill this coming 4th of July; get involved. Hit your knees, get informed, and take some action.

“Those who would give up essential liberty, to purchase a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety.” Benjamin Franklin, Pennsylvania Assembly, 1755

Amazing Things Happen While You Sleep...

Carolyn and I have two of the ugliest cactus vines you have ever seen - for 360 days a year. However, for a few glorious days in early June each year, these vines produce some of the most beautiful flowers you have ever seen. The pictures do not do them justice.

The blossoms are 12" across and gorgeous! Both vines look somewhat snake-like as they wind their way up the palm trees to which they cling. Most people don't bother to hide their disdain for the vines and ask why we don't cut them down. Well, the way they look on the last three nights that they bloom is why. After the sun goes down they appear, and just before it comes up again in the morning they whither but, for those glorious ten hours, the beauty is amazing.

This so reminds me of the way God works. The way things look right now is not the way they are going to look. God is at work in your life, even if your life is at the "ugly" stage. He is getting ready to turn ashes into beauty, to give the oil of joy for mourning, to exchange that spirit of heaviness for a magnificent garment of praise. He is not finished with you yet! He who began a good work in you will complete it until the day of our Lord Jesus Christ. If this is a dark season in your life, know without a doubt that He is most definitely at work and the bloom is just around the corner.

What are you reading?

You can bury your emotions, but you need to know that you are burying something that remains alive. What we need not is not yet another “happy pill” to try to change the brain’s chemistry and make us feel good. We need coping strategies. – Dr. Caroline Leaf

I’ve had my nose in some books lately; pretty interesting stuff. I just finished "Who Switched Off My Brain? Controlling Toxic Thoughts and Emotions” by Dr. Caroline Leaf. A strong Christian, Dr. Leaf has done extensive research on the human brain, with particular emphasis on unlocking its vast, untapped potential. She expertly ties scripture to science, showing how many of the things we have thought about our thoughts are scientifically true as well as spiritually true. Chapter 6 outlines a 13-step program to rid your brain of toxic thoughts and emotions. Though it is a fairly short book, I had to reread several parts to grasp the full concept of what she was saying. It's great info, though; I encourage you to read it.

On more of a hobby note, I’m almost done with another book, "Combat Focus Shooting" by Rob Pincus. Rob developed the Combat Focus Shooting Program and the “Personal Defense” DVD series. He runs I.C.E. Training, a full-service company targeting armed professionals and those interested in self-defense with training in firearms, tactics and unarmed defense. They also provide consulting services for range operations, instructor development and training program management. Rob and his staff instructors have traveled the United States and Europe training military special operations personnel from the Army, Air Force and Navy; law enforcement and security officers; and citizens interested in family, home, and personal defense. I have some of his DVDs and I watch his TV show, The Best Defense; it airs Wednesdays on The Outdoor Channel.

How about you guys; anybody read anything interesting lately?

Finally!!

I have been very hesitant to talk about this because it has been such a long, drawn-out process. Government regulations and tumultuous economic conditions turned what appeared to be a straightforward venture into a frustrating, unpredictable waiting game. However, there has now been definite progress, and the dream is on the threshold of reality. At any minute, my phone will ring with the news that the truck has finally reached Haiti!

Sitting on the boat in a port in Hispaniola, our Life-Line truck is awaiting the last stop in Haiti. The truck is full of food, mattresses, commercial kitchen equipment, and a ton of children’s clothes. We also sent a lot of our old kids’ church curriculum for the teachers to use. The minute the boat docks, I will catch a plane to Haiti to meet the truck and take it to the Life-Line Orphanage. As I write, my bag is packed and I await “The Call.”

Also this week, we have a team of 10 leaving Friday morning for the Lifeline Orphanage on a short-term mission trip. They will be gone for approximately 10 days, and it is our hope that we can get the truck and meet up with them while they are there. So pray! Pray for safety, and pray that we can finish this thing we started and bless these kids.

One of the kids who lives at the orphanage is this little boy named Abner. For those of you who aren’t going on this trip, here is your chance to meet him.

A Really Great Fish Story

I have wanted to go offshore tuna fishing ever since I first heard about it. This isn't just your average offshore fishing trip out of Port Canaveral; this is the other side of the Gulf Stream, 80 nautical miles one way. This past Thursday, I was invited to go with a good friend and his crew on his 33' World Cat. We left at 3:30 a.m. and headed out in ink-black darkness. Man, was I excited! Way out in the ocean at night, the stars are amazing; you can plainly see the Milky Way and all the constellations. The sheer number of stars you can see is incredible! We also saw what was either a huge comet or a shooting star, which was so cool.

After a four-hour boat ride, we started getting close, so we turned on the radar and began to look for birds. The birds dive and eat the baitfish that the tuna are driving to the surface, which means that when you find the birds, you find the tuna. The first flock we found revealed nothing, but we spotted another flock and ran the boat over to them. We set out five trolling lines and made our first pass on this flock. One hit, then two, and, before it was finished, we had hooked five yellowfin and got every one of them into the boat. Some were too small - they have to be 27” to keep - but we were stoked because we had fish on ice! We continued to catch fish for the next two hours and then the dolphin began to bite (that’s mahi-mahi, for you lovers of Flipper). We caught five, with the largest weighing in at over 45 pounds. As we celebrated our catch, we heard the crackle of the radio. Little did we know, the morning had just begun.

We intercepted a call from a boat in distress that was taking on water and needed emergency help. We were out of radio range of the boat in distress, but overheard the response from a boat closer to us. Altogether, there were three boats in the area, so we waffled back and forth as to whether or not we were needed. In the end, we decided to go ahead and join the other boats headed for the guys who were sinking. As we plowed through the water toward the distressed vessel, a fighter jet suddenly swooped in from our left. It hovered until it locked onto its target and then dropped a large pump, by parachute, to try to save the boat. It was amazing to see the pilot drop this thing within 15 feet of that boat! As we got closer to the boat, the most amazing thing happened. One of the guys on the sinking boat yelled, “Dad!”, then dove off the sinking boat and began swimming toward us. It turned out that the man driving our boat, the one who made the decision to sacrifice fishing time to go help people in need, ended up rescuing his own son! It was quite a reunion. There was no way we could save the boat; the hull had split. Any pressure on the hull from trying to move the boat just opened it up more and water poured in. We grabbed what equipment we could and got four of the guys on board as a Coast Guard chopper circled overhead; two other guys were picked up by the other boats. We then began to fish our way home. We lost about four or five hours of our day on the rescue, but it was the best catch of the day by far.

After that, the fishing got even better. We caught a 70-pounder, a 65-pounder, a 59.6-pounder (caught by a junior angler on board who set a record for her fishing club), a 40-pounder and several in the 20-pound range. I reeled in five fish myself. What a trip! We got in that night at 10:30 p.m. with both gas tanks reading 00.0. I met some of the crew at the dock at 8:30 the next morning and helped clean the fish while a couple of guys cleaned the boat. Boy, is that tuna good! We split the fish between all the guys and everybody got some. I am so ready for the next trip!

You guys are awesome!

Easter was amazing yesterday at East Coast. As I read Acts 6 last night to prepare for Morning Breath, I was interested to find that it was on strategic service. Strategic service is seeing a need in the church and then finding people to fill that need. That is what happened this past weekend at East Coast.

On Saturday night, we had a final showing of Redeeming Light and 400 people came. Every strategic service position was filled – worship team singers and musicians, greeters, ushers, nursery workers, production team members, parking lot attendants, and more. We even had a laser fail just two hours before show time but, after an electrifying trip to Orlando and back (Father, forgive us our speed as we forgave those who drove too slowly in front of us), we got a new one in place and started on time. At the end, several came forward to receive Christ for the first time; others came to rededicate their lives to following Him.

Then, Easter morning dawned. Five services later, dozens of brand new Christ-followers walked out of ECCC. We were completely full at the 8:30 a.m. service in the Parkway venue with another 60 in attendance at the acoustic service in the Avenue venue. Apparently everybody was up by 10 a.m., because we were at capacity in the Parkway and so full in the Avenue that people were watching the service on the TVs in the Parkway lobby and Avenue café. Another 400+ joined us for the 11:30 service. Not one service lacked for people who gave their time and talents to welcome guests, manage service elements, and stay on schedule.

Thanks so much to everyone, especially those of you who were there all day. You never went home; instead, you laid it all on the line. Your dedication provided a place for people to come and hear about a second chance, and those people are forever changed. In the coming weeks, as you continue to serve, those new believers will come back and find a place to learn and grow and, eventually, serve alongside you. You know, some of your stories I know; others, I don’t. If you have a moment, I’d love to hear how you got plugged in, what drew you to begin serving at East Coast.

Thanks, everybody. See you Wednesday night!

He is risen - He is Risen Indeed

I am sitting in my office full of excitement. It is not quite dawn yet but people are stirring, getting ready to go to church - the dedicated and committed, the nominal and seeker. Soon, the church will be overflowing with people young and old, full of hope because He is risen. My office notification just came up; even Microsoft Office is announcing His resurrection! It is times like this that I feel so weak and ill-equipped for what I do. Lately, I sometimes feel like I have the ministry of desperation. In other words, I get out on a limb so far that only faith in God can save you. It is a humbling thought to have the opportunity to share new life with people, to point at Jesus Christ and say He is the way the truth and the life, and to have His Spirit moving on the inside of them and confirming what I am saying. But whether in weakness or in confidence, I will preach Christ. I pray that the power of His resurrection will permeate every area of your life. He is risen; He is risen indeed! Happy Easter!

What's up with Easter?

When I was growing up, Easter was definitely a time to go to church. My family and I were CEOs of First Presbyterian Church of Miramar – CEOs as in "C.hristmas and E.aster O.nly." Those holidays were the two times a year we went to church. Easter was a dress-up time, and we always got new clothes. I never got to shop for my own clothes; they were always waiting on my bed when I got home from school. My mom worked at a low-level department store and got an employee discount, so all my clothes came from W.T. Grant.

Easter was also a time to color eggs, do an egg hunt and get an Easter basket. My favorite thing to get was one of those hollow chocolate bunnies, though for a long time, I thought the hollow part was a rip-off. I longed to get a solid bunny like the rich kids got…until the year I got one. It tasted terrible! I still remember biting the ears off the hollow bunny; that’s the end I always started with. By the time the head was gone, I was already experiencing remorse, knowing that bunny was not long for this world!

Fast forward to now, and Easter is an event of epic proportions. Ever since I’ve been a Christian, Easter has been an awesome time. One unforgettable year, I prayed for an infant girl who had died from SIDS Easter morning. Her parents, Jim and Connie Bean, had gotten up to get ready for church and found her in her crib not breathing, cold, and grey in color. They lived literally across the street from Swedish Medical Center, so they ran with her to the emergency room. Forty-five minutes later, we got word at the church of what had happened and I led everyone in corporate prayer. A short time later, before the service was even over, we got word that she had miraculously come back to life! The doctors cautioned her parents about possible brain damage and other complications, but she defied all odds and was healed 100%. Boy, did we have a resurrection service that Sunday! Over the years, I have seen thousands of people give their lives to Christ, and thousands of His children get right with Him on Easter.

This holiday is also a wonderful family day for us. We have lamb - how appropriate is that? Carolyn prepares a great meal for all of our family and some friends, and we bask in the afterglow of our church celebration.

What is your most memorable Easter? Take a minute to share some of your memories and favorite traditions.

God bless you, and may the power of the resurrection overtake your life!

Dan

Pause

Life and blogging go together and run into each other. I am trying to share my life through this blog and life gets so busy that I forget to blog.

It's been a week since I went to Ohio to film Gary and Drenda Keesee's TV show. I got home in time for another Redeeming Light presentation here at ECCC, 4 Sunday morning services, and a baby dedication. Monday came and I kept going, getting ready for Easter, hosting a leadership meeting, preparing for Andrew Wommack's visit, planning our next teaching series, and dealing with the Broncos' decision to get rid of Cutler. That last part is a personal problem, I know.

All I know is I look up and another week has flown by. I am not complaining at all - I love my life - but sometimes, it's a blur. I am grateful for those times in worship when life slows down, and it is just me and God, and He is speaking to me. I love it when I wake up in the morning and I hear His voice about something I have been looking at in the Word (it happened this morning). I love it when, at the end of the day, my son Daniel and I get to spend some time talking about life. I love seeing Carolyn preparing Daniel's lunch in the morning; she is so beautiful and does it with such care. I love it when Matt is at the gym the same time as I am and we are not under any pressure and we can just goof around. I love when Jessica leans her head on my chest and says, "I love you, Daddy." I love it when the phone rings and I see it is Jon and I know we are going to laugh about something going on in life.

There, that felt great: to stop and think about the wonders of life and how much I am blessed. To be thankful instead of overwhelmed feels great. God, take our day; our lives are in Your hands. Help us to pause, to praise and to purpose to keep our focus where it needs to be, in Jesus' Name!

TV

What an interesting day! I flew to Columbus, Ohio, yesterday and was met by Jason from Faith Life Now, the ministry of Gary and Drenda Keesee. I had been invited to tape a segment of their TV show that broadcasts on the Daystar Television Network. Their program is on every Tuesday morning at 9 a.m. EST. Not sure when this taping will air yet, though.

By the way, Gary and Drenda send their love, and are still excited about what God is doing at East Coast. In fact, they loved their time here so much they are using the set of messages that Gary preached at ECCC as the master set for "The Now Revolution" that they are duplicating.

While there, I met another pastor and his wife there for the same purpose as me: John Voner and his wife Carmen, who pastor in Omaha. Well, the segment that Gary and I did together went so well we did the next two together, and ended up doing the whole program. Then John came on and we did a 4-way tag-team discussion and it went really well. I had just enough time to grab my backpack and zigzag across the country back to Orlando. I got in late but, all in all, it was a great day full of adventure, and I met a bunch of great people who are television people. Hmmm. Filed that away for the future....

Amazing Times

It is a very challenging time for the world in which we live, and I believe it is making more people seek the Lord than have sought Him in a long time. Our attendance at ECCC has been off the charts since the first of the year. People are hungry for something real, something stable and something fresh. Jesus is certainly all that - and more!

We had a great crowd last Wednesday night at the Redeeming Light experience. Between 50 and 75 people came forward to recommit or receive Jesus. One lady told me about her neighbor who came and got saved that evening. We also had a lot of young people come forward to make decisions for Christ. Remember to invite people to come this Wednesday night. The encore presentation will be March 18th at 7 PM.

We also had a fun Friends to Family meet & greet on Sunday afternoon, where we met some great new folks interested in being part of ECCC. If you want to learn more about the church, contact Jessica for details and come to the one next month.

Well, we are getting ready for Easter and then gearing up for Andrew Wommack the very next weekend. It is busy, but it is a good busy. God bless you as you keep your eyes on Jesus!

Friends

The first verse that Matthew, my 29-year-old son, and I ever learned together was Proverbs 17:17a: "A friend loves at all times, and a brother is born for adversity." We learned only the first half, and I can still hear that little guy saying, "A friend loves at all times." He must have been in first grade and it was his very first memory verse.

I am blessed to have a great relationship with him even though we work and live in a challenging situation. You see, I am his boss, his pastor and his father, and those three roles are tough on him. I am also my daughter’s boss, pastor and father, and that carries it's own set of issues. In spite of all that, I am so proud of them and think we have a great relationship, which includes friendship. I am so blessed to have my children as friends! Daniel and I do a lot together – we are TV buddies with a whole list of favorite shows we watch together. Jon is my hunting, fishing and diving partner, and we get along great.

Even though I love this aspect of our relationships, I am still their father and I have to put that role above friendship. A good friend will not let their friendship get in the way of telling the truth and helping someone to go in the right direction. This is true not only of fathers, but of real friends. Pastor Andy Stanley of North Point Community Church stressed that we are never to put our friendship above what our friends really need. My best friend is actually a girl: my smokin’ hot wife, Carolyn. I am blessed!

I’ve talked about family who have become friends; what about friends who become family? The New English version of Proverbs 17:17 reads like this: “A friend is loving at all times, and becomes a brother in times of trouble.” I am so grateful for good friends who have become as close as family. How are your friendships? To have friends, you must be a friend. Proverbs 18:24 says, “A man who has friends must himself be friendly, but there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother.”

My life is rich and full, but it was not always this way. We moved from Colorado to Florida to be with our best friends Mike and Pat Black - they are still great friends - and then they moved to Guatemala! We had no family or friends here and we were starting from scratch. The thing that helped us the most in starting and building friendships was the church. We started going to a great church full of great people; I just so happen to be the pastor there now. It was our initial involvement in this church that allowed us to meet so many wonderful people. It can happen for you, too. Well, maybe not becoming the pastor here, but you can connect with people in a deep and impacting way. Be a friend and you will have friends. Friends are great!

Testing

My blog recently went down and this is a test. If you can see this, please respond. Okay; it seems like it is working now.

It was exciting to see the response yesterday at church on the message "Does Anyone Care That I Am Addicted." I was really challenged by the message myself, and have been praying about where I am at in my heart on this subject. My prayer to the Lord is that 100% of my heart is His! Nothing shall hold sway in me but Him.

As I prepared for Morning Breath, our live morning radio broadcast, I thought it was an amazing coincidence that Proverbs 23 was the chapter for the day. Yeah, right! I do not believe it was a coincidence at all. I got to rethink my priorities and, again, offer my heart - all of it - to the Lord. I wonder, from Heaven's perspective, what percentage of my life I am really living for Him? All I know is that I want to live 100% for Him, and I want Him to do everything it takes to make it that way 100% of the time!

I am very addictive/complusive about things in general. I put everything I have into the current interest in my life, whatever that may be - shooting, diving, etc. I have to guard my heart from complusive behavior. Whenever something is taking away from my relationship with God, either that thing has to go or I have to change. I don't taper down very well; I am an all-or-nothing kind of person. There's a verse that says if your hand offends you, cut it off. That may sound extreme, but it is what I have found works for me. It does not say if your hand offends you to back down a bit and just use it moderately. It says to cut it off or, in our case, cut it out. Has stuff gotten in the way? Cut it out. Has a relationship gotten in the way? Cut it out. Has a goal gotten in the way? Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these other things shall be added unto you.

The best way for me and for you to cut off whatever our "things" are is to get so full of God, so focused on His will, so involved in His church, that we do not have the time or energy for the other things. My prayer for us is that we would give Him 100% of our hearts 100% of the time so that when we recreate, we'll do it to the glory of God. When we work, we'll do it to the glory of God. In Him we live and move and have our being. We are definitely not called to be boring. But when things take priority over God, it is the things that must go. Addictions are challenging and sometimes difficult to defeat, but remember that God's plan in Christ triumphs anything life can throw at us!