Blog Home

Keeping Connected,

Recently I was struck by a single yet crucial concept in our walk with God while “weed whacking” my yard. It’s crazy, but I often get hit with cool revelations in the midst of mundane activities. I have one of the little cheap “week whackers” that operates with an extention cord. It works great for the price I paid for it. The only catch is you have to stay connected to a power source or it simply won’t work. The toughest times to stay “plugged in” is when you have stretched your cord to its full length and try to get a little more. I have found that life can often put us in “streching situations” and we can often get ourselves unplugged from our true source of power who is God. Sometimes when we’re feeling stretched and our time and energies are quickly being depleted we forget to check our cord to make sure we are staying plugged in. The result is that we’re running around trying to do a bunch of stuff unplugged from our source. Let me encourage you to discipline yourself even more to keep connected to the Lord through His word, prayer, regular church attendance, and Godly fellowship. God’s got all the power that you need for any situation you may face, but you’ve got to stay consistantly plugged into your souce of power. So, check your cord and watch for a fresh infusion of God’s power!

Keeping Connected,
P.T.

Course Corrections,
The story is told of a huge battleship on patrol off the eastern coast of the United States. It was night and all of a sudden they spotted a very bright light that was headed straight for them. The captain quickly and authoritatively ordered whatever ship it was headed toward them to make an immediate course change. The response was just as immediate ordering the captain and his battleship to correct their position. The captian was indignant on reminding whoever was speaking of his powerful position and again ordered the source of the oncoming light to make an immediate course change. The response came, “I know that you are a powerful battleship captain, but I am the keeper of the lighthouse. If you do not change your course, you and your battleship are going to wreck.” As you might have guessed there was an immediate course correction and a wreck was averted. It think we are like the battleship captain and can get a little full of ourselves and wind up headed for the rocks. Let me encourage you to watch for the lighthouse of God’s word and Holy Spirit so that when our human nature leads us toward a big wreck we can make the proper course corrections. We have a huge tendency to miss the mark, so we always need God’s leadership in our lives. Stay open to Him and He’ll help you sucessfully navigate through the dangerous waters of our world.

Staying Sea Worthy,
P.T.

A Loving Environment… I’ve been trying to share our REAL Core Values for the past several weeks. A loving environment is something that we as a church deeply and tenaciously value. When you come here we want you to feel, in a very real way, the love of God. We understand that in order for that to happen we must be vehicles of that love. You see, love is an action word not a nebulous philosophical concept. It was love that brought Jesus down from heaven to earth and everywhere he went he embodied the love of the Father as he touched, healed, and blessed.

When you come here you will certainly not find perfect people, but what we hope you do find is a group of imperfect but forgiven people trying not only to show real love but more importantly “be it”! If you’re hungry for real love come and be our guests… we can’t wait to love you!!!!!!!!!

Much Love,
P.T.

Authentic Community… to be perfectly honest often times church has been anything but authentic. One of the major reasons unchurched people give for not going to church is because they’ve been to church and found it unauthentic and inhospitable. One of the greatest things that people are searching for are real answeres that work in the lives of real people in a real world. This is what drew so many people to Jesus while he was here on earth. Real people would connect with who he was, what he said, and what he did. They were living in a culture whose religious leaders had completely lost touch with the average person on the street and were answering questions no one was asking.

I dare you to get real in your relationship with God and others. Jesus is and always will be the real answer to the questions being asked in our real world. While you’re at it come and meet a bunch of real (not perfect) people here at ECAG. Come as you are and stay for a while.

Staying Real,
P.T.

“Engage”… Webster says to engage is to get involved and occupy ones full attention and effort toward something. At ECAG we are striving to become fully engaged disciples of Jesus Christ. For us the “sit, soak, and sour” syndrome is no way to live our our Christian experience. We are not going to be “arm chair quarterbacks” who sit in our lazyboy recliners while everyone else gets in the game and scores. We’re committed to getting off our seat, on our feet, and into the street! The call to follow Christ is something that demands full engagement. It is a clarion call to adventure and action. If you have slipped into the role of being a “pew potato” watching others in the game let me double dog dare you to get back up and begin to re-engage! We are fully committed to Engaging Discipleship and would love to invite you to dive in with us and be a part!

Fully Engaged,
Pastor Tedd

Relevant… what does it mean to be truely relevant? Webster says that relevant is “having a bearing on or connection to the matter at hand”. I can think of no one more positioned to be relevant to our current confused culture than a fully devoted follower of Jesus Christ. We’re definatley not perfect or any better or smarter than our comtemporaires. We have all made many of the same mistakes and often stumble as we’re going about life. What makes us relevant is the fact that we are so human yet have connected in a very real way to God. You see he’s the one with the answers. He’s omnicient, which means he actually knows everything! I dare you to connect with him in a stronger way than you ever have and then make a connection with people in our culture who don’t know him. What will happen is that you will bring and help them find real answers to the real questions they have. What is relevant? You are!

“Don’t curse the darkness… light a candle!”

Being Real,
Pastor Tedd

P.T.’s Blog

Wow 2008 has arrived! I don’t know about you but as for me it couldn’t come soon enough. Kim and I really believe that this year of 2008 is a year of turn around, breakthrough, and restoration. I love the word ‘breakthrough’. Webster defines it as a significant and sudden advance or discovery that removes barriers to progress. We truely believe that barriers are going to be torn down and real amazing progress is going to happen both personally and corporately around here.

Let me give you three keys to experiencing breakthrough in 2008.

#1 Obtain Breakthrough Information - Breakthrough information is what God has to say about himself, his plans, and his design for our lives. When we find out what God has to say then we can advance confindently where he wants us to go.

#2 Initiate Breakthrough Actions - Breakthrough actions are things that God is calling us to do in the future. I have found that many of God’s kids act out of sense of past brokeness and tend to limit what God can do in them. It’s time we allow God to restore us and advance into his purposes from a standpoint of wholeness not brokeness.

#3 Pursue Breakthrough Relationships - The fact is our company to a large extent determines our destiny. Let me challenge you in this new year to go after relationships that spur you on to become all Christ wants you to be. Hey, 2008 is here and full of divine possiblities. I dare you to pursue with passion the awesome plans God has for you this new year!

Breaking Through,
P.T.

“Deck the halls with boughs of holly… fa, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, la, …!” Can you believe it, it is almost Christmas? I agree with the song… “It’s the most wonderful time of the year”! I’m a Christmas guy, big time. There’s not much about this season that I don’t like. I love the crowds, the shopping, the music, and the hokey movies. All of the stuff that might irritate many people is the kind of stuff that I think is a blast! You might be thinking, “this guy is crazy”! But I really do love the whole thing. Of course, what I love most of all is the real reason for the season, Jesus. Man, do I love Jesus! He was willing to leave heaven and go through the entire human experience to build a bridge from God to man. I still find that incredible! You do know that the “cross” was the first real Christmas tree? After all it is really why He came. The angel said to Joseph, “call his name Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins”. This is why He came and frankly this is really what Christmas is all about. So when you’re out fighting the crowds and traffic while hearing Jingle Bell Rock for the thousandth time, refocus your heart to the cross. While you’re at it, why not look for someone around you who needs God and do what Jesus did… build a bridge!

A Christmas Guy,
P.T.

Thank You Therapy

A while back I got a call from our doctor’s office in reference to some blood tests that my son had to have to go to college. They had called while I was out to let us know they had the results of the blood work. Immediately my mind started to imagine some sort of problem they might have found. Now I had no basis for this worry except generally when you get a call from the doctor’s office about test results it invokes a sense of trepidation. I tried to call several times, but the line was busy. Finally on the fifth time someone answered and in a few seconds my worries were dispersed as the nurse said, “Mr. Manning, your son’s blood work is fine, there is no problems.” As I walked out of my office to meet my wife for lunch I felt a prompting just to say “thank you” to the Lord for a good report that dispelled my anxiety.

As a pastor, I have sat with many parents in waiting rooms waiting for a report from the doctor about their kids. Many times the news was not good and at times it was down right devastating. So when this very simple good news came to this dad it made my heart glad and my mouth just had to say thank you to the Lord who is the giver and sustainer of life and health.

I have often counseled with folks in my study who were battling depression. Inevitably when I could get their minds off the badness of their situation and on the goodness of their God there was almost immediately a remarkable change in their demeanor and countenance. Psychologists say that a sign of clinical depression is the lack of ability to see and fully appreciate the good things happening in the life of the depressed person. Part of their therapy is to enable the person to look beyond negative events, people, and attitudes and into a more positive view of their state of affairs. Paul puts it this way in Philemon 6 - “Your faith becomes effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus.” When you, by an act of your will, purposely acknowledge something God has done for you or kept you from, it “effectualizes” your faith and immediately or progressively your outlook begins to change.

“Thank You Therapy” is not some new pop psychology or a positive thinking theology. It is simply a return to the biblical basis of giving thanks to whom and when thanks is due. I believe if we regularly and purposefully practice “Thank You Therapy” it will revolutionize the way we think. Remember the proverb “As a man things in his heart, so is he”. What do you want to be? Do you want to be a person who smiles more than frowns and sings more than sighs? When bad things happen, it isn’t hard to miss them, but we often miss the good things because our eyes are more trained to see the bad. I often tell our folks that an optimist sees the donut, while the pessimist sees the hole. It is important to remember in life that every donut has a hole, but also every hole has a donut. What are you looking for… the hole with all its disappointments or the donut with its sweetness? Life is a bittersweet experience. How we think is vital to how we live. The word “thank” is taken from the same word as “think”. So when we use the word “thankfulness” we are also saying “thinkfulness”. So many times we take a negative outlook on life because we are not thinking of all that we are truly blessed with. Our “thinking” will greatly affect our “thanking”.

In the book of Psalms there is a wonderful word that David uses that almost always changes the whole tone of what is being said. Selah is a musical instruction that means to pause and meditate. Often in Psalms, David will be crying the woes about an attack of the enemy or a lack in his life and even questioning the reliabilty of God. Then that great little word will be inserted and the Psalm changes from blues to praise and from mourning to dancing. As a young child growing up in Children’s Church we would often sing a hand motion song called, “Stop & Think It Over”.

Stop! And think it over what the Lord has done for me.
Stop! And think it over how He came to set me free.
For He has healed my body and He saved my soul.
He baptized me and He made me whole…
So Stop! And think it over what the Lord has done for me.

When we give our lives to Christ, the Bible says a remarkable change takes place in our lives. We are translated from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of God’s dear son. Old things from our past pass away and all things become new. We are literally in the spirit “born again” which means we have been given a new lease on life. The handwriting of offences that was againist us has been taken out of our way and nailed to Jesus’ cross. We have been justified, which means “just as if I never sinned”. What an incredible privilege we have been given! How often we forget these and the many other blessings that our precious salvation affords us.

Stop!!! And think if over what the Lord has done for you. My friend we are too blessed to be depressed!

Happy Thanksgiving!
Pastor Tedd

“Falling Forward”

Hallelujah, fall is finally upon us! Fall is a great time for pastors because it tends to mean the vacationing multitudes are returning to their home port. So from your pastor, let me welcome you home. We are very excited about what we feel God is about to do amoung us here at ECAG. We have renewed our commitment to be a “church for all people”. This means no matter where you are coming from, what your ethnicity, or even what your past failures have been… all are welcome! We also want to “touch our world”. This means we want to make a difference in our world and touch the felt needs of our community. Our strategy is to do this “one life at a time”. We have a world vision but we always want to view our mission through the lens of ministry to individuals. At ECAG it’s not just about big numbers and inflated statistics, rather it’s about individual lives who Christ died for and wants to big time help!

Please jump into the waters of what’s happening. If you don’t have a church home, try us out. We’re excited… come join us!

Falling Forward,
Pastor Tedd