Leslie and I find ourselves in the middle of a 3 city trip! We started in Houston, where we visited family and friends for the weekend. We then drove to Dallas for NAMB's SEND North America Conference. The conference was wonderful, encouraging, and exciting. It was amazing to see over 4,000 people all gathered with the purpose of starting new churches. It encourages me! We then flew yesterday to Jacksonville, NC to visit and encourage our church planting friends and partners Brian and Kelly O'Day. They are planting a church near the marine corp base here. It has been a great time so far getting to stay with them, see their family, how they interact, and talk life/ministry. I am so encouraged to see them as they raise 3 young children, a sibling group, that they adopted. Amazing.
I am blessed to get to be around and encourage so many planters in so many different places. The Lord is stirring in so many spots. We are honored just to be a part of what he is doing.
Friday, August 2, 2013
Tuesday, July 16, 2013
30 Years Later....Here I Am....
Well, I am officially no longer in my 20's. As of yesterday at 7pm, I am now a man in his 30's. Many people ask me if I feel any older or different? Not really. But, milestones of any kind will make you think about where you've been, where you are, and where you see yourself going. All seem to be very positive for me. I have a great wife, family, and am thankful for where i'm at in life. Has life in my 30 years been perfect? Far from it. There have been ups, downs and everything in between. That's life. But as I sit in my office this morning, I'm drawn to worship my Savior in spirit and truth. He is greater than I.
Now, as I enter my 30's, many say i'm just beginning the prime of my life. That's encouraging. I take everyday as a gift from the Lord.
So overall I'm very thankful for his graciousness in my life.
Now, as I enter my 30's, many say i'm just beginning the prime of my life. That's encouraging. I take everyday as a gift from the Lord.
So overall I'm very thankful for his graciousness in my life.
Friday, July 5, 2013
Summertime
It has been a busy summertime in the Creath household thus far. Leslie is off from school, which is incredible. Its nice to have her in our home during the day. Over the past month my parents have been on a journey to selling their home and moving to Branson to officially retire. Happy to say that as of last week, they have moved for good from Eldon and are now setting up their new place in Branson. So happy that they get to enjoy their retirement now. Below is a picture of us standing in front of their home in Branson a few weeks ago.
Leslie and I just returned from leading a group of young married couples from our the bible study class I teach at Second Baptist to Hawaii to work with church planter Aaron Davis. As with any mission team, we had our normal hiccups, but overall the trip was a great success. We were able to help do outreach at beach parks and hold kids clubs each day of the week. Hawaii may seem glamorous as a mission trip, but "paradise" isn't "paradise" when you live there. It really is a dark place, and feels in many ways like a foreign country. Aaron and Samantha are doing an incredible job and we are so proud of them.
Leslie and I just returned from leading a group of young married couples from our the bible study class I teach at Second Baptist to Hawaii to work with church planter Aaron Davis. As with any mission team, we had our normal hiccups, but overall the trip was a great success. We were able to help do outreach at beach parks and hold kids clubs each day of the week. Hawaii may seem glamorous as a mission trip, but "paradise" isn't "paradise" when you live there. It really is a dark place, and feels in many ways like a foreign country. Aaron and Samantha are doing an incredible job and we are so proud of them.
Tuesday, April 30, 2013
Spring
It has been a busy few months for me. I've been to Houston, New York City, Oaxaca (Mexico), among other places. Been organizing and planning for missions into 2014 for my church @secondbaptist
I love the heart of my church. They truly are one of the most generous groups of people I have been come across. They support missions like few i've seen. What an honor it is to serve them, to love them, and to lead them in mission. In February I began to teach on missions in my bible study. I will continue to do that in May as we look at "Let The Nations Be Glad". It is incredibly challenging and good. Our little bible study is growing to the point that the room we meet in at the church is getting too small. no chairs are left some Sundays. Praise the Lord.
I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunities i've been given.
I love the heart of my church. They truly are one of the most generous groups of people I have been come across. They support missions like few i've seen. What an honor it is to serve them, to love them, and to lead them in mission. In February I began to teach on missions in my bible study. I will continue to do that in May as we look at "Let The Nations Be Glad". It is incredibly challenging and good. Our little bible study is growing to the point that the room we meet in at the church is getting too small. no chairs are left some Sundays. Praise the Lord.
I'm incredibly grateful for the opportunities i've been given.
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Warning for Churches on Success
Please click the link below to view a great challenge by David Platt on "success" of churches....
http://vimeo.com/58906729
http://vimeo.com/58906729
Friday, January 25, 2013
Kingdom Building
This week I was able to gather with mission pastors and leaders from all around the country in a roundtable. I was able to hear how God is moving in their congregations. I was able to hear how churches are being used to grow the Kingdom all around the world. It was a great time of hearing how others are going to the ends of the earth with the Gospel.
I also came away from the meeting ever more having two things stirring in my heart. Some was from discussion, but some is just what the Lord is doing in me right now.
First, as an individual, I don't want for a second to be involved in building my kingdom, but I want to be involved in building my Lord's Kingdom. As fallen, depraved, sinful men, it is so easy to get focused upon things of everyday life, of things that make us comfortable, and of things that bring attention to us. I don't want that. Do I have to live in dwelling? Yes. And, recently I bought a house. And, that's ok. The Lord provided an opportunity for us, and we sought His wisdom, and used what he has blessed us with. But I don't want or need a flashy house with all kinds of gadgets and slickness that brings attention to it, to say "I have succeeded in life". What a lie. Do I need a vehicle? In the context God has me in right now, yes. It would be very difficult not to have one. But I don't need to worry about figuring out how i'm going to get a slick ride, as if that new car smell determines my self worth or who I am. I just need something that gets me from point A to point B (and hopefully back to point A), so that I can more effectively do what God has called me to. Do I want people around me to respect me, to trust my leadership, to know I am trustworthy? Absolutely, and I pray they do. However, I don't need to take that to a point where i'm constantly worried about what others think of me. I simply must live in, and trust, and be enamored with, the Glory that is Christ, asking Him daily to be changing me more and more into a man that honors His Savior and Lord. I need to be a Great Commandement and Great Commission man. My life is not my own. I was bought with a price. My King is sovereignly in control, and he will provide what I need (even if it doesn't look like what sometimes I want)
So my life is not about building my own kingdom, or even worrying about it, but about building my Lord's Kingdom, and being worried about eternal things.
Second, as a member of the body of Christ, and as one that God has called out to lead in His Church, I wish the local to be the same. My heart desires the local church to engage in building the Kingdom in individual, strategic ways. So many times we get caught up in wanting to do "what works", or "what is trendy" in churches at any one time. We think "well, this church is doing it" or "wow look at this book" and we try to do what was successful in other contexts. Most of the time-it doesn't work. It fades quickly, and then we are back to "normal".
To see a church say, "Here is who we are, Holy Spirit guide us in the specific way ___________ Church can be used for your Kingdom" is to see a church that is on the brink of revival and being used by God. We talked for a time this week about asking the Holy Spirit to guide our decision making. What a novel concept, right? To allow our teacher and guide to reveal to us what we need to do, of course through and with the scriptures right beside us. Maybe more importantly, guiding us on what we do not need to do. Sometimes it is harder to say no to good things so that we can say yes to the greater things. I've learning in my young life this might be one of the hardest tasks, especially as a missions mobilizer/leader.
I love the church that God has called Leslie and I to be a part of, because in so many ways, they are self-sacrificing to efforts aimed at building the Kingdom. I'm constantly in awe of it. We have seen many missionaries be sent out over the years. We sacrifice financially for Kingdom work that has nothing to do with Second Baptist, Our name will ever hardly appear (if ever) publicly on a lot of the projects. It's not about us, and it's not about growing our kingdom, but it's about growing His kingdom. Are we perfect at this whole concept-certainly not. Not at all. But, I'm proud of my specific church in this, because we desire to strive more and more to be men and women who build His Kingdom, not our own.
But even we can do more. Even we can grow more in our Kingdom efforts. Even we can ask the Lord to pierce our hearts into how he desires us to expand His Kingdom specifically. We have not arrived, not have any of the other leaders I met with around the table this week. There are thousands of groups of people around the World that have never heard the Gospel. So it must not be our name that must be made famous, but must simply and only be the name of Jesus.
My prayer is simple for myself, and in relation, my church and all Gospel preaching churches. My prayer is that God would continually transform each one of us in our hearts, and in turn every possible decision we can make, would cry the Word of Psalm 115.
"Not to us, Oh Lord. Not to us. But to your name be the Glory" Psalm 115:1
I also came away from the meeting ever more having two things stirring in my heart. Some was from discussion, but some is just what the Lord is doing in me right now.
First, as an individual, I don't want for a second to be involved in building my kingdom, but I want to be involved in building my Lord's Kingdom. As fallen, depraved, sinful men, it is so easy to get focused upon things of everyday life, of things that make us comfortable, and of things that bring attention to us. I don't want that. Do I have to live in dwelling? Yes. And, recently I bought a house. And, that's ok. The Lord provided an opportunity for us, and we sought His wisdom, and used what he has blessed us with. But I don't want or need a flashy house with all kinds of gadgets and slickness that brings attention to it, to say "I have succeeded in life". What a lie. Do I need a vehicle? In the context God has me in right now, yes. It would be very difficult not to have one. But I don't need to worry about figuring out how i'm going to get a slick ride, as if that new car smell determines my self worth or who I am. I just need something that gets me from point A to point B (and hopefully back to point A), so that I can more effectively do what God has called me to. Do I want people around me to respect me, to trust my leadership, to know I am trustworthy? Absolutely, and I pray they do. However, I don't need to take that to a point where i'm constantly worried about what others think of me. I simply must live in, and trust, and be enamored with, the Glory that is Christ, asking Him daily to be changing me more and more into a man that honors His Savior and Lord. I need to be a Great Commandement and Great Commission man. My life is not my own. I was bought with a price. My King is sovereignly in control, and he will provide what I need (even if it doesn't look like what sometimes I want)
So my life is not about building my own kingdom, or even worrying about it, but about building my Lord's Kingdom, and being worried about eternal things.
Second, as a member of the body of Christ, and as one that God has called out to lead in His Church, I wish the local to be the same. My heart desires the local church to engage in building the Kingdom in individual, strategic ways. So many times we get caught up in wanting to do "what works", or "what is trendy" in churches at any one time. We think "well, this church is doing it" or "wow look at this book" and we try to do what was successful in other contexts. Most of the time-it doesn't work. It fades quickly, and then we are back to "normal".
To see a church say, "Here is who we are, Holy Spirit guide us in the specific way ___________ Church can be used for your Kingdom" is to see a church that is on the brink of revival and being used by God. We talked for a time this week about asking the Holy Spirit to guide our decision making. What a novel concept, right? To allow our teacher and guide to reveal to us what we need to do, of course through and with the scriptures right beside us. Maybe more importantly, guiding us on what we do not need to do. Sometimes it is harder to say no to good things so that we can say yes to the greater things. I've learning in my young life this might be one of the hardest tasks, especially as a missions mobilizer/leader.
I love the church that God has called Leslie and I to be a part of, because in so many ways, they are self-sacrificing to efforts aimed at building the Kingdom. I'm constantly in awe of it. We have seen many missionaries be sent out over the years. We sacrifice financially for Kingdom work that has nothing to do with Second Baptist, Our name will ever hardly appear (if ever) publicly on a lot of the projects. It's not about us, and it's not about growing our kingdom, but it's about growing His kingdom. Are we perfect at this whole concept-certainly not. Not at all. But, I'm proud of my specific church in this, because we desire to strive more and more to be men and women who build His Kingdom, not our own.
But even we can do more. Even we can grow more in our Kingdom efforts. Even we can ask the Lord to pierce our hearts into how he desires us to expand His Kingdom specifically. We have not arrived, not have any of the other leaders I met with around the table this week. There are thousands of groups of people around the World that have never heard the Gospel. So it must not be our name that must be made famous, but must simply and only be the name of Jesus.
My prayer is simple for myself, and in relation, my church and all Gospel preaching churches. My prayer is that God would continually transform each one of us in our hearts, and in turn every possible decision we can make, would cry the Word of Psalm 115.
"Not to us, Oh Lord. Not to us. But to your name be the Glory" Psalm 115:1
Wednesday, January 2, 2013
Bible Study Help
Leslie recently posted this very good article about How NOT to Read The Bible....it's some really good advice! Enjoy!
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/12/30/how-not-to-read-your-bible-in-2013/
http://thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/tgc/2012/12/30/how-not-to-read-your-bible-in-2013/
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