I recently finished this painting called "Dressed In Summer's Best". It was inspired by a family trip to "The Grand Tetons National Park" this past summer. Family truly is important to me. I have a married daughter in Indiana, a college daughter who just got back to the states from a mission trip in Africa, a third daughter that is maneuvering through 8th grade and following in last, a son. I remember some wise soul giving a young couple words of wisdom after the birth of their first daughter. It went something like this: "Don't assume that she is yours to keep - You are just taking care of her for awhile. She really belongs to God." Yeah, sure - In my naive kind of way, I understood perfectly! We were just taking care of her for awhile. Of course I knew that... But somewhere along this incredible journey, my wife and I maybe forgot or just didn't quite understand the implications of this wisdom. Even with the best of intentions and even with the noble thought of being a temporary care-giver, we just got to thinking that she was "ours" as were each that came along. Years later after we dropped our oldest off at college and waved good-bye, my wife, through tearful eyes and a sincere mother's heart, whispered out loud, "fly away little birdie" only too many times since retract the command. Less than a year later came my "fly away" moment as I married off my baby girl. My wife and I really don't want our brood to return after they leave - we want to give them wings to fly to be all God intended them to be - but sometimes we wonder why someone didn't tell us a long time ago to prepare our hearts because one day they would take wing. Then I remember... oh yes, someone did ... Enjoy your kids today and give them wings to fly. - Jeff

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Wed 25 Aug 2010 10:55:10 am     | no comments

In 1 Thess 2:8 Paul said “We loved you so much that we shared with you not only God's Good News but our own lives, too.” Paul gives us a picture of what it truly means to disciple someone. It is so much more than just teaching someone what is in the Bible. It is allowing someone access to your life in such a way that you model the message for them.
Jesus did this. For three years he spent most of His time with the 12 disciples. Ate with them, traveled with them, played with them, He allowed them access to His life as a model for them to follow.
For both Jesus and Paul, discipleship was so much more than just imparting knowledge through teaching or lecturing. In fact in 2 Thess 3:7 Paul says: “For you know that you ought to imitate us.” The word he uses here is a Greek word that was used for actors that we get the word in the English language mimic. The power of this word implies we are to intentionally study the actions, thoughts, attitude and attributes of this person so that we can mimic their life in every way. A picture of discipleship!
Paul was not afraid to tell others to follow his example. He showed them how to live as followers of Jesus. As others watched the Word work in Paul’s life, the message of the Bible was more powerful than just learning it in a lecture or a reading.
Do you allow those around you who are under your spiritual influence to get close enough to see the Word of God working in your life? It’s great that we teach the Bible, but people need an example to follow, a life to mimic.
There may be areas of your life that you feel you do not want to expose to others for fear they will think less of you or that you would not want them to follow. These are areas we need to be honest about with the Holy Spirit and ask Him to give us the power to help our lives line up with our words and most important His Word.
Make it a prayer of your heart that your lifestyle and choices will make the message of the gospel stronger. People need good examples that they can follow. They need you to be a model of the grace and mercy of God.
Take a few moments and reflect on the time when you first gave you life to Jesus. What kind of access did those who had an influence in your spiritual journey allow in their lives? Who are you allowing that kind of access to in your life now? Making disciples…
Most important if there are areas of your life that you would not want anyone to mimic, be honest with the Lord and allow Him to touch you in that area. Because those areas of our lives will keep us from allowing people to get close to us and keep us from being used to the full capacity that God wants to use us.

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Wed 26 May 2010 11:26:58 am     | 11 comments

The Day After The Battle

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Mon 24 May 2010 1:31:25 pm     | 8 comments

When Failure Is Not An Option

 

After this last weekends message I received this article from a friend of mine who is a pilot. He served as an F-16 pilot in the military as well as an instructor. I asked his permission to post it in my blog - you will love this real life story from a fighter pilot! Thanks Ned. I looking forward to getting up in the wild blue yonder with you again someday soon.

Jeff

Flirting with a mishap…when failure is not an option

Ned Linch

CFI/II

9Gs in an F-16 forces you down into your seat compressing your spine, overstresses every muscle in your body, squeezes the sweat from every pore, ruptures thousands of capillaries in your forearms, drives blood downward to the feet, and stretches your face instantly aging your appearance 50 years. As the sweat burns your eyes and the Gs restrict your vision, you persevere, adapt, and maintain the focus on flying the jet, straining every major muscle group in your body, and properly breathing with quick bursts of air exchanges while not giving up the fight. It’s all about man and machine against an opponent and a 3-dimensional skill in flux at all times with no definitive answer to any questions on the subject…just lots of opinions and techniques. In the end, killing the bandit with your gun is all that really matters in a dogfight; otherwise you’ve failed in your mission as a fighter pilot and failure is not an option.

“There I was” in a dogfight over the frigid waters of the Yellow Sea, 60 miles off the coast of The Kun (Kunsan Air Base, South Korea) with the smell of burning oil leaking into the cockpit. Should I knock-it-off (KIO) or continue pressing the attack? I’ve smelled this oily, humid air many times after flying a jet that had recently been in maintenance. It should be OK, right? Failure is not an option! After a nanosecond of rationalizing, I elected to continue with tunnel vision, my “fangs” out, and pulling aggressively to gun my opponent. Bad move.

As I carved through the skies in my viper, the burning smell intensified to a point that it distracted me from focusing on fighting and pulling Gs. The logical side of my brain finally engaged and I knocked-it-off, started climbing, and pointing my nose toward home. Good call, especially since the oil pressure reading was now less than 10 PSI which means LAND ASAP! To point toward home first and then analyze the situation is a built-in flight discipline reaction. However, I should have knocked-it-off earlier before allowing my fangs to control my decision making. About all I could do at this point was point toward home, climb, use minimal throttle movements, and pray because failure (ejecting into the frigid waters) was not an option.

It seemed like an eternity before reaching a 1:1 (the rule-of-thumb glide ratio for the F-16 which is 1 mile for every 1000’ of altitude) with Kunsan. Finally, I could relax just enough to allow the seat cushion to reform in the seat. After circling down from high key in idle power and landing the jet, maintenance said I had about 1 minute left on the engine before it would have seized. It was another lucky day and the Lord was keenly watching over me.

The human body is able to detect stimuli long before the mind has consciously put it all together. It should be cut and dry, but the wiring in our brains prevents conscious, logical thought during critical and urgent moments. If something doesn’t look, smell, and/or sound right, then it’s time to KIO. Electing to continue with a known problem is a crapshoot game and a balance between risk and reward. You must keep the focus and discipline to balance out the brain’s weaknesses to prevent rash decisions.

“There I was” seven years later, on a night, Operation Iraqi Freedom combat mission over a ragging sandstorm with troops desperately calling for help. I was faced with the decision of my life. To press and fly beyond the limits of my aircraft and all established rules of engagement or leave these men behind who were being overrun by a numerically superior force. The weather was not conducive to flying an F-16 at night in a sandstorm with zero illumination for our Night Vision Goggles. Without hesitation, my wingman and I elected to continue and descend into the storm where we repeatedly descended below safe altitudes to attack the enemy in near zero visibility conditions. In the end, the troops escaped and were later rescued. We survived through pure will power to not fail; however, it was a balancing act between emotion and logical thought. It was the toughest night of my entire career to balance life with a group of men that I will never know. This was not a situation to KIO for safety and danger. We were deep in enemy territory and no one else was there to help. If a kid was drowning in your pool, you’d jump in regardless of the risk. This night required us to abandon all established rules in order to complete the mission. We had to act now because failure was not an option.

A few years after the war, “There I was again”, but this time in my experimental Vans RV-4. Ironically, I was trying to make it home from a funeral with evening thunderstorms along our route. With my 4-year old daughter in my backseat, I elected to continue home in the dark and land on a dimly lit grass strip surrounded by tall trees. I can still see my daughter’s face lit up by the lighting from nearby clouds. As I reflect on that evening, I’ll admit that I allowed my fangs or emotions to control my decision making in order to get home that evening. Although I mitigated the risk with experience, flight following, extra fuel and remaining VFR over major highways, this was a bad move and I swore I’d never do that again.

How many times does it take for someone to press the fuel, the weather, a maintenance problem, and/or fatigue before learning a lesson? History repeats itself and the only way we can break this mentality is for pilots to avoid continuing the flight when things aren’t right.

Yes, there are times to balance risk with reward such as a rescue attempt or delivering critical medical supplies to a disaster zone. However, more times than not, it’s best to be ultraconservative and wait out the weather, land with more than enough reserve fuel, and avoid that night flight over rugged, unfamiliar terrain.

Electing to continue and putting yourself in a tight corner with high risk is flirting with a mishap. I challenge you to think logically and prevent your fangs from controlling your decisions when things don’t look, smell, or sound right because failure is never an option.

Lt Col Edward H. "Ned" Linch III (USAF retired) is a CFI/II, Vans RV-4 owner & pilot, Delta 737 pilot, and a retired USAF F-16 instructor pilot. He is a recipient of the Distinguished Flying Cross for valor in combat.

Copyrighted 2010, Lt Col Edward H. "Ned" Linch III

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Wed 19 May 2010 1:07:48 pm     | 1 comments

This last weekend was awesome: We had 5 people make decisions to follow Jesus and 5 others made commitments to the habits necessary to jump start their spiritual growth and be more like Jesus at our Cross Training Grow course. During this course we took an overview look at the three basic spiritual habits every Christian needs in order to grow: daily time with God (prayer and Bible study), giving, and fellowship. We had a great growing together. Here is what Jeremy, a teenager who attended this weekend, had to say about the Grow course: “the grow class at my church was fun and really good I learned a lot.” By the way Jeremy, I loved having you in the course, it is so exciting to be a part of your spiritual journey as a follower of Jesus – you rock!!!
I hope you all enjoyed our special guest, BOZO, and that his appearance will help each of us remember that “you are not a failure until you fail to get back up.” Remember what the Bible says: “The godly may trip seven times, but they will get up again. But one disaster is enough to overthrow the wicked.” (Prov. 24:16, NLT)

Did you hear about the Girlfriends big 80s party from the weekend? I heard it was a great connection time relationally for our ladies as well as a great fun time. Most important one of own campus leaders, John Scalise, show up as Richard Simmons and did a little fitness training for the ladies. I am working on getting the video of that and incorporating it into our next series: The Good, The Bad and The Manly.

As we come to the end of “The Voice Of Truth”, the one thing that I pray you are left with above anything is this: Keep your eyes on Jesus! In Matt. 14, Peter got out of the boat in faith and walked on water to Jesus. He began to sink when he took his eyes off of the Lord and focused on the wind and the waves. Fear gripped his heart. God calls us to step out of the boat and live a life of faith. The most important part of stepping out of the boat is; Keep your eyes on Jesus!!!

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Mon 17 May 2010 4:14:41 pm     | 1 comments

A little boy was selling newspapers on the corner,
the people were in and out of the cold.

The little boy was so cold that he wasn't trying
to sell many papers.

He walked up to a policeman and said,
"Mister, you wouldn't happen to know where a poor boy
could find a warm place to sleep tonight would you?

"You see, I sleep in a box up around the corner there and
down the alley and it's awful cold in there for tonight.
Sure would be nice to have a warm place to stay."

The policeman looked down at the little boy and said, "You
go down the street to that big white house and you knock
on the door. When they come out the door you just say
John 3:16, and they will let you in."

So he did. He walked up the steps and knocked on the
door, and a lady answered. He looked up and said,
"John 3:16." The lady said, "Come on in, Son."

She took him in and she sat him down in a split! bottom
rocker in front of a great big old fireplace, and she went
off.. The boy sat there for a while and thought to himself:
John 3:16 . I don't understand it, but it sure makes a
cold boy warm.

Later she came back and asked him "Are you hungry ? "
He said, "Well, just a little.. I haven't eaten in a couple of
days, and I guess I could stand a little bit of food,"

The lady took him in the kitchen and sat him down to a table
full of wonderful food. He ate and ate until he couldn't eat
any more. Then he thought to himself:
John 3:16. Boy, I sure don't understand it but it sure
makes a hungry boy full.

She took him upstairs to a bathroom to a huge bathtub
filled with warm water, and he sat there and soaked for a
while. As he soaked, he thought to himself: John 3:16
I sure don't understand it, but it sure makes a dirty boy
clean. You know, I've not had a bath, a real bath, in my
whole life. The only bath I ever had was when I stood in
front of that big old fire hydrant as they flushed it out.

The lady came in and got him... She took him to a room,
tucked him into a big old feather bed, pulled the covers
up around his neck, kissed him goodnight and turned out
the lights... As he lay in the darkness and looked out the
window at the snow coming down on that cold night,
he thought to himself: John 3:16...I don't understand it but
it sure makes a tired boy rested.

The next morning the lady came back up and took him
down again to that same big table full of food. After he
ate, she took him back to that same big old split bottom
rocker in front of the fireplace and picked up
a big old Bible.

She sat down in front of him and looked into his young face.
"Do you understand John 3:16 ?" she asked gently... He
replied, "No, Ma'am, I don't. The first time I ever heard it
was last night when the policeman told me to use it,"
She opened The Bible to John 3:16 and began to explain
to him about Jesus. Right there, in front of that big old fireplace,
he gave his heart and life to Jesus. He sat there
and thought: John 3:16 -- don't understand it, but it sure
makes a lost boy feel safe.

You know, I have to confess, I don't understand it either,
how God was willing to send His Son to die for me, and how
Jesus would agree to do such a thing.

I don't understand the agony of the Father and
every angel in heaven as they watched Jesus suffer and die.

I don't understand the intense love for ME that kept Jesus on the cross till the end.
I don't understand it, but it sure does make life worth living!

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Tue 4 May 2010 10:48:25 am     | no comments

The Sweet Life

What a great weekend! I spent the weekend at the Alive Church Continental Ranch campus. Toby did a great job teaching, it was awesome for me to see him on the big screen, I loved it! I do have to warn Toby though that there will be some retribution for saying that those jeans were mine - get ready!
We had one person make a commitment for Jesus this weekend - yeah God!!! And a lot of folks get free from the bondage of guilt. Not only does God free us from the guilt of our past but He wants us to live a guilt free life. Awe sweet freedom. Thanks again Toby for the great teaching - to live guilt free GET REAL, with myself, with God and with others - love it.
What's us with the cookies and milk? If someone is having a chocolate chip cookie and some milk on stage, next time I say they should have enough for all of us.

Living The Sweet Life, Jeff

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Mon 3 May 2010 1:14:25 pm     | no comments

Not only is the weekend over around here at Alive Church, but so is our series "Life Palette". I love sharing the reports of those who have made commitments to follow Jesus and those who are growing in their faith. Throughout this series we have had several people make the decision to gives their lives to Jesus for the very first time, including a young lady this last weekend along with many who have re-dedicated their lives to following Jesus.
I want to thank my friend and artist, Phil Starke, for spending the last five weekends with us and helping to illustrate this past series. If you have not heard, Phil donated one of the paintings that he did throughout the series for us to raffle off and give all the money to our missionaries in S. Africa. We will begin selling the tickets this next weekend.
Speaking of missions: this last weekend our missions team held "tailgate for Haiti" on both of our campuses. Alive church - you guys rock - the response was incredible. Thanks to all of the missions team and everyone here at Alive for your generosity. We are getting those supplies sent off this week.
Looking ahead, we begin a new series this coming weekend entitled: Takin It To The Streets. This series will focus around one of our core values: Community and Life Transformation, that is investing in community and authentic relationships for the sake of eternity.

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Mon 22 Feb 2010 4:24:03 pm     | no comments

Psalm 23 can radically change your life! It is one of the most beloved and well known chapters in the Bible. It is only one hundred and twenty-two words in length. In fact, many people have it memorized, or at least can recite portions from memory.

Hidden in every line is truth that will transform us if we will allow it to. The apostle Paul says in Romans 12:2, “Let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think.” And that is precisely what this Psalm is about, transformation! Many times we go to the scripture looking for information while God our Shepherd is wanting transformation in our lives.

I remember when I returned home from a trip back to where I grew up in Ohio. My journey was dictated by the death of my grandfather. (I always called him Grandpa.) He was a great man in my eyes as well as many others as was evident by the masses of people who came to pay their respects.

Grandpa was a shepherd, not a pastor. He literally raised sheep. I watched him shepherd sheep. I watched him care for them and meet their needs. (I even raised a few of his sheep in our basement.) One great lesson Grandpa taught me was that a good shepherd has the smell of sheep on his hands.

Psalm 23 speaks that truth loud and clear...the good shepherd has the smell of sheep on his hands. He is not hiding. He is not distant. He is not a weekend shepherd. He is always with us caring for us and meeting our every need.

In the few blogs that follow, I want to share with you some of the truth from Psalm 23 that I discovered while being mentored by a shepherd I called Grandpa. These words are not written for your information, rather for your transformation.

You see, Psalm 23 is truly a system of thought. It tells us what God is really like and how he meets our every need. The more you understand the Good shepherd of Psalm 23, the easier it is to trust him.

Let me start this series of blogs by giving you a challenge, a prescription if you will; for you to be “transformed by the renewing of your mind”.

Prescribed reading: In the morning Read Psalm 23 in silence when you first arise. Read carefully and slowly. Don’t rush through it so that you can say with fidelity that you did it. Instead, letting the truth of each phrase capture the attention of your heart, mind and spirit. Read it again in like manner at noon. Read it once more just before going to bed at night, only this time read it out loud. Do this for thirty days consecutively and let nothing come between you and this transformation process. As Paul says in Romans 12, you will be a transformed into a “New person by changing the way you think.”

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Wed 10 Feb 2010 2:40:41 pm     | no comments

I talk to so many people who tend to think that they need to do it all, afraid they will miss out on something. In their effort to do so, they never become great at what they were created for, missing out completely on their God given destiny and plan. I am speaking this weekend about living life with a limited palette, being faithful, focused and diligent with the few talents, gifts and days that God has given me. Every masterpiece that has ever been created was created from only 3 colors because all colors come from the 3 primaries - red - yellow and blue. God desires to paint a masterpiece on the canvas of our lives, our part is to be faithful with the few things He created us to do and be!

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Sat 6 Feb 2010 5:06:26 pm     | no comments

I don't know about you but for me anytime there is a major disaster like the earthquake in Haiti, I tend to get a little more perspective about my own life. As an artist I think a lot about perspective. Perspective affects a composition dramatically, especially if it is wrong. In life I think of perspective as Attitude. My attitude gives me good or bad perspective, my choice, regardless of circumstances. I am getting ready to speak on Perspective/Attitude this weekend in my teaching series called "Life Palette".  My friend and artist Phil Starke will be demonstrating as I speak as he continues to work on a 36x36 landscape masterpiece. He will be sharing a little of his story and talking about the importance of perspective in painting and in life. I know I need to keep a good perspective/attitude everyday of my life!

http://bit.ly/a3vmGb

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Sat 30 Jan 2010 4:45:52 pm     | 10 comments

Knowing what to do and who to give to during a disaster like the massive, 7.0 magnitude earthquake that struck Haiti can be overwhelming. Knowing who to trust and knowing that your dollars are getting into the right hands and really making a difference is very important. That is one reason until now that we have been cautious in recommending groups to donate to. Here are several groups that we recommend and that networks of churches we are a part of are recommending. There mission and integrity will assure that all of your dollars make a difference for the Haitian people as they begin to rebuild their lives.

http://www.willowcreek.com/giving/haiti.asp

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Wed 27 Jan 2010 6:16:43 pm     | no comments

Sometimes obeying God is a pain in the neck! There are days when I forget that this spiritual journey is a war. (Seems like I remember a teaching on that recently: The Birth Of A Wild Thing. http://bit.ly/6HtrRe
The pastor said that Jesus came to destroy the works of the enemy (1 John 3:8-9) – I mean really – where do these guys get off?) Here’s the deal, the enemy doesn’t give any of us much attention until we start doing right things for God. As followers of Jesus, when we are obedient and living out God’s plan and purpose, the enemy notices. Suddenly we are on his radar and he wants to frustrate, discourage and stop us. (John 10:10) For us (me) at times it feels like: “so, I’m obeying God and this is what I get?” (Big fat whiny baby! Call the wambulance!!!) Forgetting I have lost perspective of the “one thing”. “Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need.”
Sometimes obedience is a pain in the neck, but faith dictates that it is best, right and God does meet all of my needs according to His riches in Jesus! I hate speaking on having the attitude of Jesus (this coming weekend, Life Palette part 2, Perspective) because now Jesus is dealing with mine! Ya’all pray for me!!!

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Tue 26 Jan 2010 10:01:46 am     | 9 comments

This weekend we launched our new series; Life Palette. God desire to paint a masterpiece on the canvas of our lives! Eph. 2:10. It was great to have artist Phil Starke painting in the service as we talked about the “One” value that Jesus gives us as our primary focus. Phil began a painting this weekend that he will be finishing over the next four weekends as I speak and he will continue to talk about how it is a picture of our lives.

I have heard from many of you already about how the Lord has begun to speak to you as we begin Life Palette – let’s pray that this is a series that completely transforms us all to be more like Jesus as His followers and for those who are considering following Him to take the next step.

I wish you could all hear all the stories of changed lives that I hear. This weekend I talked with a couple of different men who God is radically changing their lives. As people share these incredible stories of transformation and thank me I know what they are saying. They are thanking me for all the ministry that YOU do Alive church and for the impact you all are having on their lives and how you are allowing God to use you as His followers. I am so honored to be your pastor and to serve with you in “leading people who are far from God to be followers of Jessus.”

I hope you will carry your value scale with you this week and prayerfully ask God to guide you in your life as to whether or not you are “seeking” His kingdom first. Follow His lead. If you were not able to get a value scale at one of our weekend services take a moment and Google one and print it to carry with you this week.

We kicked off the weekend with an art event designed to unite artist in the Tucson area. There were several professional artists painting and demonstrating for the community of artist who joined us. A big thanks to all of you who helped put this event together especially the Girlfriends leadership team and to the artist who painted. It was a little cool but overall a nice day and a big success!

How about the set for the new series? Props to Doug and team – you guys are awesome!

Oh and by the way – did you hear who won the big softball game between Continental Ranch campus and Oro Valley campus? Yep – we did! Way to go Alive!!!

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Sun 24 Jan 2010 8:53:58 pm     | no comments

Don't miss this Plien Air Live tomorrow (Sat. Jan. 23rd) morning. Several professional artist will be doing demos, including Phil Starke, lots of give a-ways and hot coffee from Rock-N-Java! Join us as we unite artist in the Tucson valley.
If Weather is still bad the plein air will be moved indoors. Phil's demo is indoors to begin either way. Lots of live painting to enjoy and it's free.

http://pleinairlive.com/

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Fri 22 Jan 2010 8:27:58 pm     | no comments

You are a masterpiece.

It may not feel like it at the moment, you may look at your life and see yourself as a complete failure, a person who is off course, headed in the wrong direction. For others, as you read those words, you have a sense of agreement with that statement. Not so much that you truly believe it but rather you know it is the right thing to believe.  You read the first sentence of this book and you repeat to yourself, “I am a masterpiece”, as if just saying it will make it so.  You are like the Saturday Night Live character Stuart Smalley, who looking in the mirror was always trying to convince himself; “I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!”  Maybe you tire day after day of trying to pump yourself up, trying to self motivate. There is a better way!

If asked to describe a masterpiece the first thing that comes to mind for most people might be something along the lines of Leonardo da Vinci’s painting of the Mona Lisa.  Hanging in the Louvre behind bullet proof glass in a controlled environment to preserve the pigment and the canvas, well protected. The furthest thing from our minds would be to respond by describing ourselves. It would be vain and arrogant, egotistical, haughty and conceited, to point toward oneself as a masterpiece, unless…Unless? Unless what? Unless we understand that we are not the creators of the masterpiece.

You are a masterpiece. Not because you are an exceptional artist who has painted every brush stroke of life perfect or because every choice you have made was the right color for your life’s canvas. You are a masterpiece, not because you stood before your life’s canvas at a young age and created a perfect composition that would fulfill your every dream, hope and wish. No it is much more and greater than anything of your choosing, in fact you are not even the artist. You are a masterpiece because God created you as His masterpiece.

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Wed 20 Jan 2010 4:00:51 pm     | no comments

There is an awesome art event that will be happening in Oro Valley/Tucson area on Saturday morning Jan. 23rd. The purpose of this event is simply to unite the artist of the Tucson area. If you are interested in art or know someone who is interested you will not want to miss this opportunity. Artist Phil Starke will be doing a demo that will be recorded and made into a DVD. Several other well known artist will be painting in Plein Air as well.
Check out the website for info and pass onto a friend: www.pleinairlive.com

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Wed 6 Jan 2010 4:11:27 pm     | 2 comments

Great News as the New Year begins! We just finished our first staff meeting of the year and the Campus Pastors reported to me that this last weekend we had 5 people make a commitment as a follower of Jesus – not a bad way to start the New Year!!!

While we have a couple of weeks left on this current series: Happy New You, we have been preparing for the next series called “Life Palette”. The theme is simple: “God desires to create a masterpiece on the canvas of your life. The Palette He has to work with depends on you.”

We are going to kick off this series with a big day of uniting the art world in the greater Tucson area on Saturday morning Jan. 23^rd. We will be having several well known artists, Phil Starke leading the way, doing demos that day beginning at 10am. Then throughout the series Phil Starke will be painting live during all of our services and interacting with me as I teach. Phil and I have had a lot of great discussions about how living our spiritual life as Jesus followers parallels life. If you know anyone who is interested in art you will want to make sure and invite them to the Plein Air Live kickoff event for Life Palette:

I am currently doing a lot of writing, trying to finish a book entitled Life Palette. Way behind on the schedule that we set out last summer, but none the less pushing on. I love writing. This is my second book, my first was a novel called “A Place Remembered”. I totally loved writing in fiction in a novel format. The discipline of writing this book is good for me.

My biggest job this week will be getting rid of our Christmas tree. Pastor Toby had a great idea; we should all gather our trees at the church invite the fire department and have a big bon fire! Sounds like a lot of fun to me. Plus, then I would not have to figure out what to do with ours!

Did some reading over the holidays: Sticky Church by Larry Osborne, started Developing The Leader Within You and one other Leadership book. Had a little time to do a few large paintings that turned out pretty good. The best part of all was spending a little extra time with Kathy and the kids. Jeepin in the snow and mud made for some great family time!

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Tue 5 Jan 2010 4:10:20 pm     | no comments

One of the Blogs that I follow and read is from Perry Noble, pastor at NewSping Church. This is from his Blog, I love it and wanted to re-post it:

Ephesians 3:20 keeps running over and over again in my mind…and I keep dreaming of a church (and churches…)

• That the ministry goes beyond the walls of the building and actually IMPACTS the community in a radical way.
• Where the broken, hurting and lost are received with open arms…and the religious are challenged to repent of their “perfection.”
• Where generosity is embraced.
• Where the staff and volunteers give their best to God in every task that they take on!  (I don’t believe the church should look to organization like Disney and Apple for inspiration…I believe they should be looking at the church!!!  Yes, they have great thinkers…we have the HOLY SPIRIT of the LIVING GOD!  There is no excuse for half hearted, watered down effort in the Kingdom!)
• Where JESUS is exalted…NOT a denomination or a political party.
• Where Scripture, not Robert’s Rules of Order, govern the Body.
• Where people in the church REFUSE to ignore injustice…and EMBRACE that God has called the church to do more about it than simply pray…but rather to DIVE IN and do all we can to help all we can.
• That refuses to accept that the way things are is the way they have to be.
• That champions the next generation instead of teaching them they are insignificant until they can get a job and begin to tithe.
• That excitement and passion surrounds the Sunday services…and also an expectation that God is going to do something huge!
• That throws the desire to compete with other churches out the window…and does all that they can to help the body.
• That embraces the fact that Jesus originally called “unschooled, ordinary men” to change the world…and He’s STILL doing the same thing today. (See Acts 4:13)

The church’s best days are yet to come…and I can’t wait to see what Jesus does next.  He loves His church way more than we do!!!

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Wed 9 Dec 2009 2:33:54 pm     | 2 comments

Wonderful Thanksgiving Weekend. Had a nice quiet Thanksgiving with my family, we went to see a movie, a Love family tradition, "Old Dogs". I laughed so hard. Great flick, Kathy and I highly recommend it, although it may be more funny to be because of my age!

So much to be thankful for. God has truly blessed us beyond anything we can imagine. So grateful for the grace and mercy of God. So grateful for freedom in Jesus Christ. Pretty grateful that the UofA beat ASU on Saturday evening as well, our Oro Valley campus pastor, Jim Phillips, would have been gloating the rest of the year if ASU had won!

Over the weekend I finished teaching the weekend series "The Secret". http://bit.ly/6FfE0u The Tupperware is gone but not forgotten. (I know it wasn't really Tupperware). Pastor Jim will probably start wearing his ASU jersey again, but prayerfully our lives are transformed!

I love this time of year, the holiday season, that begun with Thanksgiving. Everything is headed toward Christmas. This morning I have been finalizing the notes for our Christmas series, "Born To Be Wild". I haven't started any shopping yet, I am not a Black Friday person at all!!! I'd rather sleep in the day after Thanksgiving than save a few bucks! I'm one of those guys that all of the stores stay opened on Christmas Eve. for.

My sister turned the big "50" on Saturday, (happy B.D. Julie, I hope you get the cowboy boots I sent in the mail!) that means I am only 18 months behind. I use to always wonder why we quit saying our age in months, you know what I mean. Young parents will always say their baby is 18 months old or 20 months. I use to think that we should all stay with the months thing but now that I am nearing 50 I see why we all switched to years. Image saying I am 600 months old!

The best news of the weekend: there were several people who made commitments to follow Jesus!!! Yeah God!!!!!!!

I want to encourage you all to be praying for folks in need here at Alive and in our community. God is a good God and has it all in control. Let's pray for His provision.

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Mon 30 Nov 2009 11:11:30 am     | 13 comments

So it's Thanksgiving week. I thought I would take a few moments and express here in my blog things that I am thankful for. I want to start with the easy stuff and work my way up to the more complex more important stuff over the Thanksgiving weekend.

Here I go, the thing I want to express my thankfulness for today is the weather. Yup - the weather. Living in Tucson, AZ. during this time of year is unbelievable. The sun is shining ever day and the temps are perfect - mid 70's. Great Jeeping, hiking and plein air painting weather.

We just had family visit us from the Oregon coast. When they left they were headed back to 40's, blowing winds of 50 mph and rain. So call me shallow, but I am thankful for the beautiful weather here in the dessert right now.

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Wed 25 Nov 2009 12:21:41 pm     | 10 comments

Just finished our weekly staff meeting and wanted to let you know the great news: this last weekend there were 4 people who re-committed their lives to Jesus!!!  Yeah God!  Our prayer, as always, is that as each of us makes commitments as Jesus followers that we become fully devoted in every area of our lives to Him.

We talked about the upcoming Christmas series: Born To Be Wild. If you missed the video teaser you need to check it out below. I love the tag line for this series and am praying that we will all experience the thrill of freedom that Jesus came to give us this Christmas. This will be a great series to invite a friend or loved one to Alive, especially since it is a Christmas series.

Something on the horizon: We have 6 Christmas Eve services planed; Wild About Freedom. 3 at our Oro Valley Campus and 3 at our Continental Ranch campus.  We will begin giving out tickets this coming weekend. We only ticket these services to assure that there are seats for all of you plus available seating for the community. We will not turn anyone away, but please get your tickets so we can know how to plan for each service!

During our staff meeting one of our Pastors did a teaching on reaching and caring for our volunteer staff. Great teaching Tom!  Let me take a moment and thank our great team of volunteer staff. You guys rock! From every usher, greeter, children’s worker, A.V. person, musician, prayer team members and so many others - You are changing lives for Christ and I have to say that I am honored to serve with you in this ministry!!!

I hope that you all have a wonderful Thanksgiving. There are so many blessings from God that we have to be thankful for. I know many of you or your family will be traveling this week and weekend to be with loved ones, I have been praying for your safety and protection as you do.

I will be wrapping up our current weekend series, “The Secret”, this weekend with “Grace In Motion”. Many of you have shared how the Lord has spoken to you through this teaching.  If you are travelling for the Thanksgiving holiday, remember you can catch the final part of the series on line live www.alivechurch.com  or catch it next week after it has been archived.

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Tue 24 Nov 2009 3:09:36 pm     | no comments

I love Monday mornings. I know for many people it is the dreaded day back to work, the beginning of the work week. And maybe a little too much night life over the weekend can make it hard to get going for the week. For a lot of pastors, Mondays are their days off. But for me, it is a day to recap. I love getting into my office on Monday and getting a fresh start on next weekend’s message, I love it when the staff begins to gather and talk about all that God did in and through the ministry of Alive over the weekend! I love Mondays. I’m already looking forward to being with you all next weekend. I hope you all got dressed right as you left home this morning to start your week: 1 Cor. 3:12.

Oh, and by the way, there is one cat I have always loved; Garfield.

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Mon 23 Nov 2009 9:41:03 am     | no comments

I hope everyone had a chance to see Pastor Jim, our Oro Valley Campus Pastor, make the big change from being a ASU fan to becoming a University of Arizona fan, from a Sun Devil to a Wildcat.  If you missed it I would encourage you to take a few moments and watch last weekend’s teaching: “You In Christ”. http://bit.ly/4oCanU

Other great news, there were a couple of people who made commitments to either follow Jesus for the first time this last weekend, or rededicate their lives to Jesus. I always love hearing your stories and what God is doing in your lives.

Did you get to meet Hubble last week? My dog, pictured in this blog when he was about 10 weeks old.  His story has been a powerful illustration for all of us as we look at allowing the Lord to renew our minds. More than anything, my prayer for this series is that God would lead us all through an internal transformation by renewing our minds throughout The Secret. That we would see and become all that God has for us to be.

There are some more service/missions projects going on this week and next that I look forward to blogging on and encourage anyone to be a part of. You can find out more at:  http://bit.ly/1ZmzJd   Several of our students will be participating with the “chip a brick” outreach at the Gospel Rescue Missions – way cool – go Alive students!

This coming weekend I will continue teaching from Colossians, talking about Jesus clothes. I look forward to seeing you all this weekend in one of our weekend services: http://bit.ly/DpbtO

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Tue 17 Nov 2009 11:51:42 pm     | no comments

What an awesome weekend around here at Alive. We began a new series called "The Secret" based on Col. 1:27, I am praying that we will all be transformed as we go through this series. The big volleyball event happened as the CR campus challenged the OV campus. I love it, as the pastor I can honestly say that my team won every round and every game - way to go Team Alive!  Kathy and I had a great time meeting so many new folks and connecting with you all at the park while the volleyball tourny was going on. Good food, great fun, and fellowship - does it get any better than that? 

Rock-N-Java hosted a couple of concerts over the weekend at our CR campus. Our family got to go and hang out at one of the concerts on Sat. evening after the services. Good music and again it was a great time to connect with some old friends and some new folks here at Alive.

One of the things we ask our Life Groups to do each semester is a service project, just to remind us and keep us in the habit of serving. Serveral groups are in the middle of these "Random Acts of Kindness". I am posting an email report and a picture from a group of people this last weekend:

Hello Everyone,

We had a wonderful day today with the Random Acts of Kindness project.  We enjoyed coming together with 11 other people and serving those who were in need.  Jose and I truly feel that we were the ones that truly received the blessing today.  We started out this morning in the Highlands 55+ community off of Lambert.   We knocked on a few doors before a sweet lady, Patricia, was open to the idea of help.  When we asked if she needed anything, she replied, "I need a hug!" Laurie Stockton spent some time with her vacuuming and as Laurie was getting ready to leave, Patricia asks "Aren't you going to witness to me?" Laurie was given the opportunity to pray and share with her.  We met another lady Joni.  When we asked if we could help her in any way, she began to get teary-eyed and explained that both she and her mother could use some help.  Her mother is battling cancer and they have been struggling, she expressed what a huge blessing it was to have the help.  Judith shared that one couple they met expressed that she felt a heavy burden lifted because her dirty windows had been weighing on her.

We were able to serve about 14 different homes by cleaning windows, vacuuming, yard work, plumbing, ect. and certainly felt blessed that we were able to help others who truly were in need of help.  We are planning to put a group together to return to this community in January.  We will keep you all posted.  We certainly made an impact in the lives of those we met today, imagine the impact 50 of us could make in 3 hours!

Posted by JeffreyAllen_Lov on Mon 9 Nov 2009 12:24:53 pm     | no comments