Confessions of a Seeker

Summer Reading Confession

2010-08-21T08:06:00.000-07:00

For those of you who know me I tend to read a lot, I like to live by the motto Readers are Leaders and I found out a few weeks ago that Donald Miller Agrees with me. What I thought I'd do here at the end of the summer is just share my top three books that I read this summer.

Lets start with Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell: This book is the story of success, it's a business minded book that goes deep into the study of what makes certain people succeed in certain fields. These Outliers as Gladwell calls them can be anything from being born in a string of 3 certain years as they found with people like Bill Gates and Steve Jobs in the computer world to Canadian Hockey players born in the first three months of the calender year. The most fascinating study for me was the 10,000 hour rule, which is the fact that it takes one 10,000 hours to really become great at it. Great read and would highly recommend it.

The Christian Atheist by Craig Groeschel: This book was convicting for me, the whole idea of the book was believing in God but acting like he doesn't exist which I have seen as a problem in my own life and the lives of my fellow kingdom livers. chapters explored ideas such as these "You believe in God but don't really know him". "You believe in God but aren't sure he loves you". "When you believe in God but don't forgive". There are 7 more chapters similar to these.

And lastly my number 1 favorite summer read was "Deep Church by Jim Belcher".

This book was about a genuine third way between reformed theology and more liberal minded emerging churches, it was a book written by a guy who is friends with bot Mark Driscol and rob Bell who both tend to be opposite of one another and Driscoll who has even gone as far as being condemning of Bell's Ministry. He talks a lot about how it is both and not either or which is important for the church to grasp, Jesus is the point and preaching Jesus is the point other than that we should encourage each other and not bring each other down. It was a refreshing read and would highly recommend it to any pastor out there who tends to be dominant in either one camp in particularly.

Hope you found this insightful.

Grace and Peace,

C-DUB

This is It

2010-08-19T16:26:00.000-07:00

This is it, what I mean by that little phrase is that in about a week I will be beginning my final year at Florida Christian College. To say that the transition from internship to return to Florida was easy would be a lie, in a lot of ways it has not been easy it's been frustrating, it's been joyous, it's been very confusing and it's also been meant with great anticipation. I love FCC and I will always love FCC with a deep passion, this is the main reason why I look forward to this new year. It's my last year to truly love the place that honestly only God could have brought me to, cause this was not my first school choice (This will always be a shame for me to admit).

This past week I've been contemplating where is God leading me? I've never been a guy who could stay stagnant for very long, I often grow board with the status quo and my surroundings and yearn for a new adventure. For me this means ministry of some sort, since Indiana I've been searching, praying and longing for a new ministry a new adventure a new calling if you will. I've learned what my passions truly are this past year which are preaching, discipleship, networking and seeing people come to know Jesus in any way they can. Jesus is the reason I wake up in the morning, a good mentor of mine once told me that "when you wake up and have someone to poor into it's a good day". I have lived by this wisdom for 2 years now and it lets me know in these seasons of desert and stagnation that although I may not be serving in a local church or ministry it is still a good day, it's a good day cause I know those people I can poor myself into and I know that part of the reason I am in this season is because Christ has called me to poor into them.

This is it, the last year living at a place that I will always call home in one way or another. I am here for a reason and for those incoming freshmen let me say that it is no accident that you are at this place known as FCC. Christ has called you here and he is going to grow you here, my mission is to poor into this place and these people as much as I can and continue to learn and grow form the wisdom of some of the best professors and faculty around.

It's gonna be a great year.

C-DUB.

Seattle Part 2

2010-04-01T21:44:00.001-07:00

Do you love your city? This is the phrase that keeps popping up here in Seattle this week, I have come to see that the people of Network Tacoma and those of faith in Seattle are people of intention. It’s funny that I have been surrounded by people who are living lives of intention by loving there city this week, it’s the very phrase that has become my theme from now until I graduate. Don’t we want to be people of intention, the kind of people who love our city in the name of Love. I have seen this phrase lived out this week in a very real way, so let me tell you about two individuals I have come to know this past week.

Greg is the VP of Network and the man who picked us up from the air port on Saturday night, he’s a man with an interesting story that eventually led him to working for Network. He lives for others in the city of Tacoma and he invites others to live with him, he’s a man who has a family and intentionally moved into traditionally one of the roughest neighborhoods in all of Tacoma. He moved into this neighborhood all in the name of intentionality, this absolutely amazed me that someone could love a city so much that he would want to move into the ghetto part to intentionally love that neighborhood and be a missionary in it’s context. He takes it a step further though in the context of Community, he lives in a house with his wife and kids and all together 11 people live in this house to love the community and be community to each other in the name of Christ. I had the opportunity to stop by his house on Monday night and actually seeing this lived out first hand was awesome and humbling, I got to meet one of those he lives with his name is Ben and he to is living a life of intentionality in the city of Tacoma. I left his house that night thinking about what it would look like for me to start living a life of intentionality in my own life and to one day love a city just as much, this question lingers as I write this but it lingers with a vision and a willingness to go into a direction that isn’t cleared yet. I’ll write about this maybe one day but not today.

The second man I want to introduce you to is Robert, he’s the creator and vision behind Network and a very chill guy who loves Jesus and the city of Tacoma. It’s a difficult time for Robert these days just 8 months ago he lost his wife to cancer and you can see he’s still grieving this, he’s a man who goes wherever the wind takes him actually he reminds me of an old school hippie. He started out doing what he does in Tacoma in Seattle, he was ordained on the side of a street in downtown Seattle back in 82 and has seen himself as a missionary and Pastor ever since. Back in 1993 it all changed and he moved to Tacoma just 20 minutes away from Seattle, he did this because no one seemed to care about the urban poor in Tacoma and because no one else would do this he said that they must and they did. He’s loved Tacoma ever since and continues to do so to this day even in the midst of grief, he’s an inspiring individual who has encouraged me this week to seek out some of my intentions concerning Church planting and living intentionally.

I want you to know that the Gospel is real and moving in Seattle and Tacoma, I saw this in the city today and learning from Robert and Greg this whole week. So who do you love? How do you love your city? Or do you need to move to a city that isn’t being loved and love it because no one else is? These are the questions that linger this night as I watch my high schoolers listen to Jack’s Mannequin and play Phase 10.

Grace and Peace be with you.

C-DUB

Seattle Part 2

2010-04-01T21:44:00.000-07:00

Grace and Peace be with you.

C-DUB

Seattle Part 1

2010-03-30T20:36:00.001-07:00

We arrived in Seattle on Saturday March 27 at around 7:00 PM, the evening was tiring as you can imagine and it seemed to take forever to get our luggage. All in all the team was in good spirits and excited about what the week held for them, we met Greg from Network Tacoma that night along with Aaron and Sonia from CIY who we were working with. They picked us up and we settled in for the night back at the Network headquarters.

Before we left I didn’t know what to expect exactly except that we were going to a really cool city in the pacific northwest, so I prayed this prayer “God just break me this week.” I landed expecting this to happen and it does everyday, it’s the art of dying to personal kingdoms and consumerism everyday which is difficult for Americans I’ve noticed especially this one. We love to be in control and think we have everything figured out and we love to be right and will challenge all who oppose us, this is the part of the heart that has to die and I’m reminded of this even here and now sitting in Mandoline’s a local coffee shop in downtown Tacoma. So in this blog let me start out by sharing with you what I experienced Sunday.

On Sunday we got to see brothers and sisters at the Soma community in the morning and the Mars Hill community at night, they are both Acts 29 church plants and both are influential in there own way needless to say I was excited. I went into Soma with Church planters eyes on and got a whole lot more, I’ve been seeking and searching into the direction of church planting these past few years and have continued to feel a calling towards it. At Soma it’s bigger than what it looks, it takes place in a space that looks like an old cafe and this is where about 350 to 400 brothers and sisters gather every Sunday. But that’s the thing Soma is more than Sunday morning, most of there people are being ministered in homes all throughout the week and they understand what it means to be missional everyday and you can feel it. A lot of the people that go to Soma live in community and here’s what I mean by that, instead of a family of 4 living in a 3000 square foot home you would maybe have families of 4 a shut in and anyone else for that matter living in a house, in the words of greg it’s God’s house not ours and they live in community by doing this. Soma loves there city and it shows, in the middle of what was an outstanding hour long sermon the Teacher stops mentioning a sick member and prays for them on the spot, I loved it and it wasn’t fake it was so genuine and so built into the DNA of Soma. Soma is a special place and you can just tell that God is on the move there.

At Mars Hill it’s a lot bigger but it doesn’t feel like it, they meet on about 8 different campuses across Seattle and one in New Mexico, the Ballard campus where Driscoll preaches meets in what looks like an old wherehouse and not very big for mega church standards but what I love is how they use the space. They’re not into building a bigger building for people to come to instead they go to the people, this is why they have campuses instead of building the next biggest building. Mars Hill also is missional and it shows in everything they do, the sermons are an hour long and the service as a whole last’s about 1 hr 40 to 1 hr 45, what’s even more refreshing is that it’s young mostly 25-30 year olds and they want to be there. It’s so refreshing cause I see this happening more and more in the world, Jesus is being discovered and we are currently in a new age of great awakening just see Dallas Willard on that. Needless to say Mars Hill is an inspiring place just like the city and I want you all to know about what the Kingdom is doing out here, I will post more blogs in the coming days on all the other discoveries we are having. Keep praying for God to break me and our team, also pray for the city of Seattle and Tacoma.

Grace and Peace be with you,

C-DUB

Story

2010-01-06T12:04:00.000-08:00

I have this memory growing up when it was about time to go to bed, I'd brush my teeth, put on my pajamas and get into bed but you couldn't call it a day until mom came in to read myself and my brother a book. Every night so it seemed we would take a book off the shelf and our mom would read us a story, these stories were exciting filled with conflict and resolution, wonderful characters who had purpose and you wanted to cheer for them cause you were so engaged into there story. If I were to go to a movie about your life would I be as engaged? What kind of story are you telling with your life, you see we are all living in the midst of our own story but a lot of our stories are mundane and not very inspiring. It seems like we live in a world that has lost the meaning of a good story, I just saw a movie over the weekend that had all the special effects you could want but the story wasn't very good, we have lost the art of a good story.

I say all these things because I'm reading a book currently on story, it's called A Million Miles in a Thousand Years by Donald Miller. Now I hate endorsing a book before I'm completely finished but I think this one is worth it, the book is about writing a story with your life by the greatest storyteller of all God. God has called us to tell great story's with our lives, to live in conflict to always be working toward something that is worth it but the question is what do we desire? What is so important to us that we would die for it? This is a key ingredient to living a good story with our lives. For far too many the story is the American Dream, it's all about buying a new Volvo or building a new house, or how about the dream vacation to Ireland and Scotland so you can play at the Birth Place Golf, ok maybe that's just me but you get my point. So what is something that is worth dying for that can make our stories great?

I would argue that the things that matter are things that take the most sacrifice, relationally, financially, and physically. It's sacrificing your cushy 9-5 job so you can devote your time to building wells in South America, it's leaving your home and job in Central Florida to go be a missionary and live full time in Japan like some of my friends recently did. These are the things that make a story great it's the stuff of movies really, I would love to go see a movie about a guy who leaves his home in Danville Indiana to live on an Indian reservation in Arizona but goes through close to death encounters with the natives, rejection from his family and financial strain to get there. Wouldn't that be a great movie? I would love to see a resolve to a story like this.

So what story will you tell in 2010, I hope it's one that will inspire us all to live a life that is just a little more missional.

Grace and Peace be with you this new year.

Clayton Wheeler

Judge and Jury

2009-12-25T20:07:00.000-08:00

I use to believe that God could convict the guilty and not sentence them, then I had this thought is it God who sentences a person or the person himself? I’m wrestling with the subject of repentance and forgiveness which I believe is connected with the subject of conviction and sentencing.

Growing up I would always watch movies that had protagonist and an Antagonist very clearly to, movies like Indiana Jones and the early Batman movies. It was in these films as an 7,8, and 9 year old I learned what evil was and I learned what Good was. What’s even more compelling now is looking back and seeing the fate that the evil one chose, he chose his own sentence, his own death and so on, all there downfalls was pride he would much rather believe that the lie that he was righteous than to let go and repent of his own actions we all still want to be right don’t we? We want to believe in our own realities and our own characters around us, we want to believe that we are the best father, son, co worker, boss and pastor in the world and everyone else is trying to play catch up with us. Then something interesting happens when we fall into our own human nature.

At some point your going to slip up and make a mistake and sometimes these mistakes affect the lives of so many people that an intervention is called for, it’s the moment where you come home one night and your whole family is waiting to talk to you about something. This puts you in a very interesting and compromising situation doesn’t it? You can hand over all that is wrong and seek reconciliation or you can take on a harder grip and run away or even worse ignore the issue at hand, we all want to avoid things don’t we? This reminds me of the story of Pharaoh, he had a choice he could let God’s people go or he could be a stubborn old Mule, this becomes his path as we read in Exodus. His heart becomes hardened and he ends up killing himself in the process, not by suicide but by stupidity and ignorance.

God is calling us into a life that is free, when we are caught he is inviting us into a life that is so much more free than the one we have created. May God reveal this to you on this day, may you see that Jesus is about freedom. It’s all about becoming free and not hardening your heart.

Grace and Peace be with you.

Calling All Peacemakers

2009-12-14T09:00:00.000-08:00

On a Monday Morning like this one you have more questions than answers, questions like why does Cancer exist? Why is there no peace on earth it seems at times? Or why do I hate the holiday’s especially when this is the holiday where we should be celebrating the life of sacrifice some 2,000 years ago. On most Mondays I wake up a day after the busiest day of the week for me, brew some coffee and get started on the new week. Today however I’m trying to figure out how I can be a better peacemaker.

Last night at the X where I Pastor we talked about bringing peace on this earth, how can this be when we have troops in Afganistan heading out a week before Xmas? Or when we cant give proper health care in our own country and Insurrance Company’s can turn you down for proper coverage because they won’t make money on you? I have to admit that all the above anger me that is when I turn into my flesh, but isn’t there another way? Cant there be peace in the midst of all this hell that seems to exist on this earth? What would it look like if we were a movement of peacmakers, we brought peace to our surroundings and those who need it most?

For me this becomes personal, for those of you who know me well you know I don’t have a great relationship with my father and most of that comes because of moral failure. This post is not about exposing my Father’s nakedness though because I think there is a deeper question to ask here, this is about tuning into an energy beyond my own and seeking a better way, perhaps a way of peace and Love. I will be spending 5 days over Xmas with my dad and I have to prepare my heart for that environment, I have to be ready to be a peacemaker rather than a War Mongler but that’s not going to be easy is it?

Whether you are dealing with illness or strained relationships, or maybe your like me and you can’t figure our why we live in a country that is so fast to bomb and make War? Whatever it is you know like me that we need to bring peace in all circumstances, we need to be peacemakers because Christ himself was a peacemaker. When Christ came to change the world he did something very interesting, in past the world was changed and revolutionized by the sword and chariots and not much has changed to today has it? Rather he came and lived a life of peace and sacrifice, he didn’t use a sword he didn’t say an angry word to the Ceaser rather he sacrificed his own life and gave us the example for what a peacemaker is and does. How can we be peacemakers? You can be a Peacemaker by listening, by being quick to listen and slow to speak and judge may we do these things and be these kinds of people especially at this time of year.

This world will not change until we embrace God’s call to be Peacemakers, he is calling all Peacemakers because whenever something significant happens it’s through peace. Look at Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Mother Theresa, and what about Jesus. He is calling us out from comfort into a life of revolution and significance, he is calling us to be peacemakers. He is calling ALL PEACEMAKERS!

WONT YOU JOIN HIM?

Who do you serve?

2009-08-19T06:32:00.001-07:00

So have you ever had those moments in your life where you have found it to be easier to serve something else? Something that wasn't your father in heaven? Now I'm not talking about serving another God as much as serving something that is visible, maybe it's an I pod, maybe you play too much Golf, maybe you put friends or work above your own family, whatever it is you see what I'm saying here. There is this story in 1 Kings 18 about Elijah going up to Mount Carmel, he goes there because they are serving other god's and Elijah decides to challenge King Ahab to a duel of sorts. So they go up on the mountain and they find out who the true God is, he tells them you call out to your god's and I will call out to my God. Let's see what happens.

Elijah first's asks them to choose a bull but to call out to the bale's to light it on fire, they dance around it, they call out from morning till night but nothing happens. It says that later on Elijah begins to taunt them, he says things like maybe he's on vacation or busy, shout louder, or perhaps he is deep in thought. When he says deep in thought it actually translates on the toilet, so Elijah is basically saying that your god is on the toilet, great stuff. So here is an account of the first ever trash talker in human history and it's Elijah, if he was around today he'd be that annoying guy in your fantasy league who is always talking smack even when he losses ever week. Let's see what happens after this.

So Elijah build an altar and makes a trench around it, he then orders them to fill four jars of water and fill this trench. They do this a couple of times, when the trench was overflowing Elijah went to pray to the LORD and asked him to reveal himself to them on this mountain. then all of a sudden God sent fire down around them and it burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones, and the trench, it also dried up the water that was there. He did this so that there hearts might turn back to him and that they may come back to the one true God.

How many times do we live this story in our own lives? We find ourself worshiping something else because it looks better, it's easier, or maybe it makes you happier and after all God wants you to be happy right? NO! God is more concerned with your joy and your holiness than your happiness. You see God wants to reveal himself to you today just like he revealed himself to Elijah on Mount Carmel, come this weekend to one of our services and allow God to reveal himself to you as we study this narrative more in depth. I hope to see you there.
Grace and Peace,
Clayton Wheeler

Online Church

2009-08-14T18:29:00.000-07:00

So I've been having this conversation over the past few months about a common trend I've begun to see amongst today's larger churches, it's the issue of starting online Campuses. It started about a year ago when I became familiar with the concept when I logged on to lifechurch.tv Pastor Craig Croschel, and yes I probably miss spelled his name but you know who I'm talking about. I should tell you early on that this is more of a discussion and a pole than it is a blog, I'll share with you some of the conclusions I've come to but most importantly I want you to share your views and your thoughts on this.

For those of you who are not familiar with the online campus concept let me get you up to speed. A online campus is another satellite of a larger church, it's suppose to reach those who wouldn't want to walk into a church building or face the whole concept of being face to face with the local body of believers. Supposedly you log on into a live service at one of the other satellite campuses and basically watch the whole service, Music, preaching the whole thing. After this you are put into what you could call a chat room format of a small group where you interact with people who have just watched what you watched at the same time. It's basically church for people who don't want to wake up and interact with people, it's great for the ubber introverts or those 40 year old men living in there parents basement playing the latest version of Gears of War, or should I even say World of Warcraft. Sorry if sarcasm afends you I tend to be kind of sarcastic. So the question that arises is this, is it real? and is it Biblical?

First of all is it real? I tend to believe that the holy spirit can convict you in any setting, this is because I believe we are the church more than we just go to church. What concerns me about this is really my second question. Is it Biblcal? Now I am definitely one for using technology for the betterment of the Kingdom but is this going too far, I understand that your worshiping but what keeps one from logging on checking off that they are present, but then they can walk away and make themselves feel good because they went to church or did they. I mean are they feeding themselves on a daily basis without the accountability of an actual face to face community (Church/Small group) ? I was even watching a video on this this past week where they were having a problem with the small groups they have, aka there chat rooms/small groups. Another question about the whole biblical issue is this, who is handling the Church discipline? In order to be a biblical church from what I've studied in the NT, is that there has to be an eldership or a group of godly men who discipline and disciple those who are in sin and need correction. So as you can see I have my doubts about online church, but I'm not the only one. Mark Driscol raised a lot of the same concerns at the recent Advance conference in North Carolina and I have come to have the same concerns, in my opinion it's a bad idea, it feels to fake and the last thing we need in today's church is more people who are fake. You know those people who think church is all about them being happy and becoming a better you now! All were doing I fear is catering to those who just want to be safe, safe christianity is an oki moron if you ask me. We need to be interacting with people in a community on a daily basis, and there is something about being in a room filled with people praising and worshiping the same God side by side. Before I go any further and if you want to do more research on this before you make up your mind, here are the churches I know of for sure who are doing this if you want to check them out. Central Christian Church Las Vegas, Lifechurchtv Edmond Oklahoma, North Point Community Church Alphareta Georgia. Check them out and tell me what you think, I really want to hear your opinions from both sides that is.

Now let me end with this, I just want to let you know that I still think highly of these pastors listed above I just don't agree with this new trend that they are embracing. So Jud Wilihite, Craig Groschel and Andy Stanley are still great communicators who speak the gospel well and I look forward to hearing and reading form them in the future.

Grace and Peace,

Clayton Wheeler

Shine like Stars

2009-08-12T19:16:00.000-07:00

If you could be anyone in the world, even if it was just for the day who would it be? This question came to my attention in the midst of my study this week, we are all obsessed with being some one else so being the serious guy I am I answered this question. I would want to be a Rock Star more specifically an Indie Rock Star like Ben Gibbard, I'd love to know what it's like to write music and perform in front of thousands and see your video's on MTV and to most importantly have a stage in which I can influence the World. As I was studying I began to wonder is this really a far fetched idea? Maybe so or maybe God put this in my head to wrestle with?

I was studying Philippians 2 for my message this week, in that chapter it talks about Shining like Stars and it caught my attention real quick. What does it look like to shine like stars and what does God mean when he says that we shine like stars? I understand that he wants us to live differently from the world and to be an influence but maybe that means more than even we can imagine?

This brought me to my senior year of High School, during that year Switchfoot had just released a new single entitled "Stars" Now listen to this lyric that I resonated with this week. "When I look at the stars, I see someone else." You see there is this idea that we walk around everyday doing the mundane and not really loving what it is that we do or who we are as humans, but nevertheless when we look at the stars we see someone else. Maybe this someone else is the absolute best version of our real selves, that person who really can move mountains, it's that person who truly best resembles our heavenly father.

You see I believe that Shining like stars looks like this, it's when a Rock Star visits Etheopia and sees a world in poverty and AIDS and says I must do something about this, you see he looked at the Stars and he saw someone else and it changed his life forever. It's when a Woman learns about Sex trade in Southeast Asia and decides to build a place of refuge and restoration for these girls, she looked at the Stars. It's when a man who invented the internet saw a world that had been abused environmentally and decided that something had to change, he looked at the Stars. It's when a man watches a disaster on the Nightly news and notices that the Church isn't there and decides that something must be done so he forms an organization like IDES, he looked at the Stars.

You see God wants us to change the world, he wants us to look at the Stars and see someone else. The very Someone he originally intended for you and I to be.

So may you look at the Stars and see someone else, and may you begin to live a life that is different because you truly have become that someone else.

Grace and Peace be with,

Clayton Wheeler.

Is it Trendy or is it Conviction?

2009-07-30T07:47:00.000-07:00

Yesterday as some of you might know I was in Cincinnati for Warped tour, now I've been going to Warped tour for about three years now and it's always one of the highlights of my summer. First of all you get to see over 40 amazing bands for less than 40 bucks, you get to be a part of a community that at least as a pastor you don't really get to meet otherwise it's absolutely great. Every year there is a huge area of booths most of them are to sell band merch but others are there too for instance, invisible children was there, there is always an Environmental awarness booth as well and TWLOHA is always there making a difference in students lives. If that weren't enough there is always the cause that a Band is behind that they preach from the stage, some might talk about the War others will support some sort of orphanage, and still others a group like TWLOHA. Now here is what I love and what I'm concerned about when it comes to this wave that I'm seeing.

When I found out about 9 years ago about what Bono was doing for AIDS relief in Africa and world poverty I thought it was great, I said now here's a guy who truly gets what being a Christian is all about for he his a brother in Christ to me. He takes the passage of the least of these to heart he notices the fact that Jesus spends more time talking about the poor than almost anything else in scripture, you would think that this is an important and very central part of the Biblical narrative. What you began to see after Bono and Mother Teresa was this, every celebrity and in turn many members of a young generation begin to get behind cause after cause after cause. I love seeing this, I love seeing people get passionate about wanting a greener earth, I love seeing the fact that God does not want war and murder in any context is not human, I love seeing them get behind helping out girls who have been trafficked in other country's, I love seeing them help girls who have become addicted to self injury, I love them being concerned for the poor, the widow, the Orphan just like Christ called us too. But here's what has begun to concern me about this and it's one word Genuine.

Are they genuinely concerned or is it popular, let's say that Bono never took a stance on world poverty that there was no oprah or any other celebrity saying that this is wrong and we must do something about it? Would we still be bothered by these social issues? I hope so but I don't know if we would, this concerns me cause the Gospel without conviction is heresy! I believe that Bono is convicted, I believe a lot of the people I saw yesterday are convicted, I believe my friend Tyler with Love can't be BAHT is convicted, I believe my uncle Rick with IDES is convicted in fact I know those people are convicted but what about you? Are you convicted, this is what I want to know cause this is important, if you think that Christianity is all about going to Church and Bible study and Small group but you have no concern for the poor, the Widow, or the Orphan then I question if you got the message in the first place. All I want to address here is a bringing back to the drawing page, where we begin to be concerned about the things of Christ not because of Bono, not because of some other band but because Christ commands and invites us into a life that can change the World. GOD BELIEVES WE CAN CHANGE THE WORLD!

So may God convict you out of his word to look after the Widow, the Poor, and the Orphan and may we embrace a Life that changes this world through the Gospel that we claim.

Grace and Peace,

C-DUB

An update for Florida.

2009-07-13T09:42:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, it's been awhile since I've posted and I apologize it's been a really busy summer and I'm just now beginning to catch my breath, for those Youth Pastors out there you know what I'm saying here. Anyway this past week I was called out on not posting by a dear friend of mine and decided it was time to post something new, in particularly to those of you down in Florida who have been asking me questions about how the internship is going. So I thought I'd use this post to just share some about my life up here, how it's going, and to share some of what I've been learning these past few months.

When I got here I didn't know how I'd adjust or what life would look like, the biggest question I had was who would I live with and would we mesh well or not. All of that was put aside when I met Judy and Justin who have become like Parents to me, They are both locals who have pretty much lived here there whole lives. Justin owns a plumbing business in town and was an elder here at Northview until about a year and a half ago, he loves to play Church softball, loves to hunt, and loves a good evangelistical sermon. Judy is your classic house wife who takes care of things on the home front, she is also very out spoken in other words your not gonna run all over her at all she can hold her own, I really loves this about them. Needless to say I live in an upstairs room in there home and interact with there family whenever I can, 2 of there three kids live here in town which means the house is joyful with the sounds of anywhere from 7 to 10 grandkids at a time, it's great I absolutely love seeing good family's interact with each other.

People ask me if I miss Florida at all, now usually I don't know how to answer that so I'll say this. I miss certain people but to be honest I've been to busy to really dwell on that, plus too many people have made this place feel like home for me to really miss it. Not a day goes by however that I don't think of most of you, every morning I wake up and I look forward to what I get to do, I really love my job and I love those I get to work with both staff and volunteers. What's weird is here I am doing ministry full time and no longer in the class room for the moment, the thing I fear most is struggling back into the last year of classes, I really love doing ministry everyday full time. I get to preach, I get to disciple, and I get to interact with fellow pastors in the area I love it. I will miss not doing ministry full time when I return, so in this I ask for accountability and encouragement to finish, it's important and I know for a fact that I still have more studying to do in order to be as effective as I need to be in the local Church. Terry Allcorn says that there is something to be said about finishing a degree, Terry is correct, Mike Baker told me that it's important to be able to show churches that I did the work and I have a Bible College degree. But let me tell you something there is a different type of education out here than there is in the classroom, it's just as important but different so I encourage all of you to be aware of this. Don't expect Bible College to prepare you for everything, the best education out there for someone who wants to be in ministry full time is this, learn to fail try things and find out if you like it or not and when you fail try try again, please don't fear this practice. Also learn from those who are older than you, those who have been there before and know what's it's like to be fresh out of school, I have about 10 of these type of influences in my life that I can go to at any given time this is important!

Now being in ministry full time I was asked about a week ago by a dear friend in Tennessee about what my week looks like, now I don't know why but we in ministry are obsessed with Pastors and how they function throughout the week, I do it too I was listening to a Mark Driscoll interview once when he was asked about his average week, I was glued to my computer listening to him talk about each day and what he does, so here you go this is my average week.

Sunday: This is usually a 10 hour day for me, it starts at me arriving at the church around 7 in the morning, for one hour I look over my sermon to the middle schoolers and get the room set up, from 8 to 9 I interact with people and just be available and visible. From 9 to 10:15 I'm in Middle School X teaching and hanging with Middle School students and sponsors, it's a great time and my favorite part of Sunday morning, at night I do the X High School and afterword usually go get coffee or food with some students. On Monday I come and detox from the long day before with some coffee, this is my heavy devotional day, I listen to sermons read and start studying for my lesson the coming Sunday, I also do production for the up coming Sunday. Tuesday I do all the Discipleship stuff for the coming Sunday, small group questions if it calls for a game then I prepare a Game. On Wed I finish my sermon and send out emails to my sponsors about what they need to know for that Sunday, Thursday is my day off which means I rest, read, study, and Golf whenever I can. Friday is my errand day and my detail day for Sunday. Saturday is a day of study and rest in preparation for Sunday. I try to work about 50 hours a week, this is because I have sponsors who work at least 40 hours if not more a week and then I expect them to come and volunteer for an extra 3 to 4 hours on a weekend. Now if I expect them to put in the time then I should lead by example my self so I've arrived to the 50 hour work week.

I hope this email wasn't boring but informative, I thank all of you for your prayers and look forward to seeing you all before too long.

Grace and Peace,

Clayton Wheeler.

It's like a Shadow

2009-05-26T12:10:00.001-07:00

I have this vision that I can't seem to get rid of, I had it in Florida and it still remains with me here in my office in Danville Indiana. It's not an annoying thing but is something that makes me re evaluate almost everything I do from time to time, I think it's healthy but is it productive? I feel as though God gives us these questions to make sure we still have a pulse, this is almost always the first thing a nurse will check when you go in to the ER they want to know that your still breathing that you still know how to function as fully human. Is God the same way with the birth of vision, mystery and wonder? I believe so and it doesn't bother me at all, what does bother me is when people tend forget that they are alive and ignore these feelings that are clearly God ordained. So what does this look like, what are these questions of which I speak, here's a few examples.

I don't want to start a capital campaign it's too risky, let's just put that under the rug and burry it?

I don't think Seminary is for me, I'm not smart enough and it's too much work?

Africa why would I go to Africa I wasn't trained to be a missionary?

Plant a Church your crazy God, do you realize how many Church plants fail in the first year?

It's those type of questions we get every single day, there holy yet kind of annoying some days. By answering one of those questions I find myself here working at a Church in Indiana 2 days away from my hometown, it doesn't bother me but it excites me. so what are the questions you've been given? What is it that just tends to follow you wherever you go? Maybe it's time to answer the Call of God?

Grace and Peace be with you.

C-DUB

The Move day 1

2009-05-13T21:10:00.000-07:00

Hey guys, as you all know I set out this morning for my new home, Danville Indiana. On my first leg of the trip I made a stop in Columbia South Carolina to visit my good friends the Huston's, Kevin is the new Campus Minister at the Shack on the campus of the university of South Carolina, it's seems like a really great place and I can tell that they are really excited about this opportunity to minister here.

You know as someone who is very young and very early into ministry I already love to see the passion that can run through a person who finds themself in a place that fits there vision, a lot of people find themselves in a place where they never really see themselves and it shows to people like you and me. People lose there vision and live a life that is filled with no passion, as I drive and get closer to Indiana my anticipation grows as I begin to think about what I will be learning and putting into practice in Student Ministry. So tomorrow I head on to East Tennessee for my day two stop, Goehners here I come.

Grace and Peace,

Clayton Wheeler.

Much ado about what?

2009-04-23T19:34:00.000-07:00

This past week and really for about the past year or so I've been coming across blog after blog on these issues, Barack Obama, Gay Marriage, and Abortion. Now I'm not going to mention each of these in this blog but I will take on the issue of Barack Obama's behavior and early presidential decisions, Gay Marriage, and throw in a little Rick Warren based on what he has recently said about gay marriage. So in the words of the Joker "And here we go."

On Sunday night I don't know if you heard but the USA pagant was on, miss California was clearly in the lead when it came time for the interview. Her question came from Perez Hilton a gossip collumnist and yes he is of the same family as the famous hiltons, his question was very much direct and to the point. "Vermont just passed a law that says it is legal for a gender of the same sex to marry, how do you feel about this issue?" Now California was a devout Christian and Perez knew this very well, she answered from a personal point of view that she believed that marriage was for a man and a woman only. Now hows that for your controversial headlines, needless to say her answer would forfet the crown, what kind of world do we live in when we no longer have freedom of religion? We can no longer speak our own mind? What's frustrating for me is that most Christians actually care about how the world treats us, now here's what I mean by that. In the New Testament you here story after story of men like Paul and Peter going to prison because they just wouldn't shut up about there resurrected savior, you see it didn't matter to them what the government said or popular demand they kept on preaching. All I've been hearing lately from Christians has been "well there taking away our freedom of speech." That may be true to a point but you have to understand that if you are a disciple of Christ you are not an American, German, Canadian or whatever country you call residents. You see your residents is in the New Jerusalem with Jesus himself, so it shouldn't matter what happens here as far as freedom goes, if it's truth according to scripture I don't care if it's Hitler or Obama never be afraid to speak the truth of Christ. It says to count it a blessing whenever you face trials and persecutions of many kinds. If this verse is true then I think Christ for the persecution that came about Sunday, thank you Jesus and may this be the first of many times in which one of your creation stands up and proclaims your name, maybe it will be like during the stoning of stephen when you stood and clapped for your disciple Stephen when he was being persecuted and yet still preached your word.

Now as far as Obama goes do I think yet that he is the anti Christ, my answer is still the same NO! Am I concerned with some of his decisions yes, but let's look at something positive that happened this week at the forum. Barack Obama sought out the president of Venezuala and shook his hand, this has been a man who has had a bad relationship with the US during Bush's administration but after words he said to Obama thanks for the gesture and know that I want to be your friend. Now I know this is something little but I think we can take some positive away from this.

Now Rick Warren was quoted as saying this past week that "I'm not anti Gay." Now what he was saying is that from a political stand point he's not going to be an activist when trying to make Gay Marriage illigal, but know that from a Scriptural Standpoint he is still very much a man who understands God's view on such an issue. So please don't be too harsh on the man after all countless people have been changed because of his ministry and as his brothers and sisters I think we celebrate that fact.

So may God teach us to be the kind of people who simply wont sit down but will stand up for truth, and may we speak your word even if one day it may cost us our life. For our residence is not here but up there with you.

Grace and Peace be with you.

C-DUB.

Paradise

2009-04-11T13:02:00.000-07:00

Today is that in between day of the resurrection weekend, it's the day where Christ is said to have gone down to hell and defeated Satan and finished the job or was it a sabaath? I wonder looking back at one of his final words recorded on the cross, he says to the thief that today you will be with me in paradise. What does this mean? Last night I spent some time thinking about this phrase and I got this picture of Jesus and the thief spending Saturday together in paradise fulfilling his promise to this unknown man who appears only briefly in the Bible.

Another thought that came across my head was this, maybe he spent the day with me, and then this new picture arose of me walking with Christ on a Golf Course in paradise with Jesus sipping on some amazing Coffee discussing the significance of what he had just done for me. Maybe Christ was saying today you will be with me in paradise which perhaps translates into today you will all be with me in paradise, I want to spend time with you I want to have a personal relationship with, I want to partner with you in this thing we call life. So Christ wants to be with me today in paradise? What a thought what a creator who would want to be with the sinful person that I am. so here I stand on the 11th of April waiting for my savior to arise in the hopes that I too may continue to live a life of resurrection so that I too may spend the day in paradise with Christ.

Maybe Paradise isn't really an actual place but maybe it's when you are spending time with your savior wherever you are, maybe that's paradise. So may you spend this day in paradise with your creator and may you arise a new creation with him.

Grace and Peace.

C-DUB

Is it an oil change or is it something else?

2009-04-11T12:55:00.000-07:00

Today has been a rough day but also bright in lots of ways too, this morning I had to get my car looked at which turned out to be a continuing sago that will last through Monday ugh. As I'm sitting in the waiting room I strike up a conversation with this older man from Clearwater, found out he as in town for his son's basketball game and had to get his car looked at as well. So since we were in the same boat we decided to pass the time by talking to each other.

As I look back on the conversation I can't help but wonder why it happened, I wonder if there was something more spiritually significant going on? If there was I wonder if I made the test did I do what God wanted me to do, the conversation did go into what I did for a living and what I'm studying to become? My prayer this day is for him and his family that maybe a seed was planted and that I have more oil changes like this on.

Good?

2009-04-09T19:02:00.000-07:00

I was walking down the sidewalk on campus today with one of my friends, we were just talking and shooting the breeze when he said this "Gosh it's already good friday." Have I totally forgotten about it? Well it was the first time all week I had given it thought and I am ashamed to say that, I'm busy but should I really be so busy that I forget what the main thing is? Sometimes I wonder why they call it good friday, I mean what was so great about it? My savior hung on a cross for some 9 hours for myself and that's suppose to be good? It makes me scratch my head cause I think there is something more significant going on here, something that I may never be able to understand.

When I read this in scripture I see this picture of the disciples looking from a cowardly distance with no clue as to what's really going on, if you've been in many churches recently you would get the same feeling. I walk into the foyer and some people are being real but some are being fake. "How are you doing today? Fine! " Or when translated it would say this "I really don't care how your doing but I'm gonna ask anyway and I will have no idea how you responded cause I'm ten feet down the hall." People just don't get it, they say they understand but they really don't. It's just like the disciples on the original good friday, they sat and watched while something more significant than they could ever imagine was going on right before there eyes, I mean Peter even denied him. Whats happened when some people will only attend Church on easter and the only time we even mention the resurrection is on this Sunday, it seems to me that if he really is LOVE then shouldn't we celebrate this event all the time? Now don't get me wrong I hold this weekend very dear to my heart every year but if your looking for me to make a big deal about it I won't because I want to see us become the Kingdom that celebrates the empty tomb every day, I mean after all it is an empty tomb still isn't it? Now that's worth celebrating!

Grace and Peace.

C-DUB

HIATOS

2009-01-17T12:17:00.000-08:00

It's been over a month since I posted last and so much has been going on, in my head and in my spirit. Now I don't want to bore with exact detail cause that's not what Confessions is about, but I do want to share some thoughts I've had regarding books, The Church, And family.

I am an avid reader who reads constantly, mostly stuff about Church leadership, Christian living, and Preaching and Teaching. Now what you didn't see in that list is the Bible, over the past month I have become convicted of the thought that I should be reading my Bible above all other forms of literature. I have come to believe that if the Church took the Bible as serious as we should then most of the books that I've been reading would not of had to of been written, no Pagan Christianity, no Simple Church, no Velvet Elvis, not even Your better Life now. Now I'm not saying that any of these books are wrong, in fact I highly reccomend all except that last one I mentioned. What I am saying is that we should do some damage in the Bible before we go searching elsewhere, we should be Biblicly sound first and foremost.

I have some friends who are giving up on the Church, they think that anything more than 20 people isn't a Church and we should all go to house Churches, let's just say that they all take Pagan Christianity to literally. This disturbes me cause I feel as though instead of going in the direction of unity this is only gonna cause more division amongst the Church, As a Disciple I beleive that this goes against what God wants for his body. We need everything the small church, the house church, the midsized church, the mega church, and most importantly we need the Church to be the Church, a body, not a building or some ritual we do once a week. By the way it has been said by Mark Driscoll in recent messages and books that there will be more mega Churches in the future, contrary to what some emerging types think. Now I don't know about all of that but my prayer is that we go in the direction of acting instead of arguing!

I said earlier that I would address my family but I feel as though that that's meant for another time and another blog. Thanks for reading.

Grace and Peace be with you.

C-DUB

RED

2008-12-01T13:26:00.000-08:00

How intentional are you? Sometimes I ask myself this question and it's more of a reminder and accountability than a question, you see it keeps me focused on whether or not I am still doing what matters with my life. today is AIDS awarness day this is something that has grown rampant in our world in recent years and it's something that is calling out to be dealt with, I believe God has heard the cry of those suffering in Africa just as he heard there cry in EGYPT, my question today is how are you going to react towards this issue?

I believe AIDS has become the new leprosy, it's un clean and dirty and something people seem to be ashamed to talk about and most people could care less about this issue I feel. Do you think this attitude makes GOD CRY? All I know is that it makes me cry, how can we sit here when there is still work to be done, still valley's to cross, still people to save. I wonder if GOD is just sitting up in heaven watching us and wondering how long we'll wait until we do something, the encouraging news is that people are doing something but it's not the Church it's not the bride. How can this be right? How can something so horrible be happening and the Church be the one who is years behind everyone else in reacting towards this, we just spent an entire year campaigning for a particular candidate of choice when there was something bigger we could have been doing. I don't think this generation will be judged by who we put in office to be honest I don't God cares to the degree some of his disciples do, no I think this generation will be judged by how we dealt with these issues. AIDS, WORLD POVERTY, SEX TRAFFICKING, THE WIDOW, THE ORPHAN, THE ABUSED. Maybe if we start seeing the world the way God sees it maybe then we'll actually be motivated to do something?

There's this story in the New Testament of Jesus healing a Lepor, would he heal an AIDS victim today? Maybe were the one's who can heal by just remembering, by just caring, by just knowing and seeing things the way a God sees them I mean this is his creation who is dieing needlessly.

So may God wake you up to what really matters, may he show you the world through his eyes and may your heart break and may that motivate you to be Jesus to these issues.

Grace and Peace be with you.

It's a nice idea.

2008-11-25T21:08:00.000-08:00

Love, is there anything more beautiful than Love what about those who have never experienced it, sometimes I find myself wondering if love even exist's or if it's just a nice idea that man made up. I mean let's face it man has made up some pretty awesome things, Space travel, football, coffee of course, flight, and music just to name a few but what about love. You see I understand Football because I see it on TV, I understand Coffee because I drink it every day but Love do we really see love everyday. Maybe love is so complicated that we had to give it different definitions, first of all you have Agape Love which is unconditional Love that God has for his creation, but you also have that Love that I have to something as silly as Coffee, but what about the other Love the one so many don't experience that's right the one where you love someone else so much you want to spend the rest of your life with that person that's the one I'm talking about.

So back to my original question have you ever experienced Love at least Love like this? I can tell you for sure that I haven't but it doesn't mean I haven't tried or am going to stop trying but I can't help but think that I'm chasing after something that doesn't exist, I hope this blog doesn't depress you cause I'm not, to be honest I love being single right now. I can do what I want, It's easier to see Christ when your single, and there is still that sense of adventure still to be found in this life I LOVE it. Sometimes I wonder since God says that he is Love maybe you don't truly know love until you know God? Maybe when you get to the heart of who your creator is then you get to the heart of what LOVE is? Maybe were chasing the wrong thing? Maybe instead of chasing Love we should be chasing God and in the process we find both. Let me leave with these lyrics by the Postal Service.

"Tell me am I right to think that there could be nothing better,

Then making you my bride and slowly growing old together."

C-DUB

Waking your own dead.

2008-11-24T17:32:00.000-08:00

Were you born already dead? Sometimes I feel this way not literally but spiritually in my heart I can feel it. I was having a conversation about this last night and all of a sudden all these revolations started coming to me, I can't just talk a big game I have to actually play. You see lately I've been talking a lot about ministry and different decisions that should be made but I don't act on it. Is this what Paul meant when he was talking being bold in your faith? If that is the case then I am the most dead pastor on the face of the planet.

There's a saying out there that goes like this "Were not saved by works but for works." This rings true I believe, I don't know how you can be a human being and not do good works the first time you make a difference in someone's life you get this high that can never be replaced, you begin to see that your life is bigger than your own and you want to have more to do with that than your own life. I think if we examined this more we would begin to discover what it means to wake ourselves up from this sleep.

I don't want to be the guy who talks the talk but has no actions to match it with, if I talk about being concerned about Africa then I want to do something about it, if I want to follow God wherever that may be then I want to follow, you see I want to live not live dead. Let me leave you with these lyrics by Coldplay.

"I don't want to battle from beginning to end

I don't want a cycle of recycled revenge

I don't want to follow death and all of his friends."

Neither do I!

C-DUB

My First Blog Officially.

2008-11-21T09:08:00.000-08:00

So this is my first blog, in the past I have written notes on Facebook and even blogged for awhile on Myspace. However in the past few months I have been asked to start blogging in a more open community, this is why I'm here most of my blogs will have to do with spirituality, Polotics, Progressive Culture, and whatever else I decide to post. I am a revolutionary trying to bring the Kingdom of God to this earth, my hope is invite others into being revolutionary's with me!

C-DUB