Do everything with Love challenge

1 Corinthians 16:14 is a simple verse that says "Let all that you do be done with LOVE." Now I want to call out a challenge to all those who read this blog it's called the "Do everything with LOVE challenge" When you love someone you will do all that you can, you will give sacrificially, you will try your hardest, you will do your best. This challenge is to go out and do something, but do it with love. It's going to cost you something maybe time, money, or it might even take you out of your comfort by doing something that really isn't you like talking with a total stranger.
In the comment box below write what you did, not what you're thinking about doing. You can do more than one thing, but we only have one day for this challenge.
So today live out this scripture by doing everything with LOVE.

Stop and Listen

Today I'm staying in, I feel sick as a dog...But I'm glad I can catch up on some reading.
The Washington Post did an experiment with Joshua Bell, the world’s best violin player. They put him in a Washington DC Metro stop to work his musical magic. Would people stop and listen to the world’s best violin player who’s playing one of the world’s best violins (his violin was made in 1730 and cost $3.5 million)? check this clip out


Why wouldn't people stop and listen to one of the greatest musicians of our time? I think there are two reasons why:

1. People are to distracted- several people who walked by this man had a chance to listen to a FREE concert of a great musician but because of the busyness of life: emails, newspaper, lattes, text messages, phone calls they all could not appreciate the sounds of a masterpiece.
2. People just didn't know who this guy was- I have to say if I didn't read about who Joshua Bell is, if this article didn't explain the truths about who he is and what he has done, I would have never known who he was, so I think I wouldn't have recognized him.

Do you think these two reasons hold truth about "Jesus?" I mean several people have NO time for Jesus. We live in a busy world that demands more time at work than more time with the Lord.
also several people don't know the truths about who Jesus is other than what they see on TV, there is a need for people to be like this article to explain to others who Jesus is, our Christ our savior.

Today take time to listen to the music, take time to listen to what Jesus is saying to YOU.

Sunday Night REwind

• We Kicked off our NEW Sunday Service at 11:17am at CWCM and it was Great, glad to see some familiar faces but also glad to see the many new faces.
  
• Can't lie it felt like a weird transition but I was glad to see the support from the Spanish ministry and our team come in and work together.
• Next Sunday, April 5th, we are hosting a FREE breakfast for the community of Milpitas!! click here for more info or click here for directions, hope to see you there.
• We have a great church that is eager to HELP out in any way for our BIG FREE breakfast. Remember to invite more people out!
  
• Thinking about new ways to invite people to church, any ideas? what's working at your church?
• Had some fun at Jaydens' B-day party, never knew how fun flying a kite was! check out this picture of Zai flying a kite. oh yeah the food was off the HOOK!!
  
• It's weird b/c the days I don't want to preach, God decides to take over. Just re-affirms me that I can't do this on my own it's only by his strength, grace, and faithfulness that I do what I do.
  
• My style of preaching has changed totally, I think I'm finding my swing but still trying things out.
• It's so amazing to see a church sing w/o no instruments just voices. Made the whole church (MCEC) sing A Capella.
• God is good, and all the time God is good!
  

Killing Cockroaches pt.4

10 things I'll remember after visiting Disney:

I like Disney Land but not as much as Amanda LOVES Disney, I get tired too fast and my legs start hurting, what can I say I'm getting old! Anyways Tony Morgan points out 10 things that he remembers after visiting Disney (p.53):

1. The experience begins in the parking lot.
2. We will invest a lot of money to make dreams come true.
3. It helps to have someone with you who's been there before.
4. The value of excellence transcends socioeconomic and cultural barriers.
5. It's hard to communicate with people who wear masks.
6. The journey is more fun when you're on it with friends.
7. The world is small.
8. Lots of people fulfilling the same mission can achieve great results.
9. It's possible to leave behind a lasting legacy for future generations.
10. We remember the fireworks at the end.

Do people want to go to church like people want to go to Disney? Can church really be a place where dreams come true?

Killing Cockroaches pt.3

Compel them to come in
"Then the master said to the servant, ‘Go out into the highways and hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be filled." -Luke 14:23

Near my house there is this little center that holds a IHOP, a laundry mat, a video store, and a Chinese buffet. Now I have gone to both restaurants and both are good but one seems to be better than the other because they have a more selections on their menu. See there have been several times that I've gone to this same location on a Saturday morning to eat breakfast and I see this long line of people awaiting to eat at IHOP but to the right is this untouched chinese buffet. Now I have a choice to make at this point, wait 20 minutes for moons over my hammy or I can get quick access to sweet and sour pork and noodles, what will I do? well not sure about you, but for me I will stick to the obvious, IHOP. Why, you may ask? well there is a reason people will stand outside to wait to be seated, it maybe their service you know what you see on the menu is what you will get, their selection varies from breakfast to dinner they give me an option, or just the experience someone always knows me there. Those are just some reasons why I will choose IHOP over the Chinese buffet all the time.

"Is your church service compelling? after all, our church services are competing with every other opportunity people have to invest their time. They could be reading the Sunday paper, sipping Starbucks coffee, golfing, sleeping in. We can shout the claims of Christ all we want, but if we don't compel people to come in and listen, our message is fruitless." -Tony Morgan (p.26)

Why aren't people compelled to come to church? I mean if we are serving the best thing possible, JESUS, why isn't their crowds of people in service on Sunday mornings. If you read throughout the gospels Jesus always attracted large crowds, what kind of crowd is your church attracting?
How can we make church more compelling for others to come?

Killing Cockroaches pt.2

What are Cockroaches?

Have you ever had an encounter with a cockroach before? what is your first reaction? Do you take care of it (by taking care of it you know what I'm talking about) or do you just look at the cockroach skedaddle along? ok ok I've hit you with many questions, but do keep them in the back of your mind as you read along.

I've had my shares of Cockroach encounters and to be honest with you , AHHHHHH, I hate cockroaches! You know what I mean, they are these ugly, crawling, small/big (I've heard Hawaii has a couple juicy ones out there) pretty fast, CRUNCHY (It only takes one crunch) insects that live in the cracks of dark warm places. Nobody, and I mean Nobody likes Cockroaches (and if you do I'll give you should repent) 

I can remember just recently going to this taqueria with some friends and all of a sudden, yes you guessed it a cockroach on the wall!! I literally was paralyzed and thought to myself, "If I stop looking at it, then probably it will disappear and I will be able to enjoy my super burrito." Well as much as I tried  not looking at it, I could feel it looking at me with those long antennas and eyes (not sure if they even have eyes) I couldn't take it anymore so I did the impossible. I got a napkin knocked it down. Then to the hard part. I don't like killing cockroaches b/c of the crunch. Now I could have let the cockroach go but then I would always know, "he's somewhere around here?" so I did it...I introduced him to my size 11 vans and sent him to cockroach heaven, or hell.

Cockroaches in ministry or in leadership are those little things that many of us don't want to take initiative of squashing. Thinking that the more I don't look at the problem the quicker it will disappear, the opposite is true for this method. 

I just looked up "Cockroaches" in wikipedia just to find out that cockroaches adapt readily to warm conditions found within buildings. Got me thinking if something (Church or team) remains the same (a constant warm temperature) Cockroaches will adapt and start manifesting and growing, because you don't have to be an Orkin man to know that where there is one cockroach there are several!!

What Cockroaches are crawling around your church, ministry, or team? are you willing to squash'em?

Twitter Freak!!

Killing Cockroaches pt.1

Recently I just finished a book, "Killing Cockroaches" by Tony Morgan, that has totally challenge the way I think about "How to do Church." Now a quick background, I have been raised in church spent most of my time sleeping under a pew when I was younger, tried so hard to rebel but I just couldn't because the fear of God (you know the one your parents tell you about like when He will ZAPP you as soon as you enter a movie theatre), and now I help out at my church with whatever I can do. Church for me can just become something that is routine. You know you come to through those doors and you expect some older individual to give you a handshake and a bulletin and tell you God bless you, then you enter the sanctuary only to hear the same songs playing and the same people on stage, if the songs didn't get you well the preaching will because instead of giving something attainable, applicable and astounding the preacha man just goes through a long history about who Jesus was...Ok if you read through all that you might be laughing (b/c thats your church) or you might be sick in your stomach because you church still hasn't changed.

So throughout this week I am going to bring up some main ideas, that I wrestled with, which Tony wrote about and I'm just going to share with you, the reader.

(If you are a church leader get your hands on this book it really challenges the status quo on how to do church?)

Ok with that said I just want to leave you off with this one question that I asked myself as I read through this book...

"Can CULTURE and CHRIST crossbreed?"

It works!

Recently I posted a blog about making appointments and marking them on a calendar, and so far I have been doing so. Although it may not be as busy or marked up like yours I have had a great time marking things out. Now I enjoy being busy because it makes me feel like I am accomplishing something, but now I'm prioritizing my busyness and it doesn't overwhelm me as much!
When I first started this I was marking down everything so it can seem like I have something to do people to meet, you know what I mean. I started marking down my devotional times, my blogging time, meeting up with Amanda time, even time to take out the trash. I really thought I was never going to meet with anyone else other than Amanda then all of a sudden I started making calls and emails, and wouldn't you know it I had two meetings, way cool.
I guess you'll never know what you are capable of until you set your mind to it and do it, and even though you may think what you are doing is minimal consider it practice for the the latter.

Sunday Night REwind

• Another Great service here at the "M"
• Troy and I have been speaking back to back weeks! wow, I don't know how Pastors across the globe do this every weekend?
• I enjoyed speaking today's word, "Lord make us come together"
• The videos we made were hilarious!!
• After service we had a great white board session. Honestly I love coming together with the team and thinking, creating, dreaming! they are all talented and bring new perspectives to the table.
  

I truly believe we are picking up NEW momentum and it's time to start building!
-Pastor Ant has some CRAZY (in a good way) Vision right now, but it's crazy enough to work.
-We will be starting our new series this upcoming week ''Defining Moments''
-I have a major headache right now, and want to stop writing, I never get headaches.
-preached the same message @ M.C.E.C, great response as well.
-I truly love expanding the Kingdom of God.

Coming Together

As we ended our series "One Prayer" Troy Lepisi and I decided to make a (funny) video showing how much we can accomplish together! there is one more video to come later this week, enjoy:
Coming Together from santos samayoa on Vimeo.

What a way to open up your service

I was amazed when I saw this, and to be an opener for Sunday service WOW it's flipping tight!! Makes me want to ditch sprint and buy an iphone. I wonder if we can ever open up our service like this one day?

7 things to do in these dark times pt.2

2. I will trust the Lord...(Ps.27:3)- Trusting anyone is the most difficult thing to do! but now you are telling me to trust somebody that I can't even see, feel, or hear? now that is crazy! Yes it may sound like that but trusting in God is something that we can all do. Trusting him with our jobs, family, finances, life. If there is anyone we can and should trust its the creator of this universe the creator of you and I. It's not going to be easy but it's worth it especially now. Trust is just faith, and without fait it is impossible to please God.

3. I will offer joyful sacrifices in His Holy Temple...(Ps.27:6)- In hard times the tithe seems to be the easiest thing to clear from our budgets. It seems like an uneven trade because all God asks for is 10 percent, that's it! doesn't seem like much but in dark times 10 percent feels like your giving away more than your saving. It seems like an uven trade when God wants 10 percent from us while He gave 100 percent when He gave His son Jesus. The area of finances are the only area where God says to test him. Give God your first 10 percent and he'll bless the rest!

if you haven't already start tithing, but times are tough? yes I understand, but God is greater than our problems.

Pencil it in

Yesterday I heard a great message from Stevin Furtick. He spoke to young leaders and challenged them to carry around a calendar with them. On this calendar you should start penciling in your appointments or your to do list. He says that all though it seemed funny to be carrying around a calendar through high school he got into the habit. It may seem like there is nothing to jot down, but you are preparing yourself for the future.
Now for those of you that know me, well i'm not such an organized person when it comes to tasks and stuff I'm like Mr. Chau's, ''I'm all over the place!'' (haha...ok not so funny) but i'm really challenged to start penciling things into my calendar which I will be carrying. Now I may not be as busy as many pastors but this will be a training for my future. I may not be there right now but i'm preparing for where i'm going?
do you use a calendar? how do you keep this a normal routine in your life?

7 things to do in these dark times pt.1

We can all agree that these are hard times that we are living in but at the same time it's a great time for believers to show who Christ is to those who don't believe. I don't know about you but things are a bit shaky around my neck of the woods. I mean my job isn't so secure, my pay is average, and the likely hood of me getting another job well it's a must. I have plans for this coming year that are going to include a little bit more than some change, and I think I have done a good job saving but still these dark times seem to grip my heart, but I must remember that God is my source.
Reading through the word I discovered Psalm 27 that revealed 7 things to do in these dark times:

1. So why should I be afraid...(Ps.27:1)- We as believers have HOPE! I believe we must ask ourselves that question, especially now, "why should I be afraid?" Understand that money and prize possessions are just a form of resources but GOD is our ultimate SOURCE. It's easy to allow fear to over take us, I recently heard that fear is faith in a different kingdom. "For God has not given us a spirit of fear but of power and of love and of a sound mind." Instead of feeling fear we must excercise our God given power (faith), love, and a sound mind (peace).

How can you today apply these three excercises in your life?

Blast from the Past!

here is a blast from the past featuring Pastor Nick, Paez, and Scooty.

Sunday Night REwind

• What a great way to kick off the month of March. Troy and I had an opportunity to preach today at CWCM, we came together to speak our message "Lord make us Followers."
• Anytime I see first time visitors it excites me =) I hope they come back, lets keep them in prayers (Monique & Craig)
• From the reaction of the crowd, everyone seems to enjoy the Troy&SantZ combo...wait to they see what we have in store for them next week! YOU have to be there.
• Today felt different but good, I really enjoyed what P.Ant told me "You looked like you belong there."
  
• Read this quick post by Mark Batterson really put a lot of things into perspective.
• Even if it's just one life that comes back to the Lord, then I know that it was worth it.
• I love what I'm doing!
• Quick shout out to my beautiful and talented girlfriend! Thanks for you prayers Manda. She did a great time in worship and she always gives me good(er) sermon illustrations!! (Queso Dip anyone?)
• Great job Troy couldn't have done it without you, also that song you wrote...DANG it was tight.
• I heard P.Ant and the Team tore it up!
• It's my sisters b-day tomorrow! (wow I'm getting old)
  
• Today was G.R.E.A.T!!