» Pastor Joe Rios Sr.

It's finally here... I have been telling every single person I can tell... I have been posting all over myspace... I have been thinking about waht God is going to do in people's lives starting this new Spanish service at Church of Champions.

Pastor Rios... To me, this man means a lot. I have stared at pictures of when my parents started to go to church back in the 1980s... the way they did it back then... WOW! I have seen the pictures of when my parents dedicated me to the Lord, and how Pastor Rios prayed for me.

He was my pastor during my childhood years.. I remember being raised in church, clapping my hands to the loudest music that you could ever hear. Hundreds of people engaged in corporate worship. Running the aisles was common when I was a child. Hehe! And there was the preaching! Oh, the preaching of Pastor... I have tapes that date back to 1984. I was not even born yet! But the preaching.. the illustrations that were given in the pulpit, compelling sinners to walk to an altar where they could kneel and tell God, "I surrender!"

I remember sitting in the padded pews, swinging my legs, my eyes fixed on the pastor... the pastor, sweating, hollering, asking for an "amen" often... I loved that! I loved how he tied it all together in the conclusion. I loved the invitation to a new life.

I came back to his church in 2002. He was preaching on the series "Desatando las Ligaduras de la Iniquidad" (Breaking free from the Bondage of Iniquity). I learned so much. I could not wait for midweek Bible Study to get taught the Word of God. I went back to school... back to my childhood... back to my version of Sunday School.

Now, I have been so pleased to assist him once again in ministry. I have learned a lot from him... and I know I will keep learning from him. Some people can do without others. There are friends... relatives, ministers. But this man is viewed as my father. My spiritual father.

I think a lot about my dad. The lessons that he taught me and the life that he led. I also think of Pastor in this sense. People can say whatever they want about my father, but I love my father. I know that if I am away from my dad, one day, I will see him again. It is the same with Pastor. I have seen him again and it is a privilege to work with him again... He is my spiritual father.

I am glad.
My spirit is at peace.
I think myself happy.

» ipod nano... VIDEO!

I want one of these... I am hooked to the podcasts... Listening to Mark Driscoll, Steven Furtick, Ed Young, Rick Warren. Man!! It's like going to conferences every day I listen to these guys on Ruthie's ipod... gotta get one for myself.

Help me pray that God guides my hand to my wallet and drop $150... like it's hot!

» Some thoughts...

Enough bible, no? hehe! I can never get enough. I love it. I love God's word. Sometimes it points the way and assures my steps... and sometimes it hits me hard. What an awesome God we serve. I love my Jesus. Thank you for saving me...

I have been reading "The Radical Reformission-Reaching out Without Selling Out" by Mark Driscoll... It is a good read.

I want God's power to rest in me. As I think on my life... the experiences in my 21 year ol life... the sweet moments of being in church with friends... the people that I have met and encouraged me, from the prophet that had a word to the little old lady that told me that she had prayed for me that previous night. It has been a ride. A sweet one.

AND, It's not over... My God! What a relief. Good experiences and bad experiences, I will serve God. Betrayals and new relationships are all part of life. I thank God for that. Sometimes, I get to thinking and kind of say to myself like that guy in the bible said, "Will I only accept the good things from God and not the bad?"

There is a whole bunch of people in this city of Houston... in this state, in this countrty that are so frustrated of church... I see young people and they are wanting something real. Who will give it to them?
Will you wait to be ordained? Recognized? Licensed? Oh man! Those are good things, but that has been the excuses that people have used to sit on their butts and do nothing.

I know of so many young people (and I know you do too) that have talent and potential. Just think, if we could teach them just a couple of things about "Character" and "Confidence."
I pray for young people to stand up and do something.

Preach something relevant based on Scripture (Preach Jesus).
Write a Book.
Write a Journal.
Make a movie.
Lead a ministry.
Make a series of short films.
Draw a comic book.
Teach.
Pray.
Love people.

Do something..

» Gospel, Church and Ay Bay Bay! (Part 2)

I hope we all learn something new. We have to get back to the basic principles... the basics. It is so easy. Let's take a look at these 3 Principles one more time and let's go deeper.

• Gospel - (loving God)
• Church - (loving our brother and sister in Christ)
• Culture - (loving our neighbor)

When we mess up and do not love God, or our brother, or our neighbor, we fall into different categories that I will outline in this post.

These categories are: PARACHURCH, LIBERALISM, and FUNDAMENTALISM.

In what category do you fit in?
Hopefully in neither of these. Let me explain.

Gospel+Culture-Church=PARACHURCH
You have the Scripture. You have the Culture. But, you do not have the Church.
There are some people that are hurt or frustrated with the church that they start a ministry without having a local church to refer them back to. "Young Life" falls into this category. Also, any organization or outreaches that do not have a local church as a backup. This is good. It's O.K., but the people that go to these meetings are not motivated to evangelize and have little knowledge on biblical stuff (Theology).
PARACHURCH loves the Gospel and loves the Culture, but does not love their brothers.

Culture+Church-Gospel=LIBERALISM
You have the Culture. You have the Church. But, you do not have the Gospel.
These churches are so relevant... that they are so into the culture in the church. Everything they do is based on what is going on in the world at that time. The negative thing that this brings is that they do not base anything on Scripture. And anything that does not begin with Scripture is bound to start wrong already. Their belief is to bless people and not confront their sin with love.
LIBERALISM loves the Culture and loves the Church, but does not love the Gospel.

Gospel+Church-Culture=FUNDAMENTALISM
You have the Gospel. You have the Church. But, you do not have the Culture.
This is where I can relate the most. Haha! These people have the gospel down. They study like crazy and they are always at Church. So you know they got Scripture and Church. The only thing is that they cannot relate to lost people. They cannot relate to this Culture. When they teach "love your neighbor"... they often mistake that for "love your brother." There is not a genuine love for the lost. They judge people's appearances.
FUNDAMENTALISM loves the Gospel and loves the Church, but does not love their neighbor.

The new Christian has to be taught these 3 Principles. We have to be in touch with the Gospel, attend our Church, and relate to this Culture. To that I say, AY BAY BAY!!!

Failure to not aquire at least one of these principles forces you to go to the extreme of being strict and legalist or head the other direction, by preaching a watered down message with no substance (Scripture).

Let's nail all these principles.
I hope you learned something. Let me know what you think...

Ay Bay Bay!