Wednesday, 25 June 2008



  • All my bags are packed (fo sho!, and man are they heavy),
    I'm ready to go (that's a fact, I am ready for something different than the normal everyday)
    I'm standin' here outside your door (not really, it is just part of the lyrics, but if I were it would be kinda freaky)
    I hate to wake you up to say goodbye (yeah, cause it will be early when I leave)

    So kiss me and smile for me (and maybe pray as well)
    Tell me that you'll wait for me (I am only going to be gone for a couple of weeks)
    Hold me like you'll never let me go (umm....I'm good, but thanks anyways)

    'Cause I'm leaving on a jet plane (TO COSTA RICA!!!!)
    I don't know when I'll be back again. (actually I will be back July 8th)

    (note: think of this as being sung by Ben Afflack in Armageddon and not the actual song, because it is funnier the way it is sung in that movie)

Sunday, 15 June 2008

  • The Light Bearers

    (The beginning of this is pieced together from several visions others have told to me as well as ones I have been having myself.)

    I saw a group of riders on horseback, thousands of them. They were riding swiftly and powerfully through a vast field toward a city. They each had lanterns in their hands that were emanating a bright light. The city I saw them riding to was Tulsa; it was specifically the skyline of downtown and the northern parts of the city. {It wasn’t until Monday night, March 17 that G-d revealed who these riders were} These riders are the youth of our city, the youth of this country. They are the ones with the passion and desire to see the radical transformation of this city and its people.

    After they reached the city, I saw one of the riders standing with his lantern held high and he was encircled by thousands of people looking at the light. It became brighter and brighter, until it was exploding out from the city and engulfing all the surroundings in an amazing and beautiful light that was so intense you couldn’t help but stare at it and be amazed. It continued to grow and was reaching around the world.

    These youth, they are the Light Bearers, the heart changers, the defenders of the oppressed, the harbingers of justice. With the Lord with them they can do great and mighty wonders and deeds. They are bringing the light into the darkness, and showing the way along the narrow path. They are the warriors that will free the captives and train them into mighty warriors themselves.

    They will come from all backgrounds, denominations, and churches. No longer will the name on the building matter. We are one church under Christ our Lord. United in the Great Commission

    UNITED AS ONE CHURCH, AS ONE UNDER GOD.

    What follows are several verses and passages which I believe pertain to what I have previously written and what will come to pass.

    Matthew 5:14-16

    "You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house.  In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.  Matt 5:14-16  (NIV)

    "Here's another way to put it: You're here to be light, bringing out the God-colors in the world. God is not a secret to be kept. We're going public with this, as public as a city on a hill. If I make you light-bearers, you don't think I'm going to hide you under a bucket, do you? I'm putting you on a light stand. Now that I've put you there on a hilltop, on a light stand—shine! Keep open house; be generous with your lives. By opening up to others, you'll prompt people to open up with God, this generous Father in heaven. (The Message)


    Luke 8:16-18

     "No one lights a lamp and hides it in a jar or puts it under a bed. Instead, he puts it on a stand, so that those who come in can see the light. For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him."
    Luke 8:16-18 (NIV)

    "No one lights a lamp and then covers it with a washtub or shoves it under the bed. No, you set it up on a lamp stand so those who enter the room can see their way. We're not keeping secrets; we're telling them. We're not hiding things; we're bringing everything out into the open. So be careful that you don't become misers of what you hear. Generosity begets generosity. Stinginess impoverishes." (The Message)

    2 Corinthians 4:1-18

    Therefore, since through God's mercy we have this ministry, we do not lose heart. Rather, we have renounced secret and shameful ways; we do not use deception, nor do we distort the word of God. On the contrary, by setting forth the truth plainly we commend ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God, and even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God. For we do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ, but we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us. We are hard pressed on every side, but not crushed; perplexed, but not in despair; persecuted, but not abandoned; struck down, but not destroyed. We always carry around in our body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be revealed in our body. For we who are alive are always being given over to death for Jesus' sake, so that his life may be revealed in our mortal body. So then, death is at work in us, but life is at work in you.

    It is written: "I believed; therefore I have spoken." With that same spirit of faith we also believe and therefore speak, because we know that the one who raised the Lord Jesus from the dead will also raise us with Jesus and present us with you in his presence. All this is for your benefit, so that the grace that is reaching more and more people may cause thanksgiving to overflow to the glory of God.

    Therefore we do not lose heart. Though outwardly we are wasting away, yet inwardly we are being renewed day by day. For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. So we fix our eyes not on what is seen, but on what is unseen. For what is seen is temporary, but what is unseen is eternal. (NIV)

Saturday, 14 June 2008

  • Restoration of Tulsa

    This is what the LORD says: "In the time of my favor I will answer you, and in the day of salvation I will help you; I will keep you and will make you to be a covenant for the people, to restore the land and to reassign its desolate inheritances, to say to the captives, 'Come out,' and to those in darkness, 'Be free!' "They will feed beside the roads and find pasture on every barren hill. They will neither hunger nor thirst, nor will the desert heat or the sun beat upon them. He who has compassion on them will guide them and lead them beside springs of water. I will turn all my mountains into roads, and my highways will be raised up. See, they will come from afar— some from the north, some from the west, some from the region of Aswan."  Shout for joy, O heavens; rejoice, O earth; burst into song, O mountains! For the LORD comforts his people and will have compassion on his afflicted ones.  Isaiah 49:8-13

    If we don’t fight for them, who will?

    If we don’t pray for them, who will?

    If we don’t serve them, who will?

    If we don’t defend them, who will?

    If we don’t love them, who will?

    If we don’t bring the light into the darkness, who will?

    They are our brothers and sisters, our family!!! We are all one people, we are all Christ’s bride, his children, his beloved.


    I had this come to me over our Tulsa Missions trip back in early March. I keep seeing Tulsa as a city and how much we need to change our mindset about missions. There is a lot of pain and confusion and injustice right here in our own land. It is getting worse everyday and we need to be proactive and do what Christ has asked us to do. To Bring Light into the Darkness.

Sunday, 22 April 2007

  • What's in a Name?

        What's in a name? So many people take pride and joy in their names, while others despise what theirs represents.  Some spend their whole lives creating one for themselves.  There are so many people in this world now that the chance of there being at least one person with your same name is very probable.  That is when nicknames are needed.  I know when I was growing up I had at least ten guys in my classes that had the same first name as I, even my best friend had the same name.  I know some people despise nicknames and I know some are even used to tear somebody down, but those are not the nicknames I am talking about.
        I know in the business world it is always formal. A firm handshake and then you say your first and last name. Very rigid and proper. There are not very many nicknames used when speaking to people in business and professional settings.  This is why nicknames are special.  They mean you are part of a community, part of a closer group.  I remember in college when I started going to Chi Alpha regularly, I would introduce myself as Aaron, and that is how I was know for several months.  A friend of mine who was very involved in the group didn't go by his first name of Eric, but was "HACK!!", which is a dirivitive of his last name. Oh, and you have to say it will force and drag the name out. A nickname is not just the words, but also how you say the name.  I don't think I actually called him by his first name after the first time I met him.  After a couple of months, I became know as "Peck!".  It may just be my last name, but it is still a nickname and very informal in the way it is said, and I knew I was part of something.  Only those who were good friends or were part of Chi Alpha would use that name, and we were a close knit group.
        When I moved to Tulsa I had to start over with new friends and meeting lots of new people. A few people use the old nickname, but I still didn't feel as part of a family or a close knit group.  Well, in Fusion, our youth group, that I volunteer with., the two pastors have the same name, so we call them Dmac and Druss, respectively.  Dmac started calling me apeck and it just stuck.  So now I have a nickname again. It's good to have a nickname.

Sunday, 28 January 2007

  • Revolution not Revival

    re·viv·al noun
    1 : an act or instance of reviving : the state of being revived : as a : renewed attention to or interest in something b : a new presentation or publication of something old c (1) : a period of renewed religious interest (2) : an often highly emotional evangelistic meeting or series of meetings
    2 : restoration of force, validity, or effect (as to a contract)

    re·vive verb
    Inflected Form(s): re·vived; re·viv·ing
    transitive verb
    1 : to restore to consciousness or life
    2 : to restore from a depressed, inactive, or unused state : bring back
    3 : to renew in the mind or memory

    rev·o·lu·tion noun
    1 a (1) : the action by a celestial body of going round in an orbit or elliptical course; also : apparent movement of such a body round the earth (2) : the time taken by a celestial body to make a complete round in its orbit (3) : the rotation of a celestial body on its axis b : completion of a course (as of years); also : the period made by the regular succession of a measure of time or by a succession of similar events c (1) : a progressive motion of a body around an axis so that any line of the body parallel to the axis returns to its initial position while remaining parallel to the axis in transit and usually at a constant distance from it (2) : motion of any figure about a center or axis <revolution of a right triangle about one of its legs generates a cone> (3) : ROTATION 1b
    2 a : a sudden, radical, or complete change b : a fundamental change in political organization; especially : the overthrow or renunciation of one government or ruler and the substitution of another by the governed c : activity or movement designed to effect fundamental changes in the socioeconomic situation d : a fundamental change in the way of thinking about or visualizing something : a change of paradigm <the Copernican revolution> e : a changeover in use or preference especially in technology <the computer revolution> <the foreign car revolution>

    (Definitions from http://www.m-w.com/ )

    Today has been an interesting and life fulfilling day.  We had an amazing service at Believers this morning.  I have several thoughts and insights that the Lord has laid on my heart that I feel I must share them. 

    The two words above are the in the context of my thoughts at the moment.  In the American church today revival is often used to spur interest or action.  Even in the Webster’s definition it states, “An often highly emotional evangelistic meeting or series of meetings”.  Is this what we truly need in this day and hour, a series of meetings for a quick emotional high?  Don’t take this as a complete affront to revivals.  I have been to several and they have their place in the church, but I think today’s church is using it in the incorrect context. If you look at the meaning of the word above and its verb form of revive we can see that it is all about restoration of life, mind, and body. 

    This is something that non-believers require, yet we only focus on those who are in the congregation with revival. I know that revival is also a renewed attention to or interest in something, well if we need a revival to always renew our attention and interest in Jesus then maybe we should be doing something else with life.  What we need in this day and age is a revolution, a fundamental change in the way of thinking about or visualizing something, a shift of paradigm. 

    We need to truly go back to Jesus’ teachings and what the early church envisioned and embodied.  Some would say that is a revival, but you can only revive what you have learned or been taught throughout your life and its experiences.  You can’t revive something from a thousand years ago, something of which we only have limited writings showing us the way we should approach problems and conflicts.  These are the writings of G-d and this is why they are still relevant and applicable to today, even though our society and culture is so different from what the early church experienced.  The revolution is how to shift our thoughts and way of life from all that is wrong with the church today to what is right with it and what revolutionary teachings and understandings can we glean from what G-d speaks to us and has written for us. 

    It is this new understanding of his word that we must strive to obtain.  In all the years of the church and the teaching of Jesus’ ways and philosophies it may not be truly new.  It may have been forgotten by several generations and this is why it is now a revolution and not a revival. To revolve is to come back around to a point again.

     The church is here and now, it is made up of men, and thus it is fundamentally flawed, because we as men are with sin.  To caste it aside because of this would be a mistake.  Many complain about the state of the church and how it has lost its way.  How the church doesn’t care about people, or how instead of helping and nurturing the lost and down-trodden it only berates and dismisses them. How when one of its own commits a sin or reveals something about themselves that others find repulsive, the church shuns them and devalues them.  Many times these are individuals in the church, and some are even leaders and pastors.  This is a blanket generalization of the church. If everyone was like this how would anyone get healing, love, or restoration? Through Jesus, yes, but if all the people you knew were these, you would not want the Jesus they have or are supposedly representing. For those who complain and are disgusted with the church today, I say one thing,

                “CHANGE IT!!” 

    Start a revolution.  Show the world what it truly means to be a follower of Jesus and not a denomination or ritual.  We must have a revolution “For our struggle is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the powers, against the world forces of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of wickedness in the heavenly places.” (Eph. 6:12 NASB)  We must unite and become one body to conquer what trials and tribulations lie ahead both individually and corporately.

    I don’t have any great answers or insights to give on how to start this revolution or how best to walk in it and understand it.  This is when prayer, fasting, and meditation in the Lord are most needed.  It will not be an easy road or a quick one, but with G-d’s help I believe we can change this generation of believers into what the Lord G-d would have us be.

     "The LORD bless you and keep you; the LORD make his face shine upon you and be gracious to you; the LORD turn his face toward you and give you peace." (Num. 6-23-26 NIV)

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