My wife cuts hair and she does a great job with it. Not only does she do a great job, but she enjoys it. She cuts hair in our kitchen.

Let me back up a little bit. When we got married, LeeAnn started going to night school to learn how to cut hair. I remember a few nights a week I was left alone to watch movies or play Playstation (the first one…man I’m old) by myself. Slowly but surely I saw her really become great at what she did. She worked for a very good friend of ours, Martino Cartier, which owned his own shop in South Jersey. He is one crazy person and it can be witnessed on Bravo’s show “Tabitha’s Salon Takeover”.

LeeAnn learned and was taught by the best. I remember many times hanging out at the salon in NJ for hours while she would finish up. If anything, it was fun for her. Martino always had stuff going on to keep it exciting. LeeAnn’s clients really loved her also.

Well, fast forward to today. We have 3 beautiful children. LeeAnn is a stay at home mom and proud of it. She keeps pretty busy with them, but still thinks about the days she used to go to the salon and make people look beautiful. I feel for her sometimes. We made an important decision to work hard to allow her to stay at home and raise the kids. Her going to a salon everyday isn’t really an option right now. Needless to say, it doesn’t take the desire to cut hair away. When you are good at what you do, it becomes a passion that you enjoy doing. So God changed the script a little.

Back to the beginning. My wife cuts hair in our kitchen. Let me tell you that all sort of people come into our house and get their hair cut in my kitchen. They wash their hair in our sink. It’s not as glamorous as a high end salon, but a lot cheaper. But here’s the real deal, my wife is building relationships with these women. They are coming to not only get their hair “did” but also to fellowship. LeeAnn is doing something that she loves and making it part of her ministry. Instead of dreaming about her passion, she’s doing it. Maybe it’s a little different than what she dreamed about, but God is giving her the best of both worlds.  Stay at home-haircutting mom.

Isn’t that amazing? God actually gives us passions and talents to use for HIS glory. He gives us these gifts so that we can bless others and allow them to feel God’s love in the same way. I can’t say that one day she won’t work in a nice salon again, but LeeAnn is making the most out of what she’s been given. She does it with pride and people walk away looking beautiful.

We are now finding neighbors coming over for haircuts and colors. People are asking about our church and questions about God. I’m excited to see how God uses the very thing you love, for His glory. Think about it, if God designed you, don’t you think your talents and desires are there for a reason? Maybe they don’t happen the way YOU planned, but God’s plans are always better in the long run.

If you are a carpenter, build things for God’s glory. If you are a musician, write great songs that speak of His love. If you are a teacher, teach your class how great it is to live an honorable and righteous life. If you love football, invite people over for fellowship during the big game. If you cut hair, use that time to talk about Christ and build each other up, instead of the normal “hair gossip” that goes on in some salons.

God had a purpose when He designed you. It wasn’t an accident that you love the things you love. Use your talents to honor the one that gave you them. Trust Him. Maybe God wants to find new and creative ways for you to use the very gifts He gave you?

M

Posted: September 29th, 2008 under Culture/Society, Family, Leadership.
Comments: none

What’s the worst that can happen when you are real? People see the “real” you. Does that scare you? Are you hiding things that you don’t want people to know about? But are they really hidden from God?

Those are the questions we need to ask ourselves. People want to know the real you. Most people live a life that’s fake. They walk around in fear of people knowing who they really are and what they really struggle with. Jesus lived a real life. He didn’t hide the fact that he was God but also didn’t hide the fact that he was real. In Matthew 26:36-39, Jesus cried real tears of sorrow in the Garden of Gethsemane. Although he was God, he felt real life pain and wasn’t afraid to show it. In John 11:35 (the bible’s shortest passage) “Jesus wept” for his friend Lazarus, in the thought of his death. Jesus was real, had real emotions, feelings and thoughts. I believe he allowed his disciples to see him be real as a lesson for us all.

Most Christians think that we need to live a life that none of us can truly live. We believe we need to put on an appearance that we are living a perfect, error-free life. I believe the only person we are truly fooling is our self. See, God loves the power of REAL. He loves to show the world that he is a real God with an understanding of what we need and desire. He’s definitely not a God that is “out of touch” with his people. Infact Jesus’ life on earth was a demonstration that he knows exactly what we are going through.

It’s time, we as Christians drop the fake lives we live. People need to see someone that can say, “Hey, I screwed up.” or “I’m hurting and need some help.” When we become real and relative, we become true examples of God’s love. God is love and love is real. If we think living a perfect life is going to help save the world, we are just kidding ourselves.

God’s hope is that others can learn from our mistakes (Romans 8:28). That they can see us positively respond to a “mess up” and see God in it. One thing we talk about in sales is that a customer is sometimes more impressed with the way you respond to fixing a mistake that how much you know. It takes a lot for someone to admit they messed up and then fix it, then trying to live life as a phony.

I believe God is looking for REAL people to represent him. The world is looking for REAL people to look up to, not perfect people. There really are no “perfect people”. So let’s live the life that Christ lived and be real examples of his love to this world.

Keep it REAL…

M

Posted: September 26th, 2008 under Leadership.
Comments: none

Men, if you like this…

Then meet us at:

River Rats Canoe Rental 

4361 Highway 431

Columbia, TN 38401

at 9am this Saturday the 27th.

BE THERE….

M

Posted: September 24th, 2008 under Church info.
Comments: none

We had our first ComeBack Event on Saturday. It was a great time to meet with people and form new relationships. I caught a few moments of it on my new Flip Mino (which I love by the way!) I’m really loving the way God is building this church…with relationships. It was actually exciting not knowing who was going to show up and then finding people wander in from the neighborhood, for the “free food”. In our eyes it was a huge success.

Here’s a few scenes from it…

M

Posted: September 21st, 2008 under Church info, Videos.
Comments: none

(I sent this to my leaders the other day and wanted to share it with you.)

I want to encourage you today….LET’S DREAM BIG!!

Check this out:

EPHESIANS 3:20

Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us,

Let’s expect big things for SouthView and pray and believe God for them. Let’s be proud of what God is doing and speak like it. I know that I personally have a habit of making excuses to people sometimes (“Don’t come yet, we don’t have a building”, “Our worship isn’t right yet”, “We are still trying to figure out our service”,” We don’t have a fulltime Pastor”, “We don’t meet every Sunday”…etc etc etc). Isn’t it amazing that Jesus NEVER made excuses when He was on this earth. No matter the conditions or circumstances, he spoke and acted in power. No excuses were made when he didn’t have enough food to feed the 5000 people….he just MADE the food become enough. No excuses where made when Jesus was born in a lowly stable, and no excuses were made when David (just a young kid at the time) got up and defeated Goliath.

God doesn’t make excuses, He makes things happen. We need to have that same expectation and power going on in our lives on a daily basis. As Christian leaders, we can have the habit of making excuses because we aren’t “there yet”. Where exactly is “THERE” anyway? We will never be “there” as long as we walk on this earth, so let’s get out of that mindset of “I’ll be able to minister to my neighbor when I get my life right,” or “One day, when I get stronger in the Word, I will start to talk to my co-workers about Christ.”

I know the devil LOVES excuses. That’s how he gets the people of God to become useless. Most people think it’s the job of their Pastor to reach people for Christ. NOPE…it’s the job of all Christians to share God’s love with others and reach out.

God has challenged my thinking lately. I have a little battle in my mind pretty much everyday. I always seem to go back to my “little” thinking instead of thinking with the mind of Christ. I do believe in what God is doing here in our church. It’s something that will grow strong and make a BIG impact on this community. I know that God has big plans for SouthView, plans that will blow my mind! I’m already trusting and seeing what God’s going to do, before it’s done.

I’m believing God for 250 people to be in our church by next year….There I said it. It’s out there. I know that God desires people to be connected with others, so why wouldn’t He want people to come to church? I’m beginning to lose the “fear” of “numbers”. God wants us to believe for big things, since He is a BIG God. For that ridiculously comment of “it’s not about numbers” is about as stupid as saying it’s not about the money in regards to your job. Come on…it’s definitely about the numbers. God wants us to reach as many people as possible with the love and message of Christ. If we stay in our church with 50 people and never grow, where’s the life in that? The Word of God says “you will know them by their fruit”. I want people to know Mark Rampulla as a very fruitful person. I want people to know SouthView as a very fruitful church. I want people to see our leaders as very fruitful people.

I’m here to encourage you today….God has big plans and He’s looking for people with a Big heart and Big vision to help accomplish His goals. I want to be included in that list….what about you?

M

Posted: September 19th, 2008 under Leadership.
Comments: none