As a part of our Christmas Conspiracy, we partnered with our friends at Faithbridge Community Church to help out their community during the holiday season.  One of the greatest needs that was shared was the very real concerns of parents – many of whom have lost jobs this year - who were afraid that they may not have anything to give to their children this Christmas.  We shared this need with Iron City and they responded in unbelievable fashion, overflowing the collection boxes every week.

In three short weeks, we collected enough toys to fill a Honda Element and to make Christmas morning special for a couple dozen families in McKees Rocks.  In addition, we were able to tangibly demonstrate the love of Jesus to an anxious bunch of parents.  And as I watched grateful parents file in and out of the gift room yesterday I was reminded of this passage:

Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress and to keep oneself from being polluted by the world.   James 1:27 (NIV)

I have had the privilege over the last few weeks of inciting a group of people to do some crazy, subversive things.  In fact, we’re all conspiring together to celebrate Christmas differently this year.  Our plan is aggressive, but viable, and the wheels have already been turning to return the JOY of Christmas, the celebration of the Presence of God, to the hearts of people in the Pittsburgh metro area.  What are you doing differently this Christmas?

You can listen to the messages from this series by clicking here.

We just celebrated (last Sunday) Iron City Church’s 1st Birthday.  After months of slumping attendance numbers we had a really good turnout on Sunday, including about a dozen first time guests.  I’ve spent a lot of time in the past few weeks thinking back over the last couple of years of my life: the call to start a new church, our move to Pittsburgh, God’s confirmation that this was the place, and all the buzz of activity that has gone into the last year and ten months.

You can find any number of reports about specific survival rates for new churches.  No matter how which percentages are correct, I know that there are a lot of church plants that never see their first birthday.  I thank God that we have not only made it, but God has already used ICC to bring new life to dozens of people through a relationship with Jesus, to connect with hundreds by coming to check us out, and by causing untold numbers of people all over the area to re-think what church is all about.

If you would have told me 5 years ago that I would be here now, doing this, I would have called you crazy.  However, as of today, I can say with no reservations that there is no place I’d rather be than Pittsburgh and nothing I’d rather be doing than leading Iron City Church.  Thank you God for this life and for this calling!

We’ll be attending The Whiteboard Sessions tomorrow. My friend Ben Arment and the gang have put together a conference experience that is bound to be like nothing I’ve seen in the church world.

Ben has asked 8 of the most influential leaders in the church today to each come and share what’s on their heart for 30 minutes apiece. What a concept!

What is most exciting to me is that the speakers weren’t selected because they all think alike, speak alike, dress alike, or agree about everything.

On the contrary, from the looks of it some of these guys may only agree about one thing – the most important thing – that Jesus Christ and His Bride (the Church) are the hope of the world!

Can’t wait to see what God has in store…

I am enjoying our current series, “No Ordinary Joe,” learning lessons from the life of Joseph.  Today I pointed out a few lessons that we can learn from Joe about dealing with disappointment.  I hope it was as helpful for the other people there today as it has been for me getting ready to preach it. 

We all have to deal with disappointment from time to time, but most of us suck at handling it well.  We learn from the life of Joseph that, just because we’re going through a disappointing situation, it doesn’t mean that God isn’t at work in our lives.  You can listen to today’s message by downloading it here.

First of all, Sundays are my favorite days of the week.  Yesterday, we had a decent crowd (57) at ICC in spite of a bunch of folks out for the weekend.  The “Catalytic One” (my dad, Lamar Duke, and our Catalytic Pastor) preached for us and talked about “A Lifestyle of Generosity.”  The band did a great job — started off the day with a pretty sweet version of “Give a Little Bit.”  It was a good one all around.

On top of the “good exhausted” feeling of coming off of Sunday, Mondays are great because Monday night is Date Night around here.  Amber and I didn’t really date at all before we got married.  We “hung out” a lot.  Spent a lot of time with friends.  But not much dating before or after we got married for the first couple of years.  We really made Date Night a priority when we moved to Pittsburgh and it’s been awesome.

Why date night?  Because as life gets (and stays) busy, it’s amazing how easy it is to go all week and not have much — or any — meaningful, one-on-one conversation with each other.  Marriage is work. 

Hey married guys out there — get off it and put together a Date Night.  You have to take the lead.  Give your wife a couple of days notice, pay for a babysitter, and take her out on a date.  Just the two of you.  You’ll be amazed…

Saturday, we had a baby shower for Jeff & Leslie.  Little Cadence is coming really soon.  Yes, it was a co-ed baby shower and no, it didn’t make me feel weird like I thought it would.  It was pretty cool to just hang out with everyone a little bit.  Feels like there’s been so much going on lately that I haven’t had much “hang out” time.

Then Sunday was amazing.  I’m amazed each and every week by all that the men and women of Iron get done to make things happen at ICC.  The setup (complete with outdoor baptistry and everything) went surprisingly smooth, the Cafe was stocked and staffed, Iron City Kids was running at full speed, and the band set the tone big time.  I wrapped up our “Release” series, and then we moved the service outside and celebrated 4 baptisms!

WOW!  There’s a lot going on around here as God continues to work in a lot of our people to bring about their release from whatever junk is holding them back.  Our numbers are up, the energy level is off the charts, and God is blessing in some unbelievable ways. 

With all this good stuff comes a lot of spiritual warfare, so keep praying for God’s protection and direction as we keep pressing forward to see the Pittsburgh metro area transformed with the love of Jesus!

I have started working part-time as a merchandiser for Pennington seed company in addition to all the excitement of ICC. Jeff is working at a local nursery too.

The cool thing about everything going on right now is that our current season of growth at Iron City corresponds with grass seed and planting season (in this area at least).

It seems like everything is growing around here all at once!

Pray that God will continue to grow this church and change lives like He’s been doing. And pray that He’ll give me the wisdom to know how best to do all the things He has set up for me to do.

Pray that God will continue to knock our socks off and for the wisdom to know exactly how to lead to keep us in the center of His will.

Thank you God for letting me be a part of your mission to redeem the lives of men and women all over the Pittsburgh metro area and beyond…  I can’t wait to see what’s next!

There’s the “life is kicking my butt and I’m totally overwhelmed and I don’t have time to think” kind of tired.  We can call that “bad tired.”

Then there’s the other kind of tired.  Good tired.  Good tired is more like “there is a lot going on and I’m extremely busy and could use a little extra sleep at some point, but God is working in such a big and real way right now that I don’t particularly care how tired I feel.”

I’m good tired right now.