I have never been prouder of the Iron City family than I was yesterday afternoon.  I had the joy of helping Ami M. and six or seven other servant-leaders from ICC distribute and wrap all the toys that we collected over the last few weeks. 

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 finished week #2 of our Dirty Little Secrets message series at ICC.  It’s based on one specific secret, that we’re all created with a need and desire for relationships but we all suck at making them work.  That’s how God created us, to live, grow, and thrive in the context of relationships.  This series is all about sharing some of the “dirty little secrets” to help us make our relationships work. 

Yesterday’s topic was marriage, titled “Fairy Tales are for Children (not your love life).”  The love we hear about in fairy tales, movies, and pop songs is all about infatuation, but God-pleasing love (the kind required to make marriage work) is hard work.

Here are some resources to help:

• Movie – Fireproof
• Book – The Love Dare (Kendrick & Kendrick)
• Book – The Five Love Languages (Chapman)
• Book – Sheet Music (Leman)
• Book – Saving Your Marriage Before It Starts (Parrott)

We had another pretty good morning at ICC today.  Our numbers have been down for a few weeks, and today was no exception.  However, the folks that were present were fired up, the band was rocking, and we even had a couple of first time guests. 

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.

I love Mondays.

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…

It was another awesome weekend around here.  Again (my new theme), it was busy, but good. 

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 don’t have time to go into all that God is doing right now in and through ICC, but suffice to say that it is amazing and we’re really rolling right now.  The numbers are up, people are being connected to Jesus, and lives are being transformed. 

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!

Man, I’m not one to complain about this very often (because it’s just a part of being a pastor and a christian in general), but I feel like me and my family have been under attack – on a lot of levels – big time these last couple of weeks.

That being said, after the last 2 weeks at Iron City I can’t imagine devoting my life to anything else. We’ve had a couple dozen new people at ICC for our services and a pretty decent number at our vision meeting this afternoon.

I just know that God is working to “release” many of them (and a bunch of us regulars) from the junk that is holding them back. Addictions, destructive habits, and negative attitudes are all in play.

The last two weeks have been great – the music has been kicking, the energy level has been off the charts, our people have been over the top – but I have an intense feeling that we’re entering into one of those “only God” seasons of ministry.

Transforming the Pittsburgh metro area with the love of Jesus… Only God could do that!

All of our Easter invitations used the line “Come Celebrate Easter with the PEEPS at Iron City.”  

On top of everything else from Sunday, we gave away 1,000 Peeps to the people in attendance.

Thanks to all the peeps who made Sunday happen, who came to check us out, and who sacrificed their sugar-coated marshmallow bodies for the cause . . .

My blogging has been sporadic (and will probably continue to be for a while), but I just have to share what an amazing day we had at Iron City Church today.

To begin with, we had an extra large group of folks on board planning and preparing for today.  Then this morning, setup went great and the place looked unbelievable.  We got together like we always do after setup and talked for a few minutes and prayed, then something crazy happened…

People started showing up.  And just kept coming.  When they stopped coming we had 27 first time guests and 76 total people in attendance!  That broke our high attendance by almost 50%!  The extra people in the house definitely added to the energy level.   I had a blast!

Brandon, Bob, and Ben (the Killer B’s) rocked the house, musically, and I got to kick off our new “Release” message series.  The message today was called “Power to Rise” and dealt with realizing those things that are holding us back (addictions, destructive habits, negative attitudes, etc.) and enlisting the same power that raised Jesus from the dead to help us gain our release.  It felt like the message really connected and people seemed to track with what I was talking about.

After today, I’m more encouraged than ever to keep pushing and charging forward towards our goal: to see the Pittsburgh metro area transformed by the love of Jesus.  Thank you Jesus for kicking death in the teeth and walking out of that tomb on the first Easter!  And thank you now for calling me and all the folks at ICC to be a part of your mission in the world!