Name something better...

Last week our community celebrated baptisms at the beach. It was such an awesome sight. Over 100 people showed up to encourage, support, and cheer on 21 baptisms. Kids, adults, even whole families got baptized. It was a very inspiring day to see 21 people passionately wanting their reputation to be known as a follower of Jesus by following Him in baptism, I loved it. Here are some pics to give you a glimpse of God at work. Pic 1: Pastor Rodney (our Lead Pastor) and I. Pic 2: Two sisters gettting baptized together with Pastor Chad (our student Pastor). Pic 3: A teenager going down. Pic 4: A teenager coming up ready to charge hell with a water pistol.

Reason #390,222,849 why I love the Bible

A couple weeks ago I began reading Psalm and right off the bat God convicted me. Psalm 1:2 talks of "those" who mediate on His Word day and night. Immediately I knew my thoughts in the morning and at night were not focused on God, they were just random. Thus I began reading His Word every morning and every night and of course it has been awesome. I read Psalm 20 recently and just wanted to share it with you. This is a great prayer we can pray for those going through difficult and challenging times.

"In times of trouble, may the Lord answer your cry. May the name of the God of Jacob keep you safe from all harm. 2 May he send you help from his sanctuary and strengthen you from Jerusalem. 3 May he remember all your gifts and look favorably on your offerings burnt. 4 May he grant your heart’s desires and make all your plans succeed. 5 May we shout for joy when we hear of your victory and raise a victory banner in the name of our God. May the Lord answer all your prayers. 6 Now I know that the Lord rescues his anointed king. He will answer him from his holy heaven and rescue him by his great power. 7 Some nations boast of their chariots and horses, but we boast in the name of the Lord our God. 8 Those nations will fall down and collapse, but we will rise up and stand firm. 9 Give victory to our king, O Lord! Answer our cry for help."

Amen!

Humbled and Pastorized

Tonight was an incredibly special night. Tonight I got ordained and it blew me away. I really wasn't expecting much and was overwhelmed with how much the night meant to me in so many ways. So many of my friends and family showed up and showered me with affirmation of God's calling in my life to full time ministry. I knew what I've been doing was from God but to have so many close friends and family that I respect support and encourage my calling into ministry just blew me away. Thank you to everyone that cheers me on, the support breathes life into me. Thank you to everyone who prays for me, you have a direct impact on all God is doing. I feel humbled to be apart of all God is doing. He is such a big God with HUGE plans and I feel so humbled to be on His team. So after many years of full time ministry I am now officially an ordained Pastor. I know it shouldn't matter but for whatever reason it does feel special and exciting. Thank you everyone for all you do for TJ and I. Please continue to pray for us as we continue our journey on making Him famous. For His Glory, Dustin

Oh to be like my master

For years I have had a thought. This thought has haunted me over the past several years. This thought has kept me up countless nights. This thought is not good but is true. My thought is this, "it seems like for me it is so much easier to be a Christian and blend in than it is to be like Jesus." You know what I mean, to be a Christian means you say the right thing at the right time to the right people and we've more or less think we've fooled everyone into thinking we really are following Jesus. Worse yet, we've fooled ourselves. We began watering down the gospel or staying away from the tough parts because we know that may be something we'll have to change. I'm not sure about you but I love Jesus, I really do. I want to make Him smile so much but so often my sinful nature just gets the best of me and without seeing it coming I end up so different from Christ but still tell others I'm a Christian (Christ follower). The term Christian to many people means they "get" to go to Heaven. That's not what the definition means. Yes we get to go to Heaven but there is so much more than that. The definition means Christ follower. So if Jesus prays for hours, then were to pray for hours. If Jesus touched those with leprosy then we are to touch those with leprosy. If Jesus led people to the throne of God than we are to do the same. Christianity is not merely getting into Heaven it is following "The Way" (this is what the original followers of Jesus were called, found in the book of Acts) and becoming more like the master Jesus Christ. May we pray for one another that we would be more and more like Him and less and less like sinful selves.

Ordination Time

On April 12th I will become an ordained pastor. It's really weird because I'm not going to be doing anything different as a Pastor. My responsibilities won't change because I've always been doing pastoral work but this still feels special and something I feel honored and excited to do. I ask for your prayers upon me and my ministry. Pray that God anoints me and blesses our ministry. I ask for specific prayers in the following areas: wisdom, courage, creativity, vision, leadership, and a ridiculous passion for God and His Word. Thanks for the support and encouragment.

You Version

Calling all God fans, you have to check this site out. Lifechurch.tv came out with a sweet bible resource unlike anything i've ever heard of. By the way i love lifechurch.tv they are doing things in ways that has to make God smile. You can check them out at http://www.lifechurch.tv/ . Feel free to join their podcast too, its great. anyways the site to check out for "you version" is http://www.youversion.com/ . It's difficult to even explain, the best thing to do is just go and check it out yourself.