Francis chan – Peter Gowesky

In Faith in Real Life

Thoughts on Chan: Part 2

May 1, 2009 2 Comments

Francis quoted Oswald Chambers… “Be careful not to turn your experiences into principles; Allow the Holy Spirit to be as original with others as He was with you.”

Well, this blew me away and convicted me to the core. See here’s the deal… I’m going to be honest with you today, in hopes that you’ll be honest with me. For me, I needed to change the quote to read this way, “Be careful not to turn other’s experiences into principles; Allow the Holy Spirit to be as original with ME as He was with others!” Too often I find myself looking at other successful church’s who seem to be lighting up their towns and cities and just doing some serious stuff for God and I look at that and go, “MAN! I want to be doing THAT!” Then quickly I realize that I am not like that. I am who God has made me. See, for me… Sometimes I get frustrated because I feel like I need to be doing what Francis Chan, or Pete Wilson, or Andy Stanley, or Perry Noble is doing.

Here’s what it boils down to. God has not called me to be Francis Chan, Bill Hybels, Rob Bell, Pete Wilson or Perry Noble. God has called me to be Peter Gowesky. He has uniquely equipped me to do the task that He has laid in front of me. God will speak to and through me uniquely.

I need to pray and ask God, what have you asked me to do? I don’t know about you, but it is easy for me to get distracted by what God is doing in other peoples lives so much so that I can’t see what God wants to be doing in my life.

Does this resonate with anyone else? Are you letting God be as amazingly creative in your life as He was in the lives of all those around you?

Isaiah 64:8

“You, Lord , are our Father.
We are nothing but clay,
but you are the potter
who molded us.”

Thankful…

~Peter

In Faith in Real Life

Thoughts on Chan: Part 1

April 30, 2009 2 Comments

Okay, so I promised that I would expound a little bit more on what I learned from Francis Chan’s challenge to the group at the Shift Conference, at Willow Creek Community Church. Well, here we go. (If you haven’t gotten a chance to watch his teaching yet, jump over here and do it now!)

I couldn’t agree with Francis more… Let’s just put it out there right now.

I was challenged… moved… and convicted. At the end of this session I was just blown away. I loved the quote that Francis said, “I believe the church needs a radical shift, I believe youth ministry needs a radical shift, I believe I need a radical shift. Every time I read the book of Acts, I don’t put it down and say, ‘Man that’s just like us.'” I laughed out loud, and winced a little on the inside. It was funny and sad at the same time. Clearly he was being sarcastic there at the end… Funny because he worded it in a humorous way. Yet at the same time, there is truth that resonates with me and it is unbelievably painful to think about. Are our churches like the book of Acts?

I love when Francis just says really simply, okay, so it’s not the same as back then, but they had the same Holy Spirit that we do! This is an incredible thought! We have the same Holy Spirit that Peter and John had, and we have the same “Holy Spirit that raised Jesus from the dead” inside of us, why are we so complacent and frustratingly timid?

What’s got my attention:

April 29, 2009 1 Comment

So, here’s a little bit of what’s got my attention these days.

1. Catalyst– I’m hoping to get down to Atlanta for this one! This seriously looks like an amazing line up!

2. Reverb: Catalyst Worship CD– I can’t seem to stop playing this one. I don’t want to wear it out though… BUT, it’s too good. Seriously.

3. Twitter– I know… I know… now that Oprah and Ashton are on it, it’s all old school right? Well, maybe but I love the community that it seems to be developing. Check out thefiveonline, to stay connected with the five, or follow me pgowesky on Twitter.

4. Hunger+Thirst- Willow Creek Community Church– They are doing some awesome work in getting clean running water to villages in areas in the world where clean water is just about unheard of. More importantly they are raising awareness in the lives of us, people who eat and drink to our fill everyday… Check this out.

5. Andy Stanley– Need I say more? Okay, I will… I have been listening to his leadership podcast… it’s awesome! Check it out here… I also started reading the book, “The next generation leader” I can’t wait to see what I learn.

6. Francis Chan- This guy seriously convicts me of my sin and inadequacies any time I hear him speak. I just finished Crazy Love, and I loved that book. I just heard him at the Shift conference at Willow Creek last week. I will post about what I learned there later.

7. Hopefully Homeowners: Seriously enough said… this is an unbelievable process… Got tons going on there…

8. Flat Tires- Tiffany’s van has had two in two days… Man, let’s go for all four in four. That sounds like a sweet sermon series, four in four. Who knows what it would be about, but I should write that down somewhere… 4in4. Fourin4 or quatro y quatro. Yeah, that’ll show up somewhere, sometime….

9. All things Mac related… we have a good relationship, mac and I. I pretty pleased to see that this church now has a total of 3 macs not including my personal one right now! Seeing as how when I got here, there were none… TRAGEDY… I know. I’m slowly helping them. Now I’ve got to get Todd to switch over.

10. Driving with the sunroof open… Love it… windows down, Reverb- Catalyst Cd playing… (loud)

11. Michael Scott is back in the office. Totally relieved.

Just a few things…

~Peter

In Faith in Real Life

Tuesday’s Thoughts

April 7, 2009 2 Comments

crazy-love

I can’t stop thinking…

“God put me in Simi Valley, California, to lead a church of comfortable people into lives of risk and adventure. I believe He wants us to love others so much that we go to extremes to help them. I believe He wants us to be known for giving- of our time, our money, and our abilities- and to start a movement of “giving” churches. In so doing, we can alleviate the suffering in the world and change the reputation of His bride in America. Some people, even some at my church, have told me flat out, “You’re crazy.” But I can’t imagine devoting my life to a greater vision. We need to stop giving people excuses not to believe in God. You’ve probably heard the expression, “I believe in God, just not organized religion.” I don’t think people would say that if the church truly lived like we are called to live. The expression would change to “I can’t deny what the church does, but I don’t believe in their God.” At least then they’d address their rejection of God rather than use the church as a scapegoat.” {Francis Chan, “Crazy Love pg. 21-22}

What if OUR church looked like that.

What if we looked like that…

or…

What if I looked like that?

See, it starts with me. It starts with you!

WHAT ARE YOU WILLING TO DO IN ORDER TO SEE THIS HAPPEN?

~Peter