Mother's Day Letter to My Mom

May 8th, 2011

Dear Mom,

Where to begin? Should I start out with thanking you for the many of hours of labor you went through to bring me into this world? Or what about all those diaper changes you did for me (Lord knows I had plenty). I guess I could go ahead and thank you for all those times you got me a mighty kids meal at McDonalds (it was a big deal back then...and still kind of is)! Above all, I want to thank you for being my mom.

I think you have done way more than you think. Yes, you have always taught me what’s wrong and what’s right. You have always helped me in school and motivated me to be whatever I wanted to be. You always chewed me out when I needed it, and you have always comforted me when I needed the most. You have always made sure that I could have the best future possible. I could go on and on of the list of things you have done for me. I truly think that there are a lot of moms who can accomplish just that. But, you’ve done something way more important than any of that. You’ve taught me to love. You’ve taught me to love Jesus.

Because of you, I now know what my future spouse is supposed to look like. And because of you, I now know how I should treat that woman. Words on paper cannot express how much I appreciate you. I used to always ask my self, “How will I know if she’s the right girl or not?” Well, I have finally discovered how I will know...she has to be like you. She has to be as beautiful as you; both inside and out. She has to be as kind as you. She has to be able to be as great of a mother to our future children as you have been to me. And lastly, but most importantly, she has to love like you and love Jesus like you.

I Love You Mom,
Josh

Living to Make Him Famous

James 1:2-6

2 Dear brothers and sisters, when troubles come your way, consider it an opportunity for great joy. 3 For you know that when your faith is tested, your endurance has a chance to grow. 4 So let it grow, for when your endurance is fully developed, you will be perfect and complete, needing nothing. 5 If you need wisdom, ask our generous God, and he will give it to you. He will not rebuke you for asking. 6 But when you ask him, be sure that your faith is in God alone. Do not waver, for a person with divided loyalty is as unsettled as a wave of the sea that is blown and tossed by the wind.

The past few weeks have been some of the most humbling weeks of my entire life. I will openly admit that I have shed more tears in the past couple of weeks than possibly my entire life put together. Some tears were tears of sadness, happiness, and mostly...tears of being in awestruck wonder of my God. I'm restless because I don't know how to sit here on a computer and put it words for everyone. It's probably going to take no telling how many hours for me to write this blog, but I want to start explaining you what I have discovered to be the bottom line: living to make Jesus famous.

On Wednesday, I will be resigning as the Youth Minister of New Hope Baptist Church. A funny way to start living to make Him famous, right? I love New Hope Baptist Church, and I love my church family there. I will miss the kids so much, and it's going to be hard getting used to not seeing them at least twice a week. I am so proud of the students at New Hope. Some of them have begun to start trying to do the same crazy thing I am about to do, making my entire life about making Jesus famous.

The hardest thing about these past couple of weeks is that God has been placing it on my heart to leave New Hope for a different ministry field. A couple of weeks ago, I started meeting with some of my most close spiritual mentors and began praying about where God was leading me. After about 5 weeks of prayer, we came to the conclusion that God was indeed calling me away from New Hope into a different ministry field.

On May 21st, I will travel to a little place called "iGosia." iGosia is the training grounds for students preparing to to take the Gospel in all sorts of sports around the world. iGosia is ran by iGo Global, the people who started teaching me this "bottom line" idea. iGoGlobal is different from any other mission organization than I have ever seen. I have even tried to find one better! I can't. What iGo Global does better than any other organization is equip and teach students the Gospel. Yes, they do a great job of sending students, but the core of this ministry is teaching students to live lives that make Him famous.

In a few weeks, I will begin working with my two favorite pastors: Russ Tynan and Caleb Lantz. Both of these men mean the world to me and are helping me become the man of God I am called to be. These Godly men will mentor me throughout the summer (well...my entire life to be technical) as I grow.

Okay, now I will get down to the bottom line: living to make Him famous. What does this exactly mean? To live a life that is about making Jesus famous? It's radical, crazy, humbling, life-changing, and...the Gospel. God has been challenging me these past few months to evaluate what it truly means to live to make Him famous. Where do I start? What do I do? What do I say to people? Where do I go? After trying to ask God a million questions, God gave me that thumb on the head and reminded me that I just need to trust Him.

Just Trust. That's a common phrase to me. In fact, I have given an award winning speech on "Just Trust" God with the BGCT. But these next few months, I am going to be challenged to just trust God more than ever before. I am going to have to trust God with my finances. I am taking a huge pay cut, and I am going to have to just trust that God will provide. I am going to have to trust that God will take me from location to location as I scatter out onto this mission field. I am going to have to just trust God day by day as I attempt to discover what it means to live to make Him famous.

I've been able to somewhat discover what living to make Him famous is these past couple weeks. I just cannot contain it in me anymore. I am tired of living day by day, and my life centering around what I want, the plans I have, or what I want to do. Even as a minister, I struggle with this. I want to be the next David Platt, Francis Chan, Lou Giglio, or even my own mentors: Russ Tynan and Caleb Lantz. It's not that there is anything wrong with these men or even anything wrong with seeing them as mentors. But there is something wrong with me wanting to be the next big deal and me wanting to be the famous one, because then I strip the famous One from His glory. That's what living to make Him famous is about: living a life that constantly gives God the glory. That's the life I want to live, and that is the life I want to start committing to live over the next few months and for the rest of my life. I want to be living on mission to make Him famous.

The next few months are going to be exciting with the job opportunities I have. One week, I will be working with iGoGlobal in preparing students to head to all the ends of the earth to spread God's glory and the Gospel. Some days, I will be serving in the inner-Cleveland area to share the Gospel with some of the most broken families in our nation. CNN and the newspapers are right about one thing: Cleveland is a broken community with a lot of issues. But guess what? That's exactly what the Gospel tells us Jesus wants. Jesus wants the broken people. It breaks my heart hearing some of the terrible things going on in the Cleveland community, but it breaks my heart far more to I know that myself and others are not doing enough to spread the Gospel in this community. I want to travel around Cleveland and let people know, "Hey, I know you think your life is a mess, but let me tell you about a man named Jesus." One week, I will head to Arlington to serve to the homeless, because the Gospel reminds us that Jesus wants us to aid, love, and share the Gospel with the poor (see Mark 10). Multiple weeks will be spent with iGoGlobal, Super Summer, and other training camps for students decided to live a life that make Jesus famous. I am excited about this small journey I am taking this summer to make Jesus famous.

Here's the deal, as crazy as the living to make Jesus famous thing sounds, you can easily do the same. No matter where you are, you can find a way to serve. Maybe you can think of that guy that sits outside the donut shop who is homeless. Give the guy a donut and say, "Hey man, can I tell you a little bit of how much Jesus loves you." Maybe you don't have to start out just like that. You can ask the guy about how bad the Astros really are (Lord, help them). Then you bring up the Gospel. You meet with the guy once a week and just have donuts with the man. Learn his story. Teach him your story...and teach him the story of Jesus. Invite him to church, and as that man begins to understand a portion of just how much God loves him...then he can begin to fall in love with Christ.

I am tired of living a life that doesn't point to God. For almost 20 years, I have lived a life that pointed to...me. I've had an alright life. I have great parents, do well in school, and have great friends. Life is good. But that's settling. You see, I can't do that. I can’t just settle with the fact that people in my own life, community, and world are dying without Jesus. I mean isn't that something that we should lose sleep over! It should rip our hearts open! As I pray about making my life about making Him famous...God continually shows me the brokenness of the world. I don't want to be a Sunday ministry guy. I don't want to be a Wednesday night ministry guy. I want to live a life Sunday-Saturday and 365 days a year, that makes Him famous. Today, this life for me begins: living to make Him famous.

Matthew 28:19-20 (New Living Translation)

19 Therefore, go and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. 20 Teach these new disciples to obey all the commands I have given you. And be sure of this: I am with you always, even to the end of the age.”