Tom Allen

I spent a half day Monday and a half day Tuesday at a Pastor's Prayer Summit at Camp Pine Cove this week.  Here's what I came away with... 1.  There are 5,000 churches in the Greater Houston area.  Every pastor from every church was invited.  285 came.  Pastor's praying with other pastors for our city is not a big priority. 2.  I met Korean pastors, Nigerian pastors, Vietnamese pastors, Japanese pastors, hispanic pastors, black pastors, urban pastors, suburban pastors, pastors that I had no idea where they came from.  Houston is the most ethnically diverse city in America.  So are it's pastors and churches. 3.  When everyone in the room is seriously worshipping God with every ounce of their being, the Holy Spirit shows up.  It's really not about how good the music is or the song selection.  When people don't care if they like the songs or not and only care about worshipping God through whatever is sung, something big happens. ...

Everyone deals with change...and everyone deals with change differently.  Even those of us who claim to like change recognize that it is difficult and stressful.  Recently, I read through the 2nd chapter of Acts.  Talk about CHANGE!  This little rag-tag group of Jesus-followers suddenly at Pentecost and immediately after were faced with massive change and the choice of how to deal with it...or not to deal with it. Just like there are Stages of Grief we go through, I believe there are Stages of Change we go through as well.  Maybe not as obvious or recognized, but still very real.  I thought it might be helpful to identify them and call them what they are. STAGE 1:  REALIZATION ...that the STATUS QUO is no longer a viable option.  Business as usual, whether in marriage or family or business or one's spiritual life is being challenged and "the way things were" is no longer acceptable.  We need change. STAGE 2:  RECOGNITION ...that ch...