Fasting from Shoes....

April 8th was probably one of the most interesting and reflective personal days I've had in a long time. Today I fasted from wearing shoes. Sounds weird right?
Today TOMS, an innovative new shoe company, facilitated a campaign called "One Day without Shoes" to raise awareness of the fundamental role that shoes provide in protecting us against diseases. When I first heard about this event several months ago, I immediately checked my calendar to make sure that participating would be convenient for me and my “busy” schedule. This was an immediate sign that I needed to participate more than anybody else.

Over the past few weeks I have come up with several more reasons to join the cause.

• This “one day” intrigued me because I don't think I have ever thought about barefoot children, diseases or the blessings that my 10+ pairs of shoes are.
• One of my podcast mentors, David Platt has preached several times on the fact that everyday 26,000 children die of preventable diseases. (That means each 24 hour period)
• I can’t help but wonder if Podoconiosis, a 100% preventable disease that effects 1,000,000 Ethiopians, is one of the diseases that makes up this statistic.
• For 10 years now I have wanted to go on an international mission trip in order to see what true poverty looks like by working, serving and loving in a 3rd world country.
• I believed that this day would help me live in an Ethiopian, Rwandan or Nigerian’s “shoes” for a short 18 hour period.

• As a believer in Jesus Christ as the Savior and Lord of the world, I believe that world starvation and death from preventable diseases are ultimately issues that Christ’s church should eliminate. This is indeed our call as Christians and an especially prevalent issue that we must meet since America is one of the richest countries in the history of the world.

These reasons lead me to fast with a Christian mindset focused upon hearing from God. My purpose throughout the day was to ask God to rock my world to being barefoot for life. Since God is the faithful and the one true God, He did exactly that.

This morning I woke up excited to be barefoot because of what I would experience. This immediately changed when I stepped out of the Loft and onto a bunch of holly bush leaves....Holy CRAP! I’ve never noticed all the leaves, pebbles and jagged rocks around where I parked each day. Before I even started my daily commute, I was thankful for small amenities like shoes and pavement.

On campus as I walked from my car to class I caught myself drifting back to my American comfort and dodging the nastiness on the sidewalk, not to mention the fact that I stuffed flip-flops in my backpack just in case “I really needed them.” I also soon became thankful for the American amenities of carpet, linoleum and AC, even though my feet got cold.

Throughout my day of errands, studying, crossing Magazine Street and walking to Fuel Cafe to pick up the Bricks’ take-out, for the first time I noticed every little stick, rock, piece of glass and other particle along my way. I don’t think I’ve ever been more thankful for where I have been born or blessed to live by God’s grace. This evidence of His grace in my life then led me to begin to prayerfully consider how I should respond. The verse I meditated on for most of the day actually appears in Scripture twice, Isaiah 52:7 & Romans 10:15. I was overcome by the beauty of my bare feet because God impressed on my heart to more passionately and boldly proclaim the Good News of the Gospel in my community & world. The Gospel is that God loved the every person so much in their individual broken state that He responded by sending Jesus Christ to earth to die for their exact problem and sinfulness. (Romans 3:22-24)

If you missed “One Day without Shoes” I want to encourage you to simply walk barefoot around your block or subdivision for just a few minutes in hopes of becoming aware of the overwhelming need in this world.

If you are a Christian I want to encourage you to begin to ask God to convict you in areas that need it and response to needs which He desires you to meet personally. Let’s pursue Christ and His mission in this world no matter the cost of personal comfort, worldly pleasures or selfishness. Let’s lose it all in order to see Him glorified in every nation and tribe.

A part of my response will be what we encourage at Vintage Church:

• Pray for My feet and legs are hurting as I head to bed tonight from all the barefoot walking I did. Tonight I can identify in a very very small way with the nations that Operation World prays for.

• Give toward I’m thankful for the way in which TOMS is meeting physical needs in this world by providing shoes.

Other Options include:
-Compassion International
-Churches Helping Churches (Haiti)
-Samaritan's Purse
*These organization already have great organized efforts to meet both the physical and spiritual needs in the world.

• Go to My prayer tonight is God first help me see the nations which you have brought around me in Uptown and then God provide a way for me to travel to some of the barefoot places in the world in order to proclaim your good news....Your salvation.

Gratefully Live the Gospel, Love the City, BE the Church.

KaBoom! Build Day - Wisner Playground

An Uptown neighborhood is gathering to build a new playground in Wisner Playground, which is located at Laurel and Upperline. This is just a block away from the Bricks' Loft Apartment and about 5 from Vintage Church.

This is a historic Uptown park

These are pictures from 1941 when there was a pool. (Upperline Street pictured)

Wisner has always been known as a great place for families to bring their children and dogs. The recent addition of the baseball diamond and basketball court have created a place for neighborhood kids to gather for pick-up games. However after Hurricane Katrina, Winser was used for over two years as a FEMA trailer facility. FEMA is working on restoring the ball field but the playground area has totally been ignored.

The pavilion damaged from Katrina

The neighborhood and KaBoom! have joined together in order to restore the family playground area. KaBoom! received drawings from children from the community and have developed a design. So Friday April 30th, 100 volunteers are needed in order to build a new playground and make a community transformation happen.

• Build Day: Friday, April 30th - 8am-2pm

The KaBoom! Build Site (Upperline Street)

The pavilion has been removed

The corner of Upperline and Annunication Streets

If you're free, come out to love and serve the community.

To register email: matt@vintagenola.org

HandsOn Reflection & Photos

HandsOn New Orleans Day this past Saturday was a great morning of service in Indian Village. This area is one of the Katrina-affected that is still trying to recover. Our morning was spent clearing lots and scraping houses in preparation for some of the homeowners building projects in the next few months.

The Vintage group who got up early to serve and join in with the fun.

As I worked I was thankful for the way a community has worked to restore and rebuild, but also challenged by the need

which still exists in and around the areas where the levees broke. My prayer for Vintage and other churches in NOLA and the South is for God to continue to sendus out to get active and meet the needs of our city.

I would love to hear from my other Vintage NOLA peeps about what they took away from the morning. Post your comments!

Live the Gospel, Love the City, BE the Church

HandsOn New Orleans Day March 20th

From the Old Testament to the New Testament, Scripture clearly shows that God’s people care for the needy, both the physically and spiritually, within the local community. In response to this truth, we as Vintage Church want to give of ourselves in whatever way God desires in order to see the Gospel advance in New Orleans. The physical and spiritual needs in New Orleans are enormous. So, at Vintage we have decided to concentrate our efforts with several strategic community outreach partners that are already meetings these needs in our city. Our heartbeat is to make a difference and actively DO ministry.

This Saturday, March 20th is a great opportunity to put our vision into action.

HandsOn New Orleans Day 8am-12pm

The HandsOn New Orleans organization is celebrating 4 years of working to meet needs in the city of New Orleans with a morning of service. The day's efforts will serve an area known as Indian Village in Gentilly.

Projects will include

• Landscaping,
• Debris removal
• Trash-pickup.

After there will also be a celebration with FREE food and music until 2pm.

If you're free, volunteer to give a couple of hours on Saturday morning to help see the vision of a better New Orleans become a reality.

You MUST register in order to volunteer. Register here. Once you are registered, you will have access to the project location and schedule. If you have questions please e-mail larmstrong@handsonneworleans.org

Live the Gospel, Love the city, BE the Church

Failure: Where do we go from here?

Yesterday at Vintage we continued the journey through “LIFE” our study on Matthew 5-7. Our topic was not an easy feel good message. We talked directly about sin, focusing on three specific areas: sexual lust, marriage and lying. (Matthew 5:27-37) In these situations Jesus’ focus is on the internal.

Rob's sermon: Our Vintage Podcast

As I listened and personally reflected, Psalm 38, the Psalm for the day in my one year Bible reading plan, came to my mind. In Psalm 38 David is experiencing trouble as a result from his own sin. God helped me to see a picture of repentance in this text. When failure happens in one of the three areas of Matthew 5:27-37, God desires for each of us to respond in a certain way. Repentance is a Biblical word we might not truly understand, especially in relation to what it looks like practically lived out in our daily life.

So, note the progression of repentance from Psalm 38

The Anguish
v.1-8 David describes his anguish and acknowledges that he deserved it because of his sin. Repentance begins at this point of humility. First we tell God that we messed up and did what we wanted, not what He wanted.

The Loneliness
v.9-14 David describes his loneliness because his friends have deserted him. As king, David felt vulnerable to his enemies in this trouble. In our repentance we must also reach this point where we realize that nothing around us (spouse, family, friends, counseling, therapy or a monthly meeting) can ultimately fix our situation. The reason is because when we’ve tried everything else like David we must come to realize that we have a issue in the heart that is only for God. He alone is our Hope.

The Desperation
v.15-22 David declares his desperation on God alone for salvation. Repentance happens at this exact point when we confess and apologize for the sin that we have committed against God. (v.18) Amazingly we have a God that hears our cries for help no matter who we are or what we’ve done. His salvation has no limits. His response to our sin is salvation only through Jesus’ death burial and resurrection. Through surrendering our life to Christ we are forgiven and restored to a right relationship with God. Once this happens we can begin to deal with the effects of the sin and those around us who have been affected. Then forgiveness and restoration are lived out towards others.

Other Psalms of Repentance: 6, 32, 51, 130, 143

Live the Gospel, Love the City, BE the Church!

Vintage Haiti Response

On January 12 the country of Haiti was hit with a 7.0 massive earthquake. The country, which is the poorest in the Americas, has been totally devastated.

For full details, a New York Times article: A synopsis of what happened.

What should our response be? How should we, as a church, come together to help bring aid? As you’ve read or heard, this is a massive tragedy, and we, the church, must have a response.

In the days ahead it will become more clear how we should be involved, but, in the meantime, we’re coordinating our response in the following ways:

Gather: (PRAY)

As Community Groups:
Over the coming days and weeks we’ll continue to encourage your community groups to be praying specifically for this crisis - Pastor Rob & Drew will continue to remind all of our Community Groups to be praying.

As families:
Pray over dinner, at bedtime prayer with your kids, with your spouse…

As individuals:
Pray in your devotional time and throughout the day.

Give: (Financially)
It is beyond belief how much has been destroyed and how many lives were lost. There are organizations already established to best utilize financial donations for maximum impact in disaster relief scenarios. So we at Vintage Church are encouraging you to give to the Haiti Earthquake Relief Fund of the International Mission Board or the Samaritan’s Purse. All money given will be directed to the people and recovery of Haiti. We will take offerings over the next four Sundays, so if you feel compelled to give please designate a check and we will send it all to these organizations.

Go: (Travel to Haiti)
We want to make sure that we are a help and not a hindrance in the relief efforts. Vintage Church would encourage anyone who has a desire to go and help to wait and consider what the needs are.

It’s our understanding that as of now they’re requesting specific medical and specialized relief workers connected to relief organizations to respond. If you fit into that category and are working to get to Haiti, we would love to discover ways in which we could help. Please let us know.

What will the needs be?
In time, we may discover that it would be very helpful for our church to coordinate sending a team of folks to dig in and help. It is too early to be able to tell what the long-term needs of Haiti will be. As a church we will continue to listen, evaluate, pray and ask for Jesus to reveal how we should move.

“⁹The LORD is a stronghold for the oppressed,
a stronghold in times of trouble.
¹⁰And those who know your name put their trust in you,
for you, O LORD, have not forsaken those who seek you.”
--Psalm 9:9-10

The Vintage Staff

This is AlanseShe's an orphan that my parents support through One Vision International

She is just one of the Haitian faces that have been on my mind over the last few days.

Live the Gospel, Love the City, Be the Church!

The Christmas Message: God is here!

I'm writing from Knox-Vegas. Enjoying a week with family and relaxing alittle bit. Before I sign off for a couple days I wanted to share a devotional thought I received from one of my Lutheran friends.

The roulette wheel whirls in a red and black blur. The ball clatters and jumps, finally settling into one of the slots. In that moment, just before you can read the winning number, time freezes. That is particularly true for the person who has piled all his chips on the table, investing his whole bankroll on a single spin. Ecstasy or despair? It all rides on something beyond his control, the bounce of a ball.

Most of us do not hang out in casinos wagering the milk money on games of chance, but we may do something similar with our emotional health during this Christmas week. Heart-warming television specials, a rose-tinged memory of holidays past, and a deep desire to turn the page on whatever disappointments and stresses linger at year’s end tempt to us to invest too much emotional capital in the next few days. Don’t get me wrong. I am looking forward to time with family, the quiet mystery of Christmas Eve worship, and the chance to disengage from familiar routines. But expecting Christmas to satisfy all our longings is like hoping two days at the gym can undo a whole year of overeating and riding the couch.

If we expect Christmas to “fix” all our broken relationships or give us joy when we have not cultivated the ability to find it in our daily existence, we will inevitably be disappointed. Tempers flare when the family gathers. Deep griefs intrude as we think of empty places at the table. Life can not measure up to a Hallmark card’s fantasy world.

So, rather than expecting Christmas to supply a year’s worth of hope, let it be what it was that first night in Bethlehem , a visible sign that, even in the midst of the darkness, there is light. Christ did not come fully formed into the world. The mystery had to mature; it was years before its implications were manifest. Christmas is not an oak, strong enough to bear the full weight of our human need; it is the acorn of hope planted in our lives to grow slowly, but dependably, each day of the coming year. Let Christmas teach you a new way of seeing the world, as a place where heaven touches even the most ordinary act, fills it with radiance, and calls you to celebrate God’s drawing near.

This week, by all means, remember, but do it also during the other fifty one: “How silently, how silently, the wondrous gift is given! So God impart to human hearts the blessings of his heaven.”

The Christmas Story: Luke 2:1-20

Merry Christmas