Identity: Needing Christ through our prayer

This past Sunday at Vintage Church we began a new series for the month of July called Identity. We are discussing who we are as a church family.

Our Plan

• July 3rd - Needing Christ through our prayer.
• July 9th/10th - Pursuing Christ through our study.
• July 16th/17th - Reflecting Christ through our relationships.
• July 23rd/24th - Serving Christ through our mission.
• July 30th/31st - Being Christ through our campus.

Our interns helped organize a time of corporate prayer during this first week of Identity. Cam Hyde and Rob Russell have rocked it out this summer hosting the outside volunteer teams. I have enjoyed the opportunity to spend time with these two young studs this summer. They have set a high bar for our future summer internships.

The guide created led us to pray individually, in groups and corporately for ourselves, our city, other churches and the lost. The emphasis points would be a great outline for you to use in your personal time with Christ.

-Individual Reflection - The question: "Who is Christ in your life?"

-Adoration (Matt 6:9)

• Take five minutes to adore God.
• Praise Him for who He is.
• Use this time to set your affections on Him.

-Submission (Matt 6:10)
• Pray that we would be Submitted to God’s will.
• Pray His concerns would be our concerns.
• Ask for focus to be His servants rather than being concerned about what we can get from Him.

-Desperation (Matt 6:11)

• Pray for the Holy Spirit to help you recognize your complete dependence on Him.
• Pray He will increase your love for Christ and give you a greater desperation to know Him intimately.
• Ask for boldness and faith to attempt things for Christ so impossible that only God can get the glory for showing up.

I'd encourage you to make time this week as an individual, couple and Community Group to use this guide. For some of us we need to get up early, others need to print this out and put on our bathroom mirror, others need to take an intentional coffee break and others need to redeem their commutes.

Biblical promises on prayer:

-James 5:16 "the prayer of a righteous person has great power as it is working."

-1 John 5:14-15 "And this is the confidence that we have toward him, that if we ask anything according to his will he hears us. And if we know that he hears us in whatever we ask, we know that we have the requests that we have asked of him."

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

Limes & an Orange Lessons....

Last Friday night I spiced up our date night with my brand new graduation-gift-money purchased grill. To be honest the Bricks have been having withdraws since moving into our shotgun apartment in August, with no access to a grill.

Our entree was grilled marinated chicken, with a side of grilled corn and Boudin. I used one of our friend Shannon's recipes which you can find on her blog. Most weeks, at least one of the meals at the Brickhouse comes from one of her recipes....she posts everything she makes!

Sarah spent the week in New Iberia and I really wanted to grill a fantastic dinner for her and her return to the Big Easy. I purchased all the items for the recipe and spent most of the afternoon prepping the chicken, corn and my new grill. This recipe called for lime and orange juice. On date night I take no shortcuts so I decided we needed freshly squeeze juice. [You know only the best for Mrs. Brick.]

I sliced a couple of limes and prepared to juice them. There was only one problem.....we don't own a juicer. We have 1,000,000 different serving spoons and pretty dishes, but we don't have a juicer. So in my frantic prepping I juiced several limes and a orange manually, a cup of lime and 1/2 cup of orange to be exact!

Do you know how many limes it takes to manually juice enough limes to reach a cup? 9

Yeah I counted each of the 18 halves that I squeezed and strained to get lime juice from. Imagine how long that takes.

Actually it was pretty funny seeing me squirm and twist all over our kitchen. I had lime juice running down my arm and splashing all over. But I would not be denied! And in the end we had a great dinner on our front porch together. Our friend Ramsey even enjoyed one of the chicken breasts.

Two lessons I gained from this experience that I'd like to share:

• Husbands plan, prep, and go all out for your weekly date night.

Sarah likes to be pursued and dated as my wife. Dating doesn't end after you get married, have children, hit the "mid-life crisis," or retire. Dating no doubt changes, but dating should never end. I can also guarantee you that your wife wants to be pursued, so quit being sissies, men. Go get your bride!

- Husbands today is Thursday.... what are you planning for this week's date night?

The ingredients are simple: some thought, your wife and you. It's not about taking her to the most expensive restaurant, but instead about creating an experience where the two of you can talk, relax and learn something new about each other. Sometimes the most fun date nights happen on a porch, while sipping coffee/tea or in your house.

• The importance of community can never be understated.

One of my favorite things about New Orleans is the value that most people place on community. For the most part this city is still a place where people know their neighbors. When I got to about the 17th half lime I had a profound thought: Why didn't I call _____ to see if they had a juicer I could borrow? And I named about 4-5 people that live within 2 blocks that I could have called and probably found a stinkin' juicer.

- So can I ask you who you have in your life that knows you and encourages you in this crazy busy life that we all live? The value of close friends has been something that God has continued to teach me over the past few months.

Neil Cole believes that small groups are one of the most effective ways to make & multiply disciples. Some strengths of small groups include:

• Community (Ecclesiastes 4:9-12)
• Accountability (1 Timothy 5:19)
• Confidentiality (Matthew 18:15-17)
• Reproducibility (2 Timothy 2:2)

***Taken from Life Transformation Group Booklet

For me, my Community Group is a source of great encouragement which God uses to grow me as a Christian, husband, pastor and friend. We enjoy meals together, help each other move, pray for one another, celebrate birthdays and discuss Scripture. I hope you will connect to such a group in your city. Trust me, you won't regret the decision. And if you're honest you need it, if not today one day you will, maybe when you're in search of a juicer.

Connect to a Vintage Church Community Group - Finder

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

A Rising River....

This week the local news has been covered with discussions about the rising Mississippi River and the potential threat which this plays for Southern Louisiana. The worst case is that this flooding could be worse than Kartina. As I have watched the stations and read online, I had two thoughts that I’d like to quickly share.

1. Tons of people live in cities
For us Louisianans there is a system of sp

illways that have been created along the Mississippi River in order to protect Baton Rouge and New Orleans. These are the two biggest cities in LA. Current statics tell us that an enormous amount of growth is happening in cities around the world as the population is moving back into cities.

One of the options that the Louisiana state officials have is to open the Morganza Spillway. In the scenarios I’ve seen, opening this spillway would flood some rural areas in order to not flood the cities. Note the small arrow in the bottom left: "There should be no flooding in the Metro Area [New Orleans]"

What this discussion shows is exactly what I’ve learned in my short run serving in New Orleans....cities are the way in which to influence and change the world.As weird as this may sound God has confirmed my call to be in the city and for the city as a believer, pastor and neighbor. The business world is impacting the cities. The artists are impacting the cities. Young entrepreneurial minds are impacting the cities. Will the body of Christ, the Church, impact the cities with the Gospel? There’s a new book that I’m excited to get and read. I’d recommend you do too.

<-- For the City - Darrin Patrick & Matt Carter

2. God is gracious towards all people
The dilemma to flood one area in order to avert a flood in another area which this rising Mississippi River has caused is a tough decision. In fact it’s one that is above my pay grade. Honestly I’m perfectly fine with that reality. But I do find this interesting, the decision of choosing “the lesser of two evils”....

Instead I’m thankful for the truth that God chose to respond to a crisis in a way that didn’t neglect any person due to any economic, cultural or racial difference/factor. Scripture tells us that Christ died for all people. In the cross we have God diverting the penalty of mine and your sin. Jesus Christ, God in the flesh, standing in my place and consuming the brunt of God’s righteous wrath toward my sin. This was done in order that you and I might have life.

This is our God. The One I serve and commend you to trust in with your life. At Vintage Church we plead with people to surrender their lives to Jesus Christ. If you haven’t, it’s simple....“Repent and Believe in the Gospel” - Jesus (Mark 1:14-15) No special 8 step prayer or anointed oil needed. Turn from your sin (repent) and trust in Jesus Christ through faith (believe).

When you do, come check us out in either Uptown or Metairie on the weekend.
Live the Gospel, Love the City, BE the Church....

EGG the Homeless

EGG the Homeless - April 22-24th

Yes... you read that right!

This is a movement of the church to change the face of homelessness in New Orleans over the Easter weekend. Our partnership is with the New Orleans Mission. We are working hard to bring all the final details together for what is going to be an awesome weekend. I hope you are excited to see God work and move as we serve our city and worship Jesus.

Weekend Schedule

• Elevate [April 22]: we will unite as the church to pray for the Homeless - location Vintage Campuses @ 7pm

• Give [April 23]: we will unite with others in our city to provide for the Homeless - location Tipitina’s Uptown @ 7:30pm [Benefit Concert Information]

• Gather [April 24]: we will unite as the church to celebrate Jesus’ resurrection and life change available to the Homeless - location Dixon Hall on Tulane Campus @ 10am

What can you do?

Pray: Join us in asking God to move in such a way that He gets the glory over these three days. To journey along with us over the next 2 weeks check out Our Prayer Guide

Invite: Come to one of our gatherings [Campus times] for postcards and flyers to pass out in the city. We also give everyone permission to Tweet and Facebook status the heck out of this. The EGG the Homeless site

Serve: We have volunteering opportunities on Saturday and Sunday, talk with your community group leader [connect to with a group] or email info@vintagenola.org

Give: Tickets for Tipitina's Uptown are available here. You can also can make a contribution to help cover the cost for the weekend.

Donate: Bring toilet paper, paper plates and paper towels to our Easter Sunday Gathering for the New Orleans Mission.

Live the Gospel, Love the City, BE the Church

Moses: a faithful servant of God

I had the opportunity to preach at the Vintage Uptown Campus worship gatherings this weekend. Our theme was faithfulness and we looked at Moses in Numbers 27:12-20. This is the end of his life and from this passage we see 3 statements about faithfulness.....

• Faithfulness isn't solely based upon our actions for God (v.12-14)
• Faithfulness involves a trust in God & His purpose (v.15-17)
• Faithfulness passes the baton to someone else after our race is finished (v.18-20)

Click here to listen

Click here for our Discussion Guide [Awesome how God led our disci

pleship team and my heart in the same direction]

Click here to connect with a Vintage Community Group

I had an intense week preparing and wanted to share a reflection that I wrote in my journal.

My Journal (3/15/11)

[READ Deuteronomy 34]

We’re here at the ending of Deuteronomy, the next page is Joshua which accounts God’s purpose advancing as the people occupy the land. Israel did become a nation and remained in this land. At times these people follow the Lord wholeheartedly.

While other times these people disobeyed His commandments. Through those times God both punished, as with Moses in Numbers 20, and He also restored. Ultimately his salvific purpose for all people in the world continued through this nation. In fact for 1,000+ years through many kings, battles, seasons, God’s purpose continues.

Then one day a young teenage girl receives a house call from an angel of the Lord. A baby is born who name is Jesus. Who as the Son of God was the ultimate example of a faithful servant, even to the point of death on a cross for my sins. [Philippians 2:6-8] One of Jesus’ disciples, Matthew, works through his Gospel letter to Israel to show that Jesus is the greater Moses. Like Moses, Jesus not only serve God and furthered God’s purpose while here on earth; but before His departure He entrusted God’s purpose into the

hands of His disciples in such a way that the advancement, like the transition between Moses and Joshua, did not miss a beat. The church was birthed and God’s salvation which had been promised long ago was now realized and communicated through men and women throughout the world.

Now we, Vintage Church, are a small part of this body carrying the same mission to see God’s purpose advance in New Orleans and around the world. So in response:

• The desperation with which both Moses & Jesus interceded for people must be characteristic in our faith in God. [Exodus 32:7-14; 33:12-18, Numbers 14:11-20, Matthew 26:36-44, Luke 13:33-35]
• The sacrifice with which both Moses & Jesus faithfully served God must be characteristic of our faith in God.
• The priority for advancing God’s purpose above their individual lives within which both Moses & Jesus faithfully lived out, encourages us that with God’s Spirit guiding us, we too can be a faithful servant of God.

Moses prayed: Psalm 90:16-17

16 “Let your work be shown to your servants,
and your glorious power to their children.

17 Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us,
and establish the work of our hands upon us;
yes, establish the work of our hands!”

Conclusion: Faithfulness is a life I live as a result of what God has done for me which furthers His purpose and rightly trains someone else to continue God’s work.

I appreciate the opportunity to serve Christ alongside my staff and church family in our city. And after talking with Pastor Rob Sunday night and Monday, I'm stinkin' stoked for the next couple months. One area of prayer is our Easter Weekend - "EGG the Homeless"

Planning to blog and update everyone a little more over the coming weeks, until then I'm reading and writing.......53 days until May 14th aka Graduation from Graduate School.

-Brick

August 15th - A Day of Prayer and Fasting

This Sunday (August 15th) the Vintage worship gatherings are going to be a little different than normal. We are going to spend our hour in prayer and singing. This coming Sunday is going to be devoted to uniting in prayer as we listen to Jesus and do what He says.


“The true church lives and moves and has its being in prayer.” --Leonard Ravenhill


Our lives are so busy with constraints and obligations for work, family, school, etc. When you think about your daily “To Do” List, what is #1? If you are honest with yourself I think you would agree that your prayer life and communion with God commonly falls dead last on the list. It’s just what happens when life gets crazy. However, as Christians our availability to God should be the highest priority. Sometimes in order for us to spend time in prayer, we must cut something else out in order to make ourselves available. Our Vintage family has been extremely busy over the last year and we believe that God has even greater things in store for us in the coming months. If we aren’t careful we could become so busy for Jesus that we actually forget about Jesus. So this Sunday, as we gather we are going to pause, breathe, reflect, sit…pray. Our desire to be with God is like David’s in Psalm 65:4 and Psalm 27:4

As part of this day of prayer we are also encouraging everyone to fast on Sunday. Fasting is the spiritual discipline of abstaining from some activity in order to devote oneself wholly to prayer and seeking God. The abstinence can be from food, TV, video games, etc. During a fast a person makes himself or herself more available to God, which means that the time that would be spent partaking in a certain activity is instead spent with God. Biblical fasting must be partnered with prayer, because without prayer there is no spiritual value; you would just be starving yourself. This is probably a great dieting plan but not a good spiritual plan.


“In experiences of fasting we are not so much abstaining from food as we are feasting on the word of God. Fasting is feasting!” --Richard Foster


As a family we are going to participate in a normal fast from food for the entire Sunday. The first few hours will be fascinating physically, but more importantly our focus is going to be on the inner attitude of the heart. Continue to perform regular duties of the day while inwardly you will be in prayer, confession, intercession, adoration and worship.

A Message from David Platt on Prayer and Fasting - Give it a listen if you have a couple of minutes.

“The theology of fasting, then, is a theology of priorities in which believers are given the opportunity to express themselves in an undivided and intensive devotion to the Lord and to the concerns of the spiritual life.” --Eugene Merrill


See you on Sunday!

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

LIVE Sent Opportunity - Grand Isle

This spring the Gulf Coast Oil Spill has had a devastating impact on many cities along the coast. Grand Isle, a town located on the southern tip of Louisiana, is home to many people who earn their living by fishing and shrimping. Although BP was able to cap the leak last week; the massive amount of oil that has been put into the Gulf will effect this region and families for several years. As a Vintage church family, God has given us a perfect opportunity to LIVE Sent in our region of the US as we help those effected in Grand Isle out by meeting a practical need. The Grand Isle School has 150 kids in grades K-12 who need school supplies to start off the new year.

As a church family we are going to be collecting “Back-2-School Backpacks” over the next 2 weeks, from now until Friday, August 6th. Nathan Stanford, the Student Pastor of FBC Grand Isle, will distribute the backpacks to the families in need. This is an opportunity to LIVE Sent to a hurting community. So let’s Live the Gospel, Love the City and Be the Church by buying all of the items on the school supply list and donating them in a backpack.

"Freely you have received, freely you give." -- Matthew 10:8

Student Backpack Supply List:

• 4 packs of wide rule paper
• 5 folders
• 2 notebooks
• 1 1-inch binder
• 3 packs of pens (red, blue & black)
• 1 pack of highlighters
• 1 box of crayons
• 1 box of markers
• 1 box of colored pencils
• 1 pack of pencils
• Glue
• Ruler
• Scissors
• Eraser
• Pencil box

Total: $20
*Please place these supplies in a backpack for a student between Kindergarten and 12th grade.
Collection locations:

• Vintage Sunday Gatherings 9am & 10:30am
• Vintage Kidz building Monday-Friday 9am-4pm

*Look for the box with the "Backpacks" label

Deadline: Friday August 6