Empowered Believers Do Empowered Things!

Man, it was awesome today to meet with Kevin Jeffrey​ at the Purple Door Coffee.  While I was waiting for him, I had the chance to pray for a 9 month old baby boy.  I had the impression that he was born with birth defects, and found out from his nanny that he had been born with a muscle disease.  I asked if I could pray for him, and as I was praying he was smiling and laughing the whole time.  I even felt movement behind his little shoulder blade by his back.  I know God's doing a work on that little dude's muscles!  Plus, I know it was awesome for the nanny to see that even if she was a little weirded out!
  While we were having coffee and talking about the Baptism of the Holy Spirit and miracles and healings, we saw a guy walk in with an oxygen tank and a cane.  His tank had smoke coming out of it so I went to ask him if it was normal.  He explained it was because of the condensation and such.  Well, I asked him what was causing it, and he said that if anything can go wrong with the lungs that he had it.  I asked him about emphysema and he said yep.  I also asked if he had hurt his knee or his hip, and he said it was his hip.  So, I told him we were Christians and asked if we could pray for his healing.  Well, Dan had been a Christian for 25 years and he told us and he believed in the power of prayer.  We pulled up a chair for him and said we are gonna pray for you right now.  So we did, and he was at a 6 on pain scale.  I had him stand up, and reminded him about the story where Jesus prayed for the blind man, and after the first time he prayed for him, the guy saw men walking around and they looked like trees.  Jesus then prayed for him again, and the man was completely healed.  I said, "Dan, if Jesus, the Son of God, gets to pray twice, then I figure that we get to pray about a hundred times.  Can we pray for it again?"  Dan said, "ok!" So, we commanded healing to his hip, and the pain to go in the name of Jesus.  Then, Dan let us know that he had dropped to about a 3 in pain.  So, guess what?  We went for it again.  We commanded the healing several more times, and it stayed around a 3.  We are still believing for healing for Dan's hip, and his lungs.  Dan sat down and we talked about church and Jesus for about 25 minutes.  He told me about his daughter who lived in Aurora, so I gave him my card to give to her so she could check out our church.
   God has divine appointments set up for us everywhere we go, if only we'll tune into His voice, and His heart for people!  I gave Kevin a ride back to the place where he was staying and we continued our conversation about the Holy Spirit.  His church is also actually going through a series about the Holy Spirit as well (divine appointment!!).  I asked Kevin if he wanted to receive the Baptism of the Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues, and he said, "yeah."  I shared with him from our "script" on praying for people to receive the baptism, and led him in the prayer to receive, and then we both began to pray in tongues.  Kevin said he had never experienced anything like that, and boy was he going for it!  This guy has been growing a ton ever since he accepted Christ back in September through watching an online service from Elevation.  It's great to see Christians grow and receive all that God has for them!
  I'm doing a teaching on the Baptism of the Holy Spirit on June 7th at Good News Church, so be there at 5 pm if you want to learn more!  Maybe you'll get filled that night, too!  Come out even if you aren't ready, because God has something more for you!  AMEN!

Hit Or Miss

I have been inspired this week by a new friend to step out with words of knowledge for people.  While at the gym yesterday, I felt led to pray for these two guys and just bless them.  I didn't know what the Lord wanted to say until I started praying. I even felt like my prayer was insignificant.  I remember praying for the one fella's wife to be fruitful and praying for her womb.  I have no clue why I prayed that!  When I got home I couldn't shake the feeling about he and his wife trying to get pregnant. I tried to just let it go.  Another friend messaged me the same night to ask me to pray for he and his wife to get pregnant.  Odd coincidence?

  Well, today at lunch I felt an impression for the waitress, and I didn't get a chance to share it with her before we left.  Someone (ahem! Me!) forgot their iPad at the restaurant, so we had to go back...and I asked to see the waitress.  I shared a word I had for her about her being motherly, and asked if she had kids..."No," was the reply.  It felt like a total whiff, but I prayed for her and celebrated the risk all the way home.

  I'm back at the gym this afternoon, and I'm on the lookout for whom God wants to use me to speak to.  I see my friends from yesterday and think, " I gotta ask him about his wife!"  I waved to him from the bike, he waved back, and we each continued on our sweaty way.  Then, I saw this other guy in a red shirt and I got this picture of him in my head.  I saw him as a runner, and he was running trails, and I saw him hurting his leg.  I couldn't shake it the rest of the workout.  I'd see him bounce from machine to machine.  He didn't look injured.  No leg brace, no cast, no limp.  I thought, "I must be crazy!"  As he was leaving, I walked up next to him to ask about his workout, and then I jumped in.  "This may sound crazy, but I'm a Christian, and sometimes God gives me words and pictures about people. I saw you working out and I had this picture of you," I said.  "This may just be me making things up but tell me if this means something to you."  I shared the image that I saw and asked him if he had hurt himself running a trail.  He told me, "yeah, I did.  Actually this is my first time back to the gym in two weeks!"  I was like, "Wow!  Do you mind if I pray for you, I believe God wants to heal you!  He wasn't in any pain at the moment but I prayed and commanded healing.  He couldn't check it but said the pain usually comes in the evening.  So, I told him I'd be looking for him at the gym to ask him about it.

  Well, I then tried to track down my friend from yesterday, and he was nowhere to be found.  I texted him (yeah, I get guy's digits at the gym) to ask this: "Are you and your wife trying to get pregnant?"

  I see him coming out of the locker room reading his phone, and he starts laughing.  I approach him and he said how crazy it was about me praying for his wife yesterday.  He told her how I had prayed and she said she had a dream three nights ago that she was pregnant and that she wanted to have another baby, but he wasn't sure that he wanted to have another kid.

 Wow!  God really desires to use us to speak into people's lives and take risks!  Hit or miss, we celebrate the risks and the results!  Actually, what may seem like a miss could mean something to someone.  We have to step out and watch God work!  Praise the Lord!

  

The Barbours Go To Church

Over the past month, we have been visiting churches.  Some people use the term "church shopping" but we already belong to a church.  We are a part of Good News Church, and as we are gearing up we wanted to see who is doing what in the city of Aurora.  

  I am even more convinced now of the need for a life giving, empowering church in our city.  I am also aware of the tremendous amount of work, man power, and intimate connection with the Father needed to pull this off.  Thank God that we do not do this alone!

  I have noticed that there is little room made for the Spirit of God to move in the church as we plan every last detail, every single word that is spoken, and we try to jam pack fun and entertainment into every single minute of the service.  I'm a planner myself.  I know how these things work and should work.  I see the need for great lights, blackout at the right spot, video used for transition and dramatic effect, perfect guitar solo and a great mix on the sound board.  All of these play an important part in the "production" element, but how do we make sure every person has an encounter with the living God?  

  We went to a church that had everyone pray for each other during the worship set.  That was pretty cool, and he acknowledged the weirdness that people might feel if they'd never done it before.  We went to another church that had a ministry team available at the front for prayer.  I went down for prayer for healing, and got a very powerless prayer...almost a "God, if it's your will to heal this brother..."  I guess I expected more from a church that believes in the gifts of the Spirit.  We went to a large church that was about an hour away and it was IMPRESSIVE!  From the parking lot crew, to the kids ministry check in, classrooms, and volunteers, to the impeccable band and musicians, the light show, the kick drum beating within my chest, to the message of hope, to the coffee and cookies.  We could have walked in and not made a real connection with anyone though due to the size, and the Pastor did not give people a chance to receive Jesus on Easter weekend.  It was very produced down to the minute as I'm sure it must be with 6 services.  I was, however, engaged with God, moved by the message, and elated with the priority they put on kids, right down to the spot in the bulletin that has parents ask their kids what they learned, and gives you the answer and Scripture.  We went to another church that is trying to be a mega church with about 250 people.  The kids ministry check in was confusing.  Apparently, there are kids' classrooms in three different sections of the building.  Luckily, our kids were dropped off in the same wing. However, i almost didn't drop Jaxon off in the 2 yr old room because the young lady watching the kids was more concerned with her Starbucks iced coffee than greeting parents at the door.  Nonetheless, we left him in there.  We got some pretty awful coffee in the VIP lounge...but I wasn't sure if that was just for First Timers or for everyone.  We met the Pastor and he seemed genuine enough.  All of the production elements were in place, but a sound system with crackling speakers, a horrible mix on the sound board, and a lot of up and down movement was very distracting.  There didn't seem to be a flow in the worship set for us to really engage God before we were instructed to sit back down.  The Pastor reminded me of Jerry Seinfield with his jokes and inflections.  The message was good, funny, and inspiring with lots of one liners and tweetable sayings.  Although, I didn't walk out feeling like I could tackle my week, especially with announcements that included Olaf promoting a kids camp for summer.  My last thought leaving was, "i bet the kids would like a picture with the snowman!"  After hanging out in the lobby for a few minutes, not talking to anyone, I took the kids over to the "VIP" area to get a muffin, and was stopped by one of the Pastors who wouldn't let me get by to get something to eat for the kids.  He was more concerned with keeping the kids out of that room because "it was too crowded" (I saw like 3 people in the giant room) than meeting me and my family and helping my kids get something in their stomachs to tide them over.  After watching him try to figure out where to put my kids so my wife and i wouldn't "lose track of them" so we could go in there I told him to forget it and walked away frustrated and angry.  It took me walking away to keep from punching him in his snowman loving face, and grabbing three mini muffins to feed the dudes.

  

  Everything we do in the church will lead to people having an experience with God if we remember that it's all about the people.  The program, the production, the presentations are all nothing if it has no purpose for the equipping and empowering of the people.  Isn't this what the church as an institution should be doing?  

  If the guy in the parking lot makes me smile by the way he parks my car and commenting on my shirt and my handsome kids, I'll be ready to have an experience with God.  If the people in kids ministry greet my kids and help me know they will be safe, it's one less distraction.  If the music is great and the sound system is well mixed, I won't be thinking "oh, look, they are making a joyful noise!" If the message is inspiring, and full of God, then I may be ready to face my week.  Could all of this happen with only the best laid plans and production of men?  Probably.  Where is the desperation to see The Spirit of God do what only He can do?

  I desire to see demonstrations of the Spirit's power through miracles, the believer leaving the church inspired and empowered to do the work of the ministry, people enveloped in worship and engaged in community in order to become closer to God. I want see all people, especially kids, feel special regardless of what they have to offer the church or me as the Pastor.  I desire to help people fulfill their calling, and not just help me fulfill mine.  

  

  I believe now, more than ever, that Aurora needs a church like Good News.  I feel like it's an impossible thing to start a church, but didn't God kind of call us to do the impossible?  If was up to me, it would surely fail, but it's up to God IN me. No word from God will ever fail.

  

  

being made new

I am so blessed to have a church and members of my team to serve with!  We had an amazing first experience at church.  One of my newest drummers has some health issues that the doctors can't figure out and so this am he was unable to walk and if you can't walk it's pretty hard to drum.  I cannot wait to see God heal him!  

  Our backup drummer was MIA and we had a new dream team member show up to run sound.  In checking the sound of the drums, we found out that he has some serious skills on the kit!  So, we flexed a little and made it possible for him to play the kit.  It was awesome that even though we wanted Corey to run sound, God had other plans for him to fill in on the kit.  I cannot wait for 2nd experience to lead worship again!  Nothing is impossible with God who makes all things #new.

God At Work

I'm always so thrilled to be a part of the move of God!  He was at work in a BIG way this past weekend.  I had the tremendous opportunity to be the Camp Speaker for Blizzard 2013 - a winter youth retreat put on by my former church, Colorado Community Church.  It was a blast to see almost 70 students engaged in worshipping God in a small room, and pouring their hearts out to him and to each other.  The theme for the weekend was "The Living Dead" and it was based on all the craze about Zombies.  The idea behind the Living Dead is that we, as Christians are called to die so that we can live.  We are called to die to sin, and self, and to live with Christ.  Romans 6:5-11 says, "
⁵ If we have been united with him like this in his death, we will certainly also be united with him in his resurrection. ⁶ For we know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be done away with,^[a] that we should no longer be slaves to sin— ⁷ because anyone who has died has been freed from sin.
⁸ Now if we died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ For we know that since Christ was raised from the dead, he cannot die again; death no longer has mastery over him. ¹⁰ The death he died, he died to sin once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God.
¹¹ In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin but alive to God in Christ Jesus."  
  I was thrilled to be able to share with those teens three different messages and see God call them to respond in a number of ways.  The first message was Friday night, in which they were told, "To Become a Zombie, You Must Die."  Teens were called to trust Christ and die to sin and almost a dozen teens came forward to say yes to Jesus.  Some very emotional responses to God's move in their lives was a great site to see.  The second message point was "To Live As A Zombie, You Must Be Consumed."  Teens were told that zombies are totally consumed, and we are to be CONSUMED by God, that He is our everything - our waking, breathing, sleeping, eating - we hunger for Him and that drives us.  We saw many emotional responses to live lives consumed by God, and that was fantastic!  The third message reminded kids that we can't just live on the mountain as zombies, but we need to infect others with what we've got, and so I told them, "To Infect Others, You Must Be Contagious!"  I'm desperate to see an OUTBREAK of the Gospel in the lives of those teens to their family and friends, and see them share what God has done in them and infect others.  
  I was reminded that I'm pretty good at preaching, and that I miss those opportunities.  I'm going to seek more opportunities to preach, and be used of God not only to lead worship at my church, but to share God's message on a public scale through various engagements, as well as in my personal life and interactions.  Becoming aware of opportunities to share Christ is my new objective, and making the most of those opportunities by being contagious is my resolve.
 

Beachbody Challenge Packs and Facebook Challenge Groups

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Plus, the TeamBeachbody Club Membership gives you a 10% discount on anything at the TeamBeachbody store!  The Club Membership also gives you access to the awesome Meal Planner, recipe section, and food database. This is another tool that will help you with the Challenge! Because each member will have a different starting weight and goals, I highly recommend using the Beachbody® Club membership to customize a meal plan specific to YOUR goals to get you the BEST possible results!

As an Independent Team Beachbody Coach, I can personally vouch for my clients that combining Shakeology with a program is the best way to GET MAXIMUM RESULTS! So you will get everything you need to start your journey by ordering a Challenge Pack and save a ton of money too! Plus any new member to Team Beachbody that places an order at my site will automatically have me assigned as their personal Beachbody Coach to help you MAXIMIZE RESULTS! Already have a assigned Coach? Contact me to learn how to change your Beachbody Coach.

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What is the Beachbody Challenge?

I host private Facebook accountability groups to ensure maximum results for the participants. Each group is limited to only 5 members who are committed to making a change in their lives. These 5 members have accepted to “Challenge” their lives with a goal of getting healthy and fit like never before.

These special Facebook Challenge Groups will receive guidance, training, nutritional support, and plenty of motivational support, from my consistent, daily personal coaching. I will open a private Facebook group as a central location for accountability and support, but will also give my cell phone number to all participants and will be available for one on one counseling. And you better believe I will be calling you if you are not posting your accountability in the Facebook Group!

What makes a Challenge Groups so effective?

I’ve always been a big believer in challenges because it highly motivates people, and the commitment level is much higher when joining others with similar goals. When you have a small group, communication is much easier, and you’re able to hold each other accountable and push each other even more than being part of a large group. Plus, there is always some serious competition going on, forcing you to push even harder to achieve better results. When you have competition, encouragement, accountability, and support from 5 other people, it literally is a recipe for success! From the challenges I’ve held in the past, it’s unbelievable the type of results that some people got, and they even mentioned to me that there was no way they could have gotten those results without being part of an exclusive group. If you want to achieve your fitness goals, you’re not going to find a better way than with these challenge groups!

Gregg, how do I join your Challenge Group?

Simple! Here is what you need prior to joining a Challenge Group:

I need to be your Beachbody Coach

You must commit to a Beachbody Fitness Program

You must commit to drinking Shakeology everyday

#1: If you are new to TeamBeachbody, anything you order at my site will automatically assign me as your Coach. Already have a assigned Coach? No problem! Contact me to learn how to change your Beachbody Coach.

#2: Next, you have to be using Shakeology with the program. The reason Shakeology is a requirement is because it’s a product that I’ve been using for over 2 years now, am 100% confident that works, and have recommended to literally everyone I know, including my friends and family. If you want to get the best results possible, you have to be using Shakeology as a meal replacement every day and combine it with a healthy diet and a workout program. I know for a fact that you will get results by doing all of these together because I have coached hundreds of people over the course of 2 years, and the ones who have done this have gotten the best results!

What will I need to do once I’m in a Challenge Group?

The first thing that you will need to do is share your goals with everyone else in the group, including me. Once in the group, you will need to post daily that you’ve completed your workout, followed the diet, and ask any questions or provide support to the other group members. While going through your journey, you’re going to want to make sure you take progress photos every 15 days and post them in the group as well. This way you can show each other that you’re getting results and staying committed! If you want, you can hold certain challenge within your group as well, such as who loses the most weight during the 90 days.

Are there any prizes for being in a Challenge Group?

YES! Beachbody will be giving away daily, monthly, quarterly, and even a grand prize of $100,000 for those with the best results!

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Contact Me with any questions and Get Started Today!

Healthy Living

For a while now I have been focused on losing weight and being in shape, and I have seen the benefits to my body but more importantly to the lifestyle of my family. I love seeing my 2 1/2 year olds picking up the dumbbells or the bands or jump rope and trying to do what Daddy does. I tell them I'm going to go downstairs to exercise and they wanna follow me down. I get to work out and be an example for my kids. In a trend of fast food, obesity, and sugared candy overload, my kids get a glimpse of healthy living and they even want to eat their veggies with Daddy.
I think it's important to live healthy so we can reach our God given potential and stick around long enough to be used by Him for a while!