Breakfast and Fireworks tonight @ DAG

Just wanted to remind all you DAGer's out there to come and join us at the church at 9pm as we countdown to 2009! There will be amazing worship, an inspiring message, breakfast, a family movie and of course prayer & communion at midnight followed by fireworks! For those of you reading this that are not a part of DAG we invite you to come and enjoy the evening with us.

I know it's not the Peach Drop in Atlanta, but it's going to be awesome hanging out with family. If you are coming just bring some kind of breakfast item to share with everyone. Tami, myself, and Josiah hope to see ya'll tonight.

Sunday Mind Dump

• Sunday was an AMAZING DAY!
• Our worship team did a great job once again. You guys are awesome!!!!
• Every now and again I jump into the middle of worship and share some thoughts with the folks and yesterday was one of those moments.
• Yesterday was a wreakless moment in worship and I felt like folks were missing a great opportunity to connect with God.
• So I reminded them how King David was wreckless in his worship as the ark (God's presence) came back home.
• It's time to get on worship on!!!
• Sunday was also our Youth Pastors last Sunday with us:( He and his wife have decided it was time for them to leave.
• They have been apart of our church for 10 years and have served as the youth pastors for 4 1/2 years.
• We are going to miss them a ton...
• Pastor Blake and Kristie thank you for serving faithfully all these years. It was an honor serveing with you. I pray that God directs you and your family during this new season of your ministry.
• I started a message series called "NO PERFECT PEOPLE ALLOWED".
• I have decided that this is going to be more than a collection of messages, NO PERFECT PEOPLE ALLOWED is going to be our new church mantra.
• I want everyone in Dahlonega and Luumpkin county to know that DAG is a place for everyone no matter where they are on life's journey.
• As we get closer to the new year I have been talking about our 1st 21 day Daniel Fast.
• We have so much to do that it is essential to spend a part of January seeking the Lord through praying and fasting.
• So please pray for our church from January 12th through February 1st as we seek God through praying and fasting.
• DAGer's I am so proud of all of you! 2008 was a wonderful year but I can't wait to see what God does in 2009!!!
• I love pastoring DAG!

I REFUSE TO STAND IN POOP!!!

This morning while I was playing with my son I noticed a very strong smell hovering around him. No matter where he went in the house the fowl smell followed him. Having an 18 month old I knew exactly what it was...you guessed it, it was a dirty, stinky, poopy diaper. At this point I had two options, option one allow my son to continue to stand around in his poopy diaper or option two pick him up and change him. Option one produces a very irritable and unhappy baby while option two produces a very content and happy baby. It amazes me how my 18 month old son understands that a poopy diaper is a bad thing and it makes life miserable.

Only God can use a moment like this to teach me a major life lesson. The reality is life is filled with poopy moments. I realize that many Pastors that blog like to keep things positive which for the most past I agree. The problem with taking this stance all the time is that when the crap hits the fan every body acts like nothing is wrong (either because we don't want to face the crap or because we don't want to offend anyone) while standing in waist high poop! Whether the "mess" is in our lives or churches it doesn't help our families or churches to totally ignore the "mess" all around us. The sad part is that many of us have gotten use to living and even worshipping in waist high poop and find nothing wrong with it.

Let me take this a step further...what is poop? (sorry about the poopy talk but you got to admit it's a great analogy:) It's left over waste that our bodies don't need. Because God is such an amazing Creator He created our bodies with the ability to distinguish the difference between substance (the good stuff) and waste (the bad stuff). Substance keeps us going strong and healthy and waste is the toxic material that can do some serious damage to our bodies if we don't get rid of it.

So how does this "weird/funny" analogy apply to our lives and churches? We can't be okay with wallowing in waist high poop. A mediocre mindset is poop, unforgiveness is poop, resentment is poop, bitterness is poop, a religious attitude is poop, legalism is poop, SIN is poop, you get the idea.

Keeping things positive is a wonderful idea especially since we live in a very negative and sarcastic world, but as leaders and Pastors we can't be afraid to help people get out of their "mess." I've met too many Pastors who love using the "keeping everything positive" statement just because they don't want to get dirty. Let's be honest MINSITRY IS MESSY! We're fooling ourselves if we think throwing a lifeline from the pulpit will help people become the men and women God created them to be.

So if you're a Pastor stop thinking that if you ignore the "mess" all around you that somehow it will all disappear. As leaders and Pastors we should strive to keep things positive but we must be ready and willing to roll up your sleeves and clean up. A lifeline is okay but what people really need is someone to be a life guard willing to jump in and help them out of the crappy situations of life. My point is that when we REFUSE TO STAND IN POOP WE ARE MOVING FORWARD!

My name is Gabe Trevino and I REFUSE TO STAND IN POOP!!!

I'm Back!

It's been over a month since my last post. Several people have asked me why I haven't updated my blog latey. At first, I didn't know what to say over a month ago I wrote my last post and than I just stopped. But as people continue to ask me, I started to ask myself why I haven't written lately the reality is...it wasn't a top priority.

Lately life has been crazy in the Trevino household and although I enjoy blogging my family is my top priority. Jesus, my wife and son deserve my time more than blogging does. Like I said even though I enjoy blogging sometimes it's just one "MORE" thing that I feel like I have to do.

Interestingly, I have been reading about many other Pastors and church planters echoing the same thoughts. They're reevaluating "WHY" they blog. Even though blogging has become a great way for Pastors and church planters to communicate with each other and minister to others it has become a time consumer. At it's worst it becomes a "let's see who can have the most interesting and read post." I guess what I'm trying to say is if I choose to blog I have to understand why I'm blogging and I have to learn how to priorities it among the many other more important things in my life.

From this point forward I got blogging...blogging doesn't have me. So that being said I am back!

Mind Dump: Monday Edition

• This past week was crazy!
• I worked some weird hours at my other job which drove me a little wacky this past week.
• Preparing for our Fall Carnival took a lot of work.
• Learn some valuable lessons.
• We had a great turn out...I'm thanking God for what He did last Friday Night.
• We had around 250 people showed up for Fall Carnival.
• It was great having all those folks on our campus.
• The greatest part of the night was watching the faces of our folks. PRICELESS!
• I am so proud of our church!
• DAGer's you guys were amazing.
• Thank you for serving with all your hearts.
• On Saturday I had to be at work at 5:45am. That was rough!!!
• I can't wait till I'm at the church full-time.
• So if any one has some extra funds on hand that they don't know what to do with may I suggest my salary fund:)
• Sunday was off the hook...that means amazing.
• Seriously, the worship time did a great job!
• I think my new favorite song is Jesus Messiah!
• Our attendance was really off on Sunday.
• We had one family show up from Friday's event.
• I think our church was a little disappointed especially since we just had 250 people on Friday night.
• Honestly I was a little disappointed but then I realized if we did our Fall Carnival for just that one family it was totally worth it!!!
• It was so good preaching again.
• It had been two weeks since I had preached so I was SO ready to share God's Word.
• I think I went over board...I preached for over an hour.
• I honestly didn't mean to but I really felt like the message I was sharing needed to be heard.
• After the message we had communion.
• I love having communion with our church it makes me feel closer to everyone and it reminds me how amazing Jesus is.
• Over all it was an fantastic weekend.

Meeting Stephen Baldwin @ Krogers

Tonight I had a really cool experience. I was on my way home from my night job and I was debating on whether to get dog food tonight or tomorrow. I decided to get it now so I pulled into the grocery store near my house to get my pooches some grub. As I was walking toward the dog food aisle I saw this guy standing there and instantly knew who the guy was but I convinced myself that it couldn't be him. So I called my wife and told her that I thought I just saw Stephen Baldwin at Kroger's. At that moment Stephen stepped into the main aisle and it was obvious that it was him.

At that moment I hung up the phone walked up to Stephen and introduce myself. I think I freaked him out alittle. The reality was that I was a little nervous as I was introducing myself. Don't act like you wouldn't have been nervous meeting Stephen Baldwin. Seriously it was a really cool moment, how many times do you meet a person who is influential in the Hollywood and Christian world at the grocery store?

Anyway, I then began to share with him that I pastor a church in Dahlonega Georgia and that we have a large group of skaters in Dahlonega and I was praying how we could impact this ignored and displaced group of students. He then gave me his ministry card and told me to email one of the organizer of the Assalt Tour. The ASSALT TOUR is a completely FREE event that offers the youth a drug free and positive environment to come and see some of today's hottest bands, professional freestyle moto-x, bmx, and skateboarders. The tour also offers amateur skaters the chance to show off their skills to the pros and win cash & prizes!

Can you image if this ministry came to Dahlonega. Countless lives would be changed forever. I'm seriously going to try to make this happen. I have no idea how to make this happen but my bible tells me that nothing is impossible for my God. So DAGer's and Dahlonega get ready because God willing the Assalt Tour is coming. If you want more information about the Assalt Tour check out it here.

Just in case you are reading this post thanks Stephen for listening and introducing me to the Assalt Tour. It would be great to have you and the Assalt Tour in Dahlonega.

Sunday Night Mind Dump

• WOW what an incredible day!
• I am totally exhausted but it was totally worth it.
• I am so proud of our worship team! Every week it gets better and better.
• We had several guest.
• Life has been a little crazy and stressful for many of our folks.
• I really felt today that alot of people had their JOY restored.
• Our guest speaker, Noel Rosa, hit it out of the park this morning and tonight!
• He has this unique way of connecting with every generation.
• He really stressed how important it is for the older generation to pour into the younger generation.
• If you want someone that knows how to jam on the guitar and tell you how it is you have got to invite Noel to you church, school, or events. I promise you won't be disappointed.
• Let me know if you want his info.
• Had lunch at the Smith House in Dahlonega it was amazing!
• It's a little pricey but totally worth it...it's the best country food in north Georgia.
• I was so jacked up about our fall carnival this Friday. It's going to be blast.
• I am so tried...
• Still working on several projects at the church.
• I just ordered our new church sign.
• Our current one was made in the 70's...seriously. It looks pretty bad right now but hopefully we will have our new sign in 5 weeks.
• Pretty excited about our new cafe area. we're currently looking at furniture to complete it.
• I'm think about getting a tap for a rootbeer keg to make rootbeer floats:)
• Just thinking about it:)
• The last couple of weeks I haven't preached so I can't wait to preach next Sunday!!!
• The Sunday before Election Day...it's gonna be interesting.
• Good night!