If you’re looking for a church, I want to invite you to mine: Christ Fellowship Miami

Christmas at Christ Fellowship

I worship with the Downtown Campus, but we have campuses in Homestead, Redland, Palmetto Bay and West Kendall. Click the picture above for times and locations.

I love my church, but there are other great churches in Miami that will be celebrating Christmas as well.

Google Map of Churches in Miami

I wish I could list them all, but click on the picture above so that you can find a church near you. There are plenty more churches, but these are ones that I know people at or have worked with in the past (please forgive me if I didn’t list yours).

Merry Christmas and I hope attending a worship service will bring you to knowing the love of God through His Son, Jesus, deeper this year.

Tommy & Kristin 2011 Christmas Card

2011 was the best of the best year of my life.

Two of my dreams came true and both happened to be on the same day.

Ever since I was 15, I knew I wanted to work for a church. I have worked as a volunteer leader, an intern, a part-time staff member and now I’m a full-time staff member at Christ Fellowship Miami.

The biggest dream of my life happened when the love of my life, Kristin Parke, gave me the honor of accepting my proposal to become my wife. For a long time these were just dreams, but now I have learned the reality: Stay married and stay in ministry.

Over half of people who start in vocational ministry don’t end in ministry. Over half of people who start a marriage end in divorce. The first is negotiable because God can move you into another field of ministry that does not need to be “vocational.” The second is non-negotiable.

As 2011 comes to a close, I ask that you pray for my future ministry to and with my wife. I love her. Unless I die young (bury me in satin, lay me down on a bed of roses…), I’ll be the only husband she’ll have.

Also, please pray for our ministry at Christ Fellowship. God’s Church will go on until Jesus comes back and my local church, CF, will continue on without me if God calls Kristin & I somewhere else (We’re not going anywhere. Just saying from kingdom mindset). One of CF’s Teaching Pastors, Eric Geiger, reminded us not too long ago that God is good and we’re all temporary. Although the Church will go on, with my church I want to make Jesus known in Miami.

Relationships of any kind are extensions of our belief in what life is truly all about. The way you react to a death of a loved one. The way you treat your friends and acquaintances. The way you react to your barista when they have been making close to 100 lattes already and they accidentally mess up yours and you feel the need to give them both barrels of your wrath because your latte wasn’t made correctly or exactly the way you want it.

Ok. The last one has some personal feelings towards it about how arrogant and self-centered people can be when it comes to giving people a verbal beat down over such a petty issue as a precisely crafted latte when there are people in the world fighting to live out of the rubble of a destroyed country like Haiti.

Love the LORD your God with your heart, soul, mind and strength. Love your neighbor just as you love yourself. That covers it. Jesus took care of the intricacies and complexities of life by saying what live is about. Love your relationships.

There are many important relationships in my life. The LORD, my family, my girlfriend, my friends, my mentors, my leadership teams, my students, and the people who I have yet to know. Each kind of relationship has a depth of love that needs to be explored.

What relationships in your life do you need to explore?

Through “Jesus Loves You…”, Craig and Jason look at how Jesus loves over 10 kinds of people (I’m sure they could have written more, but they chose) who are the:

Bitter & Betrayed, Disconnected, Broken, Forgotten, Skeptic, Glutton, Crook, Outcast, Porn Star and Religious.

The book takes several stories from each author (included Gross’ wife, Jeanette) and highlights Scripture introducing the point that Jesus loves each type of person.

While reading through, the most difficult and challenging chapters for me were “The Outcast,” which brought up previous statements of my former Chancellor at Liberty University, Jerry Falwell, that stirred me to wish he never spoke them (p.134-135), to the chapter on “The Religious.” Sadly the most damage for the communication of the Gospel of Jesus Christ has been through the hands of the ones who have received it first. While I loved Jerry Falwell and all he did for me, it seems the most divisive of words are the strongest words that people remember, particularly by the ones that need to know Jesus loves them and died for them.

If you want to start engaging yourself in a on-going process of knowing the people that Jesus loves, go check out Jesus Loves You and look into getting the book and Small Group DVD curriculum for you and your group or just follow the “Jesus Loves You Tour” featuring visits to Westboro Baptist Church, a Las Vegas buffet stop and a house give-away.

Think Orange is the description of Joyner’s learnings and insights into how leaders in the church and families can become Orange thinkers.

Light + heart
Yellow + Red = Orange

Joyner starts by describing the essence of God’s calling for the family. Practical examples are pointed out through modern day examples of Deuteronomy 6 through:

1. Meal time – When You Sit at Home
2. Drive Time – When You Walk Along the Road
3. Bed Time – When You Lie Down
4. Morning Time – When you Get Up

He goes on to explain the 5 Orange Essentials:

1. Integrate Strategy to create synergy
2. Refine the Message to amplify what is important
3. Reactivate the Family to build an everyday faith
4. Elevate Community to increase the odds
5. Leverage Influence to mobilize generations

Each essential is fleshed out in detail throughout the rest of the book, with a brief chapter called Orange-ality and Concentrate notes at the end to bring clearer direction from the concepts in his challenge to the church and family.

To join in on the Orange discussion, you can follow the blog at:

OrangeLeaders.com

Or attend the annual Orange Conference in Duluth, GA, led by Reggie Joyner and the church leadership guru, Andy Stanley. Stay tuned to their Twitter for more information.

All services are identical at each campus.

DOWNTOWN
Wednesday, April 8th
Service @ 12:00 PM

Sunday, April 12th
Service @ 9:30 AM & 11:00 AM
Family Easter Activities @ 12:30 PM
Located @ 500 NE 1st Avenue, Miami, FL 33132

HOMESTEAD
Saturday, April 11th
Family Easter Activities from 4:00 PM – 5:00 PM
Service @ 5:30 PM
Located @ Waterstone Charter School, 855 East Waterstone Way, Homestead, FL 33034

Sunday, April 12th
Service @ 10:00 AM & 11:30 AM
Located @ Campbell Drive Middle, 900 NE 23rd Avenue, Homestead, FL 33033

PALMETTO BAY
Friday, April 10th
Service @ 7:00 PM

Saturday, April 11th
Family Easter Activities from 5:00 PM – 6:00 PM
Service @ 6:30 PM

Sunday, April 12th
Service @ 9:00 AM, 10:30 AM & 12:30 PM
Located @ 8900 SW 168th Street, Miami, FL 33157

REDLAND
Saturday, April 5th
Family Easter Activities @ 1:00 PM
Located at South Dade Park, 16350 SW 280th Street, Homestead, FL 33031

Sunday, April 12th
Service @ 9:00 AM & 10:30 AM
Family Easter Activites @ 12:00 PM
Located @ 16390 SW 248th Street, Redland, FL 33031

WEST KENDALL
Sunday, April 12th
Service @ 8:30 AM & 10:00 AM
Located in The Regal Kendall Village Theater, 8595 SW 124th Avenue, Miami, FL 33183

Click here for more information

From Pastor Eric Geiger:

“Dear Friend,

Hey! You are invited to join us this weekend at Christ Fellowship for the launch of our new series — “How to ruin your life.”

Even if you feel your life is not totally messed up — greed, pride, lust, malice, jealousy, and guilt threaten to eat away at the core of who we are, and essentially ruin our lives. Join us as we tackle these big issues from a biblical perspective and discover joy and victory in Jesus Christ.

I also encourage you to bring a friend or family member with you. We are looking forward to a great weekend at Christ Fellowship.

God Bless,

Pastor Eric”

My Worship Pastor Abiel Mir from last year’s Live @ CF.

For more info: CFMiami.org

2. My family is amazing. From my dad’s ability to love through providing, to my mom’s ability to love through serving and my sister’s ability to love through protecting. Also I hope to meet with my sister Heather in heaven to see the amazing woman that God created her to be.

3. I have a heart for students (middle school through college) and want to get them to understand the love of God and His love for people through missions because it explains perfectly that God is the God of every nation.

4. I am a virgin and will not kiss my wife until our wedding day. I cannot give her my first kiss ever, but she will be my last first kiss. I count it a privilege and an honor to not kiss anymore in order to protect the purity and value of my relationship to my wife.

5. Other than middle school “girlfriends,” I have never had a relationship. Though extreme, I have realized the importance of friendships and the ability to narrow down who my close friends are through my passions. My passion will lead me to my wife.

6. Favorites of movies and music are “Singing in the Rain” & Tenth Avenue North. I love dancing and SITR is such a warm-hearted movie. Mike can put into words the beauty of wrestling with the truth that Jesus’ love never fails.

7. I am an intent listener. Within the last year it has gotten extremely difficult to remember everything, but I will never stop listening.

8. I have been to 5 out of 7 continents. Australia & Antarctica are left.

9. Panda Bears are my favorite animal. 3 reasons why. I had a Panda blanket as a kid. They are adorable, and they also have the ability to destroy. Pretty sweet combination.

10. I am an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts of America.

11. My favorite sports in order are futbol (soccer in all forms from outdoor, indoor to futsol), hockey, spearfishing, basketball, football (States’ version), baseball and skiing.

12. I love dogs. My favorite kinds are the Bernese Mountain dog, Australian Shepherd, Alaskan Malamute, German Shepherd, and the Labrador.

13. Listening to music is one of my favorite things in the world to do. I enjoy different types from heavy metal to classical. I tend to listen to metal more than anything. Follow my choices on http://www.last.fm/user/tommyparke

14. Reading is very fun to me. Favorite writers are Andy Stanley, John Piper, Mark Driscoll, John MacArthur, Stephen Arterburn, Craig Gross, Charles Spurgeon, and C.S. Lewis.

15. I intend to write two books on lessons I’ve learned in life. One for my son and the other for my daughter. Hopefully more, but those are the two most important.

16. I have become a stickler for time. Every minute is given by God and if I can control stewardship of it, especially when it comes to others’ time, I will try to stay on schedule.

17. I hate sarcasm. I use it like most people because it’s become a language in itself, but the meaning of sarcasm has gotten lost and it’s an easy tool to use to mask the way you truly feel or to distance yourself from a situation/idea.

18. I’ve broken 10 bones in my life (Skull, Left tibia, right fibula, sternum, 3 ribs, 3 costovertebral joints), sprained both ankles, a concussion, and a heat stroke.

19. The three sickest times I’ve felt in my stomach through circumstances were when I came back from El Salvador from my first missions trip overseas, when I held an orphaned boy in Tanzania that was saved from a dumpster, and when I realized I could lose my daughter to sexual trafficking.

20. African culture from my Tanzanian experience is the most beautiful culture I’ve seen.

21. I’ve never had a cavity thanks to my mom making me take fluoride vitamins as kid and daily brushing.

22. I’ve had a beard since 5th grade.

23. Ben Stiller and Steve Carrell are my celebrity look-a-likes.

24. I use social networking sites as a way to stay connected anyway I can. If God has allowed me to meet you in some fashion, then the least I can do is at least try and keep that connection so I can help in anyway possible. There is a meaning for every person, place and thing in your life.

25. I’ve studied the Bible in school from kindergarten to college. I love teaching the Bible and I will continue on until I die.

10th grader fatally shot at Broward high school

“Dear Board Members, Founders Fellowship and friends of First Priority,

Many of us were struck by the tragedy of the shooting on a public school campus in Broward County last week as a 15 year old girl lost her life. Our hearts were saddened as we learned some of the details of a life cut short because another female student, confused with gender identification issues, believed it appropriate to gun down young Amanda Collette for not responding to her advances over the course of several days. Our team struggled with the reality, as we have in the past; that we face insurmountable odds as we equip and encourage student missionaries to pray for and strive to be the catalyst for spiritual awakening on these campuses. As the details of Amanda’s story continued to unfold over the following days our staff and Campus Coaches were guided by the Holy Spirit to renew our fervor and encourage First Priority students to do all they can to fulfill the Great Commission by being salt and light at their schools…even if it means offering the ultimate sacrifice.

So the media had its day as some of the facts concerning what happened to Amanda and why had come to light…as some other details may never be made known. But God has blessed us with some information that we wanted you and your family to be aware of, and it is because of our relationship that I am excited to pass along to you the following:

Dillard High School in Fort Lauderdale, where this tragedy occurred, has a First Priority club which meets each Monday after school. But the First Priority club students also gather each Wednesday morning before classes at the flag pole to pray for their school. Word had come to us just a few days ago from David Geyer our Area Advisor that our Campus Coach at Dillard High, Rev. Crunch the Student Minister at Mount Olive Baptist Church, had told him young Amanda Collette had attended, for the first time, the prayer event that very day her life was taken. Rev. Crunch went on to share that rumor had it that Amanda had even made a decision for Jesus that morning, but this had yet to be verified. Then on Thursday, November 20th, Sarah Hadjuk, who is our Area Advisor to Northwest Broward, was an invited guest speaker at our Coral Glades High club. She was sharing the story of Amanda and that we were informed of her attendance at the pole prayer the morning of her death, but that we were unsure of her spiritual condition. Sarah went on to challenge the students to take every measure to know the spiritual status of their friends and be willing to lead unsaved friends to salvation. As Sarah was speaking Matt Boone, Campus Coach for the club and Student Minister at Church by the Glades, caught Sarah’s attention and stated, “we know what happened to Amanda that morning”! He continued and shared that one of Amanda’s close friends at Dillard High attends Matt’s student ministry and how he has been helping this young girl work through the pain of losing someone so dear. Matt has had conversations with this student and her mom and he has learned from them that not only had Amanda received Jesus for salvation just hours before she entered eternity but the gospel was preached at her funeral and more than 50 persons responded to an invitation to receive Christ!

Dear friend, if ever you wonder why God has called us together to function as a team to reach this generation with the Gospel on the public school campus by uniting the church may Amanda’s story be burned into our hearts that if only for her sake the 10 years of service and sacrifice made by so many is truly worth it all. For Amanda alone we can be grateful for God’s mercies and blessings this Thanksgiving season!”