Rough Lumber Ministry

It's been one of the busiest Octobers. I'm apologizing for the lag in blogs. But, I'm pretty much just a direct guy. No fluff. Yes is Yes, No is No, so now that I've apologized for my failure, let's get down to business. Something's been going on that I've been hesitating to talk about.
I don't know why I've kept from writing about it, except that maybe I just don't know what to think of it, let alone what to explain about it, but regardless, I think it's time to let the cat out of the bag.
Me and a few guys have started a ministry.
Is that the right way to say it? Maybe not.
A few guys started a music ministry that I inadvertently named, and found myself singing in...
Between pictures and revamping the website, and now helping out in our church kids' night programs, the music has been occupying my time.
We're writing music like crazy, words that just come spilling out... and I'm not ashamed to say that I've actually been surprisingly impressed...because this music is ministering to the people that hear it. It relates to matters of the heart, and it speaks to the soul.

I've been around Christians who are shiny and plastic. I've been around religious people who are stuffy and proper. People who know just the right words to say but have never learned how to put hands and feet to the fluff coming out of their mouths. They know the right way to act and just how to present themselves in the best light, as long as it's during the best of circumstances. But, if you ever found them at the crux of a real burden, carrying a heavy load, they'd snap like toothpicks. Their masks remind me of a veneer, a piece of wood that looks like oak, but really is nothing more than a thin piece of plastic with a painted wood grain, laid over the top of particle board. They are smooth and they look tough, like they could bear any weight, but really they are just a cheap imitation of something they could be, but aren't.

I don't ever want to be that kind of a person, a Pharisee. I've got no time for people like that, and neither did Christ.

The guys that I call friends, the men in my life that I take counsel from, they are hard men. They are honest truth-tellers to a fault. You'll never find them giving a great speech or dancing around their point, because they say what they mean, and they mean what they say. Their yes means yes, and their no means no.
In the world of shiny veneers, they are rough lumber.

Run your hand along rough lumber and it might sting. You might get some splinters going against the grain.
But what you see is what you get, and while it might not be much to look at and it might not be pretty, you know the character and the quality of the man standing in front of you. These men you can trust, and when one of these men stand up and tell you about Jesus Christ, and what He's done in their lives, you know in your heart that they are speaking the truth.

Jesus died on a cross made of rough lumber. Those splinters ran deep into already open wounds, and He still prayed for us all. To me, he was that same kind of man, rough lumber, and I think that's why I find so much of Him to be agreeable with so much of me.

The name of our ministry is Rough Lumber. We're a group of guys that have a world of life experience gained from hard knocks, hard lessons, and an Amazing Grace afforded to us, a second chance at life. We want to reach out to people who aren't being reached. That means going to them instead of hoping that they someday grace the doorstep of our church. We'll be ministering through music and the word of God, wherever that takes us. In the missions for the homeless, in shelters, at the local boys ranch for troubled kids, to youth groups, and possibly even reaching into the local bars. We don't know where God is going to take it, but we're going to give Him the glory. We've committed that we are not in this for the money or the name, our only mission is to get His message out through music and our witness.

Here's the deal, folks. Combined, we have a budget of peanuts, so if any of you out there believe that getting the message out to the lost, the hurting, the broken might be worth your investment, we would sure appreciate any donations. As it stands right now we need equipment.
We've already got the website, we've all pitched in and we've bought drums and guitars, but there are still needs.

I'm as upfront and real as I can be about this, because I'm just trusting in Christ at this point. If you don't know my character, give me a call, talk to people who know me, go back through the years of blog posts, and get a handle on who I am and what I believe.

We're in the beginning stage of this ministry. But if anyone out there is feeling led, and you'd like to help out on the ground floor, just click the Paypal button below to donate whatever amount you wish.

Blessings!