Shannon Chapman

Reading Plan of the New Testament

14-Feb	Matthew 1-4
15-Feb	Matthew 5-8
16-Feb	Matthew 9-12
17-Feb	Matthew 13-16
18-Feb	Matthew 17-20
19-Feb	Grace Day
20-Feb	Grace Day
21-Feb	Matthew 21-24
22-Feb	Matthew 25-28
23-Feb	Romans 1-4
24-Feb	Romans 5-8
25-Feb	Romans 9-12
26-Feb	Grace Day
27-Feb	Grace Day
28-Feb	Romans 13-16
1-Mar	1 Cor 1-5
2-Mar	1 Cor 6-10
3-Mar	1 Cor 11-16
4-Mar	2 Cor 1-6
5-Mar	Grace Day
6-Mar	Grace Day
7-Mar	2 Cor 7-13
8-Mar	Mark 1-5
9-Mar	Mark 6-10
10-Mar	Mark 11-16
11-Mar	Galatians
12-Mar	Grace Day
13-Mar	Grace Day
14-Mar	Ephesians
15-Mar	Philippians
16-Mar	Colossians
17-Mar	1 Thessalonians
18-Mar	2 Thessalonians
19-Mar	Grace Day
20-Mar	Grace Day
21-Mar	Luke 1-4
22-Mar	Luke 5-8
23-Mar	Luke 9-12
24-Mar	Luke 13-16
25-Mar	Luke 17-20
26-Mar	Grace Day
27-Mar	Grace Day
28-Mar	Luke 21-24
29-Mar	Acts 1-4
30-Mar	Acts 5-8
31-Mar	Acts 9-12
1-Apr	Acts 13-16
2-Apr	Grace Day
3-Apr	Grace Day
4-Apr	Acts 17-20
5-Apr	Acts 21-24
6-Apr	Acts 25-28
7-Apr	1 Timothy
8-Apr	2 Timothy
9-Apr	Grace Day
10-Apr	Grace Day
11-Apr	Titus - Philemon
12-Apr	Hebrews 1-4
13-Apr	Hebrews 5-9
14-Apr	Hebrews 10-13
15-Apr	James
16-Apr	Grace Day
17-Apr	Grace Day
18-Apr	1 Peter
19-Apr	2 Peter
20-Apr	John 1-4
21-Apr	John 5-8
22-Apr	John 9-13
23-Apr	Grace Day
24-Apr	Grace Day
25-Apr	John 14-17
26-Apr	John 18-21
27-Apr	1 John
28-Apr	2 John - Jude
29-Apr	Revelation 1-3
30-Apr	Grace Day
1-May	Grace Day
2-May	Revelation 4-7
3-May	Revelation 8-11
4-May	Revelation 12-14
5-May	Revelation 15-18
6-May	Revelation 19-22
7-May	DONE!!!!

Download NT Reading Plan.

There is a song in my heart

We have been doing this at ethos the last couple of weeks and I wanted to share this with you.  Hope you enjoy it!  There is so much truth in these lyrics.  The version here is by Ascend the Hill.  

Take the world, but give me Jesus,
All its joys are but a name;
But His love abideth ever,
Through eternal years the same.

Oh, the height and depth of mercy!
Oh, the length and breadth of love!
Oh, the fullness of redemption,
Pledge of endless life above!

Take the world, but give me Jesus,
Sweetest comfort of my soul;
With my Savior watching o’er me,
I can sing though billows roll.

Take the world, but give me Jesus,
Let me view His constant smile;
Then throughout my pilgrim journey
Light will cheer me all the while.

Take the world, but give me Jesus;
In His cross my trust shall be,
Till, with clearer, brighter vision,
Face to face my Lord I see. 

 

Click here to download the entire album for FREE.

The day after

The day after a conference is always the hardest for me. Yesterday I went to Newsprings leadership conference in SC. It was great!!! I got to go with some great friends and just soak up what God wanted to tell me. I found tears going down my face throughout most talks. The reality is I felt God touch in my life yesterday. Now what... I get back to the normal routine and it's hard. I told mande last night after being home only an hour I was having to make decision about church. This morning I woke up and needed to get four kids dressed and in the car so that I can take Jonah to school. To me the next day after God speaks to us is the hardest. So, I'm going to strive to remind myself of those things that God spoke into me yesterday. Today is a spiritual test... And with God's grace I will make it even if I mess up...I will get back up and try again.

Just some random thoughts...

My training schedule

This is the strategy that I am using to train for my event on October 2. I will let you know how it's working as I progress. So far this week has been great. I still have the long ride I must do this week but doing that with the East Ridge ride tomorrow. This is by far the biggest event I have trained for ever.

The Theme of REV

On Sunday August 1st we are starting a series called Revelation, the message of.  I am so excited!!!!  Let me simply share with you the theme of one of the greatest books ever written.

The message from Revelation is simple…that in the present we are not always going to win; our lives will not always be characterized by triumph.  It's hard to accept this unless we balance it on the opposite side with the hope we have…ultimately we will win because Christ reigns.

I can't wait to start this journey with everyone!!!  See you August 1st as we begin the journey of Revelation, the message of.

Are you into instrumental music????

Hey if you are into instrumental music go get this free album.  It's totally worth it for sure.  You may call me crazy but I listen to a lot music like this when I am preparing my sermons every week.  To me this music is creativity for my soul.  Just click this pic to get the link:

 

My little girl

Chloe my love for you is crazy. I will do whatever I can to help you reach your dreams.

STanD

Well after years of praying about the future I think I am starting to hear a little small voice that says just "stand."  I don't know about you but I can drive myself crazy about wanting to know God's will.  Just the moment I think I heard something I start questing.

Over this past week I have had some time to reflect and all I keep coming back to is "stand."  When you don't know what to do and you are so tired of asking God to write it in the clouds or send a stranger to your house to give you a word.  You have to learn to just STAND!!! Stand on what?  That if you and I will be obedient to the daily journey putting one foot in front of the other that the path will ultimately lead us to the place of God's will.

You see I like to plan and I like to know the future but sometimes the future comes by "standing."  Now I don't mean just doing nothing.  I mean that God will take our ordinary life and our routines and make them extraordinary.  I need to stop stressing about the future and stand on the promises and believe that the promises will come true if I stand on what I really believe.

The mark of perseverance is not having all the answers to all the questions.  Perseverance is walking daily not having all the answers to all the questions.  Listen anyone can follow when it is easy.  But those that are willing to persevere will follow into what seems to be the unknown.  _{^{My challenge to you and to me is just to STAND and let God be God and in the end the unknown will be beautiful in time.}}

My understanding of simple church

Ok so simple church seems to be the new kind of church that everyone wants to have.  You see to me the idea of simple church is really not the standard but having clear focus on few things are.  As I have been evaluating things I have come to discover that we are constantly starting and stopping things in church.

My question has always been when is the right time to stop something in a church.  What I am starting to discover is stopping a program just because it's hard and I really don't like it is not a good enough reason to stop it.  Stopping a program because it's just so hard to get volunteers to help with it is still not a good enough reason to stop it.  But if someone tell me Shannon "I want to stop this program/ministry because I feel that God wants me to focus more and take this other ministry to  whole new level" then I am really interested.

You see simple is not the goal if you mean easy.  There is nothing easy about having a few things as a church or organization that you want to do well.  It will still take energy, time and working with people.  So, let's make sure that we understand that simple can be the goal but I am not sure that easy church is.

Simple does not always means it's easy.