Curt Seaburg.com

100% Money Back Guarantee on your tithe

I know, it sounds completely crazy but we're gonna do it!  We are going to roll out a 90 Day Tithing Challenge with a money back guarantee.  If, by the end, God hasn't blessed you (and quit looking for it to always be MONEY for Pete's sake!) we will give you 100% of your tithe back!! 

I got this idea from a guy named Craig Groeshel.  I love it!  Think about it, the only time God ever says to TEST HIM is in the area of the Biblical Tithe.  What the heck, let's test God!  Check out our Victory Church Website or go directly to the money tab.  Go to Take The 90-Day Tithing Challenge and get crankin'.  C;mon, I dare you, I triple dog dare ya!  What have you got to lose?

Weekend Relection - 11.25.07

Man, I live for Sundays ... I love when we all get together and give God praise and then open up His word and hear REAL LIFE application to timeless truths!  In our talk yesterday, we talked about the TABOO subject of money and tithing.  The main thought yesterday was "God Doesn't Need Our Money ... We need To Be Blessed!" 

According to Robert Morris in his WAY COOL book called "The Blessed Life", less than 3% of people who call themselves Christ followers tithe. 

I'm embarrassed to say that I did not always tithe.  But, when I made the commitment to tithe (18 years ago) I have watched God bless me in ways that I saw and in ways that I know not of.  I believe in putting God first and the tithe being the starting point.  Tithe belongs in the storehouse (NT typology “foreshadowing” of the local church).  There seems to be this "under current" of people that are balking about the the Biblical Tithe.  Isn't that just for the Old Testament?  Here's a couple of my thoughts about that that I have seen over my 20+ years of full time ministry:

1. When God says things like, “I am the Lord and I do not change” just before He says, "Bring all the tithe into the storehouse,"  I think He meant that for eternity, not just the end of the Old Testament.   He even said it again in Hebrews 13:8 in case we missed it. 
2. Paul was serious when he said that there is neither Jew nor Greek in God’s eyes, so I don't think it was a command just if you are Jewish.

I believe that the church, when it is operating correctly, is the hope of the world.  I believe in the Biblical tithe and I will continue to tithe.  God uses the tithe to equip the saints for ministry to feed the poor, evangelize the lost, disciple the believers,  worship God together.  I will gladly support the work of God through the local church here on this planet.   

I question why this is such a struggle with so many people.  God doesn’t want our money … He doesn’t need it.  But He does want us to be blessed.

BOTTOM LINE:  I don’t want a BIG church, I want big PEOPLE!  I will stand before the Lord for the people He has placed under my care and I want to hear Him say, “Well Done!”  I believe our church is PRIME to help people take the NEXT STEP in their journey with Jesus Christ. 

Well, that's how I see it. 

Happy Thanksgiving from our family to our church

I hope that each of you have a Happy Thanksgiving!  We plan on it.  This year, my parents, my brother and his family and my sister and her kids will be together at our home in Lancaster for a family Thanksgiving.  (that's 15 in our home!!)  This will be the first holiday without my brother-in-law (my sister, Terri's husband) husband, Rocky.  He went home to be with the Lord in July.  We loved and miss him deeply.  We have much to be thankful for in 2007!  Blessed be the name of the Lord. 

What are you doing for Thanksgiving?  Staying home, leaving town?  I'd love to hear from you.

Weekend Reflection

What a great day at church!  Thanks for everyone that helped make today fantastic!  Maria Russo and Amy Fisher had our kids rockin' with our kids choir special, the Thanksgiving, family communion idea really worked well, Mike Allen discovering that great SNL skit with Steve Martin ... the band was great and did an awesome job of leading us to a place where we connected with God.  This was just a great day!  I love our church!  As we talked about the second part of our MONEY SERIES, it was real amazing that as we talked (Steve Brubaker was on the platform sharing the load today ... and he did a great job too) you could sense a powerful moving of the Holy Spirit.

Today, we offered some tools.  First, we gave a ton of tips on how to "Act Your Wage" and get out of debt. (Dave Ramsey)  You can download the tools we were talking about.  (Keep coming back to our specialty site we created and check out the new forms that you can download.)  Also, we have an underground ministry (it is led by Steve and it has been going on for about 6 months) that helps families get control of their spending called Good Sense.  You'll be hearing more about one day seminars, in-home coaching, etc. when we role this ministry out in 2008.  Here's a couple of challenges we lobbed today:

1. Create an "Oh No" fund (Get $1000 into a savings account for emergencies)
2. Eliminate overhead (follow the DEBT SNOWBALL ... see our PPT example)
3. Create a reserve fund (get 3-6 month's of living expenses in your savings)

Hey, if you have a testimony. share your story with our congregation.  We have two more weeks in our MONEY SERIES.  Whatever it takes, be there for church this week ... you'll be so glad you did! 

Leading from Your Gut

One of the things at our church that I love is our Men of Iron (MOI) ministry.  (webpage is in the works) If I could pinpoint one of the things that really got momentum rolling in our church, it would have to be this.  But it's not only the ministry of MOI, it's how it got started.

Bryan Zeamer and his family attend Victory.  He was at a leadership conference out in Chicago back a few years ago at a little itty-bitty church called Willow Creek. (jk, that church is HUGE!)  But in the midst of the 1000's of business people, pastors and leaders from around the world, God challanged Bryan to step up and begin to lead from a place that the speaker defined as, "your holy discontent."   Through the beauty of internet, you can read the message here.  (Since then, the speaker, Bill Hybels, has written a book about it.)  It's a must read if you are tired of spinning your wheels and you want to actually progress rather than just exist.  If you want to move down the track and not just sit there, making a lot of noise and smoke by spinning your spiritual tires.

I think that's what leaders do - they act.  Then, through their actions, they influence.  But it all starts with an inner spark of holy discontent.  That is what the Holy Spirit uses to begin us on a journey to ignite a passion within us to where we discover our reason for being.  When we begin to act through our influence, we truly begin to lead.  At that point, we're no longer reading it from a book or from some curriculum (all fine and dandy) but we're leading from our gut ... we're leading from our passion.

Step it up, lead, do what you know is right according to God's Word.  Just don't talk about it, allow God and His Word to totally transform your gut. 

FYI ... in the furture, you will be able to download information, forms, contracts, and purposes for MOI.  You can even start your own at your church.  It'll fill your "holy discontent."  Pretty cool, huh?

Why I'm A Dallas Cowboys Fan

I really don't care for most country music but I do like Rascal Flatts. (the lead singer, Gary, is a friend of my friend and he loves God, too.)  I've never lived in Texas, but I have walked through their airports.  (They're big too.)  But I am a proud DALLAS COWBOY fan!  I have no geographical reason why I am a Cowboys fan -- but man, I am!  As a matter of fact, before I would marry my wife, I had to swear her into the Dallas Cowboys Fan Club ... that is the truth!  So, I don't want to hear nothin' from you band wagon jumpers either, I have been a fan since I was 12 years old!  That was ... well, let's just say, that was awhile ago!  And, are you ready for this? ... I have a very "spiritual" reason why I'm a Cowboys fan.  So check this out ...

I was starting to get into some trouble as a kid.  (hard for you to imagine ... I'm sure)  My mom, as sweet as she is, was having a little trouble controlling me.  I hated my church growing up.  Not the people, the "idea" of church.  I knew what was right -- I just choose to not do it.  My mom would take us 3 kids to church every Sunday morning and she would go every Sunday night.  I didn't have to go on Sunday nights, that was the night we got to watch the "original" Walt Disney.

Anyway, my mom comes home one afternoon with a comic book called "Tom Landry and the Dallas Cowboys."  It told how people like Tom Landry, the head coach, and their all star quarterback, Roger Staubauch, were believers in Jesus Christ.  They weren't nerdy -- they were athletes.  I devoured the book, I then choose Landry and Staubach to be my role models the only way a 12 year old does.  I got a t-shirt and wrote (with marker) a big number "12" on my back.  Ever since then, I was a Cowboys fan.

So there you have it!  So the next time you want to get up in question my allegiance to the Dallas Cowboys, at least you know the root of where my 'fanhood' comes from.  Pretty cool, huh? 

Real Men + Big Sword = Rule the Planet

Two of the coolest things happened to me recently that have greatly impacted my life and ministry.  We have this "freaky" men's group at our church.  It's basically a mess of guys that have been transformed by the power of Jesus Christ and they have decided to actually live out their faith rather than let the women step up and lead (which seems to typify most American churches.) 

Anyway, a few weeks ago we had our first men's retreat.  At the retreat Keith Walker (one of the heroes of our church) had the guys all come up and surround me in prayer.  Nothing new, right?  but, check this out, when they got to me, Keith told them to turn their backs to me like they were protecting me from attacks and then pray for me out-loud.  that was utterly amazing to me ... very moving.

The other thing, happened this morning, after service.  Six of our guys surrounded me and escorted me to my office.  They had a gift for me.  I opened it, and it was a sword ... I mean a SWORD.  Authentic, the real deal through and through.  The last thing I was going to do was squeeze a tear in front of all those guys, but let me tell you, as their leader, it moved me ... deeply.  To think that guys would think that deeply of another man like that, let me say, it doesn't get much better than that.  We're warriors and we're in this thing together.  I love this church and I love warring with these men.

I pray that you would get some men in your church, and in your life, that are willing to not only TALK about supporting you, but would pray for you or even get you a sword.  Pour into people's lives and you'll never regret the outcome.  If you wake up to look around and see you are the most powerful person in the room ... serve people, love people.  Jesus did, we should.  Thank you, guys.

Junky Car Club

Mike Foster started this thing called the Junky Car Club.  I love what he says, "We're a bunch of happy drivers that are politely rebelling against consumerism by driving junky cars. We encourage our members to use their dough to support social justice causes instead of making fat car payments." 

Maybe we need to start doing this ... anybody want to join me?