my wife the champ

If I knew how to use Twitter, this would probably a tweet on that. Instead, its just a quick word to all of you who have been praying for Courtney and I since Friday morning when we headed to the hospital. They told us it would be probably 1 or 2 in the morning before Zeke would be born, meaning about 16 hours of labor. He was born at 6:48 pm after just 3 hours of labor because Courtney is a champ. Ezekiel Jones Shelton (6 lbs 13 oz 19″) is here! pictures to come. Pray for Courtney though, the trauma of the delivery has left her in pain that percacet just cant help. She hasnt slept yet and it doesnt look like she will tonight (its 1:30 am). Pray for endurance for the sheltons over the next 24 hours!! Oh, zeke is sleeping like a…baby. so thats good.

Also, if you are a small group leader you should check out a new site recently launched for small group leaders called the Small Group Exchange . I hope its going to be a pretty good, interactive site for us to learn from the experience of other small group ministries.

Learning how to be a pastor (that could be my life subtitle)

Some of you know I still have a couple of classes to go to complete my time at seminary. Since Courtney and I are planning on being here in Durham for a long time, I am creeping to the finish line. Id rather be with you guys in our church than over in seminaria land. I have come to love seminaria, but its time to move on. This week I am over at seminary in a one week intensive course on church planting and pastoral ministry. More than a class though it has really been a retreat for me personally. Ive loved my first 6 months pastoring at the Summit but listen, it has been a hard 6 months. The following is personal to me and I questioned sharing it but the people of God need to encourage one another through sharing how God is dealing with them. Here is my “sharing.”: Personally my wife Courtney and I have struggled in our marriage in ’08. Our first pregnancy has not been easy. Bitterness, anger, frustration, apathy, have all at some point entered our home this year. I have faltered in being the spiritual leader Courtney needs me to be. Not like I denounced Jesus or anything, I just became the passive man that Adam was right when Satan attacked Eve. The TV has been more important in the evenings than the spiritual growth of my marriage. (This actually harkens back to a post from a couple of weeks ago on spiritual disciplines.) I say this because I spent some time confessing this to Courtney Sunday afternoon. That was hard, very hard, because my pride is big, very big. The sermon on Sin Sunday morning was the tipping point where God himself, through the scriptures as taught by our pastor, spoke directly into this area of my life. My passivity was short-circuiting what God clearly desires for our marriage. This week the course I am in has encouraged me over and over to get alone with God on a regular basis. It has encouraged me that my wife and my son are my first priority. That is a big deal and is hard for me because I just assume they are doing ok while I go pour myself into the life of our church. no mas. Im starting at home and working my out from there.

Question: where is sin keeping God from working in your life? In the life of those you influence? Serious question people. And are you close enough with another guy or girl that you could open up and confess this stuff to? My short answer: get in a SummitLIFE group. And SummitLIFE groups, its time to put the superficial on the shelf and start getting real with one another.