Archive for 2015

SPEECHLESS

By Steve | Published Wednesday, December 2, 2015

I'm not sure why, and you'd think I would have figured this out by now, I'm always amazed how God is always at work aligning the things that we do. In essence I always find myself speechless! Yesterday I attended an awesome seminar by Joe Boyd and his team from Rebel Pilgrim, you can also check out Rebel Storytellers. The summary of this meeting was to give us tools to make us better story tellers. To look through the eyes of story's we are telling/reading with empathetic eyes. We were also challenged to look at people we come into contact with on a day to day basis with empathetic eyes. Simply by asking, "WHY?". Why do they act that way, why do they say those things? There is always a deeper meaning!

I took this practice into my Advent devotional this morning, if you are not doing it I implore you to check out Touching Wonder: Recapturing the Awe of Christmas by John Blasé. He takes the traditional Christmas stories of scriptures and adds to them, makes them come alive, invites you into the story, drills down in order to understand the main character of the story. Today's reading was the message of the angel to Zachariah. Blasé picks up the story from the time that Zachariah leaves the temple and heads to tell Elizabeth. Here is a brief excerpt: "His pace slowed as a grin lined his face. “Elizabeth, your wife, will bear a son by you. You are to name him John … many will delight in his birth.” He stopped in the middle of the path and looked heavenward. He mouthed words only the Mighty One could hear: “Who am I that you are mindful of me? Why should you touch her womb in these old days with new life? What kind of man-child is this to be born of her, this one named ‘John’?”"As I read, reread the story and placed myself in it one name kept popping out, "Abijah." Why in the world, in the telling of this story, would God mention this obscure name? Abijah was the great-grandson of David, the grandson of Solomon. He reigned as Israel's king for 3 years, he was known for defeating Jeroboams army of 800,000 when his was only half the size. By winning this war he stabilized the Kingdom of Israel. Alhough Abijah had “leaned upon Jehovah” (2 Chr. 13:13-20), nevertheless, he went on walking in all the sins of his father Rehoboam.[7][5] Abijah allowed the high places, the sacred pillars, and even the male temple prostitutes to continue in the land. “His heart did not prove to be complete with Jehovah his God” (1 Kin. 14:22-24; 15:3).[7]


Abijah a man that continued to walk in His sins, an unbelieving old man named Zachariah is exactly who God used to tell His story and to bring in to the world the forerunner of the Savior of the World. Yet Zachariah says, “Who am I that you would be mindful of me?” May I ask the same question of us today… Who are “WE” that God would be mindful of us? What great story are we a part of? Once you find out, who knows maybe will leave you speechless as well!

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Advent 2015

By Steve | Published Wednesday, November 18, 2015

For the last few years I have created an Advent calendar for my family. It originated several years ago when I made Advent calendars for our student ministry in order to encourage them to SLOW DOWN and have families spend time together.

The Advent season (“advent” means “a coming or arrival”) is the period of anticipation before the arrival of Jesus. We all know that Jesus arrived in the little town of Bethlehem now we await His second coming. We wait for Jesus to return to make everything right. So in the advent season, we practice the patience of waiting expectantly for something wonderful. Many church traditions observe Advent every Sunday, this year Advent starts on Sunday November 29th this year I hope you will celebrate with us.

A few notes about the calendar:

SUNDAYS: You will see scripture that is aligned with what church traditions would use for their advent services. Our family will be taking a few minutes of SOLITUDE, time to read the SCRIPTURE. We will write on a white board, in our kitchen, one word that the Holy Spirit places on our minds as we read from the scriptures each day. Here is that white board that we currently are using for Thanksgiving.

TUESDAYS & THURSDAYS: We will be using “Touching Wonder” by John Blase for our devotionals. Similar to Sunday, we will creatively display what God is communicating to us. We have teens and a college student, so social media and the use of their phones is always prevalent. If you have children you may want to have them color it or make a craft. On these days there is a word next to the scripture reading. Several years ago Rethink Church created what is called Visio Divina ("Divine Seeing" contemplative practice). Here is how it works, we will take that word ponder it’s significance and then create, find or take a picture of something that best represents that word to us. We will then put that picture on instagram with #holtfamilyadvent and #(whetever the word is). For instance if it’s peace it will look like this, #holtfamilyadvent #peace. Feel free to follow us and participate as well. I’d love to see your creativity. We did this with our small group a few years ago and it was a lot of fun!

READING GUIDES: Feel free to use whatever devotional guides you’d like. Here are a few that we have used and like that you might want to use. Honestly, there are a huge assortment of devotional books, just look on Amazon.

Advent by Erik Willets (If you have teens) *DISCLAIMER: IF YOU’D like to support a great organization that is doing great things for teens then go to The Youth Cartel to order this book. Adam Mclane and Marko Oestreicher do a great job!

God is In The Manger by Dietrich Bonhoeffer (Adult and College Oriented)

Advent Devotional For Busy Families by Laurie Ostby Kehler (Young Children)

Celebrating Christmas With JESUS by Max Lucado (Adults, teens, college students)

SERVICE: Every year we do our best to spend time making cookies and Christmas goodies and giving them to neighbors and friends. We are commanded to give rather  than receive! This year our family will also be serving at several of our churches 9 Christmas services. What can you do to serve others not only during the holidays but all year long? Mark 10:45

FRIENDS/EVENTS: We all need SUPPORT of friends. This time of year find ways to spend time with friends and family. You will find that during this time of year we LOVE to do family times and many times this is done with friends as we go with them to many of the events we attend. The events will need to change for your location and your traditions but the ones on the calendar have become yearly traditions for us and our friends. Yeah.... I even take my kids to the Family Force 5 Christmas Pageant,  you gotta have some fun!

THE CALENDAR: Here is the calendar I have created for our family to use. (ADVENT CALENDAR 2015) It is a PDF that I created using pages. If you’d like the pages version so you can edit yourself let me know and I’d be more than happy to send that to you. That way you can edit the calendar for your family.

Whatever you do this year take time to slow down, take some time of solitude, pause to  read the Christmas story from scriptures. Find a way to serve those around you, hang out with those close to you, that support you and who knows…these may become some of the most significant events in your life! 

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Dealing with death

By Steve | Published Tuesday, September 15, 2015

Over the last 10 years I have dealt with death way to many times, with the loss of my brother, parents, father in law, brother in law and close friends. During many of these times I ran to scriptures and prayer to get me through. During one of these events I came across a book called CHAD. I believe the publisher was Focus on the Family, I have tried to do an online search for the book but had no luck. The following thoughts are things that I wrote in my journal after my brothers death and nuggets from the book. I hope you find some help and solace in them.


"IT'S IS NOT EASY TO COMMUNICATE THESE EXPERIENCES
The pain of losing a brother is worse than anything I have ever imagined in this lifetime!

I would like for you to understand that these things are hard to verbalize. You don’t just sit down and write these impressions. You feel thoughts like these. You cry thoughts like these. You write and rewrite thoughts like these.

Many times I have encouraged friends to journal these thoughts, talk about these thoughts. In the past week I have had a friend from high school who's mom passed and I was able to encourage the writing of memories of mom on Facebook.  

At some point, you will be ready to share your most intimate experiences with those you love. As I’ve read books, I’ve realized nobody has cornered the market on feelings.


Read more »

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Are Hymnals Necessary?

By Steve | Published Monday, March 9, 2015

Recently I came across a link, from a friend of mine on Facebook about churches throwing hymnals in boxes, or getting rid of them all together.

Before I'm crucified for stating my opinion, let me say that I've always been a fan of hymns. As a matter of fact one of my friends and favorite worship leaders has always said, "Why have we chosen to throw away 2000 years of church music?" I might also add that we just attended a David Crowder concert and they led us in some old hymns and they were great. I digress... the point of the post as I can gather is that we should not do away with hymnals in a church. Below are my thoughts from this well written post.

As for this linked article,  I do agree with some of the points but also believe that some of Jonathan Aigner points are somewhat of a stretch. I guess I should say that I don't believe that Jonathan is disregarding Contemporary worship music, he’s just arguing the point of the validity of the hymnal. I've used many a good hymnal like this oldie but goodie Baptist Hymnal.

Here are my thoughts:

1 Hymnals actually teach music. They may do just that... but I grew up in church, with a hymnal, and honestly I did not learn to read music until I was in 8th grade band, on a tuba! There may have been some who learned from hymnals... I certainly did not. 
2 Hymnals set a performance standard. "Contemporary worship music is based on recording instead of notation." While I agree... a Contemporary Worship song can be learned by hearing. Once you know the song... you don't sing it a different way
3 Hymnals integrate the music and text. Again... this assumes a person can read music.
4 Hymnals allow you to sing anywhere. But... I can worship on Saturday mornings while making waffles or pancakes because I know the songs?
5 Hymnals allow people to take possession of the music. I can see how this would benefit... but I'm just not sure that people actually do this... do they?
6 Hymnals don’t screw things up. Agreed... nothing is worse than a  person following along with the projected songs and the person running the computer falls behind! It happened yesterday in worship and people were turning around looking at the sound booth!
7 Hymnals are as helpful as the singer needs them to be. I would argue that the same applies to Contemporary worship music.
8 Hymnals are a theological textbook. There is no perfect hymnal, but well-crafted hymnals are reliable sources of theological information. I would argue that Contemporary worship music can be full of theological information as well.
9 Hymnals involve tactile action. I can't disagree with this one, however you have a tendency to look down at the pages whereas with projected music you are always looking up.
10 Hymnals are not particularly distracting. I can agree with this... There are some churches that get way to carried away with moving background. I have actually has some good discussion with some fellow youth pastors about this. I prefer static slides as a backdrop. 
11 Hymnals preserve the aesthetics of the Sanctuary. Point well taken! There is nothing better than entering a traditional high church, no slam intended and see that it has been "retrofitted!" Sanctuaries like this in my opinion draw us to the majesty of God and should remain that way. If the screens can be electrically lowered fine... but let's not throw out all the aesthetics of a fine looking sanctuary! Nothing better than stained glass to draw us into a worshipful attitude! Second Baptist Houston does not look horrendous... but it was pretty magnificent before!
12 Hymnals confront us with “new” songs. Again... Point well taken.
13 Hymnals make songs less disposable. I don't think you can go either way on this. I can have Blessed be the tie that Binds as well as O How He loves Me come to mind within the same day. I believe all songs are stored in our memories and thoughts and God can use them to remind or communicate to certain things. I'm not saying that they are scripture, but many of them are based on scripture.
14 Hymnals give congregational singing back to the people. I believe this is a bit of a stretch but... ok.

I will state again that Jonathan is just laying the claim that Hymnals have their place. I'll argue that we can have both if needed, but for the most part they are expensive and it's much cheaper to read the words on a screen. Ok... back to listening to some music on my iPhone! Man this hymn We Gather Together, sure sounds like the tune they sing in the stands at a Netherlands soccer game?

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Joyful Faith

By Steve | Published Saturday, February 21, 2015

I am loving this lent exercise by #rethinkchurch! It forces me to go back to scripture, not that I don't go to scripture, but it has forced me to look at it in a new way. Is it theologically correct or very exegetical, NO! but God has been moving through this. "The word of God is alive and active. Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart." Each morning I see the word that is given for the day on the screensaver of my laptop. The first thing I do is go to biblegateway.com and look up the word for the day in scriptures. I look down through the list reading through many of the scriptures that are listed. I read and listen as to what verse clearly displays that very word? Once I find that word I find a picture that goes along with it. 

This morning I was struck by the passage of scripture I had read many times yet this afternoon one thing stood out to me. The passage was Matthew 28-7-9 "Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.” so the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples. Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him." 

What struck me was, of course they were afraid, they left with joy! They did not question as to what happened to the body, they did not cry because he was missing. They simply believed! I'm not sure why it struck me this way, but it did.  This week dear friend, ok my brother from another mother, Todd Porter lost a dear friend and who was also his youth pastor.  He was honored to be asked to do his eulogy and in that eulogy he shared this: "When Dan was the youth pastor at another church he broke his leg playing basketball with the teens. Dan fell to the ground screaming in pain, “praise Jesus, I broke my leg!” I can assure you that if it happened to me I would not have even thought to say that. But that is who Dan was. A teen that was there during the incident made the decision to receive Jesus as his Leader and Forgiver that day, because of Dan’s example of faith." Now... like Todd I'm not sure that I could not have had that kind of joy, but Dan did and I believe that both Mary's did as well. May we live each day, whatever the circumstance, with the joy that He has risen from the dead.

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If you are confident you are beautiful!

By Steve | Published Tuesday, February 17, 2015

The above title are words we have printed on the wall in my daughters room and we firmly believe them. 


This morning my sister-in-law came across a video of a lady in Australia (see video below), who found herself an overnight internet sensation. She has loved dolls all her life so she started going into thrift stores and to buy used dolls. She would then take them home, clean them up, repair and repaint them, or "remake-up them". I found this interesting because my daughter, 7th grade, has started to wear make up. While I have no beef with her wearing a little make up, we are always quick to remind her that she does not need that Ooey Gooey stuff (Dad's Wrods) to be beautiful. It reminded me of the words of a wise young lady, who is a friend of our family. You see, our daughter recently turned 13, which is a big deal in our house! Years ago when my older son turned 13, my wife started a tradition to have people that are close to them write letters. My wife then takes those letters and puts them in a scrap book so that our kids can look back over the wise words throughout their teen years. This year was no exception, here are the words of that wise young lady I mentioned above, “In the upcoming years, [beauty], will be something that most girls struggle with. I know I did. It’s easy to look around and compare yourself to other girls- what you wish you had, or what you wish you could change about yourself, but don’t let yourself fall into that mindset. God created you in His image, beautiful. I used to roll my eyes whenever my mom told me “always dress modestly” because I thought she expected me to dress like a grandma. However, I can’t tell you how important that is. By dressing in ways that show the 4 B’s (boobs, belly, back, butt) it draws attention, but not a healthy kind of attention, it will attract guys; but they won’t be looking at your heart, they’ll be looking at your 4 B’s! eek! When you dress modestly, it allows people to see your true beauty that is inside of you. You are beautiful, be confident, and don’t let anyone tell you different.” This young lady spoke some significant truth and I'm so appreciative of her. May that excerpt and the video below cause you to have a conversations with your daughters, conversation of modesty, conversations of inner strength. Conversations about how a person’s manner of dress, or even their preoccupation with clothing itself (Matthew 6:28-30), are often indicative of a heart that loves self more than God. Conversation about being confident and from that confidence comes beauty!



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A season of simple

By Steve

Lent, the season of the Christian Year that is observed as a time of simple living, prayer and fasting leading up to Easter, begins today! Many spend the time in self-examination and reflection as modeled by Jesus in Matthew 4: 1-11 where he prayed and fasted for 40 days before beginning his ministry.
What happened during those 40 days of fasting and praying in the wilderness? Our friends at the Upper Room say that maybe Jesus needed some time with God to sort through the major changes happening in his life. Maybe he needed a break from family, friends and his regular routine in order to see God [and himself] more clearly. Maybe he sought more time with God as he searched for direction and answers to the question that we, too have from time to time: “What are you calling me to do, God?"
At my previous church a wonderful lady by the name of Deb Vaughn used to put together a Lenten devotional for our church to use and our church would observe this season using this devotional. I had been missing it the last few years so last year I came across reTHINK churches idea of a picture a day to help us slow down, self-examine ourselves, fast and remember. The graphic below is the challenge for this year. It's fairly simple, just use the words for each day and take a picture that best depicts that word, it can be your own picture, one you've used in the past, or something you've seen, maybe even something you have drawn  or created. Place that photo on Instagram and hashtag with #rethinkchurch and #lentoverflow so we can encourage each other.
Whatever you decide to do... take the time during this season, leading up to Easter, to slow down, self-examine yourselves, fast from something and remember what Christ did for you! 



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By Steve | Published Friday, January 30, 2015

Happy 13th Birthday to my Kenna girl! 

For all of our kids 13th birthdays my wife has asked people that have been inspirational in their life to write them a letter. Wendy then takes those letters and puts them in a scrapbook so that they can always look back on Godly advice. Thanks to all those who wrote letters to Makenna, they were very inspirational. I have included mine below...

Dear Kenna,

There is no better feeling in the world for a daddy to hold his daughters hand, it warms my heart! Whether we are walking to the barn, driving in the car, or walking through a shopping mall! When you hold my hand, it brings me joy and makes me happy to be your dad.

I remember the first time you held my hand! Before you were born I prayed to God that he would give us a little girl, I prayed that he would bless us with a sweet, happy, flowery, bow loving, Jesus loving, little girl who was creative and loved life! The first time I held you in my arms, your little hand grabbed my finger, your hand was to small to grab my hand, and I cried. You want to know why? Makenna Grace Holt, I cried tears of joy because you were an answer to prayer, God had blessed us with you and I can say as I look back on your life so far, he has far out did Himself, because you are much more than we could have asked for. As you turn thirteen there is some things I want you to know going forward as your dad:

#1 You will always be prayed for. Your mother and I pray for you on a constant basis, we pray for good health, that you make good decisions, that He protects you, and that one day when you are 35 (Yes I said 35) you will meet a man of God that will sweep you off your feet. We began praying for that man the day you were born, we pray for wisdom for you when the boys start asking you out! Please know I will FIGHT for you, there are evil people in this world and it’s my intent to protect you from them at all costs. The devil will also pull you away from where you need to be and away from God, I will fight to keep you close to Him. Please always know, that if I’m not there to hold your hand, your heavenly Father is always there to hold your hand… ALWAYS!

#2 I love you! I hope my actions have always proved that. I would do anything for you and our family, all you have to do is ask. That love is unconditional, I don’t care what you do in life, or mistakes you make. Please know my love will not stop. Now… it may not alway feel like love to you, but please know it is. This love also means that I will always be there for you, to talk to you, listen to you and give you a shoulder to cry on. if you just want to sit… my hand will always be available!

#3 You are smart! I’m always amazed at the grades that you and your brothers strive for and make. I appreciate the time and effort that you put in to make those grades. When I say you are smart, I’m not just talking about school. You are smart in decisions you make, I hope you will continue to do that. I hope you will continue to pray, ask for wisdom from wise people before you make your own, that is what make you smart, always seek the wisdom of old wiser people. Please don’t EVER let anyone tell you that you are dumb. if they do… they are not worth being around. You can do anything that you put your mind to, sometimes it’s just hard work. There will be times in life where you just need to take God by that and say… lead me!

#4 Don’t settle for second best! God placed you on this earth to accomplish big things. If you think about it, all of us have, on average, 75 years to do this. So… go after your dreams! Figure out early as to what God wants you to be. If I can ever assist in helping you figure that out let me know. Strive to be the best in all you do, right down to your chores and finding the career that will fuel your passions. Don’t settle on a future husband, set your sights high, God will honor that. When I say second best, know that there is no boy out there that will love you more than God. So make sure you and God are good because at times some boys won’t be worth your time. You see people should pull you closer to God, not farther away. If you find yourself being pulled further from God, you need to run from that relationship. 

#5 You don’t need to change! The author of the Book of Psalms say’s this to God: “I praise you because I am fearfully and wonderfully made; your works are wonderful, I know that full well.” Makenna God made you the way you are for a reason don't ever doubt that. Now we can always change for the better, but when you start changing the core of who you are, you are changing the way God intended you to be. For example, if you start to become mean and ugly to people, God does not like that! He does not like that because you are becoming something other than he intended for you to be. So be yourself and people will love you for who you are!

Just in case you missed it… Love you more than you will ever know. Your mom and I want the very best for you and we know that God has you in HIS hand!

LOVE,

DAD




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