Aspire Higher with Avery Johnson

I love underdog stories. Don’t you? Especially this time of year ... with March Madness in the air! Whether our favorite team is playing or not, we all seem to gravitate toward the team nobody expected would reach the NCAA Tournament.

Well, I can think of no better underdog story than that of Avery Johnson. Known for his passionate playing style, the “Little General” rose from the housing projects of New Orleans to the pinnacle of the NBA—winning a championship with the San Antonio Spurs and then coaching the Dallas Mavericks to their first-ever finals.

I’m sure you watched him on the court as a player or on the sidelines at American Airlines Center as the Mavs coach or now as a studio analyst for ESPN. But you may not know the rest of the story. Avery is a great friend and a great man of God. If you live in the area, I invite you to join me as we welcome him to PowerLunch tomorrow. And take a moment to meet him afterward. He’ll sign copies of his book Aspire Higher.

You won’t want to miss his inspiring story of dogged perseverance and big dreams.

High Definition Living

For the past 11 weeks, I’ve been teaching a message series called High Definition Living. Everything’s gone HD these days, and it’s amazing how bold the color is and how sharp the picture is. The clarity is incredible. So I decided to take a look at the commandments from God, the moral law of God, the laws that liberate us for real living and how they apply to us right now in real time in high definition.

God has called us, as believers, to be colorful for Him, to be bright, beautiful and bold for Him. We are to magnify and amplify His glory. So how do we do this? By living lives in Hi Def. “I then shall live” is to live in high definition and clarity. We, the people of God, must be willing to step out and step up to the challenge of living for Christ in our generation.

And let’s face it, we live in a world of moral ambiguity where so often many live in a shade of gray, where there’s little black and white or right and wrong. Many people couldn’t tell you what the Ten Commandments are, and given the economic disaster we’re facing, it’s not hard to believe. Sadly, though, it’s also true of the church. So how can we know how to live if we don’t live by the guidelines given to us by God?

Here’s my prayer, that we wouldn’t follow society in the mistaken thinking that the commandments are archaic and irrelevant. They are more relevant than anything our culture has to offer. This weekend I’ll be closing out the series with the message, “The Desire to Acquire.” An appropriate message, don’t you think? Where has all this “acquiring” gotten us? And yet our faith in our God is, was and will always be our foundation.

If you live in the Dallas area, visit our website for service times. We’d love to see you! If you live elsewhere, you can catch the live streaming of the service on Sunday at 11:00 a.m. (CST) on PowerPoint. In the coming weeks, the entire message series will be available for purchase at the Prestonwood Bookstores.

Celebrating Life

There are some ministries that are near and dear to my heart. One of those is Prestonwood Pregnancy Center. Today, I was blessed to attend the “Friends for Life Luncheon” which drew hundreds who wanted to learn more about this “Jesus Ministry.”

When I came to Dallas in 1989, I brought in my heart from my former church in Florida a ministry that serves as a reminder of the preciousness of life itself—from the very beginning. And in February, we celebrated the 18th anniversary of this Prestonwood Baptist Church ministry. Through Prestonwood Pregnancy Center, we celebrate life by praying, giving and standing for the unborn.

Our staff and more than 75 weekly volunteers offer grace, love and hope. Often, the clients we serve are dealing with crises and consequences of sin. I’ve always said that it’s better to light a candle than curse the darkness. This ministry isn’t about bringing condemnation; it’s about hope and overcoming evil with good as Scripture says in Romans 12:21.


Last year, our center served the community through some 2,900 client visits, performing nearly 1,500 pregnancy tests and 630 sonograms. And we witnessed 135 professions of faith! We have also begun using another resource, the Mobile Sonogram Unit, which allows us to go out into the community to reach those in need. Please pray for this ministry and those similar to it in your own area ... and help support them as they continue giving the gift of life.

"Kindling" My Love of Books

I love to read, so one of my favorite recent gadgets has been the Kindle. This thin, lightweight “wireless reading device” lets me download books or magazines or newspapers at anytime, and I can slip it in my briefcase and enjoy it while I’m traveling. Heading home from North Carolina yesterday, I read Joe Torre’s The Yankee Years. (FYI – it’s an entertaining read for any baseball fan.)

Still, I truly enjoy holding a book in my hands and feeling the crispness of the paper while I turn the pages. I have a library with more than 6,000 volumes, most of them, to me, are priceless.

So I’m excited about attending the Christian Book Expo at the Dallas Convention Center tomorrow with Deb and our daughter, Kelly. As you may know, Deb and Kelly do a wonderful job leading our award-winning Prestonwood Bookstores.

While there, I’ll visit with friends and check out the many books and other items on display. And at 10:00 a.m., I’ll sign copies of one of my own books, Are You Fit For Life? We’ll also have information about my newest book, Powering Up, which will be released on Mother’s Day. (I’ll talk more about that at a later date.) If you live in the Dallas area, stop by the Expo. It’d be great to meet you.

Praying for Our Seminaries

Today I am writing to you from beautiful Wake Forest, N.C. It's always a pleasure to visit our great institutions of faith such as Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary. I spoke at Chapel this morning, and let me say how pleased I was to meet students and to hear their hearts for the ministry. Led by my friend, Dr. Danny Akin, this great seminary is thriving, with more than 2,000 students who love the Lord and have a passion for His Word.

I recently read a story in USA Today about the financial difficulties that seminaries are facing in our country. The story stated that of 175 institutions (which are not part of a university), nearly 40 percent are "financially stressed." The story says that figure is up 26 percent from last year. Enrollment is also dropping significantly at most institutions.

During this economic struggle our nation is facing, please keep in your prayers our Bible-teaching seminaries. Please pray for leaders like Danny Akin as they look to our Great God for guidance and continually seek innovative ways to train those with a heart for ministry. And please pray for the students—tomorrow's pastors and missionaries and teachers.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

Too bad St. Patrick’s Day is identified with drunkenness and debauchery when the namesake was a godly, faithful missionary for Christ and the Gospel. Here is the prayer attributed to St. Patrick which invites the presence and power of Christ in our lives each day:



I arise today
Through God's strength to pilot me;
God's might to uphold me,
God's wisdom to guide me,
God's eye to look before me,
God's ear to hear me,
God's word to speak for me,
God's hand to guard me,
God's way to lie before me,
God's shield to protect me,
God's hosts to save me… Afar and anear,
Alone or in a mulitude.

Christ shield me today against wounding
Christ with me, Christ before me, Christ behind me,
Christ in me, Christ beneath me, Christ above me,
Christ on my right, Christ on my left,
Christ when I lie down, Christ when I sit down,
Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of me,
Christ in the mouth of everyone who speaks of me,
Christ in the eye that sees me, Christ in the ear that hears me.

I arise today through the mighty strength…
of the Creator of Creation.

So with that … Happy St. Patrick’s Day!

A Prayer of Hope

May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope. —Romans 15:13

As I prepare for worship services this weekend, I can’t help but think about the members of First Baptist Church of Maryville, Ill. This will be the first Sunday that they worship together since the death of their beloved pastor, Fred Winters. The young pastor was shot and killed by a gunman last Sunday during a morning service.

It heartens me to know that Al Meredith will bring a message to that congregation on Sunday. I can’t think of a better person to do so. You see, Pastor Meredith’s own church, Wedgwood Baptist in Fort Worth, suffered a similar tragedy. Nearly 10 years ago a gunman entered Wedgwood, where a youth event was taking place, and killed seven before turning the gun on himself.

I ask today that we all take time to pray for this hurting church family. Pray for the Winters family, who have lost a husband and father, pray for the congregation, and pray for Pastor Meredith as he brings a message of hope that comes only from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

DAY 72

I like to start my day in the Word and then read a devotional or two. I thought I’d provide an entry for you from my most recent devotional, A Daily Encounter With God, on this, the 72nd day of the year.


But thanks be to God, who gives us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ. —1 Corinthians 15:57

Any sin in our lives defeats. That’s just the nature of sin! Yet God never intended for His children to be defeated. His desire is that you walk in spiritual victory each day!

Yet one of the greatest barriers to experiencing that daily spiritual victory is hidden sin in our lives. Because not only will hidden sin zap you spiritually, it will drain you physically and emotionally. Not only will it diminish your witness, but it will also impact your relationship with those you love.

The Scripture even says that before God can hear our prayers, we must deal with the sin in our lives. David tells us this in Psalm 66:18 when he says, “If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened.”

The only way to deal with sin in your life is to strike at it immediately, before it gets you in its grip. You must treat sin as ruthlessly as it will treat you! The moment you are aware that there is an unclean desire in your heart or evil thought in your mind, strike back at it in the power of God and the power of prayer.

Remember, there is no sin that God can’t forgive! No matter what you have done, God always forgives when we come to Him in true repentance. First John 1:9 says, “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.”

If there is something in your life that you are clinging to...be it a sinful habit or an ungodly attitude... my prayer is that you will deal with it and ask for true forgiveness. God is waiting with open arms to bring about a new beginning... a new hope in your life today!

GOD DESIRES THAT YOU WALK IN SPIRITUAL VICTORY EACH DAY!

Baseball, Burgers and Borinstein

Greetings from Surprise! It’s been a great couple of days here in sunny Arizona, watching my Rangers in spring training at beautiful Surprise Stadium, stopping by In-N-Out and enjoying one … or … two … or … three burgers, and spending time with a great friend, Bill Borinstein.

Bill, a former minister at Prestonwood, is now the senior pastor at Harvest Bible Chapel North Phoenix—a church plant of the great Chicago-area Harvest Bible Chapel led by my good friend James MacDonald. I was pleased to meet with Bill and some of the church leaders regarding everything that’s going on at this dynamic new church. At Prestonwood, we’ve been blessed to be able to help this young church with portable equipment that helps them set up for services each weekend.

Just speaking to them, you can sense the incredible excitement they feel about reaching this region for Christ. If you live in the Phoenix area, be sure to visit Harvest Bible Chapel. If you have friends or family who live there, encourage them to go check it out.

Well, the Rangers’ pitching is still Up-N-Down. But In-N-Out is as good as ever.

Pat Summerall: On and Off the Air

I had the privilege and honor of sitting and talking with the legendary Pat Summerall yesterday for PowerLunch, the weekly luncheon we host at Prestonwood that features a great lineup of guest speakers. It was just like sitting in my living room ... only we had more than 850 people there with us!

As a member of our church, I’m still caught by surprise when I hear that unforgettable signature voice of his in our hallways on a Sunday morning. That smooth baritone and great knowledge of sports, as a former professional football player and outstanding tennis and baseball player, led to an amazing broadcast career that spans four decades. He could tell a lot of stories—and believe me, I’ve heard many of them and they are unbelievable—but it’s the story of what God has done in his life that he loves telling most.

Click here to listen to our conversation, and please be sure to point others to this site whom you think would enjoy listening.

"The Rest of the Story"

Our nation lost one of its most trusted and respected broadcast voices with the passing of Paul Harvey on Saturday. The amazing thing about this radio legend was that in just a few minutes of daily airtime, he made millions of Americans feel like they knew him. He wasn’t just on the radio. He was a friend. I’ll personally miss that easily-recognizable voice telling an incredible story, then punctuating it with “And now you know ... the rest of the story.”

A great friend of Billy Graham’s and a true conservative voice, I thought it appropriate to include a prayer Paul Harvey aired on his program several times. Though attributed to Billy and others, it was actually authored by my good friend Bob Russell. Bob is the retired pastor of one of the great churches in the country, Southeast Christian Church in Louisville, Ky.

Heavenly Father, we come before you today to ask your forgiveness and to seek your direction and guidance. We know Your Word says, "Woe to those who call evil good” but that is exactly what we have done. We have lost our spiritual equilibrium and reversed our values. We have exploited the poor and called it the lottery. We have rewarded laziness and called it welfare. We have killed our unborn and called it choice. We have shot abortionists and called it justifiable. We have neglected to discipline our children and called it building self esteem. We have abused power and called it politics. We have coveted our neighbor’s possessions and called it ambition. We have polluted the air with profanity and pornography and called it freedom of expression. We have ridiculed the time-honored values of our forefathers and called it enlightenment. Search us, oh God, and know our hearts today; cleanse us from every sin and set us free. Amen!