gregstier.org

Current Music

• 4th Avenue Jones:
  Stereo: The Evolution of Hiprocksoul
• Skillet:
  Comatose
• Casting Pearls:
  Casting Pearls
• Tobymac:
  Welcome to Diverse City

Current Books

• Leonardo Boff:
  Holy Trinity, Perfect Community
• John MacArthur:
  The Truth War: Fighting for Certainty in an Age of Deception
• W. Chan Kim, Renée Mauborgne:
  Blue Ocean Strategy: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make Competition Irrelevant
• Alan Gotthardt:
  The Eternity Portfolio (Generous Giving)

8 Comments for 'On the road again…'

1. On September 10, 2007 @ 9:55 pm Kayla Russum said:

   • Dude, it must be tough to be on the road so much.  But thanks for the sacrifice. You’re making a big difference! I read Ministry Mutiny and I think it’s right on track.  I’m trying to keep those principles in the front of my mind.  Last night we had our fall kick off and the message was straight from the book of John.  I think it was probably the crappiest message I’ve ever delivered.  At the end I had planned to try an "alter call" type thing but as I was up there I started to chicken out because I didn’t think anyone was tracking me so it would be pointless.  But then I was reminded His Word is the power of God and does NOT RETURN VOID.  So I kept going and asked if there were any kids who wanted to believe in Jesus for the first time. Eight responded.  It was sweet! Thanks for playing a part in that, thanks for supporting youth leaders and thanks for reminding me what this is all about. I’ll see ya at the Seattle lunch next month! Kayla

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2. On September 11, 2007 @ 6:13 pm Becky said:

   • Happy travels!

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3. On September 12, 2007 @ 5:03 pm Julie E. said:

   • Hey Mr. Stier, I have a question. Okay, well, in my honors english 2 class we had a debate against gay marriages and abortions. I strongly believe that these actions are wrong. Though, when asked by my teacher why I believed this, I couldn’t give him a very good reason. All I could come up with is that it’s against my beliefs and that God tells us not to do such things. No one really took it seriously and people got caught up in the whole religion and government thing. I want to prove to my class, or a least show them what God really intended for life. I want to have reasons that they will listen to and take into consideration. My goal is not to force this upon them, I just want to….I don’t know…..I guess I just want them to know God. It’s frustrating. Anyway, my question was…Do you think you could give me some pointers of how to correctly state what I believe? Our teacher told us not to worry about offending anyone. If possible, I need some tips tonight. If you don’t get this in time, please pray for me. I hope that I can be a light to others. Thank you.

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4. On September 13, 2007 @ 10:14 am Joseph Fessenden said:

   • I feel like telling my testimony, so here it goes. Once upon a time… No… you can’t really start a testimony like that, because it doesn’t have all the happy parts a fairy tale has. A long, long time ago…. No… I’m not that old. I guess I can just start my story from when I was born. It’s logical to start a life story that way I’m assuming. I was born into a halfway Christian family. My grandma loved God. Many of my Aunts and Uncles were used by God on a daily basis. As a result of that, I was taken to church by my parents every Sunday and Wednesday. I feel today it was for more ritual purposes. Let’s go just because we can, kind of thing. I don’t remember much of my early years. What child does? However, there are a few clips strewn up in my mind. There was the time we were all in the car. Mom and Dad were screaming at each other. When we got home, Dad and I left for nearly the whole night walking all over town. He was carrying me on his shoulders like he always does. As a child, I didn’t understand why we were out. Maybe some bonding time? Now I know that Dad couldn’t stand the pressure of getting yelled at. He needed thinking time. Don’t go thinking that my dad was the victim here though. As long as I can remember, my dad and mom fought each other. Dad has beat my mom, and my mom has taken a knife after Dad. I remember the waterbed bursting all over the floor due to a missed swing with the knife. I didn’t have it as bad as most though. My parents loved me. It was just each other they couldn’t get along with. They did have a tendency to take their anger out on other people though. It was never through abuse. They just had a hateful about them. It was emotionally traumatic at most. Dysfunctional family stress was only nagged on by my school life. Being a poor boy with health issues (you can still see those today. I’m overweight and a little disfigured. It runs in the family). I could never make many friends. I was always the uncool nerd that everyone made fun of. I didn’t know how to play any sports because I was never invited to join in. I still don’t understand sports today. My life was a lonely one. During my childhood, the next emotionally traumatic thing occurred in my life. Because I was only four when it started, and I didn’t know right from wrong, I call it mind rape. My cousin began to molest me. I can’t use the term rape because I was willing. When you are young, you don’t understand things. I don’t know if he understood either because he is only four years older than me. I guess it was just a turn of circumstances. Maybe someone did it to him, and he continued the chain. I know I wasn’t his only victim. This action continued for years. I was under the impression that I was a homosexual. It caused sexual addictions. I knew the act was disgusting. It weighed down on me. I began to know it was wrong. However, I just couldn’t stop. I discontinued seeing him alone at the age of thirteen. My homosexual experiences were ended, but the sexual addiction was not. Porn became a big part of my life. We didn’t have Cinemax, but I would watch the static versions on Friday night to be able to see nudity. Gaining the Internet pushed my problem over the top. At sixteen, the actual act was placed into my life with my first real girlfriend. It was a long struggle that I couldn’t conquer until a couple of years ago. As a right minded person, I am very perceptive to all the emotions flowing around me. I am still an emotional person. My family is an important aspect to me, and growing up, I watched their pains, growths, and failures. I soaked it all in. I have this ability to share in what others are feeling at certain times. In my older days, I used this to help counsel people. There were certain people out there who refused to speak to me in person (the had a reputation to keep), but they met me online to tell me all their troubles. I thought I could take on the pain of the world, and I somewhat did. The problem is, no one can hold onto pain by themselves. I went spiraling into depression. I had bouts of complete emotional numbness when I didn’t care what happened, what I said, or who I hurt. Everyday, a new idea of how I could end my life emerged. My family may have been dysfunctional, but they did one thing right at least. They raised me in church. Being raised in church is the only reason I am alive today. No matter how much I wanted to end my life, I knew the end result. If I took my own life, my afterlife would be Hell. I used to pray all the time that God would erase himself from my memory so that I could get it over with. I learned something. No matter how much you want to forget God, once you’ve gotten to know him, there’s no getting rid of him. In the last few years, the family I knew so close to God has turned their backs on him for multiple reasons. My family fell apart at the deaths of my Uncle Gary (who I pray to be like everyday. But that’s another story) and my Grandma. Their pain and suffering has went right in the banks of my heart where I stored everyone else’s. God brought me through a life of pride, a life of being burned by church leaders, a life that was heading down a road to utter darkness without me even knowing he was guiding me. As I look back, I see God in every aspect of my life. He allowed these events to happen in my life so that I could become the person I am today. I am stronger. I have experience. I grew up faster than any other child so that I could get on with Kingdom work. I knew all my life that I was called. I felt it deep down in my bones. Others saw it too. It was prophesied to my mother that she was going to have a baby boy, she was going to name him from the Bible, and God would use him in a great way. God taught me personally. God brought me through the fire to make a new creation. People see me as an eager person, without patience. They see me as zealous. I just know time is running out. Paul called life a race. My mind and heart agree, save lost souls, as many and as fast as you can. Don’t fill your life with unimportant things. Don’t spend your money on worthless things. Why put thousands of dollars in entertainment when you can put thousands in outreach? There’s priorities in life that God wants us to follow. Time is short, but there’s still so much we can do. Why wait to do Kingdom work? If it’s in the will of God, he will back it up. The great commission says it’s in his will. Do it. That’s my heart. It’s not impatience. It’s urgency. God allowed me to live the life of a lost boy in a dark world to understand there are many more out there like I was and worse off, and they need to hear and feel his love. I didn’t have anyone to tell me. Thank God I had a sensitive spirit, or I would have never heard his whispers of love. The others out there, their spirits aren’t as sensitive. They need us to tell and show them. I get aggravated at teachers, pastors, leaders, Christians who don’t have a soul saving mentality. Don’t wait to bring in the lost. "But we aren’t prepared!" God will make a way when there seems to be no way. He works in ways you cannot see. He will make a way for you. (That’s a beautiful song.) Love is to help bring people out of the hurt they are daily in. Love is showing people the light of Jesus. Love is giving them the chance to cure the cancer in their lives called sin by telling them about Jesus the vaccine! Show love. The love that God showed you… My testimony is a story of how the burns of fire can create a new life. A beautiful creation. As phoenix rises from it’s ashes God pulled me out of the purging fire into a life of beauty.

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5. On September 13, 2007 @ 6:35 pm Julie E. said:

   • Wow, GREAT testimony. Your testimony is truly inspiring. I am so glad to hear what God can do through someone’s life. Sometimes I find myself doubting God and slowly turning away. But those words spoked from God through you make me pumped. That’s great. Thanks for sharing your life story…..you can rest assure that it touched one person’s heart. God bless you and keep following Him! He’s using you tremendously.

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6. On September 14, 2007 @ 6:21 pm Will Bratina said:

   • Joseph, Jesus Christ has Made you His Fierce Warrior in His Undying Love, my brother!  May His Holy Spirit Burn in you Forever and I know if I don’t meet you here we will have - have even in this very moment - PERFECT fellowship with you and all Jesus Freaks through our Lord Jesus Christ. 

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7. On September 18, 2007 @ 1:53 pm Steve said:

   •  Julie E. said: gay marriages and abortions Julie, here are a few links that might help you  http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs/4214pn11_1999.asp http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2005/0422life.asp http://www.answersingenesis.org/tj/v9/i1/homosexual.asp http://www.answersingenesis.org/docs2004/0119behaviour.asp  

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8. On September 18, 2007 @ 8:18 pm Julie E. said:

   • Thanks Steve!

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