march 2nd was an incredible day; my first day in my new home and at my new church. we arrived in st. louis at midnight, after the 15 hr drive, and then awoke at 6:30 to lead worship for the first time. we hit the ground running! acts 29 was holding a midwest regional quarterly that morning and it was fantastic. hundreds of men from all over the region came to learn about prayer and worship, and pray and worship we did!

there is nothing more satisfying to me than hearing a room of hundreds men singing at the top of their lungs to their Creator and King Jesus – this is a rare thing, my friends! terry virgo then brought the heat, teaching on prayer and how we ought to be a people not only laboring in prayer, but simply abiding in Christ through prayer. it’s a precious gift that we often overlook and take for granted. i was challenged and ultimately encouraged at the end of the day when we put the teaching into practice and our 2 song set turned into an 8 song set as pastors and church planters just kept coming forward for prayer. what a first day on the job!

this among a plethora of other things are what has drawn me here. there is a severity and weightiness in regard to the journey’s view of Christ and sin and repentance, which has attributed to this absolute abandon to the supremacy of Christ and the gospel and the amazingly unfathomable grace He extends through the cross. because of that they are constantly, consistently and actively pursuing ways to reach the city and the world with the gospel. here are a few ways how, and a few reasons why i already love this place:

the karis house is their counseling center that is free to cheap for people who need Christ-centered counseling. staffed with multiple gifted, professional counselors, it’s the journey’s way of saying, “we’re in a sick, messed up world and we are sick, messed up people because of sin. Christ is the answer, so let’s attack these problems together in a way that He would, and grow into holistic people.”

the luminary is their arts center that is designed to reach out to the artists in the area by offering studio space to paint or sculpt or whatever, as well as a gallery to show in, and a music venue that bands can come play… it’s a tangible way to say that God cares about art and artists and we do too!

then there is mission saint louis, which has overwhelmed me to tears more than once. this ministry goes into the rough parts of saint louis and is just trying to incarnationally bring the redemptive gospel to people who in no way could ever pay them back, many will never step foot in our church, and yet are hearing about Jesus and coming to salvation in Him because of the ministry. it’s really putting hands and feet to the gospel and taking it to the people who need it so badly. this just so much resonates with me and i have a huge respect for josh wilson, the leader of the ministry.

all this just keeps bringing back to my mind that God is a God of redemption and wants to use His people to bring that redemption to His created people, who He loves and gave Himself up for. He is faithful even when we’re faithless and He is a good God who isn’t afraid to identify Himself as such.

when i was praying through this move, my friend and mentor neil mcclendon told me,

“most people have an idea of how hard things can be but they never have a concept of how good it could be. it’s as if life being good means we’ve somehow sold out. exodus 33 shows how moses wanted to see God’s glory and God told him that wasn’t possible but He did say that he would cause His goodness to pass in front of moses and that He would announce his name, “THE LORD.” make sure you don’t miss God in the Goodness that comes across your life. when it passes you should listen for the Lord to announce Himself. He is not afraid to to define Himself in terms of goodness so you shouldn’t be afraid to experience it either.”

those words rocked my world and have proven to be so evidently true as i made the leap of faith to move here. i just want to encourage you to know and strive to know God is as good as His word says He is. when you don’t feel it, it’s no less true. when life is tough and you’re suffering and experiencing loss, it’s no less true. allow God to show His goodness to you and know Him as good.

grace and peace,
stephen miller

follow me on twitter – @_stephen_miller

have you ever noticed that leaves don’t really have any particular desires of where they’re blown and even if they did, you wouldn’t know it? they simply submit to the will of the wind. that’s how amanda and i have really strived to live as much as possible; submitting ourselves to the will of the Holy Spirit and letting Him take us wherever He desires. it’s not always easy, certainly not always convenient, and can often be abrupt. but isn’t it amazing how when you give God the control, you always ultimately find yourself in a much better destination (whether physically or spiritually) than you ever dreamed possible?

we moved back to austin, tx in september of last year… only 5 months ago! we were so excited to be here and have felt the leadership of the Lord the entire time we’ve been privileged to be back. we have held loosely to it though, rather than clutching with a white-knuckled, kung fu grip, as is very tempting when you love a city and a church as much as we have loved austin and the austin stone… but now the winds have changed recently and we submit willingly… and eagerly!

on march 1 (less than a month away! YIKES!), we will be relocating yet again to the great city of st. louis, mo where i will begin partnering with the journey church as a worship leader and pastor. needless to say, i am extremely excited… you really can’t have any idea how pumped i am! i will be working alongside lead pastor darrin patrick who also happens to be an acts29 network leader, and close friend of my current pastor (they’re writing a book together actually!).

this is a pretty amazing opportunity for us and we would certainly appreciate your prayers in the coming months. thanks guys!

grace and peace,
stephen miller

i was recently asked the following question, after God was gracious to supply a new guitar to replace my stolen one. i was praising Him for his goodness and received this question… if you have ever had a question like this, i hope my response is an encouragement to you…

question:
“So, God buys you a new guitar, but destroys Haiti? Or is God only responsible for the good things that happen? I’m not trying to be rude, I’m genuinely interested in hearing an explanation. I’m sure you’ve heard that question before.”

response:
bro, i totally get this question. it’s hard for me to grasp how haiti’s disaster could have happened under the control of my God who so loved the world that He gave his only Son to save those who were lost if they would only believe in Him and make Him their Lord (john 3:16). hurricane katrina, the tsunami a few years back… all of it. i will say this…
God gives good gifts to His children in the way that a good father gives good gifts to his kids that he loves. and he works all things together for the good of those who love Him and are called according to His purpose. because of this, every good and perfect gift that i receive, i know is either directly, or indirectly from Him (matt. 7:11, james 1:17, romans 8:28).
my home. my family. my health. my income, friends, church, talents and job. everything good is from Him. this is called grace, whether general grace ( like the sunrise shines on the just and unjust alike) or specific (“because I belong to Christ, i receive a blessing…”)
God is good. there is no evil in Him. there is mercy. there is love. there is justice, grace, compassion and holiness. and because there are all of those things, there is an utter hatred for all things evil… particularly sin.
so in the same way that there is general grace (good things that come to all people because God is good), there is also a general wrath, or judgement being poured out on sin (romans 1:18-19, 3:23, 6:23). every many has sinned… from the time the first man and woman, adam and eve, ate the fruit in the garden. i’m a sinner, you’re a sinner. americans, chinese, africans and australians are sinners. and because of our sin, there is justice, and therefore consequences. on the specific and personal level there are two forms of this consequence. 1. either Jesus took the blame for us and paid the penalty on the cross, and we receive His grace, OR 2. we pay the penalty ourselves for eternity in hell. however, on the general scale, i would say that because all creation is subject to the effects of our fall and our sin, we have an imperfect world that we live in as a consequence. people murder people. children are molested. wars happen and thousands die. punks take over planes and run them into a couple of buildings and thousands die. tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, and earthquakes happen and thousands die. all creation is subjected to futility because of sin (romans 8:20).
i don’t think people should be asking, “why did this happen to haiti?” as much as we should be asking, “why doesn’t this happen to everyone everywhere, because we’re all sinful.”
crazy dudes like pat robertson ask the question, “what did the haitians do to deserve this.” people with a right view of their own sin ask, “why doesn’t this happen to me? i’m just as sinful as they were!”
and it’s in moments like this that we look at our lives, and our sin and repent… remembering that we are not inherently good. we are inherently evil and unless we repent, our fate is worse that that of many of those who died in the haitian earthquake. our hope is no longer in ourselves or our own righteousness, but our gracious and compassionate savior Jesus, who loved us enough to give himself up for us on the cross. and not even just that, but that He was God and the grave couldn’t hold Him, but he defeated death, and therefore defeated sin so that we could be saved. there is grace even in situations like this earthquake, where beauty will come out of the ashes, and there will be strength arising from the despair and there will be gladness from all the mourning because many will take this moment and realize that they need a savior and that nothing other than Jesus will do…
i pray that you are one of them…