The Miami Pursuit

Can We 3-peat in '08?

The Miami Herald reports that for the second year in a row Miami has been voted City with the Rudest Drivers.

I've driven in Miami and New York City and NYC gets my vote.

Blogs I Read Daily #4

Bob Franquiz, Lead Pastor at Calvary Fellowship in Miami Lakes, FL found a little extra in his Easter basket this morning. A front page article on the church in the Miami Herald. You can read his perspective of the article on his site.

Janie and I are going to worship at our home church of Traders Point Christian Church this morning. We were talking last night about how this will be the last Easter Sunday for a long time we can fly under the radar. I was lying in bed last night already dreaming of what Easter '08 will be like at our new church in Miami. CAN YOU TELL I'M EXCITED!

S. Florida is the Place to Be

Today the Miami Herald released new Census results from 2000-2006. Here are a few important bulletpoints:

- South Florida's metropolitan area (Miami-Dade, Broward, Palm Counties) has added 455,869 people between those years.
- This area is the 9th fastest growing metropolitan area in the country.
- There's no end in sight.
- I can't wait until Janie and I make the number go up by 2 more. We sure won't be lonely!

Check out ABC's Primetime Tonight

Tune in to Primetime tonight on your local ABC affiliate at 9:00 ET for a story on José Luis De Jesús Miranda. This is the guy who claims to be Jesus, lives in Miami, and has fooled millions of followers (I posted about this guy in a previous blog last month titled "Would the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?").

Howard Brammer mentioned in his message on Sunday that he believes God did not create human beings to be worshipped. Case in point, he mentioned Elvis and Anna Nicole Smith (I'd add Britney Spears among a plethora of others). We put them on a platform they were never created to exist on. I agree comletely with Howard. I believe this is why so many priests and pastors make huge moral mistakes. At some point they let their own ego get in the way and forgot they were only the servant and not the Master.

That being said, I see this situation in Miami with Mr. jesus (little j not BIG J) ending badly. We've seen this play too many times and it usually ends with Kool-Aid, a compound, black Nike's and Comets.

Pray for Miranda. Pray that God will invade His heart and so he will point people to the true Jesus who loves us and him more than anything else.

Miami gets a Facelift

Recently I had lunch with my friend Chris Barras at Claddagh's. Over some incredible fish and chips, he showed me a shocking article in Wired Magazine regarding the explosive growth in downtown Miami. One crazy stat shows 5 skyscrapers in Miami in 1999 compared to 2012 when it's projected to have 71! If you check out the brief article make sure you open up the first of the five thumbnails and look at the full-size picture of what Miami will look like. Pretty cool.

By the way, Chris is currently at Velocity Christian Church (a church plant in Richmond, VA) where he serves as Discipleship Pastor and works as a barista at Starbucks. Chris is one of the most ridiculously talented guys I know. God is leading Chris and his wife Abby to plant a church soon so pray for clarity for him.

Would the Real Jesus Please Stand Up?

You may have heard about the man named José Luis De Jesús Miranda, who is a cult leader claiming he is, drum roll please...Jesus.  He is the leader of Growing in Grace, a controversial and quickly growing religious sect whose headquarters are in Miami.  Recently, he has come center stage thanks to national media outlets like NBC and CNN. 

Saw this article in today's Miami Herald.  It appears now some of his followers are going to tattoo parlors to receive the number "666" on their bodies.  Do I think that he's the Antichrist and this is all fulfillment of the prophecies in Revelation?  No. 

The sad thing to me is how vulnerable and easily manipulated the children of God truly are.  We need more followers of the true and living Jesus Christ to be lights in the darkness in the city of Miami.