Just some thoughts

• This post is awesome! I love that LifeChurch.tv is able to track this. If you haven’t checked out youversion.com do it now! If you can, download it for your mobile device.
• I’m so pumped that NewSpring has launched in Greenville, SC. I spent the majority of my life in Greenville. There are some really good churches; and there are a lot of people not going to to any of them. NewSpring’s kingdom mindset is contagious and their peeps go all out to make people feel welcomed. Glad to read this from Perry.
• Glad to see this man blogging again….and reading blogs again!
• Saw a sign for this store coming soon to Ross Park Mall. Right now all it says is “true religion coming soon” I think that is the hope of a lot of people, especially here in the burgh searching for something else. At Iron City we say, “More Jesus, Less Crap” and Jesus said this.
• Had a date night with this girl tonight….she rocks my world!

Monday Reflection on Sunday

Didn’t get time to post this yesterday, too much time with the groups and celebrating my first Father’s Day. Here’s my thoughts on Sunday @ ICC

• Still loving One Prayer…Perry’s message was simple, but extremely challenging
• First attempt at video messages went off without a problem
• no one openly complained about watching a pastor on the screen instead of on the stage
• 2 mission groups with Power Plant in town to help us out: Brookwood from OK, Pleasant Grove from NC
• They were a huge help Sunday: mainly by streatching our regulars into new roles as facilitating their task.
• Man Day 2.0 was awesome, We have some great cooks at ICC amongst the men. Ian made some killer ribs, and Michael’s Italian sausage and pasta begged for multiple helpings.
• Bob is doing a great job with song selection and organizing the band during the summer
• With all the help, our systems were pushed and I think they responded nicely…a very controlled chaos
• Taught again in ICK; I get pumped each week by hearing those kids talk to God.
• Some of their prayers for their lost family members broke me
• Tommy broke a very expensive plastic pitcher…give him a hard time about it!!!!
• We could really use a rear projection screen and riging, it’d help a lot with appearance and stage space.
• Speaking of space, our trailer is about maxed out, good thing we have an FedEx guy helping us each week.
• Summer small groups start this week!

It’s Begining

 

One Prayer starts this Sunday, but you can already begin the journey by joining with others around the world in praying for this event. Join the conversation by going to www.oneprayer.com.

I’m so excited that Iron City Church is one of the 1,300+ churches participating in this unifying campaign. The coolest part to me is join with everyone in prayer, fasting, spiritual pursuit, and international church planting. If you live in the Pittsburgh area, come be a part of this groundbreaking movement at Iron City Church! Stay tuned to as I’ll be updating you on what I see God doing in my life and around ICC over the next four weeks.

Sunday @ ICC

• Set-up went really smooth; it always helps when TD stays away till needed
• New vocalist helping out while B does his camp counseling
• taught in ICK, probably will be doing this a lot this summer
• right before teaching the DVD player went out, not cool! Lucky we’re a little oldschool and we actually had a vcr/tv combo and a tape laying around that worked beautifully into the lesson that was planned
• Took the kids on a hike…awesome hearing them talk to God
• Summer Slump hit us about 3 weeks ago
• Stoked about One Prayer starting next week!
• Saw some peeps that I haven’t seen in a while, great to catch up with them
• Lots of praise reports
• But also a lot of spiritual battles being fought
• Lunch with summer small group leaders…love’n some mexican food
• Somealot of the people attending really get the vision and make sacrifices each week to see it happen
• Leslie & Cadence come home tomorrow…can’t wait it’s been to long
• the other kids (daisy and roscoe) and I took a long walk through the woods this afternoon
• Have been watching a lot of MMA this past week. Great fight between Pulver and Faber tonight
• Forest Griffin–”the juice is worth the squeeze” reminds me of this; also a great thought for those of us battling the spiritual warfare thats running through the ICC peeps and leadership.
• Can’t belive…actually yes I can believe what Gary told his guys today
• Busy week ahead!

Baptism Pictures

 

Sunday @ ICC

• let’s start with God answers prayers! BIG TIME!
• threw a curve ball to the production team this morning, they eventually hit it but I caused the band to miss most of their warm-up….sorry guys and a lot of frustration to our team…sorry for that as well
• curve ball was a new mixer and amp, but not all the right cables. it really cleaned up the sound and made it much clearer, but still not the best Sunday to do it, lesson learned.
• portable baptisms are awesome, especially when the heating element breaks down.
• our guys loaded about 6 industrial sized trash cans of hot water, still no help….glad Tommy was the one in the water
• saw 4 people baptized and another week of people deciding to begin a relationship with Christ. WOW!!!
• the spiritual warfare i mentioned here has trickled down to our support staff. some of our peeps are really fighting through some crap right now, pray for them!
• finished the Release series and today’s service by signing I am Free by the Newsboys, great song to close things out.
• realized last night around midnight, what I thought was canopies to use to keep the rain off was actually pack-n-plays for a children’s area…..I freaked out!
• Prayed a lot last night for it not to rain during the service
• Rain stopped about time people began coming in! God likes to test me a little.
• Have an awesome wife whose taking me out tonight!
• Did I mention that this time next week I’ll be holding my little girl!
• Tommy actually only preached for 15 or so minuetes. Everyone was in shock, and not because of the ice cold baptism water.
• Have a busy week ahead, a lot to do before becoming a dad, but looking foward to it all.

Sunday @ ICC

• Little water accident this morning, and next week is the baptism service, weird…
• Michael took care of sound set-up by himself and it worked perfectly
• We really need some new stage monitors, and lighter speakers
• Had some extra help setting up and tearing down everything, 2nd week in a row…really makes a huge difference
• New people, New people, New people…loving it
• Another decision to begin a relationship with Christ….3 weeks in a row people are stepping into the faith family.
• baptism service next week, i’m pumped
• didn’t get a sunday nap, so i’m wiped out
• had an awesome dinner with some new friends from ICC, Jason and Laura. Ummm great cooking and fun time hanging out
• Cadence is coming in 4 weeks….and my wife is still rocking it out serving in the kids area.
• MJ stepped up and did Cafe…she did a great job, I’m a cheese cube freak!
• Yes i did wear a t-shirt while everyone else was in coats, I thought it would be warmer.
• speaking of warmer, i can’t wait to wear my chacos each week.
• Batman was killed deflated…great illustration…the sermon was full of great illustrations and applications check it out here.

Momentum & Warfare

As Iron City is gaining some momentum and we are witnessing God at work something has become apparent…Spiritual warfare has been going on leading up to this, and has gotten heavier during this time in ICC life. Each day brings new pressures and challenges from a variety of angles. You don’t even see most of them coming.

“This is no afternoon athletic contest that we’ll walk away from and forget about in a couple of hours. This is for keeps, a life-or-death fight to the finish against the Devil and all his angels. Be prepared. You’re up against far more than you can handle on your own.”  Ephesians 6:12-13a (the message)

I like this translation, especially being a sports fan. Since I can’t handle this on my own, my prayer is that these challenges build in me a stronger and deeper faith and dependence on Him. To often I try to fight these battles myself, when all I have to do is stop and wait.

“when men work, men work; but when men pray, God works”

Sunday @ ICC

• Beautiful weather!!!
• Trained Michael on the basic of sound set-up
• Taught in ICK about me climbing St. Mary’s Glacier and JC climbing Golgatha
• Tommy brought the funk to help realese from all their junk….it’s going to be even better next Sunday!
• Band is rocking out We Stand by Lee McDerment…2nd week in a row
• Really want to take the dogs to the park, but will settle for Tommy’s back yard.
• Guys who tear down the auditorium area did it extreamly fast and good!
• Which allowed me to make several new connections
• New guest again, and some returning ones from the previous week
• Heard about 3 decisions to begin a relationship with Christ from the adults
• 3 kids in ICK wanted to learn more as well
• Because of the above two,  I had some spirtual warfare earlier this week and expect more of it this upcoming week.
• Dig the new table set up in the cafe, and the red curtains in the auditorium
• Get to hang out with TJ tonight

Easter’s no joke!

We celebrate Easter because of the mighty move of God on that day in which He raised himself from the grasp of death, giving life to all of us who believe. Here are some links to several present day might movements:

• Gary Lamb: Revolution Church, Canton GA: 20 people accepted Christ
• Perry Noble: NewSpring Church, Anderson SC: over 120 people accepted Christ
• Sam Braswell:River Ridge Church, Douglasville GA: only 6mos old saw over 4,000 attend their Saturday community event, and saw double attendance for their Easter Service.
• JR Lee:Freedom Church, Acworth GA: a little over 2mos old saw 10 people accept Christ
• Steven Furtick: Elevation Church, Charlotte NC: over 500 people accepted Christ
• Tommy Duke: Iron City Church, Pittsburgh PA: only 6mos old saw a 50% increase in attendance with 27 first time guest. And they gave away over 1,000 peeps and 1 t-shirt.

These are just some of the ones I read this morning and got excited about and wanted to share. I’m sure there are a lot more out there and I’d love to hear them, post your comments