Guilty

We have a new addition joining our household in August. When I first learned of CB in 2007 I started her a blog. Recently I’ve been feeling very guilty for not starting one for Baby M2. Who knows this may be the start, or just another blog burb

The Fight Before Christmas

It happened, I know it happened elsewhere, and probably it happened with your pastor as well. Its one of the times of the year that Satan tries to disrupt our flow, discourage us, distract us. I began praying for our Christmas series several months ago, knowing a spiritual warfare was looming. My past few years working with church plants and hanging out with pastors at least taught me this much. However, you never know when and where the fight will take place. All you can do is endure it.

Christmas is a prime time for those far from God, disconnected from churches, or those wanting a little more faith injected into their lives to experience a worship service. Satan knows this and boy does he not like it. So this year is no different. I fought him, he lost. I hope you withstand the fight! I know why I am here and what my role within God’s kingdom is. Christ is victorious! We celebrate His birth, the coming of my savior!

Monday Routines

I got a question the other day from another Church Planter about how I handle my Mondays. Wayne Cordeiro said that pastors give birth on Sunday and then wake up on Monday pregnant again. So here is my typical Monday routine:

• Help Leslie get CB off to Mother’s Morning Out
• Spend some time with Leslie (she doesn’t get a lot of my time on Saturday’s & Sundays)
• Head to office, usually wearing my comfy clothes
• Read, Read, Read
• Read past weeks bloglines
• Read GreenvilleNewsOnline.com
• Read the Word
• Read at least 200 pages in my current reading
• Read some tech blogs (helps de-clutter my mind)
• Read over upcoming weeks sermon notes
• Read emails (respond to some)
• Read some reasearch based articles (topics vary from marketing to social justice to kids toys)

I know, exciting! Monday is one of the best days for me to process information. I’ve already digested Sunday and am ready to move. So on Mondays I read and gather as much info as I can and begin processing it. Something that I’ve noticed is that typically throughout the week I will filter and funnel out a lot of what I process on Monday; and by the following Monday have the best of nuggets gathered.

Lessons from ghost & missing animals

No, this isn’t a post about animal sacrifices; it’s about miss-led expectations. Sunday, we took CB to our local zoo for the annual Boo in the Zoo. CB had to be the cutest bunny in the park. Unfortunately, if it wasn’t for the other kids dressed up as animals, we might have not seen any. Although this was my first time at the event, I figured all of the animals would be out for CB to enjoy as we walked through collecting candy. Instead we saw cutout ghost & pumpkins, some vultures and a few goats. BOOOO Boo in the Zoo.

Couple this with our Sunday experience at Waypoint I sat this morning wondering how well we are doing at letting people know what to expect when the come. Especially first-time guest! But even those who come as regularly as once a month. Are they coming with expectations? Are their expectations met, exceeded, or let down. Are they getting everything we have? Have we provided an over-the-top atmosphere? Were they challenged to Regroup, Refresh, and Realign? Or did anyone walk out and wonder if they had just hung out with some vultures & goats.

So this week I’m beginning the process of evaluating our up-front, pre-sunday appearance. Praying for guidance and wisdom!

Post Game Let Down

Monday Night Football was awesome! Last night I enjoyed watching the Miami Dolphins turn their final drive against the NY Jets into a victory. Football lives and dies in our household from Thursday to Monday. We watch pre-game, halftime, & even special web coverage for high school through the NFL.

Last night I was saddened, not from anything new; but from the abrupt ending of ESPN’s coverage. It’s the same every week but this week, the ending of the game was awesome and all I got was a 30 second commentary followed by a set-up for Sports Center. I felt like I needed some form of Post Game follow-up. I was left hanging. I tried to watch some Sports Center highlights; but to no avail, I still felt empty.

This week at Waypoint we finished one of the most difficult series we’ve had. We asked a lot of questions, we didn’t find a lot of answers. We uncovered some of the mysteries’ of God and his dealings with humanity and I woke up Monday feeling like we needed more. We needed some form of Post Series follow-up before diving into the next series. We need to process what God is up to, how does his mysteries impact my lifestyle and my future. How can I take the best of this game series and get prepared to move onto the next one.

So come to Waypoint this Sunday for our first ever Post Series Follow-up. Whether you attended one, all, or none of the Why Series; this Sunday is vital to helping us move forward in our faith. Don’t miss it!

Sheperding more

It’s hard enough to develop and grow your own spiritual life. Following disciplines, finding mentors, allowing yourself to be cut and molded, being patient, confessing!

It only got harder when I got married….all of the above now x’s 2. Leading your spouse to become the person God intended her to be all the while chasing recklessly after Him yourself: constantly wondering why I signed up for this?

Along comes a daughter; my task, propel her! Give her everything I have and opportunities I didn’t to make a kingdom impact

I knew I was called to work within the church in 2000, 9 years later I found myself as a pastor leading, shepherding the lives of others. I’m trying to bask in the goodness that God has given, celebrating the victories. Yet I’m full of fear as he continues to put more sheep into my pasture.

His Mission: Imago Dei–my task–letting it happen!

Split emotions

Today I sat in my office and suffered under the heavy hand of split emotions.

excitement filled me up as I reflected on Sunday. God showed up and blessed our worship, again. His Spirit broke through the darkness of 2 lives moving them into a relationship with Him. Healing took place, LOVE changed everything. As I’ve looked over the past 2 months I have seen God’s hand consistently bringing blessings to Waypoint….and to my family.

Yet against this backdrop is fear….fear that I’m incapable of handling the blessings God is bringing. fear that my faith isn’t strong enough to continue to take risks and challenges that I took before. Fear that I’ll screw it up! Fear, because I’m now shepherding over more lives…..

to be continued….

I don’t Like ____ Church or Pastor____

I have at least one huge soap box, and if you catch me in the right moment you’ll find out what it is. As a follower of Christ, and one who was uniquely designed with a critical/detailed eye, I often found myself analyzing churches, sermons, pastoral leadership, etc. Typically I would walk out of a church service with a litany of things I would do differently; or would engage other believers in “discussions” about how a church is not doing _______. One day I got the God-smack when reading 1 Corinthians. After discussing divisions within the church; Paul argues it is the foolishness of preaching that saves souls.

Since then I’ve been on a crusade: I can’t stand to hear people, especially those claiming to follow Christ bad mouth a Church or a Pastor. Saying “I love Jesus” but hating the church is as irrational as saying to your best friend, “I like you–I just can’t stand being around you.” Ones attitude toward the church tells you–simply–their attitude toward Jesus.

Monday’s Brew

Monday’s drink = chocolate milk 2 glasses

I am in amazement at what God is doing in the life of Waypoint Church right now! All I can do at this point in our life is to sit and enjoy the beauty of his workmanship!

Here are just a couple of highlights

• Highest non-Easter attendance to date!
• We’ve broken the above highlight  3 times over the past 6 weeks!
• Had 2 more individuals come up and let me know they wanted information on our Baptism service on 10/4
• Had 20 people show up for our first Music Ministry Meeting!
• For a church of our age and size: I said it, and truly belive it, we have the best worship leaders and musicians in town!
• Kicked off Why? series looking at questions that stump our faith journey
• Got to connect with lots of new people
• Several key volunteers are stepping up huge right now! Love IT!

I am more excited today, more than ever about what God is doing in our faith community; and what He will continue to do!

Welcoming Myself Back

Based on the recent non-activity due to my crazy life, I’ve lost the few visitors I had! So, I’m welcoming myself back to the blogging world.

Not sure of which direction to take future posts, so we’ll be starting with something simple. Here are the books I am currently reading

• Crazy Love, Francis Chan
• Branding Faith, Phil Cooke
• Jesus wants to Save Christians, Rob Bell
• The Divine Commodity, Skye Jethan

One goal I have is to finish a book a week and post a simple review and favorite quotes from it….be on the look out.