Vacationlog Day 1

My oh my. So, both my kids wanted to spend the night last night with their friends Christian and Patty. These are the same two kids we brought with us on vacation. Somehow, all four teenagers thought it would be a great idea to stay up all last night goofing around. They thought they would do that and then sleep all day in the car thus making the trip go by faster.

They failed to realize that they are all as big as adults and that made six full sized people in our van. Not exactly enough room to stretch out and sleep. To say that today was a festival of crankiness would be a massive understatement. In fact, I had to go old school pastor on them and bind the spirit of argument and cast out that demon of complaints.

On the plus side it was pretty funny when my boy and his friend did fall asleep and the girls tried to shave the boys legs. That was funny. 12 1/2 hours and 769 miles later we survived the first day on the road. Tomorrow we only have about 5 hours to drive and we are stopping off for lunch with an old friend of Aprils.

Pray I don't hurt anyone. I can see the news headlines now. "Local Pastor Kills Kids While On Vacation: His neighbors say he was so quiet.

I better get to bed. I am rambling.

5 AM

I am up at 5 Am. Why do we decide to get up so early the days we leave for vacation? All that happens is the kids are tired and cranky. The wifes tired and cranky. What can we possibly do at this time of the morning that I cannot do at 8 Am......She beckons......Yes Buttercup....how may I help you this morning.....gotta go!

Gotta Love Mornings!

101

I have spent the last two days writing a handbook that is going to become our churches 101/membership class. It has been a big undertaking but I am really liking the first draft. I am going to work on edits and the like over the next few weeks. Most likely, I am going to teach the book to the church as a whole sometime soon. There after, we'll have classes a few times a year for newer people. This class will really help get everyone up to speed on who we are called to be, what we believe in, and how we operate.

Look for it soon!

Couldn't Sleep

Ok, so last night I had a hard time sleeping. I got up and got on the computer and did a little reading. God began to hit me with the notion that we need to look at everything we are doing in church and ask ourselves if those things are effective and accomplishing their purposes.

Some of the questions I am asking myself:

• Am I teaching as effectively as I could be teaching?
• Am I doing enough to grow the church?
• Am I doing an effective job communicating the vision of the church?
• Am I growing our leaders?

I could go on...but it's important to understand all of us need to self evaluate honestly. Some of the things that I need to be working on are:

• Relying less on notes and speaking more from my heart.
• Sharing more of myself with our people.
• Becoming less the face of the church and more the heart of the church.
• Speaking our vision in and through the messages.
• Encouraging our leaders and helping to empower them.
  
• Providing opportunities for our leaders to grow.

There is more I am kicking around but this is a start. Over the next few months I need to be more intentional about my teaching and leadership.

Sad News. Prayer needed.

For those of you who are Greg Laurie fans I just saw this come across a news wire. I am sure that his family could use our prayers about now.

Statement on the Passing of Christopher Laurie, Son of Pastor Greg Laurie

Christopher Laurie, son of Pastor Greg Laurie and Cathe Laurie of Harvest Christian Fellowship in Riverside, Calif., passed away on July 24, 2008 in a car accident. A resident of Huntington Beach, Laurie, 33, served as the art director at Harvest Christian Fellowship for the past three years.

In addition to his parents, Christopher is survived by his wife, Brittany, and daughter, Stella, as well as his brother Jonathan. Christopher and his wife are expecting another daughter in November.

Memorial plans for Christopher are pending. More information will be posted at harvest.org as details become available.

Sunday Mind Dump

First off, the band sounded great today. Everyone played their butts off. I loved hearing that! So lets dump a little shall we?

• The new camera killed the web cast today. We think the video card was the problem. We will be working to get that fixed and soon. Not sure if we are going to go back to the old camera style for now or spend bigger money on a better video card.
• The coffee was killer again. I think I preferred Johns recipe (no offense Sheryl!) Johns was a lot stronger. Some of us need that on Sunday mornings!
• We didn't have any of the pecan caramel brownies today. I almost couldn't preach. It really through me off my game. I am going to have to put those into my contract!
• I turned all the files for the worship CD over to Trezzo. It'll be done when he and the rest of the guys are happy. Hopefully we are looking at 2 weeks.
• Off for vacation in FL this week. Sweet!
• Just had Chelsea's B-Day party. The cake was a little rough. Long story~
• My Mom and Grandparents hit the kids up with quite a bit of cash for birthdays and vacations. Where were these people when I was a kid? I got pudding.
• Off to go movie shopping at the Trezzo home.

Have to get moving. I need to go tanning or I'll burn. See Ya'll!

Lotsa Work

Been putting in a lot of work hours over the last few days trying to get ready for our vacation next week. We'll be gone for 10 days. It's a much needed family vacation, but it's also a little nerve racking because next weekend will be our first weekend away from Church since we started holding public worship services. That is a little scary but we have full faith and confidence in our people and know that they are going to be fine without us!

Next week, Stuart Rickart will be giving the message. I met Stu a year ago at sort of a down time in his life. It's been interesting to see how the relationship with Stu has progressed. A year ago when I met Stu he was talking about wanting to find work in kids ministry. After talking to him for five minutes I could see his passion was in teaching and leading adults. Be he, like many of us thought he wasn't able to do that. I don't want to give away too much of his story because he is telling some of it next week.

For me, this is neat. I am really happy that Stu was open to God using him at Real Life. I just know that everyone is going to be blessed with his passion and energy!

Worship is a Lifestyle

This weekend we'll close out our worship series with the message Worship is a Lifestyle. This whole series was a long time coming for me. I have really wanted to teach on it but was waiting for the green light from God in terms of timing. I hope and pray that for all of us that are Christ Followers we have learned that worship isn't just something we do when we go to church it's offering our entire lives up to God.

This weekend we are going to talk about what that looks like in terms of a lifestyle of worship. This is probably my favorite of all the messages. I just finished the last touches on it this morning and I am really pumped about it. I think this week is really going to hit home for some people and I always love it when God reveals himself to us and we respond with a changed life.


This weeks message has a theme that God has been bringing up over and over again for the last year in both my personal life and in my teaching at Real Life. That's the notion that God's blessing in our life follows our belief and obedience to him. We see that principle in scripture yet we sometimes have this idea that God will ignore it in our lives and he just won't. His blessing is contingent on our obedience to him. Living a lifestyle of worship is all about that obedience, done with a willing heart.

Lunch with Chelsea

All summer long I have taken one day per week and hung out with my kids. I am alternating weeks and this week it was Chelsea's turn. We went shopping and went out for lunch at this little Mexican place over on Secor.

I really enjoy that one day a week. It's our time we get to catch up on what's going on and just have Dad and kid time. It's awesome that Chelsea just turned 17 this week and we can still hang out. I really like that. I gave her a little bit of a hard time because her Mom allowed her to get her nose pierced. I am not mad or anything, it's just fun making her think I am :)

Gotta love being a Dad!

Now and Then

Every now and then it is a good thing to remind yourself and others about what it is that you are here to do. For us at Real Life it's simple. We want to bring people into a meaningful relationship with Jesus, train them up to serve others, and then send them out to serve God's people. For us, we try to keep things simple and fun. That's why we aren't doing tons of different things as a church. We try to do four thing and do them really well:

• We have great worship that most people in our culture and community would enjoy and get something out of.
• We have a simple straightforward message everyone can use.
• We have awesome kids programs.
• We build each other up by providing a place for relationships to happen.

That's it. That is what we are here to do. We do it all in a coffee house environment. Reminding ourselves of why we are here every so often helps keep a person focused and helps make many decisions easier. If it's not part of the mission we don't have to spend much time thinking about it!

Transformation

Many folks have asked about all the changes we have made in our transformation into a coffee house look and feel. So, last night at band practice. I took some photos with my phone. We are about 75% finished with the project. But these will give you a feel for what we are doing.

Photo #1. The guys working out parts of a song. A night view of our stage area.






Photo #2: Our front door entry. We are still trying to figure out what we want to do with this area. Still looks great. Nice, bright, and cheery!











Photo #3 A nice view of our breakfast and coffee area. Looks a little empty without all the people and great treats but, you get the picture. This area is a ton of fun on Sunday mornings!









Photo 4: Aaron and John working out a part. Check out the nice drum kit and flat screen TV. We use the flat screens for video and power point on Sunday mornings. Yea..it's cool.










Photo 5: Our tech room where Tony makes the tech magic that is our great sound and awesome web casts happen along with a photo of our flat screen TV's which we use for video and power point.

If you haven't yet been out to check out a Sunday morning worship experience. Think about getting out for one. It's a great way to connect with God in a low key setting. We promise you will not be disappointed.

Another Great Perry Noble Post

Saw this post on Perry Noble's blog today. Really make people in ministry think hard about where they are.....

Initiator Or Responder?

Posted: 21 Jul 2008 06:48 AM CDT

Are you an initiator or a responder?

• An initiator spends their time trying to think big and extinguish the fires of hell…a responder spends their time trying to figure out how to keep people happy and tries to extinguish the fires of small minded people.
• An initiator spends their time asking God to lead them to take huge risks…a responder spends their time asking God to keep them safe.
• An initiator takes God led risks…a responder will call a business meeting.
• An initiator spends all of their time trying to please God…a responder spends all of their time trying to please people.
• An initiator will preach what he feels that God has told him to preach and not fear the consequences…a responder will preach what makes people happy so he can receive a paycheck.
• An initiator spends all of their time trying to figure out what’s next…and a responder spends all their time trying to figure out how to guard the past and the present.
• An initiator prays huge prayers and asks God for impossible things…a responder doesn’t really think God is in the miracle business anymore & will pray prayers that doesn’t require God’s help to accomplish so that “God doesn’t look bad!”
• An initiator will surround himself with leaders who will speak their minds…a responder want people around him who will say, “Your poop doesn’t stink!”
• An initiator wants to meet with people who do not think like him…a responder is threatened by people who aren’t just like him.

Just a few thoughts...

Gotta say he hit me hard on a couple of these......Time to stretch myself again!

Sunday Mind Dump

What a great day at church today. It was the first day in a while where it started to feel like most of our people where back for the summer. Since summer hit it's been feeling empty around church but we were better today. Loved the new frappacino stuff John made. That is going to be a hit I can tell you that right now. So lets dump:

• One of those days were the message was a little heavier today. Sometimes we need that.
  
• The band sounded hot. They are really starting to kill it!
• Another great web cast. Trezzo is starting to get his stuff together.
• I love seeing all the kids back. Probably cause I am just a big kid!
• Some great things on the agenda coming up over the next few months....how about:
• A real Life pig roast with a full day of live music
• Another killer family worship experience.
• A breakfast themed potluck on Labor Day.
• A large run of direct mailers to bring in new people.

Ok, Those are just a few things on the agenda. I don't want to give away too much. Have a great night. I am going to have a well deserved brownie and a hot shower.

I can't sleep.....man does that stink!

Tonight is starting to become one of those pesky I can't sleep nights. For me, one of two things happens that keeps me awake. Either I am too warm (April is always too cold) and I have a hard time falling asleep because of that. Or, I get a thousand thoughts running through my head and I can't seem to turn them off.

The funny thing is, I really don't worry. So, its not like I am staying up nights worried about stuff. It's little things like I'll hear a song and that song plays over and over again in my mind. Kinda like the movie groundhog day but only to a soundtrack!

Tonight, it's a little of both. It figures. Oh well! I can always blog. That seems to make me sleepy!

Our New Worship CD

We have been working on this thing for what seems like forever but I think we are just about done. Tony came over last night and we did some touching up on it. I worked on it for a few hours today. I have one last little thing to change and then the rest of the guys need to give the thumbs up and then it'll be available for purchase via cd or download.

Finally!

It sounds really good too. Exciting times for the band!

Really Proud

I am really proud of how so many people have stepped up to the plate over the last few months at Real Life. From the cleaning of the church, to the bread ministry, to small groups, to music, to kids ministry, to everything else that you guys do. It tickles me pink to see so many people stepping into service at Real Life!

Our future growth is directly tied to how well we all step up to the plate in terms of our service to God through serving him at church. The hard work that has been done so far is laying the foundation for the harvest that is coming. We are going to start seeing some big changes over the next six months. I can hardly wait.

This Weekend @ RLCC

This weekend we are going to hit on a subject all of us will deal with today or someday. It's the notion of how do we worship God when life doesn't make sense. Our Story is going to be found in Genesis chapter 22 and it'll follow the story of Abraham offering Isaac up as an offering to God.

Be ready to have your world rocked a bit as we look at what your (and my) Isaac is!

Fantasy Football Part II

I went online and signed up for our fantasy football league tonight. I am going to kick the pants off the rest of the league! I want you all to know right now that it is nothing personal and I love you all. But, you're going down.

I have done really well the last 5 years I have play the game and this year will be my best and most dominant year ever. Allow the trash talking to begin!!!!

Sunday Mind Dump

What a great service today. I really had a great time getting back in the saddle teaching. It was nice getting a little time off and being able to just be one of the crowd but it's nice to be back. Loved doing communion today. A little confusion getting some of the older kids back into church to partake but we'll get that worked out for the next time. Aaron and April killed it with the final song. That was a great touch. So lets dump!

• Nice pictures hanging up on the walls. Totally unexpected. Thanks John and Shelly. You guys are the bomb!
• Both April and Aaron are stepping up their worship game. That is awesome to see.
• The best web cast we have done so far bar none. Nice job Tony.
• Tim has been kicking it on the lead guitar lately. I am really impressed and excited. It's opened up so much more we can do musically.
• We are going to do a fantasy football league at church. Just to warn you all now. I am going to win. No discussion needed.
• Sheryl has been getting the bread and preparing it for everyone. She is awesome.
• Summer is half over. What a bummer.
• Our vacation is coming. Looking forward to that. Rented a house in Florida. Going to swim and relax. Not much else.
• Ready to relax. See you all later.
  

I'm the joke....

I am now the but of jokes and ridicule amongst my band mates in HallowVox. So, here is the deal. We had a gig today in Fostoria Michigan (by Frankenmuth.) Tony, April, and Kevin (our lead guitar player) were in the car riding up and we were chatting away. Kevin brought his handy little GPS with him on the trip so that we wouldn't get lost. We started out on the drive. Ok no problem. As we got a little farther along we, by we I mean I, turned off on I96 north of Ann Arbor. I had looked at my map and knew how to get to the gig before we left so I gave my map to Scott (lead singer) and his wife as they were following us and didn't have one.

After all, I had my memory, and the GPS Kevin brought. The GPS is telling us to go straight on US23 and we turned on to I96 like we, and not just me, thought we were supposed to do. After repeated warnings by the GPS we were going the wrong way we ended up way off course. We were supposed to actually take US23 to I69 not I96. Turns out the GPS was right and we were (by we I mean I) were wrong. Needless to say, I took all of us way out of the way. I also heard about it all day long!

I formally apologize to my band mates and ask that they forgive me.

On top of that. Trezzo was told by someone he needed to work on his sarcasm skills so, we and I got quite a bit of that too.

Isn't band life awesome!

This Weekend @ RLCC

This weekend we are going to talk about something that all of us have dealt with or will deal with at some point. We are going to talk about how do we worship when we are hurting. That's a different thing than worshiping when we just don't feel like it. That is a different topic altogether.

I am talking about how do we worship God when we have been abused, let down, and hurt by those who are supposed to love us? How can we worship God in the midst and the middle of our deepest pain? This weekend we'll begin to unwrap that package by looking at a story in the Bible. We are going to study the life of a man by the name of Job who had everything and lost it all, well all but one thing, a nagging wife. Yet in the middle of his pain Job worshiped God.

This weekend you can find out how Job's stuggles can help you learn to worship God in the middle of your struggles.

Lawnmowers and Kids

So two years ago I bought one of those 200 dollar Wal-Mart specials of a lawnmower. It was a decent mower, self propelled, not too much else. It ran decent for my yard. At the beginning of the year I had to take the darn thing in to be serviced because it wouldn't start. Turned out it needed an oil change, new plugs, a new blade, and come to find out there was water in the gas line. So that needed cleaned.

It took the people six weeks to get the thing fixed. It cost me $110.00 to fix a $200 mower. I got the thing back and it ran great. Until today. Enter my 14 year old son (whom I do love.) He wants to make some cash because we are going on vacation in a few weeks so he is going to cut the grass. He has the thing running for less than a minute before he runs over something and destroys my brand new blade (that I just had put on.) Needless to say, I now have $131.50 in parts and repairs in a $200.00 mower. I could have saved myself $21.50 and just gave him 10 bucks to do nothing. Would have been cheaper!

Jake is now on double secret probation. Wait till April hears about this one!

Fantasy Football?

Here we are the first part of July and I am already thinking about fantasy football. I was thinking it might be fun to get a league going at church. If anyone wants to take that over and become a league commissioner let me know and we'll start planning it. If no one else wants to lead it i suppose I could but it would be great to see one of you guys or gals step up for this one. And you heard me right. I said gals. The women are invited to get their own team.

If thats you and you would want to play see me and we'll start getting a running list together.

This is going to be fun!

Correction: It's not a party until a Trezzo gets hurt

I am not so big that I cannot admit when I am wrong. I got a call today from Tony Trezzo who took issue with yesterday's Sunday mind dump. I stated that it was a great party and no one got hurt. Apparently, shortly after I left a boy (who shall remain nameless to protect the parents) kicked a volleyball pretty hard. That ball hit Tony in the back of the head apparently causing some sort of trauma. Tony's sunglasses somehow cut up Tony's face.

Apparently, there was not a long string of profanity laced rants, nor was there a retaliatory free kick at the young boy, and 911 was not called. Which proves one thing. Tony is growing up!

Almost wished I could have seen it!

Sunday Mind Dump

Great day today. I just had an awesome time. I really love the new look of our place. The coffee house thing is really coming together nicely. Can't wait for summer to be over so our attendance goes back up and stays up! So lets dump:

• April did a great job today. She was freaking all week. Make sure you tell her how great she did!
• It was great to be back playing with the band today. I really enjoyed whipping out the electric axe. It's been like 3 years since I have played that thing in public. Felt nice. Real Nice. Tim you're fired! (ok not really, he's much better than I am!)
• Great cookout at Tony's today. We had a great turnout and aside from running out of propane (at least for a half hour) things went well and no one got hurt.
• Our next cookout is going to be sweet. I am not giving out details right now but it's going to be a great way to end the summer I can promise you that!
• We are still working on issues with web casting. We are getting there. It's a process.
• All the bread was gone today. How sweet is that!
• Vacation coming up in a month. We are excited. Florida in August. Gotta love that!
• Next weeks message is going to be cool. We are going to do something we haven't done in church yet. You'll see. No I won't be dancing.

See you all soon!

Tomorrow....

I know its late and no one will most likely be reading the blog until after church tomorrow but hey....I am up. I am stoked about April teaching tomorrow. I just have this feeling she is going to be able to connect with some folks in a way I never would be able too. She is scared as all get out but that is too be expected. I have read her message and its really good. She spent a lot of time over the last week writing it.

As Perry Noble said last week. Hold on to your fork. Something is about to break loose!

Peace...

You better duck

A former pastor of mine Ron Webb used to have this saying "whenever you step into a ministry that is going to effect peoples lives after your first step you ought to duck because Satan is going to take a swing at you."

That statement couldn't be more true. Every time we as a church or I as an individual have stepped out in faith we get hit with something we weren't expecting. It's just part of the deal with ministry. Something happens to a church member, or a member of your family, or anything else that the Devil might throw up at you. The deal is we need to know it's coming and be prepared for it so that we don't allow the attack to cloud our vision and our mission. Failing to recognize this can take a person out of God's will by not completing the mission or task we needed to accomplish.

A practical example of how this works is this. April is teaching this weekend at church. She is has never taught on Sunday morning. Since we are devoting a whole month to teaching on the subject of worship. I felt that God would have the worship leader teach at least one of the sessions. Anyway, of course, she is nervous, and of course, she is a little uptight wondering if she'll be good enough to teach. Those are the things everyone deals with when they first teach in church. No biggie.

This last week has been a little tougher on her though. At work she has been hit with some projects that are time sensitive. So she has been getting up at 5 am so she can get to work an hour and a half early. She has been working through lunch and still she is struggling to complete her projects this week. The kids came to stay with us for a week because of some issues at their mom's house. We have a concert we are preparing for next weekend (of course she is nervous about that.) Chelsea, being a 16 year old new driver misjudged a work bench in our garage and took out part of a bumper on my Jeep. Along with a host of other issues that have come up this week. Needless to say it has been a stressful week for April.

This weekend April is teaching on worship. Her message is how to worship instead of worrying.

Now, having talked about the kind of week we have had is in any wonder that Satan has hit us with stress on a week that we are talking about worship instead of worry? Nope. That is what he does. The point here is, when your life is going crazy and you are in the midst of doing something for God. Understand where the attack is coming from. That will save you a ton of stress!

Oh yea.....and you better learn to duck too!

Some Great Questions

We are getting some great questions coming in for our Myth Busters series in September. I was just writing a message that'll be coming in three weeks that actually hits on some of the questions being asked. Here is a running list of some of the questions that have been asked so far....

1. Why is the Christian church so violent compared to other faiths?
2. Is there really only one way to God?
3. Why would the church want me with my past?
4. Why is the church full of hypocrites?
5. Why should I go to church since it is outdated and out of touch with reality?
6. Why do does the church teach homosexuality is wrong?
7. I hear preachers talk about getting a vision from God. I have never had a vision from God how does that happen?
8. I would like to know the truth about Mary Magdalene. Was she really married to Jesus?
9. Did Mary Magdalene and Jesus have a child together?
10. Is that Really Mary Magdalene in the picture of the last supper?
11. Why do we have so many denominations? What about Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses and Zoroastrians? Are they true Christians?
12. What do I say to people who...think that the Christian Church is as violent/dangerous/extremist as Islam, specifically in reference to the Crusades?
13. What do I say to people who say... say that the Church is full of "holier than thou" judgmental hypocrites who spend the rest of their week cheating on their spouses, taxes, etc.?
14. What do I say to people who... claim that they are "true, authentic Christians," but also claim that there are many legitimate paths to God. In other words, they deny John 14:6 - Jesus said to him, I am the Way and the Truth and the Life; no one comes to the Father except by (through) Me.
15. What do I say to people that... think that we can't be true Christians unless we accept EVERYONE and their secular ideologies... homosexuality, pro-abortion, etc.
16. Can you be a true Christian if you drink alcoholic beverages.
17. What about people who think that a Christian's "blessed hope" that Christ is coming back for us at any moment is the biggest fairy tale of all.
18. Halloween: Can I let my kids go Trick-or-Treating as long as I dress them in "wholesome" costumes and don't promote the more sinister side of the holiday?
19. Christmas: Why do we have Christmas trees? Or hang stockings by the fireplace? Or sit our kids on Santa's lap? Those things aren't in the Bible. Why do we have 3 Wise Men in Nativity scenes? The Bible doesn't tell us how many wise men there were.
20. Easter: Why do we have bunnies and eggs?
    

If you have something else you'd like to hear answered hit me with it.....I am going to start researching in a few weeks......time is running out ;)