What a Proud Moment

So, It's spirit week and homecoming at my school. One of my students insisted that I put on this awesome hat. I will say that I am rocking the fish hat and if I were back in high school I might well have bought this hat myself. Needless to say, there were plenty of kids wanting to take my picture with the hat on.

That's just how I run!

Sunday Mind Dump

What a great weekend of ministry. I loved seeing so many of our people out at the Suicide Prevention Walk yesterday. What was even better was that most of our people spent time talking to people outside of our church. The were interacting with others and not in a Real Life Church huddle! That was cool!
So lets dump:

• Radio ads start today. Never ran them on a non Christian station. It'll be cool to see what happens.
• Direct Mailers go out Tuesday. We should start seeing something from those next weekend.
• The pig roast is getting bigger and bigger. Wow. This thing is going to be big.
• Nice day in church today. Today's message was one of the hardest I have given in a while. No matter how you slice it the stuff we talked about today needed to be talked about. The hard part is when you talk about what people should be doing as members of a church it's a touchy subject because even though its not intended at anyone personally people will get defensive about it.
• The band is getting better all the time. Most people have no idea what they go through to make it look that easy.
  
• Today was my first Sunday doing a lower carb diet.....you have no idea how hard is was to stay away from all the goodies.....Sundays are going to be tough.
• Martha is doing a great job with the kids. That ministry is awesome.

I am out....it's been a long weekend. Gonna spend some time with April tonight.

What a day!

Today was a long day and it's not quite over. We started out this morning at the Walk For Suicide Prevention. The church band played this morning and I blessed the walk. Then as soon as that was over April, Tony, and I piled in the van and headed up to Clinton Mi as HallowVox played the Clinto Fall Festival this afternoon. When that was over we drove back. I took April out for dinner and we finally got home around 6pm. Now its 8:15 and I am headed out to see Jakes band play at Ricks music cafe as they have a gig their tonight. They played last night as well but I couldn't get to that one so I have to go tonight.

BTW I am playing Trezzo in fantasy football tomorrow. Who knew he'd be the powerhouse team to beat?

See everyone in the morning!

Big Stuff Coming.

These are exciting times at Real Life. Please take a minute and pray for Real Life more than ever over the next month....here is just a taste of what is going down over the next month.

• Saturday the 27th we are doing the out of the darkness walk for suicide prevention. First ad foremost this is a great ministry opportunity to reach out to hurting people. We are going to come in contact with hundreds of people that are hurting deeply. Secondly, this event is going to be covered by all the major newscasts here in town. There is a pretty high likelyhood that many people from Real Life will end up on TV, Radio, or in print.
  
• Our Radio ads on The River start Sunday.
  
• Our Direct mailers hit next week.
  
• We have the Pig Roast/Harvest party coming up.

All in all, we have an unprecedented opportunity to reach people. This is a perfect storm of opportunity. Please pray that God provides and we are nothing but vessels to be used by Him. Hurting people will be helped, broken hearts will start to find healing, and we will see growth in our church. This is big. Real big. We are blessed beyond measure to be in a position to be a part of all this

Servanthood Part II

I am really digging this weeks devotionals by Rick Warren. This is part 2 of the series.

Couldn't be more true!

Servants Maintain a Low Profile
by Rick Warren

And all of you must put on the apron of humility, to serve one another; for the scripture says, “God resists the proud, but shows favor to the humble.” 1 Peter 5:5 (TEV)

*** *** *** ***

Real servants maintain a low profile. Servants don’t promote or call attention to themselves. Instead of acting to impress and dressing for success, they “put on the apron of humility, to serve one another” (1 Peter 5:5 TEV).

If recognized for their service, they humbly accept it but don’t allow notoriety to distract them from their work. Paul exposed a kind of service that appears to be spiritual but is really just a put-on, a show, an act to get attention. He called it “eyeservice,” serving in order to impress people with how spiritual we are (Ephesians 6:6 KJV; Colossians 3:22 KJV).

This was a sin of the Pharisees. They turned helping others, giving, and even prayer into a performance for others. Jesus hated this attitude and warned, “When you do good deeds, don’t try to show off. If you do, you won’t get a reward from your Father in heaven” (Matthew 6:1 CEV).

Self-promotion and servanthood don’t mix. Real servants don’t serve for the approval or applause of others. They live for an audience of One. As Paul said, “If I were still trying to please men, I would not be a servant of Christ” (Galatians 1:10 NIV).

You won’t find many real servants in the limelight; in fact, they avoid it whenever possible. They are content with quietly serving in the shadows.

Joseph is a great example. He didn’t draw attention to himself, but quietly served Potiphar, then his jailer, then Pharaoh’s baker and wine taster, and God blessed that attitude. When Pharaoh promoted him to prominence, Joseph still maintained a servant’s heart, even with his brothers, who had betrayed him.

Unfortunately, many leaders today start off as servants but end up as celebrities. They become addicted to attention, unaware that always being in the spotlight blinds you.

You may be serving in obscurity in some small place, feeling unknown and unappreciated. Listen: God put you where you are for a purpose! He has every hair on your head numbered, and he knows your address.

Are you here to serve?

I subscribe to Rick Warrens daily devotional. I really enjoy most of them. Today's was absolutely stellar! We have spoken many times at church about the notion that one of the ways we grow into spiritual maturity is by serving God andbeing faithful to that service. Rick's devotional today was spot on......check it out below!

Servants Finish Their Tasks
by Rick Warren

“Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!” Matthew 25:23 (NLT)

*** *** *** ***

Real servants are faithful to their ministry. Servants finish their tasks, fulfill their responsibilities, keep their promises, and complete their commitments. They don’t leave a job half undone, and they don’t quit when they get discouraged. They are trustworthy and dependable.

Faithfulness has always been a rare quality (Psalm 12:1; Proverbs 20:6; Philippians 2:19–22).

Most people don’t know the meaning of commitment. They make commitments casually, then break them for the slightest reason without any hesitation, remorse, or regret. Every week, churches and other organizations must improvise because volunteers didn’t prepare, didn’t show up, or didn’t even call to say they weren’t coming.

Can you be counted on by others? Are there promises you need to keep, vows you need to fulfill, or commitments you need to honor?

This is a test. God is testing your faithfulness. If you pass the test, you’re in good company: Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, Daniel, Timothy, and Paul were all called faithful servants of God.

Even better, God has promised to reward your faithfulness in eternity. Imagine what it will feel like one day to have God say to you, “Well done, my good and faithful servant. You have been faithful in handling this small amount, so now I will give you many more responsibilities. Let’s celebrate together!” (Matthew 25:23 NLT).

By the way, faithful servants never retire. They serve faithfully as long as they’re alive. You can retire from your career, but you will never retire from serving God.

Sunday Mind Dump

Wow...what a football day. My team won in overtime after trailing by ten points with under 5 minutes to go in the game. Talk about an emotional ride for a fan!!

So let's dump:

• Another great day at church. I have enjoyed spending a whole month talking about how we are structured and what we believe at church.
  
• The band was tight today. Probably the best bass player I have ever heard;P
• Parking was better today. Not good, but better. We are working on it.
• The nursery remodel job is done. The gals did a great job making the place look nice. Thank You!
• Aaron and April are sounding really good singing together. I love it!
• The harvest party/pig roast is a month away. We have a ton of work to do.

Big things on the agenda. These are exciting times. As Perry Noble Says "Hold on to your forks!"

Small Groups

This has been a big week for us at Real Life. We kicked off our fall session of small groups this week. That's awesome in it's own right. It's no secret I love small groups. The thing that is awesome is that I am not leading any small groups this fall. Tony Trezzo and Aaron Hammitt stepped up and took on leading small groups this fall. Both guys did a stellar job facilitating discussions and have a great gifting for leading small groups.

It's awesome to see God at work in the lives of our people. Both small groups used the same materials and yet they were unique in their own right. That is a cool thing. That small groups and filtered down to the lowest level but that each small group stands on its own and has a unique flavor based on the people in that small group.

All I can say is sweet!!

Parking updates

Had a short face to face with the owner of the church property today. He is aware of the parking situation and he asked us to give it a week and see what happens. The other group supposedly had a much higher turnout than they normally would due to last week being their first week in a new location.

He agrees that last weekend was unacceptable. Let's pray we have a better go of things over the next few weeks.

Parking

I have a meeting tomorrow with the property owner over the parking fiasco we experienced Sunday morning. We cannot have that happen again. That was nuts.

Pray for the best.

Sunday Mind Dump

I hate to start off a post griping but today was rough for me. For some reason I have been in a funky mood all day. I must have woke up on the wrong side of the bed! So lets dump!

• It was great seeing everyone back today. Finally felt like the whole family was back!
• Worship sounded killer today. Everyone kicked it.
• Awesome story from Jodi Hepler. I had a hard time getting into my message after that.
• Did I mention how the band sounded? It was good.
• A few issues today. I almost lost my salvation dealing with that computer today. I was trying to do our song presentation and the thing kept shutting down with errors. Tony had to step in and help me. Good Tony.
• Major parking issues today. I don't know what the solution is right now but I am going to call the property owner tomorrow. We have spent a lot of money getting the church where it's at and marketing that location. We cannot not have places for people to park.
• We went out to lunch with Flores and Delfino today. What great people! It's so cool to have them in church with us!
• My fantasy team is doing really well today. I dare not talk smack. Everytime I do....I get beat.
  

I need to hit the sack soon. See ya'll soon!

Today

This morning we are heading over to church for a few minutes. Martha is doing a training session for the kids ministry workers. I want to catch the first few minutes of that. After that April and I are going to head over to the Family Christian Center (www.aroundthefamily.com) and we are going to sit in on part of their evangelism training class. Then we are off to the Hammitt's! We are going to hammer out the last few details of what we are wanting to do through their small group. Our fall session of small groups will kick off this week.

This Weekend

This weekend we are going to spend some time looking at the fundamental beliefs we have at Real Life Church. We are going to talk about some scriptures that help define us as a church. When we do that we do it so that we can become more united. We don't do it because we believe we are better than any other church or because we believe we have the corner on the faith. So, this weekend as we step into some deeper faith waters and talk a little theology there are a few things that we need to keep in mind.

1. We believe we are to have unity in the essentials.
   
2. We Believe in Liberty for the non-essentials.
3. In all areas we will show grace.

Simply put. If it's imperative to the faith we cannot change it ant its not up for discussion. If its our opinion there is room to talk. In all things we will treat people with love and respect. We realize that good people who love God can read the same scripture and get a different meaning. We realize that they are seeking God's will just as we are. We also realize that our differences are not because God has made his word unclear but because we are sinful people.

I am really looking forward to the rest of our series! Can you tell?

I tanked it...big time

Well....I went down in flames this weekend. My team came up a little short. I got beat by Nate (The Paper Boy) Parsons! I made a mistake and didn't play someone I wanted to play based on a faulty injury report. Man that stinks!

Kudo's to Nate....Ok....who is next!

It's On

I believe I gave up on my fantasy team too soon yesterday. It appears that Nate and I each have 1 player left and I am now up by 5 points. It's on paper boy!

Sunday Mind Dump

What a great weekend. We had an awesome time rocking out at the Tecumseh Assembly of God's car show yesterday. Had a great worship experience this morning. I enjoyed being able to play guitar and sing. I don't get to do that very often, besides Aaron is so much better at it than I am! It's still fun though!

So, Let's dump:

• Great day teaching. I loved talking about the vision of our church and what we are called to do.
• Music was cool today. I loved being able to try out one of my new songs!
  
• Fantasy football is coming down to the wire this weekend. Right now I am loosing to Nate Parsons by one stinking little point. He has three players left to play and I have two. It's not looking good.
• The kids are starting their new Empowering Kids series next week called Fear Knot. It's going to be cool. The kids are going to love it!
• How about that Shelly Myers. She keeps coming up with new coffee flavors. She is setting a pretty high standard. I am not sure if she is going to keep up that pace. But....I am sure willing to let her keep trying!
• Was great having a bunch of guys hanging out at our place watching the game. My team lost. You'd think I would be used to that by now!

Big things coming. You will not want to miss it!

It's Interesting

It's always interesting how God works. When you are sitting back and doing nothing, not stepping out in faith, not doing much, nothing seems to happen in terms of your growth. If anything, you lose ground but you never seem to grow. This happens both on a personal level and as a church. For us as a church, the last six months have been a time of us getting some things together internally getting ready for a time of growth.

It's no secret among our people that we have targeted this fall as a time for growth. Since we stepped out in faith we have seen a huge amount of opportunities come our way to get ourselves out there as a church. From speaking engagements, to playing worship concerts, to ministry opportunities, its big and its going to be cool. Most of the stuff I don't want to make public yet but it's coming and I am excited.

We have targeted this fall as a time to grow. I am believing that God is going to add to our ranks enough people over the next six months that we'll need to add a second service. From that growth we are going to start another Real Life. I am not sure where I am not sure when. It coming and we are going to be able to reach out to people that no one else is willing to love. We are going to reach people that other churches have ignored. We are going to reach people that only we can reach.