Playing Catch Up

It never fails: after a week off, there are so many things piled up in my office, it takes at least a day to recover and get back on track, which means I start the week behind the count, and run like mad to catch up. I have joked that it's almost not worth taking the vacation if I have to run so hard to get ready to leave, then run so hard to catch back up when I get back in the office. Ever feel like that?

But here's what I'm fired up about as I near the summit of the pile of 'stuff' on my desk:

• People coming to Jesus - Aaron brought the message on Sunday, challenged people to live like we believe Jesus is coming back, and 17 people raised their hands to say they were giving their life to Jesus!! That never gets old!! I love what that says about our church - It's not about Bill, it's not even about Aaron, it's about Jesus! Angel party, baby!!
• Finances are looking up! With the down economy and the panic and fear in the culture over money, it's been hard on churches and ministries to afford to keep going forward. But this past month was one of the best giving months we've had in a long time. That just shows that God is moving in the hearts of people, and the folks who took the tithing challenge in Feb. are making a difference with their generosity.
  
• Speaking of tithing challenge - the stories are rolling in about what God has done to bless people who are stepping up to tithe after the Restructure series. Unexpected income, tax returns beyond what they've ever seen, stuff like that. God promises blessings when we give, the question is: do we believe that?
• Great worship planning meeting: Reworked the message plan for the next couple months, and suddenly we're set at least tentatively thru the rest of the calendar year. Got some good stuff coming up, with room for God to change the plan whatever and whenever necessary.
• Speaking of change - our next series changed! We will do The Man Series starting in May (which improved greatly at this meeting thanks to good input from the team!), but right after Easter, we're going to do a series on following Jesus. Live as Jesus lived, Love as Jesus loved, Leave what Jesus left behind. It doesn't have a name yet (open to suggestions...), but coming out of Easter, it made sense to talk about Jesus.
• Got to visit FBC Blackfoot on vacation last week. Pastor Mark Fisk and his crew are getting some things done up there, and it was good to hear about the momentum they are building. Also good to eat Kelly Jo's cooking for lunch!!
  

Easter is coming. Keep praying for what God wants to do in the lives of people in our valley, and keep inviting your friends to come. Don't ever forget the 90% rule: almost 90% of people surveyed would come to church if a friend invited them. Be a friend!!

6 inches of Snow for "Spring" Break

Here's the funny thing about planning: when you are not God, you don't get the last word.

I had the best plan for this week - I was going to start jogging to get ready for the summer 5 k runs I want to enter, I was going to get some yard work done, get the garage straightened, clean out my truck, do some fun stuff with the kids, and generally rest up for the push to Easter. Then reality set in.

First, the man-child got bronchitis and has been sick since Saturday. He missed church (something he never does, so you know it's bad), and was a slug all day yesterday. Then my own cold, which had been getting better, took a bit of a turn again (thanks for praying last week, by the way. It helped, and I got thru Sunday just fine), and I was a slug most of the day yesterday, too. Oh, and one other thing, THERE WAS SIX INCHES OF SNOW ON THE GROUND MONDAY MORNING!!

So no yard work, no garage, just shoveling the driveway. I couldn't take sick kid sledding, couldn't jog, and basically had to scrap the whole 'plan.'

Tentatively, there's some fun that still might happen if and when the boy gets better. Beth is working all of her hours up front this week so she can take time off at the end of the week for a trip to the Titanic exibit in Idaho Falls. There will be some book shopping at Barnes and Noble's, and some kind of good food experience for sure, but for now, it's Spring Break in name only.

If you think about it, pray for a couple things: one, that I get the rest and recharge I need for the next two weeks running up to Easter; two, that I remember to spend some quality time with Jesus while I'm on my down time (it's hard to have my quiet time when I'm on vacation, not sure why, just is); and three, that the next series we're doing, Take It Like A Man - Real wisdom for Real men and the women who love them, will start to come together. I'm excited about it, especially coming out of the last two months, but it needs some real spit-shine.

It's Official: I'm Sick

I had to cancel appointments today, because I'm done. I only came to the office to get my computer on the off chance that I start feeling better and can work on my message.

I hate being sick. It makes the workaholic in me that I'm trying to battle just run wild. I feel bad about feeling bad, and that makes it worse.

Please pray for me, this is simply a bad time to be ill. I have two important meetings tomorrow, and this message is the beginning of our madatchurch.com series for Easter, which has been getting buzz in the community (as well as stirring up deep emotions in the church family here). I want to be at my best, but more importantly, I want people to hear about Jesus. Pray for healing, strength, courage and clarity for me, please.

And if you have a sec, pray for FBC this Sunday. We don't know what we'll experience, but we want to be Jesus to whomever shows up. Pray that we can do that well. Thanks!

Mid Week and My Head is Full

I wanted so much to get back on schedule with my posts, but Monday, my head was full of gunk. I have a head cold that started last Friday, got worse Sat., was bearable on Sunday, but when I got done teaching CLASS 101 (4 people, great questions, good class!), I was done. I went home, collapsed in a pile, and Monday, couldn't get out of bed.

By 10 am, when I dragged myself up to the table for some toast, I was mostly miserable. Then heading in to the office, I kept asking myself: why? Don't pastor's get a sick day? I just kept putting one foot in front of the other all day, and by the end, I felt like I had accomplished some work on the message for Sunday, gotten some good feedback from people, and had a handle on what the rest of the week would be about.

But I'm still fuzzy on the inside of my head. I've got a cough, and my ears are stuffed up. I feel like an overfull balloon.

It's hard to serve Jesus with Joy when you feel like... sickness. But even on the days when I don't feel like it, there is a way to move forward in my work, my family, and my life as a Christ follower. One foot in front of the other. One step at a time.

I'm not going to be perfect in my life ( a message I try very hard to remind people of as I go), but I can get a little closer to Jesus if I keep putting one foot in front of the other. I don't have to be a prayer warrior, I just need to pray today. I don't need to be a Bible scholar, I just need to hear from Jesus in His word today. I don't need to save everyone I meet for the rest of my life. I just need to shine God's love today.

Anyone else feel like this? Plus or minus the head cold?

Catching Up On Life, Part 2

More from this past week:

• Mentor training was HUGE!! Gathering together with some of the pastors in our ABC Northwest Region who are getting it done for Jesus is always an up time for me. I'm blessed to get to rub shoulders with some amazing servants of God whose wisdom and experiences are so valuable for me to catch. They give of themselves for their communities and congregations, then gather a group of other pastors and share their lives and ministries with them, too. Our gatherings are always a highlight, and this past Monday and Tuesday were no exception.
• The subject was: SMALL GROUP MINISTRY! We spent the entire day on Monday talking about small group ministry, the many different ways it can be done effectively, the keys to making it work, and what is or is not working in each pastor's church. It was SO timely for where we are as a church, I just sat back and took it all in. Okay, that's not true; I pushed and pulled and got everything I could get from everybody there!! Thanks, fellas!
• Bonus: the heart of a leader: Dr. Charles Revis, our Executive Minister, shared his heart with us at this gathering, and it was inspiring and challenging to me personally. He shared how the struggles of the past few months had sharpened his focus on pursuing holiness in his life, and how the dream of our network of churches being the springboard of revival in the Northwest was still alive and beating in his heart. I am humbled by the gift of God that has come to me and to our whole region in the person of this man. Only Heaven will know how much of a difference has been made by him coming to lead with passion and vision in a dark part of the nation. May he be blessed, and may his tribe increase!!
• Another amazing staff meeting: We've been working hard to do budget and goal planning for the next ministry year that begins in July, but there have been some hard questions to answer first. So this past Wednesday, we as a staff took time to look at what we do as a church that shows what we value the most. We drilled down on where we spend time, energy and money to see what values we really hold on to as a church family. It was enlightening and challenging, and much good will come from this.
• My message this Sunday is a challenge: it's a challenge to me, first and formost. Most messages are, but this one is more so, because it's on pride, which for a long time now has been a 'popular' topic in my life. By that I mean, not only has God's Spirit been at work in sharpening my focus on making my life not be about me, but I've had several discussion with others who have challenged my thinking and my growth in the area of coming to terms with 'good' pride versus 'bad' pride. More on that Sunday, stay tuned!!
• The billboards are working: we've heard much buzz in town over the madatchurch.com billboards and the website, and traffic on both that site and the fbcpoky.com site have increased dramatically. Will it turn into increased attendance and lives changed by Jesus? Only time will tell, but first things first: it seems to have sparked the conversation we were looking for! Pray and Hang ON!
• Reading a dangerous book: on the plane to the training, I finally started a book I've been looking at on my shelf for months: Dan Kimballs The Like Jesus, They Just Don't Like the Church. Wow. It so lines up what God has been saying to us a s a church for a few months that has lead up to the madatchurch.com series. It's a classic good news/bad news book: the good news: we're doing some of the things as a church that the book suggests are a help to bridge the gap between where the culture is in their dislike for the church and our role as the Body of Christ. The bad news: we still have a long way to go to overcome the perception that we the church are in the way of people getting to Jesus.
  

Okay, you're up to date! I'll get back on a regular schedule here this week. Meantime, keep praying, God's up to something big!!

Catching Up On Life, Part 1

No, I haven't been ignoring this, I just wanted the madatchurch.com post to be up for a good long while as the billboards went live. I just want to say, they look great, and much thanks to Tawna for her amazing design: this is the only web address I've ever seen that actually looks angry!

So let me catch you up on a few things from this past week:

• Sunday was amazing! I was so excited about the message, but after our worship singing, I was feeling like the Spirit was going to do something, and then the message changed! I have to tell you, that doesn't happen to me very often. It was still about the Toxic Emotion of Envy, but somehow, that ended in a message on evangelism. We have to share Jesus with people, it's life and death, because issues like envy can and will kill people. I was not expecting that, but apparently God was!
• Momentum is shifting. As a former athlete, I've been in games where you could feel the momentum shift from one team to the other. It feels like the momentum is shifting in our church. People are getting excited, feeling encouraged, and inviting friends. On Sunday, I talked to a woman who had come for the first time just the week before, but was so touched by God that she brought a friend with her the very next week! Both of them were fired up about what God was saying to them, and so was I!
• I am loving the 10 Minute Party! When the idea was first floated, I was worried that no one would come. Whether it was the idea of being in a room with a real, live pastor, or the inability of people to mentally get past the barrier of going up the stairs toward the Family Room, I just didn't know if this was going to work. BUT I'M REALLY GLAD TO BE WRONG!! Not only have our regulars respectfully given space for this to happen, but the folks who've invited their friends have brought people to say Hi, and other guests have just made their way up to see me. It's been great, and big props to Stacy for bringing this idea for us to try!
• I got on an airplane after church Sunday and went to Post Falls to a training event. I am one of a group of pastors in our ABC Northwest Region that facilitate mentoring groups, and we get together twice a year for training and connection. It is always a great time for me, a real encouragement and recharge for me. More on that later, but it was good.
• I changed planes in Seattle (I know, but I managed NOT to buy any Seahawk gear while I was there, a major self-control win for me!), and when I got off the plane, the first thing I hear is the CNN story about the pastor that was shot during worship at his church that day. I'll be honest, that messes with me. I've been a little off all week. I know we have security plans in place, and emergency evacuation plans, but I think that praying for safety in our church and community would be a good idea, too. And we should pray for that church as well. I don't want this to sound arrogant, but I think it would be really hard to see your pastor get gunned down in the middle of the sermon. I hope it never happens to you (or me!), so let's pray for our brothers and sisters who are living this tragedy, okay?

Okay, that's part 1. I'll get some more up here once I get my message done for Sunday. I'm totally hyped up for this week for two reasons. One, I think that this is a message God wants to burn into my heart, and other people are going to be uncomfortable hearing it (I'm uncomfortable hearing it as it comes together!!), so I can't wait to see what happens. Second, I think it sets us up for the madatchurch.com series really well. I hope you'll come hear what God's up to!!

madatchurch.com

As you drive around town, there are 4 billboards that show the website www.madatchurch.com. If you saw the video announcement in your Connection Group, you know that those billboards direct people to a website we set up just for this series of the same name we will start in two weeks .

If you haven't been to the sight and watched the video, please take some time to do that right now. Then, I'll tell you why we're doing this, and what you can do to be a part of what God is doing at FBC.

Okay, here's why we're doing it. God wants us to take the message of the gospel to people who don't know it. Some people don't know it because they had a bad experience with church, so they quit and haven't come back. Some people don't have a personal experience with church, but someone they know or love did, and it was bad, so they are not interested in church. Some people have seen the abuses and excesses of churches, and have turned away. Meanwhile, Jesus calls the church His body, His flock, and His bride, so the church is important to Jesus.

So we want to take time during the Easter season to say

1. church hasn't always gotten stuff right,
   
2. Jesus loves people, and
   
3. because Jesus loves us, we can do church better.

What you can do to help is simple, but very, VERY important:

1. PRAY. Pray for folks to be intreagued enough to take the risk to be here, and pray that we can say what God wants us to say in a way they can hear and understand.
   
2. INVITE. Use this as an opportunity to ask someone who has told you they have a problem with church, they are done with the 'church thing,' or they are just angry about church or church people. Risk big, because we are risking big all together on this. You can't lose: if they're already mad at church, it won't make it any worse, but if God gets ahold of them, anything is possible.
   
3. SEND QUESTIONS OUR WAY. If someone asks you a question that you can't answer, direct them to the office: office@fbcpoky.com or 232-6305. Don't feel like you have to defend this, or explain this beyond where you're comfortable. Giving directions and service times okay with you, then do that, but don't feel like you have to unpack this whole thing for folks. I would be happy to work thru people's questions or concerns. You just encourage them to come and hear for themselves.

We have been praying about this for months, working thru the details and waiting to see what God will do, but we have no idea what will happen now that this is live, so pray, invite and send 'em to us, and we'll see what God does next.

Yes, this is a big risk we're taking, but it's for the sake of people who are far from God, and we serve a God who risked big for us by sending His Son, so we want to follow His lead. I can't wait to see what happens, and what comes next!

...and then GOD showed UP!

I'm so glad that God has been speaking so much into the life of our church family, and Sunday was a great celebration of hearing what He's saying. I am grateful to be a part of what is happening here right now, and yet I'm getting pulled in all kinds of directions. Stay tuned for more, but here's a sample of what God is up to:

• In the last week, a full-on worship music conference has been launched! Great speakers and workshop leaders for vocals, keyboards and drums, plus a ton more. Read Karl and Aaron's blogs for more.
• Speaking of Aaron, I was glad to hear him say he was jacked up about coming to church to see what Jesus was going to do. Do you ever feel that, too?
  
• Some people are not happy when I don't preach on Sundays, but after yesterday, that might change. Chris Boblit shared from his heart what God has been doing in his life in killing bitterness, and Karl finished it off with some strong and convicting words of encouragement to allow joy to replace our bitter feelings. Both did such an amazing job, and together they combined to help people take a step closer to Jesus.
• The 10 Minute Party was a success! I got to talk to some folks who were new and it made them feel special to get some one-on-one time with the pastor. I'm glad for the regulars who were willing to make space for the guests, and then still hang out and say hi to me. Thanks for being willing to honor our guests that way.
• I can't believe how many conversations I had on Sunday about bitterness. Seriously, it was so great to hear people connect with the idea that there was something they could do about fixing this nasty stuff in their life. God was speaking to folks, it was amazing!
• So now I get to share on envy and pride. Pray for me!!!
• We had the largest attendance in a long time, so the Spirit was stirring up people to be here for what needed to be heard. Second service, there were people sitting in the front row, setting up chairs in the back, and being asked to scoot over some. All good problems!! If you can, there's room in the 9 am service for folks, and you can make room for the new folks coming at 11.
  
• Did I mention how jacked I was at how Chris set it up and Karl brought it home!?! If you weren't here, get a CD, it was HUGE!
• Can't wait until the public reveal of the Easter series. Pray, pray, pray!

When the billboards go up, I'll blog about the Easter series, but for now, keep praying and inviting folks to hear about God's plan to deal with Toxic Emotions. It's already helping folks, so bring a friend and see what God is going to do next!