Out Of Context

After a week of stay-cation (and a great celebration of Thanksgiving, coming from my heart full of gratitude for ALL God has done in my life), I got to go to another church last weekend. Pastor Roy Conover was teaching at LifePoint Church, I was on vacation, so I went down the road to another church in the valley to see what was going on there. Saw some cool stuff, heard a message on praising and giving thanks to God, and went home encouraged. God is doing good work in churches in the Carson Valley.

Now, as I write this, I'm in a hotel room in Minneapolis, MN, waiting to meet with Pastor Leith Anderson of Wooddale Church. I'm here with some other leaders from Growing Healthy Churches, a network of folks committed to seeing the message of Jesus spread across our region, our nation and our world. There were seven of us at dinner tonight from very different churches in very different situations and cultures, including one from Napa, CA, and one from Charlotte, NC.

What I love about these types of experiences is how great it is to get out of my own context and see what God is up to in other places. I learn boatloads from pastors in different places, doing different types and styles of ministry. I learn from seeing the place where it happens and, whenever I can, experiencing worship with a church family that is not mine, just to see how they bring their worship to God. Those kinds of "out of context" experiences teach me lots of lessons: I get to see what is going right in other churches, and what answers other wise folks have gotten to the questions of how to love like Jesus in their community. I also get a fresh perspective on my own church family, what we're doing really right and what needs work. If I never go anywhere or experience another church doing the ministry God gave them to do, then I miss out on all that God can teach me in another context.

So if you're out of town on a weekend, let me encourage you to stop in an experience another church family. When we at LifePoint Church do our Thank You Weekend on December 25 and 26, take advantage of that Sunday to go explore what other churches are doing. Don't miss the chance to learn something new, or get a fresh perspective on what God is doing back home in your church. It won't matter if the experience is great or awful, exciting or boring; in the experience, God will have an opportunity to show you something. Take Him up on the offer!

I'll tell you what I learned from this trip later this week. (yep, I'm getting back in the blog habit...)

Weekend Wrap

Some thoughts at the end of a snowy weekend at LifePoint:

• Weather or not...: We had a great turn out for the first snow weekend of the year. Saturday night was a lively bunch, and 10:45 was pretty full this morning. 9 AM is a little early for dealing with snow, but for all who made it, God showed up this weekend. Thanks to all who could make it for showing up and bringing your worship!
• Group Sighting: Pastor Mark Marsella had more than two dozen small group leaders meet for training, encouragement, and some vision casting. I poked my head in, and there was great energy, passion and focus in the room. Hearing good things coming out of that meeting, looking forward to God unleashing in our small groups!
• Sporting a 'Tude: Great feedback today from folks about the teaching - lots of folks catching on to the idea that a generous attitude is a part of God's work in us and through us. Can't wait to see how this impacts our church over the next few years. Yeah, I said it, we WILL become the MOST generous church in NEVADA!!
• One More: Next week, Pastor Roy teaches on Gratitude. Lots of great pieces in place for that service, DO NOT MISS IT!!
• Construction Starting: I've been getting updates from Sunny Cain that the Christmas set is starting to come together. There's a LOT of excitement building for our 6 (SIX) Christmas Eve services, and all the great stuff leading up to them. The theme: Thoughtful Gifts. Bring your friends and family to hear about the best gift ever!!
• 'Thank You Weekend': We announced that the weekend of Christmas (Saturday the 25th, Sunday the 26th) we will be honoring our hundreds of volunteers by giving them the weekend off (they will need it after the 6 (six!!) Christmas Eve services). No services that weekend, so our volunteers can spend time with their families. And from all of us to all the volunteers, "THANK YOU!!"

That's all my brain can do right now. have a great Thanksgiving Holiday if I don't see you, and All God's Best to you!

Catching Up

Okay first, thanks for hanging in and being patient with me. Things have been intense lately, and I haven't had moments to read blogs, much less write one. So, here's the update, and the plan going forward:

After a process that tried my patience to the MAXIMUM, Beth and I were able to purchase a house last month. It's a very nice three bedroom home with a great kitchen, and a back yard full of... potential. It was bank owned, so the yard was abandoned months and months ago, leaving the grass and most of the trees dead. It will be a project for the spring, but some nice folks from church put in new grass in the front yard, so the neighbors like us right away. The house is closer to the church and in a nice neighborhood, close to Rachel's school and Mac's best friends. I just tried out the walking trail this morning, it is in great shape. I, however, am not.

We have spent the last month packing up, moving our stuff over, unpacking and setting up the new house, so workouts and just about anything else has been on the back burner. Other than cheering the SF Giants to the World Series win (while unpacking boxes), there's been little on the 'fun' side of the ledger. I'm so tired of cardboard right now...

Also while all the packing and moving and unpacking has gone on, we've been working on the budget for LifePoint Church. We're changing our fiscal year to start in July, so we're doing a 'mini-budget' for January through June. It's been a challenge to change how we think about budgeting and to try to forecast our congregation's giving going into the New Year. What's the economy going to do here? What's the excitement level going to be for what God is unveiling to us about the future?

The move of placing Pastor Mark Marsella over our small group ministry and take him out of Worship Arts has already paid dividends. We're seeing a huge influx of people wanting to be in groups, and we're praying and looking for leaders to rising to the surface to take on those groups. Mark and Gayle just went to a training event in Stockton this week, so progress and a plan for the future are both being made.

I'm excited about the current series, "Name That 'Tude," and Pastor Roy gets another opportunity to teach in this one. The Christmas series, set design, Christmas Eve services and all that are coming together very nicely right now, and the energy is building. I'm fired up to see what the end of this year and the start of 2011 have in store for us in God's plan.

Okay, that will get you (mostly) caught up. I'm going to try to blog two to three times a week, and we'll see what comes out of it. God is teaching me some great lessons, reminding me of some more great lessons I learned along my journey, and preparing me for more lessons to learn. It's an exciting time, and a time to learn to trust God more and more.

Life Update

Hey!

Yeah, this hasn't been my hangout of late, but here's the deal: we've bought a house, we're moving into it, and my life is in boxes. On top of that, some of the heavy lifting work of setting up our future ministry and how it's going to look at LifePoint Church has coincided with this move, so my life is full up with transitions, planning, and unpacking in all directions!!

That said, I'm going to do my best to get back on the blog-waggon here around Thanksgiving, when all this has settled down and we're on the run to Christmas.

Thanks for your prayers and for checking back, and we'll have some great, roof crashing stuff here in a bit.

Blessings,

Bill