The Week of Last

My daughter Rachel woke up today and said, "Today is my last Monday at school." She is the one who's having the hardest time with our move, and the weight of her 'lasts' seems to be heaviest. I resisted the urge to tell her that there will be a lot more Mondays in her life, and a lot more Mondays of school for that matter. Instead I hugged her and told her it was going to be good, so she might as well get started.

It's getting down to the wire, and I am seeing the 'lasts' of my time in Pocatello piling up. I know that we will be back to visit - both kids were born here, we've made life-long friendships here, and Beth loves Buddy's salads, so of course we're coming back - but everyone knows that coming for a visit isn't the same.

So I'm trying to find the joy in my 'lasts' when I can. The last trip to the Bannock County Jail to visit prisoners. The last staff meeting. The last lunch at the country club (note: I was never a member, but did harbor aspirations...). All the last dinners with friends. The last LLC was today (much love to my group - I carry you in my heart!). And I went to the Cancer Center for the last time as a patient today. Six years after being diagnosed, they are sad to see me go, but glad I'm going under my own steam. And, my cholesterol was down!!!

I realized that some of my lasts were a while ago, but I didn't know it at the time: my last wedding here, my last funeral here, my last time to pray at the city council meeting, my last Cancer Survivor Picnic here, my last Relay for Life here. Without knowing it, I attended my last Bengal game and celebrated my last Christmas here. These things that I didn't know were ending for me here, but now I look back and remember.

This week will have a few more 'lasts': my last staff lunch. My last Pastor's Prayer gathering. My last day in the office. My last message to my church family. My last goodbye to these people whom I love so dearly. One last party as your pastor here.

I have tried to imagine what it would feel like to leave, and it's tougher than I thought. Each step carries with it a fresh load of emotions and tears. But at the same time, I am starting to get some excitement for what is in front of me, and what is in front of FBC Pocatello. I'm getting fired up about what God wants to do next, but that's for the next post. For now, I'm just living and learning from the 'lasts.'

Joy and Tears, Sadness and Laughter

The whirlwind of winding up here at FBC is continuing, and there have been many lunches, dinners, meetings, appointments and conversations, with more left to come. I have been asked great questions about how I'm feeling, what's the new church going to be like, how are the kids doing with the move, etc... I answer as honestly as I can, and it's been good to talk about it with folks I love and who love me and wants what God wants for me.

I got asked if I was excited to go to LifePoint, and I gave an odd answer (even for me...). I said, I haven't had the chance to be excited yet. I've been so full of bittersweet feelings over leaving that I haven't had the opportunity to get excited about what God has next.

Yes, I know that God is calling me and my family to go, and yes, all the reasons why are still good reasons. I will become very excited to be there the closer we get, and I don't want anyone misreading what I'm saying. I am looking forward to what I've been called to do, and I want to get there and get started.

But I feel like God has given me a gift right now, and the gift is to be able to block out any excitement for going to LifePoint in order to finish being here in Pocatello. The joy I feel in talking to so many folks about what God has done over these last 14 years is mixed with tears of sadness over what I will miss when I go. And in my sadness over leaving, I have had deep moments of humor and laughter over the adventures we have had here. Every emotion is mixed with one or two more.

I love what God is doing in my life, and I love what God has been doing in my life. In saying "yes" to LifePoint, I don't believe I'm saying "no" to FBC Pocatello, it's just that I'm needing to follow God's guidance in my life, and leave an opening for the right person to come here and lift this church to a new level.

All that mixes up in a fizzy, bubbling, cacophony of feelings and emotions. Sometimes I laugh when I'm crying, and sometimes I cry when I'm laughing. Sometimes I feel deep joy and satisfaction while still feeling aches and sadness. But in all of it, God's hand continues to be clear, and the good news is that He's still in control, even when my emotions are all over the map.

Thanks to all who continue to pray for us and this transition. Please don't stop, and please for give me if you think my emotional state isn't where you might think it should be. It's hard for me to figure out how I'm supposed to feel.

Juggling Act

I learned to juggle about 16 years ago as a part of my youth ministry days. I wanted to be able to do something unusual to get the kid's attention, and juggling seemed like an easy way to do it. I bought the Klutz book on juggling (it came with it's own practice beanbags), and practiced until I could do it reasonably well. I pulled out the juggling a few times over the years, and if I get an hour to practice, I could get my coordination back in shape.

But right now, I'm juggling more than I ever thought I could. :)

So in the midst of ending well at FBC Pocatello, and trying to get my stuff packed to move, and saying goodbye to longtime friends, and leading my staff here toward the interim and the future, and getting up to speed about ministry at LifePoint, and shepherding my family through the transition, and getting my change of address form in to the Post Office, and keeping my parents in the loop, and setting up appointments for baby dedications... I realized I'm juggling everything in my life right now. :)

Most times, we watch a juggler and wonder how he does it, will he drop something, or will he catch the wrong end of something sharp. I once watched a guy in San Francisco juggle a chain saw, a bowling ball, a machete, and an apple. It was like a car wreck - I couldn't turn away! He survived, and actually, it was amazing to watch.

But I need to ask you for prayer instead of observation. I know many of you are praying for me and my family as we make this transition. Here's some specifics I'd like to ask you to focus on in prayer:

• Pray that my time at FBC is good, effective ministry. I don't want to coast to the end, and I don't want anyone to think I gave half an effort in finishing. I want to finish well.
• Pray that my wife and kids are healthy and strong during this move, that they can and will get done all that they need to in order to finish well with friends, packing and changing schools.
• Pray for my staff team here at FBC, the leaders and the elders. They are all feeling the tension of the transition in different ways, and they all need strength, wisdom and courage. I've been where they are once before, and I know that it's not easy duty to serve a church during an interim. Pray that they continue to do the terrific work they do for this church and for the Lord.
• Pray for the staff team at LifePoint. They are getting a new boss, and that has to be at least a little unnerving. They have a current Senior Pastor to say goodbye to, and they want to honor him well and be ready to welcome us, too. Help them to have wisdom and grace to do both of those things at the same time while still trying to get Easter planned.
• Pray for the interim pastor that is coming to FBC, and for the pastor that is out there being groomed and prepared by God to come serve the people of Pocatello. God's plan is good, and He's been at work getting someone ready to step into this amazing miracle of a church, so pray that God gets the right person ready for the right job.
• Pray for two great messages to end on here, and a great series to start on there.
• Pray for safe travel for my family. I'd like our stuff to get there in one piece, but I'd prefer my family over my stuff, so please focus there.
  
• Pray for the details - the mind-numbing amount of details - that we have to slog through over the next two weeks to come together and not leave off until the last minute.
• Pray for our house here to sell, the right price, the right buyer, the right timing. Then, when that's over, pray for the right house to buy there, the right price, the right seller.
  

Yeah, that's a long list. Thanks for helping me juggle.

Emotional Overload

Name an emotion. Go ahead, pick one. Got it in your head?

Chances are I'm feeling it right now.

After the roller coaster my life has been the past few months, the announcement this past weekend at FBC that I am stepping down to accept a call from another church turned loose a tidal wave of emotions. As people came to congratulate me, chastise me, ask me why or tell me what for, I felt all of the weight of their emotions as well as my own.

I'm a mixed up mess of emotions - excitement and concern, joy and pain, heartache and anticipation, happy and sad. As much as pastors are looked at as a 'different breed of cat,' we're just human beings with human emotions. As much as I hate to feel all these competing ways, it's all I can do. That and pray. So I pray.

Turns out it's hard to leave a place that you love, and it's hard to disappoint so many people all at once, even if it's a right and obedient thing you're doing.

Much appreciation to all who have called, written or told me about how excited they are for us, and for all who have been and continue to pray for us:

• Much appreciation for my FBC family and the ways you are supporting and encouraging us while dealing with your own uncertainty and fears. I know that God has a plan for FBC, and He's going to bring you to a new and glorious future.
• Much appreciation for my LifePoint family and the way you have aggressively prayed for both my immediate family and for my FBC family. God will honor your faithfulness in prayer.

It's my hope that as we celebrate and grieve together that we can all find some grace to share with each other, and some of God's love to cover. Meantime, please continue to pray that I finish well what God has for me here, and that I take up what He has for me at LifePoint with integrity and grace.

Yes, It's Official

The word is out, but for those who have not yet heard, I will be leaving FBC Poky at the end of this month. I have received and accepted a call to be the Lead Pastor at LifePoint Church in the Carson Valley of Nevada.

My friend John Jackson planted LifePoint 12 years ago, and it has thrived and grown from a handful to a vibrant congregation. He has accepted a position at Bayside Church in the Sacramento area, and a few months ago he called and asked if I would be interested in following him at LifePoint. After a long and interesting process, filled with prayer and airplanes, Beth and I felt the release of God on our ministry here and the call to a new adventure there.

I may get to post more of the story of how God made it clear to Beth and me that this was his plan, but for now, please hear me say a couple of things:

First, I was not looking for a new church. I had not pulled out my resume to look at it for 15 years, and was very content to stay in Pocatello my entire career. Some people have said there were other factors in my decision to leave, and those rumors are completely and utterly untrue. I was brokenhearted when it started to be clear that we were released here, and more so as the day came to share with my church family that I was leaving. I am only being obedient to the call of God on my life. It's all I can do.

Second, while I am excited about the future that God has unfolded in front of us, I am also excited about what God is going to do here in Pocatello. Again, I was content to stay and see God continue to build a great church here, but I am still convinced, as I said on Sunday, that the best days of this church are still in front of her. I will continue to pray and lift up the future of FBC Pocatello, knowing that the God who brought us this far will not fail us. I know that just as my friend John was prepared by God to move to Bayside to help that church move to the next level, and God has prepared me to help LifePoint move to the next level, God has been and will be preparing another pastor to come here and build on the effective and exciting ministry here.

I'll have more later, but I wanted to make sure this got out and that you heard it from me. I appreciate all the prayers, and ask that you continue to pray for LifePoint, FBC, my family and me as we all make these important transitions.

Major Announcement Coming...

Yes, there will be a major announcement coming this Sunday at FBC Pocatello. To that end, I ask for a couple of favors:

• If you can at all make it to a service, please show up. This is big stuff, and the family needs to be there. I know there's a game on, but the kickoff isn't until late afternoon, I think you can squeeze in a worship service before you start on your guacamole.
• If you already know or think you know, could you please help by NOT sharing details or feeding rumors and allow the announcement to be made to the family as it should?Thanks.
• There will be worship on Sunday, so please come prepared to give God the honor and worship that He deserves. It's not about us, it's about Jesus.
• For those who can't make it, I'll post here Sunday afternoon, but if you can make it, MAKE IT A PRIORITY!!

Thanks, and I'll see you Sunday!

Breaking The Silence

Okay, I'm back! After an out of town wedding and a couple other trips out of state, I am back to business here at Roof Crashers. There are big things brewing, but I'll get that to you in another post. In the meantime, let me update you on some wins:

• January saw 6 baptisms at FBC!!! Three were in response to Karl's message on baptism, and then more a few weeks later. So good to see people obeying God's clear call to go public with their faith.
• Two Sunday's ago, we talked about generosity, and I put the challenge out for folks to give an offering that very day so that we could send 10% to Haiti to help out after the earthquake. We ended up sending $1000.00!! Sure, we rounded up on the 10%, but I don't think that's going to get us in trouble with God. :)
• Financially, the church is back in the black, and giving is coming up! Keep praying, we want to continue to follow God on the path to His vision for our church, and the generosity of His people is a big part of how we get there.
• One of the baptisms this past month was of a student from the student ministry. The extra cool part: she was led to Christ by one of her friends from here at FBC. Yes, teens leading teens to Jesus. How great is that!?!

We're staying in the Signs of Life series until the end of February, so keep praying and keep inviting your friends to hear about what happens when God's life begins to flow out of our lives.

More later, just getting warmed up!

Going Dark For A While

To my loyal blog followers (and anyone just joining us), I'm going to be pausing in my posting for a little while. It's been a crazy time in my life, and this weekend I have an out of town wedding I'm doing, and a few dozen other issues I'm juggling right now, so I'm going to set this aside for a short time.

No, I'm not sick, and no, there's nothing wrong with Beth or the kids, this is just a season of 'stuff' that has kept me busy and my focus on other issues, so I haven't had the time to blog, and I don't see that being fixed for a little while.

So I'll 'go dark' for a time, and then I will pick it up again in a couple weeks when things settle down; sooner if I have something important to say.

Thanks for understanding, and thank you for reading. I have a very diverse group of folks, at least geographically, who read Roof Crashers, and it's very cool to know we are sharing what God's doing as we journey together.

So, see you soon!

Couple of Quick Hits to Catch Up...

Been a while since I could sit down and write, so let me catch you up on some stuff:

• Great Christmas Eve services, the first one was really full, the second one comfortably so, and the responses were great. People seemed to like the combination of Christmas Carols, Worship songs, and fire.
  
• A great Volunteer Appreciation Sunday. We enjoyed giving our volunteers the Sunday off after such a great effort Christmas Eve (and all year long, really). I took my son to Gate City Christian that morning and heard Pastor Josh give a great message. The ladies in our home were both sick, so they get an excused absence. Where did you go to church?
• Had a great week off after Christmas to spend with my kids. Beth had to work, so the three of us goofed off, slept late, played with our Christmas presents, and generally had a good time.
  
• Took Beth on a long weekend trip to Nevada. More on that trip later, including the horrible ride home. I'll sum it up: We got to bed at 4 am Monday, 12 hours after we got to the Reno airport.
  
• I'm so proud of Karl. If you haven't heard, our Worship and Admin Pastor Karl Pettit lost his dad this past weekend, then preached two services, including inviting people to get baptized on the spot. Three people did. I'm so amazingly proud of his service, and saddened by his loss. We're all praying for him and his family, you are welcome to join.
• God is up to something big! Keep your eyes, ears and heart open!!
  

A Post I Can't Ignore!

I've got a ton of stuff to share, but first, I want you to read this post by Tony Morgan. Tony is a strategist and leader in churches, and his blog is one that I read regularly. I was catching up on my reading today and saw this. Take a look. I hope it makes you laugh, but more importantly, I hope it makes you think.

And a shout out to my favorite ex-Target employee: We're with you, Karl!

Talk soon.

Happy New Year!!

Welcome to the new decade! Whatever you called the '00-something' decade is over, and now, 2010 is here.

My hope and prayer for all of us is that God would continue to show us His path, His wisdom, and His Grace in greater and greater measure, and that all of us, myself included, would walk in faith and hope toward effective, life-changing, roof-crashing ministry.

May you and yours be blessed by our Great God in 2010!!

Merry Christmas!

Two Christmas Eve services done, and presents to wrap, so I'm going to make this short.

May the peace and love of God the Father, the amazing grace and hope of Jesus Christ, and the power and passion of the Holy Spirit be with you as you celebrate the HOPE of Christ this Christmas.

From all of us at FBC Poky, and the McCready family, Merry Christmas!!!

Who Are You Going To Invite To HOPE?

Christmas Eve is tomorrow. The last day to shop, wrap and ready yourself before Christmas Day. It's also when we as a church family are going to celebrate the Person behind all the festivities, Jesus Christ. God's gift to us is hope, and as we've been looking at Thoughtful Gifts this Christmas season, we're going to finish with a bang.

So bring someone. Somebody in your life needs hope. The economy has people scared. The war has people nervous. The problems we face in our nation and community has people on edge. Give them the gift of hope this year. Bring someone with you to one of the Christmas Eve services, 6 pm and 8 pm. You'll be glad you did. They will be glad, too.

Merry Christmas!

What Do You Talk About At Christmas Time?

I was at the gym the other day, and a guy whom I see there a lot stopped me with a question:

"So what are you talking about Sunday?"

What you need to know is that this man is what we in the church call 'de-churched,' he used to go to church, but he quit going years ago, let go of his faith and never looked back. We have conversations from time to time about spiritual subjects, and I've invited him to church a few times. He threatens to show up. I'm still hopeful.

Back to our conversation at the gym: he asked if I was doing the old stand-by stuff this Christmas. That's the interesting dilemma that we have as speakers in church - the Christmas story is pretty well played out for some folks. There's all the players - angels, Mary, shepherds, Joseph, the inn keeper, the wise men, the manger, the star... who hasn't heard all of that? Maybe a few people, but there are few over the age of 10 who haven't heard at least a majority of all that. What do you say that's fresh? How do you tell the same old story in a new way?

I told him what we were doing, the Thoughtful Gifts series. I told him about having frankincense in church and how it came from trees. He asked me what myrrh was. I told him he needed to come hear for himself on Sunday. He smiled. Pray with me that he does.

It's always an interesting process to go through, figuring out what to say at Christmas time. It's interesting all the time, but especially at Christmas. So this year, my goal has been to do two things - share the same old Christmas story in the most creative and thought provoking way I can, and then not worry if people have heard any of it before. All of us need a reminder of the hope that Christmas brings, and if there is anyone who comes who doesn't know the real reason for celebrating Christmas, they'll hear it as clearly as I can say it.

I just finished the message for this Sunday. No, I don't have any myrrh, sorry. But it's going to be the most hopeful and most challenging message I've ever given at Christmas time. Don't miss it. I can't wait to see what God does with this one.

Which leads me to Christmas Eve next week. Make plans to be there, and bring someone with you who needs some hope this year. For some, it's been a hard year on many levels. Bring someone who needs to know Hope was born in a stable in Israel 2000 years ago. And if you've heard the story, don't let that get you so jaded that you forget there are thousands of people in our community that haven't. They may know the players and the plot, but they don't know how it really ends. Bring them for the Christmas surprise of their lives! Jesus came to set us free from sin! All our guilt can be gone! All our hope restored! All our hearts made new!

Remember that this is the easiest time to get someone to come to church with you. Remember that Jesus died for your friends and neighbors as much as He died for you. Remember that Christmas is a gift that you can give. Remember Jesus this Christmas.

Website Update is LIVE!!

If you haven't seen it, the new fbcpoky.com is live! Not 100% complete, it's still in process, and your feedback to Aaron Floyd would be appreciated, but it's a great start! Be sure to check it out!