Getting REALLY Real

I'm really supposed to be finishing my message for this weekend, but I had to stop and post this. This week was another amazing time of work, prayer and faith in God at LifePoint Church. As we continue to transition (it's a longer process than you might think or that I might want), it still goes well, but there were some moments of real awe and wonder.

We had our all staff monthly meeting, and sharing some expectations I have of the staff and they can have of me led to some amazing discussions and a few tears. God has put together a great staff here, and it is my privilege to lead them toward the Big Dream God has for us together. The conversation there opened up many positive, constructive and creative discussions during the week.

There was a lunch meeting with our Global Missions Director, John Cressaty, and Pastor Craig Fuller from LifePoint Incline Village that really had me thinking about the importance of all we do in the life of our church. There are about 150 children sponsored by families in the two LifePoint churches, and the report from these guys who had just been there a couple weeks ago was amazing. The lives of these kids have been radically changed by the generosity of the folks in Carson Valley and Incline Village. What hit me as I drove away from the meeting was the truth that no other mission organization was able to work with the church and school we are partnered with over there, so without us, literally a whole community would be in danger. The discussion we were having over lunch was about literal life and death issues. It was sobering, making me wonder what silly, foolish things could we let get in the way of important, life changing, life and death work for God's kingdom if we weren't careful. Like I said, sobering.

And the rest of the week has been meetings and preparation for our Accountability Team meeting and making sure we're heading in the right direction as a church. These are good times to be sure, since most of what we get to talk about is good stuff. We keep praying (and you can join us in this prayer) for wisdom and clarity as to the future and some of the big ticket items we have facing us, like building repairs, building the next much needed building, and the site improvement plan. Lots of stuff to think, pray and plan about.

And in the midst of it, my son turned 14, and the kids entered their last week of school for the year. Exciting times, interesting times, and the constant reminder that time is moving ahead, whether we want it to or not. Mac likes to remind me that he's going to be driving in a couple years, which I feel will go by like a couple weeks. Things are really real in my life right now, big things, and important things, but even the small things are good things. They are all very real to me right now.

Getting Back To The Blog Business

Sorry to all you who like to follow the blog, I wanted to leave the post up about Priority Time so folks could see it, and then things got exciting all week, so I didn't get back. Oops. :)

I'm in the process of thinking what would work best here, what the best times/days to post, the right subjects, etc... So feel free to pray for me. In the meantime, I'm going to be adding some blogs I've been reading to the side, and throwing out a book or blog review from time to time, in case that would help anyone out there.

Things are going well for us here in Minden, church is moving forward well, with some really exciting things and some definite challenges, but God is really very present and moving, so all good stuff. Family is good, healthy and looking forward to the end of school this week. Beth is getting opportunities and offers to do some cool ministry, and I'm banging away at all I need to learn.

Meantime, thanks for praying, and please keep it up! Much left to learn, much left to hear from the Spirit.

Making Priority Time

This weekend, I'm talking about building on the basics in order to get started on the Big Dream God has for your life. The basics of our faith journey, prayer, reading the Bible (and doing what it says), being in community and continuing to serve are all a part of being prepared to hear and live out God's dream for you life.

Spending time reading God's word and praying every day is a habit that all effective Christians work to include in their lives. So, if you are going to make reading reading the Bible part of your day, here's some tips and an outline of how to make the most of your time.

Tips for a Priority Time with God:

• Schedule it. Put it in your calendar, set an alarm on your phone, make an appointment to sit down with God's word each day.
• Make Priority Time your best time. If you are a morning person, set it in the morning. If you're best at night, set it for night time. Give your best time to connecting with God. (Personal note: I'm a night owl by nature, but I try to have my Priority Time in the morning because if I don't do it first, the rest of my day can crowd it out. Just saying.)
• If you miss, don't beat yourself up. Like a meal, if you miss one, eat twice as much next time! Don't get down if you miss a day, just pick it up the next day and keep rolling.
• Read straight through. Don't dip-and-skip through the Bible, and don't just read your favorite parts. read systematically, through a book front to back.
• Some starting points: Start with the book of John, or Ephesians, or James in the New Testament. If you prefer, Genesis, Joshua, or Nehemiah in the Old Testament.
• Get a partner. If you have someone to talk to it about and help encourage you, it makes it easier. Get someone from your Growth Group (hint hint) to read with you, and share what you're learning.
• If prayer puts you to sleep, write it down. I suffer from the ADD, so in order to keep focused, I write down my prayers. It also lets me come back and read it later to see how God is answering my prayers.

How to structure a Priority Time: the 10 minute starter version

1 minute: Pray. Take a moment to slow down, focus and ask God to teach you something from His word today.

4 minutes: Read. Read until you come across something you feel God is saying to you. It's not about coverage, it's about hearing from God in your life.

2 minutes: Think. What is God saying in His word? Is there something to do, a truth to live by, a mistake to avoid, a promise to claim? Think about what God is saying and what you are supposed to learn from it.

2 minutes: Pray. Ask God to help you apply what you've just read, then pray for anything else that is important to you for the day. (Ask God to show you His dream for your life!)

1 minute: Thank. Thank God for His word to you, and for the lessons you are learning. Thank Him for anything else you are grateful for.

10 minutes is a great start, but as you get some momentum to this habit, you can spend more time, but remember: whatever you can do to spend time in the Bible is time well spent.

If you have tips or hints that make Priority Time work in your life, post a comment and share! If you're starting up the habit, let us know and we'll pray for you! Come get started on the basics for the dream.

Sunday Wrap Up

What a great weekend!! It's really fun to see God at work in the life of our church family right now. Some examples from this weekend:

• About 30 people raised their hands to say the prayed to receive Christ in our three services. That NEVER gets old!
• What a pleasure to share in my first child dedications here at LifePoint. A wonderful time at each service of parents stepping up and declaring that they are going to raise the children that God has blessed them with in homes that honor and follow Christ. And hearing the response of the congregation as they affirmed that they were supporting and encouraging those families: priceless!!
• BONUS!! Our newest, youngest Lifer was in the house on Saturday night. In one of those, "only God could do this" stories, a family in our church got a call on Monday that they could adopt a child that was born last Sunday. In a whirlwind of joy and panic, they picked her up on Wednesday and had her in church to be dedicated on Saturday. Anna is a double gift, and her pastor loves her!!
• Great job by Pastor Tracy Conover in developing and leading the Child Dedication classes this weekend! Extra time and effort, but well worth it! Glad I could play a small part, but Pastor Tracy is the real deal!!
• Got some great feedback on the message about God having a dream for each of us that He was dreaming before we were created in our mother's womb. Cool to see people opening their eyes to the possibilities of what God has for them.
• Can't wait to see where the Dream Big series takes us! Get ready for God to do some great stuff, LifePoint!

Wrapped up my day with a trip to the theater to see Iron Man 2. Have to say, nice way to end a great day! More on that later.

And yes, I called my mom. I love that lady, and I know she loves me. I praise God for a Christian mother who dreamed big dreams for me, never gave up on me, and is proud of me to this day.

Off to bed, early morning tomorrow. God bless!

THRIVE - Wrapping Up

Final Post on THRIVE 2010 -

What I will remember from this amazing time at Bayside Church:

• Hearing Ray Johnston take one of my favorite passages (Acts 2:42ff) and using it to show the "Good Deeds produce Good Will which opens the door for Good News" in one passage. I'd never seen it like that, and I've been hearing that 'new proverb' for a few years now.
• Hearing John Maxwell say that the price you pay for the dream will be greater and sooner than you think. But passion is still a big part of seeing a dream come true. His words are more true in me today.
• The Luxury Box Upgrade. I won't lie, it was cool to be that close, get the extra snacks, and chill in the front row. Plus I got like a ton of free pastorcrack - books and Lincoln Brewster CD's. All that for bringing a group of people!
• The breakout with Tony Morgan. I've been a fan of his for a few years, so to meet him, shake his hand and hear his wisdom on focus and clarity in our message and ministry was cool. BONUS: having one of my staffers there to hear the same stuff and confirm how badly we need to get after the principles Tony shared. Glad Tamy was there!
• Lunch with the LifePoint Crew on Friday. We pulled everyone together, bought them lunch, and I got to share some pre-vision and a flavor of what I believe God is calling us to take on in the next chapter of LifePoint. It was a great time, with great energy and some great people!
• So proud of Pastor Roy Conover for leading a breakout on his biblical counselling material. It's the best I've ever seen, and he got rave reviews for his presentation. Pray for him to get it put into book form sometime soon!! (no pressure, Roy...)
• Dinner with the E-Team. What a great group of people I am privileged to work with here! No business, no agenda, just laughter, sharing hearts, and sharing P.F. Chang's.
• Meeting Margaret Feinberg and her husband Leif. What neat people. Sometimes the 'platform folk' don't live up to the hype in real life. She's the real deal, and he's a funny dude. Hoping we get to cross paths again sometime soon.
• Getting to hear from a number of great leaders, but seemingly all pointed at the same word we've been hearing in the Carson Valley - get out of the building and into the community, bring Jesus to people, and let God lead people toward their next steps in their faith journey.

Honestly, I can't wait until next year. I hope that there are more surprises, more breakouts, more learning and more growing, and that we can bring more Lifers to the event.

Pastors, if you can at all make it, and if you can at all bring some people from your church, you need to make plans to be there next year. Luis Palau, Margaret Feinberg, and a cast of thousands. Don't miss it.

THRIVE - Day Three

Yep, this is a day late, but that's what happens when you end the conference in Sacramento and drive like a mad man back across the Sierras to Carson Valley for the 4:30 service back home. :)

So, final day at Thrive. I was totally looking forward to hearing Ephrem Smith, having heard so much about him over the past year. I was jacked up. But I had one thing to do first.

I ended up in the Green Room backstage, once again thanks to my friend John Jackson, Executive Director of TCI and main dude for the Thrive Conference. Beth and I were back there for prayer before the session, then I got to say 'hey' to Pastor Smith. Over in the corner, sitting on the sectional with her husband Leif was Margaret Feinberg. As you might have read, I owed her an apology.

So I walked over, introduced my wife and myself, and told her that I owed her an apology. Her husband leaned forward, grin on his face, and said, "Unsolicited, this ought to be good!" I like Leif. Margaret looked surprised, but she motioned for me to sit down, and I began my apology.

I told her that I was not looking forward to her talk, that I was trying to be a good leader and set the example and pay attention, but nothing about her bio, her book titles, or her introduction made me want to hear what she was going to say. Then, she started in on her topic, which was from her book, Scouting The Divine. It was all about farming images from the Bible, like shepherds and sheep. I told her that I was a city kid that grew up on a farm and couldn't wait to leave. She laughed and understood. Then I told her that her words just broke me. I was moved by the description of how God knows our voices as distinctly as a shepherd knows the bleating of each individual sheep. God hears me when I cry to Him.

Then, as she rolled around to the time she spent with a vintner, learning about growing grapes, I lost it. She talked about how grapes needed bad soil, and how in some places, they will look at the soil around their grape vines and add more rocks. More rocks. After all the pruning, there would be fruit to make wine, but from initial planting to the first glass of wine will be way over a decade. I told her that the rocky places in my life and the pruning over the years were just slammed into perspective for me. I didn't tell her the specifics of cancer, meningitis, angry parishioners, hard transitions, relational struggles or financial setbacks, but each one was clearly in my mind when I told her that she helped me once again see God's hand in my life.

I thanked Margaret for her amazing words that touched my heart, even when I was not expecting them to. She was amazingly gracious, and Leif got up, went out and brought back the last copy of her book for her to sign and give me. I thanked them both profusely. We talked for about an hour, and had the best time. She's looking at a writing project and we brainstormed some ideas to help her talk to some folks she'd like to meet. Leif had a college roommate from Pocatello, so we talked about Poky stuff. Beth and I both tried to give them an easy way out of the conversation, in case they needed some time away from people, but they were happy to talk, so we did.

Finally, Leif looked over at my watch and asked what time it was. I told him, and they both jumped up in a panic. They were late leaving for the airport. Like really late. So Margaret hugged Beth and I, we exchanged info, and they bolted out the door.

In a bit of a daze, we walked out to sit through the last part of Ephrem's talk, and as he was bringing it home, it was once again the voice of the Holy Spirit confirming, pushing and encouraging me to lead ahead with the missional focus here at LifePoint. I was nodding my head and feeling my heart beat faster as he talked about serving in the community and making a difference to the vulnerable and overlooked in society. One more time, God is saying it loud and clear.

I'll give a final wrap later, but it was an amazing time, an amazing experience, and real confirmation of the calling and the direction of God in my life and at LifePoint Church.

Big thanks to Ray Johnston, John Jackson, David Harris and the gang at Thrive, Bayside and TCI. This was a great event, and done well.

THRIVE - Day Two

At the risk of being too honest, here's the day in light of expectations blown:

• I expected to get a lot out of the preaching breakout this morning. Mission accomplished. Ray Johnston nailed it, totally encouraging, totally strategic, and yet, in case anyone was not clear on the subject, totally biblical. Yes, you can (and should) be all three.
• I expected (not proud of this, actually) to not get a lot out of Margaret Feinberg's talk. She started in talking about all the agricultural research she had done, and I was reminded how fast I wanted off the farm when I was growing up. I was a city kid raised on the farm, no doubt. But when she got rolling, so did my tears. I'm man enough to say that, and this: she ruined me. I was totally dashed against the rocks and heard clearly from God. I will buy her book, and if I see her, apologize in person for my low expectations.
• I expected to meet Tony Morgan. Mission accomplished. He's a cool dude, very humble and super smart. I got to talk to him a bit, and he's just a great leader and communicator. He took some time to sign a book for one of my staff. Just cool, plus great info on leadership and strategic thinking. Take away - simple and clear need to be values. Always.
• I expected the talk by John Ortberg to be great. Mission WAY accomplished. I'm again in awe of how God keeps talking to us about how He's not going to be put in a box, no matter how hard we try, and spiritual formation is no different. God has a plan, trust the plan, and "burn grace like a 747 burns jet fuel." Love that.
• I expected to laugh at the comics during the late session. My. Sides. Hurt. Great stuff from Bob and Bob.
• I didn't expect to cry in front of the team from LifePoint at lunch today. But God is making it so clear what He wants to do, and I'm just in awe of His amazing plan as it unfolds. So much of what we're looking at is being echoed so loudly in everything we hear while we're here. Can't wait to see what happens next.

I know there's more to come, but this has been great. Great connections with the Lifers that are here, meeting lots of new folks from Bayside and other churches, and just enjoying the experience.

More tomorrow.

First THRIVE - Day 1

I'm whipped, so I'm going to bed, but I've got to share this much about my first day at my first Thrive conference.

• Musical Worship - Off. The. Chain. The Katinas, Lincoln Brewster, what a huge amount of talent pointed toward Heaven and turned loose. It was great stuff, from great guys with great hearts. Beth went to Lincoln Brewster's breakout session, and says he's got a great heart, and true priorities about family and ministry. Plus he played a Journey song, so he's that much more coolest. "When the lights... go down... in the city..."
• Teaching - Ray Johnston, Miles McPhereson, and top it off with John Maxwell tonight, that's a powerhouse line up, and I'm totally jacked about what they were saying. Biggest take away: God is telling us we need to jump up and get into the community to share Jesus with people in a real way. Earning the right to share the love of Jesus. Great stuff, and right in line with what we've been hearing at LifePoint.
• Breakout session - Heard a guy named David Chow, former pastor, now a coach and a great dude who did a great job talking on the subject of Strengths Based Leadership. Leading people with your strengths, and bringing out the strengths in others. Sounds like the job description of every pastor in America. Sure is mine.

Gotta sleep, but can't wait to see what God says tomorrow.

I Need A Do-Over

Ever have one of those moments you wish you could get back? If you read my last post, I said I was worried about going all 'fan-boy' on John Maxwell, a hero of mine and the speaker at this dinner I was invited to before the Thrive Conference. So now, hours after the event, I can share the news:

• Good News - I didn't fan-boy on him. I was cool, calm and collected. I did notice that he's amazing at working the room, totally saw him connecting before he communicated (yes, I'm buying his new book!), and when he did speak, he was powerful, poignant, pertinent and whatever p-word means "he encouraged the daylights out of me!!" It was great to be there, to see him do his thing, to hear him pump up a room full of leaders, and leave us all wanting more.
• Bad News - I believe I now understand the phrase "Epic Fail" in a personal way. Let me explain:

My friend John Jackson is one of the key leaders of this event, and he had saved me a seat with him at one of the front tables. I walked over, and there were indeed three seats saved. I assumed (rightly) that one was for me, one for John Jackson, but I wasn't sure who the other one was for. So after introductions, they dismissed us to go through the line and get food. I did, and soon I'm eating with the other three guys at the table. John J. was still talking, so I was still sitting next to two empty but saved seats.

So when John Maxwell walked over to the table and looked at the empty seat... it happened so fast... I couldn't believe it was over before I could take it back... I'm such a rule follower... GGGHHHHAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!

John Maxwell asked if he could sit at the table with us, and I said, "I'm sorry, but John Jackson was saving those seats, and I don't know who they are for, Mr. Maxwell."

Like I said. Epic Fail.

He was gracious and kind, walked to another table and proceeded to enrich the lives of everyone there while I sat and drank my iced tea and wallowed in my epic fail-ness. John Jackson came over and sat down, and yes, he had wanted to save that seat for someone else, but that person never sat down, and he would have been okay... I'm going to stop there.

So, like I said. I didn't fan-boy. Nope. Not me. I obeyed social etiquette to a fault. A huge, epic fail of a fault.

Sigh...

The talks were great, I got a lot out of them, then went to see the Dead Sea Scrolls. More on THRIVE tomorrow.

Something A Little Dangerous...

Tomorrow I'm going to do something a little...dangerous. I'm going to break one of the unwritten rules of life: Never Meet Your Heroes In Real Life.

The idea goes like this: when you have a hero, someone you look up to and admire from a distance, they most likely cannot live up to your idea of them in real life. So don't meet them, because they will let you down. Have you ever heard something like that?

In my life, I've had a couple opportunities to meet people I've admired. I have met Rick Warren a couple times, even got his autograph. I teared up a little when I told him thanks for all the help he's given me in ministry. I met Dan Southerland a couple times, once at a conference where I got to have lunch with him, and we talked a lot. I mean a lot. He talks almost as much as me. Almost.

I got to wave at Bill Hybels once. In a parking lot. Not the same. But he did wave back.

So Wednesday, I get to go to a dinner at Bayside Church in Sacramento. At the dinner will be my friend and the founding pastor of LifePoint Church, John Jackson. Also there will be the Senior Pastor of Bayside, Ray Johnston. I'm excited to be with those guys and experience their Thrive Conference, but I'm not nervous about them. It's the other guy.

John Maxwell is a leadership guru, author, speaker, force-of-nature, and he's going to be at dinner tomorrow. I'm a big fan. Big fan. Some of his books are some of the most important things I've ever read (non-Bible division). I've heard him on CD, I've read his blog, I've read a bunch of his books, and his latest is on my 'must have' list. And I get to have dinner with him.

Is he Jesus? No. Does it make me a better person because I'm having dinner with him? NO. Does it make me special, a better leader or taller to be in the same room as him? Sadly, no. But learning and gleaning from a great leader of leaders can't hurt me. I'm hoping I get some gems of wisdom to take home with me, but I'm just hoping that I can keep my expectations in check. He's a man. A man of God, a leader, a teacher, a great example of maximizing the gifts God gives a person, but a man nonetheless. I hope I can learn from him and not over expect of him. That would make for a great evening.

And I hope I don't do a full on 'fan-boy' on him. Pray for me. :)

Is It Okay To Feel Good?

Just got done with an amazing weekend at LifePoint Church. Some pieces:

• Over 170 women came together for the Beth Moore simulcast. I stopped in to see the crowd, and what an amazing sight. Heard nothing but great comments about the teaching - what would happen if all 300,000 women who were watching around the country started living without insecurities and taught their daughters and sisters how to do the same? I love the thought of that! I'm excited for what's going to happen when the women of the Carson Valley get it going on like that around here!
• We got to celebrate 15 baptisms this weekend! That has to get your pulse pounding! I love seeing the faces of people when they come up out of the water and hear their church family cheer for them, there's nothing like seeing the joy on the faces of people going public with their faith. I LOVE MY JOB!
• I'm hearing that the men's groups are filling up and getting ready to launch new groups. I'm so glad to hear the Spirit moving in the lives of guys, it's always good for the church family when men are getting lined up with God's plan.
• There's a group of people getting ready for their trip to Africa next month. God is already teaching and growing the team as they are preparing to go, and we'll get to pray for them and send them out next week. What I'm really looking forward to is the stories of what God does in them and through them while they're there.
• Invisible Children are going to be here on Wednesday night. I know the youth staff are fired up about having them come, and hearing from one of the child soldiers that was rescued out of that awful situation should be powerful.
• Last but not least: THRIVE is next week! This is my first one, so I'm extra excited. I'll be blogging about that more later, but just know that I'm fired up to learn, grow and see what's working at other churches next week.

So, is it okay if I'm feeling good about what God's up to these days?

I know that there are ups and downs on the journey of following Jesus, but right now, let's ride the high! Let's enjoy the excitement and the energy of the momentum God is building. Let's build on the good that's happening and push out in faith toward what Christ is calling us to next. What do you say?

Looking For A Response

So today at LifePoint Church, we were on the second message of the Make The Connection series, talking about small group life. Last week was well received, and this week, same thing. Pastor Mark Marsella and the Growth Group team put together a Connect Expo so that, right after the message, people wouldn't have to leave the worship center, but could walk right over to a row of tables, all manned by group leaders, to sign up and get into a group.

Here's what happened: There were a good number of folks who walked over on Saturday night, but today, in both services, there was a mob! Folks were hanging out and talking at the tables for a long time after each service (yes, I intentionally finished early, so there was extra time, but still...), and as I walked by the tables afterward, lots and lots of names were on the sign up sheets!

Reflecting on the experience today, here's what I think was going on:

First, the folks at LifePoint are excited to take God's Word seriously in their lives. Big thanks to Dr. John Jackson for leading them in that direction! It's fun to talk to a church full of people who are all ready to step up and follow the clear directions of the scripture.

Second, people are hungry for connection. People want to know and be known, love and be loved, serve and be served. At a time when technology has us wired, we're still longing for connection. I can't wait to see what happens at LifePoint as the relationships develop and people grow stronger together. The impact in the Carson Valley, and around the world, will be epic!

Way to go, Lifers!!

A Lesson on Waiting Rooms

After big events like Easter weekend, I tend to have some kind of let down. I always attribute it to the adrenaline and excitement surrounding the big days that, when it subsides, leaves my body a little more vulnerable to the bugs in the air. I thought this year was going to be different, since for a whole week after Easter I was doing really well. My energy was up, my enthusiasm was high, the rush of all God did at LifePoint this Easter was fresh on my mind and heart, so I was going great! The first weekend of the new series, Make The Connection was really good, with a good turnout and tremendous feedback.

Then Monday hit.

I woke up to get Mac off to school, and I was sick. I went back to bed and slept most of the morning. When I did wake up, I was coughing and feeling miserable. I dragged myself down to the Urgent Care Center in Minden to get looked at, and found a waiting room full of people.

Turns out I wasn't the only one sick in the Carson Valley.

So I waited. They had been slammed all day, with many admissions to the local hospital, so they were very backed up. So I waited. And I waited. I Tweeted my Twitter and I waited. I watched Food Channel and I waited. I finally got back into an exam room, and then... I waited. Finally, the doctor showed up, looked in my ears, listened to my lungs, told me I had bronchitis, and sent me on my way. Three hours (not joking) of waiting for a five minute visit to tell me what I already knew.

When I got better this week, I realized that sometimes people have the same experience with church. They come, expecting something, but instead, they wait around for something to happen. They think it's going to be good, but sometimes, in the waiting, they lose sight of why they came. They know there's something good supposed to happen, but they end up being somewhat entertained, but not really. And they wait. And if they finally get where they thought they wanted to go, it seems somewhat anticlimactic. "I knew that already."

Instead of warehousing people, instead of creating a big waiting room for people to hang out in and be somewhat entertained, what if we offered real help and real connections for people when they arrived? What if, instead of waiting to see a pastor, we had lots of people who could offer assistance, care, compassion, a listening ear, and even training to be involved. Instead of passively waiting, folks could get actively involved in something, what would that be like?

That's why the shift in churches has been toward being more missional, more focused on getting folks connected and actively involved in their own faith journey, rather than passively sitting around waiting on someone else. It makes a difference in the lives of people much more quickly, and more effectively. Here's what I mean:

One of our leaders recruited unchurched people to come be a part of her ministry during our Easter weekend. Those people might have never set foot in church otherwise, but because of their connection this leader, they came. They attended a service to see what this was all about, despite having no intention of doing so at first, and they heard the gospel loud and clear. The impact was real: afterward, they wanted to know more.

Not sitting around watching a show, but connected relationally and actively participating as they had a chance to connect to Jesus. What if church was like that, and not so much like a waiting room? Would Jesus smile?

Easter At LifePoint, Part 2

Tuesday, and stories are coming in about lives impacted by the weekend at LifePoint Church:

• One person let me know that they led people to Christ at the dinner table over an Easter meal after the services on Sunday. You have to know how fired up that makes me! That's the definition of teamwork: The worship team opens the door, I tell the story, someone else walks people they know across the finish line, Jesus wins!!
• Some folks told a staffer that they are moving here soon, were visiting again over the holiday weekend, stopped in and were touched by the service. Now they can't wait to get back and get involved.
• Children's ministry folks heard that some of the first time volunteers were seriously looking to jump on board more regularly after Easter. Yahoo!!
• One person who did kids ministry most of the services got to pray with six kids to receive Christ!! That NEVER gets old!
• Hearing multiple stories of folks coming to multiple services in order to bring more friends to hear about Jesus.
• Folks at Guest Central noticed that more and more of our regulars were bringing their friends to the Guest Central counter to introduce them and help them get connected. WAY TO GO LIFERS!!!
• One college student ended up with eight invite tickets from all the Lifers they knew inviting them. Nice!!
• One person noticed that we had plenty of volunteer help this year. Folks stepped up and offered their time and energy to help - very servant-hearted!!
• Lots and lots of comments, notes, postings and phone calls about how folks were touched and even moved by the Friday night service and how God moved even after the lights went out. If you missed that, look here for part of the story.

And there's more where that came from! If you have a story from the Easter weekend at LifePoint, make a point to post it here. Let's share what God has done!

Easter At LifePoint, Part 1

I'm so excited about what God did at LifePoint Church this weekend, I want to sing and jump up and down, but I'm my throat hurts and I'm wiped out, so my heart is dancing (or, as my friend Stacy likes to say, "my heart is pink and full of Spanish!")!!

So the first of six services was Friday night, and everything had come together. The message was done, and I got to see the dance number I in it's entirety that morning, and it looked great. A few tweaks to the order of service, and we felt like it was ready. All week we had been praying for the light board to work, and it was working great. So, 6 pm rolls around, and we start. The first song, then the dance number go off amazingly well, and the crowd was into the experience.

Then the lights flickered hard, like they wanted to go out, but came back up. All that did was take out the media and jack up the lights, but it all got put back in place pretty fast, so by the middle of the next song, it was all up and running like normal. All through it, the band played on, and the congregation sang, or tried to without the words on the screen. Pretty cool, and just a great bunch of work by the band and the team working sound and media.

So I got up to start the message, and it's rolling along well, the crowd was following right along, when suddenly, about 2/3 through, the lights flicker hard again... and stay out. Totally. Pitch. Black.

The emergency lights come on, and the crowd all laughs at the predicament. They start telling me to keep going, so I joke, "I can't see my notes!" Someone in the crowd comes up with a flashlight, and I kept going, pushing my voice a bit to get to the back row, but not too bad (years of football coaching comes in handy!).

The kids ministry folks do an amazing job keeping the kids calm and still focused, and word was that five kids received Christ in their service. Wow.

So after the service, I'm super proud of the team and all the work to get through what was obviously a difficult situation with more than just grace, but also with great presence of mind and real ministry hearts. But I'm feeling a little down that people will walk away and remember what a great job we did to finish out the service, but they won't remember Jesus.

Then, Saturday morning, I'm at the gym when a lady comes up and introduces herself to me. She tells me that she had three people she invited who had either never been to church or never been to LifePoint. She said they had a wonderful experience, and they were really excited about coming back.

I was stunned. Turns out God works, not only in the dark, but in my moment of doubt. I was worried that folks wouldn't see Jesus in all that chaos, but the truth is, He shined brighter than ever for those who needed Him the most.

That story did more to stoke my fire than anything else could have. Every service after that, I walked to the platform knowing that God was there, whether people were there to see the dance, hear the band, listen to me or for any other reason they might have listed. God was there, and He was making Himself known to people far from Him.

Such a blessing. Thank you to all the Lifers for praying, inviting, serving, giving and showing up to see Jesus be famous in our valley. And thanks to the guy who loaned me the flashlight. :)

More later...