Weekend Wrap

A great weekend at LifePoint Church!! Some highlights:

• A solid and lively crowd on Saturday night! That's the LOUDEST I've heard you sing in a while, folks! Glad to see so many there, and new faces, too!


• Saw at least 20-25 people raise their hands during the invitation this weekend. Praise God for people crossing the line of faith!!


• Walked through a small group leader training Pastor Mark was holding on Saturday night, that's so cool! New groups launching here soon, can't wait!


• Speaking of groups, got together with mine after a vacation induced hiatus. Good to catch up and get connected again.


• Hearing great buzz about Tahoe Baptisms! Don't miss it, it was a highlight of last summer, and it will be amazing again this year!


• Our guest worship leader got a lot of positive buzz. More on that down the road.


• Had a lot of folks tell me Pale Rider is a movie with a great portrayal of a tough, good hearted, man's man of a preacher. Yep. Love that movie. Wish there were more like it. With manly, tough, good preachers in them that don't die half way through. (If you missed the teaching this week on What Would Jesus Say About: Cowboys & Aliens, you didn't get this one) :)

Gotta go crash, it's been a long week. Looking forward to what God has next!!

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!

Blockbuster Series: UP

Number 2 in the series, number one at the box office - Pixar's UP is the next from the amazing folks (backed by Disney) that bought us The Incredibles, Cars, A Bug's Life, and many more great stories, well told.

What I Saw: at it's essence, UP is a buddy movie, the unlikely pairing of Carl Fredrickson, a 78 year old retired balloon salesman, and Russell, the 8 year old Wilderness Explorer Scout. They find themselves thrown together on a great adventure to South America, and in the process, find that they need each other more than either one could have guessed. 1 Corinthians 12 reminds us that "the hand cannot say to the foot, 'I don't need you.'" As followers of Christ, we cannot say to each other, "I don't need you." We don't get to tell other people that they are not a part of what God's doing in and through our lives. We need each other, even the parts that seem less important are very necessary in the plan and purpose of God for each of us. Don't believe the lie that says, I don't need you.

Okay, that's what I saw in the film, what did you see? Post a comment and let us know!

Blockbuster Series: STAR TREK

The first in this year's Blockbuster Message: Star Trek.

The restart of the venerable franchise resets the original characters with an edgier, deeper tone. But the key pieces are there: the multi enthic, multi national, multi planetary crew, led by James Kirk, the aggressive captain, Mr. Spock, the logical first officer, and Dr. "Bones" McCoy, the ship's doctor.

What I saw was: all the diversity of the crew, especially the bridge officers, all come together to make the mission work. It takes all of the different gifts, different perspetives and different talents to function together in order to see the mission be successful. It's the same in the Body of Christ. Romans 12 says we all belong to each other when we belong to Jesus, and we all need to bring our best gifts to the table to see the mission (the Great Commission mission) succeed in our valley.

Okay, that's me. What did you see? Post a comment and share the spiritual themes you saw in Star Trek.