Month: September 2005

Tonight was Light Force’s first Concert of Prayer & Pizza night. We do this once a month to focus our attention on God and not us. For those who aren’t cool with that… we just ask them to focus on the pizza and participate as best as they can in the COP&P.

I am learning a valuable lesson about myself in ministry leadership. When you give away ownership of something, you need to let it take on a life of it’s own, even if it’s isn’t 100% what you would have done. As I think about tonight I realize that I had very, very little to do with the concept, design, or execution of tonight’s COP&P. I don’t think I provided any useful input to the worship team and I don’t think they really wanted my help. They prayed, studied, and did it. How cool is that? It’s worth saying again… On their own initiative, 3 students prayed, studied, and pulled off a great worship night… Leading their peers into the throneroom of heaven. Whoa.

I am taking Thursday off to work with my buddy Rich in hosting the Romeo District golf tournament. The weather is bad… Cold and rainy… I am glad I’ve drawn the card of putting together all the technical assistance for the thing and not acting as an observer or forecaddy person as in previous years. This is one of the few times in life I am glad I am good with computers!

Speaking of computers. As the office wing is now 98% complete, the new network interface is coming online later this week. We’ve replaced 100% of the wiring and hardware for our network. In the past 6 months almost every employee has a new workstation. We also have the capability of adding about 8-9 more permanent users without adding any wiring or hardware as well as a back-up wireless system. [Yes, I am setting the wireless up only as a back-up since I am still not satisfied with it’s reliability or speed. But I do like that it’s a cheap easy way to connect almost infinite amounts of people to our network!]

As for the house. My project list is still pretty fierce but I am managing to plug away at a few each day. Yesterday I installed a new foyer light, cut up the HAM radio antenna that was on our roof, and sanded the ceiling in our bedroom. Today I put the final coat of mud on the ceiling, sanded and caulked between the new ceiling and the old walls, and prepped the room for paint. Kristen has also been busy. In just a week she has managed to put away most of our stuff, clean out our old apartment, and begin winterizing the landscaping outside. Without Kristen this wouldn’t be any fun. I am so excited to see her getting her hands dirty and jumping into the work here.

Well, it’s midnight and I have to be at Romeo Golf Course at 7:00 AM.

The following is an article a student of mine wrote for the churches monthly newsletter. I thought it was good enough to reprint here. Andrea shares some pretty good insights and observations…

Living for Jesus in High School

Recently, I took a test on prepositional phrases. I still don’t know exactly what they are, even though I aced the test, but soon after I was read this verse “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31) So I thought to myself, “How can I take tests and other school work for the glory of God?”

I think that the application of this verse isn’t just in what I say or do, but more in how I do it. For example, instead of sleeping in class, I should pay attention and work hard. I need try to keep my moral standards high, even when it seems like the entire student body is involved in “questionable activities.” I need to be nice to the nerds. I need to be positive, but not fake. These are difficult things to consistently do, and anyone who knows me can see my struggle, and keeping to these standards involves a lot of prayer, reflection, and relying in my relationship with God.

Lots of times, I think that it would be so much easier to just stop being Christian for a week. I could relax with my friends at an R-rated movie; laugh at their dirty jokes, and talk any way I wanted. If I were able to do that I wouldn’t get that guilty feeling when I know I should speak up about my faith, but I don’t. So, if it’s so much easier to not be a Christian, why do it?

I can’t answer that for you. But for me, as difficult as the going gets, I know that no matter how attractive their lives may be, my friends are not happy. They are atheistic, agnostic, New Agers, self-reliant, homosexual, immodest, conspiracy theorists and live very liberal lifestyles. When they are honest about it, they are also dissatisfied with life and looking for answers. I know the answers they are looking for could be found in Jesus, and they know I know Jesus, so they are watching me closely. They are watching to see if my faith is real, to see if it really does make a difference in my person’s life.

Living for Jesus in my high school doesn’t always mean that I need to preach the gospel at every turn. It means that I need to conduct my life according to Biblical standards. I need to do everything to the best of my ability. I need to let God take control of every part of my life not only because those decisions are pleasing to God, but also because my friends are watching me.

I am realizing just how much this week has been all about the house… in some ways the house has served for a metaphor for a lot of things.

Here’s an update on all kinds of stuff.

All of our stuff has been moved. A gaggle of people come over Saturday and helped us move. There isn’t room to say how glad I was people helped us… It took infinitely less time with all of those hands.

After the move was over, we got pizzas and tossed the football around for a while. I am loving it when there are students using our house. I can see how God can use our home as a place for his purpose in a way that our tiny apartment could never. I can’t wait.

Projects galore. So last week I “accidentally” took out a drop ceiling and Kristen “accidentally” took out a linoleum floor. Oops. This kicked off my first remodeling project on Bailey Street. Friday and Sunday I had some people over to help me hang drywall for a new ceiling… I should begin taping and mudding that today. I’d like to get a coat of primer on it early this week so I can hang the new light fixures, paint the walls, and be done with it. I am glad we decided to do this now…. But it’s come at the cost of not having a bedroom to officially move into right now.

Another project that Mike and Jon helped me with last night was fixing a gutter problem. When it rained hard Thursday night water poured over the gutters… Jon and I installed an extra gutter from the roof and tied it into a new and updraged drain. It’s a little thing, but a big project completed. Many, many more on tap.

The kids… Megan and Paul are loving their new digs. This morning Paul woke up with me and I could here him going from room to room with glee to find new treasures. [Stuff is still in boxes.] He went into the dining room and I could here him say “football!” and then he went to the living room and giggled about another toy.

So, my day off will once again be all about a project. I’m off to Home Depot this morning to get some last minutes tools for this project… More later.

My family just got back from a “small church thing.” Tonight, we had an International Dinner put on by the deaconnes board. It was small, cute, and a lot of fun. The kids got to run around with their friends and mom and dad got to hang out with some adults.

It was there that I made this powerful observation: The people of this church love me and my family way more than we deserve. It’s really amazing to see how our kids are so well cared for and loved.

For most of the night the middle school students, guys included, ran around and played with Paul and Megan. How cool is that.

One thing I really, really like about middle school kids is that they are half adolescent and half little kid. They still play make believe but care about what they look like and stuff like that. It’s really funny.

Another observation. There are a couple of students who are “far too cool” for me and the youth group. But it’s sweet that they can’t stay away from us. They are always like “well, my mom dragged me here tonight, I don’t want to be here.” And I’m like, “So that’s why you’ve talked to me for the last 20 minutes?”

It’s nights like tonight when I know I am in the right place. It’s times like this when I am reminded that for all the BS I put up with, I am still doing something that matters.

Kristen and I learned that our old pastor, Ray Pritchard, is leaving his post as the senior pastor at our Beloved Calvary. [Yes, Kristen and I still think of Calvary that way. In some ways, it will always be our home.]

What’s interesting about how I am responding to this, a mixure of “I knew it would happen eventually” and “I can’t believe it…,” is that I actually care this much. I mean, I don’t go there… and we haven’t been members there for more than 3 years. What’s even weirder about the whole thing is that he and I are virtual strangers. Sure, I was technically a part-time person there for a year or so as an intern/interrim High School leader. But he and I never met formally as employee to employer, we just met a few times socially and that was it. The only time I ever talked to him as a pastor to staffer was at the Christmas party after I had completed my internship. That was it.

What Ray means to Calvary is like a parable. In a lot of ways that church carries his personality. Big and tall, bold and conservative. In a place like Oak Park, Illinois… being bold and conservative earned him a reputation. Oak Park is anything but a haven for conservative Christians. I remember when we lived there we were shocked to learn that our town had been labeled “the gay freindliest place in the midwest.”

And yet Ray was respected there. He earned the respect of even his biggest critics. Take a look at some of these articles that a flowing into the hugely liberal newspaper… the Wednesday Journal.

‘Restless’ Pritchard to leave Calvary Church
Lamenting the loss of two conservatives

Ray leaves big shoes to fill. In his 16 years at Calvary he really grew the name of his church in the community. More than that, he has become a nationally recognized speaker, author of more than 20 books, and radio/TV show regular in Christian circles. I don’t know what he’s off to do, but as a friend of mine remarked… “It’s going to be good.” An elder of the church said in a newspaper article… “We’re just happy to have had him for our pastor.”

Godspeed to Ray and his family as they search out what is next.

Sorry, this isn’t about sex.

I realize I have been neglecting to make some entries for a few days, don’t worry… I am OK.

we got the house and that is crazy. No time to talk about all the insanity… let’s just say I went to paint 3 rooms yesterday but only got 2 done… and I need a new ceiling for my bedroom. Oops. It just fell down.

Then I thought it would be a relaxing day at the office… big joke! Instead the network flubbed up yesterday and I got to talk to SBC tech support all morning… the guys who barely speak English and live in India were maddening. All that to say I had to install a new switch and router. So I actually didn’t get anything of my job done today.

More later.

As of 2:00 PM today, we’ve taken possession of our new house. The keys were dropped off at the real estate agent and Kristen zoomed from the supermarket to retreive them. That was it, with a phone call… it became 100% ours.

I made a trip over there earlier this evening to drop off all the paint we’ve purchased from Paul’s, Megan’s, and our bedroom. Obviously, this is very exciting for the family. The kids had a blast running around to the different rooms. We even met one of the neighbors, they are awesome.

A funny thing I wasn’t expecting. The kids were excited about their new house but didn’t feel free to just play. They are being very cautious about the whole thing. It will change for sure by the end of the week. [Especially since a member of the church wants to give us a massive play structure!]

We plan on painting and gradually moving stuff over to the new place by the end of the week. I think I’ll be asking for furniture help this Saturday to finish it out.

It still doesn’t feel real? How did this happen?

So this struck me this afternoon. I don’t know if I am bothered by it or not… but it’s worth talking about with PB next week.

I got an e-mail from PB today asking me to do something before Sunday AM. Now, Saturday is my day off. I am off on Monday’s as well… am I somehow responsible to work whenever PB asks?

I don’t think so. I don’t think this was done arrogantly… afterall, PB works Saturday’s because he is a procrastinator! He probably assumed I was doing the same thing.

My big thing here is, “Am I being selfish for protecting this day off?” Doesn’t my family need for me to be selfish? Don’t they deserve me? Or is the website and other stupid stuff more important?

OK, enough ranting!

There are a lot of things going on in my mind right now… here are some on the top 5 list.

1. Moving: Obviously, we are moving next week and there are still a myriad of details to handle. As I drove to work this morning I saw that the previous owners have a moving company there today… PHEW! This means we really are going to be moving this next week. The strange thing is that with everything else spinning out of control right now, it’s not even really sunken in yet that in a few days we will be living at a different address.
2. Office renovation. It’s been about 6 weeks since the office renovations began. They are nearing completion… but a lot of this finish stuff takes time. My office is getting painted and carpeted this weekend. [As are all of the offices] The furniture will be ordered soon… so it looks like I’ll have a new office very soon. Some nice additions that they’ve made to the office space. Sound proofing. New everything, windows going in during Phase 1 in November. Kitchenette for us work-aholics. Counseling area. Massive work area for office staff. Fixed the order so that the secretarial staff can screen our visitors instead of the other way around.
3. Home renovation. As I write this Kristen has a pocket full of money and is dashing around buying stuff for our new house. She’s been given $500 per room for the 3 bedrooms to do a “HGTV Design-like Challenge.” She seems to be having fun with that. I know I get to spend all day Monday painting and all day tommorow buying stuff at Home Depot and Sears. I am thinking of replacing all of the kitchen countertops next week as well.
4. Light Force. I’ve been a bit consumed with improving LF, especially Sunday school. I’ve activated my other ms/hs teachers a lot more with this new idea… I hope it sticks. Here is what we are teaching right now. Yep, stole it from Doug Fields! Good stuff.
5. Golf team. The Romeo Golf Team has really stunk it up this year. We started off the year with such high hopes… what the hell is going on? Our #1 player quit last week. We’ve suspended a talented junior and I doubt he’ll come back. Now, last night, we suspended 2 seniors for a myriad of stupidity. All of a sudden, we’re looking at a team with lots of talent, not a lot of drive, undisciplined, and losing like crazy. Next week’s Macomb County tournament… we’re planning on starting 2 freshmen! I am really disappointed with this season so far. It’s a nightmare.

So… these are the things going on in my life besides work. Now that I’ve gotten that off my chest, hopefully I can concentrate of one project at a time.

Last night was our first LF of the school year. I was simply amazed at how many students we had there. While there weren’t any new faces that I saw… there were lots of the old regulars who we hadn’t seen in a long, long time. It was quite an encouragement to me and my team.

As always, all of my LF talks are posted on the LF website. There is a link for that on the sidebar.