• Metro Detroit Youth Workers Lunch

    Friday afternoon I had the joy of connecting up with a great group of people for my second Metro Detroit Youth Workers lunch. This one was much smaller, but much cooler than the last one. Man… a good atmosphere is everything.

    Things I liked…

    • Talking to some of the same people from last time. I met up with Jim Stoltz again… he’s a youth guy in Commerce. (Wherever that is) I just like the guy, he’s pretty cool. Of course, I have a Moody connection with him, so that’s always a good start.
    • I liked hearing from the old timers. They had good stuff to say. I needed to be encouraged and I was.
    • I got to talk to people about what God is doing at my church and what God is doing with youth workers through YMX. It was cool because I was worried I would talk to people about YMX far too much. But in fact I got to talk about things in the right order… I talked to people the most about my family. I got to talk to people the "next most" about my ministry. And I got to talk to people a very little about YMX. That made it 100% worth my time.
    • I loved hearing about what God is doing in and through so many ministries and businesses. I left encouraged that we are just a little closer to overcoming a satanic oppression of church competition that exists in the Metro Detroit area. I want to be used by God in playing a small part in overcoming it.
    • It was very cool that Dave over at Faith Lutheran seemed somewhat interested in being a part of a local network again. It’s been far too long and we really need to figure out how to make it happen.
    • Of course, it was great seeing Jason Raitz. Can’t put a finger on the "why" parts of it, but I just think he’s a great guy.
    • It was fun hooking up with the guys from YFC and talking about 3Story. I don’t know if they are serious or not… but I’m interested in helping them teach adults in Metro Detroit 3Story.

    Most of all… and I can’t explain this excitement… I’m geeked about seeing a lot of these same folks in Cincinnati this November. The YS convention should be oodles more fun and I should get a lot more out of it because I know so many more people. I’m really looking forward to this in November.

  • A fantastic Sunday

    Today was the first time we ran two services under our new format. Overall, unofficially, I’d rate it a B+. There weren’t any major problems that have to be fixed. We had musicians in both services, both services ran on time, the resource/welcome area did exactly what we hoped it would do, KidsTown happened and went pretty well, on and on and on.

    About those problems… honestly, I don’t even want to think about them right now. (Minor picky stuff mostly)I took notes, we’ll deal with that stuff in our staff meeting… right now I’m just glowing with excitement for the extremely good day today. Everything we needed to go well, went well. Phew! Now, getting at church at 7:30 am for worship team practice… that just leads me to the next thing I need… a nap.

  • Deep thoughts for a Saturday

    I don’t think I have any complete thoughts today… but I do have several partial ones.

    1. It is prematurely freezing here in Romeo. Current temperature at our house is 62.2 F. And it feels colder than that. Leaves are falling as I type this in my front yard. Far too early to think about raking or finding out why our leaf blower won’t work. And far too soon to think about getting the snow blower ready.
    2. I’m excited for the football game today. I heard 35,000 people showed up for the pep rally tonight and rumor has it that the Notre Dame vs. Penn State game is the toughest ticket ever at Notre Dame Stadium.
    3. My Fantasy Baseball team is in the playoffs. Heading into the last 48 hours the two teams are tied.
    4. We’re hosting the churches Bonfire tomorrow night. We aren’t anywhere near being ready and the backyard closely resembles a wheat field before harvest. Today’s cold and rain is not helping matters.
    5. It’s a fact, the elevator is open for business at the church. I think I was one of the first unofficial riders. I rode downstairs with the general contractor minutes after we passed our inspection. When the doors opened downstairs I yelled for Chris to come give it a try. It was a simple pleasure as she ran over and we rode upstairs. I’m extremely happy it’s up and running.
    6. Two services in the morning. When I got here 3+ years ago we ran two services. It’s nice to be bringing that back. In fact, I think by doing two identical services we’re doing things much better than the old way.
    7. The kids are going to see Lassie. In case you didn’t know, there is a new version of the old classic in theaters. I don’t think Paul will be into it… but Megan will fall in love with the story.

    I have other random thoughts… but the weather has me desiring a nap.

  • A photo a day…

    And the spoof is even better…

  • Heart thumping…

    Church_014
    Nearly two weeks ago the church staff decided that September 10th wouldn’t just be the day we went to two services, started KidsTown (Including building KidsTown) and really moved forward with our vision… we decided this was going to be the day that we wrapped up our Phase One building project as much as possible.

    Exteriorview
    The last 12 days were spent painting, finishing drywall, ripping out old carpet, installing new lighting, finalizing the Resource Center, pushing the elevator inspections, pushing the final 3-4 contratrators to complete the exterior and basically getting the foyer to the point where we can say… it’s 99% completed.

    Resourcecenter
    The changes to the look of the church have been dramatic over the past 12-14 months. Before, the building was antiquated. It was a nice place to worship, it had a good feel to it, but everything about the building was 20-30 years old. It’s been a collasal amount of work (Barely any on my part, mostly on the shoulders of George Fisher and an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition style crew of volunteers) to remodel the offices, then the sanctuary, then the foyer, while contrators tore the face of the building off, added an elevator, all new windows, an new entrance, and a new face to the exterior.
    Newdoors
    In the meantime, all of the "new stuff" has been finalized as well. Light Force led the way Wednesday night as it became the first arm of the church to implement the changes. KidsTown is next… it launches this Sunday with a whole team of very excited volunteers.

    Not forgetting about God. Yeah, while these last few weeks have been stressful… they are also quite peaceful. I don’t know any other way to describe how I feel about this in my walk with the Lord. I know that I am doing the absolute best I know how. As I hang out in Acts and 1 & 2 Peter in my devotions I clearly see God’s fingerprints everywhere I turn with the work being done.  I long for people to join us in experiencing freedom and forgiveness of the past through Christ. I long for this to happen:

    They [false teachers of the world] promise them freedom, while they themselves are slaves of depravity—for a man is a slave to whatever has mastered him. If
    they have escaped the corruption of the world by knowing our Lord and
    Savior Jesus Christ and are again entangled in it and overcome, they
    are worse off at the end than they were at the beginning. 2 Peter 2:19-20

    I think that the King James actually captures this passage best. [See the link above for KJV] I know there are many in our community (in the church and out of it) who have given themselves to one bondage or another. They desire liberty but are put into bondage. Oh, that we would continually teach that Jesus brings liberty into lives given through birth and bad decision to sin! It kills me to see so many people flee Christ because they see bondage or judgement or religion’s rules and much, much more. They have an incorrect view of the cross!

    As we say in Light Force… people think they are alive, they think they are healthy… but without being "infected" with Christ, they are really dead. They need to die to themselves by getting infected with Jesus in order to truly live the best life God has for them.

  • Ghost ride the whip spoof

    This is an official inside joke between me and Dave. It’s a secret code.

  • Megan is in school

    Peach_fest_049Tuesday, Megan began Kindergarten. As a parent, this is pretty hard to swallow. All the emotions of her growing up seem to well up as the reality of her not being a baby anymore slaps you in the face. In the days leading up to school starting I was pretty bummed out. But on Tuesday I was actually quite excited for her.

    She didn’t have to be to the school until something like 10:45 AM. But she was awake and ready to go before 8:00 AM. She paced and paced and was having a hard time being patient.

    Peach_fest_041Today marks the 3rd day of school for her. She is quickly falling into the routine of it and seems to love everything about it. Her teacher seems really nice. I look forward to this year being a positive experience for Megan and her learning a lot.

    It’s kind of weird. You are standing there in line, waiting to drop your kid off, when it hits you. Megan will know some of these kids for the next 13 years of school.

  • Praise God for Delegation

    Today is already an insane day. Lots of plates spinning, lots of good things happening, and lots of new plates popping into view today. Sorry I’m not talking in specifics… but I just want to say that I it’s days like today when I am especially glad I have a team of people I can hand things off to in a pinch.

  • Another sign of winter

    Econoheatpanel_1I ordered another Econo-Heat panel for Paul’s room. We only had one last winter and I wanted to make sure we keep Paul nice and toasty in his room. The one in Megan’s room was fantastic last winter… so I think it’s worth the money. I read a bunch of flaming bad reviews online of these, mostly by people who sell furnaces or install more expensive systems… but here are the "pluses" for me.

    1. You can turn them on and off. We don’t run it very much, so you can control how much money you spend on that room. By running the furnace to the kid’s rooms we wouldn’t have that control. (Well, if I upgraded the whole house to a zoned heating system… but that’s oodles of money)
    2. Easy to install.
    3. Very safe. Unlike most space heaters, these aren’t going to burn you if you touch them. Since it’s mounted to the wall I don’t have to worry about it tipping over or anything either.
    4. No brainer installation. I can’t lie, this is a factor for me. I’m not the handiest person and the world and I love that I can take it out of the box and put it on the wall without a problem.

  • The Croc Hunter has Died

    Croc_hunterI am quite sad about this. Steve Irwin, the Crocodile Hunter, has tragically died. He was filming along Batt Reef, off the coast of Australia, when he was stung by a stingray. Here’s an excerpt from the news story.

    "He came on top of the stingray and the stingray’s barb went up and
    into his chest and put a hole into his heart," said Stainton, who was
    on board Irwin’s boat at the time.

    Crew members aboard the boat, Croc One, called emergency services in
    the nearest city, Cairns, and administered CPR as they rushed the boat
    to nearby Low Isle to meet a rescue helicopter. Medical staff
    pronounced Irwin dead when they arrived a short time later, Stainton
    said.     [Read the article here]

    I’ve greatly enjoyed Steve’s shows over the year’s. As someone who is deathly afraid of reptiles in general… he certainly made learning about them tolerable for me. Likewise, Steve’s voice has been one I’ve often imitated. I’ll have to come up with a new voice for talking to Nathan and Shawna Jordan. (Though I’ve still got "A Dingo stole my baby!") I’m going to miss his presence on Animal Planet. [Here’s his myspace profile]

    Also, I feel terrible for his wife Terri and young children Bindi and Bob. All jokes aside, this is a very real tragedy to his family. He lived a dangerous life and unfortunately his career led to his untimely death.

    Here’s the complete story from TV in Australia. (10 minutes of video)