Who's had the greatest week ever?

This has been Joe's week. Tuesday he performed with his band and also did a solo bit in the school's variety show. Wed was the homecoming parade where he rode in a convertible corvette with his escort. And tonight was the actual homecoming game and halftime show. He should have won but he did have fun. I was very proud of him. His free spirit, his God-given talents, and his outgoing personality have made him a friend to many. Tomorrow is the homecoming dance and he and his date and all his friends are going together. It's great being a senior.

Good meeting

Had a good meeting with our landlord. We have til the end of Nov to decide whether we should move to another location. He wants us to stay even though he has had some offers on the space. He even told me that he was going to start tithing to our church until his family finds a church home in their area (he is in Cobb Co.). He has always acted generously toward us. He again expressed his belief in what God wants to do in this place and says that he prays for us regularly. My hearts desire is to stay here and see God finish His work in this place. I love our building but I am not tied to it. I would move if God so led. We will pray and listen for God's voice in this matter.

The Lord of the Land

I meet with our landlord (this word just struck me funny - is he really lord of the land) tomorrow at 10 am. Our lease is up in Nov. Pray that we can work another deal to stay in this building and also pray that we will know if God wants us to move. And if He wants us to move that God will show us quickly where He wants us to go. I'm trusting in the true Lord of the Land to tell us where we can plant.

My life has changed!

I started bus driving on Monday and my life (routine would probably be better) has changed. Up at 5 am and in the office between 8:30 and 9:00. This is a good thing. Afternoons after 1:00 are pretty well shot. It really has been fun for the most part. I picked up 2 boys from our church yesterday and seeing the look on their faces when they realized I was driving was priceless. I have a new appreciation for teachers. At least I get to drop them off. Here are some things I have seen in just the few short days on the job:

• A middle schooler who could stick his tongue all the way up his nose thus eliminating the middle man and keeping his fingers free of debris.
• A first grade girl with more boyfriends than Solomon had wives. She had to break up with one because he was crazy. She already had one crazy boyfriend but she couldn't handle two crazy boyfriends.
• A high schooler that made me think that this insurance better be worth it.
• Another first grade girl who like to point at everything with her middle finger to the horror of every other kid on the bus.
• I went down a big windy hill and when I looked up in the mirror all the kids had their hands up like they were riding a roller coaster.
• I didn't know that their were still dirt roads in Cherokee County.
• Nobody likes to be behind a bus so everybody pulls out in front of the bus. I wish they realized that busses carry kids.

Its all good though. I am grateful for this opportunity. I think it is good for me.

9-23-07 Recap

• Another great attendance. I asked the Lord to let us Spring into Fall by letting us take off where we left off and He has done just that. We have been running what we were between Eater and Mother's Day. This is a great start. Our Dippin' Dots outreach was very successful and we have another outreach in Oct that I pray will be just as effective.
• Played a video of guys riding down the highway fighting over what radio station to listen to which led them into a crash. The band immediately followed with "Crash" by Chris Daughtry. This went great with our sermon "Avoiding the Hard Road" which talked about listening to God rather than yourself, the crowd, popular wisdom, pop culture, etc. Listening to the wrong voice can end in disaster. Text was 1 Kings 22 with Kings Ahab and Jehoshaphat.
• Offerings are not exactly where we need them to be but getting better. Keep praying.
• Baptism is next Sunday and I can't wait to see some take this step of obedience in their faith journey.
• I am working on our next series called "Supernatural." We will be looking at what Jesus (the most supernatural of us all) taught about the supernatural (heaven, hell, spirit world, etc.). It will be good.
• Went to Cowboys for a birthday party Sunday night. This is the only time I have been to this Country honky tonk. It is family night on Sundays with no smoking or drinking. They gave free line dancing lessons. Pattie is a natural but my Boot Scoot Boogie needs a lot of work.
• Starting this bus driving has been more time consuming than I thought. It should get better though.
• Joe is in the talent show at Woodstock High tonight. His band should steal the show.
• Joe is also in the Homecoming Court this Friday night. This ought to be fun.
• Pattie and I went and saw her mother on Friday. It was good to see her. Pray for her health, she runs out of breath easily. Pray for wisdom for the doctors.
• Rayanne led the Bible study for our youth group Monday night. I heard that she did a great job. The students are taking turns sharing what God is teaching them. What a great experience and opportunity.
• Sorry that I am late in getting this written. I'll do better.

It's Official!

Yesterday I took my CDL driving test and passed and now I am officially a Cherokee County School Bus Driver. I report monday at 6am for my first driving assignment. I have had 2 weeks of gruelling, intensive training (it was a lot tougher than I expected). I have driven a bus to every school in the county and there are a lot of schools. I have driven with, picked up and unloaded Middle/High schoolers and Elementary kids. I have met a ton of nice people. It has been a good experience. I approached our elders at the beginning of August about applying for this job. I had a great need for health care that the church was unable to provide at this time. I felt that I could do the bus driving job without seriously affecting my duties at Axios. The morning route is done between 6 and 8. This can be done before my usual starting time at the office. It will actually get me to the office earlier than before (8 instead of 9 or after). The afternoon route is from 1:30 until 3:30 or 4:00. But this time will be well worth it for the pay and benefits. The pay is very good for a part time job and is done in a way that I am paid all year round even in June and July when I wouldn't be driving. There are also plenty of school breaks during the year. The medical benefits kick in after 30 days and it is great coverage and very affordable. I am excited about this opportunity. This has not been an easy decision for me. I have been in full-time ministry since 1990 (17 years) and when we started Axios I felt strongly that God wanted me in it full time. But for some reason God has given me permission to do this job and has opened the door quickly for me to move through it. It will provide a great need for my family and the extra money will be a blessing but i am praying that it will be more than these things. I pray that He will let me meet people who need Him. That He will let me see our community through different eyes. That He will let me see our county for what it really is - a mixture of rich and poor, of the hopeful and the hopeless, the ugly and the kind. Maybe through this He will expand the borders of our church and of my heart and of our vision. Maybe I will only have to do this for this year or maybe I will want to do it for the next 10 years. Whatever it is I know that this is how the Lord has lead me. And I will follow with open eyes, a glad heart and the love of Christ.

Sunday 9-16-07

• We had another great day today. The set design, the songs, the countdowns, and the message have really flowed well the last two weeks. The stage design definitely adds to the atmosphere and I can't wait to see other creative elements enhance our services.
• Great attendance this week. We had more this week than last week after our outreach. We beat out Mother's Day for the third largest attendance of the year. Only Easter and our launch day in March were bigger. Praise God!
• All of the visitors that we had last week came again this week. 100% returned. That has never happened before. We also had first time visitors and at least one other couple came as a result of our Dippin' Dots outreach. Praise God with the loud sounding cymbals!
• Haven't heard what the offering was but I'm going to praise Him with the tambourine and dance for whatever it is!
• The message was about "Trust in the Lord with all your heart." Our greatest need is not direction, wisdom, insight in order to choose the right paths for our lives. Our greatest need is God. We need God. Not what God can give us but God Himself.
  
• All the ladies' got together for a luncheon after church today. They had a good turnout and I assume they had a good time and I'm sure they had great food.
• Rayanne and I hit the Mexican restaurant for lunch. Everyone went in separate directions after church and it was just me and Rayanne. We had fun together.
• Joe's band played at Hobgood Amphitheater this afternoon. What a beautiful day to be in that setting. They did a great job.
• I can't believe that a month ago we were suffering through 100+ heat. Today we didn't even use our ceiling fans.
• I barely got to see any tv today. But I do know that Tiger Woods is the man, my favorite NASCAR guy Jeff Gordon took second, and the Falcons stink. maybe I can catch the football game tonight.
• Watched the movie, "Breach" last night with Pattie. It was pretty good.
• Pray for me Tuesday. I have an 8 am appointment. I'll share more about it soon.
• There are lots of things that I do not know or understand. But I do know that I love God, my Father and His Son, my brother and Savior, Jesus Christ. I love His church. I love the church that He has called me to. I love doing what I do. I want to do it the rest of my life. It can be a burden but it mostly brings me joy. I know that God is with me. He constantly reassures me of this. I'm glad that He is with me. It brings me comfort and joy. I love Him and I have tasted Him and found that He is good. Praise God with the harp or the drums or the electric guitar or the kazoo or with whatever noise you can make - just praise Him!
  

Our New Deck

Just thought I would show off our new deck and stairs as well as the carpentry skills of my son-in-law, Brian. I can't get over Brian and Jenny doing this for us. Sadie went up and down the stairs by herself for the first time today. What a brave dog!

Promised pictures

I told you that I would try to get some pictures of our set on the blog and here they are. My nephew, Nathanael, painted the city sunset scape. He also made the road signs. Our Creative Design Team put the pieces together on the stage. It looked great! The sign says "Road to Somewhere" and a car chase scene is on our screen as a countdown to the start of our service.

These two signs were placed on our street in the entrance of our warehouse. Straight Path comes from Proverbs 3:6 where God says He will make our paths straight. Good name and God's Favor is also found on that path.

Joe Stagnaro painted this awesome display on our side wall in the Worship area. Joe is very talented and I appreciate his artistic flare and his desire to use his talents in our Creative Design Team. He also plays the electric guitar in our band.

September 9 Recap

Sorry for being so late on this post. We had a great weekend but very busy and it has slap worn me out. I am excited about a lot of things that happened Sat and Sun. I thought Sunday was one of the best services that we have had. From the crowd to the set design to the music to the message - everything went off with excellence and a fresh Spirit.

• Saturday we drove to several communities in our immediate area including the 3 apartment complexes in Holly Springs and most of the sub-divisions in Prominence Point and a stop at the Depot in the downtown area. We had a Dippin' Dots cooler that we carried on a trailor and gave away free Dippin' Dots. We gave away nearly 300 servings and we were received well in each community. We met 100's of people and gave them a pamphlet about our church. We were sporting new Church in the Warehouse t-shirts and I believe we had many good contacts. We also set up a table with a "Love Y Holly Springs" banner and asked for ways that we could be praying for them. We had several people share their needs and gave us the opportunity to pray with them. We were out from 11 am to 6 pm. It was great!
• We had a great kickoff to our new series "The Road to Somewhere". We unveiled the backdrop that my nephew, Nathanael, had painted for us a month earlier. The picture above is the backdrop design. The roadsign is a seperate prop from the cityscape. On the back of the backdrop were names of people that our people had written there over the last couple of weeks - people we wanted to reach and invite to church. We had prayed for those names and I love seeing our people respond to such an invitation - to not pray for a crowd but for specific people that God had placed on their hearts. The set was beautiful and I am proud of our Student Ministry who put it together and completed the process. It was impressive. I will post some pictures soon of the actual staging.
• We also had great coutdown videos for the start and fellowship times of cars racing down highways, streets and roads. They fit well with the overall theme. We opened the service with "Life Is a Highway" and the band hit a homerun with it.
• We mixed up the order of service with an opener, a welcome and then 2 worship songs. We had Dippin' Dots during the fellowship break followed by brief announcements and a Jeremy Camp song "Let It Fade" that talked about giving God control of your life. It led into the message "Choosing the Right Road." Everyone is on a road leading to somewhere. But is your road taking you to the destination you desire. The next services are "Trusting the God of the Road", "Avoiding the Hard Road", and "Taking the High Road."
• Great crowd with many first time visitors and returning visitors. A few old friends also showed up.
• Great atmosphere. I loved how everything worked together.
• Never stop praying!

The Bright Morning Star

I am up early today. We have an outreach to the community planned for today. I woke up around 5 and spent some time with the Lord and then got ready and made my way to the church. It was still dark when I left and just a sliver of a moon was visible. But below that sliver was the bright Morning Star. As significant as the rainbow to Noah, that Star brought peace, hope and an overwhelming sense of God's love and presence. Rev 22:16 says the He (Jesus) is that Morning Star. It was beautiful and bright in the dark, clear morning sky. The greatest truth in all the world is that God loves me and the greatest comfort is that God is with me. What a great reminder as we start this day and kickoff our fall outreach in this community.

You are the Lord, the Famous One, the Famous One
Great is Your name in all the earth
The heaven's declare You're Glorious, Glorious
Great is Your fame beyond the earth

For all You've done and yet to do
With every breath I'm praising You
Desire of nations and every heart
You alone are God, You alone are God

And the Morning Star comes shining through
And every eye is watching You
Revealed by nature and miracles
You are Beautiful, You are Beautiful

A Great Surprise and a Wonderful Blessing

Yesterday early morning, my son-in-law, Brian, showed up and started tearing down our back stairs and small deck. The back outside stairs were wobbly and definitely looking old. Our dog, Sadie, wouldn't even come out on those steps and on the deck where I grill. The night before I had even put a hamburger on the deck to tempt her out but she refused. I told Pattie that maybe Sadie knew something that we didn't about the safety of our stairs. So now, by tonight, I will have new stairs and a larger deck and I am just blown away by the generosity of Jenny and Brian and the goodness of God to do something like that for us. God often meets our needs through generous people but when God does something for you that you are not even praying about you realize that God is deeply invested in your life. That He is keenly aware of your needs even before you are. God is and always will be good.

Sunday, 9-2-07

• Had a lot of regulars out because of Labor Day.
• Joe led our worship and Ben played the drums. Everyone did a great job.
  
• Orange, Grape and Strawberry Crush for drinks today.
• It was cool in the service today. We had our ac checked this week and the guy put in 5 lbs of freon. You could really tell the difference. 85 instead of 100 degrees makes a difference too.
• The message was more for me than anyone else, although many requested copies and responded to the message. It was about enduring trials and how many of our trials are difficult because they often clash with our dreams and even God's promises. Our present circumstance is often not what we envisioned for our lives and it may seem that God's promises are not coming into reality. Will we stay committed and bring the thing to completion? Or will we bail and try an alternate route? Many of God's rewards and blessings are delayed in order for the trial to reveal our true dedication to God and His process. God is faithful and will keep His promises if we will only persevere.
• We closed with everyone coming forward and praying for me and for our outreach attempts this Saturday.
• Saturday we are going out in the neighborhoods especially the apartment complexes nearby and handing out free Dippin' Dots and invitations to our church. Its a chance to get into the community and gain some visibility as well as meeting people instead of sending out impersonal mailers. We also have an ad coming out in Around Canton as well as new signs on the way. We are also working on changing our website.
• I'm anxious to get started on our new series next Sunday called "The Road to Somewhere." Tomorrow many of our High School students are coming to put up our backdrop and get our set put together for this series. It should be fun.
• Had a few people back today that have been out for a while. It was good to see them.
• I'm done with the Braves.
  
• Way to go Georgia and Georgia Tech! Too bad for you Michigan and Tennessee fans.
• My friend, Dwayne Sumner, is coming to town today. We are suppose to hook up either Mon or Tues.
• I love air conditioning!