Christmas Day

We had everyone at our house today. It was great. We did the best we could with this picture. Even Sadie wanted in it. I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas.

Sunday Recap

Had a great service Sunday night. Here are pictures of our beautiful lights. The band was great. They did three sets. Started with secular songs, then moved to traditional carols and finally with contemporary worship. The dessert fellowship was fun and fattening.

Happy Birthday, Pam

Just a special shout out to my sister, Pam. It is her birthday today. She is one of my great encouragers and the Lord has been doing a great work in her life and we have grown together in the Lord the last few years. Hope you have a great day.

My Christmas List That Money Can't Buy

1. World peace. This always seemed like a wasted wish to me or a simplistic Miss America answer. I know that true peace will not come until Jesus comes with His kingdom but this issue has been on my heart a lot lately. I am thankful for the soldiers that will not see home this Christmas.


2. End global warming or at least all the ridiculous talk about it, for and against. Although I believe that we cannot destroy this earth that is held together by the power of His Word, I have been challenged recently to care more about the environment. His first mandate was for us to care for the earth. It's amazing to me that the Church has labeled this a "liberal" stance instead of seeing a biblical mandate for it.


3. Clean water for everyone. It is possible to end this problem in our lifetime if we all did our part. People deserve a better chance at life. I stay close to this issue and informed about these efforts. Clean water often precedes Living Water. According to the World Water Council, 1.1 billion people live without clean drinking water; 2.6 billion people lack adequate sanitation; 1.8 million people die every year from treatable diarrheal diseases and 3,900 children die every day from water born diseases. In Dec. of 2006, we raised $3000 to drill a well in Rwanda and changed the lives of hundreds of people in the village of Bugesera. This year we would like to drill another well. Living Water International exists to demonstrate the love of God by providing desperately needed clean water and medical attention, along with the "living water" of the gospel of Jesus Christ, which alone satisfies the deepest thirst. We will be accepting donations all month for this worthy cause as well as a special offering being received at our Christmas service this Sunday. By the way, according to Matt. 25 it is the perfect gift for Jesus on His birthday.
   


4. A cure for cancer. Cancer and other heart-stopping news reminds us that life is a gift and that every day should be cherished. Pattie's brother, Ray, is dealing with this. I would give him long life and health if it were mine to give. There are other health issues in our extended family, especially on Pattie's side, that I wish could be eliminated and full health restored.

Of course there are more things that I could wish for that money can't buy. There are many things that we would love to receive as a gift but they would never fulfill because it is a shortcut and there is much to be said about the journey or much to be learned through the process. I'm thankful that God as our Father wisely ditributes all of His good and perfect gifts from above.

Evan Almighty

Jim and Donna came over for dinner last night and then we watched Evan Almighty. It was very good, this story of a modern day Noah. When Bruce Almighty came out several years ago, my first instinct was to discredit it and label it blasphemy. But after seeing the movie, I was impressed with how these directors were handling the subject of "God." I enjoyed it thoroughly. This movie keyed in on obeying God even if it what He is asking you to do seems ridiculous. It encouraged me. I enjoyed it thoroughly.

Christmas Eve Eve Service

We are trying something different this week - we are having a Christmas Service at 6PM with no morningt service at all. I'm calling it our Christmas Eve Eve Service. We decorate our church so beautifully and much of it is lost in the morning sunlight so we sre having our service at night to enjoy the splendor of the lights and trees. Christmas Eve Services are nice but sometimes its hard to get the family together and go when there is still so much to do before the morning. I'm looking forward to sleeping in on Sunday and enjoying the service in the evening. By the way, everyone is bringing a dessert for fellowship time. Sounds good!

Great weekend

Had a great weekend.

• Joe's Vassia concert was excellent on Friday night. They performed at a Vineyard church in Marietta. It was an old sotore front that they had turned into a nice worship place. Great artwork all over the walls from people in their own body. I would love for our people to express themselves in such creative ways.
• Shopping was good all the way into the fourth hour. Pattie and I had a great time together and although I think we should temper our spending on frivilous gifts, it was fun spending our money on others. It rained the whole time we were out but how can you be upset about that in these days of drought. Which reminds me that when I was watching the weather later in the evening, it was as if they were not happy about the rain. They just reminded us of how far we are still behind in our average rainfall. As if they want the entire deficit to be met in one rainfall. We would be in a heep of trouble if we got 20+ inches of rain at once. Lets just rejoice in the rain that we received and thank God that He hasn't dried up the sky completely.
• We had a lot of fun at the Dorr's Sunday night with the Middle Schoolers. We played the White Elephant Gift Grab game where you take turns choosing a gift under the tree and then the next person can "steal" the gift from that person or get a new one from under the tree. I ended up with a Joke-a-day Calendar. Here's a sample: Two antenaes met, fell in love, and got married. The wedding wasn't much but the reception was excellent! Ha, ha, ho, ho, hee, hee! I can't wait to start putting these into my sermons. Sunday mornings will never be the same.

Sunday Recap

• There was an overwhelming presence of the Lord in our service today. From the very first song, Joy to the World, to the last, Glory in the Highest, our building was full of the Lord's glory. It was very moving, encouraging, beautiful and free of manipulation. The good crowd and their participation in the praise portion of our worship service filled our building with a fresh sacrifice of praise. It was good.
• I had known what I was preaching on for this Sunday for several weeks. We were concluding our series The Christmas Conspiracy with a sermon called "The Child Who Would Save the World." A gospel message should be the easiest sermon a preacher could put together but on Saturday night I still had no sermon. Over the last 5 years, I can remember only one other time being in this situation. My usual routine for sermon preperation is study, read and listen for the first few days of the week, then I need to leave it alone and let it all cook. Then its like God takes all that I have learned then "downloads" it in sermon form later in the week. It literally feels like God downloading it for me to preach. Well Saturday night, I had not received the download. I was not paniced or stressed about it. As a matter of fact I took all of Saturday off to be with my family and to shop with my wife. I felt confident that God had a plan. About 3:30, Sunday morning I woke up refreshed and hearing God's voice. He was leading me to a passage that I hadn't even studied this week, Romans 5. I laid there and dozed and listened until 5:00 am and then showered, dressed, hit the McDonald's for breakfast and was at the church a little before 6:00. God downloaded the message and used it in the lives of our people. His presence was evident. I say all this to say that preaching is a mystery. It's more about listening than studying. It's more about what is on God's heart than my heart. It's His Word not mine. Sermon preparation is not an academic exercise but a spiritual endeavor. God often has to remind me of such things. He keeps me humble yet lifts my soul. He keeps me dependent but gives me more than I need. He gives me silence so I can hear Him clearly when He speaks. Blessed be the name of the Lord!
• I'll write more later but I just got a call and I must run.

Weekend plans

Heading down to the Vineyard in Marietta tonight for a Vassia concert (Joe's band). It should be fun. They haven't given a concert in awhile. Also, they know that their time together as a band is getting short. They are all Seniors and soon will be pursuing their own career paths. It's sad and exciting at the same time.
Pattie and I will also be doing the rest of our Christmas shopping this weekend. We have done alot on line but have some more to do. I love to give but I don't necessarily love to shop. The first hour is fun but the third or fourth or the second for that matter can be too much. Being with Pattie makes it fun.

Party time!

Heading to a Christmas party tonight with the Praise band and the Sound team. It will be great to get together with them. I love the people that I get to do ministry with. Sunday night, we will be partying with the Middle Schoolers and youth leaders. Should be a lot of fun.

Sunday Recap

Hey,I'm back. I know that my blogging has been very irregular recently but there were alot of things going on with my computer going down and our Holiday Snow Blast that we did over the weekend. We spent alot of extra time and energy and extra nights preparing for this Dec outreach and left little time for this. But now that is behind us and I'm ready to get back to a regular schedule. Here are some thoughts about this weekend:

• Thanks to all of our people who made the Snow Blast a success. Lots of work and energy was put into this and it was greatly appreciated. It was great to see the number of people who got involved. "The more, the merrier" is a true statement.
• This was a pretty big attempt to get people from our community to come back and check out our Warehouse for something other than church. We didn't get as many people as I would have liked but we had a great time and had some good contacts.
• The best part of the Snow Blast was seeing the kids' (and the adults') faces when they would make snow. We had a product called Instant Snow and it was cool stuff.
• Sunday was a good day! A good crowd and plent of visitors.
• We had another family attend that first heard of us from our October football outreach. That's 2 weeks in a row. It has taken 2 months but it is finally paying off.
• We had almost triple the number of kids in the Childrens Ministry.
• The music set was great but our sound system is starting to give us fits.
• Second message in our series, The Christmas Conspiracy. This week we contrasted King Herod with Jesus Christ. Christmas is about God bridging gaps. Next Sunday we will be talking about the obvious gap between God and man but there are other gaps that God is bridging. Last week we talked about God bridging the gap between the powerful and the weak which led us to worship Jesus Christ as the true and victorious King. This week was about the bridging of the gap between the rich and the poor. Herod's kingship was built on wealth and power but Jesus builds His kingdom on grace and sacrifice. This should lead us to give more. We can be about either widening the gap or bridging the gap between the rich and the poor. Read 2 Cor. 8 for a challenging message from Paul.
• Saw very little football but loved the Colts and the Packers big wins, still hating on the Patriots and I can't believe the Cowboys pulled off that victory.
• MNF was a disaster with the Falcons. What are the chances that the day Vick is sentenced, the Falcons play on Monday night. My heart goes out to Michael Vick. I pray for a changed man.
• Took yesterday off. Needed the rest and to tend to some things around the house. I didn't even check e-mails.
• Looking forward to this week. I need some alone time with God. He refreshes me. I love Him. He is my Savior, King, Father, Brother, Friend, Provider, Healer, Teacher. He is everything to me and all that I need.

Just a few things

This is from last week when we put up our tree.

Here we are getting ready for our traditional eggnog toast.

Sadie loved the eggnog.

• Had a Middle Schooler tell me that I reminded her of Santa Claus. She said it was not in a bad way but because I have white hair and I'm kind to children. I'll accept that.

Revolutionary Christmas

Joe Stagnaro did these awesome pictures to illustrate the 4 principles of a Revolutionary Christmas. I thought you would like to see them.

Sunday Recap 12-2-07

We had a great day!

• The Warehouse was beautiful with all the lights and trees. Thanks to everyone who helped make this day a success.
• Bob and the band were awesome. I am blessed to have Bob, Monica, Joe, Joe, Donna and Pattie as our worship team. I love the talent God has placed in our church.
• We had visitors who first heard of us through our October Fall Festival football outreach. It took 2 months but the outreach paid off.
• I believe that we must continue a strong presence in our community. The more visibility the greater the opportunity for reaching people. I love Holly Springs and will continue to reach out to it on every occassion.
• We were still excited about the parade the previous day and the joy and fun of working together on this project. You can go here for more pictures of the parade.
• Started a new series called "The Christmas Conspiracy." Contrasted God's approach to the world as opposed to the Roman Empire's approach and the claims of Augustus Caesar to the claims of Christ. Sounds boring and a little intellectual but was very powerful. I believe that Christmas is about worship. Everyone connected to the Christmas story from the shepherds to the wise men, from Mary to the angels all worshipped in response to this occassion. This sermon lifted Jesus up as worthy to be praised, worshipped and served.
• Our new computer came in and it is awesome. Thanks to the generous people who provided it.
• Put Christmas lights up at the house but we still have a lot to do.
• Someone left us 4 big boxes of food on the porch around midnight Saturday. Our dog, Sadie, was going nuts but by the time Joe and I got to the door no one was there, only the boxes. At first I was uneasy. We have some needs but food is not one that concerns me. We always have food. But then I was moved with gratitude and awe. The thought that God moved on the hearts of someone to bless us with such a generous gift and to give all the glory to God so that the only person we have to thank is God Himself is very humbling. God is good all the time, in plenty and in scarcity, in hardship and good times. Thank you to whoever acted generously and praise to the One who provides.
• Caught a cold. I think this is the first time I have had a cold in 2 years. I hate it.
• The Patriots dodged another bullet. I won't really mind if they win the Super Bowl but somebody has got to ruin there perfect record.
• We have a busy week and a busy weekend coming up but it is all good.

The Holly Springs Christmas Parade

Today was a great day! We participated in the Christmas Parade and we had a blast! Our group worked hard today and we had the best float in the parade. Our snow machine was a big hit and made everyone's day! We handed out gift bags with candy canes and other candy in them, a bottle of water and a Christmas in the Warehouse brochure that highlighted all the things that we are doing this Christmas season. We sorely underestimated the crowd and ran out of bags quickly but it was great to have this kind of turn out. Pattie and I went to this parade last year and it was very small with only a few people coming out to see it. It was probably 3x as big this year! It was awesome. We had lighted Christmas trees, the snow machine and Christmas music blasting. We promoted our Holiday Snow Blast that we are putting on at the Warehouse next weekend. Thanks to everyone who had a part in this event.