Blooper Video

We wrapped up our series "If you could ask God one question..." this weekend. It was definitely our most popular series of the year. I thought it was a great day. Hearing from Leon Dorleans, a missionary from Haiti we support, was great. He is so natural at speaking and at least a couple people commented that they could have listened to him all day. Great things to say and funny! Hmmm..maybe they were trying to tell me something? Interviewing my good friend, Dan Thompson, was a highlight for me. God is doing some awesome things in his life.

In addition to the Sunday stuff I had an incredibly hectic weekend and what better thing to post on a Monday than a blooper video from our "On the street" interviews. Be warned, if you had any respect for me before, you will completely lose it after watching this...

Off the shelf

I love it when a book just captures and I can barely read a page without stopping to ponder what I just read. That is the case with Reimagining Evangelism by Rick Richardson. I had read one of his prior books Evangelism Outside the Box and loved it, so after meeting him this week I decided to give the new one a try. Boy am I ever glad. It is so thought provoking concerning how we help others know Jesus. Here's some excerpts I have found particularly engaging:

Three skills to help us collaborate with the Holy Spirit in Evangelism:
1. Listen to the whispers and nudges of the HS to show us where God is at work in the lives of those around us.
2. Ask great questions of others to find clues for where God is at work in their lives.
-Do you have any religious background, and does it mean anything to you today?
-Have you ever had what you would consider a spiritual experience?
-Do you think there is a God? What do you think God might be like.
-What do you think about prayer?
-When have you experienced turning points and crises?
-What have you done with the spiritual side of life?
-Where do you seek perspective and help with your inner questions, doubts and struggles?

3. Pray for seekers and skeptics with seekers and skeptics.
-This one hit me because just the day of reading this I had a phone conversation with a skeptic and I felt the urge to pray with him and I didn't. Got to make that one by calling him again.


Good stuff. Pick up a copy if you want a good, challenging read on Evangelism.

Sunday message - specific plan for my life?

Just finished my message outline and thought I would post it here. If anyone has any thoughts on the subject, love to hear them. I am teaching on this question, "Does God have a specific plan for my life?" My basic answer is that he has a purpose, mission or calling. I use those words interchangeably. However, I don't see that he has every detail spelled out in exact specificity. He leaves room for my own will to interact with His will. With that in mind here's my outline:

If you could ask God one question…
“Do you have a specific plan for my life?”

God has a purpose, mission or calling for each of our lives.

For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.

Ephesians 2:10

1. God’s calling is more of a compass than blueprint.

2. God’s calling is general AND specific.
1. God calls us to salvation.
2. God calls us to live purely.
   
   God’s will is for you to be holy.

1 Thessalonians 4:3 (NLT)

3. God calls us to specific works.

3. God’s calling is discovered as we let Him work in us.

Don’t copy the behavior and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect.

Romans 12:1 (NLT)

4. God’s calling is more about what He can do than what we can do.

1. God may call you to full time ministry.
2. God may call you to minister where you are at.
3. God may call you to use what you’ve got to minister.
   

The Suncrest Office

Here's the first installment of The Suncrest Office. Okay, it will probably be the only installment, but it was fun. The premise behind this is that we have a ton of people who do not know how to download a message from our website and are afraid to experiment, so I put together this video to show them how. Please know I created this in about 40 minutes and it shows, but I think it will serve the purpose and maybe, just maybe cause a chuckle. Unless you really want to know how to download a message you will only want to watch the first couple minutes. Click here to go to You Tube where you can get full screen viewing.

Reading in Church?

So I sat in the back yesterday during one of our services and as Greg was preaching I noticed this guy reading. I thought, "that's cool." He's reading the text from the message...but NO he was reading The Five Dysfunctions of a Team! I couldn't believe it. I mean it is a good book, but c'mon, in church! My first thought was really, why even come if you are just going to ignore everything that is said. I was amused as I continued to watch him how he would pop his head up occasionally as if it made him look like he was paying attention. I suppose there are several reasons he could have been doing that:
1) Already made his mind up that he did believe in God. Message was on how we can trust that God is real.
2) Already made up his mind that he did NOT believe that God is real and came only to appease his wife.
3) Was really wanting to find out how to build a team.
4) Had a bad case of gas.
5) Was just rude in general.

Whatever the reason I actually did pray for him. Something in his life is not right. He in essence was blocking the Spirit from working and I prayed that God would break through the wall.

And then there was Susan (not her real name). I met her after the services and she shared how she came to Suncrest last year after moving back closer to family. The reason for her move was the fact that she had lost her husband and moved back so she could pick up the pieces and move on. Her mother, who does not attend Suncrest, suggested she try it out, she did and she has been coming ever since. She loves it and expressed how much God has used Suncrest.

Ben's 2 months!

Here's my boy:

First Impressions of First Impressions and other stuff

So I was at this seminar today on how to give guests a WOW impression on their first visit. The premise of course is that if you can give a great first impression then people will be open to hearing the message. The seminar was actually really helpful and I am excited to put some new things in place.

I am sure that most people are bored with talk of this but I really wrestle with the wordage. As I mentioned before assimilation is the wrong word. Today one guy mentioned his role as that of "integration." I like that better...but still not totally satisfied. I know the overarching role for me is helping people take steps to come back, to Jesus, with Suncrest and in growth.

On a related note, a Saudi Arabian man had his nose partly sliced off by his two wives when he suggested he get a third wife. :)

AND a preview from next week's The Office with Jim imitating Dwight. Awesome!

Changing Hats...sort of

Over the next several months I will be changing hats...sort of. We are restructuring around our very own 4C model of growing in Christ (more on that another time). Basically all of us staff type people will play a little shake up with our job descriptions. Some will have bigger changes than others, but the whole idea is to give more focus to all of our areas. One big change for me is that I will gain leadership over all areas that involve welcoming, informing and connecting guests, baptisms (which I already do) and helping people take their "next step" in their faith. There isn't a good word to describe this process although "assimilation" has been used in the past. But since we are not the Borg, I hate that word. If anyone has a better word, please let me know. I always struggle in describing it. Beginning Discipleship is close. Anyway, if it involves a new person getting connected into the life of our church, then I pretty much will be over it. Where that job ends is when they connect in a community group and serve. Those two areas will be in others' leadership areas.

Anyway, I am excited. Gives me a chance to focus. One of those focuses will be our coffee. I can only describe it as something resembling the aftertaste of eating manure. Okay, I may be exaggerating, but it is bad. Getting us some awesome coffee will be one of the first things on my list. Probably doesn't matter to some, but I think bad coffee is a bad first impression in a world of Starbucks.

On that note, I am headed to a seminar at Granger Community Church that is focused on making a great first impression to guests.

Insider's View of VT tragedy

Here's a letter from a campus pastor working with Christ's Church at Virginia Tech Campus Ministry. Please pray for this ministry as they are the ones in the best position to minister.

Virginia Tech

I won't try to say anything profound about the Virginia Tech tragedy. It is yet another example of evil run rampant in our world. The question I hear over and over is, "Could this have been avoided?" I suppose it is a natural question to ask. For me the obvious answer is yes. It could have been avoided if Cho Seung-Hui would have chosen a different path...his mom and dad and been involved...if more people would have paid attention...if Adam had not bit into the apple. Unfortunately there are a lot of what ifs, but we are really only left with what is. And for that I pray for the families and friends of the victims. And I pray we would all open our eyes to people around us who are hurting and crying out for help.

On a similar note, it is ironic that Greg preached this sermon just last Sunday. Great and timely message on "Where is God when it hurts?"

Maranatha (come Lord Jesus, come).

Just a little patience

I think God is trying to teach me something...

Friday, I tried to do something really nice for my wife. We bought this van for a great price, but it did not come with remote entry. You should know that none of the cars we have owned have been equipped with that wonderful modern device. However, we have 4, yes, count them, 4 children, and more times than not my wife is out and about with them alone. Stumbling for keys to get into the van while maintaining an eye on 3 kids and holding 1 is not something I really want for my wife. So while my wife was away with Ben in KC, me and the 3 went to Circuit City to get remote entry installed. No bells (aka remote start). No whistles (aka alarm). Just keyless entry.

After I purchased the unit I was told it would take about 3 hours. So feeling adventurous, me and the 3 headed to target next door and then to a movie, Meet the Robinsons. 3 and a half hours later we walk back into Circuit City fully expecting the van to be ready. Think again. At that point it had just been brought in and would be another 2 hours. At this point, I really thought I might explode. I didn't, but it was pretty obvious I was frustrated.

To make a long story longer, we chose to wait. I ended up calling a friend who graciously came to be our taxi service. At the end of the day the keyless entry was installed, we got our van back and Sheila came home to a surprise. Now I doubt anyone would seriously find fault with me for being frustrated at the longer than expected wait. But it was one of many things that have happened to me that make me think I need more patience. I have noticed lately how impatient I am at the tiniest bit of waiting time and that bothers me. Since God calls patience one of the Fruits of the Spirit, that is a pretty good indication that I should see it if I am allowing the Spirit to work.

So, what should I do about it? God has obviously been trying to get my attention. Examples are legion and I don't have space to write about them all. Honestly, I'm not sure. I am praying for some direction. I certainly see that God wants to use waiting times to teach me patience, but other than being passive in those moments, what should I pray, do, think? I don't know yet. I wish I had an answer, like now.

Spring, yeah

Finally! 60 degrees...sunshine...no coat.

"Babysitting the kids"

I have only a few pet peeves...okay I probably have a lot, but I am quiet about most of them. But here is one of my worst. Whenever my lovely wife gets away for a few hours or as in these next 3 days is out of town, I typically get the same response. "Oh, that's nice you are baby sitting the kids." Umm...excuse me, but I am their father, I don't baby sit my kids, I only...er....watch them...or be their dad...or I am not sure what you call it but it is certainly not "babysitting." That is something we pay a teenage girl to do.

Perhaps it has a lot to do with the fact that dads have gotten a bad rep. Some deserved, some not. We don't always step up and actually be the one who is engaged with their kids hearts or be the ones who take an active role in shaping them or lack the confidence to take care of them properly. That is something I have endeavored to undue in my own upbringing. While my dad hit the road when he found out I came into existence, I have felt a tremendous call to be the dad I never had and frankly be the dad God called me to be.

On that note, one of the best resources I have ever seen has been Men's Fraternity. We just completed the first season of it at Suncrest and it was a tremendous help to the guys who participated. This morning as we sat around one big table together, it was awesome to sense that each guy was not alone in their struggle to be the man, husband and father God had called them to be.

Now...anyone want to have a lonely dad and 3 kids over for dinner????

Turkey Crossing

I'm not a superstitious person, but I know about the whole bad omen thing when a black cat crosses your path. But what about if a black turkey crosses your path? Seriously, I was driving down Joliet and as I came over the railroad tracks, a turkey is standing in the middle of the road. I slammed on my brakes and stared in disbelief. I tried to whip out my phone to capture the moment forever, but alas he foiled my plan as he trotted off as if he owned the road. In a way, I guess he did because I certainly stopped and was frantically grabbing my phone to take a picture. (Photo is not actual turkey.)

And the rest of things...

Hi. Welcome to etc. It's my personal blog to say the things that are on my mind. I doubt seriously anyone really cares what's on my mind but I have found this to be a good form to share life with others who blog.

Why in the world is it called etc.? Good question. I'm glad you asked. "etc." comes from latin which means "and the rest of such things." I thought it was a fitting description of what my blog is really about. For me it's kind of like Paul Harvey's "the rest of the story." Whether it is the rest of the story from a message on Sunday morning, my journey in reading Scripture, or just thoughts on life, it's my rest of thoughts.

Thanks for stopping by.