The Gamble's next season of ministry

Use this area to offer a short teaser of your email's content. Text here will show in the content preview area of some email clients. Email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser.   Dear Blog, Greetings! If you would allow me a moment I wanted to give you an update on what is happening in the life of the Gambles.  After seven years of serving at Suncrest Christian Church I have resigned as Campus Pastor for the purpose of planting a new church in the Oklahoma City area.  It was a bittersweet day announcing my resignation Sunday.  We have made incredible friends in Northwest Indiana and served an amazing church family.  At the same time it was one filled with a sense of purpose and confidence in God's next step for the Gambles.  What is exciting is that I am not merely leaving Suncrest.  I am being sent out to start a new church.  That is what Suncrest is about.  That is what I want to be about. So, I just wanted to share this news with you and ask you to subscribe to a "mostly monthly" e-newsletter that I will send to keep everyone interested in what is happening with the Gambles and the new church.  If you would like to sign up just click here.  I've also started writing about it on my blog to share more about what God has been up to in our lives and how He led us to this decision. That's it.  I hope you have a fantastic day and don't hesitate to drop me a line or connect on Facebook/Twitter/the real world. doug P.S.  If you are reading this and thinking "why did he send this to me? I know this already."  Let me apologize and blame it on technology (That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it).  I'm just trying to get the word out as broadly as I can.  Thanks! Copyright © 2012 New Church OKC, All rights reserved. You ar receiving this email because I love you and you were in my address book. :) If you would prefer not to receive updates about the new church we will be starting in Oklahoma City area then you can unsubscribe below. Thank you for reading. Our mailing address is: New Church OKC 1008 W. 62nd Ave. Merrillville, IN 46410 Add us to your address book unsubscribe from this list | update subscription preferences

A break

After some thought I've decided to give this blog a little time off. Obviously if you have checked it recently you know I haven't blogged much anyway. This season of planting Suncrest's second campus is so consuming that some extra things have to go. I've also realized that to make this blog something that adds value to others' lives I really have to work at it. It's a discipline all its own.

Perhaps after Suncrest-East launches I can get back at it (I'd love to blog about my experience after the fact. There's something about hindsight that brings clarity.) or I may decide that it is not something I want to maintain. Either way it has been fun and I appreciate those who have taken the time to read my random thoughts.

Blessings,
doug

Suncrest-East location announced

We finally are locking this in!

Getaway in the city

For Sheila's birthday.

What happens at staff retreat...

more to come....

Answered prayer

I realized this morning as I was praying through my daily prayer list that one big prayer that I prayed almost daily for had been answered. Now, in some ways it is old news because I blogged about it over at suncresteast.org. However, my practice on my prayer list is to check off those requests that have been answered. So it just really hit me this morning as I read "surpass exponential offering goal" that God had answered this prayer in a mighty way. The goal was $100,000. We have now received $108,000!

Awesome God!

I like to "holla"

So there is no doubt I get loud in my preaching. Usually I'm so revved up many people ask me how many cups of coffee I have had. In truth it was only one Grande from Starbucks ($1.96 thank you very much) that morning.

However, I've always struggled a bit to NOT preach in one speed...fast! One time someone described my preaching as "trying to drink from a fire hose." Love it. Even though I do recognize the need for some rhythm and the use of different gears.

All that to say in the evaluations that we solicit from some of our Suncresters this week, one reviewer wrote this:

I thought Doug was going to go crazy the chairs on stage. However, I thought he seemed pretty comfortable and did a good job of balancing the chairs with moving around. Always a plus when Doug doesn't yell.

Makes me laugh.

N.T. Wright takes on Stephen Colbert

Last month I had the honor of teaching on Heaven at Suncrest. One of my favorite theologians (in general and in specific on Heaven) is N.T. Wright. Below is an interview on the Stephen Colbert show. Not the typical thing you would expect to see Wright on as The Colbert Report is a show on Comedy Central. What is so great about this clip though is Wright is so poised, whimsical and clear in the interview. He is everything I wish other Christians would be when they appear on radio or television. What happens to the contrary more times than not is that they make us appear boring, irrelevant or judgemental. Way to go N.T.!

saturday

1 man
6 kids
10 hours
No Problem

Friday's Foto

DSC00791, originally uploaded by diggity doug.

Look's like we need a dental plan.

Starbucks has free WiFi

It's about stinkin' time.

Read about it here.

I remember sitting in a Starbucks and this guy asks me about the internet there. I told him I never used it because it was like $10 and I could go down the road to Panera and get it for free. He said he would gladly pay because after all...it was Starbucks! I like Starbucks a lot...but not that much.

Now with the use of a registered gift card you get it for free. Yeah Starbucks. Here's a pic of my gift card which reminds me of my pilgrimage to mecca.

What I saw...

Paper person overshot the porch a little.

Lifechurch.tv

Those guys from Lifechurch.tv are just too cool. BTW, Suncrest is doing a God at the Movies series this fall. Can't wait. And no we did not steal it from Lifechurch.tv. We stole it from someplace else...


Anything Short of Sin from LifeChurch.tv on Vimeo.

Filming in Chicago

Filmed some video for this week's message today. It was a great experience, even though I'm pretty uncomfortable on camera and can't quite make it into my "zone" when the camera is on. This is especially true when I'm on the street and people are passing by and staring.

We filmed outside of Harpo Studios because I am speaking on "What would Jesus say to Oprah Winfrey?" this coming Sunday. We fully expected to be chased off but was only asked what we were doing by security and then left alone. That is, until we ran into Joe who goes to Suncrest and works for Oprah! Great to see him in a different context other than church.

This video effort is a hybrid in concept of most of the videos we have done. This one more than others is intended to be a part of the message rather than stand alone from the message. In fact, I teach through the first point of my message on camera. (We did something similiar in the Catalyst series with Greg on video and me in person.) I wanted to try it this week as I have been really intrigued by others doing this. Lifechurch.tv has really made an artform out of live with video teaching. We'll see how it goes this Sunday.

Thanks to Kevin for doing all the hard work of videoing and editing.

On minor prophets and their prostitute wives*

Sometimes you read through Scripture and it totally messes with you. Enter Hosea. God basically told him to marry a prostitute as an illustration for how Israel was treating God. What's more, she left him and found another "lover" and then God told Hosea to go and get her back just like He had done with Israel.

What is going on here?

First, I think it messes with us because we have this working assumption that God always acts in ways that we perceive as good. So, when something we perceive as bad happens, we ask, "Where is God?" Our perception is not always God's reality. And our perception of what is good is not always what is actually good.

Second, God's greatest goal in our life is not to make us happy. In a beautiful analogy to marriage, God said it this way in Hosea 2:9:

I will betroth you in righteousness and justice, in love and compassion.

Those are God's ultimate goals for our life; Righteousness, justice, love and compassion.

Third, He doesn't call everyone to be a minor prophet. It's true that many of God's servants in Scripture had it rough. Isaiah had to walk around naked. Paul had a "thorn in his flesh" that he couldn't get rid of. Some of the things these men and women had to endure seemed very cruel. And yet, however unfair we might think it was, they seemed to think that God had a greater plan and that everything would turn out for their good in the end.

Most of us will not be called to bear the weight of something like Hosea. Yet we face our own challenges everyday. Maybe the most important thing we can learn from Hosea is not "why" they had to go through something tough, but "how" they made it through.

*Thanks to David Bazan for writing a song with that title. One of the best titles I've ever seen.

How are you growing as a father?

I have to ask myself that question today. It's an appropriate time to pause and consider how I've grown as a dad. I've noticed something interesting with each child being born. My love for my children has grown exponentially over the years. When my first was born I did love him, but it seems I love him even more today. Along with that my desire to grow as a dad has grown.

I've had to give up some things along the way to be a great dad. I'm not going to be a good golfer. I'm not going to have a lot of hobbies. I'm not going to travel a lot.

And yet, despite all the things I'm not going to be or have, the one thing that I get to be that more than makes up for any sacrifice is dad. The one and only dad to Ethan, Daisy, Grace and Ben.

Ethan's gonna Know Sweat

My son headed off with the Student Ministry for Know Sweat, a CIY sponsored mission trip. I love it that he gets this opportunity because mission trips are the most life changing thing anyone can do. Kid or adult, they can change your life. I've seen it with teens in youth ministry. I've seen it with adults. God does something unique when we get away and serve. Maybe I should say, we are open to God doing something unique when we get away.

It was hard for Sheila to let her "little boy" go, but we both know it will be a great trip for him.

What does this mean?

You go on a trip to see your extended family but you can't stop thinking about the new Suncrest-East campus.

It either means I really need a vacation or I'm stinkin' excited about Suncrest-East. I'll think the latter even though the first may still be true.

3 things I love about Oklahoma...

3 things I love about Oklahoma...

1. Less traffic;
2. QT gas stations...the best in the country
3. Friendly people EVERYWHERE.

3 things I could live without...

1. People who drive UNDER the speed limit (okay, not limited to OK, but there does seem to be an inordinate amount of drivers like that here);
2. Wranglers everywhere!!!!
3. Living 10 hours from it.

On delayed gratification

"The next time there's something that you just can't live without, wait for a week and then see if you're still alive."

Guy Kawasaki
Art of the Start