Archives for February 2008

…we’re now residents of the “burg.”

• One more day until we close!
• Still lots to do.
• Pray for Lisa…I’m gone all day today.
• I’m really excited about this weekend…not just the move…but Sunday should be great.
• Don’t forget to invite someone!
• Mostly positive feedback from Cathy’s message on Sunday.
• No I didn’t agree with everything she said.
• But I knew that going in.
• It’s caused me to dig deeper this week to see why I believe what I believe.
• How about you?
• It’s only Thursday and it’s already the most downloaded message we’ve ever had.
• Ok…now I’m starting to get jealous.
• Just kidding!
• Here’s my schedule the next few days so you can pray:
  • Today= trash run, staff meeting, another meeting, program lights, final walk-through at the new house, another meeting, worship team practice.
  • Friday= Close on old house at 10am.  Close on new house at 2pm.  At 4pm, begin painting and re-running cable wiring in anticipation of Saturday’s move.
  • Saturday= Pick-up rental truck at 8am and then move until it’s all done.
  • Sunday= United and sleep.
  • Monday= Going out of town in the morning and early afternoon to speak to a bunch of pastor’s about how to start/run/maximize Contemporary styles of worship services in their churches.
• In the midst of all that I need to continue working on this week’s message and next week’s.
• What I’m really trying to say is you may not get a new blog post for a few days.
• For those of you who “complain” when I go more than a day without posting…don’t worry the sun will still come up each morning.  :)

Let me take you on a journey of 3 things that have happened this week that are all inter-connected and that could have a huge impact on how you see life.

This week Lisa and I bought a new vacuum cleaner…it’s one of those bag-less one’s that has a clear canister in the front so you can actually see it filling up with dirt and stuff.  Lisa loves it!  The first day she says…”You’ve got come see this thing.  I love being able to see that I’m actually accomplishing something.”

Last night at small group part of the conversation was about tough times where you weren’t sure what God was up to.  Both Andy and Gayle were sharing how tough it was to leave their former church to come to CFCOG to help with United which from what I understand was basically on life-support at the time.  Andy said it was most weeks 30-40 people, with little organization.  Every week it was last minute finding people to usher, do announcements, run equipment etc.  Gayle shared that she often cried out of frustration wondering why God had brought them there.  Despite the temptation to leave and go somewhere else where it was more comfortable, they both knew that God had called them there for some reason and so they persevered.

As they shared the story of their struggle I couldn’t help but get a little emotional.  You see my life and ministry were forever altered because they were obedient to God.  It was Andy who called me after Purpose Driven laid me off to see if I was interested in coming to Chambersburg to partner with them in breathing life into what we now call the United Worship Experience.  Today almost 1 1/2 years later we can look back and see the awesome work that God has done.  Think of it this way…more people came into a relationship with Christ last year in United than what used to attend as recently as August 2006!  Gayle, like Lisa with her vacuum cleaner, said, “Many times it’s hard to look back and be able to see what God was up to, but this is so obvious and it feels great to know that we’re making a difference.”  I also liked Andy’s attitude when he said, “The last year has been great but I feel like we’re just on the tip of the iceberg.”

Then last night I get home and there’s an e-mail from one of our young adults in the church who shared that over the last few weeks she’s been inviting friends and co-workers to United and they’re coming and there lives are being changed.  Here’s what she had to say about the one guy who she’s been inviting for about a year…”You know all those times i wanted to just give up and stop praying for him and now i see what God did and its so amazing.”  Again, another example of someone being able to visibly see that they are making a difference.

So what about you?  In what area is God calling you to persevere?  Who is it that you need to keep praying for?  Who is it that you need to invite to come with you this Sunday?  You never know what God is up to…but if you’ll be obedient, you too will be able to look back and say, “Wow my life is making a difference!”

• For the first time in awhile, things seem relatively normal.  Between moving, my grandmother’s death and preparing for Easter, life felt weird…but now I’m getting back to normal…or at least normal for me.
• I’m still soaking everything in from Sunday…
• No one except Lisa, caught that Sunday’s blog said we were drinking sweat tea, instead of sweet tea…ooooohhhh.
• I really quickly ran outside during some of the music on Sunday so I could for the first time see what our parking lot looks like on a Sunday morning.  Based on the few spots that were still open, it looks like we should be able to accommodate right around 1000 people total at any one time.
• Yesterday I was eating leftover “St. Patrick’s Day” donut-holes.  Obviously they were green and very messy.  By the time I was done I had green all over my tongue and hands…I felt like the Incredible Hulk but without all the anger issues.
• Last night we finished up this round of small group curriculum.  I love my group!  Of course we’ve been together for years so we’ve gotten beyond the awkward getting to know you phase and we just do life together, which is amazing!
• If you aren’t experiencing that in your group, give it time.  If for some reason you think you’ll never find that in your current group, join another.  In other words, this is a part of God’s plan for your life…don’t give up until you find it.
• After the “official” group time we gathered together along with some other friends who has stopped by for some spirited games of Wii Tennis. 
• Let’s just say that Andy and I regained our dignity and leave it at that!
• Oh, the previous sentence is so going to infuriate a certain someone.  :)
• Today I’m hoping to finally go and get all my car stuff done to make me an official PA resident.  I’ve tried twice already to do it, but each time something prevented it…gotta love the DMV!
• Tomorrow I’ll post more details about the up-coming series…seriously it is going to be one of the best we’ve ever done and you need to invite people like crazy.