- Nothing out the ordinary today…oh unless you consider our special guest!
- That’s right…I had the opportunity for an exclusive sit down interview with Charlie Sheen.
- You can watch my interview with him here.
- We did this to help us kick off our “Winning” series.
- The series is looking at how God speaks to us through pop culture.
- Today I talked about whether or not followers of Jesus should be involved with pop music, movies and tv shows.
- The number one response I heard afterward was people thanking me for sharing my personal journey with this topic and then showing scripturally why I’m where I’m at today.
- You can listen to today’s message here.
- Here’s a link to the book I referenced…Pop Goes the Church.
- From a technical standpoint, everything went very smooth today.
- Love the attitude and hard work that our team puts in every week!
- Especially grateful today for Jeff Case and Aaron Hoke for playing through pain.
- Jeff tore rib cartilage and Aaron has a bad cold…both soldiered on though…thanks guys!
- Attendance has been down the last few weeks which quite honestly is discouraging.
- But no one said that church planting would be easy so we’re just continuing to do the things we know God is calling us to and allowing Him to determine our fruitfulness.
- Lots of other great ministry and outreach is being done throughout the week so we’re keeping our heads up and kicking the devils butt anyway!
- It was awesome having our friends Chris and Amanda Short visiting today from out of town.
- We did the Japanese buffet with them afterward along with the Krull’s…mmmm sushi!!!
- Tonight I’m traveling down to Chambersburg to my old church for a special worship concert they’re doing. It’ll be great to catch up with even more friends.
- Next week we’ll continue the “Winning” series by looking at how to overcome temptation. The cultural jumping off point will be the movie “Hall Pass”.
- Have a great week…don’t forget to invite someone to come along with you…Easter is coming soon and it would be great to get our momentum back before then.
Archives for March 2011
Inside Today’s Experience
- Day got off to a little later of a start than normal because our signs have taken a beating this winter so we didn’t put any out today.
- Next week we’ll have them all back.
- Been amazing how many people I’ve talked to who came because of seeing our signs…who knew?
- Not that having extra time today made life easier. A bunch of went into the theater on Saturday morning to work on some projects that can’t be handled on a Sunday morning.
- A lot of this involved rewiring much of our sound equipment. The problem was the theater had a “Scrapbooking Conference” going on Saturday morning in the theater next to us so even they we were able to re-route everything we weren’t able to actually do much testing because our volume would have disrupted whatever it is that you do at a scrapbooking conference. :)
- So this morning meant going through with each of the band members and re-doing the mix in their in-ear monitors.
- Rumor has it that if you listen to Jeff’s mix, your ears will bleed.
- Considering everything that could have gone wrong today with a complete re-wiring of the system, everything went off great and without a hitch.
- Unfortunately we had 7 of our normal 43 people it takes to serve on a Sunday morning call, text or email from late Saturday through early Sunday morning with various things that were preventing them from attending and thus serving.
- I love though that because of our apprentice model and the flexibility of our team that everything continued on as if though we still had the full crew.
- We were also fortunate that 4 new people were serving today for the first time so they were a tremendous help as well…thanks Debbie, Deby, Patrick and Brooke!
- Everything else today was pretty standard. Nothing spectacular but nothing too surprising either.
- Oh the team did get a new confidence monitor which is big enough they can see the current slide, the next slide a huge clock and a message board only we can see.
- Imagine my surprise when I went up to do the opening remarks and Andy flashed up in the message section something like, “Do good sucker”.
- Some times having your best friend on the team isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. :)
- Really liked the energy the crowd had on “Rise and Sing”.
- As of even this morning I wasn’t totally comfortable with the delivery of today’s message.
- However, the Spirit came through and I felt good about it once it was done.
- You can listen to the concluding message of the ME*TRADE series, “The Biggest Lie You Tell Yourself” at this link.
- Next week we begin a new series called, “Winning”.
- In it we’ll look at how God speaks to us through pop culture.
- It’s going to be an awesome series as we teach you through practical examples of things that have been popular this month how God wants us to redeem the songs, tv shows, movies and other things in pop culture that we are continuously inundated with.
- Next week will also include a special interview that I was able to do this past week with a very famous celebrity…trust me you’re not going to want to miss it.
- Invite people to come out and be a part of all the awesome things happening here at ExponentialChurch.tv.
Inside Today’s Experience
- Don’t know if I’ll do this every week, but we’ll call this one, “The Time Change Edition”.
- This is actually the first time in the past 4 years that the time change has affected me.
- Why you ask?
- At my old church I convinced them not to observe the time change until after we were done on Sunday mornings.
- In other words, everyone got up at the normal time, came to church and then once we were done, everyone moved their clocks forward.
- It was awesome…you didn’t lose sleep and we even got a write up in the paper about it.
- The only people it affected were people who had to work around noon, but better to affect a few than affect everyone.
- Problem is this only works when you have your own building.
- At the theater we couldn’t do this because it would affect movies.
- So the morning got started earlier than normal but I felt good because I went to bed earlier last night to try to make up for it.
- Today was a big day because Andy and Gayle were away for the first time since we launched.
- For those that don’t know Andy, he’s a tech wiz and designed our system.
- This is the 3rd church now that Andy and I have been together and not only are we best friends but he gives me a high degree of comfort on Sunday mornings because I know he can handle just about anything thrown at him.
- However, we’ve assembled a great tech crew at ExponentialChurch.tv and so I wasn’t too concerned unless something completely out of the ordinary happened.
- When you’re doing portable church that’s not completely out of the question, but today we got lucky…or prayer really does work. :)
- We ran into a few minor problems but the team of Mike, Cris, and Benji were able to handle it.
- Great job guys and gal!
- All in all the entire day went very smoothly. The band did great as usual…the flow of the day went well…our volunteers are world class…I felt good about today’s message…just one problem…
- Hardly anyone was there.
- I’m talking we just barely had half the normal size crowd.
- Had a few of those tell me that unless they had gotten my email reminder they would have forgotten as well.
- My feeling is two things were at play…
- First, many people just forgot the time change…already gotten some messages to that regard.
- Second, we’re doing a pretty good job of reaching people who either have no church background or little church background.
- While they’re making good spiritual process either as now baby Christians or investigating the claims of Jesus…church attendance still isn’t high on their list and even the slightest little thing (like the time change) can get them out of rhythm.
- That’s one of the challenges of doing “church for people that don’t like church” but I wouldn’t have it any other way.
- Regardless of the small crowd, we still had 2 more people today pray to become followers of Jesus!
- My first pastor used to say that if you don’t preach the same regardless of the crowd size then you’re probably doing it for the wrong reason.
- I’ve always remembered that and so whether it’s a small crowd like today or 13000+, I always try to preach, speak and teach to individuals in the crowd so it doesn’t matter how many total are in attendance.
- That philosophy has served me well not to get discouraged by small crowds and too nervous for big ones.
- Again today was excellent…sorry so many missed it.
- Jump online to listen to the message about the “One Simple Truth” that will transform your life.
- And don’t forget we’re still in the midst of reading the Book of John together as a church. Today is John 7, tomorrow John 8 and so on.
- Then go to the Exponential Facebook Discussion page to share your thoughts via the SOAP method. Not sure what that is? It’s all explained online.
Inside Today’s Experience
- Think we’ll call this the “Water and Fire” edition.
- First the water…more specifically, the rain.
- Amazingly in the 4+ months we’ve been meeting, this is the first Sunday we’ve had rain or snow on a Sunday morning as we set-up.
- Needless to say, putting out signs was not fun…although it was better than the mornings doing it in the bitter cold.
- We had the team come in earlier than normal for set-up to try to fix some of the sound issues from the previous week.
- Andy was pretty sure he knew what it was, but it turned out not to be the case.
- Thankfully within a few minutes he thought of something else and that ended up fixing it.
- As always after set-up, the band did a warm-up, then a full run through of the mornings music.
- When we do this, we use all the video’s, transitions, lights, music, welcome remarks, etc. Basically the only thing that doesn’t get practiced in the run through is my sermon. So in a lot of ways it feels like the real thing.
- Our opener for the day was B.o.B.’s song “Airplanes”. Instead of having me rap again, we brought in a real rapper.
- After the run-through was over, everyone was wondering what happened to him…
- Turns out he was in his car on his way home…he thought the run through was the real thing and he was done.
- When he got back he said he thought it was weird that only a few people had shown up!
- In any case he did a great job when we did it for real…click this link to watch he and the band cover the song. Great job Mark!
- The theater was really hot today…guess as the weather is starting to change we’ll have to adjust…my solution today was to take off the long sleeve shirt I had on and just going with my ECTV t-shirt I had on.
- A friend of mine once said he thinks it’s weird to see a pastor wearing his own churches t-shirt during an Experience because it’s almost like watching a rock band wear their own t-shirt during a concert.
- Not sure I agree fully with him, but I think of it anytime I wear one during the Experience.
- As if though there aren’t other things to think about. :)
- The Experience itself went well.
- Great to see Pastor Pat and Beth Kelly from Caring Community Church with us today. They and their church were a big part of helping us get launched….thank you , thank you, thank you! Enjoy your vacation.
- Also had Justin and Laura Beth Meier with us today as well for what will probably be the final time for awhile.
- The entire Meier family travels the country in an RV helping churches get launched...they soon move to Nashville to help Ed Stetzer with his new plant.
- Really excited about the new series we began today called ME*TRADE.
- Today we talked about how beliefs lead to the decisions we make and how decisions impact the outcomes of our life.
- Here’s the link to today’s message called, Renewing Your Mind.
- As as reminder, everyday starting tomorrow we’ll be reading through the book of John together as a church.
- Once you read that days chapter then go to our Facebook page to share your SOAP for the day.
- Just click the discussions link on the left side of the page then click that days chapter/date.
- If you don’t know how to use SOAP for your devotions, click the message link above and you can download the insert which explains what to do.
- Briefly, SOAP stands for… Scripture Observations Application Prayer
- Ok, so I started this post by saying today was about water and fire…so what’s the fire part?
- Well after the Experience was done, I’m in the lobby talking when…the fire alarm goes off.
- It was a false alarm but the fire trucks and firemen still showed up regardless.
- Made for an exciting end to the day.
- Here’s the scary part though, along with a spiritual application.
- Most people even though the alarm was going off just continued in their normal conversations as if everything was ok. This was before we knew it was a false alarm.
- Unfortunately that’s the state of America and modern day Christianity. The alarm bells are going off but most of us just keep on keeping on.
- In other words people are lost and going to hell but either they don’t respond to Jesus offer of forgiveness or if they are already a follower of Jesus, they seem to care less that other are in the same predicament that they themselves used to be in.
- That’s why every week we encourage you to “Show and tell” your faith. Show it by getting involved with our You Matter ministry.
- Tell is by inviting someone every single week to come to church with you on Sunday.
- Here’s the link to the promo video we showed today that can help you do that.
- Ok, this has been a long post so I’ll stop…looking forward to hearing everyone’s SOAP tomorrow about John Chapter 1.
Football, Magic, Jesus and Jiu-Jitsu
Quite the title huh? As I’ve shared before the game of football changed my life. Let me quickly tell you another way football changed my life, then I’ll get to the point of this post.
In the summer of 1989, a young man named Scott Ford decided he was going to play football for his high school team. This meant leaving his job at the local magic shop. Scott’s decision to play football had a tremendous impact on me. Why? Because I ended up getting hired to take his place. Not only did this ultimately become my career for many years (6 at the shop and a total of 11 years out performing), but it was at the magic shop that I ended up meeting my wife Lisa, who in turn helped me come into a relationship with Jesus…and well you know the rest.
So think about it. What if Scott doesn’t decide to play football? I don’t get the job…I may have never have met Lisa…I may have never met Jesus…and of course that means I wouldn’t be a pastor today doing and having done all the awesome stuff for HIM that I’ve been able to do. Weird huh? In any case, Scott and I got to know each other through the years and one of the things I discovered about him was he is also a follower of Christ.
Until a few days ago, it had been a few years since Scott and I had last talked. I’ve of course moved to Harrisburg and pastor a church. He lives in Maryland and is now the founder and President of Cornerstone Wealth Management Group. The reason for our talk was to discuss a book he has just written called, Financial Jiu-Jisu: A Fighter’s Guide to Conquering Your Finances. It turns out that Scott has been involved in Jiu-Jitsu for a number of years now and it dawned on him one day that the principles and disciplines he was learning could also be applied to how people can best handle their personal finances.
Myself being someone who likes to study finances and teach on the subject myself (See 4 week series “Mind Your Own Business”), I quickly devoured the 192 page book. I’m not just saying this because Scott is a friend, but I loved it! Not only did the tie-in between Jiu-Jitsu and money make sense but the book will give you practical, everyday advice you can apply right now. Scott includes great chapter summaries at the end of each chapter that will make it easy for you to go back to the book, time and time again for reference on various subjects, tips and techniques.
Now let me be honest. If you’re already fabulously wealthy and have a good handle on finances then this is not the book for you. Scott writes this for the every day guy or gal who wants the intimidating world of finances and investing to be spoken in simple, easy to understand terms. That’s where his analogies to Jiu-Jitsu come in handy. The best part is not only will you understand at the end of this book…you’ll have a plan!
Even without all the above, let me say that Chapter 2, “Balance and Base: What is True Wealth to You?” is worth the entire price of the book all by itself. In this chapter Scott will give you a paradigm shift in your thinking about wealth that makes for not just a better financial life for you but a better life and legacy as a whole.
Published by Wiley with the forward written by MMA legend Renzo Gracie, I highly recommend you pick up a copy of this book. Thanks Scott for writing and it and oh yeah, “Thanks for playing football…I got a wife and eternal life out of it!”