- Well that was interesting.
- Woke up at a little before 6am when the power went out.
- Because of an underground steam that’s under our house, we have two sump pumps that run a lot.
- I mean a lot…our whole neighborhood thinks we do weird things because were always pumping water into the street.
- So with a big rain from the Hurricane and now no power I knew the chances for flooding had just increased exponentially (no pun intended…ok yes it was).
- So our morning began by in the dark basically moving everything from the downstairs to the upstairs.
- Yea fun…not.
- Of course then my phone started blowing up with calls and texts from team members who were without power and wondering what we were going to do.
- In the midst of that, my answer was made easier when the theater called to say that they had no power either.
- Now it was an issue of figuring out what time it would have to come back on to have a full Experience.
- We also were calculating how to have a scaled back Experience in the theater with no stage lighting or projection…just an acoustic guitar and preaching.
- But as time continued to pass by, the likelihood of something happening diminished.
- Finally I drove to the theater to check it out for myself.
- The poor manager had been there since 3am since a group of people decided to break in that night.
- Not condoning it but actually that was pretty smart on their part…finally intelligent criminals.
- Ummm wait…except for the part where once they were in they didn’t actually get anything.
- In any case, a small group of people had come out and together we decided a little before 9 to cancel.
- Thankfully Chad’s house still had power so I was able to go there to get internet access and try to get the word out.
- Guess the only people that worked for were people that had smart phones but I doubt many were coming anyway.
- After I left Chad’s house I went back to the theater just in case people showed up at 10am.
- I pulled a couple of chairs out near the entrance where sunlight was shining through and waited to see who might show up.
- I figured I could do a couple minute devotional then send people home.
- Funny thing was 3 local pastors and families showed up who had cancelled their own services and hoped to check us out.
- I told them what was going on and they decided to try elsewhere.
- Guess I don’t look like a good devotional guy! :)
- We did end up having 4 others show up…including a family visiting from out of town that I’ve known for many years…in fact they knew Lisa when she was in elementary school.
- So the 5 of us prayed together and then I shared a combination testimony/lesson from Luke 15.
- In some ways it was really cool…very informal…in fact I had a baseball hat on since I hadn’t showered or anything.
- But here’s the important thing…it was still church.
- Jesus said, “Wherever 2 or 3 gather together in my name, there I am in their midst”.
- He was present, He was worshiped and His Word was taught.
- Definitely a memory I’ll carry with me.
- Two good things did come of the storm.
- First, our basement didn’t flood and second we were able to head out for vacation a bit earlier than planned.
- I’m typing this from Williamsburg, Va.
- The internet just began working at the resort so hopefully it’s still good when I hit “publish” on this post.
- A good chunk of the city is still without power.
- It was an adventure finding dinner last night (2 1/2 hours).
- We found a KFC that was open although you just had to take what they had, you couldn’t be picky.
- We also went to a partially lit supermarket and picked through what food they still had/was not being thrown out.
- They were running the cashiers and a couple of light off of generators…it was very eerie.
- Nonetheless, we’re looking forward to some rest since our vacation earlier this summer wasn’t very restful since we had to renovate our previous house which had been trashed by our tenants.
- Hope everyone has a great week…next week our worship pastor Bill Butler is going to be preaching…can’t wait to hear what God has laid on his heart!
Archives for August 2011
Inside Today’s Experience
- Hit a major milestone today…100 first time professions of faith in Christ!
- Considering the average church in North America sees 1 profession every 2 years, I think we’re off to a good start! :)
- Each person is important…each person is a story.
- 100 down, 424,900 more to go!
- Yep that’s approximately how many people in the Harrisburg metro don’t yet have a relationship with Jesus.
- That makes me sad, but I’m thankful that ExponentialChurch.tv and other great churches in this area are all doing our part to make hell a little less crowded.
- Other than that it was a fairly typical day with 2 exceptions.
- First being the last week before school, attendance was slightly down, but I think morale even more so…just no energy today from the crowd at all…here I always thought parents were happy when their kids went back to school.
- Or at least mine were…not because of me mind you…it was my sister. :)
- 5, 4, 3, 2, 1….ring, ring…yep that’s how long it took my sister to call after reading this.
- Haha…love you T.
- The other difference today was that I did magic in the lobby before the Experience and then again as an illustration during my message.
- Thus the picture in this post of me with Harry Blackstone Jr (forgot to have some take a pic today).
- I did this because today was week 3 of our “God at the Box Office” series and today we looked at the spiritual lessons that can be learned from the last of the Harry Potter films.
- After having performed professionally for 11 years of my life, it was almost like riding a bike when I did about 15 minutes of stuff in the lobby, despite the fact I haven’t done that long in a long, long, time.
- While it was fun to do it, I’m so thankful that God spoke to me many years ago to not just make a temporary difference with my life but to do something that will last for all of eternity.
- Literally I’ve entertained 10’s of thousands of people through the years but the man today and the 99 before him and the 300+ in Chambersburg and the 100’s before that in other churches and ministries that I’ve had the privilege to lead across the line of faith, is so much better than simply entertaining people.
- The band did a new song today that is growing on me called, “Beautiful Exchange”.
- I always walk up to the front during the last song of the set and it’s cool watching Bill lead from up close.
- Appreciate his passion and authenticity even when the crowd is dead.
- As for today’s message…I talked about spiritual warfare and the unseen battle that is constantly going on between good and evil.
- Not a topic I hit a lot but one that watching the Harry Potter movie was so obvious that I couldn’t ignore it.
- The tricky part as I said at the beginning is finding the balance between people who “see” demons everywhere and then people who don’t believe in anything supernatural.
- Chad afterward said he thought it was balanced so hopefully he was right and not just looking for a raise. :)
- Even though the crowd was not energetic today, there were two moments that I heard gasps.
- The first was when I said that Satan wants to R.A.P.E you. Ahh got your attention didn’t I…you’ll have to listen to find out what I mean.
- The second was when I said that the dead don’t come back to haunt us nor become our guardian angel.
- It’s amazing how many people think that grandma is watching over them or in general that people become angels.
- Ummm sorry, but as I said, “Don’t be sad, because angels are real and they’re way more powerful than what grandma ever was”.
- Next week we’ll wrap-up the series with the lessons from “Final Destination 5”.
- Can’t wait to share with you why focusing on eternal things is way more important than just merely the 50-100 years you have here on the earth.
- Thanks to all who brought in backpacks and for the money contributions that came in today as well to buy more.
- As I shared, Office Max is matching us dollar for dollar so it’s not too late to help the still 500+ kids that don’t have the needed supplies that live in Harrisburg.
- Ok, time to go…2 friends are coming in tonight from out of town for dinner and to hang out…have a great week everyone!
Inside Today’s Experience
- Another good day.
- Nothing out of the ordinary today…guess you need those occasionally.
- Set-up went smoothly although our run through went longer than normal.
- So thankful to have an awesome staff…Chad stepped up and lead the team meeting beforehand.
- From what I understand he was a little too enthusiastic that I was going to be preaching a message entitled, “Horrible Bosses”. :)
- Nice to see a lot of people back from vacation…I’ve been very please how we’ve been holding up attendance wise this summer.
- Had another person come to faith in Jesus today…that makes 99 since we launched 10 months ago.
- You can listen after the message (about 45 minute mark) to hear my goals for the future.
- The band introduced a new song today plus did a cover of “Uprising” by Muse.
- Here’s a link to the Youtube video of them doing it…the sound quality isn’t great but it will give you a sense of what they did.
- This was the first time that my new team covered a song that my old team in Chambersburg had also done.
- This was great chance to see where we’re at.
- On this particular song, I think Chambersburg did it better, but when I consider we’re only 10 months old as a church, my new team is 100 times further ahead than where we were 10 months into my time in Chambersburg.
- Guess what I’m getting at is I’ve been very privileged to serve alongside very gifted people in both places…truly it’s a team effort and everything I’ve been able to accomplish couldn’t have been done with out all of them.
- Thanks guys and gals!
- My message today was based of the hit summer comedy, “Horrible Bosses”.
- You wouldn’t think it, but the bible actually has a lot to say about how to be the best employee or boss we can be.
- Listen to my message here to get my take on authority, submission and obedience.
- Next week we’ll look at Harry Potter…should be exciting and very insightful as we look at the battle between good and evil.
Inside Today’s Experience
- Kicked off the new “God at the Box Office” series today.
- The day got off to a rough start when one of my contacts ripped on the way to the theater this morning.
- So I had to turn around and go back home…not a big deal but it did put me a bit behind.
- Set-up today went fairly smooth considering a new set needed to be assembled for the first time.
- Bill did an awesome job creating a film strip look that covered the entirety of the stage.
- Andy did a great job lighting it all up and creating some new effects we’ve never had before.
- I guess one of the limitations of being in a portable situation is the not being able to see if things will work until you actually get there.
- In my previous church when a series was finished, the set got torn down that Sunday afternoon and the framework of the new set was erected.
- That gave all week to work on getting it just right before Thursday night’s practice where the final bugs would be worked out in preparation for Sunday morning.
- Here there’s a lot more hoping and praying! :)
- All thing considered though the team does an awesome job with the limited amount of time we’ve got.
- Bill Hybels once said that “Excellence is doing the best you can with what you’ve got”.
- I think we’re doing that.
- Big thank to the Regal for donating popcorn for all 4 weeks of the series to us.
- Nothing like doing a movie series and being able to give away free movie popcorn!
- Attendance was way down today.
- I knew this going in because I had 12 of our adults who normally serve on a Sunday morning let me know they wouldn’t be there.
- Add in all their children and right there you’re missing 25-30 people even before you start.
- Most frustrating though was the lack of first time guests for the new series.
- We did heavy video promotion and provided everyone with a minimum of 5 invite cards.
- Hopefully it will pick up in future weeks.
- The band did a good job despite the lack of energy in the room.
- Here’s the video of their cover of “Iridescent” by Linkin Park which is the main song from the Transformers movie we talked about today.
- The video will also give you a chance to see what Bill created for the set.
- I was a bit windy today but it’s something every Christian should listen to and take seriously.
- Hoping people take the 5X5X5 challenge seriously.
- We recognized the 13 who got baptized last week with their custom made baptism certificates…everyone loved them and were telling me where they were going to put it.
- Hope the visual reminder impacts them for the rest of their lives.
- Love hanging out in the lobby afterward talking with people…we’ve got a great group of people that are building the foundation of what we’ll be for years to come.
- Got a really busy week including a conference that 8 of us from ECTV will be going to…hope we’re inspired to go to new levels for God personally and corporately.