- Great day!
- 6 more people gave their lives to Jesus!
- Many more responded to the call to follow Jesus even closer than they are now.
- The day got off to an even earlier start than normal because of some problems we had Thursday night.
- Everyone was tired but by the time the 1st Experience started, the energy was high.
- This carried over to the crowd. Great energy and participation.
- The first Experience also had one of the higher attendances that we’ve had for awhile…the ushers were busy getting more and more chairs out!
- Hopefully this means that all the sickness that’s been going around is starting to subside.
- I had great anticipation going into today about the message.
- I really feel it was one of the best I’ve ever given…if you apply this one then your whole world will change.
- As I said during the message, there actually was a prayer that Rabbi’s prayed when they went to the bathroom…here it is:
Blessed are you, O God, ruler of the world, who created man in wisdom, with numerous orifices and spaces. It is known before you that if one of them should open when it ought to close or close when it should open, we would cease to exist. Blessed are you. - Speaking of…during the 2nd Experience I jumped up onto my stool at one point and all the air left out of it. It made a really funny sound like I had passed gas. Of course the teenagers in the front were giggling…I don’t think anyone else heard it.
- All in all a really great day…loved the music…loved the response to the message.
- Had lunch with the Capital Campaign team members at the house of Scott and Robin Despres.
- They’ve done a great job of organizing the campaign and tonight we have the last big event.
- Have a great week….may you always be covered by the dust of your Rabbi!
Inside Today’s Experiences
- Really good day!
- Loved being able to just hang out.
- Doug gave a great message for the launch of the Maverick series.
- He had been sick all week long so I was glad he was feeling better.
- So nice having others that can step in and deliver God’s Word in a United like way.
- Although Doug talking about the trampoline and being able to see into the neighbor’s yard was a bit disturbing? :)
- Peeping Doug.
- The 9:45 crowd was rowdy today…loved it…great energy!
- Brian and the team did a great job with the new stage design…looked really cool!
- Thanks to Dan Bogle for the loan of the motorcycle and to Dan Fry for playing the Maverick in the bumper video and for revving the bike on stage.
- Dan said when he did it at the first Experience the entire front row jumped.
- It was cool, but the fumes on stage were strong.
- Thanks for Kris and Klayton, two more new techies today!
- The band as always was amazing…I threw them a wrinkle at the end of the first Experience by asking them to start in the middle of the song…no problem, when you’re that good!
- Other than a couple minor things, it was a smooth day and many shared with me how touched they were by Doug’s message..yea Doug, but more importantly yea God!
- Also since I forgot, here’s the link to last week’s Reality Check video.
Inside Today’s Experiences
- Not the best of days but anytime you’ve got people giving their lives to Jesus, there’s not much you can complain about.
- We had a brief power outage this morning during set-up time which delayed things a bit and then we had a cable connector go bad on my mic which meant Andy had to do some early morning solidering work.
- We had two of our teens running projection and lights today and both did a great job. Well done Ben and Dustin!
- As always the worship team did an excellent job…both crowds seemed to really be into the music today!
- I re-did the message on Monday, which I’m glad I did…still not one of my best but I think the point was clear…don’t be just a consumer, become a contributor.
- I’m glad this series is over…not because I didn’t like it, but because I’m really excited about the Maverick series which starts next week.
- I got to see a little bit of the stage design changeover that the team was doing this afternoon and it’s going to be awesome!
- During the 1st Experience announcement time I kept getting tongue tied. I couldn’t figure out if I wanted to say, “the dictionary definition” or the “definition in the dictionary says”. My mind couldn’t figure it out so I kept saying, “the defionary”.
- The more I tried to get it right the harder it got…finally I just gave up.
- I met a great couple after the first Experience, who just moved here from Hawaii, who get what we’re all about.
- They loved United and realized it’s not about making them happy but reaching out to those who are far from God.
- I attribute this great attitude to their former pastor when they lived in Virginia Beach.
- He’s a friend of mine by the name of Vince Antonucci. Vince is passionate about reaching out to his community and just took a big step of faith by leaving his church to start a brand new one on the Las Vegas Strip.
- Thanks Vince for such an awesome job of teaching and modeling for people that it’s not about what we want, but it’s all about sharing the good news of Jesus with others.
- Speaking of…make sure you invite lots of people for the new Maverick series…I think people will be surprised by the fresh look at Jesus we’ll be taking.
- Be there…be there early…and don’t forget to sit up front!
- I’ll be posting the final Reality Check video later in the week…great job by Brian and Aaron in making these happen!
- Ok time for a quick nap before heading back over to the church for our annual congregational meeting…come on out to hear the exciting things we have in store for 2010!
Inside Today’s Experience
- Interesting day.
- Had all kinds of little problems getting ready for today.
- I hate the little fixable ones more than when the big unexpected ones hit.
- In the midst of all that I grabbed the wrong mic pack for me.
- Imagine my surprise when I wasn’t getting sound.
- Even more imagine my surprise when I feel Chris lifting up my shirt to check the pack in the midst of trying to speak.
- Once we got that all worked out, the rest of the first Experience and all of the second went really well.
- Fun having Aaron with us today!
- Andrea absolutely crushed it with the new song, “It’s Your Love”…awesome!
- I haven’t been feeling good all week, so the message today drained me big time.
- Especially since I was dropping the hammer hard.
- Again let me reiterate a few points:
- You don’t own anything, it all belongs to God.
- God wants you to prove to Him that you believe that by giving back 10% of your income to Him in what is called a tithe.
- If you don’t tithe, God says your stealing, robbing and embezzling money from Him.
- He says in fact that there is a curse on your money.
- So 90% of your income with God’s blessing on it is greater than 100% of your income with God’s curse on it.
- If you don’t tithe it’s not that you can’t afford it, but rather you choose to be disobedient to God. (listen to this section of the message for some thought provoking challenges).
- Last but not least…
- God doesn’t need your money…He owns it all anyway.
- We don’t need your money…giving has been up the last few years…we’re seeing a surplus each month…we’ve added staff in the midst of a terrible economic downturn in our country…
- This is all about vision…we want to reach as many people for Jesus as possible and that takes money…the more we have the more we’ll be able to reach.
- So Jesus said, “Where your money is at is where your heart (passion, attention) will be as well.
- So take the 90 day tithe challenge.
- This is the only thing in all of scripture that God said you can test Him in.
- He said to tithe and see if He doesn’t throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing on you that you don’t have enough room to contain it all.
- Sorry to re-preach this, but I’m sick and tired of seeing Christians devote their time and money to things that just don’t matter.
- Alright time for a nap…not feeling good at all…please pray.
Inside Today’s Experiences
- Had a lot of fun today.
- Any time I get to share vision, I’m especially amped up.
- Things ran really smoothly today which is always a nice thing.
- The 9:45 crowd was rocking…love when I can hear you guys singing your hearts out.
- All the team did an exceptional job…great job guys and gals.
- Wow for the second week in a row, Gayle made me cry.
- We are so blessed to have some world class female singers in the church.
- I love how God takes the words I’ve been preparing with His help for weeks and then transforms them into something completely different on Sunday’s.
- I felt really good about both messages but they came out so different.
- Wasn’t sure which one to post, but finally went with the 9:45.
- My prayer is that this message will sink in and all of us, would see the lost and hurting in our community as our problem.
- For this week’s Reality Check video with Satan, click here.
- I’m taking the creative team away this afternoon through tomorrow so we can pray and brainstorm what the 2010 series schedule will look like…keep us in prayer.