- Another fun day!
- Any day where people are giving their lives to Christ though is a good day in my book!
- Both crowds today we’re really energetic…especially the 11:15 crowd.
- I loved the band’s version of the song, “Second Chance”.
- We had Andrea hold out the one note twice as long as it is in the original and in both Experiences I got goose bumps…she and they did awesome!
- It’s been great to add some new band members recently…today we added Steve on drums and Andrew on guitar.
- That’s in addition to recent additions of Brett, Dan and Cressa.
- All the new people are doing great and adding nice depth to the team.
- Of course I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Brian, Adam, Andrea, Alex and Gayle for their years of hard work on the team.
- I really enjoyed this series…I always get as much out of them preaching as you probably do listening to them.
- Remember, “The clearer the vision, the fewer the options, the easier the decision”
- Also don’t forget, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down”.
- Next week we’ll only have the 9:45 Experience so make sure you’re there early to get a good seat and don’t forget to invite someone as we launch a new series called “Reality Check”.
Inside Today’s Experiences
- Mixed emotions about today.
- It was a fun and impactful weekend, but with the holiday, attendance was way down.
- Pretty hard to get pumped up, especially during the second Experience.
- However, still got to keep the perspective of even on our “off” weeks, God is still doing something amazing amongst us so we an never take that for granted.
- After being away last week, it was nice to be back preaching again.
- I’m so excited about what God is going to do in people’s lives…can’t wait for next week!
- Love the stage set Brian designed for the series…very clever!
- I just realized that for the first time in weeks, I didn’t have to wear a costume to church!
- While REWIND was fun, glad to be back to “normal”.
- Although I have been having some difficulty with my mic (thanks Brian :) and Andy between Experiences decided to tape it to my head…I’m sure pictures of that will show up eventually online.
- I bit the inside of my lip pretty hard between Experiences as well…ouch that hurt.
- I liked the new song the team introduced today…and the way they introduced it, with Brian teaching you guys what to do.
- We came up with the idea this morning during warm-ups. Wish you could have seen that. Brian and Gayle were like Abbott and Costello doing “Who’s on First”…hilarious.
- The special music song “Unveil” was weird…at the end of it at the first Experience the crowd roared…at the second they sat there in complete silence.
- In any case, it’s a great theme song for the series and we’ll give you chances to sing along in future weeks.
- I felt good about the message…think if we’ll all apply the tips I’ll be sharing, we’ll all hear clearly from God about what His will for our lives is.
- Can you tell I’m writing this after a long nap…I’m all over the place.
- Time to go…dinner with friends!
Inside Today’s Experiences
- What a great day!
- I promised an unforgettable opener to the Experience and I don’t think the team disappointed.
- The 9:45 crowd was about to explode our of their seats…the energy was incredible.
- If you missed it, you definitely missed something special.
- One of our core values is that…”Excellence honors God and inspires people”.
- Even the midst of the band covering 70’s music, I couldn’t help but get a little choked up as I saw the team giving their all to God in the hopes that something like that would prepare hearts for what was yet to come.
- The band worked incredibly hard and the video plus medley was the perfect start to the series.
- Great job by Brian in coming up with the arrangement and I thought Andrea knocked her parts out of the park.
- Brian and the stage team did an awesome job creating a new set…definitely one of my favorites.
- I think the new times periods worked out great.
- I felt so goofy in my 70’s garb and wig, but I was pleased that the fu-manchu grew in.
- Gayle as well did a great job in covering “Imagine”…such a beautiful song, too bad as we saw in the message that the lyrics are so unrealistic.
- Thankfully though Jesus has a better way…”Love your enemies and pray for those the persecute you”.
- I’m also still amazed at how seriously Jesus takes the whole forgiveness thing…in essence…if you don’t forgive others, God will not forgive you.
- The energy at 11:15 was completely different…however still a good day!
- Right before the first Experience I was in my office and the phone rang. I answered and it was a man (not from the church) asking if he could meet with me ASAP.
- I told him I could meet at 12:30 and he said that was fine.
- When I met with him you could tell he was broken and struggling.
- To make a long story short, after a few hours and many tears, he prayed to ask Jesus for His forgiveness and to be the leader of his life.
- I’m not going to mention the man’s name or his struggles, but if you could generically pray for him and his family this week, God knows who it is you’re praying for.
- I told you this story because again there is nothing else in life like helping people discover Jesus.
- Yes we had 2 great Experiences and yes I got to be up front doing my thing…but sitting with someone in my office and leading them into a relationship with Christ was by far the highlight of my day!
- So who are you inviting next week…again we’ll be doing something special as we look at the 1980’s and I’ll be preaching a message based off the song, “Everybody Hurts”.
Random Thoughts on a Friday
- Haven’t done a random thoughts for awhile so let’s see where this goes…
- Why oh why on my day off did I wake up at 6am wide-awake?
- Couldn’t believe the news yesterday about Michael Jackson.
- Thriller was the first album I ever bought.
- Too bad he got really weird because he was an amazingly talented man.
- However, no matter how talented you are, death is coming for all of us and it will sometimes come unexpectedly.
- The moral…you’ve got to be prepared for eternity and the best way to do that is to begin a relationship with Jesus.
- I’m getting back into the swing of things after vacation.
- Working on two huge projects right now…1 is exciting…the other is overwhelming…both will be great when they’re completed.
- Vacation highlights were:
- Spening time with Lisa 24/7.
- Celebrating our 14th anniversary.
- Our dinner at Phillips Seafood in Atlantic City overlooking the beach and ocean.
- Not checking e-mail the entire 2 weeks and truly being able to relax.
- Walking with Lisa hand-in-hand up and down the boardwalk with no cares (ok dodging seagulls but other than that) or agenda.
- Treating my parents to a couple days away in the Pocono’s with us.
- Hiking to Bushkill Falls…beautiful!
- Hacking around a par-3 approach course with my dad.
- Celebrating my birthday.
- Getting a sweet authentic Alexander Ovechkin Caps jersey from Andy and Gayle.
- Getting to hang out with my friends.
- We’ve got some pretty cool stuff coming up for July and August in the Experiences that we’re pretty excited about.
- This week is the last week of the One Prayer series…Perry Noble…can’t wait!
- Then I’m back preaching again…really excited about what God is going to do in the next series.
Inside Today’s Experience (Vacation Edition)
