Just wanted to put an event on the radar for church planters. Very excited about speaking at evolve--the churchplanters.com conference on February 18-19, 2008. One of the things I love about speaking at conferences is hearing the other speakers! Great lineup at evolve!
I took the boys camping at Pohick Bay State Park last night. I think it ranks as one of the greatest nights of my life. We played some soccer and frisbee and there is nothing like hot dogs cooked over a real fire. Hmmmm good! And the boys ate lots of blackened marshmallows.
This is an incredibly significant day for me and my son, Parker. He celebrated a birthday this week and I decided to put together a birthday covenant. I really feel like this is a critical year in his physical, spirtual, and intellectual development. So I want to be very intentional about discipling him over the next year. So tonight we're going camping and I'm going to present him with a covenant that will consist of three challenges. I will detail it more at a later date, but it involves a physical challenge, intellectual challenge, and spiritual challenge. My hope is that it will stretch him in those areas and help form a stronger bond as father and son. If he completes those three challenges, then my part of the covenant is taking him on a trip for his next birthday. But it will be more than a trip. It will be a celebration of his accomplishment. And it will be a spiritual pilgrimage of sorts--a rite of passage.
I've always felt like we should experiment with our Saturday night service at Ebenezers. That is where we record our messages in high-definition for our webcast, podcast, and video messages. So in a sense, the congregation at Ebz is a live studio audience. A few years ago, I had this thought: I wonder if the early church was more like a talk show with a live studio audience than what we call "church."
Just found out we had 100 guests at our Alpha dinner on Monday night! That is such a huge win! So grateful for our Alpha team. It is a huge investment of time and energy, but it is so exciting to think about that many people exploring Christianity. And I can't think of anything else we do with more of a spiritual payoff!
Thoroughly enjoyed my time in Iowa. And I'm so impressed with the Iowa Ministry Network. I'm guessing there were a couple hundred pastors from across the state. And I really enjoyed reconnecting with Glenn Reynolds; meeting Superintendent Tom Jacobs; and hanging out with church planter Josh Singleton!
Just wanted to give a heads up. Next weekend we continue The Elephant in the Church series and I'm going to talk about the sexy elephant. We gave a warning this week that next week will be PG-13. I never want to put parents in an awkward position so we tried to give a parental advisory that next week's topic may not be suitable for younger kids.
I hop a plane in the early AM and head to Des Moines, Iowa. Really excited about connecting with Glenn Reynolds and some Iowa pastors!
I live with the reality that every weekend we may only have one shot to impact a person's life. Maybe they decide to visit on a whim or they are visiting family or a friend has invited them to NCC. But we've got one shot so it needs to be our best shot. But every once in a while it's like fishing. You hear about the one that got away!
I love New York!
Summer and I hopped a train to New York City. When we came out of Penn Station the first thing she did was look straight up at all of the skyscrapers! I love the sights, sounds, and energy of NYC. We checked into our hotel; got tickets for Mary Poppins; and then jumped on a bike cab or pedicab and ate at one of my favroite restaurants--Carnegie Deli.
Just got my stash of Chase the Lion leader kits and member books! I keep getting more and more excited because I keep hearing about more and more people who are starting "chase the lion" small groups or using the curriculum for a "chase the lion" sermon series!
I'm off to New York City to speak to church planters at a conference organized by Vision New York and Concerts of Prayer Greater New York. Really excited about connecting with urban church planters! And I love New York City!
One of the highlights of my day was meeting with Thom Deason, Executive Director of Act One in Hollywood. We naturally think of places like China, Ethiopia, and Indonesia as mission fields. But what about Hollywood? We've got to be more intentional about sending Christians into culture shaping professions! Enter Act One. They are raising up a generation of screen writers, actors, and executives who feel called to compete for the truth in the entertainment industry! I love it and believe in it.
I just felt like I wanted to make a plea to other churches. A few years ago we created a position on our staff called church planter in residence and I think it's one of the best staffing decisions we've ever made.
I had a unique speaking opportunity today. I put on my coffeehouse hat and addressed a retail summit put on by the Washington DC Economic Partnership. They invited a variety of entrepreneurs to share their start-up story. So I shared about Ebenezers--our coffeehouse on Capitol Hill. Very cool to be able to share not only the story, but the backstory behind the business. I even shared the theology behind our coffeehouse.
I'm headed to Memphis for a Chase the Lion event tonight at Raleigh Assembly of God. Very excited about connecting with Ron Woods and some pastors in west Tennessee!
You aren't going to believe this. My alarm didn't go off this morning! There is this little thing called AM and PM. Good thing the wake-up call worked. And when I walked out to the start of the swim I realized I forgot my goggles. Are you kidding me? I actually had to run a mile before the race even started to go get them and get back before my wave.
Remember that Seinfeld where the marathon runner, Jean-Paul, is staying with Jerry and the power goes off the night before the race? And Kramer's "mental alarm" doesn't go off so they miss the start of the race? That episode keeps running through my mind as I get ready for tomorrow's race. For what it's worth, I'm setting a phone alarm, regular alarm, and getting a wake-up call. The race starts at 7:30 AM.
Just got the word from Jim Johnston at Lifeway that the Chase the Lion small group resource is on its way to 130 Lifeway stores! Just wanted to say a huge thanks to the the Threads team! The study guide looks awesome. If you're interested in taking a small group through the study, you can download a free sample.
It's t-minus two days till my first triathlon and I've had some kind of stomach virus all week. I've actually dropped about five pounds because I can't eat the way I normally do. Hoping I can shake it before Saturday!
I hit the road and head up to Pennsylvania today to spend the day with Bryan Koch and the staff of Glad Tidings Assembly of God. I don't really do church consultations. But this comes close. They asked if I'd spend the day with them on their annual staff retreat. I always enjoy opportunities like this because I think I'm the biggest beneficiary. It gets me out of our system and exposes me to another church system and I always walk away with fresh perspective.
I just sent out an evotional--email version of my weekend message. Just thought I'd share one excerpt from last week's message on The Gray Elephant.
I'm back to Wednesdays as my day off because our kids are back in school. I think Wednesday morning is the most important time slot of the week for me because that is when Lora and I hang out. We usually hit a coffeehouse, catch up, and talk.
If I believe in anything I believe in the sovereignty of God. And that is what gives me a sense of destiny about my life. Nothing is as exciting to me as being in co-mission with God. You never know when or how he is going to show up. I just know that faith invites God to move on our behalf and help us in ways we can't help ourselves!
Spent the day at a film production company in Atlanta called Triple Horse. Very cool offices and very cool sets! They are partnering with Chris Tomason at Indelible Creative Group to produce a series of videos called Amplified Impact.
I hop a plane early this morning and fly to Atlanta to shoot a video for Amplified Impact. Excited about being part of a video project they are putting together. I'll hop a flight back to DC in the afternoon making it a quick day trip.
Just wanted to give NCCers a heads up. We're bringing back two services at Ebenezers starting September 15, but we're changing the times: Saturday nights @ 5:00 and 6:30.
I went into this weekend with a little fear and trepidation. We kicked off The Elephant in the Church series and I was pretty sure that I would step on some toes because we decided to talk about gray elephants this week. By gray elephants I mean disputable matters (Romans 14:1) that are not black and white. I focused on alcohol today.
We did a prayer walk around Georgetown on Saturday morning. I have such a sense of destiny about our Georgetown location. And it is fueled by prayer. Can't wait to see how God answers the prayers we prayed today!
It's official. I waved goodbye to AOL today. I still have my AOL email address. I just can't give it up because I was one of the first 500,000 subscribers. But I'm officially moving over to the Outlook platform. Our media department laughs as I cry. They dance as I mourn. They rejoice as I grieve. I'm a creature of habit like everybody else, and old habits die hard. Especially the AOL habit.
Anybody else fired up about the NFL season kicking off tonight?
To date, I think we've gone through approximately four tons of In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day. We got another 500 pounds of books delivered to our office this week. If you'd like to take 12 pounds off our hands (a case of 24 books), email resources@theaterchurch.com.
I spent the afternoon with the new VP of Multnomah, Ken Petersen, and my editor, Dave Kopp. We did a little catching up on In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day and a little brainstorming on my next book, Wild Goose Chase.
One of the challenges that comes with pastoring is not having a pastor. I'm grateful that I have a few people in my life who are personal mentors and pastors of pastors. I also have some great pastor friends.
Had a great weekend at NCC.
