Leadership Community #2

This Saturday April 4th from 9:00-11:00am at Eli Pinney Elementary will be the second time all our coach's, leaders and apprentice leaders get together for a fun and purposeful time of connecting, worship, vision and team building. We're doing this once a month, every month as a way to stay on tract with our vision and to centralize all of our ministry teams meetings. Pray that it would be an effective time together.

$urprise Ble$$ing$!

On the way down to Hocking Hills with the family I called our treasurer to get his thoughts on using some of our "Give Away" funds for small groups to use. We'll be talking more about this at Leadership Community this Saturday morning.
When I asked him how much money we had in that section of the budget he couldn't give me an exact number but was happy to tell me of an incredible anonymous gift given to ENCOUNTER. I don't even know if this person attends our services or not but someone gave $10,000.00 to us this week!!! That is so crazy fun for me to hear! Yes that's TEN THOUSAND dollars.
Praise the Lord for He is good. He gives and He takes away. Blessed be the name of the Lord!!!

A fun day off with the fam

What a great day...we slept in, drove to Hocking Hills and hiked around both Ash Cave and Cedar Falls. We also ate lunch at Sonic, one of Melissa's favorite childhood fast food drive thru's, and all got Blizzard's at Dairy Queen. I have a feeling our caloric intake was greater than our energy expended:-)

Here are a few pics. from the day:

Things learned from weekend trip

The last two days away were very productive both relationally and for gaining ministry insights. Relationally I reconnected with a couple I haven't seen in years that went to Moody Bible Institute with Melissa & I. Dave Fraser picked me up from the airport and I spent hours at he and Carol's home with their three fun kids reminiscing about the college days and getting up to date with our lives now. Dave then drove me to Paul & Katie Warner's home where I stayed the night and went to help set up and attend their church service. Hanging with the Warner's was very relaxing. We talked alot and watched some TV together. I had met Paul two months ago when Kyle, Dalan, Melissa & I went up to the Yellow Box for a meeting with Brian Zehr and a breakfast with Jon Ferguson.

There's a number of things I walked away learning from being with Brad Prunty and his team at the Plainfield Community Christain Church campus. I plan to share those things with the coach's, leaders and apprentice leaders at our next Leadership Community this Saturday morning.

NewThing fieldtrip

I'm sitting in the Columbus airport right now waiting for my flight to Chicago to visit some of the NewThing folks. Some I know and some I'm going to meet for the first time. In becoming an affiliate church with their network they have asked that I become familiar with their "culture". So tomorrow I'm visiting their Plainfield church to see how they do things. I'll be helping set-up for the service and attend it and then hangout with a bunch of different pastors/leaders in the afternoon. In my absence one of our small group leaders, Jeff Persall, will be preaching at Encounter. I wish I could be there to hear him in person as it's his first time but I'll catch it later. I'm sure the team will do great tomorrow. I'm praying for them. I get back tomorrow night around 6pm.

A fun field trip with my daughters

This morning I embarked on a field trip that took me to the theater production of Pinocchio. The play was ok but the time with my daughters was priceless:-) It'd been a while since my body had sat in an elementary school bus. Rachel, my six year old and I rode down together. It must have looked funny seeing the two of us sharing a seat. After the show all four classes and a bunch of us parents barraged a McDonalds. The line was forty feet out the door and people coming for their greasy food fix walked away when they saw us. Melissa drove down to join us and it was a happy time eating Happy Meals.

My Church Planting Coach

As I've mentioned numerous times in the past, last year Melissa and I went to the church planting conference Exponential in April '08. It was there that we nailed down the church name: ENCOUNTER CHURCH, vision statement: "Seeking HIS Kingdom First", and core values: Celebrate, Grow, Serve and Multiply. Clancy and his wife Sandy were also at the conference. They spent time with us there and since then I have had a coaching meeting with him once a month. I asked him to coach me because six years ago when my mother church sent him to plant a new church in Marysville, I was totally inspired and impressed with him.
We are again both going to Exponential and that will then end our year of monthly coaching meetings. I'm not sure how much more he and his staff can take of me. I cause quite a disturbance for their office when land there:-)

Dublin Men's Fellowship

This morning I went to a perfect strangers house and left feeling encouraged in my faith.
I was invited to the Dublin Men's Fellowship by my friend Al Fahimi. This group of guys have been meeting each Friday for well over a decade. In a fun, informal way these guys talked about how the book, "The Shack" has stretched them in their spiritual walk with Christ. It sounds like they've studied fictional books, biblical books and Bible studies over the years.
I heard about this study about a year ago from my buddy Tom Carroll and Chaz Freutel, both of whom have attended in the past. I wish I hadn't waited so long to go. As my schedule allows, I think I'll continue to attend.

High School V-Ball

It's Monday night and I'm ending my day by writing my blog. My body is worn out, but in a good way. I have the privilege of helping coach the Dublin Scioto High School Boy's Volleyball team. It's the HS my kids will attend someday if we don't move.
Two weeks ago I got an interview with the head coach and we hit it off right away. I've had a background check and TB test, now I need to get CPR certified and take a course on treatment for minor injuries. By doing all this I'll be able to head up the JV-b team on my own.
So my body is worn our because we had our first practice tonight and I really got into it. I tried doing all the drills coach handed out to the guys, but alas, they were a little much for my almost 40 year old body. Still, it was a blast. In one of the groups I was coaching there was a guy from Egypt, one from China, another from India, one from Mexico and me from Canada. I love it! Truly an international team.
I'll let you know how it goes over the next few weeks. The season is only from the middle of March to May.

Great Camaraderie @ Our 1st Leadership Community

Saturday was exactly what I was hoping for!

The team of leaders coming together to worship God wholeheartedly, respond well to teaching and to meet together in ministry groups which drew them into deeper relationship. I joined the set-up and tear-down guys group for a bit and then went off to do some other things. When I came back they were praying together so I knelt and listened to these men pouring their hearts out to God. It is good to hear godly men pray, Amen?
I know there will be scheduling conflicts for everyone some time or another, but to have at least two-thirds of the team for the first leadership community was great!
If you're a Coach, Leader or Apprentice Leader in any of the ministries of Encounter Church, then Leadership Community on the first Saturday of every month from 9:00-11:00AM is where you ought to be:-)

LEADERSHIP COMMUNITY

This Saturday, March 7th, will be our first Leadership Community (LC) from 9-11AM at Eli Pinney Elem. This is a time for all the coaches, leaders and apprentice-leaders to CELEBRATE God thru worship, be excited about new members joining our team, hear vision for our future as a church body and meet in individual ministry groups. (i.e. hospitality, Ekids, set-up/tear-down, worship, etc.)

Here are a few other reasons for LC:

*there needed to be a time for just leaders to hang out together. Sunday mornings we all have our ministry tasks which doesn't leave a lot time to connect as leaders. Much of our focus Sunday mornings, appropriately, is on our guests.

*it allows me and others the opportunity to cast vision into the whole team at one time, in one place

In the past I've led or been in many committees all meeting on different nights of the week. That takes up a lot of time. LC will consolidate many meetings into one and will make for better communication.

*as major decisions are made for Encounter, these leaders will hear about them first. Leaders deserve to know what is going on first b/c of their commitment to the ministry and so they will have greater buy in

*as God brings growth we will all begin to naturally drift into other relationships (that's a good thing). LC will bring us back together as a committed core.

Let me know your thoughts after this Saturday's time together.