Great time at LC #3

Man, do I ever love spending time with people who want to do great things for God!
We're not the special ones, God is. Like I said on Sunday, "God doesn't call the qualified; He qualifies the called". Our time together at leadership community was fun and productive. We had a time of worship, I invited our leaders to consider going to Guatemala next summer and 37 signed up, we had an elder Q & A time with numerous questions and then Melissa and took the group through a fun personality survey where there was much laughter over some of the extremes. The morning ended with ministry groups meeting together to go over best practices, training, connection and prayer.

An early birthday present

Last Friday night Rachel and I went to the Clippers game downtown. Her birthday is coming up in early September but we thought the two of us would celebrate a little early. I hadn't seen the new stadium and it was her first experience at a large sports venue. Having time one on one with your kids is the best. We had such a fun time together:-)

Radical Message #3

This Sunday will be the third message in the Radical series.
We started off with Radical Sacrifice, hearing Christ's expectation of those who follow Him in Luke 14:25-35 and then last week with Radical Compassion, listening to Christ's heart in Matthew 9:35-10:42, on the lost and how He commissions us to reach them.
This week is Radical Urgency, looking at how Christ crossed over religious, social and culture prejudices in John 4:27-42, to proclaim the message of the coming Kingdom and the fact that He is it's King.

LC #3 for 2011

This Saturday morning is our third Leadership Community of 2011.
We decided to lower the number of LC's we had a year but added a half hour to the time. Each of the four LC's line up with one of Encounter's core values: Celebrate, Grow, Serve and Multiply. This Saturday has us talking about Serve.
As is normal, we'll begin our time with a few worship songs and prayer. Then we usually have the elders communicate a few things or update our leaders about items that will eventually be announced to the larger congregation. I feel that leaders should be in the know and part of the decisions made. There's greater by in that way and they deserve/need to know b/c of the time, talents and treasure they put forth towards the mission and vision.
Usually we have a guest speaker but Saturday Melissa and I are leading the teaching time. We'll be having the group take a personality survey and talk through the various pros and cons of each type. It should be quite fun and informative.
Then, again as usual, we'll break into our ministry teams for specific training, encouragement, connecting and prayer.
It's a worth while two and a half hours together as leaders once a quarter.

First Day of School, 2011

For the first time in our families history, we have children in all three levels of school: Zach's going into Dublin Scioto HS, Abby & Sara are starting MS and Rachel is going into third grade at Olde Sawmill Elementary.
As is our custom, we took individual and group pics. of the kids. This year all of them are playing different instruments as well. Zach as you know is a drummer (look back two blog posts to see a pic of him), Abby is beginning to learn the saxaphone thanks to our next door neighbor Kate, Sara the bells/percussion and Rachel will continue piano lessons.

Each child was excited and a little nervous this morning...mommy & daddy were just excited:-)

My barbers kid

I seem to be blogging about Mark Artrip a lot lately. He's the object of my pranks but also my barber. He cut my hair yesterday and his son Malachi drove up beside my jeep with his toy jeep and I just had to take a pic.
BTW - I'm still living in mild fear wondering what my payback will be for stinking up Mark's office with rotten chicken salad. (if you don't know what I'm talking about, scroll down a few blog posts to see what I'm talking about).

Zach and his drums

Since seventh grade our son Zach has enjoyed being a percussionist. In middle school he played everything from bells, chimes, acoustic drums and even tympani. There is middle school he was part of both orchestra and jazz band. When the decision to enter high school came wih band or football, he chose band. After being tested by high school staff, Zach was given the highest rating among his peers as a percussionist.
I have to admit...the thought of my son being in the band instead of playing football was..."huh?!". But after hearing that last weeks band camp would have the students marching seven to eight miles on the field each day for six days, I believe it's a real sport:-)
Zach is one of just three guys playing the tenors. That is the five drum instrument that hangs out front of his body with shoulder hooks. These drums weight just shy of 40lbs. and Zach weighs in at 130. So he's carrying, marching, and playing something that's almost a third of his weight! Yikes, no wonder he's pooped after each practice under the blazing sun.
Anyway, we're looking forward to seeing the Scioto High School band put all their hard work into action on the field during the Friday night varsity football games this Fall.

Hanging out with Dublin Pastors

This morning I had the pleasure, for the second time, of meeting with about a dozen local area pastors. We got together for friendship and to discuss our ministry ideas for reaching Dublin for Christ.
The churches range in size from 60 to over 900. We went over the survey we took that had been handed out to us when we met last May. There was fun camaraderie among us as we discussed the change Christ has made in many of our people's lives.

Near the end of our time together we spoke of possible locations for future church plants. Exciting stuff!

I look forward to getting back to praying with these guys once month as we've done in the past.

On track to becoming a US citizen

Yesterday I had my final interview in the process of becoming an American citizen on the third floor of the Lesveque Building. I was asked to block out two hours and it took about 20 minutes. The officer went through my application, reviewed some of the paperwork I brought in and had me read and write a sentence and asked me a few civics questions.
What I wait for now is a letter in the mail telling me when the oath ceremony takes place in front of a judge.
I'm told that as I leave the court room I can apply for a US passport and voter registration immediately:-)

Where the chicken salad was hidden

Well, it's a week since I played a smelly prank on my friend Mark Artrip.
Here's a few pictures of where the rotten chicken salad was hidden in Mark's office.

New Message Series - RADICAL

The book, Radical, by David Platt has made its rounds through much of Christendom, including many of my church planting friends, people at Encounter and Melissa and I. Its message is amazing and terrifying all in one.
Starting this Sunday, I will attempt to communicate God's heart through His Word about what is expected of someone daring enough to call themself a follower of Christ.
I'll warn you and I now: it's Radical compared to the way I and perhaps you have been living.
May God give us the grace and strength we need to biblically follow Him.
He must become greater and I/we must become lesser.

I love to play a good prank:-)

Every once in a while I get a hanker'n to play a prank on one of my friends. This past week it happened to be my buddy, barber and ministry partner Mark Artrip:-)
It all started with my administrative assistant not eating the chicken salad she'd brought for lunch...three months ago. Yep, for three months that container slowly brewed up a horrifyingly bad odor. Afraid that the smell might permeate the building I rent my office out of, I brought it home and set it outside for three days in the heat just to add to the aroma.
Rachel, my eight year old, and I headed up to Grace Church to plant the chicken salad in Mark's office. The smell was so bad that even though we drove my jeep with the top off, stopping at traffic lights was nauseating. Once in Grace Church, I chose the shortest route to Mark's office. Using a pair of disposable gloves I carved out a dollop of chicken salad into a styrofoam cup being careful to leave the newly growing maggots in the container.
Rachel wouldn't stay in Mark's office and I was breathing exclusively through my mouth. I could barely get her to be in this picture with me.
After the deed was done I realized it was Saturday night and that Mark's office is positioned on a main thoroughfare into the auditorium. Yikes! I'm still wondering if folks detected anything as they walked into or from the worship services:-)
At the writing of this entry, Mark does not know I was the one who played the prank. If he doesn't find the putrid cup soon I'll post another blog entry with pics. of where it's hidden.
Shhhhh, don't tell.

Neighborhood Bible Club Celebration

This Sunday, August 7th is our NBC Celebration. The worship time will be led by our children and adult volunteers with songs they learned during the week. They will also have an opportunity to share about their experiences. Each club took an offering for our mission project in Guatemala and the total dollar amount raised will be announced.

Come join us as we celebrate what God did in the lives of children, teens and adults during this summers five Neighborhood Bible Clubs.

Big Buts of the Bible, Week #5

This past Sunday I spoke from Matthew 5:38-42 where Jesus speaks about revenge and how to deal with people who want to harm us.I showed a video that my friends at the NewThing Network made reinacting the life of Julio Diaz. Here's the audio version on NPR Radio website: http://www.npr.org/2008/03/28/89164759/a-victim-treats-his-mugger-right