I can't believe it's been this long between entries. The past few weeks have been extremely busy and eventful. I have a ton I wish to write about, but I am on vacation now and I hate (yes hate) my in-laws PC. Oh how I long for the touch of our Mac laptop. There is something enjoyable about blogging wherever I wish and usually that's not at a desk hunched over a desktop. Baby Mac, as I like to call her, did not make the journey to Ohio this time so I have finally forced myself to atleast place a few lines into the blogosphere.
My staff back home has everything under control so I haven't worried a bit. It's been nice seeing friends and family in Ohio this week. It was kind of crazy I got asked to speak at an event and ended up preaching 6 hours after I arrived in Ohio last Monday. I got the request on Sunday as we were traveling in. We got to my in-laws and I crashed on the couch, over slept and woke up 15 minutes before we had to leave for the meeting. Needless to say (but I will) why do we say needless to say and then we say it any ways. (just a thought) well anyways, I slept through any time to prepare anything so we showed up Bible in hand and we winged it! God was good, and I don't think I said anything that they could run me oput of town over. If I did I guess it wouldn't have mattered because my place is now in Woodstock, GA and I love it! well I am lookin' forward to getting home and back to work. Thanks to everyone that has worked so hard this past week! you're the best!
Monday, June 26, 2006
Thursday, June 08, 2006
We got Video
I finally figured out how to link videos to my blog. Sorry it's a bit grainy. I had to save it in a podcast format to make it small enough for youtube to let me upload. Maybe somebody has a suggestion on what's the best format to put your videos in for youtube? For now it's a start.
Tuesday, June 06, 2006
Opening Night of Cars
Friday night is opening night of the new Pixar animated film called "Cars". I am looking forward to it and am sure the old tow truck played by Larry the Cable Guy will be my favorite. His name is Tow-Mator; I don't care who ya are that's funny right there.Well not only am I looking forward to the opening I am also lookin forward to a night of showing Jesus' love to our community. We thought about protesting the Davinci Code because you know how well protest proclaim God's love to the lost, but we thought better of it :)
What we are doing is on Friday night we are partnering with our local theater to do face painting for kids as they come to the local premiere of Cars. We plan on putting cars on the kids faces and while we do that we can talk with the parents and allow people to make a connection with the church that meets at the theater.
We have done various things in the community, but we were trying to figure out something to reach people right where we are. We will probabely let them draw to win candy/popcorn from the concessions. We have a kids outreach at J.J. Biello's Community Park next week so we'll hand out flyers for that and church invite cards. I think it will be a great night!
Monday, June 05, 2006
a better week
This week we launched our new series and once we got started the day did go better than last week. We started 10 minutes late though and that always throws me off a little. Our team has been so faithful since we launched, but I can tell we are in need of more people to jump into the rotation. It's the beginning of summer and those sun shining Sunday mornings make it easy to not get to the theater on time for set-up.
I want team emc to know you all are incredible and your service to God and the embassy is priceless. Since it's summer and people will be vacationing we need to be sure that if we are on rotation for a given Sunday that we get there at 8:00am. The past three weeks we've gotten started at 8:00 with a skeleton crew and it has affected our set-up time. The most important part of set-up happens when we are done and we all get to gather as a team for prayer. The past two weeks we have not been able to do that. For me with out that time to settle in as a team and focus on God prior to the service, the morning begins to feel like a production. Sunday mornings at the embassy will always be entertaining, but it should never be a show. We need that time so that we can be prepared and focused and experience the morning as interaction with God, and each other, not running around trying to get everything done so the "show" can go on.
I know I am the pastor and I don't expect this from you, but since the 3rd week of of our launch I have been waking up on Sundays between 3am & 4am. Why? Because if I don't I feel so rushed in my morning that Sunday is just about getting the event on and done. For me that isn't what church is about. So I get up early, have some coffee, settle into my day with Jesus, look over my notes,and allow my heart to absorb what God desires for the day. I even have the guy that pulls our trailer come early and we are at the theater at 7:45am. Why? Because I don't want to be robbed of what Sundays should be by rushing like a crazy man on Sunday. When I feel rushed I roll into performance mode because we "got to get it done" I hate that feeling and for some reason I can tell I carry that feeling into the whole service whenever this happens.
Well I guess that's all I have to say about that. Thanks team for stepping it up and giving God a better week this week. Let's all try to keep getting back on track for next week and do what we have to do to provide the best environment for worship. Not just with the media, Sound, lighting, and the temperature of the coffee, but by the preparation of our hearts ready to interact with God and each other.
I want team emc to know you all are incredible and your service to God and the embassy is priceless. Since it's summer and people will be vacationing we need to be sure that if we are on rotation for a given Sunday that we get there at 8:00am. The past three weeks we've gotten started at 8:00 with a skeleton crew and it has affected our set-up time. The most important part of set-up happens when we are done and we all get to gather as a team for prayer. The past two weeks we have not been able to do that. For me with out that time to settle in as a team and focus on God prior to the service, the morning begins to feel like a production. Sunday mornings at the embassy will always be entertaining, but it should never be a show. We need that time so that we can be prepared and focused and experience the morning as interaction with God, and each other, not running around trying to get everything done so the "show" can go on.
I know I am the pastor and I don't expect this from you, but since the 3rd week of of our launch I have been waking up on Sundays between 3am & 4am. Why? Because if I don't I feel so rushed in my morning that Sunday is just about getting the event on and done. For me that isn't what church is about. So I get up early, have some coffee, settle into my day with Jesus, look over my notes,and allow my heart to absorb what God desires for the day. I even have the guy that pulls our trailer come early and we are at the theater at 7:45am. Why? Because I don't want to be robbed of what Sundays should be by rushing like a crazy man on Sunday. When I feel rushed I roll into performance mode because we "got to get it done" I hate that feeling and for some reason I can tell I carry that feeling into the whole service whenever this happens.
Well I guess that's all I have to say about that. Thanks team for stepping it up and giving God a better week this week. Let's all try to keep getting back on track for next week and do what we have to do to provide the best environment for worship. Not just with the media, Sound, lighting, and the temperature of the coffee, but by the preparation of our hearts ready to interact with God and each other.
Saturday, June 03, 2006
New Series Begins Tomorrow
We begin a new series in the morning and I can't wait. I love preaching in series because God uses them to take the church on an adventure. Over the next three weeks it will be exciting to see how God will use this series to bring, vision, passion, and a drive to pursue God's mission for our lives. See ya there... i'll be the one wearing camo and ropelling gear....oops that's suppose to be a suprise....shhh.....it'll be our little secret.
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