Archive for March, 2008

- Took my second Friday afternoon in a row off! That is huge for me. Spent the time with Zac playing video games and hanging out. The boy is a gamer.

- Starla and I went out to eat on Friday night. Ate some Italian food. We then went to see the movie 21. I like watching Vegas movies just to see the familiar scenes. Looked like most of it was actually shot in Vegas unlike some movies and TV shows like CSI where it is obvious the scenes are not Vegas. Decent movie. A bit long but worth the watch.

- Zac’s babysitter said they played the Wii for a long time. He won every game until the end when his sister was beating him in something. At that point, he decided it was time to turn off the Wii in the middle of the game. Competitive gamer! I don’t know where he gets it.

- We had the Little League opening ceremonies on Saturday. Zac is playing for the Sea Dogs. He looks so cool in his uniform. Grace Point helped run the entire event with jump houses, face painting, dunk tank, balloons, concessions, etc. Even one of our own sang the national anthem. We got some mad props and was informed that we would get a banner up at the park for the entire season! Awesome service opportunity. The league has about 700 players right in our target area so it is a great relationship for us. Community service is the bomb!

- Had some guys over to watch the UNC-U of L game on Saturday evening. Pizza, nachos, sloppy joes, dessert, and March Madness: great combination. Only one Cards fan in our midst. He had a glimmer of hope in the second half but it soon dissipated along with his team.

- Good Sunday. Post-Easter Sunday always seems to be a bit down but it was still a great day. Our Lifeboat series continues. I taught on Zacchaeus (I always have to look to spell his name). Great story. Connected well with our people.

- We had Starting Point on Sunday – our intro to GP session. Had 2 more adults commit their life to Christ during it. We have never had a Starting Point where someone did not cross the line of faith!

- Good night at Five20. We had several new faces. We are still trying to figure out this venue but I love it. It is so laid back. Great music. Extremely casual. A variety of people. Interactive teaching. Very different from Grace Point but driven by the same basic values of intentional, relational, missional living and ministry.

- My wife and kids are leaving tomorrow for 2 weeks! Admittedly, I am not a good “alone” guy. I am traveling most of the second week but the next two weeks will be filled with unhealthy eating, horrible sleep habits, video gaming, golf, working odd hours, watching man movies, and realizing living by myself is not a good thing.

- Our dog, a self-confessed lover of mommy, is about to experience the worst two weeks of her life. The “love order” in my house for the dog is as follows: Mommy, Kayleigh, Ragan, Zac, and then way below Daddy. She has no idea what she is about to go through.

- Anyone want to volunteer to clean my house 2 weeks from today?

- Tonight is the last night my bed will be made for two weeks!

- Going to a vision meeting in San Fran next week for a church plant we are looking to invest in! Later in the same week I get to be a part of the Leadership Network for Younger Generation Pastors. Can’t wait! Two full days with Larry Osborne and others! I am privileged to be a part of this network. Looking forward to hanging with some other under-40s who pastor large churches!

- Final Four baby! Go Heels!

Later…

The Tarheels are officially headed to San Antonio for the Final Four.  They punched their ticket last night with a win over the Louisville Cardinals.  It was an exciting game.  I actually lived in the Louisville area for about 7 years so I know several Cards fans.  It was a sweet victory.  One of our launch team couples, Daniel & Ashley Newell, are Louisville fans.  We had a little wager before the game that they failed to live up to after the game.  Not sure why.  The wager? If Carolina beat Louisville, they have to name their soon-to-be-born son Devin.  I am not requiring them to fulfill their covenant commitment to God

In related news, I am somehow in first place in both bracket tournies I entered.  I am in first in the Grace Point bracket and first in the Church Planting Space tourney – a tournament for church planters – over 140 involved and I am in first! I have definitely got lucky with some picks.

My Final Four: UNC, UCLA, Kansas, Texas.  Championship: UNC – UCLA.  Cutting down the nets: HEELS

We will see how it goes.  Have I mentioned I love college basketball?

I didn’t really take time last week to post anything about the Resurrection, so I thought I would provide a few random thoughts today.

The resurrection is the event that separates Christianity from every other world religion.  Christianity is not unique because of the teachings of Jesus – most other religions are based on the teachings of a religious leader. Nor is Christianity unique because of its philosophy of life (love God and others) – others religions teach similar values.  A spiritual experience or feeling does not make Christianity unique – people have spiritual experiences all the time outside of Christianity – life change can occur through other avenues (just ask a die hard AA person).  Not even the crucifixion of Jesus makes Christianity unique – other religious leaders have died horrible deaths because of their beliefs.

What makes Christianity unique is the fact that Jesus did not remain dead. Think about the chain of events after Jesus died.  His followers did not rally the troops and begin to promote the teachings of Jesus like the followers of other religious leaders have done.  No – the opposite occurred. The followers of Jesus hid in fear. They ran. They cowered. And then they went back to their pre-Jesus occupations.  Jesus went too far in his claims. He claimed to be God – the way to Heaven – the giver of eternal life.  He taught more than values and principles. He claimed Deity. He claimed to be the promised Messiah.  And then he was crucified. And his followers lost hope. They lost the dream. They denied Jesus.

But overnight something happened – everything changed. And suddenly the disciples were transformed into courageous prophets who pointed their fingers in the face of the religious elite and told them they were responsible for the murder of Jesus.  Suddenly these cowards became bold and were willing to risk everything to proclaim the story of Jesus. Eventually they gave their lives for Jesus.

Suddenly thousands of Jews abandoned their religious traditions and heritage and became followers of this blue collar Nazarene who claimed to be the Messiah.  What happened?  The resurrection.

What turned cowards into prophets? They saw Jesus. They saw a dead man walking. They saw a dead man alive.  Their faith was validated. Their hope was restored.  And they knew that everything Jesus claimed was true.  And as they told the religious leaders of their day, “you can’t deny what you have seen and heard” (Acts 4.19-20).  The resurrection changed everything.

If Jesus had simply died, he would have faded from the pages of history as another good man who died the death of a martyr. But the fact that he was raised from the dead validated his claims and proved he was not just a good man or a prophet but the Son of God, the Messiah.

As Paul reminds us in 1 Cor 15, everything in the Christian faith stands or falls with the resurrection.  If he was not raised, let’s just pack it up and go home. There is no reason to do what we do.  The resurrection is the foundation of our faith. Without it, there is no hope, no salvation, no forgiveness of sins.  But with it, there is the guarantee of eternal life, of victory of death, of life in Christ.

He is risen indeed!

Ministry is crazy. You work insanely hard for certain seasons and then those seasons come and go and you are left with new challenges, new struggles, new realities, and new people!  We have worked insanely hard for Easter and for our new series Lifeboat.  And the hard work paid off. We had an awesome Easter weekend.  We had 1300 people in our weekend gatherings. I have received the final numbers yet on spiritual decisions and guests but I know we had several adults commit their life to Jesus today. It was awesome.  Some of the highlights:

- Our set design was awesome – helicopter, parachute, lifeboat, actual mini waterfalls, rock walls – best portable team I have ever seen.

- We had two aerial Cirque performers who were off the hook. One of the cool things about being in Vegas. They performed to the Evanescence song Bring Me to Life. Extremely cool creative element.

- Our first Lifeboat video was captivating. People responded well.

- The band was at the top of their game.

- Our volunteers came through BIG TIME.  Way to go team.  You guys are the heart of Grace Point.

- We were extremely prepared for Easter … but still had a few glitches … always happens.

- It is cool to see our volunteers pulling out more and more rows of chairs.

- Our largest service was our noon one – go figure.

- Can’t believe we are a little over 2 years old and saw 1300 Vegas people attend GP. Wow.

- I never get over people giving their life to Jesus.

- I always come off high seasons feeling inadequate and drained.  Not sure how to explain the post-Easter mood but it is weird.

- We had a ton of new people.

-  I love our staff and team leaders.

- Why do “extra grace required” people feel it is ok to corner you on Easter Sunday???

- It is so cool to see people in shorts and others in ties in the same service – far more jeans and shorts than ties but a few made it in.

- 75 degrees and sunny – can’t beat the weather of an Easter in Vegas.

- I need to be censored by the end of three times teaching.  I actually asked “anyone who is not a child molester” to sign up for our next community event with the local Little League.  Devin to self: “keep that thought in your head next time.”

- Teaching 4 times on Sunday is draining.

- An average Monday brings a holy hangover … the Monday after Easter almost requires a holy rehab.

Great weekend overall – and guess what?  Next Sunday is still coming at the same time. Back to work.

The Adventure begins this Sunday.

Do NOT miss Lifeboat.

9:00 ~ 10:30 ~ 12:00

One of my favorite things about March Madness is the constant barrage of expert analysis that you receive about each and every team.  I now know things about teams that I have never even heard of before this week.  I know who experts say the potential “Cinderella” teams are, who should and should not make it to the Sweet 16, why they should or should not make it.  I have heard why certain divisions of the bracket are easier than others, why certain teams have an easier journey to the Final Four than others, why certain teams have an unfair advantage because of where or when they are playing.  I have heard why certain teams should NOT have been left out of the Dance and why certain teams should not be dancing.  I have listened to expert analysis on how the tournament should be reformatted or expanded or why it is perfect the way it is. I have listened to hundreds of predictions, filled out brackets, talked smack, and rearranged my schedule to watch games.  This is all part of March Madness.  But here’s reality … NONE OF THAT MATTERS ONCE THE BALL IS TOSSED IN THE AIR!

Everyone is an expert until game time. Everyone has an opinion until the jump ball. Once it is go time, it does not matter what the analysts and experts have said.  What matters is what you do during those 40 minutes of basketball. What matters is what you do on the court. What matters is boxing out, rebounding, making free throws, staying with your game plan, making necessary adjustments, playing defense, making your shots.  What matters is game time.

As a church planter and pastor, there are a lot of analysts, experts, and theorists out there who seem to all have it figured out in their heads or on paper. They know what you should and should not do and how you should and should not do it.  They have a lot of opinions and theories.  You can find thousands of opinions on how to plant and lead a church.

But when all is said and done, theories are only theories and until the ball gets tossed into the air, none of that really matters.  Don’t get me wrong. I am a student – a preparer – a reader and learner.  I did not come into church planting unprepared. I read every thing I could get my hands on. I talked to as many people as possible. I attended conferences and listened to CDs and read manuals. I have mentors and coaches. I did everything I could to prepare myself.  I put in the required time, energy, and work to be ready.  But at the end of the day, it is all about go time.  It is all about being able to get it done in your 40 minutes.  I know a lot of guys who have great strategies and plans and demographic studies and systems, yet they have been unable to put the ball in the basket.

I am not sure what separates the gamer from the talker in church planting.  I do believe it is a leadership issue.  And in no way do I want to pretend I have it all figured out or that Grace Point is the idealistic model church plant. There is a supernatural element of this process that is unexplainable.  But what I do know is that we do everything we can to play great defense, box out, rebound, hit our free throws, and put the ball in the hoop.  We do everything we can to not just be talkers or theorists but gamers.  When it is “go time” we want to be ready to play and not just talk.

A lot of people can talk it but can they produce when the whistle blows – that is what separates the Final Four teams from the if onlys.

About 3 years ago, I got a series idea that I knew would be huge if we could ever pull it off. Because of the investment of time and energy, we have waited for it until now. This Sunday at Grace Point we are starting a series called Lifeboat. The central thought of the series is that 6 strangers find themselves in a lifeboat that will only hold 5. One of them must sacrifice his/her life so the others can live. Obviously the primary symbolism is that Jesus sacrifices his life so the strangers can live.

The 6-week series opens with the initial scene where the stranger has just sacrificed his life for the others. The lifeboat is full of panic, terror, and the reality that someone just died so that I might live. Emotions are high. Responses vary. And all of the strangers are left to ponder the reality that someone died to save their life.

From there, the series tells the stories of the 5 surviving strangers and why they believe they should have been the one who died. Their life stories parallel biblical stories about people with whom Jesus had contact. There is the shrewd business man who has climbed the corporate ladder by stepping on everyone else to reach the top (parallels Zaccheus). There is the promiscuous woman who was rejected by her father and has thrown herself at men to try and find acceptance (parallels the woman at the well). There is the handicap person who endures the scoffing, ridicule, and everyday struggles of trying to live life in a culture that is not suited for them (parallels blind Barimaues). There is the religious hypocrite who appears to have everything together on the outside but who struggles in secret with his own depravity (parallels the religious hypocrites of Jesus’ day). And there is the drug-abusing AIDS victim who is destined to die an early death because of the choices she has made (parallels the leper).

Each week of the series focuses upon one of the primary characters. We are telling their stories through video format as each person in the lifeboat reflects upon their own life story and why they do not deserve this incredible act of sacrifice. The videos will tell their life stories (think Lost format) and then I will teach on the biblical story that parallels that person’s story. It should be one of the most powerful series we have ever done. Our actors/actresses have done an incredible job and the video editing is awesome.

This Sunday, Easter, I will begin the series talking about the sacrifice of Jesus from Romans 5.6-10 and how Jesus died so that we might live. Obviously the resurrection validates his death and claims which is why we celebrate Easter.

This series has been a long time in the making and now it is here. We have put A LOT of hard work into the series and are expecting God to use it in a great way. I can’t wait.

HERE is the video link to the trailer we showed last Sunday. Check it out.

- Hung out with my two brothers on Friday night. Ate some steak. Talked church shop. Celebrated my younger Derek’s belated 30th birthday. Played the Wii. I was tired by the end of the night from a long mental day.

- Saturday is my day off and I try to relax – hard thing for me to do. I am helping coach Zac’s baseball team so we went to practice. Took the kids to McDs. Ran to the office and fed Surge – who devoured 7 feeders. Watched some college hoops.

- We have a kid on our baseball team who is terminally ill – that will put things in perspective for you.

- Zac makes me laugh – he is WAY too much like me.

- Starla and I watched this movie on Saturday night. Captivating movie – confusing ending … still trying to figure it out … typical Coen Brothers. Warning: this movie is extremely violent. Definitely a guy movie.

- The weather turned cold on Sunday (for Vegas) and the wind came out. Also Spring Break in the valley. But we still had a good weekend.

- Spoke on hell this weekend. I asked how many people had heard an entire message on hell in the last 5 years and 2 people raised their hand! Tough subject – people responded well. We had some adults commit their life to Christ!

- Our Pushing Daisies series was a great one. Lots of positive feedback. Definitely struck a chord with our people.

- Lifeboat begins next Sunday. We showed a teaser in our service. It is going to be off the hook. Definitely one of the best series we have ever done. I will try and blog about it later and give you details.

- Can’t believe Easter is one week away!

- Don’t want to give away everything about our Easter service but can anyone say Cirque du Soleil?

- Our Easter marketing generated some negative feedback – our sign that it was a great piece!

- Our people are inviting lots of people – don’t know what to expect next week but I believe it is going to rock our world.

- Our staff and others have worked incredibly hard for Easter. I love our team.

- My family is going to be gone for TWO weeks after Easter. I am not a good bachelor! Our dog is about to have the most 2 miserable weeks of its existence. She is a mommy’s dog. I am sure I will eat way too much fast food and drink way too much coffee.

- I love college basketball. March Madness is my favorite time of the year.

- Can’t let the purge end without mentioning my Heels won their second straight ACC championship. The only downer was that they did not beat Duke in the finals.

There is no better time of the year for a college basketball fan than March Madness.  It all starts this weekend with the conference tournies.  Should be a fun year.  Hopefully the Heels will play their best ball of the season in the weeks to come. Can’t wait for the last second heroics, the dark horses, the upsets, the pressure, the controversial calls, the dunks, the trifectors, the brackets … can’t wait for March Madness!

Had the opportunity to hang out for a couple of hours with Tommy Politz yesterday. Tommy is the pastor of Hillside Christian Church in Amarillo, Texas.  Before pastoring Hillside, Tommy founded and led Stonecreek Church outside of Atlanta. He experienced close to the same level of growth as Grace Point so it was fun talking church planting shop with him. Tommy is an encourager and I really enjoyed hanging out with him.  It is rare that I get to hang out with planters or pastors but I have had the opportunity to hang with some great ones the past several days.