Archive for September, 2008

Random thoughts from the weekend

- Golfed on Friday with my chiropractor and a couple of friends. Decent round.

- Shot some video on Saturday with a partner church for some vision-casting we are doing there next month. Look forward to seeing how that relationship develops.

- Alabama / Georgia game was a great one.

- Hung with some friends on Saturday night. Tried to watch Leatherheads – yawn.

- Sunday was a long day. Woke up early – no afternoon nap – tired early last night.

- Our attendance was down for some reason which is crazy considering it is normally one of our larger weekends.  Struggling some now in growth and connection.

- Spoke on the exclusive claims of Christ on Sunday.  Always a tough subject.

- Our transition to the high school has seemed to slow down our growth some – along with the other factors in our community (economic downswing – foreclosures – fewer people moving in).  Lots of factors in church growth.

- The high school is putting on a performance next month so for the first time we are having to “work around” their props, etc. for the next several weeks.  Disadvantage of portability.

- We have had several solid families move out of Vegas in recent weeks – the nature of our city.

- We have had several interviews in recent weeks/months about GP. That’s always cool.

- How can the Cowboys be so good most of the time and yet so bad on occasion?  I hate losing!

- My Fantasy team is officially winless.

That’s all for now.

 Here is a picture of our set design for our This Ain’t Ur Momma’s Jesus series.  Our sets have become less “proppy” with our transition to the performing arts theater at the high school.

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After a disappointing second season, Heroes started its third season with a bang last night.  Great show. Multiple exciting story lines. Cool new characters.  Should be a fun season.

Random thots from the weekend events…

- Balloona Palooza was a huge success for us. We were able to connect to thousands of people over the weekend.

- We supplied the City about 30 volunteers from mission teams from Lake Pointe and First West!

- Over 50 GP people worked this weekend as well! Way to go volunteers. You are the bomb!

- We gave out thousands of invite cards and door hangers! Hope to see a big response in the next few weeks.

- Our worship leader’s Dave Matthews tribute band played Main Stage on Saturday.

- Our booth was by far the most popular there. Can’t beat free face-painting, Guitar Hero tournies, giveaways, crafts, etc.

- I guess those who are charging for face-painting aren’t crazy about someone else doing it for free!

- Shout out to Ashley Criswell our Community Service Director. Thanks for all your work to make the weekend a success.

- These little carnivals make some major coin on food and rides.

- Everclear was the headliner band on Saturday night. Decent band.

- Billy Ray Cyrus was about a mile up the road at a local casino at the same time…riding Miley’s coattails.

- It is awesome to be involved so deeply in our community.

- Performed a wedding on Saturday night for a great couple ~ Tim & Kate Frasier. She came to GP two years ago after Balloona! I baptized her shortly thereafter and now she is marrying a solid Christian man.

- I have had several people tell me the last two weeks that they came to GP as a result of our presence at Balloona.

- Continued our Jesus series on Sunday. I am loving this series.

- Showed this Jesus video on Sunday created by the guys at Vintage 21 several years ago. It is hilarious.  The purpose of the video is to portray misconceptions about Jesus.

- Jesus made some audacious claims about who He is!

- We had “one of those days” at GP yesterday where it seemed everything was going wrong right up to the time they opened the doors.

- “Those days” are not healthy for A-level guys like me.

- It is crazy how different the mood/tone can be in two services.

- Cowboys dominated the Pack last night.

- I may have the worst fantasy team ever.

- I still talk trash in my fantasy league even though my team may be the worst one in the league.

- Busy week ahead. Jury duty on Friday – yikes.

This weekend we are involved in our largest community event of the year – Balloona Palooza.  It requires over 50 Grace Point volunteers and we also bring in 2 mission teams to serve for the weekend.  We serve the City doing whatever they want us to do and then we also operate a couple of different booths with face-painting, give-aways, etc.  It is a huge event for us and several dozen families are now a part of Grace Point because of this event.  We love being involved with Balloona and look forward to a busy but fun weekend.

I can not emphasize enough how important being in the community is for us.  It is a part of our missional DNA and we count it a privilege to serve and be Jesus in our culture.  If you are a church planter or pastor and your church is not involved directly in your community in a missional way, then you are missing out on what we believe is an essential part of the Great Commission.

There are times as an avid sports fan that you feel privileged to have watched a game.  Non-sports people can never understand that feeling. They will always think in terms of “it’s just a game.”  However die-hard sports fans understand that there are times when you watch a sporting event and it is an experience that leaves you feeling honored to have participated by just watching it. Last night was one of those games.  The Cowboys-Eagles game was unbelievable.  7 lead changes. 78 total points. Huge plays. Controversial calls. Costly turnovers. Key players turning in big games.  Rowdy fans.  It was a classic Cowboys-Eagles game.  Thankfully the Cowboys came out on top and I just felt honored to participate at some level while sitting in my living room watching it in HD on my 65″ screen.  I love being a sports fan and love being a Cowboys fan.

- Golfed on Friday. Good day. Crushing the ball off the tee.

- Hung out with some friends on Friday night and played Mafia. Great game.

- Picked up the Wii Fit this weekend. Great fun and a good workout.

- 4 1/2 hours of sand volleyball on Saturday. My legs were TIRED.

- My son tried my patience on Saturday. Boys are so different than girls. Too much like his daddy.

- Is there anything better for a man than lying around watching football?

- Tina Fey as Sarah Palin on SNL – hilarious stuff.  Great impression.

- Another good day with our Jesus series. I taught for about 50 minutes! Oops.

- Maybe the length of the sermon had to do with the fact I drank a cup of coffee and 2 Monsters before teaching.

- I love this series.

- We have some incredible volunteers.

- Our band is on fire.  Even did some Stone Temple Pilots yesterday – Vaseline.

- Five20 was decent. Band was loud. Discussion was solid. We will give it another go in October.

- My Fantasy team is horrible. Losing Brady crushed me. Gotta rebuild somehow.

- Cowboys-Eagles tonight!  They have owned us the last 5 years. I am thinking we are ready for the sweep this year.

- Being on the West Coast, we usually get the Chargers game.  Watched them lose 2 heartbreakers the last 2 weeks. Gutsy call by Denver yesterday to go for 2 in the end.

- The weather is cooling into the 90s in Vegas! Great time of the year.

- Balloona Palooza next weekend!

Enjoy your week…

The feature article this month in Church Production Magazine is about Grace Point!  It is a well-written article.  Church Production normally features the mega-churches of America with huge budgets and productions.  It is refreshing to see them focus on a mobile church that is less than 3 years old for a change.  You can read the article HERE. Also make sure you watch the related video.

I guess it dawned on my yesterday that today is September 11th – a date that will be forever remembered in American history – the day the towers came down.  I have to admit that I almost forgot about it.  After all, it has been 7 years! Wow. I remember the one-year anniversary and the multitudes of memorial services that ensued. I remember the second-year and how there was still a buzz about the date and the tragic events surrounding it.  I remember by the third year that it seemed the significance waned.  And now seven years later, I almost did not remember at all.

Do you know who does not forget? The families of the victims. Do you know who remembers it every day? The husbands and wives who lost spouses, the dads and moms who lost children, the sons and daughters who lost parents, the friends who lost friends, the family members who lost relatives.  The people who lost more than a face on a TV screen remember this tragedy every day of their lives.

I don’t purposefully forget. It just happens. Life goes on and time creates this kind of natural distance that leads to forgetting.  It happens in almost every arena of life. Broken relationships seem less fractured with time.  Hurt feelings seem less important with time.  First loves seem less meaningful with time.  Distant friendships seem more … well distant … with time. Time marches on and with its cadence events, people, mistakes, victories, memories, moments, decisions, life comes and goes and we press toward that final day when we breathe our last.

James describes life as a vapor. It is here for a moment and then gone.  And just like a vapor, the substance dissipates slowly before the vapor itself disintegrates.  Today I am reminded of the brevity of life.  For a brief moment, my heart goes out to those who mourn tragic loss today in the form of a memory.  I can’t identify with the grief they feel because it was not my grief and because time creates this chasm.

What I can do is be reminded today that life is short and I need to live every day like it could be my last.  In reality, 9/11 is coming for each of us – not necessarily in the form of a national crisis but in some form – death awaits.  Am I ready?

Five20 is a venue that we launched in January of this year at the Ice House Lounge in Las Vegas.  For reasons already detailed here, Five20 has been on a hiatus for the last couple of months.  We are really wrestling with whether Five20 is an effective venue and if it is worth the time, energy, money, and effort.

However we are going to give it one more opportunity.  We have relocated to the Freakin’ Frog (yes that is the actual name) which is straight across from UNLV’s campus.  We are also going to be gathering monthly for Sept-Oct-Nov to give it kind of a 3-month trial.  We are also taking a different approach – good music provided by some quality local bands & then spiritual round table discussions in the “Whiskey Room” upstairs.  We have a professor of philosophy from UNLV that will be participating in the discussions.  Our first month will just be a lion’s den approach – free-for-all on questions related to religion, God, and Christianity.

We are also talking to some other groups in the area who have a similar heart to reach this demographic.  Hopefully something can emerge that is effective.  If not, we will take a step back and re-think it.

If you would like to be a part of Five20, e-mail me or come check us out this Sunday night from 6-8 pm. All you non-Vegas peeps who keep up with GP, say a prayer for this Sunday night and Five20.