Almost Forgot....

I still haven't recovered from the "Shock and Awe" pastor appreciation deal that people pulled off on Sunday. Yep, we're at the end of the service, I'm coming back to answer questions that people wrote and there's other people on the stage - uninvited people. Now I know them and know they wouldn't try to mess things up, but it threw off my thoughts. So they get up there, call Claude and Sheila and Davey and Janelle up and proceed to give us all gifts. Hot dog! They gave Lora and me a gift certificate to hit a bed and breakfast of our choice for a weekend and they remembered to provide babysitting!!!! Claude and Sheila got the same thing (and a few other things) and Davey and Janelle got cold hard cash (since their not married yet and figured that a weekend away at a bed and breakfast wouldn't be much fun for Davey to do by himself).

All I can say is that I love these people. I love Discovery Church. I love this job. Thanks

Catch Up

Just to start, it's gotten colder and I'm sitting here eating a grilled cheese sandwich. Something about cold weather and warm food makes me happy. Anyhow, enough of the random thoughts.

I'm way behind in posting and feel a bit bad about it (but I'm over it now). So much going on the past few days. PARTnership party on Saturday (pictures coming later), great service on Sunday, a trip to Raleigh yesterday to get a couple MacBooks because we're making the switch and then we've got a big planning meeting for stuff next year that's coming up this weekend. Whew!

Briefly, the PARtnership party was great. Most of out PARtners were able to attend and did whatever they could to get there considering the traffic, accidents, and other events that tried to keep some away. Some of the costumes were absolutely hilarious (again, check back later for pictures) and we gave out some fun awards as well as out first Outstanding PARTner of the Year award. We had two this year - Randy and Laci Stickland and Kim Kazda. If you know 'em, you know why they got it. A few of the big news items announced were -
1) there are two guys (Aron and Jim) who are in the process of securing funding so they can move up here in the coming months. Aron will work with Students and Families and Jim will help with Outlets and Next Steps. Real excited about that.
2) we're assuming we're going to continue to grow at this pace which means after the first of the year, we'll be moving to two services (most likely 9:09 and 11:11)
3) we've been given the ok to do some permanent install stuff in the children's area which will take it up a huge notch. We've budgeted $3500 for it and will be needing help with some of the install.
4) we'll be renting on Saturday night now to help with making setup more regular and dependable and provide another growth opportunity when we need to start a service on Saturday nights

You'll have to talk to a PARTner to hear about any other announcements and there's one I left out on purpose so you'll do just that. It's in the dream stage, moving into the prayer stage, but it would have to be a God thing for sure.

Sunday was great...I've been encouraged by the questions, comments and conversations that are coming out of this series (Will It Blend?) If you've missed it, check out the podcasts. (one other thing bit of news is that we've saved enough to buy some cameras so hopefully by the first of the year we'll have things in place so you can watch online too!)

Then yesterday, we finally pulled the trigger on a decision we've put off for almost 6 months. We're moving to Macs. Discovery Church is now the owners of a MacBook Pro

and

a couple MacBooks

For those that care, we're changing our presentation software to ProPresenter as well (it's mac only) I've got a bit of learning curve ahead of me, but I think this will help us get to where we want to go.

Like I said, I'll post a few pics later. We had our last flag football game yesterday and all I can say is I'm glad we had more non-Discovery Church people there than church folks. I like that kind of outreach (even if we don't win - but that will change next year!!!)

Guess Who's Speaking

One of the things I really like is having other quality speakers sharing the stage. Not only does it free me up from preparing a message that particular week, but when I'm there, I always get something out of the message. We've been really blessed to have people at Discovery who can speak and do a good job opening up Scripture and we've had a few guests as well. I don't want to give it away, but we've got someone who I think does an excellent job who will be back speaking at Discovery at the end of November for a couple of weeks. Really looking forward to it. I know he'll do a great job - he sounded really excited about it today when I spoke with him, and that makes me excited.

It's Coming

Getting closer to the weekend and I'm looking forward to it. Saturday is our first PARTnership Party where PARTners will hear about some of the bigger things that will be coming in the future of Discovery Church and we'll present a few awards as well. Then on Sunday I'm talking about whether or not religion, the occult and Halloween can/should be blended into the life of people who follow Christ. It looks to be a serious discussion that I'm sure will catch a few people off-guard. Figured I'd just let you know that it's coming/

Only 16 Years?

I looked at Sarah earlier today and just flashed her the sign language signs for "I love you" and she smiled and ran over and whispered in my ear "Daddy, I love you 16 years." Apparently, 16 years is a really long time in her mind....kinda like forever. So rather than think the worst, like she'll love me until she finds out she's 16 and can't date or she's 16 and still has to be home by 10PM, instead of expecting her to rebel and choose to "not" love me at that point, I'm thinking like a three year old and thinking that from here, 16 years looks like forever. I love you too Sarah (for way more than 16 years)

Happy Birthday To Me!

I have to say I had a wonderful weekend and birthday. Had friends come down from Virginia Beach and take Lora and I to a concert, got to go golfing on Saturday AND Sunday (for free no less), got taken out to dinner for all-you-can-eat shrimp at Red Lobster, got a new bike (first time I've had my own bike since my last new bike got stolen in college!), had the church sing "Happy Birthday" to me on Sunday and surprise me with cake, and got great cards from my kids - like this one.

I wasn't the only one who had a birthday though...Champ turned 7 on Thursday and had an army party. All that means is that we gave "violent" weapons to our children and other children who came over to play. And you know what? That makes me a good dad, not some silly, hand-wringing parent who thinks their kid will grow up to be a mass-murderer because they play with guns. Just look at Hannah and the dagger in her mouth - does she look like a killer to you?

Community Service

It was Chandler's birthday yesterday and he turned 7. As a typical boy, he wanted an "army" party. We just had a few kids over and of course the big kids (Cannons and Stricklands). Lora did a great job giving them walkie-talkies and directing them to find some hidden army men while the 'grown-ups' tried to ambush and capture the kids. Cap guns, swords, camo clothing, etc... a blast. Only downer was we had absolutely no way to light Chandler's candles on fire - no lighter, matches, nothing. Oh well, he's still 7, had a good time and didn't care.

Then, afterwards, we really got a blessing when we went to the Carolina Pregnancy Center's annual banquet. Almost 800 people there and that alone blew me away, but to hear the stories of life-change because of the faithful service of the staff at the center, it was wonderful. There have been at least 100 more babies born in the last few years because of them. Heard from a couple post-abortive people sharing their testimonies, a couple people who carried out their unplanned pregnancy, and a bit from the board and some workers. Bill McCartney (former University of Colorado football coach and founder of Promise Keepers) was the keynote and did a very good job. He's had his own experience with unplanned pregnancy that he shared and is somewhat recounted in this recent article.

It's just great to see and hear about other organizations that are Christ-centered and working to serve the community. Thanks Carolina Pregnancy Center.

Worth Your Time

Occasionally I'll "waste" a bit of time on ESPN's website, but today, it was definitely NOT a waste of time. I'll save any commentary for another time and just give you the links to a print story about a kid named Jason Ray. You can find a video for it on ESPN's homepage (10-17) If you check out either, I'd love for you to come back and comment on it.

Read It

I'm Not Too Tired

Have you ever been too tired to.....? I'm sure everyone at one point or another has used the excuse of being "too tired" and I'm sure there are times when it may even be a valid excuse. But this morning when I was meeting with a couple of guys for accountability, I found myself praying for us to stop using "too tired" as an excuse and start trusting God at his word.

It seems that God told Jeremiah the people would find "rest for their souls" if they'd just do what needed to be done - but they decided they were 'too tired'.

Jesus said stop complaining about how tired we are and come to him - only there will you find "rest for your souls"

When Moses was "too tired" he got help

Unfortunately, when Samson got "too tired" he gave up and it cost him his life

The good news in all of this is that God, the Everlasting God, never gets tired. That means he'll still be there waiting for us when we decide to trust him and stop using the excuse of being "too tired" to do whatever it is he's called you to do. For me, that means that even though I'm not feeling well, stuffed up head, coughing stuff up, etc...that's not a good excuse to sleep longer and push back or yes, even skip, my personal time reading the Bible and praying. That's what I've been doing, but I'm feeling convicted about it so I'm going back to my God who gives rest - because he'll "refresh" me - and you too, if you need it.

What A Day

It's been a long, day but man, what a day. To start with, we canceled church services this morning in order to go out and serve people in the community. It was the end to the message series we just did based on the book Outflow (which I'll highly recommend). Wasn't sure what to expect for turnout, but it was great. I'm guessing we had about 110 people who came to serve and that's not counting the 25 people who came from another church in Moorehead City to check us out today! They're going to be planting a church next year (wish they would have called first). They ended up going to another local church this morning and will come back to see how we do it here at this location some other time.

We did three simple projects. We did a $1 car wash at a couple locations where we washed cars and then gave the customers a $1. We picked up trash along the roadside at three different locations, and then we went to an area of government housing and gave away about 80 sets of boxed food and toiletries.

Afterwards, everyone came back and Mark from Cubbies in Winterville was out grilling Cubbieburgers and hotdogs for everyone. So we ate lunch, shared stories of people's reactions to our service, and had a great time. I'm thinking we'll definitely be canceling church again sometime.

Then tonight, the students came back and brought chicken, corn, beans, bread, tea, dessert to a couple of our local fire stations. That was after they had served with us washing cars and picking up trash this morning. These students ROCK!

It's now almost midnight and I'm ready for bed. What a great day. I love this church and these people. I gotta ask... So what'd you learn about in church today?

Claude Wants To Take Over The World

A Milestone

This post is my 300th post so far. Sure, I don't post every day, but I do post pretty regularly and have to say that looking back, I'm glad I've shared some of my thoughts and experiences. Here are a few of my favorite.

Blogging Hannah's Birth (1, 2, 3, 4, 5)
When I Got Pooped On
$20k Truck for $3500
Halloween Pictures with Pirate Hannah
Sarah's Birthday
The story of my initiation into the V-club
Picking On Claude (and here and here)
Almost Got a Speeding Ticket

Thanks for reading, commenting, checking in, encouraging, and allowing me to be who I am in the blogosphere. You guys are great...but for this day, this week..... I'm the Freak Of The Week!

Getting Excited

I'm finally feeling better (thanks for the suggestions) and am really looking forward to the upcoming weeks. We got a huge "green light" on a project we'd like to do that will really improve our Children's Ministry and we'll be announcing those plans at our PARTnership Party on Oct. 27th. There's a couple of other big announcements that we'll share then too so if you're a PARtner, you'll want to clear your schedule so you can plan on being there and I'm not kidding about that.

Excited about this weekend too. It's the second Saturday of the month and that means time for Second Saturday Service. This month we're helping out another local ministry put on their first ever 5K run to help bring attention (and solutions) to poverty in our areas. Yes, there are people living in poverty right here in Pitt County! If you didn't sign up, you can just show up anytime between 8 and 3 and I'm sure they'll find something for you to help with. Most everything happens near Moe's off of Red Banks Road. CLICK HERE for a map.

Then I'm really stoked about Sunday because we're not doing church, instead we're going to BE the church. We told people who were there last week what was going on but some might just be finding out about it now. Basically, we're saying that the church has left the building. We'll still meet at 10:10, and once people get there, they'll get a worship CD that they can play in their car while they're driving away to their location. They'll either go to one of our sites where we're doing a $1 carwash (meaning we wash a car and then give people $1) or a beautification project (meaning trash pickup).

People who were there last week picked up a bag that had a list of what to bring in it. If you didn't get one, you can choose. If you want to wash cars for a while, bring brushes, sponges, buckets, hoses, nozzles, towels, squeegeez, etc. and if you plan on picking up trash bring gloves, buckets, garbage bags, vests (or wear bright colors) etc.

We'll tell people to finish up by around 11:45-12:00 and head back to the Boys and Girls Club for lunch - provided by Cubbies in Winterville (burgers and hotdogs). I've heard some great stories of people who've begun to understand what it means to notice people and love them through simple acts of kindness. Sunday's just another opportunity to do that in our community. I'm pretty confident that most people will come and BE the church in the community and not consider it a day off of church. Should be great. Don't miss out.

How Do You Make It Go Away?

Since we got back from Catalyst, I've been feeling like I'm getting sick. Don't know where it came from, and was even more surprised to find out that Lora wasn't feeling good either. Well last night was terrible. Stuffy, sweating, coughing, just not good sleep. Went to a meeting at 7AM and came back and laid back down I felt so bad. Still don't feel great.

Maybe you can help.

Leave a comment and let me know what you do to help you feel better or make a head cold go away? Already overloading on vitamin C, drinking gallons of water and took some Airborne but don't really feel like it's helped. What do you recommend? How do you make it go away?

Whirlwind

Been a crazy few days. Left for Catalyst on Wednesday and sat in traffic on a closed interstate for about 3 hours. Not the best way to start. Didn't matter too much though since the conference was really good.

We hooked up with a couple other guys from Wilson Community Church and spent some time with them. I won an 8GB iPod Nano from convoyofhope.org,

we scored a free lunch one day, and when we got back on Saturday, I got invited out to the ECU football game and dinner with my wife as part of Pastor Appreciation (had to miss set up but they did great).

Got home in time to sleep a few hours before going to church to finish setup, run a service and speak and then grab lunch and a short nap before our small group tonight. Tomorrow Lora's back to hospital orientation (for 12 hours!) Tanner has his last baseball game (hurray), and I'll be ready to pass out (and post a bit more). Until then.....

Here We Go

In a few short hours, the staff and a few others from Discovery will be headed off to Atlanta and the Catalyst conference. That's a good thing - looking forwards to it and all I'm going to learn and be challenged to think about. I'm really excited to hear from Craig Groeschel from lifechurch.tv and from Patrick Lencioni who wrote The Five Dysfunctions of a Team and some other best sellers. The rest of the speakers aren't nobody's, but those are the two I'm most excited about.

The thing that totally bites is that I've hardly seen my wife since Sunday afternoon, and I'm leaving before I see her today. She started orientation at the hospital on Monday (she's gonna do some postpartum nursing 1-3 days a month) and with staff meeting, ball games and flag football at night and her needing to be to the hospital before 7 and a Bible study this morning that started at 6 - I haven't seen her. Man, I miss my wife - and I live with her!

Oh well. You do what you gotta do. So I'm doing laundry for her before I leave so she doesn't need to. That makes me a good husband, but folding her clothes still isn't the same as holding her. See you when I get home Lora.

PARTner Party

You read it here first. We're having our first annual PARTner Party on Saturday, October 27th. Only people who are PARTners at Discovery Church are invited. That means that they've been through our PARTnership class, signed our PARTnership agreement, and are PARTicipating in the life of the church.

For those that might be wondering, we have PARTners and not members because PARTners commit to doing ministry while members only commit to being there when they can. PARTners are depended on to help advance the cause. Members are only expected to pay their dues. Look at any gym, country club or even Netflix. They all have and want members, but couldn't care less if the members use the available services as long as they're paying their membership fee. We do, and that's why we have PARTners.

So, if you're a PARtner at Discovery, look for this in your mail box this week. If you don't get one, make sure you get yourself to the next PARTnership Class and you'll get invited next year. PARTnership has its privileges.

What About Your Pastor?

I still haven't decided if I'd like my boys to grow up and be pastors or not. There are still enough difficult days for me that I don't know if that'd be a good dream for me to have for them or not. But then there are "the moments." You know, those times when all the work, effort, tears, bruises and hurts count for something. When the seeds you planted bear fruit. When the story finds a happy ending.

The last two days have had a couple of those moments. Yesterday I had one of our church families invite the staff (Claude, Davey, myself and our wives/fiance's) to their house for dinner. They're providing childcare for my five kids, and they're doing it just to show appreciation to their pastors/ministry leaders. Then today Claude and I sit down with someone who totally blessed us both with a nice little check, again, telling us how much they appreciated us and what we do. They also happened to mention that it's October which is Pastor Appreciation Month. (I don't know if it's a coordinated effort or not, but that's one act of kindness for each day of October so far....and there's 29 days left this month)

Now that I've been doing this pastor thing for a little while, I don't care what you personally think of your pastor - I just know he needs to see that he's appreciated. I felt so honored these past two days. Now, I have people tell me all the time how much they appreciate myself, our staff or Discovery. Still there's something special about making the extra effort to communicate that. So if you're at a church and it has a pastor, take him to lunch, offer to watch his kids so he can have a date-night with his wife, do his yard work, send him on vacation somewhere or maybe even buy him a car. Somehow though, make the extra effort to let him know how much you appreciate what he does.

We don't do it for the accolades, recognition or six-figure income - we do it because we care, we're called and that's all there is to it. So how are you going to honor your pastor?