Enjoyed It, But...

My wife has been gone since 5AM last Sunday. I miss her and I'm ready for her to come home in less than 24 hours. Not that it's been bad, although I didn't really know how good it was going to be with all five kids myself. Overall, it's been great and I've enjoyed it. Had a number of offers from people saying they'd help out or I could send a couple their way, but we've honestly enjoyed the time together. Might even take them all out for breakfast in the morning as a nice little reward. So yeah, I've enjoyed it, but I'm ready for Lora to come back home, and Hannah's ready too. See you tomorrow dear.

Now That's What I'm Talkin' About

In light of the series we're doing (The Price Is Right) and more specifically the tagline that goes with it (How to Walk Away A Big Money Winner) you've got to love this story. Don't be surprised if I bring it up one of these weeks.

A 26 year old Sgt (Wayne Leyde) won $1 million and is planning on going back to Iraq for his third tour and not spending the money right now. In fact, he said, "For right now, I'm going to hold off [spending] and let reality sink back to earth. This is a true blessing. I'm going to turn it around and see if I can bless other people with this" Should give you hope for America

You can read the rest of the story HERE

What would YOU do?

My Heart Hurts

Being a pastor can be great, after all, who else gets paid for full-time work and only works on Sunday!? But there are times when it just hurts. Like today. Nobody died, but I've talked to one person who's parents split when they were 6, who's dad died on their birthday, their mom died and they couldn't get back for the funeral and then a sister died all after they'd recently divorced, moved and changed jobs only to be let go at the new job and now be miles away from their 6 year old kid. And most of that happened in the last year. I've also heard from someone who's ready to call it quits with their marriage, another person who's struggling financially and one who broke up with their fiance.

This is the life of a pastor, and I so want to offer hope and point to Jesus and say everything is going to be alright, but the truth is, it might not be. Nope, things might get worse. That's life. The hope I offer though is not "things will get better," because I can't make that promise and God doesn't make that promise either. I point to eternal life - that's when things will finally be better, if....

And it's the "if" that draws a line in the sand. "If" you haven't met Jesus, things are guaranteed to get worse. That's why we all need to deal with the "if" in LifE - because there are no guarantees here. And that's why my heart hurts. I feel these people's pain, loss, struggle, frustration and heartbreak and I wonder what I'd do "if" it happened to me. There's just no easy answers, but I do believe this: LifE hurts - but Eternal LifE heals.

Sometimes though, I just wish we didn't have to wait.

Maybe You Can Help

I've mentioned before how myself and the staff are scheduling time each week, month, quarter and year to get away and just spend time focusing and listening to what God might be saying. Well, my first quarterly just snuck up on me. Sadly, I'm just not used to scheduling this time. I've got it scheduled for next Monday through Wednesday. Only problem is, I don't have a place to go yet. So, maybe you can help.

I'm looking for suggestions on a place to go. If it's free (like you own it or know who does) that'd be great but I'm expecting to pay and consider it an investment in me and the church. Here's what would put me at ease and the type of place I'd like to be. I'm not a beach person really, but would enjoy a rustic, log cabin like secluded spot with a fireplace and trail, river or nature-ish stuff. As long as it has a bed, electricity and a way to cook that'd be fine - that means a 400 square foot shack would be just as good if not better than a 4000 square foot beautiful home. The more secluded and quiet the better because I'm easily distracted and that's why a hotel or retreat center with bunches of other people around isn't at the top of the list. No need for cable, internet or any of that. Closer is better too, but I'd drive 4 hours or so if I needed.

So, any suggestions?

Inconvenient Necessity

Today the staff was meeting at our usual office for our weekly staff meeting (Bojangles) and we blew through the agenda pretty effectively and got a few things figured out. We ended up hanging out for a bit and just talking so decided to grab lunch together. Just as we had finished up lunch, we noticed a guy some of us have been praying for come in and so I sent one of the guys to go buy his meal for him and invite him over. We had a good conversation with him and I'm sure he left feeling like we really do care about him (which we do) and maybe one step closer to following Jesus.

So what's the problem? There's really no problem, but some of us had other things we needed to get done and move on to and yet we spent another hour at Bojangles. Our schedule was interrupted, but I think God's timing was right on schedule. It was just one of those inconvenient necessities. I just know it was a little hard for me to sit there and be totally engaged and that scares me because the moment that becomes a normal reaction to opportunities to show love to people who need it, that's when I start thinking I'm more important than God. Let me just say that's a dangerous place to be.

We can't forget that we represent Jesus and since he was willing to sacrifice His life for us, the least we could do is sacrifice an hour or so for someone. And this is one of those cases where actions really do speak louder than words. What are you saying?

Only 5 More To Go

My wife is in Florida all week which means I have the kids. I've got people helping out for sure, but there's still a lot of time and trips that I'm responsible for which my wife normally takes care of. So yesterday was the second day of flying solo. It went well. Never knew how much food we consumed. When I made lunch (grilled turkey and cheese sandwiches) I used a whole loaf of bread! Once these boys are teenagers, we'll probably need bread delivered direct to the house.

So today, Laci is helping with the kids. She does great and the kids love her. That frees me to go do a staff meeting and a few other appointments so I'm extremely thankful. It was 12:30 last night before I finished getting things done. But hey, only 5 more days to go.

None of this really has anything to do with the church or running the church. Just a little insight into the life of this pastor. I thank God I can pray wherever I am, plan and prepare at my home office or wherever there is wireless service, and that I haven't had to blow off my family for ministry. Off to an accountability meeting.

That Was GREAT

So after hours of planning, paint and prayer, The Price Is Right went on the air! It was GREAT! We had people show up with signs and I'm hearing rumors of whole groups of people making T-shirts for next week. We had good contestants and both who made it out of contestants row won their prize - we gave away a car and a scholarship to Financial Peace University (ok, the car was a remote controlled car, but still, better than just $5 or $6)

Definitely weird to do the message and game first and then music, but I think it worked well. People were certainly singing and people didn't bail. I was worried about talking too long or not keeping the game moving and making the whole service last forever, but we did everything we had planned and only went 4 minutes over. I can live with that.

Anyhow, check out some of the pictures.

Our own Rod Roddy (aka Joey)

Adoring fans who'll do anything for a chance to get on The Price Is Right

One lucky contestant got to play Punch-A-Bunch (and won!) And check out that great microphone!

And look at that wheel spin. This guy won the car but not the spinoff.

There's some more pictures HERE

It's About To Get Crazy

It's 11:30 at night, church starts in less than 12 hours, I have to have my wife to the airport so she can fly to Florida for the week in about 5 hours and she'll be gone leaving me alone with the kids for about 156 hours. But I have confidence that all will go well.

Set up went well tonight and I'm excited about The Price Is Right tomorrow and the message that goes with it (because even though we love to have fun, it's not all fun and games). I'm just excited to hear the band rock and get this thing kicked off.

But I gotta go try and get some sleep. This is definitely one of those "experiments" that we're trying so there's some risk involved, but that's a good thing. Hope people are inviting their friends....you hear that?....invite your friends!

Live! In 24 Hours

Unfortunately, no rest on the weekend as we've got a few finishing touches left to get ready for the Price Is Right, but I think it'll be worth it. Any idea what this might be?

Is the Price Right?

People have asked before if there isn't a better way to spend money than on sound, sets, signage, marketing and stuff like that for Sunday mornings because it seems like between all the music equipment, projectors and series things, we have spent a lot of money. I agree with that last part at least. We've spent a lot of money. I'd also agree that we could certainly spend it in other endeavors and support other things with it. But there is a method behind the madness.

First, I think it's a sin for church to be boring. I'm not saying it's our job to entertain, but it is our job to engage people and create an environment where they're at least open to hearing what God has to say. Like it or not, that takes money. God's word is still the most powerful thing we have, but if people won't come or can't get past the bore-factor, they'll never even hear what God has to say through His word.

Second, we're not spending as much as we're investing. We're investing in tools to help us capture attention and communicate truth and the best part is, we let anyone use these tools. That's why people are inviting their friends - they're invested and the church has invested in them to give tools people can use to reach out to their friends

Third, I believe that we teach for life-change and if we can connect people visually, verbally, emotionally to something they encounter in places other than church, we've increased their chances of remembering what God's word says and making a connection with their behavior. It's called an object lesson and Jesus used them all the time by pointing to things around Him (fig trees, fields, birds, etc) and then teaching people how they should live. It worked because they could relate to what he was talking about....they understood.

You may not agree and that's perfectly fine. I just thought it'd be a good idea to explain why we're investing thousands of dollars in these first few series this year. The main reason is that people in Pitt county matter to God and if that's all it takes to have an opportunity to present them with Hope and Truth, why wouldn't you make that investment?

Keep It Coming

I guess we're a little late to the mailbox (didn't check it for a day or two) but boy am I glad we checked today. Get this. We got a nice little thank you note in the mail. Just someone saying thanks for "all we do" and the note itself was great and would have been enough to brighten my day. But this anonymous mailer included a few other goodies and I'm so excited. I mean, first popcorn and now this?! Check it out.

And no, don't even ask. I'm not inviting you, asking you to come with, allowing you to tag along or anything that has me staring at your face - unless you're my wife or my kids! Sorry, I just don't like you as much as them. Thanks Anonymous Mailer person.

It's Coming - Are You Ready?

I don't know about you, but this gets me a little excited about Sunday

Works Both Ways

Yesterday, the Boys and Girls Club where we meet had their annual recognition dinner. They had Skip Holtz, ECU football coach coming to speak, a couple hundred people coming to eat, and they were hosting all of this in the same gym space we transform each week. So I was very happy to receive a call from their executive director asking if they could use our chairs, curtains and sound to help this event to "look" better.

We were more than happy to say yes. It's a small way we can say thanks for them saying "yes" to us. We may have a few conflicts here or there, but I love it that we can work together. It makes both of us better. Neither Claude or myself were able to attend, but I hope it went well. Couldn't have gone bad, because my phone never rang though.

I Got Some Too!

Yesterday, a great family stopped by (Dad and kids) and dropped off some Pirate's Popcorn - which was a great idea that is over half way gone. That stuff is good - white cheddar with some cotton candy thrown in. Anyhow, Claude got some too (which gave him a moment to quick complaining about being sick) and he beat me to blogging about it. So I figured I'd let you know what these cool kids thought of their pastor. Apparently, I rock! Didn't know we were in Hollywood, but I just might be the next American Idol (not sure that's a good thing though)

God At The Service Station

Every Monday from 2-5 is when I've scheduled "God Time Only" or GTO for myself.  Well, a little wrench in the plans today.  The engine light on Lora's van came on and everything looks fine (as near as I can tell but I'm no mechanic) so figured since it's still in warranty, I'd have them check it out so I took the van, had a lunch meeting and headed to the dealership (where I am now).

So get this.  All they can figure is that the gas cap wasn't on tight enough!  Huh?  I'm guessing that's not going to be covered by the warranty and that'll tick me off a bit.  I told them it wasn't running real well so they might want to check again.  We'll see.

That means I'm an hour into my GTO and even though I've got my iPod and noise canceling headphones, my Bible and notepad, this just isn't the kind of place that's really encouraging me to connect with God - sorry.  I guess I can take the service station off my list of retreat destinations.

Out.  I'm gonna go pray or something (maybe they won't charge me to tell me the gas cap wasn't tight enough - please God)

Yesterday

What a great day yesterday.  Should have some pictures and maybe even some video later on, but the service was great and the baptism was really special - I love watching the testimony videos that people make and that we show before we baptize them.  Some of the stories of life-change can bring you to tears.  The new and portable baptism pool that we used worked out great and I can say I'm VERY glad that the heater worked because the water going in was only about 56 degrees and that's stinking cold.

Then last night we had our first Lord's Supper at the Boys and Girls Club.  We had to move there because we'd outgrown the last place we were at and boy did we outgrow it.  By my count yesterday we had 120 people come and celebrate the sacrifice of Jesus through this sacred meal.  And man did the people bring the eats....great food and plenty of it (except chicken - oops).  And the worship at the end was totally off the hook!  I love this church and the people in it.

I had five people catch me after service yesterday and say they wanted to get baptized next time and so I'm thinking it'd be a great way to celebrate our 2 year anniversary so the tentative date for the next baptism is April 6th!  Let's see how many people we can reach before then.

Can't Wait For Baptism

We've got our first baptism of the year coming up this Sunday and to say I'm excited is a bit of an understatement. Adding to my excitement are the people that we're adding to the list. Earlier on, I was a tiny bit disappointed because not everybody who was waiting to be baptized was going to be in town. Well, we shot some of the testimony videos on Sunday, I shot some more last night and I've got a couple more tonight. I don't think we've done a baptism yet where somebody didn't feel like they needed to do it right then (even though they didn't have a video) so who knows what Sunday will bring. I'm excited and if you live around here, you better plan on being there!

No Such Thing As Too Small

I have this strange thing where I take great pleasure in weird news (as well as reading about idiots) and occasionally I'm inspired. Like I was with this story of a little guy that has some big muscles.

Turns out that even though he might appear small, he's having a big impact in his country and now even over seas. It's a little like churches and Christians. A lot of people hear about and know about the big names - Willow Creek, Saddleback, Fellowship, etc, or Bill Hybels, Rick Warren, Billy Graham, etc. but they aren't the only ones that are making an impact. There are plenty of churches of under 100 people that are impacting their communities in amazing ways, and untold thousands of Jesus loving Christians doing the same thing all over the world - impacting people.

So no matter how small you might feel (or even look) know that you can make a difference right now and right where you're at because when it comes to churches, there's no such thing as too small.

Depending On Others

If you never realized it before, try planting a church and you'll discover real quick how much you need to depend on others. And not just people you like or even know. You have to depend on designers to get you a proof so you can turn around and depend on a printer to print it in time so they can hand it off to a delivery company that you depend on to get it to you at the promised time. I say that because we have invite cards for our next series that were supposed to be here and when they finally came, there were only 250 instead of 2500. Small problem.

Let's get more practical. If you drive, you depend on the people in oncoming traffic to stay on their side of the road, and if you go to work, you depend on your boss/company to pay you for what you do. If you're married you depend on your spouse to be faithful and if you have kids you depend on them to not kill you in your sleep. I just put that last one there to make sure you're not sleeping while you read this.

It's happens everywhere. We depend on others. If you don't know how to fix something or build something, you hire someone that you depend on to do it. In church work, this is even more pronounced. Now that Claude is full-time, I'm depending on him to make most of the props and stuff for the Price Is Right (even though I love building stuff, I haven't hardly been over there) I depend on his wife Sheila to keep our database up to date and give me names, phone numbers and addresses. And I'm depending on Brad to do most of the video work and a lot of the graphic stuff. I depend on Davey to plan and coordinate the worship music and atmosphere. I depend on Jim (who doesn't even live here yet) to produce the Outlet materials and leader guides each week. I need to depend on Kim to make sure we have coffee, donuts and other goodies on Sunday. Derick and Amy make sure anyone who shows up sees a smiling and welcoming face first thing at Discovery. I depend on all kinds of people to help with set-up or tear down each week.

In other words, there is no reason that people should think that the pastor does or should know everything. It's because there is no way that the pastor could ever do everything. If it wasn't for other people stepping in and stepping up, Discovery Church would not exist. I might be the face that people associate with Discovery, but I'm not the one that we depend on. It's all these other people that make Discovery what it is.

So don't forget, you're not nearly as important as you think you are (and neither am I). Who do you depend on and what for?

Are You Ready?

In just another week, we'll be kicking off a new series on money management. It's one of the biggest problems many people have. It doesn't matter if you're "rich" or "poor" there are more than a few ways to lose control of your money and have it (or the lack of it) start controlling you. Jesus had a lot to say about money and I'm guessing that means it's something important that the church should be talking about too. So for four weeks (starting February 24) we'll be talking about money and how to walk away a big money winner.

Now that Claude is full-time, I've got him working hard getting stuff ready for this series. We're theming it around the game show The Price Is Right and are making a few classic pricing games and props....think you can figure out what this is gonna be?

Make sure you get there early or at least on-time to make sure you have a chance for us to call your name and say, "Come on down...you're the next contestant on The Price Is Right!"

Promised Pictures

Promised I'd post a few pictures and just haven't been around much to be able to do that. Better late then never though. Would have more of things like Second Saturday Service and helping move the Carolina Pregnancy Center, but that camera is packed up with all the church stuff. Thanks to everybody who came out though. Really appreciate you guys helping to make a positive difference in our community.

The beautiful birthday girl is now 4 years old - she's pretty happy about that

Her very first "special day" with Dad. We went to Krispy Kreme and she got a heart shaped donut "with sprinkles" (cause everyone knows that's the most important part)

Love this little girl - all dressed up, 4 years old, wanting to go with Daddy to church yesterday

Why Is That?

There's something I just don't understand, and maybe there's other pastors out there who have the same thing happen to them, but why is it that the messages that cause me the most stress, are hardest to pull together, take the longest and feel like they just might send most of the people in church out looking for another one, why is it that those messages seem to hit home with people?

It happened again yesterday and it's happened a few times since December. I think, research, meditate, question, share and plan the message for Sunday and then hit a wall where it seems like nothing makes sense anymore. I run things by the staff or my wife or other people to get back on track and it's like pulling teeth. I get frustrated, think about starting over, scrapping the whole thing, wondering if God's trying to tell me that I suck or the message sucks and I need to change it. I do the best I can, commit to at least getting through it and pray that it makes sense and connects. Then like yesterday we have sound issues (again - I hate equipment failure!!!) and I have people email me, write comments or hunt me down to tell me that the message really hit home!

I just don't get it. But then, I'm not God, I'm just the messenger. Thank God His words apparently are making a difference in people's lives. And that's part of the life of a pastor. Wanna sign up?

Special Day

I mentioned yesterday that it was Sarah's birthday and she had a great time at her Princess birthday party. It also marked a milestone. Now that she's 4 she gets to move into the weekly rotation for "special day". Each week on Friday (sometimes Saturday) one kid gets some special time with just Lora or myself. It just so happened that today was going to start Lora's turn, but since we added Sarah to the mix, I get one more special day and the first one with Sarah. We went to Krispy Kreme.

What makes the day special? One on one time with just one parent. That's a highly valued commodity in a family with 5 kids, so even an hour to go eat breakfast ALONE is a win. Sometimes we have great talks, other times we just hang out, eat and have fun. The only thing we plan is the time - we take the rest as it comes and no matter what, each time it happens it really is a "special day."

For some reason I can't load pictures now so they'll come later

Slow Down Please

Four years ago today, Lora gave birth to a little girl that I'd prayed for and had named for over 10 years. Sarah turns four today and will be having a little princess party later on. I had a hard time going to sleep last night, thinking of how much I love this little girl, how blessed I feel and how much I'm praying for her future to be blessed by God. I may have five kids, but each one is different and loved in a special way.

Happy Birthday Princess Ra-Ra (how she used to say Sarah). Please slow down and don't grow up so fast.

Maybe You Can Help

Even though I was sick enough yesterday to bring my own box of tissue, we still had our staff meeting (and yes, it was more like what Claude calls it - staff infection). Anyhow, we still need a few ideas for our next series on how to walk away a winner with your money, aka The Price Is Right. So I thought maybe you could help. Here's what I'd like you to help with. We'll be taking some commercial breaks so we'd like to offer to make some commercials for things you'd like to sell. We'll send out a camera crew and shoot a commercial to try and sell your stuff. It can be serious or funny, but what do you have for sale, have you seen for sale or would make a good commercial of something for sale?

Help us out.

Could Be Worse

While I'm still sick and sucking down a huge bowl of chicken noodle soup, my wife and kids are outside on the trampoline having a picnic. North Carolina isn't Florida, that's for sure, but I never expected it to be 81 degrees on February 6th. I'm not complaining. I certainly understand that it could be worse.

Man, I got a good lookin' family. you should be jealous!

Sick

I guess it was a rough weekend for me because I'm feeling totally beat up (and it isn't from playing cornhole) Started out sneezing a little, then a runny nose, went to bed early last night and woke up today with nasty throbbing headache, stuffed up, sneezing, coughing crap up and watery eyes that make me look like I'm crying. In fact, feeling like this I want to cry. This sucks. My girls went back to the doctor to see how their treatment's working and Sarah is fine but somehow, Hannah picked up an ear infection. Yeah! More medicine and more nebulizer.

Summer can't come soon enough - it's supposed to be close to 80 today. 80! In North Carolina in early February (must be global warming).

Long Day

Wow, long day, but wanted to post a few thoughts before going to bed. First off, can you believe the Giants won the Super Bowl?! That was a great game (although I will say the Patriots didn't look like they were at the top of their game tonight - maybe it was NY, maybe it wasn't)

I just got home and it's after 11PM. Been out of the house except for two 5 minute drop-bys since sometime after 8 (and I got there late) Had a great crowd and great response this morning at church and Randy did a great job pulling off our first (sure it'll be annual) cornhole tournament. While my team didn't win it, we did come close and came in 2nd out of 19 or 20 different teams. Considering I've never even played before, I think we did alright!

Had a great group of people and great food for the cornhole tournament and to stick around and watch the game. I love our church people and I love hanging around with them.

I spoke on family today and my wife tells me it wasn't a stellar day for our family - kids in particular. I'll have to take care of that tomorrow. I hate discipline (but totally understand how necessary it is)

I think I'm getting sick. My heads all stuffed up, got a headache and more snot than I know what to do with.

Had a bunch of people ask me what I did to my forehead. I had no idea what they were talking about. I guess I scratched it wrestling with someone. I kinda like having wounds where I don't know where they came from - makes me feel manly.

My girls are still sick and having to use their nebulizer. I'm getting sick of that little contraption.

I gotta get some sleep. Been doing this all day and last night we were out at the church until after 1AM since it was UFC night.

And gotta say, my favorite commercial was the lizards dancing to Michael Jackson's Thriller. Don't know what it was for, but that was funny. The little baby using the computer was funny too. Good crop of clean commercials this year.

Old News

Didn't really want to have to look at Claude anymore when I opened my blog so now that it's Saturday, he's old news. Actually, he's been old news for a long time. He's 40 years old! You can see the gray hair in there. In fact, there's a lot more gray hair now AND it's longer. I did give him a survival kit today to welcome him to full-time ministry. All I can say is that you're never prepared for it - people are just way too weird to be able to prepare for the stuff that they'll throw at ya (good and bad)

Anybody got any weird church people stories? I can think of a couple guys that use megaphones to shout at people that they need Jesus - that's weird. Or the people I've heard of who complain because their pastor "talks about Jesus too much." Weird. Then there's the parents who think because they bring their kids to church, their kids will automatically turn out ok - yeah, weird. And the atheist kid who used to come to church to talk with me about God AFTER the youth group met because he didn't want to come to church. So what's your story...?

Big News

Please welcome Claude Cannon to Discovery Church as the new Full-Time Family Pastor. After 15 years as Vice-President of M&C Assemblies, Claude has stepped out of that position and into this. I can't tell you how excited I am and how much more he's going to be able to bring to Discovery now that we have him full time. He's done an amazing job as a bi-vocational pastor, which means things can only improve.

Welcome aboard Claude!