Wow!!!!

Birthdays... they come around once a year. This year's birthday was great fun. The Facebook friends came through big. Lots of greetings and good wishes. I was in meeting all day, but they were invigorating, encouraging, and hopeful.

Ate Lunch with James, Dinner with Pam, both of which were nice.

then tonight had another meeting. Cant say alot about it right now,but God is up to something in our church. I can feel it. and so can others. There are some amazing opportunities for us to reach people for Christ...some of which are beyond our imagination.

I have a feeling that the only thing that will hold us back is how big our vision ends up being. I don't want to be the limitation to accomplish the vision God has for FCC , our community and even the world.

So pray for our, our leadership teams, Mike, matt and myself. We all want to be led by God in all of these things.

One Month To Live is off and running. The responses have been amazing... Look for some more in the coming days.

TURN

Yesterday one of young moms was diagnosed with cancer. Pretty devestating to her, her husband, and kids.

What do you do when you find that out? You TURN....

TURN TO GOD. God cares...and God is there. He does not promise that we will not have valleys...but he does promise to walk through those valleys with us.

TURN TO FAMILY... I know they huddled together. They also have leaned on family

TURN TO YOUR SMALL GROUP. 24 hrs after the news... They were gathered in our church with thier small group, praying, crying, hugging, laughing and saying in every way possible, "We will go through this together."

Do you want to know why we are pushing groups and classes? Do you want to know why it is such big deal that you engage with a smaller group of people. Do you want to know why a class, a group or a ministry group is so important? Do you want to know why it is so important that you go beyond the 500-600 people in your service on Sunday???

Because you get cancer. Because your mom dies. Because your children rebel. Because your house burns down. Because you lose your job. Because you have a baby. Because you wonder if anyone cares. Because you need reassurance. Because you need to give hope, give love, and give reassurance. Because you need someone to share good news with...someone to laugh with...someone to share life with.

Because you need to give grace and receive grace. The best way to do that is to be a part of a group.

This couple did that. It has changed their lives. They have been part of helping change the lives of others... and now, they will go through another life changing experience.

Something tells me that this will turn out well. They have a great God, good family and a super small group.

Prayer for Tonya and David, Dalton and Andrea...

FCC ELDERS

When I was a young kid, we lived in a mobile home that made noises at night. Occassionally, it would get windy and when it got windy the trailer would shake. I would lie in the dark thinking, "I hope that is just the wind." It always was the wind. But in the back of my mind I would comfort myself by remembering that my dad was in the house and if anything bad were to happen , he would take care of it. But I was always glad it was the wind.

This morning I asked all of our current Elders, the Elders from the past year and two new Elders to come on the stage. It is our custom to "ordain" new elders with prayer. We have moved this to the morning services, in part because we want to involve as much of the church family as possible. God told Moses to lay his hand on Joshua in front of the whole assembly...as a sign of his blessing and committment to Joshua's new leadership.

It occured to me that while these Elders are my friends, my leaders, as well as leaders for thier families and church, they also provide a certain measure of "comfort" because they are our protectors, overseers, and shepherds.

Things seem to happen pretty fast around FCC. We are growing and reaching people like never before. It seems like there are times I want to say, "Stop the craziness." But then I remember that God is in this... and that the efforts to reach out and connect people to God and in relationship with each other is what God called us to do. I love it!

Then I remember, when I want to jump off... that we have Elders in the house. They slow me down, prod me, love me, encourage me, support, sometimes warn me, other times they say yes and no. They teach , they lead groups, they help the other staff members, they pray for me, staff and church members all the time.

They are there. They find strength in our past, find power in the present, and share in our very hopeful future. They rely on the truth of scripture, the person of Christ, the personal ministry of the Holy Spirit, and the power of prayer.

There are there... even when it get's a little windy....

Thanks guys!

One of your best leadership moves....

"If you live each day as if it were your last, someday you will be right." Steve Jobs, 2005 Commencement speech at Stanford. He's right.

This week, we addressed a subject that no one wants to talk about. In Numbers 27, Moses and God talk "transitions." That is always a hard talk to have, especially when you are a leader. God started it by reminding Moses that he would not be leading the people into the Promised Land. Moses said, "Appoint a man... so that the people will not be like a sheep without a shepherd." This is a statement that reveals Moses' character. He was not bitter or angry about the fact that he did not get to go in the promise land. He was thinking about the people he led. They needed a leader. God knew that and immediately he said, "Take Joshua."

No matter who you lead, there are questions that need to be asked and answered.

1. Do you have a plan for when you are not here? Probably need to talk about it with your spouse, children, business associates. Even at church, there needs to be regular discussion about the next generation of leadership on all levels.

2. Are you mentoring others to carry on into the future with your values? Fathers... have you passed on the important values to your children? In a marriage, if one of you does all the financial stuff, does the other one know enough to carry on if you are not here one day? Simple things like when you pay bills, passwords and usernames for online accounts.... a will goes along way toward helping people left behind in transitions. If you lead in a church ministry, who will come up behind you? After all, life goes on, and so does the ministry of God

There are many more questions. They do not all need to be answered today, but they will be answered...hopefully by you as you exercise leadership

After all, the people you lead (in any walk of life) should not be left like "sheep without a shepherd."

Gracie in the house

We are starting an adventuresome week with Gracie in the house. Lizzie, Nathaniel, Lydia and James are on thier way to Florida.

So far??? Well it has only been 7 hours. A few thoughts.

She is a doll ( I am not biased)

She is so happy,

Pam and I are older than the first time around

We will have lots of fun with her.