My Worship Revolution

Read a great post by Jonathon Herron today that explains pretty precisely why I passionately believe small groups are so important.  Whether you call em Life Groups, Community Groups, Care Groups, or something else, it’s all the same.  Please go read it here.

Our church holds 3 core values.
Intimacy with God
Community with insiders.
Influence with outsiders.
It’s all a work in progress, but that is what we value and that is the CLC mark of a maturing disciple.

Life Groups are our number one priority in helping people to experience community.  It is the number one place we want people to move to from the Sunday Morning Gatherings.

Last month we started 5 Life Groups, 3 brand new and 2 that were formerly in existence.  This has taken us from 12-15 people in Life Groups to 52 people in Life Groups just a few weeks ago.  At the end of this month we start 3 more life groups.  Hopefully that will bump that number up to 80-100 people by the end of the year.  I guess I should celebrate that as success, and i do.  but at the same time, I want to see even more people having the opportunity to experience the relationships that come with a Life Group.

Rachel and I are stoked to be starting our own Life Group at the end of this month.  We’ve made some friends, but even as a pastor here we don’t feel super connected.  We long for those deep relationships that can only be developed through spending time together weekly.  If that’s how we feel as leadership involved in our community, it makes me wonder how much more that is felt by guests.

Are you in a Life Group?  If not, jump in!  I can’t wait to get goin again.

It’s funny cause it’s true!

For you "stat hos" out there: the two routes to becoming a famous blogger:

Names come to mind for both of these situations.

Are you a "famous blogger?"  Which route did you take?  Which route are you trying to take?  Or do you even care to be famous? 

HT: Monday Morning Insight

Haven’t blogged for a while.  I’ve had plenty of thoughts bouncing around my hollow dome that I’ve wanted to throw out here, but it’s been a busy week, I’ve been trying to spend the time I have with my fam, and although the thoughts have been there, I haven’t been very motivated to blog.  It’s also been a bit of a taxing week relationally.  Seems like I’ve had one run in after another.  They haven’t all ended up bad or unresolved, but either way, the distractions take something out of you, ya know?  Hopefully it’s just a season…a very short one (not like baseball season).  It’s part of doing this thing called life and engaging with others on the journey.

On a lighter side, I’m way stoked about our guest speaker this coming Sunday!  If you’re a CLC attender, be sure you are there.  You don’t want to miss out!  I became familiar with Earl Creps’ writings about a year or so ago.  I’ve read a number of his posts over at Monday Morning Insight and made it through some of his book, Off Road Disciplines.  He recently left his position at Assembly of God Theological Seminary in Springfield so that he and his wife can embark on a new journey of planting a church in Berkeley, CA.  You can see a post I wrote about that a while back here.  As I said then, I’m still looking forward to seeing where that goes.  Those of you who have been around here long enough know it gets me excited to hear stories of church multiplication, especially from competent and relevant people.

This afternoon I had the opportunity to sit down with him and his wife along with our team to prepare for our gathering on Sunday.  He and his wife are great peeps!  For a well established guy, I am struck my his humility and down to earth nature.  Like I said, lookin forward to Sunday.  Knock one out of the park this week Earl!

So, several weeks ago, I was apparently tagged by Rich Kirkpatrick to share my favorite passage of scripture.  And I never really got around to it.  in fact, I saw the post, but didn’t realize it was a tag thang until someone else he tagged responded.

I had been intending then to share a single verse that has been my favorite for many years now.
Galatians 2:20.
I love it.  But I’ll let you check it out on your own.  Instead, I’m gonna go a slightly different direction with this post.

I’ve had a pretty discouraging day today.  Been pretty frustrated to tell you the truth.  Great way to feel the day before I get the privilege of leading others into God’s presence.  (Note sarcasm…it’s my spiritual gift sometimes.)  But I received an e-mail today from someone at our church looking for information to get plugged into a Life Group.  At the bottom of her e-mail were 2 scriptures.  To be honest, I typically don’t really notice scriptures tagged to a signature in an e-mail.  But I happened to notice and read and it was what I needed to hear.  So I thought for this "tag" I’d go ahead and share those with you.  Maybe someone else needs to hear it, too.

Phillipians 4:4
Rejoice in the LORD always.  I will say it again again: REJOICE!

Numbers 6:24-26
The LORD bless you and keep you.
The LORD make His face shine upon you, and be gracious to you.
The LORD lift up His countenance upon you, and give you peace.

Sidenote: the rest of that Phillipians 4 passage is well worth reading too.  Through verse 9.  I needed to read it all today!
…Ahhh, what the heck, here it is:

Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.

Finally,
brothers, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right,
whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything
is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Whatever
you have learned or received or heard from me, or seen in me—put it
into practice. And the God of peace will be with you.

Anyway, there you have it.
Your turn:  Rachel, Tim, Jenny, Steve

Bobby in a tie.
Running sound for a funeral at the church.
Thought I’d take a picture, cause it probably averages about 1 occasion a year these days.

Right now I’m listening to Bill Gaither as pre-service music.  No comment.

And thanks to Joel for the tie.  Real silk from Thailand where he just came back from.  Honestly didn’t think I’d be using it anytime soon.

OK, so I have a bunch of books I’ve been wanting to read, and never really take the time to read them. 
Most of the books I read tend to be more in the non-fiction realm these days.  Although I did decide to start reading Harry Potter last week and zipped through the book in like 3 or 4 days.  So now add the rest of those to my list, too.

I have a small pile of books I’ve started but not finished.
Church of Irresistable Influence.
Holy Discontent.
Breaking The Missional Code.
The Big Idea.
You know, the ones over to your left in the sidebar there.

Even with my list though, I get into moods or somethin where I see some books that I think would be helpful or interesting and I have to grab em, fully intending to slam through em.  My point?  Today I ordered 4 new books at Amazon.  Here’s what I got to bump up to the top of my "queue" today:

"First Impressions: Creating Wow Experiences In Your Church"
Mark L. Waltz

"Beyond the First Visit: The Complete Guide to Connecting Guests to Your Church"
Gary L. McIntosh

"Simply Strategic Volunteers: Empowering People For Ministry"
Tony Morgan

"Outflow: Outward-Focused Living in a Self-Focused World"
Steve Sjogren

I don’t know where I heard about the first one.  I found it written on a piece of paper while cleaning my office.  That’s what got me started.  The last one was recommended to me by my father-in-law who’s preparing to plant his second church.  The other two popped up at Amazon and sounded interesting.

I’ll let you know if they’re real good.
Anyone read any of these?  How are they?

Martyball isn’t lookin so bad anymore, is it AJ?  Dean?
Bring it back.  Nicely put in this article last week.

When I got ready this morning, I didn’t really feel like gelin the hair, or getting hat hair.  So instead I thought I’d see how it would "puff."

I’ve always wanted a full on afro!
Random.  I know.
That’s all.

A little kink in this report about Bills tight end, Kevin Everett…

That guy moved his arms and legs alright!

Well, if any of you missed it last month, our Tri To Lose weight loss challenge came to an end over a month ago, which is why you haven’t seen videos of me on the scale every Wednesday anymore.  And for those of you that didn’t watch the final video, here were the final results:

     weigh in:      173.2 lbs
     week1:        168.2 lbs    total loss:  5lbs         
     week2:        166.6 lbs    total loss:  6.6 lbs    
     week3:        163.6 lbs    total loss:  9.6 lbs   
     week4:        165.8 lbs    total loss:  7.4 lbs    
     week5:        164.4 lbs    total loss:  8.8 lbs    
     week6:         ummm…
     week7:        163.2 lbs    total loss:  10 lbs      
     week8:        161.2 lbs.   total loss:  12 lbs      
     week9:        161.2 lbs.   total loss:  12 lbs      
     week10:      160 lbs.      total loss:  13.2 lbs   
     week11:      157.4 lbs.   total loss:  15.8 lbs
     week12:      159.4 lbs.   total loss:  13.8 lbs

     FINAL WEIGH IN:  155.6 lbs.   Grand Total Lost: 17.6 lbs.

In the end, with an extra gift or two and all said and done, Rachel and I raised about $684.00!  (I say about cause there’s a small amount that we still have to calculate and send in cause we forgot about it when we wrote the check.)

Add that to Mr. and Mrs. Transition Pete‘s $186.00 the final Grand Total brought in by Tri To Lose was…
$870.00!!!!

That’s awesome you guys!  Below is a video of me heading up to San Francisco to an Invisible Children screening to give them our part.  But first, a couple of thank you’s to y’all from some of the peeps at Invisible Children:

"What Bobby and his friends are doing is incredible. Taking the stories of the Invisible Children lives and applying it to a physical discipline is what a life change is truly about. Thank you to everyone who helped raise money… I hope that one day you are able to travel to Northern Uganda and see just how far $684 will go on the ground. You are changing lives both near and far! Thank you and God Bless."

-Jason Russell
  Invisible Children founder/filmmaker, in an e-mail

"This is a brilliant idea.  I applaud your sacrifice and ingenuity.  Thank you for such dedication to the invisible children. 
Love wins always,"

-Bobby Bailey
 
Invisible children Founder/ Filmmaker, in a comment left on Tri To Lose intro post

"I wanted to let you know how much you truly ARE blessing Invisible Children.  You are doing exactly what we labor for and more importantly, what God delights in. THANK YOU! And Praise God!  Be encouraged and know that God is really being glorified by your efforts—in Uganda and even within the IC staff.

"[This] blog is spreading around our office and we LOVE it. Please stay in touch with us and keep us updated on your efforts.  Continue praying for Uganda as well."

-Lisa Dougan
  Invisible Children Movement Regional Manager, in an email

I share those mainly because they really are thanks to all of you.  Know that giving to such a worthy cause, even a little bit, can make a difference.  ANd it is appreciated by those receiving it!  Once again, thank you all!!  And don’t stop there.  Keep informed on what’s happening in Uganda, do something about it, and find other places in the world that you are passionate about and make a difference there, too.  Your street is a good place to start! 

So, here’s a final video to give a little bit of closure to the whole Tri To Lose challenge.
Enjoy!