Inside Today’s Experiences

• I’m useless without my wife.
• What’s that have to do with today…
• She had her wisdom teeth taken out Wednesday and has been having trouble sleeping so she slept in the guest room last night so I could get a good night’s sleep.
• She’s the one who is normally in charge of the alarm clock and even though I set it and double check it last night…I still messed up.
• Imagine my surprise when she wakes me up this morning at 8:30 and says, “Aren’t you supposed to be at church now?”
• Oops…luckily the team is proficient enough to function without me during set up and our morning run-through.
• Except that someone forgot to unlock the back stage door (which I normally do) so when I went to go on stage during the 1st Experience, I was again greatly surprised to be locked out.
• Other than that it was a really good day.
• The team and both crowds were really energetic, which makes preaching so much easier then.
• Have already had about a dozen people stop me to say how convicting today’s message was.
• Andrea absolutely tore it up on the song “Battlefield”…great job!
• I think everyone had fun with the word S’mikheh.
• Aaron heard me preach a similar message to this one 3+ years ago where I talked about S’mikheh and he still says it from time to time.
• Two of the ladies back in the tech area this morning thought that it was funny that I wear stage make-up on Sunday’s.
• Hey it’s not like I’m Adam Lambert or anything, but a little foundation to smooth the skin and cut down on the glare never hurt anyone. 
• Please pray for our bass guitarist Brett.  He never showed up today and we’re hoping he just overslept since he works late on Saturday night’s.  Or since we had practice on Saturday instead of Thursday because of Thanksgiving, it’s also possible that he thinks today is Friday.  In any case we’re worried about him since we still haven’t been able to reach him.
• All in all I really enjoyed this series…Brian designed an awesome stage…we got to hear from Doug for the first time…many more people came into a relationship with Jesus…lives were changed…all because Jesus is a Maverick unlike any other.
• Tonight is Hanging of the Greens or HotG as we like to call it.  Only time I get to hear I’m hot. 
• Have a great week.  Be sure to invite a lot of people as we kick-off the PARTY series next week.

Annual Thanksgiving Post

Since I started blogging a few years back, I’ve always done a post on Thanksgiving for the things I’m thankful for in the past year.  This year is no different, so here we go…

• I’m thankful that my relationship with Jesus only gets better and grows deeper each and every year.  I am nothing and would be utterly useless without Him.
• Speaking of a growing relationship, I sometimes find it hard to imagine that after 14 years of marriage that Lisa and I could love each other more than we did the day we got married, yet we do.  She inspires to be all that God has created me to be and is a wonderful example of his love and servanthood to me every single day.  I don’t deserve it, but yet she keeps on doing it…I love Lisa!
• I’m thankful for a family and extended family that love me and support me no matter what I do.  Let’s face it…going from a professional magician to business owner, to pastor is not the most likely of career paths yet they’ve stuck by me each step of the way and support me the best they can considering the distance we live from one another.  To all my family…I love you and thanks!
• I’m thankful to Andy and Gayle for making me aware of United 3 1/2 years ago and inviting to be a part of it.  Wow who would have ever thought that it would be and become all that it has?  Oh yeah…that would be you guys who believed in the power of God and my leadership enough to jump in with both feet despite your jobs and busy family life.  Thanks for your 10+ years of friendship (our late Thursday night dinners are something I greatly look forward to)…can’t wait to see what the next 10 look like.
• Speaking of 10+ years of friendship, I’m thankful for Bill and Nicole who every Sunday take such good care of Lisa and I.  Hardly a Sunday goes by that you don’t fix dinner for us and provide a relaxing atmosphere for us to unwind and enjoy your company.  You’re friendship and the practical ways in which you help us has kept us sane…thank you, thank you , thank you!
• I’m thankful for the team that God has placed around me.  I laugh anytime says that United is just a one man show…if only they knew the dozens of you who work so hard (mostly behind the scenes) to make Jesus name be known.  I may get some of the accolades, but remember that is my reward…what you’re doing may not always get noticed by man, but God sees it and you will be eternally rewarded for your hard work and sacrifice in heaven.
• I especially want to thank our worship team and techs.  As the years have gone on, my Thursday night role has diminished but yet I keep showing up anyway.  Why?  Because I so much enjoy my friendships with each one of you and the team camaraderie that we’ve built.  I get to see first hand the amount of time and sacrifice you all give to make Sunday’s an Experience for people, not just a service we offer.  Your excellence inspires me…thank you!
• I’m thankful for our church as a whole…5 Services and Experiences with 4 different worship styles could be a major trainwreck but it’s not.  For the most part everyone realizes that it takes all kinds of people and services to reach our community so you’re very supportive.    Thank you!
• Misc. thanks… new web-site, new blog site, new friendships, new laptop, Lisa’s surgery yesterday went well, opportunities to travel.
• Finally I want to thank God for being fully in control of all aspects of my life…God I thank you for giving it all for me, now help me to do the same for you.

Inside Today’s Experience’s

• We’ll call today a tale of two Experiences.
• The first one was terrible and the second one was much better.
• Having only 50 minutes for the first one so we could get over to the communion service was just not enough time.
• Between only doing one song and then having to do things in a different order, I was all out of sorts by the time the message started.
• I was doing so much to try to rush through that I was all over the place.
• I feel bad for Ben Meyers who had to try to follow along with me on slides…good job Ben for doing the best you could with a bad situation.
• If you attended the first Experience, I again apologize and would encourage you to listen to the online version of the message so you get a better feel for what I intended.
• Hooray for two Experiences…without the ability to go back and do it over again, I’d have beaten myself up all week.
• The other thing that made today weird was I can barely lift my left arm…it even hurt to hold my bible like I normally do, so I just sat at the table the whole time to teach.
• Getting old sucks!
• On a better note, the communion service over in the sanctuary was great…it’s always nice to bring everyone together for something as meaningful as communion.
• A few of you asked about where to find the historical context of some of the things I shared today.  I have a pretty intensive computer program that helps spit out a lot of it, but you may also want to consider, The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah and also the web-site www.followtherabbi.com.
• Without any guys singing today, it reminded me of when I first arrived at United and we were strictly a chick band…ah the good old days. 
• Had some friends in today from WV, MD  and WA (yep that is far away)…always nice to see peeps.
• Time for a nap and then dinner.

Inside Today’s Experiences

• Another great day!
• Had a few minor issues in the set-up time this morning but other than that everything went according to plan.
• We changed up the order today and it was effective…we’ll do more of that in the future.
• Great to add Jenny Shifler to the vocal team…we’ve been on her for awhile to help out and she finally auditioned and made it!
• Speaking of the team, Brian did a great job of leading Uprising by Muse.
• That song is everywhere right now and it fit perfectly with the message.
• We added some additional special lighting effects for the song and it worked awesome.
• To be honest after a really good first Experience or message , I usually have an “oh my we’ve/I’ve got to do it again”.
• Today everything went great at the first but the 2nd was even better…that’s awesome!
• Met a visiting pastor from VA after the 2nd experience.  He actually said, “Wow that was quite an experience that you all create”.
• I love that when someone actually calls it an experience.  That’s what we try to create each week…an experience with God…sometimes we do, sometimes we don’t.  Today though was definitely a great day.
• Tomorrow I’m taking a group to Baltimore for a conference…pray for us as we travel and that everyone will come back energized and ready to kick the devil in the butt.

 

Inside Today’s Experiences

• Great day!
• 6 more people gave their lives to Jesus!
• Many more responded to the call to follow Jesus even closer than they are now.
• The day got off to an even earlier start than normal because of some problems we had Thursday night.
• Everyone was tired but by the time the 1st Experience started, the energy was high.
• This carried over to the crowd.  Great energy and participation.
• The first Experience also had one of the higher attendances that we’ve had for awhile…the ushers were busy getting more and more chairs out!
• Hopefully this means that all the sickness that’s been going around is starting to subside.
• I had great anticipation going into today about the message.
• I really feel it was one of the best I’ve ever given…if you apply this one then your whole world will change.
• As I said during the message, there actually was a prayer that Rabbi’s prayed when they went to the bathroom…here it is:
  Blessed are you, O God, ruler of the world, who created man in wisdom, with numerous orifices and spaces. It is known before you that if one of them should open when it ought to close or close when it should open, we would cease to exist. Blessed are you.
• Speaking of…during the 2nd Experience I jumped up onto my stool at one point and all the air left out of it.  It made a really funny sound like I had passed gas.  Of course the teenagers in the front were giggling…I don’t think anyone else heard it.
• All in all a really great day…loved the music…loved the response to the message.
• Had lunch with the Capital Campaign team members at the house of Scott and Robin Despres.
• They’ve done a great job of organizing the campaign and tonight we have the last big event.
• Have a great week….may you always be covered by the dust of your Rabbi!

Inside Today’s Experiences

• Really good day!
• Loved being able to just hang out.
• Doug gave a great message for the launch of the Maverick series.
• He had been sick all week long so I was glad he was feeling better.
• So nice having others that can step in and deliver God’s Word in a United like way.
• Although Doug talking about the trampoline and being able to see into the neighbor’s yard was a bit disturbing? 
• Peeping Doug.
• The 9:45 crowd was rowdy today…loved it…great energy!
• Brian and the team did a great job with the new stage design…looked really cool!
• Thanks to Dan Bogle for the loan of the motorcycle and to Dan Fry for playing the Maverick in the bumper video and for revving the bike on stage.
• Dan said when he did it at the first Experience the entire front row jumped.
• It was cool, but the fumes on stage were strong.
• Thanks for Kris and Klayton, two more new techies today!
• The band as always was amazing…I threw them a wrinkle at the end of the first Experience by asking them to start in the middle of the song…no problem, when you’re that good!
• Other than a couple minor things, it was a smooth day and many shared with me how touched they were by Doug’s message..yea Doug, but more importantly yea God!
• Also since I forgot, here’s the link to last week’s Reality Check video.

Inside Today’s Experiences

• Not the best of days but anytime you’ve got people giving their lives to Jesus, there’s not much you can complain about.
• We had a brief power outage this morning during set-up time which delayed things a bit and then we had a cable connector go bad on my mic which meant Andy had to do some early morning solidering work.
• We had two of our teens running projection and lights today and both did a great job.  Well done Ben and Dustin!
• As always the worship team did an excellent job…both crowds seemed to really be into the music today!
• I re-did the message on Monday, which I’m glad I did…still not one of my best but I think the point was clear…don’t be just a consumer, become a contributor.
• I’m glad this series is over…not because I didn’t like it, but because I’m really excited about the Maverick series which starts next week.
• I got to see a little bit of the stage design changeover that the team was doing this afternoon and it’s going to be awesome!
• During the 1st Experience announcement time I kept getting tongue tied.  I couldn’t figure out if I wanted to say, “the dictionary definition” or the “definition in the dictionary says”.  My mind couldn’t figure it out so I kept saying, “the defionary”.
• The more I tried to get it right the harder it got…finally I just gave up.
• I met a great couple after the first Experience, who just moved here from Hawaii,  who get what we’re all about.
• They loved United and realized it’s not about making them happy but reaching out to those who are far from God.
• I attribute this great attitude to their former pastor when they lived in Virginia Beach.
• He’s a friend of mine by the name of Vince Antonucci.  Vince is passionate about reaching out to his community and just took a big step of faith by leaving his church to start a brand new one on the Las Vegas Strip.
• Thanks Vince for such an awesome job of teaching and modeling for people that it’s not about what we want, but it’s all about sharing the good news of Jesus with others.
• Speaking of…make sure you invite lots of people for the new Maverick series…I think people will be surprised by the fresh look at Jesus we’ll be taking.
• Be there…be there early…and don’t forget to sit up front!
• I’ll be posting the final Reality Check video later in the week…great job by Brian and Aaron in making these happen!
• Ok time for a quick nap before heading back over to the church for our annual congregational meeting…come on out to hear the exciting things we have in store for 2010!

Reality Check Week 3 video

I forgot to include a link to the video for week 3 of Reality Check when I wrote “Inside Today’s Experience’s” on Sunday.  for those of you who want to see the latest of what Satan is up to, click here.

Inside Today’s Experience

• Interesting day.
• Had all kinds of little problems getting ready for today.
• I hate the little fixable ones more than when the big unexpected ones hit.
• In the midst of all that I grabbed the wrong mic pack for me.
• Imagine my surprise when I wasn’t getting sound.
• Even more imagine my surprise when I feel Chris lifting up my shirt to check the pack in the midst of trying to speak.
• Once we got that all worked out, the rest of the first Experience and all of the second went really well.
• Fun having Aaron with us today!
• Andrea absolutely crushed it with the new song, “It’s Your Love”…awesome!
• I haven’t been feeling good all week, so the message today drained me big time.
• Especially since I was dropping the hammer hard.
• Again let me reiterate a few points:
  • You don’t own anything, it all belongs to God.
  • God wants you to prove to Him that you believe that by giving back 10% of your income to Him in what is called a tithe.
  • If you don’t tithe, God says your stealing, robbing and embezzling money from Him.
  • He says in fact that there is a curse on your money.
  • So 90% of your income with God’s blessing on it is greater than 100% of your income with God’s curse on it.
  • If you don’t tithe it’s not that you can’t afford it, but rather you choose to be disobedient to God.  (listen to this section of the message for some thought provoking challenges).
  • Last but not least…
    • God doesn’t need your money…He owns it all anyway.
    • We don’t need your money…giving has been up the last few years…we’re seeing a surplus each month…we’ve added staff in the midst of a terrible economic downturn in our country…
    • This is all about vision…we want to reach as many people for Jesus as possible and that takes money…the more we have the more we’ll be able to reach.
    • So Jesus said, “Where your money is at is where your heart (passion, attention) will be as well.
  • So take the 90 day tithe challenge.
  • This is the only thing in all of scripture that God said you can test Him in.
  • He said to tithe and see if He doesn’t throw open the floodgates of heaven and pour out so much blessing on you that you don’t have enough room to contain it all.
• Sorry to re-preach this, but I’m sick and tired of seeing Christians devote their time and money to things that just don’t matter.
• Alright time for a nap…not feeling good at all…please pray.

Inside Today’s Experiences

• Had a lot of fun today.
• Any time I get to share vision, I’m especially amped up.
• Things ran really smoothly today which is always a nice thing.
• The 9:45 crowd was rocking…love when I can hear you guys singing your hearts out.
• All the team did an exceptional job…great job guys and gals.
• Wow for the second week in a row, Gayle made me cry.
• We are so blessed to have some world class female singers in the church.
• I love how God takes the words I’ve been preparing with His help for weeks and then transforms them into something completely different on Sunday’s.
• I felt really good about both messages but they came out so different.
• Wasn’t sure which one to post, but finally went with the 9:45.
• My prayer is that this message will sink in and all of us, would see the lost and hurting in our community as our problem.
• For this week’s Reality Check video with Satan, click here.
• I’m taking the creative team away this afternoon through tomorrow so we can pray and brainstorm what the 2010 series schedule will look like…keep us in prayer.