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.

Inside Today’s Experience

  • Weird day only having one Experience.
  • Weird things happened as well.
  • We found a mouse nest in the tech room.
  • And we had some lights doing some crazy things during the Experience.
  • Hope the mice aren’t chewing the wires making that happen.
  • In any case no one probably knew about the lighting problems because they were actually creating a neat effect.
  • It’s hard not to sound biased since Gayle is one of my best friends, but her singing today was awesome.
  • Love the new song “Revelation Song” which she led…wow…I couldn’t help but to just fall to my knees backstage and worship!
  • As always we had a lot of fun shooting the videos fro this series.
  • Brian does an incredible job as Satan and thanks to Scott McCurley for playing the role of Reality.
  • To watch me get “Reality Checked”, you can watch the video here.
  • Wasn’t really sure I was pleased with today’s message going into it, but I was pleased with what came out.
  • Think it gave everyone a lot to think about.
  • God is good in that way…in my weakness, He is strong.
  • After United, it was a quick turnover to reset the room and get everyone ready for the capital campaign kick-off service in the sanctuary.
  • Great job by Juanita Kauffman and her team in organizing everything.
  • In my 3 years of being at the church, that’s probably the best combined service we’ve ever had.
  • It’s so hard combining so many styles and have everyone be pleased with it, but I think today’s service was very respectful to everyone and was actually quite good.
  • I was told my job was to get the crowd fired up…think it worked.  :)
  • The meal with everyone was also really cool…who knew we could put 550+ people in the gym and feed them all.
  • Got to meet a lot of people during the meal, including a former classmate of mine.
  • That now makes 3 other people from my graduating class that attend United.
  • What’s amazing about that is we grew up 45 minutes away.
  • All in all, a good day!
  • Time for a quick nap then off to friend’s house for dinner.

Ministry Is Messy

This week I was reminded that ministry is and should be messy.  In just the last few months I’ve met with people that are addicted to drugs and alcohol, with women involved as prostitutes and strippers, with people contemplating suicide and abortions, with couples involved in affairs and considering divorce.  Then on top of that are the normal relational and financial dificulties that many are going through. 

I relish the opportunity to speak with these people because what they really need is a relationship with Jesus.  They come in looking for quick fixes, but often leave with something far deeper and more powerful…forgiveness of their sins and the Holy Spirit living in them wanting to change them on a daily basis into the image and likeness of Christ.  Unfortunately, many times these people though want to continue figuring things out for themselves…they’re not yet ready to surrender to Jesus and I/we still need to love them and help them in the midst of their mess. 

Honestly, sometimes that can be draining.  Sometimes it’s tempting to want to quit and give up.  Ever felt that way?  What I remind myself of though is this…when ministry isn’t messy, you’re not really doing anything for God.  Jesus has called the church not to be a sanctuary for the saints, but rather a hospital for sinners.  If on Sunday’s everybody’s got it all together, that’s not a sign of a spiritually mature church, it’s the sign of an immature church because they’ve gotten off mission.

So pray with me that every week we’d smell smoke and alcohol on people, that people still coming off a high from Saturday night would stumble through the halls, that couple’s barely speaking to one another would sit in our chairs, and that others in the midst of destructive sin would show up.  Remember, we can’t expect non-Christians to act like Christians until they become one.  So one of our core values is, “No Perfect People Allowed”.  So let’s accept them without neccisarily approving of their actions…let’s show them the love of Christ and then let’s pray that they will accept his offer of forgivenss and new life!

Inside Today’s Experiences

  • Another fun day!
  • Any day where people are giving their lives to Christ though is a good day in my book!
  • Both crowds today we’re really energetic…especially the 11:15 crowd.
  • I loved the band’s version of the song, “Second Chance”.
  • We had Andrea hold out the one note twice as long as it is in the original and in both Experiences I got goose bumps…she and they did awesome!
  • It’s been great to add some new band members recently…today we added Steve on drums and Andrew on guitar.
  • That’s in addition to recent additions of Brett, Dan and Cressa.
  • All the new people are doing great and adding nice depth to the team.
  • Of course I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention Brian, Adam, Andrea, Alex and Gayle for their years of hard work on the team.
  • I really enjoyed this series…I always get as much out of them preaching as you probably do listening to them.
  • Remember, “The clearer the vision, the fewer the options, the easier the decision”
  • Also don’t forget, “I am doing a great work and I cannot come down”.
  • Next week we’ll only have the 9:45 Experience so make sure you’re there early to get a good seat and don’t forget to invite someone as we launch a new series called “Reality Check”.

Personality Test

I took this personality test.  The results describe me pretty accurately.  I’ve posted them below so you can get to know me a bit better.  Post yours in reply so I can do the same with you!

Organized

You like to think a task through before you embark on it. If it’s the slightest bit complicated, you make a list (even if it’s only in your mind) and methodically work your way through it. When you have a goal in mind, you’re not satisfied until you reach it.

You are not one of those people who ignore the details, and you don’t understand how anyone can get anything accomplished without thoughtful planning ahead of time.

Assertive

You behave in a confident and forceful manner, take charge of the situation, raise your hand in class, stand up for what you think is right, and lead others. Among those who have a high score on the “assertive” trait, many have jobs in which they are valued for their organizational skills as well as their talent for supervising others.

You are not interested in fading into the woodwork, leaving everything to fate, taking more time than necessary to accomplish a task, or avoiding confrontation.

Cautious

You very rarely make a move without first considering the pros and cons and, therefore, rarely do anything foolish or extravagant.

You are not rash; you almost never act before you think and, therefore, rarely end up doing things you later regret.

Conscientious

You feel it’s important to work according to a plan and finish every task, to do things correctly and thoroughly.

You are not the kind of person who abandons a project before finishing it, or slacks off when you’ve lost interest.

Competent

You strive to master everything you undertake. You tend to learn quickly and do not shy away from challenges.

You are not a “que sera sera” type of person, nor do you go easy on yourself when attempting to master a new skill or get a job done.

Authoritative

You have found that others will often do what you want them to do, without significantly pushing back. You’ve also discovered that many people will accept harsher criticism from you than they would take from anyone else. Many of those with a high score on the “authoritative” trait hold leadership positions in industry.

You do not want to be in the position of always being told what to do. You don’t choose to avoid a confrontation if, through confrontation, you could get your way.

Competitive

You’d rather win than simply get along in most situations. When you know you’re right, you would rather argue your point than compromise. Generally, those with a high score on the “competitive” trait hold leadership positions in industry and are exhilarated by risk-taking both in their professional and personal lives.

You are not always interested in getting along with others in a group, especially if it can mean losing your identity.

Focused

You know how to lock in on what’s important. You quickly prepare yourself for a task, you don’t procrastinate, and you don’t let up until the job is done to your satisfaction.

You are the opposite of scattered. You don’t procrastinate before starting a task, and you almost never lose track of what you’re doing.

Astute

You are a quick study. You generally don’t need to have things explained to you more than once. When presented with a problem, you will often have an instant understanding of where to look for the solution.

You do not take your sweet time when presented with a new task to complete or problem to solve. You don’t avoid assignments that require you to learn new skills.

Intellectual

You are thoughtful, rational, and comfortable in the world of ideas. People find you interesting to talk to. You’re the living embodiment of the saying “You learn something new every day.” In general, those with a high score on the “intellectual” trait are employed in such fields as teaching and research, and are enthusiastic about reading, foreign films, and classical music.

You do not avoid abstract conversation, experimenting with new ideas, or studying new things. It bores you to stick to the straight and narrow of what you already know.