Archive for March, 2008

OK so yes I am excited tonight.

I get home and I find a package on my table..

What package you say…(or not really but play along)

Well, a few months ago, just after I found out about Church IT RoundTable, I was searching through the vast amount of new blogs and had ran across one I really liked.

That blog happened to be Tim Stevens of Granger Community Church in Granger, IN.

Anyway, he had a contest about finding where he was writing his book at.  Well, I happened to know the city where he was staying quite well…and I guessed it!

So I opened the package up and looked inside and was excited to see.. his book!

I’ll be sure to post about it when I read it.

Go check out Tim Stevens and give a big hello!  (and go buy his book)!

Pike’s Peak, originally uploaded by churchiee.

Ok bad pun, but alas I do work IT..

This is a picture I took this past summer while in Colorado Springs, CO looking towards Pike’s Peak.

I had this big post about strategic planning and thoughts about looking forward but.. I lost it.. I’ll have to do it later.

Enjoy!

*Edit* Oh and go check out Derrick Henslee’s blog.  He is the worship pastor for Tulsa’s Lifechurch.tv’s campus.

Heavenly Father and God of mercy, we no longer look for Jesus among the dead, for he is alive and has become the Lord of life. From the waters of death you raise us with him and renew your gift of life within us. Increase in our minds and hearts the risen life we share with Christ, and help us to grow as your people toward the fullness of eternal life with you. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

Love this song and very proper for this weekend.

Beautiful the Blood by Steve Fee

It’s only by the cross I’m saved

The King of Glory rescued me

How beautiful the blood flow

How merciful the love shown…

Never knew the nails would love unfold

Never knew these wounds would heal my soul

Never seen such beauty and sorrow meet

The King of glory poured out,

Victorious we are now…

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself
and became obedient to death—even death on a cross!
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place
and gave him the name that is above every name,
that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow,
in heaven and on earth and under the earth,
and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,
to the glory of God the Father. (Phil 2:8-11, NIV)

Recently, I’ve read a few blog posts that stand out to me in regards to how people are treated both in ministry settings and personal. 

There is a saying I’ve heard many times:

“No one cares how much you know, until they know how much you care.”

While I will again say that we are not trying to gain a following but to help people in their lives, we cannot do that unless we have established that we care for them in whatever state they come in. 

A good example of this is a small story that Kathy Guy, Director of Community at Granger Community Church, tells about what person visiting one of their classes said. The guest commented that “I’ve never been in church before where it’s safe for broken people. Thank you. It’s really helping me.”

The question remains for the lot of us, what are we needing to do to change perception and change our attitudes and thoughts about those who are broken and hurting and calling for help and do not fit our mold.

What are things that you all are doing to help gain people’s trust?

• @terrystorch I really am loving the new lc.tv site #
• New Blog Post: http://tinyurl.com/2ohr45 #
• Chick-Fil-A is busy. They have people taking orders at the beginning of the drive-thru #
• Doing a side job for the best auto mechanic in tulsa. #
• The Printers are demon possesed! #
• @danieljohnsonjr You from Cincy I see? #
• @davidrussell Are you streaming the service? #

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• Just got off a conference call with a Sonicwall Rep.. now to talk with Cisco #
• Ok done with that call. Almost time to head to the airport! #
• Eating at panera..they were quicker than sonic ever has been! #
• Got the Yael Naim Cd..it’s really good so far #
• Tired.. Going to walmart and to the video store. Redbox.com is awesome if you have one in your area.. #
• Back from the store..and back into my lovely spot on the couch where I will veg the rest of the night.. well work and veg #
• @thejrod What’s teh Vortex? We have a Vortex coaster in Cincinnati… but I know thats not it #

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Yes, I sort of borrowed the idea from Andrew Conrad, so go check his blog out.

• Craig Groeschel over at LifeChurch.tv’s Swerve has been talking about church metrics.  A good read for any church leader.
• Terry Storch and the Digerati Team of LifeChurch.tv pushed out some new features of YouVersion.com, including the NIV version.  Youversion is an awesome tool.
• Ed Young is blogging!  He did a funny little video..
• Mark Batterson writes just a little bit about the reach of technology over at TheaterChurch
• Tim Stevens, Exec Pastor over at GCC, announced that his new site for his book, Pop Goes the Church, is up and running!  I cannot wait to read the book.
• Josh Scott gives some great thoughts on marketing, go check out his blog. He also is hooked on twitter and posted a cool video on what twittering is.
• Shawn Wood from Seacoast church is getting ready to release his book, gonna be a good one.

Thats all for now!  You can always check the Church IT aggregate feed for more.

I just finished re-reading the Phil Vischer blog post about “The Fall of the Big Idea“.. no not this Big Idea..

Phil’s story, which is also told in full in his book, always makes me re-evaluate what’s going on. It makes me want to ask the questions: What am I doing? Why am I doing it? What did I mean to be doing? Am I sure? God? Bueller?

We get so busy going about what we think we should be doing, we forget about going about doing what Christ wants us to do. Is that site really that important? How about those two Equallogic SANs I just got approved and purchased? Why are we doing that program? Hey, I’m just as guilty.

Phil’s story relates just as much on a business/ministry front as it does in our personal lives. (I really almost typed spiritual lives there, but like Rob Bell says, everything is spiritual… we cannot separate the two parts out.. spiritual and non-spiritual.)

Are we reaching out to our communities and the neighbors down the road? How are we interacting with our family members? Are we really letting the Christ IN us affect our OUTward lives?

It’s really like a roundhouse kick in the face by !Chuck thinking about it and taking it to heart and seeking God.

Thoughts?

Heard these while listening to Ed Gungor.  Thought they were good enough to post!

The world of performance is not a reflection of God.

Faith is supposed to be a response to this wonderful person who is in pursuit of us.

We turn prayer from being an open response to a pursuing creator to a performance to try and get him to pay attention to us.