15 Seconds of Fame

Tonight I will be on the 6:00 news. Channel 4 stopped by today for a story they are following about our new facility being burglarized for the second time.

They asked me for a short interview. I don't know what they will show of the interview, but I talked about our excitement about what God is doing at Charter Oak Church and our looking forward to moving in 52 days.

If I could go back there is one thing I would want to add - the why. Why we are excited, why we are growing, why we are doing what we are doing. I would say we are doing all of this because people matter to God. That's what we are all about - making sure people know they matter to God.

I hope you will tune in and see my 15 seconds of fame tonight.

Hero?

A couple of weeks ago I talked about our desire to have a hero.

I love the Spiderman movies. Spiderman 3 will be released in May 2007, but the first trailer is out!! Check out!!

Team Work

There are 54 days left until we move. Thanks to Cindy J. and Jeff I. we will be making this move as a team effort. There will be no one expected to do this alone. As I have been thinking about team work Iwas watching Hell's Kitchen on Fox the other night. The head chef yells and screams at the people trying to prepare their dinners to do it as a team. I may not have like the way the chef tried to get them to work together, I definitely realized the importance of working together. Those that work together on the show have a much greater chance of winning.

Our "win" is to move all of our stuff from our current location to our new facility without anyone getting hurt or burned out. It will definitely take a team!

56 Days

There are 56 days until we begin our move to our new facility. Now that Vacation Bible School has been completed, there is a definite sense of urgency in the staff to think of all of the little details that have to be done in those remaining days.

I couldn't sleep for a couple of hours last night just thinking through some of the stuff that I just don't want to forget to do. Then there is that whole thing of once we move and do all this stuff, we publicly launch our new building on September 16 and 17. We better be ready for that as well.

It is becoming more and more abundantly obvious that this is only going to happen by the hand of God. On our own, we will fail. I have prayed all along that God would reveal himself in such a way that we would all know this has been a God thing. Every day, God is proving that prayer correct. He is an awesome God!

Monday Morning QB 06/26/06

Here's the Monday Morning QB for this week:

Message: Summer Vacation (I preached)

Scripture: Nehemiah 1-4

Service Highlights: I used the Nehemiah Model to recast the vision Pastor Dave shared with the congregation back in January. Just as Nehemiah needed to remind the people of Jerusalem half way through their work, I wanted to spend some time reminding our congregation the vision God has given to us for 2006 - that the people of this region will know that matter to God.

Stats: 543 in worship and 193 in Sunday school

It's in the Details

Two weeks ago my family went on vacation to Columbia, South Carolina for a week of much need R & R. When we go on summer vacation we typically go to the beach and rent an ocean front house. This year we decided to just spend time with the grandparents. But I also wanted the same set up that we usually have when we rent a house. I like having separate bedrooms for us and the kids. I like having a kitchen and a den to watch a little TV at night.

I went in search of these desires in a hotel in Columbia, SC. I found exactly what I was looking for at The Whitney Hotel. It even has a pool! We reserved a two bedroom suite with a kitchen and a living room. I thought we were set. This is the same hotel that the new University of South Carolina head footbal coach lived for nine months while he waited for his house to be built. I thought this place has to be great.

On paper it had everything we wanted, even a pool. When we arrived and moved into our suite, I quickly realized that, yes, it had everything we wanted, but the execution of the details was greatly lacking. The room was not very clean. I could tell it had been "cleaned" but if you know what I mean, it just didn't have that clean feel. All of the furniture was beat up really badly. I have seen furniture in a frat house in better shape. The pool area was just plain bad, we swam there one time and didn't go back.

One of the really great extras in the suite was a washer and dryer in a separate laundry room right in our suite. We thought this was great, until we tried to do our laundry and the washer didn't work and we had clothes that were totally wet and soapy. It took two days to replace the washer - too little, too late.

There were so many little detail things that were wrong. The funny thing was, my son Caleb, wanted us to fill out the evaluation card when we were getting ready to leave. All I could say is, "there isn't enough time to write everything down." What I didn't say was there wasn't enough space to write it all down.

Our stay at this hotel confirmed in me that details matter and they matter a lot. We can have everything that people are looking for on paper, but if the execution of the details are not there, then people won't be back. I know I won't be back to The Whitney Hotel again.

Monday Morning QB 06/19/06

Here's the Monday Morning QB for this week:

Message: My Hero

Scripture: Psalm 121

Service Highlights: I preached on God our Father being our hero. So often we look for heroes in all the wrong places and we are eventually let down. Our Daddy in heaven desires to be our hero because it his very nature to always be there for us. Jonathan Cooper sang a Steven Curtis Chapman song - I Believe in You.

Stats: 469 in worship + 156 in Sunday school

63 Days

I have been gone for a while. We were on vacation and I was at Annual Conference. I am going to be posting some comments on this and many other things this week. We are in the middle of Vacation Bible School. There are about 200 kids running around the church. Hopefully I will be able to carve out some time each day and maybe even a couple of times a day to get "caught up" with my postings.

I have also started a count down until we move to our new facility. There are 63 days left. Lots to be done. I need to be reminded every day of the work that needs to be completed here and at the new facility before this move can happen.