What's Happening

I deeply apologize for my recent absence from the world of blogging. Someday soon I will be able to write about what has been going on over the last few weeks. It's been...uh...interesting. In the mean time, here are a few thoughts lately:

• We continue to grow...which is blowing my mind right now. God is sending some AMAZING people to join us on our mission.
  
• Some writer named Melville once said, "It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." Oh boy, do I know what that means now. It always seems like when God is beginning to do something huge, Satan attacks like never before. The arrows have been flying fast and furious lately.
• As a pastor, never underestimate the value of having good friends that you can just hang out with. You need that release.
• The best leadership in your church are people that have been there with you and get the vision. We couldn't survive without those people.
  
• They moved Freedom Weekend Aloft this year from Anderson to 10 minutes from my house. It took us and hour and a half to get to the front gate this afternoon. :(
  
• My oldest child will be finishing 2nd grade this week. I'm old.
• After Chris was off of the show, we pulled for Jordan on AI. Seems like a genuinely nice person.
  
• The Office finale was great. 24 needs to pull it together next season. It's sad to see Studio 60 go out with hardly a whimper. It was a smart, funny show.
• Spiderman 3 was a really good 2 hour movie. Too bad it went like - 2:30. Can't wait to see Pirates 3!
• As crazy as things are right now, I kinda like it. I could not handle a normal 9-5 job! I tend to thrive on SOME organized chaos.
  

Argh!!!!

I am a very impatient person. I can't stand to wait on something. If a thought or an idea hits my brain, I want to do it right then. You are more likely to get something scheduled with me if it can happen in the next day or so. Better yet - that afternoon. I can't even think more than two weeks out.

There's is something going on right now that is causing me much, much anguish. God has to be building patience in me...right?!?

Thinking Differently

We had a discovery at our staff meeting on Monday. We were going through different issues that we are having right now, and we kept coming to the same conclusion: we have to start thinking differently as a church. We are not the same church that we were 6 months ago. Sudden growth is very nice, but it also causes wrecks if you do not start thinking more strategically. The questions we are having right now are:

• How do we get these people plugged into small groups quickly?
  
• Are we ready for people to jump into serving?
  
• How do we stop running out of everything every single Sunday?
  
• How are we going to handle Newcomers this Sunday?
• What are we going to do when we can't put more chairs out?

We kinda thought we knew what we were doing a few months ago. I don't think that's where God wants us to be. We are definitely out of our comfort zone right now!

So You Had A Bad Day

Ever had one of those days where you'd just like to start over? Where it's not one big thing, but several hundred little things? Today was one of those for me, and it ended quite nicely with the waitress at dinner dumping two glasses of sweat tea and water on me. I thought we might at least get free dessert out of it...but no. Just a, "sorry - are you guys ready to order?" Blurgh.