Here is our King

In case you havent checked it out yet, you can send an E-invite about our new series celebrating Advent called Here is Our King!

It is going to be a great series as we take 4 weeks to think about hope, joy, peace, and love in regards to how God sent Jesus to bring each of those gifts to us.

This Sunday we will have an amazing booklet for you to take home and study through the weeks of Advent. This will allow you to read some Scripture, journal, and just mediate on who Jesus really is during this Christmas season.

You wont want to miss this kick off weekend!

Weekend Update

Well we finished off another month at JCFC. What a ride this year has been! I am so thankful to be a part of such a great church. It is hard to believe that 3 years ago we were packing up to move to West Des Moines to start building a team to launch a new church.

Three years ago we had no idea what this would look like. No we are a solid and healthy church that is getting the idea of reaching out to our city. I am so stoked about some of our new life groups. We have several based on service projects in our community. Love it.

We are also looking at how we can serve this city, this mall, the children here. I am overcome with the thoughts from Paul in Galatians 5:6 "The only thing that counts is faith expressing itself through love." (NIV)


So the question is, "As a church body, to whom and how are we showing love?" Is it just to eachother within the body? Or are we actively looking for ways to love our city?

God, I pray that we can love this city and see her the way you see her. Give our whole congregation your heart. Give us a heart that breaks for people just as you wept over Jerusalem.

Blog break for thanksgiving

Just taking a couple day break to be with the family, and get a few things done. I will be back on Friday or Saturday!

Triathalon

Well next week I start my "soft" training for the tri next summer. I am fairly confident about the running, and the moderately confident of the biking, but the swimming? Not so much.

The tri is like this swim almost mile, bike 24, then run 6.

Yeah, this is the soft training until after Christmas. Then I will step it up and really hit it.

I need to shed about 10 lbs of fat. Going into the Holidays heavier than I want is not exciting, but good motivation to only eat 1 piece of pecan pie not a half! Which I could easily do!

I will keep you posted.

Anyone ever competed in a tri before?

Motherhood

Let me just say its not what its cracked up to be. Maybe I would enjoy it more if I didnt have the Dad role, and the church role to perform in as well...

None the less, the kids and I have had a blast and worked on some project at the house as well. We are getting ready to eat some dinner, them make sure everything is put away before the kids go to bed.

Dara has had a great time, and we are all excited to see her. She has promised the kids a surprise and Colin keeps asking everytime he wakes up, if mom has his "prize" yet. (He thinks a new day starts after each nap!)

Tips to Accomplish you list

1. Stop Blogging for a minute (er wait?)

2. Set your email to an away message. Just becuase you got a new email doesnt mean you have to respond immediately. (you should be prompt, but don't let email consume you)

3. Turn off you IM.

4. Shut off your cell phone.

5. Take 15 minutes to read your Bible and pray. I know sounds counter-productive when your in the middle of chaos, but a mini-break to feed your soul re energizes you and helps you set priorities.

6. Delegate some of the things you have on your list. Be creative. It may be your children, it may be an employee or a volunteer. Often there are people around who want to help.

7. Remember that some people really enjoy that thing you hate doing. It might be there gifting, and you have hesitated to empower someone else, because you think everyone hates it! They Dont. You might be robbing them of doing something for the kingdom.

Re-Lists

I also wanted to note that make one master list with sublists...

Lists for Church things, Lists for personal things, List for our family...

And this week I have gotten several things marked off. Dara is going to be thrilled.

I have a surprise for you when she returns. Something she has been wanting done around the house for a while. I stayed up after the kids crashed to work on it, and I will finish tonight!

Mark somethings off your list today. It feels great to just buckle down and get it done.

Lists

I am finding more and more that I am a list maker. I used to resist this notion for some odd reason. But I would often find myself telling Dara at night, right before bed, all the things I need to do the next day.

I have been making lists in my head for years, and I now have been making lists on paper since the beginning of the church. I LOVE yellow legal pads.

Personally I am not sure the anointing can happen without a yellow legal pad. :)

Seriously, there is something fantastic about making a list, prioritizing things on it and getting them done. Very freeing to mark some prominent things off the list.

It isn't rocket science, but a goal written down, some say has upwards of 70% better chance of being achieved.

Remember, this isn't about just getting things done, it is about the kingdom. For me the key is making sure the right things are done first. So often we let the good things dominate our time and not the great things.

It is the great things that make the big difference, the good things are just that, good.

Take some time this week, to make some one day goals. Write a few things down you need to get accomplished and then choose which ones are the greatest. Get them down.

The Office

So Jen, our great neighbor, is standing in our doorway, giving me trouble about not giving her any props for hooking us to The Office!

She is the one who gave us the first sample. So in essence she is kind of like a drug dealer. She only gave me a little, and said I would really like it.

Little did I know that we would be hooked for life, not being able to hardly wait until next weeks fix...

Can't wait until Thursday. Those writers better end that strike soon, cause if they run out of The Office, I am confident that Ron Paul's Revolution will take place, but not the way he was thinking.

Writer's Guild, Question: Do you want a Revolution?

Weekend Update

Sunday was great. We have had crowds so big, we had to move the curtain back a row to allow for some more seating! Love it.

Yesterday we took a detour in Galatians to land in I Corinthians 8 for a day. I really felt like we needed to address the difference between universal sin and particular sin.

There are things that are universally wrong for everyone regardless of race, culture age etc. As well there are things that some may have freedom in, but others may not. Particular sin.

So we dealt with meat offered to idols as the cultural reference. When dealing with cultural issues we need to ask the text and our selves a couple questions.

1. What does the text say?
If it is clearly forbidden, then dont do it.
2. Should I do it?
What does the Holy Spirit say to me through my conscience?
3. What does my weakness require?
You may have to intentionally restrict your freedoms, due to spiritual weakness.
4. What does my friend need?
You may have a friend who is of weaker conscience, if you do you should love your friend more than your freedom!

Read I Corinthians 8 this week, along with Galatians 4 for Sunday.

Bad Day

OK So I ripped this off Curtis Cecils blog...

But it is too funny.

The copier guy!

High School Musical

Wow, little did I know how exciting HSM can be to two 6 and 7 year old girls. It has been non-stop singing and dancing and laughter! They are having a blast and Dara has been sucked into the movie!

Colin wants so much to be a part of the party! He is watching it with them, but he has to go to sleep in a few minutes. The girls get to watch the 2nd movie and sleep downstairs on the couch, while Colin has to sleep in his bed upstairs.

He had a break down because, he said it wasnt fair he was going to be alone upstairs. He said he just wants to sleep by the girls...

It is pretty cute, how he has tried to impress Emma and be with the big girls!

Ana is loving her night and turning 7. I cant believe she is 7! Not sure if I like it yet...

Hu Hot

Headed out to Hu Hot for Ana's 7th birthday party meal. She loves it and her little friend Emma is spending the night for her "first real sleep over!"

Friday

I had several meetings today that went very successfully.

7.45 Met with Christian as we discussed Life Groups for the January Term. He has some great ideas and direction. I am so excited to see some actions steps in place to make our Life Groups a great connection place. We will have some training and meetings coming together soon.

Get ready you are not going to want to miss Life Groups in the spring. A place of discipleship, discovery and community!

9.00 met with Jeff Mullen at Point of Grace. He was able to give us some HR material that will be invaluable to us. He shared with me some mistakes they had made, and challenged me to put some principles in practice that will help us! He also gave me some of the forms they use that will save me a pile of work! Awesome.

10.00 Met with Kevin Starkey. Kevin is going to be heading up our Creek Kids Administrator position as an interim. He will also be taking a proactive role in a Creative Arts area.

Kevin has a lot of ability in a lot of areas. I am so excited to have him on board with us. He is really one of those "go to" kind of guys. He will be taking on a lot of other responsibilities with the church as the months role on.

We are actively addressing the Creek Kids Administrator position. I have several things in mind, and am just waiting on some clear direction from God. If any one you want to be a part of our Creek Kids and hear the Vision of what is to come, then join us MONDAY night at 7 at the office!

11.30 Met with Ed Sustala, and he bought me lunch and shared some very valuable leadership principles he has learned through his years of management. Very enjoyable lunch and good food at the Star Bar on Ingersoll.

Came home so Dara could take her drivers test while the kids napped. (She accidentally let her license expire! In Iowa you have 60 days before you have to retake the written. She studied a bit and aced it)

While I was home working I got a coffee craving. We have this French Press at the house, I had never used. Sooo. Ground up some French Vanilla and "presto."

Smooth, rich, oily coffee! HMMM.

Lastly, my Camping Axe finally came in! I have been waiting for weeks for it! (I know, most of you dont care, but its a Gransfor Bruks. If you dont know what that is, you probably dont care! But it is a premier axe!)

Thursday

Getting ready to watch my new favorite show, The Office!

Love it.

Had a great day today, with a pile of meetings tomorrow. Meetings are good, but sometimes I feel like that is what I do!

We are making some transitions in a lot of areas at the church and taking some God size risks. I have really felt God pushing me to really trust him in a lot of areas. Personally, financially, and with lots of things in the church.

I meet with some guys tomorrow about some new/used gear to enhance nearly every area of the church right now.

Also we are planning a great series in February that you are going to want to invite all of our friends too. You are not going to want to miss the next few months at JCFC!

Accountability

Every Tuesday I meet with what has been referred to at my house as "my guys." I meet three men every Tuesday at 8 AM at Hope for some prayer and connection.

These guys really challenge me to be in Gods word, to make the Vision plain, and do what God is calling me to do. Sometimes they are pretty aggressive with me. Which I need.

Thank God for other men, who will lovingly speak truth into my life!

I am off to KC to see Rob Bell for the evening.

Going to be a blast

Serving

Great post from Life Church today about serving. Check it out.

Bluetooth

In team meeting last night we were going over several things, and Paul Hansen (our IT guy) says this may be weird, but what if we bluetooth the sermon notes each week to everyone with a PDA, right during service.

I was shocked, and asked if we really could do it... He said Yeah No problem.

So Paul is going to be working on getting this accomplished. Be watching for it, for all you high-tech people out there!

Cool huh?

Sunday Recap

We had another great day today. Wow, what a way to start the month. 171 in service today, and I am pumped!

We had lots of help today with set up and tear down. I just want to give a big shout out to all who volunteer and make Sundays a success. Thanks team for making it so great!

I love our church, I love this city, and I love Jesus. I cant wait to see what is next!

Jessi Walk completed the New York Marathon today! Hurrah! Cant wait for them to get back, as they are amped about getting started with Life Groups!

Gain an Hour

Love this night. (I actually hate the concept, because now it will be dark so early) but I love to get and extra hour of sleep.

I would say though that I have always wanted to stay up and watch the clock on my computer, until it changes... What does that look like when that happens?

Sunday's Coming

Do you ever just feel like the weekend just sneaks up on you? For me, it seems to every week. I know the weekend is the the main event for what I do, and I love that. But on occassion it just seems like, Wow, here it is.

Well I am pretty stoked about tomorrow. We are right in the middle of Galatians, chapter 3 namely. I love Galatians. It just deals with the Church just like it is today.

We have missed the mark on so many things when it come to the text. We have missed the spirit of what Paul was saying, and times I feel like we have missed the entire thought of the New Testament.

I mean what it is really about? Is it about making sure everyone fits our mold? Is it about what we think the text says? Is it about watering everything down so we dont really say anything? Is it about being harsh and judgemental?

NO. Its not about any of those things. I keep landing on Galatians 3:13-14

"Christ redeemed us from that self-defeating, cursed life by absorbing it completely into himself. Do you remember the Scripture that says, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree"? That is what happened when Jesus was nailed to the cross: He became a curse, and at the same time dissolved the curse. And now, because of that, the air is cleared and we can see that Abraham's blessing is present and available for non-Jews, too. We are all able to receive God's life, his Spirit, in and with us by believing—just the way Abraham received it."

and then Galatians 2:15
"We know very well that we are not set right with God by rule-keeping but only through personal faith in Jesus Christ. "

Got to love that! Its not about what I do, or have done. I cant earn it, nor have i ever deserved it. But while we are still sinners, Jesus extends his love toward us.

Unconditionally. Without a hook. No strings attached. Just pure love.

Amazing really.

Completely One

Just just a shade more than 7 hours to the kick off of our first annual marriage conference. ( is it a presupposition to say first annual, to assume that it will be multi year?)

I am stoked. If you haven't signed up, then you can still make it. We are going to see some changed marriages this weekend.

We meet for registration at the Spring Hill Marriot on Jordan Creek Pkwy at 5.30 for registration. Everything kicks off at 6PM.

See you soon.

Dad in the Home

We are journeying though Mens Fraternity this fall. It is awesome. We have been discussing the breakdown that happens with an absent father. Absent meaning literally not there, and the also the Dad who was present but not "there" in the home.

check these stats out.

1960 82.5% of homes had a dad in the home in the US
1970 77.6 % of homes had a dad in the home in the US
1980 67.8% of homes had a dad in the home in the US
1990 61.7% of homes had a dad in the home in the US
estimated today to be around 40%.

That only counts dads that were present in the home. How many of you know a dad, who was present but not "there?"

This points out that somewhere between 40-60% of kids in the last 20 years have been without a Father in their life on a regular basis.

Proverbs 17:6 "the glory of the sons in the father." My kids think I am invincible. That Dad can do anything. The find glory in me.

Scary.

But what are you going to do with that kind of momentum? You can squash it, and never invest in them. You can squander your time, and never embrace them. You can work around the clock to give them things.

But what a child needs is there Dad.

A Dad who says:

I love you.

I am proud of you.

You are great at ______________, and your character shows it because_______________.

They need a Dad who embraces them lovingly. Who affirms them regularly. Who gently disciplines them. A Dad who isnt always trying to prove who he is, he knows who he is in Christ.

Who are you?

Drive Time

Logged a few hours today by myself in the truck. I have to admit, it is a good feeling to be out and driving sometimes. I was able to pray and not be interrupted, listen to some leadership books, and I listened to several hours of Mark Driscoll today. If you dont get his podcast I would recommend it.

I had a good day all the way around, and ready to crash as I have an early morning!