Gas prices in California

As I was driving home last night from meeting with the church (by the way, it's about 80 miles...one way), I ran out of gas and was forced to fuel up in the desert--right around Morongo. For the cheap 87 grade, I paid $3.97!! I couldn't believe I was doing it, but I needed the gas to get home. I only fueled up with what I needed...something like $10 or less, but it felt like a total rip-off. Sucks paying this much for gas. Must be one of the prices we pay for living in SoCal. Gotta love it!!

Andy Stanley @ Exponential

I wasn't able to go to the Exponential Conference in Orlando, FL this year, but thankfully, some that do go, blog on it and post their notes. Scott Hodge posted some notes on vision based on Andy Stanley's talk over there.

Making Vision Stick

1. State it simply
2. Cast it convincingly
3. Repeat it regularly
4. Celebrate it consistently
5. Embrace it personally

For a little more exhaustive view of Scott's notes, check it out here. Mark Batterson also posted his notes on his blog, which you can check out here. I really wish I could've gone, but it wasn't possible this year. I do wanna check out the NOC at San Diego in November, though.

Anyway, as far as vision, it's easy to overlook the repetition of it so as not to overwhelm or bore people, but how necessary it is. Right now, I'm dealing with Andy's first 2 points as we're still in the initial stages of the replant.

Changes

Today will be the last day (other than Sunday) that we will be meeting at the place we call "church" on Thursdays. We'll be meeting in homes starting next week and begin laying some more groundwork with the core group. Eventually, I'd like to begin small groups--as soon as June--and begin being more aggressive in reaching our community.

Meeting in homes, coffee shops, restaurants, etc. tends to foster a much more real environment and helps most put their church-guard down. Plus, it will help foster community as we connect people with God and each other. I'm looking for several materials that will help us put together a culture-appropriate curriculum for our small group meetings as well as going with the mission and DNA of the replant.

There are many other changes that need to occur, but my tendency is to be more subtle and cautious. Who knows? I just may have to dive into the deep end.

...still wrestling with this...

I'm baaack

It feels like it's been forever since I've been on the blogosphere. Gotta take an occasional hiatus once in a while to get caught up on other life stuff.

Anyway, life has been good lately, despite the curve balls that are thrown once in a while. Life with the church is moving. There's a lot of change and re-positioning coming up, and I believe that people are starting to feel it. Thankfully, most are on board and willing to press forward...exciting times.

This past Sunday was great. Some of the newer converts and I had some meaningful conversation. It's great to see people open to God's "reconstruction" of their lives. As Jonathan Martin of Renovatus puts it, we are definitely a church for people under renovation as well, and it's great to see God doing his thing and people allowing him to do so.

We had been having a mid-week service, but we're moving it into a home. This will be a pre-cursor to starting small groups. Man, I can't wait! I'm a huge small group fan.

Anyway, it's good to be back on the blogosphere. Hopefully I won't be as sporadic as I've been in the past month.