After the Celtics defeated the Pistons last night, the stage was officially set for a rematch of a classic battle between the Lakers and Celtics in the finals. Even though I'm not a big time basketball fan, it's nice to see this matchup. Of course, it helps that my LA team is in the finals. Can't wait to see this series unfold...
....Go Lakers!!
Saturday, May 31, 2008
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Weekend Wrap-up
Super busy weekend, but it was all good...
Friday - Drove 2 hours to the Santa Barbara area to speak to a youth/young adult group. They were camping out for the weekend at a campsite right off the Pacific. It was sweet! The weather wasn't typical for this time of year in SoCal, but it was cool to crowd around the campfire. I had a blast at their camp, meeting cool people and sharing from the Word.
Saturday - Headed out to Redlands to the SB/Riverside counties' Fiesta de Area (a convention of churches) where I got to share with the teens and also got to play in the worship band. I don't play as much as I used to anymore, and I had a great time worshipping through music. It was a great worshipful experience overall. Also got to see and catch up with several friends.
Sunday - Had a great turnout today...about 30-40% more than usual...on Memorial Day weekend! Worship was awesome, and we had a guest speaker share with us today. Fidencio Burgueño used to be my overseer (supervisor) before he moved on to be the Director of Hispanic Ministries in the COG. It was nice to hear him speak from his heart on coming together as a church. His four points were
1. Be united
2. Speak the same language
3. Do the work
4. Be persistent
In addition to being the overseer, he and several others began the church 12 years ago. So, this was his home church while he and his family lived in California.
Later on in the afternoon, I hung out with some friends from Vegas, Lizette and Junior, and got to meet their beautiful daughter, Abigail, and hold her for a bit. It was nice to catch up and just hang out. Definitely need to do this more often. Great way to cap off the weekend!
Friday - Drove 2 hours to the Santa Barbara area to speak to a youth/young adult group. They were camping out for the weekend at a campsite right off the Pacific. It was sweet! The weather wasn't typical for this time of year in SoCal, but it was cool to crowd around the campfire. I had a blast at their camp, meeting cool people and sharing from the Word.
Saturday - Headed out to Redlands to the SB/Riverside counties' Fiesta de Area (a convention of churches) where I got to share with the teens and also got to play in the worship band. I don't play as much as I used to anymore, and I had a great time worshipping through music. It was a great worshipful experience overall. Also got to see and catch up with several friends.
Sunday - Had a great turnout today...about 30-40% more than usual...on Memorial Day weekend! Worship was awesome, and we had a guest speaker share with us today. Fidencio Burgueño used to be my overseer (supervisor) before he moved on to be the Director of Hispanic Ministries in the COG. It was nice to hear him speak from his heart on coming together as a church. His four points were
1. Be united
2. Speak the same language
3. Do the work
4. Be persistent
In addition to being the overseer, he and several others began the church 12 years ago. So, this was his home church while he and his family lived in California.
Later on in the afternoon, I hung out with some friends from Vegas, Lizette and Junior, and got to meet their beautiful daughter, Abigail, and hold her for a bit. It was nice to catch up and just hang out. Definitely need to do this more often. Great way to cap off the weekend!
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Fueling up
The first weekend of May a group of us pastors headed to Tucson, AZ to visit New Life Church to observe and become students of the work being done there. We got a behind-the-scenes look at the church as well as being able to hear from some of the church leaders and the pastor's, Sam Santana, story of transitioning a traditional church to something more contemporary.
Additionally, it was nice to see how he's doing bilingual ministry...definitely can learn from that. Overall, it was a pretty enriching experience, and most of us returned pretty fueled about pastoring.
Additionally, it was nice to see how he's doing bilingual ministry...definitely can learn from that. Overall, it was a pretty enriching experience, and most of us returned pretty fueled about pastoring.
Friday, April 25, 2008
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!!
Thursday, April 24, 2008
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.
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...
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...
Tuesday, April 22, 2008
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.
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.
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