Junior High Essays

My middle daughter wrote a great essay the other day and I asked her if I could share it here… She loved the idea, so here it is:

Words are words

What is a person without emotions? A bird without a song, a grassy plain without grass, Colorado without mountains.

How do you show true emotions? By not saying anything, yes words mean things but not even the strongest word will ever say what I say. “I am speechless” “ there are no words” “I feel frustrated or even loathed” yes, I am mad. Those words are emotional words but not emotions. Have you ever felt that you wanted to be at peace but you weren’t? You were frustrated or mad even loathed at friend or at anyone. . I’m there. This year I have had many emotions but, more than words more than anything. Can every word really show my emotions? Emotions are what make a person. You could be the smartest person but have no emotion so they are no one. Emotions are everything; more than words. Emotions are me!

She is awesome & this is totally her!  I love it!

Enter

Sunday afternoon we had a Welcome to Springs Ranch Church class called “Enter.” The class is designed to talk about who we are as a church and what we do as a church. It wasn’t the first class we held like this, but it was the first one since we moved into the building. We had 30 people come! 22 joined our church! It is so exciting to see what God is doing here!

Unwanted Office Visator

Seriously never expected one of these so quickly.  I mean of all things, we live in Colorado where these kinds of strangers are supposed to be in shorter supply than most other places.  We are officing in a new building where these kinds of visitors shouldn’t be inhabiting yet.  I am one of the least likely to agree to this kind of visitor – in fact if you are one of these you will not live to see another moment if I catch you dropping into my office.  Yet here one is, uninvited, unwanted and incredibly creepy.  I HATE spiders.  Even small ones, but especially when they sneak up on me.  Now and forever more I will have to look over my shoulder when I am working in my office.

Don’t Tell Him He Can’t

When our church met in the elementary school they let us put a shed outside to store all of our equipment in.  We had nice chairs, all the sound stuff, a projector, and all the Children’s Ministry stuff we needed in it.  We spent a lot of money on it, like $1,500 bucks or so, and it worked great.  So when we moved we wanted to bring the shed to the building, but weren’t sure how to do it.  It is a rather large one so finding someone to do it was either difficult or expensive.  At one point a crane was suggested…  not an option.

My Brother-In-Law is a manager at Best West Tire, my Father-In-Law’s business, and had asked one of his mechanics to help.  The mechanic heard the shed manufactures say that it would be imposible to move the shed.  Don’t tell him he cannot do something, because then he just tries harder…  here is the proof that they were wrong.

Motive to Serve

Service is a buzzword these days.  Servant leadership, serving the less fortunate, service industries we hear it again and again, especially in churches like it is some new ministry model (Christ was a servant, I believe He started the idea…).  Truthfully, sometimes when we do service things, my motives are off.  I do it to feel good about myself, or to look good to someone else, but truly my desire is not to have an agenda – I just wish I could get it right more.  Here is why I want to serve, I hope to internalize this quote much more over the next few weeks…

The great motive of service is the realization that every bit of my life that is of value I owe to the Redemption; (Chambers, O. (1996, c1930). So send I you  : The secret of the burning heart. Hants UK: Marshall, Morgan & Scott)

My hope is that I serve out of love, compassion, mercy and justice; reflecting those things to others that Christ offers me everyday.

Numbers Aren’t Everything, But…

A funny thing happened Monday.

To set it up though you have to know a couple things; first for about a year after I started the position I currently hold, our church only ran about 40 people.  That included kids.  That included our family of 6.  It was that way for what felt like forever!  Then things started to change…

February 1st of 2009 we began to see an increase in people not only coming to our church, but sticking with us.  We jumped all the way up to 55!  by then end of February we had a high attendance week of 106!  We had a baptism service and our new building was preparing to open, but we had definitely established a momentum that was creating a buzz and a lot of energy.  We moved into our new facility and have been in for about 6-8 weeks, and held our grand opening on Easter weekend, we even had an awesome Good Friday service!

Easter Sunday we had 177 people!  We didn’t advertise other than putting out one Grand Opening sign and two vinyl banner signs with our church name and logo.  Our people were asked to invite, and our presence in a neighborhood was well received as we are attempting to be a “neighborhood” or “community” church.  I have no doubts that people don’t come because of my talents, our Worship style, or anything other than that God.  He gets the credit here, not me, our church or anyone else…

Last Sunday we had 116 people.  Many were return visators from Easter, we have had really good feedback and will continue being who we are called to be… I was encouraged, but this is where the story gets funny.  One of my close friends said to me Monday, “the numbers felt low on Sunday.”  And he was serious.  How quickly we get used to a crowd, we had one Sunday (a holiday & our Grand Opening) that put our numbers 3 or 4 times where we were for an entire year and all of a sudden we are used to and expecting those numbers.  We miss them when they are gone, and in some cases we will do anything we can to get them back.  Is that a bad thing?  Maybe, but I know two things for sure… if we are doing church to attract the “crowd” and don’t deliver the Word of God and have an opportunity for people to Worship Him and connect with one another we are doing it for the wrong reasons… Numbers are important because every one matters to God.  Every one person we have come to our church is one person we can help and hopefully point to God and connect with others.  My prayer is that we point a lot of people to God because every one matters…

That includes you by the way…

What To Do???

I am a believer in higher education.  I am a lifelong learner and will find ways to keep up with the fields I am interested in.  But deep inside I have these rebellious tendencies that challenge the status quo or those that insist there must be a certain pathway others must follow to be approved.  So I find this inner struggle at play… the “approved” advanced degree for pastors is an 80 hour Masters of Divinity Degree.  I know it will help me, but come on, 80 hours!!!??!  Most Masters Degree programs are about half that.  Recently I found a program through a great school from the North West that offers a Masters Degree in Organizational Leadership.  I love the idea of that kind of degree so I am finding out more about it.  My concern is, even though I would much rather pursue a Leadership degree program, I worry that I will be disappointed if I don’t get the Masters of Divinity.  What to do, what to do…

This fall I want to take a class or two, but am still trying to determine where to go and what to do…  anyone else have a hard time with decisions like these?

Concert Review

Last night we went to the Steven Curtis Chapman and Michael W. Smith United tour…  We are a huge SCC fan family, but I had my doubts about Michael… I remember him with a real whinny voice.  I have to say it was a great show!  Both of them were really really good and Michael’s new stuff is impressive.

The highlight of the show: my youngest daughter holding my hand during SCC’s Cinderella!  It was very touching, and I nearly lost it.  I was a little surprised she even wanted to hold my hand at her age (12) but I couldn’t have been a happier dad at that moment!  Next thing I know she is going to ask to practice her dancing!

Funerals

I know it seems strange, but one of the things about my job that I really enjoy is walking with people through difficult times.  I didn’t expect this to be one of the highlights of this job when I started, but there is something about helping families in their greatest point of pain that is very rewarding and just the right thing to do.  This morning I had just such an occasion as I helped a couple plan the funeral of their 81 year old mother that died on Easter Sunday.  There is joy and pain in these times; remembering funny stories from the past, and grieving the loss of a loved one… but it is something eventually we all must face; death is inevitable, and being there to walk through these difficult times is part of my job.  A  part I originally thought would be the most difficult and least favorite part, but I am actually seeing the benifit of being a part of these times, and enjoying being helpful in the midst of the hardship.

Have you ever thought you would not like a part of what you do and found out during the process that you really enjoy it?  If so share what that is with us…

Easter Photo Of The Day

Is it Christmas or Easter… hard to tell in Colorado…

It was a awesome day, 177 people, that is our all time high and as a church plant we are THRILLED! The Spirit of God was thick among us and we have much to celebrate!
Thanks to all of you that stepped up and made it an AWESOME Sunday!  We had people shoveling, valet parking, mopping wet tile, and doing so much to make people comfortable. One of my friends that had a illness attack his nervous system two years ago WALKED IN TO CHURCH!!!  (he has been in a wheelchair during his long slow recovery!)  A young lady that had a baby Monday and a blood transfusion Thursday was there too!  There were many people that were there for the very first time and the relationship building will continue…  It was a great day…