Winter Retreat

This is one of my favorite things to do. We are taking a Winter Retreat this weekend to Boone NC to ring in the New Year. I love just hanging out with students and leaders and talking about life and just having a great time to be together and have some fun. I will post some pics later, but this is going a great time.

Shift…..everything

The walls came down. I am sure it was not as monumental as when they came down in Jericho, but they are down none the less. Construction on our new space for “Shift” has begun and it is going to be awesome. I am so pumped about what God is going to do in this room. My prayer is that students will shift from a life without God to a life with God, from hate to love, unknown to known, from disconnected to connected. I know that God is moving and we are going to see some things that no one has ever been a part of at MLC. To get from here to there though will be a lot of work so here are some dates you need to mark and be a part of.

Jan 5th  @ 6:00 PM – I’m In event at my house

Jan 9th @ 6:00 PM – Media Blast at MLC

Jan 11th @ 6:00 PM - VIP Party at MLC

Jan 13th @ 7:00 PM – Experience Worship in Shift Room at MLC

Jan 18th @ 6:00 PM - Shift Pre-Launch Party at MLC

Jan 20th @ 11:00 & 5:30 – Launch of Shift

 You won’t want to miss any of these so plan of being at them all.

Traditions

We are going tonight to look at the Festival in lights at Calloway Gardens. This has become a family tradition and we really have a great time. We go and eat at Crickets Restaurant and then ride the Jolly Trolley through the lights and make a grand old time. I am really excited about the boys experiencing this tradition this year. They are really into Christmas lights and will totally love the butter cream square at Crickets.

The bigger they are…

the more bones they break when they fall on you. The more we are able to grow as a church and a student ministry the more I am thankful for our volunteers. We have a ton going on this month and it would be impossible to do any of it if we did not have such amazing volunteers. Several of them have met with me every night this week as we are planning and creating our new HS environment. So to all of our volunteers I sincerely appreciate you and Farah and I love and admire all that you are.

Learning through Change

I am learning some great leadership lessons. The more I am in and around leadership the more I realize I have so much growth still to do. One of the greatest tests of leadership is leading change. My leadership abilities are being sharpened by all of the changes we are experiencing in our ministry. Change is never easy and often painful, but we cannot grow and become greater than we are if we are unwilling to change. I am committed to learn and grow and be a better leader. I won’t always do things well or great, but I will always learn from the experience.

Great opportunities

Great opportunities are born from great challenges. We currently have one of the greatest challenges in front of us I have experienced in student ministry. The changes we are making from students services being on Sun Night to lined up with our adult services on Sun Morning and Sun Night. This is a cultural shift in what we have done in our ministry for years and students don’ like change. But this change is now the great opportunity we have to see God do something amazing. We are in the great place that nothing will happen if God does not show up. We are launching a new ministry environment and only God can spur the human heart to be a part of what we are doing.

I am praying that God will open the hearts of our students and use them draw in kids who have never been through the doors of our church and have never really experienced the love God has for them.

Bass Pro Shop

Dude I have visited the most unbelievable Bass Pro Shop in the world…..OK maybe that is a bit much, but it was awesome. I walked in and literally said “WOW.” As I walked the “store” ignoring the items for sale toward the cascading water fall that landed into a giant aquarium holding tons of fish, and being drawn up stairs with my boys to the video game shooting range I was in awe of the environment they created. I forgot I was in Prattville, AL.

I started thinking that these guys have it figured out, they have created an experience where you feel like you are totally at one with nature and ready to catch a fish the size of a Ford focus because you see it in the tank in front of you. You believe that you can catch that fish or bag that animal you see mounted in the store. They create an environment of belief. You will buy anything they they have because you believe in the impossible.

As we stand on the precipice of launching a new HS environment I want to create an experience where students believe they can/are/will connect with God. I want them to experience the reality of God and know that He wants to communicate with them.

How to do that I have no idea, but I am praying.

New HS Environment

As many of you know we are creating a brand new HS environment to be lined up with our adult services. I want to see what type of creativity we have out there. So if you have a suggestion on what to name our new environment I want to hear it. So submit your best and brightest and we might choose something from here.

It’s Official

We are moving Sat Services to Sun Nights. This is going to be awesome. We get the chance to reach more disconnected people and families as a result of this change. In the student ministry we are going to be able to better serve our high school students by making their services available during the adult worship times. Families can come in and be a part of one hour and connect in their own relevant environment.

This is going to be awesome

Perspective

I have no perspective on what life is really about.

I woke up on time to my alarm, got ready, spent some time with my kids, spent some time with God, spent some more time with my kids and wife and then headed off to work. I dropped the car off at the mechanic and was picked up by the illustrious Louie Lovoy who drove me to Starbucks to meet with David Putman for coffee. When David sat down his phone rang and it was his son who is serving our country in Afghanistan. He had been in a Humvee that was blown up and then he was shot at as he exited the vehicle. When the enemy was subdued, he stood in front of the medic and a wounded soldier in the open as the wounded was tended by the medic holding an automatic machine gun.

I have no perspective.