Thoughts from Sunday

• The weekend kicked off on Saturday with the kids attending the new Veggie Tales movie, The Pirates who don't do Anything. We used the church budget to buy tickets for the kids and their friends. I know of several families who brought unchurched friends, which really pumps me up! There's nothing better than that!


• Sometimes when I'm sure my message will hit a home run, I bomb and fail to connect with people. Sometimes when I'm sure I'm about to strike out, I end up connecting. By Friday afternoon, I was pretty sure Sunday's message was going to hit home with people, which actually concerned me (my wife says that it's a matter of over-confidence vs. over-preparation). I took time each day last week to sit in the passage, letting the passage work on me and reveal what I needed to share with the church. I was talking about how John pointed people to Jesus, just as we point people toward Jesus. What jumped out at me were John's doubts about Jesus - Matthew 11:2-6 - as well as Jesus' graceful response. John's life shows us that it's possible to be working through doubts while at the same time, pointing people toward Jesus. I shared the story of my wife spending all night in the hospital room so as to be the presence of Jesus to the birth mom we'd been talking with. Really, really powerful.


• There are a several families facing some serious challenges right now. It causes me to pray hard for these families.


• We had our biggest group of kids ever on a Sunday morning! Pastor Andy was really pumped about it. This number was spiked by the 6 kids brought by a friend in which my wife has really been investing.


• Almost all of our new families over the past 6 months have been from unchurched families. It's really been amazing to see God bring these families to TFC. God obviously trusts our church!


• I unveiled (that word makes me sound like an incredible leader) our plan for investing in unbelievers in 2008; Fave Five (borrowed from T-Mobile commercials). I asked the congregation to begin thinking of five people they can help point toward Jesus in 2008. If you haven't decided on your Fave Five, be thinking and praying about it.


• I had the privilege of sharing the story of how getting SOAPed up is already helping people listen to God in 2008.


• Our trailer was loaded by 12:20, which is a new TFC record! Actually breaking our record of 12:25 from last Sunday. The reason for this record breaking speed? People are staying around to help tear down. I'm not exaggerating when I say this help has been awesome. Having so many people stay and help takes so much pressure off our set-up/tear-down crew as well as giving us more time to hang out together. This is going to become a habit for us.