Leading a church in a beach community can have some negative effects on attendance on Sunday mornings.  Somehow the beach just lures people to sit and relax in the sand while watching the waves crash rather than going to church.  Maybe there is something new on the horizon for all of us that lead churches along the coast.  This newspaper article passed along to me by my brother as a solution to the problem.  Click here to see how another church is trying to reach their beach goers. 

I bet it would be easier to get volunteers to serve if we had church like this. 

        

This song by Chris Tomlin has captured the dream of our church.  Click here to listen.

Sunday morning I ministered about 5 battlefronts our church must win.  One of the battlefronts is for our city.  This week before service I drove around our city and prayed as I went.  If you have about thirty minutes you might take this prayer drive and pray that God will do even greater things in this city. 

This is how my drive went.

I started at our church on Oleander towards Wrightsville Beach, turned right on Airley Rd. until I reached Eastwood Rd. (I prayed over all those that live at the beach area) Then I drove up Eastwood and prayed for Port City Community Church.  I stopped at the intersection of Eastwood and Market and prayed over all of the residents up towards Jacksonville.  I continued straight until I reached the intersection at I-40.  I prayed over the entrances to our city and I prayed for The Rock of Wilmington.  I drove along Martin Luther King Boulevard praying over those areas until reached the bridge to cross over towards Leland.  I prayed over the Leland area and then looked back to my left and prayed over the downtown area.  I then went back across the main bridge back into Wilmington and turned right on Carolina Beach Rd.  I prayed all along that area including Calvary Chapel and the future sight of Christ Community Church.  When I reached Monkey Junction, I stopped and prayed over everyone down towards Carolina Beach and I prayed for Myrtle Grove Presbyterian.  I then headed up College Rd. until I reach Oleander Dr. again.  I finally reached our church where I had begun the journey.

This was an awesome experience to pray over our city.  I really, really, really believe that greater things are yet to be done in this city and I simply want us to do our part. 

        

I am going to review back to last Thursday since I'm a few days behind on bogging. 

Thursday.... afternoon I purchased a new set of golf clubs!!!! Thursday evening, Eli (my son) and I played 9 holes of Golf.
Friday.... was my birthday (42 this year).  I played another 18 holes of golf and later went out to dinner with my family. 
Saturday.... I played 18 holes of golf.  (I now have a blister on my hand.  That's some good pain though)
Sunday.... No, I didn't play golf. 

Services on Sunday were the most draining of a day that I can remember.  Honestly, I invested more of myself into the message than imaginable.  This may not make sense to everyone but preaching a sermon can take on a life of its own.  Some messages come from a place deep within your spirit that you literally feel it pouring out of you.  This was one of those weeks.  I know that what I was saying was going to encounter resistance from the enemy and sure enough there was a battle.  The good news is that there is nothing that the enemy can throw at me that God and I cannot overcome.  I feel like the service and the message will have long lasting positive effects in our church and our city.  I preached on "5 battlefronts Lifecc must win."  And win, we will.

Attendance was down due to the summer season but offerings were way up.  Go figure.  God's math doesn't have to make sense. 

This morning I slept in.  When I got up Harriet was just returning from her long training run for a half marathon. She's tough.  Check out her training blog by clicking here.

This is going to be a great week.  Maybe more golf?...

        

Harriet, who is my wife has decided she is going to train for a half marathon leaving me in quite a predicament.  I'm forced into some serious decisions.  1.  Do I do nothing and let her prove she is able to smoke me athletically or 2. Do I start back to a regular routine of exercise?  This is peer pressure of the best or worst kind depending on how I look at it.  Truthfully, I am way behind her on this one but I might just surprise her. 

By the way, I surprised her by purchasing her some new running shoes.  Go ahead sweetheart, I know you can do it.

        

Every Tuesday our staff meets together for planning and leadership development.  Today, Commander Doug Fears, (Standing on the Left) commanding officer of the USCGC Diligence  in Wilmington, NC came to our office and shared about leadership.  This man is a leader.  You don't have to ask around, you just know it.  He gave us more to chew on than we could handle in one session.  Thank you for being with us today and being a part of Life Community Church!

Here are just a few things I can pass along...

• Two kinds of leaders:  Transactional leaders who are concerned about what is happening right now and transformational leaders who are also concerned with changing what will be happening in the future.
• Teach people to not strive to be in the "inner circle."  Rather to concern themselves with developing a skill that will naturally arrive them in the inner circle.  Leadership is for people who have earned it by the strength of their skill, experiences and wisdom not for those who seek leadership for the sake of just being important.  And to say it another way, "Talk is cheap." 
• We should over deliver and under promise. 
• Let your actions speak louder than your voice.
• Work on core fundamentals of your job.  Some people spend more time in putting the sizzle in the steak and forget that a steak cooked right is what is important.
• Be a student of your profession.  Never stop improving and growing in your area of ministry. 
• He said, "You cannot roll up your sleeves while wringing your hands."  People who are busy about their duties have less time to worry over things they cant fix.
• When you finish the job... go home.  Work very hard and completely finish the job so that when you go home you are not thinking about what is undone.

With that said, I'm going home. 

        

I love the way our church serves our city.  We held our Angel Food Ministry again this weekend where we served over 800 orders of groceries.  We had over 60 volunteers show up from 6:00am until 1:00pm to unload, box the groceries and distribute to so many wonderful people.  The reward of serving our city is knowing that it pleases God to love others.  Thank you Lifecc for embracing the culture of serving others as a team.

Sunday service was highlighted by our guest speaker Payton McKeithan.  Payton used to live in Wilmington until hearing God call him and his family to go reach people in Costa Rica.  They sold everything they had and moved their to show them the way to life... Jesus Christ.  He preached a great word.  Great job Payton!

After service we held our newcomers lunch.  We were privileged to meet three new families interested in plugging into church.  Every time someone joins us I'm always so humbled to think that God would work through us to touch a new family.  I'm also excited that as more people join us we have even more people to do more for God.

The youth met tonight for a pool party.  We have decided to call our youth meetings 623 for two reasons.  First, Romans 6:23 says, "The free gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,"  and secondly, we will be holding our youth meetings on Sunday evenings at 6:23.  I'm beginning to get a renewed spark in my Spirit about a passionate group of young people embracing the Kingdom of God and using their boundless energy to make a difference. 

10:00pm ready for bed and ready to see what God has in store for me this week. 

        

Here are some random things I'm thankful for not including God and family and the big stuff.  I've discovered a secret to everyday happiness is to be thankful and enjoy the small stuff as well.  So here is just a random list of things I'm thankful for today...

• I had some gas in my car.
• Friends- I ran into a friend in Wal-Mart today who paid me a compliment about our church.
• This church and pastor is one that I'm thankful for.
• Flip-flops.  I think I have now worn flip flops to work for three straight years.
• 
• Freedom-  The men and women in the armed forces who are serving our country tirelessly and the veterans who sacrificed it all for our liberties.
• Pac-Man.  Thats right, I said pac man.  I have it on my home page and every once in a while a play a game or two.
• Milkshakes.
• Grass (not pot) my yard is growing much better this year.
• Possibility-  I'm always believing that something amazing is possible to happen today.  When you are serving God the possibilities can become realities. 

What are you thankful for?

        

We started noticing some unusual, left behind droppings in our garage this weekend.  We weren't sure what it was that was leaving them but we knew it was bigger than your average garage bug.  We began jumping to conclusions... was it a snake, large rat, or some kind of lizard that had taken up residence on our space.  Suddenly our space was now uncomfortably his space.  Every time we walked through the garage we looked around every step to be sure we didn't meet the new predator.  We were overly cautious about opening the storage doors or reaching into the big bucket with balls because we just knew we might encounter this new beast.  Yesterday, I promised the family I would completely clean out the garage and eliminate whatever it was that was now leaving behind his sign of, "I've been here."  As I began to go through everything with great caution, I rolled back the lawn mower and there he was, he was looking right at me. 

Before I go on, let me say that fear can build an amazing picture before you know what the reality is.  How many times do we fear something only to find out that it wasn't so bad.  The enemy will do anything he can to stifle you and if making your situations appear worse than they really are will cause you to become fearful, doubt or lacking in faith, then he will try to convince you that your situation is more drastic than you can handle.

Under the lawn mower was a giant, non-man eating frog who had been indulging himself on water bugs.  This innocent frog had held us captured under false pretenses. 

Gen 26:24
"Do not be afraid, for I am with you and will bless you."

        

Sunday was a most unusual and outstanding day.  As way of reminder... our church did not hold its regular services on Sunday morning but moved them to Sunday evening to be followed by cookout and softball.  We also met in a different facility that would accommodate us all to meet for one larger service. 

Notes of interest. 

• Slept in Sunday morning for the first time in years. (other than vacations)
• Attended PC3 grand opening service.  Actually piled in the car as a family and went to church together. 
• Sunday 1:00- began set up for the evening service.  Thank you to everyone who served with amazing commitments to glorify God through our service.  You made the day happen!
• Sunday 4:00- volunteers arrived to be ready to welcome guests.
• Sunday 5:00... actually 5:10 the service began.
• Worship was enthusiastic and passionate.  Thats the way it should be.
• Had several close friends visit our church for the first time. 
• I showed off a few new dance moves.  (I'm sorry if some of you will need ministry after seeing that.  It was all just a joke.  It was probably one of those "have to be there moments")
• The video movie was enough to cause deep down belly laughs.  (I'll get you a link to the clip soon.)
• Chili cook off was a great idea.  We ate some of the best chili around. Thank you to our judges who selected the winning chili.
• Softball was fun.  I'm sad to say my speed around the bases has greatly diminished into a little more of a fast jog.  But thanks to the compassion of the more skilled ones they let me get around the bases and score.
• Pictures to follow...

  Worship...

 me, right before the new dance moves

 more worship

 Kid's love to play

  Hamburgers, hot dogs and chili

  Softball game

        

This weekend is going to be a blast!!!  We have moved our services (this weekend only) from the morning to a 5:00pm time.  We have moved our location (this weekend only) to the Temple Baptist Activity Center.  Then immediately following the service we will be going outside for a family fun day and chili cook-off.  Listed are some things I'm looking forward too.

• Our entire church worshiping together at one time.  Normally we are divided into two services but due to the extra space we can all meet together.
• Friends visiting.  I have heard from several people who will be visiting with us this week.
• Not preaching twice this week.
• Sleeping in on Sunday.  Normally, I'm at the church by 7:30 on Sunday.
• Amazing praise and worship.  The worship team is ready to go.
• The giant super slide- I think they are fun!
• Kid's- I love it when our kids are more excited about church than their parents.
• Chili-  I was born in Texas therefore I like chili.
• Banana pudding- My all time favorite desert.  I'm hopeful some of the ladies have made smashing good pudding.
• Community- I love it when our church is able to come together and enjoy each other.
• Softball- I may not be as fast as I used to be but I think I can still play.  Note to you college boys... I can still take you down!
• Sunday-  It's still my favorite day of the week.

See you then!