Just Another Manic Monday . . . and Tuesday . . . and . . .

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Go ahead and sing along the old Bangles song with me!? Don’t you just love the 80s?? They don’t make cheesy goodness like that anymore!? Who knew that Prince, or “The Artist formerly know as,” or simply “The Artist” wrote that gem of a song?

Ok, to the heart of the post . . . It seems as though I am really, really busy, but I can’t seem to get ANYTHING done!? Do you ever feel that way?? We had a great staff meeting yesterday morning, but the day seemed to get away and before I knew it, it was time for Life Group at our house.

We had an AWESOME Life Group.? I absolutely love hanging out with our new found friends and study the Bible and hang out together!? We are really starting to gel and “click,” which is really cool.? We are studying “Discovering God’s Will”–an Andy Stanley/Northpoint study.? Man, what a great study so far.? Some highlight statements that really spoke to me from this week:

“The problem with knowing God’s will is not God’s unwillingness to speak; the problem is our unwillingness to follow through. Discovering God’s Will by Andy Stanley & Reggie Joiner, 21

“God does not give us direction for our consideration; He gives us His direction for participation.”

“God is more interested in your discovering Him than His will.”

“In the process of trying to know His will, we get to know Him.”

The message was built around Proverbs 3:5-6–

Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding;

in all your ways acknowledge him,
and he will make your paths straight.

I think this verse is very appropriate for my Tuesday that I had today . . .

Have you ever noticed how we seem to tell God “how it’s going to be?”? You know the deal.? We basically expect God to get on board with what we are doing.? When He does something we don’t want, weren’t expecting, or makes us uncomfortable; and we get all bent out of shape.? We tend to work harder, plan more thoroughly…work YOUR plan and ask God to bless YOUR plans.

God doesn’t work that way!? He wants us to wait on Him.? He wants more than anything a relationship with us that is real and personal.? He wants us to be so close to Him, that of course we would know what to do in order to do His will.

I am learning that the more plans I put together, the more they will not go so hot.? When I seek God and work on my relationship with Him, then I set to planning. . . that is when the my plans will become His plans.? When I am so atuned to His heart, that His heart becomes mine.

When things are seeming to “go your way.”? Maybe it is a perspective change?? Maybe it is a change in who is making the plans.? As Experiencing God says, “God is always at work around you.”? You need to find out what He is doing and do it.

Kudos to the musical team!

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Got this email from Pastor John yesterday and thought I would share it with you all.? I agree with him completely and it would be worth the effort to go see the final performance tonight at 6:00 p.m. for those around J-town.

My dear friends,

Wow, wow, WOW!? Last night’s presentation was simply the BEST Christmas
performance I have ever experienced!? I laughed, I cried, my soul soared.
The people around me in the balcony were wrapped up in it too.

Thank you, thank you, for your hard work.? I NEEDED last night.? It was the
first time this year I have felt “the Christmas spirit.”? I woke up still
feeling it today!

Thank you for being willing to “reach down” to engage our culture.? By
telling a story from our culture, people who don’t know Jesus could relate
to their need for God.? Some might say that the church has no business
singing songs that are from culture.? To that I would say, “then why did
Jesus use culture so often in his teaching?”? “The Kingdom of heaven is
like” he would say, and then use things from the world to help his audience
understand spiritual truth. You did EXACTLY what Jesus did last
night…which is why it had such a powerful impact.? What some call “carnal”
is actually “incarnational.”? The WORD was made FLESH (John 1:14).

Thank you most of all for your personal walk with Jesus.? In my sermon last
Sunday I started by saying that some people have God all over them.? Last
night, you all had God all over you.? Excellence and talent (which this
performance had) is no substitute for God’s hand being on those who are
telling the story.? God came down on Forest Park last night, some might say,
but the truth is, because He lives so powerfully in YOU, He was already
there.

I wish I had EVERYONE’s email address…feel free to pass this on to others.
I’ll be praying for you this afternoon as you tell the story once again.
For those of you who missed the news story on KODE, there is a link below.

http://fourstateshomepage.com/content/fulltext/?cid=45191

I love you all so much!? And I am thankful that I get to be one of your
pastors!

John

First Night of musical

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The first night of “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” went really well! Jenny did an awesome job on her solo! Of course she did…I taught her everything she knows.

My mom and dad, my mom’s sister and her husband( Barbara and Jack) came too. Thanks for not saving us a seat, dad! Just kidding!

Here are some pictures of the night. Will add more when I get on the computer, not my iPhone.

Refocus On Podcast

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My buddy next door, Gabe Lett, is a counselor and life coach.? He has a new life coaching business called Refocus, Inc. that coincides along with the Life Transformation Center that he runs his counseling business through.? He asked me a couple of weeks ago if I would be willing to have a conversation with him about “Revolutionary Christianity” on a podcast.? Basically, it is a discussion of the book Revolution, by George Barna.? I jumped at the chance to talk with him (I know many of you find that hard to believe that I love to talk!)? Here is a link to the podcast online.? You can also go on his website, refocus4life.com and subscribe to the podcast via iTunes.? Enjoy.

I really like Gabe and his heart for helping people and connecting them to the Church.? He has a lot of great ideas and is a great young leader in the Church.? He is also an author of Let’s Get Together: Building Community In The Church. You can get it here.? Trust me, he didn’t have me say that and I don’t get any kickbacks for this advertisement (I should though. . . just kidding!).

Golden Testimony

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We are in the final stages of our Generations Campaign at our church.? It is a capital fund raising campaign, yes.? But what I am finding it to be is a “faith raising” campaign.? I know for sure that our faith has been challenged for sure.? Jenny and I have neither one been through a campaign like this, so we are definitely “newbies.”? I have heard stories about couples praying seperately and then coming together to the penny, etc.? I always thought those kinds of stories were from super spiritual people and would never happen to me.? We actually had that happen as well to us this time around–pretty crazy.? I actually didn’t want to say what I had in mind because it was a huge stretch, so I asked Jenny what she thought first.? (Some people call it a lack of guts, I simply call it diplomacy!)

All along the way, however, there have been AWESOME testimonies come in about God’s moving in our church.? Here is yet another unbelievable, creative I might add, testimony of what some of our folks have done to give to this campaign.? Got this tonight from our pastor in an email . . .

Dear Generations Team,

Yesterday, we got an unusual gift from an anonymous donor.? The letter said,

“We felt like this offering needed a letter of explanation. Enclosed you will find a portion of our offering to the Generations Campaign. We have both been previously married and at one time these were a symbol to us of a person’s love and commitment to us and God. We both took our vows with commitment, but later in life, found that our former spouses did not. The results of our divorces left us feeling little self worth, but the Lord never gave up on us.? We were worth His life. We are priceless

Some time later the Lord led us to FPBC where we met through the singles ministry and became friends.? We were married here and gave each other new rings that symbolize our love?We have asked ourselves what we could do with our old rings. They are worthless to us, but the Lord could make them worth something for His kingdom.? Please accept them as a portion of our offering to the Generations Campaign.? We pray the Lord uses this offering to heal the broken, return the lost, and reveal His children’s worth to them.”

Attached is a picture of the rings.

I’m excited about Sunday.? I believe it is going to be a miraculous day!

Much love!

John

Maple Leaf Parade

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Wow, what a day!? We had an awesome time at the Maple Leaf Parade this morning walking in the parade.? All the guys that put up the float did an awesome job building our stage (with trussing) and cafe (with tables and chairs).? Aaron Stockton, Forest Park’s media director (former Carthage tech director) was the brainchild of a float that would give people an idea of our church with a “different” kind of float.? We didn’t want to be just like every other float in the parade.? We were a real hit heading down the road with our live “show.”? We handed out a TON of “experience the difference” cards and expect to have a really good day tomorrow with lots of guests!? Here is a youtube video of the parade on television:

The embedding is turned off on the YouTube, so here is the link to the video.

I am so proud of our team!? They did an awesome job with everything from the construction to the smiles on their faces on the parade route!? It was cool to hear some good props from the hosts on the telecast.? Great job Forest Park Carthage!? You guys rock!

PAUSE: Stop. Learn. Live.

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We have started our Generations Campaign last weekend and we are SO excited about what God is going to do over the next 6 weeks in growing our faith!? One of the awesome things about this spiritual growth campaign is a 40 Day Prayer and Devotional Guide.? We actually have started a website that you can go to and comment on each day about what the Lord is teaching you.? We believe this is going to be a very powerful tool for us as a church family.

Check out the “pretty” format that looks like the paperback books on our website here.? You can also check out our new website called “PAUSE:? Stop. Learn. Live.” On that site you will also be able to learn more about a daily reading plan, how to journal, how to fast, etc.? The daily reading portion will be up and in full swing after our 40 days of prayer and devotions are over with the Generations campaign.

We will continue a daily reading program after our 40 days of Generations prayer and devo is completed.

Don’t starve!? Feed yourself!? Grab a Bible, a pen, a journal, and a Generations Devo (or hop online) and join us on this adventure to spiritual maturity!

Tuesday is for Training

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Mark Dinwiddie has been sending us Multisite/Missions Nuggets of Truth each week for a couple of months now and I am starting a new category of them so you can talk about them and comment.

We have really been talking about that dirty word for perfectionists, DELEGATE.? Enjoy.

You have two choices in your work.? When something has been assigned to you, you can either do it yourself or get someone else to do it.? Your ability to get someone else to do it, to delegate it effectively??? —more than anything else— is going to determine your career track, your position and rate of promotion, your pay, your status, prestige, and success in management.? (The Delights of Delegation)
?I owe whatever success I have attained, by and large, to my ability to surround myself with people who are smarter than I am? Andrew Carnegie

I once had one of my dad’s best friends, “work himself out of a job.”? He had worked for this company back before he retired and hired on with another company doing consulting.? Basically, he delegated all of the work to be done by the company employees that he was no longer needed–and he could go back to traveling in his retirement!

Who do you know that is a good delegator?? What makes them good at it?? What prevents you from delegating the way you ought?

Monday is for Missions & Multisite

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Here are the pictures I said would be awesome if we had any!? I absolutely love what God is doing through this concept of multisite!? We had 366 people and the 2nd service was PACKED!!? That is the highest attendance we have had since the launch or Easter 2008–on a non holiday weekend!!

Enjoy from Stratton’s iPhone . . .

Awesome Day at Forest Park Carthage!

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We had an awesome Sunday at Forest Park Carthage!? We had a record attendance of 366 (high attendance except for launch Sunday and Easter ’08)!? Amazing!? We had an Anniversary Celebration BBQ after church and it was really cool to see so many people stay and hang out with one another.

We finished up the Mythbusters series today with what I think was one of the best messages of the entire series called “We are here by accident.”? John did an awesome job teaching us what an amazing God we serve and that there is no way that we are here by accident.? One quote he used today was from Albert Einstein

“The probablility of life originating from accidet is comparable to the probablility of the unabridged dictionary resulting from an explosion in a printing shop.”? Albert Einstein

Reminded me a ton of the the Indescribable and Alive series of talks by Louie Giglio (one of my all-time heroes!)

Huge props go out to my whole team making this day successful!? My staff and lay volunteers are awesome and do such a great job helping people connect with each other and to connect to the Savior!? Thank you so much–all of you!!

Here are some pictures of the BBQ after our awesome day celebrating what God has done in Carthage in just one short year.? (Man, I wish we would have gotten some pictures of the auditorium during services today.? That place was packed!? Three services??? May be having to come soon!? What an awesome problem to have!!)