Let me start by saying that this was an overall good day. We had 51 in attendance, the music service went great, the picture presentation that Rod did was good, having Steve and Dawn Jesmer from Granite State was great (we gave GSBC a plaque), and an attitude of faithfulness by some of our members in their offering and trusting God. To top it all off, we had Mary Johnson, a 55 year-old woman and mother of one of our members, pray with me and ask Jesus to be her Savior - a great day!
Ok - because this if for reporting purposes, and for my own purposes, let me report on some negative things that I hope to see get better:
1) Attitude - griping from the praise team on the early morning practice (and several were late), and griping from some church members on the switch to Sundays - both unacceptable. Need to work on this.
2) Attendance - still had several people missing that I hope will join us for Sundays.
3) Attention - my people need to pay attention to the visitors, especially my "staff" people. Greet them, get to know them, and welcome them into our midst.
4) Offering - it is still low, and some of my people need to step up to the plate and be more consistent.
5) Preparation - I was too unprepared in my sermon and thus my focus was off, Rod and I were running around doing some last minute preps in power point stuff which was unnacceptable.
Of all these, my biggest concerns lie in the ability of 1) my praise team people to be ready to worship and practice beforehand; and the ability of 2) my "staff" people to step up to the plate at altar calls, with visitors, and with making the overall attitude of the church be more friendly and upbeat.
We did have a good Sunday overall - but it could have been so much better with some attention to these matters. God is good, and I think He will bless if we will make ourselves more blessable.
Thursday, July 29, 2004
Sunday, July 25, 2004
Saturday, July 24, 2004
Church Birthday Picnic - July 24, 2004
Well, it is amazing the difference between the start and finish of a day. The day started out raining, and wet, and our birthday celebration was very much in jeopardy of not happening today. But the weather said only showers until noon, and then things would clear up. So instead of a noon start, we delayed the start until 2pm. And it was so good that we did, and it turned out to be a nice day for a picnic. As I type this, it is now almost 9pm, and the night is even better - cool and refreshing.
The picnic turned out to be a huge success. We had 54 Journey people(!) and another 30 Granite State people, which it was so nice to outnumber them! I hope this translates into a good day tomorrow. We had volleyball, bocce, wiffle ball, horse shoes, basketball, and lots of food and fellowship. We could have had even more Journey people - there were still several that did not show up, so I would say that we had a really good turnout.
As we get ready to have our first Sunday, I think I am going to spend some serious time in prayer tonight, asking God to annoint our service and annoint me, and to refresh our people with our vision.
That's all.
The picnic turned out to be a huge success. We had 54 Journey people(!) and another 30 Granite State people, which it was so nice to outnumber them! I hope this translates into a good day tomorrow. We had volleyball, bocce, wiffle ball, horse shoes, basketball, and lots of food and fellowship. We could have had even more Journey people - there were still several that did not show up, so I would say that we had a really good turnout.
As we get ready to have our first Sunday, I think I am going to spend some serious time in prayer tonight, asking God to annoint our service and annoint me, and to refresh our people with our vision.
That's all.
Thursday, July 22, 2004
Saturday July 17th
Today's service was our last Saturday service, and while we had a great service, I am not going to miss Saturdays at all. Several of the church people like Saturdays, and I empathize with them, because I like meeting on Saturdays myself. But this summer, we have taken a huge hit in our momentum and overall effectiveness as a church because Saturdays during the summer are so busy here, church is not on their minds!
It wasn't like this in Missouri, not that I remember, of Saturdays being such a huge day, because it is warmer there much earlier in the year as well as much later, so people get their time outside. Here, as soon as May hit with warmer weather, we took a blast and have not been out of the 30's except one time. Our offerings have really taken a dive in these two months as well, but we are recuperating.
But this past Saturday, we had 30 something (I don't know the exact figure), but we had the large part of our core membership here, and we had a great service. I preached on "Faith Bootcamp" from Hebrews 11:1-3 as I opened up a new series on faith called "You Gotta Have Faith." It was a great service as we had several come to the altars for decisions to pursue lives of faith.
The great thing is, Rod also just started a series on Wednesdays from James called "Feet to Faith" as he goes through the book of James, so our people are studying on Wednesdays, being challenged about it on Sundays, and hopefully beginning to live it out the rest of the week!
I have also made a commitment to our people (said this last night at our Wednesday July 21 prayer & Bible study gathering) that I will give an invitation for people to come to Christ each week and also give Christians the opportunity to make some changes in their lives. I think this thing might just work ;)
Praise God from Whom all blessings flow! Praise Him all creatures here below! Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts! Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
It wasn't like this in Missouri, not that I remember, of Saturdays being such a huge day, because it is warmer there much earlier in the year as well as much later, so people get their time outside. Here, as soon as May hit with warmer weather, we took a blast and have not been out of the 30's except one time. Our offerings have really taken a dive in these two months as well, but we are recuperating.
But this past Saturday, we had 30 something (I don't know the exact figure), but we had the large part of our core membership here, and we had a great service. I preached on "Faith Bootcamp" from Hebrews 11:1-3 as I opened up a new series on faith called "You Gotta Have Faith." It was a great service as we had several come to the altars for decisions to pursue lives of faith.
The great thing is, Rod also just started a series on Wednesdays from James called "Feet to Faith" as he goes through the book of James, so our people are studying on Wednesdays, being challenged about it on Sundays, and hopefully beginning to live it out the rest of the week!
I have also made a commitment to our people (said this last night at our Wednesday July 21 prayer & Bible study gathering) that I will give an invitation for people to come to Christ each week and also give Christians the opportunity to make some changes in their lives. I think this thing might just work ;)
Praise God from Whom all blessings flow! Praise Him all creatures here below! Praise Him above, ye heavenly hosts! Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.
Friday, July 16, 2004
C'mon Baby light my fire...
OK - I have had enough of this summertime lull with our momentum taking a HUGE hit. When my best man admits that he doesn't feel a passion as strongly as he did for the church, man, something is wrong and I think we need a momentum shift! We need people to commit to being at church, to commit to serving, to commit to giving - and I am just aggravated about it enough and God is dealing with me enough on it that I need to really preach some messages about faith from Hebrews 11. I have to tell you, I am very fired up about this. Just letting you know - I hope that God ignites me and let's me loose.
Thursday, July 15, 2004
VBS and services of late
Well, I gotta say that the last two weeks have been not only a tornado, but an up and down one at that. Here are some high and low lights...
1) We had a youth group from Melbourne, Florida with us from July 6th through the14th, and what a time we had! It was tremendous, and in and of itself deserves some coverage, so here goes:
a) On Wednesday, July 7th, we passed out close to 3000 flyers in several neighborhoods, inviting kids to our VBS as well as inviting families to join us as well. We passed out these flyers in about 5 hours, and the best part was, I didn't have to walk! :) That night, the 7th, was our first VBS night, and we had 19 kids, with 12 of those being first timers - it was way cool. The puppet shows that the teen group put on were great. That night, after every one was gone, the kids that stayed with us (Stephanie, Virginia, Jackie, Kyle, Randy and counselor Christine) and Krista and I played Mafia - it was great. Stayed up until almost 2am.
b) On Thursday, July 8th, we woke up to rain! :( We had planned a day to go to the park and put on puppet shows for the kids in the park (Rochester Commons) - but we could not because of the rain. I woke up and began to ask God "why?" and "what are we supposed to do?" because we had no other activity planned. So we brainstormed (which was in keeping with the weather), and we called and visited many places, including KMart, Walmart, and the mall to name a few - with no luck of them allowing us to do puppet shows. Finally, I thought "what about daycares? They have kids locked up today...we should call them!" And so we did - after about 5 with no luck, we contacted NH Girls, Inc. and they said they had about 25 six to twelve year old girls that would love for us to do a puppet show, and so we said ok! Well, turns out, they are located at the Rochester Community Center, so when we went down there to scope the place out, the girl (Mandy) said that another group was going to come as well, giving us about 50+ kids - great! Well, when we came back to set up, she had invited another group, and in a huge room, we entertained about 120 kids and counselors, and invited to church and VBS! It was awesome, as we hadn't anticipated this extra ministry opportunity. Isn't it great when GOD decides to change the plans and allow us to participate?! That night we had 22 kids at VBS, and played Mafia late again.
c) On Friday the 9th, we were able to visit Rochester Commons and do the puppet show, as the rain had gone away. As I went to secure the permit for the park at the city manager's office, the receptionist told me that the permit was not good because the fire chief and city manager didn't sign it, and they weren't around or available to sign it. Almost despairing because our puppet team was at the park setting up as we talked, I prayed to God "what to do", and all of a sudden, the unlocatable fire chief walks by, and she nabs him and he signs it. Still one signature to go, though, and the city manager is in a meeting - but then all of a sudden, he walks in, and she gets him to sign it! The receptionist said to me, "Someone must be watching over you!" to which I replied, "It's called 'the power of prayer!'" At the park, we ministered to about 50 kids and parents, as well as the St Charles Orphanage. I need to see about their Big Brother/Big Sister program... At VBS that night, we had 24, and one little 9 year old girl got saved! Praise God!
d) On Saturday the 10th, we gave the teens a needed morning off, and relaxed. I had lunch with Pastor Guinn, who reminded me of the importance of leading people to Christ and helping them grow in their relationship with him. It was good. I was glad to get to know him some. That evening held the highlight though, despite some stinky things - first, the stinky things: 1) many kids, because of Saturday, did not come to our closing program, and so our kid attendance was low, although we did have many come back; 2) Many of our people weren't there. I am convinced firmly that Sundays are the way for us to go on our weekend service. It is SO frustrating when people aren't there, and quite honestly, if we hit Sundays and no one still shows up, then I need to question some things. I just hope and pray that Sundays are a boost in the arm for our attendance and for our offerings, both of which have been SO lousy lately. At this rate, I might have to ask for assistance from GSBC, and I don't really want that. We will see - and God knows. But the great news is that we had Bonnie, Kathy Boston's daughter get saved - she is about my age - it was great! Our people missed a blessing. Our official VBS results are not yet in, but we do know of 2 people, one child and one woman, whose lives are different now because of our outreach!
e) Sunday the 11th came early as we had to be on the road at 7am to get to Matt's church in Pelham so the kids could do their puppet shows in his services. Crossroads made us breakfast and lunch, and after the services, the kids went to Boston. The Willis family came home and crashed.
f) The youth group also visited 6 Flags in Springfield on Monday the 12th, and we all went up to Attitash for the day on Tuesday the 13th, where we had a blast on the alpine slides until it rained :(
The group went home early Wednesday morning, and we sure do miss the whole bunch - Stephanie, Virginia, Jackie, Kyle, Randy and counselor Christine, Mike & Jenetta, Gerinda, Jessica, Dixie, Kyle, Billy, Matt, Garrett, Johnathon, Jeff & Kina, Justin, Ben - we miss all of them and the great folks at Bethany Baptist Church. Honestly, I did not think that I would walk away as blessed as I was. I consider Jeff and Kina, Mike and Jenetta, and Christine my friends.
OK - so far as the Journey is concerned, I am very concerned about attendance, as you might guess. I am unsure if it is just summer or what, but unfortunately, the Journey has been out of sight, out of mind with our folks and yet we still have bills to pay and a community to impact. Last night, at our midweek bible study, we had 6 adults in the bible study! Our people need to be doing better than that. Quite honestly, my biggest prayers right now are that we would be able to meet our bills without resorting to asking anyone for money, and that we would regain that momentum that we went into the summertime months with!
1) We had a youth group from Melbourne, Florida with us from July 6th through the14th, and what a time we had! It was tremendous, and in and of itself deserves some coverage, so here goes:
a) On Wednesday, July 7th, we passed out close to 3000 flyers in several neighborhoods, inviting kids to our VBS as well as inviting families to join us as well. We passed out these flyers in about 5 hours, and the best part was, I didn't have to walk! :) That night, the 7th, was our first VBS night, and we had 19 kids, with 12 of those being first timers - it was way cool. The puppet shows that the teen group put on were great. That night, after every one was gone, the kids that stayed with us (Stephanie, Virginia, Jackie, Kyle, Randy and counselor Christine) and Krista and I played Mafia - it was great. Stayed up until almost 2am.
b) On Thursday, July 8th, we woke up to rain! :( We had planned a day to go to the park and put on puppet shows for the kids in the park (Rochester Commons) - but we could not because of the rain. I woke up and began to ask God "why?" and "what are we supposed to do?" because we had no other activity planned. So we brainstormed (which was in keeping with the weather), and we called and visited many places, including KMart, Walmart, and the mall to name a few - with no luck of them allowing us to do puppet shows. Finally, I thought "what about daycares? They have kids locked up today...we should call them!" And so we did - after about 5 with no luck, we contacted NH Girls, Inc. and they said they had about 25 six to twelve year old girls that would love for us to do a puppet show, and so we said ok! Well, turns out, they are located at the Rochester Community Center, so when we went down there to scope the place out, the girl (Mandy) said that another group was going to come as well, giving us about 50+ kids - great! Well, when we came back to set up, she had invited another group, and in a huge room, we entertained about 120 kids and counselors, and invited to church and VBS! It was awesome, as we hadn't anticipated this extra ministry opportunity. Isn't it great when GOD decides to change the plans and allow us to participate?! That night we had 22 kids at VBS, and played Mafia late again.
c) On Friday the 9th, we were able to visit Rochester Commons and do the puppet show, as the rain had gone away. As I went to secure the permit for the park at the city manager's office, the receptionist told me that the permit was not good because the fire chief and city manager didn't sign it, and they weren't around or available to sign it. Almost despairing because our puppet team was at the park setting up as we talked, I prayed to God "what to do", and all of a sudden, the unlocatable fire chief walks by, and she nabs him and he signs it. Still one signature to go, though, and the city manager is in a meeting - but then all of a sudden, he walks in, and she gets him to sign it! The receptionist said to me, "Someone must be watching over you!" to which I replied, "It's called 'the power of prayer!'" At the park, we ministered to about 50 kids and parents, as well as the St Charles Orphanage. I need to see about their Big Brother/Big Sister program... At VBS that night, we had 24, and one little 9 year old girl got saved! Praise God!
d) On Saturday the 10th, we gave the teens a needed morning off, and relaxed. I had lunch with Pastor Guinn, who reminded me of the importance of leading people to Christ and helping them grow in their relationship with him. It was good. I was glad to get to know him some. That evening held the highlight though, despite some stinky things - first, the stinky things: 1) many kids, because of Saturday, did not come to our closing program, and so our kid attendance was low, although we did have many come back; 2) Many of our people weren't there. I am convinced firmly that Sundays are the way for us to go on our weekend service. It is SO frustrating when people aren't there, and quite honestly, if we hit Sundays and no one still shows up, then I need to question some things. I just hope and pray that Sundays are a boost in the arm for our attendance and for our offerings, both of which have been SO lousy lately. At this rate, I might have to ask for assistance from GSBC, and I don't really want that. We will see - and God knows. But the great news is that we had Bonnie, Kathy Boston's daughter get saved - she is about my age - it was great! Our people missed a blessing. Our official VBS results are not yet in, but we do know of 2 people, one child and one woman, whose lives are different now because of our outreach!
e) Sunday the 11th came early as we had to be on the road at 7am to get to Matt's church in Pelham so the kids could do their puppet shows in his services. Crossroads made us breakfast and lunch, and after the services, the kids went to Boston. The Willis family came home and crashed.
f) The youth group also visited 6 Flags in Springfield on Monday the 12th, and we all went up to Attitash for the day on Tuesday the 13th, where we had a blast on the alpine slides until it rained :(
The group went home early Wednesday morning, and we sure do miss the whole bunch - Stephanie, Virginia, Jackie, Kyle, Randy and counselor Christine, Mike & Jenetta, Gerinda, Jessica, Dixie, Kyle, Billy, Matt, Garrett, Johnathon, Jeff & Kina, Justin, Ben - we miss all of them and the great folks at Bethany Baptist Church. Honestly, I did not think that I would walk away as blessed as I was. I consider Jeff and Kina, Mike and Jenetta, and Christine my friends.
OK - so far as the Journey is concerned, I am very concerned about attendance, as you might guess. I am unsure if it is just summer or what, but unfortunately, the Journey has been out of sight, out of mind with our folks and yet we still have bills to pay and a community to impact. Last night, at our midweek bible study, we had 6 adults in the bible study! Our people need to be doing better than that. Quite honestly, my biggest prayers right now are that we would be able to meet our bills without resorting to asking anyone for money, and that we would regain that momentum that we went into the summertime months with!
Monday, July 05, 2004
Waiting for a harvest...
Last night, I was getting ready to go to bed, but God told me that I needed to spend some time in prayer. So I took a walk (around midnight) up and down our road, praying to God for a few things, like Rod to find a job - he REALLY needs one. Another thing I was praying for is that God would give us a harvest this week - through our efforts at the Relay for Life, and the Fireworks festival, and as we hand out several thousand flyers - that God would allow us to experience a little bit of reaping with some of the sowing we've been doing. I walked and prayed for about an hour (it was a beautiful night). I am excited to see what God will do as we continue to be His servants. I can't wait to post on here and tell of something BIG that God is going to do. My other big prayer now is that I will have clarity of thought and power of the Spirit when I preach on Saturday, and that God will grant us a harvest...
Sunday, July 04, 2004
July 4, 2004
You know, I recently logged in my journal that church planting is not for wimps. I continue to believe that. But what I find myself really despising sometimes is my inactivity - I feel I always could be doing more, leading more, motivating more.
I was really encouraged the other day by a post on a pastor's message list. I needed to be reminded of the fact that every ministry has sowing and reaping - and that right now, we are in sowing mode. Cool. No problem - but I am so glad I got the reminder - you have no idea how I needed to hear it.
Here are some things we are trying to get our name out in the community, and to give
back to our community.
1) We sent a team of people to the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life back in mid-June - and we gave away 200 bottles of water for free (everyone else was selling stuff) - and the bottles had a card with our logo and a little note that said "You looked like you were thirsty, so here is a drink from us to show you God's love in a
practical way." It went across very well.
2) Tonight, we set up a booth at our city's fireworks festival, and we promoted our VBS and did free face-painting. Again, the face painting was free, and we had kids FLOCKING for the FREE facepaint - seriously, we face painted at least 100 kids over the course of 5 hours...praise God! Got to talk to many parents.
3) We will follow that up by handing out 3000 doorhangers this week in a few surrounding neighborhoods inviting them to VBS and to church.
4) Next Saturday, we are doing a totally free car wash - no donations accepted. In the beginning of August, we will follow up with a free vacuum and windexing day.
The conversations that we have begun by people within a mile of our church who haven't yet responded to our previous flyers has been tremendous. Our church folks have been excited about getting to know people and telling them about The Journey, and we are praying for a harvest. One guy I talked to at the Relay for life said no one had ever invited him to church before - and he lives 2 miles up the road! Lord, use us!
You know what? People respond to kindness that comes without a hitch. It is encouraging to see it begin to work. Time to quit talking about doing, and just do. If you haven't tried anything like this, my ideas have come from Steve Sjogren and his books dealing with servant evangelism. I still don't have it down completely, but I am grateful for the opportunity to give it a shot and see the church do and the community respond. I will let you know what happens as a result of these endeavors as time goes by.
I was really encouraged the other day by a post on a pastor's message list. I needed to be reminded of the fact that every ministry has sowing and reaping - and that right now, we are in sowing mode. Cool. No problem - but I am so glad I got the reminder - you have no idea how I needed to hear it.
Here are some things we are trying to get our name out in the community, and to give
back to our community.
1) We sent a team of people to the American Cancer Society's Relay for Life back in mid-June - and we gave away 200 bottles of water for free (everyone else was selling stuff) - and the bottles had a card with our logo and a little note that said "You looked like you were thirsty, so here is a drink from us to show you God's love in a
practical way." It went across very well.
2) Tonight, we set up a booth at our city's fireworks festival, and we promoted our VBS and did free face-painting. Again, the face painting was free, and we had kids FLOCKING for the FREE facepaint - seriously, we face painted at least 100 kids over the course of 5 hours...praise God! Got to talk to many parents.
3) We will follow that up by handing out 3000 doorhangers this week in a few surrounding neighborhoods inviting them to VBS and to church.
4) Next Saturday, we are doing a totally free car wash - no donations accepted. In the beginning of August, we will follow up with a free vacuum and windexing day.
The conversations that we have begun by people within a mile of our church who haven't yet responded to our previous flyers has been tremendous. Our church folks have been excited about getting to know people and telling them about The Journey, and we are praying for a harvest. One guy I talked to at the Relay for life said no one had ever invited him to church before - and he lives 2 miles up the road! Lord, use us!
You know what? People respond to kindness that comes without a hitch. It is encouraging to see it begin to work. Time to quit talking about doing, and just do. If you haven't tried anything like this, my ideas have come from Steve Sjogren and his books dealing with servant evangelism. I still don't have it down completely, but I am grateful for the opportunity to give it a shot and see the church do and the community respond. I will let you know what happens as a result of these endeavors as time goes by.
Welcome!
This site is simple - it just gives a recap of what has been happening at Thr Journey. Consider it my online journal - not many insights (I save that for my personal blog) - but I just want to keep a log of what's happening/has happened at The Journey, both inside and out.
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