Refresh as a team!

Here's where my leadership team will be Friday-Saturday.

It's so good to hang with all the leaders and eat, eat, eat, and play games.....

(And spend some time really praying for one another....so good!)

prayer for revelation

Proverbs 29:18 (MSG)
18 If people can't see what God is doing,
they stumble all over themselves;
But when they attend to what he reveals,
they are most blessed.

Or as the honorable King James has said..."Where there is no vision, the people perish."


My prayer:
Lord, continue to give us vision and revelation for what you want to do around here.
Guide us. And give us the guts to follow.

Obama...one cup at at time

The delivery came.
The box was opened.
The Kuerig was heating.
The day began.


Then...one cup of coffee...Obama style.



I try not to let politics invade the office.
But when it tastes good, I have some exceptions!


Come on by and I'll fix you a cup of Obama coffee!
(while supplies last)

Brought to you by the Coffee People. Well, kinda. I still had to buy the stuff.

2009 will be incredible if...

I shared the following at our church annual council meeting.

2009 will be incredible at First Assembly if we:

We pray as if everything depends on it.

We become Bringers and Braggers so more people will come and experience God’s love, mercy, forgiveness, and power to change lives at First Assembly

We help first-time visitors become committed followers of Jesus.

We experience powerful and intimate times with Jesus during First Wednesday services.

We see pre-service prayer become an anticipated time of dependency on God to work miracles during our Sunday gatherings.

We regain our passion for missions through giving, prayer, and involvement.

We understand the importance of tithing and giving in faith.

We continue to invest in Family Life at First Assembly and throughout our community.

We do whatever it takes to help spiritually disconnected people come to experience the love and power of Jesus in their life.

We continue to be innovative and relevant in telling the story of Jesus and providing spiritual environments that are meaningful and impacting.

Daughters of the prez...

Here's a moving video of Bush's daughters writing a letter to the Obama girls.
Pretty powerful. I tried to watch it through the lenses of a pastor's home.

Your thoughts?

Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy

what can you do with your wii remote?

50 Hours...and counting

My wife has left for Chicago for 50 hours. 

It's a training she needs for work.

It's been 45 minutes and I have already cleaned up an entire cup of yogurt off the wall. I've broke up two fights. I held my youngest in my arms after a flying roundhouse kick from the other ninja boys landed on his head. And...I've taken 2 extra strength Tylenol.

Check out my twitter to enjoy the next 50 hours. Who knows what is just around the corner.

Warren's Prayer

Text of the invocation by Rick Warren for President Barack Obama's inauguration:

Let us pray.

Almighty God, our father, everything we see and everything we can't see exists because of you alone. It all comes from you, it all belongs to you. It all exists for your glory. History is your story.

The Scripture tells us Hear, oh Israel, the Lord is our God; the Lord is one. And you are the compassionate and merciful one. And you are loving to everyone you have made.

Now today we rejoice not only in America's peaceful transfer of power for the 44th time. We celebrate a hinge-point of history with the inauguration of our first African-American president of the United States.

We are so grateful to live in this land, a land of unequaled possibility, where the son of an African immigrant can rise to the highest level of our leadership.

And we know today that Dr. King and a great cloud of witnesses are shouting in Heaven.

Give to our new president, Barack Obama, the wisdom to lead us with humility, the courage to lead us with integrity, the compassion to lead us with generosity. Bless and protect him, his family, Vice President Biden, the Cabinet, and every one of our freely elected leaders.

Help us, oh God, to remember that we are Americans, united not by race or religion or blood, but to our commitment to freedom and justice for all.

When we focus on ourselves, when we fight each other, when we forget you, forgive us. When we presume that our greatness and our prosperity is ours alone, forgive us. When we fail to treat our fellow human beings and all the Earth with the respect that they deserve, forgive us.

And as we face these difficult days ahead, may we have a new birth of clarity in our aims, responsibility in our actions, humility in our approaches, and civility in our attitudes, even when we differ.

Help us to share, to serve and to seek the common good of all.

May all people of good will today join together to work for a more just, a more healthy and a more prosperous nation and a peaceful planet. And may we never forget that one day all nations and all people will stand accountable before you.

We now commit our new president and his wife, Michelle, and his daughters, Malia and Sasha, into your loving care.

I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life, Yeshua, Isa, Jesus, Jesus (hay-SOOS), who taught us to pray, Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come, thy will be done on Earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever.

Amen.

Unusual nature pic from my parents' house

Last Week six bucks walked across my parents' backyard.
My dad snapped a quick pic as they passed my.
This is just a few blocks from Eastern Illinois University in Charleston, IL.
Pretty amazing these guys are so close to town.

Deer experts: Is it rare for bucks to travel in groups?

The tweet read around the world

This got retweeted around the world.
Now he's a contact for news stories.

You gotta love Twitter.

Happy Birthday to me!

My Wife took me to Don Sol for Mexican food.
They stuck a hat on me and sang.


The Boys threw a party for me at home.
They stuck a hat on me and sang.


My wife bought me a Keurig.
The perfect birthday gift!


Do you have Keurig tips for me?

Imagine if...

• Husbands and wives sat down and talked at least 30 mins everyday.
• We watched one episode less of TV each week and dedicated it to teaching our children how to talk to God.
• We didn't buy one cup of coffee each week and then gave that money to a needy family at the end of the year.
  
• We went to a homeless person and offered them to use our cell phone for a few minutes.
• Called our kid's teacher and thanked them for investing in our children.
• We read God's Word in the morning before we ever opened up our e-mail accounts.
• We had dinner with our neighbors at least once a month.
• We didn't have to pay all that money on interest to some bank.
  
• Children would spend as much time on homework and reading as they do on video games and TV.
• Church was about rallying people to invest in others instead of listing a bunch of rules of what not to do.
• We were willing to get messy in someone else's problems.
• Yelling wasn't an option.
• Lying didn't exist.
• We actually understood all the affects of pornography.
• We asked God for His advice before making our decisions.

Those are a few of my daydreaming ponderings....

You got somthin' to add?

Jack is back

I've already booked babysitters for Sunday and Monday night so we can all sit around together with friends and partake in the TV crack known as 24.

First Wednesday Order of service

Our first First Wednesday was an amazing time. A perfect combination of worship, teaching, prayer, and experiential faith opportunities. People really connected with God.

Here was our order of service:

• 6:30 Opening Video (We Cry Out by Kim Walker, Video by Evan Courtney)
• 6:36 Corporate Reading of Psalms 141:2
• Light Incense (Travis prays and gives short explanation)
• 6:38 Worship Music - Band (3 worship songs-full band)
• 6:53 Nooma Video: Open
• 7:05 Kenny acoustic and female vocal (2 slow worship songs)
• 7:15 Travis application and intro to response time
• 7:22 Response Time (Acoustic instrumental with light singing)
  

- Communion
- Written prayer wall
- Pray and Anoint with oil by pastors
- Find your own place of prayer anywhere
- Pray for the city (Maps on the Wall)

• 7:40 Closing Song: Jesus Messiah song by band
• 7:45 Exit

Do you do any type of special mid-week or experiential services?

Pray for the City

Here's a video for the Pray for the City initiative our city is doing.


Pray for the City Welcome from firstassembly on Vimeo.


Pray for the City Website

How Healthy Are you?

I gave this assessment to our leadership team Monday night.
Make this 2009 a season of great spiritual development.

Give yourself a grade from A to F.

Connecting To God

• Reading your Bible on a regular basis.
• Personally studying, meditating, and applying God’s Word to your life.
• Spending time talking to God on a regular basis
• Listening to God Spirit speak into your life
• Worshipping God privately through the various ways of expression
• Worshipping God corporately/publicly through the various ways of expression
• Giving to God you tithe, time, and resources to partner with him in Kingdom work.

Connecting to People

• Involved in a Life Group on a regular basis
• Involved in another form of small group meetings on a regular basis
• Transparent with Christian friends about you problems and troubles
• Sharing life’s experiences together with Christian friends
• Sharing prayer needs and praying together as Christian friends

Connecting to Serve

• Serving other people inside First Assembly on a regular basis
• Serving other people outside of First Assembly on a regular basis
• Stepping out of your comfort zone to do something for God
• Getting involved financially at some level in missions

Prayers you need to Pray

I dare you to pray this everyday.

1. God whatever it takes, I need to get closer to you.

2. Help me get more connected to a community of Christian support and friends.

3. Show me ways to serve others on a regular basis.

4. I want people to see You in me.

5. Help me give more to You: my talents, my time, my money, and anything I want to hold onto.

6. We would experience supernatural miracles because of You.

7. More people would give their lives to you this year.

8. My church and The Church across the world would prioritize and practice what is really important and sacred.

9. My church leadership would be blessed, strengthened, empowered, and full of godly vision.

10. The Hope of Jesus would be found in the darkest corners of hurting lives: locally and globally.