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JOURNEY TEENS KICKOFF: GOO GAMES

I oversee our Journey Teens. Our leaders do most of the work. They're great. Last night almost 50 teens and leaders gathered up at The Journey for our annual kickoff Goo Games. We had pudding pictionary (with your nose), Egg Toss, Gooey Kickball - 1st Base Tomato sauce, 2nd base Flour, 3rd Base - Chocolate Sauce, and the final game with a Canned Whipped Cream vs. Easy Cheese War. We hosed the teens off and wrapped them up in trash bags and sent them home. This was a little less gooey than last year but a great night. We tied the event into our Sunday morning series about no perfect people. We talked about how God is bigger than any mess in our lives - we can trust God with anything - 1 Peter 5:7 - cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you. Great night. Kinda stinky. If you teen doesn't come, get them there. This next week is Nerd Night - dress up. Be praying for our teens and JT leaders.

SUNDAY RECAP FOR SEPTEMBER 20

NO PERFECT PEOPLE ALLOWED
Week 3: It's not about having it all together but trusting in a perfect Savior

RECAP
We had another installment of churchmatch.com - our fake website commercial. Paul shared from Matthew 15 & 16. Religion is all about rules and knowledge is king. We're all about relationships, not religion - Jesus says come as you are - it's about trying to follow Him not the rules. JUST knowledge isn't following God and knowledge isn't useless without applying it. A real relationship is when we starting listening to God and His Word and doing what He says. God seems more concerned about the trajectory of our lives than with us trying to be perfect. I think what struck home the most was when Paul read Virginia's blog post about walking through her brain tumor. If you haven't read it yet, you can here. So what's your next step? 

THOUGHTS
- The Group Promo video was very fun to make. I told Mark what if I throw stuff at you and he said Ok. It took multiple takes because we were laughing. 
- Caleb lead again for the 3rd time. I see him taking steps already. You will be amazed in the future at how far he will come. I see a lot of potential in him.
- My wife is hot and she can really sing.
- We need to add a shot of espresso in everyone's coffee at 9:30 - you need to step it up to match the 11 am energy.
- We started doing multiple layers of evaluation for our Sunday morning.
- Journey Kids went really smooth. Just a few small issues. 2 reasons. Virginia has done a great job investing in people, volunteers and leaders and we have awesome volunteers who step it up.
- Good Sunday

VIDEOS
Journey Groups For Fall
Churchmatch.com

SONGS
Dirty and Left Out - The Almost
Love Me Like You Do - Vineyard
I Will Not Forget You - Waterdeep
From the Inside Out - Hillsong United
God of this City - Bluetree
Living for Your Glory - Tim Hughes 

HIGHLIGHTS FROM THIS PAST WEEK

- Emma started school. She loves it. I have some great one on one time with Eli.
- I got new some new glasses. Thanks to MESSA. I am stockpiling some in case insurances goes south.
- I had the week off of band and I got a lot of extra work done. Trying to get to be a month ahead of schedule.
- We had staff over last night to pray for Virginia. Her husband Paul prayed...use our lives as You want. It was awesome to see there faith.
- Weather was great this week. Lots of outdoor time with family. Walks. Swings. Playground. Fun.
- Best thing I made this week: Salsa Verda Chicken Enchillada's with Red Pepper Sour Cream Sauce.
- I made a video with Mark. It was really fun for me. 
- We went to Cheese Lady and Lakeshore Emporium Candy Store.
- We got to spend some time with my family at a cool beach house that my sister was staying at for vacation.
- The best part will be tonight - our kids are going to their grandparents overnight so Steph and I will get some time together.

IF I HAD $1,000,000

Money, Money Money...One thing we are going to do this year is give more money away at The Journey...well don't come to church looking for cash falling from the ceiling...when I say at The Journey, I mean The Journey (and me) giving away more money. We have some big things coming in November and our Christmas project in December. 

However, if you have some extra cash laying around we are going to need some big things to help us take next steps:

We need 50 MORE CHAIRS for our auditorium. We are tight now at 11. So we will need some people to switch, but also chairs would be helpful.

We would like to purchase VIDEO EQUIPMENT. Right now I use our one computer for video editing and our one video camera. We would like to get more cameras and a work station at church so we can have multiple people that could be trained and and working on projects.

We need to upgrade our JOURNEY JAVA BAR - mainly behind the counter - adding a dishwasher, cabinets, storage. This was cut from the original plans figuring we do it later. The main thing is being prepared for more service as we continue to grow and the JJB sets a tone for our environment and welcoming people.

One more big thing would be paying for some more STAFF. We would like to add some part time admin/ministry assistants, Youth and Music people. It might be as interns or staff positions.

There are a few other projects we've talked about like building a loft in the 1st - 5th Room, updating our computers and network, some additional sound equipment, more lights and along with a few other things, but those things are down the road. The main thing is giving away more - being generous - because God is the Blessor and He has blessed us to be a blessing and then getting the things we need to be prepared for the next stages at The Journey so we can help people take first steps and next steps.

Now if we had $1,000,000 we could do all kinds of things - like take over the world or I could buy you a fur coat (but not a not a real fur coat, that's cruel).

VIRGINIA

A week from today, Virginia - our journey kids director and our friend -  is having surgery. She has a non-cancerous tumor by her brain that needs to be removed. Our thoughts and prayers have been with her, her husband Paul and daughter Eliana. Please be praying for them. 

Virginia has done a great job with Journey Kids. She has coaches set up and they are already on the ball thinking about how they can ease any stress for Virginia and make JK run smooth. It's great seeing people set up. So don't worry about JK - it won't miss a beat on Sunday because we have such great volunteers and V has done such a great job setting them up to succeed.

Keep praying for Virginia and you can read her journey on her blog here.

LEAD TEAM

I just want to throw out some props to our Lead Team. It's our journey staff + Mike Retzlaff, Rich Smith, and Gary Rose. We have major quarterly meetings, some other meeting and Paul meets with everyone individually on a regular basis. Last night was good - walk through some vision, challenged each other, laughed, prayed, and even discussed personal stuff like how to parent our kids and push them towards Jesus. It great serving along side a great team. As you see Mike, Rich, and Gary - say thanks to them for helping guide our church at The Journey.

GREAT SPORTS WEEKEND

Last night's MNF games wrapped up a great weekend of sports. It was great to watch some football on Sunday afternoon and checking the scores to see how my fantasy team is doing. The Sunday Night and Monday night games were great. The Lions lost but at least looked like they might be able to compete.

I watched some baseball - glad the Tigers finally pulled one out last night - what's the deal with them lately. I thought they were pulling it together to make a good playoff run, then all those loses. Huff's HR last night was awesome.

I even watched some college games the UofM ND game and the USC OSU game were great.

Baseball is called America's past time. However, most people think the NFL was becomes America's game. Even with all those great games, I found myself watching and being more excited a special about the Pistons offseason moves on FSD. I know I am the minority on this, but  I love the NBA and the Pistons.

What was the best game you watched this weekend?

STOP THE HATIN

Paul talked yesterday how we are all stained and messy, so why do we judge others so quickly. Last month, he mentioned how negativity can consume our attention and change our direction. One thing I don't understand is why Christian bash each other and tear down other churches. It happens all the time. I even saw it on TV yesterday. I grew up in an ultra-conservative church. Many people were arrogant and thought we were better than other Christians. Then I remember when Rob Bell started Mars Hill in Grand Rapids. It blew up quickly into a big church and soon...the hatin' began. People would bash him and his church without every hearing him speak or attending his church.
I use to participate in some of this activity. As I am growing older and hopefully wiser, I realize how stupid this is. We are all part of the body of Christ as it says in 1 Cor 12. What if my fist started punch me in my chops - maybe some of you would like it - or what if I started kicking myself in the shins...it doesn't make sense - either does a Christian tearing down other people. I understand that there are times to be Martin Luther and call out things that are against God's word - but those are few and far between.
Many Christians get their panties all in a wad over minor issues - like music, spiritual gifts, different expressions, baptism - while these things are important, they are minor issues. Let's keep focus on major issues and support each other to take next steps and reach the world around us. It's okay to disagree, but let's just agree to disagree - or at least discuss without bashing the other or trying to force them to agree with our ideas. Variety is ok - every church shouldn't look exactly the same. We need a variety of churches to reach and connect with a variety of people. The Psalms talk about how unity is sweeter than honey to God. Jesus prayed for us to have unity in John 17 and the Bible says other people will know we are Christians by our love. We can't say we love God if we don't love each other (1 John 5).
We have faced negativity from other Christians since day one of The Journey. People have judged us, the things we do, and our vision even early on. Many of them have never been to our church and they don't know why we do what we do. They talk about having coffee bar, or a band, or our dumb videos (those might deserve to be bashed) - they talk about those things like they define us. Those things are minor, just methods- they aren't are backbone. Our vision is much bigger than that. Anyways there have been a few things come up lately too (see Paul's blog). The key for us it not to let the negativity gain our attention and to strive to be a church that has an attitude like Jesus - not condemning but offering hope. We could go around confronting people, trying to prove our point, trying to put of fires and soon we are giving all kinds of attention to something we shouldn't and not giving attention to things God has called us to do. So, as The Journey, we won't be bashing other churches (I hope you noticed yesterday with Nancy's story that no names or organizations were mentioned in her bad experience). Stop the judging and keep your attention in the right direction.

SUNDAY RECAP FOR SEPTEMBER 13

NO PERFECT PEOPLE ALLOWED - WEEK 2
It's not about having it all together, but trusting in a perfect Savior

RECAP
Today Paul showed up in a suit coat, button down shirt and a tie. Later he stripped off those clothes to reveal a shirt all stained and marked underneath. Deep down we are all stained and messed up. So why do we judge others so easily when we know we aren't perfect either? We introduced today's topic with some mock Randy, Paula and Simon judges making comments about everyone. Nancy shared her story how see experienced both peoples judgement and God's grace. Paul shared from Matt 23 about the white wash tombs and our lives. We are all dirty on the inside so stop worrying about peoples outsides. Jesus came not to condemn but to give grace. We shouldn't worry about how people see us but be more concerned about how our sin breaks our relationship with God. It's dealing with our heart first and then letting the rest of life's issue come later. Like last week, it's not come WHEN you are but come AS you are - it's not about having it all together, but trusting in a perfect Savior. So we want to be a church and people - not full of religion which leads to pride, disappear and being seen as hypocrites (since we aren't perfect) - but a church and people who display God's love, attitude and grace.

THOUGHTS
-Thanks to Nancy for sharing her story. It almost didn't happen in the first service. We had tech difficulties and after trying a few things I decided to reprocess it and burn it on a DVD. It was done 10 minutes before it played. 
- My mom was at church. She said it was loud. She was also dressed up.
- Crazy day. Tech Problems. I guitar didn't want to stay tuned. I had multiple responsibilities and family at church. Virginia wasn't feeling good and had to leave church.
- Was the road construction a problem for anyone?
- Paul is doing a great job with this series and I love it when we have some journey stories.

VIDEO
Stop Judging

SONGS
Two Hands - Jars of Clay
Life Light Up - Christy Nockels
Grace Like Rain - Todd Agnew
Coming Back - Desperation Band
Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus
Empty Me - Jeremy Camp
 

HIGH LOW FOR THIS PAST WEEK

HIGHS:
- We had meet the teacher day for Emma on Friday. So is pumped for her PreK class starting Monday.
- Halloween costumes for the kids are done. Emma is going to be a cat - Eli a dog. Emma loves Halloween. She starts talking about it in August. I asked her this week if she like Halloween or Christmas better - she said Halloween.
- Emma has some mini African water frogs in her room. We told her she needs to stay in her room all night to make sure they are ok. She stayed in her bed every night all week all night.
 - NFL kicked off. I am ready to watch some football tomorrow.
 - Best thing I made this week: Hickory Pork Tenderloin with a Poblano Pepper sauce (thanks Bobby Flay) with grilled carrots.
- The weather this week was awesome. 70's and a nice breeze.

LOWS:
- Eli is cutting teeth. He is crabby and not eating good.
- Steph is back to school. Schedule is now really crazy.
- Flu shot. Getting shots doesn't bother me but for some reason my body doesn't like the Flu shot every year my shoulder is sore and tender for like 3 days after.