Top 25 Memories for 2010

I'm a forward thinking person and I can't wait for the New Year to come in and bring all of the opportunities, blessings, exciting experiences and even challenges with it.  But it's important to look back from time to time.  So here's my Top 25 Memories from 2010, in rough chronological order:

#25 - Going to Annapolis, MD with Marsha to celebrate our 17th wedding anniversary.
#24 - Pastor Charles, from Nairobi, Kenya, visited our church and nation's capital.
#23 - Blizzard #1.
#22 - Radicalis Conference at Saddleback Church with our staff.
#21 - Dinner with staff at Lucille's (best BBQ in Southern CA.
#20 - Blizzard #2
#19 - Sending our team off to the DR to distribute OCC shoeboxes for the first time.
#18 - Meetings to begin forming Side By Side Ministries.
#17 - Serving the homeless of Fairfax Country through Hypothermia Relief Week.
#16 - Trip to NC to visit family.
#15 - Meeting Pastor Fidel from the DR - An amazing person doing great things with so little.
#14 - Listening to the first sermon ever preached at FCBC on adoption.  God is still doing things because of it.
#13 - Attending a wedding in Princeton for someone who I've had the pleasure of watching grow up.
#12 - Starting the process for master planning for our campus.
#11 - Staff "Play and Pray Retreat" at Lake Gaston.
#10 - All of the dinners at home we had as a family and the conversations that happened at them.
#9 - Reading all the blog posts from our Kenya Sports Camp Team.
#8 - Sending the kids back to school and being thankful for how much they are growing and how awesome they are.
#7 - Hearing Abbey pray and give her heart to Christ.
#6 - Getting to go with Andrew on his first youth trip (Middle-school Retreat.)
#5 - Joining the pastor's coaching network and getting to learn from some really great people.
#4 - Operation Christmas Child Box-packing Party.
#3 - Watching the Cowboys beat the Redskins.
#2 - Christmas Eve Service and being thankful that I was well enough to attend.
#1 - Celebrating with Marsha our 18th wedding anniversary early - dinner and a movie.

Christmas Eve

Can't wait for our Christmas Eve Service tonight.  I got hit by a virus pretty hard yesterday.  Feeling better now and hopefully will make it tonight.  I love seeing people pausing long enough to remember what it's all about.

What Christmas Is All About According to My 7 Year Old

Abbey set up our family's nativity set this year.  I think she understands what Christmas is all about.  Everyone, regardless of status (and even the animals) is at the same place - worshipping Christ.

How The World Has Changed in the Last 200 Years

This video amazed me at the progress we have made in the last 200 years and gave me hope about what can be accomplished in the next 200 years. It has huge implications for the church.

The Power of Relationships

I believe people were created to be in relationship with other people; God wired us for others. This video is one of the most creative and powerful illustration of just how much we need other people.

So whether it's family, best-friends, people you love to hang out with at work, your small group or ministry team at church, always put relationships first in your life - they're that important and you never know what around the corner.

Enjoy!

Following the Star

A while back I wrote a post called Time With God.  In it I included a short list of tools to help us develop the habit of spending time with God daily.  One of those tools was an online devotional called d365.  It's a very creative and interactive devotional.

For the Christmas season, they've created a daily Advent devotional called Following the Star.  Check it out.  It's a great chance to slow your pace, get some focus, remember what the next few weeks are all about and capture some moments.

Under the Overpass

I joined Blogging for Books last month and just got my first book.  Basically how it works is you register with them, pick a book, they send it to you for free and then you read and blog about it.  I figured since I usually blog about some of the books I read I might as well get some books for free and help the publisher out in the process.

So my first book, Under the Overpass, came in this week.  It was written by a guy name Mike Yankoski.  Mike, and his friend Sam, spent five months on the streets of Denver, Washington, D.C., Portland, San Francisco, Phoenix and San Diego living among the homeless.

John Ashmen, president, Association of Gospel Rescue Mission wrote one of the forwards:

Every once in a while a book comes along that is so raw and revealing it proves to be a catalyst for cognizance and conviction for multiple generations.  Under the Overpass is such a book.  Mike and Sam's five-month journey through the underbelly of America was not a brazen stunt by bored college students but a quest born out of guilt and curiosity that became a Christ-fueled passion for the poor and dispossessed.  I know Mike and am inspired by the fact that his zeal has intensified over time.  He lives what he learned on the streets.  Be careful as you read this timely book; it could radically change your perceptions and maybe even your calling. 

From 2 Percent to 98 Percent

A couple of months ago I joined a local coaching network with nine other pastors.  It’s not just a meet-up group for socializing; it actually requires a pretty serious investment.  There’s a financial investment, a time investment, and an emotional investment.

Once a month I make an hour long drive to Fredericksburg to meet for two hours, and then lunch, with the group.  Then, once a month I drive back to Fredericksburg to meet one-on-one with my coach.  There’s also monthly reading assignments.  I joined this group for one reason; I think every leader should regularly connect with other leaders who are further down the road than they are. 

The network is coached by a guy named Dee, who is a local pastor with a ton of wisdom and experience.  He’s also someone who is not afraid to ask tough questions and say difficult things.

At our last meeting, over lunch, we were talking about Christmas traditions at our churches.  Dee mentioned that for those of us who have special services, like Christmas Eve services, we have the opportunity to double our attendance.  I quickly, without thinking about who I was talking too, said that I believed we could double our guest attendance but that not our total attendance because so many regular folks are away for the holiday.

Dee was quick to challenge us to think bigger than that.  That we can in fact double our attendance this Christmas because people are more likely to attend during the holidays.  I’ve thought a lot about that conversation.  I’ve also done some research and I both liked and didn’t like what I found.

Here’s what Thom Rainer, author of The Unchurched Next Door, and a researcher for Lifeway Research, found in a recent survey:

·      82% of people who don’t attend church are likely to attend if invited.

·      98% of church-goers NEVER extend an invitation in a given year.

That first statistic is amazing; that we don’t really have to do a lot to get people to come to church and experience the wonderful community that is FCBC.  All we have to do is personally invite them.

The second statistic though, is troubling.  That only 2% of us who have experienced the love and grace of Christ and are connected to a faith community have invited someone outside of that community to join us.

I want to challenge all of us this Christmas to change that statistic, at least for FCBC.  Let’s not be a church of 2%, but rather, let’s flip that number around a be a church where 98% of us invite someone this Christmas. 

Can you imagine what could happen if we did that?  If 98% of us invited one person to church this Christmas and they said yes?  It would mean Dee was right; we can double our attendance.  But not just that; we’d double the number of people who would hear the true message of Christmas.  And that’s a life-changer. 

So what name is coming to your mind right now?  A friend?  Coworker?  Neighbor?  A family member?  Who will you invite?

Don't Just Do Something, Stand There!

I follow a blog by a guy named Seth Godin.  Seth is a creative communicator and always has a unique perspective on some of the simplest things in life.  He wrote a blog entry last week with the same title as this one; a short three line entry.

What if you spent one day a week (hey, even a day a month) without meetings, phone or email?

How will you know unless you try?

Last Sunday at our church I talked about how to capture the moments this Christmas.  How, if we don't figure out how to hit the pause button this Christmas and just be in that moment, we will miss some incredible opportunities to enhance our relationship with God and with others.

So what if, in the next three weeks, we took Seth's challenge?  What if we actually took a day where we unplugged, turned off the cell phone, logged off of Facebook, burned a vacation day, cancelled meetings, did no shopping, and just spent the day dedicated to the most important relationships in our lives?

How would that change us, not just this Christmas, but forever?