Starting in June of 2009, our Children's Ministry team decided to do quarterly events to encourage our church families to invite their oikos to church. Oikos - greek for household (for more info click here)
On January 30-31, 2010, we held our first AMPED weekend of the year. The theme was Winter Olympics. We brought in 10 tons of snow and had each grade compete for the gold medal. Here's the video from our "Opening Ceremonies," as well as some highlights.
The event was fun. The snow was cool. Our volunteers were great. But the best part about the weekend was the God moved and our families responded to the challenge of bringing their oikos to church. We saw our numbers go from 650 on a normal weekend to 977 kids in elementary alone! We also saw 146 kids who had never been to our church before! Not only that, but our adult attendance numbers were noticeably up as well.
If you helped make AMPED happen this weekend, THANK YOU! God so badly wants to reach our oikos and our HDC families are getting it. They are changing their worlds for Christ!
Thanks to the HDC custodians, maintenance workers and facilities crew for allowing us to destroy some grass, clog vacuums, and create a mess of fake snow. Thanks to our families for responding to the challenge of inviting oikos families to church. Thanks to all our volunteers who spent time with kids this weekend, cheered for them and encouraged them in their olympic feats. Thanks to our coordinating team. Without you, we would not have been able to do this. Thanks to Debbie and Kati for running games and services, for directing volunteers, and for making sure everything went smoothly. Thanks to Todd and Jeff who not only provided oversight and vision for the event, but also got their hands dirty (literally) and did whatever needed to be done. Thanks to Sara for organizing and planning, and then adapting and changing those plans and ideas.
I love serving with all of you and look forward to our next AMPED weekend! If you are wondering, the next AMPED weekend is May 22nd and 23rd... mark your calendars now!
Friday, February 5, 2010
Thursday, October 15, 2009
this hour
"Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason that I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!"
I love my dad. He is so many things to me. My dad. A confidant. My number one fan. A teacher. A mentor. A support. A role model. A hero. A friend.
July 21st: I got a call from my mom wondering if Heather and I could meet and talk with my parents in person the next day. My gut-reaction was "this can't be good."
July 22nd: My gut-reaction was confirmed. My dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Cancer? Cancer.
After that, Heather asked most of the questions, my mom answered. Dad and I just sat there in silence. Cancer? It's been almost three months and I still can't convey my thoughts and emotions from that day. I just remember the overwhelming weight of the fear I felt. I spent the next few days and weeks researching prostate cancer, praying for my dad, and trusting that there was a plan. My parents spent those days and weeks meeting with oncologists, radiologists and other "-ists"; praying; and trying to find the best plan.
September 30th: Surgery, City of Hope. All over friends, family, acquantainces, and complete strangers prayed for dad and his doctors. Dad and mom got there at 5:30am, Heather, Sean, Jenna, and I got there around 6:45am. Dad was already being prepped for surgery. He did call right before they took him back, but only mom got to see him. 10:45am Doctor came out and said surgery went well and commented that dad's in really good physical shape which helped. 11:45am Dad is brought from recovery into his room. He sleeps most of the day, waking up only when the pain made him.
He was released from the hospital the next afternoon and came home to begin the healing process. The thing about dad is that he has a high tolerance for pain; doesn't react well to pain medicatoin; and doesn't communicate when he is in pain. So it's hard to really guage how much pain he is in.
October 6th: Post-operation meeting with COH staff. Turns out cancer had spread into the fat and/or tissue immediately surrounding the prostate. That means radiation treatment, but his doctors aid that would take care of the rest of the cancer. That was a blow to what we hoped was going to be a "one and done" type cancer surgery.
October 14th: Mom calls right before our small group started. Dad's leg is swollen, which could be a sign of a blood clot, which can be a side-effect of any surgery. The ER is busy, so it takes a long time to get tests done, but they finally decide to admit him and run some more tests.
That's where we stand now. Dad's in the hospital (Los Robles), mom is there as well, I'm sure, and I cannot sleep.
At our small group, I shared what was going on with my dad. I also told them that my biggest prayer for this trial is that God is glorified through this. I said I didn't know what that looks like in this situation, but that's what I want. Kasey shared a verse from John 12:27. It says "Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!"
Take my life and let it be
all for you and for your glory
take my life and let it be yours
I love my dad. He is so many things to me. My dad. A confidant. My number one fan. A teacher. A mentor. A support. A role model. A hero. A friend.
July 21st: I got a call from my mom wondering if Heather and I could meet and talk with my parents in person the next day. My gut-reaction was "this can't be good."
July 22nd: My gut-reaction was confirmed. My dad was diagnosed with prostate cancer. Cancer? Cancer.
After that, Heather asked most of the questions, my mom answered. Dad and I just sat there in silence. Cancer? It's been almost three months and I still can't convey my thoughts and emotions from that day. I just remember the overwhelming weight of the fear I felt. I spent the next few days and weeks researching prostate cancer, praying for my dad, and trusting that there was a plan. My parents spent those days and weeks meeting with oncologists, radiologists and other "-ists"; praying; and trying to find the best plan.
September 30th: Surgery, City of Hope. All over friends, family, acquantainces, and complete strangers prayed for dad and his doctors. Dad and mom got there at 5:30am, Heather, Sean, Jenna, and I got there around 6:45am. Dad was already being prepped for surgery. He did call right before they took him back, but only mom got to see him. 10:45am Doctor came out and said surgery went well and commented that dad's in really good physical shape which helped. 11:45am Dad is brought from recovery into his room. He sleeps most of the day, waking up only when the pain made him.
He was released from the hospital the next afternoon and came home to begin the healing process. The thing about dad is that he has a high tolerance for pain; doesn't react well to pain medicatoin; and doesn't communicate when he is in pain. So it's hard to really guage how much pain he is in.
October 6th: Post-operation meeting with COH staff. Turns out cancer had spread into the fat and/or tissue immediately surrounding the prostate. That means radiation treatment, but his doctors aid that would take care of the rest of the cancer. That was a blow to what we hoped was going to be a "one and done" type cancer surgery.
October 14th: Mom calls right before our small group started. Dad's leg is swollen, which could be a sign of a blood clot, which can be a side-effect of any surgery. The ER is busy, so it takes a long time to get tests done, but they finally decide to admit him and run some more tests.
That's where we stand now. Dad's in the hospital (Los Robles), mom is there as well, I'm sure, and I cannot sleep.
At our small group, I shared what was going on with my dad. I also told them that my biggest prayer for this trial is that God is glorified through this. I said I didn't know what that looks like in this situation, but that's what I want. Kasey shared a verse from John 12:27. It says "Now my heart is troubled, and what shall I say? 'Father, save me from this hour'? No, it was for this very reason I came to this hour. Father, glorify your name!"
Take my life and let it be
all for you and for your glory
take my life and let it be yours
Thursday, October 8, 2009
stolen spotlight
"Taylor, I’m really happy for you and imma let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time! One of the best videos of all time!"
First, I'll say that this is a little bit delayed... I mean, it happened almost a month ago. But I was thinking about it today...
I heard someone say that it wasn't whatKanye said. It was when he said it. They said that his message wasn't necessarily bad (the message being "Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time"), just that he delivered it in the middle of someone else's acceptance speech. Had he said this same thing at another time, it would have been fine.
The message of Christ is similar to Beyonce's music video. Too often, it seems that Christians choose the wrong opportunity to share Christ with others or put him on display. Kanye interrupting Taylor Swift is like the guys I saw outside of a sporting event a few years back. They were literally yelling at the fans as they left the game, telling everyone within earshot that they were going to hell and needed to repent.
The message was essentially: "Jesus came to save you." The message is true! The timing is... not. Ephesians 4:15 (NLT) says "speak the truth in love."
We have the choice. Steal the spotlight and force people to hear our message or earn the audience's respect and attention and then share the message of Christ in love.
Learn from Kanye's mistake. People don't respect the message that's given in a stolen spotlight.
First, I'll say that this is a little bit delayed... I mean, it happened almost a month ago. But I was thinking about it today...
I heard someone say that it wasn't whatKanye said. It was when he said it. They said that his message wasn't necessarily bad (the message being "Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time"), just that he delivered it in the middle of someone else's acceptance speech. Had he said this same thing at another time, it would have been fine.
The message of Christ is similar to Beyonce's music video. Too often, it seems that Christians choose the wrong opportunity to share Christ with others or put him on display. Kanye interrupting Taylor Swift is like the guys I saw outside of a sporting event a few years back. They were literally yelling at the fans as they left the game, telling everyone within earshot that they were going to hell and needed to repent.
The message was essentially: "Jesus came to save you." The message is true! The timing is... not. Ephesians 4:15 (NLT) says "speak the truth in love."
We have the choice. Steal the spotlight and force people to hear our message or earn the audience's respect and attention and then share the message of Christ in love.
Learn from Kanye's mistake. People don't respect the message that's given in a stolen spotlight.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Catalyst Last
:: CATALYST WEST :: APRIL 23-24, 2009 ::
:: Perry Noble :: You Can Do This
Ezekiel 37
- The size of the vision God will give you is directly related to the pain and discomfort you're willing to go through.
Playing with Pain
1 - Trust Him
--Ministry starts when God's hand is on us.
--Sometimes ministry is dryness and dryness always leads to desperation.
--I don't want to preach nice sermons
2 - Believe him
--Just do what God told you to do and God will tell you what to do next.
--What would you be willing to attempt for God if you knew you could not fail?
--we consistently obeyed Jesus and, when we were ready for it, he blew our freakin' minds!
--Reasons we run from big vision God gives us :: 1-fear :: 2-laziness :: 3-discovery is more important than development
--Leadership is as easy as listening to God. "Dude, pick up that hammer."
--It's not about imitation, but revelation.
3 - Honor Him
...by finishing what you've started
--As leaders we get so close and then we stop and wait for something to happen.
--God says "I'm not through with you!"
Ephesians 3:20 :: Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us ::
:: Perry Noble :: You Can Do This
Ezekiel 37
- The size of the vision God will give you is directly related to the pain and discomfort you're willing to go through.
Playing with Pain
1 - Trust Him
--Ministry starts when God's hand is on us.
--Sometimes ministry is dryness and dryness always leads to desperation.
--I don't want to preach nice sermons
2 - Believe him
--Just do what God told you to do and God will tell you what to do next.
--What would you be willing to attempt for God if you knew you could not fail?
--we consistently obeyed Jesus and, when we were ready for it, he blew our freakin' minds!
--Reasons we run from big vision God gives us :: 1-fear :: 2-laziness :: 3-discovery is more important than development
--Leadership is as easy as listening to God. "Dude, pick up that hammer."
--It's not about imitation, but revelation.
3 - Honor Him
...by finishing what you've started
--As leaders we get so close and then we stop and wait for something to happen.
--God says "I'm not through with you!"
Ephesians 3:20 :: Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us ::
Chan
:: CATALYST WEST :: APRIL 23-24, 2009 ::
:: Francis Chan ::
1 Timothy 6:15 :: which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords ::
- If you hear your name in conversation more than you hear "the holy spirit" your congregation won't go anywhere!
- Do I say "I'll follow only if..?" or "I'll follow even if..?"
- I never read the book of Acts, put it down and go, "that's just like us!"
- Our churches are so stoppable today!
Acts 4:13 :: When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. ::
- When do I pray for boldness? When do we pray for boldness?
- Exegesis vs. Isogesis
- If you started with scripture, would you come up with church the way we do it?
- I was taught to teach exegetically, but I wasn't taught to live that way.
John 6:63 :: The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. ::
- It is not my flesh at all, but God's spirit.
:: Francis Chan ::
1 Timothy 6:15 :: which God will bring about in his own time—God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings and Lord of lords ::
- If you hear your name in conversation more than you hear "the holy spirit" your congregation won't go anywhere!
- Do I say "I'll follow only if..?" or "I'll follow even if..?"
- I never read the book of Acts, put it down and go, "that's just like us!"
- Our churches are so stoppable today!
Acts 4:13 :: When they saw the courage of Peter and John and realized that they were unschooled, ordinary men, they were astonished and they took note that these men had been with Jesus. ::
- When do I pray for boldness? When do we pray for boldness?
- Exegesis vs. Isogesis
- If you started with scripture, would you come up with church the way we do it?
- I was taught to teach exegetically, but I wasn't taught to live that way.
John 6:63 :: The Spirit gives life; the flesh counts for nothing. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and they are life. ::
- It is not my flesh at all, but God's spirit.
Thoughts from the Saddle
:: CATALYST WEST :: APRIL 23-24, 2009 ::
Summer always seems to be the craziest time of year for me. Summer camp, family vacations, and the invariable summer-move-in-to-a-new-house have kept me busy and I haven't posted in a while. I've got three more blog posts focusing on Catalyst West (from way back in April). It'll be a barrage of great insight from wise Christian men who have more experience in ministry than I do.
:: Rick Warren ::
-These are people Jesus died for.
As Leaders we need to do the following:
- Divert Daily :: What energizes you? If you work with your mind, you need to relax with your hands.
- Withdraw Weekly :: If you don't take a sabbath, you are sinning! Call it "sabbath" and treat it that way.
- Abandon Anually :: don't take your laptop or your cell phone.
- Energy management is more important than time management.
- If you do ministry Jesus's way, you will last in ministry. If you do it your way you will not last.
- Jesus is the model. Not Rick Warren, not Andy Stanley.
- Never stop learning. Learn from everybody. You need to be humble.
- Never compare yourself (for two reasons)
1 - Discouragement
2 - Pride
- Never give up.
- I don't try to be profound, I try to be simple.
- To move people from unbeliever to missionary you need to have an intentional plan and it must be incremental.
- Take people from "come and see" to "come and die." A church has to be both. You cannot be one or the other.
- I'm not interested in a crowd, I'm interested in an army!
Rick had a couple of important points for leaders to remember. We need to take breaks and ministry needs to be modeled after Jesus.
Summer always seems to be the craziest time of year for me. Summer camp, family vacations, and the invariable summer-move-in-to-a-new-house have kept me busy and I haven't posted in a while. I've got three more blog posts focusing on Catalyst West (from way back in April). It'll be a barrage of great insight from wise Christian men who have more experience in ministry than I do.
:: Rick Warren ::
-These are people Jesus died for.
As Leaders we need to do the following:
- Divert Daily :: What energizes you? If you work with your mind, you need to relax with your hands.
- Withdraw Weekly :: If you don't take a sabbath, you are sinning! Call it "sabbath" and treat it that way.
- Abandon Anually :: don't take your laptop or your cell phone.
- Energy management is more important than time management.
- If you do ministry Jesus's way, you will last in ministry. If you do it your way you will not last.
- Jesus is the model. Not Rick Warren, not Andy Stanley.
- Never stop learning. Learn from everybody. You need to be humble.
- Never compare yourself (for two reasons)
1 - Discouragement
2 - Pride
- Never give up.
- I don't try to be profound, I try to be simple.
- To move people from unbeliever to missionary you need to have an intentional plan and it must be incremental.
- Take people from "come and see" to "come and die." A church has to be both. You cannot be one or the other.
- I'm not interested in a crowd, I'm interested in an army!
Rick had a couple of important points for leaders to remember. We need to take breaks and ministry needs to be modeled after Jesus.
Thursday, June 11, 2009
Foundational
: CATALYST WEST :: APRIL 23-24, 2009 ::
Recently, I went to the CATALYST WEST conference in southern California. The conference was packed with great speakers. I took some notes on what they said and am putting them on my blog so that 1) I can re-evaluate what each speaker said and hopefully gain something from it, and 2) you might be able to gain something from my notes as well.
Here is the fourth installation.
:: Ravi Zacharias ::
Foundational Pillars
1) The Dimension of Eternity
2) The Dimension of Morality
-You Can never be righteous until you are redeemed. You can never worship until you have been righteous and redeemed.
-What you applaud, you encourage, but be careful of what you celebrate. What is the world asking us to celebrate?
3) The Dimension of Accountability
4) The Dimension of Charity
With Ravi, I was listening so intently because I had to in order to comprehend what he was saying. The thing that stood out to me most from his message was not even in my notes. He told a story:
Someone was telling Ravi about the first entirely postmodern building built in the United States. The person told him that the entire building was made without any purpose. The man raved about the building and the idea behind it. When he was done, Ravi simply asked one question, "Did the architect apply the same principle to the foundation?"
What is foundational in your life?
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell with a great crash." Matthew 7:24-27
Recently, I went to the CATALYST WEST conference in southern California. The conference was packed with great speakers. I took some notes on what they said and am putting them on my blog so that 1) I can re-evaluate what each speaker said and hopefully gain something from it, and 2) you might be able to gain something from my notes as well.
Here is the fourth installation.
:: Ravi Zacharias ::
Foundational Pillars
1) The Dimension of Eternity
2) The Dimension of Morality
-You Can never be righteous until you are redeemed. You can never worship until you have been righteous and redeemed.
-What you applaud, you encourage, but be careful of what you celebrate. What is the world asking us to celebrate?
3) The Dimension of Accountability
4) The Dimension of Charity
With Ravi, I was listening so intently because I had to in order to comprehend what he was saying. The thing that stood out to me most from his message was not even in my notes. He told a story:
Someone was telling Ravi about the first entirely postmodern building built in the United States. The person told him that the entire building was made without any purpose. The man raved about the building and the idea behind it. When he was done, Ravi simply asked one question, "Did the architect apply the same principle to the foundation?"
What is foundational in your life?
"Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock. But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand. The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house and it fell with a great crash." Matthew 7:24-27
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