It’s Here!

Well, here we go!  Easter weekend starts NOW!  The 40 hours of prayer have been amazing – our time of prayer will lead directly in to our Good Friday Communion Service.

 

Good Friday Communion Service at 7 PM is going to be special this year.  This will be a service talked about for years and I know that it is going to prepare our heart for Easter Sunday. 

 

So much of life is getting “Me” out of the way and letting God do His thing through me.  This is how communion helps me tremendously. 

 

Saturday is Spring Clean-Up at FC from 8 am to 1 pm.  Good news!  I’ve heard this morning that the rain is stopping at 9 am.  There will be FREE coffee and donuts!  You can help us out by bringing yard tools with you.  If you don’t have any, that’s OK…be here anyway, we have extra tools for you!

 

Spring clean up is a great way to help FC make a great 1^st impression for Easter.  It’s also a time of connection for many people.  Lots of friendships have grown out of Spring Clean Up at FC.

 

Sunday is Easter@Fellowship!  One BIG service at 10:30 am.  The kids will be starring in our service countdown – it’s very creative and a lot of fun.  Please be here early on Easter!  My advice would be to leave the house 15 minutes early so you don’t miss a thing! 

 

I’m so proud of how you have all been inviting friends and family.  Some of you have leveraged Twitter and Facebook.  Way to go! 

 

Do your best to make it easy for your friends and family to come to Easter at FC.  Offer to take them out to lunch, or have them over for breakfast before!  Offer to pick them up or point them to our website! Leverage your influence!

 

It’s still not too late to invite someone.  And if God has placed someone specific on year heart to invite – my advice would be to invite them ASAP.  There is nothing like obedience!  You won’t regret it!

 

The Celebration begins TODAY!

Weekend Wrap-Up

• Got a lot done around the house on Saturday…the beginnings of spring cleaning
• Made a punch list of everything I need to do around the house – man, it’s gonna take years!
• Stayed home with the kids while Laura went to “Coffee and Conversation”  and watched UCONN
• They lost!  Good year though anytime a team makes the final 4
• Kinda happy for the state of Michigan, they need a pick me up
• Even Villanova lost on Saturday!  No BIG EAST representation in the championship game tonight
• I’m going out on a limb and pick UNC tonight :>)
• Saw a cool show on DIY network.  More realistic bathroom upgrades, a few thousand dollars rather than tens of thousands of dollars.  Very creative!
• I was excited about getting to FC this week (even more than normal)
• Band and worship team did a great job leading us into worship today.
• Wayne and Lori, thanks for making those triangle thingys to help block the light in the room – this is going to give us more flexibility on Sunday morning
• Wrapped up our series “Famous Last Words”, I had a good time with this series
• I was fired up about our BIG announcement for Easter and for FC
• Yup, we’re giving our entire Easter offering back to the community! 
• I was so proud of  everyone’s response.  Everyone believes we need to step up and step out in faith!  I can’t wait to see what God is going to do through this!
• He’s already stretching and growing me
• This decision is all about the “empty chair”…showing people OUTSIDE of FC the love of Jesus Christ
• Delayed obedience is disobedience
• I want to see FC focus and excel in three areas:  Sundays, Small Groups and Outreach (more on this in later posts!)
• This week is SLAMMED at FC
• Wednesday begins our 40 hours of prayer – great sign ups!  Every slot is filled!
• There’s power in a praying church
• Friday at 7 PM is Good Friday communion.  Lots of amazing things planned for this night; you’re not going to want to miss this experience.  I’m telling you, it’s going to be special.  Also, a free Kids program as well!
• Saturday – Spring Cleaning at FC!  8am-1 pm. 1^st impressions are everything.  We have a beautiful and unique campus – let’s make the most of it!  BYO Tools!
• Sunday is EASTER!  We’re going to be launching our brand new marriage series, “Happily Ever After”.  You will not want to miss this!
• Be here early!  FC Kids are kicking the day off with a creative countdown – invite aunts and uncles and grand parents and friends!
• PRAY, PRAY, PRAY
• INVITE, INVITE, INVITE
• People are more likely to say “yes” to an invitation to church on Easter than any other Sunday – don’t miss this opportunity
• We’re inviting 7,000 households to FC for Easter at the end of the week.  Use this as “air cover” for your invite.  If you are inviting someone who has a subscription to the Middletown Press, have them check their papers at the end of the week
• We’re even advertising Easter at FC on Facebook this year!  Cool!
• Well, time for me to get to work!  Have a great week!
• It’s really an honor to be your pastor!

Easter at FC

We’re ramping up for Easter here at Fellowship Church and I have to tell you, I am super excited about what God has in store for us this year! I don’t know what it is about Easter Sunday but it is always special. It’s always great to be reminded about God’s power and the hope that we have in Jesus Christ.

I want to personally invite you to this amazing day. We’re going to have one service meeting at 10:30 am on Easter, April 12th. What I’m excited about is that we will be launching a brand new marriage and family series of messages called, Happily Ever After.

Marriages and families are under attack today. There is tremendous stress on the family coming from all different directions. There are also lots of people out there giving a lot of advice. My goal in this series is to cut through all the noise and find out what exactly God says about marriage. We’re going to dive in and offer truth and hope to your marriage based upon the truths of Scripture. The same power that raised Jesus from the dead is available to yours and my marriage.

If you are single and wondering if this has anything to do with you let me assure you that it absolutely does. All of us, everyone, needs to know the truth about God’s principles related to relationships. If you ever intend to marry some day, this series is vital; if not, you will still walk away with rich relationship principles and truths from the Bible relevant to every area of life.

I hope you will take me up on my invitation for your to be here! As you prepare for this great day here’s what I’m asking everyone to do…

• Impact – Fill out the enclosed Impact List with names of at least three people you could invite to Easter at FC. Ask God to move in their heart to say, “Yes”.
• Pray – Pray everyday leading to Easter for them. We are having a pre-Easter prayer initiative where here at FC called “40 Hours of Prayer”. You can find out more or sign-up to be involved on Sunday. 
• Invite – I’m asking everyone to bring at least three people from your list with you. This is going to be a huge opportunity to help a lot of people so please don’t miss out. 

Oh, by the way, I have a HUGE announcement to make THIS Sunday, April 5th about Easter. You’ll want to be at FC to be the first to hear it! 

Just in Time for Easter

Who have you invited to Easter@Fellowship (April 12th at 10:30 am) so far?  My goal is to bring 5+ people with me, you up for the challenge? Most people will take you up on the invitation.  Real research to back that up is found here

Check it out!

Lessons Learned 2

2. Sweat the small stuff. It’s the small things that matter.   Staying disciplined involves doing the next right thing and paying attention to details.  I’m still working on this one but paying attention to the details is vital.  Usually , it doesn’t take that long.  Consistency is  key and boy is this one tough one for me.  I’m in a constant battle with procrastination, “I’ll post my numbers later; I’ll log my eating tonight”.  Tonight, becomes tomorrow which becomes next week.  Find what works and implement it, then live by it.

 

This has a habit of spilling out into every area of life – in marriage, “I’ll say I love her tomorrow”.   “I’ll follow through on my intentions when this project is over”; even your relationship with God – “I’ll pray later today”,  “I’ll go to small group next week” or “I’ll serve this fall”. 

 

Take a moment and imagine if you made it a habit to follow through on the small stuff – what would your life look like today?  How would your marriage be different?  Your relationship with your kids?  Your job?  You relationship with God and friends?

 

Be careful not to sacrifice the most important things for the busyness of life.  Stop for a second and pay attention to the details and see what happens…

 

So be careful how you live. Don’t live like fools, but like those who are wise. Make the most of every opportunity…

                                                                                                                                                                                        Ephesians 5:15-16

 

Lessons Learned 1

1. It’s in my weakness that I’m strong. When my numbers were out of control I began to wonder how I was going to be able to manage with this condition. So much affects one’s blood sugar – not just diet and exercise; but sleep and stress among other things as well. It was in a moment of panic that God spoke to me that He was in control. That my MOST important task is to cultivate my relationships with HIM. When I am aligned with Him I am able to give my worries to Him, my frustrations to Him…my weakness to Him. He can more than handle it. As a matter of fact, I have NO CHANCE of being healthy unless I trust and rest in Him.

Can you relate? If so, check these verses out…

God’s strong hand is on you; he’ll promote you at the right time. Live carefree before God; he is most careful with you. 1 Peter 5:7 The Message

Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.”
Matthew 11:30 The Message

My grace is enough; it’s all you need. 
 My strength comes into its own in your weakness.
Once I heard that, I was glad to let it happen. I quit focusing on the handicap and began appreciating the gift. It was a case of Christ’s strength moving in on my weakness. Now I take limitations in stride, and with good cheer, these limitations that cut me down to size—abuse, accidents, opposition, bad breaks. I just let Christ take over! And so the weaker I get, the stronger I become.
2 Corinthians 12:10 The Message

Seek the Kingdom of God above all else, and live righteously, and he will give you everything you need. Matthew 6:33 NLT

Good To Be Back

Wow! It’s been a while since I’ve got to this. Honestly I had to just cut back for a little to refocus on some things that had to take priority. Many of you know that about a year ago I was diagnosed with Type 2 Diabetes. I don’t know if you can identify with me on this but when I first found out this changed my lifestyle in a huge way! I went on a strict diet and exercised consistently.

I finally came to the point where I just “needed a break” (unfortunately, diabetes doesn’t take a break). I stopped everything – diet, exercise and blood glucose readings. Well, over a period of months, everything skyrocketed out of control and the symptoms were not fun.

If you have diabetes, or know someone who does, you know it is all about maintenance and discipline. I’m finding out that in order to keep my sugar under control I have to keep copious records and there are no days off. Luckily I found an iphone app which allows me stay up to date with information such as meds, diet, exercise and blood glucose readings.

Anyway, I had to take some time to develop a system that worked best for me. It seems as though my sugar levels are beginning to come down and things are getting better under control. I’m beginning to feel much better now and I appreciate the prayers.

God’s teaching me a lot through this process; I’m going to follow this post up with some lessons learned that I think can translate to many areas of life. I hope you’ll find them helpful…

Weekend Wrap Up

Here we go with another weekend wrap-up…

• took the fam out to Smokey Bones Restaurant on Saturday night — mixture of log cabin and flat screen tv’s, oh, and Bar B Q!
• had another great day at FC this morning
• Loved the way the service kicked off today — good drums and excitement setting up the first song
• worship band and singers did a great job leading us in worship
• got to hear Arnold kick his new song “New Attitude” again — great job!
• Erin brought some creativity to our welcome and announcements — way to go Erin!
• Vicki had everyone in tears with “I can only imagine” setting up today’s message on Heaven
• I had a great time talking about heaven today — I’m convinced it doesn’t get talked about enough
• When we know where were going with certainty, we can live life to the fullest!
• We had two first time guests fill out Communication Cards today — a few more did not.  It’s exciting to see God bringing people to FC
• We set up 40 extra chairs by faith in January — you’d never know it — the room keeps filling up.
• We’re setting up an extra 20 more for this Sunday with Scott Anderson!

25 Random Things

This has been floating around FB for the last few weeks.  I filled this out last week.  The idea is to write 25 random facts about yourself.  They can be facts, thoughts, ideas or goals.  Below are mine…for whatever it’s worth.  Enjoy!

 

1) I’m married to the greatest woman in the world – that is not hyperbole.
2) I have the greatest kids in the world – not hyperbole either
3) I Pastor the greatest church in the world – no hyperbole here either
4) I enjoy my relationship with Jesus Christ immensely
5) I love seeing lives transformed by Christ – I mean LOVE it
6) I am a HUGE Red Sox fan
7) I just read the book: “The Prodigal God” – it’s a keeper
I read about 40 books a year
9) I enjoy talk radio
10) I love DD coffee
11) I went to Game 3 of the 2004 World Series in St. Louis with my wife and watched the Red Sox win on their way to their World Series Championship
12) I always order a medium vanilla cone with chocolate sprinkles at DQ
13) My favorite CT restaurant is Adams Mill in Manchester CT (Gift certificates welcome!)
14) I’d love to hike this some day
15) I’ve summitted a 14,000 ft Mountain and it was an amazing experience
16) I’d like to travel overseas someday – Europe, Africa and/or Asia
17) This is my favorite place to vacation
18) I got a Mountain Bike for Christmas and can’t wait to break in this Spring
19) I’d like to know that I have 100 people praying for me EVERY day
20) I want to dream bigger dreams for God
21) I want to take my family to the Rockies and let them experience God’s “Bigness”
22) I absolutely LOVE what I’m doing right now at FC
23) I’d like to skydive some day
24) I’d like to dive with sharks one day (and live to tell about it)
25) I’d like to have the discipline to get into the best physical shape of my life this year

Midweek Weekend Thoughts

Here’s a few thoughts rummaging through my head after one great weekend!

• Long day, but great day at FC!
• Baptism, LIFE Trax 1 and Communion
• God is doing some amazing things at FC!
• If January is any measure of what 2009 is going to hold – hang on to your seats!
• We had over 10 people baptized on Sunday – Yea God!
• Baptism services are becoming an event at FC
• I love looking around the room on baptism Sundays and seeing how everyone just “gets it” – that changed lives are important – it’s why we’re here!
• The “Living Proof” band did such an amazing job leading us into worship – thank you guys – I appreciate it!
• It was neat to see members of the LP band do their thing and then be baptized. Wow!
• I had students say to me that morning — “This is my church!”. I tell you what, that makes my day!
• I had adults come up to me and say, “I’m so proud of our students!” – That makes my day!
• Everyone did such a great job inviting friends and family to the service
• Next baptism is Sunday, May 3rd – there are already 7 people lined up to be baptized!
• We had 5 people go through our membership seminar – LIFE Trax 1!
• I love leading this class – I get to hear great stories of how meaningful FC is to people
• I get to vision cast about FC as well – I love doing that!
• Had a great time at Communion on Sunday night
• Tenell did a great job leading us into communion – thank you Tenell!
• First time we had a place for the kids as well on Communion – thanks Lara and Gang for volunteering
• Next Communion service is Sunday, February 22nd – Mark Your Calendars!

I can’t wait for Scott Anderson to be with us on Sunday, February 15th! You will not want to miss this Sunday – remember to invite friends and family to this great opportunity.