Election Day

Weekend Wrap Up

Here’s some things I did and thoughts of the weekend!

• Had a great time on Halloween… connected with neighbors and had some great conversation and relationship growth.  Awesome! 
• I love Halloween because it’s the only night of the year that all of the neighbors come out and play!  It’s a great connection time; I’ve made a new friend EVERY year. 
• Jillie was a snow princess and Stephen was a cowboy.  I’ll try and get some pics later.  They made out like bandits!!!
• Jon and Ben spent the night at FC with the LP lock-in.  They had a great time and slept on Saturday.
• Matt and the gang did a great job for the lock-in, I’m thankful for them and proud of them!
• My wife put me to work on Saturday, were trying to get some projects done for the holidays…wow, they’re coming quick!
• Spent Saturday evening at the CCA Fall Festival.  The kids had a GREAT time.  CCA did a great job putting a smile on lots of children’s faces
• It was COLD when I woke up this morning!
• I loved being at FC this morning!
• It started crazy with the fire alarm glitching on us multiple times before church.  I knew God was going to do something BIG today
• Wrapped up the “According to Jim” series, a series of messages from the Book of James
• Lots of people have dived into this book and are getting a lot out of it.  That makes my day!
• Great drama today…thanks Erin!
• Loved the song afterwards by Amy…really drove home the point
• Had 5 returning guests in our kids environments today!!! 
• Fellowship Church exists to give people the best opportunity for their faith in Jesus Christ to come to life.  
• I’m passionate about prayer, because when your pray you are including God in your life and that gives Him an opportunity to change you
• Check out the Elijah story a talked about in 1 Kings 18-19; this guy was crazy! (in a healthy way)
• Love James nickname — Camel Knees
• Don’t be afraid to pray when God is blessing you!  
• God does extraordinary things when ordinary people pray!
• I love this church!  
• I can’t wait until next week as we talk about, “Facing Life’s Transitions”
• Life is all about change…no change, no growth
• Don’t forget to vote on Tuesday!
• Gotta go, spend some time with the family…looking forward to watching my Patriots whip up on the Colts tonight!
• I’m honored to be your Pastor!

Weekend Wrap Up

Here’s a collection of thoughts from this Weekend…

 

• Saturday was my beautiful wife’s birthday!  She turned 39…REALLY
• I’ll be paying for that previous remark
• I love Laura more today than ever!
• The Baby Dedication service was a lot of fun today.
• It’s easy to see how God has a heart for children
• Worship today was absolutely amazing; the band and team led us into an amazing time of responding to God – thank you Marcel and team!
• I love what God is doing with FC, there is an amazing spirit among everyone on Sunday
• It was great to see our Director of Children’s Ministry, Lara Santamaria up front today.  She has an amazing passion for kids connecting with Christ.  I love that she is on the staff team! 
• If you are at all interested in volunteering in the FC Kids Ministry contact Lara at lara@fellowshipchurchCT.com
• The preschool kids from “The Sound” were hysterical, I think serving with preschoolers is a lot like “herding cats”
• I love those four families that were dedicating themselves and their children to God…Contratulations Gustavsons, Pulinos, Richardsons and Watermans
• It just hit me that they all have three syllables in their names!  Wow!  I don’t really have a point, this is what you get sometimes for reading my blog
• I loved the “slide show’ of the children – really great pictures!
• First time I preached using play-doh – that stuff’s addictive!
• First time I preached using a GPS device – those things are pretty cool! 
• Christmas is coming if anyone’s interested?! J
• James is an “in your face” writer; you can tell that he was a Pastor.
• Words have the power to direct, to destroy and to bring life!
• The words we choose is an issue of the heart!
• Liked what Lara said about the # of weekends we have with our kids…sets everything in perspective (“Teach us to # our days… Psalm 90)
• Lots more comments related to James again today – people just keep commenting on how this series and this book (God’s Word) is changing their lives!
• Had lunch with the fam at Denny’s today after church – we talked about who were the “best” and “worst” babies – lots of laughs and good memories.  In case you’re wondering here’s the rank from best to worst.  Jillian (she ate and slept like clockwork), Ben (best disposition – extremely happy baby), Stephen (stubborn, didn’t sleep through the night for over a year), Jonathan (more stubborn than Stephen!  Hard to believe J!  First kid so you know how that works).  Today, they’re all great kids – I wouldn’t trade any of them!
• Time to go, Sox are ready to play Game 7 soon – Go Red Sox!!!

Communion Tonight

I’m excited about tonight’s communion service.  We haven’t had a midweek communion service in a while. There’s going to be an extra time of worship and some great special music as well.  New look for tonight, we’re utilizing lights rather than candles.  I can’t wait.  See ya at 7 PM.

I’m Loving Mondays

That sounds crazy, right?  Who loves Mondays?  Well, I’m going to take it a step further, you’re going to think I’m certifiable but I love meetings on Mondays!  Yes, you heard it right. 

 

We recently moved our weekly staff meeting to Mondays and I have to tell you, the past couple of weeks have been great.  What we do in a typical meeting is go around the table and share what we have seen or are engaged in that is accomplishing the mission of FC.  These stories are pretty cool and encouraging.  We also come together as a team and help problem solve various situations in each of our areas of ministry.  This has turned into just an encouraging and creative time. 

 

We pray together, We’ll also review the past service and look to see what we can improve on to make every Sunday just an amazing experience that tells the truth about God. Everyone is pretty straightforward here and in the midst of it, cheering each other on.  There’s also some strategic planning involved as we look to important opportunities in the future. 

 

But you know what makes it the best?  What makes it the best is not the information necessarily it’s the people.  It’s great to challenge and be challenged and I absolutely love laughing on Mondays!  We have such a great staff here at FC.  I’m so honored to be leading and serving with each of these people.  Getting together with this team just launches us forward for the rest of the week.  I’m glad we’re meeting on Mondays!  

Date Night

One of the things you’ve heard me talk about in church is the importance of married couples to have a date night.  What I’ve found out is that it’s easier to talk about something than actually do it. Last I checked, life goes by pretty fast.  I’m excited to say that a couple of weeks ago Laura confronted me on the issue and actually planned our first date night in a very, very, very long time.  We had a blast!  We went to Max Amore’s in Glastonbury and split a pizza.  It was such a great time being together! So the plan is to have a date night EVERY Thursday night.  The plan is that each of us take turns planning the night’s activities.  Obviously we cannot afford a weekly night at Max’s so we decided it could range from a cup of coffee to a nice dinner and anything in between.  Food is not necessarily a requirement.  

My turn for planning is coming up this Thursday and I need your help!  What can I do that would be really, really cool but not break the bank?  

And another question.  When was the last time you married couples had a date night?  When is your next one scheduled?  You may not choose to have a weekly date night but how about a monthly night out? Make your plans TONIGHT! Who knows, maybe we’ll see ya out there!

Sunday Thoughts

Wow!  This morning was absolutely incredible; below are a few thoughts about today…

• I am so exhausted, this morning emotionally wiped me out, I could sleep until tomorrow easy!
• There were a lot of people involved in prepping for today’s service – Thank You!
• There’s nothing that compares to a life well lived. Integrity and perseverance matters!
• The room was packed today, it was nice seeing the kids today
• It was great seeing Jim Burroughs today – traveling all the way from AZ!
• It was so neat listening to a room full of people worship God; great and heartfelt singing!
• FC is blessed.
• Was it me, but that cake tasted better than normal!
• Someone said afterwards, “Thanks for not making this into a funeral dirge, this truly was a celebration of a life of ministry”.  That made my day because that was what we were shooting for today.
• Talked to a first time guest after the service, and apologized for having a different type service this morning – they said they loved it and are definitely coming back next week!
• Talked to someone who says he is an atheist and is investigating Christianity here at FC, he told me after the service “I cannot get over the amazing feeling of community here”. 
• Pastor Steve and Sandy were honored today, but God was glorified.

Blogging from my cell phone

Just seeing if I can blog from my cell phone. If I can, this will be absolutely nuts. If you see this, it worked! What will they think of next?