Beating The Christmas Blues

We’re starting a new series this week, titled “Beating The Christmas Blues”. We’ll be tackling some of the toughest emotions people deal with during the holidays; loneliness, guilt, and stress. In addition to the teaching we’ll be having a blast each week pulling people from the audience to play our own game show.

You can view the video trailer and learn more about this series here…

You can send an e-invitation from here…

I encourage you to invite people who don’t know Christ to come with you, they’ll be glad you did!

West Coast vs. East Coast?

Checking out the blogosphere for pastors, I see a heavy slant towards the east coast. Some of my favorites are Gary Lamb, Perry Noble, Tony Morgan, and Mark Batterson. As I follow people’s links to bloggers they read, I see that there’s a HEAVY bias towards east coast bloggers.

In the words of Snoop Dogg, “the east coast ain’t got no love for the west coast?”. I don’t mean to start a blog war, but where are all the west coast bloggers? I know Mark Driscoll, he’s the real deal, but nobody else.

Is the Holy Spirit only inspiring bloggers east of the Mississippi? Is it because we have Rick Warren and his funny hawaiian shirts, while you have the super smooth Andy Stanley? If that’s the case, we claim Ed Young on our side! To be fair, you do have Jerry Falwell.

To drive home my point, while Gary & Perry are figuring out whose team is better amongst a bunch of crummy teams, the USC Trojans will spank Notre Dame. While Mark’s in a pit with a lion on a snowy day, I’ll be golfing in 85 degree weather, on Thanksgiving! And while Tony’s simply stragetically dreaming, I’ll be laying pool side watching the palm trees grow, on Christmas!

My early new year’s resolution is to blog more regularly, more fervently, with more passion, to bring the love back to the west coast where it belongs. After all, with apologies to Gary and Perry, this is where the NCAA champs have come from for the past 3 years, and the Trojans will be back at it again this January in where … Glendale, AZ baby. Home of the National Championship game, and Palm Valley Church. Now I’m feeling the love

Some tongue in cheek Thanksgiving humor, have a great one!

Big News

Darius and Nicole Sanders are two of my favorite people on the planet. Darius was in a small group I led when he was in Junior High and I was a volunteer at a church. 15 years later he’s on our staff as Junior High Pastor. Darius is passionate about loving the Lord, and lives out what he believes. He’s the real deal.

The best thing about Darius though, is his wife. Darius married Nicole, who is like a daughter to Lori and I. She came to Christ in our youth ministry, and has been walking with the Lord every day since. She’s incredible, and Darius is lucky to have her (he’ll tell you so himself).

Anyways, Darius and Nicole announced this week that they’re expecting a baby. It’s been hard for me to sit on this info, so I got permission from them to break the news in the blogosphere. It’s so fun to watch people grow through the seasons of life, I’m one proud pastor when it comes to these two.

Congratulations Darius and Nicole!

Seize The Moment

Met with some leaders in our church tonight and introduced our “Seize The Moment” campaign to build our campus. We’ll officially kick it off early 2007, but I wanted to give this group a peek at the site plans, building renderings, and latest developments. It was fun to see their excitement at the next steps for Palm Valley Church!

It’s hard to believe that after 6 years of being portable, we’re actually getting ready to build a campus. As one friend told me tonight, “it’s going to be a wild ride”. I think my favorite part of the whole campus is the kids fountain. I can’t wait to see our children having a blast on their own church campus!

For the record, I cried during the presentation. I told myself not to. Lori told me not to. I just couldn’t help it. When I see the hand prints of God all over something, it brings me to tears. Tonight I was reminded that His fingerprints are all over my life, and all over the people of PVC.

WOW

This weekend was awesome! I was blown away by the number of people who brought friends with them who don’t normally attend a church. I must have personally met 50-60 guests. The cool thing was, these weren’t people who were looking for a church. What I saw was the invested of Palm Valley Church going out to the highways and hedges to bring in those who don’t know Jesus, that His house might be full!

I talked with a number of people who gave their life to Christ today. I talked with a number of people who aren’t ready to make that decision yet, but they now know that Palm Valley is a safe place to engage in the discussion. They’ll be back. I witnessed one kid yelling at his parents that he wanted to stay at church; loved little dude’s passion!

Overall, I left today with a sense of overwhelming joy, the joy that only comes from the presence of the Lord. I know He was present today, and that He was working in people’s lives, and that He was honored by what we did.

If you’re a Palm Valley-ite, I urge you to continue investing and inviting, bringing people far from God with you each weekend that they might meet with Him. I love being on this journey with such an incredible church family who are willing to live beyond themselves. Thanks!

Who Needs Sleep?

Pastor’s log: 2:37 a.m. Who needs sleep I ask? Seriously, I’m way too amped up after this weekend to sleep, so I’m answering emails, reading, preparing for next weekend, and blogging. Wonder what time the sun will come up. Can’t wait to watch it!

Big day today. We’ve got lead team meetings all day planning the building stuff, working on our next series, “Beating The Christmas Blues”, Christmas Eve services (they’re going to be awesome), and hiring a new staff person. Who you ask? Can’t tell you now, have to wait for them to accept. All I can say is I’m excited to have this person coming on, they fit right in on the team, and will help us go to the next level with our weekend services (that’s a hint)! Stay tuned…

When People Get It

Late last night I was at Walgreen’s picking up some drugs for my kids when I ran into a gal who’s a member at Palm Valley. She’s a huge encourager to me, so it was cool to see her outside of church.

She told me she had invited a number of friends to attend PVC this weekend, and that they were coming. It was cool to see her excitement, and know that God was really working in her life. I realized she was trusting me to help her friends come to know Christ. It challenged me to make sure I don’t blow it for her this weekend..

Tonight after service I talked with a gal who had brought 6 friends from work. Get that, she took last week’s message to heart and brought her whole office! They were enjoying a chili dog on the patio, I could sense God at work there.

I saw and met a ton of first time visitors tonight. I love that a lot of Palm Valleyer’s took a step this week and invited friends to church. Coolest thing, they were inviting people who don’t know Christ, not just friends who attend other churches. That’s our mission! I love it when people get it!! That’s why I love being the pastor at Palm Valley Church!

My Thoughts On Pastors Falling

A few weeks ago we were all rocked by the news about Ted Haggard and his struggles. First, let me tell you, my heart aches for him, his wife, his kids, and their church body. Nobody wins in this. If you’re thinking, oh year, Satan wins. Can I remind you that the story isn’t done yet, and that God loves to redeem our failures to be trophies of His grace!

Anyways, here’s some thoughts I have about the whole situation…

1) Pastor Haggard stated that this has been a life long struggle for him. It saddens me that a man who really loves the Lord and has served Him with his life couldn’t get help for his battle. For whatever reason, it appears he never felt comfortable seeking help from for his struggle. This is sad, because victory and freedom are ours in Christ.

2) I’ve been asked a ton lately about my accountability. Why does everyone assume because a pastor fell that we’re all in that boat. I know a ton of people from every walk of life that struggle with sin, don’t single out pastors. However, I do realize that we’re held to a higher standard, so here’s some rules I have always had for myself in ministry to help build hedges around myself…

• I never travel alone. I always travel with my wife or another staff member of the same sex. I rarely leave the office during the day without someone with me.
• I never meet with a woman alone. Never. Not anytime. Doesn’t happen.
• I don’t counsel women. This can lead to attachment that’s not healthy.
• I don’t have unaccounted for time. People (my wife, my assistants, other staff) always know where I’m at and what I’m doing.
• I don’t have unaccounted for money. I have two credit cards. One is a business card that’s checked by our financial team for every expense. The other is a personal card which my wife checks for every expense. I rarely have more than $20 in my pocket. This said, I don’t have the funds to get into trouble
• I have friends who are very close to me and know when I’m struggling with something. I seek to be open and honest with these guys.

3) If somebody has set in their heart that they are going to sin, it’s hard to stop them. Even with all the protections and accountability in the world, nobody is beyond temptation. So, I seek to keep growing in my relationship with Christ, and maintain a healthy love for Him, balanced with a healthy fear of His discipline.

4) I magnify the consequences in my heart. I don’t ever want to have to tell Lori, the love of my life, that I’ve blown it. It would devestate her. I don’t ever want to have to tell my kids that daddy didn’t live like he taught. This would cause incredible damage in their lives, especially in their relationships with Christ. I don’t ever want to forfeit the ministry God has blessed me with at Palm Valley Church. So many people would be hurt!

5) Ultimately, I covet the support and prayers of the awesome people at PVC. I am honored to be called your pastor. Realize that this places a target on my chest, and please pray for me and the rest of the staff!

That’s some thoughts, that I hope make you think. We’re all on a journey to become more like Christ. I pray for Ted Haggard, that God would bring freedom into his life, and forgiveness from those around him. While much of the Christian community heaps guilt (is that Christ like?), I pray God’s grace for him and his family.

Thanks

To all who prayed for me, thanks! I was removed from the jury on day 2, which was a blessing since it was looking like it could be a long trial. I would have served, the case actually seemed quite interesting, but I’ve just got a lot on my plate.

Under the “what are the odds” category…I was on the jury with a gal from Palm Valley, so it was cool to talk with her some and get to know her better. I love that God is giving us an influence in this community, and I love seeing people whose lives are being touched by PVC all over the place!

Prayer Needed

I’m asking for prayer from the people who attend PVC. This week has been crazy. Monday, I sat through 13 hours (dead honest) straight of meetings (all incredible). Tuesday was meetings early, and then off to jury duty for the rest of the day.

I’m writing at 3:00 am as I’m working on my message for this weekend (I’m pumped), but I’m not feeling well. Visited the Doctor tonight and I have an ear infection. Can you believe that? I haven’t had an ear infection since I was 4! It’s pretty painful, so I’m hoping the antibiotics will kick in soon.

As I always say, all of this must mean that God is going to do something incredible this weekend! Please pray for my health, for some rest, for the message this weekend, and that I don’t drive Lori crazy because I act like a big baby when I’m sick