It’s Becoming Real

We’ve been a portable church for all 6 years of our existence. It’s been a blast trying to find creative solutions to the unique challenges of being a portable church of 2,000 people. We’ve never focused on buildings, we’ve focused on building the body. However, there’s incredible unity in the leadership and body of our church that it’s time to build; providing us with another tool to reach people for Christ.

Today I saw the initial plans for the interior of our Phase 1 buildings; a worship center and a combination childrens/admin building. It’s awesome, and I’m stoked! It’s really beginning to become a reality. We’ll be launching our Seize The Moment campaign this spring, and plan to break ground with an all church celebration on May 20th!

I can’t imagine what it will be like for the children of Palm Valley Church, many who have never met in a church in it’s own building, to walk onto our campus for the first time. It will be a testimony of God’s faithfulness and blessing, and a reminder to them that with Him, all things are possible. I can’t wait to provide that moment for them! I can’t wait to see them playing in the children’s fountain, which will be built with their giving!

Make sure you’re at Palm Valley Church on Sunday, February 4th as we unveil the building plans and the road map for us to get there. It’s going to be a blast!

No Saturday Service

To all the PVC’ers, remember that there’s no Saturday night service this weekend. The school has a basketball game, and since they technically own the gym, we’ll defer to them. Make sure you attend either 9:00 or 10:30 am on Sunday!

Also, we’ll be doing set-up at 9:00 pm on Saturday, so feel free to come out and do some muscle ministry.

Anger Thought #3

“A quick-tempered man does foolish things…” Proverbs 14:17

We’ve all said or done things in anger, that once we’re out of the situation, we wish we could take back. Unfortunately, it’s like trying to put toothpaste back in the tube; it’s impossible. How much damage have words spoken in anger caused in your life?

The Bible tells us to think before we act or speak. By taking time to realize why we’re angry, and to focus on using words that will help the situation, we can use our tongue to bring healing, not more damage. It’s my goal to continue to learn how to not react in anger to things done or said that hurt me; but to act in love and show Christ’s love.

How do you think you could apply this in your life?

Anger Thought #2

17 “…I stayed by myself and was filled with anger. 18 Why do I keep on suffering? Why are my wounds incurable? Why won’t they heal?” Jeremiah 15:17-18 (LB)

So often, when we’re wounded or afraid, we withdraw and go into our own shell. In our solitude we stew on our anger, and it only grows and grows. I’m sure you’ve been there; I know I have. We stew on our anger, and we forget what we’re really mad about; it just becomes one huge angry pity party.

The Bible says that we won’t find healing until we get help. It’s the old saying, “you’re only as sick as your secrets“. If you’re angry today, tell someone. Make sure it’s someone you trust, and tell them in an appropriate manner. Ask them to help you work through the anger you have.

Why keep on suffering in your anger? Make today the day you begin to get healthy!

Blast From The Past

This weekend Amy Gerak will be helping to lead worship at Palm Valley Church in our weekend services. For those of you who weren’t around, Amy was really the voice of our worship team for the first 4 years of our church. She often carried our services, and did an incredible job. She’s got such a great spirit, and incredible talent.

I’m still kind of mad at God (JK) for moving Ed and Amy to California, but they’ve remained close friends to PVC. So make sure you get there early Sunday, it’s going to be electric. Remember, no Saturday services this week.

I’m pumped to have Amy visiting this weekend, it will be awesome!

Weekend Review

This weekend was a great start to the new year. I met a ton of people who had visited Palm Valley for the first time on Christmas Eve, and had returned this weekend. I also met many first time visitors who had come because of the topic – anger. Seems we really hit on a felt need people are dealing with.

I felt this may have been the best talk I’ve ever given. Not bragging (because I’ve delivered some duds too!), but it was straight from my heart, very relational, and practical to every person there. You could cut the tension with a knife, and it seemed like the Holy Spirit was really dealing with with people.

I’m pumped to see how God uses this series. If you attend Palm Valley, I want to encourage you to bring people with you this week as we talk about “how to keep your cool”. Pray for me as I prepare the message, I really feel like God is bringing this series together in an incredible way. Should be an awesome weekend coming up!

Do What You Are Called To Do – Lead

I know a number of church planters read this blog; and It’s my hope to provide help and support to them. It’s redeeming for me when we’re able to take the experiences we’ve had at Palm Valley (good, bad & ugly), and share them with others to help them do this church thing better.

One of the biggest lessons I’ve learned as a pastor is that I have to stay rock solid on the vision God has given me, and lead from that vision. As the lead pastor, I’m called to be the leader.

Note: Please understand, I’m not saying that I shouldn’t listen to others, or that I’m the only one who can make any decisions. I’ve got a great team of people around me, and I value their insight. The key is to listen to the right people, ignore the wrong people, and ultimately make sure you’re hearing from God. Every big decision I’ve made at PVC has been in the context of a team. We have a staff lead team, and legal trustee team, who help advise me on the pro’s and con’s of decisions. I’ve also given these guys & gals the freedom to say anything to me; because I value their insight. I know they’re in prayer. However, at some point the leader has to make the call. This is Biblical – study it!

When we were first starting, there were many people who thought they knew better for our church than me. They would make their comments, ask me over their house, even try to rally support for what they thought we should do. These were critical moments in our history. I had to get alone with the Lord, make sure I’d heard from Him, and then stand firm with the vision God had given me. Sure, we lost people over this; but they were people that needed to find another church.

Along the way I’ve made some tough decisions, and every one has come amidst oppostion. Let me explain…

I have released staff for many different reasons: ineffectiveness, inability to work with (or lead) a team, failure to live by biblical qualifications for leadership, need for that person to find a better fit, etc… Each time I knew it was the right decision. Now get this leaders, it has never been easy, always painful.

I love every person who’s been on our staff, that doesn’t mean though that they should be on staff now. The temptation for leaders is to not make these tough calls, knowing that it will be unpopular. When you know you’ve made the right decision before the Lord, you won’t need to defend it to others or get into the gossip game. Make the decision and keep moving forward!

Another big area for us has been building our campus. We could have built long ago, but much smaller, and it would have been easy. Believe me, I’ve felt the pressure. Funny, it’s usually from people who are unwilling to help with set-up & tear-down. We’ll even have people visit and say “I like your church, I think I’ll come back when you build”. –pathetic.

We made a decision as a church that we would pay the cost, remain uncomfortable, and wait for the right time to build. This has allowed us to purchase 40 acres of prime land so that we won’t be limited in how many people we can reach. It’s definitely hard work being portable, but we don’t use that as an excuse not to grow. We’re breaking ground this spring on our campus, and it will just be another tool God can use to bring more people into His Kingdom.

It’s at these crucial points (and many others) that your leadership will be defined, as will the future of your church. If you don’t make these decisions because of fear, you cease to be the leader of your church. My leadership integrity and skills have been refined through these decisions.

Church planters, I encourage you, define and refine the vision God has called you to — AND STICK WITH IT. If it’s God-given, it’s non-negotiable. There will always be people who want to change your vision, don’t let them. To say “yes” to them, you’re saying “no” to God. Don’t do it! Be faithful to Him, and the right people will follow you — as you follow Him.

One help: get some mentors; pastors who are steps ahead of you and can coach and help you through these tough things. It’s been huge for me to have some incredible leaders I can call on and get some help with tough decisions.

Anger Thought #1

Over the next few weeks, as we continue the “Good ‘N’ Angry” series, I’ll be sharing some verses and thoughts regarding anger. Hopefully, they will help us all grow closer to Christ as we deal with the anger in our lives. So, here’s my verse & thought for today.

“A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.” Proverbs 15:1

So many times we get into discussions that get heated, and our words only serve to further heat things up. In these cases, we often say things in anger that we end up regretting, because of the damage we’ve done. However, the Bible says that in these situations, we have the ability to calm people down by the way we speak.

So, I encourage you to pray today, that as you find yourself in places where you’re tempted to respond to someone with anger, that you might chose to respond with gentle words, and to bring the anger level down in your discussion.

You’ll find that your words, spoken in gentleness, will actually go a long way towards bringing resolution in an arguement, instead of simply raising the anger level!

About Growing, And Some Feedback From A Friend

It’s my great passion to continue to grow…to be more like Christ, to be a better husband and dad, to be a better pastor; which means being a better leader, teacher, and vision-caster. I experienced a lot of personal growth this past year, but I know I still have a long way to go!

To help myself grow, I soak up everything I can on leadership…reading books, blogs, and magazines on the subject; and I go to some great conferences each year that really feed me. As a pastor, I don’t get to sit in church each week and worship and be fed, so I have to crave personal growth on my own. These are some resources that help me.

Last week I posted on some experiences I had in 2006. In response, my Executive Assistant Kathleen (who’s so much more than an assistant, but that’s the title we came up with) emailed me some points of growth she’s seen in me this past year. Now, you need to know, I respect her opinion greatly, so it meant a lot that she noticed growth in me that I hadn’t perceived. So, here’s what she sent me…

Some things you missed in your 2006 reflections:

• You’re a better listener
• You’re more willing to let go of results, giving people room to fail (huge but necessary risk), and succeed.
• You’ve begun to think in bigger global terms (so vital for a leader, but not as much fun sometimes as the nitty gritty of the day-to-day).
• You’re setting/communicating a higher standard for others, challenging them to stand taller (which ultimately garners contentment for them, and great glory for the Lord)
• You look & speak more like a leader (Lori’ also).
• You are humble in important ways, especially when seeking wisdom from others.

The Church Works

I love it when the church (meaning the body, not a building) works the way I believe Christ intended it to. On Christmas Eve I saw the church respond to a need exactly how I would hope…

Before our fourth service on Christmas Eve I became aware of a family in our church who has been going through some really tough times, and wasn’t going to be able to provide Christmas presents for their children. My response was, “we need to make it happen”! As I prayed with the family on the patio, tears began to flow. Members of their home team saw this, and immediately came alongside with hugs and encouragement.

After service, I ran to Best Buy to find the presents the kids had asked for. Unfortunately they (and every other store) were already closed at 8:00 pm. I phoned one of the Home Team members and asked, “what do you think we can do to make this better for this family”.

Within minutes, all of the members of this Home Team dropped what they were doing on Christmas Eve, and headed together to the home of this family. When they arrived, they presented this family with money they had gathered together, and promised to help the family get presents. They stayed and had true fellowship with this family. A friend in the church whom I was with handed me money to give to this family also.

In short, this family’s Christmas was made by their Home Team. This is truly “doing life together”. This is, I believe, what Christ intended the church to be about. It’s not about music style, teaching style, keeping Christians happy,etc… The church is about people growing spiritually as we’re challenged to act like Christ. It’s not about information, it’s about application. This Home Team truly has applied the definition of “love” in the way they’re growing together.

I’m proud of this group, and so many others in our church who get it, and have a worldview that’s much bigger than their own wants and desires. They realize it’s all about making a huge impact on the lives of others, and the building up of God’s Kingdom, not ours.

Thanks to the people of Palm Valley Church who get it. Thanks for giving me the privilege of being called your pastor. Thanks for living beyond yourselves.

If you’re not currently in a Home Team, I encourage you to do it this week. We all need these types of relationships, where we help others in need, and they help us in our need; and we all grow to become more like Christ in the process!

Again, I love it when the church acts like it should, and in the coming days I’m going to keep sharing these kinds of stories that I hear on a weekly basis.