DCAT – Session 1

The theme for the DCAT conference is “A new heart for a new season”.  I’ve been telling people close to me that I believe God is bringing Palm Valley into a new season as a church; a season of life-change and growth like we’ve never seen before! I was excited to hear the theme of this conference, I believe God’s going to speak to me.

One thing I noticed about New Hope Church tonight is that they love the Lord, and they love each other. This is the huggin’est church I’ve ever seen   Here’s a rundown of Pastor Wayne’s session tonight…

He began by talking about the suffering we will experience in ministry. It is inevitable that in ministry you will be injured and experience sufferinge. Pastor Wayne encouraged us to view suffering as a transition into a new season of God’s blessing. He used the story of Joseph, ending with Genesis 50:20 “what the evil one intended to harm you, God will use for good!”.

He had three main points to remember when we’re suffering…

1) Assess your situation – with honesty. Don’t over-inflate your value, nor under-estimate it.  Remember that I’ve got a lot to learn.

2) Evaluate how much time you have left – the wealthiest place in the world is a graveyeard. So much untapped potential and dreams died when the person died. It’s imperative that we work with a sense of urgency for the calling God has given us.

3) Ask God to inspire your heart – this really hit me, because I’ve been praying this for months. 1 Samuel 30:6 reminds us that in the midst of suffering we need to “strengthen ourselves in the Lord”.

As we finished, I was just humbled that God has called me to be a part of building His Kingdom. I don’t deserve it, but He’s chosen me. I mess up so often, but He still lets me be a part of His work. I’m praying tonight that I will become the pastor that Palm Valley Church deserves. I love being on this journey with such an awesome group of Christ-followers. I DO believe that God is bringing us into a new season at PVC, our best season yet!

I’m looking forward to an awesome day tomorrow.

In Hawaii for DCAT

A bunch of our staff and legal trustees are in Honolulu for this conference.  We’ve had a couple days to relax and have fun as a team. It’s been a great time of building relationships. Last night we grilled some burgers and hot dogs and just hung out. Spent the evening with the legal trustees dreaming about how to plan for the future challenges we face. I love their faith. I love the team God has called to Palm Valley.

The weather has been cold (for Hawaii) and windy, as well as some rain. It’s provided me with time to just rest. I didn’t realize how tired I was (physically and emotionally) until I just stopped to rest. It’s been cool to see all our staff having their quiet times with the Lord. I’m glad to know our pastors are men of the Word.

I’m excited to hear from Pastor Wayne Cordeiro. His book, The Divine Mentor, has had a HUGE impact on my life. I’m pumped to see New Hope Church in action, and to be spiritually refreshed and challenged.

Palm Valley’ers, please pray for the staff during this conference, that God would use it in an incredible way to grow us in the areas He wants us to grow!

weekend reflections

Another great weekend at PVC (I know I’m blogging this on Wednesday night). Here’s some highlights…

• Had our 1st basketball game for my two sons. I’m coaching their team, and I’m having a blast. To be honest, I was pretty nervous, not sure what to do with a bunch of 8-9 year olds who’ve never played. We got whipped in our first game, but the kids had a blast.
• My 5 year old son snuck into service to hear me preach. It was cool to see him walk in by himself and grab a seat front row center. He listened to the whole message!
• During every service the crowd went nuts during worship. Palm Valley’ers are reading the Word, and it’s changing the very fiber of who we are.
• The Bible is true, ’nuff said.
• Our church is falling in love with the Bible, how cool is that?
• Almost 700 children this week, I love the energy in our kids ministries.
• We need more people to step into serving in the children’s ministry
• Long flight to Honolulu after church Sunday, but it’s hard to complain when you’re flying to Hawaii. More on this in the next post.

weekend reflections

I can’t believe how sweet things are at PVC right now. Honestly, I’ve never seen a church so focused on growing closer to Christ, and closer to each other. There is such a great spirit in the body, and every week people are coming to know Jesus as their Savior. Here’s some thoughts on Monday morning…

• Pete is so talented. Most of you know him as the incredible guitar player. This week he was also rockin’ the drums pretty hard. BTW, he’s even used a “mandalay” in service before. Pete, thanks for the countless hours and energy you pour into the worship at Palm Valley!
• The children’s workers are giving so much to pour into the kids of our church. I love the energy and excitement, there’s a huge buzz about the next steps we’re taking in this ministry.
• Men can be idiots. Prayed with a number of gals on the patio whose husbands have left them for other women. My heart goes out to these broken families.
• We’re really in a groove as a church right now. This is exactly when we can’t become complacent, but have to take it up a notch!
• I’ve never wrestled with messages on a weekly basis like I’ve had to this series. Our team has spent tons of hours putting together all the info we need, but it has been completely God making it flow and apply. It’s great to know that when we reach the end of us, we begin to see Him!
• The ushers were working hard this week to find seats for people in a couple of the services. We need more people to move to Saturday night.
• Big announcements coming about our plans for Saturday night. It’s going to rock!
• Enjoying the day off today. We close our offices observe Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. day.
• Our hispanic ministry is seeing people come to Christ and gain momentum.

That’s it for today. Make sure you invite friends next week as we talk about why we believe the Bible is true. It will be life-changing!

S.O.A.P. for kids

We’ve been challenging our whole church to utilize the S.O.A.P. method of Bible study. If you missed it, go to www.pvcroute66.com and watch last week’s message where I explain this.  In our home, we’re doing daily Bible reading with our kids, and challenging our oldest boys to use the S.O.A.P. themselves. They’ve got their own reading plan, so they’re also doing their own Bible study. Last night my oldest son, Jake, shared what he learned from yesterday’s reading. His thoughts challenged me! So, with his permission, here’s Jake’s S.O.A.P. for the day…

Scripture – Luke 17:17

“Jesus asked, ‘were not all 10 cleansed. Where are the other nine?’”

Observation:

I learned that not all people will praise God even if they receive from Him.

Application:

If I receive from God, I will praise Him!

Prayer:

“Dear God, please help me to always praise you when we receive from you.”

weekend reflections

To be honest I was expecting a little bit of a let down in this weekend. Not that it was any less important, I just wasn’t sure we could have the same amount of buzz throughout the whole campus as we had last week for the beginning of route66. In retrospect, I was totally wrong. This weekend just built off the last, and really convinced me we’ve gone to a “whole ‘nother level’ as a church. Here’s some thoughts…

• Adam (the bald guy ) just rocks on stage. He nailed “Move Along“.
• The 1st Impressions team is stepping it up each week. The team is filling up and really welcoming each guest with extra effort to “make people matter”.
• I loved how simple, practical, and yet effective the message turned out. The creative team really helped me nail this one down. Thanks guys and gals for your honesty and creativity each week.
• Derrick’s building a great “set team” to work on the design of each series. They’re doing an awesome job! If you’re interested in joining this team, email him at dlogan@palmvalley.org.
•  I got choked up every service as I talked about Rahab and Boaz and believing the best in people. It reminded me how awesome our church is for being a place where anybody can come and know that they matter to God, and to us.
• We had sick kids so Lori had to stay home, she’s bumming she missed!
• Got to pray with a couple families who have kids with cancer, it wrenched my hearts. I consider it a privilege to be able to pray with them in their time of need.
• Our children’s ministry is rockin’, can’t wait to see how Adrienne takes it to the next level in the coming months.
• Can you say 5 services? It’s quickly looking like a reality!
• We need some committed PVC’ers to move to Saturday night to free up seats on Sunday.
• Christina’s done an awesome job moving into our video editing team.

My Baby’s 2!

It’s so hard to believe, but my baby girl turned 2 today. When she was born, she grabbed a hold of my heart in a special way, and she hasn’t let go. I love each of my 3 boys, but life with a daughter is definitely different. I see it in her eyes, and I hope it’s always there!

She makes me want to be a better man, husband, and dad. I pray that what she sees and learns in our home will make her want to love Jesus and live for Him. I pray it will also help her develop healthy relationships and save herself for the man we’re praying for, for her!

We started this morning with the whole family walking into her room and waking her up to a “Happy Birthday” serenade. We spent the day at the mall, where we ate lunch at Chevy’s, shopped at the Disney store, looked at puppies (no buying), and hung out with mum-mum and papa. we had a great time, and it was definitely a day fit for a birthday princess.

Happy b-day sweet pea

Route66 is impacting lives

I’ve never been a part of series that has created such excitement amongst the entire church. Every where I go people are sharing with me their Bible reading observations and questions; but more importantly how it’s changing their lives. As people are picking up their Bibles to hear from God, He’s speaking to them! Here’s a comment that was posted on the http://www.pvcroute66.com/ blog…

Just a general observation about what is happening in me – I am noticably “better” since starting the daily Bible readings. My mood, attitude, general outlook – all improved remarkably (as in those around me have noticed and remarked!) with the daily commitment to reading God’s Word.

I find my focus is different and that issues that used to look large, difficult, hard – now really don’t cause me to engage – and I think it is because I am “engaged” elsewhere.

Is anyone else experiencing something similar? Just curious.

That’s life-change, and that’s why we’re focusing on reading throught the Bible as a church. Let’s keep it up!

For Christian Singles – HILARIOUS

Rachel had a hilarious post geared towards Christian singles. If you know a little theology, you’ll be cracking up. Too true not to be funny

weekend reflections

Wow! I’m so amazed at what God is doing at Palm Valley. The energy in all 4 services was outright electric from start to finish! It is obvious our whole church is taking the challenge to read the Bible this year very seriously.  Here’s some thoughts from the weekend…

• Holy cow the set was awesome. Shawn and the guys did an incredible job turning the stage into a true route 66 town! I was ready to eat at the diner
• Derrick and the band outright rocked the house. These guys brought it this weekend and led us in some awesome worship.
• The message was very simple, but I felt very effective. Our people are so hungry to learn it’s insane.
• Brent and the 1st impressions team are really stepping it up.
• Some cool classic cars on display today. My favorite was the Ford Fairlane (it reminds me of that lame movie)
• I’m so tired, but I’ve got to hit the gym in the morning.
• Paul is writing some fun posts about route66, including this one containing some history about the actual highway.
• Talked about staff changes this week. I don’t normally do that, but wanted the body to understand why change happens. If it’s a God thing, it must be a good thing.
• It’s helpful being a Raiders fan this time of year. I don’t have to worry about the playoffs so I have more time to focus on other things.
• Watching people stream forward with their commitments to read the Bible this year made me cry in every service. I can’t wait to see how God transforms us this year.
• We’re either going to start a 5th service or go multi-site to create more seats, praying hard about that right now.
• Heard some great stories about how Home Teams are reaching people for Christ by caring for others, that’s what I’m talking about!
• Brent had a great post about me cramming so much content into only a 90 minute talk during men’s retreat.
• I was laughing at all the men from retreat hugging each other all over the campus today. Of course, they added a shoulder and fist bump at the end to keep it manly. It’s cool to see guys connecting and buliding relationships with each other.
• I can’t wait to spend time with the staff this week. They’re doing such an awesome job, I look forward to telling e’m in person.

That’s it for tonight. My mind’s already racing about next week’s service, God’s up to something big and it’s keeping me from sleeping. Palm Valley, I love you guys and thank God Lori and I are on the route 66 journey with you. Life is a highway!