I Love Pastoring

Thursday night one of the Home Teams in our church invited the pastors of Palm Valley to an “appreciation dinner”. To be honest, I always feel kind of akward at these types of things. I love my role as a Pastor, I love the people of PVC, and I feel like the most blessed man on the planet. I just get uncomfortable when the “spotlight” is on me. I feel appreciated every day, so it’s kind of akward for me (and Lori).

That aside, Thursday night was awesome. First of all, we all brought our kids, which is special to be able to go places and involve our children. We had a blast playing horseshoes, hanging out, and enjoying getting to know some of the people in this Home Team. Then they served us an AWESOME dinner! Prime rib, potatoes, salad, bread, and dessert. I way overate!

The most special part though was that they had each taken time to write out what Palm Valley has meant to them. It was incredible to hear how each one of their lives has been touched by PVC, and how they’ve grown in their faith. Honestly, this is what makes me feel most appreciated. It reminds me that all the hours, preparation, conflict, angst, etc…. makes a difference. I kept the letters and have read them a few times since Thursday. I love being a part of what God is doing in people’s lives!

Investing In The Next Generation

One of the core values I have is that I want to intentionally investion in the younger generations. I love my years as a youth pastor, and thought I would always be working with young people. Now as a Senior Pastor, I realize that I reach young people through a different conduit; by creating a church atmosphere where young people are valued and invested in. At Palm Valley, we make children and teens a priority in budgeting, scheduling, and space. We seek to make the children’s environments as significant (or better) than the adult worship environment.

This year I’ve really been praying about how I can be more involved directly with the young people of our church. So, I have felt led to get involved this summer directly with the camps for our elementary, jr. high, and high school students. Lori and I will be attending all these camps, hanging out with kids and I will be speaking at each of these. I’m fired up about investing in and pouring my heart into the young people of our church.

Parents: if you haven’t already, I encourage you to sign your children up for camp. I know it takes time, and money; but the investment will be well worth it. We spend money on so many things that don’t really matter. This year send your kids to camp; they will benefit spiritually! Camp registrations are already happening and filling up quickly; don’t let your kid miss out!

Elementary Camp: for those students going into 3rd, 4th and 5th grades. Dates are June 15-19th. We have rented out the entire Tonto Rim Camp in Payson to be shared by our elementary and jr. high camps. Cost is $250 (for 1st 100 registered). you can register here… register for elementary camp. Contact Adrienne Nunez for more questions.

Jr. High camp: for those entering 6th, 7th and 8th grades. Dates are June 15-19th. Cost is $250. you can register here… register for jr. high camp. Contact Jeremiah Hann for more questions.

High School Camp (crashing the Rohlinger family vacation): For those entering 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th grade. Dates are July 21-25th. Cost is $300. We will be heading to Durango, Colorado for a week of hiking, alpine slides, rock climbing, white water rafting, and so much more. Contact Darius Sanders for more questions.

One Church

I’m excited to announce that Palm Valley Church will participate in “One Prayer” in June. We had planned for months to do a series called “The Ultimate Fighter” about being a man, but this opportunity is too big to pass up. We’re in!

The concept was created by Craig Groeschel of LifeChurch and is going to involve thousands of churches from around the world. The concept (read more here) is that in June all churches participating will come together and share each other’s teaching on the topid, “Lord, make us __________”.

The way it will work is that the first week of the series, each pastor will teach live to his church. Then for the next 3 weeks they will utilize video teaching from other pastors they choose. I’m stoked because this will give the people of Palm Valley Church an incredible opportunity to hear from some of the greatest teachers in America. We haven’t fully decided which teachers we’ll be using, but the top 3 I’m thinking of are great friends and have been a huge blessing to me and Palm Valley Church.

This is also a great opportunity for PVC to be a blessing to other churches. During the first week of May I will pre-record a sermon with my OnePrayer to be used by others. Gary Lamb has even asked me to fly down and speak live at Revolution. I love being a part of the Kingdom of God, and this series gives all churches the chance to come together and reminds ourselves that we are one church.

Palm Valley’ers: I’m going to encourage you to set aside June 7th/8th as we kick-off this four week series. I believe this is going to be a church-changing, world-impacting series that will truly bring God’s Church together under the name of Jesus! You are going to benefit from being taught by some guys who are my teachers, and they’re going to challenge us to a whole ‘nutha level! Please begin to pray that God will use this in a significant way to bring His church together.

Pastors: If you’re not in yet, can I encourage you to pray about being a part of this. You will benefit, your church will benefit, and the Kingdom will benefit. My prayer is that together pastors will drop the walls of pride and reputation and celebrate the name of Jesus together, and that His body will be built!

Crashing The Rohlinger Family Vacation

I’m in Durango, Colorado Tuesday and Wednesday scouting out locations for our High School Summer Camp. Darius and I had an awesome day, found just the right place to base out of, and worked some smoking deals on activities. Here’s the low-down on summer camp…

We’re calling it “Crashing The Rohlinger Family Vacation“. Lori and I are going to join the high school’ers and treat them as part of our family, taking them to our summer vacation spots and all the activities we normally take our kids to; stuff like hiking, rock climbing, swimming, doing the alpine slide and white water rafting. We’ll be cooking out and have a great time. I’m fired up because I’ll also be speaking to the students throughout the week during worship times.

Parents: if you have a high school student, send them on this trip! We are going to have a complete blast, and your student will come back changed. I can’t wait to invest in the students of PVC and invite them to join our family for a week. My desire is that this will be the most unique camp students will ever attend.

Details: July 21-25, cost is approx. $300.

Just for fun, here’s Darius enjoying some “Francisco’s”, Durango’s landmark mexican restaurant…