Weekend Reflections

After a couple weeks of not blogging, I’m back in the game Here’s some thougths from the weekend…

•  WOW. Most powerful service I’ve ever been a part of.
• Preaching on the crucifixion of Jesus 5 x’s absolutely drained me. I feel like mush this morning.
• The worship was perfectly suited to the message, and moved me to tears. D-Lo and the team knocked it out of the park!
• Watching the Passion of the Christ video makes me cry, and makes me cringe.
• I can’t believe all that Jesus endured on our behalf.
• It was awesome to see hundreds of men come forward and take a stand for Jesus!
• I totally cut up my hands swinging the “flagrum” at the cross. During 5th service I looked down and noticed I was bleeding from a cut.
• Love that the people of Palm Valley are pursuing Jesus!
• Yesterday was the simplest message I’ll ever preach, but the most profound.
• Left after church yesterday with our other pastors for a two-day retreat. We had an awesome discussion last night on the things that “fill us up” and what “drains us”. It got tense at points, which is a good thing!
• Today should be tense. We’re talking about the results of our personality tests, how we function together, and our finding from “5 Dysfunctions Of A Team“.
• Could be some Ultimate Fights today
• I’m emotionally and physically wiped out. Pray for me as I prepare for this weekend. The message on “Raising Ultimate Fighters” is intensely personal to me since I have 3 boys!

Thanks for enduring with me, more thoughts to come this week! 

Volunteers Matter!

Our Volunteer Team is led by two incredible gals: Jillayne Payne and Nancy Mondzak. These gals bring a wealth of experience and a level of excellence to the team that helps take PVC to a much higher level. They’re crazy good with systems, and their helping the rest of us get it

One of their projects this quarter has been stepping up the quality of our Volunteer Central; the place where volunteers check-in and also relax during the weekends. We stock it with food and drinks, and want it to be a place where volunteers are reminded how much they matter! So the gals stepped it up to a whole ‘nutha level last week. Volunteer Central is now definitely THE PLACE to be on our campus. The vibe is more VIP lounge than anything, and such a cool way to appreciate our volunteers. Check it out…

Weekend Reflections

This weekend we kicked off “Ultimate Fighter”, and it was simply off the hook!

• Guys were pumped about this series, could definitely sense the adrenaline in the house.
• Staging was incredible. Sean went way over the top, I’ve never seen a portable church do staging with this kind of excellence. I’ll post pic’s soon!
• Music was awesome, I love how Derrick tricked out “What The World Will Never Take”. The new electric guitar player is David Cobb, get used to him ’cause he’s awesome!
• Kids and youth just keep growing every week. The excellence with which Adrienne and Darius are leading their teams is amazing. I can’t believe the team God has given us in these vital areas.
• Announced we’re sending $25,000 for hurricane relief and everyone cheered, I love this church!
• I felt like the message just plain connected with guys. Had a lot of first time visitor guys tell me they were skeptical, but God touched their heart this weekend.
• Fifteen people went to the Fresh Start table to get new believer’s packets, praise God!
• Still in mourning over the Chuck Liddell fight. Did that just happen?
• In mourning over the D-backs. Is this really happening?
• Flat out disgusted with the Raiders tonight. Are they for real?
• Not a good sports year for me
• Congrats to Gary and Revolution Church on the launch of their 2nd campus. I love having a front row seat for what God is doing there!
• Can’t wait to talk about the “Heart Of A Fighter” next week.
• Praying hard about the next steps for Palm Valley. We’re full in 3 of 5 services, and the other 2 are filling up. We’ve got to create more seats so more people can meet Jesus!
• PVC’ers, if you can, moving to Saturday night would be a huge help in freeing up seats on Sunday morning.

An Interview About “Ultimate Fighter”

We’ve been getting a ton of buzz about the new series starting this weekend at Palm Valley, called the “Ultimate Fighter”. I’m pumped to be able to talk to men in our community about the issues we men face on a daily basis. Again, if you’re in the area, bring every guy you can find to one of our 5 services.  This will be a straight-forward, no bull teaching series (as if you’d expect anything else?).

Just to help people grasp why we’re doing this series, andwhat’s on my heart, our Executive Pastor Ryan Nunez and I sat down for a talk to help everyone understand what this series is all about. The video’s in 2 parts, below…

Video Part 1

Video Part 2

“Ultimate Fighter” begins This Weekend

I can’t tell you how pumped I am about our new teaching series, “Ultimate Fighter”, beginning this weekend! Most men in our culture think that to become a Christ-follower means you lay aside your manhood and “turn the other cheek”. That’s simply not true. I’m looking forward to talking to the men in our community about what the Bible REALLY teaches about manhood. I think they’ll be surprised! I’ll even be talking about what it really means to turn the other cheek (hint: it’s a great show of strength). If you’d like, you can watch the promo video here.

I believe this is one of the greatest opportunities we’ll ever have to help men in our community establish a relationship with Jesus. This is a series for men, by men! So here’s how you can help make this the most incredible teaching series we’ve ever done…

• 1) Invite friends. We all know people who are 1 conversation aware from eternal life. We need to initiate that conversation. I’m asking you to invite everyone you know, especially men, to attend Palm Valley Church for the next 5 weeks. I promise you we’ll engage them in an honest, straight-forward conversation about what it means to follow Jesus, and give them the opportunity to establish a relationship with Him. Invite everyone you know, you’ll be surprised by how many will say yes and come to church with you this weekend. You can even send an e-invite from here.
• 2) If possible, switch to Saturday night. Our 3 services on Sunday are packed out. If you can, please attend either the 5:00 or 6:30 pm services on Saturday evening.
• 3) Arrive early. Please plan to arrive at least 20-30 minutes early, helping beat the crunch at children’s check-in and be in your seat right when the service starts.
• 4) Volunteer. With the wave of new people coming each week, I’m asking every person at PVC to volunteer in a ministry, especially greeting/ushers and children’s ministry.
• 5) Be friendly. I know you already are, but I just want to remind you that people all around you are nervous about being at church for the first time. Make sure you go out of your way to greet people around you and welcome them “Palm Valley style”.

Please be in prayer for me as I put the final touches on my messages for the next few weeks. I believe God has given me some things to say that will really help men become all that Jesus created them to be. See you this weekend at PVC!

Student Ministries is rockin’!

I’m so proud of Darius, Jeremiah, Christina and all of the HUGE (and growing) Student Ministries team.  Looking back at the past year of the ministry we realized that the number of adult mentors committed to this ministry has more than doubled, and number of students attending each week has more than double to about 275 each week. WOW!

But the best is yet to come. I believe the students of PVC are going to lead in reaching the west valley for Christ. Here’s some highlights of what’s next…

• the student ministry just launched a new web site/blog at www.pvcstudents.com
• They’re beginning a cool new teaching series this weekend called “Beyond The Yearbook”. Go here for more info.
• Small groups just started for the year. If your student isn’t attending one, visit here and find one to get them plugged in!
• Lastly, I’m pumped because the new student Jeep Grand Cherokee is almost done. It’s got a 4,000 watt sound system, 32 inch tv, PlayStation 3, video ipod, 22″ rims and lots more. It goes in to get wrapped with a cool look this week. If you missed the first edition of “Style My Ride”, watch it below