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!

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!

Bring People This Weekend

As I talked about last weekend, this is an incredible weekend to bring people with you who don’t know Christ. My message is “How Good Is Good Enough?”.

I challenge you to bring as many people with you who don’t know Christ as you can fit in your mini-van, make two trips if necessary. If you don’t, you’ll be sitting through the message wishing people you know who don’t know Christ were with you.

Also, worship is going to rock. The team has put together a set that will absolutely have you worshiping all out! I can’t wait to see what God does this weekend. Please pray for every person who’s coming this week that needs to hear the gospel.

NASCAR in town

If you’re attending Palm Valley this weekend (and why wouldn’t you?), you’ll want to be aware that there will be increased traffic due to the NASCAR event at PIR.

With this weekend’s racing event at Phoenix International Raceway, we recommend that you avoid the traffic delays on Estrella Parkway by taking Cotton Lane to Yuma and then head east to Desert Edge High School.

Leave a little early and you’ll be fine. See you this weekend!

Worship last weekend

It was awesome. Derrick did a great job connecting with our crowd. He’s back this weekend and I’m looking forward to it. I’ll be talking about the harvest as we continue our SEEDS series; focusing on how we as a church reach people for Christ. You won’t want to miss it. If you missed last week, you can watch it at www.palmvalley.org.

Worship This Weekend

I’m fired up for this weekend’s service; as we’ve got a guest worship leader in who I believe is going to rock the house! Derrick Logan is going to be leading this weekend, and hopefully many to come.

So, Palm Valley-ites(?), come ready to worship, it’s goign to be an awesome service!