Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Six weeks in


This last Sunday was our sixth Sunday together at Story Church. Today seems like a good day to give a quick recap and assessment of where we're at as a church. The reality is that we are beginning to see the dust settle from our launch. It's been an incredible beginning - but it's just a beginning. Our first six weeks were kind of strange. We launched with a series called GROW. But in week 2 the earthquake in Haiti hit, and we set our series aside to tackle head on the issue of suffering. We had our biggest offering that day - which we gave away to Haiti relief. Week 4 was snowed out, so our original 4-week series ended up lasting six.

Since our launch, we continue to see new faces each week. People continue to hear about us from facebook, from yard signs, and now we're beginning to see people get invited by their friends. As a pastor, I'm most excited about seeing people get connected relationally, and beginning to get plugged in through serving.

One of the important lessons I've learned in these first few weeks is to define the "win" and keep that in front of me all the time. For us, a "win" is seeing people who don't normally go to church coming and getting involved. It's seeing people ask questions, take steps to further their relationship with Jesus, and seek healing and wholeness in their relationships. And we're seeing tons of those things.

As a confession, it's real easy to get caught up in numbers like attendance and offering - two realities a church needs in order to sustain life. But to keep the "win" in focus has been huge for me. I know that those other things will take care of themselves if we stay true to the vision God has for us as a church - to help people embrace the story they are meant to live.

If you are a Story Church attender - what have been some of the highlights for you so far?

Friday, February 19, 2010

A new look

I revamped the blog a bit today. Mostly just a style change, and added a twitter feed. I'm hoping it inspires me to use it more. I'd like for it to be more interactive, so if you read it let me know you're here.

Wednesday, February 3, 2010

Laughing until it hurts




Every once in a while my kids want to sit on my lap and watch YouTube clips of puppies or kitties or monkeys or whatever. That was getting a little old so last night we broke out Photobooth. We had one of the funnest nights I can remember. We were all crying laughing. (Well, not all of us - my youngest looks concerned about what is happening to her face - which made all of us laugh even harder.) I love my family.


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