Today was Day 1 of Week 1. If you were here for the first message of THRIVE on Sunday, you know we are asking our whole church to take a 21 day journey together to begin recalibrating our lives out of a tough time.
Here’s the cool part…You can follow the journey with brief daily video messages on the Suncrest CULTIVATE Blog. Take the journey with me…Click Here!
I thought we had a great morning today at Suncrest. Had lots of feedback and conversations with people who this message series was designed for. Tomorrow, I’ll link to the blog to begin the next steps of the journey.
But this morning was not the best part of my day.
For about 4 hours this afternoon, I took my turn in the rotation to deliver communion to some of those at Suncrest who can’t get out for church…a very elderly crowd. And..the best part…I took Jack with me and we spent a long afternoon doing ministry together (He’s pictured with 90+ year old Mildred Meeks). He has a way with people – especially older ladies – that comes naturally to him. He hugs them freely and responds to their interest.
He said the prayer for communion at each of our stops and by the end of the stops he was preparing the bread and explaining what it symbolizes.
He had patience with one of the ladies suffering the Alzheimer’s who must have asked him how old he was 4 times in 10 minutes. And on the way out of our last visit at a nursing facility, one of the ladies in the hallway we didn’t know asked him for a hug…and he ended up hugging 8 ladies in a row down the hall making their day.
I made a commitment to blog 6 times a week about 20 months ago and have found it to be a useful and helpful tool for connecting with people, sharing my ideas and insights into Suncrest life and my life. I think it will be for a long time to come in various forms.
Over the last few weeks, I’ve blogged less frequently and for right now I’m trying to get a handle on a few things time-wise. I’ve already talked about being consumed by email (I did well at being disciplined in checking it for 6 days, but “fell off the wagon” today). I’ve also decided over this month that I’m going let my blogging rhythm find a new groove. Instead of expecting myself to post 6 days a week, I’ll let the blog serve me instead of me serving the blog.
How much will I post? I don’t know. I’m pretty sure it won’t be the same every week…and maybe the average post will have more content/perspective commentary. Don’t worry (mom), I’ll still throw in pictures of the kids now and then.
Just a step I’m trying to take to recalibrate personally.
I won’t post on my email withdrawal every day, but the first day of disciplining myself to only check it once or twice had a few moments…
1. I use my cell phone as my alarm clock and my phone has my email on it. As usual, i woke up to seeing what email came in overnight. I was in the shower before I remembered the commitment I had made the night before.
2. Today was an unusual day because I wasn’t in the office at all. Had an off0site meeting in the morning and then was out scouting a potential location for a future campus…so I didn’t open my computer at all during the day anyway. Made day 1 a little easier, I’m sure.
3. I was able to process all important things with Cindy (my assistant) through a single phone call late in the afternoon.
4. I checked my email once tonight and processed everything I needed to in about 15 minutes. Most amazingly, I only SENT 4 emails today. That will be a tough one to keep also.
5. Huge side benefit…In the past, I have been guilty of reading email while I’m driving. I know it is horrible and stupid…and deadly (Have you seen this video? Got it from a friend’s blog.) I’m done with that.
One day in the books with success…4 weeks to go.
While I was at East Campus Sunday, Jared taught at West Campus on worship and our idols. I listened to his message yesterday and it was really good for me. (East campus, you will get it this Sunday!) He defined worship as what “consumes” us and after a little thought, a rough season, and a conversation with a great friend tonight I’ve decided to take what I think is a spiritual leap…to make a change.
I’ll evaluate it in a month to see what difference it has made for me.
What consumes me? It may sound odd, but I know my tendencies. It is EMAIL. Don’t laugh. I might actually have a mild addiction to it. I get a lot of it (about 100/day) and I actually get energy from making progress through it. But with every message I feel this need to reply, give my input on something or leave it in my inbox until I can get to it “later”. Whenever that is…
It is that thing in my life that I do as soon as I wake up and before I go to bed and when I have a free moment after dinner…oh yeah, and at the office too. And because I never get my inbox hovers between 25 and 100 items..and my inbox defaults as my “to-do list”…it ALWAYS hangs over me.
Of course email is not evil, but it doesn’t have to be. The thing that consumes me is mostly good…it just gets in the way of more important things, much more important things.
So…for the month of September, I’m fasting from email. A total fast is unrealistic and failure waiting to happen, so I’m setting these boundaries…
1. I’ll eventually read all the email sent to me, but don’t count on me to do it immediately. If something is truly urgent…call me.
2. Much of it won’t get replied to at all.
3. My assistant, Cindy, gets all my email. She will handle almost all replies for me when one is necessary.
And one other note…I’ve totally given up on managing my inbox in Facebook…that is just a black hole I have no intention of replying to.
I may hate this and go back to my old ways at the end of the month, but I’ll never know unless I choose to make a change. And I really look forward to seeing better things…more important things…consume me.
I went in person to our east campus on Sunday and had a blast. I’ve included a few pictures from early morning set-up…Julie Coons knocking it out of the park in the Children’s area with her team and Jason Paradis prepping the worship team for a day when they led us in some powerful ways.
There is also a pic of me that Doug (campus pastor) took. You may not be able to tell it from the picture, but attendance was great for the end of summer – over 180. It’s interesting to me that most of the crowd sits in the upper half of the theater behind the aisle (stadium seating). I guess it makes sense with most weeks being video teaching…it’s where I sit when I go to the movies. (Oh yeah…and most people at West Campus and every other church I know sit toward the back also!!)
I got a few of the “you are real” comments from people who had only seen me on video, but the neat part for me is getting to have 2nd and 3rdconversations with people who have found Suncrest since we launched the campus. The best part…they didn’t just find suncrest, but they found a God who is real in their lives.
There is too much to write about my appreciation for Mary Beth Stockdale’s role at Suncrest…so I tried to capture the essence of it in this video message. She will be greatly missed on our team.
Enjoy by clicking on the video below. (If you are reading this by subscription, click on the title above to go to the blog site.)
I did a presentation last night to a group of men in a leadership track here at suncrest where I described my leadership journey. As I looked at the journey to this point, I realized my leadership journey has been mostly defined by voices and choices.
The VOICES are people who have spoken into my life that have shaped me. They are real relationships, but also books I’ve read and experiences I have had.
The CHOICES are the defining moments when I had to do something that was not easy, but I knew was right. (I could also make a list of times I didn’t grow because I didn’t make the choice.
I’ll talk more about the voices and choices that have defined who I am as a leader, but first I’m curious…what voices and choices have shaped you…as a leader or simply as a person/Christ-follower.
As much as they wear me out, I love Sundays.
I love to teach…I believe in the power of the scriptures to actually change our lives. I love to watch as hundreds of people are serving with their gifts…to help children learn, help us worship, or help someone feel welcome.
But I think my greatest privilege is to pray with people after each service. To ask God to intervene in people’s lives and their pain along with them is an honor I don’t take for granted. Today was unique in that it lasted so long after the third service (about 45 minutes), but I’m always struck by the real challenges people face in this life…and I beleive that hearing them each week makes me a better and more compassionate teacher.
Here’s the sampling of things I prayed for with people today.
-A couple just engaged to get married.
-A person who’s mom just was diagnosed with cancer and will lose her voicebox in surgery this week.
-A firefighter who’s seen some very difficult things this last month and needs strength for himself and the team of young men he leads.
-A family with their newborn…praying for him and them.
-A young person who is trying to recalibrate her life after some poor choices.
-A mom who’s son struggles through the agonizing cycles of manic depression. It’s in a valley now. (And after I prayed for her, she prayed for me – love that.)
And becuase some were requested to be confidential, that’s not even all of them.
And on top of all that…someone who’s been at Suncrest for about 18 months now handed me one of those “This church has changed my life in ways you could never imagine” notes. It was among the most powerful things I’ve read in a long time.
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For about 4 hours Saturday morning all of our community group leaders gathered to prepare for our launch into a new season of groups this fall. Large gatherings of volunteer leaders are like “auto-inspiration” for me. I love it when people say yes to being “used by God to change lives.”
And THIS meeting was full of potential for that. This fall at Suncrest we are sensing and praying for a revolution of service…that this idea of giving freely of myself in love to help someone in need doesn’t just see a little bump in participation, but actually has a transforming affect on our church.
The most striking part of the morning? 2 things.
And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday. -Isaiah 58:10
.Real.Greg.Lee. 
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