.Real.Greg.Lee.

And I feel OK about it tonight.

Not great, but OK.

Came across some interesting stories of  guests there for their first visits and some who are new, but happened to miss this morning.  This is, of course, the biggest fear on this teaching topic.  If I had all suncrest folks in the room…even all believers in the room, I’d probably handle it differently than with the sensitivities of newcomers and non-believers in this hot-button issue for some.

Still, in the 2nd and 3rd services today, I felt like I threw down pretty hard (too hard?) on husbands who hold their wives back from generosity.  It’s hard to say I want to talk “man to man” then call out the guy’s role as spiritual leader, and finish the section with the words “Man Up” without it feeling pretty direct.

Really wrestling in retrospect if that was the right/best way to do it today.

In the end, it’s my genuine prayer that everyone find the joy, satisfaction, and blessing that comes with substantial generosity.  I hope people moved toward that today.

Posted in Suncrest

Haven’t been posting for a couple days.

My brother and his wife are in town and we are having a great time with them.  Nothing big…just hanging out around home with the kids, but have had some really good conversations…along with some wii bowling and golf!

I came across an AP article yesterday.  It’s subject is church giving in the midst of a recession.  Best of all, it used three friends of mine as sources…all connected to my Leadership Network leadership community.  One was Dave Travis (staff of LN), the other two were Devin Hudson and Noel Heikkinen (fellow young pastors).  Click here for the article.

Had a great visit from Chris Mavity with some of our staff Friday.  He is the conference coordinator for the Sticky Church conference we will host March 31.  I’ll be getting out more details on this soon.

Last, but not least, our community group met Friday night and got to hear about Kim Martin’s mission trip to Africa.  Wow.  We went around the room and talked about each of our willingness to step out and do something similar.  Hopefully, we’ll see progress on that soon.

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I like numbers.  They are so rational, finite, clear, logical.  I like stories.  They are so complex, inspiring, intriguing, powerful.

How do you measure fruitfulness as a church?  I think you have to use both.  On this blog, I’ve tried to tell a lot of stories…at the very least ones that are inspiring to me.  This is a good medium for that.  For those more interested in something quantitative, here’s look back at some numbers we think are important from 2008:

Campuses:  2 (second launched in september)

Average Attendance:  1002 (among best growth years ever, already averaging over 1100 so far in 2009)

Average Offering: $23, 292 (up 6%, but since june trend was not good.  Past years grew 10-20%)

Baptisms:  59 (had a big goal of 100 that we did not hit, but up over 10%)

Volunteer Leaders:  80 ministry and community group leaders, plus 13 coaches/leaders of leaders (A primary focus of 2009 is to grow this number as volunteer leader numbers have not grown in correlation with attendance growth).

Special Offering Responses:  $39,000 to benevolence (up 30%), $111,000 to new campus (similar amount to past special offerings), $5300 to church plant on church planting Sunday (similar to past).

Connect:  50% of adult attendence in 37 Community Groups  (Healthy compared to other churches; our goal is 70%)

Contribute:  435 adults/teens/children serving somewhere (Our goal is to not only increase this number, but focus on people serving more and more in their strength areas).

Posted in Suncrest

Thought you might like to read it…

—————

Thank you, Ministry Staff. 

I want you to know that I appreciate the measures that all of you took to limit spending in light of our financial situation in 2008.  East campus (Hobart) has done well and had less limitations.  West campus (St. John) did absolutely outstanding.

We had our BMT (Business Management Team) meeting Tuesday night and looked at the year-end financials and a few things were obvious.

1.        From September through December, we saw a major pull-back in spending.  I’m very grateful for this and don’t take it for granted.

2.       To be very specific, West Campus Children’s ministry, Student ministry, and Community groups all came in thousands below budget and went without significant things at the end of the year.  Your sacrifice is awesome.

3.       Thankful to God and to each of you that while we had to limit $$$, the numbers tell us that ministry growth was happening as fast as it as it ever has.

4.       Overall, the church did have its worst financial year ever offerings vs. actual expenses.  (I was trying to figure out how to say that in an encouraging way – and then gave up!)  We were in the red over $20,000.  Still, at one point, we were on pace to be much, much worse than that.

Obviously, our diligence has to continue into 2009, but I just wanted to say thanks for your efforts as we closed out 2008.

Greg

Posted in Suncrest

Larry Osborne is smart, realistic, down-to earth, willing to share his insight and invest in younger leaders. He loves God and ministry.  I’ve got to spend about 96 hours total with him, but he’s been very gracious to me and has helped my pastoral leadership more than anyone in the last year (He’s one of the mentors in my Leadership Network Program).

He’s written a few books and the latest (until his new one comes out in April) is called “Sticky Church“.  You should read it.  Better yet, why not come to the conference that is based on it.  They had incredible response when they did it at Larry’s NorthCoast Church in San Diego last year.  When they wanted to bring it to Chicago, I offered Suncrest’s facility and it’s now official that we’ll be hosting it. 

They are doing it as a one-day conference on Tuesday, March 31 so cost is low and punch is high.  Looks like Dave Ferguson and Scott Chapman will be main presenters along with Larry.  Come hang out for a day and learn some secrets to helping people “stick” at your church.  Conference Website here.

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I meant to post this on New Year’s eve…on the actual one year anniversary.  It was a year ago that day that I attended the final service at Community Christian Church in Hobart.  I met many of the very cool and servant-hearted people who had given that church their best and it was cool to hear the stories of lives changed over the years, even though the church was now closing.

I was there because the church decided to take a risk on suncrest.  The remaining people and a some significant resources were committing to help us launch suncrest east.  What a commitment…and what a year for them.  I got to see a number of them at our Christmas Eve service, but a couple of my favorite Christmas cards this year came from people who were once part of that church and now are part of our east campus.  Here’s two examples:

From Bill and Ruth Ann Foster’s Christmas letter to all their family/friends:  “On the last Sunday of 2007 we brought to an end our church home of the last 25+ years.  However, when God closes one door, he opens another.  Although we were never able to accomplish our mission; our entire congregation joined forces with another growing church and together we launched yet a new 2nd campus that currently meets in a movie theater in Merrillville.  We couldn’t be more excited with it’s acceptance and how well it is meeting people’s needs.”

And, simply, from Natalie Keller:  “We are so thankful we’re part of the Suncrest family.”

I’m thankful too.  For a church that has been a blessing to us and many in it’s unselfishness.

Posted in Suncrest

Last night I registered for a half marathon.  Now, I have until mid-May to get prepared to run 13.1 miles.  I think I’ll do it mostly because I’m cheap.  I laid out $45 to register…not going to waste that.

I’ve registered along with Jeff Sanford and Jeff Butera from our community group.  Jeff’s wife Donelle might run too.

My biggest challenge…getting some good cardio stuff going here now while there is snow and cold outside.  My 3 mile runs need to start when I’m in Africa in February, so that could be a challenge too (but it won’t be the weather!)

And…I’m not yet committing for the full marathon.

Posted in Suncrest

I’ve been talking about Jenny and me going to Africa, but we aren’t the first ones from our community group to go.  Kim Martin gets back this week after her own two week trip.

I didn’t know Kim before she was in our group, but Jenny and I just really love her.  She’s sincere, asks great questions, is really straightforward, and has a compassion for people that is just off the charts.  This fall she told our community group she was going on a mission trip to Kenya and I think it inspired a lot of us.

I got this note from her last week, only a couple days into her trip. 

   I just wanted to take a min. and send a little note that I hope you can pass on to the rest of the group. I am on day 3 in Kenya and it has been amazing so far. I really wanted to thank the group for all the prayers and support that have gotten me here. I will have lots of stories and pictures when I get home.
Last night (New Year’s Eve) the church in the slum had an all night prayer service. It was the most amazing thing I have ever been to in my life. They sang and danced and prayed and even had a few sermons. We didn’t get to stay the whole night because we still weren’t all the way adjusted to the time change but the time there was great.
    Anyway, please let everyone know I’m doing ok and having a great time. Please say a few prayers for us. Our medical camp starts tomorrow and we are figuring a line of at least a few thousand people wanting to be seen.

Say a prayer for Kim as you read this.  She’s on her last few days there.  Can’t wait to hear how God worked in her and how she was used by God to change lives.

…And if you aren’t in a community group, why not?  We’ve met some great people!

Posted in Suncrest

Our missions team asked me to go to Liberia, Africa (small green country on the map!) and visit our missionaries/church planters there, Danny and Bea Buegar (pictured).  There is so much to share that I’m going to try to post about this weekly until the trip and do my best to update the blog during our trip.

Here are some basics to get started:

When?  11 days from February 14-25

Who?  A church in Muncie, IN is sending a team of over 20 people and they had 3 spots open.  Our missions team learned of the opportunity and asked me to go.  Also going will be Denise Tribble (a key missions team leader) and Jenny.

Where?  Most of our time will be spent in Monrovia, the capital city of Liberia in West Africa.  The church planting teams have planted churches all over Liberia, but I’m not sure if we will get the chance to visit any of them outside of the city.  Our flights go Indy to Chicago to London to Nairobi (Kenya) to Monrovia.

Why?  This what I’ll post on more.  This is a mission trip and we will be working with the Muncie team to construct a church building, run medical clinics, and lead a Vacation Bible School.  Our primary reason for going, though, comes out of Suncrest’s 14 year relationship with the Buegar’s and their church planting group Liberian Evangelistic Mission.  Danny and Bea have been to Suncrest at least 1/2 dozen times, but we have never visited them, served alongside them, encouraged them personally.  Danny sent me an email yesterday and part of it said, “Bea and I are looking forward to your visit.  We just can’t stop praying for your coming and having a successful mission trip.”

Posted in Suncrest

OK…I actually had some people post their weight and their goal int he comments below my previous bigger loser post.  And now…this thing is gaining steam.

If you want to get serious, be part of a group, add some real competition and reward…and you are on facebook…you can get into a real contest with other folks.  $10 fee.  Winner gets cash prize…and looks like it could be pretty big.  I think you should donate it to a great cause, but you don’t have to.

It will be a lot of fun, anyway.  If I win (fat chance…so to speak), There will be a lot of Suncrest people, but it’s not a “suncrest thing” per se. (blah blah blah…disclaimer, etc).  Send me a facebook message and I’ll get you to the link.  If you aren’t on facebook yet, maybe this is the reason to take a dive into social media.  www.facebook.com

If you don’t want to do the $10 thing, but want to be in, you can still just comment on that previous post and track with me as I post some updates over the next few months.

Posted in Suncrest