.Real.Greg.Lee.

There are a lot of reasons the bears should win tomorrow — home field, Chicago weather vs. Florida team, inspired by last week’s embarrassment, they seem to win every other week, still that chance at winning the NFC north.

None of that will matter, because the Bears just aren’t very good.  And, I’m sad to say it as a Lovie Smith fan, but they just haven’t been coached very well this year — or any year since their super bowl year.  Offensive Coordinator Ron Turner has flashes of brilliance, but seems clueless at key times and Lovie seems to “let him be”.  Lovie made a mistake in parting with Ron Rivera as defensive coordinator.

My Prediction:  Jags 19 Bears 14

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If I had to narrow down why I love Suncrest so much, it is because the people that make up this church routinely inspire me.  Just a couple of quick examples…

I talked with a guy the other night who owns a restaurant in Merrillville and he told me he was talking to one of his employees about whether she goes to church.  She told him “I’d like to, but you have me working on Sunday mornings!”  🙂  So, he immediately gave her half of her Sunday mornings off and on the Sundays she works, he walks out of our service, grabs one of the free sermon CD’s and takes it to the restaurant for her.  And she’s listening to them!

I’ve had some conversations this week about the challenging financial situation we are in and every time I talk to somebody I get this sense that they want to be part of the solution.  What could be an uncomfortable conversation turns into something where people say “count on me” and you get this sense that they don’t want to the church to skip a beat in helping people come to Christ, seeing marriages restored, helping people in need, or sending high school students off to study for ministry.

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OK…commenters, here it is. A picture of the lit tree. 

Unfortunately, it was taken with my camera phone which is equal in quality to most bank security cameras!

Anyway, at least you can see there are lots of lights.

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Jenny decorated our tree last night with one of the most practical innovations in years — Trim it Quick Christmas Lights.  We were given them as a gift, but they are worth buying if you…

1.  Want your tree to look great…way better than all those strands of lights.

2.  Want to make hanging the lights fast.  And…I’m confident taking them down will be even easier!

3.  Want to make hanging lights fun and not frustrating.

And for anyone connected to Suncrest, here’s the extra-cool part:  They were invented and developed by Leslie Wasem, wife of my mentor and Suncrest’s founding pastor.  She’s been invited on news segments here in Chicago and TLC’s show Designing Spaces to talk about them.  It was featured on Good Morning America yesterday and will be on the Lifetime channel’s “Balancing Act” Friday morning at 7:00am.  Pretty incredible.

I just found out you can also buy them online here.

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Lynn Barbee has attended our church for over 10 years and writes a prayer blog for Suncrest.  It’s a great tool for me (and our church…and anyone else) to stay focused and reminded about praying for the right things.

On the day after thanksgiving, she was the cover story of the Times (titled “Giving Thanks and Praise”) as it related to her house flooding this fall.  She gives props to her God and her church and even gets a reference to her blog!   (Click here for the story.)   I love it.

And I love Lynn.  Thanks for leading us to pray…

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If you are in ministry, you probably are staring down the most hectic 3-4 weeks of your year.  Christmas is busy for everyone…and it multiplies in church life.  Nothing else stops.  It is simply a “piling on” of all things Christmas related. 

We don’t do as many special events as many churches, but Christmas Eve is huge for us…and we consider it possibly our very best invitation time of the year.  This year, we’ll do one service on the 23rd and three on the 24th.

For me, this run is intense and culminates with an enormous sigh when I walk out of the church after our final Christmas Eve Service (and then hit the road for 5 hour drive “home”).

So, the logical thing for a leader to do is go into it prepared, right?  I just got back from some extended time off over Thanksgiivng.  It was awesome.  I took my usual Monday off today also.  Then, I looked at my calendar and realized I need to plow through email tonight if I have any chance of getting a jump on my week.  The good news is…I did very well at not checking email over thanksgiving.  Which makes the bad news obvious…I’m not counting how many emails there were to process. Actually, I stopped counting at 86 — the number of emails I had today alone.  Ugh…

MIssion accomplished, though.  Got those ludicrous numbers down to 6 messages from today and 13 total from the long weekend!  Feel like I’m ahead already!

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It’s definitely easier this way.  Make your predictions after the game!

After a drive home form Iowa, i turned the game on just in time to watch the bears run the ball straight into a wall of defenders at the goal line time and again…giving up the ball on downs.  Then, former Bear Bernard Berrian catches a 99 yard TD pass.  That was pretty much it.

To quote Jim Mora (in his high pitched voice)… “Playoffs?! Don’t talk about playoffs! You kidding me?! Playoffs?! I just hope we can win another game!”

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I’ve been fasting from the internet over thanksgiving –haven’t been online since Tuesday.

We’ve made the rounds to see lots of family and are currently in Iowa, but will be back to Indiana tomorrow. 

The Lee Family has an extended family reunion every year here the weekend after Thanksgiving.  I’ve been comign since I was born with only a few misses.  It was always something my brothers and I looked forward to — hanging out with cousins and swimming as much as was humanly possible.

Now, it’s the next generation.  Jack and Abby are swimming with Eric, Megan, Jonathan, Marcus, and Nathan.  We also found a carousel at the mall and Jack was pumped to ride the reindeer.  Abby, chose the bunny.  It’s been a great few days off leading into the craziest season of the year for me.

Hope this Christmas season is your best ever…

Posted in Suncrest

–Jenny.  Can we just start here?  I’d be nothing without this wonderful woman.

–My kids.  Scroll down a few posts for some pictures and you’ll see the smiles that greet me every day.

–My friends.  Some people say you can’t have real friends in ministry…that you should “protect” yourself.  They are wrong.  Even if we don’t connect as often as I would like, you are a gift to me.

–People who lead me.  Suncrest people who teach me about life.  Ministry guys who help me see next steps for my leadership.  God has blessed me with unbelievable learning opportunities this year.

–People who follow me.  I treasure this role as leader, but I do not presume it.  I count it a privilege to influence: people in their faith; our church in it’s mission; other leaders in their development.

–The Suncrest staff.  From the other pastors to our custodians, this team is selfless.  Who wouldn’t want to lead a team like that? 

–Suncrest people who accepted Jesus for the first time this year.  Their eternity changed…think about that.  Wow.

–Suncrest people who haven’t accepted Jesus yet.  If having these folks around every week won’t get you out of bed, what will?

–And last but not least…my blog readers!  I was pretty sure when I started this, it would only be interesting to my mom.  🙂  So…I’m as surprised as anyone that the subscriber list keeps growing and the daily traffic keeps spiking.  Thanks for reading and commenting.

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Suncrest is part of the NewThing Network… A catalyst for a movement of reproducing churches.  We have a great event coming up just after the first of the year for anyone trying to get a sense of God’s ministry calling on their lives. 

Here’s some great info on it…hosted at Community Christian Church in Naperville…

DISCOVERING GOD’S DREAM FOR YOUR LIFE
Have you thought that maybe God is calling you to something new?  Do you have an entrepreneurial spirit that is begging to be unleashed to impact God’s kingdom?  Maybe you aren’t sure exactly what your dream is, or you have an idea, but haven’t defined it.  If so, NewThing’s Discover the Dream is an experience that will help you discover how to make God’s dream for you become a reality.  In almost all cases when I talk with someone who is currently living out their dream, I find a motivated, overtly raving and passionate person.  And I quickly learn that, at some point in their life, they encountered the power of discovering the dream that God put within them.

Join the staff of COMMUNITY and NewThing on January 9-10, 2009 in Chicago and learn how you can be part of the reproducing church movement.  We want this to be a personal experience for you so space is limited to the first 80 people who sign up.  For more information or to register, click here.  I would LOVE to see every person encounter the power of discovering and living out the dream that God has placed in them!

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