.Real.Greg.Lee.

Yesterday was a great day as our 12 full and part-time ministry staff had an all-day retreat.  I love how even those who are part-time figure out to give us a full day on this.  We went just down the road to White Hawk Country Club, where they always take great care of us (for free!).  Thanks, White Hawk!

What do we discuss on our retreats?  Yesterday was a combination of experiences:

-Celebrate wins…people who have come to Christ, people stepping up in leadership, east campus launch prep

-Pray Together for our church…both needs/crises we are aware of and for each person’s relationship with Jesus

-Define Reality…today we took a 1/2 hour to reflect on the lives of those who don’t live in “church world”  What is happening in our country?  What is happening culturally?  How do these big picture shifts and trends affect our people in everyday life?  Thought this was a really powerful part of today.

-Discuss the new book Itby Craig Groeschel.  We do some type of staff development every month and this was a good one that Mary Beth led us through.

-Experience the “Online Campus” of (they have a service at noon on Tuesdays) www.lifechurch.tv— an internet campus is an intriguing idea to me, but there are so many ways it is different we really want to explore it as a legitimate expression of “church”.  I’ll post on this by itself sometime.

-Have lunch together…always fun.

-Discuss a wide variety of agenda items that we needed some extended time to discuss

• Making our mission (Being Used by God to change Lives) not only KNOWN, but OWNED.
• Determining our “target” audience as a church.  We never want to exclude people, but there are lots of times when you need to know who you are aiming for.  I’ll post on this some more later also.
• Renewing our commitment (as staff) to be leaders and equippers, not “doers”. 
• Look at the 2009 budget…hard decisions to make here with current state of finances.
• Talk about changing staff meeting rhythms.
• Discuss possibility of adding a Saturday night service.

It was a good day (accomplished from 9am-4pm!) that will push us forward more quickly than if we just spread those things out of 1/2 dozen staff meetings. 

And…note to self:  Next staff retreat day, don’t schedule a 7:00am meeting and a 6:30pm elders meeting on the same day!

Posted in Suncrest

-So that’s what 12 inches of rain looks like.  My home and the church were spared any damage.  Many, many others were not so fortunate.

-Does it count as a day off if you open your email and have 75 new messages to process so you can hit the next day running?

-Comment from someone’s tear-off panel Sunday about Suncrest…”Thank you so much for being so awesome.”  Love it.

-Practice Sunday at East Campus went awesome despite the challenge of getting there through the floods.  Way to go, launch team!

-Spent most free moments over the last 3 days getting our basement ready to host the childcare for our community group.  I think there could be over a dozen kids down there. 

-Can’t wait for our community group to start…both for those returning and some new folks.

-All day Staff Retreat tomorrow.  Some critical things to discuss.

-You laughed at that picture at the top, didn’t you?  It’s OK to admit it.  That’s what you get when you google “random thoughts” for images.

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I’m not obsessive compulsive, but there are a few oddities I like in life and one of them is watching the odometer turn to a new, significant number on my car.

I’ve been blogging for about 15 months now (though it felt pretty random until the last 5 or so) and I just saw that the blog just passed its 15,000th visit. 

So for those of you have become regulars or if you are just stopping by randomly (and subscribers too, even though you don’t count in the stats!), I love sharing a little bit of life with you and hope something is helpful, encouraging or insightful along the way.

Posted in Suncrest

I just got a cool email from Christ in Youth (CIY).  I’ve posted a couple of times about the opportunity I had to speak at their “MOVE” conference this summer. 

It was humbling because I know God uses CIY to change students lives.  I’ve seen it first-hand for years and especially this year in Suncrest students when they returned from the conference in Southern Illinois.  We had students who were baptized as a result and some who have given their life to ministry.  Each story has it’s own power.

But there is something powerful about the numbers as a whole too.  The email said that over 7000 public decisions were made by students this summer.  Decisions to follow Christ.  Decisions to go into ministry or be a kingdom worker.  And, decisions to repent from the current course of their lives and turn back to walking personally with God.  7000. Wow.

If you are totally bored and have nothing better to do, you can download my talk from CIY in Colorado by clicking here.

Posted in Suncrest

Seven years ago today and not only is the wound fresh, but the consequences still affect us every day.

They affect no one more than those who serve our country in the U.S. armed forces and their families.  Thank you for your sacrifice.

Posted in Suncrest

East campus launch is in our sights.  For those curious…here’s some key things to remember and pray for.

-We love the support and curiosity of people staying at our West Campus (St. John).  And we would love for you to go “check out” East Campus someday.  But, please, please don’t do it on launch weekend or even in the first month of launch.  We need that month for the launch team to invest in newcomers and to make sure we have enough room for the people we are trying to reach.

–After the first month, if you want to visit I’d love for you to also volunteer to serve.  You could be a great “breather” as an usher or greeter (or set-up/tear-down!) for a launch team member wearing multiple hats.

-Among those 120 people launching east campus were some very committed volunteers, leaving plenty of room for new volunteers at West.  Many of the “holes” have been filled, but if you are worshipping at West and have ever thought about “contributing by serving”, now is the time to step up.  A wide variety of roles exist.  Contact david.vineyard@suncrest.org

-Pray for us as we “get the word out”.  We’ve already integrated in the community by being at festivals and serving the school district with backpacks for those in need, now it’s time for the wider announcement of our launch.  Jenny and I live in the “mailing radius” for our east campus promotion effort.  And we got our first postcard about it last week.  4 more will come before launch.  Pray God captures people’s attention with this card…especially those who have been disconnected from God or church.

–As we launch East, we aren’t coasting at West.  In fact, we are pushing the gas pedal.  We just had a great outreach event, we are doing some promotional efforts and getting our first impressions in great shape people and facility-wise.  As always, the key will actually be having people invite their friends.  Join me in doing that and we try to let God use us to change lives.

–Pray for a critical leadership meeting of East Campus leaders this Saturday.  It’s finalizing the plans and there are probably a million details to figure out!

Posted in Suncrest

OK…No one is taking my predictions to the Vegas and making money…

Not only was I totally wrong on the Bears last week, but as soon as I posted on how hot the cubs were they have lost 8 of 9 and my doomsday speculation about the cardinals has landed them 3.5 games out of the playoff race.

Hopefully my predictions aren’t all wrong, because this week I have the Bears winning.  I don’t think it will be easy.  A couple things to note…

-The Bears Defense looked great on the first game of last season against the Chargers and then went down hill.  They looked great against Indy, but can they continue it…?

-The Carolina Panthers are always a competitive team and pulled off a huge upset in Week 1 themselves against the Chargers.

-Key to the game has to be the same as against Indy.  Bears HAVE to stop the run and get some pressure on the QB.  Carolina has a tandem of Running Backs that outgained Ladianian Tomlinson last week.

Posted in Suncrest

I didn’t get to count exactly how many people were on stage Sunday, but it it had to be awfully close to all 120 of our east campus launch team.  The theme of the day was “My Legacy” so it fit perfectly to pray over and “commission” this team as we send them out.  What they have committed themselves to will live far beyond them.

I loved looking a the mix of people.  If you were there Sunday, you may have heard me describe…

-Kids.  Most of them weren’t even born when Suncrest launched 14 years ago.

-Elders.  2 of our 7 elders (suncrest’s spiritual leaders) are helping launch the east campus.

-2nd Timers.  There are a few that were there when Suncrest launched 14 years ago.

-The Hobart Church Folks.  This small group of people made the unselfish decision to give the resources ($100,000) they had and become part of this effort to reach  the community they love.

–Some great friends.  It will be weird not to see them every Sunday, but it is so worth it for the cause.

–An awesome staff.  Julie, Chris, Kevin, and (their fearless leader) Doug have pulled this thing together like Champs!

This was their last Sunday at Suncrest’s west campus.  The next two weeks will be Sunday’s at the theater prepping for launch and worshipping together.  Then, September 28 brings a launch.  Pray for it every day.

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So…how about those Bears?

I get so frustrated with fans that have no confidence in their team and are always moping around instead of supporting them.  Of course, that means I was frustrated with myself…and that prediction they would get hammered.

Matt Forte…I just don’t want to get my hopes up too high yet.   Not only did he play awesome, it seemed he was very level headed about it after the game.

I’m not quite ready to say “Super Bowl”, but they sure did look good last night.

Posted in Suncrest

Soccer Season began for Jack today.  He has had a couple practices, but today was his first game.  I’m the assistant coach for his team.  A couple of reflections…

–I love coaching.  My dad coached a number of my teams when I played youth sports.  And I love coaching Jack. On top of that, I love coaching the other kids too.  It’s amazing to see their progress.

-I wish I could teach “aggressiveness”.  I’m not quite willing to say “you either have it or you don’t.”  But, I’m close.

-One or 2 skilled players make all the difference.  It’s pronounced at this level (age 6 and under), but we have a couple really good players and they dominated the game.  When they were on the sidelines…the game was even.

-Encouragement works.  Not sure why it comes so easily with me to encourage kids on the soccer field, but I’m not more of natural at it with my family, co-workers, etc.

-You can’t keep kids from keeping score.  And most parents too.  I think it’s good the league doesn’t emphasize it.  I also think it’s OK for the kids to be excited about competition.

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