.Real.Greg.Lee.

Back in February, I wrote a post called “So this is why” (you can read it by clicking here).  The seeker I wrote about then (Mike) had come to Suncrest for a year and wrote some of us an email about the spiritual journey he had been on and how people at Suncrest had walked with him, though he had not yet decided to follow Jesus.

I had lunch with him today and it was the best lunch I’ve had in a long time.  Today he told me that he had chosen to give his life to Christ.  For me, conversations like this remind me that in many ways I’m living the dream.

Mike is a classic skeptic.  He had some strong (not necessarily positive) church experiences as a child.  Since then he’s been on a journey and much of it was not walking toward Christ.  He’s studied eastern religions and has plenty of friends whose faith has gone the direction of Buddhism or something similar.

One fascinating part of his story was how this “decision” came about.  In his journey, there wasn’t a dramatic time when he “decided” to follow Christ.  Instead, over 18 months the list of reasons why he was not following Christ (intellectual and personal) were eliminated one by one.  And the reasons to follow Christ became more powerful.  The decision became apparent and the last piece was to drop his pride and release everything to Christ.

Wonder how many others have that story?  I hope they take the journey as seriously as Mike has.

Posted in Suncrest

Mike Moseng joined our staff almost 2 years ago and almost immediately he and I took a trip to a conference in Atlanta.  He had just filled our administrative role of Executive Pastor.  There’s nothing like a road trip to get to know somebody personally and a friendship was born.  As I write this, tomorrow will be his last day on our ministry staff as he pursues opportunities in another form of ministry.

Mike’s friendship has meant a great deal to me over the past couple years.  We’ve laughed a lot and he’s been a brother and a “safe” outlet for me whether it was talking about staff issues or raising a son or whatever else life has put in our paths.  Like I told him at our staff retreat last year…what I love most about him is that I know he has always had my back.

Here’s the top three things I appreciate about Mike:

-His character…Impeccable.

-His genuine love for people.  I’ve never seen it more authentic in a person.

-His “captured by God” moments.  A short explanation…

…It happens frequently enough that you know it is part of who he is and infrequently enough to know that he isn’t flippant about it.  I think I could point to 10-15 times we’ve been across the table from each other or in a larger meeting and Mike has been visibly moved by something he has just experienced.  God was teaching him or leading him in the midst of everyday ministry and he doesn’t miss it.  Unfortunately, many of us do “miss it” when ministry becomes your everyday life.

Below is part of the note Mike sent to his key leaders about this transition:

In the past months God has allowed me to be a part of some difficult pastoral issues (performing funeral, sitting all night with a family whose husband and father just passed away in the bedroom, baptisms, premarital coaching, hospital visits, and other tough situations) that has shown me where my excitement and giftings truly live.  While I have greatly enjoyed my position as Executive Pastor, I know that I need to be in a situation that allows me to use these gifts on a regular basis.  This could be as a chaplain, working at a hospice, or taking a pastoral type position on a church staff. 

To this end, and with the support of Greg and the elders, I have resigned.  Laura and I fully intend on keeping Suncrest as our home and will continue with our volunteer positions, so we are not saying “goodbye” necessarily unless God leads to a position out of this area. 

I’m obviously thrilled that Mike and Laura will still be part of our church family, just as they were before he joined our staff.  Thanks, Mike, for your servant heart and your ongoing friendship.

Posted in Suncrest

I have to imagine anyone who reads this knows I love the St. Louis Cardinals and love to give cub fans a hard time.  But, I’ve offically resigned myself to these 2 facts:  The cardinals will not make the playoffs this year (even as a wild card) AND the Cubs should win the World Series.  Seems like the only thing that could stop them now is some kind of curse…

And, what better time to end my interest in the baseball season than during the first week of the NFL?  The Bears are my team here and it will be my plan every Thursday to post my prediction here for the upcoming week.

This Sunday they play the Colts on Sunday night in Indy.  I’m realistic…and I have Peyton Manning on my Suncrest fantasy team.  So, I’m not going to pretend that I think the Bears will turn it into a nail-biter, my prediction for this Sunday is:

Bears 17

Colts 31

(There has to be some joke in there where we add “Da Bears with Ditka 493”.)

Posted in Suncrest

Hey all – I’ve admitted here before that I’m personally a political junkie.  Beyond enjoying the process, I also happen to have very strong opinions about politics, even if those opinions don’t necessarily line up with a single candidate or even political party. 

Most of the time, I keep those opinions totally separate form church life….for one reason:  Persuading people toward my political views is not nearly as important as helping people encounter Jesus Christ.  And, sadly, I believe there are a lot of people who have missed out on Jesus because a pastor or church decided to go political.

But, there was a piece of news today that I want so badly for the world to hear that I’m willing to post on it.  John McCain surprised a lot of people with his VP pick the other day.  I’ve taken a “wait and see” approach with Sarah Palin since she was such an unknown.  Since then a few news stories have come out, including the one yesterday saying that her 17 year old daughter is pregnant.

It’s received some extra press because (1) Sarah Palin is pro-life and has encouraged the teaching of abstinence in schools and (2) apparently everyone was curious to see how so-called “evangelicals” would react to this “out of wedlock” pregnancy. 

Here’s the thing for me:  it feels like there is a general sentiment out there in media-world that it would be inconsistent to stand for strong values/morals/ethics while giving grace to those who find themselves in tough situations when they have stepped outside of those moral boundaries.  And maybe I can imagine such a reaction from the person who has never studied Jesus’ life or encountered the power of God’s grace in their own life.  But for those of us who follow Jesus, it is the only right way to react.

We should lead the charge in calling people to a life of high personal responsibility, integrity, and morality while being the first in line to help the person who finds themselves knocked back in life (even as a result of their own choices).

(I do think to myself, what are the other options…?  The opposite?  Teach people that anything goes and then abandon them when their choices result in a difficult circumstances?)

Jesus taught strongly against adultery…then, he gave grace to the woman caught in adultery.  Listen to his parable of the prodigal son.  Imagine the scene of the cross where Jesus offers heaven to a guy guilty enough to hang on the cross next to him.  This IS Jesus’ story.  His GRACE is undeserved favor.  It has it’s source in unconditional love.  And it shows up most powerfully when everyone else shows self-righteous JUDGEMENT.

I’m passionate about it A LITTLE becuase I’ve seen others light up when they have made a poor moral decision and I’ve offered them grace even after teaching them the right thing to do.  I’m passionate about it A LOT because I need that grace in my own life every day.  And Jesus gave his life for me even when I didn’t deserve it.

My conviction…if Christians could get this one right consistently…the world would run to Jesus and be absolutely compelled by his followers.

Posted in Suncrest

Labor Day weekend is blocked out on my calendar for at least the next 13 years.

Every year, we go back to our hometowns of Camp Point, IL (mine) and Clayton, IL (Jenny’s).  They are 5 miles form each other.  Jenny’s family has a reunion on the Sunday, but the main reason we go is to celebrate Jack’s Birthday with both of our extended families.  His party Saturday was a surprise party to him as he turned 5.

We saw a lot of family, played some wiffle ball, cards, and spent some time in the pool.  But, we also got a lot of work done.  That included loading a piano from my grandma’s house (coming to our house next week) and helping mom and dad with a variety of things.  After unloading one load of things, Jack and Abby found the riding lawnmowers at grandma and grandpa’s place.

One wild part…we went to church with Jenny’s family Sunday at their really small Methodist church.  Jack was asked on the spot to light the candles at the beginning of the service (with his cousin in the picture).  With no air conditioning, the fan on stage was blowing and it accidentally blew out his candle lighter (surely there is a more formal name for that thing?).  So, after he got it re-lit and he lit the candle on the altar, he wasn’t about to put his flame out in the traditional (and safe) way.  Instead, he flung it around just missing some people and very valuable pieces of furniture, so he could put it down in front of the fan again to blow it out.   He concluded with an announcement to the whole church “I made the fan blow it out!”

Posted in Suncrest

I’ve got so much good feedback from the leaders night we had where we just took time to thank them.  Below is a very brief summary of my talk, a few notes I got back and some pictures from the night.

My talk

Our volunteer leaders are my heroes…and in the local church (to quote Bill Hybels) “Everything rises and falls on leadership.”  I’m grateful to our leaders specifically for their…

• their time (they give a part of their life to this…and it’s not their spare time, it’s a decision to make this a priority in their lives!)

·         their buy-in(can you imagine over 100 different leaders all moving in the same direction to move Suncrest forward?)

·         their leadership (these people aren’t just “doing” or “serving”, they are leading others to do and serve)

The feedback

Greg,

We really enjoyed last night’s meeting. The Karaoke (croaky), was funny, but best of all were the heartfelt words of gratitude you expressed.

I would imagine most of us volunteers are not looking for anyone to be grateful for what we do at the church, and I personally believe my assignments come from God.   Still, I was surprised at how much I appreciated your gratitude. It gave me the warm fuzzies, and made me feel loved and appreciated.

Thank You,

———————–

To our staff

…I just wanted to send a quick thank you before I attempt to finish my homework for the evening. You are all so amazing and I am so truly blessed to have each one of you in my life. Thank you, thank you, thank you for not only being who you are as individuals but for supporting me and others like me and giving us an outlet for our gifts as leaders here at Suncrest. I was lucky enough to be found by Suncrest instead of me finding it and that (God orchestrated) event in my life has changed every single thing in my life up to this point and will continue changing me, my family, and most importantly, my relationship with God for the rest of my life.

I had such a wonderful time at the leader’s edge meeting and can’t remember when I have laughed so hard (mostly at Greg of course). 🙂 Love the trophy and it is proudly being displayed in my kitchen so my husband can see how awesome his wife is – wait, maybe I should put it in the bathroom??

I love you all.

——————-

The pictures

Posted in Suncrest

Four times each year, we gather our key volunteer leaders for what we call “Leader’s Edge.”  We do it to give everyone three things:

• Advanced Insight (leaders should know the big things happening before anyone else)
• Strategic Focus (our ministries are growing, but are we all moving in the same direction?  This keeps us focused)
• Practical Training (most nights, we break into our ministry huddle groups and it becomes a training time – all the artistic leaders together, all the first impression leaders together, all the community group leaders together)

Last night, our one and only agenda item was to say “Thank You!”.  Suncrest would be dead in the water without the 100+ volunteer leaders we have.  We know that God is using these leaders to change lives.  They are my heroes!

How do we say thank you?  Last night it was fun awards along with some serious words of thanks.  It was staff doing Karaoke (my song was “Achy Breaky Heart”)and all of us dressing up (coats and ties for all the guys!)  It was writing each leader a personal thank you note and letting people be overwhelmed with gratitude and hugs as they came in for the night.

Thanks, leaders, for all that you do!  I’ll post some pictures soon.

Posted in Suncrest

Got word this afternoon that the results came back and my Dad’s cancer is gone.  Officially, it’s called remission.  And, also officially, we are celebrating!

I’m teaching through Nehemiah right now and this reminds me of one of my favorite verses in the Bible showing it would be (1) naive to pray and do nothing else and (2) silly to fight your heart out without praying:

But we prayed to our God and posted a guard day and night to meet this threat.  -Nehemiah 4:9

Someone once told me their approach to the challenges of life:  Pray like it depends on God.  Work like it depends on you.  I see that combination being powerful all the time.  Sure was with my Dad.

(The picture is Dad with Abby from 2 years ago this weekend.)

Posted in Suncrest

Yesterday was killer.  Killer long.  And killer good.

5:00am – up and at ’em

6:00am – in my secret Crown Point hideout doing final walk-through of sermon

7:30am – sound check/walk-through

8:00/9:30/11:00am – suncrest services/teaching

1:oopm – Lunch with 100 people form east campus launch team

2:00pm – crisis counseling session (got the call Saturday night at 11:00pm)

3:00pm – pre-marital coaching session

4:30ish – fall asleep in my office chair

6:00pm – Host “welcome to Suncrest” newcomer gathering

7:00pm – Suncrest Fantasy Football Draft

10:00pm – Head for home

10:30pm – Walk in the door and realize (again) that jenny’s day with kids by herself was harder than the day I just had.

Posted in Suncrest

Five weeks from today, a new campus of Suncrest will launch.  I got to be part of a great launch team gathering for lunch today after church that Doug led.

It was cool to hear about all the leaders in place, the plans for a practice Sunday and a preview Sunday before launch.  The energy in the room was palpable and my favorite part was a prayer Doug led in at the end of the lunch.  He let us be quiet for a minute and reflect on the names of people we are personally going to invite.  I sat at a table with two people going east and they had about 15 people combined on their lists!

Here’s what I asked the staff and elders to do last week…and I’ll ask all my readers to do this too.  Until launch day, will you pray for our east campus every single time you pray?  Meals, prayers with your kids, in your community group, during your quiet time…every time you pray!

We are being faithful to the leadership and effort needed to launch a campus.  At the same time, we firmly believe God’s hand is the difference-maker and we are asking for him to move powerfully.

Posted in Suncrest