What a Sunday!

• Picked up the trailer at 6:10am. With out a doubt one of the best things I get to do here at Imagine.
• Unloading the trailer with Kevin at 6:45am is the calm before storm.
• We moved into the theater we’ll be using for our grand opening service on a weekend notorious for low turn out in church attendance. Genius or Foolish (more on this later).
• Thank God for the talented people at Imagine Fellowship! They get the job done week after week!
• Our band brings it every single week! They rocked the house once again! Those guys work hard every Sunday and we’re lucky to have them rockin’ our faces off.
• Projector on top of truss tower, FAIL!
• 1,750 feet of extension cords caused a blackout, we were about 200 feet short! Grrrrrr!
• Band’s last song and we trip a breaker! There goes the sound system.
• Kevin thinks quick on his feet.
• Sound goes out. Kevin: “We can do this!” (I unplug one cable and plug in another. The result: COMPLETE BLACK OUT) Kevin: “But we can’t do this.” And then…. laughter in the dark.
• Lights go out and the first to respond…. Brandon, the high school kid that runs the light board. I was impressed!
• I was so distracted that I didn’t even get to hear Kev’s message. I’m going to have him preach it to me later this week.
• We moved from a 120 seat theater to a 280 seat theater.
• Not a large crowd but we expected that. Good thing, not many saw the electrical blunder.
• Sara and Katie were matching today, blue jeans and hot pink. I love those girls.
• Long lunch, no nap, surprise birthday party, I run well on fumes.
• Nan Palmero makes me laugh.
• Had my first real dance with Katie today. We danced to Hotel California by the Eagles! She had fun and so did I. That seven year old can dance!
• I don’t think I can live without my BB 8330.
• Night swimming with Katie! Scary fun. Katie relaxes me like crazy! Stress can’t touch me when I’m around that kid. Thank God for daughters.
• Kevin Joyce inspires me all day long. So lucky to have him around. I don’t know how he gets it all done. I feel challenged constantly.
• Fog is cool.
• Grand opening = lots of work.
• Seven days and counting till Imagine Fellowship goes public. Look out SA.
• I’m nocturnal and I hate it.
• I can’t wait till next Sunday!
• Craig’s List Post: Kids Worker’s Needed!!!!!
• I’m so lucky!!

The highest form of leadership is replacing yourself.  What does that mean?  It means that you bring others beside you, show them what you do, and then give them the opportunity to do the same and better.  Most, however, fail to give others the opportunity…Why?

The fears:

-they wont do as good a job as you (of course not, they just started, give them time)

-they dont have experience (they will when you give them the opportunity)

-it might not get done on time (if it doesn’t, find out why, help correct, happens a bunch then you may have replaced yourself with the wrong person)

A couple from Bay Area came up this last weekend and posted on their blog about their experience at Imagine, check it out!!!

http://mobministry.blogspot.com/2008/08/kjs-imagine-fellowship-in-san-antonio.html

thanks Hans and Annie!!!

I am not enough.  Not strong enough, courageous enough, talented enough, influential enough, entreprenuial enough, or pure enough.  Not pretty enough, skinny enough, bold enough, confident enough, or daring enough.  

I am not enough.  

Not caring enough, patient enough, kind enough, gentle enough, or even humble enough.

See..I am not enough.  

Not focused enough, giving enough, daring enough, or even loving enough. Not content enough, not joyful enough, not faithful enough, not peaceful enough.  

I am not truthful, thankful, sacrificial, righteous, passionate, graceful or appreciative enough.

I am not enough…

But He is.

We are gearing up for our Grand Opening in two weeks!  So many people have given up their time in service and given up their hearts for Christ.  I wanted to thank you today for that…You have made the difference for Imagine Fellowship. God wants to use each one of us to reach this city.  I pray that our Grand Opening on September 7th is huge for Christ!

I heard a very profound statement and it has stuck with me for a long time, (and for the life of me I cannot remember who said it, so if you know let me know), but they said, “Stop trying to convince yourself of who God is, and let God convince you of who you are.”  

When I heard that, it stopped me in my tracks.  I heard, keep learning more and more about God (which is a must!) and at the same time we need to be absolutely convinced of who we are in Christ.  

Insecurities, a lack of self confidence, and many other problems aren’t because God isn’t real; it is because we are not convinced of who we were meant to be and what we are supposed to do….Our actions happen because of what we believe about ourselves. 

Last night my wife and I went for a walk and we saw a couple who were going at it…They were yelling and screaming (we didnt know them) but I felt so bad for their situation.

I started thinking, isn’t it incredible how people start off so in love, head over heels for one another, and then years later they are screaming at each other or not talking to one another at all.

How does it get that way?  Easily. Time passes and they stop doing the things that brought them together.  Little notes aren’t passed anymore, the encouragement slowly stops, serving one another begins as a to-do list, and physical touch goes out the window.  Then one day we think to ourselves, “How did it get this way?!?!?!”  

Yet, that is not the most important question.  The real question is, “How do I get back to where we started?”  Simple again.  Slowly begin to encourage, serve, and love one another. Why do I say slowly?  Sometimes relationships have been so damaged, there is a lot of broken trust…Most people, in hurt relationships, believe that nothing will ever change (so they initially reject the attempts of love)….So, slowly and steadily encourage, serve, and love!

Sometimes I have a case of dyslexia, but I really do mean the “storm before the calm.”  I have noticed that when you are about to do something great for God, try to push forward God’s agenda, help someone for His sake, there is a storm waiting for you.  

The last couple of weeks, it seems like the people in our church have been “beatin up” by all kinds of situations…As a church we are trying to reach out to those around us, and it is evident to me, that there is an opposing force, a spiritual enemy, trying to oppose this from happening.  

I have been praying like crazy for the last couple of weeks.  In fact, its like God won’t let me stop (which is a great thing)…I need all of us to pray together that this opening on Sep. 7, will be huge for Christ!  That we will come together and love God by loving people!  

Kevin

Marriage can be awesome and marriage can be gruesome if let go….There are many tools that make a marriage great–communication (I think this one is huge), humility, trust, encouragement, and love.  One, that I have not heard in used in terms of marriage is in the book “Good to Great.”  Jim Collins says,” Confront the brutal facts. When…you start with an honest and diligent effort to determine the truth of the situation, the right decisions often become self evident…”  

That is amazing marital advice!  What is the situation at hand?  What do I need to do to help the situation?  Often times spouses just don’t want to face the problems.

In marriage, the situation is usually getting worse or getting better, there is no holding pattern in relationships.  Take the right steps today to better your marriage today (or ask for help)!

Every second of every day people are thinking…Thinking about work, relationships, problems, and opportunities.  Though, how often, do we strategize what we think about. Most of us just go about our day and take life and the day as it comes. 

What if you strategized about what you were going to think about today?  Remember that your thoughts direct your actions–change your thoughts, change your actions!

We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ. 2 Cor 10:5