Weekend recap!

What a weekend it was......here are some highlights:

• Largest "Thrive" weekend we have ever had....great job to our student ministry team (Nick, Brad, Sharon, Greg & Amanda)......SOLID!!
• I spoke 3 times to the students and loved getting to know them......we have some STUD students who God is doing amazing things through!!
• Last night at our closing session, Chris Orr & his band absolutely blew the lid off in worship and Chris had the students read Is. 53 and look at what Christ did on their behalf and he talked about that is WHO we worship....and sang a song "Worthy is the Lamb"...never heard it but it was strong! I spoke for 5-10 minutes and challenged students from Is. 26:8 "Yes Lord" and we talked about saying yes to God
• 20 students gave their lives to Christ last night
• 100+ made the commitment to "say yes" in living for Him and making His name famous on their campuses.......WOW....blown away....humbled!!
• We then went to Ultimate Dodgeball where our staff team was smoked by some high school guys......I still hate losing!!! Totally fun however!!
• Today - we cranked up the Braveheart series with STRONG....how do we keep our hearts strong in tough times....It was a "thick" day and you could feel God's hand heavy on our people
• Lisa Jones came up after the message and belted "Anyway" by Martina McBride.....over the top - out of the park - Incredible!!!
  
• What a day!! I met so many that are facing the "stuff" of life and today was perfect!!
• I don't normally encourage you to download a message but this is one you want - the content from Ps.27 is right on the money for where we live!! www.northstarchurch.org
• Baptized 10+ after the service - that is always a blast....love seeing adults & kids following thru on what God has done in their lives!
• Great day of baseball today - NOW I am going to chill for the evening!!!
• What a weekend - what a day - what a God!!!
  

Thrive Weekend!

Here is the fact....I am a "student pastor" by heart who happens to be a senior pastor for my day job!! There is NO ONE on any team that I respect more than guys that give their lives to students!! After serving in student ministry for 5+ years - I never lost my love for students and my love for seeing what God can do through some one (6th-12th grade) that is sold out for him!!

This weekend, our student ministry team is hosting "Thrive weekend"....Disciple Now as we used to call it and almost 25o students are packed in houses (brave host) all over West Cobb! They kicked off tonight and the Chris Orr band is blowing it out in worship and Brad & Nick were brave enough to ask me to speak for the weekend!! Tonight was an incredible start to the weekend as we talked about "His name & renown being the desire of our hearts". If 250 students could live that - it could change every campus they walk on next week!!

Pray with me that God will show up this weekend and do some incredible stuff that only He can do!! I will speak again in the AM and then again tomorrow night.......I am praying that the words on those pages in scripture will jump off and crawl up into their lives and they will never be the same!! 7 of the 12 players on my 14u travel team are part of Thrive as well - how unreal would it be to see God stir their hearts and do something much bigger than baseball!!!!

Incredible Staff Meeting

Yesterday we had an incredible staff training time for our NStar team! Once a month, we have in a great leader to challenge and sharpen our team! We have had great Pastors such as: Brian Bloye, Shawn Lovejoy, Ike Reighard, Ken Williams and Andy Stanley. We have also had great business leaders: Ira Blumenthal (Branding Expert), Chuck Bengochea (CEO of Honeybaked Hams), Dr. Jeff Terrell (President of PSI) and yesterday famed sports psychologist Dr. Jack Llewellyn. Dr. Jack worked most notably with John Smoltz and spent many years in the Braves dugout working with the players on the mental side of the game!! He has worked with corporations and now works with many of the NASCAR drivers.

We learned a ton but I guess the biggest take-away of the day for me was that we play best when we don't relax but when we play on an emotional edge, passionately doing what we love to do!! It is amazing how much our attitude plays into what we do!! I am in the middle of his book right now and it is right on the money!! Great stuff - thanks Dr. Jack for challenging our team!!

This is too good.......

I have had the opportunity to meet Rick Warren a couple of times through the years. NorthStar won the Church Health Award two years ago and we went and spent some time at Saddleback, it was amazing! I have also been to a couple of small setting lunches with Rick and I always leave so blessed and so blown away at Rick's kindness and humility.

Today, Mark Batterson posted about a lunch he just had with Rick. His blog was so strong, I wanted to post it for you! Thank Mark for passing on your notes so we can be challenged!

Integrity. Humility. Generosity.

By Mark Batterson

"I'd rather die than embarrass Jesus Christ."

Of all the things Rick Warren said, I feel like that statement was the most powerful. Really appreciate Rick's humility and transparency. He talked about the three temptations leaders face. They are the same temptations Jesus faced in the desert.

The first temptation is lust of the flesh. Satan says to Jesus, "Turn these stones into bread." He was tempting Jesus to use his gifts for self-gratification. And the antidote is integrity.

The second temptation is lust of the eyes. Satan shows him the kingdoms of the earth and says all this can be yours. Rick said the temptation is taking shortcuts to accumulate things. And the antidote is generosity. By the way, Rick reverse tithes. In other words, he gives 90% and lives off 10%. Awfully inspiring!

The third temptation is the pride of life. At some point you can stop building altars to God and start building monuments to self. The antidote is humility. And I love Rick's definition. Humility is not denying our strengths. It is admitting our weaknesses.

Good stuff. I think he'd dead on. Integrity, humility and generosity are the greatest safeguards against the temptations leaders face.

Tuesday

I couldn't think of anything creative to call tomorrow.....so, Tuesday will work!

Tomorrow AM, I will continue our series through Andy Stanley's book "Visioneering" about the life of Nehemiah. It is so cool to work through with these executives and see where we each are in our own personal journey's. In Chapter 3 we are going to talk about what God does in our lives when we are waiting on Him to answer and to move. The key to remember, God is at work all the time whether I am see Him working or not! Boy, if I could master that it would be super!!

We will gather in our Creative team meeting at 9am and we will talk thru the last Sunday of "Take-Out" and talk through Brave-heart! Can't wait to meet with these guys!!

I will then hit the road to the southside of Atlanta for a funeral service of my neighbor while growing up. He & his wife have lived beside my parents since 1973.....it will be a sad day I know for his family.

Tuesday's are always big days in getting the week cranking - love meeting with the executives, love meeting with creative team.......these guys all challenge me and I love that feeling!!!!

Rearview Mirror

• We wrapped up our Take-out series with "How may I serve you?".....this series is WHO we are at NStar and it was FUN to share our passion!!
  
• Rolled out our new community web-site www.northstarinthecommunity.com
  
• I am excited that people will have a way to keep up with everything going on and find a spot to help us do "take-out"!
• The crowds were slammed again...our parking is getting tapped out!!!
• Worship was as usual ON!!! Stephanie & Josh were amazing in the Compass Centre and Daniel knocked it out in True North!!
• I hear awesome stuff about the TN service.....things are really starting to click and get into a groove!!
• Next week we begin Brave-heart...this series is about the wounds of warrior - King David. He is known for his battle wounds -but he had some tremendous personal wounds that we all face. This series is going to be incredible and I pray that NStar folks invite their friends to come with them - I think it is going to touch some nerves!!
• My friends, Dave & Angela, flew back to Phoenix yesterday - sad to see them go and praying that God opens the doors for them to move here! Dave is a math teacher & baseball coach - he is the kind of guy we WANT with our kids at school!!
  
• Yesterday, our team shocked me with a part of the service thanking me for the 11 years I have been at NStar......I was blown away - they had some pics from the early days....I have gotten old!!! I was 28 when we started NStar.....crazy!!! What they did meant the world to me and it is also makes me wonder - what else have they worked on that I had no idea of!! (HA!)
• Spent the afternoon on the diamond with my ball team - we crank it up in a few weeks!! Can't wait - love to have you come out & see us!!
• Last night we crashed, ate Pizza (broke my carb diet for the night) and watched the Giants shock the world!!!! Eli's play at the end of the game, getting out of the sack and the catch that the receiver made was one of the greatest plays I have ever seen in sports!!! Loved it!!!
• Today - Braveheart work and getting ready to speak at Thrive!!!
  

Take-out Week 3

Big weekend ahead.....we finish up our Take-out series on Sunday! This weekend we will be talking about "How may I serve you?"

I am avid "church" watcher and I love to follow what others are doing.....They are some great churches out there that are flat-out getting it done! I think there a couple of common denominators that all of these have: strong leadership, great communicators, compelling vision, great children & student ministries, kicking worship, etc......

All of those are great things and there are some churches that are knocking it out in each of those areas. I believe the one area that very few churches are getting it done is in the area of "influencing" their communities and serving them until they ask why!

I pray that NorthStar will be a church that so impacts our community that when you think of Acworth, Kennesaw & NW Cobb that NorthStar is mentioned in the same sentence!

Next year we are shooting to do a "Take-out" conference at NStar and share some of the lessons that we have learned the past 11 years! If every church became the bridge builder for the community and took on their communities as their challenge - we could see a change that would be unbelievable!! Can't wait!!! Check out our new website for community...www.northstarinthecommunity.com