Shout Out

I wanted to give a shout out to J.R. Lee & Todd Lollis from Freedom Church. I ran in to them early this morning at McCall Primary School, they had just dropped off treats for the teacher!

Way to go guys - if Freedom catches your hearts, you have some awesome days ahead!!

Trick or Treat

I am sitting here in my house right now a little sad........not because it is Halloween and as one of my staff members heard one person say "It is Satan's birthday"....that is funny to me! I am sad because my 2 kids just took off trick or treating with their friends and it seems like yesterday they were the little one's coming to the door and now one is about to go to Middle School and one to High School!

I am feeling nostalgic tonight and feeling like time has slipped away so quickly!! Dads, if you are reading this, don't wish away time, enjoy every minute......it goes so quick!! Don't get so lost in planting or growing a great church that you can't remember what their costume was for Halloween and which house on the street to avoid because they pass out "toothbrushes" instead of candy!! A kid's nightmare!!

Over the last 10 years of NorthStar we have experienced some things that I never dreamed I would see or be a part of......but........the last 10 years of experiences with my 2 kids have been even better!! Don't miss the best chasing what you think is better!!

Better go, there are some goblins & cowboys coming up my driveway!!

Andy Stanley

We had the privilege to have Andy Stanley come and "pour" in to our staff & friends today. I have read all of Andy's books, I listen to him speak all of the time, but I have to say I was a little intimidated that he was coming to our campus to be with us.

Andy's content was amazing and the stuff he shared was so on the money and relevant to where we are. For an outline of what he shared visit J.R. Lee's blog where he shared the "quotes" that Andy shared. What I appreciated most was the humility that he exhibited and how he stood around and asked more questions than he answered. This is huge....I have met a ton of church planters and young guys who have all of the answers and spend their time meeting with us telling us what they are doing and never asking questions to learn. Here is the pastor of one of the most innovative kicking churches in the country and he is the picking the brains of guys on our team and some church planters we are working with! What a lesson for me and our team!

He is always pushing himself and his team to be better and to not focus on yesterday but figure out ways to do it better in the future! What a challenge!

Thanks Andy - our expectations were high and you exceeded them by a mile!

Sunday Stuff

Here is some Sunday stuff.......

• My little girl's squad took 1st place today in their cheerleading competition!!
• We had an awesome morning at NStar talking about "Team Players"...I am so glad to be a part of a church that people know they can always come home to!
• I never want to be a part of an "older brother" church again - a place that is always throwing stones at those that have been away
• NorthStar is a big time hangout for Prodigals
• Our special guest at NorthStar today was the real deal "Heisman Trophy"...can you believe that....the Holy Grail for College Football fans......We had it in both services and TONS of people came up and struck the Heisman pose and got their picture made with it!
• Shout out to Kevin & Nissan North America for allowing us to have it for the morning as a prop for the "team player" sermon.....pretty sweet prop!!!

Tomorrow is going to be an amazing day - Management Team meeting in the morning at 6:30am to talk about the details of NStar, this is a great team! Then we have a special all-staff meeting with some of our church planting buddies to hear from one of the greatest communicators in the country.....can't wait to tell you about it later tomorrow!

Special visitor to NorthStar

I can't wait to let you know about the "special guest" at NStar tomorrow......pretty crazy stuff! You'll have to wait.........I can't wait!!!!

Here we go......congratulations Dawgs

This pains me but it is well deserved......congrats Dawg Nation. I never would have guessed but you guys took it to the Gators and picked up a big W! Good job Coach Richt..........I will be looking for the Dawg fans to be out in force at NStar tomorrow! Glad the Jackets were off and we did not lose, that would make it even worse!

Game Plan

Had a quiet friday night and we caught a super new movie with our party of three (Anne, Mary-Michal & myself).....Casey had his own plans...yes those days are here!

We saw Game Plan with "The Rock".....it was awesome! If you have elementary age kids, you have to catch this great flick with them! I laughed a ton and the story line was super!! It is so rare to find a clean movie we can all see, this is one that we will buy & keep!!

Sweet 16

Sixteen years ago today, I married the greatest woman on the planet!! Thanks Annie for 16 incredible years......I can't wait for a ton more! It is great to be married to someone you love but it is even better when it is to someone that you love to be with! I would choose to be with Anne over anyone else in the world! (She loves me...who knows why, she loves the Lord, she loves our kids and she loves sports......can it get any better??)

Great post by Perry Noble - Deep Enough?

Great blog today by Perry Noble.

Perry is the lead Pastor of New Spring Church in Anderson, SC.....they are blowing it out up there!! Good stuff Perry!

Practicing Greatness

We just finished as a team reading the book "Practicing Greatness" by Reggie McNeal.....what a super book! There are some super ideas contained in the book and Reggie is an author who gets it! We had him a few years ago to do a staff meeting and he knocked it out of the park.

He hits throughout the book certain disciplines that a leader has to have to practice greatness. One of the disciplines that he hits is the discipline of belonging. In fact McNeal says it this way, "Great leaders belong to their followers". It is really in leadership to serve "over" our people and we forget how huge it is to belong to our people. That is what makes a great team and what makes churches! This is how churches become a force for change and are able to embrace a community with love because they do it "with" their people and everyone has a part in it!

If you are a new leader and just getting started in leading a church......take note of this quote from Reggie off page 141......it is good stuff!!!

“Great spiritual leaders belong. They belong to their families, their friends, their coworkers, their mentors, and their followers. This belonging provides them with both an anchor and a platform for their leadership. It provides them with both with both identity and credibility in a sphere of leadership that is ultimately about relationships. They have determined that the benefits of belonging outweigh the risks involved. These leaders have made the courageous decision to be real where it counts the most.” Page 141

Energy

I had a great meeting this morning with our Focus team....(these are the staff team leaders of each of our ministry areas) about how we will take the November "Spin" series and apply it throughout the life of this church! Our in every series is not just to do something good but to do something that applies and is pushed throughout the life of the church!!

While we were meeting with the team, you could just feel the energy building as we talked about ways we can all make this happen! It was incredible and there is going to be some great stuff come from it!

It would be so easy to sit and build a message series in isolation and then people just show up & hear it on Sunday's....but we believe that the weekend message is part of the life-blood of the church and every ministry is affected! I love doing things as a team and I always leave those meetings with new ideas and a fresh perspective on what we are sharing! I also love to know what is going on in ministries and when it ties in, I can push it in the message (Rick Warren is the master of this)!! If we do not keep moving this way, each ministry can become a "silo" and exist to itself and the church can begin to serve the ministry rather than the ministry serve the church......scary stuff there!

I love the team here!!!

Tears of the Saints

When we were at Catalyst the other week, we heard the song "Tears of the Saints"...it was powerful! We knew that we were doing "Away games" at NStar and we thought it would fit perfect for the weekend. I have been in tons of NStar services through our 10+ years and when the team nailed that song after message, it may be the most moved I have ever been! At the 11am service in Compass, two grown men got up during the song and walked down front to pray......it was unreal the feeling in the room!

The fact is, I am selfish by nature and my prayer is that God gives me "tears" for those who do not know! I pray He gives our church "tears" for those all around us and we will be the church that God had in mind all along!

great day.......except for

What an awesome day today getting to be with my family at the GT homecoming! The Jackets rolled to a big victory and the day was about as beautiful as it could be! There are a ton of great things that go along with being a Pastor and one of those is people that are nice enough to think of you with extra tickets. Since about every other illustration I use has something to do with sports, I guess people think of us! Thanks today to Mike & Donna Raines for the great seats for a super game. The only downside of the day was our stud back Choice going out in the 1st quarter with an injury.....not good!

Can't wait to put the finishing touches on my message for tomorrow....God has called us to "live in this world but not be of this world".....we live in a perpetual away game. How do we do it - how do we influence people who do not believe like us? Tomorrow is going to be fun and I am praying we see what difference we can really make in other peoples lives!

Friday

I am so glad that is Friday.......here are some reasons:

• One day closer to NStar on Sunday Morning (Away Games in Fanatic Series)
• Friday night football tonight! I will be at the Kennesaw Mountain vs. Harrison game.....should be a packed out place!
  
• Going to the GT vs. Army game tomorrow with my family....it will be fun to be all together for the day!!
  
• Spending the day today with my favorite person in the world, my good-looking wife Anne!!
• Last two baseball games of the fall are Sunday - glad for the break but sad it is over - our team has really looked good lately!
• Mary-Michal's cheerleading competition her squad has worked so hard on is Sunday......go Hoya's and go Mary-Michal!!!

It is great to have things you love to do and people you love to be with.......when your whole weekend consist of those two elements, it should be a blast to experience!!

Upcoming Series

We are in the middle of a totally fun fall series called "Fanatic" that is challenging the NStar people to leave the stands and get involved in the game! The first week was the challenge to "get in the game" and serve in ministries and last week was "Home-Field Advantage" which was about opening up your home to host a small group! We have had great response both weekends! This weekend is about "Away Games", which is about how we reach out to those who are not "interested" in church or God.....should be really interesting!

Yesterday, our creative team spent two hours brainstorming our new series coming out in November "Spin".....I love these times because I leave the meeting with so many great ideas for the series! With our economy & market like it is right now in NW ATL, I think the series out of Philippians will be timely. I think a lot of our people feel like their lives are in a "Spin" right now and they really do not know how to get out! I am praying for a breakthrough series for a lot of our people!! I will keep you posted!

Sunday thoughts & Golf Tourney

I am sitting down after a totally crazy day and just got in a good evening with my family watching "Extreme Home Makeover".....love that show! This is the one show we watch every week together and my kids always go, "Dad, are you crying?" That show tears me up!

Had a blast at NStar today....great services and great crowds! The True North venue is coming, still need to move about 50-75 per service over to the new room!! I have heard nothing but great stuff from everyone who attends, we are off to a great start! My mom and dad were able to come out today to church, it was so great to have them in the 11am service and I got to give them a tour of the new building. It was great to see them and show them around! It was a super day except for my voice giving out on me.....I know I sounded totally awful.....Dread doing our review on Tuesday and watching the video from the service and having to hear myself again!

My 14u baseball team played a single game today and took it to the West Cobb Redhawks (13-1). Our guys are really coming together and I enjoy so much the time I spend with them!

I am going to a golf tourney tomorrow in Canton, that is in honor of a young man who passed away in a plane crash a few years ago. Brent was in his mid 20's and only married for 8 months. He was a former college football player and had married his high school sweetheart who was a former SEC cheerleader. His family means the world to me and they use this tourney "Rooster Classic" to raise money to send high school athletes to summer FCA camp. This is the camp where Brent was saved when he was a teenager. I will go tomorrow (even though I am not a golfer) and hang out with Brent's family and enjoy the day! In ministry you will meet those families you connect with and Brent's family is one of those....they are great people and they have made good of a totally tough situation.

Late Saturday

• My Jackets went to Miami and took a big victory against the Canes at the Old Orange Bowl...the up & down season continues!
  
• Was in a beautiful wedding in downtown Atlanta tonight - great couple & fun crowd
• Got home in time to see the end of the LSU/Kentucky game.....what a game!!!
  
• Putting finishing touches on "Homefield Advantage" message for NStar.....praying for 50 more people to open their homes and become leaders for our small groups! This is key to the future of NStar!
• My parents are coming to NStar tomorrow - can't wait to have them in our services! They were not perfect parents but they sure were great ones!
• Can you believe this.....Kentucky just stuffed LSU and knocked off the the #1 team in the land! Gotta love College Football!!
  
• GO Vandy!

Blogs & Thoughts

I absolutely love catching up and reading guys blogs across the country. What an opportunity to learn from some sharp guys and to keep up with what God is doing and what God is teaching them! To all those out there that are writing - keep it up.....good stuff! Ten years ago you had to go to conference to continue learning and growing and staying challenged but now you can listen to podcast (Have over 20 I listen to at various times) and read daily blogs(20+) that I subscribe to so I can keep up!!

God has blessed us so much here at NStar - I pray we are faithful to give away the lessons we have learned! This next year, I want to put together a once a month lunch for 5-10 church planters so we can dialogue and learn from each other. If you are interested in being a part of this, shoot me a note (nstar710@gmail.com) and we will begin meeting in November. I don't have tons of wisdom but I have gotten some great experience in church planting and learned some great lessons in the last almost 11 years! Thought I would throw it out there...this is a free deal and I will even pick up the lunch!

Hero

I have a few heroes in this world and tonight I had the opportunity to be with one of them. When I was in college I had the opportunity to be coached by and play for one of the all-time baseball greats, Bobby Richardson. Richardson played for the NY Yankees during their glory years in the late 1950's & 60's. He was the 1960 World Series MVP, 5 time gold-glove winner and 7 time AL all-star at second base. When you think of the Yankee greats....Maris, Mantle, Dimaggio, Skowren, Kubek, Berra...Richardson is always mentioned in the same breath!

However, Coach Richardson is most noted for his strong walk with Jesus Christ and the influence he had in the Yankee clubhouse. He has spoken on national television at the funerals for Yankee Dick Howser and most recently at the funeral for Mickey Mantle who he & his Betsy helped lead to Christ before he passed. Richardson is a frequent guest in Major League Clubhouses and at other major sporting events where he shares his story and tells of his years with the Yankees.

After playing for Coach for 3 years at Liberty in the late 80's and early 90's, I got to see him on a daily basis live out his faith. He is the same ALL the time and is truly one of the most genuine people I have ever met. Tonight, I got to sit in a room with my 13 year old son and he got to hear the same stories I have heard so many times through the years and as usual he left saying, "That was one of the greatest nights of my life"!!

I pray that one day when I am in my 70's and my kids are grown (like his) and I have been married for 52 years (like Coach).......I pray that my walk is still true and my passion for others to know Christ is strong and I guess I pray the most.......that those who know me best will love me most!

Thanks Coach!!!

Toast

Post Gameday.....

I am toast and feel like I have been on a month straight!! Great to be at home in my study today - rejuvenating and just what I needed!! I will be back strong tomorrow AM!

Game-Day

What a day at NStar today! I have to admit, it has been a long time since I had butterflies prior to the morning!! Our team did such a super job today making the morning happen and the atmosphere on the campus was electric......the tail-gating grills, the I need 2 ticket signs, the parking lot sandwich boards, the music going, almost 2o student baptisms between services......You can't help but get a good feeling about the morning when you look around and see everyone in the favorite team jersey's and just laughing and seemingly...glad to be there!!!

The True North venue went off without a hitch, our technical team was amazing pulling this off!! We had great crowds in both venues and we have some serious momentum to build off of!! 9:30am was our strongest crowd but the 11:00am was just behind it!! It felt weird only speaking twice, but knowing that there were 4 separate crowds was pretty cool! Can't wait to find out how many people signed up to be a "Fanatic" and get in the game.....we'll see - will post what I know tomorrow!

Left an amazing day at NStar and went to our Titan doubleheader at North Cobb High. The first game we unloaded on the East Cobb Stars beating the 16-2 and then lost the second game in the last inning 6-5 after leading the whole game!!

Long day - but totally fun one!!

Here you go

• Enjoyed our two days at Catalyst
• I thought Andy Stanley was right on the money in the opening session talking about being the most "powerful person" in the room......the person who serves leads the way
• The worship was great both days!
• Craig Groeschel from Life Church.TV was absolutely incredible on the 2nd day when he talked about being a "Practical Athiest".....I do not think there was a pastor in the room that did not get or understand exactly what he was talking about. Not only was his content on the money but he was a super communicator! This one session was worth the whole trip and it will be one that I will make our entire team listen to together!
• Dave Ramsey was great - good content, great communicator!!
• We had a good time overall as a team - but I did not feel like Catalyst was as strong as last year, not sure if we might not only come & do the breakouts next year.....

Game-Day 2007 - Fanatic Series
Well, it's here....Game-day at NStar is tomorrow! Hopefully as soon as someone pulls on the campus, they will "feel" the atmosphere! Should be pretty cool! There are so many unknowns tomorrow but what is known is that God has told us to share His word, His way and when we do that, we can't help but win! Have to admit that I have a few pre-game butterflies, but I am psyched about all that is ahead!!

Catalyst 07

Off to Catalyst 07 - I cannot wait!! We have 11 of our staff going - I am so looking forward to all that we are going to learn and be challenged with - hope to see you there!!

Great lesson

This morning, I gathered with my executive bible study group and continued our series through the life of Moses. We are reading through Chuck Swindoll's character series on Moses and it is rich with good stuff!!

Here is some great quotes from Moses from Swindoll......

"Maturity is moving from a soft skin and a tough heart to a tough skin and a soft heart"

"Everybody can afford to step down if God's is still on the throne"

"The Greater the dreams that God may give you, the more persistent the rabble that puts them down"

......so much good stuff!! I love his character studies - I learn so much!!