Monday

Today has been a super day so far......here are some highlights:

• We had a great management team meeting this AM. What I love about these guys I serve with is that they love the Lord and they love this church and everyone of them wants the very best for NStar at the end of the day!
• We added Robert Ingram to our team today....he is going to be a huge addition as we move forward at NStar!
  
• I got to be with Brandon & Stephanie Ford and their families today at Scottish Rite for the surgery of their little boy Eli.....he came through strong and they are headed home this afternoon!
• I had the chance while sitting in traffic to listen to some solid podcast (Chuck Swindoll & Ken Williams at West Cobb Church) It is so cool to be able learn while you are waiting to get somewhere......hmmmm - I wonder if while we are waiting on our answers in life God is wanting us to learn while we are there in that particular spot! Usually I am groaning and wanting so bad to get out of where I am that I bet I sometimes miss God's voice to me!
• This afternoon I am finishing up work I am doing with Steve Roach on a book project that is pretty exciting! I will keep you posted!
• Tonight my baseball team who experienced 2 rainouts this weekend will take the "chilly" field to play the East Cobb Bats....should be a fun game!

Back to doing some reading & studying for our series that will happen in April "House"!!!

Toughest Day ever!

I am pretty much an eternal optimist and look forward to every Sunday and getting the opportunity to share God's "best" news with the people of NorthStar! Today, was a day that I struggled with more than any other that I can ever remember. There was no doubt about the truth we were sharing today because the enemy of God's best was out to make me not want to share and to distract people from hearing the realities of life.

We closed our 316 series with the "Open Door" and sharing about heaven & hell. We really minimize talking about Hell and want to pretend it doesn't exist but it does and there is a door that many walk through that heads directly there. I talked about the 3 deaths we can experience: physical death, spiritual death and an eternal death. God sent His Son so that "whoever" walked through His door would NOT have to perish but have life with Him forever!!!

There is so much written on Hell....we surmised by saying it was "outside" - "separated"....separated from their Creator, separated from God's best...forever.

The door to heaven is through a relationship with Jesus Christ and it is for "whosoever". After hearing Daniel & Stephanie sing the new song "A new door" by Lenny Kravitz I closed by talking about Heaven and what it is going be like.

I have to say, anything that could technically go wrong did this AM -but it did not stop what God wanted to get done! There were 13 people alone in the Compass Centre that stood up and prayed the prayer of Salvation with me...it was amazing...no fluff, no stuff, just guts to make a move towards God!

It was crazy - but SO worth it! I typically don't send you to our website to listen in - but this may be one you want to catch! Not a normal week at NorthStar but sure one that we all needed to remind us of the realities that await our choices!!

We begin our new series House in a couple of weeks....it is going to be strong!!!

A Twist of Fate

I don't know if you got the chance or not but EVERYONE needs to watch the Dateline NBC show from last night (Friday, March 28). It was incredible and the faith displayed by the two families was unreal.....It was about the accident from 2006 where some Taylor University students were killed in a van accident and how two of the girls were mixed up and one of the families was caring for a girl for 5+ weeks that was not their daughter and the other family was grieving the loss of a daughter who was still alive! It was amazing and truly one of the best things I have ever watched!

At one point the mom whose daughter was killed was asked by Matt Lauer basically the question, "Aren't you mad at God to take someone good".....and her response was no, she observed that good things happen to bad people and bad things happen to good people and then she said, "I trust in the character of who God is, and He is good"........WOW! I can teach that but I don't know if I could live it like she has!

The transcripts are available online and they have a book coming out about the story! I was blessed beyond belief and challenged by these two families of believers who have lived out the worst nightmare of life but have held on strong to their faiths!

Make sure and see this if you get a chance!

Wisdom

I love to meet with people who have wisdom.....These are people that do not tell you they have it, they just walk it & show it! There is a humility that comes with them that is incredible because they have so much to offer & share but only do it at the right time! I had breakfast this AM with a gentleman who is a key part of NorthStar and his humility and kindness was refreshing, especially in light of who he is and what he does. He is praying about joining our management team, which is our key leadership team that helps me guide the church. God has sent a room full of exceptional business leaders who have a deep walk with Christ but also incredible business knowledge to help us navigate NStar into the future!! Thank you God for wise pepole!!

Right now I am listening to Rick Warren share on a podcast. Rick is a premier church leader but has never forgotten where he has come from. A few years ago, NorthStar won the church health award from Saddleback and so we went and spent a week there at a conference....it was incredible!! Not what they do but how they do it.....the excellence that they lead with but even more the humility they lead with. Since then, I have met with Rick twice in small gatherings of pastors here in Atlanta and have found him to be exactly the same as you would think!! I remember after Easter last year when he sat and listened to about 12 guys share about their Easter experience at their churches and what God had done there - he cried, he hugged them - he was real! None of those guys were big name guys - but they were guys that he wanted to encourage and share his experience with!! Rick is good friends with Dr. Bryan Crute at Destiny Church in Marietta and everytime he is in town he tries to meet & learn from younger guys! I was so refreshed to see a guy who is an icon to so many of us be real & genuine and so willing to share his life to help others! A lot of lessons for guys like me who are trying to figure all of this journey out and also help others that are coming behind me!!

Move ahead!!

It is sort of crazy how much preparation we put in to Easter and then it is over and it is on to planning for the other 51 weeks of the year! One of our goals at NStar and that is we pour a ton into each weekend and really "programming" wise, keep the Sunday AM format almost identical to a typical week so people that are visiting will know what they are getting!

This coming Sunday we are wrapping our "316" series - it is going to be strong......I hope you don't miss it!! Our prayer in this series has been that God would speak truth into people's lives and sometimes that means that we have to hear things that we do not want to think about or hear!

Can't wait for Sunday!

Easter 08

I don't even know where to start.....what a weekend!!! The crowds were nuts....by far the biggest Sunday in the history of NorthStar!! Best I can tell - there were close to 4000 people who came Easter weekend to one of our services or one of the children that attended a class and heard the good news that God was in love with them!!

Here are some highlights from the weekend:

• Communion on Thursday with over 200 people attending between 7am - 7pm
• Good Friday Service for our Middle School & High School students during the school day on Friday - over 200 students attending!!
• Our Saturday night through 11am on Sunday were incredible - the bands both in True North and in Compass Centre were spot on!
• Daniel & Stephanie did a great job leading & celebrating "resurrection" day
• Seeing some great friends who do not attend church normally sitting with us in worship!!
• Seeing a young man from my ball team who spent the night and came to church with us and then ended up eating Easter Lunch with us!
• Having my mom & dad in the 11am service!! You always want to do good when your mom & dad are in the building!
• Seeing our team just nail it with all of the details of the weekend!
• Sitting in EVERY weekend service and enjoying every minute of worship....I would go back tonight and do the same thing over again!!
• See people stream into the building and wondering where in the world they were coming from.....
• Getting to tell people about how much God loves them and the extent He went to show that Love!! What a great job!!

Now - after Easter lunch - no baseball games to attend - good basketball on TV - I am shot!!! We are out of the office tomorrow, our NStar team deserves a break after living at the church all weekend!!!

Happy Easter - can't wait for Easter 09!!!!

Surprise!!!

My little girl turned 11 today and we threw her a surprise party last night at some very good friends house....she was shocked!!! You can see her picture and see that she had NO idea that all of that was for her.....it was one of the greatest moments of being a dad, seeing your little girl be so caught off guard by all that was planned on her account!! What a blast!! Anne went over & above getting it all together!!

I bet God feels the same way about us..don't you think? We really have no idea what He has in store on our account! Jesus, 2000 years ago paid a huge price and died for your sin and my sin and then got up and walked out on Sunday AM so you & I could be "surprised" to stand before God one day and find out all of it was done on our account!! Easter is God's surprise party for all of us who are just going about life having no idea all of the work God has put in behind the scenes just for us!!

I can't wait to celebrate with NorthStar this weekend in 4 live services, 1 sunrise service & 2 services with live worship & video (of live sermon)!! I hope that Mary-Michal is not the only person surprised this weekend....her surprise lasted for a moment - our surprise can last forever!!

**Wanted to also let you know that our student ministry had their Good Friday service yesterday and over 200 students came during the school day!! Incredible!!!

**Happy Birthday also to my favorite little girl in the world!!!
**Happy Birthday as well to Beth & Sophie Cook today as well!!! We sure miss you guys!!

It is here!

We began Easter at NorthStar by having communion at our True North building on Thursday. We decided to set up it up where people could come by on their own during the day and take the Lord's supper whenever worked for them. We handed them guides at the door to go by and had staff available from 7am -7pm to pray with them and to serve them. This was brand new to us and we had no idea how many would show up.....over 200 people came and the experience was amazing! I worked from 11-12noon and to see people weeping in chairs and praying and many stayed 20-30 minutes....it was incredible!!

Today our student ministry is doing a Good Friday service for students - it is going to be incredible! The service will be this morning and students can be checked out of school to come....great idea from Brad, Nick & their incredible team!

We crank up our services on Saturday at 6pm and then on Sunday at: 7am (sunrise), 8am, 9:30am & 11:30am and 2 services in True North at 9:30 & 11:00am! We are anticipating crowds to be HUGE this year so we are asking NStar faithful to come on Saturday at 6pm or Sunday at 8am so guests can have seats at the two main Sunday hours!

I am wired for the weekend and cannot wait!!

What it is all about!!

I coach baseball for a lot of reasons: I love the game, I love being with Casey, baseball is in my blood, I love the boys......but the biggest reason is for the influence over these guys lives! Baseball is so short & temporary and really teaches about life but it is NOT life! In fact, life is really so much bigger and the knowledge that that there is a God out there who has a plan for their lives is the real deal!!

I love these boys that I help coach and I am praying that each of them find God's best for their lives and I pray that during their time on the Titans that an eternal impact was made!!

It just doesn't get any better than this!!

Merge

Today we kicked off "Merge" which is our new mid-week gathering for business leaders! The goal is to inspire & encourage people as they live out their lives in the world of work! We are taking the life of Moses and the leadership principles we learn from his journey and applying them to where we live now!

I had some serious "pre-game" jitters thinking about the early morning and just praying people would show up......they did....about 75 people were here for our kick-off!!! I was pumped and I have no doubt that God is going to use this time (3rd Wednesday of every month) to change peoples lives!!

Of course, the entire NStar team who pulled it together just did everything from (set-up, sound,worship, greeting) with excellence! My assistant Ludell just went over & above with pulling it together and I realized again that I could not do what I do without her - she is the best!!

The principle we closed with this morning was this:

God is always preparing you for the work He created for you to do!!

How true that is.....we may be just getting "thru" life and all the while God is using our experiences & our circumstances to do something great through us! I am so thankful He never takes time off and always is working in our lives!!

Happy Birthday Anne!!

Today is my gorgeous wife's birthday, she is ........years old!! Did you really think I was going to ruin a good day by distributing information that could hurt me later!!

Here is a list of things that I love most about this incredible woman:

• She is my BEST friend in the world....I would rather be with her than anyone else!
• She is beautiful on the outside (better looking than the day we met) but she is truly more gorgeous on the inside (hard to believe but true)
• She is an incredible mom to Casey & Mary-Michal
• She is a great friend to so many
• She is a great daughter & sister to her family
• She loves sports....any woman that loves the: Braves, March Madness, ESPN.... of course WVU football/basketball, Georgia Tech.....does it get any better?
• She can build or fix anything - which is great when you are married to someone who has NO "fix-it" genes in my body! What she has done to our "ordinary" house is crazy - she has made it so beautiful to see but even better to live in!
• Her walk with Jesus is true & real
• We don't have bad days or years - we may have some tough moments but they pass quickly!
• She lets me be me and she believes in me....many times when I do not believe in myself!!
• She never spends on herself - she is always thinking of everyone else....she loves to shop & "Look" but she is too frugal to buy!
• She loves a good bargain & deal
• She loves to be home everyone in the house
• She is THE most special woman I know!
  

I love this lady more than I can even understand! Thank you God for creating Anne Boggess Linch and sending her my way - she makes my life so wonderful!!

Happy Birthday Anne!!!!

Sunday Recap

Here are some thoughts from the day at NStar:

• We started 316 today and it was awesome talking about God's Crazy love! We had at least 10+ people today pray to receive Christ just in the Compass Centre
• Daniel started the Compass Worship with just him on an acoustic guitar and John Greer on the keys and it was solid....after the message they came back with the full band and a kicking worship choir and they blew it out!! The energy in the room was over the top!
• The crowd at 11am was massive and we had to send people up to True North and it was packed up there as well!
• I got to start the day doing a child dedication in the True North at 9:30am....it was a blast hanging out with our team up there. It is so weird to be on the same campus but not see each other all of the time! Those guys are the best and are absolutely doing an incredible job up there!
• I want to give huge props to our hospitality team. Mike Davis, one of our leaders, is the best I have ever seen at creating an atmosphere that welcomes people and also gets them where they need to go!! Thanks Mike!
• Stephanie did an amazing job with our choir.....they blow it out when they are up there!
• Bryan Barton, our college pastor, did the wrap today and made his first appearance on the compass stage.....he did super! I have know Bryan since he was going in the 7th grade, he was in my youth group at my former church, it is so cool to see kids like Bryan grow up and do great things!
• Membership class was packed out today!!! Huge crowd - great to meet many of them and to know that we have some new team-mates to help us make a difference in this community!

A big day all around!!! I cannot imagine what we will all be feeling this time next week!! I will be posting this week about Easter and the Crazy Love of God that we talked about this AM!

Rainy Saturday

I know we need the rain in a big way but I was really looking forward to a day of baseball today! The Titans are hot (7-2-1) and there were some other great games being played at the tourney we are in! We are on hold right now to see if we can get our game later today or not!

This is giving me a great chance to look through my notes for 316 as we plan to talk about God's "Crazy love"! There are a lot of things about God that I do not understand but the thing I understand the least is His love.....It won't quit....It won't back off.....It won't let up.....It keeps pursuing....It keeps holding...

How could someone not want it? How could you imagine living life without it? I think the deal is most people just don't know. They have an image of God that is not who He is and that is our fault as churches a lot time!

I want people to know that when they walk through the doors of NorthStar that there is a God that is passionately in love with them and I want them to see it, feel it & experience it!

I pray tomorrow they will!

Great week!

• Had a great trip to Foothills Community Church on Monday and enjoyed so much hanging out with Greg & his team! God is doing some super things there!
• I had a great time hanging out with some of our NStar team who made the trip: Daniel, Bonnie, Marlon, Randy, CA & Roach.....we have some studs on our team!
• Can't wait for 316 this weekend! I believe God has some awesome stuff in store over the next few weeks!
• Had a great meeting about a book project with an incredible friend of mine....It is going to be awesome!
• Met with some good friends today that are Pastors in our area - God is moving in big ways and we are praying about an idea that could "Shake" this community!! Stay tuned!
• My Titan baseball team won the first game the tourney we are in 13-2 tonight!
• Too much good stuff to fit on 1 page!!
  

Braveheart Stories

Check out this link from our Worship Team's blog and see their link to the NorthStar stories video!!

Happy 51st Anniversary!

Happy Anniversary to my mom & dad (Charles & Ann Linch)!! Today they have been married 51 years!!! I love you mom & dad!!

Quick recap (longer version to come)

• The Braveheart stories from NStar yesterday were incredible!
  
• Chris Boggess knocked it a mile out of the park on the video - make sure and check our site this week so you can watch the stories!
• The three families that were on the video also came up & shared impromptu and they were amazing....I can't get over yesterday!
• The Titans travel team I coach won a DH yesterday 24-0 in first game and 15-2 second game....it was crazy how well they hit!
• Newcomers was slammed last night and it was so awesome to hear the stories of the new people that are coming.....from all over but one common thread (SOMEONE) told them about NStar....the power of personal touch never gets old!

Sorry for the quick recap - I am off to Seneca, SC to be with Greg & his team at Foothills CC - can't wait!!

Sun-DAY

Today will be some kind of day!!! I'm sitting here right now in my home office and I have to admit I am feeling the "time-loss" a little bit! I can't wait to hear see the "Brave-heart" stories video and to wrap up this awesome series! If you have missed one of the weeks of Brave-heart, you can podcast our messages from here

This morning - Casey & Mary-Michal are riding in early with me to church.....I am sure the "Princess" has already planned a Starbucks stop!! I am praying now for the boy she is going to marry - I hope he has some deep pockets to keep up with the habits that I am paying for now!! I love that girl!! Casey will just want to EAT....doesn't care where - he just is looking for quantity!! He is getting to be typical teenage boy - can't eat enough!!

I will leave NStar after our services and head to Lithia Springs for the Titan (DH) which had to be relocated due to the field conditions at our home park....pretty soggy from the weekend rain! Tonight I will get the privilege to hang out with a bunch of new people who are attending NStar at our Newcomers!!! I always love to hear how people ended up finding us!!

Off for the day - can't wait recap later!!

Upcoming

• Can't wait for Merge to start on the 19th!!! We are going to be studying the leadership of Moses....I think it is going to be awesome!!
• Our NorthStar stories website is amazing.....you have to check it out and read some stories of our people! Sunday, we have a video of three amazing stories at NStar - you do not want to miss this!!
• We should be slammed Sunday night at Newcomers!
• Casey & Mary-Michal will both be helping with the services in the Compass Centre on Sunday - that is going to be fun!
• My baseball team has a DH Sunday afternoon - sounds like weather should be pretty good! We are now 3-2-1 and had a big win last night to start our league season (12-3) To read more
• Monday - I am going to be with the staff of Foothills Community Church in Seneca, SC doing a staff leadership training! Greg & his team are knocking it out - can't wait to be with them and to learn what they are doing and what is happening there!!
  
• Best this upcoming.......home today with Anne & my favorite people in the world!!!
  

Great leadership day!

Today, J.R. Lee, from Freedom Church taught our leadership lesson for our staff. We have had tons of great leaders and communicators and we have learned a lot over the past year from each person that has come through! J.R. and his team at Freedom are 5 weeks into church planting and they are doing a super job but he is not the usual guy a church that has been around for a while would want to hear from but.....

I asked J.R. to talk about.....what are you learning now that you hope when you are 11 years old as a church you don't forget! You could ask anyone on our team - he nailed it! His passion was contagious, his stuff was right on the money and perfect for where we are!

The reality is that the longer you are around as a church, the easier it is to lose your edge & your passion and the tenacity to do the simple things and do them really well! Here was one quote from the day about the passage in 2 Kings 4 about the oil and the jar and the widow.."The shortage is never in God's capacity to give but rather it is in our ability to receive!!"

Let's just say this....we have a ton to talk about here and I pray that we never stop being people that God can give to!!

Thanks J.R. for the challenge - it was EXACTLY what I needed!

Tuesday stuff

Today we had our creative team meeting about our next series 316.....It is going to be a great time sharing with our people what God's heart really looks like!!! I can't wait!

Easter scares me a little this year...the past few years have been spring break weeks and it affects Easter Sunday - this year it is right in the middle of March and I am expecting things to be CRAZY!! As pumped as we are about how awesome the weekend will be - we want to be smart about how we plan & handle the details of the weekend!!

We are trying something new this year on Thursday (of Easter week) where we will be here on the campus in the True North room all day (7am -7pm) and we will be there as staff to help our people take the Lord's Supper by themselves or with their families! It will be a cool time to pray with people and to give them a time to get alone with God and "look back at the cross" and "look ahead until His return"! It could be a bomb but it could be a huge day for people to come in and own their own walk! We will give them a sheet when they walk in that will guide them and then have some slides that are rolling constantly on the big screens and we will have two staff an hour that are there to serve them and pray with them if needed!!

Here is our Easter weekend schedule:

Thursday - March 20
7am - 7pm Lord's Supper for people in True North

Saturday - March 22
6pm - Service in Compass Centre (full childcare, elementary & student ministries)

Sunday - March 23
7am - Sunrise Service on the hill by the crosses
8am - Service in Compass (no childcare)
9:30am - Service in Compass & True North (Full childcare - Elementary - Student Ministries)
11:00am - Service in Compass & True North (Full childcare - Elementary - Student Ministries)

Weekend update

• Braveheart wrapped up yesterday....I really don't know how to write about what I experienced! At the close of the message to watch "tons" of people stand up and say that Psalm 51 could be their "note" to God....Amazing!
• Crowds were incredible again - it is packed out in the Compass Centre both hours and True North is over 100 both hours!!!
• The offering was Huge again and thanks to the faithfulness of God and our people - we are in the best financial shape we have ever been this time of year!
• I love NStar people - I love being there on Sunday's!!!
• My travel team split yesterday and we lost to the #1 seed (3-2) in their last at-bat...Bummer - but my boys played great!
• This AM I did the invocation for the Cobb Chamber of Commerce Monday breakfast. There were over 350 people there (not for me) but to hear Clark Howard who was speaking! I have listened to Clark for years on the radio but never met him. He is a super nice guy and he admits he really is cheap!
• At lunch, I went down to Georgia Tech to meet with NorthStar member Dene Sheheane who is the Head of Government Relations there and works directly with President Clough. We met up with Ronnie Chance, who is the State Senate Floor Leader in the Georgia State Senate. Ronnie is also a great buddy of mine from high school and it was awesome to get caught up with him!! Dene gave us a great tour of the Athletic Facilities and I had the honor of meeting the new football Coach Paul Johnson. Also ran into Tyler Evans who is on the football team and who attended NStar in High School!
• I am meeting with my executive study in the AM and I can't wait to see those guys!!
  

BIG weekend!

I feel like I am 12 years old right now....The weekend is going to be so HUGE that I have the "pre-game jitters"......Here is what is on tap....

• The Titans (the 14u travel team I coach) opens up in Cumming today at 2 & 6pm!! Can't wait to get the baseball season started! To stay updated on these awesome guys - visit this site
• Tomorrow we wrap up our Brave-heart series at NorthStar with Pure......Owning up to personal sin is the hardest thing to do for people! We love to blame - we hate to own!!
• My girls are home from their field trip - it is finally home again......Casey & I were so lonely without them!!

Well......here we go!!! Beautiful sunshine, warm day......it doesn't get any better than this!!