Lessons From Day One

I spent around eight hours of yesterday sitting in conference sessions listening to preachers, civil servants, doctors and a whole load of other people talking about HIV/AIDS. I'd love to pass on some quotes or some facts and figures, but to be honest I left my notes in the car and it's a little too early (CA time) to go hunting for them.

I did like the guy who runs the President's faith-based initiatives office. He once worked as a volunteer for Mother Teresa and is a very down-to-earth kind of person. He said he still finds it hard to believe he works in the White House and confided that every times he goes into the Oval Office his main concern is not to wet the carpet!

So without my notes, we're left just to consider what impressed me most. Kay Warren talked about how she became "seriously deranged" when she started to get a grasp of the devastation being caused by the AIDS pandemic. A couple of thousand miles away in Illinois, another mega-church pastor's wife, Kynn Hybels, was having her own epiphany about the issue. Then both of them, quite separately started to share the burden with their preoccupied husbands. After some time, the light went on for them too and now two of the largest and most influential churches in the country are becoming increasingly involved with the plight of millions of people all acoss the world, but especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

What did I learn? Listen to your wife! - Am I glad Gill seldom reads my blog!!!

Several years ago Gill travelled with a group of ladies ministering in different cities in South Africa. One of their stops was in a colored township in the Eastern Cape where a white woman gathered hundreds of impoverished, neglected children every Friday afternoon. She fed them and shared Jesus with them. Gill went back the next year, but didn't do the tour, her heart was aching for the children of Kurland. She spent her time in South Africa with Kathy Von Staden and came home to share her burden.

Kids Explosion has since become part of Grace Church's life - we help support the three safe houses Kathy now operates for at-risk children and AIDS orphans, we send teams to lend assistance and are grateful to God for young lives that are being transformed.

Kathy will be with us in service on Sunday, all because I learned what Rick Warren and Bill Hybels did - listen to your wife!

Good Movies

Following the unexpected success of The Passion Of The Christ and the more predictable millions made by the Lord Of The Rings trilogy, it seems that Disney has got smarter. They have worked out that Christians want to see wholesome movies and that you can make a series a year at a time and have people waiting with bated breath for the next part.

So they have taken the work of one of the greatest Christian writers in recent history, C.S.Lewis and are preparing to make a number of movies based on his outstanding children's stories, The Chronicles of Narnia. Uncertain of the work their marketers have done in advance, the word is they are waiting to ensure their first offering, The Lion, The Witch & The Wardrobe makes them at least $200m this Christmas before they start production on the second story.

I predict it will be huge. Firstly it's a great book, secondly Disney know how to produce outstanding work and thirdly the scenery and effects are said to be breathtaking.

Quite apart from the fact that churches all over America are using special premiere showings as evangelistic tools, Joe Public is going to love Lewis' work.

I've given our neighbors tickets for our own December 8th showing - please pray they come - and am encouraged to see how many people are inviting family and friends to be with us that night. Because we are hosting this special event we will be able to hand out invitations to our series based on Narnia - Discover The Light Of Christmas - that will run for three weeks starting the Sunday after our movie premier.

What a great opportunity to bring people to our church/theater for a non-threatening event that will show them the gospel. I can hardly wait to see the movie, but I want to see the unchurched guests even more!

Help For Hurting People

When we stand still we stop growing, or worse than that we start to stagnate. That's why I crawled out of bed at 4.15 this morning and got myself on a plane to California. I want to press forward.

It is no secret that I have a great respect for Rick Warren and for the work he is doing both in Saddleback Valley Community Church and across the world. A few months ago I heard him share his heart about the plight of the millions of AIDS victims around the world. He challenged leaders about what their response would be. So here I am now, surrounded by mountains and palm trees, looking for a good night's rest before hearing Rick and Kay Warren together with Bill and Lynne Hybels from Willow Creek Community Church in Illinois, as they spend two days addressing this huge issue.

I don't know what they will say or where it may or may not take us, but Grace Church likes to be on the cutting edge of helping hurting people, so we'll see where this leads.

We must never be content to stay where we are or as we are. Our hearts need to be touched with the real pain of real people and we need to evaluate what God wants us to do. Let's pray that will become clear.

Cool Person Of The Week

It's Friday and I'm back in freezing New York. What a change from upper 70's this morning to 27 with wind chill this afternoon. But we love Long Island - it's good to be home.

In any church it's easy to overlook people who are vital to what we do and yet play it so low key, you hardly recognize their involvement. Yet our Supercool Person Of The Week is someone whose work everyone sees on a weekly basis. If she didn't do her job, it would be immediately noticeable. Any idea who I'm talking about?

Here's a bit of history. Several years ago when we were doing church in a catering hall, there seemed to be nothing planned to be sure we had someone to operate the overhead projector we were using. So I asked a young girl to take it on and she did a great job.

When we moved to laptops and LCD projectors, the main program we were going to use had two of our pastors baffled, so I asked this same girl if she would like to look at it. She had it worked out in hours. Now she's 16, but for several years, Jessica Saponieri has been arriving at the movie theater at 7.15 every Sunday morning, laying the cables, setting up the projector and computer(s), preparing all the data and operating our system for us.

She's smart and very dedicated. Most people don't see her doing it, but everyone sees what she does. So thanks Jess - you're our Supercool Person Of The Week.

Watch her in action Sunday morning as we look at the trailer for the outstanding movie we are using as part of a major Christmas outreach - The Chronicles of Narnia.

I'm Stuffed!

Hope you had a happy Thanksgiving. To be honest, I have never fully got into the Thanksgiving thing - I guess it was never part of my life while I lived in the auld country. Some of the best Thanksgivings I've had in the States have been times when we have fed the homeless and underprivileged, but unfortunately that wasn't possible this year as our Youth Shack - home of last year's celebration - is temporarily out of service until we resolve a mould problem.

But it's been a good day here in sunny Florida. Slept late, watched football, went to friends' club for dinner (no preparation and no cleaning up) and then over to some other friends for dessert.

It has been a restful day - a real holiday. Traveling back home tomorrow to finish getting ready for the weekend. Sunday will be a good day. We will have a large group of visitors as Tony Balsamo (who is launching a new church out of Grace Gospel in North Patchogue next Easter) is bringing his whole core team on Sunday morning for them to check out how we do church. So come early, be nice to guests and let's see what God will do.

By the way, I lied about being stuffed! I managed to have a discipled day, but that heading got your attention, didn't it?

Florida Revisited

Woke up to a cool morning on the first day of our brief stay in Florida over Thanksgiving. I know it's all relative and we weren't anywhere near as chilly here as Long Island was, but starting the day at 52 is not exactly whay you're expecting for Florida.

Instead of my normal daily visit to the gym, I walked along the causeway to the romantic-sounding Honeymoon Island for my exercise today. Sure it was cold, but it was beautiful too. The sun was rising over the sea, the palm trees were waving in the breeze and there were pelicans flying overhead - quite another world from Coram, NY!

As I walked I thought about how blessed I was - good friends down here, beautiful scenery and the health to do what I was doing. Add to all that, I had an hour to talk and listen to the One who put this all together.

It's that time of year when we speak about being thankful - and I am!

New Look

For some reason a technically challenged person like me isn't even going to attempt to discover, the posts on the blog format I had been using seem to have slipped down the screen. So rather than make a pig's ear of trying to fix it, I have switched to another template.

Heading for Florida in a few hours to spend a couple of days with friends over Thanksgiving - back home on Friday. Due to the miracle of moden science I was able to print our boarding passes yesterday, but there was a slight hitch as they asked how many pieces of checked luggage we would have. I thought that was easy - two people for 2 1/2 days should be one case. However I decided to double-check that with my wife and discovered she planned to take two cases!

I was amazed, but said nothing. I know we are taking some Christmas gifts, but all my stuff would fit into a small bag, so I presumed that she needed a case and a half and that I had better leave it at that. However, this morning reason prevailed (turns out she was anxious about one case being overweight) and we thinned some things out to simplify the journey. So thankfully our luggage will be limited which happens to be just the way I like it!

We thinned out a lot of the junk around our kitchen and den last week ready for the painter. Guess I'm in thinning out mode. That's good for us in life occasionally too. Before we drive ourselves inbsane running around like lunatics, wearing ourselves out in honor of Jesus' birth (I'm sure He appreciates it all!), maybe it would be good to adopt a plan and work through what is really necessary so that Christmas is more enjoyable this year?

Have a new look, slimmed-down holiday season!

What Did I Miss?

It has been a very busy few days, so I haven't been around my Blog since Thursday. That link could have kept you laughing for the weekend. So what happened this past few days?

1. We got the den and kitchen painted - looks sharp - and then got it all back in shape for last night's visitors.

2. We had a whole bunch of folks new to the church over for a get-together. It was great getting to know them all a little. God has given some outstanding folks to our church.

3. By the way, Jayne Palladino baked for us last night. She is an amazing baker. She has just started a business with her mother Sarah, who looks after our bagel cafe. So if you need baking done ...

4. Our son Jonathan turned 32 on Saturday - guess that makes me ancient.

5. I didn't get to teach the kids in Promiseland yesterday after all. I had to slip into the preaching slot in the main service as Frank Summers was back in hospital. They kept him and are keeping an eye on him. Please pray for a complete and speedy recovery.

6. We had our Ministry Fair yesterday. I love that event. It gives a broad overview of some of the things we are involved in as a church and above all, gives the opportunity for people to tie into the church by getting active.

I believe in involvement. Most of my message yesterday was off the cuff as I was not prepared to speak and only had about two hours notice. I was already at the theater when I found out I was up. So I had not planned to talk about my internal organs, but somehow my now departed gall bladder came into my sermon. I said that there are only two acceptable positions for a gall bladder, functioning or out. It went quiet when I said that's how people should be in a church too. But I believe it. I know it's Monday morning, but I hope you're functioning somewhere in ministry within the church.

How To Handle Complaints

If you need to start the day with a laugh, then take a look at this link. If your sense of humor hasn't kicked in yet, you might want to save this for later.
Be sure to listen to the phone complaint first and then the dance re-mix.

http://www.mmiblog.com/monday_morning_insight_we/2005/11/humor_church_co.html





Sorry, the hyper-link setting didn't work - you'll have to cut and paste.

Who's The "A"?

So here's the problem with having a resident graphic artist, he can take whatever he wants, doctor it and falsify the truth.
Let me make this clear, through thick and thin, good times and bad, I am a 49ers fan. I know it's getting to the stage where Joe Montana is only a distant memory and Steve Young is almost as old as I am. I know a 2-7 start to the season is not too exciting, but I would not be seen cheerleading for the Giants even if Candlestick Park (I refuse to use it's modern name!) slipped into San Franciso Bay and collided with Alcatraz.
Nice try Ron Dylnicki!!

Lifting Others

Gill brought this back from South Africa for me. She says it's what I do all the time. I reckon it's what our whole church does - and I dare to believe God's happy about that.
I know I am!

Fighting The Flab

I've been a bit frustrated these past few weeks as my efforts to lose weight and get into better physical shape seem to have reaped increasingly less results. Progress has slowed down.

So today I have decided that there's only one way to move forwards and that is to increase the pace. I guess when I was eighty pounds heavier I burned a heck of a lot more calories on my 3.5 miles morning walk than I do now. So what's the solution? Easy you say - up the miles. Yep! So I walked five miles this morning and reckon that if I do that and cut back a little more on my food intake, I should be able to get to my goal by Easter.

If you take my personal efforts here and place them into a spiritual context, you'll understand why we're in the middle of a spiritual growth campaign. 40 Days of Community is a way to increase the effort so that we get closer to where we want to be in our personal relationships with God, in better health as a church and more effective in reaching our communities. It's a conscious plan to get to our target.

So keep reading the devotionals and thinking them over. Make sure you don't miss your small group this week and whatever you do, make a point of being with us on Sunday for Week 5 and our Ministry Fair.

Sprucing The Place Up

Monday's almost over and I didn't get to my Blog yet. I wouldn't be here now except for the fact I just gave up on the Monday Night Football game as I doubt if I'll even stay awake till half time.

I live with the glorious theory or major delusion that Monday is my down day - it's my weekend. Now it doesn't often work out that way, but this Monday almost did. There was a brief visit to the hospital with the family of one of our seniors who is nearing the end of her journey, but apart from that the day was totally mundane.

Gymn, Weightwatchers and then out with Gill to pick out some paint for our den and kitchen. We currently have more than 20 people who are new to the church coming around for coffee and dessert on Sunday evening. By the weekend I expect that number to have reached 30 and I'm really looking forward to getting to know some people whose names I have hardly even managed to grasp yet.

Some great people have been worshiping with us lately whom I barely know. Sunday night should change all that. The rumors that the house is getting a facelift to impress them all are a wild exaggeration!

Back Together

So, Gill and I are finally back together again today. I left for India three weeks ago and then she set off for South Africa eight days later. But she got home this morning, so life will get back to normal once she recovers from the jet-lag.

It sounds like it was a full and exhausting time in Kurland Township with the team from our church. I think the early Christmas Party for 400 kids on Friday took what last drops of energy were left. Kurland is a poor, sad and wicked place, but through Kids Explosion we are able to make a difference in the lives of some of the children who are AIDS orphans or victims of abuse.

The day our church's monthly support arrived was shopping day for food and household goods for the three safe houses where around 20 children are being raised in a loving environment. Sometimes we wonder if our money really makes a difference, so it's a pity we can't all see the smiles on the faces of children who had been beaten, raped and discarded but have found a new life at Grace House in this troubled township. That $1,000 every month is a great investment in these young lives.

So thanks to all who make that possible. Thanks to the team for all they did. And thank God my wife is home!!!

Small Groups

Got my first chance to get to my 40 Days small group this morning and thoroughly enjoyed it. I know I'm the person who told everyone they should commit to miss nothing for the next six weeks and then went off to India myself, but that trip was a commitment I made last year, before the campaign came up.

So now I'm playing catch-up. We have a great group - nine people, three of whom are fairly new to the church. It's taking some groups a while just to get comfortable as in a church our size, when a group meets for the first time, they might well be strangers to one another. Looks like our crowd are getting to know each other. I liked the coffee and bagels too (just half a bagel, honest!).

Small groups are an essential part of a church that is looking to grow relationally and not just gather a crowd on Sundays.

So if you're not in one yet, it's still not too late. The best half of the material is still to come - but jump in now whatever you do!

Remembering

As the UK reached the end of the first year of World War II, Germany was unleashing its most savage attacks on the airfields of southern England, determined to achieve dominance in the air by destroying the Royal Air Force. What followed as the inferior Air Force took on the might of the Luftwaffe came to be known as The Battle Of Britain.

The British won that battle and erased the awful possibility of German occupation. Saluting the achievements of the officers and men involved in that protracted part of the conflict, wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill said -
Never in the field of human conflict has so much, been owed by so many, to so few.

Today is Friday and it's also Veterans Day. So our Supercool People of The Week are The Few - the men and women who in the past and to this day have put on the uniforms of our armed services to protect this country and her values.

We remember with tremendous gratitude the sacrifices made on our behalf and are very much aware that freedom is not free.

Planting A Church In A Movie Theater

I spent some time yesterday afternoon with Tony Balsamo, associate pastor at Grace Gospel Church, who is getting ready to plant a new church on Easter Sunday next year. He's looking for a place to rent for Sunday services and seems to have been quite inspired by our innovative use of a movie theater.

So I went with him to check out the Movieland Theater on Montauk Highway in Mastic to see whether it would be suitable for a church to rent. It looks pretty positive, though the largest theater only holds 200 and like most modern movie theaters, they don't have the stage that we are blessed with in Theater 13 at Patchogue UA. Now he has to sort out price and make up his mind if that's where he wants to be. Movie theaters are tailor-made for churches.

I know a bunch of guys who are using them - all over the country. Hardly a week goes by without me getting a call from someone who is thinking about renting one for a church and they want to know our experience.

Here's what I like about our theater - in no particular order -

1. IT'S CHEAP
It's slightly more than half the rent we were paying at Patchogue-Medford High School and less than we paid at the Crystal Swan for more than three years.

2. IT'S SPACIOUS
I have no idea how many square feet we actually use, but when you take into consideration all that we do in the foyer, the hallways and the theater for our service, we use a heck of a lot of space.

3. NO AGGRO
This is huge. We have a great relationship with the management. They know us now and trust us to get on with it. So a manager opens up for us each week - generally Tina - and then totally leaves us to do our own thing. So we can do breakfasts, baptisms, or whatever other crazy things we occasionally get up to.

4. IT'S NON-THREATENING
Now I don't know about you, but the nine months we spent in the school were not my favorite time in the life of our church. Apart from getting bounced out of there every third week because of recess, school concert, graduation or they just didn't want us, my main issue was I get horrible flashbacks when I go into a school. I'm 55 years old, but when I go into a school building, I feel like I'm still the fourth grader trembling in front of the fearful spinster, Miss Kynaston who was my teacher. I was glad to get out of school. Going to movie theaters on the other hand, is fun!

5. IT'S ACCESSABLE
There's no spell-check on this thing - is that spelled right? Anyway, the point is, movie theaters are generally on major roads and are easy to get to. Ours can be reached easily from north, east or west - of course there isn't too much south of us, but that's close too. Most people also know where it is, which saves detailed directions having to be written on a diner napkin.

6. IT HAS A BIG SCREEN
I know that's stating the obvious for a movie theater, but I don't know too many other churches that have screens as big as ours.

7. IT GIVES YOU AN ANGLE
We milk the churchatthemovies thing for all it's worth. It has become part of our identity and helps us stand out.

So until we have a place of our own - we'll keep enjoying life at the movies!

Correction

In the interest of accuracy, let me amend something I wrote earlier. Tim Mazzei, the only survivor among Town Board members who acted against churches in Brookhaven, did not see his majority slashed. He in fact registered 68 votes less than in 2003. Hopefully he is taking note of the fate of his colleagues.

Bitter / Sweet

I woke up early this morning and rushed to the mailbox to retrieve the morning paper and check over the election results. Please be assured I am not making a political comment here, so whether you voted Democrat, Republican, Independent, Conservative or Suffolk Workers United To Keep The World Turning, don't fall out with me!

When I looked at the local results I was interested to note that only one person who voted to change Brookhaven's Town Code to stop us and other churches from building was elected to public office last night. And that one, who probably had the largest majority last time, watched as it was slashed.

A lot of Christians don't get over-involved in politics, but when the state starts interfering with their freedom to worship, when a Town Board tries to dictate how big a congregation can grow, when council members use their powers to try to thwart the work of God, the writing is on the wall for them. We may not make a lot of noise, but there are a lot of believers in Brookhaven.

I am happy to see them make such an impact and let it be known that if pushed we will stand up for the rights we have under God and under the U.S. constitution. Opposing people's right to worship has cost them.

The downside of all this is that if the old Board, which is in office until the end of the year, does not move swiftly to clean up its own mess, we will then be dealing with a whole new group of people. But hopefully they will be wiser than their predecessors. Thank God for democracy!

Yoda

A few months ago I quoted something a friend of mine had written about me on his blog where he referred to me as "the Yoda of church planters". For the uninformed, Yoda is a key part of the Star Wars movies. He is nine hundred years old and trained Jedi warriors for more than eight hundred years.

I guess Gary was taking another swipe at my age while commenting on the fact that I do offer occasional advice to church planters and others.

Today was a day for that. I had phone calls from pastors in three different states, each of them asking for some input on situations they are currently facing.

One is feeling exhausted and spiritually empty; another is contemplating a change of location and looking into renting a movie theater; the third has just had an assistant pastor resign suddenly and create a whole bunch of problems.

There are times when ministry is particularly difficult and occasions when every pastor feels overwhelmed either by specific problems or the magnitude of the overall task at hand.

I don't pretend to have all the answers, but I do care. That's true for the people in the great church that God is allowing me to pastor right now too. I'm not the fount of all wisdom for them and I don't have the solution to every problem, but sometimes people aren't looking for a wiseguy, they just want a friend. I can do that!

Tomorrow Is A Great Day

It's Election Day tomorrow and while most of us will be breathing a sigh of relief that the TV ads will be over, the negative advertising will no longer fill our mail boxes and you will actually be able to see some more of Long Island's shrinking greenery because the candidates' signs will come down, let's not forget that the right to vote is a tremendous privilege. And let's do it.

I was invited to attend a special meeting today hosted by Suffolk County Democrats. Since Monday's my quiet day, I thought it would be something totally different to do and so joined the crowd to listen to Hillary Clinton rally the troops. She's a great communicator whatever you think of her politics, but I couldn't help smile when she was mistakenly introduced as Hillary Rodman Clinton - I wonder if Dennis Rodman would have liked to have his name used in that context!

The Bible tells us to pray for those in authority, 1 Tim.2:2 - Pray especially for rulers and their governments to rule well so we can be quietly about our business of living simply, in humble contemplation.

In addition to praying, we also need to elect leaders who will allow us to pursue worshiping God and sharing the Gospel. It would therefore be good to remember that some local politicians have made a very firm stand against our church and churches as a whole, when you go to vote tomorrow. We should hold them accountable for their illegal, unconstitutional and anti-God stance.

However you vote - make sure you do.

Burns Was Right

The Scottish poet Robbie Burns is well known for his line -
'Tis such a gift if God would gi' us
To see ourselves as others see us
That's one thing I've really wanted to be able to do at Grace - see ourselves as others see us. Since we're geared up for receiving guests on Sundays, some honest feedback would help us know if we were hitting our target.

When Sarah Hartmann from the Long Island Advance visited us a few weeks ago, I wondered whether she might give us some insights as to how someone totally new to our church and our style viewed our Sunday morning services. I was also a little nervous in case she tore us to shreds!

What was eventually published in her paper was as good a promotional piece for Grace Church as anyone could have asked for. Given the fact she was trying to report objectively, I am taking her article to confirm that we are doing a lot of things right.

Here are a few of her statements, under the headline -

BASED IN THE BIBLE, DRIVEN BY SOCIAL CONSCIENCE
With seats nearly filled, the lights go dim, the music begins to swell, and the members of Grace Church ... begin to take part in a lively down-to-earth service that most traditional churches cannot begin to match.

Despite the incongruity of its setting and maybe because of it, Grace Church's service at the movies is fun.

Like all church services, the program ends with a pastor-led prayer and a song. Unlike many church services, however, that at Grace Church has been engaging and uplifting enough to have caused two hours to evaporate.

We'll have copies of the full article available again next Sunday and will be looking into getting permission to reproduce it on our website. It's a great piece and above all it sounds as though one particular visitor really did get a grasp of what we are all about.

Terminal

Felt a bit like Tom Hanks in "Terminal" this past day or so( I think that's what the movie was called). Spent two hours in Poona airport, seven in Mumbai and four in Milan, which all added up to a long 36 hours journey home. Got here about two hours ago.

Exhausted but fulfilled - more news when we meet tomorrow!