Happy New Year

It was good to hear that our New Years Eve service went so well this evening, while I was at another Grace Church several hundred miles away in Carmel, Indiana.

Now you might well ask what I am doing in chilly Indiana instead of taking my place among the revelling crowd in Times Square and the answer is quite simple. I have a number of very good friends scattered around the globe, most of whom I do not get to see anywhere near often enough.

Doug and Fiona McIntyre have been part of our lives for over 20 years now, but our schedules have made it impossible for us to get together for over a year now. They moved to Carmel, just outside of Indianapolis earlier this year and after several abortive attempts at synchronizing our calendars, a few months ago we decided to get together for New Years.

It is a great thing to have such a strong team at the real Grace Church, that things don't miss a beat if I'm not there and it is an important thing to treasure meaningful relationships and to maintain special friendships.

Throw into the mix the fact that Doug has a whole suite at the Colts' game tomorrow and you have the ingredients for a good weekend!

So from distant Indy, Gill and I send our love and wishes for a blessed 2006 to all who venture onto the pages of this blog and especially to our church family.

Supercool People Of The Year

360 days ago our pastoral team sat around a table and made some plans for the year ahead. There are now less than 40 hours of 2005 remaining - that time went by quickly and looking back, it has been an excellent year for Grace Church.

There are people who are part of our church family today who did not really know Jesus at all this time last year and we have been able to make some contribution to the lives of many different people who live near and far.

So instead of our normal Friday Supercool Person Of The Week spot, today I am reflecting on the year that is almost over and think this would be a good time to salute our Supercool Persons Of The Year.

So who are they? Who are the people who have earned the right to be the very first winners of this prestigious annual award on this blog?

Let me say this first, I don't have a job - I have a life. Building up people and developing church is my life. It's what I think about from first thing in the morning until last thing at night. I read all I can, talk with other pastors, moderate an internet forum for thousands of pastors, all with one goal in mind - I want Grace Church to fulfil the purposes for which God raised it up. We need to be as effective as we can possibly be in leading men and women to Christ. On a personal note, the bottom line is this, I love my life. I thank God for the privilege of doing what I am doing. But I could never do this alone.

My Supercool People Of The Year are all those who are a part of Grace Church. Please notice that I'm making a distinction here that many will have heard from me before. I'm not referring to everyone who comes to our services, though I'm thankful for the opportunity to be a part of all of their lives too. I'm talking about those who are a part of Grace Church.

I mean all the individuals who function in some way to make it possible for us to do what we can do. Those who have come in, embraced our mission and asked Where can I fit in? I am grateful for those who, in the words of the New Testament, are doers and not just hearers.

The list could go on for ever, but it extends from the guys who pick up food for our Grace Care Food Pantry to the people who run the sound board on Sundays, from those that open their homes for small groups to those who help in our Smallstars nursery during services. And it goes off in dozens of other directions too.

We have more than 400 volunteer slots filled at Grace and it is those 400+ who have been the key to a good year during which the kingdom of God has been built and the purpose of our church has continued to be realized - To seek and save the lost, inspiring them to become fully functioning followers of Jesus.

They are my Supercool People Of The Year!

What Does The Media Know?

There was quite a bit of coverage in the media over the past two weeks about how churches were programming for Christmas and New Year. Never slow to try to put down Christians or their churches, they attempted to make an issue of the fact that so many of us have opted to have services on Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve and not on Christmas Day and New Year's Day.

Hypocrites! Most of them really couldn't care if every church in the country was closed 365 days a year and 366 in leap years. In fact some would be positively jubilant.

Here's why we planned our schedule this way - and we made our decision on January 4th of this year while Christmas and New Years were still fresh in our minds ...

1. We felt it would be better to go for one major event on Christmas Eve and one on New Year's Eve than spread the congregation out over the Eve and the day of those two holidays. One major service is better than two small ones!

2. Since it's not about us, we felt that Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve would present outstanding opportunities to draw in the unchurched, who would probably not come on Christmas morning or New Year's Day.

3. Many of our church members do not enjoy the luxury of arriving just as service starts and leaving immediately once it is over - they are there far earlier and stay much later. We did not feel it was right to ask dozens of workers who make our services happen to be away from their families from 6.30am on Christmas Day or on New Year's Day. We gave them a holiday!

4. It is important for the church to be culturally relevant. In our culture people spend Christmas Day with their families and New Year's Day sleeping. So we figured we needed to get real and evaluate what would be the best time to draw the maximum amount of people to worship. We were right on for Christmas Eve and feel we will be for New Year's Eve too.

Thankfully we have come to see it is not all about what day we worship or at what time, it is about the fact that we value corporate worship and do all we can to participate in it.

Let the media say what it will - and they will - but this Christmas and New Year we will have shared God's love with far more people than we would have with regular timed services! And I think God is okay with that even if MSNBC isn't!

Shop Till You Drop

Okay, I've dropped - that was all the shopping I could take for one day!
Don't get anxious, I wasn't out with Gill looking around the post-Christmas bargains - we decided several years ago that her and I together rushing from Marshalls to T.J.Max to Target and every other store between Lake Grove and Coram, was a recipe for disaster.

Today my son took me shopping. I think it was the designer in him that caused him to have a seizure at the very sight of my wardrobe. So he decided to personally guide me into the 21st century and also to find me some new clothes that actually fit.

I must admit that it's a novelty to be able to walk around a store and make choices. For years it has been a case of simply asking, Do you have anything in 3X? and then accepting whatever - if anything - was in stock.

It was good to spend some time with Jonathan and also to get his input - in several stores we saw clothes that he himself had designed.

But enough is enough. I can only take so much shopping, so this had better keep me going for quite some time! I wonder if anyone will notice the Extreme Makeover - Rog Edition!!!

Would You Believe It?

So that was Christmas! It was glorious chaos at the Blackmore residence, with all our family here, including a five year old, four year old and an eighteen months old gorgeous little girl who can have whatever she wants from her grandfather any time!

Here's the incredible bit. I went to Weightwatchers this morning, as is my Monday morning norm, and discovered that I had gained an amazing 11.8 pounds over the past two weeks. (I missed last Monday as Gill and I were in manhattan for our anniversary)

Isn't that amazing? I'm not alarmed as today I'm back on track, but that's just a cookie here, a brownie there and all-I-could-eat both Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I promised myself that slight aberration - let's be real, I'm not going to starve over Christmas - as it was the only major deviation from my diet plan this year. I was good on my birthday, July 4th, Thanksgiving and whatever other tempting occasions fell in between those, but I let myself go for Christmas. Hey, it isn't as if I don't like good food anymore, I have just made some choices.

One of those is that since I enjoy life, I want to live it to the full, free from the burden of excess weight or obesity-related disease.

So, it's back to 28 points a day today and I'm happy with that.

It's easy to have a major setback, but it's getting back on track again that matters.

New Traditions

We're one of the most non-traditional churches that I know in Suffolk County. If someone is pushing the envelope more than us, let me know and I'll work on tweaking something to keep us ahead of the game.

But I think we started a new tradition this evening - an early Christmas Eve service. What a great crowd - what a great service!

Frank Summers did a good job of creating Narnia and Lesaya and her team made sure that everyone came into service with hot chocolate. The music was outstanding - how about Peter Majeed on the sax tonight???

Here's what I'm still stoked about - no chance of me sleeping for hours folks, I'm wired - a ton of our folks couldn't make it because of family gatherings, etc, but there were still more people in service than we get on an average Sunday morning. That means we had a ton of guests. That means old Rog is happy, coz as we all know, this is not about us - it's about reaching new people and seeing them come into a relationship with Jesus. Great night.

After service Gill and I took some friends out for dinner. They've all started to attend Grace Church through our Saturday afternoon outreach and they live in rooming houses and sober houses around Patchogue. It was fun to have dinner with them. They were good company and they certainly enjoyed eating in a restaurant for a change. Great night - whoops I said that already.

I'm stoked - said that already too. Time to go wrap some gifts - this is an outstanding Christmas already!

I don't plan to be here blogging tomorrow, so have a wonderful blog-free Christmas. Stay off your computer and give your day to real people!!!

Countdown

Just counting the hours to our Christmas Eve service and waiting to see how it all comes together. I love doing things that are different, as some of you may have noticed! - I don't know if it's an ADD kind of thing or just the way I'm wired, but doing the same old month after month would drive me nuts.

So I'm excited that this afternoon we can do our first real Christmas Eve outreach service in the past seven years. We did do one a few years ago, but had it right in the middle of the evening, which was right in the middle of most people's family get-togethers, which meant most people didn't come. I think 5.00 to 6.00 is going to work well and we are getting calls in the office asking for information, so I'm expecting a lot of guests.

They say that 30% of Americans cannot make a Sunday morning service because of their schedules, so once we get a place where we have more flexibility it would make sense to add a Saturday evening service to our program in an effort to reach that 30%. Meanwhile we're going with Saturday this weekend and next and then next year we'll go back to Sunday mornings!

Don't know about Santa making his list and checking it twice, I'm doing that with mine this morning. Have food in the oven (I always cook Christmas dinner) already, then off to supermarket, have to pick up a new shirt too, make a few phone calls, do some more cooking and then head out to help set up theater for Narnia walk-through.

I love Christmas and it's almost here!

TGIF

I guess the TGIF thing is all about celebrating the weekend, but as someone who has been busy every Saturday and Sunday of his working life, the TGIF sigh has never been part of my routine.

One good thing about my Fridays is that I do know what to do with the blog - it's Supercool Person of The Week time and America is waking up early today to see who will win this sought after honor on this Christmas weekend. So, the votes are in, the numbers are being tallied and the result of our nationwide ballot comes down to this ...

Over the past seven days we have distributed Christmas gifts to more than 125 people, many of whom will receive few, if any, other presents this Christmas. They have gone to people we meet through our Grace Care mobile soup kitchen in rooming houses and sober houses in Patchogue, to young women in jail in Brentwood and to the folks from Ridge Adult home who worship with us regularly.

Each person received a gift bag with at least three items in it and a bag of Christmas candy. So once the sizes are in, who is the hero who goes off to the stores to look for almost 400 items of clothing? Who looks for 97 medium sweat shirts, 122 large, 46 extra large, etc., etc.?

Who does all this with a budget of $2,000 and comes up with gifts that are tremendously appreciated? Who organizes them all? Who approaches all this effort with real love, just longing to bring blessing to the Christmas of those who are forgotten by most?

Since I hate shopping to start with, who is our Christmas Hero as well as the Supercool Person of The Week?

It's Marie Faulkner who once again this year put a smile on the faces of some very special people who are friends of Grace Church. She did a great job at a very busy time of year and she really has helped us make a difference in the lives of people who are very important.

And if she doesn't see this herself, please don't mention it to her as I'll be in trouble for saying something publicly about all the work she has done!

Get Off My Back

The first phone call I got this morning was from out of state. The caller had a complaint - it's Thursday morning and you've still got Tuesday's blog up! It was suggested that I was messing up this individual's morning routine because whenever he switches on his computer in the mornings one of the first things he does is to check my latest meanderings.

So for the benefit of my Texan son and anyone else who seriously needs to get a life, I'll pause for a few moments in my efforts to finish Saturday night's sermon and commit a few thoughts for the day to this blank page in cyberspace.

One of the things I said from Day One of Grace Church was that if you were looking for a full-service church that could offer you a program of some kind every day of the week, you really do need to look somewhere else. There's no doubt in my mind that if we isolate ourselves from the society we are meant to be influencing, they'll go to hell while we sit in our holy huddles.

That's why I adopted the 1-1-1-1 plan. I think it was original, but who knows? - Maybe I heard it some place. We look for folks to come to one worship service, be part of one small group, be involved in one area of serving and undertake one missions trip a year.

That leaves tons of spare time (somewhere!) to get to know unchurched people, connect with them and help to draw them to start this Christian journey themselves.

Which brings me back to why I started blogging. Because we are not heavily programmed, we don't see as much of each other as might have been the case in other church settings many of us have known. So my blog is a way to stay connected.

I can pass on breaking news, remind everyone of upcoming events and even have some fun and be ridiculous when there's nothing serious to say.

Some days I just can't get to it - but most days I do. So if I miss a few, please excuse me ... and get off my back!!!

Lessons Learned On Broadway

I discovered this morning that while getting into and around Manhattan has got insanely difficult because of the transit strike, if you're in Manhattan already, the driving is the easiest it has been since the last time the Giants were in the Superbowl. The streets were uncannily quiet around mid-town, so getting home today was far more straightforward than I expected it to be.

Last night we went to see The Lion King. I found the tickets on the internet at a fairly good price and of course the old axim of you get what you pay for proved to be true once again. Our seats were up so far in the balcony section that I thought we could have been in Mile High Stadium.

But it's a great show - our anniversary treat - and Gill loved it, so I did good. Having been a preacher since I was thirteen years old, there's always this tendency for me to look at what is happening and see where it demonstrates some spiritual truth. I'm not saying I see God in everything, more like I'm always on the look-out for sermon illustrations.

There were dozens of them in this story. The lion cub goes away because of guilt, grows up far from home and does not become the king he was destined to be. He doesn't feel he is fit or capable, until one day he is taken back home and challenged to rise up to be the champion of his people.

Now if you're reading that and need it explained for you, you need to get a good church. Try Grace Church on Christmas Eve. If you need it explained and you are already part of Grace Church ... Houston we have a problem!

Thank God he pulled us from a wasted life to fulfil our potential.

Later!

Seems we had a good morning. I generally have a good time, so I'm biased, but I did get feedback from a number of folks who made it to worship this morning. Had a good crowd in fact for this last Sunday before Christmas. It's just as well since we won't be having any more Sunday servicea until next year.

Of course, we're doing Saturday evenings at 5.00pm for Christmas Eve and New Year's Eve.

Anyway, this week Gill and I celebrate our 36th wedding anniversary - yes, we got married the Saturday before Christmas. We figured all the guests had nothing else to do that time of year!

So you won't read anything from me for the next forty eight hours. We're heading into Manhattan in a couple of hours, having dinner with some old friends and then spending some time there together looking at the lights and generally soaking up the atmosphere of Christmas in the city.

I know I married way above myself - but I'm sure glad I did!

Stories from the big city to follow ...

Charlie Brown Christmas

I don't know about you, but I took half an hour last night to sit down and watch A Charlie Brown Christmas on ABC. Before the season is over, I will probably have watched It's A Wonderful Life, A Christmas Story and Miracle On 34th Street too.

Of course I know the plots by now and could virtually tell you what is coming next in the dialogue, but they're great stories that have become a part of our Christmas over the years. Thankfully we have them on DVD or video, so can watch them at our leisure without all the commercial breaks.

I love dear old Charlie Brown, wandering about dejectedly in the snow and wondering what on earth Christmas is really all about. Of course Linus finally provides the answer with his quote from Luke 2, but Charlie's problem is universal. But most people don't even ask the question anymore. They're just in shop, shop, shop mode, juggling to get everything done, harassed at the days passing so quicklly and why we have the holiday at all is almost completely forgotten.

One thing is sure - we're not doing it for Jesus!

So before I get totally into Grinch mode, here's what I'm excited about today. We're going to do our Christmas Grace Care outreach this afternoon. We'll be visiting five different rooming houses and sober houses in Patchogue, distributing turkey dinners, groceries, Christmas gifts and a lot of cheer.

When Jesus was born he identified with those who had nothing. Remember the stable? Today we get to share Christmas with those who have very little, with people whose lives have fallen apart and who are at different levels of putting them back together.

This is what Christmas is about - showing and sharing God's love. It really is a wonderful life. Charlie Brown take note!

Eight Days To Go

Christmas Eve is just eight days away and I'm really pumped about our greatest outreach opportunity this side of the summer solstice. I'm already getting word of visitors who are looking forward to spending some time with us that evening and others who needed a bit of gentle persuasion.

I heard about one conversation that went this way -
"Are you coming to church Christmas Eve?"
"Nah!"
"You know you can either be with us or you'll have to go to your mother's church on Christmas Day."
"Okay, I'll be there Christmas Eve!"

Earlier this year I heard about a church that had over 30,000 people to their Christmas Eve services and I felt we should start using this opportunity. But there were two issues, where to do it and when?

The where was settled unexpectedly when Regal Entertainment agreed to let us rent our regular theater at Patchogue UA.

The when became clear as I checked out what the Catholics do (and they know how to pack 'em in at Christmas). They either do early masses or midnight mass - they don't mess up the evening. That's why we're going for a one hour service at 5.00pm. It's good to work smart!

Eight days to go ... and counting!

SUPERCOOL PERSON OF THE WEEK
It's Friday, so it's that time again. Time to ackowledge someone who makes a particular contribution to the mission of Grace Church and to reward them with the most coveted prize on the internet, our Supercool Person of The Week Award.

So here are a couple of questions -

1. Who has attended more services at Grace Church than I have?

2. Who is one of the first people you see there every Sunday morning?

3. Who will be 84 years old next Thursday, December 22nd?

You got it - it's Dan Ricci!
Dan is there before 7.30 every Sunday morning and he gets everything ready so that he is handing out news sheets at the main door as soon as folks start arriving. The weather doesn't deter him and sickness hasn't held him back. Neither he nor I can remember if he missed one Sunday when he had a throat problem a few years ago - we tend to think not. Which means that for 375 Sundays without a break he has been the first to welcome those who come to worship.

Long may he continue in that role!

Time To Fess Up

Okay, it has been pointed out to me that there is one item on my desktop I did not mention a couple of days ago, not that I'm embarassed about it or am afraid to make this public knowledge - I do have a Mickey Mouse phone.

That's not because I am particularly enamoured of the billionaire rodent, I use the phone for a very particular reason - it helps me not to take myself too seriously.

Pastors are a very weird breed and some of their ways are extremely strange, verging on the paranoid. I remember once that I was selecting furniture for an office. I wanted some chairs that were relaxing and comfortable, but was advised that dark leather would be more suitable as it made for a more imposing environment.

I'm sorry, but I can't get into the idea of power dressing and creating an intimidating ambience. What on earth would a pastor need that for? Shouldn't we be doing our best to help people be at ease, let them know that they are with someone who cares and relieve the stress in their lives instead of increasing it.

But heck, what do I know? I'm the anti-pastor. I dress casual, meet people in my living room or Starbucks and have a Mickey Mouse phone on my desk?

Enough!

Okay, that's enough for one week!

Last night we had a meeting with members of Medford Civic Association and around 20 local residents. Kills me how some of them say "the church needs to listen to the residents". There are 11,000 people living in Medford. Who elected them to speak on their behalf? Short answer - no one! Some neighbors have genuine concerns because of stupid stories circulated by those with some ulterior motive, but overall we heard the same stuff we have been hearing for years, provided the same answers and apparently didn't get too far.

Tonight it was the Town Board again. Seems the proposal to exempt churches from building restrictions has environmental implications and a full report must now be prepared - which will take weeks. Our attorney says this is all good in the longrun. What do I know???

I'm just glad that stuff is over for the week. In fact it's done for the rest of the year - all two weeks and more of it.

Our attorneys are doing a great job, pursuing this matter from every angle and determined not to let go until the injustices are reversed and Brookhaven complies with federal law and the U.S. constitution.

In the meanwhile, I am working through something far more exciting - Sunday's response slips. What a great start to our Christmas series. I hope you're working on people to bring along on Sunday - and especially for Christmas Eve which is shaping up to be one of the highlights of a great year.

So we can put the political stuff to one side for a short while and focus on our mission.

A Few Of My Favorite Things

A friend of mine recently wrote in his Blog about the things that are on his desktop. Now, I don't know that this would be of the vaguest interest to anyone but a few sad people looking to spend some time on the internet rather than watching repeats of Law & Order, but for those few ... here goes!

1. There's a great photo of Gill I took a couple of years ago at Rockafeller Plaza, with the ice rink and Christmas lights behind her. We generally go in there for our anniversary - December 20th - and will be there next week to look at the lights, see the tree and eat in our favorite Indian restaurant.

2. A photo of my three grandchildren.

3. A photo of our two children, their spouses and (at that time) two grandchildren.

4. A photo of me dancing with Charlotte at her wedding. I was shuffling really, being brought up as a good legalist, we were told that Christians don't dance!!!

5. A little plaque I got from Jonathan a number of years ago that reads - Dad thanks for being there. That one means a lot to me.

6. A framed certificate from one of the rooming houses we help through our Grace Care outreaches that reads - Thank You Grace Ministries for making our Saturdays sweet! I keep that one, but it's really for the dozens of people who make that ministry possible.

7. A signed softball from our 2001 softball team. I enjoy softball - it was one of the new games I had to learn when I came to the States. Watching people playing tells you a lot about them!!!

8. A picture of huskies and a sled in a snowy wilderness with the wording underneath -
Do not follow where the path may lead. Go instead where there is no path and leave a trail.

If you tried to analyze all this and work out what's important to me, you might draw the conclusion that it's family, family, family, family, family, helping others, having fun and being radical for God - and that would probably be correct.

And if you think it's time I cleaned my desktop - you're dead right!!!

Feeling The Music

My Sunday routine is fairly straightforward. I leave home at 6.30 and head for the movie theater (making a stop on the way for necessary caffeine from the 7-11 of course), get a light lunch and head to the gym for a couple of hours in the afternoon. It's an amazing feeling to be able to watch a football game and feel you were also doing something useful at the same time!

By Sunday evening I'm wiped and generally veg out, make a few calls to family and friends and then sit in front of the TV. I still love Extreme Makeover Home Edition.

Yesterday I decided to have a break from normal and go out in the evening instead. I wanted to visit Elevate, the Gen-X service at True North Church in Port Jefferson Station, which is five minutes from our house. Bert Crabbe is doing a great job there. They launched in September and from January 8 will be moving to two Sunday morning services in addition to Elevate at night.

The place was packed last night and I felt positively old. There must have been almost 150 teens there, some probably wondering why some graying guy had wandered into their space. I had a blast. Bert preached a great message - he's doing a series on Narnia (sounds familiar - stole a couple of thoughts from him!).

The music was pretty amazing. Now it was more than loud. The floor was vibrating, something inside me was pounding because my chest was pulsating too. I think I finally understood what people mean when they talk about "feeling the music". I could hear it very, very well, but I sure felt it too.

It was a fun night. Guess I was born forty years too early!

Cramped Quarters

It was one of those restricted mornings today, with the theater showing movies in ten other theaters during our service. So we were tight for space, being restricted to our own little corner of the building.

But I had a great time. I loved the way the stage was set up for the first part of our Narnia spin-off series Discover The Light of Christmas and the bottom line was this - two people made a first-time commitment of their lives to Jesus and a number of others recommitted their lives to the Lord. From where I'm sitting, that makes it a great morning.

You might not need this bit of insight, but I had a real tough time preparing my message for today. I spent hours trying to get it together, but was still dissatisfied. I worked on it again Friday evening, but it still seemed to be lacking. When I got back from the outreach yesterday, I ate some dinner and headed for my office to try to get comfortable with it. After an hour or so I put my notes on the desk in front of me, gave up struggling and just asked God to help me preach what he wanted me to say.

Driving to the service this morning the light went on - now most of you figured this out already, but it took me a long time, which is why I need you. Today I was talking about spiritual conflict and what had been happening all week was a spiritual battle. Maybe the devil just didn't want me sharing what I preached?

Well, looks like he lost again - because the family of God grew today as a number of great people discovered the light of Christmas.

Saturday Evening

You know the drill by now - longest night of the week.

I'm waiting to see how many new contacts from the Narnia movie make it to service tomorrow. Plus I met a new lady on the Grace Care outreach this afternoon and she tells me she will be there.

I'm wondering who's going to give their life to Jesus tomorrow - man, I love this!

Mr. Supercool

It's Friday and it's that time again - time to make noble mention of a person or persons worthy of the coveted title Supercool Person of The Week.

As the tension builds once again, you will have gathered by the headline that today we are looking at one person and at the male of the species.

You know there are a whole lot of people for whom Sunday mornings really are work, but they don't seem to look at it that way. While some people walk out into the sunlight when service is over, ready to enjoy the rest of the day, there are others who are ready for intravenous coffee and a nap (and believe me for some of us those two are not mutually exclusive!).

This guy is always one of the last to leave on Sunday mornings and if you look around you'll see why - because he is looking around, to make sure everything in the movie theater is left just the way it ought to be.

Yes folks, our Supercool Person of The Week is John Leone. As our head usher he oversees our greeters and ushers, but he does a lot more than that, John keeps an eye on 101 things that are happening around the theater so that the pastors just need to focus on the service. He's there early to make sure everyone and everything is in place and you'll generally see him wandering around as we get near to the kicking out time of 11.30 with a dustpan and broom in his hand picking up the last traces of the crowd that has left.

If he doesn't nap on Sunday afternoons, he deserves to. He's another example of the fact that it takes teamwork to make the dream work. John, you get a free bagel and coffee on Sunday morning, you're our Supercool Person of The Week!

Aslan Lives!

You gotta see this movie - The Chronicles of Narnia that is.
We had around 300 people out for a special premier tonight before its general release tomorrow. I'll be back to see it again - there is so much to it.

Apart from the elation when Aslan comes back from the dead, I loved the piece where Peter was protesting to the great lion that he was incapable of the task assigned to him. But Aslan assured him he really could do it.

It reminded me that God uses ordinary people - which most of us, who are far less than perfect and lack superstar abilities, find very encouraging!

The Main Event

For some reason I still haven't worked out, I went to the movies with Gill on Monday to see Pride & Prejudice. The novel is an English classic and it's a slow-moving period story that I know from beginning to end. My only real interest was that I had acted in a stage version of it when I was in high school, but that waned not long after the opening titles. At least the seat was comfortable and I did manage to doze a couple of times during the two hour marathon.

In stark contrast to that experience, I am looking forward to going to the movies tonight as we host one of hundreds of premier showings around the country of Walt Disney's version of the classic story The Chronicles of Narnia - The Lion, The Witch And The Wardrobe.

The other day I described the church building debate as a sideshow. Tonight is the main event. It's the start of a sixteen day period culminating on Christmas Eve when we have a great opportunity to share the good news about Jesus with a whole lot of people.

We'll start a Sunday series at the weekend that follows on from Narnia and we've got invitations being handed out to family friends and strangers, so we expect to have a lot of guests tonight and on the next two Sundays. Then Christmas Eve will be huge with our walk through Narnia, children's gifts from Aslan the lion and a fast-moving service for the whole family.

This is fun - I'll be there early tonight waiting for it all to happen!

Narnia's Coming

Here's a quote from a friend of mine's blog -

My worship leader and I got into a free private screening of The Chronicles of Narnia last night. It was a packed house filled with people excited about the film. The movie did not disappoint. It really was incredible.

The director did an outstanding job of combining serious themes, great acting, action sequences and humor. The effects are first-class and some of the best I’ve ever seen. Specifically, the CGI characters are so well done that you forget they’re animated after a while.

Judging from the crowd’s response last night, the word of mouth buzz is going to be huge and the traditional film critics are already boasting about the film too.

Town Hall Again

It's getting a little tedious spending evenings sitting in the auditorium at Brookhaven Town Hall listening to the same people reiterating their same pieces of misinformation and downright lies, but it's the way things seem to get done - or not done - around here.

However, our attorneys advise me that last night's meeting went well and we fully expect the Town Board to do what they need to do and vote next week to overhaul the unconstitutional and illegal new code they introduced in September to try to stop us building.

While the Town Supervisor suggested we had not done two things we had been asked to do at the last meeting, when dozens of local clergy forced this issue into the open, that criticism is unjust.

Our attorneys had indeed not prepared the brief for the town attorney, but that was because we were asked by a member of the Board not to do this as it could affect him politically. Unfortunately when we were taken to task last night, he did not have the intestinal fortitude to admit his role in things and we were too polite to implement him.

On the matter of not having met with the Civic Association, as I stated last night, I have been asking for a meeting with them since June when I met with their executive. They are the people that have been delinquent here. It seems they like to shout loud in public but don't really care enough about the issue to have meaningful dialogue with us outside of Town Hall. They have now been forced into a corner by the Town Board and will have to meet with us.

Then again, if this is not all about Grace Church (and is there anyone on the planet who believes that any more?) why is a meeting with the Civic Association being demanded before a vote?

The issue is clear. This is not about anything other than the Town Board trying to stop us building a church. Our attorneys have caught them in an illegal act and they should be moving quickly to clean up their mess. Sadly they are still procrastinating, but we do expect the matter to be resolved once and for all at the December 13th Board meeting.

It's an interesting sideshow, but not the main event!

Today's Newsday Editorial

Fix anti-church law
Brookhaven erred in passing it

A complex body of law focuses on the knotty question of protecting churches from entanglement with local governments. But the issue for a public hearing tonight at Brookhaven's town hall is clear: The town should amend an ill-conceived statute that it adopted in September, restricting churches in a way that will never pass muster in court.

The new statute prohibits structures of more than 15,000 square feet in residential areas. That restraint is too high to curb the spread of McMansion-sized homes, but it would certainly stand in the way of Grace Church, a nondenominational congregation that has worshiped in various rented venues since it began in October 1998.

To end its nomad days and build a home of its own, the church bought a former nursery in Medford and proposes to build a 28,000-foot structure. That sounds big for a residential neighborhood, but the church has been more than reasonable in shaping its plans so that this building won't look too out of place in the community.

The statute should have exempted churches from its provisions, as similar laws do elsewhere. The town board should pass a proposed amendment to rectify that omission.

Snow Days

Do you ever wonder whose side God is really on? I am sorry to have to admit it, but the winter has a tendency to bring all my doubts to the surface. I know I have made no detailed study of the data, but it seems to me that we have more snowstorms at weekends than at any other time in the week.

So here we were, all set for Celebration Sunday - the finale of our 40 Days of Community campaign. We've got a bunch of things planned but when I get up early this morning to let the dog out, there's snow on the ground and it was still coming down.

Now don't get me wrong, I love the white stuff on Christmas cards, but I have a real dislike for it swirling around in the air, settling on my lawn and messing up Sunday mornings.

Around 2/3 of our folks made it to the movie theater for church today and despite the empty chairs, those who were there seem to have had a blast, with the added blessing of a bunch of new faces around again.

I'd like to make a deal with God before this winter goes any further - how about clearing out the heavens at some other time than overnight on Saturdays? And just in case he ignores me and continues to do whatever he pleases, how about using this rule of thumb - if I'd drive to work in this, I can definitely drive to church in it???

Are We There Yet?

It's still Saturday evening - the week goes by at breakneck speed and then Saturday is as slow as could be. I reckon I'll go to bed early tonight and then the morning will come quicker.

I love Sundays - I think I said that before. Tomorrow is Celebration Sunday and that's what I plan to do, celebrate - snow or no snow!!!

The End - Or Is It?

I just got back from our final small group meeting of the 40 Days of Community series. It has been a good time, getting to know some new people, sharing together, praying together and reaching out together. Last Saturday we did a clean-up for a 91 yeard old man in Sayville and this week it was a 77 year old Medford woman. All great stuff.

So where do we go from here. Our gang seem to have enjoyed getting to know one another, so we're planning to keep going when the next small group cycle starts in February. It may be the end of the series, but it's the start of continuing to develop community in our own group.

Here are a few reasons we do small groups -

1. Everyone needs to know they belong and that just does not happen in a Sunday crowd.

2. Everyone has something to contribute and that isn't how Sundays shape up. The small group setting is the ideal arrangement for sharing.

3. Small group members look out for one another, so what is often described as "pastoral care" happens naturally as friends look out for friends.

4. Small groups can do things together both in serving in the church and in reaching out to others outside the church.

5. Subjects can be examined, bounced around and considered in more detail in a small group.

I've been convinced about the importance of small groups for over 30 years. If you're not in one, you're missing out - I've got a small group, because I need one and whether you realize it or not, you do too!

Movie Theaters

Back in chilly NY and catching up after being away at the HIV/AIDS Conference in sunny CA.

Gill and our grandson, Jace, are in Texas this week visiting our son and his family who relocated there in the summer. Jace is having a blast hanging out with his cousin whom he has not seen in several months and Ben for his part is loving showing Jace all the new things that are part of his life deep in the heart of Texas.

I got a kick out of the fact they went to the movies a couple of days ago and saw Chicken Little in the movie theater that Ben's new church uses for Sunday services. It's in a mall and is a very modern theater. Impressed by the quality of the building, Jace's comment was what a great church they have. I think Jace may grow up thinking all churches meet in movie theaters. Or that all movie theaters are really churches.

Anyway it's Friday, enough of the chit-chat, you really came here to see if you had finally made the big time. Is today the day for your 15 minutes of fame? Who is our Supercool Person of The Week?

Once again, our award this week does not go to one individual, but to a group of people. Right back in Genesis 12 God promised Abram that he would bless him with the specific intention that he would then go on and bless others. That is the full story of the goodness of God - all we have is not for us, it is entrusted to us so that we will pass it on.

At Saddleback this week Charlotte heard their missions director say that if 10% of a church's population went on a missions trip, that church was way above normal, totally outstanding and would be teaching others to do missions. A quick calculation on her part revealed that over 15% of our adult members went on a missions trip this year, so that means that when it comes to sharing what God has given us our church is in a league of its own.

So our Supercool People Of The Week are those who made the commitment to show God's love this year in Mississippi, South Africa, India and the Dominican Republic. Our short-term missionaries are great representatives of our church and a great example to us all.

In 2006 let's go for 20% and be totally outrageous!

World Aids Day

I was afraid to watch the news when I turned on the TV in my hotel room this morning. As I flicked through the channels the same tragic story was on them all - 20 fully loaded 747s had crashed again today killing everyone on board. Most of the planes had come down over Africa, with India being the second most affected country. The USA also had its share of fatalities.

When will it end? Every day 20 plane loads of people die worldwide in the most horrifying ways and this has been going on for years.

Okay, so there were no jumbo jets falling from the sky today, thank God. But the death toll from AIDS in this 24 hours will be the same as if 20 planes had gone down and it continues day after day after day.

Over the past few days I have heard from a number of people living with HIV/AIDS and have met a few too. Tragically, most of these people had been terrified to share their tragic news with people in their churches for fear of what the response would be. So they carried the fears and the pain alone.

Dr.Robert Redfield is the co-founder of the Institute of Human Virology at the University of Maryland at Baltimore. He is a pioneer in clinical human viral research with notable accomplishments in the sreas of HIV immunoregulation, immunotherapy and vaccine development. On Tuesday afternoon I heard him call for the church to get off the bench and engage in what he described as "the ultimate Christian opportunity". I think he's right.

Today on World Aids Day, Gay activists will probably grab the limelight in the USA. But worldwide this is not a homosexual issue, it is a pandemic that is cutting short the lives of tens of thousands of men, women and children every week.

Maybe we should be in the forefront of this battle. Maybe Christians should be volunteering at clinics, offering support and opening our arms to welcome those that are hurting. Remember, Jesus never asked how people got sick - he just healed them.

Le's pray today that the curse of HIV/AIDS will be met with the love of God and ultimately conquered. Let's ask God if there is anything he wants us to do - and be careful because he probably has an answer.