HOLD THE BACK PAGE

After being told it was virtually impossible a few weeks ago, yesterday we were offered the back page of next week's Patchogue edition of The Pennysaver.

The salesperson said she reckoned someone was looking out for us, but we knew that already.

That's the ad.

CARE FOR THE CUSTOMER, STUPID!

Had an interesting jaunt out and about in the rain on Tuesday evening while Gill was meeting with the South Africa missions team.

First stop was a haircut at the end of the block, where the girl did a great job in three minutes straight without interrupting a text-message conversation with a guy she is very interested in. I know that because she provided a running commentary for the other associate in the salon.

While wandering around Target looking for a big enough clock for us all to see when we're on the stage on Sundays, I got the inevitable phone call from home - bring milk.

That was easy enough. It was on special too, so I was particularly happy, until I got to the checkout that is. While loading my few bits and pieces onto the belt, I noticed that the young woman on the till was engrossed in conversation on her cell phone. It continued while she scanned my purchases, grunted at me twice and handed me my change.

So here's my point. Will employers please rip those things out of the hands of their staff, tell them they're there to work and suggest they should give some attention to the customer, because the customer is actually important.

Then I got to thinking, as I do from time to time and I concluded that both the ladies I encountered that evening were doing nothing worse than many churches do most Sundays. They carry on doing their own sweet thing, oblivious to those who may be visiting and almost treating them as intruders.

I've heard the whole lot over the past few years, mainly from people who have now moved on -
I want more worship!
The teaching isn't deep enough!
Why do we need props on the stage?
Etc, etc, etc

Several people have asked me how many guests we have there on an average Sunday, I suppose the point was to suggest that the already Christian majority wins the right to indulge themselves on Sunday morning.

I explain with what degree of patience I can muster that whether there is one unchurched guest or a dozen who do not yet know Jesus, they are not incidental, unimportant, or to be ignored. Their spiritual journey should be our #1 priority - and it is!

The customer matters at CATMO!

A FAMILY AFFAIR

I'm going out for a while this evening, despite the pouring rain and the fact this is the last free night I'll have for almost two weeks. The house is being invaded.

To explain - without question, the best support I have had in thirty six years of ministry has been my wife of almost thirty seven years. She has been an amazing, friend, partner, encourager and occasionally the voice of reason!

Gill doesn't look for prominence. She's a good preacher but says that is not her thing, so in church life she does what she does the same as she does at home and is a friend and encourager to so many.

We met in Bible School and started married life with God's kingdom as our priority and reaching people with God's love as our life purpose. Little wonder then that she loves missions and has developed a real passion for underpriveleged children in South Africa.

Tonight a group of ten people will gather here and make final preparations for a missions trip over in Africa in October. She'll be off there then and the next month I'll be returning to India.

We may go in different directions, but we're on the same page.

Chez nous missions is a family affair.

THE TABLE REVISITED

This coming Sunday is it - the last hoorah before the big day, the start of a week of prayer and the launch of 40 days of fasting (partial that is!).

I made up my mind several weeks ago what I wanted to teach on this important morning and then paused to pass it by the pastoral team to see if they thought it was a good idea or I was going crazy - but they agreed (that it was a good idea, I mean!).

So here's what I'm going to do, I'm taking my personal favorite message of the past couple of years The Table,updating it a little and using it to cast vision for the fall.

I've used that message in a number of churches and a couple of other countries - it excites me and motivates me like nothing else I've put together on the subject of what we're about and where we're going.

On September 10th we'll be launching our major fall series - DISCOVER RECOVERY: Life Hurts-God Heals but before all that we need to revisit The Table.

LAYER ON LAYER

Having a relatively quiet day, which in theory is what Mondays are for in my routine. After getting four hours sleep Saturday night and navigating a busy Sunday, I would have overslept this morning were it not for a gentle voice beside me uttering the fateful words - Are you going to the gym today?

So I've been doing a bit of thinking - after I watched the Mets beat the Phillies of course - and here's what I realized.

The amazing momentum we have going now in the lead-up to September 10th's launch of our new-look Sundays is probably the result of what we've done the last two falls.

'04 was the 40 Days of Purpose campaign, which was a strengthening and growing experience for us as individuals and as a church.

'05 we went through 40 Days Of Community, which among other things established our small groups stronger than we have seen them at any time over the past eight years.

So where we are now is not somewhere we arrived at by chance, it's the result of a progressive building, layer upon layer. And of course where we are now is not where we will stay, because this next step is not our destination, it's simply the next stage towards the eventual goal.

CLEANED OUT!

This morning was different - in a good way. To conclude our worship series we gave most of the time to praise and worship and while I didn't preach as such, I did take around 25 minutes to share some aspects of the vision for our new-look church following the September 10th relaunch.

I spoke about two areas of involvement. One is to invite, using the great materials we have at hand and the other is to pray. I talked about the week of prayer that starts next Sunday and also kicks off a 40 Days "Daniel Fast" (more on that later).

On Labor Day we have a major connection event in the community, our End Of Summer Festival at Shore Front Park. Do you know that every last invitation card we had printed for that afternoon was picked up today. We were cleaned out. They are gone, vanished, disparue (bit of Frnech there!), nixed, anihilated - there are none left at all.

I love that. You know why? I can talk about what we're looking to do until I'm blue in the face without knowing whether I'm really getting through, but that empty table screams that a ton of our people have got it!

We are on the same page, moving forward together. This will be a great fall. Not a good one, an average one or just another one - a great fall!

ENJOY THE JOURNEY

Chicago Midway is one of the nation's better airports. It's bright, airy, easy to navigate and even has some half-decent restaurants. Taking a flight with a change of planes here is far better than getting a direct flight out of Laguardia to DFW - it's always good to fly back into security-ridden McArthur.

So sitting here in Chicago, I have to admit this is a good place be - unless your plans for the day have you already approaching Islip at this time and you're stuck in the windy city because your flight was almost two hours late leaving Dallas, so you missed your connection!

And that is how our day is going. It will be a long wait here, following three and a half hours sitting doing nothing earlier today at DFW. Arriving at McArthur around 9.45pm will bring Sunday morning around really early!!!

So, what do you do? We've seen the screamers, shouters and complainers in plentiful supplies today. Their elevated blood pressure has threatened to raise that of airline employees at times, but has achieved no change in the situation. If planes are late, they're late. If yours left, it left. No amoung of ranting will change that. So what to do?

Enjoy the journey. I just enjoyed a great freshly made Italian sandwich (on wheat!), made a couple of phone calls and will now catch up with a few things courtesy of the internet.

It's the old thing about - when life throws you lemons, make lemonade.

If you're not enjoying the journey, you may well need to evaluate your approach to life. Jesus didn't come to make life hard, boring or miserable, he came to give us life that is the best it could ever be.

The world is full of miserable Christians, which could well be why so many churches are closing in the USA every year. Hurting people don't want to share people's misery, they want a bit of the abundant life Jesus was talking about in John's Gospel (forgive the King James English!).

So maybe Chicago Midway really is a good place to be!

HOMEWARD BOUND

No, I didn't get lost deep in the heart of Texas, just busy. And this morning we start the trip back home, ready for tomorrow's Imagine Worship series finale when we'll be spending quite a bit of the morning in praise and worship. We're going to celebrate communion together too and then it's down to explaining the nitty gritty for our September 10th relaunch.

The countdown begins around 24 hours from now!

HOW SAFE DO YOU WANT IT?

I seem to travel quite a lot in the course of a year, though when I get back to Long Island again on Saturday I don't anticipate leaving any more this year, except for a ten days trip to India right after Thanksgiving.

Like millions of other Americans I've lived with the security changes the past few years have bought, but I have to admit that Monday capped all I have ever seen.

At Islip McArthur Airport, hardly likely to be a major terrorist target in the grand scheme of things, they have gone from the sublime to the ridiculous. Now unless the Department of Homeland Security and Southwest Airlines have some information that I am not privy to, I would have to conclude that they have lost their marbles at McArthur.

Here's the deal, they ask you about liquids, make-up, shampoos, toothpaste, etc at check-in. Then they x-ray you and whatever you're carrying on to make sure you didn't lie. You are then free to go up to the concourse and hang out at the gate area for ever because they told you to be there at least 37 hours before take-off for domestic flights (I think it's three weeks for international).

But God forbid you get thirsty. If you do, you must go and sit in the small cafeteria area in one corner and are not allowed to take any drinks out of there with you into the gate area. They examine your bags as you leave food tables just in case you couldn't finish a 20oz bottle of diet Coke and were harboring the stupid idea of holding on to it to sip while you waited for the plane to come in.

They don't even do that to you at a serious airport like JFK. But in McArthur they coral you into one small designated space where the drinking of liquids is permitted.

Somewhere in a cave in Pakistan or Afghanistan Osama Bin Laden is laughing his socks off.

Years ago I heard the first heart transplant surgeon, Dr. Christian Barnard, say - There is a quality to life as well as a quantity. The quality of life isn't great over there in Islip while they supposedly work to keep people breathing.

Disagree with me all you want, but the First Amendment, which our enemies would love to see crushed along with every aspect of our lifestyle, says I have the right to an opinion and to expressing it.

Speaking purely for me, I don't want to be kept so safe at a small, suburban airport that I have to sit in a guarded area where I am compelled to down my beverage of choice in its entirety and then have my belongings searched as I leave.

Rant over!

MONEY MAKES THE WORLD GO ROUND

This morning I woke up in Little Elm, Texas. It wasn't a Wizard of Oz kind of experience, or one like Phillip's in the book of Acts. I started the day here because we flew here last night and will be in sunny Texas until Saturday.

I am due to attend a board meeting in Dallas on Friday for a new missions organization I am advising, but we decided to come down early (it was a tough call!) to have a few days with our son and his family. We also brought our other grandson whose parents are currently in AZ - he was great on the plane and I enjoyed watching RV with him on his portable DVD player!

Back to this missions organization. A friend of mine has started it and its goal is not to do missions, but to gather resources (that's politically correct speak for raise money) for overseas projects helping children.

I love the concept of course and I appreciate the heart of people who don't need to build their own empire, but are content to undergird those that are doing the job.

Kingdom work takes money - lots of money. People tell me all the time that God will provide, but last time I checked, his program for doing that has got sadly diverted. God's plan for always having more than enough cash around to achieve his purposes is for those who belong to him to be generous and that just isn't going on as a general rule.

Most Christians have assumed God's role where finances are concerned. They clearly reckon his way stinks, so they do it their way. The kingdom suffers and they do too, because the blessings promised to the obedient just don't come their way.

I wonder how much could be achieved if God's people committed to really living God's way and doing his work in his way too. I wonder!

ONE EIGHTY

Word from the blistering heat of Arizona is that Freddie has done a one-eighty since Sunday that has amazed the doctors. He is still heavily sedated and on a respirator, but does try to reply to questions - mainly by wiggling his toes!

He has an extremely long way to go and the doctors are not making any promises, but God has the final word so feel free to talk to Him about Freddie and the family.

STUFF HAPPENS

I know it has been a whole weekend without blogging and trust me, I'm feeling the withdrawal symptoms too. It was a busy couple of days, with our old friend Robert Cameron in town - he did a good job preaching for us yesterday and there were a load of new people around the place. That's weird for summer, folks - I think we have actually grown this past couple of months, at a time when most churches are flat. We'll see the full story once vacations are over, but it looks like this fall we will make a good move to pass the next major hurdle, the 500 barrier.

Yesterday got nuts as we heard from Phoenix that the doctors suggested to Charlotte's mother-in-law that family members should be asked to come and see Freddie as he now has pneumonia and internal bleeding and things don't look good.

The rest of the day was a chaotic few hours pulling everything together so that Charlotte, Mike and his brother Dan could fly out last night. With take-off delays they were due in Arizona around 4.00am our time! Still waiting for news today. Please pray for everyone involved.

And if you know a skydiver, tell them that even if the chances of major injury are one in a million, if someone you love happens to be that one, it sucks!

DO YOU NEED A PRESCRIPTION FOR ANYTHING?

Back in Scotland I would often go from one year's end to the next without ever seeing a doctor, but living here in the land of preventive medicine, my primary care physician likes me to get a check up twice a year.

I have no problem with that, except for the time it takes. My doctor is excellent, but he talks so much and ambles through his appointments at such a slow pace that my 9.45 visit this morning ended up with me seeing the man himself at 11.10. What a waste of time.

He checked all the essentials, declared me to be in excellent health and finally asked if I needed a prescription for anything. I was pleased to be able to remind him that I only take one form of medication a day and my gastroenterologist supplies that. Truth is apart from Nexium morning and night to deal with what I reckon are the results of a lifetime of bad eating habits (nowadays it has a medical name and is described as a disease Acid Reflux Disease, but I won't swallow that one!), I don't take any pills with my breakfast.

I thank God for my health. And I want to do whatever I can to protect it. If I'm sick I can't do so many things that I love doing and worst of all, if I'm unable to function fully, I'll be stuck at home where I'll be the most impossible pain in the buttocks you could ever imagine.

Lomg may the doctor's prescription pad be redundant!

FAQs

What do you think is the most frequently asked question I face in the course of any week? You may be surprised to know that it is not about how I keep my youthful looks or whether I believe in eternal security, nor even whether I really think the Mets will win the World Series. What most people want to know from me is What's happening about the church building?

One aspect of that journey I know nothing further about. The Justice Department in DC, having asked for copies of all our files in order to consider suing the Town of Brookhaven on our behalf, does not supply me with weekly updates. I guess they're doing what they do and I expect to hear from them at some point convenient to them. Hopefully with the news that the Attorney General has agreed to represent us in a just cause.

While pursuing the legal road, we have not given up on trying to get the Town Board to exempt churches from the restrictive code it adopted last year, which was primarily to stop our project, but which has put every congregation in the town that's looking to develop in a very difficult position.

Had a good chat with one of our attorneys today and it looks like he and the other attorney fighting for us are poised to lead a group that will seize control of the Brookhaven Conservative Party within a month from now.

Once appointed, the first item on their agenda will be the removal of limitations on church buildings in Brookhaven and they will be talking very candidly with the existing board members about what will win them conservative endorsement at the next election and what will not!

Interesting days ahead and the good chance of a major building code change before the end of the year!

BTW

Yes, I did pass another modest milestone in my training this morning! Going to be kind to my knees tomorrow and have a workout in the gym!

DOWN TO THE NITTY GRITTY

We've been looking at a whole lot of things for our September re-launch. I mean a whole lot. We've had to get equipment for two new theaters for Altered and Kidmo, set everything in motion for the Little K program and talk over some upgrades to our Smallstars nursery. We've had to pull together everything we needed to create a prayer chapel and a video venue too. Add to that mix, video equipment, lighting, tv link, revamped cafe, new visitor gift packs, signage, upgrades to sound system, etc.,etc.

Then we've worked on invitations, newspaper ads, an end of summer event in the community and I can fully appreciate why on odd days lately I've found myself wondering which way is up!

But here's the bottom line, when everything is in place and the word is being spread out there, we're not really into marketing or sales, we're into changed lives.

Let me put it another way. However different, fancy and impressive everything looks and is on September 10th, if God doesn't show up it will be one humungous waste of time, effort and money.

So now I'm doing a lot of praying about our fall plans. Now I know all the real spiritual folks who read this will comment that it would have been good to be doing that a long time ago. If that's you, go directly to heaven, do not pass purgatory, do not collect $200!

Meanwhile, back in the world of mere mortals, if you want to join me and pray for God to change lives, bring hope to people that are lost and perform miracles in families, please do that!

Let's make praying our focus as we count down the days to the start of our church's next chapter.

LAUNCHING KIDMO

We're not launching KIDMO when we start it on Sunday September 10th, we're making our major promotion at what used to be our Labor Day Picnic, but this year will be an End Of Summer Festival in the main community park in Patchogue.

If the purpose of our church is to reach those that our lost, then the purpose of our children's ministry will also be to reach those that are lost.

KIDMO isn't about teaching our own kids - it is that, but more than that it's about seeing others come to know Jesus in the process.

We expect to make some great connections with new families on Labor Day.

UPPING THE PACE

I know people read this blog. They have both told me they do, so just in case either of my regulars is vaguely interested, here's the training update.

Monday I finally broke 60 minutes for my six miles morning workout - 58 minutes 15 seconds - with more than a little help from the Passion album on my Ipod. When I registered for the Cow Harbor Race, I said I'd do the 10K (6.25 miles) in 60 minutes so it looks like I'm on schedule.

Looks like! Problem is that was in the gym on the treadmill, not out there where the Asics meet the road.

But I'm upping it gradually on the road and figured it would be good motivation for me to share here that tomorrow just after the sun gets up and before the neighbors can laugh from behind their drapes, I'm planning to pass another milestone for outdoor effort.

You might notice I'm giving you no statistics about what I'm doing outside! That's because it's not too spectacular, except of course for the fact that to anyone who has known me over the years of serious obesity, it's pretty remarkable that Rog is even talking at all about running, speeds and distances.

Progress report to follow!!! Say a prayer for me tonight!!!

IS CATMO A WORD?

Sure is - and it's one of these:

CATMO - Noun of Anglo Saxon origin, describing any big cooking pot. It is most frequently used of the large pot in which Australian aboriginees marinade kangaroo meat.

CATMO - Slang term for the memos attached to catscan reports, referred to within the business as catmos.

CATMO - The abbreviation I'm going to start using for Church At The Movies, instead of writing or saying the thing in full every time I refer to our church. When we used Grace Church prominently, I would make statements like, Here at Grace, etc, but shortening Church At The Movies is not that easy. Someone jokingly asked me the other day if since our children's ministry will be Kidmo, our worship service would be Catmo.

I like it.

And it's convenient.

CATMO is now an official word!

ENJOYING THE JOURNEY

Had lunch today with a pastor I don't get together with too often. He had called last week and asked if we could meet up. I felt for this guy - great guy, but going through a season where things are not coming together in the church, folks have left and there's not a lot of commitment from many of those that are there.

He said he had seriously contemplated throwing in the towel. We talked about a number of issues and I made a few suggestions that might help them move forward.

I left there with a couple of impressions -

1. I was reminded that pastoring can be a very lonely calling. But I do think that much of the time when that is the case, it is self-imposed.

2. I recalled having been in similar situations myself and appreciating the friends who encouraged me to stick at it. I owe them a lot!

3. I was tremendously grateful to God for the church he is building among us. I love our church, I love pastoring and although I don't know where we're heading, I'm enjoying every bit of the journey.

Folks aren't always looking for clever answers. They generally don't want Bible quotes thrown at them either. But there are times when it's important to know that we are important and that someone cares.

ANOTHER YEAR

We just wrapped up the contract renewal for the lease of our movie theater until September '07. It took a bit longer than usual (this is our third renewal) as the parent company was looking to bump up the price substantially.

We have been paying a lot less than the Patchogue-Medford School District was ripping us off weekly before we made this move - their loss - but I wasn't ready just to swallow such a huge hike for using the UA on a Sunday morning.

Well, we have a deal I'm happy with and that has saved us $6,000 p.a. on what was initially being demanded, so we're all set.

I'm happy that we're taking steps to "own" the theater. I don't mean buy it, I mean treat it as if it's ours, that this really is our home and not just a holding place until we get into something better. That's why we're upgrading so much stuff for the fall and have embraced the "Church At The Movies" identity.

On Sunday a great couple who are new to us asked what our identity would be once we get a building up and I told them maybe we'll continue to be Church At The Movies. We definitely won't become something that looks and smells like regular church.

We didn't come this far to go back to boring neutrality! But that's all in the future - September is right around the corner.

GETTING CLOSE

Just been discussing our newspaper ads for September. We're going to focus on three things:

1. Our End Of Summer Festival at Shorefront Park in Patchogue on Labor Day.

2. KIDMO - of course!

3. Our new-look Sunday, using the What's Your Style concept.

We'll run ads in the Pennysaver and the Patchogue Advance to help us put the word out, but there's no question that word of mouth is the most effective form of invitation. So the ads are really the backup for the one on one that will go on over the next few weeks.

I'm pumped about September 10th, but there's still a lot to do between now and then.

WHAT'S NEXT?

Okay, so that was the second of my planned Sundays off - today I spent quite a bit of time checking out what was going on around the place while the service was going on in Theater 13.

I think one of the most impressive things that was happening was the Smallstars Nursery. That place was a hive of activity - and noise! I didn't realize we had so many little toddlers and there was a high level of volunteer help, giving us an outstanding adult to child ratio.

I remember hearing it said that a couple of decades ago when people were having children at a younger age, the kids were just dragged along wherever mom and dad went. However, the theory continues, now that many couples are having babies later in life, the welfare of their children is the predominant thought in choosing a church.

Full marks to our nursery staff for maintaining a top notch ministry. In a few weeks they will be introducing a whole new program there, we'll be starting Little K for Pre-K and K, plus of course there will be the debut of KIDMO.

Wandering the hallways this morning, I was glad to see we're getting it right where our children are concerned.

I'M FRIED

I really am! I don't mean that in the burned out sense, just the burned bit of it. Not sure whether we're on vacation right now or not, Gill and I decided to spend the last two afternoons at Cedar Beach and it was hot! Whatever they tell you, let me advise you that factor 50 doesn't always cut it!

The weird thing is that the beach is just 7 miles from our house - I clocked it - which means you can get there in ten minutes if the lights are favorable, though of course they never are.

I reckon I've been there twice in the fifteen years we've lived here - and I love the beach.

So what is wrong with this picture??? Don't bother sending me your email answers, the question is rhetorical!

Maybe I need to take time to enjoy the journey while I work like crazy to make sure I complete it?

And don't sit there piously concluding what an idiot I am, as if I'm the only person you know who needs some help keeping life in balance. In fact, why not turn off your own computer and enjoy something with someone in the real world for a change?

FLYING

Kudos to the British intelligence service for hopefully thwarting another terrorist plot. Despite their good work, I guess a lot of folks will be thinking twice about flying for a while.

Although it seems uncertain when the terrorists planned to hit the US-bound flights, the fact has not been lost on me that Gill and I were scheduled to fly with BA from London to New York next Wednesday.

Would I still be flying home given yesterday's news? Absolutely!

Why? you may ask, or I'll pretend you did -

1. I reckon there is no safer time to fly than right now.

2. Terrorism is here to stay. If we let them intimidate us, they win.

3. My life is in God's hands. He knows when it will end.

4. I've got a job here and I need to do it.

Look, I've got used to having to take my suitcases over to a special area to be X-rayed; I don't mind taking my laptop out of its case as it is screened; I don't mind occasionally being asked to switch on a cell phone, camera, Ipod or whatever by a security official to prove it really is what it appears to be; I wear shoes that slip on and off easily whenever I fly because of another British would-be terrorist who found a unique hiding place for explosives; I have no problem removing my belt and I didn't complain when the powers that be confiscated the miniature Swiss army knife I used to carry on my keyring.

Terrorists have certainly made an impression.

But stop flying? Cower in a corner? Be paralyzed by fear?

In the words of my childhoos movie hero John Wayne - HELL NO!

KIDS EXPLOSION EXPLODES WITH MUSIC

Here's some good news from our ministry to children in need in the South African Township of Kurland

For many years we have dreamed of giving our formally abused and emotionally challenged, but musically gifted children of our Safe House , Grace house, instruction on musical instruments.

Through the Grace of God Jim Tooher, a professional Jazz musician and music store owner and his wife Barbara of Grace Church, New York arrived 3 weeks ago with dozens of instruments to do just that.

Starting with basic music theory, they conducted a 13 day music intensive with daily classed in violin, Guitar, Keyboard and Recorder.

In spite of the sometimes challenging circumstances in Kurland, they were amazingly successful.

All of our Safe House children and about half of our Royal Rangers in Kurland who began the program, diligently applied themselves and several have even shown exceptional talent with their instrument. Lu-Een is actually studying both Guitar and Recorder.

This week we had the joy of seeing and hearing 11 of our children and my son Jon-Paul play together in perfect harmony 24 Bars of “God is so good” on the keyboard, Violin, Guitar and Recorder. This indeed could only have been made possible by God’s Great Grace.

Follow up instruction is vital at this point and the Toohers have arranged for internet video conferencing with their New York studio for this purpose, but have also made several contacts with local musicians who seem willing to step in and help.

TAGGED

Blogging is of course the 21st Century way of keeping up with people you know and for exchanging both brilliant insights and absolute nonsense too. I'm not sure which category this falls into ...

I see Preston Porter pulled me into a game of blogtag and since I'm "It", here's my wisdom on the topics being addressed -

One book that changed your life: Rediscovering Church by Bill Hybels.

One book (parts of a book) that you've read more then once: Visioneering by Andy Stanley.

One book that you'd want on a desert island: The Grace Awakening by Charles Swindoll

One book that made you laugh: Blue Like Jazz by Donald Miller

One book that made you cry: What's So Great About Grace? by Phillip Yancey

One book you wished had been written: How To Get It Right First Time And Save Yourself A Lot Of Pain.

One book you wished had never been written: Anything on post-modernism - it's academic claptrap. Sad thing is I bought and read several of these works of nonsense.

One book you are currently reading: Never Eat Alone And Other Secrets To Success by Tahl Raz

One book you've been meaning to read: The Barbarian Way by Erwin McManus

I don't know what others bloggers might venture here on occasions, so can't pass on the tag - guess that wins me seven years of bad luck???

FIRED UP FOR FALL

Just read this on Ed Young's Creative Pastors Blog. Couldn't have said it better myself ...

While Christmas and Easter are undoubtedly the biggest weekends for churches, I would argue that we are entering one of the most critical seasons of ministry: Fall. With the flip of a calendar page, families in your community will be trading in their sunscreen and beach balls for #2 pencils and notebook paper. As they get back into a school schedule, they'll be recommitting to routines, church attendance included.

Fall is ripe with opportunities. To make the most of them, we need to be healthy and ready to take turf for the kingdom of God. This is a time of year where we need to focus our greatest offensive energy into planning and preparation. Here's a look at what we've learned during many fall seasons at Fellowship Church:

Plan a big series. This is when to debut an irresistible message series. Pray to choose the topic your church needs most, then put forth some major creative teamwork to build an exciting series.

Be ready to quarterback. Make sure you're done with your vacations, back in town and engaged in your church.

Take advantage of the big plays of summer. Get in touch with the people who visited your church for summer events and let them know what you've got going on for them this fall.

Make changes now. People are in the mood for a fresh start in the fall, so it's a great time to launch new programs, transform environments, and add or change service times.

And if you don't change it, make it stronger. Freshen up your facilities and make sure your existing programs are at their best.

I get fired up each fall and look forward to the surge of energy and enthusiasm this season brings to the local church. Let's get our A game going and be ready for the incredible opportunities God will bring our way!

USING REAL KIDS

When it comes to the pictures we use in our advertising, I'm always glad if we've got real people and not stock photographs. So this first draft of our ad for KIDMO that will run in the Pennysaver at the end of the month fits the bill.

I do have a problem though - the boy with the big grin is my grandson Ben who lives in Texas (with his parents and sister, that is!).

He spent the first three of his four years in this world living quite near to us and I do miss him. So do I really want to see his cute face all over the place and miss him more?

I guess so - after all it's a good ad!

PUSHING MYSELF

Okay, I'll admit it - this 10K Race I've signed up for next month is starting to look huge to me. It didn't seem much at first as I do that distance every day on a treadmill, though I don't run the whole distance - I throw in a bit of brisk walking in the interest of staying alive!

But two weeks ago I decided I'd better try running on the road, away from the suspension of the treadmill and I have discovered that is another world. I'll jog five miles without interruption in the gym, but on the road I'm struggling to breathe after 400 yards.

This morning I decided to push myself a little harder. So I tuned my Ipod to some good music - Harvest United - and decided to just keep going. I ran further than I have before on the road (nowhere near as far as in the gym), but it was progress. I won't let this thing beat me. I can do it and I will, but I'll need to push myself a bit harder every day.

I think it was Napoleon who said I can find no end of people who will give their last drop of blood for a good cause, but very few who will give the first drop to get it started.

It's surprising what we can do when we extend ourselves a little. That's true in every part of life - especially in church life!

JUNK

Since we were scheduled to be in Scotland right now, I'm not fully sure whether I'm working or on vacation, so it's a kind of schizophrenic week here at the moment.

Today I decided to do something I've wanted to get stuck into for ages - clean out the store room in the basement and the garage. I did it the easy way, ordering a dumpster and throwing everything I could into it before Gill got chance to express an opinion on whether it was a family heirloom or a piece of junk. Of course some items fitted into both of those categories!

It's amazing what useless stuff takes up vital space and complicates life.

There's a lesson there somewhere for us all!

BREAKING OUT

Some time ago I heard leadership guru John Maxwell talk about the danger of getting into a rut. He encouraged his listeners to take risks and try new things.
If you have used the same cologne for the past ten years, it's time to break out, he advised.

Well, I am definitely not guilty there.

I have used the same cologne for at least 25 years! And with great respect to Mr. Maxwell, that's one thing I do not intend to change, although I came close earlier today.

It's a little difficult to find my favorite fragrance in stores nowadays. Eau Sauvage by Christian Dior is available in some airport Duty Free stores, but that's about all. I had hoped to pick some up while traveling to Scotland, but since that trip has been postponed, I reverted to good old Google and did a search.

I found it, surprisingly, at Amazon.com, but in the course of my research I discovered something rather disturbing.

Describing the cologne, one website suggested it was ideal for mature men!

Now that really made me think. I may have joined the AARP - at my wife's insistence - because of all the deals available to members (which I haven't discovered yet either), but trust me I'm resisting every suggestion thatI'm anything like over the hill.

So do I really want to wear old men's smelly stuff?

Ah, what the heck - the alternative on these summer days doesn't bear thinking about! Anyway, I don't think I'm anything like in a rut. Change is a way of life for me.

DOING NOTHING

Since we were scheduled to be in Scotland today and my involvement at CATM was to be zero, I decided to leave it at that even though I was in fact there for the service.

When you've watched a church come together from nothing and develop from the early stages when nothing happened unless you yourself made it come about, it's tremendously rewarding to be there doing nothing and still be part of a really good service.

The worship team excelled - again - and Lesaya's first part of our series on worship was outstanding. She is a great teacher and a tremendous asset to our church. Today's message covered an enormous amount of ground and was extremely practical. If you didn't hear it, keep looking for the podcast which will be on the website soon.

WHY WE'RE DIFFERENT!

Got this from my friend Gary Lamb's blog. Someone in his church shot this picture of a church sign in Georgia.

I guess it just states what most churches are set up to do - pull in Christians.

I reckon that leaves tons of scope for churches like Gary's and ours who are targeting everyone else out there who has no clue whatever who Jeus is and what he's about.

Let the Christians go where the welcome signs are out for them - we'll take all the rejects ... kind of like Jesus did???

LOOKING BACK DOWN A LONG ROAD (4)

I guess I've worked with thousands of people down through the years - small group leaders, musicians, worship leaders, nursery workers, ushers, office staff, etc., etc. Most of them have been a joy to have alongside me, but a few have been a major pain in the butt - I mean people who have caused me serious problems and have also hurt the church.

I haven't seen much of that over the past few years and I think that's because I've finally cracked the code.

Earlier on this journey I had been fooled by flattery, giddied by gifting and carried by charisma, but after quite a number of years I came to recognize that there is just one central issue that I need to look for in people who are really of use to God and his kingdom - character.

You can learn a lot of other stuff and compensate for limited gifting, but there is no substitute for character.

CATM is not a star-studded array of spiritual superstars, the core of the church is scores of good, solid, reliable people who love Jesus, have a passion to reach the lost and will do whatever it takes to make that happen.

If you ask me what I'm looking for in people, there are three things -

1. Character

2. Character

3. Character

UPBEAT SUMMER

Some pastors just give up on summer. Once Memorial Day hits they go into neutral, facing the coming weeks of lower attendances as though they are a necessary evil in the church's year.

Summer has been very positive at CATM - we were not about to sit around for three months as if they don't matter, and wait for Labor Day to come. We have taken some time to re-cast vision, increased involvement and have welcomed quite a number of new people.

This constructive approach continues throughout August with a series on worship that starts this coming Sunday. The climax of the four weeks series will be a morning given to worship on August 27th, but it's the beginning of this teaching that will set us on track.

See you Sunday if you're local - or listen to the message on our podcast if you're one of our regular readers from across the country and in other countries too.

SURPRISED IN ARIZONA

Meanwhile down in Phoenix, while Freddie Engel continues to be in a critical condition and is in a drug induced coma most of the time, unbeknown to him he is getting all kinds of visitors.

He's in one of the leading heart hospitals in the country, but it appears that none of the top doctors there has ever seen a patient survive what Freddie has been through. So they regularly arrive in his room to see what is happening for themselves. The word miracle is one they are using freely.

Don't get me wrong, he's still in bad shape and has a long, long way to go, but he's still with us and amazing the staff.

Please keep praying!

COMPUTER RANT

When I started pastoring I had books, notepads, pens, a typewriter and no darned computers, which have done a heck of a lot more to make life easier for people in third world countries offering technical support than they have ever done for me.

We have on site technical support for our office computers, but today I found out what that really means.

It means they'll send a guy to replace your destroyed hard drive, but that he'll do squat after that except leave you with a bunch of disks and tell you to load all the data. It took somewhere between three and four hours to accomplish that today and I was sorely tempted to throw the machine out of the window and personally donate a brand new computer to Lynn's work station.

Surely the guy should have set it up and have had it running, but no say Dell, he is responsible for replacing the drive and installing the Windows system. Remind me not to buy the support next time!

And why should I trouble you with all this?

Well, you don't think Dell will listen, do you?

LOOKING BACK DOWN A LONG ROAD (3)

Over those first few years of pastoring, maybe right through the 70's, I developed a conviction that most churches were not Biblically structured and out of that came the revelation that if churches are to grow, deacons should deak.

Each of the AG churches I pastored had a deacon board, which was called by different names, but was made up of generally good lay people who were there to assist the pastor. This normally meant that if the pastor wanted to sneeze, change his underwear or run to the loo (old English word there folks), he needed to get the approval of this group of well-intended but totally unqualified individuals. These were teachers, mechanics, fishermen for any sake, not people with any idea of what leading a church was about.

Any change of direction, any new program, any improvement to facilities, any special event had to be sanctioned by the oversight, church board, church council or whatever they called themselves.

It was thought that the role of these people stemmed from the New Testament, but sadly it did not. A lot of churches still function this way, so let me blow up this myth as speedily as I can without boring any reader too much.

There are those who say deacons originate in Acts 6 when the Jerusalem church had grown so much that the workload was too great for the apostles and they then appointed helpers. I can live with that.

But let's see what the first deacons did - they took over the running of the soup kitchen. They did not run the church! They made sure meals were served to the needy in an appropriate manner so that the leaders could go on and lead.

Churches do not grow if leaders cannot lead. People sometimes ask if we have deacons in our church and I tell them they are all over the place. We don't use the word "deacon" - who the heck does in 2006? But we have any amount of folks who are looking after areas of ministry and so doing what deacons did in the book of Acts.

They're ministering, not leading. The pastors lead.

I spent too many years battling to get boards of lay people on board with the vision God had given me. I gave that stuff up over 20 years ago. Life is too short to waste it arguing with people who can't see the point.

Let deacons deak and let leaders lead!

LOOKING BACK DOWN A LONG ROAD (2)

Thiry six years ago what I knew about pastoring was about enough to write on the back of a stamp and it generally consisted of doing what I had seen my own pastor do.

I had never heard that if you always do what you've always done, you'll always get what you always got.

It was 1970 and we had just come through one of the most defining decades of modern history. Everything changed and it was all either the Beatles' fault, Lee Harvey Oswald's or maybe even Martin Luther King's. Burning bras and college campuses went hand in hand and smoking tobacco had been abandoned in favor of a different weed.

So here I was trying to build church 1930's style in a whole new world and I didn't do too well at it because I didn't see that then.

I do now - the world seems to change annually nowadays and the importance of being culturally relevant means that we constantly need to be re-examining what we do and why. If the world is changing, we must too, or we are destined to become dust-covered antiquities.

That's what the church in Birtley was. I wasn't a leader, I was the curator of a museum and that is definitely not what I had signed up for.

LOOKING BACK DOWN A LONG ROAD (1)

With so much going on over this past weekend, it totally escaped my notice that on Sunday I passed another small milestone in ministry. You see, I started pastoring on the last Sunday of July (26th of the month then) in 1970, which means I'm now into my 37th year of doing something I love.

I was barely 20 years old at that time and whenever someone suggests it must have been tough pastoring a church at that young age, I point out it was no problem at all as I knew everything! It's tough now, because all these years on I realize I know nothing!

The first church I pastored was a small Assemblies of God Church in a depressed former coal mining community in the north east of England. The pits had long since closed and their disappearance had left an unemployment rate of horrendous proportions. That town, Birtley, was our home for just two years, which was generally accepted as the normal tenure for a first pastorate in the denomination at that time.

I didn't see this dying congregation turn around dramatically in those 24 months, but we did see a few young people come to know Christ. One of them, Ken Gott, went on to plant a very successful church in the nearby city of Sunderland and become a prominent figure in charismatic circles in the UK and far beyond. He has had some kind things to say about my influence on him as a teenager and he reminds me of one important lesson I have gleaned from those early days -

There is no telling what potential there is in just one life we are able to sow into.

I learned a few other things in Birtley and I'll bore you with one of them tomorrow!