EASTER IN SIGHT

As I mentioned on Sunday, we are looking to increase our total attendance by another 25% following Easter. Since the average long-term retention rate for church visitors in this country is 14%, that means we would need to have almost 900 people with us on Easter Sunday to achieve that first stage in this year's growth.

And that folks while huge, is doable!

In preparation for that, I am already talking to one of the newer members of our church family, who runs a marketing company's Manhattan operation on Madison Avenue. He and I were looking at some promotional materials that would include the wording -

SHOCK YOUR MAMA - Go To Church This Easter

Here's a simple question.
I don't think Mama is Long Island. Would Long Islanders say Momma? Or would Mom be better?

Answers in my email if you would be so kind (non-Long Islanders need not reply!) -
roger@churchatthemovies.com

Thanks - I'm pumped and we still have more than two months to go!

BURGER JOINT CHURCH

A couple of years ago, upon hearing that I was going to a conference in California, someone I know went into ecstacies over In-N-Out Burger and mentioned how blessed I was to be traveling to a part of the country where I could enjoy this delicasy.

So while I was there I visited the place. Small, packed and a very limited menu. There were only three things on offer apart from fries and drinks -

Burger

Cheeseburger

Double-Double (Two cheeseburgers in a bun)

What on earth drew so many people to a place where you had to wait at least five minutes for your order and there wasn't much choice?

Easy, for sixty years now the company has stuck to doing a few things well. The reason you have to wait on your calorie and fat-laden treat is because everything is cooked upon request. Your burger has not been sitting for fifteen minutes in a warmer and it certainly has not recently been shoved into a microwave and zapped. Man, even the fries are fresh. What they do, they do very well.

We've taken that kind of approach to church ever since we launched. Our goal is to do a few things well. Now there have been a few tense moments over the years with people who came to us from churches that were dysfunctional and felt we should follow those dysfunctional ways.

Are we going to have a men's ministry? No!

Are we going to have an intercessory prayer group? No!

Are we going to have a ladies' fellowship? No!

Are we going to have? Are we going to have? No! No! No!

Here's what we have and where we want to excel-

1. Doing Sundays well.

2. Doing small groups well.

3. Serving others well.

That's enough. That's it. That's all we're doing and I guess from the number of people coming in our doors too, we're well on the way to achieving our goals. This year we'll focus on doing them even better.

LOVING GOD - LOVING PEOPLE - SERVING OUR WORLD

SUNDAY PREVIEW

Here's where we're going tomorrow with our Dangerous Church series. A focused church is a dangerous church - so here are the three things we are going to home in on in 2007.

BABY IT'S COLD OUTSIDE!

It's the coldest day in two years - the high is meant to be around 18f. That's around -8c I think for my European friends who have no lives and so check in here from time to time.

Of course once you factor in windchill that's reported to be making it feel like -5f (I'm smart enough to be staying indoors today!), you've got a celsius figure that you don't even want to know.

This is a good day to eat chicken curry for dinner and that is exactly what the plan is in Gilly's Kitchen. I made it a couple of nights ago, using spices I bought last time I was in India and though I say it myself, it is gooood! Throw in a few chapatis (Indian flat bread) from the Asia store in Selden and we're all set - or we will be once dinner time actually rolls around.

Shivering here on Long Island, it's hard to believe that two weeks from now I'll be back in the heat of Bombay and that for the first time Gill will be making the trip with me. I'm teaching a seminar for key pastors, all of whom lead networks of churches. They will take the content of what I share and then teach it themselves to those pastors, a potential 2,000 churches being helped through my modest efforts.

I love helping Indian pastors and I love the country. I was raised on stories of India as my father had not only spent the first nine years of his life there (my grandfather was serving in the British army in the days of the Empire), but he was also there himself for most of WWII as a member of the Royal Air Force, based outside Calcutta.

While we thank God for all he is doing at Church At The Movies, we will never forget that we are debtors to others and must pass on to them the benefits of what God has done for us.

Missions is a major part of our DNA.

GREAT GRAPHIC

IT SAYS IT ALL!

GETTING IT RIGHT FOR OUR KIDS

Earlier this morning I took a ride over to MacArthur Airport to drop off two of our children's ministry leaders who are escaping the January cold of New York and heading for Florida. It just so happens that the largest children's ministry event of the year is in Orlando during the second half of this week, right inside Disney!

Charlotte and Jayne were not traveling alone. At the airport they hooked up with Kim and Tracy, so we have all those responsible for our kids' programs heading south this morning to the sun. Not that they'll see much of it as they'll be in conference sessions all day until they board another Southwest flight on Saturday to come back and freeze with the rest of us as they implement all they have learned.

We have a brilliant team -

Charlotte in KIDMO
Tracy in LI'L K
Jayne & Kim in SMALLSTARS

There are 50% more children in these three areas combined than there were four months ago, so these ladies must be doing a whole bunch of things right.

We're past the days when kids went where they were told, didn't speak unless spoken to and were generally treated like children.

Today families go where the children want to go and do what the children want to do. The little dears eat what they want to eat, wear what they want to wear and watch what they want to watch and pity help the poor sucker who suggests otherwise. This is neither the time nor the place to go into a diatribe on how we're raising a nation of monsters, sufficient to say kids rule.

With that in mind, if the offspring of a visiting family does not like our children's ministry, chances are the whole family will not return. If on the other hand, the kids love it, the reverse is going to happen.

So the four ladies who even now are covering themselves in suntan lotion, deserve a lot of the credit for the continuing growth we are seeing. Whatever brings people in, what these areas of ministry are offering is helping us retain far above the average for US churches.

I hope they get to enjoy a bit of Florida and even Disney - they deserve it!

A LESSON IN IRRELEVANCE

At some ungodly hour this morning, long before the sun had graced the skies or made any impact on the thin covering of snow on the ground, I took the Long Island Railroad into Manhattan.

Next month I will be teaching a major pastors' conference in Mumbai, India and for the very first time my wife is going to make the 8,000 miles trip with me. I already have a ten year visa, but Gill needs one, so I have come into the city to battle through Indian bureacracy and get the necessary paperwork for her. Everything has been submitted to the Indian Consulate and I now have to return there at noon, hopefully to pick up the visa.

Anyway, en route to Penn Station this morning, we passed a huge church right beside the railroad track, just a couple of miles before you enter the tunnel to go under the East River. It's a humungus building and someone had the brilliant idea of using their vantage point to say something to the hundreds of thousands of commuters whose journey takes them right past it twice a day.

So there's an enormous sign with a Bible verse on it. It's Lamentations 1:12 -

Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by?

Lamentations is one of those more obscure Old Testament books, recording gthe response of the prophet Jeremiah to the destruction of the holy city of Jerusalem and the capture of its citizens who were then deported as prisoners of war.

The book opens in poetic fashion as if the broken down ruins themselves were talking. It speaks of the sin that had now been punished and how evil had brought the great city to its knees. Then comes a suggestion that those who see it should show some interest and learn from it, and this question, Is it nothing to you all ye who pass by.

Having explained that, maybe I'm making my point. What on earth does the average uninformed, unchurched LIRR passenger make of that huge sign?

I'm guessing here, but I reckon the answer is - very little indeed.

It might be a cute idea to put that verse there for people who pass by every day, but that's about all it is.

When will the church in general wake up and realize that back in the real world all they know of Jeremiah is that he was a bullfrog?

We do not live in a Christian country, generally people do not even know what Christian values are, leave alone live them out themselves.

Throwing obscure Bible verses at people doesn't work.

Let's face it, Jesus didn't do that even. He met, loved and helped people where they were at. We need to do that.

And when we do speak or write something, we need to try hard to make it relevant to the people we're trying to communicate with.

FAITHFULNESS OR STUPIDITY?

As I've mentioned here before, one of the benefits of surviving (trust me, I use the word advisedly) in ministry for more than 35 years and still loving it, is that a lot of younger pastors (and let's face it, most of them are) assume that I have some idea of what I am talking about.

Eager to tap into what they misgudedly consider to be a reservoir of wisdom, I find myself interacting with an incrReasing number of church leaders from all over the country on the internet, by phone or over Weightwatchers' lunches at Applebees.

Among my list of FAQs is this one ...

How long do you try to turn a church around when most of the people in it are not only totally content to remain in the Dark Ages, but are prepared to do you actual physical harm if you persist in suggesting that you sing something other than hymns written by Wesley, Martin Luther or some other body who put pen to paper before America declared independence?

Of course there's a martyr mentality in some pastors. They think that the more it hurts the more godly it must be. These poor souls live under the misconception that serving God should make them miserable and so they should look for nothing more. They call it faithfulness and consider it a virtue.

So they spend years trying to bring an unwilling congregation into the 19th century, suffering all kinds of grief along the way and causing untold pain to their families.

If it sounds as if for once I know what I'm talking about, I do. Way back when, I gave four years or more to attempting to transition a very traditional church and experienced all that goes along with that.

I thank God for the day that I quietly decided enough was enough, extricated myself and those I love from that predicament and moved forward.

So when do you move on?

When you no longer have the vision to see and the faith to believe that things can turn around, it's time to go.

That's it, plain and simple.

The same goes for good Christians sitting in dying churches too.

WHY I LEFT THE 49ERS

When I started traveling to the USA for ministry in the early 80's, I spent most of the time on the east coast, but did make several trips to San Francisco too. I loved it over there.

This was the decade of Bill Walsh's Super Bowl winning 49ers, led by the inimitable Joe Montana.

Returning home, British TV had started showing a very limited amount of American Football at obscure times of the night and the 49ers featured more frequently than any other team. So they became the organization I rooted for and I maintained that loyalty right through the good years and the bad years ... and the bad years ... and the bad years.

Until January 1st 2006.

Entering RCA Stadium in Indianapolis that day, I was handed a small booklet which I was told was A gift from Coach Dungy. In it he shared his faith as did several of his players and the last page guided the reader how to come to faith in Christ.

I read in Newsday yesterday that when Dungy played for the Steelers, other players would bet against each other who could make him curse. They all lost their money. He's a committed Christian, a family man, a role model.

He showed so much class that day we were there - his first Sunday back in charge since the suicide of his college-age son, that I decided that from then on I was going to root for the Colts and no longer for San Fran. It was more about the Coach than the team.

Look what a difference that has made to the teasm. Now they are bound for Super Bowl XLI!!!

YES!

What a game!

The biggest comeback in playoff history and the Colts win it over their arch rivals, New England. I doubt if the Superbowl will be as exciting as this championship game was, but who knows?

Who said Dungee can't get it done in the playoffs?

Who said Manning just can't get to the big game?

My team goes to Miami. I love this game!!!

FAMILY PROBLEM

I am tremendously proud of my children - they are a huge source of joy to me. However I do have a major issue with one of my grandsons who dealt me a heart-rending blow this afternoon.

Ben is five years old and lives in Texas. While we don't see one another anywhere near as often as I would like, we do talk on the phone quite often. This is always an enlightening experience as despite his limited life experience, he is an authority on virtually every subject under the sun.

Today we talked football and in particular tomorrow's championship games. The budding genius declared himself for the Saints, which didn't put me up or down as I have no great preference which team I would like to see win that game.

The Colts-Patriots matchup is a different animal altogether. The Colts are my team. I've rooted for them for more than a year now, since I finally decided to give up on my long-time favorite 49ers.

But something has gone radically wrong in young Benjamin's upbringing. There is a major malady deep in the heart of Texas - he is rooting for New England.

How can that be?

Bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh and he wants the arrogant arch enemies of my Indianapolis aces to beat them.

There are serious problems among the Blackmores tonight!!!

I'M PUMPED

I know it's generally Saturday evening before I get really restless, wishing it was Sunday morning already and we could just go do it, but this week that feeling seems to have set in early. There are probably a few good reasons for this:

1. I haven't preached here since Christmas Eve
There are a lot of things I stink at as a pastor, but I can teach half-decent some of the time. I thoroughly enjoy doing that and since I haven't done it for four weeks, I'm ready to go.

2. Sunday's teaching has been ready for quite a while
The material I want to cover in this first part of Dangerous Church is stuff that I finally got in order on my post-Thanksgiving visit to India. I worked on it during the flight over there, in quiet times during my stay, while sitting in the hotel in Ambala at night and actually shared it with the leaders of Basil D'Souza's church in Mumbai. I also preached it in two churches in Scotland over New Year. But since it was prepared with our church in mind, I really want to deliver it.

3. These next two Sundays are a make or break time for us
I'm looking to set the tone and the course for the year ahead of us and if with God's help I can really get the point across and with his continuing aid the church rises to the challenge, this will without doubt be the most incredible year of our church's life. Failure here is not an option. I have to give it so that folks can grasp it and we can set our sails for an amazing voyage.

So here we are - it's Friday afternoon and I'm wishing it was Sunday already. Every Sunday is not spectacular, every weekend is not lifechanging, but this Sunday's service is huge.

REMARKABLE

As I've mentioned here before, 87% of the 1.5 million people living in our county have opted not to be involved in church. That's not because they're all total pagans who attend Satanic rituals and burn crosses.

These are hard working men who get up before dawn every day to ride the Long Island railroad into Manhattan so they can provide for their families. They are soccer moms whose lives seem to consist of juggling their children's schedules so they can be the cab driver their offspring need, in between working themselves and taking care of the whole family.

These are not bad people. They are people for whom church holds no attraction and who have concluded that it is an irrelevance to them.

All the more need to grab their attention with a remarkable church.

Marketing guru Seth Godin writes some things about being remarkable. There's a lot of sense there for us to reflect on at CATMO.

1. Understand the urgency of the situation. Half-measures simply won't do. The only way to grow is to abandon your strategy of doing what you did yesterday, but better. Commit.

2. Remarkable doesn't mean remarkable to you. It means remarkable to me. Am I going to make a remark about it? If not, then you're average, and average is for losers.

3. Being noticed is not the same as being remarkable. Running down the street naked will get you noticed, but it won't accomplish much. It's easy to pull off a stunt, but not useful.

4. Extremism in the pursuit of remarkability is no sin. In fact, it's practically a requirement. People in first place, those considered the best in the world, these are the folks that get what they want. Rock stars have groupies because they're stars, not because they're good looking.

5. Remarkability lies in the edges. The biggest, fastest, slowest, richest, easiest, most difficult. It doesn't always matter which edge, more that you're at (or beyond) the edge.

6. Not everyone appreciates your efforts to be remarkable. In fact, most people don't. So what? Most people are ostriches, heads in the sand, unable to help you anyway. Your goal isn't to please everyone. Your goal is to please those that actually speak up, spread the word, buy new things or hire the talented.

7. If it's in a manual, if it's the accepted wisdom, if you can find it in a Dummies book, then guess what? It's boring, not remarkable. Part of what it takes to do something remarkable is to do something first and best. Roger Bannister was remarkable. The next guy, the guy who broke Bannister's record wasn't. He was just faster ... but it doesn't matter.

8. It's not really as frightening as it seems. They keep the masses in line by threatening them (us) with all manner of horrible outcomes if we dare to step out of line. But who loses their jobs at the mass layoffs? Who has trouble finding a new gig? Not the remarkable minority, that's for sure.

9. If you put it on a T-shirt, would people wear it? No use being remarkable at something that people don't care about. Not ALL people, mind you, just a few. A few people insanely focused on what you do is far far better than thousands of people who might be mildly interested, right?

10. What's fashionable soon becomes unfashionable. While you might be remarkable for a time, if you don't reinvest and reinvent, you won't be for long. Instead of resting on your laurels, you must commit to being remarkable again quite soon.

UNSUNG HEROES

I had breakfast with Josh Bonventre today. Although he's six months older than I am, Josh is relatively new to the role of a senior pastor, yet over the past five years he has made a radical impact on the dying church he took over in East Patchogue.

It has been good to support and encourage him as he has turned that congregation around and seen substantial growth. There have been some bumps in the road for Josh and he is currently dealing with a huge one.

About six weeks ago he went for a routine physical for an insurance policy and what came out of it was that he was diagnosed with bone cancer. He started chemo last week and was certainly looking good as he downed a huge breakfast today.

It has been a rollercoaster six weeks, but it has brought out the very best in the folks he is shepherding. The support he is getting from the church has been huge. Everyone has stepped up to the plate and it's like everyone there has grown through this experience.

As you pray for Josh, remember this - Too often we pray for God to make us great Christians but then ask him to take away the very things that will make us great.

REPRIEVE

I just rehashed the figures and realized I miscalculated the number of Sundays before I hit my 65th birthday - look down a couple of posts for the full story. Turns out I have 44 more weekends than I was anticipating, which may not be good news for some, but it's great for me.

ONE SIMPLE QUESTION

I never had any interest in American Idol and passed up on the first four series. Despite the fact that it seemed as if FOX's hit show had captivated most of the rest of America, watching a talent contest was not my idea of how to spend a relaxing evening.

Then I actually watched a show while I was with my son and daughter-in-law last January ... and I was hooked. To be honest, once it got to the real competition stage I wasn't totally riveted, but the auditions have got to be one of the funniest things on television.

I just have one simple question, Who on earth told some of these people they could sing? And maybe one more question, Why didn't someone tell them the truth before Simon and Co did?

Mind you, I'm glad they weren't put off by family and friends because then I'd be reduced to watching reruns of Law & Order tonight!

CATMOBILE

While out riding over the weekend with our son who was visiting from Texas, he commented on the fact that my new set of wheels turned a lot of heads. So I'm all the more pleased with the effort I have made to capitalize on that attention while not going to some crazy lengths by totally defacing the whole of a great motor.

Not being an award-winning photographer and being unwilling to freeze my butt off any longer in pursuit of the perfect shot, for those who can't read it, the decal on the back window is www.churchatthemovies.com

DAMAGE ASSESSMENT

A treat here and a treat there. The odd indulgence followed by more indulgences. Two weeks of inhospitable weather in Scotland that limited exercise. Three weeks away from my Monday morning appointment with Weightwatchers. And before you know it, I'm 12lb up on what I was before Christmas.

I weighed in today and that's the official extent of the damage. Ironically it's exactly what I did over the holidays last year! But that's okay, because it's over. I am now officially back on track.

There's no such creature as the perfect weightwatcher, we all have our ups and downs. Weeks of keeping on track can still give way to a binge on a boring evening when you scour the house for anything edible and end up eazting stuff you don't even like. But it's the long-term that matters - kinda like it is in life too.

Having pastored way longer than Peyton Manning has lived, I can reliably state that there is no such thing as the perfect Christian either. There are ups and downs on that journey too, failure and disappointments with oneself litter the path. Regaining focus and keeping going is essential over and over again.

And the bottom line of course is that God loves us when we've lost our way as much as he does when we're surging forward.

EVERY SUNDAY COUNTS

When I started pastoring 36 1/2 years ago, I made the commitment that at age 65 I would step back from the lead pastor's role. (We called them Senior Pastors back then and used a capital "S" and "P" as if writing about royalty!)

I still think that is the right way to go, because I have seen too many over-the-hill pastors clinging on for dear life and killing the good churches they were instrumental in building in previous years. It's like no one dared tell them they were past their best before date, or someone did but was not believed.

With that in mind, today is a milestone. There are now exactly 400 Sundays between now and my 65th birthday.

Four hundred Sundays! And I plan to make every one of them count.

A couple of weeks ago I quoted a prayer of Moses recorded in Psalm 90:1 and it really is pretty appropriate right now - Teach us to use wisely all the time we have.

I am going to keep having the time of my life, but hold on because the pace is definitley going to speed up. Every Sunday counts!

HOW WAS IT?

How was it?

How was it?

After two weekends away and the Christmas Eve service before that?

How was CATMO this morning? - It was outrageous!.

+ We baptized ten people today and though I don't have the exact details in front of me right now, I know that adds up to around 40 baptisms in the past nine months. Our Celebration Sundays remind us we're on track. Since our goal is to seek and save those that our lost, the evidence that this is not just a load of hot air is that people really are coming to Jesus and being baptized. And they are!

+ Despite the rain, we had a great crowd. You can usually guarantee that when the heavens open, a bunch of people decide to keep their front door closed and opt for the warmth of the fireside. But that didn't happen today.

+ Our son, Jonathan was with us for the weekend as he is in Manhattan this week on a business trip. Given the rough time he has had with his health over the pasy twelve months, it was a treat to get to spend a couple of days with him. Jonathan was part of our pastoral team before his work took him to Texas, so I got him to preach today and he did an outstanding job. I have made a mental note not to get him to do that too often just in case too many people begin to think the old man is redundant!

+ One apparently small detail that did me the world of good - we have a great guy who comes early every Sunday just to set out all the outdoor signs. It was raining today, so when he arrived I was thinking about doing a minimal amount of signage on the highway, in the parking lot, etc. But he had better insight than me because he wasn't looking at the rain, he was thinking about people. So off he went into the wet morning to put everything where it belongs because, as he pointed out, the baptisms will probably mean visitors coming and they need to know where to go. He got it - that meant a lot to me.

So it was an outstanding day for us.

This year is going to be huge.

THROUGH A VISITOR'S EYES

Here are some fascinationg insights from a Pastors' Internet Forum I help to moderate -

How interesting it is to be on the other side of the pulpit.

I have recently made a transition from the pastorate to educational ministry. This means my family and I are in the market for a church home. I thought some of you might appreciate some insight from a genuine church shopper.

Mind you we are not "seekers." In one way that makes us an easier sell--we WILL end up in a church--some pastor gets us, for good or for ill. We're not just trying out the whole church thing. On the other hand that probably means some things important to us may not be that important to your unchuched target. We are a target of another kind though. We won't be idle pew sitters, we will be active in ministry and strong supporters of our pastor wherever we end up--in that sense we represent the target of churched folks newly moved into your area who are anxious to join a church and reach the lost.

Lesson #1
Every Sunday Matters even if you're doing something different for your folks. If it's the Sunday I come and you've eliminated Children's ministry and I have to sit with my squirming kids I may not give you another chance. As parents one of the most important things we want to check out is the quality of your children's ministry and how our kids like it.

This also means every Sunday needs to be planned with your visitors in mind.

Lesson #2
Everything that makes your people feel like an insider, makes me feel like an outsider. Inside jokes, Your "this is my Bible chant, " All of it.


Lesson #3
Train your folks to be courteous to guests. Don't stand there in conversation, blocking the only path into the sanctuary, Don't park your car blocking an unknown vehicle into the parking lot (I swear I did not make that up).

Lesson #4
Don't call attention to me from the pulpit.

Lesson #5
Your bulletin is a document for visitors. Especially if no one got them a visitors packet (as happened at two of the three churches I visited--the third made me feel like an idiot as everyone watched as they gave me the packet not before but during the service with a running commentary from the front). If your ministry for middle schoolers isn't in the bulletin, I'll assume you don't have one--especially if you have info about the Sr. High group and specify it's not for kids the age mine is.

Lesson #6
If you do miss a visitor until the end, don't tell them to wait here for 5 minutes while you go look for the visitor packets.

There's probably more but this will get us started.

THE MCDONALDS PRINCIPLE

I think I may have blogged about this before, but some news I got today indicated that we are getting increasingly impressive results from what I call The McDonald's Principle.

It goes like this.

I don't eat McDonalds much at all - let's face it, their food looks a heck of a lot better in commercials than it tastes in the real world. And it's not even the cheapest way to attack every vital organ in your body nowadays either - you need to take out a second mortgage to feed a family of four there!

You'll only find me underneath the golden arches for one reason - and one alone ...

I'm with one or more of my grandchildren.

They love it there and they're the only reason you'll find me forcing artificial looking and tasting french fries into my system. I go there for the kids and I reckon a high percentage of the adults to be found in any McDonalds at any given time are pandering to the younger segment of society, period.

Time was when kids went wherever and did whatever they were told, but that went out long before Elvis became passe. Nowadays the wishes of the child are paramount and love it or hate it, that's the way life is.

A couple of years ago I developed the theory that if the church followed McDonalds' example and developed an environemnt that kids would demand to frequent, inevitably adults would follow.

The stats are in - my theory works.

Over the past four months participants in our children's programs have increased by almost 50% - we are just a handful short of being a church with 100 kids.

And where the children go, the adults have followed.

That's why we're growing. A great job by our children's ministry team!

HOME!

This is us at Cairbulg Harbor last Saturday afternoon (we momentarily discarded heavy coats for the sake of the camera!) The classic vacation pose with the handkerchief is a comment on the longest cold I have ever had - still fighting it!

Got in about an hour ago - flight was delayed as we had to take a very northerly arc over the Atlantic due to strong headwinds. We had exit row seats with an empty spot between us, so that's about as good as it gets in economy!!!

And so I'm off to my own bed!!!

ALL PACKED

The cases are full to capacity and we're ready for our final night in the comfort of Gill's brother's home in Cairnbulg, Scotland. Twenty four hours from now we should be arriving back in sunny Coram, ready to move ahead with 2007.

It has been great to spend time with family, hang out with old friends, get up every day with nothing special to do, eat some tasty foods you don't get in the U.S. and celebrate Hogmanay Scottish-style.

It was all good. But it's enough.

Time to return to my mission, to the things that motivate me, to the country that has adopted me and that I call home. Time to get stuck in with everyone else at CM as we unwrap some of the things that are in store for us in the months ahead.

Time to get back to Long Island, back to work and back to the things that I love doing.

ROG LIVES!

For those at CM who may have forgotten what he looks like, there was a recent Rog sighting at St.Combs Community Church in Scotland. The picture shows our lost hero sampling the church's cafe yesterday, after he had preached at the evening service there.

CHURCH IS JUST TOO DARNED IRRELEVANT

While I was visiting a couple of churches down south last summer, Gill and I spent a Sunday evening at a recent phenomenon in South Carolina, New Spring Church, which has grown from nothing to several thousand in little more than six years.

Thriving churches are always criticized and New Spring's Pastor, Perry Noble has been getting quite a bit of that lately and I guess he has had enough because he fired back at his critics on his blog today.

I'm reproducing some of it here because it encapsulates what I have conveyed to some of CM's critics -


We live in a culture DOMINATED by entertainment. Like it or not THAT is THE way it is. If a movie is good then people will go…and if it isn’t then people will stay away. If a television show is good then people will watch…and if it isn’t then it will be canceled. And…IF church is good then people will go…and if not then people will stay away!!!

Now…I am a firm believer that numbers do not lie…and the numbers say that over 90% of the churches in America are either stagnant OR declining. (I actually read in one report that an average of six churches per day in America are closing their doors!!!)

Combine this with the FACT that the population in America is EXPLODING. There are currently over 300 million people living in the US…and stats show that we will reach over 400 million people by the year 2040.

Question–does ANYONE see a problem here? Church attendance is DECREASING. The population is INCREASING. In my opinion it is time to wake up and smell the flippin’ coffee.

So here is another question to add to that…WHY IS CHURCH ATTENDANCE DECREASING? Is it because God just isn’t that big anymore? Nope! Or maybe it has to do with the Bible–does the Bible lack the power to bring practical teaching and transformation? I would say a big fat NO to this question as well!

Then what is it? Why are churches shutting down when there are more people in this country than EVER before?

MAYBE it is because people find absolutely NO value in going to church! MAYBE there is nothing in the church that seems to hold their attention! MAYBE church just ISN’T GOOD anymore. And people–you can SCREAM at people for embracing this mindset–but the people who are embracing it ARE LOST!!! AND…if we are not willing to do what it takes to reach them then they are going to go to HELL!!! This means that WHEN they walk in the doors of our church that there SHOULD be something there that catches their attention…there had better be…or they are not coming back.

The church is called to grow–to reach people–to change…NOT to compromise the Gospel. We teach about Jesus here at NewSpring…I teach FROM Scripture…heck, I even talk about SIN and REPENTANCE…but when we do it–we do so in a way that people can understand...that they can apply, and MAYBE…just MAYBE that is A reason people ARE being reached…and lives ARE being changed.

Couldn't have said it better myself!!!

MISSING CM

I love our church and to be honest I haven't always been able to say that throughout 36+ years of pastoring. I have spent time in situations where I would wake up Sunday mornings and wish it was lunch time already so I didn't have to face church.

But Church At The Movies is something very different and very special. We have some of the greatest people on earth and I love getting together with them and working with them to see people come to Jesus.

While I don't have the unbroken attendance record of our 85 year old greeter Dan Ricci, I don't miss a Sunday without good cause and I am seldom away two weekends in a row. I guess that's why this second Sunday in Scotland is making me think even more about everyone who'll be at Patchogue UA movie theater this morning.

Last year I was in India for two Sundays, visiting other theater churches to steal ideas on two Sundays, preaching to a church plant's core group prior to their public launch on one Sunday and I was over here on vacation for the last Sunday of the year.

But when I'm not with our folks I really wish I was!

I know that the church functions full well without me - we have a great pastoral team. This isn't about me being the pastor, it's just about being part of the greatest church I've known.

I love it. I miss it. I wish I was there.

Nuff said!

GLOBALIZATION

Globalization is a wonderful thing!

It means that I can sit here in Scotland and watch my Colts in their playoff game against the Chiefs. With Peyton Manning having thrown his third interception of the night, I hope it will be an opportunity worth celebrating!

Contrary to common belief, the rest of the world does not even understand, leave alone watch American Football. But things are slowly improving and while the game still trails soccer, cricket, rugby, tennis, badminton, snooker, curling, tiddlywinks and watching paint dry in the rankings, at least it is there!

KIDMO AT THE BEACH

No doubt inspired by the recent unseasonal warm weather, there's a whole beach thing going on at KIDMO starting this Sunday. Our increasingly popular children's program which has been one of the outstanding successes of the past four months will be taking kids on a five week adventure entitled CATCH, that is all about -
Connecting To Church And The Community.

The upbeat music, rowdy competitions and zany onscreen antics of presenter Johnny Rogers will be teaching our kids about important values like -

Connecting to the body
Accepting and
Treasuring others
facing Challenges when times get tough
Honoring others as Jesus did.

Theater 2 looks about the most fun place to be on Sunday mornings. It sure sounds that way too, but try as I may, I can't get beyond the registration table as it is apparently an absolute requirement that one of my parents signs me in before I can enter the fun zone! And that ain't gonna happen!

There's new stuff starting in Li'l K this week too. A great start to the New Year for all ages.

CAN'T SHAKE IT OFF

I was in town as soon as the shops opened today to see if they had any of this Vick's stuff left over from 1924, but my quest was unsuccesful. Instead I came away with Sudafed and Ibuprofen to try to get rid of this cold and the sinus congestion that has plagued me most of this week. For the past two mornings I have decided that running in a howling gale might not be helping my recovery and so have opted to stay where it is warm - which is not helping me to shed the extra pounds I piled on over Christmas and New Year.
But I have to do what I have to do to try to get clear of this stuff before I have to preach in two churches on Sunday!

CHASING DAYLIGHT

Erwin McManus' book by this title was one of the better volumes I read last year (Go Big still ended the year in the #1 spot).

I thought about it this afternoon as we were driving back from Aberdeen (the nearest major city - some 42 miles from where we are staying) and noticed the sun starting to go down at around 3.00pm. I've checked the figures and in total there were 2.5 less hours of daylight here in the north east of Scotland today than on Long Island.

That makes for a short day! Sunrise was at 8.47am and sunset at 3.38pm. Seven hours of daylight and that was it!

Back to McManus whose main concept in the book is that from the moment we're born, we're heading towards our personal sunset and so need to take full advantage of every moment of the daylight that is our lives.

While 2007 has begun with me in relaxed, vacation mode, there is also an increasing sense of urgency that I am feeling and of destiny (if that's not too presumptuous a word) as our no-longer-infant church starts to look to the future.

What does God want us to be? What does he want us to do? What challenges do we need to rise to? What uncharted waters do we need to explore?

MISSING HOME

When I first suggested to our pastoral team that I was considering taking our postponed August vacation in Scotland around New Year instead, I was looking at a ten days break. I chose to believe they were thinking of my best interest when they recommended I take a full two weeks, rather than just seizing the opportunity to get me out of their hair for an extra few days.

The problem is, I feel like I have been away for ages, despite the fact that it's barely seven days to the hour since we took off from JFK.

I'm a pretty motivated person, so taking some down time is very enjoyable, but totally unnatural. It's weird for me to get up in the morning without a whole host of things to cram into the day. However down time is meant to be good for you so I'm drifting through this vacation and getting to catch up with a lot of great people who have been friends for over thirty years.

We're not Scots by birth, but we spent so much of our lives in this part of the world that this town is like our family's home.

Having said that, Long Island has become the place where we feel we belong and the truth is we're missing New York!

SOWING THE SEED

Walking by the rocky shore of the North Sea this morning, a stonesthrow from where we are staying, I ran into a man I haven't seen in over 15 years.

As his eyes caught mine and he ran to greet me, I remembered the afternoon perhaps 20 years back when I had baptized him less than a hundred yards from the spot where I was now standing, having led him to faith in Christ just a few weeks earlier.

Today he leads a small church in a nearby town. As we embraced in the chilly January air I asked him how things are with him and he said - Great! Thanks to the foundation you gave me!

I'd be lying if I told you this was not an encouraging encounter, but here's what it brought to my mind - none of us knows how we are affecting others, but we need to do all we can at all times to sow good seed into the lives of those God brings our way.

Some seed falls by the wayside, some is choked by the cares of this world, but some bears one heck of a lot of fruit!

A NEW PAGE

There's a brand new calendar on the wall with 365 blank squares, marking the start of a whole new year. If you're under the age of ten, it will seem like an eternity before Santa Claus comes visiting again, but if you're over 50 you know full well that it will be no time at all before we're staring 2008 full in the face.

There's a prayer of Moses recorded in Psalm 90:1 that's pretty appropriate right now - Teach us to use wisely all the time we have.

I appreciate the opportunity of another year to know God, love my family and see the kingdom of God grow.

We won't do that if we're the kind of predictable, wimpy, traditional church that 97% of Suffolk County residents have decided they don't need.

We need to be more and more proactive, focused and determined to make an impact on the community of 1.5 million people in which God has planted us.

Dangerous Church 2007 - That has a great ring about it!