READY FOR THE ROAD

Today we had a new addition to our church family. It's 26' long, has been used well over the past few years and with a bit of careful packing, may be big enough for most of our Sunday equipment once we make the move to The Regal Cinema, that is unable to offer us storage.

Bob McGee really helped us out here as he discovered that the company was actually willing to let it go for little more than 50% of the asking price. He also got his son - a truck mechanic - to check it out thoroughly for us.

Bob's a great guy. I'm glad God brought him to us - and that has nothing to do with all the help he has given us this past few days. He's just a quality person.

WOW!

Spent an hour or so in The Regal Cinema today, the place that will become the center of our Sunday activities from August 19th onwards.

I have to say this new location is growing on me more and more. There are small details like the fact that the main theater looks great with the lights on - we wouldn't dare keep the lights up where we are now, they make the place look dire.

Then there are the reclining seats, the stadium-seating arrangement and the huge floorspace at the front.

The kids area is spacious and adjacent to where Worship Central will be and the cafe area is superb.

It's a great place.

I'm looking forward to the 19th and especially to the public launch on September 9th.

We'll use the first three Sundays there to equip ourselves for what God has in store for the fall and to help towards that goal, we're going to start off with a bang. I guarantee you'll see stuff on August 19th you never saw in church before!

WHERE HAVE ALL THE YOUNG MEN GONE?

More than a week ago I had a scarey experience while I was in the bathroom. It has never happened before and I was certainly unprepared for it. With my eyes barely open, at some ungodly hour in the morning, I looked into the mirror and there was some old guy in there. I kid you not!

What hair remained was gray, and there was little lingering evidence of youth etched in any of the multitude of crevaces in his aging face.

What terrified me most was that I have no idea who he was or how he got there, but I avoid mirrors at all costs now in case his image jumps out at me again.

Unlike the unwelcome stranger, I am still young, enjoying life and very much looking forward to the years that lie ahead.

Today was something of a milestone for me as it was 37 years ago that I first preached as the pastor of a congregation, in the former coal-mining town of Birtley in the north east of England. It was the last Sunday in July in 1970 (the date was actually the 26th then) and it was exactly one month after my 20th birthday.

We've come a long way from Birtley and church today bears little resemblance to church then - which of course is how it should be in a living organism. But there is one thing that has not altered whatever, I am as pumped, wired, excited, stoked - call it what you will - about what I am doing now as I ever was back there when I was starting out.

I still have an over-abundance of youthful enthusiasm.

I still dream big.

I still plan to do major things for God.

And I'll tell that to the old guy in the mirror if I ever see him again!

FEEDBACK

I love hearing from first time visitors to our church -thankfully those who don't like it generally just don't bother coming back, but those who wnjoy their visit very occasionally tell us about it.

Here's part of an email I got a couple of days ago from someone who was with us very recently -


I went to Church at the Movies two Sundays ago - which was the 15th of July- and I must say, I found it incredibly welcoming. You see, I'm Catholic, so the idea of a service that's not uniform and located in a "church" (much less a movie theater!) was completely alien to me.

I was even joking that I would come to Church at the Movies on Sunday if, and only if I had gone to "real church" the night before, meaning the local Catholic church.

That was all fun and games, but after going to Church at the Movies, I can only begin to describe as real. I mean, the main aspect of this church that stuck out at me was that it is just so alive. The whole atmosphere is great, what with the Bagel Cafe and things like that, and the people there are just incredibly friendly. And that's not to mention the whole "worshipping" part. Since it was such a contrast to what I'm used to in the Catholic church, it totally woke me up and got me into the message.

We deliberatly endeavor to stay focused on doing chruch for the unchurched - and the good news is, it's working!

SHEA STADIUM

Great night at Shea.

Excellent seats - field level, three rows back.

Outstanding company - my son and my two grandsons.

Mets stunk - lost to the Nationals! That's downright embarassing.

I counted that the couple in front of us spent almost $70 on beer during the evening - I guess that's not hard to do at $7.25 a pop! I took my own bottles of water that cost around 22c each in Waldbaums!

INTERNATIONAL BLOGGING

The site meter I added to my blog a couple of weeks ago provides me with some fascinating information - like 80% of my visitors are from the United States and 20% from elsewhere.

It even tells me which countries that 20% come from.

Makes me wonder who is vaguely interested in my ramblings in Switzerland, Germany, Australia, Holland, Canada, Wales, etc.

I know some folks in England and Scotland who check in here occasionally, but the rest are an international mystery.

Whoever you are - Enjoy! Or however you say that in your own native tongue!!!

BITS AND PIECES FROM THE WAR ROOM

Had an excellent pastoral team meeting this morning and covered a lot of ground as we planned the transition to The Regal Cinema.

+ We figure we need to do a lot of clearing out in the existing storage room we're using at the UA. Will start that Sunday and continue next Wednesday. We sure have accumulated a lot of stuff!

+ Our Exit Brunch on August 5th should be a lot of fun. We talked about the menu - WeightWatchers beware!!!

+ Looks like we will have one final baptismal service before we leave. Three people have asked about baptism, so we've added that to the schedule for our final Sunday.

+ Seems like we have a truck lined up - 26'. I'm just not sure if that will hold all our stuff.

+ Staging is really a must. otherwise with the stadium meeting, you only see the people at the front from the waist up. While that might be a good thing in some cases, optimum visibility demans we have staging.

+ We'll have a lot better picture of what we can do after our gift day on Sunday. We're praying!

+ Getting a park in Ronkonkoma for a Labor Day community event has proved impossible. One doesn't want groups bigger than 150; another doesn't permit inflatables and the third works on a first come first served basis. If we turn up there at noon with all our equipment, we might well find another large group there ahead of us.

+ We listed 20 guys we're going to approach to help us organize getting the theater ready each week. If we can streamline set-up and get an even larger team of volunteers, we could start the whole thing a little later on a Sunday.

+ And the big news - since we don't have to be out of this theater until 12.00 noon, we're going to go with a 10.00am service time. More sleep Saturday nights for all!!!

WHAT A SMART GUY

Plucked this from my friend Tony McCollum's blog today -

Normal
I’ll say it again. Sometimes, you’ve just got to break all the “rules” and go with what you think God is telling you to do. AND, sometimes you bet the farm while you’re doing it. This is, in fact, the norm for those that seek to follow a God that routinely does the impossible.

EVERYTHING IS FINALLY CLEAR

I got an email today telling me that the signed contract for The Regal Cinema had been approved by whoever needed to approve it and we are totally cleared for our transition - which is a good thing considering we only have three more Sundays left at Patchogue UA.

Each of those next Sundays will be special days -

July 29th - Gift Day
An opportunity to sow into the beginning of the next stage of our adventure. We estimate that the new equipment we need, together with our publicity and preparations, will cost in the region of $30,000, which we don't have. So we've invited folks to pray, prepare and invest in the road that's before us as we continue to pursue our vision.

August 5th - Exit Brunch
After service we're having a party - eating food, sharing stories and praising God for all he has done in the past four years. It's hard to imagine we have been in the theater that long, but it was August 2003 we first set up there. The UA has been a good home for us and God has done some amazing things there, but as he moves us on, we're anticipating an even more exciting future.

August 12th - Cleaning Up & Clearing Out
We'll be packing up and moving on at the end of this service. It could be tight finding a place for everything, as our equipment seems to have bred in the storage room the UA provided us with.

Good days ahead.

Life is never boring - nor should it be!

LAGUARDIA IN THE RAIN

It was getting set for a beautiful and less steamy day in Houston as we watched the sun rise while we were making our way to the airport this morning. As has been my habit all my life, I ensured that we arrived in plenty of time for the 8.55 flight, but I could have saved myself the effort.

Unbeknown to me at that time, it was raining in New York. That meant delays at LaGuardia and planes told to wait in their cities of origin. So we did. We took of well over two hours late, were put into a holding pattern somewhere above Baltimore and ultimately disembarked nearer to 4.00pm than the scheduled 1.30pm.

It was a good weekend. It's great to see someone you knew as an infant grow into a responsible adult. Alistair McIntyre is an outstanding young man and it was a real privilege to officiate at his wedding.

Now it's a case of hitting the ground running.

More about that after a good night's rest!

HOUSTON, TX

Just wrote a lenghty post and then the connection failed so I couldn't publish it. We're in Houston for the wedding of the oldest son of our friends Douglas and Fiona McIntyre, so I thought I'd write a bit about our weekend.

Forget it! I'll see if I can get this up and then quit while I'm winning.

Next time I bring my laptop like I normally do. The hotel's internet connection has been down since we arrived and looks like it's on it's way out again.

Tomorrow early it's farewell to steamy Houston and back home to Long Island.

SUCCESS

Got back from Jersey this afternoon - I hate driving on the Cross Bronx Expressway! Freaked me out a little when I saw a sign warning the Throggs Neck Bridge was closed due to flooding and drivers should take an alternate.

Might have been nice if they'd suggested one or put up diversion signs to guide us, but they didn't, so I had to think fast how to get out of the Bronx. Not that I have anything against the Bronx of course (half of Suffolk County used to live there!), but it was not in my plans for the afternoon to spend hours going in circles looking for an exit.

Thankfully I spotted a sign for the Triboro Bridge and having used it for some reason on one occasion since we came to live here, it was in the back of my mind that it would take me to the Grand Central Parkway - and it did, past LaGuardia, past Shea and off to hot and humid home territory.

Anyway, looks like I made the grade at the WW training. I got word that I passed the course and will soon be teaching my one class a week, probably as a substitute until a permanent group opens up.

Met some great people at the training - a few Christians, but mainly unchurched.

I hung out with the unchurched crowd, because that's the whole point of this exercise!

LONGWINDED

This afternoon I had to do a five minute presentation, giving the opening section to a talk for a Weight Watchers group meeting. There were three distinct components that had to be included.

I got off to a great start, seemed to communicate well with my group and was generally having a good time. I had not fully covered the very first element when something happening that totally took me by surprise -

The buzzer went off indicating my total time was up.

I had only covered a third of my material, which while it may have been a total shock to me, probably comes as no great revelation at all to anyone who frequents Church at The Movies on Sunday mornings!!!

The whole thing finishes tomorrow early afternoon. I have to do a 20 minutes talk in the morning - I guess I should underprepare???

SITTING

My knees are complaining this morning and it has nothing to do with exercise, in fact it's probably more due to the lack of it, as yesterday I sat for nine hours in the same conference room.

It was good stuff, some of which was pretty basic to anyone who has spent any time communicating to groups of people - but in all honesty, I'm up for anything I can get a hold of that will help improve my teaching skills, so I was all ears.

Met some great people. Laughed a lot.

Ate too much - can you believe that, at a WW leader's training seminar?

Bottom line, being here in itself is fulfilling part of my vision for this involvement - to connect with people who don't know Jesus yet. Have met a couple of Christians too, so that's been cool.
One of them is arranging a Health Expo in Baltimore next month and has asked me to go down and M.C. the event, sharing the story of my journey to health while I'm there. Could be interesting - will have to check my insane calendar.

Another nine hours at a desk ahead - time to go prepare!

TRAFFIC

I cut out of service early today to make my way over to Jersey. Lesaya was in full swing teaching on Acts 7 and doing a great job as I made my exit.

I couldn't help noticing how many cars were in the movie theater parking lot (I never usually see it while things are in progress) and was pleased to see what a good crowd we had again for a Sunday in July. I think these are our best summer attendances ever.

I anticipated my 70 miles trip would be pretty quick because of the light Sunday morning traffic - idiot!

When I hit the Long Island Expressway I realized how stupid it was to be content at all the cars in our parking lot - there were thousands more on the road and all these people were very clearly not in church.

When I hit the Cross Bronx Expressway it got worse and I found myself thinking how much more scope there is and how many more people we need to reach. I'd love to see the roads empty and every parking spot taken in our church and every other one on Long Island.

There's still a long way to go!

Above all, there's still a lot of potential out there.

MIDDLE OF NOWHERE

So here I am sitting in Starbuck somewhere near Paramus, New Jersey - wherever that is.

I know the Bronx is about fifteen minutes down the road, but then again I really don't have any idea of how to find my way around there either.

I'm a bit weary after six hours of leadership training with a group of potential WW leaders and it looks like the next couple of days will be pretty full too - 8.00 am start for tomorrow's first class.

I learned a good lesson today.

I was reminded of the importance of understanding that everyone's experience is different, but all are valid. There are two people on this course whose great achievement is to have lost 15lb in weight. I must confess to being more than a little cynical when I heard that - I have eaten sandwiches bigger than that!

But then I heard one of them tell her story. She had slowly started to gain weight and when she was 15lb over what she should have been, she decided to do something about it and joined WW. As I heard that, I realized her story is as valid as mine and her success may be greater than mine. She did not wait until she was out of control, she saw a trend and reversed it.

Great life lesson there - everyone's experience is different, but all are significant.

LEARNING TO LEAD

After church tomorrow I'm heading out to darkest New Jersey for a training course for Weight Watchers' leaders. I figure I'll learn some things there that will help me in church leadership too.

Why bother, you may ask! Don't I have enough to do?

Trust me, I have more than enough to do and with the September relaunch in a whole new location, it gets overwhelming at times - I was wide awake at 2.00am today thinking about advertising, equipment, etc, but here's why I'm doing it ...

+ If I'm healthier I can serve God better. So if I can encourage others to a healthier lifestyle, their quality of life should improve too.

+ I spend too much of my time with church folks, who are all wonderful people of course, but are not our primary target. Leading a WW meeting every week will help me connect with a whole bunch of new people and maybe I can help them realize they were made for a purpose. Perhaps I can guide them towards spiritual wholeness as well as physical well-being. Well, at least that's my prayer.

+ So Paramus, here I come!

And if you want to check out before and after pictures - look here http://wheresthefatguy.blogspot.com/

GOOD NEWS / BAD NEWS

I have the contract for our new theater and simply need to sign it to firm up on the fact that our 11th location for Sunday worship since our church started 8+ years ago will be The Regal Cinema on Portion Road in Ronkonkoma.

While this moves us out of the Patchogue-Medford area that has been our base since day one, the truth is it is God who directs our steps, so if a slight detour is part of his roadmap, who are we to argue?

I'm excited to see what the new town has in store for us, or maybe I should say, what God has planned for Ronkonkoma.

The negative part of formalising the agreement with Regal is that they have turned down our request to have storage unit at the back of the building for all our equipment. I expected that outcome, so we have started making alternative plans.

We hope to be able to buy a used box truck that would be big enough for all our stuff. But we really have no idea whether everything we need on Sundays will fit into one 26' truck. I guess we'll have to see.

I figure if we get some cool church graphics on the sides of the vehicle, we could park it in different prominent places around the area for a day at a time during the week, like a mobile billboard.

Here's what we're currently considering - http://www.uhaul.com/trucksales/truck_detail.aspx?id=JH4898P&location=802023

This next chapter will definitely be different!

FREDDY

Well, it seems like after telling the family yesterday that Freddy may not make it through the night, today they've been able to take him off some of his meds, his blood pressure is normal and he's communicating a little with his hands (still on the ventilator).

Bottom line, he's doing much better but has some way to go.

Does it tick others off that doctors so often start out with worst case scenario and scare the life out of you???

SUDDENLY!

Last summer our son-in-law's father was critically injured in a sky diving accident whilst in Arizona. His recovery is referred to by the doctors as a miracle, though it took many months. They left him in no doubt that further surgeries would be necessary and today was the first of those.

It seemed to be pretty straightforward, but once they began they realized that it was going to be extremely complicated.

Suddenly everything has changed and he is now on a ventilator in North Shore Hospital and the next hours and days are critical. Prayers for Freddy and his family would be appreciated.

God has done it before for him - we're praying he does it again.

GOD IN HOLLYWOOD

Thanks for the help in preparing my 150 word contribution to Saturday's Newsday. This is what I ended up sending them -

There are only two that stick in my mind right now. Morgan Freeman did a great job in Bruce Almighty and Evan Almighty, portraying God with a twinkle in his eye. I loved the character’s sense of humor and the absence of a big club to beat people up with. That’s the God I know, so I guess that’s why I’m drawn to the actor in the white suit, though I’m not sure why with all his money he doesn’t get his teeth fixed.

But the one portrayal of God I expect to remember for the rest of my life is Jim Caviezel as Jesus, God in the flesh, in The Passion Of The Christ.

The way he depicted God coming to earth and dying for us hushed audiences around the world. It was a tough movie to watch, but in my opinion Caviezel is in a league of his own.

NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN

Since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, I liked the look of this blog from Perth in Western Australia.

http://bedfordbaptist.blogspot.com/

We were happy to share our graphics with them!

IT'S OFFICIAL - WE'RE NOT FOR REAL

Dear old Pope Benedict XVI - the German guy you never hear about who followed the most popular Pope in history - has officially ruled that any church other than the Roman Catholic church is not for real.

He approved a document released Tuesday that says Orthodox churches are defective and that other Christian denominations were not true churches. It was the second time in a week the pope has corrected what he says are erroneous interpretations of the Second Vatican Council, the 1962-65 meetings that modernized the church.

On Saturday, Benedict revisited another key aspect of Vatican II by reviving the old Latin Mass. Traditional Catholics cheered the move, but more liberal ones called it a step back from Vatican II.

He reckons people like us are "merely ecclesial communities and therefore did not have the 'means of salvation.'"

It has been interesting to read some of the horrified response in the protestant press, though heaven knows why anyone should be surprised. Whatever its public image, the Roman Catholic Church has always been totally immovable at the core. Their concept of Christian unity is that everyone comes back home to Poppy.

I know some wonderful Catholics who are great Christians, but Catholicism is fundamentally flawed. It is full of heresy, to say nothing of the corruption that shields perverts in the priesthood worldwide.

So if Benedict reckons we're not for real, I'll wear that as a badge of honor, because I'd never want to be associated with his concept of reality.

TRYING TO REMEMBER GOD

I need some help and I need it soon.

Newsday have asked me to tell them about my favorite representation of God in movies, for their Faith section on Saturday.

The only one I can even think of is Morgan Freeman in Bruce Almighty and Evan Almighty.

Is there another good one? If so, please shoot me a note about the movie, the actor, etc ASAP. I have to send in the info by tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon.

roger@churchatthemovies.com

WHAT NOT TO WEAR

I enjoy shopping nowadays. Walking into a clothes store and actually having choices is quite different from life in 3X Land that has been the way of things for most of my life up to now.

But I got frustrated this evening, hunting through one retailer after another for what I considered to be basic clothing - a pair of black dress pants. I ended up at the Tanger Outlet Mall, where if I was willing to part with the better part of $100, I could have walked home with what I was looking for.

Are they serious??? I thought outlets were meant to be cheap!

There was a limited selection or none at all everywhere I went, so I was very relieved to finally discover what I wanted in my size in TJ MAX, just when I was ready to give up.

Here's what I concluded. Stores don't stock dress pants because there is a very limited demand for them.

The mood of our culture is casual, which is why it's so good that we don't look like a convention of bank managers when we get together for worship on Sundays.

In 2007 most men wear suits for weddings and funerals. Period. They don't want to dress up on Sundays and the good news is that at our church they don't need to. I love our come-as-you-want approach - it's real, it's relevant and it's downright comfortable too.

The question is who do we want to impress?

I've lived too long for people's power dressing to impress me and since God sees right through the clothes to the heart, what you've got on your back is a total irrelevance to him.

The dress pants I bought look good. But the chances are you will never see them on a Sunday. On the other hand, my washed out jeans with holes in ....

SLOW START

I'm taking my time getting moving today, partly because I didn't sleep too well. It's amazing how much more it takes out of me when I run on the road than my regular treadmill routine does, so my legs were complaining all night despite the four Ibuprofen I swallowed before going to bed.

I'm taking a morning off the gym, but will get back in there tomorrow.

So instead of exercising, I sat on the patio with a huge mug of coffee and read the paper - a very civilized way to start the day.

Then I ran through some of my friends' blogs, especially the pastors I know, to see how they had got on yesterday. It was good to read that we're not the only ones preparing for a major leap forward.

One of the church planting pastors I respect most, Tony McCollum down in Buford Georgia, announced yesterday that they are going to be leaving the movie theater in the Mall of Georgia that they have been in since they launched five (I think) years ago and heading into a high school next month.

I am amazed at how much Tony has been able to accomplish, despite the serious challenges his theater presents - like being on the third floor of a mall. Imagine shlepping all your stuff up there every Sunday. If they've grown that much in that environment, they'll go through the roof with this move.

Great guy, great church.

And like everything that's living and growing, change is here to stay!

SUNDAY RETROSPECT

Full day - fulfilling day.

+ Started off just before 6.00am with having to clean up the dog - her bowels still aren't right after her surgery three weeks ago. (Bet you needed to know that!)

+ Great crowd at church for a summer Sunday - again. I know a lot of folks who were away this weekend, but the attendance was still very good.

+ Not one of my best teaching mornings, but hopefully I conveyed something of value to some of those that were there.

+ Mets lost badly in Houston. Too many injured pitchers and not enough offensive action.

+ Hot and humid here today - felt good to me.

+ Rob Nelson shared a bit about their work in the Dominican Republic. What they are accomplishing down there is insane - they are superstars. http://www.islandimpact.net/

+ Should have gone to a wedding right after church, but couldn't fit it all in. Today was Lyn Swart's last day with us so we had a prolonged lunch with her instead and chatted about her visit to spend time coaching our worship band. She is a gem!

+ Ran the 5K (3.1 miles) Bellport Clipper Race this evening. It was still stinkin' hot - too hot. My time stunk too, 33 minutes 32 seconds. I blame the heat!!!

+ Was surprised to hear my grandson cheering me on. Didn't know he was going to be there. I love my grandchildren.

+ Enjoyed church. Met a number of new people. I like our folks - Sunday mornings are too short, I'd like to have more time to hang with them.

+ Tired now. Should go to bed, but need to sit up a while to let the dog go for a final trip around the yard as late as possible.

+ Praying tomorrow starts better than today!!!!

THE NEXT CHAPTER IS COMING FAST

RESPECT

What I am about to write may well identify me as a dinosaur, a throwback to an age long forgotten. But I don't really care - here's my beef ...

I remember the days when people stopped in the street as a funeral procession made its way past and men took of their headwear as a sign of respect. Not so today - at least not on Long Island.

I was part of a fairly large stream of cars traveling to a cemetery earlier today and was disgusted at the antics of a lot of other road users. Wouldn't it be courteous at a 4-way stop sign for other drivers to just wait and let the fineral cars through? Is it really necessary to cut into the line of mourners' vehicles at an intersection? Couldn't you just wait?

Why can't the oncoming traffic wait as the hearse and all the other cars turn into the Memorial Park?

I guess this is a different age - another world.

Sometimes I look back in longing!

FULL WEEKEND AHEAD

I'm not too sure what it's like to work Monday to Friday and have the weekend off. Saturday and Sunday are generally busy days for me, which is why I sometimes refer to Mondays as my weekend.

I live for the weekend in a different way than the average working man does!

Sunday is shaping up to be an outstanding morning. Our friend Lyn Swart will be with us again, slotting in as a guest worship leader. She is dynamite and her visits to encourage our band over the past several years are tremendously appreciated.

We'll also have Rob and Kelli Nelson, our missionaries to the Dominican Republic, with us. They've done a great job in establishing Island Impact Ministry down there, bringing spiritual, medical and educational support to people living in dire poverty. I'm looking forward to hearing an update from them and I am sure that the dozens of our folks who have been down there to help will be thrilled to hear from them too.

I'm back up to teach this week - so you see why it will be a full morning.

In planning this summer's schedule, I insisted that our journey through the book of Acts would leave me with chapter 6. Sunday I want to say some things that are relevant to all of us, but that some in particular may need to hear. Misunderstanding this part of the book has left most churches in America upside down and going nowhere. That's why we need to be sure to get it right!

Great Sunday ahead - looking forward to seeing everyone.

INDEPENDENCE DAY REFLECTIONS

So it's the 4th of July - again!

When we moved here in the summer of 1991 from the UK, I was looking forward to my first Independence Day in the USA. They don't have such a think back in the old country, because after all it was the Brits that the former colonists were breaking away from, so I was eager to participate in the revelry in my new homeland.

Since then, I've always enjoyed the 4th.

+ We went to the parade in Patchogue this morning - God bless the vets, we owe them so much.

+ It was incredible to see how many fire trucks they have in Patchogue, each of them sparkling as they made their was slowly along Main Street, lined with flag waving onlookers.

+ Later came North Patchogue's fleet. Couldn't help wondering if we really need all those fire trucks.

+ There were a lot of children around. It's great to teach kids to celebrate their country.

+ Our friend Lynn Swart, visiting from the UK. mistook My Country Tis Of Thee for God Save the Queen and stood sharply to attention when she heard it.

+ I think it's meant to be warmer than this on the 4th of July.

+ Someone wandering along with one of the floats gave me a string of beads, remeniscent of New Orleans on mardi gras, but I assure you my t-shirt had not moved.

+ We were anticipating going to the concert at Bald Hill tonight, but unless it warms up considerably, music under the stars may have to give way to Evan Almighty at Island 16.

+ Saw a great poster on one float. It read - Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of all who threaten it.

+ This is a great country. I don't just live here any more, I am in fact an American. So now I celebrate Independence Day with an appreciation of all that was done to bring us this far.

BITTER - SWEET

Last night while I was watching the Mets getting their tails kicked by the Rockies, I got a phone call I was expecting, didn't want and yet was happy to receive.

It was word from Mather Hospital that Ron Mazza had passed away. I knew the news was going to be coming some time, because I had been there with Ron earlier in the day and had seen that he was no longer conscious and that all treatment had been stopped as the doctors could do no more for him.

I didn't want to get the call because Ron has been a part of our church since shortly after we started and has been as faithful and committed a member of Grace Church as you could hope for. I'm not enjoying having to say goodbye to a man of his calibre. There's the empty feeling inside today that most of us are painfully familiar with, because we've experienced it before when we have lost someone special.

I've already lost track of how many people I've heard comment "He was like a father to me". It reminds me of the statement Paul made to the Corinthian church when he told them You have 10,000 instructors but not many fathers. There is never a shortage of individuals ready to tell you what to do, but men who care for you and provide an example to follow are few and far between. Ron was definitely that kind of guy.

To finish my opening thought, I was pleased to get the call last night because it meant the struggle was over and a good man had entered into what God had prepared and planned for him before he was even born.

I have no doubt that Ron Mazza heard Jesus say - Well done, good and faithful servant.

MY SHIRT WORKS

As one of the first 100 people to arrive for service yesterday morning, I am now the proud owner of a limited edition These Are My Church Clothes t-shirt.

Truth is, we actually gave out 144. Forty four went to the set-up folks, band, etc., who are there early every week and the rest were offered to regular worshipers as they arrived.

Knowing I would qualify, I helped myself to one on Saturday evening and actually wore it for church yesterday. After the outstanding morning service, I went to the diner, talked to our neighbor and visited the pharmacy and in every one of those locations, I had the chance to chat about our church because the shirt opened the way for me.

So if you have one - use it.

Looks like they work!

WIRED AND TIRED

It has been a long, outstanding day - one of those days when I can't believe that I get the incredible privilege of doing what I do. If I was to put my head on a pillow right now, I'd be snoring within seconds. Definitely no need for Tylenol PM tonight!

But on the other hand I'm still stoked about the day.

We had our Celebration Sunday this morning and it didn't start off too well. The theater manager was 40 minutes late arriving and our set-up team were left waiting in the parking lot instead of getting everything in place. There was all the baptism stuff to set up in addition to the normal overhaul we give the theater every week to make it look like our own place. But we pulled it off and were set up right on time despite the considerable delay.

It was exciting to share with eleven people as they testified to their faith in Jesus by being baptized. That's 60 in the last 15 months, which means we're definitely moving in the right direction.

It has almost become routine to say this, but it's true, the band were outrageous.

Lynn Swart, who visits us at least once a year to mentor our band and do some teaching with worship leaders from neighboring churches too, didn't pick up a guitar at all this morning. She taught instead and did a great job.

Lynn and our own guys got together tonight for Worship On The Water, which we put on at Shore Front Park in Patchogue. It was the first event in the new bandshell, right beside the water and we had a crowd of around 400 people together for a great evening. Met some new folks and expect to see them on Sunday.

Sorry if I'm not too coherent - blame it on fatigue.

Must get to bed - it really was a great day!