JOB SATISFACTION

The verdict is in, courtesy of the National Opinion Research Center. These are the most satisfying jobs among the cross section of Americans they interviewed -

1. Clergy
2. Firefighter
3. Physical Therapists
4. Authors
5. Special Education Teachers
6. Teachers
7. Education Administrators
8. Painters and Sculptors
9. Psychologists
10. Security and Financial Services Salespeople

Did you see who's in first place?

Now, why doesn't that surprise me? I came home from our prayer walking around Ronkonkoma this evening as pumped as I've ever been about what we're doing.

I've seen so many older pastors who have become bitter, dissillusioned, bored or all three that I'm grateful to God for the privilege of leading such an exciting church.

Satisfied? You bet, but make sure you write it with a capital S.

ON SCREEN

Wait till you see the 30-seconds commercial that Regal have made for us to show at the Ronkonkoma theater. It will run before every movie, all day long, on every screen and for the next six months. Of course we'll probably do a different ad for Christmas.

We'll show it to you on Sunday morning.

God is pretty sharp. He sends a great family into our church and it just so happens that the husband/father runs the Manhattan office of a major marketing company. He organises advertising campaigns for huge national and multi-national companies, but he seems more fired up about using his gifts to extend God's kingdom than he is with all the stuff he's achieving out on Madison Avenue.

Thank you Lord - and thanks Ian Baer!

OF MICE AND MEN

A mouse just ran across the bedroom floor and into the bathroom!

It was a cute little thing and my initial reaction was to mind my own business and leave the tiny creature to its own devices. If I was at home, it would be a different matter as Gill has a pathological fear of mice, but I'm not on Long Island at the moment.

This morning I arrived in Seneca, SC to spend 24 hours with six progressive pastors in a beautiful lakeside home in the middle of nowhere. We're here to bounce around what's working and what's not and in particular to chat through the practicalities of taking a church multi-site (having one church with campuses in more than one location).

It has been a fascinating day, hanging out with some old friends like Gary Lamb and Tony McCollum, while making some new ones too. I even managed to have breakfast early today with Charlie Pharis in Canton, GA. I've never met Charlie before, but have interacted with him over several years on an internet pastors' forum - and of course, I read his blog. He's a quality guy.

Great day with some crazy people who are getting the job done big time.

We're spending the morning together tomorrow and then I'm heading back to NY late afternoon. This could be one of the most productive things I've done all year.

As for Mickey's brother, I caught him and released him out the french doors in my bedroom - did I say this place is really nice?

So it's goodnight from the South, where they talk really funny!

HAIL BRITANNIA

Picked up this album in Starbucks this evening, subtitled The British Invasion 1964-1969.

I've been enjoying listening to it since, as a whole, it's a good compilation. Too many CDs from the 60's are well-known songs being sung by obscure artists or well-known artists performing obscure songs.

Only a couple of misplaced tracks here.

I never heard of John Mayall & The Bluesbreakers, though I was very much into music during the era in question, so I have no idea why they're part of Hail Britannia.

The Kinks had a string of hits, so I'm not sure why Something Better Beginning has been chosen here. Again, I never heard of it.

I'm enjoying As Tears Go By, Ferry Cross The Mersey, Go Now, Substitute, Wishin' and Hopin', etc.

Good album. Better value for money than their overpriced, fancy named lattes.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUM - BELATEDLY

Ninety one years ago yesterday, August 27th 1916, Dulcie Kate Bovet came into this world - a fourth daughter for Walter John Bovet, a career railroad conductor and Eva Bovet, whom my mother would only know for the first seven years of her life as she died in her late 30's.

I didn't send mum a card and there's a pretty good chance she won't read the greeting on this blog - as she went to heaven almost twenty years ago, which seemed a little premature to me at the time, and was long before Al Gore invented the internet.

My grandfather had one more daughter, making it five in all and he raised them when he was widowed - an incredible achievement in an era long before daycare.

I had an outstanding mother and I sometimes think that part of it was due to the fact that she had not really had a mother herself as she grew up. So she became all the things to us that she had missed out on herself.

There were five of us siblings in our home too and my mother never worked outside the house while we were kids. There was never a single day from infancy to the time I graduated high school when I got home in the afternoon and she wasn't there.

I guess we could have had a lot more stuff if my mother had pursued her career as a book-keeper. We may have had a fancier house with luxuries like an inside toilet and a bathroom, but we didn't. We might have owned a family car, but I was sixteen before one of those was parked outside the door. We didn't get a TV until I was six and we never had a phone while I lived at home.

I guess we were dirt poor.

But we weren't really because we had a mom.

Happy birthday mum!

BENJAMIN

My boy started school today. Somewhere deep in the heart of Texas my youngest grandson, Benjamin James Blackmore started on the pathway of formal education that will last far longer than his young mind could ever fathom.

He called me Saturday to tell me he was "a bit scared" and then late this afternoon there came the follow-up call to reassure me that his first day had been "great".

He's an outstanding kid - rabid Mets fan of course - who seems to have grown very quickly from the tiny infant I used to feed early in the mornings for the first few months of his life, when his mother had to drop him off with us on her way to work.

Every day as I held him, I prayed for him - God let this boy be a preacher.

Politicians are important people, but of course they'd sell their own grandmother to get re-elected.

Lawyers are smart, but let's face it, beneath the mock sincerity they are living off their clients rather than looking out for them.

I could go on, but I'm tired.

Sufficient to say that I love my life as a pastor and could wish nothing better for my boy - plus of course I have this simplistic idea that as a pastor he could make a tiny bit of a difference in this sad world.

SUMMER HIGH

With two weeks to go to our public launch in Ronkonkoma, we actually had our second service at Regal Cinemas there this morning.

Even before our ads hit the papers this week, our thousands of flyers are distributed next weekend and our onscreen advertising starts Friday, today we had the biggest summer crowd we have ever had.

It was a great morning - the buzz is unbelievable. This fall will be phenomenal.

Two things are becoming very apparent -

1. We will be filling Theater 5 before October comes around.
This leaves us with a couple of options - having a live video feed into another theater or going to two services. Not convinced yet which way to go, but we need to make a decision on that pretty soon and start gearing up for whichever way we decide to go.

2. Our influence needs to spread.
I talked to a great young couple from Aquabogue who were with us today. A couple in our church had been trying to get them to come for ever and today their prayers were answered. They loved it and their first question to me was - Do you have a church like this out our way? That's a fair request for a family who drove 30 miles to get over to us. My answer was two words - Not yet!

For more than a year now I have been convinced that what God has done through us in Central Suffolk is not a one-off, but rather it is a model he wants to be reproduced. I don't know all the nuts and bolts. I do not have all the answers - heck, I haven't even got the questions, but I do know that the best way to reach the unchurched is to go where they are.

Church At The Movies - Ronkonkoma needs to have siblings.

Great days ahead!

BALTIMORE-BOUND

Gill and I head out for a quick trip to Baltimore in the morning - back at night. Thank God for Southwest and for Islip Airport. It's less than a one hour flight and we got tickets for $27 each way.

I'm emceeing - or is that MC-ing? - a Health & Fitness Expo, which should be interesting.

Looking forward to week two at the Regal Cinemas on Sunday. We learned a few things last week, which will enable us to tweak several areas. By the time we have our public launch on September 9th, we should be able to convince people we know what we're doing.

Busy weekend ahead - busy is good!

THE MCDONALDS PRINCIPLE

When we first started our church back in 1998, our children's area was pretty basic and in retrospect, downright sad.

It's far from that now, as everyone could see from the look of the whole of the west wing of Regal Cinemas in Ronkonkoma last Sunday.

Much of that stems from something that came from reading Seth Godin's Book The Purple Cow three or four years ago. His main theory there was that for any venture to succeed it needed to stand out - like a purple cow would. I felt back then that our children's programs should be a huge part of the purpleness of our church and we have gradually developed until that is now definitely the case.

I call it the McDonalds Principle, which goes like this.

Millions of adults, who probably don't even want to, go to McDonalds every week because their kids want to be there. What is on offer to children isn't that outstanding - let's face it their food is unremarkable and their playgrounds are basic - but youngsters want to be there.

So my idea is that you don't have to be outrageously, breathtakingly brilliant to attract kids, just good. And if you get the kids, you have the parents and grandparents too.

Maybe I'll write a whole book about that one day and become as rich and famous as Seth Godin, because the McDonalds principle works.

TIME FLIES

Thirty nine years ago this month I was in the final stages of preparations to leave home and head off to Bible College. My summer job in the offices of a shipping company was about to come to an end and I would leave for Surrey, just south of London on Monday September 6th 1968.

I arrived before most of the freshmen students that day (early arrival has been a way of life for me) and therefore I had the advantage of choosing which bed I wanted in the seven student dormitory.

Later that afternoon a bespectacled young guy from Essex came into the room, introduced himself and picked the bed next to mine. His name was Peter Butt.

Tonight he's sitting across from me in our den, here for around 36 hours before he flies back to the UK on Saturday morning.

I am blessed to have a number of good, long-time friends.

It's hard to believe that it's almost 40 years since Pete and I met, but it's good to have friendships that have lasted - and lasted and lasted!

BTW - he does look old!!!!

PUSHING MYSELF

Okay, I'll admit it, after a less than satisfactory showing in the two races I've run this summer, I'm more than a little apprehensive about the Great Cow Harbor Race on September 15th.

Sure, I did it last year when I was around 25 pounds heavier, but I still have a great respect for what is described as one of the most challenging road races in New York.

The 6.2 miles course is covered by very serious runners in an insane time. My very modest 73 minutes last year would have impressed no one outside of my family and then the big achievement was not the time I finished in, but the fact that I finished at all. Let's face it, running had not played any part whatever in the first 56 years of my life.

There's a practice run tonight, but I can't make it, so I worked out a course of my own nearer to home - starting in fact at the bottom of our drive. At 6.1 miles, it's a trifle short, but it's the best I could do without walking 176 yards up the block and actually starting from there.

I ran it for the first time this morning and clocked ... 73 minutes! - which I found pretty encouraging. I figure I can chip a bit more off that over the next few weeks and will do better still on the day of the race, so the bottom line is I should be inching closer to my 60 minutes goal when September 15th comes around.

Last year was my first attempt and this year I want to do better.

Pushing yourself to surpass the achievements of yesterday is always a good thing.

That's what we do with church too - but then most of you who read these pages have noticed that already!

I think it is Rick Warren who when asked by church members, "What are we going to do next year?", replies - Same things, only better!

That works for me - Loving God, Loving People, Serving Our World.

FAT MARCH

There's not much that I would make a point of watching on TV - outside of a Mets game, that is - but I have enjoyed watching the first three episodes of ABC's Fat March.

It's about a team of twelve seriously obese people walking in stages from Boston to D.C., showing their struggles, their weight losses, their interactions and some either pulling out along the way or being voted off by the others.

Of course I've got a predisposition towards weight matters and I can easily identify with some of the attitudes displayed by the contestants.

While we all know about the obesity epedemic affecting our nation and others too, it's good for me to now be in a position to encourage folks towards becoming the person that deep down inside they want to be.

It's not just about weight, it's about self-image and having control of your own life. It's also about recognizing life as a precious gift from God and doing all you can to take care of it.

I didn't say it was easy and I'm not down on anyone who's struggling - that's what I did for most of my life. But I'm right behind anyone who is looking to live a fuller, healthier life.

Good show - hope it inspires a lot of viewers.

SUNDAY REVIEW

+ We did it! Pulled it off in a brand new location that everyone seemed to love - apart from the challenge everyone faced of arriving for service and not having a regular seat.

+ When I say we did it, I mean we. I didn't count, but there must have been thirty people there to do set-up. Our folks are the best!

+ Weird to be in a theater where your feet don't stick to the floor and there's no overwhelming smell of popcorn.

+ The kids area was outstanding.

+ It was weird that there was a massive exodus from the Big Screen Cafe as soon as the band started playing. Into the live worship service, that is, not out the front door. That never happened in Patchogue.

+ The bikes looked sharp outside the main entrance.

+ The bike I had beside me at the front of the service was remarkable.

+ Enjoyed teaching, though I was very conscious of the time as we were trying to finish early today because breakdown would take longer on day one.

+ It did take longer - 75 minutes before we were all packed away in the truck. That will get better as the weeks go by.

+ Had a number of visitors today, which gave us a good turnout for an August Sunday, especially with thirty teens away at the Purple Door festival in PA.

+ When September 9th comes around the theater will be packed. We need to be ready to move with the next phase pretty soon - that will probably be a live video feed into another theater.

+ I think God knows what he's doing - this is going to be a great next phase for us on this journey.

ALMOST THERE

Can't wait for tomorrow morning - the first day at our brand new location, which also happens to be a far better theater than the one we have been very happy to call home for the past four years.

We have a number of fun things going on tomorrow and in the middle of it all, I'm going to be teaching the first part of our Catmo County Choppers series - I promise I'll be shooting from the hip and some people may not like what I have to say, but I'll say it anyway!

We have a great team planning to be there at 7.00 to get everything in place, but if you're not involved in the early start, just remember everything will be 30 minutes later at Regal Cinemas.

Big Screen Cafe opens 9.00am

Service and children's programs start at 10.00am

AM I TAKING RISKS?

Some good stuff on Perry Noble's blog today - here's a bit of it from NewSpring down in Anderson, SC. The whole thing is here - www.perrynoble.com

The thing I never want to do here at NewSpring is begin to play it safe. Starting this church was a risk, moving to the Fine Arts Center was a risk. Moving to this facility was a risk. AND…the next steps the Lord is leading us to take is a risk.

I never want to be one of those leaders who merely say, “Well, you know, I am praying about it!” Christians often use prayer as an excuse for inactivity…but because it sounds spiritual then no one can argue.

I laugh when I read I Samuel 17, the story of David and Goliath. In reading that story it is clear in I Samuel 17:16 that the Israelites were held in bondage for 40 days by the giant. I am sure they prayed for God to remove the giant…maybe they sang songs to God about what a giant killer He was…or better yet, they began Bible studies on how to kill a giant. BUT–it wasn’t until David walked down into the valley and cut off his flippin’ head that people were set free.

David took a risk.

What is the risk that God wants you to take–but you refuse?

GET A LIFE

I love Long Island, but some aspects of the church scene here drive me insane.

Today I read an announcement of a one day seminar in Brooklyn for Bishops, Senior Pastors and Leaders and here's what ticks me off.

It used to be that whenever a bunch of pastors of sad to mediocre churches got together here, they would make sure to introduce themselves as THE Senior Pastor of their church - guess they didn't want to be confused with lesser mortals in their own eyes, like Associate Pastors, Assistant Pastors or God-forbid, Youth Pastors - making a point of letting you know their rank.

I hate that kind of self-elevation. It is so foreign to the nature of Jesus that it stinks.

But now it seems that an elite few have chosen to take things to an even lower level of unbiblical self-elevation by assuming the title of Bishop. It's an idea that's gaining popularity around the Island.

Poor, insecure guys!

So don't I believe in bishops? Of course I do. In the New Testament the terms elder, bishop and overseer are interchangable - and they're all functions of pastors.

We don't need people with titles. We need people who get on with the job.

Pastor, Senior Pastor, Bishop - who cares?

By the way, I'm Roger - plain and simple!

THE WORD IS OUT - OR WILL BE

Here's the flyer we're making available to our folks and which we will be passing out by the thousand at the Street Fair on September 2nd. This will be our main piece to announce the re-launch.

Great work Jonathan!

THEY WANT US

Went to a meeting of Ronkonkoma Chamber of Commerce this evening to get to know some of the folks over that way. Met some great people.

Had an outstanding time. Got to introduce myself to the group of around 35 local business people and chat briefly about the church.

The main focus of the evening was to discuss the Street Fair they have planned for Sunday September 2nd, that they expect to attract a crowd of between 5,000 and 10,000, based on last year's figures.

When the Street Fair was raised, the Chamber President turned to me and said, Pastor you should have a table there to get the word out and since you're a church, you won't need to pay for the space.

We were in the process of organizing a couple of events of our own the day before, but I guess we'll forget those and go for doing something that will get us really noticed at the Street Fair.

That's an amazing opportunity and they really want us to be there.

We're going to love Ronkonkoma!

SPEAKING OF CHANGE

My thanks to Lynn Hargraves for sending me word of this great article by Mark Martof on Confronting Transition. Here are some random quotes from it-

Transitions are a fact of life, and churches have three basic choices: they can instigate them, accept them, or fight them.

I believe the churches that fight appropriate transitions lose; I believe the churches who only accept change miss part of God’s larger calling; and I believe the healthiest churches actually instigate transitions and change.

Too often, churches confuse the “unchanging Christ” with an “unchanging formula” for expressing Christ’s message. Since Jesus Himself adapted His communication styles to fit the needs of the people around Him, why aren’t we doing the same thing?

A key component to redefining relevance is humble, change-ready leadership. When pastoral leadership acts on statements such as: “This is God’s church and all I want is for this congregation to be what God purposes for this church,” then they have the capacity to provide the true leadership that sustains relevance.

The churches that consistently have relevance and meaning in their communities are the churches whose leaders consistently instigate change. They don’t allow personal pride, tradition, power structures or budgets to stand in their way. Leaders and churches instigating change can trust God’s leadership enough to know that if He directs the way, He provides the means.

Now that's one smart cookie!

MY BOYS

This is the wallpaper I have on my laptop - my grandsons Jace and Benjamin at Shea Stadium with Ben's dad and I a couple of weeks ago. Great kids!

BTW, the Mets are scarey right now - I can see them blowing it long before October this season.

CHOCOLATE

We've been typically short of food for our Grace Care food pantry and soup kitchen for quite a few weeks now. Seems it's always this way in the summer.

So when we got the offer of picking up some quality supplies from our friends at the Lighthouse Mission this morning, I decided to take a run down there myself.

On the way I met up with one of the many colorful characters in our church, Big Jim, who had offered to help me. Jim has been part of our church family for three years or more now and the fact that he brews the Starbucks for our Big Screen Cafe on Sunday mornings arguably makes him one of the more important members of our team.

He's the same age as me, but our lives have gone along very different paths. Jim spent more than thirty years of his 57 in jail and we first met him not long after he had been released. That was when he came to our church, began a relationship with Jesus and got baptized. He's a great guy with a big heart and a wicked sense of humor. I enjoyed spending some time with him today.

We got a ton of good stuff from the Mission, but there were a few items we weren't immediately sure if we could use - like cases of dark cooking chocolate and 20lb boxes of crushed Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. After discussing it for a few moments we reckoned we knew someone who might appreciate baking materials and so dropped them off with Sarah who runs our Big Screen Cafe and has kept us fed and watered every Sunday throughout the past nine years.

She was in the middle of baking biscotti - loads of biscotti. Like a typical Italian mother, she wants to be sure we celebrate a special occasion (our first Sunday at Regal Cinemas) with good food. So she's baking and individually wrapping hundreds of these treats for Sunday. Thanks to our delivery, some of them will be chocolate dipped!

All this to say we have some great people. Very different and with different gifts, but God's best!

WHEN PEOPLE LEAVE

I had a pretty lengthy conversation last week with a young pastor who was coming to terms with the fact that three families had left his church very recently. I gave him my usual spiel -

Don't take it personally.
It's a part of church life.
Keep focused on the vision.

As I said while teaching yesterday morning, the truth is that's hogwash. Another term had come to mind, but I don't think pastors in America are generally expected to say or write it.

Thirty seven years and counting after starting pastoring, I still take it personally when people leave the church and I hope that I always will - because people matter to me.

I'm not just running some organization, hoping to keep attendances above the critical level where we can function and be financially viable - I'm a pastor, not the brightest or the best, but a pastor all the same.

That means that I feel I have a relationship with everyone who is part of our church. I don't mean we live in each others pockets or that I show up with flowers on their wedding anniversary, I just mean we have a sense of connectedness, even though I might not know a lot more about them than their names.

We're not only connected, we're committed too - to a mission, a vision, a dream.

So when people leave - as people do - I'm sorry to see them go as I feel they're a part of me.

I'm sorry to see some people leave for their own sakes, knowing they've always walked away from issues and are doing the same yet again.

I hate the dishonesty of - We love you and we love the church, but we feel God is moving us on. Spare me the insincerity. Better to just do what most folks do and stop showing up, without a word of explanation.

Anyway, here's the deal. According to Jesus' teaching in John 15, a vine that has been fruitful needs to be cut back if it is to see even more growth and you can't really argue with that because Jesus knows a things or two.

We saw some of that pruning in the early months of this year, but the cutting back was the precursor to even more growth, which was pretty clear at the end of service yesterday in a packed Theater 13.

And the real harvest comes this fall - great days ahead!

AMAZING

What a great morning!

+ We baptized six people.

+ I taught for less than 30 minutes!!!

+ Great atmosphere.

+ Free ice cream from Mr. Softee.

+ The end of an era at Patchogue UA and we celebrated in style.

+ Great video by Rick of the last four years in review.

+ The high speed set-up video Dan made was funny and an eye-opener. It really takes a lot of work to transform the main theater - and that is only one of six venues we put together in the building.

+ I left in a hurry as I was teaching in East Patchogue - just as well as I was getting emotional!

+ When we brought everyone in the building into Theater 13 for the final prayer and song together, it was interesting to see just how many people there were - generally we're spread all around the place.

+ Word is our 26' truck was not big enough for all our stuff. We need to revisit that situation quickly.

+ Amazing day. Great crowd. A lot of anticipation.

+ We're ready to go!!!

MORE WATER

We thought all the baptisms were done for the present time after Celebration Sunday on July 1st, so in preparation for leaving the theater, we moved all the baptism stuff out.

However, tomorrow it will all be back again, as over the last seven weeks another five people have expressed the wish to be baptized and we're more than ready to accommodate them. It will be good to see some more good folks take this step, especially as part of our Patchogue finale.

We don't know yet whether we will have the same freedom to do baptisms in the new theater, so it's a smart thing to do it when we can.

That's just one of the special things planned for tomorrow - this could be a long evening, anticipating an outstanding day.

WEBSITE

The website's looking a lot fresher. Still some things to take care of there next week, but Charlotte and Jonathan did a great job today of revamping it.

Check it out -

www.churchatthemovies.com

FRIDAY THOUGHTS

+ Wish it was Sunday!

+ I'm preaching twice Sunday morning. Once in our own service and then I'm shooting from there to The Journey in East Patchogue to speak for Josh Bonventre who has been re-admitted to Sloane Kettering because of an infection. He has been doing well on his bone cancer treatment. Please pray for him and his family too.

+ Jonathan, Donna and the kids are back with us for a couple of days. There were severe delays at LaGuardia last night and while waiting for a much postponed flight, Emily started throwing up. American suggested they reschedule, so I went in to get them and now they're leaving on Sunday.

+ Charlotte's a genius. Our brilliant webmaster has been snowed in with a new job and new twins, so our website has been resembling a historical document. Charlotte figured out how to update it today and so has started working on it. Having Jonathan here really helps too as he has been working on design elements for it all day.

+ I'm pumped about our next series. There's a big surprise in store for the first Sunday.+ Got my CATMO COUNTY CHOPPERS tee shirt sample from our tee shirt guy yesterday. I love it! We'll have them there on the 19th.

+ We're in Acts 13 Sunday, where God seriously messes up the church in Antioch just when they were comfortable. Sound familiar?

+ Just took a fresh look at the material for our onscreen ad in The Regal Cinema. We are so blessed to have a marketing professional as part of our church family.

+ Still a lot to pull together for our public launch on September 9th, but we'll get there. Not losing sleep over any of it - yet!

+ I wish it was Sunday.

REMEMBERING GOOD TIMES

When we did our Exit Brunch after service last Sunday, I suggested that everyone shares a story with someone else about memories of our time at the United Artists Theater.

Here's part of an encouraging email I got today -

I thought about things last week at the end of the service when given the task of asking ourselves what things we remembered most about Church at the Movies at the UA Theater. This literally broke me down into tears.

First, I thought of the joyous day back on April 1st when not only did I become baptized, but so did my daughter and son.

Then, I thought about how much I love seeing my husband’s willingness to attend church without pestering, bribing or worse yet, “guilting” him.

Then, I thought about how my daughter cries when someone in the house is sick and we can’t make it to church.

Then, I thought about how my kids literally sprint from the car to get into the building, leaving their parents in the dust walking across the parking lot.

Then, I thought about just how much I love working in KIDMO and the joy that fills my heart watching the kids come to know the Lord.

Then, I think about all the wonderful people I have gotten to know, and all the people I will get to know in the future.

Lastly, I thought about how happy I was for finding my church home, finally….

WHEN GOD SHAKES THINGS UP

Okay, that's it!

I have my teaching for Sunday all sorted out now and I'm ready to go. I'm pumped - wish it was nearer the weekend now!

If you're one of those who might be forgiven for thinking you deserve part of your offering back because last Sunday's teaching wasn't exactly the best you've ever heard, just hold on till the weekend and maybe you'll figure you owe God more.

I was sick last Sunday, but I'm fine now and our summer journey through the book of Acts will bring us to chapter 13 and my title - When God Shakes Things Up.

Very A Propos for our farwell to Patchogue and if you get half as fired up as I am right now, we'll be downright dangerous, so Ronkonkoma had better look out.

SAYING GOODBYE

I've got mixed feelings about leaving the UA in Patchogue on Sunday. I'm not sure how it will sit with me on the day, so it was interesting to read these comments from my friend Tony McCollum down in Buford, GA who moved out last Sunday from the movie theater he had planted his thriving church in five years ago.

They're heading into a great set-up in a school and as the whole world hopefully knows, we're moving into a fairly new, state-of-the-art theater in Ronkonkoma.

Here's Tony -

Yesterday was a bittersweet day for me. We had an awesome service at the theaters. Then, we packed up and left for the last time. I didn’t expect to feel so attached to the theaters on the last day.

I’ve been wanting to move for a long, long time so I was surprised to find myself getting a little emotional as we left.

I really wanted to be the last one to leave theater #10. Once everyone else had left, I stayed behind and just sort of soaked it all in. We spent five years at that theater. So many big events in my life happened in that theater. So many lives were forever changed there.

I decided to pray for a bit and then I just left. I ran into two great, great couples (the Reksten’s and the Hipps’) in the parking lot on the way out and I told them how shocked I was to be feeling the way I was feeling. I also told them that I guess it was because I had invested five years of my life into that place.

Then, Bryan Reksten said, “No, you invested five years into this place” as he pointed to his heart. I knew he was sort of half joking but I also knew what he said was true. The church isn’t a place or a building. It’s people.

GETTING WORD OUT

This afternoon I signed the contract for six months of on-screen advertising at The Regal Cinema in Ronkonkoma. Once produced, our 30 seconds commercial will be shown on all 9 screens, before every movie, every day of the week. It will also be on the flat screens above the concession stand and in the foyer area.

We'll be getting the ad itself together over the next couple of weeks and it will be running from August 31st.

I can't wait to see what God is going to do for all the people who are going to be coming in our doors during the month of September. At the moment we don't know them and they don't know us.

But all that is about to change!

INCREDIBLE

I am indebted to my wife who came downstairs looking for me last night and woke me up just in time for me to see Tom Glavine clinch his record. I must have been asleep for several innings and would have missed the finale if it were not for her

I told you I was tired!

SUNDAY IN REVIEW

+ Can't believe I just fell asleep watching the Mets game, with Tom Glavine going for his 300th win.

+ Maybe I am a bit sick. My throat has been killing me for several days and my chest is a little congested.

+ Made it through teaching this morning - wasn't spectacular, but then I was feeling below par, so at least I have an excuse!

+ Leaving the theater is looking a bit final now. I'll be sorry to move on in many ways.

+ During my teaching today one of our ladies shared some of her story of how God has turned her life around - and her family too. I love that stuff.

+ This morning we announced a change of focus for one of our pastoral team as Frank Summers prepares to lay down his in-house responsibilities to take on establishing a group home for troubled teens in Port Jefferson Station in partnership with Youth For Christ. Frank will still be with us and will be ministering out from the church.

+ Took a drive into Manhattan this afternoon to drop our son off at the hotel he'll be staying in for a few days for the business segment of his trip to NY. It has been really good to have him and the family with us for the past ten days.

+ I love New York!

+ Our band was brilliant this morning. Their arrangement of How Can I Keep From Singing? was amazing.

+ Two people committed their lives to Jesus at the CR concert last night. One young woman who was playing softball on an adjoining field came over in tears and asked for someone to pray with her.

+ Why is the World Series called the World Series when only one team from outside the USA even has a look-in? And let's face it, we'll all be a lot older before the Blue Jays win it!

+ Our grandson, Benjamin, who lives outside of Dallas last night explained why he wants to move back to Long Island. This cute almost-six year old listed three people as the biggest enticements. Ray, who is one of our worship leaders came first. Jace, his cousin was second and I came third. Coming after Jace is understandable, but how the heck did Ray get into first place?

PENULTIMATE

This looks like being the last "normal" weekend for a while. Next Sunday we'll be packing all our stuff in the truck after service and from then on it will be a case of working at making The Regal Cinema work for us - which by the way, I have no doubt it will, and very well too.

Had a good hour this morning with a dozen of the guys that are going to be part of making it happen by getting everything in place on Sunday mornings and of course returning the theater to its normal state afterwards.

Once we've straightened out all the kinks we should be on track to start the whole operation a little later in the new location as we're going with a 10.00am service time instead of 9.30am. That extra half hour will be appreciated by everyone on set-up, I'm sure. Personally, I never was a morning person, so it works for me!!!

CELEBRATING

Looks like it's going to be hot here yet again tomorrow, which means that Shorefront Park in Patchogue will be a great place to be as the evening draws in.

Of course it so happens that our Celebrate Recovery program is joining with other CR groups from around the area to present the first Long Island Celebrate Recovery Concert down there on the water from 6.00pm to 8.00pm Saturday, so I am more than a little influenced by that as I make this recommendation.

Our own worship band will be providing the music, so we'll be taking our lawn chairs and a picnic and hanging out there for a while with some great people.

I am encouraged at how Celebrate Recovery is developing. Our own group has outgrown the limited facilities available at Grace House for their meetings that are currently drawing up to 40 people a week.

Starting this coming Tuesday, we're moving the program to World Outreach Church of God on Washington Avenue in Patchogue. The folks over there have granted us the weekly use of their church building - and at no cost whatever. That's outstanding - it's the way it's meant to be, but sadly it's still unusual.

The goal is to continue to build on the strong foundation that has been established and for this ministry to become a major means of introducing people to faith in Jesus.

For the uninitiated, check out this link - www.celebraterecovery.com

SETH SAYS

"Quit or be exceptional. Average is for losers. Average feels safe, but it's not. It's invisible." - Seth Godin

SMART GUY

My friend Gary Lamb wrote on his blog today about the things he has learned in the first three years of his thriving young church's life.

He has apparently learned a heck of a lot.

There's a lot of wisdom there for church planters - www.garylamb.org

STARTING BIG

You really won't want to miss the first Sunday in our new venue, The Regal Cinema - August 19th. Here's the title graphic for the series we'll be running for the first three weeks there, leading up to our public launch of Church At The Movies - Ronkonkoma on September 9th.

What's the series all about?

Heck, what do you think teasers are for?

AT LAST

This may not be outstanding news in the light of what is going on in the world at large. It pales into insignificance compared with the genocide in Dafur, the floods in India or the conflict in Iraq. But it's still huge for me.

For the first time in almost seven weeks, we have not had to clean up after our dog today!!!

The surgery she had almost two months ago seemed to have really messed up her system and it hasn't been easy for her or for us. But today suggests there could be an end in sight.

Not too exciting to anyone else I guess - but personally, trust me, I'm celebrating!

THIS IS FOR REAL

Check out what I'm doing on the last Saturday afternoon of August down in Baltimore -

http://www.freedomconsultingllc.com/expo.htm

Friends who read my ramblings here, but have not seen me for several years are permitted to think this is a sick joke!

CHANGE IS HERE TO STAY

We went over to the UA Theater after our pastoral team meeting this morning and sorted through a load of the stuff in the storage room that we have been able to use there for the past four years.

There's an amazing assortment of leftover Mothers Day gifts, banners from past series, lost property people have clearly not missed for several years and general junk of course. We dumped a lot of stuff in the theater's trash compacter, designated some bits and pieces for storage at Grace House (Frank had already taken a whole trailer load over there on Sunday) and threw the rest in the back of my Expedition for storage in our offices.

It was a nostalgic experience.

It was scarey too, because I reckon there's no way on earth everything we still need is going to be squeezed into the back of a 26' truck!!!

Looks like this is a summer of change for a lot of people. Several pastors I know are changing location, adding services, starting a new campus, or even changing their church name ready for the fall re-start.

It's not that we specialize in stirring things up or love to make people uncomfortable, it's just that a church is a living, growing entity and part of growth is change. God forbid that our church should ever become a monument to the past, far better to build on all that has been and constantly be pressing into what God has for us in the future.

If we settle, we stagnate and we die. Above all, we do not reach our God-given potential.

I don't know the fullness of where God wants to take us or what he wants us to accomplish. I don't even share some of my dreams because most folks would look on them as nightmares. I remember some words from the Old Testament about the vision being for an appointed time and I know the time will come.

Meanwhile, we take it one step at a time as God leads us. First Medford, then Patchogue and next Ronkonkoma.

It really is the summer of change!