HALOWEEN REVISITED

The Texas branch of the Blackmore family were all dressed up for action tonight and from what we hear, had a great time mixing with families throughout the neighborhood.

Here on Long Island, we spent a couple of hours with dozens of kids from our church at Fun4All, the huge indoor play center in Port Jefferson Station.

Halloween has presented issues for Christian families for years and now that our consumer society has blown it up into the second biggest spending event of the year (after Christmas) and the word "holiday" has actually been attached to it, it may be time to work out some way to live comfortably with this annual festival of costumes, dress and enough candy to sink the Titanic.

Though I may be accused of naivete and over-simplification, I think there are probably three levels to Halloween -

1. There's a whole Satanic thing that goes on at this time of the year, in dark places and away from public gaze.

2. There's a whole role playing, costume thing that glamorizes horror, blood, death and darkness.

3. There's a fun few hours when young children dress up as princesses, pirates or comic book heroes and collect candy from generous neighbors under the watchful scrutiny of their parents.

While #3 could lead to #2 and in turn #2 could become #1, that is not necessarily the way things progress.

We each choose what we do about Halloween, if anything ... and if you choose #3 I think that's a good way to go.

LOCAL GUYS

Spent a good couple of hours with nine other local pastors this morning. we generally meet once a month, drink some coffee, talk about what's going on and then pray for a while. Nobody's there to impress, so there are no egos flying around and it's a comfortable place to share with others who are building church in the Patchogue/Medford area.

Of course, we're in a different town altogether nowadays, but these are some guys I've got close to over the past several years, so the fact we're in Ronkonkoma changes nothing.

Over the years I've had my fill of self-centered separatists who are so threatened by every other pastor on the planet that they fellowship with none.

We all need each other. I was blessed to be part of a small group of well connected pastors back in Scotland and it seems that at last something similar has developed here.

It's good!

MONDAY MIND DUMP

+ Watching Monday Night Football. It's brilliant to see Brett Favre and the Packers doing so well this season, especially after the universal calls for this champion quarterback to retire after a poor showing last season. This year he's baaaaack - mark up one for the old guys.

+ Had a quieter day today than expected. Non-stop, but no pressure stuff at all.

+ Visited a few stores with Gill and Charlotte looking for a few things for both our homes. Bought very little.

+ Went to a wake, saw one of the many families that have moved from the Island and out of our church, to pursue life in the more affordable setting of Florida's sunshine.

+ Ran 6.75 miles on the treadmill this morning and then 1.5 miles on the elyptical. I often reflect on my first visit to the gym almost three years ago now when I used to walk one mile and was shot.

+ Since the Giants played in London yesterday, people are asking me if football is catching on in England. Of course it's not. They play soccer and cricket over there. There's only one reason the NFL dragged two teams across the Atlantic on this ridiculous venture - money. Soccer will never be big in the U.S. and football will never be huge over there. Heck, the vast majority of the people don't even understand the game and see no reason why they need to.

+ Frank taught the last part of our marriage series brilliantly yesterday. He doesn't teach a lot, but when he does he sure has something to say.

+ Gill's friend came again. I enjoyed the cocktail party we went to at her house Friday night. She said she wouldn't tell people there I am a pastor as that makes them act weird (of course she's dead right).

+ When someone asked me what I do, I said I head up a not-for-profit that operates relief programs in third world countries. All of which is absolutely true! I thought that was funny, but then I'm sick!

+ Still no word on what's happening at rogerblackmore.com. Glad you found me this way, but traffic is way down. Need to resolve this issue, but can't get a hold of the guy with the answers.

+ Looks like the Yankees have got their new manager. Looking at the Red Sox this past season, it could be another several years before a World Series games comes back to the Bronx.

+ Meeting a group of pastors for breakfast tomorrow to discuss our final thrust to see the people we want elected to the Town Board.

+ Leaving for India next Monday, so won't be sleeping as much next MOnday night as I hope to tonight. It's a 14.5 hours over night flight from NY to Mumbai. Looking forward to seeing the folks over there.

WHAT'S REALLY VALUABLE

I loved this comment by Rick Warren during an interview by Hannity & Colmes last week. The best-selling author of The Purpose Driven Life had been describing his church's efforts to assist victims of the California wildfires and had this to say about his own family's experience during the 2003 fires -

We could see the flames from our backyard. During that fire, our own family was told to evacuate. We were warned a couple of hours in advance, so we had a couple of hours to think about, "What will we take with us and what will we leave behind.?"

You know, we didn't even fill our car completely. We packed up pictures, and some papers, and our bibles, and some hard drives, but that was about it. We realized that most of it was very replaceable. It is just stuff, that in the bottom line The greatest things in life are not things..

When disasters come along, we realize that our value is not found in our valuables, and that our self-worth is not tied to our net worth. It is in times like these that we realize there's a whole lot more important in life than what’s material.. The spiritual and relational parts of life are far more important.

GREAT CALL

When we sat down in January to talk about what we felt we should cover in our teaching this year, it was Lesaya who suggested we do another marriage series (we did one in the Spring of '05) and she got it absolutely right.

You would not believe how many people are giving us positive feedback from ONE - Building A Marriage That Lasts, which comes to a conclusion tomorrow morning.

I maintain that since there are only 52 Sundays in a year, it is vitally important that we address the issues that matter most. Now that means obscure traditional areas of interest among Christians don't appear on our radar too often. There's nothing to stop anyone pursuing those incidentals themselves, while we concentrate on essentials - of which marriage is one.

I know I'm the most recognizable public face of our leadership team, but pastoring this great church is very much a joint effort. I appreciate each individual God has brought alongside me and the unique gifts they bring to the table. So our planning is a shared venture and of course our teaching is too. We do better together than I could ever do alone.

Our marriage series illustrates this.

Great call Lesaya!

WITCHES - SORRY I'M NOT WORRIED

I've had more emails from local pastors this week than I generally have from them in a year and it seems as if there is a major problem about to hit Long Island this weekend.

All these guys are freaking out because the north east Witches Conference will be held in our area tomorrow and they are recommending steps to take to minimise the impact of these purveyors of darkness. Seems like their visit has got people running scared.

Quote:
For the past year and a half, the Lord has revealed to me that the devil was sending witches and satanists from all over the world to this area to try to stop the move of God on our island.

Okay, let's pause here for a second.

Witches and satanists coming from all over to stop the move of God.

Like they can?

Can anyone stop God?

I kind of feel sorry for them, because not only are these folks misguided, they're also wasting their hard earned cash traveling to this neck of the woods to try to do something that doesn't stand a bat's chance in the other place of succeeding.

This reminds me of a story of an uneducated but very powerful English preacher from the last century Smith Wigglesworth. In his biography there is an account of a time when Wigglesworth woke up in the night and sensed something strange in the room. Looking at the foot of the bed, he saw a manifestation of the devil right there. The preacher commented, Oh, it's only you and promptly turned over and went back to sleep.

Seems to me that there was a man who knew how big his God is.

He knew God's promises too - after all the Bible does promise that the Angel of the Lord camps around those who fear Him and delivers them.

There's a call for Christians to converge today on the same hotel the witches will be using to set up a wall of worship to protect the Island. I think that's an excellent idea! - It's always safe to have a backup plan just in case the Angel of the Lord isn't up to the job.

Personally I'm going to a cocktail party.

If God isn't looking after us, we may as well all give up. If he is - here's what Paul says in Romans 8 -

I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

MOVIE MADNESS

Although I am putting quite a bit of effort into getting key people elected on November 6th so that we get a new Town Board that will change the town code to clear the way for us to build, I must admit I love doing church in a movie theater.

A pastor told me this week that we have perfected the art, but I am sure there are a lot of good churches out there doing theater church even better than us.

I like the neutral ground.

I like that it's not a religious environment.

I like that our total overhead for a building is our weekly rent.

I like stadium seating.

I like cupholders in every seat.

I like all the space we get to use.

I like that there is still plenty of space to grow into.

I like milking the movie theater theme.

I like being different.

I like the huge screen that is provided for us at no extra cost.

I like being on a major road with high visibility.

I like the casual environment.

I like doing something that's pretty unique on Long Island, even though its commonplace elsewhere.

Some people can't get their heads around the idea. Some pastors can't either, but for those of us crazies who are doing it all around the country, theater church is the way to go!

CONGRATULATIONS!

If you found me today you did well.

People who usually access my blog through www.rogerblackmore.com are probably more than a little confused as that link is not working today.

I'm wondering if the domain name has expired, but have failed to make contact with the guy who bought it for me and set things up so that it forwarded traffic here.

The wonders of technology!

I'm lost in cyberspace.

ELECTION DAY IS NEARING

If the Town of Brookhaven that we live in was a city, it would be the 33rd largest metropolis in the USA, bigger than places like Atlanta, New Orleans and Miami.

And two weeks from today the half million people who live in the townships that make up Brookhaven will have the opportunity to elect a new Town Board. Incredibly few more than 25% of them will actually show up at a polling place.

When I was learning the right answers for my interview with the INS to determine whether I could become an American citizen, I read that the top response to the question "What are the benefits of becoming a U.S. citizen?" is expected to be "Having the right to vote."

Seems like thousands of people have lost sight of what a privilege it is to live in a democracy, but with a lot at stake for churches in this area, I hope that churchgoers at least will not be found wanting.

I spent an evening with the Republican candidates tonight as a guest of Robert DiCarlo who is standing for Supervisor (that's like the mayor to the uninitiated!) and had a good chat with several of them. I am very impressed with Roberta Owens who would become the first African American member of the Town Board and who is also a very committed Christian.

I can't vote for her as she's not in my district, but I'm not complaining as we have a great candidate in our district - Jane Bonner.

I voted already as I will be in India on election day, but you can be sure I'll be impatiently awaiting word of the outcome.

GREAT QUOTE

This from my friend Gary Lamb, church planter, radical and thoroughly great guy fromCanton, GA -

God NEVER calls us to play it safe.

MONDAYS

Monday is an interesting day. I take it as a day off and it tends to be the time when fatigue hits me, maybe because I'm winding down from the weekend -who knows?

Ran six miles at the gym this morning and did 2.5 miles on the elyptical. Then went to WW to my regular meeting as a member - dropped a couple of pounds from last week, but I needed to as I'd been a little over-indulgent for a couple of weeks.

Talked to my sister in England on the phone. She's coming over the week after Thanksgiving, which we're really pumped about. Pat's my little sister - she's 20 months younger than me - and I think it's about four years since I saw her last, which is a pity because she's a great person and I don't spend much time with her at all. She also reads my blog - but I assure you that is not why I'm writing nice things about her.

Did a bit more painting for Charlotte - not a lot as I really wasn't into it, but it was a gesture!

Visited a dermatologist for him to check out a little raised blemish that first appeared on my face a couple of months ago. He figures it's nothing, so measured it and told me to come back in two months. I was with him all of three minutes and dread to think what that will cost my insurance company.

Watching the Colts now and anticipating them going 6 - 0 on the season. They're a great team!

So that was Monday - like you really wanted to know all that!!!

SUNDAY REFLECTIONS

+ Seems to have been a long day, so I'm tired, but very content too.

+ Service went well this morning. The band did a great job and so did Lesaya, teaching Part 6 of our marriage series.

+ Gill's friend joined us again. She generally arrives late as she goes to mass with her husband first.

+ Robert DiCarlo spent the morning with us and met a number of people. I like the guy and think he'll make a very good Town Supervisor - quite apart from the fact that he will repeal the antic-church legislation Tim Mazzei brought in two years ago, so we can go ahead and build.

+ You probably figured out already that Tim Mazzei's arrrogant indifference to the Christian community annoys me. He single-handedly stopped the construction of places of worship in a town of half a million people. His day will come. Ultimately it is not me or the electorate he answers to.

+ Great lunch for new folks. They do some very good food at Bruno's. It was amazing to look across the room and see so many people we did not know six weeks ago! God is sending some outstanding people to help us in our mission.

+ I met a couple of folks today who had moved to or back to the Island and had been looking in vain for a church like the one they had known when they lived elsewhere. Then they found us. Our style isn't that remarkable in most places in this country, but ion the spiritual desert that is Long Island, we're kind of unique.

+ Went to the gym late today and was probably too kind to myself. Just did five miles instead of the normal eight. Will have to make up for that in the morning.

+ Today we started handing out the invitations for our next series - MIRACLES - Expect The Unexpected. It's a four weeks series on the miracles of Jesus and the invitations are coasters. I'm passing a thousand or two of them on to Doug And Doreen at Bruno's, which seems to be the main watering hole in Ronkonkoma. So their patrons will put their beers on coasters advertising out church! I love it!

OVERSEAS READERS

Chile, Iran, Korea, Japan - those are some of the more exotic places from which readers have accessed my blog in the past 24 hours.

Can't help wondering who found it and how!!!

BIG DAY AHEAD

Tomorrow will be a huge day for us on several fronts -

1. We're continuing our series ONE - Building A Marriage That Lasts. which is proving to be one of the most popular teaching series we have done so far this year.

2. Its the wind-up of our Video Seminar on single parenting that we have been running in another theater at the same time the marriage series was being taught in Theater 5. The feedback from this has been excellent - great material.

3. Gill's friend from the gym is coming back for her third visit. She has invited us over to her house for cocktails next Saturday evening, which should be a great chance to meet her husband too. I don't do cocktails, but I guess there's be some diet coke some place! Just walking across the room!!!

4. Former New York State Senator Robert DiCarlo will be worshiping with us. He is the Republican/ Conservative candidate for Town Supervisor in next month's elections and I appreciate him taking the time to visit Church At The Movies. The Democrats have put out some very negative campaign material this past week, so I hope Senator DiCarlo will find his visit to us an uplifting experience.

5. We have our New Friends' Lunch right after service, with 72 people now signed up. I am really looking forward to sharing our vision and encouraging these great people God has brought to us to get on board and row the boat with us.

IMPRESSED

I must confess that in the labyrith of inane TV commercials, I have developed something of an affection for the little English speaking gecko who does his utmost to sell us auto insurance.

I'm not a Geico customer and don't plan to be, but I must confess that I am very impressed with the company's quickl response to their customer who hit me on Monday morning. He finally contacted them yesterday, they called me last night, inspected the car this morning and their check was being mailed out to me today. Now that's service for you.

Seems like a company who still realize they're there for their customers and let's face it, there aren't so many of them around nowadays. A lot of places I do business treat me as if I'm intruding into their world, rather than the guy who actually pays their wages.

Church can get like that too, taking on the character of a private club preoccupied with its own activities, instead of realizing that we exist for one sole purpose, to be salt and light to this world.

In the process of doing that we grow in our own faith, get to know God better and learn to relate more effectively to one another.

I'm impressed with churches that grow as they go, being and doing what Jesus intended. They care about the people coming in the door, like the Geico guy did this morning.

THAT WAS IT!

Okay the vacation's over!

Since I didn't get to go to Texas this week, as originally planned, I decided to take a couple of days off while here at home and help my daughter painting a room in her house. The truth is, you don't have to be sitting on a beach at some exotic destination to get a break - though that would always be my first choice - it's often refreshing just to do something completely different.

I would have to admit that painting is not my first love and I'm not really that great at it, but when I left her house tonight, our handiwork looked pretty sharp and the room was transformed. It was fulfilling, but I won't give up my day job!

I'm not the best person in the world at relaxing. I think I have more than a little ADHD going on, which of course is not uncommon in church planters, so I tend to be thinking and talking church 24/7. I seldom totally switch off, but I have done pretty much this past couple of days.

A paint brush in your hand and Mike and The Mad Dog on the radio takes you about as far away from ecclesiastical pursuits as you could ever plan to be. So though tired, I'm refreshed.

I thoroughly recommend a day or so in a totally different situation.

BITS & PIECES

+ Had a great visit with Tommy in Rehab this afternoon. He was eager to show me his stuff and it was the highlight of my day so far - from being stuck in bed and paralyzed down his left side by a stroke seven days ago, he is now able to get himself out of bed, walk unaided and move his left arm considerably. God's doing some great stuff there.

+ The invitations for our next series arrived today and I am pumped about them. We have never done this before!

+ We're getting more people calling in for Sunday's New Friends' Lunch. It's going to be a crowded affair. Bruno's does great food, so we'll be treating everyone well.

+ Got a lot of stuff done today, so since I planned to be out of town this week anyway, I'm taking a couple of down days. Will be back in the office Friday.

+ Got one estimate to get the Mustang fixed and am waiting for the other one so I can pass them both on to the guy who has to pay the bill.

+ Had an email from a friend the other day who was wondering whether blogging is narcissistic. That's not the kind of heady stuff I want to start thinking about at this time of day.

+ Baseball's on TV - trying to get interested, but really don't care who wins.

+ Wonder if Joe Torre will have a job in the Bronx this time tomorrow. He only failed if you believe the Yankees have a divine right to be in the World Series every season. Thankfully they don't and George Steinbrenner doesn't have enough money to make it happen either.

+ Three weeks from now the polling places will be getting near to closing and we could be on the verge of having a new Town Supervisor. Now that would be a very good thing.

+ Gill's eating out tonight at a place called The Londoner - good British food. It's probably a good thing I'm not down there. I can only exercise so much self-restraint!

PLAN B

I fully anticipated blogging from Texas this evening, but a few things came up over the weekend that need my attention here this week, so this morning I took Gill to the airport and she made the trip without me.

It's disappointing, but that's life.

Also disappointing was the mishap with my Mustang at MacArthur airport. Approaching the terminal in the left lane, a guy in the right lane decided to move over, but hadn't seen me there. I almost avoided him, but not quite and the passenger side fender will need replacing. Could have been worse. No one was hurt and the other guy will pay for the repairs, so life goes on!

Had a quiet day. Did a bit of shopping with Charlotte as my fashion adviser. Bought some new clothes for Sundays - a pair of the most washed out jeans I've ever purchased and some cords too. I want to look sharp at weekends!

This evening I'm watching some baseball and a bit of football, with no one here to ask if there is anything else on TV - but I miss her already!

SUNDAY RETROSPECT

+ Our set-up guys were insane today. The truck was emptied by 7.28! It's looking like we can move to a fixed 7.30 arrival time and still get the job done in plenty of time.

+ There is an incredible atmosphere around the place on Sundays. I love being there and it seems a lot of other folks do too.

+ Our marriage series is really meeting a need.

+ Frank Summers looked after the Single Parenting video seminar today as Debbie Ingino who put the whole thing together is in Europe on business.

+ Hi Deb! I'm guessing it's you who logged into my blog from France today - we missed you!

+ Went marginally long teaching today - better not get into bad habits.

+ Completed the sign-up for our New Friends Lunch next Sunday. Looks like we'll have around 70 new people there. I guess moving to Ronkonkoma was a smart idea on God's part. Hey, it wasn't my first choice!

+ Didn't go to the gym this afternoon and ate badly too - need to get a grip tomorrow. Have enjoyed the football. Wish Dallas would kick New England's butt, but it doesn't look like the game is going that way.

+ Our smokers' corner seems to have been appreciated, especially as we put chairs there and it was a sunny morning with clear blue skies. You could actually breathe again in the foyer.

+ The band were superb today.

+ I heard about some new folks with us this morning who were there because they saw our on-screen ad at the movie theater last night. Nice to know the advertising is working.

+ Had some lunch at a little pizzeria / Italian restaurant just down the block from our house. Have never eaten there in the 15 years we have lived here - and it was good. Could be onto something here.

+ Still waiting for the Starbucks they're meant to be building down there too.

+ Someone asked me yesterday what kind of church we are. Wanted to know if we were born again - I squashed that idea straight away. Born again I am, but "A born again I'm not"!

+ Dallas are getting killed. Guess my Colts will be the ones to put the Patriots in their place.

NEW TERRITORY

Interesting day today. I taught on something I have never touched before in over 40 years of preaching and it wasn't anything that was going to send everyone home jumping for joy. As part of our marriage series, I spoke about When Death Us Do Part, looking at how to cope with the death of a spouse.

I have come to the conclusion that few Christians have any Biblical concept of death. It is hardly ever spoken about and is frequently looked upon as a defeat.

So we broke the taboo this morning and apparently while no one walked out floating on air, the material was very well received.

I hope it helped those who have faced bereavement recently, prepared us all for something we may well face down the road and given us all some good stuff so we can better support others in their time of grief.

MARK THE MONTH

I figured this would be a good time to make sure everyone who visits this place is aware of the fact that October is Pastor Appreciation Month and that while mugs, pens, keyrings and pictures that say kind things about a pastor are very gratefully received, you really can't beat a check with several zeros after the first digit.

Just kidding! Please read on ...

I have real problems with this whole concept and a bunch of questions.

Who had the right to make the declaration that this is Pastor Appreciation Month in the first place?
Thanksgiving was established by Presidential decree, but I have a sneaking suspicion that this one was thrown in there by the Christian version of Hallmark, wanting to make another buck or two off our consumer society.

Why should pastors get a whole month?
My father worked three jobs to put bread on the table for his five kids. He hardly ever had a day off let alone a vacation and for all that effort there was one snivelling day a year designated in his honor - Fathers Day - and the truth is that always fell a poor second to Mothers Day (again a single day).

Do pastors really not feel appreciated?
If that's the case, a mug that declares - I Love My Pastor - probably isn't going to solve the problem. It will more likely find it's way to the back of some kitchen cupboard, or it would in my house anway. I much prefer the one that is sitting beside my keyboard right now that reads - Live Well, Laugh Often, Love Much. I bought this one myself!
I talk to a lot of pastors and I know too many unhappy pastors and a Band-Aid won't fix it for them, nor will a gift certificate for the local Christian bookstore. Some of them just need to put themselves and their families out of their misery, go get another job and let the church they're in continue to die, but without their help.

A PLEA
Please don't buy into the Pastors Appreciation Month nonsense. I don't want anyone I know to mention it, ackowledge it or do anything about it. Here's why -

I already know that I am appreciated every month of the year.

+ Whenever someone brings a guest to our church, they are saying they value what we are doing.

+ When a driver pulls our truck into the movie theater parking lot before daylight on a Sunday morning he's showing he appreciates what we're about.

+ When people open their homes to host a small group, clean the floor when everyone has left on a Sunday, arrange vacation so they don't miss a service, volunteer to teach our kids, brew countless cups of coffee in our cafe, run copies of CDs, or do any one of a hundred other tasks, I know I'm appreciated.

Truth is, I'm spoiled rotten by the most wonderful people I've ever known who constantly support, encourage and motivate me.

Hallmark can go bust for all I care, I'm already appreciated and I know it.

TREES

Just got home from my small group and had a good time there. I've mentioned before that Ken and Lenore Swaner are excellent at hosting and leading small groups, so I love to slot into one of their series whenever I can - and this fall season looks good for me.

There was a good blend of people and I think this mix will gell together well once we all get past the nervousness of not knowing one another too well.

We're using some of Rob Bell's NOOMA material - www.nooma.com - and I am already very impressed with the quality.

Tinight we watched him talking about trees. The guy is brilliant - teaching the Bible in a non-religious fashion and providing a visual that conveys one key truth - we live between the trees. I'm too tired and it's really too late to explain what that's all about,

Check it out at the website.

Thanks Ken, Lenore and the gang who showed up tonight - it was a good evening.

GUESTS

Gill has been very happy to have a friend of hers come to our church this past two Sundays. Sounds like she has been really enjoying it and plans to be back this coming weekend.

Not to be outdone, I've invited a friend of mine to come worship with us and he plans to be there on October 21st. I'm just getting to know him really, but honestly like the guy and am glad he agreed to come.

His name is Robert DiCarlo and I expect that next month he will be elected our town's Supervisor.

OZ?

Someone asked me today if I am Australian - a question that comes my way so often it makes me wonder what it is that gives folks the idea.

I don't carry a boomerang, own a pet kangaroo, drink excessive amounts of beer, say "G'day" to everyone I meet or trace my ancestry back to criminals deported from the UK.

I guess it's because my accent is messed up. Not pure English and definitely not Brooklyn - simply, rural English, a hint of Scots and a trace of Long Island, New York. If you think that makes me sound like my uncle has shares in Outback, so be it!

Truth is I look upon myself as American.

I'm a U.S. citizen, my home is here, my heart is here and my future is here - until my eternal future kicks in of course.

And of course, this is a great country.

So call me what you will, American is what I am!

TOMMY

I don't generally do hospital visits as we have an outstanding team - the Barnabas Network - who thrive in that environment. I long since gave up trying to do everything for everybody in and around our church.

But I do occasionally make an exception.

That's why I drove down to Brookhaven Hospital this afternoon and spent a few minutes in the Stroke Unit with a guy I hardly know.

Tommy has worshiped with us for the past six Sundays. He committed his life to Christ seven weeks ago and a friend suggested he visit our church as a possible place where his faith could grow. Tommy's a biker and it seems what helped him make the decision was that we were doing our Catmo County Choppers series at the time and his friend told him we had bikes lined up outside the front door and even one up by the preacher.

He hasn't missed a Sunday since - until this past weekend when he lay in hospital with the left side of his body paralyzed.

Tommy's afraid, anxious and wondering what the future holds, but there is no doubt in his mind that God holds him. As I prayed with him this afternoon, I was so glad that we did the CCC series. So glad that Tommy's at home with us as a church (he loves not needing to dress for church!).

Will you take a moment to encourage Tommy as he moves into rehab?

Go buy a card, write a note to let him know you're praying for him and mail it to Tommy, care of me.

Thanks for taking a moment for one of our newest friends.

MY BOY BEN

My grandson Benjamin had his sixth birthday party Saturday afternoon down in Little Elm, Texas. It's a couple of weeks since he actually achieved this milestone, but October 6th was a good date for the party and going by what he told me on the phone that evening, he had a blast.

I'll see him next week as Gill and I are flying over there for a couple of days mid-week. When he was with us late July, together with his sister and parents of course, that was the first time I had seen the kids or their mother in almost a year.

That was too long.

I made up my mind that I need to readjust some of my priorities so that I'm not just a face in a photograph or a voice at the end of a telephone line. God has given us three wonderful grandchildren and I am determined to be a part of all of their lives - hey every kid needs a crazy grandpa!

Over the years I have met too many pastors who have sacrificed family in favor of ministry. Overall this pastor has not done that and I don't plan to start now.

So we'll be in Texas this time next week - back for Sunday of course!

SUNDAY RETROSPECT

+ I just checked my site meter and found that today I have had visitors to this blog from Japan, India, England, Canada, Aruba, Dominican Republic and a good chunk from the USA too of course. Maybe I should rename it - Rog's International Blog!

+ Our Anniversary Sunday went very well. Continuing the practice I started a year or two ago, I did virtually nothing in our service this morning. When we started I did absolutely everything - but now we're all growed up I coccasionally elebrate the fact that Sundays can happen without me!

+ Did you taste the chocolate dipped pretzel sticks Sarah has made for the occasion? They looked good!

+ More visitors again. We already have 37 people signed up for our newcomers lunch on the 21st and today was the first day we announced it. I expect around 60 people to be there.

+ The Colts hammered the Bucs today. Good for Tony Dungy who was treated horrendously by the Tampa Bay club when they fired him a few years ago. Of course no one in Indy is sad the Bucs let him go.

+ Had a good workout this afternoon.

+ You can tell how many new folks we have around and how quickly we get folks involved - I had no idea whatever who the two young women were who were handing out our anniversary pretzel sticks at the main entrance today!!!

+ We probably need to invite smokers to move a little further from the main entrance for their final puff as the foyer stunk this morning.

+ There were at least 30 people watching the service on the plasma TV in our Big Screen Cafe today. I have no idea why you would want to do that, but whatever floats your boat.

+ Guys were back from the DR. Sounds like they had a great time - they are five quality people.

+ I sat in in the Single Parenting That Works seminar in Theater 5 today. It was superb stuff. Debbie Ingino scored a home run setting this up (which is more than the Yankees have done this past while).

HOW FAR CAN WE GO?

I guess we're not a new church any more, now that we have a nine year track record. We've developed into one of the largest non-denominational churches in the are. We may be mobile but we're established and the question of whether we will make it or not does not arise any more.

But it should - it needs to.

Will we make it to our full potential?

Will we make it to really influencing this area significantly?

Will we make it to be a church that creates a dent in the more than 1.3 million people in our county who don't go to church at all?

Will we make it to constantly changing to fit the never-changing story into a culture that's perpetually shifting?

Will we make it to move beyond containment to multiplication?

Will we make it to fine-tuning a model that can be repeated all around Long Island?

Will we make it to bringing hope and healing to thousands of homes?

Will we make it beyond contentment and into our dreams?

I hope so.

God knows, I hope so.

FOUNDATIONS AND SCAFFOLDS

Today I found the contract I signed to rent the function room of the Inn At Medford for our opening service nine years ago. I smiled to look at what had been booked - 60 chairs theater style and a podium. I think we had blown by that number half an hour before our scheduled 10.00am start on that sunny October morning.

It's tough to recall who all those folks were - 154 of them in total, but without checking the details my guess would be that less than half are still with us now.

Of course, if you're a young couple starting out or seniors retiring, you get off Long Island as quick as you can. With the average house selling for something like $400,000, I95 South becomes very inviting. So we have seen a lot of good people move out of state.The others seem to have fallen into one of two camps -

SCAFFOLD MEMBERS
I first read this phrase in one of Steve Sjogren's books on church planting (not sure which one, but anything by him is worth getting hold of) and it has stuck with me. These are people who are with you from the start, are a great help in getting things under way, but are never going to be part of the long-term future. You don't know that and they don't know it, but that's how it works out.

Christians who join new churches generally have their own preconceived ideas of how things will or should take shape and they get disenchanted and downright upset at times if things don't fall the way they expect them to.

Some get very upset indeed like the woman who cursed me out as she and her husband made their exit several years ago. Good people - scaffold members. (Foul mouths too!)

A lot of scaffold members want the new church to resemble the one they just left. That's weird. If it was so good there, why were they with us in the first place?

Leadership guru John Maxwell reckons that three years into every church plant, none of the core group that started things moving is generally together.Wish I'd known that six years ago when a number of scaffold members made an exit.

FOUNDATION MEMBERS
These are the folks who have come to be rock solid partners in the mission and we have quite a number of them. I entertained the idea of listing some of them here, but realized that time and space don't permit, besides which I am bound to forget someone and don't want to tick them off on this anniversary weekend.

So let me give you just one example.

Dan Ricci was there with us on October 4th of '98. I was surprised, but very happy to see him on day one. Dan's a smart cookie. He's 397 years old (80 something actually, but I don't remember his exact age - maybe 86?).

Because of the respect I have for him, seing him there that first morning was huge for me and I honestly think it added a lot of credibility to our venture for those who know Dan. If he was there, this must be okay.

He has not missed a single Sunday morning service since then and has won a place in everyone's heart as he serves every week as the person who greets everyone arriving at the theater with a smile and hands them a copy of our weekly news sheet.

He wasn't a scaffold member, Dan's part of the foundation.

Both are necessary, but their function is different.

You generally don't see the foundation, but you'd soon know if it wasn't there!

This wseekend I'm especially appreciative of our foundation members.

DEVELOPING CHURCH

Sitting here watching the Yankees get beat up by Cleveland and reflecting on the first nine years of our church, which was born on this day in 1998.

There was a banner on the wall behind me in the Inn At Medford that day, proclaiming who we were and what we were there for - Grace Church - To Seek And To Save Those That Are Lost. That was our mission statement. I guess I could have worked out something that sounded cleverer, but I figured since Jesus said that's what he was here for, it wouldn't be a bad thing to try to follow in his footsteps.

It has taken nine years of developing, changing, fine tuning, ticking some people off and refusing to dilute our vision to take a statement on vinyl and make it a reality. There will always be a need to change and scope to improve, but what was an idea in '98 is becoming a reality around us.

We're not a home for church hopping Christians looking for the newest and most exciting thing around or maybe running away from issues in another church that they don't want to deal with.

We're a bunch of people on a mission and it's great to see it happening!

WEBSITE

I like the way the website is coming together. We passed on Ian Baer's advice on changes to the first draft and it's looking pretty sharp. All I have to do now is edit the material we want to shift over from the existing site and then write the rest. Could be a busy couple of days ahead.

Most of the people who visit us on Sundays have checked out the website already, which is a smart way to go. I'd do the same. I wouldn't want to wait until I got there to be invited to drink some Kool-Aid or to discover the pastor and his wife sit on gold thrones on the stage, him with a very bad hairdo and her looking like she lost a paintball competition.

You can check a church out from a safe distance by visiting their website.

I've visited hundreds - the good, the bad and the ugly.

Most are bad or ugly because a website is looked upon as an added extra. It's not, it's an essential part of making a connection with interested parties. We ignore it at our peril.

HOW FULL IS FULL?

Here's another interesting comment on attending church as a visitor from David Zimmerman. I found it at www.churchmarketingsucks.com

Imagine, if you will, entering the doors to a new church. Your apprehension is not calmed after being greeted by someone with a nametag designating them as a “greeter” and being handed a bulletin. You hesitate as you walk through the door--and for a moment consider bolting. By the grace of God you enter the room where the service will be and look over a sea of chairs. Which one will you pick?

For those of us who regularly attend church, this is no dilemma. We know where people sit and where they don’t. For someone who rarely attends church, this can make an already intimidating event downright scary.

Naturally you will want to sit in the back. I don’t know if it’s because we are afraid of the pastor picking us out or scared that people will be talking about us behind our back but no one likes to sit up front. You can take one of the seats in back as long as you’ve shown up on time--otherwise everyone else might have taken the prime seats in the back, leaving only the front row open.

The 80% rule states that when a building has reached 80% of capacity it is full. This is because we all have a sense of personal space. Do an experiment: the next time you find yourself in a conversation, note how far away from the other person you are standing and then take a step toward them. When I once did this to a friend he started to stutter and turn red. In the post-experiment debriefing I found out that his first thought was to punch me.

I am not suggesting that your visitors will become violent when your facilities are too full, but we all need a certain amount of space to make us feel comfortable. This is the phenomenon that dictates the 80% rule. The compliment of this rule is that the remaining 20% of seats will be in undesirable locations--such as the front row.

One way to overcome this problem is to constantly monitor your church attendance. When you realize you are averaging about 80% capacity, know that you’ve overgrown your current location. In fact I’ve heard some people aim for 75% capacity to give them enough time to plan options for accommodating more people.

Solutions to this problem depend on the nature of your facility. If you own your own building, it’s time to start a new service. If you are renting, you need to find a larger location (or you could start another service as well). No matter how you make room be sure you do it before people start punching each other.

Interesting stuff. Personally I reckon that given the size of the average American nowadays and the fact that we're in New York, in our culture 70% full would be as high as I'd want to go.

ORBITING THE GIANT HAIRBALL

This afternoon I spent a bit of time reading Gordon MacKenzie's book with this intriguing title. In simple terms, it's talking about not getting sucked into "normal" and maintaining your individuality and creativity.

Here are a couple of quotes I highlighted while sipping a non-fat grande latte -

Creative genius is about flying to new heights on untested wings. It is about the danger of crashing. (Great definition of church planting there!)

From cradle to grave the pressure is on: Be Normal. (I'm still holding out)

Normality derives from and is dedicated to past realities and past successes. There is no room for original thinking or primary creativity. (That defines some churches I've pastored)

The ghosts of past successes outvote original thinking. (This describes some Christians I've known)

There has never been anyone quite like you and there never will be. Consequently, you can contribute something to an endeavor that nobody else can.

Excellent book - worth getting hold of.

DARING TO BE DIFFERENT

It's October 1st and while I occasionally wonder where summer went, I do have a pretty good idea of what the answer is. It passed quickly while we were involved in all the preparations for the move to Ronkonkoma, which is proving to be an outstanding success.

This is a special week for me as I frequently recall all that was happening this time nine years ago. The opening service for our church was on Sunday October 4th 1998 and in the few days leading up to that we were up to our neck in preparations. I had no help in the office then and no pastoral team. I was it!

It seemed like for days whenever I finished one call, there was another phone message waiting for me. It was tough to keep up. It was hectic. It was insane. And it was fun!

I told people from the start that this church would be different and made it clear that if we were not, there was no reason for us to exist. We've cultivated different and continued to develop, which is why nine years down the road everything still feels new and exciting.

These have been the best times of all my years in ministry.

I am a blessed man.