Sunday Unwind

Today was an absolute blur.  I can’t believe its almost nine o’clock and we’re about to put Jacob down for the day.  Here are just a few lines to recap the day…

• Woke up at 4:30 am to pouring rain outside.  This tends to make set up interesting considering our equipment is stored outside the YMCA.
• Hard to wake up considering the 4+ hours of paddling the Harpeth River yesterday.  Muscles were frozen.
• Strong set up crew this morning.
• Our Y employee didn’t show up on time to let us in which was a bummer and it put us behind.
• We set off their alarm to get back at them (really, we did, but not on purpose ).
• Joe and Pam on a well deserved vacation this week so the rest of us picked up their slack.  Missed you guys.
• Good crowd today despite the weather.
• Good worship today despite Nick leading.
• Message from Gary Lamb (Revolution Church, Canton, GA) this morning in Joe’s absence.  Not a bad guy to have fill in if I really have to be honest.
• Great to see friends I’ve been missing for a while now.
• Thank you to all the volunteers today.  Great job!  You make the gears turn in this church and it does not go unnoticed.
• Lunch with some top notch UC families.
• No nap this afternoon.
• We did make up for the lost sleep tonight by eating some Baskin Robbins.  This makes sense in my world so cut me some slack.

One thing I’m left with to focus on for the week is this - being a “status quo” christian is not what I was called to be.  A “status quo” church is not what God called the UC into existence to be.  We are not called to be predictable, simply going through the motions each week.  We must not be lulled into a state of laziness and comfortability and forget our purpose as a church!  We must continue to focus more on who we’re ministering on behalf of and who we’re ministering to.

That’s it from me…it’s bedtime.  Later on peeps.

Let’s Go Paddle!

The Harpeth River west of Nashville, TN is one of the best to canoe and fish in our area.  We’re going this weekend and hope you can join us.

When and where:  Saturday, July 12, 2008 @ 9am - Tip A Canoe on Hwy 70 west of Nashville

What to bring:  Your lunch, sunscreen, shoes that can get wet, $20 (per canoe, split with a partner) to cover cost and tax.

Canoeing is one of my favorite hobbies of all time.  It ranks right up there with fishing, hiking, and camping. 

What are some hobbies you enjoy in the summer?

Tuckered Out

Well, we helped wrap up a home build today for Habitat For Humanity.  It was an absolute pleasure to be there and serve in such a cool way.  I can honestly say that I think I was blessed as much by today’s activities as Girma, the new homeowner, is with his new home.  He gets to move in at the end of the month.

Girma is from Ethiopia and has been in the states for four and a half years.  He has a wife and a young daughter and now a new beautiful home.  I am proud that our church peeps came out to help out this wonderful guy and his family.

Included in today’s activities were hauling trash and scrap, laying sod, painting, caulking, cleaning, vacuuming, finish carpentry, wood floor installation, more cleaning, pressure washing, more painting, door hardware installation, major appliance installation and lots and lots of GOOF(ING) OFF (inside joke - you had to be there.)

All I can say is that it was a blast!!!  It was great meeting and working with so many wonderful people.  I can’t wait for the next build later on in the year.

Habitat for Humanity This Weekend

A reminder for the people of the UC…don’t forget we’re supporting the local Habitat For Humanity this weekend.  We will gather in the Starbucks parking lot on Hwy 70 on Saturday morning and carpool to our worksite starting at 6:15 am.  Don’t be late!  If you want to drive to the site, you can find directions here.  Fill out your release form early here.

Our workday starts at 7:00 am and ends at 3:30 pm.

I hope to see you there!

One Prayer Starts This Weekend!

Somehow we tend to forget that the church is more than just “your church” or “my church”.  Its THE church…God’s church.  Denominations, building type, meeting location, and demographics aside, we’re still all called to effectively accomplish the same goal.

So when One Prayer was officially unveiled a couple of months ago, I felt it had the potential to be one of the largest collaborative events the church has done in my lifetime.  I’m proud that our church, UpRising Church, is participating.  Seeing churches leverage their influence and affluence to have a Kingdom impact is just amazing to me.  In a time where neighboring churches don’t even want to associate with one another for whatever reason, One Prayer is a chance for us to join together in a common and simultaneous effort.  As of tonight, almost 1400 churches and nearly 800,000 people are uniting for this effort.

For UpRising Church, our prayer is for God to “make us real.”  This last thing this world needs is a church where its people are not real.  A lost and hurting world needs a church full of people who understand emotional hurt, personal loss, pain just like anyone else.  People who can relate is so beneficial.  Really, the only difference between those who believe in Christ and those who don’t is how you react to the hard knocks of life.  The church should be a place where people can experience true healing and one sure way to attract and influence them is to simply be authentic and REAL.

Hope you can make it tomorrow!  The series runs through June 29th.  Click here for more details on Pastor Joe’s blog.

• June 8th - God, make us real!
• June 15th - God, make us audacious!
• June 22th - God, make us dangerous!
• June 29th - God, make us extremely generous! 

Weekend Review

Quite the weekend…

• Friday night was not extraordinary, but we did get to go grocery shopping, to the park with Jacob, and to City Limits Cafe for dinner.
• Saturday was “sort of” relaxing.  We spend the morning at home doing some chores, playing with Jacob then raced to Hendersonville for dinner prior to church set up.
• Even though the outdoor service was cancelled, church was great yesterday!  More new people, not many empty seats, and Pastor Joe came at all of us with a pretty challenging message.  If you weren’t challenged, then you apparently weren’t there.

Thanks to all who helped make the adjustment for service, especially David McCaffrey who does more than the average dude to insure that all problems are solved and everything is seamless.

For Those Who Work So Hard

Our church is blessed to have a great group of people who give of their time and talent to make the gears turn for God at UpRising Church.  I kid you not…our church would not function without the help and dedication of these people.  So in honor of those who work so hard, we’re having a Volunteer Appreciation Picnic this Saturday (4/26/08) at noon.  The location is Edwin Warner Park, shelter #9.  Yes, this has been announced at church and no changes have been made.  We will have this event rain or shine.  The whole church is invited.  Bring your family and friends.  Please plan on being there and bring your appetite!!!

This Weekend at UpRising

We’re rolling out a whole new list of events this coming weekend.  I’m very excited!  Be there on Sunday and don’t miss the announcements.  Some of these events will be geared toward community impact and others are designed to build community in the current church body at UpRising.  Regardless, I challenge all of you to get involved somehow.  You also need to get involved in a Connect Group.  Its the greatest way to experience authentic community.  I know that my group had a blast this week.  We have several going right now so just sign up, ask somebody, or email me at jonathan@uprisingchurch.org.

As we continue Project Pay It Forward this year, I want to thank those who have reached out to help those in our church who were in need.  I love it when you do this and you do it anonymously.  So many of you are ministering to each other whether you know it or not.  I also have enjoyed watching relationships develop and friendships being made all in the context of how God designed it.  I can tell you as a church leader that it makes me so proud to know and serve you. 

Keep up the good work because we’re not even close to being finished.

 

Still Pumped!

Another great weekend!

Saturday:  Julie, Jacob and I pretty much chilled at home all day and spent some well deserved quality down time with one another.  Life just seems to be too busy lately.  I’m intentionaly doing “nothing” more often to preserve my family relationships.  Set up that night was very interesting.  Let me just say that our team has some hilarious and memorable moments together.  We are more normal than people give us credit for…I wouldn’t want to work with anyone else.

Sunday:  I though church was awesome.  To see God lifted up and healing take place in the lives of some of our people and their relationships just pumps me up and adds fuel to my fire.  Life change toward God in any form always pumps me up!  After church, we had wonderful lunch with old friends and more new friends at J. Alexanders.  Sunday afternoon was mostly spent attempting to fix my lawn mower and cutting the grass/weeds.  I was afraid that I was gonna have to fork out a couple of hundred bucks for a new one. 

Monday:  Okay, Monday is not officially the weekend, but it’s such a busy part of my schedule that I pretty much lump in with the previous two days.  For me it still feels like part of the weekend, so cut me some slack and back off.  Anyways, I think we had a great review and prep staff meeting last night.  The  chemistry of our team is maybe the best its been ever!  I feel like we’re very focused in leading this ministry to the next level.  Exciting stuff!

Next weekend, were planning on taking Jacob to the Air Show in Smyna.  That will be fun I’m sure.  Also on Sunday, Joe will continue our series on Doors.  Don’t miss it.

Final Reflections from Unleash 2008

Finally!!! 

Well, it’s only been a week and a half since we’ve been back from Unleash at NewSpring Church in Anderson, SC.  For those of you who follow this blog, thanks for being patient.  Last week was extremely busy (being pre-Easter week) and I didn’t want to neglect my family anymore than necessary.  That’s the reason behind the lull in posting.  So finally, I’ll post the remainder of what stuck out as important things to remember from Unleash.

From Perry’s second session (focus: Senior Pastor’s)…

• “I wanna quit.”
• “I didn’t know a song could get saved.”
• “This is the life of a Pastor.” 
• “Deal with your pride and insecurities.”
• “Sometimes, the most dangerous thing that God could do is give a church success.”
• “God called Moses……and Moses said ‘what if?’”
• “If God is telling you to say something and you don’t say it, then you’re not a prophet, your a prostitute of your church.”
• “When we’re struggling, we need to go back to the fact that Jesus called.”
• 1 Corinthians 1:26-31
• “God didn’t say ‘oops’.”
• “We didn’t sign up for this gig, He called us.”
• “If you’re called, we don’t quit.”
• “Use your staff.”
• “Sitting at the table, somebody doesn’t belong.”
• “Moses had his ’staff’.  God gave Moses a staff so he could have something to lean on, not the other way around.”
• “Pay your staff well.”
• “Treat your staff with respect.”
• “You’ve never felt the weight that he (Senior Pastor) feels.”
• “Criticism, you have no idea…”
• “Your Senior Pastor can never cut it off (referring to Pastor ‘mode’).”
• Hebrews 13:17
• “Take God directed risk.”
• “Golf isn’t a sport….now full-contact Golf?  That’s a sport.”
• “Turn left.”
• Exodus 4:3-5
• “We don’t get to where God wants us by playing it safe.”
• “If you don’t believe in original sin, have a kid.”
• “Understand at times that it’s gonna hurt.”
• “We are the biggest whiners sometimes.”
• Exodus 4:6
• “I can get another church, not another wife.”
• “Does she feel like the ministry is your mistress?”
• “You have no idea what kind of pain the Senior Pastor has.”
• “He’s playing with a high level of pain.”
• “Ministry hurts.”
• “Just take it and let it roll.”
• “Follow his leadership.”
• Exodus 4:7
• “Moses had no clue.”
• “Do you have a team that you would charge hell with?”
• “Do you have a staff that will stand in the circle with you to take a beating and go to the next level?”

We had a great trip together as a team, but I hope one additional tidbit that our Senior Pastor, Joe, walked away with was the fact that we were one unit.  We are one unit travelling in the same direction with our Senior Pastor taking the lead.  We are a team working together to achieve the task that God has laid before us.  The road ahead is crazy and unknown, but nonetheless, here we go.