Was out, with the exception of 15 minutes, from 7.00am to 9.30pm yesterday and just didn’t have the energy to get on here when I got home at night. Here are some belated thoughts on a special day …

+ Church was great – I love Celebration Sundays.

+ Baptized six people. Each one a testimony, each one an eternity altered and each one the evidence that with God’s help we are doing what we set out to do.

+ Great to have our own band back after giving them three weeks break. They sounded good and were really enjoying what they were doing.

+ Used those little disposable communion cups with a wafer in the top and juice in the bottom. That’s about as non-religious as you can get. Very practical. Very easy set-up!

+ More visitors. Met a couple and hope to meet more of them as they return.

+ Got rid of all our old signage. New look on September 13th – and we have no service in Ronkonkoma next week. It will all be happening happening over in Mastic as we have our service there and give everything a trial run.

+ It’s the Annual Street Fair in Ronkonkoma next week too and the opportunity to connect with thousands of people at our booth.

+ I taught on change yesterday – Joshua taking over from Moses. We must Respect ThePast, Expect A Future and Accept The Challenges.

+ I thanked and do thank all those who thought adding a new campus in the present climate was insane – and kept their thoughts to themselves. I haven’t needed their negativity, but am glad to see so many who have got on board with the vision.

+ Prayed for our Mastic Launch Team during service, which included a man from Mastic who came to Christ a month or six weeks ago.

+ Spent a great afternoon on a 28′ boat in the bay off the South Shore, with Gill, Charlotte and Jace. We are very grateful to our hosts Jorge and Dotti Leiva, who have also worked like dogs to get everything in place for our Mastic campus.

+ Charlotte caught the first fish – a young fluke.

+ Jace had a blast. We all did.

+ I did not throw up, which you probably didn’t need to know, but I was pretty excited about.

+ Heard today about a lady who saw our customized van outside the Mastic theater and plans to be there with her family on the 13th. It’s a great billboard.

+ Yesterday was historic for us. Last day together in one place. Two weeks from now the real action starts.

Okay, I know it’s wrong to wish your life away – my parents told me that as a five year old whose birthday could not come quickly enough – but I’d be happy if it was Sunday already.

I do need this evening to relax a little and recover from a busy day. I need it, plus a good night’s sleep, to be sure to have the energy I need for tomorrow. But I’ll be glad when the sun comes up in the morning.

+ I love spending Sunday mornings with great people.

+ I love the buzz around the church as we prepare for our next adventure.

+ I love seeing people get baptized – it reminds me we’re doing what we set out to do.

+ I love sharing communion – it reminds me what Jesus has done for me.

+ I love the banter, the laughter and the general vibe around the place.

+ I love seeing kids rushing to get into our great children’s programs.

+ I love having a church where there is no distinction based on gender, race, social standing or any other irrelevant factor.

+ I love the excitement of not knowing what God will do.

+ I love the fact that 24 hours from now I expect there to be people with a relationship with Jesus, who don’t have one as I sit here now.

Sunday’s coming – are we there yet?

It’s that time again – Celebration Sunday. We’re baptizing, sharing communion, commissioning our Mastic Launch team and generally revelling in the goodness of God.

That’s this coming Sunday, August 30th at 9.30am – Regal Cinemas, Portion Road, Ronkonkoma.

Be There!

Here’s a bunch of good stuff I’ve read on twitter lately -

Rick Warren: Pastor,stop wishing u were in Atlanta,NYC,Chicago or SoCal &Pour ur love into the dear people he’s called u to serve!Ph4:10

Seth Godin: Leadership is scarce because few people are willing to go through the discomfort required to lead.

Steven Furtick: If the enemy can’t destroy you he’ll distract you.Distraction=doing an incredible job at an insignificant activity.

Tony McCollum: Outlasting yr critics is rlly the only way 2 “win.” dont waste time arguing w/them. Just do the work & don’t stop.

John Maxwell: If you want children 2 keep their feet on the ground, put some responsibility on their shoulders.

Rick Warren: Jesus had 30yrs of maturity b4 3yrs of world-shaking ministry.IMPACT requires integrity-which takes yrs of unselfishness.

 Rick Warren: Ave.church=Only 10% of members serve in ministry,50%wont,But 40% say”Ive never been asked or dont know how” Go after them!

Twitter is clearly a place where very wise people hang out!

It has been good to have our dear friends Wally and Gwen Odum with us for a couple of days. I first met Gwen in 1983 while she was vacationing in Scotland with a mutual friend and it was in April of the following year that I flew to the USA for the first time where I met Wally and spoke at a conference at his church.

In 1984 Wally was pastoring First Assembly of God in Virginia Beach, Virginia, a rapidly-growing church that he had seen develop from 150 attending on a Sunday to over 3,000. It was an exciting place to be.

For my part, I was pastoring Cairnbulg Assembly of God in the north east of Scotland, a well established church with a lot of great people that I was trying to bring into the 20th century. We were packed on Sundays, the place was buzzing, but change was not going down well in some parts.

So here we are a quarter of a century later and Wally is planting a church on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. Currently he ministers to an interesting group of pierced, tattooed people meeting in a school every Sunday morning. And me, I’m over 3,000 miles away from Scotland, in the commuter belt for New York City doing church in movie theater(s) every week.

Neither of us would have pictured this and neither of us would want it any different. Thankfully we’re both finding pastoring more fulfilling now that at any other point in our lives.

Did we ever forsee this? – Of course not.

It’s God who planned the route and for us to walk it out. Thankfully while its twists and turns may  bring us plenty of surprises, the journey gets better all the time.

I like baseball, partly out of necessity and partly because it’s a great way to relax. I hadn’t lived in the USA for long before I came to realize that none of the major sports here come into that category back in the UK. They focus on different stuff over there, like cricket, rugby and football that actually involves kicking a ball. It was clear that if I wanted to get into sport, I needed to learn some!

So today  we went off to CitiField, named after the highest bidder Citi Bank, with the naming rights paid for with tax payers’ money from the government’s Troubled Assets Relief Program.

It was a relaxing way to spend my day off, while enjoying the company of some of my family and of our good friends Wally and Gwen Odum.

At a ball game I switch off to a great degree, though I will admit to checking my Blackberry a few times, so it’s probably a good place to visit occasionally for my mental health. Sure, I know the Mets stink this season, but you can’t expect too much from a lineup like today’s that included just two players who were starters back in April.

Good day. Good friends. Good family.

… and an anticipated Mets loss!

+ I’m tired now, but looking back on a very good day.

+ Church was outstanding. Michelle Margiotta and her band did a terrific job with the worship. So glad she’s going to be helping out at the Mastic campus.

+ We finished our Keepin’ It Real series today and did it in style with my great friend Wally Odum teaching. He brought some very positive, faith-building stuff out of Acts 28 with a message entitled A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To Rome.The man is a terrific preacher.

+ Met with some of our Mastic launch team before service – busy time ahead – they’re pumped.

+ A big miss today was Dan Ricci, who has been the face at the front door, welcoming people and handing out bulletins every single Sunday since we launched in 1998.  At 86 years of age, he has not missed a single Sunday – until today, when his wife Marge who serves in our church cafe, was sick and causing him concern. Marge is in hospital tonight under observation. Please say a prayer for her and Danny too.

+ Decent crowd today – summer has been thin. Maybe people heard Wally was here!

+ Watched the Mets game on TV while I was at the gym this afternoon. They’re sad, but we’re all off to CitiField tomorrow to watch the final game in the series against the Phillies.

+ We went for a walk at Smith Point Beach this evening, after letting Wally and Gwen see the Mastic theater. They had a country/rock n’ roll band playing on the boardwalk. I liked their rendering of “I’ve Got Friends In Low Places.” Me too! So did Jesus!

+ England won the Ashes – a phrase that means nothing to the average American, but is very significant to English and Australian cricket fans. It’s good to have a team that wins.

+ Our Final Countdown continues next weekend with Celebration Sunday. We’ll be baptizing some folks, sharing communion and praying for our Mastic launch team. It will be our last Sunday all together for a while and I’ve got a soecial message I will be bringing.

+ Around 5 million Americans worshiped in a multi-site context today. We’ll add a few more to that number on the 13th.

Three years ago I was gathering information about multi-site church, reading whatever was out there, talking to everyone I could and starting to think through the process of establishing Church At The Movies campuses throughout our county. It was not until October of last year that I presented it to our church family, but a great deal had been going on behind the scenes throughout that time.

Last February we opted for Mastic as our second campus – and incredibl,y in just three weeks from now, we will be launching out there.

This weekend we start the final countdown.

Sunday 23rd - Thanksgiving Service with guest worship leader Michelle Margiotta and a guest preacher, our good friend Wally Odum.

Sunday 30th – Celebration Sunday – Communion and Baptisms on the last Sunday we are all together in Ronkonkoma.

Sunday 6th - Preview Service – We hold our regular service in Island Cinemas, Mastic for the whole church.

Sunday 13th - Launch Day – One church, two campuses, Ronkonkoma and Mastic.

It all starts Sunday – don’t miss it whatever you do.

My longstanding good friend, Ian Jennings is a Rector in the Church of England. We met in Bible College forty one years ago and since Ian graduated ahead of me (no I wasn’t kept back) he is currently celebrating forty years in ministry.

I love the way he’s doing it – by taking a three months sabbatical. Imagine that, three months to pull back, pray, reflect, study and prepare for the most productive period of his  fruitful years of pastoring.

I’m keeping up with Ian’s sabbatical blog here -  www.sabbaticalblogianjennings.blogspot.com

When I floated the idea of me taking a 40th anniversary sabbatical next year with some of our pastoral team, their reaction was interesting. While they were almost too polite to outright laugh in my face, the overwhelming feel I got was they thought it was hilarious to condsider me pulling back for three months.

Of course, they’re absolutely correct and I have no intention of doing it, but that’s not to say I’m right!

I’m just me.

Couldn’t say this better than Perry Noble does on his blog today, so I’ll leave it to the good ol’ southern boy -

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