Birthing A Message, Part 2

Continuing from the last post on this topic, I'll share with you some thoughts about why I believe that things like titles and graphics/artwork are so important to a message or series.

I won't belabor the studies that show how overwhelmingly we learn and retain more effectively from visual modes over just auditory modes. Actually applying what we learn by doing it helps retain the "information" even more.

So, if we are really in the LIFE transformation business (and we are, in case it's been a while since you've given that much thought), then in what I do as a communicator, I want to give you the best opportunities and atmospheres in which to not just LEARN, but to APPLY what you learn.

Things like titles and graphics/artwork and music and video connected to a message are just methods of communication. It's often been said that the Bible is the message. As long as the message remains true, the methods of communicating the Truth can vary substantially.

Now, I've always said that I am not the most creative guy on the planet. I'm more nuts and bolts and details oriented. I love to teach God's Word, and to make it applicable and understandable. But sometimes, I get too bogged down in the details and minutiae and can't see the forest (big picture) for the trees (today; moment; little picture).

Though I believe so much in using visuals to help communicate the message, I don't always have the time or talent to get what I do see in the big picture whittled down to actual paper and pen (ie., artwork, videos, music, etc.). Google Images comes in VERY handy when looking for visuals!

That's why I am best friends with guys like Rick Warren, Wayne Cordeiro, Ed Young and the like. In case you don't know them, they are mega-church pastors in different parts of the country.

In case you're wondering, I do not know any of them personally. BUT, they allow their resources to be shared. While I don't use their messages word for word, I sometimes use points from their outlines, and often use their artwork for print, website and screen presentation.

These guys have resources from larger churches they lead that are big help to those of us who lead churches that endeavor to use the best in communications, from printed materials to presentation backgrounds.

There are now some GREAT websites out there for video and background for sermon illustrations and backgrounds. I regularly scan sites like Sermon Videos, Sermon Spice, and Faith Visuals.

I am thankful for guys like Rick, Wayne, Ed and the many, many others who are blazing trails in communication excellence that others can benefit from. There are trails for us ALL to blaze that are different than what everyone else is blazing.

For instance, I believe part of my trail to blaze is in helping Pastors and their church leaders figure out how their Pastor can do what they do the way God means for THEM to do it. We tend to expect the same thing(s) from one Pastor to another without taking into account their individual make-up and wiring in their gifts, talents, personality, background and life-stage.

You've heard me talk about Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, which I believe must play into the maturity growth process of us all, and I especially feel called to see it developed in the lives of Pastors and leaders. EHS is a crucial component of any Pastor figuring out HOW to do what God has called them to do within the context of THEIR life.

Just more thoughts ...

Virginia Tech Tragedy

Perusing some blogs about the VT Tragedy perspectives, I came across one of my favorite bloggers. A Pastor in Washington, DC; Mark Batterson at Evotional.com. I really appreciate how he writes and thinks, and was struck by how he gave some perspective on the VT Tragedy:

It certainly doesn't shake my belief in God. It just affirms my belief in evil. And it's a tragic reminder of how much we need God.

I got a call from a Washington Post reporter asking me about my take. Honestly, I'm like everyone else. A lot more questions than answers. The only explanation, in my estimation, is free will. We can exercise that free will to do tremendous good or
tremendous evil. It is a reminder that within each of us their is the potential to become the greatest of saints or the worst of sinners.

I recommend Mark's blog wholeheartedly!

Birthing A Message

I've had a number of comments the last several days on messages from the last two Sundays. Click here to listen to them online. Good comments, and encouraging, with some curiosity to how it comes together for me each week.

First of all, I want to say it's much like a birthing process. Well, at least as far as I can analogize it anyway. Any given message is usually "conceived" weeks before it is "born". What happens in between is the "labor" process.

Please understand that I am not trying to pretend that I know what it feels like to birth a baby. I am only saying that I believe this is a good analogy as far as I can understand it as a man.

The "labor" process for me as a Pastor and preacher doesn't refer only to the "labor" or "work" of studying, though it certainly includes it. It refers also to the painstaking process of trying to figure out whether what I sense is needing to be said is really the Holy Spirit, or if it's last night's dinner. It also includes ruminating over it to try to put it into words that most can understand and apply.

I believe any Pastor wants to wholeheartedly speak only Jesus' words to his flock. But we're all human. So discerning what's me and what's Him is a big deal.

Our current series, "Authority Issues" has been brewing for a couple of months. I just named it last week, but knew that I would be doing some teaching on how we deal with authority in our lives.

I'll post more later on how the name came about, why I think the name of a message or series is important, and why I think images and artwork are such an important part of any theme and message.

Aching Heart

My heart is aching tonight over the news of the tragedy at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. I was right next door to Blacksburg six months ago. You can read my post about that trip here.

Get the latest news on the incident here.

Folks, life is completely unpredictable. You can be here today and gone tomorrow. That's what James talks about when he writes, "Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes." (James 4.14)

When your day comes to meet Jesus, are you prepared? Do you know Him as your own personal Savior? If you do, is your life in order?

That doesn't mean you have to be perfect. It just means that you're living your life connected to Jesus. That He alone is your breath and strength.

What a tragic reminder today is that in a moment's time, completely unexpectedly, life as we know it can drastically change. My heart aches tonight for those families who are left behind in shock and grief.

Praying ...

Chaplain Call Out - April 11, 2007

Received a call from the SVPD Watch Commander at 11:01 this morning. A two-year-old boy was involved in a drowning in his own backyard. No one noticed that he had opened the sliding glass door to the patio and found his way to the pool until it was too late.

When they went searching for him, he was found at the bottom of the pool. A neighbor knew CPR and started immediately. When I arrived at the house, he had already been taken to the hospital, which I know by experience has a great team of Chaplains. I knew the family would be well taken care of.

Upon my arrival, the 2 responding Officers were in the front yard. I spent some time talking through the incident with them. You might imagine that arriving on a scene like this, especially when you have kids yourself, can be VERY difficult for Officers to process.

It's always important, and a good thing, for them to be able to vent and talk it through. I'll check on them in a few days as well to see how they're doing.

In the back yard was one of our Crime Scene Investigators, who I also spent some time with. The opportunity for a Chaplain to be on scene is what we call a "ministry of presence". It's not always (even rarely) that a first responder actually processes the event on scene. However, it's the visibility and contact of a Chaplain quickly that can have an impact when it hits them later.

Once we were done at the scene, I went to the hospital to check on the Detectives working the case there. The little boy had arrived DOA, but they were able to revive him with CPR! By an hour or so later, they had some pupil activity, which is good news toward brain activity.

It will still be quite a while before they know for sure how much brain damage might have been done. Please pray for this little boy and his family. Pray that Mom and Dad will be reached with God's Love through this incident.

Rare Opportunity

I really want to encourage you to INVITE, INVITE, INVITE friends, family, neighbors and co-workers to this weekend's EASTER CELEBRATIONS on Sunday at 8:30 & 10:30 am.

I am very excited about this year's theme ..."EASTER...BASED ON A TRUE STORY!" ANYONE will find strong relation and identification of the need we ALL have for Jesus in our lives.

Studies have been done that show that over 50% of unchurched people would go to church IF A FRIEND INVITED THEM. Well, FRIEND, there is no better weekend to do so than this one! Who do you know that needs Jesus?

There is no better time to breach that all too often awkward moment ... no more opportune days than this week to help bridge the chasm between your friends and the Lord!

Could I also ask you to pray this week for our teams? Because we know this weekend is one of those rare opportunities to reach many more open hearts than usual, our teams put extra effort and time into what they do to make great first impressions. We want people to know the love of God through us! Would you pray for strength, courage and souls?

Again, consider asking someone to join you on your journey with Jesus this weekend. You never know...you might help SAVE someone's life!

P.S. If you're reading this and you are a part of another church family, then by all means INVITE SOMEONE to YOUR church with you this weekend!!

New York's EHS Conference con't...

Chuck and I thought it would be incredible to have Foursquare's top leaders experience this conference IN NEW YORK. We talked with Pete Scazzero about it in a passing conversation. Then, Chuck mentioned it to Glenn Burris, our VP of National Operations, who gave him a green light to pursue the possibilities!

In a span of two years, we are going from Pastor Paul going to New York, getting to know Scazzero to talking about possibly gathering 200 or so Foursquare leaders (Board of Directors, Cabinet, District Supervisors) so they can best be immersed in the material. WOW!

ONLY GOD!

I May Regret It

Just finished a LOONNGG day that I may regret tomorrow! Woke up at 4:15, showered (just to wake myself more), picked up my brother-in-law, and drove to Phoenix.

There, he rented a moving truck and we loaded about an apartment's worth of furniture into it from his parents rental house. Then, believe it or not, we drove back ... today!! Got home around 8:15 tonight.

Now, for me, I got to sleep the first few hours while Dan drove. I actually felt rested by the time we got there. I can't imagine how HE is feeling tonight.

Unloading waits for tomorrow, along with some painting at my house. You know ... one of those "well, if we're gonna get a new (to us) couch, we might as well change the color and clean the walls up like we've needed to for far too long!"

I'm tired from tomorrow already, let alone today. I may regret all this tomorrow. I'll let you know!

By the way, if you didn't make it to church yesterday, you MISSED out! Randy Stonehill was amazing and the laughter we enjoyed was glorious!

Whatever you do, invite alot of people to come to Easter this weekend. THAT, you will NOT regret!!

Good Friends

I mentioned earlier in the week a man named Andrew Favilla, whose wife, Laurel, is Pete Scazzero's assistant and is also the current Director of the Center for Emotionally Healthy Spirituality.

Andrew works at Grand Central TERMINAL. I was reminded by Laurel at church this morning that the name is not to be confused with Grand Central STATION. They are one and the same, however, for the last many years, since the terminal has been revitalized, they have made a conscious and concerted effort to be sure that it is communicated that the Grand Central TERMINAL is MUCH more than a "station". When you visit the place, you can certainly see their point.

Anyway, that's not my point here.

What I did NOT mention was, and believe deserves mentioning, is that Laurel, who has served so well in her place as Pete's assistant, and her husband, Andrew, who serves also as Chairman of the Board of Elders at New Life Fellowship, became fast friends of mine over the last couple of years.

Laurel is a true prayer warrior, and we've has opportunity to work together as I've served as a kind of "unofficial" West Coast Representative for the Center for EHS. She so graciously picked us up at JFK on Wednesday and took us back there today.

It was a joy to spend a little bit of time with her and Andrew at lunch yesterday too. I just wanted to let you know a little bit about the Favilla's as I've gotten to know them some and our friendship has been rekindled this week.

After church this morning, I was surprised at the number of people who remembered me and also had the chance to meet several more of their folks. It is amazing to me how deeply the EHS material has been integrated into the lives of New Life folks. Obviously, it's been a number of years in the formation for them, but I believe it is happening for us too as NewHeart, and that's a blessing for me to see.

Anyway, good night for now ... more to come after taking tomorrow off ...

By the way, Orange Chicken it was ... brought home so the boys and I could catch last week's recording of 24 before they hit the sack!

No Place Like Home

Ahhh! The fresh smell of LAX and here I am in the Sepulveda Pass on the Flyaway bus to Van Nuys. Can hardly wait to see Colleen and the boys just on the other side of this mountain range. It'll be so good to hit some place for dinner with them and hear of the week's exploits.

it's my hope to have a nice sit down dinner somewhere, but knowing that one son's fave is In 'N Out (hamburger with lettuce, tomato and special sauce only, fries and vanilla shake) and the others fave is Panda Express (Orange Chicken), I'm not too sure where we'll end up.

I'll post more reflections on the EHS Conference as the week progresses.

It's good to be home!

Exciting Meeting

I keep forgetting to blog about the exciting Church Council Meeting I had the night before (Tuesday, March 20) I left for New York. No, seriously, it was an EXCITING meeting!!

If you are a NewHeart member or regular attender, you might remember that last June, I announced that our Sanctuary expansion that had been in the works for a number of years was shelved. There were a lot of reasons; too expansive to go into here.

We put the whole project on back burner to give it a rest. In the following months, we began to discover some of the projects we had put on hold over the last few years because "it will be taken care of in the expansion." Stuff like electrical service upgrade (badly needed), some cosmetic drywall repair and painting, A/C replacement (system is 25 years old), etc.

In the months following the "shelving" of the expansion, I was surprised at the number of comments I received that said, "Are we at least going to close off our wind tunnel (the breezeway entrance to the church doors)?" I mean, I got a LOT of those comments. Enough to say that the breezeway being closed off is a BIG value to people.

I've learned as a Pastor that when people get sold on a church and start coming regularly and get involved in church family life, we start to let slide the things that once bugged us when we first came. Little stuff like scratches on walls that are never cleaned, worn carpet, burned out light bulbs, AND HURRICANE FORCE BREEZEWAYS!

Last Tuesday night, we took a look at the first draft of plans to provide handicap-accessible restrooms (whose doors would not open right in front of the Sanctuary doors ;^) ), enlarge the foyer (making it more amenable to using it as a space for overflow seating) and ENCLOSE THE BREEZEWAY!

The cost of the project (a MAJOR factor in shelving the expansion plans) will be much more suitable. While we will need to raise a bit more money so that we can do it DEBT-FREE, we have most of the funds already on hand from faithful giving.

Look for more news on this later this Spring!

EHS Conference - Day 2

My feelings were confirmed today. A TWO day EHS Conference is definitely more impacting than ONE. Had a chance to chat more about this with Pete Scazzero today.

Areas covered today were Contemplative Spirituality and 5 Skills for Growing Into an Emotionally Mature Adult. The way the conference was presented this time around gave me a slew of ideas about how to make the material more easily presentable in a class/small group format.

It's been almost 4 years since I read the first book, The Emotionally Healthy Church. Ever since then, I've been pondering/praying about how to bring the material to the church in a format that is digestable.

When I taught the series, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality in the Fall of '05, I said then and believe now that it would be a ground-shifting series for us. It's a "way of life" kind of thing. That means that when people become a part of our church family, there has to be a way that we bring them along in that way. It's called discipleship.

When Pete's next book, Emotionally Healthy Spirituality, was released last Summer, I knew it would be the "textbook" for however we teach this in the future. Where the first book is written primarily for church leaders, the recent one is written for everyone, leader or not. It goes even deeper into your life than the first book.

If you are a member of NewHeart, or considering becoming one, let me urge you to get this book (we have them available at church in the foyer) and read it. Newly released at this conference is the workbook that goes with this book. We will have them available soon.

Keep your eyes open this year for the release of a new class that I see being part of our "Building Bigger Hearts Growth Track", covering this material. That is how FOUNDATIONAL I see this material for all of our lives as we grow together into our future as a church family!

Chuck and I considered trying to do the Empire State Building right after the final session. Midafternoon was beautiful here. However, 6:00 pm EDT was a different story. About 15 degrees cooler, fully covered in clouds and a discovered forecast of rain. In Chuck's words, "next time."

We ate dinner at a nearby Chinese place and headed to our rooms to get packed for tomorrow. We plan to visit New Life Fellowship's 9:15 service. Our ride to JFK Airport picks us up at 12:00 noon and my flight leaves for LAX at 2:00, arriving at 5:05 PDT. I am very much looking forward to being with Colleen and the boys tomorrow night!

Chuck flies directly to Christiansburg, Virginia from here, where he will spend about 10 days at the Foursquare Center for Spiritual Renewal that is being developed. I blogged about that here.

For now, a good night to you, and I look forward to great reports about NewHeart tomorrow!

EHS Conference - Day 1

It was helpful that today's Conference didn't start until noon. Gave us a chance to recover from yesterday's activities. Should've thought to bring a pedometer along. I don't know how many miles we walked throughout Manhattan, but it was at least a few.

After a good night's rest, I was excited to see what the day had in store. This is the 2nd of Pete Scazzero's EHS Pastors/Leaders Conference I have attended in New York and one of a handful since I've done a little bit of traveling and helping at others in Southern California.

Each conference has been a little more developed than the last. This one is turning out to show the same pattern. Where past conferences have been only 1 day, this is the first one they've done over 2 days. I can definitely tell that the added day will make a difference.

When we hosted the first Southern Cal EHS Conference 18 months ago at NewHeart, the biggest piece of feedback we received was that folks felt by the end of the day that they had taken a drink of water from a fire hose. There is so much to digest and process.

In reality, I am of the opinion that one would be best exposed to the EHS material and process by having it even be a 3 or 4 day retreat. At this point, the Scazzero's feel that most Pastors would not take that much time.

I agree that it would be somewhat of a stretch to get Pastors there, but it's a stretch I think would be well worth it. This material goes deep and requires much introspection. Sometimes, that introspection can be more readily handled if you have a chance to wear out less through long days of presentation and interaction and allow more time for rest, adequate sleep and down time. Just my opinion.

I realized again today how the Lord is always ready to do something new in us all. It's always been a true thing to me that God doesn't just save us and then call us done. We would never be able to handle the intensity of such transformation in our humanness. Instead, he is patient, loving, loooonnnngggg-suffering and willing to work with whatever we will give Him.

I, for one, am very grateful for that!

Reminded

I am being reminded this morning of the place that the expectations I live with in myself are too much for anyone to live with. It's true for most of us. Who needs to be reminded?

We ALL do!! Unless we are reminded, we just keep living the same way, and it tends to NOT be the way of Jesus.

An additional truth is that no one is going to take care of that for me. Nobody else can take care of such things for you. We are each responsible before God to allow His Spirit to change us and give us the strength to do life His way.

Just a thought for your day....

Great day

NOTE: A few folks have emailed me, and I HAVE received them. However, due to a glitch in the hotel internet service, I found tonight that my replies did NOT send. I hope to have this fixed in the morning. Any and all are encouraged to leave a comment. You will have to sign up with Blogger to leave comments, but I have found it to be non-spam producing, so go for it and let me know you are tracking with us!

What a day! After a great breakfast at Pop Diner, we hit the subway at about 9:15 EDT, arriving at Times Square 30 minutes later. We found the Gray Line Tour bus and got our tickets.

If you're ever in New York, be sure to do the Gray Line All Loops Tour. It's the best way to soak in the city over the course of a couple days. You can get on and off at several points and the ticket is good for 48 hours. And between the double decker bus and the subway, you've got all the transportation you need around Manhattan.

Anyway, our first stop off the bus was Ground Zero. Wow! St. Paul's Chapel is an amazing testimony. Check out their site.

Last time I was here was only 19 months ago. The progress they've made is incredible. I just can't get my brain around what this city must have been through with the events of 9/11. We walked all the way around the World Trade Center site just trying to imagine what must have gone through people's minds as the events unfolded.

It remains to me an absolute miracle that the tallest buildings in the world collapsed within moments of each other and did not do more damage or take more lives than what it did. When you are physically here and get to see the proximity of the neighboring buildings, without a doubt, I can almost see the hands of God upon those buildings, making sure that they did not topple onto more surrounding area.

From there, we walked the southwest section of Manhattan down to the southern tip to catch the red bus again. While waiting, we enjoyed a genuine New York street vendor hot dog that hit the spot and held us over for what was to come!

We rode the bus to the United Nations, which, as interesting as it sounds, is actually a fairly mundane area of Manhattan. From the UN, we walked the "New York short" distance to Grand Central Station.

On the way there, we developed the phrase of the day. Chuck would ask, "how far is it?", wanting to prepare himself for the jaunt. The phrase of the day became, "just a couple of blocks."

Once at Grand Central, we connected with Andrew Favilla, who just crossed 30 years of service there, the last 11 as Deputy Chief of Operations in charge of Safety & Security. As such, he was able to give us the highlight of the day, a behind the scenes look at Grand Central. We got to see their Situation Room, where top leaders gather in a crisis to monitor and strategize. He also shared some fascinating tidbits with us about Grand Central.

• The City of New York actually had plans to tear it down, but it was saved by the influence of none other than Jackie Onassis. She saw what a shame it was for the city to have torn down the old Penn Station to replace it with the current Madison Square Garden and believed Grand Central should be saved.
• Grand Central sees 600,000 people come through it DAILY!
• The terminal has its own Police force of about 400 officers. They each carry a bio-chemical detector as part of their equipment that would instantly let them know if anything dirty was nearby. The building also has sensors that do the same thing.
• After 9/11, all trash containers were replaced with specially designed cans that will not blow outward if a bomb were placed in them, thus saving injuries from shrapnel. Any debris would blow only straight up into the air.
• Grand Central closes from 2:00-5:15 am so that every square inch can be cleaned by a crew of over 200 workers. The floors, the walls, the fixtures (I could not find ONE burned out light bulb among THOUSANDS!), and the brass (LOTS of it).

The tour there was a real treat. VERY interesting.

From there, we took the subway into the Upper East Side (ritzy area near Central Park), where we made our way to Lady M Confections. Check out what we had to treat .... I mean, eat! They were amazing! Excuse the low quality phone camera, please.

From there, we had our first downer of the day. We waited 45 minutes for our tour bus, which was supposed to be running every 15 minutes. We were wanting to get to go up to the observation deck of the Empire State Building, but darkness was falling. I called the dispatch center and was told the bus should be there in about 10 minutes. 45 minutes later, still no bus!

Fortunately, we were able to joke about it and made our way "just a couple of blocks" to the subway, which took us to Times Square. Once there, we hopped on the Night Loop for a 90 minute ride throughout Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Funny thing was that about 5 minutes into the Loop, it started to rain. We're on top of an open air double decker bus, and it starts to rain. Being prepared, the tour guide hands out "Gray Line ponchos". White trash bags complete with holes for arms, a hood for the head and the Gray Line logo! Souvenir it is! Here's Chuck in his ...


After a good dinner near Times Square, we headed back to our hotel in Queens. The Conference starts at noon tomorrow. A good chance to get some rest from an early day and late night.

I only slept a few short hours (I won't say how little) the night before we left. 3:00 am came early, but fortunately, I do OK sleeping on planes. I slept almost the whole way yesterday. Eye masks and ear plugs baby! They work wonders!

However, my body is still on Pacific time, so it was a late night and early morning. While I'm stating that, I should put this body down for some rest. Good night all!

New York and Emotionally Healthy Spirituality ... An Oxymoron?

We departed LAX and arrived in New York on time at both ends. We were picked up by Laurel Favilla, who serves as Pete Scazzero's assistant. We've become good friends over the last couple years as we've worked together. It was great to reconnect with her and a real honor that she wanted to pick us up at JFK.

Navigating through JFK seemed flawless. As soon as we arrived at the baggage claim, our bags were right there. As soon as we exited baggage claim, there was Laurel!

Checking in at our hotel around 4:00 pm EDT, we settled in and prepared to depart for Manhattan, about a 15 minute walk and 30 minute ride on the subway. Just before we left Chuck's room, I remembered to go and grab the really nice camera graciously loaned to me by my brother-in-law, Dan.

When I went back to my room to pick through my suitcase, I discovered the camera WAS MISSING!! It had been removed from my suitcase. Instead of making our way to Manhattan, we spent the next 45 minutes or so on the phone with the airline to report the theft.

I felt horrible, as my brother-in-law had somewhere around 350 pictures on the memory card in the camera. The airline representative was so careful to apologize for the inconvenience and yet remind me that the airlines expressly state they are not responsible for electronic equipment in luggage. OUCH!

Off we went into the 38 degree New York air (brrrrr...) and down Queens Blvd., which you'll find to have an unfortunate reputation if you click the link. However, we made it through with no problems, and found our way to Times Square, my favorite part of New York. The lights and energy of Times Square are amazing!

Tomorrow, we'll leave the hotel after rush hour to head back to Manhattan. Some of the days anticipated highlights will include Ground Zero, the Empire State Building and Grand Central Station. Laurel's husband, Andrew, works at Grand Central. He has offered to give us a "behind the scenes" tour and some history about Grand Central. That should be a real treat!

As we are approaching this conference, I've had the thought strike me that it is surely interesting that God would have a Pastor from New York birth something called "Emotionally Healthy Spirituality".

A large part of EHS has to do with Sabbath rest, slowing down long enough to allow the Lord to really work deep into our lives. Seems to me that Emotionally Healthy Spirituality in a place like New York City is almost an oxymoron. Talk about swimming upstream!

We could say something similar about trying to teach and disciple people in Emotional Health and Spiritual Maturity in Southern California. Our lifestyles are way too fast to allow this to be the powerful truth that it is.

Fostering an atmosphere in your life where the Lord can truly move and shape and re-work and re-wire our hearts requires intentionality about our spiritual and relational growth in the Spirit and with one another. But who has time for that?

Hear me everyone! I believe it is possible, but not without some cost! We can't live life the way everyone else is living it, even when it comes to (maybe ESPECIALLY when it comes to) busy-ness and activity.

Jesus constantly modeled a pattern and rhythm of life and leadership that included sufficient time for rest, refreshment ... Sabbath ... daily, not even just weekly. Why would we expect it should be any different for us? Why would we buy into the way of the world around us when it relates to busy-ness and activity?

Enough of my soapbox .... Good night for now!

SVPD Ministry

Most of our church is aware that I serve as a Chaplain with the Simi Valley Police Department. I don't often mention it here, and thought I'd blog a bit about some of the calls I go out on.

SVPD has 5 Chaplains. The longest serving one is legendary in our city. Frank Witman served 28 years as Pastor of the Simi Valley United Methodist Church. He's a hero in my eyes! He's served as a Chaplain for the last 28, and was the first Chaplain in the history of the SVPD.

The next is Kurt Fredrickson. His legend is growing (in GOOD ways!). Kurt and I share similar ministry paths. He started as a Youth pastor at Simi Valley Evangelical Covenant Church, eventually becoming the Senior Pastor there for about 20 years. About three years ago, he accepted a position at Fuller Theological Seminary as their Director of the DMin (Doctor of Ministry) program. Since he still lives in Simi Valley, he has continued his ministry as a SVPD Chaplain.

Then there is Denise Dunbar, who came on the Department same time I did in 2000. Her husband was a Sergeant then and she has served as a Youth Pastor at a Foursquare Church in Canoga Park.

Next is myself. This has been a long time dream of mine. My "fallback" career was law enforcement of some kind. A story for another day. I thoroughly enjoy my role in the SVPD!

Then we have Brian Clements, who serves as a Deacon at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church. Brian works for Ventura County as a Director of a local drug and alcohol rehabilitation center. He is a wonderful man!

We have an "auxiliary" member of our Chaplains Team who is NOT a Chaplain. Sgt. John Cooley retired from the LAPD a few years back and lives in Simi Valley. His last several years in the LAPD were invested in helping fellow officers as a Liaison with the LAPD Employees Assistance Plan. Over time, he became a specialist in Police funerals.

John works alongside us to help keep our eyes open to matters that aren't spiritual, but are, in the lives of Officers and their families.

My last call was just last Friday at 5:00 am. A 55 year old wife and mother was found dead by her daughter and husband. I was called in to be with the family with the waiting period ... waiting for the Coroner to arrive to assess the situation and advise the family of their next steps.

We call the Chaplains ministry a "ministry of presence". Lots of people ask, "what do you say to them?" or "How do you know what to say?" Well, you don't really. Most people will never remember what I said to them. They WILL remember that I was there and that I prayed and that I listened.

Our role as Chaplains is for both citizens AND Officers. Most people don't stop to consider that what is traumatic for them may be traumatic for the Officers involved in their case, whatever it may entail. So we look out not only for victims and family members, but for Officers and Civilian employees as well.

For now, I'm rollin' 10-7!!

Headed to New York

Tomorrow morning will come too early! 3:00 am early that is, and I haven't even STARTED packing!

I'm headed to New York to attend the Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Pastors & Leaders Conference at New Life Fellowship in Elmhurst (Queens), just east of Manhattan. I am excited to see and hear more of what God is up to in my own life as well as others.

A very good friend and mentor will be going with me. He's never been to NY before, so we're taking Thursday to take him around some of the sights. No way we'll be able to hit everything, but we'll do what we can.

One place I'm looking forward to is Lady M Confections. They were featured on the Food Network a few months ago, and I noted that I would stop there whenever I'm in the area again. Bet you didn't know I used to decorate cakes, did ya? Yep, for those following my blog, this is where the stuff all comes out about me! I will NOT really be following my eating plan while in NY, I can tell you that!!

Anyway, the Conference is on Friday & Saturday and then we fly home on Sunday. I'll post about it whenever I get a chance, so come on along!

Waiting .... Part 2

Well, Sunday came and went, and went very well I might add. My anxiety was for nothing (as is often the case!).

In all actuality, our services were POWERFUL because of the waiting. It was beautiful to watch the Holy Spirit speak such congruous things to people.

At the end of each service, we allowed for some sharing of the things God was saying to individuals. The response was truly amazing!

Anniversary

Colleen and I celebrated our 21st wedding anniversary this past Thursday. She is the MOST beautiful woman on the planet!! One cool thing is that she has become even MORE BEAUTIFUL the longer we've been married!

She is a priceless jewel, and a man can NOT have been MORE blessed than me with her!

We love to travel together, though any with kids will tell you that travel is a different story than before you had them! Anyway, we took an overnighter to Heritage Valley Inn in Piru. I would definitely recommend it!

Little Piru is about the sleepiest little town you'll ever see! Colleen thought it reminded her of the little town in "Cars" that had long been forgotten and left behind.

The only thing I would add to my recommendation is to bring earplugs. Simple reason: it's on Main Street in Piru. Sleepy as the town may be, it's on the way to Lake Piru and the traffic noise during the day was a bit much if you're into naps.

Here she is for any who may not have met her ...

Waiting ....

It's Saturday night, and I can hardly wait to bring tomorrow's message. We've been in a series called, "Turning Challenges Into Miracles." Based on a word the Lord gave us early this year that this would be a year of challenges, but also a year of miracles.

So much of life is made up of formulas...IF you do this, THEN this will happen... But I'm not sure that life is that way every day or most of the time.

Given that, I've been asking God to show us NOT some nifty formula for figuring out how WE can turn our challenges into miracles. Instead, I've been asking Him to show us what the components are to seeing HIM turn our challenges into miracles, because HE is the only One Who can do it anyways!

That said, two weeks ago, I was teaching on the topic of waiting on God. I had three points, but when I got the first two done, I was strongly impressed to WAIT to bring the third. I wasn't sure why. I just knew I was NOT to bring it then.

I hadn't necessarily gone long in my message. People seemed to be connecting. I can usually tell when you're done with my message. How? That's for another post.

For now, my additional thought was that the third point alone in a message is going to be pretty short! I know you're loving that! But hang on to your britches and slow on down now. I'm not giving it away right now, even though there probably aren't many reading this tonight anyway.

Tomorrow morning will NOT be our "typical" Sunday morning service. What do I mean by that? Well, I guess you're gonna have to WAIT to find out. ;^)

Mid-Weekend

WOW! Like I said, a whirlwind of a weekend!

The last 36 hours have been non-stop, but worth every moment! The time with Pete Scazzero was great. It's always good to catch up with friends, especially when you haven't seen each other in a while.

The Foursquare Live Satellite Broadcast went well today. I was THRILLED beyond words to have Pete's Emotionally Healthy Spirituality material exposed to our Foursquare family in such a large way. While the live venue we were at in San Dimas had about 100 participants, it's estimated that there were a total of about 9,000 in 350 sites across the country!

After dropping Pete off at LAX, I went by the hospital to check in on my friend. He is recovering so well for someone who just had major back surgery. I was able to be there when he was getting out of bed for the first time! We were able to walk together from ICU to his room on another floor. Needless to say, we took the elevator!

For any who are wondering, my tooth seems to have settled down today. As long as I don't put pressure or cold on it, the pain is non-existent. To the dentist on Monday (hopefully).

Sounds like Colleen is having a great time at her Ladies Retreat. I am so glad for that, as she has had a rough month or so. This coming week is our 21st anniversary. I'm working on plans for us to get out of town for a couple of days to celebrate.

On to church in the AM....

Whirlwind Weekend

Ever had one of those weekends that seems like a few weeks crammed into a few days? That's yesterday through tomorrow for me.

Thursday morning, I was in La Crescenta with the staff from our Foursquare Pacific ARC (Administrative Resource Center...there are 3 across the nation). I have been leading their staff through The Emotionally Healthy Church workbook. It's been a fun journey so far.

Early this morning, I had breakfast with my Pastor, then headed to Hollywood Community Hospital to hang out with a gal in our church whose husband is having long-awaited back surgery. He should be home Sunday or Monday.

From there, I am right now near LAX, waiting to pick up Pete Scazzero (author of The Emotionally Healthy Church). As we've cultivated a friendship over the last couple years, I try to hang with him whenever he is in the area. I'll take him to Pomona, where we'll stay overnight.

In the morning, I'll take him to LIFE Pacific College (the Foursquare Bible College and my alma mater) in San Dimas. Our denomination is having their 2nd Annual "Stewarding the Life of a Servant Leader" Live Satellite Broadcast.

Pastor Jack Hayford will speak the first 90 minutes. Pete will follow for 90 minutes, then Ted Roberts will conclude with a 90 minute session. The event is being broadcast live to over 350 Foursquare churches across the nation.

As soon as Pete is done speaking, I'll drop him off at LAX and he'll fly home from there. I'll make a stop at the Hollywood hospital I was at this morning to visit my friend, then head home.

Meanwhile, Colleen is at our Women's Retreat this weekend in Oxnard, and just this morning, I started to feel a slight toothache that has increased in intensity just in the last hour. Yes, Friday at 5:15! Anyone who knows me knows some of my dental history. YIKES!!!

All of the above (except the toothache of course) is why Todd Hacker is preaching Sunday. I can't wait to hear him again. He spoke on New Year's Eve and did great. If you're in town, don't miss it!!

One last thing...don't forget to turn your clocks ONE HOUR AHEAD on Saturday night!

Finding your tempo

I just started a book called In Praise of Slowness: Challenging the Cult of Speed. Very interesting so far!

Bottom line: it's about balance. It's not about finding out how fast or slow you can live and still get by. It's about challenging the cultural shift that has taken place globally to speed up the pace of everything we do.

It's not about how to live life without deadlines. It's about how to find your rhythm and tempo in life so that we're not dying inside while everything around us progresses at warp speed.

While we all have our own tempo, nobody can truly sustain all of life at the speed at which life currently moves for us all. God made us in such a way that rest is necessary, regardless of how any of us may feel about how much time there is or isn't for it.

There are some things in life that CANNOT be rushed!

Helping Pastors

On Monday, I had the opportunity to be involved in an exciting project. I've written before about our denomination having set aside an old Bible College property in Christiansburg, Virginia for the purpose of creating a Pastor's Retreat Center.

Two days ago, I got to be part of a group of denominational leaders and Pastors who are tasked with defining what Sabbath, Sabbaticals, Study Breaks and Overall Pastoral Wholeness is, what they look like, how they best happen. We are also working on how the Center for Spiritual Renewal can best be resourced to make these kind of things happen for Pastors, not in a financial resource sense, but in practical resources (books, DVDs, CDs, sabbatical planning resources, local recreation resources, etc.)

Being a burnout survivor, I hope to be able to help put together effective resources. I've had the fortunate opportunity the last few years to work with church leadership that has learned alongside me that Pastors need regular breaks away from the everyday demands.

The culture of our denomination has not always allowed for the Pastor to be able to break away for anything more than "vacation". I've learned through hard experience that Pastors MUST break away regularly to get a sense of what God is doing and desires to do, both in them and through them as they lead.

I've been speaking lately about the components necessary to see God turn challenges into miracles. One we've been focusing on (and that may be the most critical) is the act of waiting. None of us like to wait, but we must wait on God in order to really connect with Him.

Sometimes, when things are going haywire, we want our answers NOW, and are unwilling to wait. So, instead of waiting, we rush ahead on our own and do what we think best, which may not be what God desires.

The issue of waiting is just as hard for Pastors as anyone else. It is particularly a challenge to wait in a place that everyone knows they can find you and call on you. Some of you know that in your work, too.

Thus, it is important for any Pastor to have places he or she can go to find quiet, peace, rest and ability to wait upon God. I am honored to be able to create and lead others to such resources.

Jesus bones?

Some have been asking my thoughts on the recent Discovery Channel show claiming to have discovered the bone boxes of Jesus, his "wife", Mary Magdalene and their "son".

My thoughts are pretty simple. Obviously, they start with the thought that it's not true. The Bible clearly tells us that Jesus rose from His grave and ascended to heaven.

The hard time we have with the truth humanly is that we can't see Him or prove that what the Bible said actually happened. It seems that man will never really get over the issue of faith.

At the same time, while I am no archaeologist, nor a true "scholar", I've studied enough to know that we have plenty of physical evidence of Who Jesus is and what happened to Him.

The season of Lent, being these six weeks prior to Easter, will always see these kinds of supposed "expose's" attempting to claim that we finally have "the truth" on Jesus.

The real Truth is that we don't need any more Truth than we already have! We just don't want to believe it! Those are my thoughts ...

Lent update

People have been asking me all week what I'm giving up for Lent. I've not been forthcoming with the information. Matter of fact, I've been pretty crabby about it. Please accept my apologies if you've borne the brunt of it!

I initially decided to give up Starbucks for Lent. Now, I'm a Starbucks fan, but not necessarily the kind that WON'T get my white mocha somewhere else if a non-Starbucks is all there is. However, I wasn't giving up Starbucks in a "I could go to Coffee Bean" kind of way.

The first day, I happened to be sipping on a cup of coffee from home. Don't drink it black anymore and hardly drink a non-espresso coffee at all. But that day I was.

As I was about half-way through enjoying it, I had an uneasy feeling. Not sick, just uneasy. I began to sense that the Lord wanted me to give up more than just Starbucks. Now, it's coffee altogether.

And hey, for me, it's not even the caffeine part of it. If decaf is available, that's what I go with. It's coffee altogether, and it's been harder than I thought!!

How about you. Wanna tell what you're giving up?

A Privilege

Got to officiate a wedding last Saturday night. This one onvolved a couple who met online. I don't recommend this method because of its inherent dangers, but I have seen it work for a number of couples.

The bride has been a part of our church for a number of years. This is the only church family she has ever known. We've been through the ups and downs of life together.

The groom moved to this area last Summer from the Central California Coast area when it was clear the relationship was going to last. He is a great man for this woman.

The amazing thing about them is they are both in their early 40s, and this is the FIRST marriage for both of them! They have patiently waited for God to bring them the right person, and I believe God is going to bless that.

Then, Sunday morning, I had the privilege of dedicating Micah Allan Littlejohn, born on January 20 to Craig & Stacy. Stacy was a part of my Youth Group when I was the Youth Pastor here. Craig led worship for our church during some of his Bible College days.

Now, they're parents! It's just a privilege to serve the same church for over 21 years now, and events like these help me see why I do this. I love watching people and families grow through the years!

12 Years Ago Today

It was 12 years ago today that Colleen and I walked into Holy Cross Hospital and waited. It felt like we were at an airpot waiting for someone to come in from a flight. But this was NO ORDINARY ARRIVAL.

This was Joshua Paul Kuzma, our first son. His birthmother (catch that for those who don't know ... Joshua AND Jonathan are both adopted, though we rarely think it and NEVER feel it) had arranged for a C-section.

So, there we were, waiting for our son to arrive when the elevator doors opened and a nurse stepped out, asking if we were the adoptive parents. WOW ... 12 years ... I cannot believe it! It seems like only yesterday .... well, maybe a few days ago!

Cool ... we're doing one of our birthday traditions ... pulling him out of school at lunchtime and taking him to In 'N Out (his favorite burger ... are we raising this kid right or what?!?). Then, we let him ditch the rest of the day (Sorry all you teachers out there!).

Last Sunday

LATE Saturday night, I posted about my anxiety toward the next morning. You can see it below. Anyway, apparently, my anxiety was totally unfounded.

The Lord moved in, I think, a BIG way as I just shared my heart about the season Jesus has us in, and has us moving toward. I am EXCITED to see what will happen as we all consider together how to participate in Lent, 40 days (not including Sundays ... more on that THIS Sunday...) of prayer and some fasting.

It begins THIS Wednesday, February 21 (traditionally known as Ash Wednesday) and will end Easter Weekend. In case you're wondering, Easter is April 8 this year.

Oh, and by the way, did you know that the Spring time change happens this year IN THREE WEEKS!?!?!? Yep ... mark your calendar to turn your clocks AHEAD ONE HOUR on Saturday night, March 10.

A Little Anxious

I am just putting the finishing touches on tomorrow's message, and feeling a little anxious about it. I really want it to come off right.

I am going to be proposing that our church participate together loosely in a "church" season called Lent. It's the 40 days (not including Sundays) between Feb 21 and Easter Saturday.

I plan to teach next Sunday in more detail about Lent ... what it means, history, why it was/is important, how we can still take advantage without getting "religious". In the mean time, I know many people from different church backgrounds (especially Catholic) could freak out about the idea.

Don't want that, but also don't want to throw out the baby with the bath water! At the same time, a lot of people with no church background before NewHeart could get nervous about what they've heard about things like Lent.

For those who might be nervous or wondering, we won't be doing the ashes on the forehead, and I'm not getting "religious" on you. I DO, however, want to invite us all to keep our hearts open as the Lord reveals more of Himself to us during this season of preparation for Easter. Hang on tight!

Things Kids Say

My younger son, Jonathan, said one of the funniest things tonight. We were headed for ice cream ... Dairy Queen for the kids, and the grocery store for ice cream sandwiches for Colleen and I.

Jonathan suggested that I drop off he and his brother, Joshua, at the store to get the ice cream sandwiches while I head to Dairy Queen for their blizzards, then pick them up on my way back. I told him that wouldn't fly.

He asked the kid-natural question ... WHY? I informed him I had no cash to give him, not wanting to tell him I didn't want my 11 and almost-12 year old sons wandering the aisles of a grocery store without me or Mom.

He very "adultly" suggested that I just give him my credit card and PIN number!!! To this, I stated that with my picture on the front of my card, I didn't think the cashier would go for it.

Jonathan said, "Sure she will. I'll just tell her that picture was taken when I was 2 years old. That was when I was young and looked old, and now I'm old and look young. I'm doing the 'reverse thing'!"

Where he came up with that I'll never know, but it CRACKED me up! As we grow older, we sometimes wish it were true, huh? Come on, don't look at me like you don't ever think that! I KNOW it ain't just me!

Feeling better

Thanks to all who read the blog and took the time to ask how I was doing yesterday and last night! Didn't expect that response ... it was cool and appreciated!

Today is better ... not quite 100%, but definitely better. Slept hard last night and didn't have the sweats. Can't ask for much more than that!

Seemingly strange

Have you been following this Astronaut-turned-weirdo story? Lisa Nowak, a NASA Astronaut who flew the US Space Shuttle last Summer, went haywire.

The story so far goes that she had a crush on another Astronaut, whose mother-in-law now says Nowak ruined his marriage in '05. Last weekend, she drove from her home in Houston, Texas over 900 miles to someplace in Florida ... in an adult diaper! She didn't want to have to stop for a bathroom break.

The purpose of the trip was allegedly so that she could kidnap and kill another lady who apparently is involved with the guy she has a crush on. She is now being charged with attempted kidnapping and attempted murder on the lady.

I know what you're thinking .... we hear weird stories like this all the time! But about an Astronaut? An all-American role model like an Astronaut? Now NASA says they're going to review the way they screen Astronauts.

I gotta make a connection here for you ... "how could someone so supposedly upstanding go so haywire all of a sudden?" Like say, a Pastor, for instance. Get where I'm going?

It's not just Pastors. It's not just Astronauts. It's human nature.

I'm reading a fantastic book right now called, "Overcoming the Dark Side of Leadership: The Paradox of Personal Dysfunction". It asserts that we ALL have a dark side, and it's called humanity. The only questions are: 1) what kind of dark side do we have, 2) do we recognize it in ourselves, and 3) what do we do about it?

In no way am I saying we're all going to go haywire to the extent that Nowak may have. I am saying that all those people we are sometimes judgmental about? We are them! They are us! We are in the same boat, struggling with very similar life issues and making decisions everyday about who will really prevail in our lives ... Jesus or Satan.

I really hate to sound simplistic, but it's not as complicated as we sometimes make it. Whadya think?

A Little Off

Ever felt like you were just a little off? Not like "in the head" off, though this IS in the head.

Yesterday and today, I've been a little off. One of my kids has carried the "almost flu" thing (fever, chills, headache, etc.). Well, yesterday I FOUGHT that exhausted feeling all through the morning until finally giving in and going to bed for a couple hours from lunch until the kids got home from school.

Afternoon was a little better as long as I stayed still. Got some good reading done. Slept well overnight, working through a couple sessions of the sweats.

I HATE this stuff ... you wanna get stuff done and you just can't. At least not the way or in the time you want to.

This morning, the energy level was better than yesterday, but still not quite where I want it. Resting where and when I can, and trusting this will be gone before the weekend.

For What It's Worth ...

I heard that both services that I missed at NewHeart today were awesome, with some "fireworks" present at the 10:30 celebration. If you didn't catch it, I guess there was a person who was being a bit disruptive and had to be dealt with, which we do LOVINGLY, but FIRMLY.

If you were there and DIDN'T notice it ... GOOD! We'll see how the Lord orders this week in dealing with that situation. That aside, it doesn't surprise me that as we draw closer to Jesus together during this season of "Turning Challenges Into Miracles", that the enemy of your soul and mine would try to throw our focus off of Jesus.

Occasionally we have to (ANY Church has to) deal with someone who becomes disruptive "in Jesus' Name". In other words, they are great-hearted and good people, but can have and hold an attitude or opinion that what is happening in the service should not be happening the way it is.

So, they will try to "correct" what is happening in a disruptive way, all the time claiming they are speaking on behalf of the Holy Spirit, as though no one else leading the service is sensitive to what God is saying at the time. When you speak with them about it, they will often claim that they can't help it, as though God has taken them over in a way that is uncontrollable to them, which is actually unscriptural. They will also often claim that they are untouchable because they are "functioning in or with the anointing of the Holy Spirit."

The Apostle Paul wrote that, "The spirits of prophets are subject to the control of prophets. For God is not a God of disorder but of peace." (1 Corinthians 14:32-33, NIV) When someone is given a word of knowledge or wisdom, or a prophecy to be shared with the whole Church, they are never subjected to an "uncontrollable unction".

It ought always be shared with the authority and permission of the church leadership, whoever that may be at the time. On a day like today when I am not present as the Pastor, there is always someone else who is in charge. Today, that was Pastor John, and I think he did a great job handling the circumstance, along with some other wise and discerning leaders.

More than anything, when this does occur, it's a sign of the person's immaturity and lack of biblical understanding of the function of the gifts of the Holy Spirit. Two of the signs I look for as a test of whether or not someone has an authentic word from the Lord are humility and peace. When there is a lack of one or both of those qualities present in what someone shares, you will likely find someone functioning more in the flesh than in the Spirit.

James wrote, "Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good life, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. But if you harbor bitter envy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast about it or deny the truth. Such "wisdom" does not come down from heaven but is earthly, unspiritual, of the devil. For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice. But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere. Peacemakers who sow in peace raise a harvest of righteousness." (James 3:13-18, NIV)

Didn't mean to turn that into a sermon, but just thought I'd toss that out there for affirmation and encouragement. At NewHeart, we fully accept, believe in, and desire to see more of the function of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, and endeavor to do so in right order and Godliness, so that the whole body is built up and strengthened.

Food for thought ...

Quite the weekend

I had a BLAST this weekend serving alongside two OTHER Pastors officiating Gaylord Wolfe's wedding in Paso Robles. I REALLY enjoy officiating weddings, especially when a couple have made a concerted effort to put Jesus FIRST in their relationship as it develops toward the wedding.

I can't remember a time when I have officiated along with another Pastor, except for one other time, just last April. I was asked to stand at the front and ask the "Who gives this woman...?" question while MY Pastor, Chuck Shoemake walked his daughter down the aisle and answered the question. That wedding was alot of fun too, because I have known Chuck's daughter, Tisha, since she was a Jr. Higher!

Anyway, Gaylord's mom and Cathy, his new wife, both hail from Paso Robles, so Gaylord is moving there, which is sad for us, but GREAT for him. It was a real honor to get to know these other two Pastors.

One is Pastor Steve Boggan, from Living Waters Christian Fellowship, in the Heritage Ranch area of Paso Robles. That's where the wedding ceremony was held. Pastor Steve and his wife, Christina, have served there for 8 years now, but Pastor Steve has actually served 12 churches over 27 years!! WOW!!

The other Pastor is Pastor Steve Calagna (pronounced Kalanyay), from North County Christian Fellowship in Paso Robles. He planted that church 31 years ago and has led there ever since! It is always amazing to me how small the world is!

Pastor Steve (Calagna) told me he knew me from somewhere and recognized my name. Conversation turns out that he started his Masters of Divinity program in the same class I did back in August of 2000. BIG difference is that he finished and I didn't ... a whole other story. Anyway, later on he mentioned that he remembered leading worship for the class. As soon as he said that, I had this WILD deja vu moment and remembered his face from that class!

Getting to know those two guys was very cool and added to the blessing of the weekend! Another blessing was being able to get away for a little bit (even though it was a "working" weekend) with Colleen. With the kids at home, she doesn't get to travel with me much when I do travel, so we treasure chances like this.

We stayed at a very nice, but affordable hotel. I think it was so nice because it was brand new. Hope they're able to keep it as nice as we experienced it, which featured a great breakfast spread included in the price.

Well, we go down for breakfast and I run into two off-duty Simi Valley Police Officers, who also happen to be a newly married husband/wife couple. (For those who may not know, I am a Chaplain with the SVPD.) That was a fun surprise for the three of us!

When we got home, Colleen dropped me at a friends house, where I got to indulge in the Super Bowl on a great TV with some good friends who like to WATCH the game (a peeve of mine ... I really enjoy WATCHING the game, including commentary and replays ... am I getting too honest in this blog or what?).

I was personally glad to see Peyton Manning finally reach this pinnacle for himself. I was also proud of the way both coaches (who are strong Christians) handled themselves and their relationship with Jesus. I love to see God get the glory in our human endeavors!

I was also glad to hear that Brett Favre is returning for another season as Quarterback with the Green Bay Packers.

Anyway, that's all for now!

A Fulfilling Weekend

Most who know me are aware that I'm a "long haul" kind of guy. I am passionate about being involved in people's lives over the long haul. Heck, I've been here at NewHeart for over 21 years now! I suppose that says it.

Anyway, I get to have one of those long haul, very fulfilling kinds of weekends. This morning, Colleen and I will drive to Paso Robles, where Gaylord Wolfe is getting married to Cathy Anding tomorrow night.

For years, Gaylord and his late wife, Linda, were involved in our church, hanging through thick and thin. A number of years ago, Linda was diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma, a form of blood cancer. We prayed and saw God do miracle after miracle. A little over two years ago, Linda's battle on this earth ended.

What a privilege it was to be involved in Linda and Gaylord's battle. This man was SO faithful to every need Linda had. And the Lord blessed him with such understanding employers, especially at the end of Linda's life.

Well, we grieved and celebrated like nobody's business at Linda's homegoing and beyond. And now, God has brought this wonderful lady, Cathy, to Gaylord's life. And I am honored to be a part of officiating at their wedding.

These are the times that I take a deep breath and say, "It's worth it!"

Approaching the Miracle of Miracles Season

I know we've just finished Christmas and New Year's, but get ready! Easter is just around the corner! The Miracle of Miracles ... Jesus' death, burial and resurrection, is the celebration of all celebrations.

This year, it falls on Sunday, April 8. Really only 2 months away ... unbelievable, but true. Maybe it's all the years of pastoring, but already I am feeling the anticipation.

I am also sensing something quite different as we enter the season. I'll be talking about it in February. The traditional Church has always had a 40 day season of heart and life preparation approaching Easter, called "Lent".

Some will remember it from their days of Catholic catechism. (Not to worry, I'm not going over the edge here! My experience in Catholic school in 2nd or 3rd grade will always be sure of that!)

Sometimes, when it comes to older church traditions, those of us in the "contemporary" church movements/preferences can seem to throw the baby out with the bath water. There are some powerful things to be learned and received through the observance of seasons like this.

All in all, through these teachings, I'll be calling NewHeart toward a 40 day season of preparing for Easter. Stay tuned!

Simi Valley makes the big time!

OK ... any 24 fans out there? Simi Valley hit the jackpot by being featured on tonight's episode of 24! Albeit, not for the best of reasons, as we happened to be the location of a business tied up in the terrorist act of a nuclear bomb that exploded last week in Valencia.

As a citizen, and as a member of the Simi Valley Police Department (I serve as 1 of 5 Chaplains), I take pride in our having been the Safest City in the nation about 7 of the last 10 years. Sure hope this doesn't bode badly against our standing!!

Impressed and Humbled!

I am both impressed and humbled by our congregation! This morning, at both of the services, we walked through what I call some "family business".

Have you figured out that STUFF HAPPENS? Well, it does, and when it does, we have to sometimes deal with it. I have found that most churches aren't honest with the STUFF that HAPPENS, preferring to sweep it under the proverbial rug rather than be honest when we sin and blow it.

This was one of those days where we had to be honest. A young man who had been a student leader in our Youth Ministry, and whom we laid our hands on to send him to Bible College last August, confessed publicly this morning that over the Summer, he had engaged in a sexual relationship with his girlfriend. A couple weeks into his first semester, he found out she is pregnant.

We had talked about this day for some time with he and his parents, and the day finally came, though it wasn't long planned for. The Lord ordered the previous few days that it was just time to do it, so we did. I honestly didn't know how everyone would respond, but just knew we were to do it.

When we came to the point where he had confessed and asked for forgiveness of the congregation, I wasn't really expecting anyone to answer. I thought it a more rhetorical question. Well, the Church didn't!

One by one, people began to stand and proclaim their forgiveness of this young man. It was powerful as we prayed over he and his family. That was the 8:30 service.

For the 10:30, I didn't tell anyone what I observed. I thought I'd just wait and see, and sure enough, the exact same thing happened, and it was again, powerful.

I know people have, and knew they would have, all kinds of thoughts about what we were doing and how we went about it. And they did. I don't mean that in a bad way. It's just that, in reality, the Church is meant to be the reflection of what and who the Kingdom of God is. And today, it happened.

This young man, repentant of his ways (believe me, I've spent enough time with him to know he is ... and not just because he "got caught"), was embraced with a firm and loving acceptance, not for his sin, but for what Jesus did for his sin.

One of those things that words will never express ....

A Great Word for our Men!

Spent this morning at our Men's Breakfast. It's been a long time since we've had a men's event. Thanks to Dan Behr, Jim Jackson, Charles Southcott and Ray Tschaeche for making it happen so well. And to Sean Smith, Joe May and Charles Southcott for some rocking good worship. There's just something different about a bunch of men signing their hearts out to Jesus!

It was a highlight to hear the message from Bob Penberthy, a personal friend and past co-worker. Today, Bob is the Pastor of NewLife Christian Center, the Foursquare Church in Upland. Bob and his wife, Lisa, have been faithfully leading that church for about 5 years through many past challenges. How's this for a challenge? Having no Sanctuary building because it was torn down IN HOPES that the insurance company WOULD HAVE wanted it re-built after the earthquake damage? Yeah, you read me right ... nobody gave the Pastor who tore it down permission to go ahead and do it! YIKES!!

Anyway, Bob was our Associate Pastor back in 1999-2000. I love this guy! His word was powerful this morning. He talked about what courage requires, challenging our men to be willing to do what it takes to build a ministry of men reaching men. It was powerful!

EHS Group starts

Just started a new Emotionally Healthy Spirituality small group this morning. I am privileged to have been asked to lead this group that comprises the team of people that work at our Foursquare Pacific Arc (Administrative Resource Center), which is located in La Crescenta - about 45 minutes east of Simi Valley.

There are 3 "ARC"s - Pacific, Central (Colorado) and Atlantic (North Carolina). Each ARC serves a number of Districts as just what they are called ... Administrative Resource Centers. Their goal is to primarily release District Supervisors (most of whom also serve as local church Pastors) to do more ministry and less administration.

Anyway ... Rick Trimble is the Pacific ARC Lead Administrator, and he has been touched by the Emotionally Healthy Spirituality material. We first met about 10 years ago when I interviewed for a position as District Youth Representative in Northern California. Over the years, from his position as a District Administrator back in those days, he would call once in a while asking us to consider pastoring a church in his area.

We became re-acquainted at an EHS event back in April, and in December, he called wanting to know if I'd be willing to lead his team through the Emotionally Healthy Church Workbook as a small group. So, starting today, I'll head to La Crescenta once every 2-3 Thursdays for a morning of interaction with them and the material for 8 sessions total. It went great today and I'm looking forward to the additional times together.

Additionally, I am very excited that this material is finding increased influence in our denomination. Foursquare is bringing Pete Scazzero out on March 10 for their 2nd annual "Foursquare Live" Leadership Training Simulcast. I'm hoping to be able to pick him up at the airport and take him back when he's done.

I am also making plans to be in New York again for New Life Fellowship's Pastor's Conference on Emotionally Healthy Spirituality. My goal is two-fold ... to learn and glean more myself, AND to represent to West Coast at the Conference. Hoping to network with more Pastors while there and also hoping that some from the West Coast will go to experience it.

I continue to receive calls from Pastors who have heard of my journey through burnout and depression. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality has been, and continues to be, such a powerful tool that the Lord is using to grow my relationship with Him and others. I am excited to watch what He is doing with it!

Let me know ...

24 days into the New Year, and they (whoever THEY are) say it takes 21 days for a new habit to kick in. Anyone want to be honest and share with us a habit or two that is still in the "wanting" stage for you?

I'll start ... at the beginning of '07, I said to myself, "Self ... enough people have said they enjoy connecting with you when you blog that you ought to do it more frequently." Well ... here we are on Day 24. No TV show pun intended, though a friend of mine from Valencia told me today he received an email from a geographically distant acquaintance asking if he and his family are OK ... gotta be a 24 fan to understand that, which my friend is NOT!

Anyway, it's Day 24 and here is my first post. I still resolve to blog more if you'll resolve to connect. Do more than read the blog ... let me know you were here by posting. That would be helpful for me. If I know it's having an impact, Ill share more with you. If it's not, I'll put the time and thoughts to better use.

Let me know, would ya?

On The Road Again ...

It's been three months since my last post ... hard to believe. I've had a couple folks ask about the lag in posting to my blog. Fact of the matter is (and I'm sure you're aware, in your own version), life is BUSY, ain't it?

I find myself amazed at the speed at which life is passing by these days. My parents said it would be this way! You know ... the older you get, the faster it goes ...

Anyway, I'm sitting at LAX waiting on a flight that will take me on my Fall Study Break. I'm headed to Christiansburg, Virginia, where our denomination is setting up a Pastor's Retreat Center.

They're calling it the Life Center for Spiritual Renewal. It's situated on several acres that used to house LIFE Bible College East, until they closed it a few years back. They're taking 8 apartments and establishing a retreat center where Pastors can get away from a few days to a few weeks, if need be, for Study Breaks, Sabbaticals, or even Crisis Counseling.

The Director is my friend, mentor and Pastor, Chuck Shoemake. Those who are a part of NewHeart are aware that we also sent Pat & Mario Arciero, our Prayer Coordinators and "Resident Care Pastors" (when at home, they spend Thursdays at the Church Office calling folks and available for appointments), out there at Chuck's request for September and October to serve as Hosts for Pastors who will be there. I'm looking forward to seeing them, the Arciero's AND Chuck.

If I get a chance, I'll post along the way, but no promises. I don't know what the internet (or even time) availability will be like. These are almost always refreshing times in which I try to veer away from some of the technological ties. We'll see how it goes.