Fall Kick-Off

This year is flying by! I can't believe it's already time for our fall kick-off. Yes, I know that tomorrow is August 1st, smack dab in the middle of summer. Here in AZ schools start early. I guess it's to get the kids out of the heat.

Because of that, families begin looking for routines. They want to establish their fall routines as quickly as possible. At this time, many are open to church. If they've been thinking about it for a while, they are likely to give it a try. If you invite them, they are more likely to check it out.

To accomodate that, here at Palm Valley Church we gear up to "re-launch" the church at the same time. We do a series that will be practical for families. Greg will be speaking on "Baggage" which is going to be a powerful series. I believe that many will make decisions for Christ, or to re-connect with Him and release their baggage to Him. We need to be ready.

For the new believers, we are gearing up as well. Here's some things we're doing:
- Adding a second Fresh Start Class (It will typically be on the 1st and third weekends
- We'll be providing a Fresh Start Class on Saturday nights ever month instead of every other month (Typically on the first weekend).
- We'll be doing two New Believer Growth Groups this fall on Sunday mornings so childcare won't be a limiting factor.
- We're going to do a training for those interested in helping new believers grow in their faith. This includes Home Team Leaders, Fresh Start Coaches, and anyone else who wants to know how to help new believers grow.

I'm so excited!

House Update

Well, we've been in for over a week now and there's still plenty of boxes. I haven't even made it into the office yet!

The epoxy coating we put on the garage floors will be finished Thursday, so we can get cabinets put up in there and get the household stuff out of the shop. I already have several projects that I need to get going on, so it will be nice to get in there.

The big TV is in and the sound system is hooked up (partially). I have no clue how to get this going! I'm hoping that when the DTV guy comes on Thursday he will be able to help me get it figured out (It was supposed to be Monday, but that's a whole different story).

We still don't have any idea when we will have a phone or internet access, so if you need to reach us, call our cell phones, or call me at the Palm Valley Church office. If you send me an email, it may take a day or two to respond (for Paige it will be a little longer).

I got the reverse osmosis system working as well as it's going to work. Tonight I will put in the whole house filtration system. I'll put in the water softener this weekend.

Steve and I tried digging holes for the mail boxes and basketball hoop, but found rocks in every hole we tried to dig. I'm not sure how we're going to address the problem!

I'm alone at home tonight for dinner and for the evening, so hopefully I can get a lot done (I need to get some reading done too).

Yesterday afternoon we had our first major dust storm hit. Afterward, we had to go retrieve one of the patio table chairs from down the road (the rest we were able to pull inside before the blew too far away). It will be nice when there are other homes and landscaping to minimize the amount of dust and dirt.

Reading

I am doing a lot of reading right now. I'm reading so many different things, I have had to put a couple of good books aside. Besides studying through Isaiah, I'm reading Good to Great by Jim Collins, and Traveling Light by Max Lucado. The fact that I am reading at all is a testimony to God's work in my life. I used to hate to read, but that was before. The before is prior to God touching my life and calling me to serve Him. When that happened, I knew that I would need to learn a lot. To learn, I knew that I would have to do a lot of reading. In my prayers, I told God that I would gladly serve Him, but that He would have to change my heart and create in me a desire to read. God miraculously created this desire and then some. I couldn't put books down. At one point I read an 800 page book in a weekend! I thank God for the privilege to read His Word and I am grateful for the desire to read other books that help me see things that I can apply that will draw me closer to Christ and others. Here's a summary of what I am seeing from what I am reading right now:

Good to Great is a business book, but the parallels to church leadership are significant. Many of our staff are reading through this together and then discussing it. It's really great to be able to process what we are learning.

Traveling Light is a book on the 23rd Psalm. It about letting go, and letting God lead and direct our lives. It is about "casting our cares on Him". We carry so much baggage that we aren't ment to carry. I love the way Max outlines this Psalm to guide us into the arms of God.

In Isaiah chapter 9 I was reading about how God would destroy the leadership and prophets of Israel for leading the people astray. It shows the significance of the responsibility that we all have, and especially Pastors, for leading in a way that glorifies and brings honor to God. It also shows the consequences if we don't!

Baptism

Yesterday was one of the most awesome days! We baptized 13 people!!! That's so cool! There were 65 people at Dave's who braved the heat to watch people take the next step in their spiritual journey. It just doesn't get better than seeing people grow in Christ!

As the Pastor to New Believers at Palm Valley Church, the occasion was even more joyous because I got to baptized someone who has taken every step we've asked her to. This person accepted Christ last November, came to our Fresh Start Class, went through our New Believer's Growth Group (a 6 week study for new believers) and our Purpose Driven Life Group (studies through Rick Warren's book). She is serving regularly, and now has taken the step of being baptized (she would have done it sooner but she was traveling for work the last time we did baptism). It was also cool to see Larry and Trish there. They are part of our Fresh Start coaching team and lead the PDL group (they'll also be leading the next NBGG group - they co-let with me a few months ago)/ They had to be proud (in a good way) as they watched people they have helped toward maturity take the step of baptism.

God is Good, all the time!

Update

OK. Here's an update on, well, everything!

Devotions: I'm going through Isaiah right now. Just read about his calling to be a prophet. I love the passage (Isaiah 6:1-8). The one thing, ok more than one thing, but stay with me on this, that I don't understand is the smoke mentioned in verse 4. What's the smoke from, and what is it's purpose? Hmmm

Health: We tried a local restaurant and about an hour later my body went into rebellion. I was wishing for God to take me most of the day. I was "up" to an upset stomach on Sunday, and pretty well over it on Monday. In general, I have felt surprizingly well, even with the move (though I have been mostly good and not been lifting things). The fatigue is still the toughest part.

I know that I need to lose weight, so I am praying about this. Not whether I need to or not, but how to do it. It's hard for me to work out consistently because of my health. Diets are hard because I either feel like I am starving, or I hate the food. I'm sure that God will guide me on this. My goal is to be down twenty pounds by Christmas.

Church: PVC rocks! We have had so many visitors at our "low" time of year, and people keep coming to Christ and lives are being changed, even when the message isn't "evangelistic". Greg is back (sort of, he's gone again this week), and sounds rested.

The nursery was crazy full this week with about 36 kids. I'm not sure who's idea it was, but a few staff members that were available went and helped. It was great, but I couldn't do it every week without a direct intervention from God. We need more men to serve in the nursery! Nothing against the women, they do an awesome job! I say this because the boys that they were having trouble keeping happy perked right up as soon as I sat with them and started making car and airplane sounds with them. It's a guy thing! It's amazing that we just seem to be wired that way.

We had 5 at the Fresh Start Class. I need to add a class in August because several coudn't come who wanted to, and so many lives are being changed right now.

House: We're in!!! I'll have pics soon. I hired movers to move about 95% of our stuff. Wise choice! It is so cool, but it will be even better once we get window coverings.

Random Thoughts

Since it's been a little while since my last entry, I thought I would share some random thoughts.

House:
It can be so frustrating! We are scheduled to move in this Friday. There is so much to do (but it's looking great!) Paige is doing such a great job with all of the packing. She is such an amazing woman, and I am so blessed that she is my best friend and my wife!

Vacation:
We had a great time in Sedona. We didn't do much, which was the whole point. It was hot during the day, but cooled off at night. There's something wrong with going to where it's 109 to cool off!

We discovered that we could watch fireworks from three locations from our pool at the Palm Valley House. We're going to miss the pool and living on the golf course!

Church:
It was great to have Greg back speaking this week. It was great! There were a lot of visitors and a lot of changed lives!!! The Fresh Start Team is awesome!

Video scripts for Connecting Point are done! Discussion guides will be done soon. I hope that we can begin shooting video soon. It has taken me much longer than I wanted to get this far. A number of factors have contributed to that. I can only work hard and trust in God's timing.

Personal:
I had some shots in my foot this last week to try easing some pain. I'm not sure what hurt worse! I am extra tired right now, I think a combination of things.

Sometimes I still struggle with how much I am able to accomplish during a day. I used to be such a workaholic (it's good that I have overcome that part), but I still wish I could put out more effort some times. I'm only 47 and hope I'm not past my prime. The battle rages to completely trust God every moment of each day, vs. trying to do more than He has me doing right now. I am learning to be content in another area of my life, but it's hard. There is so much I want to do, but physically can't. I have to learn that innability to do things I used to do, while on the surface look like less effort, is becoming different effort.

I do know that I won't build a house again! It has taken too much energy away from what I really love which is ministry. My energy is limited and I hate that in the past three months especially it has been divided. Fortunately, I have still been able to dream and hear from God about where ministry needs to grow.

I'm studying through Isaiah right now. I wonder how much he and other prophets understood about what they were writing?!

I'm also studying the book "Good to Great" with our staff. It's a great book. It challenges most of what I learned in business. I'm really looking at how it applies to me personally and to the church.

I know it's been random, but I needed to get some thoughts down.

Darius Sanders

OK, since I got sappy with Daniel, I need to get sappy with Darius too. Daniel spoke on worship today and was outstanding. At first, I didn't think of Darius as the one to speak on worship. Not because I didn't think he was capable, but at that moment, I was thinking of worship in terms of music.

Darius spoke on worship as a lifestyle and explained how it could be practiced throughout the day. He was funny, had great illustrations and was dead on with the use of Scripture. That wasn't the best part.

When I think of worship in the context of lifestyle. I can't think of anyone I know that lives a life of worship more than Darius. The example he sets is truly worthy of emulation because it is the Master Jesus Christ who he seeks to emulate himself. Obviously the perfect person to speak on the topic!

As our Student Ministries Pastor here at Palm Valley Church, his lifestyle of worship is probably missed by many of the students and parents that he serves. Most probably see it as a joyful spirit, which he has, but it is so much more. Darius has learned to live in the moment, taking full advantage and making the most of every opportunity God has provided him with (or hasn't provided him with).

Darius has grasped at a young age what matters most, giving our lives over to God to do with as He chooses. Now that he is a member of our Lead Staff Team, I look forward to seeing how his gifts and heart for living a life of worship impacts all that we do at PVC.

Way to lead by example and word 'D'!