Sunday Mind Dump - July 18, 2010

• Good attendance today. First service was slammed. Second service looked good and is looking better all the time.
  
  
• Started a new series on the book of Nehemiah. Got off to a good start by laying the foundation for all the events that will follow.
  
  
• Nehemiah’s story is amazing. It is a book written in the first person, you are actually reading a leaders journal.
  
  
• Serveral people posted some very nice comments on Facebook about the message today. Most of us at PCC share mutual friends on this social network, so if you'd like to read them just navigate around and you'll find what you're looking for. It's always a good thing when people are deeply stirred by God's Word, and when people say they're going to read ahead.
  
  
• My delivery was much better in the second service than in the first; think I had a better grasp of the content the second time around.
  
  
• Student camp (for teenagers) in two weeks. Vacation Bible School (for kids) in three weeks.
  
  
• We had a LOT of visitors today in both services.
  
  
• In the last few months I have been able to identify a new group of emerging leaders at PCC. They have been stepping up, meeting challenges, and demonstrating the kind of skills that leadership requires. It’s time to ramp up our investment in them. Hope to be doing that soon.
  
  
• I’m confident that we are gaining a certain momentum that is going to continue with us into the fall and until the end of the year. i.e., A lot of summer activities, emerging leaders, and the series on Nehemiah all add up to one thing: A Prevailing Church.
  
  
• We have a baby dedication service coming up soon.
  
  
• We will also be scheduling a baptism service soon.
  
  
• Our wedding anniversary is coming up in August. Twenty-nine years. Renae and I will probably be gone that week (or the week after).
  
  
• Have you ever looked around you life and realized that you have some great friends? That means something.
  
  
• If you have God, a good family, and a good church to go to, you can’t be any richer than that.
  
  
• Every time I look around at my life and take inventory of it, I am blown away by God’s goodness.
  
  
• I have family who love me even though I have messed up. I have a wife who loves me and has been through hell to prove it. I have a church full of the some of the greatest people in the world, and I am employed in a terrible economy. Yea, I feel fortunate.
  
  
• I met several new people today. Met a couple of Navy flight students. Even met a couple of people who haven’t been to church in more than ten years. I think it’s cool that PCC attracts visitors from all walks of life.
  
  
• I’m thinking ahead on leadership training. I mentioned last Sunday night about leading a once-a-month (or bi-monthly) leadership training event. I’m also thinking about some other (or additional) options. Whatever we end up doing, this much I know: I will be teaching these training sessions myself – from kids, to students, to adults – because I want all our leaders to see themselves as pastors and care-givers to the groups they lead. Everything our church does on a macro level (evangelism, discipleship, community) our groups and ministry departments should also do on a smaller scale. Why? The smaller scare often leads to larger impact.
  
  
• I think I would like to have our worship team offer a chilled out, more acoustic, unplugged, type of song service some time. Same message, just a different vibe. I love the loud music, but would like to have a different feel from time to time.
  
  
• There are a number of urgent needs in our church family right now. When you pray, just call out these unspoken requests before God. He knows. We had special prayer for a teenage girl today in the second service. Called her to the front, anointed her with oil, and about 30 people gathered around to lay hands on her. We’re believing God.
  
  
• I’ve got some pre-written posts that will drop this week on my blog. A couple of them even have attitude. As always, you are welcome to long on, read, and leave comments.