A Good Day!

It’s time for the Monday morning review…

• We had a great service yesterday at LCC as we wrapped up the Ecclesia series.
• It was great to have some first time guests.
• By the numbers…we completed September as our highest non-Easter average attendance month!  Thank God for our growth.
• Our people are excited about the upcoming CHANGE campaign.  We are praying for 20 new family units to become part of LCC during this campaign.
• We are praying and hoping to relocate as soon as we can.  The school auditorium renovation is stalled and we are outgrowing the cafeteria for worship.  Our relocation team has discovered some possible new locations, but the price tags are very steep.  Be praying for some sizable donations to our relocation fund to help us get going.
• How about those Redskins!!!!  My expectations were far exceeded!  This could be a really good season.
• Appreciate the response to the need for help for the pancake breakfast.  We have 12+ cooks that will be flipping pancakes early for next Sunday’s big Pancake Breakfast to kick off the campaign.  I cannot wait for next Sunday!

Weekend in Review…

Yesterday at LCC:

• Great service…very busy, but very worshipful.
• Communion went well except for me dropping a tray of bread from an usher…a nice big clank in a moment of worship!
• We had 3 baptisms…a mom and her 2 kids…very cool to see them make their public profession of faith.
• The big push began for our CHANGE series which kicks off in 2 weeks with a pancake breakfast.   People are committed and excited about what God is doing at LCC.
• Great help yesterday by set-up and tear-down people.  Being a portable church and setting up for Communion or Baptism is a lot of extra work…and to have them both on the same day…well, that means even more craziness.  But it all got done and cleaned up on time.  Thanks to all who pitched in!

Personal:

• My youngest daughter turned 8 on Saturday.  We celebrated with family yesterday.  Happy 8th birthday Lexi!  Congrats on your growing Webkinz collection.  (I wish I would have come up with that idea!)
• My wife is looking great…only 50 days out from giving birth and she looks awesome.  Proud of her!
• My oldest son is on 2 baseball teams which means 30 games this Fall, which is keeping us very busy.
• It’s amazing how much fuller my life feels now with 4 kids!  I’m lovin’ it.

What a day…

Yesterday was a HOT one…

• Another great Sunday morning crowd
• Awesome service – our band is really clicking.  Great job on the new song: When Our Hearts Sing
• The Student ministry is really growing…love what I see happening there!
• The Core classes are going great…thanks to all those serving.
• Offering was strong again
• Some small changes with set-up of preschool, nursery and refreshments areas really helped with the traffic flow…got to give my wife some cred for her recommendations
• God is definitely blessing LCC and we are primed for a great Fall of growth
• I took off quickly after the service to go to the Skins game with one of our men – Andy.  We had great seats on the club level.  AWESOME game!  Wow – what a great experience.  Only downside was the heat…my face is bright red and sunburned.  Heard today that it was the hottest game in FedEx field history…I believe it.  Go Skins!
• I got back to Dumfries in time to catch the 7th inning of my son’s Seniors baseball game.  When I got there it was tied 9-9 and they push across 4 runs in the top of the 7th and Zac pitched the bottom of the 7th and shut down the opponent.
• So it was a day full of victories except for my fantasy team…which dropped to 0-2

Looking Forward to…

• Planning this week’s service with Communion & Baptism in the mix
• Getting ready for our relocation team’s first meeting on Tuesday night
• Cooler weather!

Adoption is a beautiful thing…

I mentioned this video in my message yesterday.  The Downing family has just completed the adoption of their 3 foster children.  Now they have 5 children!  Congrats to Rita, Lazarus and Angelo!!!

Check out the feature story on NBC4 – click here.

Weekend Recap

Awesome day at LCC!  Our September kicked off with a bang!  What a great start to the Fall…

• Several new teachers/workers in place working with our kids…thanks for volunteering and doing a great job today!
• Band debuted a new song today…Sing, Sing, Sing…(from the new Chris Tomlin CD)…nice job!  It was a great worship set today…and the crowd is singing like crazy.
• Great crowd again today.  We’ve got space issues.  It’s a good problem.  Congestion in the hallway after the service.  Running low on chairs.  Not enough space in the preschool.
• Generous offering today!
• Excited about our future relocation…our team is forming and we are believing God for our own meeting space…we need to be free from the school!
• Really enjoyed preaching today’s message…love preaching on the church!
• It’s crunch time for my devotional book.  To have it printed in time for our October series, I need to send it off by the end of this week.  I’ve got some great editing help…but still, I’m feeling the stress!
• Core Classes began today at 9:30.  We had a great turnout.  Thanks to all for showing up and making it happen.
• We are starting a ministry to our college students.  We have several families with college kids who just left for school.  Thanks to Lillian for starting up this ministry.  Be sure to pick up your college kid prayer magnet next Sunday.

On a personal note…

• We are adjusting to this new life of 4 kids…sometimes I look at Baby Nic and think is this really my child?  how did this happen? (ok…i know how it happened…just still amazed)
• Last Monday on Labor Day, we went out as a family for some last minute school clothes shopping.  Walking through the mall with all 6 of us felt like a small mob.  It just seemed like a lot more to keep track of.  Kind of funny…never saw us having this big of a family.
• Funny how house issues happen.  Last week we had a fire in our living room…literally.  An extension cord under our sofa running to a lamp caught fire.  Fortunately, we got it out quickly enough to save the house…and even the sofa…but the carpet is messed up and needs to be replaced.  Then yesterday, the hot water heater quits on us.  The cold showers just aren’t working for the family   So it goes with home ownership!
• My oldest son Zac made the Fall JV Baseball team at Forest Park and games start this week.  I’m looking forward to watching from the stands.

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Weekly Recap

It’s Labor Day morning and my Fantasy Football League Draft begins in 30 minutes…I’ve got the #2 pick.  Assuming LT goes #1, I’m debating between Adrian Peterson, Brian Westbrook and Tom Brady…

It was a great week. Yesterday, I was blown away by a great Labor Day Weekend crowd at church.  We had our highest attendance of the summer…yet some regulars were out of town.  The crowd was alive yesterday.  The band was on fire…one of the best music sets and the crowd was really singing along especially on Salvation Is Here…seems to always be a favorite.  Josh – great job!

Scott Stem, my brother-in-law and former student pastor at LCC, was our guest speaker yesterday.  He is now student pastor at a larger church in Columbus, Ohio, but he and his family were in town for a few days of vacation.  Scott did a great job delivering a challenging message on becoming a big draw.  It leads perfectly into my next series, Ecclesia, where I will speak on the purposes of the church.  We are heading into the Fall with a ton of momentum.

Next week we kick off our core classes at 9:30.  We have some new volunteers stepping up to teach in various classes.  I love to see that happening!  I met with the custodian and we have most of our classrooms figured out.  Pray that we finalize a few more details and that they give us the gym back for our nursery and preschool which is outgrowing the current space.

We are planning a big Fall campaign which begins in October.  Lots of details and deadlines to meet this week…so I’ll be pretty busy…especially after taking today off to spend with the family.

Well…time to focus on my draft…