This Week’s LCC Enews

LCC,

We’ve got 2 weeks remaining in our CHANGE series. We’re being challenged each week to move from “I wish I could” to “I know I can.” I hope that you’ve been reading the 30-day devotional and putting into practice the changes you have committed to make in your life. Don’t miss the last 2 weeks! We conclude November 9th with Baptisms and a Pizza Party after the service.

Operation Christmas Child Shoebox collection begins this Sunday. Click here for more info.

Don’t forget to vote next Tuesday. It is important as Christians that we take a stand and let our voices be heard. (Just in case there is any confusion…the Change Series on Spiritual Growth and blue t-shirts at LCC is in no way an endorsement of either candidate.) In this Sunday’s bulletin, we are including a Christ ian Coalition Voter’s Guide which shows each candidate’s stances on various critical issues. Make your voice heard!

This would be a good Sunday morning to try our Core Classes…you’ll be getting an extra hour of sleep because of Daylight Savings time…so why not join us at 9:30 this Sunday???

See you Sunday,

Steve

Weekend Wrap

Watching the World Series as I type…routing for the Rays, but it’s not looking good…

A good day at church this morning.  The Change series is going great.  I love to see God working in lives.  The messages have been convicting…from prep to delivery…but that is what God’s word does.  Today, I talked about spiritual disciplines that we need in our lives if we are going to change spiritually.  There is a recurring theme throughout the series…IN ORDER TO CHANGE, IT WILL TAKE DISCIPLINE!  Becoming all the God desires for us takes hard work…but with Christ – all things are possible.

Good crowd today.  Had a first today…a new family came that found us on Facebook.  They found our group that had been created for our church.  Pretty cool stuff.

Clarifying a story I told in today’s message.  In 2 games of Madden yesterday against my 15yo son, I won the first game 40-31 and he whipped me in the 2nd game 63-31.  He wanted me to get it straight.  I should have stopped while ahead…

I appreciate the group of 6 men and 2 teenage guys who met a real need today.  These guys gave up 2+ hours right after church today to help a single mom in our church move out of her home.  I love to see the church respond to needs and take care of one another.  Great to be a part of it!

Hard to believe it’s less than 2 months to Christmas!  My 8 year old Lexi and I had a breakfast date at 7 am this past Friday at Bob Evans.  Christmas (gifts) was a big part of the conversation….very important stuff when you are 8!  She has a wishlist

Productive Day Off

It’s been amazing…the difference of taking Fridays off with having a “real” church office to go to Monday through Thursday vs. having the church office in our home.  I’m actually getting much more done…and truly detaching from work.  (yeah…I know I’m blogging right now) I guess it’s more of a mental thing, but nevertheless – it’s working!

Today, I’ve already accomplished 3 honey-do projects: bathroom caulking, electrical wiring issue, and storage room clean-up.  Now Sherri and I are off to a little lunch date (with Nic).   Next up…personal finances sorting and filing.  I’m usually up on this, but since the baby was born, I’ve fallen about 3 months behind! It’s a daunting pile of papers I’m staring at right now…ugh!

Looking forward to Sunday…great service planned…some great new songs that Josh has just recently introduced in worship, cool, thought-provoking video clips and media and a challenging message about changing our spiritual lives.  Come to LCC on Sunday ready to receive!

Long Range Series Planning

One of the fun parts of my job is planning out the message series that I will preach.  I enjoy the process and the execution.  I love seeing the graphics that Josh creates for each series.  Well…this week we’ve been working on what is happening beyond the current CHANGE series.

Here’s a quick preview of what’s coming…

Nov 23 – Thanksgiving Message with Communion

Nov 30-Dec 21 – Through The Eyes… We’ll be taking at different characters in the Christmas story each week and discovering Christmas through their eyes.  It will provide us with a new perspective on the Christmas story.

Dec 28 – Message by our Student Pastor – Donald Buttram

Jan 4 – Feb 22 – The Life & Times of Moses…  We are going to take the first 2 months of ‘09 and look at the life of one of the most incredible figures in the Old Testament.  We’re going to find a ton of application to our everyday lives as we dig into the book of Exodus in January.

Kid Pics

Nic before Sunday church **** Zac before Homecoming Dance

Tori and her brother *** Lexi and her brother

30 Degree Run

Last week, when we talked about Changing Our Health, I mentioned that I was personally working improving my health and so far, so good.  I ran 3 mornings last week…and got off to a good start by running this morning…but wow…running in 30 degrees at 6:25 am in the dark is a shock to your system.  Tori and I did pretty well though.

How are you doing on changing your health?  Some of you were asking me how I was doing yesterday…I guess you are holding me accountable for my sermon!  In addition to a little more exercise, I’ve gone 9 days without eating unhealthy snacks after dinner…with the exception of a few cups of hot chocolate.  Carrots and celery weren’t so bad last night while watching the ball game.  Only frustration is that the scale keeps coming up with the same numbers!  Nevertheless…I’m feeling better.

Busy Weekend

I’m sitting here chilling with my laptop watching the Rays-Red Sox game 7…and the Rays just tied it up 1-1…go Rays!  (nothing against the Sox…but the Rays are a great story!)

It’s been quite a whirlwind weekend for us…I’m exhausted.  Zac had 5 baseball games in 2 days.  Between his games and TV, I’ve watched more than my share of baseball.  Besides 3 games yesterday, Tori had drama practice and we had life groups last night.  Lots of driving/taxi service…glad gas prices are coming down!

And in the middle of all of it…we had church this morning!

Today’s service was superb.  The band sounded great.  The atmosphere of worship today was incredible.  Glory to God is a great new song.  The CHANGE series is going superbly.  God is truly working in lives.  We’re halfway there…looking forward to a great final 3 weeks of our campaign.

We announced our Operation Christmas Child campaign shoebox collection dates today…the first 3 Sundays of November we will be collecting.  Last year we did 147…we need to beat that this year.  Let’s do it LCC!

Did I mention that the Skins won and the Boys lost today?  It makes the day even sweeter.

Looking forward to a great week ahead…Anticipating great things from God!

CHANGE – LCC E-NEWS

Relationships. We have good ones and we have bad ones.  Let me ask you a question…do you have a relationship that needs to change? Maybe you have a relationship that you’ve just about given up on.  Whatever the case may be, you need to be at LCC this Sunday.  As we continue our CHANGE series, this Sunday’s message is critical for all of us.  Don’t miss it.  Invite as many people as possible.

Change is happening. I’m beginning to hear stories of change.  Some of you have told me how you are being challenged by the messages and the devotional.  Many of you are making commitments to change.  Will you be willing to share your story with me?  Click to our website and submit your story.  Your submitted story comes directly to my inbox. Click here.

Waterbottles, T-shirts, Devotional Books. If you missed last Sunday, we have some CHANGE waterbottles leftover, so be sure to ask for yours this Sunday.  Change T-shirts are still on sale for $10…supplies are limited – get yours this Sunday.  We have plenty of Change devotional books…so if you haven’t yet picked up yours, get one this Sunday.  If you have a friend that you believe would benefit, please feel free to grab a copy for them.

Have a great rest of the week…see you Sunday!

Steve

Midweek Update

I’m a little behind on my posts…it’s been a busy week or so…

• Last week, Josh and I attended the Catalyst Conference for church leaders in Atlanta.  It was an amazing conference.  Incredible, inspiring speakers such as: Andy Stanley, Craig Groeschel, Steven Furtick, Franklin Graham, Dave Ramsey, Seth Godin and several others.  It was a great break from the weekly routine…but of course we are playing a little catch up this week.
• Our CHANGE campaign is off to a great start at LCC.  I’m hearing great reports of what God is doing in the lives of our people.  I’m hearing about families doing the devotional together.  I’m hearing about people making life changing commitments and decisions for Christ.  It’s exciting to see God working in the hearts and lives of our people.
• This Sunday we are talking about CHANGING OUR RELATIONSHIPS.  This is such an important message.  Life is really all about relationships.  I’m praying that everyone who is a part of LCC will make every effort to be there and to bring their friends.
• Our 10 week-old baby boy – Nic – slept from 9:30 pm – 4:30 am last night!!!  This was a breakthrough…the longest stint!  Maybe, just maybe we are crossing over to sleeping through the night and my wife will begin her recovery from sleep deprivation.
• 2 families in our church recently experience deaths in their extended families.  Please pray for the Tingstroms and Cerdas at this time.

LCC Church Sign

One of our members has too much time on their hands