Keep Pointing in Waterloo

drowning in options.

I am absolutely struck tonite at how very easy it is to feel like you are drowning in options... Especially as it concerns life with God.

Read this book. Plug in here. Finish this reading plan. Give to this. Meet with these people. Serve on this team.

Take this next step. Try this translation. Join this group. Come to this event. Have you ever heard of so-and-so, or read so-and-so's blog?

Get to church. Raise your hands. Sit and think.

That's not right - think this way instead. What that really means is this, not that. And what about what that other pastor or writer or TV Personality or church or radio station said? Why don't we try that, or be more like them?

Options. Too many of them. Sometimes I feel like I'm drowning in them myself. Other times, I feel not like the victim, but the culprit.

All of this to say:

Let's not allow ourselves to be inundated with too many options.

Let's put boundaries around the things that are only secondary to God's primary mission - or throw them off altogether, if God so directs.

Let's ruthlessly remove the clutter and fervently silence the noise of our hurried lives long enough to breath the Breath of Life again.

Let's ask God to remove the cloudiness of the good and exchange it for the vision of the great - to not fill our spirits up on the successes of the past or the wins in the present, but rather hunger to be an instrument of Jesus' message and God's compassion to our community today and tomorrow.

Out of all of the options out there, there are only two I want to be seized by.

Love the Lord your God with all your heart.

Love your neighbor as yourself.

See you this weekend.

help Japan through Samaritan's Purse

You know, it's very easy for us - especially those of us in the confines of the Midwest - to remain somewhat insulated or nonresponsive when a catastrophe hits on the other side of the world.

Let's not be that.  Let's respond.

Samaritan's Purse, one of our Influence partners worldwide, is responding to the earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan this past week.  If you'd like to give to support their effort as first responders, click here to make a donation.  From their website:

Staff members are on their way to the affected area. We will be working with Japanese Christians to distribute food, water, blankets, hygiene supplies, and other aid to people who have lost virtually everything.

We are blessed to be able to partner with them, and you can be confident that your donation will help reach the bottom line need in Japan during the early days of this horrible news.  Their organization certainly gave our community a much needed leg up in the floods and tornadoes of 2008, where we got to see how they were able to make a real difference firsthand.

Let's continue this culture of generosity this year, and reach a complete stranger with help in the name of Jesus.

things to look forward to, and things to pray about.

Couple of things for you to look forward to this weekend:

• Pastor Chip from Osage will be serving at Waterloo this weekend, and I'll be up in Osage.  Doing a little swapping.  You're gonna love him.
• Pastor John will be continuing in our Holy Ghost series.  This weekend the topic is conviction - how the Holy Ghost cleanses our consciences.  I had a chance to get his talking points from him today, and man - very invitational weekend.  If you've got a friend who needs to come to Christ, this a great weekend to bring them.  No weird stuff - just the free and full life that is offered when we allow the Holy Ghost to convict our consciences of our sin, and repent.  Make the invite.
  
  
• This will be the last weekend that you're able to participate in the Reveal Spiritual Life Survey.  I found out today that we're up to 37 completed surveys, which gets us a little bit above the minimum needed.  Good job, and thanks for responding to the challenge.  But: the more completed surveys we get, the more accurate the snapshot is of our congregation, and the better able we'll be to envision next steps or course corrections.  So, let's get that number up to at least 50.  Here's why we're taking it, and here's where to go to take it.  Deadline is even a day later - Monday, March 14, midnight.

I do also want to make you all aware of some significant prayer items for two of our Waterloo families:

• Jerry and Johnna Anesi's son, Zayden, 15 mo. - admitted to Covenant with flu and anemia.  Due to an inherited condition, Zayden is not as equipped to fight off infection, and has had a blood transfusion this week.  He has been improving, but the family would still appreciate your prayers.  Jerry is a driver on one of our set up teams, and both Jerry and Johnna volunteer in Weekids.
• Melissa Mitchell – Member of one of our set up teams and also member of our first Urban Compassion group. She been experiencing intestinal problems for the past several weeks and, after a colonoscopy, a tumor was found that is most likely malignant.  Please pray for her and for her mother, Judy, who attends and serves on one of our First Impressions teams.

Reveal Spiritual Life Survey

Hey folks,

Thanks for responding to the challenge this weekend to take the Reveal Spiritual Life survey.  (In case you've been out of the loop on this, jump over to this blog post that explains the what's and why's.)  We jumped from 11 completed surveys last week up to 27 as of today.

However, that number is still low for us.  We're shooting for 20% of us completing the survey at a minimum, which means that a total of about 30-40 of us need to complete this survey for the sample size to be representative of our overall congregation.  So, grab your favorite beverage, get to your computer, click here, and get 'er done.  Deadline is midnight on Sunday, March 13.

Thanks everyone.

the right direction.

Last weekend marked three pretty big signposts that we are making progress towards some goals that God has set out for our campus.  I want to give you all the chance to celebrate these with me.

First: We had more new faces this weekend than I could meet.  We had people who were PLCers who live in Waterloo and decided to check us out for the first time.  One even said, "You know, we live right here... why drive all the way over to Cedar Falls?"  We had people who were invited by Waterloo folks - some of which had been years in the making.  And we had a healthy number of first timers... some of whom couldn't even provide the story behind why they came.  They just decided that they were going to check us out.  And... you all did such a great job of finding and meeting those new faces, instead of letting them walk in and out in anonymity.  Great job in continuing to form an irresistible community!

Second: we had a group of pastors/lay leaders from a church in Spirit Lake, IA, who came to observe how a multisite church functions.  They have a vision for reaching their region in Northwest Iowa.  I'd like to provide you with an exerpt of an email that a member of their group sent me this morning:

I wanted to give you and your congregation some major credit.  When we returned from breakfast to attend the service, no one knew us as we entered.  We were very warmly greeted 3 times before we got to the worship center entrance.  What a welcoming church.  Thanks again.  We serve Christ together.

Yes!  That's who we want to be.  Great job in becoming more invitational!

Finally, we announced this weekend that we have hired a replacement for Abby Stevens, who has served us in Waterloo so admirably and sacrificially over these last 6 months.  I'm pleased to announce that Lynn Brown, one of our own Waterloo members and current First Impressions Coordinator, has accepted our offer to serve as the staff First Impressions Coordinator at Waterloo.  If you are one of the few who doesn't know Lynn yet, you will find her to be passionate about Jesus and about making everyone who comes in the doors at Waterloo feel welcome.  Her joy is contagious, and she'll be instrumental in ensuring that everyone gets connected at Waterloo.  Praise God for his faithfulness to us through every staff transition!

Love being on this journey with all of you.  Let's keep going.  God has gone ahead of us, and is with us.