“When I arrived at the church, I was armed with books and ideas on growth, evangelism, and reaching the community. Unity was the last thing I was worried about. If you’d told me to slow down and focus on camaraderie and unity, I’d have chided you for your inward, even self-centered, approach to ministry. We had a world to conquer. But it soon became painfully obvious that we were never going to change the world out there when we couldn’t get along in here”

- Larry W. Osbourne
The Unity Factor

Well wordpress has finally released it’s app for the iPhone. I am now able to post “on location”. Another reason why apple is the greatest company ever

Well VBS 2008 has begun, and it’s no surprise that Jennifer has started it off with a bang! Our theme this year is “Avalanche Ranch” and everybody is in their cowboy gear. Again River City has responded and the volunteers have shown up in large numbers. If this week continues like it started this is sure to be one the best VBS’s we’ve ever had.

Here a few pics from day 1. Enjoy!

I can honestly say that I have never been more proud to be called a Christian, and a member of River City than today. This morning at 10:00 a.m. we opened up our doors to more than 100 needy kids and families and helped them prepare for this school year by giving out backpacks, school supplies, immunizations, haircuts, and a lunch with the best ice cream sundaes you’ve ever had. We had over 50 volunteers step up and help today with huge smile on their face and a servants glow about them.

As I had the opportunity to meet some of the families and watch our family serve today, I just couldn’t help but think about Matthew 5:13-14 when Jesus said “You are the light of the world.” Today River City was a small light in the kingdom of God. No gimmicks, No pressures to attend just a group of people who were showing Christ’s love to a hurting community.

I love you River City and and I am proud of my family today!

Here just a few of the pics from today.

Today at the end of service I had a quick conversation with one of the newer guys in the church and he said…

“I pulled my damn left shoulder out…..woops sorry bout that damn pastor”

I love my church!

P.S. Sorry for the break in the blog but I will be back shortly, I’ve been taking a little summer break.

Live online stream of the U.S. Open 18 hole playoff. I’ve got dual monitors running. Sweet!

I went and saw the new Indiana Jones movie last night while on vacation in FL. It was pretty good, I give it 3/5 stars. Anyway as I was watching the movie i thought of a couple of things that really stand out about Indiana Jones that I wish I was more like.

1. He does not struggle with greed. At the end of every movie the people who have a greed issue always die but Indy is always able to alk away from the treasure.

2. He has meaningful relationships that he keeps throughout his whole life. Indy knows somebody everywhere.

3. He always is willing to help his enemies. even after he gets betrayed when the building is about to collapse he always tries to save everyone…even the enemies.

4. He has no fear (except for snakes!) His experiences in life has helped him to overcome his fear of things. But you have to appreciate that he still hates snakes.

I LOVE GOLF! I said it! I love to play the game of golf, it is one of my 2 hobbies (the other is xbox live.) I am actually pretty good at golf (which my wife says I should be as much as I play) Here is my question how come when you tell people you are playing golf you feel like you need to apologize that they aren’t. I get to play golf almost every Tuesday afternoon in a golf league with some friends of mine, and when I tell people about my great rounds I get this look like….”boy it must be nice to get to play golf like that” well….. it is! You should try it some time!

I started a new read last week called “Simple Church” You can find out more about it here

In ministry I am constantly trying to fight to stay focused on the main goal. For my church that goal is “To lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ” It may sound simple, and you may think, “well isn’t that the goal of every church?” Yes, I think every church starts out with that goal but over time ministry can lead you to do so much that you don’t really do the 1 thing you started out to do. If you’re not careful a church can set up a million different ministries to scratch everyones itch and at the end of the day your not sure if you have accomplished anything.

So I am always trying to stay focused and books like this help. I would recommend it for anyone out there.