The day has come. Hallowfest is today!! We are all set and ready to go. We'll set up here sometime after lunch. Should be a great time. We have awesome games, a costume picutre studio, hot chocolate and of course lots of candy. I will be running around today finalizing details. Cant wait. Tried to get Steven Cuurtis tickets for tonight but they sold out. Tried to get Coldplay tickets for tonight but they are way too expensive. Anywho, enjoy your Hallowday. Tune in this weekend as we prepare for the Political Elephant!!

In Sept. we took the Myers Briggs Test as a staff. We just went over the results today. It was a lot of fun and very interesting to understand what makes us tick and why we do what we do. The results come out as letters than define a meaning. Turn out I am a P.E.R.F.E.C.T. Ha! Just kidding. It was a great time connecting with our team and getting to know each other a bit more and appreciating our commonalities and differences. If you have not taken the Myers Briggs before I would encourage you to. It can help bring some clarity in your life and you wind up getting to know yourself a little better as well:)

Busy week this week.  Counting down for our Halloween Outreach for Friday.  Should be a great time.  Also doing worship at ALPHA tonight.  

We have been studying the Word together here at NCC and fixing our attention on memorizing more scripture.  Our focus this week has been on John 15:9-17.  In this passage John talks about loving each other and being careful to remain in His love.  I couldn't hep but notice that the word "love" is written 9 times within three verses.  I have learned over the years that the best way of learning is through repetition.  So as I kept reading the word "love" i finally came to a conclusion that the Lord wanted me (us) to learn something.  Then I remembered where i also read the word "love" in scripture.  "Love" the Lord Your God, "Love" your neighbor as yourself, perfect "love" casts out all fear, no greater "love" has anyone than this.... Now, I am confident that God wants us to learn something here.  Love is the first and the last.  Love is the answer.  Can you imagine what the world would be like if we truly "loved" each other.  Wow! I am ashamed to say that I have no idea what that may look like.  Think of all the heart ache and troubles, and division we have right now in this world from young and old alike.  From drug abuse, to suicide, to foreign relations, to politics etc.  If love abounded, i wonder if these things would fade away?  

This year we are planning 10 missions trips as part of our A1:8 initiative. Our team just returned from our first trip from Thailand. I talked with Joel, our missions director today and chatted about their experience. They teamed with Well Ministry to reach out to the women of Thailand in the sex trafficking industry. During the day they taught the women English and other trades to help them find jobs and release them from the industry. At night, the team would go out to the bars and chat with the girls about the Hope that is found in Jesus. What an amazing opportunity. So awesome to be apart of reaching beyond our 4 walls/locations as a church and influencing the people of Thailand. I have added a few pics of the team. To see a short documentary on the Thailand trip and view other trips we are taking this year check out www.aoneeight.org.

Process- a series of actions or steps taken in order to achieve a particular end.

This word puts a bad taste in most peoples mouth, including mine! However, it is the one thing that makes the difference in our lives. It separates the amateurs from the veterans. All throughout scripture we see life stories with huge "process journey's" in the middle. It is very easy to read the Word with a narrative mindset and forget about the reality of the text. We read the immediate response or ending, without the realization of the very process of each person. For instance, Moses was a great leader with awesome accomplishments. However, he also was a leader that was not a stranger to the process. His waiting time in the desert would have caused most of us to look for another vocation or even religion if i can say that. How about Joseph? He was a leader that God rasied up through the oddest of processes. Imagine....God's explains to Joseph what a great plan he has for his life and it entails family betrayl, emprinsonment, false accusations, and much emotional pain. Jospehs process, to the common eye was devestating. However, this process was necessary in order to acheive his particular ending which was an amazing story of God's faithfulness and restoration.
So today...embrace the process in your life. If you are like me, sometimes the process can become frustrating. The days can turn monotnous and in the tough times it can seem easier to look for a way out. Let me encourage you today. "Be confident of this, He who has begun a good work in you will carry it out into completion until the day of Christ Jesus." Phil 1:6

Decided to take the day off today. Had a great, and very busy weekend.  Going to a Theaterchurch Conference this week.  There, we'll scope out new innovated ways of using technology in the theater and all other practical ways we can do better at what we do.  Should be good times.

As we continue the Elephant in the Church series, Pastor Mark will be speaking about the Evolving Elephant this Saturday.  We are also finalizing HallowFest, our Halloween Outreach for this year. Should be a great time to bless our community. We are going to set up the Fest outside on Ebenezer's Patio  with lots of games, candy, hot chocolate, and even a picture studio to capture all the great costumes.  It's such a blessing to be a blessing.  

Thought I would post a few pics from the weekend.  From church to anniversary bash...It was such a great time.

Planning our Halloween Outreach here at Ebz.  Love having opportunities to bless our community with no strings attached.  We are going to have some games, hot chocolate, candy, picture booths and more.  Getting excited as we finalize details.

Came across a great Michelangelo quote today that gripped my attention. Thought I would put it across your radar today. After Michelangelo died, someone found a note which he had written to his apprentice. Here is what it read, "Draw, Antonio, draw, and do not waste time."
This quote challenges me to keep keepin on. Our life is but a vapor. Life doesn't change when you stand still. So whatever you do today do it with all your might. Whatever goals you have made or dreams you have, do something about it today! Because time slips away. Days pass. Years go by. And time comes to an end. So rise up and do it! Do not be discouraged, for He will be with you!!

Awesome services this weekend. Kicked-off the Elephant in the Church Series. Loved the huge Balloons. Added great a great branding effect for the services. We'll add yet another cool element to next week services. it surprise for now:) Gearing up for next week service today and tomorrow since we'll be out to Catalyst for this remainder of this week. So looking forward to going with the whole team. Shelly is coming too. She is very excited.

I am spurred on by the leadership motto "serving is leading". What a contrast to the "CEO" world of leadership. AS God is stretching me and i am growing, i really want to portray this operation of leadership. Serving others is the key to leading people. What a great quality to learn. God make us servants!

Gearing up for the Elephant in the Church Series. So excited about this series. We'll be talking about "hot topics" that everyone thinks about yet no one likes to discuss. We're playing offense with his one! Real excited about the 7ft Balloon we ordered to advertise for the series. It's going to look real nice hanging from the top of the capitol building. haha. Joking of course. Also brainstorming today about a Halloween outreach. Just thinking of ways again that we could play offense and use this time of tricker treat to bless our community. So glad we have such an awesome location where we can get creative and do things to bless people. Love it! Heading to GW Hospital later on to do a visit and then hopefully heading home to beat the traffic! This morning was crazy traffic!!

Thought for the Day: What are your goals for this next year? Its always good to be on the offense and make some goals to strive for. I have learned that it keeps me very purpose driven and moving forward. Shelly and I will do a marriage goal covenant this month on our anniversary for the next year. We want to continually be growing not only individually but also in our marriage. I'll post some goals as we finalize them to give you some examples. Just a thought. Also check out Chase the Goose.com for some more examples f life setting goals.

Enjoying the day off today. Had an ortho appt today. They have locked my teeth together with rubber bands. What's the deal with that:) Got to see some good friends today. Just relaxing and enjoying what God is doing in our lives. Feel blessed today. A sense of destiny in fact!!