Where God Guides, He Provides (Part 3)

This is the last in a 3-part series:

1. A Slippery Excuse
2. Where God Guides, He Provides (Part 2)

To sum up from parts one and two, sometimes where God guides, He provides immediately with financial resources. Sometimes He doesn’t. But the bottom line is that where He guides He does provide. I hit both sides of that concept in those posts, so now here a few “other ways” that God provides…

Sometimes God Provides :

• An Idea. In Nehemiah 7:5 , God gives Nehemiah an idea to deal with an issue on the way to fulfilling the vision. I think of Mark Batterson and his prayer for two million dollars to pay for the construction of their coffee shop, Ebenezers. Instead of giving him the money, Mark says that God gave him a "two million dollar" idea, instead. If you were waiting for cash, but God gave you an idea, would you take it?

• People. The apostle Paul was blessed by Stephanas, Fortunatus and Achaicus who made up for the help the Corinthians couldn’t send. [1 Corinthians 16:17-18] Paul also sent Tychicus to the Ephesians. We could go on and on here. Maybe it's people with money. Or maybe it's people who have a better idea. Or maybe it's people who know many people who can help make what God is guiding into a reality.

• Stuff. Sometimes God just provides food for your stomach, a donkey for the road, or a room in the town. Instead of cash to pay for stuff, He just provides the stuff. For us it was free storage space at the Rec Center that was provided rather than money for a trailer…A much better deal. We've also received things like computers and nursery supplies rather than the money to purchase these things.
  

• A Training Ground. The Disciples couldn't cast out a certain demon, even though they were generally doing what Jesus had instructed them to do. [Mark 9:14-29]– The provision was an experience that helped them understand that "this kind can only be cast out by fasting and prayer." Their inability to accomplish the task provided the training ground for dealing with the situation in the future. They needed additional information that was deeply ingrained in them by the experience itself.
  

• A Lesson to Learn. Consequences of bad choices do not necessarily disqualify the mission or the “Guiding.” Jonah made mistakes and suffered for them, but the mission remained. He had to learn to go the right way. Moses, after throwing and smashing the tablets that had the 10 commandments inscribed on them by God, then had to go back up the mountain and chisel a new set the hard way.

• Strength and resourcefulness. Philippians 4:12-14 – Surely no one would doubt that God was guiding Paul even when the money ran out. God provided extra strength and an amazing ability for Paul to do the best he could with what he had.

• Wisdom. Ecclesiastes 10:10 - Sometimes God provides the "smarts" for making something work without having to buy a new ax to make it happen. "Sharper" is often better than "newer."
  

• A call to persistent prayer. Sometimes God simply calls us to keep asking, keep seeking and keep knocking. He intentionally withholds the provision for a time and provides a burden that will not go away until He satisfies it. [Luke 11:5-12] God knows what we need before we ask and He wants us to trust in Him more than His provision.

• An Invitation to Know Him More Deeply. [2 Thessalonians 3:1-5] He is our goal, more than any task He guides us to perform and more than the things that He gives us to accomplish it. Whenever and wherever God guides, He always provides an opportunity to know Him in a closer and stronger way. The lesser, more "tangible" provision always follows. [Matthew 6:33]

A Cool "Web 2.0" Tool

I meant to add this to the last post, but it was already getting a little long, and the post before that was a mini-book. :)

As we have been tracking the list for our Team 100, we have realized that some of our team members' friends have been a little shy about sending an email to the pastor they have never met. However, they haven't been shy about sending that same email to their friend.

A simple way to for us to keep track of those names without a ton of double emails has been to use the online word processor called writely.

According to their website (and my experience), here's some of what you can do with writely:

·	Share documents instantly & collaborate real-time.
	Pick exactly who can access your documents.
·	Edit your documents from anywhere.
	Nothing to download -- your browser is all you need.
·	Store your documents securely online.
	Offsite storage plus data backup every 10 seconds.
·	Easy to use.
	Clean, uncluttered screens with a familiar, desktop feel.

Back to me:

It's like a "write board" on steroids.

I've used it in a number of ways so far, and it is very cool.

I uploaded a document from "Microsoft Word" and even added pictures and it worked beautifully. For our Team 100 list, I invited some team members to "collaborate" and now when they have someone to add to the list, they just go to that page in writely and add it themselves. No need for an email. One document in one place. I was working in writely the other day, and noticed that my lovely wife, Leona was there working on the same document at the same time. Pretty fun.

Writely is now a part of Google, so reliability isn't a major concern. You can read about it and follow the blog here: Writely.blogspot.com

I kind of like having the world wide web as my "company network" and extra external drive. :)

And yes, it's free.

Yes, you have to have access to the web to access the files, but you can also download them and take them with you if you're planning to go camping with your laptop in the mountains. But that would be kind of sad, anyway, wouldn't it? Oh, the possibilities...

Update: Terry Storch has mentioned a similar online word processing program called ajaxwrite. Haven't seen or used it but it could be another alternative if you're looking for options.
Update 2: D'oh! Apparently, Writely has "closed off new registrations" until they have completed the move to Google. Sorry for the teaser, but I still recommend that you get on the list and try it out. Thanks Terry, for the info.

Team 100 Friday Update: [3/24/06]

We are halfway through the "ENGAGE" series, and interestingly, we are about halfway to our goal of 100 prayer partners.

We are now at 53 people outside of our Church who are praying for us on Team 100.

Actually, we have had a number of responses that added us to a "praying team" of their church, but we only counted them once, unless we were given a list of names. Also, we haven't included spouses in our count unless they are specifically listed in a response. If you are praying for us and your spouse is on board as well, please let me know if you haven't already done so.

So maybe we are already to 100... :)

It's not too late. For those of you who have been faithfully praying for us, could you rustle up one other person around you to pray for us? If each person enlisted one, we would reach our "Team 100" goal today!

Since the last update, we have added people from the following areas:

• Greenville, North Carolina
• Cedar Hill, Texas
• Oak Hill, Virginia
• Gillette, Wyoming
• Lufkin, Texas
• Texarkana, Texas
• Washington, D.C.
• Sapulpa Oklahoma

This "Prayer Team" thing is reciprocal, by the way. We'd love to pray for you as well. Send me an email to let me know how we can pray for you. Let's "unleash the power of prayer" together!

Thank you for praying for us. We have sensed your prayers in many ways as we have gone through this series! Very cool stuff.

God is teaching and growing us in so many ways and I am very excited about this weekend at Compass!

Where God Guides, He Provides (Part 2)

This post is a follow up to this one: "A Slippery Excuse."

Sometimes where God Guides, He actually provides with cold, hard cash. Just out of the blue. Here are two (of many) stories from my own journey where He did that very thing.

Story One:

When Leona and I first moved to the Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex, it was because we knew that God was leading (or guiding) us to be here. He had guided us to a specific church and He had guided me to attend seminary. This was very clear to us. The provision for this to really work however, was not very evident. We moved anyway.

The "What" and the "Where" were settled in our hearts. It was now just a matter of "How."

Initially, I was paid a very humble part time salary. Leona, who is a teacher, had a hard time getting hired at first because we had moved in the middle of a school year. It was not long after our move before we were pretty much at the end, financially speaking. I had no idea how we were going to pay the rent. It was late, in fact.

We were where God had guided us, doing what God had guided us to do, but the provision was lacking. So we prayed.

Then it happened. Out of the blue.

A gentleman in our church approached me one afternoon and told me that God had impressed upon him and his wife to give us something. He then handed me an envelope. I thanked him for his kindness and generosity and after he left, I opened it, expecting to find cash for lunch or something like that. It stunned me to discover in that envelope ten crisp, new $100 bills. It was more than enough to pay (what seemed like a fortune at the time) our $415 rent, and then some. I was blown away.

Receiving that money caused a flashback . This “out of the blue” financial provision reminded me of another experience that I had had long ago as a teenager. It was the day I really learned to tithe and give with a generous heart, and it was the day my adventure with the “God Who Provides” really began.

Story Two:

I was sitting in a church service out of town and the speaker was talking about tithing and generosity. Up to that point, I had never really tithed or even given anything. I had only brought to church an envelope with a buck that my mom had put in it for me to give. I didn’t have any money of my own, so I never really had anything to give.

But by the time I was sitting in this service, I had recently earned a little cash. I had mowed some lawns and had amassed the great sum of around $40. But I hadn’t given any of it back to God. I hadn’t tithed at all.

During this worship service, I began to sense that God was guiding me to give. I also sensed that for some reason, I needed to give more than ten percent this first time around. So I began a silent “dialogue” with God. It went something like this:

Me: Ok, Lord, I get it. I know I need to give. I know You want me to give …So how much, Lord?

God: Ten dollars.

Me: No, really. I thought You said, “ten dollars.” Really, now. How much, Lord?

God: Ten dollars.

Me: I think I’m just saying this to myself. Maybe I’m trying too hard here. God, please tell me how much You really want me to give.

God: Ten dollars.

Me: So, You’re saying, “ten dollars.” That really is more than 10 percent, Lord.

God: …

Me: Really? Ten dollars? I only have forty. That’s more like 25 percent.

God: …

Me: Ten dollars. Ok, Lord. It’s Yours. (Foreshadowing of reality, here…) I don’t have it with me, but it’s on my desk at home. As soon as I get there, I’ll put it in an envelope, and bring it with me to church next Sunday.

This was all a very silent conversation with God. I wasn’t talking out loud, and I didn’t tell anyone what I was praying about. It felt great, though, knowing that I was clearly doing what God was guiding me to do, beyond the “letter of the law” and with generosity.

When the service ended a few moments later, I stood up and saw my sister in law, Debra, walking towards me from across the room. What happened next I will never forget as long as I live.

Debra said, “Johnny, during that last song, I really sensed God guiding me to give you this.”

She then handed me …ten…dollars.

My mouth slowly dropped open, and just as slowly I sat back down. Only God and I knew about the ten dollars. I had "goose bumps" as I realized that God was very, very close to me in that moment. Very, very real.

Unmistakably, powerfully and with little fanfare, God taught me that whenever He asked me to do anything, He would always provide what I needed to accomplish it. He would even provide what He asks me to give to Him, because He owns it all, anyway. He asked for ten dollars, then He gave me the ten dollars to give Him.

It was not so much a lesson about money and tithing (although that was clear), it was a lesson about trust. God wanted me to know that He is good, and that He is trustworthy. And as I have trusted Him, from that day till now, He has never ceased to be just that.

The Key

Sometimes God provides with cold, hard cash. But it’s not about the cash; it’s about Him. That’s why when God guides me to do something and the money doesn’t appear out of the blue, I still can trust Him.

Just to be clear, let me mention again that sometimes the lack of funds really is an indicator of God’s lack of guiding. God doesn’t provide it because He isn’t in it. Sometimes that is definitely the case. But again, it's not always the case.

This is why it is so vital to have a close, fresh, daily connection with God. To daily draw near to Him. [Hebrews 4:16, James 4:8] It’s the only way to make the distinction. A close connection with Christ helps us to see our circumstances more clearly and helps us to ask the right questions about provision and every thing else as we strive to follow His lead.

I love it when God provides “cash out of the blue.” I believe something like that will happen for Compass Church, very soon, in fact. "Instant" financial provision is incredible and necessary much of the time.

But I also love it when He provides in other ways. I’ll wrap up this "mini series" of posts with some of the other ways that "God provides" for "where He guides."

“Creative Podcasting” Addendum

When I first posted my creative podcasting ideas back in September, I was just thinking through ways that Compass Church could use podcasting to its fullest potential. I was surprised, however, when that post took on a small life all its own.

Here’s some of what’s happened to “the little post that could” since then:

• Terry Storch graciously mentioned it on Blogging Church, and the traffic to my blog and that post in particular, went way up.
  

• It has been quoted or talked about in blogs from California to Australia to England and parts in-between.

• It has become the #1 post on my blog, bringing new visitors weekly, even though the original post was made almost 6 months ago.

• As of today, if you search Google for “creative podcasting” (even without quotation marks) it’s the #2 listing, and #1 is a post about it that links to it.

• The post is included (along with Blogging Church) in an “internet in parish ministry” article in the online "Vincentian Encyclopedia" (A Catholic wiki devoted to material related to a 17th Century Priest and those who follow his example today. But no, I’m not Catholic, and I don’t know anything about this group.)

• Since the first post, I’ve added 2 more ideas, bringing the total to 21.

So all of this begs the questions:

• Have we implemented these ideas, yet? - No. Although we have made a few noble attempts. The guy trying to read his book at Starbucks who kept glaring at us over his glasses while we tried to do a little "live podcast" is still a funny memory. :) Oh, the hilarious, sweet irony.
  
• Are we going to? - That’s the plan.
• When? - Great question. We’re kind of “rolling out” features of Compass Church, right now. :) We’ll be trying each of these ideas at one time or another over the next year.

If that post has inspired you to actually implement any of the ideas, or you have any additional “creative podcasting” ideas, I’d love to hear about it.

How are you using podcasting in your church or ministry? Has anyone added the 2nd podcast?

Creative Podcasting Ideas

One More Podcasting Idea (or so…)

Snap Video Update - Thanks For Praying

Just wanted to say thank you to everyone who has been praying for Leona! Enjoy.

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Quick "Snap" Update #2

Ok, we're back from the doctor, and I'm fairly amazed. If you had been in the room with my wife when she experienced the initial pain, I think you would be amazed, as well. Here's what we discovered.

Basically, something in her upper vertebral column has "slipped and jammed." But because of her stenosis of the spine (a degenerative condition) this cannot be repaired by a trip to the chiropractor.

The great news is that the doctor is hoping that within the next 48 hours or so following muscle relaxers and pain killers that it will "pop back" into place on it's own. (Ouch.) This injury apparently is not in the same area of difficulty from earlier this year which is actually a good thing in some ways. It was part of our biggest concerns.

I guess we really won't know for sure for a few more days, but Leona seems to be making great progress today. Much more mobile. She still can't turn her head much to the left or look down without experiencing a lot of pain, but the pain killers should help with that.

Thank you for praying! I fully expected a different result from the doctor, and I believe your prayers have made all of the difference in the world, today!

Oh, and I've decided to not say "surgery" again in this blog unless there is a scheduled date on the calendar.... :)

Quick "Snap" Update

Leona has a Doctor's appointment today at 4:30 p.m. After another MRI or something, we'll know a bit more. Fortunately, she has a lot more mobility, today and is in good spirits. She rocks.

She also laughed at the picture of the broken pencil in the last post and thought it might have been a little over the top. Little did she know that it referred more to me than to her!

Snap

My lovely wife, Leona slipped and fell last week, and apparently weakened something in her neck. Friday night she was just sitting down on the couch and suddenly something snapped and she cried out in pain....

She has basically been immoblized, in pain and wearing a collar brace since then. Tomorrow we go to the doctor to discover what happened and figure out what to do about it. I'm thinking surgery may be unavoidable, now.

Our finances have been tighter than ever, I'm needing to be bi-vocational for a while and there has been considerable stress around the Leckie house this past week. This little incident just topped it off and left us asking, "Man, what else?" (Although I really don't want to know.)

I'm not sure what tomorrow or this week holds for us, but I'm sure glad we have a small army of people praying for us. :)

A few weeks ago when it was icy here, I received a great encouraging email from the cool and blogging trailblazer, Scott Hodge. He was letting me know that he had prayed for us that morning. Little did he know that moments earlier, I had slipped on the ice, landed on my shoulder, and slid down my driveway all the way to the street! My response to Scott while nursing a sore shoulder was, "Imagine what would have happened if you hadn't been praying! :-D

That's kind of the deal, here, also. Thanks for praying. Something in Leona's neck may have "snapped," but as of today, she and I have not. Although I am developing a slight twitch in my right eye...

So.

How can we pray for you?

This post written while praying for daylight and caught between the tension of 1-10 and 11-20.

Team 100 Friday update (3/10/06)

Our growing list of prayer partners on our way to 100 is now at 42. (How Cosmic can you get?)

At this point, we have people who are committed to praying at least 2 times a week for 4 weeks from the following places:

• Aurora, Colorado
• Keller, Texas
• Woodstock, Georgia
• Richardson, Texas
• Austin, Texas
  
• Hurst, Texas
• Abiline, Texas
• Haltom City, Texas
• Edgewood, Washington
• Saginaw, Texas
• Rhome, Texas
• Watauga, Texas
• Summerfields, Texas
• Fort Worth, Texas
• Springfield, Missouri
• Shreveport, Louisiana
• Anderson, South Carolina
• Maryville, Tennessee
• Azle, Texas
• Anchorage, Alaska
• Chicago, Illinois

Thank you to everyone who has signed on, so far! 3 more weeks to reach our goal of 100 people on our "Team 100." I'm particularly humbled by the senior pastors and fellow bloggers who have enthusiastically joined us in this effort. Pretty amazing.

If you'd like to join us, it's pretty simple. Download the simple prayer guide here, and zip me an email telling me where you're praying from! You can also just leave me a comment, here.

Seeking 100 Prayer Partners

Tomorrow we are beginning a new series called, "Engage: Unleashing The Power of Prayer." I began thinking about the possibility of a series on prayer back in November of last year. Many of you may remember my personal request for prayer [here] and the update [here.] I was reminded then of the incredible power of prayer and what a foundational principle it is in the life of every Christ follower. I was also reminded how vital it is for every church.

Over the last month or so, I have been reexamining what is commonly known as the "Lord's Prayer," and have been really "praying through" how Jesus taught his disciples to pray. As I have been adjusting my praying to the form and sequence of Jesus' prayer, it has been rocking my world. Or maybe I should say "He" has been rocking my world. And that of course, is the point.

The bulk of the series will be walking through Jesus' model prayer. There is far more there than immediately meets the eye, and it is very cool stuff. I'm not the same because of it, and my prayer is that Compass will be pointing in the right direction and off to the right start as a result of this series.

Throughout the series we will be creating systems and creatively emphasizing prayer. One of these that I am most excited about is the opportunity to invite 100 people from around the world and country to become a prayer partner with us for the length of the series.

100 people committed to pray specifically 2 times a week for 4 weeks for me, my family, Compass Church and that God would be honored through this series. That's our goal. No need to send money, join our church, like edgy music, be a part of our denomination or anything like that. We just want people who will pray. You can read more about it here, but that really is about all there is to it.

If you'll pray for us this month, drop me an email [johnny@compasswired.com] and let me know where you'll be "praying from." You can also just leave a comment here to be a part. I'm keeping a growing list and will post our progress toward 100. I won't list names, just the number and locations.

I am convinced that the essence of real prayer is all about being fully engaged with the God of the universe and adjusting our life to His purposes. I'm ready to ENGAGE, and unleash the power of prayer. Will you join us?

By the way, if you want to see the video "trailer" for the series, check it out here: Engage Trailer It's a big file, [11.5 mb] so a high speed connection would be best. The music is by Flyleaf.

Gathering of Bloggers

Had a cool time today, hanging out at the Nile with a fun mix of bloggers. There was unfiltered, honest and lively discussion about everything from technology and the church to churches and seminaries who are stuck in the '80's to...well, it's safe to say that we covered a lot of territory...

Today's Coffeehouse Ratpack:

Mark Bjornholm - This was my first opportunity to meet Mark in real life, so that in and of itself was very cool. He is a genuinely nice guy, has a great heart for serving, and currently has many irons in the fire. I hope to get together again with him, soon. Mark also blew me away today by handing me the audio version of one of the books on my wishlist: "Now Discover Your Strengths!" by Marcus Buckingham & Donald O. Clifton. How cool is that? Thanks again, Mark!

Jason Simmons - Was crackin' me up, as usual, today. Jason is definitely the man with the word pictures! His story is one of serving on a church staff, coming from a family in ministry, wandering away from God for a time, working in the world of business, and coming back to God with a fresh heart for ministry. A standout quote - "Ministry for me now is a passion rather than just a position." Great stuff.

Anthony Coppedge - Where do I begin? It's always a blast hangin' out with Anthony. Always challenging, passionate and fun. And some fun facts to know and tell that I did not know before today - He plays the drums and a few more musical instruments, as well! Who knew? Anthony is the most knowledgeable guy in media ministry today, and has a heart for helping churches become all they can be to reach people for Christ. He was on a roll, today and was giving me plenty of stuff to laugh about. Look for some cool stuff in the works from him in the days ahead...

Thanks, Mark, Jason and Anthony for a great time of dialog, laughter and encouragement. I'm sure we'll be converging on the unsuspecting coffee shop again, soon!

A Slippery Excuse

(Revised, 11:02 p.m.)
I know a very sharp guy who was at one time on staff at a large and exciting church, but who later left to plant a new church. When I met him, he had already raised thousands of dollars and recruited several team members from across the country to be on the team. He had also won the admiration of the "funding crowd" of organizations and churches in the area. His time at the big church had apparently carried a lot of weight.

But there was a slight problem, and he really had been struggling with it when I had the opportunity to talk with him about it. The problem was that he had a dollar amount in mind that he felt he had to have before he could plant the church. I remember him telling me that if he couldn't raise "x" amount of dollars by a certain date, he wasn't going to commit to going any further. He had it in his mind that there was only one way to do what he was called to do, and that it took "x" amount of dollars to do it. Sure enough, when he didn't raise "x" amount (although he had at least half of it) he pulled the plug on the whole thing!

Did he do the right thing? Maybe. But not necessarily.

The reason for not continuing? A slippery excuse that may sound surprising:

"Where God guides, He provides."

The reason that this is slippery, of course, is because it is actually a true statement. Where God guides you to do something, He most certainly provides. So how is it that this phrase can become an excuse?

It becomes an excuse when the "what" and the "when" are in the wrong hands. When we narrowly define what "provides" means and we decide when we should receive the "provision." When we tell God what it is He is supposed to provide and when He is supposed to provide it in order to accomplish what He wants to do, we're on shaky ground.

It is God who says, "I choose the appointed time; it is I who judge uprightly." (Psalm 75:2) Quick reminder: He chooses, not us.

Often when people use this expression, they are simply talking about money. It goes something like this: "If God doesn't provide the money for this [you fill in the blank], He must not be in it, or we're not the right people to do it."

"Good grief, how safe do we have to make the plan before we trust God to provide?" I mean really, how many established churches raise their entire budget for the year before they begin to spend any of it, become good stewards, do what they're supposed to be doing and trust God for the rest?

Sometimes God provides like he did for Moses, where He opened up the whole blessed Red Sea before anyone took a step to cross it. Other times God provides like he did for Joshua, where the dudes carrying the ark have to be waist deep into the water before anything happens.

I'm not discounting the importance of planning, budgeting and wisely considering the cost of a task before entering into it. (Luke 14:28-30) To not do that would be unwise. I'm only talking about what we originally have in mind and how it sometimes contrasts with God's ultimate idea of what it is going to look like and what it is going to take to make it happen.

God sometimes unveils the story slowly, revealing and providing what is needed for this stage only. I believe that Jesus taught us to pray "give us this day our daily bread" instead of "give us this month our monthly bread" for a reason. He wants us to follow Him daily. He wants us to trust in Him more than His provision.

Of course God provides where He guides, but He doesn't always do it before you're feet are on the trail-sometimes it's not until you get around the next rock. But if you didn't go around the rock, you'd never discover the provision, and the journey around the rock might just help you to realize that the provision didn't look anything like you thought it would.

Sometimes where God guides, He simply guides some more, and His guiding is the provision.

So what does God provide? What does that look like? Money? Sometimes. But sometimes it comes in other ways that can help validate His calling, guiding, and shaping of things into His better plan.

I'll share some of those ways in another post...

"What's Your Excuse?" & Other Matters

First, I have to point you to a great post by Perry Noble.

I've had pages of stuff just sitting in my "un-wired-er analog pda mindmap," (or my blog in hand) for a while, now, and Perry's post is a great spring board for me to share it with you. Check out his post here. You may have to scroll down to find it. The title is "Stop Complaining About What You Do Not Have."

Go read it and then come back. Really, go ahead. I'll wait....



Hey, welcome back.

Can I just say that I couldn't agree more? There are a million excuses for not doing what God calls you to do, and a million more for not completing what He calls you to do. I've heard them, seen them and used them myself more times than I care to admit.

I'm going to talk about some of those excuses over the next few posts. And we'll start with one that may surprise you. In fact, it sounds more like "doctrine" than an excuse. Should be fun.

But before I get to that, let me take care of a little "house keeping:"

• Anthony and a gathering of bloggers: In the comments on the post, "New Friend At The River Nile," the ever fun and challenging Anthony Coppedge threw out some dates for getting together for coffee. The suggested date, time and place? Thursday, Feb. 23rd. 11 AM @ the River Nile. I think it's a "go," so if you'd like to join us, drop me an email ( johnny[AT]compasswired.com) or just leave a comment here. Or I guess you could just show up. It is a coffee shop, after all. :-)

• Valentine's Dance & My Growing Number of Keys: Because we are renting the Roanoke Recreation Center for our Weekend Worship Experiences, I have been given keys to the building. Originally, there were 3 (Outside door, classroom, and storage). We soon discovered that we were unable to adjust the lighting in our worship area because the controls were in a locked room within another locked room. When we were serving at the Roanoke Valentine's Dance (a hoot, by the way), I asked for keys to those areas, also and got them. When the Parks and Rec Director handed me the additional keys (now a total of 5), I just held them all up, laughed and said, "You might as well just make me a janitor here!"

• I've decided to stretch the "fun post ahead" I was going to make a while back over several posts. Some of it is about how we've made stuff happen that we didn't have the money for and some of it is about free or low cost web 2.0 types of resources for churches and church plants, in particular. Here's one to play with: Calendar Hub. We are experimenting with it right now, and so far, it has been a pretty cool tool. It's an online calendar with a clean, simple look that can be updated by people you share the user name and password with. You can make some events public and others private between people you select, all on the same calendar. And yes, once again, this resource is free. Check out our simple start here: calendarhub.com/pub/compasswired

Look for the "excuses" posts sometime after I get the "fined tuned and updated version" of this Sunday's Messsage | Sermon | Talk | Whatever outline to Kim...

Special Valentine's Day Pod Blip

This is a special Valentine's Day edition of the Poor Pastor's Pod Blip.

Lighten up.

Pink Piece of History

Back in August of 2005, Ben Arment of History Church had a short post on his blog about a pink shirt that he wore during a sermon. Across the front of the shirt were the words, "I feel a sin coming on." That really cracked me up, so I made a short comment on his blog that "I think I need that shirt."

Fast forward to a few days ago. Ben sent me a package that contained 2 of the resources from my Amazon Wishlist: "The Art of the Start" and "The Tipping Point!" What a cool blessing that was! Very cool.

Nestled among the books was the lovely shade of pink that was and is the infamous shirt! Yes, boys and girls, it is now in my possession.

So I used it this past Sunday during the "Heart Check: For Healthy Relationships" message. I wore it under another shirt, and did an "unveiling" at the appropriate moment. I'm pretty sure I frightened people when I started pulling up my shirt, but it got a great laugh and helped make my point!

Hmm, maybe I should sign it and send it along to another pastor....

Ben is a church planter who understands perseverance. "History" is and is becoming a great church because of a church planting pastor who has held closely to the vision God has given him and who has been willing to press on through time and obstacles. That's always inspiring and encouraging to me!

Thanks, Ben, for the inspiration, the books, the shirt and the laugh!

Oh and by the way, I've never met Ben face to face. [...yet]

Behold the power that is Blog. Blog on... :-D

[Fixed the "appropriate moment" link.]

Ta-da To Do Tomorrow...

Let's see, there are 24 hours in a day, so if I do 2 of the 30 items in my "ta-da" list every hour I should be able to accomplish them all with 9 hours to spare! Yeah, that should work...

Well, time is my enemy, so of course that didn't work, but I have spent the last two days trying. Only 20 items to go! :-D

I'm heading to bed before I fall asleep right here, but tomorrow I'll have to fill you in on:

- Ben Arment and a pink piece of history that is now in my possession.
- Anthony and a gathering of bloggers.
- Tonight's Roanoke Valentine's Dance and my growing number of keys.

Back tomorrow...

Maybe.

Ta-da To do Today...

My Ta-da "to do list" for today has 30 items. Before my sleepy head hits the pillow tonight, I'll let you know how many I finished.

I have a fresh pot of coffee brewing, and I'm gearing up for a crazy day. If you've commented on my blog or emailed me last night or this morning, getting back with you is most likely on the list!

Oh yeah, Ta-da is a cool little online tool. You can create clean, simple "to-do lists" that you can access anywhere you can connect to the web. You can also share them with others, which is cool for a simple task oriented group project, like the one I'm preparing for a meeting I have tonight.

And it also... is free.

There are some blog posts that are on my list, so hopefully I'll be back to the blog before the day is over.

Otherwise, I'll see you on the other side of daylight. Gentlemen, start your engines....

Compass Church Wired : Blog

It's just an experiment with many cool possibilities. Check it out: Compass Church Wired : Blog

An online [collaborative, interactive and rss/atom subscribable] newsletter that's up to the minute current.

And free.

Alright, so it's not exactly a novel idea. But I have more free, web 2.0 type links and ideas for churches [and especially church plants] on the way...

"I lo-o-o-o-ve technology... but no-o-o-o-o-o-t as much as you, you see...always and forever....always and forever..."

New Friend at the River Nile

Met another blogger in the real world, yesterday. Jason Simmons is a great guy with an amazing story of God's grace. Our visit was a great time of laughter, sharing stories and encouragement. Since we both live in Keller, (or at least our mail does) I'm looking forward to getting to know Jason better in the weeks ahead. Check out his website here and his blog here.

He's also a generous guy, because he blessed me with one of the resources from my wishlist, "The Creative Leader" by Ed Young! Thanks Jason!

As a footnote, let me add that we met at a new coffee shop (open just over 30 days) in Keller called "The River Nile Coffee Shop." Website is still under construction.

The quick review is:

Atmosphere:
About even with Lynn's & better than many Starbucks (with free wi-fi)
Coffee:
Much better than Lynn's and about even with Starbucks, but I only had a redeye at my first meeting and a white chocolate moca later.

I actually went back later in the day for a second meeting and I'm sure I'll be sippin' java again and surfin' the free wi-fi at "The River Nile" real soon. But I gotta say that the mummy who tries to kill you after you place your order is probably over the top.

Ok.

I'm just kidding.

There's no mummy.

Espresso and shocking surprises would be a bad combination. :)

Obstacles Are Not Always Indicators

Once you settle in your heart that God is calling you to do something, obstacles (and even failures) no longer become indicators. Once you are set on the journey, your eyes are on the goal and the obstacles just add drama to the adventure....not a reason for turning back.

If an obstacle is an indicator, it lets you know if you are on the right course. If you already know you are on the right course, the obstacles are simply part of the course.

Like the apostle Paul, you can lose the ship without losing the trip.

3 Questions and a Reminder

If you've ever or are currently plowing through a difficult time, Job chapter 1 is well worth a few minutes of your attention.

In fact, it's good stuff any time.

Read the chapter, ask yourself these 3 questions and then chew on the reminder:

1. Could God brag about you to Satan? (v.8)
2. Would Satan be right about you? (v.9-11)
3. Is your relationship with God strong enough to endure difficulty? (v.20-22)

A little perspective and a reminder:

Things are seldom what they seem. (v.12)

What are you currently going through that (if you had a little rest, took a deep breath and a hard look at it) is really not what it seems? What's the true answer to the three questions if they are asked about you?



Wait. Did you not read Job chapter 1, first? In too big of a hurry? Could that explain a few things? Go back up there and click it... :)

"You Can't Do That."

Whenever someone says this to you:

"You can't do that!" (or some variation like, "That won't work.")

It usually means they're only saying:

"You can't do that the way I'm thinking you'll have to do that in order to do that."

The problem is just that they haven't seen that done in that way before.

And of course, they could be right. So learn from but don't be limited by the experience of those who've gone before.

Because maybe you really can do that, even if no one else has ever done it that way before.

It's Great!

Ok, this isn't the post I was referring to in the last post, but I wanted to give a quick update on this past weekend. Sunday was Great! The worship area worked great, the things we rigged to work worked great, we had a great number of visitors and we're off to a great start at the Rec Center! All in all I'd say it was ...great!

And did I mention the fact that we have storage space at the Rec Center? We literally are able to store 95% of our stuff on site. That means no trailer necessary. Which is great because we don't have one. Did I mention that it was great?

And speaking of great, our team was off the hook, this weekend. Taking a cue from the Gary Lamb church planter's playbook, Saturday night we began setting up after 8 p.m. and it was midnight before we were heading home. Great people. Great attitudes. Great fun.

It was especially fun when the automatic timer killed the lights on us in the middle of our setup. Fortunately, we had brought a few lights of our own and so we kept working!

When we finally did leave, however, I couldn't get the doors to lock. I was exhausted and the thought of having to call the director of the Rec Center after midnight or having to spend the night at the Rec Center made me feel not so great. We just couldn't get the thing to lock. I tried, Ricky tried and Dan tried, but to no avail. Then my lovely wife, Leona tried and it was done! Then I was back to great! Yes, I have a great wife!

It felt right being at the Rec Center on Sunday. It was just right. I've known for over a year that this is where God has been leading us. It's where Compass Church's adventure in developing more, stronger and closer followers of Jesus Christ really begins.

Now I can't wait until next Sunday. And man, does that ever feel great.

...Oh great. Now I want a bowl of frosted flakes.

The Post Ahead & The Milestone We're On

The Post Ahead

I have a post in the works that I'm really looking forward to sharing. Look for it on the other side of this weekend. Curious? Well, let me just put it this way -

I think I need to write a book called:
"Little Rascals Church: How You Can Start One With Little or No Money Down!"

Or maybe:
"Church Planting With A Few Friends And Everyday Objects Around Your Home."

Or better yet:
"Bootstrap Church Planting: Pulling Yourself Up By Your Bootstraps When You Don't Have Boots And The Shoes You Have Are Strapless."

And to add to the suspense, I'll also let you know that a little research went into this post, including a few insights from the AVClub man himself, Ken Wilson.

But don't get too excited. There's no way any post could live up to that buildup.

The Milestone

The milestone we're on right now is all about momentum and passion on the part of the Compass Team getting ready for Sunday. This is a very, very good thing.

Here's a great example. A Couple in our church, Dan & Cassandra Robison, hit their 900 (or so) home neighborhood with door hangers today. They got about 3/4 of the way through the neighborhood with the help of some neighbor kids they enlisted. They'll finish it up in the morning, but wrapped up today's portion by taking those kids out for pizza as a reward. And when they called to tell me about it, they sounded like they all had a blast.

And for example number two, Cassandra's email signature now includes the line: "My Church Rocks!" followed by a link to our website. I love it. That's just greatness.

You pour yourself into what you buy into. It energizes you more than it drains you.

When the work becomes exciting and fun again, you know you've hit an important milestone!

And speaking of milestones, and on a totally unrelated note, today is Kim's birthday!

I Have The Keys...

Well, I'm typing this today on a sleek little laptop my brother, Kenny, rigged up for me. And I'm sitting in the parking lot of the Roanoke Recreation Center, which is a wi-fi hotspot. I thought I'd post from here. Very cool.

Basic news:
* I have the keys. We're official!
* We have storage space at the Rec Center.
* The preschool/Nursery area has pretty much everything we'll need except for diapers and wipes and things like that. (Setup will be a breeze for this area!)
* We have permission to set up this week on Saturday night after the Rec Center closes!
* God is at work all around us...

Continue to pray for us as we head into the weekend. Weird things like sickness, work issues, and more are also happening with our team. Just goofy stuff out of the blue. Hmm...I wonder why....? :)

Relationship Series

We're kicking off at the Rec Center with a 5 week series called, "Love Revisited." Here's the promo piece. Tried to keep the "Valentine's day" hearts and pink out of it as much as possible...

Poor Pastor's Pod Blip #2

Because we're still #1 on Google for "Pod Blip."

(And to lighten up a little because the countdown to our first service at the Roanoke Rec Center is blazing by at a crazy pace...)

Congrats to Ken for his "fob keycards" ranking....

An Amazing Day

Today was an amazing day!

First, it rained for the first time in months. We've been in a serious drought around here, so today was a refreshing turn in the weather. It also felt a little symbolic to me since our church turned a corner of our own, today.

We said goodbye to some long time team members this morning who will not be joining us on the next phase of our journey as a church. We will miss them greatly, but we know that they need to move on to what God is leading them to do. Bittersweet...

Fortunately, this transition was followed by an incredible display by our team of passion and commitment to the vision of Compass Church. I watched our team step up to the plate in an amazing way as preparations for next week kicked into gear. We worked together, laughed, ran errands, made sandwiches, sorted stuff, created things and prayed in preparation for the week ahead. It was awesome.

I appreciate your prayers this week because I know that the spiritual warfare intensity always goes up several notches before important events. I'm praying for God's favor, provision, logistical smoothness, great attitudes, rest and a wealth of life change as a result of our new services at the Rec Center.

Cool stuff ahead. I'm looking forward to the challenges and victories that are in the works this week!

Fun On The Redneck Trampoline

When I lived in East Texas, there was a house in the neighborhood that had its Halloween decorations still up even through Christmas and they would still be there even into January. It always drove me crazy.

Now it seems that I have done basically the same thing on my blog, here. "Merry Christmas" post still here, weeks into January? Sorry about that. I'm thinking, of the comedian who said, "If you've ever been accused of lying through your tooth... you might be a..." Dang. The next thing you know, I might be leaving blog posts up on blocks in my driveway for weeks at a time!

Realizing this made me think of what happened the other day when we were preparing for a Compass Church inventory by clearing out my garage. We pulled some old mattresses and box springs out and my kids decided to blow off some steam by jumping on them. I couldn't help but join in and I almost killed myself in the process!

While this was going on, my neighbor drove up, rolled down her car window and shouted, "What's this? A Redneck Trampoline?"

Enjoy the video while I take down these decorations.... All kinds of bloggy goodness is on its way...

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Merrry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Tonight we had a great Christmas Eve experiment - 2 Christmas Eve Services outside in the park in 2 different neighborhoods.

Although one neighborhood service was better attended than the other, we had about 70 or so people overall join us for carols, Scripture reading from Luke 2, a short message from me, and the cool Christmas vocal stylings of Kim Wells with her guitar. But no candles...high winds and dry weather caused a red flag burning ban! Definitely a great night, and we had many new people asking about Compass Church.

In other news, we were recently contacted by Birchwood Community Church, who is now one of our Sponsoring Church Partners! Very cool. I'm looking forward to an incredible 2006!

And now from me, my lovely wife Leona and the three M's: We wish you a very Merry Christmas and a joyous New Year!

Gotta rock. I have one more Santa role to play....

"Parents' Shopping Day Out" Photos

We've now posted a few photos on the Compass Church website from our recent "Parents' Shopping Day Out." The kids were great and had a lot of fun, and the parents were all very appreciative of the free time. This was an excellent event, and Brenda, Kim, Leona and Cassandra made it happen. Great job, ladies! Thanks also to Ricky, Dan, and my own Matthew and Melissa for being great helpers throughout the day!

Here I am leading the complicated and tricky game of "Simon (or in this case, Santa) Says."

See the rest of the gallery here: Shopping Day Out Gallery

On a side note, I can't believe how old my son Matthew (on the right) looks in this picture! And it was just yesterday that Melissa (on the left) looked like the little girl standing in front of me, here! It's not a cliche' it's just true - They grow up faster than you think, and time rocks on...

Santa Fun Links From Dave

Dave Trotter of Revolution Church has 3 funny "Santa" links on his blog, today. Take a break from the holiday stress and don't take any of these too seriously...

After donning the red suit twice this year, I especially liked the "pictures of kids who were scared of Santa" link!

Check out the links here: Christmas Fun

One More Podcasting Idea (or so...)

Terry Storch & Brian Bailey are writing a book called, "Blogging Church: Sharing The Story of Your Church Through Blogs" and have a great blog and podast over at Bloggingchurch.com.

I did a post back in September called, "Creative Podcasting Ideas" that Terry graciously linked to today. I originally only posted 19 ideas, but in honor of the mention, here's one more.

Idea #20 - Leave them with a "cliff hanger." (This is similar to a previous idea, but with a different twist) Give people a reason to want to catch your next podcast. It worked in the golden days of radio, why not the golden days of podcasting?

Example 1: "And then something completely unexpected happened...And I'll tell you all about it in the next podcast!"

Example 2: "So there are 4 ways to affair-proof your marriage. In the next podcast I'll tell you about the 5th one. It's incredibly powerful, and pulls the last four together. See you then."

Example 3: "In my next podcast, I'll be making a very special announcement that you don't want to miss. I'm very excited about it and can't wait to tell you about it. Spread the word!" (This is a version of the previously mentioned idea.)

Example 4: "Jake, you've had an amazing experience. I want to thank you for sharing that with us, today. But something happened later that changed everything for you, didn't it?"
"Yeah, it was unbelievable."
"In the next podcast, I'd like for you to tell us all about that and what it has to do with us."
"Cool. I'd love to do that."
"Thanks, Jake. Well, that's it for today, folks..."

Well there you have it. A nice round number. 20.

... Ok, that's just dull.

So here's one more:

Idea #21 - Have a Contest & Give Something Away. Just like on the radio, only make it "email number 5" wins an autographed copy of your new book or something. Announce the winner on your blog.

Rats. Now I've messed up the list. Does that mean I have to take it up to 30? Hey, maybe there's an ebook in the making here. Oh wait a minute. I guess you're reading it now, aren't you? So never mind. I guess I'll have to create an idea e-book for something else...

Check out the blogging church link here: Podcasting Ideas

Santa Epilogue

What happened next and random final thoughts:

• We had a lot of people sign up for the Parent's Shopping Day Out and ask a lot of questions about our church.

• The following Saturday I was Santa again at my neighborhood's holiday event. Wasn't quite the same as the week before, but I was now an old hand at this stuff. :) By the way, Leona was actually "Mrs. Claus" at this event. I may have to post that photo later.
  

• I realized this week that I'll be on hundreds of people's refrigerators this year. They just won't realize it's me.
  

• When I was at the Rec Center today, well over a week later, somebody walked by me and said, "Hey, Santa!" I'm not sure, but I think it was one of the members of my "Christmas Posse." ' I didn't really recognize him, though, without the Gingerbread head.

• It dawned on us that this past Easter, Leona was the Easter Bunny at a city event, and that this Christmas I was Santa Claus. Surely people are going to begin to talk...

• Life is full of beautiful, adventurous and unexpected "God moments." Determine in your heart to not miss any of them.

• Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night. Or day. Or whatever.
  

Surprised By Santa, (Part the 4th)

While waiting for my cue to start the festivities, I ran into the wife of another Church planter in the Roanoke area. As she gave me a friendly greeting, I felt a slight feeling of remorse at having hit her husband upside the head with a candy cane thrown from a Christmas Float at last year's parade. But the feeling passed quickly, and I went back to thinking it had been a good idea...:)

To get to where I needed to be to get things rolling, I had to walk into the crowd, through the lobby, up two flights of stairs, down the hall, and through a classroom to get to the balcony loft where the Christmas Tree was waiting.

Making my way through that crowd was no small task. Halfway through the lobby I felt a tug and a weight on my right side, and turned to discover a little kid who was happily hugging my leg. My first reaction was to do a W.C. Fields' impression: "Go away, kid, ya' bother me..." Instead I gave her a gentle hug in return and then, just as gently, pried her little claws off of my Santa pants. Those baggy red trousers were loose enough already, and one more tug would create a show of hilarity and slapstick of a totally different sort.

When I finally made it to the balcony, the spotlight moment had arrived. "Tree lighting remote control" in one hand, I used my other to put the bullhorn to my fuzzy fake beard. With my best, deep, barrel-throated Santa voice I shouted, "Welcome to the brand new Roanoke Recreation Centerrrr!!"

I expected a thunderous applause, but instead got two crickets playing patty cake.

So I moved quickly into my act. I did a little of the "Have you all been good this year?" stuff, and it didn't get much of a reaction either. So I shifted to the countdown.

"Are you ready? Let's count it down! 3-2-1!"

And amazingly, I hit the button at the right time and at the right angle and the tree lit up like a... well, like a Christmas Tree. That's when finally the place erupted in applause. And what an incredible sound of relief that was to me.

When I walked into the gym where the "photos with Santa" were to be made, again the crowd applauded and cheered. That's when I noticed the Compass Church Team to my right, busily serving hot chocolate and cookies while signing people up for the Parents' Shopping Day Out. No one was applauding their efforts, but I couldn't help thinking how proud I was of them. I knew I didn't have to worry about whether or not they would do a great job with this serving thing - it's in their DNA (and the DNA of our church).

A servant's heart is not optional for spiritual maturity; it's an indicator of spiritual maturity.

The next hour was spent with various and asundry people sitting on my knee for photos, which believe it or not, was actually kind of fun.

There were kids who completely freaked out, kids who were overjoyed and ready to tell me what they wanted for Christmas, and kids who hadn't quite decided if they were too old for this stuff or not. There were teenagers just goofing around, a giggly lady from Germany (Vaht are you going to bdring to me, Zhanta?) and even all of the members of my "Christmas Posse." The Reindeer had apparently decided to forgive me for stepping on her foot earlier in the night. One of my favorite photos taken was with the spunky little old lady who told me, "Honey, I was rescued off of a roof during Katrina, and I want my picture taken with Santa!"

But one of my favorite moments during that segment was when the dudes from the Rec Center, Robert and Eric, brought me a glass of water at the request of my lovely wife, Leona. They handed me the cup and then stood guard, blocking me from view while I lifted my "beard" to take a drink! All those guys needed were shades and their fingers to their ears to finish out the scene. Santa Security. I sure wish I had a picture of that.

After a very, very long time, it was over. The crowds were gone and I could now get out of the Santa suit, which by this time was in need of some serious dry cleaning. The shirt I was wearing underneath the hot suit was definitely in need of a trip to the wash. Fortunately for me, the Rec Center Staff gave me a cool new Roanoke Recreation Center Golf Shirt as a lovely parting gift. I think that they were originally going to give me a T-Shirt, but then someone suggested that "We need to give Santa a golf shirt!" And voila' - I got the upgrade.

The night drew to a close with me and my family getting a ride together in the horse drawn carriage, and having a great conversation with the driver who led us in a stirring rendition of "Jingle Bells" while we rode along. I kid you not.

And then to completely top off the night, the city gave our church a special award. It is the first award we've received as "Compass Church." I didn't see that one coming, so it was a very nice and unexpected moment.

So I was surprised by Santa. I was surprised by the city. I was surprised by myself. And I was surprised by God. And you would have seen the look of surprise on my face, if it hadn't been covered by that nasty beard. It was no surprise that I was happy to get rid of that.

And when my head finally hit the pillow later that evening, there were no visions of dancing sugarplums to be had by me - only deep, peaceful, and (for the first time in a long while) ...surprisingly restful sleep.

Surprised by Santa (Part 3)

As the Christmas Posse (see the last post) and I got on the train, I started doing the first of my "Santa Schtick." Pulling out of the parking lot, I started shouting to those on the sidewalk, "Hey, hey, hey!" like Fat Albert. Then I quickly changed it back to "ho, ho, ho!"

Clever, ay? Too bad I didn't have a drummer who could do a rim shot. People cracked up, anyway, lame as it was.

As we rode in the little train from the Rec Center to the front of the parade line, I reflected on how we had created our own float last Christmas and threw out candy canes with info about our church to the crowd. I also thought about how incredibly ineffective that really was. In hindsight, it may have had something to do with people getting hit in the face with a card about a church when they were expecting something fun and festive. Hmm... I could really run with that right now, applying it to churches in general, but it's kind of a tangent and I'm starting to digress...

Hopping off the train, I found Robert from the rec staff waiting to escort me to the float of honor. It was kind of fun having my own security detail everywhere I went, but he was walking kind of fast. I had to almost run to keep up with him and was a bit paranoid that I was going to be mobbed by the crowd as I went! Isn't that a lovely sentiment? Santa Claus, beloved by all, running for his life to keep from being mauled by all...!

But I wasn't mauled or mobbed, and let me just say that it is really surreal to be a struggling church planting pastor one minute and an "instant celebrity" the next! Cheers, people waving, and excited shouts of "Hey, there he is!" coming from over my shoulder gave me one of the first of many surprises:

It's hard to be depressed when you're playing Santa Claus.

Strange how even "superficial" encouragement is such a powerful thing. To hear nothing but positive things being shouted at and around a person can do a lot for someone who's discouraged. I actually wish every pastor could have the opportunity to receive the encouragement and welcome that I, as Santa, received on that night.

I didn't realize how much I really needed it until I received a huge dose of it. And I found myself soaking it up like a sponge; not in a "seeking praise of man," arrogant kind of way, but in a humble, thirsty kind of way.

Encouragement is one of those nebulous things that everyone acts as though they can make it without, but is actually a vital need that we all have. It's one of those needs that goes deeper than we usually realize and one that we rarely (if ever) admit that we even have.

It's no wonder that God's Word stresses it so emphatically:

"So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing." - 1 Thessalonians 5:11 [NLT]

My guess is that you are "under encouraged." Most people are. And Pastors most definitely are. So here's a quick note to self and to you: Start encouraging people more. - a lot more. It's incredible the difference it can make.

Robert led me along to my "Parade ride," which turned out to be a horse drawn carriage, and to my "Parade riding partner," who turned out to be the Mayor of the city of Roanoke!

"Would you mind escorting Santa the rest of the way?" Robert asked.
"Well, that depends on who he is!" the Mayor responded in a good natured way.
"Hi, there, how're you doin'?" I said, as if we were old friends.

The mayor greeted me warmly, and we made our way to the carriage. For the next 30 minutes or so, I was the official Santa Claus in the Roanoke Christmas parade. I was "ho, ho, ho-ing" and "Merry Christmas-ing" and "Hello, boys and girls-ing" like a pro, all the while chatting with the Mayor here and there, and generally cracking him up as we went along.

And there was plenty to be cracking up about. Not the least of which was the fact that it was about 80 degrees outside. But never fear, by the time the whole evening wrapped up, it was down to about 40. ...Welcome to Texas.

As the parade progressed, it was amazing to see faces brighten and smiles appear when I simply made eye contact, shouted greetings to people and actually acknowledged them in the process. Everyone really responded to being singled out and greeted by this "character of Christmas joy." Noticing this was when I was hit with surprise number two, and it wasn't that I got to hang out with the Mayor.

I was surprised that all of this reminded me how much I care about people. Why I'm in Roanoke, in the first place. Why I'm planting a church.

It's because God cares about people. And He wants people to also care about Him; to understand that He's the answer to their problems. It's not that God needs us, however. He isn't pitiful. But He cares because that's just who He is. He loves and cares about people. He's holy and righteous, to be sure, but He's also the God who is moved with compassion over people who wander around like sheep without a shepherd.

I found myself joyfully trying to connect with these people and communicate hope through the silly guise of Santa Claus. Of course as "Santa" that fell short, but it was my heart none the less.

Recently, I had prayed that God would make my heart overflow with compassion for the people of this area. He surprised me by doing just that in an unexpected time and in an unexpected way - while I was waving at people as "Santa Claus" in a Christmas Parade. I actually felt my heart softening, my concern deepening and my compassion growing as the parade marched on.

All along the way, the Mayor sitting next to me had no clue who I was. But when the parade wrapped up, he was immediately asking anyone who might know.

"Who is that guy in the Santa suit?"

I was now beginning to wonder that a little, myself as I made my way from the carriage to the Rec Center. My evening of the "St. Nick Schtick" was apparently just getting started. There was a big crowd gathering, and it was "Santa time"...

(to be concluded...)

Surprised by Santa (Part 2)

I arrived early to the Recreation Center. I wanted to make sure I had a chance to look at the "Santa suit" and discover where I was supposed to be and when. It was kind of weird to hear the Recreation Staff greet me with, "Santa's here! Hey, Santa!" even though I wasn't yet wearing the suit. I kept looking behind me and side to side thinking, "Dude! you're giving away my secret identity!"

I greeted everyone and then touched base with my team from Compass, to make sure that everything on our side of things was set. They were ready to go - Compass Church Lanyards for team members, Hot Chocolate ready to be prepared and served, sign up sheets and flyers for our Parents' Shopping Day Out ready to be distributed (more on this later).

With my mind set at ease by thoughts of my team nestled snuggly in their posts, visions of sugarplums started dancing in my head as I started to make the transition into the right jolly old elf.

Mike, the Director of the Recreation Center, shared with me my "duties." He handed me a remote control for lighting the giant Christmas Tree, and began telling me what I was supposed to say. "Say?" I thought, "You mean I have to talk?" I had thought that I would just be riding on the back of a firetruck and waving at the crowd...

Basically, following the parade, I was to get everyone's attention with a bullhorn, welcome them to the Roanoke Recreation Center, do a little "Now have you all been good this year?" stand-up routine, and start the count down to the lighting of the Christmas tree, using the remote to turn on the lights at the magic moment.

The visions of sugarplums started dancing again, but this time with a few extra kicks to my stomach. That's when the sugarplums turned into Galadriel speaking very seriously to little "Frodo Santa Me" with the words, "This task has been given to you...and if you do not find a way...no one will."


If you've never worn a real Santa suit, it's quite an experience. Belts, fake boot tops, big red pants, abominable snowman wig and a fake beard that is impossible to keep out of your mouth. I felt like I was kissing a stuffed animal all night.

The time came for the parade to begin, and I had to be escorted to the little train that was going to take me and my "posse" to our places in line. I hadn't had a chance to really meet the posse beforehand, but they were a reindeer, a snowman, a big gingerbread man, and a walking Christmas Tree.

On our way out the door, the staff said, "Wait, let's get you all together for a photo by the Christmas Tree before you head out." We posed like for pictures at Grandma's, and they put me in the middle. After the photo was taken, the Reindeer turned to me in an anguished voice and said, "You're standing on my foot!"

I apologized profusely on our way to the little train and thought, "Oh no, now the Reindeer hates me and doesn't have my back..."

And so it began.

(to be continued...)

Surprised by Santa

Last Saturday night was one of those surreal and special evenings that I'm sure I will remember for a long time. It was also a pivotal night for Compass Church, with lots of laughter, great conversations with many new people, and the stirrings of some serious buzz.

Here's what happened.

Several days ago, the Roanoke Parks & Rec Staff was discussing the final plans for the Roanoke Christmas Parade, when someone asked, "So who do we have lined up to be Santa?" That is when they realized that they had lined up no one to be Santa. Then, amazingly, my name came up. The next thing I know, I'm on the phone agreeing to don the red super suit, although generally, I'm only mild mannered Johnny Leckie...

Now the Roanoke Christmas Parade is a one of a kind event around here. There are certainly other "holiday" parades in several other cities around the Dallas-Fort Worth Metroplex, but this is the only one that I know of that takes place at night. Our church has served with the city at this event before, serving hot chocolates and cookies afterward, and last year we even had a float in the parade - but this is the first time the Newly Built Roanoke Recreation Center was in the mix.

It was also the first time I've ever played "Santa Claus" in such a public setting.

Let me pause to say that if you fall into the: "you know, if you rearrange the letters of of the word 'Santa' you get 'Satan!'" camp, and/or can't imagine a pastor actually portraying the jolly fellow during this or any other time of year, here's my gentle advice to you:

• Realize that you could probably relax a little.
• Consider that it very well may be time for a new laxative.
• For heaven's sake, please don't take that last line too seriously.
• To avoid any righteous indignation on your part, please skip the next couple of posts.

Otherwise, grab some hot chocolate or hot apple cider, and allow me to share with you about the night I was surprised by Santa...

And he was me.

(to be continued...)

A Prayer From Ephesians 3:16-21 (NLT)

- From my time alone with God this morning -

I pray:

• That from God’s glorious, unlimited resources He will give me mighty inner strength through His Holy Spirit. (16)

• That Christ will be more and more at home in my heart as I trust Him. (17a)

• That my roots will go down deep into the soil of God’s marvelous love. (17b)

• That I may have power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love really is, (18)

• That I may experience the love of Christ, though it is so great I will never fully understand it. (19a)

• That as a result of that (above), I will be filled with the fullness of life and power that comes from God. (19b)

• That I would continually say from experience: Now glory be to God! By his mighty power at work within us, He is able to accomplish infinitely more than we would ever dare to ask or hope. (20)

• That He would be given glory in me & the church I pastor, and in Christ Jesus forever and ever through endless ages. Amen! (21)

And I pray the same for you.

[Ephesians 3:16-21]