My sister's bridal shower was tonight; I created this funny little video for it - enjoy!
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My sister's bridal shower was tonight; I created this funny little video for it - enjoy!
Friday, June 30, 2006 at 10:20 PM in Family | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
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> Golly gee-whiz, is it the end of June already?
> Kevin's bio is on the Catalyst site now. Amber snapped this pic of the Payne clan a few weeks back when we all walked/prayed over the 10 acres in Kent we meet on.
> Tomorrow is the Kent Heritage Fest attracting 20,000 to downtown Kent. Also Catalyst's 1st impression in the community as we begin drumming up interest on our Sep 10th launch. 1,000 balloons and lotsa helium, an iPod giveaway, and 2,000 invite cards (they came in yesterday and look fa-bu-lous). Also getting our signage and shirts today.
> Sunday AM I'm speaking at Southern Hills Church in North Royalton; Jacob Ley is leading worship.
> Sunday evening I'm sharing from Ephesians 4.18 with our launch.team.
Just the one verse.
Plus we'll have uber-cool guest worship artists Chip & Elisa Milner.
Plus plus some baptisms (we haven't even launched yet and already we'll have had 2 baptisms and 2 child dedications (next one is August 27th)). Crazy.
> Andrea's bridal shower is tonight. Watch for my DVD of Chris & Andrea playing "The Almost-Wed Game." Laugh-out-loud funny. I'll post it here after it's world premiere.
> Mark Driscoll on church planters: "God's in it for His glory, which means He picks losers (to lead) so when it gets big, people go, "That guy had NUTHIN' to do with it!"
> We've had some spectacular storms blow through this past week. Check out these War of the Worlds clouds from the other night...
Friday, June 30, 2006 at 12:17 PM in Church Start-Up, Family | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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I just heard this coming from Amber in the living room (presumably to Juliet the Wonder Pug):
"No, no, you keep your little face away."
I don't know why, but it made me laugh.
Thursday, June 29, 2006 at 10:56 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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Wow - you guys are all swell. Since posting about how you can help us in the $20,000 + legal fees towards adopting our first baby, we've seen some amazing stuff happen. What a blessing.
One shout-out in particular - thanks to Michael, a blogging church planter down in Georgia who is launching on August 20th. Church planters have no money, seriously. So for him to donate cash to a guy up north is a big deal!
Wednesday, June 28, 2006 at 02:55 PM in Adoption | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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An anonymous commenter left a comment here today ripping on Erwin McManus and his "emergent" theology (which is funny because McManus is NOT Emergent; he's Southern Baptist!). Since all comments must 1st be approved by me before appearing in this space, this cowardly drive-by posting never saw the light of day.
If you don't have the guts to sign your name and stand behind your opinion while engaged in thoughtful conversation, it's a waste of our time to bother reading it (not to mention a disgrace to America's forefathers who risked slaughterous executions by British troops for speaking out in favor of freedom of speech precisely because they attached their names/reputations to their opinions!).
Another anonymous poster left 2 obscene comments on Amber's blog. Their comments and ip address were promptly banned (I love TypePad!).
I've always believed that blogs are excellent forms of 21st century community, idea sharing, networking, even e-vangelism. But anonymous postings? We don't have time for such cowards.
Wednesday, June 28, 2006 at 02:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack (1)
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Here's the very first, limited edition, accept-no-imitations, Catalyst t-shirts. 8 bucks starting this weekend - grab 'em while they're hot!
Tuesday, June 27, 2006 at 07:45 PM in Church Start-Up | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBack (0)
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I mentioned last night during the message about the interest among Kent residents for a place like Catalyst that is inclusive (like Jesus) and welcomes people wherever they are in their spiritual journey (again like Jesus). Today I followed up with one of the people I shared about - in her own words, "a former hippy," named Jake.
After delivering artwork for t-shirts she's printing for us, Jake grabbed her coffee & cigarettes and started asking me what I believe. She'd interject with stories like her past experiences with the Church (the one time she went with her family, the pastor asked them to leave because they had too many questions!), how her beliefs meshed with the teachings of the historical Jesus ("What do you think of withcraft and paganism?" she asked me), etc.
I didn't try to give black & white answers, knowing that that wasn't what she was ultimately looking for right now. Jake was searching me, perhaps testing me due to past experiences, to see how a pastor would react with someone openly wearing a pentagram around their neck. Would I "preach" at her about fire & brimstone, would I water down the truth, or would I share the truth in love at a pace that was comfortable for her (again, like Jesus did!).
I first took a page from Paul at Mars Hill and connected with her beliefs by talking about the supernatural side of God (she remarked how every church she's ever gone to seemed so neat and tidy and, well, unspiritual - so unlike how she pictured the God I spoke of!).
I then took 2 minutes to share a story with her from Matthew 16 - where Jesus proclaims that the unstoppable force of the Church would be led by pagans and goat-god worshipers. Jake connected with that. She's open to the grace Jesus scandalously lavishes... and she's thinking through some of Jesus' outrageous claims that I shared.
Please keep Jake in your prayers - I've invited her to our public launch in September... and she said she's going to bring her whole family...
Monday, June 26, 2006 at 12:50 PM in Church Start-Up | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
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Well, not Catalyst CHURCH's podcast, but some yahoo, wannabe CONFERENCE held at Andy Stanley's place that stole our name :)
Their podcast has part 1 of a 2-part interview with Rob Bell on the latest podcast here. My only critique is that it takes for-ev-er to actually get to the good stuff; for some reason, the podcast mc's think they have to run a "radio morning show" and talk about mundane things instead of getting to the only thing we all really want to hear: Bell's take on the Sabbath.
Monday, June 26, 2006 at 08:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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One of the most important leadership lessons I learned while serving under Perry Noble was to find leaders who are getting it done,are where you want to be in 1yr/3yrs/5yrs, and pick their brain. I'm always emailing/calling/meeting up with church planting heroes around the country to ask questions, get advice, and bounce ideas off of them.
Last week I caught up with Brad Leach at Beulah Beach - he planted in 2001 with only 3 months of core group building (they just planted their 1st daughter church at Easter)! The guy is rock solid - anybody who starts to pray over a meal with the words, "Jesus, You are fantastic," is awesome in my book.
Brad was an great listener and confirmed some stuff I've been thinking about with less than 3 months until Catalyst publicly launches. He also had much wisdom to share about marketing (for example, when I mentioned how I was wrestling with how much money to spend on invite cards & doorhangers, he replied, "You only launch ONCE"). And he paid for my breakfast, which makes him very godly.
Be a life-long learner. If you're not learning, you're not leading. We have much to learn from those who have gone before us. And if you think you're doing something new, you're probably a heretic.
Sunday, June 25, 2006 at 09:43 PM in Church Start-Up | Permalink | Comments (1) | TrackBack (0)
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Got 3 minutes? Watch Mark Driscoll succinctly delineate between the emerging movement and the Emergent tip-toe into heresy here. Excellent stuff from Desiring God.
Saturday, June 24, 2006 at 07:44 PM in God | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)
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