Musings of "the last"

Time for the important things

2009-09-03T09:57:00.002-04:00

There is no shortage of tasks that fight for my 24 hours. I've been here before, and know where this road goes. Sometimes, things just have to go undone. I have to keep reminding myself that "being preceeds doing". Who I am is way more important to God than anything I might lay my hands to do. When that gets reversed, everything suffers.

People matter most.

I have had a wonderful opportunity to spend some quality time with people in our church. I love to hear the stories that God has intricately woven into what we call the Mason Vineyard.

I am more passionate than ever to see this church accomplish it's mission... to lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ. That's becoming all that matters to me. If any given "task" is to that end, them I'm game for it.

Our church is getting organized and lean. Leadership is slowly stepping into place, and people are finding their fit. There is lots of activity. I love it.

Tonight, I am taking Justin to the Bengals Game against the Colts. He can't stop talking about it! I'm really excited to spend some time with him tonight.

Thanks Bruce

2009-08-18T09:53:00.000-04:00

You know... Sundays come and Sundays go. The ones that I enjoy the most, are the ones when I get to spend time with people. This Sunday was one of those. Duane Davis (good friend of mine) spoke this Sunday, and I had lots of time to connect with people.

As I stood in the back looking out over the people that were in attendance... I had that familiar feeling of how small I am. It's the kind of feeling that makes you realize how incredibly valuable each person in the Body of Christ really is. As I looked over the crowd (which by the way, is at max capacity in our temporary space! Growth in the summer... GO FIGURE!!) Yay God!

Anyway... as I looked over the crowd, I was truly humbled by the wealth of passion, talent, and love that was in that room. I knew I made the right decision to come to this church :)

Afterward, I went to lunch with some folks. Then things got fun...

As I was getting onto the ramp to I75, I saw an older man standing on the side of the ramp. I WAS NOT going to let this opportunity slip by. I quickly pulled over and asked him if he needed a ride. HE LAUGHED!! That was weird...

As he got in, he began changing from laughter to crying. As we pulled off, I didn't say anything so that he could collect himself. A few minuted down the road, I introduced myself.

His name is Bruce.

Bruce is 65, does odd & end manual jobs to make ends meet. Bruce doesn't currently have a car, so he was standing on the ramp praying to Jesus that someone would stop and take him home.

Bruce told me that he had just finished praying, and I pulled up (thus the laughter & crying).

He has fallen on hard times like so many of us. He has been laid off for almost a year, and his only way to make money is to do any odd job he can find.

He is a believer. We talked about God's goodness and grace. I bought him a Coke, and dropped him off in Milford. Bruce made my day. Bruce is full of joy that God loves him. He has no car, no permanent job, barely any money... a breath from being homeless.

This is the secret that eludes so many of us. The secret of contentment.

ME... GUILTY AS CHARGED. So much of my contentment lies within my safety, security, and the ability to make my own way. God teach me this secret, regardless of my circumstances. There are times that I have been closer than others.

Bruce was my Paul today. He has reminded me to celebrate the simple things. Bruce, if you ever read this... thanks for the unintentional nugget of wisdom!

MV at the Leadership Summit

2009-08-07T21:27:00.000-04:00

So today wrapped up the last of the Leadership Summit. This year was especially cool, because I was able to bring 13 people from our church. The collective energy from renewed passion to lead well, will penetrate deep into the emerging culture of the Mason Vineyard.

The folks that came from the MV were visibly energized. But another cool thing that I saw happening (which in many ways in more important to me), was that there were friendships that were being formed and deepened. I saw it. I felt it.

On a strictly personal note... the summit WORE ME OUT. I was the Promotional Strategist for this site of the Summit. The weeks leading up to the summit have been filled with lots of energy spent on ensuring that lots of people would show up, and that key folks were in alignment with the production piece of it. The best thing about my part in this thing, was that it enabled folks from our church to attend. That was worth EVERYTHING.

It put me a little behind this week... but there's always Saturday!

It was a great experience. Til next year summit-world...

Sweat the small stuff

2009-08-04T09:19:00.000-04:00

So... yesterday I got the opportunity to talk about my absolute favorite topic of anything I could ever think of to talk about... serving small.

So much of the world around me is all about filling the ego full... Titles, money, recognition, fame. & the local church is often the biggest culprit.

My small and finite perpective of our all-powerful, all-knowing God... leads me to believe that He is way more interested in my charachter than my comfort.

The Greatest will be the least... the 1st will be last... the language of the Kingdom.

My heart comes alive when I get the chance to sweat the small stuff. The acts of intentional humble serving do my heart good. But even in the idealistic purity of that, there is a very real danger. The danger lies in the fact that my wicked soul will look for ways to elevate and promote myself even in the small things. I think that is more dangerous than looking for position or titles. It's subversive, sly, and can be easily overlooked.

When I get the opportunity to talk about this publicly... it reminds me of the stuff that our King sees as "the most important". And it's also a stark reminder of the sinful nature.

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Sunday recap...

Yesterday was great! I got several phone calls and emails about how good yesterday was for many folks. I measure "good" by how our lives are changed... not by how good our music was, or by how good or bad I think my talk was.

When I get emails like the one below... I think it was a good day :)

Hi charlie,
Last sunday you spoke from one of my favorite books in the bible. I want you to know that I have a new perspective on a part of scripture that I have read many times. The book of Samuel is filled with so much excitement and adventure, we miss the significance of the mundane acts in the story. I guess it is human nature to focus on the big events and totally miss the importance the smaller events leading up to it.
From now on I will reading this scripture and others with a new perspective on how it can apply to my life.

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Reminder to self...

Sweat the small stuff.

Pay attention to serving in the most insignificant ways, for the most significant purpose of the cause of Christ.

The biggest opportunities in our life, will come out of our ability to serve with intensity in the smallest ways.

Thoughts on yesterday...

2009-07-27T09:15:00.000-04:00

Sunday was lots of fun. It really helps when I get more than just a few hours of sleep! I was awake, aware, and loved connecting with everyne after I was finished talking.

To be completely honest, I like "being" with everyone more than I like "talking" to them. Sometimes I wonder if we put too much emphasis on the "talking" part of church. Sure, I realize the value of teaching kingdom principles... but I wonder if we sometimes identify our church experience solely on what we hear, and not the relational value of being with our church family.

As I look back at my own life... I have learned more, and experienced a deeper level of my own discipleship by what I have experienced relationally. It's the authentic accountability relationships that have been the most valuable points in my own spiritual development.

In many ways, it's kind of saddening that so many Christ Followers don't have that as part of their spiritual journey.

All that being said... I love the opportunites that I have to invest into the corporate life of MV. These are the best bunch of people on the planet :)

God's economy

2009-07-20T21:15:00.000-04:00

Yesterday, my message was about caring deeply for others. The topic was Jesus' story about the good samaritan on the road to Jericho.

1st of all, God's economy always balances. With knowledge and teaching come "opportunities" for us to respond to what we learn. God's economy is not like some savings account where we amass more... more knowledge, more whatever.
It's more like a checking account that always gets budgeted to zero (all of it is spoken for). If we listen for God's whispers, He is always calling us to write checks on the balance of the knowledge and experiences we build up.

So, yesterday... IMMEDIATELY after I was finished talking, in walks this gentleman on a crutch. One of the folks at the church called my attention to him. I walked over to the gentleman an sat down with him. We talked.

He was in need. He was hurting, and didn't know where to turn. He showed up at OUR church. Now, how cool is that... that God would align this opportunity to deeply care for a man that shows up at the exact moment I challenged folks to care deeply for others?

He's safe for the next few days until I can connect him with some friends that can help him better than we can.

Today - Abby's birthday. She totally devours attention. She had a herd of girls for her party. I was the runner. Get this, get that... you know the drill.

Caught up on a few minor projects I've been working on. Pretty good day. Later...

The Last Day

2009-07-12T21:55:00.000-04:00

I wish I had started writing about this before the last day in our old building...

Today, I got to witness a truly amazing thing. People came out of the woodwork to lend a helping hand to BE the church. It kinda felt like I imaging a good old-fashioned barn raising would feel. People worked their tails off to mobilize our church into a temporary location. We ate. We worked some more. And people were ABSOLUTLY loving it!

I get this feeling that the people of the Mason Vineyard are walking around with this sense of destiny in their back pocket. It changes everything. It affects the filters in which we see our reality. It creates the posibility of new and great adventures that our God has in store.

Today is a new day.

I am honored to be part of the team that God is using to construct the "launching pad".