Pastorpreneur

Marriage, Ministry, and the Power of Prayer

Our church (www.cvcwired.com) just finished a 3 week series on "Six Secrets of a Satisfying Marriage".  During that series, we had several significant moments, including a video series of questions with couples, young and old.  God clearly moved throughout the series.

This past weekend was the final weekend and I felt like God wanted us to enter in to people's pain and their joys.  Pam was able to share with me in the teaching and joined me for the last five minutes of the teaching time.  I addressed some really intense subjects (living together, divorce) in the context of focusing on committment and Christ.  Then, at the end of each service, our worship leader led in a beautiful worship song that she ministered to our congregation while we had couples around the auditorium.  For a number of minutes, we had a beautiful season of prayer. 

I think there is never more pain in my pastoral experience than in the topic of marriage; probably parenting is the second most pain filled subject.  I felt like God's Spirit moved today in our midst and we were able to see hope flourish with many of our people.

Proverbs 3:5-6...

Gone Fishin...

I usually try to take the boys fishing several times during the year.  Had only managed it once previously this year.  So....it was WAY cool today that God worked it out for us in advance and even with a late start(we didn't actually start fishing until 10 a.m.).  We took Grandpa with us and went to our first place on the Carson River...they were working with a tractor in the river upstream and it was all muddy..so fishing was ZERO.

So...rather than give up (and I was trying to support Joshua age 11 and Harrison age 9 with an assist to Grandpa age 84...so I really wasn't fishing yet)....after about 30 minutes we went about 1/2 mile further up river...got down to the river safely and Grandpa caught 3 fish in a row...awesome!  Then....after getting the boys settled, I went further up river and waded into the middle...and caught about 5 in a row...finally decided to have the boys come up river to me and helped them get out in the middle (kind of scary)...but we caught 3 more fish so they each got to bring one in.  We only kept one fish because it was big enough.  Good times!

To cap off the mid-morning fishing trip, we stopped off at the Carquest location in Gardnerville, now owned by CVC folks Jason & Jennifer Spohr:  http://carquest.know-where.com/carquest/cgi/site?site=8092&address=&design=default&lang=en&option=&mapid=NorthAmerica

They had a BBQ and we got to eat (in our smelly fish clothes) a hamburger and some water and see their very cool new store.

Good day with the kids and with Grandpa.

Yes Sparky, Pastor John was in a Random Musical!

Talking about WEIRD circumstances.....

I've said for 28 years..."I don't sing, I don't dance".  My wife and 3 girls (ages 24, 21, 17) all are professional and/or semi-professional quality.  I enjoy musical theatre.  I just don't "do" it.  EVERYONE knows that and we make quite the joke of it.

But yes, Sparky, I was in a musical drama at our church this weekend.  CVC has always tried to keep fun and "predictable unpredictability" in our services.  So during the announcements this weekend, we had 12 people (me included) participating in a "random" musical that interrupted the service during the announcements.

It was a huge hit...and I seemed to have not ruined the whole thing, so I achieved my objective...but yes, WAY out of my comfort zone.

Kirsten Wilson will have lots of updates I'm sure...so check them out here: 

http://www.kirstenwilson.net/www.kirstenwilson.net/Blog/Entries/2008/6/22_Church_Service_Musical%21%21%21.html

Writing Update and Release Dates

Going to be an exciting next few months on the publishing front.  As many of you know, my first hard cover book Pastorpreneur (www.pastorpreneur.com ) came out in 2003 and still continues to be used by many folks looking to do innovative community impact with their local churches AND empower entrepreneurs to leverage their Kingdom impact through their churches.

My next book, Leveraging Your Leadership Style , was released last fall by Abingdon Press (www.abingdonpress.com) That book was really written for those who work with teams and want to improve their leadership styles.  We also published a workbook, available at Amazon,   Reception to the book has been good, but folks in the ABA market (Borders, Barnes & Noble,etc.) have asked for it in hard back form.

So...I am excited to announce that Leveraging Your Leadership Style will be re-released and a new book, Leveraging Your Communication Style will be released in October in hardback!  I'm praying that God uses these resources for His glory.

Finally, a new book called God-Sizing Your Church will be released in November of this year.  This project is the culmination of materials I've developed over the years about breaking growth barriers and a previous small work called High Impact Church Planting.  Early responses to this book have been very positive; I'll excerpt portions of it on the blog in the near future.

I enjoy the process of writing as it helps me to clarify my thinking.  I also want to be accountable to serve the broader community and writing is one way to do it...

Comfort Zone? Hah!

I'm not at liberty to reveal the details...

I can't discuss the specifics....

But let's just say I've been not even near the radar screen of my comfort zone for over a week now...

Resolution will come this week at  so don't miss the services....at CVC (www.cvcwired.com)

Variety is the Spice of Life...

I realize I've been getting VERY slack in my blog postings.  Sorry.  :-(  I also know that I'm definitely in summer mode...wanting to read and relax more, golf and fish more, and hang out at home more with the family.  Something about living in a resort area....

SO...in the interest of giving you at least a "birds eye" view of the last few weeks since my last post, let me let you see the birds eye view...SInce my last post on June 3rd, we have:

*  Met with good friend Ray Johnston of Bayside Church (www.baysideonline.org)

* Taught our monthly Oasis (deeper teaching and deeper worship gathering) and shared the vision of Giving Hope, where we will purchase a building for our Dayton campus, build a new worship center for our Minden campus and make existing space available for our Student & Children's Ministries at CVC (www.cvcwired.com) 

*  Made a very quick trip to Florida to meet with GA Repple folks about capital campaigns with Growing Healthy Churches (www.growthcampaign.com), an organization I work with that does church planting, church transformations, and works with church movements

*  Went to our neice's graduation in Reno.  On the same weekend, we had an AWESOME experience with Bill Butterworth speaking at our weekend services and then doing a Communicators Institute for our existing and emerging speakers.  It was great.  Email me at john@cvcwired.com so I can tell you more about it...

*  Went to my two youngest children (ages 9 & 11) year end assembly and then presented Leveraging Your Leadership Style to a hospital group in Sacramento the next day and visited a really great church in Twin Cities, CA. (http://www.tccfamily.com/)

* Met with several local pastors and key staff people.  Had an extended meeting with our Creative Arts Production Team--which was so cool because I really sense God is molding them together into a powerful team.

*  Confirmed with Abingdon Press (www.abingdonpress.com) release schedule for Leveraging Your Communication Style and the simultaneous re-release of Leveraging Your Leadership Style (with both now in hardback) which will be in September and God-Sizing Your Church, which will release in October of this year.  So....God is really working overtime with me in the writing area via Abingdon.  Most of these projects were developed in the past year, JUST as I was going through INSANE amounts of transition in our leadership...and God has been so faithful.

*  Had 3 great Father's Day Services where we kicked off our "6 Secrets to a Satisfying Marriage" series and had both good crowds and great comments.  Many people kicked in this weekend and did some amazing stuff, including a hamburger BBQ for dads, and free books for all dads.  We had probably 15-20 families ask for specific prayer for their marriages and I am believing God for miracles!

On top of all this, God is really doing a very cool work in many areas at CVC (www.cvcwired.com) that I can't announce just yet...but hang on CVC'rs so that we can have a God-sized fall ministry season.  I've got a clear sense that He is taking us towards new territory and we are totally going to trust HIM in this season.   

Thank You for praying, believing, and watching what God does in our lives!

CVC Updates & Cool Fun Coming Up!

CVC (www.cvcwired.com) has experienced more change in the past 14 months than I've ever navigated in my 28 years of local church ministry.  Through it all, much of it involving painful changes with leadership where there have been long (or short) and significant relationships, God has been faithful.  It has been a turbulent but faith filled journey.  Proverbs 3:5-6, John 15, and Romans 8:28 have been our constant companions!

So...in the midst of it all, we launched our second campus (CVC-Dayton), have seen a number of really significant steps of spiritual impact, probably our most focused Christmas and Easter seasons, and just last week saw over 20 salvation decisions at both of our campuses.

My point?  My point is that the church belongs to HIM, not to me or to any "them".  And right now I'm sensing a fresh wind of God blowing in our midst and started to lift our sails.  Excited to sense God at work in the pain and in the promise.

This weekend at CVC will have Bill Butterworth (www.billbutterworth.com) speaking about "Mountain in my Rearview Mirror".  I'm looking forward to Bill speaking to us...he's always been well received by our people and I believe God is on the move!

Finished the Conspiracy Race!

I've been feeling like I'm caught in the middle of a conspiracy...from 4/15-5/25 this year, I've had more trips/conferences/graduations/special events that I can ever remember.  My theory is that it was a conspiracy by people who saw that Easter was extra early this year.

In the last six weeks I have:

-prepared and taught at all of CVC's (www.cvcwired.com) weekend services except one

-led all our staff meetings except one

-written

-done a painful memorial service

-attended and spoke at 4 conferences (Thrive, Hit the Bullseye, Great Commission Network, Purpose Driven Summit)

-Did 2 family graduations (one more coming up in two weeks)

-helped 2 churches with capital campaigns (including our own Dayton campus)

-lots of other stuff including appointments, etc.

GLAD to be home without conferences/trips for a while.  Saw two movies in the last two days with Pam and the boys (Narnia/Caspian which I thought was great and Indiana Jones which was also great but very different than expected).

Conferences and Trips are great, but there is no place like my own bed, and my own church!  Can't wait for the weekend at CVC...we've got a great Memorial Day weekend planned...

Where did my little girls go...Sunrise...

Yes, I am smarmy on occasion.  But our oldest daughter just graduated from Regent University (www.regent.edu) with her MFA in Acting (with a perfect 4.0 GPA!),  and then proceeded to drive to NY and back to VA and now drove to Indiana for a long term acting gig (www.amishacres.com).  Yes, I cried.  Plus she's getting married next March and I just saw a picture of her in her dress that she and her mom picked out in VA. 

Our second daughter, Dena, who is on staff at our church (www.cvcwired.com) in our Student Ministries, just graduated from the University of Nevada, Reno (www.unr.edu) this morning with distinction (summa cum laude), with a 3.9 GPA and a major in Philosophy and a minor in Communications.  She is entering an M.A. program in Apolgetics this fall at Talbot Theological Seminary, but can do it in a distance/intensive format so she can continue in ministry here.  Yes, I cried.

O.k...so I'm not that macho apparently.  But I've always been sentimental at huge transitions...and wow, does it seem like a lot right now.  I remember when they were just little girls....but there have been a few sunrises and sunsets since then...

Amazing Grace and a little faith...

Spent the last couple of days in Virginia Beach, VA  at Regent University, where our oldest daughter Jennifer just received her MFA in Acting.  Jennifer was a Robertson scholar her last year (100% tuition) and we were blown away by the accolades given to her by friends, professors, and administration folks.  Clearly the grace of God.  Both of us (Mom and Dad) are amazed by God's grace.

So...we left VA early this morning (5 a.m. PDT) in order to insure that we would get to Reno on time for me to make it home to preach Saturday night services...which start at 5:15 p.m. PDT.  We were supposed to land at 2 p.m. PDT in which case I would have had time to get home, take a shower, and get to church only a little worse for wear...

But, we are now delayed by about 80 minutes (quote, "mechanical failure in Baltimore on departing flight")....so currently scheduled to land at 3:20 p.m. and then make it home, shower, and arrive at church...barely in time for service to start...

We have other people who can preach (and I left a copy of my notes just in case), but I really would hate to miss Mother's Day weekend services...

So...I still believe.....

UPDATE...made it to the church about 25 minutes before service started.  Changed clothes and got wired up with the microphone.  We had child dedications, two videos, a drama, and our student ministries band leading worship.  Great night at CVC!