Pastorpreneur

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...

Graduation News

Strange doings in our household...especially for folks as young as we are :-)

Oldest daughter Jennifer is graduating with her MFA from Regent University (www.regent.edu) this weekend; and graduating with high honors.   We won't be able to attend the graduation itself on Saturday (side rant...WHY do academic organizations hold their graduations on Mother's Day weekend???...this is our 2nd experience with a Christian school having a graduation on Mother's Day weekend).  We do get to enjoy a special graduation dinner on Thursday night and then the Commissioning Service on Friday before coming back in time for church on Saturday night and to spend the Mother's Day holiday with our four children here in Northern Nevada.

Second daughter Dena is graduating from the University of Nevada, Reno (www.unr.edu) with a B.A. in Philosophy and a minor in Communications in just two weeks; she is graduating with highest honors.   Dena is working in the student ministries of our church (www.cvcwired.com) and doing a fantastic job.  Ah---mazing....she will be going forward next fall with an M.A. in Apologetics from Talbot Seminary/Biola University (www.biola.edu)

We are very proud of each of our 5 children and particularly rejoicing at this season of special moments for our two oldest kids.  Parenting is a perpetually humbling experience...but we pause to thank God for His goodness and grace.

Response to Why I Love Christmas

Got this great response to my previous post Why I Love Christmas and thought I'd share with readers...it is from Liz, mother of Derek, who is the boyfriend of our oldest daughter Jennifer.  Got it?

WHAT’S NOT TO LIKE ABOUT CHRISTMAS?

I love the bright lights at Christmas…the ones that twinkle and the ones that don’t.  They remind me of the stars in the sky on a clear dark night and are one example of God’s glorious creation.  Also, they remind me of Jesus, who is the light of the world, and that we can have that light reside in us, if we believe in Him.

I love the candles in the windows at people’s houses.  They remind me that we, who are Christians, are to be like those candles…to be a spark of light that shines bright in the darkness.

I love listening to all kinds of Christmas songs.  They remind me of the awesome music we will hear in Heaven.  I imagine those songs will be far more superior to any sounds that man can create here on earth.

I love watching Christmas shows and the people who share their talents in the productions.  They remind me how all people are blessed with God-given talents, and how pleased God is when we use our talents, especially if we use them to help grow His Kingdom.

I love the Christmas trees and all the ornaments that hang on them.  They remind me of the cross and who adorned that for me, and how grateful that makes me feel.

I love the gold and silver garland, which are representative of royal treasures.  They remind me that Christ is our King and if we believe in Him, He will share His Kingdom with us.

I love the manger scene in the crèche.  It reminds me to be humble for the many blessings I have received, and to be grateful for my home and family…including the pets.

I love the many colors of wrapping paper.  They remind me of the many colors of humanity that God created and how much more interesting a variety of colors is.

I love the ribbons on packages.  They remind me of the Holy Spirit at work in the life of a believer…He puts the finishing touches on our lives to make us a more beautiful and complete package.

I love Christmas tags.  They remind me that God knows each and every one of us by name.

I love the color red, especially in Santa’s suit.  It reminds me of the blood of Christ, and how He willingly gave up His life so we could receive His gift of salvation.

I love the Salvation Army bell ringers.  They remind me that people are still willing to give of their time and money so others may be helped.

I love giving gifts.  It reminds me of the gifts the Magi brought to Jesus to honor Him and of the gift of salvation given to all who believe in Jesus.

I love baking things from scratch.  It reminds me that we were created from scratch and that God saw His creation as good.

I love the excitement of anticipation on a child’s face.  It reminds me of the wonders awaiting us in Heaven.

I love watching the smiles on people’s faces.  They remind me that no tear will be shed in Heaven, only joy will abound.

I love the peace at home on Christmas Eve.  It reminds me of the peace we all can know when we come to know Jesus.

I love waking up on Christmas morning.  It reminds me of how we will awake, some day, into the most beautiful setting in Heaven, and that we can have that for all eternity, if we just believe in the one for whom we celebrate Christmas…our Lord and Savior…Jesus, the Christ.

Oldest Daughter-Senior Project

Our oldest daughter, Jennifer, is a 3rd and final year MFA/Acting student at Regent University.  For their Senior project, they are required to write a 50-60 page thesis and have a senior role.  So on Thursday Pam and I hopped on a plane to Norfolk, arriving about 11:15 p.m.  Jennifer had classes the next morning, so we picked her up at school around 1.  We met Derek (her boyfriend) and his parents (Peter & Elizabeth-Liz) at her apartment and then went to an amazing historic place for lunch.  3 hours just FLEW by as we had a great time together.  Derek is such an easy going guy and his parents were just awesome.

We went to the play that night, called Arms of the Man, by George Bernard Shaw.  The play was amazing!  Funny, extremely well done with a very tight cast, and of the highest quality in every way.  Afterwards, we went to Derek's apartment and had lots of junk food and more time to share.  A friend of mine said that when your kids get to certain ages and they start developing certain relationships, you begin to think, "I wonder if I could do Thanksgiving with this person for the next 30 years?".  I'm asking that question now and if God should lead that way, I'll be VERY happy to spend the next 30 years with Derek and his family.

I came home on Saturday and Pam gets to spend the weekend (and she saw the play twice more!).  Starting on Monday, we are attending a conference at pretty cool location (hint...they play golf there) with our good friends at EQUIP.

Catching up...12 days!

It has been too long since I have last blogged...sorry!  We've been in an intense process, both at CVC, and in our personal lives.

First of all, we have 4 major staff transitions happening at CVC.  During our 9 1/2 years, we have not had that much transition in the senior staff of the church, but in God's economy, this is our time.  So, we're having some bittersweet moments.  One of our staff is going back to his home in the midwest to plant a church, another is going to Dallas to finish schooling and get clarity on his next ministry step, and the other two (husband and wife) are pursuing a parachurch ministry organization role and schooling that will take them back to where their daughter is in Southern California.  These transitions are hard, but we celebrate for those pursuing God's calling.  At the same time, we know that God is stirring among us and we have a few staff decisions in process where God is calling people here to a significant role.  Some of those who are called "to" will be from within our church family...and that's an exciting step for us.  I often say we are "inventing" Christendom in this area since it is only 5% churched.

Our family was also able to take a 5 day trip to Southern California in between weekend services and we had some great fun relaxing and got to see our oldest daughter Jennifer in her role as "Treasure" in the Pirate Adventure Dinner Theater.  These past several days we have had Jennifer's boyfriend Derek with us and are enjoying getting to know him (and yes Liz--he seems like he is taking lots of pictures! :-)

Yesterday was our annual baptism day at Lake Tahoe.  It is such an awesome annual experience...I think we baptized about 30 people...some couples, some children, some students....EACH life precious in God's sight.

Finally, by way of update, we are continuing our series called "Positive Impressions:  Soul Care in a Negative World".  God is using this series (taken from Romans 7 & 8) in a special way in the life of our body at this time...He is doing His work in a way that is challenging each of us--starting with me--about how He is working in and through us.

Sorry for the delay...I'll try to stay more current!

Re-Entry

Had a great trip to Chicagoland, enjoyed my time in Naperville with Darrel Wells, our former Celebration Arts Pastor, and long time friend and mentor Conrad Lowe at Evangelical Free Church in Naperville (www.ecfn.org).

Got back to Los Angeles late on Sunday night, stayed up for a few hours and then had an 8 hour drive on Monday to get back by around 5:30 p.m.  Worked a few hours that night, and had a long day today, but with some great appointments.  Tonight, I'll be finishing up teaching prep for this weekend...really excited about our new series, "Positive Impressions:  Soul Care in a Negative World" (Click Here for Details).  I'm continuing teaching through Romans with these series and I think God is using it with our church family.

Forgot to mention one thing from our trip...got to meet Jennifer's boyfriend Derek.  He's a real nice guy with an obvious heart for the Lord and for Jennifer.  Those are always my two primary qualifications so we'll just see what happens.  As I always say about parenting my children..."I may be old enough to have children this age, but I am definitely NOT mature enough!".

UPDATE:  Got a nice note from Liz, Derek's mom.  We'll probably meet she and Derek's dad Peter in October.  I'm still not "mature enough" for this stage of life....

Cars and Costs

Took my 2004 Hyundai Santa Fe that only has 36,000 miles to the dealer today for its 30,000 mile check-up.  What I "thought" (silly me) was that it would be essentially an expanded tune-up/etc.....so imagine my shock....5-6 hours in the dealership with a $675 bill ($50 higher because I added the transmission flush).  GULP!  Ah well...it beats walking...at least for long distances.

Big Family Doings...

These past 5 days have been a bit of a whirlwind!  We had guests from 5 different states (California, Texas, Washington, Virginia, Maryland) with us in Nevada for the wedding of Pam's sister Debbie(1st wedding at age 46...very happy for she and Ted).  We had dinner together Thursday night, rehearsal and dinner on Friday, wedding on Saturday and dinner, and then gift opening on Sunday afternoon...and dinner again on Sunday night.  UGH...I didn't want to eat again for a long time!

I've lost 18 pounds in the last 4 weeks...so this weekend was a challenge....gained 2 pounds back, but I've lost them again as of today....WILLPOWERRRRRRRRRR.......

This past weekend at CVC (www.cvcwired.com), Jeff Neville, our Associate Pastor, did an outstanding job teaching about Hi-Def Faith...with the possible minimal exception that he didn't deal with Romans 4 like he was supposed to! HOWEVER, God worked in and through Jeff in a powerful way and He definitely gave a power-filled and clear presentation...He used several Biblical passages and focused on a ladder (that we all climb to be "good") and a cross--two memorable quotes for me:

Heaven is not for good people!  Bad people go to heaven...THAT'LL preach!

We need to step OFF the ladder and step towards the cross.

This coming weekend I preach for the first time at our Dayton campus while Jeff finishes up the Hi-Def series at CVC.  THEN, I get to speak March 17-18th at Minden while the Dayton campus does their Grand Opening and we re-launch Minden...God is on the move!

Coincidence or God Moment?

Just got back from the Florida Church of God trip...here is just a brief review of some things that happened the last 2 days...wonder if those are "coincidences" or God-moments?  I have NO DOUBT...they are God moments!

I'm on the last leg (Phoenix to Reno) home from a powerful trip....very little sleep for one night (4 hour delay in Salt Lake City), but God moved in wonderful ways and I can't wait for the weekend!  Just had to share a few things with you...

1) Let me start with a story....while back in Florida speaking for the top leaders of the Church of God in that state, the man who was my primary host and I got to talking...and discovered that a mutual pastoral friend (Don Loomer for those who know him) had been the one to lead him into pastoral ministry from employment at GM and that Don had married this man and his wife, discipled him, and that we had a host of other connections...Had dinner that night with the man and his wife and her mother--who knew Don Loomer from 35 years ago!  Amazingly small world. But it gets even smaller...

2) In an early morning return flight from Orlando today, I ended up next to a guy(Larry) who was an ex-Marine(recently retired)  We got to talking and I found out he was going to Reno and that he lived on Johnson Lane (!) in Minden.  One thing led to another and eventually I revealed that I led a church near his home...he then told me about his office manager/assistant who had consistently been inviting him to church.  I described our church and he said, "that's got to be the one".  When we landed in Phoenix, he called the office manager, who is engaged to a guy who is the son of someone in leadership in our church(!), and told her he was walking in the Phoenix airport to his next plane with Pastor John.  Unbelievable.  Larry's wife is pregnant and has been "bugging him" to have them connect to church.  I expect to see them shortly.  I know that CVC will be ready for Larry when he comes (and I have his card to call him if he doesn't show up!), and I know that the office manager will keep on inviting, and I know that God will grab Larry's heart.  Why?  Because CVC was made for such a time as this....

Join me in praying for Larry...and thanking God for those moments!  We do our 9th Birthday Celebration this weekend which will be highlighted by the commissioning of the Dayton campus leadership team.  CVC has participated or partnered in the launching of 7 churches since our launch 9 years ago, but this is our first full-fledged campus launch...and it's a blast.

We've got some special surprises within the service...those will be fun...stay tuned!

Grieving...

Aunt Sallie (technically Pam's aunt, age 82) had lived with us the last two years in Northern Nevada after 45 years in Southern California.  She was having chemotherapy treatments and ended up having a massive heart attack on January 2nd (we took her to the hospital on the 1st of January and stayed for about 10 hours then another 4 hours on the 2nd in the morning...left her there to rest and then got called back saying she'd had a massive heart attack).  We ended up doing an East Coast funeral, complete with transporting the body, ourselves and all the details in 4 days! 

Precious time with family, including some wonderful Christ followers.  Several of the family are not walking with the Lord, but we saw God do a wonderful witness as we ministered to the family and I got to do the memorial service.  Pray for us now that we are back...Pam lost her mom 15 months ago and the grieving is really fresh.

CVC had a great weekend in my absence with Gary Zelesky (Mr Passion)...you can check him out at www.garyzelesky.com   So thankful for a great church leadership team and a great church family to be part of in times like these.

We start a brand new series this weekend called Identity Theft based on the first 3 chapters of Romans...I'm really excited and believing that God will do a great work.  Steve Wilson, our Creative Arts Pastor, blogged about the series planning...you can check out the planning document at Steve's Blog Here.