Hey everyone,

"30 Days to Live" is now in the books and what a series!!! Great info to help us with the Life change we need to grow closer to Christ each day. Our next series is titled "Crazy Love" and it is going to be another great series that you will not want to miss.

Band Info and songs for 2/01

• Beautiful One
• Psalm 40
• All Who Are Thirsty
• More than Ever (at end of service)

Let's do one of our new songs at 10:40 to kick the service off. (How bout "No Other Name")

Set up will be Friday night at 6pm and lets get together at 8am Sunday morning for practice.

Danny's band, "Playback" will be at Chapz on Friday night also, so we are taking a continent of RLers to catch dinner there and watch the band.

From Tony Morgan's blog:

I’m growing more and more convinced that the worst thing an organization can do is try to reach a consenus about something. Think government. Think church committee meetings. Think declining big business.

On the surface, reaching a consensus seems like a positive thing because it means people have agreed to move in the same direction. That’s a good thing isn’t it?

Actually, I’m not convinced that’s the case. For example, here are 5 Reasons Why Consensus Sucks:

1. It embraces the status quo. Change, whether positive or not, is not human nature. We would prefer for things to remain the way they are today. So, when people get together to discuss the possibility of doing something a little different in the future, it’s normal for the majority to avoid making changes.
2. It gives the malcontents an equal voice in your decision. Reaching consensus gives everyone a voice at the table. When that happens, even the negative, bitter folks that don’t really embrace the vision have the opportunity to pull the rest of the group away from what could really be the most desirable outcome.
3. It short circuits the radical ideas that lead to the biggest breakthroughs. The big, bold ideas won’t see the light of day. Yet those are the ideas that could potentially lead to the best innovations. Consensus brings people back to the middle where the majority approves but mediocrity reigns.
4. It leaves unresolved conflict on the table. At the opposite ends of a decision are distinct opinions which, if left unresolved, could potentially lead to division. Consensus prevents tough conversations from happening. It gives people the freedom to jump to compromise without engaging a healthy debate.
5. It discourages people from dreaming big dreams. Want to neuter the creative-thinkers and entrepreneurs and visionaries in your organization? Force them to reach consensus with the rest of the crowd. These are the people that make you uncomfortable. They can drive you crazy. That’s OK. They’ll just go work someplace else if you keep forcing them to compromise their dreams.

What do you think? Do you agree? Or, have you actually seen consensus work? What would you add or delete from the list?

Let’s try to reach a consensus on whether or not consensus sucks.

Good evening all!

30 Days to Live has been spectacular. God is "stretching" me in a HUGE way over the past few weeks! When you begin to look at life as just a fleeting moment, or "a vapor" as Craig has been speaking, and you really focus in on what God wants for your life, you realize truly what is important. Relationships.......with family and friends.................and most importantly, with God through Jesus, become GINORMUS. We must be making the most of all of the relationships currently in our life, as well as those the we need to make, and truly MUST make, with those who do not know Jesus. Keep the faith and KNOW that you are the DIFFERENCE!


Friday night set up and BAND practice 01/23/2009
*6pm set up
*7pm test and tune
*7:15pm first chords

We will work on our 3 new songs and the set for Sunday 1/25
*Songs for Sunday

1. We Praise You Lord(capo 3/Bb)
2. Love the Lord(G)
3. In the Secret(G)
4. I Give it All to You (Rich's song)D/G
5. Trust (with slow intro, verse and chorus)(G)

*songs 4 and 5 will be at the end of the service
*Call to worship song Promptly at 10:40am Sunday (instrumental Real Life)

I love you guys and THANK YOU for all that you do!

From StevenFurtick.com:

Swatting at gnats

I heard this from an eyewitness:

An internationally famous minister recently spent some time with another well known pastor. The more experienced pastor was listening to the other guy elaborate about some things that were weighing heavily on him, keeping him up at night, stealing his focus.

After this went on for a little while, the more experienced minister looked at his friend and told him: “You’re swatting at gnats. You’re going to wreck your car swatting at gnats.”

That spoke to me. I spend too much time swatting at gnats. I expend my energy fighting battles where there are no spoils. I let worry and anxiety overwhelm me about situations that are either hypothetical, or outside of my control. I let stupid comments from stupid people occupy oh-so-valuable bandwidth in my brain. I blow my dilemmas out of proportion until they seem larger than life, and impossible to solve.

We’ve got to stop swatting at gnats. We’ve got places to go, and bigger things to do.

Sunday Jan. 04, 2009

Sunday night random thoughts:

*30 Days to Live.........WOW! What a great message and a great start on our series for January.
Here are the key points:

1. Turn "Whens/Thens" into "Nows"
2. Turn "Intentions" into "Actions"
3. Turn your whole heart to Jesus

Today's message was very powerful and extremely inspiring. Let's all make it a point to share this series and our church with a friend!

*Worship.......Wow again!!!!!! Here's the Set list for today:

1. Come, Now is the Time to Worship
2. Fields of Grace
3. Everlasting
4. More Love, More Power

-Today was one of the most awesome experiences. I am not sure that I have an explanation for you on why it was so awesome for me, but it was amazing! During "Everlasting", the church participation was like a cup overflowing!! You guys were singing your hearts out and I was loving it. God is truly AWESOME!

Thanks everyone and have a great evening!