Our Best Day…Ever?

Eighty people got baptized at suncrest yesterday.  I wanted to post last night, but I didn’t really know what to say.  I still don’t.  Here is part of what I wrote to our staff and elders today: 

I do know that we went into yesterday well-prepared and having had a number of conversations (some that have spanned years).  I’m thankful for each of your roles in that.  Still…we also all know that yesterday was one of those “Only God” days.   Would you please find your own time in your own way to Praise Him today for what we got to share yesterday? 

Probably the wildest part for me is that out of 73 people baptized at the St. John Campus, we only knew of 3 before Sunday morning that would walk forward.  I have lots of stories to tell and I’ll tell them here over the course of the week, but for today…Let me just connect you to some stories that are out there (here) in the online world.

Amanda Huber wrote about the day on her blog from an observers point of view.  Click here to read Amanda’s story.  Scott was baptized yesterday and wrote about it.  Click here to read Scott’s story.

I have a list of emails to work through.  Facebook was full of Suncrest people in awe of what God did yesterday.  And the comment stream on my page was more active than it’s ever been (click here if we aren’t friends on facebook yet).

The only way I have to describe people’s response yesterday is from the scriptures:  Now to him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to his power that is at work within us, to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen.       -Ephesians 3:20-21

My Daughter

This is my favorite recent picture of Abby.  We are all thankful she got her looks from her mother!

Abby is a pistol.  She is hilarious, has the best facial expressions, knows how to get what she wants (also from her mother?), and every time I take her picture she says, “You can put that on your blog.”  (Even though I’m pretty sure she doesn’t know what my blog is.)

Tuesday night we went for a little daddy-daughter date.  She loves McDonalds…but only on her terms.  She wanted chicken nuggets with Apple slices and the caramel dip that comes with them.  Then…she dips the chicken nuggets in the caramel dip to eat them!

After McDonalds, I took her to an 8th grade girls basketball game.  I think Abby is our athlete so I’d love to nurture that early.  And…we have a young lady in our church that coach’s the team at Clark Middle School.  It was a riot.  Abby was cheering for the other team to miss their free throws and she loved it that “Coach Erin” came up and gave her five after the game.  (A very impressive comeback victory, by the way!)

Good times.  Always trying to make memories…and capture them.

Wins

We start every staff meeting at Suncrest with the question “Where are we winning?”  It’s another way of asking “Where do we see God at work?” or my favorite way to ask it:  How are people at suncrest being used by God to change lives?

I’m always amazed at where God is at work that I am totally unaware of until I hear through our staff.  Here’s a partial bullet point list from this week:

• Over $6000 was given to Haiti relief just weeks after a $40,000 offering at Christmas Eve for our benevolence/compassion efforts.
• The new college aged community group has just taken off in powerful ways…an age group most churches struggle to connect with well.
• Looks like that group is multiplying already to add another 20-somethings young adult group.
• We have over 20 families from both campuses committed to going through Financial Peace University after our message series about Money (as many families around here can attest to…lives will be changed).
• We are preparing for as many as 200 people at the “Taste of Africa” dinner this Friday night. (That team of 15 suncrest attenders, including my wife, leaves on Sunday, February 21.)
• This “not a fan” message series has generated lots of powerful conversations.  8 baptisms in the first week…who knows how many will be this week?
• Oh yeah…and those 30 guys who were on the retreat I mentioned in that last post about our leadership pipeline.

There is a lot of life here, Suncrest.  I love ya!

And for fun…I thought I’d add the nice thumbs up picture from Wes Blackburn, our Cultivate/Worship intern…which actually was taken at our leadership retreat.  This guy makes me laugh all the time.  Staff meetings are more fun with him around!

The Pipeline

One of the things I love about serving at Suncrest is that “leaders get to lead.”  I know that probably sounds obvious (and biblical), but I’ve been around enough unhealthy churches that I know many of “led” by people who aren’t gifted to lead.

Direction gets set (or is often left unset) by the squeaking wheels, the longest-serving members, the most threatening people, or a church vote.  Around here, though, we try to lift up the value of leadership…affirm it, recruit for it, model it, empower it.  We get it wrong a lot.  But God’s often been good to us in getting it right.

If you are a leader, you can’t help but think in terms of a “pipeline”.  There is not a path to growth that doesn’t depend on you constantly having more and more and more leaders.  So developing one set of leaders is never enough…it is always about creating a pipeline for future leaders also.

Six months ago at Suncrest about 25 guys were invited by our staff and committed to a 16 month “Leadership Track”.  Last weekend, we went on a Friday/Saturday retreat.  It was a rich time of learning (with one of my former professors, Dr. Don Green) and also conversation and reflection. 

At the end of the weekend we asked each guy to reflect on two things they brought with them tot he retreat that they wanted to “leave behind” and two things they wanted to make sure they took away.  We have long lists for both, but here is sample…

Baggage to Leave Behind:  Selfish mindset, Procrastination, Fear of commitment, Fear of failure, reliance on ME to lead rather than allowing God to use me to lead, Evaluation rather than participation, Criticism of others, Impression management

Commitments to Take Home: New energy, Passion, Get my house in order- be the spiritual leader, Look (and allow others to see) below the surface, Seek out an accountability partner, Emotional maturity & spiritual maturity go together, Seek first to serve, Know my motives, Leadership is not about what I am doing but what God is doing through me, Start with leadership at home

There was a lot more, but you get the idea.  I appreciate the investment of each of these guys into making the weekend a place to grow our personal leadership…and feed the leadership pipeline at Suncrest.

We’ll Miss the Mosengs!

Mike and Laura Moseng are moving.  That makes me happy for them…but sad for me.  Really…it makes me sad for us.

Mike and Laura made Suncrest their home a number of years ago and since then both have served in VERY key ways, including Mike having a season on our staff as our Executive Pastor. I love these guys.

There is more.  Laura is a doctor in the mental health field and has led one of our most powerful ministries at suncrest over the last few years called “Celebrate Recovery”.  Mike still teaches our baptism class most every month.  Together, they have served as mentor couples in our pre-marital classes.  They are two FOLLOWERS of Jesus and the city of Madison, Indiana is going to gain from our loss.  And yes, Mike is the one who looks like Santa. 

If you want to join me by stopping in to say good-bye to the Mosengs, their community group is hosting an “open house” of sorts to send them off at Lee and Debbie Eades house.  It will be Saturday, February 6 from noon to 6pm.  Email cindy.barker@suncrest.org for directions and other details.

Everybody’s doin’ it!

I don’t normally suggest following the crowd.  But if you are at Suncrest and you have not been baptized, then why not take that step in the next two weeks?  We’ve already had 8 baptisms this January…people simply deciding that they will commit their lives to becoming a FOLLOWER of Christ.  Why not join them?

(BTW, if you were at the St. John campus in the 9:30 service Sunday, this picture probably reminds you of what Richard looked like when he came out of the water.  I loved it!!)

On Sunday, February 7 we hope to have more baptisms.  I’ve been praying…and thinking…and imagining how this “not a fan” series could create the conversations or simple reflections that could lead someone to take that step.

Thinking about it?  Or just have more questions?  Let us know and one of our pastors will follow-up with you.  Email me at greg.lee@suncrest.org

Multi-site leaders

I took three of our staff to Dallas this week to meet with multi-site leaders from around the country.  It’s no secret that our multi-site strategy is going to ramp up here in the coming months with plans to launch 2 more campuses this fall.

I still can’t believe we get to be included in some of these leadership circles, but it makes me especially thankful for Leadership Network and the focus of their role with the Churches across America (and now, worldwide).  Their simple purpose is to “connect innovators to multiply”.

I’ve benefited so much from them individually and now our team is fortunate to be surrounded with churches in the trenches tackling the same initiatives AND have the best thinkers in the multi-site movement in the room with us.  Special thanks to Greg Ligon from Leadership Network,  Mac Lake from Seacoast Church and Kevin Penry from LifeChurch for letting us soak up everything you have to offer.

Running Through the Airport

I always laugh at people I see running through the airport.  Today they were laughing at me.

I delayed a trip to Dallas to stay and do Nancy Sanasack’s funeral this morning.  If you know me, you know Nancy meant a lot to me and our family…along with our church and our community.  You can read this post I wrote about her when she was diagnosed with cancer two and half years ago.  Like I told Ken this morning, delaying my trip was the easiest decision I would make all year.

So I pulled away from Chapel Lawn Funeral Home at 11:45am and knew I was in good shape to make my 2:15 flight.  That is until I got a text saying that flight was severely delayed and would cause me to miss the rest of today’s meetings in Dallas.  I remembered there was also a 1:10pm flight also and decided I would do everything I could to be sitting on that flight when it left.

I made good time to the airport.  The shuttle bus could not come fast enough.  before I went through security, I saw the screen said that flight was “Boarding” and then I nearly sprinted to the gate  — the FURTHEST one from security.  I’m sure I looked silly, but I made the flight. 

I did feel bad for the two people on each side of me who had to put up with a sweaty guy sitting between them.

Great stuff here in Dallas hanging with our campus pastors (current and future) along with a learning community of multi-site leaders from 6 other  churches from all over the US and Canada.  More on that tomorrow…

Haiti…what a week

One more post here to finish out this week about Haiti.

1.  I just found out Jamalyn and her team are back on US soil in Miami.  Their whole team is safe, but they personally experienced much devastation, including the death of some Haitian Friends.  Praise God for their return…and keep praying.

2.  Lovely Gentry is the girl (now a college student) that was adopted from Haiti years ago by Suncrester Mary Gentry.  She has family in Haiti and has heard her brother is OK, but nothing from her aunt, uncle, or 2 sisters.  We can only try to imagine what she is feeling as she waits.  Praise God for her brother’s safety..and keep praying.

3.  Tomorrow in our services, Suncrest will give any who desire to give financially toward relief efforts a chance to do so.  Our Benevolence Fund is ”ready in advance” to be generous because of your incredible generosity at Christmas and is making a generous gift toward relief efforts.  All gifts received Sunday will be added to that.

Good News from Haiti! But…

I can’t tell you how thankful I am for all of your prayers.  Within the last hour, I have learned that Jamalyn’s team has been confirmed to be OK.  I understand no one from the States has actually spoken to them yet, but this comes from a trusted, reliable third party.  I praise God for this.

I also got word this afternoon that the Haitian boy being adopted by a Suncrest connected family has been confirmed OK also.

Sometimes the words of this song haunt me when I sing them because I’m guilty of them, “Many men will drink the rain, then turn and thank the clouds.”  Not here.  Not now.  I thank our God for his answers to our prayers.

Alongside this wonderful news for us is still very troubling news.  While word came that Jamalyn’s team is OK, it also seemed to indicate that 2 Haitians had died there.  Our moment of Joy is real.  So are the days, weeks, and years ahead of grief for so many there.  Please don’t stop praying now.