a GO faith-challenge

I’ve heard from several CLCers since this weekend who all have a similar ‘theme’ – namely, “we’ll make this safe commitment that we know we can do, but we really hope to be able to ‘do more’ later”.

If you’re thinking that way about this coming Sunday, could I challenge you for a moment?

The truth is, GO is not about us figuring out how much we can afford. It’s about hearing from God what HE wants us to do, by faith. So if we have an idea of what we want to do, but we settle for a lower figure, thinking we don’t want to commit to something we might not be able to do later, where is the faith in that?

What I’ve learned in life is that when I sign my name to a commitment, I usually find a way to keep it. But if I never stretch myself to make the commitment in the first place, I probably won’t keep it. If you’ve had that same experience, I’d love to hear your story – it would encourage others as well. Or if this doesn’t make sense to you, I’d like to hear that, too.

Remember: we’re not looking for fantasy commitments. But I do want to challenge every CLCer to step up and make a commitment that you know will require your faith and your sacrifice, along with God’s provision, to make it happen. Then and only then will we GO!

Back to the Basics

No, this isn’t a post about da Bears again (although the shoe does fit, you gotta admit).

It’s about this “Focus on 5″ Conference at Seacoast Church that Chris Payne and I are attending. Monday night’s sessions included “First Impressions” and “Telling Your Story”, and each speaker took us back to the basics that every church knows, but certainly not every church practices, including CLC. (Just like da Bears, it’s easy to get away from the basics)

I know we picked up some tips that will make us better already, and I’m really expecting even better things this morning before we jump back on a plane for Chicago. Good time to spend with Chris, too – I’m excited about the future of our newest campus!

GOing to the Ends…in SB and SW!

I’ve heard GREAT reports today from both our other campuses as to the response on Sunday to our missions message about GOing to the Ends:

• in Shorewood, we had our best attendance since Opening Day, with 227 people present and Pastor Pat reports some who said the message yesterday was the best of GO – reminding them of what this campaign is all about (it’s NOT money; it’s about reaching people – in Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and ‘to the ends’!)

• in South Bend, we had another solid attendance with more new guests, one of whom called back today to say “we’ve been looking for a new church for some time, and after hearing that message yesterday, we know this is it – we want to join!”

I couldn’t be more excited about what God is doing to do among us at TPCC this Sunday – don’t be late – come early for a good seat, because we may have 2,000 people in attendance, and I promise that we’re doing stuff you’ve never seen before. It’s gonna be a historic day for CLC!

off to South Carolina

I’m leaving this morning for a quick 32-hour trip to Charleston, SC and a ‘coaching’ opportunity with our newest Campus Pastor, Chris Payne. We’ll be attending a conference at Seacoast Church, one of the early ‘pioneers’ in the multi-site movement. They’re leading the way, too, with 11 campuses and 15 venues doing who-knows-how-many services each weekend in 3 different states! Best of all, they are the kind of real people that I enjoy hanging with.

We’ll have a chance to glean from some of their ‘best practices’ in several areas of ministries, and I’ll have opportunity to spend some quality time with Chris as well, since we’re trying to give him and Amber a ‘transfusion’ of CLC “DNA” to spread to the entire South Bend campus. Got to say I’m looking forward to this time with him.

Then it’s back to Chicago tomorrow afternoon for a full week of preparing for GO! OneFamily Celebration at Tinley Park Convention Center!

Family ministry

If you weren’t present at our 11:15am service on Sunday in Tinley Park, you didn’t have a chance to witness the sweet new approach we’re taking to “Baby Dedications”, thanks for our new Directors of Family Ministry, Joe & Sarah Dascenzo.

With their help, we’re moving into a more family-focused approach to Children’s Ministry, with the understanding that the role of the Church has always been to supplement the home, since parents are given the primary responsibility for the spiritual development of their children.

So today, when we dedicated Kristianna Faustin (Mark & Cheryl’s daughter) and Jacob Leary (Chris & Jacki’s son), we presented them with a “Faith Box” that will contain various items to contribute to their spiritual development as the years go by. My contribution was a letter to each child, to be opened on their 12th birthday, explaining what we did today when we prayed for them to follow in their parent’s footsteps. I was teary-eyed when I wrote the letters last week, and I got all misty again this morning when explaining it to the church family.

I’m really excited about Joe & Sarah’s plans as we GO forward, with several supplemental workshops and practical helps to assist the parents of CLC in passing their faith to their most valuable possession – the children God has placed in their trust. Kudos!

If you have a baby on the way, or a young child you haven’t yet dedicated to the Lord, I encourage you to get in touch with Sarah

Sunday afternoon reflections

Ever heard of mixed-emotions?

That’s what I’ve got today (feeling a little like a roller-coaster):

• weekend started with an incredible response from our leaders, who stepped-up BIG to commit $1.87M to the GO! campaign
• got some bad news from some close friends, with loved ones near death, etc.
• GREAT services in Tinley as we focused on GOing “to the ends” and the response to our missions emphasis was VERY encouraging to me!
• my wife left me this afternoon
• NO, not like that (what are you thinking?) She drove to MI to spend a few days with her mom, who’s gone through two surgeries recently and still has some health challenges
• Pastor & Mrs. Kim launched the Korean CLC this afternoon!
• The Bears lost another game they should have won.

As pumped as I am about GO!, I think I’m just as bummed about da Bears. In fact, as far as I’m concerned, it’s time to bring in Kyle Orton and Garrett Wolfe and see what the future holds – this season is over, folks. Watching Tom Brady shred defenses on my HDTV this afternoon is enough to make me want to go buy a Patriots cap. (I say that with tears…pray for me)

are you ready for this?

Just in case you haven’t heard, some of our leaders gathered Friday night to ‘set the pace’ for the GO! campaign by making our commitments first. Now you also should know that in our entire history, the largest commitment we’ve ever made for a project was $500,000 pledged to help us construct the present building, and that was the entire congregation back in 2000.

This weekend, with just over 100 commitments, we are at (are you sitting down?) $1.87 MILLION DOLLARS!!!!!!!!!

Of course, that’s not even half-way to where we need to be, but it’s an incredible statement by the leaders of CLC that we are GOing! I’m counting on every single CLCer to be present at the Tinley Park Convention Center next Sunday, November 4, at 10a.m. for what will undoubtedly be a historic day for our church family, when each of us from all 3 campuses will come together to make our personal commitment to help CLC Move, do Missions, and Multiply!

Pray and obey. That’s all I’m asking….just pray and obey. Then we’ll rejoice together!

I’m really, really pumped about this

Take a trip this weekend…..into the world of MISSIONS!

I’m so pumped about this coming weekend when we’ll conclude our GO! series of messages with a “1-day Missions Conference”! If you’ve been around, you know that every Fall we do a whole week of missions, spanning two full weekends, with special music, videos, flags, dance and more as we focus on how CLC is fulfilling our role in the Great Commission. Well, the GO! campaign has meant that we can’t do that this year, so we’re cramming all of that into one exciting, multi-sensory experience this weekend, in each of our 3 services!

Ever wondered WHY we place such emphasis on missions at CLC?

Ever wondered WHERE your missions dollar goes?

Wanna know MORE about the GO! missions projects in Passy, Senegal…Ankara, Turkey.. or Valencia, Venezuela?

Enjoy great MUSIC?

Need to know HOW all of this relates to you personally?

Then don’t miss this weekend! In fact, invite a friend to join you for an incredible 90-minute journey into the world of MISSIONS – this Saturday at 6pm, or Sunday at either 9 or 11:15am!

40-Day Devotional Guide

One of the neatest things we’ve done during our GO! campaign is the 40-Day devotional guide we gave out at the beginning of our 40-Day GO Fast. Those daily readings and prayer suggestions have been getting me through these last 4 weeks with no desserts, Diet Coke or popcorn!

Today’s reading was especially good, as we were told to read Joshua 1 to find all the commands God gave Joshua when he was to GO across the ‘boundary’ into ‘new’ territory. Here’s my list:

1. Be strong and courageous
2. Be strong and very courageous
3. Be careful to obey all the Word
4. Do not deviate from any of the Word
5. Study this Book
6. Meditate on it day and night
7. Be sure to obey everything in it
8. Be strong and courageous
9. Do not be afraid or discouraged, FOR the Lord is with you wherever you GO!

Does that get you like it got me?

Out of 9 different commands God gave Joshua, 4 of them had to do with courage and resisting fear (I said it yesterday; I’m saying it again: FEAR is the enemey of FAITH!) and the other 5 had to do with getting God’s Word and holding on with radical obedience!

I don’tknow about you, but I’ve got my ‘marching orders’, not just for today, but for the rest of my life!

What are you getting our of your time with the Lord during GO? I’d love for you to share it with my readers here.

I have a confession to make

As I was driving to church tonight for our Newcomer’s Reception, I was listening to the Bears game on the radio (after having watched the first 3 quarters at home), and when I pulled into the parking lot, there were only two-and-a-half minutes left to play, with the Eagles leading by a score of 16-12 AND they had the ball.

So I was fully prepared to write this post to say honestly: I have given up on this season. Bring on Kyle Orton and Garret Wolfe and let’s see what they can do, since this season is over already. But before I wrote, I thought, ‘well, let’s check to see what the final score was’ and was I surprised! 97 yards in just over a minute?????

How could I be such a doubter? After preaching faith all weekend? Forgive me, Lovie (and Brian) – GO Bears!

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