In spite of the day going so well today at Iron City, there was one big casualty on the day.  Before the service I was setting some things up on the stage (bad idea).

I thought of something else that needed doing just as I got past the edge of the projector screen.  So I turned to walk back across the stage and slammed my big, shiny forehead into the corner of the screen.  The blood flowed and the scratch on my forehead looks like I lost a fight with a bobcat or something.

I’m debating whether or not to post a pic.  We’ll see . . . .

UPDATE:

I’m in and wiped out from today’s gathering of ICC.  We had another good one!  37 people there today.  More new folks and a pretty good number of returning.  We had a few people come early and go through volunteer orientation this morning before the service.  It’s blowing my mind watching God bring in disconnected folks and get them connected.

I preached a message today called “Bloom.” It’s the third message in our Thank God It’s Monday series.  I talked about the struggle to find our fit along life’s journey.  Discussed the process of finding the right job situation.  The final point is that when we get to the place we need to be, we are to bloom where we’re planted (Colossians 3:23-24).  Here’s a link to the audio: http://www.ironcitychurch.com/messages/2007_02-TGIM/093007_TGIM03.mp3

The band was rocking (even though it was a skeleton crew today), the setup/cafe/children’s/greeting/parking teams were all ready early and excited, and the atmosphere in the house was upbeat and positive.  I’m really excited about some of the connections we’re making and the roll that God is bringing.

I love Jeff Mousa.  He is my good friend and our new executive pastor.  I’m a big picture guy who paints with big, broad, sweeping strokes.  Jeff is the detail guy who comes behind me and helps to fill in the blanks.  I love seeking God and casting the huge-o-mongous vision that He gives.  Jeff loves getting elbows-deep in the miniscule, vitally important, mind-numbing (my description) details of strategizing that vision.

We’re currently sitting in the office working on organizational charts and job descriptions “together.”  “Together” because I’m sitting in the same room with Jeff and periodically grunting responses to his very specific questions.  To be completely honest, he’s crafting these items while I nod in approval and post to this blog.  I am loving having him around.  With him here to help with the details and administration of ICC, I am free to focus more on seeking God, preparing and preaching the messages each week, and developing relationships with all sorts of people in this church and community.

I’ve known and spent a lot of time with other pastors and church planters who are trying to do it all.  Here’s my word to anyone in that category (a church leader trying to do it all): STOP IT.  God makes a pretty good point about this in 1 Corinthians 12.  You’re not 47,000 different parts of the body.  You may not have a Jeff, but I can guarantee you that there are some people in your church with gifts, talents, and abilities that you don’t have.

By hogging it all (with a chip on your shoulder in most cases – been there), not only are you failing to be as effective and fruitful in your ministry as you could be, but you’re also keeping someone else from experiencing the joy of serving.  REPENT!

I’ve never been all that good at the long haul.  I’m the offensive lineman on the football team who could hang with anyone for the first 5-10 yards off the ball, but faded in the 40.  My attention span lends itself to the sprint - to moving really quickly and in short bursts.

I spent many of my 29 years overloading myself with multiple passions and activities to the detriment of my health: relationally, physically, emotionally, and spiritually.  I’ve been quoted as saying such wise, forward-thinking nuggets as “sleep is overrated,” “I can deal with anything for 6 months,” and “I’ll sleep when I’m dead.”

That’s making this church planting thing even more of a struggle for me at times.  God didn’t call me to spend a couple of years doing this Iron City Church experiment and then move on.  This is my life’s calling and I intend to start, persevere, and finish well – in such a way that God is honored, the name of Jesus is made more famous, and people’s lives are transformed radically with His Gospel.

That being said, the routine thing is going pretty well thus far.  My weekly schedule (for now) looks like this:

• Sunday: Setup/Worship Service/Breakdown/BFSAN (Big, Fat, Sunday Afternoon Nap)
• Monday: Study Day #1 (recharge from Sunday, work on sermon prep for next Sunday, read, listen to podcasts, etc.) & Date Night with the finest woman in America
• Tuesday: Meeting Day #1 (most of the day for ICC peeps/potential ICC peeps/community leaders/general & staff meeting in the evening)
• Wednesday: Study Day #2 (work to finalize this Sunday’s message, begin prep for next week and early study for future messages/series)
• Thursday: Meeting Day #2 (available for meetings part of the day and then work on various ICC tasks in afternoon)
• Friday: OFF (recharge/God time/family time/Tommy time)
• Saturday: Final preps for Sunday, College Football

In addition, I’m going to the gym at least 3 times a week in the mornings and trying to sleep regularly.  This is my current plan for sustainability in ministry.  I’m thinking it’s a start.  I’ll keep you posted . . .

Yesterday marked our second weekly service at ICC.  We’re going through a series called “Thank God It’s Monday: Why Going to Work Doesn’t Have to Suck,” and yesterday’s topic was dealing with authority.  Good stuff.  I really enjoyed it and I’m definitely loving the weekly opportunity to preach to this ever-changing flock that God has entrusted/is entrusting to me as a pastor.

We launched ICC with a team of folks made up of locals who we’re trying to connect with (unchurched/dechurched from the North Hills area) AND like-minded believers from other churches who all committed to helping us get started.  After last Sunday’s Kick-Off Service, we sent the vast majority of the latter group back to their church homes.  That meant that yesterday was our real baseline as to where we’re starting on this journey.  And the state of the church is pretty good after week #2.

Our total attendance was 33 for our first weekly service minus the training wheels.  Our systems are still in their infancy, but the people who are stepping up to serve are amazing.  With just our own ICC folks working, setup went smooth, all areas were handled with excellence and grace, and God honored all of that by bringing out 6 first time families.  Each of those families indicated that they enjoyed themselves and most stated that they plan to come back next week. 

Incidently, one of the big reminders I’m getting already is that when you plant a church for people who don’t do church, the weekly church attendance habit is not natural.  We’ll be spending much of this week trying to determine what else we can do to get those fired up first timers back a second, third, and fourth time…

All in all, God is at work!  The atmosphere yesterday was charged, people were challenged (me included), and my prayer is that even as we speak people are being used as agents of life-change in their workplaces, schools, and communities!

Let me set up a scene for you: Last September (just about a year ago) I was on staff at this church, just outside Savannah, Georgia.  Having had a passion for church planting since I was 18 (when my parents planted the above church), I had felt for a while that God was transitioning that passion into a calling.  So I started to take every opportunity I had to read about church planting, meet with current church planters, and to explore opportunities in that area.

So back to last September — I showed up to a denominational information meeting in Macon, GA and sat next to a lovely young couple who weren’t exactly sure why they were at said meeting.  It was not the most exciting material I’ve ever been taught, but during the day I was able to spend a little time talking with this guy and his wife.  In our conversation he mentioned that he was very gifted in the area of administration.  I told him that was a gift set that is often missing in church planter types.

The following weekend, this fellow and I started attending the West Ridge Church School of Church Planting in Dallas, GA.  In fact, I stayed at their apartment the night before the first meeting.  During the time that we were both attending WRC’s monthly classes, I move to Pittsburgh, clarify God’s calling to start a church here, and begin working on Iron City Church.  This other guy continues to wrestle with what his next steps will be.  One day, during lunch at class (after much prayer on my part), I slyly mention that if I had any sense I’d get this guy to come on board to help me with administration (not one of my strong suits).  He responds that “he hasn’t been asked.”  To which I say, “Now I’m asking.”

Long story short, here we are, less than a year after first meeting and Jeff and Leslie Mousa have moved up from Georgia to serve with us on staff at ICC.  They’re passionate for God, passionate about the vision for ICC, immensely talented, and – good for me and Amber – they’re really good friends.  Please join me in thanking God for sending Jeff and Leslie to be a part of this movement called Iron City Church!

I had lunch today with about 9 other pastors from our area.  Many of these guys pastor relatively large churches in the North Hills region of Pittsburgh and there I was sitting there three days after our launch discussing what’s been happening with ICC over the summer.  This being the first meeting of the group since before summer, they all had a good laugh about our “More Jesus, Less Crap” campaign. 

Obviously, we’re all at different stages and dealing with different stuff, but they’re a very supportive group of guys.  Even though we do some things very different than many of them in terms of our approach, they were all encouraging and seemed genuinely excited by what we’re doing. 

Big thanks to Jeff Leake for inviting me and Jay Passavant for hosting this regular gathering.

As of today, we’re going on two weeks of being back in the gym.  It’s amazing how much better I feel when I’m in a gym routine.  I guess it’s just nice to be tired at the end of the day for a reason (other than my behind is tired from sitting in my office chair all day).  Not to mention, it’s good to have a stress reliever each day – not that there’s ever any stress in starting a new church.

I’ll try to track this new gym deal…

I mentioned in one of last night’s post that we had a group of folks in town from South Carolina (Aiken, to be precise).  We have had a lot of mission teams in town this summer to give of their time, money, and energy to help us get this church started.  That being said, we thoroughly enjoyed having this group here for a few extra reasons:

1) They came bearing gifts for our community - they donated hundreds of bottles of water and juice with Iron City Church labels for us to use for our outflow activities (giving stuff away in Jesus’ name with no strings attached)

2) They sent up a recon team months ago to prep for their time here – Owen and Betty Heyward came up a couple of months ago and met with about a half-dozen different church planters in the area to assess needs, which leads to #3

3) They came up with a plan and a mission to assist multiple church plants/planters in the Pittsburgh metro area last week and have committed to help out for a couple of years

This is so exciting to see from a church that has resources and people who are passionate about God’s Kingdom.  I’m stoked to know that they have a vision to help out church plants all over this area in a long-term relationship that will reap eternal rewards.  Keep up the good work Millbrook!

I think I heard that statement from Mark Batterson, but I’m ‘adopting’ it.  To that end, here’s a link to an article that was written about us last week.  We had a couple of people list this article as one of the reasons they came out yesterday:
http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/cityregion/s_527095.html

Here’s another reason some folks listed, the radio ad we ran for the last three weeks:
Iron City Church – TGIM Radio Ad – The X

I’ll post some pics from our billboards in the next couple of days, but that was another “how did you hear about us” answer.

As of this weekend, everything we’ve done to advertise ICC has yielded at least one new family.  I’ll post more another time on this topic, but it’s good to see things working.  Most of all, we’re gaining some serious awareness in this community among the people we’re trying to connect with.