Man, I’m not one to complain about this very often (because it’s just a part of being a pastor and a christian in general), but I feel like me and my family have been under attack – on a lot of levels – big time these last couple of weeks.

That being said, after the last 2 weeks at Iron City I can’t imagine devoting my life to anything else. We’ve had a couple dozen new people at ICC for our services and a pretty decent number at our vision meeting this afternoon.

I just know that God is working to “release” many of them (and a bunch of us regulars) from the junk that is holding them back. Addictions, destructive habits, and negative attitudes are all in play.

The last two weeks have been great – the music has been kicking, the energy level has been off the charts, our people have been over the top – but I have an intense feeling that we’re entering into one of those “only God” seasons of ministry.

Transforming the Pittsburgh metro area with the love of Jesus… Only God could do that!

“Whupped” is a good old southern word that not all yinz will understand, but it does a good job of describing how I feel right now.

All the excitement of (and preparation for) Easter, coupled with starting a new part-time job last week, has left me low on the energy gauge. Thankfully, its a good drained feeling.

I’m so excited about the coming days at ICC! We just revisited and set the message calendar for the upcoming months and its going to be a blast.

I’d love to tell you more, but…

so…

Tired…

Need sleepy…

All of our Easter invitations used the line “Come Celebrate Easter with the PEEPS at Iron City.”  

On top of everything else from Sunday, we gave away 1,000 Peeps to the people in attendance.

Thanks to all the peeps who made Sunday happen, who came to check us out, and who sacrificed their sugar-coated marshmallow bodies for the cause . . .

My blogging has been sporadic (and will probably continue to be for a while), but I just have to share what an amazing day we had at Iron City Church today.

To begin with, we had an extra large group of folks on board planning and preparing for today.  Then this morning, setup went great and the place looked unbelievable.  We got together like we always do after setup and talked for a few minutes and prayed, then something crazy happened…

People started showing up.  And just kept coming.  When they stopped coming we had 27 first time guests and 76 total people in attendance!  That broke our high attendance by almost 50%!  The extra people in the house definitely added to the energy level.   I had a blast!

Brandon, Bob, and Ben (the Killer B’s) rocked the house, musically, and I got to kick off our new “Release” message series.  The message today was called “Power to Rise” and dealt with realizing those things that are holding us back (addictions, destructive habits, negative attitudes, etc.) and enlisting the same power that raised Jesus from the dead to help us gain our release.  It felt like the message really connected and people seemed to track with what I was talking about.

After today, I’m more encouraged than ever to keep pushing and charging forward towards our goal: to see the Pittsburgh metro area transformed by the love of Jesus.  Thank you Jesus for kicking death in the teeth and walking out of that tomb on the first Easter!  And thank you now for calling me and all the folks at ICC to be a part of your mission in the world!

I feel like God has turned on the firehose in the last few weeks (about a month) in showing me areas of my life that need some adjustment.  Rather than taking the time to explain everything, here are some of the nuggets:

• I have to be constantly growing as a leader, and a lot of times this means analyzing, predicting, and adjusting to the stages of life (personally and with the church)
• I have an amazing group of people around me who are willing (some are downright eager) to help – I have to become a better steward of the people God places around me (Matthew 25)
• I need to continue the process of shifting from a “crisis to crisis” mindset to more of a sustainable, long-term mindset as a leader
• I have to become more disciplined with my schedule, my eating habits, my health, and my personal growth plan
• I have to be honest with myself, with God, and with those around me when I’m struggling
• The rhythm of life = 6 and 1.  I suck at this and then wonder why I’m wiped out all the time.
  One final word: SABBATH. 

Today was awesome on so many levels, but especially because it was one of “those” church planting days (when a lot of key people are out and setup drags and you’re not completely sure that everything is getting done and . . .) AND we pressed through and had a great day!

Dad wrapped up the Heroes series today talking about Moses.  He focused on the fact that Moses — like most of us that God calls to serve him — was a reluctant leader who was full of excuses.  It was a good one.

I was extremely proud of all our people for stepping up and making it happen. I was even more excited because of all the people who have already told me about who they’ve invited or are inviting to Easter Sunday (this week).

I can’t imagine anything else in life besides starting a new church that would get me pumped like I am! Thank you God for letting me be a part of what you’re doing in the world!

Man I am overflowing with info and physically wiped out after the last few days. We left with a group of 9 on Wednesday headed for the booming metropolis of Anderson, SC.

Thursday we went to the Unleash Conference at NewSpring Church in Anderson. I’ll try to post some of my learnings from Perry Noble and the gang later.

Then last night I flew to NYC for my monthly coaching network meeting today. I think Nelson (who leads the group) has been having me followed based on what we talked about today. Again, I’ll share some of the specifics later.

Now I’m about to get on an airplane and head home for a deep, slobber-inducing night’s sleep in my own bed. Can’t wait for that!

I think a lot of the joy and richness of life lies in the tensions.  You know, the old “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times” concept.

That’s what this last week or so has been for me.  The tension of having a whole lot of stuff to get done AND an astounding amount of excitement about what’s upcoming.  I like to say that one aspect of the “abundant life” (John 10:10) that Jesus promises is that there’s never a dull moment!

Here’s some of what’s got me excited:

• Jeff preached on Sunday and did an awesome job talking about Naomi in our Heroes series (click here for the .mp3)
• We are getting all prepped and ready for an off the hook Easter Sunday service and the series that we’re kicking off that day
  
• I spent some time today with my father (and catalytic pastor) making plans for some of the crazy stuff we’re doing this summer (like the baddest baseball camp western Pennsylvania has ever seen – more on this later!)”
• We’re taking a team of ICC folks tomorrow down to upstate South Carolina for Thursday’s UNLEASH Conference at NewSpring Church - I am so looking forward to this!
• Dad is preaching on (Palm) Sunday about Moses to wrap up our Heroes series
• Easter is a week and a half away!!!

Just because I’m proud to share . . .

  

  

 

Have a great weekend!

OK.  So last Friday and Saturday we got probably 4-6 inches of snow and it was in the 20’s for much of the time.  Amber, TJ and I went sledding Saturday afternoon to celebrate the first of March.

Then yesterday it hit 68 degrees and beautiful blue skies.  Now it’s been raining all day and it’s back down to 37 (and dropping). 

Not to mention that it’s hard to know what to wear out of the house at any given moment, this is a good illustration for what we talked about on Sunday.

I talked about how Caleb was a man of “Uncommon Courage.”  He was courageous enough to have faith in God’s promises in spite of facing giants and walled cities.  I mentioned that it wasn’t because he was delusional that he believed the Israelites could take the land.  He was realistic about the obstacles in front of him, but he chose to look realistically at the circumstances in light of God’s promises.

Too often I think that we — in spite of our relationship to the King of the universe — allow ourselves to be swayed by our circumstances, which change like the weather around here. 

We claim to believe and have faith in God’s promises to be with us no matter what, to give us life to the full, to make sure we have our daily bread, to provide wave after wave of grace and forgiveness, and (insert your favorite of God’s promises here). 

And then the weather changes…. Life happens…. Something unforeseen goes wrong…. ”Downsizing”… The doctor gives us the bad news… He or she leaves…. That loved one dies unexpectedly…. and BOOM! 

Suddenly all we can see are the circumstances (the weather) and we forget that God’s promises overshadow life’s situations.  Nothing that happens on this earth leaves God scratching His head. 

I’ll say it again: COURAGE IS DIRECTLY PROPORTIONAL TO THE SIZE OF YOUR GOD — BIG GOD = BIG COURAGE!  No matter what the weather’s looking like in your life today, God is big enough and loves you enough to follow through on His promises.  Take courage!