I’m in my office which is unusual for Sunday afternoons.  I’m headed to a picnic for one of our local fire departments in just a few minutes.  I skipped lunch so I am ready to throw down on some food right now.  Most of our staff was on vacation today.  Ryan got to speak at Elk Creek today for Mike Silliman (you deserved the break Mike!)  Thanks to Jeff, Shari, and our incredible Fellowship volunteers for making it happen today.

I loved how God brought things together today.  We talked about the “side effect” of peace and how peace comes from knowing that God is in control.  An absence of peace is actually an absence of belief.  I love how the Father of the demon possessed boy in Matt 9:24 says to Jesus, “I do believe…help my unbelief!” ( I could hang out with this dude) No flip-flop here just the human reality of our struggle with faith.  It is true for all of us.  We believe yet we struggle with unbelief.  I’m so glad God included these kind of truths in the Bible.

People traded in their pain for God’s peace today.  It was cool to see God work and many people respond to the Prince of Peace as they accepted Him as their leader and forgiver.  Jeff’s song “Peace Be Still” (Rush of Fools) was awesome.  You should pick it up on Itunes this week and add it to your music collection.  What an awesome reminder of the gift that Jesus promised us shortly before his death in John 14:27…Let these words resonate today and throughout this week…

Jesus - “I am leaving you with a gift — peace of mind and heart.  And the peace I give is a gift the world cannot give.  So don’t be troubled or afraid”.

I had a great meeting with our team today. I love the team that God has put together at Fellowship. We have an amazing staff. I am in a weird season personally and professionally. My teaching break and my time away has been somewhat unsettling for me. That’s a good thing. In fact, it’s a God thing.

God has done some amazing things at Fellowship, but the best is still in front of us. So the reality is that we have to elevate our leadership. That is what God has been showing me. I told our team today that I have never been more dissatisfied with where we are than I am right now. It starts with me and I own it. I have to grow. I have to lead more. I have to lead better. I love our staff and I love the ministries they lead but I’m not satisfied with where they are either. I am in the process of evaluating everything and everyone, and again, it starts when I look in the mirror.  We can lead better…we can execute better…we can evaluate better.

I got to eat lunch with one of the greatest pastors and church leaders in America yesterday…my brother Buddy. I have been bouncing a lot of this stuff off him. Sometimes I can’t believe that we are related…He gave me some great advice that covered a host of different topics, but the best words he gave me were these. Stop the complaining and blaming and START LEADING! It resonated somewhere deep inside. I realized that I was still stuck in the analysis mode. Anyone ever here of paralysis by analysis?

As leaders (and we all lead someone) we are called at times to define reality.

• The reality is that people all around us are passing into eternity without Christ.
• Reality is that people like you and me have yet to discover that God wants to be in a relationship with them.
• Reality is that people have yet to realize God’s divine purpose for their lives.
• And the reality is that God has positioned Fellowship Church to redefine church in the Delaware Valley.

We need to kick it up a notch…we can’t be satisfied with yesterday’s victories. This WILL be the best fall in the history of our church. I’m convinced of that. But it won’t be easy and it won’t come without sacrifice.  I have worn a bracelet all year that says…”live different.”  Tonight I wrote on the inside of my bracelet my fall motto…”lead different.”

It’s great to be home. We created some great family memories that will last a lifetime. Living out in Avondale, you get to see some interesting things from time to time and unfortunately smell some unpleasant odors (mushroom farms) now and then. I went for a nice run today. To be honest it was way too hot and I am paying the price now. No ipod or podcast to listen to today…just alone with my thoughts and taking in the scenery. I go past some beautiful horse farms (Chester County is famous for it’s horse farms). At one point I got passed by a horse and buggy (not Amish) and a little later I saw a big buck take off through a corn field. It was magnificent. God’s creation at its finest.

About a mile and a half from home while I was contemplating calling a taxi and commiserating about how I should have run early in the morning, I heard a car honk it’s horn and a lady scream “Go Baby!” (not a common occurrence when I run) It was Michelle. She was on her way back from the store and cheering me on. It was just what the doctor ordered and helped me push past the heat to get home.

Life is that way isn’t it? We hit the wall sometime. We have some bad days and go through difficult seasons. And then God sends somebody in our path at just the right time to say just the right thing. Or maybe we see something so amazing that reminds us of how magnificent God is. Sometimes it snaps us out of our funk or gives us a healthier perspective on life. Healthier perspectives remind us what is really important…what really matters.

Michelle’s drive-by encouragement reminds me of the responsibility we all have to speak into people’s lives. Who will God bring cross my path with today that needs a kind word? Who will the Holy Spirit bring to mind that I need to reach out to with a phone call or a note?

So if you are reading this today and are struggling with the heat let me just say as loud as I can type…GO BABY!

Work is going extremely well here.  What an awesome group God has put together this year.  As I write this it is 4:30 PM in Russia and our projects are winding down.  Both playgrounds are near completion with Thursday being our wrap up day.  Monday at the orphanage in Pochinok I had the privilege to participate in a flag raising ceremony.  The director, Igor, and I raised the American and Russian flag as a symbol of our countries working together.  It was a surreal moment.  The kids all stood around and clapped. 

Tuesday night, our group got together for some fried chicken and pizza at the hotel.  I opened up the floor for people to share what they were experiencing to date.  It was a powerful night…the tears were flowing freely…God is doing something in our hearts.  It is so difficult for me to articulate the emotion our teams experience here.  It is different for everyone but I believe it is powerful for everyone.  For those of you parents and family checking in, you would be very proud.  Our students are something special.  They are working hard…getting along…and growing up right before my eyes.  You should see them interact with the Russian teenagers.  Love is a universal language that transends culture.  Everyone is healthy and safe.  We have some skinned up knees and some very tired and sore muscles but everyone is doing well.

Today, I toured a children’s hospital with Una Brewer, a doctor from our church.  They would like for us to build a playground for them in the future.  God continues to open doors.  The jet lag is kicking in as I attempt to write this…short choppy sentences is all I can come up with.  Just know that we are having the time of our lives and I will check in with you soon.  Thanks for praying for us.

Our worship pastor, Jeff Ream and his wife, Jennifer are the proud new parents of a baby boy. Hudson Ream was born this evening at the Chestnut Hill Hospital in Philly. I got to hold Hudson when he was only about 2 hours old…how cool is that! I didn’t get his length but he weighed 7 pounds and 3 ounces. Both Mom and baby are doing great. Jeff on the other hand…well let’s just say he could use some sleep. He had me laughing most of the time I was there. Our media pastor, Ben Jones and his wife Courtney, made the trip up to Philly with me. We had a great time celebrating with Jeff and Jenn. What an awesome blessing from God when new babies come into this world.

I love getting to see our staff in their most important roles they play…husbands and wives and daddy’s and mommy’s. Today I also had the blessing of helping Ben and Courtney move into their new home! I am so excited for them. Ben stepped in on very short notice this morning and led our worship. It didn’t skip a beat.

I presented Elevate to our church today. I saw a lot of fired up people as God moves hearts and inspires people. But the best news of the day is that Fellowship grew today with the addition of baby Hudson. My prayer for him is that as soon as he is old enough to understand that a great big God loves him so much that he will open his heart and invite Jesus in.

I am in Atlanta with some of our staff for the Orange Conference. I flew down last night with Ryan Geiger (student pastor) and Dan & Kristi Mcinnes (kids pastors). First of all I am excited to spend a few days concentrating on the younger side of Fellowship. Infants, all the way up to seniors in high school play a huge part in what we do. This conference will help us zoom out and look at how the two ministries sync up.

I am also thankful for the time to connect and pour into the lives of Dan, Kristi, and Ryan. All three of them play a huge part in the strategy and success of our young people. Things run at a pretty fast pace during the week back at home and I don’t always get to spend the time I would like with my team. Time away with them like this goes a long way in keeping us connected and on the same page. We will do some strong relationship building.  These guys are my friends and my comrades.  I am blessed to serve with such high capacity leaders.

I’m excited to learn more about reaching kids for Jesus…I will be sharing some highlights from tonight and the the next two days. You can go to theorangeconference.com and get an inside look at what we will be experiencing.

We had an awesome day today as a team of learners. There are so many opportunities today for church leaders to glean from what others are doing. I have heard it said it is far better when you can learn from other’s mistakes rather than making them all on your own. Today we got to spend some quality time with two of the campus pastors, Nathan Jeter and Brian Howe, of Northway Church. Every church could learn from Northway’s hospitality. They have a way of making people feel valued and important. It was great to hear that they had over 3,000 people show up for 10 different worship experiences at their 3 locations for Easter! Can you imagine?

I get an inside look at Northway because of my relationship with my brother Buddy, so to see how Brian and Nathan have grown and developed in their roles was phenomenal. We also got to take Brian and Nate to one of my favorite restaurants…the cheesecake factory…yea baby!

On the way home it was cool to get a chance to connect and process the things we learned together as a group. I want to give some special props to Kevin Kelly who took time away from work to spend with us…he also let me drive his suburban on the way home! Kevin is an emerging leader at Fellowship with an amazing story. His wife Shari heads up our Life Groups and they have enjoyed unprecedented growth under Shari’s leadership.

I made it all winter with out getting sick but it finally caught up with me yesterday. What I thought was just my annual battle with allergies has grown into a full-fledged cold. I’m busting some night-time cold medicine as I write this so let me just get that out there in case I have any serious typos or grammatical errors.

Six guys in a suburban…you gotta love it!  Gus, Kevin, Ryan, Jeff, Dan, and yours truly are headed to upstate New York today to learn from one of the best churches in the U.S.  I am looking forward to meeting with some of the staff from Northway Church and seeing my brother.  Northway just launched their third campus on Easter Sunday!  God is doing an incredible work there.  We have the privilege to learn from churches all over the country.  We are always looking for ways to do things better…

Road trips are great team builders.  You learn a lot about people when you travel.  Come to think of it…you learn a lot about yourself when you travel.  We are headed out today about 3:00 PM and will return tomorrow night.

I would love to see us launch a second campus someday.  I believe it is in our future.  The timing is really God’s deal.  We are not there yet, but we are much closer than we have ever been.  Technology is making things possible today that we would not have dreamed of 10 years ago.  The multi-campus church concept is thriving all over the United States.  It is one more way we could redefine church in the Northeast!  Stay tuned on this one!