A Week Off

Yesterday was my last day at work for a whole week thanks to Spring Break. It was also Field Day which led to me getting my first sunburn of the year. So, here I sit, a funny shade of red with an entire week free from work coming up.I plan on doing nothing except working on my Easter sermon, getting a few things done for the church, and catching the Brand New concert on Thursday.

I've been going for almost a month now without a real day off. Between Church, weddings, and teaching I've been feeling really drained. I know it's not healthy, but I just kinda found myself stuck this way and the only thing to do is get through it.

I have a meeting this morning and then I have to touch up my message until this afternoon when I have a couple of weddings to perform. I'm just looking forward to six o'clock when I'll be back home and can just forget about everything except church for a little while.

Girly Men in the Pulpit

I read an article not to long ago about how most pastors come off femine and just plain girly to most unchurched men. I can see where they are coming from. I went to a Bible college and the ratio of girly guys to manly men was pretty extreme. I remember talking with guys who would say things like, "Not to sound gay or anything, but I just am so moved in my spirit whenever I watch the sunset."

In order to combat this trend I've made a rule that the pastoral staff at The Venue is not allowed to be girly, with the exception of Bekah for obvious reasons (Jason cries a bit more than I think is healthy, but he builds things out of wood with power tools so it all evens out). We've had to put some barriers in place to make this work but it's for the greater good.

Here are some things that the men of our staff are not allowed to publicly confess to enjoying:

1. Kittens
2. Rainbows
3. Unicorns
4. Bubble baths
5. A good cry
6. VW Jettas
7. Romantic movies
8. Cuddling
9. Madonna (Sorry Kenny)
10. Facials
11. Kenny G
12. Tulips
13. Herbal Tea
14. Talking about their feelings
15. Hugging
16. Tom Cruise
17. Oprah
18. Manicures (Even if it does have "man" in the name)
19. Ponies
20. Making out with other men.

Interviews

I got up at 4:45 this morning so I could be at my interview at 6:30 and I'm felling a bit tired right now which isn't a good thing because I have a sermon to work on. Whenever I try to write sermons without any sleep they always end up sounding a little funny come Sunday.

I think the interview went well. My potential employer seemed nice and there wasn't any of those questions that no one ever has a good answer for like, "Have you ever been arrested?" I think I might have a new job sometime next month, we'll just have to wait and see.

This interview went a lot better than an interview I had about a year ago. It went something like this:

Potential Boss: Come in Mister Bell and have a seat.

Me: Hi. Thanks for taking the time to have an interview with me.

Potential Boss: Not a problem, you look like you'd fit in good here but I just need to ask you a few questions.

Me: Sounds good.

Potential Boss: Mr. Bell has anyone ever told you that you have an incredible smile?

Me: Uh, a few people I guess...thanks.

Potential Boss: It looks like you work out. What do you lift?

Me: Um, could we maybe just go over my resume?

Potential Boss: I can think of some better ways to spend our time together.

Me: Please tell me you want to go over the dental plan.

Potential Boss: Take me in your strong arms now!

Me: Never! I'm a married man, you can keep your intern position Dr. Phil!

I'm glad I held out for something better. Oh, and by the way, half of our chairs came in today. The look pretty good, can't wait to fill them.

Tomorrow

Tomorrow I get up at the crack of dark to go to a job interview before work.

Tomorrow I should have the chairs for the church.

Tomorrow they start pouring the slab for my house. I found out today it should be done about the last week of July (The house not the slab).

Tomorrow I get paid.

Tomorrow is one day closer to my son being born.

Tomorrow might be the best Wednesday I've had in quite awhile.

What Staff Meeting Should Look Like

Our staff video is now on Youtube. Check it out to see what Las Vegas church planting looks like . STAFF VID

Christian Bookstores

I do not like Christian bookstores, once in a great while there will be an item that I need right away and can't wait to have mailed to me and I'll be forced to enter into one of these dens of iniquity. I always come away feeling depressed.

Maybe there are some out there that are different (The Archives in Pasadena, CA are good folks in my book) but these are some of the reasons that make me feel the way I do:

The Books - Unless your genre of choice is leadership or Christian Living the selection is about as limited as your options at the dry cleaners. Expect to see large amounts of books that have a smiling dork on the cover and are basically his last major sermon series that he's selling to you for $19.99. As for Bibles, the same Bible you can find at Wal-mart miraculously becomes twice as expensive when placed within the sacred halls of these places.

The Music - I heard an interview with Bono from U2 where he said the reason why he never cared for Christian music is that it always came off like the artists were playing it safe and were afraid to talk about things that they were really feeling. I understand what he was saying, I think that Christian music has came a long way in the last ten years but in general most of it comes off musically sub-par in my ears. This leads me to wonder why I am asked to pay $22.99 for it at a Christian Bookstore, when at Best Buy Cds cost $14.99

The T-shirts - These things are just bad. If you own one I'm sorry. I once owned them too, it's never too late to get help.

The Jesus Junk - I was just saying how I needed pot holders with Bible verses on them, or maybe breath mints with crosses on them, or maybe toilet paper with fishes on every sheet.

What it basically comes down to is that these places charge me more because they have to in order stay open because not enough people shop at them. We are expected not to care about paying more because we are Christians supporting Christians. You don't come off very Christian to me though if you charge 20% more for everything you try to sell me. If you can't afford to keep the doors open while being normally priced then maybe you aren't called to run a business.

Anyway I'm off to buy more John the Baptist bug spray.

I Think We Can Do This Sunday Thing

Today was our second service in the elementary school and I think things are going well.

The mailers got to some people a bit earlier than we expected so we had some new people this week as well as some phone calls and website hits checking us out.

Worship was rough today, but nobody seemed to mind. We've had so many awesome weeks from the band they're allowed to have a off day every once and awhile.

Bekah's sermon was really good, she's going to be great to have for the weeks I don't preach.

Set up and tear down hasn't been that bad, summer is coming though.

We are still waiting on our chairs and projection screen, but we borrowed and jury rigged some things and all went well.

So far so good. Now all I have to do is get my Easter sermon series ready and we can do it all again next week.

Fear vs. Faith

...Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God... (Hebrews 11:16)

Easter is coming. Soon I'll be preaching almost every week. Soon new people will start showing up. Soon there will be volunteers and groups and more decisions to be made. Soon I'll have to start acting like the thing I am, a Lead Pastor. These things don't really scare me. They used to but now it has became kinda of a given fact in my mind that this is what I'm called to do, so I might as well get over my insecurities and get the job done.

I know that hard times will come. I know that if we are doing what we are supposed to be doing we will be attacked and whereas that might not be a comforting thought I can deal with attacks.
I'm not afraid of the church failing, that's in God's hands and I don't think He brought us this far just to leave us stranded. These things are fine and I knew what I signed up for.

The one thing that really does scare me is Hebrews chapter eleven. You get this roll call of great people of faith and then right in the middle you get this half verse that says, Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God. You know what this means? There are people out there that God is ashamed to be identified as being their God.

I grew up with a family that was ashamed of me most of my life. I wasn't the person they wanted me to be, I didn't care about the things they cared about. I wasn't like them.Now that I'm older I see that it was I who should've been ashamed of them, but I remember the feeling. Now, my worst nightmare is to not be the person God wants me to be, to not care about the things He cares about. To not be like Him.

The second thing I fear is letting my friends down. I've mentioned before how God has blessed me by letting me plant this church with my best friends. They are the people that God has given my to keep my sanity intact (what passes for my sanity anyways). They are the most real people I know but at the same time they are the people who would give up anything in service to God. The world isn't worthy of them and yet for some reason they've chosen to follow me on this project. To fail them is not an option.

This is my motivation. These are the reasons why I continued to strive when things looked impossible. This is why no sermon ever feels like it's completely done. For those church planters out there that actually read this, I wish I could tell you that it has always been faith that has gotten me through the hard times in this, but that wouldn't be honest. Sometimes it was fear. The fear of standing before my God one day and saying, "I couldn't", "I wouldn't", or "I'm sorry." The fear of backing down when my friends needed me to be strong, or betraying the trust that people have placed in me for what ever crazy reasons.

Maybe this fear is a kind of faith, or maybe I'm just rationalising. Either way, The Venue is now planted and God has brought me to the place He promised. I'll work out the details as I go.

Oh, and by the way, I still think flying insects are scary too.

The Mailer is Printed

Well, I got the samples of our mailer today and I'm pretty happy. I know the design isn't for everyone but I wanted something that would stick out and at the same time gave people a taste of who we are.

The mailers will be in the mail this week and we look forward to people having them just before Palm Sunday.

The design was done ourselves (Ten points if you know who we ripped off for the EKG line), so that was free and we got an awesome rate for the printing and mailing from Maverick Creative Group here in Vegas.

Here's to hoping they land in the right hands.

A Good Day

The first graders weren't that bad today, and whereas I don't look forward to the next two days with them at least everyday is a day closer to me being done.

My class was canceled for tonight, so I don't have to make a long car trip for 10 minutes worth of work after all.

I had a wedding scheduled for the Saturday that I was coming back from Santa Barbara and that just got canceled. This means I don't have to worry about what time I get back and I'll have a true vacation weekend that week.

I found out that the postage on our mailer is going to be about $500 less than what we were quoted. I should have samples of the mailer on Friday.

I'm going to the advanced screening of Blades of Steel or whatever it's called tomorrow.

My tax return money should be in sometime in the next two days.

I think I made some kind of break through for my next sermon last night.

I had to put new holes in my belt this morning due to the fact I'm no longer sporting the man gut.

It's almost Friday.

Not So Exciting Stuff

In order to compliment the post I made a couple of days ago, here is some stuff I'm not excited about:

1. Going to Work Tomorrow - Someone save me! Teaching first graders is as chaotic as herding cats. Only cats talk less and have better hygiene.

2. Overseeing the Evangelism Class Tomorrow - Nothing against the people at the class, but I just have a lot on my plate right now and it takes me longer to drive there and back than the time it takes me to administer the tests.

3. Rosie O'Donnell - Nothing about this woman excites me. The women at work were talking about how good The View has been since she's been on, but that's like saying the DMV has been better since they put in more ashtrays. A view is suppose to be something breath taking too look at not something that makes you want to stop breathing.

4. My Weddings - Don't get me wrong, it's good money and I love most of the couples I meet. It's just with working five days a week for one job and working for the church most of the day Sunday and a few nights throughout the week, Saturday is my only chance for a day off. I've decided to not take any more weddings after this season is over. I'll make a few exceptions but last year I did something like 100 and if I do that this year it's going to kill me.

5. Nascar - Tons of people in Vegas love this, but if I wanted to stand in the heat and watch cars go speeding around in circles for four hours in the hopes of seeing a crash every once in a while I'd just hang out on the freeway.

The Good Kind of Hurt

I woke up this morning very sore from yesterday, but it's the kind of hurt that you're proud of because you know that you used your body for something good. Really it wasn't as bad as I imagined it, the cables and the powered speakers were the worst of it (together I think they weighed more than the truck).

My plan for the rest of the night is to do as little as possible while working on my series of sermons for around Easter. Usually, preparing sermons consists of me listening to a lot of music, playing dumb internet games, and reading blogs on the web all mingled with some serious study, a little prayer, a lot of pacing, tons of chicken scratched notes, and an unhealthy amount of talking to myself. It should be a fun night.

Exciting Stuff

We had our first service today and It went great! We got to the school at about 7:30 this morning and it was nonstop until about 1:00 but we had a great time. I know that we are running off excitement right now and come August when it's 120 outside it's going to feel a lot more like work, but right now it feels good. It's just awesome to see something that you've talked about for so long become a reality.

These next few services are still prelaunch as our mailers and street signs won't be out for another week or two, but we are all looking forward to seeing what's going to happen on Easter and the weeks following.

I have so many exciting things going on in my life right now that are about to take place I hardly can keep track of them all, but for the sake of having another list to make my post go on forever here are the things I'm looking forward to in the next few weeks and months to come (in no particular order):

1. Ethan - My son is due to be born in about one month. This will make one girl and one boy for me and though I might change my mind in the future I am 99.999% we are done with the newborn thing after this.

2. Easter - I have no idea how many people are going to show up, but I'm excited for new people to see and have a chance to be a part of what God is doing here at The Venue. Truth be told, I'm more excited for the weeks following Easter to see who catches on to our vision.

3. New House - My house is going to be started in the next few days. It won't be finished until sometime late this year but that's okay, it gives me time to figure out how I'm going to pay for it.

4. New Job - Normally, the only thing I hate more than working is starting new work but if things go well I might be working with one of my best friends which is the only way to go really when it comes to work. I currently work with my best friend Tyson (this is like the 6th job we've had together) and it will be sad not to see him at work anymore, but he'll always be in my heart.

5. Vacation - If all goes according to plan then some of The Venue staff will be going to Santa Barbara this summer for a little R & R. The beach has always been there for me when I've needed to slack off.

6. Tyson and Malene's Birthdays - I don't know if you could say I'm "excited" about this but with all the strangers that have birthdays every day it's good to have it happen to someone you know every once and awhile.

7. Next Sunday - I can't wait until next Sunday when we will have our own chairs and our projector screen as well as some samples of our mailer. Also, our connections pastor, Bekah, will be giving her first sermon for The Venue. Ah, to look forward to church again...

Things Men Should Not Do Together

So, this week I found myself doing some things with my associate pastor, Jason, that I wasn't entirely comfortable with. It all started when we went together to buy decor for our stage setup. First, I found myself standing in line at Walmart buying four dozen candles, fabric, and a nice rug with another man. Next, we somehow ended up at Pier One looking at furniture together. Afterwards, we both felt dirty and headed to Lowe's to try and redeem ourselves.

Some guys complain when their wives send them to the store to buy feminine items, but at least when you do that everyone knows you are going back home to a woman. Standing in a store with another man asking him which tablecloth will go better with the rug just doesn't look right. It made us wish we had brought one of the girls with us.

Here are some other things I don't think guys should shop for alone with each other:

1. Curtains or any other window coverings with the possible exception of rolling steel shutters.
2. Makeup
3. Baby clothes
4. Lampshades (the lamps themselves are okay)
5. Justin Timberlake CDs (not that anyone should, alone or not)
6. Christmas cards
7. Any movie with a title like, A Walk to Remember in a Bed of Steel Green Magnolias. (Why do chick movies always have long names while guy movies have names like Die Hard and Braveheart?)
8. Sheets, quilts, pillows, or anything that goes on a bed unless it has a football team logo on it.
9. Poodles
10. House plants ( outside plants are fine)
11. Indian Jewelry
12. Leather pants
13. Body wash unless purchased with at least twelve other items
14. Paintings of clowns ( just image two guys buying one)
15. Back massagers
16. Tickets to magic shows
17. Wicker chairs
18. Any type of figurines with the exception of cars
19. Pourri
20. Anything with flowers on it

The Children are Killing Me

I'm five weeks into substitute teaching for a maternity leave that will last something like eleven weeks and it's killing me. I have sixteen first graders constantly calling my name to ask stupid questions. I like the kids and the school, but I still find myself counting down the days until I'm done with this assignment.

Maybe it's because I've done way to much first grade this year or it could be because I've been without soda for four days, but I think the real reason I'm having so much trouble in this job is because I know it will be over soon.

I've decided to go back to working a more normal steady job and if everything goes well this will be my last teaching assignment for awhile. This isn't a decision I made lightly, anyone who knows me knows I hate working anything normal, but planting a church is going to require that I have some steady income for a time and so I'm going back into the land of the regular paycheck for a time.

I guess it's just hard to commit to the teaching thing knowing I need to be somewhere else. This is how I've felt about every church I was at while I was waiting to plant. It's not that they were bad assignments it was just that I knew I needed to be somewhere else. I wonder what life is going to be like now I'm where I'm supposed to be.

Oh well, at least tomorrow is Friday.

Sunday Should Be Interesting

I just found out that the chairs that have been donated to us didn't get ordered until today. Also, our projector screen and cables will probably not arrive until early next week. There are also about 100 little odds and ends we have to buy in the next three days.

On the bright side, I got the keys to the school today and we are all cleared to be in on Sunday.

There are a lot of little things to stress over, but this is the reason we gave ourselves two weeks in the school before going public. Even when we do launch in three weeks I have come to the conclusion that we don't have to look like we have everything together because we never will. This church will always be a work in progress just as we are all works in progress. We will do the best we can with what we're given where we are and let God worry about the rest.

Well, It's Not As Girly

I just discovered the Silversun Pickups. I woke up the other day with the song "Lazy Eye" in my head and didn't know where I heard it from. It took me awhile to find it but I'm glad I did. I'm checking out their other stuff now.

I was also needing an emo fix, so I've been listening to My Chemical Romance's "Famous Last Words." I'm not that big of a MCR fan, but so far I've liked most of what I've heard from their last album.

Here We Go

Our preview services are now officially done! We still are not going to be advertising to the community for a couple more weeks, but we are going to be meeting in the elementary school starting next Sunday morning.

Our last service at our mother church went really well. The Band sounded great, everyone seemed to dig my message, and they even took a offering for us (much needed let me tell you).

We were going to have an evening preview service as well, but we smelled something burning right before service. We decided that burning down our mother church for our last service there wouldn't be a good idea, so we all went out to dinner instead.

Big things are going to be happening the next couple weeks. This should be fun.

What I Read

One of the things I like to do the most is to read. I think that if you are going to be preaching on a regular basis you have to be constantly adding new stuff in your head so you've got something to deliver every week. This has never been a problem for me since I'm not too picky about what I read and I can usually rip through a book pretty fast.

For the last month or so I haven't been reading that much thanks to everything going on with the church, but I intend to get back in the habit in the next couple weeks I don't know what I'll start with yet but I have a few ideas.

For those of you who just have to know, here is what I normally read by category:

Non-fiction - I read a lot of history, it makes great sermon illustrations. Before I took my little reading break I just started reading up on European history and I'll probably pick that back up soon.

Christian non-fiction - I hate leadership books and will normally not touch them (Sorry, John Maxwell). Since that takes care of 90% of Christian lit. it doesn't leave me much. Besides reference works I will mostly read stuff by guys I know I won't agree 100% with. I'm thinking about starting another Donald Miller book soon.

Fiction - I mostly read either horror or fantasy when it comes to fiction. Most Christians steer clear of these two genres because they are filled with magic and other unholy things, but I don't think any other genres come as close to grasping the ideas behind the true struggle of good and evil or friendship and faith. I'm eagerly awaiting the new Song of Fire and Ice book by George Martin as well as the last Harry Potter book so I can get some closure.

Christian fiction - Let me know when somebody figures this one out.

Magazines - I like news magazines such as Time and Newsweek. They keep me up to date on stuff I need to know. I'm still mad that my subscription to Time hasn't got here yet. As for Christian mags, I don't have any at the moment I'm in to but I'll keep checking.

Blogs - For the last year I've been reading a lot of blogs. Now, I only read three or four church planting blogs on a regular basis. I also have a few friends that blog on occasion that I read. I actually find myself enjoying these more than the blogs of other church planters. Nothing against other planters' blogs, I find it very helpful to hear what other Churches are doing, but as we get closer to launch I find myself more interested in the lives of the people close to me than those of a church in the next state.

Bible - I thought I should mention that I do read this too.

A Lot of Stars, Not so Much Battle

Battlestar Galactica has been my favorite show for awhile now, but the last four or five episodes have been seriously lacking compared to last season. There has been almost no real plot development that I can see, and there has been no action.

Now, if you're a fan of the show you probably are asking me, "What about last weeks episode? A major event happened then." True, but it wasn't really that great or moving. The show was still just kinda blah.

I'm not giving up yet, we'll give them a few more to prove themselves. It's just hard to find good TV these days.

More Music I'm Not Proud Of

For the record, I'm not a Good Charlotte fan. In fact, I don't think I have ever enjoyed anything that I've heard them do. With that being said, I now confess that I've really been into their song "The River."

On the same note, the band The Fray is not my style, but I've been digging the song "In Over My Head." Maybe the title speaks to me in some ways.

Not the manliest of bands, but when taken with ample doses of Rise Against and 30 seconds to Mars it's not that bad.

Off the subject, I'm getting tired of every other Office being a rerun. It makes me write about bands I shouldn't confess to liking.

Here It Comes

I just found out that the little insurance problem has been fixed and that we are set to start meeting Sunday mornings at the elementary school on March 18th. That makes this Sunday our last at our mother church. We will be taking over the Sunday morning service this week as well as doing our last preview service this Sunday night. Exciting stuff!

1 Corinthians 1:27-29

Planting a church is changing me and I think it is changing everyone on the team. We still joke around about how anyone in their right mind would let a group like us plant a church and how the Denomination must have made a large mistake, but I'm starting to notice something amazing happening. Every week I see the people I've known for years doing things they have never done before. We are growing. Confidence is raising, fear is shrinking, problems are being tackled, we are becoming tight, we are becoming a unit, we are becoming what God needs us to be in order to reach the lost.

Don't get me wrong, I'm not having delusions of grandeur. At our core we are still a group of screw-ups, only we have a God who is larger than our ability to screw-up.

What Did You Just Say to Me?

I have ranted in the past about how I can't stand spiritual jargon (A.K.A. Christianeze). I think the purpose of talking is to communicate and one of the main purposes of the church should be to communicate the gospel. The problem is that communication can't happen when you are using words the other person can't have any hope of understanding.

I don't even think that the problem is the words we use themselves, most of the words I associate with being Christian jargon are actually very good terms for spiritual things. I think the issue lies with how we over use these terms or use them out of context. When used too much or in the wrong places words can lose the original thrust and meaning that they are meant to convey. Then words that are meant to communicate truth just end up sounding silly or meaningless.

So since you all know how much I love a good list, here is my list of the Christian words and phrases I can stand the least:

1. Amen? - No, I don't mean when it's said at the end of prayer, I mean when it's stated as a question. Simply put, amen means "true."Pastors will use this sometimes to get a response from the congregation when they want them to acknowledge something to be true and that is fine, but many times I have heard people ask this for things I can't confirm as true like, "God has given me a great wife. Amen?" What am I suppose to say to this? His wife might be horrible for all I know, let's remember God gave Hosea Gomer as a wife.

2. Praise Jesus - This is kinda of weird to me. I think we should praise Jesus, but it seems like people think that saying, "Praise Jesus" is the same as praising Jesus. Now you might say that Paul says this all the time in his letters, and that's true, but he was actually telling people to praise Jesus and not just to say, "Praise Jesus." This would be like me saying "Love Autumn" every time I felt love for my wife.

3. Crusade - It amazes me how many Christian organizations use the word crusade either in their names or to label their outreaches. I know the word has noble orgins, but doesn't anyone realize that this word brings up images in the minds of people of these little events in medieval history that weren't the best examples of Christian piety? What, was the name "Inquisition" already taken?

4. I want to speak into your life - Depending on your denomination, you may or may not have heard this one, but I've heard this tons and it makes me cringe. Where did they even come up with this one? This isn't even used in the Bible anywhere that I know of. Is it so hard just to say, "I'd like to give you some advice." Somehow does this make what you are going to say to me any more legitimate? I don't know what these people think they are speaking into, but I know what most of them are talking out of.

5. Fellowship - I think this is a great word when used in context, but what most Christians call fellowship is little more than a hand shake and a cup of coffee. Why do we feel the need to give hanging out with people a spiritual label anyway? Do we feel guilty when we are doing something with people that doesn't involve a Bible or prayer? When the Pharisees complained that Jesus was hanging out with too many sinners and eating and drinking too much He didn't say, "No, you don't understand, I'm fellowshiping." He just seemed to ignore their complaints for the most part. It seems that being super spiritual and extra religious doesn't get you much attention from God.

Nothing Can Be Easy

I just found out that the school we are going to be meeting in needs some extra things stated on our insurance policy. I have ten days to do this before we lose our lease. I'm supposed to be in the school in 17 days. This probably isn't going to be a major problem but the idea of trying to get any large corporation to act fast is scary to me. So pray for us.

In the meantime, here are the other things that scare me:

1. God - Read Job if you don't understand what I'm talking about here.

2. Insects - A bit of a step down from #1, but if you grew up with the kind of bugs I grew up with you wouldn't be laughing. This kinda backs up #1 because for some insane reason God made these things.

3. Musicals - Imagine just going about your business and suddenly everyone busts out into song and dance around you, tell me that you don't find that the least bit disturbing.

4. Jellyfish - Do I really need to explain this one?

5. The People on TBN - I would not want to be alone in an elevator with these people.

6. Christian Book Stores - I've always had a fear of being surrounded by overpriced useless religious nick-knacks.

7. Sourdough - My father was killed by sourdough. The memories are still too fresh...

Well there it is, I'd say for the most part I'm a pretty brave and courageous guy.