Hot Date!

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I have a Hot Date with my girlfriend tonight! Dinner, bookstore and a late movie. Grammy is keeping Davis for a slumber party. Mommy and Daddy time!! We are excited! These opportunities are rare enough that we cherish them when we get them.

You may wonder...why a bookstore? Well, we are really enjoying the planning stages of preparing for my sabbatical this summer. Every 4 years the church gives me a 2-month Sabbatical. It is hard to believe, but 2008 marks my 4th year at CCF (and the start of my 5th). Tricia and I have been enjoying going to bookstores and reading and dreaming about where we will be spending our time away. We know one thing....we will not be in Maryland (for 2 months)! Wow! This will be wild!

--Noah

Another Great Small Group!

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Ok, we really love our Small Group! Tonight was super. First one of 2008. We had a new family join us that has been coming to the church for just 6 weeks. They were a great addition to our group! You know what I love the most about our group? The informal and casual flexibility! It is refreshing! Sometimes we do what we planned. Other times we do what God planned! Tonight was a "God-plan" night. Our Co-Leader Ismael recommended that we all share our dreams and commitments that we want to make to the Lord in 2008. So, we did....along with testimonies and laughing, etc. Then, we committed to encourage each other toward our commitments and we prayed together. That was the evening. Lots of sharing, lots of fun, we know each other better now...and we never even started what we had planned for the evening. Another great Small Group in the books! I am convinced that the small group setting is the turf on which 50% of God's plan for His church is lived out!

Learning is Repetition!

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I figure if I keep saying it and sharing it, some of us might just start living it. It is really consuming me recently. I have to admit something to you. Right now is the first time in my life that I have ever had such a clear vision! If someone would ask me my vision for CCF 3 years ago, I cringed. Because I was embarrassed. I didn't really know. What a shame! What kind of Pastor doesn't know the vision for the church he is leading? Well, today I was interviewing a candidate for the Youth Pastor position and he had a list of questions. His first question was "What is your vision for CCF for 2008?" Joy filled me! Seriously! I could hardly wait to answer him! I know what it is now!

I wrote the following today in preparation for Next Saturday's discernment morning. If you are a regular reader, it is the same wine in a different glass. Remember, learning is repetition!


Over the last few weeks, we have begun hearing in our messages about the need to simplify our purpose and focus as a church. As I have stated, I believe that these are tone-setting messages for our year and years to come! We have heard that “simple” works and people gravitate toward it. We have also began to take a true look at the way that Jesus illustrated that. He delivered to us 2 simple summary statements that captured what was most important as our purpose and our mission as a church. These 2 statements are known as the Greatest Commandment and the Great Commission (Matt 22 and 28). They basically say Love God, Love People and Make Disciples! Scripture is clear that the greatest gift of love that we can give to God is to be His Disciples (and all that entails) and the greatest gift of love that we can give to people is to influence them into becoming disciples (and all that entails). When we look at the early church in the book of Acts, we saw a model and means by which they accomplished this and GREW! It was through Large Group gatherings in temple courts and Small Group gatherings house to house (Acts 5:42).

Understanding this, what would happen if CCF were to simply and clearly define our purpose as:

Loving God & Loving People

(by building disciples through large groups and small groups)

What would we have to start doing differently?
What would we need to stop doing?
How would we all share in this purpose and begin to spread it and live it?

These and other questions are what we will be doing at our morning of discernment and discussion at table groups next Saturday at 9:00am here at CCF!

I SO hope you are there! This will begin to determine our future as a church!

Want to Make a Difference!

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Biblically, the church is not truly the church until people are living out their call and using their gifts so that we can become the "Priesthood of all Believers!" I will always believe in every member ministry. We can only have ministries as long as members and attendees serve and lead to make it happen. Church is not about the Pastors!

In case you wondered...THERE ARE ALWAYS OPEN MINISTRY POSITIONS AT CCF!!!! Always! There is SO much that we dream of that we cannot do because we do not have people to make it happen.

You wanna help?

For a list of some current ministry opportunities at CCF, CLICK HERE!!

To comment or not to comment?

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I have received emails and calls from numerous of you who read my blog indicating that you are not sure of the "rules of blogging" and whether you should leave public comments on this blog or not. By no means am I an expert on rules of blogging, but let me tell you my perspective:

Comment as much as you would like!! Myself and others enjoy seeing what you have to say. Big thanks to those of you who already do. If you have something negative or private to say or you are unsure as to whether other people or myself would appreciate what you are writing, then be on the safe side and email it to me. Up until now, almost everything that you have said or emailed has been comment-worthy and I have thought to myself..."I wish they would have put that up for others to see".

(I chose to write this encouragement today, because last night I received an outstanding email from a regular reader. She is on staff at a very large and reputable church in PA and she sent me an email explaining that her church is launching a vision, purpose and series of messages that is practically identical to ours! It was encouraging and inspiring! These are the types of things that are great for people to see.)

I appreciate your comments and your reading!

--Noah

Relationship Weekend Taking Shape

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The second weekend in February (Feb. 9-10) is going to be a weekend focussed on "Relationships" here at CCF! We are calling it a Relationship Weekend and we have invited one of my friends and mentors, Dr. Ron Hall to come and be with us Saturday and Sunday.

We are just finalizing the details of it today. I will post more information as it takes shape. Stay Tuned!

--Getting excited!

"REAL" Birthday, Real Learning!

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Saturday was Davis's 1st Birthday Party. Today was his "REAL" birthday. It was cool because tonight my parents stopped by to give him a birthday hug and since Tricia's mom is in town visiting us, Davis spent his Birthday even with all 3 of his living Grandparents!
Anyway, one year ago today, we were at the hospital having a LIFE TRANSPLANT. Truly, our life has not been and will never be the same again. I have learned so much from Davis already. Here are a ten things that he has taught me in my first year as a Dad:

  1. You can stare at a person with marvel every day without it ever getting old!
  2. Babies aren't afraid of heights...or counter tops.
  3. You can love someone else way more than you love yourself.
  4. Early mornings and late nights are a great time for relationship building (and Barney).
  5. Leaving work with stuff undone is well worth it if a baby crawls to you when you walk through the door of your house.
  6. Marriage gets better when you share in creating a life together!
  7. Diapers leak after 5 hours (especially when Mommy is at work).
  8. One of God's most overlooked miracles is the way that he forms new life!
  9. Slow down, because the clock won't!
  10. My parents must have been machines to have raised 5 as close in age as we were!

--Noah

Small Group Perspective- Good Quote

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Here is a quote that Pastor Nelson shared with me today from a book he is reading about Small Group Ministry. I believe this statement rings so true in this ever-crucial ministry of the church:

“Here is where we must begin just like Jesus. It will be slow, tedious, painful, and probably unnoticed by people at first, but the end result will be glorious, even if we don’t live to see it. Seen this way, though, it becomes a big decision in the ministry.”

--Robert Coleman, Master Plan of Evangelism.

Can you "One-Up" Jesus?

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In reading, reflecting and praying through these EARLY hours this morning and in preparation for my message, I felt the Lord really solidify something in me. I have witnessed church after church remain visionless or argue and debate in meetings and sessions over their vision...what it is and who determines it? These type of questions and conversations have certainly been present in this church over the 4 1/2 years that I have been here. And while churches spin their wheels trying to gain vision traction, I cannot help but wonder whether they are genuinely just missing the scripture from their conversation or whether they are inadvertently trying to ONE-UP the vision that Jesus declared for His church?

Here is the word I felt penetrate my spirit in a strong way over the last week and this morning...

Jesus has already determined our vision (or as I want us to begin saying at CCF...our PURPOSE)!! That solves the questions of what and who? No meetings needed to decide that. Just teaching scripture!

The part that Jesus left us to determine with the help of His Holy Spirit is HOW we do it? Given our context, our place in time, geography, our culture and demography...how do we live out God's purpose for us?

Note: For summarized edition of Jesus' vision for His followers and for his church, see the Great Commandment (Matthew 22:37-40) and the Great Commission (Matthew 28:18-20). If you don't have the time to link to those verses, it just says to LOVE GOD, LOVE PEOPLE & MAKE DISCIPLES!!

--Noah

Davis Turns 1

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Davis is officially 1 year old on Monday! Today we had his first birthday party. The house was PACKED with people that love him a WHOLE LOT! I will try to post a picture tomorrow. It was a great day! (Even though the Redskins did lose!!)

Headed to bed. Our niece, Brianna flies out at 6am tomorrow...gotta love a 4:30 airport run. Will head from there to church! Hoping for a great day of continued vision casting tomorrow!

--Night

Cousins!

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We have had our niece, Brianna visiting with us since the day after Christmas. It has been great to have her. Tricia always loves hanging out with her. They have had a special relationship for years. Here is a picture of "cousins" Davis & Brianna staring at the TV. Too cute! They are good buddies. It is extra neat for me to observe them together because I have never had a cousin! My parents are both only children. I am glad my son gets lots of great cousins!

Notice who is in charge of the remote! Like mother, like son!

New CCF Website Coming Soon!

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Just got off of a conference call with our web company. We have been working on a redesigned site for over 4 months now. The home page is done. Today we landed on our direction for the sub-pages. It is going to be the SIMPLEST and clearest church website you have ever seen! It will be designed around our purpose as a church...along with everything else we do! I'm getting excited about our launch. We are aiming for a go-live date of March 1st.

(If you really want to see the new home page, email me and I MIGHT send you the link...not posting it here though. Don't hate!)

--Noah

Preview for Sunday...The Spin Cycle

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If you are a reader of my blog, then you are often the first to hear where my heart is and what I am thinking. I just got into a writers flow while preparing my message for Sunday. I typed basically non-stop from 9:30-11:30. I looked up and there are 2 people that I know sitting 2 tables away...ah the joy of working at Panera...white noise, great productivity and friends close by when you look up (2 hours later)!

Well, while writing the following stuff came out (among other things). I thought I would post it. I hope that it has some shock value on Sunday. That's my intention.

Here is an excerpt/preview from my message this coming Sunday:

First of all, know that I am preaching to this chubby guy right here FIRST and the rest of you can have your toes stepped on or your heart impacted as you wish.

  • We are too busy!
  • We run too much and too fast.
  • We are expecting ourselves to handle way more than we are built to handle.

The Job:

  • Do work right! You have to keep the job or get the raise! If you don’t keep the job or get the raise you will be judged by everyone in your life…because life is all about what people think of you.
  • But you gotta stay in this miserable high pressure job anyway whether you like it or not because you have a $2,000+ mortgage payment, loads of bills and ZERO options but to keep doing what you are doing.

The Family:

  • Spend time! Buy this! Buy that. Be kind. Help with the homework. Be patient. Get overwhelmed. Stay strong. Hide the truth. Be open and honest. Family first.
  • Get to ball practice. Late for band practice. Christmas concerts…3 of them and you want to sleep through all of them. Family first.
  • Text, email, call, deal with emergencies at work….tell your fam you'll have to hang out later. Family first.

What about the fun? The things I like?

What about my friends?

What about the church?

  • Be there Sunday.
  • Stay after for a meeting.
  • Get home late.
  • Be here Wednesday…Halftime is great! So is REAL Teens. So is Bible Study. So are Small Groups.
  • Come to this event…be at that event.
  • Support your church...by being here every time the doors are open…..because that is right and holy…unlike prioritizing your family or your health….or your intimacy with Christ.

Whatever you do….no matter what….STAY BUSY…keep life packed, complicated, complex and overscheduled….so that time can fly by until you die.

I hope you have caught on to the effect and impact that I am trying to make…

Allow this video to further convince you…I am sure you will relate to something in it…..It is called "THE SPIN CYCLE."

Calendar Challenged

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If I were a betting man, I would bet that most of you reading this have been calendar challenged over the last 2 weeks. By that I mean that the Holiday schedule has had us all confused. I am willing to bet that at least once in the last few weeks you have uttered the words, "WHAT DAY IS IT?" Well, me too!

On work. Off work. Is it a holiday? Is it a trash day? Stores close early. Stores open late. Church on. Church off. School open. School closed. With Christmas and New Years both falling on a Tuesday...Wednesday has become the new Monday. Are you confused yet? Yeah, me too.

I am ready for calendars and schedules to get back to normal. Oh, by the way...only 43 shopping days left until Valentines Day...just go to the store this week and the Valentines Stuff is out already! Ugh!

A Capital Day

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Today was a Capital Day. Once a month I meet with Michelle Ferrando, the editor of our monthly newsletter, "The Capital." We spend a better part of the day finalizing for print. In the process, we are forced to solidify and finalize many, many things for the month(s) to come. It always feels good and it seems to really organize us as a staff. We are proofing tonight and printing tomorrow. I will post it for you here when we are done. Michelle has been a real life saver! I told her today that if she had not come along, I would have discontinued this bad boy for 2008! It was a lot of work...until Michelle arrived on the scene! Go Michelle!

Chew on this for this year...

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Sorry to mention Mark Batterson's blog again, but he had this posted today and I thought it was worth sharing. Great Stuff. He is an up and coming author. Click here to check out his stuff at Amazon. Meanwhile, chew on this...

Quit living as if the purpose of life is to arrive safely at death. Set God-sized goals. Pursue God-ordained passions. Go after a dream that is destined to fail without divine intervention. Keep asking questions. Keep making mistakes. Keep seeking God. Stop pointing out problems and become part of the solution. Stop repeating the past and start creating the future. Stop playing it safe and start taking risks. Expand your horizons. Accumulate experiences. Enjoy the journey. Find every excuse you can to celebrate everything you can. Live like today is the first day and last day of your life. Don't let what's wrong with you keep you from worshiping what's right with God. Burn sinful bridges. Blaze new trails. Criticize by creating. Worry less about what people think and more about what God thinks. Don't try to be who you're not. Be yourself. Laugh at yourself. Quit holding out. Quit holding back. Quit running away.

Priceless Memories

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I have a growing blogroll that I have grown to appreciate. By that I mean that there are more and more Pastor's blogs that I am reading on a regular basis. I may share some of them with you soon. It helps me get a window into what some of these other leaders and deep thinkers are up to and is especially insightful now that I am blogging. This afternoon, I read one of my favorite bloggers (Mark Batterson) and he said this:

"One reason I blog is because it helps me remember what I should not forget. So every year I go back and re-read my blog as a way of reflecting on the past year. It is amazing how many priceless memories would have been forgotten if I had not blogged them. Lots of memorable moments in 2007."

I totally agree with him and I may start a similar practice. I have only been blogging since September, so I don't have a full year, but here are a few special memories in just 4 months of blogging my memories!

  • Seeing TD Jakes Speak
  • Learning Golf
  • Learning work and home boundaries
  • Davis and his ambulance ride
  • Redskins Games, wins, & losses
  • Masters Work & VFCC
  • Talking about sex at Lanham Christian
  • Learning balance and boundaries...part 2 and 3 and .....
  • Remodeling our bathroom
  • Holiday memories...Thanksgiving in the mansion, Christmas with the fam and the church
  • Davis dancing, walking, and growing up
  • Vision Development for 2008
  • And More...

Just think, last year I would have had NO mechanism for remembering some of this. I am really enjoying capturing life more these days. It is causing me to savor it more. Good Stuff! I encourage you to find a way to slow down and savor 2008 a little more than you did 2007. Can you do it?

Hello 2008!

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Last night we wrapped up 2007 watching the ball drop on TV with friends and family. Tricia and I kissed the new year in and barely made it til 12:30am before crashing. We are party animals! We made a special memory earlier last night when we put Davis to bed. We both laid on either side of him whispering into his ear how much we love him and how much we enjoyed our first year with him...thanking God for him in our lives (he just drank his bottle).

As I look back over 2007, I see the hand of God in our lives in so many ways! Frankly, I wonder how we would have made it through losing Tricia's father without the joy of Davis in our life. We feel like we can truly say of 2007 that the "Lord gives and the Lord takes away, but blessed be the name of the Lord!"

I am really looking forward to a bright & beautiful 2008 in our home and the church. I hope that your year is as bright as the promises of God!!

--Noah