Easter Postcards

Here is another reminder (with more to come) about Easter which is coming up on March 23rd...just 12 days away! We printed 5,000 high quality postcard invitations for members of the CCF community to use in inviting their sphere of relationships.

On Sunday, we invited people to fill out postcards in the lobby and we committed to mail them out for you! We will be doing that again this Sunday. So, bring you address book! We also urge you to take a stack of these postcards to carry around with you for the next week.

Check it out... just yesterday, I handed out postcards invitations and invited people at Giant, McDonald's, my Barber Shop and Home depot. Those were just errands that I had to run. Today, I will hit some more places. Later in the week, I will be personally inviting my neighbors on my street. Won't you join me in inviting people?

Finally, I wanted to share how excited I am that Jaye (Our Director of Operations) will be mailing postcards to every person that has visited CCF over the last 2 years.

--Really looking forward to an awesome Easter celebration.

For the single ladies...

Found this in my file over the weekend. I stored it away several years ago. I think there is some value in it. Maybe you are single and seeking or have a daughter or friend that is searching for a mate...

Here are 6 quick ways to learn everything you need to know about a man before you to marry him:

1) Watch him drive in heavy traffic.

2) Play sports with him.

3) Listen to him talk to his mother when he doesn’t know you’re listening.

4) Observe how he treats those who serve him (waiters, maids).

5) Notice closely what he’s willing to spend his money to buy.

6) Look at his friends. Show me your friends and I will show you your future. Who they are is who you'll become.

Eye can see

I am thankful tonight for modern surgical procedures that change peoples' quality of life. Today my Mom had a procedure done on her eye...a bad cataract removed and a new lens installed. In two weeks, she will have the other eye done.

Here is the amazing part. We stopped by to see her and she looked great and could see great. Eye surgery, followed by immediate results. She seemed so happy as she read clocks and words that she never could have seen before.

She might as well have started singing [start music] "I can see clearly now the rain is gone..."

--Noah

We got out!

Oh, for the rest of the story....We finally got out of my office. Our facility guy, Terry came to the rescue, climbed a ladder, squeezed into a window smaller than him and disassembled my door knob from the inside. This guy is unreal! Here are the pictures that Ruth Yoder took to capture the moment. She thought it was pretty hilarious, I might add.

Church Blooper in the Making!

OK, so we are currently making a memory. Let me tell you about a church blooper in the making...

After teaching Discovery 101 today, I ran up to my office to do a few things and chat with Pastor Mike to see how his First Sunday went with the youth. There was a small group meeting outside my office in the "Upper Room". After Mike and I chatted a few minutes, we decided to head home. Or not! When, we went to leave, we realized that we are locked in!! We are locked in my new office as we speak. Have been for 30 minutes now. We were gonna call the fire department, but now our maintenance guy Terry is on his way. I love making memories.

Hold on...he's here...

Before I publish....he is still here. We are still locked in. They are now getting a ladder to put up to the window. All I know is that they better be coming, because my big butt is not going down that ladder!!

Pray!

New Pulpit at CCF

I want to post a better picture later, but this is our new pulpit at CCF! We debuted it today. It has our (new) logo vinyled on the front. So sharp! I have been searching for a pulpit that was worthy of being on our stage for over 2 years. I knew I would know it when I found it. I found it! It is better live, but here is an image.

Cleaning Files

At the church for the last several hours purging my old files that have accumulated for 10 years. You find great stuff and bring back a lot of memories sifting through files.

Here are a few quotes that I ran across:

The definition of a coincidence is a situation when God shows up and chooses to remains anonymous.

If you're not confused by what's going on today, you don't understand it.

And here's a funny one:

At age 4, success is...not peeing your pants.
At age 12, success is...having friends.
At age 20, success is...having sex.
At age 35, success is...making money.
At age 60, success is...having sex.
At age 70, success is...having friends.
At age 80, success is...not peeing your pants.

Walmart Supercenter

We love Walmart! Nothing like spending $1.88 or $2.88 on things that are usually $10.00. But, the one in Bowie stinks. We have been waiting for the new Supercenter to open in Glen Burnie. It opened this week and we went tonight. Here is a picture of Davis in the cart. We had a blast playing in the Tupperware bins.

I spent the whole day with my little man. I cherish Fridays! Especially on weeks like this where I work too much.

Tricia's sister, Melyssa flew in from Miami tonight. She will be with us all weekend.

--Peace!

Need a Potter...Help Wanted

Random request...

Do you know anyone that does pottery? I am looking for a potter who could come to CCF, set up and make some pottery for about 20 minutes while I preach on March 30th. Will pay travel. (I had someone that was going to do it and they cannot now). The person will not need to public speak. Just sit there and look prettery!

Holla at me if you know someone. (comment, email or call me)

BTW- the day should be really great. There is LOTS of cool stuff in the Bible about God as Potter and us as clay. Just check out the words in Jeremiah 18 as one example:

The Lord gave another message to Jeremiah. He said, “Go down to the potter’s shop, and I will speak to you there.” So I did as he told me and found the potter working at his wheel. But the jar he was making did not turn out as he had hoped, so he crushed it into a lump of clay again and started over.

Then the Lord gave me this message: “O Israel, can I not do to you as this potter has done to his clay? As the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand.

It's On!

Last night was Pastor Mike's first night with the youth! Man, am I glad that we waited to "open" the youth center to the youth until last night. It really added to the overall positive feel of the evening. New leader and a new space to meet in the same night. Pretty awesome!

It was captivating to witness the evening unfold. I wanted to be there to see it. The lights were dim and the atmosphere was set (the kids even had to wait until 7 to enter...really built anticipation). A few of the young people drank Sprite through their neighbors sock! Nasty! Only youth! After a powerful message by Pastor Mike about the presence of God entitled "Right Here, Right Now", the youth were making new commitments to God at the end of the service.

Amazing progress in one night! The future is bright indeed. I know that many, many young people will be saved and transformed through this youth ministry in the days to come.

Old Site, New Site

I am looking forward to the day that we launch our new CCF website. I think it will be within a month. Had to put it on hold for a bit in order to search for and hire a Youth Pastor. That process was labor and time intensive, so some things had to give. The website was one of those things.

For now, we are getting by with the old one just fine. I wanted to direct you to 2 things on the site.

Click here to go to the homepage and see the Easter Ad and the International Sunday Ad in the flash box.

Click here to read the March edition of "The Capital" featuring our new Youth Pastor, Pastor Mike.

Easter at CCF...Image & Theme Revealed

Moving Day

Staff offices are being moved today. We are here hanging out and dressed down. Where are we going? Blog readers first to know...

Pastor Noah- Upper Room Office
Pastor Nelson- Back Office (where TC was and where Jaye has been temporarily)
Pastor Mike- My old office off the lobby
Pastor Lew- Staying put (office off the front of the Worship Center)
Jaye- Front Office (where Pastor Nelson used to be)

Lots of thought and time went in to choosing what was best for each team member. Come check us out in our new pads!

--Noah

The 6th Love Language

Gary Chapman wrote a book called "The Five Love Languages." They are words of affirmation, quality time, gifts, acts of service and physical touch. Pastor Mike has told me several times in the last 2 days that his love language is honesty.

That got me thinking. Ought there be a book written called "The 6th Love Language"? He is on to something. Few things mean more to me than when a person loves me enough to tell me the truth. Even when it is hard for them to do or hard for me to hear.

I feel truly loved when my future becomes more important than your fear.

Wow! Think on that!

Getting Ready to Ride the Wave

Church growth is a relatively unpredictable phenomenon. One thing that we can count in is that it happens in seasons. Traditionally, most churches grow 6 months out of the year and don’t for the other 6. Growth months in the US are typically March, April and May and then September, October and November. CCF falls into this category too!

I share this with you to invite you to play a part in this important growth season over the next few months. We have several very special Sundays coming up soon. We are praying, planning and preparing for them as we speak. They are positioned on the calendar in such a way that we will really able to ride a momentum wave right through the next few months.

The special services approaching are:

• Good Friday Service
  
• Palm Sunday
• Easter Sunday:
• Theme: Revivify Your Passion!
• Pottery Sunday:
• Theme: Being Shaped by the Potter
• International Sunday:
• Theme: Message In a Bottle; The World is Sending us an SOS, Romans 8:18-25
• After that, I will be rolling out a 3 week sermon series that we will be introducing soon.
  

I share this with you for several reasons.

1. We hope to see this place packed on these special Sundays and many in between.
   
2. I encourage you to be here!
3. Invite people that are unchurched and dechurched! Remember, we are here to reach people who DO NOT know Christ...not to steal sheep from other flocks! Please invite people in your sphere who do not know Jesus as their Lord.
   
4. It is our prayer that many people are saved and transformed over the next several months here at CCF! I am praying that God will specifically do some work in people around the altar.

Come, Holy Spirit, come!

Joy comes in the morning...

Psalm 30:5 has layered meaning for me. It contains the words "joy comes in the morning." I think I know what the author intended, and I have felt the relief of sorrow before when I sensed a new day dawning (as he is likely referring to).

However, often that verse has different meanings for me. What do I mean? Well, I got up by 5am and started reading...got to work at about the time the sun came up and now have completed half a days work by 8am! Days like this add new meaning to the words "joy comes in the morning"! The joy of catching up on my workload before anyone else is up and around. The joy of getting a HUGE jump on my day.

If only I could do this everyday....can't because I share morning home and baby responsibilities. Tricia and I are in this together. Maybe when I am an old man I can do this everyday!

--Noah

Staff Orientation

I love this stuff!! I could train staff all day! The first half of today and the first half of tomorrow are dedicated to training and orientation for Pastor Mike (our new Youth Pastor at CCF). Today is his first day on the job. I have loved being with him and dreaming together already! I am telling you....good stuff is ahead! There is nothing in the world better for a visionary to hear a staff member talk about a Grand Opening of a new space and outgrowing it in the same conversation. I am all about outgrowing things! One of my favorite problems...and I hope we face it here!

I love it already!

OK, so I am moving out of my office at the church and into a new office in the upstairs of the building (off the Upper Room). We sensed it to be the best decision for several reasons. One of the top reasons that I wanted to move up here was Sundays! I need more space on Sundays!!! To prepare. To tweak my message. To pray. To sit in solitude. To hear from God. All that has been nearly impossible with my old office location....especially on Sundays when I need it most! My "old office" is connected to the main lobby. I might as well sit my desk in the middle of the lobby. Their is no separation. Why am I sharing this? Because my computer and phone were moved up to my new office yesterday by our IT guy, Perry (thanks, Perry). So, this morning I am in my new office. I can feel the difference already! I look forward to going down and being with the people. They are why I am here! But, man do I need this time of preparation to be able to be on top of my game.

--Noah

Weekend Appetizers

Looking forward to a great weekend at CCF! Thought I would share a few appetizers.

Saturday Morning at 9:30 we will gather around tables in the Upper Room for a 2nd Purpose Gathering to talk about our future as a church.

• The topic will be Small Groups
• We will answer questions like:
• Why don't people attend?
• How can we advertise, decorate with visuals and point everything we do to small groups?
• How do we transition current stuff we do into small groups?
• And More...

Sunday Morning we have worship at 8:30am and 10:30am. Pastor Nelson and I will team teach again this weekend and continue in John 6. Here is a preview of a few of the principles we will share:

1. Don't be in it for what's in it for you!
2. Don't miss a miracle for a piece of bread!
3. Jesus is offensive!
4. You eat, you live! You don't, you die?

See you Sunday as we find out just what Jesus really meant when he told us to "eat His flesh and drink His blood!" How is that for an appetizer?

--Noah

We need to laugh at ourselves!

Received this from a CCF member today. I loved it! If you are a connected part of the CCF Community, you know how true it is! Good to lighten up and laugh at ourselves.

How many CCF members does it take to screw in a light bulb?

One. However, it takes one Director of Operations to research the types of light bulbs, three Pastors to review the research, one Pastor to hype up the congregation on the importance of the new light bulb, one half of the members to disapprove of a new light bulb, the other half of the congregation to rave about the new the light bulb, and an Executive committee to decide how much to allocate for the light bulb. And one big GOD to love us all anyway.