Too much to work with!

Pray for me to have wisdom on what to trim back for my message this weekend. After a good 5 hours on my message so far today, I have way too much material! Their are some power-packed principles from pottery that connect to the Christian journey. The bible is also rich in supporting these pottery principles and applying them to God's people. I am having a blast researching pottery, it's history and it's biblical relevance!

Pray that I trim up and shape up this message with sensitivity to what the Holy Spirit wants to do with us on Sunday!

Purpose Statement Finalized!

This ought to make the Washington Post after all the time and work that we put into our discernment process. Smile. I am thrilled to unveil our CCF Purpose Statement. (Another blog reader privilege to get it here first!)

CCF Purpose Statement (Simple Edition):

Love God, Love People, Live as Disciples

CCF Purpose Statement (Expanded Edition):

Capital Christian Fellowship places its focus and resources on its purpose…to Love God, Love People, and Live as Disciples (Matthew 22:37-40 and Matthew 28:18-20). CCF is totally committed to developing disciples of Jesus Christ whose lives serve as a witness to all (John 13:34-35). CCF expresses incredible diversity, but is completely unified in its purpose of loving God and loving people as we know that it was Jesus’ main focus (Matthew 22:37-40). We embrace that community is central to how people were created. As a result, CCF structures its ministries around people gathering in large and small groups (Acts 2:42-47) for community and relationships which leads back to our purpose of Living as disciples! We know that we will accomplish our purpose by impacting one life at a time!

_______________________

Get ready to see this appearing everywhere and stated repeatedly until it is memorized.

Stay tuned...we are going to be rolling out a church-wide memorization campaign. Every time you are caught reciting our purpose statement, you will get....we shall see!

Maybe $100.00 ;-)

Before the Womb

This verse has been haunting me the last few days. It's Jeremiah 1:5. It says "Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you, before you were born I set you apart..."

I have know Psalm 139:13 by heart for years...it says "For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother's womb."

This morning, the comparison between these two verses blessed me!! I toggled back and forth between them for a few minutes just thanking God.

One says that He formed me in my mom's womb, but the other says that he knew me even before that...and SET ME APART!

What exactly does "set me apart" mean? And what was there about me to "know" before I was formed in the womb? And why me?

Be encouraged today with the truth of the word of God! You are known and formed and knit together by God himself and you are SET APART!

God, make us AWARE and COMMITTED to the purpose for which you have set us apart for today!

Discovering CCF...Tonight

Have YOU or anyone you know been coming to CCF for a little while and want to know more about us....behind the scenes....an inside look?

If so, join me this evening at 6:30pm in the Worship Center for Discovery 101.

We will discuss:

• Who we are
• What we believe
• How we operate
• Our Finances
• Our Leadership structure
• Our History (past)
• Our Story (present)
• Our Vision (future)

Come join me this evening or call some new person and send them this way!

Discovery 101 and salvation through faith in Jesus Christ are our only 2 prerequisites to membership at CCF. Also, know that anyone is welcome to attend 101 whether they wish to join the church or not.

Pottery Sunday is Shaping up!!

This Sunday is going to be really special. I will be communicating an illustrated message about Biblical principles of the potter and the clay (God and You). There will be a live potter on the stage with me throughout the message. Come out this week expecting that you will be "Shaped by the Potter!!"

--Noah

The Automatic Millionaire

A few months ago, a friend of mine (Ben) recommended a book to me. I trust Ben's taste and took him seriously when he said that it was one of the most influential books that he had read in 2007. I made a mental note to get it and last week, while Tricia and I were down south we went to a Barnes & Nobel and picked up the "The Automatic Millionaire"by David Bach. Throughout our vacation and in the car ride, Tricia read this book to us and we finished it before we got back to MD.

This book was outstanding!!!!!! I am telling you the truth when I say that it will impact your finances and your future tremendously if you read it and implement even a little bit of it.

Basically, the book walks you through the value and steps of automating your best financial decisions. It denounces budgeting, suggesting that none of us are wired to be controlled by our money, but that we would rather control it. If we will make the decision ONE TIME to save for our future, then we can automate it and never think about it again. Imagine taking the decision out of your hands every month. Instead of deciding every 30 days what you "think you can afford", you have already automated your savings out of your bank account first...even before you pay your bills...hence, paying yourself first!

If you are a "yeah butter" saying "yeah, but I barely make it now" or "yeah, but I live paycheck to paycheck" ...then Bach will speak to you!

Probably the most influential part of the book for us was identifying our "Latte Factor". This is basically how much money we waste per month x 12 plus interest if we saved it (providing you an annual savings amount). That is your "Latte Factor." You can identify yours by clicking here, but you really need to read the book to get it.

I will stop ranting now, but I am telling you, if you have ever listened to me before....read this book! With your spouse! Soon!!! If you wait to long you may cost yourselves a couple hundred thousand dollars. Tricia and I read it just in time!

Today we finished automating everything and we are feeling so good about our recent financial decisions!

What a day!!!

Easter service this morning was so amazing! It was what we prayed for, hoped for, and planned for! A packed house with over 480 people present, the presence of the Holy Spirit during our worship, and people broken before the Lord and making new and renewed commitments to Christ all over the room after the service. These are the things I have dreamed of.

...And to think...the BEST IS STILL YET TO COME! Lots of lives still in need of transformation!

Hope your Easter is a great one!

--Noah

Want to hang out tonight?

Somebody called a last minute party at the church! I wonder who? Do I hear community building? Tonight it will be called "Nintendo Wii building" and "X-Box Building" and "Carry-in-food-when-we-get-hungry-building".

Any blog readers out there (I love creating blog-reader privileges) that want to come to the church and hang out in the Upper Room this evening are welcome! There will be a group assembling around 5ish tonight at the church. Unofficial. Impromptu.

Just come! Join us! No RSVP needed.

Promo Video for Upcoming Events

Who have you invited to church this Sunday?

Sleeping in our own bed...

Tricia, Davis and I are really excited to be sleeping in our own bed tonight. We had a great time away, but there comes a point when you just long for your bed, your chair, your house....

We are back. It felt like the wind blew us in. Sunny trip up the road, but fought the high winds the whole way. We had great family time this week. Lots of Mommy, Daddy and Davis time.

This pic is of Davis driving us up I-95 today (insert "yeah right" here). He was a fantastic traveler. Barney, nap, Elmo, nap, Veggie Tales, nap, repeat. Traveling is easy when you are 15 months and spoiled. DVD player made 1,800 miles seem like 500.

Now my heart and focus shift to tomorrow's Good Friday service and Sunday's Easter Services. Getting excited about a great weekend ahead and waiting in expectation for God will do among us by the power of His Holy Spirit!

--Love!

Potter Found!

Things "shaped up" and we found a potter for March 30th! This is going to be a cool Sunday with an illustrated sermon. Thanks to my sister, Selah, we have a lovely Christian Potter who runs her own pottery center in the Columbia area. She and her family will be joining us on the 30th. She will not even allow us to pay her. She says it is her gift to the Lord and to CCF. Here is their website: www.greenbridgepottery.com.

--Gonna be creative and profound....get ready!

Blog-iversary!

Six months ago today I posted my first blog! I have absolutely positively enjoyed this addition to my life.

• Over the last six months I have developed an intense passion for writing. I write far, far more than I post here. Sometimes when I write I feel like I am on holy ground.
• I am thrilled about the memories that I have been able to capture through this forum...to be remembered forever.
• I love to communicate. Period. Not sure why or where it comes from but I get stoked when I can communicate with people to have them informed and on the same page. This is a dynamic place to do that.
• I have appreciated the fact that many friends, family and co-laborers in ministry from other states and around the world can keep up with what's up with us and the church through this blog. (I am aware of readers from several different continents, which is cool.)
• Blogging has helped me to organize........in some strange way.....my thoughts, my day, my vision, my feelings, my dreams, my life....it's hard to explain, but it's real.

It is my hope that you have enjoyed checking in and reading as much as I have enjoyed writing. However, I doubt that's possible. It has become so meaningful to me that I would do it if not one soul ever read it.

--Noah

Older Women ;-)

Happy birthday to Tricia today!! She graciously shares her Birthday with St. Patrick every year. She is "officially" older than me for 3 months out of every year. I was born 3 months after her in the same year. I always did think I would do better with an "older woman." Smile.

Davis and I brought her breakfast in bed and gave her a few presents. We are having a great day together and will go out on the town tonight. We plan to travel to Savannah, GA to spend the day tomorrow. We are looking forward to eating a Lady & Sons, Paula Deen's Famous Restaurant.

In case you wondered, we are staying at Jake and Michelle's home in the Charleston area. Jake and I have been friends for 23 years! We are having a great time. Lots of chillaxing!

--Noah

Ingenious Way to Take a City

Multi-site Church Planting. Have you ever looked at many different churches in the same town or even the same street and thought to yourself..."Man, could you imagine what would happened if they all worked together.....combined their resources, stopped competing (whether they mean to or not) and start unifying their purpose of reaching their city for Jesus!?!?

Multi-site church planting comes closer to that than anything that I have ever seen.

Here is how it works in a nutshell (using CCF as an example):

• Greenbelt Road in Lanham could serve as our main campus (until we outgrow it or buy more land around us).
• Then we would begin opening up new campuses fairly regularly as God gives the increase.
• We could have one in Bowie, one in Laurel, one in Greenbelt, one in Annapolis, one in Silver Spring....
• Each campus would have its own "Campus Pastor", worship team, welcome ministry, kids ministry, youth ministry, etc.
• Every campus would watch the same sermon each week on video (typically recorded from our main campus on Saturday night so there is time to work out glitches by Sunday morning).
• The recording is taped and projected in such a way that you forget that you are watching a video. You have to try it to believe it.
• Every campus is aligned to the same vision!!!! They talk the same language, they follow the same ministry model, they use the same bulletin, they print the same flyers, they decorate their campuses similar, paint with fun colors, have the same style signage, etc.
• We would rejoice every time we open up a new location (sending people from that area to that location).
• And people connect deeply in relationship and discipleship through....you guessed it....SMALL GROUPS!!

Now imagine a day when there are 100 Capital Christian's in the DC Capital Region...Taking a city for GOD! I have the faith! Maybe I left out a zero on the number....should it have said 1,000....after all just how many unsaved people are there around us?

--The picture above is inside the Worship Center at Seacoast Church main campus last night (on my camera phone).

Nanynany-booboo

75 degrees and wearing shorts today! Wanted to rub it in for my friends up north.

Hey, tonight (Saturday Service) and tomorrow (Sunday Service) we are going to Seacoast Church. This church is among the ones on the leading edge of the church planting/multi-site model (would love to see CCF doing this in the future). In other words, they video feed their main service/Lead Pastor to many other locations. One church, 12 locations! Really cool stuff and we are going tonight and tomorrow. I will have legal pad in hand and taking notes. Will blog about it later. Plan to meet with some of the Pastors this week.

Check out Seacoast by clicking here!

--Peace!

Internal Alarm Clock leads to Sermon Planning

I have woken up at 5:45am every day for the last 7 days (with the help of an alarm clock). So, guess what happened this morning? I woke up at 5:45am without the help of an alarm clock! Does this mean I am getting old? Ok, bad question.

We made it about 400 miles to Dillon, SC and grabbed a Comfort Inn. I have been up for almost 2 hours now and have read 1 whole book of the Bible and wrote my Good Friday message. I am sitting in the "continental breakfast area" on the laptop and I got so carried away and excited typing this message that I almost stood up and preached it to the 10 people speaking German at the tables around me. ...Makes you wonder where they are headed...probably Florida.

My Good Friday message will be entitled "Adding the EXTRA to ORDINARY".

Just think of this Good Friday perspective:

• Ordinary tree turned ordinary beam.
• Ordinary beam turned ordinary cross.
• Ordinary cross for an ordinary crucifixion. (common means of death in context)
• Ordinary crucifixion leads to ordinary death. (Jesus was certainly not the only person to die on a cross)

But God added the extra to this relatively ordinary scenario by ordaining the event with divine purpose. First of all, it was his sinless and blameless son...a member of the trinity! Second, there was a divine purpose....to redeem people and connect them back to God!

So, when God touches the ordinary with his divine intention, it supernaturally becomes extraordinary!

Look around. What do you see in your life that looks ordinary? Any fish? Loaves? Fig Trees? Mangers? Lakes to walk on? Storms to calm?

--Gotta go wake my babies up and head to Myrtle Beach for the day! Peace!

Rolling Out

Heading out of town this afternoon at 3:00pm. We'll be gone for a week. Gotta preach on Good Friday and Easter, so we will be back in time for that. We travel this same week every year for Tricia's Spring Break.

We are going to Myrtle Beach SC, Charleston SC to stay with our good friends Jake and Michelle and then we will also spend a little time in Savannah, GA. We love Savannah. I am looking forward to it being in the 70's...had to get my shorts out last night.

Really looking forward to being with Tricia and Davis and getting away. I need to disconnect from work and go play. I know me well enough to know that I can only disconnect emotionally when I disconnect physically. I have been giving alot and working hard for the church and Tricia has been getting the leftovers (which is the case more often that I'd like). Now, it's time to do family!

Oh, and we are both looking forward to taking our new Odyssey on it's first odyssey!

Will miss you this weekend!

International Sunday 2008!

Excited about our theme for International Sunday this year. Several different members will be sharing "messages in a bottle" that the world is sending to us as the church! It is going to be a beautiful day with all the International attire and food.

Here is the words that will be on the back of this Postcard (they will be made available to you on Easter Sunday):

Capital Christian Fellowship is not like most churches you have ever seen. We are a snapshot of what heaven will look like…many people from many experiences that connect with God! At CCF, we celebrate our diversity as a gift from God. We are a multi-national congregation with people from over 40 different nations, people ages 0-93, and people from many different denominational traditions (4 different ones just on our staff alone).

This year we are having an International Celebration with a vibrant worship service, numerous international speakers, and a meal with food from all over the world. It’s free! We welcome you to come.

Our theme is “Message in a Bottle; The World Is Sending us an SOS”. Come and hear what messages the world is sending to CCF on April 13^th!

--See you here on International Sunday!

American Idol Prediction

I must admit, I am a pretty big fan of American Idol. Simon Cowell is often the highlight of the show for me. He is incredibly honest, usually right and almost always says what everybody else is thinking (but would never have the nerve to say).

Well, I know who I want to win. David Archuleta. This kid is terribly sincere, polite and has an outstanding voice. He did not do so hot tonight, but I am confident in this guy's ability to take it all. Surprisingly, Chikeezie (of all people) was my favorite tonight!

Tricia and I enjoy our American Idol dates.

--Nite