Vince Antonucci Highlights

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  • What do God the Father, Jesus, the Apostle Paul, Mommy's and Daddy's all have in common? Lost children make their blood pump, hearts beat, and passion increase.
  • We must do whatever it takes to seek and save the lost.
  • Problem: many churches are not seeking and saving the lost, they are seeking and saving the saved.
  • Jesus was called a friend of sinners. If we are not close to people that are far from God, then maybe we are not as close to God as we think we are!

Vince is a Pastor in VA Beach and had an intense passion for lost people as he shared.

Mark Batterson Highlights

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  • The favor of God is when God does something for us that we could never do for ourselves.
  • The office is the place that I go now to get nothing done!
  • Read Isaiah 55:8-9 and you will find out that our dreams and visions are 13.2 billion miles away from God's dreams and ideas. We need to start confessing the smallness of our dreams.
  • If ever there was a dreamer, it was Jesus!! It was He who decided that he wanted to reach EVERYONE EVERYWHERE (Matt. 28:18-20)! That is a dream!!

Hey

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Just checking in with my faithful blog readers and friends....

  • Excellent time at the Whiteboard Sessions yesterday. Will post about it real soon.
  • Great time with my son today. I love Fridays with him!
  • Did a wedding rehearsal tonight and marrying the couple tomorrow. I have know her for 10 years and he attended CCF for the last year until he moved to SC to be near her.
  • Really tired.
  • Hope Davis lets us sleep in tomorrow. 7:30 or 8:00 would be superb!! :-)

--Nite!

Difficult Decisions

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How many of you know that difficult decisions are difficult? I know that is one of the dullest statements that you have heard in a long time, but it is true. We recently made the difficult decision that we would be stopping AWANA at the end of this year (which was tonight). I went and spent the entire evening just milling around, interacting with people and allowing them to affirm this move or vent where needed. It was the right thing to do. Well, it was kinda sad tonight. I started AWANA at CCF 3 years ago. It is a great program and it has made a great difference in kids and families. However it is time to live out our vision and make the tough decisions....do we want to do many things fair or a few things with excellence? I know that this was the right decision, but it was not easy. Especially looking around at the beautiful sights tonight. I am so thankful for all the leaders that made this happen.

Thank you for what you do!

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I am sitting in Panera Bread right now working on my message. At that table next to me is a PG county police officer eating a sandwich. Just a moment ago a man walked in, passed our tables, came back pointed at the cop and said these words in the most sincere tone..."Thank you for what you do!"

It moved me. I watched the man walk away, the cop stared at the man, looked moved and encouraged. Probably made his day. What if we all thanked public service people more often? Wish you could have been here to see this.

9:30 & 11:00

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We are changing our service schedule on September 1st. We will worship at 9:30am & 11:00am. Each service will be 70 minutes long (our plan is always secondary to the Holy Spirit's plan). I am very excited about this improvement. Here is some of the motivating rationale behind the decision:

  • I have not been satisfied that first service attendance has not grown in 2 years.
  • 8:30am is really early!! For most people.
  • 8:30am is practically impossible for families with kids. (that's enough rationale...but I will give more)
  • 8:30am is really early for the Worship Team who arrives at least an hour early for sound check and warm up.
  • 8:30 is really early for Ushers and Greeters and Kids workers.
  • In a recent survey, more the 50% of the people polled thought that 9:30 would be better for them than 8:30.
  • 9:30 allows us to launch a strong (equally excellent) kids ministry for first service (where it has only been second service)
  • In that same survey, more than 75% of the people polled thought that the best way to grow first service was to offer kid's ministry.
  • People who usually attend second service, may find that they would prefer to attend first service now that it is not as early...causing it to grow.
  • We have not honestly had 2 identical services....first service is often not as __________ as second. (blank is intentional...not sure what to put in it....but we want them equal in quality and excellence.)
  • We need to set both services up to grow at equal rates so that we can steward our parking and seating most efficiently.
  • I recently read in a book that if we keep meeting in the same time, same room and same day...we might start expecting the same thing. Makes me think about churches....that have the identical service every week (with the exception of a different song title and message title). Maybe a new time will usher in new things! We'll see.

There is probably more rationale, but that is enough for now. Feel free to direct people to this blog entry if they are looking for more of the details behind this move.

--Pressing on!

Anna Mae

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I miss my friend, Anna Mae Hess! She is a dear lady in our church who sensed God's call to the mission field and responded to it. Just last night, some members were in my home and one of them shared of how she was at CCF because of Anna Mae's warm and welcoming spirit. She kept returning because she knew Anna cared. Sometimes the quietest spirits make the loudest impact!

Well, I miss seeing Anna Mae around. I write about her today to remind you who know her to pray for her. She is serving in Guatemala.

I was also told that she is a regular blog reader... from all the way in Guatemala. So, Anna...if you are reading this...we love you!

--Noah

Learning from Joshua

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If you are not local (or missed church yesterday), I thought I would give you a few key principles from Sunday. I preached out of Joshua 1:1-9. You can click here to read it. God was instructing His people for preparation of entering the land that he had promised them!

Several meaningful principles emerged from this text. In order for us to enter the land that God has destined for us as a church, we must:

  1. Get going! ...because every square inch matters. Let's not miss out on a sliver of what he has ordained for us. Every square inch matters....every life matters!
  2. Toughen up! God found it necessary to say "be strong and courageous" THREE TIMES in nine verses. Hint, hint. Possessing the land must not be easy work if God has to tell us 3 times to toughen up.
  3. Live Scripture! If we stay close to the word of God, the God of the word will stay close to us.

Perhaps the most powerful word from this passage for CCF yesterday was this...

We must not wait (40 years) for a disobedient generation to die off for us to enter the land that God wants to give us! God's chosen people did!

Too many churches are either all old or all young. All black or all white. All traditional or all contemporary. I think that God has a unique call for us as a unique church to embrace our great elders and our great history and proceed into our great future as a church. And the mission is too important to delay 40 years over grumbling and complaining (like the Israelites did).

I think that this is a bold word for lots of churches...get along, get your focus off yourself and get going....there is land to possess...and the mission is too urgent to wait 40 years.

--Noah

Thoughts from Today

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Today was a special day for several reasons:

  • God strongly impressed on my heart what I was to preach on this morning. Joshua was the inspiration. Felt like CCF needed some more preparation for inheriting the land that God has promised us. Will share more in another post.
  • Worship this morning was thick. God has some great things in store for us as we keep pressing in. It has been too long since I have been unable to stand. I had to hit the floor this morning and it was not optional. I want so badly to pray in the spirit and worship like this more often. Lord, teach me to...teach us to. This morning was special.
  • Change is not easy. We know that. Been feeling the Lord challenging me to keep challenging us to move in our purpose with good attitudes regardless of change that may not suit us. I am seeing some struggles, but I am also seeing some victories. God is with us and will stay with us. We need to remain strong and courageous...as God instructed His people in Joshua.
  • I have a definite sense that we are moving in GOD'S direction as a church. Man, does that feel like a good place to be. The road ahead will not be all easy....but after all, who promised it would be. Certainly not Jesus.

--Noah

Baseball Cap Episode

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It's Friday, so I have Davis (until 2pm when I will be marrying a couple). Anyway, this morning I put on shorts and a baseball cap. Davis is fascinated with my hat, so I recommended that we get one of his so that Daddy and Baby could both have on hats. With Tricia not here, I went searching through his room looking for his hats. After 5 minutes of searching with no luck, I thought to ask Davis if he knew where they were. Immediately, he walked to the corner of the room and removed the hat off of a doll and brought it to me. Mommy had dressed one of his bears with clothes and a hat. He knew where the hat was and I didn't. I had a moment. It's moments like this that remind you that you have the smartest child ever born. Smile.

2 hour walk

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Every Sunday we receive anywhere from 5-20 visitor cards from first time guests. We are still at the place where I call each guest personally and thank them for their visit and welcome them back. Jaye also sends a nice handwritten card early in the week.

Well, today while calling our visitors, I met a man who absolutely loved CCF this past Sunday. He remarked that it was well worth his 2 hour walk home! After church, he had no ride and didn't know anyone, so he walked home to Riverdale. 2 hours! he said it was worth it and he will be back this week to do it again! Are you kidding?!?! Well, as you can imagine...he will not be walking anymore. We are linking him up with a ride.

Man, it makes you feel like God is up to something here when people will walk 2 hours to be a part of it! This really moved me and I wanted to share it with you. You just never know the stories unfolding around us.

--Noah