Deurty

Whoa! We experienced quite the church planting experience today in our gathering time! I arrived to the high school at around 7 am to set up when I saw our trailer and the fellas heading the other way. I stopped and asked what was up and they told me that the school had a fire and we couldn't meet in the cafeteria! Apparently someone broke into the school, poured petrol around the library and struck a match and left. There was obviously some damage and odor issues. We ended up in the Performing Arts Center at the High School. It is a very very very nice auditorium that we could not afford. Kid's had to move as well - so we were all being flexible and we had an awesome team of people rise to the challenge. Everything went smoothly and seemed to come off well. I enjoyed the room, but would not want it regularly... wierd. I think it feels too performance (hence the name). It also did not have a ton of room to move around and allow for connecting - which is a stap...

About to hit the sack after finalizing my message on big Joe from Genesis. I had to cut about 3 pages off of it. It is difficult to cut stuff out that would make great insights and other messages, but that is the point! I need to have a point! Not two or three or four of them! Stay with the program DEUR! :) Went to a wedding of one of my past students and current friend and her new hubby/youth leader/buddy. It was good to see a ton of our old teens and youth leaders and friends. Vicki and I even got to dance a little. I did a bit of an 80's dance move and it felt like old times sake - plus about 30 pounds... Anyways it was good to get out, see people and have fun. I need to do more of that "fun" stuff I've been hearing about. My neighbor bagged a deer and I helped hang it up in his garage. It gave me the itch to get out into the woods and kill something (for their own benefit of course - as well as my benefit in the food department.) Pretty cool to ...

I am at my folks right now. We are about to eat a big ole meal. I got done with my message but it is waaaaay to long - so I'm trimming the fat tonight. The message deals with dreams and having our dreams and our lives bow to God. It made me think about what my dreams are... Interesting to think through. I have dreams for my family - that they all follow God and devote their lives to Him. I have dreams for Watermark - that the vision would be fulfilled. I have dreams for myself - different opportunities and experiences I would like to have... BUT would I be willing to give up everything for God if required? Well - gotta go eat. :) Have a swell day! sd

Thanksgiving was great. Did the usual family gig. Hang out at the gym at my folks church. Eat a lot and play hoops. I played hoops for quite a while and was extremely tired. It was fun, but I only play basketball once a year at Thanksgiving now... (bad knee and bad jump shot.) In the game I got totally smashed in the nose by the basketball! My nose still hurts. A guy was basically throwing the ball as hard as he could to a fellow player and my nose was in the way. OUCH! That's okay - I was very manly and handled it like a champ (or maybe chump.) Hanging out with the family was good fun and a good recharge. Tomorrow morning I need to finish my message. We also need to get cranking on our office area that we are renting soon! Tomorrow is shopfest and I never partake - maybe I fear it... (Hello to my cousin Mike!) sd

Pushed hard on my message today. This week we are looking at Joseph (Gen.37 - till end). We'll be talking about dreams... Anyways - it will be our final conversation in the ORIGINS series we are doing. Next up: SAM X. Anyways - we are still not finished raking and bagging our lawn and I don't know when we will get time between the rain and snow that is coming... AHHHH! It was good to get out in the late afternoon and do some lawn work and appreciate the weather. Tomorrow is Thanksgiving! My favorite holiday! Allow me to write a few things I'm thankful for... > My God who loves me and does not give up on me. > My wife who is my friend, partner and love. > My kids who give me joy and help me understand God in a deeper way. > My family who support, encourage and love me. > My friends who know me and still like me and even put up with my talking. :) > My church - you are a dream come true and I can barely type this without tearing up... ...

Well - the hair has been redeemed by the clippers of Michelle. The new salon that she co-owns is great. The name is "Gingers." It was very nice and it was a long way from my SUPER CUTS days! :) Anyways - I think I'm ready to roll now that I killed the beast that was sitting on my head. Vicki and I are going to celebrate our 10th anniversary (a bit early) by going on a cruise in March! We are cashing in a retirement thing from a past job and doing it. That may be dumb - but you only can celebrate milestones like this once! So we are totally excited! We will be going with my sister and her husband, who are also celebrating their 10th anniversary. SOOOOO - I must begin the workout routine to get into "take my shirt off the whole trip" shape. :) HELP! Anyways - it will be a great thing for us. My folks are watching the kids. I am so glad that we have an INCREDIBLE team of staff, volunteers and leaders who can step into the gatherings and leader...

I had a meeting with other guys starting churches in Lowell, Michigan. It was great to hear their stories and how God is moving in their situations. It again reminded me how small I am... Think about it... I am one of billions of people, on a average sized planet, rotating around a mediocre star, in a ho hum galaxy, that is a part of millions of galaxy's... AND GOD CHOSE TO LIVE WITHIN ME! I don't know science, but I understand the scope and scale of who I am - dust. How is it that God choses to reside in my human soul? How is it that I can know Him? How is it that He cares for us puny people... What awesome love. What is man and woman that you are mindful of them? That puts God's story of bringing us to Him in powerful perspective. I think I take forgranted that God is the lover of my soul. It almost seems like something I deserve, but God out of His love and grace lavishes me with His love and mercy. Little ole me and little ole you. Cool. ...

Yo - what up? It snowed big time today! Today is test day... We chose to follow God and live in West Michigan even though we knew this would happen... I am very anti-snow, but I think this year I will try not to complain about it - too much... After all we followed God and chose to be here. :) So for all of us trapped in the "wonderful winter wonderland" let's make a pact to press on and be positive and know that God put us here together! (Wow - I wonder if I can follow that...) I am a natural complainer when it comes to snow and ice - is not complaining about that a spiritual issue? Oh wait... Philippians 2:14 - "Do nothing without complaining or arguing," Does that fit the whole snow thing? huh. Well we planned stuff out today with the staff team. I am excited about our next conversations in December called SAM X. For three weeks we are going to be under the guidance of SAM X - the "Christmas planner." He helps us spend more, get ...

Today was sick day at our gathering. We had a ton of people out sick or with sick kids! Wow! I'm just glad I am finally getting healthy. Anyways - we had some real battles this morning with the tech stuff, but it all came together at the last minute. Thanks to Mike for stepping in as a super sub! Brett did a good job sharing the message. It would be great to keep he and Kristin around longer! But i'm excited about their ministry in New Zealand too... We had a "What is Watermark?" lunch and had about 20 or so people there hearing the vision of the church and some basics of Watermark. It was cool to see new people catching on and getting plugged in. We spent the rest of today with my family and I went over to my folks church tonight with them. Good day! I am excited to get together with the fellas tomorrow - I am feeling energized. Giddy up. Well - have a nice evening! sd

This is a test... A lot of individuals, including myself, enjoy looking at trends of emerging churches and how the church will look in this new era. So - to become one of the heroes of the new "post modern" church movement you have to be seen in the blog world as part poet, part philosopher, part ranter and all around innovative fella. The goal is to be trendy by being anti-trendy. Anyways - I like the post modern ideas and definately fall into that category (even though we are supposed to hate those right?) So I thought I'd joke around and see if this blog would attract the masses of pastors in my shoes looking for the next thing... I think I've found that the next thing is the Bible. Weird huh? But alas, I love my Leonard Sweet and Emerging Church stuff... So if this lost you - sorry - I'll get back to my mind numbing stuff about my terribly exciting life as a guy starting a church later... So I am going to type a bunch of "key words" and ter...

Today I'm home with the kids while Vicki does the lunch and shopping adventure with my sisters and mom. I always find it difficult to manage my expectations on the days I am alone with the kids. My inner expectations drive me nuts! I WANT to spend great time with them and make them a priority, but also struggle with wanting to get other stuff done. So in other words... When I'm working I feel like I should be spending time with my family and when I'm with my family I feel like I should be working... AHH! Anyways - I'm doing better with this than I ever have before because I know the drill. But that is the struggle inside me that I wrestle with. Last night I went to the movie "ELF" with my dad. It was pretty funny and a great holiday flick. It was great going away with just my dad. Vicki will from time to time encourage me to catch a flick for a recharger - she is awesome! Tomorrow we have a gathering and we are going over the life of Jacob. I...

Hey - me again - I think this little article explains my reason why I sometimes get frustrated in figuring out some amazing thing to BLOG. Like I have to change the world through a few key strokes and 15 people a day reading. :) Anyways - this little thing from the Twisted Banana (link to left) is a rant on serious bloggers. Kinda funny and true I reckon in some ways. -------------------------------- NOVEMBER 2003 The Serious Blog writer bites! Have you ever read a blog that spews out serious content? They are painful to read... Why? Because no one cares! We at THE TWISTED BANANA appreciate the personal blogs. These are full of fun stories and self debasing humor. We, however, find the so-called intellectuals of the blog world to be the lowest form of blogger. If you have something serious to say - get published! If you can't get published - look in the mirror! If you are unable to be published - don't drag your sorry enlightened thoughts ...

Had small group tonight. I really like my small group. Cool people, great meals, lots of laughter and great to connect. I really see our group growing more together and with God. So anyways we meet every other week from 6-8 pm. We also meet once a month just as couples and do something on the town. My sister Jody is in town from Oklahoma City with my niece Savanah. It will be great to connect with her and begin some awesome family time over the course of this next week with Thanksgiving and all... I am feeling uninspired in writing this so I'll just let it go. :) sd

I spent the morning at Western Theological Seminary in their library. I went up to the 5th floor and spent time getting quiet with God. I just opened up the notebook I and wrote down what I sensed God sharing with me. For a while I just wrote down praises to God - everything from family and friends to the gift of life. I also spent time praying and read a little while. Afterwards I stopped in to visit my grandpa and my friend William. Then I finished my day reading and preparing for the message next week. Anyways - it was a great day and I enjoyed my time praying and connecting with God. Right now the Bachelor is on the tube and I think Bob will choose Estella (not that I should care...) Oh well - reality tv is the new stories of our culture... I hear people talking about that stuff all the time in public! You can have an instant connection with someone if you have an opinion about who should be with Bob the bachelor... It is a community builder! Well - I enjoyed c...

Tonight I met with a prayer partner. His name is Paul and he prays for me through out the week. Anyways - I always enjoy getting together with him because we get to chat about stuff and pray about it. It also gives me a chance to pray for him. I am amazed that there are people who pray for me. It is a humbling experience. It is a VITAL NECESSITY! I don't always treat prayer that way, but I believe that it needs to be a bigger priority in my life, because initmacy with God is the most important thing. Anyways - tomorrow I have my once a month DAWG (Day Alone With God). For those of you who don't know what this is... I spend a day reading, praying, worshiping, talking to people about God and just being quiet with God. This is a time to creatively spend the day with God to grow my relationship with Him, seek His guidance and just align with Him. Tomorrow I am going to spend time listening to God. How will I listen to God? 1) Get in a quiet place and bring a no...

Brad is back in the blogging world - check him out on the link to the left. "STAY IN THE BOX! God put you in that box for a reason!" - The Twisted Banana sd

MEETINGS!!!!!!!! Today I had meeting day and it went well. We are now over a week ahead in planning for gatherings. This week I am going to try to get ahead in my message preparation. (Yeah right) We went to LOWES tonight to look at microwaves and price them out. Ours died in mid-warm up of left over meatloaf. Fun! Our gathering went well yesterday. We dedicated children and looked at the story of Abraham offering Isaac up as a sacrifice. It was fun to study and teach, but I had way too much to say and way too little time. It could have easily been a two week study by itself! But I think the main thoughts cam across when I had to cut the last three pages off because of time! :) STEVE LEARN TO TRIM! THIS IS A MARATHON NOT A SPRINT! But one thing I do realize is that now that I am speaking more regularly I am still feeling like there is not enough time in the year to get all that I want to teach on out there! I thought the hardest thing about speaking regular...

Great leadership mock articles at the twisted banana. Check it out... link at left. sd

Watermark has a partner church in New Zealand named SHORE GRACE. It is led by Mike Yates. They launched today! Here is their report! I am excited about developing relationships with churches like SHORE GRACE to advance what God is doing! For more info. on this new church we are in relationship with: www.shoregrace.org Here is the report email from Mike following their launch! ************* AWESOME!!!!! Steve I haven't e mailed anyone else yet...wanted you to know... 201 in attendence! Way exceeded our expectations. Many of them well wishers and fellow Wesleyans but you know what's great...i (know) all these different people who we didn't know last week who are now saying they want to be a part of Shore Grace!!! (from the local area) Worship was awesome...Matt and the team did a great job. The Lord blessed. Non Christians were there and some redemptive conversations were had with people and bystanders interested in knowing what was going on. We even feed some...

Hey - I just added a counter to see if people read this... but to be honest - I guess I do this more for myself. Maybe though, you get encouraged some times through this... If not keep reading and maybe someday you will. :) Today we went to the Flint area to celebrate the 99th birthday of Vicki's grand father. 99! Holy Cow - one year from now he will be able to be highlighted on the Today show for the Smuckers old folks celebration moment with Willard Scott. (Boy was that a horrible sentence!) Anyways - it was good and we had a good time eating fast food and driving in the dark while the rain beat down on our easy tip Trooper. BUT we are home and safe and we are gearing up for tomorrow's gathering. Our web site for Watermark should be up Jan.1st. It will come down to whether or not we get the stuff to our graphic guru and his wonderful wife. We hope that it will be a great front door for people as well as an information hub. Have you ever watched "Clean ...

Got back today from the "Marriage Rendezvous." Vicki and I went to the marriage conference where we got to help and soak stuff up. I warmed the crowd up with questions to couples like, "what habit do you wish your spouse would get rid of?" We then would put them on the big screen in front of thousands while sticking a microphone in their face. It was fun. We even had the crowd dancing to Barnie's "I love you song" which was performed by an attendee... Vicki helped with merchandise and we both helped tear down. We also were able to attend and get some great insights into marriage. It was inspiring and we had a great talk about our marriage and areas we want to grow in... I'm praying that I can make some great strides. Anyways - my mom stayed with the kids over night so we could go to a hotel in Grand Rapids! Very cool to just get away and be able to sleep in this morning! Friday's are typically my day off so it worked out well... ...

If you are reading this and have skills in setting up templates for blogs and think this site could use some serious help - drop me an email if you can help or have a template I could use. Thanks! Steve

Today I am sick. I have been laying low all day and feeling horrible. I did get to study the scripture we are studying this week at the gathering... (Gen.22) I wanted to let everyone know (all 3 of you who read this) that my Dad's Blog is back in business! Check out Dave's Dusty. I happen to think that my dad is an incredible man of God and the real deal - so maybe his thoughts and chat about life can be beneficial to check out... Tonight "24" is on! Jack Bauer Time! Anyways - tomorrow we have a planning day to plan out the gatherings for the next month or so... Hopefully I'll be back in action. :) I think I'm going to close these blogs out with lyrics from songs I like from back in the day: "When the routine bites hard and ambitions are low And the resentment rides high but emotions won't grow And we're changing our ways, taking different roads Then love, love will tear us apart again (4) - Joy Division sd

Great gathering this morning! It is always so much fun to see the different people connecting in and building relationships. I walk away from gatherings every week totally amazed and uplifted that we get to be invoved with this movement of God. Tonight we got together with the "core team" for some hang time, hearing stories and being reminded of why we are doing what we are doing - or rather - why we are being who we are being. IT IS SO EASY TO LOOSE YOUR WAY IN CHURCH PLANTING! So it was awesome to get together, encourage, love, listen and praise God. It was awesome to share the vision and mission again. I need to hear it myself at least once every week...or I get selfish, tired and discouraged. Thanks God for your Word the Bible - it is the ultimate vision book - it is the greatest mission manual - it is the ultimate love letter! Gotta jet - sd

I came across a site from a friend and thought they had some funny takes on Mike Ilitch - who I am not a fan of... Anyways: It is called: The Twisted Banana (seems twisted) I found that it may keep you out unless you go to it and back in and out of it... Maybe it was just my Mac. :) The link has been added in case you want to go there... Also KevinStinehart.com is a fun place to check out. Kory has put that page together (under the link: Kory's book) For your enjoyment. We love KevinStinehart and the web site made in his name! sd

Had a great dinner with our neighbors - we took them out to Damon's - the place for ribs. Hopefully we were able to just be encouraging to them. We are trying to make a connection with them - they are great. They've been coming to Watermark, which is cool too... Going to matrix revolutions right now. :) Giddy up! I am the sci-fi geek! sd

Last night I was in the hot tub with my daughter and it was raining a bit. I stood the cover up against the deck next to the tub. All of a sudden a huge wind kicked up and knocked the cover down back onto the tub. I didn't see a thing and whammy I got nailed on the top of the head. This thing is HEAVY! I tried to re-orient myself and figure out what happened. Autumn was missed because it landed on my head! :) Anyways - the reason I was in the tub in the first place was to bring relief to a head ache. I was totally foggy and had a horrible pain in my head. I think I have a very slight concussion. Feeling nausea a bit yesterday and slightly today. A bit clumsy. And also feel like I am in a fog - like I can't fully wake up. Anyways - my message prep. today was not real helpful because I kept forgetting what I read. I think I just need to take it easy today. :) Maybe a trip to the hot tub will help! sd

I am reading a ton on Abraham today. There, I blogged. :) sd

Wow - what a great sunday! 7 people baptized from Watermark and a guest who decided to go public right there at poolside! Anyways it was amazing! Baptisms are always my favorite because they are full of stories. Steve T. did a great job with a groups orientation following the gathering. I am extremely excited about where we are heading with groups. We are ripping off New Life Church in Colorado - we are using a West Michiganized version of their system. For more info or understanding go to: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0785265147/qid=1067916666/sr=8-1/ref=sr_8_1/104-9330237-4598325?v=glance&n=507846 Check it out and read about it. Good thoughts on de-centralizing ministries and helping people far from God make the connection. So overall a great day - our small group rocks and Alicia is doing a tremendous job at organizing us. Baptisms! Great team! Groups getting going! God is blessing and it is all because of Him! Wo to me if I ever feel ...

My wife rocks! I spent over six hours today editing a video and when I returned home late... I was greeted with a hot meal and an understanding smile! Anyways Steve Thompson and I slugged out the video for tomorrows baptism stories. Seven people are scheduled to be dunked! I want to again thank Spring Lake Wesleyan for their generosity and Kingdom spirit - they let us use their video editing suite. Also I got some left over candy from their candy carnival last night... Yumm...keep me fatted up! Tomorrow I am speaking about Genesis 3 - the rebellion of man and woman and the pull to sin. We are looking at God's Question that opens us up for repentance... that question is: "where are you?" I pray that tomorrow people will respond to that question with a heart that is open to God. We have a life groups meeting following the gathering. Going over our philosophy and all that jazz... By the way - if you live in the Grand Haven area and are looking for a s...

Hey. Good week, but busy. Tracking down people who are getting baptized - going over stuff - video work... yada yada yada. I had a very cool time with one couple that made a cool decision in following God - which was the coolest thing of the week! (Can you tell the word, "cool" is on my mind.) I am the Fonz. I am excited about the baptisms - this will be a great encouragement! Vicki speaks tomorrow at a women's conference with my mom. They are doing a talk on 'The in's and out's of mother & daughter in laws' Vicki has been sick most of the week and without a voice so we are praying that God will give her back her voice before tomorrow. We are back at the YMCA this week - then back to the highschool! Gotta be flexible! :) Anyways - got some good stuff done this week... Chairs ordered and being shipped... Office rental finalized with a great local Christian ministry in town... Insurance stuff taken care of... Baptisms organized... ...