New movie added entitled: "kiwi." It is found under the "blogs" section, but I may need to add a movie area.
Hanging around today with the family.
sd
Posts
Worked on a bunch of different stuff today...
Morning at Grand Haven Library: Message Preparation.
Lunch at Applebees with Dennis Jackson - Mentoring and connecting.
Afternoon with Jim and Brenda working on finances, budgets and church stuff.
Dinner with the family. Vic made some epic quesadilla's.
After dinner went to visit with Wallace and East Side Mike and their families.
I was challenged in the past two days from at least three different voices in the area of having fun. Am I having fun? Good quesiton. The church plant has been one of the most joy filled experiences of my life, but am I having fun? Yes, but I need to allow myself (or rather make myself) take time to have fun - to be me - to take time to recharge. So I am feeling challenged to stay healthy by staying loose and smiling. :)
We have had some new people connecting to Watermark lately which has been very encouraging. If you are involved in the Wesleyan church you may be interested in the discuss...
Let's try the gooch movie again... Should work.
Great day with God today. Did some study on my message on serving for next week. Feels good to get a bit ahead.
My daughter and I have been kneeling and praying by her bedside. It has been cool to hear her pray. We also read her picture Bible and have started to act out different passages. Last night I was Jonah and she threw me over board into the sea. A few nights ago she was Jesus and she was nailed to the cross. She really enjoys the Bible and I do not want anyone - including myself - to screw that up! I want that sense of excitement and awe in reading the Word of God. After acting that out she prayed next to me, "Jesus, thank you for dying for me." This dad is pleased, but probably not more than her heavenly dad.
Worked out tonight with double d. I am probably the only guy who listens to indepth Bible teaching while doing an elliptical machine. I just love to be taught by someone who really challenges...
Last night I went to a friend's home to watch Spinal Tap with some fellas. It was great - as always!
"Stonehenge, where the demons' dwell and the banshees' live and they do live well."
I got to teach in SURF CITY yesterday. It was cool and the kids seemed to get into it. Although I may be kidding myself. :)
Tonight we go to a Kindergarden orientation for my daughter. WOW! She is getting old. I am getting old. It feels wierd for her to enter the world of real school. It definately feels like a next step and I am feeling all the things that dad's feel... I think. I am anxious for her to make friends and to understand the school work. I am sad that she will be leaving home more and thinking about what difficult things she will be facing. I am excited about the new friends she'll make, the new things she'll learn and the fun she'll experience. As a dad - I want her to risk and step out. As a dad, at the same time, I want to prot...
I found this photo of Mel Gibson and John Maxwell. I imagine a scenario like this...
Mel quickly meets John and John tells Mel about his 21 irrefutable laws of leadership. A mention of Hillham comes up. Mel nods politely and heads toward the bathroom. John follows and Mel is concerned that the "People Person" will follow him into the lew. Mel stops and looks at a security guard for assistance and John looks busted.
Forgive me father for I have sinned. :) My druid friend will appreciate this most.
Harrison is sick with the FLU! YEA! I finished reading: The Glorious Appearing. It was a good cap to the Left Behind Series. I told myself I was never going to read those books, but ended up getting sucked into the first one and then I was hooked by the story. I think I like the fact that Jesus and His followers are the good guys. Anyways - the final book made me think of the return of Christ. I am unsure all that will take place, but I do know that it will...
Spent a good chunk of today cleaning out our garage. We can now fit both cars in! It is a miracle. We still need to get a ton of boxes and stuff out, but that will have to wait for junk and garage sale day.
I also went with the fam to the Johnson's tonight to remember Lela (their daughter who passed away a year ago). It was good to see her friends, family and others to remember her. I praise God for her life and the way God used her even after she passed away. Many students responded to Christ as a result of her witness in life and death. Wow, I can not imagine loosing one of my kids. Life is short. Live it for what lasts.
sd
My dad relays a story from my childhood - in case you are interested. I realize more and more that I am the man I am, because I have him as a father.
Check out: Dave's Dusty on the Dave Deur link to the left.
I have been working through the preaching schedule for the summer... I want to deal with the early church for August to move us with great vision and anticipation and motivation for the launch of the fall ministry season! So I have been thinking of conversation titles (series names). My cheeziest and the one I left on the sheet for now is: "ACTS too." Playing off the Acts 2 description of the early church... Kind of saying - if we have the same Spirit in us and the same mission before us - we will be like the description of Acts as well (Acts too) Get it? Is it stupid? Have I gone Senior Pastor on you? What are your title names?
Thanks Dibs,
sd
Just got back from working out with big guns "D". Then we sat and chilled over some diet sodas at the D&W. It is always good to hang with him. He is very encouraging and a good friend. We are getting together soon to watch "This is Spinal Tap." It is kind of a documentary...a if you will "rockumentary" of a hard working rock band on the road. It is a comedy cult classic from the 80's. Anyways - it is one of my favorite movies, but for the sake of those reading I have to inform you that there is some swearing. (That way I won't feel bad if you watch it and say "pastor Steve" told you it was okay.) PS - be responsible for yourself. :)
Anyways - prayer was great tonight, because we had a good turnout and a fun spirit.
I am not speaking this week - so I am trying to get a ton done (little piddly things that haunt me in the middle of the night!) Sometimes I freak out at night and realize something is hanging out there for ...
I may have mentioned this, but it was a year ago on April 15th, 2003 that we had our first vision chat to introduce people to the dream of Watermark. God has moved in so many incredible ways since then... I'll list a small portion for the glory of God:
> God has put together the most incredible and diverse core team!
> God took away obstacles to us being at the high school
> God provided a trailer and the funds to get another trailer and 300 very nice chairs
> God brought unchurched spiritually disconnected people and helped them belong before they believed and became
> We had 18 baptisms
> We have phenominal relationships with our high school facilities personnel
> The River has taken us deeper in living out the life with God
> Life Groups are growing and people are seeing their lives changed
> People who said they would never be caught in a church are serving
> God is blessing other churches that partner with Watermark! This has been a...
Keith Drury writes a lot of great and challenging stuff. (Link under study, growth and conversation.) Anyways - one of his leadership insights into leadership is the "Army Idea"
The Army Idea is the understanding that leaders serve the front lines, the battlefield soldiers, not the reverse.
This reminds me of Ephesians 4:11-12: "He (God) handed out gifts of apostle, prophet, evangelist, and pastor-teacher to train Christians in skilled servant work, working within Christ's body, the church." We who are in positions of leadership are the servants of the servants.
Sometimes I think people (including me) think leadership is glamorous or somehow more important, but it is as simple as being a servant to God's servants. All of a sudden it doesn't seem as exciting... :) I pray that I will be used by God to be able to serve and equip my family and Watermark to follow God as ministers.
I need to fine tune my message still so I need to go.....
I fear the Tigers may have won their games for the year. Just kidding - they should be much better, however, they still have a ways to go!
Watched some Leadership videos tonight. I am considering using some outside resources for our core team to ingest for training and growth. I listened to Erwin McManus share about the "character matrix." It was a good talk and the best thing that I was reminded of was to be faithful to God in serving - even in the "little" things. To never see the opportunities to serve God and others as "little." That humility and servanthood leads to faithfulness, which leads to perseverance, which grows wisdom...
A "little" thing is not insignificant. I think I too often define something's significance by what others think... (including myself) RATHER than allowing God to place value and significance on things and lives. God's values seem to be upside down in our go get it and get noticed world. I s...
Today was one of those frustrating moments for me in church planting. Today I wanted to have an office. I am tired of trying to write messages and study in coffee houses and libraries. Don't get me wrong - I love the fact that I work within the community and would never want to go back to the "office life" where I find myself feeling out of touch with the community... BUT, I would love to have a place for maybe two days to get away and study and focus and be quiet. I also had a serious meeting with someone at a restaurant and would have liked to offer to meet at "my office" where it is private and without distractions of coffee refills. If you are planning on church planting I would highly encourage you to not work from home as much as possible. I would encourage you also to work in the community as much as possible, but plan a place to get away and nut stuff out. I think I screw up because I don't plan in advance where I am going to work sometimes an...
I have been thinking (actually feeling) lately about the incredible revolutionary simple truth that I am the church. Whoa. What if I actually grasped this concept and helped others see this truth as well? What would our community look like? What would our daily times with God look like? What would our life groups look like? What would our times of gathering look like? What would our families look like? (You get the idea...)
Seriously - the fact that we are called to be disciples (students/followers) of Jesus rather than consumers of Him will really change us. It comes down to who is the center of our life: Jesus or self. Self is about me and consuming. Jesus is about God and serving. I realize this may be elementary, but I don't feel like I am totally living it yet, therefore - do I need to go back to school with God until I get this elementary truth into my very bones? (aka Billy Madison)
Moving on... I have been studying a lot about study. (This reminds me of...
Great morning celebrating new life through baptism. I don't believe that there is any better experience than baptism on this day.
Had some friends over for lunch and then went to my folks and grand mother's home. It was great seeing so many family members today. (Hello to my cousin Mike who reads this! - TANK!) I have an outstanding family and thank God for His overwhelming blessings.
Vicki's sister is in town with our five nephews/niece and sleeping over here - so we borrowed an many sleeping bags and supplies that we could.
My eyes are drooping - gotta go.
sd
My King is...
The Bible says my King is a seven-way King:
He's the King of the Jews - that's a racial King.
He's the King of Israel - that's a national King.
He's the King of Righteousness.
He's the King of the Ages.
He's the King of Heaven.
He's the King of Glory.
He's the King of Kings and He's Lord of Lords.
David said: "The heavens declare the glory of God and the firmament shows His handiwork."
My King is a sovereign King - no means of measure can define His limitless love.
No farseeing telescope can bring into visibility the coastline of his shoreless supplies.
No barrier can hinder Him from pouring out His blessings.
He's enduringly strong.
He's entirely sincere.
He's eternally steadfast.
He's immortally graceful.
He's imperially powerful.
He's impartially merciful.
... Do you know Him?
He's the greatest phenomenon that has ever crossed the horizons of this...
Got the hot tub in to the school this morning and got my talk pretty much hammered out this afternoon. The kids are with my folks - so Vicki is cranking on cleaning the house while I work on my message. We are about to go out to eat for lunch.
We got the baptism shirts and they are awesome. The design was done by Ked and he did an amazing job. If you are looking to hire someone for a web site or to do graphics you need to connect with ONPO!NT MEDIA (link to left) - Ked and Amelia are awesome at what they do, they have epic hearts for God and they understand ministry.
Well, I'll stop pimping and talk about something else... :) I had a dream last night about my friend Paul Wiley. He was my college roommate and I'm trying to reconnect with him. He and I were very close back in the day, but life just sneaks up on you and knocks your schedule to bits... I kinda woke up and realized that I had not spoken to him in like over a year... One thing I have realized in b...
Today was study my buns off day. I got a ton of research and note taking done for the first message in our "166" conversation series. That will be the week following Easter. I suppose I should be working primarily on the message for this week... I guess that will be done tomorrow. We have a ton of little details to nail down for this Sunday. The biggest detail is how in the world are we going to do baptism. We have run into a lot of difficulties...
We first looked at a hot tub in the cafeteria... but the school doesn't like the idea in that space.
Next we looked at a hot tub out side in the courtyard, but the weather could make that a disaster.
Then we looked at the wading pool - which is perfect, but too small to fit everyone!
Finally we looked at the big pool - which has stands and a great set up, but the pool is 8 foot deep at its most shallow.
SOOOOOO - we are stuck - but the idea of putting the hot tub on the deck of the big pool is the solution for ...
I was supposed to crank on my message today, but ended up with the fellas planning the gatherings coming up. It was a good day. We are trying to figure out how to baptize people in the most effective way... pool? hot tub?
I am watching the ABC special: Jesus and Paul. It is pretty good for the most part. I just get giddy when I watch NT Wright explain things. I really enjoy his books and he is an extremely articulate and bright scholar and he is a follower of Jesus. When I think about Jesus' followers and Paul's change - how could Christianity take off like it did without the miraculous life and resurrection of Jesus and real encounters with Him?
Well tomorrow we have staff tactical meeting and open lunch. So if you want to come and hang - please meet us at Buffalo Wild Wings at 11:30 am in Muskegon. :) Mike (Frodo as N8 calls him) will be eating 5 blazing wings. He is going to sweat and maybe bleed!
I want to give a shout out to my dad who is getting ord...
Today was Palm Sunday. We had a great gathering. I saw this photo and thought it is interesting to think about a presidential candidate going to a church service with cameras blaring. What if Bush or Kerry wanted to come to a Watermark gathering? What if they wanted to address the crowd? It is interesting that many politicians are strict about separation of church and state until it's time to get the vote out and portray a persona to people... Talk about playing religion.
Anyways - I think we should have a conversation around the election - I am not sure about what, but maybe we can play off it. Any ideas? What would you do if Kerry or Bush came to your/our gathering? Would they come to the Next Step Lunch? Would they stack chairs when we are done? :) If so - I would vote for that candidate. :) Even though I have my preferences...
Great gathering today - worship stations - great job by the team putting it together.
For those about to rock - we salute ...
Well I'm back in the pocket. Thanks to those of you who prayed for me. It was a very meaningful and refreshing time that was extremely needed. I forget how important it is for me to stay fresh. Let me explain why...
I grew up in Holland, Michigan to a "dutch" heritage. My parents might not agree from how little chores I did as a kid, but I received a very strong work ethic. (We haven't been from the Netherlands for a few generations, but there is still a strong influence as you grow up.) I am a first born son. I am a bit of a people pleaser and like to be everyone's buddy. I have been called or seen as a role model / leader / friend to those without friends / etc... for most my life. I often have been made to feel or have felt on my own as responsible for others in some capacity. I am a pastor in a community that looks to pastors to be a lot of different things and one of those is someone who has it together and is available to help fix or change peop...