I have been struck by the fact that I need to preach the Gospel every week and give people an opportunity to make a decision to come to know Jesus in our services each week. I think this is really important for several reasons: 1. It gives people an opportunity to cross the line of faith – Many times people don’t respond the first time you share the Gospel with them. They need time to think it over. The sooner you share the Gospel, the sooner they start thinking it over. 2. The Christians in your church know what to … Read More

I’m re-reading Good to Great by Jim Collins and the thing that stands out to me is that in great companies there’s no “one thing” that allows a company to make the leap from good to great. For church leaders, this is the most frustrating truth in the world. Because every church leader I talk to (including the one in my mirror) wants there to be some secret to taking a church to the next level. The truth is, it’s about doing a lot of things that takes a church to the next level. Is it outreach? in-reach? assimilation? teaching? … Read More

The story about Calvary Fellowship is going to air on Friday, May 11 @ 11PM (Right after the 20/20 special on “Faith in America”) on the Channel 10 news. The interview on Tuesday went well. They interviewed me and a couple of people from our church. Channel 10 sent a camera guy on Sunday to shoot some “B” roll during our 2nd service on Sunday. Now we’ll see how it turns out… If you miss it, I’m sure someone will get it on You Tube before to long… Update: It’s not going to run on Friday. It’s going to run … Read More

My good buddy Bill who’s pastoring a great church in Hartford Connecticut (where the people there are 3 generations unchurched – hello!) had dinner with Rick Warren last night. In my tribe (Calvary Chapel), a lot of the guys like to take shots at Rick (probably because he’s getting it done and they aren’t) for doing things different than the CC way. The truth, is we’re on the same team. If you don’t agree with him, get over yourself. He’s doing what he feels called to do. He’s helping people all over the world. God is giving him influence in … Read More

We’ve had over 100 people pray to start a relationship with Jesus since Easter. We’re pretty excited about that to say the least. But we’ve run into a problem in that we’re not happy with the stuff we’re giving them to help them on the journey. Most of the stuff I’ve read that’s labeled as “New believer” material has too many theological terms that the author doesn’t take the time to define. Theological terms are great. Just define them for those of us who didn’t go to Seminary. So we decided to write our own booklet that we give to … Read More

I just got done being interviewed by channel 10 for a story they are going to run on our church, next Friday (5/11). 20/20 is doing a story on “Faith in America” on the same night and we’ll be featured on the 11 O’clock news immediately following. The interview was good. We shot it at the theatre we meet in. They’ll be at the theatre on Sunday shooting some more footage. So as I mentioned on Sunday, “if you want to be on TV it’s a good idea to be there. If you’re wanted in another state, this might be … Read More

I’m sure many of you are reading these blogs, but if you’re not, here’s a few posts that have made me think recently… – Craig Groschel’s series on barriers was great. But his whole “Above the Line/ below the line” deal was out of hand. These 2 paragraphs are better than 1/2 the books I’ve read this year! – Ben Arment’s post on “The Klondike Bar Effect” is great. It’s a good read for those taking attractional ministry to a ridiculous extreme. – Steven Furtick’s post on being scared was powerful. It was as honest a post as I’ve read … Read More

I had a great time teaching at Calvary South Orlando on Wednesday night. I was able to teach on my favorite subject (John the Baptist) and hang out with some friends. Charles (the Pastor) and I planted our churches around the same time, so I’ve always felt a sense of camaraderie with him and the church he planted. I was blessed to be able to visit and teach, see some old friends and make some new ones. We got to hang out afterwards and talk shop (which is one of my favorite things to do) before we drove home. I … Read More

God seems to be opening a door for us with the press that we’ve never knocked on, but it’s opening nonetheless. Our worship Pastor, Mark Rodriguez, was just interviewed in the Miami Herald and on NPR. Anyway, you can read and listen to the stories here.

Just got back from my trip to Orlando. What a great time! – My pre-conference workshop went great! Thanks for praying. I really felt like I was able to share some helpful stuff and hopefully save a lot of church planters a lot of mistakes. Thanks to Tadd for the “action shot” of me teaching. – What I was able to see of the conference was great. Jim Putman did a workshop on connecting people into community that really challenged how we communicate the importance of small groups. We have 65% of our church in small groups. They have 100% … Read More