Today’s services went great! Christmas is such a weird time in Miami with people leaving the country for the entire month of December and Noche Buena (Latins celebrate Christmas Eve, not Christmas Day – Yes, it’s odd, but it’s our way). The only odd thing that happened was in our first service as I was giving an invitation for people to begin their journey with Jesus. Our keyboardist was trying to get my attention and I didn’t hear her. But afterward, she told me that while I was praying there was a huge roach that was running around the stage … Read More

I just got an email from a friend who told me about a church up the street from us that is just getting started. They had a Christmas party last night and they gave out an award called the “Pastor John Award” in honor of those who make their services happen and run with excellence. It’s called the “Pastor John Award” because of John Solaroli, one of our Pastors who is in charge of transforming our rented facilities into worship environments. This is a humbling thing that other churches are honoring their servants based on one of our own. (By … Read More

We did a Pastors’ getaway today where myself and our Pastors did some strategic planning for 2007. I find these things hard to plan and very fulfilling once we get there. These meetings become the steering wheel for our church. It’s where we have some heated discussions but we walk out more united than ever. I’m amazed by the people that I get to serve with who share the same heart I do. We made some pretty big decisions today. We made some small decisions that I’m pretty excited about. Like this one: I’m not going to run our staff … Read More

I know it sounds like an episode of The Office, but today we had our first annual “Dumpster Day” at our offices. It was a day of no meetings or appointments, just the mission of getting rid of all the junk that we’ve been storing for the last year. It was glorious! I’m a bit of a neat freak, with a tinge of “Rain Man” in me, so organization is a big deal to me. We got rid of so much stuff, straightened up our work spaces, and cleaned like never before. A few highlights: – Finding a science experiment … Read More

This week and next week is budget time at Calvary Fellowship. It’s where we lay our goals out in dollar form. I want my staff to dream big, but we also have to lay out the steps to making the dream a reality. I love this time of year (except for all the paperwork), but it’s an opportunity for realignment in our mission and vision. We only do a few things here (that’s by design), so budget time allows us to reinforce that. Also, it allows us to put our money where our mouth is (literally), and give resources to … Read More

Over on our Momentum Blog, we’re going to be posting answers to 7 questions that we asked portable church leaders to answer about being in a portable facility. There’s even a give away if you decide to participate. By the way, today is the last day of the $99 deal for our Momentum Conference. Some have taken advantage already. You know you want to come to Miami on March 1-2, 2007 and learn from some guys that are doing it; get to hang with a bunch of leaders who are in the trenches with you on this. I’m excited about … Read More

With all the talk about Pastor’s Appreciation on the blogosphere (Perry got a treadmill for crying out loud. That’s awesome. Ben got a new car – kidding), I’ve come to realize that in our 6 years nothing ever happens for me or the other Pastors at our church during Pastor’s Appreciation month. So this can only mean one of two things: #1 – The people we are reaching have never been to church before and have no idea what Pastor’s Appreciation month is. Or #2 – We really suck as Pastors. For all I know it could be a little … Read More

Every year I get asked if our church going to do something for Halloween. Usually that’s code for “How do we deal with the Devil’s version of Christmas?” Here’s my thoughts on the subject (feel free to disagree, but also feel free to not send me links to sites about witchcraft and/or the winter solstice): #1 – This is a great opportunity to get to know your neighbors. #2 – This is the one day a year everyone in your neighborhood is going to knock on your door. #3 – Christians should have the best candy on the block. Brach’s … Read More

I remember over the summer when we said that adding a Sunday night service would relieve our Sunday morning space problems. It hasn’t. Sunday night has turned into a church all its’ own. It’s amazing. There are moments I think I like Sunday night more than Sunday morning. The group is so excited to be there. It is primarily all singles and young couples. The band turns it up to 11. And of course, by 6PM I pretty much awake. But it hasn’t solved our Sunday morning issue. We’re still out of space. So we’ll be adding a 2nd AM … Read More

What a great feeling! I don’ think it will last long, but I feel 10 pounds lighter!