For many reasons, this is a week that I will never forget. I’ll try to give a few of the highlights…

– Legendary Easter weekend at Calvary!

– It started with a Good Friday services that was probably my favorite service of the year.

– I typically teach one of the seven statement from the cross on Good Friday. This year was no exception. I taught, “I thirst” from John 19. So powerful. Very moving. It was amazing to be many people respond to the invitation and come to know Jesus as Savior.

– Our Easter services were incredible. I don’t have all of the numbers yet (we’ll get those tomorrow morning), but I can easily say it was the biggest Easter in our history. We had more first time guests than at any other service in our history. It was amazing.

– We tried several new outreach strategies and they all worked! That never happens 🙂

– This is the kind of stuff we teach pastors in our Evangelism Ninja coaching. We’re always trying new things and this year we hit on all 8 cylinders.

– The responses to the invitations in our services were so powerful. We’re never seen that many people respond over the course of 1 weekend.

– On Thursday, about $10,000 worth of equipment was stolen from our construction site. The biggest issue for us is the loss of time more than the equipment. Every week we get delayed hurts because we’re still a portable church renting several facilities to make ministry happen and we’re financing a construction project. We know God is going to use this, we just haven’t seen the end of the story play out yet.

– It was moving to have so many people reach out to me and my staff. We were very blessed to see leaders and members from churches all over the world encourage us through email, text, phone, and social media. In the midst of a difficult week we felt very loved.

– I must say that the Miramar Police Department has take this situation so seriously. I have tried to thank every police officer I run into. They all know about what happened at our church site and they are all stopping by the property on a daily basis to check up and make sure there’s no repeat offense.

– I thought I would flip out if something like this ever happened. I can’t even explain how calm I’ve been throughout this situation. Let’s just say, that’s not like me. I’m Cuban, I can’t help it 🙂 But I’ve felt nothing but peace during this time and I know God is doing to use this somehow to glorify Himself. Philippians 4 really is true.

– I realized this week that it’s been a year since my former Pastor, Bob Coy stepped down from ministry. It still doesn’t make sense to me. The strange part of it all is that everyone has just moved on. Everyone is supposed to move on, but it was a bit surreal to me. We were shocked. We got mad. We cried. We tried to figure out how something like this could happen. But in the end, everyone moved on. It teaches us that the kingdom of God can never be about 1 person. It’s about Jesus, period. We’re all temporary; fulfilling our calling and moving on into eternity. I pray this helps all of us as pastors to be faithful and finish well.

– In the great news department, Mia and Xander both earned their yellow belt in karate this week. I’m so proud of them. They worked very hard to prepare for their tests. They passed with flying colors. The Sensei came up to me and expressed how well they did. It’s a wonderful thing to see your kids excel.

– Pastors, preaching on Easter was the easy part. The hard part is the follow up as we help people take their next steps with God.

– Another word to Pastors: buy your staff lunch tomorrow. They’ve earned it.

– Our staff was exceptional this weekend. This amazing group of men and women are unstoppable. It doesn’t matter what you throw at them, they simply will not stop until the job is done. I couldn’t be any prouder of them.

– The good people who serve at Calvary are the unsung heroes of our church. I am in awe of their dedication and selfless service every week. This week however, they took it to another level. They served thousands of people with joy and enthusiasm. Your service is changing the world and I’m honored to be your pastor.

– Lastly, I have the privilege of coaching a few hundred pastors every month through Church Ninja. I’ve been getting amazing resorts of record-breaking attendance, salvations, next steps, and baptisms. To be able to speak into the lives of these leaders is a sacred trust that I do not take lightly. Guys, I’m honored to be your coach and firmly believe the best is yet to come.

– No matter how brilliant Sunday’s message was… Monday we start with a blank page again. I used to hate that feeling. Now I love it. The work of writing sermons is part art, part science, all joy. To be able to speak into the lives of people who trust us to feed them God’s Word is an honor. Never take it lightly.

– Thanks for reading. Happy Easter!