I had a really cool week. It started last Sunday with the conclusion of our “First Serve” campaign. I think we had like 285 people sign up to serve in some area of the church, but the cool thing is that 205 of them have never served before. That night (Nov 6) we launched a new deal we’re doing called, “Welcome to Church Party”. We decided to do something different to help connect all of the new people that have started coming to church. It was a really great night with over 300 people attending. It was a real party, the whole auditorium was decked out cool and the guys had some funky techno music playing. The only thing missing was a smoke machine! It was fun and I know it really made a difference in helping connect many more people who are new to the church.

The next morning I flew to Charleston, SC for the ARC conference. ARC stands for Association of Related Churches. We have a few conferences each year that are designed to help church planters and other church leaders connect. It’s really a great relational thing and I feel honored to be a part of the board of directors/leadership team with some great friends and pastors. On the Tuesday night during the conference I had dinner with two of my closest friends Dino Rizzo and Stovall Weems. My stomach was sore the next day because we laughed so hard. Thank God for true friends who can encourage, challenge and run the race with you.

After that conference I flew home, loaded up the family and we drove to St. Louis. Several months ago Phil Stern called and asked me to come and preach at his church’s fifth anniversary weekend. Destiny Church is a great church in St. Louis. We had a great time with the Stern family – all 12 of them! Phil and Linda are my heroes – they have ten kids ranging in age from 3 to 26. I watched the older kids connecting into church life and leading worship. It was so inspiring. Jim Stern is only 26 and is co-pastoring the church with his Dad and will soon take over all the leadership of the church. That’s cool. A church that is really focusing on raising up the next generation. My son Mark loved Will Stern because Will was jamming out during worship, playing this cool flying V guitar and Mark thought that was awesome. At the end of the day, Will gave Mark a CD he had just recorded. I wish you could have seen Mark’s face. Their daughter Faith was great on the keyboards, she even toured with Skillet a few years back (and she’s only 21). Pictured is Jim, Phil, Aaron (the youngest son, 3 yrs old), Will and Faith.

At the end of the day we went to see the Arch. It was a beautiful day and the sun was reflecting off the Arch in a cool way. A great way to end an awesome week.