extending our reach

One of the issues we wrestle with the most in Family Life ministry is extending our reach beyond the hour or two that children and students are in our ministries each week.

One of the creative solutions that our LHC Kids team has come up with to extend our reach is called Route 6:7 (based on Duet 6:7). We used to send the kids home with a weekly “talk sheet” with questions for parents to cover with their kids during the week. We noticed that these 1/2 page sheets ended up in their Bible, purse, floor board, or trash.

The newest member of our team, Sara, had the ingenious idea that we could condense the questions and print them on a card that could hang from the rear view mirror in the car where they would be visible throughout the week. They contain a weekly memory verse, as well as a question for each day of the week.

Here’s a pic:

The feedback has been incredible. Kids think they are the greatest thing ever and are begging parents to hang them up in the car immediately after church.  And, parents are actually using them. Just today I stopped by the local grocery store and saw 3 cars in the parking lot with the most beautiful pieces of yellow paper dangling from the rear-view mirror.  I can’t tell you how proud I was of our team in that moment.

“You shall teach them diligently to your children, and shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.” Deuteronomy 6:7

What are you doing that is extending your reach?

leadership lyceum

lyceum - a hall where discussions are held. also the grove at Athens were Aristotle taught.

this Thursday my living room will become a place where our Family Life management team will meet for weekly leadership discussions. this is NOT a weekly staff meeting, but rather a place where we will talk about the issues that leaders wrestle with: character, vision casting, loving people, leading by example, serving others, being excellent, etc…

we are kicking off the lyceum with the Deadly Viper Character Assasins. further discussions will include Peter Block’s Community and Craig Groeschel’s It. I’m hopeful that the books will fuel our discussions and serve to break down the barriers so we can be real with one another.

what do you do to sharpen the iron?

crazy search terms august

here’s the best of the random search terms used to find this blog during the month of august:

• alex+family+drove off grand canyon
• spiritual enlightenment truth children
• technology to make your life easier & jo
• moron the ball to you
• moron golf tournament
• youtube swimming pool interview alex
• elder picture eating lunch

i’m off to moron the ball.

fellowpointlife church

With churches all over the country launching video satellite campuses with great success, I wonder how long it will be before someone launches ”All-Star Church – One Faith, All the Best Teachers”?  Or, FellowPointLIfe Church?

Think about it. you could have Craig Groeschel one month, Ed Young the next, followed by Andy Stanley et al.

Trust me. It’s coming.

crazy search terms

some of the better search terms used to find this site in the last 30 days:

• chapel of the holy ghost home page sedon
• eating lunch good leader
• whiteboard puzzles church
• i’m alexander i am 22 years old
• “got braces”
• sacbee legacy
• is louie giglio a new ager
• loaves and fishes craft ideas
• “alex alexander” -actress

i don’t know anything about whiteboard puzzles church. wondering who would go there? or, chapel of the holy ghost home page?

the new iPhone. will it blend?

I don’t own an iPhone (old or new), so this might be my jealousy coming out.

shhh! don’t tell

my wife has spent the last two weeks completing this 2000 piece puzzle. she’s about to finish any minute. what she doesn’t know is, is that i actually placed 1 of the pieces the other day when she wasn’t looking. so when she proudly exclaims to the family to come and see the puzzle that “she put together”, it technically won’t be so.

it’s our little secret right?

pics from downtown campus

While the LHC Downtown campus does not officially launch until September 7, yesterday we held our first official “preview” service at the Austin Music Hall. This was an opportunity to work out the bugs before guests arrive in the next month. My phone didn’t take great pics inside the hall, but here’s a few that did turn out for your viewing pleasure. 

vbs day five

Incredible. Simply incredible. There is no question that this was our best VBS to date. We keep learning a little more each year as we continue to improve this great event.

Our team of volunteers went above and beyond the call of duty this week. Our staff directed a large amount of their time and energy to VBS as well. We have some of the greatest people in the world. I love LHC.

The best number of the week? 50+ kids who made a decision to follow Jesus. Wow.

I am too tired to talk about it anymore. And, I can’t wait til next year.

vbs day four

Day four is always the toughest. I like to call it Black Thursday. With Wednesday being the day we present the Gospel, the tendency is to let up a bit on Thursday. We take our foot off the pedal and coast a bit. We forget to be timely. We forget to check parents ID’s. All sorts of fun stuff. We even prepared for it in advance this year to no avail. I came close to losing it 3 times before actually losing it (in a God-honoring way of course).

At the end of the day I can’t believe the amount of work that has gone into the week. Our nearly 400 volunteers are really doing a fantastic job. I believe that God is pleased with our efforts on his behalf. Our official attendancethus far is 1170. In just our fourth year, this is quite an accomplishment. It is one of the best events we do as a church because the team comes together to really create an environment in which the Holy Spirit can move. Where else can you motivate a group of volunteersto unwrap over 1200 individually wrapped Rice krispie treats and ask them to re-wrap them in gold foil to coincide with an object lesson?

I’m also really looking forward to tomorrow’s final day and the weeks ahead as we meet with all the children who have made decisions to follow Christ. Can you think of anything more rewarding?