Community Impact

C1 is a church that strives to impact our community. Last night Conneaut held it's annual Summer Expo at the elementary school. What a great turnout! Over 250 people attended and I had some great conversations about our church.

One community comment we got that really excited me was this..a lady in the community asked me if we were that church that is always doing stuff for the community. Wow! She said 'it seems like you've always got something going on for the family."

We have worked hard to develop a community mindset and I believe it's finally starting to pay dividends.

As we grow our so will our community impact!

Ouch!

So my tooth has been hurting for a few weeks. So like every guy I grin and bear it. This weekend though the tipping point of pain was reached. I called my dentist and not only do I have a cavity but it's so bad I had to have a root canal.

So here's what happens during a root canal - the dentist to drills into the pulp chamber, and removes the infected pulp area (the nerve) by scraping it out of the root canals. Once that is done, the dentist fills the cavity with an inert material and seals up the opening.

If I would have gone in one month earlier, when my tooth first starting hurting it would have been a routine in and out cavity filled (please read here: a lot less PAIN)

So I was thinking, why is it so often in life we avoid taking care of what needs fixed?

Whether it's a broken relationship, a household repair or a hurting tooth we often allow what needs fixed to get forgotten.

What's happens though is that the pain gets so great that extreme measures are needed to rectify the problem.

How about your life? Is there an area of pain that needs restored. I believe with God all things are possible and He will help meet that need and heal that area.

Remember though...today is better than tomorrow...

Vision

I love vision! Whether it's a football coach who dreams of leading his team to victory or a restaurant manager who wants every customer to have a great dining experience - vision attracts.

This week I'm pretty excited as I'm traveling to C3 church in Pickerington, OH. C3 is led by my friend, Konan Stephens. Check this out: they planted this church about 8 months ago and they are already over 200 people doing two services! Isn't that amazing.

My prayer is that I will see what they are doing well and pray how C1 can use those principles in our community.

I believe God is not a respector of persons or places.

To often I hear if I had more money, or went to this school or if our church was this big, things would be better.

Here's what I think: if the vision is worth following people will.

So let me ask you C1'ers...what is your vision for our community, for our church, for your life? And ask yourself - will people follow this?

Imagine

Isn't this a great picture...we've dreamed and imagined C1 being full and we are closer today then we were last week.

Imagination is one of the coolest things...

As I look forward to the week after Easter I imagine that C1 will continue to grow and we will see God's favor on our church.

I know a lot of you prayed that your friends, co-workers, neighbors, etc would come to C1 last week and maybe they didn't...continue to imagine God's best for their lives.

Refuse to be disapointed or frustrated but celebrate that God is bringing them one step closer to Him.

Everyday is a step we take in our relationship with God. Did you take a step in the right direction today?

Tooth

My son just lost his front tooth! If you're a parent you know different your child looks after losing their front teeth.

Gabriel is growing up - sometimes too fast...

This is just a reminder for me to spend as much time as I can with my little gifts: Brooklyn, Gabriel & Emma.


Is there a gift God has given you (wife, friend, son, daughter) that you need to spend a little more time with?

God's plan

Zach Johnson wasn't even the best golfer on his High School Team. Six years ago Zach Johnson went to Augusta, Georgia to watch the Master's Golf Championship. Last week Zach Johnson won the Master's Golf Championship beating Tiger Woods.

In an interview with Zach Johnson after he won the Master's he said that this victory was very important to him because of the day it was on. Easter!

Zach is a devoted follower of Christ and has committed his life to serving God. His journey hasn't been an easy one and he will be the first to tell you that his faith in Jesus is really important to him.

Through it all though he believed that God had a plan for his life.

In six years Zach Johnson went from watching the Master's to winning the Master's.

What in your life do you believe God has planned? Imagine for a minute today that you too can go from watching to winning.

Spring Break?

Here's what Spring Break weather looks like in C-town

A Spring Break in Florida looks really nice!

My kids were hoping to play outside during their school break...

Father/Son

Yesterday Gabriel (my six year old) and I went the mall and spent his allowance. It took a while but he finally settled on a Lego Star Wars item. It came with battle droids and 106 pieces!

As soon as we got home when started putting it together. To get the whole picture let me back up to Christmas. He got a 1000 piece lego kit that 'daddy' had to put together. He watched and helped as much as he could.

So yesterday his goal was to put together this lego kit. As we read the instructions and began I was amazed at how well he did. In the end we only had to redo a few steps and he had a pretty cool Battle Droid Command Center.

I was thinking about that process quite a bit last night and thought that's how it is supposed to work.

Son watches Father. Father helps Son. Father watches Son.

In the book of John Jesus said, I tell you the truth, anyone who has faith in me will do what I have been doing. He will do even greater things than these, because I am going to the Father.

I'm so impressed with Gabriel b/c after watching me and helping me he was ready to do the building on his own.

I was there to offer suggestions (and he needed a little help) and in the end he was so proud of what he had accomplished.

I believe God has great things for us to do and if we will spend time with Him, allow Him to help us then we will make God the Father proud as He watches us do some great things.

What great thing do you want to do?

Easter Snow Storm...

Easter Sunday at C1 was great. I got to church at 6:00 AM to meet my shoveling team. Yes I said my shoveling team. A big thanks to the team who helped shovel the grass and church grounds. We shoveled for an hour and half to clear the snow for our 5,000 Easter Egg Hunt. Despite the snow we had a great turnout for our 1st Egg Hunt.

I'm sure the weather had some influence on our attendance but the box score for Sunday morning at C1 - 252 people. We had quite a few 1st time guests and the energy in the church was great.

I'm excited about what God is doing and believe that we are experiencing God's favor.

I pray each day for God's favor in my life. Whether it's God's favor on my friendships or my financial decision I want to include God.

How about you? What's an area that you need to include God in? Give it a try and see what a difference God's favor makes.

Jelly Belly

We spent Friday in Erie hanging out as a family. We have a new Chuck E Cheese ticket record. The Warren5 walked away with over 800 tickets yesterday! After lunch we shot over to the Jelly Belly Store. Got to have Jelly Belly's for Easter. We also got our kids a gift from the Easter Bunny. They'll open it tomorrow after church.

Easter Sunday is incredible for me. Each year I'm reminded of the incredible gift God gave to each of us. I can't imagine my life without that gift.

I can't wait!

C1 it's almost Sunday. I am pumped!

God has allowed Beth and I to be a part of something incredible in C-town and we are believing for something BIG to happen this weekend.

Jesus dreamed BIG…and He still does today…and so should we…

So–C1–let’s dream BIG for Easter...

What if we made an effort this week to literally invite everyone that we know...AND everyone we see to come to C1 this weekend.

In the book of Acts 2:41–3,000 people got saved in ONE DAY! In Acts 4:4 it grew to another 2,000 people got saved.

In Acts 5:14 Luke just stopped counting b/c so many people were getting saved. We see in Acts 6:1 & 6:7 that the church didn’t just grow–it EXPLODED!

As I said last week I want this Sunday to feel like a partay! The FREE breakfast starts at 8:30 and then our worship experience and then a 5,000 Easter Egg Hunt.

I once read in a survey that an overwhelming percentage of the unchurched population said that they would come to church if someone would invite them to go along with them. And guess what–that is something EVERY ONE OF US CAN DO!

Would you be willing to do that? Would you be willing to pray and ask the Lord who He wants you to invite?

See you this Sunday

They're down

Finally! The dividers are down.

Our Fellowship Hall remodel took a huge step Saturday as we took down the almost 40 year dividers. I have to say it looks so much nicer for Easter. The room looks bigger and this is just the beginning.

Creativity

Last weekend we took the Warren5 to the Erie Science Center. We had a great time as the kids went from station to station checking out how things worked. This place is all about imagination. It's an enviroment where creativity is encouraged.

I think the church should be the most creative place on the planet. The 5th word in the bible is 'create.' Yet too often the church is the least creative enviroment. If the church becomes predictable it become boring. I hate to suggest it but are too many churches settling for routine?

Sunday at C1 was anything but routine. We again had several 1st time guests and we are pumped about having a parteee next Sunday.

Easter Breakfast starts at 8:30, followed by the Service at 10:30 AM and then we have our first, soon to be annual Easter Eggstravaganza. 5,000 Eggs will be scattered all over our 10 acres of lands (snow or no snow)

Let me encourage you to get creative this week as you invite your friends to C1.