This past weekend Christ Fellowship hosted over 400 garage sales all over the county. We did it to raise funds and awareness for the issue of human trafficking. So in our own yards, in our own neighborhoods we all did what we could. In the end we have raised thousands and thousands of dollars that are going directly to help free people kept in slavery all over the country and the world. That's pretty amazing! What amazed me more, is…
[caption id="attachment_1530" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="David teaching one of our homeless guests how to play Bingo"][/caption] The Super Bowl for the City party is in the history books, and though I may not remember who won it in a few years, I'll remember how I spent this Super Bowl. It turns out that hanging with the homeless for the game is a whole lot more fun than my usual guest list! The first few minutes are always the toughest. That's when…
Headed to North Florida, but wanted to give you a heads up on next week: John Maxwell will be doing a one day seminar at our church again this year. The conference is called "Build Your Dream Conference 2009" He will be focusing on his latest book, Put Your Dream to the Test. I'll be there all day blogging and twittering, but if anyone is in the area, come on down! This annual John Maxwell day is one of the…
Relationships follow several predictable rules, one of which is that to be friends, you need to be there. You've got to put the time in to form the base of the friendship. A relationship is made up of all the days and nights of walking through experiences together: laughter, life change, job losses, baby births, deaths in the family, crazy visits from oddball family members. Relationships grow in the middle of life. So to do life together, you've got to…
Last Friday night we had a Leadership Gathering at Christ Fellowship. I love Leadership Gatherings, because we have a chance to visit with our friends and churchmates from all the Christ Fellowship campuses, hear the stories of how God is working on their campuses, and worship togethre. There is also usually food involved, which tickles me, too. Because David is an elder and we are migratory by nature, we tend to pop in on most of the campuses regularly. So…
Going back to the roots of Coffee Shop Journal for a few minutes, I've been thinking today about what it really takes to feel like you are in a community. We've all known people on the fringes of a real community who just never seem to fully enter into the common life. There are also times in my own life when I feel as if I am "in" a community, but not really feeling as if I belong. And yet…
Thesis: The value that God has bestowed on people, is the standard by which we should value others. In other words, people matter to God. Three Reasons Why You Are Important to God: 1. Because of who you are. We are made in God's image, after his likeness. Meditation for 2009: "God loves me as I am, not as I would like to be, or as I appear to be, but just as I am." 2. Because of what you…
Dr. John Maxwell spoke at my church, Christ Fellowship in West Palm Beach, tonight. He is a teaching pastor on staff, and often offers to preach the weekend after Thanksgiving in order to give our pastors a much-needed break! Tonight he spoke about developing a grateful heart. Here are some highlights. Developing an Attitude of Gratitude Parable of the ten lepers: Jesus healed ten lepers while they were on the way to see the priest. Some observations: 1. 10 Lepers…
Visiting Christ Fellowship's various campuses always causes me to come away shaking my head, amazed at the radically different personalities that have developed from one heart and one ministry. The City Place campus, also called the Ascent, seems like the bohemian, artsy little sister of the Christ Fellowshp group. City Place itself is a mid-sized commercial redevelopment program, an outdoor lifestyle center that is about as hip as you can get in West Palm Beach without descending into gritty. The…
I don't often blog about our weekend services at Christ Fellowship, not only because I've been traveling so much but also because Dave Helbig, Kerry Mackey and now James Duvall are in a better position to represent our church. Last night, however, Pastor Tom Mullins reminded me of his best friend John Maxwell, who is a teaching pastor here as well. His sermon focused on Olympic Gold, and what makes up a champion's identity. The questions Tom asked put heart…
