A Wish for a Faithful Servant

We had a bit of a scare this past weekend. Andre our bass player had fallen ill Friday and was hospitalized. Andre is one of those faithful servants who has been showing up and playing at GCC for years. He is a brilliant player who has a jovial smile and attitude that is contagious both on the platform and off. From all of GCC and this weekend's arts team: get well soon, Andre.

BTW - If you watch this weekend's service, you'll see our friend Brendan Sweeney filling in. He's 18 years old and learned 5 songs for our weekend in less than 24 hours. Thanks, Brendan.

Maximizing the Arts

Our Maximizing the Arts workshop took place this Friday and I realize God moved in some amazing ways:

• First of all, He moved the earth - No really, He did. Friday morning I experienced my first earthquake ever as I was awakened to my whining dog and my rolling bed around 5:30 am. I guess God didn't want me to oversleep ...


• At 9:00am we began our workshop. Around 40 arts leaders, pastors, and volunteers came from all over the Midwest to hang out with my team as we talked about how GCC is leveraging the arts to reach people for Christ.


• First session I spent some time talking about the importance of defining and understanding your focus audience - this is a passion area of mine.


• Second session Jeff Petersen and I shared our planning process and programming ideas - it was fun doing "director's commentary" on the arts elements we have created over the last year.


• Lunch was delicious and the conversation around the table even more tasty.


• Third Session we conducted breakouts. Tech people hung out with Adam Callender to learn about our gear. Arts leaders hung out with me. Jason, Dan, and Trace spoke with those influenced.


• We ended at 4PM with a session called "10 Things we are learning" ... as pastors on the arts team; Jason, Dan, and I shared some of the tougher lessons we have learned over our three years together.

I was amazed at the hearts of the people who attended. Every encounter with an attendee seemed like an encounter with Christ. I am so thankful that God is building His kingdom using humble and amazingly gifted artists.

Our next Maximizing the Arts workshop is in November 14, 2008. I hope you can make it; I think you will find it helpful. Between now and then we have many other workshops you can attend including our INNOVATE '08 two-day conference. Check out our Wired Churches workshop schedule.

Viral Priorities - April 12/13

I really enjoyed attending our service this past weekend; it felt like God used Mark B and our teams to deliver a message He wanted our people to hear.

My Arts Highlights:

Our volunteers ROCK. Of the 21 positions required to execute the weekend, 19 were volunteers.

I really thought our volunteer platform artists were engaging this weekend -Dan did a great job leading them. Great job, Kim, Courtney, Randy, Bill, D, Dave, Brian, and Ben!

Ben NGoma's version of "Waiting on the World to Change" sounded sweet - and I thought Ben Sander's accompanying video that presented world conditions juxtaposed to the ministry efforts at GCC.

Kim and Courtney were soulful on "Make it Matter."

We also got to watch one of my favorite GCC videos of all time ... "The Truth"

Our volunteer tech teams and IMAG were tight! Way to go Janell, Tabby, Steve, Doc, Joe, Austin, Doc, Mark, Fred, Julie, Arnold, and Jim!

My Message Highlights:

Mark asked three intriguing questions:

1. Would you follow Christ if he wasn't here at GCC?


2. Would you follow Christ if there was no GCC?


3. Would you follow Christ if you had no Bible?

Mark offered an amazing and fresh perspective on these questions.

Check out the service here!

A Viral Choice

I have spent some considerable time at Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis the past few months … some of that time I spent walking the corridors. I learned some things in doing so. Last year the hospital received a #1 ranking in the country for quality and safety. Our experience would add evidence to support that; the hospital is excellent. This year the hospital is celebrating it's 100'th anniversary. To commemorate their centennial, Methodist Hospital constructed a large timeline that spans the corridor from the parking garage to the front entrance:

Interestingly, the timeline does not begin with 1908 (the date of the original hospital’s dedication) but much earlier; 1703 – the birth year of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism and ultimately the church in which I am now a pastor. It begins with John Wesley’s Rule:

Do all the good you can,
By all the means you can,
In all the ways you can,
In all the places you can,
At all the times you can,
As long as you ever can.

Doing good.

This was the choice of one man that went viral; a choice made 200 years ago that spread through history into the hearts and minds of those who ultimately helped build churches, schools, and missions. It’s the viral choice that ultimately built the hospital that healed my son. It’s a viral choice I have made for my life and I pray God gives me the strength to live out that choice for His glory.

"It's E.T."

I few months ago I blogged about my son Alex. Since that time, we have been on a bit of an adventure. Alex began exhibiting some extreme behaviors that were not typical of the young man Chris and I knew him to be. It was frightening to us. On the recommendation of our local doctor, we took him to Methodist Hospital in Indianapolis. It was a wonderful place. During a ten day stay, the doctors there discovered a cyst that was pressing on his cerebellum. Although the cyst was not life-threatening, our doctor felt this could be linked to his behavior. The discovery of the cyst was terrifying, yet also relieving to us to know there was something tangible we could address. Our church leaders and others in the church went into prayer and our friends and family rallied behind us; it was the Church being the Church. Alex went into surgery a few weeks later and it went amazingly well. Alex awoke during the night after the surgery and the first thing he said was, “It’s E.T.” … I couldn't figure out if he was dreaming or hallucinating, but then I noticed him looking at the oxygen sensor on his fingertip. I took this photo and I thought I would share it with you. Alex is taking his next steps to healing and we feel blessed to be a part of whatever God has for him and our family.