Written in Heaven

Great day at BridgeWay! Here are some thoughts:

• 256 today! Still pretty amazing for the dog days of August...
• We missed Dale and Steph and fam today. Hopefully they're enjoying some much deserved time away together.
• The morning started off kind of rough with sound system issues, however once the service started, you would have never known!
• The band was KILLER this morning! They did an incredible job this week at our denominational assembly, and it just got better today.
• Tangible presence of God today (as nearly always it seems) during both services.
• Chuck walks in today and tells me that (and I quote) "I wrote a song about our experience at the campground this week. We're going to do it today." I have to admit, I was pretty worried. However, what Chuck broke out was truly a God-inspired piece of music that was simply incredible! Chuck, sorry I ever doubted you!
• Great response from our folks for the need to jump into small groups.
• Thanks to my wife for laughing at the "We're going to name our kid Michael Phelps Robinson" joke. She's a good sport - but I was serious... Just kidding!
• Just wanted to give a shout out to my man Chris Donnelly who is embarking on an incredible faith journey with God starting tomorrow. Chris is driving out to Colorado to enroll in Nazarene Bible College to fulfill God's call on his life to become a pastor. Chris, we love you and are proud of you!

As Brooke and I drove away from the theater this afternoon, we looked at each other and said, "We have an awesome church!" We thank God daily for this opportunity to serve here and are just amazed by what He's doing. Every week we here story after story of how God is moving and how his people are responding. Great stuff. Thanks to all of you and have a great week!

Well, my wife and I found out today that our child that we are having is a boy! Very exciting news. The Robinson family name will live on for another generation.

The coolest part of the day was seeing the ultrasound. That is simply incredible. This was a first for me. To see the baby that way was breathtaking. I was mesmirized by the screen. It was incredible to see our baby moving around and opening his mouth and doing all sorts of cool stuff. God is the author of life and I can't wait to see what plans he has for our son!

My wife showed me this video the other night and I was a wreck after. The power of Christ never ceases to amaze me...

Last night, our church was blessed with a tremendous gift. Someone offered to rent out Splashdown Waterpark for our church for "BridgeWay Night." So last night was that official BridgeWay night. We printed and handed out 1000 free tickets for the event. We had about 525 show up. That's pretty cool.

What's even cooler is the way that God transforms a waterpark into a spiritual venue. We were hoping to make a splash (pun intended) with some folks, just to help them change their perception of church. I believe we succeeded. We also had encounters with people that were genuinely hungry for the truth i.e. Jesus. Two guys in particular that were starving to hear from God. They each talked to at least two staff people and said that they wanted to belong to a church like this. More than that, they needed to be somewhere where they could experience the risen Christ. What's cool is, they experienced it right there in the waterpark. They both said they'd be there Sunday.

What can I say? God's incredible!

This weekend wraps up a whirlwind summer for my wife and I. I have been gone more than home leaving my pregnant wife at home by herself. For those of you who can't figure out the obvious, that's not a good thing. However, God's been faithful and allowed me some incredible opportunities to talk about Him. This weekend I get to hang out with all of my Seton Hall friends in one of the most intensive overall weekends of my life in terms of pressure and constant examination, but it's going to be fun too.

I've been getting the 'God wake up call' the past few days - waking up early inexplicably and seemingly starving for scripture and prayer. It's been pretty cool. Right now, I'm reading in the New Testament, but I'm also trying to read about 1o Psalms a day. It has made such an impact on my daily mindset and helped me to process all things through the lens of praising God. Good times.

The following are some highlights from Teen Camp 2008:

• 54 Volunteers
• 158 Students
• Chef Tom - awesome food including pulled pork with homemade bbq sauce (shut my mouth it was good)
• Ryan as Camp Administrator - great job!
• Todd Holman as speaker A - had to leave early because he had a baby being born or something...kind of a lame excuse if you ask me.
• Jim Chapman as speaker B - driving up from St. Louis on about an hour's notice to finish out the week speaking. What can I say - he's the man!
• Roger Davis as Super Supreme Commander of Manville Teen Camp
• Jake Smith's Harry Caray Impression - hilarious!
• 7 adult volunteers from BridgeWay - REPRESENT!
• NWL Transformer shirts (it's supposed to be NWIL) - $500 off though, so not all bad
• The Deluxe Nacho Plate at about 11:00 at night.
• Before Tomorrow eating cereal out of each other's mouths. It is as disgusting as it sounds.
• Rain, rain, rain
• Hot days and cool nights

The most important highlights:

• 8 students coming to salvation
• 70 students recommiting their walk with the Lord
• 58 students giving it all to God
• 6 students feeling a call into full-time ministry.

All in all, a pretty incredible week.

I often poke fun at church people. I mean, it's pretty easy (I am one, so I can say that). My favorite is when people add "bless their heart" after completely blasting someone for being a complete moron. That phrase "bless their heart" is like a license to say whatever you want about someone as long as you add that at the end. Example: "I was talking to Timmy last night and he told me that he got fired from another job today! That guys is a complete idiot, bless his heart." It's really effective.

I was thinking about ways I do this in my own life. One of them is complaining about things I have to do that I really shouldn't complain about. I have these moments when I realize that I have absolutely nothing to complain about, and yet I still do. For instance, camp is coming up. Camp is awesome spiritually and socially for our students. This is the fourth year I'll be director. As good as it always is, I always tend to complain about the amount of time it eats up out of my schedule and the diversion it is from my local ministry.

It's in those moments that God 'smites me.'

I'm not really sure what a smite looks like, but I know what happens between God and I in those times is pretty painful on my end. I've recognized the fact that a leadership position is God saying "I trust you." The more He trusts you, the broader your influence becomes. So, I should be thanking God everyday for trusting me and allowing me to serve Him in this capacity. And I am becoming thankful, everyday.

God even though sometimes I'm a completely ungrateful jerk, I thank you for trusting me - bless my heart.