Written in Heaven

• Another great day at BridgeWay!
• I was in Morton today, preaching for the first time in 6 months or so.
• It was great to be back in Morton, seeing a lot of folks I hadn't seen in awhile.
• I missed the folks in Pekin, but I wasn't worried at all about what was happening there. We have such awesome volunteers, I literally never sweat it for a minute.
• I was glad that Dale was able to check out Pekin and see what we've been celebrating for the last few weeks.
• Things were rockin' in Morton though, 3 people gave their lives to Jesus today! That's so cool.
• The band in Morton was stellar as always, just like all of our volunteer teams.
• I do want to shout out to our volunteers in Morton - you guys are real troopers. Some of our teams have been stretched as we have gone to two campuses, but you never hear our volunteers complain and everything seems to go off great on a weekly basis. That is such a blessing to your pastors!
• Thanks to Nate McCarthy our director of student ministries for standing in for me today in Pekin. Don't mess with him - he's a teacher!
• Thanks to those of you who are continuing to pray for the Pekin Campus location. Keep praying as we seek God's direction in this matter.
• See you next week!

LIFEGROUP Questions for the Morton Campus

10/18/09

***Remember that we always start LIFEGROUPS reminding the group that the purpose of LIFEGROUPS is to ‘belong and become.’ To find a group of people we can connect to and build friendships, and become more like Jesus each day.

***Also reinforce the ‘Vegas Rule’ – what happens in LIFEGROUP, stays in LIFEGROUP.

Uncertainty Week 3: Certain Hope

1. When you were a kid at Christmas, what’s a gift that you hoped you’d get and your hope came true? What was a gift that you hoped you’d get but never did?

2. As adults, what are the things that we hope for in our lives today?

3. How does hope look different between people who have a faith in Jesus and those who don’t?

4. Faith is being ‘sure of what we hope for.’ When was a time when all you had was faith in Jesus when you were facing uncertainty, and He came through for you?

5. David says in Psalm 25, “For you are my God, and my hope is in you all day long.” Is there anyone that would have trouble claiming that statement for their own life today?

6. What types of things encourage us when we are facing uncertainty?

7. What uncertain situations are you facing currently that we can pray about together?

***Always close your group with a time of prayer. As a leader, you can lead this or you can all share in the requests praying for one another. You need to know where your group is at to determine what would be most comfortable in that setting. i.e. don’t ask people to pray in the group if you’re not sure they’re ready to.

LIFEGROUP Questions for the Pekin Campus

10/18/09

***Remember that we always start LIFEGROUPS reminding the group that the purpose of LIFEGROUPS is to ‘belong and become.’ To find a group of people we can connect to and build friendships, and become more like Jesus each day.

***Also reinforce the ‘Vegas Rule’ – what happens in LIFEGROUP, stays in LIFEGROUP.

Uncertainty Week 2: Certain Peace

1. When you need to rest, relax, or get away, what kind of things to you do? Where do you go?

2. Have you ever been lost while driving? Where were you? How did you find your way back?

3. When you feel ‘lost’ in uncertainty, what do you do to find your way?

4. One of the things we do in the midst of uncertainty is pray. What questions do we have about prayer? What are some keys to a meaningful prayer life?

5. In times of uncertainty we also hold to the promises of God through the Bible. What questions do we have about how to read the Bible? Can you think of a time when you were going through a period of uncertainty and God spoke peace to you through the Bible? Would you share that story with the group?

6. In Matthew 11:28-29 Jesus promises us rest for our souls through a relationship with him. Does anyone feel like they need that rest and don’t have it right now? Does anyone feel like they don’t have peace with God right now through Jesus? Let’s pray for each other that we would all find that rest in Jesus.

***Always close your group with a time of prayer. As a leader, you can lead this or you can all share in the requests praying for one another. You need to know where your group is at to determine what would be most comfortable in that setting. i.e. don’t ask people to pray in the group if you’re not sure they’re ready to.

Here are some thoughts from another great day at BridgeWay!

• It was stinkin cold today! It was supposed to be in the 20's this morning and I don't doubt it was. Not cool.
• We were in a different theater today for our adult worship service because of an early showtime in the other theater in which we normally meet.
• It's great having a flexible set up crew with a 'can do' attitude. The guys did a great job.
• It was kind of like 'bizarro world' though, because everything in the room was flipped.
• The service was great though, the band was smokin.
• We kicked off the series 'Uncertainty.' I loved when Dale was talking about postures and how we either 'bow down' or 'stand up' in the face of uncertainty.
• At the end of the message, 7 people gave their lives to Jesus! That's so cool! That means 30 people have given their lives to Jesus since we opened the Pekin Campus 5 weeks ago!
• So, it's hard to be beat down by the weather when God's moving like that in people's lives.
• I appreciated so many of our folks letting me know they were praying about the campus location and asking me how the search was going. It was really encouraging!
• No news yet, so continue to pray with us as we seek God's direction for us in this matter.
• This upcoming weekend, keep Steve one of our worship leaders in prayer as he's auditioning for America's Got Talent in Chicago! The guy can sing, so it will be cool to see what happens!
• I'm looking forward to speaking in Morton next week. I'll miss the Pekinites for a week, but it will be great to see our friends in Morton.
• Have a great week!

LIFEGROUP Questions for the Morton Campus

10/11/09

***Remember that we always start LIFEGROUPS reminding the group that the purpose of LIFEGROUPS is to ‘belong and become.’ To find a group of people we can connect to and build friendships, and become more like Jesus each day.

***Also reinforce the ‘Vegas Rule’ – what happens in LIFEGROUP, stays in LIFEGROUP.

Uncertainty Week 2: Certain Peace

1. When you need to rest, relax, or get away, what kind of things to you do? Where do you go?

2. Have you ever been lost while driving? Where were you? How did you find your way back?

3. When you feel ‘lost’ in uncertainty, what do you do to find your way?

4. One of the things we do in the midst of uncertainty is pray. What questions do we have about prayer? What are some keys to a meaningful prayer life?

5. In times of uncertainty we also hold to the promises of God through the Bible. What questions do we have about how to read the Bible? Can you think of a time when you were going through a period of uncertainty and God spoke peace to you through the Bible? Would you share that story with the group?

6. In Matthew 11:28-29 Jesus promises us rest for our souls through a relationship with him. Does anyone feel like they need that rest and don’t have it right now? Let’s pray for each other that we would all find that rest in Jesus.

***Always close your group with a time of prayer. As a leader, you can lead this or you can all share in the requests praying for one another. You need to know where your group is at to determine what would be most comfortable in that setting. i.e. don’t ask people to pray in the group if you’re not sure they’re ready to.

LIFEGROUP Questions for the Pekin Campus

10/11/09

***Remember that we always start LIFEGROUPS reminding the group that the purpose of LIFEGROUPS is to ‘belong and become.’ To find a group of people we can connect to and build friendships, and become more like Jesus each day.

***Also reinforce the ‘Vegas Rule’ – what happens in LIFEGROUP, stays in LIFEGROUP.

Uncertainty Week 1: Certain Postures

1. What’s the most recent ‘uncertainty’ that you’ve heard about in the news? On a scale of 1 (being not scary at all) – 10 (being deathly afraid) how frightening could the outcome of that uncertainty be?

2. Think back to a time when things were really uncertain in your life. How did you handle that uncertainty? What was the outcome of that uncertainty?

3. Read Matthew 7:24-27. What are some things that people build their ‘foundations’ on that resemble sand? Why do people choose to build on those things?

4. Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego had their lives threatened, but knew that God was able save them. Following that they said, “But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up.” (Daniel 3:18) Every once and awhile we encounter people in our lives who have stories like this that inspire us. Who do you know that’s gone through a major uncertainty who has handled it similarly to this? Could you share their story?

5. What certainties do we know we have from God, even in the midst of uncertain times?

6. What uncertainties are we going through that we can pray for one another about?

***Always close your group with a time of prayer. As a leader, you can lead this or you can all share in the requests praying for one another. You need to know where your group is at to determine what would be most comfortable in that setting. i.e. don’t ask people to pray in the group if you’re not sure they’re ready to.

Another great day at BridgeWay! Here are some thoughts:

• We had another solid crowd today, right at 120 folks. That's about half of Grand Opening's crowd, which is where we'd predicted we'd land.
• After a nasty day yesterday, we had sunshine and beautiful weather.
• Big props to our band today. When we arrived, we realized we had a noon show in the theater we worship in, making it a little bit of a time crunch. We had to cut a song from our worship set, but the band was cool with it and did a great job adapting.
• I loved opening the service with "Solution" and "Our God is Love." Those two songs rock! They'll wake you up for sure!
• We wrapped up our series "No Perfect Peopel" today. It was a great challenge today from Dale to be Jesus to someone this week.
• We don't go to church - we are the church. Boo-yah! Great stuff.
• The only downer from the message was the fact that the pre-movie soundtrack for the noon show started right in the middle of the message! Not cool man, not cool.
• We talked it over with the theater manager and next week we will meet in theater 8 rather than theater 1 to avoid the early show time. (I recognize this means nothing to those who weren't in attendance today, but thanks for bearing with us through this portion of the blog post).
• We also had more new folks, more returning folks, and even some folks sign up to volunteer!
• I'm excited too that LIFEGROUPS kick off tonight! I'm excited to see how God is going to work through those groups over the coming semester.
• Saturday's Leadership Community is going to be excellent. I hope to see all our volunteers there!
• I also announced today to our folks that we are seeking a new meeting place for the Pekin Campus of BridgeWay. Having our folks pray together is going to be a neat experience for our body. Morton folks can feel free to join us in prayer too (along with anyone else who reads this)!
• Don't forget folks - next Sunday we kick off the series "Uncertainty" and it's going to be fantastic. Pray about who God would have you invite this week.
• Thanks again to everyone for another great day!
• Colts 4-0 baby!

See you next week!