Personally, I am really looking forward to “that” day. I am not sure when that day is going to be, but it will be here before I know it.  And when it does arrive, this is what I’ll do first: I will grab two chairs. Not the uncomfortable, metal constructed, butt-numbing type of chairs. These chairs will be the big overstuffed chairs wrapped in well-worn leather. The type that when you sit down the chair conforms to your body. I will pull out my methodically constructed list an

Have you ever encountered a moment with God where it feels like he’s playing the role of an Illusionist – performing a well-rehearsed sleight of hand trick? I have. Especially the last two months. The meandering conversation between God and me, over the past two months, has twisted, turned, moved, and paused. Lengthy bike rides have been filled with a mix of non-stop chatter and miles of silence. Early morning quiet, holding a cup of coffee (Really good coffee like Intelligen

It was December 2009.  Kim and I were walking through Union Square after a magical night of Broadway and decadent chocolate consumption. Kim looked at me and asked a question that caught me completely off guard. “Would you ever want to plant a church in NYC?” Inside my chest screamed, “YES!” But I said, “Yeah, if we were younger that would be fun.”  Why that response? Was it fear? Probably. Was it a timing issue? Probably. Was it the fact that we were at a great church (Centr

The wheels of the plane just left the safety of the ground, and my heart is completely full.  I am leaving Vancouver after spending four days at the Taboo – Naughty but Nice sex show. To be transparent, I was a bit apprehensive heading into this experience. I had all the normal thoughts, concerns, and reservations swirling around in my mind. I knew I was covered with prayer. I also had the unending support from my wife. I was partnering with XXXChurch and a team from across C

I had the opportunity Sunday to grab lunch with Heredes Ribeiro, Executive pastor at Potential Church, while he was in NYC connecting with various churches . I always enjoy talking leadership and church with passionate people committed to being part of God sized vision. As I drove through the Lincoln Tunnel, thankful that traffic was moving at a rapid pace, I started to process our conversation. There many quick thoughts, insights, and questions in our conversation that refle

Several weeks ago (May 20th to be exact) I talk about a list of resources that I personally use to be a catalyst in my spritiaul growth.  The following week we sent out this list via our Happenings email. I wanted to make sure that you had access to all this. Please know, this is not an exhasutive list. But it will deffinitely get you started. Embrace and Enjoy the journey! You are embarking in a lifelong pursuit of becoming like Christ. This is from the May 24th Happenings e

There are moments when in the middle of the chaos, you can sense God’s presence in such a real way. What we are experiencing at Renaissance right now is one of those incredible moments. The obstacles we face are significant, but the opportunities in front of us are even greater! God is truly moving within Renaissance in a significant way. It is because of your personal commitment to the everyONE that we are experiencing a movement that God is greatly blessing. Your absolute r

I asked a group of approximately 80 people, all connected to Renaissance Church, a simple question. When you think of Renaissance, what are the top 5 words that enter your mind? I then set a simple guardrail around this question. Only take 10 seconds to do this.  I didn’t want people to over think it. I didn’t want people to over analyze it.  I just wanted to get a quick “blink”response on what the most important and impacting pieces about Renaissance. Here are the results: T

Renaissance Church had an incredible opportunity to have artist Tom Clark be part of our weekend services (11/13/2011).  After every message, I turned for a moment and stared at the canvas. I was personally inspired by Tom’s ability to take a passage of scripture and allow his creative inspiration to explode onto the canvas. He connected words, emotions, and the clear inspiration of the Holy Spirit in an eruption of color. The core passage I taught from was Acts 9:1-16 and I

In Who’s talking about your church (part #1), I asked the first of two questions. Q #1: Why is Apple the most covered company? Here’s the second question . . . Q #2: How does your church rank on the most “covered” list in your community? First, let me clearly explain. I am not talking about a PR machine that is behind marketing your church. I am not talking about how charismatic your lead pastor is. I am not talking about the popularity of your church or the gimmicks that som

I read this post at MacRumors a few days ago entitled “Apple Most-Covered Tech Company in Mainstream Media“. I didn’t need to see any scientific data (But if you need it, it’s to the left.) to know that statement was true. If you are an Apple fanatic, you love all the coverage. If you are an Apple hater, you despise the coverage. Wherever you fall on the spectrum, you know that there is a cult like following of Apple and all their product releases.  A frenzy is stirred up. Ex

I was sitting on the couch Sunday night after a weekend filled with Soccer games, church services, and Boulder City’s Art in the Park. Great weekend. Tons of fun. I was exhausted.  I quickly flipped channels trying to find something to watch. (Isn’t it a sad state of life that I have over 200 channels and I can’t find one thing to watch.) Somehow I landed on the local news and a story about a local church had just started. The Crossing is a church that was planted by Canyon R

You only have one time to make a 1st impression.  That one moment you can never get back.  You do not get a “do over”. You can not push rewind on the magical “life remote control”.  You can never change it once that moment has passed. Think about it for a second.  Let’s take that new restaurant that you discovered. You drive by it and it looks interesting. The type of food is what you like. You get the coupon in the mail so you decide to try it. You pull into the parking lot,