I love Christmas but what I don't like is cleaning up after it is all said and done. I think I broke down over 100 boxes this weekend. All and all it was a great time of celebration. I feel our Christmas Eve services went really well. I love the feel of a Christmas Eve night services. I love the candles and the carols. It was a little different this year as we had candles representing each person in the Christmas story. We blew out all the candles except for Jesus and lit our candles through His. The point was that Christ's light lives within each of us as we carry His light to others.

Our kids had a great Christmas as well as Ethan was really cute trying to open the presents for the first time. Olivia and Caleb were fun as well. I had a blast putting together toys and it gives me an excuse to be a kid. I hope everyone else had a great Christmas as well and I'm looking forward to the New Year and all that God has in store.

Angel Tree Presents

All day yesterday we had families coming into the church to receive their angel tree presents. What a blessing it was to see their faces as they saw all the presents that were given. One family had five kids and the mother was very thankful for the help. I was reading in Philippians 2 yesterday that says, "Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit, but in humility consider others better than yourselves. Each of you should look not only to your own interests but also to the the interests of others." Christmas can easily become about our own interests but Paul says look to the interests of others. In other words, when you see someone in need, help them out. Because of so many people in our church that looked to the interests of others, 13 children will have a good Christmas this year. That's what it is all about!

Salvation Army Update

Just heard word this morning that we took in over $1000 on Saturday for Salvation Army. Praise God! Thanks to everyone who volunteered their time. For those that do not know, the Salvation Army gives back the money that was donated to our Ministers Asscoation for the community. The monies are used to help needy people in our area.

This years Kids Christmas play is all finished! The kids did a wonderful job singing and Pastor Keaton did a great job preparing them this year. Pastor Keaton did a great job on his message as well teaching us that we all need to become like little children. The coolest thing of all was we got to eat happy birthday Jesus cake!

Salvation Army

This past Saturday the church rang the bell for Salvation Army. Our kids had a great time ringing the bell. Olivia decided to sing most of the time while we there and it was amazing how many people got her attention. One man stopped and sang with her for about ten minutes. The coolest thing of all was as we were about to leave a lady stopped Olivia and told her that she made her day by her singing and then she pulled out a Barbie doll that she bought just for her. That truly made Olivia's day. Lesson learned was that God blesses us back when we serve Him with joy.

Tis the Season

Looking forward to the coming two Sunday as we focus in on the birth of Christ. This Sunday the children will be doing their musical. I know Pastor Keaton has been working hard with kids and last Sunday they sounded great as you could hear them practicing through the wall. I'm also looking forward to our Christmas Eve services. We are having one at 9 a.m. and the other at 5 p.m. They will be two different services as the first will be a short worship service and the second will be carols and candles. This is a great time to invest in those that normally do not go to church. Take this opportunity to invite someone you know to one of these services. We have people today that attend Community Hope because they attended a Christmas service last year. People's hearts are open to the message of God's love this time of year.

Prayer and Planning

Spent the day yesterday with Keaton as we geared up for 2007. It was a good day of prayer, vision casting and calendar planning. Thanks to Pastor Glen at Christian Life in Des Moines for the use of his facility. I was reminded once again of the importance of staying focused. I believe that God has called the church to four non-negotiable purposes:

Include-We must find ways to bridge people from the community to the church.
Instruct- Jesus told us to go make disciples. The Word of God is our foundation!
Involve- Every member is a minister. Every person has a ministry!
Invest- We must invest our lives to evangelism and reaching the lost.

As we plan the year, we must remember these purposes for the church. Many churches can become busy but not focused. We must remain focused on what God has called us to do. We are in the business of building the kingdom. Every program, ministry and activity must fulfill those purposes. If we do this, I believe we are headed in the right direction.

Got done reading Mark Batterson's book "In a pit with a Lion on a snowy day." (I know it's a long title but a great read.) I got the chance to meet Batterson at his "Buzz Conference" in Washington DC last May. What an incredible time it was. Mark is on the creative edge when it comes to ministry.

My favorite chapter in the book is the chapter on "The importance of looking foolish." Jesus says to enter the kingdom of God, you must become like a little child. As adults we can learn a lot from children. Children are willing to just be themselves and they are not concerned about what others think. This past Sunday I looked pretty foolish as I was talking about Christmas I kept referring to it as Dec. 24th. I looked pretty foolish as the pastor of the church doesn't even know when Christmas is. Oh well! My wife was the one who had to tell me it was December 25th. Anyways, my point is it is good to laugh at yourself and look foolish at times. When was the last time you looked foolish?

Church Planters

Just got back from IA City from another church planters meeting. I'm always encouraged to hear the stories of what is going on around the state as regards to church planting. I blogged a couple weeks ago about Rich Greene from IA City who is giving away bikes to the elementary school there in IA City. God has granted him great favor as already the city newspaper did a feature article on the giveaway and the television stations will be coming out this Saturday to record the actual giveaway. Just the past two weeks the principal of the school has been attending his church. Praise God! Keep Life Church in your prayers this Saturday for them to touch many children and families through this awesome outreach.

Busy, Busy, Busy

Sunday was one of those days! I'm really not for sure what got into me but I let it all go this past week. Talked about the Grinch of busyness. Busyness is a thing that we have come to accept as a society. We think we have to be busy. But what we don't realize is busyness will rob us from the things that are important to us. I really believe that busyness is a tool of the enemy to steal our faith, family and friends. God specifically designed us for these three things yet we don't have the time anymore to really invest in all three. God says slow down and take a Sabbath. The Sabbath is a wonderful thing. God thought the Sabbath was so important that He put it in the Ten Commandments. It was a time to invest in God and invest in others! I want to continue to challenge us to do those two things. Don't let busyness rob you from the things that are most precious in life. Take a breath and slow down.

Computer Crash

Just wanted to let everyone know that my computer crashed on Sunday right after church. Not for sure whats going on exactly. I hope to be up and running by the end of this week as my computer is in the shop. Technology is a weird thing. You really don't know how much you depend on it until its gone.