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Sunday Stuff...

- Today was incredible!
- We had one service and crammed everyone in (which worked out nicely due to the Holiday weekend)
- The energy was amazing!
- Our volunteers was blessed by the "break"
- I felt like I had the day off since I only had to preach once :)
- I think we're going to do this a couple times a year while we can size wise. It was a huge win for our church!
- We finished our TXT series with a bang! This was such a needed series for us. I'm glad we now have it in the archives.
- On July 20th we start a new series called "Uncensored" as we work through the book of Habakkuk
- I've been wanting to teach this book for 2 years and I'm so excited that it's finally happening. I believe there's a lot our church needs to hear in this book.
- My new Exec. Assistant Wendy is rockin' the house! She started this week and is taking our office to another level and is helping me big time!
- 3 weddings this week back to back to back. I'm wedding'd out! (See twitter for details)
- Slow on my reading this week. Can't seem to get into the books in hand. Might need to move on.
- Looking forward to a productive week.
- Our youth will be at camp this week. Looking forward to hearing good reports about that.
- Great time with family and friends after church. I BBQ'd some steaks. Nice!
- Now it's Sox vs. Yanks...
- Peace out!

Happy Independence Day!

40 years ago my parents came to the US from Cuba hoping to make a better life for themselves and their family. They escaped the oppression of a Communist government and embraced the freedom found in America. All my life I've heard stories about what Cuba was like and how different things are here in America.

While I'm of Cuban descent and appreciate my heritage, I love America. I'm thankful for the opportunities it has given my family to flourish and the freedom it has given me to dream and be anything I want to be. Sometimes we forget how precious freedom is. It's only when we encounter people who've never had it that we realize how valuable it is. I believe America is the greatest country in the world and I'm proud to be an American!

So Happy Independence Day!!!

2nd Quarter Reading Highlights

There's a few books that I read over the last 3 months that I thought were really good and that I highly recommend:

The Blessed Life by Robert Morris - This book absolutely rocked my world. It is one of the best books on generosity and giving that I have ever read. It is a must read!

Leadership Gold by John Maxwell - This is John's best book since The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership. Great leadership principles.

Walking with God by John Eldredge - This book really challenged me to deepen my walk with God. It's classic Eldredge. If you like his other stuff, you'll love this!

The Ultimate Sales Machine by Chet Holmes - If you are involved in hiring, the chapter on interviewing is worth the price of the book. It's a great read!

How to Become a Great Boss by Jeffrey Fox - I can't tell you how much I underlined in this book. Maybe it's because I'm so far from being even a mediocre boss :) I really enjoyed reading this book.

Activate by Nelson Searcy - If you want to do Small Groups in a way that gets 100% involvement, buy this book. If you want 20% involvement, but someone else's book. Nelson and Kerrick and living this stuff out! Don't do anything more with your groups until you read this book!

Check the Prayer Requests!

I look over the prayer requests that our people write in their Connection Cards every week. Not only do I look them over because I want to pray for our church and be aware of what's happening in their lives as their Pastor, I also believe it paints a picture of the spiritual condition of our church.

As I looked over this week's requests, here was the common theme: pray for ______________ that they might come to know Jesus.

This brought a smile to my face because it told me that the people at Calvary Fellowship are serious about their family and friends coming to know Jesus. If every prayer request were prayers focused around "self", it would be another picture entirely that would be getting painted. (We should bring every request to God, I just
don't want that to be the sole focus of our prayer requests).

Calvary folks - let's keep praying, because together we're going to reach this whole city for Jesus!

Sunday Stuff...

- Today was amazing!
- We did a message called, "Q & A" where we just answered people's questions about the Bible
- We gave people a number where they could text their questions & it was awesome!
- I wasn't sure I was going to like not teaching and just fielding questions, but I loved it. I can definitely see us doing it again!
- Next week we're combining all the services into 1 service at 10AM. We're going to have extended worship and we're finishing our TXT series with a bang!
- I have thoroughly enjoyed this series and it was totally needed for our church.
- Some old friends that just moved back into town came to church today. It was great to see them and catch up over lunch!
- My new assistant starts on Monday!!!!!!
- I went almost 8 years without one touting my personal organizational skills, but I desperately need help!
- Looking forward to my day off tomorrow!

The Importance of Summer

Most Pastors tend to take their vacations during the sumer for a variety of reasons (kids are out of school, attendance is flat) which I think is a good idea. Sometimes we can lower the bar a little and say, "Hey, it's summer. It's no big deal."

But there is a huge importance to Summer that might get missed. People are moving into our communities during the summer and checking out our churches. So while our regulars might be waiting in ridiculously long lines at Disney World, new people are coming in every week to check us out.

That means we need to make sure that every Sunday is Superbowl Sunday at our church because someone is showing up for the first time wanting to take a next step towards Jesus.

My Week...

I realized I haven't blogged in almost a week, so here's what's been going on with me:

- We flew into Boston on Thursday evening and hung out at my sister's house.

- Friday I taught an assimilation seminar in Hartford, CT. Just over 60 church leaders were there. It was a great time. I'm from New England, so helping leaders that want to reach this area of the US is very rewarding. Also, hanging out with my buddy Bill was a lot of fun.

- Saturday we drove into New York City and met up with Mark as we were going to the Journey on Sunday. We ate at Carmine's (arguably, the best Italian food in America).

- Had a great time this weekend at the Journey in NYC. They were very kind to show us their A/V set up and it was great to see a church that's very similar to ours. Nelson taught a great message and it was great to hang with him for a bit.

- After the weekend in in NYC we drove back to Boston where I met with a couple of church planters. Very excited for them!

- Today is a day off where we're going to hang out with my older brother and sister (I need to pick up some new Red Sox gear while I'm here) and try to catch a Sox game if the weather doesn't foil our plans :)

- While I haven't blogged much, I've been pretty consistent twittering. You can follow me here if you're so inclined :)

Quick Hits..

- I had a great time hanging with about 20 Pastors in Tampa at a coaching network! Got to teach on Assimilation, which is something I'm really passionate about. Helping people take next steps is what our church is all about!

- I broke my GPS today on the way home from Tampa :( It fell off the dashboard and hit something and cracked! The problem: I'm going to be in Massachusetts, Connecticut, and New York in the next 6 days and I need it. So I bought a new one tonight. Frustrating!

- Stopped in Barnes and Noble tonight to pick up a book for my trip. Walked out empty-handed. I had read everything in the business best seller section. The Christian section looked weak, and I didn't have time to comb the store looking for my next book. I have a couple of books at home I haven't read, but I was hoping to get something exciting to take with me. (By the way, having a book that I want to read more than the one I'm currently reading helps me read faster)

- I'm looking forward to seeing my brother and sister while I'm in Boston.

- I'm hoping to catch a Red Sox game on Tuesday. Pray I can get tickets that won't cause me to have to sell my car to pay for them. If you aren't aware, the Red Sox have sold out every game for over 3 years. Tickets aren't easy to come by.

- I don't like the new Coldplay album. I can't get into it. It's depressing. After listening to it, it made me wonder if life was worth living at all :)

- I'm looking forward to stocking up on my Red Sox and Celtics gear! It's my yearly pilgrimage to Bob's Stores (no relation), who carry the best t-shirts, jerseys, shorts, hats, and pajamas (yes, I have Red Sox pajamas - don't you?).

- We've got a whole pile of church leaders coming to our Assimilation seminar in Hartford on Friday. If you remember, pray for me.

...As if You're going out of Town Tomorrow

I'm heading out of town on Wednesday to teach and learn from a group of Pastors in Tampa (really looking forward to that!). Then I'm heading to Hartford, CT where I'll be teaching an assimilation seminar (info here) on Friday. So today (Tuesday) is my last day in the office before I head out. It's causing me to work faster, delegate tasks, use technology to my advantage, and empower others to follow through on certain things.

I think it was Zig Zigler who said, "Why not work everyday as though you're going out of town the next day? You'll get twice as much done!" What would happen if we took this advice everyday we were in the office? I know what would happen to me. I'd be much more productive and effective. How about you?

The William Hung Preacher Club

I still get nervous every Sunday morning before driving to church. I think to myself, "I wish someone else could teach this message. I don't know if it's good enough to teach to God's people."

But I get in the car, pray all the way to church, and to quote William Hung, "I gave my best performance and I have no regrets."

I used to pray that God would take it away. Now, I want it to stay. I believe it keeps me dependent on God. It reminds me that I'm simply "dust". I never want to stand in front of Calvary Fellowship with simply "A" message. I want "God's" message to my message. A message that's burning in my heart because He put it there.