Sunday Recap....

Ok, I have developed a bad habit of not blogging. Not promising to do better, but do promise to try to recap each Sunday at the very least.

Feb. 28th Recap:

Prep

• Got up extra early (6:00) to go over the sermon. I like to get to the church in time (7:10) to "preach" the message to an empty room at least once and hopefully two times. It used to feel really weird, but now I preach as if the room is packed, even laugh at my own jokes sometimes.
  
• Preaching it twice really helps cement the movements of the sermon in my mind. I don't memorize every sermon, but I am getting close. I usually have a few lines that I want to hit verbatim, so I will read those so I don't jack them up.
• I am not a fan of being a slave to my notes, this process help me be "me" when I am preaching and keeps me from including too many random thoughts into the sermon.
  

The Service:

• The band continues to blow my mind. God has blessed us with phenomenal musicians. They do a great job of providing a time of worship free of distractions.
• Honestly, if music is not done well, it may be better to not do music at all in the church. I am thankful that through Jonathan's leadership, we achieve excellence in this area on a regular basis.
• We opened with an Avril Lavinge song, "I'm with You." Heather (my wife) rocked it!
• It has been so cool to hear our people singing out the last couple of weeks.
  
• We sang a couple of older songs yesterday, proving once again that you can't put us in a box.
  
• Preached on a powerful passage in Gen. 15 that had a profound impact on my faith about six years ago.
  
• I will admit that it his hard to preach a passage that has been a highlight in my journey with Christ because I didn't want to screw it up. I hoped that it could have a similar impact on Catalyst that it had on me.
• I used a powerful story at the end to give us an image of God that many of us need. It is a bit of a sad story but beautiful at the same time. I am not a fan of using "tear jerker" stories at the end of the sermon to manipulate people. This is some guy's bread and butter tactic, but not mine.
• There were literally people weeping yesterday, we are talking mascara running like a Kenyan marathoner, and not just women. There were men all over the room that were moved yesterday as well.
  
• All in all, it felt like a "win" for God yesterday.

Post Service:

• We had a great turnout for the lunch to talk to potential childrens' workers. We are getting very close to being able to staff the children's area for two services.
• Watched the USA vs Canada hockey game, great game even though we lost.
• Met the teens at the Church at 6:30 p.m. for some tacos and the creating of care baskets for two local fire stations.
• We stuffed 7 buckets until they were overflowing with goodies and delivered them to the unsuspecting Firemen.
  

Long, but very fulfilling day. I am beyond excited to see what the future hold for Catalyst church.