So Where Is Rick?

It's obvious that I have not been posting as much as I once was. I'm sure some of you are wondering, "Where is Rick?" (But then again, maybe you're not.) Here's what's been going on, MOVING and CHURCH PLANTING, all at the same time. Pray for Gayle, please!

We move into our Wentzville home in two weeks. After months of planning and preparation we are excited that this time has finally arrived. We continue to serve the community twice a month through various Community Service Initiatives (CSI). The CSI's have been an effective tool for us to make contacts through our website. We then maintain connection with each contact leading up to our first Preview Service on Easter, March 23rd.

In the meantime I will do my best to get back into blogging mode by posting two to three times a week.

I hope everyone has a very enjoyable Thanksgiving Holiday. Until next week, we'll see ya!
Rick

Envisioning Volunteers

How do you envision your volunteers? If you have no plans for how to do this, chances are they are being envisioned in a negative way, mainly that their role is not important. Volunteers need to know that what they are doing is not just important, but vital to the church's overall purpose. This weekend we have a meeting with our First Contact Team, which consists of Jubilee's greeters and ushers. I'm brainstorming along with my First Contact Team partner, Teresa Lawson as to how we can creatively communicate to the Team that what they do is absolutely necessary to the fulfillment of Jubilee's vision of "Connecting People to Jesus, Resulting in God Honoring Life-Change." We want our Team to walk away from this meeting feeling that they are a significant part of cooperating with God in the fulfillment of Jubilee's vision. I can hardly wait for Sunday morning!

Sobering Look Ahead

A few weeks ago I began working my way through the book of Lamentations and came to 1:9, which states, "She (meaning Jerusalem) defiled herself with immorality and gave no thought to her future." As I was working through the S.O.A.P. (Scripture, Observations, Application, Prayer) approach, one of my observations was to note that often a lack of looking to the future corresponds to the sin of immorality. Therefore, my application that morning was the following, "Be aware of the utter destruction immorality would bring by making a list of its effect on my life." It was a very sobering list to say the least. I've committed Lamentations 1:9 to memory to remind me of its truth.

There's A Lot Out There

The amount of information on the web is staggering. Digital.leadnet.org recently had a post titled, "Ten Websites Every Pastor Should Know." Now you do! Enjoy.

Leadership Characteristics

Todd Rhoades posted these characteristics that are associated with an "unsuccessful"pastor. He then follows up the list with characteristics that are associated with "successful" pastors. Even though these lists are based on a very narrow survey (They only surveyed 20 pastors for crying out loud!) they are nonetheless intriguing and helpful in their analysis. If you're not a pastor, the list will still apply to you in most areas. Here's the link.