Set Design

This week we took down our set to prepare for Christmas stage. I really liked the direction this set took. We were pretty limited on budget so we had to put our creative brains to work. This is definitely not the design we initially planned but I loved the result.





We have some big ideas for our upcoming series...

Question of The Week

Its Tuesday which means its time for our Q of the week. This one needs no introduction.

Tuesday Question of the Week:

Did you know McCain was Obama's new running mate?

My Top Five Worship Songs

I always get questions and e-mails about my favorite worship songs so I thought I would put a list of favs together. Obviously these change from time to time but for now here are the songs that speak to me the most.

1. We Shine- Steve Fee. I didn't really like this song when I first heard it but it quickly became my favorite.


2. From The Inside Out- Hillsong United.


3. My Savior My God- Aaron Shust


4. Revelation Song- Gateway Worship, Kari Jobe


5. Jesus Paid It All- Kristian Stanfill


Your turn! What are your favorite worship songs?

Oklahoma City Thunder

AP and I went to watch the Oklahoma City Thunder, the NBA's newest franchise, at the BOK Center this evening. We hung out with some FCC friends. It was a great game and we had a great time. The Thunder even got the W with a "come from behind" victory over the Houston Rockets. Tracy McGrady was playing it safe and sat on the bench the whole game. Probably pretty smart given his history of back problems. We did get to see Yao and Ron Artest although neither played that well. The best player for the Rockets was Aaron Brooks. He was ON FIRE tonight, even getting a nice alley-oop in the 2nd quarter. Kevin Durant, however, was the player of the game. He was pretty quiet most of the night but down the stretch put on a show on both the offensive and defensive sides of the floor. It was a rare treat to watch NBA basketball in Tulsa. I am really looking forward to catching a couple of games in OKC this season!



For those of you who dont like sports sorry... its almost NBA season. I Love This Game!

Catalyst 08 Roadtrip #8

I am officially home from my Catalyst 08 road trip. I found this awesome shirt at the event

It was a perfect addition to an amazing event! From the worship time to the immense amount of information provided by some of the great church minds of our time, Catalyst 08 will be a week that I will look back on as a "catalyst" for growth in my own personal leadership.

I'm already making plans to attend next year. Thanks for everyone who prayed for us while we were gone. Here are a few more pics... Enjoy!

Catalyst 08 Road Trip #7

Great morning so far. There were tons of unexpected moments. Lonnie brought a live elephant and a donkey in to the arena, Jeff Foxworthy showed up to introduce an African Children's choir and these chicks actually made clogging (yeah you read that right- clogging) cool again!

Tim Sanders a former executive from "Yahoo!" kicked off the morning and spoke about the importance of businesses doing the right thing to help its consumers. He put an emphaisis on giving and the importance of giving to those in need and not taking advantage of them.

Dave Ramsey was up next. I was expecting a financial discussion however he spent the majority of his time speaking about leadership and unity. He gave us "5 enemies of unity"
1. Poor communication
2. Gossip
3. Unresolved disagreements
4. Lack of shared purpose
5. Sanctioned incompetence
Very solid stuff. He took some time at the end to remind us that God's financial ways are perfect. He is in control and this econmic crisis is only temporary and should not be approached with a spirit of fear.

Franklin Graham accepted the Catalyst Lifetime Acheivment Award on behalf of his father. Billy Graham was scheduled to be here but could not make it due to health issues. It was a pretty incredible moment.

Top that off with worship led by Aaron Keys and this morning has been amazing. Aaron has so much depth as a worship leader. I can only hope to have that kind of depth one day.

We're in the home stretch...

Catalyst 08 Raod Trip # 6

Friday morning and I'm still trying to process all the information from yesterday. It was like drinking from a fire hose. Today promises to be another great day capped off by another message from Andy Stanley. Stay tuned!

Catalyst 08 Road Trip #5

Catalyst 08 has been awesome so far. We had a rough start this morning. Matt T. was in charge of making sure we were all up on time. Unfortunately there was some confusion about which time zone we were in and needless to say PC and Mike were knocking on our door before we were even out of bed.

Everything you have heard about he traffic in ATL is absolutely true; "GRIDLOCK". It was a challenge getting to the convention center. We were about 3/4 of the way there when we realized AA left my ticket at the hotel on the desk in our room. Not a good morning for the young guys... Im sure PC was wondering what kind of responsible staff members he was working with.

Once we arrived at the convention the morning got way better. So far we have listened to Andy Stanley speak about earning the moral authority of those we lead. GREAT STUFF! We also listened to Jim Collins author of the book Good to Great. He had some excellent perspective on leadership. The highlight of my morning though was actually participating in a worship service that I was not leading. This is a rare treat for me, especially since it was lead by Steve Fee.

I have tons more to share but not a lot of time. Here are some pics from this morning.

Catalyst 08 Road Trip #4

We have arrived! Made it in to ATL about 2:30. We were able to pick up PC and Raburn at the airport so they didnt have to catch a train to North ATL. After checking in to our Hotel we all hung out at Jason's Deli for about an hour. Looking forward to tomorrow! Registration for Catalyst 08 begins at 7:00 AM. Ugh... I thought this was a conference for young leaders!

Catalyst 08 Road Trip #3

Stayed at the Comfort Inn just outside of Memphis last night.
I'm still wondering why it is called Comfort Inn...
We got a good deal though after negotiating with the night help.
After breakfast we are off to the ATL to meet up with PC and Raburn at 3:00.
Catalyst 08, here we come!!!

Catalyst 08 Road Trip #2

ATL here we come!
Our departure time was 2:00 PM
This was when actually got in the van


We soon realized we were out of gas so after stopping to fill up and then going back to pick up some various items left behind

This is when we actually left.


AA maned the GPS

We made it to Little Rock and stopped at The whole Hog Bar-B-Q joint for Dinner with my good friends Rob and Rachel


So far we have seen 33 McDonald's and 15 Wal-Mart’s

Yep we are in Arkansas!

Next Stop Memphis…

Catalyst 08 Roadtrip #1

14 hours in this!?!?
We are leaving around 2:00 for the ATL.
We have until 3:00 Wednesday to arrive.
That's more than 14 hours....
Stay tuned!

Catalyst Week

I have officially dubed October 5th through October 12th:
Catalyst Week.

I (along with Matt T., AA, P.C. and Raburn) will be headed to Atlanta on Tuesday afternoon to join of 12,000 ministers and church leaders for the Catalyst '08 Leadership Conference .
P.C. and Raburn are flying but Matt, AA and I thought it would be way more fun to do a road trip. So tomorrow afternoon we will be heading out on a 14 hour drive to the ATL to see and hear from some of the most influential church leaders of our time. And of course, I will be sharing the event with you right here. I plan to blog about the trip every day this week so check in periodically to catch up on our adventure to Catalyst. I know will be an incredible trip.

Mad Prop's Friday

Friday is Mad Prop's Day! This is the day I give my "Prop's" to someone who has done something outstanding during the week. Feel free to leave your own "prop's", "atta boy's", or whatever it is you happen say to let someone know they are friggin awesome.

For months I have watched our congregation go through various transition for various reasons. We literally re-located from a building we had worshiped in for over 30 years, We have had to re-think major ministries like VBS, we've even had to make some really difficult decisions like ending long term ministries such as our preschool program of twenty-seven years. 2008 has been the year of change for First Christian Church Owasso. There have been literally hundreds of changes to our growing church and all indications point to more on the horizon.

One of the biggest moves we have made was due in large part to the rapid growth of our congregation. Our leadership made the conscious decision to shepherd through small groups. This has been a major transition because we have always used our Sunday School program to care for the majority of church members. There were several problems with this model but the biggest was that it didn't cover the large majority of our membership. At one point there were over six hundred members who were not involved in anything other than our Sunday morning services. As a result, the leadership determined there was a better way to shepherd our congregation and they tasked our Associate Minister, Matt Thomason, with developing a small group program.

After months of hard work and planning we launched our small group program on September 7th. In just five short weeks we have seen a radical change in our church. We are hearing stories every week about small groups engaging in the lives of people who are going through divorces, people who have lost loved ones, providing financial assistance to people who have lost their jobs and people who need to know Christ on a deeper level. There are now less than two hundred people that have yet to plug in to a group of some sort and as a result, the life change that we have witnessed has been extraordinary.

This week I want to give my Mad Prop's to Matt Thomason. This was probably the biggest and most difficult transition we have had to make in the life of our congregation. Matt and his team have done an outstanding job of helping our church better shepherd and care for each other through small groups. The task has not been an easy one and Matt would tell you there is still a lot to be done, never the less "Mad Prop's" to Matt T. and his leadership in our new groups initiative!

Leave "Mad Prop's" for Matt T. and comment about your small group experience over the past five weeks.