A few thoughts...

I am enjoying the heat wave we are experiencing today. If we keep having highs in the 40's I might have to turn on the AC. Here's a few quick bullet points for you to look at. Some are important, some are not. I'll let you be the judge of which is which.

- Botswana t-shirts are still on sale each Sunday in the atrium. It's a cool design, and all of the profit from the $15 cost per shirt goes directly to help our brothers and sisters in Africa.

- Does the Slap Chop commercial get on your nerves as bad as it gets on mine? "Linguine, fettuccine, martini, bikini"? What does a martini and bikini have to do with grating cheese? Never mind. Don't answer that last question. I really don't need to know.

- I hope you shared the post about last year's stats with your Freedom connections. One other thing I thought about after I typed that was this: a 9% increase in giving over 2008 was particularly amazing with the state of the economy in 09. Just further proof that God will provide for His church.

- Last night was weird without any Monday Night Football on the air. We are now only weeks away from February, the absolute worst sports month of the year. This year however, the Winter Olympics will air in February. Other than the figure skating, I love the Winter Olympics.

- I've gotten tons of positive feedback from folks about the current series of messages. It seems like we all have some part of our spiritual house that could use a little refurbishing. This week we'll talk about The Closet.

- Mark McGwire finally admits that his cartoon sized arms were the result of steroids. In my mind the single season HR record is 61, and it's still held by Roger Maris. The career mark is Hammerin' Hank's 755. I don't care what the record book says.

2009: A Year of Growth

This past year at Freedom has been an interesting one. Without a doubt 2009 was the most challenging year I have experienced in my short time as a pastor. Last week Donny spent some time looking over the numbers for 2009. This is always helpful when evaluating where things are heading and what possible changes need to be made. I was encouraged by what he shared with me, and I thought you might find them encouraging as well.

In 2009 attendance increased 7% and giving increased 9% from 2008. Since our first month of worshipping together back in 2005 attendance has increased by 78%. Also, as we broke the 2009 attendance numbers down we found that weekly average attendance from January-May was 350, while the weekly average attendance from June - December was 359.

What does this mean? Freedom is attracting new folks each and every week to worship with us. In fact, attendance increased by a larger percentage in 2009 than it did in 2008. We are seeing a growing trend that we need to be ready to embrace. Now more than ever we need to be inviting our un-churched friends to join us each week. Now more than ever we need to build relationships with new people that we meet at worship. Now more than ever we need to focus on the positive things God is doing in our midst, and of course we also need to pray daily for Freedom to make an earth shattering impact on the Greer-Taylors community.

Now if you are a partner or regular attender at Freedom I want to ask you to do me a favor concerning this blog. Notify everyone you know who is connected with Freedom and ask them to read this. You can send them an e-mail with a linc, put it on your Facebook page, tweet about it on Twitter, but do something to let them know they need to read this. Each and every week God is sending new people through the doors at Greer High School to worship, and we need to be focused on that opportunity. Spread the word!

I am second

Tomorrow night Texas and Alabama will square off to determine who will win the national championship of college football. I watch the national championship game every year despite the fact that my favorite team never even gets within shouting distance of playing in it, and tomorrow night will be no different. In the media there has been much made off the fact that Tim Tebow (quarterback for Florida) is a follower of Jesus. As you will see in the video below Colt McCoy, who is the quarterback for Texas, is very vocal about his faith in Christ as well. I don't really care who wins the game tomorrow night, but after watching this I do hope Colt has a great game. Thanks to David Pollock for sending me a linc to this video earlier today on Facebook. I love the way the video ends, with a simple proclamation about where we stand in relation to who Jesus is. Very cool.

Sunday Follow-up

After the service on Sunday I talked with several you who said that the topic of the message was something you really needed to hear. It seems that lots of us struggle with being possessed by our possessions. At the end of the message I asked a few questions designed to make us think about our own situations. Here they are again for you to read and think about. Perhaps as you answer these you will get an understanding of whether or not you have a healthy or unhealthy relationship with possessions.

- Have you already picked out the next thing you will purchase?
(not including groceries, gas for the car, etc.)

- When you get extra money that you weren't expecting what is your first inclination of how to use it.

- In the past what have you been willing to go into debt for?

- Do you have storage issues at your home?

- Do your plans for the future revolve around what you can buy or what you can do for the Kingdom of God?

Sunday's message and the questions above were both based on two passages of scripture: 1 Timothy 6:6-10 and Luke 12:22-31
Be sure and read both of those when you get a chance.

Sham-Wow on auto tune

I don't own a Sham-Wow, but the video below almost makes me want to run out and buy one.

Year in Review

I had an idea the other day to write a Year in Review post here. Instead of writing about my personal year, I though it would be cool to give my opinion on some of the bigger news events of 2009. Things like government bailouts, balloon boy, and "hiking the Appalachian Trail" would be covered. Just as I was getting some thoughts together I ran across a year in review column written by syndicated columnist Dave Barry. Obviously he does a much better and more thorough job of hilariously commenting on all the big events of the year. Take about 15 minutes and read it here. I think you will be glad you did. As for my thoughts on a few big events of the year, I will comment using one word descriptions. Why one word you ask? Because after reading Dave Barry's column you won't have the patience to read what I think.

government bailouts: scary

balloon boy: moronic

Captain Sully: hero

Michael Jackson: legend

Hiking the Appalachian Trail: sad

Jenny Sanford: strong

economy: struggling

America: still great (I know that's two words)

2010: hopeful

Weekend Wrap-Up and Billy Squier

Yesterday's service where we celebrated the Lord's Supper together was a highlight of the year for me. Every time we remember the sacrifice of Jesus by taking the bread and the cup I am overwhelmed by the reality of His love for us, and yesterday was no exception. Chris and the band did a great job with the music to set the stage for what we were doing. I thought that the entire service had a very relaxed and family-type feel to it. Maybe it was just me, but I got the sense that we could all be real and trust one another as we sought to honor Christ together. It was a very cool experience.

Now for an update on my unfinished Christmas list: after this past weekend all of my unfinished business is now taken care of! Friday was lunch at the Beacon in spite of the sleet, Friday night Em and I watched "A Christmas Story", then on Saturday I successfully fought off the crowds to buy Sherry's gifts and enjoy a Peppermint shake. Saturday night we drove around and enjoyed Christmas lights. With all of that out of the way, I can relax a little before the big day on Friday.

Here's the final Christmas video for 2009. I promised you one a week, and I have saved my favorite for last. I posted this same video last year, so I hope you will enjoy it again. This one always takes me back. Lots of fond memories of Christmases past.