What do you think Renovation? I hope I was making some sense today! Carlee was making fun of my multiplication today... it was off a little bit!

I really loved the time of worship and communion today... the band did a great job once again. Interesting how sometimes just hearing the band play without someone singing raises your level of awareness towards the words of the song. 

What a mix of people that has been coming to Renovation... I get blown away every week. We had 24 first time guest again today... WoW!

Let me encourage those who are ready to get inVolved at Renovation Station to fill out a card this week!

If you want to know more about how you can get connected in our GroupLife ministry make sure you stop by the GL Kiosk and someone will tell you how. Craig and Jen Jackson do a great job of providing leadership for this ministry.

Well we are two weeks out from Easter and I am looking forward to experiencing our first Easter together at Renovation. We will kick out some more details this week here and on our website.

Now the Final Four is set... my bracket is completely wrecked!

I just hope for three really good games!

What a great day we had in Buffalo! 

I got to take my boys Caleb and Canon to a great Father/Son breakfast over on the Eastside at the Gateway-Longview Center near Jefferson and E Ferry. It was a great gathering of dads and kids. I was just blown away again by what is going on in our city that nobody ever hears about. These dads and men are battling it out on the streets of Buffalo - fighting for the young boys in our city... if we don't get at it in a big way we are going to lose this whole generation of young African/American's to the enemy. 

In order to have an impact or influence, relationships must be established... no relationship... no influence. So we (the church) are going to have to determine how we are going to be able to be close enough to this generation to have a place in their world to speak into... if we don't...?

That is why we will continue to create environments and experiences with kids/teens/young adults (of all types) in mind.

For anybody that likes Israel Houghton he just released his newest CD... The Power of One... very good!

I'm out... see you tomorrow!

What a great day we had in Buffalo! 

I got to take my boys Caleb and Canon to a great Father/Son breakfast over on the Eastside at the Gateway-Longview Center near Jefferson and E Ferry. It was a great gathering of dads and kids. I was just blown away again by what is going on in our city that nobody ever hears about. These dads and men are battling it out on the streets of Buffalo - fighting for the young boys in our city... if we don't get at it in a big way we are going to lose this whole generation of young African/American's to the enemy. 

In order to have an impact or influence, relationships must be established... no relationship... no influence. So we (the church) are going to have to determine how we are going to be able to be close enough to this generation to have a place in their world to speak into... if we don't...?

That is why we will continue to create environments and experiences with kids/teens/young adults (of all types) in mind.

For anybody that likes Israel Houghton he just released his newest CD... The Power of One... very good!

I'm out... see you tomorrow!

I like Friday nights... always have... when I was a kid it was always Family Night... we used to watch Rockford Files with a bowl of popcorn. Of course there was no Blockbuster, no Video, Dvd, 3 channels and NO remote... those were the days!

Had a great meeting with Ron Thorington from Victory Assembly in Riverside this morning. Always blown away to hear the stories of guys who have been in the "game" for awhile. Ron (actually grew up in Lawrence KS not far from Kansas City) moved to Riverside out of college in 1976 and has been here  ever since. That's a double WoW in my book. They have an African Church meeting at there place on Sunday afternoon and then a group of about 100 Chen/Burmese in the evening!

I look forward to partnering with Pastor Ron and Victory in the months to come as we get after the Mission that God has for us. July 10, 11 is going to be a weekend that we both along with other churches in our area will put on a community-wide event called Family Fun Day. We will be having an all day (10:00 - 4:00) event at the Riverside Park. There are already 30 organizations partnering with us to help the families in NW Buffalo. Bounce Houses... games... stage w Bands... kids stage... it is going to be a great day for the Riverside community. (more 411 to come!)

Also that Friday night we are going to have all the churches come together for an evening of worship, prayer for the next day and other great things right at the Park... should be an AWESOME night!

This will be one of those "All Hands on Deck" for the Renovation community... there will be many things for all of us to do and get involved with... great opportunities to serve, connect, love our community.

We are going to have a great summer... July is going be a full month! My bother - Jon (student pastor in Willmington NC) is bringing about 70 High School and college students for a week to do ministry with us during the last week of July. We are going to be putting on a VBS type of event during that week. (More 411 to come!!!)

Looking forward to continuing our conversation from last Sunday. We will be unpacking our Strategy... how we get at the Mission God has for us... should be fun.

Still pumped about our time together this past weekend. I know that the style of worship was not what most of us are used to... or maybe even liked... thats OK. It very rarely is about US right? If we are going to be a community of faith with great diversity than how we speak, sing, see, feel, hear will need to be diverse.

Ok on another note... I grew up in Kansas City MO. Both of my parents are from the NE corner of Oklahoma and my dad went to Kansas University for a while... KU - Mizzou - OU are all still playing in the Big Dance! Big 12 is looking pretty good... word to Jonny Flyn - don't try to take a charge on Blake Griffin... ouch!

Some days are "fuller" than others... naturally that is the ebb and flow of life and our rhythm. I took Monday off to hang out with the fam which was great but it has been jammed full since then. 

We have started a new rhythm the last couple of weeks at the Renovation Office. Wednesday has become our "meeting" day. Our structure has evolved into something different than when we launched Elmwood. We are learning as we go and adapting as we go. Right now we have what we call the Renovation Leadership Team (RLT) which is Nick Kish, Earl Leatherland, Joshua Dean and myself. We meet every Wednesday morning from 9:00 - 11:00. I have learned that it does not matter what size staff or team you have... 2, 20, 200 it takes work to stay connected and interdependent. So we are working hard at working, praying, thinking, strategizing together and for each other... Then from 11:00 -Noon we have our SWAT (staff working as a team) Meeting with both the RLT and the Renovation Support Team (RST). Last spring I visited Granger Community Church and I got to sit in on their SWAT meeting and it was the most remarkable Staff/Team meeting I had ever seen. So i brought the format back with me. 

I left that meeting and went to another great meeting... National Day of Prayer Pastor's Luncheon. I love hearing other pastor's speak even for just a couple of minutes of their experience with God and His faithfulness. Got to reconnect with several friends/pastors afterward which is always cool. We are collectively praying that 5,000 people show up for Prayer at the Square on May 7. I hope everybody at Renovation would if at all possible make this opportunity to let our city see the Church at Buffalo come together. 

I left that meeting to head back to Renovation to have a planning meeting for our next MarriedLife Live! Going to be a great night.

Left the office to go home and pick up Caleb to take him to his Basketball Banquet at Blessed Sacrament... nothing like spending an evening with a cafeteria full of boys 8-12 years of age...!

Got home just in time to sit down and watch a little MoTown... American Idol Style. That 16 yr old can stinkin sing! 

So hey that was how my day rolled... ready to hit it and get ready to go again!

I told you today was going to be different...! 

What a great day at Renovation. Kulu and his crew did a great job leading us today in worship - love the passion that they brought!

We will continue our conversation about Who We R next week.

The kids are out of school tomorrow so we jumped in the van this afternoon and headed down to Splash Lagoon... be back soon

This is always the best weekend of the year for me... not so much for my family because they don't like watching every minute of every game... slackers! But for me I soak it all in!

My bracket has taken a few hits but all in all doing good.

Talk about doing good... last night our first Prayer and Praise was awesome!

What a sweet time of just pausing  in the middle of the week and centering our thoughts, agendas, heart on Christ! 

We will be doing it again for sure!

Hey Renovation are not going to want to miss this weekend gathering... you never know what is going to go down at RC!

Can't wait for tomorrow... March Madness gets under way! (play in game does not count)

My Final Four is:

Louisville vs Memphis

North Carolina vs Pitt

Championship Game is:

L'ville vs Pitt with L'ville winning!

You heard it first right here! 

On another note...

I went to a community event over in Riverside tonight. Mayor Byron Brown was speaking to the residents of Riverside about issues that were near and dear to them. The Mayor did a great job I thought of addressing issues in a straight ahead fashion... some really tough issues that many people are having to deal with here in the city of Buffalo... drugs, gangs, vandelism, quality of life on the decline... I certainly learned a lot from hearing the Mayor and his team on how to get things done in the city or how to engage City Hall in issues that come up... I also again heard how hard it is to live life  in a city that is so broken in so many ways like Buffalo is.

Was inspired by hearing all of these people talk about how they have to fight to survive and to hopefully thrive. I asked God several times to help show us at Renovation what we can collectively do...

Had a great Leadership meeting today with the Renovation Team. Waling thru our Easter plans... our next NEXT Environment... MarriedLife Live... Spring cleaning and outside planting strategy... talked about where do we go from here. 10 weeks into the new year... where and what is God getting us ready for? 

DO NOT FORGET about our Prayer and Praise experience tomorrow night at 7:00 pm. Should last about 1 hour 15 minutes... really looking forward to this... partnering with Restoration! 

I think they voted off the right person tonight on AI. 

Let the games begin!

What a day!

I was jacked about the day the moment I woke up this morning... looking out the window seeing sunshine... no snow ( a little nippy)... anticipating hearing the band... hopefully meeting some new guest ... seeing God work in the lives of people... how can you not get fired up?!

I don't know about anybody else but today was off the charts... off the chain... off the hook... for me. 

Here's why

God was at work 

I could see when I watched the First Impressions Team members scattered all over... host...serving coffee... getting things ready for everybody... then watching all of them serve with great enthusiasm almost 500 people today.

I got to hear a story of how a young man who just a year ago did not even know God in a personal way... was able to share Christ with his family at a bowling alley... 

I got to meet a ton of friends of those who are beginning to call Renovation home... there were people coming who are co-workers... clients.... family... neighbors... 

Tony our guitar man had some friends show up because they went out to eat Friday night... while driving to the restaurant he was playing the songs that the band was going to play... his buddy was curious that he would be playing that kind of music at a church so he and his wife came at 9:19 just to check out the "band" that Tony was playing with!

Got to pray with a cool dude after the 9:19 ... with tears running down his face... saying Brek I am ready to surrender... I can't do life on my own anymore - I need help... so help he got!

Had a couple of new friends that Josh and i have met playing ball on the East Side show up at 11:00... how cool is that?!

Getting to watch God work in and through ordinary people in an extraordinary way!

Ran into another cool Renovation dude at my "Sunday night run to Blockbuster" ... he told me that he and another guy was going to start a small group for young men... awesome!

On top of all of that... it's March Madness! This is my favorite time of the year! Coach K and my Dukies came through strong... I have till Thursday to get my bracket all figured out... it just dawned on me while I am sitting here that we scheduled our first Prayer and Praise night on the opening night of the Tourney... oh well... rather be hanging out with Restoration and praying for them and what God wants to do over the Easter season all over Buffalo and through the CHURCH at Buffalo!

Hey Renovation you are living out our r-RULES... inVESTing and inVITing 

Hey must leave with a shout out of thanks to Jenna and Toni... you guys are awesome... you blessed us today!

I was in the auditorium this morning while the band was rehearsing for tomorrow's Gathering... look out - it's going to be a great morning! Toni Benjamin and Jenna will be joining Nick and the band so it will be a great morning of worshiping through the gift of music.

You know worship isn't defined by just singing or listening to a song... right? If you define "worship" as the songs we listen to or sing at "church" you have been going to church to long. 

The guys/girls that didn't grow up doing church... don't say (when they actually hang out with us at a church gathering and a song is played)... "wow that was great worship" no they say "wow that song or songs rocked or that really sucked."

If you find yourself speaking really strong "cheesy-christianiesy"... to everyone ... please for everyone's sake stop it! :}

To help those who might be little foggy on what worship is. Worship is life. Worship is what we do, things we love, things we pursue, things we are passionate about, worship is about how we spend our time, money, resources, worship is what is most important or who is most important, worship involves music, art, sport, writing, listening, thinking, pondering, worship is fun, exhilirating, sad, draining... worship is that thing we do. 

Here is the question... what or who are you worshiping?

Tomorrow we wrap up the It's Personal series. We are going to unwrap another great story of an adult who stepped into a personal relationship with Jesus Christ even though none of his questions were answered except one... and it was the best and most important question he could ask and it is the most important question you can ask still today... so come and find out who this person was and what their question was... maybe the answer will change your life like it did this persons!

On another note

Thursday night was incredible. 

We had the privilege to host Peace of the City's Annual Fund Raising Event!

The stories of life change that were shared... unbelievable! One thing that really struck me was the amount of time it took to create these stories of grace and love... 13 years for one... that's how long Diann and the staff "stayed" with this little nine yr old girl through all of the junk and madness... now that little girl is a 22 yr old young lady mentoring and loving and teaching other nine yr old girls!

Bart Campolo just nailed it... or I should say nailed me... to the wall at different times through the day (Renovation/Peace staffs got to have lunch and hang out with Bart fro a couple of great hours) and the evening. So thankful for what God is showing me and all of us who are in this journey together... not always easy or comfortable (hardly ever) but exciting, scary (in a good way... i think) challenging, addicting ( once you get a taste of God's activity, movement, timing... hard to go back to Life as usual ) 

Come on UB... not looking good right now... it was a good run!

See you in da morning!

Wow watched the first live AI show tonight... great start! Love hearing some of the stories... interesting to see that there have been several contestants this year and in the past seasons come from churches... worship leaders.

I got to spend most of the day hanging out with some young men (20 somethings) that God is shaping and forming for leadership. One is a young college grad from the burbs... the other is a graduate of U of M (university of mistakes) and from the East side...God has grabbed both of their hearts... they are both following hard after their King... very different stories have how they have gotten to this point in their spiritual journey... God is using them already... because God is doing a work in them, He will do a great work through them (already is)!

Renovation Church God is doing some crazy things right in front of us! We must be aware of it... we must be willing to meet anybody that comes our way right where they are and as they are... like Christ found and accepted us. If we will love people... all people then we will experience the activity of God like we could never have imagined!

We are getting ready to amp it up!

Easter Jam Weekend is going to be our first as Renovation so we are going to invite the whole community.

The Saturday of Palm Sunday weekend we are going to gather and then go personally hand-deliver invite cards to all of our neighbors to come be our guest for the EasterJam weekend.

The EasterJam Weekend will start Saturday morning with a pancake breakfast (RC basement) for the community... followed by a great Family production upstairs in Renovation Station followed by an Easter Egg hunt for the younger kids. Then we will have a great Easter day celebration that the entire family can experience together. We will have child care for 4 years old on down in RS but everybody else will be together in the Renovation Auditorium for a 60 minute experience that will remind us, inspire us, move us because of what God did for us through His Son on the cross and how we have hope today because of the empty tomb!

We are planning for our first summer as Renovation... it is going to rock baby! we are strategizing with some other churches in the area for some really great events... planning some things with our partners in crime... Peace of the CIty! Speaking of Peace of the City... please be praying as they hold their annual fund raising event Thursday night in the Renovation Auditorium that God will go way beyond what they can even imagine!

I'm done!

Well we made it through the time change... well not everyone but most of us did!

We were effected at the 9:19 somewhat... but still good to see some first time guest! We had a little technical difficulty at 9:19 with our video but Nick and the boys corrected it quickly and off we went. Somehow the video got erased off the timeline so Nick had to scramble to get the video downloaded... 38 sec left on the countdown ... that's close.

I had several comments about the story of the blind man that we unpacked today... easy to read the story and forget that these were real people with real personalities, real doubts, real questions... I am always trying to listen too and read from others much smarter/more creative than I to help me see things from scripture that I would normally just fly by. Andy Stanley is one of the best for me... he helped me see this story in a new way so I am glad I was able to pass it onto Renovation today. (always like to give credit where credit is due)

It was a little bit of a .... different morning... not bad at all - just different. Maybe everybody was a little groggy form losing an hour of sleep... the rain... who knows. 

Had a single dad come up to me after the 9:19... said I am working two jobs trying to support my son... I have been coming for a couple of weeks... you got me thinking. I love that. I hope Renovation is a SAFE place for people to come with all of their stuff and feel like they can explore the truth about the TURTH Giver... creating an environments and experiences that allow people of all ages, types, burdens to turn their eyes upon Jesus is a great thing!

On a sad note... please be in prayer for the church and the pastor's family who was shot and killed today. What a tragedy! What a country we have become...  

Please be praying for or partners Peace of the City as they have their annual fund raising event this Thursday... that God will provide for all that they need so they can continue to make significant impact on and in the lives of boys and girls!

Ok I am sure everybody knows by now but just i case... don't forget to set your clocks ahead 1 hour tonight! I am moving mine ahead right now... not good for the pastor shows up an hour late!

Can't wait to continue the It's Personal series tomorrow... I am praying that many adults will come to Christ in a personal way over these 4 weeks!

See you in the morning! 

Hey everybody we need to Spring Ahead this Saturday night... daylight savings time kicks in so don't forget! 

What a week we have had at Renovation. Had many meetings this week...

National Day of Prayer committee met this week... so cool to meet some new people that are passionate about prayer...

Josh/Nick/Sean met with the director of the medical and dental group over at NW Community center this week... we are going to be able to partner with them in just a few weeks as they try to help kids without insurance...help them and their family get registered and served through the medical/dental office at the NWCC.

Met with the Pastors/Leaders from the West Side Youth Initiative  as we have since the fall... we got to share how our individual meetings went with the 5 different categories we have established as critical to helping our young people on the WS/Black Rock/Riverside ... those five are - Youth Leadership Development, Sports, Jobs, Education, Parental Mentoring... going to be some new places for Renovation to engage in one on one mentoring, leading, loving!

Met with my good friend Mike Smith as he helped me get my arms around the budget for 09/10... everything is different from our Elmwood days. 

From that I was blown away by what God has done in and through the people that call Renovation home. I will share some of that next week!

Got to meet with the staff and board of Peace of the City. They are getting ready for the annual fund raising event next Thursday... we are hosting it in the Renovation Auditorium. The staff that makes up Peace is an amazing group of men and women... I love their passionate heart for kids and for God! We are so blessed to have them partnering with us to reach our neighborhood!

Just a few of the connections I got to have this week!

Looking forward to hitting the ski slops for the last time tomorrow!