• The kick off of Christmas Illusions was phenomenal!
• Tran Siberian Orchestra has nothing on Northway worship team!
• Off the chain! Off the chain! Off the chain!
• Just once…I wish I could shred a guitar like those guys!
• I guess guitar hero is my only chance?
• Props to staging, lighting, programming, production, .…
• A lot of planning, A lot of late nights and a lot of sweat equity paid off!
• Thanks team!!!!
• Special thanks to Brian, Book, Jordan, Jeremy, Sam, and the infamous Facility Team all going the extra mile ….next level guys!!!
• God was honored in HIS HOUSE!!!
• Largest Saturday night crowd yet in Clifton Park! Crazy!
• Parking was crazy with Northern Lights
• I love seeing the church out bill the hippest concerts!
• Grateful to God to share the goodness of Jesus Christ!!
• Love discovering the secrets of joy in Philippians, and having our church do the Philippians challenge!
• My favorite book in the Bible!
• The most encouraging and positive book you will ever read.
• The Philippians challenge? Read Philippians every day up till Christmas!
• I’ll be blogging about it every day until Christmas!
• I love exclamation points!!!!!!
• Looking forward to having Christian Illusionist BJ Harris in 2 weeks!
• Can’t wait for our 6 Christmas Eve services. 23^rd 6 and 7 in Colonie
• The 24^th in CP, 4, 5, 6 and then back to Colonie for 7:00!
• Heard Colonie was crankin! Cant wait to be there the 23^rd and 24^th
• Cant wait to be in CP…we are growing like crazy!
• Grateful I didn’t cough up a lung…had bronchitis
• Grateful for leveraging technology…didn’t have the pipes to preach.
• Don’t know if you have heard….Eagles beat the Giants!
• I repeat eagles beat the Giants!
• No its not an Illusion
• In fact…. they dominated the Giants…that’s all I’m saying!
• United, Middle school and High School is growing….record attendance!!
• Kevin Murrell is building a great team!!!
• United Christmas this wed…..Dont miss it!l
• Had authentic cheesesteaks from Liberty Bell in Saratoga!
• Debbie and Natalie decorated our tree…they mixed the lights
• Is that legal?
• Eagles beat the Giants!
• Watching one my favorite movies tonight with the fam….wedding singer

I don’t know if you like to paint or not…I used to. Personally, my experience in art was in elementary school. I remember wearing my dad’s shirt as my smock, full of enthusiasm about splashing into the spectrum of colored paints. Blue, yellow, green, red, they were so cool! I particularly enjoyed mixing the paints to create my own messy master piece.

The finished product? Well let’s just say…you definitely would have to call it abstract. My parents would graciously hang it on the refrigerator door only to secretly discard later it in “file 13”. I’m still in therapy for discovering “file 13” is the trash can!

Vision is art. Vision is painting a picture of the future. Whether you consider yourself artistic or not, scripture tells us without vision people perish. Without painting a picture of the future for your marriage…it will die. Without painting a picture of the future for your finances, they will eventually expire. Without creating a future picture of your business, you will be out of business. The principle is universal and timeless.

Yesterday, in a strategic planning meeting for Northway Church, I was reminded again that if I don’t paint a clear picture for the future Northway Church…

Northway Church can end up in file 13.

A little over a month ago, I shared one of our 2008 goals for Northway Church…the launch of our 3^rd location. God has moved greatly already on our behalf, and this weekend I’ll be announcing where this anticipated 3rd location will be.

We exist to spread the life-changing news of Jesus Christ, and it’s thrilling to imagine the 1000’s of lives our 3^rd location will impact! This year we will be taking up a special Christmas offering that will go towards funding the start-up cost of our 3^rd location. Please join me in praying about giving generously!

Also remember that you can give any end of year donation online.

This weekend, we wrap up our series Live Different. This series is changing me, is changing our church, and is transforming our community! I just heard today that 80 people are preparing to go public in their faith this weekend thru baptism! That, friends, is remarkable! Just consider all the others who will join them spontaneously…we very well could be baptizing over 100 people in one weekend. Check back Sunday night, and I’ll let you know the highlights. Baptism is the definition of live different, and I can’t think of a better way to conclude our series.

Have you gone public in your faith?

If not …why not? Let me encourage you to take the plunge You can still sign up online. Life is short…Live different. Join me in the pool this weekend and go public with your faith!

How did the movement of Jesus get so MESSED UP! If you read the ministry of Jesus and how he dealt with people and then read about the early church in Acts 2...what the heck happened? My heart was stirred as I went into the ghetto of Albany yesterday. I’m embarrassed that I didn’t even know that this is in our backyard. It’s ridiculous and we are called to change it!

Now that we know, WE WILL.

Close to a 1,000 kids a day are fed free lunches in 9 different parks. If they weren’t, many would go hungry. Children of abuse, children of crack addicts – walk to these locations by themselves for the the one stable thing in their lives …a free lunch.

QUESTION: Why do churches throw money at foreign missions when people in their own back yard are crying for help! I’m all for missionaries…I have family that are, across seas…but c’mon, can anyone see the irony? Jesus said, start first in your neighborhood, then move to the next town and then the next, and then to the uttermost parts of the world. Acts 1:8

QUESTION: If Jesus were to walk the earth today and head to the USA…would he even recognize the church? The people in the ghetto aren’t messed up …WE ARE MESSED UP! I AM MESSED UP! ….THE CHURCH IS MESSED UP!

I don’t know but I feel like this fall is all about BEGINNING AGAIN. I’m sick of church for insiders…Jesus’ movement was for outsiders. I’m going off on this this weekend! It’s time to BEGIN AGAIN.

I’m excited today as I’m headed to Albany to check into a feeding center for inner city children. This is one of the shifts coming soon to Northway Church. I’m thinking local and global on this one.  The least of these…

Did you ever have something brewing in your heart that you couldn’t quite communicate?

God has been stirring  some seismic shifts in me for several months now….it seems everywhere I turn, it gets confirmed. I believe God is starting a movement in the Northeast, and He is going to use Northway to lead it.

This fall will be our moment as this movement begins….that’s all I can share right now.

This past week I had the privilege of meeting with close to 4,000 leaders from across the country at my favorite leadership conference…C3 in Dallas, Texas. Some of the speakers were Ed Young, Ed Young Sr, Bishop TD Jakes, Mark Driscoll, and Craig Groeschel. These men are movers and shakers in what God is doing around the world!

The theme was turning what if into what is. If we don’t keep asking what if then what is becomes what was and what isn’t. You may want to reread that one. I’ve been to many conferences thru the years…but nothing compares to this one. I leave challenged, encouraged and inspired!

The story of Northway Church is all about asking what if? 4 years ago that question birthed a different kind of church in the Northeast. Today, Northway has two locations that are thriving and touching thousands of people with the life changing message of Jesus Christ! We must keep asking what if…that’s what makes the people of Northway extraordinary. They are what if people. They are why not people. They are people of Faith with a capital F!

As our plane flew over the capital region preparing to land close to midnight on Friday, I could see the entire Capital region illuminated by a sea of lights. I was so moved. I think about all the lights representing all the different people that are searching or hurting. Is there a God? Does he exist? If he does…Does he care about me? Why am I here? What is my purpose?

In order for those questions to be answered…we must keep asking as a church…what if?

I guess I can’t get away from this moving mountains theme. I believe we are on the ground level of what God is going to do in the North East. The possibilities are limitless. The only limit is a lack of faith.

Well, we landed and the pilot said the current temperature in Albany with the wind chill factor is 17 below! We left 75 degree weather to find our vehicle covered with ice. Lets be honest…you have to be tough to live here. People here are “what you see is what you get” people…I love that! I love the people here and its great to be back! By the way I just found out I have pneumonia. I guess I’m not as tough as I thought I was.

I love people who are driven! I love setting goals and seeing those come to fruition with hard work and determination. I believe God has hardwired all of us that way. Deep inside all of us we know we are here for a purpose that we need to accomplish. I recently read that most people feel like there is an unwritten story inside of them that needs to be told. That’s why writers write, painters paint, entrepreneurs innovate, scientists create, musicians play, composers write, athletes compete…you get the idea.

I recently read a passage of scripture that I had read numerous times. But this time it was like God put a new verse in the Bible that had never been there before . Jesus prayer the night before He went to the cross… John 17:4… I brought you glory here on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do.

This verse haunts me… I can’t get it out of my head. I keep asking “God what is the work that you want me to accomplish? God what do you want me to accomplish as a husband? God what do you want me to accomplish as a Dad?�? I have to continually remind myself that the greatest accomplishment that I will ever make is with my family. I also ask God continually “What do you want me to accomplish as a leader?�?

What a great question! How would respond to that? What is the work that God wants you to accomplish? What is the story that needs to be told through you? Let me encourage you that just before Jesus prayed that prayer He told his team “I chose you to be on my team and when you stay close to me as your life coach (Buddy paraphrase) you are empowered to live lives of exponential fruit!�? In other words, when we do the work God wants us to do there is nothing more fulfilling! We receive joy and God gets the credit! God loves seeing the work he gave you and me to do come to fruition!�

One thing all of us have in common is no one wants to get to the end of their life and look back in regret and say…I could have done this…I should have done that…I would have done this…but. The antidote to prevent that from happening is vision.

Vision is a difference and destiny maker in life. One of my favorite definitions of vision is what could be, what should be and then what must be. Three weeks ago, I announced to our church that we would make some of the biggest changes in our short four year history and become one church in multiple locations, meeting people where they are.

What does that look like? What are the daunting details? In order for this to happen it would require people we don’t have, money we don’t have and resources we don’t have. It requires a complete paradigm shift in our organization, doubling our volunteer staff, doubling our staffing, fund raising, finding a location, negotiation, renovation and promotion. I have experienced a roller coaster of emotions; sleepless nights and wondering “why bother when our church is hitting on all cylinders?�?

The answer is Vision. What could be? What if a church would dare to dream of doing church differently and go to where people are instead of asking them to come to us? What should be? There should be more churches like Northway in surrounding communities around the Capital region and the Northeast. Why? Every week I hear stories of people who drive over an hour to our Shops of Malta location. I receive emails requesting “would you consider coming to our community?�? I have friends and family who would love to attend a church like Northway but it’s too far away.  They’re open to God but have been burned by the whole “religion thing.�?

I’ve seen what happens when we get out of our box and go to where the people are. First when we held Easter at the Saratoga City center and then again this year when we held Easter at the Pepsi. I saw people from all different backgrounds, all different races and thought “this is exactly what church should look like.�?  It’s a no brainer… it must be.

Today, I just received fantastic news that the negotiations have been ironed out to launch our second campus!  I’m in awe of God! What could be, what should be, what must be has transitioned into what will be. Vision is a difference and destiny maker! Stay tuned.