New Website

Whoa! Cool! It has been a year...or more... in the making. But it is worth the wait! The new Christ Community Church website is rolling! Kudos to webmaster Greg Nunamaker. He has done a phenominal job. Here are some of the things that I love:

1. The look and feel is consistent with the look and feel of CCC's reality
2. The navigation is more intuitive and easy to follow
3. You can find all of the staff, their role and picture
4. The media page is vastly improved with MP3s, videos, and more!
5. The color shift from Iowa Hawkeye Black and Yellow to Illini Blue and Orange is a monsterous improvement.

Way to go Greg! Check it out now...www.cccomaha.org

Coming this Fall at CCC

Wow - what a weekend!  I had the opportunity to worship in all three venues at the Old Mill Campus this weekend, and I am here to say that God was present and pleased with what He saw.  Word on the street is that the Sarpy Campus experienced similar power.  What a feast of song and scripture across all CCC venues!

If that wasn't enough, 1500 people suited up in red shirts and invaded the city with the love and serving power of Jesus through Step Out and Serve, painting, landscaping, conversing, weeding, scraping, cleaning and loving our city.  I am so proud to be a part of a church that serves.  Kudos to the bridge team for leading and creating tracks for the entire church to run on. Once again, I am confident that God was pleased with what He saw as His kids served their city with Jesus' love.  Way to be the church!

"So," you might ask, "what are we going to do next week?"  Well, the answer is that next week all kinds of things launch.  Kids Connect and youth ministries start, New Community Groups get into full swing, Journey Groups launch and a brand new in-depth Bible study of Jesus begins on Tuesday nights.

But the big news is that for twelve weeks, beginning this Sunday, the whole church wraps its arms around one of the pinnacle figures of the entire Bible: King David the Renaissance man.  We will be intensely studying this warrior, statesman, athlete, musician, poet, king from every angle possible.  This will probably be the most comprehensive and in-depth Bible adventure that we have ever been on together.  Here is what you can expect:

a twelve week message series from stories you may know and others that will surprise you
a sixty-part devotional guide taking you through David's life and poetry in the Psalms
a twelve week Bible study on David's life in Journey Groups, Kids Connect and NC groups
a worship CD assembled from all of the different venues designed to point us to worship God through the lens of one of God's greatest worship poets: David.

This youngest child from an obscure village in Judah changed the course of Israel and the course of history.  God chose him, molded him, gave him amazing talent and formed his heart to serve him in all phases of life.  You can become more like this man after God's own heart by studying his life.  It all kicks off this Sunday, August 23, at the Old Mill Campus and Sunday, August 30, at Sarpy County.  Use the evite to invite friends and gear up for the adventure.

Thirteen Candles

I am so proud of my daughter, Caysie. Yesterday she became a teenager. Her thirteenth birthday fell on Step-Out Sunday. So we asked her a couple of months ago what she wanted to do. She said "there's nothing I'd rather do on my birthday than step out and serve!"

Her reward? The satisfaction of serving, fun with family and friends...and her picture in the Omaha World Herald. Check it out here!

http://www.omaha.com/article/20090817/NEWS01/708179966

Stepping Out!

Yesterday, I talked to Linda and Tony. They owned the house that our Step Out team (also my journey group...) painted yesterday. Both have medical issues. They could not possible paint their own house. It had not been painted in ten years. It had never been anything but white. Linda said "I never thought our house would get repainted. I certainly never thought it could look this good."

Adam, and a team of singles from our Thursday night Bible Study went out twice before Step-out even happened. Once to scrape...once to prime...and finally with 45 others to paint the house. Neighbors came out to watch. One spent part of his afternoon helping. Another yelled out to us from her porch "tell Linda her house never looked better!"

Some may say it's just a paint job. But it is so much more. It is a living example of how community can come together to make a worthwhile effort happen. It is about how God cares for the least of these. It is about learning to serve with no expectation of payback. It is about becoming more like Jesus. It is about Kingdom impact.

1500 people from CCC on 45 projects. 6000 people from churches around the city on 150 sites. In an era where the government is raising taxes and cutting benefits, the church is still on the move...in full force...serving people for free.

Way to go church! Keep on being the church!

19 years

Nineteen years ago this week I married. I married up...way up. I found a girl who is smarter, richer, funner, and kinder than me...and way, way prettier. The best part was that she said she would take me to be hers forever! Yes!

There is no question that marriage has been one of the hardest things in life. It has also been one of the absolute best. Because the best things in life are not easy. Here's what I love about being married for a long time.

• We can agree on what dishes we want
• We have been through all of the conflicts about the best brand of spaghetti sauce, the right way to fold towels, and who makes the popcorn
• Every day is still a mystery
• We have four growing kids to carry on a legacy of love and influence
• We have shared history. For nineteen years, we have shared friends, shared context, shared challenges, shared ups and downs, and shared love for each other. The older I get, the more I realize that this is utterly irreplaceable. There is no other person in the world that I will ever share life with like this.

Marriage is worth the investment. Through all of the turmoil, you wind up with a person who is utterly dedicated to you, knows you better than you know yourself, and loves you anyway. There is nothing better...I love you Kelle!

Off to School

We are sending our 14 year old off to his first day of school today. Very wierd. Because for us, it is not just his first day of High School, it is his first day of school period. He's been homeschooled up until this point. So we did not send him out of the house to school at age 5, like most parents. I guess we're just slow.

It feels like we've been preparing 14 years for this day...14 years to work on education, character, relational skills, love of learning and now he's off. He's off to learn, grow, have fun, make friends, play tennis, meet girls, represent Christ, and influence Millard West. Last night we prayed together. This morning I prayed more...then blogged. It is a big day for him, but I wonder if it is a bigger day for me!

I know that today, hundreds of our kids will begin in the Millard Schools. Next week, hundreds more will start in OPS, in Bellvue, Papillion, Elkhorn and others. Lets pray for our kids this week and in the coming weeks. Let's pray for their protection, for their growth, for their influence. Let's pray that Omaha is a different place because of kids that come from godly families influencing the schools. I know I'll be praying this more than ever.

Coming Soon...David!

This summer, I have been making a special study of the life of David. We'll be exploring his life, his impact and what we can learn about relating to God from the perspective of a renaissance man in an all-church series called 'Where's God When...".

I always knew of David's extraoridinary giftedness. He is in a unique group of thinkers/leaders that makes him unparalleled in history. Michaelangelo, DaVinci, Beethoven, Napoleon, Tiger Woods...all rolled into one. That's David. Military hero, amazing king, brilliant politician, poet, musician...David did them all and in the top levels of execution.

What struck me this time going through the life of David was just how gritty he was. David was in desperate straits at many junctures in his life. He was a survivor. He spent a decade running from Saul with a renegade band of miscreants, murderers and misfits. He was sometimes found alone against the world. Once, he even sought refuge with a Philistine ruler in Gath. When things were not going well, he faked being crazy just to avoid being killed. He spent months/years in a cave of Judah called Adullam. He one time killed two hundred Philistines and cut off their foreskins just to impress Saul, and pay the bride price for Saul's daughter Michal. Imagine the scene of delivering that bride-price to the king!

David exhibited political savvy that is hard to fathom. He once tricked a Philistine king into believing him to be an ally...and even marched toward battle with this king. David had low military moments...like when his wives and family were kidnapped from Ziklag and all the city was burned. He had massive moments of victory, like when he captured the city of Jebus - unconquored for centuries.

Beyond all this, he made covenants with God that were fulfilled in his time, and in the ultimate King - Jesus who was yet to come. Most famously, he was known as a man after God's heart.

Do you get the idea that David was more than just a shepherd boy with five smooth stones?

Prepare to meet David at a whole new level. The series - messages, small groups and devotionals - will begin on August 23. If you are someone who is growing in your faith and you want to make the most of this series, I would recommend spending the next two weeks doing an overview of the life of David. Crack open the books of 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel. Read the broad timeline of David's life. If you read 20 minutes a day, you'll easily read through both books...maybe twice.

We'll do deep dives into episodes of David's life, but an overview will give you the full context for study. You can look forward to recieving the David devotional guide, notes pages, maps, lineages, timelines and group studies on Sunday, August 23. See you then!

Reveal Learnings - Day Three

Learning 3 – “Sharing Our Faith”

We are still growing in our outreach culture.

You may recall that last year’s survey had a huge gap in the evangelism area. When asked “How many spiritual conversations do you have with non-believers?”, only a small fraction (11%) said they have six or more. This year that number moved up to 25%. This is great progress, but still sad that only ¼ of our people verbally share their faith once every 60 days.

How do we change this?
1) Connect people vitally to Christ in such a way that they are excited about their faith in him. This happens in services, personal spiritual disciplines, and small groups.
2) Create events, serving opportunities, and venues that give our people something to talk about and something to invite friends to. Capitalize on “Considering Christianity”, International Ministries, Seeker Groups, Gathering and other venues that make these conversations easy.
3) Train more people in “Spiritual Intersections”

Want to talk more about the REVEAL survey? Your Management Team and
Governing Board members all have a copy and would be happy to talk to you!