Early Summer Activity

Hey there WB peeps,

Just wanted to send a note to stay connected as we get into the summer months here.

I thought I’d take a minute to hit on a few things going on with our site as well as personally.

If you missed last weekend, I think you missed one of the more powerful conclusions to a weekend service that I’ve seen.  As the service came to an end, Jason Strand invited people to come forward if they’d like prayer for spiritual, physical, relational or emotional healing.  I’ve never seen our site respond with such an eager nature to receive prayer as people lined up in the aisles.  I had 2 significant thoughts driving away that Sunday afternoon.  1.  It’s fun to see the church in ACTTON.  Not just sitting together, but interacting, praying for each other and caring for each other.  What a great image.  My other thought (2) was that our church is always carrying a lot of pain.  We all come to church, behaving, sitting quietly, and looking good (some of you guys even shower for the big event).  But…underneath it all are so many stories of relational pain, health crisis and emotional trauma.  I realize there’s a room full of joy and peace as well, but sometimes I just find myself humbled by the storms of life that our room is regularly filled with.  What a great reminder to know that God is present, attentively listening and extending his love and grace at all times.  As I think about it, church makes total sense for people who are battling through life.

At the same time, as much as it might have felt like the total other end of the emotional spectrum, we gave out “Floats for Fathers” in our multi-purpose room in order to say thanks to all of our WB Dads! Here’s a couple shots from that event.

Here’s a couple other quick site announcements.  This weekend we’re going to watch a Bill Hybels message that will rock you…or your money back!  This is one of the most profound messages that I’ve heard Hybels give.  Odds are good, it’s going to take you a little bit of time to think this one through.

The following weekend is 4th of July.  I know your first thought is probably not to make your way to church on 4th of July, but I’d like to encourage you to come…particularly on Saturday.  Just think about it, you can come to church, have plenty of time to get to your favorite fireworks display, AND, sleep in on Sunday – what a deal!  Also, we’ll have our favorite harmonica player in the house and Kenny has put together a solid set.  So…much of the country will shut down on the weekend of the 4th…but WB won’t – it will be rockin!  Don’t miss it!

Finally – on a personal note, I think Aaron might have mentioned this while I was gone 2 weeks ago, but June has already proven to be a busy month for me.  I’ve officiated 3 weddings, celebrated our 11th anniversary, completed my first triathlon and celebrated my wife’s milestone Bday by throwing a surprise party (She’s not 50…not 30…but somewhere in between ).  Here’s a shot from my first Triathlon which proved to be much more fun then I anticipated.

The Before Shot

The After Shot

 

Well – Know that I’m thankful for you and pray for all of you/us regularly that God would use the people of this site to make a huge impact in whatever sphere of influence He’s given us.

See you this weekend!

Don

Relevance Conference

Hello all,

To me, Memorial day begins that wonderful window of time in the year where we spend more days without a coat then with a coat.  LOVE IT!

With summer also seems to bring chaotic schedules…this was evident with our attendance last weekend for Memorial Day weekend and I know it’s throwing numerous curves in my schedule as well.  I have the honor of officiating 4 weddings in the next month and a half.  This weekend is one that I’ll be a part of which will cause me to miss Saturday, but be there Sunday.  So…be good to my good friend Aaron Steffen who’s pinch-hitting for me on Sat.

I also wanted to give a quick update about the Relevance conference that we hosted last Thursday.  If you haven’t heard, we had over 800 leaders in attendance representing close to 150 churches.  This is one of those deliberate times in the year that pull back the curtains and try to give other church leaders a sneak peak on how we do things.  We recognize we have a long way to go, but it’s fun to help others best we can.

One of the cool parts of my Relevance experience is that I got to be in the car with one of our featured speakers, Bill Hybels.  He’s the pastor of a large church in IL.  It’s the church where I first met Christ and Hybel’s was a key person in making that introduction happen in a way that I was willing and wanting to listen.

Hope all of you are able to enjoy some time in the great outdoors and we’ll look forward to seeing you on the weekend.

Oh, BTW, I put myself on facebook some time ago and if you want to connect there it seems to be a bit more conducive to discussion.

Your WB Team

Most of you probably don’t know this, but we have an all-star team of staff people who are assigned to the WB campus.  Many of them you never see on any given weekend because they are faithfully in a backroom somewhere making everything fly. 

This last week we took time for our first-ever retreat.  Let me tell you, you’re not only in great hands with your kids, technology, sound, worship, production, pastors and facilities, you also have a team of great people helping take our site to the next level. 

Here’s a few shots of our time away that was filled with lots of fun, spiritual renewal and strategic thinking…

P.S. – Thanks to the very generous WB family that let us steal away to this amazing location which was a perfect spot for our team.

Group Leader Training

Attached is a link to the group leader training that was done late in March.  The first 10 minutes is a skit they roped me into.  You might enjoy the “wus” comment. (you might have to give it a minute to load)

http://www.eaglebrookchurch.com/media_player.asp?type=large&messageID=31090

Easter Highlights

Hey all – Here are some shots from our memorable Easter.

Enjoy

Easter at the Bear

Hello Friends of WB,

I apologize for the long period of time since last posting.  Vacation for 2 weeks in Florida is to blame…not that I’m complaining.

I just wanted to send a note to say thanks to all of you for making such a great Easter.  At our site we had over 2800 people (with kids).  I have to look around a little more, but I’m pretty sure that’s a new site record.  Our church as a whole had just shy of 20,000 people in attendance.  Amazing!  Not only that, but over 300 people changed their eternities by saying Yes to Christ…kids representing the largest part of that number.  Again…amazing!

It wouldn’t have happened if many of you didn’t shift out of your normal Sunday pattern and come on Saturday.  Our Saturday services held over 1200 adults which brought quite the energy right out of the gate!

I just thought I’d say it again.  I’m proud of you and thankful for your generosity and desire to reach new people.  God’s doing some great things at our church and at our site.  I find myself regularly thankful that I just get to see His work.

Just a quick reminder – we start our new series this weekend on marriage.  If you know of someone that might benefit from this shoot them an email so they don’t miss out.

See you this weekend,

Don

 

PS – I’ll post some Easter photos when I get them…

How’s our church doing?

Hey all,

I had an interesting thought come over me earlier this week and I’ve been noodling on it ever since.  (Actually I’ve had a week full of “noodlings” but) I got to thinking about the parable of the talents in Matthew 25.  Many of you are probably aware of this story that Jesus tells how 3 different men are given different “talents” or portions of money.  These men are expected to do something with this money.  In 25:19 it says, “the master of those servants returned to settle accounts with them.”  Each man then has to account for what he had done with the dough.  While the response of the 2 men with more money was positive, the man with 1 talent did nothing with the money and was scolded.

This reminded me of  how I will have to give an account one day of my life and ministry.  I will give an account for my role as pastor of the WB site.  I was struck by this.

This means – that if you are reading this now and are a regular attender of the WB campus, I will give some form of accout for you.

If we have a church that is living out of God’s principles and I do nothing about that…

If we have a church of people who say they believe in God, but fail to take steps toward godliness…

If we have a church that is not moving toward a radical love for God and for others…

To say the least…I was a bit inspired to think again about how we can all move into a deeper relationship in our relationship with God.  I will give some form of an account for this.

Now – before you feel sympathy for me (which I’m not looking for), I need to put you on the hook as well.  What will you hold account for?  Your marriage….your family…your work…your health…your job…your time…your money…etc.

I believe Bob will be referring to this passage this weekend, but let’s all take some time to consider how we’re doing as a church.  how we’re doing as individuals and how we can best invest our “talents” and assets for Him so that we might hear – “well done – good and faithful servant.”

There you have it – “Noodlings from the Bear”

See you this weekend!

Fellow WBLer

Many of you see Dave helping out around our site with our facilities.  He’s a great addition to our staff and his story is even more amazing.  Many of you saw this on the weekend some time ago, but it’s now available for you to give it a second look…or maybe shoot it off to someone that could use a dose of hope today.

God is good…all the time…

http://www.eaglebrookchurch.com/media_player.asp?type=large&messageID=27656%20

EBC Recording Studio

Many of you commented on what a powerful night the recording of the EBC CD was like.  Here’s some pix to help you remember the great night…or see what you might of missed out on.

http://www.eaglebrookchurch.com/pages/page.asp?page_id=61288

Pinch-hitting

Hey friends,

Just as an fyi – I’ll be away from the mill for the next week.  Tyler Gregory will be stepping in for me for the Campus Pastor during the weekend.  Make sure to heckle him as you would usually do to me on a regular basis.  He’s one that really enjoy’s hugs.

Next week I’ll be taking a study break.  I used to actually use study breaks for school purposes and this is the first opportunity I’ve had to focus on something of my choosing rather then school’s.  I’ll hope to get some good thinking time in as well as a little time of solitude.

BTW – This upcoming weekend I’ve heard Bob’s message and it’s going to be great…don’t miss out.  Next weekend we’ll be hosting a Child Dedication during the 9:00 service.

See you around…