Re-Entry

Hello blogging friends,

It’s been almost exactly 7 days since I got off the plane from Florida.  Yesterday’s weather was definitely helpful in the re-entry process, but I’ve found it a scramble trying to get caught up on all the tasks necessary to pull off all the great things going on.  In the next three weeks I’ll lead the Starting Point class, officiate a wedding and lead our site in our first Parent-Child Dedication.  All great things to be a part of, yet all require a quick need to catch up.

Our trip to Florida is something we’ve been doing as a family for over 20 years now.  It’s the one time a year that my sister and her family, my parents, and our family all get together.  The time there sounds quite boring to the outside reader, but we have a pretty consistent schedule.  Wake up whenever, go the pool or beach, eat.  Take a break for a couple of hours from all the stress, go back to the pool or beach, eat dinner.  Walk the beach, eat lots of ice cream, take in a little evening TV and go to bed.  Wake up, do it again.  One thing I found was the clarity that came during week two of our trip.  Week one was great, although I was quite surprised by the clarity and new thinking that came in the second week.

As I did mention on the weekend, the one bummer to our trip is that 7 or 10 people caught the flu.  A real drag, but the good news is that I was one of the survivors.  I’m not sure how it happened.  It could be that I washed my hands every 5 minutes, drank water like a fish or maybe just a nice gift from God.  Not sure.

Here’s a couple pix for anyone interested in taking a mental journey to a warm place!

Acoustic Cafe

I wanted to just take a minute to let you know about something coming up this weekend that I don’t think you’re going to want to miss.  After the 6:30 service we’ll be hosting a local recording artist named Caitlyn Smith in our newly remodeled gym.  You can learn a little more about Caitlyn at her site (www.myspace.com/caitlynsmithmusic).  The hope is that some of you people who are regular Sunday attenders will give Saturday night church a chance.  It also makes for a great chance to bring a friend back who might have given Easter a shot. Finally, I hope you’ll use it as an opportunity to meet someone else.  We don’t get these chances very often, so let me encourage you to extend a hand and meet someone new as you grab your mocha and settle in for a fun evening of acoustic music. 

I hope to see many of you there!

P.S - We will be featuring Caitlyn in our opener on Saturday night so you can get a sense of what Caitlyn is like.

Easter Update

Hey WB Peeps,

 Before we get too far away - I just wanted to comment on what a great Easter we had last weekend.  Over 16,000 people in attendance at our 3 sites and over 350 people came to a Yes table to say that they want to follow Christ as their leader and forgiver.  Awesome!  I’m thankful for how many of you jumped into volunteering to help us carry the load of our increased attendance and I’m also fired up about how many of you brought friends and family members with you to check out EBC and our WB site.

I hope it was a great experience for you - if you have comments feel free to email me or send a comment.

Way to go people of the WB!

Here Comes Easter

Welcome to Spring everyone - Today marks that first day, although we’re all planning for snow over the next couple days.  How insane are we?

I was just looking at the RSVP status for our sites and wanted to let you know all is looking good for our site at this point.  If you happen to be flexible, it looks like the 4:30 is looking to be the service with the most room.  Here’s 3 reasons why it’s a good choice

1. You get to sleep in on Easter - LOVE IT!

2. You can hit the Easter Buffet’s before everyone else

3. If we continue to grow, adding a 4:30 service would probably be our next step.  You showing up at this service will in some effect cast your vote for the need for such a time.

4. You can now attend the 4:30 and stick around to serve at the 6:30.  A chance to love and be loved

5. You get to be the FIRST to experience the 08 WBL Easter service - What more could you want!

Nonetheless - I’ve heard Bob talk through his message and have had a chance to read his draft.  It should be a great weekend, particularly for someone who’s unsure about all that Easter really means.

See you soon!

Some Recent Photos

We had a photographer snapping a few shots of our site a couple weekends ago.  If you’ve never been to WBL-EBC this might give you a quick shot of what to expect.  You can also tap on the “White Bear Sampler” to the right for even more pix and vidz. 

Way Too Long

Hello to my fellow bloggers - So sorry it’s taken me so long since my last blog. I could give you many reasons, but I know they will mostly just sound like excuses. Therefore I’ll try to write multiple entries to make up for lost time.

Over the past couple of weeks some great things have been happening. Let me just list a few.

1. The renovations from the “flood of 08″ have been completed. The kitchen has received a new floor, the carpeting outside the kitchen and bathrooms has been re-done, the carpet in the gym has been upgraded to a newer look (less gym-like) and some other minor repairs have been completed in what we used to call the gym. The newest proposed name for this room is “Multi-Purpose Room.” Although I think we could use a little more sizzle like “WB West Wing” or “Bob’s Fitness Complex.” If you have proposals - feel free to send a comment with a name

2. Last weekend was one to see. Palm Sunday weekend was March 15/16 and it was a winner. We had our harmonica playing friend, Noah, with us again and he did a great job adding “spice” throughout the service. We featured him on a solo version of “Amazing Grace” during communion and I thought it was…well…amazing. Nonetheless, during the service we were looking to re-tell the last days of Jesus through scripture, song, communion and video. It all led up to a strong message from Teaching Pastor Jason Strand. Personally, I’m always a fan when we mix up the regular flow of what happens? What were your thoughts on putting the offertory at the end?

3. Finally - On an “off-weekend” note - I had the opportunity to speak at Men’s Infuse on March 11th. Dale Peterson and I presented a new look at what the transformation process looks like and the barriers that stand in the way of our becoming Christ-centered men.

It’s been a solid couple weeks and Easter is on our doorstep. I’ll chime in more as we approach our big Easter weekend!

A Thank You from Bridging

Hello WBLer’s - here’s a letter from Joc McKinley who was the Bridging rep in charge of our Funiture Assembly day.

“Thank you for volunteering with Bridging on Saturday, February 16 by taking part in the Furniture Build for Bridging.   What a great group!  I hope you had a little fun; I know you made a big impact.  Your teams assembled a lot of furniture!  You assembled more than 205 pieces of furniture—bookcases, dressers, TV cabinets and end tables.  This furniture will be distributed to some of the 50 families who shop in Bridging’s Roseville warehouse every week.  Yes, the furniture you assembled will help make their new homes a little nicer.  But the furniture is also a vote of confidence cast by caring volunteers.  How so?  Your gift of time to build furniture may help demonstrate to a struggling family that they are part of a community.  Thank you also for taking the time to learn about Bridging: how we serve needy families by providing them with household goods and furniture, and how you can participate by donating items or volunteering your time.  Please visit www.bridging.org, where you can learn more about who Bridging serves, how we do it and how you can participate.  Everything every volunteer does at Bridging helps to efficiently and effectively serve a family in our community.  If you are interested in volunteering with Bridging again, please let me know.  For information about bringing a group (many EBC small groups have already called!) to Bridging to volunteer, please contact me.  If you know someone who would like to take a tour of our warehouse and learn about our program, please call me.  We also need your help to keep our shelves stocked!  Donations of new and gently-used household goods and furniture are always welcome.  What do we need most?  Pots and pans and towels.  Spread the word!  A complete list of items we need is attached.  Bridging is a 501 (c)(3) organization.  Your donation is tax deductible.  I am attaching a link to a feedback survey on our web-site.  Please let me know what you enjoyed about (or what could be improved with) Bridging’s Volunteer Program.  http://www.bridging.org/survey/volunteer_survey.html Thanks again.  We could not accomplish our mission without the help of volunteers—and community partners like Eagle Brook Church.  You truly make a difference in someone’s life. 

 

Joe McKinley

Volunteer CoordinatorBridging-Roseville1633 Terrace Drive, Roseville, MN  55113

(651) 319-9295

Quite the Sight!

One of the things I love to see is when the Church is on the move.  I love when people take the bold move to trust their lives to Christ.  I love when people take that next step beyond the weekend and attend a class or small group.  I love when I see people putting their gifts and their resources to serving the Church.  AND, I love when you see a church of 150 people huddled together around tables scattered all throughout the gym and UWC of our WBL campus taking 3 hours to build furniture for people who are in need.  I think it’s directly aligned with the heart of God, it brings us together as a community and it represents the servant-style that Jesus would desire for us.  I hope the images of our Furniture Assembly Day will stick in my mind as well as yours.  This is a the image I’d like us to lock in when we think of EBC-WBL.  A church that’s active.  A church that serves and a church that makes an impact in the community.

All that to say - THANK YOU! 

Thanks to all of you that took time to come, to build, to care for someone you’ll probably never meet and thank you for helping us all to see the church in it’s active state!

Here’s some pix to help you remember the day or sneak a peak…

Facility Updates

Well - here’s the latest in our renovations.  Last I heard they are hoping that the kitchen will be useable this weekend.  Thats great news.  This means they have re-tiled it, cleaned all the contents and will be moving everything back in there in the next 2 days.   The new carpet that will be replaced with new carpet in the hallways was projected to take 6 weeks, it now looks like it will be in within the next 2 weeks.  More good news.  We’re also makng some decisions on the carpet in the gym that should give a real upgrade to this space.  I think that makes a hat-trick.  The only bad news is that the hallway may still be closed this weekend depending on the dry wall repair taking place and the gym will take a few weeks before we’re all set.

Thanks again for your patience through this time.

Ash Wed

I think my first word is…Wow!  It was a great night and I’m so grateful for all of you that came out.  I knew my wife and Kenny’s wife were going to be there, but I wasn’t sure what would happen beyond that.  It was great to have some “us” time at WB - I look forward to our next time as well.  Preparing for last night was both exciting and nerve-wracking.  Following up from the big-gun weekend speakers is a bit intimidating but the opportunity to communicate with the folks of WB is something I really enjoy.

A lot of kudos go to Kenny - He put together the entire worship set and was the one that brought the “ragman” story concept “to the table.”  He also put together the medley with the Jesus Paid it All hymn.

 Thanks again for coming together last night.  here are some pix to keep it in your memory…

Oh - BTW - I’m off this weekend for a chance to get a mid-Feb breath of fresh air at a cabin.  Matt Anderson (Groups Pastor) will be filling my shoes.