Doug’s Foggiest Ideas

I wanted to be sure to put a link to our “State of the Church Address” from last week.  If you are a Plum Creeker and weren’t able to be at church last week I would ask you to please listen to this message online or download the podcast.  It is vital that we all stay focused on what God is calling us to do as a church.

Here is a link to the audio…

I just thought that I would post a couple of things that are on my mind regarding last weekend at Plum Creek.

-First of all I am honored and blessed to be doing what I am doing.  I love what I do, I love being a pastor, my team rocks and our volunteers are the best!

-I can’t believe all the hard work that goes into turning a movie theater into a place of worship every week.  But it is worth the effort!

-It is hard to believe that we have been doing this weekly for 3 years now.  As I said on Sunday sometimes it feels like we started yesterday and sometimes it feels like 10 years ago.  It has been a lot of hard work but it has also been a blast.

-As we head into the planning and development of our new 4 service format I am trusting that many of the Plum Creekers that haven’t yet stepped up to serve will do so now!  We just need everyone to do a little instead of a few doing a lot.

-I know it will be tough to jump back-and-forth between two theaters every Sunday but right now we don’t really have any other options.  4 services (8:45, 9:15, 10:00 & 10:30) in less than 3 hours.  That is nuts but we will have fun doing it!!

-We need to begin to explore the possibilities of utilizing the video venue model so that we can simulcast into the other theaters.  We will probably have to do this at Easter.

-I thank God for the management at the theater.  Len is amazing and has been a blessing to us as a church!

-I am pleased at how many men have told me they want in on the first 100 to be part of our meeting for men that will be coming soon.  I think the ladies are as excited as the men!!  Men leading themselves is God’s plan for us BUT IT CAN’T BE DONE ALONE!!  I have a ton of ideas related to this…again I know the “what” God is going to take care of the “how”!

-I am also excited about the prayer training that we are going to do this year.  I talk every week about praying and really feel like this year is a year where we will up the stakes in our prayer lives.  Get ready, this is going to be awesome!

-We need a ton more Journey Group leaders to facilitate what God is doing at our church.  My prayer is that every person that calls them-self a Plum Creeker will be in a Journey Group!

-I am so proud of our church for the way they got behind our Special Christmas Offering.  I know that God will continue to use the resources that we collectively contribute to impact our world!

-2010 is going to be an incredible year.  We have a lot to celebrate but also know that we can’t let memory overtake our imagination of what God wants to do in and through us!  We are all going to have to work together, pray together, serve together & contribute together like we never have before.  God will be faithful!  So lets work like it depends on us and pray like it depends on God!

Yesterday brought to end another awesome football season for my boys.  It was another great year of development and lessons learned.  We always wish that the season would last longer!

I wanted to take a moment and thank all the coaches that invested countless numbers of hours into our kids’ lives.  There is no way to express the appreciation that Beth and I have for this investment.  These young men are learning a lot about football and even more about life through these experiences on the field.

Coaches, thanks for all you do!!

I think that today is the day.  We will finally have seen the end of this significant snow storm that has made its way through Colorado.

Here in Castle Rock we have drifts that are several feet deep.  It has been a little crazy.  The kids have been off school for two days and will head back today.  The little vacation is over.

On another note, I am excited for Sunday.  We are beginning a new series on the book of Jonah.

I will finish up our message for this weekend today.  To be ready for the start of this series be sure to read the first chapter of Jonah before Sunday.  See you at the theater!

Throughout the course of our short history as a church I have made a commitment to take 2 weekends a year to pause and give a “State of the Church Address”.

There are two reasons for this.

First of all we continue to grow like crazy.  As a matter of fact this week I took some time to look at some Plum Creek statistics.  I don’t usually take much time to look at these things with much depth but in preparation for this weekend’s message I did.  The reality is that from one year ago on this same weekend we have been blessed with a 44% increase in our weekly average.  There are a lot of new people that need to know more about the history, heart and vision for our church.

The second reason comes from a leadership truth that I learned years ago.  It is pretty simple, “vision leaks”.  I know that this is true for me and for those that call Plum Creek home.  We need to work hard to intentionally keep our focus as a church.

When we don’t take the time to calibrate we can get off track fast.  I hope that you will be able to join us this weekend as we do this together.  These, “State of the Church” weekends are a lot of fun.  Knowing where we have been, where we are and where we are heading is VERY IMPORTANT!!  I look forward to seeing you on Sunday at the theater.

We are on the cover of this month’s Douglas County Living magazine.

You can check out the article here.

A couple of weeks ago we had the privilege of having two awesome guests with us at Plum Creek.  These men were Paul Tedesco and Jim Ladd.  Paul is the previous pastor at Grace Community (our mother church) and Jim is the current pastor.

Both of these men are responsible for helping Plum Creek be where it is today.  They are great men.  Paul was the one who initiated the idea of planting a church in Castle Rock.  What a great vision.  I trust that his time with us a couple of weeks ago was a blessing.  We are honored as a church to have the history that we have.

Long story short he sent me an email and asked me a great question, “If you have time, would you mind dropping me an email and telling me, in your opinion, the top 5 key factors as to why Plum Creek has progressed so rapidly in such a short time.”

I have spent some time thinking and praying about this and I wanted to share the answer that I emailed to him.  Here is my answer:

Your question is a tough one.  Truthfully I don’t know if I have the absolute answers but I will do my best:

1~ I have to start by acknowledging that this has been a TOTAL GOD THING!!

Lots of prayer and effort to follow God’s lead! (From the vision you got started, to Jim’s influence, to the partnership with Grace & Timberline, to the timing and the receptivity in C.R. it has been a God thing)

2~ Jim Ladd and the Grace family.

We couldn’t have done what we have done without Jim, his leadership and our relationship with Grace!!

3~ An undisputed, totally confident call of God on my, Beth and the kids’ lives to head to C.R. and start this church.

I couldn’t have done this without absolute certainty that my baby was behind me!!  Castle Rock fits Beth & I to a “T”.  We know we are supposed to be here!!

4~ Opportunities along the way in my ministry career that prepared me in my walk with God, my leadership, my experience, my gifts, my relationships, my marriage, my family and just about in every other way to prepare me for this, “such a time as this” season that we have been living out in C.R.

5~ God’s favor & amazing people that God had provided for us!!

We have an incredible team that are as fired up and committed to Plum Creek as much as we are!!  We could never have done this without the team that God has blessed us with!  My gifts, talents and abilities pale in comparison to the collective energy and efforts of our team!

I’m sure there is much more but these are the things that I would say in response to your question.

Thanks again for blessing us as you have!!

On The Journey Together

Hey Plum Creek Men…if you are looking for an opportunity to get together and meet some of the other men that come to Plum Creek then you need to plan to come to Mandate.  We have been talking about this event for several weeks at church and the day has finally arrived.

We will be getting together at the Grange in the Meadows tonight at 6:00pm.

The Grange in the Meadows
3692 Meadows Blvd
Castle Rock, CO 80109

Bring your own meat to BBQ and a side to share.

This will be a great event for getting to know other men from Plum Creek and if you are interested in joining a men’s group, new groups will be forming that night.

Today is a special day that reminds us that we live in the greatest nation in the world.  Today all over our great country we set aside some time to gather together in public places for an intentional time of prayer.  What a privilege.

I encourage all of you that are able to join with many other Christ Followers today at the Court House at “high noon” to spend a few minutes together praying.  Anytime we break our routine to pray it is a good thing.  Whether you are able to join the crew that will be praying together downtown Castle Rock or not please pause sometime today and invest a few moments praying!

Happy National Day of Prayer!

It has been snowing for the past 2 days here in Castle Rock.  We easily have a couple of feet of snow in our backyard.  Good thing I put some fertilizer down before this storm hit.  Here are some pics…

It is supposed to be in the 70’s next week.  You gotta love CO weather!!