Sunday Reflections

What a day! Seriously, there are Sundays and there are Sundays. There are Sundays as a pastor when you sit back and say, Why exactly do I do this??  Today was NOT one of those days. Four major events happened today at church:

 1. Kick off New Series for August: God Love & Sex

 2. Launch of New Series for Lifekids: Plane Truth

 3. BAF Sunday: Bring a Friend Sunday

 4. Communion

•  Here are some highlights…
• I started my Sunday @ 2:00am. Usually 3:00am but when you are about to preach a sermon on sex in church there’s no way you can have a deep sleep. 3 hours was enough I got up nervous and pumped at the same time. I usually get up have coffee and some biscuits. This morning I didn’t. I forgot! Honestly.
• 8:15 am walked in church. Worship Team, already praying. They put me on a stool with wheels and wheeled me in and told me to shout after a count of three. I did! great exercise to shout kill unnecessary nerves. 
• I struggled a little bit in the first service with my introduction. Preaching in Samoan on sex is not the most comfortable thing to do. It did eventually pick up. The adults were so accommodating!! I had no problems in the second service, except my sermon topic, ‘Satan’s Sex Education’, was SO HOT (literally) that I kept drinking during the sermon. My water had to be refilled!!
• Plenty of food for morning tea. Chicken soup – my favourite.
• Met a whole lot of new faces at church yesterday. It’s exciting when new people come to church. One guy came in to for the 9am service for the first time. He repented and gave his life to Jesus. He gave me a hug after the service and he was crying. He stayed for the second service. He came up for the Altar call. Gave his life to Jesus (twice in one day). After the second service he gave me another hug, this time with more tears.….he said, “I didn’t think church can be this great….I sang, I danced, I ate, laughed, I repented, I knelt, I prayed….. all in one day!!  I am going to bring my wife and kids next Sunday”.
• The worship was incredible!!!. Always great to see kids come to the front to worship. When we sang, “Moving forward” I felt great passion coming from the worshippers!
• The Worship Team did a fantastic job!! I thought the guitaring was exceptional yesterday!
• Altar call was given. We put Romans 12:1 into practice and symbolically. A lot of men came forward to present themselves to God as ‘living and holy sacrifice’: My heart beats faster when I see men respond to the Word. There is something about men admitting to their weaknesses and realizing their potential in God. To see men kneeling before God and crying out to him is POWERFUL!!
• LifeKids: what can I say!!!. The Lifekids Team took Children’s ministry to a whole-notha-level!!! New sound system, new stage, new look, new props, new curriculum. I am grateful to God for the people who give their time to minister to kids! They always miss out on what happens during the main service. BUT I think after seeing what they do……WE, the ones in the main service are Missing Out!! My kids said to me after church on the way home….Dad! Lifekids was great!! I was saying goodbye to some first time kids yesterday and asked them, …how Lifekids was!! The 4 year old said!!! Great and we love it. She then turn to her parents and said,….Dad can we come back to this church next week!!! Poor dad!! Under pressure to say yes in front of me.
• Big lunch!! Invited to Worship Team lunch. Great time with the team!! way to go Liz!! 
• Communion: always an emotional time for me. Can’t help being grateful to God. At Communion service we dedicated baby Salem!, our community clothing team and the bread team shared about what they do and how they are connecting and reaching the community. Great stuff!!
• 2 Singers: First time for the Taito brothers to sing together in church!! Watch these two boys!! Watch them develop and mature in their talent!!  
• 3 Young Preachers: I was so blessed! these young boys age 15 -19 preached with passion and conviction. They were funny and straight to the point. Huge potential. Amazed with their knowledge and ability to articulate. They only had one week to prepare and they did very well!! some proud parents last night. 
• I love this church! I love what God is doing in LifeChurch. I love what God has called us to do and as we say it all the time “The best is yet to come” and I can’t wait to see what He has right around the corner.

Weekend Reflections

Had an amazing weekend…here are a few of the highlights…

•  Friday Night – SWITCH crashed at our place…. editing movies for ‘ENDZONE’ till 6am. These people only slept for about an hour and they were up again for their breakfast briefing 7am. Committed and dedicated bunch of crazy youths. Woke me up 3 times but all good. The end result on was worth it.
•  Saturday met with our Board. Made some huge progress and Faith Decisions!! Announcements to be made later.
•  ENDZONE Saturday night was fantastic! Love hanging out with young people. Personally it helps me not to develop and ‘old spirit’ mentality. Keeps me fresh and intouch with this generation. EndZone climaxed with young people committing their lives to Christ. That’s the Purpose. Salvation! When our youth leaders shared their vision for SWITCH they stressed Salvation!! That’s a GOD vision!!  
•  Laine Sagala spoke a stirring Word Saturday night on “This Generation”. Great to see a lot young men responded to the call to make a stand for Christ and to reach this generation. Its healthy when more men respond to God and take ownership and leadership in their decisions and actions.
•  Spoke last Sunday on the “Presence of God’ (Isaiah 6). Worship yesterday was electric and the presence of God was evident in yesterday’s service. Its amazing when people respond to the Word of God. I think I am starting to believe what my friend Pastor Phil Richardson has been telling ever since he visited our church one Sunday. He said ‘You are the most charismatic non Pentecostal church I have ever seen’.
• New talent coming up!! Chris you have an amzing voice?
•  Sua Sagala preached an awesome Word on Gods faithfulness, God’s Grace and God’s Goodness. I touched on this last week in my sermon. Sua took it to whole nother level. Fantastic!  
•  There is nothing more rewarding to a pastor than to see people encounter God and walk with him passionately. I was encouraged yesterday to see that passion to pursue God in folks who came forward. 
•  CAN’T WAIT for next SWITCH Event………….I think its in September
•  Met yesterday with 3 young men I am mentoring in preaching. Their first assignment is this Sunday. They are excited and nervous at the same time. I see great ponetial in these guys!!
• Great lunch at Anes mums place. haven’t had that type of Samoan toonai (lunch ) for a some time!!
•  LOTS to do this next week… appreciate the prayers!  I will be focusing more on studying this week.

LifeKids Volunteers Turbo Charged

Saturday

• Had great time wif LifeKids Team. They r a crazy bunch. Started 6:30am. Amazing Race. First task to buy 20 non perishable items from a Supermarket spend no more than $10. took us about 45 mins. Its recession and not that many items around 50cents. strict conditions….
• Climbed / ran to the highest peak of Mangere Mountain, slippery, cow poos, fog, cold and wet………….CRAZY!!!!!
• Human pyramid, blind fold, eat porridge, speed …..oops yes way over the limit…….sorry Lord.
• took  pictures, videos, find bustop with holden parked infron to a bus stop, buy 2 coconuts, …………..speed down the motorway again…..
• look for mailboxes, clues, people, rymes, called 018 gave us the wrong addy……..
• Bought fresh bread. cut to the chase…….so to speak…….we came third……………
• heres the funny thing. there was a Bible quiz and everyone said, pastor team is gonna win. My team came last. The Pastor must go back to Bible College… shame!!!
• During the day, i was encouraged & inspired by our teams desire to reach the children. Most of them are young and inexperienced but willing to love and share Jesus with the kids.
• Time to evaluate and plan, recharged and realigned for ministry, for the next 6 months.
• Gosh I laughed so much…….and a few practical jokes
• Michael and Lisa, our LifeKids Directors shared their hearts for the ministry and vision. New series for Lifekids revealed for the nxt 18 weeks
• Lisa preached a great message on ‘the wonder of God’ and creativity. Mike talked about God changing lives…..I like what he drew on the whiteboard to do with God changing lives. verry simple yet effective!! 
• We also got the change to pay tribute to Michael Jackson by performing the moonwalk. You got to see the video!!!!
• Suis Birthday!!! Hip! Hip!
• Prayer Time and Speaking to peoples lives was fantastic was refreshing!!!!!
• I will upload some photos later.