This was my favorite Mother’s Day at CLC ever:

• It was my favorite personally because the two most important women in my life were sitting with me on the front row: my only daughter, Jen and my only wife, Chris!
• Worship in all 3 services was terrific, and I especially liked the new song that Pastor Jon tried to teach us: “Standing”, written by our friend, William McDowell!
• If you missed the CLC original production Mother’s Day video, here it is again.  I think my favorite quote was from Anson LaBranche who said his mother is prettier “than a Monster Truck”!  Now to a child, that’s quite a compliment!
• It was also a great kick-off for our ’Generations’ series, as my wife brought both inspiration and practical truths for how we can transfer our courage & convictions to the next generation.  (The “queen of illustrations & object lessons” did have help from Sam Hamstra, Mark LaBranche and Nate Hernandez as pictured below)

Mark LaBranche

Nate Hernandez

• It was also special because over 1,500 worshiped with us on Mother’s Day, when we often see attendance drop significantly, AND, better-yet, because 3 precious CLCers were baptized in water today!
• Finally, on a very personal level, it was very special because my youngest son & his wife were ordained as our Children’s Pastors at CLC.  You can read the back story here, but I didn’t make it through without a few voice cracks, and I so appreciated the pastors & elders of CLC who prayed, imparted & prophesied to Brent & Sol:

there is a spiritual impartation thru the “laying on of hands” in Scripture

surrounded in prayer

our new Children’s Pastors, Brent & Sol McQuay

• It was also special at our South Bend campus today, where Pastor Shanna Neal brought a great word about faith & courage, and the KidsLife children gave a great presentation honoring all the mom’s (and attendance was WAY up!)
• And it was extra-special for 15 visitors at our Davao, Philippines campus – because they prayed to receive Jesus on Mother’s Day!

Here are my random thoughts on one of the most unusual ‘guest’ Sundays ever at CLC:

• While praying early this morning before service, Luke 24:35 came to my spirit.  I know we’re always under time constraints because of multiple services and a lack of parking, and that time pressure seems acute whenever we observe Communion, but I prayed that Jesus would make Himself known today as we celebrated Communion together.  I hope you sensed His Presence in a special way!
• Loved seeing the Watoto Choir again, even by video!  If you missed the announcement, we’re taking a team to them in Uganda this Aug. 29-Sept. 10 to help conduct a Children’s Camp.  Today was our deadline for registration, so if you’re interested in going, please contact Pastor Tony Gilmore ASAP and we’ll try to get you space on the plane!  DO IT NOW!!!
• What can I say about John & Tricia Tiller?  They really have lived out every parent’s worst nightmare, with integrity & purpose!  I think John was God’s spokesmen to us today to “burn our bridges!”  And my favorite quote of the day was when he said, “Our purpose is not to seek healing; our purpose is to seek The Healer!”
• And Eli? Well, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house when he sang, but he also ministered to us with his words & his life.  And I know none of us feel we have an excuse for anything anymore. 

Eli Tiller singing “I will Rise”

• Pastor Doug reports another baptism at our South Bend campus today, as well as more new members joining the ministry there, and a great time at the close of service praying Judges 13:2-3 over the people and the community – they may have ’been barren’, “but all of that is about to change!”
• Pastor Herley Montes reports another 20 people came forward for salvation at our Davao, Philippines campus today – and that they are so excited to welcome a CLC team for the Heart-to-Heart retreat there in a couple of weeks!
• Can’t wait to hear my wife sing next Sunday for Mother’s Day (if you missed the announcement today…..well, you just missed it!)

Before I sign off and head to the couch, tell me – what was your ‘take-away’ from today’s service with the Tiller’s?  (Please leave a comment below)

Another 1,600+ attendance day at CLC!  And this is 3 weeks after Easter, when normally our attendance is dropping….makes me know God is up to something around here:

• met several newcomer’s in the lobby after services today, but my favorite story of the day was of a first-time guest who came forward for prayer after service, weeping so hard my wife said she could hardly understand her request.  After prayer, she told us that she’s been looking for a church home for 4 years, and she found it today!
• Anyone who’s been around CLC for long knows that we highly value the next generation, so I’m excited to report that our Branded Discipleship Classes broke all previous records with 149 students in attendance today (kudos Pastor Sam & his team) AND KidsLife broke their attendance record for the 3rd time this month with 303 kids (kudos to my son Brent & all the terrific folks on his team)!!!
• (Since Pastor Tony Gilmore provides oversight to BOTH of those ministries, I’m guessing he’s feeling like a proud papa this Sunday afternoon)

My wife brought the WORD this morning!

• She not only brought it through her preaching, but after each service she stayed in the altar to minister to folks, and she told me this afternoon it was one of those times where the Holy Spirit was giving her prophetic words for everybody in line – already hearing testimonies from the prayer time!  (Just one more reason why I love this lady!)
• Pastor Ben Stewart tells me we had about 40 CLCers in our Steps 2 & 4 classes today – love that folks are moving from just attending to getting involved!
• I knew we had at least a few CLCers in Boston last week for the Marathon, but I just learned today that Seyi Akintorin, the oldest daughter of one of our elders, was within 50 yards of one of the bombs that went off, but thankfully she was uninjured!
• Pastor Doug reports another great day at the South Bend campus where Pastor Jon Jones led worship today and 3 more were baptized in water!
• Pastor Herley Montes reports another great day at our Davao, Philippines campus, with 20 people praying to receive Christ in their services today!  He also sent the picture below from our Cateel, Philippines campus which was destroyed by Typhoon Pablo a few months ago (along with several other churches in the area) and said our church is the ONLY one in the village that has been able to start rebuilding, thanks to your generosity!  I love the fact that 10% of every dollar given at CLC goes to missions!

L – the building before the typhoon; R – after the typhoon
Center – rebuilding made possible by your gifts & the roof is up!

Even though I didn’t preach today, the couch is still calling me…..

Another GOOD day at CLC, with over 1,600 people in worship at CLC-TP today:

• kudos to Pastor Jon Jones & Terrell Wilson & their team for all the extra ‘creativity’ of late!  If you missed the video today, even though it’s been around for a while, it hasn’t lost its anointing – here’s the link for “That’s My King”
• like the new stage set, too – thanks, Ed Marroquin, Hudson Rhodes, Moy Melgar, Andy Esparza and whoever else is responsible!
• Love the new song, “Let Praise Awaken”, too!
• Met a new family (first-time guests) who just moved here from Austin, TX – when I asked about their home church there, I learned they were from CLC there, pastored by my long-time friend of 42+ years, Rex Johnson!  (Small world!)
• If you missed the recap of our Cambodia trip, you can watch it here.
• As much as I didn’t like the subject matter today, I must say I thoroughly enjoyed preaching, and when I realized a couple of days ago that Exodus 32 according to Jewish tradition was the ‘first’ Day of Pentecost (when 3,000 died), in contrast to the Acts 2 Day of Pentecost (when 3,000 lived!), I wanted to shout, OH-EMM-GEE!  (There’s NOTHING like the Word of God – it truly is alive!)
• Thankful that people gave their lives to Jesus in every service today – never gets old!
• Pastor Doug reports a strong attendance in South Bend today (my wife said it was as full as she’s seen it there!), with 2 youth baptized in water (and 5 others scheduled for baptism next Sunday)!  
• Haven’t heard from Pastor Herley today, but I know our Philippine campus has been host to some big meetings this weekend with a team from Bethel Church in Redding, CA, so I’m expecting some great reports soon-

That’s it for this Sunday….the couch is calling me…..

I’ve already given you my reflections on our Sunday in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.

However, I’m really CURIOUS about Sunday at CLC in each of the services at Tinley Park, South Bend and Davao, plus our Hispanic campus.  If you attended one of those services, would you leave your comments below for my benefit.  I’ll have internet access in Seoul, Korea from about 5-8pm Sunday, and I’d love to catch up with how we “Remember the Story” today.  Thanks in advance for your help!

Can’t wait to be home with all of you, too-

How to describe Easter 2013?  What. a. weekend.

• I must start by thanking the incredible members of CLC – to see how you unselfishly gave up your parking space & your chair on Easter Sunday & worshiped on Saturday night, just because your pastor asked you to make room for unchurched folks who might come & meet Jesus on Sunday was incredible – about 700 of you did that, and God honored your sacrifice by giving us a bonus, when 14 people prayed to receive Christ on Saturday night!
• Special, special thanks to the outreach volunteers who showed up en masse for the Helicopter Egg Drop at the Odyssey Fun Farm on Saturday (more of you showed up to serve than signed up to help – when has that EVER happened?) and we were all rewarded when thousands of folks from the South Suburbs showed up to enjoy a fun community outreach!  (Nearly 2,000 children received a storybook from CLC with the message of Easter clearly delivered on their level, too!)  And we got written up in the Daily Southtown and some news coverage on Channel 7, too!
• Finally, I give mega-kudos to everyone who made the 5 Easter experiences possible: Pastor Jon Jones & Terrell Wilson & their a-mazing Servants of Praise, the Dance Ministry led by Pastor Rachel Jones (oh, to have their energy!), the creativity from the opening video, the girl’s solo (thanks, Elliana, Talia, & Jael!), the “full-stage screens” & all the extra media features (thanks, Hudson & Eduardo & Moy), the pastoral staff (Ben, Tony, Sam, Brent AND their spouses & teams they oversee, especially when some of them were pulling ‘all-nighters’ & long hours this week) - for sure, this Easter was a TEAM effort, and Chris & I love each of you dearly!
• Today I remembered one of my mom’s sayings from when I was a child: “Your eyes were bigger than your stomach”, she’d say when I left food on my plate.  It seems my vision was bigger than my production for this weekend, as we added those 2 extra services on Saturday, but failed to get the record-breaking attendance I was believing for – but we did welcome about 2,060 people (about 500 more than an average Sunday) and the best news is that over 50 of them prayed to receive Christ!
• Don’t ever forget that behind every one of those numbers is a story and I heard several favorites: like the young man on Saturday night who told me in the lobby that he got saved here about a month ago when his girlfriend invited him to CLC, and last night at the 6:30pm service, his mother, father, younger brother AND his girlfriend’s mother all gave their lives to Christ!  Or the story of a father & daughter who both gave their life to Jesus this morning…..or the 3 teen girlfriends who prayed to receive Christ together…..or the husband of a longtime CLC’er who wept as he gave himself to the Lord today….and on & on it goes!
• One of my favorite stories from the lobby today was from a first-time guest family who recently moved to Homewood from Minneapolis, but who hadn’t found a church, so the wife prayed last week & said, “Lord, I don’t even know anyone to ask here, so I’m asking You to send someone to my house to tell me about a church.”  Later an exterminator came to work in their home and when he learned that they had just moved, he said, “You probably need a home church, then, don’t you?”, and proceeded to tell her about CLC.  It wasn’t until later in the day the Lord reminded her, “you did ask me to send someone to your home to tell you about a new church, remember?”.  She, her husband and teen daughter came today & loved it!  (And I love the anonymous CLC exterminator!)
• I think I may be happiest today for Pastors William & Melek Arevalo at our Spanish-speaking congregation.  Several weeks ago Pastor William told me after an early-morning prayer time that the Lord had spoken to him that the revival among Hispanics that he longs for would begin on Easter Sunday, when 100 people would attend (more than double their usual number).  I received this text from him this afternoon: 135 in attendance (84 adults) and 4 salvation’s in their service today!
• Pastor Doug says our South Bend campus had a full sanctuary with 150 in attendance, lots of old friends, presentations from their next generation of kids & youth, and 3 salvations!

Reflections from our 23rd Anniversary Celebration today at CLC:

• God is good.  God is good.  God has been so good to us.  We had no idea when we gathered at Tinley Park High School 23 years ago what HE would do among us, but almost 150 people worshiped together that day.  Today, just over 1,650 worshiped in one of our three services…..that’s a 1,000% increase!  God is good!
• Loved the Anniversary video…..although the thing I still can’t believe was Michael’s dunk that started from beyond the foul line!  Kudos to Moy Melgar, our new video editor!
• Didn’t you enjoy our KidsLife Dance team?  Those kids just steal your heart!
  

  KidsLife Dance Team

• Love that we’re not living in the past, with nothing but memories – as you saw if you were present, the majority of the congregation has been introduced to CLC in the past 5 years…..in fact, our Next Steps classes today for new members were both overflowing their classroom!
• It’s always more FUN to celebrate with friends, so celebrating with Pastors Eddie Cupples and Tim Ross made today’s ‘birthday party’ even more special!
• And did they preach!  My goodness, I urge you to visit our website later this week to view both – we didn’t hear sermons today; we received words from God!
• Thankful for people who prayed to receive Jesus as Lord & Savior in each service – must have been about 15 in all, and that never gets old!
• Speaking of salvation decisions, Pastor Herley Montes reports that 62 people prayed to receive Christ at our Davao, Philippines campus today, including 6 who just walked in!  (One of the advantages of having service in a shopping Mall!)
• Pastor Doug says our South Bend campus really appreciated having Pastor Tim Ross preach at their service this morning, and that he gave a great word to their congregation.
  

Most of all, I’m grateful for the people that God has brought to be a part of our church family – YOU are the ones who make CLC what it is, and I truly believe what the video said: “the best is yet to come!”

“Remember the Story” continues to be a fun series, although today’s installment with Samson was a lot more about warning than about encouragement.  Nonetheless, I’m still celebrating:

• two adult men who prayed to be born-again just 10 minutes into the message at 10am!  (First time I remember making an altar call on the first point of a sermon!), and several young adults who recommitted their lives in the noon service!
• some brave CLC’ers who went into the video booth today (after this second appeal) to share their story for a future service.
• The ‘coming-out party’ for 3 more CLC’ers who were water-baptized today!  (Congrats to Kylie Smith, Roland Prior, and Brianna Campbell!)
• Several lobby conversations with CLC’ers who felt the message was “just for them” and the number of folks in each service who took the warning of Samson & for whom we prayed that “all that is about to change!”
• What God is doing among our students, as Pastor Sam Hamstra reports: “Detox Winter Retreat was amazing!  We had 126 people in attendance;  6 of them made salvation commitments; 2 people received their prayer language; 1 (Brianna) was water baptized this morning; and dozens of students who detoxed from  poison from within them so they can live for the Kingdom  while still here on earth!”
• Pastor Doug says they had a “killer” service in South Bend today, with an awesome worship experience led by Pastor Jon Jones and their SB worship team!
• And, as usual, Pastor Herley Montes had the report of the day, as our Philippines campus had over 900 in attendance today, and 60 guests who prayed to receive Christ!  He also informed me that their Regeneration Youth Service on Fridays averages another 200 young adults who are unable to attend on Sundays, so their campus exceeds 1,000 in regular attenders now!  He did the “Thrive” series, and says that there have been many testimonies of blessings & increase as his congregation has given more generously to the Lord’s work there.  Finally, Pastor Nelly is improving well everyday – for which we can all praise God!

That’s it for this Sunday…..the couch is calling me…..

This was the BEST “time-change” Sunday in our 23 year history:

• usually that lost hour of sleep translates into one of the lowest-attended Sundays of the year, but today was almost normal, with well over 1,400 people worshiping with us in the 3 services
• my first impression of the new service schedule is that it worked; attendance was definitely better distributed among the services, which freed up some seats at 10am & noon for continued growth
• ‘Remember the Story’ is gonna be a sermon series to remember, and after being away for most of the week, I sure enjoyed sitting back & listening to Executive Pastor Ben Stewart, Children’s Ministry Director Brent McQuay & Family Ministries Pastor Tony Gilmore as they looked at the story of Jehoshaphat, Jonathan, & Jehoshaphat (respectively)
• all right, I’ll say it: Brent made me a proud dad today!  (Loved the ‘what???’ in the story, and that faith has a ‘plan’ not a ‘wing’!)
• Favorite line from Pastor Tony: “if I will face my enemies, God will fight them!”
• LOVED Pastor Ben’s story of partial obedience in giving away a car, only to have it cost him an additional $500 - now that’s a lesson to remember!
• Loved the combined adult & youth dance team today for the new song, “Te Amo” that Pastor Jon Jones taught us, and the song itself was FUN, even though I honestly didn’t understand a single word that Terrell Wilson rapped (my 60-year-old-ears just couldn’t catch up with the speed of delivery).  That’s kinda how I feel about the dancers, too – I can’t say I’ve ever wanted to be a dancer, but I’d sure love to have their energy!
• I don’t have to ask what you thought of today’s video encouraging you to share your story with us at the video booth in the lobby…but if you missed it, here it is again.
• Pastor Doug RAVED about the service at our South Bend campus today & says the visit from several TP Life Group leaders was a blessing.
• Pastor William reports a wonderful Spanish service today, with 3 testimonies from people who’s life has been changed at CVC!
• Just heard from Pastor Herley at our Philippines campus – they had major rains with flooding in some parts of Davao today, but people still came to church and 67 precious Filipino’s gave their life to Jesus in their services!  I’m also rejoicing over his report that Pastor Nelly is about 95% recovered from her brain aneurysm!

Remember part 2 of “The Bible” will air tonight on the History Channel at 7pm

Can’t wait to be back in the pulpit next week with my bride as together we’ll help you ‘Remember the Story’ of Samson!

I LOVE this church!  I especially LOVE what God is doing among us during this season!  Here’s a few random thoughts about today at CLC:

• I’m noticing several ‘little’ improvements with our Media & Worship teams – and I like them all: service countdowns, lyrics synched on the screens, etc! Not sure who all is responsible, so whoever you are: KUDOS!
• Gotta love the energy coming off our SoP team led by Pastor Jon Jones & Director Terrell Wilson…..the whole team of musicians & singers look like they’re having FUN on Sunday morning, and the anointing is priceless!
• How ’bout the trailer for our new sermon series?  MEGA kudos to the team: Eduardo, Hudson, Moy & Sam - I’m fired up!
• BEST of all: I LOVE the fact that people came forward to receive Jesus in EACH service today, with at least one dozen who prayed with our team afterwards!  That never gets old & I pray we never take it for granted!  #morechangedlives
• Pastor Doug reports the South Bend campus enjoyed Joe Sangl as much by video today as we did live last Sunday!  (easy to believe seeing how FIRED-UP he was!)
• And (drum roll, please) maybe my fav report of the day comes from our Davao City campus in the Philippines, where less than 3 weeks after having a brain aneurysm rupture & undergoing brain surgery, Pastor Nelly Montes was able to attend service today AND share her testimony as to how God answered our prayers with the 900+ people who gathered there today – and 60 Filipino’s gave their lives to Christ!  God is SO good & we rejoice over Nelly’s miraculous recovery!  She’ll be hosting a group of CLC ladies who’ll join the Davao ladies at our first Heart to Heart retreat in the Philippines this May!

That’s all for this Sunday….gonna kick back until time to watch “The Bible” mini-series on the History Channel tonight at 7pm.

I don’t know how to describe today’s services with Joe Sangl.  You. had. to. be. here.

Worship was as high-energy as I ever remember; love, love, love “Waiting Here for You (kudos to Jessica Hernandez); and whoever thought of using the video ‘He is Here’ during worship deserves a raise!

Did I say high-energy?  Have you ever heard anyone quite like Joe Sangl?  To say that he inspired & motivated us to win with our money, God’s way is the understatement of the year.  And we have OVER 500 people registered for this evenings Financial Learning Experience as a result!

We brought Joe to CLC, not because we want something from you, but because of what we want for you – namely, to be financially free so you can fulfill God’s dreams for your life. I truly believe that this weekend will be life-changing for hundreds of CLC’ers!

• In South Bend, Pastor Doug says it may have been the most fun he’s ever had teaching on giving, as they celebrated their Generosity Sunday today – and, just like here, several of those who won prizes chose to give theirs away to others in need.  Generosity begets generosity!
• Pastor Herley Montes reports from our Davao campus that another 81 people gave their life to Christ at the close of their services, and that several people received healing.  He also asks that we continue to pray for his wife, Nelly, who is now home following her brain surgery, but faces several months of therapy in order to fully recover.  We believe that Jesus is her Healer!

Never had this much FUN while in pain before!

Carried a plasma TV into the house last Saturday & the lower back pain showed up Monday morning, so I was basically out of commission all last week: ice packs, heat packs, muscle relaxants, anti-inflammatory pain meds, therapeutic massage, chiropractic adjustment & acupuncture before I finally got some relief.  I even brought the ice pack to church today & used it before & between services – but I was determined to be here for our 2nd annual GENEROSITY Sunday:

• in the English services, we gave away 15 – $50 gas cards, 3 – $200 Target gift cards, 3 new laptops, 3 car payments valued up to $350 each, and 3 house payments of up to $1,000 each – so when you add in our Spanish-language service plus our South Bend campus, we’re giving away almost $10K in award for no other reason but to demonstrate generosity!
• AND it must have worked, as I just heard the story from our 11:30 service, after all the gifts had been awarded and Pastor Tony was ready to dismiss the service, one of our members asked to make a spontaneous‘violent gift’ of $500 in cash, so one more name was drawn, and – get this – the young woman whose name was drawn had been praying for a financial miracle but had not been chosen for one of our 27 planned gifts!  She wept her way to the stage and was overwhelmed at the unexpected display of God’s generosity to her!
• Love the other stories that are already coming in, too - one of the laptop recipients had literally been praying for a new laptop before today; others who received gifts were unemployed and behind in their rent!  Can you say ‘God is GOOD!’?
• At our South Bend campus, Pastor Doug began the ‘THRIVE’ series today and someone was so moved that they gave a large offering AFTER the service was over, long after the offering had been received!
• At our Davao City, Philippines campus, Pastor Herley reports 950 in attendance today, including 93 people who came forward to receive Christ at the close of their services!  And on a more personal note, he says that Nelly is now out of ICU and expects to be released from the hospital this week, just over a week after emergency brain surgery to clip the aneuryism that ruptured last Monday.  He also informed me that her doctors were amazed that ‘something’ blocked the bleeding in her brain which enabled her to regain consciousness after 30 minutes, and that had the bleeding continued longer, she possibly could have died without regaining consciousness!  Thank YOU for your prayers & thank God for His goodness!

Pastor Nelly Montes after her surgery – thank God for His grace!

Finally, I was overwhelmed by the response to my challenge to listen to the Holy Spirit this week in random acts of generosity – let’s encourage each other by reporting each one on our CLC FaceBook page – it will really bless others to see how God uses our violent giving!

Can’t wait to hear how God uses our giving to bless others!

WOW….loved the energy in the room today at all 3 services AND in the lobby afterwards – felt like a BIG Family Reunion:

• one of my fav’s through the years is watching people get saved during a finance series, and today it was neat to see 2 women in the 8am service & 2 young women in the 11:30am service bravely stand to receive Christ!
• loved the conversations in the lobby of CLCers who are getting help thru ‘Thrive’, and especially the stories from people who have learned & are thriving, including one couple who today practiced what Bishop Tudor mentioned during First Love: they calculated what the total amount of their tithes for the entire year of 2013 will be and wrote a check for it today!  They also added 20% to that like Bishop did, held it in reserve, and were able to pay the utility bill for someone whose water was shut off - blessed to BE a blessing!
• I hope these video testimonies are as encouraging to you as they are to me!  More coming!
• Met so many people today for the first time and others who have been worshipping for a few months now - love how God is adding people to CLC weekly - more changed lives!
• I forgot to draw attention to the back of the sermon insert today where we listed several helpful websites & verses for you to use this week to help you “manage well”, so here it is: I am managing well_02.10.13
• Pastor Ben ministered in South Bend today & Pastor Doug says he really connected & that three new families completed the Membership class today to join CLC-SB!
• Our campus in Davao City, Philippines where Herley & Nelly Montes are the pastors was averaging between 600-800 most Sundays last year (with 700 being a typical day).  Three weeks ago they moved into a new rental location in one of Davao’s newest shopping malls in a great area of town, and today they had over 1,200 in worship AND 245 of them came forward to receive Christ at the close of the services!  (Pastor Herley said most of the 187 people who were saved in the evening service were actually just shopping in the Mall when they were persuaded to visit the service & ended up at the altar – many of them weeping as they received the Lord!)  I won’t be surprised if Davao passes us in attendance before Easter!  Enjoy the pics:

187 precious people praying to receive Christ at the evening service

Don’t forget that NEXT Sunday is our 2nd annual “Generosity Sunday” when we’ll give away thousands of dollars worth of car payments, house payments, laptops, gas cards & more – invite a friend to join you!

I’ve always wondered why God allows it to snow about the time people would be driving to church on Sundays, but I’m thankful for a GOOD day in spite of the weather:

• LOVED singing, “O, The Blood” in each service during Communion today!  May we never forget the price He paid so we could enjoy this salvation!  (Kudos to Sandra Norris & the SoP, too – you led us into His Presence!)
• Really LOVED the service flow today – by holding announcements & offering until the end, it enabled me to bring the Word while the anointing from worship lingered!
• Enjoyed meeting some brand-new folks in the lobby today, and what’s even more exciting is that they’ve each been worshiping with us for a few weeks or months, even though I hadn’t met them before.  Always neat to see people coming regularly – that’s how we grow!
• Excited about the response to the ‘Saturday of Hope’ promo (Kudos, Jennifer Anderson!)  There was a CROWD of CLCers around the Missions Kiosk after each service, getting info about how they can serve the community this month!
• Touched by Pastor William Arevalo’s testimony – he has such a sweet spirit anyway, but his testimony about God’s provision was so heartfelt!
• Really pumped about the “THRIVE” series & today’s opening message.  Some have asked about the stats I used in the intro, so I’ve attached my notes here: I am a steward_02.03.13
• Especially LOVED seeing people respond to an altar invitation after a message about money (you know that’s God!) - 6 people made commitments to Christ today!
• Pastor Doug reports the South Bend campus enjoyed great worship led by our own Terrell Wilson (in the absence of their worship director) and a great response to their ‘Treatment’ series, too.
• I’m waiting for Pastor Herley’s email about our Davao campus, but I’ve already seen these photos on Facebook from their Sunday evening service where 96 people gave their lives to Christ!  I’ve got a feeling it was a new record attendance for them when we add in the morning service!  I think this new Mall location is going to catapult them into exponential growth!

That’s it…gonna watch some pregame festivities before heading to O’Hare to pick up my sweetie; then we’ll watch the game together for the first time in our 40 years!  (She promised she would since I’m missing kickoff & the first half due to her flight schedule)

What goes up also comes down, and today’s attendance was down by about 400 people from last Sunday – but thank God that His Spirit was not hindered:

• The worship team was on FIRE in each service today – loved the energy in the room!
• Witnessing 3 water baptisms never gets old!
• And seeing people give their lives to Jesus in EACH morning service is such a privilege – angels were having a party in heaven over our services today, with over one dozen people praying with us to receive Christ!
• It was standing-room only in our Next Step 1 class today, with about 30 new members joining us!
• As always, I enjoyed team-teaching with Chris as we brought ‘Treatment’ series to a close; now I can’t wait for next Sunday as we ‘stop surviving & start thriving’ by looking at God’s Word about our money!
• Pastor Doug says our South Bend campus was also down in attendance, but powerful in Presence as people were deeply moved by the ‘Treatment’ teaching.

The worship team leading from the new stage

The auditorium can hold about 1,500 people but today they only had 700 chairs set up for each service & it was packed with worshipers!

From back to front, lifting up Jesus!

I haven’t had time to post during our First Love Conference, but it was just as well…I’m still digesting what had to be one of the most incredible weekends in our history:

• first, THANK YOU, CLCers for your faithful attendance – I was blown-away by the numbers of people at each service, including 1,650 on Sunday morning!
• Alan Ross must be the most amazing prophet we’ve ever brought to CLC – the depth of his prophetic insights was unbelievable!
• Richard Heard’s preaching on Sunday was like trying to drink from a fire hydrant – the truths & revelation was coming at us faster than we could even grasp!
• My pastor reminded me of why I love him so much…Bishop Garlington was incredibly transparent on Sunday night AND full of insights on Monday that helped us personally & as a church!
• Bishop Tudor Bismark was his usual inimitable self, and his teaching on Monday gave me enough to chew on for the rest of 2013!
• I’ll never forget some of the significant moments of the conference, such as the offering response on Monday morning and seeing the under-25 group in the altar on Monday night (I’m SO thankful that CLC is a trans-generational church!)

I think today was a good day.

My wife says the South Bend service today was perhaps the strongest move of the Spirit that she has witnessed there, with a wonderful response to her teaching on prayer, despite a lower-than-usual attendance.

Pastor Herley from our Davao City, Philippines campus says that 34 people gave their life to Christ in their Sunday services AND he is quite excited to report that they have finalized a lease agreement on a new Mall in Davao, so they’ll move their services there soon.  It’s a great location with many advantages, so I’m sure it’s going to be a blessing for their continued growth!

Meanwhile, here in Tinley Park I was able to preach all 4 services, as we continued our series dealing with the battle for our mind.  (Thankful to be back after my battle with the flu last week!)  I’m also thankful for:

• lots of CLCers signing up to get involved in a Life Group this season!
• several new & repeat guests who introduced themselves in the lobby today!
• Perhaps 10-12 people who responded to the altar invitation today, making fresh starts with the Lord in this new Year!
• The continued reports & testimonies from our time of Fasting & Prayer!

Don’t forget the Celebration worship night as we conclude our Fast this Wednesday, and don’t let anything keep you away from our First Love Conference this Saturday, Sunday, and next Monday, Jan. 19-21!

Today was a first for me.  

Not the kind of ‘first’ that I want, though.  I can count on one hand the number of Sundays that I’ve missed to illness in 40+ years of ministry, but I’ve been down with some kind of respiratory/cold/flu bug almost all year.  I managed to get thru the 8am service today so the message could be recorded (since none of our pastors had worked with me on this one due to the Christmas holidays) and then I went back to bed and slept through the next several hours.

I said all that to say I don’t have any ‘reflections’ from today’s services, so I’m depending on those of you who were at CLC for the first Sunday of the year to weigh-in below with your comments about the service you attended.

I did hear from Pastor Doug in South Bend that their opening service of 2013 was “awesome” with great worship & a great response to the Word.

And Pastor Herley reports from our Davao City, Philippines campus also enjoyed a great beginning to 2013 – even though attendance was down because many are still visiting their families in the province for the holidays, they had 21 precious people come forward to receive Christ at the close of service, AND they are finalizing the contract this week on their new rental auditorium inside one of Davao’s shopping malls!  (This is a huge step of faith for them, but positions them to reach many more people there each week!)

That’s it from me - now let me ‘hear’ your reflections below:

 I’d say we closed the year strong today, with 4 different speakers bringing 4 different messages and we heard 4 different ‘words’ from God:

• Pastor Jon Jones went first, and his message on “Healthy Change” gave us some great tips as we move into 2013, including ‘make sure it’s a God-idea’; ‘don’t go it alone’ and ‘Good can be bad if it hinders you from the best!’
• At the 9:30 service, it was Pastor Ben Stewart’s turn, and he helped us see how we can “Journey to the Impossible”, by ‘making our #1 goal to know Him’ and ‘committing time to the journey’.  Loved his illustration that we must stop being consumers of the resources and instead become a resource that is plugged-in to The Source!
• What can I say about Marc White at the final morning service of 2012 with “On Your Mark; Get Set; Go!”  He brought out Hebrews 12:1-2 in a compelling way by sharing his experience in completing the 2012 Chicago Marathon (and stripping publicly in the process – don’t think I’d ever seen that done on a church platform before!).  Not only did all of us hear from God about some ‘weights’ we need to lose next year, but best of all, when he closed the message, 2 men came forward at my invitation to give their lives to Christ, including Marc’s own father!  It was an awesome moment that only God could have orchestrated!
• Then tonight at the 5pm service, Joshua Morris reminded us of a truth we so often neglect: that we go thru hardships & tribulation in the Kingdom of God, but that we can focus on the joy of our rewards & thus endure anything!
• By the way, the worship team might have been smaller in number than usual today, but the hunger for His Presence was palpable, especially in the 9:30 service – kudos to Pastor Jon and the entire SoP team!
• At our South Bend campus, Pastor Doug gave major kudos to Terrell Wilson for leading worship & closing the service there in a real “Holy Spirit moment”.

As I mentioned in service today, our 2013 Bible Reading Guides didn’t arrive on time, so if you want to insure you don’t fall behind before you even get started, I encourage you to use one of the great plans from You Version.  I promise that reading the Scriptures every day will enhance your spiritual growth in 2013!

Finally, I want to thank you for the way we’ve closed 2012 strong because of your generous financial support.  As Pastor Sam mentioned this morning, you can still receive tax credit for your gifts until 11:59pm tomorrow by clicking here and making your final donation of 2012.

Don’t forget we’re going to CELEBRATE 2012 and ANTICIPATE 2013 tomorrow night at 6pm – join us here before your party or family get-together to end 2012!

I think we’ve hit on a winning combination.

As much as I admire/envy some of the churches & pastors around the country where they schedule 83 Christmas Eve experiences and see 80,000 people in attendance, the reality at CLC is that many years we actually experience a decline in attendance during December….in fact, sometimes a significant decline.

That’s why I was SHOCKED today by the turnout of families, friends & guests for our KidsLife Christmas Production, “Charlie & the Cherub Cheerleaders”, as more than 2,000 people came to enjoy!  (So I think we’ll find a way to get KIDS center stage next Christmas & EVERY Christmas!)

And you must admit it was a JOY, as our kids absolutely outdid themselves in a delightful musical & drama presentation that looked at the Christmas story from ‘behind the scenes’.  If you weren’t here, you can view online later.

Speaking of ‘online’, kudos to our Media team for streaming our services now in HD, and for the switch that enables our service to be viewed on Apple devices (iPhone, iPad, etc) now instead of just on your computer.  (Not that we want to give CLCers an excuse to stay home from church – but for those times you simply can’t be here, and for those folks who want to ‘check us out’ before visiting physically, it’s a great improvement.)

Major mega-kudos to our Children’s Ministry Directors, Brent & Sol, and their entire team of volunteers & KidsLife staffers Betsy Jansen & Wendy Thorne for putting together such a terrific production, as well as above-and-beyond assistance from CLCers Bob Contino & Sherree Brown!

This was a weekend to celebrate for other reasons, too:

• Pastors William & Melek led a special Christmas gathering for our Hispanic congregation which attracted over 30 first-time guests on Friday and resulted in 8 precious people giving their lives to Christ!
• Pastor Doug was able to preach in South Bend for the first time since his surgery, and he reports that the entire service was just FUN, with several special elements that made for a great Christmas celebration there.
• Just heard from Pastor Herley Montes that 15 people received Christ in their services in Davao City today!
• I can’t bring this to a close without expressing our sincere thanks to ALL of you who were responsible for the surprise blessings for my 60th birthday & our 40th anniversary.  Chris & I were both moved to tears by the video greetings from some of our dearest ministry friends, as well as the incredibly thoughtful gifts & expressions from our CLC family.  Special thanks to Pastor Ben and our staff for keeping all of this a secret from us – we were truly honored!  (not to mention that we LOVE each of the gifts – especially the autographed BEARS football!)

Now I look forward to celebrating a great Family Christmas Eve service tomorrow at 6pm!

Our 40th Anniversary falling on a Sunday made for a strange anniversary, with Chris preaching in South Bend and me here in Tinley Park – but we did get to share lunch together afterwards (Taco Bell take-out on the couch before she collapsed into bed for a well-deserved nap!)  Anyway, here’s my thoughts about today:

• as always, like most pastors in December, I’m looking forward to January when attendance returns to normal! (although honestly, today wasn’t so bad)
• I was moved by the sight of our kids up front, especially when I saw so many about the age of those slain in Newtown, CT on Friday & realize that it could have happened here – hug your kids tight, mom & dad!  Loved the prayers that went up for them today from all CLCers-
• Preached myself hoarse for the second time in a row & honestly felt like most of my “keep your eyes on the goal” point was for me more than anyone else.
• I’ll send an email blast to the entire CLC family, but it appears the building we have been believing for in Matteson is not meant to be – which is why I’ve got to keep my eyes on the goal & not be sidetracked (just like the Wise Men!)
• LOVED doing a “point & play” message today – think music/song communicates, sometimes better than a sermon.  And I think having the salvation invitation in the middle of the message instead of at the end was neat – loved seeing people stand up for Jesus in each service this morning!
• Pastor Doug said the service in South Bend included a strong Presence of the Holy Spirit, especially at the close, and he’s thanking God for a great sense of unity among the leadership there.
• Pastor Herley said the ’3 Christmas Stories’ is being very well received at our Davao campus and that 20 new guests prayed to receive Christ in their services today.  Please continue to pray for our pastors there as they negotiate a lease on a new auditorium in a shopping mall that would greatly increase their potential for growth in Davao City!

Today was the first time I’ve been at our South Bend campus for a Sunday in almosttwo years, so it really seemed different to not be in Tinley Park today.  Here are my reflections, in no particular order:

• I was blown-away in South Bend by the number of people I didn’t know!  Pastors Doug & Shanna had been telling me for months about all the new people they were reaching, but it didn’t compute until I saw it for myself! (I was also thankful for the familiar faces who have been faithful there for years!)
• Pastor Jon Jones was there with me to lead worship in the absence of their worship leader, and not only was worship anointed, but we also did a “point & play” approach to the message, where I gave a point and then Jon led a song and then I’d do another point & he’s lead another song, etc.  Blessed!
• I was also thrilled to see Pastor Doug in good health & good spirits after his recent bout with thyroid cancer.  Praise God for answering prayer, and let’s continue stand in faith as he gains strength & a full recovery!
• I heard that my wife was especially anointed today as she shared Mary’s perspective of the Christmas story, and I’m looking forward to hearing her tonight at 5pm!
• I heard that our altars were full in each service, so whether you came forward or just grabbed one of the promises of God during her message, hold on to it in faith!  His promises are Yea and Amen! (see 2Cor. 1:20)

Now if only the Bears hadn’t ruined a perfectly good day….

It’s been a while since we saw attendance drop as much as it did today (every service was lower than normal) – but as I ‘reflected’, I had to praise God that our ‘down’ day now is larger than a ‘good’ day before, with over 1,300 people worshiping at CLC today:

• Felt the ‘anointment’ (as someone called it) today in sharing the lessons we learn from Joseph’s perspective of the Christmas story, especially the idea that maybe anxiety removal is not #1 on God’s list for Joseph….or for us, and that when our world is turned upside down it just may be that God is preparing us for a new era of growth HE has in mind for us!  That will preach, if I say so myself.
• LOVED the fact that people came forward in each service to receive Christ – including our new 5pm service! Seeing people turn from death to life in Christ just never gets old!
• I especially LOVE that one of those who received Christ in the services was an Indian Sikh who first visited in November….may we never take for granted that the Presence of God will draw people from every walk of life.
• That’s WHY it’s SO important for us to invite, invite, invite!  We have 3 more Christmas weekends to do so: Dec. 9 (Mary); Dec. 16 (The Wise Men); Dec. 23 (a delightful Kids Musical) – your invitation could change someone’s life for eternity!
• Got this report from Pastor Shanna at our South Bend campus: “what an incredible, indescribable day – worship was off the charts; just glorious, as even after the service host got up, it exploded again and worship was extended with such a sweet, rich & loving Presence of the Lord!  What a powerful word from God Pastor Tony Gilmore delivered – the entire house stood at his invitation & challenge to see life from God’s vantage point.  It was an awesome day!”
• Just heard from Pastor Herley at our Davao City campus in the Philippines where another 36 people prayed to receive Christ today.  Even more importantly, he tells me they are looking to rent the auditorium at the NCCC Mall (where the Harvest Event was held when Pastor Sam preached there recently) for their Sunday services in 2013.  It would be a MAJOR step up in terms of location and size, and if God opens the door, could launch them into major growth, as they’ve been out of room for a long time (a problem we’re very familiar with at CLC!).  Let’s pray with them for FAVOR in obtaining the Mall location!

So…..in spite of the depressing, frustrating Bears loss today, it was STILL a good day!

I had forgotten how much FUN church can be when I’m not preaching!

Today we had 4 different pastors speak at the 4 different services, and EACH one of them brought a ‘word’ from the Lord:

• Pastor Tony Gilmore shared ‘Vantage Point’(God’s view of our pain) with the 8am service, and it was SO encouraging to be reminded that we see our circumstances in the moment – but when we see them from God’s vantage point, we get the advantage over all of life’s challenges!  (Outstanding – get the CD!)
• My wife told the 9:30am service to “Wake Up!” to God’s Purpose and to Prayer and especially to Who We are in Christ!  Hearing afresh who HE says we are made me want to shout, “I am all He says I am!”
• In the 11:30am service, Pastor Sam Hamstra asked us “How Bad to you Want it?” and challenged all of us with “Don’t settle for less when God has promised you the best!”  His personal testimony along with his experience in the Philippines last week made it clear: it’s not about our circumstances; it’s a heart issue!
• Our KidsLife Director, Brent McQuay, impressed on each of us at the 5pm service that we were created on purpose, with a purpose & for a purpose – and the result was that many in attendance prayed to know their purpose!
• I thought it was especially neat that on a holiday weekend, someone came forward to receive Christ at each morning service (that NEVER gets old!) and that our total attendance on Thanksgiving weekend with dozens of CLCers traveling was still well over 1,400!
• Pastor Shanna reported that while the holiday affected attendance at our South Bend campus, it didn’t dampen the sweet presence of the Lord as TPer’s Mark & Audrey LaBranche led worship along with the South Bend praise team.
• Finally, Pastor Herley Montes from our Davao, Philippines campus reports 750 in attendance there this weekend, with 100 of their recent converts from the Harvest Event (where Pastor Sam preached) were water-baptized AND baptized in the Holy Spirit today during their Encounter Weekend!  Gotta love what God is doing in the Philippines – and SO glad that CLC is part of it!  Enjoy a few pics:

the bus we provided for CLC-Davao transported the new converts to the beach for baptism

some of the 100 converts who were baptized this weekend at CLC-Davao

some of the converts who completed the ‘Encounter’ weekend at CLC-Davao

Top all that off with a convincing Bears win over the Vikings AND a piece of pecan pie just like my mom made (thanks to Herb Bishop), and I’d call this a GREAT Sunday!

Since I’m here in Davao City, Philippines, I’m REALLY curious as to how services were at home this weekend.  So instead of my usual “Sunday reflections” post on what stood out to ME about our services, I’m asking those of you reading this who attended a CLC service in Tinley Park or South Bend to please leave a comment below as to YOUR reflections on your experience:

(please!)

thanks!

I love this team!  I love this church!!! Here are the latest reasons why:

• You made room for more folks as we added a 4th service, and 1,550 people worshiped with us today!
• The new 5pm service enabled several families to attend whose work schedules prevent them from being here on Sunday mornings!
• Our worship team is always kickin’, and they consistently lead us into His Presence, not just today, but every Sunday!
• You responded to Pastor Ben’s appeal for unity in our Matteson campus project as over 40 families made commitments that now bring us to over $150,000 in pledges toward the $200,000 needed by the end of the year!
• You’re the best folks on earth to preach to, and you pulled the Word out of me today – some of the strongest anointing I’ve felt while preaching!
• Our pastoral team & their families gave their best in all four services today, without complaint, even though the workload is a sacrifice.  KUDOS to each one of you!
• You came to the altar in your pain today, and our prayer team members ministered to you with their hearts – we saw people being set free in every service!
• I LOVE the lobby conversations every week, but 2 stood out today:

(1) a faithful CLCer who had been unemployed for more than 18 months, felt impressed to make a $1,000 pledge for the Matteson campus.  Before she could even write the check, she had a phone call for a job interview, and a week later, she got the job…..at a higher salary than her last position!  And today her husband, who has not been walking in fellowship with the Lord, took the 90-day tithe challenge!

(2) another faithful CLCer informed me that back in 2007, when we had anointed some wooden stakes and distributed them to the congregation to ‘stake their claim’ on specific blessings, that he & his wife were believing specifically for a new car.  So they planted their stake at the Matteson Auto Mall on the property that we are now purchasing for our Matteson campus!  In fact, he said the stake is still there!

I love what God is doing at CLC!

What. A. Day.

Wow…I enjoyed our vacation so much I guess I didn’t remember how much I LOVE this church!  Today was about as awesome as I can imagine, start to finish:

• solid attendance again in the 1,500+ range, but the 9:30 service was SLAMMED with cars double-parked all around, 112 students in CSM, and still hardly any vacant chairs in the auditorium!
• (While that’s exciting, it does point out the NEED for some of you to sacrifice for the next 3 months by attending the 5pm service instead of the 9:30am – we NEED yourchair!)
• Worship was SO wonderful today in all 3 services.  I LOVE the Gateway Church song, “O The Blood” – kudos to Pastor Jon & the whole SoP team – awesome!
• I thought the prophetic word my wife shared today was really a ‘word’ – if you didn’t hear it, I’ll share more about that in tomorrow’s post.
• Kudos to our Media team (esp. Eduardo & Hudson) for the video of our potential new Matteson campus.  (If you haven’t yet partnered with us, you can do so with the commitment card at CLC or by giving online here)
• Pastor Jaime shared a great truth before the offering.
• And I preached myself hoarse sharing the introductory message of this series on “Overcoming Offense”.  I know it’s right on time and I know it speaks to us all, because we’ve all had a ‘Mr. New Jersey’ on our life before (if that doesn’t make sense, just get the CD or go online later this week to see for yourself)
• And the blessings weren’t just at our Tinley Park campus, because Pastor Doug reports that South Bend had an “incredibly high service….song of the Lord broke out during worship….lots of tears & genuine brokenness…and about half of the congregation was in the altar after Pastor Shanna’s message!”  Attendance was up by 35% – strongest attendance in months!
• And, not to be outdone, Pastor Herley Montes emailed that our Davao City, Philippines campus had 31 first-time guests in their services today and each one of them came forward (many with tears) to receive Christ!

Add to that the fun-filled blowout by the Bears in Tennessee today, and I’d call this a WONDERFUL Sunday!  I love my church!!!

For my reflections, can I just say, WOW!

• Presence of God was SO strong during worship today I thought we might be raptured – kudos to the entire team of skilled musicians & singers who are anointed to lead us into His Presence every week, and to Pastor Jon for leading them!
• I LOVE my church!  (I’ve hesitated to say that lest it be misunderstood, because I know CLC belongs to JESUS, not me, but today, I’ve just got to say it: I love my church!)

The response to the BIG news in all 3 services today was off the charts!  If you weren’t here and haven’t heard, here it is:

• God has opened the door for us to purchase a new campus in Matteson, less than 5 miles from our Tinley Park campus.
• The building is just under 35,0000 square feet, so it’s almost identical in size to Tinley Park.
• It has even more property, with 6 acres compared to Tinley’s 5, which means there will be MORE parking than we will even need!
• It’s in a more visible location, right off I-57 at Lincoln Highway, where 81,000 cars per day drive past it!
• The building was appraised a few years ago at $4.8M, but through the favor of God we now have a purchase agreement for $1.3M!!!!

Here’s a few pictures:

The other 2 big announcements are:

1.  We’re launching a 4th Sunday service at Tinley Park, starting 11/11/12 at 5pm!  (It will be a family-integrated service so you can worship with your children in the service)

2.  We’re launching a NW Indiana campus in 2013! (Location & start date will be announced later, but we’re moving forward to reach more of Chicagoland!)

What an AWESOME day at CLC:

* At 81 years old, Marilyn Hickey is still a role model for any minister of the Gospel (I’d sure like to be like her at 81!)

* I was totally BLOWN-AWAY by the altar response after her message in each service – I suspect there were at least 130-150 people who came forward to either receive Jesus, recommit their life to Christ or be baptized in the Holy Spirit!

* And I’m thrilled to report that perhaps 60-75 of them did indeed receive the Holy Spirit and begin using their prayer language today!

* That’s the second-time-this-year that we’ve more people filled with the Holy Spirit in one day than we have oftentimes in a whole year during our history at CLC!

* Pastor Doug reports another great day in South Bend (where my wife ministered today) and he seems quite encouraged with what God is doing at their campus.

* Tonight’s International Dinner was a lot of fun & the most unusual menu we’ve ever enjoyed! Marilyn entertained us with a story we’ll never forget about how God gives you the desire of your heart when you delight in Him, and we introduced the most-ambitious plan for missions trips ever – with 9 different trips planned for 2013!

* Congrats to Barry Bronner and Carmen Tibbs for winning a 25% discount on the trip of their choice next year!

* Finally, we announced an ESSAY CONTEST – if you’d like to win a free trip in 2013, please submit your essay about “why I want to go” OR “why I’d like CLC to help me go” to Pastor Ben Stewart Pastor Ben Stewart by next Sunday, October 14

When you add to all that both a Bears victory AND a Packer’s loss, I’d say it doesn’t get much better than this! G’night-

Honest disclaimer: I’m exhausted, so my reflections will be brief.

It has been a great weekend, but I’ve got a feeling we crammed too much into one weekend, what with Saturday of Hope & the annual Fall Fest followed by three services AND a live worship recording in a 36-hour span of time.  Here’s my Sunday afternoon thoughts from the couch:

• What we’ve learned in 40 years together about “Love, Sex & Marriage” is one of my favorite all-time series at CLC.  Today was the biggest challenge, since I don’t feel like a model for Christian fathers, and having the kids join us in the auditorium always forces us to look for ways to keep them engaged – but it was still fun!
• Watching the kids dance team bust their moves today was as much fun as one should be allowed to have in church!  Kudos to the guys who keep finding ways to entertain us all!  (And special thanks to Chevelle Smith for choreographing & leading the team!)
• Today (probably because of yesterday’s activities & tonight’s recording) was the smallest-attended Sunday in a long, long time and we had over 1,350 people here! I’m still thankful for the GROWTH season we’re in!
• I LOVED praying in the altar with families today – nothing makes me feel more like a pastor than praying with folks!
• FAVORITE lobby conversation: a dad who started attending back in July when his youngest child was dedicated told me he’s been coming ever since and that his life has been completely changed as a result!  (It gets better – he says the message that arrested his attention & changed his life was “CARS 2″ during our ‘God@the Movies’ series!!!) Makes me realize that if God can speak to a prophet thru his donkey, he can talk to us thru a rusted-out Tow Truck!
• Heard that we SOLD-OUT the Mark Batterson book, Praying Circles Around Your Children, so we’ll get more & have them available for you next Sunday!
• Pastor Doug reported a wonderful worship experience in South Bend today, with more new guests in attendance there.
• Just got an email from Pastor Herley at our Philippines campus, where they had over 700 in attendance and at least 20 new people who came forward to receive Jesus, including one drunken Norwegian who had visited the service looking for his fiance’ and ended up giving his heart to God!  (Gotta love what’s happening in the Philippines!)

For those who want the answers for the outline, here it is:

Family Matters_09.30.12

that’s it….getting ready for the LIVE worship recording now – hope to see you there!

It’s been a while since I had this much fun in church without a comedian present (although I must say, ‘you da man, Michael Jr!’):

• you may get tired of hearing me say it, but I LOVE the way Pastor Jon & Terrell (or Dee or whatever name he’s using) and the whole team lead us into the Presence of God each Sunday!  (BTW, we’re recording a live worship CD on September 30 at 6pm, so mark your calendar & make plans to be part of a GREAT night of worship!)
• the Men’s Retreat video may have been my ALL-TIME fav at CLC.  If you didn’t see it, take a look here.  You can also register for the Men’s Retreat this Sept. 21-22 here (click the link, then “register” at the right side of the screen).
• Without a doubt, the spoken word by Alex Redfield was absolutely the BEST sermon intro we’ve ever had in the history of CLC!  So proud of her & of Pastors Sam & Taylor Hamstra & their whole team at CSM for the way they’re leading our students!
• And the message?  Well, I LOVE team-teaching with my wife, and we’ve been looking forward to this series for months – it’s been a growing but fun experience for us to talk & think about what we have learned in 40 years together in order to plan each of the messages.  But today, well, she just didn’t hold anything back!
• Loved the Lolo Jones testimony, too – if you want to see it, here it is again.
• One of the most gratifying comments ever came via FaceBook this afternoon, as a CLCer told me her 20-year old son had just told her that as a result of today’s message, he made a covenant with God to save himself for marriage!
• Of course, I’m rejoicing over at least 15 people who stood to receive Christ in the three services today – it just never gets old!
• I can’t ever recall this kind of growth momentum, with new guests & returning guests every week – total attendance today was right at 1,500 – which is 200 folks more than this time last year! (We had almost 300 at the 8am service today, which is easily a record for a ‘regular’ Sunday!)
  
• Loved the report from Pastor Doug at our South Bend campus, where the momentum continues!
• I also received a report from my friend, Pastor Chuck Colegrove, that their grand opening in Oak Park, IL today had 322 people in attendance & over 100 people giving their lives to Christ!  Kudos, Pastor Chuck & Free Church!

And to think we’re topping all that off with a convincing BEARS win – life is good!

Oh yeah, for those of you who want the message outline, with the blanks filled in, here it is:

How to find your true love_09.09.12

Now, this was a good day!

Pastors usually dread holiday weekends, because so many people take much-needed getaways, and while our attendance was down from the high’s of late, it was still well above previous holidays, and, more importantly, I’m still rejoicing over:

• 10 precious people who came forward to proclaim they were placing their trust in Jesus for salvation!  (that never gets old, folks!)  I love the fact that folks got out of their seats to receive Christ in every service today!
• The wonderful response to today’s message – the lobby was LOUD after each service with people crowding around the Life Group tables to sign up.  I know some of our ministries had to reprint their forms several times because they just weren’t prepared for the number of people who want to get connected!
• (Didn’t see this one coming) – I had at least 4 or 5 families that asked about joining CLC today – they want to be connected beyond a Life Group, to make this their church home!
• The good report from South Bend, where Pastor Doug was SO encouraged by the service there and the response from his church family!
• the ANTICIPATION for tonight & tomorrow’s “Miracle Services” with Missionary-Evangelist Daniel Kolenda!  (In fact, I decided to get this post done, because I don’t know what shape I’ll be in after tonight to post – we’re expecting heaven to come to Tinley Park – more later!)

This was one FULL weekend:

• Our Saturdays of Hope got off to a great start, as CLCers scattered to bless people in at least 4 different locations: washing cars for free (I heard people couldn’t believe we refused their donations!); giving out water bottles to thirsty shoppers in Matteson; serving the staff at The Bridge in Orland Park; and packing boxes bound for several different countries AND doing some electrical work for ‘HIM’ (Hearts in Motion).  Special thanks to each CLCer who participated!  Can’t wait for the next one on September 29!
• Michael Jr. is perhaps the most unusual man I’ve ever met: a unique God-given gift for comedy with an anointing to reach people!  I really can’t describe the 3 morning services where he had us laughing until we cried, but then made the simplest altar invitation I’ve ever heard and between 50-60 people came forward to invite Jesus into their ‘house’!  No wonder he calls it ‘comedy with a purpose’!
• Just as amazing is that we were slammed attendance-wise, as 1,635 people crammed into our services today!  In the summertime!
• Pastor Doug reported a power-packed time in South Bend today, with a great response to his vision-casting message.
• Tonight’s comedy event was just as indescribable, as Michael Jr. entertained a capacity crowd for 2 hours of non-stop laughs.

If a merry heart does good like medicine, a LOT of folks took some good meds today!

Here’s my primary reflection on this Sunday afternoon: I’m getting old!                          (Standing & preaching three services wiped me out today)

But before I zone out on the couch, here’s a few random thoughts about this Friend Day:

• thank you to every CLCer who invited a guest – even if no one came, you stepped up & did your part, and if you persist, your invitations will be rewarded!
• thank God that some must have accepted those invitations, as our ushers counted 1,465 people in attendance today, on August 19!
• my favorite part of the day was any number of lobby conversations between services, with both first-time (and even better) returning guests who expressed their desire for a church home & promised to return to CLC!
• perhaps even more exciting were the number of people talking about “Saturdays of Hope” beginning THIS Saturday (Aug. 25) from 9a-noon, and each last Saturday of the month, when we will BE the church scattered by serving our communities in a variety of practical ways, just being ‘Jesus with skin on’!
• Kudos to Ed Marroquin & his team for the “CLC is” video (even if no one mentioned the pastor)
• Pastor Doug reported a good day in South Bend with high energy & lots of folks signing up for the Fall season of Life Groups!

that’s it for today….can’t wait for Michael Jr next Sunday!  (not too late to order tickets for the 6pm comedy event here)

I honestly don’t ever recall a weekend that was this demanding, physically or emotionally – but it’s almost over!  Here are my random thoughts so far:

• The memorial services for Cyd Thompson and Juanita (“Mama”) Hood on Friday were both fitting tributes for wonderful women of God.  I was proud of our CLC family at both services for the way you stepped up to honor their memory, and our hearts continue to go out to both families in this time of loss & grief-
• Several leaders have told us that the MEGA leadership retreat on Friday night & Saturday was the “best ever”.  I really believe we addressed some very timely, needed subjects, and that we’re going to raise the bar for loving people as a result.
• If you want to learn more, you can get The Fred Factor and The Secret of Teams – both are excellent little books with a powerful message.
• I thought today at CLC-Tinley Park was wonderful….from the worship time (loved the new song about Lifting up the Name of Jesus – and the 11:30 service was on FIRE!) to praying over all our students & educators as they return to school, to my all-time favoritecommercial for Friend Day and the opportunity to simply share my heart about launching additional campuses in the next year.
• Most special of all was the response at the close, especially in the last 2 services, when numerous people came forward to say, “this is the church for me” or “I need Jesus” and at least one person who was baptized in the Holy Spirit today!
• Pastor Doug says the South Bend worship was great today as Pastor Jon Jones led their team, and he was especially encouraged with 5 new members taking their place at their Membership class today!
• And Pastor Herley reports great responses to the Word & the Spirit in their 3 weekend services, with another 14 people coming forward for salvation!  (It just never stops in the Philippines, and it never gets old!)

For those of you who’d like to have the outline of today’s “family chat”, here it is:

Church gathered_08.12.12

For those of you who would like to “automate the important”, here’s the link. (I just set up my weekly $10 gift to “Kingdom Expansion” to help fund our next campus, and it took me about 60 seconds to do it!)

Here are the pics of the building we recently helped purchase for our Messianic partners in Haifa, Israel and the bus we provided for our Davao City, Philippines campus, and 300 high school students who were born-again because the bus provided transportation for them to the Harvest Event:

high schoolers who received Christ thanks to the bus!

Haifa, Israel building

Finally, I’d love to hear YOUR thoughts about this weekend….leave a comment below:

Today was a lot like life: we enjoyed another wonderful day at CLC, then received the news after our last service that one of CLC’s “favorites”, Mrs. Renee Jackson, had suffered a heart attack and is already with the Lord.  I’m still in shock, but let me express some random thoughts about this day before I sign off:

• By anyone’s measure, “God@the Movies” was a real success, with an average attendance of well over 1,400 (in the summertime, when our attendance in the past has normally dipped to 1,000-1,100!); tons of first-time guests & full altars!
• ‘Captain America’ wasn’t my favorite of the series, but I know God spoke to us and I’m so grateful for the responses at the close, which included salvation decisions by some senior citizens (that always touches me!) and several families coming forward together…..it just never gets old to see people come to Jesus!
• And the report from our Consumed Student Ministries camp – where 11 students were born-again, and 18 were baptized in the Holy Spirit last night – WOW!
• Those numbers included 2 young women who are employees at the Camp, but they visited our services and gave their lives to Christ – how cool is that???
• Favorite lobby conversation was with one of our newer members & her teen son, who recently got saved & filled with the Spirit at Consumed AND brought a friend who was also saved & filled with the Spirit in our services.  He told his mom, “if we hadn’t started attending CLC, this would never have happened to me!”
• Kudos & special thanks to Pastors Sam & Taylor Hamstra, Pastor Tony Gilmore & ALL of the wonderful adult volunteers who helped make the camp possible!
• The outpouring of love for my wife’s birthday made her cry in all 3 services, and the words of affirmation from Pastor Shanna Neal & Pat Earley & our daughter Jen made it even more special – so I say thanks to all of you for that, too.  When you honor my wife like you did, I’m honored, too!
• Pastor Jaime Flores unveiled our plans for “Saturday of Hope” beginning August 25 and continuing each last Saturday of the month, as we engage our community in a Servolution – I’m so excited about God using us to bless our community!

We lost 3 CLCers this week: Cyd Thompson, Juanita Hood (mother of Terrilyn Franklin) and now Renee Jackson.  Funeral details will be forthcoming.

And for those of you who want the outline of Captain America, here it is:

Captain America_08.05.12

Whew…..emotional message & a moving day!

I wasn’t surprised, since I predicted “We Bought a Zoo” would be the hardest-hitting message of the entire “God@the Movies” series, but the altar responses and tearful lobby conversations today made it worth every effort!

I think “20 seconds of insane courage” will become part of our CLC corporate vocabulary.

I’m thankful for almost 1,500 people in attendance in JULY, as well as the number of salvation decisions AND the work of the Holy Spirit in families today.  Just one example is the lady who participated online today & wrote me afterwards, “Pastor, I am going to step out with insane courage & have an uncomfortable conversation with my husband – now I have the courage to deal with our home situations!”

My wife was as our South Bend campus while Pastors Doug & Shanna are on vacation and said the congregation there responded very well despite some technology glitches that almost prevented them from seeing any of the movie clips today.  (Can’t imagine trying to preach that message without the video!)

In our Spanish-language service, Pastor William said the worship was powerful and they experienced a great prayer time at the close of service.

And we had over 200 people from 11 states & 3 foreign countries view the services online today, including at least one first-time guest who learned about us from our radio broadcast on AM 1160.  Of course, the vast majority of those 200+ viewers were from Chicagoland, as it’s become the rule rather than the exception that people visit us online before they visit us in person.  Exciting!

If you saw the promo today, or if you’re just hearing about the comedy event at CLC on August 26 with Christian comedian Michael Jr., you can order tickets here.

Can’t wait for next week’s FAMILY SUNDAY with “Cars 2″!

Who said “summer slump”?

As we learned last year at CLC, it seems “God@the Movies” proves that folks will come to church in the summertime if we make it worth their while, and about 1400 CLCers agreed in our 3 services today.

I had a ton of fun today with what is probably my favorite movie of this year’s series, and from the full altars and the energy in the lobby afterwards, I’d say “Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol” spoke to us where we are – whether it was disqualifying ourselves or simply accepting our mission or joining a team or learning to trust or just persevering – it seems like this movie & it’s truths got us all.

Excited about lots of new guests and especially about the folks who signed up today to “join our team” by attending the Next Steps classes next Sunday at 11:30am.  (It’s not too late if you want to learn about membership at CLC or how to discover your spiritual gifts & get involved in serving here!)

Pastor Doug says the folks at our South Bend campus were so engaged they were literally gasping with relief at the end, and applauded when Ethan made it back through the window!

And Pastor William used the Spanish-language version of the film with similar results at Centro da Vida Cristiana today!

Can’t wait for next Sunday and “We Bought a Zoo” – honestly, prepping for it has been a little difficult, because I keep getting something in my eyes and water comes out and blurs my vision, but I got a feeling it’s going to hit us pretty hard, too.

Today was one of those Sundays I’ve looked forward to for a long time – especially since we scheduled Mark Batterson to preach probably 8-10 months ago.  Here’s my thoughts, in no particular order:

• One Sunday night in the early 90′s, with probably fewer than 40 people in the building, a missionary from Nigeria prophesied that “angels will be dispatched from this corner [183rd & Ridgeland] to the four corners of the earth, because of the prayers going up from this place”.  It was one of those ‘hard-to-believe’ prophecies, especially considering our size at the time, but I know it was a ‘word’ from the Lord.
• In our first & most complete vision statement, we said that CLC would impact children & young families of the Nations, through “intercessory prayer, balanced Bible teaching & the full ministry of the Holy Spirit” – which means we chose to give top priority to “intercessory prayer”.
• One weekday morning a few years ago I walked by the Prayer Room and saw several women on their faces there before the Lord, and the Holy Spirit whispered to me, “That’s the secret of the blessing upon this church”.
• I said all of that to say that even though there’s always an ‘ebb & flow’ of prayer during different seasons of the church, I know that prayer is one of the foundations for what God wants to do at CLC, and for that reason, we will continually need to keep it before the congregation – and I’m convinced that was Mark’s assignment here this weekend.
• In that regard, I can gratefully say, HE DELIVERED!  All 3 teachings were spot-on and SO encouraging to all of us – from the beginner pray-er to the most seasoned intercessor – I think we all left encouraged & inspired!
• Just as exciting to me is that we must have sold hundreds of copies of The Circle Maker, which will mean ongoing blessings for us, personally & corporately, because when we pray, God shows up and shows off!
• In that regard, I’m going to repeat today’s special offer & extend it through this Wednesday night (July 11) – you can order the book AND all 3 teachings from today on CD for the special price of just $20.  (That’s basically getting the teachings for free, since the book retails for $19.99)  To receive that special price, place your order with my assistant here, or call her during office hours at 708.429.7729 by July 11.
• BTW, in case you’re wondering, Mark Batterson is the real deal.  That’s the only kind of speakers I’m ever interested in bringing to CLC, but I still get amazed by guys like him who have reached the pinnacle of success in the ministerial world, and yet remain humble, sweet, approachable, and down-to-earth.  And despite the fact that he’s a die-hard Packers fan, I really like him!
• Pastor Doug was encouraged with the service in South Bend this morning & feels that growth is coming for their congregation, despite Summer vacations.
• At our Spanish-speaking campus, Pastor William was excited to report several new Life Groups beginning there in answer to their prayers.
• Finally, Pastor Herley just reported that in their services in Davao today, 31 people prayed to receive Jesus as Lord!  Love what God is doing in the Philippines, and love our pastors there – who, BTW, is celebrating his birthday now (it’s Monday morning there).

As usual, we haven’t finished celebrating today’s victories before I’m already looking forward to the next:

(a) this Wednesday’s Bible study, when we’ll look deeper into the biggest key to fruitfulness in our walk; and

(b) our next sermon series, “God@the Movies” – enjoy the trailer & use this link to invite a friend!  Next Sunday: Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol!

Just got in from my meeting in north Oakland County (metro Detroit), Michigan with a group of people interested in us launching a CLC campus there.  Still have a lot to process in prayer, so I didn’t come away from tonight’s meeting with a decision as I’d hoped.  I’d solicit your prayers for clarity as we continue considering this possible open door.

I was able to join online for 2 of the 3 services at CLC-Tinley Park today, and from where I sat, I thought Pastor Jaime did a great job connecting with the congregation & sharing his heart for missions, including the need to reach our communities as well as the Nations.  You’ll be hearing a lot more about community outreach in the weeks ahead, so stay tuned!

I didn’t hear from any of our other campuses (probably because they knew I was out of town), so if anyone has a report from South Bend or the Hispanic campus or our Philippines campus, please feel free to leave comments below.  (For that matter, if anyone in Tinley wants to weigh in with your observations about today, I’d love to hear from you)

Finally, Tonight is the last night to register and still get early bird registration pricing for our CLC Youth Camp.  You can go online before midnight to get your spot and price locked in.  Tickets are going fast too and it looks like we will sell out soon!  Again, just go here and get the BEST price possible!

Happy Father’s Day!

• Root beer floats & barbecue grill w/attached smoker giveaways & a video tribute to all the dads made it a special day in Tinley Park, and I was especially moved by the courageous men who filled the front of the church in all 3 services, as they resolved to “constantly practice” (Heb 5:14) the “right mechanics” of being the men, husbands, and fathers that God is calling them to be!  (Honestly, wasn’t it awesome to see SO many men lined across the altar area?)

Here’s the resolution they each made today.

It felt good to be back in the pulpit again and I thoroughly enjoyed talking about blackmail and “My daddy says I am”.

• Pastor Doug says the service in South Bend was “very moving” as he preached about “The Grace to be Fathers” and also used the resolution at the close.
• In the Philippines, Pastor Herley reports that 10 new guests prayed to receive Christ in their service AND that he called each pastor down to the altar & then had their children pray for them!  I have no doubt when he says it was “a beautiful sight, with the fathers crying & embracing their children!”  Love it!

They also had 29 graduates from their latest “School of Leaders”, which means they have 29 new cell group leaders for CLC-Davao!

School of Leaders graduation, Davao City, Philippines

If you want the completed sermon outline from Tinley Park today, you can access it here: Who are you becoming?_06.17.12

The countdown is on: less than 7 days until the WATOTO CHOIR is at CLC!  Invite a friend for each service next Sunday: 8, 9:30, 11:30 a.m.!

I don’t want to ever get used to this.

That’s my prevailing thought after spending the last 2 Sundays relaxing, instead of going to church.  Granted, I did watch CLC online today (all 3 services), but for someone like me, who is normally in church 52 Sundays a year, this just doesn’t cut it.

I do feel refreshed.  I did need this vacation.  And CLC unquestionably rolled right along fine without me – I thought Pastors Sam, Tony and Ben knocked it way out of the park in all 3 services today!  The worship looked like it was as smokin’ as ever.  (In case you’re wondering, that all makes me feel proud, not insecure.)

But I need to get back in the fellowship of the people I love.  And, yes, Pastor Ben, I do think I’ve got the ‘BEST’ Bible study of my life prepared for this Wednesday – so I hope those of you reading will choose to attend this Wednesday, even if you don’t normally come out for our great Midweek services.

It’s gonna be good to be back at church!

My friend, Mark Batterson (who will be ministering BTW at CLC on July 8) says, “2000 years ago the Holy Spirit threw a SURPRISE PARTY called Pentecost” – and it felt like that today!  I guess I shouldn’t really be surprised when the Spirit shows up on a holiday weekend – but He was definitely in the house today, and the praise team was on fire!

Kudos to Ed Marroquin & his media team – loved the tribute to the men & women who have served in our Armed Forces.  Here’s that clip again if you missed it.

Didn’t you just LOVE Hannu Haukka?  I think I could listen to his stories of what God is doing in the Nations all day!  So excited about partnering with Great Commission Media Ministries to bring the Gospel to the entire country of Senegal in 2013!  (Please pray with us for favor in that regard)

Also heard from Pastor Doug in South Bend that he was on fire today as he preached about Pentecost for the Michiana region!

AND I just received word from Pastor Herley at our Philippines campus – it seems all the Pentecostal Churches in Davao City come together today for a unified celebration.  He preached it this year and 8 people came forward to receive Christ AND 60 others were baptized in the Holy Spirit!  At his own CLC service, another 34 visitors prayed to receive the Lord at the close!  (You understand why I LOVE the Philippines!)

He also reported the opening of yet another CLC campus in Tagum City, which is about 34 miles north of Davao City.  It will be led by some of our dearest friends, Jeser & Aying Molina, who have been key leaders at CLC-Davao for several years.

That’s what I call a GREAT Pentecost Sunday!

It’s been a LOOOONG (good) day & I’m tired, so this will be a new record for brevity:

• This morning’s services at the Tinley Park campus were like an appetizer for the “Call to Purity” event tonight & tomorrow.  Pastor Jeff Colon’ made it clear that the issue really isn’t sexual sin; the issue is that God wants an intimate relationship with us!
• And tonight’s event certainly delivered: it was so basic and so full of principles that we already know and yet SO needful, all at the same time!  Every man & woman I spoke with afterwards was raving about how helpful it was!
• My wife ministered in South Bend today, and Pastor Doug reports that she preached with such conviction but such tender care that everyone was able to receive.

Looking forward to tomorrow night’s Purity event when we’re able to pray with & minister to all those in attendance – see you then!

This was a GREAT weekend even before we got to Sunday:

• heard terrific reports from the H2H retreat, including a testimony from Wendy Durham who was healed of asthma when my wife prayed for her yesterday!
• and of course, welcomed Bennett Andrew McQuay into the world
  

  Bennett Andrew McQuay - 4/28/12 - 6 lbs, 12 oz.

  but then today was off-the-charts again:

• more than 1,500 people worshiped with us in Tinley Park today!
• LOVED the worship set with the little girl’s solo on Awesome God (kudos to India Richardson & Alexis Franklin), and still LOVING the new song, I Am All He Says I Am!
• Don’t recall the last time I saw a grandmother & grandson baptized in the same service OR the last time I saw the Holy Ghost poured out in the water like today – WOW!  (We not only saw it on the big screens; we felt it in the audience!)
• Absolutely LOVED the new approach to baby dedications (as pastors, we met with the families at a reception prior to the service where I had the chance to meet each family, pray over each child, etc. – it felt special again, as it should!)
• And I’m LOVING the Purple series – I know some were helped today with their anger issues, and the momentum is building here!
• I’m GLAD to be a part of a church with a vision for the next generation!  Thank you, Pastors Tony & Sam for articulating that vision so well today, and to all the wonderful dancers from our Children’s Dance Team – you blessed us today!
• I’m also GLAD to be a part of a church with a heart for missions, & I’m excited that several responded to Pastor Jaime’s call for the next trip to Peru!  (It’s not too late – if you want more info about the trip, contact Jaime Flores or Scott Pachol)
• You know, I’m really GLAD to be a part of a church that’s harnessing today’s technology to reach people!  Our Media Director, Ed Marroquin just informed me that a woman who’s only been ‘attending’ online up until now, wrote, “I’ve got to become a member of this church; I’m coming next week!” – LOVE IT!
• and at the South Bend campus, Pastor Doug reports an absolutely incredible day, with “extremely high praise”, 2 babies dedicated to the Lord, and a great response to the teaching that had folks lingering in the altar long after service was over!
• Our Philippines campus is already in their summer break, when many of their college students return to their homes, but Pastor Herley reports good services today with 13 precious people receiving Jesus as their Savior!
• And Pastor William says the Spanish service today had an especially beautiful worship time-

You know, if only D. Rose hadn’t torn his ACL yesterday, this would have been an altogether WONDERFUL weekend……oh well, can’t have everything, I guess.

Here’s my uncensored reflection about this weekend: I survived!

Can’t recall when my schedule was quite this crazy, with Saturday prayer meeting, MEGA leadership gathering and then entertaining a family from our first youth group in MI.  Today was the usual 3 Sunday services, lunch with those friends, a wedding, an ordination service at another church & a conference call with the CAPRO USA Board.  I’m tired!

But it’s a good tired, considering:

• after teaching an old-school holiness message about a life that pleases God, we had about 10-12 people come forward to give their lives to Christ at our Tinley Park location!  (Now, you know that had to be God!!!)
• The worship team was on FIYAH today!  And I think I have a new favorite song – “I am all He says I am” (except I like Dee Wilson better than the original) – love it!
• LOVED Pastor Ben’s story about Nili leading an EMT to Christ while she’s running a 105-degree fever & is being medevaced to the hospital & how that inspired him to pray ‘right now’ for the salesman that God healed of cancer!  Prayer really IS the foundation of pleasing HIM!
• Pastor Herley at our Philippines campus has been teaching our “RUAH” series there, and he reported today that God has really manifested himself through his Holy Spirit in their services, with several miracles & healings.  But what’s more amazing is that it’s also happening outside the church. One of their youth leaders took a bus as she went to another city. While they were traveling the Holy Spirit spoke to her that one of the passengers had pain in his right shoulder. She was a bit hesitant but eventually obeyed the Lord, asked the man and, to her amazement, he had been suffering that pain for months. She asked if she could pray for him and he agreed. Immediately after prayer all the pain was gone. The man was happy and so amazed and he received Jesus into his heart.  Now get the most amazing part: he was a Muslim!  God is at work in the Philippines!
• In South Bend today, Pastor Doug says they had a great service, but more importantly, had about 20 new people at their Newcomer’s Reception, and they all seemed very excited to be a part of the church!
• At our Hispanic campus, Pastors William & Melek are team-teaching “PURPLE” and today 2 precious people gave their lives to Christ!

God is up to something at CLC, and I’m glad WE get to be a part of it!

The Sunday after Easter is traditionally (around the country as well as at CLC) the lowest-attended Sunday of the year.  (There are logical reasons for that, but that’s another subject for another post).

At any rate, it’s always & consistently been a poorly-attended day at CLC, so much so that it can even be depressing for a pastor who was emotionally-high at Easter only to come crashing down the very next weekend.  NOT TODAY:

• This was a first in our history, as we enjoyed a strong attendance at the Tinley Park campus.  And the worship was FULL of the Presence today, in all three services – kudos to Pastor Jon and the Servants of Praise!

• I can’t imagine that free donuts & coffee made that much difference, but it was also one of the highest-attended 8am services in our history, and BEST of all, we saw people give their lives to Christ at each service – at least 6-8 for the day!  (That just never gets old)

• Of course, Chris & I had too much fun with “Male & Female” as we kicked off the ‘PURPLE’ series today – but I’m looking forward to digging deeper in the weeks ahead – hope you’ll invite someone to be your guest.

• Our Philippines campus sent a great report via email: 24 people saved in their Sunday services, but just as wonderful were the testimonies shared: Last Friday during the Regeneration service (their youth ministry), the Holy Spirit moved powerfully and many young people received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. One young lady, a college student, went home speaking in tongues and her parents (who aren’t Christians) became worried because she couldn’t speak Cebuano; she could only speak in tongues that night.  So the parents called Pastor Herley and his leaders went to their home and explained to them what happened to her. The whole family received Jesus and promised to come to church next Sunday!
  Another miracle: one of the visitors to Regeneration who received Jesus had a terminal illness in his lungs.  He was prayed for and the next day he went to his doctor and the doctor was amazed that he’s already healed – said he has new lungs! He came back today and shared his testimony.  (I’ll say it again: I LOVE what God is doing in the Philippines, and I LOVE that we get to be a part of it!)
• Pastor William at our Hispanic campus reports that the Presence of God was so sweet today as Pastor Jaime preached a great message about women.
• And ‘women’ was the subject of the day in South Bend, as Pastor Doug delivered his message to prepare people there for the ‘PURPLE’ series.

That’s it for today – now it’s couch time!

Let me simply say, this was my favorite Easter EVER!

Oh my goodness, where to start:

• loved the opening guitar riff with Raymond Adams – set the stage for what followed!
• what followed was some Spirit-filled WORSHIP that brought the Presence into the House – thanks, Pastor Jon & Servants of Praise – you were wonderful!
• And the Media Team – wow, I hope you recover from the long hours you put in all week – but all of us think you did an awesome job of bringing the reality of Jesus’ life & death home to us!  Kudos to Eduardo, Brent, Jen, Christian & anyone else on the team I’ve overlooked, PLUS our friend Hudson – we literally could not have done it without you!
• Thanks to the Dance Team for such energy & to Pastor Rachel & Leanne for the special – you looked like you were enjoying yourselves so much, we HAD to join in worship with you!
• Thank you, Gateway Music & Philip Thompson for the SONGS – I absolutely loved singing, “Oh, the Blood” and hearing “Your Masterpiece”……chill bumps!
• thanks to my favorite team of pastors: Ben, Tony & Sam – for coordinating & leading with excellence on this very special day!
• Finally, to the incredible team of volunteers (you know who you are) – some of whom served in all 4 services this weekend because of the need – I love you and I appreciate you!
• Of course, most AMAZING of all is that 54 precious people stood up & walked forward this weekend to receive Jesus Christ as their Lord!  Can you say, ‘Par-tay’ in heaven this weekend!
• Just heard from Pastor William at our Hispanic campus, where they had a great drama & Easter celebration AND 5 people prayed to receive Jesus!
• Pastor Doug in South Bend reports an enthusiastic Easter crowd there today and says they really responded to the creative video elements in the service.

Haven’t heard from our other pastors, but since I’m leaving for O’Hare in about an hour, I’m going to sign off with my favorite comment overhead today: seems that one of our members heard a new family behind them in service, as the husband said to his wife, ‘This is our first time here, but this is home!’

I love this church; I love what God is doing among us!  Can’t wait to see what’s next-

Last Sunday was definitely more fun & exciting, but I think today was a bigger win for the Kingdom!  Here’s some random thoughts on the wonderful close to our “Life Support” series:

• definitely feeling like a ‘softie’ these days, as I couldn’t help tearing up as I told the story of the New Testament Church of Perm, Russia & how they dismiss their children for their classes each Sunday – but I was just as moved by how CLCers welcomed our next generation today!
• as a pastor, you always wonder if the message is really being received, beyond the “amen’s” or the laughter at your jokes – but this afternoon I’m not wondering; I’m rejoicing – about 100 CLCers volunteered to serve in our next generation ministries today, besides all the other areas where you committed to serve.  I love this church!!!
• Is it just me, or are these new songs AWESOME: Standing and I’m a Lover of Your Presence – loving it, Pastor Jon & SOP!
• Pastor Doug reports that our South Bend campus baptized 4 people today & enjoyed several new or repeat guests – great response to the call to serve there, also!
• Finally, Pastor Herley just emailed that 9 people received Jesus in their Sunday services at the Davao City campus.  He also writes, “We had supernatural services where the presence of God was so strong and manifested Himself in our midst. We are honored to have Pastor Kevin Dedmon, author of Treasure Hunt, one of the Pastors of Bethel Church from Redding, California under Pastor Bill Johnson. So many were healed: Blindness, shorter leg grew, cancer, and all kinds of sicknesses and diseases. Everybody experienced the presence of God!” LOVE what God is doing in the Philippines!

Can’t wait for EASTER Sunday – who are you inviting?  Only 6 more days – but your invitation just may make a difference in their eternity!

It’s already Monday morning, and I still don’t have words to describe our 22nd Anniversary Celebration this last weekend.  Literally, from start to finish, it was marked by the PRESENCE of the Lord, and we are lovers of His Presence!

• Thank you to the Binion’s for leading us into His Presence each & every service;
• Thank you, Dale Van Steenis, for reminding us that the anointing always runs down & if we’re in a low place, that’s where we’ll find it!
• Thank you, Tim Ross, for helping us see so clearly the privilege & responsibility we have as ambassadors in The Kingdom & that wherever we are is an Embassy of our country!
• Thank you, Pastor Gordon Banks, for teaching us how we can all be a “Closer” like Michael Jordan!
• Thank you, Bishop Garlington, for defining what real integrity is, so that we can walk it out in a world that so desperately needs an example!
• THANK YOU, CLCers, for showing up large, many of you for all 5 services, demonstrating your love & support not only for what God has done in the past 22 years, but for what He’s about to do through us and our newly-ordained pastors: William & Melek Arevalo, Tony & Angie Gilmore, Sam & Taylor Hamstra, Jon & Rachel Jones and Ben & Nili Stewart!  (Dale Van Steenis told me last night that in all his years of ministry he had never seen such a beautiful ordination service, and I concur wholeheartedly!)

In case you don’t know, Chris & I love you and we’re excited about our future together!

Ummmm, it’s almost too nice outside to sit down & offer any reflections on this incredibly-beautiful March day with 81 degrees & sunshine in Chicago…..but I’ll try:

• worship is always good at the Tinley Park campus, but in the 9:30 service today, it almost got away from us – WOW is the word if you weren’t there – the Presence was in the house!
• Strong attendance of about 1,350 in spite of the summer-like temp’s that must have tempted some to engage in outdoor activities today!
• For anyone who didn’t believe or who is just curious about my wife’s part of today’s message – it’s all true; she really is that introverted and she really won’t even try a new restaurant (If I check ‘em out w/o her first, then she might go!)
• More than 30 CLCers in our Next Steps classes today – love what God is doing in bringing new people to us!
• Awesome to pray over 17 doctors, nurses & big-hearted CLCers who leave for Senegal this week where they’ll conduct free medical clinics for hundreds of needy people – and so neat to know that SO many other CLCers had a part in this trip by sorting medications, etc. to make the team in Senegal more productive!
• I even enjoyed the spaghetti dinner from H2H today (can you tell I love this church?!)
• At our South Bend location, Pastor Doug reports the joy of the Lord was in the house, with strong worship and a message on FIYAH (I think it’s his way of pronouncing ‘fire’, but I guess it could be an acronym for something – I’m just passing along his report
• Pastor Eric is still ministering in Ethiopia as I mentioned here, so I didn’t hear from the Lisle campus today (if you were in service there today, your comments below will be appreciated).
• I did hear from Pastor Herley at our Philippines campus, where 809 people worshiped today and 30 guests prayed to receive Christ!  He also reports that their dawn watch (prayer from 4am-6am) continues to draw 150-200 people each weekday, that their Heart to Heart ministry just celebrated it’s first anniversary with 78 women present, and that 62 men completed their Encounter Weekend where they were introduced to the baptism of the Holy Spirit!  (Love, love, love what God is doing in the Philippines!)

That’s it….Jasper is begging to go outside for a walk, so I’m out of here…..

How is it that one little hour of missed sleep makes such a difference?

Seems every year Daylight Savings Time Change Sunday is the same: huge drop in attendance & tons of people talking about how much they need a nap!  I actually heard yesterday of one pastor who has led his church to turn their clocks forward after church instead of on Saturday night, and it’s working for them (I’m sure thinking about it for March, 2013!)

In all honesty, it was a good day at CLC, despite the time change affecting attendance:

• losing an hour of sleep didn’t hurt worship any – wonderful Presence of the Lord in the house today at all 3 services at the Tinley campus!
• and it didn’t hurt our celebration, with 3 precious people being water baptized and at least 8-10 more who indicated their desire to make Jesus their Lord today! (that never gets old!)
• didn’t hurt the Word, as I thoroughly enjoyed preaching to an alert & responsive crowd today!  Don’t you love the picture of a laughing Jesus, living life to the full!
• didn’t hurt our gratitude toward the wonderful people who have faithfully served at CLC for 5, 10, even 20 years!  (I was blown-away by the percentage of the congregation standing each service!)
• And in the South Bend campus, Pastor Doug says my wife really shared her heart about the importance of each individual in the Kingdom and how each of us can serve!  We’re also rejoicing over the 1 person baptized and the young couple who prayed to receive Christ at the close of service!

Haven’t heard from any other campuses, but the couch is calling me, so I’m signing off………..

Another good day at CLC, around the horn:

• about 1,400 in attendance again at the Tinley Park campus, which is a jump of at least 100 people from where we were this time last year! (Don’t have to tell you that if you worshiped at 9:30 today – jam-packed!)  Maybe it’s time to consider the 8am service, where we still have plenty of chairs & parking spaces (I’m just sayin’)
• Wore myself out again preaching today – but hearing the stories afterwards is making all the effort worthwhile.  I’m SO excited about testimonies from CLCers who are already being set free from debt – thru persistent effort AND supernatural help from the Lord!  (we’re going to capture these on video so everyone can be encouraged – if you’ve got a story to share, let us know here.)
• BEST NEWS of the day: I think about 6 people got rid of a debt they could never have paid – the debt of sin that Jesus nailed to His cross – by walking forward publicly to give their lives to Him today – that just never gets old!  And we baptized 6 others in water, including 3 precious Hispanics from CVC!
• Also heard great reports from our Next Steps 2 & 4 classes today, with over 20 people in each class.  I love that people want to grow in their walk with the Lord!
• At our South Bend campus, Pastor Doug told me for the second week in a row how much FUN he’s having with this series & how much he senses it’s helping there!  God is bringing us out of bondage into prosperity!
• In Lisle, Pastor Eric reports a very strong attendance, and better yet, a tangible spirit of joy as they celebrated in worship.  The message was received very well and they had 5 people come to the Lord at the close!
• And Pastor Jaime says CVC enjoyed a good attendance & a great Presence of God today.  We hear it often, but really, ‘Presence’ is a core value of CLC – because only HE transforms!

Finally, for those of you at the 8am service in Tinley Park, I had a good report tonight that Hattie Howard (the CLCer who fainted during service) did not have to be admitted to the hospital and is doing fine at home now.

P.S. I promised the packed of helpful worksheets would be up on my blog as well as on our website later, and here they are:

Track Spending

Actual Monthly Expenses

Monthly Spending Plan

Debt Repayment

Ways to save on groceries, insurance & more

Finally….I’ve been preparing for so many weeks, it seemed like the new series was never gonna get here.  Here’s my random thoughts from the first installment of “This Little Piggy Had None”:

• first (not in importance, just pressing on my mind right now), I preached myself hoarse.  My throat still hurts from all the yelling….during a finance series of all things!  (Hope I didn’t hurt your ears today)
• Only the second time all year we were under the 1400 mark in attendance in Tinley Park (I’m guessing Valentine’s weekend had something to do with that)
• Loved seeing the first 2 baptisms following the outpouring of the Holy Spirit among our students (many more to come), and at least 3 people who prayed to receive Christ today!
• I’m still fired-up about the fact that Proverbs 22:6 is immediately followed by Proverbs 22:7 – I hope every parent at CLC will help me get our children on the debt-free path from childhood!
• announcing here for the first time: this series will include a couple of special features we’ve NEVER done before on Feb. 26 and March 4 (when we’ll help several CLCers on the path to financial freedom by making their house payment, their car payment, their cell-phone payment and MORE!)  You must be present to win these gifts, so don’t dare skip a Sunday during this series!
• Loved the report from Pastor Doug at our South Bend campus, as he said it was “by far the most fun I’ve had talking about money & debt with any congregation”!  He challenged people’s faith to believe that “while we’re doing our part, God is working on our behalf to supernaturally bring us out of debt & into financial freedom”!  Couldn’t have said it better myself, Pastor Doug!
• At our Davao City campus, Pastor Herley tells us they had 90 new people who came forward to receive Christ this Sunday!(One reason the revival continues is because for more than a month now, over 500 people have been gathering from 4am-6am for “Dawn Watch” as they seek the Lord for revival – picture below)
• 

• Dawn watch at the Davao church

• Pastor Jaime Flores reports another good day at CVC, but he made my day by texting me afterwards that he & Jeannette had been able to teach their kids to live free of debt because of what they learned at CLC.  I want that for ALL our families, as God leads us out into financial freedom!
• Last report comes from our Lisle campus, where Pastor Eric says they had a great celebration of last week’s baptisms and many said today’s teaching was “life-changing”.  They closed the service with a corporate faith declaration that felt like it “literally raised the roof!”, first confessing their past financial mistakes & debt, then surrendering their financial affairs to JESUS, and finally declaring, “I am not bound to this world; I am a child of God, free from worries, anxieties & fears about money — I replace them with faith, creativity & strategy!  The word I speak is freedom.  I am walking into freedom – out of bondage into freedom; out of bitterness into freedom!”  I love it! (can a pastor say, I wish I’d thought of that first?)

Boy, after these reports, I think I’m more pumped than I was before this morning – CLC, get on board with us, because God is doing to lead us out into financial freedom!

Super Sunday, indeed!

Seems like 3 forces came together: the conclusion of 21-days of prayer & fasting, plus 4 weeks of focusing on the Holy Spirit in our ‘RUAH’  series, AND the end of our CSM Student Winter Camp – and it all combined for an explosive Sunday:

• at the Camp on Friday & Saturday, 12 students gave their lives to Christ, 7 asked to be water baptized, and 22 were baptized in the Holy Spirit!
• Jon Jones & the entire S.O.P. team did an incredible job of leading us into the manifest Presence of the Lord in all 3 services – (I’m sure they’re exhausted tonight, and Jon did all that while his son, Jon Jon is at Children’s Memorial Hospital downtown for testing – so join me in expressing your appreciation).
• The “fire tunnel” was the highlight of each service, but especially at the 11:30 service when the tunnel was made up of the students fresh from their Winter Camp, instead of the pastors & elders & prayer team that served the first two services.  I love seeing the kids on fire & them sharing that with us!
• Favorite ‘fire tunnel’ moment (and there were many) was when one CLCer came through, obviously ‘under the influence’ of the Holy Spirit, and I asked him, ‘Did you have a prayer language before you got in the tunnel?’, to which he replied, ‘No’.  Then, ‘do you have one now?’, and he quickly said, ‘yes’!
• Also loved the Word that Melanie Hilton gave our youth after their Camp today – Luke 10:38-42.  Agree with me in prayer that what they received at Camp will NOT be taken away from them by the busyness & distractions of life!
• Kudos to Sam & Taylor Hamstra and their whole team – the proof is in the pudding, as they say….you’re doing an AWESOME job with our teens!
• At our South Bend campus today Pastor Doug says they had a SUPER service, with special prayer over several folks identified with gifts of helps and a number of prophetic words were released in the house.  He called it a ‘unifying, purposeful & powerful’ day!
• Pastor Eric reports described our Lisle campus as “dynamic joy” today, with 11 water baptisms and at least 7 people baptized in the Holy Spirit!
  
• If you’re keeping track, that’s more than 100 CLCers filled with the Holy Spirit in the last 2 Sundays!  And God says, “this is just the beginning!”
• At our Philippines campus, the ‘dawn watch’ continues with over 500 people showing up for prayer from 4-6 a.m. each day – and the results are amazing, as 105 new people came to the Lord in their services this Sunday!  Pastor Herley also had the honor of ministering to more than 1,000 provincial employees at a neighboring province last week, with several mayors & the governor in attendance!  Truly God is at work in the Philippines, and CLC is part of it!
• At our Spanish service today, Pastor Jaime reports another strong attendance and 3 adults who gave their life to Christ!  Gloria a Dios!

Here’s the 2 canvas’ of CLCers impressions from our 21-days of fasting:

people were invited to write a 'word' or Scripture of what God did in them during the fast.

I know I’m biased, but I don’t think the Super Bowl will be as exciting as Super Sunday at CLC!  But I think I’ll watch just in case….

Speechless. 

That’s how I feel about today at CLC, as we brought the RUAH series to a close by teaching about the benefits of having a prayer language.  I had put my faith out there this week by asking the Lord for at least 30 people to be baptized in the Spirit today.  Have you ever read Eph. 3:20?  Well, that God showed up today, and 70 CLCers received their personal prayer language in our 3 services at the Tinley Park campus – 11 at 8am, 26 at 9:30am and 33 at 11:30am!

Out of all the people who received and all the individual stories that I heard, my favorite of the day was when a veteran member of our praise team thanked my wife afterwards for her “baby talk” illustration, because it inspired her to believe God and while she was on stage helping with the altar music, she received her prayer language by singing in the Spirit!

I honestly don’t know what else to say about that.  WOW!

Meanwhile, at our South Bend campus, Pastor Doug reported the “most powerful move of the Spirit since they’ve been in South Bend”, with a great time of worship & communion and at least 3 people who were baptized in the Holy Spirit afterwards!

Our Hispanic service has had their largest attendance in years these past 2 weekends, even though their pastors Jaime & William were on a missions trip to Argentina & just returned at the end of service today, and they also report a real move of the Spirit among the Spanish-speaking members of CLC!

Finally, Pastor Eric says the Lisle campus was very receptive to today’s teaching, with many people who had received a prayer language previously were renewed in that experience and activated their gift again today.  Since the chapel is not so conducive to a time of altar ministry, they’re believing for a real harvest on the seeds that were sown today when they return to their normal location at the Lisle Hyatt next Sunday.

Speaking of next Sunday, you do NOT want to miss “Super Sunday”, when we make way for the full ministry of the Holy Spirit in all our services at every campus – it will be unlike any Sunday morning we’ve ever had, & after what happened today, I can’t wait!

What an exciting day at CLC, around the campuses:

• at the Tinley Park campus, for the second week in a row, we had at least 1,400 people in attendance! (in spite of the snow….or maybe because of it!)
• the anointing & energy from the worship team was unreal today, and it sure makes it easy to talk about the Holy Spirit when He is so obviously at work in the room before we even get on stage!  (thanks, Jon & the whole S.O.P. team!)
• Favorite report of the day: after one of the services, my wife talked with a CLCer who had been sexually abused as a child & who has been dealing with bitterness ever since – but today, after hearing the word about the poison of bitterness, was able to release the pain and forgive the offender, in order to be set free!
• favorite announcement: Pastor Ben’s story about the emergency phone call he received from the CLCer determined to send her son to Winter Camp!  YES!!!
• favorite video announcement: that “thank you, Jesus” from the squirrel who helped us kick-off Life Group sign-ups today!  We all need some folks who’ll stand with us when life is about to run us over!
• I’m also thankful for the young couple who heard the Holy Spirit drawing them to Jesus today & responded to the invitation to receive Christ!  Never gets old!!!
• We kicked off our new CLC Growth Track with 2 classes today during the last service, so we used the video of the teaching from the 9:30 service – and some folks told me they couldn’t see us on stage, but the Word was coming thru loud & clear via the big screens!  (I don’t know that we’ll make a habit of this, but Chris & I both wanted to be in the classroom for these first ones, so I’m glad it worked!)
• At the South Bend campus, Pastor Doug reports another great day despite all the snow they’ve had, as one new lady testified how she had received prayer a week ago because of an infection in her left leg that went all the way to the bone, and doctors feared they would have to amputate the leg – but today there is NO infection & even the spot where it could be seen had cleared up!
• Pastor Eric just weighed in on the Lisle campus, where they were forced to meet in “the chapel” today rather than the Lisle Hyatt, but he says worship was great, over 120 people crammed in to the building & lots of energy as God was filling & transforming folks!
• Finally, from our Philippines campus, Pastor Herley says they’re now up to almost 500 people gathering at 4am for 2 hours of prayer at the “Dawn Watch”, followed by their morning services where over 20 new people gave their life to the Lord!  Gotta love what God is doing in the Philippines!

So many good things happening at CLC during this season of prayer & fasting – can’t wait to see what God does next!

This is what I call just an all-around good day at CLC:

• one of the highest-attendances for a ‘regular’ Sunday at the Tinley Park campus, as our ushers counted 1,415 people in worship today!
• speaking of worship, I loved the new song, “Anthem” that Jon & the SOP taught us today!
• boy, I felt absolutely full of the Word today – I love teaching Bible truths that are life-changing!  John 16:7-11 is definitely in that category! (and women do see better than men, too!)
• great lobby conversations with several newcomers and recent guests who have decided to join CLC at our Next Steps class next week – loving the momentum that always seems to happen at the first of the year!
• The texts from Pastors Doug & Shanna Neal at our South Bend campus were ecstatic as they described some “SERIOUS breakthroughs” during worship there today – in fact, Shanna said she’d never seen anything like it in South Bend!
  
• Who said we have to wait until the END of the fast to see breakthrough?!?!
• Pastor Eric at the Lisle campus was also excited about fresh momentum there, with a full house, several more folks joining the fasting effort, powerful teaching from my wife, and 19 people joining CLC at their Next Steps class!
• Our Hispanic service today had another strong attendance and Pastor Jaime called it an awesome service.
• In fact, the only ‘downer’ today was saying goodbye to Pastors Jim & Cheri Garrett, whom we’ve all grown to love during their two-and-a-half years as our Pastors of Family Ministries.  Our prayers go with them tomorrow to Bogota, Colombia and for their ministry in the future.

Now if the NY Giants would just beat the Packers, I’d call this a really good day…..

P.S.  Just heard from Pastor Herley at our Philippines campus, where 20 new people prayed to receive Christ today after a powerful time of worship & the Word.  He also says the ‘dawn watch’ is continuing every morning from 4-6 a.m. at their church and more & more people, pastors & churches are participating, as they believe for a revival in all of Davao!

Based on today, I’d say 2012 is off to a wonderful start at CLC!  Here’s why…

• First, at the Tinley Park campus, we managed to do everything we had to do in the service and get in all done within the time allowed.  (I say all of that tongue-in-cheek, but only partly, because we had a ‘ton’ of extra items on the agenda today, including honoring Kevin Carter for his 4 years of service as our Director of Ministries/Operations, welcoming the Ben Stewart family as our new Executive Pastor, saying goodbye to Caleb & Summer Baker as they move to a new ministry assignment in Fayetteville, AR and receiving Missionaries George & Alison Burch, who’ve served in Turkey for over 40 years!)  Whew, I’m tried just spelling out all the ‘extras’ in one service…..but we made it!
• Must say I’m still pumped about our new series – even the trailer gets me excited!
• And I thoroughly enjoyed introducing the subject today (but haven’t ever cleared my throat that many times while preaching – not sure I’d ever make it as a Hebrew speaker!)
• Especially excited about the number of CLCers who committed to joining us at some level of the 21-day fast starting next Sunday!  Remember fasting helps us disconnect from the world so we can truly connect with God!
• Before I left the building, Pastor Jaime from our Hispanic ministry grabbed me to say that they had a FULL house today, with many brand-new guests in their service today.  He’s excited, and so am I!
• GREAT report today from our South Bend campus, where Pastor Doug says the people really pressed in to the Presence of the Lord in worship, after beginning the service with 4 baptisms(including the Neal’s 2 daughters, Kayla & Caitlyn!) followed by a powerful prophetic declaration & prayer and my wife’s usual great job with the message about the Holy Spirit!
• It was also neat because after the South Bend service concluded, an African church nearby came over to baptize 8 of their new converts in our building, and after they left, an Indian church came to celebrate with a Christmas party!  Doug said it was just unusual to enjoy such a move of the Spirit and then have two very different cultures come to celebrate in the building, as 1/8 became an Acts 1:8 day!
• Pastor Herley from our Philippines campus emailed that the Presence of God was so strong in their services today as people really received the Word, and 18 precious Filipino’s gave their life to the Lord afterwards.  He’s also quite excited about a “Dawn Watch” prayer meeting from 4-6 a.m. each day except Sunday.  It started on January 1, and more than 200 people are coming each day at 4am to be a part of the prayer meeting – AND, it’s not just folks from our campus; many churches throughout the city are cooperating together to seek God at dawn!
• Finally, Pastor Eric just weighed in from our Lisle campus and said today was probably a “top 10 favorite” day there, with ‘laugh out loud’ moments to ‘liquid love’ sweeping over the congregation!

I’ll be posting several times this week to prepare us for the 21 days of fasting, so stay tuned – 2012 is gonna be a WILD year!

It’s not often that New Year’s Eve falls on a Saturday, which means we had the opportunity to say ‘goodbye’ 2011 and ‘hello’ 2012 on a single weekend, and I thought it was one of the best ever at CLC.  Here’s a few random thoughts on this first day of the new year:

• I was pleased with the number of CLCers who joined us to celebrate at the Tinley Park campus - it wasn’t quite a normal attendance, but certainly much better than I expected during these extended holidays.
• Worship at all 3 celebrations was great, but New Year’s Eve was high energy!  I honestly felt like we could have worshipped into the New Year if we turned your folks loose – thanks, Jon Jones and the whole Servants of Praise team!
• So many good memories from 2011 – thanks, Eduardo Marroquin for the video review that we enjoyed in each service.  (Man, we heard some Word last year!)
• I loved the video greeting from Pastor Herley Montes at our Philippines campus!  (Wasn’t it awesome to see the mass baptisms & the repainted bus we provided?)  If you missed his video, here’s the link to watch it now.
• Sure sensed anointing on the ‘word’ shared by several of our pastors & others who shared, but I thought Sam Hamstra absolutely knocked it out of the park!
• If you missed my ‘word’, here it is just for you.
• Was the painting by Caleb Baker just amazing or what?  We actually had several requests to purchase one of the finished paintings, so we decided to auction them off to the highest bidder, with proceeds going to our ‘Kingdom Expansion’ fund.  If you wish to bid, just submit your name & the amount you’re willing to donate here.  (We’ll get in touch with the winners via email)
• Pastor Eric from the Lisle campus reports a “sweet, sweet service for a new year”, as they shared communion & deep prayers of commitment for 2012!
• In South Bend, Pastor Doug says attendance was very low, but spirits were rejuvenated as the congregation there highly anticipates great things this year!
• If my wife’s prophetic impressions are on, we’re ALL in for a ‘wild’ ride in 2012, as God has promised to birth some things in and thru CLC – and I for one, cannot wait!

And even a Bears win….what a weekend!

Happy New Year!

Well, it wasn’t a good day for the Chicago Bears (can you say ‘embarrassing’?), but things weren’t bad around CLC this weekend:

• Enjoyed sharing all 3 carols today in our “Christmas Classics”, and still can’t get over how the message of ‘Drummer Boy’ affects me (every time!)

• Thankful for responses in Tinley Park: CLCers who gave the Lord their treasure in our ‘Gifts Outside the Box’ initiative; others who signed up to discover their talents on January 22; and yet others who made specific commitments to give the Lord their time this Christmas!

• As always, love the fact that after a message from Christmas Carols, we had at least 4 people who prayed to receive Christ…..just never gets old!

• Favorite lobby conversation of the day: hearing from a new attender & her teen son who had been involved in a horrible car wreck and the doctors had said wouldn’t survive, but one of the nurses at the hospital was a CLCer who told the mom about us & requested prayer – and now the young man is alive, healed, and determined to live his life for God’s glory!  Yay, Jesus!

• Pastors Jim & Cheri preached at our South Bend campus today while the Neal’s were in Atlanta for the wedding of one of the members, and they report it was a very good day, in spite of a lower than normal attendance because of the wedding.  In fact, they said the worship team really “knocked it out of the park” today, and at least one person prayed to receive Christ!

• Pastor Jaime Flores says our Spanish service was filled with the Presence of the Lord today, and their attendance is growing, too!

• At our campus in the Philippines, Pastor Herley reports a very good weekend, despite the fact that nearly a third of their congregation has already traveled to their province for Christmas celebrations with their families.  (He also requests our prayers for the many families affected by the flash flooding in Mindanao this week, with over 450 already confirmed dead.  Herley has several pastor friends who lost members in the floods.)

• Finally, the “report of the day” goes to Pastor Eric from our Lisle campus, where they broke 200 in attendance again!  One of their first-time guests said, “I never laughed so hard in church”, and Eric said they had an overflow of JOY today as their children performed and their entire team “killed it” (I’m pretty sure that’s a good thing!)

That’s a wrap for this Sunday….already looking forward to our Christmas Celebrations this Wednesday & Saturday – INVITE someone to be your guest!

Long day for me…already sleepy…but here’s my recap of the day at CLC:

• Pastor Doug says our South Bend service today was “a blast”, with a wonderful atmosphere “from start to finish”.  The congregation there found the symbolic meanings behind the “12 Days of Christmas” carol especially interesting, so we’re off to a good start with Christmas Classics!

• Not to be outdone, the Lisle campus report from Pastor Eric indicated that 3 people prayed to receive Christ today, with several others making a re-commitment.  He felt that communion & worship really opened hearts wide to receive the message about redeeming Christmas!

• And in Tinley Park we rejoiced with the young woman from France who was baptized in water today, as well as at least 5 or 6 folks who prayed to receive Christ – that’s really redeeming Christmas.  It’s always fun to team teach with Chris, and today was no exception, even with a few gaffes along the way (or maybe they made it more fun!).

• Don’t have a report yet on our “Gifts Outside the Box” today, but I’m excited about ALL the people here and in the Nations whose Christmas will be brighter because of your giving – stay tuned for a full report as it becomes available.

That, and an ugly Bears loss makes me ready to sign off until tomorrow-

Random thoughts about this post-Thanksgiving weekend:

• Why do I always eat too much at Thanksgiving?  (In the McQuay household, it wasn’t just Thursday; it was a 3-day exercise in over-eating with turkey followed by honey-baked ham followed by my wife’s incredible chili….not to mention everything that accompanied those main courses).  I’m feeling motivated for our 21-day fast in January!

• Preached myself hoarse today in Tinley Park…not sure now why I was yelling so much, but it felt like the thing to do at the time!

• As always, I especially celebrate the fact that at least 7 people prayed to receive Christ today – heaven is rejoicing with us!

• Had a great report from Sam Hamstra about the outreach sponsored by CLC-1929 last night – and there was at least one couple in service today as a result!

• Speaking of Sam, loved the stats he shared today, especially this one: studies show that the less one reads the Bible daily, the more debt one typically incur!  Thanks for giving us fresh motivation to read the Word, Sam!

• At the Lisle campus, despite a ‘holiday Sunday attendance’, Pastor Eric reports a beautiful service that took folks to the feet of Jesus and says “CHANGED” was “impactful for ALL of us!”

• favorite lobby convo/testimony: one of our unemployed members landed a temp job about 3 years ago that eventually turned into a permanent position – but at the lowest rank/pay scale in the whole Fortune 500 company.  Last month, the company announced it was laying off 100 workers in her department and last week they broke the news to her: not only was she NOT being let go, they were promoting her two pay grades!  She’s praising God for her harvest in “due season”!  (and so am I!)

Haven’t heard from our other campuses yet today, but I’m gonna kick back now & see what Caleb Hanie can do against the Raiders – hoping it won’t be a “c’mon, man” afternoon!

Our 2011 Friend Day is now history – here are some random thoughts on this weekend:

• At the Tinley Park campus, it was an unusual day: I think we had the fewest guests that I ever recall at a Friend Day (not sure why – will be rethinking how we promoted this one compared to previous years), but, at least in my humble opinion, I think the testimonies were the most compelling ever!

• In that regard, MEGA-KUDOS to Steve Mezger, Barry Johnson, Gerard & Carol Terrell, Wendy Durham, Marc & Rhonda White, Aaron & Elizabeth Rosinski, Harry Gomez, and Jonathan & Phailon Edmon!  Your willingness and courage to share your stories touched all of us, and I believe God used you to change lives for eternity!

• As much as I wish there had been more ‘friends’ visiting today, I AM rejoicing over approximately 10 people who prayed to receive Christ, and numerous others who came forward to receive prayer for change in their lives!

• Pastor Doug reports from our South Bend campus that cardboard testimonies were “awesome” but that the best moment was when Charlotte York, a worship team member who’s been hospitalized for months, came to share her story!

• At the Lisle campus, Pastor Eric says it was an “amazing…victorious…life-changing, kick-the-devil-in-the-butt kind of day!”   He’s rejoicing over several salvations & healings that took place after their cardboard testimonies!

• As usual, the “best report of the day” came from our Davao City campus, where Pastor Herley reports 30 guests prayed to receive Christ in their services today.  He was even more excited about their week, as they completed 3 nights of revival called “Ignite” where they experienced a visitation from heaven.  He says “The presence of God was so strong that a lot of our people saw visions of Jesus, angels, and heaven. There was gold dust falling in the services.  A number of young people spoke in tongues and were so intoxicated on the Holy Spirit they could no longer speak our dialect.” Get this: some of the Chinese members of the church heard some of the youth speaking fluently in Chinese languages, even though they don’t know those languages – it was a miracle of the Holy Spirit like that on the day of Pentecost in Acts 2!

• My favorite report from this Philippine outpouring was that during the day of the revival meetings a group of their young people visited a sister of their cell group member who was hospitalized with typhoid fever.  The doctor had given up on her because the virus had already spread to her brain. But these young people (most of them are new in the Lord) went to the hospital and prayed for her boldly in the presence of her unbelieving relatives.  After prayer, as they prepared to leave, the sick girl got out of bed and started dancing because she was healed!  I believe Jesus STILL changes lives today!

Wow….as we move into the Thanksgiving holiday, I think ALL of us have a LOT to give thanks for!

By the way, this Sunday we’ll look at “What if the Change Hasn’t Happened?”.  I believe it’s going to be life-changing close to the CHANGED series – so enjoy your time with your family and then bring ‘em all to church at any CLC campus on Sunday!

Here are my random thoughts about this weekend, in no particular order:

• Kinda neat sitting in the CLC-1929 service last night & getting a couple of insights from my son’s teaching that I could use today!

• LOVED the courage & willingness of several CLCers who shared their story in Tinley today – kudos to Tarshwa Carter, Linda Ellison, Archie Stephenson, Johanna Shubak, Audrey Laye, Kim Wesley, Latasha Benjamin, Adrienne Shipley and Anthony Gomez! They each proved my point, as their stories lifted our faith & changed the atmosphere in the room today!

• Proud of how the church family responded to them – what an encouraging family this is!

• Seems like there’s never enough time in service to mention everything that should be mentioned: the ARC video during our offering is one of our missions partners, and I wanted CLC to know the part that you play in planting churches here in the USA through your missions giving!

• My wife enjoyed preaching in South Bend today, and Pastor Doug says it was a very encouraging word, despite lower-than-normal attendance.

• Pastor Eric says the “CHANGED’ series is changing the Lisle campus & they are pumped for cardboard testimonies next weekend!

• Enjoyed lunch today with Pastors Harry Schmidt & Jim Revelle at the All Nations Community Church banquet celebrating (get this) their 100th Anniversary!  (I’ve never known a congregation that continued for 100 years, so my hat’s off to them!)

• Pastor Herley Montes at our Philippines campus reports that another 15 new people gave their hearts to the Lord in Davao City today!

• Excited about the future: we welcomed about 26 new people in our Next Steps class this afternoon – and they seemed pumped about joining CLC!

Add to all of that a lopsided blowout against the Detroit Lions, and I’d call this a pretty good day!

Another full week & fuller weekend, but I’m thankful tonight for this church family:

• seeing our people pull together to serve the Shaun Thomas family in their time of grief after the shock of losing him on Monday was just incredible – from the heartfelt tributes from our Youth on Wednesday night, to the TON of people who surrounded his family with love at the wake & funeral, to the servant’s-heart that ministered to the family and their guests at the repast yesterday – well, you folks just know how to love, and it showed!  Let’s continue to uplift Monique, her 4 children, and the rest of the family in the days & weeks to come.

• Lee Grady was everything I expected today as he brought a wonderful 3-part missions message at the Tinley Park campus.  (If you weren’t here for all 3, you owe it to yourself to get the CD’s: “The 2 Most Dangerous Prayers in the Bible”; “Don’t Run from Your Nineveh”; and “The River of God is Rising”)  It was wonderful to see CLCers responding to each message by offering themselves to the Lord for their mission.  (We also received our Steps of Faith commitments, but I don’t know the total yet)

• Our South Bend campus had a real “love-feast” today according to Pastor Doug, with lots of encouragement to go around.

• Pastor Eric says the Lisle campus was “pumped up” today about missions, both locally & globally, with Steps of Faith commitments of about $12,000 for 2012 already.

• In the Philippines, Pastor Herley writes than another 12 people came to Christ in their Sunday services, and they’ve planned some very special meetings for next week while Chris & I are there – getting excited about seeing everyone at our campus there again!

Even though I’ve already declared the Bears’ season over (and I’m not changing my mind), it was still nice to get another win today against the Bucs.  Gonna watch a little more NFL action before bed-

I was a wreck most all weekend, partly because of the missions focus and hearing from the hearts of David & Stephanie Palusky and partly because of some news I received on Saturday, but what a full weekend it was:

• Pastor Jaime Flores celebrated the 3rd anniversary of his missions’ ministry, “All For Him” on Friday and my heart rejoiced to hear stories of how CLC (thru Jaime & others) has made a difference in the lives of a totally heretofore unreached people group deep in the Amazon – the Urina’s.  In fact, that’s how we connected with the Palusky’s, as they also targeted that tribe, and the stories of miracles along the way is incredible!

• Saturday’s workshop with the Palusky’s was sparsely-attended, but again filled with faith & God’s Presence – when you talk about what’s on His heart, He shows up!

• Ditto for CLC 1929 on Saturday – probably our lowest-attendance ever, but after the Palusky’s shared, our young adults were so impacted as the altar filled with people who want to make a difference in the world.

• In South Bend on Sunday, Pastor Doug reports “the atmosphere was charged with the presence of God from start to finish” and said my wife’s message made everyone want to receive God’s heart for missions.

• Pastor Eric says the Lisle campus was “changed” Sunday, as God’s Presence prepared the way and people’s hearts were changed by the missions emphasis – AND 3 people gave their life to Christ at the close!

• At our Philippines campus, Pastor Herley reports another 21 people came to Christ in their services, but his most glowing report was of one of their new converts, a young man who had a congenital heart disease and the doctors had told me he had only a few years to live.  During their men’s encounter last weekend, he received prayer and then saw his doctor again for x-rays and the doctor told him he has a ‘new’ heart!

• Here in Tinley Park, after watching this heart-wrenching video to set up the message, I was too messed-up to preach, so I just shared my heart about the ABC’s of missions.

• Last night’s “International Dinner” was probably the smallest we’ve had in this building, but still impactful, as we unveiled our plans for 2012 missions trips, and George Weathington won the all-expense paid trip to Peru next summer!

If you’re interested in going with us, the details for our 2012 trips will be published this week.  Now it’s time to get ready for Bishop Tudor Bismark – see you at 7pm!

Probably just an age thing, but I’m finding more & more that 4 services on the weekend wipes me out!  Here are my random thoughts about this weekend before my brain shuts down completely here on my family room couch:

• Great response to our first International Prayer Breakfast yesterday morning!  CLC is built on a foundation of prayer, and seeing so many of our intercessors come together to learn about praying for nations was inspiring to me.  Special thanks to my best friend & Terrilyn Franklin for planning & coordinating the breakfast, and leading us in some specific prayers, and to Melva Lea Beacham, who was our special guest all weekend.

• Melva’s better-half, Jeff, was the featured speaker for our Men’s “Tailgate Party” (in case you’re wondering: there was no football game & no tailgate, but we did ‘party’ with some brats & burgers & dogs before Jeff spoke).  He challenged us all about real fatherhood and the need for God’s men to step up and make a difference in our families & our culture.  Good stuff!

• CLC 1929 continues to grow each Saturday, as last-night broke 100 in attendance (plus they use some of the coolest, weirdest video clips I’ve ever seen).  If you’re a young adult (or just young at heart), CLC is the place to be on Saturday nights!

• Today’s services in Tinley Park were unusual to say the least: worship seemed unusually anointed (and so fitting with the series), then Melva gave us an unusual amount of information to process, and despite my tension about the service lengths, we had an unusual response to the altar invitation, with at least 15 people praying to receive Christ after the last 2 services.  There were multiple members of two different families included in that number, and one of those families came to CLC as a result of our radio broadcast – so I’m especially excited about fruit from our radio efforts!

• Pastor Doug had forewarned me that our South Bend campus was facing a number of challenges today due to absences from several of their key leaders (including all their musicians!), but his report after service was ecstatic: people worshiped to a CD and pressed in harder after God.  He then preached about unity & purpose & laid out some wonderful outreach opportunities the Lord is opening for them there.

• At our Lisle campus Pastor Eric reports similar challenges, with several key leaders absent, plus the ongoing changes by the hotel management where they worship, but they closed out ‘Vintage Jesus’ on a high note with several testimonies of people who putting Jesus in His rightful place in their lives.  They closed the day with a sweet celebration of the anniversary of Pastor Kristen Stone’s 29th birthday!

• As usual, the ‘best report award’ goes to our Philippines campus, where Pastor Herley says they had 825 in attendance, with 29 new people praying to receive Christ.  But get this: they conducted a men’s encounter like the one for women last week – and out of 85 men who attended, 74 were baptized in water.  Herley also says, “this is the first encounter we had where there were lots of demonic manifestations during the deliverance time, as most of those men were drug pushers, thieves, homosexuals & drug addicts….but all 74 of them were filled with the Holy Spirit & spoke in tongues!’  Several of those who received Christ in the evening service were parents or family members of the men from the Encounter!  I love what God is doing at our Davao City campus, and can’t wait to visit them again at the end of this month!  Enjoy a few pics from the Encounter & baptisms:

Men worshiping at the Encounter

baptizing

more baptisms

rejoicing over 74 men being water baptized in one day!

and the Holy Spirit fell on ALL of them!

To say, “busy weekend” doesn’t do it justice – but here’s a recap anyway:

• Friday night Chris & I attended the 40th reunion of my high school class in Jonesboro, AR.  It was great seeing everyone again even though I wouldn’t have recognized most without their name tag (which had their senior yearbook photo) – I’m sure it was the same when they looked at me!

• Saturday we enjoyed a ‘McQuay’ reunion of sorts, as my sister & several nephews & their families & my niece came together for lunch & lots of laughter looking at old family pictures before we had to leave to catch our return flight.  Finally got home to bed about 1 a.m., which is VERY out of character for my weekend routine – but using the video message today really helped with that.

• Speaking of video, I don’t have words to describe it or to express appreciation to our entire Creative Team for “Vintage Jesus: the Message”.  They spent literally hundreds of hours in production, but it surely paid off, as at least 12 people prayed to receive Christ at the Tinley Park campus today, not to mention the dozens who told me (often with tears) how impacting it was!  And we were all blown away by the TON of requests to purchase the DVD and/or the audio track CD!  (By the way, you can now order the DVD for $20 or the audio CD for $10 here)

• MEGA-Kudos, props, thanks & congrats to our Media Director, Eduardo Marroquin and the entire team who made it possible: William & Melek Arevalo (cast), Caleb Baker (storyboard), Stephen Carpenter (Jesus!), Francis & Joshua Claudio and Christian Evans (videographers), Nancy Harris (cast), Brent & Jen McQuay (assistant directors), Megan Norris & Jason Tirado (cast).  A-w-e-s-o-m-e!

• Pastor Doug reported that the South Bend campus broke into spontaneous applause at the end of the video, and that it was so hard-hitting that several came forward for prayer there.

• At our Lisle campus, Pastor Eric says their attendance broke 150 today, with several returning guests as well as first-time attenders, and a powerful time in communion and the prayer for Jerusalem.  I love his description: “there’s such a joyous, expectant spirit here that seems to be contagious!”  Nothing like Big Mo(mentum) as John Maxwell says!

• As usual, our Philippines campus takes the prize for their weekend report: Pastor Herley says their weekend began on Friday night with their ‘Women’s Encounter’ attended by 116 new women attenders.  (Are you ready for this?  ALL 116 were baptized in water and with the Holy Spirit! – see some of the photos below).  Their attendance today was 870 and another 10 people prayed to receive Christ!  He said the Presence of God was so strong when they prayed for the women to be baptized in the Holy Spirit that no one wanted to stop praying, and they finally had to force them to quit so they could begin the evening service!  (Sounds like a Book of Acts kind of revival to me!)  It’s harvest time in the Philippines!

rejoicing at the Encounter

some of the 116 baptisms

more baptisms

Pastor Joel Montes helped baptize

• Our CLC-1929 Director Sam Hamstra tells me that Saturday’s service was a WIN, despite battling audio & technical issues all evening, with more new folks visiting for the first time and everyone impacted by VJ:the Message!

Add a Bears win to all of this, and I call it a good day!

I’m gonna set a new record for brevity, but here are my random thoughts on this weekend at CLC:

• Men’s Retreat at Camp Friedenswald was a manly-success!  Lots of great bonding, fun, God-moments & more – kudos to the entire team of leaders who put it together & all the guys who participated!

• CLC 1929′s second service rocked again!  While there were fewer people in attendance, it was encouraging to see repeat interest from many & new interest from several guests.  Caleb & Summer Baker have recruited several new musicians to join the 1929 band, and Sam Hamstra really connected in the Vintage Jesus message - I’m proud of the whole team!

• Our South Bend campus experienced a real flow of the Spirit from worship to prayer to the Word to prayer again with over 20 people in the altar, including about 10 teenage girls who were visiting, according to Pastor Doug.  He says people received healing & freedom!

• I was at the Lisle campus today since Pastors Eric & Kristen were celebrating their 13th wedding anniversary & vacationing in Orlando, and it was a real treat to be back there for a Sunday service for the first time since our grand opening over a year ago.  I met a TON of first-time guests, and had several great conversations in the lobby afterwards about how the Word had connected with them.  The whole team did a terrific job in their pastor’s absence, and we had at least 3 people who prayed to receive Christ!  The highlight of the service was the testimony from Deanna Mason of her sister’s healing last week – Valerie had evidently contracted the West Nile virus and it had turned into encephalitis – and the doctors gave the family no hope for her recovery.  But Jesus intervened, and she was not only able to attend the service today, (just days after being in critical care) she drove herself there!

• Since I was only in Tinley Park for the 8am service, I’m dependent on my wife’s report for the other services, and she’s so wiped-out from ministering at all 3 services plus praying with folks for over an hour in the altar afterwards that she hasn’t talk me much – but it sounds like it was a GREAT day at CLC!  Two different individuals who had already left the service came back inside to tell her of their instant healing: one woman had an eye infection that had caused both eyes to be swollen almost shut – and the swelling was completely gone after prayer (!), and another lady was so congested she could hardly breathe before service, but came back inside to report that she was completely clear, breathing normally after prayer!  If you received a healing from the Lord today, would you leave your comment below, so we can all rejoice with you?

• Pastor Herley Montes reports another great Presence of the Lord in the services at our Davao City campus in the Philippines, and 31 people prayed to receive Christ there this Sunday!

• I’m so EXCITED with anticipation for this coming weekend at each campus as we focus on Vintage Jesus: His Message.  I promise you: we’ve never tried anything quite so creative (or so risky), as we prepare to bring you the highlight of Jesus’ own teachings – don’t dare miss it!

As bad as it must have been for you BEARS fans to watch the loss on TV this afternoon, I can assure you, it was even worse being at Soldier Field today.  When my son Brent turned 27 a few weeks ago, the only gift he asked for was to see a game in person, so the whole family agreed to go together to buy him a ticket.  I didn’t feel it would be right to send him to a game by himself, so I reluctantly agreed to accompany him.  (I know; it’s a hard job, but someone had to do it).  I’ll have more to say tomorrow, but honestly, seeing them in person for only the second time in the 22 years I’ve lived in Chicago was NOT fun, due to the outcome – but it gives me greater appreciation for Jesus, who ‘always causes us to triumph’!

Don’t forget to leave your comments below – g’night!

So glad to say ‘weekend’ instead of ‘Sunday’ again – so glad to again offer a Saturday evening worship experience at CLC!  Right now, I’m pretty bummed over the Bears’ loss to New Orleans, and I’ve already retired to the couch, but here’s my random thoughts on a good weekend around our campuses:

• For sure, the opening of CLC 1929 rocked!  Music was terrific, energy was off the charts, and Sam Hamstra did a terrific job bringing the Word!  I could not have been more proud of the whole team, and I love the fact that several ‘experienced’ CLCers were on hand to show their support for the next generation!  Opening night attendance was 114!

• Pastor Herley from our Philippines campus said the “presence of God is just awesome” in their services this weekend, and they had 20 people pray to receive Christ!

• At our South Bend campus, Pastor Doug reports a “very moving” service there, with lots of tears in response to the truth that we have a ‘touchable, reachable God who cares for us”.  (Sounds like he preached today!)

• I think Pastor Jaime Flores must have preached, too – he says the Hispanic service was “really good” today, with more new folks responding, and the appeal from him and Scott Pachol resulted in several more CLCers signing up to serve our missions trip to Haifa, Israel right after Thanksgiving-

• In Tinley Park, I must say that I enjoyed preaching all 3 services – something about talking about Jesus – HE just shows up!  We had at least 7 or 8 people who prayed to enter into a relationship with Jesus today, and that never gets old!

• Loved the prophetic word that our young adults are going to experience “Jesus culture” with signs & wonders outside the church walls, and I was especially touched in the 11:30 service when Sam Hamstra led the 20-somethings in praying for us “over 40″ folk!  God wants the generations to come together in the last days – read Malachi 4:5-6!

• Perhaps the service report ‘prize’ for this weekend goes to Pastor Eric at our Lisle campus, where they held a “grocery giveaway” on Saturday for needy folks in their community, which resulted in 3 people giving their lives to Christ on the spot, and several others who visited today’s service from that outreach, which has the Lisle team really fired-up!  Eric also felt this was their best service ever in the pavilion (a few times a year, the hotel ballroom that we rent is in use, and our campus has to move into a tent-like pavilion inside the hotel lobby area, which usually hampers things a bit in terms of audio-visual, etc.)  But today he said there was an intense time of prayer & ministry in the altar!  I’m already loving what the Vintage Jesus series is doing for ALL of our campuses!

• Kudos also to Pastors Jim & Cheri Garrett, who were at the Lisle campus today and provided some great feedback & advice for our children’s ministry there!

Honestly, if it weren’t for the way the Bears played, this would have been a wonderful weekend! (As it was, I suspect perhaps Jesus wept again!)

One last thing before I sign off: did anyone in Tinley Park notice the new carpet today?  Whaddya think??

9/11.  It’s a date that seems to stand by itself.  A day that changed the world as we knew it.  Special thanks to all the CLCers who serve as firemen, police officers, or EMT’s, to protect us every day of the year – putting your own life on the line for us.  We honor you today.

Other than the sobering thoughts that accompany the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I thought it was a GOOD day at CLC, around the campuses:

• Actually my first report came from last night’s special event sponsored by CLC-1929.  Sam reported to me that they had a capacity crowd, and that lots of people asked about CLC and lots more promised to attend 1929 this Saturday!  He also said the ministry that partnered with us told him that CLC was the most hospitable church they’ve ever worked with! Excited about the unity/momentum for 1929 going into their launch THIS Saturday at 5pm!

• Next was from Pastor Jaime Flores at our Hispanic campus, where we’ve had a real breakthrough recently….Jaime is excited about 5 new visitors today & says he’s expecting more next week-

• In Tinley Park, I thought it was a good day, especially for the opening day of Bears season! (Couldn’t help but notice the attendance shift to the 9:30 service so folk could get home in time for kickoff!)

• LOVED the worship time today, especially at 9:30 – there’s just nothing like the Presence of God!

• Appreciated all the lobby comments about the Legacy series – I don’t think we can talk about our values too much!  (Must also admit I enjoyed preaching today – what a privilege to preach to you folk)
  

• Love the fact that Jesus set the example for us in how to value people: without regard to race, gender, social status, or sin! (if you weren’t here, see John 4:6-18)

• Especially love the fact that someone sowed a seed in the woman’s heart – makes me determined to keep sowing, even while I’m believing for a harvest!

• AND I’m thankful for the ongoing harvest at CLC, with another water baptism today & at least 3 people who prayed to receive Christ!

• But for sure the BEST report today comes from our Lisle campus, who celebrated their first birthday on 9/11! Pastor Eric said it was “magical, inspirational, soulful & joyful”. They honored the local Fire Department (the Chief came with 5 of his men) and 2 principal’s of local schools with a plaque to recognize their leadership to the community.  In addition, CLC-Lisle provided school shoes for needy families from the 2 schools and funds for winter clothes.  The principals and Fire Department were so moved, saying they had never experienced ANYTHING like this – to feel this kind of love from a group for no other reason than to show love!  They closed the celebration with a special birthday party & lunch together – and had the 3rd highest attendance in their one-year history!  LOVE IT!

• Haven’t yet heard from Pastor Doug at our South Bend campus or Pastor Herley in Davao City, Philippines, so if you’re reading this from either campus, please give us your thoughts about today at your location in the “comments” below-

Topping all that off with a convincing Bears win made this just about a perfect Sunday, but as usual, after 3 services, I’m tired, so I’m retiring to the couch now……

Quite a holiday weekend at CLC…..here’s my quick recap, in no particular order:

• I was blown away by attendance at the Tinley Park campus today, as we had right at 1,300 people here on a holiday weekend!  (I think that’s 6 of the past 9 Sunday’s that we’ve been around or above 1,300 in attendance, whereas we normally are under 1,200 in the summertime.  I think we’re adding a 4th weekend service right on time!)

• Speaking of that 4th weekend service, I would LOVE for some of our 9:30 or 11:30 a.m. CLCers to choose to attend our new CLC-1929 service starting on September 17 at 5pm – it will (a) free up seats in those 2 ‘prime-inviting’ times; (b) freeing up those chairs will enable us to keep growing in those services; and (c) it will be a great encouragement to our Young Adult team, and they definitely need the stability that comes with faithful, experienced believers!  To volunteer, or to get more info, please contact our 1929 Director, Sam Hamstra.

• As their pastor, I was “proud” (in a godly sense of the word) of Brent and Sam today – I thought they both knocked it out of the park in communicating clearly that ‘We Value Compassion’.  I loved both of their stories that made the message come alive AND helped us all connect & relate!

• SO grateful for the response to the message: I heard that over a dozen new CLCers volunteered to serve as mentors through KidsHopeUSA (meaning we’ll have over 30 mentors in one elementary school in Country Club Hills!) AND I know that many others were moved to serve homeless vets with CLCer Andy Nash’s life group!  The proof of compassion is LOVE ACTS!

• What did you think of the Chik-fil-A video, “Every Life Has a Story”?  (got to me every time!)

• Loving the momentum of new people coming to Christ – with 3 more baptisms today & about 7-8 who prayed to receive Christ today – it just never gets old, so KEEP INVITING, CLC!

• Perhaps the most wonderful report today came from our Hispanic Pastor, Jaime Flores.  He said their service was good today, but he had actually accepted an invitation to preach for a non-charismatic church in Blue Island, and since the pastor there is so open, Jaime preached about the Holy Spirit and about 30 people came forward and were on the floor, broken before God, as the Spirit moved among them!  (I think that’s a-w-e-s-o-m-e!)

• Pastor Eric from the Lisle campus reported that their attendance was off due to the holiday, but that the Compassion message really hit the target, and they had a great response to opportunities to serve their community, including a drive to provide shoes for needy children at one of their local elementary schools.  Also much excitement about their 1-year birthday party and 9/11 community outreach next Sunday!  (Speaking of Lisle outreach, after Brent’s stories from Thriftique today, we had several CLC-TP folk who want to donate to the store and even volunteer to serve there.  If you’re interested in helping in any way, please contact Pastor Eric directly)

• Our Philippines campus continues to thrive, as Pastor Herley reports a wonderful presence of God in their services this weekend, and another 20 new people gave their lives to Christ!

• Speaking of international news, we had several Indonesians worship with us at the 11:30 service today, and they’re looking to launch a new church here in the south suburbs – hoping to find ways to partner with them.  AND my wife & daughter just completed a Women’s Conference in Johannesburg, South Africa this weekend – can’t wait to get them back home!

• Haven’t yet heard from Pastor Doug in South Bend, so if any of our SB CLCers are reading this, please leave your comments about your service below:

Enjoy a relaxing holiday with family & friends tomorrow!

More good reports around the horn at CLC today – I’m loving the momentum we’ve gained this summer as we head into our Fall season of ministry:

• Pastor Jaime Flores actually was the first report this weekend, as our Hispanic campus sponsored a special worship service on Friday night, and the attendance was about double a normal Sunday!  He said, “we prayed for our nation, the government, our armed forces, our cities, and for revival in the Hispanic churches in the south suburbs, as well as for the economy and our families and the salvation of their children.  We asked all the congregation to fast in preparation for this service, and let me tell you, God showed up!” (Several people were baptized in the Holy Spirit that night as well!)

• Pastor Herley’s email from our Davao, Philippines campus expressed gratitude that the Firstborn band is back home! He said they even led some new songs they had learned here, and that there was a special anointing in their services, with 740 in attendance today and 17 who prayed to receive Christ!

• At our South Bend campus, Pastor Doug reports a great move of the Spirit in their service, with several people coming forward to be baptized in the Holy Spirit and at least 2 of them receiving today!

• Pastor Eric weighed in from our Lisle campus where we continue to experience multimedia challenges – but they pressed through for a great time of worship in spite of not being able to use the screens again today.  My wife laid some good groundwork by sowing seeds about the Presence of God working in our lives, and they ended the day with an encouraging Next Steps class with 20 new summertime recruits!  Eric said, “Still can’t believe what God is doing in the summer here!”

• Now for Tinley Park…where to start?  First, the good news: we estimate over a dozen people were baptized in the Holy Spirit in the 3 services, as we invited people forward to receive their prayer language! The bad news: I had enough material today to do a 3-week series about how we can value His Presence!  (As it was, I went 45-50 minutes, & still didn’t cover a ton of what I’d planned)

• I love my church!  (I don’t use “my” in the sense that it belongs to me; I mean I love belonging to this church) – I think I had a conversation after each service about the “Be here, on time” point of the message, and each person I spoke with not only admitted their ‘guilt’, but thanked me for getting their attention & promised to change!

• Most important: in the Presence of the Lord, anything can happen — and does!  We saw at least 5-6 people pray to receive Christ today, and that NEVER gets old!

As we officially close out Summer and prepare for our Fall season of ministry, I’ve never been this excited about momentum, as today was at least the 4th or 5th time in the last 2 months that our Tinley campus had more than 1,300 people in attendance! (That’s almost 200 over a ‘normal’ summer Sunday).  I’d say we’re adding this 4th weekend service (CLC 1929 on Saturday’s at 5pm) just in time, and I won’t be surprised if we have to go to 5 weekend services by early 2012!  Remember: you are the “13th man” in someone’s life!  Let’s invite our friends, family & co-workers as never before, and see what God does!

Oh yeah….how did you like the new chairs today?  Were they more comfortable? Love to hear your thoughts about the services at any campus this weekend – just comment below-

• Another loooong but fun day at CLC.  I love Sundays, and I love my church!  Here’s what happened around our campuses today, in no particular order of importance:

• First up, Pastor Herley at our Philippines campus reported that a big festival with parades & other downtown festivities hindered their attendance today, as all access roads were blocked (their church meets in downtown Davao City).  However, 15 people still prayed to receive Christ in their 2 Sunday services!  AND, this week two of their ‘networks’ (these are potentially new campuses in Davao City, where some of the young ministers are regularly teaching Bible studies and working among people) had special events at the church to bring people together.  In the Wednesday gathering led by my friends, Jeser & Aying, almost 400 people attended and 168 of them prayed to receive Christ!  Then on Thursday, at the network led by another couple I love, Junfer & Princess, the attendance was 369 and 23 precious people received Christ, including the newly-crowned beauty queen of the festival I mentioned in the opening sentence! And get this: she’s a Muslim princess from a minority tribe that is comprised of militant Muslims – but she came to Jesus in Davao this week!  I love what God is doing at our Philippines campus!

• next was a text from Pastor Eric at our Lisle campus, where the band from Davao did a great job leading worship.  (One highlight: an ex-cult member who first heard of CLC via my radio broadcast on WYLL, and had recently been water baptized by Pastor Eric, attended a discipleship class with a Lisle elder about the Holy Spirit this morning, and was filled during the worship set!  If you’re counting, that’s 3 CLC campuses & at least 4 groups of people involved in her experience!) Eric also reports that the message really connected and people are “fired-up”, including some of their new members who are “about to make heaven a little bit bigger” – he called it ‘a great day’!

• Then I heard from Pastor Jaime at our Hispanic campus, who said “the Presence of God was so real today”.  They add one new member this morning, and he’s already looking forward to next week!

• Finally I received a great email from Pastor Jim Garrett, who was in South Bend today as the Neal’s concluded their vacation.  He said it was an excellent crowd of hungry worshipers, and that JOY broke out among them, not only in the worship set, but erupted again at the close of the message just as the Israelites had joy over understanding the Word of God.  Their campus picnic afterward was also the scene of much joy, food, horseshoes, football & kids on the playground!

• Pastor Doug also weighed in that he really appreciated Pastors Jim & Cheri sharing their testimony, as many people commented afterwards it was just what they needed.  Their level of transparency was appreciated and well received.

That just leaves the Tinley Park campus for this Sunday.  Where do I start?

• I’ll begin with the last activity of the day: had a great ‘next steps’ membership class today with some enthusiastic new folks who are joining our ministry!

• How about the GREAT kick-off for Life Groups, where more people registered for groups today than usual, and the buzz in the lobby was deafening!

• I LOVED preaching this message about ‘relevance’ – especially because of the tremendous reception by our church family!

• How about the testimonies from Anthony Gomez, Aaron Pachol, Kiara Gomez and Angel Solis?  Loved their raw honesty and their stories of life-change made possible by our Youth Camp! With youth like this coming on at CLC, the future is bright!  (Got all teary-eyed just listening to them!)
  

• How about this fact: on the day that I talked about why we stream our services and the web, a first-time online guest prayed to receive Jesus at the close of the 9:30 service! Even more amazing, is that’s the ONLY service today where I led people in a sinner’s prayer- (only God!)

• Still can’t get over how MANY CLCers are involved in the educational arena – seems like the whole congregation was standing when we closed with prayer for all teachers, administrators, cafeteria workers, school nurses and bus drivers – WOW!  And I’m still praying for each of them to be “the 13th man” in their school!  (if you don’t understand that, get the CD)

• Quick Question for Tinley Park CLCers: do I always yell that much for no reason? Man, I was charged today – in case you can’t tell, I love talking about our core values!  It is our LEGACY!

Hope you’ll invite a friend for NEXT Sunday when we examine the value of PRESENCE! (I’m expecting an outpouring of the Holy Spirit at each campus!)

That’s a wrap for this Sunday….gonna spend some couch time with the family now-

Sitting here on my loveseat in our family room, reflecting on today around CLC, I’m tired! I’ve gotten so used to having others to help lead services, receive offerings, baptize & even lead communion has made me soft! At least that’s my conclusion after a day with all that activity while our pastors were at Camp & my wife was in South Bend – I’m wiped out.  So before the TV watches me tonight (as my daughter would say), here’s a quick recap around the CLC campuses today:

• First report came from Davao City, Philippines, where Pastor Herley reports another 46 young people gave their lives to Christ in their Regeneration service on Friday, plus 32 more in their Sunday services today, which were attended by 789 people!  He said there was a powerful ministry of the Word today as well, as REVIVAL continues in the Philippines!

• Pastor Eric says the Lisle campus had to overcome a number of challenges today in “the tent” (a few times per year, the hotel we meet in rents our meeting room to other groups, and we have to meet in a pavilion at the front of the property).  Despite those hindrances, he felt there was a real work of the Spirit done in many hearts today, with a strong attendance and several new families in worship today

• My wife ministered in South Bend today in the absence of the Neal’s, who are enjoying a much-deserved vacation, and she says there was a powerful move of the Spirit, as she closed the message by leading the congregation in prayer & declarations of faith!

• Finally, at the Tinley campus, I thoroughly enjoyed kicking off the ‘LEGACY’ series today with a look at the core value of Authenticity.  Loved the lobby conversations with folks who value relationship over religion and grace over rule-keeping! (As I expected, sounds like we’ve ALL had experience with Pharisees!)  Most of all, I’m thankful for “without wax” Christians, who don’t try to hide their issues, but confess them to others in a safe place, so they can receive prayer & be healed! (James 5:16)  I didn’t have time today to explain one reason WHY that works – but the Biblical principle is that when we keep things hidden in ‘darkness’, it plays into Satan’s advantage, since he’s the prince of darkness.  But by bringing our faults into the light by confessing to others, we break its power against us, and the prayers of others can bring healing of that issue for us!

• As always, I was especially thankful for people who prayed to receive Christ at the close of EACH service today – probably about 8-10 in all!  That just never gets old!!!

• In addition, I received a text from the “CHARGE” Youth Camp that reported about 5-6 of our students were born-again (which is probably every person who attended camp that wasn’t born-again already!) and another 4-5 who were baptized in the Holy Spirit.  Youth Director Sam Hamstra said the Camp was “absolutely life-changing”!

• Finally, I love this report from CLCer Don Murphy, who stood up during the Empower Conference when Marilyn Hickey asked people to stand for healing, or to stand on behalf of someone they loved who needed healing.  Don stood for his father, who kidney failure required him to have dialysis 3-4 times per week, and who has been on a donor list for 2-3 years without success.  Last night he received a call of a matching donor, and had surgery today to receive his new kidney!

That pretty well sums it up…..time now to recharge my batteries, because NEXT Sunday is timely: We Value Relevance!

Never. Seen. It. So. Full.

This morning had to be the largest attendance for a non-Easter or non-special occasion (our 20th Anniversary celebration last year had over 2,200 at the Convention Center, but that included all the other campuses) – our ushers counted 1,818 people today in the 3 morning services at Tinley Park.  (Disclaimer: some of those attended more than one service, so the actual number of people was probably in the high-1,600′s or low 1,700′s).  WOW!  In the last 2 services, every chair was taken, the new soft seating areas in both corners were filled, and people were sitting on the floor there and along the wall.  The parking lot was even crazier, with a number of cars parked in the grass & ditch in front of the church!  Know what this tells me?  People are HUNGRY for truth!

And truth is what they got from Andrew Wommack in all 3 services, as he opened up 2Cor 4:17-18 and 2Cor 5:7 for us. I’d encourage you to get all 3 messages on CD – it was that good! We also rejoiced that people were baptized in the Holy Spirit after his teaching in each service, including a few CLCers, but several of our guests!

Elsewhere at CLC today:

• Pastor Eric reports a “deep, deep move of God today” at our Lisle campus & said one thing built upon another from worship to communion to the crescendo at the message from Michael Hawks.  Strong attendance there, too!

• Pastor Doug says the service in South Bend this morning was “indescribable”, and he believes it radically changed the direction of their campus and the people of our church family there!  He delivered a strong prophetic word and prayed for people afterwards as the Spirit of God moved mightily in the house!

• I haven’t yet received the Sunday report from our Davao, Philippines campus, but at their Friday night Youth service (Regeneration), in spite of the fact that their youth pastor & worship band is here with us (didn’t you enjoy them in Tinley this morning!), they still had over 400 youth in attendance and 46 young people prayed to receive Christ!  (There’s REVIVAL in Davao!)

We’re waiting now for the arrival of Tim Ross, whose flight from Miami was delayed – but we’ll turn him loose tonight as soon as he gets inside – so come join us for a great night of worship & the Word, starting at 6pm.  Of course, Empower 2011 continues on Monday & Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. and 7pm.  (So many have asked about the schedule: the plan is for Tim, Marilyn & Bob to each speak in each service – of course, some of them will be brief teachings of 15-20 minutes, while others will be 45-60 minutes, but we expect to hear from each of them in each service)

See you here!

Pure FUN!  That’s how I’d describe today’s “Family Sunday” at CLC.  I would have to agree with several who said they hated to see “God@the Movies” come to a close – I think it’s been the all-time favorite series at CLC, and I’m already looking forward to next July.  (Oh yeah, we’re gonna do it again – with 4 different movies!) Here’s a quick recap of the day around our campuses:

• Pastor Doug was the first to weigh in regarding our South Bend campus, where he said there were ‘sighs of disappointment’ after most of the clips today, as people were really ‘into’ the movie, as well as the message!  He also said the children loved it, but the adults seemed to have way more fun with it!

• Our Lisle campus ROCKED today with great worship, a kid’s choir & kid’s violin solo before the Grand Slam of a message, and they witnessed 6 water baptisms & 7 salvation commitments afterwards!  Despite the blistering heat & midsummer vacations, their attendance was in the 140′s today & Pastor Eric is pumped about gearing up this Fall!

• I hardly know where to begin regarding Tinley Park.  First of all, our attendance for this series was UNREAL, as we had over 1,300 again today – that’s 3 weeks out of 4 that we were probably 200 or more above our norm for summertime – and last week’s low could certainly be blamed on the storms that whipped thru the south suburbs during our services.  But that’s not all:

• We had somewhere over a dozen salvation commitments today – several by our children who worshiped with us for Family Sunday.  Speaking of the children, how ’bout that Kids Dance team?!?  I’ve never seen moves like that, even on ‘Dancing with the Stars’, and the energy those kids brought was palpable!

• Like the other campuses, the whole series & especially today’s look at ‘Toy Story 3′ really captivated all of us.  I told someone that I think this series boosted video rentals throughout Chicagoland for the whole month of July, as so many told me they were going to get the video to watch “the whole story”.  It was just a TON of FUN in the summertime, and I’m looking forward to next year already.

• We also had more registrations for Youth Camp this August 11-14 – and it’s not too late.  If you’ve got a student (child or grandchild) that would still like to attend, let us know.

• Heard RAVE reports about the makeover, especially the audio & video improvements – MEGA KUDOS to Media Director Eduardo Marroquin for HOURS of time spent making it happen these past few weeks.  He not only helped with all the installation, but his work with the video clips for each message in “God@the Movies” is what made it all so enjoyable for the rest of us – so THANKS, Ed!

• And SPECIAL THANKS to each of you who are already responding to the need to purchase chairs for the auditorium!  CLCers are a generous people, and I’m thankful for the privilege of serving you-

• By the way, our Hispanic ministry was very blessed today to host the ministry of Bryce Manderfield, who is spearheading an incredible youth movement in several nations of Latin America.  Bryce is in Chicagoland for meetings this week, and we were privileged to have him minister at CVC while he’s in town, plus several of us get to pick his brain before he leaves!

• Just heard from Pastor Herley at our Davao City campus, where 31 people gave their lives to Christ in their Sunday services.  Even more amazing is that one of their leaders had a special ‘harvest’ event for her network of small groups yesterday, and 96 people prayed to receive Christ there!  It’s REVIVAL time in the Philippines – all the more reason that I’m excited to welcome the Praise Band from Herley’s church to Empower 2011 next week!

Now it’s time to start getting ready for Empower 2011 with Andrew Wommack, Tim Ross, Marilyn Hickey & Bob Yandian.  It’s going to be an incredible 3-days of power-packed ministry, and I hope you get in on ALL of it!  If you didn’t hear the special announcement today, the Praise Band from our Davao City, Philippines campus will be here for the conference (and for Youth Camp afterwards) – what a treat!  You only have a few days to INVITE your friends & family – so help us get the Word out through phone calls, text messages, social media – every way that you can!

Whew….what a day!

What a day at CLC!  Seems like it’s getting gooder & gooder around the campuses:

• First report today came from our South Bend campus, where there was a break-in during the night – but as best we can tell, not a thing was stolen! Pastor Shanna says she was awakened about 3 weeks ago with a sense of ‘threat against their building’, specifically involving computers & audio equipment.  She & Doug prayed that night until they sensed a release, and I believe God answered!

• Additionally, Doug says the message was even better than last week, as The Blind Side helped the congregation to focus on our purpose, and many folks crowded the altar to receive a heart of compassion.  He’s getting great feedback from young & old alike who are enjoying the series!

• At our Lisle campus, Pastor Eric says it was just a GREAT DAY with a powerful Presence of the Lord from start to finish….many breakthroughs as a result of The Blind Side – love where God is taking us!

• Where do I start to describe the Tinley Park campus today? First of all, almost 1,400 people worshiped with us in the middle of July, during what we call “summer slump”! That’s actually a high attendance for us in January, and probably represents an all-time record for a July Sunday!  I’d say the “God@the Movies” series idea is working!

• How ’bout the worship today in all 3 services?  John & Joslyn Brockman were a terrific blessing to us all week, and it was a special treat to have them lead us into His manifest Presence today!  WOW!

• As to “The Blind Side”, I can’t remember the last time I cried during a movie like that – but it messed me up every time I watched it in preparation for today’s message – and I cried again as I preached.  More importantly, from the response I saw & heard today, I think the Holy Spirit used the movie to move a lot of us – not just to tears, but to action. Remember one of our core values is Compassion: because love acts!

• Most importantly, I rejoice over at least 10 precious people who prayed to receive Christ today – THAT NEVER GETS OLD!

• There are just 2 more weeks left in this series, so let me encourage you to invite, invite, invite! I think this next Sunday when my wife looks at “Transformers 3: the Dark Side of the Moon” is going to be off the chain.  I know some of what she’s planning is going to be even more hard-hitting than today – so I dare you to bring a friend!

• What do you think of the decor’ and the free popcorn?  I’m thinking this is definitely NOT my grandfather’s church!

• One more thing: special thanks to the anonymous CLCer who paid for my lunch at Culver’s today – when I drove up to pay the bill & make sure our youth got credit for today’s fundraiser, the cashier smiled just like in “Pay it Forward” and said, “the car in front of you paid for your order”!  God & His people keep blessing me!

I made it to O’Hare about an hour ago, only to discover my first flight to Frankfurt, Germany has been delayed by about 75 minutes – so I’ll get some work done at the airport.  Thanks for your prayers – the Global Advance pastor’s conference in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia begins about 3am Tuesday (Chicago time) and ends about 6am on Friday.  I’ll be sharing the teaching responsibilities with Dr. David Shibley and two British pastors, as well as Pastor Eric from our Lisle campus.  Then Eric & I will fly to South Africa on Saturday morning to be with Pastor Ernest Umanah and explore what God is doing in Jo’burg with CLC – appreciate all the prayer support!

I hope to post daily from Africa, but I’m not sure about internet access at my hotel, so stay tuned-

I’ve got one thing to say about today at CLC: “it’s ON!”

Seriously, we’ve been planning & looking forward to this new series, “God@the Movies” as a pastoral staff for a few months, but I don’t think any of us really knew what to expect.  We do now!  The BUZZ in Tinley Park after each service was absolutely electric, and I can’t recall the last time I had so many comments in the lobby about how the message hit home!  Go Karate Kid! In addition:

• the stage set design was HOT!  Even with the big makeover still in progress & lots of half-completed construction to distract, our team did an INCREDIBLE job – special kudos to Caleb & Summer Baker, Eduardo Marroquin & Jen McQuay for the HOURS of blood, sweat & tears (not to mention design concepts) to pull it off…..awesome!

• Maybe the best news of the day (certainly the most important) is that about 15 people prayed to receive Christ, including several first-time guests! I love it when CLCers invite friends to come to church and it results in person’s whole life & eternity being changed!  (Just never gets old!)

• Even the popcorn was a hit!  Just loved the whole atmosphere today!

• It was similar at our Lisle campus today, as my wife taught from Karate Kid while the campus pastors were on vacation.  She said there was a long line of people responding for prayer after service, and just a great feel for the whole movie-theme.  In fact, they even served the popcorn at the entrance, so people were munching away while she preached!  [TPers, don't get any ideas - it ain't gonna happen on my watch]

• Pastor Doug reports that the message from Karate Kid went “surprisingly well” in South Bend, as I said, we weren’t sure how people would receive a Biblical message from a movie – but the feedback afterwards was positive, as folks had fun AND received a message from God’s Word in the process!

• At our Philippines campus, Pastor Herley reports 785 in attendance with 15 people receiving Christ in their services today.  He also sent pictures of the relief they were able to provide for the victims of the tragic flash flood there, thanks to CLC.  (I’ll do a later post about this).  The people were thankful for the assistance we made possible, which was actually greater than what the Philippine government was able to provide – so I thank CLCers for your generosity all year long that enables us to respond to crisis like these!

Several asked, so here’s the full text of the poem I read today, “DON’T QUIT!”

When things go wrong, as they sometimes will,

When the road you’re trudging seems all uphill,

When the funds are low and the debts are high,

And you want to smile, but you have to sigh,

When care is pressing you down a bit,

Rest, if you must, but don’t you quit.

Life is queer with its twists and turns,

As every one of us sometimes learns,

And many a failure turns about,

When he might have won had he stuck it out;

Don’t give up though the pace seems slow–

You may succeed with another blow.

Often the goal is nearer than,

It seems to a faint and faltering man,

Often the struggler has given up,

When he might have captured the victor’s cup,

And he learned too late when the night slipped down,

How close he was to the golden crown.

Success is failure turned inside out–

The silver tint of the clouds of doubt,

And you never can tell how close you are,

It may be near when it seems so far,

So stick to the fight when you’re hardest hit–

It’s when things seem worst that you must not quit.

That’s all for this Sunday…..I’m not sure if it’s the fact that the adrenaline rush is over (or the anointing lifted) or just the fact that I haven’t been doing anything for the past few weeks so my stamina is down – but I’m BEAT!  It sure was GOOD being back home at CLC, though-

Oh – one last thing (the most incredible thing in memory that’s ever happened to me) – one of our CLCers handed me a gift bag after the last service, simply saying, “this is for you, Pastor”. When I got home after lunch & opened it up, it was an iPad2 & a leather cover! I’m still in SHOCK…..I don’t ever recall a ‘no occasion’ gift of that magnitude in my life…..but I’m grateful.  Thank you, T.E., thank you!

Well, this was our last weekend away….and I could wish this kind of holiday for each one of you: we’ve had plenty to eat; plenty of time lazing around the backyard pool at my in-law’s, and best of all, plenty of FAMILY time, just enjoying each other. Now, that’s  a GREAT vacation, as you can tell:

I did manage to visit another church in metro Detroit last night and watch all 3 CLC services online today, and I gotta tell you again: I love my church! You guys are simply the best, and I genuinely enjoyed worshipping online (although nothing beats being there in person!!!)

I was once again proud of my ‘sons’: my youngest son Brent kept us engaged with the missions theme at 8am; my spiritual son Pastor Jaime preached it at 9:30am; and my ‘newest’ son, Sam Hamstra, simply got in our face about the path we take in life toward our God-given destiny (there is a cost, but it’s so worth it!)

Am I the only one that noticed this next generation isn’t timid about the Gospel & they don’t back away from challenging all of us to live it out each day?

Since it IS missions Sunday today, let me mention that our Davao, Philippines campus was affected by the flash flood there last week. While their building wasn’t damaged, one of their newest converts from Islam was drowned along with two of her sisters, and several of our members lost possessions.  Pastor Herley is already leading a relief effort for the families who were affected, and I promised him our help.  If you wish to make an online donation, you can do so here.  Thanks for your compassion AND your generosity!

Can’t wait to see all of you next week when we begin our “God@the Movies” series with a look at Karate Kid…hope you’ll invite someone to be your guest this week!

I’ve asked our pastors from around the campuses to leave comments from their services below, and if you were a part of a CLC experience today, I’d love to hear from you, too

Chris & I are thoroughly enjoying this time in the Smokies – just drinking in the view from our cabin, reading a LOT of mystery novels, and relaxing with ‘the boys’ (Jasper & Pedro). We generally only leave the cabin once a day to try a restaurant – today Chris said this was the best barbecue she’d ever eaten (just trying to help if you’re ever down this way).

We tuned in to all 3 online services today to enjoy our up-and-coming leaders, Jen, Eduardo & Michael as they brought the Word – and I thought they fed all of us spiritually as well as Bennett’s fed Chris & me.  Once again, I was a PROUD father and a proud pastor!

I’m asking our campus pastors to leave their comments about their service below – but if you attended ANY CLC service today, feel free to leave your thoughts as well.

Now I’m headed back to my novel……have a great week!

What a TERRIFIC weekend:

• I had the privilege of ‘pinch-hitting’ yesterday for the Global Network of Christian Ministries event in Chicago due to Chairman Scott Jones’ illness, and although I missed seeing Scott, I really enjoyed the opportunity to share some “lessons I’m learning from my pain”.  The pastors seemed to be helped, and I know it was cathartic for me to share!  (Besides, I always enjoy hang-time with other pastors!)

Then it was wonderful reports of Father’s Day all around CLC:

• First was an email from Pastor Herley in our Philippines campus, where they had 837 in attendance, plus 20 people who prayed to receive Christ.  Pastor Herley said the highlight was when he called all the father’s forward (over 100 of them) and then had their children join them in the altar as the dads embraced & prayed over their sons & daughters, weeping as they did!

• Then I got a text from Pastor Doug in South Bend, and he was raving about their service.  He felt today was going to be something special on his way to church, and it was: great worship with 3 new members on the team; followed by the baptism of a young man who was filled with the Holy Spirit in the baptistry (love it!), and then Doug’s teaching about “The Father Effect”, encouraging the dads to positively impact their children.  He said the response was fantastic and the feedback from the congregation let him know how timely the Word was.  (I love the MOMENTUM in South Bend!)

• Next was text from Pastor Eric in Lisle who wasn’t happy about low attendance (me, too) but rejoicing over good worship, special presentations and the way the congregation seems to be connecting with his series about being an “Acts 2″ kind of community!  My favorite story was about a first-time guest family who had seen their trailer (since it’s a mobile campus, we have to store all the equipment in a trailer all week – and the trailer says “Welcome to the Life at Christian Life Center”) – and said they were so curious as to what “the life” was all about it drove them nuts until they finally decided to come today!  (Whatever it takes, right!)

• What can I say about the 3 celebrations at Tinley Park? We’re operating with a makeshift stage due to our makeover of the auditorium and we’ve temporarily lost our Guest Services center, but WOW, what a day it was!  Felt such love as we commissioned four new elder couples (Clarence & Carolyn Johnson, Mike & Kim Galvan, Ellis & Donna McCarthy, and Ken & Pat Earley) with prayer – so thankful for our entire team of elders who link arms with Chris & me to help pastor this congregation!

• If you can’t tell, I’m also so PUMPED about the upcoming series in July, “God@the Movies”, as we’ll look at Biblical principles thru the lens of four popular movies.  If you’ll help us by inviting your friends and family, I think JULY could be one of our highest-attendance months of the year!

• Today was also special because we welcomed our newest staff members, the Worship Directors for the “20-something” service we’re launching this Fall, Caleb & Summer Baker. (To learn more about him, click here).  Get this: I encouraged you to welcome them to CLC since they left behind all their family & friends in AR, and this afternoon Caleb sent me a text that said, “I can’t tell you how many people warmly welcome us today.  We feel home!” Gonna say it again, I love this church!

• Really felt the message today – never did anything like that on previous Father’s Days – but heard from so many folks who were moved to forgive their dad (or others in their life) and thus gave him & themselves the BEST Father’s Day gift! Loved my wife’s transparency about her dad and the impact it had upon folks, too.

• Most incredible was the altar response, especially at the 11:30 service, when it appeared that at least 12-15 people jumped to their feet to announce that they had prayed to receive Christ and be reconciled to their Heavenly Father today!  (I don’t think I’ll ever forget seeing CLCers hugging & welcoming those new folks to God’s family – awesome!)

• Then after a great lunch with my family (and more Father’s Day cards), Chris & I (and ‘the boys’) loaded up my SUV and drove until we got to a motel in Columbus, Indiana tonight.  We’ll finish up tomorrow on our trip to Gatlinburg so I can attend a team meeting with Bishop Garlington’s network for a couple of days, and then enjoy our summer vacation in the Smokies.  So I may not be in communication for a couple of weeks, but I pray that you enjoy your summer as much as we plan to enjoy ours.  G’night!

Oh, just one last thing: when you pray this week, would you remember the team of about 17 CLCers in Colombia, South America this week?  They’re reaching out to unsaved youth through a series of evangelistic sports camps, and we’re believing for a fruitful trip and many changed lives!

I love my church! NOT because I’m the pastor or that it’s “my” church, either.  I just love what God is doing at CLC and the people He’s planted in our church family!

I’ll be honest: that’s probably on my mind today more than usual, because we had one of those RARE weekends off, and I had opportunity to visit one church on Saturday night and I’m headed to another church tonight, plus I watched portions of four other services online today in addition to catching all three CLC services online (do I need counseling?).  It’s really not that I’m addicted (I don’t think); it’s that as a pastor I so seldom have the chance to observe how other churches do stuff, and I really wanted to take advantage of the opportunity this weekend.  At any rate, after watching, observing and participating, I came to this conclusion: I love my church!

And based on my online experience and my text messages today, I’d say it was a GOOD Pentecost Sunday at CLC:

• at our Lisle campus, Pastor Eric gave this wonderful report: life change happening: 6 prayed to receive Christ; at least 1 person baptized in the Holy Spirit (possibly others who prayed as well); good reports all around, and strong attendance even on a beautiful summer day!

• I didn’t hear from Pastor Jaime about the Hispanic service today, but I did learn than his brother-in-law who had been kidnapped in Guatemala earlier this week is now free in answer to our prayers, and Jaime’s entire family in Guatemala is celebrating the victory from our mighty God!  (Sounds like time to put the first half of Romans 12:15 into practice!)

• Based on what I saw online from the Tinley Park campus today, our next generation of leaders is coming on strong!  (At my age, I feel like all our young leaders are “my boys”, and today I was ‘proud’ of both Sam Hamstra and my son Brent, who both hit home runs with their messages!) Even from my desk at home, I could see that they were both engaging, with communication styles & stories that connected with people, and most importantly, they both delivered a Word!  (Loved Sam’s “Taco Tuesday 7-11 story”, and Brent’s vodka object lesson…..well, let’s just say that he is my wife’s son, too, you know – the queen of object lessons!) And I loved seeing folks pray afterwards for a closer relationship with their ‘Friend’.

• In South Bend, Pastor Doug said worship was great and the service powerfully anointed today, as he preached about “Pursuing the Higher Life” from Matt 10:39.  

Sounds like a good Pentecost Sunday everywhere at CLC!

Now I’m headed to my last church service of this weekend-

Today felt like a GREAT Summer Sunday at CLC, all around:

• It’s been a long time since I felt what the OT prophets called “the burden of the Lord” – felt more like a prophet than a pastor today in bringing the message at Tinley Park.  Really appreciated all the folks who shared that they heard from the Holy Spirit about not missing their destiny! Seeing all the folks crowded around the altar after each service was a throwback to my Pentecostal days!

• With Pastor Jim on vacation and my wife ministering in South Bend, plus some special announcements that we felt required pastoral presence, it’s also about as emotionally-draining day as I remember in a long, long time.  I’m wiped out!

• Of course, some of that probably had to do with the tragedy our church family experienced in the early hours of this morning, when CLCer Ryan Royall, was killed by random gunfire at a party in Lynwood. Ryan literally grew up at CLC from infancy, and his mother, Wanda has served in our church family for his entire 17 years.  (We will post funeral details on our website as they become available – in the meantime, let’s surround Wanda and her family with our love, our prayers and our presence)

• Appreciate the GOOD response to our call for volunteers to help with the makeover of our Tinley Park campus, too – it’s exciting to see what will be happening in the next few weeks!

• As I said, my wife ministered at South Bend today, and both she & Pastor Doug report it was a GREAT day there, with 2 people praying to receive Christ, lots of guests to celebrate with all their 2011 grads, 8 new people joining our CLC family at membership class, and an attendance of 150 today!  Seems like South Bend is on a roll these days, and I couldn’t be happier for Pastors Doug & Shanna who are starting to reap the fruit of their faithful service!

• In Lisle, Pastor Eric was practically speechless (you know that had to be BIG!)….the church family surprised him with a wireless microphone (that he wanted but wasn’t willing to spend the money for) AND a birthday lunch & cake after service, with lots of cards & even more love! He also said the worship was beautiful today, with a tangible presence of the Lord and folks soaking up the Word like sponges, as he launched a series on becoming a book of Acts church.  Sounds like a great day in Lisle!

• At our Philippines campus, Pastor Herley reported 815 in attendance (they’ve added a third Sunday service to accommodate their growth) and 36 people prayed to receive Christ today!  I love what God is doing in the Philippines, and I’m SO glad CLC gets to be a part of it!!!

That’s it for this Sunday…..very thankful for all the kind words & the joy of being surrounded by family tonight (especially the cutest 15-month-old boy on the planet!)  See for yourself: