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!