What I liked about this weekend:
* Loved kicking off our Christmas series, "Simple Christmas".
* Sharing about Advent Conspiracy with our congregation.
* I was blown away at how many people were there on Thanksgiving weekend.
* We're usually down 10-15% in attendance on Thanksgiving weekend, but we were actually up about 15%!
* Matt did a fantastic job kicking off the series with a great gospel message on the Open Invitation of Christmas.
* The band was great as usually...had lunch with another person from BridgeWay today and we both agreed that the past 4 weeks have been off the charts good musically!
* Seeing so many kids...wow...we've got kids all over the place.
* Seeing Yancy Green serving in Treasure Quest! Seriously men...children's ministry is not just for women...our children need Godly men to help them discover Jesus...thanks for leading the way Yancy (and all the other men who serve in Treasure Quest)!
* Spending time working on my Life Action Plan over the holiday weekend...wow...it was like a whole life check-up at the doctors...painful, but needed. Praying I can implement and execute on all the changes that are needed in my life.
* Spending time with my extended family in Michigan over the Thanksgiving holiday...one of my favorites!
* Hearing all the great stories from people who made decisions to honor God with their finances during "Greater Things"...got 2 more emails today from people sharing how God had moved in their situation after choosing to honor him first! Awesome!
* So proud of our church choosing to give and live sacrificially through Greater Things! I was so proud when I got announce on Sunday that our goal of $75k in commitments had been exceeded by over $40k...Wow! Can't wait to see how God uses this to accomplish Greater Things in the next year through BridgeWay!
* Running into Kevin & Lori Grose and their family at Wal-Mart yesterday afternoon...our kids are crazy when they're together...Mia even wanted to move in with them by the time we got done killing 1hr talking in the electronics department...funny stuff.

What I didn't like about this weekend:
* Leaving family on a tough weekend...Sunday was the 1yr anniversary of my grandmother's passing last year...she was the matriarch of our family and I wish I could have been there to be with my family on Sunday.
* Hearing about the passing of a great man Jim Green...if you don't know who Jim is...he and his wife were leading song evangelist in the Church of the Nazarene for decades...I'll be attending his memorial service on Thursday...it will be powerful.
* Not much else really...it was a great weekend!
* Seeing the Bears offensive line stink it up against the Vikings.

What I'm looking forward to this week:
* Lots of stuff happening this week...
* Being with our great LifeGroup tonight...only 2 weeks left in our fall semester of groups...make sure you get in a group in January!
* Matt being gone on vacation...I know that sounds bad, but the guy really deserves a vacation. Praying that God uses it to provide rest and relaxation for he and his family.
* Helena's basketball season kicked off last week, and I should get to see at least one game this week!
* Teaching on sexual purity at a men's retreat for my friend Jesse Bartz and his church "Real Life Church" in Pekin (actually it's in Marquette Heights, but oh well). Real Life used to meet in the Pekin theater before we used it. Then God moved in a really cool way and provided a building for them...ummm...God...any chance you want to hook a brother up?
* The second week of Simple Christmas! I'll be teaching on Worshiping Fully this Christmas...don't miss it...great services planned!