• Great morning at BridgeWay!
• We kicked off a new series today called "Lie to Me"...and to say the least I think it's going to be a great series.
• Here's a link to the roll-in bumper.
• In case you missed it...Dave Craig kicked off the series today with a message on the lie that "we have to clean up, before we show up".
• Some of the key take-aways for me were:
• Shame is the source of most religious lies.
• We try to cover our shame in one of two ways: Religion or Excuses.
• We can never clean ourselves up enough to be acceptable to God, but through faith in Jesus we can all be cleaned up by God from the inside out.
• True life change happens when I trust in Jesus and allow him to clean up my life, and stop playing the religious game.
• The illustration of Dave wearing a suit and then taking it off was really strong...if not a little creepy ;)
• The band was smokin' today!
• Great spirit in worship in the congregation as well...you guys sang really loud both services!
• If you were not there, Dave will be joining our staff as a part-time staff member in April in the areas of volunteers, local & global missions, and pastoral care.
• Some of you asked me today about my experience getting stuck in Chicago last night...I was coming back from a Church Planter Assessment Center in Michigan, and due to ice on the interstate, I successfully turned a 6 hour trip into a 10 hour trip!
• Right now I'm on a flight from Atlanta into Sarasota to spend 3 days with my grandfather before coming back and hitting it hard in preparation for Easter!
• Met a really talented artist on the flight named Jamie Kirkell...check his work out here!
• Last thought...we saw over 500 people in worship today!  I think around 520!  Wow...just wow!
• That's great, but what if we all determined to invite someone to come with us next Sunday too!
• Don't miss next week!  Matt Robinson will be back and trust me he's gonna be a lean mean preachin' machine!
• Have a great week church!

* Pretty great day at BridgeWay today!
* Week 2 of our series "Mentor Me"...loving it so far.
* The set up guys rocked it today and unloaded the truck in record time...we were short 4 people on tear down, but still got out by 1pm...not bad.
* If you're looking to get involved in serving at BridgeWay tear down would be a strategic place to serve.
* The band did a great version of "Give Me Jesus" by Jeremy Camp today to close the service!
* A special shout out to Nate for helping with hosting both services today...great job!
* I preached on being "Mentored by Jesus" today...here are some highlights.
* Most of us believe we are saved by grace, but made holy by works.
* Are you trusting Jesus as your Mentor, or just as your Savior?
* It's one thing to trust Jesus with your eternity, but it's another to trust him with your life.
* Do you want Jesus for what he can give you, or for who he is?
* Most of us want Jesus in the car, we just prefer him in the backseat.
* Yes, I did in fact sing Jesus Take the Wheel in church today...had to be there.
* Amazing God moment of the day...A guy who visited our church from Indiana last week because he was in town visiting family drove back this morning 180 miles just to come to church! Best part...he accepted Christ! Wow!
* I'm writing this from St. Francis Medical Center...our daughter Brenna has been pretty sick since Saturday morning and we ended up in the ER tonight...your prayers are appreciated.
* Exciting news from this weekend is that it looks like our insurance is going to ok replacing our entire roof after we lost a ton of shingles in the blizzard a couple weeks ago!
* Don't miss our night of worship and baptism this Saturday night at Pekin First Nazarene at 5pm...gonna be a blast!

• Sorry this is a day late...I crashed after church yesterday and didn't wake up until our friends came over for the Superbowl last night.
• It was the first Sunday afternoon nap I've taken in 2+ years...crazy!
• I needed it.
• Pretty crazy week/weekend...between our shingles getting torn off the house, a ton of counseling and meetings, and hanging with my buddy Jeff Dill working on Helena's room (he did most of the work), and no sleep Saturday night...I was shot...not complaining, just explaining to quote a mentor of mine.
• We kicked off a new series called "Mentor Me" on Sunday!  We're really going to see some great things come out of this series...lots of God stories happening in our church with people mentoring others.
• I'm convinced people are hungry for mentors who will believe in then and help them accomplish God's purpose for their lives.
• I shared about how what mentors do...
• They help us hear God's call on our lives.
• They help us see God's plans when we can't.
• They help us to sense God's presence.
• They help us to remember God's faithfulness. 
• The band did an amazing job with an acoustic cover of "My Hero" by the Foo Fighters...great stuff!
• At the end of the service we celebrated some really cool things...you can hear about them here!
• One thing we celebrated was the completion of the cases for our equipment...we even showed one off in the service...at 11am when I opened the case Kevin Grose just happened to be inside...hilarious...I lost it!
• We definitely missed Matt, but our teams did a great job leading, and Matt had done a great job building teams that can be counted on.
• Big week this week...I'll be meeting with the board of ministry all day on Thursday interviewing ministers for licenses and ordination...say a prayer for us on Thursday.
• Also, pray for Connie our Pastor of Family Life as she will be interviewing for ordination on Thursday!
• Have a great week church!

This Sunday we'll be kicking off a new series called "Mentor Me".  Talking through the message with a LifeGroup, or even your family is a great way to help you turn what God says on Sunday into action steps throughout the week.  These questions are for our LifeGroups, but they also are a great tool for you to use with your family over lunch or dinner on Sunday...or at halftime of the big game.

1. Who is someone that believed in you and encouraged you while you were growing up?  How did their influence help shape what you've become today?

2. Read Acts 13:36.  This passage talks about David accomplishing the purpose God had for his life.  Mentors are simply coaches who help us to accomplish God's purpose for our lives.  Who are some people that have not just influenced your life, but helped you to accomplish God's purpose for your life?

3. Describe a time that someone took a chance on you?  How did you grow from that opportunity?

4. Read 1 Chronicles 28:9-12, 19-20.  David is nearing the end of his life, and is investing in mentoring his son Solomon.  From this passage, what are some of the things that mentors do to help us accomplish God's purpose for our lives?

5. Who is someone you are currently mentoring or influencing?  What are some of the positive things you are adding to their life?  What are some of the things holding you back from being the type of example God would desire you to be?

6.  What individual or group of people is God calling you to influence in a positive way?  What next step do you need to take to carry out that calling?

As always, close your time with prayer for the people in your group.  Focus especially on praying for the people you are influencing, and the people God is calling you to influence.

So how about you? What's your favorite Super Bowl commercial?