BillLaMorey.com

Safety

Is the will of God safe? This was the topic John B. (a man of international intrigue) explored this morning at Calvary Fellowship in his message "Safety."

To hear the sermon you can click here to download the podcast from iTunes or click here to download it or listen online from our church website.

My thoughts about the Conard move

Yesterday (after a long period of blood, sweat, tears and prayers) Calvary Fellowship held our first service at Conard High School. My head is still spinning a little, but here are some of my thoughts in the aftermath:

• We have an amazing staff and dedicated group of volunteers that worked diligently and selflessly to make everything happen...it is great to work with such high-caliber people!
• Also, the staff at Conard has been a HUGE help in making everything run smoothly for us (love ya, Carlos!)
• Despite several last-minute challenges up to the 11th hour, everything came together (and nobody was even aware of some of the issues we faced)!
• While we came up with a bunch of little things to fix, they were all LITTLE things. No BIG problems (this is huge considering how many details went into everything).
• After our staff meeting we came up with a list of things that we can do this week (via our own observations and some helpful feedback from church members) to make next week even better.
• Being at Conard felt completely different; it's bigger and badder and it feels like we're in a whole new church league as we launch Calvary 5.0!
• I think everyone felt a little strange as we all adjust to our new digs (it took 1/2 of my message before I felt like I was connecting with everyone)
• Roping off the seats and having everyone sit towards the front helped to create a smaller feel in a BIG auditorium.
• Having lots of new empty seats motivates me to work harder to fill them! (And I think it communicates to everyone that we are on the move and not willing to be complacently comfortable in our mission)
• The music was awesome! We still have some sound issues to tweak, but all fixable stuff.
• It felt a little weird preaching...the whole environment feels very professional; it kind of makes me feel pressured to write better messages. :) (Love my new podium!)
• The kids' environments looked inviting, energetic and well put together (we had to get creative with the space for some areas, but it worked out great!)
• I love the new courtyard extension area outside of the cafeteria for food/fellowship time; perfect for perfect weather like we experienced yesterday (plus I like the new Starbuck's coffee!!!)
• It was really cool to see the enthusiasm and excitement on the faces of our church body as they walked in and checked out our new church home. (Everyone has prayed, given, served and done so much to make this happen...it felt good to experience and celebrate the payoff of those efforts with everyone)
• I am more excited than ever about what God wants to do with this church. I am honored to be the pastor of such a great group of people in this really cool Christ-community that God is forming and expanding!

Coming Home

I intended to blog each day about the rich insights and revelations I was learning at the PDC gathering and...you know what they say about intentions.

Anyway, it was a tremendous conference rich with insight and I'm motivated to be a world-changer! But first, I can't wait to get home and see my girls!

Checking in from the West Coast

Day 1 of the Purpose Driven Community Gathering was fantastic!

I have so many notes, and there are so many things that God is impressing upon me personally and as a church leader. I can't share it all, but let me share one quote that I loved from Rick:

"You only believe the parts of the bible you do."

Simple, but a profound question that you can spend a lot of self-reflection time on. I really wish I had heard this a week ago, because this would have been perfect to steal for my message this past Sunday!

Off to day 2 of the conference...

Picking your battles

At Calvary Fellowship, we have chosen to remain an apolitical organization. While we encourage individuals to prayerfully and even passionately engage in the political process, we as a church refuse to get organizationally involved. It's simply a distraction from our mission because its not what the church has been called to do. Having said that, this is one fight I will not join:
http://elections.foxnews.com/2008/05/09/pastors-urged-to-preach-about-politics-in-hopes-of-toppling-irs-ban/

Diploma or GED required...

A friend took this test and his blog came up with an Elementary reading level. I thought mine might be at the preschool level, but it turns out you need at least a high school education to keep up around here. Hmmm...does that mean I should tighten up or dumb it down?!?

I'm thankful for...

During this weekend's message I issued a challenge to help us learn to be content. It was based on the idea that (contrary to most marketing) it is not accumulation (of things we think we want or need), but appreciation (for what we already have) that leads to contentment. The challenge was for each of us to put our wishlists (things we desire and tend to focus on) on hold and create a new list this week; a "gratitude list."

Here is the start of my list of things I'm thankful for:

• God (who always seems to have a more abundant supply of grace and mercy than my plentiful supply of sin & stupidity)
• My wife Rebecca (She is far more than I deserve; I recommend that you marry someone above your class too if at all possible)
• My daughters Emily and Lily (they make me laugh daily and teach me so much)
• My new daughter who I will meet on March 13th (or around that time)
• The people in our church (I know every pastor says they have the best congregation, but they're all wrong apparently...)
• My extended family (wish I could see you more!)
• My friends (got to see this one and this one in NYC at a conference last week)
• My job (I LOVE what I do!)
• The home warranty we signed up for 2 months ago (2 nights ago  a pipe burst that flooded our kitchen and sent potato peels overflowing out of our bathroom upstairs...the warranty covered a repair that would have cost 3-years of payments for the warranty!)

I could go on and on...but what are you thankful for?!?

Happy New Year

We all want to have a Happy New Year. Most of us are reflecting on the past year to learn the lessons from behind as we we look forward and plan for what's ahead. We'll make goals, resolutions, vows, promises, etc. That's all good and necessary, but as I sought to write something meaningful today, I was just brought back to a simple profound truth written in the bible a few thousand years ago (it's the memory verse for our church this week):

"Let us search out and examine our ways, And turn back to the Lord;" (Lamentations 3:40, NKJV)

It may seem weird to write about having a happy new year from a book called lamentations, but here is the point. The word blessed in the bible means happy. If we want to be truly happy people we need to be blessed people. If we want to be blessed people, we need to be obedient people (Deut. 28:1-2). If want to be obedient people, we need to follow the instructions of Lamentations 3:40.

So, having said that, Happy New Year!

Calvary House

Calvary House is the ministry God used to literally save my life. After the 3rd attempt, I finally graduated successfully in 1995. 4 & 1/2 years later I returned as the Director (the inmates were truly running the asylum) in which capacity I served for the next 3 years. So, it is no overstatement to say that this ministry will always have a huge place in my heart!

Yesterday, I caught wind that Calvary House was doing an outreach to the needy neighborhood that  the ministry is located in. (One of the keys to the success of the ministry is to break selfishness by moving the residents from passively receiving ministry to actively ministering to others [come to think of it, most Christians in general could benefit from going through Calvary House!]).

The event was amazing. Men in the ministry and volunteers from Calvary Ft. Lauderdale gave away food, drinks and almost 200 backpacks filled with school supplies to all the locals. They also shared a gospel presentation and many prayed to receive Christ.

It is a good feeling when you know that you left an organization better than you found it (by God's grace I believe that was the case with my tenure). But it is also a good feeling to know that the guy that came after you has taken the organization from where you left it, to an all new place of excellence. Such is the case with John Ramseur; he is doing an amazing job with this amazing ministry!

There is so much more I want to say, but this post is too long already. So if you want to catch a small flavor of what this ministry is all about, watch this powerful video that Calvary Ft. Lauderdale put together to showcase Calvary House.

Reinventing Myself

Rebecca and I were in Naples yesterday and we had the opportunity to check out an outlet mega-mall called Miromar. While there I spent some time in Wilson's Leather working on a new look for myself. I actually think it works well for me, but I am not certain how it would play out in new England. What do you think?