As I was getting ready to leave the office today, I overheard a lady thanking us for having a Celebrate Recovery ministry.  Right after that, she stated “your church has been stealing members from our church.”  Of course my ears perked up.  I could not believe what I just heard…”thanks for having a ministry that ministers to people who struggle with addictions” and in the same moment tell us how we are stealing their members.  This brings me to an interesting topic…do we steal members of other churches?

The answer is yes…usually around midnight on Saturday Night the entire staff drives around town and pin-points multiple members of other churches.  Once at their houses we program their cars to drive directly to Southside.  It’s really fun and if you want to be apart of this secret operations team join me at midnight on Saturday.  BTW - wear black and make sure you paint your face.

Not only do we steal members, we steal ideas.  I’m always looking at churches who are “doing church” better than us.  I want to learn.  I’m not stupid enough to think we have all the good ideas.  In fact there is a church in town that is doing a sermon series that we did over a year ago…to that I say “very cool!”  I hope it works as well for them as it did for us.  Why?  because we got that sermon idea from a church in Indiana. 

We are all on the same team…I think?

I had to make a visit to my doctor today…getting old - being 30 is over-rated.  My doctor was super busy, so they passed me off to one that had an open slot.  As I sat in the waiting room while she was writing up what was wrong with me (long list), she turned and asked “so, are you a pastor?”  I was taken off guard, but then realized she was reading my “chart.”  We began talking about being a pastor, etc….  She asked me what church I worked at and after the answer there was an interesting look on her face…she paused for about 3 seconds and then said “I heard that’s a big & happening church.”  We continued talking about Southside and the process of me moving here a year ago.  When I left the office, I began thinking about the two words she used to describe our church.

(1) Big - Yes we are.  But its all relative.  We have over 2100 each Sunday, but our Houston county has over 120,00o people.  So actually were small.  We need to be thankful for what God has done, but never satisfied.  I don’t want to live on yesterday’s blessings.

(2) Happening - If we are not joyful and excited - then we promote a boring God.  The bottom line is life change creates excitement.  I love being at a place that life change happens.

This weekend was our fall Married Life LIVE.  We invited Dr.Bob & Cheryl Reccord to speak.  WOW!  They did an amazing job.  They are the type of people want to become like…completely transparent for the glory of God.  I walked away from MLL wanting to stay more pure / work even harder at being a better husband / share with others what God has taught me through my marriage.

We had over 400 people attend this weekend and our prayer as a staff is simple…passionately love your spouse.  I know I love mine more after this weekend.  How did I get so lucky?  Why in the world did Kristy say “Yes” to me?  I have no idea why, but she did and there is nothing she can do about it now!

I got this e-mail recently and it was so good, I asked the person if I could pass it along.  It made me happy.  Anyway, I hope you’ll take a minute or two and read this…

Hey Matt, 

I just wanted to tell someone how awesome our middle school program is going! I figured you probably get some negative emails so here is a good one you might actually want to read!

When we started working in middle school a couple years ago we just kind of “fell” into it because we are friends with Jim and Sarah. You know how working with youth is… first I was like am I crazy? Then I started to build relationships with them and before I knew it, they became “my middle schoolers” and love them so much! Next, I went through the stage of “ Are they listening to anything I say?!?” It was so frustrating because I felt like I was pouring my life into them and they just take it for granted. I truly care about the decisions they make in life and I felt like they didn’t understand because they are so wrapped up in their middle school life.               

However, if I did not go through this little journey I would never received all the blessings God has given me in the past few years. Just when I think I have had it with them, one of “my middle schooler girls” comes up to me and gives me a big hug and tells me that she loves me! Or on a Wednesday night, I am like- why aren’t they paying attention!! A middle schooler gets saved! Or in small groups when they are acting like typical teenagers- one of them opens up to me about their life. It is SO rewarding to be able to work with these kids and I am so happy God has chosen me to take this journey! 

She wrote more, but you get the point.  And by the way, I love how she used the word journey at the end of her e-mail.   Remember our mission statement is “Love God, Love People, Love the World, on the journey to life change.”  And that’s exactly what’s happening in her and her husband’s life. 

Anyway, I wanted to pass along that great story.   

**Oh, and don’t forget that Married Life Live is tomorrow and Saturday.  If you’re married, you don’t want to miss this great event.

I’m sure some of you are ready for something new, so today is the last post on the staff and their offices.  We’ll end with the man who leads us in worship every Sunday, Bryan Wurster.  Bryan has been with Southside for almost six years now and here is what we found in his office.

For those of you who are wondering what we’ll be singing over the next few weeks, here you go…

Bryan’s picture gallery

You have to respect anyone who has a “Far Side” desk calendar.

Say hello to Bryan Wurster

I can’t wait until I get one of these!

Randall Nash has been around Southside for almost 19 years now.  He is over pastoral care and missions.  He recently rearranged his office and here is what it looks like. 

This is Randall Nash (I call him “Uncle Randy”)

The little “Harley”

The big “Harley”

Guess who Randall cheers for?

This guy was hanging around Randall’s office