In a few more weeks, I’ll be beginning a new series on Wednesday nights called, “Lessons from a Whiteboard”.  Each week in the series, I’ll be using a giant whiteboard to illustrate the teaching for that night.

I’ve got a few ideas for where I want to go with this series, but at the same time, I’m still open to your help and input. 

So, with this concept in mind, I would love to hear your  ideas.  (And by the way, I’m not going to be using any chalk, so don’t even think about asking me to do something like this!)

Seriously, I would love your help, so fire away!

Awalipalooza turned out to be an amazing event.  We had around 100 of our awesome nursery and preschool volunteers show up, and we had a blast.  We sang, we laughed, and we celebrated.  We even cried (well, I didn’t, but some people did!) 

Anyway, it’s still not to late to join our Awali Land team.  We would love for you to join us in making first impressions of Jesus that are lasting impressions. 

Here are a few pictures from this year’s big event.

All of our crazy volunteers were there!

Everybody got this really cool t-shirt!

We gave out our first ever Awali Awards to some of our incredible volunteers (Thank you Juli Waller, Shawn McGlon, and Lesleigh Mixon…you guys are awesome!!)

All in all, it was a great night, and I hate it if you missed it. 

And by the way, the next time you check your children in, do me a favor and tell our awesome volunteers how thankful you are for what they do!  (And if you want to become one of awesome volunteers, that would be great too!)

Things I saw / heard this morning

1.       Another great attendance for July…does anyone go on vacation?

2.       Music was awesome…it was really cool to see Gerald leading with Mark beside him…can you say all-star team?

3.       Gerald told me afterwards “you are blessed to be at this church…your people are amazing.”

4.       Choir and A. Driggers rocked the house out with her song…If I knew how to dance I would have been…powerful…not the dancing but the song.

5.       Met 3 young couples this morning that were first time visitors…every Sunday is someone’s first Sunday.

6.       Saw a family being baptized this morning (mom and two kids)…it you knew their story you would have broke down when they were “dunked.”

7.       Have a great Preschool meeting this afternoon…we have some of the best and most committed volunteers.

8.       What’s Happening Video was very creative…taken from the show “the office.”

9.       They used my office for the video (I was on vacation)…heads will roll tomorrow.

10.   The staff is working really hard to bring you an amazing weekend for Leadership Conference…all I can say is that it is going to be a blast.

If you are a preschool volunteer or interested in joining our awesome preschool team, you definitely want to show up for Awalipalooza. 

I thought I would tell you a little about this event, and then as I was visiting Jennifer Tucker’s blog, I came across this video she put together which says everything you need to know. 

I hope you’ll joing us for Awalipalooza!

Several months ago, I gave you an update on how well our church was doing this year.  Almost four months later, I thought I’d give you another update. 

• 219 people have decided to make Southside their church home (with almost 80% of them coming from an unchurched background!)
• 93 individuals have surrendered their lives to Christ
• 96 new followers of Jesus have been baptized

On top of that, we’ just had our best July ever in terms of attendance.  We’ve been pushing 2,000 people every Sunday, and that just doesn’t usually happen in the summer. 

Anyway, God continues to be good to our church and lives continue to be changed. 

But we’re not satisfied.  Not even a little.  And while I hope that you’ll rejoice over these numbers with me, I hope more than ever that you’ll join us in loving God, loving people, and loving the world on the journey to life change.

I know it’s been a while since I’ve blogged, and I feel like I need to apologize.  July has been crazy for me. 

• I’ve been helping our new children’s pastor get moved in and have been showing him the ropes.
• I spent a week in the middle of nowhere for children’s camp (it was awesome though!)
• I’ve been handling the preaching duties for Sunday mornings.
• I’ve had sick kids, out of town guests, and haven’t been feeling well myself.

Anyway, I just wanted to apologize and let you guys know that I’m going do better.  Sorry!