Beach visitation…

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 10 May 2009
in Health and My Life
. 1 Comment

This morning I woke up before the family and set out for some morning exercise and take a jog. Don’t take this as some sort of morning ritual because I have honestly neglected my temple for about a year now but it is time to do some maintenance. So I set out heading north on A1A and ran a little more than a mile. Then I opted for the beach for my return trip.

God speaks to people in all sorts of ways but for me it is often through the imagery of the things around me. As I making my return walk on the beach this was the encouraging word that God gave me. First let me give you the setting. Its 7:45am on a fairly unoccupied (at least this time of day) section of beach in Boca Raton, FL. It is beginning to heat up but the ocean breeze keeps the temperature just right for the cool down walk home. Continue reading ‘Beach visitation…’

The autopsy of a church planter

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 30 April 2009
in Church Planting, Church of God, City of Weston Florida, Health, InDependence Church, My Life, My Wife, Parenting, Random Ramblings and The Word
. 7 Comments

Somebody asked me yesterday what it was like to not have to prepare for Sunday. Well I wrote this blog a while back titled 6 days till Sunday which has been the story of my life for the past 16 months straight. Even though I recently have switched over to Facebook to spout off random thoughts, this blog still remains the behind the scenes look at the life of a husband, father, and church planter. I just have been busy with the stuff below and haven’t had time to blog much. (And outsourcing my blog didn’t work)

 

So I wanted to journal my thoughts as I close the chapter of my life at InDependence Church. As many of you know this past Sunday was my last official Sunday at InDependence. Over the next week or so I will be working on transferring over all of the other “stuff” that goes along with this job like, banking, taxes, facilities, marketing, leadership, staff info, etc. etc. etc.

 

Many of my pastoral friends have called to check up on me to see how I am doing. My wife asked me yesterday if it feels to me like we are offering our kid up for adoption after you have brought it into this world and raised it for two years… In a sense yes but God has given me incredible peace and confidence that I am doing what is best for me, my family and InDependence.

 

To not so quickly recap:

Continue reading ‘The autopsy of a church planter’

O N E T R I L L I O N D O L L A R S

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 3 April 2009
in Random Ramblings
. 1 Comment

All this talk about “stimulus packages” and “bailouts”…

A billion dollars…

A hundred billion dollars…

Eight hundred billion dollars…

One TRILLION dollars…

What does that look like? I mean, these various numbers are tossed around like so many doggie treats, so lets get a sense of what exactly a trillion dollars looks like.

We’ll start with a $100 dollar bill. Currently the largest U.S. denomination in general circulation. Most everyone has seen them, slightly fewer have owned them. Guaranteed to make friends wherever they go.

A packet of one hundred $100 bills is less than 1/2″ thick and contains $10,000. Fits in your pocket easily and is more than enough for week or two of shamefully decadent fun.

Believe it or not, this next little pile is $1 million dollars (100 packets of $10,000). You could stuff that into a grocery bag and walk around with it.

While a measly $1 million looked a little unimpressive, $100 million is a little more respectable. It fits neatly on a standard pallet…

And $1 BILLION dollars… now we’re really getting somewhere…

Next we’ll look at ONE TRILLION dollars. This is that number we’ve been hearing so much about. What is a trillion dollars? Well, it’s a million million. It’s a thousand billion. It’s a one followed by 12 zeros.

You ready for this?

It’s pretty surprising.

Ladies and gentlemen… I give you $1 trillion dollars…

 

Notice those pallets are double stacked.
…and remember those are $100 bills.

So the next time you hear someone toss around the phrase “trillion dollars”… that’s what they’re talking about. (notice the guy in the red shirt in the lower left corner)

Quitting Church

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 2 April 2009
in Church Planting, City of Weston Florida, InDependence Church and Random Ramblings
. 1 Comment

I am half way through a book titled “Quitting Church” by Julia Duin and it has made me sad. I can recognize so many of the things that she describes the church to be and not be. She talks about the types of people that once experienced Jesus but were driven away by the “church”. This is not a book about people who wer never reached by “church” but were reached and rejected or reached and turned off by what it has become. Check out this blog article with some Q&A with the author.

I am encouraged to think that InDependence Church is doing something with its’ Jeopardy Series to combat her concern of the “church” being disconnected with the questions and needs of its’ community. So far our church has reached more disgruntled than lost. In the past I have found that discouraging but today I have a little different perspective. Whether it was the world or the church that turned people away from God is irrelevant. We were still called to reach so “God give us the wisdom and the knowledge to reach those that once knew you but were driven away by the methods man used to represent you.”

New Jeopardy Series at InDependence

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 25 March 2009
in Church Planting, City of Weston Florida and InDependence Church
. 3 Comments
What's the one question you would ask in church?

What is the one question you would ask in church?

Text your questions to 954.707.2493

Text your questions to 954.707.2493

That’s my dog!

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 20 March 2009
in My Life
. 3 Comments

My wife and son recently returned from Ireland where my wife took nearly 1000 pictures. Even though there were some amazing pictures of castles and beautiful landscapes clearly these were the best ones. My son marking his territory…

Unashamed

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 20 March 2009
in Random Ramblings
. 0 Comments

I would so do this…

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 12 March 2009
in My Life and Random Ramblings
. 3 Comments

Check out this charity for cancer. If anybody is interested in finding some sponsors for me I would gladly give up my ever increasing grey and brown hair… there are a handful of locations hosting close to us between now and the end of the month. I dare you to dare me.

Somebody Needs This… (maybe even me)

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 11 March 2009
in Random Ramblings
. 0 Comments

Tales from Ireland

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 10 March 2009
in Church Planting, My Life and My Wife
. 0 Comments

Today my wife and son visited the ruins of a church in Ireland that dated mid 600AD. From what my wife could remember from her years of Latin she believes that a tombstone at the site was that of the Pastor and his wife.

 

Seeing that she began to question what it was like for them. What challenges did they face? I guess she feels a connection with them given our current positions as pastor and wife.

 

Now she has me thinking. Will we do this until we die or until Jesus comes back? Can we be obedient enough for Him to desire to use us for that amount of time? Can we keep the passion to serve and the compassion for the lost? Can we make it through the periods of physical, mental and emotional tiredness? Will we be able to maintain enough faith to stair in the face of adversity and still declare all things are possible? Can we overcome temptation (lust of the eyes, lust of the flesh, and the pride of life)?

 

The part that I found very cool was that they are presumably buried at the church where they pastored. For us I don’t think the school would be to keen on that but this says some things to me. Maybe it was nothing like this but to me I see a couple who were able to say yes to the above questions.

 

Even though it would be neat to hear their story I don’t have to because most all stories that I hear from pastors include struggles, temptations, trials, victories, grace and deliverance. I know that ours does and now more than ever I want to be able to say yes to the above questions. I don’t care about being buried at a church but I do want to stand before God someday and as He looks over my record for Him to see these things.

 

So today I pray God lead me where you want me. Plant me, grow me, and prune me as necessary, so that I may produce good fruit for your kingdom all the days of my life.