Archive for the 'My Life' Category

Purpose Driven has a Price

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 26 August 2008
in Random Ramblings, Church Planting, Parenting, My Wife, InDependence Church and My Life
. 1 Comment

At breakfast this morning with my buddy Carl we were discussing some of our challenges. This time could easily turn into a one up or simply a complain session. (you thought I was going to say something else but I am working out my salvation) To this point we have been successful in making it an opportunity to encourage one another and offer feedback. 

This morning I was telling him about my desire to establish some priorities and boundaries between ministry and life. I know some really “holy” people just said there is no difference; God has called you to be a pastor, so it is your life. No, it is only a piece… God has called me to be a man, a husband, a father, a friend, a witness, an employee, and a pastor so it is up to me to establish the priorities of these things and establish boundaries.

I have always been aware of the time vacuum that is ministry. I grew up with it and have vowed hundreds of times not to loose site of my priorities. Well, seemingly no matter how conscious I am or how hard I have tried I am missing the mark. God has a way of reminding us of where we are falling short. Sometimes they are subtle redirections and other times they hurt like a dull knife cutting out your heart.

So, I used the word Purpose Driven because that is one of the church planting models that includes the “launching large” concept. Obviously there are others, but I want to share today a price to “launching large” (especially if you don’t make it). The Bible talks about counting your costs and this was one that I didn’t consider and maybe you haven’t either so let me help you learn this so you might not have to pay the same price. Continue reading ‘Purpose Driven has a Price’

www.Th_ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.org

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 22 August 2008
in My Life
. 0 Comments

So it has been a while since I mentioned our little project. We worked on it at the end of July for three days. We got quite a bit done but thankfully God bought us some more time to get our ducks in a row. The website is moving forward and I discussed it with our  designer on Wednesday.

He is making some headway using the graphics that we sent him. I put out some more feelers last week also and I think it is going to be awesome. But I have one issue… I need a good CPA. Not just your run of the mill H&R Block person but somebody who has some knowledge on operating non-profits.

So if anybody has a good one that they trust please send their contact information to pastor@TheInChurch.org. Okay so I gave you a hint… our project isn’t going to make any profit. So with that in mind I guess I should have clarified good and CHEAP tax person.

 If you are one you can contact me at that same address. Thanks.

Fall is coming!

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 11 August 2008
in Random Ramblings, InDependence Church and My Life
. 2 Comments

The fall has always been my favorite season. I know I live in South Florida where I am not sure if that terminology even exists but… Maybe it is because my birthday comes in the fall. Maybe it is because that is when “football” season kicks off. Now that I live in South Florida I need to clarify, “American Football”. Specifically it is the time when the Buckeyes of The Ohio State University take the field under the fine coaching of Jim Tressel. O-H-I-O

Maybe it is because I remember taking great yearly trips as a kid to the mountains to enjoy the changing of the leaves. Maybe it was because I was married in the fall. Maybe it is because of Thanksgiving which is one of my favorite holidays. Maybe it is a little of all of that, but now that I am a church planter I have found a new affection for the fall.

I am anticipating the return of all of our vacationers in the next few weeks. As kids return to school and schedules begin to settle I am looking forward to making this fall our season of spiritual growth. We will trying to find out what sort of impact a New Testament church can have on our community. 

So starting in September we will be taking the New Testament Challenge. We are going to read the New Testament cover to cover during the course of the next three months.  We are going to be challenged to live out the life of a New Testament follower of Christ. We have taken off our lousy t-shirts and we are getting on with our own amazing journeys. 

Downsizing

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 8 August 2008
in My Wife and My Life
. 1 Comment

A fairly common term used lately in business but this time I am not using it in relation to corporate America. My family is putting the wraps on a move tonight and tomorrow. This is the first time that my wife and I have downsized in our soon to be 9 years of marriage. It’s the pottery/willow anniversary and I already have the gift picked out… way ahead of schedule.

We started out in a 1200sf (2/2) apartment. First house was a 1700sf (3/2). Second house was an 1800sf (4/2). Then the last house we were renting was a 2400sf (4/2). This house was way too big for us but to get 4 bedrooms in Weston (to house the church office) this was one of the smallest models.   The 1800sf house was a great size for us. Not too big and not too small. The four bedrooms allow for an office and a school/playroom for Owen, which is really nice.

This week we moved into a 1350sf (3/2) apartment. Talk about scale shock. All of the furniture that swam in the big house is sinking the apartment. This process has forced me to face some important realizations.

10. We have way too much stuff.

9.     A majority of it is really not that important.

8.     Maybe I am a little bit of a pack rat.

7.     If you haven’t used it, much less seen it in a year…

6.     It really pained me to part with yard tools even though I haven’t used them once since we moved here. (they were the nice fiberglass handled ones)

5.     God has really blessed us during those 9 years.

4.     Paying $60/hr to have (2) guys from U-haul to move our heavy furniture… worth every penny.

3.     Size does matter, especially when selecting a U-haul truck.

2.     If you think paper cuts hurt… try cardboard

…and the number one realization I had in downsizing…

1.     My wife is an incredibly strong woman… not only physically but in every other area.

Ok so you may be thinking that was cheesy but you don’t know how much effort my wife put into this move and I just want her to know that I love her and appreciate her.

Viva Viagra

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 22 July 2008
in InDependence Church and My Life
. 0 Comments

This last Sunday my family and I, along with our guitarist, and his girlfriend, made the trip to West Palm to hang out with our worship leader, David and his family. Our bass player was there also so I found myself surrounded with some very musically talented people. Other than experiencing some incredible food… and by incredible, I mean incredible, I enjoyed spontaneous breakouts in music and song.  

David has a music room with a drum kit, keyboard and about 1500 guitars. OK so it wasn’t 1500 but he did have a ukulele. I almost asked for a little “Somewhere Over the Rainbow” but I didn’t want to have my man card revoked. Probably just mentioning that on the internet is going to cost me some points.  

The amazing part was that he would just hop from instrument to instrument and just start playing. So then Sebastian (our guitarist) gets in the mix and started playing random tunes. The experience brought two thoughts to my mind: 

It was either like being the non-musical kid adopted by The Partridge Family or watching the making of the “Viva Viagra” commercial.  I am glad to announce that jingle was never sung but if you ever get a chance ask David and his family to sing their jingle about cheese.

BMI

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 18 July 2008
in Health and My Life
. 0 Comments

The Griffis family is moving… and one of the upsides to our new apartment is that it comes with a gym. I haven’t had much time for the gym lately (shame on me) and to conserve some cash my wife cancelled our YMCA membership 5 months ago. So I have done a little running but for the most part have done little to no exercise in the past 9 months.   I love to exercise and when I am in routine (every day) I am dedicated but when I am not in a routine I won’t do anything. So I noticed some added pounds joining my mid section in the last couple of months and have been trying to motivate my appetite for exercise instead of food.  I was thinking how great it would be to have 24 hr access to a gym so that I can use my crazy sleep habits to my advantage, but then I came across this article. Apparently I have 46lbs between me and obesity so what’s the rush. This scale must have slid quite a ways recently because I remember a much smaller number for my 5’9” frame. I wonder what the percentages on the map would be if we were working off the old scale. 

Never mind I went here and found out that I am only 13lbs from overweight so I am re-motivated. New apartment gym and racquetball court here I come…

I know BMI isn’t the most efficient way to analyze your health because a whole lot of professional athletes are considered overweight because of their muscle mass. But for me muscle mass isn’t the issue so now I just need to figure out which 30 - 45 minutes I need to dedicate.

www.T _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _ _.org

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 17 July 2008
in My Life
. 2 Comments

I told you last week that we started working on a new project that was really going to push our faith to the limit. Today I discussed some work on the website with the designer.

I will try to give you updates as we go and hopefully by the time we fill in all the blanks we will be able to go public with what God is asking us to do. I have told a few people and so far we have gotten mixed responses. Some people think we are crazy. Others have broken into tears and think it is awesome. So far I have had both those responses myself so I think they are justified. Others have been astounded by the amount of “guts” this takes. My prayer is that it won’t be all guts and no glory because our purpose is to bring glory to God’s name through this.

My wife is a PUSHOVER…

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 15 July 2008
in My Wife and My Life
. 0 Comments

That’s right… she is an absolute push over. This in turn makes me a complete push over. I give my family an inch… I agree that Owen, who has been begging for a dog for months, can have a puppy. This is a big step for me because being the “rational” level headed guy that I am, I know that we have a pretty hectic lifestyle right now and a dog does require a certain amount of care.  

As a kid I never had a dog. I had a rabbit and some other lower maintenance animals but my dad wasn’t into having a dog in the house. So… since marrying Harmony, who grew up with tons of animals around all the time she has continued to try to persuade me in the dog department.   I think I have given in 4 times and every single time it turned out to be a disaster. Whether it was the mutt with heart worms or the pure bread basset hound that needed a $1000 eye lift, dogs have just not worked out for us. 

Since Harmony and I have not been successful in giving Owen a brother or sister and at this point adoption is just way out of our financial means, I was being pressured again. So I gave Harmony an inch and she took 37 miles. 

A non-successful trip to the pound on Sunday left me with a very sad little boy. One who is praying that Jesus would break into the pound and bring him his puppy. One that thought his behavior was the reason why they wouldn’t let us take a puppy home. (Which was not the case) the pound found out that we are planning to move in a month so they didn’t feel it would be good to put the dog through that. WELL, I’m sure the dog could probably handle a move better than being put to sleep if it doesn’t get adopted. Anyways… 

So Harmony was now on a mission to get Owen a dog. Well to make a long story short… for just a little more than we were going to pay for a pound puppy we got not “one” but “two” pure bred American Bulldogs. No… I didn’t see that coming either so now I have the option, do I play the mean husband/dad and send the other one back or do I, well there really is no other options, so let me introduce you to Thelma & Louise the two newest members of the Griffis family. So you have heard of a double portion blessing, well I guess I’ll thank God for responding to My Son’s Prayer x 2.

www.___________________.org

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 11 July 2008
in Church Planting, InDependence Church and My Life
. 0 Comments

I purchased a new domain name today for a little project my family is taking on. We got a little sidetracked this last week but we are back on course and moving forward. This project ties right into the series we are in at InDependence. 

We are getting ready for week two of the “I became a Christian and all I got was this lousy t-shirt” series. This series is basically about us as Christians no longer reading or hearing about somebody else’s exciting journey and settling for a souvenir t-shirt. For more information on the book it is based on click here. 

This project is certainly going to be an exciting journey for us. It is going to involve faith, risk, and even a little danger. (Written with my best Australian accent) I am sure there will be moments were it seems impossible. I am sure there will be moments of joy. I am sure that this little project will probably feel a little like the emotional roller coaster ride that accompanies planting a church. 

Can’t wait to share more but for the next month or so you will just have to anticipate hearing about the ridiculous thing God is asking us to do.

Look through the turn…

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 8 July 2008
in My Life
. 1 Comment

This post is totally selfish and it isn’t intended to mean anything to anybody but me. I am hoping to be able to look back at this period in future years and read this post title and have this statement remind me of something that started today.