Archive for September, 2007

Dolphins Stadium

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 27 September 2007
in InDependence Church and My Life
. 0 Comments

I have been in South Florida for almost 6 months now and I finally made it to my first sporting event. Last night I was invited to go to the Marlins game. I must say that there were actually more Cubs fans than Marlins fans but the Cubs fans went home disappointed. I was cheering for the home team even though I have no true loyalty to either team and baseball for me is only remotely entertaining if it is live. If anybody were to ask I would have to say that I am a Cleveland Indians fan which I would like to note clinched the central division championship earlier in the week and are tied for the best record in the American League. Go Tribe!

What was far better than the game was the company. I had a night of stimulating conversation with the newest member of our Launch team. I was encouraged how God turned a remotely cold call into commitment to help us get InDependence off the ground. Neither party was looking for long term commitments but it was just a young man saying that he had bought into our vision and wanted to be a part through our launch and then we will reevaluate where we are at.

The pieces are slowly falling into place and at 3:30 am today I believe that God delivered the theme for our preview services. I am sure there will be more on that in the future but I am letting it simmer today and getting some feedback from some other pastors and voices of reason. I am excited about it but I get excited about bad ideas almost as fast as I do good ones so I am just seeing where the basic idea can evolve to.

Tour Stop #3 - Ashtabula County, OH

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 25 September 2007
in My Life
. 1 Comment

By Saturday afternoon I found myself driving on the streets that I learned to drive on, passing the landmarks that I would give people to find me. I would like to say that it was really cool to be on my old stomping grounds but to be quite honest it was somewhat depressing. I have some very fond memories of growing up in little Jefferson, OH. I have memories of the house I had lived in since I was two, the schools, the fairgrounds, the football field, even Dominoes Pizza. The depressing part was not thinking of how long it had been since I had experienced those things, because that just makes me older. The really depressing part was that nothing had changed, it had only gotten older. I can still take you to the spot of every major event in my childhood and it is still there just as it was then. No new development, no new stores, no new subdivisions, seemingly no new life. I am sure that there is some and in my 30 minutes around town I didn’t see it, but you get my point. Maybe the people there don’t see it; maybe my vision is different since moving to cities like Orlando and Ft. Lauderdale where change is an everyday occurrence. I am more thankful today that God allowed me to do life elsewhere. Not because life there is bad, but because life here is different (every day)

I had a late lunch with my friends Chris and Courtney and even bumped into another friend, Sharon. It was a great time of remember whens…and yes Chris you did miss out on a lot because you were whipped by your girlfriend Melanie. Anyways…we had a good time and I am proud to say that those are three more of those long term friends that I am blessed to have. I spent the rest of the evening with my cousin Mike and his girlfriend Julie. They put me up for the night and I am glad that I got a whole lot more sleep than I had the previous three nights.

Sunday morning I went and preached at the Conneaut Church of God. They have a great new 400+ seat sanctuary that I had never seen and it was really impressive. Pastor Lamb was the one who dedicated me when I was a baby and is who my dad considers being his pastor. It was truly an honor to be able to preach from his pulpit. I am excited to say that there is one new Christ follower and one recommitted Christ follower that came out of that service. I love being able to see the fruits of our labor.

After lunch with the pastor and his wife I headed back to Akron for my flight out. I was reunited with my family about 10:30pm Sunday night and I am excited to announce that they remembered me.

Tour Stop #2 - Akron, OH

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 25 September 2007
in My Life
. 1 Comment

On Thursday, Friday and Saturday morning I was in Akron, OH to perform the wedding ceremony of my best friend, Fred Mongenel. I flew out Thursday morning and got into Akron around noon. I had every intention of doing a little blogging with my laptop but I couldn’t get the Wi-Fi to work in my room but I did get some other work done so it was great to be portable. Thursday night there was a get together for all the bridal party at a hotel lounge. It was great because I haven’t seen Fred since my wedding day eight years ago but it was like we never missed a beat. I have a few friends like that which I am very proud about because I know that they are hard to come by. I got to meet Fred’s beautiful fiancé for the first time and she was everything that Fred had been holding out for. Fred was always very picky. I would date people for practice but not him. He knew what he wanted and wasn’t going to settle for anything less. As the best man said in his toast, “he still hasn’t settled.”

There were a few more acquaintances from high school there that I hadn’t seen in 13 to 14 years so that was kind of cool as well. We hung out until the early hours of Friday and had to be together at 8:45 for breakfast. We went from breakfast to the rehearsal at Stan Hywet Hall which was a great location for the ceremony. We had a few hours before having to return at 3:00 for pictures and then the wedding at 4:00. The weather was great and I think everything went as planned. I have to say that this was one of the most emotionally difficult ceremonies that I have ever performed. My wife tried to warn me but it didn’t really hit until the pre-ceremony prayer with the groom and groomsmen. I think we got it all out of the way then because we guys held it together through the ceremony but the girls were quite emotional, except for the bride, she was calm and collected. This was a big change from the night before when her nerves got the best of her.

I was fairly well behaved for a majority of the reception but a little Vanilla Ice was all that I could handle. It took a few minutes to get into the groove but as you can see in this clip we got the party started, at least as much as two uncoordinated white guys can. I am very excited that my wife wasn’t there to embarrass because this would have sent her under a table for sure. After the reception was over at 10:00 we went back to the previous nights hang out and stayed out way past my bedtime. I think I finally got to sleep around 3:00am which made for the out of town guest breakfast at 9:00am pretty rough.

With all of the remember when stories, pictures of Freddie and I at graduation, talking to his parents and friends that I have known since early childhood, there is no way I would have wanted to miss this. I am so excited for Fred and Amy and I know that they are enjoying their honeymoon in Hawaii.

Tour Stop #1 - Tampa, FL

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 25 September 2007
in Church of God and My Life
. 0 Comments

It has been a week since my last post and some of you may be wondering why. Well since my last post I have been on a whirlwind tour that included Tampa and also northeastern Ohio. Monday and Tuesday of last week I spent in Tampa with some other COG (Church of God) church planters. The group has expanded which is really awesome because each new face represented a new congregation of Christ followers. Even though a majority of them are revitalizing existing congregations it is exciting to see God resurrecting some dying churches and giving them new life. I am not sure which is more difficult starting with nothing or starting with baggage but I know that God will get the glory either way.

The COG has brought in a coach for all of us, Dr. Owen Weston which we will be meeting with once a month. It is exciting to see the use of some talented outside resources to assist us in the state to be more successful. I don’t know how many other states around the country are being this aggressive regarding church planting/revitalizing but I don’t think there are many within our denomination.

While in Tampa us church planters had dinner with the State Council and Dr. Martin Taylor (State Bishop) shared his heart regarding us and the vision he carries for the rest of the state. Even though I had heard the basics of this before I enjoyed the refresher. When he started the discussion he said that he liked taking opportunities like that to have new, existing and retired pastors in a small intimate gathering because he recognizes that in the 13 years since he has pastored that he has lost touch with the local church. Can I just say that the fact that he said that speaks volumes of his character, intelligence, and his desire to be a catalyst for change within the state? Thank you Dr. Taylor for recognizing it and making a great effort to connect with the pastor’s you represent. My opinion may be somewhat swayed by the fact that your vision is part of the reason I am here but I have heard similar opinions from many other pastors in our state.

All in all I had a great time on the trip even though I feel a little like the black sheep of our planting family. I am the only one this far south, one of two without a building, of the ones without a building I am the only one that parachuted into unfamiliar territory, and I am seemingly working off a different plan than everybody else. Even though that last part may not be by choice it is the direction we are going and I have some level of confidence in it. I am not one to back down so even though the challenge seems overwhelming at times, I know who sent me and we will keep pressing toward the goal. My prayer is that fear of failure isn’t the source of my will but that it is my desire to do what God is asking me to do that drives me. I don’t want to reach the goal and have unnecessary casualties or miss out on God’s perfect will. So continue to pray for us that we will get to the place God wants us, using the methods He intends for us to use.

2,920 days + 1,310 days = pizza?

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 17 September 2007
in My Wife
. 2 Comments

Tomorrow I celebrate my 2,920th day being married to my wife. For you non-mathematicians out there that is eight years. If you add the time that we dated and were engaged that brings the total up to 4,230 days since our first date. Yeh, we dated for a long time… I can’t remember too many days during that time that we have been apart.

Some might wonder isn’t it boring being with the same person night and day for that long. For me it is kind of like pizza. In high school I worked for Dominoes. Five days a week I had pizza for almost 3 years. I think it was the only reason my parents were able to afford me. You might think that after I quit I would not want to have pizza for the rest of my life. That wasn’t the case; in fact if given the choice I would probably eat pizza every day. I am thankful for my loving wife who looks out for my health and feeds me lots of healthier alternatives but I still slide in pizza at least once a week.

When you really love something you don’t ever get tired of it. With pizza you can use different toppings, sauces, cheeses and crust thicknesses to create almost limitless variations. You will also find that your tastes change after a while. I used to be a pan pizza lover with lots of meat, but now I am a thin crust veggie guy, at least when my wife is around. In the 4,230 days I have been with my wife there have been many different variations to our relationship. Some of which were like anchovies and didn’t go over too well but we got through it. While others were the perfect amount of Parmesan cheese sprinkled on top.

For instance, there was an early bought with cancer that she had. I experienced my then girlfriend with a life threatening illness and to God’s glory she was healed. I have experienced my wife as a girlfriend, a student (a couple of times), a fiancé, a business woman, a homemaker, a mother, a Pastor’s wife, and now we are getting ready to head into another variation, a public speaker. As our relationship has changed, our tastes have matured together as well. For instance, I like older women now and it just so happens that my wife is older now then when we met. I like women with short hair, and it just so happens that my wife has short hair. You get the point…my tastes have changed to what my wife has developed into. In a short while I am going to find public speaking incredibly sexy. HAHA

In every one of those and the hundreds of other toppings added during those different times my wife has never ceased to amaze me. She is my queen, my standard for what every woman should hope to be, the perfect example for our son to look for in a wife. In preparation for our anniversary I searched the memory banks for some of those times and it bothers me that I can’t remember more. Time after time, change after change, variation after variation, my wife rises to the challenge. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that I am the luckiest man in the world and that on my own accord I do not deserve such an awesome wife.

If you are married and don’t think those same thoughts today then I challenge you to remember the toppings. Remember those moments in life when you experienced your wife in a different way. Where life brought you a challenge and as a team you got through while alone you may have failed. You men have God’s greatest gift this side of salvation, the first gift that was ever presented to man, a woman. So take care of it, cherish it, respect it, love it, and don’t get board of it!

I love you today Harmony Griffis and I will for the next 27,375 days. At 106 years old somebody else will have to do the math for a contract extension.

Launch

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 12 September 2007
in InDependence Church and My Life
. 0 Comments

The days have been flying by since my last post. I spent the day yesterday at Stewardship Seminar in Tampa with Travis Johnson, Paul Hollifield (both of Life Point Church in Homestead) and fellow church planter Matt Mehaffey in Pembroke Pines. We had a lot of time to bond on the 4 hours up and back and even made some long term memories. More on that to come I am sure. The seminar was delivered by Nelson Searcy from The Journey Church in New York City. I mentioned his name in my last post regarding his book I was wrapping up called Launch.

You can find out some more information at ChurchFromScratch.com but I wanted to give you two of my biggest take aways. There were really a lot more than two but I don’t type very fast so if I gave you more than two I would be here all day.

The first big take away was actually a poem by Edward Everett Hale:

I am only one,
But still I am one.
I cannot do everything
But still I can do something;
And because I cant do everything
I will not refuse to do the something that I can do.

Nelson references this in regards to the planning of your first service and how you, your family and whatever team members you have will need to do all the “somethings” that you can to make the first monthly service smooth and successful.

As I have mentioned previously (I think) we have struggled with the development of a core group. We have had a lot of people express an interest in being apart of the church once it is underway but are very uncommitted to a “home church”, which is really what we are until October 21st. I have had the thoughts of developing a “core group” ingrained in my brain by many church planting specialists and is often times used synonymously with the term “launch team”. In the book my second big take away was finally somebody pitting the two terms against each other in a clear and concise manner. One that even I can understand. This is what Nelson wrote:

Launch Team
A time bound team
Meets to plan the launch
Involves anyone who is willing
Is engaged to accomplish a task
Focuses on those outside the church
Ends with an outward focus

VS.

Core Group
An open-ended team
Meets for spiritual growth
Involves only the spiritually mature
Is engaged to encourage and support
Focuses on those in the group
Ends with an inward focus

In talking with Nelson yesterday he encouraged me and told me it is probably a good thing that we haven’t been successful in developing a core group. I know that there are so many schools of thought out there and success and failures being had by all of them. So, I don’t know why God does things the way He does sometimes but I know for us right now we seemed to be headed in the direction that this book describes. To be honest I am really excited that God placed it in my hands because it put some more juice in the tank to keep me going.

One bonus take away from the book was the story of Jim from Fictional Community Church (FCC) and his efforts to launch a church from scratch. Once again I am too slow of a typist to go into detail but reading about Jim was actually the reason I purchased the book because Nelson very easily could have replaced Jim with Nathan and FCC with InDependence.

If you are a church planter, wife of a church planter, on a team, or wanting to be on a team, I would highly recommend this book and some of Nelson’s resources. No I didn’t get paid for this, but if anybody knows a way I can…

Hindsight is always 20/20

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 7 September 2007
in InDependence Church, Random Ramblings and The Word
. 0 Comments

I know I have been a little slow on posting lately but I have been putting my spare time into reading a great book. I am also through with it and I will post some thoughts once I am done. The book is called Launch by Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas. It has been such an accurate portrayal of church planting without a lot of big words to confuse the message. It has been a big encouragement to me so far and I still have 50 pages left.

Anyways…back to the topic for today. I ran across this article in my Biblezine this morning and I really liked it.

Hindsight is usually better than the ability to forecast the future. In the middle of a crisis at work, it is tempting to wonder why you are going through such an experience. Similarly, if an emergency affects your family, you may ponder why you have to deal with it.

Some people feel strongly that we can’t know the reasons behind events and that it is not right to question God about such matters. Yet Paul wrote an inquiring letter to his friend Philemon (15-16) about the run away-slave-turned-Christian Onesimus.

The apostle found it valuable to reflect on the lessons from an experience after the fact. He wanted to use hindsight as a tool to grow his faith, saying, “Maybe Onesimus was separated from you for a short time so you could have him back forever.” Paul had zeal for life and wanted to make sure he learned from every experience so he wouldn’t be doomed to repeat those mistakes in the future. The next time you face a crisis, remind yourself to look for the lessons God wants you to learn. Who knows? You may find clarity without the help of hindsight.

I find myself today looking for lessons to learn. There are so many areas that I can’t wait to testify, “But God…” because undoubtedly He is moving me toward some amazing testimonies. As many of you are aware this weekend was intended to be our parenting seminar. We had high hopes for 150 people from the area to attend and for us to not only minister to them with parenting techniques but to also expose them to InDependence. After putting our advertisement in 20,000 homes TWICE we had one couple sign up. Yes, only one couple. The even funnier thing was we were going to let that couple come for free if they would help us sign people in and work the resource table.

So…even though I haven’t learned the lesson yet, and I am not sure how God is going to get the glory, (but I know He will) I am going to praise Him. Why? For a lot of reasons:
1. He is God.
2. His saving grace.
3. He is still operating in my life.
4. His protecting hand.
5. His encouraging words.

Specifically:
6. I didn’t have a complete meltdown and fall apart with thoughts of failure. (Okay so I had a minor pity party, but it passed quickly because the first preview service is just 5 weeks away and there are too many other things to do.)
7. My wife and I will be better parents for our son and any children He blesses us with in the future.
8. We didn’t loose any money with the Hyatt because they are going to allow us to reschedule an event with them.
9. I believe that we did what He asked us to do, and my faith will be stronger because of it.
10. I have trusted Him with my life and He has never let me down. This is His church I am blessed enough to help Him build it. So the load is not mine to carry.

So get your eyes tested. Can you see God’s hand at work in your situation?

Quote of the Month - September

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 4 September 2007
in Random Ramblings
. 0 Comments

“Discipline is the soul of an army. It makes small numbers formidable, procures success to the weak and esteem to all” George Washington