Archive for November, 2007

SPAM Continued

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 30 November 2007
in The Word, InDependence Church and My Life
. 4 Comments

Okay…so I didn’t get to my entire neighborhood but I did get to 240 homes. With an investment of time totaling 8 hours and about $10 in supplies I was able to invite 240 families to a FREE party. I figured if every fast food joint in town takes time to do it must be worth the minimal cost and effort. Harmony whipped up a little flyer that we printed and secured with a rubber band through a punched hole. I know that personal invitations are way more effective but it would be impossible for me to meet everyone in my neighborhood. I did have the opportunity to hand four out but that was the only sign of life last night.

On Saturday we will find out the payoff but so far it has cost me an angry call from the homeowners association. Apparently there are a few people in the neighborhood that don’t like being invited to FREE parties. Now maybe these people have called in to complain about every restaurant and pizza joint that has done the same thing. I hope so because it is encouraging for me to think that people may be trying to keep the church “element” out of the neighborhood. Why is that encouraging? It is encouraging to me because people often times need what they least want because what they need makes them uncomfortable. I don’t know maybe they just don’t like the Subway sandwiches we are going to serve.

Even though I won’t SPAM my neighborhood again because I have been told not to I will not stop being aggressive in promoting Christ and our church. I know, I’m the pastor and that is my job, right? Well, I don’t claim to be a great theologian but I am pretty sure that The Great Commission (leading people to Christ) was given to all believers. By inviting people to an event like this my whole goal is to establish relationships that could facilitate The Great Commission. I love what this translation gives as the reason for Jesus giving The Great Commission, “Some, though, held back, not sure about worship, about risking themselves totally.” So Christ was responding to them being passive in their worship/faith.

So, how can I expect our church to be aggressive in their faith and be crazy inviters if I don’t lead by example? With all of the negative influences that are thrown in our faces everyday I think we should be willing to express our faith. I know this isn’t common practice in our politically correct world where expressing religion is a big NO NO, but it is okay to promote sex, drugs, lust, envy, etc. Expression of your faith isn’t always about preaching on a street corner but also includes being hospitable. So my bad…I solicited a FREE party.

Who knows, there may be one person out of those 240 homes that finds Jesus because of my FREE PARTY SPAM. I have to tell you that would completely erase the frustration I have right now with the few party poopers!

SPAM intro

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 29 November 2007
in Random Ramblings
. 0 Comments

I just finished SPAMMING my neighborhood…I’ll tell you about it tomorrow!

Do I have a little God in me?

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 27 November 2007
in Random Ramblings, The Word and My Life
. 1 Comment

Last night I read the story of Daniel and the lions den to my son. After completing the story I try to spend a little time to discuss what was happening in the story. His picture Bible has triggered some pretty interesting perspective points and last night was no different. We were talking about how God had protected Daniel from the lions and how God would always protect him. I also told him that he didn’t need to be afraid because God was with him. Now this is where it got very theological.

Owen says that he would be scared if God came out of his belly. It took me a minute but I realized that Owen understood that if God was living inside of him, the best place would be his belly. Being that all of his food goes there I guess that logic made pretty good sense for a three year old. So he then takes a look at my belly and asks “Do you have a BIG God that lives in there?” He then followed up with this question while pointing to his own stomach “Do I have a little God in me?”

Apparently I still have a little more weight to lose but this sparked some interesting thoughts. For the last couple of days I have been battling the stress (mainly financial) of being a church planter. To be completely honest I am trying not to check out emotionally because even though emotions aren’t everything, they are a great fuel for passion. So I had to ask myself “How big is my God?”

I know the old song “He’s bigger than all my problems, bigger than all my fears…” Even though this is true what I got out my conversation with my three year old is that perspective is often times reality when it comes to the size of our God. The God that I serve is really only one size but there are times that my lack of faith or my perspective shrinks Him. Right now this very moment I feel like I need a pretty big God. I feel like I have some pretty big “opportunities” (challenges) that my family and I are facing. Part of the problem is that when they are your “opportunities” they always seem bigger than if they are somebody else’s.

So where does the rubber meet the road? Is my God big enough? I would ask that you pray for us that my faith wouldn’t shrink the size of my God and pray that God would “help me overcome my unbelief!” (Mark 9:24)

I can’t wait to brag on how God comes through BIG once again!

Must Blog…

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 26 November 2007
in InDependence Church and My Life
. 0 Comments

I feel like I am getting further and further behind in my blogging. You know the commercial “Life comes at you fast…” well that is what I feel. So much is going on all at once I just can’t keep up with getting it all inputted. I had a great Turkey Day with the extended family in Orlando. We did the whole time share thing and the whole 1.5 hr sales pitch. I am feeling pretty good because we had the salesmen of the month three months running and we were still able to tell him no thank-you.

I only gained 1.4 pounds which wasn’t bad considering how much I packed away. My father in-law smoked a ham and fried a turkey. They both were fantastic but I am adding the ham to my list of memorable foods. I have a database in my head of great foods from different years. There was the grilled shrimp from the Christmas of ’03, and the sweet potato casserole from Thanksgiving ’05, etc. It is kind of like a fine list; if I could just order it up whenever desired.

We took my son to Sea World on Friday which has always been a place we love to go. We were the second group to experience the Polar Express transformation of the Wild Arctic. For those of you that have heard about my son’s affection for trains you can imagine he was pretty pumped. Even though we have moved we keep our passes there because we love t just pop in and catch a show or just play at the playground. My son is also really getting into the roller coaster thing which is going to be a lot of fun once we stretch him past the 42” mark.

Sunday I spoke at The River Church where I was asked to share our vision. It was really a fun time and they have one of those encouraging interactive type crowds. It had been a while since I had been in that environment so I got a little pumped and preached a little long. Okay so my wife says it was lot long but if she would have had somebody saying things like “Learn me little preacher man” she may have gotten fired up too. The River is entertaining the idea of partnering with us this next year which is really exciting. We need more churches like that who are taking an interest in our church plant.

Sunday afternoon I was able to get the next worship leader lined up for our third Test Drive Service on December 9th. Getting music lined up for our services have been pretty stressful to me but God just keeps working it out. Next I need him to work out some teachers because that is another serious need of ours. I have my family for the next service which buys me a month but after that we may have to combine some classes to get through.

Well my lunch break is over but I’ll try to get more downloaded tomorrow.

I QUIT!!!!!!

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 20 November 2007
in Random Ramblings and My Life
. 0 Comments

This weekend I did the unthinkable…I quit church planting. I know it seems crazy but I needed a break. I needed to stop thinking about what is going right, what is going wrong and how in the world we are going to pull the rest off. So I did some family stuff which is always good but I also was selfish and did some manly dirty work.

If you don’t know I have a 2003 Suzuki SV1000 which is actually my daily driver unless it is raining. I need to take some updated pictures because Santa gave me a new smoked windscreen and flush mount turn signals last year. I recently turned 20k miles and it was due for some maintenance. So I had ordered some parts 2 weeks ago and they finally came in. So on Saturday afternoon we went to lunch and stopped by the dealership to pick up my parts. Then after dark on Saturday the grease monkey came out.

Up to this point I have only changed the oil in this bike so I knew that changing the front and rear sprockets along with the chain were going to be a slightly more challenging task. That combined with new plugs, cooling fluid, air filter and oil change were my list of jobs. I have never shied away from working on cars even though I don’t have any real training. In the past I really haven’t had the money to go to mechanic for minor things like alternators, water pumps, etc. and since we seemingly always had at least one old vehicle I just did it to get by. You never know what you are capable of until you try. That has been a motto that I have lived and died by many times.

Now we have one new vehicle which God blessed us with that is still under warranty and the service plan so I don’t have to do anything with it. So I was excited to get my hands dirty maintaining my bike. Air filter no problem, oil no problem, cooling fluid no problem, and one spark plug no problem. The fun began about 9:30 on Saturday as I am trying to squeeze my hand behind the radiator to get to the front plug.

My bike was not originally designed to have a full fairing but they came out with a great looking bolt-on which I added within weeks of purchasing the bike. I love the looks of a sport bike but the torque of a V-twin, so short of buying a Honda RC51 (which was slightly out of my price range) I needed to modify the SV to get what I wanted. But with that said the fairing has some of those plastic rivets holding the bottom of the two halves together. So since those do not reuse well I opted to leave them in place and work around it. Well needless to say that one plug took almost as long as the other items up to that point.

Then on to the chain and sprockets… The dealer said that this was a 1.5 hour job and at $99/hr I figured I could save a little money. I know famous last words. So after the purchase of a chain breaker and chain rivet tool and the 32mm socket I didn’t have I came out ahead about $40. If you figure in the time that I spent wrestling with a drive sprocket nut and lifting a back without a wheel stand I probably lost $200. Let me tell you that it was absolutely worth it.

There is nothing more empowering than getting manicured with grease and chain lube. You know where no matter how hard you scrub your hands just have to wear clean over time. I had a blast and accomplished something other than getting through another preview service. It rained this morning so I wasn’t able to get the full effects of a job well done yet but the run around the block proved that everything was in order.

I think there was so much testosterone going in the garage this weekend that I actually woke up with a deeper voice and a little hairier. Owen had a pretty good time helping daddy also. He was quite upset with me though when I had to take some links out of the chain and he didn’t understand why I broke the new one. Just a little grease monkey in training!

Quote of the Month - November

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 16 November 2007
in Random Ramblings
. 1 Comment

I know it is the 16th but here it is…

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

Poem by Edward Everett Hale

FREE Test Drive #2

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 13 November 2007
in City of Weston Florida, InDependence Church and My Life
. 0 Comments

Where to start? It seems like it has been forever since I have blogged. As most of you are aware last weekend was our second Test Drive service. There is just so much that goes into it that I haven’t had time to download. But here goes. Deep breath….

You’ll remember last month the whole going back to work thing and my CAD instructor coming and working like a dog and inviting his awesome neighbors. Well as a first point of testimony (a.k.a. bragging on God) all of those families are still involved and are highly motivated to take Weston by storm with us.

GOD THING #1
My wife was at a Bible study in the home of one of these families on Friday night. There was another lady who was there who just happens to be looking for a church and just happens to write children’s ministry curriculum for a company which serves some of the larger churches in the area. She also just happens to have a real passion to teach kids. She wasn’t able to be with us on Sunday but I am really excited to meet her next week and see what sort of crazy stuff God is working through this relationship.

GOD THING #2
Last month one couple found us on the City of Weston website so we proved the web was a successful tool. This month our signage was proven a successful form of advertisement. Sagemont School is across the street from a pretty large apartment complex. We hang a bunch of signs up and when we were doing this we caught the attention of a guy who lives across the street. From his distance he couldn’t read the signs so he took a digital picture and then uploaded it so that he could zoom in. Seeing that it was a church he walked over to check us out.

Can I just say how great is that! Not only did he stick around for service but he even helped us turn Sagemont back into a school. This was a great example of the people that we need. Ones that will take a risk, try something new, and be willing to work a little to pull off whatever the task at hand is.

GOD THING #3
One more awesome story took place after service when my friend Travis Johnson from Life Pointe Church and Michael John Stanley (who led worship for us) went to lunch at Lucille’s in Weston. First I need to thank Travis for letting us have Michael when we had a last minute cancellation. I also want to thank him for bringing his family and his sound guy for a visit. Travis and Life Pointe have been a huge support to us.

So anyway, enough kissing up… Travis calls me about an hour after service and tells me I need to come to Lucille’s. I am still trying to get our U-Haul returned in time so they don’t charge me for another day and am probably an hour from being able to get there. So he goes on to tell me about his waitress that was putting up with all their sarcasm. She and her husband have been involved in youth ministry, live in Weston, and are looking for a church a local church to get plugged in to. So… I find myself once again stunned by how great God is. There is so much more to this story, like Kelly (Travis’s wife) locking her keys in the car, the circumstances for Michael being available, and the cancellation of the scheduled band. All somewhat stressful but once again, God gets the glory!

So I get there as quickly as I can after getting my awesome family on the road back to Orlando. I ask to be seated in this waitress’s section but she is already gone for the day. So I ask the hostess when she is working next. This got the attention of the hostess who now along with the manager thinks I am trying to pick her up. Not as in give her a ride home but as in to go on a date. So I eventually get the information needed and I leave my card and an invitation to the church, not so much for the waitress but to hopefully clarify my intentions.

So last night we had dinner at Lucille’s in hopes of figuring out where this piece fits in the puzzle of InDependence. Don’t have it all figured out by any means but I can’t help but be encouraged by these random God sightings.

I wish I could take any credit for what God is doing but I find myself as an innocent bystander caught in the crossfire of GOD THINGS.

A bragging point of the weekend for me was having two families in church that are my neighbors. I am a strong advocate for evangelism starting at home. Once you have your home in order the next logical place is your neighbors. I can’t wait to see how many more Lakes residences we can get involved. I am hoping that through the party at the park we can get the word out to a few more.

So I have tried to make up for not blogging for while by writing a book. Tomorrow I am going to get the quote of the month out being that it is almost half over.

BIG Trucks

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 6 November 2007
in City of Weston Florida, InDependence Church and My Life
. 0 Comments

I have been getting a ton of traffic due to this InDependence Monster Truck picture that I blogged about a while back. Just to bring you up to speed, we still need that BIG Truck to pull our BIG Trailer. The 8′ x 24′ trailer that is full of church, about killed my father-in laws truck a few weeks ago. This next Sunday we are going to be pulling it with a very stylish U-Haul.

I actually am starting to single out potential church members by what they drive. I am sure that there are some pastors who look for people with expensive cars thinking that means they have money. For most it just means they have a big car payment or a little smaller lease payment. Having recently priced heavy duty trucks, if you are looking for money you may want to start looking for people with BIG trucks because not only are the trucks expensive but that pails in comparison to the price to fill it up.

To be honest I don’t see a lot of them running around Weston and the BMW and Mercedes SUVs are just not going to cut it. So if you have at least a 3/4 ton truck with a trailer hitch and would like to be a part of the exciting world of church planting, please let me know.

Suit coat pocket

Published
by
Nathan Griffis
on 6 November 2007
in City of Weston Florida, InDependence Church and My Life
. 0 Comments

I discovered that suit coat pockets are actually great time capsules. Since moving to South Florida I can count on one hand the amount of times that I have worn a suit. Before coming here it was at least a weekly occurrence since we attended a traditional attire church. Most everything else was not conservative or traditional but I think du to some of the cultures represented in that church along with the pastors’ example the dress code still remained.

At InDependence we are pretty “come as you are” and if you want to wear a suit because you are comfortable in a suit so be it, but if you are comfortable in jeans and a t-shirt than that is fine also. Being raised in a traditional church environment I am not quite ready to wear shorts on Sundays (accept for set-up and take down) but I assure you there won’t be anybody ushering you out if you do.

Anyways…so as I put on my jacket I always check to make sure I have a pen because even though I don’t take a lot of notes during peoples sermons I usually take down the highlights. I actually try to have a notebook and pen with me at all times because you just never know when God is going to drop something into your spirit like manna from heaven.

When I reached in the pocket I discovered an “In memory of…” card that I had picked up at a funeral I had gone to at least nine months ago. It was actually a pleasant reminder. You may ask how a memory of a funeral could be pleasant so allow me to tell you. Not all deaths are sad especially the ones where you know that earthly pain have been treaded for eternal health. More importantly than the actual story which was actually a pretty good one was the thought that life is just a vapor. It is here one moment and gone the next.

That little card reminded me that our time is short and it is imperative that we live out every day to its’ fullest. Since that funeral I have turned my life upside down for Christ but there is still so much more to do. So the challenge is this…what difference will you be to humanity today? How will your life represent God today above the ho-hum of status quo? Let’s go get ‘em, let’s smother them in kindness, amaze them with our humility, give like its not ours (it’s not ours), stand-up tall for what we believe, fight for justice, love the unlovable, work our secular jobs as if God is your boss (He is) and live like there is no tomorrow because there is no promise of it.