I have got to learn when Jesse says, “you wanna come hear our band play?”, to ask when and where before saying, “Absolutely!” These guys do some serious gorilla evangelism. Their ministry is not for the faint at heart. I wound up in a smokey little “club” (read bar with a tiny stage) in the heart of South Beach watching The Saturn Project. I have to say it was one of the best shows I have seen them do. Mind you that it was the second time I had seen them outside of a church setting, but they blew away everyone else that performed that night. They also did their original stuff, full of references to a revolutionary, life-changing Jesus. It was great to see people searching for peace, love, connection in some way, come up to the band afterwards and tell them that they were different somehow. A lot of seed planted there Monday night.

After the band played, (did I mention they didn’t go on stage until around 12:45 a.m.?), we were all starving. We headed a couple of blocks north to the finest burger place in South Beach, “Cheeseburger Baby.” It was there I helped Alex and Jesse to cheat on their new diet plan. It’s always great when the big boy on staff brings someone over to the dark side.

 

Just finished reading a great book by Mike Bonem & Roger Patterson called “Leading From The Second Chair.” This should be required for anyone serving on a church staff, even lead pastors. Here are a few take-aways:

1. The definition of a second-chair leader is “a person in a subordinate role whose influence with others adds value throughout the organization.”

2. Second-chair leaders must live inside of three paradoxes: the subordinate-leader, deep-wide, and contentment-dreaming.

3. “Many who aspire to leadership fail because they have never learned to follow.” - Oswald Chambers

4. The second-chair leader must learn to be subordinate first, building a relationship trust with the first-chair, and work successfully around the defined line of authority.

5. The deep-wide paradox describes the ability to see the big picture or see the overall vision of the organization while simultaneously dealing with the details of specific areas.

6. This paradox (deep-wide) can best be navigated by working with integrated systems as opposed to loosely connected “silos.”

7. Putting the deep-wide paradox into practice requires the following actions: Be a pulse taker, be a vision amplifier, be a leader multiplier, and be a gap filler.

8. Contentment in the second chair is your choice to stay and grow and excel, for a season, regardless of current circumstances.

9. Contentment in the second chair is less like a sleeping baby and more like a mountain climber on the side of a peak.

10. The most important part of dreaming is the stewardship of the dream. It is done in four parts: Be careful what you say and to whom you say it, check your ego at the door, practice both now and later, trust God in the details.

Welcome to the first edition of the Sunday Stew…all ingredients are certified non-organic and hormone- filled! Today was an interesting day from start to finish. Here are the highlights:

• Went to the theater early only to be greeted by one of Homestead’s finest at a road block a few yards from the entrance. It seems an accident had both sides of Campbell Drive shut down. Due to this fact, I was the only one at the theater from 7 a.m. until around 7:40 a.m. when Chris Day made it. It was a very productive 40 minutes and in no time LPCer’s began breaking through the obstacle to serve. Things didn’t skip a beat and all venues were up and rolling before the first guest arrived. It is awesome to serve along side of the world’s greatest volunteers!
• Both services were great today. Jesse spoke about the accomplishment of Jesus as he laid down his life through the worst possible means of execution. Reina led the musical part of worship along with Phil. They did a great job and though Jesse was missed, the quality was not lacking.
• Kid’s Life was jumping as usual and that was even with some key players missing with sick children at home.
• Alex’s crew had set-up complete in an hour on Saturday night and had everything put away in half that time after service ended. Those guys rock! If you aren’t coming out on Saturday night for an hour, you are missing a great opportunity.
• After services, a bunch of us headed out to Homestead Bayfront Park for a picnic. While we were there, a few of my friends wanted to experience baptism the way that Jesus did. At Life Pointe, we don’t do a baptism ceremony or service as such. We try to keep things as organic as possible so in lieu of such ritual, we just join family and friends down at the local lagoon and in the midst of children playing and others enjoying the sunshine, we allow those who choose so to publically express their faith by being baptised. After sharing testimonies of many of those wanting to participate and then praying together under our rented shelter, we then we headed to the water. We were able to enjoy the experience of several of our friends as they publically expressed their faith. The park personnel mistakenly thought we were conducting some type of service and interupted for a few minutes. They wound up taking their own pictures of us to send “downtown” to verify whether what we were doing constituted a service. We are in the process of determining how we should proceed with the video footage that was taken while we were there. A fun day overall!

Let me just say that it was great to be back home at Life Pointe this morning.

• The lobby was rocking as usual, with the exception of the absence of Chris Day. Nevertheless, the hospitality crew was on their game today
• Kids Life was stuffed with 3 and 4 year olds today. 24 in the first service and 16 in the second. That’s a lot of energy in one room! You can probably get a more detailed update from Anne on her blog, if she isn’t too exhausted to post.
• Alex had the first ever Cure Sunday Service thumping in Pier 14 today. From Latin hip-hop to…well…sort of loud growling, the youth were enjoying doing their own thing this morning. It was a great start to a new Life Pointe tradition.
• Jesse and the worship team was awesome today. You could tell they were really allowing God to minister through them as they led us into His presence.
• Travis was definitely feeling better today as he opened the Scriptures and showed us a caring, locally acting, globally thinking, revolutionary Jesus. It was a challenge that we needed in today’s narcissistic culture. I personally need a reminder to stay others-focused. Can’t wait for the conclusion to (un)Christian next week.

Back at home the family prepares to leave me for a week. The two youngest are in a wedding this coming weekend as junior bride and flower girl. The wedding is up in North Carolina, but Anne will take advantage of being close to her dad and go a couple of days early to spend some time on the farm. Due to being gone all week and missing Sunday, they will go without me and I will count every minute until they return. I wasn’t created to be alone. Pray for Anne this week as she makes the 15 1/2 hour journey with just the four kids. Who knows, with the extra time this week maybe I’ll blog more than once! Don’t hold your breath, but anything’s possible.

Such a great weekend required a day to marinate before I could post.

•  Spent the weekend helping good friends, Keith & Michele Duncan of His Call Ministries, with their annual Throne Zone conference in Hampton, VA. Mariah went with me again this year. Last year she helped with my exhibit for REI Ministries. This year we left the booth in Homestead but she still wanted to go, so she saved her own money to pay for the plane ticket. Needless to say, her investment paid off. Watching her dance in worship each night and pray for others was only part of what I watched God do for her this weekend. She is becoming a beautiful Godly woman right before my eyes and I feel so blessed.
• Sunday morning we got up and drove to Richmond (where our flight was leaving from) and went to church with my brother, Stephen. He goes to Harvest Renewal Church. They meet at Atlee High School on the north side of town. It was cool seeing how effectively they meet in a school setting. I enjoyed worshiping with Pastor Doug and the people there. They have a great vision for the Kingdom in Richmond and around the world.
• I missed being at Life Pointe this week. We were kicking off our (un)christian series and had a record turn out. Though I wish I were there, it was cool knowing that the information booth got set up successfully by David Corrado etal. Those hospitality guys rock! I can’t wait to be there this Sunday for Part II.

• This morning’s vibe was great from the first minute. Hospitality set-up was missing a few people and everyone picked up the slack beautifully.
• The cool rainy morning didn’t discourage people from gathering this morning as we experienced about 382 total attendance today.
• The presence of God was strong in both services with several people making decisions to follow Christ and be the priest He called them to be.
• If you have a chance to attend the early service, don’t miss the opportunity. It is a great experience and you will free up some seats for those trying out things for the first time (they tend to come to the second service). The greatest benefit is that it frees you up to serve in one of many opportunities during the second service. If you are like me, you don’t like missing good opportunities! Drop me a line if you need help deciding where to plug in.
• The music was kicking this morning. Jesse was in full effect and the vocals were spot on. Bill and Phillip were tighter than ever and Alex on drums is never a bad thing. This kid is talented in so many areas, it blows my mind. His video debut was awesome, even though his aspirations to take over Life Pointe were a little disturbing!
• We looked at the priesthood of believers as part of the State of the Church series this morning. It was great to see so many people begin to function as true priests and help with tear down immediately following the second service. Wow! This really blew me away.
• The Kids Life areas were cranking with a ton of little guys and girls hearing about Jesus. Read more here.
• It was Chris’ one year anniversary today. He wasn’t feeling well but due to a caffeine overload was feeling no pain.
• After things were wrapped up today the Hollifields headed to Ruson in Miami for a little teppanyaki cooking and entertainment. After lunch we hit Starbuck’s for a couple of venti cups of stimulation to make the drive home without falling asleep. God is good.

Well, today was a boring Friday for the Miami Hollifield’s. We just stayed around the house and tried to catch up on the week. I finished out the evening by going into the office for a couple of hours to wrap up stuff for the weekend.

Last night, Nathan and I took advantage of some complimentary Miami Heat tickets and caught the Heat/Wizards game. Heat looked pitiful. UNC alums (Jameson & Haywood) played pretty well for the Wizards. Nathan enjoyed the game, though the dance breaks by the Heat dancers were as close as he has come to visiting a strip club. We took many trips for snacks. We took the Metrorail from South Dadeland into the city to avoid the traffic and high dollar parking. The train was a little more confusing than NY or DC, but we figured it out. Nathan crashed on the trip home and slept like a log all the way back to Dadeland. We have a planned trip back to AA Arena for Monday’s game against the Timberwolves. We are much more prepared this time and plan to get there early to experience the “Winter Wonderland” events in the lobby.

 The coolest thing that has happened this week is the creation of two new blogs in our household. You can check out what Mariah and Nathan have to say about life and stuff. They are already putting me to shame in the blogging department. Nathan told me this week that he can’t wait to post his “Sunday Wrap Up” and talk about Pastor Travis‘ message this week. The world will never be the same.

Tomorrow, I will rise around 8 a.m. to go play basketball with Jesse and all the other Life Pointe hoodlums in the park. If I survive, I will head to the opera house at the Carnival Center at 2 p.m. to take my oldest two daughters for our annual trip to see George Ballentine’s “Nutcracker” as performed by the Miami City Ballet. This is Maggie’s first year to attend (you must be at least four yrs. old) and Mariah’s seventh. We will see how they compare to the NC and NYC Ballet Companies. Can’t wait to dress up and hang out with my girls. To be honest, I enjoy the music more than the dancing. Maybe after tomorrow it actually will begin to “look a lot like Christmas.”

Thanks to my good friend Glen Rochelle for passing this along! Enjoy!

 This is the sight we found today when coming back from an afternoon at the beach. It had been a decent day, a little rain but overall a good day with the family. Evidently, the “smash and grab” criminal that did this took Anne’s purse and our digital camera. So instead of heading out to a nice family meal to end the day, we spent 2 1/2 hours sitting in the 34th Street parking lot, waiting for the Miami Beach CSI to come out and do their thing. BTW, my car has been thoroughly fingerprinted and Miami CSI drives an AstroVan and not a cool black Hummer. After many calls to credit card and insurance companies we finally headed back to Homestead, a little weary and a little wiser. The kids are still somewhat shaken, but are dealing with the slight trama by sleeping out in the living room tonight and watching a Santa movie. Bottom line - we are safe, didn’t lose much and will have a new window sometime between 12 and 5 tomorrow. God is still faithful and we will survive.

Just some thoughts from yesterday’s Life Pointe gathering:

• Set-up went well Saturday night which makes for a much smoother Sunday.
• We are changing a couple of things in the lobby. Chris had an awesome idea about the info table. Come see it next week!
• Someone changed our settings on the worship venue thermostat, making the 9 and most of the 10:30 services a little sticky. That will not be happening next week!
• Travis taught today and did excellent. It always amazes me that he is unhappy with his “performance” on days that he hits a home run.
• Jesse and the worship team was excellent today. Reina especially blessed me singing “You Said”. She may have a name that means “queen”, but she definitely has the voice of an angel!
• Annie always impresses me with how much she cares for the kids of Life Pointe. She rocks Kids Life on a weekly basis!