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Sunday Night Notables

What an incredible day. I always love when we do baptism, especially because we get to see the life change that's happening when people share it with us in their testimony videos. I am heading to Columbus this evening for a concert with some of our student ministry peeps so tonight's notables are going to be short. All I have to say is that it was overwhelming seeing that all of the signs were gone after the service. I know that some of you who wanted signs did not get one, so if you didn't and you'd really like some, email joel@originschurch.tv. We are completely out of the Hope Now signs but we do have some other Origins signs that we will make available to you. Also, if you'd like to share the Hope Now video with a friend, link them to our website, originschurch.tv, it's on the homepage. Here's some fun we had while filming the promo. For the record, I did not actually wet myself. Thanks for partnering with us and have an amazing Thanksgiving!

Leadership Insight Priority #2 Leading Your Family

I started this series of posts by explaining that the first priority of leadership should be leading yourself to repentance and making sure you were following Jesus, the second one is birthed out of that one which is to lead your family.  There are tons of great books that give great recommendations about what this looks like, but personally I think flexibility and the leading of the Holy Spirit is what it takes. 

I'm not talking about a flexible schedule, I know that is not always possible and I have a very demanding schedule myself, Im just talking about being intentional about the time you do have with them.  For instance, practicing a date night is important for sure, but sometimes Stacy needs extended attention during times that aren't date night.  Sometimes she needs flowers on non-special occasions, and sometimes she needs me to unexpectedly take all the children out to dinner and to buy a doorknob (that doesn't fit by the way) so she can get some rest.  The same goes for my 5 children, showing up at the games and special events are important but they need a 24/7 dad, not just a guy to comment on their abilities.  They need a dad who gauges their spiritual, physical, and emotional climate and knows what's going on in their heart. 

So what I have found to be successful is for me to become a student of my family and pray for God to give me discernment as to where I need to apply attention and then when I do I am fully present in those moments.  I also have found that involving them in my life is just as important as me being involved in theirs, I talk to them about my struggles, challenges, successes, failures and I invite them to be a part of some of the things I enjoy and work related responsibilities when possible.  We also do recurring family devotions, exercise, and we have a worship service in our home weekly just as a family.  

How about you, what practices have you found to be helpful leading your family?

Sunday Night Notables

• We had a run thru service Saturday for our coming Franklin campus and it was an awesome time of worship and me sharing the vision for our multi-campus efforts.
• The band was sounding extra good today, seems like the energy during worship has increased during this series.
• I heard everyone had a great time hanging out at the Toney's house after church today. If you didn't come to the after party you missed out on some great food and a great time, be sure to catch the next one that will be coming soon. Stay connected by signing up for the eNews and regularly stopping by the NEXT table on Sundays.
• We rushed to see Brayden play his last football game today and it was exciting to see his team win the Super bowl for 7 year olds.
• It's so awesome to feel the momentum that God is bringing Origins way right now.
• I'm so excited about our Christmas festivities that we have planned, it is going to be an amazing Origins Christmas.
• My heart is so incredibly full from the testimony that Dale, Lori, and Shauna shared during this series, if you missed any of them you can watch them all during the beginning of all the disturbed messages.
• I am excited about this coming weekend for Baptism, if you haven't been baptized yet after you have accepted Jesus shoot an email to brock@originschurch.tv to get signed up.
• OC Kids is amazing, I really mean amazing, I quiz my children every week and ask them about their small group leaders and their teaching and Stacy and I do the family devotions with them each Saturday and it constantly reminds me of how grateful I am for Shannon and everyone who serves in OC Kids.
• By the way, if I wasn't preaching on Sundays, I would be serving in OC Kids, if you guys are praying about serving anywhere at Origins, I would encourage you to consider OC Kids.
• I hear our host teams have stepped up there game tons with Clay at the helm cultivating excellence, we get surveys all the time telling us how helpful and welcoming everyone is and we continue to get better every week.
• We will be installing some new elders this January so if you know someone that you feel God may want to recommend pick up a elder recommendation form at the Next table.
• Had another great OC Students activity this past Friday night...went to the Underground to see Leeland and Brandon Heath.
• Three people filmed their baptism testimony video while at the After Party today.  In a secluded room, obviously.  That was pretty cool.
• Brock got to spend some time talking with Cindy and Nicole about their community group and how they are encouraged by each other's life experiences.  It's really cool to hear how God merges different paths for his purposes.
• Speaking of Brock, he posted his computer on Craigslist.org this week.  A guy contacted him and was interested in buying the computer, but he also asked him about his email domain..."originschurch.tv".  He talked to him about church and invited him to Origins.  He ended up not buying the computer but he did show up at Origins today!
• I love Origins and am grateful that God is using Her in the lives of many people promoting His great Gospel!

Sunday Night Notables

• This series has been kind of a tough series but I really feel like God is doing a great work among us.
• Shauna Yantos shared the first half of her story today about her daughter Madison being diagnosed with Leukemia and she did an amazing job if you weren't there go to the Listen & Watch page on OriginsChurch.tv and watch it.
• I went to two worship concerts this past week with Steve Fee, Charlie Hall, and David Crowder and they were incredible and I learned two things from this week.

1. I like having my space when worshipping to music, my front row with no one next to me at Origins is much different than being packed into a row.
2. I'm so grateful for our Origins band and production team, I left getting excited about Sunday coming rather than bummed that I couldn't sing my heart out like that unless I was at a concert.

• I had a Tetherball pole on stage today and every time I threw the ball out I pictured the pole falling over or the ball hitting some of the musical equipment behind me.
• Aron did a great job playing drums on the opener again.
• It was great seeing some old friends the Voiseys back in town from Florida today.
• Isabel was taking some pics of todays service and I am super excited to see them.
• Next Saturday Night we are having an information meeting and practice service in Franklin for those who are planning to be a part of our launch team there.  If you are interested email joel@originschurch.tv.
• About 20 Origins peeps met at Mason Municipal Center on Saturday morning to serve some local retirees, I took my 3 older boys with me and I was so grateful to be able to serve the community with them.
• Five of them were teenagers...they were there at 8:30 am! It was really cool too, 'cause as we were leaving the retirement community a lady literally chased them down in her car, honking at them.  Brock stopped and she told them how encouraged she was to see all the young people serving the elderly.  She could hardly keep from crying.
• If you are in grades 6th through 12th and would like to go to a concert this Friday, contact Brock@originschurch.tv.  It's only $10 and Leeland and Brandon Heath will be performing at the Underground.
• Our set-up and tear-down crew continues to impress me.  They are all so faithful and resilient, week in and week out, this week we had to be out immediately because movies were starting early and everyone adjusts and makes it work no matter the challenges.
• Don't forget about the "After Party" immediately after church this coming Sunday.  Stop by the NEXT table to grab directions to the house.  It's only 2 minutes from Regal.
• If you are wanting to get baptized on November 22nd, please contact Brock@originschurch.tv.  It's less than two weeks away now.
• I'm feeling God sending some momentum our way Origins so put your seat belts on.
• I love Origins with all my heart and am so grateful God allows me Pastor Her!

Leadership Insight Priority #1 Leading Yourself

Many times in my life what I find to be true is that I am my own worst enemy.  I know my own limitations and struggles many times but I ignore them and if thats not bad enough I also ignore conviction to.  This is especially the case the busier I get and the more responsibility that I have.  It becomes easier to overlook things when you are doing so much that you can justify it.  

So as I recognize this about myself and fight the temptation to be delusional I realize that the beginning point of leading myself is repentance.  If I am gong to be the leader I need to be for every other area in my life it is going to be built on my ability to follow Jesus and lead myself to be led by Him to repentance (2 Chronicals 7:14).

How about you?  Do you find yourself running to repentance or reluctantly being dragged?

Leadership Insights

I was in Lynchburg the beginning of this past week speaking to some college students and it was a great time.  I shared 4 things that I believe everyone needs to Lead if they are going to allow God to get the most out of them.  I enjoyed sharing them so I thought I would share them here as well.

Lead Yourself

Lead Your Family

Lead Your Leadership

Lead Your Church (Organization) 

Ill take the next couple days and explain what I mean by each one and if you have some thoughts I'd love to hear them in the comments section.

Sunday Night Notables

• I am officially getting back in the habit of blogging tonight, I am even going to blog throughout the week this week, I've taken a break from reading blogs and writing them but now I am back and I have tons to say, so make sure to tune in at least every couple days. :)
• Awesome to see all of our children's rooms and the adult theater packed today, tons of guests and it seems like people are making through the sickness.
• I think we should turn the clocks back every Sunday and get an extra hour of sleep every week. :)
• OC Kids workers in the nursery got their work out this morning with 24 babies. I think that our children's volunteers are the greatest volunteers ever!
• How encouraging it is to have a full nursery cause that speaks of not just spiritual new birth but also physical new birth at Origins, how exciting it's gonna be to see them all grow up together.
• My nephew Aron was rocking on the drums this morning and I was super pumped to see him worshipping Jesus with his gifts.
• Sundays without technical difficulties seem few and far between lately. At least we didn't have a light show during the message this week. If you have any experience with sound, video, or lights, or are willing to learn email joel@originschurch.tv. We are always recruiting for the team. 
• The band did a great job pushing through the difficulty and killing Broken by Lifehouse.
• Wes is the best dressed bass player in the world and I love him singing harmony with Aaron to.
• Speaking of light shows, Jason and Joel checked out some possible lights for our Franklin Campus today and if we go with them, I may want a light show during the message. 
• Getting ready for the first preview service at Origins Franklin on November 14th.
• If you want to be a part of the Franklin Launch team send an email to joel@originschurch.tv, we are looking for people for all positions and have several different commitment levels available for short term or long term based on your availability.
• Everyone showed up on time today, despite the time change.
• Heard Wes showed up at Clay's at 6:30 am to ride to church with him. He was an hour early.
• Brock got to speak to a few people about what God is doing in their lives. It is so cool to hear those type of stories every week.
• There are a couple great opportunities coming up for serving our community. Stop by the Missional Living table or email nextstep@originschurch.tv for more info.
• The second installment of Disturbed was today its been One of the most intense series we have done, it seems like God is doing some really amazing things through it.
• My brother and sister-in-law did an amazing job sharing their story, I am quite humbled and grateful that they had the courage to share, they haven't shared the story even in the most private of settings and I know many have been moved by it.
• The OC students are starting a band for their Student Service and I'm really excited to see them taking ownership and bringing Glory to God.
• The theater has been being very nit-picky with us recently about wear and tear, we had teams up there this weekend fixing stuff and buffing floors, big props to Chad, Joel, and Daniel for working hard all night long Friday Night to fix stuff.  Pray for direction because if they are going to continue to act this way we may need to find a different venue cause as you can all tell we are already packing out the theater and so another service is probably in the near future and with the time constraints and now constant nit-picking God may be leading us out of there.
• My family were all passing around sickness last week but they are all in good shape now, thanks for the prayers those of you who knew they were sick.
• Brock and I traveled to Liberty this week and I got to speak to a few thousand college students, we are hoping to pick up some interns for this coming summer from the trip.
• I love Origins so much and am so grateful that God allows me to serve Him there!

Sunday Night Notables

- We have had tons of guests these past few weeks. Keep bringing your friends, life change is happening.

- I hear that Ben got a lot of comments from his video testimony. I think a lot of people can relate to how God has been working in his life.

- I can't wait to see Heart of the Outdoors develop as a ministry. If you're a hunter at the OC and haven't met Ben, introduce yourself. We'll let you know more about the ministry in the future.

- Speaking of Ben, he and 10 others from Origins went to the Catalyst leadership conference in Atlanta this past week. On top of all the fun we had messing with each other it was a refreshing time listening to some great leaders and communicators. 

- It's been great seeing new people stepping up to serve and join community groups. A fellow community group leader and I were talking this week about how there was only one other couple in each of our groups that was part of Origins a year ago.

- Make sure you visit oneconferencecincy.com to find out more about our upcoming Marriage Conference. If you have any tough questions about marriage, don't be afraid to ask them on the site. It's anonymous so ask anything you want.

- That's all I've got for tonight. Still trying to recover form the late night shenanigans from this week. God is definitely moving at Origins and I am so privileged and honored to be a part of it.

- oh yeah, and I found a replacement for Joel today:

Sunday Night Notables

• We had a lady attend for the second time today and she accepted Jesus as her Savior!
• You have got to check this out over at Christy's blog, its pretty exciting to know that God still is working providentially in the details of our lives!
• I am heading to Chicago with Stacy without the fab 5 for a day so please pray for our travel and for us to have a restful and enjoyable time.
• We already have 4 adults signed up for our next baptism, if you want to sign up email brock@originschurch.tv
• I am excited about our 1 night marriage conference ONE we are hosting with Compass Community Church.
• I love Origins and am so excited about this season that we are in, thank you so much to all of you who leave it all on the field every week, people are meeting Jesus and getting closer to Him because of it..and....the best is yet to come!

Sunday Night Notables

Have a great Labor Day!