more will be revealed

I went to USF today with two other guys to shoot some Man on the Street interviews for Sunday morning @ Coastland. I did the same thing last Friday for this past Sunday and got a chance to meet and talk with some very cool students at USF who shared their thoughts on prayer. It was a very refreshing experience, and so I looked forward to going there again today.

We ended up interviewing 9 people and again had some great conversations. People at USF, and I think in Tampa in general, are so spiritually open. People are surprised to be served by someone else, completely shocked. One gentlemen was blown away by the $5 Starbucks giftcard that we gave him at the end of the interview, as a thank-you for his time. To me, it was nothing…just a $5 giftcard. It was as if that guy had never experienced kindness or generosity like that before.

I felt so energized by my experience today. I’m so excited about what God is doing here in Tampa! We’re coming up on our official launch day of February 10th quite quickly. Our first two Sundays at the Crowne Plaza have gone well. We are tweaking, fixing bugs, and ramping things up each week…this past Sunday was a definite improvement over the first. A sound issue with my laptop ruined the opportunity to show a video or play selected music, which was very frustrating. This past Sunday our amazing sound guy Corey was able to fix the buzz and everything went off without a hitch technically. I’m hoping the same for this Sunday…definitely something I pray for! Ah technology…we are so dependent on you.

Time definitely moves faster as one gets older. I can remember being 12 years old and thinking “I wonder what I’ll be doing when the year 2000 comes?” Now here I am, 8 years beyond that, amazed at how quickly time passes me by as a twenty-nine year old.

This is a new year of incredible possibilities. A little more than a month ago I moved over 1000 miles to be a part of a movement that I believe God will use to help change the world, this movement called CoastlandTampa. I had several people tell me that I have no idea what I’ve gotten myself into, and I’m realizing that they were right, and in a good way. The latent energy that is building and brewing here is something I’m excited to see realized in the very near future.

We are fast approaching our January 13th “soft-launch” date, where we will begin to meet in the Crown Plaza Hotel just off of I-75 and I-4 in Tampa. Our official launch is February 10th, so we will have 4 weeks to work out the bugs, so to speak. There is so much to do in the next 10 days to 5 weeks! Some of it is logistical/utilitarian, such as ordering hardware for FellowshipOne Check-in Kiosks, video projectors and screens, laptops and presentation software, redesigning the CoastlandTampa website, etc. I’m shoulders deep in all of that, as well as creating several videos (that have yet to be shot) for our series of messages. All of that is going well and I’m happy to be using my gifts and skills and experience, but what really gets me going are the conversations I and others are having with the people here in Tampa as we show God’s love in practical ways.

One of the big goals we are going to accomplish before our February launch is to touch 250,000 people through random acts of kindness. This Saturday we are going to be handing out water bottles to motorists, something we have done twice already in the last several weeks. We don’t expect nor want every person we touch to come to Coastland. That’s way too many people! : ) Instead, we want to change the perspective people have toward Christians and ultimately toward God by showing them God’s love in practical ways.

I have been shown God’s love in a very practical way by the families who have and are supporting me financially so that I can serve here at Coastland.  I am incredible grateful for each of you and will be praying for you that God will bless you and give you opportunities to show His love to the people around you.

As this is a new year and resolutions are of the order, I will make it a practice of posting each week how things are progressing here in Tampa.  Please pray for God’s favor as we bring everything together for the 13th!

Wow…I can’t believe how quickly the last 2 weeks have flown by! It seems like yesterday that I arrived here in Tampa to begin this new chapter in my life. I think I’ve lost track of what day it was several times, so you could say it has been an interesting adventure so far!

I’m living in what we’re calling the Intern House, which is where Steve Sjogren and his family, along with 2 interns, are living as well. The house has plenty of room, though not enough (right now, anyway) for me to have my own living space. So I’ve setup camp in a living room upstairs to sleep in that doubles as our worship meeting area on Sunday mornings. Thankfully, Steve and his family will be moving into their new house this week, which means I will be able to move into my own room and establish some sort of rhythm again in my life.

I’ve already been able to use many of my gifts, talents, and experiences here at Coastland. I’m helping bring their use of media during Sunday morning worship up a notch by utilizing some presentation software that’s out there for the Mac. We still need to decide which software to use, something I’ll try to post my thoughts on this week. I’ll also have a big part to play in implementing FellowshipOne, the ChMS that I helped rollout while at my previous church. And though I haven’t had much hands-on development (ie. actual coding and graphic design) of websites, I’ve had a fair share of experience developing a number of websites. I’ll be able to use that experience as we move forward with revamping some of the many websites we have here.

Besides enjoying the work I’ve been doing, I have also met some great people down here. I’m enjoying getting to know the Sjogren family as well as the rest of the talent team, who are a fun-loving bunch of Jesus-followers from all over the country. One of the couples are from western NY and we’ve been able to reminisce about Buffalo food we miss, the Bills and Sabres, amongst other things. We’re planning on having a “Buffalo Food Night” every so often, just to keep close to our roots.

Finally, I’m loving the weather and the Tampa area. It’s been sunny and in the 80s almost every day that I’ve been here, something so odd for me to experience in the month of December! I’ve been to the beach a couple of times and absolutely love it. I thought the sunsets were great in Ohio, but seeing the sun set into the Gulf is like no other. I’ve also been able to get together with my parents and siblings since getting down here. I’m so thankful to be living near my family again!

15 hours is a long time to drive in a Mazda Miata.  I have first-hand knowledge of that!  But we made it without a hitch, and I’m here getting settled in right now.  My brother Dan and brother-in-law Dale drove up Friday and arrived 5am Saturday, so I can’t really complain much about a long drive since they doubled what I drove!  I’m so thankful they were able to drive up and help me move.  And thanks to Mark Wells for taking time off to drive down in the Miata with me.   Before Mark flies out tonight, we’re planning on checking out some of Tampa, which should be fun.

On another note, if you look at any of my Zooomr photos, please know that Zooomr is having some MAJOR issues right now!  All of my photos have been replaced with the photos of other people, and some of them are quite inappropriate.  I’ve emailed Zooomr about the issue and hopefully it will be resolved soon.  If not, I’m done with Zooomr and going to Flickr.

So please…don’t bother looking at my photo sets right now…thanks!

Goodbye. One word that has so many implications. I’m realizing just what those implications are as I say goodbye to my friends and my church family here in Dayton. This past weekend was a celebration of sorts: a celebration on Saturday with my close friends to remember the good times we’ve had; and a celebration at Far Hills on Sunday to reflect on what God has done while I have been there. Both gatherings were sweet moments with people I care deeply about.

I did not realize how much of an influence and impact I have been able to have on people’s lives while I have been here. And I suppose that’s normal, maybe, for some. Many of us go through our lives not fully understanding how the way we live our lives affects those around us. I’ve made some very close friends here and knew I’ve had some influence (hopefully the right kind!), but I never realized how much before this past weekend. I am truly blessed by God to have my friends in my life. They are some of the most genuine, caring, fun, godly people I know, and I’m going to greatly miss them.

I’m also going to miss my church family, especially the staff. I’ve had the privilege of working with an amazing team of people who I’ve grown to love over the years. We’ve had fun together, stuck it out through tough times, and learned to depend on each other. They are a great group of people and I know God is going to continue to use them to move Far Hills in the direction He wants the church to go.

And so goodbye is tough. It is bittersweet. But, without a goodbye to one adventure, I cannot start another, and that is what I am about to do with Coastland Tampa! I’ll share this week how I got connected to Coastland as well as how people can support my ministry there. Stay tuned!