I'm really excited about a meeting on August 12th. I'm excited about it because I am meeting with about 20 of our church's leaders (Staff Team, Ministry Team Leaders and Trustees, etc.) to give them my vision for the rest of 2008 and 2009. This summer I've had a lot of time to unplug from the regular day to day stuff and listen to God and seek His direction for the next 12 to 18 months. I'm really excited about this because God has renewed my call to ministry and my vision for Rocky River Church. I can't wait to share this stuff and get everyone working on it. And I can't wait to share everything with the congregation sometime soon.
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Thursday and Friday of this week (Lord willing and I can find $1,000) our staff is going to the Willow Creek Leadership Summit (http://willowcreek.com/events/leadership/2008/). I can hardly wait! I haven't missed this conference in eight years and it is my favorite (although Unleash is right there). It is an opportunity for our staff to be immersed in leadership and new ideas and just a culture of leadership. It is invaluable to our staff's leadership development, which of course pays off big-time in the work/vision/leadership of our church. I just wish it didn't come in August because the summer is a hard time for us to come up with that kind of cash.
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We started a new message series today called Mind Storm. But of course we're looking down the road to our next couple of series. Beginning August 24 we're kicking off a three part series called "BACK TO SCHOOL CHALLENGES." We're going to talk about the three big challenges parents and students face at the beginning of a new school year - stress, difficult people (usually each other), and sexual purity.
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In October we have a ton of stuff we're planning on the land. Of course we have the Pumpkin Patch and all that good stuff. But we're going to have some cool activities all month long in October. Among other things we're planning a BBQ.

I'm also looking forward to the teaching series in October. We're calling it "SUPERNATURAL." Sounds spooky, huh? It will be. We're going to unpack some of the supernatural happenings in the Bible. Things like God making the sun and moon stand still, demon possession and healings. It's going to be a lot of fun - and very interesting!!!!

Anyway, I just wanted to give you some things to look forward to and let you know our staff is working and planning. We have some exciting times coming up gang. GET READY!

ROCKY RIVER CHURCH, I LOVE BEING YOUR PASTOR!