Lots of things have transpired over the last few weeks.  After months of praying and searching, we have a contract on 4.35 acres of land in Grapevine on Hall Johnson just east of 121.  The whole thing is a great God story!

We are praying that the city will give us permission to build there.  If so we could have a permanent church home in about 2 years or less.

In the meantime, we have received permission to move to the new Faith Christian School facility on Dallas Street this fall.  We are so very blessed to be able to meet at Faith and the new high visibility location should help us reach even more people.

Our weekly attendance continues to grow and in some ways defy what is the norm as far  church growth goes.  We have had several peak attendances since Easter including last Sunday with 192 in attendance.  Not many churches have ever had one of their all time high attendance days in the summer but that is just the way it is at FOTP Grapevine!

Two weeks ago we baptized two more people who have committed their lives to Christ.  This coming Sunday we will have two more people baptized at our Fellowship at the Water Park.  We have several more people scheduled for baptism in August.

In his book IT, author and pastor Craig Groeschel says that some churches experience the life changing power of God which he refers to as IT.  IT is hard to describe but most of us can tell when a church has IT and when a church doesn’t.  By God’s grace and at least for now, FOTP Grapevine has IT and I pray that IT never goes away.

To God be the glory!

Dr. Marti Olsen Laney is well qualified to write this book since she herself is introverted.  According to her research only about 25% of us are introverted.   I am not one of those people.  My purpose in reading the book was to gain a greater appreciation for those who are and to learn to relate to introverts in a more effective manner.

The book includes a quickie quiz to help you determine if you are an introvert.  For instance introverts…

            Prefer to relax alone with a few close friends

            Consider only deep relationships as friends

            Appear calm, self contained and like to observe

            Don’t like feeling rushed

            Tend to think before they speak

There is a much more extensive self assessment in the book as well.

Part of the reason Dr. Olson wrote this book is to clear up some misconceptions about introverts.  For instance, we often think of introverts as being unsociable.  The fact is they are very sociable but in a different way.  They prefer close friendships and deep conversations over chit chat.

Introverts will discover that they are in good company.  Abraham Lincoln, Michael Jordan, Thomas Edison, Laura Bush, Bill Gates, Harrison Ford, and Diane Sawyer are just a few of the famous introverts.

I enjoyed reading The Introvert Advantage.  I can truly say that it helped me reach my intended goal of learning more about introverts and how to relate to them.

I had quoted Henri Nouwen so often, that I decided it was time I actually read a book that that he had written.  After skimming a few pages of this short book, I decided to give it a shot.  I do not regret that decision.

Nouwen takes the reader through five simple movements to serve as a guide through difficult times.  The five movements are:

From Our Little Selves to a Larger World – This helps us to see that everyone is hurting in some way and our pain is simply one part of the big picture.  In other words, we are not alone when we hurt.  He points out that most of our communities are organized to keep suffering at a distance.  Even though this is the case, he says the Dancer invites us to rise up and take the first step.  Jesus enters our sadness, takes us by the hand, pulls us gently up to stand and invites us to dance.  “You have turned my mourning into dancing (Psalm 30:11) because at the center of our grief we find the grace of God.

From Holding Tight to Letting Go – Nouwen states that we suffer from the great illusion that life is a property to be owned and people can be manipulated or managed.  The solution is found in letting go of the great illusion and turning to the God who waits to catch us.

From Fatalism to Hope – We can achieve this by reading life backwards and seeing a purpose in our pain.  We then allow this insight to give us hope as we face the future because we are reminded of the faithfulness of God in hard places.

From Manipulation to Love – If we relate to people as a conqueror, they will hide their real nature from us.   We must be willing to enter their pain with them.

From a Fearful Death to Joyous Life – While Nouwen gives us a picture of eternity that is possible because of Christ, he falls short in my opinion in helping people see their need for Christ as their savior.  For that reason, I would not recommend this book for someone who is not a Christ follower, hoping that would find their need for Christ in reading.  That said, it is an excellent book for those who are Christ followers and want to see their mourning turned into dancing.

I would ask you to pray for my cousin (she calls me Uncle Charles) but she is actually my cousin.  Stevie Brook Patrick had surgery two weeks ago for a malignant brain tumor.  They were able to remove 99% of the tumor but now she must undego radiation.  Today they got the news that the tumor would most likely return within a few years.  If that is the case she will need to take chemo at that time.

Stevie is a strong Christ follower.  She is 28 and has been married 5 years.  Stevie has more joy in her life than just about anyone I know.  She is simply amazing.

Please pray for her when you think of her. 

Thank you.

My interest in this subject was sparked by an interview I saw on Good Morning America regarding the use of cognitive behavioral therapy in treating insomnia.  For years, I have struggled to get a good nights sleep.  I have tried many different solutions including sleeping pills and herbal formulas.

I did not read the book from cover to cover but read sections that seemed applicable to my situation.  I read it with great anticipation based on the claim that cognitive behavioral therapy has proven to be even more successful at treating insomnia than other alternatives each of which seem to have some serious side effects.

I was not disappointed.  While I cannot say that it was a miracle turn around, I would say I have been able to take my sleep situation from a 5 to an 8 in a short time simply by using some of the simple principles found in this book.

One of the things I had to come to grips with was that different people require different amounts of sleep.  I will probably never be a person who gets or needs 8 hours of sleep.  In fact if I can get 6 to 6.5 hours of restful sleep I am good to go.  That took some of the pressure off of the situation.

I then began to use a technique that the author calls sleep restriction which is simple restricting my time in bed to the amount of sleep I need which is about 6 hours or so.  I eliminated any napping during the day and began going to bed at 11.  I used to go to bed at 10:30 or even 10 some nights thinking that if I was in bed longer I would get more sleep.  It just did not work for me.  The sleep restriction has.  Actually, Dr. Silberman recommends restricting your sleep even more until you get a very restful sleep and then adding 15 minutes a night until you make it to your optimum time.

Another suggestion that has worked, is to simply get up if I wake up during the night and do something like read until I am sleepy again.  The key to making this work is that you cannot look at the clock.  I used to look at what time I woke up and went back to sleep and then the next day think about how much sleep I had lost.

I would love to be able to say that I am sleeping great every night and have experienced a miracle turn around.  I have not but the improvement I have seen in less than a week is well worth the time to read the book.

God is amazing! We surpassed our all time high attendance today with 215 in attendance.  One of our members told me the other day that when he started attending that if you had told him you could get 200 people to attend a church meeting in an old building (which they share with another church) on a dead end street, he would not have believed it.  He does now.

We had our all time high attendance (other than Easter) on Sunday with 205 in attendance.  I continue to be totally amazed at what God is doing at FOTP Grapevine.  The people that he continues to bring who have a heart for others as well as the hurting people who are finding hope there.  I am so very blessed to get to be a part of it all.  To think that 20 months ago, we were just a small group meeting in my living room and to see where it is today, helps me know that God has only just begun to take us where he wants us to go.

Mark Batterson is definitely one of my favorite authors.  When I finish one of his books, virtually every page has many sections underlined.  In fact, the biggest challenge is to digest all that is coming at you.

In Primal Batterson says it is time for a new Reformation.  This reformation is not about creeds but rather it is about deeds.  It is a movement based on being great at the Great Commandment – “You shall love the Lord with all your heart, soul, mind and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.”

He begins the book by looking at how the Romans had a habit of building things on top of things.  An emperor might tear down a predecessor’s palace and build his own palace on top of it.  He thin poses this assertion:   “I wonder, almost like the Roman effect of building things on top of things, if the accumulated layers of Christian traditions and institutions have unintentionally obscured what lies beneath.”

Batterson then devotes the book to looking at the four primal elements detailed in the Great Commandment:

The heart of Christianity is primal compassion.

The soul of Christianity is primal wonder.

The mind of Christianity is primal curiosity.

The strength of Christianity is primal energy.

He sees the problem with Christianity is that we are not good at the Great Commandment.  The solution is simply to become great at the Great Commandment. The book is that simple and yet it is filled with interesting facts, stories and insights that make it a joy to read.

This book is a short version of The Cure For the Common Life also written by Max Lucado.  He includes some other material as well.  I read it simply because I always get some inspiration from Lucado’s books and I always get some good illustrations which is important since I speak often.

In this book, Lucado does a God job reminding us that we are uniquely designed by God for a purpose here on earth.  My favorite quotes :

“Heed that inner music.  No one else hears it the way you do.”

“Look back over your life.  What have you done consistently well?  What have you loved to do?  Stand at the intersection of you affections and successes and find your uniqueness.”

“God packed you on purpose for a purpose.”

As with most of Lucado’s book this is not for the person looking for something deep and intellectually stimulating.  It is for the person who needs a bit of inspiration.  If that is you, you will enjoy this book and it will not take you long to do it.

I enjoyed reading Ideas That Stick by these authors so when my son told me he had read this book, I decided to give it a shot.  It turned out to be as enjoyable and informative as Ideas That Stick. 

The writers help you get a handle on both the logical and emotional side of making changes by using an elephant as a picture of our emotional side and a rider to picture the logical side.  The elephant is big and strong but can be guided by the analytical rider. 

When leading people to make a change it is important to appeal to both the elephant and the rider.  In fact, the authors give three key steps to leading people to change:  Direct the Rider, Motivate the Elephant,  and Shape the Path.

This book is filled with fascinating stories and studies on human behavior.  It also has practical advice on things such as how to overcome the dread of housekeeping. 

I really enjoyed Switch although some of the concepts and stories began to run together by the time I had finished the book.  I think as I go back and review some of the things I have highlighted I will retain even more of the helpful information I learned.