Summer is an interesting time for churches, even more so for new churches. Churches experience what is often referred to as the "summer slump," meaning that attendance dips during the summer. My coach says it's even worse for new churches. We've experienced a bit of the summer slump at LifePoint but with many positive signs as well.We continue to have first time guests at our worship gatherings. We've had guests at our last two events -- beach day and the 4th of July outing. As a church community, we thrive on relationships more than raw numbers. It's about making personal connections.We're making positive strides towards our next direct mail campaign. We have been blessed by the generosity of individuals and churches (way to go Santee Christian Church!) alike. It's humbling to see so many different people support the LifePoint vision.We had Steve Denney come out last Sunday and share with…

Did you know they have boot camps for people who start new churches? It’s true – Tonya and I attended one in Sacramento in January of 2005.Granted, there are no drill instructors insulting your mother or having you drop and do push-ups. From what I can gather, the food at our boot camp was a bit better than the “other” boot camps you hear about.At our boot camp, we learned the fundamentals of how to start new churches. During the first session, I can still remember our coach telling us, “We are not sending you out to start a church but churches.” “It’s not about one church but many churches.” Since everyone in the room was a first-time church planter, it was a bit overwhelming just to think of getting one church off the ground! And here this guy was telling us to expand our vision even more.I’m glad he…

I've always enjoyed the Fourth of July. As a child, we spent nearly every 4th of July at Fondulac Park in East Peoria. The land in between softball field was transformed into a patriotic celebration. Funded mostly by the Jaycees and Knights of Columbus, this event drew most of East Peoria -- or at least it seemed that way to a young kid.Once during my high school years, we went to Pekin rather than Fondulac Park. To this day, I'm not sure why. It's not that Pekin was very far away; it was less than 15 minutes away. But it wasn't East Peoria or Fondulac Park. They didn't have the dunk tank or vendors selling hot dogs.Yesterday we spent the morning hours hitting the free museums at Balboa Park -- the Natural History Museum and the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center. It's truly a gift that different museums are free…

We haven't recorded a podcast at LifePoint for the past three Sundays. On the first Sunday, the voice recorder attachment broke off. On the second Sunday, the lapel mic I bought specifically for the iPod didn't work. The iPod kept telling me no mic was attached. So ... one of my tasks for this week is to head to the Apple store and pick up the first voice recorder.Stay tuned ...

Opportunity Camp 2006 is now over and in the pocket. We had one of the best camps in recent years. With 100 campers and more than that staff, it was a great experience for everyone. Here are few pictures snapped by our camp photographer (scaled down for better loading). Bobby ("Jack") interviews me on how campers can be on the evening show. One of my new responsibilities at camp is to serve as the "screener" for the evening program. All the little kids would come running up to me and say, "kenhensley, can I be on the show tonight"?" Camp food rocks! Bobby and Amy -- hosts of our evening program -- appeared this year as Jack and Janet from Three's Company. The week was spent looking for a third roommate to replace Chrissy. Bobby and Amy are both actors based in San Francisco. Amy and her husband just returned…