In yesterday's message, I talked about how churches in the modern area began sterilizing their environments in an effort to create a non-threatening atmosphere for non-believers. This was in response to the Baby Boomer generation leaving church en masse and then beginning to return in the 1980's and 1990's.Innovative church leaders began eliminating church-speak, that highly specialized form of church language only known to insiders. They began writing music that was actually enjoyable and somewhat resembled what a person could hear on the radio. Pastors began wearing normal clothes. Church services became programmed and produced.The result was that a few of the churches began attracting and keeping large numbers of Boomers. New models for church planting were created.One of the casualties, however, was that many of these worship environments didn't convey much of a sense of worship. They were designed to look like theaters and religious symbols and icons were…

Hannah and Hope had their first piano recital at the Piano Exchange in Mission Valley. They've had other recitals but they have all been in the home of their teacher. This was their first "public" recital and they each did a fine job. The Piano Exchange has a great recital room, complete with stage and baby grand piano. Tonya and I were both proud of the girls. And then later in the day we took the girls to see RV, the movie with Robin Williams and Jeff Daniels. All four of us enjoyed it. It's a bit goofy, but that's ok.Sunday was a great day at LifePoint. Our band continue to gets better and it sounded good again yesterday. We also featured a painting by a local artist -- Estevan Gargost. People seemed to really enjoy that.Sunday night I drove up to Rancho Bernardo for the Global Day of Prayer…

We have two new ads for LifePoint appearing in this month's editions of the Good News, Etc. and the Christian Examiner. These are 1/8 page ads targeting mature, adventuresome Christ-followers who might be interested in helping a new church community. You can pick up a copy at any local Christian bookstore.

Since Tonya and I have been trying to "count our points" each day, I've discovered a new attraction to granola. Granola bars, granola cereal, granola in my yogurt. I have consumed more granola in the past month than in the past five years. Yummy!I've also been working on the drafts of a new direct mail campaign for LifePoint. To keep costs down, we're handling the design in-house and it has been fun to stretch a bit. You can view the first working samples here. These are scaled down to 800px width and compressed for quicker viewing. The originals are much bigger (6x9).Last Sunday we had our first guest speaker -- Steve Denney. Steve and his wife, Ali, have relocated to San Diego to start a new church downtown. I've grown to enjoy Steve's friendship and we hope to be supportive in whatever way we can.Our worship band continues to get…

Since redesigning the newsletter at LifePoint, I've included a side column that features a bit of humor. A few samples should suffice ...Forgotten Bible SlogansWhen it comes to building the perfect ship, nothing works better than gopher wood.Prophets may rock but shepherds rule.Why betray a friend with a handshake when you can do it with a kiss?Rebellion isn’t cool.Don’t blame the locusts.Healthy miracles are high in Omega-3 Fatty Acids.In hell, all the coffee is cold.Love your neighbor but choose your neighborhood wisely.Recycle your papyrus.WWJD: What Would Jesus Drive?If Church Were More Like StarbucksWorship leaders would be called worship baristas and be expected to remember your favorite songs.Communion would taste more like biscotti.With leather seats and catchy music, you might actually be tempted to stick around when it's over.Your favorite song would have ten different words in the title, one of which would be soy.Contribution gift cards.T-Mobile Hot Spots in the…