chazzdaddy

Archive for September, 2007

the scoop…only on chazzdaddy’s re:gurge blog and nowhere else!

In Church Leadership, My Life, New Hope Stuff, Watch This on September 28, 2007 at 10:14 pm


You’ve been waiting for weeks, and as a loyal chazzdaddy re:gurge reader…here it is!

My favorite shows premiered last night! I love Thursdays nights!

Simply amazing stuff. I love Earl…it reminds me of where I live.

And the Office…what more can I say? I pattern my leadership skills from my icon, Michael. I truly am excited every Thursday for those 2 shows. We also love ER (been our one staple since my beautiful wife and I were dating like 14 years ago), but it doesn’t make me laugh milk out of my nose like the former 2. So there you have it!

What…you expected more?

OK. Here is the real news you have been waiting for.

Part of the Vision 2012 sermon this week will be to unveil plans for our next campuses, and the winners are:

ASHLAND, OHIO

and our first international campus…yes, you read right…our first international campus in:

CHINA

We cannot disclose the exact location due to security reasons.

Want to join either venture or have questions? Send me an e-mail: charles@newhopewired.tv

All I can say…is who would have thought? Only a God like we serve could come up with news like that! See you this weekend for our 5 year anniversary (1 year in Wooster) celebrations. It will bless you in huge ways. We have a ton of special things plans for this weekend! See ya then!

peace and blessings upon you.

tar

In Devotional, My Life on September 20, 2007 at 8:36 pm


I am still just as bad as my kids. Yes, I love my kids to death, but they do crazy stuff…well, it is crazy to me but unbelievable to them, even though I proved today that I am just like them.

Like today…going to my study spot and I see something that looks like fresh tar, so like any of my kids would do…I press down into it to find out that indeed…it is fairly fresh and now it is all over the bottom of my shoe (the right one…brown sketchers in case you are a shoe freeeeeek like me). Now it is probably still full of grass, crabapples (I step on them all day as I walk and think in the prayer garden at my study spot) pebbles, and a stray dead ant or 2 I am sure.

It made me think that as a Father I love to do the things that I was not allowed to do as a kid. You know, the same stuff I yell at them for doing. I should laugh at their youthful curiosity, but I am too busy and stressed to do that usually.

Wonder what God does in our moments where we do stuff that we know is off keel a bit? Does he laugh, does he help us see the error in our ways, does he send a lighting bolt or something? Weird question I know…and you are thinking like me…It all depends on if we stepped in tar or in well, shall we call it excrement?

Anyway…one thing I do know is He still loves me just like I love my kids…because you all know that after you get upset with the kids, you and your wife go laugh about it and remember those times more than any other time about your kids. Glad I have a great Dad who knows all about me, who knows when I rise and fall, when I sit down and when I step out…

Happy stepping.

wow

In Church Leadership, New Hope Stuff on September 18, 2007 at 8:20 pm


What a weekend we experienced at New Hope this past weekend. The many people who told me this weekend and via e-mail as I got back the office about their heartache was overwhelming. To see so many of our people who have been affected by suicide was beyond words. I had one dear lady share with me that one of her Uncles had taken his wife’s life and then his own, and a short time later, her other Uncle took his life. Some of you told me of children who had taken their own lives. Wow. So much pain, so much heartache, so much silence.

I pray that everyone who reads this blog will talk to their friends and families about this terrible tragedy that comes straight out of Hell. (The thief comes to kill, steal and destroy…BUT I HAVE COME THAT THEY MAY HAVE LIFE ABUNDANTLY! –Jesus in John 10:10). If you are not a part of New Hope, please talk to your pastor about speaking on this topic. It has been kept silent too long.Copies of our message are available at our website or at our bookstore. Call 419-994-1112 to request a CD or DVD of this topic that if it hasn’t touched you life in one way or the other…IT WILL. What a powerful weekend as we all joined arms and sang a hymn of praise to God about the Blessed Assurance we all share in our Savior. I pray that God spoke to you in a powerful way and that you will also be with us this weekend as we kick off our new series…MOSAIC…beauty from brokenness.

If you desire to see where and how you fit into the story that God has crafted for us all to play a part in…this series is for you. We will be sharing some of the vision that has changed so many lives here at New Hope over the years through God’s power. How he takes the broken and crafts us into something beyond words.

I assure you that you have never heard a series of messages like what will be presented the next few weeks. It will probably tick a few people off…but that is OK (and entertaining). God’s Word is meant to do that at times. We will be laying it all on the line. I don’t know about you, but to be a part of a church that lays it open bare…one word: WOW.

Also…I misspoke in my last post. You will not have to wait 4 weeks for an amazing announcement that we will be engaging in as a church that I said I would unveil on my blog first. It will be coming on Friday, September 28th. So if you want to hear it hear first…be here next Friday afternoon around…whenever, yes, whenever I get it posted…

I can guarantee it by 6:00 pm as I have a hot date every Friday night with my Wife at that time…

This announcement is one that will blow your mind…I promise. It is a God thing I assure you, and it is in conjunction with our 5 Year Anniversary Celebration that weekend. Yes…5 years already! Our God is good…and in 1 word: WOW.

i don’t dance, i know i can’t…

In Church Leadership, My Life, New Hope Stuff on September 7, 2007 at 9:42 pm

Wow…huge shout out to my assistant Vicki Twining (vicki@newhopewired.tv). My neighbor and I (they are sharing this beach house with us) didn’t bring our computers to the OBX and they didn’t have one here, and she magically made his appear yesterday. Good and bad. Good in that I can re-connect a bit with the world. Bad, that I can re-connect a bit with the world. Don’t worry, I am not working…I am sitting on the deck…look at this pic…you think this is work?
So drop Vicki a note, she deserves a big thanks for all the work she does…she keeps the ministry rolling, trust me! Just do it. Please. Come on. Pretty please…even if you read this way later…

Shout out to Christian my son, for the title. I asked him to sing a song from High School Musical…if you don’t know what that is, you have no kids under the age of 15 or so…and this is what he sang. And just to let you know…this boy can groooooooooooooooove.

Here are some things I learned while at the beach:

1) Always take 2 weeks off in a row if you can…takes 1 week to get into it.
2) When coming to the beach with a child under 3, be aware that they feel the need to be naked most of the time.
3) When going to the beach, expect weird weather…like the hurricane that popped up off the coast…yes, 1 in a million odds or something, should go buy a Power Ball ticket.
4) We should be out of harm’s way by Sunday though…God is good!
5) SPF more than 15 please when you glow as white as I do.
6) Stare straight ahead at all times or your significant other will accuse you of window shopping. (Just a funny one…my Wife is innocent…and we are on the 4X4 beaches here…no one else in sight at all…great stuff!)
7) Sand is in irritant…especially in your bee hin…well anyway, skip that one.
8) Jelly Fish do really sting you.
9) Pay the kid damage waiver thingy, especially when bringing 6 or more kids like we did.
10) You will feel very close to God at the beach…you just have too.

I could go on, but that would be too much work…Do link up to these great posts from Perry Noble at NewSpring Church about Lead Pastor/Worship Pastor Relationships and Vice-Versa, unless you could care less.

And for you New Hopers…I do hope to unveil something utterly amazing that we will be doing as a church, right here on the blog in 2-3 weeks. IT WILL BLOW YOUR MIND. If God hasn’t given us enough to do, wait until you hear this one…it is special.

Check out the building projects @ Lville and Wootown Campuses…all the crew doing a great job! And don’t miss the FREE Alan Root Family Concert this weekend. Wish we were there for that one! Amazing stuff for your ENTIRE FAMILY. Quit saying there isn’t anything good to do in L-ville or Wooster…

And, see you all next weekend as I teach on the topic of Suicide…TONS of buzzzzzzzzzzz on this one. peace.

rest

In Church Leadership, Devotional, My Life on September 1, 2007 at 11:54 am

I am on vacation this week and next. Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

Maybe this will be my only post, maybe not…but this is by far one of the most important lessons I have learned in life and ministry…so take this to heart!

It is this: We need to work harder. Yeah right.

God created the entire cosmos in 6 days, not 7 remember? He majestically created all that is and will be, and on the 7th day…He rested! Need I say more? The Holy God of the universe models how we are to spend our days on the earth. Work and then rest! Work and then rest!
I learned this the hard way. In and out of the hospital several times for one reason in the first 5 years of crazy ministry at New Hope: Stress and lack of true rest.

Rick Warren says, “We must: Divert Daily; Withdraw Weekly; and Abandon Annually.”

Do I really divert daily to be with God and to be with myself?
Do I really withdraw weekly away from my greatest stresses and into real rest?
Do I really abandon annually and leave it all behind?

I had to learn the hard way that God doesn’t need me to build His Kingdom. He really just wants me. He wants my attention and I need His. Whether our “work” is paid in the church or in the market place. Been in both.

Rest: Vacation: Days Off: Retreats:Whatever You Need to Refresh

That doesn’t mean I am tearing up the Bible on my weeks off. As a matter of fact, I have taken a sabbatical from Scripture and set devotions this week and will kick back into it next week at the beach. But I have rested. I have breathed prayers, I have gotten away from the stresses of the world and the ministry. (And caught up the honey-do list from the previous year!)
I covet my days off and let nothing stand in the way anymore. I have learned to say no, so that I can say yes to the right things and so that I can cross the finish line in my marriage, my ministry and in my life knowing that I didn’t just have time for a job, but that I had time for my King, my Family, and my Self!

Do you really rest? Have you found something that takes you away? If not, I bet you are pretty tired and miserable right now. You know you are…admit it!

I sleep (8 hours almost every night! How do you think I have this much energy?), I golf, I read, I hang out with friends, I hunt or fish, I attend retreats and conferences, we go on a date night almost every Friday, we go on vacation and get away several times a year, I am out no more than 1 night a week for work, I preach no more than 4-6 weekends and then take 2 weekends off…these are just a few things I have disciplined myself to do so that I want to come back and grind out another day, week and year of ministry (or whatever your “work” is)!

Divert Daily with the King and yourself.
(A note on the pic…that is my son after a long day at Disney World. I took him with me for some dad and son time while attending the Purpose Driven Student Leadership Conference @ Saddleback. Combining work, rest and family time…also a great way to go!)

Withdraw Weekly and find something that refreshes you so you want to get back at it.

Abandon Annually and you will begin to see why God set it up this way.
Do this and you will cross the finish line without being in a wheelchair. I want to sprint across it.

Your choice.

Off to the OBX today with the family. peace.