Dave Ferguson is a pastor and mentor to hundreds of church planters around the globe, including me. His church, Community Christian Church, is a pioneer in the multi-site movement. Dave is an influencer, a teacher, and a visionary leader. I appreciate his responsiveness to those of us that desire to learn from him. I also appreciate his commitment to his family. The one meeting I had schedule with him had to be canceled because of a school program for one of his children. I admired that in him. He has befriended my son in Chicago. I previously wrote about that HERE.

We continue our series on missions this Sunday at Grace Community Church, this week focusing on local missions. Don’t forget to set your clocks ahead one hour for daylight savings time. You do not want to miss this series. I’ll be looking at a familiar story to challenge us to think. We will also have some community ministry opportunities represented. The music lineup is incredible. Join us at 8:30, 10:00 or 11:30. We love visitors!

The people Joshua was supposed to be leading were not going in the direction he was supposed to be taking them. The Israelites had fallen to the ways of the world, following other gods, and choosing to reject their commitments made to God and to Joshua.

I have written about leader Scott Hodge previously. (Read that post HERE.) Scott is pastor of The Orchard Community Church. He and his father are part of an amazing story of transformation in a church. I will say again, he is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. Scott is a creative, inspiring leader. He is highly connected and was recently seen as host of Ben Arment’s Story Conference. You can follow Scott on Twitter too.

Last Sunday I spoke about the real meaning of worship. Here’s the message in case you’ve missed it.

It’s Saturday…time for another dream stretch! I promise not to take this into perpetuity, but I really do believe the world needs a few more dreams. You can read more about my thoughts in the first dream stretch post HERE.

We are in a series called Fanatic at Grace Community Church, looking at the how, why, and what of worship. This past Sunday I looked at the story of Paul and Silas worshipping in prison from Acts 16:25-34. Here are four principles I shared about authentic worship:

In my opinion, if a person is concentrating more on the discipline and his or her ability to keep a rule then he or she is still living under the law system. If, however, one is concentrating on the focus of Christ then he or she is truly living by grace. That should always be encouraged.

Geoff Surratt is part of the church famous Surratt brothers of Seacoast Church. I have had to the privilege of meeting several of them and I am always impressed. I sat in a breakout at a conference last year where Geoff spoke last year. He’s funny, witty, and smart. His latest book, Ten Stupid Things That Keep Churches from Growing, is a frank and honest book that identifies the most common mistakes pastors make. You can follow Geoff on Twitter also.

God said that Joshua and the Israelites needed to rid themselves of anything that was standing between them and God. Joshua went to the people and found a man who had been worshipping idols. The people took that man from the city and stoned him to death. It would be very fair to say that that man was “devoted to destruction”. In fact, that might be an understatement.