Easter Weekend!

 SERVICE TIMES THIS WEEK: 9:00am and 10:45am Don’t forget!

What an amazing weekend we had as a church!  We had over 900 people in attendance over 5 services including Good Friday!!  That is a new record for weekend attendance at tides church.

Good Friday was full of creative elements and powerful worship.  Easter was packed with excitement and tons of new people from the commumity and all over the city.  Several people prayed to receive Christ for the first time and many others made recommitments to make a fresh start.  No matter how you look at it Easter ‘08 was definatley our best Easter weekend ever!

On another note on monday I took a PMS (post ministry syndrome) day.  I slept in and hung out with my kids til the afternoon and then spent some time with my good friend Chad Ormsby planning his wifes celebration of life service.  Gwyn, Chads wife lost her 7 year struggle with ALS (Lou Gerig’s disease) this past week.  Gwyn was an amazing woman who battled like no other to hang on as long as possible for her husband and two little girls Kathryn (8) and Madison (4).  She will always be remembered by me as one of the bravest and strongest people I have ever met.

Tomorrow I will spend a lot of time working on our new series coming up called Fearless which I am really excited about.  We will be addressing the area of Fear.  I have been asked by many of you to tackle this tough subject for a while now so here we go this should be an amazing ride!  Pray for me though I have a busy week ahead with two weddings and two rehearsal dinners planned for the end of the week.  This will be back to back crazy weekends but it’s woth it.  There is nothing like watching the lives of men and women being impacted right before your very eyes.  Have a great week yourselves and we’ll see you Sunday for the start of FEARLESS!

Easter Week

WEEKEND SERVICE TIMES::  
GOOD FRIDAY @ 7PM 
EASTER SERVICES:: SATURDAY AT 6PM AND SUNDAY @ 8:45, 10:00 and 11:15AM

Well this is the long awaited week for many pastors and churches.   It’s Easter week.  Lot’s of planning and anticipation for the big day.  We have a great weekend in store for those attending starting with Good Friday and ending with Sunday’s a coming!  But there is a lot of preparation that goes into everything.  Countless meetings from creative meeting to staff meetings to tech. and set design meetings.  So many meetings enough to make your head spin.  I have already started my message today because believe it or not it is harder to preach a 30 minute message then it is to preach a 45 minute message.  I will preach the same message 4 times that will inevitably be way different in the last service then the first one and I have to find a new way to give all of the Creesters a hard time again this year.   Then I have to go shopping to find that one Easter shirt that my wife won’t be embarrased to be seen with me in. 
If you have never been to our Good Friday service you are really missing out.  I would love to spoil the surprise but it would kill all of the hard work that has gone into it.   For Easter Sunday make sure you decide ahead of time which one of the four services to attend and get there early otherwise you might not find a seat.  We are going to have the service inside this year because we have almost been rained out two years and running.  Plus you can’t do any of the media stuff outside and that is one of the things we do best here.  So have a great week anticipating the weekend and I will plan to see you at a service this Friday and Saturday or Sunday.

Mugg-A-Friend

NEW SERVICE TIMES THIS WEEK!  8:45, 10:00 and 11:15am

This Sunday March 16th is Mugg-a-friend Sunday.  We have been building up to it now for four weeks and it’s finally here!  What it is, is an opportunity for tides people to walk across the room and invite their friends, family, co-workers and anyone obviously who “Live Here n’ Play Here to Worship Here“.  We want people to test the spiritual waters of a new church, kick the proverbial tires of a new car, you know live a little experiment with something  new.               
What better time than this week when we kick off our brand NEW 3rd Service.    We are trying something new in order to make room for a growing church to expand even further.  The new service times for this week and next week only are 8:45am, 10:00am and 11:15am.  We also have a powerful Good Friday service on the 21st that starts at 7:00pm and a special Saturday night service on Easter weekend that starts at 6:00pm.  So whether you are an early morning attender or get up late like I normally would you should find a service that’s perfect for you.  Every person that comes will get a free gift from us at tides to take home and enjoy for years to come. 
The service is about an hour and is guaranteed to be rockin.  The message is relevant and everyone is friendly so find someone to come with you and hurry down to tides this Sunday where you are guaranteed to get mugged.

Time Away

Our ship has finally come in!  After 7 days at sea we are walking on solid ground again.  It is so strange because it still feels like everything is moving underneath me.  I keep waiting for the cruise director to get on the loud speaker to tell me what my options are for the day.   The only problem with her was that she would come on so early, usually around 11am in the morning.  

The best part of our trip by far was being together with my mom on her 60th birthday.  It was an experience that I know none of us will soon forget.  Ok, so I won’t forget those all inclusive meals with appetizers a main course and dessert at the end.   Looks like Deb is going to have to work a little harder around the house…. Just kidding Deb!

It was a well needed spiritual break as well, one where I was able to spend some much needed time with our God in some very solitary peaceful places.  What amazing times of intimacy I was able to have in the middle of the ocean in the wee hours of the night.  It was a time where nothing but stars are visible as far as the eye could see.  I was amazed with wonder but filled with fear at the same time.  I remember thinking if someone pushed me over I would never be heard from or seen again.  Then to think about how lonely I would feel out there in the darkness all alone.

I was instantly filled with the idea that this is what being separated from God for eternity must feel like.  Because of that I had some great walk across the room experiences with literally 20 to 30+ people that turned into conversations about Christ.

I love it when God gives us “Ah-Ha” moments like that that just seem to hit us like a ton of bricks.  Of course I had plenty of moments where my brain was just mush but not until the end of the trip.  It seems like it usually takes me about 4-5 days to shut off and by the time I do it seems like the vacation is over. 

I am so looking forward to hitting the ground running this week we have a few big sundays in store this month with a lot of planning involved.  I hope you are all excited and taking opportunities to walk across the room this week!