New Works

Julie and I are heading home today from south Florida after a monster weekend at a phenomenal church. Church by the Glades is ROCKING the Ft. Lauderdale/Coral Springs area like few churches anywhere on the planet. Their pastor is David Hughes and they are killing it week in and week out. God is doing such amazing things, they have to offer SEVEN services to accommodate the people God is reaching through them (David shared that little factoid only AFTER I'd said Yes to preaching for him).

We've downloaded so much that we've seen and learned this week by being here, but the biggest thing that we've learned is how we learned. We got into a new environment, met new people and were challenged and affirmed in new ways (I even preached in coat and tie to their early traditional service!).

I had never seen Church by the Glades, didn't know any of their staff besides David, and didn't know what their services were like. But meeting with their staff, which is VERY lean--and effective--for a church of 5,000 (+/-), spending time with David and his wife Lisa, and stealing ideas and strategies will make a difference at Lake Hills Church in Austin.

And none of that would've been possible if we hadn't picked our heads up and gotten out of our normal traffic patterns, changed our perspective, and shut up and listened to other people. New works.

(OK, all that's true. But the fact that I spent my first day on a FL Keys tarpon boat sure didn't hurt the overall experience! And the fact that we got blanked just means I'll have to come back.)

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