Home for the Holidays, (Pt. 3)

Just got an email from a friend who read yesterday's post and affirmed the sense that God is up to something. My friend said that he had invited two people and their families to our Home for the Holidays Christmas Eve service. Both of his friends come from non-Christian faith traditions and they both said "Yes" to his invitation. On the spot. No hesitation.

That is the church being the church.


Remember, our Sunday schedule is unique this week:

No services Sunday morning.
Christmas Eve Services:
Sunday: 4, 6, & 8 p.m.
Monday (Christmas Eve): 4, 6, & 8 p.m.

Home for the Holidays (Pt. 2)

Sometimes you just get a gut feeling. You always hope, but sometimes there's just a God-given sense that He's poised to do something more than all we can ask or imagine. That is exactly the sense I have as we approach An Austin Christmas Eve this coming Sunday and Monday.

Just about everything is in place and ready to go. The band has a few more rehearsals to go. Hundreds of volunteers are locked and loaded (and there's still room for more ViP's: send an email to serve@lhc.org to step up). I'm putting the finishing touches on my message between now and Saturday. There is just a sense that God is going to do something really incredible through the LHC family.

So many of you took the CD sampler to use as an invitation piece that we know many, many of the people who come will be guests and visitors looking to make Christmas more than just ritual religion or compulsive consumerism. LHC is going to truly be Home for the Holidays to 1000s of people who are looking for a church home where they can connect with God and with other people.

Thank you so much for being that kind of church, for making the effort to extend the love of God to the people around you. It's a privilege to be your pastor and to share the ride with you.

Home for the Holidays (Pt. 1)

One week before Christmas and it feels like everyone has picked up their pace just a little. I love this time of year and all the expectation that is just in the air. As we prepare and work toward 6 Christmas Eve services, I know I can feel my nervous energy and anticipation building.

From the very first days of LHC, we've prayed and worked to be a safe place for people to discover the extravagant love of God. That is exactly what this year's "Home for the Holidays" Christmas Eve celebration is all about. We want as many people as possible to be comfortable and at-home in our church on the way to being at-home in a personal relationship with God.

In advance, thank you to the LHC family for stepping up to volunteer, serve, and invite people throughout the Christmas Eve celebrations. I am so overwhelmed and grateful to you for doing it and to God for letting me serve with you.

It's true that there are only six shopping days til Christmas. But, more significant than that, there are only 6 days left to invite someone you know to share in an Austin Christmas Eve and truly come Home for the Holidays.

One Week & Counting

How great to wake up this morning to cold and clear a week before Christmas.

Check out Eileen Flynn's article in today's Austin American Statesman. In
addition to being a friend of ours, she's a great writer who makes a great point about the coming of Christmas.

I'm looking forward to getting up and going to church in the cold tomorrow. Just hope it'll be that way for all SIX of our Christmas Eve services next week.

...which reminds me: If you haven't seen the welcome page at www.lhc.org lately, you should really go check it out. It's just a cool way to introduce people to who we are and what God's doing through LHC.

Leadership on Steroids

Fallout from yesterday's publication of Major League Baseball's The Mitchell Report runs deep and wide. Regardless of what players did or did not do, one issue provides the underpinnings for every single conversation/debate that will result from the report: RESPONSIBILITY.

Struggling to remain relevant and win back fans in the mid-90s, baseball leadership at every single level focused on one thing and one thing only--winning back fans they had forfeited by canceling the '94 World Series. As long as TV ratings and ballpark attendance climbed back--read: revenue--they literally did not care how or why. Consequently, people's lives, records, integrity of the game, and the public trust are severely damaged.

Here are two lessons:
1. Disengaged leadership--whether intentionally misleading or merely incompetent--always costs an organization in effectiveness and credibility. Commissioners and owners who feign ignorance and shock don't deserve the offices they hold. Union leaders who facilitate and aid illegal activity by hiding behind a defective collective bargaining agreement are laughable. How do these people look Hank Aaron in the eye and say, "Thanks for all you did for the game. Look at how we've stewarded what you gave to us"?
2. Players named in The Mitchell Report should be given an opportunity to refute those allegations fairly. AND, we should all use common sense in hearing those answers. If I ever get to the point that I'm using legal-ese and loopholes to "clear my name", then I've crossed an ethical line.
3. Baseball's problems mirror and augment larger issues of honesty, integrity, and leadership throughout our culture. They didn't create a culture of cheating, but neither have they gone out of their way to be a part of the solution.

Leadership, like integrity, always costs. But, it's a far easier toll to pay than the absence of either.

'Tis the Season, #1

With Thanksgiving in the rearview mirror, it is now the Christmas season (Yes, I know that Home Depot had displays up at Halloween, but that doesn't count). I love the food, the cold weather, hunting, the music--everything about this time of year. But, there is one thing that stands out above all others:

It is one of the greatest opportunities of the entire year for reaching people for Christ.

Like no other time of year, people are looking for an excuse to connect with God. Christmas Eve is a night that un-churched people actually WANT to go to church. Some will go out of obligation or guilt, others out of desperation or curiosity. Whatever the reason for coming, we are going to give them a reason to come back in the weeks afterward.

This year's Christmas Eve services, Home for the Holidays, are going to give you a perfect excuse to bring people with you who don't realize yet how extravagantly God loves them. Begin thinking about, praying about, and talking about who God has put in your sphere of influence that he wants to touch through you this Christmas season.

Geaux Hornes!

What a Thanksgiving Eve! At 8:27p last night, our entire family was at the hospital as Brayden Matthew Horne made his entry into the world. He was about four weeks ahead of when his LSU Tiger dad Matt & Longhorn mom Ashley thought he'd be arriving.

Ashley joined our church--and the Richard family--as a sophomore in college as an intern at our church and only recently "retired" as my assistant. She was instrumental in keeping me organized and helped me stay focused on what I needed to do and delegate what others should do. She stepped down just last week so she could stay home as a full-time mom.

She and Matt were married two years ago just after Matt had opened his dental practice which is now thriving. They serve as zone leaders for young married Life Groups in our church and are a great example of all that's good about LHC. What a blessing to see their son born to parents who are passionate about Christ and absolutely devoted to each other. It really is all good.

Brayden's birth reminded me how over-the-top grateful I am
*For my bride Julie and our kids Emily & Joseph. God blesses us in ways that I'm not smart enough to ask for.
*For Lake Hills Church and all the people who are LHC. I can't believe I get to do what I get to do.

I hope you and yours have a phenomenal Thanksgiving and take some time to really thank God for his goodness in your life.