Crazy Day

What a day. This is a photo of the house across the street from mine. Or, more accurately, what’s left of the house across the street. I was home loading up the van for a busy day in Schaumburg when this house blew up. Literally! You can read more about the story here. The good news is, only 1 injury, to my neighbor Mary, and we think she will be OK, with some burn injuries to recover from. We were evacuated from our homes and couldn’t go back to get our cars, or anything from our house, until about 6pm. The blast occorred at about 10 am. This day was such a great reminder that possessions can be replaced; people can’t.

How “Real” is Real?

We are in the middle of a very challenging series called “Things I Wish Jesus Never Said.” CCC did it about 2 years ago, and it was one of the better series we did while I was there. We decided to domething a little different, though, when we got to the “Gouge Your Eye Out” week. We did 2 weeks, back to back, on the same scripture. And, we invited a couple who had a very personal story, to share it on the second week. The husband, Justin, was the pastor for a growing church in Indiana. But somewhere along the way, things got off track.

Twitter…..hmmmmmm……

I know, it’s been a while! I just saw this article on the web, what do you think? I am on the fence in regards to Twitter.

a Nielsen survey reports that only about 40% of users who sign up for Twitter are still around a month later. And that’s bad news. David Martin, Vice President, Primary Research, Nielsen Online, says:

it is clear that a retention rate of 40% will limit a site’s growth to about a 10% reach figure. To be clear, a high retention rate doesn’t guarantee a massive audience, but it is a prerequisite. There simply aren’t enough new users to make up for defecting ones after a certain point.

Nielsen Online has a graph showing how Twitter is faring against the similarly hyped MySpace and Facebook social networks. Martin says “their retention rates were twice as high. When they went through their explosive growth phases, that retention only went up, and both sit at nearly 70% today.”

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter from Waterfront! We had a wonderful weekend. It started with a Good Friday Worship experience in partnership with the Romeoville campus of CCC. Our worship team did an amazing job! Then, Sunday morning was powerful! The worship, teaching, and fellowship was spectacular. Kids Cove was decorated like a party, and the kids had a great time. Our attendance was great, and we saw many new faces. What a mighty God we serve!

Nice article!

This article just came out at Christian Standard, which seems to be a pretty cool site.

Read the article here.

My awesome talented daughters!

Dedicated to my Dad!

New Series…The O.T. and Me

This Sunday starts our next series, “The O.T. and Me.” We did this series at CCC a couple of years back, and it was great! Each week takes an Old Testament story, and applies the timeless principle to us, today. This Sunday we look at Esther. And, this Sunday also marks the teaching debut of Cindy O’Donnell! She is so talented, and has a true teaching gift. Come join us!

More buzz on the NBC piece……

http://www.catalystspace.com/catablog/full/are_these_people_crazy/

Response from the NBC Story

We have had an overwhelming response to the story NBC ran last night. You can see all the comments here.

Here are a few highlights:

“Wow! Just saw the piece on NBC Nightly News. Imagine a church that actually gives back to its members in need instead of lining the pockets of its leaders. Hats off to you and your pastor. Your story has reignited my faith in churches!”

“Wow from me too! I just saw the story and thought to myself, wouldn’t it be great if ALL churches actually helped their members with money instead of building these monuments to themselves and wasting the hard earned dollars of their loyal members. I applaud you and your efforts (and I’m an atheist). Keep up the great work and kudos for an even greater idea.”

“I also saw the news this evening and I wish I lived in the Schaumburg area. It is nice to see that there is a church out there that practice what they preach.
Kudos to you.

I hope you start a trend.”

“Your church is a perfect example of LOVING LOUD!! You are listening and GOD is working through you!! I stood up and cheered when I saw your story on the news. Your church family will be in my daily prayers!!”

Here are the links to the NBC videos!

Here is the link to the video: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3032619/#29436392