ScottyNeal.com

Sunday Night Notables

 Guest Notables: Joel Megee

 - I'm filling in for Scotty tonight because I have his laptop at my house to transfer some files over.
- We just got back from a survey trip to Lima Peru, where we saw a ton of possible opportunities for an Origins trip in 2010.
- Scotty, myself, and Chad will be sharing our perspectives from the trip on the blog this week. There's a lot of need there and a ton of potential for some major kingdom impact.
- We tried a new format for our service today and I liked it. I like ending our time with some worship.
- Kevin Yotter played the drums for the second week in a row today. It's so awesome seeing guys serving at Origins who weren't even attending church a year ago. That's why we do this.
- I love being freed up to see our worship from the perspective of an attendee, but I don't want to give up the drums completely so I'll be playing next week.
- Props to Justin Knight, our former sound guy and rhythm guitar player for being the first one there this morning.
- Our set up, production, and tear down guys are amazing. they deal with some pretty hairy situations and technical difficulties. Thanks guys for your passionate service. We couldn't do this without you.
- The auditorium is starting to look pretty full, we're going to have to do something about that soon.
- As Scotty said in his message today, we've set a goal to see 100 people come to Christ at Origins in 2009. Could your neighbor, friend, coworker, uncle, hair dresser, dog walker, mechanic, mom, dad, spouse, God-father, teacher, or tax guy be one of those people? You won't know until you ask them to come.
- Aaron has been doing great leading worship. He's also redesigning our website right now. There's a lot of talent at Origins. Are you talented at something that could contribute to our mission? Let us know.
- That's it for tonight, I still havn't recovered from our red eye flight out of Lima yesterday. God is definitely up to something at Origins, I'm so thankful I get to be a part of it. I love this church.

Leaving on a Jet Plane

This is my view for the next 6 hours; I miss my family already but I will be back on Saturday so I will be able to handle that I think. I would appreciate your prayers, that we will be safe and be a blessing while we bring a little of the OC to Peru.

Sunday Night Notables

• We had two first time guests accept Christ this morning!
• It was so weird beginning the message in silence, but it was effective.
• A guy who we started praying for since his wife started coming months ago came a few weeks ago and accepted Christ and has been back ever since letting us know how much God is doing in His life.
• We added two members to our band, and the most exciting thing about that is both of the guys were not in Church a year ago, I absolutely love what God is doing through Origins.
• Chad who leads our Global Missions area, Joel, and I are heading to Peru this week for a few days to take some resources and make some arrangements for our 2010 Origins trip.
• Pray for us, well really pray for the pilots to be safe and for us to get back with no complications.
• We are starting a new series on Sunday called Build and Defend going through the book of Nehemiah, and I can't wait to start it this coming Sunday.
• If you are ever looking for a recap of my messages on Sunday you need to head over to Christy's blog because she does a brilliant job of cleaning up what I said and adding great insight.
• 10 minutes a day of nothing going in the ears, and nothing coming out of the mouth, believe it or not I am really looking forward to it.
• Did I mention that two people accepted Christ today!
• Aaron and the band are getting their groove and I'm loving it.
• Today's message seemed to really hit a nerve with everyone which is no surprise considering our hurried lives, so I thought I'd end with this great email from my buddy Ben after the message today letting me know of a book that has impacted him in this area.  If you didn't get to hear the message you can find it here or pick up the podcast.

"Scotty,
    ......Before I start talking about the book, I want to echo something you touched on today. This world is run by busy people and I think that both of us can speak to that firsthand; when was the last time you had "free time"....what in the world is free time? If I'm honest with myself, I can't even answer that question. My so-called "free time" is gone before I have it...today, people spend time they don't even have. I get free time, it takes me ten seconds to fill that time slot with something to do. You feel what i'm sayin?

Psalm 46:10 says, " BE STILL and know that I am God..." This verse calls us to the discipline of silence. Silence is the by-product of being still.

Mr. Swindoll explains, "What happens when you and I commit oursleves to period of absolute, uninterrupted silence?....We discover who God is."

Former CBS anchor Dan Rather found himself unprepared for a television interview with Mother Teresa several years ago. Ron Mehl described the newsman's encounter this way:
              
              Somehow, all of his standard approaches and formula questions were inadequate for the task, and the little nun from Calcutta,  sitting beside him so sweetly and tranquilly, didn't seem inclined to make his task easier.

"When you pray," asked Rather, "what do you say to God?"
"I don't say anything," she replied. "I just listen."
Rather cleared his throat...paused, and then said "Well, okay...when God speaks to you, then, what does He say?"
Mother Teresa sat in her chair, smiled at Mr. Rather, and said..."He doesn't say anything...He just listens."
Rather was bewildered. For an instant, he didn't know what to say.
"And if you don't understand that," Mother Teresa added, "I can't explain it to you."

Haha, is that freakin awesome?

If we do our part in obedience to the command, God will be faithful to respond. If you will cease, then God will reveal. The opposite is also implied. If you refuse to be still, if you do not seek times for silence and solitude, you may gain some knowledge ABOUT God without knowing Him at all. It is through time of silence and protracted periods of stillness that He makes Himself real.

 "Alone and quiet...it is in that place of stillness and solitude where we protect and guard our hearts with all diligence from the clamor of a world that would pollute it..."

If silence has a mate, it must be solitude. Get alone, be silent, and LISTEN.

10 Minutes a day? When I had acne in high school, I spent like 30 minutes a day just looking at myself in the mirror...I know for a fact i prolly pick my nose for at least 5 a day. If you can't find 10 minutes a day, you're jacked.

Today was great, Scotty. Thank you."

What does this Mean

It means just as Solomon said in Ecclesiastes 1, that movement isn't progress, while we might be smarter than we ever have been and have masses of information at our fingertips, life is still meaningless without Jesus. My prayer is that Origins sees at least 100 adults accept Jesus as their Savior this year in our services. Will one of those adults be a friend of yours, or maybe your boss, co-worker, sibling, or parent? Will it be your neighbor, classmate, dance instructor, or the nice lady who smiles at you every day as you head to the treadmill? Could it be your children's teacher, or the waitress that serves you at your favorite restaurant, could it be your husband or girlfriend, or could it be the couple that live across the street, or one of the mothers in your play-group? There is huge potential around us that Jesus is hoping we take advantage of. 

Lets get started, who can you invite this week?

Sunday Night Notables

• It was so great to be back today, being away from Origins in other Churches reminds me of how special we have it and how grateful I am to serve such an amazing Church.
• It was packed in the theater today, we are going to have to create space very soon.
• Aaron and the band were awesome, they added Justin today and he sounded great.
• Yes, I brought a used plunger to Church today and Stacy said I was gross.
• I am way to tired to go any further with these, but I will say that today was amazing and Origins is the absolute greatest Church in the world!