It seems that the only one at church yesterday without any energy was me.  On Saturday afternoon, I received what my wife has had for the last several weeks, and began to experience some major flu symptoms.  I felt horrible on Saturday night, took some Ny-Quil, and went to bed at 8:00 pm.

So Sunday was a bit better, but I still had a hard time walking at first, and every time I moved, I broke out into this cold sweat that asked me, “Can’t you just wait till you can go home and go to bed?”

Despite this, we had a good day at Fellowship Church, and here are some thoughts I had about the morning:

It was the last week in “The Riches” series.  We were supposed to have a testimony of someone who has a tremendous story of including God in their personal finances, but they cancelled at the last week.

The band was led by Jamie and Beth Hughes. Jamie was in a band called, “Not pictured”, and I was in a band called “Albino Buffalo” back around 2002, 2003.  We played together.

We were down in regular attendance, but some visitors made up for the decrease.

I really wish I didn’t feel a bad as I did when I gave the two messages. 

I’m really quite proud of the leadership team at our church.  They are doing an amazing job bringing things together and getting things done.

Michelle Hartman, our Kids Town leader, was in London over the weekend, where she met with Mike Burns.  I’m interested to see how her trip went.  This has nothing to do with Sunday morning, but I thought I’d add the thought.

Thats all I have for thoughts this week.  I’m still in bed and not feeling well.  Uuugh.

Until next time…

I don’t have a lot of time today.  So this will probably be short, but I thought I need to say it anyway.  It is on my mind.  Before I do say what I am going to say however, I want to congratulate my Boston Celtics, for going 3-0 this year so far.  They absolutely crushed the Nuggets last night, and it looks like they are going to be the team to beat.  The Celtics are the only team in New England of which I am a fan, and they have been so bad the last few years that I’ve almost given up, but this year, it appears Danny Ainge did the job!  Also the title of this blog is a lure to read it.  It’s not really about him being a sweet old man.

Now back to the quick subject at hand.  This is for my church,Fellowship Church, which I believe is the greatest church of all time. This of course is my perception, and can certainly be debated, and if you are not a part of FC, please enjoy it anyway.  This is not an FC blog, this is a Marty blog.

Last Sunday was an amazing Sunday, and it appeared that the whole thing went so smooth, it was almost wierd. But there was an interesting dynamic that took place.  You see, there appeared to be a great atmosphere for the most part, but there were some that were almost expecting disaster.  I heard things like, “I think we can pull out of this rut we’re in,” and “Wow, (so and so’s) not here, I wonder if they’re mad.”  It was almost a sub attitude that went on, by some who are an important part of our church.

So I wanted to exhort each person in our church who reads this:  OUR CHURCH IS NOT FALLING APART!  The opposite is actually true, things are doing quite well.  I know we miss our old pastor, as do I, but we do him an injustice by acting like at any moment the world’s going to collapse.  Please trust me when I say that Lonnie knew what he was doing when he made this decision.  So if you liked him so much, then trust him and the end of that reasoning is trust me.

I know change is not easy at times, but I see good things happening to Fellowship in the future, if we don’t sabatoge that change with a desire for “what life used to be like.”  Our team is pumped about the future, and our desire is that you would get on board and really help us in leading people into a growing relationship with Jesus Christ.

I’m in!  Who’s with me?

Until next time…

Yesterday was my first official day as the pastor of Fellowship Church.  We started a new series called “The Riches,” which really highlighted God’s perspective on our money and our stuff.  As far as I can tell, it was very popular,and not what people were expecting.  This of course is what I’m into – doing what people don’t expect.

For the first time without their fearless leader, Ruth, the band did an excellent job!  I was excited to see them work together, and though it wasn’t all that easy, I was imprepssed at the final outcome.  People really connected with our worship on Sunday.  To our band:  Thanks for all your hard work!

I also did a sit down interview with two of the guys on our new team this week.  Billy McGuiness, our Sunday Morning Impression guy, and Al Dancy, our Sunday Morning Programming guy.  They will take charge of directing people into and during the Sunday morning service.  I’m excited to see these guys at work over the next few years.  I started off the service with the interview, which I’m told wasn’t a great move because it started off very slow.  So we’ll work on that next time.

My message focused on knowing what’s going on with your finances, and how God doesn’t disconnect your finances with your love and surrender to Him.  Luke 16:13 says, “You cannot serve God and money.”  I challenged the church to invite God in on your finances now, so that God can use my stuff and He can use their stuff even now, when things might be going good.  I also challenged them to (if they are not) keep track of their finances, so that they know what’s going in and what’s going out.  (and hopefully the stuff going in is more than what is going out)

And then the services ended.  Attendance was good for both services, and the energetic spirit and joy that was there in both services was so exciting.  I finished the services so pumped about what God is about to do at Fellowship Church!  What did you think?

Until next time…