Making the Connection

A couple of cool things about last Sunday:

We opened with Kevin and the TCC Band delivering the old Bachman-Turner Overdrive "Taking Care of Business." Great song choice Kevin. It was a great way to kick off the day’s focus. Someone wrote on their Connection Card: "Did Kevin and Cole go to the the same dance lessons?" Who could have written that? I don’t know… maybe my wife?

Also, my Mom was with us, which was cool because she very rarely gets to come down. She is a great Mom. Since Zak was preaching I got to sit with her through a lot of the first service.

Zak, of course, knocked it out of the park with a great message on balancing work and home life.

During the second service, I got to help out with the KonnectionKidz. They were doing 10 stations to reinforce the idea: Heroes stand for what is right! So when I went in, I immediately got to help at one of the stations. What can we stand for? Jesus, Family, Friends, Truth, Being kind to others. What was really cool was that then Pam came in and worked a station, followed by Kevin, and then our phenomenally talented lead guitarist Russ came in and did a station as well. It was all pretty spontaneous, but it was really awesome to have so many people willing to serve anywhere they can.

It did help me to really appreciate again the faithfulness of our kids director Frances and her whole team, who give of themselves consistently to pour into our kids and see them grow God’s way. Props to each of you.

This Sunday we conducted a survey of those attending TCC. Granted, we had around 350 people in our services and we only received 66 surveys back, but this gives us a snapshot of our vitals. The results are interesting, and for the most part, confirmed a lot of what we thought we knew. There were also a few surprises along the way. You can view the results for yourself right here: SURVEY

To begin, I want to make some general observations.

• Most of us are married with kids
• Most live in Kyle
• You probably heard about the church from a friend
• You regularly attend one of our services
• Most people have come in the last year
• Most people have come closer to Christ through TCC
• Most people have a strong sense of belonging
• Almost everyone is easily able to enter into worship on Sunday
• Almost everyone is helped by the messages
• Almost everyone is participating as much or more than they did last year
• If you did invite someone, it was probably by word of mouth

That gives us an overall picture. Like I said, not real earth-shaking stuff, but a good barometer of where we are right now in our growth. There are several specifics from the survey that I want to blog about over the coming weeks as we get ready for Easter.

Place sticker on forehead. Smile.

Last night, I was invited to one of our Connection groups. This group is led by a couple who has been with us from our launch, Raul and Carol Vela. They asked me to (ie: let me) come and start their group with a few songs. I know I don’t have time to go to all of our groups and do this, but I love it when I get to play and sing. That’s what I would do if God hadn’t called me to lead a church (and if I had more talent).

About 6 people had gathered together at that group. There was a couple just checking out group for the first time. They started by sharing some tasty snacks as they got to know each other better and caught up on life. They spoke about what God was doing and what God wants to do in their lives. They have a support network to help them through the struggles they are facing.

After an amazing time of worship (smile) they started talking about Peter’s faith as he got out of the boat. Someone said, "At least he had the faith to step out on the waves and walk toward Jesus." As I slipped out, I was pumped, realizing how awesome this simple thing really is.

It really amazes me that this is going on just about every night of the week in homes around our community. Ordinary people are connecting with an extraordinary God and with each other. Where else does this happen? I’m glad I get to be a part of this.

The tooth fairy should be fired! At least around our house. Several times now, my daughters have lost a tooth. And of course, they’re very excited about this. Mostly because of the tooth fairy. You know the drill… You put your tooth under the pillow and in the middle of the night, the tooth fairy comes and trades your tooth for some cold, hard cash. But what happens when he drops the ball?

Like the other day, when Pam was very sick and out of commission. Bethanie was pumped because she lost a tooth she had been working on for several weeks. I told her to put her tooth in a paper towel so the tooth fairy could easily find it. The next morning, I went in to wake up her up and what do you know? The first thing she does is look under her pillow. There is the still nicely wrapped tooth she had placed under her pillow. The tooth fairy had blown it!

Wanting to spare her from disappointment, I sprung into action, quickly grabbing the paper towel and telling her she needed to start getting ready. I frantically looked around the house for money, anything. Maybe their was some coinage under the couch cushions. As I attempted to discreetly make the switch, Bethanie walks into her room and sees me placing the paper towel with one of those Sacagawea dollars under her pillow. Of course, she naturally assumes that I am, in fact, the tooth fairy. That’s ridiculous, I can’t even keep up with my own kids teeth, much less the teeth of children all over the world. What would I do with all those teeth?