Horizons Community Church

A Different Take on "God's Glory"? -- Katie Fansler

2008-11-20T22:13:00.001-06:00

I had the opportunity to go to the Bebo Norman / Mercy Me concert last Friday night. It was a fun night with friends and good music. While there are many good things to talk about that I enjoyed concerning the concert, for this blog I’d like to zero in on one thing: Mercy Me’s take on God’s glory. I found myself a bit disturbed and wondered if I was the only one. It may be that I got the wrong impression, but an impression I did indeed get!

Did anyone else think that he was implying that God received glory from tragic and grievous things that happen to us, i.e. cancer, to use his example, so we shouldn’t fight it or feel too bad about it? He made the comment that God has approved everything that happens to us, before it happens. This reminded me of a business manager putting his signature on all expenditures – giving his approval to what happened in the office. This implies that God was somehow involved with those hurtful things in our life – so that we should just accept everything bad as God’s will, knowing that He will “get the glory” from it somehow. (They didn’t explain how that would happen.)

While many things said at the concert were uplifting and helpful, this one thing hit me wrong. I felt sick to think that there were people in the audience suffering with a new diagnosis of cancer or had just lost a loved one, or were in some other crisis, who would think God wanted this to happen to them and that somehow God was getting glory from their suffering.

This is what I think about God “getting the glory.” First of all: all good gifts are from the Father. He created this world to be perfect. God wanted us to have free will, to love him without being forced to or programmed to love. We always have a choice to love or hate; to serve God or serve ourselves. Humans, not God, brought sin into the world. By choosing self-reliance, thinking that they knew better than God how to live and demanding control, Adam and Eve introduced to our world the things of death: disease, decay and aging, fear, violence/war, addictions. Because of Jesus, we have a way out of the death spiral of the bondage of self-centered lifestyle. No longer a slave to the control freak we were, we can choose to trust in the Holy Spirit to guide, fill, direct, comfort, and be with us. And, God promises that as we hand over control to the Holy Spirit, he transforms us from the inside; we become more and more like Jesus.

When we collide with tragedy, we know that God is present with us to help us through it. God “gets glory,” because we trust him; we let him comfort us and understand that he did not bring this about; rather, it is the ripple affect of sin in our world. We are promised his help – directly by the peace of Christ that we can feel inside, and indirectly through brothers and sisters in the body of Christ. God “gets glory” when people with transformed hearts reach out with his love and comfort, showing mercy and forgiveness, when we are peacemakers – in other words, when we demonstrate God to a world that is desperate for God. Let’s give God glory by allowing him to live through us, impacting our world for His Kingdom!

--Katie Fansler

Power Lab -- Night 5

2008-08-03T07:26:00.002-05:00

Horizons' Kids Helping Kids might be one of the coolest things I’ve ever seen. In one night alone, we raised over $1000 to help send two orphans in India to college. Add that to the over $600 we raised at the beginning of the week, and we are sending enough money to India to help with additional expenses at the orphanage, on top of the boys’ college expenses.

Oh, and that’s not to mention the over 600 books that kids brought to give to our new friends -- the refugee families from Burma. These Karen families have relocated halfway across the world to an entirely new culture, and our VBS kids brought books to help the kids and their families learn and practice English.

Yes, fun was had this week at VBS. We had engaging dramas, praise-filled worship, high energy games, creative crafts, and awesome volunteers to make it all happen. But to me, the best part of the week is that our kids put their faith in Jesus’ miraculous power and came through in a big way as a part of Horizons' Kids Helping Kids. So, as I sit here taking in all in… I am fully confident that the spirit of Christ moved in real and big ways this week, and will continue to move through the kids and families that were a part of VBS. There is definitely power in the love of Jesus!

Oh, yeah, and I guess I can’t leave out the fact that Bob and Karl had to dress like girls. Nothing like going out in style! Here’s to a week that only God could have orchestrated.

Miss Lisa

Power Lab -- Night 4

2008-07-31T21:18:00.001-05:00

Jesus gives us the power…AHA! I’ve heard stories about people walking on water and discovered miracles as blind men see. But the thing I remember from VBS is that Jesus gives us the power!

Jesus gave us the power to invite friends to VBS. Friends poured in through the doors! We may see Bob and Karl dress like girls yet. Jesus gave us the power to bring money and books for Operation Kid to Kid. We saw books and money come being piled up! Looks like we might just reach our goal there too.

We’ve discovered some amazing things at VBS…and had a ton of fun. But the best thing I’ve discovered is where my power comes from – Jesus.

Seth

Power Lab -- Night 3

2008-07-29T21:25:00.001-05:00

Hello from the lab!

Wow! Power Lab was pumped up tonight!! God was definitely in the House!! The Horizons' Kids Helping Kids project is amazing...don't forget to bring your offering and books tomorrow!! I have some great science books I'm going to bring!

I hope everyone enjoyed all of our experiments! I'm learning SO much about all of Jesus' powers!! Jesus gives us the power to be thankful, the power to be helpful and tonight we learned about the power to be brave ~ which is especially important when dealing with mice!! EEK!!

I can't wait to see everyone again tomorrow and learn more about Jesus' other miraculous powers! And I hope everyone brings a friend or two so we can reach 425! I really want to see Bob and Karl dress up as girls....now that's an experiment!!

Well I better get back to my test tubes...Harold is supposed to be watching them for me but I think I just heard a crash!!

See you all tomorrow back in the lab!!
~Professor Wilma~
(Nikki Ford)

Power Lab -- Night 2

2008-07-28T20:20:00.005-05:00

Vacation Bible School is absolutely positively AMAZING!!!

So the first night was a little rocky but baby was tonight smooth. Bob and I are pumped with the amount of energy flowing in this years’ VBS Power Lab. Words cannot describe how excited we are to be here again this year and to see that the kids are excited to have a good time and to experience God at VBS. It was so much fun to see over 350 kids here tonight at VBS (which by the way is not yet 425). Remember that if registration reaches 425 kids this year, we will dress like girls for the closing of Vacation Bible School.

Don’t forget about Horizons’ Kids Helping Kids. This year, we are trying to collect children’s books for the Karen families that moved to Lincoln from Burma. These books will help them to learn English and better adapt to our culture. Horizons’ Kids Helping Kids is designed to give kids a chance to serve other kids in our area. This is an amazing opportunity for kids to serve and help others their same age. Well, hope to see you all tomorrow at VBS and don’t forget to keep inviting friends. I know you want to see me in a dress.

~Karl~

Power Lab -- Night 1

2008-07-27T22:04:00.003-05:00

Hey there everybody, it’s Professor Beaker here at VBS Powerlab!

VBS got off to a great start tonight with over 300 kids but we still need 125 for the Bob and Karl Challenge.

Today kids learned that Jesus gives us the power to be thankful. Ah-hah! Albert Einstein (Mark Danley) visited us and showed us a super cool science experiment and kids discovered Jesus’ miraculous power in skits and made necklaces and pictures frames to remind them of this.

Kids also watched as Chadder entered a castle and wandered off trying to find a candy machine. He fell and hit a wall that led to a secret lab and angered a professor down there. Will Chadder ever find a candy machine? Will he escape the evil professor? Tune in to tomorrow’s blog to find out!

-LS and KH

Vacation Bible School is in The House!

2008-07-27T21:53:00.002-05:00

I can't believe it's that time again -- Vacation Bible School @ Horizons. This year's Power Lab runs from Sunday through Thursday and each night we plan to post the highlights of the night and maybe even a few pictures along the way!

Check back often and see what's happening in the Lab!

LMF

Where's God?

2007-11-17T20:13:00.000-06:00

When my now 4-year-old was a new talker, we'd be driving around Lincoln and he'd ask, "Mama, where's God?" and I'd reply, "Everywhere."

This semester, my lack of a science class with a lab requirement caught up with me so I've been immersed in Geology 101 in the interest of graduating in May. I dreaded the class all summer because there's a huge difference between Political Science and, well, science. Turns out it's been one of my favorite classes this semester. Rocks are cool. Earth is super cool. All the stuff going on in and around the planet: all of it very cool. When I told Mace that God was everywhere, I hadn't really thought about what that meant.

"God rocks," I say often. But this semester, I've seen God in the rocks. And that's awesome.
LMF

Technology, teens and grace

2007-09-23T15:06:00.000-05:00

I sat behind three teen-aged girls at church today. Typical for teens living in 2007, they were more interested in texting than listening to Pastor Steve, but I told myself I was happier that at least they were sitting in church...it's a start.

Then came the last song and the slide went up while Jamie was talking about Chris Daughtry from American Idol and his song, "Home." The girls were shocked when they saw what song was coming up, as in, Daughtry at church? More than one raised eyebrow was seen, then Jamie started to sing. Then their phones came out. Videos on. Yep. These girls videotaped Jamie's cover of Daughtry. Awesome. When was the last time you saw that at church?

So if you see Jamie Brown on YouTube, don't be too surprised. Others may raise an eyebrow or two and wonder what kind of church brings Daughtry in the house. Maybe that wonder will be what it takes to get them to come find out for themselves. Maybe Daughtry will be a bridge between someone who knows rock stars but not the Rock.

The next time you see teens at church playing with cell phones, remember grace and remember that bridges can be built the traditional way or we can use modern technology and modern music.

Rock on.
LMF

I am the church

2007-09-23T14:47:00.000-05:00

Pastor Steve's comment today really struck me. "Do you want to go to church or be the church?"

To be honest, I do like to go to church. I like that weekly connection with friends, I get to touch base with ministry partners, visit with my HOMEies (if you don't know what those are, get yourself into a HOME group!), I get to worship MY way and Steve always gives me a thing or two to think about. I don't like to miss Sundays.

But Steve did make it clear that "going to church" cannot be everything for us. Being the church requires a little more time with fewer people. If it weren't for those extra hours with the few, frankly, I wouldn't have anyone to talk with on Sundays and that wouldn't be the same experience.

I am the church. How about you? If a HOME group is your next step, shoot an email to info@horizonschurch.org and our new coordinators will get you set up/hooked up/and ready to go.

LMF

Feels like Home

2007-09-08T00:10:00.000-05:00

Sunday is the start of a new series, "Feels like Home." Remember the Acts 2 church members, how they lived life together...they were like a family that not only worshipped together, they hung out, had dinners, visited each other's homes, supported those who were down and needed help...it was more than community, it was a dynamic and growing family.

Pastor Steve will be highlighting our HOME groups these next few weeks, which is our way of incorporating Acts 2 into the culture of Horizons. If you're not in a small group, this is the time to get more information and consider taking that next step. There will be people to talk with about HOME groups each week in the Atrium.

It's also a good time to invite a co-worker, a neighbor, your extended family or friends you know who don't regularly attend church. Check out the evite feature on the web site. Do you know someone who is looking for a church that feels like home?

See you Sunday,

LMF

After the Ranch - What's next?

2007-08-03T18:42:00.000-05:00

As I write this, there are exhausted people working to get Horizons back to its "pre-Ranch" status. If you're able to manhandle our chairs in the worship center, you're invited to show up tomorrow (Saturday) at 10 a.m. to help convert the three sections of chairs back to our usual four sections.

Last night and most of today was spent cleaning up the building and tearing down the decorations. Avalanche Ranch is history. But is that it? Is that all there is? Do we now set aside all that excitement for God until next summer?

You don't have to. Our children's ministry is a year-round ministry and VBS is five days out of that year. If you enjoyed being a part of VBS, come visit DiscoveryZone any Sunday. Talk with our new Director of Children's Ministry Lisa Heinert. The excitement of the past five days doesn't have to end. You can be "Jumpin' in the House" all year long.

LMF

Avalanche Ranch - God is in charge!

2007-08-02T22:55:00.000-05:00

Hey ya’ll, Erin here. All is now said and done here at the Ranch and it has been quite an adventure. I am sitting outside the church with my computer making sure Bob and Karl follow through with their promise to spend the night on the roof. If you haven’t already heard we reached our goal of 350 kids. 358 to be exact. So with sleeping bags in hand Bob and Karl headed up the ladder and are planning to spend the night in their tent, praying that they won’t roll off.

A lot is still going on here at the ranch. Karl is already threatening to go home. Kaitlyn just called the Journal Star to see if they would come out and interview Bob and Karl. And there are still a few crew leaders and crew coaches in the church, continuing the clean-up efforts. Clean-up will continue tomorrow at 8:30, with a BYOD (bring your own donut) breakfast. Feel free to join us if you can. Plans for next year’s VBS will be revealed after all the décor has been taken down.

Tonight was another amazing night filled with laughter, jumping, worship, fun and a few tears (many of them mine). A huge THANK YOU to all the 200 volunteers who served at this year's VBS, it would not have happened without your dedication, love and desire to make God known to our kids. I also wanted to give a special shout out to Derek for all of his many hours of hard work and planning to make VBS what it was. THANK YOU, Derek.

From all the Dutters we want to say thank you to everyone at Horizons. Your hugs, prayers and warm wishes have helped us to know that we will be “held-up” during this transition. We have cherished our time here with you and God has blessed our family through you. The video you put together for Tony and me was amazing, it touched our hearts in a way that it has never been touched before. But no need for tears, we promise to be back so much that most of you probably won’t even know we are gone.

Hope to see lots of you on Sunday with smiles on and no talk of goodbyes.

Peace out!
E

PS- Bob and Karl say good night and see ya next year.

Who's in the House?

2007-08-02T00:12:00.000-05:00

God is!! "JP" here just back from the Ranch. I’ve been searching for the spark, the excitement, the spontaneity and energy many of us associate with Horizons. I found it at Avalanche Ranch tonight! Woo-Hoo! Of all the things that Horizons does, this is by far our best ministry. The kids, our community and perhaps ourselves (more on that later) benefit from attending and supporting Vacation Bible School. It’s relevant and it’s vibrant. The opening session was fantastic, rock’n the house as we say, and hey….those subwoofers really do work!

Two things struck me as I leaned back against the counter in the sound booth….safe from the maelstrom of activity and noise. First, kids know nothing of ‘holding back’ when they are moving to the music; they’re jumping, moving, singing, yelling, having fun. I watched how they competed for the Spirit hat…what a noise maker that is!!! I saw how Bob and Karl led and motivated the squirming, giggling noisy mass of humanity into a unison of responses to their question….Who’s in the house? And the response ….God is!

And indeed He was!

Secondly, and what touched me the most, was sensing the Spirit moving among us tonight. Whether it was through the kids’ smiles and laughter, the camaraderie among volunteers, the one on one conversations with people I have not spoken to for a long time, or the selfless actions of others throughout the night, I saw what I love about Horizons… Community. It was exhilarating.

As I rode back to the Mission with the kids tonight, they all began humming and then singing a familiar song as we ate our ice cream cones (Thanks Liz!). As I listened and sang along quietly to myself, I had to agree. Yes indeed, our God is an awesome God. He softened yet another heart tonight that had grown a bit too hard, a tad indifferent. A small transformation occurred through nine wonderful children and a guest pass to Avalanche Ranch.

Avalanche Ranch - God is Awesome!

2007-08-01T23:41:00.000-05:00

Hey there, this is Karl (Chris Berger) writing the blog for tonight. Sometimes its tough to find the words on what to say about these nights here at VBS. It's an experience that I hope these kids never forget. Tonight we had a time where the kids could all give their donations for the orphanage in India that we sponsor through Project Hope, and it is so moving to see how many kids really care about helping other kids. I would guess that more than half the room stood up and gave whatever they could to these kids in need.

In Matthew 18, Christ is talking with his disciples and they ask him "Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?" Jesus then replies by saying "Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes a humble place becoming like this child, it the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me."

This is such a powerful verse to read because to me, this means that I can learn just as much, if not more, from these children than I can teach them. Seeing these kids donate to other kids really impacts me because they give so selflessly. They give because they know that these kids need help and they know that they can supply that help. I don't know about anyone else but it brings tears to my eyes to see how many kids want to help other kids in this world and truly Christ was right when he said that the kingdom of heaven belongs to the children such as these that we have here at Horizons.

Ranch Stats:

283 kids age 3 thru 6th Grade

96 volunteers

Avalanche Ranch - God is Strong!

2007-07-31T23:57:00.000-05:00

News Flash...this just in from Bob and Karl...there are 338 kids registered now for Avalanche Ranch...12 more new registrations in the next two nights and these two crazy guys will be sleeping on the roof! Invite a friend to join you at the ranch -- everyone is welcome!

Howdy folks! Nikki Ford here after another wild night out at Avalanche Ranch!

This is always such an emotional week, and this year it has been even more! We have so much fun, but we only have 5 days! I’m always sad when it’s over! But enough of that!!

As part of the Sing and Play team I have the fun job of helping teach kids and crew leaders the actions to the songs! If that isn’t great enough, the real joy in that comes from seeing and hearing all those kids sing out to God. I get goose bumps every time I think about it! I can’t wait for Sunday when the kids get to sing in big church for the whole congregation!! Sometimes I just want to stop singing so I can hear all the kids! (sometimes I do!)

It’s just so amazing how we can all come together as one for worship and praise and each have a different experience. I know God is smiling down us, especially when we are “Jumpin’ in the House!!”

Yes we are goofy and silly sometimes, but that’s what I love so much about this week at VBS and Horizons, God loves us no matter what and when we can share that with others what a great gift! There are so many important messages we are learning about God this week, today we learned “God is Strong” WAH-HOO!

God loves us so much he doesn’t expect us to be strong….He is our Strength!!

I hope everyone is having a great week so far and looking forward to 2 more exciting days on the ranch! I know I am!!

It’s so cool to see everyone young and old come together for these 5 days to learn more about God. Our kids and volunteers are the best!!! Thank you!!

God is Real!
God is With Us!
God is Strong!
Tell all your friends!

To the Dutters….I’m trying not to think about it, but what a better way to send you off then 300+ kids fired up about God! So, I can’t send this blog without saying something…..VBS, DZ, and Horizons won’t be the same without you!! Don’t get me wrong, we will still have an awesome children’s ministry but I’ve seen what you’ve done in the lives of children all around Horizons and know what great friends you have been to me! As my HS science teacher always said “It’s a beautiful thing!” Good luck in Chicago, we are all praying for you!

YEE HAW!!! See y'all tomorrow at the Ranch!

Avalanche Ranch - God is with us!

2007-07-30T23:28:00.001-05:00

This is crew leader Traci Schoen out at the ranch. By now, the Ranch Hands have put the Longhorns to pasture, the Eagles have set to flight and “Rowdy” has said good-night to Shadow and the rest of his Dog buddies, finishing out another great night of VBS at Horizons!

A night that reminded us of the assurance that “God is with us,” WOOHOO!!
More kiddos joined in on the fun of Day 2…Bob and Karl are getting nervous about that roof!

The night started with Bob and Karl hosting a Twinkie-eating contest won by the Longhorns (nice effort Mitchell, Landon and Brady!)

Sing & Play Stampede was made more meaningful and fun when songs were sung with actions and jumping. Singing at the top of your lungs is encouraged! We also learned actions to help us remember our Bible Verse for the day “For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9) Fingers pointed to heaven and march, march, march.

Cowpoke Crafts’ gave us time to talk and create a physical reminder of God’s presence in our lives, while Horseplay Games gave us time to release some energy, enjoy the beautiful night and experience what it would feel like if we didn’t have “God (is) with us” WOOHOO!!

In Bible adventures, we heard the story of Joshua and the Israelites and how God separated the flooding waters of the Jordan River (Joshua 3-4) so that the Israelites could safely cross. As crews, we created our own “stone memorials,” citing a time when God was with each one of us….during a storm, after getting separated from our parents, when a “stranger” approached.

Chadder’s Wildwest Theater and snack-time are always a hit! Mmmmm, s'mores!!

The 5th & 6th graders spent some time collecting paper goods for Epworth Village from our generous neighbors. Good luck in “the boys vs. the girls” challenge to collect more…as a “girl” I have to say….”GO GIRLS!!!”

Pastor Steve’s Roundup included a final prayer, but not before reading his version of Joshua 3-4 with “Rowdy” and his rowdies acting it out. What version of the Bible was that with Joshua and the Israelites and swim practice?

What more could be said about a night already filled with so much going on?

The Kids: Watching them learn (and reaffirm) for themselves the love and presence of God!
The Parents: Who love their kids so much and trust HCC to help teach them of God’s love!
The Volunteers: So many giving of their time and talents for the kids (whether they have some here or not!) and getting to experience God in a different way for themselves as well!
The Lord: “For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” Joshua 1:9

Ranch Stats Night 2:

Kids under 3: 14

Kids aged 3 thru 6th Grade: 277

Adult Volunteers: 127

Avalanche Ranch - God is Real!

2007-07-29T20:20:00.000-05:00

Hi y'all! Mr. Tony Dutter here from the Avalanche Ranch deep in the mountains of Horizons Community Church. I want to let y'all who weren't here tonight know that you missed an excellent adventure through God's word. The great thing about God is that He is Real. That was the bible point for tonight. Sometimes we think that God is just an imaginary friend that we talk to once in a while, but these kids learned tonight that "God is Real."

Bob and Karl, the extraordinary spirit-filled 20-somthings that get all of us pumped up for an adventure through God's word, taught us that shaving cream and water inside balloons really does make a mess...a "Real mess."

You know, I've been volunteering in children's ministry for some three, or four years and I never leave the church without sweating, laughing or learning. This sticky night in July was no exception to all my days in children's ministry. There was one difference though, the body of Christ was alive and in full effect. The pastor, worship leader, administrative assistant, sound guys, parents, even the pastor's wife was here tonight! Praise the Lord! Most of the body of this church came together tonight for the purpose of these children.

I leave you with one thought; What if the body of this church came together more often for the purposes of these little ones? Wow, is the only word we would be left with when these children grow up and begin leading this church. The power in the body flowing through these kids would be awesome. I want to do this for the rest of my life Lord, bring us more kids, bring us more leaders like the ones who were here tonight giving their hearts to kids and telling them that God is Real!

Ranch Stats Night 1:

Kids under 3 = 14

Kids aged 3 thru 6th Grade = 263

Adult volunteers = 153

In memory of Tracy DuPont

2007-07-17T09:09:00.000-05:00

Tracy DuPont died early Sunday morning.

Many at Horizons had joined the fight to help raise money for Tracy's Angels, whether it was wearing the pink t-shirt or walking in last year's fundraiser. Read the story in this morning's Lincoln Journal Star.

LMF

When the Pope talks, I rarely listen...

2007-07-13T10:36:00.000-05:00

One of my issues with organized religion is the "we have the only way to heaven" position of some churches or denominations or groups. Whatever. Pope Benedict XVI's announcement the other day that the Catholic church is the only true church and the only to offer salvation has really ticked me off.

Jesus came. Jesus died. He's my all-access pass to salvation. I can read it in my Bible, I don't need a religious man to tell me where I can get saved. I'm covered. Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me." He didn't say, no one gets in except through this church, or that good deed or by giving a certain amount of money or by going to church x amount of Sundays per year.

There are times when I think we make Jesus too complicated.
LMF

What's your excuse?

2007-07-09T10:05:00.000-05:00

I haven't blogged in more than a month. I have some good excuses...

...I've got some personal things going on (excuse). Some things you blog about, other things are best saved for the weekly therapy session. I guess you can say I have issues.

...I spent last week in the hospital (excuse). I got bit by a mosquito at the Pinewood Bowl despite the efforts of hundreds of people bathing in DEET-laced sprays (whine) and me breathing the stuff for a few hours (issue).

...I'm in summer school at UNL (excuse). OK, it's sign language, not nuclear physics, but still I'm in school, I have a test every week and now I've missed an entire week taking my A+ down to an A- (issue + whine).

Right now, life is sort of smacking me in the face (whine) letting me know I'm human (excuse) and forcing me to look at myself critically (issue). It's good for me we have a God who doesn't expect perfection. Real good.

LMF

Life and Death Lessons

2007-06-01T19:13:00.000-05:00

Tuesday's Lincoln Journal Star had a story about the Lincoln Police Citizen Academy and that took me back to 1994, when I was a member of the first-ever Citizen Police Academy with the Redondo Beach (Calif.) Police Department.

Even for a cops and courts/city reporter, it was (and still is) one of the high points of my nearly 10-year reporting career. Now that I'm retired (or recovering...) from reporting, I look back on my time with cops, both on the beat and during the academy, and many of the life (and death) lessons I learned from the officers during the 90s are still with me:

Eat More. Talk Less. I tend to talk. Especially over a meal. When you have a dinner break with cops, it's 30 min. if you don't get a call. That includes parking, ordering, finding a table, getting comfortable...by the time you pick up your fork you're down to 15 min. My first ride-along taught me that if you talk all through dinner you get really hungry when you're stuck in a parking garage at midnight looking for bullet casings for two hours.

I've been shot, where are we? One ride-along found me with an officer who could chat up a storm and keep up with my questions as we patrolled neighborhoods that were somewhat familiar. On a quiet street, the cop stopped the car, looked at me and calmly said, "I've been shot, where are we?" I didn't know. I could see house numbers but we were in the middle of the block and there were no street signs. I looked at him and he said nothing. I knew I had failed the test. For the rest of that night and to this day, I usually know where I am. He never asked me the question again during the 8-hour shift, but he didn't have to.

Watch the sunset. I worked at the beach in one of the most beautiful, postcard perfect areas of the country. The cops reminded me that when you're patrolling along Pacific Coast Highway, sometimes you have to stop and take in the sunset over the Pacific.

It's a dangerous job. Our first night at the academy, our instructor opened his lecture on tactics with a slide of four dead cops, saying, "this class is dedicated to them." The sobering truth is that cops are killed in the course of their work too often. In 1993, I had covered the murder of a Manhattan Beach police officer, Martin Ganz. While in DC two weeks ago, I visited the National Law Enforcement Officers Memorial. It had been a long time since thinking about Ganz, who was murdered while on duty two days after Christmas, 1993. His pre-teen nephew was with him on a ride-along and Marty was shot during a traffic stop. The boy wasn't physically harmed. The murder shook the postcard perfect beach cities like nothing else.

I still have great respect for cops. If you ever have the opportunity to go through a citizen academy, take it. You can learn a lot from cops about life and a lot more than you want to know about death. But learn the lesson I didn't: say thanks. I remember saying goodbye to Marty after his funeral, but I had forgotten to say thank you until I was looking at his engraved name on panel 42, west side, more than 13 years after his last end-of-watch, holding a rectangular piece of plain paper and rubbing a blue crayon across his name.

To remind me.

LMF

Playing by the rules

2007-05-25T09:59:00.000-05:00

Ever play Chutes and Ladders? Candy Land? Easy games. Simple rules. You can learn them in 30 seconds or less and that includes translating them to a 3 year old.

Yesterday I had an interesting and entertaining conversation with a Horizons member who is interested in what Communications does, blogging in particular. I was reminded during the conversation that when the blog began just more than a year ago, I posted some very simple guidelines.

Then I remembered how after I posted them once and reposted them a few months later I was getting the equivalent of celebrity hate-mail...as in how dare I tell the people of Horizons how to behave. I thought it was funny then, but during the interim I've often had other churches email me and ask for our blogging guidelines for our church. I've never modified the ground-rules -- it hasn't been necessary. I don't mind the personal attacks on me, I'm a big girl, but I will continue to protect others and their reputations and, even more importantly, their feelings. So, once again, here are the ground rules for the blog. I look forward, once again, to your comments posted here or sent to me personally: LisaMathewsFowler@yahoo.com:

Blog Ground Rules:

Be nice. You don't know who is reading.
Be honest. You don't know who is reading.
Be real. You don't know who is reading.
Be careful. You don't know who is reading.

Have a great day.

LMF

One team -- that's confirmation

2007-05-20T13:42:00.000-05:00

I've traveled to Osseo, Wisconsin to witness the baptism and confirmation of my nephew, Brandon.

Pastor Sheri at the Osseo United Church of Christ spoke about why we as Christians have broken into so many different denominations and how that has affected the Church and some believers.

I'm always engaged in the discussion when it comes to us as Christians playing on and for the same team. When working with the ministries at Horizons as Communications team leader, I'm always aware of the following:

We are not competing with other Christian churches for members or attenders,
When we share best practices with other churches, we're not divulging trade secrets,
When I visit other churches, I'm not there to spy -- I'm there to learn and discover new ways to communicate for the Team.
Our way of Worship is not the only way...which is why we have so many different churches. Different churches for different people. Church is not a one-size-fits-all solution to helping people find Christ. The point is that they do find Christ, not that they can only or should only find Him at Horizons.

So it was nice to travel more than 500 miles to a small town of less than 2,000 to listen to Pastor Sheri talk about working well with other churches in Osseo. I think one of the best things I can do for guests of Horizons is get to know other churches in Lincoln so that when I do hear someone say that Horizons isn't for them, I'm at the ready with the knowledge of other churches that could be a good fit for them.

I know it sounds like match-making and online dating, but that's a different blog post.

LMF

A local makes all the difference

2007-05-17T17:09:00.000-05:00

Several times while in DC, I found myself explaining that my trip was going well because I had a local to give me touring advice, steer me toward the best restaurants and away from the questionable establishments and areas. Something about having a local connection in a strange and new city that's big and intimidating makes all the difference in how successful and meaningful the trip ends up to be.

It hit me today that for guests at Horizons, having a local can and does make all the difference in how they connect and feel welcome during their stay on our campus. When was the last time you were someone's local connection at Horizons? After being a tourist and benefiting from having KP's advice and direction...I now want to bring that concept to my Sundays and be the local for someone new to Horizons. Even if that someone is a stranger, someone I didn't even invite, I'm going to go out-of-my-way to make their stay easier.

I want to go back for another visit to DC. I loved it. Loved the city, the people...the experience. I want guests at Horizons to feel the same way.

Be the local. Make the difference.
LMF

National Community Church, Washington DC

2007-05-15T09:40:00.000-05:00

I have quite a few favorite churches within Lincoln and across the country. Coming to DC meant the opportunity to visit National Community Church, home of some of the best communicators around. The fact that these incredibly talented people use their gifts to bring Christ to Capitol Hill is even more admirable.

NCC was founded and aspires to be a theater church. Not a church that meets in a theater until they can afford "better" digs, but as an end for its means. They use the fabulous Union Station theaters right off a grand food court and also have the theaters at Ballston. They use theaters with convenient Metro stops to make NCC and Christ accessible in a town that isn't always easy to maneuver in and around let alone make connections with people.

Last year, NCC bought and old building a block or two away from Union Station and built Ebenezers, a fab coffee shop that also houses their church offices upstairs and has room downstairs for Saturday services. If you know me and my love of free wireless Internet AND good coffee, you know how much I've enjoyed hanging out at Ebz. If they had shirts available, I would have bought one for me and one for Mace (see steam train logo).

My girlfriend and I went to church at NCC at the latest Sunday service, 11:30 a.m., and it was incredibly good. People were relaxed, helpful, and the message series, "Anatomy of Faith" spoke about the heart...ours, Gods, a mother's, etc. I videotaped their final musical set which absolutely rocked! My Lincoln church communications group will be stoked when they get their hands on all of the printed materials the NCC folks loaded me up with to bring home. Talk about best practices...these guys produce some pretty amazing pieces all to bring people closer to a relationship with Christ. For us communications directors, we love to see best practices in action.

This morning, I told Mace I was going out for coffee. He asked: "Are you going to the coffee shop that uses the steam train as its logo?" I told him no, I was going to Mocha Hut and I didn't know what its logo was, but knew it wasn't a train like Ebz.

Praise God and pass the latte!

Choo Choo.

LMF

This post brought to you by...

2007-05-15T09:01:00.000-05:00

The good doctors at Sibley rescued my vacation. I spent all of yesterday touring every monument and memorial worth experiencing in DC. With the exception of traveling to the top of the Washington Monument -- I have my limits -- my day was filled with history and awe.

When this picture was taken, I was about the enter the Lincoln Memorial which is probably the most imposing and most impressive monument I've ever experienced. I couldn't stop asking myself if I were truly there. Even today, it is hard to believe I was there.

While marveling at the imposing Lincoln, a group of fifth-grade boys from Delaware approached me. "Could we ask you some questions?" one began. "Well, yeah, sure," I said, but thinking it would depend upon what they were going to ask. "What does Lincoln mean to you?" one asked. "Oh (easy, I thought) he's the namesake for the city I live in, Lincoln, Nebraska." He wrote all that down in a very slow, fifth-grade boy type of printing. Then he asks, "And where are you from?" Well, that did it as far as his friends were concerned. They all laughed at him, "she told you, dude, Lincoln, Nebraska." The kiddo was embarrassed beyond words and description. "No worries," I tried to say to him, to make him feel a little better, but they all thanked me for my time, including their teacher who was standing only a few steps behind them.

I boarded Tourmobile at 9:30 a.m. at Union Station and was done by 4 p.m. It was the best $25 I've spent all week. I did have to climb a lot of stairs (gingerly this time!) but for all I saw in one day, it was an incredible deal.

Today is my last day in DC. I'll be buying shirts, packing, taking pictures and hanging my my friend who is telecommuting today (i.e., she'll be working at midnight after I'm gone!). More later.

LMF

I Heart Sibley Memorial Hospital

2007-05-13T14:42:00.000-05:00

It figures that when I'm 1000 miles away from home I'd need to see a doctor. The day before leaving Lincoln I strained a neck muscle but figured it would feel better the next day. It didn't. By Saturday, the spasms were driving me to the brink of insanity so my girlfriend and I were off to the ER.

Two hours later at Sibley Memorial's ER, I was feeling G-O-O-D. A little IV Valium, a little Vicodin and a prescription to-go and since then, I've been one happy tourist.

LMF

I Heart D.C.

2007-05-11T16:16:00.000-05:00

I do. I really do. I love this place, the people, the Metro and the history. I heart it so much, I'll buy the shirt.

A few observations:

The people. They are nice, helpful and pleasant. They go out of their way for tourists. It's pretty easy to tell who the locals are (they have building security cards/IDs around their necks instead of cameras) and they are more than willing to give help with the Metro, street directions, restaurant suggestions...whatever. Sometimes, you don't even have to ask for assistant, they apparently are pretty good at recognizing utter confusion when they see it.

The Metro. Love the ease of travel. Glad I'm not driving here. I might not feel the love as much. I'm getting some pretty good train pictures for Mace but still have to take one of a sign that says spitting on the train isn't allowed. I think he'll like that.

The buildings. They are large. Tall. Imposing. When climbing the stairs to one of them, say the Smithsonian Portrait Gallery, one should not be looking up at the same time because you can easily fall. Yep. I tumbled down three or four steps and twisted an ankle, but only spilled a little coffee (priorities!). The embarrassment factor was pretty high -- lotsa people around -- but the dozen that ran over to me were very sweet, only wanting to know that I was OK.

The security. I knew it existed, but seeing Capitol cops with their rifles in their hands is somewhat startling at first. I was intended to take pictures of the Capitol building, but mostly the men with arms caught my focus every time.

The barriers. I loves these barricades in the streets around Capitol Hill that can pop up at a moment's notice. There are others closer to buildings that are all up and as vehicles are approved to pass through, the barricades lower. I was taking some pictures and then was told to stop. Oops.

As I was riding my last Metro train this afternoon, I'd been marveling at the district-wide mind-set here and wondering how that could translate to Horizons -- that making people feel welcome, helping them out and taking on the responsibility to be a host or a tour guide was everyone's job, not just the First Impressions teams...what would that look like?

Would we have guests wanting to buy "I heart Horizons" t-shirts?

LMF

An American Tourist

2007-05-09T10:43:00.000-05:00

Thanks to everyone who sent suggestions for sightseeing on my trip to Washington, DC. I take-off in less than 20 hours. I may start packing one of these hours.

It's hard to imagine I'll be getting up tomorrow at 3 a.m. to get to Omaha in time for my flight. Seemed like a fine idea (10 days ago) to fly out at 6 a.m. and get into DC at 9:30 a.m. local time. Then I did the math and realized that with drive time, off-site long-term parking and taking a laptop and injectible medication as carry-on items...it was going to be an early morning.

What was I thinking???
LMF

Trip Planning -- Washington, DC

2007-05-07T16:00:00.000-05:00

By the time you're eating your breakfast Thursday a.m., I'll be on Capitol Hill. I have a few more days to decide where I want to go...which museums, which monuments...so many choices. If you have suggestions of must-see places, send me an email at:

LisaMathewsFowler@yahoo.com

More later,
LMF

Virginia Tech

2007-05-02T10:24:00.000-05:00

This line from Pastor Mark Batterson's blog (National Community Church in Wash., DC) has stuck with me since the shootings:

"It certainly doesn't shake my belief in God. It just affirms my belief in evil."

LMF

How I spell relief...

2007-05-02T10:05:00.000-05:00

My final is done. D-O-N-E. I can now set aside scholarly reading, writing and thinking for six weeks until the summer session begins...

I have some Horizons projects to catch up on in those six weeks:

A serving catalog on the Web site to find where you might like to serve.
Updates to ministry pages and training ministry leaders to make their own Web changes.
Tackle the Sunday program design/concept.

In these six weeks, I'm also going to squeeze in six days in Washington, DC -- more on that later, but while I'm there I'll be visiting National Community Church, home of some of the best church communicators around.

To those UNL students graduating Saturday, Godspeed and best wishes!

LMF

Today I have to blog...

2007-04-22T20:56:00.000-05:00

I think there's some blogging rule that you have to post on your one year blogging anniversary, so I'm back again today. Loved the retro music at Horizons this morning and I think this was a record-setting Sunday in that Pastor Steve played his harmonica with the band now two Sundays in a row. I say let's go for three!

Have you been checking out the Web site lately? Have you noticed that I'm almost always behind these days in getting things posted, updated or removed? I don't want to use the "B" word, however, let me spell it out:

School (it's coming up on finals week at UNL and I'm buried under a research paper)
Family and other personal issues...just like everyone else
Communications @ Horizons...yep, it gets squeezed in (or out as the case can be) at the bottom

If you have an hour a week to devote the our new/cool/rockin' Web site, give me a call or shoot me an email (lmf@neb.rr.com). What do you need to know? Not much, to be honest. You'll need your own high-speed Internet connection and computer and know how to use it. Other than that, you don't have to know any programming languages...it's mostly click and drag, plug and play.

Thanks!

LMF

One year already?? My blogging anniversary

2007-04-21T20:39:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow, April 22, marks one year of the Horizons blog. I remember the day clearly. The days since then, not so much. This is post number 178. What have I learned about blogging in a year?

I love the forum, love the ability to write off the top of my head about what's going on at Horizons and beyond.
Not everyone loves blogs as I do. Some people just don't like the word "blog" so they don't read blogs. I DIDN'T COIN THE WORD. I CAN'T CHANGE THE WORD. Sorry.
I love reading comments about posts.
Not everyone feels comfortable posting comments.
I love reading your emails to me about posts.
Aggregators rock if you're into blogs. If you don't know what an aggregator is, read this post.
Site stats are indispensible when you're wondering if anyone is actually reading. It's how I know which sites readers come from, their city and country, and which posts they're reading and how they found the site.
Google is a marketing tool first, a search engine second. Now I know.
6172 visits in a year. The figure is off now that we're getting hits directly from the Web site and those aren't recorded in the same way as people who surf into blogger. Don't ask me why.

Tomorrow is also Earth Day. It's a good day for a blogging anniversary because since last year we've cut down our paper usage in big ways by using more e-News and online information sharing. It's better for the environment and easy on our Horizons budget.

Thanks for reading!

LMF

HaPpY BiRtHdAy HoRiZoNs

2007-04-15T09:42:00.000-05:00

This goes out to everyone in the Horizons community:

Happy 10th Birthday! Let's eat cake!

LMF

Spring Break | Play Ball!

2007-03-13T17:09:00.000-05:00

It's definitely Spring. And there's nothing like an afternoon of Husker Baseball at Haymarket Park to put the "spring" in spring break. Here are a few other indicators that winter is done:

In a few weeks, our Horizons softball team will take the field on Friday nights. Good times.
Horizons Egg Hunt, April 1 @ 4 p.m. Every year it's a blast. Don't miss it.
Our DZ kids are practicing their songs for Palm Sunday, April 1.
80 degrees today -- incredible.

Go God!

LMF

Spring Break | Day 1

2007-03-10T12:07:00.000-06:00

I'm calling Friday the first day of spring break for us since we'd finished all of our school-type business by Thursday. I won't give you the minute-by-minute Jack Bauer (24) type of drill-down or then my secret would be out: my life isn't that interesting.

Here's how we spent Day 1:

Picked up Freakonomics at the library. It's been on my list for a year now. So far, pretty interesting reading and even enjoyable since there's no test on it.
Mace and I spent two hours at the Lincoln Children's Museum with about 3000 other kiddos. Maybe it was only 300 but it felt like 3000.
Read a paper on terrorism and the media while Mace played with the Thomas the Tank Engines at the Museum -- ok, that sort of qualifies as doing school work -- but there's no test on it and my margin notes were only marginally insightful.
Watched General Hospital. (I've missed a week, who's this new guy Logan?)

Just wait until tomorrow when I tell you how we spent day 2.

LMF

Grey's Anatomy and big questions

2007-03-04T17:02:00.000-06:00

I did some catching up with a month's worth of "Grey’s Anatomy" this week (!) and I’m still thinking about the theme “If I went missing, would anyone notice?”

Would you notice if I didn't blog for a week?
Would you notice if I weren't in church Sunday?
Would anyone notice if I missed class one night?
Would Pastor Steve notice if he didn't receive an email-a-day from me?
Would Candie notice if she didn't receive two emails a day and a phone call from me on Fridays?

Fowler and I have a saying about particular chores or responsibilities that we don’t like to do ourselves that the other does, like tracking birthdays/anniversaries (my job) and changing light bulbs (his job) by saying, “hey, that’s why I got married.” It sounds as if we don’t take marriage seriously when of course we do. There’s a great monologue in the Richard Gere/Jennifer Lopez/Susan Sarandon movie, "Shall we Dance," about marriage:

**We need a witness to our lives. There's a billion people on the planet... I mean, what does any one life really mean? But in a marriage, you're promising to care about everything. The good things, the bad things, the terrible things, the mundane things... all of it, all of the time, every day. You're saying 'Your life will not go unnoticed because I will notice it. Your life will not go un-witnessed because I will be your witness'.**

Fowler would notice. My mom would notice. Mace would notice. Friends, too. I’m connected. I’m OK with the question AND the answer.

Yet not everyone will be. A week or two ago, there was the story about the man who was found dead a year after he died. No one missed him. No one noticed. His wife was already gone. An entire year. Dead for 365 days before he was found sitting in his living room with his TV blaring.

I’m sure there are people who don’t want to ask the question because the answer would be too painful to realize there may not be another human being on this planet who would go looking for them and not give up until they are found.

What about you? If you went missing, would anyone notice?

LMF

How did you spend your snow day?

2007-03-01T20:03:00.000-06:00

Six inches of snow was enough to shut down Lincoln, Nebraska today. All roads in, all roads out. Mace and I stayed home -- we could have run errands, but why? We watched a lot of PBS and stayed in pajamas all morning, but after lunch we got dressed to go outside and play.

Now, if you know me, you know two things: (1) I don't exercise or do anything that could be construed as exercise and (2) I'm not good in weather other than NICE. But there I am with a 3 year old who needs to run off all that snow day energy and every place I could sit is buried under snow/wet/cold. "Mace, let's build a snowman." But Mace isn't interested, he just wants to run and make footprints and roll around or throw snowballs at me.

I persevere. I get the shovel. I move snow, pack snow, massage snow, and repeat all that for an hour or so. I wanted a snowman at first, then I thought Mace would like Thomas the train, but I kept looking at my very tall, packed snow and I could see the Gnome. I could see his pointed hat, his large nose and his arms at his side. I figured it would be easier to make him what he is, than to try to make the blob into something it was not. I got a few tools from the kitchen and after two and a half hours, there he was, the Snow Gnome. (Mace wasn't impressed. "Let's knock him down and build a snowman.") But as far as I'm concerned (and I think Mace and I are very clear on this) the Snow Gnome stays until he melts.

Or loses his head.
LMF

Visitors checked the Web site first

2007-02-25T22:52:00.000-06:00

We had a large group of visitors during first service today. A group of youths and adult sponsors from First Reformed Church of Sioux Falls, S.D. were in Lincoln for the Dare2Share conference Saturday. They told Pastor Steve and me they decided to come to Horizons because they found our Web site and thought it was cool.

Awesome!

One of the adult sponsors told me they were really excited to see we had a trailer for the new "24" series posted on the site. They couldn't download it using free WiFi while traveling, but they liked the idea.

If you haven't seen the trailer, visit the home page and click the Full Details link to get to the trailer download. Jamie did a great job on the piece. In the future, we'll also get more video posted such as the most recent video with Trever and Pastor Steve. I would also like to get downloadable audio files of Pastor Steve's messages posted. If this is something you'd like to help the eTeam with, send me an email at lmf@neb.rr.com. We could use help keeping the site updated with new information.

You never know who will be looking for a church to visit.
LMF

Who calls a Horizons snow day??

2007-02-24T21:03:00.000-06:00

As I'm watching the snow fall taper off a bit, I thought I'd let you know that we're preparing a few ways to let everyone know about the status of services, classes and Sundaes on Sunday tomorrow.

Pastor Steve will be making the call early tomorrow morning...earlier than most people will normally wake up even for early service. Now that I know what time Steve will be up, I think he understands that I don't want to know THAT early, but sometime around 7-7:30 a.m. the Web site will be updated with information that either everything is cancelled or that everything will remain on schedule.

Steve will be leaving recorded information on the church office phone system so you can either call 420.6600 or check the site. If you have questions, feel free to email me at lmf@neb.rr.com.

LMF

On the radar...

2007-02-22T21:53:00.000-06:00

I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to Sunday. Why? Let me count the ways:

First off, Pastor Steve is launching a new series, "24::The divine drama of Jesus' final hours." Every time we begin a new series, it means a new graphic for the Web site and frankly, I was kind of freaked out by the books spewing from the guy's mouth in the last series. I love the "24" logo Jamie Brown designed. Did you see the movie last week? We're working to get it posted on the site.
Ice Cream: Sunday night is the next Sundaes on Sunday. You have to love that. Even if there's a blizzard this weekend, come out for ice cream. It's a cool thing to do, you get to meet people you may not have time to chat with around the Worship Celebrations and Jerry Bockoven is a terrific speaker. 6-7 p.m.
Strive for Five classes are kicking off. This is where life-change is going to happen at Horizons. Pray for everyone taking the bold step to learn more about one of our five core values.

I heard a lot of buzz Sunday about the men's rafting trip and the women's trip to Omaha for Beth Moore Live. About 40 guys are signed up (there's room for about 50 if you're interested) and around 35 women have signed up for Beth Moore. Give Candie shout if you want more info and are interested in either event. She'll help you get hooked up. 420.6600 or candie@horizonschurch.org.

LMF

A World of Hurt

2007-02-19T17:05:00.000-06:00

I'm neck-deep in this semester's political science classes. Back in high school, I had an algebra teacher who would say nearly each day, "Mathews is wallowing in the quagmire." Things haven't changed much.

Terrorism is a quagmire.

It's easy to study abstract theories and even mind-stretching to argue what is "just" and "good." But when it comes to terrorism and terrorists, we're talking about real people, really bad people, doing real and really bad things to unarmed and innocent people all to achieve a political goal.

I'm wallowing in the fact that I'm studying a hurting world that I have no power to fix, only understand.

And the more I understand, the more I pray for those who are hurting and those who hurt.
LMF

Killing time or missing opportunities

2007-02-11T16:22:00.000-06:00

I hate the phrase, 'I've got time to kill.'

Yet I used it last week with Mace. He and I were on the UNL campus Thursday morning and, after we had finished our business, he wanted to go visit my instructor in the next building.

"Mama, can we go visit Captain Randy?" And what do I say but, "sure, Mace, we've got time to kill."

The truth is, I don't have time to kill. Like everyone else, I have what I have and not a minute more. Shouldn't that time be filled by investing it with people? What's wrong about a sit-down, face-to-face discussion about the world/health/family/school that I've reduced it to the in between time we have in our packed schedule? I don't like having that mindset about the time I spend with people. Video games, yes. People, no.

It's one thing to say we value people. It's another thing to invest in people. Not money but time. And time spent with other people is never time killed.

LMF

What's your job description?

2007-02-01T23:00:00.000-06:00

Tomorrow morning I have a meeting with a small group of communications directors for churches in Lincoln. We began as a group after three of us returned from MinistryCOM last September. We decided to meet on the first Friday of each month and also to start inviting others to join us. We're still less than 10 people, but we're growing, learning and sharing.

Our plan for tomorrow is to share job descriptions. I've been working on mine all week and frankly, it's been a challenge. Leading communications at Horizons involves so many ministry areas and wearing several hats at once. Some days, I don't keep up very well. I haven't posted to the blog now for two weeks and the Web site needs an update that didn't get done Monday. I've been doing this for nearly 18 months and I'm still learning the job.

I started writing a job description that seemed adequate but it was too long. There are things I think should be included in the job but they are not the things I have time or the team power to do. I want it short, snappy and to the point. Here's my newest draft:

As Communications Team Leader, I advise and assist anyone in any capacity at Horizons with any project that requires any message to be relayed to others in any form or forum to be heard by those it's intended to reach without any distractions.

It isn't exactly what I wanted, but it's close.

LMF

Safe Sanctuary training is good for kids

2007-01-14T22:58:00.000-06:00

Everyone knows our fastest-growing Horizons ministry is DiscoveryZone. We have kids as young as two all the way through fourth grade learning weekly about God, Jesus and the Bible. Today's lesson with the first through fourth graders was about sacrifice and how Jesus was called "the lamb of God."

On Saturday, lots of DiscoveryZone and other youth ministry servants sacrificed an entire Saturday morning for training to help make the Horizons youth programs not only the best hour of each kid's week, but the safest hour. Safe Sanctuary training gave us information we need to be truly vigilant when it comes to the safe-keeping of the kids entrusted to us. It's a huge responsibility and it feels good to be trusted by the families that come to Horizons whether they consider Horizons their home or they're just checking us out.

Help us keep that trust. When you check in your kids, take the wrist band. Wear it. When you're leaving with your kiddos from The BOB or their classrooms, be prepared to show a volunteer at the door your matching numbers. If you're picking up babes and toddlers, hang back at the counter and let the caretakers bring your child to you. It'll take longer, but you can use that time to chat with other parents and get to know someone new. Make the best of it and realize that we are tracking dozens of kiddos all at once.

If you have any questions about the Safe Sanctuary training or future training dates, talk with our Director of Children's Ministry Erin Dutter.

LMF

DiscoveryZone is good for your health

2007-01-07T16:07:00.000-06:00

One of my new accessories is a pedometer.

The goal of 10,000 steps a day isn't the easiest to accomplish now that our niece has gone back home (shopping apparently is heart-friendly) and exercise seems an odd companion to eating non-stop so that I can keep on the additional 15 pounds I gained during recovery.

Without shopping, I've had a hard time getting to 2000 steps a day. But today I realized that DiscoveryZone is not only good for the soul, but good for the heart! In my 3 hours at Horizons today (and we're not known for our calisthenics during Worship!) I had nearly 2200 steps. That's all DiscoveryZone plus a little running around after Mace.

So that's my unscientific report for the day: Serve in DiscoveryZone -- it's good for you!

LMF

Horizons making news

2007-01-02T17:00:00.000-06:00

It's been a busy media week for Horizons...

First up was the Channel 8/KLKN piece on Candie's house makeover that ran a few days after her home was unveiled. It featured an interview with Candie and video footage by Trever Rook. It was a good spot and Candie did a great job talking on camera.

Then Saturday, Pastor Steve was one of two sources in a Lincoln Journal Star story (Values section cover) on making big new year's resolutions and how to keep them. If you missed it, you can read it online.

Of course, the most recent splash was the Jan. 1, front page Lincoln Journal Star story about Candie's home makeover. There was a picture on page 2 and the writer, Colleen Kenney, did a nice job of telling Candie's story. If you want to really have some fun, pull up the story online watch Trever's video, look at Eric's pictures and then at the end of the story, read the online comments. The story is ranking high with more than 20 comments and they are all good. There was a lot of community interest in the story and support for what God is doing through Horizons!

The other media exposure right now is our Horizons commercial running on 1480 ESPN radio. The spot will be running day and night through February. Let me know if you hear it or if you get any feedback from friends or co-workers who have mentioned it. If you're dying to hear it and keep missing it on the air, shoot me an email and I'll send you an mp3 file.

Happy New Year Horizons!
LMF

What you can learn from a 12-year-old girl

2006-12-27T21:33:00.000-06:00

Our niece, Katie, is spending the week with us and having a 12-year-old girl to hang out with has been something of an education for me.

For starters, I had no idea a girl could eat so much. She pretty much matches Eric's dinner quantity but then an hour after dinner, she has to eat again. During the day, she eats regular meals and several snacks. It's mind-boggling the amount of calories a growing kid has to shovel in every 24-hour cycle.

Then there's the shopping. She's tireless. I'm stopping for espresso just to keep up with her. In three hours today, we visited four major stores with lots of looking, lots of trying on and several purchases. She's been great helping me pick out new clothes, since my recovery from the Oct. hospitalization has added about 15 pounds to my body and the docs want me to keep it on if I can. Too bad insurance doesn't cover a new wardrobe!

Katie said she'd like to find a book series she could get into to keep her interested in reading. We had a few minutes to kill at SouthPointe this morning, so we popped into Barnes and Noble. We checked out the "teen" section. I had no idea what teens were reading these days, but let's just say it's not what I was reading when I was a teen. We were both sort of dazed after reading the book jackets and summaries on the backs. Yikes. They should have ratings on fiction sort of like movies and video games. Much of what I read should have been labeled "parental guidance" at the least.

Mace is driving Katie nuts, I'm sure. He never lets her rest and loves playing with her, doing puzzles, reading books, playing with trains...she's game for all of it, including games like Chutes and Ladders. One of Mace's funny sayings that he just spouts occasionally is: "This world really freaks me out." Well, this week, I've been thinking that often about the teen world and what it's going to be like when Mace gets to be that age.

I just hope he'll be able to find decent books to read. Yeesh.

LMF

Extreme Home Makeover | Horizons style

2006-12-19T09:58:00.000-06:00

The Horizons community was out in full force this past weekend remaking the home of our very own Candie, who has had a pretty rough year.

The project started when a group nominated Candie for a Union Bank Magic Moments award to get new windows for her home. Candie won the award but then the group decided they would do a few more fix it projects around the house while the windows were being installed. One thing led to another and pretty soon a weekend was planned for tons of people to take over Candie's house to fix, improve and beautify the place for Candie and her three kids. They even decorated for Christmas -- tree, lights, everything!

The work began Friday morning and on Sunday at 3 p.m., Lincoln Fire Department's Engine 8 was blocking her house from view. Candie was brought home blindfolded and didn't know that more than 100 people from Horizons and her neighborhood, along with friends and family were waiting there to welcome her home. Giving Candie back her newly remade home was a great thing to see and there was lots of cheering and tears. So many people worked so hard and slept very little that weekend. Candie was a kick to watch and for once she was speechless!

We're slowly getting a photo gallery set up on the Horizons Web site with before, during and after pictures. If you have pictures we can include, email them to lmf@neb.rr.com. Check the Outreach section often. Also, the Magic Moments segment is being filmed today and is scheduled to air on channel 8 tonight at 6 and 10 p.m.

Go Horizons. Go God!

LMF

First Impressions matter

2006-12-12T09:31:00.000-06:00

You know how great it feels to go to one of those businesses that give outstanding customer service? It's so much fun and the people make you feel like you're the most special person in their life at that moment. We enjoy those times so much, we tell our friends. We even tell our family, our neighbors, our co-workers or someone we meet while waiting in line at the DMV.

Now, we're not saying church is a business, but we're certainly about people and we should be setting the standard for caring about people and treating people with a level of hospitality that a business couldn't, or wouldn't even attempt, to achieve. As God's representatives, we are challenged to meet people where they are, welcome them in and WOW them with an experience they too will tell their family and friends about (See Acts 2).

Have you had a "wow" experience lately that our church could learn from? Tonight, all of our Sunday ministry teams will be meeting from 6-7 p.m. to hear Pastor Steve tell us about the vision for First Impressions at Horizons. A lot of people have been hashing out the details but now we need all the teams to gather and hear from Steve how we want people to feel after a visit to Horizons.

The VisionCast is for members of Sunday ministry teams such as:

Host
Hospitality
Information Center
DZ or nursery check-in
Property Management
Sunday clean up

If you're not a member of any of the above teams, but love meeting new people, you are still encouraged to attend. You won't be obligated to serve, just come and hear the vision then see what you think. You can email candie@horizonschurch.org so we know how much coffee to make. If you need childcare, contact lmf@neb.rr.com. We'll see you tonight.

LMF

Steven Lesley Todd Day

2006-12-04T12:05:00.000-06:00

One of my favorite Pastor Steve qualities is his ability to make us laugh at church. I grew up sitting through some very dry, humorless sermons that never seemed to "stick." Steve seems to work his message into my brain by first making me laugh (or groan as the case may be) then making his point that suddenly makes so much sense.

But just to be clear: I will vote for Steven Lesley Todd Day only if there will be a parade (in August!) and if restaurants and movie theaters will have 50% discounts that day to remember SLT's frugality. All coffee shops that day will only serve Fair Trade coffees and everyone will try to either ride a bike or use public transportation instead of the gas guzzling SUVs. At the very least, people will carpool. SLT Day would be a federal and state holiday, but not wrapped around a weekend to discourage travel. Families would use the day as an excuse to spend time together and relax at home.

If all that could be managed, then count me in.

But seriously, Steve's message was so timely and helpful to get me back into the real Christmas spirit. I loved the scripture references and the three things we should do:

make a difference for at least one person in need,
practice financial integrity and
practice graciousness instead of bullying people.

Here's the Advent prayer Steve gave us in case you couldn't write fast enough:

Jesus, I am waiting expectantly

for you to show me

how I may honor you and

experience you this season.

Have a great week. Don't forget (I should talk!) about Encounter tomorrow night @ 7 p.m. and our All-Church Conference meeting Wed. night @ 7 p.m. There's no childcare for Encounter but we do plan on having childcare for the all-church meeting. If that's something you'd like to help with, contact Candie at the office, candie@horizonschurch.org or call her, 420.6600. Thanks!

LMF

Be an informed, voting member of Horizons

2006-11-30T23:02:00.000-06:00

Hey Horizons,

On Wed., Dec. 6, the Horizons Community will gather for the annual all-church meeting with our conference district superintendent Keith Johnson. If you are a member of Horizons you need to attend so that you will be aware of the goals and ministry projects set for 2007.

Sure, if you're a member you get to vote on the budget, elected ministry leaders, and all that administrative stuff. But even if you're not yet a member but feel passionately that Horizons is your church home, come to the meeting. It's pretty inspiring to hear all the different stories and successes going on in our church.

If you've never been to an annual meeting, give it a try this year. If you don't like it, then you don't have to attend next year. We'll start at 7 p.m. with dessert and wrap up the night by 8:30 p.m. I hope to see you there.

LMF

Using technology to further our mission

2006-11-27T12:43:00.000-06:00

Horizons embraces technology. In our nearly 10 year history we've always been above the curve, but 2006 has taken us into mostly uncharted territory for not only our church but for the Church in general. And more changes are coming soon. Here's a taste of one thing we have planned:

eNewsletter instead of printed and mailed newsletter. Our postage costs are extraordinarily high. In making tough budget decisions, it's been determined that we can save thousands of dollars by changing our bi-weekly printed and mailed newsletter to a weekly emailed newsletter.
Our email newsletter provider, Constant Contact, will allow anyone visiting the Horizons web site to sign up for our eNews and to also specify a number of info lists they want to be on such as: DiscoveryZone, prayer requests, 56 Ministries, women's ministry or men's group. Instead of everyone being saturated with information they don't need, you'll get just what you want in your inbox.
What about people who don't have email? We're not going to leave you out if you don't have email. We'll still send out a regular postcard to anyone who doesn't have access to email. However, we want to have that list down to no more than 200 pieces which give us the best postage rate. We'll also have printed copies of our newsletter at the Information Center for anyone who would like to pick up a copy on Sunday.

While we work through this transition, we need your help. If you are already getting emails from Horizons, your information will be uploaded into the Constant Contact system. It is a spam-free service and your email address will never be sold or used for any purpose other than to inform you about Horizons Community Church. If you are not currently getting emails from Horizons, it is because we don't have your current email address. Please add that information to your Communication Card any Sunday or send an email to Candie at candie@horizonschurch.org and make the request to be added to the Horizons mailing list.

This will be a transition over several months and we appreciate your support during that time. It is our intention to be good stewards of God's resources and the money entrusted to Horizons. This will help eliminate thousands of dollars in postage fees, copies and production. Our costs with Constant Contact will be a mere $126 a year for the size of our current list. Isn't that incredible?

Thanks for your help and understanding.

LMF

p.s. If you want to get your own free web-based email address but aren't sure how to go about setting one up, feel free to call me or Jamie Brown and we can help you get started.

Get connected: HorizonsChurch.org

2006-11-24T16:57:00.000-06:00

We're having a great time with the new Web site. Right now, the basic structure is up with the Sunday message series highlighted along with three upcoming events, a running list of news and both the Horizons blog and Pastor Steve's blog.

There's still a ton of more features to add: video, audio, photo galleries, a calendar, more ministry info and serving opportunities. One feature already up and running, however, has the potential to help the Horizons Community reach out to friends and family. Our evites are an automated way to invite others to Horizons.

Get connected yourself and help others get connected at Horizons. Have you logged on yet?

LMF

Statement of faith or fashion statement?

2006-11-22T21:13:00.000-06:00

Some months ago, Mace asked me why I wasn't wearing my cross around my neck. I'd been wearing it continually but the chain started making my neck itch, so I took it off. I love wearing it and having that constant reminder of my faith but one can't be scratching at their skin all day and night either so it's tucked into a cedar box on my dresser.

If you're a Christian, you know it isn't something you wear on the outside. Christianity is an inside job: heart, soul and mind. There is an outward expression of Christianity in how we serve others, but again, it's not clothing or jewelry. But if you're a people watcher and maybe read People magazine, it seems that in the past few years, crosses have become more of a fashion statement, less of a statement of faith. When I was a kid, you were a hard-core Jesus freak if you wore a cross or, even bolder, a t-shirt from church or with some Godly message. If you wore those things, it was like being outed. Today? Not so much.

Instead of wearing what could be confused as a fashion statement, my statement of faith should be more about what I do. If people cannot tell what we believe by how we live, we're not living our faith out loud. If it takes wearing a cross to express my love for Christ, then I've got work to do.

Dear Erin

2006-11-20T10:55:00.001-06:00

How could I have left you out of my thank yous? Is our staff growing by such numbers that I could actually forget someone? And you of all people. Do I think of you more as a friend than a staff member? Regardless, there's no excuse. But here are my thanks to you:

Erin, you are the very heart of our children's program. I remember our first meeting and how you later shared your vision for our Horizons children's ministry. It was such a compelling vision that I wanted to be a part of that and you quickly included me in your plans. I loved working with you on the team, traveling to the Promiseland workshop, and working weekly with our DZ kids. Everything I know about working with kids has come from you. You've been a parenting role model for me and a great resource when I have kid questions and quandaries. Your faith and your love for kids shows in everything you do. With all the kids we have in DZ, you still manage to take time to get to know them and their parents.

When you first shared your vision with me for DZ, Mace was a newborn. But I knew that I wanted your vision to happen so that when he was a DZ kid, he'd have a fabulous program to teach him about God, Jesus and the Bible. And here we are, three years later and Mace is in the 3 year old class having a blast but coming home with Bible stories to tell, songs to sing and teachers to talk about. For all of that, I thank you, Erin.

LMF

Dear Steve, Candie, Jamie, Mark, Jaime and David

2006-11-18T15:31:00.000-06:00

I meant to write each of you a personal note telling you how much I appreciate you. They were going to be really nice and clever on fine notecards made of 100% cotton fiber. I was going to use my best handwriting (translation: I was going to sit down and really spend some time to make them neat).

Your cards didn't get lost, I didn't take the time to sit down and write. The next best thing I can do now even though this is now a week late is to take an hour to sit now and tell each of you a few things on my mind:

Steve: I've known several pastors in my life and you're my first "first name" pastor. It's given me an entirely new perspective on pastors in general -- you've made your profession, your calling more personal to me and less authoritarian. It's been a cool distinction. And you know there are times when I even call you "Steve" without the title. You're both pastor and friend to me and our Horizons Community which I think is unique.

You've trusted me with much, including your reputation. None of it I take lightly. Thank you, Steve.

Jamie: Your talents and skills seem endless -- is there anything you can't do? I think most people know you as a Christ-loving musician and songwriter but I'm not sure most know what a tech geek you truly are (and I say that with the utmost respect because I'm mostly clueless on anything with a wire). I enjoy working on creative projects with you and with the exception of meeting deadlines (where's my Christmas series graphic?), it's always an enjoyable process. I appreciate all that you do (whether I understand half of it or not), and your friendship. Thank you, Jamie.

Mark: We are so blessed to have you working with our youth. Thank you for being the strong presence our kids need and for giving so much of yourself and your time. I'm not sure there are really any part-time ministry jobs -- so thank you, Mark.

Jaime: You were Mace's first experience having a teacher. You've set a high expectation for him on what and who a teacher is and the kind of heart a teacher has for her students. I hope when he moves on to preschool and kindergarten he's not disappointed. You've been a wonderful addition to our Toddler and Twos program to give these kids structure and solid Bible teaching in a truly loving environment. Thank you, Jaime.

David: We're so lucky to have you on the team at Horizons. Your video was hilarious (I hope everyday isn't like that!) and I now have this vision of you coming to work with this Mission Impossible look on your face, ready for anything. Thank you, David.

Candie: I love you so much! You've been a best friend for years now and I cannot imagine Horizons without you (nor limo rides and lunch). I miss the old days (pre-baby) when I spent Wednesdays with you at the Trade Center office. Fun times. We got so much work done but laughed the entire time. I don't miss the newsletter production, but I miss hanging out with you. You always did things that boggled my mind, like being able to rattle off the routing number of your bank account. NO ONE MEMORIZES THEIR ROUTING NUMBER!!! That's just scary. And that's why I love you -- I never know what you'll say next.

You've been a great friend and a great servant at Horizons. Thank you, Candie.

Steve, Candie, Jamie, Mark, Jaime and David...thanks again. And sorry about not handwriting these.

LMF

We're live in Lincoln, Nebraska

2006-11-18T11:52:00.000-06:00

The site is up. It took awhile to get to Lincoln (it was live in Chicago where our hosts are located around 4:30 p.m. yesterday) but now we're up and running. If you're reading us from other countries and planets, be patient.

Surf the site. Enjoy it. If you have information to share with the eTeam, send me an email at lmf@neb.rr.com. If you have complaints, wait at least a week to share them with the eTeam so we can all enjoy the launch for a few days. And please remember, the site is always going to be a work in progress. We still have a ton of features to add including audio and video, photo galleries (we need your digital pictures!), the calendar and more pages with more opportunities to get connected to God and Horizons.

One thing that is up and running are the Sunday message Evites. This is about the easiest and most painfree way of inviting your friends, co-workers, family and others to Horizons. All you do is click on the Evite line, add in your contact's name and email address, type up a little note and hit send. Go ahead and send one to yourself to see how cool they are.

Patience isn't one of my spiritual gifts

2006-11-17T13:24:00.000-06:00

If you haven't noticed, the new site is still not up. We're waiting on some tech information to complete the switch so we're still a few hours away from going live. And yes, it's driving me nuts.

I'm not a patient person. God has given me many challenges to help me overcome this flaw and this launch business is just another way He is trying to get me to chill out and just let things happen. I'm not a worrier -- I just want things the way I want it and when I want it. I'm a scheduler. I like date-certains and time-certains. I belong to the Picky Chick club and my closest friends are exactly the same which is why we all get along. My friends don't complain when I order food at a restaurant. I prefer IM to email because I live in this one-hour photo/digital world and email is so slow. This year, I'm giving up my Franklin Planner and will just be using Outlook and a mini pocket calendar for quick notes. I love the speed of technology, I love immediate problem resolution, and I long for the days when I'll be able to do all of this and more because it'll no longer be necessary to type. I am a Star Trek: Next Generation fan. I want a replicator. I want a micro-washer and micro-dryer so that laundry will only take 10 minutes per load.

The launch will happen when God's ready. God's got his own time-table and right now, I'm going to let this go and turn this over to Him. Keep checking either today or during the weekend. Once it happens, we'll all have a nice surprise.

LMF

Two months late (but who's counting?)

2006-11-15T14:03:00.000-06:00

Today is the day. Finally. We've missed several soft and hard deadlines (all self-imposed, but deadlines nonetheless). We've experienced a learning curve that will continue in a slow but steady fashion as a neophyte Web team trains and learns a new system for maintaining our new Web site.

We're ready to launch. You heard it here first. We're flipping the switch today if all the ducks are in the so-called row. It won't happen instantly...once the switch is made, it can take up to 48 hours to cycle through the mysterious complexities of cyberspace so it'll be a huge surprise as to when the site will be live.

Yes, that will be me hanging out at HorizonsChurch.org and hitting refresh hourly. Pathetic, I know, but I'm trying to be honest here...that's exactly what I'll be doing. I won't be able to resist. I hope you won't be able to resist either.

It's been great fun getting the new site ready. It's not perfect -- it probably never will be. It will always be a work in progress as we continue to add information, keep everything current and interesting, add photo galleries, audio and video and provide more ways to keep up with and stay connected at Horizons.

Your eTeam is always open to comments, suggestions and corrections. Email me at lmf@neb.rr.com. We also need lots of pictures and video from all the Horizons ministries. If you want to talk about specifics, give me a call @ 483.1819.

Enjoy the sights at the new site.
LMF

Seinfeld gets Horizonized (not that there's anything wrong with that)

2006-11-13T23:59:00.000-06:00

If you missed it, then you missed it. Sorry.

Jerry. Elaine. George. Kramer. They were all there Sunday night at the Horizons tailgate party. Jerry's living room. Snapple. A skit about nothing. You shouldn't have missed it.

What a great night. I haven't been out much in the past month...for me, just seeing everyone and hanging out was a nice break. Laughing...yeah, that was good too. I know, the entire night wasn't all fun and games. We did get down to some serious details like the building fund and future payments that will be due. We watched a serious video welcoming our new staff members (OK, that wasn't so serious) and Superman aka Steve had a cameo in another video segment. Maybe we have a hard time being too serious and that's OK with me.

Thanks to Jerry and Theresa for planning a terrific night. I know there were a ton of people involved in the process, so thanks to everyone -- great job! And yes, I have the Seinfeld piece on video. Giddyup.

LMF

Breaking the rules

2006-11-11T18:27:00.000-06:00

The family and I are hanging out in Ogallala, celebrating a milestone birthday for Eric's grandmother who just turned 90. Today I took Mace to a nearby park to let him run off some of his 3-year-old energy reserves.

As he was playing on the equipment, I was walking around the park and started reading the rules and regulations sign. One of the first no-nos was "running." The entire line was "no running, pushing or shoving." OK, sure I'll stop my kid from the pushing and shoving, but really, no running at a park?

Some rules are just begging to be broken. Jesus broke the law by healing on the Sabbath. It was a silly rule. I hate getting so caught up in rules and regulations but as a parent, I am always making up rules for Mace. But no running at a park? That just makes me laugh.

Today is Veteran's Day. Thanks go out to all the men and women who have served and continue to serve. Without our Veterans, people like me wouldn't have the freedom to sit in a comfy chair in a warm home with family and publicly post about rules I think are silly. That sort of freedom I don't take for granted.

LMF

How did I forget Encounter?

2006-11-08T17:17:00.000-06:00

It occurred to me sometime this morning between shopping at Sam's Club and picking up Mace at Grandma's that I'd totally forgotten to attend Encounter last night. Freaked me out. I had it all planned. Eric and I had the Tuesday schedule all worked out that he'd be home, he and Mace had some projects to complete (all 3 year olds need to know how to change oil in the truck, right?) and I could ditch them for time alone with God.

So, what happened Tuesday that made me forget? I spent a few hours at the medical center getting my Remicade infusion -- good experience all around, then I voted. Pretty much the extent of my day. Certainly I wasn't so busy and harried that I couldn't keep track of my schedule. In the end, all I can say is I just spaced out. While the boys were changing the oil, there I was taking pictures of them. Never occurred to me to remember that they were going to be doing this alone.

Since I got sick a month ago, we haven't been able to spend much time as a family. Maybe God was letting me forget about HIM to have an encounter with the two guys that mean the most to me on this planet. It wasn't the encounter I had planned, but probably the one I needed most.

LMF

Staff Appreciation is coming Nov. 12

2006-10-29T12:26:00.000-06:00

Hey Horizons,

On Sunday, Nov. 12, we'll be setting aside some time during Sunday Worship-Celebration to say thank you to our staff members. You know who they are: Pastor Steve, Candie, Jamie, Erin, Mark, Jaime and Dave. We'll be saying thank you in various ways: maybe a card or letter telling them how they've served you during the years, a financial gift or even a gift card for movies or dinner or groceries.

Our staff works so hard to keep our church family intact, our ministries are served and they do this often times away from their own families. Think about how you'll say thank you to our staff. We can tell them anytime during the year that we appreciate them, but on Nov. 12, we'll take time to show them.

LMF

Living Beyond Myself -- your turn

2006-10-26T22:25:00.000-05:00

I'm home after 10 days in the hospital. I'm feeling a bit disconnected from people and pretty bummed that I've been missing out on the Living Beyond Myself study. I'd love to hear what everyone has been discovering through Steve's messages and from the small group discussions. Please post your thoughts here -- anyone can comment.

If you took a digital picture of Steve aka Superman, please email it to me so we can get that posted. So sad I missed that!

Don't forget, the ministry fair is Sunday. Stop by the tables and check out the opportunities available to serve at Horizons.

Finally, a huge thank you to my Horizons family. You all are so supportive and I appreciate all the prayers for me and my family.

LMF

Bedside blessings

2006-10-18T20:14:00.000-05:00

Being stuck in the hospital has changed! Who would have thought you could get free wireless Internet from your hospital bed. The nurses aren't bringing me lattes or anything like that, just the morning newspaper. But being able to read emails or surf sure helps beat the boredom.

Right now, we're trying to give my body time to heal. The medicines take time and some patience. Slowing down is hard. I'm trying not to fight it. Trying to settle in and let God work.

Did you know we have a hospital prayer ministry at Horizons called Hands of Hope? I knew they were an active group of women. What I didn't expect was that I would benefit from their ministry. Today I had a nice visit from Sue B. and Sarah C. We talked and prayed. Their visit blessed my day!

LMF

Times when you shouldn't blog

2006-10-12T17:00:00.000-05:00

Sorry about the absence. I've been sick and feel strongly that narcotics and blogging don't mix. I'm waiting for a wrap-up on the Big weekend at Horizons. I got to experience the concert and yes, the HAIRCUT. I have pictures to post soon.

In the meantime, if you have some comments or suggestions about the weekend, feel free to add your comments here or send me an email at lmf@neb.rr.com if you want your comments kept private.

Don't forget, Living Beyond Myself begins Sunday. Serving is a passion of mine, so I'm looking forward to the weekly messages, a new small group to meet with and some good reading.

LMF

Dust off those walking shoes

2006-10-03T22:00:00.000-05:00

If you know me you know this: I don't exercise. I think about it. I just don't do it. So, I'm a little torqued about yes, even a 5k walk. I'll be there. I'll walk. The whole thing, yes. But I won't be happy about it.

But I'm using my anger (thanks, Steve). I'm more angry about a woman (who has medical insurance) being denied coverage for a medical procedure than I am goofed up about walking. That boils my blood. I have had insurance hassles I won't bore you with, but nothing in the half million dollar range that Tracy is having to confront. It's just not right in my book.

Apparently, it's not right to a lot of people. We have more than 100 walkers. That'll be a good crowd of pink making a statement. There's also $650 raised toward a much-needed haircut for Chris B. (OK, the money is for Tracy). I'm not angry about Chris' hair but I'll tell you it's hard to take a picture of the guy because he's always swinging his head to get his hair out of his eyes. I've never seen his eyes, but I think he has two.

Saturday morning, please come out to Horizons and sign up for the walk. You can check in at 8 a.m. and we'll start walking at 9. You can sign up that day or drop off your registration at the church office during the week. If you want to contribute to the $1000 goal for Chris' haircut, you can bring it Saturday at the walk, drop off at the church building or bring it to the Concert on the Hill beginning at 4 p.m. Saturday.

I'll see you there.
LMF

The next cool read

2006-10-02T13:12:00.000-05:00

Today is a big day for a new friend of mine. Today his new book, "In a Pit, with a Lion, on a Snowy Day," comes off the presses.

Mark Batterson is the lead pastor at National Community Church in Washington, DC. I've been reading his blog for about a year now and I was able to meet him at MinistryCOM in Phoenix. Mark is a funny guy and he really speaks to my heart about how we as the church can reach out creatively to the unchurched, dechurched, post-churched, and re-churched.

I've been looking forward to Mark's book for months now.

Here's the publisher's description:

"Your greatest regret at the end of your life will be the lions you didn't chase. You will regret the risks not taken, the opportunities not seized, and the dreams not pursued. Stopping running away from what scares you most and start chasing the God-ordained opportunities that cross your path.

In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day is inspired by one of the most obscure yet courageous acts recorded in Scripture (II Samuel 23:20-21): Benaiah chased a lion down into a pit. Then, despite the snow and slippery ground, he caught the lion and killed it.

Unleash the lion chaser within!"

***
The day my copy arrives (Thanks, Mark!) I'll be blogging less and I won't return your emails because I'll be busy. However, as soon as I'm done with the book, I want to pass it on to someone at Horizons with a prayer that the book makes the rounds of our church family, unleashing lion chasers all over Lincoln.

How cool would that be!

If you want my copy, send me an email with "I want to be a lion chaser" in the subject line. If you can't wait for me to finish with my copy or want your own or want to give one as a gift, you can get it at Amazon.com. I'm not sure about how easily you'll be able to find it locally but you could try calling Lemstone, Family Christian or other bookstores.

Cheers to Mark! Go God!
LMF

What more? Pride (In the Name of Love)

2006-10-01T15:47:00.000-05:00

How many times can you go to church and come home unable to get a U2 song out of your head? Wow, is all I can say. Big thanks to Jamie, Chris and Bill for shaking up my brain with a little Bono and a big message.

Go God.
LMF

God is in the tech details

2006-09-29T21:35:00.000-05:00

Lots of techie details to square away in the next few days and then we GO LIVE with our new Web site. It's an exciting time for the eTeam -- it means our huge workload and this racing to get the site launched will be done. It'll change our pace from a sprint to a relaxed distance run. Creation is a lot more difficult than maintenance.

With my new, relaxed pace I'm going to read more. I took this semester off from UNL to get a breather, gain back some margin in my life and reconnect with friends and family. Our communications team is more than blogs and Web sites so there are some other areas where I need to focus.

So here's the bottom line: the new site is coming online soon. Pray for a smooth launch. Pray for the eTeam here and the programmers in Chicago. And once you see the new site, let us know what you think.

Go God!
LMF

Weekend on the Hill schedule improvements

2006-09-27T11:03:00.000-05:00

A few changes have been made to the Weekend schedule for Oct. 7 and 8 to make the weekend a little easier on families and Husker fans.

Concert on the Hill Oct. 7: we've moved up the time to a 4 p.m. start so that Husker fans won't miss the televised game that night. Go God. Go Big Red!
Worship-Celebration Oct. 8: it's going to be ONE service only at 11 a.m. and we'll be indoors. Yes, we're going to get super friendly and close with our church family and guests by setting up every chair in the Worship Center and also some in the atrium. We can seat more than 600, so it'll have a Memorial Stadium feel, but it'll be fun to all be at the same service. There won't be DiscoveryZone but there will be NurseryZone for newborns through age 2.

Why only one service? We have an afternoon of great family activities planned starting with bag lunches for sale right after Worship, then Fam Jam with the kids helping their parents sing songs, and after that will be loads of free family activities, games, races, and fun all up until 3 p.m. It's going to be a blast!

Help us spread the word about the time changes. Weekend on the Hill is going to be an awesome time for Horizons, we'll be serving others with the benefit 5k Walk for tracysangels.com and then just having some fun with our church family the rest of the weekend.

LMF

Don't let me forget

2006-09-23T21:22:00.000-05:00

Tomorrow, without fail, I must get my 5k walk registration form and fee turned in. I've been putting it off, putting it off, and putting it off...not because I didn't know if I was going to do the walk, but because I kept thinking it was so far off in the future. Well, early registration ends Sept. 29, so this is the time.

Help me stay accountable.

If you see me tomorrow (I'm in DZ first service, Worship second service) remind me to get my registration done. Remind your friends and family also.

Thanks,
LMF

The Revolution Begins

2006-09-19T11:08:00.000-05:00

You got your invitation, right? Yes, you did. That nice blue envelope in the mail last week with all the small group info for Living Beyond Myself. We're setting up enough small groups so that everyone at Horizons will have a place available in a group of 6-8 people.

You do the math.

Yes, that's a lot of groups. Our organizing committee is setting up the groups so that you can get into a group that meets on the best day and time for your family, has childcare if you need that, and close to where you live. Each group will meet four times, once each week during the study. You'll get the free participants guide book at the first group meeting.

Here's what you'll get out of the groups:

Learn how your gifts can be revealed and utilized
Understand how you fit into the body of Christ
Discover new ways to use your strengths
Experience freedom to explore serving opportunities
Be challenged to be formed more into the image of Christ through serving

The highlight of the entire Living Beyond Myself experience will be the ministry fair and First Serves. I'm pretty excited about that. With First Serves we're setting up ways that you can visit a Horizons ministry area and just check it out. If you're checking out DiscoveryZone, for example, you will see how the ministry works and flows but you won't be asked to DO ministry. It's like taking a tour of a factory or shadowing a worker to see what they do and if it's something you might enjoy.

Living Beyond Myself begins Oct. 15, that's the Sunday after our big Weekend on the Hill that includes the Benefit 5k walk for Tracy DuPont and Concert on the Hill. Between now and Oct. 15 please pray for Horizons, that this serving study will light the fire for revolution at Horizons with more people serving God using the perfect example of Jesus.

LMF

Blessings by the bagful

2006-09-16T22:34:00.000-05:00

The first ever Horizons Free For All was a huge blessing for many families. When we left the church building last night, the tables were piled high, tons of toys were set out in three different areas of the atrium, and boxes and bags for shoppers were piled high near the entry doors.

Shoppers told our organizers how much these free clothes and gear were going to help their families. One shopper from Horizons was picking out clothes for a friend with three small children who recently left an abusive relationship. The free clothes probably meant the difference between winter warmth and food. That's cool to hear. Imagine that the "stuff" cluttering up our closets and basements were actually blessings to someone else. That makes me feel great.

The left-overs are going to the People's City Mission Distribution Center. A huge thanks to Amy Perdew and Monica Miles-Steffens for all their work organizing the event and for everyone who came out on Friday night to help set up the tables and sort the clothes. Another huge thanks to those who stayed Saturday to clean up and get the donation off to the Mission.

Blessings for All,
LMF

Free For All on the radar

2006-09-15T22:07:00.000-05:00

I got a sneak peek at all the clothes, toys, books and kid gear that is set up on tables that fill the Atrium at Horizons. Wow. There's so much stuff there, tomorrow is going to be a blast. There is so much good stuff. Don't miss this if you have kids or a new one on the way.

The Free For All starts at 9 a.m. and will end at 2 p.m. Anything left over will go to the People's City Mission Distribution Center. Coffee will be made early, there are plenty of bags and boxes for your new treasures and remember, bring a friend but leave your money at home.

While I'm writing this, I'm watching the radar for south Lincoln and praying for a safe evening. The sirens are going off now. We are right around O Street, so I'm not about to wake up Mace at this point, but I'll be glued to the TV for the next hour or so until all of this has passed. Nights like this I miss the good ol' California earthquakes I grew up with.

See you at the Free For All tomorrow. For tonight, the basement is looking pretty good.
LMF

Sometimes we go far to get close

2006-09-13T10:31:00.000-05:00

One of the perks of traveling to Phoenix for MinistryCOM was the opportunity to meet three others from Lincoln churches. Mind you, it's not easy to round up four people who have never met before, so we did a lot of reading name tags that first day and racking up roaming cell minutes.

First off, a big thanks to Kim Turnage, Director of Lay Ministries, with Southwest Lutheran Church here in Lincoln. She made the calls around town before we all shipped out to see who was attending, exchanged cell numbers and made sure we all got together for dinner Thursday night. That's a fine communicator!

Kim was joined by church member Dan Noennig, who is a graphic designer and tech support to his younger sister who is a college freshman. When the new Southwood church building is complete, they'll be our new neighbors around 40th and Yankee Hill Road. We should take them some cookies.

My other new friend is June Parsons, Director of Communication Ministries, with First Evangelical Free Church. June and I got to talk quite a bit and she's the genuine real deal. We talked about finding other Lincoln church communications workers/volunteers and starting up a round table discussion group. Maybe it's to share ideas, maybe commiserate, or maybe just because we like to talk. Uh, I mean communicate.

A big cyber hello to Kim, Dan and June. We'll talk soon. After the new Web site gets launched we'll meet for coffee. Edge64 makes a great latte.

LMF

What's shakin' this week @ Horizons

2006-09-12T17:24:00.000-05:00

Here's a quick drill down of a few things happening at Horizons this week:

Solutions, Wed. night. 70 min. @ 7 p.m. Got family? Get Answers.
Free For All. Bring your stuff to the church building this week. Sat. from 9 a.m. - 2 p.m. we'll go wild and shop for FREE. Yes, yes, you can bring a friend.
5k Walk. Sign up. Now. Talk to your extended family and friends so we can have a great turnout for Tracy DuPont. Visit www.tracysangels.com for the form.
Sundaes on Sunday is, well, Sunday the 17th. Cool former Husker speaker, cold ice cream and warm people. Great time for meeting Horizons people you've never met before. I won't miss it.

Those are the few things on my radar. If there are events I've left out, let me know.

LMF

Vanna White and DiscoveryZone

2006-09-11T12:27:00.000-05:00

To a fourth-grade student, Vanna White doesn't really do much on the Wheel of Fortune. Our Sunday large group lesson had Julie B. helping kids figure out clues and turning over numbered squares to reveal a letter clue underneath.

At one point, Julie remarked that this was like Wheel of Fortune and that she felt like Vanna White. Jack, one of our fourth grade students, leaned over and told me that Vanna doesn't really do anything but walk and point to the square and it lights up.

Well, I said, long ago she used to actually turn them around before they had these newer, electronic puzzle boards. Jack gave me a look of disbelief.

Just one of those funny moments that make you laugh.
LMF

Semantics and the noise of this World

2006-09-10T17:32:00.000-05:00

An anonymous comment came in this morning when second service was starting, about one of my posts from Arizona. I listed two of my takeaways from the conference. One was about doing a more effective job of communicating our Christ-inspired message.

Here's the text:

It may be semantics, but something bothered me in the wording of this post. You
mentioned our "christ-inspired message". Isn't the message Christ Himself? You
could make a case for almost anything being 'Christ-inspired'; anything to do
with serving or the Golden Rule - whether it actually has Christ as the center
or not. It seems to me that if we truly believed that Christ was enough, without
all the glitz and the programming, then communicating that would be much simpler
than we've made it. Just an observation.

Sunday, September 10, 2006 11:04:05 AM

The person who posted the comment makes an interesting point that communicating the message of Christ would be easier without all the glitz and programming. Tell me about it.

The challenge now is that we have to compete for people's attention. I did not say we are competing with other churches, the Church has to compete with the shopping mall, youth sports, pro sports, MTV and the constant barrage of information and advertising that is shoved in the face of every child and adult almost every waking hour of every day. The noise that exists in our one-hour photo, multi-tasking world tells us we should do more, do more faster, get more and spend more. Life takes Visa. Coke - it's the real thing. Come and get your love (Alltel).

For the message of Christ to be heard in these times, our noise has to be louder. Our noise has to tell people they matter to God. People need to hear that life takes Jesus, that He is the Real Thing and hey, come to Him and get your love! Whether we achieve that by using blogs and the Web, podcasts or TV commercials, posters and newspaper ads -- all that says is we're trying to reach seekers and doubters where they are and in the era they live with the same technology they use. That's not glitz for the sake of glitz, it's facing reality and staying relevant.

Thanks for starting the discussion. I'm only slightly passionate about this topic.
LMF

Air travel mathematics

2006-09-09T19:23:00.000-05:00

I'm zapped. My brain is tired. I'm ready to sleep for three days. When I made reservations for my return flight, I thought a 9 a.m. flight would be relaxing...maybe I'd be able to sleep in before driving the few miles to Sky Harbor airport.

It was a nice thought. I didn't do the math. Get coffee. Fill up the rental car gas tank ($2.53/gal.), drive to the rental car drop off, carry two heavy bags to the bus, ride 10 minutes to the airport, find a luggage cart. Get to check-in and get rid of one large bag. Lug the rest down a long concourse up the elevator and wait in a zig-zag line for security. Take off shoes. Unpack laptop and empty everything from every pocket. I get randomly pulled aside after getting through the X-ray. My camera, laptop, shoes, cell phone get checked for explosives. I pass. I get to put my shoes back on, repack all my stuff and then go wait for my plane. I have about 15 minutes until boarding begins. The flights are fine. I made videos for Mace of take off, landing and soaring through the clouds.

Good thing I got up at 5 a.m.

MinistryCOM was a great experience. Now I have a year to pick a few areas to work on, make a plan and see how I can improve the work our communications team does for Horizons. Next year, I'll catch up with everyone at MinistryCOM and see how we've done, what we've accomplished and what more we need to do even better. I hope we challenge ourselves to keep raising the bar, keep excellence at the forefront and remember that the greatest message deserves our greatest effort.

See you all tomorrow. Maybe a good night of sleep will get me back into this time zone.

LMF

So really it's Peoria

2006-09-08T10:35:00.000-05:00

OK, so MinistryCOM isn't in Phoenix proper but in a suburb called Peoria. There's even someone attending from the other Peoria which must feel weird.

On my drive this morning on Interstate 17, I passed Cactus Road and Thunderbird Road. There are times you just know you're not in Lincoln. It actually feels more like my native Southern California with all the palm trees -- that is, as long as I keep the windows rolled up and the a/c blasting. Hot just doesn't describe this area.

Last night I had dinner with the Lincoln contingent and on my way back to my brother-in-law's house a monsoon hit. Yikes. I've never seen so much rain come down so quickly and then stop about as quick. Just an interesting place.

I cannot even begin to explain how much I'm learning here. Most of my take-aways for the conference after day one is a lot of internal stuff:

how I need to change my thinking about how I lead communications,
how I need to rethink our team's priorities to better serve God and communicate our Christ-inspired message.

It's a lot to consider but I have real experts to talk with, listen to and get ideas from. This is incredible.

More later. Much more.

LMF

Live from Phoenix, Arizona

2006-09-07T17:29:00.000-05:00

This is awesome. I'm hanging with a few hundred church communications leaders who are gathered in Phoenix to share ideas, hear some very progressive speakers and learn how to better communicate the message of Christ. This is MinistryCOM. This is where I need to be.

What does a church full of communications folks mean? Tons of laptops spread out all over the cafe area I'm sitting in now during an afternoon break. We are at Christ's Church of the Valley, quite a large campus and they have their own Starbucks and free wireless Internet. Of course everyone is logged on and getting work done during the breaks. I'm working on the new Web site, keeping the blog moderated and culling photos for the new site.

It's been a long day of speakers, networking and breakout sessions to get deeper into topics that keep people like me awake at night but that most other people don't give a second thought to. I've met lots of new people from all over the country. I do know there are three others here from Lincoln. Still need to track them down. We've talked on the phone but when you don't know what people look like, it's hard to connect in a large gathering.

A few more presentations tonight, then dinner. Another full day tomorrow. I'll be back in Lincoln Saturday with an arsenal of new ideas and new strategies to help Horizons lead seekers and doubters to Christ. Well, maybe just get them in the building.

L(yes, but it's a dry heat)MF

Big Event Reminders

2006-09-05T22:57:00.000-05:00

Hey Horizons,

Two things I'm thinking about tonight:

Free For All: This is where families at Horizons (and yes, you can bring your friends) donate all the gently used baby, kid and teen clothing and gear they've been storing but no longer use or have outgrown, and then on Sept. 16, Sat. from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. it'll be time to shop FOR FREE. What will really help our event organizers is to get your donations dropped off at the church prior to Sept. 15. Until that Friday night, everything is being stored in the office next to Erin Dutter's. You can bring your donations on Sunday or even during the week when the building is open. You may want to call ahead.
Benefit 5k Walk: I know, it seems early but please start getting your registration forms and checks submitted. The team organizing the walk is working hard to make this a spectacular event. How else can you help? Take a few flyers to your business or workplace and hand them out to friends. If your company has an employee newsletter, ask them to include the Walk information. There's a link to the registration form on www.tracysangels.com. Help us get the word out!

Go God!

LMF

Go ahead, invite someone!

2006-09-05T22:49:00.000-05:00

Dear Horizons Community:

Just wanted to touch base with you before Sunday. Even though we can always invite our friends to worship with us (most of us do it some of the time and some of us do it most of the time), the truth is that we all tend to put it off. We think about, but don’t always follow through.

So invite-a-friend Sunday, September 10 is just a way of getting us off our procrastinating buttresses and getting us into inviting.

Inviting is modeled often in scripture.

Andrew invited Peter to see Jesus; Philip invited Nathanael (John 1:40-50). The Samaritan woman invited a whole town full of people (John 1:29) and many of them believed (John 1:39). Four men brought their paralyzed friend to Jesus, where he found both forgiveness and healing (Mark 2).

You are already making an impact on several people in your social network, even if you don’t know it. God has sent you into their world. Bringing them to a service at Horizons is one more way you can continue the conversation.

This morning I received an email from someone who attends Horizons and had recently brought a friend. This friend had attended Sunday school as a child but had since then lost all contact with the church. The friend found Horizons less intimidating and easier to connect with than imagined. God used the invitation to help this friend get started seeking Christ again.

So, I’m asking you to ask God who you might invite this week. Somebody at work. A long-time friend. A neighbor. A relative. Someone you know through an organization or one of your kids’ activities.

This Sunday’s message in the series “Living Truth” will be “Learning Contentment.” The main idea is that contentment isn’t about how much we have or don’t have. Contentment is more about knowing what it is we really need and discovering that Christ is there for us.

And BTW- I promise that during the services on September 10, we won’t mention that it’s “invite-a-friend Sunday,” so the people you do invite won’t think we don’t want them the other 51 Sundays of the year, if you catch my drift. Anyway, see you Sunday.

Steve Todd

Solutions begins Wed. at 7 p.m.

2006-09-04T21:48:00.000-05:00

Solutions @ Horizons begins this week!

Join the Horizons prayer team in the Worship Center each Wednesday in September at 7 p.m. for 70 minutes to get insight, tips and encouragement in personal, family and parenting issues. Solutions brings Christian professionals to us via satellite.

Child care will be available.

Contact: behrens4@aol.com for more info.

SoulConnect..."Broken"

2006-09-02T20:22:00.000-05:00

On my table in my office sits an old pocket watch that belonged to my grandpa Biehl. The story is that he found it one day while working around his farm. It’s nothing special. I don’t remember him ever using it. But I remember seeing it here and there in his house when I was growing up. When grandpa died grandma invited the grandkids to her house to choose some things of grandpas we thought we might like to have. The pocket watch was one of two items I chose that day.

The watch has traveled with me to every ministry setting I have been in. It has made the move from eastern Nebraska to Lincoln, to Albion, to Arizona, and back to Lincoln. I have always known where it is. It’s just one of those things that is always there. It is broken. I don’t use it to tell time, and it is not particularly attractive. For most people it serves no purpose except as a conversation piece. But, when I look at it I remember grandpa. I remember riding in his pickup through the pastures to cut thistles. I remember the time he was spitting out the window of his pickup and forgot that he had rolled the window up. The broken pocket watch on the table in my office reminds me of all that?

It is a strange thing to most people I suppose, that this broken, non-descript watch would cause me to recall grandpa’s life the way it does. I suppose it is strange. As strange as God looking at our brokenness every day and recalling the beauty, hope, and possibility He breathed into our souls when we drew our first breathe. As strange as Christ calling us to “love one another as I (God) have loved you.” A life of faith recalls that first hope; and believes the hope beyond our own brokenness where resurrection and new life await.

The day I chose the broken pocket watch, I also chose another item. I chose grandpa's slippers, for no apparent reason. Some things in life remain a mystery.

Clean out your closets! It's a Free For All!

2006-09-02T17:45:00.000-05:00

Did you hear last Sunday about the Horizons Free For All? Here's what our women's ministry team has planned:

Starting tomorrow Sunday the 3rd, bring your gently used and clean kids' clothing, toys, gear (newborn through teens) to donate to the Free For All. The women's ministry team will organize everything by size/type and then on Sat., Sept. 16 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., we'll open up Horizons for "shopping."

You can come and take what you'd like and can use whether you donate or not. Our women's ministry team thought this would be a great way to help out families clean out closets and exchange clothes that no longer fit for other clothes that do. You're even welcome to bring a non-Horizons friend to also shop and help themselves to all the free stuff.

Again, did you read the part about free? There's no money involved, so leave your cash at home. In the meantime, if you have clothing, toys, books, baby gear or anything like that to donate, bring them to the church. If you bring items during the week, we'll be storing donations in the office next to Erin's.

We'll see you on the 16th. Any items remaining after the Free For All will be taken to the People's City Mission Distribution Center and cannot be returned.

I've been going through Mace's stuff and there are so many things we don't use anymore: stroller, toys, books, and so many clothes. I cannot wait to pass this collection on to someone younger. Bring on the Free For All!

LMF

Living Truth - Your work matters to God

2006-09-02T17:31:00.000-05:00

Pastor Steve's new series, Living Truth, begins tomorrow, Sept. 3. Living Truth is a four-week series. Tomorrow's message is: Your work matters to God. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord” (Colossians 3:23).

Should be good and relevant no matter what your line of work. The next three weeks will have the following themes:

September 10 -- Learning contentment
“I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation” (Philippians 4:12).

September 17 -- Holy rest in your hurried life
Jesus: “Come with me by yourselves to a quiet place and get some rest” (Mark 6:31).

September 24 -- Lies that lead to an affair
“Each of you is tempted when you are dragged away by your own evil desire and enticed” (James 1:14).

These topics are relevant to real life! This is a great month to invite those you know who do not attend a church. Think and pray about those people you know or meet who you could introduce to Horizons.

LMF

Coming right up @ Horizons

2006-08-31T10:11:00.000-05:00

The Horizons fall calendar is getting well-stocked with opportunities to serve, connect with God and others, and have fun with family and friends. Get out your calendars and take a look at what's in store:

Sept. 3-24, Living Truth series each Sunday.
Sept. 5, Encounter service 7-8 p.m. Worship Center. This is between you and God. Worship your way. First Tuesday of every month.
Sept. 16 from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m., Horizons Free For All clothing exchange. (Start dropping off your gently used kid/maternity stuff now.)
Sept. 17, Sundaes on Sunday, 6-7 p.m.
Sept. 22, new Web site goes live!
Oct. 7, at 9 a.m. is the 5k Benefit Walk for www.tracysangels.com. $15 reg. fee, get a registration form off the Horizons web site.
Oct. 7, at 5 p.m. Concert on the Hill.
Oct. 8, one Worship Celebration service at 11 a.m. outdoors.
Oct. 15, launching Living Beyond Myself, change the way you think about serving God. This is a four week, church-wide study that we pray God will use to inspire a new level of serving at Horizons. I've read the material, it's going to be a lot of fun!

Add in the Husker football schedule and that will make for a packed season of fun events, great family activities and opportunities to serve others. Also remember we are collecting food for the People's City Mission Distribution Center all month.

Go Horizons! Go God!

LMF

Our new Web site is looking terrific

2006-08-25T16:02:00.000-05:00

If you've been out of the country or off being a space tourist, you may not know that Horizons is preparing its new Web site for launching in September. Yes, that's next month.

On Friday, Sept. 22, Horizons will rejoin the World Wide Web in a bolder, more visual and informative way. Our designers and programmers have been working for five months to bring us a new look and feel that truly reflects our mission, our values, our beliefs and our people. The new site still has a long way to go before the launch date, but the Horizons eTeam is working on an ambitious schedule to get it done in time.

Once the site is fully functional and launched, we'll be moving some of our eTeam members around and having a dedicated Web team. If you're Web savvy and want to be a part of this World Wide outreach, contact me at lmf@neb.rr.com. You don't need to know html but if you do, we'll love you for it.

LMF

About that Bishop

2006-08-24T16:40:00.000-05:00

I was saddened to read this morning about the passing of our former Bishop Rhymes H. Moncure, Jr. late Saturday in Texas. I met him back when Horizons had its groundbreaking for our church building. He gave the sermon that day at Scott Middle School. He was enjoyable to listen to and great fun to chat with. He was one of those people you meet that you think you'd like to invite to your next BBQ.

I'm sad for our human loss...but happy for the Bishop. I'm sure he's happy to be home.
LMF

Pastor Steve's iPod

2006-08-24T14:54:00.000-05:00

Ever wonder what Pastor Steve listens to on his iPod?

Here's a peek at his playlist for today.

LMF

Finding your niche

2006-08-21T14:22:00.000-05:00

On Sunday we gained a few new members at Horizons. Welcome to everyone! I think when we became members several years ago, it may have been easier finding ways to get connected at Horizons and find places where we knew we were a right fit for serving.

So this post is for those new members and anyone else who is wondering how they can get plugged in to ministry at Horizons. Now, don't get all freaked out by the word "ministry." No one is going to ask you to get up and preach. Ministry is just another word for "serving." The act of serving is pretty important at Horizons...it is one of our five core values. It's part of who we are and how we as a local church fit into God's plan.

We don't simply ask that you volunteer. There's a difference between volunteering and serving God. As a volunteer, you may just be a warm body filling a spot. As someone serving in ministry, you are doing a job for God that God wired you to do. If you are a gifted musician, do that for God. If you are gifted with a love for babies and toddlers, do that for God. If you feel called to meet the needs of the homeless, then start working at the People's City Mission on a regular schedule and do that for God.

If you don't know what your gifts are, send Pastor Steve an email and ask him for some resources to find out where you fit. If you know your gifts and want some ideas of some ministry areas, send me an email at lmf@neb.rr.com and I'll get you in touch with our serving values champions, Leslie and Tom S.

No matter what your gifts, there's a spot for you at Horizons.

So again, welcome to all the new members. It's great to see our church family grow and watch the life-change happening at Horizons.

Go God!
LMF

Early Sunday church for cyclists and others

2006-08-17T23:59:00.000-05:00

Sunday will be week three of the early Sunday a.m. church for those on the go: cyclists, walkers, joggers, even drivers like me are welcome.

Pastor Steve will be back and I caught an earful of Worship Team rehearsal tonight so I can tell you that Trish and Rebecca will be providing the music for early church. Don't miss that. Last time I heard Rebecca sing, I was floored. She has a beautiful voice and a real heart for God.

The 30-min. service starts at 8 a.m. on the lawn east of the church building and north of the parking lot. If we get rain again this week, we'll move into the building and use one of the DiscoveryZone classrooms. If you're not familiar with Horizons, we're located at 3200 Grainger Parkway.

See you bright and early Sunday!
LMF

The secret revealed...make your blog reading simple

2006-08-16T21:58:00.000-05:00

I've grappled with this for quite some time now.

Do I tell, do I not tell. Do I keep the secret to myself or do I tell you how to make all this blog stuff easier to keep up with.

I was fearful at first that it would scare people off...I mean, all this blog stuff at Horizons is really new and if you're like Andrea you don't even like the word "blog" so there are all these barriers and all this baggage we're working to get past...

This week we welcomed our 3000 hit on the blog. People are reading, we have a dozen email subscribers, and every once in awhile someone will even post a comment. I think it's time to tell. Here's the real secret to keeping up with this blog, Pastor Steve's blog, any blog (drumroll).

It's called RSS.

Now, keep reading. Don't be put off by one more new thing to add to your brain. It stands for Really Simple Syndication. It truly is simple. Here's a link to the best practical explanation for getting set up (it's free, calm down). Read this post by Tony Morgan. Get yourself set up on one of the free readers out there. I use NewsGator. I keep up with about 80 blogs more or less (church communications people are very chatty) and this keeps my feeds organized and I don't have to go visit any of the Web sites unless I want to leave a comment.

Trust me. This RSS thing is a busy person's dream come true.
If you have any questions, leave a comment or send me an email, lmf@neb.rr.com
LMF

Yes, Chris needs that haircut!

2006-08-13T21:26:00.000-05:00

I've been amazed at the servant-heart of Chris Berger, a recent high school graduate all of 18 years old. He and Derek Steinacher are heading up the 5k walk Oct. 7 that will raise money for Tracy DuPont, a Lincoln woman (wife, mom and nurse), who needs a bone marrow transplant.

Here's what I find remarkable:

Chris and Derek don't even know Tracy.
About all they have in common with her is that she is a mom and they both have moms.

And another thing:

Chris says that when we get registrations turned in totaling $1000 he will SHAVE HIS HAIR OFF.

Have you seen Chris's hair? It's a mother's nightmare. Julie Berger needs our help. Desperately. Get your registration and $15 turned in quickly. Do it for Tracy. Do it for Julie. Do it for haircuts for teen-aged boys. Whatever you do it for, do it.

Way to go, Chris. Go God!

LMF

Horizons this weekend

2006-08-11T23:27:00.000-05:00

Hey Horizons,

This Sunday we have two cool services:

Early church for cyclists, walkers and joggers (drivers welcome also!), 8-8:30 a.m. on the lawn east of the church building, north of the parking lot. There will be a couple of speakers who have participated in the NUMB ride and also Chris L., a recreational cyclist from Horizons.
Regular services at 9:30 and 11 a.m. featuring guest speaker Jerry Bockoven. It's been a few years since Jerry has been at Horizons (last time was back at Scott Middle School). Jerry is a psychology professor at Wesleyan and the department chair. He is formerly the director of the Samaritan Counseling Center. His topic will be "The Eyes of the Heart." He'll talk about looking at people through Jesus' eyes, with compassion.

See you there!

LMF