I have been married to my best friend Casey for 10 years. We have two beautiful girls Charli and Chloe, and I love being a dad. We started Foundations Church Sept. 7, 2008, I love our church, I love our people, and am blessed to be the lead pastor. Believe, Belong, Become.
I truly hope you were able to be there this past weekend. We had a great Sunday at Foundations Church, and all that left were so complimentary of the whole service. Shannon and the band did such a great job leading us in worship this week. I love that we have people not worried about performing, but they are focused on worshiping. Having said that, you all still sounded great. It was a great service, if you weren't here, make sure you download the podcast and the video that goes with it.
Video- The Pearson family did such an amazing job sharing their story. Thank you Jack, Jamie, Jacqueline, and Aubree, you guys did such a great job sharing your life's journey. What words and focus you left us with. The two things I will forever remember is... Jack "That is a lot of love", that is still kicking me around, what a great attitude. Jamie "God hasn't changed, are you going to change?" No matter how your situation has changed God still loves and is still faithful. Thank you guys so much for sharing.
Volunteer of the Week- Kaley Koser. Oh yeah Kaley it is you this week. Kaley has been out of town for a few weeks and her first time back, we needed help in a big way in our two year old class. Kaley went back and helped us out in a huge way. Thank You so much Kaley, it is people like you with your attitude that helps make Foundations a great church.
Man Trip- We leave for Foundations first ever Man Trip this Friday and Saturday. We are going to Beaver Lake, to wakeboard, water ski, jet ski, tube, and surf, yes I said surf. You will see! All I know is I am really looking forward to hanging out with all the fellas. We are going to have a great time.
Mt. Reiner- To Joe and Adam, good luck on your climb. I am excited and yet jealous of you both. I will be praying for you and go have a blast man. I want to hear all about it when you guys get back, go conquer that mountain man.
Hope you all have a great week, remember you are either jumping others or draining them. Go jump em.
This week our kitchen sink got stopped up. It was nasty too, the water wouldn't go down and it was just sitting there. If you know me I am not a handy man at all, I know that I am not a handy man too. So I wait and have Shannon our executive director help me out, because he is a pretty good handy man. So Sammy, Shannon, and myself are at my house getting ready to work on the kitchen sink.
Shannon tells me we need a bucket to catch all the water, and there was a lot, so I went and got the bucket. He undoes one of the pipes and Blam-O all the water comes gushing out, remember this water is nasty and there is a lot! Well the bucket fills up at the speed of light, and all of the sudden I hear Shannon go "Ah Oh, hurry run get a bucket it's going to go everywhere. I turn to run and go get towels because there is no way I am making to the garage and back in time with a bucket to catch the rest of the water. Sammy just starts running around and Shannon just gets out of the way! It was halarious, messy and nasty yes, but it was funny too.
But we did get the kitchen sink unclogged, got the kitchen floor cleaned too. I have no reason for telling this story it was just a funny moment. I guess I could get all spiritual and tell you to be ready for accidents to happen in your life, but that is depressing to me and is quite a stretch too. I do love our staff though, they are doing a great job.
Please invite someone to come with you this week. The service is going to be great, and I can promise you will leave feeling better than you felt when you came in. Have a great weekend.
Alright so I admit that most of the time I think our services are going to be good. Okay so all the time I think our services are going to be good. But please make sure you don't miss this week! There is a video of a family in our church that is going to make you feel so encouraged, you will cry, you will laugh, but it is that good. I can't wait for this Sunday, if you have family and friends that haven't come before to Foundations or haven't been in a while, make sure you get them there. It is going to be that good!
I have had an extremely busy week this week. But strangely enough, even though it has been busy, it has been a fun week. I laughed so hard yesterday with our staff, that I was crying, spitting and holding my stomach, I was laughing so hard it hurt, but I loved it. I truly hope you are having a great week and if not I hope it turns around for you.
Have to give a shout out to my wife this week. I have been so busy, and haven't got to see my girls very much this week. I hate not being home, I hate even more not seeing my two little girls very much, and hate even more not seeing my wife very much. But she has been with the kids non stop and has been great. Thank you Casey for being a great wife first, and a phenomenal mom to our girls, you constantly amaze me. On a side note if you are never home, stop it! You aren't just cheating your spouse and kids, you are cheating yourself. Weeks like this are very rare for me, make it a goal to make them rare for you as well. Have a great one.
Hope all of you are enjoying your Memorial Day Weekend. Here are a few things that have been going on with life and just get you caught up:
1. To Dallas: Casey and I and the girls went to see here parents this past weekend. We haven't been to her parent's house since Christmas, so it was great to see them. Charli and Chloe both love going there, because they get to do whatever we want. And Casey and I love going there because we always are able to get away at least one night for a date. Thanks Bob and Debbie.
2. Either/ Or: We continued our series this weekend on either/ or. This is going to be such a great series and I am having a blast preparing for it. This week we talked about you are either going to forgive or settle. Had a good turnout for it being Memorial Day Weekend. I love the direction our church is headed.
3. Golf and rain. We had our golf community group this Saturday. We had 12 guys show up to hit the links and I think everyone had a great time. The groups I played with Adam, Kevin, and Landry made me feel like a big sissy when it came to hitting the ball. They were blasting it of the tee, I looked like a little girl playing, but still did okay. I had a blast and as I talked to everyone else, I think everybody else did too.
4. Young Families Community Group- We went to our young families community group last night. And the guys totally killed the woman in the games, until the woman started cheating! Ha, ha. The group threw a surprise birthday party for Casey and myself. It was very kind of all of them to do that, and we are so glad to have great friends in our life. I think my kids are going to think my birthday last for 2 weeks, the older you get the longer your birthday last.
5. Volunteer of the Week- Sammy and Alyssa Floyd. The Floyd's have moved here from Oregon, to take on the giant task of our children's ministry and also help out with the youth ministry. They are doing such a great job with both. Thank you both for moving to Tulsa, for working full time jobs outside the church, but serving like full time staff. You guys are awesome and I love you and the hearts you have to reach people and make an impact in kids lives.
I hope you have a great week. I love, love, love pastoring and leading Foundations Church. I love the people we are reaching, the direction we are going. We have a ton of momentum right now, and am so thankful to Christ for all of his favor and blessings. Love all of you and make the most of the down time with your family. Get out and play with your kids, or go do something with your spouse, or create a memory with your friends, but make this week count.
So this last Saturday was the Aquarium half marathon here in Tulsa. This is the very first race I have ever done. I do have to say that there was a buzz in the atmosphere, everyone gearing up to go and run. Shannon Dalrymple our Executive Director ran his first race as well, and ran a 5K around 30 minutes. He did a great job and has come a long way as far as running goes.
I had a few guys joining me in the run. There was Adam, Bill, and Tim all there to run the half marathon. The hardest part was starting off, there were so many people! It was hard to jog because there was no room to really jog, so you kind of shot the gaps and ran in a hole and then jogged a little, then ran to another little hole and jogged. But after a while everyone spread out and it got easier and harder. You see there was a reason everyone started spreading out, because everyone started getting tired.
I did well and have to thank Bill a ton because he keep pushing me and telling me not to stop. About the 7th all the way to the 9th mile, I just ran out of gas and wanted to stop. I felt like an 80 year old man, my hips started hurting, my ankles were hurting, my feet hurt, it was not fun. But from mile 10 to 13 I got my second wind and everything went well. As far as having a sickness for running and getting the bug, its not happening. I am glad I did it, I ran the whole time and finished in 1 hour and 55 minutes, but I am not going to turn into a huge half marathon runner. From now on it is all 5K's and 10K's.
To celebrate I ate a large pepperoni pizza from Salvastono's, watch cause I am getting excited now! Also had a coke and watched a great movie. It was a great day. Hope you have a great rest of the week, can't wait till our men's golf group Saturday.
Either/ Or
We started our new series Either/ Or and it started off better than any other series we have ever done. This past week we talked about are you going to live out of boxes or bags. If you couldn't be there make sure you download it from our podcast page. We had 14 people raise their hands for salvation or to recommit their life to Christ! It is going to be a very impactful and fun series.
The Plunge- We baptized a whole family this week at the Plunge. It was awesome to see the Pettick family come and take the plunge. So happy for Amy Pettick who has brought her mom, brother, sister, and half the town of Begg! I love our baptisms. When each person comes up out of the water, our people are screaming, whistling, and so excited about the step each person is taking in their walk with Christ. It is so fun and it feels like our congregation is getting ready to jump in the pool with us, they are so excited.
Volunteer of the Week- Kyle Detring. Kyle stepped up in a huge way this week for us. Randy our regular sound guy was out of town, and Kyle stepped in a did a great job for us! Thank you Kyle for all your help and your wonderful attitude.
More to come- I am going to post about the half marathon. I have some pictures I am going to put up. I hope you have a great week this week.
Okay so enough rain already! I am getting ready to start building an ark if anybody wants in on the project. I really do need the rain to go away, the half marathon is this Saturday and I really don't think it sounds fun to run in rain the whole time. Plus my kids are going crazy not being able to go outside. So rain go away please.
So I have started a new book and I am enjoying it. It is called a Wild Goose Chase by Mark Batterson, he is a great author. I read something yesterday about the Sabbath it means "to catch ones breath". I know all of us find ourselves busy with work, family, hobbies, and life. But for many of us we need to take a weekly Sabbath and allow ourselves to catch our breath. I know this is very true for me, I need to shut my computer and cell phone off, not worry about the church, and allow myself time to catch my breath. So I hope that you will join me in this challenge of learning to take a Sabbath. Warning though, it is a lot harder than it sounds, especially for all you driven people out there.
Also on a side note, I know Star Trek has come out this past weekend. But next time they release a Star Trek movie I am going to try to see how many people I can get to go to the first showing and all dress up as Star War characters, and carry posters that talk about how much better Star Wars is than Star Trek! I really don't care one way or the other, I just think it would be hilarious, to watch all the Trekies freak out. I know random. Hope you all have a great day despite the rain.
I hope all of you had a great mother's day or you made mothers day special for your mom and wife. Things are going really well at Foundations Church, it seems like we have a ton of momentum going on right now. Our attendance has been up, every week we are seeing people raise their hands for life change, families are connecting, and our more and more people are getting plugged into our community groups. Things are going great and I am so thrilled to see how excited our people are! Let's keep going and reaching our community.
Volunteer of the Week- John Watkins. John did a great job this week leading us in worship while Shannon and Cassandra were on a well deserved break. We went acoustic style and John did a great job, as well as Cameron and Marty. So excited that our band is growing and that everyone has a great attitude. Thanks John for doing a great job this week!
Foundations Kids- Our kids area is exploding. In the second week of our 2 year old class we had 7 kids! With another 12 kids in the preschool peak. God is doing awesome things. Thank you everyone who is serving in our kids department, you are making a huge difference.
The Plunge- Our next baptism is this coming weekend. If you haven't signed up yet, make sure you do. You can do it online. Also for all you getting baptized you have a meeting with Greg Fisher, our business administrator at the school pool at 10. So excited for those of you taking the next step in your walk with Christ.
Either/ Or- We are starting our new series Either/ Or this week. This is going to be a great series to invite your friends too. There are evite cards on our website. Don't miss the beginning of this series.
On a side note I have my half marathon this coming weekend. Ran 8 miles today, felt pretty good, so we will see how it goes. Hope you have a great week, and do nice okay!
So I have awakened each morning since Wednesday with all kinds of sinus junk.....not just in my throat, but resting oh so wonderfully in my chest. This has made it near impossible to go out and jog, plus the weather isn't helping my cause either. I tried once and I looked like a guy who just stopped smoking 5 packs a day, and decided to jog to get over his addiction. I was coughing and wheezing, it was actually a pretty funny sight.
This weekend we are celebrating my youngest daughter's birthday. Chloe is turning 2 this Saturday, and I love her so much and am so thankful to have her. God has blessed us with 2 very beautiful and healthy little girls. I couldn't be happier. I love the age they are because right now I am not just dad but their best friend too. It is truly awesome. I wouldn't miss this part of their life for all the money in the world. I am determined to always have a close relationship with my girls. I want to go out with them just for fun, and do what they want to do, not drag them out to the golf course and say "wow wasn't that fun!" So we have family coming in this weekend to celebrate.... both set of parents for the party. So, it is pretty cool that we get to have both of our mom's here for Mother's Day.
Please don't miss this Sunday. There are many of us that our mommas have said so much to us throughout our lives, that we can still learn from their advice today. That is why my sermon is called Momma Said. Don't miss it and bring your mom and your friends with you. Hope you have a wonderful weekend! I plan on eating lots of cake and ice cream!
Many of you know that last week my family went to Disney World! Yes we have been planning this trip and saving for 2 years, and it finally came. We had such a blast. My sister planned everything out and she did an amazing job of it. My parents came, Casey's mom, my sister and her family, and then some friends and we had such an amazing time.
My favorite moments were the following:
1. Holding Charli and watching the fireworks. I always kind of smirk and giggle when I see Disney commercials, because they are so magical. (very sarcastic) But our 2nd night at Magic Kingdom, we stayed for the parade and fireworks at night. I got to hold my four year old Charli the whole time the fireworks were going off over Cinderella's Castle, with her cheek pressed right against mine. Immediately when they were done she feel asleep on me. It was one of the greatest moments ever for me and I will remember watching the awe of everything in her eyes.
2. Chloe on Small World. There is a ride called It's a Small World, it has like 500 dolls dancing and singing and Chloe loved it. She rode around on the boat mimicking the dolls as they drummed and just waved to all of them. I really had a great time just watching Charli and Chloe take it all in.
3. Eating a chocolate muffin with Casey while the kids napped. Maybe it was that the kids were asleep and that was the real magic. But this chocolate muffin was, first of all, the size of a toddlers head, and was like eating chocolate cake! So good and very relaxing.
Now it is back to running. I am going for 10 miles tomorrow and then I will bring it back down for the race. I hated 9 miles but we will see how 10 goes. If you see a very tall man passed out on the side of the road stop and help him, good chance it is me. The half marathon is May 16th here in Jenks. I really think I am ready for it. My body is sore from missing just one week of being in the gym and jogging. Getting old stinks man. Hope you have a great rest of the week. Don't miss this Sunday, we have a great sunday ready for Mother's Day. Also we have a new evite card on our website. So invite someone to come with you, awesome things are happening at Foundations. Have a great one!
We had a great service this week at Foundations! It was one of the more relaxed and fun sermons we have done, and I had a blast preaching. Our response was great too, we had over 6 people raise their hands for salvation! I love being involved in a church that is seeing lives change every week. We concluded our series Oz, and it was a great series. This weeks sermon is titled Momma Said, don't miss it.
Volunteer of the Week- Now I don't say this person is the volunteer of the week lightly, but this week it is my wife Casey Graves. Casey is a massive help to Foundations Church and has our children's ministry running so smoothly along with Sammy. Casey got a new class up and going this past week, a class just for our 2 year olds. This is a much needed class because our nursery has become overran. In our first week we had 6 two year olds in this class. Thank you so much babe for all your help, your belief, and energy that you are putting into Foundations!
Corrections- I have to correct a statement I made yesterday. Yesterday morning I said that Shannon Dalrymple wrote the new song we did "Shower my love". However Shannon is an imposter! Actually I just had my information wrong, but it is fun to name call. John Watkins on or our guitarist wrote it! Awesome job John what a great song, can't wait to sing it again.
Membership Sunday- We had a good turnout yesterday for our first ever Membership Sunday! Thank you Dustin and Ashley Jones for helping us with the pizza, go Cheezies go. We had a great day, so glad there was so much interest by people to become members at Foundations. In fact we had a person that had only come for their second time yesterday that signed up to be a member. I love the direction Foundations Church is headed.
The Plunge- Don't forget to sign up for water baptism on the 17th of this month. If you have never or have recommitted your life since then get baptized. You will be glad you did.
After a solid week off from running I start back hard this week. My race is the 16th of this month, so I better get going big time. I am so glad to be back home. We had a blast at Disney World, but really I love what I am doing and I love being back here. Hope you have a great week this week.
I am back from our vacation! It was great getting away and just spending time with my family, but man am I glad to be back. I am sooo excited about this week, please make sure you bring someone that hasn't been to Foundations with you this week. Can't wait to see all of you. Really me and my family missed being there and missed all of you. It is great to love what I do so much, God has truly blessed us. So let's get after it and reach our community and bring someone with you tomorrow! We are ending our series Oz this week, so make sure you are there for the conclusion. Can't wait to see all of you tomorrow.
Man it is beautiful outside this week! I went on a 6 mile jog this morning (breaking in some new shoes) along riverside. It was 7:15 in the morning around 65 to 70 degrees a light breeze, perfect weather for a jog. I started on my jog and in the first 5 minutes of it I see this huge bird soaring over the Arkansas River, it is a bald eagle and it soars right over me into this tree. It was one of the scariest and coolest things I have ever seen. I thought for a moment he was going to try and pick me up by me head and eat me, so I started running a little faster! But I never knew there were bald eagles in Tulsa, but there it was. My jog was great, I hate 9 miles, but I love 6. I made it and had an average pace just under 8 minutes per mile. I can't express how beautiful it was outside this morning, make sure you get outside this week and enjoy the great outdoors.
We've had a lot of visitors come to Foundations Church the past 2 weeks, and it has been awesome to see and hear their response. Let's keep making sure we keep inviting and bringing others. This is going to be a great Sunday, we are talking about anger and how do you deal with it. So don't you dare miss it.
On a big side note, I just want to remind all of us to enjoy the journey. One thing I have been doing with my family, is I don't watch any TV till my kids go to bed. I want to make sure I am enjoying them to the fullest and not just zoning out to the TV. So many times the only time we enjoy our family and friends is when we go on a vacation or on the weekend. But leave the stress of work at work, don't let your worries ruin the way you spend your time. Enjoy the journey you are in now, the place of life you are in now, because you are going to arrive at the destination a lot sooner than you think. Have a great week, and get outside it is beautiful. Just watch out for man eating eagles!
OZ- Our series Oz, is going great. This past week we talked about the gottas to get out of Oz. We continue to see God move and have people giving their heart to God every week. It is so exciting to see what God is doing and the momentum that is happening at Foundations.
Spring Shindig- Our spring shindig was a blast. Thank you to all of you that helped set up, serve, clean up, and everyone who brought food. Ashley Jones those cookies were amazing, thanks for cooking sooooo many of them. It was a lot of fun to see our young church having fun together. One of the most exciting things to me, was seeing all the people talking to one another and building relationships with one another. I love seeing everyone plug in, fitting in, and belonging. It was also a fun to watch all the kids on the huge slide, next time we will have to get two of them! Forget the obsticale course, although Kevin and Becky's race was entertaining.
Volunteers of the Week- Stan, Adam, Kevin, and Tiny. Thank you guys so much for burning all the hair off of your arms while you cooked burgers and hotdogs. Man you guys were out there sweating, battling the smoke, and smelling like smoke and grease, all while having a great time. Thank you guys for having such a great attitude and for serving in such an awesome way. You guys made it happen, and the burgers and hotdogs were great.
Foundations Kids Makeover- Our kids area is growing fast! It has really started taking off the last 2 months and we have a ton of kids right now. So we are having to makeover our kids area. Starting May 3rd we are now offering a two year olds class. This is an awesome thing happening in our church, but we need volunteers to help us out. So if you aren't plugged into a ministry get involved in our children's department. Be involved....not just because we need you, but it is a very crucial and important ministry of our church.
We have had some of the biggest weeks we have ever had at Foundations Church these past two weeks. Let's keep it up! I love our church and love being a part of what all God is doing in Foundations Church. I hope you have a great week, start inviting people to come with you this week. Have a great one.
Okay so I ran 9 miles yesterday, and 9 now is officially the most hated number ever! Man it stunk, I really thought I was going to stop and give up, and I hate quitting. So now I have decided that I hate the number 9, it is a stupid number and I will from this day on pretend that it now longer exists. That will teach it. I did jog the whole time though and I think the new running shoes I just got today is going to help out big time.
On another topic, Casey and I are going on a date tonight and I can't wait. Can you say Chang's and some chocolate cake, woo hoo. I love getting away with my wife, she is my best friend, and she is way hot. So I get to spend the evening with Casey on a date. It is going to be fun.
Spring Shindig- Okay all you that come to Foundations.... Make sure you invite and bring people with you this Sunday. It is going to be a great day with a lot of fun. Even if it rains, all the festivities after service are going to be inside. So let's have our biggest day ever this Sunday. I really believe it is going to be a great day for Foundations Church! I hope you have a great weekend, and that you join with me on my boycott of 9.
