Isaiah 42: 16b
"I will lead the blind by ways they have not known, along unfamiliar paths I will guide them..."

This morning I asked people to share their prayer requests about the "unfamiliar paths" they were preparing to walk down. Here are those requests...let me know you're praying with me by leaving a comment below!

Prayer Requests:

• Guidance in finances and house repairs.
• Communication in our family.
• Guidance in raising our teenage daughter.
• Guidance and wise decisions for my daughter's family and her.
• Relief from severe headaches and dizziness, which has affected my ability to complete my school work.
• Strength to handle physical changes due to health.
• Recovering from surgery and ability to parent while recovering.
• Weight loss - food addiction.
• Parenting two children, and maintaining life balance.
• That God would never let me go.
• 2 daughters of close friends recently expelled from school, one with 4 week old baby...pray for direction and motivation to finish education.
• Finding the right job after losing a great job of 27 years.
• Guidance in my relationship.
• God's direction in communicating with my grandson and granddaughter's mother.
• Dave Harms, waiting on a liver transplant.
• Carol, dealing with Lou Gehrig disease.
• Scott, many interviews this week.
• Aaron, health and job future.
• Aaron's mother and father, sister and niece as they navigate very difficult times.
• My family.
• Friday, I will have an operation to remove part of my cervix, because of pre-cancer...I'm young and this is a very hard thing and time.
• Dealing with feelings of rejection.
• Seeking to pay for our daughter's college education with as little debt as possible.
• Custody litigation, pray for strength and God's direction.
• Loss of a long-term relationship.
• Loneliness.
• Healing of emotional hurts.
• Job direction.

Thanks for praying church!

Sunday Reflections:
Real quick one tonight...

• I'm really fired up about preaching this series. If you missed this morning's message, be sure to check it out online at www.bridgewaycc.net.
• I preached my heart out in both services this morning. I knew I was excited to preach this message, but something happened when I got up to preach in both services that was beyond me. It was as if I could actually feel the weight of the burdens that so many of the people who were in the services were carrying...powerful stuff.
• I'm overwhelmed by the prayer requests that people shared...If you missed the service, I felt impressed last night to ask people to share their prayer requests and to commit to pray for them every day this week for at least 30 minutes...I'd encourage you to join me! I'll post them later tonight.
• I didn't have much of a voice after the second service...I don't know how preachers that do this 3-5 times a weekend do it!
• I also don't know how Chuck does it...my voice would be shot after singing out like he did today.
• We definitely rocked a little harder than normal today...it was intentional, and a bit disturbing...but sometimes we need God to disturb us.
• Let me know that you are praying with me this week by leaving a comment on the prayer request blog post!

Sunday's Box Score:
Sunday, June 27th 2008
Message Series: The Real JesusMessage
Title: Passionate Leader
Message Texts: Revelation 19:11-16, Isaiah 42:13-16

Sunday's Set List:
"Love Found Me" - Decemberadio
"Revolution" - Starfield
"Can't Leave It Alone" - Hyperstatic Union
"Dangerous" - Decemberadio
"You Never Let Go" - Matt Redman

Sunday's Attendance:
9:30 Worship - 137
11:00 Worship - 121
Total Attendance - 258

Sunday's Box Score
Sunday, June 20th 2008

Message Series: The Real Jesus
Message Title: Conquering Warrior
Message Texts: Revelation 19:11-16, Colossians 2:13-15

Sunday's Set List:
"God Will Lift Up Your Head" - Jars of Clay
"Fade Away" - Jeremy Camp
"Mighty to Save" - Hillsong
"Shout Unto God" - Hillsong United
"I am Free" - Jon Egan

Sunday's Attendance:
9:30 Worship - 138
11:00 Worship - 124
Total Attendance - 262

Okay, so BridgeWay isn't exactly on Broadway, but it's pretty close. Last night we played our first softball game, and kicked off the season by playing Pekin First Church of the Nazarene. For those of you who don't know, Pekin First was the sponsoring church that planted BridgeWay and where I served as Youth Pastor for 3 years.

Last year we got killed by Pekin First, but this year we're a year older, and a whole lot better!

For those of you who are curious here's the box score:

I've had a few people who have started calling or e-mailing asking for our set lists and attendance numbers from each week. So I thought I'd post them here so you can follow along at home.

Sunday, April 13th 2008 (Box Score)
Message Series: Breakaway
Message Title: Breakaway Identity
Message Text: John 15:5, 16:33, 15:7 (and several others)

Sunday's Set List:
"Everybody Praise the Lord" Lincoln Brewster
"Famous One" Chris Tomlin
"We are Hungry" Steve Fee
"Burn for You" Steve Fee
"Sweetly Broken" Jeremy Riddle

Sunday's Attendance:
9:30 Worship - 124
11:00 Worship - 183

I told Steph after we left church this morning that this was the best exhausted feeling that I've had in a long time. Making the shift to preaching twice on Sundays has been a great thing for the church and has really helped me in developing as a preacher, but it also makes for a really tired Dale on Sunday afternoons. Here are some of my thoughts on this weekend at BridgeWay:

• "You've got to be kidding me!" That's what I was thinking after the band got done with their opening song in both services. That could have been the best I've ever heard the band play on one single song...the rest of the morning was awesome as well. After hearing them open with "Everybody Praise the Lord" (Lincoln Brewster style)...I knew that it was going to be a great day at BridgeWay!
• It was great to have Sean playing today...good to hear you playing again!
• It was great to have Steve Haynes playing bass today...I loved watching that guy play...real great spirit and love for God and the music he's playing.
• The band did a song from Steve Fee called "Burn for You"...the lyrics are powerful...check some of them out:

“There’s a stirring in my heart; unexplainable

There’s a calling on my days; undeniable

And there’s a fire in my bones; uncontainable…

And it’s causing me to burn for You.”

I'd go anywhere

I'd do anything

At any cost

For you, my King.

• If you do not own Steve Fee's most recent album "Burn for You"...stop reading this and go here and buy it right now!
• I loved having the opportunity to dedicate Chris and Connie Borth's youngest son Isaac in the 11:00 worship experience today. God was all over that moment...holy ground...powerful presence of God in that act of worship.
• I preached my heart out in both services today. I had planned on preaching on vocation earlier in the week, but Wednesday night/Thursday morning God woke me up at about 2 a.m. with a message that spoke to the issue of identity and where we find our identity...I'm so glad I got up and took the time to write it down. I love it when God calls an audible!
• It was great to see so many new people at BridgeWay this morning. We had 120+ people in the 9:30 worship experience (the most we've had yet)...and another 183 or so in the 11:00 experience...after taking out the handful of us that do double duty...we had between 280 -290 people in worship at BridgeWay today! Hold on church...God is on the move...be sure to get your friends and family here to see what happens next!
• Speaking of what's coming next: Two big things happening this week.
• 1) I'll be going on a prayer and sermon planning retreat Tuesday and Wednesday of this week. To get ready I'll be fasting from noon Monday to noon on Tuesday...I'd love for you to join me in seeking God's direction for our church and the upcoming year of messages that God has for us.
• 2) Next Sunday we'll be kicking off a new series called "The Real Jesus" and I can't wait to see what God does through it. So many people I meet see Jesus as a really nice guy, who taught some nice stuff that will make our life better. Our goal in this series is to introduce people to four pictures of Jesus that most people have never considered before. Our text for the series is Revelation 19:11-16. Yup that's right I'll be preaching from Revelation for the first time in my life...should be some great stuff!
• Okay, I'm really tired now...going to bed! Have a great one!

Check out the bumper for our next sermon series at BridgeWay.

I've been reading through Acts.
I love what Luke says about Paul in Acts 17:16.

"Paul was greatly distressed to see that the city was full of idols."

What is it that greatly distresses you when you look at the world around you?

Take a look at part of the message from this Sunday...

What a great day today! I really enjoy teaching on the topic of finances and I usually get a lot of great feedback from people who heard God speaking to them through the message. Today was no different. Here's some thoughts on Sunday (and a few on Saturday):

• This series has been a great series for our church. So many people are in a position where they feel stuck in either their relationships, finances, or vocations and it's great to help people discover they can breakaway without running away.
• I had a great time earlier this week, filming the teaching video that we showed in worship this morning. I was really happy with way it came out considering that we are working with pretty low end equipment. I had several people tell me that it really helped to drive home the teaching for the day.
• The band really was firing on all cylinders this morning. I love it when Rhonda sings "Sing to the King".
• Not only was the worship set awesome, but "Gimme Shelter" was seriously one of the best songs I've ever heard them do...it was great both services.
• Had a great time with about 30 new people from BridgeWay at the Connect Class. It was great to get to talk with several of you and to hear your stories as well as share about the mission and vision of BridgeWay. I get excited every time I get a chance to lead this class...so cool to meet new people, to see our regular attenders serving and to see so many people who are connecting with God through our church is quite humbling.
• One last comment on Sunday...I'm really enjoying the change from one to two worship experiences. While it means getting up a little earlier, it has really helped us to open up some new seats for new people. We'd pretty much stalled at about 200 people after hitting about 230-240 a few times. We knew we needed to free up some seats and that the way to do that was to add a new worship time. Today we had right at 260 unique people in worship...I'm encouraged to know that we now have the opportunity to reach another 150-200 people...thanks to everyone who's helped to make this transition happen!
• As great as Sunday was, I also had a fantastic Saturday!
• Went to a Prayer Gathering in Peoria with about 40 other pastors and church leaders.
• Spent time with Steph and my 3 girls; shopping for yard stuff, chasing balloons, doing yard work, cleaning house, making homemade pizza, and playing Guitar Hero.
• Watched about half of the UNC-Kansas Final Four game...at half-time I decided I had better things to do with my time than watch a lame game, so I went and spent about a half an hour praying for Sunday's services and Connect Class...way better use of my time!
• One last item...had a great time at softball practice this afternoon. It's great to have a bunch of new guys playing this year. Man can Jesse ever crush the ball!
• Planning on taking the day off tomorrow...watch some baseball...do some housework...read a little bit...watch the NCAA Championship game...should be a good day.

Going for a walk...talk to ya'll later!