IT'S ALL ABOUT TEAM

I hope my theology is correct, because it appears to me that the whole concept of working in sync with others begins way back in Genesis 1 with the revelation of the fact that God is a Trinity, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. Of course that theme continues right through the Bible into the Gospels and the book of Acts where Jesus and the Apostles ministered with teams around them.

There is an amazing group of people helping in different ways to get our new campus under way and two of them made a huge dent in our preparations today.

Dottie and Liz got the printing of our door hangers under way - 4,000 done and 8,000 to go. They come in sheets of three, but once printed were separated and put into stacks of 350 for every delivery duo we have going out on Sunday September 6th.

With the printer going all day, Dottie began working out delivery routes for each of the afore mentioned duos, ensuring we cover every possible home in Mastic, Mastic Beach and Shirley. Then Liz worked at organizing the staffing of the Street Fair in Ronkonkoma on Sunday 6th with all the volunteers who have come forward to offer their help.

Tonight I'm meeting a couple of guys over at the theater and we'll work out our final arrangements with the owner so that we're ready to be up and running for our dry run on the 6th.

I guess the apostle Paul knew a thing or two when he told the Ephesian believers that the church grows through what every part brings to the table - not a literal translation, but my own!

LIVING IN TENSION

This has been a good day and a busy one for that matter. It went in a different direction than I planned, but tonight I'm very grateful to God.

After a great breakfast organising our tri-church youth challenge to distribute 9,000 door hangers, I was a few minutes early for my next meeting so I wandered into Target to check out the bargains in menswear. From there I went to the seasonal department and saw some chairs on clearance that would look excellent in our cafe in Mastic, but there were only six of them.

So after my next meeting and before the third I checked out the other two Target stores vaguely in our area. Sadly, no joy there. Would have loved that look in the cafe, but it's back to the drawing board!

Check out my regular blog for some more comments I wrote today on planting a new campus -

http://www.churchatthemovies.com/blog/?p=1694

THE GARAGE IS BULGING

Pretty early on in our church's story, we made the decision to finish the basement of our house, creating a suite of offices, rather than rent office space elsewhere at NY rates. That decision has saved us hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past ten years.

It also means that every time some new piece of equipment is ordered, the UPS man brings it to our door - and the poor guy is working overtime right now. Todays offering was eight packages containing the rolling racks we will use for storing some of our equipment in Mastic.

The accumulating mass of essentials for the new campus presents one minor problem - it is threatening to force my Mustang out of the garage.

Like many Americans, we have a two car garage that holds one car and an amazing assortment of junk. The junk side was pretty much full before all this stuff started arriving, so today I had to move a load of miscellanous rubbish around to get the latest arrivals in.

Four weeks to go, but I'm nervous that the other half of my garage may no longer be safe. I understand the necessity for sacrifice, but there are limits.

INNOVATION IS A WONDERFUL THING

Being totally challenged when it comes to practical matters, my admiration for those who can be creative and innovative knows no bounds. So today my hero is Jorge Leiva, who this afternoon completed the prototype of a $13 banner stand that will probably be the staple for all the new signage at our Mastic campus.

As I reported here earlier, I saved a fortune by outsourcing the printing of the banners to India and with Jorge's efforts, we will have the package of banner plus stand for just $20.

That is insane. You can pay up to $75 for a stand alone.

Not sure when we'll go into mass production, but we need a load ourselves and should then probably set up a cottage industry for new churches!

STUFF

It's amazing how much stuff you need to get a new campus underway, but when it comes to finding deals on the internet, Charlotte is something else.

She spent hours at her computer today, buying all kinds of bits and pieces -

Rolling carts
Balloons for the street fairs
High speed multiple CD copier
Table cloths
Banner stands
Coffee pots

I guess when it arrives, it will live with all the other bits and pieces waiting patiently in our house, with a load of other equipment already at another couple's home.

I'm glad that we're getting close to having all we need to get things moving. Last minute shopping is too much pressure nowadays.

THERE'S A LOT TO IT

Okay, so today we tried to make a comprehensive list of all the stuff we still need to get the new campus under way and there's a fair bit, to say the least.

Then we chatted through the areas of ministry that we need to make sure we have covered and that was quite a number too. The danger is going to be we have most of our launch team involved in activities around the place and no bodies to help populate the worship area.

There's still a lot to be done and a long way to go, with the question always hanging over us of whether the finances in hand will be sufficient.

It's all these challenges that make this fun!

BACK IN ACTION

Yesterday I returned from my trip to India, where we had outsourced the printing of all our new signage which will serve both campuses. I know that may not thrill the President, but since we now live in a country that produces precious little, that's the way the cookie crumbles.

How about this? -

We ordered a total of around 38 banners.

The printer picked up the graphics from the church office in Mumbai. No one needed to go to him.

The next day he delivered all the banners. The job was done in 24 hours at a total cost of $267.

I'm into signage in a big way. There's nothing worse than going into a new environment and having no idea of where everything is. So since we want to put our guests at ease, we're brightening up the whole place with colorful banners that tell them most of what they want to know.

Today I also outsourced graphics for newspaper ads, the back of our invitation postcards and also of the door hangers we're using. But that job only went as far as Texas where we always get an even better deal than the print job. It's great to have a son who is as committed to our vision as anyone living it up here.