What keeps them in Church?

Here is the area where most churches fail.
WHAT DO WE DO NOW THAT WE HAVE THEM?

Top 6 Things that Keep the Formerly Unchurched Active in the Church
(research conducted by Ranier)

1. 62% - Ministry Involvement
2. 55% - Sunday School
3. 54% - Obedience to God
4. 49% - Fellowship of Members
5. 38% - Pastor/Preaching
6. 14% - Worship Services

Adrenaline, zeal, excitement are important parts of church involvement. We all know that if anything is going to last deeper issues apply. Things like involvement, ownership, obedience is key. I believe you must consistently have a mixture of both ends of the spectrum.

By viewing the last blogs survey and comparing it to this weeks survey we can come to some useful conclusions.

• Preaching/Teaching will always play a crucial role, however long term maturity through involvement should be the goal.
  
• Fellowship (friendship-community) plays a bigger part than most Church's think it does.
• Same thing goes for youth and children also.

MISSION POSSIBLE:
I know that there has got to be stories out there on how or why you picked and chose Cowboy Junction Church. Now is the time to inspire and "Light a Fire". There could be someone at CJC who doubts if his/her volunteerism is needed. Brag on someone. Use their name. Give a little credit to someone used by God.

Statistics on reaching the Lost.

In recent years, there have been several research studies hoping to discover what motivates church attendance.

Top 13 Reasons that Unchurched People Choose a Church
(research conducted by Ranier)

1. 90% - Pastor/Preaching
2. 88% - Doctrines
3. 49% - Friendliness of Members
4. 42% - Other Issues
5. 41% - Someone Church Witnessed to Me
6. 38% - Family Member
7. 37% - Sensed God’s Presence/Atmosphere of Church
8. 25% - Relationship Other than Family Member
9. 25% - Sunday School Class
10. 25% - Children’s/Youth Ministry
11. 12% - Other Groups/Ministries
12. 11% - Worship Style/Music
13. 7% - Location

The statistics speak for themselves. Overall, doctrine, the pastor and his preaching, and the friendliness and fellowship of the congregation are the most influential qualities. A lot can be said about personal witnessing to people.

What's your thoughts?

For Discussion:
What do you think are the top reasons why people stay or connect with a church?
I HAVE THE STATISTICS FOR THAT TOO.
Next time... You might be surprised!!!!

Volunteers - 3 of 3

3. Servants need to be reminded - constantly - that what they're doing is not in vain.

Volunteers should be reminded again and again, that they're valued. The role they are playing is not insignificant; that God treasures every task they perform. every hour of service they render.

Matthew 6:4
Your Father who sees in secret will Himself reward you openly. Nothing that we do "as unto the Lord" goes unnoticed by our Lord. Every smile, every coffee pot filled, every greeting, every lesson taught, every note played, nothing goes unnoticed by our Lord. Volunteers need to reminded constantly that they are not crazy.

1 Corinthians 15:58

Therefore, my beloved brethren, be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that your labor is not in vain in the Lord.

Cowboy Junction Church Volunteers: you are not crazy. CJC could not make it without you. Even more important than that, the Kingdom of God counts on you. You are a minister of the Gospel. Know this, If we could pay you we would. Your that important! Let this blog be a reminder to you that our staff and leaders constantly remind ourselves about how awesome our volunteers are.

HANG IN THERE! YOUR DOING A GREAT JOB!

Volunteers - 2 of 3

OK, here is my second blog on the "volunteer" theme. Remember, I am not an expert. I am only blogging on "volunteers" because I am learning also. Personally I found this next one important for the staff of CJC.

The easiest way to defeat a volunteer is to waste his/her time.


Here's how it happens. A pastor teaches about serving, creatively communicates needs, and extends personal invitations. People sign up to serve. In best-case scenarios, they're even directed into their areas of giftedness and passion.
The volunteer leaves work early and gets a babysitter, drives forty-five minutes, and shows up ready to serve-- then discovers that he/she is not needed. There are a million scenarios that this could apply to...(there is not enough of work, the skills they thought were needed actually are not, the project does not start on time, the project is not ready). The volunteer stands around for twenty minutes waiting for someone to show up with letters he/she is supposed to stuff into envelopes. Waisting volunteer's time is the best way to assure that he/she will never show up again.

Volunteers- 1 of 3

Pasturing is who I am, not what I do. Sometimes most of my day, to some, is non-productive. In actuality it's exactly what I should be doing. Today I am studying. I am preparing for staff meeting tomorrow. We are discussing several things, but one of them I thought you would be interested in. "VOLUNTEERS".

You might be one. You might be thinking of being one. Which ever one you are know this, we are constantly improving on how we relate, communicate and build community with our volunteers. Volunteers are the oil in the motor, the cords in our parachute, the "getter" in our "getter done". HA HA "That was funny, I don't care who you are."

Here is the first of three lessons we have researched lately.

* A NEW VOLUNTEER IS A FRAGILE VOLUNTEER.

An experienced volunteer can handle an occasional mishap. But a new volunteer is extremely vulnerable to discouragement and disillusionment. That first volunteers experience could become that persons ministry experience for the rest of his/her life.

ANSWER: We need to build communication bridges with our volunteers. Ask Q's like, "How do you feel? Did it breath life into you? Do you want to do it again? How's it going?" The more we communicate the more we can help each other.

Here is your responsibility: Now you know CJC's Staffs heart. Don't shut down. Don't turn introvert. Don't quit. Communicate with us. Were human too. Your to valuable to the Kingdom of God!

I LIVE FOR THIS STUFF!!! More to come.

It's fun to go to work.

How would you like to go to work every morning and have fun, work with great and creative people, think outside the box and so it all for Jesus? I do everyday. Camp Cross Fire is coming up and with it comes fun and funny things like this video.

We got this idea from two places. First is, of course, from the movie "Risky Business" with Tom Cruse. The theme from our camp "Unleash your inner Rock Star" came from a game we are going to play at camp. We are going to have a battle of the bands, on Guitar Hero. For those that don't know, Guitar Hero is a video game. On Guitar Hero's TV advertisement the chose professional athletes to promote their video, to the theme of "Risky Business". Click HERE to see that commercial. Soooo, we did a commercial of our own. You will see a lot of similarities.

Stay tuned for next week surprise! Another commercial is on the way. This could out do the the one you just watched.

OH, by the way, our Guitar Hero Band is , Cigi Allen - Guitar, Clay Hardin - Drums, Abby Jeronimus on Guitar. Way to go guys. HAHAHAHAHAH!

Improving the Arts!!!!

I love Art. This series, " The Forgotten Arts", is about the forgotten arts of the heart.

I was inspired by a Bruce Lee movie late one night. I watched how Bruce was able to do amazing things physically. I thought of his kicks and mine. There was a little difference. OK, a big difference. His kicks could be defined as a "Martial Art". My kicks looked more like a leg lift.

The same thing is true for arts of the heart. We covered, in our first week, "The Thank You". Anyone can say thank you. It takes a real discipline to know the heart behind it.

This weekend the second message will be on "The Apology". You will be blessed. See you Sunday or Monday. BRING A FRIEND!!!!!!

If I had not seen it...

If I had not seen it, I would not have believed it. The therapist came into mom's room today and said, "Lets try the new hip out." Mom got out of bed and with the help of a walker, walked 200 yards today. 24 hours after her surgery my mom is cruising the halls. I asked if it hurt? She said the hip does not hurt, but the stitches do.

Thanks to all the people who have called and sent flowers. The plans are to let her go on Friday.

Maggie Bean's Hip Replacement

The "Magoo" is doing great after her hip replacement.
*She came out of surgery in great spirits and no pain.
*The doctor said the hip was worse than he thought. She had wore a hole through her hip and the doctor had to rebuild her hip with a bone graph.
*Thanks to Janie Cockrel and Jereen Fanning. They are great friend to mom. They stayed there for the entire day.

I just got off the phone with mom this morning and she could not get comfortable for most the night. She also is frustrated with the cotton mouth taste that is a side effect from the pain killers.

We are getting dressed and then we are out of here to go be with her today.

Today:
*The therapist is going to require her to take her first steps on the "new" hip.
*We are going to spend the night in Roswell. We'll be back tomorrow.

Mom is at the Eastern New Mexico Medical Center.
Cya when we get home - Keep her in your prayer.

Weekend Reflection

*This Mothers day celebration was a great success. Heather did a fantastic job putting the Mothers day decorations together. Great Job Honey. I hope all the Mothers had a fun time.
*DID YOU HEAR ABBY WHALE ON THE NEW SONG "DESERT SONG"!!!!!!!!!
*We did have some hick ups on the technical side of things. That was Cigi and I's fault. Mike did the best he could with what we gave him. In the end He was patient with Us and we are ALL learning together.
*The softball team is coming together. Now that our team is coming together, I have this funny feeling that the Hobbs Softball Assn. is starting the season TUESDAY. We will see.
*I talked to a visitor that had come to our church today. He said that he and his family loved church. What really did it for them was when they went to pickup their son from kids church, there son was ecstatic. HE HAD A BLAST!!! They are coming back, and feel like they have found a home church.
*Great Sunday attendance. The visitors are flooding in. These are exciting times at Cowboy Junction Church.

The Kick Off of "Junction City Kids Church"

Blog Break!!!

Today is the start of Spring Break. No one is more excited than me. Because of the wonderful time of year Heather and I are loading up the family and going on vacation. We have big plans and will fill you in when we get back.

I am also going to take a break from blogging. I know you will understand.
See you when we get back.

Weekend Reflection

I am doing this weekend reflection on a Wednesday. I should do this Tuesday morning, but the staff of CJC has been working hard on the new Junction City Kids Church. There was some awesome things that happened this weekend, soooo here we gooooo!

• The video "How Great is our God" with Louie Giglio, was worth the time out. From time to time CJC has been known to think outside the box. I decided to postpone what I had planned and obey the conviction in my heart. I decided to move the illustrated sermon "Perspective" to next week and play this video. To make a long story short, 13 people accepted Jesus as their personal savior. Also countless more rededicated their faith and confidence in our God that is bigger than the economy.
  
• Would you like to own the video? CJC purchased many DVDs and they will be on sale this Sunday and Monday. If you can't wait or are wondering what I am talking about click here.
• The goal of this weekend was to build our faith in a world that is shaky, uncertain and depressing. This was the second message that is intended to restore our faith, boost our confidence in the calling of God on our lives and remind us that God is both infinite and minuscule, our life is in control.
• The worship Monday was one of the highlights of the weekend. Thanks Fabian, Leslie, Abbie, Nora, Adam, Cigi, Dimitra, Mike and Ray D. You guys sounded wonderful.
• I THOUGHT THE KIDS CHURCH SKIT WAS HILARIOUS! Way to go Elizabeth (Abby) and Cowgirl Pearl (Cril). Can't wait for kickoff April.

I may not be Blogging as much as I had. This week I will be working on Sundays message and Spring Break is next week. So, lets see how things progress.

An inside look at the new Junction City Kids Church

If its not broke, break it and fix it!

I have pet peeves just like anyone else. One of the ones I hear a lot is this statement,

"IF it is not broke, don't fix it."

I realize that most people who make this statement mean it in the most innocent way possible. However, this statement is also the reason why most people never become great at whatever it is they are called to do.

If we had lived by this statement we would still have prop planes instead of jets. Today we would be talking on 5 lbs. cell phones instead of the one that is in my shirt pocket. The model T that Ford first manufactured would have been what I went to work today in, instead of my air conditioned, stereo, cruise controlled, F-150 4x4. Notice that all of these things transformed the way the world did things, but there is always ways of doing them better.

Evolution is a word that has not been welcome in churches. Evolution is what every church, ministry and mission needs to embrace. It is simply finding a better way of doing something. The Church needs to reevaluate, tweak and refocus on a continuous basis.

Here are some thoughts that should be asked about "Church".

• Are we reaching people?
• Do we know who we are reaching?
• After we reach someone, what do we do with them?
• How could we do this more efficient?
• How could we do this better?
• Is our vision Crystal clear?
• Has our vision changed?
  
• Are we doing it the same way as five years ago? Why?
  
• What are the pink elephants in the room? (Things everyone is thinking, but everyone is ignoring)
• Can technology improve the way we do it?
• Can Volunteers have more of a responsibility, so leaders can free up and dream more?
• Can paid staff improve how we are doing things?
• Can we merge these ministries, thus doubling staff, resources and volunteers?
• Should this be taken out of its misery?
• Lets ask the right people the right questions and get the right answers.
• Is the wrong person in charge.

I am a fan of evolution in the church. I have been blessed with a first hand experience of the post modern evolution in the 21st century church. My life has been blessed because of the pastors who choose to be cutting edge in the world we live in. I am a product of church evolution. My spiritual growth is due to the passion of my spiritual leaders who choose to make the church a fascinating, technological, revolution where I have experienced revelation, anointing and fascination from the Call of God in my life. I choose to be a leader the way I was led, by asking one simple question, "How can I do this better?"

Rachel Jackson in Concert

Rachel Jackson and Band will be our guests This Sunday (10:00 am) and Monday (6:30pm)

Rachel's concert will be great. Invite a friend.

C3 conference (First Day)

Here we are are the Creative Church Conference. (Crill, Corina, Damitra, Cigi and Heather. Then you have me and two guys I just met from Arkansas)

We are ready to listen to Jensen Franklin. He is one of the most dynamic speaker/pastors around. Come back for sermon notes.

C3 conference 2009

I am giddy! Tomorrow the staff of Cowboy Junction Church and the department leaders head to Grapevine, Texas for the Creative Church Conference.

This the most people that we have ever brought to this conference (10). I will be posting and up date everyday on the conference so be sure to revisit this blog for great material.

This is by far my favorite conference because of the speaker lineup. The speakers are Ed Young Jr., Bishop T.D. Jakes, Tommy Barnett, Craig Grotchell, Jentzen Franklin and many more.

We also get to reconnect with old friends. The Rock Church staff and Pastor's Jeff and Melinda Knight always go. It will be fun to see them.

Check back for sermon notes, video posts and personal reports. Talk to you soon.

Compassion International reminder.

This is a reason I love our Church.

Our church is not afraid to fail.
(we don't like it, but were not afraid of it)

I see all the ministry past, present and future CJC does. One thing keeps coming up, "Wow, did we come up with that?" Some was good, some not so good. What were they?

The Bad things.

• Roping's at the ranch when we first got the place.(Summer Round Robin Roping's) The arena was to small, no announcer stand, no sound system, the arena was barely lit, cattle busted through bad fence, no computer to keep books, etc. Needless to say, "The worst roping I have ever been to."
• Sale Barn in the Summer and Winter. Though it was our beginning and all we had, it reached a limit for what we could do. By the way, do you remember our children's church and nursery at the sale barn? (an old restaurant and a closet) I look back and laugh.
  
• The Sermons. This is mine. Though you may disagree, this is my turn. They were to long, to hard, immature (from a young pastor) from a frustrated speaker, manipulative, done how I was taught to do them instead of how Jesus was telling me to do them, and many more to count.
• Lea County Championship Roping's. Now there is good and bad in this. I loved the LCCR. I was honored that CJC got to host them and carry it through its 50th anniversary. I hated the fact that in some ways we did a poor job hosting them. The prizes, the cattle, our organization and the fun we had is where we shined. However the tradition and citizenship is where we failed. We neglected some things that cost us some dear friendships. It bothers me to this day. It was an awesome opportunity for grace, but we still own this one.
  
• Neglecting People. I could not keep up with everyone as a one person staff. Because of it some people were neglected. For this I am truly sorry.
  
• The list of our mistakes could go on and on. ( If at any point you were hurt by one of these or one I did not mention, this is for you.) I humbly apologize. I am not perfect and I hope you can find a way to forgive me (Ty Bean) or Cowboy Junction Church.
  

So there you go. Wow! That was liberating. Is that it. No! That's the thing about our Cowboy Junction Church. Even though we have made BIG mistakes, we don't allow them to stop us. We learn and we get better. How? Let me show you.

The Good things:

• We stopped kicking a dead horse (pun intended). Instead of feeling like we're letting God down by continuing to put on crappy roping's, we ended it. We could have felt bad that we were a cowboy church with no roping, or we could develop a "spirit of excellence". We ended our roping until we could do them right. We even discussed the other day in the board meeting the need to finish our new arena. But first we need to take care of our kids and youth. WHAT DID WE LEARN? We are not afraid to end some ministries to excel in others.
• We step out in faith. The purchase of the ranch was a leap of faith. Attendance was down, offerings were low and we had no money for a down payment. We knew however, that if we did not step out when we did our church would never have an opportunity to grow. I ran across the county as a fund raiser so we could have enough money for our down payment. ($30,000 was raised) Our attitude was, "This might fail, but the risk is worth it." Today I am so glad we went for it.
• I feel like Jesus is talking to us. Okay, that was a weird way of saying, "The sermons have gotten better." I finally got free of some baggage I was carrying as a public speaker. The pressure to perform, the pressure to please, the pressure to carry ALL the needs of Cowboy Junction Church (finance, leadership, vision, etc). Because of the release, I feel like I am being the man God wants me to be. I wasn't afraid to own up and change. DISCLAIMER: Due to the nature of Ty Bean he might have momentary flare ups of his flesh. Please be aware that God is still working on him. He's slow, but worth waiting on.
  
• Cross your T's and dot your I's. Visionaries often have one tiny flaw, the details. One thing is definite at CJC, communication and consideration. Because of things like the LCCR, the staff of CJC have become sensitive to people. Recently our staff came up with a great idea to solve big problems we are having in our Kids Church. We were Soooooo excited. Immediately the wheels began to turn and the dates to start began to be thrown around. "March, we can start it in March", was the cry from one staff member. Then we paused. Though we were excited, we remembered that some communication with certain people must first take place. We have to be considerate of others and their ministries. We can't get ahead of ourselves because we have a good idea. Because of our failures with the LCCR we have become better leaders.
  
• To lead people we need people. This year our leadership agreed that, even though we needed to improve our buildings and facility, staff was more important. Beyond buildings, staff blesses individuals. We hired Cigi and immediately felt like we had made a great move. We then hired Jonsie Hicks as our church secretary, same result. Our staff now consists of myself, Heather, Cigi and Jonsie. Our new board consists of Crill Allen, Jeff Medlin and Larry Tuttle. Then we have also been blessed with a core group of volunteers and leadership in our "Mission Drift". I feel like we are filling in the gaps for our people. People do matter at Cowboy Junction Church.

There you have it. We are not afraid to fail. We don't like it, but were not afraid of it. Have patience with people, Gods working on them. They could be in the process of learning from their mistakes. If you get offended you just might not get to see them at their best, and benefit from it.

Wow! Where did I GO!

I lost all track of time. I have had my plate full and neglected my blog. I read some great posts on good blogging. The first rule of having your blog is to update it regularly. I dropped the ball this last week and a half.

Here's why.

1. Hudson had teeth surgery, Thursday, in Lubbock. (5 caps, 4 fillings and 1 root canal) Pretty tough on a three year old.

2. "Blessings" Equine Therapy Program is off and running well after Saturdays open House.
80 people came to our open house and several thousand dollars came in. Congratulations Corina.

3. Our Series "Core" continued Sunday and Monday. Apple covered three core words we believe at CJC. (Generosity, Creativity and Relationships) These are the seed and harvest words in our life. You can listen to it by clicking here.

4. Tuesday was staff meeting day. We covered many subjects, but one took most of the day. (Kids Church) Cigi came up with a great idea. This is by far the best idea that had ever been given in regards to Kids Church. I wish I could tell you, however we need to go through the proper channels of communication before we move. This change is less stress on our volunteers, involves a new location solving the growth problem and exciting for our Kids. If I was a Kid this would Soooooo be my Kids church. Needless to say, the CJC staff is extremely excited.

5. Today - Brady is home sick. We are getting ready for the VALENTINES BANQUET TONIGHT! Just a friendly reminder.

6. Thursday -The staff is shooting video on a new series coming in March called "MY LIFE".

7. Friday - Getting sermon ready for Sunday. "Heart" will be the third message in our series.

Busy, Busy, Busy - Love it. However, not to busy to keep in priority the things that are important.

Weekend Reflection

• I got in from The Young Pro Friday. It was good to be home. The camp was a hit and I can't wait until next year. "Ata Boys" to all the volunteers, professional ropers, pastors, and students.
• I love it when the Enriquezs get to come and lead worship for us. Casey, you did a great job and you are always welcome here.
  
• Sunday morning was a hit with new series "Core".
• The first message for our core word was "Lava". This message covered the three core words that represent the foundation of CJC. These words are revelation, faith and prayer. Make sure you take advantage of our podcast and down load this message for free.
• Thanks to Cigi for all the hard work that went into putting this message together.
• "SUPER BOWL" was a great game to watch. What a game! Congratulations to the Pittsburgh Steelers.
  
• The Super Bowl party was a blast. It is great to be with friends.
• Thanks to the NFL for allowing churches to broadcast the Super Bowl in a public venue this year. Did you know that prior to this year it was illegal to view the Super Bowl at Church's or public venues.
• Thanks to Hadley Howe for selling the best sandwich I have ever ate. If you did not buy one of Had's sandwich you missed out.
• A big thanks goes to Dimitra Selman for being the new volunteer in the sound booth for Monday nights.
• Thanks to Adam Bryant for leading worship Monday night. You did a great job. Good to have you back.
• We ran out of time Monday night and so we skipped communion. Cigi and the youth group wanted to do Communion any way so... they had their own private communion service. Too cool.

More from the Young Pro Team Roping Camp

Young Pro Team Roping Camp

This week I am in Graham Tx. for the Young Pro Team Roping Camp. This is one of my favorite camps that I have the honor of being invited to speak.

What is the Young Pro? In the NBA and the NFL they take the rookies and spend a week preparing them for the pressures and temptations related to the field of work they are going into. This is the same principle with a different foundation, Jesus. The entire camp is biblical based and spirit filled. YPTRC covers rodeo subjects such as finances, relationships, horsemanship, sponsorship and professional clinicians. Then it covers spiritual subjects such as choices, dating and successful marriage, following Christ and living a spirit filled life.

A lot of the National Finals Rodeo team roping contestants are here. Ropers like Clay O'Brian Cooper, Rickey Green, Clay Tryan, Travis Tryan, Allen Bach, Caesar Delacruz, Rope Myers and many more.

There is also great spiritual directors here also. Pastors like Randy Weaver, Trey Johnson, Tom Underhill, Me and others.

Today I will talk to the students about dating and marriage. I talked on this subject 10 years ago, and they have asked me to speak on it every year since. This group of young men and women are more mature than most people their age. They are hungry for both rodeo direction and spiritual direction.

I also have a side agenda. My friend Zack Burkett lives here and owns a hunting ranch 12 miles from the arena. Soooooooooooo! I might go deer hunting on my time off. "Through me in that Brier patch." More to come!

The 248 Ghosts in Walmart

My trip to Walmart recently started off business as usual. I was not excited, in the least, about going. Heather had to pick up a few things and some of them were heavy so I went to help out.

I was tending to my own business when I could sense, "them","The Others", "Ghosts", "I see dead people", ok, ok enough with the ad lids. It was as if I knew there were people, but I just did not see them. Have you ever had that experience at Walmart, so many people you just don't notice them anymore? Let me go on.

I probably would have got in and got out that day if it was not for the way my day had started. I specifically prayed for people that morning. People in Lea County, people in our community, people in our neighborhood, people to come to our church. Then I found myself in the middle of Walmart not caring about..."people".

I had a thought. I would start my Walmart trip over again, and count every person I see. I went back to the front doors of Walmart and started to count every person who I ran into. 4,5,6,7.23.24.25...109,110,111. The counting continued right up to the time we checked out and walked out the doors. How many do you think I counted in a 1/2 hour visit to Wally World? 250 faces that I would have never noticed. However there was another shocking numerical fact. Out of 250 people I only knew 2.

If you know me you know I like people. I am a friendly guy, good natured, kind, even loving. This quick census made me really evaluate a side of me I am not to comfortable examining. I remember my reaction to some folk, now forced to look at them. I had no desire to even know them. There were others who I would notice based just on how they look or dress.

What would be your reaction if a random trip to Walmart would show that you only knew 5% of the most visited place in your community? Questions came to mind. Am I stuck up, a snob? Am I raciest or maybe just racial? Prideful, arrogant or self-centered might be a way to describe you.

My conclusion, YES and NO. The thing is, this is how all of us can be described. Its when we get an opportunity to self evaluate our lives we become the people we really want to be.

Here are a few ways to help in this area.
1. Walk with your eyes open.
The guy doing 45 in a 65 is not a Ghost. He is actually a bad driver who has problems of his own. He is a "people" you prayed for this morning.
2.Enlarge your circle of Love.
This might even include people who don't share the same beliefs as you. They are still "people" you prayed for this morning.
3.We can't help everybody, but one person can make a difference. Number 16:48
Story: An old man was walking along the ocean beach noticing the millions of starfish that had washed up on the shore from the storm the night before. He thought how sad it was that the starfish were unable to get back into the water and now was ding due to the hot sun. Then he noticed a little boy picking up Starfish and throwing them as far as he could back into the ocean. One by one he would through them back into the ocean. The old man grouchy said to the boy, "Young man, there are to many of them. How could you ever make a difference?" The young boy reached down and picked up another starfish, rared back and through it as far as he could back into the ocean. The boy then looked at the old man and said, "I made a difference for that one." The old man picked up a starfish and through it back into the ocean.

Weekend Reflection

This was an amazing week.

*First I thought that the MISSION DRIFT was a success. The ministry heads shared their vision and new ideas. Way to go everyone. You had some great "idears".
*Cigi and I were able to rebuild the sound booth. We made it more work friendly. I really appreciate our sound people. Cigi, Mike, Ray D., Abby and Loray do a great job backing me up on my sermons.
*"Blessings" has heaters! Well they are hanging at least. Bill Gray and the RR pipe crew are hard at work getting gas and electricity to the heaters so we can get some heat.
Blessings is also pinking away. Every Friday at (9:00 am) were having a blast with "Blessings Kids" come help.
*NMJC RODEO TEAM was out and lending a hand at blessings Friday. They are also exercising the horses on the weekdays.
*SUNDAY MORNING SERVICE was over 100 people. 103 to be exact.
*MONDAY SERVICE had a low adult crowd, but Cigi had a big crowd for youth group. Cigi and I have a running joke. If the Youth out number out Adult Monday night group they get the church and the adults get the house. We will see.
*Thanks to Crill for filling in the sound booth Monday night. Good to have Charlie P. back ushering. He has been gone for a job he was doing. Kacey did a great job leading worship. Thanks for the commitment K. Mark and Roan got a new greeting system working. Team Work makes the Dream Work.
*Tuesday morning - Just got through praying for our church. Every time I leave the Tuesday prayer I leave with an energy for what God is doing. SO PROUD OF OUR CHURCH!

Mission Drift tonight!!!!

2009- Tonight is the first "Mission Drift" for the 2009 year.

I get the question all the time. "What do you guys need us to do?" That question is so much easier to answer at a Mission Drift.
If you are a new person at CJC this meeting is a must.
If you have any desire to get involved this meeting is a must.
If your clueless on how CJC operates this meeting is a must.
If you have attended CJC from its very inception this meeting is a must.
If you have no desire to live for Jesus, tell His story, love our world and make a difference
you might want to stay home.

Food will be provided. (Kendals BBQ)
Starts - 5:30pm
Ends - 7:00pm - (We will be respecful of your time)

Cya Tonight

A peek at our new website.

Here at the offices of COWBOY JUNCTION CHURCH we are hard at work providing our members and seekers the Gospel in a creative and unique way.

(however) Have you ever had one of those projects that is the kingpin that messes all your other projects up? CJC is not prone to theses encounters. Our website "is" something to be proud of. It has podcast, videos, up to date calenders, media, photo gallery, up coming events, etc..., but one little thing is messing it up. Our deepest apologies.

(however) We would like to give you a little taste of our new website. Here is the welcome video that we have completed. I think it does a pretty good job describing CJC, in one minute.