David Whiting Live

Top 10 Most Common New Year's Resolutions People Make

Here are the most common New Year's Resolutions...

10. Become a better person
9. Eat better
8. Be more patient with others
7. Exercise more
6. Become more organized
5. Find a better job
4. Save or earn more money
3. Stick to the budget
2. Stop smoking
1. Lose weight

I know many hate New Year's Resolutions.  I love them.  I love fresh starts. I haven't yet come up with my New Year's Resolutions, but I will take some time on January 1 to do so...  I like to think of my goals in terms of my roles (Christ-follower, husband, father, pastor, friend) and attempt to have one goal for each of those "categories." If I have more than one goal per role - I get overwhelmed and it usually guarantees failure, and I don't need to feel like a bigger failure. So I prefer to set some realistic goals that (by God's grace) I can meet.

I pray that this new year finds you growing closer to God, more intentionally loving your family, and living in the reality of cross of Christ!

Update on Jud and a few random thoughts...

Most of you know that Jud is in a hospital in Orlando.  I flew down Sunday afternoon to be with him and Andrea.  Here are some updates and random thoughts...

• Jud was alert today (Monday) and looking pretty good. The nurses kept saying, "You look so much better!"  Jud was telling the nurses that I am his brother... 
• Until today - they had a nurse sitting in the room with him 24 hours a day!  Today it was just Andrea, Megan, and me... so they must think he's doing MUCH better.  Soon after I got there - an infectious disease physician came in and talked to Jud & Andrea. It seems that it is a strainn of pneumonia and they have figured out the particular combo of meds that should clear it up.  Jud is very weak and was just taken off oxygen today.  He has gotten up Sunday and Monday to walk the hallway using a walker.  So I expect his recovery to take a couple of weeks (or more), but I do expect to see him back to his old self again before too long. I'm so glad I went down to spend some time with my good friend and colleague. 
• I was able to sit with Jud to relieve Andrea and Megan, and let them go enjoy Orlando on Monday afternoon.  I think Jud enjoyed "talking shop" and not all about his health for a couple of hours. 
• I mentioned on Sunday morning that I found a flight, but there were no rental cards available... I did find one rental car for $250 per day!! During the third service on Sunday I remembered that we have friends who own a vacation home in Orlando.  I remember that eight years ago they had talked about leaving a car at the house so they wouldn't have to rent one each time they flew down from Harrisburg.  I hadn't called their home phone in eights years... but God brought their phone number to my mind and so I called and left a message.  They called me back and told me that I could use their car!!  So when I landed, I hopped on a taxi, went to their house (13 miles from the airport) and found their hidden key and took the car. One other cool thing that God worked out is that they are flying down to Orlando on Tuesday - so instead of returning the car to the house  and getting another taxi - I left the car in long term parking and they will pick it up there on Tuesday morning!

Random thoughts...

• I told Sue if I ever get sick - to take me to the hospital in Celebration, Florida. It feels more like a resort than a hospital!
• I love priceline.com!  I got a very nice hotel for $51.  It was the Hyatt Regency right at the Orlando airport. If you ever fly into Orlando - when you get off of your plane, you get on a tram to get your luggage. As soon as you get off the tram - you walk into a "shopping" area.  If you look up - that is the Hyatt Regency right in the "lobby" of the airport.  It was a VERY nice hotel for $51!!  I'd stay there anytime.
• WAY TO GO NORTH!  I was told today that we are giving somewhere near $2000 of gift cards to the Nelsons!!  When I heard that news - I couldn't quit smiling.  Thanks for showering Mark and Gretchen with love.  Sometimes the larger a church gets - the harder it is to do these kinds of projects. When a church is small - everyone follows through.  When it is larger - everyone assumes that everyone else will follow through.  Thanks for acting like a small church - even as we continue to grow larger!
• My flight down on Sunday was memorable. It was a direct flight to Orlando. If you remember the wind was REALLY blowing on Sunday.  That made for a very intense take-off and first few minutes of flight. The hispanic woman sitting next to me was not enjoying it one bit. She went from grabbing the arm rests to grabbing me. And since I don't know Spanish, I don't know if she was praying or swearing, but I kept smiling and telling her it will be fine. I don't think there is any brusing on my thigh, but I will check again later. In front of us sat a young boy with some learning "challenges" (or at least it seemed).  He took pretzels off my tray and kept me laughing.  He LOVED the take-off and kept laughing and clapping. I'm sure it was more exciting than any ride he will take at Disney this week.  He also kept grabbing my hands and my book...  He wasn't annoying at all.  He was adorable.  I couldn't resist taking this picture...                                                                             

• I didn't get as much work done on the 3-hour flight as I would have liked to, but it was worth it. Dillon was a fun flying companion.

I'll be back at the office on Tuesday.  I hope all of this made sense...

Merry Christmas

Have a great Christmas! I loved the Christmas Eve services tonight!  They were great!  It was our first time having two services and it is good that we did. We wouldn't have fit in one service!

Don't forget Sunday is your last day to bring in the gift cards for the Nelsons!  We are hoping to get a lot in this Sunday.  We'll see you then.  We head out to Cleveland on Christmas afternoon to see my side of the family.  My parents and both siblings will be at my brother's house.  I'm looking forward to it.

I trust you are able to marvel today that He was pleased as man with men to dwell.

MERRY CHRISTMAS from our entire family to yours!

Gift Cards for Nelsons

I want to remind the North family that we are attempting to help the Nelsons get started in Rochester through a bunch of gift cards. We want to welcome our new youth pastor and family to our church and to our city. So we have been asking as many families as possible to purchase gifts cards for the Nelsons. I would encourage us to focus on Wegmans and Walmart gift cards, but maybe you have a favorite restaurant that you really want them to try out. Maybe your family could afford a $10, maybe $20, or maybe $50.

Could you please purchase your card (please make it anonymous so they don't have to write a hundred thank you notes) and place it in the offering plate or in the box in the back. Please turn in your card by December 28th. 

The Nelsons came into town on Tuesday and left Thursday afternoon.  They will be back (for good) on Monday, December 29th. They are headed to visit family for the next ten or eleven days.

We have two more Sundays to get our cards in.  Thanks for participating! The Bixbys were really blessed by our generosity three years ago.

Why We Don't Do Cantatas

Today at lunch someone asked me if we had a Christmas cantata this Sunday. When I told him 'no' - he almost seemed surprised. Let me explain our philosophy of holiday Sundays.

This Sunday at North will feel much like a "normal" Sunday at North. There will be some "extras" - but not too many. We want this Sunday to feel very similar to every other Sunday at North.  Here are the reasons:

• We don't want someone to get invited to a special Sunday, be impressed, then come the next week and have it be TOTALLY different. It would feel like a "bait and switch."
• We think however you "win" people is how you best "keep" people.  If someone is attracted to God and His Gospel through our "normal" preaching and singing - then they will most likely stay around when the holiday is over.  But if someone is attracted to God and His Gospel through church softball, large outreach events, or cantatas - they rarely "stick" when it comes to long-term discipleship. We want to "win" people in the same way that we "keep" people. 
• Most church cantatas I've seen only impress "insiders." Especially on Sundays where more visitors will likely attend, we want to be sure that we are thinking about how "outsiders" may hear and see something (1 Corinthians 14:23 seems to indicate we should at least consider this). We have a culture with Hollywood expectations showing up in a church that often is as easily pleased as parents attending their elementary child's piano recital. It's only parents that love piano recitals. And it is only insiders who love cantatas.

So - this Sunday... I've approached my sermon prep just like every other week.  The goal is the same. The target is the same. It will be very similar to any other Sunday at North --- with a couple of bonuses (I'll let you surprised). My favorite "bonus" is a video of many of children at church answering the question, "What do you hope to get for Christmas?"  It is REALLY cute.

For North "insiders" - I hope this encourages you to invite even more people. And I hope it explains why we choose to not do Easter or Christmas plays or cantatas. We don't think they best serve our purpose.

A Smile, Some Coffee, and Christ

I heard the most unbelievable story last Sunday (12/7/08) that I thought I'd share with you...  If I didn't hear the story myself - I probably wouldn't believe it.

A gentleman showed up at church on Sunday and happened to run into Scott. Scott asked him how he heard about North and his answer was such a blessing. He said that he was on his way to work on Sunday morning and stopped for a cup of coffee (I'm not sure where).  If I understood the story right - this man was a regular customer and the woman who served him was always smiling. Somehow, through previous conversations, he knew that she went to church. 

Last Sunday he decided that he needed more of God in his life (what he told Scott) so he talked to the smiling coffee server and asked her where she went to church. The woman answered, "North Baptist Church." So - instead of going to work - he drove straight to North and came to one of our services last Sunday.  How cool is that?

It is true that a fruit of the Spirit is JOY, and it seems to me that we see too little of that particular fruit.

And, by the way, I have NO IDEA who the woman is.  But I am thankful to God for her.

Sunday Reflections

I originally wrote this last Sunday, but it didn't get sent out from the blog... So this is coming to you a week late... (originally written 12/7/08)...

Here are some things I've been thinking since Sunday...

SUNDAY AM:

• Sunday morning's message connected with more people than I expected. I prayed with quite a few people. I'm so thankful when I feel burdened to talk about something and it hits the mark. Talking about such a heavy topic in December made me think twice, but I really felt it was the right thing to do.  I'm glad I listened to God's leading on this one.
• One person approached me to pray - not because spears are being thrown at them, but because they have been doing the spear-throwing.  I love when God's Spirit convicts in an area I wasn't even preaching on!
• I love hearing the church sing "Jesus Messiah" - awesome song. It's the perfect Christmas song!

SUNDAY PM:

• Sunday night's Vertical Worship was amazing! My wife thinks it was the best one she can remember.  The official count was 351 people.  That is incredible; we only seat 330 in there.  Of the 351 - 17 of them were in the nursery - so we had 334 in the worship center.  Even though it was tight - it was an amazing atmosphere. Sue and I were talking about how different it was from the Sunday night services we remember growing up... A TON of empty seats and more duty-driven attendance than passion and excitement. 
• The last two Vertical Worship services have been over 300 people (which is a good thing).  If we keep that up - we will have to come up with a different option! I can't imagine doing 3 AM services and 2 PM services!!
• We added 55 new members Sunday night! 55! That is unbelievable!! Do you know when North started 120 years ago - there were 29 members?  We added almost double that amount in one night!
• Six people from my small group became members!!  Welcome Doug & Lori, Bill & Sharon, and Mike & Wendy!  I love being in our small group with you!!!
• Baptisms like we saw last night can turn me into a crybaby. I LOVE them.  It really is what it is all about! The Perez kids will always remember the day their dad baptized them. I also love that Josh Rene was able to baptize his fiance. What a cool memory! They will tell their kids about that one. I'm just getting to know Josh Horn, but he already has been an encouragement to me through comment on my blog. To have his wife baptize him is one of the coolest things I've seen in a while. Finally, Ana getting baptized was awesome too! I only heard her story for the first time Sunday afternoon. Apparently she started attending during my sabbatical and then trusted Christ the first Sunday I was back from my sabbatical - and not because of the preaching, but because of the worship music and observing the worshippers!  I LOVE IT!!  It is Psalm 40:3 live and in action!!

OTHER THOUGHTS:

• My wife and two daughters are sick (on Monday)... Some type of flu bug. I hate that! I especially hate my wife being sick. She is SuperWoman - we dont' know what to do when she's sick. Ali and Morgan missed school Monday.  Emily and I feel great!! (Emily was sick Saturday; my turn is probably coming.)
• The Nelson's are moving into town next Tuesday!  They will be in and out of town until the end of the year, but it will be cool to have them here!
• We had friends in town for a job interview. How cool would that be if they moved here!! (I know you don't know them - so you don't really care, but I DO!!)

This Sunday... don't miss it

This Sunday is going to be a great day.  I hope you don't miss it.

Sunday Morning:

• I am beginning a series called "Follow That Leader" - I mentioned it in a blog a couple of days ago. As I continue working on the message - I'm very excited about how God might use it in people's lives that are in an unfair situation in life.
• We begin singing some Christmas songs this week.  This Sunday - we will be 18 days until Christmas!

Sunday Night - Vertical Worship (monthly Sunday night worship event):

• BAPTISMS - It is always a highlight when we baptize people. This is the time they are "going public" with their faith in Christ. I love to have large crowds there to celebrate and support them in their public declaration of faith in Christ.
• THE LORD'S TABLE - We are commanded to do this as a body until Jesus returns (1 Corinthians 11:21-26). As part of the body of Christ at North, you should join us as we obey Christ's command.
• MEMBERSHIP - We are adding many new members (probably more than we've ever added at one time). Come and celebrate our newest members. I'm guessing there are over 50 (maybe even 60 new members)
• EXTENDED WORSHIP SINGING: This is an opportunity for more singing than we have time for on Sunday mornings.  I love it!

I LOVE Sundays at North!  I hope you do too!

Construction Photo

Part of the roof of our current building was removed. They were going to cover the windows (on the inside) because of how easily they can break during construction, but we've managed to put that off for a short period of time.

There is a lot happening this week.  It should look different on Sunday!  They were on the roof until after dark last night.

Follow THAT Leader?!?

This Sunday I am beginning a two-week series called "Follow THAT Leader?!?!?"  The reality is that all of us live under authority (boss, ministry leader, husband, pastor, police officer). And most of us (at times) - don't think our leader is worth following.  So if God commands us to live under authority - how are we to do that when our leader isn't a leader worth following? That is what we will talk about the next two weeks.

Do you know anyone who is in a tough situation in life?  Do you know of someone who is under the control of another person who mistreats them? Do you know of someone who is being affected by the terrible choices of another person in their life? This series might be a perfect opportunity for you to invite them. It just might be one of the weeks where your guest will say, "I felt like he was talking right to me!" (You just might say it too.)

Pray - Invest - Invite!!  Who are you praying for? Who have you been investing in? Who will you invite this Sunday?