Top 10 Events in 2008 for Life Pointe Church
- Finally sold our church building, which was the end of a 4-year church relaunching process.
- Had the most ridiculous Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt…middle of the night at Harris Field with roughly 9,000 of our closest friends…no one was killed or permanently lost.
- Had an Easter attendance of 720 people, almost triple the size of our church at that moment.
- Got kicked out of Bayfront Park for being “religiously offensive” when we baptized people.
- Received an invitation to baptize people at Bayfront again.
- Given a debt-free church building and a house on Plantation Key and launched Life Pointe Church – Plantation Key 7 weeks later with 127 people and became one church in two locations with four services.
- Had Chris Goins, Grant McClung, Tom Sterbens, and Bill Wilson as guest speakers…all spoke directly into our lives and challenged us to be more aggressive in our relationship with Jesus and one another.
- In December, we will have raised well over $20,000 for global missions during a brutal economy.
- Recorded an album that will raise $500,000 to significantly advance the Gospel in Cambodia.
- Most importantly, the year-long event of worshiping a revolutionary Jesus with some of the greatest people on the planet!
LPC-Plantation Key: Who We Are & Aren’t
Life Pointe Church – Plantation Key is already turning into a really great campus with some really decent folks.
The feedback we’ve gotten from Sunday has been very good. Some people have jumped in with both feet. Others are understandably sitting on the sideline checking things out. Some are well wishers. Some have been waiting for this for their whole lives (and didn’t know it). Some people are watching to see if we’re for real, if we’re going to last, etc… Yep. We are. We’re in it for the long haul…no matter what the cost.
That’s who we are. Here are some things we are not though:
- Perfect. If we were, we wouldn’t be in the “church business.” Because we aren’t perfect, we desperately need Jesus and understand that the world is in the same boat with us…in need of a Savior.
- Always prepared. We are always ready. But, we’re never fully prepared. God looks at our availability and asks, “Will you go?” We always want to respond with an affirmative.
- Spineless. We are who we are. If you don’t like it, then tough. Honestly, I don’t want a bunch of people whose spiritual gift is criticism on board. I’ll tell you upfront to take a hike. We are not the church for everyone. Unfortunately, I’ve gotten a couple comments that people won’t come here because we have a staff member that is a minority. Man, that’s asinine. I won’t say anything beyond that…though I’d like to. We don’t stand for everything. But, we will take a stand and draw lines in the sand. We’ll fight for the mission of Jesus all day long.
- Reserved. Everything we do is fairly in your face. We intentionally try to shake things up…not for the shock factor. But, because I believe the American Church is largely complacent. We have more Biblical knowledge than what we put into action. I don’t like that…want to personally turn that upside down.
- Anonymous. We’ll let you sneak in and “watch” for a while. But, Jesus came to serve. He calls us to serve. So, if you hang out at Life Pointe long enough, you’ll be asked to get in the game somewhere and somehow.
- Boring. We love to have fun. The Gospel of Jesus is invigorating. It changes lives. We’re going to push the limits of what is normal. Whether that is a 9,000 person Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt, a Christian Metal/Screamo Concert, getting kicked out of public parks after Baptizing close to 200 people at the Beach, or a primary church service on Sunday night, church in a movie theater (Homestead), or a hope to make it “Hard for people to go to hell from S. Florida,” we’re going to take a swing at it.
So, we are who we are and we make no apologies for it. People who are curious about Jesus and would like a church experience that cuts through the Bull will fit right in.
Sunday Wrap-up: 3 service launch edition
- Check out the slideshow of today’s pics.
- First of all, our volunteers are amazing. I’m blown away by the high commitment level and the consistent service. You guys are seriously incredible for arriving early, serving passionately, and staying late.
- Chris, Bill, Kelly, Alex, Ritz, Phil, and some of the other LPC bloggers listed on the left-hand side have their own wrap-ups posted. Check them out.
- We had a good response to the Haiti Hurricane Relief project. The Cure is rockin’ the Blood Water Mission to provide 1,000 people in Africa clean drinking water for a year…great stuff….very proud of them.
- Leading up to any BIG DAY, I have angst…nervous angst. I wonder, “Will anyone show up?” Weird.
- I had the same feeling leading up to our Easter Egg Hunt too. 6,500 more people than we were prepared for showed up.
- Well, the launch of our 3rd service went really well. Attendance was distributed very evenly (8:30 am=173, 9:45 am=179, 11 am=174) for a total of 526.
- We’ll probably never see that even distribution again…but, I sure would like to. To everyone that punched the easy button and made the 8:30 home, I have to say that you guys are half way decent in my eyes.
- If we can keep the same ratio, we will be good in the theater with up to around 770 people before having to make our next move (either a second location, new location, or a 4th service in another auditorium, which would begin to present issues with our children’s venues)
- We also closed out our 4-week life group registration today (we’ll still take stragglers) with 290 people in groups.
- This is an important number to us. Butts in seats on Sunday means little if next steps aren’t being taken. Being a part of life group is a big next step in your growth process. And, it is measurable. We can measure the spiritual temperature to a degree by looking at this number.
- We tackled Habakkuk chapter 1 today and began the back and forth grip session Habakkuk had with God where Habakkuk asked God “why He was so unfair sometimes.”
- One person mentioned to me that they “had forgiven God earlier in the week” for something that had happened to them earlier in life. I think that captures the heart of Habakkuk.
- Bottom line? Simultaneous Faith and Questions are appropriate parts of the life of a follower of Jesus.
- After service, I walked down to the Kids Life areas to show my cousin around. She couldn’t believe all that goes on in our theater on Sundays.
- Sometimes you are so close to things that you don’t see them like other people do. It really is quite amazing what the Kids Life team does each week.
- Well, after this morning, I am ready to retire. I’m going home to see my honey and watch my fantasy football teams run up the score on this guy and this guy…even though Tom Brady broke a leg and had to be put down.
HABAKKUK WEEK 1: message notes – audio – video
Sunday Wrap-up
- Chris has the scoop on today. The rest of the gang is MIA so far.
- Me? I woke up at 4 am to hit the office this morning because I would be fielding questions on the fly via text message and I was a bit anxious.
- While I was sitting in my office for a few hours, I tweaked my message and added some images that were dropped in on Media at the last second.
- They handled it like champs and we were off to the races.
- The 9 AM crowd was awesome…larger than our church was one year ago.
- A lot of people made the move to the 9 last week. More people made a commitment to move this week too!
- During the music set/communion, I sat down and felt overwhelmed by the sacrifice Jesus made. It felt very real today.
- Jesse is having too much fun leading worship.
- He’s also going through guitar strings like they’re water.
- If he keeps it up, we might have to refer to him as “Edwards Scissor Hands.”
- I kicked off “Got Funk? Religion for People with Junk in the Trunk.” We’re studying the Book of Philippians. I loved it.
- I wanted to read Acts 16 which is the story of the founding of the Church at Philippi with everyone. We just didn’t have the time.
- Read it now. It will help you out for next Sunday.
- During the 10:30, in an off-the-cuff moment, I said, “I’d rather have a bottle in front of me than a frontal lobotomy.”
- That led to the first text messaged question, “What’s a frontal lobotomy?” Deeply spiritual, I know.
- Relieved I didn’t have to field a questions about flying monkeys, I answered it.
- The rest of the questions were really great…felt like we interacted and people opened up.
- Some of the questions came out of a desire to know more. Some came out of a real need they were experiencing.
- I can see this is going to develop my prayer life.
- After service, I met a ton of people, including some old friends from college, Nathan and Stephanie Bradfield. That was really great. They should live here.
- I was also blown away by how many people I was ferrying to meet Alex about The Cure student ministry.
- I love how The Cure is developing…proud of Alex.
- After church and lunch, I hit the office to write some notes to our guests. I haven’t written this many notes since Easter…not bad for the first day of summer.
- It makes sense though. Our crowd was bigger today than it has been on any other day besides Easter following our massive roughly 9,000 person Egg Hunt when we had over 700 people.
- People are inviting their friends like mad.
- Lives are being changed. People are choosing to follow Christ!
- That’s what its all about.
Sunday Wrap-up
- Some of the guys have been beating me to the punch on Sunday Wrap-ups with their 2.0 versions of the original: Chris (Sunday Tossed Salad), Phil (Sunday Talk Soup), Ritz (Sunday Goosfaba).
- I really enjoyed service this morning. Kelly and I sat together at the 10:30. She’s usually in the 9 AM. I feel like a million bucks when she’s around.
- Jesse led worship today through a new sound system…awesome. I’m talking about the worship set. The speakers sounded great too.
- We talked about Mary and why she needed to be a virgin, the prophecies, the history, and what that means for our faith. (Gen. 3:15, Isaiah 7:14, 9:6-7, Mat. 1, Luke 1)
- Once our new website is up, we’ll have our outlines and worship guides posted weekly…and I’ll link to them in the Sunday Wrap-up.
- We should begin sharing the video of our services on Vimeo starting this week. It’s a one camera stationary shot for now.
- After service, I found out that 3 different people that have grown close to us are moving overseas. That really stinks. If anyone knows of a really good church in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, let me know.
- Every week, someone introduces me to their parents who have started coming to church with them. That’s significant.
- After church, about 40 adults and their offspring came over to our house for pizza, and a debrief on the Egg Hunt.
- The first guy that arrived was Tom. First words, “Is there anything I need to setup?” That’s how you know that you are a portable church AND that you are surrounded by “salt of the earth” guys. This is the same guy that worked all Friday at our Egg Hunt, all day Saturday night up until the beginning of the Sunday morning Easter service to get our lighting install completed!
- The debrief was great.
- We brought our thoughts out and made some good headway toward a very successful event next year.
- I’m proud of Paul and Annie for all of the hard work they put into a fantastic event.
Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt 2008 VIDEO
While the video fails to fully capture some of the more intense moments…specifically on field 3, it gives you an idea of the vibe. The first egg hunt didn’t begin until 7:45. By 6 PM, there were a couple thick lines wrapping around the ball fields…mucho fun, mega chaos, pure craziness. Let’s do it again.
Care to Enjoy Another Easter Egg Hunt Story?
Gary speaks. Listen. And, in doing so, know that our egg hunt at between 7-9,000 people was not the largest. Nor, was it the most chaotic…even though a guy who looked like he just escaped from San Quentin told me he was going to rip my #$%^ing lungs out of my chest during the third egg hunt. There was no police detective waiting for me at the office this morning either. I think you’ll enjoy Gary’s unfolding story and feel warm and cuddly inside over how ours went.
Think we’re doing another egg hunt next year? Yep. The MEGA PRIZE? I think we’ll be giving away a new car. I’m not sure which dealership wants to throw their hat in with us and be our major sponsor but, one will. We’re going to rock the Sports Complex on 7 fields, dozens of bounce houses, piles of food, and a massive concert. Can’t wait.
Sunday Wrap-Up – Easter Weekend
- I’m getting ready to take our staff out for dinner to say thanks for all they did this weekend. So, this is fast. If you’d like to see a few of the pics that have been uploaded so far, you can here.
- We have incredible volunteers. They’re my friends. I feel like we charged hell together this weekend with squirt guns. I wish I could give them a massive hug and high five. They were unbelievably amazing!
- Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt = 7,000-9,000 crazy folks put up with us. We were expecting 2-4,500. Instead we got a Miami Heat basketball crowd.
- During the middle of the event, the bar for success shifted from how many showed up to the fact that no one was stabbed, injured, went permanently missing, or threw punches.
- Only one ambulance came to Harris Field…for a pregnant woman. If you were on the third Easter Egg Hunt, you know how big of a miracle that was.
- For whatever reason, after Friday night, they were crazy enough to come hang with us at church!
- A ton of people made decisions to follow Christ. The picnic and water baptism is on April 13th…HUGE PARTY as a lot of these guys go public with their faith.
- In the last two years, we’ve had just over 200 people obey Christ’s example by being baptized…a significant step!
- Today, we had around 720 people in 3 services @ Life Pointe as we talked about the humanity of Jesus.
- I can’t even begin to tell you all of the things that took place this weekend. There were about 6 guys that were at the theater all night doing the install of our permanent lighting…right up until 8:30 AM. That’s how we roll.
- We took communion to this vid.
- I feel like the Kingdom of God was expanded in Homestead….humbled to be a part of what God is doing on the earth.
- I feel privileged to be a participant with some of the most wonderful humans I’ve ever known…totally feel like we’ve bonded this weekend.
- For more Sunday Wrap-ups from different perspectives around Life Pointe, check out what Chris and Phil had to say.
Egg Wrap
The city did the Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt last year and had about 2,000 people. We took over the event this year and prepared for 4,000-4,500 on the high end. We had close to double that show up…around 8-9,000. Our officer on the event said that on the very lowest side, there were 7,000…probably 9,000.
Things were good. The music was amazing. Our volunteers worked incredibly hard (these are wonderful, wonderful people). Still, we have a lot to learn…especially, when the equivalent of a Miami Heat game crowd shows up. Two of the four hunts had some challenges that will be fixed next year…specifically related to the volume of people Our crew left Harris Field spotless in a matter of minutes, a testament to their excellence!
To the parents that came tonight, I want to say it was an honor to have you and your family participate. Thank you for your help good spirits. I love this community a ton and want it to be one of the best places a person can live. I’d love to hear from you personally and find out a bit about you. So, email me. I’d love to hear your thoughts.
I spoke with some people from the city this evening at the Hunt. There is a good possibility we will be doing this jointly with the city next year at the Sports Complex. That will help with the parking, logistics, space, and the actual hunts.
And, since this is probably my last post on my blog (maybe) until after our Easter services, I’d like to invite you to one of Life Pointe Church’s three services on Easter at 8:30, 9:40, or 10:50 am at Flagship Cinemas (Turnpike and Campbell Dr). We’ll be kicking off a new message series called, “Simply Jesus.” The 8:30 am service is brand new and will have the best seats available. During the 9:40 AM service, we’ll be having our monthly service for teens called TheCURE.
Childcare and children’s services are provided in every service. You should have no problem getting in and out. We have tons of parking…unless everyone at the Egg Hunt comes to church.
Anyway, we’re going to have an amazing time celebrating the most incredible moment in history- the day Christ was resurrected. In one moment, He brought forgiveness, life, and an eternal hope to each of us that will receive it, regardless of where we’ve come from, who we are, or what we’ve done!…hope to see you there.
God for this Moment
On Easter Sunday, we go into a new message series called “Simply Jesus” at Life Pointe Church at 8:30, 9:40, and 10:50 AM.
Between now and then, there are a thousand things happening including a lighting install at our theater, a sound system upgrade, and a Huge Easter Egg Hunt. Then, on Easter, we launch a third service plus TheCure, our youth service for a total of 4 worship environments. There is a lot to do by a lot of exceptional, hard charging people. They’ve been praying, are in place, and they’ll pull of some amazing stuff in our busiest weekend ever.
In just a bit, I’ll retreat to a quiet place, clear my mind and get ready for a powerful intersection, a collision between God and man…a meeting that God has ordained a long time ago. We emphasize service to our neighbors (work). I’d like to stop and rest and reflect on the massive sacrifice Christ made for the people of this moment.
I’d like to emphasize quiet hope in a resurrected revolutionary Christ. In all our efforts, we cannot rival His ability to transform lives. With a heart of thankfulness for His sacrifice, I pause to trust God’s transformational provision for this community. Join me in that hope.
Last call for Easter Pre-registrations
Pre-registration for the Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt is closing in a few hours. Right now, we are approaching the 2,000 mark. On top of that, we’re accepting walk-ups. Seeing that people who follow the rules in Miami are a rarity (myself included), we’re expecting the walk-ups to be significant.
Word to the wise: get there early (gates open at 6 PM on Friday, March 21). It’s going to be a blast.
Volunteer Schedule – Egg Hunt
We’re getting some last minute calls from people wanting to volunteer for the Egg Hunt. Here’s the schedule:
1 PM - setup volunteers (@ Harris Field)
5 PM event volunteers (@ Harris Field)
If your commute or work schedule keeps you from making it to either of those times, you can show up at anytime after 5 PM, go to registration, and an event coordinator will give you directions on where you can serve. The gates open at 6 PM…event is from 7-9 PM.
You can also email Annie for more info or if you have questions.
CiCi’s Pizza hooked us up
Today, Tim over at CiCi’s Pizza hooked us up with 200 free kids pizza buffets to go in eggs for the Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt. That’s a great contribution to our community…a lot of kids are walking away with a lot of really great prizes! I can’t wait.
Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt OFF THE HOOK!
I’m blown away. We’ve gotten over 900 people pre-registered for the Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt. That’s ridiculously unexpected…can’t wait for this weekend. At the same time, I wish we had more time. In total, we have 4 services (8:30, 9:40, 9:40 THE CURE/students, and 10:50 AM) this weekend and a massive event for the kids in our community. 
We kick off a new message series called Simply Jesus. Brush your teeth, bring your friends, and let’s talk about the most aggressive revolutionary that’s ever walked the planet.
Without a doubt, this is the most exciting weekend in our history. We have some amazing volunteers that are laying it on the line! They are actively making Homestead heaven on earth and as a result are making it harder and harder to go to hell from Homestead.
I’m humbled and fired up!…ready to kick the devil in his mouth.
Notes from a Bullish Week
- The stock market is jittery, gas prices are up, and housing is down.
- But, I’m bullish on the future.
- As of last night (only 2 days of pre-registration under our belt), over 500 had pre-registered for the egg hunt.
- This Sunday we’ll be enjoyable closing out Fully Engaged. I haven’t spoken in 3 weeks…ready to get back into the swing of things.
- Then, we hit Simply Jesus for 6 weeks of straight talk about the revolutionary Christ.
- I’ve gotten into more trouble this week than in a long time. There aren’t many people who know the extent of it. One thing is certain, I’m living my grandpa’s old adage, “You don’t get omelettes if you don’t crack some eggs.”
- I’ve decided that I don’t have to be nice to bullies. I might have to get the crap beat out of me standing up to them…just don’t care. Bruises heal.
- I’m bullish on Atlanta Bread Co. I’m a bear on Starbucks…not providing WiFi is lame and very 2006. Get with it, Oh patron St. of Coffee!
- Our new website might be rolled out in time for Easter…looking forward to that…love the feel. In the meantime, we continue to rock a jacked up, duct taped website designed using Front Page. But, hey! It’s getting the job done.
Day One of the Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt Pre-registration

After one full day of pre-registrations for the Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt, we have well over 200 people registered. Considering that registration started in the middle of the week and the word is just trickling out so far, I’d have to say that I’m really glad with how its begun. We’ve set a limit at 2,000 kids. So, get your registrations done and don’t let your neighbors miss it! You only qualify for the Mega-prize if you pre-register.
Harris Field – corner of US-1 and Campbell Dr (SW 312th ST)
Friday, March 21 from 7-9 PM (gates open at 6 PM)
Homestead, FL
Monday Madness
- Interesting staff meeting this morning. I think Atlanta Bread Company shut down the Wi-Fi to get us out of there. Conspiracy? Perhaps.
- We were there long enough to buy breakfast and lunch, both of which were delicious.
- “Simply Jesus,” our Easter message series is going to be ridiculously enjoyable.
- We’ll be rockin’ everything from Bob Dylan, Kid Rock, Depeche Mode, Joan Osbourne, Cold Play, and Green Day…quite the mix.
- We’ll start filming a mini-documentary at Miami Dade College for the series.
- Chris Day, the new Director of Cool, Wow, Connectivity, or some other yet to be determined title was in the office today working on our guest systems.
- We sent out our Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt press release today. A journalist for one of our newspapers registered her kids within 5 minutes of the press release! I’ll definitely brush my teeth and comb my mop on the 21st!
- Blog traffic is getting ridiculous for me at least…been averaging 700+ unique readers daily. So far today, the blog is at 883. Strangest thing is that 6 people found my blog today by googling “manly man bag.” Bro, if you’re reading, you have issues.
- Loving the responses on “Who the heck are you?“ To all you sickos who torch peeps, ”I love you!”
- At staff meeting, Jesse was trying to catch a dog. He’s always taking in strays. I never see them when I’m at his house. But, he sure can grill up a heck of a cheese burger!
What Happens When You Put a Peep in a Vacuum?

I woke up at midnight, wide awake coughing. I was keeping Kelly up. So, I went down stairs and watched almost every science experiment video on KentChemistry.com.
What happens when you put a peep in a vacuum? The answer? Boyle’s Law and then those little yellow cream puffs get what is coming to them!Maybe I’m just overexcited about our Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt?!?! Who knows? Regardless, I am bleery eyed trying to knock out a few things before the weekend gets here.
Taking Breaks
I’ve taken a break. And it feels great.
I worked like a dog on Sunday after church and the membership luncheon (which was awesome) so I could wrap up some of our stuff for Easter, especially, our Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt. I stayed up late and hit the office hard on Monday basically wrapping up a week of work in two days. When 5 PM came, I jetted out of town with Kelly and my crew of ankle biters.
I’m on my way to a conference in Tennessee. Paul and Alex are flying up on Thursday. Kelly and I got out early for a little family trip on the front side of the conference. We’ve hit two hotels on the way up (in the ATL as I type). We’re enjoying the ride with our kids and each other. I could have stayed in the office and hammered out two more days of work. But, I didn’t because I’m slowly wising up. Here’s what I’ve learned:
- All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy.
- I think, dream, and lead on another level when I take occasional breaks.
- You need tension to grow. You also need release. Resting a muscle that you’ve exercised is as important as exercising. The tension is partially destructive. The rest brings repair.
- I used to live a life largely devoid of reflection. That changed 2 years ago thankfully. I’m wiser and slightly more balanced (nut not by much). Elected rest beats the heck out of forced rest.
- A change of place and a change of pace equals a fresh perspective.
This March is going to be the most aggressive month in the history of Life Pointe. Going into it, I want to make sure I have a healthy mind set. I want to be steady, prepared, and ready to run this race well. Every person that is engaged with Life Pointe ought to experience a significant interaction. They won’t get that if I come limping into the 21st or 23rd broken down and worn out.
How do you take breaks? Any secrets to disconnecting?
Easter Drama is Canceled in Favor of a Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt
UPDATE 3/20: This page is getting a lot of Google traffic looking for information on the Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt in Homestead. Pre-registration closes on the late afternoon of Thursday, March 22nd. Once pre-registration closes, you can still get into the event. But, you’ll have to show up at the event to register.
HARRIS FIELD in Homestead, FL (corner of US-1 and Campbell DR)
Friday, March 21 7-9 PM (gates open at 6).
for more info visit: www.easterinhomestead.com
BEGIN ORIGINAL ENTRY
We met with the guys at Parks and Rec in Homestead…great meeting. Here’s the deal:
- we got a new venue: Harris Field. Its the best location we could ask for…beats the heck out of the Sports Complex, which was a good location. Harris Field is dead center in the middle of town. Rent is half the price.
- the helicopter still got the axe: even though the official landing site for fire rescue is Harris Field and our pilot has done virtually the same thing with the city of Miami Shores and we have all of our insurance certificates and we cleared our flight path with Homestead Air Reserve Base, we can’t do it…at least not this year. It was a safety issue. Adding the kids to the equation was too much for the city with only 7 weeks notice. Next year, with more time and prep we might be able to pull it off. We’ll see.
- the coolest thing…better than the helicopter: the city just quit doing their Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt because it was too big. They’re planning for a max of 600 kids this year as opposed to the 2,000 last year. They asked if we wanted to do the Moonlight Egg Hunt instead. Answer? Yes! Absolutely. We’re there.
- we forged some new ground with the city: I left the meeting with a couple new friends…community partners. They was to see a better city, just like us. I think we’ll be working with these guys a lot. I expect to see some great stuff coming out of that relationship.
Anyway, the new event, the Moonlight Easter Egg Hunt is Friday night, March 21st from 6-10 PM. We’ll have live music, tons of prizes to give away (iPods, a Wii, xBox 360s, a couple bikes, gift cards, and Saturn Project CDs). This will, without a doubt, be our biggest community event so far. But, with only 4 weeks to pull everything together, we’ve got our work cut out for us.
I hope you’re on board to serve. If not, we’re in deep!











