The Rain Changes Nothing!

May 3, 2013 in Church Life with 2 Comments

What better way to lift your mood after all this rain than to have a spirit lifting, mind jumping, mood altering worship experience this weekend!!! Because I just received an email notifying me that all ball fields in the city are closed this weekend, I wanted to let you know church will still be open!!!

I promise you the service this weekend will be a shot in your spiritual arm. We have something planned that I have been looking forward to for weeks!!! While I encourage you not to miss this weekend, let me also share a few other matters with you:

  • Please continue to pray for our St. Augustine Campus. Our soft launch last weekend exceeded my expectations!! It is so evident that the Lord is at work!!!
  • If you have students be sure to get them signed up for camp before all the spots fill up. Love what God is doing in our family ministry.
  • A special thanks to all those who have sponsored kids to go to camp.
  • For all those who faithfully serve in any ministry – thanks for showing up every time; thanks for showing up on time; thanks for loving the people you are serving; thanks for doing it for the glory of God. Life Change happens because of your faithfulness!!!!
  • Many of you have been praying for Jennifer Barnnett. Jennifer and her family attended Parkview very faithfully before being relocated out of the state. Just a few months ago at the age of 28 Jennifer had a massive stroke. Jennifer’s best friend Rochelle Stone, who attends Parkview, is hosting a walk to raise funds for Jennifer’s care. Click here to read Jennifer’s story and to get more info about the walk.
  • Looking forward to our night of worship May 19th. I would get there early!!!!!
  • I am thankful for our elders, staff and leaders who have such a heart for people and a love for God!
  • An extra special thanks to all those who don’t attend the 10:15am service – thanks so much for freeing space for guests!!!
  • Look for people in church you don’t know, introduce yourself and make everyone feel loved!!!!!

Hope to see you this weekend – Sat 6pm, Sun 9, 10:15, 11:30!!!! I promise you will be blessed!!!!

Weekend Rewind

April 30, 2013 in Weekend Wrap with 1 Comment

  • Epic weekend as we launched Parkview St. Augustine.
  • Great feedback from those in attendance!
  • Very thankful for John Mark who serves as our campus pastor! John Mark has a real passion for people and the advancement of the kingdom.
  • Phil Nicolosi leads our worship and not only does a tremendous job in that area, but is willing to serve in any way.
  • My expectations were exceeded on our first weekend!
  • I spoke to our engineer yesterday and things continue to move forward in regards to permitting for our new St. Augustine location on Hwy 312.
  • I am very thankful for the families from Palm Coast that are committing to serve for 1 year in St. Augustine. What an incredible missions opportunity. With all my heart I believe that these families will look back on this as a life changing experience!! To just think about having the opportunity to launch a church!
  • I was talking with one of the people from our PC campus who are committed to the 1 year serve in St. Aug and they were telling me how the excitement of GracePointe folks is very evident and how glad they are to be having this opportunity. I have always been very impressed with their spirit!
  • We had a tremendous weekend on our PC campus.
  • Our current series has been a real help to me personally and I have really enjoyed diving into the enormity of God. Each week He blows me away more and invigorates my faith in Him!!
  • Love seeing families who have joined us since Easter!!!!
  • If you currently attend 10:15 please consider 9 or 11:30 am!!! Many of our guests tend to visit at 10:15 and we want to have the most space available to serve them well.
  • SO MANY great things happening at Parkview. BLOWN AWAY by the goodness of God!!!

Weekend Rewind

April 23, 2013 in Weekend Wrap with 0 Comments

  • So many things to be thankful for!!!!
  • Love seeing adults invest their time and talent in our kids.
  • Love seeing adults loving kids to Jesus!!!
  • 0-18 at Parkview is rocking – our volunteers are amazing!!
  • Very excited about the faithfulness and growth of many young couples.
  • Love seeing young couples commit to worshipping God faithfully and modeling faith and commitment to their children. (Easier caught than taught for children).
  • Just can’t say enough about how excited I am about what I see in young couples.
  • Excited to know that the fire of faithfulness is spreading.
  • In fact, who is rising up to go serve missionally in St. Augustine – young couples!!!
  • Last night had our first fellowship/mixer with the wonderful people who formerly made up GracePointe and the core going from our Palm Coast campus to serve in St. Augustine.
  • If you are considering being 1 of the 10 families who go for a year, my challenge would be for you to prayerfully consider getting on the bus – we are trucking and it is going to be a great journey!!!!
  • Next weekend is weekend #1 for Parkview St. Augustine!!!
  • So many opportunities and God is opening so many doors
  • How about an architect donating his time and a incredible designer donating her time!!
  • How about the Rhino’s deal – crazy – still amazed at how God has orchestrated that.
  • The core that is coming from GracePointe is a tremendous group of people – love every opportunity I get to connect with them personally or in group settings.
  • I got an email this morning from a family that attends our Palm Coast campus that used to go to GracePointe and they shared their thrill about all that is going on.
  • Please pray for John Mark to be able to sell or rent his house in Kentucky.
  • Thankful for people who said we want to sponsor some kids for camp.
  • I was thrilled to have my boyhood neighbor friend in church visiting this weekend. When I was 6 and he was 5 we were buddies. His college age daughter was at a softball tournament in St. Augustine he came to Parkview Sunday morning. A special gift from God for us to catch up after probably seeing each other the last time about 20 years ago.
  • Love my wife – love my life!!
  • God is good!

Children’s Building Update

April 17, 2013 in Church Life, Miscellaneous with 0 Comments

Just a few updates on where things are with our children’s building:

  • Our Christmas offering was the catalyst to get us started down the path of building a children’s building. That investment by our congregation has served as our “getting started” fund.
  • Much of our work has been centered around working on getting some of our wetlands reclassified as uplands and giving us plenty of space to build the building (and perhaps an additional building later down the road).
  • All the effort towards gaining uplands has gone very well so far.
  • This is a time consuming process but very needed!
  • This week I met with a city engineer, city environmental planner, our biologist and member of our church who has worked in this field. The meeting went well.
  • The next step is to have the biologist meet with St. Johns River Water Management District. This is a key meeting, One we hope to have next week.
  • I am uncertain of how long the process is with St. Johns but from what I understand it shouldn’t be months but rather weeks once we meet.
  • Once St. Johns gives us direction we would need to have an updated survey done on our property.
  • I spoke with our engineer by phone. He will develop our site plan once St. Johns gives us some direction.
  • The site plan would then have to be reviewed by the city.
  • I met with our architect tonight and he will work with the engineer once the site plan is approved.
  • I would estimate it being at least a couple months before we get approval on the site plan; maybe sooner but i know how these things tend to work:)
  • Our building team is very encouraged about the outlook for gaining more uplands. This would be a huge help and blessing!!
  • Please be prayerful in regards to this whole endeavor.
  • They didn’t teach me any of this in Bible College:) I appreciate our building team and the professionals the Lord has brought our way!

Weekend Wrap-Up

April 16, 2013 in Weekend Wrap with 0 Comments

  • WOW!! So much happening and so many great things going on!!
  • I have received more emails from guests in the past 3 weeks then probably in any 3 week stretch ever. They each have said so many great things about their experiences. So many volunteers have ministered and cared that they have been blown away.
  • Parkview is blessed with amazing staff, leaders and volunteers!!!! Thanks for all you do!!!
  • I am REALLY EXCITED about our St. Augustine campus launch.
  • We had a fantastic meeting with families that are interested in making a 12 month commitment to pioneer this new work.
  • Had a family text me today the simple words “we’re in”
  • I am praying for 10 families to help join the core team. Would you dare to pray, “Lord, do you want me to go”?
  • Alot of planning and preparation is going into Parkview St. Augustine
  • I will give some more details about St. Aug in a detailed post tomorrow.
  • Tremendous attendance this past weekend.
  • SO grateful for so many faithful and dedicated families!
  • Love watching others Kingdom commitment.
  • Not sure I can get anybody to go fishing with me after I shared my latest story this weekend:)
  • I think we already have 10 families dedicating babies (really dedicating themselves as parents) on Mother’s Day weekend.
  • I am so blessed with so many wonderful relationships within our church
  • I really appreciate the prayers of so many people – could really use them this week – so busy and so much going on.
  • Going to bed and too tired to proof this for typos:)

Merger/New Campus Update

April 4, 2013 in Church Life with 5 Comments

A couple weeks ago I announced that we had been in discussion with the leadership and congregation of GracePointe Baptist Church in St. Augustine about them merging with Parkview and us opening a Parkview campus in St. Augustine. The process has gone very smoothly and yet entails much work, especially as we get closer. In order to communicate as clearly as possible and for you to pray as specifically as possible, I would like to give a random fire, in no order, list of details and info:

  • The people of GracePointe are very excited about our future together. Several families were at one of our Easter services in Palm Coast.
  • I think very highly of their pastor and elders: John Mark, Jim and Phil. They all have a heart for God and a desire to expand the kingdom.
  • Both churches are committed to join together for the mission of Life Change.
  • As I already mentioned in a previous announcement, it looks like a very strong possibility that we will be relocating the campus to HWY 312 2 blocks west of US 1.
  • Today I spoke to our engineer helping with permitting the new facility, the new landlord, the current landlord, attorney Dennis Bayer (who is a Christ follower) and John Mark on a conference call; John Mark a couple times, one of GracePointe’s elders, our staff regarding the merger and I am sure another person or two in regards to the merger:)
  • GracePointe votes this Sunday April 7th. If they approve the merger with a vote their elders would in an official act ratify the vote in documentation, in an official act through documentation by our elders we would receive the merge. GracePointe would then meet 2 more weeks as GracePointe and they would reflect, process and celebrate what God has done in the past and with prayerful expectation look forward to what He will do in the future. Attorney, Dennis Bayer, is helping us make sure we dot our “i’s” and cross our “t’s”.
  • John Mark will be joining our staff team and will serve FT as the Campus Pastor in St. Aug. He will also help in church-wide ministry.
  • April 28th Parkview would begin functioning as one church in 2 locations.
  • April 28th would be a “soft launch” and the Sunday before school starts in August would be the “hard launch”
  • Once GracePointe approves the merger (I talk with said language based on their strong indication of doing so) then I would prayerfully seek out 10 families that would desire to commit a minimum of 12 months to go on mission and worship/serve at Parkview St. Augustine. I say minimum because I am not certain what the Lord might lay on anybody’s heart beyond the 12 month commitment.
  • It looks like the St. Aug campus would move in to the new location around June 1. That give us 6 or 7 weeks from signing a lease to paint, put in new flooring, get audio/video installed and do all the things to retro a storefront into a worship center. I am actually encouraged at all we can do and the cost for which it can be done. The space was formerly a dance studio so it is wide open and no destruction is needed.
  • Friday we meet with the audio/video engineer at our potential new location. The same gentlemen we worked with when we expanded our auditorium.
  • We have not signed a lease on the new facility but would anticipate perhaps doing so next week. We are still doing our due diligence with architect, engineer and the county.
  • The same architect volunteering his services with the St. Aug relocation is the same architect helping us with the Children’s building design for the Palm Coast campus. While on the children’s building – we had a wetlands meeting scheduled with a bunch of official people this past week and because one of the key players had a death in the family, we had to reschedule the meeting and because so many people are involved that has been rescheduled for Mon, April 15th. Once the wetland boundary is established then we can move forward with size, shape and location (all design stuff) of the building.
  • It is late, I have worked a long day and my pillow is calling my name. If you have any questions please email me at greg@parkviewlife.com
  • For the glory of God, the sake of the gospel and the advancement of the kingdom!!!!
  • One last thing – I love my job and the people I serve with!!!!!

Mind Dump

March 27, 2013 in Church Life with 0 Comments

A few rapid fire things:

  • This past weekend I loved preaching the Triumphal entry from Luke 19!
  • Love how our church loves the Word!!
  • A couple weeks ago we spoke about how the “rhema” (the preached Word) is a integral part of our sanctification and discipleship.
  • After church on Sunday 24 of us left for a mission trip to Philly.
  • The last 4 or 5 hours of the trip we had to drive in snow – very slowly! trip took us about 17 1/2 hours and we arrived at 9am Monday morning. Thank the Lord for safety!!
  • The trip has been awesome!! Everything from a city wide scavenger hunt; to passing out 5,000 door hangers for a new church; to serving at an inner city high school that is 1% white and very mixed otherwise; to blessing the pastors we serve.
  • Maybe God would have us open a campus in Philly one day!
  • Speaking of campuses!!!! – Things continue to go very well in regards to our opening a campus in St. Augustine. In case you missed it we made the massive announcement this past weekend in regards to St. Augustine.
  • GracePointe votes April 7th to dissolve and become a part of the core group that will form Parkview St. Augustine.
  • I am very excited about the spirit and heart of those at GracePointe
  • I am praying God would give us 10 families from our Palm Coast campus who would commit to give 1 year to launching our new campus.
  • We are looking at opening the campus on Hwy 312 near US 1. The current location of GracePointe is a little too far outside the population center.
  • I am really enjoying getting to know their pastor, John Mark. We are trying to complete the process to hire him as the campus pastor for St. Aug
  • This is a phenomenal opportunity!!!
  • I love guiding people to Life Change!
  • Love pressing against darkness
  • Love expanding the kingdom
  • Love the power of the gospel
  • Love stewarding opportunities
  • Love pastoring Parkview!!!
  • Can’t wait for Easter!!!!
  • Who is the ONE person in your life that is ONE invitation away from attending ONE of our Easter services??

Weekend Rewind

March 4, 2013 in Weekend Wrap with 1 Comment

  • This weekend was hard!
  • I have preached more “enjoyable” messages and many that were not nearly as convicting to me personally.
  • Because I grew up in the “system” and know the “christianese” I know how to look the part and play the role.
  • I am often not what I appear to be and am so dependent on Him for forgiveness and deliverance!
  • God deliver me/us from any pretense, facade and hypocrisy.
  • May we reject the show (Acts 5:1-11) and experience the power of God (Acts 5:12-16)
  • Weekly teaching and preaching is such a serious responsibility.
  • Bill Hybels said, “Preaching has been the single most vexing activity that I am engaged in in Christian work. Nothing beats me up or puts me on my knees for longer periods of time, frustrates me more, or creates a greater feeling of dependency on God than preaching and teaching”.
  • Of all the places I have ever preached, nothing compares to preaching at Parkview. I am privileged.
  • As hard as preaching is, I love preaching at Parkview.
  • I really enjoyed my time at our new members luncheon yesterday.
  • Had a blast at our Bod 4 God small group last night. Great to see so many people taking small steps to a new life. A couple people have lost over 20 pounds!!!
  • I finished my push-ups and sit-ups before this blog post:)
  • I am really excited about our new service times – Sat 6, Sun 9, 10:15 and 11:30!!!!
  • God is at work and it is a privilege to join Him on this journey!!!

Weekend Rewind

February 26, 2013 in Weekend Wrap with 0 Comments

 

  • It was great to be back at Parkview!!!
  • I thoroughly enjoyed my trip to the Holy Land – 12 of us from Parkview had an incredible experience!
  • Loved our weekend worship experiences this past weekend.
  • Our celebration choir always blesses me! So thankful for those who serve faithfully in our choir!!
  • Parkview has so many outstanding volunteers!
  • Even our lawn team had the front looking amazing this weekend!!
  • Our children’s workers are knocking it out of the park on both the weekend and Wed night!!!
  • I was thrilled about to hear about the great student retreat and the way our leaders provided that incredible experience for our students.
  • Serving 0-18 well gives us all kinds of opportunities to serve so many families.
  • Serve the kids – minister to the families!!
  • Loved preaching on unity in the church this past weekend.
  • Like Paul, I am very passionate about this topic!!!
  • Love the unity of Parkview!!!!!!!
  • While we are not responsible for creating the unity of the church, the Holy Spirit does that, everyone is responsible for diligently maintaining the unity!!!
  • God is doing some great things in our midst and I know the ploys of the Enemy.
  • We strive for unity for the sake of the gospel and the glory of God.

Weekend Rewind

January 29, 2013 in Weekend Wrap with 0 Comments

  • Love hearing the stories of Life Change!
  • Life Change happens when people take their next step.
  • Success = stories
  • Bod 4 God has people sharing their stories.
  • The Bible connects physical health and spiritual health.
  • The premise was simple this week — eat less and exercise more.
  • We had 85 people at our Bod 4 God small group on Sunday night.
  • Seen as how our small group is not so small, during discussion time we break it down to 7 “real” small groups.
  • If you would like to be a part of our Bod 4 God small group just email me at greg@parkviewlife.com.
  • Showing the life transformation of Chris Johnson’s story was a challenge to all of us.
  • I have been collecting healthy recipes etc. and want to share them with you. Click here for my recipe “book”.
  • Very thankful for a great worship experience this past weekend!
  • Thanks to our celebration choir that led us in corporate praise.
  • Real excited about what is happening in our worship ministry, family ministry and group life! Amazing to see all 3 of those ministries function with such high octane.
  • We are blessed with a great staff and group of leaders that allow the Lord to use them for His glory!!
  • We have had a tremendous start to 2013!!! Have a tremendous week.
  • This coming weekend we will have a panel of experts lead our Bod 4 God teaching – it is going to be incredible!
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