• It was a defining weekend in our church!
• We took missions to a whole new level and adopted the city of Philadelphia!
• 1.5+ million people
• 5th largest city in the country
• People just like us everywhere
• In Philly 2-4% attend an evangelical church on any given weekend – the national average is around 20%
• We are joining God on His mission in Philly!
• Our ideas are crazy and destined for failure without divine intervention!
• This weekend we chose faith over fear!!
• One of the greatest things about pastoring Parkview is how our church receives and acts on vision.
• I said this weekend that I don’t have pastor envy – I don’t want any of my friends churches! Love Parkview!!
• I am very thankful for the vision of our elders and staff!!!
• Got to hang out with the staff for a little while last night – they are NUTS and I love them! (Steve has rubbed off on us!)
• Loved our worship this weekend – God is worth all the excellence, energy, adoration and glory!!
• Super excited about www.visionphilly.com

Hey! It’s Barry!  A few weeks back, my brother, Greg hacked into my Facebook account somehow and he had some fun for a few moments like updating my status to say that I had the greatest brother in the world. He even uploaded his picture as my profile picture.

Well, now I have hacked something better than his FB!  His baby…GregPetersLive.com!  In all honestly, I just wanted to share about what our lives are like since relocating from Parkview to planting Grace Church in Hendersonville, TN.

Now that we are settling in, Laura and I still feel as if we are living in a dream.  Just thankful it is a dream and not a nightmare..haha.  In all honesty, we couldn’t ask for this transition to be any smoother. We are so thankful for all that God has done in our lives to prepare us for such a time as this!

I want to personally thank you and the Parkview family for being with us on this journey.  You gave me an incredible opportunity to be a part of a church family that I believe will continue to impact Flagler County.  It was a real joy to have been children’s pastor and then student pastor.  Thankful to have been part of guiding people to life change in Christ!

I also want thank you for what you have done as we have launched into this new journey. One being the time as I sought out what God wanted us to do.  Second, the awesome send off reception. That meant a lot to our family.  And with saying that, thank you for the very kind gifts you gave to Laura, Davis and I.  I must say, this iPad is the bomb.  I have used it non stop. Third, thanks for all the love you have shown to us. And fourth, your generosity in paying me through April 15, 2011 is incredible.  Wow, that is amazing!

Now if I could continue to ask for one thing that you already have been doing… Please continue to pray for us.  We want to continue to remain on God’s agenda as we reach the community of Hendersonville. Ya know, we discovered something interesting this week.  Only 30% of Hendersonville was in a church this past weekend. We are pumped about reaching the unchurched.

Things have been very busy the past 10 days as we plan the launch of Grace Church. I have been doing budgets, researching the area, meeting people, setting up blogs, making proposals, and meeting…meeting…meeting with the team. Here’s something that is really crazy.  We have team meetings 4 times a week at 6:30am…. That’s what I get for giving Greg a hard time. Here’s what’s even funnier… We work out as we meet.  Yep, Ed, one of my team members has an elliptical machine and treadmill so we swap out between the 3 of us and 1 person takes notes. We call it the Hour of Power. Now stop laughing!

Well, I am praying for you and the future of Parkview! Great things are in store!  I’ll check in with y’all soon.  Thanks again for everything!

Enjoying the New Journey,
Barry M. Peters

Keep in touch… Barrympeters@gmail.com

It is getting late but before I go to sleep and forget what I wanted to share:

• The blogsite where Grace Tamayo is keeping everyone informed on the progress of Sev is www.caringbridge.com you will need to register, which is so easy even I was able to get that accomplished. You will then just enter Sev’s first and last name and will be granted access.
• Please read Proverbs 14:4 very carefully. I shared this verse with our staff today and added a few thoughts. A quick summary of the passage is this- You can have a clean stable or you can have an ox bring in a large harvest but you can’t have both. The choice is between a clean stall or a large harvest but you can’t have both. In laymen’s terms, if you are going to do anything great you will have to deal with some crap along the way. This principle can apply to so many different areas of our lives. The sad thing is that so many people go through life with a clean stall!! I have chosen to be o.k. with the dirty stall – give me the harvest any day!!!

These are the top ten reasons why I am looking forward to Easter:

10. The weather is going to be gorgeous!

9. Our family will spend the afternoon together and enjoy a great meal.

8. There is just something about serving the Lord together with so many others in our church.

7.We have some great things planned to offer our guests

6. We are doing something at church that we have never done before and it will be phenomenal!!

5. We have some awesome elements of worship planned.

4. I am looking forward to preaching the message God has given me!!

3. Each year we reach new families who will become a part of our church family.

2. I know that people will choose to give their life to Christ! 

1. Because I serve a resurrected Savior!

No question in my mind that Mark Batterson is one of the best bloggers out there – here is another case in point!

By the way come to church this weekend and you will see something you have never seen before!!!

• Away for a few days enjoying the BEAUTIFUL fall foliage with my family.
• Always enjoy a little time away. So refreshing!
• We rushed out of town on Sunday and will be back Friday
• Can’t wait for the weekend.
• Sitting in a country store in VT with very slow wi-fi
• Just had a delicious egg sandwhich
• The first two days we did alot of things – corn maze, yankee candle, natural history museum, simon piecre glass and pottery factory.
• When I go away I don’t worry about anything. Very thankful for our staff and leaders!!!
• Today is a slow day. Read, relax, and dinner with great friends.
• Can’t wait for this weekend!!!!
• This past weekend was very good.
• Good spirit in the services
• Enjoyed preaching Eph 2
• Love the series, UNITED
• This coming weekend – chior, life change video and special guest.
• There is going to be some awesome worship and some awesome preaching!
• Celebrating 12 years will be great! God has been so good to us!
• The best is yet to come.
• I have spent some good time thinking, praying and planning for the future while I am away.
• It is about 45 degrees here in VT
• There is a brown lab laying on the floor next to me in this country store – completes the scene!
• I am very blessed!!

Last week I posted some thoughts here about our core value of Always Pushing the Envelope.  I want to follow up that post with another core value we hold as a church.

Go the Extra Mile / Service

Going the extra mile is doing more than what is required, asked, or even expected. This is demonstrated by volunteering when we see a need, discovering and serving in a ministry that fits our interests, taking ownership of a task and doing it well. In ministry we love the unlovable, forgive the unforgiveable, reach out to the unreachable, pray without ceasing and never give up.  Matt. 5:9-6:4; 25:14-23

As you participate at Parkview, you will see the above core value lived out time and time again. I believe it all starts with our leadership.  The staff, elders and ministry leaders are constantly going beyond the call of duty.  I constantly see in them a sweet spirit and a servant’s heart.

When we go the extra mile, all we are doing is emulating our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Who can you serve today and go the extra mile while doing it?

As Christ followers, one of our responsibilities is to vote. On Sept. 15th there is going to be a special election held in Flagler County. The election is for the election of a new state senator for district 8. District 8 runs from the FL/GA line to International Speedway Blvd in Daytone Beach, the eastern boundary is the ocean and the westen boundary is I-95 or US 1, whichever is further west. Therefore, all of Palm Coast is in district 8. The reason for the special election is due to the recent passing of Senator Jim King.

The canidates for the state senate seat are Art Graham,Stan Jordan, Dan Quiggle, and John Thrasher.    Because of it being a special election and only for one seat, I am sure the voter turn out will be low. That means that every vote has a very high impact.

Art Graham lives in Jacksonville, but has attended our church on a couple occassions and I am somewhat familiar with his positions. We also did a video interview with Art for a sermon we did a few months ago. A portion of the video we shot is on Art’s website homepage.I do not know anything about the other canidates but am providing links to all their websites so you can choose the canidate that best represents biblical values.

Click on the following links for more info. about each canidate:

Art Graham 

Stan Jordan

Dan Quiggle

Jordan Thrasher

Be prayerful and get out and vote!

James said,”A double minded man is unstable in all his ways”

When you and I try to do to many things at once, we tend to not be good at anything.

With our church and any growing organization, there is a tendency towards complexity. The more we grow the easier is is to get off mission and try to do to much and in doing so, we can lose focus on what it is that got us to this point.

As we enter the Fall, I am trying to stay focused on our mission – Guiding people to life change in Christ.  In order to stay focused on our mission, I have led our staff and elders to embrace a principle – Ex the complex!

We are all about life change and there are 3 main areas where we invest the majority of our energy and strive for excellence.  The 3 areas where we focus are: weekend worship, children/students and small groups.

Church, God has great things in store for us this Fall!!  Let’s stay focused on what God has called us to do!