Today was an historic event at Journey. We celebrated a milestone in our history as a church. We had our first worship experience on our brand new campus.  Since the church was founded in 1996 with 19 people, we have rented movie theaters and shopping centers. We have met in a total of nearly 20 different locations. And now we have built our first building on our 140 acre campus. It was like walking thru a dream today. We arrived there an hour before the first service. I wanted to enjoy the sights and sounds of our first day on the campus. You could feel the energy the moment you drove up into the parking lot. All of us who came early were full of joy and emotion. After eleven years of dreaming this dream, today it became a reality. It reminds me of one of my favorite quotes, “What is impossible today will be the norm tomorrow.” Today the impossible became the normal for us. How could such a large dream come to pass in just eleven years ? In spite of enormous obstacles facing this congregation we overcame them ALL. But we are not done. The dream is so much bigger now. I want to relax and enjoy the moment. But not for too long. The Journey continues.

   On Saturday February 23rd we spent the entire day getting ready for our first worship experience in the new campus. Thanks to all of you who came out to prepare for our first Sunday. You could feel the anticipation building all day long. Here are few pictures.

   It sure is great to be home in the USA. My journey to Manilla and back was over 20,000 miles on several airplanes. We crossed the International Date Line so on the way over we lost a day. We jumped from Monday to Wednesday. No Tuesday. But on the way home we made up for it by having two Saturdays. A week with two Saturdays has to be good. And it was an awesome week.
   We were serving with Equip, a worldwide ministry that trains pastors on the topic of leadership. www.iequip.org  Equip was founded by John Maxwell to serve pastors by holding leadership training seminars. Then each pastor returns to his ministry to train at least 10 others. I have several amazing stories to tell. God does some cool things when you put yourself totally at His disposal. I’m going to tell a few of those stories this weekend at Journey.
   Our host in Manilla was Pastor David from Word of Hope Church. www.wordofhope.ph It’s a church of over 20,000 with 5 Sunday services and 7 satellite campuses. Their church also runs Hope General Hospital. That is one cool church. Pastor David invited me to preach at Word of Hope this summer. I’m looking forward to that.
   The Leadership Conference was held in Cagayan de Oro, a city of nearly One Million people located in the southern islands of the Philippines. More than 1200 pastors and leaders gathered for the two day event. We took a load of pictures. I want to show you a few of them here.

Hey, this is Pastor Ryan. Pastor Doug is away and the mice will play. So I hijacked Pastor Doug’s Blog site to update you on the 138. Construction is wrapping up and last-minute projects are underway. This week they poured the handicap parking and stained the concrete in the cafe (pictured below). We also ordered the wall coverings for our nursery and preschool. You can see a sample of the four year old room pictured below.

So if you were wondering if we were moving after church this Sunday, the answer is YES!!!!!! Bring your work gloves and tools so we can get moved to the 138.

See ya Sunday,
Pastor Ryan

Click to see image enlarged

   I want your best ideas for naming our new Cafe at Journey. When the new campus opens we will offer a full service coffee bar in the main lobby. The purpose of the cafe will be to create a connect point for the members and guest of Journey. It’s about the relationships. So I want to give it a name that is culturally relevant as well as captures the mission of Journey. That’s where I want your help. You can leave your ideas in the comment section below or on your Comm Card this weekend. Here are the parameters:
     The Cafe name should be,
      1. Culturally relevant. In this case I’m looking for a French word or phrase
      2. Missional. Express the Mission of the Journey
      3. Memorable.

  Gentlemen start your engines.( And ladies too ) Send me some good ideas. I will announce the new name when we move into the campus.

   I want to show you some current pictures of the new campus. We are in the home stretch. Grand Opening is about a month away, but we will move in as soon as we pass all the inspections. We are dedicating the campus on 03/16/08. Then the next weekend will be Easter and we are adding a Third service. Beginning March 22 we will host worship on Saturday 6PM and Sunday 9AM & 11AM. My best guess today is we will probably officially move in on February 24th. So that means a few more weeks at the Northshore Harbor Center. We are almost there. These pictures were taken February 07, 2008 at 3.30 PM.

   On February 29, 2008 we will mark two and a half years since Katrina. It’s hard to believe it’s been 30 months. But it has. That was a long time ago but it seems like yesterday. Boy has our world changed. Unbelievable changes. On August 28, 2005 we were a shopping center based church. On August 29th we were totally wiped off the map. Gone. And now 30 months later the rebuilding is almost complete. We are almost finished with Phase 1 on our 140 acre campus.
   Today I visited both worlds. I took a walk through the new campus this morning. It is looking awesome. We should be ready to move in any day now. Our Grand Opening will be held March 16, 2008. And then tonight I walked through the old shopping center. It’s gutted now and dark. it was like walking through a dream. I stood where our stage used to be and stared into the darkness and pondered the future.
   Our church is processing through a huge transition. We are about to begin a new quest. A new leg of this Journey starts soon, and today I had my feet in both worlds. 30 months. Two worlds. A new day.

   This is Fat Tuesday in Louisiana. The day before Ash Wednesday and the beginning of Lent. That’s where Mardi Gras get it’s name. Fat Tuesday. The Parades in New Orleans are as big as ever. They are even catching up with pre-Katrina levels. Good for Louisiana. We love tourist. But there’s so much more going on this week other than parades.
   This is also Super Tuesday across America. Almost 20 states are choosing Delegates for selecting the next President. Tonight will go a long way towards choosing the Leader of the Free World. This is the first time ever that Fat Tuesday and Super Tuesday collided. But there is more.
   The New York Giants were in a ticker tape parade earlier today. NY was celebrating an amazing Super Bowl victory. The Giants did the unthinkable. They beat the perfect New England Patriots. It’s good to see Eli Manning riding on the front float of the parade in New York. Eli is from New Orleans and he represented us well. I’m sure you’ve seen that amazing pass at the end of the game to David Tyre. And what about that catch? That will become known as one of the greatest in Super Bowl history. The first Super Bowl that I remember listening to was in 1971 when the Colts beat the Cowboys with a field goal in the final seconds.
   And to top it all off, Journey is preparing to dedicate a new 140 acre campus. That’s sort of like winning the Super Bowl to us. But I don’t expect Lower Manhattan will throw us a ticker tape parade. We’ll throw our own I guess. The new Journey campus is nearing completion. I walked through the building this morning around dawn. Looking good. Like Super Tuesday and Fat Tuesday rolled into one. Super – Fat.