Monday Mind Dump

• Last night we kicked off the Thanksgiving week with an old school testimony service at our building.  Loved hearing all the stories about what God has been doing this year.
• There were several stories shared about dreams that God has fulfilled and revived this year in people's lives. 
• One woman in our church shared a true "test"imony.  It was the story of what God did out of an extremely painful season in her life. 
• I preached part two of The Prodigal series in our morning gathering.  Felt like I was able to share some insights about the degression of sin and the progression of repentance.   
• I'm praising God for several "prodigals" responded in the service with repentance.   
• The more I get to know Metro Detroit, the more I realize that a large percentage of our mission field are prodigals (men and women who grew up in religious circles but have left the Father's house). 
• I'm pumped about heading into the holiday season.  It's such a great time to connect with unchurched people in our city. 
• God has given us a vision to commission "neighborhood pastors" in our church who will adopt households in the neighborhoods around Southfield Lathrup High School.  Can't wait to cast the vision for it in December! 
• I've been really proud of our SWAT team.  Feels like setup and teardown is getting smoother on Sundays. 
• I love being in the school because it gives us the capacity for God to do something so significant through our church.  Yesterday I closed my eyes during my sermon and envisioned every seat in the auditorium filled with prodigals from every pocket of our city.  It's going to happen! 
• I couldn't watch the Lions yesterday because the blackout continues.  But watching the scores flash at the bottom of the screen is enough.  17-0.  17-7.  17-14.  17-21.  And we lose 20-38. 
• I've seen several bad Lion's teams in my lifetime, but I think this one might be the worst. 
• I don't want the Lions to go 0-16.  And I don't understand Lion's fans who do.  Why would we want our team to go down as the worst team ever?  I think I'll write a separate post about this. 
• It looks like the Thanksgiving day game may even be blacked out in Detroit this week. 
• Speaking of football, Michigan's season mercifully came to an end on Saturday.  This was a long season with way too much losing. 
• Leah is still trying to talk me into cheering for the Steelers and Penn State.  I just haven't been able to bring myself to do it.  Although I do hope Penn State represents the Big Ten well in the Rose Bowl. 
• Looks like this weekend was a tough one for my fantasy football teams.  I need Drew Brees to have a huge game tonight.  But at this point it's all about the playoffs! 
• Leah and I are headed out of town for vacation this week.  I can't wait to get some rest, get some sun, eat some turkey and celebrate Thanksgiving with the family!