Pivotal Circumstances

This week at Great Lakes Church, we wrapped up a series called “5 Things You Can’t Live Without”. The 5th, and final, delivered to us by Scott Obenchain was “Pivotal Circumstances”. He taught us, using the story about Lazarus’ death from the book of John in the Bible that…

God uses pivotal circumstances to do something IN us, not TO us.

Later, at lunch, Dave Nelson was teasing his daughter about the possibility of her going to five different schools in elementary school. It made me remember about a pivotal circumstance in my own life. I actually went to seven different schools between 6th and 9th grade myself. Yep, that’s seven! Seven different schools in three different states; Texas, Georgia, & Washington. I remember feeling excited with the first couple of moves, daydreams about new friends and new places, it sounded like fun. By the 5th and 6th, the reality set in that it was not fun at all but, in fact, very lonely and frustrating being the “new kid” all the time. I never knew my way around, I never knew which teachers were nice, I never knew where to sit at lunch. It was awful! At one school, I irritated the wrong kid and got a whole quart of salsa dumped on my head in the lunch room, in front of everyone. These are not my favorite memories.

Yet, I look back on it, and I can see how God used even those awful years to do something IN me, not TO me. You see, I still get that pit in my stomach when I think about the “new kid”. I feel sick remembering how nobody would take the risk to talk to me when they already had friends of their own. Unless a student was assigned to, I didn’t have anyone to show me my way around, or tell me not to sit in “that” seat on the bus because it belonged to a total jerk. I can literally work myself into a panic thinking about the “new kid”.

But, this is a very good thing! You see, this pit of my stomach feeling is one of the things that drives me to take a look around as we continue to build Great Lakes Church. I find myself constantly watching for the “new kid” to walk through the doors, and they do every weekend. Everything inside of me wants to prevent people from feeling the way I did growing up, like nobody cares, like people are only helpful because they are “assigned” to be. At Great Lakes, I have the perfect opportunity to use those all too familiar feelings of awkwardness to my advantage as we teach our teams how important it is to greet absolutely everyone with a smile. We put up new and better looking indoor signs this weekend in a continued attempt to make things clear for people who don’t already know their way around. Our ushers do a great job of helping people find a place to sit, so nobody feels like they might be in someone else’s seat when they visit us for the first time. (By the second time, they might realize that nobody really has their own seat anyway.) It’s like God has all but given those years back to me, given me a way to turn around and make hundreds of people feel welcome each week to what may be a scary and awkward circumstance for them. It’s elating!

I wonder if you can think of some of your own “bad-turned-good” circumstances. This “new kid” thing is just one of many in my life. In fact, we are experiencing some pretty great milestones at Great Lakes Church and in our personal lives (can you believe we still have personal lives?) right now!

We are in the third and final week of sign ups for our Summer Growth Group season. Kicking off Growth Groups here at GLC has been a dream come true for me, and they haven’t even started yet. Tony and I had the phenomenal opportunity to lead a six week workshop series for people who were interested in being leaders and hosts. Those of you who have been leaders and hosts at EastLake (the church we came from in Seattle) may think this is overkill. You might think, “Does it really take 6 weeks to train someone to run a group in their homes?” Well, I don’t think it does, BUT, we believed we could give them more than just a basic training by investing in them for 6 entire weeks. For 6 weeks (with two different groups, one on Thursdays and one on Saturdays) we had the opportunity to model what a group could be like. Each week we invited them into our homes and taught on everything from “difficult people”, to prayer & communion in groups, to how to gracefully cut off a gossip, to helping people feel welcome. We modeled 5 different kinds of groups: DVD group, Bible Study, Book Study, Game Night & Activity Groups, and Men’s vs. Women’s groups. It was this incredible time where these future leaders had a chance to build relationships with one another and be praying for each other before their groups even got off the ground. We feel so lucky to have gotten to know them all and encourage them all to lead these groups on their own. Now to see some of the groups filling up and everything they’ve learned coming to reality is just so fun! We have over 175 people signed up to be a part of our very first Growth Group season, which is more people than we predicted would even be a part of Great Lakes Church at this stage. In fact, isn’t that about the total number of people we had attend our very first Preview Service back in October of last year? I can’t wait for these groups to get started!

Another milestone to speak of is that tomorrow, June 8th, is our 2 year wedding anniversary. WOO HOO! It’s traditionally the “cotton anniversary”, so we’re thinking… socks? We are excited to celebrate our marriage and what God has done in us during the course of our relationship. We are thankful for our friends and family who have loved us and challenged us to be a better husband, better wife, better friends and better followers of Christ. It’s also quite a thrill because we are expecting our first baby! That’s right, Baby Peterson is due to arrive January 15, 2010! Pregnancy has been an interesting new dynamic in our marriage. I’m sure I’ll share more details about that in the months to come. For now you may want to know that I’m 8 weeks along, tired and nauseous all the time, and the doctor says all my “levels” are looking good.

Love to you all!
Michelle & Tony

Remembering the Soldier We Never Knew

I remember it like it was yesterday. I had just started my new job with a non-profit organization helping lower-income pregnant couples. It was a leap and an adventure after two and a half years of working for my church, EastLake Community Church. I was on my way home from my first day and decided to stop by to see a friend and her new baby girl. Celebrating life and a brand new little Nienaber, thankful for the mother’s health, surrounded by their family.

I remember just where I was sitting when we got the first call, it was to Ryan, and it was obvious something terrible was happening on the other end of the line. When Ryan got off the phone to tell us what happened, we all fell silent. Someone suggested prayer… how could we muster the words? Dave Nelson’s brother Rick was just killed by a road-side bomb in Iraq. We sat in the living room absorbing this news, unable to speak, in need of comfort, dying to comfort Dave and his family.

A few minutes passed and Dave called me directly. As he struggled to get the words out (not knowing where I was when he called Ryan), I said to him, “Dave, I already know. You don’t have to say it.” I cannot describe the emotion I sensed from him, only that I had never known Dave Nelson, my former boss and very good and trusted friend, to sound this way. However energetic, he was never dramatic. This was real, and really bad. I got off the phone stunned, unable to comprehend the pain.

I left the Nienaber house pretty soon after that, and drove the 20 minutes home in silence. I had never known Rick, or the rest of his family aside from the 5 Nelsons that were a part of my life: Dave & Rindy, and their three kids. But, wasn’t this the brother that Dave had just made a trip a year ago to perform is wedding ceremony? Isn’t this the same brother that made Dave laugh till he cried? What of his family, his 20 year old bride? Now, a 20 year old widow?

Tony, unaware of the news, had a surprise waiting for me when I got home. I walked into the apartment and noticed the kitchen was spotless and our wedding song was playing in the background; Coldplay’s “Green Eyes”. He wrapped his arms around me and I melted into a bucket of tears. I was overwhelmed with both love and grief and I had nothing to say. The lyrics of the song sounded more clear than ever…

I came here with a load
And it feels so much lighter, now I’ve met you
And honey you should know, that I could never go on without you…

We never knew Cpl. Richard J. Nelson, but we think of him now all the time. We did not know on that sad day just where we would be a year later and just how much this soldier would have to do with it. Ricky and his wife Kristen had been fans of the vision of Great Lakes Church, constantly encouraging Dave to just get it started. The vision of this church had been stalled on the runway for many years in Dave Nelson’s heart. This past weekend, Great Lakes Church just celebrated our very first Easter service, largest attendance to date, at over 600. No longer stalled on the runway, we now think of it as building a Boeing 747 while it’s already in flight! What we know of Ricky, his heart is infused in this church… his humor, his transparency, his generosity, his authentic love for Jesus. The Nelson family has warmly welcomed us to Wisconsin, always making a place for us at their table. Tony and I are blessed to be a part of it and hope to honor Ricky until we meet him face-to-face.

Please take time to visit Dave Nelson's Blog and the website honoring Cpl. Richard J. Nelson.

Long Time No Blog

Well we're in it now!
We have begun our weekly services and are two weeks into it. We have yet to stop growing in attendance... this last week we were at 262 including kids... WHICH IS CRAZY NUTS! Let's catch you up to speed on what's been happening with Great Lakes and with the Petersons. First lets do a little GLC.

December was an exciting month as it was our final month in Mahone Middle School (pronounced Muh - Hohn). There is a neighboring school that was going to be needing Mahone as it was doing some renovating... so the plan was to move into Tinseltown (Kenosha's movie theater). Unfortunately, movie theaters might be GREAT for adult services, but they suck for kids. Ultimately, Dave was able to secure us a consistent spot at Nash Elementary, which is (no joke) two blocks from Dave's house. Nash is very reminiscent of Kirkland Junior High (where EastLake was before it moved to Bothell) with a big cafeteria with lots of day light for the Elementary Program, and adults are in the gymnasium. It might have been a bad move to secure an Elementary School, except that this one has over 200 parking spots for some reason... so we're good.

Our first service in Nash was a week-and-a-half ago on January 4th. Setup was on Friday morning of all the crazy times, and the crew was minimal, but the few people that were there have been clutch players in all of this from day one, so they knew the drill and we were able to setup everything, including Kids Program, in record time. Sunday morning we arrived at 8am to boot up and power on. The band was able to have an hour to rehearse and it was our very first time practicing all together... lol. I'm still leading worship... I really miss playing electric guitar, but Christian (who has joined the team as the 3rd "real" music team member) has been doing a phenomenal job on electric. I'm feeling a little more comfortable singing now, but still know that there is someone out there who is made for leading at Great Lakes.


We started our DNA series on the 4th, which is a great way to go weekly... it let's people know who we are and why we do things the strange way we do. It's kinda like a 5 week membership class. On the first week Dave spoke about taking risks... This past Sunday, the 11th, Dave spoke on our come as you are atmosphere. The rest of the series will touch on challenging people to not stay as they are (or to grow more Christlike) and getting plugged in with volunteering.

I'm looking forward to our official launch next month... it's the SEX SERIES and our first big mailer will be hitting homes at the end of this month. I can still remember the flack that EastLake had to deal with when the "Thank God For Sex" mailer hit the community... and I'm sure some of you do too. I'm not looking forward to dealing with bad attitudes toward our openness on the subject, but the lives that are going to change through it are totally worth it!

Here's Michelle.

Hello there :) So yeah, launching a church is a bizarre endeavor, and I can't believe we get to be a part of something like this AGAIN! I feel very fortunate and look forward to being a grandma and great-grandma someday and telling the grandkids what Grandpa Tony and Grandma Michelle did a long long time ago before they had kids and when people were still using DVR. I know that's an odd way to look at it, but it gives me perspective that this is worth all the risk, all the homesick days, and all the freezing cold we are experiencing now.

I work mostly behind the scenes, managing follow up and connection, trying hard to recruit volunteers onto our many teams. It's a funny thing to do, since we are technically only two weeks old as a church. However, Dave and the rest of the team have all been so clear and so passionate about our vision of starting a church in this area for people who don't go to church, that it's been easy for people to jump on at attach themselves to that. After last Sunday alone, we had 19 people commit to helping in Kids at least 1x per month. Many of those that committed were visiting us for the very first time! Isn't that something to thank God for? More than sharing our insider perspective, I'll share what some of our guests have shared with us over email...

I grew up at [local church] and attended regularly until about 2002. My husband and I got pregnant as teenagers and moved in with my parents who are members at [local church]. We wanted to get married [there], went through all of the classes and such, and were informed one month before our wedding that they would not marry us because we lived together. We were told that in order to be married that my fiance would have to move out for that month. We wanted to raise our child together and therefore changed the location of our wedding and found another pastor to marry us. My husband of now almost 7 years having been raised catholic was totally turned off to the church and would not return. [My husband] didn't want to go to church anywhere anymore until I begged him to attend Great Lakes (told him that the pastor often preaches in hoodies and jeans.) He liked the idea and loves it now as much as I do! Praise the Lord! I have waited so many years for something like this to come along and pray that he will stay interested. I thank you from the bottom of my heart for all that you are doing for people like us! God Bless!

My husband and partner of 18 yrs killed himself Nov 2, 2008 and I am looking for someplace to start putting my life back together. I felt welcomed yesterday and one of your volunteers saw me crying when I came in and she gave me a hug and made me feel loved and welcome there. Thank you and I will be there next Sunday, weather permitting

(from one of our surveys)
WHAT DID YOU NOTICE FIRST?:
All of the people standing outside in the freezing temps to greet me and show me where to park.

WHAT WAS YOUR OVERALL IMPRESSION?:

I WAS OVERWHELMED,OVERJOYED AND LEFT FEELING WONDERFUL FOR THE FIRST TIME IN MANY YEARS AFTER LEAVING A SERVICE. THE LADDER LESSON WAS GREAT AND YOU MADE IT ALL SO EASY TO UNDERSTAND FOR SOMEONE STRUGGLING TO GET UP THE RUNGS :)

We are humbled and overwhelmed to be a part of something that has the potential to bring so much healing and hope to so many people.


NOW - ABOUT THE PETERSON'S
It's very very very cold here. A co-worker at Starbucks helped me get some perspective today. She told me that most winters, the most snow Kenosha will get is about 19". Ever since Tony and I moved here, we've heard tons of horror stories about how terrible last winter was - way more snow than anyone could have imagined. My friend said that last year, by the end of the winter, Kenosha had 32" of snow total. YIKES! Then she told me that this year, so far, we've already received 39"!!!!! Our little Kenosha house is currently surrounded by about 2 feet of snow that doesn't seem like it has any intentions of melting any time soon. It's usually very pretty. It just becomes kind of a drag when I work at 4:30 in the morning and my car needs to be shoveled out before I can get anywhere. OH, not that I do the shoveling - I work really hard to stay toasty warm while Tony freezes his face off digging out our little Lupita (the Subaru).

Speaking of Lupita - here's something I've been chuckling over lately. Back in April when we finally decided to go out and purchase my dream car, we were pleasantly surprised to find that the purchase price included these never-used snow tires. Then, when we got our little car home, I was quite annoyed that we had no place to store these newly acquired assets. I quickly got really frustrated that the snow tires would have their home on the very small deck of our apartment - a complete eye-sore! I thought at that time, "Why do we even need these. It doesn't snow enough in Seattle to make this necessary". Fast forward several months, here we are in Kenosha Wisconsin experiencing record amounts of snow. Tony had the snow tires installed early in December and they have been a complete life saver. It makes me laugh every time I think of it and I pray, "Jesus, how patiently you dealt with my annoyed attitude about these tires when you knew all along where we would be and what we would need."

So, yeah, it's cold and I work at Starbucks. It seems like that sums up life between services for me. Oh, except for this fun fact... Tony and I have been having people over for Game Nights lately. Not necessarily Great Lakes Church people, mostly co-workers from Starbucks and their friends. It's been a fun change for Tony and I to actually find ourselves hosting anything. As some of you might know, we found it quite comfortable to have an apartment just big enough for the two of us, but not big enough to ever have people over. We liked our cozy private life, and were happy to leave any sort of hosting to just about anyone else. Here, we have a nice little house with a pretty open floor plan which makes it great to have people over. We've met some fun people and played some crazy games of Cranium, Catchphrase, & Apples to Apples. Tony also get's a chance to make a variety of appetizers to share - his latest were these amazing home-made pot stickers! Holy Smokes!

Me (Tony) again...

To wrap this all up, we realize that we've sorta disappeared to some of you back in Seattle and that's not how we want it to be. We totally miss you all and miss EastLake and miss needle-type trees and miss the backdrop of mountains and miss Peso's on Queen Ann and miss Cafe Veloce in Totem Lake and miss Jake and Lucy and Ruby and Tucker and Mazzy and miss consistently finding new things to do in Seattle. Thank you for praying for us and please continue to do so... specifically that Michelle can find another good paying job and that we can afford to stay here. Also, pray that God will continue to do what he's been doing and equip us to handle it.

Managing Expectations: 2nd Preview Service

"Managing Expectations" - This is a phrase Dave has been using with myself and the launch team... and I think it's wise to prepare people for what is to become of their efforts, but MAN have we been off!

It was expected that our attendance at our first preview was to be between 50 - 80... and we were hopeful... so we shot high and shared the hopeful number of 100 with the launch team... that's managing expectations. This isn't just a made up number either (the 50 - 80), it comes from numerous church planters and books written by church planters, and also based on the population of this area. We thought we'd shoot a little higher than that. Well, if you've been reading ours or Dave's blog, you know that our expectation of 100 was a shy guesstimate of God's plan of 174 in attendance. We were shocked!

But that was a one time thing. The truth is, Dave had been here for a month pumping this church up and getting people to invite their friends and family. The launch team was also very pumped to be involved, but now that the first service is over, we can release our held breath, and sigh. Now, the natural response is that the energy has come down... right?

Again, prepped by our planter friends and their books, we managed expectations with the team. We advised them that "typically, after the hype of the first service has passed, the attendance of the second service is about half of the first" so we told them that we should probably see about 80 - 100 in attendance at Preview Service #2... in essence, 100 would not be shrinking, it would be growing. All this, so that when we DO have 100 in attendance, we don't feel like we've failed in bringing back the 174, but we've succeeded in growing beyond the norm.

182! I'll just say it... no more suspense... just let that sit in you for a sec. 182 adults and children. We didn't lose half... we didn't lose even 1%... we grew! According to the Connection Cards, over 30 adults came for their first time!

So much for "Managing Expectations".

And let me tell you right now, it's not about numbers. It's about touched lives... and those numbers signify potentially touched lives. And here is the shocker... it's not even potential... it's fact. At our second preview service, without talking about salvation, and without having an alter call (which we'll never do anyway), we had two people come to Christ for the first time (one of which came just from our Facebook ad). I hesitate saying it for privacy purposes, but if Heaven is having a party over it, shouldn't we?

A-Mazing!
Let me tell you a little about my experience.

It was a busy month. I personally was busy with all kinds of media projects... working on the website, and the videos needed for it... creating advertisements for the local papers... designing and printing invite cards for the upcoming services... creating and editing the videos for Sunday morning... shopping... rehearsing with the band... and all the time dealing with a computer that's been mocking me with the dreaded "blue screen of death" near the 95% complete render portion of my projects.


Michelle is working at Starbucks now (AH YEAH HOOKUP!)
She's meeting new people and really loves her job, but with all the distance between services right now, she's not feeling busy enough with Great Lakes (very typical Michelle... busy all the time). But fear not, the second service came just in time, and she was (no joke) dancing almost all morning long. All her energy came back to her as if it never left.

We were short a worship leader for the band, so I had to step out of my comfort zone with my electric guitar, and strap on my acoustic (thanks Matt) and stand behind the mic. Day of, I was less nervous than I thought I'd be, but that calm could not have been my own doing. All month long I was practicing the setlist...
Everlasting God
Sweetly Broken
Turn Your Eyes
Here I am to Worship
... and it truly is my wish to find a great lead singer for the band, as I feel great to do Gods work, but know that my gift is in accompanying, not leading.

Julia, thank you. God has brought Great Lakes an amazing musician. Before I came out here, I had a picture in my head of what the Great Lakes Music Team would look like. A loud drummer with great timing... a hyper bassist with big hands... a bald good-looking electric guitarist with charm and big holes in his ears... an acoustic playing lead vocalist with golden vocal chords... and a naturally gifted alto/vocal harmonizer with an enviting stage presence. That was it. I knew what I knew of rock bands, and I knew what people were expecting to see at church, so I was adamant about not having a keyboardist... simply to break the mold and for shock value... but I was wrong.


I remember praying "God, I need a Ceci or a Leah or a Cathy. Someone that I don't have to teach all the parts to, but can just naturally pick up the harmony parts." and He answered my prayer. Julia is not only amazingly gifted at EXACTLY THAT, but she plays keyboard masterfully. She could BE the band if needed. Our vocal rehearsals look like this...
I pick up the acoustic guitar... I sing a song she's never heard before... by the end of playing it one time through, she's done writing all the harmonies... one more time through for lyric memorization and we're ready to perform. No joke.

But everyone is amazing. Aaron, our drummer whose limbs seem to care not that they are attached to the same nervous system. Kevin, our guitarist who played last Sundays songs WAY better than I could have. Gordy, our World of Warcraft loving bassist who doesn't play bass... he IS bass. All of whom are so giving of their time and talent, you'd think they're on payroll.


Also I'd like to thank the behind the scenes guys like Jesse, our parking lead, who is more MacGyver than Pat McJunkin (sorry Pat)... and Jon, our producer, who is our Jenn Aaro times ten... and Jeff, our media guru, whom I need not say a word to and all computer issues are non-existant... and Mark, our sound engineer, who has way too much pre-knowledge of sound energy and way too much fascination with our soundboard, I'm a little intimidated by him.

Outside of that little team are 40+ more names who make this happen. You're all amazing for what you do and for where your heart is.

We're changing lives you guys. Some people are impressed, some are moved, some are invested, some are checking this all out, some are right now anticipating our next service, many have yet to come, but we're all in Gods sight and He's proving it to us directly to our faces.

I work at Starbucks... and other stuff

Still settling in to life in Wisconsin, we’ve got A LOT going on. I started working at the closest Starbucks to our house last week. Tony and I knew before we got here that I would be putting my “career” on hold, whatever that was. We knew we weren’t coming out here to build our resumes, necessarily, but that we needed to be open and ready to do what was needed. Starbucks seemed like the perfect opportunity for me. I get to work at a place I am way too familiar with, meet some locals, and leave work at work so I can concentrate on whatever needs doing for GLC. So far, I love it!

Today, in my training, I got to taste Starbucks Thanksgiving Blend. It reminded me a lot of wine tasting when I used to work in restaurants. Did you know there’s a whole process to tasting coffee? Mmm Hmm…
1. Smell
2. Slurp
3. Say words like “nutty” or “citrus” or “earthy”
4. Take a bite of something (pairing)
5. Slurp Again
6. Say different words like “smooth”, “acidic”, “spicy”
That’s all I’ve got so far. I’ll keep you posted as I learn more about the proper ways to drink coffee. I dig it.

I’ve also met some great people. One of my trainers, after she asked me to “share a bit about myself”, told me she had heard of Great Lakes Church. She shared that she goes to a small-ish church in the area and her pastor mentioned us, asked them to pray for us, and to donate their pocket change to us in hopes of raising $1,000 in one month. Isn’t that incredible!?! She’d not only heard of us but has been praying for us. Another one of my trainers, a couple of days later, also mentioned she’d heard about us. I was STUNNED. She said she had a friend of a friend who mentioned it, and then she saw a bunch of people talking about it on Facebook (THANK YOU FACEBOOK). She said she wanted to come to the first service but had to work. Imagine that! She could have been number 175! Meeting these girls and other people has just confirmed for me that taking a job where I could meet lots of people was definitely the right thing to do. If I had gone back to something more comfortable for me like an office job, I would have probably only been around the same 5 people every day.

Tony and I just got back from Woodmen’s Grocery Store. It’s gigantic! About as big as Costco, but you don’t have to buy in bulk, it’s a little nuts. Anyway, he’s invited a few of the people that played music at the 1st Preview Service over for dinner tomorrow night. It will be our first time hosting anything social at our new place (aside from having our awesome roommate over for dinner). It’s been a good motivator to really finish moving in. I must say, it is a little strange hosting anything at all, when we really feel like everyone here is a stranger. I guess they will stay “strangers” until we get to know them, and that’ll probably just take time.

So, what I miss about home…
• Coffee dates with Katy Pratt
• Impromptu “We’re coming over to your house” plans
• Sushi
• Local wine
• Hills
• Seattle skyline from anywhere in Kirkland
• Predictable weather
• Café Lladro
• Running into _____________ (please place your name in the blank)

What I love about Kenosha so far…
• BIG SKY with cool looking clouds
• Great Lakes Church team
• Noodles & Co.
• Corn fields just a few miles away
• People don’t assume I’m in a cult, just because I go to church
• Huge grocery aisles of cheese
• Friendly, take-your-time, kind of people
• Our old house
• The squirrels that watch me do dishes from our back deck
• Working with Dave Nelson again



In other news... the Great Lakes Website is now up and running. Check it out. To those of you that go to EastLake, it may look a little familiar :) Also, since we're only having services once per month at this point, we had a couple of "Connect Events" this weekend. They went great. We had a few more people decide to help out and be on the launch team. The people here seem to love the vision and can't wait to be a part of it. We have our 2nd Preview Service coming up on November 9th and another Launch Team meeting this weekend to get organized and pray. Please pray with us that our Launch Team continues to grow and that we really connect with the community here.

Great Lakes Church 1st Preview Service

Week 1 of life in Kenosha was expectedly chaotic. Tony and I were anxious to meet the local members of the launch team and help any way we could. Dave has done a phenomenal job of sharing his vision of Great Lakes Church to anyone who would listen, so it’s no surprise the people that are already a part of the team have so much enthusiasm.

We were fortunate to get into Mahone Middle School on Saturday for a few hours to set up for Sunday service. There was quite an energy as we worked together to figure out where everything belonged and what we still might need. Fortunately, several families who have kids brought some great toys and baby items for us to borrow. We did as much as we could for a sound check, although Tony would have spent all day in that room trying to get it all just perfect. We spent the rest of Saturday running errands, doing whatever we could to take care of the last minute details.

Sunday morning arrived, for me at 3am. I could not sleep. I sprang out of bed realizing, “WE HAVE NO PRODUCER!” For those of you that haven’t been a producer, or worked near one, the Producer is really responsible for running the service, especially the timing, on Sunday mornings. Certainly neither Tony nor I had ever been in this role before, but we did our best to exchange notes on what we could remember about the Producer Role, so that I could do it/recruit someone to do it.

By 7:30am, the members of the music team were in our living room practicing the music for the morning. It was surreal that this team who had only practiced once before were so cohesive and so receptive to Tony’s direction. Tyler and I just stood by and watched for a bit, enjoying this behind the scenes look at what was about to happen. We arrived at the school just before 9am, hoping they might open the school just a tad early for a few more preparations. The whole team was there on time, if not early, ready and eager to work their tails off. It was incredible! By 9:30am, everyone was ready and in their positions praying and hoping people would actually show up. Pretty soon our guests started to trickle in.

I’ll share with you the teams impressions of the day as well as what some of our guests said in the surveys we sent out.

GLC Team Responses

Q: What went right?

• I guess everything went ok since all the cars got in to the lot unharmed!
• friendly people, Dave's "talk," weather, enough help, positive attitudes, the list goes on and on...
• The coffee timers went off as planned and my child was kept alive in the nursery.
• In my humble opinion, I think almost everything went right. Like I said yesterday, it almost seemed like we had been doing this for 5 years already.
• The Kids Workers did a great job keeping up with the kids demands. I think we had a great amount of toys, and things for the kids to do. I didn't hear any of the Childrens workers say there wasn't enough to keep the kids occupied. I think that's a great Feat right there!!!!

Q: Overall Impressions? Any Good Stories?

• I was very impressed that we FILLED the parking lot, only the handicap spaces were left!
• I couldn't be more thrilled with the opportunity to help out with Great Lakes Church!
• I am biased because I have been waiting for this church since we left San Diego, but I thought it was Outstanding!
• I thought everyone did a great job and worked well with each other. I feel like we had great feedback from the guests in that they felt very welcomed and the service was easy to follow.
• GREAT! I think it was amazing to see all the team members pitch in and help in ALL areas, not just the areas they were responsible for!
• The kids were fun, and I cant wait until next time
• It was great and exciting and I can't wait till next time
• Better than expected Preview Service. The “kinks” were not noticeable by those attending. Everyone was super friendly which made for a great atmosphere. Dave’s message was killer.
• Everyone was sooooooo helpful and friendly!! I was going to fill my car up at the end and literally 10 people showed up and started carrying my stuff to the car for me...it took us 3 seconds to pack my mini-van!! Go team!!
• I remember a friend of mine came up to me and said she invited a friend of hers that used to be friends with another one of our volunteers but because of some issues in the past they had not talked for over 6 years and when her friend walked into the auditorium and was greeted by (other volunteer) with the bulletins, they hugged for about 15 minutes and made up after 6 years! It was so awesome for me to see the joy on these girls faces after that.
• I thought it was so cool Dave's mom had jeans on! My wife is more on board now!
• My boys were in "sunday school/kids' church" for the first time IN THEIR LIVES (without mom or dad), even though they've grown up in the church, and they talked about it all afternoon and are so excited for November's service!

Guest Responses

Q: What did you notice first? What was your overall impression? How can we pray for you?

• It’s been years since I’ve been to church. Please pray for healing from the past.
• I noticed lots of people waving when we pulled up. I had a good time and most importantly, my kids want to go back.
• I am wanting my whole family to be involved in the same church and I believe this is going to be the one.
• I noticed the friendliness of parking attendants and greeters. Great Job!
• The whole service was great for a “first run”. Dave is an awesome speaker and the band sounded great. We will be praying for you and will return on the 9th for the second service!
• I liked the greeters – very helpful. Dave is a good speaker.
• I am so excited that you are doing this in Kenosha. I have been living in K since 1989 but we attend a church in Zion. I love my church, but there are almost no young people (20-30’s). My kids (23 & 21) have all but stopped coming. I think this might be the church to reach them again.
• I noticed the parking guys smiling and waving at us. Everyone was very friendly and enthusiastic. I love the message and my kids loved “Mr. James”!
• I noticed people in JEANS!!!! Everyone was friendly.
• Please pray for my son… he doesn’t like music at the church we are attending and uses that as a reason not to go. He came with us to your service on Sunday and he said he liked the music!
• It was very friendly and down to earth service. I loved the amount of volunteers you had helping with the service! I am not too fond of most churches, but I will definitely be back to this one.

We had a total of 174 in attendance, including volunteers and kids. That is far and away more than we could have hoped for. As you can see from their comments, it seemed to go well. Now we just pray that we can be good stewards of this momentum, help people get involved and connected, and really help accomplish for this community what we believe God has already started.

The Problem of Calling...

We find ourselves in an interesting place in time and geography. Tony and I are moving to Kenosha, Wisconsin to help launch Great Lakes Church with Pastor Dave Nelson and his family. This will be the first true daughter of our home EastLake Community Church. We made the decision in a matter of just a few days and now it's all set, everything else is just details.


The responses we've received since making this decision have been amazing. Some people are sad we're going, which is nice. Some are excited we're leaving to do this ... which is also nice? The one thing that we commonly hear is something along the lines of this: "It's so exciting that you are obeying your calling and stepping out in faith to do this!"

There have been times in my life when those around me would say, "I'm called to the ministry", or "I've been called to lead men", or "I am NOT called to children's ministry, so I can't help there", or "You should ask God what He is calling you to do, then do it." I began to believe that everyone had a very specific "calling" and that my life in Christ wouldn't probably begin until I found out what mine was. There were also times that I thought I must not be that good of friends with Jesus, since He hasn't "called" me.

None the less, He did call me out of darkness (John 8:12). He did call me to love Him and love people (Matthew 22: 36-40). He did call me to look after widows and orphans in their distress and to keep myself from being polluted by the world (James 1:27). He called me to lose my life, my preferences, my possessions, that I might find my life in Him (Mark 8:34-36). He called us all to pray that workers would be sent out to reach people (Matthew 9:35-38).

The thing that seems so great about a calling is that it can give you purpose and direction. If I knew I were called to missions in China, I might be more motivated to learn to speak Chinese, make connections with others going to China, pray that God would help me see how I would accomplish all of this. There is something comforting about that calling. You know why you are doing what you're doing, it's because you've been called. It could even be something you were created or meant for. In a way, the planner/preparer/organizer in me envies those who are called.

I don't know about you, but it is very rare that I have ever felt like God said something very specific to me. Along with the rarity, it has happened that I have heard God, but misunderstood the meaning behind what I thought I heard. The danger there is that if I wouldn't recognize that the misunderstanding was mine, I might think God had lied to me. I don't think I have ever called God a liar, but I have asked Him if He's tricked me...

And then I get another email: "We are so proud of you for being obedient to what God has called you and Tony to do." So, I generically respond, "Thank you". But, what I want to say is this...
Dear Loving Friend,
Here's the thing... We prayed about it, we asked God for clarity on whether we should go or stay, and neither of us got any clarity about it. We're pretty sure we are not "called" to go to Kenosha to help plant a church. We both, separately and together, got the sense that God loves us and would not be disappointed whether we stayed in Kirkland or gave up everything to move to Kenosha. Tony and I believe we have complete freedom and choice in this situation. Neither of us have any conviction or nagging in our hearts about this being an issue of obedience or disobedience. Yet, somehow, we've decided to go. I hope you'll still be proud of us.
Love always,
The Petersons

So, as much as I wish we were called to do this, I am finding meaning in that we are not. The problem of calling is this: If you don't hear it or you misunderstand what you think you hear, you may never step out to try anything at all. If you are only doing what you are called to do, how very many opportunities you may miss to fill a need and do something great.

What? I didn't know you guys were moving...

Yeah, well, a few weeks ago, we didn't know we were moving either. Don't worry, I sometimes feel just as out of the loop as anyone else. I'll attempt to bring you all INTO the loop with this little list of...

FAQ's

Where are you moving to?
Kenosha, Wisconsin

Where the heck is that?
It's about 45 minutes south of Milwaukee, WI and 1 hour north of Chicago, IL.

Why would you move there?
We're moving to help our good friend and my former boss, Pastor Dave Nelson, and his family launch a new church, GreatLakes Church. We're excited to spread the love and community of Jesus Christ, as well as the life change that we found for ourselves at EastLake to a new part of the country.

Did you know it gets really really cold and they have mosquitos the size of Smart Cars?
Woah! Didn't know that about the mosquitos...And, if you know Tony and I, you know we barely know how to dress for winters in Seattle, so we're still wrapping our minds around how cold it's going to be. Hmm...am I talking myself out of this?...
Nah!

How did you decide to pick up and move?
It's funny you ask. Pastor Dave shared his desire to go back to his home town and start a church with us back in January of this year. Tony and I were very excited and committed to pray for him and support him any way we could. The day after Dave shared, I asked Tony (in my most hypothetical voice) "Honey, would you ever consider moving to Wisconsin to help? Could we just pray about it?" Along with giving me the crazy eye, he basically said, "Uh...yeah, we can pray about it. But, God would have to drop a billboard on my Bronco that said 'Move to Kenosha' before I could believe that's what I'm supposed to do."
Dave poked at Tony and I about it over the next several months "So, thinkin' about moving to Kenosha?" To which Tony would reply, "Nope. We're not. And, by the way, stop talking to my wife about it, Thanks!" You might think from his responses, as I did, that we would not be moving to Wisconsin, which was no big deal to me.

Um...You just told me how you decided you WEREN'T moving...I'm confused...
Right, right. Ok, I'll get to it.
After months of hearing Tony say "no" every way under the sun, Dave got serious and asked Tony, seriously. Tony called me to let me know that Dave and Rindy wanted to meet up with us just to talk about it. I "knew" what Tony's answer would be, but I asked him if he would just pray about it and have an open mind. He and I then decided to go on a drive and just talk about it. He asked me first how I was feeling about the idea, and I told him I was excited for Dave, but that I couldn't really even attach myself to the idea since I knew we weren't going. Then I asked him how he was feeling. He said he was excited about the potential to start something new and to see a community touched by God in a new way.

***SCREACHING BRAKE NOISES***

"Excuse me, what? I can't believe you're even entertaining this idea!"
So, over the next 4 days (Tuesday to Friday), Tony and I talked and talked, met with Dave and Rindy to hear their vision and ask some questions. Then we talked and talked, and prayed and prayed, and talked and talked. We talked about what God had given us, and how this could be a way to give back. We talked about how we love our life here in Kirkland, and how this is not a good idea. We talked about how fun it might be to move to a strange place (sorry, Kenosha) together. We prayed and prayed, separately and together, asking our Father if this is what he wanted us to do.
We never got any solid answers to any of our big questions. After meeting for dinner with Dave and Rindy a second time, we got in the car to leave, I leaned over and asked Tony "So, what are you thinking."
Very simply, he said, "I'm kinda thinking 'yes'. What are you thinking?"
I shrugged and said, "I guess I'm thinking 'yes', too."
"Hmm...weird. Should we just drive over to Dave's and tell him?"
"Sure"
And then we prayed and asked God again for any red flags and any direction. Nothin'. So, we pulled into Dave's driveway, just as he and Rindy were getting out of their van. Tony jumped out of the car and said to Dave "We'll do it... we'll go with you."
THAT is how we decided.

That's insane! What about your jobs?
Uh...yeah. Did I mention that my new boss, for the new awesome job I just started, is a member at EastLake? Here's a good one. What if, Tony and I decided late on Friday night, and despite my attempts at calling, emailing, and FaceBooking, I could not get a hold of my boss to let him know? Then, what if my boss came to the 1st service at church on Sunday, and Pastor Dave gave a whole message on FEAR, and sprinkled in an announcement that Tony and Michelle Peterson were leaving to help him launch a church? Wouldn't that be a crazy way to give notice!?!?
Mmm Hmm, that's exactly what happened. It's even better if you hear Rob McKenna's side of the story.
None the less, my new/old boss has been gracious and excited for us, so that's been a relief.
Tony's bosses, Ryan Meeks and Matt Woll, were understandably stunned, but have also been very generous, gracious, and supportive. It's nice to leave the places we love on such good terms.

When do you leave? Are you flying?
We are planning on leaving September 29th.We'll be driving our Subaru Outback "Lupita" across the country. Here's a rough draft of our plan,... grab yourself a big map...

1st Stop: Spokane, WA
We'd like to have dinner with Tony's parents and brother there and spend the night.
2nd Stop: Yellowstone National Park
We've never been, so we'll be camping there one or two nights.
3rd Stop: Fort Collins/Denver, CO
We've never been there either. We have some good friends, Grant and Natalie Winnett, who live there. We'll stay a couple of nights with them and then hit the road again.
4th Stop: Kansas City, KS
Guess what! We've never been there.
5th Stop: St. Louis, MO
We hear they have great BBQ
6th Stop: DESTINATION: Chicago, IL/Kenosha, WI

What will you do when you get there?
That will have to be another blog entry...

If you have questions, please let us know. We will do our best to keep up and keep in touch :)