Should you be the best?

We were having dinner with our friends, The Harris's, last Sunday evening (watching Carolina Basketball - Go Heels) when Tim said that Tristan had never had lobster so they went to Red Lobster to let him try it one time. When their lobster arrived it was horrible. The worst lobster they had ever eaten. Red Lobster's webpage states "Driven by his passion for fresh seafood and determined to settle for nothing less than exceptional quality and selection, Bill Darden opened his first Red Lobster in 1968. It wasn’t long before such superior fish and flavor were recognized. Today, with more than 680 restaurants, Red Lobster is known as the foremost expert in fresh seafood."

Now with a with name like Red Lobster wouldn't you think they would strive to have the best lobster anywhere? Not just in Asheville, but the best anywhere? I had some bad lobster in the Bahamas, but I didn't have high expectations. But I would expect lobster at Red Lobster to be slammin'.

So when I see the word church in a name, should I not expect the same? For that to be the best church? How do we measure best? It's all about experience when you are dealing with intangibles. Red Lobster serves tangible goods. I can taste my lobster or shrimp or fish. But feelings are intangibles. I want someone sitting at the table with me to say last year on Christmas Eve your message really spoke to me and I remember "xyz" like it was yesterday.

The most memorable experience I ever had at Covenant was one Easter when Mack Strange was the Pastor. He had a cross, preached a message on sin, and let us hammer a nail into the cross. We left in silence. I can still remember the sound of the nails. I'll never forget that experience.

I want to create experiences on Sunday morning that our children can go home and tell their parents about. Where they experience the word, not just hear about it. Christmas Eve Service at 5:00 will be an experience. Look for more details to follow.

Boys versus Girls

Our staff is 1/2 men and 1/2 women. Today we had staff meeting at Fun Depot. We needed a little R & R and team building. So the first thing the guys want to do is kill the girls at lazer tag. Little did they think...Tracy loves video games, Amy is highly competitive and Glenda is a trained sharp shooter. I only scored 6500 points (half as many as Amy) but we beat them. It was so much fun.

Go girls! And, BTW, we beat Claude at skee ball too!

HalloWest

Many Pastor bloggers debated going to Halloween events, dressing up, churches calling Halloween events Harvest or Fall Festivals, etc. But after attending Hallowest last night I know that there is a need for the community to pull together and celebrate together.

Common Saints http://www.commonsaints.net/ had some of the crowd dancing and the babies bopping. The live band added so much to the event. Someone from the apartments across the street heard them playing and came over to check it out. The dual lane slide always had a line. We "ran" out of candy, cooked a few hundred hot dogs, and hosted the community for a night of laughs.

Over 174 kids under the age of 12 attended the event with only 70 of them being Covenant Kids. Around 600 people attended this two hour event including volunteers, parents, grandparents, neighbors, teenagers, kids and church staff. Word on the street has it that next year Halloween is on Friday and Hallowest will be open a little longer!

Thanks to the 40+ volunteers that manned the rides, food, trough or treat, glow in the dark putt-putt and registration. You guys rock! And a big thanks to Sheriff Jim Sanders for all his marketing, dedication and direction.