It's Saturday morning and I am sitting at my desk looking out at Hertel Ave thanking God for the chance to be able to do what we get to do!

I have many people say yea man cool job ... work one morning a week! Must be nice! I just yea it is!

No really... we get to have the chance (privilege) to help facilitate the activity of God!

Today is a great day because we are getting ready to do a couple of things we have never done yet.

The first is a blood drive! We are working with UNYTS to facilitate a local blood drive in the Renovation Auditorium. Love being able to host something as significant and impacting as this here at our new home. They are going to be here from 10:00 to 2:00 so stop by if you can!

The next event is the Who Am I Concert Christian Hip Hop artist Da Truth and The Ambassador will be performing along with some other local artist including ours true-ly... Nicki Baby! Should be an awesome night to see hundreds of kids from all over the city walk in our doors to hear and see the Gospel... thanks for every person who worked HARD this fall to renovate this place so we can do these kind of things... r u ready to rumble tonight!

Last night I got a chance to go over and hang out with another great community of faith... Ephesus Ministries right across the street form ECMC. Toni Benjamin who works with Peace of the City and who rotates in to bless us with her singing and leading of worship is the Youth Pastor there and her youth group put on a drama production last night that was great! The place was packed and the message of the drama was very powerful and extremely relevant to this generation... the Seduction of Innocence. How Innocence... a young lady is seduced by all that is around her... popularity, greed, boyfriend, alcohol... to give her life away to these things instead of her King and His Kingdom! Toni and her crew did an awesome job... I know God is going to use this drama in a powerful way to speak to the lives of many young people!

Got stuff to do... hey if you follow facebook and twitter here is a link to my spot

I was telling a buddy of mine yesterday that part of the incredible journey that is Renovation is that I get to see God's activity daily! When you get around areas where there is great need, desperate people, brokenness, lost dreams... fill in the blank.

I am discovering almost daily as God takes me into new places and experiences that when you have lived most of your life with much you begin to assume things about life, God, others that aren't necessarily accurate. From mobility to accessibility to convenience... Renovation is positioned in a under-resourced area not just financially but educationally, socially, spiritually so people's junk is just out there for people to see. We get a chance it seems almost every day to show kindness... to be authentic... to stop and take the time to talk, listen, pray with people, fix a teenager a pp & j sandwich... it has made me rethink what is most important, what we should be "busy" about.

Had a chance to take my friend Jay to see a friend of his in the Buffalo Psychiatric Hospital. I have never been inside before and it was all that I thought it would be and a little more. The lady was sweet but it was sad to hear her talk about her past... as she could remember it... hard to think through 18 medications. So many precious souls walking around in a "fog." I was so touched and blown away as Jay sat and listened, encouraged, laughed with, instructed his friend. I was the pupil he was the teacher. He spent 3 years in that place... he walked out 22 years ago and he says that by the grace of God he has not had to return. 

That's why I love being where and doing what I get to do!

I am here in the office spending some time hanging out with my Heavenly Father... reading from the Psalms... chapter 100 and this is what I am asked to do...  Shout with joy to the Lord...!

I have not shouted with joy in a while... so I did! Sun is shinning, I can breathe, I have another day to love my wife, my kids, my co-workers, my family, my Lord.

I don't suggest that you do it in the middle of 8th grade American History class but when given the chance... go for it, give a good Buffalo Shout to the Lord!

I love the opportunity to tell the Renovation story to people... Gotta chance to share it along with giving a tour of Renovation. The reason I love to do it is because I get to brag! First I get to brag on how Big God is and how He come through for us and continues to come through for us. I also get to brag on the people that make up Renovation Church! I love sharing how we had people working HARD every day for 2 months and how so many people did so much work!

I saw it happen and I still get blown away all over again when I tell the story. You know what else I love... that God didn't stop working on our behalf when we moved in but HE still is working in a BIG way in the lives of people and we get front row seats...

The concert Saturday is going to be an awesome night! Praying that hundreds of kids will come and they will be moved to follow after Christ!

Peace of the City is a HUGE blessing to our community and to Renovation... their kids will be helping lead us in worship Sunday!

Well Carlee's Basketball team lost their game tonight so that's it... season over. time to go fishin! I was proud of her... she got a little fire in her belly this year! 

Spent two days downloading how we help not only us/CP but how to help other churches all over the U.S. to reach every man, woman, child and how to resource them with needed resources... makes your head hurt!

Looking forward already to Sunday! 

Well what a cool day we had at Renovation today. Tons of guest due largely by the 4 baby dedications that we had... one at 9:19 and 3 at the 11:00 Gathering. We ought to have dedications every week because we had a record attendance! (not counting or opening days) We had 221 adults at 9:19 and 236 at 11:00 with another 70 kids in Renovation Station! I heard that RS was rocking today... this was our biggest day in RS also! 

So cool to see God just blowing us away in so many ways! The story of Vince and Matthew was so powerful today.. I know it touched many people's heart. 

I am not sure how many people prayed to ask Christ to be their Lord and Leader today (which is ok) but believe that many did today. We had several students commit their lives to follow Christ which jacks me up. I am asking God that we would see 100 people give their hearts to Christ over the next 4 weeks... please pray with me for this.

We are starting a new experience to help people connect with us and with each other... the first Sunday of the month we will host a lunch for 25 new guest to help them meet the Leadership Team at Renovation and to hear why and how we do things and how they can get connected... the first one is this Sunday and I think we are full!

Please be in pray for the concert we are hosting this Saturday night. A night of Hip Hop at Renovation! The guys were hanging out at Jasper Parish all day yesterday...inviting kids to come. They are expecting 500plus kids! The Gospel will be presented and Kids will have a chance to make a choice... who to follow? S o keep that in your prayers.

This week the Leadership Team will continue to put our budget together for 09/10. We are having to really go before the Lord and ask for wisdom and discernment... what should we do? where should we invest or resources as a community of faith?  We want to be good stewards of the resources that God is giving to us and so this is really an important time for us as a staff.

Speaking of the Leadership Team... so thankful for the heart and commitment that they have to serve God and Renovation. Please keep the Team and their families in your prayer's as the Team prays for you!

My Dukies got a great win at home tonight!

Oscars are boring!

Oh yea it was very cool to have some friends from CrossPoint hang out with us today... they serve those who are hearing impaired... maybe God would provide the people to serve in this capacity at Renovation so that Every Man Woman and Child can hear and see that Jesus loves them!

Have a great week!

Just finished watching a weird "princess" movie with the kids...just put them in bed and the Friday night lights are out. Gloria had Bingo tonight. Yes thats right she had to work Bingo down at the Knights of Columbus! This of course is another first for her. Caleb is in a basketball league and the parents are supposed to help work Bingo... what you do for your kids!

I am excited about this Sunday as we not only have our first baby dedication but we are going to jump into a new series called It's Personal. 

We are always saying that at Renovation home base for us is God's Word. There we find HiStory for His glory and for our great benefit. It is where we discover the Grand Story that is God and how our little (but meaningful) story fits into His Big one. It is where we unpack what is significant and what isn't... how to live a life of significance... how to waste a life. It is where we go to learn and understand that our Creator loves us and wants to have personal relationship with us. 

We have had a ton of guest over the first two months at Renovation... and when you couple that with the growth that we experienced this past fall at Elmwood I know there are a lot of people who have been on a spiritual journey but have yet to cross over and to actually take His invitation to a new life. So for the next four weeks we are going to try to help people step over that line of faith. 

I am praying that God may move in the hearts of young and old and that we might see 100 people come to know what it really means to have a personal relationship with their Heavenly Father over the next 4 weeks. Wouldn't that be incredible to believe and pray that God would move in the hearts of many to see them accept the Father's personal invitation to really know Him!

This is a series that Andy Stanley did at NorthPoint over a year ago and it was such a powerful series of messages that I have been waiting for the right time to share them. I believe that coming out of the Wild Goose Chase that this would be a great time to challenge folks to take their "foot off the brake" and follow hard after Christ!

Pray for Nick he thinks he has Strep Throat! yikes...hard to sing...

This week the kids are out of school so trying to do something with them everyday!

Yesterday the Cockrell boys went to LazerTron. We had a gift certificate given to us  a while back from some friends so we took that and had some fun. Didn't know that you had to be 7 so Caleb suited up as The Slayer... and Canon and I watched and played in the game room... good time had by all!

Took Carlee last night to UnderGround our middle school environment in the basement of Reno-Center. I so appreciate those leaders investing in our middle school and high school students. I believe that it won't be long before we start to see many students being impacted by Renovation. 

We spent the day going down to Kissing Bridge. We had the place to ourselves! It was awesome... fresh snow falling! This was a BIG day in the Cockrell family. When we moved to Buffalo I was the only one who knew how to ski so we decided to embrace the cold and jumped into the saga that is family skiing! What a trip it has been... from the first day until today is has been great. So back to today... Canon who is 5 rode up the lift today with all of us and he CONQUERED the mountain that is KB North!  First time down he owned it! I couldn't believe it. He took some lessons last year but got more serious this year about "listening and concentrating" he has taken to it like a duck to...! So now today marks a milestone... Cockrell's 5 can all ski!

I have been reading a great book by Seth Godin called Tribes. It has really gotten me to think more about connectivity to people... how we as a community of faith can stay connected and be more accessible to the community we live in... not only locally but around our state, country, world. Our world is shrinking everyday! For those who follow such things i joined twitter today... I want to experience what it is all about. You can check it out here

Off to hang out with our small group at one of my favorite places in Buffalo... Chefs!

Well Monday is done and it didn't take long to get into the workload of the week! (were we in Nashville yesterday or last year?!)

Continue to get great feedback from yesterday! I want to throw out my thanks and gratitude to Pastor John for finishing up our Wild Goose Chase series. 

This was a great series to launch Renovation, 09, New Life in Christ for many people! I have gotten several emails from people... here is one I thought was great... 

"Loving the Wild Goose Series. My favorite chapter is Good Old Fashion Guts.....coming out of the cage of fear. I've been too tenative, and passive when it comes to the will of God. I need to play offense more, stop living in a defensive mode. 

I liked what you said a few sundays ago about the transformation of our City! I sense that many of us will have to come out of the cage of fear, having a faith that dares to fail. Not being content with holding things in place, but rather being compelled to move forward as the Lord leads.I'm believing God to transform the city of Buffalo. Looking forward to what lies ahead at Renovation..." 

We had another great day in seeing more and more folks coming to Renovation from around the neighborhood and surrounding community... 232 @ 9:19 and 197 at 11:00 (blown away!) and another 51 kids in Renovation Station!

On the flip side we had our lowest offering since we launched Renovation. I never get to overly excited or down about one win or one loss (coaching taught me this) so I am not going to "panic" but I do know that if we are going to be... and do all that God wants us to do at Renovation then the people who call Renovation home... we must give more and do more as the Apostle Paul wrote about in 2 Timothy... so if you forgot to "visit" the offering station during worship yesterday you can mail it in :)!

Went to the Memorial Service today at Eastern Hills for all of the victum's. It was packed... Buffalo is a great community to live in, people care, people will sacrifice for a worthy cause! Earl has been ministering to the first responders and families since Friday because of being an FBI Chaplain... so please keep him in your prayers!

This Sunday is going to be a very special Gathering because we are going to dedicating several parents and their "new arrivals" we know that there are going to be many guest so I am praying that God will invade our space in a powerful way on Sunday... dom't miss it... music/worship is going to be great with some special guest helping us!

We are getting ready to head back to the Promise Land! We had a great morning. Michael W led worship with just a keyboard... not a huge fan of MW but the dude is a humble guy and is great at just leading worship. We heard a new guy speak today and it was fantastic! I have never heard of the guy till this weekend... always blows me away to cross paths with people who God has and is using in great ways that you don't even know they exist. Reminds me how small we are in light of all humanity and how much God can do through each of us.

I all ready got several text/emails telling me how great Pastor John did this morning at Renovation! I so appreciate John speaking and our relationship as friends and as community of faith's. 

Just got word that there is going to be a memorial service tomorrow morning at 11:00 AM at Eastern Hills Wesleyan for the whole community. Hope anybody that can arrange it can go.

Can't wait to get home and see the kido's... good to get away... great to get back!

I am spending Saturday in Music City with my beautiful bride! We had some friends bless us with a trip to Nashville where Michael W Smith is hosting a weekend at the Gaylord Opryland Hotel! We had a great time last night going to the Grand Ole Opry...my first time there. You may not know this about me but I am a big country music fan. So I loved it! Didn't know the Grand Ole Opry was still an ongoing radio show so it was cool to see how all of that worked.

MWS then hosted a dessert and dance after the show so... we danced the night away! Well I tried... one skill that I didn't obtain growing up as the son of a preacher man! I am going to get some lessons! There is still hope for me yet!

This afternoon we went to a great mexican joint called La Hacienda... oh baby was it good! Then we walked  it off going over to the Outlet Mall... what a mall. Hey kids we got you each a little sominsomin!

Tomorrow we will be finishing up our Wild Goose Chase series which has been incredible because we have discovered how easy it is for ALL of us to get caught in cages that God never intended for us to get caught in!

Don't miss the last cage... the Cage of Fear! 

I know there is a lot of prayers going up to our Father for all of the tragedy this week has brought... you never know what a week has in-store! 

Getting ready to go to Valentine Dinner with my Valentine!

I am sure that by now everybody is aware of the horrific plane crash that happened last night here in WNY. I know we have many friends and family that keep track of Renovation that do not live here in Buffalo. If that is you then I can tell you that Clarence Center is not really a center but a 4 way stop with 4 bussiness's on each corner. Our dear friend Jami Lynn (she cuts Gloria and my hair) lives on the second floor of one of those small stores... the plane crashed within about 200-300 yards of her. 

In fact we have many friends that live all around that area...our friend Cathie told Gloria just a few minutes ago that it shook their house so badly that one of their boys fell out the bed. Kathy's husband James is an international pilot for United and is over in France right now - getting back today...please pray for her and the boys till Daddy gets home.

For some of you who have visited us here in Buffalo - Clarence Center is about 3 miles from where we used to live... so that may give you a little understanding.

Gloria and I are presently sitting in the Chicago Ohara Airport waiting to make a connection to Nashville for a little get away for the weekend... got go

Please be praying!

One of the great things about what God allows me to do is the incredible people I get to meet. Joshua and I took Alicia and Melissa from Big Brothers Big Sisters of Erie County through Renovation today. Their offices are right down the street in the Black Rock Business Park and they wanted to welcome us to the neighborhood! 

We got a chance to hear about all that they do in the area of mentoring young kids and teens. What blew me away was they said the majority of their "little brothers/sisters" have at least one if not both of their parents incarcerated! Grandparents raising 6,7,8 kids because their grandkids parents are in jail. Great people doing great things... now that is where we (renovation) can have a significant (eternal) impact on the lives of boys and girls!

We also hosted a meeting at the Renovation House for our West Side Youth Collaborative... we have five designated areas that we have prioritized... Sports - leadership development - Jobs - Education - Parental Mentoring ... we are meeting with different groups and ministries that are working with youth/parents in these specific areas. Today was for youth leadership development... once again there are some incredible people doing incredible things that most people will never hear about. One of the people meeting with Joshua was the director of the Buffalo Boys and Girls Club. Another organization that we (renovation) can build a bridge to and build a relationship with... no relationship... no influence

Chasing the Wild Goose is an adventure and it's unpredictable! Makes for great times!

We had a great day at Renovation yesterday and we give God all of the Glory.

I am blown away by how the Holy Spirit can speak to so many in so many different ways from one passage of Scripture. I know that my dad and I have had many conversations over the years about how this happens. I have seen people give their life to Christ after dad has given a message on tithing! You just never know how/when/what/where... the Holy Spirit is going to go but it is certainly an adventure! Especially when lives are changed! 

I am hearing so many stories of how God is using this series to help people walk out of cages that have been seemingly "locked." I would encourage anybody who has not bought a copy of the book that we are walking through to get and read it. Mark Batterson does a great job of unpacking some great Biblical truths in a way that can help us chase the Wild Goose!

It has been interesting to see how our two Worship Gatherings have already almost evened out. I have to admit I was a little nervous about starting the second Gathering... would anybody show up? Yesterday we had 214 at the 9.19 Gathering and 185 at 11.00. That is great and we had another 61 kids in Renovation Station! 

Speaking of two Worship Gathering I have found that sometimes the messages are different. It has never been my intent but a couple of times I sensed that the Holy Spirit have me go a little different direction and yesterday was one of those days. The first ended up being a little different than I originally intended so here is a great story of over coming the Cage of Failure that those at the 9.19 didn't get to hear

Story of Abraham Lincoln

In 1809, he was born into poverty in a one-room log cabin, 16 by 18 feet. In 1816, his family was evicted from their home and he had to work to support them. In 1818, his mother died. In 1831, he failed in business. In 1832, he ran for the state legislature and lost. In 1832, he lost his job and wanted to go to law school but couldn’t get in. In 1833, he borrowed money to start a business and was bankrupt by the end of the year. He spent the next 17 years of his life paying off that debt. In 1835, he was engaged to be married but his sweetheart died and his heart was broken. It was devastating to him. In 1836, he had a total nervous breakdown and was in bed for the next six months. In 1843, he ran for Congress and lost. In 1849, he sought the job of land officer in his home state and was rejected. In 1854, he ran for the Senate and lost. In 1856, he sought the vice presidential nomination at his party’s national convention, got less than 100 votes. Ouch. In 1858, he ran for the US Senate again and lost again. In 1860 Abraham Lincoln was elected President of the United States of America. Talk about the cage of failure! If anybody should have gotten stuck in that cage, it was him! 

He would be the last person that I would want to be because he was a tortured soul. It was a tough life, full of setbacks and sufferings and failures, but those things prepared him for this thing called the Civil War.” Lincoln lost 40 pounds while he was in office. He hardly slept. When his son died, he became incoherent and could hardly discharge his duties. Dale Carnegie, in his biography said, “Year by year, his laughter had grown less frequent, the furrows in his face had deepened, his shoulders had stooped, his cheeks were sunken, he suffered from chronic indigestion, his legs were always cold, he would hardly sleep, he wrote habitually on his face the look of anguish.”

So here’s my question—what kept him going? What allowed him to survive the personal and national crisis that he was at the center of? I think a lot of it is that he never lost his sense of destiny. It is very hard to know what was going through the mind of someone who lived 150 years ago, but his speech before he went to take office in DC I think is revealing. I love these words, he said,

“I now leave not knowing when or whether ever I may return with a task before me greater than that which rested upon Washington (President George Washington). Without the assistance of that Divine Being whoever attended him - I cannot succeed. With that assistance - I cannot fail.” 

Let's Chase the Wild Goose this week Renovation!

What a night out we had last night at our first Marriedlife Live event at Renovation! This week was been crazy as we all pitched in to get everything ready for last night. It turned out great! I couldn't help but thank God for the facility that He has given us. We were able to transform the auditorium into a place of LoVe.

The band and the singers were incredible. We had a taste of everything musically... Barry White, Kenny Logins, Carrie Underwood, Stevie Wonder, James Taylor... Jenna was amazing on Inside Your Heaven! WoW!

Glenn Kelly (and his team) did another wonderful job of creating the most incredible lay-out of desserts in Buffalo! His cheese cake is ridiculous!

We had over 120 married couples Celebrating their Differences. I think we all had a great time talking about the good and the bad of the differences that we have between us as spouses. Satan would love to take our differences and take us in two different directions but we need to decide to celebrate the differences so that we can draw closer as our marriages grow stronger.

We had a lot of volunteers help us pull off last night (as we do everything!) but we would not have had last night without these great team members... Michelle Giambra, Dina Thompson, Glenn Kroetsch, Dawn Cassel... you guys are fantastic! Thank You and thanks to all of our volunteers!

Had a great time this morning as I was asked to share the story of Renovation at the North Buffalo District Boosters monthly breakfast. Got a chance to meet Senator Antoine Thompson and tell him what is going on at Renovation... really nice guy. Of course got to hang with the St Florian Crew members! We have some great neighbors!

I am sure nobody is going ot be reading this post this late at night but can't wait til the morning... we have some special guest that are going to stop by and hang out with us... hopefully the first of many visits... can you say crump! or is it Krump?! see it to believe it!

I had to take a couple of days off from posting because after taking some considerable time writing two different post on Saturday and Sunday I lost them both so I decided to “back away” from the edge… but that was then and this is now so here I am again.

Sunday was another great day at Renovation.

Pastor John Hasselback did a fine job of helping us unpack how paralyzing guilt can be in our lives and how to come out of the cage of guilt so we can live free.

I love being a congregation that is helping launch new churches. Northgate is our third partnership in launching a new church plant… 2 here in Buffalo and 1 in Syracuse. Our faithful (you’s and me) giving in our tithes/offerings/love revolution allows us to be able to be generous and faithful to other Kingdom minded ministries.

What a Super Bowl…. I was pulling for my man Kurt Warner but Big Ben would not be denied!

I missed 24 last night due to going to this areas first FCA fund raising banquet. I am an old coach so I am thrilled to see FCA regain some presence here in WNY.

The Leadership Team is busy this week, as we are getting ready for our first MarriedLife Live at Renovation. There is a ton of work to do… if you have a couple of hours over the next few days swing by and lend a helping hand… we could use it!

Speaking of MLL - I always get excited for these nights because they are so much fun. A ton of work mind you but well worth the effort. MarriedLife is our strategy at Renovation to help equip, resource and inspire our married couples to not just survive their marriage but to thrive and to finish!

We take three nights a year and we take one of the Big 6 Essentials of a great marriage … Trust God… Cultivate Communication… Finish Together… Celebrate the Differences… Nurture Romance… Hurry Home… and we uncover, discover and unpack how we can grow in each of these essentials both personally and as a couple because our marriages deserve more! The environment is very romantic, the experience is great and it makes a very nice date night… trying to help my brothers out as much as I can!

As of today I have discovered what HD… DVR… On Demand means… FiOS has entered our home…  I find that more technology is usually not better just makes life more complicated and frustrating because I can’t figure out how to work what was supposed to make my life “better” but FiOS is different… and it actually saved us a little cash so it’s a win/win!