Tory Farina

Cross Pollination

I love the job of bees. Their god given task, contrary to popular belief, is not to make honey. It is to pollinate the plants of the world. They take pollen from one flower to another and it makes the gene pool of plants stronger and more resilient to strain.

Often in life we get stuck. We listen to the same voices. We read the same material by the same authors. We listen to the same station (Oldies). We even get locked into the same hair do. Often it is based on when we felt the best about ourselves or for my dad based on the lack of hair.

I met with a church planter just a few minutes ago who is planting in Rosemount. Talking through what he is doing I was able to give him some advice and hear some things from him that challenge my thinking… I try and meet with church planters who are not where we are a couple times a month. I want to share what we did to help them. But I am also looking for opportunity to connect with those who are a few steps from me a couple times a month. It breeds a healthy exchange of ideas that encourages growth. It is amazing to me how often we can hear the same thing a hundred times but on the 101st time we hear it In a new context from a new voice and BAMB! It makes sense.

I am headed to an event in Forte Myers soon where 12 other church planters in our similar size church from around the nation are coming together to idea exchange at a church campus that is a few steps ahead of us. The idea is that as we cross pollinate the larger more experienced church can steer us and challenge us to see things we have missed or are not seeing.

I am very excited about all of this. It means that High Point is not going to get stuck in yesteryears hair style or leadership style and or miss the new thing that God wants to do I us.

How are you cross pollinating in your life? Who are you meeting with personally and professionally that challenges you to reach higher? If you don’t have someone don’t miss out on the benefit that can come from a life in deep community.

Live Your Potential!

What If High Point Had a Cheer?

This is the official Olympic cheer the Chine's Government came out with... I know you are practicing it right now which is good because we only have a few weeks left tell... 8.8.08! Olympic fever!

Check out the article about why they came up with the cheer... Very funny!

Some pics of olivia

I love to show her off and she is extra fun right now. We went to the Highland grill for our anniversary and she tried a pickle for the first time.
This is what we did on my day off...
Bat time is so much fun!
More pictures on facebook here...

Weekend Mind Dump!

• I hate being Gone! I Miss everyone and get very nervous and feel like I am out of sortes all day.
• I keep feeling like Sunday is the next morning... I have this thing inside me that wants to share what God is sharing to me.
• I think we have our fall series. It is a little late in coming this year but I think it has some promise.
• This fall and early winter is going t be an amazing time when everything changes for the better for HPC.
• We have been averaging awesome attendance all summer. It basically hasn't dipped from the spring.
• I am only going to be in 2 fantasy leagues this year. NO MORE!
• E did a Great Job! I knew she would. She used to speak more before the baby and will probably speak more coming up.
• AA is on my bad list. Sunday's flying was without hiccups but Fridays flight was a mess from start to finish. YUCK. That is a business I would not want to be in.
• I am so Jazzed for 8.8.08!!!!!!!
• Pick up the SI for the Olympics.
• thinking about my fall connection group. I am so excited. it will be a good one.
• I spent a few hours with Gary Grogan this weekend. He is a wealth of knowledge. I appreciate him and his wisdom.
• I love the spiritual symbolism in weddings. I hate the wedding shoes!
• If you are ever in central Illinois check out... Allerton It is like Europe but Americana.
• I finished John  Adams finally and am now watching the HBO series. It is amazing to watch. Paul G. is beyond good. He better win an award for his performance.
• E's computer is dying and I want to get her a Mac but I know the moment I buy her one they will come out with a new mac book. When to jump in???
• I went to the pool with O on Monday. I love pools. would it be weird if I bought a pool for me? a big kid pool? My townhouse association would love that!
• I am spending a lot of time praying over the material we are preaching and presenting on Sundays... I know God is taking us deeper this year. More experiential, more of Him.
• I am changing races... I need one shorter. I am not ready for a 13.6 mile race... My new race is going to be 10 miles... I know why not got the extra 3 right? You try it and then you will know your answer.
• I still have not seen the black knight!!!! don't spoil it!

What will draw Him

I Love people who are not interested in church. They make me ask questions like,

"what package can I wrap around the gospel in that will cause a dude, who would rather sleep in on Sunday morning and ride with his buddies, to get up and go to church."

"What will change his life?"

"Am I making it simple enough?"

"Does it Rock hard enough?"

"Can I make it easier for people to come in and respect them enough to make them comfortable."

"Can I say something differently to get through his defenses?"

"How can I support the people praying for Him?"

We are working on our next few series. If you have any topics that you know non Christ-followers, church indifferent, sceptically people would be interested in hearing I am all ears. let me let you in on a little secret, shhhh!... "I am their pastor, they just don't know it yet!"

I have been chewing on this thought all night and day. Pray about it and let me know your thoughts.

Goodbye Rhapsody

I have been a Rhapsody music fan for the better part of three years. I started using them because they allowed me to download leased music to my MP3 player. I could not buy the music but rather pay a fee and get as much as I could handle. A few months ago I Got a Mac and the main version of Rhapsody I used was not able to work on the make. Apple's little secret, it would interfere with iTunes. So I could no longer download to my sweet 30 gig mp3 player. I then downgraded my subscription and was just able to get streaming songs when I was connected to the web. This is not a big deal since I am rarely without a connection.

Lately I have been wondering why I pay 12.99 a month to listen to music I can get for free other places. And then I found... Pandora! Now I cant download songs to my Mp3 player but I couldn't anyways. It is free, Major Bonus. I can also see what friends are listening to. It not only pulls up artists I like but samples them and finds similar songs or bands. I now can get a custom radio station that plays exactly what I am into at the moment. It gets better. I can tell them what i like and don't and it remembers my preferences narrowing my music choices. WOW!

Get this. Where once I would have to download music and put it on my Mp3 player and drag that around now Pandora is an application for iPhone and other devices. Soon I will not need an extra mp3 player I will just hit my play-list and bamb! Free streaming music! I will not need as big of a hard drive on my mp3 player and I will be able to enjoy awesome free customized music.

It sounds GREAT! So I canceled my subscription and am looking forward to the new journey of music!

$1 million

I keep thinking about what I would do if someone gave the church a million bucks. I was praying this morning and couldn't shake the thought. So here is my plan for if when it happens...

• Tithe 10 percent to missions! We do this anyways. A portion of it would go to a new church plant or campus of HPC.
• Immediately bring every Pastor full Time and to a decent wage. I would also bring the new Admin on Full time.
• Put a bunch of it in savings for a Building. You have a lot more options when looking for facilities with cash in the bank.
• Bring in my Friends at Artistry Marketing and have them consult and do a re branding/ target market analysis for us. Top to bottom, like a Dr. visit... I am trying to figure out how to afford it now. The CEO is willing to give us a break if we want because he is a friend. Maybe in the future when our budget is bigger and can absorb that..
• Buy a second trailer for the kids gear.

Just a few thoughts. God is blessing High Point and will continually bless places he can trust. if I am prepared mentally for the blessing I will be trusted with more to manage.  These changes would radically change our Church. A million Dolor's is a lot of money but I wonder what w could do if every wage earner in the church did the minimum and tithed. We would never be in need. The church could do anything God lead us to.

Just letting you know whats on my mind... And what I am praying over.

Say What?

Add your caption in the comment line... What might Olivia be saying?

Olympic watching...

Ok... I am an Olympic nut! Here is my plan... I want to get digital HD cable upgraded so I can watch every event possible. Then cancel my subscription afterwords. When the Olympics are on Tory doesn't Leave the house. If you want to meet with me... Come on Over and lets watch Skeet Shooting and chat... But I don't want to miss pairs interpretive flag dancing because i have to drive all the way over to Robert st.

For all of you wondering where do I find Olympic details and information? Check this out!

Let me know your favorite athletes and or events... I will try and weave them into my messages During our Going for Gold series.

FREE- Phil Wickham