The Five Love Languages

This week in Growth Groups, we will talk a little about “The Five Love Languages, ” a concept from a book by Gary Chapman.  For those of you looking for more information, you can buy the appropriate books by clicking on the links below:

The Five Love Languages
The Five Love Languages for Singles

You can also learn more by going to the web site: http://www.fivelovelanguages.com

Eric has the following quiz listed on the Journey Church web site . . . a quick 5-minute quiz to help you discover your love language:
http://www.greaterquest.com/LoveLanguages.asp

Growth Groups . . .

Well, we’re off to an awesome start with the fall Growth Groups . . .

I actually have started receiving feedback from every group, which has been helpful in directing the groups in the future . . .

We start a new series on marriage this Sunday:  Lord of the Rings . . . I’m really excited . . .

I have also been able to refine the process of putting Travel Guides together.  We started getting the questions together by Thursday Night so we can print them in the Worship Guide for Sundays . . . This also allows me to give my Sunday group leaders a “heads up” on what the guide will be so they can better prepare.   So, as I sit at my computer now, all I have to do is go back through the questions to put together the Leaders’ Guide, with information on how to lead the discussion through the questions.  This means two smaller periods of time spent on Travel Guides each week instead of one giant block and a whole lot of frustration.

I think it is working well, and the feedback I am getting seems to agree . . . I invite your comments . . . especially those in Growth Groups here at Journey!

It’s Friday

Woo hoo!  It’s Friday . . . time for the weekend!  Can’t wait until Sunday at Journey . . . new series on marriage . . .

I’m out.

The Office . . .

I haven’t said much about work on my blog lately, so I guess I’ll write something today . . .

When we started this company 2 years ago, the same month Emily and I got married, my bosses (back then it was just going to be the 3 of us) warned me about working with my spouse and said some silly things about it.  BUT, they decided to hire Emily to work part time to help us pay down our debt and to help with a few things around the office.  I can honestly say that most of the warnings I have heard from various people about working with your spouse are absolutely not true for me and Emily . . .

I love sitting here writing a blog entry as she hums a happy little song behind me as she works on her computer.  I love talking about how my day went and actually know she has a clue what I’m talking about.  I love being able to turn around and steal a kiss or a smile or a hug every now and then . . . all without any fear of sexual harrasment!

As we look forward to where God is leading us in the future, I know we are going to have to walk the road together.  I know we will both have to play a significant leadership role in starting a new church somewhere.  I am glad that I know now that I can work with my wife and have a wonderful time doing it.  I can’t imagine not being able to share every aspect of my life with Emily.  I love it, and I love her.

Here’s to being partners in Life and Ministry!

Networking and Planting . . .

I said the other day that I was starting to watch Darren Plummer’s blog.  Well, today he and I got to talk on the phone for a little while.  This was really cool. 

We talked about how blogging has helped Church Planters network like never before . . . and how big-wigs like Steven Furtick, Gary Lamb, Shawn Lovejoy, and Perry Noble are helping us wade through the waters better, even if we aren’t as “successful” as them. 

We also talked about the cultural differences between north and south, and how DC generally tracks more with the south and Baltimore tracks a little more with the north.  I am actually a little surprised by this, but it actually excites me a little bit, since I really am a northerner when you really get down to it.

Finally, we shared a little bit of each others’ stories of how we got into church planting and the road to arrival.  It’s always encouraging to hear how so many of us started out but were put on hold by God for a while until He got all the details in place . . . even when we didn’t realize how much He was doing.

Definitely a conversation to crank my tractor, fill my pail, pump me up, or whatever silly saying you want to use.  God is BIG, and VERY GOOD!

Blog Look . . .

I guess I’m going to have to look for a different skin for my blog.  It seems like it is “change the look of your blog month” or something.  Several folks on my blogroll have changed their look recently.

Dave Anderson started the craze (I think he’s going for the simple look so it doesn’t look too crazy with the mass of stuff he’s got crammed on there.)

Gray Lamb changed his (dude, he looks like a preacher, Bible and everything.)

Steven Furtick changed his (although the new pic makes his ears look even bigger.)

So, what’s up with that?

Empowering People

Yet another thought from my trek through the Gospel of Luke:

Luke 9 - Jesus gathers the Twelve, equiped them, and sent them out to do mighty things . . .

One chapter later:

Luke 10 - Jesus appointed 72 others and sent them out two-by-two to do similar mighty things . . .

I am abundantly reminded that it is not my job to do a bunch of ministry.  Yeah, Jesus did a lot of ministry, but it was multiplied when he sent out the 12, and multiplied again when he sent out the 72.  My job is to do enough ministry to model it for others, equip them, and send them out.  I need to focus more on multiplying my ministry, not just growing it.

Blogroll - Church Planter, Maryland

I just wanted to highlight another new addition to my blogroll on the sidebar of this site:

Darren Plummer is the pastor of Mosaic Community Church in College Park, MD.  I honestly have not read much of his blog yet, but I got the contact through another church planter friend, Dave Anderson (who is currently recovering from surgery).

I look forward to developing a relationship with him as Emily and I look forward to relocating up to his neck of the woods in the coming years.

RSS Feed Readers:

For all those folks out there who read my blog via an RSS or other feed,  I am now using a feed burner in order to give you more options on reading the blog, and to help me know how many people are actually subscribing and reading . . . SOOOO . . . Please update your feed address to the following:

http://feeds.feedburner.com/apk4jc

Thanks!

Where there is no vision . . .

For those of you who have been at Journey for the Blueprints series, you know that Proverbs 29:18 has been our primary key verse throughout the series . . .

“Where there is no Vision, the people perish . . .” (KJV)

When you consider the visioneering that I have been doing for Emily and I’s future for the past several months . . . I can say that I am feeling more alive than I have in a long time. 

Just for the fun of it, I started sending out random emails to some old friends asking them a seriously loaded question:

“Do you wholeheartedly believe you are living the vision of your life that God has for you?  If not, what would that vision be?”

I’ve gotten some pretty cool responses, and would love to get some responses back here in my comments, as well.