Saturday Evening Post

As I write, I am winding down an excellent Saturday.

I spent most of the beautiful day outside either doing stuff in the yard or spending time with Emily.  This is probably the first day in a real long time that I totally unplugged from everything architecture, Journey Church, and church planting . . . just to regroup myself and to reconnect with Emily.

Emily and I have been a little bit short with each other lately.  Some of that is just the emotional issues with her being pregnant.  But I think a lot of it is just how much we have going on.  Having a day to just “BE” every now and then is essential to keep ourselves connected.

With Emily being pregnant, her body tends to wind down a little before mine.  As a result, I was able to put off getting “back to work” until she was ready to sleep.  I just finished this weeks’ Growth Groups Travel Guide.  I’m looking forward to our continuing RockStar challenge to Make Jesus Famous by investing in the lives of people around us and inviting them into relationship with God and the church!

Coolness Ahead

I’m only at work for a little while this morning, because I head to Millbrook in a few minutes to spend the day with Church Planters.  I’m really excited.  Normally, we only have a few of us meeting together to talk shop.  BUT, Journey Church Millbrook is hosting the Developing Churches Network this month, so we get to talk shop with a lot more folks this month.  Actually, they have scheduled speakers that are talking shop, but I’m hoping to learn and glean a lot.  I’m hoping it will lead to some connections with planters who can really help Emily and me prepare for what God has for us down the road.

 Well, I gotta run!

Holy Hangover, Batman!

I hear pastors talk about the “holy hangover” they experience on Mondays all the time.  I have experienced them when I teach.  However, I have a holy hangover today, and I didn’t teach yesterday.  The idea is that your body kinda crashes after the intense adrenaline rush you experience when God does something big.

Yesterday was absolutely awesome at Journey!  It was the last day of Spring Break, so we weren’t entirely sure what to expect.  BUT, we eclipsed a major milestone and we fell just shy of doubling our regular attendence!  We baptized 7 people in the service yesterday (6 adults!)  Eric gave an introduction and a conclusion, but we pretty much let the video testimonies of life change preach the message.  It was AWESOME!

With the baptisms, several families arrived early.  45 minutes before the service started, the place was hoppin’.  Eric and I were pumped and ready to go.  That sure beats walking around 10 minutes before the service and wondering if anyone is going to show up!

After the service, we had Easter Egg hunts and some cool inflatable bouncy things for the kids to play on.  This gave us a great opportunity to walk around and talk to the parents and get to know folks better.

I am really pumped, because we’ve connected several families to Growth Groups in the past week.

For more info, see Eric’s post.

We hit some major milestones as a church yesterday.  Thanks to everyone for investing in people and inviting them to share in the Journey together at Journey Church!

Most of all, praise God and thank you Jesus for being a RISEN SAVIOR.  He’s the reason we do what we do!

Happy Easter!

It’s after midnight, so I get to write Happy Easter!

JESUS IS RISEN AND ALIVE TODAY!

• I am totally pumped about our new series: RockStar: Making HIM Famous.
• I am pumped that we might double our attendence.  Who have you invited?
• I am pumped that new people are interested in Growth Groups.
• I am pumped that some of these people are already connecting with our groups!
• I am pumped that we’re doing all sorts of cools stuff for the kids in the morning.
• I am pumped that several of our students are coming back early to help with Easter.
• I am pumped about the upgrades to our environments.
• MOST OF ALL, I AM TOTALLY PUMPED that I get to serve a RISEN SAVIOR named JESUS!

If I get any more pumped . . . I might just float away like a hot air balloon.

Goodnight!

Crazy Busy

This week has been crazy busy!

• After missing a day and a half of work last week, I got to the office to find out that we’ve scored several new projects.  A couple are pretty substantial.
• A couple existing jobs are finally moving forward.
• My one big project is requiring me to do some research and learn some new stuff, and doing some tweaking of the design with what I learn.
• I met with Eric this morning to plan out some stuff for Easter.
• We experienced an awesome “God’s favor” moment while we were running around town.
• We are PUMPED about how many folks we’re baptizing this Sunday.
• After this Sunday, well over 20% of our average attendence to-date will have been baptized in the year and a half since Journey Church launched!
• We’re praying to double our attendance on Easter.
• Who have you invited?
• Eric and I also talked some about Baltimore.
• Our trip has led us to make some minor adjustments to our overall schedule.  The vision is still the same, but Emily’s pregnancy, some coaching issues, and the slow real estate market are pretty much leading us to wait a few extra months to relocate . . . but if all of those things fall into place on our new time schedule, and are moving the way we hope they will . . . our overall time schedule may not change.

Back from Baltimore

It’s almost midnight on Sunday night, so I’m just going to do quick-hits . . .

• Our trip to Baltimore was good.
• The trip BACK was not so great.  45 minutes late taking off, a detour to refuel in Savanna, and finally landing in Atlanta over four hours late because of the crazy weather in Atlanta this weekend.
• The Savanna airport has designated “non-smoking” areas, because you can smoke anywhere else.  What’s up with that?
• Our time IN Baltimore was helpful.  Overall, things went how we expected them to, but not as good as we had hoped.  We have a lot of stuff to think about and evaluate.
• Best part of the trip was being able to get out and talk to people in a few locations.
• We had a Garmin (GPS) in our rental car.  Now I want one.
• I swear the rental car was smaller than this car. It was a Chevy and the body made pinging noises while we were sitting at stoplights.  It made for good humor, and got us where we needed to go.  Not to mention it worked well for city traffic.
• Roxie (our Chihuahua) was so excited to see us she couldn’t sleep and kept us up most of the night last night.
• My Google Reader had 56 blog posts on it that I read over the past hour and a half.  I think I might cut off some blogs to give me more time to do more important stuff.
• Journey Church rocked today.
• Eric had his preach on this morning.  He was kinda hollerin’ at one point.
• Several guests on a Spring-Break weekend.
• One couple that came was invited by my wife. 
• I love my wife!
• No Growth Groups this week — get out in the community, invest, and invite!
• Easter is next week.  We’re pumped about the stuff we have lined up for families.
• I have to go to work tomorrow.
• I need to get some sleep.

Excited about Tomorrow

It’s a few minutes before noon on Wednesday.  I just finished one task at work and am taking a quick break to write this before grabbing lunch and jumping in to something else.

BUT, more than anything, I am excited about the next 3 days.

About 24 hours from now, I will be leaving home in Auburn to go with Emily to Baltimore for a 2-day scouting trip.  The folks in Baltimore going to help us evaluate a few communities to begin the process of narrowing down our focus to invest in a local community and build up a church.

I am SOOOO ready to Transform Baltimore!

PRAY FOR OUR TRIP TO BE VERY PROFITABLE!

Pray for our house to sell.

Pray for the assessment process to continue to move forward.

Pray for finances to start a church.

Pray for clarity in how/when to transition from architecture to church work.

Pray for a healthy baby.
(OK, I can’t stand it anymore, it is now out for the world to know.  Emily is about 3mo. Pregnant!  Woo Hoo, I’m gonna be a Daddy!)

Finance major? Computer Tech?

Here’s entry number one into finding a job in Baltimore:

Do you have a background in finance?  Several companies in Baltimore are expanding their financial staff!

Are you a computer techie?  Companies in Baltimore are looking for IT professionals.

Here’s the news to prove it:

http://www.bizjournals.com/baltimore/stories/2008/03/03/daily19.html

Come join us in Baltimore, and help us start a new church!

Want to make a difference?

Do you want to make a difference with your life?

Have you always had a sense that God is calling you to a “normal” career, but you want to use it to accomplish great things for the Kingdom?

Maybe you’re about to graduate and don’t have a clue what is next.

Perhaps I can help.

Today, I’m starting a new category on my blog: Baltimore Jobs.

I’m going to list links to articles I find online related to finding jobs in the Baltimore area.

Why would I do that?

I want to help folks find “normal” jobs in the Baltimore area . . . and use those jobs as a platform to help us plant a new church.

Come join us!

Heigh Ho, Heigh Ho, off to work

Well, actually, I HAVE been working from home for Monday and Tuesday . . . but I’m headed back to the office tomorrow.

It’s kinda sad.  I’m gonna miss the last luncheon of the North American Missions Festival at Lakeview, but will hopefully make it back in time for the final dinner and session Wednesday Evening.  Wer also missed part of tonight’s presentation so we could come home to lead our Growth Group.

Lakeview gave me the opportunity to cast a little of the Transform Baltimore vision during lunch today.  I spent a good bit of time last night putting together a totally fresh PowerPoint presentation.  This is the first presentation I have done with the Tree logo and the 4-seasons process wheel.  I also tailored the presentation to put out some infomation from unChristian that I felt strongly communicated why we are called to plant the type of church God is calling us to plant.

I’ve been able to network with a few couples and individuals that I am challenging to pray seriously about relocating with us to establish the church.  God’s been getting on me about being a little more confident about doing that . . . but I might have gone a little far with one of my old friends.  I walked right up to him, after not seeing him for several months, and said, “So, when are you moving to Baltimore?”  After his surprised look and a brief explanation by me, I said, “Your name is one of the first names that came to mind when Emily and I began to pray about who to ask.  I’m seriously not kidding. I want you to pray about it.”

I don’t know if he will go or not.  I am convinced it would be an awesome move for this guy.

There’s some others we asked to pray about it, but not quite so pointedly.  And then there’s some that we don’t even know that might pop out of the woodwork somewhere.  At any rate, I’m praying for a team.  People I’m praying for:  an admistrator, an evangelist, a worship leader, a male children’s director, an experienced barista, and general passionate Christ-followers. I’d take any of these in combination in a single person if they fit the mold.  But more than positions, I’m praying for folks who buy 100% into the vision.

I’m also praying for some fruit from all our recent efforts to reach out to those around us here in Auburn.  We keep running into folks who grew up in church, made some sort of decision to “accept Jesus,” but are disconnected from church now.  I want to see at least one of these folks make a REAL decision to become a CHRIST FOLLOWER.  Pray for Emily and I as we raise the bar on our spiritual witness.

AND, continue to pray for our house to sell.