Got IT!

I am PUMPED about tomorrow.

We are wrapping up the ROAD TRIP series.

Eric and the team are in Jamaica – so Zach, Justin, and I are IN CHARGE!

I am pumped about the message.  I tested the message out on Emily a little while ago.  I did a few revisions and I just finished putting my notes together. 

First, I’ve been looking forward to this message for over a month.  The whole idea of the ROAD TRIP series just hits me where I tick.  I could illustrate this series to death with stories from my life.  It’s going to be fun!

Second, the message itself is hitting me where I need to be hit right now.  This message is as much for me as anyone else at Journey.

If by some crazy chance you’re in Auburn and reading this before 10:15am on Sunday, get over to Lee-Scott Academy for our worship service.  It’s going to be awesome!

Off to bed!

Where is IT?

This week, I once again am thankful to Eric and Journey Church, because I have the opportunity again to search for “IT”.  What do I mean?  Eric is leaving the country, so I am teaching on Sunday.  Earlier this week, Stephen Furtick wrote this post about finding “it” each week.

Since we’re finishing up a series, we already had a very basic framework to work from.  However, just because we have an idea of where we’re headed, doesn’t mean we have IT nailed down.  I’m still taking a bunch of time to research, pray, read, pray some more, research some more, pray even more, and put together my notes and thoughts . . . dilligently searching for the IT that God has for me and for Journey Church this Sunday.

For those that aren’t going to be suffering for Jesus in Jamaica this Sunday, we’re going to have a great time.  I’m confident that we’re going to laugh a lot while being challenged to raise our faith to the next level.  Invite a friend!  We’re going to be a little short-handed, so let me know if you can give an extra hand this week!

Launch - Part 2

I just finished reading Launch - Starting a New Church from Scratch by Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas.  As I mentioned before, it’s VERY practical and is going to stay on my shelf as a long-term resource as we continue in the process.

I booted up my computer to do a follow-up review and discovered that Nelson Searcy himself had commented on my previous post!

I definitely recommend this book to any would-be church planters.  From our experiences here at Journey Church in Auburn, AL, from what I’ve learned at some conferences, from what other church planters have told me . . . I’m glad to have this book.  It’s going to help me evaluate some specifics about some details I had been thinking about.  Reading the book already shifted my thinking on a couple of details.  As I develop a plan in more detail this summer, I’m sure it’s effects will be even deeper.

A few good words . . .

First, Vince had a good word today: HERE

Second, GOD had a GREAT word for me today:

Be watchful, stand firm in the faith, act like men, be strong. Let all that you do be done in love. (1 Cor 16:13-14, ESV)

NIV, NLT, and a lot of other translations missed that phrase.  The literal nature of ESV and NASB scream it out.  Being a great man of God requires acting like a man!  Being a man is being watchful, faithful, strong, and compassionate.  Wow.  That’s powerful stuff!

Return on Investment

Last night I had an awesome opportunity to see a significant return on some investments from several years ago.  No, I’m not going to get some great financial windfall and pay off everyone’s debt.  I’m talking about some living investments.

When I was in seminary as an intern at Lakeview Baptist in Auburn, I took a lot of opportunities to invest in the lives of college guys.  Over the course of several years, I had three “d-groups” — groups of guys that met together to deepen their walk with God, invest in each other, and keep each other accountable.  Several years have passed, but almost all the guys I invested in are still in touch with me in some way.

This past week, 1 guy from each of the three D-Groups graduated from seminary.  Last night, each of them was ordained to the Gospel ministry.  Nathan is headed to Brooklyn, NY as a church planter.  Paul is looking for a position in missions mobilization. And Matt is headed overseas in missions.  Three years ago, I had to have their very first seminary class rescheduled so they could be in my wedding (wow, did I really have that much power?)  It’s amazing to think about the road they have walked these past 3 years.

I couldn’t help but think about the rest of the guys I invested in over that time. In addition to these guys, Ranjit is in ministry in his native India, Nolan is taking Bible classes and working with youth in Michigan, Ches is still in grad school at Auburn, Luke is a businessman, and Wryn is . . . well Wryn is Wryn. Does anyone really know what he is up to from day to day?

At any rate, it was a great encouragement for me to see how God has placed me in some guys’ lives at just the right time to have an influence on them and to set them on a path to influence the world in a positive way with the Gospel of Jesus Christ.  It’s humbling to see what some of these guys are up to.  I know each of these guys well enough to know that I only played a small part in who they are today . . . but I’m glad God used me to play that small part.  I’m praying for more opportunities like these for year to come.

Launch

I’m trying to read more lately.  I go through spurts of reading.  I’ll read a bunch of books in a short period of time, then I’ll fizzle out for a while.  BUT, with God working on me about church planting, it’s been vitally important for me to make a little extra effort to sharpen myself and my ministry a little more than at other times.

A week or so ago, Eric “leant” me a copy of Launch - Starting a New Church From Scratch by Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas of Journey Church New York. I have to put “leant” in quotation marks, because he’s probably not going to get it back.  I’ll probably wind up buying him a replacement copy.

I’m trying to read more specific on church planting.  God is shaping a vision, but I need some ideas to help me move the vision from my head to reality.  Launch is really helping . . . along with the Developing Churches Network meeting we went to on Wednesday, contacts being made in the process, and some good old-fashioned sit-down-and-work-on-it that I’ve done this week.

Anyway, just needed to do a what I’m reading update.  (Actually, Launch kinda pushed another church planting book on the back burner for a few days.  Oh, well.)

RISK

OK, so it’s Tuesday and I’m finally writing about the weekend.

I love a good ROAD TRIP.  When I was in college, I was in a group of friends we called the “Road Trip Crew.”  We took all sorts of road trips.  I’ll share more about that over the next few weeks . . .

But Sunday, we talked about RISK.  Eric jumped out of a plane for an illustration.  I woulda gone, but I had other plans that day, plus, Emily would NOT have been happy about it . . . Maybe someday.

What RISK do you need to take to go to the next level in your faith?

Happy Mother’s Day!

It’s now VERY early on Sunday morning.  I’m winding down to go to bed . . .

But, It’s now Mother’s Day, so I am giving a shout-out to all you mothers out there!

This year, this holiday means somthing more to me than ever before.

I always appreciate my mother.  I owe a lot of my spiritual life to the nurturing she provided as I was growing up.  She offers a great bit of knowledge and wisdom to my life even as a grown adult.

But this year, my wife is becoming a mother. Since we believe that life begins at conception, the little baby Katie growing inside of Emily’s womb makes Emily a mother.  Happy first Mother’s Day to you, Emily!

Emily is going to be a great mom.  One of my favorite special little things I did for Emily was to write each verse of Proverbs 31 on a post-it note, along with an explanation of how I believed she lived out that verse.  It then hid the post-its all over the house.

One huge example is how she manages our household.  We went to Casey Graham’s ReThink Money seminar today.  One of the suggestions is to eat at home more.  We made that decision a while ago.  Since then, Emily has found several HEALTHY, VERY good, filling meals that she can make for us that are EXTREMELY BUDGET FRIENDLY.  If you want to save money by eating at home more, but aren’t a savvy cook . . . none of Emily’s recipes take more than 40 minutes to make, and they are generally between $6-$12 per 4 servings (That’s $1.50-$3.00 per person!)  Yeah, so if you need help, my wonderful wife would be more than willing to offer some suggestions!

Off to bed.

The Imperfect Church

Call me I’m strange, but I honestly love the church.  I hear excuses from people all the time as to why they don’t go to church.  If I believed even half of these excuses were really a legitimate excuse to not go to church, I would have been out the door a long time ago.  Allow me to go off on a Pauline rant for a moment.

• As a grade-school kid, my “best friend” at church threw my bible in a puddle because he got mad at me for something.
• As a teenager, after sharing feelings of loneliness with a friend, he blatantly laughed at me when I was left out of a group of guys at a church function.
• In college, a ministry leader told me he didn’t think I really fit in and asked me why I didn’t just leave.
• In seminary, I was known as the “black sheep” because I wasn’t like the other guys around me.
• After seminary, a pastor flat out lied to me when he told me he was going to hire me for a position and then hired someone else a few weeks later.
• I’ve known pastors who poured 20+ years of their lives into incredibly fruitful ministry at a single church only to have it burn them out and they walk away.
• I walked a personal friend through the pain of losing his ministry to a moral failure, and going through a long process of restoration to a slightly less dynamic ministry.
• I’ve had mentors get so enamoured with a theological idea that they chase the single idea until it totally dries up their spiritual walk with God.
• I’ve had friends who hold a theological position that allows them to blame God for a moral failure and completely walk away from ministry, God, and the church.
• I’ve been spit on for my faith.
• I’ve had my faith questioned by supposed church leaders.
• I’ve dealt with people content with a Sunday Morning faith.
• I’ve had dry times when I wondered if God even existed.
• I’ve been frustrated when I sense a direction for my life that just doesn’t seem to ever pan out.
• I’ve had friends molested by church leaders, and had to help them deal with the pain years later.

In spite of all this I LOVE THE CHURCH.  There has only been 1 time in my life that I honestly wanted to leave the church.  I wanted to give up and just walk away.  That lasted for a total of about 30 minutes.  As I got thinking about all the things I could do just because I wasn’t going to be a Christian anymore, I realized I had no desire to do any of them . . . Which made me realize that God has really totally reshaped me to be in His church and to love His church.

You may think I’m crazy . . . But the Bible never tells us that the church would be perfect.  Nor does it tell us that we should expect God’s people to act perfectly all the time.  In fact, the Bible tells us that God is still working on the church and each of us.  The Bible teaches us that God is “sanctifying” the church to become a “pure spotless bride.” But we’re not there yet.  We shouldn’t expect to be.

Besides, as much as the church has “done to me” over the years . . . If I’m humble enough to admit it . . . I’ve been the one to hurt other peoples’ feelings off an on.  I’ve also been guilty of making someone feel out-of-place.  I’ve stretched or hidden the truth a couple of times to avoid hurting someone’s feelings.  I’m not any more perfect than anyone else.  That’s why I still need the church!  I need the church to help me continue to become a part of the pure spotless bride.

So, are you letting some other imperfect person from your past keep you from fully experiencing life in Christ through His Body, the Church?

Cool Story

Hey folks,  I just read a cool story that will rock your world.  What if all of us looked at the “bad” situations in life like this guy?

http://forefrontchurch.wordpress.com/2008/05/07/a-guerrilla-lover/