New Monday!

Wow.  I can’t believe it!  This is the first week of my new work schedule.

Due to my need for more time to invest in getting this church planting thing underway, my office has agreed to allow me to change up my work schedule.

From now on, I will be working 9-10 hour days, Tuesday-Friday, and will check emails and take phone calls on Mondays to fill in my 40 hours, but will not be “officially” working for the office.

I don’t want to waste this opportunity.  It’s now noon and I’ve met with the guys at Journey, written several emails, am working on some local research in Towson, and am going to spend some time this afternoon working on an architecture job search in Maryland.

I have a few other contact issues to follow-up on . . . so having this new schedule is going to make a HUGE difference.

If you want to hang out with me in Auburn on some Monday, let me know!

20-hit update

We’ve been back from Baltimore since Tuesday, and I haven’t even had time to write an update.

That’s the nature of vacation, isn’t it?  You have a great time relaxing, being rejuvenated, reconnecting with your wife, etc. etc. etc. . . . and then you get back to the piles on your desk at work . . .

Well, here’s the update:

1. Emily and I are convinced that we will be locating to Towson, Maryland . . . Probably around January.
2. We fell in love with the community, had a great time talking with some locals while attending some local 4th of July events.
3. I made some connections in architecture.  One in particular was extremely positive and I’m looking forward to how it all works out.  Having a job in the area would give Emily and I a ton of peace to know that God is at work.
4. Enjoyed the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra set to fireworks a whole lot more than dealing with the crouds and rain for a merely good fireworks display at the Inner Harbor. 
5. Inner Harbor fireworks had two launch-points — most from Ft McHenry, and some from a barge in the harbor.  Either one would have been bettern than Auburn’s usually are.
6. Spent a lot of time driving around in a silly little KIA . . . but we got to know the area well and have zeroed in on a couple of specific communities within Towson to watch for a house/townhome to meet our needs.
7. It’s more expensive in Baltimore, but not quite as much as we had originally expected.  I’m hoping I can find a job that will fill in the difference. Would be nice to get full-price on our house here as a help . . . and One more outside job, like an average-sized house plan would pay off one more debt before we go . . . anyway . . .
8. We took a lot of things slow for our vacation.  Emily is getting bigger.  I am excited to be a daddy!  Less than 10 weeks left!  It’s funny how walking around with the cutest pregnant lady ever becomes an automatic conversation-starter.
9. Drove through Towson one night . . . passed 4 Starbucks stores with no more than 3 customers.  Obviously not a good place to meet people during the evenings on a holiday weekend in Towson.
10. Went to church at another fairly new church in the area.  Am glad to see them doing what they are doing . . . but was also glad to see that they are a different flavor than our vision, so we’ll be able to reach different folks and impact Towson together. One of the pastors said he would hook me up with a local ministerial association that really wants to get things done.  I would love an opportunity to network with other local pastors to Transform a city and region!
11. Towson University is in Towson . . . They are the Tigers and have an Auburn Drive on campus.  That MUST be a sign from God!
12. Several possible meeting locations came to mind . . . but actually getting into them may be a challenge.  This will be a God thing!  So many possibilities, I’m confident we will be able to grow at least one relationship to opportunity.
13. Already have a location in mind for a church office.  Awesome location, and it’s pretty cheap, too!  Long-term issue, but couldn’t believe the possibility fell in my lap!
14. Spent tons of time just praying as we saw  people in neighborhoods, walking down streets, navigating through the mall, filling a ski-slope to watch fireworks, etc.  The area won’t be an easy area, but it already feels a bit like home.  People need a life-changing encounter with Jesus.  I want to be the delivery man to take it to them.
15. Was glad to see Roxie healthy when we got home (was sick when we left).
16. Roxie was definitely glad to see us.
17. Roxie is being very dilligent to protect Emily’s growing belly.  Definitely not a typical Chihuahua.  Curious to see how she does with Katie when she is born.
18. Was extremely glad to have absolutely no contact with my office while I was gone.  First time since we started the company 3 years ago that I was 100% unplugged from the office.
19. Since our vacation, God has just been working on my as I read the Bible like He hasn’t done literally in years.  I’m getting really fired up for everything that is happening over the next several months.
20. I’ll be glad to get back to Journey Church tomorrow and see what’s up with our new series, “WAKE UP!”

Well, I hit 20, so I need to stop. More later.

Sunday Sentiments . . .

It’s kinda late on Sunday night, so I’m just gonna make a few quick hits. . .

• Eric and the mission team are in Jamaica.
• We played a video in the worship service from the team in Jamaica.
• I think there are more people on the trip than showed up for church today.
• The band was absolutely awesome in the service today.
• They thought they sucked in practice, so we were all blessed!
• Did some adjustments on setup that worked quite well.
• It’s not easy preaching to a bunch of empty chairs.
• I’m glad it’s summer so we can leave some stuff set up at the school.
• Zach and Justin are doing a great job!
• Got a good bit of our vacation/Baltimore Scouting Trip planned this weekend.
• Worked on painting Emily’s old dresser to be ready for Katie’s nursery.  White, Pink, and Aqua.  And cute little butterfly knobs we found online.
• I have a blister on the end of one of my fingers from holding the detail paint brush for the past 3 hours.  It’s making typing a less-than-enjoyable experience.
• The dog (Roxie) doesn’t know what to think of the total change in furniture from Guest Room to Nursery.
• Emily is the cutest little pregnant lady ever.
• I can’t believe we’re about to be parents.
• I can’t believe I’m having a little girl.  I am in SO MUCH TROUBLE!!!!
• I’m worn out.  Time for bed!

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.

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.

Project Generosity & other stuff

Hey Journey Folks!

If you missed it, you missed it!  We gave away over $1,000 in the service yesterday.  The only catch:  give away the money you got and tell us about it on THIS WEB SITE.  Emily and I are already brainstorming ideas of what we are going to do.  I can’t wait to hear everyone elses’ stories!

We’re also signed up for the ReThink Money seminar.  If you haven’t signed up yet, call the church office RIGHT NOW!  Time is running out, and this could totally change your life.

Growth Groups are going to ROCK this week.  Exciting things are happening. Auburn will never be the same.

I’m also pumped about our new series starting this Sunday.  It’s mothers day  . . . the ONE Sunday of the year any mother can convince her husband and/or sons to come to church.  Who are you going to invite.

I met one of my new neighbors yesterday.  Talked about getting together to barbeque sometime.  New neighbors means new opportunities to get to know folks and share God’s love.  Cool stuff.

2:30am!?!?!?!

Oh my goodness!  It’s almost 2:30am and I just finished the Travel Guide for this week!  A little extra work tonight, because we several groups are having first-time Discussion Leaders this week.  I am really pumped to see what God is going to do.

• I’m pumped because I know what’s going to happen during the service in the morning.
• I’m pumped because JourneyKidz is starting a new series and I like the graphics for this one much more than the last series.
• I’m pumped because I’m thinking through ways to simplify the setup in JourneyKidz while improving the end product.
• I’m pumped because first-time Discussion Leaders means potential new Growth Group Leaders!
• I’m pumped because new Growth Group Leaders means more Growth Groups!
• I’m pumped because Emily says Katie is moving around noticably now.
• I’m pumped because Emily and I had an open and candid conversation about taking our marriage to the next level.  Even great marriages can be improved!

Another Rainy Saturday

Well, I managed to get out of bed, make Emily breakfast, and run around the lawn with the lawnmower before it came . . . but it came.

We’re in this crazy cycle lately of beautiful weather throughout the week, with some form of rain on the weekend.

Emily is hanging out with a friend watching some scary movie, so I’m getting an unusual earlier-than-normal start on the Growth Groups material for this week.  We have something truly awesome planned for tomorrow, so I’m really pumped to see how everyone reacts.  What we’re going to do has the potential to not only change the lives of folks at Joruney, but to genuinely change our city.  It’s going to be awesome.

It’s actually a good thing I’m getting started a little early.  Emily and I realized last night that we forgot to get the backdrops ready for JourneyKidz’s new series.  That means we need to take another run all the way to Montgomery to finish getting stuff printed out.  I sent most of it to the office in the middle of the night, but we still need to go pick it up, bring it home, and put it together.  We wanted an excuse to go to BabyDepot at Burlington Coat Factory, anyway.  Oh well.  Not so fun with gas prices where they are.

Auburn CityFest 2008

Hey folks!  You may have noticed in yesterday’s Worship Guide at Journey Church that there are still some needs for volunteers at Auburn CityFest this Saturday, April 26.

If you or your Growth Group would like to volunteer, you need to get on it fast, because the deadline for applications is TODAY!

Go to: http://www.auburncityfest.com/frmVolunteerInfo.aspx

You can download the application and find more info there.

This is a great Get-Off-The-Couch opportunity!

Thanks!

Not-so-late night . . .

Well, for most people, almost midnight may still be a late night . . . But for me, Saturdays have become after midnight work nights most weeks, as I wait until Emily dozes off before I dive full-force into putting together the Growth Groups material for the week.

Thanks to our friends at Mountain Lake Church for sending Casey Graham to teach us tomorrow, and for providing some supporting material.  It made my Saturday Evening workload much lighter this week.  With the material they sent, I discovered some other discipleship tools they are providing their people.  Eric and I have been talking about raising the bar for discipleship.  I emailed their folks for more help.  This may be a bridge for a new tool is transforming people in Auburn into passionate followers of Jesus Christ.  Let’s move past just knowing God into GROWING into a relationship with Him and his people!

I’m pumped about this series!  I know that lives and lifestyles could change dramatically.  I think we might just make a mark on this town through the impact our lives experience as we change our perspective on our finances.