NewSpring...

Do you anticipate Sunday mornings? Do you attend church with an expectation for God to speak? I have to say that many times I am guilty of just going through the motions of church. It is not something that I am proud of either. This past Sunday God really showed my wife and I how church ought to look. I had the privilege of attending NewSpring (http://www.newspring.cc/) church in Anderson, SC, while on vacation.

My wife, Joy, and I were both blown away. From the minute we pulled into the parking lot, there were probably 20 to 30 people directing traffic. They were very friendly, waving at us as we pulled in ( I realize that they are taught to be friendly and wave, but that's OK because they were good at it). They directed us all the way to our parking spot. We were then greeted by another 10 to 15 greeters on our way from the car to the front door of the church. My first trip was to get some coffee... and let me recommend the medium roast... it was excellent! We entered the worship service and were instantly blown away by the worship band... top notch all the way! Immediately preceding our amazing worship experience, Perry Noble, NewSpring's lead pastor, delivered a message that would make you want to slap your grandmother! In other words, he is an amazing communicator!

After the service... Trevor Cox... NewSpring's Home Groups Pastor gave Joy and I a tour and showed us the ropes of NewSpring. He was very informative and helpful for young church planters like Joy and me. There were some things at NewSpring that God really used to speak to us and confirm God's direction and vision for the future of our church plant. I could go on and on about all that NewSpring has to offer, but that would take too long and you probably wouldn't read the whole thing anyways.

In closing, I would like to share a conversation Joy and I had with some Anderson, SC locals the night before we attended NewSpring. They said that NewSpring just wasn't their type of church (that's OK, I realize that it's probably not for everyone). Then they said that they didn't like the concert style of worship (their loss). They then proceeded to tell us that they felt like many people just attended NewSpring because it is the IN thing to do (to that comment I say GREAT)!!! If attending NewSpring has become the IN thing to do, that means they must be doing something right. Church should be the IN thing to do. We should all hope that our churches are so influential and culturally relevant that it has become the IN thing to do!!! The fact of the matter is... people come to NewSpring expecting God to show up in an awesome way!!! CHEW ON THAT ONE FOR A LITTLE BIT!!!

Vacation...

Finally!!! It's time for me to get out of this small town they call Graceville. My wife keeps telling me she is tired of driving through the forrest. She calls places with lots of trees forrest's. We will be heading to Anderson, SC for some much needed R & R. This will be a time for us to clear our heads and seek God's direction in our lives. Oddly enough... we are going to New Spring Church (check it out @ www.newspring.cc) and Perry Noble the lead pastor is going to be preaching on discovering God's will. Perfect timing Perry!!! Joy and I have some big decisions to make in the next few weeks. Please pray for us! I am also very excited to get to hang out with some family. My sister Ashley and my brother-in-law Matt live in Anderson. We will be staying with them. Allergies here I come!!! (They have a big lab, Jasmine, despite how cute she is, her dander is something fierce!!!) My parents left Bradenton, Fl today and are already there hanging out with them. Can't wait!!! Early to bed tonight so we can leave early enough to avoid that crazy Atlanta traffic. You know what I'm talking about. We won't be back till next Friday, but I will still attempt to keep my blogging up to par. PEACE OUT!!!

Timing is Everything...

Have you ever just known that it was time for a change in your life? You got so excited that you ran to your spouse and they instantly shot down your excitement with a heavy dose of reality. You then got frustrated that your spouse doesn't have the same level of excitement that you do. Later on, you walk back to your spouse with your tail between your legs because you know that you were wrong for being so zealous without weighing out the variables.

It's not that your excitement was not merited... it's just that it wasn't God's timing. Sometimes God will give you a distant vision for the sole purpose of getting you spiritually prepared for a big change in your life. It is vital, especially as a leader, that you are always thinking about what's after next. See... most people just think about what's going to happen next in life, but if you will start to think about what's after next you'll always be one step ahead and better prepared in every arena of life.

Realize though that the intensity of your call in life may not match the intensity of your spouses call. That's OK though. While sometimes both spouses receive an equally intense call to start a church together, it's not uncommon for one to receive the calling to fill a more supportive role. Don't assume that your spouse is not in sync with you because your levels of passion are not equal. The goal is to confirm mutual calling, not mutual intensity. ("Launch: Starting a New Church from Scratch by Nelson Searcy and Kerrick Thomas)

So... realize that God has given you your spouse for many important reasons. One of those reasons is to occasionally contrast you. I'll explain what I'm talking about. A few months ago I was ready for a particularly big change in life. I went to my wife with my radical plan about how this change would take place and why it needed to happen. My wife did not respond the way that I had hoped... instead she responded the way that God had planned. She did not have a peace about it. We both decided to pray about it, and I realized that she was right! We continued to wait patiently on the Lord, and now three months later, that same radical plan that had been birthed in me is about to happen and we both have a peace about it. 1 Peter 5:6 says, "Humble yourselves, therefore, under God's mighty hand, that He may lift you up in due time." Don't get me wrong, God does call us to take a leap of faith, but... TIMING IS EVERYTHING!!!

Excitement

Do you get excited when others around you are succeeding in life? I think that sometimes we can become jealous and wish that we were the one's seeing the success in life. For example... you may want to see God do some amazing things in your city... maybe your goal is to reach thousands of unchurched people so that they might know and follow the same Jesus that you follow. BUT what if God brings revival to your area (city), but He doesn't use you in the way that you would have like Him to. Maybe God wants to use you in an important way, but it's not what you had initially hoped for. What if God uses the guy at the church across town to start revival in your city, or to write a very influential book, etc...Would you still be happy that God's kingdom is expanding... that unchurched people are experiencing life-change... that your city is finally experiencing revival...??? That is a tough question for many of us to look directly at. I would encourage you to do so. See where you are at personally!

Are you doing what you are doing for your own personal gain and recognition, or are you wanting to see God glorified??? We don't always know why God does the things that He does. But we do know that He sees the big picture in life, and we must trust Him in that. I get overwhelmingly excited when I talk to my buddy James Ross. He is the lead pastor/teacher of Mosaic Church in Crestview, Fl, and let me tell you... God is really using him in some mighty ways to reached out to his community. I enjoy when he shares with me all the awesome things that God is doing @ Mosaic Church ( You check it out @ www.mosaiccrestview.com, or check out his blog down in the right hand corner where it says, blogs i read). I recently had the privilege to preach there on a Sunday in his absence, and I saw first hand all that he has been talking about.

So that leads me to my original question... Do you get excited when others around you are succeeding in life??? Let's stop being jealous, territorial people, and start becoming Kingdom minded when it comes to the church. By the way... the issue that I am discussing is equally applicable to the business world as well. I will leave you with a verse that many people forget about in times like these... Romans 12: 15 says, "Rejoice with those who rejoice; mourn with those who mourn." Are YOU???

God's Grooming...

Ask yourself this question... What is God grooming you for right now??? God is always preparing us for something... the question is... Do you and I know what that thing is??? What are you passionate about? Can God use that? Do you think that He put that passion in you? If it is a God honoring passion... I firmly believe that God has put it there. Sometimes we disregard our passions and desires though, because we have been taught to. We have to be careful with that kind of theology though.

Don't PUT OFF what God has PLACED IN your heart. If God has placed a desire in your heart it is not your job to doubt whether He is able to do it or not. He is able to do more than you or I can fathom. He doesn't need us... but He so graciously chooses to use us. You may not think that you are qualified to do what it is that you feel God is calling you to... But that is OK because your worth is found in Christ alone. If God has called you to do something don't doubt... because it is God who qualifies you. There is no greater qualification than Christ who resides in you and I as followers of Him! After all... I used to be a heroin addict!

Who would have thought that God had plans for me to be in the ministry. Not me!!! There is no other way to explain that other than God! Since I've been clean off of heroin... I've gone back to school (I'm a junior now), I met my beautiful wife Joy (@ school), we are having a baby, I am starting my third year in youth ministry, and I know that God is preparing me to be a church planter (in His perfect timing). Is there any other way to explain how a former heroin junky could achieve all that apart from God??? Absolutely not!!! So in light of all that... STOP DOUBTING & START DOING, because God is not looking for your ABILITY... but rather He is looking for your AVAILABILITY.

There's Always Time for Prayer... Right???

All of you know that it is very easy to get caught up in the hustle & bustle of life real quick. That's right... I actually said hustle & bustle. There is a famous phrase that tells us of the importance of stopping and smelling the roses. I wholeheartedly agree with that phrase. My wife and I personally enjoy stopping and smelling the salt air when we're at the beach!

I however, would like to add another important thing to the list of things to stop and do. PRAY! It is essential to our very being here on earth. It is the very thing that connects the NATURAL here on earth, to the SUPER NATURAL in heaven. I just got done praying with my best friend James Ross and let me tell you... it was good! It was also needed. I realized how often it is that I forget to stop and take ten or fifteen minutes out of my day just to pray. James and I try to pray together once a week and we are pretty regular with it... but the challenge in my personal life is how often do I get away by myself for ten or fifteen minutes in prayer?

Even Jesus saw it as essential to His day. Mark 1:35 says, "Very early in the morning, while it was still dark out, Jesus got up and went to a solitary place where He prayed." If it's good enough for Him... it's definitely good enough for me!!! So go ahead... get away from everything just for five to ten minutes and see if you don't walk away comforted, with a new perspective on things. What have you got to lose??? OR What have you got to gain???

Babies Everywhere

Has anyone else noticed that there are babies everywhere? When my wife and I got engaged last year... we noticed a lot of other people were getting engaged as well. Many of our friends either got married right before or right after we did. Every single T.V. show on TLC seemed to either be about getting married, or on being a newly wed.

Present day... my wife and I are going to be having a baby. We will find out if it is a boy or a girl on August 6th & my wife is due January 3rd, 2009. Many of our friends have recently had babies and it is making me very anxious. I would classify my anxiety as an excitement rather than a worry. Basically, I can't wait to be a father. I even bought "The Expectant Father" today from Barnes & Noble (as recomended by my good friend James Ross... who is also an expectant father).

Even better than that... today my wife and I were able to go and see some good friends of ours in Dothan, AL who just had their baby yesterday. Holding that little newborn baby boy BLEW MY MIND. To think that God chooses to use us, (man and woman), to create as beautiful a miracle as new life, is more than I can even begin to wrap my mind around.

Odd Inspiration...

I was inspired tonight to start my own blog. I have been a pretty avid blog reader for some time now. So... you might be wondering what it was that finally inspired me to start blogging. Well... I was reading a blog tonight that was basically bashing some pretty cool people that I personally admire. I don't like that! I'm sure that all of us grew up hearing the words "If you can't say anything nice... don't say anything at all." I think that it goes beyond that well known statement even. Ephesians 4:29-32 tells us not to talk badly about one another, or let unwholesome talk come out of our mouths. Instead we should only say things that build each other up. The fact of the matter is... your words will either HURT others, or HELP others. I don't know about you but I would rather be known as someone that HELPS and BUILDS UP others. This is not something that I personally have mastered, but definitely something that I am passionate about. So there you have it... I have now joined the blogging madness.