I have moved Blogging sites...

I just wanted to give everyone a heads up that my blog will now be updated on another site. I have crossed over to the darkside... (Wordpress)! You can follow my blog, etc. at http://trippbattle.wordpress.com. Thanks!

Critique's on Communication...

It has been a while since I blogged last. My lack of blogging is partially a result of the vast twitterverse. So... aside from all that, I have some thoughts on communication have been on my heart today.

People like to know what's going on. They want to be in "the know". That doesn't always mean that they will, or that they should.

My first example of this type of instance occurs in 1 Kings 19 when Elisha receives his calling from the Lord. Elisha had all sorts of worldly pleasures as a well-to-do farmer, but when Elijah laid his cloak on his back (symbolizing that he would be the prophet's succesor)... he knew it was time to go. His first instinct wasn't to ask What? Where? When? Why? or How? He just said his goodbyes to his family and friends and obediently entered into God's call on his life.

Then we see in the gospels where Jesus asks Peter to drop his nets and follow him. He had never met Jesus before. He wasn't out fishing to relax and enjoy the day. He was fishing to make a living, and Jesus was asking him to leave all of that. There was no notice, or warning... just a divine calling on his life. He began following Jesus immediately. All of the 12 disciples could share similar experiences when Jesus came calling.

That brings me to my next point, which is the 12, 11, 3 principle. This is the principle by which Jesus did his ministry. He called 12 disciples, graduated 11 (sorry Judas), and focused on 3 (Peter, James, and John). With the exception of Judas... the other disciples could have just given up on Jesus, gotten frustrated, and quit following him when they realized that he was spending more time with Peter, James and John. But they didn't! They trusted that Jesus knew what he was doing, and followed him regardless.

You and I can't always expect to be an "insider" in every area of our lives. And sometimes God is going to spontaneously call us to do things that make us feel inconvenienced, frustrated, and ill equipped. But... I encourage you not to give in to these spiritual chains, and to follow God no matter what he calls you to do, or when he calls you to do it. This is something that I am still learning daily.

nomorechristians.com

I am taking a little break from telling about my church planting ventures in Central and South Florida. I promise that I will resume with that this week though.

Many of you already know about our new series beginning Easter Sunday entitled "no more christians" you can check out the site at http://nomorechristians.com.com . We have already gotten quite a bit of feedback from the signs that we put out all over Crestview, our TV commercial, and from the website.

Most of the negative feedback that we have received has been from "Christians". For some reason they seem to think that we are denouncing Christianity. We have been accused of being witches, a cult, and essentially Christian hater/bashers!

Those things couldn't be farther from the truth.

Our intention is not denounce Christianity but to examine why some people call themselves "Christians" and live their life in contradiction to what they "believe". We also plan to respectfully compare Christianity with these other belief systems so that people can make their own decision as to what to believe.

We do believe that Jesus Christ is the key to experiencing "real life" but we have a deep respect for people from all religious, philosophical, political, etc backgrounds and are an open environment where ALL can seek truth.

We are not trying to reach Christians, but those who are going to Hell and that churches in our area are not reaching. If your read the books UnChristian, Lost and Found, or Revolution you will find staggering research that shows that young adults (and many older adults for that matter) are not going to church, don't want to go to church, and have an overwhelming view that churches are filled with "hypocrites".

Crestview's population increased by over 7,000 since the year 2000 but church attendance has declined significantly.

We cannot sit back and let that happen. We are creatively and aggressively trying to show these people that God loves them so much that even though they are still sinners, Christ died for them!

We invite whoever is curious to join us in attendance for this series.

Church Plant Destination: Miami???

I will be doing a compilation of blogs on possible destinations for us to plant a church to reach people that aren't being targeted by other churches. Our first stop is in Miami.

I have made many trips to Miami in the past, seeing that my wife is from there. She lived there for 10 years before coming to college in Graceville (can you say culture shock). Her parents and friends are all still down here, and it is always an enjoyable time to see everyone. We arrived here last night, and today at my father-in-law's church I was able to see many of our close friends. As we look at the possibility to plant somewhere in Miami, the temptation becomes wanting to do it just because we have friends and family here. That would be a bad reason to move here! That's not to say that Miami is out of the question though. There is still a huge need right here in the MIA! After all... it is the second most unchurched city in the nation!

Tomorrow I will be meeting with Al Fernandez, the Director of Urban Impact Ministries in Hialeah, FL. I will then be driving all around Dade and Broward counties looking for possible areas of need. Danny Egipciaco, also with Urban Impact Ministries, and a local church planter will be my tour guide and residential expert. Danny and Al are both awesome guys that love Jesus. I will keep you all posted as to what the rest of this week brings. Tomorrow I will let you all know how Monday went, and I will preview my trip on Tuesday to West Palm. This could prove to be a very life altering trip for me and my family! Please be praying for us as we seek out God's will, looking for red lights in the process.

Back to the Basics...

So I have recently taken a little break from blogging. A lot has been going on in my life (ie. the birth of my beautiful daughter Sophie). I will talk more about the joys of being a father and the fact that I have already been able to learn some life lessons from Sophie.

But...

Today I want to focus on another wonderful thing that has happened recently. As of this week my wife and I are officially debt free!!! WOO HOO... come on somebody! This is of course aside from our student loans, of which I am praying that Jesus will return before I have to pay them back.

Seriously though... I learned a valuable spiritual truth through getting out of this debt that we were in, and that is what I would like to talk about.

I had some stock investments, etc. of which I was not earning a whole lot of interest at the time. In fact as of late, these shares of stock had been dropping. At the same time, I also had a credit card that I was paying 28% interest on!!! That's right... I said 28% interest (that's a whole other story though). So a friend of mine who is an acountant started asking me some important questions. He asked if I was gaining 28% interest or more in the stocks that I had (of course I wasn't, nor had I ever earned that much interest monthly). He then asked me if I thought it made sense to be paying such a high interest rate on my credit card when I had this money in the stock market earning minimal interest. It didn't take me long to understand what an idiot I had been for not seeing that sooner.

Needless to say I have taken my previous stock investments and used them to get myself and , my family out of debt. I then realized that this same principal with money carries over into all areas of life. So often we spend the majority of our time investing ourselves into things that kill us rather than free us. Not only is there no return on your investment, but it will suck the life out of you, just like my credit card did. How often are you spending time in God's word? How often are you seeking the Lord out in prayer? I have to make sure that certain passions of mine, such as Auburn football (WAR EAGLE!!!), don't get in the way of my greatest passion... JESUS!

I even have to be careful that I don't put good books, conferences, and pastor's blogs that I like to read ahead of my personal relationship with Christ. Even studying for a message that I am about to teach on Sunday can get in the way of my walk with Christ. These things that I just listed aren't bad things. In fact they are actually great things, and they serve very positive purposes. They're just not great when they come before your relationship with God.

So... it's back to the basics for me!
How about you???

I Remember When...

I was reminded tonight at the mall, that it would no longer be socially acceptable for me to sit on Santa's lap to tell him what I want for Christmas. I know... that sounds weird coming from a guy that's 25!

But seriously... I miss that naive feeling that I had as a kid. I just knew that Santa was real! In the same way that we lose that naiveness (yes I just made that word up) about Santa... I think we also lose it regarding Jesus! We don't necessarily abandon our hope in Christ, but we do abandon the dream that Christ plants in our hearts. We think that they are too big and not able to be attained! We can't afford to lose our vision, passion, and dreams that we have for the expansion of the Kingdom of God! To take this leap of faith that God is calling you to, it might require you to be a little bit naive. Not in an ignorant fashion, but rather we ought to make sure that we are always susceptible to the things that God has for us to accomplish through him.

Do you still believe that God can use you to accomplish great things for His Kingdom, or has your flame been extinguished???

Do you still hear hooves on your roof when you go to sleep the night before Christmas???

A Harsh Dose of Reality...

I just thought that I would share this blog from Chris Elrod, a church planter and pastor in Lakeland, FL. His blog today rocked my world!!! If what he said isn't true... your only lying to yourself!!! Sorry... had to say it!

Check it out:

The Color Of Your Cow by Chris Elrod
Posted December 2, 2008 Filed under: General

One my favorite business books is Seth Godin’s “Purple Cow”. If you’ve never read the book, check out Mark Batterson’s recent blog post about it….it’s really good. Over the past four years I have really wrestled with the color of Compass Point’s cow. What makes us different? What make us unique in the community? What makes people want to come to Compass Point on Sundays instead of the dozens upon dozens of other churches in the Lakeland area? What makes people far from God even want to come to Compass Point in the first place?
I personally think it’s takes time…several years…to really discover the color of your church’s cow. In all honesty the pastor and the leadership doesn’t define it…it’s the people that attend your church that define the color of your cow. In Lakeland there are a BUNCH of brown cow churches (traditional) and even more black cow churches (hyper-charismatic, prosperity movement). There are also quite a few white cow churches that look a lot like the NorthPoint or Willow Creek model. I’m not so sure Compass Point is all that much of a purple cow in the community…but the people far from God that show up each Sunday think we are. In the end…that’s all that matters.
What they see as our purple cow appeal is not the size of our church (we’re small), how awesome our staging is (we suck at that stuff) or the cool postcards we’ve mailed out (we’ve never done that). No…the purple cow appeal they see in Compass Point…what we do well…is that we reach people in the margins…people in Lakeland REALLY far from God. We are really good at it…because we work hard at it. It’s not easy…people with drug problems, broken marriages, sex problems, alcohol addiction, living in homeless camps, just paroled from prison…or just the garden variety freak…are really messy. But that’s our calling…that’s our vision…that’s what God created Compass Point for. We don’t run from it…we don’t try to fight it…we don’t chase after other church’s vision…we just embrace it…and therefore our community embraces us. More importantly people really far from God embrace us…and come to know Jesus.
The point of this post? For God’s sake…literally…stop planting churches that look like every other church in your freakin’ town!!! Be different…reach a different demographic…find your purple cow appeal. What makes your church different from every other church in town. If the words “real”, “relational” or “relevant” are the best you can come up with…please do the world a favor…quit and go flip pizzas…you will probably suck at leading a church. Every church in the 21st Cetury should be real, relational and relevant! What makes your church different over and above those things? What is your church’s purple cow? If you don’t have one…spend some times on your knees getting broken before God!!! After that go hang out in a bar in your community and ask the drunk people what color your cow should be. Once that is all done…go be the purple cow church that reaches the people far from God that no other church in town wants to reach!!!