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.

God's Providence...

Thank you God for always going ahead of us, clearing our paths, and providing wherever you guide us!

God never ceases to amaze me! I just found out tonight that my wife and I have raised some more support for our time at Mosaic. I received a message tonight from a friend of mine, Brandon Park, (aka the youngest guy I know with his Doctorate), who wanted to share some great news with me! He is the lead pastor of Wayside Baptist Church in Miami, FL. This is the same church where my father-in-law has faithfully served for the last 10 years. Brandon sent me a quick message just to let me know that Wayside would like to get on board to help support us while we are at Mosaic, and possibly beyond that (when we launch Baytown)! More importantly I have guys like Brandon, and churches like Wayside that are supporting Joy and me through prayer! I couldn't ask for anything more important! In my opinion (technically more than my opinion, because it's biblical)... prayer supersedes everything else!!!

So... thank you Brandon, Wayside, James, Mosaic, and all of the friends, family, and churches that are helping to support us through your prayers, and through your checkbooks!!! It does not go unnoticed!

Last Day...

Ok... so it's been a while since I've posted on my blog. I know... I'm slacking! Sorry. Anyways... today was my official last day @ LBC. It feels good to have the good bye's out of the way! No one likes good bye's. They were good to us, but we are compelled by the Holy Spirit to move on. I am ready to see what God has in store for us next. We are ready for our first day @ Mosaic!!! I really believe that God is going to grow us through this period. I hope that I can be of as much service to Mosaic, as I know Mosaic will be for me.

Pray for us... this Saturday we are going to Pensacola to scout around and pray over potential places to plant Baytown. I'm excited that we are going to start getting the ball rolling. There is definitely a lot of uncertainty in this endeavor to plant a church, but we know that God is going to provide for us beyond any expectations that Joy and I could ever have!!! I know this because God never calls us to things that he hasn't already made provisions for.

Never Ceasing to Amaze...

Sorry for my absence in the blogging world lately... I do have a good excuse though. I have had the priviledge of speaking at a Youth Revival @ FBC Defuniak Springs in the panhandle of FL. I would just like to say that the youth there are amazing. They are a cool group of kids that seem to love Jesus A LOT!!! Let me just give you a recap of last night and tonight.

Sunday night:
There were more adults than youth there, and it was obvious that some of the adults were not into the "concert" style of worship... but they survived and from the response I got afterwards, they were happy to see the kids jumping up and down worshiping Jesus (I was too)!!!

Monday night:
WOW... I was so pumped to get to teach on the subject of "Answering The Call". It was like I was a shaken up bottle of soda ready to explode... and I did!!! At the end the alters were flooded with students (nothing beats moments like that)!!! After all... this is the next generation of leaders! At the end I asked for anyone who felt called to full time vocational ministry to come down... (I really felt like there was someone there that needed to step out). That's when a 12 year old middle school girl came down and shared with me that she feels called to be a full time missionary to France!!! I couldn't even tell you what the back of my hand looked like at 12! She is already learning the books of the Bible in French... and plans to start learning the language soon. She will be going on a mission trip to Peru next year and needs our prayers! How cool is that!!! After hanging out with the students afterwards... I realized that they really seem to be grasping a lot from the past couple of nights. Very cool!!!

I am excited to see what God has in store for the last two nights of the Youth Revival. Please pray that God has his way... both with myself, and the students. By the way... I love the song "God of the City"! It has been our theme song for the week and has really ministered to me!

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???