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A weekend to remember

This past weekend was special for many reasons.  First, we saw 41 people spontaneously go public with their faith in Jesus by being baptized.  The stories continue to pour in of changed lives.  Everything from families being restored to a sweet muslim lady choosing to follow Jesus.  This weekend also kicked off our brand new series "Pause" as we examine the most common objections to following Jesus.  It was also the grand opening of our new location for our NW campus and nearly 300 people showed up to worship at Pleasant Union Elementary School.  This week is also special because on September 18, four years ago, Journey Church was born.  It has been an incredible ride so far but we know that the best is yet to come.  If our past is any indication of our future, it is about to get crazy around here.  

A Good Problem To Have

If you have been to a Sunday service at Journey NE over the past few weeks, you probably have had a hard time finding a seat.  We have changed service times, which has helped balance out the crowds in each service but we continue to grow.  Saturday night is still a great option but the focus has really been on trying to build our NW campus.  The move to Pleasant Union Elementary School has been great for NW and with the grand opening set for September 13th, we are primed and ready for a big fall.  Because of where the NW campus is located, this has become a great option for anyone who lives north of 540 or west of Capital Blvd.  We are currently looking at our next steps and praying for wisdom.  We are considering all options, including adding additional services and locations, as well as looking for larger space.  All in all, this is a good problem to have. 

Obsessed or Possessed?

I love to study about leadership and especially, pastoral leadership.  Recently, I have been talking to some high capacity leaders about the greatest pitfall to spiritual leadership - Pride.  All of us have seen it in other leaders but the question is can we see it in ourselves?  We all understand that leadership is a gift and that makes leadership a stewardship issue.  God calls - He chooses us - He elects us and empowers us. David said, "it is at His discretion that men are made great and given strength".  Once God "calls" us then we begin to expand our leadership capacity and increase our influence.  We strive to grow as a leader so we can be more effective for Him - the goal is "maximum impact".  The problem is that when we begin leading, people want our advice - need our approval - receive our evaluation - respond to our instruction - live out our vision and before you know it, pride sneaks in.  All of a sudden, we start using words like "my" and "mine" to refer to the things God has entrusted us with.  The challenge for us as spiritual leaders is to be obsessed with our leader (Jesus) and to be obsessed with the mission without getting possessed with the platform that He has provided for us.  The challenge is to make Jesus famous without making me famous.     

Unity

I have been thinking about this subject of "unity in the body" for the past few weeks.  I love to read John 17 and hear God's heart for the church.  This amazing conversation between the Father and the Son reveals just how strong He feels about this issue.  It is sad to look at the scope of Christianity and see that what characterizes us is anything except unity.  Christians are divided over everything from major issues like doctrine to stupid things like the color of carpet or styles of music.  The entire time that Christians are fighting and divided, the mission suffers, the lost keep looking for something real and God's heart keeps breaking.  What unites us - Not just as "a church" but as "the church"?  We are united by our Father - Each of us, regardless of our address, color, age, or economic status, have been chosen for adoption.  We have gone from darkness to light, not because of who we are but because of His great mercy and grace.  We are united by the mission that He has entrusted us with.  The good news of the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus Christ that provides full and free deliverance from the power and the penalty of sin according the grace of God alone, through faith in Christ alone - This mission to take the gospel to our cities and to this world must unite us.  

I guess each person must figure out for themselves what they really care about and then spend their life fighting for it.  As for me, I Cor 1:2 I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and Him crucified 

Sickness Within Preview

This weekend at Journey, we begin a new series called "The Sickness Within".  When we are born physically, we are dead spiritually.  When we get born again spiritually, we are still alive physically and we now have a choice to make.  We are either going to be controlled by the Spirit or the Flesh.  Before we accepted Jesus, we did not have a choice but now through Christ, we have power over sin and the flesh - Romans 6.  Sometimes we do things and then wonder why we did them.  It is like Paul talks about in Romans 7 - I do what I don't want to do and I don't do what I want to do.  The good news for believers is that we can learn how to walk in the victory that has already been provided for us.  In this series, we will learn how to be aware of our flesh nature and how it displays itself and then we will learn how to overcome and live a victorious life.

Who is speaking into your life?

I have the privilege of speaking into the lives of many people.  This means that I give my opinion (solicited and unsolicited) to a lot of people.  I see this as a Kingdom investment and it actually energizes me.  Many times, it just means facilitating the conversation and knowing the right questions to ask.  One of the problems for a leader is that we are always speaking into others but who is speaking into us?  Who are those "right people" that we let ask us the "right questions"?  Who are we seeking advice and input from?  This is a big part of helping us expand our leadership capacity and ultimately will enable us to have maximum Kingdom impact.  

Father's Day Preview

I have not been blogging much and even missed doing the weekend recap this week.  No excuses but my grandmother died and I had the privilege of preaching her funeral on Tuesday.  It has been a hectic week to say the least.  Last weekend, I had the honor of going to Rome Ga to meet with Jason Stockton and the Life Church team.  This is a one year old church plant and we helped them look at some retail space and then I spoke for them on Sunday.  Smooth spoke last weekend at Journey and I know he did a great job, as he preached about "rest" from the book of Hebrews.  I am fired up about this weekend - not only is it week 3 of "Passages" but it is also Father's Day.  I will be preaching from James 1:5-8 about wisdom.  I define wisdom as "supernatural insight for earthly situations" - we all need more of that!!!  It is appropriate that I am talking about wisdom on Father's Day since my dad is one of the wisest people that I know.  

weekend recap

We began our new series "Passages" this weekend and my first talk was on patience.  Of course, I began with something that I struggle with.  The passage of scripture that we studied was Isaiah 40:31 and we learned that faith is actually the pre-requisite to patience.  Impatience leads to control - Impatience begins with "I" - I am tired of waiting - I must control - I must fix - I must change.  When we release - He renews.  When we learn to trust Him, He exchanges our weakness for His strength.  This is going to be a great series as we continue to look at passages of scripture that also serve as passages in life.  Sunday night, we celebrated with eleven families and their new children.  This is typically called a baby dedication but we refer to is more as a family dedication.  The church and these families agreed to a partnership to help these children grow up to follow Jesus.  My weekend concluded by spending time with about 20 people from our NW campus.  We spent about two hours talking about where we are as a church and where we feel that God is about to take us.  I am scheduled to be in two more groups this week from NW to do the same thing, so if you are interested in attending, contact the office for more information.  

Passages

A passage gets you through something – indicates movement - Webster defines a passage as 1 a: a way of exit or entrance : a road, path, channel, or course by which something passes 2 a: the action or process of passing from one place, condition, or stage to another.  This weekend, we begin a new six week series looking at some passages of scripture that also serve as passages in life.  These passages of scripture have been used by God to move us from one season to another - from one level of relationship to another - from one stage of life to another.  We will discover passages of scripture that move us to wait, rest, pursue, follow, love and worship.  This week we will study Isaiah 40:31 and learn how to wait on the Lord.  If you have a patience problem, I look forward to seeing you this weekend at Journey.  

Weekend Recap

This was an incredible weekend at Journey.  It began with the message that I preached called "the church I see".  God has been teaching me and molding me over the past few months and I feel Him clarifying my calling.  I really believe that God is raising up Journey to be more than another church on the corner - I believe that we are going to be a part of a true movement of God in this city.  I will not recap the entire message here but I encourage you to go to our website and check it out.  The weekend concluded with a worship concert and I was blown away with the presence of God in this place.  Our band was anointed and amazing and the energy in the room was overwhelming.  The theme was "overcome" and we focused on the victory that we have through Christ.  We begin a new series this week called "passages" - the  first sermon is on patience - God knows that I need more of that.