Planting a Church

Planting a church is one of the hardest things someone can do. I know people do not like to hear it in this sense, but you are starting a business. There is a lot of work that goes into it. I am going to a church planters conference in the morning called churchplanters.com. This is just one of many ways I prepare to plant a church. I believe you need to be familiar with systems, what works and doesn't, you need church planting mentors, spiritual mentors and more.

I am excited about the conference and bringing Tony and Allen with me. It is cool to dream with these guys. I believe anyone that feels called to plant a church or even start a business should be called, qualified and equipped to take on such a huge task. Surround yourself with the best people and resources. These are just a few thoughts to think about when it comes to church planting.

A city wasting its life.

I think many people in many cities just exist and do not really live. I honestly believe that Awaken Community Church will change the Hixson/Soddy Daisy Community because we will focus on really living.

We will talk about things that matter in life. We will address tough issues such as homosexuality, sex, porn, anger, finances, family and more. We want to encourage people to know why they are here and Who to place their identity in.

All of this will happen through real relationships. Real Relationships are the key to our church and how God will change our city. I am a dreamer and trying to be a realist, but the goal of Awaken is that the Hixson/ Soddy Daisy communities would be different because we exists. We do this by being real, following scripture and giving God the glory.

So, I pray as we give this church to God, He will lead us.

So much to say...

I usually have a lot to say in my blogs. A lot has been going on in my life and I have not had time to say it. Here is a breakdown of whats going on in my life:

1. Getting more more valuable time with family.
2. Just had 5th Awaken meeting. 6 more guest.
3. Getting ready for 3 church planting conferences in a row. (Nashville and ATL)
4. Looking at hiring another Pastor at Awaken.
5. Getting more workouts in. push ups and running.
6. About finished with "Vintage Church" by Mark Driscol. Good Read.
7. Staying busy and have a desire to Love God and a lot of people.

So much to say...

New Meeting Space

God is continuing to do amazing things in and through our church. We have gone from 12-18-24-27 people in our four meetings. Our last meeting we were out of seats and many were sitting on the floor. God has provided us a new location.

Mitchell Reaves, lead Pastor of Northside Community Church, has opened up their church basement to us. It has everything we need: meeting spot, kitchen, nursery and more. The address is Northside Community Church 819 Mississippi Avenue Chattanooga, TN 37405

God is continuing to be faithful to our church as we seek to be faithful to the work and person of Jesus Christ. We look forward to our new location as our core group continues to meet.

The Awaken Women

During my days I do a lot of church things. One of the things I love to do the most is hang out with the men of Awaken. We get together, chat about life and grab lunch. One thing that I do not do is meet with women. Why? No not because I like men, but rather, I am married. Listen all married men: DO NOT GO DO ANYTHING ONE ON ONE WITH A WOMAN. Hopefully that was clear. I want to respect my wife and be wise and not put myself in any sketchy situations. Because of this we invited some of the ladies from Awaken to our house.

We had a great night. The smell of $5 Little Caesars Pizza's (church planting food) filled the room as we chatted about life and got to know one another better. We wanted to open up our home to allow the gals to get to know our family better, as well for us to get to know them. That is how we want to do church; build real relationships with the people in our church and teach them to do the same. Obviously when the church gets to be too big where we cannot invite everyone over, we hope that we have modeled hospitality the right way that our people invite others over to their place. Great night. A lot of fun.

4th Awaken Meeting

We just finished up our fourth Awaken meeting tonight. It was incredible. We saw many new faces and worshiped together. Of course we started with a game of Catch phrase (one good tradition to keep). Chris Moerman led the music. The singing was flippin phenomenal. It is great to hear gifted musicians and singers lifting their voices to God. I spoke on one of our core values: true transformation. We looked at Acts 2 and how the first church started and observed what we could do to make our church Biblical and Christ centered.

We had 27 people that came out to experience Awaken. I am excited about the future leadership of Awaken. I wonder who God will bring to us as an elder/pastor to help lead the church.

Good news and bad. Sad to say that this was our last meeting at Brian's house. It has a nice/cool/ intimate feel being in a house, but we are excited about the future. We are moving to North Chattanooga to a church basement that was offered to us. They have a nice set up and will accommodate our group.

We continue to pray that God would transform our lives and our city. Please pray for me as I continue to meet with people and cast the vision of Awaken Community Church.

What I do Everyday.

On my blog, I talk about my life, family, things in my mind and a lot of things about church and or church planting. I do not think I have made a post on what I do everyday. So here is what I do.

During my days I get stuff together for the church so we can legally and efficiently function as a church. I have to get all legal documents for the state and the IRS turned in. I think through worship services and what I will preach during our meetings. I look for locations to meet in (found one: Northside Community Church). I meet with pastors and church planters to disciple me and to keep me in check to make sure I know what I am doing. Just to mention a few of these guys Mark, Heath and Matt. I raise money so I can feed my family as well as the church. I work on all things such as logo's, series titles and more. The list is never ending.

One of the main things that I do and love is to meet people. I meet with people in my flock for lunch or coffee and talk about life. I encourage them and we talk about life and how we can become more like Jesus. I also meet people and talk with them about joining our team at Awaken and I cast the vision of our church to them. If they like what I say, then they come and see if Awaken is for them. Some of these people are leaders that could help start the church with us and others are people that do not like traditional church and want something different or people that do not go at all. I usually post what I am doing throughout my day on Twitter.

That is a little of what I do during my days. I work during the week at night and we also have people that support our family. I usually work about 12-15 hours a day. It is tough work, but this is totally what God has called us to do, so we follow. This is a little about my life and the life of our church planting family.