What is a Family?

What is a family? It seems like there use to be an obvious answer to that question, but in this day in and age people see a different answer to that question. Some say specifically a man and a woman that are married with kids. Some say people who live together. Someone you care about. Man with man. Woman with woman. Blood relatives. People who love each other. Many opinions.

It is astonishing how many definitions, values and beliefs that people put into what they think a family is. If you are a follower of Jesus, then you look to the Bible for that definition. If not, then you can look to whatever or whoever you want to and hold whatever kind of beliefs you want to. As a follower of Christ, the Bible lays out the best definitions of what a family is and how it should function.

In the month of January we will talk about Family and the roles in a family at Awaken.
01/03 - What is a family? What is a family not?
01/10 - Role of the wife...
01/17 - Role of the husband....
01/24 - Role of the kids....
01/31 - What is your Vision for you family?

What does a family look like to you? Come join us in January and get you family back on track. This will be an encouraging series. We hope to challenge to live out a biblical family, see husbands mature and become men and Biblical leaders, wives encouraged and lifted up and learn how to raise kids.

Here are a few definitions of family: http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/family

A New Year, A New Life

A New Year, A New Life.....

Faith and I just watched a movie called “Couples Retreat” and I was challenged to change my marriage. Don't get me wrong, it was not a life changing movie. It was a Hollywood movie, but it made me think. I was challenged to put more time, energy and creativity into the relationship with the woman I devoted to spend the rest of my life with. So off I go.

This is not a spontaneous change, but a change that makes me think. The movie showed four different marriages and all of the problems in the marriages. It showed the things that they fought about and how they handled conflict and confrontation. Of course at the end, everyone was happy. Unfortunately most people do not work at marriage hard enough and quit. My challenge is to take our marriage to the next level.

This Sunday at Awaken Community Church, we are going to be challenged on how to have a new life this next year. Maybe some people need new marriages (not meaning get divorced, but renewed =-). For some it may mean to balance their finances or for others to stop watching porn. There are so many things in our lives that we are lazy with or we do not do well. It is time to make some small goals (take out the trash without being asked), medium goals (take more time daily to seek the Father), large goals (Take a nice trip with just my wife this year) and God goals (that God would fill Awaken with 200 people by the end of 2010 of lives that would be challenged and changed).

What are your goals? Take a minute and think of some small, medium, large and God goals for your New Year. Start 2010 off with a bang. A New Year, a New Life.

Thoughts on Church Planting

We launched our church in September and we are entering into our fourth month at Awaken. Here are some thoughts so far:

1. Must make time to pray.

2. Must make time to study.

3. Most things I have planned have not worked out the way I thought... different, better. Before you plan your church, become your church.

4. Give lots of money and invest lots of time in the community.

5. Family first.

6. If Jesus is not leading, I should not be going.

7. Always.... Always cast vision. Don't just cast vision, fulfill it.

8. Preach with the power of the Holy Spirit with confidence.

9. Be you, not the church down the street or on the internet.

10. Preach series, topic or verse by verse depending on your style and where your church is and what your church needs.

11. Build people not numbers.

12. Need to start baptisms and communion.

13. 65 people strong! - lots of responsibility.

14. Delegate, even if you can do it better.

15. Accountability and mentors are good to pray with and to gain wisdom, insights and share mistakes and successes with.

16. Find your identity and be you.

17. Never forget vision.

18. Be in the community, always meeting people.

19. Be with your church always mentoring someone. Set up leaders in your church to mentor others.

20. Get good small group leaders.

All or Nothing

DREW BREES: It is amazing to see people who are good at what they do. For example; Drew Brees is the QB for the New Orlean Saints and he is also my favrite football player (and won me my FF league last year). He has been the best QB in the NFL the last few years. What makes him good? The time he puts in to what he does and the passion he has for the game. It is amazing to see how all in he is at what he does.

STORY: I often think of people that I admire and why I admire them. Today at Awaken we looked at the rich young man passage found in Matthew chapter 19. This man was wealthy and maybe even well educated and probable had many people admire him, but there was one thing he did not have; a relationship with God. He obeyed the commandments, but by the end of the story we see that he could not go all in and sell everything he had to follow Christ. On the other hand, as the passage continues, the disciples gave up everything to follow Jesus. Results: The rich man walked away sad with his temporally wealth while the disciples are getting blessed with 100 times and eternal life.

ARE YOU ALL OR NOTHING: In my city their is a lot of religion, tradition and obeying commands, but I wonder how much of giving up everything there is in my city. Do you control most of you life? Your time, money, thought and plans or have you given that to Jesus? He doesn't just want us to obey commandments, but to give up everything in our lives. I think Christians should seek the Father so much and be so passionate about what he wants for our lives, that people see that we are all in.

PEOPLE I ADMIRE: The pastors that I have looked up to in my life have carried these attributes in their lives. Here are a few people that I admire and listen to: Matt Evans, Mark Driscol, Francis Chan, Stephen Furtick and John Piper.

FINAL THOUGHTS: The more you have, the less you need to depend on God, but the less you have, you find that your dependance has to be on God. Go all in.

I Love my Church

I love my church. I have been attending churches most of my life and have been a Christian for 11 years now and I can honestly say that I LOVE MY CHURCH. I have liked many of my churches in the past, but I love it here at Awaken. Here is what I love about it:

1. The Gospel: It is preached; not weak or watered down, but just truth.

2. Music: I can relate to the music and worship God with songs that are relevant, meaningful and true.

3. The People: The people here at Awaken are awesome. Everyone is caring and real. They are the church, not a club.

4. Community Groups: I can meet with people every Tuesday night with laughs, food, the Bible, maybe tears and come away feeling like I furthered my walk with Christ.

5. The Place: We meet at the YMCA in Hixson. The Activity Center is where we meet. There is nothing amazing about it. It is small and old, but it is us. 

6. Age: Most people that do not go to church are between 16-29. We are 93% 29 and under. We are reaching the ones falling away. With that said, we need people 30 and above for leadership and wisdom. 

7. Mike Lamb: Mike Lamb goes to our church. Thats all that needs to be said.

8. Church Plant: We are a church plant, which means we can have new creative things that change the way people think and feel about church. 

9. Love and Honesty: Everyone loves and is honest about who they are.

10. Giving: Half of our money goes back into our community and missions.

I hope you have a church and love your church. If not, come become apart of us. If you do not live in Chattanooga I can network and find a church in your area.

Get Your Mind SET!

So I just started P90X this past week and its kicking my butt. I threw up 20 minutes ago because I had acid reflux coming up. I guess I need to learn not to eat pizza and drink coke and hour and a half before the workout.

My goal is to change my mind and set my mind for action. I am trying to set out an hour - an hour and a half each day to do this workout. I obviously learned that I have to change my mind about eating as well. Someone said workout is 20% and eating is 80%. If I do it right, then by day 90 I will be healthier and ripped!

I think about my life and how I live. Just as I have to get my mind set on my workouts, I have learned that I need to get my mind set on life as well; on my relationship and time with God. I have been growing a lot with my wife lately by spending time with her and hanging out. How much more time should I spend with the God that made me. Whenever I get a lot of time in with God, the more I have joy, peace and love.

Not sure if you have these same struggles, but if you do join me and change your mind about how you do life and what you set your mind and your time on and in the end our God will say to you "Well done my good and faithful servant".

What You Can Do With Your Time?

A lot of our lives are consumed with our wants, desires and our world to TAKE UP OUR TIME AND ATTENTION.  You agree? We are thrown a lot of things our way that make us lazy/self-centered creatures. Take TV for example. They go out of their way to make a good show that will make us turn on the TV every Thursday night at 8 just to watch "the show of our week". Facebook takes our minds and thoughts (at least for me) and captures my attention enough to tune into it a few times a day.

What can we do in life to make more of it? Not sure if you are a Christ follower or not, but if you are, we should focus our lives on what we can do with our time. In 1Peter chapter 1, Peter talks a lot about time and the coming of Jesus. We are not promised tomorrow here in this world, so what can we do tomorrow? What will you do with your tomorrow? More TV and Facebook? Maybe, but what about more serving the poor, loving our wives, taking out the trash, inviting a neighbor over for dinner, spending reserved time with just God, encouraging someone, showing love, hope and patience to others. Tomorrow is yours, you can use your time wisely or waste it. What Can You Do? What Will You Do? 

If tomorrow is given to you make the most of it. What Can You DO?

$2 a Day Results

This last week I ate off of $2 a day. I did it for a few reasons. 1. To be thankful for what I have. 2. To save money. 

Well, I did it. It was encouraging to have a goal like that and complete it. I am more aware of saving money and living life more simple. People even gave me free food and coupons during the week. Not sure if you have taken a challenge like that, but I recommend it.

What You Want is Not What You Always Get

Do you ever think that you have everything figured out about a goal or a dream and then not all the things that you put together turned out the way you thought? Maybe you had goal to workout and you bought all of your workout clothes, got your food list and set off on your journey, but you got busy and life crowded out your goal. Maybe you had a dream for a job or going to school and what seemed like a good idea seemed to fade away because time and life crowded it out.

I worked my tail off studying church planting and networking to launch Awaken Community Church. Not much has worked out the way that I had planned. It is for better and for worse. Worse - because I had all of my goals put into place, but other things changed the direction in where we went. Maybe it just hurt my pride and plans. For better because our team, our church, is loving one another and we are developing who we are; our DNA and identity. Because we are coming together, we have different thoughts and opinions that are making who we are. "I" launched the church, but when people came, "WE" became the church and now "GOD" is growing His church. It was all about God in the first place and we just had to play our roles to get where we are.

Now that we are 5-6 weeks in as a church, I can't believe where God has brought us. We have 60-70 people interested and coming off and on to Awaken, over 120 people attend since we launched and out of that group we have about 30 strong that are committed to grow in their faith and reach their community. I think 30 people excited about the things of God and people can change a city. 

Sometimes when things don't work out the way you want, you find in the end that although it worked out differently, it worked out better.

How to Eat Off of $10 in a Week

On Monday October 19th I will embark on a one week challenge to eat off of just $10 for a work week. Below is the breakdown. By the way, shop at Aldi's; great prices. The goal is for me to be more grateful for what I have. Over half of the world lives off of $2 a day. Come join the challenge.

$10 budget

2.49 - Turkey

1.89 - Ramen Noodles

1.39 - Bagels

.99 - baby carrots

.89 - Cheese

.79 - white bread

.40 - eggs

.15 - 1 bowl of cereal

.8 - 1 apple

= 9.16+ tax

-----------

$ 9.98

Monday

Breakfast: Bagel and  2 eggs

Lunch: Ham, cheese and carrots

Dinner: Ramen Noodles

Tuesday

Breakfast: 3 eggs

Lunch: Ham, Cheese and carrots

Dinner: Ramen Noodles

Wednesday

Breakfast: Cereal

Lunch: Ramen Noodles

Dinner: Ham, cheese and apple

Thursday

Breakfast: Bagel, egg and cheese

Lunch: Ham, cheese and carrots

Dinner: Ramen Noodles

Friday

Breakfast: Bagel ham, egg and cheese

Lunch: Ham, Cheese and carrots

Dinner: Ramen and carrots.

A Challenge That I Bet You Wont Take.

Did you know that over half over the world lives off of $2 a day? $2 a day!!! That is it! That is nuts! I cannot even eat off of $2 a day.... wait, I cant even eat off of $2 a meal or can I?

I want to throw out a challenge to you but let me tell you why first. I have been thinking about life and what's important to me. I have been thinking about everything; my wife, kids, bible study, work, food, time, money, friends, prayer, cleaning, free time, hobbies and more. I started to think about all of these and how I approach them in my life. Am I more concerned about games and free time than my family? A lot of times I would say yes. Am I selfish? Yes. Am I spoiled? Yes. Am I rich? Yes. Starting next Monday I am attempting to strip away many things that are not as important to focus on the things that are for one week. I hope the results will make me more grateful for what I have.

One of the things that I am doing  and that I would like to challenge you to is is I am going to try to eat off $2 a day. Thats kind of crazy when you think about it. But then again, think of the rest of the world; $2 a day is what they make to cover everything. You up for the challenge? Let me know if you are by leaving a comment below. Click "post a comment". For me it will be tough, but the goal is that I need to be thankful for what I have.

By the way, I am asking Faith if we can have our whole family eat off of $2 a day. I will let you know what she says. Leave a comment below so we can see how many people are up for the challenge. Let's do it.

People are always searching...

http://bit.ly/bMoWJ

What if I Could Change My CIty?

Not sure if you ever dream, but I would encourage you to start dreaming about something. Some people reading this may have a dream to just get a girlfriend. Others may have a dream that their kids would grow up an be successful, while others just have a dream to get a job.

Here's my dream.... "I want to change my city". I know its kind of big, but I believe it can happen. I do admit I cannot do it myself, I will need help, but I believe it can be done. I am confident in that. So, what does it take? Networking. First of all, networking with God and being led by Him is my first and foremost goal. Without Christ I am on my own. My life is His, so I will remain in Him. Second of all I need Christians. I need followers of Christ to join me to change my city. What are we changing it for? To help people. Feed the poor, help the drunkard find life without alcohol, encourage men to be faithful to their spouses and vice-versa, help porn addicts keep their eyes on their wife or future wife. All of this is to bring God glory and help change lives in my city. People are desperate without God

So why does all of this matter? I believe because God has hope for all humanity, but humanity does not see hope in God. I am a follower of Christ, so I am on the team to bring people back to God and back to a life worth living.

Here is my plan: 1. Pray, 2. Live what I say,  and 3. start a church and get family and friends on board to buy into a dream that will change lives and change a city. What are your dreams? Do you have a plan to fulfill it? Want to join in and help me with my dream to change a city? Let me know. Lets do it.

Easily Forgetful

I hate it when I lose the remote or my car keys. Its so inconvenient. I have to stop and retrace my steps. Sometimes I find what I was looking for, but sometimes it can take a few days or even a few weeks. Take the remote for example, we lost it 3 days ago and just found it tonight. Where? Right behind the cushion, where else? Go figure. 

Not sure if you have heard of the children of Israel. They were God's chosen people in the Old Testament. They followed God and many times rebelled and went against God. God would bless them at times and also discipline them at times, just as earthly fathers have to do sometimes with their kids. But the real kicker is the Red Sea.... God parted a sea. Are you kidding me? For me it takes faith to believe that, but for the children of Israel they actually walked through it. They experienced one of the coolest miracles of all times and yet they still forgot Gods promises and set their eyes back on themselves. They easily forgot about God.

As I think through that I wonder, "Wow, how could you turn your back on God after a miracle like that" and then I think of my life and the miracles God has done for me. It's easy for me to forget as well.

As I have been doing this church plant, Awaken, I have been doing a lot of ministry on my own strength. Today I was talking to a fellow church planter, Ryan, and I was amazed to see what he doesn't do with his time. He is more laid back and does a few things well and he lets the details work themselves out. I learned a lot today because I have been anal and stressing about all of the details that "need" to get done as we have launched our church. Today I feel like I have been set free from "doing ministry" and have peace, freedom and trust to let Christ build His church and I can be faithful with doing a few things well and let the rest work itself out. Not sure if you are a perfectionist or are anal about getting many things done, but I encourage you to let a lot of it go and just breathe and relax.... it feels good.

Is Jesus Really Real?

When you think of Jesus, what is he first thought that comes to your mind? Is their an image? A thought? A word that comes to mind? I know we know a lot of Bible answers and maybe history answers, but what does that really mean for your life. He claimed to be the Savior of the world. Either He is God and made the biggest impact in the history of the world, or He is the biggest cop-out and impostor that has ever lived. Lets get real: He claimed to be God. People don't just claim to be God and if they do you can tell by their lifestyle and nature that they are not God. But Jesus, what about Him? Was He really God? Is He really God?

Now, some say yes and some say no. If you say no, then I believe that there is no hope for humanity and life is void and pointless now and in the end wen we die. If He is real, then I believe that their must be an evidence and a radical life change in the lives of His followers. Do you see it? Are His followers different? Do they encourage, love  and give their lives to people in their communities or are they annoying, bad tippers and just want to convert you? We need to reTHINK CHRISTianity and what it means to be a follower of this man, this God named Jesus.

This week at Awaken we are talking about "Engaged in Christ". We will talk about who He is, Biblically, and why He is God and worth following. If you do not go to church anywhere or are bored to death in church, then I would like to invite you and challenge you to be engaged in Christ. We meet at the Hixson YMCA and meet from 10:30-11:45 on Sunday mornings. 

Do Oprah and I Believe in the Same God?

What is your view of God? Is He real and if so who is He? How do we know who God is? There are so many religions, who's right? Oprah has a view that she shared with her followers (below). How do you know who the real God is? What tells us? Our parents, teachers, feelings mentors? Do peoples thoughts, emotions and ideas make up God who God is or does something tell us? 

I believe the Bible tells about the true God. Join us at Awaken this Sunday as we open up our "Engaged" series. 

Week 1 Engaged in God

Week 2 Engage in Christ

Week 3 Engaged in Church

Week 4 Engaged in Community

Oprah's link -http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JW4LLwkgmqA&feature=fvw

Awaken and the YMCA

We have our first practice service at the YMCA tomorrow morning. I am stoked. We are doing a run through with the greeting, kids and the main meeting. We want to make sure we work hard to make it easy for people to come and be loved at Awaken. Many people will walk in the door being very sketchy about God, church, Awaken and who we are. Many people will come to church one final time before they call it quits. What do we have to offer them: A program, tradition or love and compassion? We want to make sure we do a great job in our preparation that it seems effortless when people come and attend Awaken.

I always like to extend an invitation for people to come to Awaken because I truly believe everyone needs a real relationship with God and people. We want to provide that at Awaken. Come to the YMCA in Hixson on 9.13.09  at 10:30 and start over in life. 

Family

Just chilling with my family on vacation. Life has been pretty busy so its good to just lay back and take it easy for a week. Pretty fun vacation so far. We kicked it off with a staff retreat and after everyone left we have been hanging by the pool and the big jacuzzi tub. I take my family (especially my wife) for granted a lot. I have a sweet, beautiful wife who loves me and supports me in everything I do. Kylie, 2, is so sweet and is learning a lot. She asks lots of questions. She just nailed down her months of the ear and is now working on the days of the week. Abigail, 1, is a mess! She is the sweetest/cutest thing around, but is so bad and has a strong wheel. She's a mess. 

I thank God for the blessings that he has given me in my life. I hope this week will help me be mindful of my family throughout my days, weeks and years to come. I pray that I can be the biblical husband and father that I need to be.

Why the church in America will continue to die...

There is bad news. Although many sit in church and may close their eyes and praise God and maybe even shed tears, the reality is that all churches and all denominations are declining or heading for a decline. And the real bad news is because it's not even that Satan is a work (although he is), but is is because the church is turning people off and away. The population continues to grow rapidly, but the church is decreasing rapidly. 

A study done among 16-29 year olds states that the reason that most of this age group does not go to church is because it is judgmental, anti-homosexual, hypocritical, boring, irrelevant and using words like insensitive to describe the church.

Now one question to ask is, would you go to any business or spend any money or even attend anything that was lead with these characteristics? Why does Wal Mart strive and succeed? They have everything you need (relevant). Why are bars flooded every night of the week? People at bars are (non judgmental) and people accept you. Why do millions of people scream and yell and get excited at Football games every week? Because they're awesome and anything but (boring). You getting the point? Why are Wal Mart, bars and football better than Jesus? They are not, but the church makes it look that way.

Listen, if you do not go to church, I can totally understand why, but I also want to challenge you to find a place where you can go and worship the God of the universe, because He is the One that longs to be with you. If you are involved in a church or have a leadership role, I challenge you to make some drastic changes if you want a younger generation to follow Jesus, because currently they are all going away. Be like Christ, not Pharisee's. Stop judging people in bars when your 95lbs over weight. Don't look down on the pot head while you are looking at porn when your wife is not looking. Stop judging someone that listens to "bad" music while your judging them for listening to it. What we've done church, is that we have judged the non Christian while in the mean time we have not judge ourselves and held one another accountable. The church must change or the church in America will continue to die. Lets get started. 

SEX

Listen, many people are curious when they hear the word sex. A simple, yet powerful three letter word; S.E.X. You see it on TV, many people like to have it and it catches your attention really quick.

Is sex for everyone and anyone?? Well it depends on who you ask and their view on sex. There are many different ways and methods, but is there a right way and a right method and even for the right person?

Biblically, sex is great and meant for marriage. Many people in life don't mind sleeping with... well, anyone, but they miss out on "the one" for them. If you are not a Christian that may not make sense to you, but if you are a Christian, then Biblically you need to wait for your husband/wife.

Sex is a very, very touchy subject. Many have had unpleasant and even fearful experiences when it comes to sex and they need to deal with it. We are getting ready to launch a church. Its called Awaken. We are teaching on things like marriage, sex and a distorted view of sex called; porn. We are not afraid to open up and talk about the big elephant in the room. Jesus talked about the things that were relevant to the culture in which he preached. This Wednesday from 6:00-8:00pm we have a community group meeting and we'll talk about sex. Come with questions. Contact me if you are interested in helping us launch Awaken or if you wish to come and check it out. We just want to be real with God and each other. justin@awakencc.org

What do you think about sex?

PS I could write volumes on this subject, so this is simply a quick overview to get people thinking. We also look to launch a series about sex in the Fall at Awaken.

Community Group -Wednesday 6:00-8:00
Sunday Nights - 6:00-7:15
info@awakencc.org

Love and Marriage

I am doing my first wedding/marriage in September... well performing my first wedding/marriage as a pastor. It is interesting hearing peoples views on marriage. Many say its "finding the love of your life", "your second half", while others say "just finding my old lady(maybe not as respectful)".

While all of these are peoples personal view points, what really is the point of marriage? Who tells us what the point of it is and why we do it? Why no just live together, why get "Married"?

Many people have different ways of looking at the world whether they realize it or not. Its called their worldview, meaning, the way they look and view the world. Each person has a set of things they value, which determine what they believe, as a result they behave according to their values and beliefs. I try to follow a Biblical worldview for the things I value.

God created marriage. It is set up to show Christ's love for His church. "What? What does Jesus have to do with marriage? you may ask". In the book of Ephesians in the Bible, Paul shares that the point of marriage is to show people how much Christ loves us. He says men are to lead and love their wives like Christ loved the church, even the point of giving Himself up for her. Men, we have a huge job. The women are to submit, help and respect their husbands. If a man does his job, then its easy for the woman to do her job. Unfortunately there are few men worth submitting to, helping and much less respecting.

So where do we start? First you need to give your life to the One that created you and realize His purpose(s) for you (this is not just believing in God, but following Him). Then follow Him and surround yourself with people that follow Him. Those people are called Christians. The word Christian has been watered down because we have had many claiming to be Christians and show the love of God, but it is merely with their words that they do so. 

This week at Awaken we are talking about Biblical truth and how the Bible should guide our lives in all things, marriage just being one of many. If you do not belong to a church, find one... a good one. I would like to invite you to Awaken this Sunday night. What is your view of marriage? What is your marriage like? Thinking about getting married? Make sure you realize the point of one of the biggest decisions of your life.

Ready.

Finally ready. Its almost here! We are just six weeks away from launching Awaken Community Church at the YMCA in Hixson. We are pumped to see what God is going to do in our city. Continuing to think of marriages finding freedom, the addicts healed and many coming to know the reason for life; Jesus. Jesus is not just a noble guy or a man that came to do some good in the world, but the Son of God who came into the world to give hope and life to depraved people in their sin.

Many of us find something to put our hope, worth and significance in, but it all is a waste without knowing the one who made us. Its not just believing in God, but truly knowing Him and having a relationship with Him. We look not to bring tradition or legalism to our city, but to bring hope, love and serve our community just like the church of Acts (in the Bible) did.

If you are "de-churched" (seperated from church) or just not sure about God and life, I would love to invite you to Awaken. We are launching Spetmember 13th at the Hixson YMCA. Pray for us as we seek to see a community changed forever.

28

Well, today I turn 28. They should call it 29 because I lived a whole year before I even got a number. Kind of a rip off. Here are random thoughts that come to my head over the last 28 years.

puke baby got beat up by brother socks in my face bb gun wars
cheeseburgers taco salad riding bikes basketball latchkey kid
cool dudes playing cars GI Joes black eye parents divorced church basketball friends neighborhood middle school high school friends CROAM workout tennis dating follower of Christ life change purpose mentor Faith School bad marriage degree job friends God Kylie job Abigail Church Planting friends good marriage 28.

These are just a few random thoughts from my 28 years. I look forward to the purpose God has created me for through the rest of my life. Thank you for everyone that has been apart of my life.

Days without God

Sometimes I get so focused on my life (wife, kids, job friends and more) that I live days without God. Yeah, God has put these blessings in my life, but they should not replace the One that created me. Have you lived days without God? What about weeks, months or years? What about ever? People today are more open to spiritual things than ever. There is a God-shaped whole in all of us that can only be filled by....guess who? Yep God.

At Awaken we are starting Community Groups. Community Groups are groups of people that meet in homes throughout the week where people "do life" together. We eat, hangout, be real with one another and ask questions, read the Bible and learn more about the God of the universe. We realize that no one is perfect, so no one has to act perfect. Hangout with a bunch of single people or maybe honestly your marriage sucks and you need to "do life" with other married people. We all mess up and need to lean on one another.

Live life with God and bring other people along with you. Your life was never meant to be alone. Even with just you and your family, you need people to come beside you and "do life" with you. Let me know if you are interested in a Community Group and we'll get you plugged into one.

$1,000

What would you do if someone just gave you $1,000? Would you pay bills, eliminate debt, blow it on whatever you want? What if someone gave you $1,000 and the only restriction was to spend on someone else. Would you help someone buy groceries, fix a water heater or just bless someone, leave someone a fat tip at a restaurant? 

At Awaken we have committed to giving half of our money away that comes in through the giving on Sundays. We have just reached $1,000. We have many ideas and some things already in place. We look forward to taking up money each week, because we can literally see how much is going back out to connect with our community and make a change in peoples lives. Some ideas people mentioned last night are: Hospital bills, the homeless, a neighbor in need and more. We look forward to seeing what God is going to do in our community. 

If you are reading this and you live in Chattanooga, we invite you to join us as we are forming Awaken Community Church. We launch September 13th, 2009.

Community Now...

We are starting a four week series called "Community Now" this Sunday at Awaken. I am so pumped about what God is going to do. This past week we had 40 people come and experience Awaken. Excited to see who God brings our way.

Can Christians Hangout at Bars?

So, for the first time in my life I hung out at a bar. It is funny because every time I looked at "bar people", I thought of wasted lives and drunk people. It is so funny how I am easy to judge. I went with a friend of mine this weekend and mainly observed people and how that acted. Although some do waste their lives and just go to get drunk, many go for a different reason. Here are a few things I observed:

1. A need for Relationships
2. Need to have a Good Time
3. Community desired.

Pros of a bar: 1. Relationships, a good time and community are a few pros to going to a bar. People seem more real at a bar than at church. You are not judged. Everybody seems to be open to meeting everybody, it does not matter sex or race, cool or dork. Many cant build those kind of relationships at church, but can at a bar. Some people at bars are Christians that have not found community in a church.

Some Cons - Although many find relationships, some still do not have a relationship with the God that created them. A good time with other believers with prayer, learning Gods Word and changing a community are missing; which is ultimately what we were created for. One guy asked me if I go to strip clubs. I wanted to say "No, but I do go to church", but I think that may have severed that relationship. He was new to town and said he would like to hang out with us next week. Nice guy, drove a nice Chrysler 300 with a hemi, talked about his kids and mine, owned his own business, and was there looking to meet people.

Do you think it is good to go to bars so you can build relationships and lead someone to Christ or do you think it is sin and we should not go?

*If you have a problem with absorbing too much alcohol and it is an addiction, you should probably refrain from going.

People with No Hope

I used to work at a great organization called the Hopeline. It was one of the best jobs I have ever had. I would answer calls from teenagers and young adults all around the country and talk about anything from dating to suicide, from self image to porn addiction. The more I spoke to all of these people I realized that there are people like this filling my city. The only difference is that the people calling in finally got desperate enough to call and talk to someone about it.

If you are stumbling upon this blog and you realize that your life may feel hopeless, I want to encourage you that you do not have to feel that way. The purpose of your life is to get to know the One that created you. God created you for a purpose and as soon as you get to know God you will be able to serve your purpose. It's all about a relationship with Him.

We started Awaken Community Church to help the hopeless and those needing to find a purpose in life. The truth is that we are all ultimately hopeless until we are following Christ. It's
not to late to start over.

Finish Well

"Finish well" is a phrase that I've heard a lot in my life. It means more to me now then ever. It's very tough for me to see friends who have abandoned the faith. Many still believe in God and even Jesus, but their lives are not in His hands. They do not follow Him or obey Him with their lives of actions. My prayer is that God would bring an awakening to my city that that people would come to really know Jesus, that they would really know what it means to be a follower of Christ. If you have abandon your faith, I pray that you would consider coming back. Become a follower of Christ. The One that made you, loved you and gave His life for you. It is the only life worth living.

The world and all of its stuff and desires will soon fade and only Christ will matter in the end. Get plugged in to a good church where people will love you and hold you accountable. Start over, Christs love is sufficient for all who have fallen and messed up in life. If you are a Christian, continue to press on and finish well. Fight the fight and finish the race. If you are not a Christ Follower, follow him and finish well with the rest of your life.

Failures

The more that I look at my life, the more I realize that I have to trust in Christ. I mess up a lot. I fail a lot. I try to be a solid Christian, Husband, Father and Pastor, but many times I fail. I am continuing to realize that I will not be perfect in any of these areas and that I need to trust in Christ to help me be the man I need to be. The more I am seeking Jesus the better I do at these things and the more I stop wasting my time on things that do not matter. Its almost a formula for me: Trust in Christ = do things well and efficient. Don't seek Christ and waste time on meaningless things.

I have been really busy in life the last few months and have taken the latter part of that "formula". This past week I have been seeking Christ more and I can tell a difference in my life.

True Faith

I was talking to a friend the other day about religion. We were talking about God, Jesus, personal faith and more. Although we do not have the same beliefs, we shared in a productive, non threatening conversation. One thing she said about Christianity is that she respects the religion, but not the church. She said that so many people claim the name of Christ, but do not live it. She has her beliefs and she lives them. This is a huge problem.

Many people in our traditional, religious city of Chattanooga believe in God or "god". Many even believe or acknowledge Jesus, but the problem is that many do not truly know Jesus, they know about Him, but do not know Him.

True faith is truly having faith, period, not just claiming it with words. Not just an acknowledgment, but it actually changes the way you live. Its real. It is your life. Many should stop calling themselves Christians or Christ followers unless they are. Its not about being perfect, because everyone fails and will let you down, but its about giving your life up for something that will outlast you. The God of Heaven, Creator of heaven and earth, came into the world in form of a man called Jesus. He lived, loved, taught, impacted and died for the forgiveness of the sin of humanity. He rose again the third day. He ascended into heaven where we who have faith in Him, will join Him one day. This is the gospel (good news) of Jesus Christ. No one like Him has ever lived or will ever live again. He was God and He was with us. We should follow him and claim him or continue to deny Him with our actions and stop claiming Him. Too many "Christians", are making the bride of Christ look like a whore and turning away those who may possibly be interested in Jesus because of the actions of His "followers". Lets embrace the good news of Jesus and allow Him to impact our lives, friends, church and community.

Awaken's New Location

Awaken started in a house with a good core group. After just a few weeks of meeting together we grew out of it and God opened up a door through pastor Mitchel Reaves at North Side Community Church. We have enjoyed our last few months worshiping together there. We have been praying that something would open up in our target area, and now it has.

Starting today, June 7, 2009 we will be meeting at Middle Valley Baptist Church from 6:00-7:15. The address is 7901 Middle Valley Road - Hixson, TN 37343.

Over the next few months we hope to meet new people that are not plugged into church. We will meet at Middle Valley until the end of August, then we move into our new location and launch Awaken Community Church to the community.

Life and Awaken Update

It has been awhile since my last post. Life has been pretty busy. Here's whats been going on lately:

*Just started working at T-Mobile call center.
*planting trees in our yard.
*been hanging with the family a lot lately.
*Getting ready to move locations for Awaken.
*Ready for Mark and Michelle (worship leaders)
to get in town (around June 8) so we can finally meet and hang out.
*(June 1st) see if we get a grant for Awaken.
*still selling cars to make some $ on the side.
*Need to spend more quality time with Jesus.
*Many people committed to Awaken and plugged in already.
*Abigail should be walking in the next few months.
*Kylie is crazy as always and has been dancing to funny songs.
*Faith's getting out more hanging out with friends.
*Ready for Awaken hangout at Chester Frost this Sunday.

Bipolar Church Planting

Sometimes I feel bipolar when planting Awaken Community Church. I go back and forth with my emotions. One day I am exhausted from all of the long hard hours not to mention the spiritual, physical and emotional stress it puts on me and my family. The next day I envision families and generations changed because there was a church that reached out to them one day and loved them. It is day to day on how I am feeling and which way my emotions are swaying. I just have to trust in God and be under His leadership and protection to get through each day.

It takes faith and a lot of prayer to plant a church. I am also convinced that you have to be either crazy or called to plant a church. I praise God for what He has put on my heart and how He wants to use an average neighborhood kid like me to be a part of changing a city.

Please pray for me, my family and our core group as we continue this radical, faith building journey that God has put us on. Pray for patience, endurance, clear direction and an open heart to God and people. Pray for yourself to see if you should join us in anyway to be apart of this movement. To God truly be the glory for who He is, what He has done and what He continues to have in store for His church.

Such a Great God

Tonight at Awaken I taught out of Romans 7 on how law does not conquer over us and the grace of Jesus Christ forgives us of all of our sins. Such a great truth. Such a great God.

Let us not focus on the law and how we may be perfect, but realize that the law was meant to show us that we are not perfect. The only perfect one was Jesus and He makes us perfect in God's sight. Such a Great God.

Free Money!!!

We had a great meeting last night at Awaken where we announced some big news. We are giving half of our money to our community and to missions. If you visit and give $50 to Awaken Community Church, $25 will go to help someone and advance the gospel. If you give $200, $100 will go out for life change. Think about this, if we grow and become a church with a million dollar yearly budget, that means $500,000 a year will go to our community and missions. That means an average of $10,500 a week will go to change our city!

Many may say that this would not be smart as a business standpoint and although I agree, we are not a business, we are a church. I understand that it may take me longer to get on staff full time, but the church should be about change in our community. We hope to bless single moms with groceries, give kids that do not have much some backpacks or shoes. There is so much we can do! When you think of Jesus and the way He lived his life, He had nothing. This is a challenge not only with our money, but also with our lives.

My wife and I are trying to eliminate all of our debt besides our house in the next couple of years. We want to honor God with our money and give to people in need. I challenge you to think through what you spend your money on and think about others and changing a community.

If you live in Chattanooga and have not found a church, I would like to invite you to our next Awaken meeting. I would love for you to become apart of a life changing and a community changing church. This Sunday we meet from 6:00-7:15 at 819 Mississippi Ave Chattanooga, TN 37405. Hope to see you there.

Churches Have to Change or Die

Most churches in every denomination have been declining for years now. Not good. Obviously if the population keeps growing and churches keep declining, then less and less people are going to church each and every week. Something must change.

This Sunday Night at Awaken from 6:00-7:15pm as we go through our "Identity Series". We are going to talk about our Christian Worldview and how Christians and Christian churches, for the most part, have not lives out a Christian Worldview. I believe for this reason the church is in decline. It has become about programs and not people. It has become about lists and not love. Join us this Sunday Night as we seek to do something different in and to our culture to make Christs name famous by living out a true Christian Worldview.

Identity Crisis

We just started our first series for our core group last night. It is entitled "Identity Crisis". We asked the question "What Happened?". We looked back at Adam and Eve and saw how from the beginning when they chose to sin, our identity was lost. Join our core group over the next three weeks as we look into at "Identity Crisis".

Abigail Dancing

Debt

There is an annoyance, a disease, a plague that has been in my life, the lives of my friends and family, my nation and our world. It name is Debt. It is amazing where you place your mind and heart, stuff follows. For example, if you are focused on things and want things, you will spend your time and money getting those things.

We "had" to have a 2005 Toyota 4-Runner a few years ago, so a cool thing happened and we got it. The nice people at the Toyota dealership were kind enough to let us finance for 6 years so we could make our monthly payment of $515 a month. Wasn't that sweet of them? So we got it and we were happy. We had always wanted a 4-Runner and finally had one. A weird thing happened though. A few months after owning it, we thought it was weird that our rent was $500 a month and our car payment was $515. The 4-runner was not that cool anymore.

Well along with the 4-runner we had credit cards, baby bills, eating out (ouch!) and more and more debt. Our goal was on stuff, so we got stuff... cool stuff at that.

We introduced our credit cards to a friend named Mr. Scissors. Mr. Scissors and our credit cards entered into a one round battle where Mr. Scissors came out the victor.

Faith and I have lived pretty tight for the last few years because of the mess we got ourselves into. Next month we will have all of our debt besides our House, van and school gone. We hope to get rid of the van and school debt over the next 2 years leaving us with just a house payment.

I encourage you if you have sucked at money or have blown it and find yourself in debt, take action and get rid of it. Go ahead and cut up some credit card and sell your car if you have to. We lost $4,000 in the deal with the 4-runner, but a few years later, with our choices and sacrifices, all of that is now gone. I turn 28 this year and hope to be debt free besides my home by the time I am 30. Make a goal, set it and do it. Do not let money and stuff rule your life. Think about it, what is life really about? Not money and stuff. Honor God and kill your debt.

God Knows

It is a mind blowing concept that God knows everything. I can't even remember my second grade teacher and to think God knows everyone and their thoughts and actions before they happen (Psalm 139). My mind can only hold so much and to think that God knows everything. That is incredible for me to stop and think about.

As I am on this journey of church planting, I continue to meet people and think about their lives. My heart is that people all over my city would give their complete lives over to becoming faithful followers of Christ. We have a lot of good/moral/religious people here, but that is not what I am talking about. I am talking about people who truly want to glorify God in every area of their lives and help change their community. Who are they? I do not know, but God knows.

I pray that God would continue to raise up faithful followers of His to come along side us as we launch Awaken Community Church in August 2009. If that is you and you are interested in joining us to change our city then send me an e-mail to justin@awakencc.org or contact me on Facebook.

People Matter

People matter to God, therefore people must matter to me. If I do not like people and never want to be near them, then I probably need to check myself. If the greatest commandment is to love God with everything we have (heart, soul, mind and strength) and the second is "like it" as the Bible says, which is to love our neighbors as ourselves, then this means we have a whole lot of loving to do.

The reality of this is sad. Sad for my life and the lives of people in our busy world. While there are some who truly take their time to love others daily, the reality is that the majority of people don't. In our fast pace society we are concerned about ourselves.

This afternoon my brother came over with my nephew and of course we fought each other, since he is a 4 year old boy. I had a blast playing with him, beating him up, letting him beat me up, beating his daddy up, letting him beat me up and so on. I sent them a text 2 hours after they left that said "Tell Malakhai that I had fun playing with him and tell him that I cant wait to play again next time". I want my nephew to love his uncle Justy (as he calls me) and I want to be an encouragement to him.

This is not just the case in Malakhai's life, but every one's life. I am starting to really think about people that I am close to and take a little extra time to go out of my way to help encourage them. Philippians says that we should not only look for our own interests, but also the interests of others.  Who could you pour your life into? Could you just send someone an encouraging text right now? Imagine all the people. Take out time and invest into people because they matter.

Wasting My Time

I have the potential to waste a lot of time. Well, we all do. I have been thinking lately how I can be more effective with my time and and taking action. Here are a few things that I am doing. Maybe if you are bad at time management some of these points may help.

I thought through this question: "What are the top 5 things that are important to me" Here they are and how I will rearrange my time to be more effective through my days.

1. Love relationship with God: This means I will take time daily and get to know the one that created me. Search Him out, study Him worship , adore and get to know and trust Him more.
2. Love my wife: Practically this means cleaning the house. She lives with 2 babies all day and can get depressed if the place looks like crap. I am taking action to help more and more.
3. Love my family: This means come home everyday and have designated time for them. Not for facebook, twitter, TV, Blah blah blah, but time just for them; laughing, playing, loving, teaching, leading and hanging out with them.
4. Loving people: Daily I think how I can love people. Now I will stop thinking and start doing more. Loving, encouraging, meeting and giving to different people daily and Speaking into their lives.
5. Loving My job: I need to plan out my week. I usually get up, do my thing, go to work and pick up one of the 25 things that I know needs to get done and start working on it. Instead of this A.D.D, ineffective method, I decided to plan out my days.

This is not just a good idea that I have had, but what God has been teaching me. Now I am changing things around so I do not waste my time.

The Gospel Apathy

Growing up going to many churches, I heard the gospel. The pastors would share the same message about Jesus and throw in something a little different to "spice" things up every now and then; it was boring, stale, dry. I actually think that hearing it over and over kept me from coming to Christ. It was to "traditional". It was too "what you are suppose to do". Because of this I knew about Jesus but I did not know Jesus. I never saw the love and truth of Jesus.

To engage in today's culture and churches, we must preach the full gospel of Jesus Christ. That God came into the world and submitted Himself, as a man, under the authority of Roman officials to be brutally beaten, scornfully scarred  and unmercifully murdered. This same God, Jesus, died, was buried and resurrected (if He did not rise, then we would be apart of the most embarrassing religion of the world).

If you call yourself a Christ follower, I encourage you to preach the full gospel, in love to people. Love them, engage them and lead them to Jesus. Many believers never engage in a relationship, conversation or even show care or concern for an unbeliever. I look at my life and it doesn't look like I have it all together either. Get rid of any apathy you may have. Embrace Jesus. Meet people. Share Jesus.

How to Start a Church

There are 3 areas that we are currently focusing on during this season at Awaken. They all gear around Sunday morning and they are; Connections, Program and Children. As I have been studying church planting, I have realized that these three areas must be done well or you will just have a mediocre church. (there area more areas, but these are our current focus)

Connections: Connections is connecting people to our church. What are you first thoughts on a church when you walk in? This has much to do with the Connections Ministry. Here are some questions we are thinking about: Do you have greeters in place? Do you give something to first time guests? Is what your giving them good enough? Is it too much? Do you greeters walk people to the worship service, kids area or the students area? Do we buy umbrellas and meet people at their cars when its raining or get a golf cart (that would be fun)? Do we have a follow up plan? DO we show love to the people that are walking through the doors? Do we have greeters that know how to greet or just let anyone who is willing do it? Much more...

Program: How is the service? How does the opening of the service work? Does the pastor welcome everyone or does another leader in the church welcome? Who leads worship? What kind of songs? How many songs? When do you do the songs; before, after preaching; both? How does the pastor communicate? Is the message thought provoking, funny, engaging, use object lessons, relevant, good, helpful, applicable and more? Do you have someone give a testimony, use media, play a special song, and do you have a reflection time? Much more...

Children: You could have the best welcoming/Connections team in your city and have a phenomenal program, but if you do not take care of peoples kids, then you have failed. Are our kids safe, have fun, creative, prepared? Have we done background checks, made T-Shirts, have a follow up plan? Are good effective people that love children in place to serve? Much more...

This is just the beginning, the tip of the ice berg. We are going to churches on Sunday mornings and studying these things. If you want to be a loving church that does things well, then you must make sure a lot of time and thought goes into each area of ministry. These things must be done well and have leaders that do them well. Poring your time into the things that matter show people in your community that you care about them. These are just a few things that we are looking into to start our church.

Take note: We have not launched our church. These are just observations that I have learned through study, asking questions to church planters, reading blogs, prayer, the Bible and more.

Take a Dump on You

OK, I know the title is a little "Middle School" like, but hey it got you here didn't it?

Imagine someone came into your life and just "dumped" a tone of resources onto your lap. Just say someone walked up and gave you a check for $50 and said I just wanted to bless you. Would that $50 change your life? Probably not. It may however, make your day or maybe even your week, but I will guarantee you this, YOU WILL NEVER FORGET THE PERSON THAT GAVE IT TO YOU.

At Awaken, we want Jesus to look attractive to people. We want our community to see the love of Jesus. I was talking to a few people tonight at work about targeting a Trailer Park in the area where we are looking to plant our church. I said what if we hung out there for a few weeks and started to get to know some of the people. After a few weeks, we put on a little carnival for the children in their community. Get inflatables, icee's, funnel cakes, hand out t-shirts and love on them. Finally we give every family a gift card to Wal Mart.

We also will build relationships with the people in the community and start a small group Bible Study. We start to target and pray for each home in that community that is far from God and pray that God would change their lives.

After talking about this I asked some of the people that I was casting this vision to, "Why wouldn't it work?" This really started getting me excited about my purpose in life and the purpose for Awaken. Would all of these people come to our church? I am sure some would, but that is not point at all. The point is just to love them. Most of them probably believe that Jesus exists, but have just not seen His love through His followers. So we are going to do it.

What are some creative ideas that you have wanted to do, but just have not had a chance to do it before?

Identity Crisis: Jean Calude Van Dame is my Hero.

This morning Kylie, our 2 year old, had a great idea to make up a game. She started calling Faith, Mary and called me Carson and called herself Halle. Mary is my sister-in-law, Carson is her husband and Halle is their daughter. She liked to play and have fun with the thought that we were them. She thought it was funny. She made us, them

I remember being in Middle and High School wanting to be like someone else. It could have been a famous musician or and athlete or it could have just been someone I looked up to in my school. Don't laugh, but I remember wanting to be like Jean Claude Van Dame when I was 11 and I liked Deion Sanders. My favorite number is still 21.

I think many churches and church plants have an "Identity Crises". There is a great network within the church planting world. There is also a lot of copying. I see a lot of churches doing the same thing. That is not the total problem, because I can understand borrowing a series or two from time to time or using a good community outreach idea, but many have lost or never had their own originality and own identity as a church.

Many people want to just be like Furtick or Stanley(two of my favorites by the way), but do not want to do their own thing. One thing we have to do before we launch Awaken in August, is to make sure we are who we are and that we are not anyone else. We need to be who God has called us to be.

Practical, this Sunday Night

We are excited about this Sunday night. We have an opportunity that most church planters may not have the chance to do. We get to be apart of helping another church plant and launch their church to their community. Origin Church is planting a church about 25 minutes outside our plant in Ringgold, Ga.

Jeff, Origins Executive Pastor, will be coming by to train us on how they want us to work with Greeters, Children and lights for their launch on April 5th. We will be able to take invaluable experience through this process. We will be apart of a launch team before we launch our church, we'll be able to bless and help Origin Church, see some pro's (things that Origin does well) and hopefully few cons. I think Shane, a seasoned pastor, and his crew have things very well planned. If you are interested in seeing what they are doing or even live in the Ringgold area, I recommend you stop by the church. Here is Shane's blog.

Too Much Study

In church planting, there is a lot of studying to be done. I mean, come on, you are basically starting a business. Sorry for those who do not see it like a business, but on the business side of things, it is a business. So from demographics of your target area, to books on how to put together small groups; church planting is a huge field and there are lots of things to be covered.

The last few days I have thought to myself, "I have I studied too much?" Here is what I mean by that... I talk about reaching people that are not interested in church and maybe even not interested in God. I want to connect with those people. I want to serve them and show God's love to them. So, what have I done? I have studied many ways on how to reach them. There is one problem... I have not been with them. I haven't been in the bars, chatting with people at Wal Mart or Intentionally having the same waiter at Chilli's or changing my oil at the same place for the sole purpose of building relationships. There are so many relationships to be built.

Will I stop studying? No, because I need to know my culture and the people that I am reaching. But I will say that I need to take a break and go and be with them. I do not think Jesus read 7 books, 3 blogs, watched 4 sermons and prayed 6 hours before he went and spoke to the woman at the well. He just went. So should I. Studying; good, life on life, better. I encourage you to do the same. Go build a relationship with someone for the purpose of loving them and showing the love of Jesus to them.

Is Satan at work or do we just live in a sinful world?

Is Satan at work or do we just live in a sinful world? Well both are true, but I am trying to figure out which situations in our lives are because we live in a sinful world and which are from Satan and his demons.

I was in a wreck today; a guy ran me off the road. My Jeep might be total. Here is the kicker, the knife in the back, the irony of it all. I actually had a good friend and one of our supporters for Awaken tell me that he wanted to buy tires for my Jeep. He already had a few price quotes. I was thankful for the offer. Then got in a wreck. Praise God that I am alive after spinning out through three lanes of traffic on hwy 153. No one was hurt. God is good.

So, is this because of Satan and/or his demons or just from the reality of life in a sinful, fallen world? Many people blame things on Satan, but fail to realize that sometimes life happens and that we just live in a sinful jacked up world. Others blame everything on a messed up world and fail to realize that Satan really is prowling around like a roaring  lion looking to destroy our lives. And his purpose in coming is to steal, kill and destroy. 

What are your thoughts? Did Satan cause my wreck or was it just life? Tell me about a situation in your life. Did you struggle with why some things have happened the way they did?

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.