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