Can You Play Poker at Church?

Top 10 list on why we can play poke at church:

10. To engage our community.
9. Wings!
8. Men need a time for healthy community.
7. Prizes are involved.
6. Change peoples mind's about church and God.
5. Wings!
4. Men have a competitive nature. Why not fulfill it with the gospel in mind.
3. I will beat down CaseyB in this tournament.
2. Church is not about preaching at people, but being real with them.
1. Men can finally tell their wives that they are going to church.

You are invited tonight to Awaken Community Church to play Texas Hold'em. No sign ups, just show up around 6:00pm. Those who place in the top 3 will win prizes. We have the cards, chips, prizes, drinks and food; you just show up.

Located at 8609 Walnut rd Hixson, TN 37343. email justin@awakencc.org for ?'s.

Awaken's One Year Anniversary

We just celebrated our one year anniversary yesterday from when we launched Awaken. It went well. We had many people from our community come and had a record attendance of 80 people come out. It was also just our third meeting in our Middle Valley building.

Church planting can be a love/hate relationship. At times you wonder if this thing is really going to work even at one year in. At other times you cant believe what God is doing and the relationships that you have built. Yesterday was a good day. So excited to see what God wants to do. We know that we are in this thing for the long haul.

Our New Location.... Middle Valley.

Mid September will be the one year anniversary for Awaken Community Church. God has given us a little present as we turn one; a building.

I look forward to see what God will do in the lives of people in Middle Valley. I am challenging our church to meet people in the area, get gas in the area, eat at restaurants in the area and yes even move to the area. Why? Because if we really want to see the gospel of Jesus spread in our city, then we should start in the areas where we live. Many of the people in our church live five minutes or less from the new building. Jesus said to the apostles before he ascended into Heaven, "Go make disciples... into Jerusalem, Judea, Samaria and the utter most parts of the world". Middle Valley is our Jerusalem. Many of us are already gathering creative ideas to influence and help our community.

I would like to invite you to our service on Sunday morning at 10:30 am. There are many ways to get involved; Sunday morning, small groups or serving. We would love to meet you, be a part of your life and encourage you to give up everything to follow Jesus. Our website is www.awakencc.org

Wake Up Christians

Acts is my favorite book of the Bible. I like it so much because it is so action packed. Think of all of the action packed movies that we all like: Braveheart, Gladiator and Lord of the Rings just to name a few. All of these movies made a lot of money and are famous for being action packed and great war scenes. Many of us, especially men, cannot get enough of these kind of movies because we love action, adventure, passion and challenge.

This is a lot like the book of Acts. There was a lot of action, adventure, passion and challenge. In Chapter 2 and 3 over 5,000 people give their entire lives over to something that will out live them. They gave their lives over to a higher calling and purpose in life. They gave their lives to God. Take 5-6 minutes and read Acts chapter 2-3.

Christianity today in my city looks absolutely nothing like Acts... and that is a problem. One of the main reasons is because we are all distracted. We are distracted by our pride, selfishness, money, family, hobbies etc.. When will we wake up and realize this life is not about us? I need some men to join beside me to become a church like Acts 2-3. We should wake up and lead ourselves, our families and our community to the feet of Jesus. It is not about the tradition and programs in our churches, but about the blood of Christ and the depravity of humanity. We have a huge mission. What day and hour will we wake up? Will we ever wake up? I am challenging you to wake up now and come with me to seek God and change a city. We are going into war.

I am sending this out to some men that are on my heart. Send me a message or leave a comment below. It doesn't matter where you are at in life at this point, it just matters that you act now and let God do the rest. I would like to meet with many men in our city in the next few weeks. Send me an e-mail to justin@awakencc.org. Thanks for your time and lets Let God be the God of our city.

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.

In the community

I live about 15 minutes from the Hixson community (where we have Awaken Community Church). I love going into the community and meeting people. I am sitting at Panera right now (they hook me up with free Wi Fi, Thanks Panera). I met a lady named Kelly at the counter. We did not strike up any kind of deep conversation, we just spoke. I said thanks Kelly after she took my order. Saying someone's name is such a compliment to them. I hope to get to know Kelly more and more as I stop in Panera. I hope one day if she does not already know my Lord, that she will know Him. I hope one day her and her family can worship with my family at our church. 

In my community I also went to Hixson Middle School, filled out a facilities request form and am now curious to see if God would open it up for us to meet in. The principal and vice principal are very nice and encouraging. It would be a nice place to meet.

I encourage you to engage your community and the culture around you. Embrace the people and love them for who they are. Life change will start to happen.