New Address

Hey everyone!

My blog has moved to a new address.

http://www.noisemakersunited.com

It's still got some work that needs to happen, but that's where it's at.

See you there!

How long has it been?

So I totally haven't blogged since November 14th. Part of me is sorry, but part of me isn't. Part of me is sorry because I like blogging and letting you guys know what's going on in our world, and the things God is teaching. But part of me isn't sorry because there's just been too much craziness going on around here for the past month.

It's not really one particular thing. It's a lot of things. Desi and I are still trying to sell/rent our house in Georgia, so that's a pain. We are now 42 days out from officially launching Sojourn, and there's been a lot of stuff going on with the church. Desi is working 60+ hours a week now because of the holiday season. Which means we have 20 fewer hours a week to spend together, which makes the time we do have even more important. Oh, and that's on 6 days a week. So she only has 1 day a week off, but I have to work that day. So that really sucks.

So things have just been to busy. And I have to end this because I have things I have to do. Till next time. Peace!

13 Days!

So I haven't written anything here on my blog for 13 days now.

Oh well.

I have now though.

Unmet Expectations Part 2

When you walk into the main auditorium of a church, what do you expect to see? Lights, sound, and video? Well, what you don't see is that same room at 6:00 in the morning.

When we walk into the theater that we meet in, it is completely empty. There is nothing in that room except seats. So everything that you see when you come to our service at Sojourn is set up that morning. Everything from the sound, lights, stage, video, everything. It may not look like a lot to you, but it sure does to me!

One of the hardest things to deal with when you bring in all of your own equipment and set it all up in just a couple of hours if getting it all to work properly. And that is the first expectation I have when I walk into our theater on Sunday.

I expect all of the equipment to work right.

I really do. And you'd think that after working in the audio/visual department of a church for years, I would expect things to mess up rather than work. But alas, here I am wanting things to do what they should. I just think that if we set it up the same way we did last week, then everything should work the same. Only that never happens. there's always a new buzz in the speakers. There's always another cable that goes out. There's always another wire that's missing. It never fails. And I know this doesn't only happen in church plants. I've been on staff at 2 other churches before, both of which had their own buildings, and the same stuff happened then.

I think a big part of it for me is that I just don't want to have to worry about that kind of stuff on Sunday. I guess I've been spoiled at the last 2 churches I've worked at. At both of them, I was the guy who dealt with all of the audio/visual mishaps. All the while the worship leader had no idea that any of it was happening. He didn't even get there till about 2 hours after I did. So maybe I expected the same thing to happen for me once I became a worship leader. Well, I don't really think so.

Either way, the first expectation that I have going into a Sunday is that everything will work right. So far, I haven't had that expectation met a single time!

Unmet Expectations Part 1

We all have them. We all give in to them. We all kind of like them.

Expectations.

I know expectations are a hard thing to keep in check. Expectations are all around us. Expectations of what others think we're supposed to do, and what we expect others to do. This is something that, to be honest, the church struggles with a lot. And what's really hard is meeting the expectations of every one that comes through our doors during the weekend.

People come in with some crazy expectations. They expect the coffee to be hot, and the donuts to be extra powdery. They expect to have some one shake their hand, but not too many people. They expect to be given a "bulletin" to take notes on. They expect the music to be perfect and the singer to hit every not perfectly(That will never be me!). They expect the preacher to give the best sermon he's ever given, and they expect that every single weekend!

But there's some expectations that the church leaders themselves have. I know I sure have a lot of them. And trust me, it can ruin my morning if my expectations aren't met just like anyone else who walks into the doors of the church.

So I've decided that I'm going to share some of the expectations I have as a worship leader. These are things that go on behind the scenes that probably no one who just attends the church knows about. Thinking about it, this might not be such a good idea, but I've already started so I can't stop.

So this is the first in an unnumbered series of posts of my expectations that I bring to the worship ministry. Good or bad, they are what they are. I'll admit if they're bad or good. I know which ones are good and which ones are bad. Maybe admitting the bad ones will help me get rid of them. We'll just have to wait and see.

So the first, or actually second, post on this will come at you tomorrow, so be ready for it!

Meet the Air Car

That is the Air Car. Pretty cool looking. Definitely looks like something out of a Dr. Seuss book. This baby can go 35 mph for 60 miles using nothing but air. How cool is that? No emissions, no electricity, and NO GAS!!!

It uses air compression to turn the pistons and recharges the air compressor while your driving. You do have to use a little bit of fuel however, but this fuel can be anything from gas to diesel to ethanol to vegetable oil.

The plans are for this little guy to be manufactured in India at first, since that's where the car makers company, Tata, is based. But it's expected that this car will start being produced in the US around 2011, and for $20,000, not a high price compared to hybrids.

Crash tests are still pending, obviously!

Better than I thought

Here it is Sunday night. I was just sitting here thinking about the service this morning at Sojourn. It was really hard for me today. Things didn't work or happen the way I wanted them to, but I'll talk about that later.

Anyways, I was thinking about this morning and all the junk that happened. I thinking about all the things that were going through my mind this morning. I felt terrible walking out of that service this morning. I didn't think God was really worshiped at all. At least I know I had a very hard time worshiping Him. But them I starting just going through the service. I starting thinking about what all went on. Then i remembered something.

I remembered seeing someone worship.

I was so totally distracted this morning that I totally missed it. But now looking back on it, it was so clear. My problem was my guitar started cutting out. So I put it down and just sang, which is really awkward for guys like me in case you didn't know. So I put my guitar down and just sang and clapped. I was thinking in my head how bad it had to sound with my guitar cutting in and out, and how I couldn't hear anything but my voice and had no clue if I was even close to on pitch. I felt like it was so bad that everyone noticed it, and they probably thought it was a joke. But now I remember looking up, and seeing this one particular guy worshiping. Now, he wasn't worshiping like he was raising his hands and singing real loud or anything like that. But he was clapping and he was smiling and he was singing. And that's more than I think I've ever seen him do in during the music.

That made me feel a whole lot batter about today. Like I said, it was a very rough morning, but God was still worshiped despite me being human.

Is this gy serious?

So I was just on Yahoo! and read the stupidest article I've ever read. And because I had to waste my time reading it, I want you too as well.

You can read it here.

Did you read it?

Like I said, it was dumb. Kind of made me mad, considering have quite a few tattoos. And by a few I mean nearly a full sleeve and some others.

Anyways, it was a dumb article, and now we are all stupider for reading it. Sorry to waste your time.

Hilarious

So I showed Desi this video the other day, and she watches it at least 4 times a day now. It's really funny. So I thought I'd share it with you.



I can't wait to have children and post videos of them making words like "ask" sound like cussing.

Set 'em ablaze

So last night I couldn't sleep. Not at all. I was up till 2:00 last night.

I had so many things running through my mind. So many bad things. All of my doubts surfaced last night. Trust me, I have a lot of them. Way to many to list here. So I have these doubts. For over an hour last night I sat right here at my desk and ran these doubts through my mind over and over and over.

So I decided I HAD to do something. I knew I couldn't sit around and let my doubts take control. I had to do something about these doubts. So I wrote them down on stick-it notes and stuck them to the door.


So I stuck all of my doubts to the door of my office. Then, I walked out and shut the door behind me. I left my doubts in that room and didn't let them come out. Then I sat down in the living room, and I prayed. I prayed that God would remove all of these doubts from my mind. I asked that I would look to Him to be all the things that I felt I wasn't. I asked Him to use me despite the doubts that come up in my mind.

Next, I made sure those doubts would never come back. I went into my office, pulled my doubts off the door, took them outside, and I set them on fire.


After the flames died down, this was all that was left of my doubts.


I can't tell you how much better I felt after I burned my doubts. See, now that all that was left of my doubts were ashes, I couldn't read them any more. Those words that filled my mind and consumed my fears were gone. Never to seen again.

What doubts do you have that need to set on fire?

Locked in a Closet

Has this ever happened to you?


Locked in a Closet from Travis Williams on Vimeo.

Seriously, it was funny. But I really want to know if anyone else has ever done this. I hope Desi isn't the only one.

Maybe

Have you ever realized the power of that word? Maybe...

Wow. I used the word "maybe" earlier, and it was amazing! I mean absolutely awesome. I never would have thought that such a simple word could lead to so much. When you start thinking maybe, you will ideas you would never thought you could think. Ideas would be plentiful if we all just thought "Maybe" a little more.

So challenge yourself. Stretch your imagination. Make things happen.

The next time you're faced with a question that you don't have the answer to try simply saying, "Maybe."

What do you think about...

Maybe.

Does it help if...

Maybe.

Do you think it's possible to...

MAYBE!!!

Found it in a Fish

This morning I read Matthew 17:24-27. And it spoke to me BIG time!

This one has always been curious to me. I didn't go to seminary, so I don't know all the little tips and tricks to find the real meaning behind Jesus' words. But I do know how to read. And I do know how to think. So I read this Scripture, and I thought about it. And then I realized something...

God provided. That's what He did in this scripture. He provided the 4 drachma that was needed. And he provided it in the strangest way I can ever think of Him doing so. Then it hit home. And I mean it hit hard.

About a week ago, Desi and I realized that we weren't going to be able to pay our mortgage for the month, which was already pushing the due date. We aren't living in that house right now, which is actually why we didn't have enough money to pay it. We have a house in GA, and an apartment in Charlotte which we actually live in. So we had already paid the rent, but we were way short on the mortgage. This is obviously not a good situation to find yourself in. Like I said, we don't live in that house, but we do want to sell it and buy another house. And something about being foreclosed on doesn't open up many opportunities to buy in the near future.

So I started freaking out. I mean really freaking out. For the next couple of days I stared at the wall trying to figure out how to come up with the money to pay the rent. Of course, I had nothing. There was no way I could every make up that much money in that short of a time. Sure, I prayed, but I didn't really think that God could come up with that much money in that short of a time either. I guess I kind of thought of God as having a bank account like mine. He only has as much in there as He puts in. That's how it works for me, so that's how I thought it worked for God. I mean I didn't really think that, bu what my faith about the situation was saying. I just did not think that God could provide. He had done it many times before. I remember when Desi and I first got married. Rent would be due in less than a week, and our bank account was sitting around $50. But I just didn't think God could handle this one.

Well, all I can say now is that God provided in a HUGE way! I mean I couldn't believe what happened. Turned out God totally had the money to provide for us to be able to pay the mortgage. In fact, he provided twice as much money as we needed! We were asking for X amount, and God provided X times 2. Now we didn't go out to Lake Norman right here, cast out a fishing pole and find the money in a fish's mouth. But we did end up with more money than we needed.

I know this isn't going to be the last time that Desi and I face a financial crisis. I just hope that next time one comes up, I can remember this verse, and mostly remember what God did for us last week.

Verizon tries to keep up with iPhone

Have you seen the latest touch screen from Motorola for the Verizon Network, the Krave? It looks pretty nice. Check it out...

What's really great is that the flip part is still touch sensitive. It's actually clear, although you can't tell in that picture, and there's a membrane basically running through it. That way your crummy fingerprints done get all over the screen. It's motion sensitive too. So, like the iPhone, when you turn the phone sideways the screen turns with it. And the great thing about it is that it's fairly inexpensive for a phone with those capabilities, less than $200 with a 2-year contract.

Yahoo did an article on it. You can read it here.

The only major complaint... No Wi-Fi. Now that's pretty stupid.

Super Sunday

S yesterday was a great day. Let me tell you why.

First off, I didn't have to wake up until 8:00, which is a whole lot later than when we meet in the theater. When we meet in the theater I have to be up at around 5:00 when we meet in the theater. So that was really nice. Also, I played with Brad this weekend. It's just really nice to have someone else to play with. Kind of takes all thee focus off you, cause I sure don't want that. And he's pretty good at what he does on the guitar. After the worship, we had a pretty good conversation about connection. We talked about our need for connection and how we can make sure people are connected at Sojourn. Not just that they get plugged in, but that they we are really connected together. After church, we went to Showmars. If you don't know what Showmars is then you're the lucky one. Their slogan is "Fine Dining Fast." Basically it's a restaraunt that thinks it serves nice greek food in a very quick manner. It's not that good, and it's certainly not a place that I want to eat at often, if at all. But spending lunch with everyone was great. So I guess it doesn't matter where you go when you're having a good time with friends.

After lunch, we came home, watched a little football and relaxed. Then Desi decided she wanted to go to the mall to find her a UGA Bulldogs sweatshirt. I was pretty excited about that. But of course it's really, really hard to find a UGA sweater in North Carolina. So that didn't happen. But after we left the mall, we went to Gamestop in Birkdale Village. That's always a good thing for me. Desi let me get Lego Batman for my PS3. I have to say, it's one of the funnest little games I've ever played. So I played that last night for a little while. Then we had some left over pasta that we had at Toby and Mindi's Saturday night.

Then came one of the best parts of the night. The ALCS game 7. TAMPA BAY WON!!! I was so excited, just ask Desi. I'm so sick and tired of Boston and their stupid comebacks. I was mad when Tampa Bay lost 2 games in a row tieing the series ancd 3 games a piece. Fortunately, they didn't mess the whole thing up, and won game 7.

Then I went to bed and slept like a baby.

So yesterday was a very good day. I hope I have more days like yesterday coming my way.

Bed Head

I woke up this morning, looked in the mirror, and saw this...


My bed head. Actually I think it looks better than when I try to make it look good. Maybe I'll just go with this from now on.

Got a, Want a, Need a, Get a, Have a

So I stole that from Bojangles. I don't care because I like it. But for me I don't got a want a need a get a have a Bojangles.

I got a want a need a get a have a songwriting.

I LOVE songwriting. It's something God has blessed me with the ability to do, and He has blessed me greatly through it. But that's not what I'm here to talk about. I just thought I'd share a little of the advice that was given to me about songwriting. This really applies for Christian and worship music.

I figured I'd start the number one best piece of advice ever given to me about songwriting, since that's we always want any ways. So here it is.

Songwriting starts with Scripture.

My favorite and in my opinion most powerful worship songs are based directly on a piece of Scripture. How Great is Our God. His Love Endures Forever. Anything Shane Barnard. There's a ton of reasons to do this. First, it is a true reflection of what God is doing in your life. You read The Word and get inspired by it. Or changes something and you have to get it out. Or it affects your life in some way. Another reason is that it's really hard to make a song doctrinally wrong if it is based straight off of Scripture. Not that it's impossible. Lord knows there's plenty of people misinterpreting His Word out there. But it's easy to jack God's Word if you completely make it up yourself.

The next advice on songwriting is a bit of an odd one.

Listen to other peoples songs for musical inspiration.

That's right. Listen to what has already been done for inspiration. Get out your favorite CD and listen to it over and over to get ideas. Obviously I'm not saying you should do this to copy what they did. That's totally unoriginal and totally dishonoring to God. You heard me right. It is dishonoring to God to simply copy what someone else already did. We'll get into that another day. Back to inspiration. Everyone does this. Seriously, all the big wigs out there. And I'm not talking only about Christian music here. Coldplay, Foo Fighters, Rihanna, Beyonce, The Killers, all of them. They all listen to other artists music for musical inspiration. They say it all the time. Kanye West got a lot of inspiration for his album "Late Registration" from The Jackson 5. So don't copy it. Listen to it. Make it better. Improve it. Make it new.

The last piece of advice I'll give is this...

Co-write as much as possible.

Co-writing is a very very difficult process. But end result is amazing. I've done a whole lot of co-writing in my life. One of the worship songs that I'm most proud of is a song that my good friend Robby Hurd and I wrote together called "Waters of Witness". I love that song. It took us a long time to get it done, but it got done. We would sit down with this song over and over and just look at eachother and say, "What do you think?" Like I said, it wasn't easy. The best part of co-writing is having anothe creative mind there. Two minds are always better than one right? It's always exciting to see two people read one scripture, interpret it differently, and then come out with a cohesive song with one song. Plus, if you get stuck, the other person might have their brilliant moment, and vice versa.

So that's my advice on songwriting. I've really tried to put these 3 ideas into practice as much as I possibly can. I'm always writing songs, always jotting down ideas for songs, always looking for new music to inspire me. This obviously is no gaurantee to succesfull songwriting. I'm certainly not any type of super succesfull songwriter. But I have been blessed through that avenue.

Upsets Abound

So the Red Sox won last night. Tampa Bay blew a 7-0 lead! How do you do that!? This is the picture on ESPN's home page right now. With it is the headline "Don't Stop Believing". I feel bad. I feel like I did jinx the Rays. I spoke too soon. But oh well. Now they go to Tampa Bay. They're expecting a huge crowd. So hopefully things will go better for the Rays than last night did.

7-0!!!

Go Rays!

I'm not going to jinx it and say that Tampa Bay is going to the World Series yet, because the game isn't quite over yet. But it looks very promising, they have a 7-0 lead in the 7th inning. So things are looking good for them.

Now, I'm not a big baseball fan. In fact this is the first baseball game I've watched all season. But I love the story that the Tampa Bay Rays are writing themselves. The team with the worst record in the entire MLB last season has turned it around and has a chance to be on top of the America League, and maybe even the whole Majors. I mean come one. That's a great story. And they're doing it with the lowest budget in all of baseball. To give you an idea the New York Yankees have a salary of over $200 million. The Tampa Bay Rays are doing with less than $45 million. And the Yankees didn't even make the playoffs this year.

It just goes to show that it doesn't matter if you have the best players in the game, or some of the worst. As long as the leader of the team can get everyone on the same page, working together, working towards a similar goal, and believing in the same ideals then you've got all you need. It doesn't matter if you have the fastest car if the alignment is jacked up. All the wheels have to be moving in the same direction or you'll have a really hard time getting where you want to go.

So good luck Rays. And congratulations on the greatest turn around in history.

I'm not in high school any more

I'm not very happy right now, in case you couldn't tell. I just sat down in front of my 'puter, and guess what I saw...

A stain (over the "S")! I have a stain on one of my favorite shirts!

So, it's really not that big of a deal right? It's just a shirt. Well, the problem is that this isn't the only shirt that I wear all the time with a stain on it. Either I don't know how to eat right, or I eat so much that the chances of food getting on my shirt are greatly increased.



Looking at this picture, I'd say I eat too much. But no, that's not what I really look like. I was pushing it out. I swear. I really was. Desi might argue with me, but I really was. Anyways, I think it's time to take up jogging. Well, maybe I'll start with walking and work my way up.

Staying Healthy-Part 2

So it's been a while since I last posted, so I'm just gonna jump right into it.

This is the second part of a two part post.

Click here to read the first one.

So in the first "Staying Healthy" post, we talked about being relationally and spiritually healthy. Those two were pretty easy to write about, and, like I said, those two things are not the reasons we pushed back the launch date at Sojourn. These next two are difficult to write about, and they both contributed to our decision.

I'm going to go ahead and tell you that you might not like to talk about these next two issues, but they are still a very big reality of the church. So get over it.

The third part of being healthy is being numerically strong. Go ahead. Get it out. Rant a little about how churches are all about numbers and that's all that matters. Ok. No, numbers are certainly not all that matter to us at Sojourn, but they do help. Right now we have nearly 30 people in our core team, which is a great number. I can't tell you how awesome is for me to see new people come into our church and enjoy their experience so much that want to right in on the ground level. Like I said, 30 people is a great number.

The issue for us is that we don't feel that we launch a church the way we really want to with 30 people. I know plenty of churches that have launched with well less that 30 people, and they are doing just fine today. But this is our feeling. We want to have a larger team for a couple of reasons. First, having a large team just feels good. It does. It really pumps you up to walk out in front of 50 people rather than 15. And it helps create more energy. 50 people are louder than 15. We also want to create an environment where people desire to serve and aren't forced to. With only less that 30 people, it really requires everyone to volunteer at the church every single weekend. Which is very, very tiring. Having to be in a room with a bunch of little kids will wear you out really fast. So we want to avoid that as much as possible. So having a larger team will allow people to only volunteer when they desire to, instead of feeling like they have to.

There's also one other thing that having more people provides for a church, which is actually the fourth part of launching a healthy church.

Get ready to rant a little more. Well probably a lot more.

Finances.

All churches ever ask for is money. If you don't give them a lot of money, they don't care if you come or not. Blah, blah, blah...

So again, that's not how it is at Sojourn. But here's the honest truth... It takes money to run a church. Wow. Shocking huh? It shouldn't be. I mean think about it. We are renting a theater. RENTING. Meaning we are paying the theater for us to meet there. That takes money. We want to have coffee there for you every weekend you come. Guess what... We have to pay for the coffee too. And of course, Toby, Kristi, Clay, and I would love for us to be able to devote full-time work hours to the church. Well, we have bills to pay, mortgage, car, utilities, food, gas. We have to have money to pay for those things personally, so guess what... We have to receive some sort of salary for that to happen.

So I know you might be sick and tired of churches asking you for money, but it really does take money to run a church. Like I said, rent and coffee at minimum. And honestly, that's all that we are paying for right now. There's no salaries getting paid right now. We don't have offices we are renting. I, as the worship leader, literally have a $0 budget for the worship ministry.

But as I said before, having more people does equal, to a certain extent, more money. So as the church grows we will be able to do more things through the church. And just to let you know what a couple of those things are. We want to a small marketing campaign. We want to send out 30,000 postcards to the homes around the mall before our launch on January 11th. We would like to do another 30,000 postcards at Easter time. Those things sure aren't free.

So as a summary, we want to launch a healthy church. We want to be relationally, spiritually, numerically, and financially healthy. This isn't going to come easy, and we know that. But we do feel that this is a calling that God has given us. So if you don't like it, well you don't have to. We'll still love you, and you're still welcome.

Sick

So I know I said that i was going to post some stuff yesterday and still haven't done it.

Let me show you why...

I'm a little sick.

See the red watery eyes. That's literally as much as I've been able to open them all day. See my face breaking out just under my lip and in the corner of my mouth. What you can't see is the snot that just literally dripped out of my nose. So forgive me for not caring to much about blogging today. Although I am blogging about not blogging. I'm done.

I've got Gas

This whole gas craze is ridiculous. That's a picture of me waiting in line to get gas. I've never waited in line to get gas before. And I never want to again. It's so ridiculous. Desi was down to less than a quarter of a tank, and I bet someone in that picture has 3/4 of a tank. The only reason they're in line is because they're worried they won't have gas. Well, I don't have gas. It's not a matter of I don't want to run out, it's that I am about to run out. Well, not now. I have a full tank now. But it's just so stupid. Let's all freak out when, in reality, there is nothing to freak out about. If we all just went about our business like normal then there wouldn't be this problem. I don't know a single person who fills up their tank when they're down to half a tank. Now, everyone fills up when they're down to half a tank. I heard one gas station owner said that what usually lasts them a week only lasts them 4 hours.

Here's the deal. There's no shortage of gas. There's plenty of gas. And we've been told that over and over again. That same gas station owner is getting the same amount of gas he always gets, something like 6700 gallons. Like I said, that usually lasts him a week. So there is no gas shortage. If that gas station is able to get 6700 gallons of gas nearly every single day, I certainly don't think there's a gas shortage.

So can we all please stop freaking out about nothing! There is plenty of gas. Don't worry about it. Go about your business as usual, and I would be willing to bet that everything would get back to normal very quickly. Actually the only thing that isn't normal is us freaking out about it.

So stop whining and filling up your tank every time you see a gas station that's open. Everything will be alright.

Thank you.

Staying Healthy

Trust me. I'm not real worried about keeping myself healthy. Just ask Desi. I eat all sorts of terrible food. As I am writing this I am eating some cream cheese and chives crackers and washing them down with some pink lemonade. So like I said, I'm not worried about being healthy right now.

What I am going to talk about is trying to keep the church healthy. Yesterday, I talked about the things that are happening at Sojourn. And I said that I would explain why we are making these changes in our plans. I'm going to give you the first two now. The last two will come later; they require a lot more exlanation. So here you go...

There are four key areas in which a church must be strong in order to be healthy. And yes, these are in a particular order. And it's because of a lack of a couple of these things that we are not launching weekly services at Sojourn.

First is relational. You must be relationally strong. Well, what does that mean? For Sojourn, it means that relationships are at the center of everything we do. Our relationships with the people we work with, the people we meet on the streets. And especially our relationship with Christ. And every relationship matters. We have a saying here that "we are all about people". We are in the business of people. We want to love people. We want to welcome people. We want to help people fall in love with their God, who is madly in love with them. So for us to be relationally strong we have to love people well. To be honest, we lost a little of that when we started the preview services. We went from meeting in Toby's living room, having coffee and bagels, to having church services. At that point we became, as one person so well put it, "all business". We lost the focus on relationships and became focused on pulling off a good service. Obviously that's the opposite of what we are here for.

The second aspect of a healthy church is being spiritually strong. Now, this one is a little tricky. The reason why is because it's a process. Being spiritually strong isn't a statute you achieve and then move on to part three. This is something you have to keep in front of you and keep working on. Being spiritually strong is sort of like growing spiritually. What makes this one difficult to measure is that on any given Sunday you have people there who are all at different place in their spiritual journey. You have some people who gave their life to Christ a long, long time ago. And there are others who are hearing Jesus' name for the very first time. At least, there should be people like that in you service. The easy way out of this one is to simply ask the question, "Are people in the church growing?" Yes, that's a great question, but you can't stop there. Why are they growing? Are they growing because of the leadership of the church, or are they growing despite the leadership of the church? We feel that we are doing the right things now, and have future plans to keep people growing in their spiritual journey. Right now we have our weekly gatherings. Starting the end of October, we are beginning community groups(small groups). So we are putting these things in place to be sure we are constantly growing.

So that's it for now. Again, we feel that we are strong, and getting stronger is these two areas. Tomorrow I will finish this up, and that's when we'll get into the real meat and potatoes of the changes that are happening at Sojourn.

TTFN. Ta ta for now..

Smooth Changes

So here's the deal. I haven't blogged in quite a while. At least a while for me. I know other people who haven't posted a thing on their blog in over a month. But for me, a week is a very long time. Let me tell you why it's been a while for me.

We have made some big changes at Sojourn.

And am I excited about it! But these aren't changes we are making to the church. Just some changes to our strategy for our launch. And let me tell you. I'm excited about it! Bet you didn't see that coming.

Let me give you a little background...

We just finished having our official "Preview Services" at Sojourn. What these "Preview Services" provided were a great chance for us as a staff and a core/launch team to get a feel for our weekend gatherings. We got a feel for how to best set up the audio/visual elements, as well as how long that whole process would take. We got a chance to try out a bunch of different things for the space in the theater. Basically, it was a chance for us to feel out the theater. And boy did we need it! Fortunately, we learned a whole lot during our preview services. And God did some amazing things.

First off, we nearly doubled our core team! In just one and a half months we went from 12 people on our team to nearly 30! That's stinking awesome! And, best of all, 5 people gave their lives to Christ during those preview services! YES! I can't tell you how awesome that is. And what's great is that a couple of those people are now part of our core team. So it's been great to see God work in people's lives and draw them towards Sojourn.

But like I said, we learned a lot of stuff during the preview services. The biggest thing we realized is what is bringing on these changes I started talking about...

We aren't ready to launch weekly services.

At least not in the theater. We just aren't. We realized that we have a lot of missing pieces before we can start running in that direction. So that being said, what are we going to do?

We are going to keep meeting in the theater. But only on the first Sunday of the month from now until January. Part of this is so that we can just keep our contract on the theater. But also, we want people to be able to come into a larger gathering so that they can see what the vision is. Remember, let vision be vision. On the other 3 or 4 weekends a month, we will be meeting in a smaller area, like a conference room at a hotel. We are doing this because we have simply outgrown Toby's house, where we have been meeting on our off weekends during the preview services. I mean there's no way we can fit 30 people in one living room. So we are going to rent something like a conference room to fit 50 or so people to meet in other than the 1st Sunday of every month. This way, we get out of Toby's living room, which we can't fit in any more, and also, that's a bit of a high pressure environment for new people to come to. So the conference room will be much more confortable for them. And then the theater will again be a time to sort of cast the vision.

So this will happen until January 11th. That is our new tentative date for our official launch. So that is what is happening. I will write tomorrow about why we have decided to do this. Mainly because this is already way too long. I'm tired of typing so I know you're tired of reading.

So just know that this is what is happening, and every single one of those 30 people on our team is just as excited as I am about this. So tomorrow I will explain why we are doing this, and hopefully I can better explain. Till then...

Letting Vision be Vision

So things have been a little rough around here lately. I can't really explain it all, it's just been tough. Some things just aren't going according to plan. Other just aren't going at all.

One of the biggest things has been trying to figure out which direction is the right one for the worship at Sojourn. It's been a real struggle. I think the hardest thing for me is having a vision for the worship and trying to be patient with the vision. Here's what I mean...

I have the vision. I know God has given me the vision. I'm certainly not doubting the vision. The problem, for me, is realizing that it's just that... a vision. It's what I want to see happen. It's a vision of what I want it to be. It wouldn't be a vision if it were already that way. It would be the way things are. But things are the way that they are in my vision.

Basically, I'm having to learn to let the vision, be a vision. It's really hard. It's hard not to force the vision into realization, which is what I've been doing for the past 2 months. I've been trying to make things happen when, in reality, we don't have the people to make them happen right now. I've been trying to fit people into the right place. It's like I'm trying to force a square peg into a round hole.

Instead of using what God has given us, I've been trying to use whatever I can get. And honestly, I've been suffering because of it. Trying to fit people into the places I think they should fit into has been a huge area of stress for me. It's really caused me a lot of pain and heartache. It's been a constant worry. It's really what I spend literally half my day trying to do, and to no avail.

So instead of forcing people, I have to learn to let people. I have to stop forcing them into an area, and let them move themselves into an area. Now, I'm saying that I'm not going to recruit anyone or anything like that. Otherwise no one would ever get involved. Basically, I just want to give them a gentle nudge to see how they respond. Instead of pushing them, because I've seen what response that gets, and I don't like it. So I have to learn to give people that gentle nudge, and then let them decide for themselves. It's seriously going to be hard for me. The last time I worked in a church, part of my job was recruiting volunteers, and helping people get involved, specifically in the area that I was leading. So I have to unlearn that I guess.

So the past couple of months have been hard. And I know the next couple aren't going to be any easier. In fact, they might be harder. Harder because I have to learn to let go and unlearn some things, which is usually a very painful process. We'll just have to wait and see where God takes us.

Hot Dogs, Bloody Volleyball, and Church

Yes, it's true. Today at Sojourn there was hot dogs, a bloody game of volleyball, and best of all, church happened. But first let's start at the beginning of the day.

To start it all off, Toby and I sat at the AMC for about 30 minutes in case anyone showed up there for a service. What's great is 4 people showed up looking for Sojourn! That's 4 people who were coming for the first time! Exciting stuff! And lot's of exclamation points!!!

After sitting at the theater, we moved on to Ramsey Park. Here is Toby more worried about posing for the picture than cooking the hot dogs. And we all wondered why the hot dogs were crunchy.
And this is where it all went down. This is where the wound happened. It was Jason, and it was a itsy-bitsy cut, but it sure did bleed! He actually didn't know he had cut it until he notices blood all over his shirt and shorts. I say all over, there were a couple drops of blood here and there.
And like I said, best of all, we had church right there around those picnic tables. And it wasn't church like we had a whole band up there and Toby gave a 30 minute message. There was music, like 2 or 3 songs, and it was just me by myself. And Toby didn't give a sermon. He talked real with everyone. He talked about how exciting it was that people were genuinely interested in Sojourn and wanted to be a part of it. He almost cried. He almost made me cry.One of the coolest parts of the whole thing was Chris. Chris was a guy that had never been to our church before. He hadn't been to a single one of our services. And he didn't know a single person there at all. He heard about us from his step daughter who was at our service last weekend, and she told him that he absolutely had to come. So he showed up! All by himself, well other than the 2 small boys he had with him. He actually showed up at the theater at 9 in the morning thinking we had service at that time. Drove around the parking lot of the theater, then went home, got on his computer, looked at our website and saw that we were meeting at the park, and drove back out to the park! That's just super encouraging. And it's great to know that his step daughter liked it enough that she told that he "had to go check out that new church" as he put it.

So it was a great day. There was some real relationships being built this morning. And I'm so glad that I was able to be a part of it and build some relationships myself. It's going to be great to see everyone again next weekend.

Good Morning World #3

Good morning World.

I hope you slept well last night. I know I did. And boy did I need it. My neck kind of hurts right now. I think I slept with my neck turned to the right all night long, so it's kind of stiff. But other than that I feel very well rested.

Well, the first thing I did when I woke up was got on the computer and see a headline for Hurricane Ike on the Yahoo news. Sure I don't want anyone to get hurt during these things, but seriously, how stupid can you be? Honestly, what are these people who stay behind thinking? They want to stay because they say, "Oh, it's never as bad as they say it is." Ok, sure, not all the time. But let's think about Hurricane Katrina. It was a lot worse than they said it was going to be. They though it was going to be bad, and it turned about to be terrible. So why would you sit around waiting for a hurricane that can literally do anything it wants to? I just don't understand what goes through people's mind when they decide they can survive a hurricane and it's aftereffects despite watching the weather channel and local news? I don't know.

Well, on a lighter note, Desi is in Georgia with her friends and family this weekend. Sure I miss her. But she needs to see them. She really misses all of them. It's been hard for her moving up here and not knowing anyone, and not really having a chance to know anyone. Heck, I don't really know anyone either. The good thing is that we are finally starting to meet people. We've met Gil, who is a great guy. And then there Jordan and his girlfriend Natalie. Jordan played bass at Sojourn last weekend, and Natalie came with him. And Mindi has a couple of people our age she wants us to meet. So hopefully we can start hanging out with all these guys, and Desi can start forming some friendships.

And hopefully Desi will be able to find a new job soon. It's not that her job she has now is so bad. It's that she always has to work on Sundays. Which really sucks because she' not able to be a part of Sojourn, which is the whole reason we moved here in the first place. And with the Christmas season coming up, she's going to be working 6 days a week, 10 hour days. We went through that together last year, and it was not fun. I hardly ever see her when that time comes. It's very wearing on Desi. And to be completely honest, it's absolutely ridiculous that the company makes them work like that. Sure the money's good. But the money isn't that good. Unfortunately, there's not really anything I can do. I've said I could take on a THIRD job, but who could really do that. I could do it for maybe a month, but then it would start to take it's toll. I want to do everything I can for Desi, but there's nothing I can do about this one. That really sucks too.

Wow, so every time I start talking about something it starts taking a negative turn. I don't know why. I feel great. I'm ecxited about today, not doing a thing, and tomorrow, "Sojourn at the Park." So I'm just gonna stop and go enjoy some Captain Crunch Berries cereal until College Gameday starts, then I will enjoy a football filled day. Peace.

Stop Running

I have a confession to make. I run. Not like I physically go on a jog, trust me that never happens, seen my getting close to man boobs lately? But I like to run things. I like to help things operate. Specifically, I like to run the worship ministry at Sojourn. I guess it's a good thing that it's my job. But it's a little bit of a problem. Let me explain.

I'm a hard worker. I'm not trying to brag, I just like to take a task as my own and see it to completion. I enjoy that. It's a good feeling to know that you were a part of making something happen. But for the past 2 months I've been so busy trying to run the worship ministry at Sojourn that I've forgotten to lead it. I've been running instead of leading.

I know what you're thinking, because I thought it too. As the leader, your job is to make sure that it runs smoothly, right? Oh yea, absolutely correct. Part of my job is definitely to be sure that the worship ministry runs and runs smoothly. But I've been getting the order of stuff mixed up.

Usually we think, "Part of running an organization is leading it."

WRONG!!!

Part of leading an organization is running it.

See the difference? Most of the time I get so focused on the task in front of me, I forget why that task is even there. Why am I even doing this? I know this is part of what I'm supposed to do, but why am I doing it again? I try so hard to make sure that the gas pedal is pushed so the tires turn. But I often forget that I have to grab the steering wheel to be sure we're heading in the right direction. I push the pedal harder and harder to go faster and faster and keep checking the speedometer but never look at the map.

So I have this big challenge for myself. The challenge is this...

Stop running the worship ministry entirely. And start leading it only.

I am no longer going to be running the worship ministry at Sojourn. That is not even going to be a thought for me. My total and complete focus is on leading the worship ministry.I know what you're thinking now, because I thought about it too. But if you're not running it, then who is? Great question, and it took me a while, but I realized the answer.

The key to the worship ministry running smoothly is making sure that it is lead strongly. Strength in the leadership will equal smoothness in the operation.

And I totally serious about this. I've got more that I want to say, but I'll say it later. You've read this much and you need a break. Plus it's time for me to go wreck up Toby and Clay's strategic planning meeting. I have no idea what goes on in these things, but Toby invited me so I'm going. More about leading and not running later.

Relaxed

So this afternoon has been really nice. Desi has had today off so we've spent the entire afternoon and evening together. We've watched some TV, took Riley for a walk, ate dinner, we watched a little football(meaning I watched a little football and Desi messed around on Facebook), we are watching One Tree Hill(meaning Desi is watching One Tree Hill and I am typing this) and later we're going to watch more football and eat popcorn.

We also messed around around a little with some t-shirt designs for Sojourn. Desi had the original idea, and I just helped push her to go further. She loves that stuff, and I love watching her do it. She's so creative and talented at graphic design. If only she could do it for Sojourn more often. Then I wouldn't have to do it, not that I don't want to. I enjoy doing it. She's just a whole lot better than me at it.

So today has been nice. And there's no telling what else may happen.

From Today

So I already talked about what happened today. So know I want to show you what it looked like. Here's some pictures from today.

Our truck and trailer that was given to us.

Me, Brad, and Chris unloading the giant trailer.

The stage that was also given to us, courtesy of Journey Church.

The band practicing while I was doing other stuff.

Sweet Sunday

Today was awesome! I had a sweet Sunday. Sojourn was awesome. I am so excited about what happened today. It was definitely hectic and crazy, but way worth all of it.

First off, we had some great volunteers today. I can't even imagine what would have happened had they not been there this morning. The band showed up and got right to work. Chris was awesome too. I asked him to do something and he did it. And everyone did a great job at what they did. What was really exciting for me is that I didn't have to check on anyone. If I asked someone to do something they did it, and they did it right! I only had to go back and fiz one persons work, and it was my own! I plugged something in the wrong spot and messed it all up! And I'm the one with a degree in audio engineering! The people who never do this stuff did it perfect. That's really exciting for someone in my position.

Second, the band was smokin! I mean we were on fire. Rob, our drummer, did a great job keeping the tempo perfect on every song. Brad nailed every guitar part, even the big lead that he only had a couple of days to practice. Jordan rocked the bass hard! And he's not even a bass player, he's a guitar player. Kristen did a great job singing back-up. Plus she makes all of us ugly dudes look better.

Third, people worshiped this morning! That's what got me pumpin this morning. It was great seeing people worship God and be streached in their worship. I even saw the oldest person in thee room clapping his hands during EVERY song! It was awesome. And Natalie, Jordan's girlfriend, was there, and she is a worshipper for sure. She sang loud and hard to God. I heard her above everything else that was going on on that stage. And what's even better is that she wasn't the only one.

All these things were stinking awesome. But the best part of all. The greatest thing about today...Another person made a first time commitment to Christ! SWEET! I was so excited when I heard that. That's 2 people who have given their life's to Christ in 2 services. It's so awesome to be a part of life change. That's what it's all about any ways. Well, it's all about honoring God, but part of that is life change. So again...SWEET!

It's been so exciting to see God moving through Sojourn. But now I'm even more excited to see what God is going to do. This is not the end of God's work!

Our first practice

So tonight we had our first real band practice. And it was awesome! First off, Lake Forest Church is letting us use their practice room whenever we want it! That's such a huge blessing. We had no where to practice, then the pastor, Mike Moses, tells us to just come use their stuff. They have everything there we need, drums, amps, and a pa system. It was fantastic. All we had to do was bring our guitars and plug them in.

The other awesome thing about tonight is that practice only took us a total of 1 1/2 hours! That's it! A full band practice in less that 2 hours! Kyle Dillard, the worship pastor at Lake Forest Church, told me that they practiced for 2 1/2 hours yesterday, and they still didn't get through everything! I am seriously blessed to have some super talented people around me. Which is great because they make me look really good!

I'm so excited about the music for this weekend. I'm very excited about having a full band to play with. Oh, and Kristen is singing with us. I wasn't really able to hear her a whole lot tonight, but what I did hear sounded really good. So at least the people who are there will have someone who actually sings good to listen to, rather than just me.

So if you're in the Charlotte area, you should really check us out this weekend, especially if you like the Foo Fighters, that's our opening song. And hopefully we'll have some video of this weekend so I can put it up here so you can see. But that's it for now, peace!

Learning from Others

So I've always been told that a big part of becoming a better leader is learning from other great leaders. I've been given a great opportunity to have some great leaders that I can learn from. I've met some awesome worship pastors in the area who have already been a huge help to me.

One of those worship pastors is Nate Davis. Nate is the worship pastor at Mosaic Church here the Huntersville area. He has been a huge help to Sojourn by giving us a lot of equipment. He's also been a huge help to me by just encouraging me.

Today, Nate and I sat down over smoothies and talked for a little while. He gave me some great advice on being a portable church, and how to do what we do with excellence. I'm going to working on some of the ideas he gave me. I am going to posting all of our stuff we have for our set up process and other things. So that hopefully it help some of you who are going to be doing what I do soon.

So you will be able to see my progress as I filter through the ideas and concepts and everything else. So there is more to come here. So get ready. And a big thanks to Nate.

Good Morning World #2

Good morning world.

It was dark inside this morning when I woke up. So I opened the blinds to see nothing but clouds in the sky. I'm supposed to go get coffee later, and I was hoping to sit outside. Oh well.

At least it's labor day. Desi and I are both off work so we get to spend the day together, just like we have the last two. I don't know why, but I don't really feel like doing much of anything today. I am excited about having coffee with Nate today. He's always good to talk to. After going to the service at Mosaic yesterday for the first time, I have a lot of questions I want to ask him. It's pretty cool. I told Desi that I really wanted to meet another worship pastor here who could be someone that I meet with regularly just to talk to and talk worship pastor stuff. I didn't know if Nate would be that guy, but then he tells me that he wants to get together every once in a while so we can sit down and just talk. So I guess that answered that prayer.

But anyways, the Tennessee vs. UCLA game is tonight. I'm excited about that. Hopefully UCLA will come out on top, giving UGA a little less competition in the SEC. Not that the competition would be bad, it's just always nice to see your team dominate everyone else.

But other than coffee and football, I have nothing to do today and don't want to do anything else. yesterday was just really tiring. Desi and I were gone all day it seems like. We went to Mosaic then to Wal-mart then home for lunch, then I had to make cd's for the band, then we had to go up to the office to print the sheet music since we don't have a printer, then to the gas station, then to Target, then hom for not even an hour, then to Toby's for the Sojourn pizza party, then home and in to bed.

I'm tired, but I'm here. So good morning world.

Another Sojourn Cookout

So Desi and I just got home from yet another Sojourn cookout. It was more of a "Let's order pizza so we don't have to cookout this time" kind of a cookout. So it wasn't a cookout at all. It was a pizza party. And a couple of awesome people came as well.

First there was Son Tan. Yes, it is pronounced just like you think it is. He is a guitar player who wants to play with us. He also plays at another church where he is on a rotation, which is good because he knows exactly when he's playing there. And he has a really nice guitar. A Gibson Les Paul Standard, for those of you who care to know, or even know what that is.

Also, Aneesa(Spelling?) and Ian came. They're a really cool couple. Ian is from Sierra Leone and Aneesa is from Chicago I think. Ian is a seriously smart guy, and Aneesa is a preacher's kid. Aneesa is apparently a very gifted person as well. She wants to serve in the church, but doesn't where she wants to serve only because she can't make up her because she kind of wants to do it all.

So we'll see what happens from here. But now, I apparently am getting old because it's not even 9:00 and I'm ready to go to bed. See you youngsters later.

Tomorrow, Tomorrow, I'll love ya tomorrow!

So I'm pretty excited about tomorrow. Why? Well, Sojourn isn't having a service tomorrow. But that's not what I'm excited about. I'm excited because it means that I get to go to another church tomorrow. I haven't been to any other churches up here. And I can't wait to go to the one we're going to tomorrow.

Tomorrow, Desi and I are going to Mosaic Church. They are some awesome guys there, and they do a great job, from what I hear. And they're a big success in the area. They had 500 people show up to their first service! 500 people! That's nuts! And they've been running 2 campuses for a while too. Well, they actually just moved out of the movie theater that Sojourn now meets in, and moved into a high school, so both of their campuses are together now, all 1000 people. Yeah, 1000 people in just 3 years, that's phenomenal!

And I've recently gotten to know the worship pastor there, Nate Davis. Nate is an awesome guy with some great ideas on helping the global church that I'm excited to join in on. And he wears some really cool t-shirts. I've heard that's kind of the dress code for worship pastors out here, designer jeans and cool t-shirts.

And tomorrow evening we are having a little get together for Sojourn. Just a chance for us to get to know some of the new people who want to volunteer. Good for me, because I didn't get a chance to meet anyone after last week's service.

So that's my day tomorrow. Should be fun!

Email, Phone, Email, Phone...

So my day has been completely consumed with emailing and phoning people. It started this morning at 8:45 and ended about 30 minutes ago around 5:30. I'm surprised I'm still in any mood whatsoever to be typing.

I just looked at my email, and today I sent 35 emails to different supporters of Sojourn and to people who visited Sojourn this past weekend, and to the band, and to Toby, and Nate, and someone else. Oh, a couple people who volunteered last weekend for the first time. I also received almost 50 emails today. So really about half of the emails I sent were reply's to emails I received. But I still had to type 35 emails and read nearly 50.

But that's not all. I also made 15 phone calls today. 15 phone calls! I had to call a couple of people after I emailed them or they emailed me. Trying to coordinate stuff. I also called like 5 places trying to find a place to have band practice. There's no where to do that either. And to top it all of, I've had to leave like 5 messages. Which means I could be getting 5 more phone calls at any minute.

And I'll have you know that I did all of this and still had to work at Buckle from 12-4! So I started emailing and phone calling at 8:45. Stopped to go to Buckle at 11:30. Then picked it right back up when I got home from Buckle at around 4:30.

I love people. I really do. I love talking to people, and emailing people, and finding out how people are doing. I love talking to other worship pastors and finding out what God is doing in their church, and making lunch plans with them. I love talking to people about getting involved with serving Sojourn by volunteering on Sunday mornings. I love talking to musicians who want to be a part of our band. I love all these things. What I don't love is doing them all at once! So if I emailed you or talked to on the phone today, please don't upset if I totally forget all of it next time I talk to you.

But it really is a good sign. It shows me that there is a lot going on with Sojourn. It shows me that people are proud to support us with prayer, and finances. It shows me that people want to be a part of Sojourn, and believe in what we are doing. It shows me that there are people out there who really care and want to help. So yes it was a lot. But it all good too.

Over This City

Someone once told that every city has sort of a demon sitting over it. Not so much a demon, but a spirit. Every city has a spirit about it that keeps people from God. He is the pastor of a church in San Diego, CA, so he felt like the demon over San Diego had dread locks, sitting in a hammock, smoking pot telling everyone to relax because everything was gonna be alright.

I got some tough news. One of my good friends here, whom will call Jim, not his real name, and his wife are separated. He is an awesome guy who has been working very hard to provide for his family during this difficult time in our economy. Apparently she didn't feel he had been doing enough. So she asked him to leave. Jim told me what was happening, and my heart shattered for him and his family. I know it's hard being away from his children like this, and feeling like his wife doesn't seem to care.

I have another friend, I will call him Bob. Bob and wife have been married for less than a year. They have been separated for a few months now. She left him only a couple of months after they got married. And another guy I know, Jack we will say, was divorced by his wife shortly after they learned they were having their first child.

What makes things worse is that all of these guys were leaders in their church when this all happened. Fortunately my friend we are calling Jim, is part of a great church and still wants him to be a part of their community. But the other two guys weren't so fortunate. Now, I know for Bob's church, it was a very difficult decision. One that the pastor confesses he wished he never had to make.

So that being said, I feel like Charlotte has a demon over it like San Diego does. It's not a demon that is smoking pot sitting in a hammock. It's a demon that is running throughout churches and tearing apart the families of the leaders in those churches. It's a demon that is telling the married people that they deserve better than what they have, and that it's out there just waiting for them. That demon convinced Jim's wife that there is a man out there who can give what Jim can't, and that she deserves a husband better than Jim. It convinced Bob's wife that she just didn't need Bob, so why stay with him.

It's so upsetting to see the people I know here hurt so badly. It's really quite alarming. Now obviously I know that divorce is everywhere. And it happens in churches all across the nation. But it seems as if the thing to do here in Charlotte is go to Starbucks in the morning, divorce your spouse in the afternoon, and go back to Starbucks in the evening like nothing had happened. It's really inspired me to protect my marriage with Desi even more strongly. It make want to do even more to guard ourselves from those improper thoughts.

I am praying for my friends Jim and Bob. God is in the business of redemption, and I am praying that he redeems my friends marriages, so that He can receive the glory of being a God that can redeem anything, anyone, and any relationship.

The Big Day

So the big day was actually yesterday. It's just taken me a whole day to get over all that went on.

So yesterday was Sojourn's first preview service. Wow, what a day. I got up at 5 in the morning, shaved, and took a shower. Got in the car around 6:15. Arrived at the theater at 6:30. About 6:31 my stomach started to churn. At 6:35 I had to use the bathroom, like HAD to! Started setting up at 6:45. Got done setting up at 8:15, which was 15 minutes later than I wanted to be done. Had band rehearsal till 9. Prayed with the team at 9:05. Realized I hadn't set up the projector at 9:20. Finished setting up the projector at 9:25. Stomach no longer churning but writhing in anxiousness, went to the bathroom and c put on a dry t-shirt at 9:30. Started service at 10:05. Led worship till 10:35. Listened to Toby talk about finding our significance through surrender. Sang "Take My Life(Here Am I) by Chris Tomlin at 10:55. Forgot the lyrics at 10:58. Tore down at 11:15. Went to lunch at 12:30.

So that was a rundown of my day yesterday. It was hectic, chaotic, crazy, a mess, and a huge success.

At 3:30, Toby called to tell me some amazing news...

One person accepted Christ yesterday!

And a couple of others made a recommitment!

And the other 15 people that were there were "whoa-oh-oh"ing with me during "Take It All", Hillsong. So there was about 20 people there, which is great for a first service, based on what I've heard of from other church plants at their first service. But even better is the decisions that were made.

We've only had one service and we've already had someone give their life to Christ! That's the real success. I was sitting at home thinking of what a great morning we had when I found out that it was even better than I thought!

This first service was a great experience. I've experienced church planting before, but as a member, not as a pastor. I saw a whole new side of church planting I've never known before. It was a lot more stressful and nerve racking, but it was so incredibly worth it. I've got so many ideas on how to improve on set up, and rehearsal, and other things for our next service. I will definitely be sharing a lot more of what I thought about Sunday in the week to come. I just felt like I need to say something now that I've had some time to process all that happened.

I haven't had a chance to talk the person who accepted Christ yet, but I can't wait to, and hear their story of how they came to that decision. I hope they let us do a testimony video of them for one of our future services.

Well hello there

So I just realized I haven't posted anything in an entire week. That's really bad for me. But allow me to explain...

First off, Desi and I went out of town for our very first ever wedding anniversary this week. We were gone from Sunday till Wednesday. It was a nice break.

Then when we were still on the way home Wednesday, all you know what broke loose. We were supposed to have our first band practice and everything fell apart. We lost our place to practice, and the bassist called and said he had some family stuff come up at the last minute. So we had to put together an impromptu acoustic set.

Then on Thursday I had coffee with Nate. Nate is the worship pastor at Mosaic Church. Yes the name is the same, but they are not part of the Mosaic network of churches that stems from Mosaic LA. Thus they are Mosaic Church, not Mosaic Charlotte. But Nate is an awesome guy with some great vision. And he's helped us out a lot already. Then I had to work at Buckle, and worked on trying to get stuff ready for Sunday.

And today...I woke up a little later than usual, meaning I got up at 8 instead of 7. I worked on some set up instruction stuff for sunday. Then I went to Journey to get some floor monitors they're letting us borrow. Then I worked at Buckle. Then I slapped flyers on windshields at the mall and got kicked out of the parking lot, apparently you're not allowed to do that. Then I came home, got a shower, and went to Toby's to run over everything for sunday one last time. I also freaked Toby out and told him that we didn't have some cables we needed to have for sunday, which meant spending more money. Toby likes to say that he is "cautious" with money, so it got to him a little.

Since then I've been sitting in front of this computer working on last minute announcement slides and videos for sunday. And I'm waiting on Kinsey, Jared, and Josh to get here. That's my brother, and my two bestest buddies, who are all coming up from the ATL for Sojourn's launch on Sunday.

So that's my excuses for not talking to you in a while. What's yours?

Audtitions

So last night was pretty interesting. Last night was our first night having auditions for Sojourn's worship band. I say it was interesting for a couple of reasons.

1. I had 8 people tell me they were definitely going to be there.

So I'm thinking, "Gosh, 8 people. I'm not sure we're going to have room for all of them in Toby's garage." But I knew I had to make it work. So I go over to Toby's in the middle of the afternoon to set up. We get the drumset all set up along with a little PA system. I was getting ready for drummers, bassists, guitarists, vocalist, and a pianist. I used to have a little audition evaluation sheet, but I lost it so I had to make a new. I got that done. Then I printed off lyrics for the songs the vocalists were going to sing; I wasn't expecting anyone to memorize anything.

So the moment arrives. 7:30. And here's anotherinteresting part of last night.

2. Only one person showed up.

Rob. He was the only one out of 8 people that actually showed up. And I know no one else got lost or anything because every single person had my phone number, and I did not have a single call all night, except from Rob who actually got to Toby's house at 7 when no one was there. So after a week of emails and phone calls and meeting people face to face, only one of them showed up. Was it frustrating? Actually, not at all!

See, Rob came to audition to play drums. And audition he did not. Impress he very much did. I had sent him an mp3 of "Take it All" by Hillsong about 3 days before the audition. And this guy shows up and has it nailed. It was like he'd heard it all his life, and says he had never heard it before. He had great rythem and tempo. I made him count off the song without listening to it, and th tempo was perfect. He knew exactly where he was going next. He had each drum piece down. I was very impressed. And what I liked the most about Rob is that he said that he wants to be part of a church that is something different for him, and he wants to serve that church with him talents. What more could you ask for?

So that being said, last night honestly did not feel like a waste whatsoever. And I now have a drummer who wants to "the drummer" in a band, which is great because I know he's reliable since he was the only to show up, and he was early. So now, we atleast have all the pieces we need for our first service. August 24th, be looking for me, Brad, Josh, and Rob being able to worship at AMC Northlake Mall with whoever else shows up.

Even if it's one person.

Brochures!

This is part of Creative Chaos at RagamuffinSoul.com.

So I talked be fore about how we finally finished the road signs for Sojourn. Well, now, our brochures are done! Now, when I say brochure, I don't mean some little pamphlet with nice pictures of people smiling and enjoying our worship. When I say brochure I mean a little card that tells you what we are about. It has a segment on there that is our motto...Come as you are. This is also he piece that every church has for people to fill out with their info, like their name, phone number, email, if they made a decision to follow Christ, or if their interested in volunteering. But it's a totally different look than I've ever seen before, and I LOVE it! Enjoy...





I am so thankful to Curtis for coming up with the original design for free. This isn't exactly what his looked like, but his certainly helped me get here. This is going to be the very first thing that people get in their hands when they come to Sojourn, so we knew it had to look it's best. And it freaking rocks! I couldn't be happier with the way it turned out. And we should be getting them back from print tomorrow I think. We are now only 10 days away from our launch. Here we go!

Momentum

I love Craig's list. I really do. It's a wonderful thing. Last week I put up a couple of posts on Craig's list about needed musicians for Sojourn. And it has been awesome how many people have contacted me wanting to audition. I've getting at least one email a day since I posted it 5 days ago. I've talked to Brian, Rob, Josh, Quentin, Brandon, Caleb, and later today I will talk to Kristen. And to think, just last week I thought it was just goin to be me and Brad playing all by ourselves.

We're having auditions this Friday, and it looks like Toby's garage is going to be very full! I say Toby's garage because that's the only place we have to do auditions right now. It's going to fun. There's only one thing that makes me nervous. We are having auditions Friday. We will have our first practice next Wednesday. Then we have our first service the following Sunday. In other words, we will have one practice outside of Sunday morning as a band before our very first service. That's just a little nerve racking. So we will just have to wait and see what happens. Hopefully all of these people are very talented and call pull it off!

Music that Worships

I was talking with my new friend Gil the other day about trying to get some musicians to play at Sojourn. Gil is a worship leader here and knows a ton of guys, which is great because I don't know anybody.

We started talking about some musicians he knows when he said something I hadn't thought about in a while.

He said, "Some guys can play really well. Other guys can worship really well."

Like I said, I hadn't thought about that. So I started thinking about more. And here's what I realized.

There is culture in the church now that you pay the musicians who play. It's rampant now. I thought it was bad in Atlanta with the mega-churches there that pay their musicians upwards of $300 a service. Then I come to Charlotte, where the same thing takes place. Now, this isn't a bad thing entirely, but it kind of hurts church plants. We don't have the money for anyone to be full-time staff, let alone to pay musicians.

What is really hurtful of this culture is that feeds into the musicians desires. Every musician wants to tour. It's like the ultimate goal. And churches are feeding that desire now. As a musician, you can play at a different church every weekend, so it feels a lot like you're touring. It just makes the musicians ego a little bigger each time they get paid. They start thinking, "Hey, I'm good enough at this to get paid to do it. Why should I not get paid to do it? If someone can't pay me, then I can't play for them." It's selfish is what it really is. And this is so set into the culture now that even churches who don't have the money to pay musicians feel like they have to in order to have the quality of music they want.

So that being said I have made a decision. I am not looking for good musicians. I am looking for good worshipers. I don't want to deal with peoples ego-centric attitudes of being to good to play for Sojourn because we can't pay them. I want musicians who just want to worship God with their talents. I want musicians who want to serve the church and serve God.

I want musicians who worship better than they play.

Huge Things

"And he (Jesus) did not do many miracles there because of their lack of faith." -Matthew 13:58

This verse is scary to me. There is a lot to learn from this verse. This verse is a wake up call. It is a stark reminder. It calls me to action.

So Jesus goes back into Nazareth, his home town, for the first time since he started his ministry. I don't know how long it had been since he was last there, but had to be a while, like more than a year. Anyways, he's back home, and he starts preaching to the people there. Well, these are the people Jesus grew up with. The guy who worked at the grocery store Jesus used to shop at was there.. His Sunday school buddies were there. That girl who had a crush on him when they were 10 was there. You get the idea.

Jesus starts preaching, and the people there start wondering where he got all of his knowledge from. They know that this is that kid who used to play tag with their kids. Well, they start getting mad. Scripture says "they took offense at him." They thought that Jesus thought that he was better than them all of a sudden. They start thinking stuff like, "Who is this guy to tell ME what the ancient writings say?" They think that Jesus is just one of them and has no place to be preaching to them.

So what happens? Basically nothing. It says right there that Jesus didn't do many miracles there. Why? Because of their lack of faith. They missed out on what they could have ben a part of. They missed out on the big things Jesus could have done!

Talk about a smack in the face!

This could happen to me!

I could be the one that misses out on the great things that God could does. I could be the one who, because of my lack of faith, doesn't get to experience all that God is capable of. That's scary!

God has plans. And no matter what we do, or don't do, those plans will be accomplished. But how terrible would it be to not be able to be a part of those things because I got in the way.

I want so badly to see God do HUGE things. I want to be used to do those things. I want Sojourn to become the movement we are imagining. I want to be a big part of worship music. I want to be someone who helps thousands of other churches. I want to do BIG THINGS!

I have goals. I have a vision for my life. I have dreams. And then I have BIG dreams. I want to see these dreams come to life. But tey won't if I let my head get in the way.

I want to see God do HUGE THINGS!