NoisemakersUnited.com

New Address

2008-12-27T17:15:00.002-05:00

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?

2008-12-01T09:51:00.003-05:00

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!

2008-11-14T09:20:00.002-05:00

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

Oh well.

I have now though.

Unmet Expectations Part 2

2008-11-03T21:55:00.006-05:00

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

2008-11-03T21:44:00.002-05:00

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

2008-11-03T09:16:00.004-05:00

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

2008-11-02T21:10:00.002-05:00

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?

2008-10-30T00:19:00.002-04:00

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

2008-10-28T09:55:00.002-04:00

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

2008-10-24T17:54:00.004-04:00

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

2008-10-24T08:46:00.003-04:00

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

2008-10-23T17:18:00.003-04:00

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

2008-10-22T17:47:00.003-04:00

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

2008-10-21T01:17:00.003-04:00

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

2008-10-20T18:17:00.003-04:00

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

2008-10-18T10:37:00.003-04:00

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

2008-10-17T17:58:00.002-04:00

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

2008-10-17T10:48:00.003-04:00

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!

2008-10-16T23:06:00.002-04:00

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

2008-10-16T16:33:00.004-04:00

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

2008-10-15T18:43:00.003-04:00

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

2008-10-02T16:43:00.003-04:00

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

2008-10-01T15:46:00.004-04:00

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

2008-09-30T16:00:00.003-04:00

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

2008-09-29T22:18:00.003-04:00

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

2008-09-22T19:59:00.002-04:00

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

2008-09-14T20:24:00.005-04:00

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

2008-09-13T09:08:00.004-04:00

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

2008-09-09T18:02:00.003-04:00

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

2008-09-08T21:10:00.002-04:00

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

2008-09-07T21:56:00.004-04:00

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

2008-09-07T15:35:00.003-04:00

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

2008-09-04T22:27:00.002-04:00

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

2008-09-01T22:39:00.003-04:00

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

2008-09-01T08:29:00.003-04:00

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

2008-08-31T20:35:00.002-04:00

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!

2008-08-30T23:35:00.002-04:00

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...

2008-08-28T18:01:00.002-04:00

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

2008-08-27T09:04:00.002-04:00

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

2008-08-25T20:17:00.003-04:00

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

2008-08-23T01:57:00.002-04:00

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

2008-08-16T07:43:00.002-04:00

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!

2008-08-14T07:56:00.002-04:00

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

2008-08-13T07:43:00.002-04:00

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

2008-08-09T14:59:00.002-04:00

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

2008-08-06T15:52:00.002-04:00

"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!

Getting the word out

2008-08-04T07:47:00.003-04:00

So yesterday was an eventful day at Sojourn.

We passed out more flyers.

Yeah, it wasn't the most exciting "event" or anything like that, bu it's the cheapest way for 5000 people to see what we're about.

Last weekend Toby and I passed out about 1000 flyers. Yesterday, we as a church, 10 people, passed out about 3000 more. The great thing about yesterday is that we loaded up the area right around the movie theater we will be meeting in. It's the first time we've done anything right in the specific area we will be meeting in. We went as far east as UNC-Charlotte, and as far west as to about Mt. Holly Huntersville Rd.

So it was a good day yesterday. And hopefully some people will read the flyer and at least want to find out more and go to the website or something. Maybe they'll even come to the church, which would be awesome!

Also, we are now less than 3 weeks out from our first service. Here goes nothing...

Graphics

2008-08-01T22:46:00.002-04:00

Today was a great day for me. It was a great day for Sojourn.

Today, Curtis showed us what he's got.

Curtis is a guy I met at Buckle. Turns out, he's a graphic designer. And he was totally willing to do anything for Sojourn. So I gave him some stuff to work on. I saw his website (which I don't have the web address for right now), and it looks really good. So I figured he'd do a good job. He did more than a good job. He did a great job! The things he has done for us are awesome.

I'm not going to put any pictures of his work up here because it isn't done yet. I just wanted to get your appetite wet. But don't worry, as soon as it's done, you will see what an amazing job he has done.

Thank you Curtis for all of your great work. It looks freaking awesome! Thank you, thank you, thank you.

The Sign to End All Signs

2008-07-31T07:30:00.005-04:00

I know I said this before. But we finished the design for the road signs that are going to be going around the mall that we will be meeting in.

Why do I feel the need to say this again?

Because we changed the design...Again.

I'm very happy with the way it turned out though. It is much, much, much better than the original. Really the reason we changed them is because we found a cheaper place to print them than we had before, so we could do more stuff with it.

So, without further ado, here is the actual sign that will be going up around Northlake Mall this weekend...

Like I said I love this. And I don't know if you can see it or not, but we created a little "logo" of sorts at the bottom. It's like the box for the ratings that they show before the movie starts. You know, PG/Parental Guidance or whatever. Well this one say SC/Sojourn Church...It's just kind of fun.

So that is the banner. It is final. It will not be re-designed again. How do I know this for sure? Because we've alreasdy got them in; so there's no paying for it again!

Focused

2008-07-30T08:13:00.002-04:00

I was reading some scripture this morning and I realized something. I didn't like it. I'm almost ashamed of it.

I've become too focused.

I've become too focused on the task.

I've become too focused on planting a church.

I've become too focused on planting a church, and not focused on Christ.

It's true. I think day and night about Sojourn. I sit at my desk all day working on videos, or graphics, or songs, or anything else related to Sojourn. If I talk it's about Sojourn. If I send an email, it's about Sojourn. When i pray, it's about Sojourn. I've become so focused on Sojourn, that I've almost ignored Christ. Obviously I don't mean that Christ isn't important to me any more. And it's not that it's bad that I talk, email, and pray about Sojourn. It's very important that I do pray about it. But I noticed that I spend a lot of time praying about Sojourn, and very little time praying about anything else. I spend a lot of time talking about Sojourn, and hardly any time talking about what Christ is doing in my life. Of course, Sojourn is a part of my life, but it's not my entire life.

This wouldn't be the first time that this has happened though. i do it all the time. I'm very goal-oriented person. I always have been. It's a very good thing, I think. But at times like this I realize that I need to learn control. I have to control my impulses. I have to control my urge to become so focused that everything else fades away.

I just spend the last 15 minutes praying that I would be focused on Christ, and let the other stuff come along behind that. I feel a lot better now. Maybe I should do this more often.

Keep Rollin' Rollin' Rollin'

2008-07-29T09:08:00.002-04:00

There's been so much going on the past week. Things at Sojourn have been particularly crazy

First off, we changed the banner...again. Or should I say Toby changed the banner. But it is done now. The banner is being printed as we speak. Actually, it's being shipped today. What's great is that we get this bannner just in time for tax free weekend. We're putting these signs all around the mall, which will obviously be very busy this weekend. I really like the sign, and I really, really like that it's done.

Curtis, this guy I work with at Buckle, is freaking awesome. He is doing all of our design stuff for FREE! He's working on our brochure stuff, and other signs as well. It's so amazing that he's willing to do this. He's a really cool guy, and I know he's gonna do an awesome job.

We also got our flyers in last week. 5000 of them! Toby and I drove around 2 neighborhoods here Sunday afternoon and stuffed about 1000 mailboxes with these flyers. The best part, it only took us a little more than 2 hours!. If you're ever going ot pass out flyers, get in a car, one person drive, another person stuff the flyers through th window. It makes it really quick and easy.

So things have been fun, busy, crazy, and a little stressful at times. But it's all getting done, which is the most important part of it.

"Worship" Concert

2008-07-26T22:29:00.002-04:00

So tonight, Desi and I went to a "worship" concert. It was for some local artist here in Charlotte.

She seems like a really nice girl. The music was pretty good. She did have some seriously talented musicians playing with her. One of whom was John, who may be playing drums at Sojourn occasionally. Her was absolutely ridiculous. I was really surprised at how amazing he really was. He had great groove, one of those things you can't teach.

I only had one problem.

This was supposed to be a "worship" concert. The lady said that she wanted us to worship.Now, it's not that it wasn't worshipful, because it certainly was. But here's what I didn't like.Just about all of the songs sung were original to the artist, which is great. I write songs and I love hearing new songs.

But after every single song, thee artist would stop lower her head a little bit and mouth the words "Thank you" as everyone was clapping. And this just got on my nerves, very badly.

I'm not saying whatsoever that she was doing this, but iit made it feel like it was all about her.

Just that part when she lowered her head and mouthed those words, it seems like she was trying to "not take the credit," like so many people say. It just felt like she was putting the attention on herself. It looked like she was trying to draw attention to her trying not to draw attention to herself.

Honestly, it just gave me an idea of what I never want to do when leading worship. It got on my nerves. It annoyed me. It almost made me mad. I'm not going to waste time trying to "show my appreciation."

I want to engage people in worship, not engage myself with them.

So Much

2008-07-23T17:31:00.004-04:00

I was thinking today about how Sojourn needs so much stuff. There are just so many things that we don't have that we really need. Now, I am talking needs here not wants. I could list a ton of stuff right now that we need...

Floor Monitors
Subs
Road sings
Indoor signs
Computers
Curtains
Cribs
Rocking Chairs
Floor pads

And the list can go on. It gets little overwhelming thinking of all the things we don't have that we need.

But I remembered how much has already been given to us.

We've had about $30,000 in audio/visual equipment given to us. We were given 3 projectors and screens. Sound bords, mics, cables, drums, speakers. We have nearly everything we need to pull off a service in both the min auditrium and in kids. That's a whole lot of stuff that we don't have to worry about at all.

And we have a lot of great people too. There's Brad, my main man. He can literally play any instrument you put in his hands. Jason, that guy is willing to do anything. Trae and Babetta, Elizabeth, Matt, Clay, Toby, Shelley, Jennifer, Mindi, Kristi. And there's more and more people everyday that want to join us. In fact, I'm meeting a guy who is a Burkley School of Music student tomorrow! I got an email yesterday from a guy who is interested in playing keys in our band. I've gotten email from 2 different ladies who want to sing.

It's pretty obvious that what we may lack in equipment we more than make up for with people. We may not have everyTHING we want, but we definitely have everyBODY we could need.

I can't wait to see how God provides for Sojourn next. Maybe some of these people we've been talking to can donate some equipment! Hehe, little plug there.

Earth and Body

2008-07-21T23:35:00.000-04:00

I was thinking about water earlier when I remembered some interesting things. The earth is 2/3 water. Pretty cool, but not fascinating. But our bodies are 2/3 water also. Now that’s pretty cool. Two of God’s greatest living creatures are comprised mostly of the same thing, H2O.

Our bodies and the planet they live on are connected by composition. I started realizing that connection. That’s the reason sunsets are so emotional. It’s why a splash of water is cooling. It’s why the food of the earth, fruits and veggies, are so healthy. It’s why the sound of rain is so soothing and springs us to life. Why is exteme heat so dangerous to the earth and us? The heat evaporates a life source of both the earth and our bodies. The lack of water causes dehydration in humans and is why fires in California burn for weeks. Humans and the earth need both day and night. Day to express life, and night to rest and grow.

Both are destroyed and restored by the decisions we make.

Both were created by the Father.

Both are taken care of by Him.

Both will last as long as He wants.

Both will one day be made new.

Any thoughts?

Gettin' some Holy Spirit

2008-07-20T08:10:00.002-04:00

I just have to tell you about my night. It was a blast. Honestly, if felt like I was back in Jamaica, seriously.

Desi and I went to a gospel concert!

Oh man, it was so much fun. I'm talking There's was me, Desi, and only one other white guy in the whole building. We stuck out like a sore thumb. Not that it was bad or anything. Obviously everyone was real nice. One guy even complemented on my shoes!

Ok, but here's the back story...

There's a girl that I work with at Buckle who sings in the gospel choir that was performing last night. Well, we didn't know this until recently. We were out at dinner for my assistant manager's birthday, and we got asked about us planting a church, so we just started talking. Well, Dee, wa sitting next to us and was listening. Then she says, "Hey, I sing in this gospel, and we're doing a live recording next saturday night. You guys should come." And she hands us a card with all the info stuff on it. Well, Desi tells me that she's excited about going, and I tell Dee that we are excited about going. Here where it gets fun.

I asked Desi if she had any idea what we were going to. She has no clue! So she gets online and finds some music of another group that was performing. Well, while she's listening to it, her eyes get big and she says, "Oh my gosh!" It was really funny. Desi has never been to any sort of gospel style anything. I knew it was going to be fun. She had no idea what to expect. Like I said, I've been to Jamaica multiple time, and even played in the band during a Sunday service, so I knew exactly what it was going to be like. I told Desi that it really was exactly like what you see in movies.

Well, last night was the concert, and unfortunately I wasn't feeling very well(I'd had two big slices of strawberry cake that I think did the trick). So we didn't stay long, but man was it awesome. I love all of the "Do we have any praisers in the church tonight?" and "Can I get a Hallelujah?" being shouted at the top of your lungs. My favorite, which I had never heard before was this, "Who here has a little Holy Spirit? I said who has some Holy Spirit in them? Who has some Holy Spirit they can share with someone? Turn to your neighbor and say, 'You're getting a little Holy Spirit tonight, so watch out!" It was awesome! "Can I her you praise Jesus?" Clapping "I hear your hands clapping, but I don't hear your mouths praising. Can I hear you praise Jesus?" Like I said, it was awesome.

Desi later told me that she was a little uncomfortable on the inside, but tried her hardest not to show it on the inside. I had fun.

So Dee, sorry we couldn't stay long, my stomach felt like it was about to blow up to honest. I had fun, and Desi had a new experience we shall say.

Till next time...

Now GO GET SOME HOLY SPIRIT!

The Dark Knight

2008-07-19T00:30:00.002-04:00

Ok, I just got home from seeing The Dark Knight. Holy freaking cow! It was an amazing movie. I had my eyes wide open the entire movie, all 150 minutes of it.

If you haven't seen it, I won't spoil it for you. But you need to get your butt to the movies right now!

Everyone has been raving about Heath Ledger as The Joker in this movie, and he was absolutely brilliant. Everything he did was so on cue with his character. It was seriously an Oscar worthy performance. He seriously freaked me out. I really think I'm going to have nightmares tonight! Maybe even for the next week.

But not only Heath Ledger great, the movie itself was pure genius. Seriously, they did an absolutely amazing job writing the story. There were no wasted scenes, no unnecessary sub-stories, non of the garbage that didn't need to be there. The interpretation of the comic was brilliant. I loved the way the next villian was introduced.

I loved how it seemed like it would never end. Now, that might be a bad thing for most movies, but not for Batman. This movie seemed so alive, like it is really breathing and living. The flow was wonderful, every piece of the movie fit right with the one before it, and took you right to the one after it. It was a complete movie in every sense of the word.

I'm no movie critic, so you shouldn't take my word for it. Go see it! Now! I might go see it again nest weekend.

Road Sign

2008-07-17T17:05:00.005-04:00

Go to Ragamuffinsoul.com for more Creative Chaos

So we are about 5 weeks from our launch here at Sojourn. This is the time when "getting your name out" is top priority. So we have lots of ideas on how to do this. The big one that we are really banking on are road signs.

We're going to put 3 huge banners on the road around the movie theater we will be meeting in. And when I say huge, I mean 4 foot by 8 foot. Maybe not huge, but really big. Here is the sign...

This is the banner will be seen all over Northlake Mall. I'm really happy with the way it turned out. I'm really happy because I designed it, and everybody else likes it! We're also keeping a similar look for our welcome cards and other prints we do.

So if you live in North Charlotte, this sign is coming soon to a mall near you!

Good Morning World

2008-07-17T08:23:00.003-04:00

Good Morning World.

This morning I woke up around 7. It was nice to sleep in a little today. I say that 7 is sleeping in because Riley has been getting up at 5 lately. So I liked waking up after the sun today.

I laid in bed for about 10 minutes trying to go back to sleep. Why does thhat never work for me? I'll lay there and close my eyes and try my hardest, but I can't fall asleep. Maybe it's because I was thinking about Desi laying next to me. Then after a few minutes of that, maybe it was the desire for some Chocolate Hazelnut coffee.

So I got up and turned on the tv, and what do I see? British Open on TNT. Was anybody really up at 7 in the morning to start watching the tournament? I know I sure wasn't. But I'm not gonna lie. I got really excited! I finally get to watch this tournament because it will be on in the morning when I'm home.

Now, I'm watching the British Open, sipping my chocolate hazelnut coffee, typing on this computer, listening to the shower going, and wondering where Riley went!

So good morning world. I'm ready for the day.

Home Office

2008-07-16T16:19:00.002-04:00

It's a little weird, working from home. I enjoy it really.

It's nice to be able to get up at 8:28, and be in the office by 8:30.

It's nice to go to work in my underwear.

It's to be 5 steps from the coffee pot.

It's nice being able to watch the Today show while working.

So I like working from home. But at times it's kind of weird.

See, all of us at Sojourn work from home. We don't have any offices yet, which is perfectly fine by me. I don't have to see anyone if I don't want to see them. And I save a lot of money on food, because I just eat here. But, like I said, it's kind of weird.

It's weird having to clean your kitchen before a meeting.

It's weird having to vacuum the floor before we have a creative planning meeting.

It's weird having to take out the trash before the boss comes over.

It's weird having a meeting in your living room.

But I feel like the negatives, which they really aren't negative, are out weighed by the positives. This being said, I would love to have a real office. See, my office is actually our guest bedroom. A guest bedroom with a guest bed in it. If anyone comes into town and stays with us, they have to sleep in my office.

But for now, I will work in my office/guest bedroom. Afterall, a nap is only 2 step away!

What a life

2008-07-11T16:57:00.002-04:00

So things have been absolutely crazy lately. I mean really CRAZY! I have been going non-stop for since we've got here. It's been a lot of hard work. A lot of work period. I mean, having 2 jobs is pretty rough. I mean I have 1 full-time job, Sojourn, and one part-time job, Buckle. I say Sojourn is a full-time job; it's really a 24/7 job. That's where the hard work comes in.

We have staff meetings on Tuesday nights at 6:30 which usually end up lasting at least 3 hours, last week it was almost 4 hours. Starting next week, we start our creative planning meetings, which will last a couple of hours, that will start at 5:00 though so 3 hours will mean 8:00, not 9:30. And who knows what will get added in there.

But it's not all work no play. After all, the 4th of July was really big "Guitar Hero" fest.

But seriously, Sundays mornings are great, and will only get greater. Staff meetings are long, but they're very productive, and it gives me the opportunity to talk a lot. Creative planning will be fun; I've always enjjoyed these types of meetings, and now I get to run it! And I get to do all sorts of other stuff I like, such as creating arwork for banners and welcome cards, make videos, graphic design, heck even songwriting is a part of my normal routine. Now, just because I do all this stuff doesn't mean I'm any good at it, after all, I don't have any idea what I'm doing on the graphic design end.

But overall, things are good. Buckle is taking up a lot more time that it should, but we could use the extra money right now.

Oh, and we have a ton of people asking about our house for rent in Georgia. We put it up on Facebood, and now get a couple of emails about it everyday!

So things are crazy, but good.I can only imagine that it gets better from here.

Twittering about Planning Center Online

2008-07-09T22:59:00.002-04:00

I really like Twitter. I "twitter" all the time. I really like it's become a verb. Like "Leave me alone, I'm twittering." Or, "I need to twitter." Or, "Man, when was the last time you twittered?"

Anyways, I wrote on here a couple days ago that I was having problem accessing Planning Center Online, an online tool that really helps worship leaders and such map out services, and it doubles as a file sharing tool. Well, like I said, I was having problems accessing it. So what else do I do than twitter about it.

Here's where we see twitter in action for real.

Planning Center Online has a twitter, just kind of a "Here's what's going on with Planning Center Online" thing. Well, they find me on twitter. I'm guessing they searched for their name to see what people were saying about them, freaking genuis idea!

Well, I get an email informing me that Planning Center Online is following me on twitter, which basically means that any time I twitter they see what it says on their homepage. So, I think, "Hmm...That's interesting." And I go on with my day.

Well, a little bit later, I get an email from the "Owner/Developer" of Ministry Centered Technologies, the company that runs Planning Center. He says, "Hi Travis, did you twitter about having problems accessing PCO? If so, I would like to help get that resolved =)"

Well, I'm pretty impressed with this, so I email him back. I told him that I had already been in contact with my Internet Provider, and they found that it was a problem on their end, which I already knew. So I was just waiting on them to get their stuff fixed. But if he had any suggestions, I was more than happy to try them out.

No lie, less than 30 minutes later, the guys emails me back. He gives me this IP address, and tells me to try it and let him know what happens. Well, it worked great. Everything is back to normal, and the universe is restored. But that's not what I'm so excited about.

Talk about amazing customer service! This guy found me and contacted me and asked me if he could help before I could ask him to give me help! That's amazing! I posted before about how all these big corporations are terrible with helping you and want all your money. I found the exception. First off, PCO hasa free service. It's a small package, but they don't take any money from you if you don't want to give it to them. Then, they go and do what this guy did today.

I am super happy with PCO now. I loved them before just because of the product. Now I adore them because of the service. It's this kind of thing that gains respect and tons of customer loyalty. I would pay any amount of money for what they did for me today.

So thank you PCO and Jeff for beinng absolutely freaking awesome!

Intense

2008-07-07T22:40:00.004-04:00

That's the only way I can't think to describe it.

It wasn't just amazing. It was way more than cool. It was a lot stronger than powerful.

It was intense.

This morning I have the most intense experience of my life.

This morning I prayed.

It wasn't some prayer like, "God, I want to thank you for this beautiful morning. Thank you for teaching me through Your Word. I pray that Desi and I have a good day together. Please keep us safe..." It was nothing like that whatsoever.

It was more like this...

Hey God.

Hello Travis.

So God, I just read this verse in Matthew. It really struck me hard. I mean, you're telling me, that Jesus taught things that had never been taught before. I can know things that even the people who wrote the Old Testament didn't know? Jesus called them the "things hidden since the creation of the world." That's amazing! I can't believe I have the privilege to know the most intimate parts of you!

It's because I love you, Travis. I want you to know those parts of me. I want to have the most intimate relationship with you that can possibly be had.

What do you mean, God?

Think of your relationship with Desi. You love her. You want to know the innermost intimate parts of Desi. You want to have a bond with her that only you can. You want to know everything there is to Desi. I want that with you.

You want that with me? Why? I'm just one little guy. I'm not anybody important. I mean I want to be used by you in a huge way, but I'm just me.

You will be used, Travis. You will be used to touch people in a very special way. No one can do what you are going to do.

Wow, God. That sounds awesome. When can I start!?

It went something like that. It was a whole new type of prayer for me. Like I said, it wasn't a "normal" prayer. I spoke to God, and He spoke back. Not audibly, but in my spirit. It was amazing. It was incredible.

It was intense!

Acceptance

2008-07-06T17:01:00.002-04:00

At Sojourn, we want to be a place of acceptance. We want anyone to feel welcome. It's all over the place for us, on our website, on our invitations, in every bit of literature we have. And we seriously mean anybody. It's very important to us.

This morning, we talked about accepting a group of people that is nearly shunned from the church.

Gays and Lesbians.

It seems pretty obvious that the gay community is a battlefield of the church (when I say church, I mean it in a very general sense.) People seem to think that homosexuality is a war on Christianity. People feel like every action of gays and lesbians is an attack on the Christian faith.

We know that's completely not true. We know that homosexuality has nothing to do with attacking Christianity. But how do we feel about homosexuals?

We love them. We genuinely love them. It's not something we just say. "Oh, we love everybody, including homosexuals." No. That's so fake and stupid. We don't want to just say it, we want to prove it. We want to prove to everyone that we truly love and care about everybody. Whether the person in homosexual or heterosexual, young or old, an alcoholic or been sober their whole life, struggling with porn or never seen a naked person before. We seriously don't give a rip what you choose to do in your life. We still love you.

Now, that doesn't mean that we will agree with it or that we think it's permissible. The Bible speaks about homosexuality just like it does about me as a married man having sex with someone other than my wife. And I'll go ahead and tell you that there is no difference whatsoever between someone who has an affair and someone who is homosexual. There is no difference between being an alcoholic and being stuck in pornography.

So, as the Backstreet Boys say, we don't care who you are, where you're from, or what you did. It really doesn't matter. We want people to feel loved by us, so that they can know that God loves them. That's the goal. We don't love people just to love them. We love them so that they can know that God loves them. Then that love will begin to change them.

So I challenge you, who do you need to love?

Provision

2008-07-05T21:45:00.003-04:00

I've said it before, and I'll say it again.

God is freaking awesome!

He seriously is. Let me tell you why.

A few days ago, Riley, our boxer, chewed up Desi's glasses. I think I actually posted about it. But anyways, money is super tight right now. We have a mortgage back in Georgia, and a rent here in Charlotte. A car payment, insurance, gas, cell phones, and everything else. So we were freaking out about paying for new glasses. Desi's pretty much legally blind so they're important. Ok, she's not really legally blind, but it's bad.

So we have to pay for new glasses, rent, mortgage, and everything else, and we're just about broke. I mean like last time I checked, we had less than $100 to our name.

Well, when we trust God to provide, He does.

Desi and I just checked the mail like not even 10 minutes ago. And guess what was there...

Two checks for a total of $400!

What? How does that happen!?

One of the people who sent us money didn't even know we were in need at all. He just sent us a check just because.

Is that freaking awesome or what!? I'm so excited right now, you don't even know! It's just so amazing how God provides for us.

He's surprised Desi and I so many times. I remember one time we were in a really, really bad spot. I mean rent was due and we had less than $100 in our account. Well, that day we get a refund check from our insurance that we didn't even know was coming. Rent was paid on time.

Or when my parents told us that for our wedding gift, they were going take over my car payments! That was no doubt the best wedding gift we got!

So God has provided for Desi and I so many times. And He's gone and done it again! We're thankful to everyone who supports us, and to these people who sent us random checks. God is using you to help Desi and I make it during this difficult time. We literally could'nt make without you!

But most of all, we're thankful for God hearing our prayers and providing. I hear all thee time, where God leads, He provides. I guess it's pretty obvious that He's led us right where we are.

4th of July Extravaganza!

2008-07-05T10:45:00.003-04:00

So last was obviously the 4th of July. And we celebrated it it like I've never celebrated it before. We've been fortunate at Sojourn to have a bunch of great stuff donated to us, including, projectors, screens, mixing boards, and speakers. Well, last night, we put them to good use.

We set up a projector, screen and some speakers and played "Guitar Hero" on the big screen! It was AWESOME!!! We had so much stinking fun. But so that you could see just how much fun it was, I made this video. Enjoy!

.

The story of Owen "Quick Hands" Carnes.
Owen is 6. He plays "Guitar Hero" entirely with his thumbs! Her turns the guitar on it's side so he can see the buttons, and slides his hand up and down the guitar using only his thumbs. And the best part...He's good! He can rock out some "Guitar Hero". It's really pretty amazing. So thank you "Quick Thumbs" for a lot of fun.

Excess

2008-07-03T23:09:00.004-04:00

Have you ever wondered what happens when you had too much pizza and ice cream?

I know I never have.

But I found out.

Kids, this is what happens when you get all hyped up on cheese and sugar.

Lesson learned.

Cards

2008-07-03T15:39:00.004-04:00

This is part of Creative Chaos at Ragamuffinsoul.com

So things at Sojourn are going great. We're having a lot of fun preparinng for our launch in August. One thing we've been talking about for a while, but just now getting to are our "welcome cards" for lack of a better term.

These cards are going to be something that everybody gets when they come into our church. Because I have some graphic skills, I'm taking this over. We had some inspiration from another church here in North Charlotte (Don't tell anybody). Here is what I've got so far.

(I don't know why it's so light. I tried a bunch of different stuff but keeps looking like this. Oh well.)

So it's not much I know. And here's whhy. Not because we're that swet on the whole "Keep it simple stupid" thing. It'd because we're giving it to a real graphic designer. I work with this guy at Buckle who is a graphic design student at UNC-Charlotte. He's an awesome guy, and he's done some seroiusly good stuff. And he's gonna do it all for FREE!

So a huge thank you to Curtis for what he's going to do. I knnw it will be awesome. And I can't wait to see how much better it is when he get's done with it.

And here's my plug for Curtis' Website. Check it out.

I may let you see the final product if your lucky.

Influence

2008-07-03T10:30:00.002-04:00

It's all the rave in the Christian leadership world these day. We talk everything from how to influence people to increasing you influence. It's all about influencing others. But little is spoken about being influenced. It's almost ignored to be honest. We seem to be so focused on us being influential people, and we don't give a thought to what is influencing us.

God reminded me just how important it is that I be influenced. In Matthew 13:24-31, Jesus tells "The Parable of the Weeds." (You gotta love those little titles) But here's what I noticed for the first time.

The parable is about a guy who plants wheat in his field. One night, some enemy of the guy puts weeds in his field. Well, obviously the weeds grew with the wheat. The workers asked if the guy wanted them to pull up the weeds. He tells then not to because it will ruin the wheat too. Then her says this...

"Let both grow together until the harvest." (v. 30)

Now, we know that this verse is talking about those who are redeemed as being the wheat, and those who deny God are the weeds. One day, they will be separated, and the weeds will be burned (Hell), but the wheat will be brought into the barn (Heaven). But here's what I realized, we haven't been separated yet. We're in that part where the weeds and wheat are growing together. In other words, there are good people and bad people in this world. We are in the same world, not separate ones. We encounter good and bad people every day. Both are all around us.

Obviously, we all want to be good people. But how we become good people?

Influence.

Not having influence, but being influenced.

If I want to be a good person, I must have good influences. I have to surround myself with those good influences in my life. I need people around me who are going to influence me to desire to know God, want to help others, do good in my community, and love people.

I need to identify who those people are and make sure that I let them influence me. I need then to be the ones that I want to be like.

But, at the same time, I have to identify thee bad influences, those people who bring me down. There are people that I work with, eat with, hang out with who are negative, selfish, or just behave badly. I need to make sure I don't let those people influence me. This doesn't mean that I separate myself from them, remember we're not at that part yet. It doesn't mean that I don't hang out with them. It means that when I am around them, I remember that they are negative so that I don't let myself become negative.

So I actually made a list of people who are good influences that I need to have, and another list of people who are bad influences. Like I said, you have to identify those bad influences, and I meant actually identify them. Obviously I am the only who will ever see this list. I don't want people knowing that they are bad influences on me, because some of them are in my life no matter what I do. I don't want to hurt anyone or drive them away from me. But it could be cool for those good influences to know how much you appreciate them.

So I have my lists. I know who influences me in a positive way, and who influences me in a negative way. I know what I need to do to be influenced by those positive people, and what I don't need to do to be influenced by the negative people.

Who are those good and bad influences in your life?

Not Happy

2008-07-02T10:33:00.002-04:00

I'm more than just not happy. I'm seriously pissed off. This stupid blog. I hate it. I pay google $10 for a web address and it doesn't work on macs. How stupid is that? I pay them and it doesn't even work. And you know what else is stupid...there's no way to get in contact with google about it. They have nothing. No phone number, no email address, no online chat, and no FAQ on the subject. I use Firefox on my Mac, which is what google tells you to use, and it doesn't even freaking work. This is the stupidest thing ever. You'd think that a company the size of google could get their crap to work on any platform. you'd think they would have the people and the know how to get their junk working right, no matter who's using it and what their using. But no. apparently their a bunch of idiots and don't really know what their doing having all these online apps. It wouldn't bother me so much if I did'nt PAY THEM to do this. If I hadn't put up the money then ok, not such a big deal. Sure it was only $10, but it's not the amount of money, it's the fact that i paid them for a service, and there's not even a service.

All these major companies are really pretty terrible. Google can't get their apps to work, Directv charges you $400 dollars if you close an account early, even you just don't can't get their service because of your location. Verizon tells you something different every time you go in their store. Cable companies charge you an arm and a leg for crappy tv and slow internet. AT&T has crappy equipment that they send you; it will work for a week then it fries and they can't tell you what happened. Greedy freaking people who I wish I never had to deal with.

Please, get your crap straight. Think for atleast a moment about what people think about your company. Everybody has something to complain about, and maybe their right, just maybe. Stupid, stupid stupid.

If I pay the cable company for cable, I expect to get cable. If I pay verizon for cell phone service, I expect cell phone service. If I pay google for a domain, I expect a domain. But they can't even do that. Stupid.

Staff Meeting

2008-07-02T09:01:00.002-04:00

So, here we are. It's Wednesday morning. I'm sitting here, blogging, drinking coffee, listening to The Almost, and already thinking about tonight. I have something to look forward to tonight. I have our Sojourn Staff meeting. Exciting stuff huh?

But it really is. It really is what I look forward to on Wednesday. See, us on staff at Sojourn work from home. We don't have any offices (except the spare bedrooms in our houses), so we don't see eachother every day. There's no running into one another in the halls, or going to Toby's office to ask a question. The main communication we have with eachother is email and text message.

Now this isn't all bad. After all, it's like 5 steps from my coffee pot (where my day really begins) to my office/spare bedroom. I go to work in jogging shorts and a large t-shirt. I don't have to brush my teeth or shower. I don't have to see any of the guys if I don't want to. But it still drives me crazy.

I like working with people. I like seeing people. I like spending time with people. It sucks to be away from people all day. I guess it's a good thing I have another job where I do see people (although there I work in the backroom and still don't see a lot of people). Plus, I like Toby, Clay, and Matt (I only list these guys because they're the only ones at this particular staff meeting. Kristi will hopefully be joining us soon.). So I want to see these guys every once in a while.

But tonight is staff meeting. Our time to see eachother, away from Sunday morning. Yea, we talk staff stuff and have some stuff we have to get done, but atleast I'm not all alone in my office. And we always jjust take some time to chill afterwards. Just hang out and talk. Take it easy. Kick back and relax with eachother.

So it's Wednesday. Tonight is staff meeting. And I'm pumped about it!

I'm Wiped Out

2008-07-01T21:19:00.002-04:00

I just got done watching the new show "Wipeout" on ABC. I love that show. It's like that show MXC on Spike, that's why I like it. But as I was watching it, I started feeling wiped out.

It has been a long day. I got to work at Buckle and had a lot of work to do. More work than I think I've every had there. I'm supposed to leave at 4:00 each day. But today I didn't leave until 7:15! What makes it really bad is I'm on my feet the entire time. I stand at my table, fold clothes, and bend over to gete clothes out of boxes. So my back is way tired when I have these long days.

So I'm really tired now. Fortunately, since I got everything done, I don't have to go in until 12:00 tomorrow. So I have some time to relax and unwind, at least until tomorrow when I go do it all over again.

I think it's time for some coffe.

Free Coffee

2008-06-30T22:57:00.003-04:00

So I know this awesome lady.

She works at Starbucks.

She get's free coffee

Today, she gave me a pound of coffee for FREE.

Thank you Mindi.

I'm gonna have some first thing in the morning.

I thought about having some right now, but it's 11:00, so nevermind.

Glasses

2008-06-30T09:08:00.002-04:00

I hate glasses. I'm supposed to wear glasses, but I don't. I don't even have a pair of glasses if I wanted to wear them.

But Desi has glasses. She has expensive glasses. They're really nice and look really good on her.

Well, she had glasses. They were expensive. They were really nice and looked really good on her. But not any more. Not since Riley chewed them up. And I mean CHEWED THEM UP!

Not just the frame, but the lenses and all. They are destroyed. Completely unsalvagable. There's no saving them at all. One lens was popped out at scratched all over. One of the little arm things was torn off. The frames were broken in half. Completely ruined.

So now we have to get Desi new glasses, which isn't good. Money is tight right now. Well, for this week really. Things get tough when you change jobs and don't get a paycheck for almost a month. If this would have happened a week from now, no big deal. We would've had enough money to get Desi new glasses, but not right now. But she has to have them. She's using OLD contacts right now because that's all she has. So we have to go spend $300 that we don't have on new glasses.

So Riley's life is really bad right now. Desi is pissed at this dog. I mean really, really angry. Desi didn't just spank when she walked in on the crime. She made Riley sleep in the bathroom all night. She keeps telling her she's a bad dog. She keeps yelling at her to get off thee bed and the couch. She won't let her come into our bedroom or office. She won't pet her. She won't hardly even look at her.

But I still love her. Well, I never really 'loved' her, but I certainly don't hate her on the level Desi does now. So I'll pet Riley and tell her she's a good dog when she does something good. I'll play with her. I'll takke her out and run around with her. I'll let her sit in my lap.

So after about 12 last night, our world changed. Desi no longer has glasses. Our financial situation just got worse(when we literally didn't think it could). We have to buy glasses along with figuring out how to pay a rent and a mortgage and all these bills. Desi hates Riley. Riley fears Desi. I still like Riley. Riley loves me more than ever. And we have to talk to our apartment manager to get an extension to pay our rent.

Could it get any better that this?

Rise!

2008-06-29T18:32:00.002-04:00

What a day! What an awesome day!

So here you go.

We had our Sojourn Core/Launch Team gathering this morning. We started off with High's and Low's. This something we do every once in a while. What we do is whoever wants to can share some high's and low's from their week. And our goal is to use this time for us to get to know one another better, and to grow some real deep relationships.

We'll everybody seemed to have some pretty major lows this past week. Every body had something to say about their job, whether is was "I had a hard time with my manager," or "I still can't find a job," or "I may not have a job next month." So some seriously heavy stuff.

What was great is that I had no idea Toby was going to start us off that way this week, and I already had this song planned. It's not really a song, but a short chorus. It goes like this...

I may be down, but I will rise
It may be dark, but God is light

And it was perfect! It was right where everyone was at. We all pretty much had something really bad happen this week, and God had already been planning some encouragement for us.

It felt so right to be right there this morning. I couldn't help that feeling of "This is where I'm supposed to be."

I hope everyone was encouraged this morning the way I was through God's plan. It made me feel like I'm really following God's plan, and He's really leading us through this.

I hope we at Sojourn continue to have these moments that God designs perfectly for us to have Him meet our needs.

Relaxing

2008-06-28T15:13:00.002-04:00

It's been a good day so far. Actually, this whole week has been pretty good. Work's been good. Sojourn has been good. People have been good.

But today has been especially good.

Desi and I got up at 9 and went to workout together. After that we hit up the pool. The water felt so good after a good workout. Then we came home, got cleaned up, and had some sandwiches for lunch.

After lunch, we took Riley to the dog park. First we stopped and got her a new ball and halter deal. She's gotten to strong for us to use a normal collar. But here's where things go wrong.

We got to the dog park, which we had never been to before, and couldn't get in. It's that there was anything wrong. You had to have an electronic card to get into the dog park! An electronic key! I don't know why; I don't know where to get one, and the best part, in 2 days, they're taking the electronic key off. In 2 days! They're going to take it off and open up to whoever.

So we just walked around and took Riley down to the lake. But it is so hot today that we only stayed for a few minutes.

Since then, we've just come home and have been relaxing. Desi is taking a nap on the couch. Riley in playing with her new ball. And I'm sitting around sipping Kool-Aid.

That's what I call relaxing!

Mad as a Fire Ant

2008-06-26T21:59:00.002-04:00

I'm starting to get angry with my blog. I still can't access the actual url. I can log on and post, like I'm doing now. But I can't go to the actually website. Desi has the same problem. She is also running the same version of Firefox on her Macbook. It was fine for her at work, using IE on a PC. I think this could be the one time I could ever say that a PC may work better than a Mac. No, I take it back. But anywho, this is really getting on my nerves. I want it fixed. The problem is that blogger (with whom I have my blog account) doesn't have a real way to get a hold of anyone. you can just send them an email. That's dumb. I want to talk to someone who can tell me what th problem is. Why do these things have to be so difficult?

What's Wrong

2008-06-26T16:17:00.002-04:00

So i've been completely ignoring my blog for the past couple of days because it just hasn't been working for me. I don't know what the problem it. I've emailed support and am waiting to hear back from them. So I'm sorry.

10 Days in Matty 10: Day 9

2008-06-24T19:39:00.003-04:00

So again, it’s been a while since our last visit into Mathew 10. Let’s pick up where we left off.

Onward to Day 9 of “Ten Days in Matty Ten.”

This one may turn out to be a bit touchy. But I’m seriously convicted about this, and I feel like it’s the right thing to do.

“What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs.” Matthew 10:27

Jesus tells his disciples to keep nothing a secret. He wants them to share everything they have learned, are learning, and will learn. That seems pretty obvious right? Ok, it’s easy to keep nothing a secret in worship, just sing songs about everything. That’s not what I’m talking about.

I’m not talking about sharing what you learn. I’m talking about sharing what you have. Specifically, sharing media between churches. I’m talking about sharing graphics, videos, music, resources, anything. Don’t keep it all for yourselves.

Or, just as bad, don’t make it a profit for yourself. I hate seeing churches that literally sell their graphics and videos. They sell it in packages, or online, or by the video, or whatever. I’ve even seen a church that sold their set lists! They packaged a years worth of songs they did in their services and sell it!

I hate seeing that, especially because they literally charge you $200 for that crap! It’s ridiculous. It’s a rip off!

It also kind of reminds me of that thing that pissed Jesus off when started throwing around tables and yelling at people. Sound kind of similar.

But I really do HATE it when churches do that. I have a huge problem with this for a couple of reasons.

First, as a worship leader, I hope that I can be creative enough to come up with my own set lists. I would hope that I can put together my own song ideas and how to pair them with videos and graphics. Even if I don’t have everything I need to make those same graphics, I can save my church $200 and come up with my own stuff. If not, then I’m sure there is someone in the church who can do graphics.

Second, it just seems like these churches that are selling this stuff are being kind of greedy. It’s always the biggest churches that do it. They charge an arm and a leg for everything from set lists to conferences to even the recordings of sermons.

I can promise you right that as long as I’m here, Sojourn will never be that kind of church. Never. We hope God blesses us, and we hope to be a blessing to other churches because of it. We WILL NOT charge anyone to see our set lists. We WILL NOT charge money for you to download our graphics online. We WILL NOT in any way profit from what God has given us.

One church that does an awesome job of this is Lifechurch.tv. They are fantastic. I mean they have everything. You can download graphics, videos, and even sermon notes all for free. You can even subscribe to their podcasts of the recordings of their set lists performed during their weekend services for free. They literally have everything a church can need all for FREE.

That being said, I don’t know when any of the stuff we do will be available, but it will. I will certainly let you know when that happens.

Later peeps.

You get what you deserve

2008-06-24T15:58:00.003-04:00

"Travis Drinks Coffee"
By Travis Williams

See Travis.

See Travis after 4 cups of coffee.

See Travis after coffee goes away.

I guess you get what you ask for. I need a nap

Enjoying It

2008-06-24T09:06:00.005-04:00

This is my 7 month old Boxer, Riley.

She's is really enjoying our day bed in my office/guest bedroom. Yes, office/guest bedroom. We moved out of a large 3 bedroom home into a smaller 2 bedroom apartment. So my office shares a bed with Riley.

But what happens when I start my morning email run with Riley laying on the bed?

Almost there...

And she's outta here.

She gets to be lazy and sleep, while I read and reply to emails, update my iCal, listen to Coldplay, and drink my 2nd cup of coffee in 10 minutes.

It's a dog's life.

What a Day!

2008-06-22T20:39:00.003-04:00

It has been an awesome day.

Desi and I had our first gathering with the core/launch team for Sojourn. It was great! I led a little worship and we celebrated Brad's b-day and we talked about small groups. It was the first time Desi got to meet any of the core/launch team so I don't expect her to remember any name, I know I didn't after the first time.

After that we went to this Mexican restaurant here called Monterrey's, not Monte Ray's. I had a chicken quesadilla that was made with some really strange tasting cheese. And the reason I'm writing about lunch is beause Toby asked me if I was going to blog about lunch, and I told him yes. So this is just to fulfill my obligation.

After lunch we did something really special. Mindi, Toby's wife, has a friend where she works at Starbucks who just got her first apartment and literally has nothing. She was given a bed and a TV. She didn't have hardly any food; she was given a matress; and she only had one skillet to cook with. Our core team got together to give her whatever we could. It was awesome! We gave her a least a full weeks worth of groceries, along with papertowels, tp, and other stuff like that. Desi and I were able to give her a full set of pots and pans, eating utensils, cups, bowls, plates, towels, washcloths, dishcloths, cookie sheets, and some decorative stuff. We also have some extra end tables we're going to give her. When we surprised her with it she was really grateful. She cried, Mindi cried, Desi cried, and I almost cried. It was awesome to do something like for someone who was so grateful. It was a true blessing for me to be able to be a part of blessing her.

So after we got all emotional, Desi and I walked around Uptown. Uptown, for those of you who don't know, is like downtown Charlotte only it's actually on the north part of the city. So it's not down, it really is up, thus Uptown. Uptown is awesome. It's beautiful and filled with some really cool architecture and art. There's sculpture's everywhere! And there was a play going on in the park that you could watch for free! It is such a great city. I can't to see what God has in store for us here.

After walking around Uptown and worrying about our car getting towed, we came home and ate sloppy joe's. Now, we're going to sit around all night and all morning until I have to go to work. Then Desi will sit around without me.

So that was our great, crazy, busy, fun day. I hope you had a good day too.

Love Hate Relationship

2008-06-21T23:03:00.002-04:00

I love it. I hate it.

My cell phone.

At first I loved it because it has windows mobile, and, at the time, I was doing all my work on a PC. Then I didn't have a PC any more. I just had my Mac. But I love Mac, so I am NOT going back to PC.

So I started hating my phone because it was a Pocket PC and I had a Mac.

But now I love it again.

Toby told me today about something I had never hear of.

Missing Sync.

It's a software that can sync my Mac with my Windows Mobile device. It's the most wonderful thing. Now I can sync my iCal with the Windows calender. And I can sync my contacts, tasks, pictures, videos, music, everything! I love it!

I was about ready to trade in my phone for a Blackberry. Now, I'm really happy with what I've got.

Thank you Missing Sync for saving my phone!

Wiped Out

2008-06-20T20:07:00.002-04:00

Oh man, what a long day!

I got up at 8:00, did my devotional, worked on some Sojourn stuff, went into work at Buckle early(11:30), and stayed till 7:30. I was only supposed to be there until 4:00. So I worked an extra 3 1/2 hours today. Not a whole lot I know, but it's twice as long as I thought I was going to work. But that's fine, I could use some extra money.

So needless to say, I haven't done a lot today. Sure I worked 8 hours at Buckle and did about 3 hours of Sojourn stuff, but it doesn't feel like I did a lot. So now I am wiped out. Or as Toby and Mindi like to say, I'm toast.

But one great thing about today. Desi gets here tonight! I'm so excited. She should be here in about 2 1/2 hours. I haven't seen her in a week so I'm really ready to see her. Plus, she can take care of Riley (our dog).

But other than having a long day, things are great. Our support is starting to come in. So a huge, huge, huge thank you to all of our supporters! So far, we have raised $1300/month on our goal of $3000! That's truly amazing. And what's ever better is we have had a few people say they want to support us they are just praying about how much! How awesome is that! We've had so many people already give so much, and there's still more people who want to give! Amazing! Desi and I both prayed for God to provide, and boy has He! I can roll off at least 20 people who already have or want to give!

But wait... There's more!

There's a church here in Charlotte that is going to support Sojourn financially and with some a/v equipment!

And there are 2 people that work at Buckle who both told me today that they want to come to the church once we launch!

God is providing in huge ways! Both financially and by sending us people!

So God has been awesome, is being awesome, and will be awesome! I can't wait to see what happens tomorrow. Everyday He does something amazing. I can't even imagine what else He could possibly do.

Getting Busy

2008-06-17T20:35:00.003-04:00

I'm so excited! I can't wait! It's gonna be great!

I'm uber excited about planting Sojourn! I'm can't wait to see what happens. Things are starting to happen already!

Toby and I met today just to hang out and talk for a little bit. We went to Starbucks, and I had a mint chacolate chip frappucino or something like that. I was warned that it was a lot of mint, and boy was it! It was good though.

We also went to check out the audio/visual equipment that had been donated to us. It was amazing! Not only were there 3 projectors and screens, 2 full sound systems with wireless mics and speakers and amps, a brand new drum set, and a full on lighting system with LEDs; it was all packed into a huge trailor hitched to a Dodge Ram. All of which has been donated to Sojourn! It was amazing to see! I've honestly never seen a church plant with so much audio/visual equipment. God has really blessed us with a ton of stuff!

That being said, I've already filled up my schedule for the next 2 weeks! I've only been here for like 2 days, and I'm already booked! I'm glad though. If I weren't busy I'd be bored.

Oh, and another big bit of news. Desi and I received our first support check! I was so excited I texted Desi as soon as I opened the letter. My grandmom is awesome! Love you grandmom! She said she was going to support us, I just didn't know that she was going to do it so quick. It's good though, considering that support from other people is my salary!

But so that's the latest. Tomorrow, it's setting up bank accounts and payroll stuff and emails and housing allowances and all the other admin stuff that needs to happen. And best of all...Thursday I begin planning for our first series at Sojourn! "Upside Down Way of God" It's about how God does things upside down of the way we do them. I'm really excited about starting to plan for our first service.

So that's it. Later

10 Days in Matty 10: Day 8

2008-06-17T15:27:00.001-04:00

So it’s been a while since our last entry for “Ten Days in Matty Ten.” Let me give a little refresher.

In Matthew 10, Jesus send out his disciples and gives them power to heal and cast out demons. Them he gives them 10 sort descriptions of what the ministry should be. Here’s what we’ve seen so far.

1. Go to the lost sheep. Translated: Make it understandable to non-believers.
2. Preach: The Kingdom of heaven is near. Translated: Reveal God’s plan through worship
3. Heal people. Translated: Make life-change a priority.
4. Don’t bring extra money or clothes. Translated: Don’t worry about having all the cool “stuff”.
5. Find a worthy person to stay with. Translated: Find another worship pastor to connect with.
6. If you aren’t welcome leave. Translated: If you aren’t welcome, leave.
7. Be shrewd and innocent. Translated: Follow the characteristics laid out in Titus 1.

Now to Day number 8.

“But when they arrest you, do not worry about what to say or how to say it. At that time you will be given what to say, for It will not be you speaking, but the Spirit of your Father speaking through you.” -Matthew 10:19,20

Jesus tells his disciples not to worry about what to say because God will speak through them.

This was probably a big deal for the disciples. The disciples weren’t all the smartest guys you’d ever meet. They weren’t trained traditionally on how to teach. The guys who did the teaching were raised up in the synangogue learning from the best teachers how to teach. The disciples didn’t have a lick of that training. So they were probably really nervous when it came to the thought of teaching by themselves in public.

What does this mean for me? Yes, it means that God will speak through me at the right times. But it also challenges me in worship ministry.

This challenges me not to worry about how good the music sounds or how cool everything looks because God can speak regardless. I shouldn’t be consumed with trying to have the coolest or hippest worship ministry in town. That’s not what I need to try to accomplish. As we mentioned earlier, seeing peoples lives changed is the priority.

But this is by no means whatsoever and excuse to do things poorly. We also mentioned that we should strive to do our best in everything we do. We should try to have the best music, or the best videos and graphics. But we should try to do it the best that we can with what we have. We talked about this before so I’m not going to elaborate. If you do want to know more about that click here.

So I should try to have the best music and videos and such that I can, but it shouldn’t be the goal of my ministry. I have to practice playing and singing and leading, but I shouldn’t do it so people can say, “Hey Sojourn has the best music ever.” I should try to make the best videos I can, but not so that I get any recognition for it.

Like I said earlier, this verse is not an excuse for us to slack off. It doesn’t give us a reason to rest comfortably in our laziness. We must do all things as if done to the Lord. But this is an excuse to try harder, to do better, and to dream bigger.

No more, No more!

2008-06-16T17:07:00.002-04:00

I made it! I'm back in Charlotte. After driving from ATL to Charlotte back to ATL and back to Charlotte in 4 days, I am done. I'm not driving anywhere for like 4 hours! Well, I don't know, probably not until tomorrow morning to meet with Toby. But for today, I am done.

Some good news too. I got a job! I'm working at the Buckle at Northlake Mall. It's a clothing store that carries all sorts of great clothes. I worked at the Buckle in Douglasville before so getting the job in Charlotte was easy. Not easy because I'm just that great, but easy because I had already had experience working there. I really liked working there before and I'm glad I get to again. Plus, the clothes are great, and I get a discount to match!

So that's it for now. No more driving. Got a job. And Roco Mediate couldn't finish the upset against Tiger Woods, oh well.

Oh, I almost forgot. "Ten Days in Matty Ten" will pick back up tomorrow. See you then.

Long time no see

2008-06-14T22:28:00.002-04:00

So it's been a while. I haven't posted anything on here for what seems to me like an eternity. Let me explain why this is...

I just moved.

That's it. That's why I haven't written anything in a while. Part of moving means that your internet isn't transferred immediately. Also, part of it is that sometimes, the company you already have DSL with doesn't service the apartment you just moved into. So you have to call AT&T to cancel your service with them, and then call up some cable company you've never heard of before to get cable internet. So there's a little bit of a delay there.

Anywho, everything is moved and still in boxes. I've started to settle in and Desi is house hopping in Villa Rica. She doesn't move until this Friday. Oh, and I already have a job interview! I went to the mall in Charlotte, walked into a store, talked to the manager, and had an interview with her 20 minutes later! It was great!

But so that's it for now. See you again soon!

10 Days in Matty 10: Day 7

2008-06-10T18:43:00.002-04:00

Alrighty then. Day 7 our of 10 in “Ten Days in Matty Ten.”

“I am sending you out like sheep among wolves. There for be as shrewd as snaked and as innocent as doves.” Matthew 10:16

Ok, be shrewd and innocent. Hmm…Kind of strange to me. I wasn’t real sure what to do with this one at first. Then I thought. It helps to think. And then I thought of it. Titus 1. This is where we see some guidelines for the lifestyles of elders.

Now for a lot of you “elders” may the men who are one step higher on the church ladder than deacons. Well, I don’t think that’s the original intention of elders. I’m no Biblical scholar, but I have read a good bit on elders and deacons. And here’s what I’ve found. We say full-time pastor, the Bible says elder. The two are the same. So I don’t believe there is supposed to be staff, elders, deacons and members. I believe it’s supposed to be staff (elders), deacons, and members. That’s what I believe based on what I’ve studied, but that a discussion for another day.

The point I’m trying to make is that these guidelines found in Titus 1 are what Jesus is referring to in Matthew 10:16. This is a distinct list…

Be blameless
A husband of but one wife
Father children who believe
Not overbearing
Not quick-tempered
Not given to drunkenness
Not pursuing dishonest gain
Hospitable (which is actually my top spiritual gift)
Loves what is good
Self-controlled
Upright
Holy
Disciplined
Hold firm to the trustworthy message
Encourage others
Refute those who oppose the message

That’s not a very long list when you think about it.

Now I’m not saying I have this whole list down pat. I do only have one wife, but I don’t have any children. I try to be self-controlled, but sometimes I lose my temper in ATL traffic. I try to love what is good, but sometimes I love myself. I try not to pursue dishonest gain, but I’m also ambitious. I try to be disciplined, but sometimes I’m lazy.

So like I said, I’m not perfect. But this list gives me something to strive for in my character. I can look at this lest and easily see which ones I do practice well, and which ones I don’t. Like I said, hospitality is my top spiritual gift, but I get mad in traffic.

At least with this list, I know what it means to be as shrewd as a snake and as innocent as a dove.

I Love These Guys

2008-06-10T17:08:00.003-04:00

Robby, Tyler, James, Matt, and Jimmy.

I love you guys. I really do love you. I don't know how else to say it. It's been great seeing you. I don't want to say knowing you because it's not like I never met you now just because I'm moving.

Just to let the rest of you know, these are the pastors of the church my wife and I have been members at for the past year. These guys really are awesome. Tyler is the lead pastor. James is the teaching pastor. Robby is the worship pastor. Matt is the student pastor. And Jimmy is the children's pastor. Seriously, great guys.

This past Sunday was my last Sunday serving at Westhills. And today, I had my last lunch with Robby. Robby and I usually go to lunch together once a week. And every Thursday we join the other guys and a bunch of other pastors and friends in Villa Rica for lunch. Good times. But today was the last supper. Well, it was lunch, but it was good. Robby and I talked, ate, laughed, ate some more, and made fun of the waitress because she lied and told us they had root beer when they didn't. But it was a lot of fun.

Oh, and these guys gave Desi and I $100 in BP gift cards for our drive to Charlotte! What's great is that they had no idea that Desi and were freaking about paying diesel gas prices right now, and so that is a HUGE blessing. And they didn't even know! We didn't ask for it; they just gave it to us!

So I will miss seeing these guys every time I have lunch. I'll have to video conference in for lunch on Thursdays or something. We'll see.

But I will see you guys again soon. Maybe sooner that you think. Don't quote me though, $100 in gas only goes so far these days. But until then...

TTFN!

10 Days in Matty 10: Day 6

2008-06-09T15:31:00.003-04:00

The day after day number 5, also known as day 6 in "Ten Days in Matty Ten."

This one is just plan weird. And probably the hardest of all. Let's just jump right into it, and you'll see.

"If anyone will not welcome you or listen to your words, shake the dust off your feet when you leave that home or town." Matthew 10:14

Basically what Jesus tells his disciples is that if they aren't welcome, then leave.

Basically Jesus is telling us, "If you aren't welcome, then leave."

What? Am I serious? Yeah, I am. Jesus told his disciples that if they were not welcome in a town then they should just leave. He actually says to "shake the dust off your feet." When I think of shaking the dust off my feet, it makes me think that I am leaving everything just as I found it. Like I'm not supposed to take any part of that place with me. But back to leaving when not welcome.

This really sucks. It just does. But I've been in this situation twice within the past year.

The first time, I was on staff a church that I really didn't know a whole lot about. Yeah, not a good situation to start with. I knew the other staff kind of alright, but I didn't know a lot about the church. Well, needless to say, before too long, I wasn't very welcome. Now, it wasn't like I started hating anyone there or anyone started hating me. It really wasn't about any bad relationships. Actually there weren't any bad relationships and still aren't. It just wasn't the place for me to be.

Another time, I was asked to be invovled in, what we will call for the purposes of this blog, a ministry venture. Some people asked me to join them and be a part of what they wanted to do. I said yes, and we began this process. Well, after some time it became apparent, we shall say, that I wan't the person for this particular ministry venture. So I was asked, for lack of a better term, to leave. It wasn't that I was asked to leave, but that's the only way I know how to say it. Again, it was nothing bad. No broken relationships or revealed secrets. It just wasn't where I was supposed to be, again.

I'm not gonna lie. Both of these situations were really tough. In one, I didn't want to be there and was asked to leave. In another, I really wanted to be there and was asked to leave. It was hard. I didn't want to leave either of them, but I wasn't welcome. So I had to leave. But it was really, really hard. Certainly brought on some of the hardest times of my life.

So when I say, "If you aren't welcome, then leave," I have a little experience in that. One of those situations was my full-time job, and leaving that left me with no job and no money. So I sure know how hard it can be to leave. It actually happened just months before I got married. So there I was, no job, no money, and about to have a wife whom I couldn't provide for. But God provided.

God really took care of us. Part of that is of course God's promise to take care of us, and grace for providing for us when we were in need. But looking back, I think part of the reason God blessed us like He did is because when I wasn't welcome, I just left. Like I said it was hard, but it was the right thing to do. Staying in those situations could have made things worse than they were. Relationships could have been broken, but they weren't. In fact, my relationships with those people involved are actually better now.

So that's a lot, I know. But I do believe it is Jesus' instructions for us.

If I'm not welcome, then leave.

10 Days in Matty 10: Day 5

2008-06-08T14:16:00.003-04:00

Day Numero Cinco of “Ten Days in Matty Ten.”

This one is very important. Everyone needs this one. It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter if you’re a youth pastor, worship pastor, or lead pastor. And it doesn’t matter if you’re the pastor of the smallest church in your city, or the largest church in the world.

“Whatever town or village you enter, search for some worthy person there and stay at his house until you leave.” Matthew 10:11

I, as a worship pastor, must find another worship pastor to connect with.

This is such a big deal. It really is. But it gets overlooked so often. One of the best relationships we can have is with someone who knows exactly how it feels to be us. I can talk my best friends ear off about what’s going on at Sojourn, and he may be able to give some advice, but he won’t really understand what I’m talking about. I could tell my wife what my struggles are as a worship pastor. She will definitely sympathize, but she won’t completely feel the way I feel.

But if I have a close relationship with another worship pastor, then he will understand why I have certain struggles. He may have even dealt with the same struggle and be able to really shed some light on my situation. He could give me some advice as a worship pastor, that my friend would only be able to give me as a friend, or my wife as a wife. He could encourage me do things that others wouldn’t have thought of. He could give me fresh ideas on ministry. He may have tried something that I want to try, and he could guide me through it. He could have gone through something before that I’m going through now.

Another big part of it is that there are certain things I could share with another pastor that I just couldn’t share with just anyone else. There are certain things I just can’t tell my best friend about when it comes to ministry. I can’t tell my dad everything. Some things I can’t even tell other pastors about. But if I have one select pastor to share with, then he could give some really good advice on the situation.

But I have to be selective on who that person is. Jesus tells us to find a “worthy person.” A person who can be trusted. A person with whom I can be honest. A person who will be honest with me. Some one who has centered their life around Christ. Some one who has a growing relationship with God. And, here’s a big one, some one who has more experience than I do. This is the type of worship pastor I need to have a deep relationship with.

Like I said, this is a big deal. All of the greatest pastors I know have someone that they talk to regularly to share the victories, failures, triumphs, and struggles of ministry. I’d be stupid to think that I could go at this alone and survive. I can’t, so I won’t try. God has given us the Holy Spirit so that we know we can’t do it alone.

I want to thank all the people who have been there for me. Danny is an awesome guy. He gave me my first glimpse into worship ministry. He taught me the foundations of what I know of being a worship “Pastor”. Algernon is amazing. He taught me what it meant to really get into God’s word. He taught me to read it for what it really is. Alive. Tommy was a huge inspiration for me. He was the first church planter I really got to know. He took under his wings and taught me as he learned. It was through him that God really gave me a desire to church plant. And then there’s Robby. Robby is the latest person God has brought into my life. Robby is a wonderful worship pastor. He knows what it takes to have a worship ministry done with excellence on a smaller scale. Robby is the worship pastor of a now 3 year old church. Every weekend Robby puts together a set of songs that is right on with what God wants people to hear. They don’t have some huge budget, but Robby doesn’t let that stop him. He takes what he has been given, and uses it to it’s fullest potential.

A huge thanks to all of these guys. You have been a huge influence in my life, all for different reason. God has used each of you to teach me something different during a certain time in my life. I can’t imagine what it would be like to not have met you and have you in my life. You are the guys I come to when I need to have some one close. Thank you.

10 Days in Matty 10: Day 4

2008-06-07T16:03:00.002-04:00

Let’s get rolling with Day 4 of “Ten Days in Matty Ten.”

Honestly, this one slammed me. I mean it hit me hard. This has been plagueing me since I read it. It’s hard for me. I have to really try hard at this one.

“Do not take along any gold or silver or copper in you belts; take no bag for the journey, or extra tunic, or sandals, or a staff; for the worker is worth his keep.” Matthew 10:9, 10

I read this and thought, “Oh no.” This is God’s command for me not to worry about having the “stuff”, like lights, cool graphics, or a full band, that makes a “great” worship experience.

Ok, I read this and thought, “But as a church planter, I don’t have any equipment. So I have to think about getting that stuff.” Then I stopped and realized what I had just said. In church today, if you don’t have the latest technology, the coolest videos, or the best music, you aren’t doing worship ministry right. Seriously, like it or not, we believe that! I believe it! If my worship experience is not on the level of a Northpoint Community, or Willow Creek, then I need to step up to the plate, or I’m not doing things to the best level I can.

Here’s what we forget. God tells us to do our best with what we have, not what we want to have. If I don’t have the super computer to run the super software, then don’t try to fake it. I’ll take my four year old Mac iBook G4 and my original Adobe Photoshop and rock it out. God didn’t tell us that we have to do things as good as somebody else. He told us to do it the best that we can. I’m not Chris Tomlin, so guess what, I’m can’t do what Chris Tomlin does. I’m not at Northpoint, so guess what, I won’t do things the way Northpoint does them. I’m at Sojourn, so I am going to do things the way we do them at Sojourn.

But I’m not gonna lie. This is really hard. Northpoint and Willow Creek and Fellowship Church have really influenced my vision for worship ministry. I love technology. I’m a technology geek. My degree is in audio engineering, so technology is a huge part of my education, career, and life. But I have to realize where God has me right now. I have to remember that I’m at a starting point. I’m not 10 years down the road. I have to remember that we don’t have the resources to have all the good “stuff.”

But that certainly doesn’t mean that I don’t dream about where I want to be. Dreaming is what keeps your vision moving and growing. You have to dream. But you can’t let your expectations of the future die because of your present capabilities. If you don’t dream you don’t have a vision. After all, isn’t what a vision is, a dream? Your vision is what you want to accomplish. It’s what you goal is. But we also have to dream big. I dream of a worship ministry that is a level above Northpoint or Willow Creek or Fellowship. And I’l put my own twist on it. But right now I dream of the future, but I plant and execute in the present to get to that future.

So that’s that. But again, I really struggle with this. It’s really, really hard for me. I’ve been on staff at a church before that had the technology and had the videos and had the music. So it’s hard not to expect things to be the same way somewhere else. But that’s why I dream. That’s why I have a vision.

Tee Time

2008-06-07T09:32:00.002-04:00

It's a great day for golf! I have a 12:00 tee time, and I can't wait. It's been almost a month since I last played some golf! That's a seriously long time for me. But now, I have to go put on clothes I don't really like, drive a long ways to get there. Then I have to wear myself out, get real sweaty, just so I can realize that I am not good at golf. But it's fun to dream...And that reminds me...more on dreaming later today. See you after I get done shooting 72 after 9 holes.

10 Days in Matty 10: Day 3

2008-06-06T18:23:00.001-04:00

So here we are on day three of 10 Days in Matty 10.

I’m really excited about this one. This is going to be great. As I read through Matthew 10 the first time I got really excited when I read Jesus’ words.

“Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.” Matthew 10:8

Jesus tells his disciples to heal people. Heal them. That’s awesome. He has given them the ability to heal! Wow! They could heal sickness, cure disease, and drive out demons. That’s a pretty sweet gig. That would just be amazing. So how do we heal people in worship? Well, we hit on this a little bit yesterday.

We make life change a priority.

We focus not only on life itself, but also on life change. We focus on celebrating what God has done in people. When people rise victorious over drug and alcohol addiction, we praise God for it. When someone makes a decision to follow Christ, we celebrate it. We make videos, and let people share first hand how God has changed them. We celebrate the crud out of it.

But there’s also a big problem that could rise.

What if life change isn’t happening?

I’ve seen this plague too many churches. They put all their efforts into growing the size of the church, or having enough ministries, or they focus on their budget (trying to get more money). I’ve seen it all over the place, in Georgia, Florida, California, and a lot of other places. It really sucks to see it happen. But what can we do to keep this from happening in our churches?

First, we need to remember this commission to heal people. We need to keep Matthew 10:8 at the forefront of our ministry. If we keep a keen eye on healing people, then life change will happen.

Second, we need to remember what Jesus accomplished on the cross. He didn’t just take our sins; he remedied our relationship with God. It’s only because of Jesus that we are reconciled to God. If we stay focused on what Jesus accomplished then we will focus on seeing others reconciled.

Third, we need to remember that God has freely given us this gift. He gave us the gift and told us to use it. We are supposed to go out and heal. “Freely you have received, freely give.” Jesus has commanded us to heal, so we better get on it.

Heal people. We get to be a part of seeing God heal peoples lives. I truly desire for God to use me to show His life changing power.

Tomorrow, we will look at Jesus’ call to trust.

Relative Truths

2008-06-06T11:13:00.001-04:00

I’m going to go ahead and warn you. This is long. But it’s a good read. At least I think so, but then again I did write it.

Before you start assuming (‘cause we all know what that does) let me explain. I’m not trying to promote relative truth, that’s not what this is about. Well, it kind of is. What I want us to look at are some "relative truths" that we call something else. We call them “God’s call into ministry.”

Everyone thinks them. Everyone says them. And probably everyone believes them. There are certain things that we believe are true for “ministers” but not for everyone else. For whatever reason, tradition, history, or selfishness, we believe that “ministers” must live up to certain standards to be “ministers.” And anyone who is not a “minister” is immune to these standards.

No going to bars.
No going to parties.
No drinking period.
No checking out women.
No cable TV allowed in the home.
Must read the Bible every day.
Must keep a journal of what they read.
Must let everyone else see that journal.
Must have a deeper spiritual walk than anyone else.
Must be well groomed.
Cannot have tattoos.
Cannot have piercing.
Etc. Etc. Etc.

There’s a lot more that could be added. But there are some major ones that I listed up there. Things like no drinking period, no checking out women, must let everyone read their journal, must have a deeper spiritual walk than anyone else. None of these things are bad standards. I’m just tired of seeing “ministers” be the only ones that anyone expects to live up to them.

No drinking
I understand completely the deal with no drinking. We don’t want anyone to see us drinking and it cause him or her to stumble in their faith. That’s a great point. I don’t drink for that exact reason. But the problem is that everyone else can drink, and it’s ok. No one cares if Joe in Sunday school goes to the bar and throws back a couple after work. But if Pastor John does it, he’s out and his ordination is stripped away. I’ve literally seen that happen. That’s dumb. If you claim to be a Christian, you are just as responsible for others salvation as a minister. You are called to show people God’s love for them just like ministers.

No checking out women.
This is a no brainer. Of course we shouldn’t check out other women, especially if we are married. Single guys can get away with it a little more as long as it’s not obsessive or a look at the wrong things and so one. But other married men in the church aren’t scorned as sharply as “ministers” are. People say, “Oh, it’s just natural to desire the opposite sex.” But if a minister even looks at another women, it’s all over.

Must have a deeper walk than anyone else
Again, I see the point in this standard. A “minister” is supposed to lead people. He is responsible for their spiritual journey. God says that all “ministers” will give an account on how they led. And by the way, that’s a huge burden to carry. It’s freaks me out every day. But the problem is what we believe about our spirituality compared to the “minister’s.” We tell ourselves. “Oh, he’s a minister. I’ll never be a s spiritual as he is.” That’s so dumb. But what’s worse is when we use it as an excuse to be lazy in our spiritual walk. We say we will never be that deep, and so we never try to get to another level. We stay here because we can’t get there. That’s stupid. We should all strive to be thee most Christ-like person we can be. No one is perfect, not eve “ministers.”

So the point I’m really tiring to get across is that all Christians, “ministers” or not, really are ministers. All of us. An ordination doesn’t matter to God. If you had a chance to witness and didn’t, you will be held accountable. So get ready. It’s time we all realized that we are all witnesses for God, no matter if we do it vocationally or not.

!0 Days in Matty 10: Day 2

2008-06-05T15:34:00.004-04:00

So here we are. Day 2 of "Ten Days in Matty Ten." Click here for more...

So yesterday we talked about going to the lost in our worship. Today we look at the topic Jesus told his disciples to speak about.

"As you go, preach this message: "The kingdom of heaven is near."

The second thing that Jesus said should describe their ministry in their message, "The kingdom of heaven is near." So again we have a question. How can I "preach" that the kingdom of heaven is near in worship?

I recently read a book called "Future-Ancient Worship." It was a pretty good book. Heavy on theory; light on practicality. But it definitely inspired me. The idea of the book is that the early church told God's story in their worship. They told the story of the beginning when God created the earth. They told the story of what God had been doing in the earth. They told the story of what God is doing now. And they told the story of what God would do. And right here is this verse, Jesus is telling his disciples to tell the story of what God will do. So how does that happen in worship?

We tell the story of what God will do. It's that easy. Well not really. But there are a lot of ways to do this.

The easy way to do this is to sing about what God will do. Sing about how Christ is coming again or how God will soon crush Satan under our feet. Or we can show videos of ways God has blessed us in the past and use them to show people that we believe God will bless us in the future. Or we can do a number of other things. But there's one thing that we are leaving out.

We can show people what God has planned for their life.

All to often this is left to the preacher. We expect the preacher to give the alter call at the end of the message. Or we expect the preacher to tell people how his message is applicable to their life. But we rarely if ever do this in worship. Now, this is a little hard to nail down on how to do, but here's what I've come up with...

We can show people God's plan for their life by making our worship service an environment that best reflects the kingdom of heaven. No one really knows what heaven is like, I know I don't have a clue. But scripture does give us some good ideas. Music, light, gold streets, worship, no fears, no tears. We can reflect this in our worship. We can have music(really?) and lights, and we can paint the floor gold(just kidding, unless you really want to, then go for it!), and we can worship. But seriously, we can strive to represent what heaven will be like.

A huge way to show people what God has planned for their life is through showing real life change. I love seeing videos of some one's testimony. This weekend, a 15 year old girl shared about how God has blessed despite her sickle cell anemia. That really got the place stirring. It moved people. She got a standing ovation. And you know what else? It revealed to people how selfish they are. They responded with life change of their own.

So that's just a couple of ideas of how to share "The kingdom of heaven is near" in our worship. Tomorrow we will look at God's call to heal people(Matthew 10:9, 10).

Hope

2008-06-05T11:08:00.004-04:00

I just read Matthew 11:1-19. It rocked me. I mean rocked me hard. Things aren't easy for Desi and I trying to move to Charlotte. People haven't done things they said they would, and jobs just aren't working out. It's stressing us out to no end. But after reading Matthew 11:1-19, I see that even an amazing man like John, whom Jesus says there is no one like, still went through some serious crap.

John was in prison and asked Jesus if he was really the guy everyone was waiting for. Of course Jesus says, "Yes." Then Jesus turns to a crowd and tells them that John was the 2nd Elijah, and that there has never been anyone on earth like John. But John stayed in jail. This is what I wrote in my journal after reading this...

I'm right there with John. I'm in a bad spot. Things look pretty grim right now. I can't see the light at the end of the tunnel. I don't even see an end. I don't know what to do. What more can I do? What else is there to do. Desi's stressed and I can't help. It makes me feel so helpless. I need help. There's nothing more that I can do, but there's always something God can do. God can provide Desi with a job. He can provide me with a job. He can provide us with more support than we could even imagine.

But it's hard to believe that when you can't see it. It's hard to believe in any good when all you see in bad. It's hard to believe in light when all you see is darkness.

But I've seen light come out of the darkness. I've seen peace in stressful situations. I've seen money come in when it's needed. I've seen God succeed when man failed. I've been hurt, then shown love. I've seen God's provision first hand. He's taken care of us before, so why should I doubt He would do it again? He has provided. He is providing. And He will provide.

I've been given hope before, and now I take it.

I will not be shaken. I will not lose faith. And I will not give up on hope!

I know I'm not the first person to feel this helpless. And I know I'm not the first to try to rise above it. But this is the first time I've felt like this so strongly. But thanks to Matthew 11:1-19, I will never again have an excuse to lose faith in God. My hope now is that you don't either.

!0 Days in Matty 10: Day 1

2008-06-04T17:34:00.002-04:00

So here we are. Day one of “Ten Days in Matty Ten.” You can click here to find out more about “Ten Days in Matty Ten.”

“Go rather to the lost sheep of Israel…” –Matthew 10:6

The first thing Jesus tells his disciples to do is go to the lost. He says it himself. He says the sick need a doctor not the healthy. He tells his disciples to live this out too. He tells them to go to the lost sheep, not to the ones that have been found. We are obviously to do the same. But how does that work in worship ministry?

I think the first way that we can live this out in worship is in the things we create for a worship experience. Things like graphics, videos, dramas should be done with the same excellence that anything else out there is. We shouldn’t slack one bit. We should strive for the best. They should also be relatable. People should be able to see a drama and see themselves in the same situation. Dramas about a little boy being in trouble at school and his dad sitting down and talking to him, then the little boy says, “You’re right Daddy, I’m sorry,” aren’t relatable. Everyone knows that’s not how it works. The boy comes home and starts arguing with his parents about it, and the parents just don’t know what to do. That’s real. That’s what our videos and dramas need to portray.

Another way is in the words we use during a worship service. This can really go for talking period. People who didn’t grow up in church don’t know words and phrases like “redeemed,” “consecrated for God’s will,” or even what “salvation” means. I can replace those words with others they do know like “forgiven,” “set apart,” and saved by grace.” Using words people understand will help them understand God’s sacrifice and forgiveness for their own lives. If they don’t understand our words, they won’t understand God’s plans for them.

A third way to “go to the lost” is in songwriting. I love songwriting. It’s something God has given me the ability to do. The hard part is writing songs that non-Christians can understand. This is a lot like using words they understand, but it’s just a step further. When I write a song, I try to write it in a way that sounds like the music people listen to, and also has something that matters to their life. Like feeling helpless but finding hope. Too many hymns are confusing for non-Christians today. Don’t get me wrong; they’re amazing songs with amazing truth. But so many people just don’t get them. They feel like they can’t connect with hymns. So writing songs people can understand and relate to is extremely important.

So these are just a couple of things we can do to help our worship ministry “go to the lost.” Tomorrow we will see how to preach the message, “The Kingdom of God is near” in our worship.

The Next Ten Days

2008-06-04T14:29:00.002-04:00

I've been reading through Matthew for the past couple of months. It's been great. I've really learned a whole lot through this time. But here's what happened recently.

I've been stuck on Matthew 10 for a couple of days now. It's the one that's titled "Jesus send out the twelve." Well, it's pretty phenomenal. I love it. Like I said, I can't get away from it. Basically, this is where Jesus tells the disciples what to do. He kind of gives them the description of their ministry. So this inspired me. I thought, "What is God's description of my ministry?" So I read through Matthew 10, again, and got a list of 10 specific things Jesus told the disciples to do. Then I thought, "How do these things translate in worship ministry?"

So here's what we're going to do. For the next 10 days, I'm going to write about these 10 things. One each day for the next 10 days. It will be called, "Ten Days in Matty 10." (I have nicknames for all the disciples. It's fun; you should try it some time.) Each day I will talk about one of the descriptions of the disciples ministry and how it translates into the way I do worship ministry. This should be fun. But first things first.

Here is the list of the 10 things...

1) Go to the lost(v.6)
2) Preach: The Kingdom of God is near(v. 7)
3) Heal people(v. 8)
4) Don't bring money or extra clothes(v. 9, 10)
5) Find a worthy person to stay with(v. 11)
6) If you aren't welcome, leave(v. 14)
7) Be shrewd and innocent(v. 16)
8) Don't worry about what to say. God will speak or you(v. 19, 20)
9) Don't keep anything secret(v. 27)
10) Don't fear men; fear God(v. 28)

Some of those sound strange for worship ministry, I know. But just give me a chance. Anywho, those are the Big 10. Well, maybe the 10 commandments should be called the "Big 10" but oh well. So let's start "Ten days in Matty 10." Later today actually. For now, I must go for a run, take a bath, take out the trash, and fold laundry. So come back later today, and we will begin our journey.

Very Strange

2008-06-03T15:04:00.006-04:00

So I'm at home by myself with Riley, my dog. Desi and I have packed all of our movies and such, so the only thing to do is watch tv, play around on the computer, read, and other things that will only catch my interest for a few moments.

Well, out of my boredom, I have come to love Photobooth. I took these while watching "World's Most Amazing Videos" on Spike

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This is really pretty terrifying. I look like a ghost that is about to eat someone!

I look like a dead guy in a comic strip! Cool!

I look like I just got punched and someone decided to sketch it real quick. Ouch!

Did we really come from monkeys?

Or maybe it was rats?

I really hope I never get this bored again.