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Summer

Summertime is quickly approaching, so it is time to get into summer shape around Journey. Living in a college town always makes summer very interesting. The streets are easier to navigate, there are no lines at the local eateries, and the town just looks older. Don't get me wrong, while it is nice getting around, I would much rather have the college students here year-round.

One of the topics of discussion for Rod and I lately is our "Summertime Plan". That might sound goofy to some of you, but if you don't continue to train during your off season you won't be in shape to play at your potential in the regular season. This year we want to train, plan, and grow so that we can experience all that God has for us in the future.

Here are the things we will focus on this summer:

Passion for Christ - I want us to absolutely fall in love with Christ more than ever before! I want more of His presence and power in everything we do!

Passion for our Calling - I want people to see the excitement on our faces about getting to be in full-time ministry. What an incredible honor the Lord has allowed us to have as a staff, and I want people to see the passion we have for our calling.

Passion for our Team - Everyday in ministry is met with a new challenge and a new attack from the enemy. It doesn't matter how good things are, there is rejection, criticism, hurt, etc. all the time in ministry. One of the ways you combat that is to surround yourself with encouraging, loyal, capable God-lovin' people! When that team works together it is truly incredible what you can accomplish!

Passion for People - I want to reach, connect, and care for every person that God brings through our doors! I have no desire to be "content" with where we are when it comes to seeing a city transformed. I want Journey to be a spiritual family that models to the world what community is all about and how it works.

Those are some of the focuses that will be happening behind the scenes this year at Journey during the summer! Now if we can just make it through a few more weeks of school.

Questions

One of the processes I have always valued in life has been the questioning. I have found in my own life, and the life of the church, that asking the right questions makes us better and more effective in ministry. Matter of fact, I believe that without the right questions you grow old and begin to wither. So with that in mind as we approach this next school year I am beginning to question things.

Here are a few that I am asking so far:

• How does Journey resemble the church I always dreamed about? How does Journey not resemble the church I always dreamed about?
• What brings me joy about the past 6 years? What disappoints me about the past 6 years?
• At what seasons in Journey's history have I grown as a leader the most? What areas do I need to grow in the most right now?
• How, being in a college town, do we strategically plan for the different seasons in our church's year? What do I need to strategically lead us in the summer to prepare us for the next school year?
• How has the American culture changed in 6 1/2 years?
• How has our society affected family life?
• What is different for college students than 6 years ago?
• What have I always made excuses about (were just too young) that now I need to own as poor leadership on my part? What do I need to do to change the rhythm of those areas?

I'll leave you with that for now, but will keep sharing as I keep questioning. I would encourage all my friends with young churches to question often! I have found that I have allowed things to "slide" for years in the name of we will fix it when.... We will make it a priority when.... STOP waiting for the "whens", bite the bullet, and lead like you know you need to! God has called you, anointed you, and gifted you with everything you need to be the leader God wants for your church! Don't allow the enemy, or others, to mess with your head! LEAD!!!

I'm off to buy a new mower now. I bought a really nice one 5 years ago because it would last forever - it didn't!!

Weekend Recap

Today was one of my favorites! I love when we baptize, but today took on special meaning having the opportunity to baptize someone who came to Christ through the Blessed Life Project! Everyone has done a great job being a blessing to others with the resources God gave you! We wrap things up next week by looking at the how God rewards our giving and generous hearts. It's going to be good!

I'm pumped about our next series starting in 2 weeks. HONOR will be 4 weeks of studying scripture on what God has to say about honor. I have a lot of thoughts running through my head on this one, so it will be fun to share them as God helps us see the benefits of living a life of honor.

Christopher's small group meets at our house every Sunday night. I have never seen a better group of 16-year-old boys! These guys love God with all of their hearts and serve others in a huge way. Tonight they made a list of people they were praying for to invite to summer camp, within a few minutes they had a list 120-strong! I love that they are that focused on others and don't live in a little religous bubble. God is using them in a big time way!

I'm going to spend some time with Robin now, but have some thoughts I want to share this week. Have a great night!

Really Cool!!!

Every day stories about the Blessed Life Project continue to roll in and it is overwhelming! God is using the people of Journey in a huge way right now to be a blessing to others! I am so proud of how the church has responded and how people are being sensitive to what God is saying to them.

So here is a story of a miracle:

One of the  young men, a college student, who recieved money when we began the Blessed Life Project decided to go to the grocery store, with his family, to pay for people's groceries. His family stood back and observed people, simply praying for the Lord to give the guidance on who to bless.

They saw a young couple and went to make the move. They bought their groceries and shared with them why they were doing it. The people were blown away! The family who was giving was also blown away by the moment!

This past Sunday the young couple who had the groceries bought for them came to church for the first time. The wife was a believer, but the husband had never given his life to Christ. The wife had been praying for something to happen that would move her husband towards Christ and when someone bought his groceries that did it!

The husband and wife came up to the prayer team Sunday to share their gratefulness! But what is even better is that the husband wanted to share how he had just committed his life to Christ!!! Yes, everyone was crying!

This Sunday the young couple is getting baptized! They are plugging into a small group and want to be connected to the local church!

I can't even begin to say how incredibly proud I am of you Journey Church. That truly is the Blessed Life!

Cultural Shift

One of the hot topics any time you get a bunch of older people together is "cultural shifts". It does not fail, any time you see a group sitting around having coffee they are talking about how things have changed, and not for the good. Matter of fact, somewhere in the conversation someone will say, "Can you believe those young people..." The funny thing about cultural shifts is that sometimes they really are for the better, but because they are change in general people fight them.

So the bottom line is that every family, and organization, face cultural shifts - some of the shifts are good and some are bad. When they are bad they are usually not in your face, I'm-going-to-change-everything shifts. They usually come in small degrees, changing things a little at a time.

All that to say, what are the cultural shifts you have experienced, are experiencing, or need to experience? If you don't intentionally protect the values of your culture they will change! Our families, and organizations, need us to protect the integrity of the vision that God has given us.

Over the next 6-8 weeks I will be evaluating the culture at Journey. I will spend alot of time in prayer, studying, and simply observing where we are as a church. After assessing where we are, we'll protect some things and change some things, but most of all we will continue to chase after the heart of God for what He desires for Journey.

What are the cultural shifts you are dealing with right now? What do you need to protect? What do you need to change?

A Little Late

I'm getting around to my weekend recap a little later than usual today. I have spent most of the day in a post-weekend fog that has been a little crazy. Someone at church yesterday asked how I was doing and I told them it was the best-worst week I'd had in a long time!

God has spoke so many things into my life in the past week, but it seems as though the enemy decided to turn up the heat a little bit also. It was a week that I knew would have no margin built into it, because of my schedule, but then the enemy threw some circumstances into that needed margin. By the end of the day yesterday I was officially spent!

Talking about yesterday, it was a great day! I love the fact that most people are excited about me teaching on the tithe! I'm telling you straight up that if our church, and the American church, will actually tithe it will change the world!

The East Campus rocked along yesterday with 350+! Jay is doing such a great job leading that group of people and pastoring them. If you want to have a pastor that cares like crazy go hang out with Jay! The guy loves people in an amazing way!

Well, I'm going to keep things short today! So have a great day!

Opening Night

The first night of the ARC Conference Chris Hodges laid it all out. He openly shared with everyone the battles that he had faced over the past 7 years since beginning the church. Chris did an exceptional job sharing the battles we face as Sr. Pastors and how to deal with them.

At Journey we have not talked much about the battles we walk through on a daily basis, nor does Chris with his church, but I think it is important to be honest about some of the things we, and I, face as we lead the church. While we always lead with faith in God and extend grace to others, there are days where it would be easier just to walk away. Here are the battles Chris mentioned.

The Battle of demonic attack - This is when you know  the enemy of God is absolutely messing with you to try to prevent you from leading your church forward. There have been several times in our church's history that you could just feel it. Matter of fact, every time we expand we see a very real attack from the enemy. We just expanded!

The Battle of rejection - As pastors we are human and it does suck when we feel rejection. People come, people go, people write letters and emails, people talk about you unfairly and our role is to live with it and trust God. That is easier said than done.

The Battle of lonliness - While as pastors we have people all around us, often times our close knit group of friends is very small.

The Battle of temptation - That's right - temptation. All though we commit our lives to ministry we face temptation just like everyone else. A true statement is that when blessings increase, temptations increase!

The Battle of discouragment - While we get hundreds of compliments all the times it is very easy to focus on the knucklehead who slams you.

So there they are - those are some of the battles we deal with everyday as pastors. While they are real, they are also winnable (is that a word) battles. It simply takes humility, honesty, and allowing the Holy Spirit to fill your life.

Back from Birmingham

Monday I left, with some of the guys, for Birmingham to attend a conference at Church of the Highlands. I had Jay share a little about the East Campus while I was on the plane Monday so that I could pick things back up on Tuesday. Little did I know that I would have some "computer glitches" while I was gone. I thought I about getting worked up, but then I decided just to take an unofficial two-day break.

Here is the good news though: The ARC Conference was one of the best experiences in my whole life! God did so many things in my heart! It seemed as though every person who spoke had a direct word for my life and our ministry! I'll share more in the next few days about what I heard.

ARC (Association of Related Churches) is a group of churches that are doing life together and tearing it up for the Kingdom of God. They have chosen to partner with one another in church planting across our nation and our world. Their goal is simple: 2000 church plants by the year 2020! I think they will meet their goal!

I had the opportunity to hear from some of the greatest pastors (not just leaders) in our nation and world. These are people who are living it! They aren't just talking about what needs to be done, or consulting, or writing about it, they are living it out! They are allowing God to use them to build the local church!

These are the guys I heard: Chris Hodges - Dino Rizzo - Greg Surratt - Brian Houston

I'm telling you, it was incredible! Brian pastors Hillsong Church in Australia that is known for incredible leadership and their worship. I want to go to their conference in the next year or two and hang out with these guys in Sydney. Brian's 2 messages were simply life changing to me and my journey!

Church of the Highlands was the host church and they knocked it out of the park. Their hospitality, environment, and attitudes were Christ like to the core. The conference was very affordable which made me wonder what all they would provide. They provided!!! All the food and drinks were free! (Unfortunately unusual for Christian Conferences.)They even provided an Alabama BBQ with ribs, chicken, beef, beans, and a baked potato! Out of the orbit!

That's enough for now - I'll share some more thoughts in the next days and weeks!

Guest Blogger Today – Jay Stokes – Campus Pastor

Happy Monday to All!!! WOW I’m the guest blogger for Clark!!! What an honor!!!

The last few weeks have been a whirlwind!! As we have worked, prepared and opened the new East Campus location it has reminded me once again of the excitement and joy it is to serve the God of the Universe!!! He is doing some amazing things and we get to be a part of it!! It’s been a wild ride thus far BUT a fun one to HANG on for to see where He takes us!!!

It is such an honor to partner and serve with ALL of Journey Church as we continue to pursue our Vision of seeing our city transformed one life at a time! We are ONE church with multiple locations – All of us pursuing the vision God has given us!

If you haven’t had an opportunity to come check out the East Campus, I want to personally invite you over to see what is happenin’ on the east side!!!!! (Just don’t tell Clark, he will be looking for you at the North Campus!!) Ben Hill, our worship Leader, is AMAZING!! His heart and passion for worship is contagious! He and the band are doing a great job at each worship experience. All of our volunteer teams are continuing the tradition of excellence in serving that we have at the North Campus. From Hospitality to Greetings to Ushers to Tech to you name it, we are impacting lives for Christ!! And you have a part in this too!! You are part of what God is doing at the East Campus!! You are investing in our Vision and committed to seeing our city transformed and for that we are VERY thankful!!!

If you want to keep a pulse on what’s happenin’ at the East Campus, check out the blog at http://journeychurcheast.typepad.com/ . You can even subscribe to it if you like!

Journey Church I want to thank you for the opportunity to serve with you as we Honor God, Build Healthy Relationships and Have a BLAST!!!!!

Movie Night

Due to all the rain the kids activities were cancelled tonight so I decided it was time for the Mitchell family to venture out to a movie. A few miles north of us, in Moore, Warren Theatres just opened last week. I had heard alot about this place coming for the last year so it was time to go.

For the facility itself I have to say, "Wow"! They took their time building it and it showed! Everything was done with great excellent and with people in mind. They have a diner that has food at an affordable price, they have theatres that have servers taking your orders, and they even have a fireplace outside the bathrooms.

You could tell the people had been trained very carefully on how to treat people. They were young, but very professional in every aspect. The team seemed genuinely glad to be there and seemed to enjoy each other.

Some of the other cool features were the rocking chairs, (really they rocked!) the huge amount of space for your legs, the 5 different kinds of salt for your popcorn, and did I mention the fireplace?

We went to see "Dr. Suess' Horton meets Who". It is remarkable what they can do with animation now and how it comes alive on the screen. It was obviously a very clean movie that anyone could go see.

Did you catch the words "could go see" instead of "should go see"? While I am trying to learn how to be the light of Christ some lady cast a shadow my way tonight. While I am all in favor of you taking your 2 year old to the movie, just in case they get it, I'm not in favor of you plopping your rear down next to me on the stairs. And I'm sure not in favor once the plop occurs for you to let your kid talk in my ear all night. I have no problem if you take you kid to the movie and sit in one of the 400 hundred empty seats. I have no problem if your 2 year old (who  I don't think gets the movie) wants to talk. Just don't sit on the stairs next to me.

Okay, I got that out of my system. Robin told me I needed to relax. She might be right on this one.

So there is my night at the movies. Warren Theatres - I highly recommend. Dr. Suess always get a 10 - go see the movie. My family's behavior recieves a 10 tonight - except for me because I let some lady plopping next to me get on my nerves. This gives me a great opportunity to grow.

I highly recommend everything with the exception of plopping! I reserve the right to change my mind.