God is in the Camp

The last several months at TJC have been unbelievable. We have experienced remarkable growth. In just four months we have witness attendance shoot up from 400 to 600. We are moving from 2 services to the 3 services, beginning March 22nd (8/9:30/11). We anticipate 750-800 people to visit on Easter (April 5th). We are witnessing salvations, baptisms, people signing up to serve, people joining Gospel Communities, folks becoming covenant members, and endless stories of people inviting, serving, and meeting the needs of others. It has been incredible. 

If I am being honest with you, all of these incredible things excites me beyond all belief, but it is also scares me. It scares me because I do not want us (the church and me personally) to do anything that hinders what God is doing. It is evident that God's presence is with us and is moving in our midst. So I keep humbly praying, "Oh God, thank you for making Your presence very real to us and showing Yourself to us, please don't let us blow it." While you may think I'm playing, I'm not. 

As I was thinking about this phenomena we are experiencing and my own heart's yearning to not mess it up, the phrase, "God is in the camp" came to mind. As I google searched the phrase - as all pastors do when they are trying to remember where that verse they vaguely remember is - I came across a passage. 

Deuteronomy 23:14 - Because the LORD your God walks in the midst of your camp, to deliver you and to give up your enemies before you, therefore your camp must be holy, so that he may not see anything indecent among you and turn away from you.

Moses is giving a vital reminder to Israel, the people of God. He sets their minds on the reality that God is with them. His presence dwells with them. God walks in the midst of the camp. This leads Moses to declare to them that they must be holy. Because God is with them, they should strive for holiness so He does not turn away from them. If they want to dwell in His presence, and if they want Him to continue to remain in the camp, they must be careful to walk in obedience. 


Oh friends, this is the tug my heart was experiencing. I cherish God's presence in our "camp" and what He has being doing in our midst. I've visited and experienced many churches, and I can tell you, not all of them have God in the camp. I want Him to remain with us and do immeasurably more than all we could ask or imagine (Ephesians 3:20), but we must walk in humble obedience to Him. We must submit our lives willingly to Him. 

With humble and hungry hearts, we cry, "God is in the camp! Let us walk in His ways." 

TJC Will Never Be The Same

I have been the pastor of The Journey Church for over 8 years now. It has been a wild ride. We have met in a small strip center, schools, and our current building. We have started several campuses in surrounding cities. Those churches have since been planted off as autonomous churches with their own governing elders. In the course of these years, we have witnessed God do some great things. But something different is happening right now. Something is happening that is unlike anything in our history. 

Over the last 6 months, subtle, but massive shifts have been happening in the hearts of leaders, and the vision, mission, and strategy to reach people who don't know Jesus and grow to maturity people who do, has never been more clear. I believe when we look back years from now at the history of TJC, we will look back at where we're at right now and say, "That's it, that's where we transitioned. It was at that point we took off and never looked back."

I say this with all sincerity and excitement: I have NEVER been more excited about where we are as a church, and where we are going, than I am in this season of our history.

Why am I so excited? Several reasons:

1. As a leadership team of elders and staff, we have never been more on the same page and unified about the clarity of our direction and how to get there. God has given us a clarity of focus and a strategy for how we are going to get there. About 5 months ago our elders and staff read Tim Keller's article, "Leadership and Church Size Dynamics." It is such a helpful tool in understanding the different ways churches, based on their size, have to adjust and structure in order to reach more people. As we read the article we began to see a clear picture of things we needed to begin working on.

Those things included:
- preparing our building to better accomadate people and growth
- transitioning our shepherding, discipleship, and care-giving focus to groups
- clarifying the role of elders, staff, and volunteer teams
- creating a clear and simple assimilation processes for people to go from a guest to a fully committed member
- hiring needed staff members for the purpose of raising the quality of our ministries and their effectiveness
- communicating more clearly the vision and direction

We have a clear focus on where we are heading and every elder, staff member, and key leader is excited. Watch a brief video of this here.

2. We are healthier than we have ever been financially as a church. We have over 70K in our FORWARD fund that has been raised for renovations and expansion in the building. In addition to these funds, we have over 70K in our savings and checking accounts, with zero debt. This is a great place to be and positions us to do some amazing things. 

In addition to this, we hit and raised our FORWARD goal several weeks before the finish line! God is doing a great thing in our midst, and the excitement is being felt in our people too.

3. We have a plethora of high quality people with a interest in working at our church. We have several men currently being interviewed for the Associate Pastor position. These are guys who are eager for a change to join the TJC family and be a part of what we are doing. They are willing to pack up their family and move here to do it. This is something to be excited about. We have a church that people want to be a part of.

4. Our mission focuses are active and growing. Our Imago Dei ministry, which focuses on ministering to families with children with special needs, has VBS this week. Our Haiti mission focus has been great with a future trip coming up in a few months. 

5. This last thing is more of a personal excitement, but it is a renewed passion that God has stirred within me for preaching His Word. It is not that I have ever lost a passion, but God has reinvigorated me with a desire to be more evangelistic. I want the messages to be Christ-exalting, but terribly practical to help people's lives. 

TJC exists to show Jesus as incomparably glorious so that to disregard him is incomprehensibly absurd. We want everything we do to show Jesus as unrivaled, without competitors. We want to live, worship, arrange our lives, time, and money in such way that makes Jesus non-ignorable, in Lebanon and beyond. Everything we do, every decision we make, every dollar we spend as a church, is going through the question: does this help us make Jesus look incomparably glorious?

All of these things really only capture a snapshot of the overall momentum that is building at our church. May TJC put a dent in lostness in Lebanon and beyond, help believers mature into Christlikeness, and all of this for the glory of Jesus Christ. Get excited TJC! I am, more than ever before.

Soli Deo Gloria,
Pastor Erik

Why TJC is Partnering with The Haiti Collective

The Journey Church recently finished a six month process of praying and fact gathering to discern where the Lord would have our church invest in global missions. It is our mission as a church to be a gospel-centered church that makes knowledgeable, obedient, and passionate followers of Jesus Christ. We focus our effort to this by 1. celebrating the gospel in WORSHIP each week, 2. applying the gospel in COMMUNITY with each other, and 3. extending the gospel through MISSION both locally and globally. That is our focus as a church. So we have been prayerfully seeking God's direction for how to fulfill the global part of this third component of our mission.

In the beginning we believed we were going to adopt an unreached unengaged people group in Europe. We did a lot of research on this. We made a trip to the International Mission Board's conference for European missions. We made contact with missionaries all over Europe. And we prayed for God's direction. At the end of all our exploration, we did not believe the timing was right for TJC to go to Europe. Our church body was not quite ready financially, or with personnel, to have maximum effectiveness in Europe. We still believe there will be a day when we engage in European missions, we just do not sense it is time. 

Why Haiti?
 
After we looked thoroughly at Europe, we began to set our eyes on a more accessible location for us to invest. We thought about Mexico, Jamaica, Cuba, and Haiti. There were pros and cons to each, but we began to pray about where we could be effective and engage the largest number of people in our congregation in missions. This led us to Haiti, and in particular, The Haiti Collective (hereafter THC).

  (above: the beautiful landscapes of Haiti, below: the stark reality of poverty)

I had been on three previous trips with THC and have seen the amazing work of ministry happening in Haiti. THC focuses on bringing hope to Haiti through the love of Jesus Christ. It is committed to the local church and investing in its leaders and ministries. More specifically, THC seeks partnerships between US churches and Haitian churches. In this partnership, there is pastoral training, orphan care, micro-business, church planting, medical care, adoption, and many other amazing opportunities to serve the Kingdom of God. 

Though this is not global missions to the unreached unengaged, that does not mean this is not a desperately needed and fruitful mission. There are millions of lost people in Haiti and there is a spiritual darkness that exists there because of the presence of Voodoo. In addition to millions of lost people, Haitian churches are filled with believers that do not have the resources afforded to us for discipleship and spiritual growth. The pastors are not theologically educated and can rarely afford the resources to acquire that education. By empowering these local churches and pastors, we are equipping them to reach Haiti with the gospel.

  (above: orphans eating, below: an orphan gets her meal)

Our church has committed to approach local and global missions from a long-term perspective. We do not want to take short-term trips to different places each year. We want to invest in a partnership and relationship that is enduring and lasting. We want to build relationships with those we minister to and with. We want to grow with the leaders and support the orphans. We desire that TJC folks would adopt many of these orphans. THC gives us that opportunity.

Where Are We Investing?

(Port-de-Paix is in northern Haiti)

The Journey Church will be partnering with a church in the city of Port-de-Paix. It has a population of roughly 250,000 people. It is located in the northern part of Haiti on the coast. The church in Port-de-Paix is led by two pastors who work bi-vocationally to lead the church. The church is caring for orphans and providing education, clothing, and food for them. There are so many opportunities for us to partner with this church to extend the gospel.

  (above: clean water filters provided by THC, below: pastor's conference & training)

 

When Are We Going?

We will be taking a team to Port-De-Paix this summer (2014) on August 8th-16th. We will begin promoting this at church soon and enlisting those interested. We are looking to take a team of 4-6 folks. We will be doing theological training with the pastors, evangelistic services, VBS with the orphan children, with the potential of doing some medical missions if we have the right personnel. The cost of the trip will be roughly $2,000 per person. This pays for airfare, ground transportation, food, water, and lodging. Every needed expense on the trip will be covered by this cost. We will look to do some fundraisers to lower this overall cost for those attending.

(above: Haitian children, below: Sunday worship gathering)

Those interested will need to:

1. sign up and indicate your interest level

2. acquire your passport 

3. attend all required meetings about the trip (first mtg April 18th)

4. $100 deposit due before May 8th
 
We will share more details at our first meeting about the trip. If this is something you would like to participate in, mark your calendars now, and begin to make preparations to be a part of this incredible ministry. 

If you cannot go on this first trip in August, we are looking to take another trip in January. We can take multiple trips per year, so be sure to prayerfully seek the Lord about how you may participate in this incredible opportunity to extend the gospel globally through MISSION. 

Every person is responsible for participating in global missions. There are only three possible options: you're a sender, you're a goer, or you're disobedient. Which will you be?

share this post so others can know what's happening in global missions

Further Up & Further In

The concept of 'Further Up & Further In' is the concept of pressing further into a subject or thing. It is a phrase captured from C.S. Lewis in his Narnia series. It has continue to be used by others in different settings. John Piper used a 'Further Up & Further In' section in his T.U.L.I.P. series to share additional study materials at the end of each chapter.

We are going to have a 'Further Up & Further In' time together at The Journey Church. At the end of our Counter-Culture series, we are going to have a time of Q&A around the issues from the series and other questions that the series provoked or inspired.

Everyone is welcome. The time of discussion should be both fun and helpful in our growth in Christ. Mark your calendar and start collecting your questions now.

Where: The Journey Church, 212 Leeville Pike.

When: Sunday, September 29th, 2013 (this is the last week of series)

What time: 12:45pm -- We are going to give everyone enough time to go grab a sandwich or burger and get back to the church. 

**Bring your children. There will not be childcare, but kids are welcome. It will be informal. They are free to sit with you, color, play on your phone, or play in one of our kid's rooms.

Sunday Evening Reflections

As today winds down, I find myself filled with gratitude for the grace of God. Today with TJC was a great day. We finished Ephesians 2:10 this morning. I believe it is one of the most important sermons I have ever, or will ever, give. The whole issue surrounds the question: how are we to live? In light of the grace of God through Christ, how then shall we live in this world? We emphasized the idea that we only have one life, don't waste it. We don't want to waste our lives on vain pursuits. We don't want to live pursuing the American Dream, we are called to pursue the Kingdom of God. The message should be posted tomorrow on the Media page of our website. 

Two elements of our service today that stood out to me were our prayer time at the end of service and our corporate singing of "I Surrender All" as a church to conclude the message. I plan for us to do this a bit more frequently than we have in the past. I would like for us to take more time in our services to pray specifically for those who have needs. Today was a good start to that practice.

Next Sunday we begin a 5 week series called Counter Culture: Living for Christ in a World that Hates Him. We are going to explore how believers should approach living in a culture that is hostile toward Christ and Christians. We are going to look at many of today's hot-button topics and see what the Bible teaches us. Don't miss this series as we explore this vitally relevant discussion on living as Christians in this culture. Invite a friend.

Lastly, this week I will be writing several blog posts that I believe will be helpful to you and your faith. I'm going to write on accountability in our lives, the reality that there is much more to walking with God than many experience in their lives, defining and understanding biblical manhood and womanhood, and more. I'm going to be covering a variety of topics, but each of them are intended to help you grow in your faith and help point you in the ways of God. I hope you stop by and read.  

I pray this for you as you prepare to start a new week: The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace. (Numbers 6:24-26 ESV).

Sunday Evening Reflections

It is the end of a great Sunday. I truly love getting to pastor this church and spending my life with all these wonderful people. 

Highlights of the day:

**Josh and Philip did an amazing job, once again, in leading the church in worship. We miss Robbie and we are grateful for all his leadership over the years. But it is wonderful to watch these two guys, as well as the whole band, step up to the plate and lead the church in worship. I can really tell they are settling in and growing more comfortable. 

**We also had communion following worship today, which is usually where we do the offering. I thought this worked well, and I especially enjoyed giving the kids who have made professions of faith an opportunity to share in that moment with us. 

**I felt the sermon went okay. I never leave church feeling like I've hit a grandslam. I'm always wondering if it connected with everyone. I'm always left praying God will take it and make it powerfully applicable to the issues people are facing. 

**The one thing I do pray is left in everyone's mind is the boasting box. I appreciate Frank Bishop and Chris Boykin being my participants this morning. I pray the image will always remain in our minds. We have no room for self-boasting. God's grace is a gift, along with the faith to apprehend it, that should leave us with only one boast - the cross of Christ. 

**We commissioned my good friend and fellow laborer, Todd Bates. Todd became an official elder at TJC today. He has patiently endured the process for several years, sharpening his character and skills. It was both an honor and a joy to share that moment at the end of service.

**We had Gospel Community tonight at my house. We had a great conversation around the dinner table about our personal relationship with God. We also talked about how the church can be more intentional in ministering to the hurting on Sundays. It was such an encouraging time. Everyone needs to be in community!! 

Important Reminders

**Don't forget about the new series starting in two weeks, Counter-Culture. Be sure to invite people to join you at church for this series. I would love to see us use Facebook and Twitter to promote this series. If you see the series logo be sure to share it with others. 

**The Student Ministry begins full board this Wednesday. They will begin meeting at my house. I'm really excited for this. If you have students 6th - 12th grade, we want them to be there. Refer others as well. See: www.tjcstudents.blogspot.com for more info. 

**TJC Men are taking a retreat. Guys, you need to get signed up ASAP. It is going to be a great time together. The dates are September 6th-7th. Go to the Connection Point Table to sign up next Sunday. 

I love pastoring this church. I pray today was a great day for you. May God bless and guide each of you this week. 

Question: what was the highlight of the day for you at church?

FORWARD

Journey family,

We are in the midst of exciting times. 2011 has been the most fruitful year of ministry in our church’s 5 year history. We have seen incredible numbers of professions of faith, baptisms, and numerical growth in the church. You guys are a big reason for why these things are happening. You invite people to experience what is happening. You give faithfully to see our ministries continue to thrive. You serve unselfishly to see kids ministered to, people welcomed, and the worship gathering to glorify God. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

With all that is going good, we are also in a dangerous place. The danger we are in is that we could easily grow complacent with where we are. We have buildings. We have decent tithe dollars. We could just mail it in and call it good. However, you know that is not how we roll. The Journey Church is not interested in playing it safe. We are not interested in growing comfortable or complacent. We believe there is a lost and dying world in need of the gospel, which demands our comfort zones be shattered. There are too many people in our neighborhoods, schools, families, and workplaces who have yet to respond to the gospel of Jesus Christ, and we have the mandate and privilege to go after them.
With all of that being said, the elders of the Journey want to introduce some language to the congregation that we want to start using, to remind ourselves of our mandate and the great need around us. We want to use this in our conversations at church, in small group, and when we are with our church family sharing in fellowship. We want to see this language used on Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking places. We want this to become a part of the very DNA and fabric of our church. What is the language:

#FORWARD. FORWARD as a church, FORWARD with the gospel!

Our church can’t sit and grow complacent, we must move FORWARD. The gospel is not just for us to sit around and talk about, it must go FORWARD. There are cities around us to be reached, we must go FORWARD. This also includes our personal lives. We have to learn obedience to God in all things, we must move FORWARD. We need to be immersed in His Word and in prayer, that’s how we move FORWARD. We must give our time, dollars, and energy to see this reality accomplished among us, we have to step FORWARD.

On Sunday, October 9th, at our Sunday morning services, we will be announcing more details about how we are going to move FORWARD. Until then, be praying and asking God about what you and your family will need to begin doing in order for you to move FORWARD. FORWARD in your faith and FORWARD in your service to your church family.

Great things are coming Journey Church. Let’s believe that God has greater things in store for us than we have already experienced. It’s time to move FORWARD!

Journey Church: if you are ready to move forward and want to let others know about it, share this post on your Facebook and/or Twitter. Let's get the word out!

Exciting Days Ahead of Us

Yesterday's message at The Journey Church was an important one. It was a jolting reminder of the necessity of staying focused on the mission of the gospel. The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few. As we scan our cities and we behold the vast number of lost people who have not made Christ the treasure of their lives, we should be filled with compassion and determination to about our Father's business. We are also called to pray that God, the Lord of this great harvest, would send laborers to reach His people, chosen from the foundations of the earth.

There are exciting days ahead of us as a church. The excitement is centered on envisioning hundreds, if not thousands, of people coming to Christ, being baptized, and joining the mission of reaching the harvest. However, excitement around these things is not enough, we need commitment. We will need sacrifice. In the coming days these commitments and sacrifices will become more defined and more clear, but for now, the challenge is for us to pray and ask God to prepare our church for the task He is calling us to.

Please pray for me church, that I would lead as He has called me to. Pray that I would be submitted fully to Him to say, do, and act upon the things He is revealing to me. Pray for all of our elders (James Ulmer, Tim Davis, Kim Working, Kyle Heckman, Shawn Allen, me) as we huddle to pray, plan, and prepare our church for where God is leading us in the months ahead.

Greater things are yet to come!

Haiti Disaster Relief

In response to the tragic earthquake in Haiti last week, The Journey Church will be working in conjunction with several local churches and organizations to collect the following items to send to the people of Haiti:

1. New or used shoes (adults, kids, babies)

2. New clothes (adults & kids)

3. Cases of bottled water

4. Preferably new tents, blankets, and duffel bags

5. Baby food and formula

6. Diapers (mainly sizes 2 & 3)

7. Baby bottles (with nipples) and sippy cups

8. Flashlights and batteries

Note: we will be collecting these items starting this Sunday 1/24 through Sunday 2/21. You can drop the items off at the Pathways table at the campus you attend each Sunday. If you have any questions, please contact the church office at 615-547-7070 or John Griffin atjohn@thejourneytn.org.

Let's try to step up Journey Church to do our part in being the hands and feet of Christ in the world.