Sunday Evening Reflections

What a day! We had two great services at The Journey today both at the West and Providence Campuses. The message today is one that I believe is vital to the Savage Generation and church at large. We have to be people who follow the Holy Spirit in our lives. I think a question worth asking on here that I asked today is: if you removed the Holy Spirit from your theology or belief, would it change anything about your faith? We have to quit reducing our faith to a handful of dogmas and theological beliefs and begin embracing the mystery and adventurous side of faith. This only happens when we follow the Spirit of God as He leads us.

Also, this is the official announcement: we are relocating our West Campus to Lebanon into a permanent facility! We are so excited about what opportunities we believe this presents us. We hope this serves as a hub for launching new campuses in the future, planting new churches, hosting conferences, and many other things. We see unlimited possibilities for mission out of this building. With it being located across from Cumberland University we believe it strategically places us in position to have influence on that campus. We also have the chance to minister to some lower-income neighborhoods and believe this is too often a neglected aspect of the local church.

Greater things are yet to come. We are so excited about what God is going to do through the Journey Church now and in the days ahead. I'm so proud to be a part of a church that has responded to the door God opened for us with radical obedience and following the Spirit as He moves us forward. I'm honored to be the pastor of such a church.

Camera Shy

Last night I went to the Predators hockey game with my family and some friends. We bought tickets from a guy at church who was selling them as a promotional for his hockey league. His hockey league had worked out a deal to play their All-Star game on the Predators ice after the game. So we bought our tickets and watched the Predators and then afterward watched our bud play in the All-Star game of his league. The cool thing is we got to move down to seats on the glass.

During the All-Star game we looked over and Jordin Tootoo from the Predators was sitting there watching the game. I'm not a very star struck guy, but he happens to be Kaleb's favorite player. Everyone starts trying to talk me into getting his picture with Kaleb. I told them that I didn't want to bother him. When they finally convinced me of going over, I went and asked him if he would take a picture with my son. He was more than glad to take a picture, but when I went to take the picture, the camera focus was all up in his nostril. I could not get the zoom to go back. So I just kept sitting there taking pictures of his chin and nose trying to figure it out. Someone finally had to come over and fix the camera for me. Needless to say it was embarrassing. Worse than that, my intelligence level has to be in question for not knowing how to operate a camera. Oh well.

Have you ever been any embarrassing moments where time seemed to stop and everybody was starring at you?

3 Things God is Saying to Me

There are seasons of time in my life where I feel God is challenging me on certain things. These seasons include things I need to be praying for, areas in my life where I need to repent, and even seasons of preparation for things to come. As I have prayed and sought God the last several months, there are several things that keep reemerging that I believe God is saying to me.

1. Expanded Influence
I believe the Journey is about to experience a season of expanded influence. Whether this means more people that we're ministering to each week or open doors to help direct some other churches, God is about to give us a platform to be heard. This increased influence means that individuals have to be prepared to step up into leadership roles and be prepared for increased responsibility. With increased influence comes increased responsibility.

2. Increased Dependence
This expanded influence is going to require our increased dependence on God. The strength and direction we will need to lead larger numbers will demand a more focused surrender to our Father. We cannot lead out of last year's growth in our lives. We must be before Him constantly, being led by His Spirit. We have to realize that everything comes from Him. Our growth will not be a chance to pat our own backs, but rather it will push us down lower to our knees.

3. Unashamed Love
I think this a big one. This is not simply about loving God more, it is about an unashamed love for Him. It is about an unashamed declaration that hope is only found Him. We have to bolder in our proclamation that He is King and our lives are to be lived in relationship with Jesus. This will require sermons that are undeniably inviting people to give their life to follow Jesus. It means individuals are quick to share with friends, co-workers, and family the hope they have found in Jesus.

These are three things I feel God is saying to me. It excites me, but challenges me at the same time. What about you? In what ways do you need to respond to God's promptings?

Expect the Unexpected

If I have learned anything in my limited existence on earth, it is to expect the unexpected. Things rarely go as planned. Expectation and reality are usually always different. What we think is going to happen often results in something else. This is the law of the universe: expect the unexpected.

Yesterday when my wife told me she was pregnant, that was not expected. It was not planned. Life was just moving along and in one phone call it became very different. I started thinking through the reality that I'm about to be the father of another child. I'm about to have the responsibility to care for another human being. The news was exciting and sobering. It wasn't part of the plan. But it was a truly astonishing new beginning for our family.

Do you live life expecting the unexpected? Or do you get knocked off course and discouraged when things don't go as you planned? We can't control life. We can only take each moment as it comes. The greatest advice I could give anyone is to live life expecting the unexpected. That way you are not disappointed when things go astray. But you are also constantly awaiting the amazing surprises life brings.

Moving at the Speed of God

We just finished talking yesterday at The Journey about Radical Obedience. I feel one of the defining characteristics of the generation God will use to ignite a movement is obedience. The word "obedience" gets a really bad rap. We see the word as a negative. We equate it to forced submission. Why do we see obedience as something we do against our will? Why is that obedience has become something we do despite what we would truly desire doing?

I think we need to rehabilitate the meaning obedience. I think we need to see obedience through the lenses of opportunity. The more obedient we are to the voice of God and the ways of God, the more opportunities we will have to encounter divine moments in our lives. Obedience propels us forward. It gives velocity to our lives. When we obey God, it begins moving us at the speed of God.

I spoke yesterday about the example of driving down the interstate and looking out the window and seeing a blur of trees and other things. This is because the trees are stationary and we are moving. However, we often have a car going beside us at the same speed and we are able to look out the window and see with clarity what the person in the car is doing. It is as if they are not moving. This is what moving at the speed of God is like. God is constantly moving around us, but if we are stationary, seeing God will be a blur. When we are obedient to God it give us the velocity to pull alongside of God and see with clarity what He is doing around us. This is how we capture the divine encounters in our daily lives. Obedience to Him is the key to unlocking this reality in our lives.

What speed are you moving at? Does seeing God's movement around you seem like a blur or is it clear? Obedience is a defining characteristic of the Savage Generation.

A Prayer for the Day

I'm an avid reader. I constantly have a book or two I'm reading. The amazing thing about a book is you have the opportunity to interact with and get inside the mind of people who have come before us. You can read books and have a quasi one-on-one session with them. You can know the thoughts and passions of people you may never have a chance to sit down and talk to. But with a book, you can sit down with them whenever you like.

I want to quote a prayer written by A.W. Tozer in his book The Pursuit of God.

"Father, I want to know Thee, but my coward heart fears to give up its toys. I cannot part with them without inward bleeding, and I do not try to hide from Thee the terror of the parting. I come trembling, but I do come. Please root from my heart all Those things which I have cherished so long and which have become a very part of my living self, so that Thou mayest enter and dwell there without a rival. Then shalt Thou make the place of Thy feet glorious. Then shall my heart have no need of the sun to shine in it, for Thyself will be the light of it, and there shall be no night there. In Jesus' name, Amen." (pg. 24)

Writing for Influence

Every day there are new ways of communication being developed in which influence can be transferred and information received. Despite these ever expanding ways of communicating, writing still serves as a foundational and effective method for exchanging ideas to many people. It was the invention of the printing press that spread the ideas of young Martin Luther and shaped the future of Christianity. It was the transferring of letters written by Paul and writing from the early apostles that help propagate and strengthen the faith of early first and second century Christians. As I look at my own life and ideas that I have about the faith and how it translates in our lives, I want to explore doing more writing. I speak to a couple hundred people each week through sermons and maybe more through people who watch on the Internet, but I'm writing a curriculum for Lifeway that will be read by potentially several thousand. There is a major opportunity for influence through writing that I've previously never fully understood or opened my eyes to. I feel God wanting me to begin writing some of the things I'm learning. The exchange of information and ideas is essential for growth, change, and innovation. It is one form of influence I have not explored much before, but I'm rethinking that.

Question: how much of the information you received is via materials you have read? I know we receive a lot of information via television and Internet, but when comparing information you receive through face-to-face interaction or learning versus reading, which do you find yourself engaging with more?

Igniters

Is God testing me? If my history with God is correct and if the history of God's interaction with man in the Bible is correct, the answer is probably yes. Being tested in your faith is not easy or comfortable, even though we say it is where we want to live. Living on the cutting edge of what God is doing seems to be the mantra with chant, but it is rarely the lifestyle we live. God used the igniters of the world to change the future. These courageous men and women did not rely on their human intuition to make decisions, that were led by the Spirit. They did not ask what is comfortable, they boldly dashed toward God's plan. I want that. I want that badly. I want to found among those who lived willing to charge the gates of hell with a water pistol.

As doors open do you walk through them or peak around? Do you charge or stumble at opportunities? When is the last time you were kept up at night because of a decision that took faith and risk? When is the last time you could be called a risk-taker? One of our core DNA statements at The Journey is that initiating change surpasses avoiding it. Simply put, we are willing to risk everything for the sake of reaching more. What about you?

Savage Generation Series Begins

It has been too long since I last posted. It has been an amazing three weeks. We are in the middle of planting our new Providence Campus and things are going right on schedule. We have successfully pulled off being one church in multiple locations, pretty cool! I am on Spring Break this week from school, but I have a writing project with Lifeway that is due at the end of the week - no break for me.

I'm very excited about what is going on at church right now. I started the Savage Generation series yesterday (which the title of this blog is) and thought it was a great start to the series. The Savage Generation message has been one brewing in my heart now for about six years. I feel God is going to use the Savage Generation to do some amazing things. I think the churches in the future that thrive and reach people will be marked by the characteristics of the Savage Generation. That is why I'm so excited to finally do a teaching series on it. I believe The Journey can be one of those churches that shapes the future of what churches become. It will require us as individuals within the church to become known by those defining characteristics of the Savage Generation.

Invite a friend or family member in the weeks ahead and be thinking about those people who would only come for Easter, its only 6 weeks away.

Sunday Evening Reflections

Wow! What a weekend! Today we became a church that meets in multiple locations. We are now officially a multi-site church. We had such a great day today at The Journey. We had over 219 adults and over 50 kids that we had a chance to minister to. This has been a part of the vision of the church for more than 3 years since we first opened. Today that dream became reality. I'm so grateful to all the people who put in hard work and sacrifice to make that happen. The campus pastor's Shawn Allen and Todd Bates have been phenomenal. Robbie Cheuvront and the tech team guys have been irreplaceable and absolutely ensured that we were able to be fully functional in both locations. It is just exciting to see everything come together so well. Our Host Teams and Children's Ministry were stellar at both locations today and provided a great experience and friendly atmosphere for families attending.

There is still work to be done and many awesome days ahead with our two remaining previews and Grand Opening on March 1st. The Journey became a different church today and this day will not quickly be forgotten. Invite a friend, tell a co-worker, and help continue to ignite this Jesus movement that we all believe needs to happen.

Journeying forward,
Pastor Erik

The Time is Here

We are now only two days away from opening our second campus at The Journey. It is exciting to think about what is going to take place. We have been working extremely hard and praying even harder for this new start. We have distributed nearly 5,000 door-hangers throughout the Providence/Mt Juliet community. We have a newspaper article done on us. We have had communication go out through the school to the families and faculty. Now the time is here to move forward. Be praying that God leads people to respond to the invitations. Pray that His would be glorified and sought after by those who attend. Pray that this would be step one of a Jesus movement igniting in our area. Invite your friends and family to come experience this exciting day at Providence campus launch. This Sunday, February 8th @ 10:30am - Rutland Elementary School behind the Providence development.

A Big Week

After typing the title to this BLOG, I'm asking myself if there is such thing as "Big" or "Small" week...a week is a week. Anyway, sorry for the sidetrack. I'm excited about this week. We are launching our second location in the Providence community this week. We have had the vision of being multi-site since the day we opened our doors three years ago, now the time is finally here. It is so much fun to watch what God is doing. He is bringing people to the church and changing peoples lives. If you have people that you have been wanting to invite to The Journey, this is a great week to do so. The West Campus meets at 9am and the Providence Campus meets at 10:30am.

Another note of news: The Mt Juliet News will be running the newspaper article reported in the Lebanon Democrat this Wednesday, so be looking for it. Pray often this week as you take time to think about all that God is doing at The Journey and the lives that can be changed through the starting of this new campus.

I've Got a Poll Question:

What is your favorite praise and worship song we do at The Journey? If you don't go to The Journey, what is your favorite Christian radio song or praise song from your church?

Currently for me: All Because of Jesus I'm Alive and Glory to God

Your turn.

Exciting Times

We are in some exciting times right now at The Journey Church. We are down to our last week as a church that meets in one location. As of February 8th (next Sunday) we will be a multi-site church. This is something we had envisioned from the day we opened three years ago, and now it is here. We went last night as a small group and put out close to 1000 door-knockers in neighborhoods surrounding Providence. The Campus Pastor of Providence, Shawn Allen, took a team out earlier in the day and distributed around 1000 as well. We still have 3000 more door-knockers we are going to distribute over the next several days. We are praying for people to be at the previews that God wants there. We believe if people know about what we do and experience it for themselves, we are going to have the opportunity to minister to a lot of people. We are 12 days from preview #1, please be in prayer that God would fill the building with the people He wants there and pray that we would continue to be diligent in our work of ministering to those who have needs.

Reminder: we finish our Re-Elect Jesus series this Sunday. You don't want to miss this last sermon of the series. If you have missed previous installments of the series, click here to watch any on video that you may have missed. Don't forget that this Sunday is the last day the service at West will be at 9:30am, we go back to 9am beginning February 8th.

Takin' it to the People

The above title is the title of the newspaper article that was written about the Journey in today's Lebanon Democrat. It is a feature story that was very well written by J.R. Lind. It was awesome to read the article and think about where God has taken us over the last three years. By the way, The Journey's three year anniversary is this Sunday. The article is coming out in the Mount Juliet News also. Go pick up a copy if you haven't seen it already; it will make you proud to say you are a part of The Journey - I sure am.

Video on the Journey and Providence Campus

Quote

"Anyone who reduces the following of Jesus to an enterprise of the heart, the head, and private interpersonal relations restricts the following of Jesus and trivializes Jesus himself"

Jesus and the Hope of the Poor - (Schottroff and Stegemann)

Doors of Opportunity

I have an amazing opportunity today to share the vision of The Journey with Lebanon Democrat & Mount Juliet News. I'm meeting a reporter this morning for a story that will be a feature story in the paper. We are going to be talking about our vision of multiple campuses and why we have chosen to go that direction. I'm excited about the chance to tell Wilson County about who we are and why we do what we do. I hope it reaches readers who can identify with us and would want to be a part of the movement. I believe there will be some doors opened through this article.

We also have our Informational Meeting about the Providence Campus tonight. It will be at Rutland Elementary School beginning at 6pm. I don't know how many people from the community will come, but we are doing our part to let them know what we are about and how they can be a part of The Journey.

Please pray for both of these opportunities today.

Important Providence Campus Dates

Hello all, I hope everyone has had a great week. I have some important dates to relay to everyone in regards to movements happening surrounding the Providence Campus.

* January 19th - 6pm @ Rutland Elementary there will be a community wide informational meeting to share about the new campus. There were adds that ran in the paper concerning this meeting and we hope many people from the church and outside the church will come.

* January 27th and 28th during the day there will be teams of people distributing door-knockers throughout the Providence neighborhoods concerning the Preview Services. **WE NEED WILLING PEOPLE TO HELP OR SUGGEST OTHER DAYS THEY COULD HELP DO THIS

* February 2nd - 5:30pm @ Rutland Elementary there is a Math Night for the school in which THEY NEED 10 VOLUNTEERS TO HELP (this can be a good chance to do some last minute inviting to the Previews, in addition to showing an attitude to serve)

* February 8th, 15th, and 22nd - 10:30am are the three Preview Service dates. This will be a chance for people to get a sneak-peak of what the Journey Church is all about and experience our community of faith

* March 1st - 10:30am is the Grand Opening of the Providence Campus. From this point on, we will have weekly services that will align with our West Campus. Both campuses will be identical services, children's ministry, and group structure

Mission

Just wanted to remind myself and all of us what the church and our lives as followers of Jesus are to be all about. We are not called to become better people. We are not called to be good Christians. The ultimate goal of a follower of Jesus is a transformation from self-serving individual to missionary. We are called to be missionaries. This is not the traditional idea of a missionary, who goes to live overseas amidst a population they seek to evangelize. Rather, this is a lifestyle of living on mission in whatever context you may find yourself. We are to live as daily missionaries in every environment we are in.

The church is a missionary sending agency. Her mission is to be a missionary producer and community of faith, love, and hope. The missional role of the church is to reconcile people to God and to each other through the life of Jesus Christ. That is what the church is for. This is who we are supposed to be becoming.

Are you living as a missionary? Do you think the church of Jesus today is living its missional calling?

Sad Reminder

On Sunday night I took some time to visit a church in Mount Juliet. This is a Baptist church. It has about a 100+ seat auditorium with a big fellowship hall and children Sunday school classrooms. I went to visit them because I wanted to see what is going on in other churches in our community. I got there 20 minutes before the evening service was to start and nobody was anywhere in sight. The parking lot was empty, the lights were off, and I assumed that service had been canceled without me knowing. I decided to stick around, just in case someone popped by. About 10 minutes before service was to start, a few cars trickled in, then another few. I decided to make my way in. When I went inside everyone looked at me with a look of confusion on there face. Someone even asked me, "are you kin to someone here or are you a just a visitor?" I told them I was a visitor and that I was the pastor of a local church who just wanted to fellowship with them for the night. They were so excited that I was there, I would later discover why.

The music we sang were old hymns, but they didn't have a piano player, so we sang along with a tape. We got up and down from the pew nearly 4-5 times as we would sing and sit, then get up to sing again. Several times the guy controlling the tape played the wrong song. The message finally came and it was a message about "laboring for the Lord." It wasn't a bad message, but it was a very scattered message. The entire time I sat in the building, I just wondered if they realized why they weren't reaching people. Their Sunday morning attendance had been 19 that morning, and the interim pastor who was preaching was telling them that God wasn't satisfied with that. However, I highly doubted that any of them were willing to change their patterns or traditions to reach lost people.

I enjoyed being with this small group of people. They were very kind and were very excited that I was there. They invited me to be with them again, and to bring a piano player if I could. I left that night reminded of why there has to be churches willing to make their priority and focus reaching the lost. To reach the lost means to set aside comfortable ways of doing things, it means creating environments in which they feel comfortable to explore faith, without being called out or chastised. I also left thinking about what habits and patterns we have gotten into that may seem find to me and others, but are working against our efforts of reaching people. It was a sad reminder that there are churches dying, and not enough thriving today in our community.

Sunday Evening Reflections

What a great day! We had a phenomenal crowd yesterday. We had every chair out and there were people still sitting in the bleachers. We kicked off the new series: Re-Elect Jesus. I look forward to really challenging our paradigm on our dependence on government over God in our culture and society. There are needs we expect the government to meet that are really the church's job to meet.

We spoke specifically about the fallout's that occur when we begin to compartmentalize our lives into the "spiritual life" and the "real world." We make God a segment of our life rather than the center of our life. This produces two things: 1. We divide the secular and spiritual. We start living as if every decision, conversation, and choice were absent of spiritual implications. 2. We become practical atheist. A practical atheist is someone who claims to believe in God, but lives as if he doesn't exist.

The question that was posed for everyone to reflect on as we closed was: Where is God in your life? Are you shutting Him out, is He a segment of it, or is He at the center?

I look forward to the next three weeks of this series, then we start Providence!

Preach It Brother!

I had to post this quote that I read this morning from the book I'm reading, Seeds of Contemplation by Thomas Merton. In his chapter, Theology of the Devil, Merton is talking about the prevailing theology of only talking about sin, punishment, and people who seem to love discussing this. He says,

It sometimes happens that men who preach most vehemently about evil and the punishment of evil, so that they seem to have practically nothing else on their minds except sin, are really unconscious haters of other men. They think the world does not appreciate them, and this is their way of getting even.

Wow! Now that is well said and extremely insightful. I agree with his assessment of preachers who only seem to focus on the sin of men and describing to others the punishment forthcoming. Does this mean to avoid all such conversation? No. It does mean that you should not derive pleasure, nor revolve your entire preaching ministry around this topic.

Just thought I would share that today. I love that quote.

Sunday Evening Reflections

What a great day today! It was a lot of fun laying out why we want to "ignite a movement" at The Journey. We had a great crowd and great response to the message. I believe we are more and more beginning to see our role and what God has in store for us in the future. It was also a privilege to baptize two people today to start the new year off. We plan and pray to see many more in 2009.

We also had a great lunch after church regarding the Providence campus launch. We gave them some pertinent dates that are coming up and challenged them to see themselves as the leadership cadre that would move the Providence campus forward. We had nearly 20 plus people at the meeting, very exciting!

I cannot wait to see what happens in 2009. It will be the greatest year in Journey history. Thank you everyone who plays such a pivotal role in making our mission happen, you are the heroes of the Journey. As we sang today, God, "We'll run with you, Lead On, We'll run with you, our God."

This Weekend @ The Journey

I'm boiling over inside to preach the message I have for Sunday. I knew what I was going to talk about in general for weeks, but earlier in the week God really laid out some things for me to say. I went to bed around 9:30pm (an all-time early for me), but I could not go to sleep. I was praising God for His blessings in my life. I was praying for people in my life and the for the church. I was praying that God would give me a deeper hunger for Him than I've ever had before in 2009. During all that time of prayer, God began to lay some specific things out for me to share this Sunday. I got out of bed to write things God was speaking to me twice during the night. The last time it happened was around 2am in the morning (yeah, five hours after I went to bed!).

Make every effort to be there this Sunday. I'm excited about sharing this message God has put on my heart. I'm excited about baptizing people and celebrating the lives that have been changed. It is 2009, and it will be a year that will surpass any we have had before.