My shout out leader this week is Sara Clark. She is a fantastic leader. I stepped back there this week and I could hear her just passionately sharing Jesus with the Kid Nation group. It was awesome. She is also a member of the creative team. She does a wonderful job at whatever she does and is just fantastic at it.

Sara...thank you...you are an awesome leader...that is why I am talking about you today!

The dates are Sunday September 7th and September 14th at either the 9:30 or 11:00 services...they will be identical, but also...life changing.

Don't e-mail me for details...you will just have to be there... :)

This Monday... my shout out is to Donnie Bowman.

I love this guy! Talk about someone who is constantly on the move.  It seems like everytime I turn around he is involved with something. From ushering to just serving in any capacity possible...this guy is just special. I like how soft his heart is and how much he loves the house of the Lord. Donnie you are awesome man....keep it up!

Also, stay strong...you know what I am talking about :)

We struggled with praise and worship leaders our first couple of years as a church. At first, I thought it was me, our leadership, and our people, but the past few weeks God has been showing me the real reason behind our "worship leader" struggles.

What we want in our leadership is someone that has a sense of passion, is fun-loving, loyal, walks in self-sacrifice, and most importantly, has a Gospel-centered message. But, for worship leaders, you need to add into that mix the ability to play, sing, and organize others do the same. The problem you run into is that there are not that many people out there that have all that rolled into "one" package.

But, there is an abundance of these guys...the modern day guitar heroes! You know who I am talking about...the guy that spends more time fixing their hair than they actually spend time in preparation to lead God's people. The leader that will work four of five hours on their solo...But will not invest fifteen minutes into the spiritual life of his/her team.

So, I realized something, we would have had to change our vision in order to fit them! They were more interested in how many fans they could win to themselves...not how many people they could impact for Christ.

So, what did we do...I stopped the madness. I made the uncomfortable changes that needed to be made. I let one go...one knew the axe was about to drop so he bowed out early. All the work to build their fanbase and guess what? We didn't lose a single family, but instead, many thanked us for bringing in more authenticate, approachable, and passionate leadership.

Then, we waited for the right person...and sure enough...God is faithful. We are now surrounded by five of the strongest worship leaders that I have ever been around. It is has been amazing to see these people come out of the woodwork! Crazy thing is this...most of them where there the whole time!

Guitar Hero is an awesome game...and even an awesome intro to a service like this one at Buckhead...but in our leadership it is an absolute drag. Thank God for the modern day local church heroes...they are the ones that end up really making the splash.

1. My illuminate group - Me and 7 dedicated leaders talking about doctrine, leadership, and the future of the church. I have a real opportunity of molding some really bright leaders that are going to carry the church further than I could have ever imagined.

2. One on one with my Exec. Pastor- PJ has had knee surgery in the past few weeks so we haven't had time to catch up, but we meet every Tuesday and spend the better part of the afternoon going over every tiny detail concerning the church.

3. Tuesday Morning Staff Meeting- I meet with our media team on Tuesday mornings....we create graphic ideas for sermon series, look over videos, structure out our services, and generally just have an awesome time laughing...and it can get tense when we disagree over a direction. I like it...the clash of ideas is the sound of freedom.

4. My creative team- The meetings have set times, but also can be very random, spontaneous, and ongoing meetings that always happen...sometimes formal...sometimes not, but these guys put the icing on the cake. I love how they laugh, and throw out some of the best ideas ever! (in the interest of full disclosure...sometimes they stink)

5. My lead team staff meetings- Every other Thursday night, I meet with our lead team...7 of the most passionate and dedicated people that I have EVER worked around. We talk about everything going on in each other's ministries. It really is a time for every ministry to get on the same page with each other...so we work together as a team.

6. Worship leaders for CFAN and Refuge- When we very first started we couldn't buy a worship leader. Now, I meet with a whole team of these guys and gals every other Wednesday night and spend time praying, discussing the Word, strategizing, and doing a general check-up on how we are doing in our services with the Gospel.

7. This is not a meeting, but I look forward to family night on Saturday nights. We watch movies, fish behind the house, wrestle, watch more movies, watch Man vs. Wild, play Guitar Hero, and then my wife and I cook something that we have never tried before....together. Fun stuff!

These are the meetings that set me ablaze. I love meetings, but they need to be built around something. What are you involved in that brings purpose? What do you need to step out of because there is no purpose?

It's up to you.

To be honest, my experience level with pastoring people and building leadership was decent, but when it came to planting a church...I really didn't have a clue what I was doing.

A couple of weeks back, I read a study on church planting. This particular group did a study on 2800 church plants nationwide. Their criteria was this...

• Must be between the age of 3yrs and 6yrs.
• Must be total self-sufficient financially. (No outside financial support)
• Must be in a city of more than 30,000 people.
• Had an average active membership of more than 200.

Here is what they found...out of the 2800 churches that fit that criteria only 7% of them met those requirements. I mean really...7%? That is only 196 congregations...

That floored me.

God has been good to us. We struggled hard for our first year and a half. I wasn't for sure if I had the juice to keep hitting the wall and getting up, but then something broke. The truth hurts sometimes and our services sucked when we first started. Now, we have mostly awesome Sundays, some decent ones, and every once in a while a few bad ones, however, God has been good to CFAN.

Here is what we have to be thankful for...

• At ten months old, we bought property with only our church doing the heavy lifting. God made it happen.
• We have millions in assets and we are only 31 months old. God made it happen.
• Our active membership has finally inched over 200. This is the biggest miracle considering that I run off alot of people :)
• We have some of the best, most loyal, and zealous leaders anywhere. I mean that. It is not just something that I say because it's a blog or I have to...I mean it. He is the Lord of the harvest...He always knows just what we need.
• We started out trying to reach people around my age (30s) but in the process we have truly become a multi-generational church. All ages worship alongside each other every Sunday.
• 35 Salvations and 85 baptisms!
• Our children's programs is just amazing. This is a pretty big deal considering it is hard getting a solid kid's ministry off the ground. The amount of volunteers it takes for all the services, classes, and age groups is amazing.
• God has been so good to us and the best is yet to come!

He is a great communicator, missiologists, church planter, and reformed in his theology. Very heady...and if you are into cotton candy sermons this guy is not for you.

But, for years one of my favorite quotes was by St. Francis of Assisi..."Preach always and if necessary use words." He tore it up. Sad thing is he was right.

Want to know what I'm talking about...watch here.

Here is the fundamental difference between religion and the Gospel.

Martin Luther's fundamental insight was that the principle of 'religion' is the deep default mode of the human heart. The heart continues to work in that way even after conversion to Christ. Though we recognize and embrace the principle of the gospel, our hearts will always be trying to return to the mode of self-salvation, which leads to much spiritual deadness, pride and strife, and ministry ineffectiveness.

I can't tell you how much I see this working in my own life at times and the lives of other believers. Why is it that still after knowing that God has called us by His love, His Grace, and His son....that we still try "do" things to please God?

Think about this statement for just a minute...

The gospel is "I am accepted through Christ, therefore I obey" while every other religion operates on the principle of "I obey, therefore I am accepted."

Is it important to be obedient to the things of God...for sure...this is what Isaiah 1:19 says.

For us to become disobedient would speak to the lack of love or ever more so a lack of a regenerative heart. One true characteristic of someone in love with God is the constant regeneration taking place in the life of that believer. He shows us things on a consistent basis that need to change or be adjusted...however...it still does not mean that you are not accepted until you are fully obedient. It is true that your fulfillment as a Chrisitian is tied to your level of obedience, but you are accepted because He loves you.

I hear all the time...statements like "When I get my life straight I will"...It bothers me because when I hear a statement like this it means that we have taken the regenerative work of God out of His hands, and we have now become the driving force behind our own change. This is why we get stuck.

It is an acceptance issue.

We feel that we can't be accepted by Him because we are not holy like Him, perfect like Him, worthy like Him...because we haven't been fully obedient to Him. We dropped the ball...or so religion says. Paul talks about God's acceptance here.

We are loved first, accepted second, and called to obedience third. (Gospel)

Not the other way around....obedient first, then accepted, and once accepted then loved. (Religion)

I thank God that He loves me even when I mess up, drop the ball, or disobey. My heart may break when I do...but it never causes me to question whether I am accepted by Him or not. That is the difference between being Gospel oriented in my response towards failure and being religious about it.

Yea or nay?

And, keep in mind...alot of people read this blog....so husbands its probably not a good thing for you to go running your mouth. :)

So, a couple of weeks back we honored our volunteers in a big way. It was an awesome night and I left humbled at what all God has done for us. For more pics of the night click here.

I am excited about what God is doing in our church. Lately, I have found myself more in the word and praying harder than I have in a long time. Usually, when God starts dealing with me about praying it means that He is getting ready to do something big. The other day...He started dealing with me about bringing our church together for a more focused time of prayer. So, out of this conversation with God...came a heart cry to pray for our church, city, and families.

Check out the church site here for more info.

Egg story here

1. We respond with praise and worship. (Acts 16:25-40) These guys were beaten and still got their worship on! You think you were having a bad day?

2. We respond in prayer. (Acts 12:5) Peter was in prison but prayer never ceased for him...and I bet he was praying like crazy himself.

3. We respond in love. (Matthew 5:44) Normally, the enemy uses people to get to us. We can either respond with hate or we respond with love. Both, will need a different response and will get a different response.

4. We don't give up. (Ephesians 6) Sometimes it comes down to us being faithful...and outlasting our critics.

5. We re-evaluate our lives and see if we opened the door somewhere for the attack. (Psalms 51:10) Examine your heart and make sure that it is clear.

This is not a comprehensive list, but a few different thoughts that will help you keep with the victory and purpose. Tomorrow I want to deal with the wrong response and how they affect us. Until then...keep praising, praying, loving, standing, and focusing on the goodness of God.

Do I get up at the same time every morning?

Am I overweight?

Do I have any addictions (caffeine, sugar, porn, etc.) right now?

Do I take a day off every week?

Have I taken a vacation in the last year? That wasn’t mixed with work?

Is my email inbox near empty right now?

Is my office and car clean or a mess?

Am I usually on time or late for things?

If I tell someone I’ll call them, do I do it?

Do I spend time with God every day?

Do I have a consistent date night with my spouse?

Do I have a hobby I enjoy consistently?

How often do I exercise?

How much TV do I watch?

What does my appearance say about my level of discipline (hair, clothes, etc.)?

Do I eat right?

Do I have a lot of debt?

Do I ever say: “When things slow down, I’m going to_______”

Did God speak to you today through any of this?

• I am loving the lobby...creative team did a great job.
• I had some one remark to me that for the first time they can see the church starting to grab ahold of what we are to become.
• The lighting is unreal. It brings a whole new feel to the sanctuary.
• The praise and worship team keeps amazing me. They get better with each and every week. I am proud of the team.
• I know what is coming up on the announcements and I can not wait. It is going to be funny. Scott posts about it here.
• We had our last service today!?! Our last service at 10!! It was a good time! Don't show up at 10 anymore...you will be either really early or really late...9:30 and 11:00.
• Easter is going to be unbelievable. I honestly can not wait for the whole church to see the amount of people we can reach when we put our minds to it.
• We have aloooot of work to do this week to get things ready for Sunday.
• Easter EGGS everywhere on Sunday. Both services we will have an Easter Egg hunt for all ages!
• Sign up for the men's bootcamp here.
• We had some hiccups with the media today, but it was not as bad as how Gary's first service went.
• Ed Young has a new blog...now I am one happy guy. You can access it here.
• I rode Shiekra for the first time last night. I screamed like a little girl the whole way down.
• We took the family to Busch Gardens last night. What a great time just getting out with the kids and of course my wife.
• Scott starts working on staff with us this week. I am pumped about having him on.
• We are gearing up to do one of the most aggressive marketing campaigns that we have ever done as a church.
• Sarah and John have some great ideas for some CFAN t-shirt ideas....we are working on making them a reality.

Great day overall...just a great day.

1. I am really feeling overwhelmed by the question series. There have been some serious questions asked that are challenging me and my level of faith. So, in order to prepare for it...I have stepped my study up a notch or two. I just finished reading a book called The Doctrines that Divide by Erwin Lutzer. If, you are into church doctrines and really just learning as much as you can about why you believe the way you believe...you need to pick this one up.

2. Gary Lamb's Confession of a Pastor series is a must listen for every leader and church member out there. This guy is nuts...you can download it via his podcast.

3. Mark Driscoll preached a sermon about the differences and failures of the emerging church. It was unreal....and to beat it all...he preached it at a Southern Baptist Convention. Mark + Baptists = Good times. Check out their website to download it.

4. John 16:23-33...has been eating me up. If we could just learn the power of asking...and asking for big things...then God would give them to us....through Jesus who powerfully died for us on the cross. Then the tribulation part in this life and how Jesus has overcame this world...good stuff.

5. Pastor John and I are having some serious talks about what it means to be a christian, pastor, elder, and the role that women have to play in all of those. It has become a major issue in our question series. The amount of questions that I have had on this one is pretty crazy.

Me- "So, where do you want to eat?"

Val- "Uh, I don't care....where do you want to eat?"

Me- "Uh, I don't care...where ever you want to eat!"

Then rinse and repeat...over and over.

We would go back and forth for a few minutes before we would finally end up settling on a gourmet bucket of popcorn at the movie theater. Here is my point.

Because we wouldn't make up our mind about anything we normally wouldn't eat anywhere. I wonder how many people are facing decisions about their life that need to make a definitive decision but either through fear, fear of failure, or fear of the unknown will not make a decision and they continue to go back and forth. The won't make up their mind and because they can't or won't they end up missing the plan that God has for their lives.

They get involved with church for a few weeks then back out...for a few months...then jump back in where they were spiritually a few months back, but never really grow because they won't make up their mind to give God 100%. We move from job to job instead of learning to be faithful and work hard...but we want it now. So, we move from marriage to marriage looking for something new...but we don't realize that when the new wears off we will be in the same situation as before but with more baggage.

What are the decisions that God wants you to make? What decisions do you need to make and then own?

There is power in an individual with a made up mind! Oh and by the way...we have no problem deciding where we want to eat now :).

When we started our church...it was our goal to implement this within our culture...the Lead Pastor is responsible for the vision of the church...he is not responsible to be your friend....think about it.

Post by Byron Bledsoe

What did you think?

We were supposed to get into the Series "Questions" on Sunday, but due to overwhelming response, we are going to do the series when we have more time to fully unpack everything. Be on the lookout the first of April. But, in the meantime, we are doing a two week series entitled "The Ripple Effect." Needless to say, I am pretty pumped at taking a look at what happens when we make ripples in the pond of our lives.

Becoming Friends With Your Pastor

PART B

8. We love talking to the real you. Many people show us a spiritual front. Truthfully, we’d rather see your dark side than a fake spiritual one. Thank you for being yourself!

9. We are slow to open up. It is not because of you. We’ve been hurt many times by people who say the same things you are saying to us. Give us time.

10. If we can’t be close to you, it doesn’t mean we don’t truly love you. We only have room for a handful of very close friends. We simply don’t have the time or energy to be close to tons of people. Please don’t take it personally.

11. Please don’t try to use our kids to get to us. We love our kids and don’t want anyone to use them. Our kids also can’t go to every kid’s birthday party from the church.

12. If we ever say “no” to you, please understand that it is very hard for us. We want to serve you. We want to minister to you. We want you to like us. Sometimes, we simply can’t do everything. We hope you understand.

13. More than anything, we want to represent Christ to you. When we let you down (and we will), we pray you will show us grace.

14. We want you to know that we value your prayers more than you will ever know.

15. When you do become our close friend, you are an answer to prayer and a gift from God!

Becoming Friends With Your Pastor

Most of our blogging friends are pastors. A few are wonderful church members (or in our case, church partners). I’m writing this post for church members. Pastors, you might want to link to it so you can help your church members have insight into your world and know how to minister to you. I’m hoping many of you will add more insight to this subject.

I’ll break this post into PART A and post PART B tomorrow.

(Note: all pastors won’t agree with me. I’m guessing most will at most points.)

PART A

If you want to become friends with your pastor, here are some suggestions:

1. Don’t be pushy. Pushy people come across as needy. We minister to needy people all day. We crave friendships not more counseling appointments.
2. Don’t tell us “God told you” we’re going to be friends. He may have, but that doesn’t work on us. Tons of people have told us that before. Friendship for us needs to happen over time, not be born because of something God told you but not us.
3. Coming to a stranger’s house for dinner isn’t the high point of our lives. (You know a lot about us. We don’t know as much about you.) We work a lot of nights. Our kids are busy. Finding a babysitter is hard. Bringing our kids to your house often puts stress on us. A night at home is often more meaningful than a dinner at your house. (Some pastors will disagree with me and be very blessed by these dinners. Most aren’t.)
4. My wife doesn’t want to send our kids to your house just because you want to baby sit them. You are probably an incredible person, but we don’t know about your neighbors or your kids’ friends or your uncle that might come by. There are too many weird people for us to send our kids to your house without knowing more.
5. We are grateful for “gift cards.” Many pastors don’t have the financial margin to take their families out. Gift cards mean a lot.
6. We love talking to you about things besides church and the Bible. We have other interests like you.
7. We love your notes of appreciation. They mean more than you know. You have a way of sending them when we really need them. Thank you!

(Eight more suggestions are coming tomorrow…)

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