The launch

Tomorrow begins a new season at Awaken: we move from 2 Sunday morning services to 3 (8:30am, 10:15am, 12pm) and we kick off a verse-by-verse study through Revelation! Awaken Groups are now in full-swing as well – each group has met once now and will meet 12 more times over this semester. The Uprising is also right around the corner (and we have a HUGE announcement about that dropping today at 3:14pm at wearetheuprising.com), then Easter comes just 3 weeks after that (which we also have big plans for this year)!

Needless to say, this is a crazy season, so in the midst of it all, I’ve been keeping my eyes on 3 things…

1) Jesus. Of course. He’s the reason we do it all and our strength to keep going.

2) My wife. Not only is she amazingly gorgeous, but she’s a huge support to me, my best friend, and a constant source of encouragement to keep going strong. Our times of prayer together are even more fuel for the fire!

3) My team. I couldn’t do it all without them. That goes for my church staff, as well as everyone serving in a ministry, praying, supporting the church financially, etc. I could never do all that I do without the support of a faithful team.

Thanks to all who play such a big part in the ministry of Awaken. Not only are you reaching MANY people for Jesus, but you’re refreshing me while you’re at it! Double win!

P.S. Tomorrow’s forecast during church shows snow. You better believe Awaken is still in session – all 3 services! Don’t let the forecast scare you. Strap on some snow boots and get to church tomorrow – the coffee will be hot and the worship will be rocking’! You won’t want to miss the launch of Revelation!

 

Oh, and one more thing: wait till you see what we’ve done to the stage! WOW!

THE Book

Over the last 2 weeks at Awaken, we did something crazy: we studied the ENTIRE Bible. That’s right. All 66 books. It was crazy, but it was a blast.

I was teaching the book of Philemon in January, but as we looked ahead, we knew there would be 2 weeks between Philemon and the launch of our verse-by-verse study through Revelation, called The Reckoning (beginning Feb 19). I talked to my team as we discussed some options of what to do on those 2 weeks. We talked about having a couple guest speakers so that I could take some time to really prep for Revelation, but then we came up with something completely different. What if we took 2 weeks to study through the ENTIRE Bible in prep for the final book of the Bible?

It sounded crazy. But the the people at Awaken are crazy…and they LOVE the Bible, so we decided to go for it.

Normally I spend between 10-15 hours in prep for a message, but these last 2 weeks have been closer to 20 each. I’m used to teaching a few verses at once, so taking 39 entire books, then 27 was a bit intimidating, to say to the least. But it was so worth the extra time. Not only was it highly beneficial to me and to the church to learn a broader picture of the scope and reliability of Scripture, but God also used these 2 messages to bring 3 people to new life in Christ! Incredible.

If you missed either message, you can watch both below. You may also want to re-watch them to catch some of the things that you didn’t have time to write down (we were going at warp-speed part of the time).

Hope you enjoyed THE BOOK. It was a blast to teach.

And if this is a little too much for you, never fear. Next Sunday, we’ll study 3 verses instead of 39 books!

THE BOOK Part 1: Old Testament

THE BOOK Part 2: New Testament

A Voice in the Victory

Earlier this week, our daughters begged and begged to help my wife make cookies. Their definition of “help” is far different than ours though! For them, help means making a mess, putting their hands in the flour, sneaking bites of cookie dough, and lowering the level productivity in the kitchen. Although their presence in the kitchen is far from the true definition of help, we still enjoy allowing them to have a hand in the process.

The same thing goes for us and God. God doesn’t need any of us to help Him accomplish His will, however, He wants to involve us in the process. His Kingdom isn’t riding on our shoulders, and anything good that comes from us ultimately came from Him, however, He loves to give us a small part in the victory.

Case in point is the battle of Jericho.

God told Israel to march around Jericho, a city with intimidating, impenetrable walls, once a day for 6 days, then 7 times on the 7th day. On that final day, after their final lap, at the sound of the trumpets, they were to scream and shout for victory and the walls would come down. So here’s my question…

Was God relying on the volume of their scream to bring the walls down? 

Maybe if they screamed loud enough, the decibels from their voices would actually crumble the bricks, right? Or maybe the volume of the trumpets would cause a minor earthquake, which would in turn bring the walls down.

WRONG.

God didn’t need their trumpets or their vocal cords to get the walls to come crashing down. However, He wanted to involve them because He wanted them to have a voice in the victory!

It’s the same with you and I.

God could send an angel to teach the Bible FAR better than I can every Sunday morning, but He chooses to use me instead.

God could send a prophet/evangelist/miracle worker to your school to share the Gospel with your classmates and teachers, but instead He chooses to use you.

God could appear in a dream to that guy walking down the street, but instead, He chooses to use you to show Jesus to him.

He chooses to use us, not because He needs us, but because He wants us to have a voice in the victory. When the battle has been won, and we’ve shared the Gospel, and prayed, and lived as a witness, then we get to see someone come to Christ, or maybe even led them to Jesus ourselves, it’s a moment of victory. God used YOU to change someone’s eternal destination. It’s nothing you did, but it’s that God did it through you! That’s HUGE!

So step out.

Look for opportunities at school, work, and in your neighborhood, to live as an example and share the Gospel with those around you.

Speak up about your faith and how Jesus changed your life.

Invite people to The Uprising. Don’t worry, we have plenty of invite cards!

You never know how God will use your actions and words. Be bold. He wants to give you a voice in the victory!

Definition and Focus

WARNING: There’s a lot in this blog. If Awaken is your home church, I encourage you to bookmark this page so you can come back and read, watch, and listen to all that is below. It defines who we are as a church and what our focus is.

I almost never blog on Wednesdays because I’m normally studying to teach on Wednesday night. However, tonight is the first Wednesday night since the church began that we don’t have a service. I will be studying today, but I’m not in over my head like normal (yet).

Canceling our Wednesday night services was just one of quite a few changes, shifts, additions, and subtractions that we have made at Awaken as of late. I took January to define who we are as a church and the direction I feel the Lord is leading. I cast vision, we added and subtracted some things, and most of all, I defined what we were going to channel our time, resources, and energy into.

Here’s a brief look at some definition and focus that I gave in January, as well as the audio and video of each message, in case you missed them or want to watch again…

Awaken Church is a very simple church. Instead of doing a lot of things ok, we do a few things very well: we specialize. At Awaken, we specialize in 3 main things…

1) EVANGELIZING

We have an elite calling (ambassadors for Christ) and an urgent message (the Gospel) to deliver to a dying world.

One of our primary reasons for living is to share that news with those who don’t know Jesus. At Awaken, we do that in a few ways. We have a street evangelism team called Illuminate that meets every other Saturday to hit the streets and share the Gospel. We’ve only gone out once so far and we’ve already gotten to pray with 2 people to receive Christ and 1 to rededicate his life to Christ! We also launched the beginning of a movement called The Uprising. It’s a series of large-scale events focused on aggressively and unapologetically reaching a lost generation with the hope of Jesus. Our first-ever Uprising event is Wednesday, March 14, 2012. It’s going to be massive and YOU can still be involved by attending our Join The Movement Meeting on Thursday, February 9 at 6:30pm at Awaken Church. It doesn’t matter which denomination or church you represent, you’re invited!

Church events aren’t the only way to evangelize, though. I always encourage people to be intentional and invitational with their faith in their schools, work places, classrooms, and neighborhoods.

Watch my message about evangelizing below or click HERE to download the audio.

2) DISCIPLING

We were created for community.

Adam wasn’t good by himself and neither are you! We put a lot of time, planning, and resources into our small groups called Awaken Groups, which started signups last weekend. People get really excited about it. Signup launched at 6pm online at awakengroups.org, and we had 15 signups within the first 44 seconds! The times of corporate worship are vital, but we can’t stop there. Awaken Groups are designed to help you take what you learned on Sunday and walk it out together as a group. The groups are laid-back and discussion-driven, and we have more groups than ever before, with at least 1 meeting every night of the week (except for Wednesdays, which we intentionally left open). Part of our motivation for canceling our Wednesday night services was to drive more people into small groups, where the deeper discipleship takes place.

Discipleship doesn’t only happen by semester in Awaken Groups, though. It also happens as groups of men, women, and students gather throughout the week in homes, coffee shops, and classrooms, and live life together. We were called not to create converts, but disciples. If you’re a Christian you need to be discipled and make disciples! It’s not an option!

Watch my message about discipling below or click HERE to download the audio.

3) WORSHIPING

You were given a gift in order to re-gift it to others. Don’t hoard it; distribute it.

If you have committed your life to Jesus, you have the Holy Spirit inside of you (the same Spirit who raised Jesus from the dead, by the way!!!)! That’s HUGE! God has given each person natural gifts, talents, and abilities, but unfortunately, we misuse those or misappropriate them at times. Some Christians mistakenly think that church is about spectating more than participating, but that’s obviously not the case. The local church is a place to come and receive, but also to give back. Re-gifting your birthday gift may not be encouraged, but we do encourage re-gfiting of your Spiritual gifts at Awaken!

This was a very timely message, because not only had we planned a Get Plugged In meeting for Sunday, February 5 already (where people can come sign up to serve in different ministries), but we also just announced our move to 3 Sunday services beginning February 19! Any time we add a service, that of course increases the need and opportunity for people to serve. The need is greater than it’s ever been.

You have a gift, but you are not the owner. You are the manager and distributor of that gift. Put it to use!

Although “worship” is normally tied to singing, I barely mentioned singing at all – it’s not the only (or even primary) way to worship. However, we did provide an outlet for worship through singing, by closing down our Wednesday night services with an amazing night of worship!

Watch my message about worshiping below or click HERE to download the audio.

 

So there you have it. Awaken Church has a HUGE vision, and a SIMPLE focus. We evangelize, disciple, and worship. Everything we do falls under those categories. We do some things that most churches don’t, and we don’t do some thing that most churches do. We’re not into tradition, or doing things because we’ve always done them. We want to be as effective and far-reaching as possible in God’s plan, so we intentionally trim the fat, prune the excess, and like a laser, focus on the things we’re called to.

Reach more people!

We’re only 3 weeks into January 2012, and it’s already been the biggest month of change and steps of faith since the church began 2 1/2 years ago! In addition to canceling our Wednesday night services, adding an evangelism street team, and launching our biggest, most aggressive outreach to date, we added one more thing on Sunday… a third Sunday service!

Our reasoning was simple. I believe that in 2012, we will see more people make decisions for Jesus, get baptized, and be discipled than in our last 2 1/2 years combined. If we really believe that vision, we had better make some room for what God is going to do!

Our 9am Sunday service could have probably gone on for another couple months as is, but our 11am is continually completely maxed out. We not only have every chair set out that we can fit (see picture below), but on Sunday, we also had people in the prayer room and seated in the foyer to watch the message!

With the launch of our study through Revelation beginning in 4 weeks, The Uprising in 7 weeks, and Easter in 10, we had better make some room!

God used Hebrews 11:7 to speak to me as I prayed and sought the Lord about a lot of these new changes.

“By faith Noah, being divinely warned of things not yet seen, moved with godly fear, prepared an ark for the saving of his household…” – Hebrews 11:7

Noah wasn’t aware of all the details, but he knew God was about to do something huge, so he prepared himself as he “moved with godly fear.”

For us, moving with Godly fear didn’t mean building an ark, it meant clearing some room. It’s a big step to add service #3 on Sunday mornings. That means everything that happens in 2 services has to now happen in 3. The cost of ministry increases and the amount of people we need involved increases. It’s not a problem. It’s an opportunity. An opportunity to do what we’re called to do as Christians and as a church: REACH MORE PEOPLE!

We’re excited to make the move and I heard nothing but excitement and positive feedback from those who heard the news on Sunday. Beginning Sunday, February 19, our new service times will be 8:30am, 10:15am, and 12 noon.

Here’s the video of me making the announcement on Sunday…

Join the movement

One of the questions I often wrestle with when I feel a nudge from the Lord in a new direction is, “Will anyone join me?”

I know that whether I go alone or not shouldn’t matter, as long as God is leading the way, but I’m just being honest here. Sometimes I wonder if I’m the only crazy one or if other crazy people will join me. Last night at Awaken proved that I’m not the only crazy one.

We hosted our first Join The Movement meeting at Awaken, where I was joined by 60 other crazy people who believe that if God is for us, it doesn’t matter who or what is against us! With The Uprising under 2 months away, we are going full throttle with planning, organization, and putting people into teams. Last night, 60 people signed up to serve on 11 different teams (some serving on multiple teams). They signed up for things like security, ushers, counselors, cleaning, setup, and more. It was amazing.

I was so inspired by the faith and unity in that room. At the end, we all circled up, joined hands, and collectively asked God to overcome any obstacles that would try to stop us. It was amazing, and it filled my heart with faith and determination.

As always, I believe God’s plans for this are much bigger than ours. Last night gave me a small glimpse of that.

If you want to be involved, but missed the meeting, it’s not too late. You can email Nicole at info@wearetheuprising.com for more info about which areas are available for you to serve in.

You can also be financially involved with this event by donating online HERE.

When the focus shifts

Last Wednesday, I spent a good portion of the night casting our vision for 2012 as a church. We’re doing our best this year to take bold steps of faith as we position ourselves to be a part of a huge move of God in the city of Clarksville (and beyond). One thing we’re adding is an evangelism street team called Illuminate that will be heading out periodically throughout the city to share the Gospel. The big announcement of the night, however, was the beginning of a movement called The Uprising. It’s our commitment as a church to aggressively and unapologetically reach a lost generation with the hope of Jesus.

Over the last few months, as we’ve been making these changes and getting ready for this shift in our focus, we realized that in addition to adding some things, we’d need to also subtract something.

So what did we say goodbye to? Our Wednesday night services. That’s right. Wednesday, January 25, 2012 is our last Wednesday night service. From that point on, our corporate worship times will be Sundays at 9 & 11 (until the time comes to add another service, anyway).

Of all the Wednesday nights to make that announcement, last Wednesday was huge. It was the biggest Wednesday night service we’ve ever had. It was the first time that we’ve had to pull out extra chairs for Wednesday night. What an ironic night to announce that we were canceling it!

When I first moved to Clarksville, one pastor told me not to try Wednesday nights. He told me they don’t work. They obviously work. Wednesday nights have been an incredible night for our church. I’ve taught through Acts, James, our NINETY series, Jonah, portions of Psalms, and more. It’s often been a much-needed recharge in the middle of the week.

However, one things I’ve learned in ministry is that just because people are showing up doesn’t mean you need to keep doing it.

I made it clear when I announced the news on Wednesday that we were not canceling it because it didn’t work. We decided to pull the plug because our focus is shifting. When the focus shifts, some of what you’re doing also has to shift.

I have to be honest, it felt a little crazy to cancel something that was working so well. It also felt very foreign to cancel a service on a night of the week that I’ve been going to church on as long as I can remember. I grew up going to church on Wednesday nights in addition to our weekend worship services. But I never want to do something at church simply because we’ve always done it. That makes no sense.

So, to all my Awaken people, get your Wednesday night fix in while you still can. You seriously won’t want to miss the next 3 Wednesdays as we talk about who we are as a church and what our part is in reaching this city. On our last Wednesday night together (January 25), we’re blowing it out with a night of worship. You won’t want to miss it!

To anyone in ministry that’s feeling a tug from the Lord in a new direction, GO FOR IT! Don’t keep doing ministry how you’ve always done it simply because people are coming and you’ve always done it that way. Embrace the focus shift and do whatever you have to do to fully embrace the calling God has put on your heart.

The Uprising

It’s hard for me to put into words the excitement behind finally going public with what has been on my heart for so long.

Since before we moved to Clarksville, I envisioned an event that reached beyond church walls and boundaries, embraced a crowd that’s often overlooked, and reverberated into eternity. I believe we’re in the beginning stages of being a part of such a movement here in Clarksville, TN.

Last week was the first time I got to share this idea with anyone besides my staff. I met with our ministry leaders and shared my vision for 2012. Our vision is huge and our focus is simple. We’re called to reach this city, so we’re positioning ourselves to do whatever it takes to see as many people as possible come to know Jesus.

1 Thessalonians 1:8 – For from you, the word of the Lord has sounded forth…

We’re turning the volume all the way up on the Gospel!

The Uprising is far bigger than a concert, a gathering, or a one-time event. It’s a movement. I’ve been praying that this movement does 3 things: 1) unites churches around the city, 2) empowers Christians to use their gifts to reach the lost, and 3) impacts eternity as we see many come to Jesus. We’ve gone out of our way to make sure this is not “an Awaken Church event.” We want to make sure to include any church that wants to partner with us. Over the next few weeks, we’ll be connecting with other churches, pastors, and ministries, as we drop the things that divide us and unite under the name of Christ!

Our first-ever Uprising event will take place on the Austin Peay campus (Music/Mass Communications Building) on Wednesday, March 14, 2012 from 7-9pm. Doors open at 6:30, but you’ll want to be there early. It’s FREE and it will be PACKED. Seating is very limited. The night will feature amazing worship, music from HEAD (featuring Brian “Head” Welch, formerly of Korn), as well as an interview with Brian “Head” Welch. The key element of the night is a message about eternity and an invitation for people to give their lives to Jesus. Make no mistake: we’re all about JESUS!

Let me make this clear: this is not a concert for Christians. This is an opportunity to bring friends, coworkers, and classmates to a hear about the hope of Jesus.

There will be much more info coming in the near future as we count down the days to March 14, 2012. In the meantime, here are a few links for you to check out…

Donate HERE.

Website: wearetheuprising.com (more updates coming soon)

Facebook: facebook.com/uprisingevent

Twitter: twitter.com/uprisingevent

You can also find us on Path and Instagram (@uprisingevent).

Spread the word. Join the movement.

The Reckoning

We’re about 6 weeks out from launching a verse-by-verse study through one of my favorite books of the Bible: REVELATION! Sunday, February 19, 2012 is the date.

When I announced it on Sunday, a cheer went up from the crowd – people are excited!

I’ve taught through Revelation once, and it blew my mind. I couldn’t wait to teach through it again, and I purposely waited until 2012. I figured 2012 is the perfect time for us to talk about the end of the world since the rest of the world is already talking about it. However, instead of Mayan calendars, Nostradamus, and Harold Camping, we’re going to look at what Scripture says about the end of the world!

I encourage you to begin reading it now. If you read 1 chapter per day until we start the study, you can read through the whole book twice! I’d also encourage you to write down questions you have, grab some resources to dive deeper with, and get ready. It may also be good to acquaint yourself with the Old Testament as well. From the beginning to the end, Revelation alludes to the Old Testament and the laws and systems God set up.

It’s going to be a fascinating series that you will not want to miss.

In the next few weeks, we’ll have The Reckoning cards available for you to pass out to your friends and neighbors, inviting them to join you as we dive into this extremely relevant and intriguing book of the Bible. Hope you can make it!

Redeemed

Beginning next Sunday, January 8, we’ll be starting a brief study through the New Testament book of Philemon. We’re calling it “REDEEMED.” If you’ve never read it, you have no excuse: it’s 1 chapter long (25 verses). Read it HERE.

Philemon is one of only a few personal letters we have from Paul, and you can tell it’s written from his heart. It’s a very powerful story of the power of the Gospel in our lives and its ability to enable us to confidently face our past mistakes.

So read ahead and plan on joining us. You won’t want to miss this series in January!