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…

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.

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.

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.

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!

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!

Although there are 365 days left till Christmas 2012 (2012 is a Leap Year), there is just as much of a reason to celebrate today as there was yesterday. Jesus is still our Savior, He’s still in love with us, and His blood still pays the price for our sin!

For the Christian, every day holds a reason to celebrate, so don’t lose your Christmas spirit.

He will save His people from their sins. - Matthew 1:21

I hope your Christmas was merry and it helped to remind you what really matters in life.

Merry Christmas!

Let me guess, you’re reading this while still in your PJs? That’s ok. It’s Christmas Day! Just do us all a favor and put some real clothes on before walking out of the house today!

I wanted to invite you to join us online for a Christmas message we put together for today. I’ve been encouraging our church to be intentional and invitational this Christmas season, and we wanted to give them a hands-on way to do that. So, at each of our Christmas Eve services yesterday, we handed out “Christmas Kits” complete with hot chocolate, candy canes, a Christmas card, and a DVD with a special Christmas message.

If you weren’t able to make it to one of our Christmas Eve services, you missed out on an awesome time, but you can still watch the video below.

Before you do that, though, would you do me a favor?

Copy and paste the sentence below into a tweet, Facebook post, email, or whatever other method you choose to spread the word. We pray this creates a way for you to discuss the story of Christ and the impact He still has today.

Merry Christmas! Take a few minutes & watch this short Christmas message with some family or friends! http://www.awakenchurch.org

Jesus gave Himself once as a baby in a manger, again as a man on a cross, and He keeps giving today by providing mercy and grace whenever we need it (Hebrew 4:16). Jesus is the gift that keeps on giving!

Merry Christmas and God bless!

HUGE vision.

SIMPLE focus.

That’s the idea behind our new Wednesday night series that begins January 4, 2012.

Awaken Church is a very simple church. Instead of doing a million things in a mediocre way, we want to do a few things really well. So we’re taking the month of January to cast the vision for the church, define who we are and what we’re all about as a church…as well as make some HUGE, exciting announcements! Put it on your calendars now – you won’t want to miss what I have to share on these Wednesday nights in January. Plus, the series will wrap up on January 25 with an epic night of worship!

If you call Awaken Church your church home, you need to be there! 

As far as the announcement(s) we’ll be making, I will simply say this: at our 2-year birthday, I told you we’d be turning the volume up on the Gospel this year. Come on January 4 to find out exactly how we plan to do that. This has been on my heart since we moved to Clarksville 2 1/2 years ago, and after a lot of prayer, it’s finally time to go full speed ahead! Can’t wait to share with you all.

If you’re not in the Clarksville area or can’t make it on Wednesday nights, never fear, our faithful podcast and videos will be available…but you’ll want to be there in person, if possible!

At both of our Christmas Eve services this year (3 & 5pm), we’ll be handing out “Christmas Kits” to each family in attendance. Each Christmas Kit contains a Christmas card with a summary of my Christmas message on the back, packs of hot chocolate for each family member, some candy canes, and a DVD. The DVD will contain a 13-minute Christmas message that we spent 5 hours filming last week.

One thing I stress to my church each year is that Christmas is a unique time of the year when people are naturally talking about Jesus already. So we should use that to our advantage as much as possible. People are much more willing to go to church for Christmas and talk about Christmas as the holiday approaches. I also wanted to remind the church that our church building isn’t the only place that we can meet with Jesus and talk Christmas – we should be doing it in our homes and neighborhoods anyway.

So, in an effort to equip people with some conversation starters, as well as encourage discussing the beauty behind the holiday, we’re not canceling services this year at Awaken – we’re moving them to living rooms around the world. I say “world” because not only will the Christmas teaching be available by DVD in our Christmas Kits here in Clarksville, but it will also be streaming all day on our website at awakenchurch.org. We’re encouraging people to post a link on their Facebook, Twitter, or blog, so they can share this Christmas gospel message with people all over the world.

We look forward to hearing stories of deployed soldiers celebrating Christmas with us from Afghanistan, as well as family members and friends in California, New York, Brazil, and many other places.

The challenge for Awaken Church this year is to be intentional and invitational. Christmas is a unique time of year and we want to use every opportunity that we can to share the Gospel with as many people as we can.

Will you pray with me that God would use the Christmas teaching in a powerful way this year? We want to reach as many people as possible with it, and I’m praying that many people will pray with me at the end of the teaching to give their lives to Jesus!

If you live in Clarksville and you’re sentimental about going to a church on Christmas Day, here are a few churches in the city that are having service on Christmas Day…

LifePoint Church: 10am

Xtreme Church: 10am

Hilldale Baptist: 9:45am