A New Partnership

The vision for 2013 for Awaken is for us to be further invested in our community than ever before. We kicked the year off with a diaper drive for Hope Pregnancy Center, where we collected over 6,000 diapers! We also held our Easter service on the APSU campus and saw 14 people come to Christ over that weekend. We have more plans for the summer and later in the year, but our current venture is a new partnership.

Awaken will be partnering with the local chapter of Child Evangelism Fellowship (CEF) to begin what they call a “Good News Club” at Rossview Elementary School, here in Clarksville!

Good News Clubs are an amazing way to take the Gospel to kids right where they are: at school. Once a week, kids will have the opportunity to attend this club, immediately following school, where they’ll learn about the Bible, missions, Jesus, and church.

There are currently 14 operating Good News Clubs in our local Tennessee area. Last year, over 700 kids attended the clubs, and over 100 kids prayed to receive Christ! That’s HUGE! Statistics show that if kids don’t accept Christ before age 12 or 13, the likelihood of ever doing so drastically decreases. Elementary age is a crucial time in every kid’s life, and we will now have an opportunity to take the Gospel to them!

I announced on Sunday that Awaken will be the sponsoring church behind the Rossview Good News Club. We need a team of at least 10 people who are ready to commit to the Club before we can start. We filled 7 of those 10 spots in our very first weekend! (I LOVE my church!)

I believe God has great plans for us as we partner with CEF. I love the thought of people serving throughout the week in locations around the city, taking the Gospel to the people. THAT is what the Church is all about!

If you want more info about getting involved, you can find it on the events page of our website.

NINE!

3,288 days ago, I married this girl. We both moved out of our parents’ houses into our first apartment together. The whole thing was about the size of our current bedroom and bathroom. She even slept in her old bunk bed on the night before our wedding!

God definitely had a lot in store for us that we would have never guessed: middle school youth ministry, church planting, Tennessee, and much more. It hasn’t always been easy, but I’ve never once doubted that God paired me up with exactly the right girl. She accepted me for who I was — flaws and all — and she still does today. I haven’t stopped screwing up and she hasn’t stopped forgiving me.

The very first time that Jenn and I went to church together was the weekend right before we “officially” started dating. Our pastor just so happened to be in the middle of a series called “Life In The Single Lane.” The message was called “Finding the Love of Your Life,” and little did I know, that’s exactly what I was doing that weekend! That weekend, we learned one of the most important principles that set the tone for our dating relationship and marriage: the need for prayer. That following Tuesday, on our very first date together, we got in my truck, and began our date with prayer. To this day, we still pray together a few times per week, and we love it!

There’s no way to summarize the lessons I’ve learned, the ministry we’ve done together, the forgiveness that’s been extended (mostly from her to me), and the fun that’s been had.

I love my wife. She’s an amazing example of a Godly woman, mother, and wife, and I’m still convinced that Proverbs 31 was written with her in mind. I pray that our girls grow up to be just like their mother!

Happy 9 years, Jenn!

Youth Ministry: YES or NO?

Depending on your source, 40-88% of teens leave the church after they graduate. Most never return. Is modern youth ministry to blame? That’s what one article and recently-produced documentary film suggest.

This is a touchy subject for me because I’m the product of a youth group. I grew up in youth groups, attended summer camps, led small groups, was a counselor at a summer camp, and eventually served as a middle school youth pastor for 5 1/2 years before moving to Tennessee to plant a church.

I always assumed the church I planted would have a youth group, but that’s because that is all I knew.

We’re almost 2 years into the church plant and Awaken Church still doesn’t have a youth group… but that doesn’t mean we ignore students. We view students as valuable pieces to the church. I love seeing young people sitting next to their parents, learning and applying similar things together. A good percentage of those who publicly profess their faith in Christ are young people. 4 of the 10 people we baptized last month were under the age of 17! We will soon be relaunching Awaken Students, which is a small group initiative targeted at young people. It’s not your typical youth group.

Awaken Kids exists to train kids up and teach them God’s Word on their level beginning gat 8 weeks old. They remain with Awaken Kids, in a class meant for their age group, until they hit 6th grade. Once they’re in middle school, they join us in the main service for church.

They worship with us.

They take Communion with us.

They pray with us.

I even encourage them to serve in ministries within the church.

Awaken Students is the other key component for them. Just as we encourage all people at Awaken to be involved in an Awaken Group, we encourage the same with the students. It’s a place where they can go, hang out with others their age, and discuss (in a small group setting) some of the key application points from last Sunday’s message…which is the same thing their parents do in their own small group.

I haven’t watched all of the film that I mentioned above, so I can’t vouch for everything that is said. I also know that the article seems to hint at the fact that modern youth ministry is to blame for kids leaving the church. I wouldn’t take it that far. I’ve seen some life-changing things happen through youth groups…in fact, it was my training ground!

Although I disagree with the film’s slant and have seen evidence of God using youth ministry in my life and in my own youth ministry, I thought this was a good conversation starter. I’d love to hear your thoughts on what your stance and/or your church’s stance on youth ministry is…

Saved in the nick of time

3 weeks ago at Awaken, God had some pretty sweet moves up His sleeve.

The text was Joshua 3 and the message was clear: if you want to see God do amazing things, you have to step out of your tent and face the raging river ahead, trusting God to get you across. We had a packed house that morning and at the end, I gave an invitation for people to come forward to give their life to Jesus.

It’s always a bit easier to walk forward when you’re not the only one, but Alan wasn’t scared. It was his first time at Awaken. He saw our sign one day as he was driving by and figured he’d give it a shot. With tears in his eyes, he walked forward at the end of my message, and I prayed with him to receive Jesus!

Then something out of the ordinary happened…

Instead of walking back to his seat, he turned to me and asked me to pray for his grandfather, Amador, who was suffering in a hospital in California. I seized the moment, and as many people extended their hands toward him, we prayed as a church for physical and spiritual healing for Alan’s grandfather, 3,000 miles away in California.

Immediately after service, a man from Awaken who just moved here from California got in touch with his pastor back home who was able to go visit Alan’s grandfather. We were thrilled to find out that he visited him at home because he had been released from the hospital! That’s not even the best part though. When he showed up to the man’s home, he was able to share the Gospel with him and Amador accepted Jesus! The pastor was also able to read Scripture with the whole family and share the Gospel with them.

Unfortunately, I received the sad news on Tuesday that Amador had taken a turn for the worst once he went home and he didn’t make it. He passed away in his home in Calfornia, surrounded by his family. Although we mourn for the family, we rejoice now for Amador who is better off than he ever has been – hanging out with Jesus! Alan flew out there yesterday to be with the family…and God kept working. As Alan talked with the family and the pastor was there to pray with them, Alan’s mother also gave her life to the Lord!

The pastor’s church was made available for the funeral, so join with me in praying that God saves the rest of the family as they feel and see the tangible love of Christ.

Amador is a great reminder of how fragile life is and how important it is to make a decision to serve Christ today. Had Amador waited 2 weeks, it would have been too late. However, God used Alan’s bold steps of faith, our prayers, and the faithfulness of a pastor to reach out to Amador right where he was. Because of that, one day, I’ll get to meet the man we prayed for on July 3, 2011…and Alan’s mom…and maybe the rest of the family!

God is SO good!

The short version

It’s been a year since I’ve seen most of my Albuquerque friends, so the first question that I get asked a lot is, “How’s the church going?”

That’s a good question. It’s also a challenging question. That’s like asking an astronaut that just got back from a lunar landing, “What was the moon like?” There’s SO much to be said and so many experiences to relay.

How do I sum up the hardest 18 months of our lives?

How do I put 16 months of church-planting into words?

How do I summarize renovating 4 buildings in 16 months (one of them twice), losing everything in a flood, seeing lives changed and marriages restored, trusting God to pay our bills when it looks impossible, and so much more?

One word:

Abbrev.

That’s the abbreviation for “abbreviate.” in case you weren’t aware.

I’ve been doing a lot of abbreviating. It comes NOWHERE close to capturing the emotions, faith, tears, and joy that have gone into the church plant, but if you’d like the abbreviated version of Awaken Church’s first 16 months, here’s what I’ve been telling people…

“It’s great. It’s keeping us super busy. I don’t know if you heard or not, but we lost the church building to the Tennessee floods 7 months into the church plant, so we relocated to a bank for 2 months, renovated the old building, moved back in, outgrew it in 3 months, renovated another building for 2 months, and opened that up on Christmas Eve. The new building is twice the size – we’ve been in it for about a month now, and we love it. God is doing some great things and we’ve seen lots of growth.”

I know, grammarians, that’s one long run-on sentence, but that’s what I’ve had to do to try to fit the highlights into an abbreviated response. It’s challenging, but that gives the Cliff’s Notes version of the last 16 months of my life. It’s been the hardest, most challenging, and most rewarding 16 months I’ve lived through…and we’re just getting started!

I’ve had a chance to share a longer version of the story with a few friends so far, and tonight, I get to do it again. My pastor, Skip Heitzig, will be interviewing me on stage during the Wednesday night service at Calvary Albuquerque at 7pm MST. We’ll show some pictures and videos from the flood as well as the old and new buildings. I’ll share briefly about some of the experiences that we’ve been though and the great things that God has done and is doing. If you’re in Albuquerque, make sure to be there, but if you miss it or you’re out of town, the service will be live at calvaryabq.org and also available afterward in the Calvary service archive.

Top 10 posts of 2010

As 2011 nears, it’s interesting to look back at 2010 as we close it out. Looking back on my most-viewed blog posts of 2010 actually sums up the year quite well. So, here they are in reverse order…

#10: This Isn’t “Goodbye,” It’s “Seeya Later!”

My good friend and last-name-sharer, Denver Miller, moved to TN with us in July of 2009, but headed back to NM in July 2010 to pursue further ministry there. It was sad to see him go, but ministry goes on!

#9: Awaken Church is Moving.

Not surprising that this blog post made the top 10 list. Our current remodeled building is our 4th in 16 months!

#8: Unity Amidst Destruction

Although 2010 presented us with many hurdles and reasons for division, we saw unity come from it all. We made life-long friends through some of the hardest circumstances! The very events that Satan intended to use to destroy the Church, God used to built it up!

#7: Turkey and Porn

2010 presented me with a humbling opportunity to post monthly blogs for HeartSupport.com, a ministry that helps people overcome addiction. They call me a “sex blogger,” and although that may sound a bit vulgar, that’s the topic I blog about. I’m a pastor; and I use my past with porn to help others put porn in their past.

#6: I Married My Best Friend

Jenn and I hit the 7-year milestone this year in our marriage. I wouldn’t be where I am today without her!

#5: Happy Digital Christmas

I love technology and I love Christmas. I also love how the 2 were combined in this very creative video.

#4: After the Water Comes the Mud

We were blown away by the support that poured in (pun intended) after the flood that rocked the church in May. We received donations from California to New Jersey and from Montana to New Mexico – literally from coast to coast to coast to coast! Thanks to all of you who kept up with the progress of the church post-flood!

#3: Interview with an Ex-Prostitute

This was another in my series of HeartSupport blogs. I had the privilege of designing the layout of a CD for the Hope Foundation, headed by Bronwen Healy, out of Australia. She gave me permission to post a brief interview with her about her past in prostitution and drugs and how God pulled her out. Powerful stuff!

#2: Mission Trip to Tennessee

We had teams from different churches drive for hours (one from a different state) to help us (and others) clean up after the flood. What they may not have been able to do financially, they did energetically!

And of course the #1 viewed blog post of 2010: The Flood: Update, Pics, & Ways to Help

This blog post got almost 10x the amount of views of any other blog I’ve ever posted. Support poured in, prayers went up, and the Church was expanded through a catastrophe that God used for the best! We can’t say it enough, but here it goes again: THANK YOU!

Building Update and How You Can Help

Moving has become a regular part of our routine since we started Awaken Church.

Before the church opened, we rented a space and began cleaning and painting, until we found out we couldn’t meet there. That was just 3 weeks before our first service. We quickly found our current Riverside location, cleaned it up in about 11 days, and opened the doors for our first service on September 19, 2009. Just about 7 months later, the flood hit and it was time to move again (although that move was easier – we didn’t have much left to move!). We moved temporarily into the Bank of America building downtown, while work was done to restore our Riverside building.

Just 5 months ago, in the middle of June, on a Saturday night in the bank, I made the announcement that we’d be re-opening on Riverside on July 11. I had NO idea when I made that announcement that just 5 months later, I’d be making another moving announcement…but that’s what I did tonight!

Right in time for Christmas, we’ll be opening the doors of our new facility for our Christmas Eve Family Service at 6pm!

We’ll talk more about our Christmas Eve service this weekend at Awaken – it’s going to be fun!

A lot of people have been asking how they can help, so here are a few ideas…

ENERGETICALLY: If you live in this area and would like to help paint, we’d love the help. Sheet rock goes up this Friday and will take about 4-5 days. As soon as that’s up, we’ll head in and do the painting. It took us a long time to do the 2400 square feet of our current building, so we’ll definitely need help in our new 4800 square feet! We’re hoping to knock it out in 3 days, so that they can get back in, put down the flooring, and finish it up in time for the city to inspect it.

The tentative painting schedule is: Saturday, December 11, from 1pm-8pm; Sunday, December 12, from 2pm-LATE, and Monday, December 13, from 8am-8pm. Hopefully we can knock it out in just those 3 days. Whether you’re an artist or not, feel free to come help!

FINANCIALLY: If you’re not local, but would like to contribute financially, you can always donate online (click here). As many of you know, there are lots of added expenses when moving into a new facility, so if you’d like to help in this way, that would be a big help as well.

PRAYERFULLY: It goes without saying that we’d love for you to be praying for us and the ministry of Awaken Church. We’ve already seen God work in powerful ways – changing lives, marriages, and families – but that’s just the beginning of His big plan for Awaken and Clarksville!

An exciting new season…

Employment has been a wild ride, to say the least, since we moved here to Tennessee.

After 5 1/2 years of a steady paycheck and a fantastic job as a middle school youth pastor, I quit, and moved here to Clarksville, to plant Awaken Church.

I spent the first few months applying for every job possible, while remaining unemployed…or as we affectionately referred to it, “FUNemployed.” I went fishing, I took naps, and I felt rested. Those days ended in August when I finally landed a night shift job working on the Army post as a janitor. Soon, I found myself also driving around a bus load of crazy kids of all ages, as a school bus driver for the Clarksville-Montgomery County School System. While still working those 2 jobs and planting the church, I was offered a job as the Graphic Designer for Lasaters Coffee & Tea. I eventually quit the other 2 jobs and have been working at Lasaters and doing my own freelance design on the side. I’ve been with Lasaters since January and that has carried me through until now. It has been a fantastic job that God has used to provide financially for my family and flexibility for the church!

It’s bittersweet to say goodbye to that season, but I’m excited for what’s next. At the beginning of October, I accepted a position as Art Director for InPop Records. They’re allowing me to work entirely from home, and I’ll be providing graphic design for many of their artists, which include Jimmy Needham, The Newsboys, and Superchick, to mention a few.

I will continue with my own design company, KevMill Designs, as well. I’ve loved the projects I’ve gotten to work on through that – blogs, banners, billboards, business cards, and more. I’ve worked with clients from about 15 different states across the nation and even designed a full CD layout project for the Hope Foundation in Australia.

I love art and design and I’m so blessed that God would use that to provide for my family. Not only am I looking forward to working with these Inpop artists and the Christian Music industry, I’m also so excited for the flexibility that this job will provide.

…Speaking of which, do you need some design done? Let me know!

One Year Ago Today

What were you doing this time last year?

A year ago today, I left the town I grew up in, Albuquerque, NM, and set out on the biggest adventure of my life: a church plant. My dad and I rolled out of Albuquerque around 6:30am in a truck pulling a trailer containing everything we owned. Jenn, Emery, and Adalyn (still unborn) flew out the next day and met us there. We had no idea what kind of adventure we were in for on our journey to Clarksville as well as over the next year to come!

Moving here to plant the church has been the most challenging and yet most rewarding thing I’ve ever done in my life. It won’t always be easy being where God wants you, but in the long run, it’s ALWAYS best!

Here’s a little video recap of our move to the Volunteer State…

Awaken Church Flood Update

A year ago from next Wednesday (July 16), my dad and I left Albuquerque, NM at 6am with everything I owned in a truck and on a trailer. I could have never guessed that 8 months into our church plant, we’d lose everything due to a flood. Never crossed my mind. But just as I taught last night, “Adversity teaches us lessons that are often unlearnable any other way.” I wrote that in my sermon notes and realized that God was probably speaking those words more to me than anyone else! We have a learned a lot to say the least.

So here’s a quick update on the church, rebuilding, and how you can help…

We’ve been meeting in another church’s building for the last month now. It’s actually the second floor of the downtown Bank of America (high enough that the water can’t get us). It’s been great and the church (“His Church”) is allowing us to be there rent free, so that has saved us some money! We’re so thankful for a place to meet, but also very excited to get back into our old/new place.

The church building is coming along quite nicely. Most of the sheet rock is now up and they allowed us to make some changes to the layout of the church building. We expanded all 3 kids classrooms, added a couple walls, took a couple down, and built a sound booth in the sanctuary as well! That will bring some much needed room to the church – it will open things up and fit us even better.

We’re beginning the process now of re-purchasing thousands of dollars of ruined equipment such as tables, chairs, kids ministry supplies, paint, business cards, cables, banners, etc. There is A LOT to be bought. However, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy the online shopping!

We’re aiming to be back in the building in the first part of July – it’s approaching quickly! We can’t wait!

Here’s how you can help…

- If you’re here in Clarksville, we can use any of the above named items. We also could use some storage space for the next couple of weeks till we can start sticking things back in the church building.

- Anyone can help out financially. We have online giving available through our website. You can also buy an I [LOVE] CLARKSVILLE t-shirt for $20 at iloveclarksville.org. Thanks to Vintage Church in Indianapolis, all the proceeds from those shirts go to us!

- If you’d like to help paint or put things together, we’ll be doing that soon and could use help. Leave a comment below if you’re interested/available to help.

Thanks so much for all the support, encouragement, prayers, and financial support we’ve received from across the nation (and the globe) already! The Body of Christ is incredible!

For those of you who are interested in seeing the in-the-works stage of the church, here’s a quick video update. It won’t look like this for long, so enjoy…

(Is it just me or does the video thumbnail make it look like I’m trying to eat the PLAY button? I digress…)