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.

Preaching the Gospel Through a Wedding

I’ve done a handful of weddings and vow renewals so far in my years as a pastor. I once did a vow renewal for a couple’s 25th wedding anniversary, which we found out later it was actually only their 24th! So, we celebrated 24 great years instead of 25. I’ve gotten to do the weddings of some of my best friends, and even a couple of my former middle school students! In just a few weeks I’ll be performing my sister’s wedding, back in New Mexico! Weddings are always a blast to be a part of – it’s such an exciting day.

Last weekend at Awaken, I was a part of a very unique wedding: Eric & Liz Rejrat. I shared a bit of their story yesterday on my blog, so if you didn’t get to read that, you should – it will shed a whole new light on the wedding.

What I loved about this wedding was that it wasn’t just another event – the people of Awaken saw a need and an opportunity to minister to people, and they jumped at it. When Jenn and I sat down with Eric and Liz and talked about a wedding and what they’d need, my wife immediately went into wedding coordinator mode. Emails, phone calls, and texts went out to inform people of the need and how they could help.

The wedding went fantastic, of course. We had people show up at the church to help decorate for hours on Friday night before the rehearsal. Jenn ran the rehearsal that night, then we headed home, excited for the big day. Saturday morning rolled around, and although the wedding didn’t start till 2pm, people from Awaken were there a few hours early doing last-minute setup, cleaning, and food preparation. Lots of people who weren’t able to make it to the wedding dropped off dishes of food for the reception. We found out 15 minutes before the ceremony was supposed to start that Eric had forgotten the iPod at home, which had the 4 songs we needed for the ceremony. Never fear – Nate, our sound technician, and his trusty iPhone came to the rescue. He downloaded them and we were ready to go. 2 people from Awaken also volunteered their time and talent as the wedding photographers, so right after the ceremony, we headed to a nearby park for wedding pictures.

As I stood with Liz’s dad in the park toward the end of the photo shoot, I got a glimpse of ministry that was happening that I hadn’t even been aware of. I could see a few tears well up in his eyes as he thanked me for how the church had come together to help them with the wedding. He’s from Michigan, and he told me, “Churches in Michigan don’t behave this way. I’ve never seen anything like it.” He was unable to describe his thankfulness for the way the church rallied around Eric & Liz. I realized right then that the wedding had not only been a great way to meet some needs for Eric & Liz, but also to minister to their family. Many of their family members flew in for the wedding, but none of them know the Lord. I realized that although our focus had been on planning a wedding, we had also shared the Gospel with people by showing them what unity looked like.

In John 17:21, Jesus prays for the unity of all future believers (that includes us). He specifically says that if we will be united, the world will believe in Jesus. God can use our unity to help others believe in His identity! Incredible!

I love the people of Awaken Church and their heart to meet needs, but I was extra proud to be a part of that wedding and the seeds that were planted in hearts that day. It’s amazing what God can do when people selflessly meet needs and reach out to others!

Unity Amidst Destruction

Saturday was a day I never saw coming: kicking through walls, ripping up soggy carpet, tearing down doors, throwing away chairs, and much more. That would have never entered my mind. We had plenty of volunteers show up, though, and in the midst of the destruction, something amazing happened: unity. All of us from different backgrounds, different churches, and different parts of the city and state came together for one purpose: helping Awaken Church start over. It was great. We knocked it out quickly. The whole church is down to the studs now – no doors, carpet, tiles, or sheet rock. All the bathroom vanities, kids toys, chairs, tables, cabinets, and anything else that had been on the floor ended up in a huge pile outside the church building, then eventually in a dumpster and headed off to a landfill.

We’re excited, though. We had out first service on Saturday in our temporary building. We’re praying that if God wants us somewhere else besides our wrecked building, He’ll drop it in our laps. Otherwise, we’ll wait it out and have another grand opening in a few months at 581 S Riverside Dr! After all, by that point, everything will be brand new – that building will look better than it has in decades!

Here are some pictures and a video of the demolition and our temporary meeting place. See more at awakenchurch.org in the photo gallery.

How Water United Us

Good try, Satan. That whole “wreck the church with a bunch of water” thing was a good one. You gave it a sporting try. Unfortunately for you, I’ve been daily watching it backfire on you…and I love it!

I am blown away by how this tragic turn of events has brought the body of Christ together like no other event I’ve ever been a part of. Here’s an idea of what I’m talking about…

- We had church at the Edlers’ house on Wednesday since we didn’t have a building.

- 5 churches offered to let us meet in their buildings or offices for church. We got to choose! 5 days after the flood hit, we’ll hold our first meeting in our new temporary location (beginning tomorrow night at 6:30pm on the 2nd floor of the Bank of America building)!

- A couple from the church assembled a “Mobile Kids Minstry” box for us with all the supplies that we need to continue to minister to our kids wherever we end up meeting!

- One lady from the church filled her Suburban with cleaning supplies and is dropping it off for our clean-up day tomorrow.

- I know of at least 2 churches that are joining us tomorrow to help us clean up our building and our community.

- One girl from the church is making 100 sack lunches for us tomorrow to feed us, all our volunteers, and quite a few of our neighbors!

- We have a team of 13 people from a ministry in Chattanooga that will arrive Sunday night and stay through Wednesday night. They’re coming just to help and serve any way they can.

- One girl from the church is organizing all the host homes for the incoming groups. She already has homes, meals, and rides figured out!

- We have multiple people in the church housing these complete (Christian) strangers in their homes for 4 nights this week!

- A church in New Jersey who wanted to send a team to help but couldn’t with such short notice is funding the trip for the group from Chattanooga!

- The middle school group from that church is selling flowers this Sunday for Mother’s Day as a fundraiser for our church!

- We have teams assembling from Indiana and New Mexico, ready to come out here and light this place up for Christ.

- A church in Indiana is printing 200 t-shirts for us to sell to raise money to bless our community and get back on our feet after the loss of the flood (pre-orders begin soon)!

- Everywhere I go I have to charge my phone because of the endless amounts of calls, emails, and texts I get every day from people who are there to encourage. By 6pm on Monday, the day of the flood, I had 141 emails!

- Through Facebook, I met a guy who is setting up a concert for us that we will use to draw people in and share the Gospel with them.

- We have hundreds (maybe thousands) of people praying in many states as well as Afghanistan and Sydney, Australia.

I could go on, but I just don’t have time or room. What Satan meant for evil, God used for good! I can honestly say we have bigger vision and more excitement now than ever! God has used this tragedy to realign our priorities, reunite our vision as Christians, and revive our passion for sharing the Gospel with those who need it the most! May God be glorified through what Satan tried to use to destroy!