the BIG ONE!!!

One year ago on May 30th at 4:35pm a miracle happened...our baby boy came into this world. Before becoming a parent I really never believed parents when they would say that their kids grow up so fast. Oh my gosh...it's true. It's crazy to think it's been one year already. Becoming a daddy has totally changed me forever. It has change the way I think, the way I live, the way I teach, the way I look at the world. It has totally change the way I view my Heavenly Father. Becoming a daddy has made me a better husband, a better Pastor, and a better friend. It's amazing how a 25 pound person can totally change a 245 pound man.

Happy Birthday Josiah! Daddy & Mommy loves you so much! I realize that you can't read this yet but I wanted the world to know how much I love you and how proud I am of you.

9 Amazing Years!

Today my wife & I celebrated 9 years of marriage! It was an amazing day! We spent the day together with our son. That may not sound like anniversary present but the way our life as been non-stop lately it was so nice to spend time with my wife and son. We had lunch at Red Robin for the first time it was freak'n amazing! Our boy was terrified of the big red robin statue. It was hilarious! After lunch we drove around, went to the mall, and spent the rest of the afternoon and night together. It was a priceless day!!!

Tami I love you so much. Thank you for making the last 9 years of my life incredible. I thank God every single day for bring us together. I can't wait to see how the next 90 years turn out.

Happy 9th Anniversary!!!

O.K. We're In!

Awhile back I wrote this post regarding why we (Dahlonega AG) weren't going to participate in ONE PRAYER. Since that time we have been moving forward with the vision that God has given our church. But about a week ago as I was praying I started to think about the ONE PRAYER movement and all the churches from around the world that were going to participate in it. I started to think about the vision that God has laid in our hearts for Dahlonega AG. I realized how wrong I was to assume that our church wasn't ready for ONE PRAYER. I was wrong to assume that our 31 year old church wasn't going to be able to handle an experience like ONE PRAYER. Since my original post God has shown me over and over again that He's going to use this ONE PRAYER MOVEMENT to catapult us into His vision and purpose for Dahlonega Georgia. I guess what I am saying is that it is important that I speak the vision into our church but when the opportunity comes up for our church to see and participate in the vision like ONE PRAYER I got to shut up and jump in. So DAGer's we're joining the ONE PRAYER MOVEMENT so get ready because it's goin' get crazy around here.

Monday Mind Dump

Yesterday was an awesome day! It was a beautiful morning and I was so pumped to be at church. I love our church! My wife and I are having the time of our lives at DAG. The people are amazing, the future is looking awesome, and I can't wait to see where we are in one year. Here are some highlights from my Sunday.

• finished up our series Extreme Makeover. I had a great time preaching these messages!
• my message was about "moving in LOVE". I spoke about how the world will recognize us by our LOVE for them.
• Our worship lead couldn't sing on Sunday morning so I had to led worship. I had a lot of fun but it was tough preaching after leading worship.
• many of our regulars were out but we had a couple of visiting families with us...very cool.
• had Mexican for lunch.
• after lunch went back to the church to continue painting my office.
• got home around 7pm and hung out with my family. lately I have noticed that anytime I am away from my family I miss them like crazy!
• I watched more Deadliest Catch...I have no idea why I am into this show right now.
• I am loving life right now...

100 posts and a HUGE THANK YOU!

Wow...got to be honest I never thought I would become a die hard blogger. 1oo posts that crazy! On this special 100th post I want to stop for a moment and say thank you to our American Heroes. Your service, dedication, and sacrifice will never be forgotten.

why history is important...

One of the things that makes our church unique from a church plant is its 31 years of history. Let's be honest "history" is the number one reason why a young Pastor will pass on a existing church. One of the most appealing aspects to church planting is that you create the history of your church. You get to set the standards, the core values, the vision, the mission, and the purpose. On the other hand an existing church has a history filled with high points and low points. Depending on the age of the church it's gone through several different vision, mission, and purpose statements. On top of all that then you have got to consider the list of Pastors that have lead the church. This is the factor that will either help a church move forward or stay stuck in a state of bitterness, frustration, and pessimism.

Starting a church from scratch is A LOT of hard work but one of the great things about planting a church is that you "start from scratch." There's no baggage, no skeletons in the closet, no holy and untouchable relics in the sanctuary, EVERYTHING IS AN EXPERIMENT! Honestly, taking on an existing church was a scary thought. There are so many "unspoken rules or traditions". The reality is when you take the lead of an existing church you are a guest for a while. That transition period can either be the most effective time for you or be a season of frustrations.

Realizing that I had one opportunity during this transition period to make the greatest first impression I decided to start our time at Dahlonega Assembly of God by recognizing and celebrating the history of the church. I'm the kind of person that really believes that if we learn, remember, and honor the past (history) we will have a more effective and strategic future. So I made it a point to meet with the founding Pastor of our church, which by the way still attends our church, and find out how it felt like when he had his first service in Dahlonega. It was awesome just to sit there and listen to the man who birthed our church. What I learned that day about ministry was priceless. One of the highlights of that meeting was when Pastor Abercrombie (founding Pastor) encouraged me and gave me his stamp of approval. I wish ya'll could have been there it was really a special and humbling moment for me.

Afterwards, I then made it a point to connect with the last Pastor that was serving at our church. Honestly this could have totally blown up in my face. At first I was a little hesitant to contact the last Pastor. It was weird I wanted to learn from him but at the same time I was intimidated by him...I didn't even know him. He had been gone for a while by still had a strong presence with the people. Thankfully our church has always had men of God who have served faithfully and have resigned in a honorable way. I realize that's not the case in every church but let me encourage you if you can't meet with any of the former Pastors met with people. I discovered that when the people realize that you care about the history of the church and all the hard work and sacrifice they have made, they are more open to what you want to do in the future. So use history has a platform to help catapult you and your church into your God ordained destiny.

Just thinking...

It's almost midnight I'm really tried I want to go to sleep but I can't. I have been thinking a lot about the future. Before we became Senior Pastors at Dahlonega Assembly of God my prayers mainly consisted about finding the direction the Lord wanted us to go in. Now as Pastors my prayers are asking God to help me find and maintain balance in the direction He's put us in. There's a lot at stake here; learning how to maintain a healthy marriage and family life while developing a healthy church family as we go in a new direction at the same time is freakin' hard and at times overwhelming.

As a husband I need to maintain a level of HOT passion in my marriage. Listen if I can get passionate about church I better get and stay passionate about my wife! Even before we got married I committed to my wife that I would never sacrifice her or our kids on the altar of ministry. So as we start this new adventure at Dahlonega Assembly of God I am trying to keep that commitment. The reality is that there is so much to get done that if I allow the "stuff of ministry" to overwhelm me I know that my family would be a causality of "church life".

And then there is our new church family. I am so honored to be their Pastor. There is not one single person that I can honestly say that I can't stand. I know...a Pastor shouldn't say that but let's be real there are some crazy church folks out there. As far as I can tell Dahlonega Assembly doesn't have any crazy church folks...yet.

But here's what's keeping me up right now. Our current worship leader is an amazing man of God and has been doing a great job but because of his job he will be moving in the next couple of months. When he told me he was moving I freaked out a little bit...okay I freaked out a lot! WHY...because WORSHIP IS HUGE in a church. If your a Pastor you know how important it is to get the right person for a position like this. So as I think about the future of our church and the growing list of topic and situations to address worship is on the top of that list. I am praying that God will send us a person that loves to move people into God's holy presence. I'm not looking or wanting a "worship leader" I'm praying hard for a Worship Pastor. A person who has a heart to come along side of me and Pastor our church in worship. I'm looking and praying for a person who knows that worship isn't about them but it's all about connecting church and unchurched people to God. I'm looking and praying for a person whose willing to come to Dahlongea Assembly of God and serve with a humble heart.

So as you can tell I have a lot on my mind. I know a "Pastor" shouldn't talk or think like this, that I should be this "super spiritual" person with no stress or worries but the reality is that I'm a normal person. Being a Pastor doesn't disqualify me from the crazy moments of church life or home life. But in those crazy moments I got to remember what Jesus said in Luke 12:31. If my goal continues to be to enlarge the Kingdom of Heaven then all of these things that I'm thinking or worrying about will be taken care of in God's time. Anyway it's time to hit the bed so I'm going to take Jesus' advice in Luke 12:25 and go to sleep so with that I say good night and I'll blog to you in the morning.

SPECIAL EDITION: Mother's Day Mind Dump

For a long time Mother's Day was a really hard day for us to celebrate. For six years we tried to have a baby so during these six years every time Mother's Day rolled around it was very difficult for my wife. After the sixth year we came to the decision that if we didn't become pregnant the next year we were going to start looking into adoption. But in 2007 God blessed us with an amazing little boy and this year's Mother's Day had a whole new meaning to us.

It's almost been one year since our son was born and it has been amazing seeing my wife become the most amazing mommy! I just wanted to share with the blogger world that I have the most amazing wife in the world. I have learned so much about the love God has for us just by watching my wife love our son. I always knew my wife would be an amazing mommy. If was so much fun celebrating this year's Mother's Day! Here are some other highlights of the day;

• This mornings service was amazing!
• We had several first time guest this morning.
• A couple of my former students showed up this morning at my church it was great seeing them!
• Worhsip this morning was freakin' awesome!!! Daniel thanks so much for leading our church into God's presence this morning you did a GREAT job!
• All our volunteers this morning this an amazing job! Thanks for serving our church and guest you guys are amazing. Thanks for step up this morning.
• I got to give a shout out to our children's Pastor Erica. She graduated from Emmanuel College this weekend...I AM SO PROUD OF YOU ERICA!!!
• We had lunch at Wylie's Cafe in Dahlonega Georgia and I had the best rack of ribs I have had in a LONG TIME. Do yourself a favor if you are ever in Dahlonega go to Wylie's Cafe and get the ribs!
• Spent a relaxing afternoon with my wife, son, and in-laws.
• I gave the moms in our church a ziplock bag of dirt for Mother's Day. I explain in a later blog.
• Had a much needed relaxing afternoon. Relaxed by watching the Deadliest Catch marathon.
• For dinner my father in law grilled some huge rib eye steaks!
• What a day!!!

Extreme Makeover UPDATE...

Last Friday and Saturday was a HUGE step forward for our church. The people at Dahlonega Assembly of God came together to give our church a much needed EXTREME MAKEOVER! It was so amazing watching everyone work together. Exactly when I got to the church on Friday morning no one was there yet and I kind of freaked out. I was getting worried that people were either going to forget about it or not really care. I started to think to myself that maybe I pushed the people to hard. After my whining session I grabbed a paint brush and a gallon of paint and went to work. I knew that this EXTREME MAKEOVER was a God thing and since it was a God thing He would bring the people to complete this audacious task. Two hours later the first couple of people showed up and then from that point it was a steady stream of people coming and going.

Before I go on I have to say our church looks awesome! If you ever have an opportunity to join us for a Sunday morning service you got to check it out for yourself. I am SO proud of all of our DAGer's that helped out that weekend. Whether you painted, power washed, cleaned, constructed, cooked or brought food, or bought supplies or picked up supplies THANK YOU SO MUCH!

It was so much fun hanging out with all the people that were there. There's nothing like a makeover project to get the conversations going. It's amazing how paint brushes and paint get people talking. Maybe it's the fumes from the paint...JUST JOKING! Seriously, I learned so much during our makeover weekend. Some people shared some happy stories, while others shared some sad moments in their lives, while others shared their dreams and goals. Honestly, this is why I was so excited about this weekend. My prayer was that sometime during the day I would gain access to people's hearts. I heard someone say one time, "people don't care how much you know until they know that you care."

My desire is that the people at Dahlonega Assembly will experience the life that Jesus talks about in John 10:10 "a FULL life." The ONLY way to experience that life is to have a relationship with Jesus and to read His Word. I know that not the popular thing to say and sounds very churchy but it's the truth. The reality is if I never connect to the people at our church on a real, transparent, authentic level they are never going to care about what I have to say about Jesus or the Bible. In others "they don't care how much I know until they know that I care."

Like I said earlier I am very proud of our church family for all of their hard work during our EXTREME MAKEOVER. But that weekend was more than slapping some paint on the walls, cleaning, and power washing the building it was about PEOPLE. It was about people coming together, doing life together, and growing together. It was about a group of people making over an old building while they developed new lifelong relationships. Finally, it was a Pastor getting to know the hearts of an amazing group of people and thanking God for the opportunity to serve this community. I seriously could go on forever about how amazing our EXTREME MAKEOVER weekend was but I think you got the idea.

Building Momentum...Extreme Makeover Style!

I can't wait until tomorrow! Tomorrow will be a HUGE step forward for our church! During the month of May I will be teaching a series called Extreme Makeover: God Edition. So to start this series off I thought it would be great if we gave our church an Extreme Makeover! This Friday and Saturday the people at Dahlonega Assembly of God are going to be working hard giving our building a much needed face lift.

Last night after the service we did some prep work in the sanctuary, foyer, and hallways to get the area ready for a new paint job. Yesterday before the service I painted an area in the sanctuary to give our folks a preview of the new colors. It was like pouring gas on a fire people started crying with excitement...just joking but it was fun watching their faces as they got excited about the new colors and the opportunity to be apart of this milestone at Dahlonega Assembly of God. We'll be doing everything from painting, power washing the entire building, some landscaping, and a deep cleaning of the building. I'm praying that this Extreme Makeover will be the catalyst for inspiring change. I'm also praying that this opportunity will develop life lasting friendships. Although our goal is to give our church building a face lift, what I'm really looking forward to is just getting to know our new church family and watching the people interact and develop a sense of community.

So if you don't have anything to do this weekend come hang out with me and the peps from Dahlonega AG as we get a little dirty, a little sweating. All I ask is that you bring some work clothes, some deodorant, and a great attitude:)!