Get Ready DAG ReTHINK MONEY is coming!

Yesterday morning I had the privilege of having a mocha frappuccino with a new friend. Casey Graham is the President of ReThink Money. Casey started ReThink Money because he had a passion to help others learn how to handle the resources God has given them. From the beginning of our conversation it was very clear to me that he was the real deal. Awhile back Casey called me out of the blue because of a comment I left on Shawn's blog. Here's the crazy thing, as we were talking I mentioned that I was in the middle of a financial series at our church. He had no idea I was even teaching about money. I truly believe that God still orchestrates divine appointments.

When I started this series I wanted to do more than just teach about money. Realizing many of our people were struggling financially I wanted to help our people take what they would hear on Sundays and put it into practice on Monday. So I started to look for some kind of tool, but there are so many different programs and "ministries" out there and honestly I was overwhelmed just looking at all the different material but then I get this call from Casey Graham. God's timing is perfect!

The main reason why I decided to team up with Casey and ReThink Money was because he wasn't trying to sell me a program. He genuinely wants our church to experience freedom in their finances. In other words he cares about what I care about. My desire is that our people will get the tools to handle their resources so that they can begin to live the life that Jesus died for.

So on Saturday, August 9th from 8:30am - 12:30pm Casey and ReThink Money will be doing a one day 4 hour seminar at Dahlonega Assembly of God in Dahlonega Georgia. There is a cost for attending the seminar $35 for couples and $25 for singles. The cost covers the resources that everyone will get that morning. Also, Casey mentioned that there will be some pre-work to do before the seminar. I will let you know what exactly you need to do before the 9th.

DAGer's PLEASE make every effort to be there on the 9th. In fact if you have friends that would benefit from this seminar INVITE THEM!!! Personally, I have been inviting people left and right. I want you and the people that you care about to take advantage of this amazing opportunity!!! So get ready DAG because ReThink Money is coming.

Can't Sleep

It's 1:33am and I can't go to sleep. It's crazy how on Sunday we had an amazing service. The worship was great, I felt like I communicated the message very clearly, our attendance was great and we had the best offering since I have arrived. It was one fantastic day! Suddenly two days later the high from Sunday wears off and I'm reminded that life goes on. Bills got to get paid, families are in pain, people are dying and going to hell become they don't know Jesus, and the list goes on and on.

I know this might sound a little weird but it's almost 2am so deal with it. Since we have become Senior Pastors the one think I have really notice is how more sensitive we have become to people's pain. So here I am at 1:59am praying about the finances of the church, praying for the families in our church, and praying for the lost in Lumpkin County and Dahlonega Georgia. As I was sitting here praying and thinking about these things I honesty believe that the Lord used a tv preacher to share Psalms 91 to me. After read this I felt impressed to share this with the blogger world.

So don't blow this off I believe there is someone out there that needed to read this post and Psalm 91 I pray that you are encourage as much as I was when I read it. So read it and go to bed or stop worrying about the stuff your worrying about remember HE is your REFUGE and FORTRESS!

enjoy I'm going to bed...

Psalm 91:1-16
My Refuge and My Fortress 1He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.2I will say to the LORD, "My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust." 3For he will deliver you from the snare of the fowler and from the deadly pestilence.4He will cover you with his pinions, and under his wings you will find refuge; his faithfulness is a shield and buckler.5 You will not fear the terror of the night, nor the arrow that flies by day,6nor the pestilence that stalks in darkness, nor the destruction that wastes at noonday. 7A thousand may fall at your side, ten thousand at your right hand, but it will not come near you.8You will only look with your eyes and see the recompense of the wicked. 9Because you have made the LORD your dwelling place—the Most High, who is my refuge—10no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent. 11For he will command his angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways.12On their hands they will bear you up, lest you strike your foot against a stone.13You will tread on the lion and the adder; the young lion and the serpent you will trample underfoot. 14"Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name.15When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him.16With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation."

Sunday Mind Dump

• Today was an amazing day!
• Attendance was great! It seem like everyone is done traveling for the summer and getting ready for school.
• WORSHIP WAS SWEET!!!
• I know I say this every week but I am SO PROUD OF OUR WORSHIP TEAM!
• Thank you guys for practicing hard and serving with all of your hearts.
• We actually had one person leave during our worship time because the music was to loud. I guess we aren't the church for everyone.
• It was hot in the sanctuary today. A/C wasn't working well.
• My wife shared about the ladies brunch yesterday. From the sounds of it they had a blast. I love to hear my wife teach God's word. I can't wait til she teaches on a Sunday morning.
• I ended our How To Be Rich series today. Felt really good about how we ended it.
• I walked on stage wearing my Party City BLING. Huge dollar sign chain with my dollar sign rings on both hands and of course my favor favor massive gold clock. It I can't wait to see how this series effects our church.
• Tomorrow I have a meeting with Casey Graham of ReThink Money. I'm looking forward to meeting him.
• By the end of the service I was burning up! Thank God I was wearing a black t-shirt because I was sweating profusely by the end of the service.
• I later found out that the motor on the A/C unit for the sanctuary burned out. Seriously smoke was literally coming from the motor. Pray that we find an affordable replace.
• One of the highlights for today was that we had the largest offering since i have arrived. I am so jacked up about this not just because it's money but the people of DAG are beginning to see why we exist.
• DAGer's thank you so much for living to give and loving to give. The best is yet to come!
• I love pastoring DAG!!!

Monday Mind Dump

• Yesterday was a great service!
• Attendance was a little low...lots going on this month plus a couple in our church got married yesterday afternoon so everybody's mind was in a different place.
• Laterly though we've seen a rise in teen attendance! I'm pretty jacked up about that!
• Also many of our former students for our last church showed up yesterday. Even one of the parents showed up with them. It was so good to see them. I am so proud of all of them. A couple of them are going to school for full-time ministry! I'm a very proud spiritual daddy!!!
• Once again I am so proud of our worship team. It was a little shakey in the beginning but they pulled it through. Every week I can see the improvement. You guys are amazing!
• Sunday was our second week of "How To Be Rich". I want to give props to Andy Stanley for the title to this series. I totally went in a different direction regarding content put I loved the title. So I borrowed it!:)
• I was so jacked up about all the teenagers on Sunday. When I saw all the teenagers there I sort of tweed the message so it could really impact the students that were there. It's never to early to get a biblical view regarding money.
• I love pastoring DAG!
• Next week I will be ending our series "How To Be Rich". I can't wait til Sunday it's going to be awesome.
• After church I had lunch with our former students. All I got to say is "welcome to Moe's"
• Afterwards I headed to Gainesville for the wedding. My amazing wife played wedding coorinater for the day. I was so proud of my wife!
• Honey you were amazing...thank you so much for jumping in and helping and serving you are my HERO!
• I was so much fun hanging out with our church at the wedding! I think it is so funny how people let loose a little more when they are not at church.
• The wedding was amazing! Matt & Crista I pray that blesses you with many years of joy and love.
• I was so proud of my youth pastor. He performed the ceremony and did an amazing job! You rock Pastor Blake!
• I can't wait to see what Jesus doesn't this week!

Finding your Happy Place!

Earlier this week while I was doing some yard work I discovered something...I found my HAPPY PLACE! I know how could working in the yard be a "happy place"...well, I love a manicured lawn. I love standing back when everything has been trimmed, edged, and cut and enjoying the fruits of my labor. Aside from enjoying the finish product the other thing that I love about yard work is the alone time.

Nobody wants to hang out with me when I mowing my lawn. Maybe it's because of the noise from the mower or the smell of gasoline or maybe it's my outdoor mowing the lawn sweating profusely odor...whatever it is I honestly don't mine the time alone. I have discovered that mowing the lawn is one of my HAPPY PLACES.

What's a happy place you ask...it's a place where no one bothers you, a private sanctuary, a place away from your computer and cell phone, a place where you can gather your thoughts together, a place where you have uninterrupted time with God, finally it's a place away from the craziness of life.

I believe that everyone NEEDS to have a "happy place." Oh my gosh, even Jesus had a "happy place"...don't believe me read Mark 1:35. If Jesus, the Son of God, had to find a happy place how much more do you and I need this special time and place. I discovered two things happen when we spend time in our "happy place"

1. WE'RE REFRESHED. In Mark 1:32-34 we see Jesus doing some serious ministry. He's spending time with alot people, healing folks left & right and kicking some demon butt! I'm pretty sure He was physical exhausted at the end of the day. Jesus realized that the only way He was going to get REFRESHED was He had to go find His "happy place" and spent time with His DAD.
2. WE'RE REALIGNED. In verse 36 we see the disciples are looking for Jesus and when they find Him the tell Him that everyone is looking for Him. I love Jesus' response, "38Jesus replied, "Let us go somewhere else—to the nearby villages—so I can preach there also. That is why I have come." I believe the time Jesus spent in His "happy place" realigned His priorities. I'm sure Jesus loved healing people but He made it very clear that He came to preach a life giving message.

So let me encourage you to do whatever it takes to find this "happy place" in your life. Whether it's mowing the lawn, in the shower (that's my second happy place), driving your car, in your bedroom, taking a walk, working out, taking a bath, riding your bike, siting at Starbucks, or going to Chili's and enjoying a huge cup of sweet tea with an order of chips and salsa:) where ever it may be make it a daily or weekly practice to go to that place and be REFRESHED AND REALIGNED!

Preach IT Pastor Perry!

Hey DAGer's some of you may remember Pastor Perry from NewSpring Church in Anderson SC. We watched him a couple of Sundays ago during our ONE PRAYER series. I was reading his blog recently and came across a series of post entitled "Pastors/Church Planters BEWARE that totally echos how I feel regarding SEVEN types of persons that try to neuter a church. I will be reposting his post because I believe we could ALL learn from Pastor Perry's and NewSpring's experience.

I was thinking the other day about what I would types of people I would warn a pastor/church planter about–there are seven, here are the first few…

#1 - The “I’m Going To Leave If” Person
Pastors, you are going to have people threaten to leave your church–period. And 999 times out of 1,000 the best thing you can do is let them go. I remember once in the early years being on the telephone for over an hour, begging a young lady in our church not to leave. Why was she wanting to leave? A group of singles had gotten together and forgotten to call her. You are going to have people who don’t like the music, your wife, you talking about your kids, the way you dress, the kind of car you drive, the version of the Bible you use, your hairstyle, your zodiac sign, your staff, and your belief on the end times. You can’t please everyone…and, to be honest, that BOTHERS me! But, reality is, according to Hebrews 13:17 you and I will stand before God one day and be held accountable for how we led the church…and I would much rather a disgruntled person walk out that God’s presence go instead! Don’t ever be held captive by a person who keeps threatening to leave.

#2 - The “Let Me Tell You How Much Money I Have” Person.
Pastors, you’ve GOT to make a choice early - are you going to be motivated by money (thus becoming a prostitute, not a prophet) OR are you going to resign to the fact that Jesus purchased you, thus making you not for sale? I remember early on a guy calling my assistant and demanding that I come to his house for dinner. (Something I just don’t do…explanation later!) He told her where he worked, where he lived (a NICE neighborhood), the kind of car he drove and also told her he wanted to get financially involved in the church…all I had to do was some to his house for dinner. I didn’t go. I don’t play that game. When people begin to dangle money in front of you…it is ALWAYS attached to an agenda.

We have some incredibly generous people at NewSpring Church who give faithfully every single week. In our two campaigns that we’ve done we had a giver once give $1.4 million and another one gave $1 million…and neither of them ever asked me for one second of my time. They gave with a pure heart and with pure motives.

When people threaten to stop giving then that is an issue they will have to work out with God. Don’t let a person who has a lot of $$$ keep you from doing what God has called you to do.
When a person begins telling you how much money they have…trust me, they ultimately desire to either buy you or control you. Don’t let it happen. Tell them you are excited they have money, ask them to give generously, challenge them to be faithful in their giving…but don’t EVER begin to let them dangle money in front of you, thus becoming your source of motivation.

All I got to say is PREACH IT PASTOR PERRY!!!

Sunday Mind Dump: Tuesday EDITION

• We had an amazing service on Sunday morning!
• There were some first time guest. One couple exactly was visiting our church because of this blog...I thought that was totally amazing and funny.
• Our worship team continues to amaze me with their heart to serve. Seriously you guys are SO AMAZING!!! Thank you for stepping up and leading.
• Our prayer time after worship was great. I love praying with our church!
• After prayer I was sharing some thoughts about our Hunger & Thirst night and one of the ladies that was there on Friday night told our church that on Friday night she was late because she was having some serious pain but didn't want to miss it so she still came but some time during that night all the pain she was feeling all day was gone and has not returned since then.
• Jesus is the MAN!
• Started a new series about money on Sunday. I wasn't sure how our folks were going to respond to it but it seems like they were into what I was teaching.
• I know it seems silly to be doing a message series on money in the middle of summer but I believe that our church needed (myself included) to get a grasp on what the Bible says regarding money before the Fall hits.
• Sunday was the first time I taught with a table and stool on the stage. It felt a little weird but it was a nice change. I liked having the option of sitting down and walking around. I'm thinking about making it a permanent thing...
• After service we had a Q & A session with our members regarding some ministries in our church. It was another opportunity for me to share the vision and purpose of our church to our people.
• Overall I believe everybody got a more clear picture of where we are headed and why we exist.
• I'm really getting excited about our kids ministry. We have some big plans for our kids and teenagers. DAGer's say it with me...BIG DREAMS...BIG RISK...BIG FAITH...BIGGER GOD!!!
• I love our church!
• Still making plans to reach North Georgia College and State University or NGCSU for short. If you live in a college town and if you are reaching you college I would love to know how you are doing it. Drop me a comment.
• On Sunday I let our church know that we were going to adopt some foster kids in our community and invest into their lives by buying them school supplies and school clothes. We are teaming up with Family Connections of Lumpkin County to make this happen.
• I still jacked up from our Hunger & Thirst night!
• After church on Sunday we had lunch with one of the amazing families in our church. We had a great time hanging out with this family!
• Overall Sunday was one encouraging day! I can't wait for tomorrow night. I get to hang out with some of the most amazing people in the world.

It was AWESOME!!!

On Friday night at 9:15pm we had our first Hunger & Thirst night. From what I was told we had over 30 people there. I honestly wasn't expecting that many people to show up so when people kept walking through the doors I was so jacked up (excited)! Before we started I shared a quick illustrated devotion. I stacked up a bunch of boxes around the altar area. I said that even though we know that nothing is impossible for God we usually pray prayers that "box" God in. I wanted us to pray BIG! I encouraged our folks to pray humasive (huge/massive) prayers. I told them that we were busting up the boxes we put God in and really believing that nothing is impossible for Him.

After my little devotion we went into worship. I am so proud of our worship team! We just went through some changes and everyone stepped it up to fill in some really big holes. YOU GUYS ARE AMAZING!

Around 10pm we went into prayer. One of my main goals for this night was to unite our people in prayer. I believe when we pray there is literally a shift in our environment/atmosphere. Satan hates when the church prayers. One, because prayer wipes away any kind of division. When you pray with someone it's hard to keep a grudge with that person so prayer doesn't leave a "foothold" for Satan. Two, prayer builds the body up. When a person or church prays and they begin to see the things that they have been praying for in faith begins to happen it BUILDS UP THEIR FAITH. Satan would love the church to stay in a constant state defeat. Praying together builds up the church and each other. Third, when the church prays together it communicates clearly that we are totally depend on God and that we are here to serve Jesus. I'm sure I don't have to explain why satan (God's enemy) hates this.

We prayed for our community, city officials, schools and NGCSU, country, our government, military, families in our community and the surrounding areas, marriages, kids, teenagers. Not only did we pray for our church but we prayed for all the churches in Dahlonega and Lumpkin County. We also prayed for physical healings. We prayed for people thinking about suicide. We prayed for financial breakthroughs. We prayed for people who were hurt by the church and for people that have given up on Jesus.

It was around midnight when the first couple of people started to leave. All thought out night people came and went at the end there were four of left at 6:30am. Got to be honest around the 4-5am mark I was struggling to stay a wake but the four of us left drink a lot of water and encouraged each other. I was so proud of our church I truly believe that the Lord is going to honor the time that we spent together praying. I can't wait to see the affects our prayers had in our church and community. We will definitely be doing another Hunger & Thirst night in the future. Eventually I would love to see a 24 hour prayer team at our church. DAGer's thank you for coming together and seeking God with me and Tami I promise you our prayers were heard and the BEST IS YET TO COME!!!

I would love to hear what you thought of that night and what God is doing in your life since that night. So PLEASE leave me a comment.

I am so HUNGRY

For the last several weeks the Lord has been speaking to me about seeking Him with ALL my heart. It sounds pretty simple but have you ever try to seek Jesus with ALL your heart. As a Pastor you would think that I am constantly seeking Him but the reality is that there are so many things fighting for my time, mind, and heart. My heart's desire is to have less of me and more of Jesus. Psalm 63:1-4 totally describes exactly how I feel.

1 O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.
2 I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.
3 Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.
4 I will praise you as long as I live, and in your name I will lift up my hands.

I am so hungry to see God move in my world. I started to read about the men and women in the Bible that were so desperate to see God move in their world. I realize that they all had ONE thing in common...PRAYER and/or FASTING. Every time God moved in a supernatural way it was because people hungered and thirst after Him. In other words they would relentlessly pursue Him with all their heart, mind, soul, and strength.

Well tonight myself and the amazing people at Dahlonega Assembly of God are going to relentlessly pursue God. In a couple of hours we are going to surrender our most valuable commodity, our TIME, and literally seek God ALL NIGHT. God has given us a huge vision for Dahlonega Georgia that before we can begin to move in His vision WE GOT TO SPEND TIME SEEKING HIM. So from 9pm Friday night to 7am Saturday morning we will be at our church praying for our church, families, community, schools and college, missionaries, nation, healings, marriages, and the list goes on. I believe that we are to see God move in our families, church, and community like never before.

Please join for us and with us as we Hunger and Thirst after God tonight.

OUR NEW LOGO!

I just wanted to share with ya'll our new logo. I'm pretty jacked up about our new look! I love the fresh and modern look. I took my time designing our new look. I played around with different concepts, got some feed back, played around with some more concepts, drew up a rough draft then I met up with a pro from The Logo Store. My friend from The Logo Store took what I drew and cleaned it up. The result is what you see here.

Before coming to Dahlonega Assembly I started to studying about the effects of "branding" on churches. It's really sad that there are many churches that believe that branding and marketing has no place in the church. Then complain at the same time that no one is coming to there church. Last December I attended a conference in Las Vegas at The Church of South Las Vegas and heard Phil Cooke speak about marketing/branding in the church. One of the things that he stated was that the church is the worst at marketing it's message. He also spoke about how we over complicate our logos. Churches try to stick every religious symbol into their logos and then expect people to understand what we are about by our logos. The one thing that he said that resonated with me was to KEEP IT SIMPLE. So that was our goal.

This particular look of our logo will be our new church sign outside. I also had different versions of our logo created so we could use in varies ways. Thanks Daniel for taking what I drew up and taking it to the next level. If you are looking to do some printing or need a new logo I personally recommend Daniel from The Logo Store. If you need the information let me know.

Monday Mind Dump

• We had a GREAT service yesterday!
• I am so proud of our worship team. You guys did an amazing job!
• During our prayer time I was lit up! I could feel God's presence in the room and I wanted to soak in it for a while.
• I read Psalms 20 to our church, prayed over some folks, and preached a mini sermon to our church regarding how God was setting us up to reach our community.
• It was an amazing prayer time! Wait until Friday...i'll blog about this later.
• After our prayer time I invited our worship leader with his wife up front and our entire church prayed over them.
• Sunday was their last Sunday with us. Although we are excited for this new season in their life it was sad to see them leave. They have left a huge mark on this church.
• James and Debbie thank you so much for your faithfulness and servants heart. We love ya'll and we will miss you so much.
• After all that worship and prayer we finally got to the Word.
• Sunday we ended the ONE PRAYER series by hearing an amazing sermon from Pastor Perry Noble.
• OH MY GOSH...Lord, make us Dangerous was PERFECT!!!
• Our church loved the message...they loved Pastor Perry. (but I'm not jealous...)
• Pastor Perry thank you for such a timely WORD. You made our church laugh, think, ask questions, and respond to the Word.
• We are definitely going to the next UNLEASH conference.
• Had lunch at Moe's with some amazing folks from our church.
• I love hanging out with the people of our church. I love hearing about what God is doing in their lives and families.
• We started to talk about ways that we can impact our community...I WAS LOVING IT!
• I love watching peoples faces when they start to connect to the new vision of our church.
• I can't wait to see God move our church and our community...it's going to be awesome!

Perry Noble at Dahlonega Assembly of God this weekend!

This weekend ONE PRAYER ends at DAG. I am so happy that we participated in this amazing series. I believe that it gave us a small preview of what God wants to do at Dahlonega Assembly and in Lumpkin County. Throughout this series I was so excited to share with my church some of the men who have become mentors to me (even if they don't know it). The most amazing outcome of this whole series is how 1,625 churches and over 893,075 people came together like never before. I can't wait to hear and see the outcome of this series.

Tomorrow Pastor Perry Noble will be preaching at Dahlonega Assembly of God. He will be sharing his ONE PRAYER for the church, "Lord, make us Dangerous". I'm looking forward to see how our church responds to Pastor Perry and his message. I let you know how it goes tomorrow. DAGer's get ready for another WORD to be preached!

WE WILL NOT BE A STATISTIC!!!

I am still lit up from Sunday's sermon. Pastor Steven preached an amazing message. It had our church listening intently from the beginning and laughing at various times. Especially the story of the crack smoking lesbian. I think some of our folks were caught off guard with the bleach blond hair but whatever it takes. :) Even the title of his message, "Lord, make us Audacious" grabbed our attention. I have watched Pastor Steven's message four times and each time I want to kick satan in the teeth and run though out the streets in Dahlonega telling and showing people the love of Jesus.

Pastor Steven if your reading this post, I personally want to say THANK YOU! Not only did your message inspired me but from the sounds of it, it reignited my church. Because of your message I have determined in my heart, mind, and spirit that WE WILL NOT BE A STATISTIC!!! For a long time people in our community either didn't know that we existed or have under estimated the potential of our church. In fact I believe a lot of our own folks have under estimated our potential. I realize that hundreds of church die every month but WE WON'T BE ONE OF THEM! We WILL make it through the thorny and slippery valley. Sunday's message reminded me to stay focus. I love what the Apostle Paul says in Galatians 1:10;

"For am I now seeking the approval of man, or of God? Or am I trying to please man? If I were still trying to please man, I would not be a servant of Christ."

I think one of the main reasons churches become a statistic is because Pastors allow people to high jack the vision that God has given them. In our attempt to fulfill the vision many of us become people pleasers instead of a servants of Christ. The Apostle Paul makes it very clear that if we are people pleasers we are not servants of Christ.

A servant of Christ refuses to be a statistic! A servant of Christ refuses to be a people pleaser. A servant of Christ refuses to allow anyone high jack the vision God has given him. A servant of Christ refuses to allow the thorns and slippery valleys stop him from dominating their community.

As a servant of Christ I refuse to become a statistic on some form. As a servant of Christ I am determined to do whatever it takes to draw people to Jesus...even if it makes me feel uncomfortable. As a servant of Christ I will do whatever it takes to draw others out from underneath pomegranate trees and join the fight. I don't know if this is the definition of audacity but it sure sounds like it to me. Oh God make Dahlonega Assembly of God AUDACIOUS!

Once again, Pastor Steven thank you for listening to the Holy Spirit and sharing the Word that God put in you.