Some thoughts about FFN @ Yahoola

Yesterday afternoon we had our Family Fun Night at Yahoola Park in Dahlonega Georgia. This event has become a highlight for our church. One of the things that I have discovered in my short time at DAG is that the people LOVE to spend time with each other. Seriously the folks at our church love doing life together.

The reality is it's hard making friends. Think about it...with our crazy schedules it becomes more and more difficult to create life long and healthy friendships. If you aren't intentional about making friends it just won't happen. One of my goals at DAG is that we get intentional about creating experiences for people to connect.

For a couple of months we have been anticipation this event because of the long awaited softball rematch between the adults and teenagers. The first time we had our FFN @ Yahoola the teenagers got a brake "cheated":) and beat the adults. It was a crazy game right in the middle of it, it start to pour rain but we kept on playing. So for the last couple of months the teenagers had bragging right but not anymore!!! Last night the adults of DAG were redeemed! After a long and well played game of softball we beat the tar out of the teenagers! The final score was 19 - 18! By the last inning everybody was out for blood:). WE PLAY TO WIN...to honor Jesus of course:)

Here's the thing I love playing softball and I love winning but that reality is that my hope was that people connected. From the looks of it we accomplished our goal that afternoon. Over 60 people showed up and at least half were first time guest! My goal was to remind our people that we are never to busy to invest some time into each other and into the people around us whether we know them or not.

If you are a Pastor and you are not intentionally creating experiences for your people to connect to God and each other start TODAY!

Monday Mind Dump

• WHAT AN INCREDIBLE WEEKEND!!!
• I'm a little sore from the softball game last night but it's totally worth it. We had our monthly family fun night at Yahoola Park in Dahlonega and the adults (aka-senior crizitens) BEAT the teenagers 19-18:) more about this later.
• On Friday and Saturday me, my wife, and several people from our church attened the Georgia Assemblies of God annual Church Ministries Conference in Griffin Georgia .
• It was the best church ministries conference I have ever attended!
• One highlight that's worth mentioning is my wife and I got to spend some much needed time with the people from our church. Friday night we had a blast at IHOP. It was so much fun to hear stories and see a side of them that we have not seen yet.
• The second highlight was that I got to sit in a pastoral round table with the Senior Pastor of First Assembly Griffin Randy Valimont and several other high caliber Pastors from around the state. I truely felt like the mule at the Kentucky Derby.
• I'll share more about the conference later this week when I finish downloading everything I took in.
• yesterday was an AMAZING DAY!
• for a while now I have been singing on the worship team but yesterday I sat back and worshipped from the pews.
• Pastor Blake, Chad, and the rest of the worship team did a great job leading us in worship.
• did I really say yesterday was amazing?
• from the moment that I drove on our church campus I knew God was up to something.
• We had several first time guest yesterday.
• On top of that we had a great attendance.
• Yesterday I spoke about Being Strong.
• We looked at the story of Joshua in Joshua 1:1-9. I said that as Joshua stood at the edge of the Jordan and looked across the river into the unknown he had to BE STRONG to inherit the promises of God.
• People responded very well to the message.
• Several people stood up and declared that they were going to BE STRONG as they move forward in life.
• After the message I shared with our church some strategic and exciting opportunities that were in front of us.
• In the next several weeks we are going to start making some much needed repairs and upgrades to our current facilities.
• Everything from a new roof, a new church sign, painting our building, updating our bathrooms, a new website, creating a new kids ministry area, and much more!
• The next several weeks and months are going to be a exciting around DAG!
• DAGer's thank you so much for being faithful in your giving and serving. Because of your prayers and faithfulness we are going to be able to improvement our current facilities and create a place where people can CONNECT TO GOD, BECOME LIKE JESUS, & INFLUENCE THE WORLD!
• another opportunity that I shared with our church was the opportunity to help establish a Spanish Assembly of God church in Dahlonega. Starting soon we will be having a Spanish church meeting in our building on Tuesday nights and Sunday nights. We are partnering with another Spanish church to make this happen.
• For a while now I have been praying about how we could minister to the hispanic community in Dahlonega and then this opportunity presented itself. All I got to say it has Jesus written all over it! I let you know later when they will begin to have services.
• Sorry about the long mind dump but as you can tell it was a very busy weekend.
• God is so faithful I can't wait to see what He does this Wednesday and next Sunday!!!

Monday Mind Dump

• Yesterday was amazing and encouraging!
• I am so excited about what God is doing in our church and our community.
• Once again I am so proud of our worship team! You guys are unbelievable...thank you so much for stepping up and making it happen every Sunday. I couldn't do Sundays without ya'll.
• Yesterday morning when I was driving up to Dahlonega for church Jesus and I were having a moment and I asked if He could encourage me with some guest and guess what happened...We had some first guest!
• THAT'S MY KING!
• on week 3 of my 6 week series. I'm really excited about this series.
• Yesterday I spoke about hitting the mark in a cultural that encourages sloppy living. We should have it on the website by Wednesday.
• I love our partners in ministry at Dahlonega Assembly!
• Even though we are all relearning and establishing new serving structures every Sunday our partners in ministry serve so faithfully.
• Thank you partners for serve with all of your hearts.
• My youth pastor had our students do a crazy game yesterday...it was hilariously!
• I had a board meeting last night...and it was awesome!
• No joke we had a great meeting!
• DAGer's get ready we have some great opportunities coming our way...what opportunities?
• Show up at church on Sunday morning and you'll find out:)
• Some of the folks and I had a think session for GOLD RUSH. I have never experienced GOLD RUSH but I am getting jacked up about this community event.
• I have a very busy weekend coming up.
• Friday night and Saturday all day we will be in Griffin at the Assemblies of God Church Ministries Conference. I am really excited about all the different session that there will be but I am excited about spending some time with some of our leaders.
• Then next Sunday afternoon we have our Family Fun Night at Yahoola Park in Dahlonega.
• It starts at 5pm with the fried chicken and all the side dishes you can think of and then the game that we have all been waiting for...I heard ESPN is going to be there...(jk) the long awaited PAY BACK game.
• It's goin' get crazy so if ya'll are in Dahlonega feel free to come hang out with us eat some good & FREE food and watch the adults stomp the teenagers:)

GUEST BLOGGER: CASEY GRAHAM

Hey everyone you are about to experience something new on my blog...a guest blogger. Casey Graham, President of ReThink Money, is a new friend that I met several weeks ago. I was in the middle of a finance series when I get this message from a guy that I have never met. He saw a comment that I left on a blog and wanted to get to know me and hear what God was doing in Dahlonega. So I called him back and introduce myself and we started talking about what God was doing in our lives. Somewhere in our conversation I told him I was in the middle of a finance series and then he started to share with me what he does through ReThink Money.

I don't believe in accidents or luck I believe in divine appointments. Casey didn't know this but I had been praying about how I can help our church with their personal finances. Sure I was teaching about money but I wanted to give them more...I wanted to help them take what they heard on Sunday and apply it to their lives the rest of the week. Honestly, I didn't know how to do this but that's were Casey came into the picture.

The Lord sent Casey and ReThink Money at the right time. Casey is the real deal. He wants to help your people become more like Jesus Christ by taking control of their financial futures and having hope for the future. That's exactly what happen at Dahlonega Assembly of God last Saturday. I personally recommend Casey and the team at ReThink Money. The ReThink Money LIVE seminar was fun, simple, and most of all it gave a new sense of HOPE for the future.

Please...please...please...ya'll got me begging and I never beg but this is too important. Don't let your pride, fears, or insecurities as a leader stop you from inviting Casey and ReThink Money to your church. I promise you it will be one of the best decisions you make as a leader.

Okay bloggers it's my honor to introduce to you my new friend Casey Graham. I hope you enjoy his post.

At ReThink Money, we pride ourselves in helping the AVERAGE person with finances. I think we make finances way to complicated sometimes. At ReThink Money we actually frustrate really financially savvy people because they want to teach everybody everything about finances! I have learned that in teaching finances their are four major subjects we have to tackle. In this post I would love to share with you the three subjects and their benefits.

1. Spending

I can't believe I go around the country teaching people to spend less than they make. It seems so simple but it really is so hard. Spending is a spiritual decision. Each time we make a purchase we have made a choice to take God's money and use it for something that will benefit our kingdom or His. At ReThink Money we teach people how to spend less than they make and to leverage their spending for Kingdom impact.

My in-laws went to buy a lake house. As they were in the middle of signing the contract at the real estate agents office they wanted to stop and pray and use this time to ask God to bless the lake house for Kingdom good. As I sat their I was thinking, "This prayer is just to justify this purchase!" I really thought it was a weird and shallow prayer.

A few weeks later one of my best friends and pastor's that I served with was diagnosed with cancer. He lived ten weeks after his diagnosis. Guess where his family stayed during their last few weeks with my friend? THE LAKE HOUSE! They leveraged their kingdom for God's Kingdom. That is very important to teach your people. It isn't bad to own a lot of stuff. It is only bad when we don't see what we own in light of eternity.

Question 1: How are you teaching your church to leverage their purchasing power for God's Kingdom?

Application: You could definitely teach a message series around this idea.

2. Debt

I believe getting out of debt is a great place to start and terrible place to stop! I am starting to see a debt free mentality in some of the churches I work with. HOWEVER, I think this is only the first step in the equation. The reason we become debt free is so we can free up more money to give! Being debt free just to build our kingdom is very empty.

Question 2: How are you helping your church decrease debt in their lives so they can increase generosity? What is your plan for that?

Application: Let ReThink Money teach your people how to become debt free! Email me at cgraham@rethinkmoney.org

3. Generosity

I am not hearing a lot of preachers teach on this subject unless they need money for a specific project. I am NOT AGAINST asking for money for your church for a specific project at all! I am only against it if that is the only time you talk on generosity. I believe that generosity is a lifestyle more than a one time act or commitment. I would like to place a challenge out to all pastors reading this blog. I dare you to challenge your church to be more generous this fall. It is absolutely essential we do this. Why? PEOPLE'S SPIRITUAL LIVES DEPEND ON IT! If you want to know what will stretch people to believe in Jesus, ask them to give their possessions away.

Generosity HAS TO BE TAUGHT on at a higher level.

Question 3: How are you specifically helping people become more generous in God's Kingdom? How is your church becoming more generous in giving more to the poor and needy?

I think you could do a message series on these three subjects and it would be a home run. Remember finances need to stay simple. Let us help you navigate this process! Email me at cgraham@rethinkmoney.org

Monday Mind Dump

• This weekend was crazy but awesome!
• On Saturday morning Casey Graham from ReThink Money came out and did an amazing job teaching some simplistic principles about money and getting out of debt.
• If you or you want to bring someone in to teach on money Casey is the man. We are definitely bringing him back in January or February.
• Sunday morning was stinkin' awesome!
• We had family from out of town come visit this weekend. It was great having them in service.
• Worship was amazing!!!
• You could literally feel the presence of God in the room that morning.
• It was week 2 of my new series. Talked about the WORD of God being our lamp and Jesus the light.
• I challenged our church not to be content with living in the darkness anymore.
• Several people responded to the altar time...I love praying with our folks!
• We started to have full service kids church on Sunday. I heard nothing but great reviews.
• Looking forward to updating our kids area. Praying for some favor with the bank so we can make this happen.
• NGCSU is back in session this week. I praying that we could make some serious impact on the campus.
• We're starting to make plans and preparations for GOLD RUSH in October. If you don't know what GOLD RUSH is I'll blog about it later.
• Looking forward to our Family Fun Night this Sunday. We're meeting at Yahoola Park for a picnic style get together.
• the adults are going to massacre the teenagers in softball this Sunday. You don't want to miss it!

ReThink Money WAS A SUCCESS!

ReThink Money LIVE was a huge success this morning! I got to admit I was a little nervous because I was going to have to "really" take a look at our finances. For some people this isn't a big deal but if you're like me this is a very scary thing. It's not like I'm totally ignorant of our finances but before today I usually felt overwhelmed, confused, and very stupid. The truth is I have always been intimidated by numbers.

As far back as I could remember numbers and I have never been friends. It wasn't until college that I discovered that I had a learning disability. So naturally I milked my learning disability for all it was worth. I did everything in my ability NOT to have to deal with numbers. When I got married I didn't have a problem when my wife started to handle the check book...it worked for me. For years I was content with this arrangement...until today.

Today, I learned that WE can and will get out of debt sooner than we thought! I also learned that I have to be part of the process in order for this to happen. I don't know about you but that turns my crank! Casey Graham from ReThink Money did an amazing job explaining to me, my wife, and our church why we should get out of debt and how to get out of debt. Here's the best part I actually understood what he was saying!!! No joke I almost started to cry because I could understand how to get out of debt.

The other best part of today was I got to see the faces of the folks that were there realizing that there was a light at the end of the tunnel. For most people when you are struggling with debt you feel like you're drowning and that there is no way out of your situation. Not for the DAGer's that were there today! Sure they walked in a little nervous and maybe a little embarrassed but they walked out with their heads held high, a spending plan in their hands, and excited about their debt free future.

Today marks a new day for my household and our church family. We are determined to be debt free so that we can do what God has called us to do in our families, church, community, and the world.

Casey thank you so much for being faithful to the call that God has placed on your life. God used you to bring much needed HOPE in our lives this morning. I can't wait to see and hear how this weekend changed the lives here at Dahlonega Assembly. I pray that we will continue to partner together so lives can continue to be changed at DAG and all of North Georgia!

WORTH EVERY PENNY...

This past weekend I got a subscription to Powerpointsermons.com. I got to tell ya'll I have been totally impressed with these guys. If fact 24 hours after getting my one year subscription online a "real" person called me just to thank me for getting a subscription with them. On top of that he gave me a direct number to reach him just in case if I have any questions or have any trouble. Wow...that's customer service!

In the past I have bought slides from powerpointsermons.com one at a time. After being very satisfied with the graphics I decided to get a one year subscription. At first, I struggled about getting a subscription because of the cost. But the reality is its more cost effective to get a one year subscription than buying them one at a time. Another reason I decided to get a subscription was it saves me a ton of time. I currently work at night so I don't have a lot of time to create slides from scratch and I don't have people, at this time, that are graphic geniuses and can spend time doing this for me so this is a perfect alternative.

Being a bi-vocational Pastor I have to maximise my time. So I am constantly looking for ways to work smarter not harder. While at the same time raising the bar of excellence and never being satisfied with average. Even though my church would love to bring me on full-time they just can't do it right now. So if anyone has an extra $35-$40 thousand that they don't need let me know ASAP! With that said, I wanted to share with ya'll other resources that have been extremely useful to me and our church. Some are FREE while others you have to pay for but like I've discovered sometimes you're going to have to pay to get quality stuff so you can present the gospel in the most effective way. If you have any other resources that you think would be use to me PLEASE let me know. Thanks and I hope ya'll enjoy these resources!

• http://www.powerpointsermons.com/ - powerpoint slides
• http://www.visualrealityonline.com/ - video illustrations & count downs
• http://www.sermonslides.com/ - powerpoint slides
• http://www.sermonspice.com/ - video illustrations, countdowns, background loops
• http://www.sermoncentral.com/ - sermons, illustrations, video illustrations, powerpoint slides...
• http://www.ichurchphoto.com/ - collection of Church related royalty-free images
• http://www.sermonvideos.com/ - video illustrations & countdowns
• http://www.openresources.org/ - powerpoint slides & sermons
• http://www.allthetimeministries.com/ - youth & kids monthly newsletter
• http://www.outreach.com/ - they have it all!
• http://www.churchnerds.com/ - multi-media suppliers
• http://www.bluefishtv.com/ - video resources for all ages and ministries

Monday Mind Dump

• We had a great service yesterday.
• Even though we had some hiccups during our worship time the team kept it together. You guys are amazing!
• Started a new 6 week series called Carrying the Torch.With the Olympics starting this week I thought it would help folks retain more or at less remember a little from Sunday messages.
• I'm really jacked up about our new laser printer that I just bought for the church! I am anal about doing everything with excellence and this new print is going to help us raise the standard in our in house material production. WE'RE TAKING IT TO A NEW LEVEL OF EXCELLENCE!!!
• I don't know if you have ever experience an off day but yesterday was my "off" day. Although everything went well at church I just felt that I was off my game....anyway i just wanted to share that transparent moment with ya'll.
• Had a great lunch on Sunday with some of the amazing peps from my church.
• the A/C got fixed over the weekend so it was nice and cool this Sunday...thank God! There's some work that needs to be done still but as long as it's cool I'm good to go.
• I AM SO PROUD OF MY YOUTH PASTOR AND OUR STUDENTS!!! Word of mouth is differently the most effective way to get your friends to church. Our students are so excited about whats happening on Sunday nights that they were on their phones all afternoon trying to get their friends to show up...and it worked. There was at less 10 first time guest that showed up. I was so excited for our kids and Pastor Blake.
• Here's the part that I love most of these kids weren't regular church kids.
• That's what I'm talking about reaching the unchurched.
• Just got a subscription to Powerpointsermons.com! This is a great resource for churches who don't have graphic people yet. check it out at www.powerpointsermons.com.
• Really excited about next Saturday! Casey Grahams from ReThink Money will be doing a one day seminar at our church. more details to come!
• I'm so jacked up about the new school year! We're planning to impact our schools in a HUMASSIVE way!
• I love pastoring our church and community!