Here are just a few things I’m thankful for this year:

1. God’s immense love – no joke, I know it sounds corny, but lately I have thought a lot about where I would be if God had not brought me into a relationship with Him.
2. Jenni – I am not that great of a husband and she is so loving, forgiving and able to push me just right.
3. Peter – baby smiles, need I say more.
4. Our friends and family.
5. Those folks who are supporting Epic Church through prayer and finances.  Jenni and I have been taking stock of just how many people are making this thing happen.  It’s incredible!
6. My Grandma for letting Jenni and I live with her for the past 6 months or so.
7. Pecan pie!
8. Bible Christian Church – for being so faithful and allowing us to make this move into church planting with their blessing!
9. Disposable diapers (You know you’re secretly thankful too).
10. Our youth at BCC – they are honestly the best teens I know!

Anyway, that’s some of what I’m thankful for this year.  How bout you?

Perhaps there is nothing more humbling than planting a church (surely there is – like having your skirt caught by the wind or something of that nature).  The problem with church planting is that the humblings (that’s my own personal word) keep coming.  They come because there is very little about the process that I actually control.  The two things that a church plant need to survive are people and money and these two things come from the only thing that a church plant needs to thrive – God.

Yeah, I am in charge of what happens between now and Sept. of 2009, or am I accountable for what happens – perhaps that is a better way of saying it.  But God is the one who brings it all together.  The key lies in me aligning my heart with His heart.  I must make my definition of sucess His definition of success.  He truly must become greater and I must become less.  This is a struggle for me.

You gotta love Church Planting – nothing like being stretched!

Jenni and I have really been wrestling with where the exact location of Epic Church is going to rest.  We have been looking over demographics and cost of living, where our strategy would fit best, etc.  It really has been a little bit frustrating if I were totally honest.  We are convinced beyond a shadow of a doubt that God has called us into Church Planting, but don’t know where that is going to be lived out.

Yesterday, I was talking about this with Justin from The Heartland Project, and he gave me the whack I needed.  Justin asked me to quit worrying about all of the details and to ask one simple question, this is my paraphrase of the question, “Who are the people that God is burning a whole in your heart to reach?  Where do they live?”  Honestly, I was a little blown away – in a good way.  I needed someone to knock me out of my state of worry and into a state of anticipation.  I am fasting the next couple of days seeking God on this issue.  I need you to be praying with Jenni and I about this.  We honestly have some great opportunities in front of us, each is coupled with it’s own difficulty.  I am confident of this:  I need a fire for a people lit in my bones.  I need to want to serve the community we land in, not as a strategy, but as an overflow of the passion God has placed in my heart for those people.

This is where it all begins…

This is where we hit the ground running…  would you pray over the next couple of days with Jenni and I – would you even consider fasting with me?  This is the biggest decision we have made in our adult lives, everything will be altered by this and there are no guarantees, only faith that God has lit a fire!

I was doing a little studying this morning on the demographics of some locations Jenni and I have been praying over for a specific place to plant Epic Church.  I ran across these statistics that just hammer home to me the need for new churches in our country!  These statistics are all taken from the Hartford Institute for Religious Research.

Q: How many people go to church each Sunday?
A: For years, the Gallup Research Organization has come up with a consistent figure — 40 percent of all Americans, or roughly 118 million people, who said they attended worship on the previous weekend. Recently, sociologists of religion have questioned that figure, saying Americans tend to exaggerate how often they attend. By actually counting the number of people who showed up at representative sample of churches, two researchers, Kirk Hadaway and Penny Marler found that only 20.4 percent of the population, or half the Gallup figure, attended church each weekend.

Q: What’s the size of U.S. churches?
A: The median church in the U.S. has 75 regular participants in worship on Sunday mornings, according to the National Congregations Study. (Median refers to the church right in the middle, the average number is actually 186 – this number is brought up by the infusion of a few very large churches)

Can you imagine that this Sunday, two days from now, only 2 out of 10 people in your community will be in church?  The American Church is loosing ground and we need new churches in order to reach people who are disconnected from God!  Please be praying for Jenni and I as we are making decisions that will affect the eternal destination of the lives of people we meet and minister to through Epic Church!

14 Wait for the LORD;
be strong and take heart
and wait for the LORD.
-David

I find this encouraging as Jenni and I wait for the Lord on some things for Church Planting.

If you have not been praying for us, I would like to ask you to consider doing so.  We are giving our whole life to this (finances and all), we need as many people as possible praying that God would be our guide!  If you have been praying, let me say “Thank You!”, God has been leading us and confirming His call!  We appreciate each and every one of you!

I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living!

But God does not work like that.  He is not some crazy haired scientist who is bouncing back and forth throwing things around that are not yet ready to be moved.  God is a gentleman.  He does things perfectly and perfection is as much in the timing as it is in the execution.  I have been thinking about the sun.  It is never early, it is never late, it is always on time – at the exact right moment, the sun peeks its face over the horizon and brings us light and life.  God is not in a rush.  God does not worry about where and how – He has it all figured out.  Now it is time to learn to rest in His perfection and follow his wonderful – scary – lead!

Lamentations 3:22-24

22 Because of the LORD’s great love we are not consumed,
for his compassions never fail.

23 They are new every morning;
great is your faithfulness.

24 I say to myself, “The LORD is my portion;
therefore I will wait for him.”

I get scared alright, but I keep thinking of Joshua and Caleb – they knew there were giants in the land, but they also knew God was on their side. I think of David wondering why no one had gone out to show that philistine giant that he could not mock their God.

So, how do I deal with that fear, I focus on trust. It is just like any other spiritual activity – giving money, serving the poor, giving a ride to a hitch hiker, talking about Jesus with your co-worker. It is not easy, it stretches you, but in the end it is an all in or all out thing.

Jenni and I are all in!

Revelation 2:4-5

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken your first love.  Remember the height from which you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first.

I started thinking about how I lived life when I first came to know Jesus.  I remember picking people up and giving them rides, I remember giving money because I had been given so much (through Jesus), I remember praying like everything depended on it and reading the scripture like it was a cool drink for a parched throat.

It has been funny how stepping out on faith has forced me back into that person again.  It is like I had been looking through rose colored lenses and now I see things as they are.  Every step seems more important, every conversation takes has a different tone.  It’s like I am back at that place with God where everything is new and trust and hope are the only things I’ve got!

For me, all of this comes down to one thing. There are people out there who still do not know Jesus! That is the real “cost” thats burning inside me, that is what keeps me up at night.

I think the trip ended up costing us nearly $70 or so in gas and food! God is so good and his timing impeccable, He provides in ways you couldn’t even imagine. I am so grateful for every little gift he gives!

PS – our interview went really good from our perspective. We should know within a month whether they hire us or not. If they do choose to hire us, they will provide Jenni & I’s salary for the first 3 years! Please pray for these men as they decide whether or not to support us & Epic Church. Every step like this is one step closer to providing a church for people who are disconnected and far from God!