Tag Archive - Church Planting

Brain Fart

June 4, 2009 in Church Planting with 1 Comment

Do you ever just have one of those brain fart moments in life.  This morning Wayne and I were out delivering donuts and bagels to the Coconut Creek police force and to Monarch High school as a way of saying thanks for all that they do for our community.  So of course as you are giving something away expectantly to someone they would ask who it is from.  This is where everything went wrong for me.  I have been on staff at an amazing church in Bradenton called Bayside Community Church, so when they asked where we were from of course I would tell them Coastal but instead said Bayside. I know that names aren’t important for recognition because it is about making Jesus famous but if they would like to say thanks, they are going to have a hard time finding Bayside.

d31Outreach was great this morning anyways.  It is always great to bless others to be a blessing.  There response always is so genuine and appreciative, in fact most of the time they don’t know how to react.  Why is it that when someone else does something helpful or gives us something that it blows us away?  Jesus told us that “He did not come to be served but to serve others by dying on the cross.”  You would think that if we embodied Christ words that we would all be use to people serving and doing things for us.  Makes me wonder a lot of times why we want the deeper things of God when we don’t embrace the simple.

Are you living out Jesus words to serve others by GIVING?

What are you doing with your TIME, TALENT and TREASURE in life?

Are you living for yourself and what you can get or for God and what you can give?

I love what Winston Churchill said “We make a living by what we get and we make a life by what we give.”

Plans are Changing

June 3, 2009 in Church Planting with 1 Comment

office-spaceI am just always amazed at how God works things out.  Planting a church has been the hardest, most challenging and trying thing I have ever done in my life.  The funny part about that statement is that we are just in the process of planting the church and haven’t even done our first service.  In the midst of all of this chaos in life God always seems to show up in profound ways like I never thought he would.

Today I went to go look at an office space that was potentially going to be given to us for the church to use.  I was excited but a little apprehensive because it wasn’t officially ours.  As I met with the management guy who was showing me the space he turned and handed me the key and said “Here you go.”  I was blown away as he drove off leaving me standing there with the key to our new office.

I love it when God blesses us to be a blessing to others.  The whole reason we need an office is so that we can have a headquarters for all of the team gatherings, storage of equipment, place to coordinate all of our outreaches and a central location for our staff so we could work together under one roof.  This was an unexpected and unplanned opportunity that presented itself.  Our plan was to do all of this out of our home, but God had other plans.

Proverbs 19:21 “Many are the plans in a man’s heart, but it’s the LORD’s purpose that will prevail.”

See, you and I can have all kinds of great plans and ideas but if Gods got another way, what do our plans matter.  I had a plan of working out of our house as the main place for Coastal Community Church but God had a totally different plan.  We were not planning for the additional cost of utilities, office furniture, and the upkeep of a meeting space.   I have found that where there is a vision from God that there is always provision.  So now we are looking at an additional $20,000 for our budget we did not plan.  I am standing on the fact today that “it’s the LORD’s purpose that will prevail.”

What is your plan that is turning out differently than you anticipated?

Are you trusting today that it’s the Lord’s purpose that will prevail, or are you trying to be in control?

Will you trust with us that God will provide for us in this area.  I know that God is up to GREATER THINGS in Ft. Lauderdale.

Breaking the Routine

May 30, 2009 in Uncategorized with 2 Comments

I love routine. I like knowing this is exactly what I have to do, when I have to do it, and what it is going to produce as a result. The thing about routine is that it is mindless. We just get into a rut and stay there because it is easier to just continue down the beaten path rather than creating your own.
I believe that a lot of times we get use to doing life out of memory that we fail to imagine all that God has and wants for us. We get so consumed with doing the ordinary that we don’t even think about, dream about or pursue the extraordinary that God wants for our life.
imagination-preview-of-attractions1I know that for me I found myself in this place back in December of 2007. I had an amazing job as an associate pastor at Bayside Community Church and I was doing what I was naturally gifted at doing. From the outside looking in, you would think that I had the perfect job and life. On the inside though, I was bored and just going through the routine to accomplish the task of my work. During this time in December, I did something different. I decided that it was time to break free from the routine and start to imagine what life would look like if I were to change the routine. Before I knew it God was rocking my world with Matthew 6:33

“But seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be added unto you.”

Seeking first required me to get out of my comfort zone, the routine in life, and imagine what was the heart of God for my life.  The question

“Does what breaks the heart of God break your heart?”

kept creeping in my life.  I wanted to be broken for the lost, hurting, uncommitted, undecided and unchurched people.  I knew that I had to change the routine and imagine life being different and challenging.  So here I am today leaving everything I know, all the relationships, family, memories and successes to launch out to imagine what Ft. Lauderdale would look like if there was a place where individuals could experience a group of people dedicated to God and each other who serve and love their community.

What routine do you need to shake up in your life?

What have you imagined and just said that is to hard and just gone back to the routine?

Does what breaks the heart of God break your heart?  What are you doing about it?

Outreach Today

May 26, 2009 in Uncategorized with 0 Comments

gift-bag1Today was such an amazing day.  Shayla and I had the opportunity to take some gift buckets full of drinks, donuts, tea, coffee, and all kinds of candy to the local schools this morning to thank them for all they do to educate, inspire, and encourage the students to develop the skills necessary to survive in life.  It was amazing to see the look on the peoples faces in the offices when we told them the gift was for them “No Strings Attached”.  One lady said to me “Are you for real, that is for us?”  and it was so great to say yes and thank you for all that you do.

We are so pumped about just loving and making a difference in our community by random acts of kindness.  We think that this is the best way to show people Christ’s love in a practical way.  In doing so we believe that we will have multiple opportunities to share with the individuals in our community why we are do this, and here is why, BECAUSE IT’S ABOUT THEM NOT US.  I know that the gospel isn’t really for us who already know but those who do not yet know.  We want to be Jesus to them with our hands, feet, words and actions.  I can’t wait to see Jesus move in peoples hearts as we serve our community.

The one thing that I have learned over my time in ministry is that the church does not exist to be served even though a lot of times that is what we make it about.  We ask questions about what area would you like to be involved in or can you help us here inside the four walls of the church.  Don’t get me wrong those are very necessary things for us to have engaging worship services but they are not the primary thing.  I love what Jesus says in Matthew 24:28

“For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve others and to give his life as a ransom for many.”

The reality is that we are here on earth to serve others, and by OTHERS I think Jesus is referring to those who do not yet know him.  So let me ask you a question:

Who are you serving?  Are you serving yourself or others?


COMMITMENT

May 25, 2009 in Church Planting with 1 Comment

I have been really challenged as of late with one word in particular, COMMITMENT.  I never thought that planting a church would be so challenging for me personally.  I have been fortunate to have been involved with a great church and pastor over the last couple of years and it has really been a catalyst to shape and form who I am today.  Even with all the success of Bayside and everything I learned and experienced there, it has not prepared me for this new adventure.

leap-of-faith1The biggest thing that I think I have learned is that talent is not or ever enough.  I know that a lot of people have talent but when the going gets tough a lot of times talented people quit.  It is the strong, the diligent and the COMMITTED who end up succeeding in life and ministry. This has been a tough challenge for me personally.  I always think of commitment as an easy thing but as Shayla and I have stepped out, quit our jobs and moved this commitment thing has started to settle in our lives.  I have asked myself probably one hundred times, “What the heck are you doing, are you crazy leaving everything that you know, the security for this new church plant” and all that I keep responding with is “I guess I am now really committed.”  See before it was just a really good idea but I could still decide that maybe this wasn’t from God and just go back to my old way of life.  Now on the other hand I am truly and fully committed.  In this process the thing that I have found is that commitment hurts.  I have yet to even experience the pain of truly planting the church but at the same time I am continually facing the reality of commitment.  I think that I truly understand to a degree what Jesus was feeling at the Garden of Gethsemane when He was praying to God to take the cup of suffering on the cross from him.  Even though he was not yet tortured and nailed to the cross he understood and felt the weight of that COMMITMENT he was making to endure the pain in the future.  The commitment he made there in the garden helped him to endure the pain, suffering and sin of the world by dying on the cross for you and I.  The thing is that the decision was made way before he was ever on the cross.

What decision do you need to make right now that is going to take commitment in the future to endure? When we make the decision now then after we have suffered through the pain of that decision there is always a resurrection of the decision where glory is revealed and freedom found but it happens way before we ever endure anything.  I am making and have made a commitment to follow Christ and His plan for my life.  That plan includes planting and pastoring Coastal Community Church here in Ft. Lauderdale.   I am committed to doing whatever it takes to help the unchurched, uncommitted and undecided people of Ft. Lauderdale become Fully Devoted Followers of Christ who are growing in their relationship with God and others, giving of their time, talent and treasure and guiding others to Christ, the church and small groups.

WHAT ARE YOU COMMITTED TO???

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