Logged In!!!

Well it's official. Our family is officially logged in to the Chinese Center for Adoption Afairs. The ball is now fully in their court. They can accept us or reject us during this waiting process. It's just another reminder that we're not in control of life. We have worked realy hard and paid a lot of money, but we may still not get a daughter.

They are saying that the typical wait at this point is 14 - 18 months, which would put is in the summer/fall of 2008. This is when the Olympics will be in Bejing as well. It would be intriguing if they overlap. At least there will be a lot of the world's attention on China at that time.

Bonnie & I have each read a book on Chinese adoption and feel like our hearts are getting more and more ready.

Easter In The Theater

We're excited about the opportunity we have to worship together this Easter at The Classic Center in downtown Athens. Even though a good number of students go home for the weekend, it will be a lot of fun to be all together for one celebration service. The Classic Center is a beautiful facility in the heart of our city.

We'll be enjoying the baptism of one of my friends as well. It will be fun to hear his story and watch him "go public" with his faith in Jesus.

if you're in town, we'd love to have you join us at 11am on April 8th. It will be a lot of fun!

Preparing My Heart

I'm reading a book called "The Lost Daughters of China." It's a great book written by a lady who adopted a little girl from China. God is really using it to move my heart and help me better understand the adoption process. I really don't know how all of this is impacting my life right now, but I know it's lingering in the back of my mind at all times. There is so much about this journey that I don't really understand. I've zealously stepped into this adventure and I really don't know what it all means. Either way, I sense that God has led us to do this beautiful thing and I know it's going to be a huge blessing to our family. It's going to stretch us in some great ways. I know it will be life-changing for one special little girl named Ellie.

5 Things God Uses

We're starting a new series tomorrow called "IGNITE." The big idea of the series is this, "More than anything, God wants us to trust Him, so He's committed to helping grow our faith." Through the years we have observed at least 5 things God uses to help grow our faith. We're going to spend a week discussing each of them. We call them the 5 faith catalysts and they are:
Providential Relationships
Pivotal Circumstances
Private Disciplines
Practical Bible Teaching
Personal Ministry
I pray this series will be a key time in the life of our church for our faith to grow in individually and corporately. I long for us to be a people who greatly trust our great God!

My Anxious Thoughts

One of the great temptations in my life is to live in fear. This could be in any are of my life – the safety of my children, whether or not people will follow my leadership, my communication opportunities, my financial future, my health, etc. I daily sense the fear of “life going wrong” creeping up in my thoughts. The desire of the temptation is to dominate me and my day. This has surely happened at times, and when it does I’m no good. I’m impatient, judgmental, critical, and I live with no energy in life. I’m exhausted when I live like this. I can’t enjoy things and I rarely smile. My life feels heavy.

So, on a moment by moment basis I have to fight the temptation to worry unless I want to be dominated by it. Actually I’m of the impression that fear is the great enemy of faith. I know that my life is totally different when I’m living with faith. Not necessarily faith that everything will work out the way I want (I’ve lived enough life to know this isn’t a realistic hope. Rather, faith that God is enough for me and will sustain me no matter what life throws my way.

I came across this passage again recently and it is a prayer I want to keep on the tip of my tongue. Psalm 139.23 – Search me O God and know my heart, test me and know my anxious thoughts. Point out anything in me that offends You, and lead me in the path of everlasting life.

This is how I want to live my life and I really believe it’s the abundant life that Jesus came to offer (John 10). Jesus actually commanded us to not be anxious about anything. Worry and anxiety scream out at God, “You can’t take care of me!” But this is so far from the truth. I know God is more than able to sustain me through any set of circumstances. He doesn’t delight in my experiencing pain or discomfort. As a matter of fact, one day He has vowed to remove it all (Rev 21.4).

So, if you’re looking for a way to pray for me (and I’m sure you are :-); you can pray that I will continue to make the decisions moment by moment to trust that God is enough for me and to walk in His joy!

Banner Ads

We have just added banner ads to our site to help people invite friends. Here is the link to that part of our site and a sample banner ad - http://www.athenschurch.com/pause_ads.asp

Perfect People

When we moved to Athens our heart's passion was to start a church which would help spiritual seekers find the Truth. The goal was not to start a church that would only draw people from other churches. Our goal was not to reach discontent churched people, however this is what often happens with a new church. People are often very willing to leave their current church to try something new. This has more to do with the dysfunctional nature of churches than anything else.

We're now almost 2 years into this journey and I think we still have a long ways to go when it comes to reaching unchurched people. God has been very gracious to us thus far - we have grown numerically and financially. We have some amazing people who attend Athens Church and I'm honored to serve with them. I just know we have so much more potential in the arena of creating an environment for people who don't yet know Jesus. There is such a great need in this city. There are thousands and thousands of people who don't know that God really loves them and wants a wonderful life for them.

I'm currently reading a book by John Burke called "No Perfect People Allowed." It's a compilation of stories of what God is doing in their church (Gateway Community Church) in Austin, TX. The title of this blog is a link to this book on Amazon. So far, I think this book is INCREDIBLE! I've been so encouraged by what God is doing among this courageous group of people. It's given me even more hope and vision to create an environment for the unchurched.

If you're looking for a way to pray for me and/or Athens Church please pray that we will create the optimal environment for those who are seeking the Truth to find Him.

A Big Decision?

Right now I'm feeling the weight of what seems like a big decision for our church. We are currently at over 90% capacity in 2 services at our current meeting location (public high school). It's been a fantastic location for us and we've really enjoyed it, however, we just don't have that many empty seats at optimal inviting hours.

So, we are investigating three options:
1. Doing more services at our current location. We are requesting permission for this now.
2. Moving to another bigger rental location. We're investigating all our options in town currently.
3. Leasing and renovating an existing location. This seems to be the most affordable option to have a space 24/7, but it's still not cheap at all.
4. Buy property and build a building. This is an exciting thought, but totally unrealistic at this stage of the game for us.

This is the question I'm asking, "What will help us reach the most people in this city?" Another question that must be asked at the same time is, "What can we realisticly afford? What is a good stretch for us and what is too much?" These are the questions I'm asking at this point, but I'm not sure how we will find these answers. This is what's "keeping me up at night."

I want so badly for us to make the best decision and I don't want to harm our church or the momentum we're currently experiencing. But I'm also asking, "Where is my faith?" Is it in my ability to make perfect decisions? Is it in my ability to gather all the right data? Is a great leader the one who knows all the right things to do? Or is a great leader the person who seeks wise counsel, works hard to gather accurate data, lays all his agendas before the Lord, and says "God, lead us and we will follow."

I'm trying to figure out all of this right now. This is my faith in action in leadership in the local church and I'm grateful to have the opportunity!

Indescribable

A little over a year ago I posted a thought called "In Between" at which time I stated our great need for God to provide for us in many ways if we were to become the church God is calling us to become. So, I thought I'd give an update.
We still have so very far to go and the opportunity before us is incredible! However, the last 14 months have been amazing. We have seen God provide competent passionate people, abundant resources, and favor in this community beyond what we could have hoped for in this timeframe. It is so exciting!
So, even though we still have a ton of needs ahead of us, I want to at least pause and celebrate what God has done thus far. I realize that I am having the opportunity to participate in something special and I am truly honored to be part of it.
If you ever find yourself in the best college town in America on a Sunday morning, come by and take part in the fun!

Beautifully Chosen

I am bit unique in that I've really not had much experience with girls in my life. My parents were divorced when I was about 5, I have no sisters, no girl cousins, and I have only two boys as children. Bonnie is really the primary girl that God has put in my life and I am blown away by how much better a man I am as a result of her presence.
So, I am well aware that my life would be so much more rich and full if I had a daughter. I have wanted this for some time now and we just haven't gotten pregnant again. Well all along the way, I have had these crazy thoughts about adoption. I feel like it would be such an amazing adventure to welcome a child who has no home into ours and make her our own. To treat her like the princess she was made to be and to help her experience the love-rich home environment that her heart longs for. So, we have decided to do just that. We are pursuing international adoption from China and we are so very excited.
We're just getting started in the process and it's a very long and expensive one, but I am fully convinced that the reward at the end of this journey will be more than worth it.
What would it be like to be left all alone? What if you had no mother or father who knew you intimately? What if no one made you feel like a special unique individual, but rather you were just part of a crowd of the unwanted? How would you manage those feelings?
Then, what if someone went through months and months of hard work and preparation and thousands of dollars of expense to seek you out? What if they prayed and prayed for you and then traveled thousands of miles, leaving everything else behind, just to welcome you? What if they worked ahead of time to prepare a place for you so you would feel warm and special? How would you manage those feelings?
This is the journey our family is starting. We welcome you to share it with us!