Eric Taylor

Daddy-Daughter College Road Trip

Today we're in Lynchburg, VA at Liberty University for Abby's first real College visit.  We left yesterday for the LONG road trip up here.  We used to live about an hour south of Lynchburg in a town called Danville.  We were both looking forward to getting back up there and reminiscing about old times... well, I was... she was only 2 years old when we lived there, so she doesn't remember anything.  Why are we driving such a long way to visit a college?  There are a couple of reasons:  1)  We began praying about where God wanted Abby to go to school several months ago... Don't ask me why, but Liberty was one of those schools that the Lord impressed upon both of our hearts to visit.  It's a great school with a great heritage.  And it turns out some pretty great people who are serving the Lord faithfully.  The other is 2) I get to spend some quality time with my, almost 17 year old, daughter that I'm about to unleash on the world in 18 months.  This will give us a chance to talk, laugh, and think about the future.  The ride was long and I wanted to be intentional about bringing certain things up in conversation... so, I came up with 10 things I want my daughter to know.  Here are the things I shared with her on our trip:

1. I love her and I'm proud of her-- she brings me great joy not because of anything she's done, but because of who she is.
2. She is loved unconditionally by the Father.  Even when her earthly father screws up and lets her down, she has a heavenly Father who is perfect and will love her perfectly.
3. God has great plans for her.  As long as she seeks the Lord with all her heart, she will find Him and she will find her purpose and calling.
4. Life's too short let worry consume you... so don't
5. You can't control other people or things... so don't let it get to you.
6. Get so lost in God that you attract boys that will pursue Him just to get to you. (from Dannah Gresh)
7. Fulfill your passion.  life's too short not to live out of your passion.
8. Give generously- you can't outgive God... ever!  He will always bless you more
9. Always see the Big Picture. 
10. You can ALWAYS come home, no matter what!

10 things I want her to know as she is preparing to enter into the adult world very soon... sooner than her mom and I are ready for... but this is why God gave her to us... to prepare her, to launch her and to cheer her on in pursuing her God given purpose.  I'll write more about our trip later.  

Monday Rewind

Wild Goose Chase is an amazing book... and an awesome Message series!  I'm loving preaching through this series.  Each week gets better and better.  God is using it to change lives and free people from their cages!  Here's what else went on yesterday:

• Worship was awesome.  Tiffany Rozier knocked the ball out of the park singing Revelation Song.  I could actually hear people singing loud yesterday!  There was a great spirit of worship in the service yesterday.
• Joey Seales led worship and did a phenomenal job, as always.  One day he will be on our staff!  
• By now, most of you have heard that Jeff Bush is no longer with us leading our Worship and Creative Arts ministries.  Here's the skinny on it.
• •  Nothing was wrong morally or with his integrity or with his ability.  He did a great job and we were looking forward to having him with us for a long time.  However, he felt like that at this point in his life, he wasn't ready for  a major leadership role like leading an entire Worship and Creative Arts Ministry.  He is back in Montgomery as an intern in the College Ministry there.  While we were very excited about what could have been, we are supportive of Jeff and have left the door open for him to lead worship with us again.  He's a gifted worship leader and we will be blessed to have him lead from time to time, but we are moving forward and looking ahead to what God has for us now.  
  • So what now?  Let me be very clear on a couple of things:
  • • God does not make mistakes!  God allows bumps in the road or wilderness wanderings for our good and for His glory.  We believe the greatest days for Journey Church are ahead of us... in fact, I believe that we are very close to seeing God do amazing things in our community and in our church.  
    • The mission of Journey Church hasn't changed at all!  We are still about reaching people who are far from God and helping them become passionate Christ followers.
    • People will always leave... we live in a college town, the turnover here is crazy.  Our church today doesn't look anything like the church we started with 3 years ago.  And 5 years from now I'm sure we'll say the same thing.  So, whether it's a student who graduates and moves away, or a family who takes a job in a different town, or a staff member who feels God moving them to a different ministry assignment, we always have to remember, they belong to Jesus, not to us.  The Lord blesses us to be a part of their journey and we must always strive to leave people "better than we find them".  That means we pour into their lives grace, mercy, love, truth and purpose.  When they leave... and they will leave...everyone eventually leaves... they will be better equipped to serve the Lord wherever He takes them.  That's the heart of a missional church-- not to see how many we can "seat", but how many we can "send". Sometimes the sending is to places across the world, sometimes it's across the country or sometimes it's even down the street.  
    • I know I waxed poetic on this, but this is a teachable moment and I wanted to take advantage of it.  After all, when someone leaves a church, especially a staff member, people want to know, "what's wrong?"  The answer... Nothing is wrong.  God is still in control.  The Mission of Journey Church is still the same.  The opportunities for us to grow have never been better.  I'm excited about the days ahead.  One thing this has done has reminded me that my MAIN FOCUS as the pastor of Journey Church is to HEAR FROM GOD AND COMMUNICATE IT TO THE PEOPLE.  I'm spending more and more time listening to God's voice and that means I need to give away more and more things so that I can focus on "the MAIN THING".  So, don't be surprised when I come to you and make the "Big Ask" for you to step up and do something BIG for Jesus and for Journey Church.
• Alright... now for the less spiritual stuff...
• • Our iMac is acting goofy.  I'm reformatting it now.  Hopefully it will perform like I know Macs should.  
  • I'm excited that Auburn is back on the winning track!  This week is homecoming week.  We have some friends that want to come down and we're trying to find a BUNCH of tickets--7 to be exact. Anyone know how I can get my hand on them, let me know.
  • Even more exciting is Auburn High School begins the Playoffs this Friday night ranked #1 in 6A.  They are really more fun to watch than AU.  And the Band rocks at halftime too-- especially the percussion section where my son plays the quads!
  • Today is the day.  We've put it off for too long.  It's happening today at 4:30.  Sonja and I start back with P90X again.  I'm doing the meal plan this time.  I'm going to try to lose about 25 pounds.  I have to because my winter clothes are all too tight!  I'm too cheap to go buy more, so I'm going to drop some weight.
  • And, finally, on a sad note... maybe not so sad... I'm considering killing my blog.  Not sure about it yet, but since Twitter came along my blog has been getting neglected.  I also want to make sure that I'm adding value to people's lives who read it.  I'll decide later this week and let you know.

Book Reviews- Fiction or Non Fiction?

I am a couple of days late posting this review.  I read the books a while back but last week was such a busy week, I'm just getting around to writing the review. 

The 2 books I reviewed are Shadow Government by Grant Jeffrey and Wisdom Hunter by Randall Arthur.  Are they fiction or non fiction?  You be the judge. 

Shadow Government was an interesting read.  Here's the summary from the back cover of the book. 

Security cameras, surveillance of private financial transactions, radio frequency spy chips hidden in consumer products, eavesdropping on e-mail correspondence and phone calls, and Internet tracking. No one is protected, and privacy is a thing of the past. 

An ultra-secret global elite, functioning as a very real shadow government, controls technology, finance, international law, world trade, political power, and vast military capabilities. These unnamed, unrivaled leaders answer to no earthly authority, and they won’t stop until they control the world.

In Shadow Government, prophecy expert Grant Jeffrey removes the screen that, up to now, has hidden the work of these diabolical agents. Jeffrey reveals the biblical description of Satan’s global conquest and identifies the tools of technology that the Antichrist will use to rule the world.

Readers will have their eyes opened to the real power that is working behind the scenes to destroy America and merge it into the coming global government. Armed with this knowledge, readers will be equipped to face spiritual darkness with the light of prophetic truth.

I've never been into the prophecy books or the gloom and doom writers, and I'll have to say this was a little out there for me.  However, He does make some great points about the seizure of our freedoms and the ramifications that has on our future as well as how much information that different internet companies can access on you.  Pretty scary stuff.  If you like prophecy books, or if you like a good conspiracy theory, you'll like Shadow Government.

If you'd like to buy Shadow Government, please click here and you'll find out how.

The other book, Wisdom Hunter, by Randall Arthur was one of my favorite books Ive read.  I'm usually not a novel reader.  I
 prefer non fiction over fiction, but Wisdom Hunter, while written as a novel deals with very real issues that pastors and their families face.  It's about a pastor named Jason Faircloth.  He is a prominent pastor in Atlanta and he knows what he beleives-- and he's very arrogant about it.  And eventually it cost him his marriage  and his daughter who left home because she was "rebellious".  A tragedy strikes and Jason realizes that the only family he has is a granddaughter that he has never met.  He sets out to find her and on that quest, he finds himself... and real faith.  If you have ever dealt with legalism... this book is for you. If you are a pastor and you've tried to control your family like you control your church... this book is for you.  This is my favorite Christian novel of all time.  When I first read it years ago, it caused me to rethink some things in my own ministry.  This time around it helped remind me that legalism, arrogance and pride never helps anyone connect with God or develop their faith.  

To me... Wisdom Hunter, while it is listed as fiction, a novel... is very much a true story.  It's the story of every pastor, minister, husband and father who have fallen into the trap of legalism.  You've got to read this book.  You can pick it up here. 

 

Time Change Weekend

Don't forget to move your clocks BACK one hour on Saturday night.  Then, remember to join us on Sunday morning at 10:15am as we continue our Wild Goose Chase series.  

Monday Rewind

Week 2 of "Wild Goose Chase" was awesome!  Just looking at the connection cards briefly yesterday I could see that God did some very significant things at Journey yesterday.  Several people indicated they wanted to go public with their faith through baptism.  By the way, our next Baptism Celebration is November 15th.  There's still time for you to sign up if you'd like.

• I had more fun teaching yesterday than I have in a long time.  
• Maybe it was because everyone laughed at my jokes!  
• The message was all about breaking out of our Cage of Routine.  In preparation for the message I wore my watch on my other arm all week long to remind myself of what creatures of habit and routine we are. 
• It was funny watching a lot of the people change their watch during the message... it was even funnier watching them change it back 2 minutes later because it freaked them out so bad.
• There are some GREAT things happening at our church right now.  There are people getting involved in leadership that will help us move to the next level as a church!
• We appear to be a baby factory... we have several pregnant couples... and they're all in the same Growth Group.  Wonder what they've been studying this semester?  Seriously, Congratulations to all of you.
• This week I'm going to be heading to Birmingham for a surgery of one of our leaders.  Pray for Keith Thompson on Thursday as he has back surgery at Brookwood Hospital. (I told him I would do the pastoral thing and come see him, but my real motivation is to visit Johnny Ray's BBQ and get some Chocolate Pie!!!!)  That's not true... I'm there for their family... but I will be getting some pie!
• I'm going to spend a couple of days this week beginning to plan my preaching calendar for 2010.  I've got enough material and ideas for the next 3 years, but the key is going to be listening to the voice of God and hearing what He wants to say to our people over the next year.  
• I will be sending off my MacBook Pro for service this week.  Everyone at the office gives me a hard time because they know it's going to be hard for me to part with it.  Even if I have a backup computer!  Hopefully Apple can fix it quickly and get it back to me soon!
• I can't believe it's  9 weeks til Christmas.  Dang, where did this year go?

Thursday Funnies

Okay, it's just after lunch on Thursday.  Clearly it's one of those times where you need a laugh to get you through the rest of the day!  Try this one.  

Tom Mabe: Eavesdropping

Weekend Rewind

I did something yesterday that I have not done in a long time.  I took a REAL Sabbath.  I really did unplug. I didn't return emails, I only Tweeted twice, I stayed home from the office and spent time praying, reading scripture, listening to podcasts/messages that were encouraging, I went on a walk with my wife...and my dog.  I haven't rested that well in a long time.  I know that I talk a good game when it comes to Sabbath keeping.  I usually try to go from Friday noon til Saturday afternoon.  But usually Saturday morning I'll work on my message for Sunday or something. It's time to practice what I preach!  I felt convicted when I was creating my calendar-- usually something I do on Sunday nights.  There was no intentional Sabbath time in there.  So I cleared yesterday... and I got up this morning (early, of course) and I felt renewed and excited about facing the day.  There are some great things I get to do today-- We will have a staff meeting and I'm going to get to encourage and pour into our great staff.  I am having lunch with a friend who always helps me stay healthy emotionally, spiritually and relationally.  I have some clarity about a few things we need to implement at Journey soon, so I'll be working on those today.  As for the weekend-- Sorry I didn't do a Monday Rewind yesterday... but the high points are this-- We started a new series-- Wild Goose Chase... I believe that God is going to use this to help some people break free from the cages they're living in.  Worship was awesome --again.  We are blessed to have great musicians.  I talked with several people who are experiencing God moving in their lives and they're wrestling with what to do next.  Every week I'm blown away by our volunteers who set up and tear down.  Helene Whaley and her team are my heroes.  They serve Jesus by doing the very UN-glamorous job of setting up and taking down.  Sometimes they have to mop, many times... more than they should... they've had to clean the bathrooms... but every time they have made it possible for people who come to Journey on Sunday morning to be in an environment where they can experience the power of Jesus ... maybe for the very first time.  Thanks to all of you for laying it all on the line each week to create an environment so people far from God can know Jesus, grow in relationships and go impact their world!

Don't Miss the kickoff of "Wild Goose Chase"

This weekend we begin a brand new message series based on the book by Mark Batterson called "Wild Goose Chase".  For the next 6 weeks we'll look at some of the cages that trap us and keep us from living the great adventure that Christ designed for us.

All of our Growth Groups are going to be using the same curriculum that helps us apply the Biblical truth to our lives.  By the way... if you're not in a growth group, you can jump in this week as we begin this series. 

Over the past several weeks I've heard stories from many people in our church about how they really feel like God is moving in our church and in their lives!  That's exciting.  I know God is doing something great and I want you to get in on every bit of it.  

I hope you are using the invite cards that we handed out last week.  They are a great tool to help you initiate a conversation and invitation to Journey.  I've been praying every day for people you invite to show up at Journey this weekend.  Who are you inviting?

I'll see you on Sunday!

Thoughts about our Thinking

I have been thinking a lot about "thinking".  How we think;  why we believe some things more than others; How we can break free from what my preaching professor called "Stinkin' thinkin'".  I was reading John 5 this morning and came across this story.  I used it in last week's message and I spent some time drilling down on it and realized that the guy suffered not only from physical paralysis, but mental paralysis as well Reading some of his excuses reminded me of some "stinkin' thinkin'" that we believe sometimes:

1.  "It's all up to me".  Jesus asked the man if he wanted to get well.  The man said "I can't".  I'm not that smart, but even I can realize that wasn't the question Jesus asked!  When we suffer from stinkin thinkin, we think that we have to do everything ourselves.  As Christ followers, we claim to believe that Jesus can do anything but we operate as if it depends on our efforts.  We need to understand that the same power and grace that SAVED us is the same power and grace that can SUSTAIN us!   
2. "No one cares about me". The man kept on with his excuses saying that no one would help him into the pool when the water was stirred.  He thought that no one cared about him.  He thought he was all alone.  He didn't recognize the creator of the universe was standing in front of him and initiated the conversation.  Our enemy, the devil, uses this line on us all the time- and when we buy it, we get really good at throwing pity parties.  As the body of Christ, the Church, our church must always be about helping people feel valued and loved.  I have conversations with people every week where they say something like this:  "I just don't feel like anyone cares, even the church--especially the church."  That's "stinkin' thinkin'" and the devil wants us all to believe that no one cares.
3. "I'm too late". The man said that when the healing waters are stirred, someone gets into the water before he can... and he's always too late.  So he gives up and gets comfortable in his misery.  When you believe the lies and load of crap the enemy is shoveling our way, this thought can keep us paralyzed and hold us back from experiencing the healing, hope and purpose that we were created for.  Sometimes when people think "I'm too far gone", "I've done too many bad things", "God has given up on me".  All of that is "stinkin' thinkin". It's NEVER too late... especially when Jesus initiates the conversation!

Jesus showed up and broke through the stinkin thinkin and he will do that in our lives too.  The way we combat believing these lies is to think TRUE THOUGHTS.  Jesus, Truth personified, showed us through this encounter 3 things that can help us think TRUTH TODAY.

1. It's not up to you, it's ALL up to HIM. His Grace is ENOUGH. 
2. He loves you enough to BREAK THE RULES.  He healed the guy on a Sabbath.  That was a no-no in the religious culture.  But Jesus was more concerned about the man than the rules and when Jesus shows up, sometimes you just gotta break the rules!  
3. He healed the guy INSTANTLY.  He said, get up take up your mat and walk.  And the dude did it... right then and there.  He'd been lame for 38 years.  The guy had given up all hope... but when Jesus is on the scene, He brings hope-- and HOPE WINS-- EVERY TIME! So, DON'T EVER GIVE UP HOPE!  Jesus may be getting ready to show up and do something GOD SIZED in your life!  

Monday Rewind

After a week (well, almost- I lasted about 5 1/2 days) of fasting from Blogs, Twitter and Facebook, I'm back in cyberspace.  The break was much needed because, just like fasting from food, when you take away something that is a normal part of your "diet" it changes your perspective.  And I feel refreshed, renewed and ready to add to the online conversation again.  

Yesterday at Journey we ended our series "According to Jim".  10 weeks through the book of James.  That's the longest message series we've ever done, but each week we saw lives changed!  There are several people who are taking a step of obedience and going public with their faith through baptism!  We have many people who are living with a sense of urgency more than they have before.  And yesterday, we had lots of people say they wanted to get healthy spiritually!  It was one of my all time favorite message series!

I changed up my pre-service routine a little yesterday.  I spent that time in a room praying up until time for me to teach.  I just felt an unusually heavy burden yesterday for our people and needed to spend more time praying.  Truth is, it was good and bad--It was good that I was able to spend more time in prayer, getting ready for God to show up powerfully in people's lives;  and it was bad that I didn't get to connect with anyone as they were coming in.  

Some other thoughts on yesterday:

• I'm so glad Jeff Bush is here.  He's going to be able to help us go further faster in our worship area.  
• We have some amazing volunteers who set up and take down each week.  Shout out to Helene Whaley and all her crew who go above and beyond to create an awesome environment every week so people's lives will be changed.
• There was a great spirit yesterday.  Worship was happening, and I think my message connected with people.  The way you can spot this is when people don't leave right away, but hang out and talk with others for a while. 
• I'm so pumped about some of our new volunteer leaders who are taking the reins of some key ministries in our church.  Having them in place is going to help us grow--numerically and spiritually.
• My daughter, Abby, sprained her ankle and Sonja took her to the ER after church-- she came back with crutches and McDonalds!  
• I'm looking forward to having a great opportunity to plan and strategize for the coming months now that we have our staff positions filled.
• I can't wait to see what God does through our next series "Wild Goose Chase".
• Yes, it's based on Mark Batterson's book.  
• We gave everyone 10 invite cards and challenged them to bring friends next week.
• I tossed the challenge to DOUBLE our attendance on November 8th.  We'll have a big day then and can use it to build momentum for the rest of the series!
• I am continually blown away and how hard our people work to make Journey Church happen each and every week.  You are my heroes!