Eric Taylor

Greatest Music Ever!

I need your help. We're beginning to plan for a new series  and I'm doing a little research. We need to compile some of the best 80s music around.  Sure, I could go to the 80s websites and pick some, or I could be completely selfish and pick my favorites  (Van Halen, Bon Jovi, Gap Band(yes, You Dropped a Bomb on Me!).  But I want to hear from YOU.  What's your favorite songs... from any group, any genre... And, if you have a story behind why you like the song so much, let us know that too.  I'm having a blast putting some of this together... I think this may be on of the most fun series that we do... but it's going to be packed with Vision and Truth as well.  Get Ready... we may ask you to break out your spandex pants or fix your hair up BIG like it used to be. Leave me your favorites in the comments section below or you can email your faves to info@journeytogether.net.

Time Out

Today I'm taking my wife, Sonja, to the hospital for her 3rd epidural (no we aren't having a baby) in 6 weeks.  She's got some kind of neck problem and this is suppose to relieve the pain and reduce the swelling and inflammation.  The first 2 gave her limited results... we're praying REALLY HARD for this one to work... She's been a trooper through the whole thing though... so today, she's getting my full, undivided attention... we're taking the kids to school then going to breakfast together, something we rarely get to do during the school year, and then, we're going to hang out together the rest of the day doing whatever she wants to do.  As much as I hate that she's having to get a needle stuck in her back, I am grateful that she has the day off and we can spend the day together.

Book Learnin' is Awesome!

I'm reading Earl Creps book "Off Road Disciplines:  Spiritual Adventures of Missional Leaders" and it's (to use a Gary Lamb Term) FREAKIN' AWESOME!   It's been kicking my butt every page... It's kindof like the book of James in the Bible... Pulls no punches, goes straight for the jugular. 

Where it hit me most recently was in the chapter called "Witness--The Discipline of Spiritual Friendship."   I've blogged before about having a mobile office at Panera Bread and Momma Goldbergs as well as having one in my house.  Well, over the past few weeks, I've been spending a lot more time at the home office and  I've unintentionally isolated myself from the world I say we're trying to reach.... I can say with all honesty that NO ONE has stumbled into my office at home wanting to have a spiritual conversation.  But, the more time I spend at the other places, I constantly run into people to talk to... For someone who is easily distracted, that's not good when you've got a lot of stuff to do.  So, that's why I moved back to my home office.  And it never dawned on me that I was short circuiting a critical area of my ministry... being around disconnected people.  Sure, when I was alone in my office at home I got a TON of work done... I even finished a message by Wednesday... but I missed out on being with the people I most want to communicate with.

In the book Creps talks about factors that can disconnect us from the disconnected.
1)  Vision Drift--He says "vision is often determined by who you spend most of your time with."  WOW!  I have to constantly balance my time between my family, investing in leaders and spending time building friendships with people who are far from God.  The more time I spend with Christians, the more desensitized I will become to those who I'm trying to reach... making them much more difficult to see.

2)  Ministry Drift--Even if I'm at Panera or Momma G's, If I am constantly buried in my work and never look around to see who's in the place... I'll give the impression that I'm unapproachable, busy, and I'll unintentionally make "ministry itself something that blocks my relationship with the disconnected rather than building it."

3)Schedule Drift--As our church grows and my ministry and schedule changes... I must be prepared to reevaluate my schedule to accomodate these changes...Otherwise, I'll find myself doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results.  (someone said that's the definition of insanity!) 

All these 3 factors are at work in my life every day... So, I have to be intentional about maintaining the Vision... doing what my friend, Shawn Lovejoy, says "Be Mean about Vision".  Constantly communicating it and embodying it.  I must always remember that my ministry is to PEOPLE ... not  Preparing Messages or  Producing Videos...those are TASKS associated with my calling... my calling is to PEOPLE... especially those who are living life outside a relationship with Jesus.  If I get more caught up in ministry tasks than the people around me... I've missed it!... I must protect my schedule... being prepared for changes and being ready to say NO to good things in order to say YES to the Best things!

This book is called Off Road Disicplines... and, as the name implies, it's certainly NOT for those who are looking to "DO" ministry in a nice, clean, scheduled, predictable environment... This book is reminding me of the Adventure and Heart Pounding Action that God called me to live as a Christ Follower.

Sunday Night Mind Dump

Today was a great Sunday... we had a big crowd... lots of first time guests and the band rocked.  We had Connection Groups after church and I'm pumped about growth groups.

Here are some thoughts from the day...

• The Band was great... But we've got to work on some transitions
• The video didn't work... Is it possible to love and hate technology at the same time?
• This series is so practical and I'm hearing lots of great feedback.
• Just a few days until Kickoff...War Eagle!
• I've got to get our tailgating stuff together
• I'm working on a To-Do list for the church... there are alread 50 things on it!
• God is doing some cool stuff in our people... it's exciting to see them get excited about new people coming to Journey.
• You can tell when the college students are back in town... you can't get a parking place downtown, restaurants are full, we see a crop of new students... and that rocks! 

I know our lives are about to get much busier... I've got to make sure I stay focused on what' s Most Important!

Up at 3AM! Is it God or is it indigestion?

I'm not one to overspiritualize stuff... like this morning when I woke up at 3:00am and couldn't go back to sleep.  I immediately played back all the stuff that usually wakes me up in the middle of the night:  1)Eat lots of chili, pizza or other spicy foods right before you go to bed;  2)Drink LOTS of liquid before lights out; 3)Tank up on caffeine;  None of that happened so I thought... OK God, if that's you talking... I guess I'm up and listening!  (that's my very loose paraphrase of 1Samuel 3 where God woke Samuel up in the middle of the night)

So I'm up and grab my Bible, journal and pen. God doesn't always speak to me directly... sometimes he speaks through the Bible, others, prayer, circumstances... today he spoke through His Word and a couple of emails. 

The emails were from a couple of friends who challenged me in the area of my leadership ability and potential as well as our church's potential.

Long story short... God spoke VERY LOUD early this morning...  What does that mean... nothing YET!  but when God challenges me... I challenge YOU!  There will be some things I share later on that will allow us to tweak some areas and totally rework some others... That's why I think God has to get me up in the middle of the night... Because if he had thrown this at me in the middle of the day, it might have gotten lost in the shuffle of a normal, busy work week.  So... I got up and listened... and my schedule that was so nicely and tightly planned out for the week just got trashed in favor of a lot of prayer and seeking God's face and direction.  I'm telling you... I'm pumped up about what this could do for our church... It might just be the bump we need to create some incredible momentum for the fall.  I'm giving you fair warning... Chaos could be coming... but it's Creative Chaos and I promise it will be God directed... So, hang on and get ready for what God might ask YOU to do.

We're Turning One!

This weekend we're celebrating our first birthday... yes there will be cake!  It's hard to believe that a year has gone by... it seems like yesterday that I sat down with the pastor at my old church and told him I believed God wanted me to plant a church here in Auburn so people who were disconnected from God and the church could be transformed into passionate Christ followers.  I remember sitting across the table with people and casting vision for Journey Church... I had a lot of breakfast and lunch meetings... and I gained a lot of weight... but it was all worth it because God gave us the right people to launch Journey Church.  I can't believe it was just a year ago when the 13 of us in my living room, with nothing more than a vision from God and a passion for people opened the doors of our church...Man time flies when you're having fun!

Over this past year we've had the highest of highs... launch day I cried because I wondered if anyone would show up... they did!  (of course every week I still wonder that same thing) We've seen people commit their lives to Jesus Christ and be baptized... we've seen our growth groups multiply 3 times!  We've also had to deal with the lowest of the lows... the death of Sonja's mom, the break in and burglary of our home... but all through that, God has been incredibly faithful.

I admit that who we are becoming doesn't look quite like what I envisioned in our church planting proposal... because my vision was WAY TOO SMALL!  This year God has given us an opportunity to reach a much more diverse crowd economically, racially, politically and spiritually... I never would have dreamed it!  And, to be honest, I once longed to speak at church planters conferences about the success of my church... but God has shifted my focus...I get to lead a church that is going into it's second year with momentum, excitement and anticipation of what God might do in us and through us.

Proverbs 20:24 is a great verse to describe the past year of Journey and it will help us as we follow God's vision for building our church over the next year...

"The Lord directs our steps, so why try to understand EVERYTHING along the way?"

I laugh every time I read this verse because it NAILS ME!  I DON'T have to understand or overanalyze or control everything... To lead our church into it's second year, I've got to be Faithful and  Fearless to step into the unknown, trusting that I've heard from God and  He's directing every step we take...

If I have to understand everything before we make a move... we never would have launched.  I'm incredibly blessed to have you guys at Journey that are willing to step into the unknown and not always understand everything, just that God wants to use us to reach Auburn, Opelika, Lee County and the World... How will we do that?  I don't know exactly... I do have some ideas that you'll hear about over the next few months... Until then... let's continue to celebrate what God has done in our first year, and get ready for what He's going to do in year 2!

Great Weekend!

We had a great weekend yesterday... I'm amazed at how God used the CONFESSIONS series to really work in people's hearts.  God has been healing folks emotionally, spiritually, relationally throughout the last few weeks and it's been exciting to hear the stories.  We had a "walk down front and bring your "confession" cards to the stage" commitment time and I'm always a bit fearful that no one will respond... But God moved and people brought their cards...on the cards they wrote confessions that represented hurts, pain, struggles, secrets, battles, dysfunctions... and they came and decided they were not going to pretend anymore, no more living a lie, they want God to begin healing them... and as I prayed over those cards, I felt more like a pastor than I ever have before because those cards represented my people ... and I have the privilege of helping them discover how God, who is rich in mercy, can take away the pain, hurt and dysfunction and help them to move on toward maturity.  Yesterday was very cool... and it really set us up for our next series that begins this Sunday.  It's called BLUEPRINTS.  What we saw happen in the confessions series with God breaking down barriers and tearing down strongholds in our lives... this next series is all about Building you up.  We're going to explore how you can discover your unique blueprint for your life... This is going to be INCREDIBLY PRACTICAL... we'll talk about your job, your finances, your relationships, and your spiritual life and, as we follow God's Blueprint for our life, how we can capture and live out the vision God has for our lives.  This is going to be great... I'm being challenged as I prepare for this series, and I can't wait to see what God does over the next few weeks. 

As school is getting started, now is a great time to step it up in the area of Investing and Inviting.  There are more people who have moved into our area over the last few months and they are looking for a connection... they're looking for a place to belong... Statistics show that most people would come to church if someone just asked them... I'm going to challenge you to find someone this week and, if you haven't already, Invite them to come to Journey with you this weekend.  It's going to be a great time to bring a guest with you and I promise, they'll get something useful and helpful out of the service.

First Day of School!

Summer's officially over (except for the triple-digit temperatures) ...school started back today.  I can't believe I have a daughter in High School --9th grade, where everything begins to count on your "permanent record"  whatever that is.  She was pretty pumped about it... she woke up EXTREMELY early and cooked breakfast for the whole family. She is amazing and I can't believe she's growing up so fast... in December she gets her learner's permit and she'll be driving...I'm sure my prayer life will increase then.  Seth starts 8th grade...new school... new teachers...new opportunity to make new friends and if there's time, he'll learn something too.  Sonja moved from teaching 4th grade to 5th grade this year and she's excited about it... she'll have some of the same kids she had last year and there are a lot of new teachers that she's meeting and we pray she'll be able to have a spiritual impact on.

This weekend is the end of our Confessions of a Pastor series... I don't want to jump ahead but the next week we'll begin a series called "Blueprints for Your Life".  It's going to be an incredibly practical series on how to build the life you were designed to live.  We'll look at relationships, career, finances and spiritual aspects of our lives and give you some practical tools to build on.  I hope you'll start telling your friends now... it's going to be a great fall at Journey... you don't want to miss it.

Confessions

I have been blown away at the response over the past few weeks.  I keep hearing stories of lives being changed and others confessing for the first time, or the first time in a long time.  God's up to something in our church and in our community... I heard someone that doesn't even go to our church say that they wished they could come to our church on Sunday to hear a pastor be "real" with them... Apparently they don't get that a lot where they are... I've said before that I was a little apprehensive about spilling my guts over a 4 week period, but I believe God has used it not only in my life, but in yours as well... One verse we've said over and over during the series has been James 5:16:  "confess your sins to each another and pray for each other so that you may be healed."  Over the past few weeks there has been some great healing going on at Journey.   This next week is going to be the toughest message I've taught in this series...maybe in my life.   So get ready... I can't wait for Sunday!  Make sure you begin now to invite a friend with you to our last week of Confessions of a Pastor.

Long time, no Blog

It's been a few days since I blogged last...mainly because we got new carpet in our house and everything's been turned upside down for a few days.  It felt like we were moving again... Thank God we don't have to do that... I hate moving furniture and I hated worse not having the internet...but our carpet looks great and my wife is very happy.  Part of what we did was rearrange some rooms... Abby and Seth traded bedrooms (I  still don't know why, they're the same exact measurements) and I moved the office into a spare bedroom (one that had a door so I could study)... but I gave up a lot more space... so I had to condense my bookcase and file cabinets... only the really essential stuff... Maxwell, Stanley, Young, McManus, Buckingham and a few others... plus I have a closet to shove other stuff in... I'm pretty excited about it... I don't know why, though, I rarely ever study at home anyway.  Enough about that... it was becoming too long and too random. 

I know I've said it before, but I'm pumped up about this Sunday at Journey... I think this could be one of the best weeks we've had... I hope you've been inviting your friends... It's going to be awesome.  See you then.