Eric Taylor

Crazy Busy!

This is the first chance I've had to stop and blog for a moment.  This has been a crazy busy week already... we started ALL IN this past Sunday and I believe this could be the most significant thing we've done since launching the church 15 months ago.  We are raising the stakes in every area... our mission, our leadership, our finances and our future.  This is a BIG DEAL.  We planted Journey not because church planting is our hobby... there are a lot safer things like basejumping or running with the bulls... We planted Journey because deep in our souls we felt that God was calling us to impact the lives of disconnected people with the love and grace of Jesus.  Pretty simple.  We have seen God do some amazing things this year and I believe He's calling us to something greater, bigger, something we may not even be able to name yet... but I know He's laying it out for us... I hope you're ready!  It's going to be an incredible time to serve God through Journey Church!  Over the next few weeks we're going to be sharing what we believe God is calling us to for the coming year and we're going to lay out some BIG CHALLENGES.  I'll warn you... it may test your faith.  It may make your heart beat faster... it WILL cause you to take some Big Risks!  But God wants to do something God Sized at Journey and  He's calling us to go ALL IN... I'll tell you... there's no doubt... I'm ALL IN!  This past Sunday I told you to ask yourself 2 questions:  God, what do you want to do through Us as a church?  and  God, what do you want to do through ME?  I can't wait to see what God does in us... and what God does in you and me!

They Got Me Again.

OK... I know I said after last season I was done with 24... the trailer for season 7 came out yesterday and I just saw it.  Dang... I'm so easy!  I can't wait til January 13th.  Lots of twists and turns and CTU no longer exists... I guess I'll have to get a new ringtone for my phone too.   

World Series Tonight!

It's on tonight!  World Series, Game 1... Red Sox and Rockies... I can't wait to see my Sox sweep the Rox (sorry, couldn't resist).  I know it's football season and all eyes are on the Polls and what's happening there.. but I can't help it... I love baseball  and  I'm a HUGE Red Sox fan... I'm excited  about this stuff... I know it's not as popular as the SuperBowl or some of the College Football that's going on right now... but man, if you like baseball, there's nothing better than Fenway Park.  Plus, there's something fun about the possiblility of watching guys play baseball in the snow when they go to Colorado!

East Alabama YFC

Just got back from the East Alabama Youth for Christ Banquet.  it's their annual fundraising banquet and I get invited because I worked with them as a Campus Life Director for a few months while we were  beginning to plant Journey.  I love YFC and what they do for teenagers that don't "fit" into a normal church youth ministry setting.   This year's banquet was great.  The main speaker was Bill Muir, writer, director, producer and YFC dude for 30 years... He's an amazing storyteller and I'm telling you now, if you go to Journey and you heard his talk... you're going to hear it again... I'm going to rip it off!  It was that good.  He told the story of the Good Samaritan, my favorite story in the bible.  He mentioned that we see people (I think he said teenagers, but I was already thinking how I could use this in a broader context with all our people) in 5 different ways... Here they are:
1.  The Expert in the Law saw the man as a Topic to be discussed.
2.  The Robbers saw the man as a Target to be Exploited.
3.  The Priest and Levite saw the man as a Problem to be avoided.
4.  The Innkeeper saw the man as a Customer to be served.
5.  The Samaritan saw the man as a Person to be loved.

I know this sounds old school church with points and all, but, man... He was right on the money.  We see people through those lenses every day... Over the next few days, I'm going to chew on this and I'll post more thought on each one.    But for now, I'm going to kiss my kids goodnight!

Sunday Night Mind Dump

We finished up Lord of the Rings today.  It was a fun message because I preached on submission.  It was fun because Dr. Phil made a guest appearance (Thanks  Dr. Phil Thorson).  It was fun because my friend Joey Seales came down and led worship with Trey today. 

Now... my rant... I HATE late Auburn football games... our attendence dropped by about 40%. We had several folks go to the game but I'm sure a lot of people just slept in because it was so late.  Did I mention I HATE late Auburn football games. 

• This is going to be a busy week.
• We have something every night this week.
• I'm excited about this new series-- ALL IN-- we start next week.  We're about to raise the stake for Journey. This is going to be the most critical time in the history of our young church.
• Unusual Sunday, we only had 1 first time guest.
• I'm watching my Red Sox beating the Indians 3-2 in the 4th inning... I can't watch the whole game because I've got to get up and go to the gym in the morning.  I hope I'll catch it on SportsCenter.
• I wished I could have gone to the Churchplanters.com practicum this week.  Just couldn't swing it this time... can't wait for the Conference in February.
• I read a post from Mark Batterson the other day about the 3 things he does with his son to challenge him to grow... I told my son, Seth about it and he was pumped about the challenge.  the 3 things were :  Physical challenge, Intellectual challenge and Spiritual challenge.  I'm lookng forward to seeing how this plays out!
• I went to "Syrup Sopping Day" in Loachapoka.  (town about 10 miles outside of Auburn)  It was a trip!  It was Redneck Heaven! I found someone who had a TV and watched the Alabama-Tennessee game.
• I'm pumped about staff meetings on Monday Nights.  We're going to see great things happen, I'm going to challenge our staff BIG TIME tomorrow night.  Leadership is not for the faint of heart... I'm learning that!
• Did I mention that I hate it when Auburn plays late games!

Working through Ephesians

I've been reading very slowly through Ephesians for the past few days and I am amazed at the awesome stuff in this book.  It's amazing that God leads us to the right stuff at the right time to speak to us Clearly and Boldly through His Word.  I'm trying a new study method with this because I've read Ephesians a bunch of times and we have a tendency to breeze through stuff we've already read and think we know... but here's what I'm doing... I'm reading one section at a time... it's taking me a few days to read even one chapter... I still have a desire to read more, but I'm holding off and spending more time meditating and thinking more about  what Paul is saying to the Church @ Ephesus and then I'm spending more time thinking about it through the lens of my personal spiritual journey, then, and only then will I allow myself to see it as an sermon opportunity.  Over the years, we preachers can get into bad habits when we read the bible and just  look at everything we read as a possible sermon/message.  It's been refreshing to stretch and retrain my brain and thought patterns to look at it through a different filter... As I've done that, I've seen some AMAZING things that I've read hundreds of times, but now it's so incredibly fresh.  We're probably going to do a series on Ephesians sometime next year, but for now, I'm soaking this stuff up and it's challenging me like crazy. 

How do you study and read and apply the Bible. Do you have a method?  Do you have some sort of routine?  I'd love to know how God is speaking to you through His Word.  Leave me a comment. 

Wrestling with the Enemy

I was going through some files that I brought to the new office and ran across some notes from Gary Lamb's Breakout session at Churchplanters.com conference.  I really needed to hear that again... sometimes we don't need NEW INFORMATION... we need to be reminded again of the stuff we already know.  Gary was talking about going all out to reach the unchurched.  That's our vision at Journey... we have a laser sharp focus to go after the unchurched... Gary mentioned a couple of things I needed to be reminded of:

• Unchurched people don't engage in worship... that's a heads up for our band. 
• Unchurched people don't give checks, they give cash (and I'll add, it's usually $1s or $5s... if we really want to go after the unchurched...
• THE DEVIL WILL GO AFTER US HARD. 

That's what's been happening lately.  He's been attacking me personally, my family, our church (health issues, marital issues, financial struggles, etc)... He's coming after us hard... He's whispering to me this statement:  "if you'll tweak this or that, you could get more Christians and have a bigger crowd and more money.  Then you'd be successful like (insert name of a church planter).  I can't tell you how much I've thought about this over the past few weeks... I struggle with wanting to grow faster or have more money, or adding staff.  The reality is, Auburn, Alabama is a very "religious" culture... we have almost 300 churches in our area... and it's tough to find people who are Disconnected.  But here's the realization... Satan wants us to think that everyone's connected, that everyone's OK spiritually... Reality is, we have 80000 people who live in our target area.  Research shows that about 30000 (very liberal estimate) are connected to a church... That leaves about 50000 that are disconnected, disinfranchised, lost, turned off, etc... So, the enemy wants us to leave them alone... but Journey exists to go hard after those 50000 people because we believe they matter to God and where they spend eternity hangs in the balance.  Do you know how I know?  I talked with someone today who has lived here 5 years and never connected to a church... They've visited, but never found a place to belong... The enemy screamed in my ear... don't ask her the "church question"... don't talk to her about spiritual stuff...He was coming hard after me... If I had listened to him, I never would have invited her to Journey.  But because I remembered the Vision... Helping Ordinary People become Passionate Christ Followers...I intentionally talked to her about her life, her family, her spiritual background... and she's coming with her husband in a couple of weeks. 

I wrote this so I could remind you AND me that our enemy, the devil is constantly prowling around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour... and if you and I are focused on what God's called us to be and do as a church, we're cutting into his action.  But the battle is worth it... the effort is needed... and our commitment to fulfilling the mission of Journey Church will honor God and impact His Kingdom.

Are you investing in someone who's disconnected? 

Sunday Night Mind Dump

Got to take a nap earlier today...man it was sweet.  I also got to be a last minute child care worker for Sonja's Growth Group.  I'm horrible at this... I just gave them lots of Coke and Donuts and let them play XBox... is that a bad thing?  No... we had a great time and nobody got sick or hurt.

Other stuff that happened that's running through my mind:

• it seems like I'm slacking on my blogging... I hate that because God's been doing some great stuff lately and I need to share it with you.
• I can't wait until tomorrow night when we start having our staff meetings at our office... I love getting together with our team-- they're the best.
• Talking about sex this morning was more uncomfortable than I thought it would be. 
• My table was was wobbly and I got really distracted a couple of times.
• The band was awesome again.
• Attendance has been holding steady for the last few weeks, I'm ready to see us bust through the next growth barrier!
• I'm talking to some folks this week about baptism... I get so pumped when I get to have those conversations.
• This past week a couple of churches came through BIG TIME with some financial support-- Parkway Baptist in Auburn and Journey Church in Millbrook helped us out with a couple of checks and Journey even gave us a desk and some phones.  God is VERY GOOD.
• This week is going to be a crazy busy week.
• Next weekend is LSU... they're going to be tough coming off a loss to Kentucky but this is a MUST win for Auburn.
• What's up with this football season?  South Florida #2, Kentucky #7... Auburn climbing back up the polls... I love it.
• I finished reading the book of Jeremiah yesterday and I'm glad... It's a great book, but I'm ready to start studying the Prison Epistles this week.
• I've had a big headache today. 
• I love our people... I hate when they miss a week because I don't get to talk to them much.  I'm having lunch with Jay this week just to catch up... They left our growth group to start a new one and I miss getting to hang out with him and his family!
• My Mom's Birthday was yesterday... Happy Birthday Mom!

Pizza just got here and the Cowboys are driving down the field... I'm going to go now. 

What's Your Burden?

I've been reading through the Book of Jeremiah and God has really opened my eyes to some things... One thing I read this morning shook me... Jeremiah 23:33 says,

Suppose one of the people or one of the prophets or priests asks you, 'What prophecy has the Lord BURDENED (emphasis mine) you with now?'  You must reply, YOU are the burden!  The Lord says He will abandon you!'

When I read that, it hit me... many times I'm burdened by the things that affect the daily operations of Journey Church... the finances, the process, the leadership, volunteers, the worship service, preparing messages... but I need a jolt like this sometime to remind me that, as a pastor/church planter, the primary burden, the load that I carry and lead others to pick it up as well... is people who are far away from God.  People who are living life disconnected from God and from the Church.  If I'm not careful I can miss it... and I'm a pastor!-- You would think this would always be on my mind... I have to admit... just like you, the things of life shift my burden (finances, kids, jobs, health, marriage, etc.) and it takes spending time seeking God's wisdom in His Word and it helps me focus on why we exist as a church... to help ordinary people become passionate Christ followers. I hope that you share that burden for people with me...so much so that you'll see people differently today.  You'll look for an opportunity to invest in someone who is far from God and you'll invite them to come to Journey with you this weekend.   I want to be able to pray with you for the person/people you're inviting, so leave me a comment with the name(s) of the people you're burdened for and I will pray that God would do something God-sized in their lives.  And when you bring them to church with you, please make sure you introduce us... I'd love to meet  them. 

Wednesday morning laugh

I saw this on ESPN this morning and had to share it.  It was a hilarious Spoof of the Oklahoma State Football Coach's rant a few weeks ago. 

Check it out here.