Banner Week for Internet Service!

Haven't gotten to post all week because our internet service has been spotty at best... I have lost 3 attempts to post... man, they were profound too!  I get pretty mad when I can't finish what I started...Seems the problem is solved and we shouldn't have to deal with it again.  So... Here's the highlights of what those posts would have been...

• Church Planter's Roundtable -- we met in Millbrook for our monthly roundtable.  Mike Mozingo is a good friend and has helped me a ton.  It's very cool to get to spend half a day processing ideas and helping each other get better.  We talked about leadership and followship a lot.  Sometimes great leaders have to know when to be good followers, too!  We don't always have to be the smartest people in the room.  Great leadership means surrounding yourself with people who are WAY smarter than you are in specific area.  This works well when you're dealing with land, building and finances... unless that's your background... find someone who knows what they're doing, build a relationship with them and invite them to the table... They will make you look like a genius!  We're not anywhere close to land or a building yet, but I've got some ideas about who to take with me to those meetings!
• Hanging with Kent-- Thursday I took the day off and spent time with one of our church leaders, Kent Rogers.  His family has been a great friend of ours and they are one of the original families that helped launch the church.  Kent owns a bunch of CiCi's Pizza restaurants... and he's opening another one in Prattville.  I tagged along with him to help him pick up some equipment and it was a lot of fun.  I had a blast... we talked about being an entreprenuer, marketing, finances, taking care of guests and how God is at the center of his business plan... it's amazing how similar his journey in expanding his restaurant business is to our desire to be a multiplying church.  If you're a church leader, a pastor or church planter, we learn a lot from leadership books... even the ones written from a business perspective... but let me encourage you to spend some time with the business leaders in your church... shadow them, offer to make a trip with them.  You'll be amazed at what you can glean from what they do. 
• I'm really pumped about finishing up our ALL IN series.  This has been one of my favorite series of messages to teach.  Partly because it has come from the passion of my heart and so it's easy to share that stuff.  If you're a Journey church member/attender/guest (see note below), we're challenging you to go ALL IN for the mission...  This week we're going to reveal some of the places we believe God's leading us to get involved in the coming year... I think it's going to be an awesome service... Don't miss out!  Also... mark your calendar for December 2nd @ 5:30pm.  That's our first Sunday Night Live.  It's going to be a fun time to get together and eat (Potluck dinners help you grow spiritually...that's somewhere in the Bible), worship, pray and have an awesome time celebrating what God is doing @ Journey.  You'll be getting a call in the next week or two to let us know what you're bringing... (suggestions-- Banana Pudding, Greenbean Casserole and Cornbread.)
• NOTE:  Some churches have cool nicknames for their people... At Elevation Church in Charlotte, Steven Furtick calls his people "Elevators" (pretty cool!),  I'm thinking Revolution Church has a bunch of "Revolutionaries".  Even Andrew Kulp who's getting ready to launch out someday is calling his future church Transformation Church so he can call his people "Transformers".  I'm looking for a  name we can call "those who are members or attenders of Journey Church"... I was really stoked about NBC's show "Journeyman" because if it were a hit, we might be able to use it somehow... but, even though we watch the show, I'm not sure it's gonna make it.  "Journeyer" doesn't make sense...so I'm asking for your help... help me name our collective group of Journey church people.  Leave me a comment or shoot me an  email.  I'd love to hear the responses.  I'll keep you posted on the best ones.