Eric Taylor

Talking Leadership

Got a chance today to speak to a group of Pastors in our area.  I've been a pastor for less than 2 years, some of those guys have been pastors longer than I've been alive.  So, what could I say to them?  I taught about what I love... Leadership... not just leadership but leaders connecting with other leaders.  I told them as a relatively new pastor, I needed them to partner with me and help me along the journey.  So many pastors and church planters get so bogged down in DOING Church every week that we forget sometimes that we need to "sharpen the saw" (an old Steven Covey term).  I need to get around other pastors and church planters and be stretched and challenged, encouraged and inspired.  I need my lid lifted and I need to lift someone elses lid.  I'm glad I've got some friends like Mike, Shawn, David, Matt, Joey, Andrew, Zach, Chris, Mark, Dick and Gary that stretch me as a leader.  Some from right here in Auburn and I talk to every day and others I only see every once in a while... but I'm becoming a better pastor and church planter and leader because of their influence.  Thanks guys for investing in me!

Great Week Ahead

Mondays are usually a tough day because of all the work over the weekend... But today was different.  Today, I woke up with an excitement because God is doing some great stuff in our church in a lot of different areas.  I'm pumped because we're seeing guests come back for their 2nd and 3rd visits and many of them are excited about what they see happening.  I'm also pumped about our ministry team meeting tonight.  Usually meetings don't get me fired up, but I love meeting with our team because we have such a great time together.  Of course, my wife's on that team too as the director of children's ministries and she always brings a lot to the table.  Every time we meet, my team sharpens me as a leader.  I'm also looking forward to the week because it's Super Bowl week... I have to admit I don't really care much for either team, but I know Sunday night we're going to have some GREAT CHILI and AWESOME DESSERTS at our Super Bowl Party.  You should plan to watch the game with us in High Definition on the Big Screen at Lee-Scott.  The party begins at 4pm.  We're asking guys to bring chili and girls to bring desserts.  The church will provide the rest!  It's going to be a Super Time (sorry, I couldn't resist).  Please use this as an Invest and Invite Opportunity so you can bring your friends to a safe, comfortable environment and they can check us out.  If you weren't at church yesterday, you missed an opportunity to pick up the Super Bowl Ticket Invite Cards. You don't need a ticket to get in, but if you need any to invite your friends, just drop us an email or come by the office and pick them up.  (info@journeytogether.net).  See You Sunday!

Holding me accountable...from a distance

I've got to give a shout out and thanks to my friend Shawn Lovejoy from Mountain Lake Church.  He's the reason I got up this morning at 4:45 and went to the gym.  We normally do that, but today I wanted to stay in bed and sleep.  Seth had a 9pm basketball game and I didn't get in bed til almost 11, so, sleep would have been nice... except when the alarm went off at 4:30, Shawn's post yesterday kept running through my head.  I'm usually pretty disciplined in the area of time management and other areas, but one area I where could EASILY slack off is exercise.  I need to lose at least 25 pounds this year.  I'm trying to do it slow... a pound a  week by watching what I eat and exercising at least 4 days a week. I have to admit... IT'S DANG HARD! So, thanks Shawn for holding me accountable!  By the Way... if anyone wants to join me at the gym in the mornings, let me know!  I'm not sure how many takers I'll get on that one!

Snow!

We had SNOW for the first time in a long time!  It's crazy around here... no bread or milk to be found in this town.  Why is it always bread and milk?  Why not peanut butter and crackers?  Why not campbell's soup?  That's one of life's mysteries!  Of course it's pretty much all melted now... That's fine with me because I'm looking forward to church tomorrow.  I know some buddies in the Atlanta area are having to cancel.  Even though it's a holiday weekend, I'm excited because I think we're going to have a bunch of guests tomorrow despite the cold weather.  I'm looking forward to it!  See you tomorrow!

Father Son Morning

Today Seth and I started meeting together for our FSM (Father Son Morning). Got the idea from Mark Batterson at National Community Church.   We're going to get together once a week for breakfast and talk about the New Testament (we're reading through it together this year);  I've picked out some books for him to read.  They range from fun books-- Lanny Donaho's God's Blog to Leadership books-- Andy Stanley's Next Generation Leader and a few others. (Batterson's, In a Pit with a Lion on a Snowy Day;  McManus', Unleash the hero within and some others.)  I'm looking for a couple more.  If you have any suggestions, leave me a comment. We're also going to do some hiking and camping together for some adventure time.  It was a great first meeting... We're starting with John and we're going to move on from there.   We finished our Chicken biscuits and prayed  together before I took him to school... while I was praying over him I got kindof choked up... This young man is going to do GREAT things for the Kingdom.  I'm excited to see where the Lord takes us on our Father Son Adventure this year. 

Sermon Prep Hell!

I had to take a break!  I'm in sermon prep hell... that place where you know you should have something more than you have... You've prayed and prayed and listened and listened and read everything you can get your hands or web browser on... (yes, even sermoncentral.com!)  That's where I am right now.  Sitting at Panera, reading Matthew 5:17-20 for the 83rd time... Loving everything it's saying, but not sure how to communicate it on Sunday.  Have you ever been in one of those places?  Church planters help me out!  I know it's going to come together... I'm pretty sure some of my church planting buddies haven't even started thinking about preparing a message yet!  But, I hate this feeling... whatever it is... so here's what I do whenever I get stuck-- do something completely different.  I'm going to read the passage one more time and then let it simmer in me for a while... then, after a while I'll come back to it. I may go shoot some hoops with my son, maybe I'll head to Books a Million and head to the magazine rack, maybe I'll take a nap.  (that sounds really good!).  Sometimes we just need to hit the refresh button. 

Even in the middle of all this writer's cramp... I got some cool news... a pretty prominent executive pastor is writing a book and told me today he's using my story in his book!  I'm pretty excited.  I always wanted to write a book... now I can say I've written one page in a book.  It's a start!

Sunday Mind Dump

• We had a TON of college kids today!
• After staff retreat yesterday I'm already looking at things that we need to overhaul quick!
• We had some great conversations with people today and got to pray with some folks about stuff going on in their life.
• I'm pumped about what is happening in our church right now... I feel like we're on the brink of something great!
• I love seeing people excited about serving God.  We had a lot of folks helping with takedown today and had a chance to invite people to plug into several areas of ministry
• Growth Groups start this week.  I can't wait to get back into it... I miss doing life together with my group!
• Had a pretty chilled afternoon... got some reading done and getting ready for this coming week.
• I'm getting pumped up about the Super Bowl... I'm hoping the Packers get there ... I love the fact that Brett Favre is still having fun playing a kid's game. 

Wide Open Week

This week has been flying by! I think part of it is the fact that I'm staying focused on what I have to get done.  We have staff retreat this Saturday and I'm pumped about it.  It's going to be great spending the day with the guys... I really do love our ministry team.  We're all so different-- in personality, in age, in background.  We range from 21 to 42 years old (yep, I'm the old guy!), we come from different church traditions, we have different tastes in just about everything:  Andrew's not a big sports guy, Chris doesn't like BBQ (that's a strike against him);  Andrew's a pretty cerebral guy while those of you who know me know that I'm definitely not that smart!  Zach is a musician/golfer/reader/creative type that defies any stereotype.  Each one of us bring something different to the table... and I'm so glad.  God has used them to stretch and challenge me and keep me growing as a leader.  It's going to be a great day Saturday... I can't wait to see what comes out of our day together.    We're planning to do a couple of things that are vital to the direction, growth and health of our church.  We'll spend the morning praying and doing some creative planning... my goal is to be the most innovative church in town!  That afternoon, we'll spend picking apart all of our systems.  Andy Stanley gave an amazing talk at Catalyst about Systems.  It wasn't overtly spiritual... didn't get a whole lot of "amens", but I've listened to the CD about a dozen times.  We're going to evaluate everything we do... including my preaching!  Whatever stinks, we fix it!  Whatever doesn't work, we quit doing it!  Whatever is good, we build on our strengths!  As much as I love Sunday mornings at Journey, this Saturday may be the most important meeting we've ever had at Journey.  It's going to set the tone for what we do as a ministry team and as a church in 2008.  God is definitely up to something great and we want to make sure we are ready for it!

Monday Mind Dump

Yesterday was a very cool day @ Journey...We really hit the ground running the first Sunday of '08.

• We had a great crowd yesterday.  Some first timers, lots of 2nd and 3rd timers and some came back that haven't been in a while.
• I'm glad the holidays are behind us... I love the holidays, but being without the band really stinks.
• The band rocked yesterday!
• I'm so pumped about this new series-- HD Living... living our lives in High Definition.  I think it's the most practical stuff we've done... I love the Sermon on the Mount.
• I love the guy who preached the Sermon on the Mount.
• We messed up the recording of the message yesterday and it sounds like I'm in a hole... I hate when that happens.
• We have an amazing crew of volunteers that make Journey happen every week!  Thanks!
• We're rolling out our new database-- FellowshipOne-- it's taken a while to get it up and running, but I think it's going to make us more effective in reaching people.
• I'm pumped about going to Jamaica in May. 
• I'm also pumped about all the people that were at the informational meeting yesterday... we may have to call and get more spots!
• It's great to hear people in the community talking about our church and our commitment to being a missional church.
• This week is going to be slammed because we're going on a One Day Staff Retreat this Saturday. 
• I'm looking forward to hanging out with our ministry team and doing some creative and strategic planning.  We'll also squeeze a little play time in there too!
• I'm doing this Time Management Audit and I can't believe how much time I spend driving, preparing and eating... that's a chunk... I've got to learn to multi-task better.
• My son, Seth has a basketball game tonight... He loves the game and I can't help him at all because I can't jump or shoot... so he schools me every time we play!
• Abby is driving every chance she gets... I feel like I have my own personal chauffer.
• I hope LSU puts it on Ohio State.  They need to win by at least 21 points!
• Can't believe it's going to be 76 today... time to break out the flip flops again!

WARNING! Dangerous Book!

For the past few weeks my wife and I have been reading Kay Warren's new book, Dangerous Surrender.  I have to admit, Rick Warren is one of my heroes and he's mentored me through books and articles for years, but, I wasn't really excited about reading a book from his wife. I thought...'woman on the cover... must be a good book for preacher's wives'.  So, Sonja started reading it and said... 'we've got to read this together.'  So as we've been reading it over the past few weeks, I'm finding out that it's a "Rock Your Face Off" kind of book!  She talks about her trips to Africa, her battle with cancer and how God has transformed her... the word she uses is "RUINED"... Gloriously Ruined!  She calls for us to be Disturbed....seriously disturbed by all the suffering in the world. 

That's one of the reasons we started Journey Church, not so we could have another church in Auburn where Christians can be comfortable and get their needs met... but one that would challenge evil and complacency and poverty and disease and put faces to the millions of people suffering all over the world.  That's one of the reasons we've partnered with ACE-- American Caribbean Experience... We're going to Galina, Jamaica May 31st - June 7th... You should go!  We're having an informational meeting this Sunday Night-- January 6th at the church office (555 Old Stage Road- Suite 2B).   Come and see what can happen if you're willing to go... I guarantee you will be seriously disturbed and dangerously ruined.  And that's what we want to happen... because then, our lives will be all about surrendering to God's plan to shake up our comfortable world on behalf of those in great need-- whether they live halfway around the world or just around the corner.