Eric Taylor

SHAKEN!

I love the passage in Acts 4 where the believers are praying for courage and they ask for great boldness in preaching God's word and for power to do the miraculous... The bible says after they prayed the place where they were meeting was shaken and they all preached the word with boldness.

God's been shaking me up for the past couple of weeks.  I've always told you that when God messes with me it trickles down to you... so get ready!  I'm going to share some cool stuff Sunday as we begin our series called, "Conversations with God".   I've been preparing for this series on prayer for a while and I believe God has been using the preparation for the series to shake me in a few areas...

1.  At the Evolve Conference... all of the main session speakers spoke directly to me... they shook me with Truth.  So I have repented, I'm getting healthy, developing Courage, owning my insecurities and swinging til my hands bleed... man that's some good stuff... most of you don't have a clue what I'm talking about because you had to be at the conference to hear it... I have the CDs if you'd like to listen. 

2.  Yesterday I had the privilege of heading to Nashville (I love that town!) with my good friend Dave Anderson.  We met with some other church planters and a God used a couple of them to Shake me up some more.  They really spoke truth into my life in a big way!  Thanks Pete Wilson and Randy Cook!

I tend to be very futuristic and visionary... I think all church planters are... and so I have had a tendency to drift toward praying so much for the people that aren't at our church yet and have missed opportunities to pastor and love and lead the people God has already given me.  I've been praying for God to grow our church and now I'm shifting and beginning to pray, "God, let me love and lead the people You've given me to pastor."  He shook me hard there!   Acts 20:28 says "guard yourselves and God's people.  Feed and shepherd God's flock--his church, purchased with his own blood..."  Someone said to me yesterday, don't build the church God has for Steven Furtick, or Shawn Lovejoy or Dave Anderson... build the church God has appointed me to build!

I hate it when God messes with me like that... especially when I know He's right... and He always is!
We're beginning our series "Conversations with God" and it's all about prayer... You can bet some of this story will be shared over the next few weeks because it HAS changed and IS changing my life.  Do you have any stories of God shaking your world?  I'd love to hear them.

Heading North!

I have to get a ton of things done before I head out to Decatur tonight.  I'm meeting up with this guy tonight and we're going up tomorrow to meet with this guy and a bunch of church planters in Nashville.  I'm glad to get to rub shoulders with some guys that are knocking it out of the park as well as guys that are just one step ahead of where we are.  I'm a sponge at these things.  Not sure who all's going to be there... most of the guys I won't know, but I'm looking forward to meeting some new people in this fraternity we call church planting. 

God's at work all around us

I'm going old school today and bringing back a principle from Henry Blackaby's "Experiencing God"... It's been around a long time and the principles in it are timeless... because they're biblical!  One of the principles at work reminds us that God is ALWAYS at work all around us.  Sometimes you may not think He's at work... but He is... I caught a glimpse of this yesterday when I got out of the office to run some errands.  God has been stretching me in my prayer time to pay closer attention to people and engage them when possible... I tried that out at the bank, and got a chance to encourage and invite one of the managers.  Most of the times I just hit the drive through... but today I went inside... God was at work!  It happens all the time... A lot of times we miss it, we think God can only work at church or on Sundays... but God is ALWAYS at work... all around us.  Let me encourage you to treat everyone you see today as an opportunity for God to work through you.  It may make you late for something, but you just might be the instrument God uses to bless someone. 

Pumped about Prayer

Yesterday was a great day @ Journey.  We had lots of guests, JourneyKidz was rockin' and full, the band did a great job and Merideth knocked it out of the park on Martina McBride's anyway!  We finished up the Sermon on the Mount series and I'm ready for the next 3 weeks as we prepare for Easter with a series on Prayer.  Get ready because we're going to challenge you to pray BIG!  We're going to teach you how to pray, but most importantly, we're going to pray!  Lot's of churches talk about prayer a lot... They have prayer lists, prayer rooms, prayer meetings... but not a lot of prayer goes on... (I'm not knocking those churches who do, it just seems like we spend more time talking about prayer, demystify prayer so we can program it... We're going to embrace the mystery of prayer... how we can develop our prayer lives and how we can pray BIG prayers to a BIG God!  In the middle of this series, we'll be having another Sunday Night Live. (March 9th--5:30pm)  You don't want to miss it... It's going to be AWESOME.

Why all the Prayer Talk?  We've been praying for God to double our attendance for Easter.  We need to build some momentum to continue to grow... so we're challenging everyone to reach someone... even those who are guests... we give them invite cards and tell them to invite their friends!  Fact is, we believe God has called our church to something GREAT!  To reach people who are living life far away from God and connect them to God and the Church and help them become a passionate Christ follower.   

I've been continuing my 100 hours of prayer over the next 30 days ... (yes, I am tracking a little behind), and it's been really rich... The best times are usually when I finish running through my list  and I have nothing left to pray about... That's when God shows me really cool stuff!  If there's one thing I've learned it's this... PRAY TO THE END OF YOURSELF... Then LISTEN!  God's got something GREAT to say to YOU today... are you going to listen?

Things I gotta do:

I woke up at 3 am this morning because of a thunderstorm... so I got up and began to pray and read a little... think a little and process some of the stuff that I learned at Evolve.  Here's my 3:30 version of a Friday mind dump of stuff I realize I've gotta do:

1. I have to become a better leader  so  I MUST increase my capacity for leadership. 
2. I must be intentional about rubbing shoulders with people that are way ahead of us as well as those who are just one step ahead of us... That's why I'm making a LONG trip to Nashville next week to be with Joe Case and some other guys.
3. I have to define reality for myself and our church.  What are we really doing?  What are we spending our time, effort and resources on?  I have to evaluate and tweak every system we have.
4. I have to give away so much stuff people think I'm Santa Claus.  There are so many things I'm doing that I don't need to be doing... 1)because I stink at them and 2)because they're keeping me from operating in my strengths.
5. I have to find some key people to help with administration. (see #4)  Yes, this is an invitation for you to call me or email me and say, "I'd love to volunteer a few hours a week".
6. I have to develop a research/creative team to help develop our weekend messages.
7. I have to be more intentional about Creating Culture at Journey.  I want EVERYONE who calls Journey Church home to know they should be Investing and Inviting constantly and be able to tell every guest that we're all about helping ordinary people become passionate Christ followers and know our process of how we move people along the journey.
8. If #7 is going to happen, I have to make sure we simplify the process with 'baby steps'.  That means we have to track the processes so much better than we are now.
9. I have to get healthy and stay healthy as a leader... physically, mentally, emotionally, relationally and spiritually.  No one can make me be healthy but me... it's all about SELF-DISCIPLINE.  (Thanks Shawn Lovejoy!-- you had to be at the Evolve Conference to get that one)
10. I have to stop focusing on growing my church and start focusing on growing myself and growing the people I influence to be influencers (see 2Timothy 2:2).  Then my church will grow... and it will grow way faster than I could ever grow it.
11. God said "I will build MY Church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it."  He never promised to build my church...I have to remember that Journey is HIS church and not mine. 
12. I have to make sure my first ministry is to my family.  If I fail there, I have no ministry.
13. It's about time we begin to formalize some leadership structures and processes.  We've been flying by the seat of our pants WAY too long.
14. I have to continue to be focused on working smarter, not longer or harder.  It begins with, "Hello, I'm Eric and I'm a workaholic".  I've blamed it on the nature of church planting, but it's really more of a character flaw! (OUCH!) I quit bringing work home the past few days... It's been INCREDIBLE. 

Just a quick list of things I know I need to be working on.  To my fellow church planters and Journey Church folks, you can hold me accountable and have my permission to call me out on any of these if you see me drifting. 

Deconstruction of my Soul!

All I can say is WOW!  Evolve Conference was amazing.  I felt like it was just for me.  Every session hit me hard... right between the eyes... repeatedly!  I'm not going to rehash the conference or put notes up on my blog... lots of other guys do that... plus, It's going to take me days to deconstruct and  decompress and really allow what those guys said marinate in my gut...There really were some radical changes that I sensed God was making in me.  More on that another time... All 5 main sessions rocked my world... the breakouts were awesome... but here's what was worth the price of admission:  2 guys, not on stage, speaking truth into my life!  One was Heath Gurr, a volunteer and old friend from when I was on staff at Mountain Lake.  He said some things that encouraged me and challenged the way I view people.  Thanks Heath!   Another guy who  helped maximize the conference experience was Jeff Murphy, one of the churchplanters in residence at MLC.  He said some things that helped me sift through some of the crap that Satan had been flinging at me and his experiences and wisdom worked in me in a big way.  Thanks to all the "Rock Star" pastors on stage...(just an expression... we all know that nobody really worships Steven Furtick or Mark Batterson, right?)  but I'm grateful God used a couple of friends to rattle my cage in a big way. 

Sunday Mind Dump

I can't wait to head out to ATL tomorrow for Evolve Conference @ Mountain Lake. 
I think I'm getting sick, I had a touch of vertigo today so my head was spinning most of the day... I've been laying on the sofa most of the day watching the Daytona 500... I love NASCAR!
I hate when I'm sick because I get irritable and everyone around me suffers.  I yelled at the sound and tech crew (including my son) for missing a cue.  I felt like I rambled through the message and I was bummed that we had a bunch of people missing today, especially key volunteers... One thing that does is remind me that we have to do a better job of replacing ourself...multiplying our ministry. 

I can't believe the room is still spinning!  But in all the junk that's been going on today... God is good!  His mercy endures forever! 

Prayer Challenge

A lot of you know that I challenged myself to pray 100 hours over the next 30 days for our church to grow... (I first heard Bil Cornelius @ churchplanters.com conference say he did that).  I'm almost a week in and I thought it would be difficult coming up with stuff to pray for for 3-1/2 hours every day... surprisingly...it's not.  If anything it has really caused me to focus on specifics of our church... the systems and ministries, the leadership, the volunteers, the families, the hurts and needs as well as a lot of disconnected people in our community.  One thing it has done is caused me to realize how self focused a lot of my prayers have been.  I learned that the first couple of days... when I got to the end of me and my selfish prayers... what do I pray for?  That's when I really began to sense God stretching me!  I can't wait to see what He has next!   

Happy Valentine's Day

This week has been a wildly busy week, so I find myself a little bit behind where I should be getting ready for Sunday... BUT...in about 15 minutes my beautiful, funny, talented, and incredibly Godly wife will be getting home and I'm going to unplug and she'll have my undivided attention.

We're going to a movie and get some coffee... can't stay out too late... it's a school night!  I am so grateful to God for bringing us together over 18 years ago... every day she amazes me with how God uses her in my life. 

Simplify and Save

Today it has been one week since I called T-Mobile and cut the $20 Blackberry email feature.  I did that for a few reasons... 1) I'm cheap and I don't want to spend any money on anything that can be duplicated somewhere else.  2)  I've been reading a lot of money tips from my friend Casey Graham.  He motivated me to evaluate where some of our money goes.  He's a great leader and has some great financial tips.  You can read some here.  3) I got over the idea that I'm uber-important and I must get every email forwarded to my phone so I can respond immediately to important things like drug ads and scholarship offers from the University of Phoenix!  Really, I'm usually not away from my laptop more than a few hours at a time.  If I can return an email within a few hours, I can live with that!

The greatest part turning off email from my blackberry is the opportunity to focus more.  Every time the email notifier would chime, I'd go through a dilemma... do I look at it now, or wait until I'm finished what I'm in the middle of???  The past few days I've been able to focus more, pray more without interruption from the phone/email vibe...in some ways, I feel like I've simplified in order to focus on Kingdom values and priorities... plus, I've got an extra 20 bucks in my pocket... and that's always nice.