Eric Taylor

Coaching Network

Today we hosted our monthly coaching network.  We had some great conversations.  I love getting together with church planters.  We had a great meeting.  There were a couple of guys who are exploring the possibilities of planting... They had a thousand questions... and it was great for me because it reminded me of how I was when we were thinking about planting Journey.  I was scared, excited, focused, full of passion and questions.  When God gets ready to launch these guys, they're going to do well.  We met at Byron's BBQ for lunch and met Sean Clarke from Church of the Highlands, Auburn and Scott Estes, a counselor with Pathways Counseling Center.  We laughed, talked, prayed and encouraged each other.  It really was a day of "iron sharpening iron".  Can't wait for tonight's Growth Group.  That's another place where I get sharpened.  We haven't been able to go for a couple of weeks and we miss it.  I love doing life together with my group.  Plus, my wife's making banana pudding!

3 Weeks at UPS --Part Deux

Why did I keep the trucks in the parking lot at UPS?  Because as a sorter, I was not doing my job keeping the packages  moving so they could be loaded onto the trucks and the trucks could get moving.

Here's why:  I didn't know my area.  I had just moved to Raleigh, NC and had no clue where any of the streets were... I didn't know what should go where...and that was a problem. When you don't know the area, it's hard to be effective... that's true at UPS... it's so true with church planting.  I only knew the street that led me from our apartment to UPS.  I was pretty familiar with those streets and got comfortable with that route.    We must know our area well if we are going to the reach people.  After a while, it's easy to  be familiar with our normal routine and not pay attention to the larger area/opportunity around us.  We can begin to look at things through the lens of our own preferences and comfort and ignore those who are outside our normal routine... those who look different, act different, even those who make us a little uncomfortable. 

Sometimes it helps to just drive around and observe.  If you are a church planter and you've not planted yet... get in your car and drive around and look at the potential.  If you are a church planter and you've already launched... when's the last time you just took a drive... I drove home a different way the other day and saw a new subdivision that I had never seen before.  If you live in a  growing area... you've got to  keep learning... keep driving around... keep talking to people... keep asking questions... and listen. 
One key to effectively reaching people is knowing your area well... If you're a member or attender of Journey... when's the last time you looked around your neighborhood?  How many houses are for sale?  How many have sold?  Are there new people moving into your neighborhood?  How about taking a plate of brownies and an invite card and welcoming them to the neighborhood?  I want to encourage us all to pay attention to our area because things are constantly changing, moving, building... there are people moving in who might be far from God...will we pay attention to the changes so that we can effectively deliver the good news of the Gospel to them?

3 weeks at UPS

I'm getting ready to speak at a meeting for churches and leaders next week and I'm going to tell the story of my first job in seminary.  A friend worked at UPS and he said it was "great money" so he hooked me up with an interview.  I took the test and apparently I scored in the "knows how to put boxes in color coded bins" range because that's where they put me.  I was a sorter.  That meant I looked at addresses and put them in color coded bins on a conveyer that took them to the trucks.  Did I mention that the shift was 11pm - 4am? Did I mention I had only been in Raleigh, North Carolina for 2 weeks?  I barely could remember where I lived muchless where thousands of other streets were.  So began the adventure that would be one of the best educational experiences I had in seminary.  From those 3 weeks I learned so much about leadership, evangelism, church planting and no-doze(these were the days before RockStar, Monster, RedBull, etc).
Here's why I only stayed there 3 weeks:
I kept the trucks from leaving the parking lot.
If you know anything about UPS... you know that they make their money when their parking lot is empty and the trucks are delivering their packages.   They are in the Delivery/Distribution business.  When they are not delivering packages, they are not fulfilling their mission.  The church is in the Delivery/Distribution business as well.  When we're not delivering the message of the Gospel to those outside the walls of our church, we're not fulfilling our mission... the Great Commission.  In the next couple of posts I'll tell you some of the reasons I wasn't good at UPS and how that helped me in church planting and leadership.  Stay Tuned!

Back from Spring Break and Ready for Easter

Spring break has been great.  I'm glad we got most of our stuff ready for Easter before everyone went out of town.  That's given me a little bit of time to relax with my wife and kids before they head back to school. Now, it's Good Friday and I'm really beginning to focus on the weekend.   Easter Sunday is going to be AWESOME... we're going to have some great stuff for the kids, the band is going to rock like they always do, we're going to baptize 7 people... you should come just to see their baptism videos... God has been at work in amazing ways in their lives!  So, I'm pumped about Easter... it's my favorite holiday... even more than Christmas... because Easter was the very reason we have a Christmas.  Jesus was born so that He could go to the cross to save people from their sins. He rose again to prove He was who He said He was and finished the work He came to do.  That's the Celebration... That's why we're doing all the other crazy Easter Bunny, Egg Hunt, Giant Inflatables and other fun stuff... so people who are far from God can hear that they are so valuable to God that He sent His only Son to pay for their sins by dying on a cross and rising from the grave.  That's a cause for celebration.  That's a cause for getting as many people here as possible on Sunday.  With all of the great stuff we have planned, we don't want to miss the obvious.  I was reading a friend's blog and I caught a video he posted.  It's a great reminder that we can get so busy that we miss the obvious.  Don't get so caught up in the "fun" of Easter that we miss the obvious celebration of Jesus' resurrection... That's the real reason we have anything to celebrate.

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. 

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! 

Countdown to Churchplanters.com

I am officially counting down the days until my favorite conference-- evolve-- at churchplanters.com.  Shawn and David and the Mountain Lake crew knock it out of the park every time.  I love that conference for several reasons:
1.  The guys they bring in are awesome and inspiring and stretch me and my team like crazy.
2.  The worship and environment they create helps me focus my attention on God.
3.  I served on staff there when we met at North Forsyth High School and Sawnee Primary School... when there were less than 100 people and there was no doubt the God would use them to do what they're doing today!
4.  Those guys are very special to me: Shawn challenges me to lead at a higher level;  David Putman is one of the smartest guys I know but still as laid back and down to earth as they come;  Rodney Anderson is one of the coolest guys and best communicators ever (plus I have some very compromising pictures of him from the Survivor video we did);  Casey Graham was in my youth group and became my intern and is a natural leader... He stretches me as a leader every day;  and Louie Lovoy is an amazing friend and encourager... If I lived closer I would want to go to lunch with Louie everyday... He makes me laugh!

I'm going to have a great time at Evolve...Our team will learn and grow and strategize and plan and we'll laugh our faces off because we'll have so much fun!  It's my goal to get everyone who is a leader or volunteer at Journey to come to this conference.   Mark it on your calendars... as soon as I get back, I'm going to be hitting you up to come next year!

Oh, one more thing I'm looking forward to... Guitar Hero!  I've got some friends in the competition... so I'm not sure who I'm pulling for, but I'd like to see Dave Anderson win one for us "old guys"!

Happy New Year!

I'm so excited about 2008.  I think it's going to be the best year ever in the life of our church.  We're starting a brand new series called "HDLiving".  We're going to take a close look at the Sermon on the Mount.  Jesus had some GREAT things to say in these 2 chapters in Matthew... we're going to spend a few weeks exploring the greatest sermon ever preached!

Even though I don't make New Year's resolutions, I do sit down and evaluate the previous year and set some goals for the new year.  One of the things I am committed to this year is better time management.  I found a Time Audit spreadsheet that I started using this week...It doesn't lie!  It's amazing how much more you can get done when you budget your time just like you budget your money.  Every 15 minutes I evaluate what I'm doing and why I'm doing it and how productive I am.  After a week of this, I will make my first STOP DOING list.  These are the things that I need to STOP DOING... because they are time wasters, brain drainers and useless for fulfilling the mission God has called me to.  It's a lot of work, but considering how much time I spent last year on things that didn't add value or help me fulfill my mission, it's well worth the work.  If you'd like to get a copy of the Time Audit Form I'm using, just drop me an email or leave a comment. 

Oh, by the way... I'm officially stoked about the new Spread Offense Auburn's going to be running next year.  No Huddle, Lots of Action... We just finished the season by beating Clemson  a couple of days ago, but I'm ready for "A" Day already!