Eric Taylor

Sunday Mind Dump

Great day at Journey today.  I was suppose to be away today but plans fell through.  Andrew was ready to go anyway... He did a great job... the best I've heard him preach...lots of other folks commenting on how good it was too.  The band was great and attendance is climbing... it's pretty exciting times around Journey these days.
Glad I didn't have to preach this morning because I got injured.  This seems like something  Dave Andersonwould do.  I tried to put a sign up on a ledge and it came back down on my nose.  OUCH!  I felt like it broke my nose... blood was everywhere and  I got this  great cut across my nose.  Now I have an crazy headache and my sinuses are messed up.  Other than that it was a great day!

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. 

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!

Monday Morning Mind Dump

Of course the holidays are incredibly busy, so I'm going to spare the long commentary and just give you my thoughts on yesterday.
1.  I LOVE Christmastime.  It's actually starting to feel like Christmas.
2.  I HATE that Auburn pretty much "shuts down" at Christmas... our attendance wasn't down as much as I heard other places were, but this is the first time I can remember having ZERO first time guests.  It was all family... and it was all good! 
3.  I love sharing communion with our church.  I loved it even more that my family helped serve it.  It blessed me to watch my kids serving.
4.  It's only been a week and I'm already missing our band.  I'm ready for them to get back so we can Rock the Place again in 2008!
5.  We're taking next Sunday off to give our volunteers a rest and allow them to spend time with their families. 
6.  We're traveling today to see my family and hurrying back to Auburn for a Christmas Eve Service... It's going to be a quick trip!
7.  I have been falling behind in reading blogs.  I hope to catch up this week.  I'm also looking to learn more about how to leverage the technology better.  I admit... I used to think I was techno-saavy, but truth is, I don't have a fat clue how to use all the bells and whistles that other bloggers do.
8.  I got up at 4am this morning to pray... not because I'm super spiritual, but because I had 2 big bowls of chili last night at our friend's house.  Nuff said!
9.  I've been reading Colossians and it's been rocking my world!  I love the Prison Epistles! 
10.  Our Christmas Tree is finally drying out...I think it's going to make it to Christmas this year!
11.  I hope you all have an Amazing Christmas. 

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!

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. 

Sunday Night Mind Dump

What an awesome day today!

1. We kicked off our new series "Lord of the Rings" today
2. Sonja taught with me today it it made the message so much better.
3. A lot of people laughed like crazy today.
4. I believe this series is going to help strengthen marriages.
5. The Band was incredible today... They really rocked on U2's "With or Without You."  Ben Davis WAS The Edge!  Those guys make it easy to teach after they're on stage.
6. We got moved into the office this weekend and I'm still looking for a desk for my office.
7. A&E has a Gene Simmon's Family Jewels Marathon on today... since I'm a big KISS fan, I watched a couple of episodes... pretty funny stuff.
8. Several people asked me when Sonja's going to teach with me again... we may have to get her up there more often.
9. I can't wait til Catalyst later this week.
10. Oh, by the way... Auburn 20 Florida 17.  Listen... I've got to celebrate when I can... we may not get many more opportunities!

Sunday Night Mind Dump

OK, this post covers a bunch of thoughts I've had throughout this very busy, but incredibly relaxing weekend... even though Auburn lost!

• Sonja and I went to The Grand Resort in Point Clear (around Mobile) for the weekend... just to get away... God spoke LOUD to both of us!
• We found an incredible Italian restaurant there called Gambino's (I'm not sure if they're connected to the mafia, but their Chicken Napoli and Breadsticks were killer!
• I read a lot this weekend about First Impressions and Guest Services... got a lot of great ideas for how we can step it up!
• Auburn is going to struggle this year... I'm not looking forward to it.
• South Florida IS that good ... but yes, Auburn could be that BAD this year.
• Why did we run out the clock when we had 2 time outs?  You can't trade them in for cash!
• I hated the game was so late.
• It really killed our crowd this morning.  We were down about 30%. 
• HOWEVER... the Band... all of them were at the game last night(this morning) were there at 8am to unload the trailer-- I love those guys!
• They absolutely rocked the house today... it's all coming together... we have the best band in town!
• I thought the message was just okay... but then I had lots of people tell me that it hit them right where they lived... I love it when God shows up and moves even when I don't think that I communicated well.
• I love spending time with my wife!  She's going to help me teach during our next series!  I'm so pumped!

Sunday Night Mind Dump

Today was a great Sunday... we had a big crowd... lots of first time guests and the band rocked.  We had Connection Groups after church and I'm pumped about growth groups.

Here are some thoughts from the day...

• The Band was great... But we've got to work on some transitions
• The video didn't work... Is it possible to love and hate technology at the same time?
• This series is so practical and I'm hearing lots of great feedback.
• Just a few days until Kickoff...War Eagle!
• I've got to get our tailgating stuff together
• I'm working on a To-Do list for the church... there are alread 50 things on it!
• God is doing some cool stuff in our people... it's exciting to see them get excited about new people coming to Journey.
• You can tell when the college students are back in town... you can't get a parking place downtown, restaurants are full, we see a crop of new students... and that rocks! 

I know our lives are about to get much busier... I've got to make sure I stay focused on what' s Most Important!

Monday Morning Mind Dump

Things seem to be going at warp speed right now.... we're gearing up for school to start back and we're expecting lots of college students and new families to visit over the next few weeks.  Plus, we're getting carpet in our house tomorrow, so everything is literally all over the place... But in the middle of the frantic pace, we had an incredible Sunday yesterday... Confessions of a Pastor, part 2-- I confessed that sometimes I want to quit, resign, throw in the towel.  2 key principles that came out yesterday-- Confession brings Healing... they say confession is good for the soul... whoever "they" are, they're right.  It is an avenue for healing.  That's why our growth groups are so important.  If you haven't plugged into one yet, you've gotta come to our Connection Group on August 26th... The other principle is that Perseverance brings Blessing.  Galatians 6:9 says "Don't get tired of doing good.  You will reap a harvest of blessing if you don't give up."
Whenever I want to quit, I think back to the lifechange that's happening at Journey.  We showed a montage of baptism videos and there wasn't a dry eye in the house... Then we challenged folks to write down on their CONFESSIONS cards what they were tempted to quit...  and when I read the cards, there wasn't a dry eye in my house because of all the hurt expressed on the cards.  God is doing something GREAT @Journey... I hope you're a part of it.

Here's some of the rest of what's going on:

• Derrick's band rocked yesterday... it was cool to do something different to begin the service... we'll do that again!
• Zach and Meredith were great as usual... I love her voice... and her heart for the Lord
• The video production has to get better... we can do lots better than we're doing...mainly because I'm doing it... we really need someone who is creative and passionate about video.
• Susan Allinder has begun doing some Administrative stuff... THANK YOU JESUS.
• a little more than 30 days til Auburn Football Kicks off!
• We're about to explode with people
• We're becoming a pretty diverse church... and I LOVE it!
• we're getting carpet tomorrow and I've got tons of stuff to do to get ready ... Oh, and I have a message to prepare.
• I'm way behind reading blogs.
• We need someone to donate some office space so I can get the office out of my house.