Eric Taylor

Confessions

I have been blown away at the response over the past few weeks.  I keep hearing stories of lives being changed and others confessing for the first time, or the first time in a long time.  God's up to something in our church and in our community... I heard someone that doesn't even go to our church say that they wished they could come to our church on Sunday to hear a pastor be "real" with them... Apparently they don't get that a lot where they are... I've said before that I was a little apprehensive about spilling my guts over a 4 week period, but I believe God has used it not only in my life, but in yours as well... One verse we've said over and over during the series has been James 5:16:  "confess your sins to each another and pray for each other so that you may be healed."  Over the past few weeks there has been some great healing going on at Journey.   This next week is going to be the toughest message I've taught in this series...maybe in my life.   So get ready... I can't wait for Sunday!  Make sure you begin now to invite a friend with you to our last week of Confessions of a Pastor.

Why we do what we do

This is why we do what we do...all the set up and take down, all the obsession with excellence, all the focus on disconnected people... we do all that so we can see this:

  You can see more photos in the photo album in the sidebar to the left.

Life in the Fast Lane-Day 4

Wow... What God has been showing me through this fast has been incredible... And as you have heard me say before, When God messes with me, it affects you too.  I've been praying for our community with a newfound passion. As God continues to stretch me He is revealing more and more that we need to have Laser Sharp Focus in ALL that we do.  Part of keeping our focus laser sharp is doing what my friend, Shawn Lovejoy says "Be Mean about the Vision".  Here's what we are called to focus on...we will do this and only this...If you are looking for something else or something more you'll be disappointed--We are called to help transform ordinary people into passionate Christ Followers... We will flesh out the vision through our process  we call "Know...Grow...Go".  We are going to be all about investing and inviting people to our Sunday morning worship experience... and we will work hard to make sure that environment is excellent.  We want people to "come and see" what God is doing and can do in their lives... but we also want to "go and tell"... that means EVERYWHERE we Go we are missionaries of Journey Church in our community... so, at work, at home, at Wal-Mart, at the ball park, we have an awesome privilege to invest and invite... Invest in the lives of people who are disconnected from God and the Church and Invite them to our Weekend Worship Service so they can hear a clear message of Jesus and KNOW Him personally.    The next step is to help people GROW closer to God and others.  We do that through Growth Groups.  Our Growth Groups are groups of adults that meet in homes for an hour and a half each week to help one another grow in relationship with God and with each other... I love my growth group... we got together last night (even though we weren't scheduled to meet) just to eat pizza and hang out together... it was an incredible time!  As people get connected to Journey we want to encourage them to take the next step and GO impact the community and the world for the Kingdom.  This is the area where God is really working on me.  As you GO into the community to invest and invite in others... there will be countless opportunities to minister to someone... that's simply finding a need and meeting it.  As we do this, we will help others come to KNOW...GROW and GO... and the cycle continues as we see lives changed and people becoming passionate Christ Followers... Man, that gives me goose bumps just thinking about God using us to impact our city and our world.  You'll hear this stuff OVER and OVER and OVER because we believe it's what God has called us to give our lives to at Journey... I'm glad that you guys have bought into this BIG VISION and are doing whatever it takes to see it happen!

Those are some of the things God's been showing me during this fast... I'd love to hear from you guys about how God has sustained you and spoken to you through your fast.

P.S.  --- You don't want to miss this Sunday.   We're finishing up our REMEMBER series with a BAPTISM CELEBRATION and It's going to be a GREAT DAY... possibly the greatest day in the history of our church... This Sunday is a GREAT TIME  for you to INVITE YOUR FRIENDS because God's going to be there and He's going to do something AWESOME!

See you Sunday!

Life in the Fast Lane--Day 2

Man... Today was rich!  Spent some awesome time with the Lord and just really camped out with one of my favorite Psalms.  Psalm 16... here are some of the verses that have impacted me:

v.5--Lord You alone are my inheritance, my cup of blessing.  You guard all that is mine.  The land you have given me is a pleasant land.  What a wonderful inheritance.

He showed me how blessed I really am... I have an awesome family who love God and love me more than I deserve... I have a great house that meets our needs well.  I live in the greatest town in the world...and I am the pastor of the greatest church in the world... God has blessed me!

v.8-- I know the Lord is always with me.  I will not be shaken, for he is right beside me.  No wonder my heart is filled with joy and my mouth shouts his praises!   

v11-- You will show me the way of life, granting me the joy of your presence and the pleasures of living with you forever.

It really just can't get any better than that!

I spent the day acknowledging His glory... through His word as I prepared this weekend's message... through spending time alone, just trying to listen to him (he really does speak when we tune in and listen) ... He will guide me and show me the way of life... the way I'm suppose to go...and I spent time at the ballpark with Seth's All Star team... we lost, and are out of the tournament, but... I have joy in the presence of the Lord.

I've been praying for those who said they'll be fasting some during the week... Let me know how it's going... I hope that God is Rockin' Your World!

Day One-Life in the Fast Lane

Today's been a great day as I started the fast.  I started off the morning at the gym... I limited my workout to 20 minutes of Cardio and Abs and Arm work.  Then I started drinking early this morning... water, that is... I haven't experienced much discomfort yet but the caffeine withdrawals should kick in on Tuesday or Wednesday.  I will tell you this... My time with God this morning was RICH!  I can already see a difference in my focus!  I listed a lot of stuff I was praying for and spend a lot more time really praying through them... Things like personal focus, my family, our finances, our health, our church.  I prayed for Clarity regarding some decisions that are on the horizon for our church and my own personal leadership.  I also prayed for Auburn, Opelika and Lee County... I don't pray often enough for our community... This week that will change.  I'm glad to hear some of the fasting stories already coming in.  I really believe this can be a CATALYST for our church to explode with Growth as we seek God's face and His Favor!  How's it going with you guys... Let me know!

By the way... our students got back from camp today and they all said it was INCREDIBLE ... Abby talked to me for about an hour about all God had shown her and challenged her with.  It's going to be great watching her flesh out what God has done in her live over the past week at camp.  As for me,  I'm personally glad they're back... I missed my (not so little) girl.

Life in the Fast Lane

This weekend's service was incredible... The challenge was to Live Life in the Fast Lane by fasting for at least a part of the next 7 days. We said fasting is denying our appetites so that we can focus on God. Over the next week I'm using this blog to help take us on a Spiritual Journey called Fasting.  I hope you'll take this journey with us as we seek God for Clarity, Courage, Breakthrough and a whole lot of other needs.

Personally, our family has prayed and talked about what appetites we might deny in order to focus on God more.  My wife is fasting one meal a day for a week... my kids have not completely settled on it, but they may be fasting cell phones/text message for the week... It's going to be hard... maybe the hardest thing you've ever done... but the question I asked today was "What do you hunger for?"  is it food, is it media, is it relationship?  I am going to fast solid foods for the next week.  As hard as this may be... I'm hungry for clarity and breakthrough in my life and in the life of Journey Church.  I'm pumped about spending some extended time in prayer and reading the Bible this week.  I can't wait to see what God shows me.  I can't wait to hear your stories of what God is doing in your life as you fast.

So, have you decided to fast?  if so, what?  for how long?  What do you want God to show you?  How can we encourage each other? Leave me comments... we can encourage one another and those who have also decided to fast.

Life in the Fast Lane (Preview)

I have to admit, I never thought a series on ancient practices would be so well received but our  current series "REMEMBER" has.  Who would have thought that folks would be talking it up about communion the way you guys have this past week.  I'm pretty pumped about this Sunday's message.  It's another one of those obscure practices that frankly doesn't get a lot of press.  I'm talking about fasting.  There are all kinds of thoughts that pop into your mind when you hear the word "fasting" and many of them center around how difficult it would be to fast, or how it just seems weird to go without food or to give up something else... Well, let me give you a little insight... It is hard... in fact it's one of the hardest things I've ever done... but after 2 days, after pushing through, it's amazing how much more prepared I am to hear from God... and the times I've fasted have been significant spiritual growth times in my life.  And I want that for you.  I want that for our church.  So, get ready...this Sunday I'm going to challenge us all to fast for a time over the next 7 days.  I believe we will see God begin to do some amazing things in our lives.  We could see addictions broken, we could see families strengthened, we could see clear directions regarding God's purpose and plan for our lives and our church.  I can't wait for Sunday because I know God's going to show up and change lives!  Don't miss it. 

Spiritual Breakthrough

This new series we're in called "Remember" is really awesome.  I knew it could be as we take a look at ancient practices of Communion, Fasting and Baptism... but I underestimated the effect it would have on me personally.  As I'm preparing the message for this week on Fasting, I'm experiencing a greater longing for spiritual breakthrough for our church and for our community.  It's pretty ironic that I'm preparing a message about fasting while sitting at Panera Bread Company (one of my favorite mobile offices).  But as I read about the folks in the Bible that denied their physical appetite in order to focus on God, I see a couple of things...

1.  They were desperate for God to move in their lives.
2.  They were willing to do whatever it took to hear from Him.

How desperate are we for God to do something BIG in our lives?  in our Church?  in our families?  in our city?  Are we willing to do whatever it takes to hear from Him?  That's the question I want us to bounce around in our minds as we get ready for this weekend.

Weekend of Firsts at Journey

This weekend was a busy one.  Being a young church less than a year old, we experience a lot of "firsts".  This weekend we had our first wedding.  Jeremy and Rachael Thomas were married on Saturday.  They are an awesome couple.  The wedding was great but I always tell people that want me to marry them that I don't do weddings, I do marriages. So much emphasis is placed on one day.  The wedding day is important, but the reality is that what happens the day after the wedding and all the other days are what build a great marriage... not a great wedding. I've heard of people spending $100,000 on a wedding, but the marriage didn't last a year.  Pretty sad.  The great thing about  Jeremy and Rachael is they have a strong love and commitment to each other and to Jesus Christ.  It was great to be a part of their wedding, but I'm even more excited to watch how God uses them as a couple in the coming years. 

Then, at 12:45am on Sunday, our "first" baby was born... Mason James Howell.  Jay and Bethany Howell welcomed Mason into this world.   Congratulations guys.  It's going to be an incredible journey and we're blessed to be able to walk through it with you.  Get some rest while you can!

Blown Away at the Response

WARNING:  I'm writing this while heavily medicated.  (If something is misspelled or doesn't make sense, go take a couple of benadryl and read it again--maybe that will help you relate to my state of mind!)
We are still in our Rolling Stones Series and today we talked about Stones of Fear.  We invited folks to write their biggest fear on a card and bring it to the stage and leave it there.  The response was incredible since we usually don't do a "come down front" commitment time.  Over half the crowd responded saying they were laying down their fears and were willing to trust God in the midst of their fears.

I was blown away at all the fears our folks were dealing with.  God was really in the place this morning... and I have to confess, because I was feeling bad... I didn't know what to expect... That goes to show you that it's God's Show, not mine.  He can do what He wants to at any time... and He did.

Some of the fears listed were:
Fear of Rejection
Fear of the Unknown
Fear of Failure
Fear that my children may not follow God
Fear of people who are different than me
Fear of turning into my mother
Fear that my secret sin will destroy my family.

My prayer is that God will roll away the stones of fear and allow us to see Him work in our lives like He did in Moses' life.  I pray that in the days ahead we would face our fears and conquer them and see God expand our view of His Greatness and Glory. 
Can you imagine what could happen at Journey if we all became FEARLESS?  If we all charged into the unknown with the realization that God is charting the course and it's not unknown to Him... and we can trust Him completely.  I believe we will see God will do amazing things in our lives, in our families, in our jobs, in our classrooms and in our church.

I'm going to take some more medicine and hopefully knock this stuff out of me soon.