Buzz Conference is this week and I need the break like never before. I am so looking forward to getting away for a few days, recharging my batteries, and I am looking forward to connecting with all the other pastors who will be there. So many of them I have talked by e-mail and phone and it will be very cool to meet them face to face.

I hope Mark knows what he has gotten himself into.

You don’t become people’s pastor on Sundays. You draw them on Sundays and you even keep them by putting on a creative, God honoring serviced BUT you don’t become the pastor of your people by what takes place on Sunday. I am learning that.

You become people’s pastor by being there when they need you. We have drawn great crowds since the day we started. God has blessed but now 20 months in, people are looking to me as their pastor. I have built trust, I have been there, and now they are coming to me. They aren’t just coming to me but also our staff and our leadership. It is a good feeling to know you have made a difference in people’s life.

I have been at the hospital all day with an awesome young couple who were due to have a baby Tuesday only to find out today that baby had passed away. She had to still give birth today and it was without a doubt the hardst thing I have ever been through in my life. It broke my heart and I never want to experience it again BUT I’m glad that we have built enough trust among our people that they let us be there for them.

I often joke that I don’t do very good with the pastoring/shepherding aspect of running a church. However God has been giving me grace and heart for these type of things like never before. I truly love the people I get to pastor. They are a rough bunch, and I’ve been told by other pastors that they wouldn’t want my crowd but they are MY crowd and I am glad and I thank God daily I get to pastor them.

When we came to Canton, we asked God to allow us to stay here for the rest of our lives…Almost two years later that is still my prayer.

There are times when you have a creative meeting and the idea you come up with SEEMS like a good one. We are launching a series called DRIVE and it is themed around NASCAR, so we thought it would be cool since the race was in Talladega, Alabama (2 hours a way) to go and film so man on the street interviews, cuts some pre-sermon talks, and get some cool video footage.

It was a good idea….on paper.
Just remember if you ever decide to go to a NASCAR event and film that when redneck women see a video camera they think that means they are supposed to take off their shirts!!! We would start filming, they would start flashing. We interviewed this one dude and the lady with him asked if we wanted to see her ring. Being nice we said sure. We thought she meant wedding ring, she meant the ring going through her breast!!!! Also at a NASCAR event it is very hard for them to do interviews without dropping the F bomb every other word and screaming “Junior Rules!” non-stop.

There were probably 100,000 people there as it was still early and as we got down in the camping area, it got weirder and weirder the deep from the road we got. Erick, our youth pastor is Colombian and I thought he might get us killed a couple of times but, I speak redneck and was able to get us out safely.
So here is my free advice: Don’t video church footage at a NASCAR race because you will not be able to show any of it ever again.

Live and learn…..

Okay, not really but on our way to the race track this morning we stopped at the Cracker Barrel in Kennesaw, Ga. and I noticed this dude at the next table looked like someone I had seen before. It clicked that he looked like Erwin McManus so like a nerd I went over and asked him if he was Erwin and he said yes!

I then acted like a dork and told him of the impact he has had in my ministry and sounded pretty nerdy. He was very cool, asked how our church was doing, told me he would pray for us, and if he could do anything to let him know.

I thought that was very cool….

Mick Martin is the planter/pastor at RiverzEDGE Church in Sioux City, Iowa. He is literally blowing the doors off, outgrowing every portable option in town and just recently moving into a large warehouse type building.

Growing a church in Iowa is no easy feat, it is a hard hard hard area and if someone can do it, trust me they are worth listening too.

Go over to his blog and post some comments on his blog and introduce yourself to him, trust me a network of planters does NOT exist in Iowa.

My pastor, Brian Bloye is the MASTER at following the mission statement and purposes that he feels God has given to for his life. He is almost dogmatic about them.

I think that is awesome!

He made a comment on the phone the other day about something he was doing and his wife asking him if this thing was part of his mission and if not, why was he doing it?

For some reason that stuck with me.

A few years ago I put some purposes down for my life and things I would devote my time too but to be honest, I didn’t put much thought into them and as a result I often do things that I probably shouldn’t be spending my time on.

So I am spending some time over the next month really talking to God and listing the things that I think should demand my time. These will be fueled by the bible, my calling, and my passions.

As our church continues to grow, to be honest my time is becoming more precious. I simply can’t do everything that I did before and do it as well as it needs to be done. That means some things in my life are going to have to be cut.

I’m not sure what those things are but I look forward to God showing me the things He wants my life focused on…

I’ll keep you updated.

Buzz Conference is NEXT week!!!! Before the Buzz starts, Mark is holding a Theatre Church Forum. As far as I know it is the only theatre church conference/workshop that has even been done. I was excited as soon as I heard about, then yesterday I got asked to be on the panel for the panel discussion they are holding during the conference. I’m really excited now.

The way I understand it is that there will be me and two other cats on stage discussing some topics they have given us and then taking some Q & A. I don’t know the other two guys and I can’t get them to e-mail me back so it could interesting.
I love church planting and I love and have a heart for movie theatre churches so I am excited to share all of our mistakes.

See ya all there!!!!

We are launching a series called Drive: Life In The Fast Lane on Mother’s Day. It will be themed around NASCAR (Yes, we are starting a series marketed towards men on Mother’s Day. I’ll explain later.) and tomorrow we are heading to Talladega to film some video among the tailgaters and race fans. It should be fun.

I love road trips, I love the race track, and I love the people that will be there.

We are going to do some men on the street interviews and I can’t wait to hear some of the answers, it should be very funny.

Mark Driscoll wrote the other day on his blog about Christian rasslin’. It is funny read until you realize that one of the Christian Wrestling groups is actully stationed in your town.
You can read the article here.

Yep, this is my town…and I wouldn’t have it any other way.

A lot of you responded. Thank You!

Even more of you wanted to know the answers I got. Here you go:

It seems on average everyone is going between 5-6 weeks. A couple said they never did more then two weeks. I can’t imagine doing all the work we do for only two weeks. My boy, Bob Franquiz said he has went 4 months before! That is why he is the man!