A million miles an hour!

What a week! My first official week as a full time church planter is officially over. Right now, I am in the thick of making sure that our little project is firmly seated on a firm foundation of discipleship. I want to make sure that while we will put a large emphasis on the weekend, our church has a desire to disciple people firmly placed in its DNA (something that has been heavily invested in my life and ministry over the last 7 years... Thanks, George!!)

Amidst all of the reading, studying, thinking and talking, I am producing a philosophy of ministry paper that I will need to present at church planter's "boot camp" next week in Johnson City, TN. I am glad to say that Andy DeGroff is taking the time off work and making the trip down for the week! (for those of you who don't know, He and his wife Rachelle are doing everything they can to move to this area from Bryan, OH to be our Worship Pastor). It's going to be a great week (a bit overwhelming, but great!!!)

This week, I will attend a "webinar" that will spend 4 hours walking myself and a number of other planters through the theology of the restoration movement to ensure that our philosophies of ministry make a big deal out of the things that Bible makes a big deal... I know it sounds boring, but it is both helpful - - and very sharp!

I am also hard at work developing our launch/growth strategy that should be done within the next few weeks... along with a timeline that you can all pray through!!!

Thanks, everyone!!!

Jeremy

Real life is about to start...

Over the past few days, we have had the privilege of having my parents down to help (enormously) with the unpacking and decorating. We are LOVING the new house and are looking forward to many years of effective ministry in and through it!

With my parents now on their way back to Indiana, the transition begins to draw to a close and real life is about to begin!

The girls hit the ground running and start school on Monday morning and Sheila will be working to get Myah registered for a pre-school. While school is going, I am sure that she will continue to work hard on all of the transition related items (including taking the dreaded written driving test to transfer our licences.)

On Monday morning (and again next Monday), I have a 4-hour "webinar" with a number of other Stadia Church planters from across the nation and Jim Putman (a guy who planted and saw the church grow from 0 to 8,500 in five years!).

The information we will be working through relates to the development of our "Philosophy of Ministry" (particularly the development of our Discipleship process) paper that I will present at our Church Planter's Boot Camp (a five day intensive training event in Johnson City, TN) in two weeks! WOW!!!

This kind of thing is the reason that we chose Stadia - can you imagine how easy it would be to overlook the development of critical systems (like the discipleship process) because of the more immediate, relational demands of church planting? With this kind of support, we will be able to manage the critical components of relationships on the ground here in TN as well as the vital systems development that will sustain the church once we launch!

In addition to the webinars (and the hundreds of pages of reading that I need to complete before them), I will spend a number of critical hours connecting with our "launch team" that exists here in the Jackson area (many of these people were very helpful in getting our stuff off of the truck, settled in the house and helping us with meals and generally feeling loved!). I look forward to developing this team over the coming months as we work toward LAUNCH SUNDAY!!!

Much more to come soon as everything transitions (including the content of this blog...)

Jeremy

Settling in... sort of!

OK... it's been a CRAZY couple of days!
-

We drove in and went almost directly to the closing on our new house (everything went well!!!)... then a quick bite to eat and camped out one more night on an air mattress (Myah kept us both up all night).

The truck with everything we own showed up at 7:00 this morning and everything was unloaded (onto the driveway and into the house) by 11:00 AM!

After that, it has been a barrage of good ole' Southern hospitality! New friends who are giving their heart and soul to the plant helping unload the truck - brand new friends (who we have never met before) helping us unpack boxes - one of our planting partners brought pizza for lunch another brought pizza for dinner - and get this - - our new neighbor from across the street surprised us and ordered pizza for us (and then came over to introduce himself). It's a lot of pizza, but it's UNBELIEVABLE to be supported and welcomed like this!!

Toss in a couple of mishaps with local utilities (like water not being on), traveling all over to put deposits on the rest of utilities and the girls toggling back and forth between playing with new friends and crying because they are tired and here we are waiting for my parents to arrive (they are coming to help unpack for a few days).

One other thing: a special thanks to all of the guys who helped PACK the truck in Bryan! Everything arrived fine and relatively unscathed!! You guys ROCK!!!! Also a big thanks to Jason Kreger for hooking us up with a great deal on the semi that drug our stuff down here and for sending a great driver who was willing to work his stinkin tail off instead of just sitting around while we worked - Chad was a great help!!

We are anxious to get settled, load up the squirt guns and storm the gates of Hell!!!!

Keep praying!!!!

Jeremy and Sheila

125 Arbor Oaks Cove

Medina, TN 38355

'twas the night before the move...

'twas the night before the move and all through the house, not a creature was stirring (and there better not be a mouse). The children were snuggled tightly into their beds with threats of spankings looming over their heads.

Mom has chosen wisely and headed to sleep while Dad updates his ipod and inventories the Jeep.

So much is bouncing between these ears of mine (there's plenty of room), but most of all tonight it's fear of what is not in sight. It's moments like these where the wise are reminded that FAITH steps in and calms 'till all is subsided. But since "wise" has never been something that has been assigned to me, I have to be honest - - I AM PRETTY FREAKED OUT (that didn't rhyme at all, but it was honest).

(lame attempts at poems end here)

Everything is packed... we head out at 7 AM to Jackson, TN. I am completely terrified of everything that lies before us... so many questions (and even a little doubt if I am being honest). But, it's moments like these that I am reminded (AGAIN AND AGAIN) that God has gone before us and that Scripture promises us that the gates of Hell will not stand against us.

Just thinking about that phrase... "the gates of Hell" - last I checked, gates were DEFENSIVE - that means that WE are on the OFFENSIVE (now THAT is something I have been accused of!!!)

Starting tomorrow, we are storming the gates of Hell - laying down a front-line initiative that will cost us all dearly - there will be casualties - there will be fear (and a healthy amount of terror), but make no mistake, I have read the back of the book... WE WIN!!!!

Fear? sure - - Faith? YES!!!!!!

Let's give 'em HEAVEN!!!

Jeremy

You don't realize how deep your roots are until you go to dig them up!

A friend of mine (and my management chair for our church plant) is also in the process of moving his family from Nashville, TN to a suburb of Atlanta. A couple of weeks ago when we were talking about how difficult it was to take the friendships that we have and walk them through this necessary, but amazingly difficult transition, he said these words that stuck with me. "You don't realize how deep your roots are until you go to pull them up"

Those words resonated with me over the past few weeks as we started the final days of our tenure in Bryan, OH. I cannot begin to express the unbelievable significance that each of you have played in the lives of my family. Over the past 7 years, you have been our surrogate FAMILY! You have invited us over for holidays when we had nowhere to go. You have helped us care for our sick children when we didn't know where to turn. You have given us advice when we were lost. You were there for us to build memories. You were willing to forgive us when we made mistakes. Our roots in Bryan must have been fed some amazing fertilizer (I am refraining from jokes for this ONE moment - you cannot understand how hard it is to refrain from making a fertilizer joke right now... you know - something about being fed poop... BUT I WILL NOT!!!)

Here is the thing... I think the analogy is simply perfect... we never intended to take a shovel and cut off those roots - we never desired to kill the plant. We intend (and continue to do so) to pull those roots up and take them with us!

We were overwhelmed Sunday (and the weeks leading up to it) by the number of people who expressed their sorrow upon our departure. But we all need to understand something VERY IMPORTANT.., OUR MINISTRY YEARS (and friendship years) ARE NOT OVER!

WE NEED YOUR FRIENDSHIP AND PARTNERSHIP NOW MORE THAN EVER!!! Please know that things will undoubtedly change, but we still care deeply for each of you as you ARE a significant part of our lives!

Many of you have asked what you can do to support us in this next phase of Kingdom Building. Well, since you asked (and for those of you who didn't - this is the part where you are more than welcome to stop reading because our friendship is about to get to the part where YOU come in.)

PRAY LIKE NEVER BEFORE!!! Church planting is a spiritual effort! The enemy is already starting to throw doubt and turmoil into the picture. Every single day brings new challenges and problems into the scope.

• Pray that our team maintains a high level of purity and focus - Satan would love nothing more than to distract us with failure - WE WILL NOT STAND FOR IT!
• Pray for our team to build relationships! God has provided us with a team on the ground in Jackson that is capable of AMAZING things on a human level. I am unbelievably excited about what GOD will do when He adds His SUPER to our NATURAL!! This unbelievable asset will be a detriment if we cannot build this into a TEAM!
• Pray for my family! This is obviously a very difficult time for all of us. We leave behind all that we know and love. Pray for Sheila and the girls as they work towards settling in to the new area and developing friendships with some of the amazing people we have already started to get to know.

Also, as you might expect, we can always use financial support! I do have an incredible opportunity (one that you will hear much more about in the coming days). Over the past couple of weeks, I was made aware of generosity that allows for a MATCHING GRANT for THIS PROJECT! Because of the amazing generosity, every dollar that is donated between now and the end of January will be matched ONE TO ONE!!! That means that if you are able to send $10, it becomes $20. $100 becomes $200... $500 becomes $1000... and yes :-)... $5000 becomes $10,000!!!!

Listen, I know how many of you are feeling - Sheila and I have felt that way too - I have sat and thought "It's easier to ignore it than to send in $10- it's too small an amount to bother to send." Let me tell you something from the other side now... NO AMOUNT IS TOO SMALL. We are serious about this... We are excited to see the Body of Christ do its' thing... God provides from every possible angle! I would encourage you to do this: Take a moment and pray asking God to give you a clear understanding of how He would have you be involved in this project - if financial support is a part of that leading, the amount does not matter - faithfulness is what matters!

Looking for a place to live... but so much more!

Sunday morning, we will head out to Tennessee to see as many houses as possible in a two day span of time.

In any situation, picking a house out in a short time frame is stressful. But we want much more than just a house to live in, and I'm not talking about some hallmark idea of wanting a "home."

For a church planter, picking a home is as much about the neighborhood as it is the house.

This isn't some effort to say "it takes a village..." As a planter picks a neighborhood, he chooses the initial circles of influence that will host the "invest/invite" relationships that will reach people.

You know, when we listed our house in Bryan we considered the possibility that we might own the house here long after we moved to Tennessee. But, as most of you know, it sold in two weeks (then unsold due to financing problems). When we re-listed it, it sold AGAIN in less than a week!

What I am saying is that from this vantage point, it's difficult to imagine being able to find the right place in just two days, but after seeing God do such amazing things to date, we are confident that God's timing will be obvious!

Jeremy

"relevant church"

Today, I have been having a lot of great conversations about "relevant church." As we plan this new church, all of the "relevance" questions are the first ones we get asked: "what kind of music will you have?" "what kind of clothes will people wear?" "what kind of video equipment?" "what kind of sound gear?"

The thing that bugs me is that I really dig all that stuff... I am sure that we will have rockin' music... I don't ever want to wear dress clothes again... I want to launch with live video from day one... and i have only one word related to sound gear - - SUBWOOFERS!

But, here's the thing: While I really dig relevant churches, I think that we spend too much time trying to be relevant and then figuring out which part of "TRUTH" our culture would respond to.

I think we have it backwards!

Recently, I have been struggling with this whole idea and realizing that what a church believes about the redemptive Truth of God's Son (Christology) should inform a church's understanding of its calling or mission (Missiology) and THAT should inform our methodology (ecclesiology).

The thing is, that way to often I think churches begin with methods (what to wear, how to package a series, how to understand the culture) and then move backwards to mission (calling).

Kem Myers (Granger Community Church) said today that "culture is a moving target." I agree! The thing is that I don't think that we should spend all of our time trying to shoot at a moving target. We need to understand Truth and look for a relevant vehicle with which to communicate it.

I think that we need to engage culture... I will take that one step further - - we need to be about the business of seeing God REDEEM culture... I just think we need to avoid the temptation to become enamored with culture.

In season and out of season...

Much of what we do is impacted by the "season."

In case you don't already know... it's already cold in NW Ohio... STINKIN' COLD! The season for Golf is long gone... as we started packing up the stuff in the shed, Sheila told me not to pack the snow shovels just yet, we will probably need them before we move (me, I don't think so... I drive a 4WD Jeep... I don't really need to shovel!)

This morning, I had opportunity to do something very "out of Season" - I preached about "submission" - you know, our cultures newest "S" word! God's Word challenges us to preach the word "in season and out of season" - that message is very "out of season." It is not popular at all to challenge women of our culture with their biblical role because so many people have misunderstood (or abused) what God's Word says. Now, I don't want to re-preach the message (if you missed it, you can hear it here... and YES, I did say that we don't need "limp wristed, fairy men" in all three services). What I wanted to point out was that there are things in life that do not make you popular, but sometimes they are the right thing to do anyway! It might be out of season, but truth is truth... preach it anyway!

This afternoon, my good friend Brent Wilson and I took a quick trip by small plane to Dayton and back (in time for me to regain my stomach and make it to Financial Peace classes by 6:00). It was amazing to me how COLD it gets at 8,000 feet! Did I mention that I got to fly most of the way back? Talk about out of season... it's never "in season" to allow me to control a large metal object at 150 mph! How cool it was to see God's creation from that perspective (and get a couple of pretty cool pics of our house before we landed!)

The moral of the story? I am not sure that there is one!

Today was a great day... I love preaching! The only thing that I am not looking forward to about planting is that it will be a long time (till 10/10/10) before I get to communicate God's truth to a crowd of people every week! Flying was very cool... I am imagining now that planting a church is going to be a lot like flying that plane... there are an awful lot of things to monitor and prepare!!!

Thanks for listening to my ramblings... I am pretty pumped about all that God is doing!!!

Jeremy

Discouragement and Encouragement

The line between encouragement and discouragement is fine. As many might remember, our house "sold" within two weeks of being listed on the market. Late yesterday, we learned of one of the many ways the current economic climate will impact this plant - due to a small issue, the financing for our "would be" buyer fell through.

To say we were discouraged is an understatement. There are so many "question marks" in our future - this was one of the only things that was settled. So, after an evening of self pity, today happened!

Encouragement from every angle! So many of you have sent notes (email, facebook, etc), called or told us of your confidence in God's plan and timing. I know that it may feel like something that you are "supposed" to say, but the truth is that you are "supposed" to say it because it's true! God's plan and timing are exactly perfect!!!

Beacons of hope! After our Realtor (who is also a close friend) let us know that he was doing everything he could in calling area agents to let them know that the house was back on the market, another Realtor in his office called to schedule a showing for TONIGHT!

In the end, I am trying not to be anxious about this whole thing, but if you are praying... here's something to pray about... not that our house sells, but that God's Will - and His exact timing happen! In the meantime, you can pray for patience for us.

The Journey to Here: "Funding"

As you can imagine, starting a new church costs a lot of money. Things like salaries, office space, advertising, facility rental, road gear (sound, lights, video, etc), seating, children's supplies (furniture, toys, teaching materials,etc), trailers (to move everything), logos, web sites, and TONS MORE!

So, a natural question comes to mind... Where does all of this money come from?

Not only is that a natural question - it is an important one! Without money, this future church - and the people it will reach for Christ - are just a figment of our imagination! Every step of this crucial mission to reach the lost is dependent on people just like you and I who are willing to sacrifice for the cause of Christ!

This past week has been unbelievable! We have officially started the "fundraising" phase of the plant. I spent all day Monday in NW Indiana presenting "the plant" to a couple of churches and reconnecting with a few friends. We are praying that those efforts will be fruitful for the cause of Christ! We are anxious to see how God is working in people's lives to reach people!

The simple reality of our lives at this moment is that we will need to raise a total of $150,000 over the next 3 years. (that means that income totaling $150,000 will need to be pledged by people, groups and organizations to come in over a 3 year period of time).

At first, I have to admit that this whole idea was very intimidating to me... I HATE ASKING FOR MONEY! Then one day, I realized that I am not asking for money for me - I am raising money for God's project to reach lost people - people who other than this effort would likely spend eternity separated from God - that moved me!!

I am confident that God has developed this vision in our hearts for years, and if that is the case, God has also been laying this effort on the hearts of many of you over those same years. Maybe God has used preaching or a relational connection to begin to prick your heart to support His work... no matter what the avenue, God has prepared the way!

So, here is the simple plan... we need people who are willing to pledge money... some as a one time "start up" gift... some as a monthly pledge... for our fancy brochure, I broke it down this way:

We need...

• 75 people who will pledge $15 per month over 3 years (or $540 as a one time gift)
• 50 people who will pledge $10 per month over 3 years (or $360 as a one time gift)
• 10 people who will give $2000 or more as a one time "start up" gift
• 5 people who will give $5000 or more as a one time "start up" gift
• 20 people who will consider meeting a specific need in a ministry area ( i.e. children's ministry, sound, office, etc).

Now, here's the big question. How would God have you be involved? What part can you play?

I want you to know that I realize that these are difficult financial times for many people.

I also want you to know that I sincerely weighed that as I considered how we believed that God was moving in our lives. The simple reality is this: In God's economy, there is no better time to plant! That is true for two reasons: 1.) People are looking for hope like never before! 2.) If we are able to raise these funds and see people come to Christ in this economic climate, it will be OBVIOUS that it is a work of God!

I have said this before, but if David had an AK-47 when he battled Goliath, it wouldn't have been much of a story... but because he was a 12 year old boy facing an insurmountable foe, we are talking about it thousands of years later!

Here is the simple truth: IF IT'S GOD'S WILL, IT'S GOD'S BILL!

Here is the thing, if you are someone that I have known for most of my life or someone that I have known from Dyer, you can probably expect to receive a letter in the short term asking you specifically to consider how you might be involved. If you live in NW Ohio, I will likely not be approaching you asking directly how you might be involved (out of respect for New Hope and not leveraging my position here to raise money and put people in an awkward position). If you live here, I am trusting that God will be laying this project on your heart and you will approach me to talk about what God is doing.

In either case, please consider what God might have for you as a part of this project. I can assure you that there is no gift too small - every sacrifice is a vital part of God's plan!

If you would like to contact me directly related to your desire to have a conversation about where we are headed, please talk to me in person, call me at your convenience or send an email to justjeremy73@gmail.com

Again, thank you for reading these posts (as I hear a number of you are)... and thank you for considering conquering Goliath with us!