STILL waiting!!!!

Can you believe it......we made an offer on a house nearly 48 hours ago and still have not heard anything! I just don't get it.... When you are selling something and someone offers you X dollars, you have one of two responses. "Sure...I'll take it." or "No, but how about Y dollars." It really is that simple. It certainly isn't 48 hours tough.

So here I am....waiting.

Waiting

I hate waiting! Whether I am waiting for an answer to an email, or waiting in line or waiting for my kids to get their stuff and into the car to go to school....I hate waiting. (Notice I never made reference to waiting on my wife.....I am getting a lot smarter in my old age!) But here I am today, waiting. We made an offer on a house yesterday afternoon and as of now, Thurs @ 12:45 we have not gotten a response. Aaaaaaghhh! I don't do this well do I? I have been praying all day that God will step in an make this happen....and I am confident that he has a plan here....but in the mean time he wants me to wait. God knows my tendency to take control and "work it" all on my own. I think making me wait is God's way of saying "Back off Jack! I've got this one....take second to chill, relax, and refresh. It's under control." I think this is what he is trying to teach me.


When have you had to wait on God?

I'm calling you out CJ!

I told you I was going to do this CJ!

You see, my friend CJ started blogging a couple of months ago. You can see his blog here. He was writing some pretty cool stuff....good insight....thoughtful....I, at least was enjoying it. But if you go back and look at his blog, you will notice the last post is March 21!

So, I'm calling you out CJ! I dare you to post!

What now?

What to do?

I love this quote by Craig Groeschel the lead pastor of LifeChurch in Oklahoma.

“To reach people no one else is reaching, we must do things no one else is doing”

What does that look like? I want to reach the people that no one else is reaching. It is what fuels me. It is the vision of my church, Foothills Community Church. But what is it that no one else is doing. I am particularly interested in the community of Toccoa, Georgia where we are planning on launching our first multi-site video venue location. So how do I know what others are doing so that I can do something different? Do I just guess? Assume that I know what they are doing? Do I ask people? Do I visit other churches in the community?

I think probably some of all of it....but I think I might like to visit some of the other churches. Every community is different and there may be churches in the area doing things that I already have in my head....but they are ineffective. Our church in Toccoa has GOT to differentiate itself to be successfull!

Is it "spying" or wrong somehow to want to know what other churches in the community are doing so that we can make sure we offer something different?

Please comment with your opinions.....I would love to know what you think.

in Dallas

I am in Dallas today and tomorrow. I am attending a conference on Multi-site Churches. Today's sessions were awesome! Matt Chandler of The Village Church spoke in the opening session. There was a breakout session. And then there was a session by Larry Osborne of North Coast Church in CA. They were all great...and tomorrow looks to be as good or better than today.

I will blog details of what I am learning later....tonight I am just too tired and tomorrow I have to get up and running early.

Hanger Radio Z

I just wanted to let anyone who didn't know that there is a cool new radio station in Seneca called Hanger Radio Z. They can be found at 102.1. They play the coolest Christian music around....stuff like Thousand Foot Krutch, Skillet, Flyleaf, P.O.D. If you are looking for the Gaither Vocal Band.....don't go there! This isn't your grandpa's radio station!

There are actually several translators for the station around the upstate....here they are
104.1 FM in Spartanburg SC
97.3 FM in Cowpens SC
104.3 FM in Gaffney SC
97.7 FM in Six Mile SC
95.7 FM in Greer SC
105.7 FM in Easley SC
102.1 FM in Seneca SC
94.1 FM in Wellford SC
94.9 FM in East Greenville SC
and 105.9 FM – Fountain Inn
& Simpsonville

It's about relationships!

I am currently reading "The Multi-site Church Revolution" by Geoff Surratt, Greg Ligon, and Warren Bird. The following is a quote by Craig Cheney, a campus pastor for Fellowship Bible Church in Little Rock, Arkansas. In talking about how their church's outreach is framed in a relational pattern he says "Without the relationship, we're just bringing them a program. Programs don't produce life change. God uses people in relationship to each other to bring about life change. And life change is what it's all about." That's it! We have got to be relational. Not just listening but being real and transparent ourselves, showing those we come in contact what Christ's love is all about.