On Friday evening we will gather for a time of fellowship and I will teach the first introduction session.  So as I try to blog a bit more I thought I would bring back the Monday Quote.  I believe this quote has made its way on to the blog previously, but it is worth repeating

“The key question is this: Will we approach marriage from a God-centered view or a man-centered view? In a man centered view, we will maintain our marriage as long as our earthly comforts, desires, and expectations are met.  In a God-centered view, we preserve our marriage because it brings glory to God and points to a sinful world to a reconciling Creator.”

CJ Mahaney

If you are interested in joining us for the marriage weekend.

Friday
7:30-9:00 Session 1 – Foundations of Marriage (Matt)

Saturday
10:30-12:00 Session 2 – The Heart of Martial Communication (Dr. Jones)
12:00-1:00 Lunch
1:30-3:00 Session 3 – Resolving Marriage Conflict God’s Way (Dr. Jones)

For more information send me an email at matt@thepassagechurch.com

Have a great week.

As I return back the office for the first time in 2012, I have spent a lot of time thinking and dreaming about what God might do this year.  I am more excited about Passage today than I ever have been.  

I see the potential for our church in the leadership that God has brought and is continuing to bring.  I see the potential in the open doors for ministry that He has provided.  I see the potential that those who have come to know Christ will be great witnesses for him.  I see potential in our youth and their leadership.  I could go on, but do you know what excites me more than the potential? It is the power that works in that potential.  

It is not potential alone but it is the power of God.  The same power that raised Christ of the dead is at work within us.  It is that power that makes potential more than a possibility.  

Here are a few specific ways I am praying we see the power of God in 2012. 

• Praying we see at least 50 people come to know and trust Christ this year.  
• Praying that train 50 people for discipleship and mentoring.  
• Praying that we add 10 additional small groups by January 2013. 
• Praying that we take significant steps with our ministry partners in Naco, Mexico and Indore, India.

Those are just a few of the specific request.  I hope you will join me in praying for these things daily and then I pray you will join me working towards these request. 

Happy New Year 

Today’s quote comes from a book Alan Hirsch co-authored, “Right Here, Right Now.”  Alan is a gifted writer who works hard to move all Christians mission.  If you are a Christ follower I think this book is well worth your time, but for today hopefully a couple quotes will challenge the way we live and the way we view the church.

“Our churches have wonderfully written missional  vision statements and well-conceived plans and programs.  But if individual members are not committed to living their lives as kingdom-minded missionaries in their daily life stations then the corporate efforts of the church as a whole will never sniff the air of their true kingdom potential.”

“Perhaps the greatest factor that hinders the Western church from missional engagement is that most Christians here do not identify themselves as fully empowered agents of the kingdom of God.”

Have a good week.

Matt

It will not be a daily blog, but I will try to return a couple of times a week. The content of the blog will vary. It will be a combination of church planting resources, sermon overflow, personal, and prayer request. I know that if you blog should have a specific audience, but we will give this a shot and see how it goes.

I hope the 4 of you who read this are doing well and I look forward to interacting a bit via the blog.

Matt

5 years, 3 months, and 2 days–I walked into a room, stared at the back wall and waited for my girlfriend to come through the doors.  About 20 minutes later I no longer had a girlfriend, I had a wife.  I had read a few books, and observed a few men, but the truth is I really didn’t feel like I had a clue how to be a husband.  Five years later, I’m still figuring it out and I’m blessed with an awesome wife who has been extremely gracious. 

1 year and 20 days-I sat in a hospital room and waited for Noah to make his grand entrance into the world.  He took a little longer than we thought, but finally that evening we were able to hold our son for the first time.  I experienced that immediate transfer of love that you have heard about.  Noah hadn’t taken his first step, said his first word, or served his first ace, but I was extremely proud to be his Dad.  While we sat there just looking at him that for the next couple of days I remember thinking once again, I don’t have a clue what I was doing.  My Dad was a great example of what being a father looks like, but there was so much that I don’t know.

1week 6days from today-The Passage Church will officially launch and one thing I have once again realized is that I don’t have a clue.  Church Planting is a ministry like non-other I have ever experienced.  I have been blessed with a great team, great resources, and great mentors, but that doesn’t change the fact that I am treading on ground that is unfamiliar and sometimes overwhelming. 

In all three circumstances the one constant must be my sole dependence upon Jesus.  It  is through living a life that dies to myself and seeks to allow Christ to live through me that God will be honored in my marriage, in my family, and in HIS church.  People often will say, “I hear you are starting your own church,”  and while I know what they are saying, I hope they wrong.  I hope the day never comes where I view The Passage Church as “my” church, but only a vessel that God will use to bring people to a saving knowledge of His grace and mercy found only through the sacrifice of Jesus. 

As you read this please pray for us as we prepare to launch.  As you read this please pray for our area.  As you read this pray for our leadership.  As you read this please pray for me — cause I don’t have a clue. 

matt

Notes from the 3rd Preview and other church stuff.

• 133 people in attendance
• preached from Phil. 2, It was our 3rd D–Demonstrate the love of Christ to a lost world.
• We used our own sound equipment and lights!  That will hopeful save a time and money.
• Our drummer for the 3 previews was a high school student from SC,  we are praying that God would provide a drummer for our weekly services.
• We had a number of people volunteer to serve and we need more.
• The band once again did a great job and we are glad to have our worship leader back in the area. 
• We have a pool party coming up on Aug. 29th, hopefully it will be a rallying point for the Sept. 13th LAUNCH. 
• We are pumped that we have been able to keep momentum through the summer previews and are excited to begin weekly services.
• We are still looking for some churches to sponsor us by paying the rent for a month at the High School, this figure is $2600. 

Personal Notes:

• Noah turned 1 on Aug. 11th!!!!!
• Jenn is heading back to school this week pray for here as she begins a new school year.  I’m going to miss getting to see her everyday at lunch. 
• Trying to plan my preaching for the year.   
• After preseason game #1 I’m worried about the Colts.

We are excited about all that God is doing here, please join us in prayer, in person, or preferably both!

Crosspoint has been a ministry out of Lifeway for 24 years, using the medium of sports to engage kids 4th-8th grade with the Gospel.  There was nothing like loading up a full sized Budget truck with equipment and two vans with college students, hitting the road for 10 weeks of ministry. 

It has been 10 years since my first summer with Crosspoint and I still miss it.  Not a summer has passed where I haven’t remembered those three summers I spent ministering to kids. 

If your not familiar with the Crosspoint format on the final day of sport times we would have GAMEDAY.  It is what you built up to all week long.  Today will be, as I understand it, the final Crosspoint Gameday.  Lifeway has made the decision to no longer offer Crosspoint.  They instead will move the sports tracks into their Centri-Kid camps.  I know that Centri-Kid camps may still end the week with a “gameday,”  but Gameday, Crosspoint style will cease to exist. 

Please don’t get me wrong, I have taken kids to Centri-Kid and it is a great camp.  They have their own traditions, such as OMC, that are a blast and kids love what they are doing.  Centri-Kid camps have grown in some incredible ways, and I’m sure the folks in the office are doing what is best, but as a former Crosspoint staffer it is a sad day. 

I know that you probably don’t care, but I thought I would give some of my “Highlights” (99 theme) of my short Crosspoint career, both spiritual and random.

Spiritual:

3.)  Seeing former campers walking with the Lord.  This week I had lunch with a director I had as camper in 2002.  Taking kids to camp over the years I have been reunited with numerous former campers that were current staff. 

2.)  Cumberland University 99 — week k 2 — The first time I got to lead a kid to Christ at camp.  I remember I was so pumped that night. 

1.)  Bluefield College 2000 — our first week at Bluefield God moved in an incredible way.  We saw tons of kids give their lives to Jesus that week.  I remember trying to fight back tears as we saw a young girl come forward who earlier in the week, finally opened up about an abusive situation at home.  

Random  ( I know I will forget some things, I haven’t really done any brainstorming to come up with these)

3.)  Riding in the Budget truck with the windows down and all of a sudden hundreds of bees were in the cab.  We had to pull of the road and compose ourselves and kill a few bees.

2.)  Going to the wrestling match at the National Guard Armory.  We got to get in the ring at the end and I climb to the top rope (lifelong dream).

1.)  Trey — Kid named Trey who came to me crying one day because he got his hat stuck on his head, just one of many funny things that happened to that kid.  At the end of the week he forgot his nametag and I still have it 10 years later. 

I hope my CP friends and formers staffers enjoyed reading and will share their memories. 

matt

• We have been working hard to keeping the momentum from the first two preview services alive with our team and our community.
• In only 6 weeks we will be meeting weekly!!!!
• We have a big outreach event this week at Chick-fil-a, we are praying that we get to talk with hundreds of people.
• Jenn got a drum set today and Noah loves them. 
• Noah turns 1 on Aug. 11th — How did that happen? 
• The Cubs are in 1st place, but I don’t know if it will last. 

Today’s quote comes from Mark Driscoll and his book Vintage Church.  The book takes a look at the Church today and some of the important questions we can’t ignore in order to lead.  In the 2nd Chapter he answers the question what is the Christian Church.  I think we all could ramble long enough to put together an answer, but would we really capture what church is about?  

When I was 20 I believed that God was calling me into full time ministry.  Now I am 30 and I believe that  full time ministry will be spent building the church through church planting.  Therefore, I believe it is important that I am capable of answering the question, What is the Christian Church.   Here is Driscoll’s definition based on Acts 2:

“The local church is a community of regenerated believers who confess Jesus Christ as Lord.  In obedience to Scripture they organize under qualified leadership, gather regularly for preaching and worship, observe the biblical sacraments of baptism and Communion, are unified by the Spirit, and disciplined for holiness, and scatter to fulfill the Great Commandment and the Great Commission as missionaries to the world for God’s glory and their joy.”

                                                                     Mark Driscoll, Vintage Church, pg. 38

I hope you have a great week.

All things considered it was a great week together.  The monthly previews are a great thing and give us time to build momentum and talk with people, but selfishly it is not often enough.  I’m already longing for the next service on Aug. 9th. 

Here are a few notes

-we set up and tore down in record time!  I know it is was only our second time, but I was impressed with our team.

-we had 118 people in attendance on Sunday.  Once again we didn’t know what to expect.  There were quite a few folks from the previous preview service out of town. 

-My former youth pastor, good friend, role model, mentor, was able to be there with his family on Sunday.  His son Jonthan played the drums again for us and did a great job.  We also had a great time hanging out with them on Friday and Saturday.

-The worship set was once again a great set list: Spring of Life, Faithful, How Great is our God, Mighty to Save and we ended with All Because of Jesus.

-The welcome team had plenty of water!

-Next month will be our final preview service and we will hit the final part of our vision — To see people demonstrate the love of Jesus to a lost world. 

Thank you for your prayers and support.  I’m sending out our monthly prayer list today if you are not currently receiving it please let me know.