My Friday 7

A possible Friday installment on Mark's blog...."My Friday 7"

1. Ready for the weekend....have battled various infirmities this week and am ready to just chill
2. Really hope that Missouri loses to Oklahoma Saturday
3. I also hope West Virgina loses to Pitt....this would be a great Christmas miracle.
4. I am unsure about the SEC Championship game...I mean if it ain't GA then who really cares? But then again whatever helps us in the BCS rankings then that is who I hope wins.
5. I am really looking forward to season 2 of Heroes to be over so I can finally watch it....when it comes out on DVD...I am really behind...but I got hooked when someone let me borrow season 1
6. Noah's first birthday is coming up on Monday...unbelievable!
7. My sister's news at my mom's birthday party the other night was hands down....AWESOME!! God is so awesome...I am so pumped for them!!

Quotable

"The reason they call it a "hard call" is because its hard. If hard calls ever become easy, then you've become hard."
-Johnny Hunt

Half Of The Equation

There have been 2 immediate concerns in my church planting journey thus far...1. A place 2. A name. We have solved one of those....the name. We are having some upcoming meetings soon about some potential places. Keep praying as we progress on the journey....oh what's the name you ask? Sorry to do this but.....I am not releasing it at this time...soon enough I will, so be patient.

Recovered

Today I feel recovered from the torturous bug that I battled Sunday...then struggled with the aftereffects yesterday. I got good rest last night and am regaining my appetite. So today I feel a lot better. Definitely glad that it is over and I hope it does not resurface anytime in the near future.

A Really Bad Day

I woke up yesterday morning at around 5:30am extremely sick....extremely. For your sake I won't go in to detail...just trust me when I say extremely sick. I hate being sick. It must of have been a bug I got from little Noah because he was sick on Thanksgiving Day...and his dee dee also got sick. I just hope Heather doesn't get it because then we are screwed. I'm feeling better today...but extremely weak...maybe if I get an appetite later I will be feeling a little better.

Go Dawgs...Go Cats

This is one crazy college football season...but you have to admit it is fun and interesting to watch. One more regular season game for my Bulldogs against the Rambling Wreck...the game known as "good ole fashion hate"...Go Dawgs...finish off the season with victory! Along with wearing red and black...I might be wearing a little bit of blue because for one day I am also a Kentucky Wildcat fan. They have got to win in order for the Dawgs to play in the SEC Championship game....let's go Wildcats beat those stupid hillbilly Volunteers!!!

Turkey Day 07...

1. Had a good Thanksgiving hanging out with family and friends.

2. Ate too much food.

3. Played the traditional one on one football...and walked away as the 2007 champ.
4. I felt the punt at one point while throwing the football and kicked it right on to Hwy 20 where a truck came by and hit it at about 60 mph....it was hilarious!! And the football survived.

5. Did I mention I ate to much.

6. Noah got sick.

7. But before he did I got a few good pictures....he's feeling better today thankfully.

Still Haven't Found....

I am sitting in one of my favorite coffee shops...Malia's Mug in Canton, GA...and the song playing is U2, "Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For". That describes exactly where I am in the process of finding a location to plant the church God has called me to plant. I have some locations on the radar...but I still haven't found what I'm looking for....pray for us as we diligently seek the Lord's guidance.

I Was Apart Of It

New York, New York. I flew into New York on Wednesday morning. We spent the entire day walking through Time Square, seeing sights that I have seen on TV for years, and even took the subway (where I had a very interesting experience) over to see Ground Zero. I wish I had more time to spend there but we only had one day to make the most of it. We are in Schroon Lake New York doing a conference with Pastor, but we flew in a day early to spend the night in the city. It was AWESOME. We caught the Radio City Christmas Spectacular, ate huge sandwiches at the Carnegie Deli, saw Alicia Keyes live in concert outside of CBS studios, saw Ed Sullivan Theatre where they film David Letterman...we saw all sorts of stuff...it was awesome!! We head out tomorrow morning...can't wait to see my Noah man...here are some pics....

Genuineness or Marketing Scheme?

Often we say..."we just want to be genuine." So we plan events or do things in the community that are acts of kindness and thus show that we genuinely and authentically care. We criticize other churches that form no relationships with people and just want to shove the gospel down others throats and if they don't listen...they care no more. They have an agenda...and if the agenda fells then they move on. So the new thing...be genuine, no agenda...just care. But is there really no agenda? I mean....if you just care and have no agenda then why so intentional about making sure everyone knows who is doing it? We do gas buy downs or give out waters...or whatever...but we make sure whatever we do to show that we care has our name tacked to it so that they will in essence...come to our church. Do we really care....or are we simply just marketing ourselves in the name of caring? The very thing we are critical of we become if the only reason we are "caring" is to get our name out. We have an agenda....that is, to market ourselves...its a great marketing scheme....but do we sincerely care that the families in our community who have needs that need to be met? And do we want to help meet them...regardless if they know where we are from...and who we are? I think its a good question. I think you can achieve both...but evaluate yourself...check your motives...and be the church...in the name of Jesus....not the name of your church.

Big DAWGS Weekend!

This is a HUGE weekend for them GEORGIA BULLDOGS! The last time we played Auburn between the hedges they beat us...but last year we took care of business on their turf. We have the talent and the potential to win this game...but we have to bring it all to the field and play on the top of our game. This game is huge...and so is next weeks game...if we want to play for the SEC Championship. I hope my assessment will end in time to get back and watch the game from the opening kick off. Let's do it boys!! GOOOOOOOOO DAWGS....SICK'EM!!!

Assessment

Tomorrow I am going through a 4 hour interview...known as a church planter assessment. Maybe I shouldn't be...but I am a little nervous about this. But nevertheless...I proceed. God has called me to this...and I could not be more pumped about this AWESOME adventure! There is nothing else I could do...or want to do! It is scary at times...and I know it's going to be difficult, but God's promise......"I am with you." So, I will trust Him...and that includes through this assessment.

I'm Back!

It has been a crazy week...so I have not been able to blog since Monday...but I am back...but here is why I checked out for a couple of days...

• Tuesday...the day of meetings...just never found the time...and had to prepare for trip
• Wednesday...drove to Panama City and back in one day...Left @ 4:30am...YIKES!!
• Thursday...a little time with family then went with pastor to Gainesville, GA as he did a leadership deal
• And now I is back....for those of you who care...

Great Expectations

Two weeks ago my associate pastor and I drove up to a potential site for planting our church in order to meet with some guys and tour the area. I was truly excited about going. I really thought this might be the place God is leading us to plant this church. I was expecting to get there and have this immediate connection...you know, where angels would sing and music would serenade...the whole nine yards. But that wasn't the case. Actually, there was no connection at all...no singing angels, no music...nothing. This puzzled me a little...a lot actually. The only thing it did was motivate me to go back to the drawing board and do more research in other potential areas. So I've been doing just that ever since. Is this type of connection all that important? Should I be expecting some special connection? I don't know...I've never planted a church before....but I would expect something...maybe.

What's In A Name?

The two greatest questions I am facing right now on my church planting journey are where? and what do I name the church? There are a couple of names on the list, but we just haven't been able to nail it down. Really there is only one that is of great potential, but none of us are sold on it...yet. I have been given some advice on coming up with a name. I was told that it should be unique, and that you should be able to purchase the .com and .org web domains. The name that is on top of the list right now has those domains available but at an extremely high price for whatever reason. The name is also very unique. In fact, it's so unique that we are not sure we want to use it. I want our name to mean something. I want it say a lot about who we are and what we are trying to accomplish, and the name on our list does this...but it still needs to grow on us...or something.

I don't want our name to just be a name for the sake of having a name. Nor do I want it to be a name that identifies itself with one particular community and risk the possibility of limiting ourselves. I want our influence to be greater than just one particular area, and I want our name to demonstrate that.

Anyway...I feel if I can answer these two questions soon I can really begin moving forward on some other extremely important things....like money stuff! Patience is key in the process...I am having to really work hard at being patient because this is one characteristic that I lack...severely.

Wilmington, NC

I am in Wilmington, NC this morning. We drove through the night on the Newsong bus. Thanks to some Tylenol PM I slept most of the trip. Some of the other guys are playing some golf....but I am not much of a golfer so I am hanging out at a local coffee establishment with free WIFI called Port City Java. It's a pretty awesome place. I am drinking a black and tan...not the alcoholic kind but a dark chocolate, caramel, and white mocha...delicious. Plus I am enjoying the always pleasant, free WIFI. Could of went to Starbucks...but free WIFI wins every time. Sorry Starbucks.

We will be doing another Men's Conference featuring Pastor Johnny tonight and in the morning...but today is a free day to hang...so that's what I am doing. Hanging and trying to figure out where to plant a church in the metro ATL area....

Noah's 1st Halloween

Noah's experienced his first Halloween this week and we had a blast! Of course he can't eat any of the candy that he received...but fortunately his daddy will step up to the task and make sure it doesn't go wasted. That's just the kind of dad I am...here are some pics of my little man...he wasn't the most intimidating dragon/dinosaur but he was definitely the cutest...