Church Planters...Listen!

The best church planters conference you are going to attend next year is coming up in February and I can promise you right now you will be really mad at yourself if you don't go...so save yourself the anger and go sign up right now to go to Evolve hosted by ChurchPlanters.com and Mountain Lake Church. Shawn and David have out done themselves with the line up and plus...if Shawn Lovejoy is involved...you know its going to be AWESOME! He loves church planting and he loves church planters....so stop reading this and go sign up....NOW!!

Crazy Week

It has been one crazy week...here is the run down:

1. Went all over town delivering Christmas Gifts to partners of Pastor's Bonfire Conference...which is worth checking out by the way.
2. Went to Downtown Atlanta 2 days in a row...probably could have scheduled myself better but one was last minute.
3. Thanks to my friend Drew I had lunch with the founder of an awesome ministry to the homeless called SafeHouse....you really need to check this out!! Phillip is awesome and so is what he is doing!
4. Attended a small meeting with a group of church planters and other ministries downtown put on by a non-profit group called Surgence. Very cool...and also worth checking out.
5. Went by to visit my boys at Freedom as they were hanging out on the lift to get bikes for underprivileged in Acworth, and Shea and I got a flat tire and we ended up atop the lift helping out for few minutes while the car was being fixed...what Freedom did this week is unbelievable...way to go guys!!!
6. Had a meeting this morning...not really what I anticipated...and it left me with one question....WHY? That's all I'll say about that.
7. Tomorrow I'm moving....which is always fun!

The Visitation

Yesterday Shea and I took our pregnant wives over to the potential launching pad of our church plant. We took them around to see the area and had lunch. We then took them to do what women love to do....look at houses. We wanted them to really see if this was a place they could live. After a long day and lots of driving we feel like we are making some progress in the right direction. It was a good and productive day.

Like The New Look?

We made some changes to my blog...I think it looks awesome!! Heather did a complete make over for me! Let me know what you think...

Church Planting

I have had several meetings over the past couple of days with Church Planters. I love being able to talk about church planting. God is really raising men up to reach the nations for His glory. I am so excited about being on the journey, and being on the journey with others. I love being a church planter!!!

Welcome Back!

Welcome back.....www.rmarkayers.com!! After a brief lapse...you can once again access my blog through www.rmarkayers.com. You can also still access it through www.markayerslive.net. So however you want to access you can...thanks for being a faithful reader!!

To The Anonymous

I will say this only one time so pay close attention. I apologize in advance for the tone of this blog.

To those anonymous comment leavers...I would just like to say the following. You are just as free to express your opinions as am I. I choose to let my thoughts and opinion on certain matters be public on my blog. I have made it possible for you to leave your comments and opinions freely. I have also made my email public on the website so that you can personally email me with your thoughts. Because I have done the aforementioned things on my blog it is obvious that I am open to dialogue and discussion on the topics which I post. Please pay me the same courtesy by allowing me to respond to your disagreements, and let us engage in dialogue instead of hiding behind your absurd screen names and making it impossible for me to respond. I am open, but by the way you choose to mask yourself you have proven that you are not. It is a sad and poor thing for you to be so one sided and close minded. You who choose to remain anonymous have demonstrated that you are prideful, arrogant, and quite simply....a coward. I dare you to send me an email and open yourself to a dialogue...otherwise keep your comments to yourself and quit wasting the energy and my time. Have a nice day!!!

My Friday 7

1. I am not sick this weekend....and I am excited about that!
2. We are getting really close to nailing a location down....that is pretty darn exciting!!
3. Noah's 1st B-day party is Saturday....I love that kid, I just can't believe it has already been a year!!
4. Being Noah's dad (and the baby girl coming soon) and Heather's husband is one of the greatest joy's of my life!!
5. I can't believe that my 1 year mentoring under Pastor Johnny is almost over...we crammed a lot into 1 year and it went by super fast....it has been AWESOME!!
6. I hope Ohio State destroys LSU in the Nat'l title game...of course if they do they might give them a 2nd shot at it...possibly even a 3rd
7. Freedom...I am so pumped for those guys!!! I love them...all of them from staff to the launch team...I am praying for you all....God is about to rock the face off of Acworth, GA!!!!

Opposition

As I search for a place to plant a church I'm discovering some opposition. The opposition has come in various forms. Sometimes you have to determine whether something is opposition or if its something to lead you away from making the wrong decision. Other times you know its opposition and you have to be careful not to get discouraged, and if you do get discouraged you can't stay there long. You have to move past the discouraging opposition and hold fast to the call that God has placed on your life. Opposition will be at every intersection of this journey. I've been told by many wise who have gone and are going before me that the opposition never stops, it just goes through costume changes along the way. With that in mind there is only one thing that can keep you in this...the call of God.

Traveling Man

The search continues for a location of planting the church (that has a name that is not being shared currently) which means I have been traveling around and having several meetings. Today Shea and I are sitting a quaint little coffee shop in a potential area and doing some work. We feel we are close to solidifying a location. Keep praying as we keep pursuing....and I promise we will keep you posted.

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.