by David Docusen | September 17, 2009 | Uncategorized
I need to slow down and smell the proverbial roses.
I started to realize this week that I was feeling a ton of pressure. I was constantly racking my brain trying to figure out the next step and where Center City is supposed to go. I was feeling pressure to lead everyone in the right direction and make sure that I knew the plan A-Z so I could communicate the vision to our team.
That’s when I realized that absolutely NO ONE on our team is pressuring me. None of our financial supporters around the country are pressuring me. I started to try to figure out where this pressure was coming from and I realized something: I was pressuring myself. I was creating phantom pressure to attain measurable growth. I’m really glad that I recognized this (thanks to a great conversation with my brother, Brandon), because I really want to enjoy the early stages.
God has called us to plant Center City in a very counter-intuitive way. We are resisting the temptation to try to grow quickly. We are focusing on the foundation and taking our time to communicate our vision with our team. We are slowing down to make sure that our team knows us and we know them. We are resisting the pressure to try to blow up.
My commitment to myself today is that I’m going to slow down, enjoy the journey and get rid of the phantom pressure that I have created.
by David Docusen | September 17, 2009 | Uncategorized
Today my big sister celebrates her __th birthday!!!
I admire, respect and look up to my sister in so many ways. She gives her life for her family. She loves and provides for her children with commitment and loyalty. She is one of the strongest women I have ever known. She is smart, successful and passionate about life. Most of all, she loves God in a way that produces a genuine and engaging joy about her that is contagious. There are so many qualities in her that I hope are evident in my life.
Happy birthday to my Sissy! After all the fights growing up (with the scars to prove it), we have grown into a relationship that transcends the fact that we are siblings. We are friends. I love you, Leah!
by David Docusen | September 16, 2009 | Uncategorized
Our first core team gathering on Saturday night at our home was amazing! We grilled out, chatted with each other, spent time connecting and then headed down to our basement for our first meeting.
I shared the back story of where Dara and I have been and how we came to this point of planting Center City Church. We were so encouraged to see such a phenomenal group of people gathered together in our home with a common vision and purpose.
I looked at Dara at one point during the evening and said to her, “This just feels so much like ‘us’.” She knew exactly what I meant. We are not trying to push toward a big grand opening right now. We are not trying to gather a huge crowd. We are intentionally taking time to communicate “who we are” and “why we are” to our team.
The group that God has gathered is absolutely phenomenal. Super talented. Super creative. But we don’t want Center City to be KNOWN for talent and creativity. We want to be known as a church rooted in the Gospel. We want to have the symptoms of genuine Christ followers. Love. Care. Compassion. Friendship. Depth. Generosity, etc.
We’ll add creativity as time passes. There will come a day that we creatively present ourselves to the Uptown community, but this is a season of DNA formation. If we start right and start pure, we believe that our DNA will shine through all of our creativity and communicate the core of who we are at Center City. It may go slower and take longer, but we believe the reward of patience and deliberate investment will be worth the wait.
by David Docusen | September 11, 2009 | Uncategorized
Tomorrow night is our first core team meeting for Center City Church. I am so excited to see how God has brought together such a phenomenal group of people. I was spending some time at my office (Caribou Coffee) today thinking about our group. It struck me that even though tomorrow will be our first meeting together, this church has been functioning for quite a while now.
Center City Church was meeting two months ago when we had a group of eight of us over at my house eating, laughing and enjoying time together. We were meeting as a church when the ladies were sitting around chatting at Amelie’s French Bakery six weeks ago. We were meeting as a church when we prayed together when our friends drove 10 hours to go back to Buffalo to share their faith with their terminally ill grandmother. We were even meeting together when we were drafting our fantasy football teams this past Wednesday night.
The church has never been, and never will be about a specific location or building. We are the church. We are the body of Christ. And we’ve been together for a long, long time. God is bringing together a group of people that will eventually meet on Sunday mornings, have a building and be a constant presence in Uptown Charlotte. But long before this ever happened, God brought us together through relationships, seeking our faith and finding joy in the ups and downs of life together.
I love our church.
by David Docusen | September 10, 2009 | Uncategorized
4am – Woke up to Max (five years old) coughing. He came into our room and promptly fell asleep on my pillow with his arm across my head.
7:30am – Woke up as Jack (two years old) came crashing into our room – coughing.
8am – Our little guy, Ben (8 months old) woke up – coughing.
9am – Off to the doctor. Three on one. Dad and the boys. Trying to keep Jack from destroying the waiting room and examination room while holding Ben the entire time was the stuff of legends. One ear infection (Ben) and two severe colds.
10:30am – Off to Wal-Mart to fill Ben’s prescription. They didn’t have his information on file so we waited for 15 minutes as Max and Jack tried to personally examine everything on the aisles. I was doing my best to discipline them (quietly) while holding Ben and trying to give all of our information to the pharmacist that didn’t quite know how to enter the information.
11:00am – Drop off Jack and Ben at home.
11:05am – Drop off Max at school (doc told us that he’d be fine).
11:10am – Pick up Ben’s prescription.
11:30 – Off to work.
Being a dad can be really crazy at times. But I absolutely love it. I remember beginning to get frustrated today with how insane the morning was going. I had so much that needed to get done. All of a sudden, my perspective completely changed. It’s not always going to be like this. I am Daddy to four amazing kids (all ages 5 and under). They are going to grow up and we are going to look back on these days and smile. So I decided to just smile and enjoy my kids. We sang. We made up words. We joked around. We ran all over town. Laughing and coughing. Together.
I love being a dad.
