As Center City Church continues to grow, I am celebrating the growth of our team. Dara and I are so blessed to lead with a group of leaders that faithfully love and serve our community. Our team consists of many that give beyond imagination to ensure that Center City is a healthy place for people to explore matters of faith and grow deeper in their relationship with God.For all of you that skillfully lead and influence our community toward Jesus - both publicly and behind the scenes - THANK YOU. You challenge and inspire me all the time and I am so grateful that you are a part of our...

Here's a list of the upcoming events at Center City Church:THIS WEEKActs of Kindness Week - July 9-15Join us in a week of loving on our community with intentional acts of kindness. Share your story: [email protected]  Summer Reading Series: Life Together - Friday July 13, 7pmTonight is our last evenings of conversation surrounding Dietrich Bonhoeffer's classic book. [email protected]   NEXT WEEKCharlotteONE - Tuesday July 17, 7pm, First United Methodist ChurchThe Summer Series, "The Dating Games" continue. Enjoy live music and FREE Italian...

"There was something so powerful about being prayed for by a man with a long, gray beard." That was the response of one of the thirtysomethings in our church this past week. He was walking through a very difficult week and had sought out the counsel of a man that was probably thirty years older than him."His language was different than mine and we don't completely relate on every level, but he had wisdom." These are powerful statements. These are powerful moments. And I'm praying that this becomes a common occurrence in our church family. We are young. We are vibrant. Every one of...

All of us are broken. There are hurts, pains, disappointments, failures and shortcomings that litter the landscape of our lives. There are no exceptions. We all stand unified on this one front. Everyone is broken.Each one of us a has a choice: what will we do with our brokenness? There are some that use brokenness as an excuse to let go. To give up. To give in an engage in self-destructive behavior.There are others that get choose to grind it out and make the most of life, choosing to fight through their brokenness to make the world a better place. While making the world a better place,...

We just kicked off our Acts of Kindness Week at Center City Church and we want to hear your stories. If you have a story of an impacting moment from this week, email us at [email protected]. Our leadership team would love to hear from you!

One of the biggest lessons I've learned since we started Center City Church in April of 2010 is how to patiently lead toward our vision. When God put the dream in our heart to start this church, it included some pretty amazing things that I could see for our church family. But everything happens in seasons, stages and phases. As we walk through these seasons, stages and phases, God's intention is for us to continue to learn and grow.For the past several months, I've been thinking deeply about the structure of our church as an organization. As we continue to grow, how do things change? How do...

We have been incredibly blessed to partner with Charlotte Family Housing in their efforts to end family homelessness in Charlotte. Here's the latest update on what we have seen accomplished through all of their hard work in the past 10 months:  -  Sheltering 65 families who needed a safe place to stay until they are able to obtain housing.- Housing 173 families by empowering them with the skills to move out of homelessness and return into housing.- Impacting a total of 603 people (203 adults and 400 children).- Creating an innovative and effective model which provides a customized...

We are kicking off a week at Center City Church simply called "Acts of Kindness." The goal is really simple: do something nice for somebody else, out of the ordinary, intentionally at least once every day for seven days (June 9-16). I truly believe that one of the best ways that we can shine the light of Christ in our community is by serving others around us.The ideas have been pouring in from across our community. Here's a few to spark your creativity as you simply share the love of Jesus by acts of kindness:- Baking cookies and delivering to local fire/police stations with a thank you...

Click the link to view this week's message from Center City Church:  [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/42945273 w=450&h=253] James 4:7 - Resist the Devil from Center City Church on Vimeo. James 4:7 is one small verse that teaches a powerful lesson. Join us as we break down how we can resist the Devil and stand firm in our faith in Christ.

The dream of franchising Ebenezers Coffeehouse was birthed five years ago during an unplanned meeting between a couple of strangers chasing the same dream. Here's the back story...The desire started for Dara (my wife) and I as we walked through the lobby of our church in 2006. We decided that if we were to ever start our own church, we wanted to build a building that could be used by the community seven days a week. We didn't want a typical church building, but one that the community felt was theirs and that the church "used" on Sundays. We kicked around several ideas. A warehouse that could...