I had a really funny conversation with a guest yesterday at Center City Church. We talked for a bit after the service and she said, "My friend has been telling me for months about her church that she loved so much, but I was a bit freaked out to come to it. She kept on saying 'Sinner City Church' and I thought to myself, 'I don't have any desire to go to a church called Sinner City Church. Well, I went ahead and typed it into Google and I couldn't find 'Sinner City Church' but I did find 'Center City Church' and that made me feel a lot better. I loved the service today!" Hahaha...let this be...

As I was laying out my clothes for today at Center City Church, my thoughts drifted to Dara's grandfather. We affectionately called him "Grandaddy." Most everyone else just knew him as Pastor Fenton Jones. He was an incredible man of God, a faithful husband, father and grandfather. And he is one of my heroes in the faith. Grandaddy pastored for over 50 years. And almost every single message he ever spoke was done so in a suit. Not just any suit, though. Grandaddy had some serious style. We're talking some slick suits. And I couldn't help but wonder what Grandaddy would say to me today (he...

I love the story of the blind man that was healed in John 9. Jesus, by his amazing grace and power, healed this man of blindness. The religious leaders got all hot and bothered because Jesus healed this man on the Sabbath (a traditional day of rest in which no work was allowed). The religious leaders were so worked up about obeying the LAW that they completely are lost to the fact that an incredible miracle had just happened. One of my favorite quotes in the Bible comes out of this moment as the religious leaders are claiming that Jesus had sinned by healing on the Sabbath. John 9:25 - "I...

Psalm 103:1-5 shows us that we will never fully experience true worship until we have given ourselves fully to God. Click the link to view this week's message from Center City Church. [vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/26267145 w=398&h=224]

So blown away by the response from our community today for our landscaping/painting project at Elizabeth Traditional Elementary School. We had 80+ people (a combination of Center City Church, the PTA from ETES and a group of students from New Jersey on a missions trip to Charlotte) that came to pitch in, work hard and do something great for our neighborhood. We had a great time and made some serious progress. We'll be back out there on Monday and Tuesday morning of this coming week to finish off this project and help beautify this school. I love practically showing the community the love of...

I have been working out of coffeeshops, local restaurants, public libraries and any other place I can find free wifi for the past 3+ years. With "office space" firmly cemented as priority #123 right now in the future church planting budget, you can imagine my joy when I first heard of Lightbulb Co-Working. Lightbulb is a 2,200 square foot creative hotbed for local entrepreneurs and businessmen and women to office for an incredibly reasonable rate ($75/month). There's no assigned seating, about a dozen workspaces to choose from, wifi, a conference room for 12 and another meeting space that...

We have been in an intense season of preparation, prayer and planning for the vision God has placed in our heart to bring Ebenezers Coffeehouse to Uptown Charlotte. God has opened some incredible doors over the past four years. All roads led to a plan that we presented to one of the top philanthropy groups in the world about three weeks ago. Our faith was high and all signs pointed to this coming together in an amazing way. We got word this week that this philanthropy group has decided to pass on funding. When I got that email, it felt like a punch in the gut. So many dreams and plans...

We kicked off a new series this weekend at Center City Church. It's simply called "Psalms." We are going to be exploring the topic of worship for the next five weeks as we work through different passages from the book of Psalms. We will then switch and look at other aspects of the Psalms (joy, sorrow, heartache, victories, etc) during the month of August. I'm excited to teach out of this book for the next two months at Center City! Click here to view this week's message - Psalms: The Reason to Worship...[vimeo http://www.vimeo.com/25950740 w=398&h=224]

I am resolving to get back into a rhythm of blogging. I have found out something about myself that is really interesting in this latest season of blog drought. When I am walking through really interesting seasons of which I can't give all the details, I find myself blogging less. For instance, we have been in a process of exploring a potential property in the middle of Uptown Charlotte for Ebenezers Coffeehouse. I want to jump on my blog every night and update the process, but the only problem is that this specific process is not particularly the type of process that one can just expose to...

We are kicking off a new series this week at Center City Church - Proverbs: Sayings of the Wise. We will be taking two weeks to look at two different verses from Proverbs. This book is a collection of sayings from King Solomon. The Bible refers to King Solomon as the most wise man to ever live. I am excited to take a look into these simple sayings that bring a whole lot of truth.