I had the incredible privilege of attending a three day planning meet in Palm Springs, CA with a group of pastors that have incredible vision for church planting. The Church Multiplication Network hosted an event that is aiming to raise incredible amounts of money to start hundreds of churches around our country. At this event, we were presented with our check for $30,000 by Dr. George Wood, the General Superintendent of the Assemblies of God. I included a pic of this one because it's not every day you get a 3 foot wide check!I was so honored to be in the room with these great men. And the...

I had the privilege tonight to sit in a room with twenty men that have made a lasting impact on their communities. These twenty men are all very influential pastors of churches across America. This group came together to plan and strategize together on how to raise enough money to resource 500 new churches in America in the next three years. Amazing, God-sized goal. This endeavor will take $15 million dollars to accomplish. And these guys are all on board to use their influence to help reach this enormous goal.I pray that my ministry is deep, meaningful and lasting. I sat in a room with...

I feel like one of the greatest callings on the life of Christ-followers is to bring people from intrigue to relationship. Let me explain.We have an incredible group of people at Center City Church. One thing that I have heard over and again is that there is something “different” about our group of friends. Honestly, the only thing that’s “different” is that we have been changed by the forgiveness and love of our gracious God. We have a group of people that genuinely love each other, look out for each other, love spending time together, etc. But you can find that in a lot of places. The...

I've found that the biggest moments in my life have been hard to capture in words. Tonight seems to be another one of those moments. I can't quite express how I'm feeling in the moment. But I promise you, it's very, very good.I am heading to bed with so much excitement and anticipation. We move into our new venue tomorrow morning. From here on out, Center City Church meets at 11:00am, every Sunday at Elizabeth Traditional Elementary School. God clearly opened this door for us to be in this beautiful venue, and He gets all of the glory for bringing us this far. I can honestly say I have no...

Thanks to Lloyd Kinsley (www.larddesigns.com) for his work on our new logo for Center City Church.

We have been blessed with a fully renovated auditorium that is absolutely beautiful. We get this space for the incredible price of $216/week.I am asking our friends to pray about covering the cost of one hour ($43), one week ($216) or one month ($864) of our new venue (or any portion of these amounts). Every moment that we spend in this space has the potential to change a life for eternity. You can play a vital role in opening the doors for our community to hear this life changing message.If you want to help open the doors of our new venue, you can give online via PayPal (click here) or send...

I had the incredible opportunity yesterday to share the vision of Center City Church at Concord First Assembly. Thousands of people across four services and three campuses heard our story. The response was incredible. People we've never met committing to pray for us. People coming to us afterward offering their help and services in the community as we move forward. I even had a seventy-five year old man named Huey offer to paint our future church building for free if we supply the paint. I believe yesterday was a perfect example of the body of Christ functioning the way it should. It was a...

I remember sitting next to my friend, Matt Engle, at our Southeastern University commencement ceremony. It was 2001, and we were about to celebrate the fact that we had completed our course of study in the area of Pastoral Ministry. After sixteen straight years in school, I leaned over to Matt and said, "We never have to do another research paper ever again!" What a glorious moment. The last nine years have been full of life changing moments. Marriage. Children. Full time ministry. Starting two churches. Spiritual growth through personal and corporate studying of the Bible. And I find my...

The women of Center City Church packed up and shipped off on Thursday for the beach. Ginny Gum organized a retreat in the Outer Banks, NC. 3 days on the beach hanging out, challenging each other in their faith and encouraging each other to grow. I love it. I love the fact that we haven't even officially opened our church, yet life-giving things like this retreat are coming together through relationships and friendships. It's a beautiful sight. So proud of Ginny for putting this together. Early reports are that it's going great! Can't wait to hear all about their trip!

We had a great meeting on Wednesday night for Center City Church. We all crammed into my living room and talked about the calling that God has placed on each one of our lives. Some are called to work in the community and serve the church in volunteer capacities. Others are called to work in a vocational role as pastors. We just took our first steps toward recognizing our first three leadership positions in our group. Will Morgan and John Gum have joined our leadership team in a pastoral role. Jerred Peacock has moved into the role of the Volunteer Coordinator. He will be making sure every...