It is such an honor when people tell us that they are praying for Center City Church and the upcoming move to our new venue, Elizabeth Traditional School. If you pray, here's a list of things that we are asking people to pray for us: - Wisdom and direction for our leadership team. - Favor with the school board and our new venue - Elizabeth Traditional Elementary School. - The ability to connect with the Uptown community creatively and effectively. - Launch date of church: April 4th (Easter)Thanks so much!

Our entire team from Center City Church will be at Concord First Assembly this Sunday, February 7th at 9am & 11am. Pastor Rick Ross has invited me to come share the vision of Center City Church with their congregation. So excited to share our story. And so blessed to feel the love and support of this great church. That means that our opening weekend at Elizabeth Traditional Elementary School will be February 14th - Valentine's Day. The single people in our group have decided that they are going to refer to this as "Center City Day" for their own reasons :-)We are really excited to see...

I picked up my son, Max (6), from school yesterday and we ended up having a blast. We drove around town and prayed for the city. We prayed for all the people that live in the houses and the kids that live in our neighborhood. Max prayed that "lots of people would come to Center City Church." And we prayed that God would teach us how to help people. We ended our time by heading to Central Coffee Co. I worked on my computer. He played my iPhone. An unforgettable afternoon.Max told us recently that God "asked him to teach at church." So now Max wants to learn how to be a pastor. I gladly ablige...

This just totally captures the moment. That's Will Morgan (left and headbanded) and I working at Central Coffee Co. the other day. Love that coffee shop. And it's baristas. We have no office space, so coffee shops have become the offices of Center City Church!I promise we actually talk to each other sometimes, too 🙂

I am so proud of our group at Center City Church! We sat in my living room last week and set a big goal for a small group of people. We aimed to raise $500 to send to Convoy of Hope for the relief efforts in Haiti. I just got word today that we hit that goal! On top of that, we are mailing ten bags of clothes to the U.S. Embassy in Haiti. The mother of one of the ladies in our group works in the Embassy and specifically asked for clothing for her friends that are in need. The generosity that I have seen rise up in their hearts and actions inspires me to generosity. I feel so blessed to be a...

Dara, John Gum, Will Morgan and I spent the morning rummaging thru Concord First Assembly's storage area. They were cleaning out all of their old stuff, and before they threw stuff away they gave us a chance to see what we could use. We ended up finding thousands of dollars of stuff (curtains, rugs, toys, chairs, etc) that was useless to them and perfect for us. So cool to see the way that God has brought together this partnership with CFA and Center City Church. They have been such a blessing to us. We even found an old school overhead projector (circa 1970's). We totally snagged that....

Dara and I took the kids to the mountains this weekend thanks to the generosity of a family in Orlando. We spent four days in their beautiful mountaintop home in Valle Crucis, NC. Incredible time complete with snowball fights, building mini-snowmen, treasure hunts (for rocks and sticks, of course), smores by the fire and many more memories. So grateful for our time away as a family. We have done this for the past three years and it's become a winter Docusen family tradition. And that doesn't change just because we are on the verge of launching our church (we move into our new venue February...

There are so many great organizations helping in the aftermath of the earthquake last week in Haiti. Center City Church is sending all resources to Convoy of Hope. Praying that we all come together and help in times of need. I just got word that another 6.1 after shock just hit today. The suffering continues. Let's rise up and do all we can to help.

Will Morgan and I were working through some things for the church today at Central Coffee Co. (best lattes in Charlotte). We were right in the middle of talking about the future when in came Dara (my wife), my mom and my kids - Mary (4), Jack (2) and Ben(1). I love being surprised by them! And I love introducing them to the baristas and the friends I've made after spending so much time there. I love my family!

The past six months have been a lesson in obedience. I have felt the incredible opportunity to lead a church for the first time. And I love that privilege. It has been a combination of excitement and humbling realizations that I am simply following God's direction for his church. I have been presented with several circumstances where making the most clear, obvious decision is actually not the best decision. Sure, it may have been good, but I desperately want to do something that honors God, even if it takes longer and doesn't make total sense to those observing from the outside. For...