God has given us a phenomenal team at Center City Church. A great example of this is Ben Getz. He just graduated from Radford University (in Virginia) and moved here to be a part of launching Center City. He is a musician/advertising & marketing guru/frisbee golf extraordinaire/natural born leader. He also has a huge heart of compassion.Compassion is one of the things that we identified in Scriptures and have decided to focus on early in the life of Center City Church. We want to create opportunities for people from all stages of their walk of faith (from exploring to fully committed) to...

Our world has been wonderfully filled with so many genuine and loving people from the creative community of Uptown Charlotte. We have made so many new friends that are painters, sketch artists, digital designers, musicians, etc. Every two weeks these artists showcase their work at a community event off of North Davidson Street (affectionately referred to as NoDa) called Gallery Crawl. The streets are lined with the work of local artists and live music. Incredible setting. Dara and I spent hours tonight at Gallery Crawl with some amazing people from our world. I never knew that God would...

Dara and I had an amazing evening tonight out and about around Uptown Charlotte. My mom watched the kids and that allowed Dara and I to go out on a much appreciated date. Being parents of four, we don't get many opportunities to go out like years past. It was so great to just sit across from her at a local burger dive called Penguin Diner. So much fun to be with my best friend and laugh, talk, eat and enjoy each other's company. We finished off the night by getting dessert at Amelie's French Bakery where we ran into a dozen people we love and cherish. Hours and hours of fun. I love my wife....

Tonight was absolutely unforgettable. We gathered tonight in Uptown Charlotte with our group from Center City Church. It was absolutely amazing. We went to Will Morgan's house and crammed into the living room. I taught an overview of the life of Christ and continued to speak to the central theme of Center City Church: the Gospel (the teaching and revelation of Christ). I did a 30,000 foot flyover of the promise of Christ in the Old Testament to the realization of Christ in the New Testament, his life, death and resurrection. We ended our time, like we do every gathering, with a time of...

I found a quote today from an international leader named Flip Flippen (that absolutely HAS to be a pen name). Even though he has a very interesting name, the quote I found has me critically thinking about myself as a leader. While speaking at the Hillsongs Europe Conference, Flippen said, "No organization will ever grow beyond the constraints of its leader." Ouch. This leads me straight to the mirror. What are my constraints? What are my limitations? What are my strengths? What are my weaknesses? What areas do I need people around me to supplement these areas in Center City Church? Asking...

I had stated in an earlier blog that I would spend Monday morning with Dara processing through all that we had learned and been challenged by at the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta. That was the plan. Insert detour here. I spent all morning at the doctor's office with Max only to find out that my little man (5 years old) has a confirmed case of the swine flu. Ugh. There are so many times as a parent of four kids under the age of six that feel like constant detours. But it's so worth it. We love our babies so much. We can process Catalyst another time, but today was all about taking care of...

Dara and I just got back from the Catalyst Conference in Atlanta, GA last night. We are taking a couple of days to unwind and then are going to get up early Monday morning and process through each of the sessions and journal what we got out of each speaker. We'll come together after we've done that and talk through what we feel God spoke to us and challenged us to implement into our lives individually, as a couple and for our ministry at Center City Church. I'll post some of the highlights early next week.One of the toughest things about going to conferences is actually sifting through a...

Three of my closest friends are in Atlanta tonight experiencing one of my items that's on the "things to do before I die" list. Clark, Salina and Will are all at the U2 concert at the Georgia Dome as I type this. I'm not. Neither is Dara. Great for them. Not so great for us. But great for them.I digress. While they are experiencing one of the greatest concerts I can imagine, I was running an errand to Wal-Mart (which has U2 cd's for sale, but it's not quite the same effect). I was thinking about our group that God has given us at Center City Church. There's so many talented musicians and...

We sent off our missions checks for this month and we are so excited! We absolutely love this time of the month at Center City Church. We were able to send off two checks to organizations that we believe in a great deal. The first one was Run For Freedom. This ministry is headed up by Pat and Maryann Manzo (former colleagues of mine at Calvary Assembly in Orlando, FL). They are now neck deep in reaching out to the victims of human trafficking here in America. This is a huge problem in our country, yet it is largely unnoticed. They have just purchased a home that will serve as a restoration...

I feel like I’m still in the “getting to know you stage” with Uptown Charlotte. Dara and I feel such a calling to serve this city. I am working one day a week at the Caribou Coffee in Uptown Charlotte. There’s something so incredible about working in one of the skyscrapers (BB&T Building) and serving the community God has called us to serve. I love giving our customers drinks that they love. I love getting to know people every time I’m here. I love working with great co-workers. I was walking from one building to another today and looked out across the skyline. It’s starting to feel...