Our first core team gathering on Saturday night at our home was amazing! We grilled out, chatted with each other, spent time connecting and then headed down to our basement for our first meeting. I shared the back story of where Dara and I have been and how we came to this point of planting Center City Church. We were so encouraged to see such a phenomenal group of people gathered together in our home with a common vision and purpose. I looked at Dara at one point during the evening and said to her, "This just feels so much like 'us'." She knew exactly what I meant. We are not trying to push...

Tomorrow night is our first core team meeting for Center City Church. I am so excited to see how God has brought together such a phenomenal group of people. I was spending some time at my office (Caribou Coffee) today thinking about our group. It struck me that even though tomorrow will be our first meeting together, this church has been functioning for quite a while now. Center City Church was meeting two months ago when we had a group of eight of us over at my house eating, laughing and enjoying time together. We were meeting as a church when the ladies were sitting around chatting at...

4am - Woke up to Max (five years old) coughing. He came into our room and promptly fell asleep on my pillow with his arm across my head. 7:30am - Woke up as Jack (two years old) came crashing into our room - coughing. 8am - Our little guy, Ben (8 months old) woke up - coughing.9am - Off to the doctor. Three on one. Dad and the boys. Trying to keep Jack from destroying the waiting room and examination room while holding Ben the entire time was the stuff of legends. One ear infection (Ben) and two severe colds. 10:30am - Off to Wal-Mart to fill Ben's prescription. They didn't have his...

Just now heading to bed (1am) after putting in another late night working on our fundraising materials. We are designing and printing an eight page, 8.5"x5.5" mini-magazine to send out. Looks like we are nearing the finished product. I just sent it off to be reviewed by Dara's sister, Tori (she's an editor). We have worked really hard on this piece. I am a big believer that excellence is communicated in many different ways. Dara and I have been dreaming about this moment (planting Center City Church) for over six years now. I want people to see our passion and our commitment. I am about to...

Dara and I spent the entire morning synchronizing our family, ministry and individual calendars. This was such a great time for Dara and I to be able to communicate about what is coming over the next couple of months. Meetings, family time, date nights, travel, company, etc. If we don't plan ahead, things just tend to fall between the cracks.Organization and order in our life is vital to communication (and sanity). With four kids and a new church on the way, it helps us to be able to look at our calendar and see what we have coming. It allows us to pray for each other during the day. It...

I remember staring at our first stack of fundraising materials that we sent out last year. I was sick to my stomach realizing that I was about to ask everyone I knew (at least the ones I had their addresses) for money. I had never asked anyone for anything like this before. Fast forward to September, 2009. God has provided for us perfectly. We have not gotten a guaranteed paycheck in over sixteen months. We are now in the middle of designing (with the help of graphical gurus Will Morgan and Patrick Bader) a whole new fundraising campaign for Center City Church. Our goal is to raise $100,000...

It's been a great first week in the office for me. I can honestly say that I went to bed really nervous on Monday night. Tuesday was my first day working on Center City Church full time, day in and day out. We have been dreaming about this for six years and have so many plans, but for some reason I felt so nervous about the task at hand.I was staring at the ceiling thinking about all of this when I told Dara, "Honey, I'm really nervous. I've never done this before." She quickly replied, "Be nervous tomorrow. It's time to sleep." That didn't help too much. When she realized that I was still...

I have spent the past couple of weeks hanging with Dara and the kids all day. We decided to take some down time after closing out a season at Hope Church and before beginning Center City Church. I had my first day in the office (Caribou Coffee) yesterday and did not finish up work until after 5pm. When I came into the house, the kids made a beeline for me. They tackled me and there was an epic explosion of kisses. Nothing like this in the whole world. Mary came back to me a little bit later in the evening, jumped into my arms unsolicited and gave me about 30 kisses on my cheeks, nose,...

The members of our core team came over tonight for a wonderful surprise 30th bday party! To top it off, they all chipped in to cover the cost of getting me a much needed computer. Not just any computer, though, a MacBook Pro! I have recently been without a computer as we are working on the beginning stages of Center City Church and this met a really big need. I am so blessed to be able to be a part of something very special here in Charlotte. My friends not only met a need, I even got what I wanted! So blessed. For those who know me, you will know how much it meant to me by this last...

Dara and I are taking the next three days (Wednesday-Friday) to specifically pray over our finances and budget. Trying to be as frugal as possible as we work on planting Center City Church. God has given us the responsibility to be good stewards of the money he brings into our church and into our family. If you pray, pray that God gives us wisdom and direction. Thanks!