I found myself this morning driving to Uptown Charlotte this morning to work. I am currently sitting in the Bank of America building at a Caribou Coffee (delicious) working on my message for this weekend at Hope and taking care of random details related to our move to Mallard Creek Elementary in a few weeks.As I was walking the streets of Uptown this morning, I found myself not even knowing what to pray. Ever been there? There is so much going on right now. Moving the church. Mike's wife, Denise, is still in the hospital with a sickness so confusing even the doctors are baffled. Preaching...

I took Max (our 5 year old) to the NASCAR Coca Cola 600 yesterday. SO MUCH FUN! The race was scheduled for Sunday night, but was postponed due to rain. I had wanted to take him to the race because ever since he saw the Disney "Cars" movie his interest in racing skyrocketed. Every single week we sit on the lazy boy and watch a portion of the race together.I was at Caribou yesterday morning making a delicious espresso based beverage for a couple that was all decked out on Dale Earnhardt Jr. gear and I started chatting with them about Max and his new racing interest. They went out to their car...

Please be praying for our lead pastor, Mike Field, and his family. His wife, Denise, has been admitted to the hospital for the past couple of days. She has been dealing with what was presumed to be Multiple Sclerosis, but now they are completely confused. She had some sort of seizure over the weekend and now they are searching for answers.God is completely faithful and able to heal Denise. Please pray for her healing, be it through a divine miracle or the wisdom of doctors. If you want to stay up to date with the latest news, you can follow Pastor Mike's blog.

The madness of race day will happen again all over tomorrow. We have experienced our first Coca Cola 600 this week. Crazy amounts of traffic, mass amounts of people and mobile homes.I promised myself that I would never be "that dad" that pressures his kids to love what sports I love. Max got the Disney "Cars" movie a couple of years ago, and ever since he has taken a huge interest in racing. I never was into it until this point. I must admit that I'm pretty much a fan now (don't judge me all you non-NASCAR people) :-)I'm gonna try to get on CraigsList and see if anyone needs to get rid of...

I am going to bed tonight with huge anticipation for tomorrow's service. I count it such a huge blessing to be able to give my life and my efforts to ministry.I will wake up tomorrow at 6:15am and head to theater. I will meet an amazing group of people who are completely invested into this dream to see Hope Church thrive and grow. We will turn the Starlight Theater #14 into our house of worship within a one hour time window.We will practice the music, set the lighting just right and then open the doors for the people to enter. We will worship God with all our hearts, dedicate a baby, hear...

I just completed my monthly update that we send out to our friends and family (if you don't receive this email update and would like to, simply email me at [email protected] and let me know). I detailed the need that we have for God to miraculously provide close to $3,000 in the next 10 days for our salary.Right after I finished typing that email, I got notification that another $1,070 came in today for our salary from two different families. AMAZING! God is so faithful. Even while I'm typing emails asking for support, he's one step ahead of me :-)Be enouraged today: GOD ALWAYS...

I am so grateful for each person who has invested into our family and into our dream to bring Hope to Charlotte. Our prayer is that every penny that has come to us would be planted in fertile soil. I pray that our lives, behind the scenes and in public, would be worthy of these investments.We have had gifts that have ranged from an envelope with $3 cash to a family that has supported us at $1,000 per month for the past twelve months. We have learned that no amount is too small as it all adds up to enough. Amazing. We are so grateful for every last penny.This season doesn't last forever. We...

Our May paycheck marked 12 full months of God's perfect provision. What a huge milestone to pass on our church planting journey. It was 12 months ago that we got our last guaranteed paycheck. For the past 12 months we have been paid by over 70 different individuals and families that have invested into our family and our vision to bring hope to Charlotte.After 12 months of living by faith, I must say that it doesn't become easy to live by faith. For instance, as of today, we are close to $3,000 short of our salary for the month of June (10 days from now). It's not easy looking at that...

It's official! Hope Church is moving to Mallard Creek Elementary School on June 21st! We are so excited for this incredible opportunity to partner with our community and get to the exact center of where God called us to locate this church. I remember when I first pulled into North Charlotte when Dara and I were considering making the move to be a part of Hope Church. I was driving around one day and came to the intersection of Mallard Creek Church Road and Prosperity Church Road. That's when it hit me like a ton of bricks: this was the "Hope neighborhood". That feeling was confirmed a couple...

I have been out of the blogosphere for a while as Dara and I took the kids to Orlando for a week of reconnecting with friends and family. So much fun! We got back and 2:00am and it was immediately back in the saddle early this morning as we have some really exciting things moving forward with Hope Church.