I read something this morning out of 1st Peter that really jumped out at me. It talked about "inexpressible joy". I understand this term. We have been on a ride the past several months that is so much bigger than us. The challenges have been prodigious. The victories have been invigorating. The emotions have been sweeping. We have seen God do things that we had only read about in books chronicling his faithfulness and provision. Through it all, we have learned the meaning of inexpressible joy. There are so many words to describe what we have felt today and every day over the last several...

Today was so much fun. Wednesdays are my day off and Dara and I took the kids down to the South Park Mall. I've never been to this part of town (South Charlotte) and it was awesome. What a beautiful (and freezing) day!We had so much time just unplugging and "Christmas looking" (very similar to Christmas shopping minus spending any money). The kids found a water fountain and threw pennies in the water. Mary spilled Coke all over the food court. Jack hated the Apple store. Max asked me to tell him a story about a monster that found a feather and fought two tigers.Great fun. Great family. Great...

I just created a Twitter account for Hope Church.I love how technology and new applications are allowing us to communicate with people on a whole new level. Twitter is a website that asks one simple question: "what are you doing"?Everything that you want to say is summed up 140 characters at a time. This is a great way for us to communicate random happenings at Hope Church with the web community. Any time we can personalize Hope Church we achieve our goal to connect with people. I am really intrigued to see what the next wave of technological innovation will be that the church can use to...

This was by far the most energetic and engaged Sunday that we've had to this point. We have grown the last 3 weeks in a row. 103, 108, 137. It's amazing to be a part of something so new. Momentum is a powerful thing and we are blessed to have it right now. It was so encouraging to see so many new faces in the crowd mixing with those that have been with us since the beginning. I believe in what we are doing at Hope Church. It is never about the numbers, but I do believe that we are a healthy church and I want as many people to experience that as possible. Mike spoke yesterday on the outflow...

Here is a continuation of the multiple graphics projects I have worked on this week. This is our communication card that we will hand out to each person on the way into the theater every Sunday during our December series - Bliss.The idea here is to print out communication cards in bulk at the beginning of each series. We keep the announcements pretty vague so that the cards can work for 4-6 weeks (depending on the length of the series). The most current information is on our website, so we try to condition our people to check the web for the latest news and information. These cards have...

Today has been an all day graphics extravaganza at my kitchen table. Here's the new series logo for our upcoming December series - Bliss. We'll be talking about joy during the holidays. Looking forward to it! And I love Christmas 🙂

Luke Bolin has just hit another home run for us! He is the graphic designer we use for all of our big projects at Hope. Luke and the guys at StudiOne26 have been the best I've ever worked with. They do it all. Print, web, video, programming, etc. They are based out of Colorado Springs. Amazing talent, awesome guys.This is the design he just sent me for two 4ft x 4ft banners that we will be putting in the lobby of the Starlight Theater. This is going to be absolutely priceless advertising for us as we communicate with thousands of people that go through the lobby of this theater on a weekly...

Dayne (our intern) and I met up with two students from UNCC yesterday. Great meeting. John and Joseph gave us some great insight into the spiritual climate on campus.My desire, I told them, is not so much to come in and start our own thing. I would much rather get a feel for what God is already doing on campus and support that ministry. I really believe in the power of teamwork, and God has already established some great ministries on campus. They gave us a great connection with the Baptist Student Ministries and I will be connecting with them as soon as possible. My intent is just to give...

I have spent the better part of today and yesterday on the hunt for a job. It's a crazy feeling being in one field (ministry) for so long and now venturing into a whole new realm. I had some great leads today and yesterday with Starbucks and the YMCA. Both positions would still allow me to be in the community, hanging out with people on a daily basis.I love new adventures, and this definitely fits into that category. It doesn't matter what life brings my way, all I can do is honor God with my actions and continue to follow his lead.

I just completed my first job application since my freshman year in college. Amazing.When we decided to come to Charlotte, it was with no guaranteed salary. We have been blessed to be able to work for 5+ months on planting this church because of the support of so many across the country. In light of the recent economic downturn nationwide, however, our fundraising has drastically slowed down. I have decided to offset the difference that we need in our income by applying for employment outside of full time ministry for the first time in 10+ years. I was thinking of the ramifications of this...