Must See Church Video

I, like many people are fans of what Northpoint does. They are reaching tons of people and have rewritten the book on church for a generation. I am a fan of videos in church.

Check out Northpoint's website. They have been doing a series entitled "twisted." It deals with spiritual warfare and the little lies of the enemy that takes the truth of God's word and twists it. They did a 5 week video that was incredible that was a supplement to their series. Check it out. The bar has been raised and might I say it will be tough to reach the quality of what they pulled off. All that to say, it is a must see!

JB

New Coffee Shop

One mile from my house....yep one mile. It is called "Beaners Coffee." What a cool name, "Beaners!"

Not near as yuppie sounding as Starbucks. I went there this morning and it is cool. The atmosphere is way cooler than Sbucks, and the coffee is not as BOLD, which that means I like it. Starbucks' sissy drinks are good, there regular coffee could choke a goat.

GO BEANERS!

Thanks to these Men of God

I read Marty Duren's post on pastor appreciation month. In his last paragraph he thanked some people who were "fellow laborers" in the field. I don't know if these guys will ever read this but I want to thank a few of the men and women who have influenced me.

My Dad- Nobody wiser in the world. We are different, but we are the same. Thanks Dad.

Doug- The Godfather of youth ministry in the country(some people say in Ga, but I say the country). You gave me a chance to be who I was and you let me take the steering wheel of your ministry at a young age. Thanks for the experience.

Judy Clay- You believe in me.

Scott Kindig- the father of the year, the most humble minister I know of. If you don't know him...you need to. You will be better for it.

Chris Orr- I met him when he didn't even know how to play the guitar. Now he is one of the prominent worship leaders in the country and my best pal. The cool thing about Chris....is he is the same guy that was doing recreation at a summer camp causing all kind of havoc now, even when he is leading thousands in worship. Worship isn't complicated to him, it's about connecitng people with God....and he does it well!

Anson Mcmahon- Loud, crazy dude from Macon who is a student pastor in California. His passion is contagious.

Kevin Queen- When I needed a partner in ministry he came along. And our paths still keep crossing today. You reminded me ministry was about God and people.

Kevin Miller- Golden Boy

Levi Skipper- Red Neck, Bible Thumping, Jesus Freak. He is who he is and he doesn't apologize for it.

Marty Duren- The Matt Drudge of the SBC. But more importantly an old guy who is open to new tricks.

Joel Engle- Coolest Reformed worship leader that I know.

My Brother- Can't forget him, he is my number 1 fan, and a pretty dang good preacher!

Thanks to these guys. You are influences in my life. Just wanted to put it down....maybe you will read it, maybe you won't.

Moments that make you

Just pondering life on a Tuesday night. Just curious. I am young in ministry....been active in local church ministry and parachurch ministry for the last 8 years. I have been around "church life" forever. There are moments in all of our lives that make us who we are. Most are not when we are in the spotlight and tonight I am going to jot down a few moments that have shaped my ministry life up to this point.

1. Losing my mother to a battle with cancer when I was 17. You learn real quick when you go through something like this what is important in life and what doesn't really matter. It has help give me perspective and balance in an ever changing world.

2. Working on a summer camp staff. This doesn't seem like a big deal, most of us have done something like this. It was for me, because it opened my eyes to a church world outside of the context I had been raised in.

3. Being a part of a movement of GOD in college. I was one of three guys on a team who had a vision to influence the college community around us. We began a worship gathering(sounds simple, but it changed me) called Thirsty in 1999. For two years God used this once a month gathering to influence hundreds. We had not budget, we had no church backing, we had no clue what we were doing. But God showed up. I learned that it was about a humble heart and a desperate need for God.

4. Ministering at the church I grew up in. The first church I served in was a great church. I had been there as a kid when there was 300 people, and now I was ministering a church of 5,000 people. It was a great experience, God taught me a lot, and ministry was good.

5. Reading "Unstoppable Force." Outside of the Bible there has not been a more influential book in my life. It gave me great vision for what the church could be. The few weeks that I read the book God opened my eyes to who He was and what His call was on my life.

6. Seminary. I don't know if it made me a better minister, but it made me a better person.

7. Helping plant a church. The most exhilirating, rewarding, and trying time of my life. Great Experience!

8. My Dad telling me on the back porch of his house..... " Every experience you have in the ministry is making and defining you, you have to learn to roll with it, don't think to much, but go with what your heart says!" Thanks Dad......I will never forget the simple, but profound talk we had!

How bout you? What are some defining moments in your life? Again, just curious on a Tuesday night.

My wife is pregnant

Yes...after 4 1/2 years of marriage, my wife and I are expecting our first child. The baby is due April 6th...which makes her about 11 weeks pregnant. So that is cool.

I PROMISE I will be updating my blog every few days......I have not been faithful and should be punished for that.

JASON

Good preaching

I listened to a message by Matt Chandler earlier today. He preached it at the the RESURGENCE conference held at Mark Driscoll's church in Seattle......all I can say is wow. The dude nailed it. I was challenged and convicted in the same message. Check out the resurgence home page for the talk.

I love guys who first of all are biblical.......not agenda driven or personality driven, but God-centered driven. I love guys who are real. They don't have to say they are real and prove they are real by throwing out some hip lingo...but you can just tell they have experienced what they are preaching.

Most good preaching I have heard lately comes from the Reformed camp. I am not a 100% reformed by any stretch of the imagination, but I would much rather be in that category than most of the guys I hear who are not.

Who inspires or motivates you. Some of my favorite guys are Mark Driscoll.....that dude can lay it on the line. I like Erwin McManusa and Piper. When it comes to teachers Andy Stanley is hard to beat......also check out Dave Edwards he is good as well. There is also a guy named Wes Hamilton who is in Texas that can exposit with the best of em. Who are your favorites...and why?

Church at Mill Creek Update

Sorry it has been almost a month since my last post. I have been in and out of town for 4 weeks. Just wanted to give an update on what is happening with the church I am at.

We have officially almost made it through our first summer as a church. I have to be honest I was a little on the nervous side of things going into the summer. I had heard all of the horror stories about what church attendance over the summer. I have to be honest we did not drop much at all. We had the occasional Sunday that was slim....and really have two weeks left...but for the most part our attendance has stayed right around one hundred or a little more. We have also had an influx of visitors over the last few weeks....which is always cool.

As we move toward the fall I am excited. We will officially launch our all out Kids ministry. We have been doing childrens ministry the whole time...but will step it up a notch as the fall approaches....as we bring in new volunteers and a new look to what we are doing. Our goal with childrens ministry is to build the family. So we are doing our best to make sure that our kids are hearing in a kids way what we are doing with the whole church. We also are partnering with the Mill Creek High School FCA....to help get them off the ground. We have some students who are already coming and plugged in.....and want to begin to be as active as possible with campus ministry.

We will also most likely make the move to Sunday mornings. We have been meeting on Sunday pms....and it has worked...but we know to go to the next level of ministry we must make the move to Sunday AM. Right now our target date for that is the first sunday in October....and we have some options as far as meeting space goes.

We are praying, inviting and investing hard as we move toward the fall.

I love reading the blogs of other church planters....because I know they have been where we are.....and listening to them encourages me...so thanks Gary, Perry, Ben, Tally, and a few others. You dont know me...but I read what you guys are doing and I am encouraged.

Peace

JBRITTT

My take on SBC stuff

I went to the SBC for the day on Tuesday. Never been to the big show....but been to a lot of state conventions. I was interested to see what would happen in the presidential election.

I vote for Frank Page, and I am glad he won. Why?

Ronnie Floyd is a great pastor and the same with Jerry Sutton. Floyd definitely knows what it takes to reach the lost.....but to be the SBC president I think the CP thing got him. You at least have to give more than 1% to lead churches that give 10% to the CP.

Jerry Sutton has a great track record, but got in late on the race.....period.

Frank Page, don't know the man. I know of his church and his commtiment to church planting and that was good enough for me.

Altough the big guns were for Floyd....I think what we learned is that SBC pastors and leaders are not going to just go with the guy that the Big Boys throw out there. At the end of the day the SBC is in the hands of the pastors who may not run 10,000 but do believe in the SBC and the uniqueness of what sets us apart from other denominations practically(of course theologically)....the CP.

I'm sure people will try to spin why Page won. No it was not just the young leaders who put Page in power. No it was not a vote against mega-church. No it was not even a vote against Patterson or Hunt. It was a vote of authenitcity. If we are going to be about kingdom work and our main avenue to support kingdom work financially is through the CP....then somebody who gives to the CP needs to be the man.

But don't hear me say that the CP was all it was about....because I know there were others factors that I am not going to get into......but that was the kicker this year.

Oh and by the way my kids will go to Public schools, it's what I like to call being the salt and light in a dark world.