Finding My Voice…

This Sunday will mark the 50th message that I have preached at Elk Creek Church. What you may not know is that prior to launching Elk Creek, I could count on one hand how many times I have preached in my lifetime. I read a quote from Mark Driscoll where he said that a preacher finds his voice after preaching 200-300 times. One of my personal goals this year has been to really focus on growing in the area of my communication. Why? Because I believe that God has entrusted me to deliver very important words to His church and how I communicate those words matters a great deal! I don’t ever want poor delivery to get in the way of what God wants to say through me.

Here are some of the things I do to learn and grow in the area of preaching…

• I listen to my sermons on podcast. This is very hard for me because I am my own worst critic. It’s amazing how many times I hear myself say something that either didn’t communicate the way that I intended or it communicated better than I thought it did when I spoke it. Either way, I want to learn and grow from it.
• I have become a student of some great communicators. I watch videos of their messages and pay close attention to their delivery. 
• I listen to constructive criticism, especially from my wife. I value her input more than anyone. Almost every Sunday we’ll talk about the sermon delivery. She knows when I’m on and when I’m not.
• A huge part of my week is devoted to sermon preparation. The first part of the week is crafting the sermon, and the last part of the week is focused on communicating it. Both are extremely important. I can have the best material in the world, but if I don’t communicate it well I’ve not done my job. I work really hard at having my content finished by Wednesday, so that I can focus on delivery on Thursday – Saturday.
• I carry my notes with me and practice my sermon…sometimes out loud, sometimes in my head.
• I constantly ask God to empower me and to speak through me in spite of me.

How are you learning and growing in the area that God has called you to?

This Time Last Year…

I was thinking today about what was going on in my life this time last year…

• My son Caleb was 1 month old.
• I was working a full-time job plus planting Elk Creek Church.
• We were gearing up for our launch in September.
• We had no idea if people would actually show up on launch Sunday.
• Our launch team had about 30 people.
• We were meeting every Sunday in our living room.
• We were meeting monthly at the Avon Grove High School.

Fast forward to today…

• I am full-time in ministry at Elk Creek Church.
• We pulled off some amazing outreach events. Our biggest being our Helicopter Egg Drop where over 3,000 people attended!
• We are coming up on our 1 year anniversary as a church (can you say party time!)
• Our church has grown to over 100 people.
• We are now meeting weekly at Penn’s Grove School (Didn’t see that comin’).
• We have seen God change lives in people through salvation decisions, baptisms, and recovery.

Dare I fast forward to this time next year and dream…

• We will have an office in Oxford that will serve as our ministry hub.
• There will be perhaps 2 or 3 additional members on staff.
• We have grown to over 200, 300, 400 people.
• We are still meeting at Penn’s Grove School
• We have seen over 50, 100, 150 people make a decision to follow Christ.
• We have baptized over 100 people.
• We are talking/planning about giving birth to another church in the North East.
• Mike and Naomi had another kid (Only kidding!)
• We will look back on this list 1 year from now and be blown away at what God did!

What I have learned is that I overestimate what I can do on my own, but I underestimate what God can do through me (this verse reminds me of that).

The Money Crunch

It was not too long that you could fill up your car for $30. Remember when you could put $5 of gas in your tank to hold you over until Friday….and the needle actually moved? I figured out the other day that it costs me approximately $6 in gas to cut my grass each time I cut…WOW!

Things have certainly changed. Americans are feeling the Money Crunch in a BIG way! Things that we would think nothing of spending money on 2 years ago, we are now holding off on. Some are taking vacations that are shorter or closer to home. Some are hanging on to their used car instead of buying new. Some have decided to stick it out with their current home rather than upgrading. These are the bigger choices, but it has also affected the smaller ones as well. For example, when your coffee cost the same as a gallon of gas, it stands to reason you’re gonna buy less coffee (at least expensive coffee). This list of Starbucks stores that are closing is evidence of the smaller choices people are making.

At Elk Creek, we want to help people understand a biblical perspective on handling their money. We have just graduated our first class through the Crown Financial small group. It was amazing to see God open our eyes to His truth about handling money. We are gearing up for our second group and we are hoping to maybe start a third group as well. Let us know if you would like to sign up. Trust me…you won’t be sorry! 

I’m also going to be teaching a sermon series about money called “Deadliest Trap” in October. 

How has the money crunch affected you and your family in both your BIG and small decisions?

Free Bee Movie

Several families are planning on going to the “Movies In The Park” on Friday night at the Oxford Memorial Park. The movie is free with concession stands available to purchase snacks if you wish.

Bring the family, a blanket and let’s hang out! Previews start at 8:30pm and the movie starts at 9pm. Let me know if you’re planning on going and we can all meet up and sit together.