The Church Plant Team

By no means do I have this whole church planting thing figured out, but I know a few things for sure. One of those things is that I could never do this alone. I might go insane.

I remember back in the day, before anyone knew we were leaving, I was struggling with this thought: how would I get it all done? If you know me, you know that I'm not a recruiter. I love the thrill of allowing God to build the team instead of me having to campaign for a team. However, I used to really struggle with this the thought of leaving Albuquerque alone, just Jenn, Emery, and I, or if someone would join the adventure with us. It was a constant point of stress in my life until one day I was reminded that Moses had the same struggle. God had commanded Moses to leave Mt. Sinai and head to the unknown world He called "The Promised Land." It sure sounded cool, but how would Moses pull this feat off?

In Exodus 33:12-13, Moses gets real with the Lord and voices his concerns...

Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, ​You say to me, ‘Bring up this people.’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ​‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ Now therefore, I pray, ​​if I have found grace in Your sight, ​​show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is ​Your people.”

I love God's simplicity. Instead of giving Moses the Google map of his journey with beginning point, end point, and stops and turns along the way, here's how He answered his doubts...

Exodus 33:14 - And He said, ​​“My Presence will go with you, and I will give you ​rest.”

In other words, "Moses, did you really think that you had to have someone in addition to Me? Come on, bro, I'll take care of you" (that's a loose translation).

After I read that, I knew that whether it was just the 3 of us from the Miller family that moved to Clarksville or not, we'd be ok - God was taking the lead. To this day, I am glad that there were times when no one showed any signs of coming with us - it forced me to trust the Lord.

And now here we are. Weekly staff meetings, weekly pastor meetings, a church building, work getting done while I focus on studying - it's amazing the team that God has assembled at Awaken Church. I'm thankful for these 4 team members (one of which I'm married to) that make things happen. I'm also thankful that there's just a handful of us so that I have time to pray for each of them by name every day. And of course, there are many more people that have helped since we got here - it's been amazing to see the body of Christ come together!

In case you haven't gotten a chance to meet them, here's a quick run-down of the Awaken team and their roles at the church (in no particular order)...

Nate Witiuk
All-around go-getter. He oversees the cleaning and the getting-stuff-taken-care-of side of the church. He makes the phone calls, sets up inspections, cleans, and much more. He also oversees and plans out our Saturday night services and edits and uploads our podcasts so that we can get the Gospel out even further. Good guy.

Jenn Miller
My wife. I had no idea when I married this beauty almost 6 years ago that I was marrying the worship leader/accountant of our church plant! God did though. She's also the most important support I have. Without her, I wouldn't be here.

Denver Miller
Same last name, different mother. He's a brother in the Lord, though! Awesome guy who serves the church in many ways as well: maintenance, handy-man work, doing anything that needs to get done. He oversees and plans out our Wednesday night services and was the initiator of FREE coffee on Wednesday nights! Gotta love that.

Jennifer Witiuk
Jenn is married to Nate, and although by night, she works as a nurse, by day (and also night), she is a lean, mean, kids ministry machine! She loves those kids and goes out of her way to make sure they're safe, sugared up, and learning about Jesus at each service! Super cool chick. So glad she's a part of Awaken.

Click on their names to read their bios on our website or go directly to our About Us page to learn and read more!

The harsh reality of death

James 4:14 - ...For what is your life? ​It is even a vapor that appears for a little time and then vanishes away.

Job 8:9 - For ​we were born yesterday, and know ​​nothing, because our days on earth are a shadow.

Psalm 39:5 - Indeed, You have made my days as handbreadths, And my age is as nothing before You; Certainly every man at his best state is but ​vapor.


One thing you'll hear me say over and over when I teach is that we're not guaranteed another day. My purpose in saying that is never to scare people into accepting Christ, it's simply reality. When we die or when Jesus comes back (whichever happens first), our eternal destination has been decided. That's an exciting thought for Christians, but it should be a terrifying thought for those who have rejected Christ.

We just started the book of Philippians on Saturday at Awaken and I've entitled our study To Live is Christ. Of course, that title comes from Philippians 1:21 where Paul says "For to me, to live is Christ, and to die is gain." For the Christian, it's a win-win situation. Live for Christ? Awesome! Die for Christ? Even better!

Sometimes it's easy to lose sight of the fact that today could be it for us. However, living in a military town like Clarksville, we're faced with the harsh reality of death far more than elsewhere. Everywhere you look, men and women are in camo - a constant reminder that our freedom is constantly being fought for. Tonight, we had Jason, a friend from the church, and some others over for dinner. Jason informed me that, in prep for the soon-approaching deployment, he had put me as the "officiating pastor" on his death papers. His position in Afghanistan just got switched from driver to door-gunner, which in his words, "ups [his] chance of dying about 45%." The harsh reality of death is very real for him...and for those around him. It's very foreign to talk to a guy that has to fill out paperwork saying which songs he wants played at his funeral, who his pallbearers will be, and who will do his funeral. As exciting as dying and spending eternity with Christ is for the believer, death can be an intimidating thought. I've never thought more about the fact that, especially with the Army guys in the congregation, I may not see them again. Although that can be a bit saddening, it puts some fire in my preaching!

So, when you die, will that be a "gain" for you (as Paul put it in Philippians)? It can be. Death is very real and could happen at any time. That's reality. Don't play with eternity.

The hard work paid off

Just as work had begun on Awaken's first building, we found out we weren't allowed to hold church there due to zoning laws. Hindsight is always 20/20, and of course, in looking back, we see God's hand at work saving us from meeting in a building that wouldn't have worked from our very first night. We had already put in a lot of work at that building, but nothing compared to the labor that would go into our next one. With 11 days until our first service, we began working on renovating the building that we'd soon be meeting in. After spending 11 straight nights at the church (many until 1 or 2 in the morning), the details finally fell into place and the work (at least the majority of it) was completed. Nate threw together some video clips from the past month or so from work we did at both buildings. Hope you enjoy...

Documentary, Action Film, or Both?

I always enjoy news reports when the news anchor gets pulled into the action. You may remember back in 2005 when Al Roker was reporting on the incredible winds of hurricane Wilma on the Today Show. Of course, it's never enough for him to say, "Sure is windy out there." Instead, he has to try to stand in the wind. Not possible when gusts reach up to 135mph! In fact, even with a guy lying on the ground holding his leg to anchor him, the wind still blew him over! It made for some great TV.

I think Al and Luke, the author of Acts, would have been friends.

Tonight at Awaken's first Wednesday night service, we kick off the book of Acts with an overview message I'm calling "The Aftermath of the Ascension." Would the work that Jesus began on Earth crash and burn after He left? The answer is an emphatic "NO" when you look at the power of the Holy Spirit through some very ordinary men. Just like Al Roker, Luke wasn't satisfied with a simple documentary of the events happening around him - he had to be in the action. There are 3 distinct "we passages" in Acts where, instead of just interviewing people and detailing the facts, Luke joins the action. I think if a modern-day director turned the book of Acts into a film, it would have a documentary feel with a twist of action flick in there.

Luke is very detailed and covers many of the important events that led to the growth of the Christian church after the life, death, resurrection, and ascension of Christ. We should be grateful for the book of Acts, because without it, when we turn in our Bibles from John to Romans, we'd wonder how Christianity ever made it to Rome. Acts gives the answers. Although many films had unnecessary sequels that were obviously riding on the coat tails of the first film, Acts is a very necessary sequel. It gives us the background of the spread of Christianity, the story of the life of Paul and ministry of Peter, the answers to how Gentiles (like me) were included in the faith, and much more!

Make sure to join us on Wednesday nights as we journey through the book of Acts in a series I'm calling "To the End of the Earth." We meet every Wednesday at 6:30pm for our study through Acts and each Saturday at 6:30pm for our study through Philippians that kicks off this weekend. I highly encourage you to come in person, but if you can't make it, or you miss a week, download the teachings from our teaching archive or subscribe to our podcast in iTunes!

Oh, and if you're in need of a few more reporters who got pulled into the action they were documenting, these should help satisfy that craving...

An Incredible First Night!

I've prayed about this night for years now. I never knew quite what it would look like or how it would run. I didn't know if anyone would come or if people would catch the vision. Now I know the answers to most of those questions. It was an incredible first night!

We had 43 adults in attendance (including the 5 of us that just moved out here and about a dozen out-of-towners), which was incredible! Many people came that we met last weekend at Riverfest and a few people came that we'd never seen before. On top of the 43 adults, we had 20 something kids (which, by the way, if you're looking for a place to serve in the church, Awaken Kids might be a great place to start). It sure is a good thing we're not in our first building - we would've been over-capacity already!

Although the curve ball of getting booted from our first building 18 days before our first service really threw us for a loop, I see it now as God saving us from a building that would have never worked and giving us a very hands-on lesson that He has all the details worked out. This building is exactly what we need and I'm so excited to see it continue to grow from here. It's been 3 very long, hard weeks turning this old office building into a church-worthy building. It had been sitting there for 2 years till we came along, so as you could imagine, there was plenty of fixing to be done. We just posted some before & after pics of the building renovation on the website, so make sure to swing by and take a look at how bad it used to be.

I preached a topical message tonight called "Are You Awake?" from Romans 13:11-14 (which you should read as soon as you get a chance). It was a call to action for Christians who are spiritually asleep and those without Christ who are spiritually dead. We had one lady respond to the Gospel invitation tonight as well. So, since the angels were partying in heaven, we closed with a fast song and partied with them!

We start the book of Acts on Wednesday, which I'm really looking forward to. As Awaken Church begins, we'll take a look back at how the entire Christian church began. Next Saturday, we'll start the book of Philippians - "To Live is Christ."

The first service is in the bag. Many, many more to come. What a ride this has been already and it's only the beginning!

UNIGHT recap video

Here's a quick video recap of how we spent the first 8 Saturdays of the summer. God used UNIGHT to unite us as a group and reach people in need. We passed out hundreds of burgers and hot dogs, over a thousand drinks, plenty of Bibles, and even saw a few people accept Christ! God is good!

Your mind is full of something. What is it?

Nehemiah 9:17 - ...they were not mindful of Your wonders that You did among them...

This week has been a whirlwind for us. Two weeks ago, we found out we didn't have a legal church building anymore. Exactly one week ago, we signed the lease on our new building, which gave us about a week and half to fix the place up and throw things together in prep for our first service coming up in 4 days (this Saturday!). In the middle of that, we had Riverfest all day Friday and Saturday last weekend, which took lots of time and preparation as well. We had our first Awaken Church staff meeting last week, spent half a day shopping for a sound system in Nashville to no avail, threw a baby shower, and I even got to guest speak at Xtreme Church on Sunday. Needless to say, time is flying by. When life is this crazy, it's easy to get going so fast that we forget to stop and spend some much-needed time thinking on all that God is doing and has done. I struggled this morning in my prayer time as I sat there thinking of paint, replacing cabinets, mounting a projector screen, setting up kids' classrooms, oh yeah, and also praying. I was so easily distracted from filling my mind with Christ. Of course if God isn't getting through to you with one method, He'll try another. So, as I continued through Nehemiah today, I got to chapter 9, where Nehemiah begins to recount all that God has done for His people from the time of Abraham till then. He talks about God's provision for His people, the miracles He performed, His faithfulness, and of course, His people's unfaithfulness. The part that stood out to me the most was verse 17 as I quoted above. In the midst of the amazing things God was doing, the people had forgotten to stop and take it all in. Other things had distracted them. Their minds were filled with those other things.

Here I am, 4 days away from Awaken's first service. I have literally waited years for this day to come. I never knew quite what it would look like (and I guess I still don't), but I've anticipated it for a long time. And now that I'm going a thousand miles per hour, I have to remind myself of my need to slow down. Psalm 46:10 has always been one of my favorite passages because it's such a simple reminder: BE STILL and know that I am God. I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth! God WILL be exalted, whether I do it or not. If I don't slow down and take the time to fill my mind with God's greatness and exalt Him for it, He'll still be exalted...it'll just be through someone else or some other method.

Don't let your mind be so filled with the worries of the day that in the midst of God's provision you are not mindful of the wonders He's doing among you. If you can't think of any of the wonders He's doing, take a trip down memory lane and remind yourself of what your eternal destination used to be!

New Stuff at Awaken

Today seemed like the day for new stuff at Awaken - we got lots of packages in the mail and there's much more to come. Here's a quick look at what's going on...

NEW BUILDING
That's right. This time last week, we didn't have a building that was legal for assembly. Exactly 1 week later, we have a building that will work much better and be much more comfortable. We only have 11 days till our first service (yes, we're still on for Saturday, September 19 at 6:30pm) and plenty of cleaning to do. No, the sign isn't up yet, but it should look pretty similar to the photoshopped editions you're looking at. We have a work day scheduled for this Thursday, September 10th from 9:00am-noon to start the cleaning, and of course there will be more after that. Let us know if you want to help. We're stoked to see how God uses this building and glad that with just a couple minor touches, it measures up to fire code and satisfies the city's zoning codes. That's a nice change. There will be a map and more info posted shortly on the website on the when & where page.

NEW DECALS
Does your car/Bible/friend's face need some style? We have just what the doctor ordered. Our new are you awake? decals just arrived today (thanks to woventhorns.com) and you'll love them. Beginning this weekend at Riverfest, you'll be able to grab a decal, submit a picture of it on your car to our Twitter, Facebook, or email, and you'll win a prize (more details to come)! They'll be available for free on a first come, first served basis, so make sure to swing by the Awaken Church table and grab one for your car! Once they're gone, they're gone.

NEW ARTWORK
We just got the posters for our first 2 books of the Bible that we'll be studying. On Wednesday nights beginning September 23, we'll be studying the book of Acts in a series called To the End of the Earth. On Saturdays beginning September 26, we'll be studying Philippians in a series called To Live is Christ. Both books are powerful and have specific application to us as individuals and as a church. Can't wait to dive in! Download the artwork and listen to past teachings on our teachings page.

Some other new stuff...
- a new pulpit (it broke during shipping, but we'll have a new one by next week)
- new chairs (padded, even!)
- a nice projector and screen
- a nice Pearl drum kit donated by Calvary Chapel Rivergate (we just need a drummer)

I'm so stoked to get this thing off the ground and I really hope you'll be a part of it. There will never be another first weekend of Awaken Church, so plan on being there Saturday, September 19...but don't stop there - keep coming! In the mean time, join us for our last 2 weeks at the Edlers' house on Wednesday nights. Grab a map here.

Kill Them With Kindness

Romans 2:4 - Or do you despise ​​the riches of His goodness, ​​forbearance, and ​​longsuffering, ​​not knowing that the goodness of God leads you to repentance?

There have been times in my life where someone has wronged me deeply. We've all been there. Whether it was a broken promise, an overlooked issue, or someone simply acting out of anger, we've all been wronged. Once, when someone had hurt me very deeply, my reaction was this: "I'll make sure that whenever they see me, I'm very angry and hurt. That way, they'll see how much they hurt me and want to repent." Needless to say, that didn't work. Think about it personally - if you found out that God was angry and hurt because you sinned against Him (honestly, He has every right to be angry and hurt), would that make you want to turn from your sin and repent? Absolutely not. So what drew us to Christ? It certainly wasn't that He was mad at us - it was the very opposite. One day, our eyes were opened to the fact that we had sinned against the holy, righteous Creator of the universe and some of us probably thought, "Uh oh. He's probably out to get me." The thing that shocked us and brought us to our knees in repentance, however, is the fact that He wasn't mad at us. In fact, He was very unmad at us: He loved us unconditionally and was ready to forgive with arms wide open! It's that kindness that led us to repentance.

Almost every day, you and I are faced with opportunities to show that kindness to others. Maybe it's someone who has wronged you very deeply. No one will wrong you worse than how you wronged God, and He forgave you. Who are you to hold something against someone else? Go out of your way today to show someone the kindness of Christ. Kill them with kindness and watch God change their heart.


You can also join us tomorrow night or grab the podcast later this week as we wrap up our "Be Transformed" series in Romans 12:17-21. We'll look at how to treat enemies like friends. It's not easy, but it is doable. Read ahead and hopefully we'll see you there!

Speed Bumps Can Be Fun

My dad used to own an '84 Chevy pickup truck that became my main driving vehicle when I got my license. I had some history with that truck. I got hit by a drunk driver...in a Taco Bell drive-thru, backed into lots of things, scraped the side on our garage door...3 times, and plenty more adventures. One that I'll never forget (that I highly discourage anyone from trying) was seeing how fast I could hit speed bumps. When I hit one at about 45mph, the front of the truck came off the ground, then slammed back down. All the dash lights, headlights, and radio quit working and I had to drive home in the dark like that. I don't remember what excuse I came up with to tell my dad, but somehow I weaseled my way out of that one. I should have never done that and I learned an important lesson: there's a reason they say to slow down before coming to a speed bump. That would make sense.

If you read my earlier blog, Curve Ball, you know that Awaken Church hit a bit of a speed bump this week that I'm mostly to blame for. I should have done my research earlier before we ever signed a lease to make sure everything was ok with the building to hold church meetings in. Unfortunately, I didn't. So, with a little under 3 weeks till our first church service, we quickly realized that we had no building to meet in! That's where the body of Christ came in. I had people from around the country emailing, texting, and calling, saying they were praying and offering advice. It was so cool. At first, I tried to be real positive about it. That only lasted so long though. Soon, the weight of having no meeting place and only a couple weeks left till our start date really hit me. Wednesday, I started to freak out a bit. I drove around for 4 hours in the afternoon trying so hard to find another place. Nothing. Finally, I made one last phone call on a place I saw on my way home. That place wouldn't work either...but the guy told me of one more property that he owned that might work. We set a time to go look at it on Thursday and I drove home. I was reminded of Nehemiah, who also dealt with some major issues and speed bumps as he followed God's call on his life to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. Whenever something came up, he immediately prayed (check out Nehemiah 1:4, 6; 2:4; 4:4, 9; 5:19; 6:14; 13:14, 22, 29). He faced people who mocked him, others who attacked him, as well as plenty of hardships and set backs. Despite the attacks, his battle cry was "The God of heaven Himself will prosper us!" (Nehemiah 2:20), and that is exactly what I needed to remember. I calmed myself down once I got home and remembered my original vision for the church: this is God's church, not mine, therefore, this is His problem, not mine. From the very start, I committed to not trying to build a team of people or support or stress out about details, instead, I would allow God to build the church. I never wanted to get to a point where I would look back and be tempted to say, "Look what I built." Thankfully, there's no way I can say that about the place we hope to sign the lease on this week. It seems like the perfect place for us.

After lots of prayer, I finally received the phone call we were hoping for on Friday morning. Our landlord from our first building said it would be in our best interest and his if we went somewhere else. He even said he'd give us a full refund, including out deposit and first month's rent! Incredible. My name was on the 1-year lease. Technically, he didn't have to refund anything.

I don't want to jump too fast with this other building until we know things are official, but here are a few fast facts:
- I already put a call into city hall to research fire code and zoning before we sign the lease - things are looking good.
- We will get 900 more square feet for only a few hundred dollars more per month.
- It's divided right in half with 1200 square feet for a big meeting room and 1200 for Awaken Kids ministry.
- The Kids Ministry area already has 4 or 5 classrooms pre-built, which will save us lots of time and money!
- The building is 1 mile from the college campus now and almost touching the park we want to have a sunrise service in next Easter!

I could go on and on about how great this building is, but I'd rather go on and on about how great God is. It's possible that we don't end up with this building because God has something else in mind for us, but things are looking promising. He truly is building this church and I believe this speed bump, although I allowed it to get to me, was just a way for God to prove His sovereignty once again and test my faith (I guess I partially passed, but I could have done better). I believe God saved us from meeting in a building that wasn't ideal but we were willing to make work. He has this way of doing things last-minute with me, and I guess I'm learning to be ok with it - it forces me to pray more, like Nehemiah. I know one day, we'll look back on all the speed bumps and be able to say something like what was said in Nehemiah 6:15 - "So the wall was finished," or in our case, "So Awaken Church began."

Thanks to all those who were praying or offering advice. God truly showed Himself faithful and the body of Christ proved to be the support that we all need. Keep up those prayers.

Online Giving now available!

Many of you have asked how you can contribute to the ministry going on here at Awaken Church. Up until this point, we've recommended options such as snail mail, floating a check in a bottle down the Cumberland River, or flying us your money with a carrier pigeon. If you'd like to keep using any of those methods, be my guest, but now we have a much easier, more reliable way. All you have to do is go to awakenchurch.org and click on the "Online Giving" link (as seen below) or the "Giving" link at the top of the page. From that page, you can read a little bit about your gift to Awaken Church and launch the secure giving page. You can give a one-time gift as well as set up an automatic recurring gift of the amount of your choice.

Thanks for everyone who is supporting the ministry of Awaken Church Clarksville. God is doing big things.

Curve ball

Little known fact about me: I used to be a pitcher. I was a scary pitcher too - I was taller than everyone else and I pitched side-arm, which could be pretty intimidating. One of my favorite pitches was the curve ball. Many times, I'd throw a couple fast balls in there to get them used to those, then when they least expected it, I'd throw a curve ball or a change-up. The whole point is to completely throw them off when they're ready to knock it out of the park. I can tell you that from the pitcher's viewpoint, when a curve ball works, it's an amazing feeling. From the batter's position, though, you feel like such a fool - the pitcher got the best of you.

If Awaken Church is in the batter's box ready to knock it out of the park, we just got pitched a curve ball. We've worked so hard to find a place to meet in, and felt as though God provided the perfect place for us to begin (even though it was small, it was a starting point). As we looked into the city zoning laws and fire code and met with a guy from City Hall that is in charge of zoning, we found out that our building is not zoned for assembly. For any store that will have more than 15 people, it's required by law that, among other things, we must have separate men's and women's restrooms. Our building wasn't built that way and it would take digging an entirely new plumbing system to do that! There are a couple other things not up to code, but they're fixable. The bathroom isn't (we even asked if we could temporarily rent a restroom - also against code).

Lots of things went through our minds about where to go next. We even thought about postponing our first service on Saturday, September 19. We're not going to do that, though. We know we're supposed to be here and we just see this as a new direction from the Lord. I fully believe Jesus' promise in Matthew 16:18 - ...on this rock I will build My church, and ​​the gates of Hades shall not ​prevail against it. God isn't shocked by this, and although we were caught off-guard and a little bummed about all of the work we've put into the building, we're not giving up.

Our first service may not look anything like what we had thought, but I do know a few things about it: we'll be there, there will be worship, and the Word will be taught.

We have a couple things in mind for buildings and one in particular that would absolutely blow our minds if it worked out. We ask for your prayers as we seek which direction the Lord would have us take.

Proverbs 16:9 - A man’s heart plans his way, but the Lord directs his steps.