Ministry on the Move

Pop-Tarts. They've become a normal part of my morning recently. I feel like I'm always running out of time, and Pop-Tarts work great for a quick bite as I'm running out the door to get to one of my jobs. Plus, I like to think that they count as my helping of fruit for the day.

Running around like crazy has also become a normal part of my life (even more so than before). I blogged a couple days ago about the challenges of working 3 jobs on top of teaching, planting a church, and having a family (and a life). Although it's a bit crazy, I've learned some important lessons about doing ministry on the move...

1. Budget my time.I've learned that time is like money - it must be budgeted. Just like money, you can run out of time (I find myself short on both all the time!). Although I know it's not a healthy routine, I've gotten accustomed to not sleeping much (I know this isn't permanent). My ability to stay up late and wake up early won't last forever, so I take advantage of it now. It's certainly not torture - most of the time when I'm up late or early, I'm studying the Bible. I live for that. Budgeting time is a challenge. My mind works on a schedule, so I have to mentally set aside time to study, work on graphic design for work, etc. Sunday is like my allowance from when I was a kid - I get to be a bit irresponsible with it. I can blow Sundays on sleeping in, playing with the girls, taking a nap, and other things that I usually don't have time for during the week. Sunday is like my energy boost for the week. No wonder God commanded us to take a rest!

2. Every place can be a study place (almost).
I really wish I would have kept track of all the places I've studied. I've never done it in as many random places as I have since I moved here. In Albuquerque, studying was the main part of my job - I got paid to do it! One day I'll get paid to do it out here, but for now, as the church grows, it's more on a volunteer basis, which makes it a bit more interesting. There have been quite a few times where I've found myself sitting somewhere when I could have been studying in prep for my next teaching, so I come prepared now. When I get home on Wednesday night after church, I print out my text for Saturday, so that I have it with me for the next couple days. Same thing on Saturday night - I print my text for Wednesday. If I have what I'll be teaching on paper, my earbuds, and my computer (with my full Libronix library that also syncs to my iPhone), I'm set. I can turn any place into a study zone. Here's a short list of some places I've studied in prep to teach (just to name a few): the bus driver lounge at work, a donut shop, countless coffee shops, row 3 of an empty school bus, a hospital cafeteria at 2am (after Jenn gave birth to Adalyn), a Jiffy Lube waiting area, a noisy charter bus headed to a winter retreat, many airplanes, and currently in the waiting room at the mechanic's shop while my truck gets fixed. My goal is to be like a Gospel Cub Scout: prepared for anything!


3. Ministry happens everywhere.
This has been a revolutionary concept that has lived itself out in my life (finally) in many different ways. As I've been teaching through Acts on Wednesday nights, one things that stood out to me a lot was the disciples' boldness to take advantage of any opportunity. Peter preached to the Jewish leaders when he was arrested, a crowd as they gathered at Pentecost, another crowd that gathered after a miracle, just to mention a few. Stephen did the same thing. Phillip did the same thing. So why wasn't Kevin doing the same thing? I knew that ministry could take place anywhere, but I wasn't living like I knew it. So, I challenged the people at Awaken (mainly myself) to go out of our way to create opportunities for the Gospel. As I did that, my eyes opened to the opportunities that were everywhere. I've shared my faith with many different bus drivers as we drove around town picking kids up. The other day, I talked to a co-worker about her life and some struggles she was dealing with as we sat in the bus driver lounge with other drivers while they watched Oprah! As she cried, Oprah's crowd cheered. Or maybe it was Ellen. They're all the same to me. I've shared with people at coffee shops, on street corners, in restaurants, and even the cashier at Walmart. Since there are hurting people everywhere, ministry can happen everywhere.


What creative places have you studied or prepped to teach?
Which unique places have you gotten to share your faith?

Inside the Mind of a Church Planter: Chris Edmondson - One Church

It's been great hearing from such great guys this week as we looked Inside the Mind of a Church Planter. We heard from Ron here in Clarksville, Jason in Spartanburg, SC, and Nate out in Missoula, MT. We're going to wrap it up this week with another Clarksville local.

Chris is a guy that I met a few weeks before we started Awaken. I attended a service at his church right after we moved into town and we loved the worship. I'm serious. LOVED it! We also went to a worship night that they had about a week later. Incredible night. I knew right away that I was really looking forward to partnering with such a great church in reaching the city. I ended up grabbing a drink with Chris a few weeks before Awaken's first service and he was a huge encouragement to me. He's helped me scout out for a sound system, offered to help us with things at the church, and always been just a phone call and email away. He's a super cool guy with a great heart who's doing a great thing here in the city.

Here are a couple important facts about Chris:

- He is related to Ron - they're cousins. Edmondsons are taking over Clarksville, apparently! I love it.

- I drove Chris' son to school the other day on a bus that I was subbing on. I don't think he saw me.


Check out One Church's website HERE.

Check out my interview with Chris here:

1. Who are you?
My name is Chris Edmondson, and I am the lead pastor of oneChurch.

2. What is your church & what's the vision behind it?
Our vision is to reach the unchurched (those who have never been to church before) and the dechurched (those who have been to church and said, "I ain't never going back!") in North Clarksville. Our goal is to create an environment where unchurched people like to attend.

3. How long have you been meeting and where did you start?
I was born here in Clarksville but left to go to seminary back in 1993. In 2006, my wife and our children moved back to Clarksville to start a church. We both got jobs to help pay the bills and started casting the vision and talking a lot about the 'what if's' to anyone who would listen: What if there was a church that was more interested in people than buildings, programs, and keeping the insiders happy? What if we created a church unchurched people could actually engage with their heavenly Father? What if we followed Jesus' example and left the 1 for the 99? We started meeting in a coffee house downtown every Wednesday nights starting in January 2007. We had two preview services that summer, and then started meeting in a movie theatre.

4. Why plant a church in your city?
Clarksville-Montgomery County is in the midst of tremendous growth. Clarksville was named the 17th fastest growing city in the United States and Montgomery County is one of the fastest growing counties in the United States. Clarksville-Montgomery County is expected to continue outpacing even the impressive 29% population growth rate that Tennessee is expected to post through 2030. All conservative census reports predict Montgomery County is projected to swell to a population of 227,300 by the year 2025, which would be a 117% increase from the 2000 Census. More than 5,000 families a year relocate to the Clarksville area.

Even though Clarksville-Montgomery County in the midst of a vast growth boom, a recent study has found that 86% of the people already in Clarksville are unchurched (never been to church before) or dechurched (have attended church and decided not to go back). That figure is astounding: almost 9 out of 10 people in Clarksville don’t go to church anywhere! Every Sunday in Clarksville, 115,663 people stay at home and do not attend church. God has given us a burden for people who aren’t being reached by the typical church.

To put that 86% in perspective, here is the broader picture: 70% of Americans are not connected to any local church in any significant way. To put it another way, there are 210 million people who don’t go to church in America. That figure is staggering. If you combined all of the people who don’t go to church in a people group, they would make the 11th largest people group in the World. That, coupled with the fact that 80-85% of the churches in America have either plateaued or declining, and the need is HUGE!!
God also gave us a specific area. Just at exit #1 off of I-24, house construction is expected to increase by 137% in the next two years. Between exit #1 and exit #8, there are 4,395 approved residential lots that either have houses on them or will have houses on them in the near future. Since the average home has 2.5 residents, this means that north Clarksville has almost 11,000 residents! 80% of that growth comes from those under the age of 45, with the median age being 30.1 years. If we are going to reach the next generation, we must act now by taking the Gospel to them and planting a church where they live.

5. How can people get plugged into your church?
Our strategy doesn't revolve around programs that don't lead anywhere. Our strategy involves intentional steps. Borrowing from North Point Community Church, We have created three environments that will help people take steps toward a growing relationship with Jesus Christ. Our ministry environments are designed to function like the rooms in a home. We invite guests to the foyer, develop friendships in the living room and grow as a family around the kitchen table.

Our Sunday morning worship services are foyer environments. We want our guests to come back, so we do everything with them in mind.

Living room environments are  medium-sized environments designed to change people’s minds about connecting. Getting involved in serving, our membership class, and our Essentials open small group on Tuesdays are designed to move people from the foyer and ultimately to...
The kitchen table. Our kitchen table environments are small group environments designed to change people’s minds about their priorities. We believe at oneChurch that lifechange takes place best in small groups.

6. What advice do you give to others wanting to plant a church?
Pray, pray, pray. If you don't have a burden for the people you're trying to reach--if their faces don't keep you up at night--then don't plant. As many of you know, it's a lot of hard work. Many people plant a church because they can't get along with people, have authority issues, or plant a church as a reaction to the traditional church (you can always spot these folks--they can tell you all day what they're not, but can't tell you what they're for).

7. What/who have been some of your most important resources so far?
Reading books. Listening to people's stories. Talking to people. And I know this may not be what you're looking for, but the most important resource/help has been my wife. Without Kim, I would have been a clock tower sniper through this entire process.

8. Have you learned any lessons the hard way? What was one?
I'll give you two. I heard so many church planters talk about the people of the launch team/core group may start with you, but they probably won't stay with you. I would say 80% of our launch team (around 35 people) are still with us today. But the 15% who are no longer with us, I grieved over their leaving and tried not to take it personal (one of the cons about my personality!). We have always said that we're not about keeping people but reaching people, and God made me put my money where my mouth is with a few couples I loved a lot but could not compromise the vision in order for them to stay.

The second mistake was after we launched. We are firm believers in a closed-group small group system. We has trained 4 to 5 small group leaders during the pre-launch phase. But when we launched publicly,  we didn't have enough small group leaders for all the people. We should have went to a turbo-group phase and shortened the closed time frame to around 4 to 6 months.

9. If you did it all again, what is one thing would you do differently?
Not to worry. I know preachers shouldn't worry and should always have faith, but God is still teaching this preacher to have faith in Him. To live the results in His hands. A verse that took me through pre to post launch was Psalms 127:1...

Inside the Mind of a Church Planter: Nathan Wise - Remedy Church

We've already heard from a couple great guys in our blog series, Inside the Mind of a Church Planter, this week: Ron Edmondson and Jason Mills.

For today's interview, we head almost 2,000 miles west to Missoula, Montana to meet up with Nate Wise. He and I go back a ways in ministry. Our wives knew each other for quite a few years before Nate & Lindsey moved to Albuquerque so that Nate could attend the School of Ministry at our church. He served as a volunteer in the middle school youth group that I pastored and also ended up going to Shepherd School (a church-planting, pastor-training school that our church offered). Within a week or 2 of Shepherd School graduation, Nate headed back to the town he'd grown up in to start Remedy Church. It's been a journey and it's been cool to watch the fellowship grow out there.

Check out Remedy's website HERE.

Here's my interview with Nate:

1. Who are you?
Nathan Wise

2. What is your church & what's the vision behind it?
Remedy Church Missoula. Our vision is to create a community of believers being used by God to bring Him glory.

3. How long have you been meeting and where did you start?
May 30th 2009 official launch. We started in a downstairs office building.

4. Why plant a church in your city?
Because God told me to. Missoula has over 10 church plants going on right now and the area already has a ton of churches. But still 9 out of 10 are unsaved. The church at large has missed the mission in my mind and needs to get out of the four walls and get involved in the community. We want to bring Jesus to the community. We don't expect non-Christians to want to come to church on their own.

5. How can people get plugged into your church?
Our website has great resources for staying up to date with what's going on at Remedy. We are continually growing and looking for ways to involve those who desire to serve. Greeting, church clean up, event set up/tear down are all ways to be involved. We look forward to launching community groups in the future.

6. What advice do you give to others wanting to plant a church?
Pray hard, let your gifts become evident over time. Don't rush based upon emotion. Become socially connected to other church planters (facebook, Twitter, blogs, relationships). Don't compare yourself and your church plant to anybody else. God is doing something very specific with you unlike any other.

7. What/who have been some of your most important resources so far?
Fellow church planters are good to network with. Ed Stetzer's material (books, Twitter, blog) - He is the leading missiologist. Blogs: Church planting for the Rest of Us (cp4us.org). And having close friends to share burdens and victories with. If you try to do it all alone, you will kill yourself.

8. Have you learned any lessons the hard way? What was one?
God doesn't want you to plant someone else's church, or be like any other pastor. He is forming you into the pastor that He has designed you to be in a church that He is building. Don't stick yourself into a mold that isn't you and your city. God has called you to a certain city to reach a specific people. Find that and you are on your way to seeing God do amazing things.

9. If you did it all again, what is one thing would you do differently?
Taken more time to grow in my giftings and working knowledge of how to "run" a church. And built a team and trained them up prior to an actual launch.

Inside the Mind of a Church Planter: Jason Mills - Calvary Spartanburg

As we continue our series about peeking Inside the Mind of a Church Planter this week, we head 400 miles east to Spartanburg, South Carolina to hear from a buddy of mine, Jason Mills. He's a super cool guy that I've known for years from Calvary Albuquerque. He served in many ways there then headed out to Montreal, Canada where he helped with a church plant out there. He started services at his new church right around the same time that our services started. It's been really cool to be able to bounce ideas off of each other and pray for each other as we go through some of the same things 400 miles apart!

Check out Calvary Spartanburg's website HERE.

Check out Jason's blog HERE.

And of course here's my interview with him:

1. Who are you?

I’m Jason Mills. I’m from Campobello, a town of about 400 people near Spartanburg, in the upstate of South Carolina. My wife, Andrea, and I have been married for over 6 years and we have 2 kids Jake (3 ½) and Sophie (2). Also, I’ve always secretly wanted to be a super hero and I am left handed.



2. What is your church & what's the vision behind it?

Calvary Spartanburg. Our vision is three-fold;




Know.

Our vision is for people to Know Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior.


Grow.

Our vision is for Christians to Grow through verse by verse teaching of the Bible and through one-on-one discipleship.


Go.

Our vision is for disciples to Go into the whole world to tell others of Christ’s redeeming love.


3. How long have you been meeting and where did you start?

We started November 8, 2009 at the YMCA in Spartanburg, South Carolina (so we started about month ago.)  My wife and I started praying about God’s vision for this church plant in March of 2008.


4. Why plant a church in your city?

I’ve had a heart for my people, Southerners, for a long time. But it wasn’t until 2008 that I realized God wanted to use me to reach the people of the South. As I prayed for God to give me vision for the South, He made two things clear, plant a church and do it in Spartanburg.

I’m thrilled that I get to minister to the community I grew up in and understand, but I’m also acutely aware of the problems I face. Cultural Christianity, mistrust of non-denominational churches, and church burnout are prevalent. Familiarity cuts both ways, I guess.


5. How can people get plugged into your church?

In our current space we only get 15 minutes to setup before our service starts. Anyone is welcome to come early to set up chairs, the coffee table, or the sound system. We are also looking for volunteers to be accountability assistants in our children’s ministry. 


6. What advice do you give to others wanting to plant a church?

Don’t strive and don’t stress. The church you are planting is God’s church; let Him build it. That doesn’t mean you won’t be very busy or have to do the hard work of planting a church. Rather, don’t try to build it in your strength or by your own clever plans, and don’t freak out when things are not going the way you had envisioned.  The problems that arise are His, and so are the successes, not yours. Do the work and trust God.


7. What/who have been some of your most important resources so far?

Kevin Miller of course! No really, but I’ve also gotten a lot out of the blog posts at The Calvary Church Planting Network. A good place to start is the article Ten Things I Wish Someone Told Me. The CCP Network also has a website www.calvarychurchplanting.org with some more resources that aren’t on the blog.

However, the best resource I’ve had so far has been experience. For the last 5 years I was a part of a church planting team in Montreal, Quebec. Those 5 years were absolutely the best training ground I could have asked for. If you have a chance to come alongside someone to help them plant, before you take the plunge, do it.


8. Have you learned any lessons the hard way? What was one?

Oh Yeah, wait for the Lord’s leading. Every time a have disobeyed, finessed, or nudged the line with this lesson I have regretted it. I’ve planned ill-fated ministries, looked the fool, and cause pain in the lives of others as a result of ignoring this simple principle. My advise, is don’t get in a hurry to get into new things or ministry because you feel like nothing is happening, be patient and wait for the Lord. Waiting for a God sparked ministry will always produce more fruit than one that is born sooner but out of a feeling of urgency. Like the old saying goes “A fool in a hurry drinks tea with a fork”.


9. If you did it all again, what is one thing would you do differently?

Calvary Spartanburg is so new that I don’t think enough time has elapsed to see some of the more long-term mistakes I’ve already made or will make. However, I will say this, there are 2 things I could always do more of: pray more and study more.

Inside the Mind of a Church Planter: Ron Edmondson - Grace Community Church

As I mentioned in a previous blog, this week I'll be letting you peek inside the mind of a few church planter friends of mine.


We're going to start local for this first one. Ron Edmondson is a guy I met when I was out here back in February scouting the place out. He planted Grace Community Church here in Clarksville just a few years ago and it exploded with growth! God is using Grace to reach this city and it's a privilege to partner with him and with such a great church as we attempt to reach this city for Christ.

Check out Grace Community Church's website HERE.

Check out Ron's blog HERE.

Check out my interview with him here:

1. Who are you?
Ron Edmondson

2. What is your church & what's the vision behind it?
Grace Community Church, Clarksville, TN....we exist to encourage growing followers of Jesus Christ.  Our motto is “Everyone needs a place to start over...that place is Grace.” 

3. How long have you been meeting and where did you start?
We are 4 years and 2 months old.  We started meeting at St Mary’s Catholic School and now meet at Rossview High School in Clarksville

4. Why plant a church in your city?
Our city has over 80% unchurched.  We launched to reach those no one else was reaching. 

5. How can people get plugged into your church?
We plug people in quickly. The easiest way is to know people is by joining a small group that meets in the homes during the week.  We allow people to serve as soon as they are ready.  It takes over 150 volunteers each week, so there is always a need. 

6. What advice do you give to others wanting to plant a church?
It’s harder than it looks. Seek wisdom, surround yourself with an awesome core, be willing to grow slowly at first, and don’t be afraid to say “no, we aren’t ready to do that yet.”

7. What/who have been some of your most important resources so far?
Other planters have helped us tremendously.  Our original core and the people who started with Grace from the beginning are still involved today and brought their friends with them.  People are definitely our greatest resource. 

8. Have you learned any lessons the hard way? What was one?
Time of services is important.  We tried  an early service after we went to two services, but it didn’t work until we made it later.  We weren’t mature enough yet to have an early morning service.  To build an early service takes very committed people.  We have one now and it’s working. 

9. If you did it all again, what is one thing would you do differently?
We would not shy away from churched people who are looking for something that better meets their needs for spiritual growth. We did at first and that made us tremendously lacking in leadership as we grew.

Inside the Mind of a Church Planter

Church Planters are their own breed. Or at least that's what some people think. I've questioned myself before: "Kevin, why leave when you have it so good to start something that you don't know if it will work?" Great question, Kevin. Glad you asked...yourself. The answer: every church plant is different and every church planter is different.

Over the last few weeks, I've been on contact with some other guys who have recently planted churches. Some very recently, others, a couple years ago. I asked them all the same 9 questions. Over the next few days, you'll have a chance to peer inside the mind and hearts of some church planters. You'll see their vision for their church, heart for the Lord and the people of the city they live in, as well as hear their different takes on lessons they've learned so far, how people can get plugged in to their church, and more.

I've enjoyed reading their thoughts and I'm really looking forward to sharing them with you. Stay tuned here this week for some great insight into the mind of a church planter. Also, if you know of someone interested in planting a church or just a person that would be interested in reading about it, make sure they know to swing by here for some food for thought. Hope you enjoy it.

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!

Why Clarksville?

That's the question I've been getting a lot this week. It's a good one. Most people in New Mexico only know Clarksville from the old Monkees song, Last Train to Clarksville, just like most people in Clarksville only know Albuquerque from where Bugs Bunny took a wrong turn. In fact, out here in the 505, most cities with "-ville" on the end of it don't sound that appealing. So, I'll try to keep this short. Here are a few reasons we're going to Clarksville...

1) NEED
There are 15 Calvarys in the whole state of Tennessee and verse-by-verse expository preaching is very hard to come by.

The statistic that floats around about Montgomery County is that 80% of the population is unchurched. I've never seen that stat online or on paper, but I could easily see it being true. Let's take a much more conservative percentage and say that 50% of Montgomery County is unchurched. That leaves over 67,000 people who are not currently attending church! Yikes. And that's only 50%.

2) DIRECTION
2 1/2 years ago, we knew where Tennessee was on the map, but that was about it. We had never been there until I flew out to Nashville to speak at a winter retreat in February of 2007. We stayed with Jenn's family in Paris, TN, and we began to see the need for a good Bible-teaching church. I also realized the limited resources that many churches out there had. I was so encouraged to see churches from 5 states assembling for a huge youth retreat! It was awesome. This is when God began directing us to TN.

Over the next 2 years, I would have many more interactions with Tennessee. We even flew out there for Christmas of 2007 and someone told us she had had a dream that we were starting a church there. We had planned on just vacationing, but that opened our eyes to other possibilities.

We recognized the need like never before that Christmas and ended up flying back in February of 2008 to scout out 2 potential towns - Jackson and Clarksville. We had heard of Clarksville, but never been there. We thought for sure Jackson was the place, but figured we'd swing by Clarksville while we were out there. We drove into Jackson and knew from the moment we go there that that was not the place for us. So we changed plans and headed into Clarksville for the night. We loved it. We knew we were on the right path.

3) CONFIRMATION
We prayed A LOT about this. A LOT. I don't know how planting a church can be done from selfish motives, but I imagine that it can be done. I wanted to constantly be searching my motives to know if this was just my next "big idea" of if God was behind it. He was. There's no way I could list the many ways God confirmed to us that we were in the right spot, but here are a few...

- meeting our realtor, Verlon, while wandering through the only mall in Clarksville (he just so happened to be a retired Baptist preacher who enjoys finding houses and building for new "preachers" that want to start a church!)

- getting a job interview with Frank, a local business owner, for a graphic design job. The job ended up not working out, but God used the interview to remind me that we were headed in the right direction

- we attended church at a little Calvary in Dickson while we were out there in Feb 2008, and the pastor was so excited to hear about our potential plans that he called us up right as he started the Bible study to pray for us and announce to the congregation that we were moving to Clarksville to start a church! I wasn't even fully convinced that we were doing that at that time!

- by the time we got home, we knew where we were supposed to go, the only question left was when

- we prayed a lot about it and on Sat, Oct 16, we finally decided that we had to just go - there would always be an excuse to stay - the next day, I happened to see the pastor of Calvary Nashville in our sanctuary at Calvary! WHAT!? He said his wife had gotten sick and they had to close down the church - one less Calvary in TN

- we booked flights and flew back to TN in February of '09 (just 2 months ago) which was another trip filled with confirmation (including one Calvary pastor telling us that at a Men's Rally they had back on October 16-17, they had been praying for someone to start a church in Clarksville!)
Little did they know that God answered their prayers immediately 1200 miles away in New Mexico.
Little did we know that our decision to go to TN was actually God answering prayers from 1200 miles away!

4) TIMING
I've always prayed that when it was it was my time to go, I'd have a Joshua-type figure that would take my spot. I thought I might have that guy, but within a day of us being back from our trip in Feb of 2008, that guy told me he was quitting working with me to work elsewhere. Plans ended up falling through and he ended up coming on full time with me, but it answered our prayers - we knew where, but now was not the time. So, we made plans. I mapped out how I'd teach through Revelation August 2008-May 2009 and Jenn committed to 2 semesters of women's ministry. We knew that we'd be in Albuquerque till at least the end of May, when our commitments were up. As I said, on October 16, we decided that there would always be reasons to stay - we just needed to go. The time had come.


It's been years in planning, and the time is finally here. 70 more days from today is the day we pull out - exactly 10 weeks. 5 months from Sunday is the date of our first official church service - Sat, Sept 12. It's very surreal and super exciting. Can't wait to see what the next few years holds.

So I didn't do a good job at keeping it short, but hopefully this helps to answer some wondering minds.

When Nathanael first heard about Phillip leaving everything behind to follow this Jesus of Nazareth character, his question was, "Can anything good come from Nazareth?" It was obscure and out of the way, kind of like Clarksville used to seem to us. A similar question has come to my mind before - "Can anything good come from Clarksville." I believe so. If God is behind it, success is guaranteed!

The announcement has been made!

It's officially out in the open. Finally. The Miller family is moving to Clarksville, TN to start a church! We announced it to the Velocity leaders on Friday, to all 3 services today, and Skip will be interviewing me in front of the church on Wednesday night!

It's been 5 great years of ministry at Calvary and God has done some incredible things. And now, at a time where the economy is the worst it's been in my 25 years and ministry is the best it's been, God has led us to pack up our stuff and step out in faith. We'll be moving 1200 miles away to start a Calvary from scratch. It's a bit intimidating considering that I've never done this, and I'll actually have to find a real adult job that won't pay me to go to summer camp anymore. However, there's so much peace in knowing that this is God's idea, not ours!

The name, Awaken Church, captures our vision of Awakening people to the relevance of God's Word and equipping them for His service. It's an exciting endeavor that leaves a lot of questions in the air, but we know God will do above all that we ask and think!

We have 7 more weeks with Velocity as we finish out Revelation. Our last weekend will be Saturday and Sunday, May 23-24. We'll still be around for 3 more weeks, though, and I'll do AJ (the guy who will take my spot as Youth Pastor) and his fiancee Lisa's wedding on June 14. On Wednesday, June 17, the adventure officially begins! Nate and Jenn Witiuk and Denver Miller will also be joining us in the beginning of July.

If you're interested in keeping in touch, you can check the new church website (still under construction and expansion) at awakenchurch.org. We'd love your prayers!