Help Us Help Them

We are moving full-steam ahead in our calling to reach the city of Clarksville and we want you to be a part of it! Reaching this generation for Christ is a challenge and full of risks, but we won't let that slow us down. We have lots of vision for reaching Clarksville in 2010 and I thought a good place to start would be to let you know about it and how you could be involved.


What will happen when you collide with eternity?
That's the question that supplies the vision for this event. People get so caught up with the here and now that they forget about eternity. Every person has a collision with eternity that is quickly approaching. It's time for people to do something about that.

When we went to Heritage Park in the summer as part of our Unight outreaches, it was a HUGE success! Heritage Park has the only skate park in town and it seems to be a bit overlooked by the city and most others who don't skate. Those kids need Jesus just like anyone else, though, and they were very open when they met people who went out of their way to reach out to them. When we mentioned the idea of putting on a skate comp, we had their undivided attention. It's never been done here, from what they told us. They normally have to drive to Nashville for something like that. We want to change that. We want the Nashville kids to drive to Clarksville for once. We want the kids here in Clarksville to understand that we care and most of all, that Jesus loves them.

That's where Collide Skate Comp comes in.

Coming from a church with a skate park and skate ministry and having run mission trips centering on skate park ministry, we have a pretty good idea of what we're doing. We've seen the power of reaching a crowd that is normally looked down on and kicked to the side.


Collide Skate Comp is tentatively scheduled (waiting on the city's approval and also some funding) for either the Friday right before Spring Break (Friday, March 19) or the Friday of Spring Break, March 26. We want to have a band, food, drinks, loud music, tons of skaters, daily giveaways leading up to the event, and of course a Gospel message where we pray many people commit their lives to Jesus Christ.

That's all cool, but besides the Gospel and love of Jesus, none of it's free. So, here's how you can get involved. I see 3 main ways:


1. PRAYING
This is the only logical place to start. Even if we had all the funding and felt pretty confident about pulling this event off, this would be the place to start. The power of people praying for us and this event around the city and around the nation is priceless. Join us as we seek the Lord about this event. If you are praying, leave a comment on this blog and let us know, or email us at info@awakenchurch.org. We love it!

 2. GIVING
We've set up a dedicated secure giving page for those who want their financial gifts to go directly to this event. We still have to pay our bills to keep the church doors open, but if you want to give above and beyond that, this giving page is for you. Any gift helps and 100% of it goes toward Collide. It's also tax-deductible, as are any of your gifts to Awaken.

3. COMING
Ministry is hands-on and we'll need lots of help to bring this thing to life.
Are you a Christian skater? Come grind for God's glory.
Do you make a mean burger? Come grill for God's glory.
Do you love to share your faith? Come share God's love.
Whatever church or city or background you're from is beside the point. If you want to get involved, let us know. Leave a comment or drop us an email: info@awakenchurch.org.


Here are some specific needs for this event:
- a Christian band and stage
- lighting
- food and drinks
- giveaways (shirts, CDs, skateboards and accessories, iTunes cards, etc.)
- money for printing and advertising (radio, billboard, flyers...)

Thanks for prayerfully considering being a part of this event. We feel called to reach this generation and understand that our time is extremely limited. We can't wait around till everything is just right - that will never happen. We will forge ahead and trust that God will provide for the vision He has given us.

Jesus in a Shoebox

Americans love shoes. According to this site, Converse alone has an annual revenue of over $16 billion. That calculates out to... A LOT of shoes. I'm confident with that estimate 1) because I did the math, and 2) because, if you find it on the internet, it must be true, right? I digress...

November 18 (2 weeks from tomorrow) is Awaken's deadline to bring in Operation Christmas Child shoe boxes. We finally got around to doing our last night. While my mother-in-law watched Adalyn at home, Emery, Jenn, and I hit up Wally-World. Walmart is a killer place to go for shoebox gear because they have lots of small, cheap toys so you can jam those boxes full of killer stuff for the kids. We had a budget in mind, but as you'll find, you can easily get carried away while shopping. We ended up spending double what we had in mind. Oh well. It's worth it. Once we got home, we took the giving a step further and had Emery choose almost new toys out of her own toy box to include in the shoe boxes. She was stoked to give of what she had to "nother boys and girls."

Every year, Samaritan's Purse (run by Franklin Graham) ships millions of boxes around the world to kids who barely have anything. It's a hands-on way of sharing Christ with them, because they come in the name of Jesus. Many cities and churches around the world who receive shipments of these boxes put on big Christmas crusades with singing, dancing, performances, games, as well as the shoe box distribution. They're able to share the Gospel - the true meaning behind the boxes - then hand them out. As any of you who are parents know, when someone reaches out to your kid, they reach out to you too. These gifts don't just effect the kids, they preach to the whole family!

If you want to learn more about OCC, here's some info from their site.

Bring your boxes into Awaken by Wednesday, November 18, then we'll take them to the local drop-off center to be shipped out. Make sure to include a donation of $7 for each box to pay for the shipping costs. You can also donate online this year, through Samaritan Purse's EZ Give program. If you choose that route, your box will be equipped with a bar code that will allow you to track where your gift ends up! Super cool! Enjoy.

Coming this summer...

UNIGHT: Summer Evenings in the Park will be hitting Clarksville parks this summer every Saturday evening from 6-8pm beginning July 11 and ending August 29. We'll have free burgers and hot dogs, activities for the kiddos, fellowship, and just a good old time. We'll wrap up each evening with a short devotion from the Bible. We'll be sharing the Gospel with those who come and inviting people to join us as we begin Awaken Church.

One of our first things when we get to Clarksville July 1 will be to nail down locations for UNIGHT (in addition to looking for a place to rent for our first church service in September). If any of you Clarksvillans have any suggestions, let me know! Stay tuned here and to our Facebook page for more info coming soon!

Are You Awake?

In just about 1 month, the city of Clarksville will begin to see business cards with the question "Are You Awake?" all over the place. It's the beginning of our summer outreach that we'll be kicking off Saturday, July 11 in parks across the city. For 8 straight Saturdays from July 11-August 29, we'll be grilling up some food, hanging out, and sharing the Gospel with people who show up. Everywhere we go, we'll be leaving these cards (not all will look this creepy, but they will be eye-catching) that simply ask the question "Are You Awake?" and refer people to awakenchurch.org.
With the goal of the church to focus on awakening people to the relevance of God's Word, our hope is to point out their need for it and stir up a hunger in the city. As each week of outreaches goes by, we hope to develop a core group of people who will begin to reach out to the city with us and eventually become the congregation for Awaken Church. Pray for the outreaches and pray for us as we do our best to do something we've never done!

Stay tuned here for more details. You can also follow us on Twitter at twitter.com/awakenchurch or by texting follow awakenchurch to 40404. Enjoy!