Never forget the mission

I spent yesterday at an amazing conference with a many church leaders from around the region. I had the pleasure of hearing Andy Stanley and Craig Groeschel live in person. There was so much good infomration and life application for myself and others that I can't even process it all just yet. Here is the biggest thing that struck me yesterday, though...we can't get so stuck on programming and "stuff" that we ever forget the mission.
Our mission at Life Church Franklin is "lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ". That's our heart. That's why we do what we do. Jesus is the center of it all and we want to lead people to life change and newness in Christ in everything we do at LC.
To most of you that sounds great. You are in agreement. You are excited. But, will we all be excited when we don't do the thing the church down the road is doing just because that's what churches do? (I am talking about programming most here). We will hold fast to the idea that more programs do not necessarily equal spiritual growth. Let's continue to focus on lead people to become fully devoted followers of Christ through what we do now (which is working)...worship and small groups.
Thanks for serving, praying and leading at Life Church Franklin. You efforts are adding to the Kingdom of God. Amen!
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LifeKIDS Signup Form

The Vow - Week 1

Sunday Reflections

I normally write my Sunday reflections on Monday morning, but I just enjoyed today so much that I wanted to share my thoughts tonight.

Today was awesome. A packed house, people connecting and praising God, children learning and laughing, marriages starting anew on the right foundation...it was all good.

Today we began the first part of a series called "The Vow". Today we committed to make God number 1 and our spouse number 2. That's the way God wants it to be. My prayer is that marriages would be restored in powerful ways even this week through this message from God's word about how he intends are marriages to be.

I just want to say that I am totally, completely humbled that God would use myself and others to lead and serve at Life Church. There were tons of new faces today. That's awesome. I hope we never get tired of inviting people to church. It's so we can have high attendance Sunday, but rather to have the opportunity to share the Gospel of Jesus with someone who has never heard or responded to it, or to reignite a dormant love for Christ in a believer that needs to get back in touch with God.

Thank you God for letting me be a part of your Kingdom and for letting me be a part of your work through the local church at Life Church Franklin!

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Baptism Bash Collage

 

Sunday reflections

Sunday was special for several reasons at Life Church Franklin. We had our first ever Baptism Bash and baptized 8 people. It was an awesome celebration of these individuals' faith in Jesus Christ and symbolizing the cleansing of their hearts through Christ's love and forgiveness.

Click here to see pictures of the Baptism Bash.

Sunday was also the largest gathering of Life Church Franklin to date. With over 160 people attending Sunday's worship experience we were filled to the brim. The presence of God was very real and evident.

Thank you for being apart of this Baptism Bash celebration and Life Church Franklin. We will be holding another Baptism Bash in just 3 weeks. If your interested in getting baptized for the first time or making a new commitment to Christ through baptism please sign up this Sunday.

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Here is a video version of all the pictures on the link above. Please feel free to share the video with others to celebrate!

Trueish - Week 4

Sunday Reflections

Yesterday was another mind blowing, heart thumping day for Life Church Franklin. We saw our largest gathering to date, people's lives being revolutionized by God and so much more.
The thing I love most about it for myself is that it's not me. It's because of me that Life Church Franklin exists. It is God working through his Word and his people to lead them and others to become fully devoted followers of Christ.
My prayer today it that God takes away me and replaces it with Him. I just want to see him glorified, not me. I want to see people's lives changed because of him, not me. I want the words I say be in love and of him, not me.
For those of you who are at LC Franklin right now let me just say that the best is still to come. If we will accept that the church doesn't exist for us, but for the world, then I believe God will honor that and bring more people for use to reach with the Gospel of Jesus.
I pray you are excited about what is to come and worshiping him for all he has already done. We can worship because one person came to know Christ yesterday. We can worship because many others affirmed and proclaimed that they believe Jesus is the savior of the world. We can worship because God's Word was planted in the hearts of many children yesterday through LifeKIDS. We can worship because God is using ordinary people, like me and you, to proclaim the good news of Jesus Christ.
We can worship because He is God and we are not.
Don't let yesterday's worship slip for your heart. Worship him for these and so many more reasons.
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Trueish - Week 3

Sunday Reflections

First off, let me just say that God is so good. Yesterday was an amazing time of continued building of His church. I am humbled and honored to be a part of it as leading a local church.

Here's some random thoughts from Sunday:

- Yesterday was out largest gathering to date. We had over 125 people meeting yesterday. There is still room for more people...so invite your friends and family this week!
- Week 2 of our Trueish message was amazing. God doesn't want you happy when it causes you to do something wrong or unwise or when it's only based on the things of this world.
- I am praying my happiness is based in being in God's will...not on the next thing I buy.
- Life Church Franklin is a Network church of LifeChurch.tv. Basically, the only association we have with LC.tv is using their resources. WE have our own local leadership, finances, etc...
- Are we a "TV Church"? I don't know. I don't really care. I think it's actually hilarious that people around Franklin call us that. Here's the deal:
Worship, kids stuff and everything is live and local. The teaching is done buy video. The teaching is relevant, engaging and life changing through the power of Scripture. If I were to have the choice between a capable, relevant, God inspired, life changing teacher who presents the message of Jesus with hope, love and passion through video OR a stale, boring, passionless, misguided, irrelevant, live in person teacher; I'm taking the video teaching every time!
I think it is a slap in the face of God to say video teaching can't work to present the Gospel and change people's lives. That's like me saying Southern Gospel music can't be worship music. Do I like Southern Gospel? No. Does that give me the right to trash it? No. God can use it just as He does video teaching every week at Life Church Franklin.
If you doubt it. Come try us sometime soon. Then throw your rocks at us. Just don't throw them till you've tried it.
- Lastly, I am continuing to dream big and ask God for huge things. I hope you are too.

Trueish - Week 2