I have two months left as an Assisting Minister at Lompoc Foursquare.

There are literally hundreds of people that I am already feeling the pain of leaving. The church is the people.

Those people are loving, compassionate, and driven. Each of you have impacted Airen and I in a different way. Can’t wait to see what God does here in the new few years!

We are back here at Diary of a Church Planter! There are a few new things I want to draw your attention to.

• On the right side of the screen is a “Subscribe in a reader” button. If you use a RSS feed reader like Google Reader, then you should subscribe! You also can use this link to subscribe to the blog by email.
• There is now a “books I’m reading” link on the top of the page. If you are interested, take a look, and you can click through to amazon.com to pick up a copy if one catches your attention.
• Doing the prayer email soon. If you’re not signed up to get it sign up here.

Share and Enjoy.

Being a church planter, I have been very interested in what I can get for free. Don’t get me wrong, I believe in the concept that you get what you pay for in many areas, but finding creative ways to do things for cheap-as-free is the only option in some cases.

I love the open-source hearts behind a few churches. I know that most of my early sermon series will be titled based on what I can get for free from Southeastern Community Church, Lifechurch.tv, and National Community Church. (Thanks @jeremysexton!)

Some pastors balk at the idea of doing someone elses series, but the dirty little secret among pastors is that pretty much everyone does it. One original idea for every four or five we get from books or watching Rick Warren’s-Andy Stanley’s-Perry Noble’s vodcasts.

Free sermon series graphics and branding will help me save money while presenting the Gospel. Win-win.

There is a quote I like. You can google who said it and why yourself if you want to.

“No him, no me.”

Without the love and guidance of many people I would not be where I am today. No them, no me. I just wanted to acknowledge a few people that I love and who have had an impact on me and my ministry. The list is miles long, but there are a few great examples that I wanted to mention because God put them on my heart tonight.

• Sue Coupland made me do my job as president of Bible Believers my senior year when the other president quit. I still try not to think of how awful my talks were. She believed in me while I was still struggling with a very low view of how God felt about me.
• Pastor Tim Dailey let me intern before I had any experience. My very first class module at VIU I got to write a paper and express my heart to plant a church. I was 19 and stupid and yet when I went to my first staff meeting I felt included and respected.
• Pastor Bernie Federmann offered me a paycheck when I was just trying to volunteer. He’s still paying for that mistake, but I’ve gotten valuable experience and mentoring on running a church that actually reaches people. I never had anyone respond to an invitation I gave to come to Christ until I learned how to do it by watching him.
• My wife, Airen, is so confident that I am following what God has for me. Her faith in me has kept me moving forward in this process when I have felt totally inadequate.
• Jim Hibbard, my coach for this church planting process, is just encouraging. He also puts up with my schedule making me a total pain to get ahold of. Him and his wife’s hospitality is so New Testament that it blows my mind.
• Jesus, for obvious reasons.

No them, no me.

Sorry to anyone who get redirected to a malware “anti-virus” site. Hackers are a real and present danger even to someone who has strong passwords!

Got it all fixed and clean and real blog content will begin again tonight.

A big thanks to everyone who came over to help us with the yards. We couldn’t have done it without you.

It’s going to help us get Nancy’s house sold, so we can get her moved to Pittsburgh, so I can put her to work helping me! (Kidding Nancy! Well, sort of kidding.)

Got my business cards this week that Kat French Design made for me! I love the subtle Foursquare vibe that she threw in there for me!

Want one? Just let me know next time you see me, I’ll always have a handful on-hand.

Those of you who want to help me promote – I’ll give you a small stack!

Loved the response from last weeks I need you series. I appreciate (and need) the support of my friends and family.

Have a few different ideas of ways to move forward in that direction. Stay tuned.

P.S. Read 2nd Corinthians 4 today. I feel like a jar of clay when I consider what God is doing!

• Woke up at 6:30am
• Got the Element Detailed
• Played World of Warcraft
• Chased the dog after the gate blew open.
• Had lunch with Airen
• Played World of Warcraft
• Picked up with Element
• Went to Wal-Mart
• Put away the lawn mower
• Took the trash to the curb
• Ate pizza for dinner
• Took a bath (Don’t judge me)
• Wrote this blog entry
• Went to bed

This isn’t for everyone. I know that.

It could be for you though. Especially if you really don’t want to read this entry.

This is especially for my friends that are distant. The ones I don’t get to talk to personally very often. Those of you who I have done ministry with before – or went to Bible college with.

It could be for you – If you’ve always wanted to do something for God that’s bigger than you are. If you meant to get into full-time ministry “someday”, but never got around to it. If you are passionate about people who don’t know Christ coming to know Him. It could be for you.

We need three kinds of people to come with us:

• Full-time Bi-vocational staff. This means that you are a core leader in what we are going to do. All starting staff, myself included, will be working to support themselves and being a leader in the church. There are three main “jobs” I need to fill: Worship leader/pastor, Children’s Ministries Pastor/director, and the GCD pastor/leader. (GCD = Getting Crap Stuff Done).
• Part-Time Bi-vocational interns. This means you probably don’t have any experience or education. But you want to be a part of what we are doing still on a committed staff level. You could even fill one of the above roles – just as a person who would be receiving training as you go.
• Volunteer Team Leaders. This means you move to Pittsburgh with the intention of living and working there and what to be a part of the church, but never intend to be on staff. I need people like you to lead Ushers, Sound Teams, Setup and Tear down.

All of these are important. It could be you. I need you to consider it. Pray about it. Talk to me about it.

Start the conversation. Click here and fill this out.

To many of my friends had great intentions of being in ministry and just never quite got around to doing it. Now is the time.