I turn thirty-six years old this Friday.  No, I’m not saying that so you will go buy me a gift (except for you, Mom.  You need to get busy!)  I’m saying it because it’s what’s on my mind this week.  For some reason, this birthday has caused a lot of introspection for me.  Last year I hit 35 and didn’t blink.  But this year it’s different.

The good news is I’m not feeling all that old and I don’t really feel bad about turning 36.  I will admit when the treadmill asks for my age, that seems like a very big number to punch in but I’m not depressed about it.  I’m grateful.  At 36 years old, I’m married to an incredible woman.  I have this crazy little son who I love more than I ever thought possible.  I’m leading a team of people planting a church.  Honestly, I realize how blessed I am.

That thought shapes how I want to ask you to pray for us this week.  Each of those blessings causes me to wear a different hat: husband, father and pastor.  There’s some similarities between those roles but they’re definitely distinct.  Could I ask you to pray the Lord would empower me to carry each of them well?

Pray I would be the kind of husband who loves Laura like Christ loves the church (Eph. 5).  Pray I would be the kind of Dad who raises Jack in the discipline and instruction of the Lord (Eph. 6).  Pray I would be the kind of pastor who is a good example to the flock (1 Peter 5).

Those are the three requests that mean the most to me and the three things that are closest to my heart this week.  I would love it if you would pray for those requests.

I’ve never built a house or had one built for our family, so I’m no construction expert.  But I do know there’s a lot of prep work before the visible part of the house gets built.  All of that stuff (getting permits, digging the foundation and whatever else they do) takes a really long time and everybody watching wonders, “when are they going to start building?”  But a contractor knows how essential those first steps are and how relatively quickly the project goes once it gets above ground.

Planting a church is a lot like that.  For months it seems like nothing is happening – at least nothing visible.  But those prep times are essential.  It’s when vision, values, mission, name, launch team strategy, fund raising strategy, etc… are all getting ironed out.  We’ve definitely been in the prep work phase since August and we still have strategic work to do that will carry us through the Spring of 2014.  But we’re nearing a turning point in the project.

We’ll be above ground soon – announcing a location, recruiting a launch team, working on fundraising and casting vision.  To be honest, I can’t wait!  That’s the point where I get to start sharing so much of what God has been doing in us these past months and years.

As that anticipation grows, so does the weight of getting this right, honoring Jesus and planting a church that is healthy, biblical and focused on loving the community.  At this point, I would simply ask you to pray for wisdom and divine direction in brining the church Jesus is calling us to lead to life.  More than anything, we want to be faithful to Him.  So, please, pray He will guide our every step.

At the end of next week, I’ll be able to share much more about what this is all going to look like.  In the mean time, keep praying for us!

This past weekend, Laura and I got the chance to be back in DC for a few days with old friends.  It was so good to be back and so good to connect with people we love so much.  We scheduled the trip around the wedding of two friends I have known for the last 10 years.  It was awesome to be at their wedding and great to build a weekend in DC around that time.

But now we’re back in Raleigh-Durham and pressing full speed ahead with the church plant.  While I don’t have any specific requests related to the church plant right now, there are two things in Summit world that I would love to have you praying for this week:

1.  Small Group Leader Training.  For the next four weeks, I am going to be leading a training time on Wednesday nights for potential small group leaders at the Chapel Hill campus.  I’m really looking forward to this time, to pouring into these leaders and seeing what God does through their groups. Please pray I lead the training well and the leaders are equipped to lead life changing small groups once the training is complete.

2.  ServeRDU.  Every year, Summit blocks out one weekend to mobilize the entire church in serving the community.  It’s a massive outpouring of love for our community and one that makes such a significant statement about Summit’s desire to see the gospel bring restoration to all areas of our city.  Please pray these projects bear spiritual fruit.  Yes, we want to get a lot of work done.  But we want to see lives changed by the gospel even more.  So, please pray with us to that end.

Thanks for praying into what God is doing in RDU this week.

God continues to bring this whole church plant to life and we’re so grateful for all He is doing.  We’ve really been pressing into mission, vision, values, names and locations and have seen the Lord do so much to bring clarity in all of those areas.  We still have a way to go but the blueprint is starting to take shape and I’m loving it.

Along the way, I keep having two thoughts:

1.  I’m incredibly grateful for The Summit Church and The Summit Network.  We really love this church and are so grateful for the spiritual encouragement it has been to both of us.  We feel loved, cared for and very much at home here and that’s a massive gift to us.  I’ve learned so much about leading, pastoring and church culture and can see how so much of Summit is going to work its way into our plant.  All of that is a long way of saying the Lord is phenomenally gracious and has been so kind to us.

2.  I need to blog more.  I’m not going to make any grand promises here but I really want to be better about this.  There’s just way too much going on in us to get it all out in one or two posts per week.  So, be praying that I am disciplined in making the time to write more.  I guess that assumes you would like more posts…if not, feel free to skip that prayer request!

The other thing I would like to ask you to pray for is wisdom.  If you’re tracking with this blog, you’re probably getting the sense that we’re closing in on some major decisions and that’s true.  By the end of this month, we’re going to be able to share a lot more specifics.  All of that means I need tremendous wisdom over the next few weeks as I pray through launch teams, fundraising, locations, names and possible staffing options.  There’s a lot going on and I just need wisdom from the Lord.  So, please, be praying the Lord continues to provide the wisdom He promises.

Thanks for your willingness to pray for us.

It seems like I’ve been following a pretty standard format for as long as I’ve been writing these prayer updates.  It goes something like this: warm greeting followed by 3 bullet points to pray over and a closing that thanks you for praying.  It’s a nice format.  It works a lot of the time.  But not all of the time.  And definitely not today.

I just don’t have three points in me right now.  So, if you’re okay with it, I’m just going to tell you what’s on my mind and let you pray for me however you want.  

In Psalm 2 we are told to “rejoice with trembling.”  I kind of feel like that should be every church planter’s theme verse.  It pretty much encapsulates everything running through my heart and mind these days.  There are moments of pure exhilaration when you’re planting a church – moments when vision seems so clear and compelling, moments when you see Jesus working to actively build His church and moments when you are overwhelmed at His goodness and faithfulness.  And there are moments when the enormity of it all causes us to tremble – am I really up to this?  how are we going to pay for all of this?  will anyone actually come to this church?  btw, where should this church even be?  I could go on but that short list has already spiked my blood pressure!  

It’s a wonderful thing and an overwhelming thing to plant a church.  Ultimately, God uses both the rejoicing and the trembling to keep us abiding in Christ, in awe of God’s glory and serving in humility.  So, I’m not asking Him to take either away.  I’m just praying for the grace to lead well, hear His voice and obey what He’s telling me to do.  As long as He empowers me to do that well, I’m pretty sure He’ll take care of building the church.

So, that’s where I’m at this afternoon.  That’s what’s running through my head.  I figure you can take it from here and pray as you see fit.

John

Hello from summery Durham!

It’s been another full week for us on this church planting journey.  We are still very much in a learning, planning, dreaming and praying mode when it comes to the church plant.  Honestly, we feel like we could stay in that mode for a long time – there is so much to study, think through and imagine.  The good news is that I’m loving all of it.  At the same time, we are getting more connected to the life of Summit Church and really starting to feel like we are part of this great family.  Add into that a feeling that we are starting to learn our way around The Triangle and we are feeling so grateful for all the Lord is doing in our lives.

One of the things that is very important to me is planting a church in a way that my family is blessed not punished.  I want this experience to be as exciting for Laura and Jack as it is for me.  And I want our family to be strong, healthy and unified.  With that in mind, I would love to have you praying specifically for our family this week.  Here are a couple of specific requests:

1.  Pray for sleep.  Specifically, pray for Jack to sleep through the night.  It seems like every time he’s on the verge of figuring that out, something comes up and knocks him off course.  Currently, that would be teething.  The poor little guy has cut three teeth in the last two weeks and has one more on the way.  You can tell it’s bothering him and keeping him up at night which in turn is keeping us up and bothering us.  It may seem small but, seriously, sleep would be amazing!

2.  Time with Laura’s Family This Weekend.  We are going to be spending Friday and Saturday in Richmond with Laura’s extended family.  A number of them are traveling to Richmond for the weekend and it will be great to see so many of them in one place.  But with so much going on, it can be hard to slow down and just spend time with people.  So, pray the Lord fills Laura and I with grace, joy and patience over the weekend.

3.  Rest.  We’ve been having a lot of conversations recently about what it looks like for us to stay rested and connected as a couple.  I’ll likely be blogging in upcoming weeks about some of what the Lord is showing us through this process.  But we are definitely aware of our need for more time when we are alone, rested and undistracted.  Please pray we can create those spaces in the midst of so much activity.

As always, thanks for praying.  I’m so grateful for you and your prayer partnership in the church the Lord is calling us to lead.

John