The pastor from the new church start I hope to work with took me out for lunch today. I'm so excited right now about the potential for the new church. The basic plan is to get small groups going. 10 or 12 groups of 10-12 people. Then in the fall we will gather all of those groups together for worship. The goal is to have 120 people at the first worship service. Worship at Water's Edge will be contemporary, but as the church grows pastor Joe plans on adding a traditional service, and a VERY contemporary service. I will reiterate. I'm very excited about this church. I am sure the biggest thing in need is prayer. The task I am working towards is starting a small group in Gainesville. I don't live, nor have I ever lived in Gainesville. I have some friends from there and am praying that I can make enough contacts to actually get a group going. I'm at the point where I realize that this is literally a physical impossibility apart from God. I have one or two names of people who don't know me. Please pray that in this next month or two enough people to start a small group will gather.

I realize now that if we allow Him to He will call us to amazing things. I've prayed so long for a loving church family ... I found that church family at Toccoa First United Methodist. Now I find that God is asking me to leave that church ... I know that God's plan is a million times better than my own ... but, I am still slightly sad to leave the church where I felt so loved. I know that my new ministry will be even more taxing (on me and my car) than the one I have at Toccoa First, but somehow I know it all fits together for good. I am truly happy today ... just to exist under a God that loves.

I'm taking a class about church growth and development. We learned this week that the average church produces fewer than 3 new disciples of Christ every year. Working on data fro new United Methodist church starts in Western PA new church starts grow by an average of 30 people a year. I'm sure a lot of that growth is transfer growth (people moving from one church to another) , but ... if someone where to stand up and start talking about a way to make our churches 10 times as effective - wouldn't you listen.

I'm meeting with a pastor tomorrow for lunch who is starting a new church. The church will be "Water's Edge United Methodist." I plan on working with the new church plant. That's where my heart is.

I'm beginning to realize that I have often failed to invite non-Christians to church simply because I don't want to introduce someone into a community that isn't committed to Christ. I think there's a lot of excitement centered around the idea of something new. It's like Christmas ... you don't know what the church will end up looking like, but you are pretty sure it will be worth the wait. I keep thinking about being part of shaping a church. Would a church without a hundred year of internal struggle and selfish people creating conflict produce more fruit simply becuase of those factors? Shouldn't every church be a beacon of God's love.

(OK ... so it took me more than a day of ponderance to complete this post. I'm now going to pretend that I finished this yesterday and start on my post for today.)

"Al Jazeera has released an audiotape from Osama bin Laden. State Department officials say it shows he's aware of world events. It opens up congratulating Brad and Angelina on their baby." --Jay Leno

You might be thinking right now, "What a random quote." But, in reality this sums up my current reflections on life. One of my favorite things about my college is it's strong mission emphasis. Everyone cares greatly about the rest of the world. When there is a major world event we usually know about it. There are a lot of future missionaries on my campus. If there is a catastrophe in a third world country there is usually someone here who can speak with firsthand knowledge about the country and it's people. I like that a lot.

I am generally discouraged by the normal American attitude. We read a quote in History class from an American Senator that read something to the effect of, "We will work with Shanghai and someday it will rise as high as Kansas City." I'm so tired of Americans who think that our country is somehow better than every other country. We are a country in moral decline, Christianity is faultering amidst our own lust for more stuff, and the Christians that are left are generally content to wallow in money while watching a world full of starving children die. But, hey, at least homosexuals can't get married. This is how we know everyone in America loves Jesus.

Cynical, moi. I know that there are glaring exceptions to the previous paragraph. I know there are a lot of people who love others and are willing to die for the poor and downtrodden. I'm a United Methodist largely for that reason. I feel that they are doing the most good in this world.

Do you know what the world needs more of? Me. Maybe I could stand on a box and scream my thoughts so everyone can get more of me. No. That would make me look crazy. What? There's a thing on the internet where I can do that and not look crazy? ... and it's called a Blog? I'm there. - Dilbert creator.

I'm 19 years old, a freshman at a really small Christian college, and I want to live for God. I want to pastor a church that has a mission statement like, "A herd of people, all struggling and stumbling in the same direction." I'm upset when churches that see little or no fruit end up with mission statements like, "Our Mission is winning souls to our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ through ...." I think our churches need more honesty.

I enjoy Christian community (which happens to be what I consider my church time.) I think that every church should be a big community of faith. People struggling together, being real and honest. It might sound like a pipe dream, but for some strang reason I believe that there's a carpenter from Nazareth that, if left in charge of everything, could accomplish anything- even my personal pipe dream. I live with 3 awesome guys - all at different places in our faith. I want to own a big house and have like 12 Christian guys live there as a true community of believers.

I want to go to Africa and fight AIDS, I want to start a church in a little town outside of Moscow, I want to work with refugees, I want to see churches grow because Christ is using me, and I want to work in the underground church. I don't think I will live long enough to do all of these things ... will you help me?